Kirito jerked upright.

Huh?

It was dark around him. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he realised he was in his own room.

"Hey, Onii-chan."

Suguha opened the curtains. Kirito shielded his eyes against the light.

She chuckled. "Late night?"

"Wha-… How…"

She sat down at the edge of his bed. "Did you do it? Did you save them? Is it over?"

"Where is my phone?"

"Nightstand."

He grabbed it.

Suguha looked puzzled.

"Hello?" Kirito asked.

[Kirito-kun. How are you doing?]

"Cut the crap, Kikuoka. What do you think you're doing?"

[Oh you seemed tired,] Kikuoka spoke calmly. [So I'd figured I'd help you out a little. Did you have a nice rest?]

"Where are they?" Kirito demanded.

[Home.]

"I don't believe you."

[Go ahead and call them. But you'll just wake them up.]

"You are playing me."

[No Kirito. You played me. Or do you expect me to believe you had no idea what she was planning?]

"Who?"

[As if you don't know.]

"What?"

[Well I suppose you completed your mission. I'll get your payment in order.]

"I don't want your money."

[A deal is a deal. Now, I have work to do.]

"Hey, I'm not-"

A clicking sound cut him off.

Asshole.

"Everything okay, Onii-chan?" his sister asked.

"No." Kirito threw back the covers.

Hold on. What was-

Susguha blushed and averted her eyes as he quickly covered himself with the blanket again.

"W-Where are my clothes?" Kirito stammered.

"I-I took them off."

"When… how… why?"

"You came home last night. Some agents were with you. They said you fall asleep in the car. That you were tired from your mission. Your clothes smelled of sweat and… and blood. I took them off."

"All of them?"

"Well uhm… they were all sweaty."

"Right."

"I'm sorry. I… I should have realised something was off. You're a deep sleeper, but you didn't respond while I undressed you. I should have-"

"It's fine."

"No, I-"

"There was nothing you could have done. Don't go fighting trained agents, Suguha."

"I don't understand. I thought they were on our side? Why else bring you home?"

"I don't understand either," Kirito admitted. "But I'll figure it out."

"After you take a shower," she told him.

"Yeah, okay."

"Keep me posted. I need to go to kendo practise. Will you be okay?"

"Sure."

She gave him a sudden hug.

"S-Suguha?"

"Be careful," she told him. "I don't think this is over yet."

"I'll be fine," he insisted. "Get to your practise."

"Alright."

Suguha left the room.

Kirito sighed.

"Right. A shower."

He went to the bathroom and took a long shower.

Oh that was great.

He sighed. The water was the perfect temperature.

If he wasn't so hungry, he would have stayed there all morning. Wait, it was morning, right?

He glanced outside. The sun was low on the horizon, so it was probably early morning.

Kirito shut off the shower and dried himself off. Then, he wrapped a towel around his waist.

He could get dressed later. Breakfast first.

With his hair still dripping, he got down the stairs and into the…

What the…

The radio was playing. A familiar girl was dancing to an unfamiliar song.

"Y-Yuri?"

She spun around. "Oh. Good morning." She beamed at him. "You want breakfast?"

He studied her. She almost didn't seem real. Yuri wore a pink apron over a black dress and only showed hints of her usual shyness. She seemed a bit too much at ease here.

"How… What are you doing here?" Kirito asked.

"Ye. You can't just ask a girl what she's doing in your kitchen."

"How did you even get in here?"

"Your lovely sister left the door unlocked."

"Okay, what the hell happened? You-"

"Calm down. It's over. We won."

"How is that possible?" he asked her.

"I used my Third Eye ability on myself."

"But… even then, you can't go up against all of them."

"I know," she smiled. "Which is why I deleted my Third Eye ability."

So she used her power to take away her power?

"That's really clever," he told her.

"I also deleted most memories from inside that facility. So I was completely useless to him. When he realised that, he decided to let me go."

"Just like that?"

"Well maybe I threatened him a little bit," she admitted. "His superiors did not know he wanted to keep the Third Eye to himself. And he didn't want them to find out."

