"What happened earlier today?"

Suguha was drying her hair with a towel as she finally got through in an AR call to Rika. The space around Suguha changed into a mellow green colour and Rika was standing in front of her, still wearing her school uniform. She wore a depressed expression on her face.

"It...it's nothing..."

Suguha let out a deep sigh and walked through the environment closer to Rika, keeping in mind that her room wasn't infinite and reminded by the AR device she was nearing a wall and giving her a layout of something close that Rika wouldn't see.

"It's obvious it isn't nothing. We're really close friends, aren't we?"

Rika sat down and hugged her knees to her chest and hid her face.

"I shouldn't have answered the call..."

"Why did you take so long to respond?"

Suguha immediately got to asking for answers she had questions of. Rika stayed in the fetal position and didn't move. Suguha shrank the virtual environment, turned her perception of it so Rika would be in a space she could move closer to and sat next to her, putting an arm around her shoulder.

"I'm sorry if any of us did anything, but I'm not sure that's the case. There's any number of things we might have done wrong, but I'm unfortunately not as perceptive as oneechan so didn't pick up exactly what would make you so depressed...right?"

Rika poked her head out a little, looked Suguha in the eyes and hid her face again.

"You, nor anyone else did anything wrong. It was me that made the mistake..."

Suguha gripped a little tighter and whispered to Rika.

"We all make mistakes, and unless you tell me what it was, I unfortunately can't help. I want to help as your friend. I'm not the best out of our guild at solving problems, but maybe I picked up some helpful things from oneechan."

"I...went to the sculpting club to ask if I could be a sub member..."

Rika's voice sounded more depressed than Suguha could remember it ever being. She felt sympathetic. She had been similarly embarrassed by what she could guess the situation was leading to.

"...I hadn't thought about the potential that an art club wouldn't operate in a main/sub club system like the sports clubs. I made that kind of mistake...the sculpting club president got angry and told me that I was just there to show off and say I wouldn't be taking part in the club. I did pretty well with my demonstration of ability, but apparently that only made it worse. Ammo for her to say I was showing off. I feel like such an idiot. We were all kind of showing off in physical education too. Others our age can't move like we did unless they were in training specifically for it for a long time."

Suguha bit her lip a little, realizing how right Rika was about the situation. They had become show offs. It wasn't intended as such, but it came out that way because of their experiences. They became different people over the two years. Their mental and physical fortitude, the muscle memory in their brains for movement, the mental and physical itch to do as much as they were capable or just to push their exercises or activities to better themselves. They lived in a society which only asked so much out of its students. Suddenly having a bunch of star students who have the experience of two years professionally fighting for their lives around would ostracize them from their class.

"We can't help it...but since you explained, it makes a lot of sense. We could practice restraint in class and do our remaining exercise and practice after school. Either we hold ourselves back like I just said, we take the offer to go to the specialized school for SAO survivors or we continue on like this and accept that we're different."

Rika was looking at Suguha for an answer. Her expectation was stifling. Suguha wondered if Rika saw Kazu in her place in that moment.

"As far as your situation with being called out for showing off by the sculpting club president, I would just move forward. Unless you can recall something she was working on, or what the club was working on, I can't think of anything. Sit in with them for a week, learn from them a bit since we're just forming our club, and make it an equal exchange. Teach them some of the things you learned while we were in Aincrad. Thank them for teaching you anything you didn't know yet. Try and patch things up and only apologize when you're on good terms with them. If you apologize too soon, they might think you have a very inflated ego, which you clearly don't."

She sighed and let go of holding her tiring arm from around Rika's shoulders and stood up.

"Getting things out of order, making communication mistakes, we all make mistakes at times. I'm also sorry about rarely considering your social anxiety. It must be tough for you at school. I don't think accepting going to the survivors school would be the best answer, but I'll bring it up with the others who came to our school to check if they would be interested in going to the survivors school for that reason. It was meant for numerous reasons, not just for rehabilitation. It was to make sure we smoothly return to society. To make sure we can come down from the tension we were experiencing. To return to somewhat of a normal life at the least so we don't disrupt the lives of people around us, since we live in a country which has certain expectations."

Rika was calm by the time Suguha finished explaining what the school for survivors was for.

"Wasn't there a reason for not going to that school?"

Suguha showed Rika a deep frown and shrugged.

