Author Notes: I hope everyone is doing well in the face of the global pandemic that we are all facing. I was originally planning on releasing this chapter in March 2020 anyway to celebrate the beginning of the final cour for the Sword Art Online Alicization anime. Now hopefully this can give you some entertainment.

As I've told other people, remain calm and smart. This crisis will pass, and it will be in our rearview mirrors. In the meantime, do your part to mitigating the WuFlu. We will overcome this time together while ironically maintaining social distancing.

Happy reading and be sure to leave a review after you finish.

/

The Kirita Chronicles

Story Arc Five: A Well Earned Holiday

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Roles and Reversals

/

It was the first day of Kirita and Akio's 'vacation' from the frontlines, and they were already doing a different kind of work. They were taking care of the morning shift at the restaurant. The landlord, Aaron, knocked on Kirita and Akio's door in the early morning to ask if they could help provide breakfast for his customers. They only needed to help until noon, and he'd pay them a bonus for filling in for the 'missing' staff.

Since the job involved her being a chef, Kirita was more than willing to accept the offer. Akio on the other hand was a 'little' more reluctant. However, knowing they'd be paid extra was enough motivation for Akio to accept the position even though it was the polar opposite of what he had been doing his entire life. Simultaneously, this positon was similar to what his life had been like as well.

While Kirita was the cook, Akio was the waiter. Akio was given a notepad, and he was told to go to a couple of tables in his 'area'. Two of them were occupied, and by the lack of food, he assumed they hadn't ordered yet. As he did this job, he saw for himself that even NPCs needed a little breakfast to start out their day. Akio felt like he really was learning something new every day.

Akio needed a little extra time to write down the orders as he jotted them down in haste, "I'm sorry, you said you wanted three scrambled eggs with smoked ham, right?"

"And chocolate milk." The NPC emphasized.

Akio repeated as he wrote down, "And chocolate milk." He also underlined it three times.

When Akio did write down the orders correctly, he sometimes forgot a key detail. There were three NPCs at the table he walked over to. "Okay so …" Akio pointed at one NPC with blonde hair, "You ordered scrambled eggs with pancakes. Then he pointed to the brown haired NPC, "you wanted waffles with a side order of hash browns," Akio pointed to the bald NPC, "You wanted the eggs and bacon combo special."

The blond haired NPC calmly corrected, "I ordered the eggs and bacon combo special."

This was followed by the brown haired NPC stating, "I ordered scrambled eggs with pancakes."

Then the bald NPC was leaning on the table with his cheek leaning into his fist as he stated with a hint of annoyance in his tone, "Waffles and hash browns are mine."

"Um …" Akio sheepishly apologized, "Sorry about that." He proceeded to write, 'Blond', 'Brown,' and 'Bald' next to each respective order before heading to the kitchen.

When Akio walked to the kitchen area, they were separated by the 'counter window'. He saw that Kirita had her long hair tied to prevent it from getting in the way of the cooking. There was a plate next to her. There were two pans being worked on simultaneously. She used her spatula to flip over the pancakes in one. Then she moved over to take care of the sunny side up eggs in the other.

Akio couldn't help but silently continue watching Kirita. When Kirita flipped the pancakes, she didn't pull a fancy trick like they did in TV shows or movies by flipping it up into the air for it to land in the same spot. Instead, it was a simple maneuver of getting her spatula underneath the pancakes and flipping it to the other side. The pancakes appeared golden rather than dark brown, so Akio could see Kirita was doing her best to find a happy medium when it came to preparing the customer's pancakes.

The eggs were finished first, and she carefully scooped the eggs from the pan and placed them on the plate followed by the pancakes.

After Kirita placed both the pancake and eggs on the plate she called out, "Order up on the sunny side and cakes."

An NPC waiter walked passed Akio and collected the plate. "Thanks. They were really getting hungry." The waiter than rushed out.

Kirita noticed Akio and asked, "Akio, you got some orders for me?"

Akio glanced at his notepad and said, "A few."

"Well come on now." Kirita said as she prepared her cooking materials. Her voice sounded 'faster' and at a higher pitch when she eagerly said, "Let's hear them! Let's hear them! Hop to it!"

"Oh um …" Akio quickly cleared his throat, "First, we got three scrambled eggs with smoked ham with chocolate milk."

Kirita requested, "Mind taking care of the chocolate milk?"

"Can do." Akio answered.

Kirita was picking up three eggs and some ham as she asked, "What else?"

"All right!" Akio flipped through the pages and said, "You're probably gonna need …"

Kirita was breaking apart the eggs as she commanded, "Just read it to me, Akio!"

"Okay, okay." Akio read them, "I got one scrambled eggs and pancake combo, one egg and bacon combo special and um..."

The ham was on the stove as Kirita was mixing the eggs, she told, "Come on. What else?'

Akio then finished, "One order of waffles and a side of hash browns."

"Great." Kirita pour the eggs on the pan and started gathering new ingredients as she instructed, "Stick the orders up there." Akio looked to see there was a thin space in the window area separating him from Kirita. She then told him, "Just put them there, and I'll call you when the orders are ready."

"Okay." Akio replied as he put the papers up where Kirita instructed."

Kirita then told him, "Oh and be sure not to lose them. You'll need them for typing the bill"

Akio nodded, "Got it."

It didn't take too long for Kirita to finish the eggs and ham. She called Akio over and he collected the food and order. He also made sure he had the chocolate milk when he brought the order to the NPC customer.