"I see."

"So breakfast," she said. "Eggs and bacon?"

"Yeah okay. I… thanks."

"Great."

She got started.

Kirito slowly sat down at the kitchen table. This was an odd development.

"Oh there is one more thing," she said.

"Yeah?"

"Well… I haven't thanked you yet for saving my life."

"Oh that. Don't bother."

"No, no. You saved my life. You should be properly rewarded."

He waved his hand. "Kikuoka already gave me some money."

"I wasn't talking about money," she said.

"Well you're already cooking me breakfast," he pointed out.

"How about I give you some dessert too?" She bit her lip.

Wait what?

Did she mean…

No, no. That made no sense.

"Don't worry," she told him. "Asuna is okay with it."

"What?"

"Yeah. She feels bad for being so jealous and selfish. So she decided to share you from now on."

"That makes no sense."

"I know you don't believe me," Yuri said. "But she's coming over and then she can tell you herself."

"Did you rewrite her too?"

"No. I would never do that. Ye, is that what you think of me?"

Kirito frowned.

Something odd was going on here. No way Asuna was open to sharing him. She-

A sudden sound derailed his train of thoughts.

"Ah, that must be her."

And indeed, a couple seconds later, Asuna entered the kitchen.

"Hey, Kirito-kun." She kissed him on his cheek. "You haven't started without me, have you? You bad boy."

"Uhm…"

Asuna sat down on his lap.

"Listen," she said. "I'm sorry I've been so selfish. But it ends now. From now on, I'll share you with other girls."

"Wha… since when?"

"It's my fault," Yuri said. "When she sat on your lap on the plane, I was curious. So I checked your character files."

"You said-"

"I didn't change anything. I was just curious. And I saw that you are both deeply in love with each other."

"Oh."

"And you are in love with other girls too of course," she added.

"What?"

"Suguha for example."

"That-That's insane," Kirito sputtered. "You're lying."

"The character file never lies," Yuri said. "You secretly fantasise about your sister."

Kirito avoided her eyes. His cheeks were burning.

"Technically she's my cousin," he mumbled.

"And then there is-"

"Okay fine," he cut her off. "What's your point?"

"Well," Asuna said. "I realised that it's pointless to try and stop you. You are in love with plenty of other girls. It's a matter of time before you start to cheat on me."

"I would never-"

"Yes you would. Eventually, you would. So I figured, why fight it? Let's just take control. If you're gonna do it with other girls anyway, I might as well be there with you."

"What?"

"The truth is that…" Asuna blushed. "I've been fantasising about a threesome for a while now. Yuri saw it in my file, so it's pointless to deny it to you. She was gonna tell you anyway."

"You bet I would," Yuri said.

"So given that you know. What do you think? You up for a threesome?"

"I… uhm… what?"

"Why don't we have breakfast first?" Yuri suggested. "He'll need his energy."

"Right. Good idea."

Yuri scooped bacon and eggs on a plate and put it in front of him.

"This is all going so fast all of a sudden," Kirito said.

"You don't want it?" Asuna asked.

"No, I do," he said. "It's just…"

Could this be a trap? Maybe he was in a virtual world right now? Kikuoka could have put him in an AmuSphere after sedating him. And then all of this was a distraction.

There was no way to know for sure. Could he have lost the battle after all?

It all depended on whether Yuri was fast enough. If she had deleted her Third Eye before being sedated, this had to be real. But if she failed, then for all he knew the Third Eye was being used against him right now.

Or maybe-

"It's not a trap or anything," Asuna told him. "I love you. And I want to do this. It just took me a while to figure that out."

"Right," Kirito said slowly.

"Just sit back and enjoy the ride," she said.

He relaxed his shoulders.

He could do that. Even if this was all fake, it's not like there was a lot he could do. He might as well enjoy it.

After everything he had gone through, he deserved a break. He could figure out what all of this meant later on.

"I love you, Asuna."

She smiled. "Love you too, Kirito-kun."

"Me too," Yuri said. "Kirito-kun."