"Because oneechan wanted to return to a normal life before being swept along into full time work in the future, at least by a bit. I also wanted to return to a familiar school environment, but overall it's just not sitting well with me. I think we should have gone to the school specifically meant for the survivors in the first place. Just because the school doesn't have the history to have notoriety of being an accomplished school, promising prosperous futures to its students just isn't really possible. A normal school with a history of good students with good futures just looks better when applying to further education like colleges."

Suguha's final explanation led to her standing up and holding out a hand to pull Rika up to her feet. It was strange that they could interact like that when they were in totally different physical locations, just because of the AR device's contact perception influencing their sense of touch and movement. They were only in an augmented environment, not virtual.

With them both on their feet, Rika gave out a small whisper that Suguha couldn't pick up.

"What was that?"

Rika shook her head and waved her arms in between them to deny repeating what she said.

"Come on, after all that you're not going to keep me informed with a little whisper?"

Rika's face went a shade of red that Suguha was surprised by. The time she had to process the shade of her face and the expression wasn't long enough to prepare her for what was coming.

"I said...that you and Kazu have a thing for giving me conflicted feelings..."

Suguha's embarrassed expression and deep red blush made them nearly matching at least in the tone of their faces. She looked Rika in the eyes and shifted her gaze side to side, not ready to reply to such a thing.

"Don't worry about responding to that. I just felt bad that...I don't want to hide anything from my friends anymore. Maybe not necessary to share, but..."

Suguha sighed and hugged Rika.

"It's okay, I'm sorry for pressuring you to answer. Anyway, we should do our homework. I'm going to log into the virtual server after taking care of some dinner. If you were having more than some fleeting emotional response, maybe we'll try something."

Suguha's face was a crimson red as she closed the augmented space. She left her room and went to the kitchen to start preparing dinner, only to notice that her mother was there, home early from work. Her mind quickly cleared from thoughts regarding Rika but her cheeks still burned hot with the sensation of embarrassment lingering.

"I'm home~ since apparently you couldn't hear me before."

Midori turned around and saw the blush on Suguha's face. She became curious quickly and stopped cutting the vegetables she had on the chopping board in front of her. When she got close to Suguha, her blush grew stronger.

"Hmmm~ with that kind of reaction I have a very interesting guess. Is there a new special someone in your life?"

Suguha pouted and walked past her mother, taking over the vegetable prep.

"Welcome home, and I don't know yet. I just...don't know. I was helping my friend Rika – Lisbeth from SAO. After I finished giving her advice, she let out a whisper I couldn't make out. After I asked her to repeat herself, she said that oneechan and me have a thing for giving her conflicting feelings. Most of us from there had romantic feelings for oneechan, which means it's likely that's what she meant...and I said maybe we'll try something."

Midori gave a smirk, standing on the other side of the counter where Suguha's hands were working.

"What's this about romantic feelings? Toward Kazu-chan? It seems my daughter needs a little reminder. That close of relation isn't allowed, especially in our family because of tradition. At least you are being honest though."

Suguha sighed and shrugged her shoulders.

"I gave up on that with oneechan anyway. I'm more surprised you're accepting us both being romantically interested with other girls. Especially considering the traditional values of our family and passing down inheritance of the dojo."

Midori shrugged.

"I would rather you be happy than worrying about passing down the dojo to the generation after you. Besides, Kazu-chan already has a daughter~ and she doesn't exactly get old like us so she would be able to inherit the dojo. It's not like she would be limited by the inheritance."

Suguha smiled.

"Not sure how valid having an AI, no matter how human or advanced, as the inheritor would be. I figure that if and when oneechan and I are set in our relationships, we're probably going to adopt. The children we adopt wouldn't be related by blood, but do they really have to be in order to pass on inheritance?"

Midori nodded with her smile growing.

"I'm happy you caught on."

Suguha looked down, noticing that while they were talking she had finished preparing all the vegetables for dinner. All the ingredients for fried rice and a basic stir fry. She continued her work on the dinner and called Shino when her mother went to work on cleaning up the living room and the table for having dinner together.

Shino was also cooking when she answered the call. Suguha remembered that Shino also struggled with cooking in the past, that she had been practicing a lot when she could during their time together in Aincrad. Shino was still preparing ingredients while Suguha was getting started on the cooking stage.

"How are you doing? Got home with no issues?"

Shino nodded her head, keeping her eyes on the work she was doing with her hands.