The other three orders were finished shortly afterwards, and she handed them over to Akio. He made sure to pay attention to what he did wrong. He held onto the list, so he didn't give the NPCs the incorrect order. Thankfully, he did not. Akio's tips were not the best, but they were far from the worst. Regardless, he was relieved when it was getting closer to noon.

/

While Akio was taking a five minute break, he leaned back on his chair, and he looked up to the ceiling. As if on instinct, he thought back to Heathcliff's words. They still rang in his head like a microphone. That was all Akio could think about it.

After taking a breath, Akio thought to himself, "A waiter isn't exactly the ideal profession of a 'Leader', is it?"

Before Akio could dwell on this topic any further, he heard the door open, and he saw it was Kirita still dressed in her uniform as well. Kirita looked at him curiously as she asked, "Is something on your mind, Akio?"

"Nothing." Akio shook his head, "Just thinking about the job."

"Sorry." Kirita sounded rather sheepish as she told him, "But out of the two of us, being a water was more for you."

Akio simply replied, "I know, I know."

Kirita then said, "Anyway, our shift is almost over. Just another hour. Then, it'll be time to have some fun."

Hearing those words caused Akio to feel lighter. His head rose, and he stood up and excitedly said, "About time."

Kirita asked in concern, "I thought you were okay with working at the restaurant."

"I knew we'd be working," Akio sounded disappointed as he rubbed the back of his neck, "but I didn't think we would start working here on day one."

Kirita reminded her friend, "Aaron is our landlord. We can't really say no to him. Besides, we already promised we'd help with the restaurant from time to time."

Akio merely said, "Yeah. I know …"

"To be honest, this does feel rather relaxing." Kirita smiled, "I'm enjoying it."

Akio was quick to point out, "That's because cooking is your element. Waiting tables isn't exactly mine."

Kirita nudge and playfully asked, "Because you were always on the opposite side, right?"

"Heh …" Akio chuckled, "I guess you got me there …"

"You're not doing a bad job so far," Kirita nudged him again, "So keep it up, buttercup."

Akio shook his head, "Easy for you to say …"

/

After they were finished for the day, they were finally free to leave the restaurant. Akio didn't hesitate to take off his uniform and return to his normal adventurer clothing. Kirita did the same. When they walked out the building, Akio stretched his arms as far as he could.

"It's finally over." Akio said in relief.

"Yeah." Kirita replied,

Akio was genuinely impressed as he complemented, "I said it before, and I'll say it again. You really know how to cook."

Kirita reminded Akio, "Cooking is made easier by the system. Personally, I'm glad I can still crack eggs like in our world."

"Yeah," Akio then pointed out, "but I saw how you were flipping those pancakes. That was you. Not the system."

"It's not that …" Kirita admitted, "I'm glad I didn't need to use the System for that. Using the System is still kind of weird to me … At least I was able to properly prepare the hash browns before I needing to use the System to cook it them."

"Even so, you did a great job." Akio graciously said, "Glad I'm your travel buddy."

Kirita nudged him and grinned, "As well you should be. So what do you want to do first?"

/

After Kirita gave him the option, Akio knew the first real vacation activity he wanted them to do. They went to frozen pond that was apparently good enough for ice skating. Several other NPCs were already on thin ice. Akio used the menu to equip the skates he rented. He slightly adjusted them, and he stepped onto the ice, and he began to move on it. When he turned around, Kirita was kneeling on the ground next to the ice.

"Come on, Kirita!" Akio waved over to her, "You're burning daylight doing that!"

"This isn't my specialty." Kirita remarked.

"Heh." Akio chuckled as he remained 'standing' in place on his skates.

Kirita glanced down at Akio's skates as she asked, "Just to be clear, do you think this ice is supposed to be on top of a pond or something?"

Akio tapped the ice with his skates as he said, "I don't think this is thin ice if that's what you're asking."

Kirita sounded more concerned as she said, "That's exactly what I'm asking!"

"Well there's NPC characters on the ice," Akio motioned to the other skaters, "and the game would warns us if there was thin ice, right?"

"Yeah, probably …" Kirita reluctantly admitted, "Unless we were out there." In her head, she couldn't help but feel there was some kind of 'reversal card' being used in this situation.

Akio pointed out, "Well we're not, so we should be okay."

"Okay …" That was all Kirita could say in response.

Akio remained standing there on his skates as he asked, "You really don't want to go ice skating, don't you?"

Kirita admitted, "It's not that it's um … well … I … it's something I'm not thrilled about."

Akio merely said, "Just give it a try here and you'll see. It's fine."

Kirita took a breath and said, "Fine …"

/

As soon as Kirita's skates hit the ice, she became a skating disaster. "Wah … Wah!" Kirita's ankles lost their strength and her legs became wobbly as she 'glided'. Kirita felt like it was easier to stand up to Illfang, Baran, or Asterius than dealing with ice skating.

She could not keep herself straight even if her life depended on it. Kirita felt like a newborn attempting to take her first steps. However, the consequences of failure would be more severe if she fell over. She would rather not face them even if the virtual world allowed her to heal fast or the safe zone presented her health points from falling.

"Oh crap! Oh cr …" Right as Kirita was about to fall over, one hand grabbed her own. It stabled her. It pulled her up, and she straighten up. It was Akio, and he was skating like it was no effort.

"To think," Akio grinned as he playfully said, "there'd be something I'm better than the Masked Swordswoman than."

"Oh!" Kirita stammered, "Sh… Shut up!" As Akio supported Kirita asked the obvious, "How are you able to skate like that, Akio? I feel like it's taking everything to stop myself from falling on my face and then some! Even that wasn't gonna work! But you're skating like it's no big deal!"

"That's because it really isn't." Akio sounded sincere as he calmly replied.