"I got home safe, getting dinner ready before my parents get home from work. How are you doing? Got home safe?"

Suguha also responded with a nod.

"I got home safe. Mom's home a little early today, so she's cleaning up everything over here. It would be kind of boring to be just cooking on my own, which is why I called. I hope it's not too much of a bother."

Shino shook her head and smiled.

"No, I appreciate the company. I'm just trying to not lop a finger or two off while cutting these vegetables in prepping for dinner."

They both stifled laughter, both of them proceeding with their own cooking while continuing the conversation.

"Has Rika spoken to you since getting out of school?"

Shino shook her head.

"No, I haven't heard from her. Something happened? I remember you mentioning it being strange she didn't meet up with us at the club room we picked out."

"Right. So I talked to her and some things came up. Basically since there were some things she should be sharing instead of me, I'll keep it simple. There's a concern about our skills from within SAO would be considered showing off. That maybe we should have gone with the specialized school for survivors. I want to know your opinion."

Shino nodded emphatically.

"Yes. I'm very uncomfortable with all the staring from people we don't know. And as far as we're concerned, we're just moving normally. Physical education was stressful. I felt like their staring would make me slip or make a mistake. Thankfully I didn't but I was way more conscious of myself. We're at a school with students who aren't used to the kind of mobility we're very used to."

Suguha sighed.

"I should have thought about it more. We just followed oneechan, but we haven't even spent any time at this school with her. We haven't heard about her standing out, so maybe she fit in with everyone just fine. It's us who are struggling with fitting in even though she's the most adept at everything out of all of us."

"It's not your fault or our fault. We just wanted to be together and Kazu had her own good reason. We just didn't adapt properly this time. We could just slow ourselves down, but I think maybe the survivors school would be the better option over all."

They both sighed, realizing that their first day back at a normal school might be the last until they graduate. They were in their high school years. They were going to be moving onto college or working after they finished their high school graduation. At least, at the survivor school they wouldn't need to worry about a thing like bullies. They would just need to worry about those who might have sympathized with Laughing Coffin or those who practically worshiped the progression group. The thing was, there was security and plenty of supervision.

"Have you talked to anyone other than Rika and me about this?"

Shino's question brought Suguha back out of her thoughts.

"Not entirely with my mom, but I mentioned something else to her that came up in the conversation. Would you be alright with me bringing Asuna into the call?"

She nodded and finally began the cooking process. All the preparations were done for the dinner she was making. Suguha called Asuna to bring her into the call. Between the three of them, they could contact the rest of their friend group by the end of the night and work on transferring from the regular school to the survivor school the next day. It was a shame that their first day at the regular school would be the last.

"Good evening Suguha and Shino. What's the occasion?"

Suguha explained the situation and Asuna frowned.

"I'm not sure I would be able to follow back to the survivor school. It was difficult enough to convince my mother to let me transfer to the school we did. She expressed thorough disapproval of going to the survivor school. And to be truthful, Kazu had a second reason for choosing the school she did. So that she would be able to attend the same school as me. Getting into the school I was originally enlisted at is impossible for people who weren't raised into it from a young age. So coming to another well known school with good reputation was her best option. I'm sorry but if the rest of our group move to the school for survivors, I will be staying at this school and Kazu likely will as well."

Suguha and Shino were looking between each other and Asuna as she explained the situation.

"I'm sorry for not bringing it up sooner, but honestly we don't really need to go to the same school. We could always use AR to experience school together. We're already doing this much after all."

Asuna motioned at their current layout. They were in their own homes, but the area between them was arranged by AR to have two different kitchen layouts and an expensive looking desk with textbooks and a mess of paper on Asuna's end.

"True...and it's not like our classes would be able to tell if we're just using the augmented environment to feel like we're in the same room."

It seemed they had come to an agreement that Asuna wasn't changing schools. That the rest of their group likely would.

"I'm sorry about not being able to compromise. My family is very controlling and concerned about my future after what happened with Noboyuki-san. They don't trust Kazu's name as the hero of SAO to be able to support the life they want me to have, and they want me to have the best possible future and work I can achieve. They don't want me to just rely on her or support her, but to have my own thing."

Suguha and Shino sighed. Part of them wished it were them being able to talk about a partner relationship with Kazu in the future. Asuna and Kazu made it clear they were romantically involved with each other, which made any who was romantically interested in either of them respectfully take a step back. Eventually everyone figured they would emotionally move on, but currently they still had mixed feelings about their relationship.