Kirita honestly couldn't tell if he was gloating to her or not as she responded, "Oh, come on, Akio!"

"Okay, yeah … I guess it isn't 'for me'." As Akio held Kirita steady, he explained to her, "I did skate a lot when I was younger. My grandparents …" He clarified, "My mom's parents had this really awesome cabin in the words, and I loved visiting them during the winter. I remember skating on the lake. It was one of the only hobbies my parents approved of when I got older, so they let me do it occasionally." Akio almost chuckled, "Hell, they even encouraged it!"

"Oh …" There were no other words Kirita could say in response.

"They would tell me how important it was to carry myself with grace or some crap like that." There was a hint of bitterness in Akio's voice, but his grip on Kirita remained gentle. "I guess their logic came from seeing those figure skaters or something."

Kirita continued to remain standing as she complimented, "You seemed pretty graceful to me. It looked like you were going along with the ice or something."

"Even so … I … well …" Akio took a moment before calmly replying, "I'm glad I was still allowed to go ice skating sometimes. It just kind felt like when my parents 'rationalized' why I should still ice skate it took the fun out of it."

"I …" Kirita slowly replied, "I understand."

"You know …" Akio couldn't help but admit, "Even though this isn't strictly speaking 'real', the fun I'm having feels a lot more real to me it has been for a while. I mean … Do you get what I mean?"

Kirita smiled, "Yeah, I do … All I know is that I 'want' to have fun skating too. Can you teach me?"

"I'll do my best." Akio continued to hold Kirita's hand as he told her, "You could say ice skating involves finesse and feeling."

Kirita then asked, "What exactly is that 'feeling'?"

"Hmm …" Akio took a moment, "That's a good question … Hmmm … When I'm ice skating I don't think about … Oh …"

Kirita raised an eyebrow, "Oh?"

Akio inquired, "Kirita, how do you feel when you're ice skating?'

"Well …" Kirita glanced down at her barely standing position as she said, "I'm afraid I'll fall."

"That's it!" Akio said with a snap, "That's what I'm taking about"

That did little to clarify things for Kirita as she merely asked, "What?"

"You're letting your fear take a hold of you." Akio advised, "You need to try being less afraid."

"Okay …" Kirita bluntly asked, "How am I supposed to do that?"

"You can keep holding onto my hand when we get started." Akio then grinned as he told her, "That way you can be holding on to me and getting your skates familiar with the ice rather than you face."

"…" Kirita bit her lip.

Undeterred, Akio then told her, "You need to have a better chance of getting a feel for ice skating. If you can keep skating, you might be able to get a sense of it. That's what you're going for. I can't tell you how to get it. All I know is that you'll have fun easier, and you might understand how to do on your own by example. How does that sound?"

Kirita merely said, "Fine … I guess.

"That's good enough for me." Akio strengthened his grip on her hand as he said, "Come on. Let's go."

Kirita felt her virtual neck hair stand up as she asked, "Right now?"

Akio grinned, "No time like the present, right?" When he looked at Kirita he calmly told her, "Come on. Don't be like that. You can do this. Just hold onto my hand, and I'll make sure you won't fall.

"Um …" Kirita was biting her lip again.

Akio asked the obvious, "You nervous?"

Kirita softly admitted, "A little …"

"Heh." Akio couldn't help but feel amused, "You're willing to fight a twenty foot tall lizard, but you're scared of falling on the ice?"

Kirita looked down as she said, "I'm just not very good at it."

"All right. I get. I get it." Akio assured her, "It's okay to be nervous, especially if you're not good at it. Let's try working together." Akio held up their hands.

After a moment, Kirita reluctantly replied, "Okay … Let's do it."

Akio winked, "Now that's what I like to hear."

/

The duo were slowly skating on the rink hand-in-hand. Akio knew he could go much faster, but if he did, he had a feeling it would not end too well for his 'passenger'. Kirita was skating at a snail's pace, but at least it didn't feel like she was about to fall and drag him down with her.

After a few minutes passed, Akio finally spoke up while he continued looking forward. "How are you doing?"

Kirita continued to hold on as she answered with one word, "Shaky …"

"That's okay." Akio assured her, "We'll work on that. Just try to keep with my pace. We'll take this nice and easy, and we'll work our way up."

/

The moment Kirita heard Akio's assuring words, she couldn't help but think "This kind of sounds like what someone would say when learning a bicycle." Kirita did her best not to pay it any mind as she listened.

About a minute or so later, Akio said, "I think you're starting to get the hang of it. What do you think?"

Kirita noticed that her legs did not seem too ridged as she replied, "Um … maybe?"

Unsurprisingly, Akio asked, "Do you want to me to let go?"

Kirita immediately replied in panic, "Not yet!"

Akio began lightening up his grip as he said, "How m-"

"Not yet!" Kirita cried out as she retightened the grip as she shook her head furiously.

"…" Akio was momentarily stunned silence before saying, "Okay." He continued to hold on as he assured her, "Not yet."

/

Akio continued to hold into Kirita's hand as they went for another lap around the pond. He didn't say a word. In fact, Kirita was the one to break the silence following the second 'lap', "Okay," Kirita sounded like she let out a breath, "I think I'm ready."

Akio glanced as he skeptically asked, "You sure?"

"Yes …" Kirita merely said, "Now let go before I change my mind …" Her voice sounded 'weak', but that was her wish.

"All right, then." Akio let go, and Kirita did the same.

"Wo- Woah!" Kirita could feel herself supporting her body with those thin skates. If she moved them the wrong way, she knew her body would be familiar with the cold surface. She glanced down as she told herself, "Come on! Come on! You can do it! You can do it!"

"…" Akio said nothing at first, but he was pleased to see that Kirita did not fall on her face even if her skates did appear a 'little' unsteady. When her legs began to wobble, Akio told her, "Forget about that! You want to have fun!"

It was difficult to describe what Kirita felt when she heard that. However, it distracted her from her feet. She stopped focusing on her feet collapsing. Instead, she focused on the next thing she heard, "Focus on something ahead and get there!"

Kirita's eyes became locked on an object in the distance. Kirita moved toward it. As she moved toward it, she realized she hadn't fallen yet. After a few moments, a smile began to form on Kirita's face, "I'm doing it. I'm doing it!"

"Great work, Kirita! That's not bad! Not bad at all." Akio grinned as he began to say, "Maybe we should –"

Before another word could escape Akio's lips, Kirita loudly cut him off, "One step at a time!"

Akio's eyes widened, but he replied, "Yeah, okay."

/

Time flew by. Before they knew it, they had been there for over an hour before they decided to call it quits. Kirita felt a mix of excitement, but she also breathed a sigh of relief when she was sitting down and removing her skates.

As Kirita was pulling off her skate, she said, "That was actually fun. No wonder you like ice skating so much."

"Yeah." Akio was able to continue standing on his thin skates before easing himself down on the seat. "Things always feel so different when you're skating around on the ice."

Kirita nodded, "Yeah …"

Akio told Kirita, "But just like walking there's a pattern to your movement, so do your best to stay in that pattern."

"Yes." There was no argument for Kirita as she said, "I'll do my best. I do want to do this again." Kirita scratched the back of her head as she added, "At some point."

Akio suggested, "We can do this again tomorrow or the day after if you want."

"Sounds like fun." Kirita sincerely sounded interested.

Akio then asked, "So what do you want to do now?"

"Is there something else you want to do?" Kirita asked.

Akio took a moment before suggesting, "How about horseback riding?"

Kirita's back suddenly became stiff as she repeated, "Horseback riding?"

"Yeah." Akio grinned, "That could be a lot of fun too. I know it's fun in the real world. I know there are some horses we can practice with on the other side of the village. We can practice by going around the area they have."

"Um … okay …" Kirita reluctantly replied.

"You not up for it?" Akio asked.

"It's not that I um …" Kirita put her hand on her stomach. She then looked down before suggesting, "Um … How about we get something to eat first?"

"I guess we should probably eat lunch." Akio shrugged, "Sure. Why not? The horses aren't going anywhere."

"Right …" Kirita then asked, "So what do you want to eat?"

Akio simply said, "Something besides soup."

"Great." Kirita sounded somewhat excited as she told him, "What I have in mind isn't technically soup. It sort of is … It sort of isn't."

"…" Akio raised an eyebrow.

Kirita had used her menu to remove her skates and to put her regular shoes back on as she stood up and said, "Come on."

/

Before they knew it, both of players had big bowls of chili in front of them. Both bowls seemed identical with the arrangement of the red kidney beans, tomato sauce, salsa, beef, and cheese. It was so hot that it looked as if they could see the heat radiating from it.

Akio leaned closer to his meal as he said, "Huh. This looks appetizing."

It was easy for Kirita to come to a conclusion as she rhetorically asked, "You never had chili?"

Akio looked at Kirita, "I know of it …"

"Right." Kirita assured her friend, "You're gonna like it. Believe me."

"Well, you're confident." Akio remarked.

"Ever since I had my first taste." Before she knew it, Kirita began to reminisce, "I randomly decided to eat chili when my family and I went on a ski trip one time. There was one of those restaurants at the top of the mountain after you get off the ski lift. I saw a couple of people eating chili, and I decided to take my chances and order a bowl."

Akio raised an eyebrow, "It was that good?"

"Oh, it was more than good." Kirita put a hand on her stomach and licked her lips. "It was probably one of the most filling meals I ever had. One helping was enough to fill me up good."

Akio asked, "Really?

"Yes, really." Kirita tapped her bowl with her spoon, "Just look at what's in this bowl. What happens after shouldn't be a surprise. The only downside is that might make you fart." Akio was taken aback while Kirita chuckled, "You'll fart really loud, but it'll pass." Kirita handed Akio some crackers as she told him, "Mix these crackers in." Kirita broke the crackers over the bowl and dropped them in before spinning them around with her spoon. Akio did the same.

When all that was done, Akio said, "Okay, then. I guess we'll dig in." Akio then put his spoon in. When the spoon was in front of his mouth, he was about to take in a mouthful.

"One more thing." Kirita warned as she held a spoonful in front of her mouth. "Just made sure to blow on it." Kirita made an example of breaking a breath and lightly blowing on it before placing the spoon in her mouth. A nostalgic feeling came rushing to her as she swallowed. "Mmm … Kayaba must really like chili."

Akio asked, "The game captures it that well, huh?"

"You bet." Kirita dug her spoon full for another bite. She repeated the process.

/

"Here goes nothing." Akio followed Kirita's example and blew on the spoon. However, he blew on it much lighter than Kirita did. After Akio put it in his mouth, he could feel the heat inside his throat as the chili traveled to his virtual stomach.

Kirita merely held up a glass of water which Akio readily accepted and gulped down. She casually told him, "Chili isn't the easiest thing to eat."

After gulping the water down, Akio said in exasperation, "No kidding …"

Kirita grinned, "But it tasted good, right?"

"It was really hot, but …" Akio admitted, "it wasn't bad. Not bad at all."

"Just give it some time." Kirita sounded confident, "You'll get it."