"Shino, check your frying pan."

Asuna pointed out the frying pan because she saw it smoking a little too much and wanted to make sure she didn't burn the food.

"Ah, thanks."

Shino adjusted the temperature and stirred the contents of her pan to make sure nothing was sticking to the pan. Two different dinners being cooked in the same augmented space. It was mind boggling to them sometimes how much could be achieved through augmented reality. How much could change just from their perception being altered.

The intensity of finding out just what augmenting the reality around them truly meant, changed everything. Virtual reality was still necessary if people wanted to experience total fantasy within their reality, but it would be entirely possible to have fantasy-like appearances augmented over other people and make city buildings appear different. Perception was the key part. Altering only what's perceived instead of changing anything outright was powerful. The mind was a very impressionable thing. It was baffling every time they all considered just what kind of technology they were dealing with that it worked like that. That it was safe.

"Haah...well, thanks for saving me from burning it."

"You're welcome, I wasn't quite sure what you were making but better to let you know just in case than let it burn."

Asuna buckled into her homework and Suguha finished cooking the food for her dinner.

"Well, thanks for talking to us like this before we go into the virtual server. I'm going to turn off augments for a bit to enjoy dinner with mom first. Hopefully we can get a lot of things done in the virtual server done, make sure things go smoothly tomorrow."

Suguha disconnected from the augments and the environment shifted a little for Asuna and Shino's perspectives. It felt a little disorienting, but it didn't take more than a few seconds to get used to the shift in perception.

"How are you doing Asuna? Will you be okay on your own until Kazu gets back from her job? I was thinking of staying at that school until the weekend if not. I'm confident I can hold myself back from the reason Suguha and Rika had for transferring, and you and Kazu could use some familiar company. I don't really want to be a third wheel, but I want your opinion first before making any decision."

Asuna gave Shino a confused expression through everything she said.

"I would be fine. We certainly had a long time together, but being together through AR would be enough for me. It wouldn't be that much of an issue for me to hold back and fit in with everyone at this school. I have to take what I can. I don't want to make anyone, including you, to go out of their way for my sake. I will be fine."

Shino frowned and moved the food she was cooking from pan to dishes and then responded.

"I feel...like I'm not fitting in anywhere right now. Back in Aincrad, I always had a place with everyone. I don't know if I should be going with the larger part of our friend group, or if I should support you and Kazu. I'm not feeling particularly attached to either side. I already have a good idea of what to do for my future, but other than that..."

Asuna gave her a warm smile in return.

"Don't worry about it. More friends together, the better. We will get our regular time together. I have a feeling your future prospects are currently based on your archery skill?"

Shino nodded with a blush on her face.

"Yeah...anyway, I'm going to put some of this away for my family and join everyone in the virtual server soon. Don't work too hard."

Asuna was left alone, maintaining her augmented space. She had the most strange circumstances out of everyone in their group. She needed the assurance of being in an augmented environment to keep herself stable. Nothing else helped. Not even the presence of people important to her. She felt like reality was more and more terrifying, more and more crippling and disabling. That she was impossibly weak and unable to cope. With augments shaping her perspective, she was better. She was living almost perpetually in augmented reality. Ela had warned her numerous times that she should be lessening how often she is augmenting her perception, but she couldn't help herself. Her mind denied reality so harshly she couldn't do anything and she felt intense need to be doing anything productive.

Between the things she was keeping from everyone other than Kazu, and the secrets they were developing, she knew they couldn't go back to how they were already. Back in Aincrad, everyone knew almost everything about each other within the guild if they were part of the original 8 members. She missed Aincrad dearly. Being able to visit it every night through the virtual server wasn't enough. Not being there was utterly debilitating. She didn't know what to do for her future in spite of the idea she would support Kazu, and she had many prospective future jobs she could do herself. Would she follow Kazu even more closely in future plans and try to do similar work? Or something else? She didn't know what to do with herself and that was what she thought pulled her most into staying in augmented reality. She was only stable outside of augmented reality when she was with Kazu, and she needed the constant reminder they were together. She was still strong, still achieving some of the highest grades, and she learned quickly, but she needed a direction other than just being with Kazu.

She hoped with everything she had in her, that Kazu would finish her current job as soon as possible for numerous reasons. The strongest reason she found clawing to the top was the dependence she was feeling.