"I guess time is all we all need." Akio remarked.

Yeah …" Kirita suddenly was reminded of something, "Um … Akio … I don't want to seem rude or anything …" Kirita once again felt herself unable to finish a sentence as she uncomfortably trailed off.

Akio knew he might as well ask, "But?"

Kirita asked, "But was horseback riding another hobby your parents allowed you to have? Or did you like it before that?"

"Well …" Akio admitted, "… horseback riding was something I liked the 'idea' of doing … My parents wanted me to know how to do it."

Kirita nodded, "I see … I can't say I'm surprised."

"You shouldn't." Akio shrugged as he casually told her, "I'm sure you've seen TV shows or movies that show rich people riding horses. Well, it's not far from the truth, I can tell you that much."

The hot chili in front of Kirita was an afterthought now as she leaned forward and inquired, "But you did like horseback riding, right?"

"I never 'disliked' it." Akio sheepishly admitted, "I always thought it was kinda cool. I just kind of thing my family pulled the fun out of it."

"…" Kirita remained silent as she let her spoon sit in the still steaming bowl of chili in front of her.

Akio sighed and shook his head, "My father would tell me how horseback riding would be great for my 'image'. Just like how ice skating was good for grace, this was great for strength."

"Huh …" Kirita couldn't help but comment, "I guess you would look pretty strong riding a horse. You'd be like a knight. Or a samurai." Kirita then shook her head, "Nah. Knight is good."

"Yeah well …" Akio leaned back on his chair as he said, "I guess I'm anything but a knight, Kirita. You of all people know that."

Rather than either agreeing or disagreeing directly, Kirita opted to say, "I think you could be one now."

"…" Akio was momentarily stunned.

"I can really picture it now." Kirita smiled as she told him, "You and your horse dressed up in armor. Maybe you'd have one of the spear things or a sword. Something like that you'd be like one of those European Medieval Knights. I would really like to see that."

"I … um …" Akio scratched the back of his head and glanced away as he said, "I appreciate you saying that."

Kirita grinned as she leaned on the table and held up her hand, "You should try picturing yourself as that. You look really good."

Akio asked, "Do you think I could live up to that yet?"

"Yet?" That was something Kirita immediately took note of as she said out loud, "Interesting word."

Akio merely said, "Hey, I'm just asking."

"Yeah, yeah." Kirita asked, "What are knights supposed to do?"

Akio sounded dumbfounded, "Fight the enemy of course."

Kirita shrugged her shoulders, "Of course, but what else are they supposed to do?"

"Oh." Akio realized, "Protect others."

"Then," Kirita looked Akio in the eyes as she said, "I guess you have your answer."

"What's the –" Akio stopped for a moment, "Oh …"

Kirita grinned, "You almost had me worried there."

Akio leaned back as he rhetorically asked, "You've really become quite a tease, haven't you?"

"What do you expect?" Kirita remarked, "Being around someone like Argo can get a girl to pick up on a few things."

Akio acknowledged, "True."

"Of course," Kirita teasingly replied, "Having an easy target helps."

"Yeah. I guess it …" Akio's eyes shot open, "Hey!"

"Heh. Heh." Kirita merely chuckled.

Akio smiled and shook his head.

It then finally dawned on Kirita that they still had something to eat. "We really should finish off this chill before it gets too cold."

Akio said, "Right."

/

The chili had cooled off, but it was still warm enough to give a satisfying taste. Kirita kept giving herself a few spoonfuls until there was no beans left in her bowl. Kirita was using her spoon to pick up the leftover traces of the chili that remained stubbornly sticking to the bowl.

Akio asked in an amused tone, "Finished?"

"Not yet." Kirita said as she was scratching around the side of her bowl with her spoon.

Akio rhetorically asked, "You really like your chili, don't you?"

As she held the scraps of chili in her spoon, she said, "Wanna savor every bite. I'm not gonna be asking for seconds."

"Yeah ..." Akio put his hand on his stomach, "It really is filling."

"Told you." Kirita grinned before putting her spoon down.

"Giving up already?" Akio commented.

"Nah." Kirita leaned back as she rubbed her stomach, "I've had my fill."

"So …" Akio leaned back on his seat, as he asked, "What do you want to do now?"

"You know …" Kirita eagerly said, "After eating this chili, I think it's your turn to decide. You still want to go horseback riding?"

"Oh yeah." Akio grinned.

/

After they had their fill of chili, they were off to the pasture. It occurred to Kirita that Akio was more aware of certain features of their village that she didn't notice. However, she choose not to comment on it. Instead, she knew that this was Akio's moment, and she wanted him to have fun with it. However, she was having difficulty doing her part.

"…" Kirita stood there silently as she stared at the side of her horse. She looked at the horse whose entire body then shook causing her to take a step back. She then glanced over to Akio who had already mounted his.

Akio merely told her, "I'm not gonna say I'm an expert on this either."

"Oh great …" Kirita sighed as she shook her head.

"I know the basics." Akio looked down at Kirita from his horse as he instructed her, "It's important to remember that this horse is alive. … Well sort of in this game."

Kirita remained standing there as she asked, "Your point?"

Akio advised, "Just like humans, horses have things that cause them to feel uncomfortable. You have to get a feel for the horse. Maybe you can try petting the horse to let him get a feel for you."

"That's it?" Kirita asked.

"It's a start." Akio clarified.

Kirita took a breath as she said, "All right …" Kirita held out her hand and softly petted the horse's back. She could feel the horse's soft hair brush up against her fingers. She heard the horse have a reaction to her. It sounded 'good' to her.

"I think he likes you." Akio then suggested, "Try mounting him now. Grab that saddle and put your foot into that stirrup."

"All right." Kirita did as she was told. When she had a grip and her foot was in the stirrup, she used her strength to pull herself up. When her other foot was in the stirrup, she had successfully mounted the horse.

"Great job." Akio clapped his hands briefly before then retaking the reigns.

With that issue out of the way, Kirita couldn't help but look at the white on the ground as she looked over to Akio, "Do you think it's a good idea for us to be learning this while there's snow on the ground?"

"Meh." Akio didn't seem concerned as he said, "It's not like you're trying to learn how to race. It's just a little trotting around this fenced area. Nothing major."

Kirita merely said, "Still though …"

Akio suggested, "Well if you feel uncomfortable now, we can try learning it another time. I just figured that it wouldn't really matter much even if you did fall down here."

Kirita inquired, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"We're in a safe zone aren't we?" Before Kirita had a chance to answer, Akio pointed out, "So even if you fall down, it's not like it's going to cost you any health points, right? So that means you can't die, right?"

"Probably not," Kirita then pointed out, "but it still hurts when you fall."

Akio glanced away, "Oh right …"

"Still …" Kirita gripped on the reigns as she said, "I do appreciate you thought of that …"

"…" Akio remained silent as he let Kirita speak.

"To be honest, I'm on the fence here. I'm not gonna say horseback riding doesn't sound cool." A smile crept on her face as she then brought up, "Anyone whose played a Zelda game wouldn't be able to say it's lame with a straight face. Everyone would want their own Epona. It's just …" Kirita glanced to the ground as she said, "The real thing seems kinda scary. It doesn't matter if I'm in this world or ours …" Kirita held onto the reign as she used her other to rub the nape of her neck as she felt her back stiffen from a chill crawling up her spine, " … I just feel it."

"Well I'm not going to force you." Akio merely said, "This was just a suggestion. Nothing more."

"I know, but …" Kirita admitted, "I guess the real issue is that I'm not sure if I feel comfortable."

"How about we just put a pin in this?" Akio suggested, "We'll come back to it later if you want."

Kirita glanced away as she softly replied, "Yeah …"

/

The duo didn't spend nearly as much time horseback riding as they did ice skating. Kirita felt far more relieved that her regular feet were on the ground. Now that her hands were no longer holding the reigns, she instead opted to placed them into her pockets. She was silent until Akio spoke up.

Akio asked, "Now that we've finished your first 'ride', what would you want to do now?"

"Would you like to build a snowman?" Kirita suggested.

"That's definitely sounds wintery." Akio then said, "Sure."

As Kirita and Akio were walking through the town, something appeared to catch her attention as she turned her head and stopped in her tracks. Akio in turn looked to Kirita and asked, "What's wrong, Kirita-san?"

"Nothing. I just never noticed that before." Kirita pointed to a building across from them.

Akio looked to where Kirita was pointing and raised an eyebrow, "A post office?"

"Yeah …" Kirita said under her breath.

"Hmm …" Akio stepped toward the office as he commented, "We don't really need this, do we? People don't send letters here, do they? We have the messages, but …" Akio slowed down. He took a moment before then suggesting, "Maybe they can send packages with this?"

Kirita asked, "Wanna find out?"

Akio shrugged, "Why not? It might come in handy."

/

The duo was able to quickly get a confirmation. An NPC postal worker, who introduced himself as Adam, told the duo, "We can only send packages to players confirmed on your friend list."

"So …" Akio asked for classification, "We can't just send it to people we know? Only the people we actually befriended?"

"Yes." The Adam explained, "No one is a fan of mail from strangers. I'm sure there are players you would rather not receive mail from."

Both Akio and Kirita instantly had one or two players in mind as they simultaneously replied, "Yes."

Adam snapped his fingers, "Exactly."

"But what about our friends?" Kirita asked, "How would you be able to deliver them?"

"You can find your friends through your friend list, right?" Adam didn't bother waiting for neither Kirita nor Akio to answer as he then told them, "We'll be able to do the same. It's what the System allows us to do."

"Really?" Kirita asked softly.

Adam simply answered, "Yes."

"So …" Kirita leaned on the counter as she gave a hypothetical, "if I gave you a package for Argo, Delano and Heathcliff, you'd be able to deliver it?"

Adam clarified, "They'd have to be separate packages if you wish for all three of them to receive one. Otherwise, one package would be delivered to the closest one."

"Right …" Kirita then asked, "But if I sent them separate packages, you'd be able to deliver all three to all of them individually, right?"

Adam nodded, "That's right."

"Huh …" Kirita couldn't help but act surprised as she said, "I haven't seen anyone really do anything like this before."

Adam remarked, "Our post offices are scattered throughout Sword Art Online, but we're limited in number, and we aren't on every floor. We hope to expand in time, but we'll make due for now."

Kirita asked, "Any issues with monsters getting in the way?"

Adam said with full confidence, "I can assure you the workers of our Post Office are trained to be on a different level to others you have encountered."

"Huh …" Despite the answer, Kirita wasn't entirely sure what to make of it as she replied, "I see. I might give you a test in the future then."

Adam bowed, "We look forward to your future business. Have a good day."

"You as well." Kirita decided to take her exit, and Akio did the same.

/

After leaving the Post Office, Akio couldn't help but speculate, "I wonder if that means those Postal NPCs have some type of special ability like stealth or super speed."

"They must have something. Otherwise, they'd be toast." Kirita cringed as she said, "I've seen NPCs get ripped apart by monsters before. It wasn't pretty …"

"Huh …" Akio asked in disbelief, "So monsters hunt players and NPCs?"

Kirita crossed her arms as she shook her head, "Anything they find appetizing."

"Well apparently it isn't a problem for them." Akio glanced back at the Post Office as he said, "Whatever they have, this could make things easier for us."

"Yeah, it could …" Kirita scratched the back of her head as she said, "You know, after hearing that, it gave me a more time to think about that horseback riding stuff."

Akio looked to Kirita and leaned forward, "And?"

Kirita put her hand on her neck as she said, "It still kind scares me even with this whole 'we're in a videogame' thing. I know it's weird that the same girl whose nearly gotten killed by large monsters would be more afraid of this, but it's the truth. I felt like I was in control those times. I don't think I'd feel like that horseback thing."

Akio backed off, "I see …"

"Sorry … I just …" Kirita wasn't really sure how to respond.

"You know what?" Akio snapped his fingers as inspiration struck him. "I have an idea."

Kirita asked, "What's that?"

Akio suggested, "When you get on the horse next time, I could walk alongside you while holding the reigns."

Kirita was taken aback as she asked, "Can you do that?"

"I should've done it for you this time." Akio admonished himself before telling her, "Plenty of beginners do that when you're getting a feel for the horse. If you give this another chance, I won't let go unless you tell me."

Kirita scratched the back of her neck again as she took a breath. "Okay …"

"We'll worry about that later." Akio decided it was best to offer, "For now, do you want to build that snowman?"

Kirita smiled as she said, "Yeah."

/

The duo found an open are close to the restaurant that would be where they'd' build their snowman. It was technically part of the training ground, but no one would be using it. Kirita knelt down and patted the snow before attempting to bundle it up. Kirita smiled and nodded.

"Okay, Akio," Kirita instructed, "We're gonna make three parts to those Snowman. "You get started on the lower part. I'll take care of the midsection and head."

"How big do you want the lower part?" Akio inquired.

"Hmm …" Kirita thought for a moment, "Why don't we see how much the snowball builds from there," Kirita pointed toward the entrance to the training area before pointing down, "to here. If we need to build it up more, we'll take care of it. Feel free to call me for help if you're having trouble."

"That won't be a problem." Akio said as he walked with a snowball in hand. Kirita saw him toss it in the air and grab it before it hit the ground. He then threw it up again. He must've thrown it more forward than he intended as he had to take a few extra steps to catch it. He glanced over his shoulder and sheepishly grinned before continuing onward. He didn't throw the snow ball in the air again.

Kirita had two snowballs. One would be used as the based to create the body and the other would be used for the head. She held both to get a feel for which one to use. Kirita decided the snowball she held with her right hand would be the one for the body. She got on her knees and placed both snowballs on the ground. Kirita would concentrate on building the body as she rolled one snowball, and it gradually gathered more snow to build up. It didn't take long before the body was built up quite a bit.

It was at this point Kirita heard Akio say, "This is a little heavier than I thought."

Kirita turned her head, and her eyes widen when she saw how big the snowman's 'legs' were. What started off as a 'snowball' had become a mini-boulder. Akio was pushing behind it, and he was taking it one step at a time as his feet were forced to dig into the snow. Kirita could see that it was much bigger than she anticipated, and she would need to make the 'body' bigger.

Seeing Akio slowly push on the 'legs', Kirita decided to ask, "Do you need any help over there?'

"Nope." Akio wasn't looking at her direction as he asked, "Were do you want me to stop?"

"Just a few more feet, and you'll be in a good spot." Akio instructed.

"Okay." Akio pushed hard while Kirita continued to build up the body.

After a few moments, Kirita told him, "Okay, that'll do it."

On that note, Akio stopped pushing, and he breathed a sigh of relief as he stood up straight. Akio glanced over and asked, "Need any help?"

"Nah." Kirita picked up the body and said, "Just keep the legs steady."

"Okay." Akio held the 'legs'.

Kirita pushed with her toes and managed to put the body on. She then was able to put the head on without difficulty. "All right." Kirita brushed her hands together. "That about does it."

"Looks good, but …" Alike looked the snowman up and down, "Don't people usually put some stuff on it?"

"Sometimes." Kirita shrugged, "I say let's get back to it later. Want to head home."

Akio glanced over to the waning sun as he concurred, "Yeah."

/

The following day, Kirita took Akio up on the offer to help her with becoming comfortable to ride a horse. True to his word, he held onto the reigns as he led the horse. It was slow and steady, but Kirita was starting to get more used to it as time went on.

Akio asked, "Do you think you're starting to get the feel for this?"

Kirita nervously replied as she held on the reigns, "A little …"

With ever step the horse took, Kirita could feel her body go slightly up and down. As much as Kirita wanted to get used to it, this felt uneasy and unnatural.

Akio rhetorically asked, "You're really not feeling up to this are you?"

"How would you … ugh …?" Kirita's frustration prevented her from completed her question as she groaned.

Akio warned her, "You're a little too tense for one. You look like you're about to break if something accidently bends you."

"Heh." Kirita looked at Akio as she rhetorically asked, "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

Akio smirked, "A little."

To her chagrin, Kirita said, "You mean a lot."

Akio asked, "How often do you become me?"

Kirita looked in Akio's direction again, "Huh …?"

"Heh." Akio chuckled before advising her, "Try to ease up a little. You'll get it."

Kirita could only sigh.

The two of them continued to practice this until they were approached by an NPC. Their landlord Aaron approached them. The two of them looked in his direction as he said, "I heard you two were here. There's something I want you two to do for me."

Both players could see a Quest icon appear above Aaron's head. The two players glanced at each other before Kirita slowly got off of the horse, and they followed Aaron back their home.

/

Adam was having a meeting with Kirita and Akio in their home above the restaurant. He had the map laid out in front of them. The quest he had in mind for them was basically what could be described as a 'Fetch Quest' that would most likely take them at least two days to complete. Possibly three.

"So this cave …" Kirita put her hand on the map as she inquired, "What exactly is inside it?"

Aaron answered, "There's a few things down there that'll you'll be better of seeing for yourself. You'll be in for a few surprises down there. However, you should expect to see monsters that might pose a challenge to players of your level. I do not know much about them other than they do well in the dark. Although," Aaron then added, "for you it should be doable."

Kirita picked up the map as she told him, "If a challenge is all they're gonna put up, then we got this."

Aaron told her, "We'll need a special fungi that is at the very end of the cave."

"And there's some kind of monster guarding it." Kirita rhetorically asked.

Aaron answered, "That is what I heard. I have made this request before, but I have been denied before."

Akio decided to inquire, "And what do you need this fungi for? Can you use it as an ingredient?"

Aaron merely told him, "This a need to know basis."

Kirita finished the thought, "And we don't need to know."

Aaron sounded grateful as he said, "Correct."

Kirita turned to Akio as she told him, "We're going to get paid a lot, Akio, so we might as well do it."

Akio was willing to accept that, "Okay, fine … Let's do it."

Aaron told the duo, "I look forward to hearing of your success. However, before you go there is one detail I should inform you about.

Kirita inquired, "What would that be?"

"The cave is long, but you will find a safe zone which will mark the halfway point." Aaron then told them, "You 'will' want to spend a night there."

"Why?" Akio pointed out, "Wouldn't it be a good thing to get this thing done with faster. If we stop, wouldn't it take three days to do this quest?"

Aaron reemphasized, "You 'will' want to spend the night there."

"Okay." Kirita then said, "Thanks for the info."

Aaron then warned, "Be sure to keep it in mind."

Kirita assured him, "We will."

/

It had been two days since they returned to the village, and they were already leaving it for another purpose. The two players were checking through their menus as they prepared to leave.

Akio lamented, "So even when we're on vacation we're going exploring. I can see how the vacation from a vacation saying came from."

Kirita still had her menu open as she looked over to Akio and asked, "What was that?"

"Never mind." Akio closed his menu as he walked over to Kirita, "So where do we need to go?"

Kirita held up the map, "It's a secret area, so that can expect the monsters to be stronger in there."

Akio looked at the map as he asked, "Is this map really going to lead us to a 'secret area'?"

Kirita answered, "Yep."

"Then how could it be a secret area?" Akio asked in disbelief, "Shouldn't they 'not' have maps?

"We probably triggered the event because we live here." Kirita proudly held up the map as she said, "Besides, the landlord isn't exactly gonna hand this map to anyone. We're the only ones going there. We earned it."

"Hmm …" Akio admitted, "You have a point."

"Let's try to have a little fun with this." Kirita sounded eager as she said, "We're going to be exploring something for fun rather than trying to complete the game. We'll need to keep our guards up for enemies, but we'll be together, so that's be enough. So let's try to have some fun with, okay?"

"Hmm …" That seemed to give Akio a slightly different outlook as he sounded more eager himself, "Okay. Let's give this a shot."

"Great. Let's get stared." The two of them left their home behind to a new adventure.

When the duo was outside, Akio decided to step up, "Actually, do you mind if I take the lead? I'd like to give the whole 'following the map' thing a try."

Kirita held up the map as she asked, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Besides," Akio made sure to add, "it would be better for the one whole more skilled with weapons to have her hands free."

"Heh. Fine by me." Kirita handed Akio the map, and he accepted.

"Okay … Hmmm …" Akio began studying the map as he eyes glanced from one part to the other. "Let's see …" Akio pointed, "This is the village, right?"

Kirita answered, "Yes."

"Then the secret area should be to the North-Northwest of us right in …" Akio looks around and sees the sun, "That's way, right?"

Kirita nodded, "I think that looks right."

"Okay then … Hold on." Akio then asked, "Don't we have a compass?

"Heh. You know we should." Kirita stated, "RPGs always give characters compasses on their map menu. Even Link gets them, too."

Akio replied, "Never thought about that before."

"Neither have I." Kirita suggested, "I guess we just open up the menu and use the map and everything else so much we didn't even notice it."

"Looks that way. In that case," Akio turned his head while holding the map and he pointed, "We don't need to go that way. Looks like we start off by leaving through the main village exit. You ready?"

Kirita grinned as she said, "You know it."

/

Author Notes: What did you guys think of a chapter solely focused on Kirita and Akio? No other main characters, such as Delano and Argo. Just the main duo and a few guest star characters.

Early on, I figured since this story arc is meant to focus on them that most of the scenes of this story arc will focus on them, and their relationship. I'm sure that we'll see scenes involving other characters relatively soon, Kirita and Akio will remain the main focus. If we get scenes with other characters, it would be scenes that would briefly showcase what is going on with them before moving back to Kirita and Akio.

On an interesting note, I finished writing this chapter on the same day my mom prepared her famous homemade chili. It was a lovely meal. Similar to Kirita, my stomach gets filled after one big bowl, and I scrap at the sides with a spoon as well. It is a meal that I can never get tired of. If I can have a small bowl as an appetizer, I'll go for it. Does everyone else like chili?

I hope you all stay safe out there. Be careful and maintain social distancing as much as you can. As long as we all do our part, we will get passed this. The WuFlu will become a memory.

As usual, be sure to leave a review, and I'll see you next time.