"Oneechan...wake up."
Kazu struggled to open her eyes. She recognized the voice but she couldn't place a name immediately. Another memory either blurred or lost because of being too immersed into Underworld. It wasn't Suguha, who she had seen the night previous. Before her eyes managed to flutter open, she recalled that recently another person became part of her family.
"Oneechan?"
Kazu saw the long black silky hair and thin face of Yuuki and she smiled.
"Good morning. How long was I out?"
Yuuki sighed in relief.
"It's not morning anymore, at least. It's early evening. I just got home from school. Are you okay? Sugu-neechan hasn't told me anything..."
Kazu yawned and stayed under the comfort of her covers. She wanted to stay asleep. She began explaining in her half asleep state.
"I was taking care of some work with Eugeo, Alice, Selka and Kirii and...oh, that leads to confidential stuff. I...was working with Kikuoka-san who is working with Ela-san who helped me save you. There were complications with my involvement and it made me really tired. It's no big deal."
Yuuki pouted.
"You're keeping secrets from me too...but you told me more. Who are Eugeo, Alice, Selka and Kirii?"
Kazu's mind woke up a little more and she thought about how to answer that.
"They're...people who Ela has me working with for the new job. Like patients or students."
Yuuki nodded in understanding.
"So you took some of their medicine by accident? That's really reckless for you."
Kazu nodded and yawned again. Her body begged for more rest.
"I'm still really under the effects so I think I'm going back to sleep. It was good to hear your voice and see you, Yuuki."
Yuuki gave her a big smile.
"I'm going to complain to Ela-san when she comes back later."
Before Kazu could protest, she fell back asleep. Yuuki pouted, but she went downstairs to the kitchen. She had been learning from instructional videos Kazu prepared for her, so she had been mentally practicing for her turn to prepare dinner. She enjoyed the idea of cooking because she could be a little creative, and prepping ingredients was good for keeping up her real life reflexes in wielding a bladed weapon. Especially since she didn't have an AR game to practice with since Ordinal Scale was shut down. She took up kendo practice with a coaching program built in the AR, but that wasn't quite what she was looking for. At least having the dojo to use was helpful.
Everything she was experiencing were things she craved since her previously terminal illness was terminated through Kazu and Ela's efforts. Kazu was the one who was physically there for her and like family, while Ela was just someone she saw on occasion through the AR network who was involved.
Yuuki was still new to the family. She got lots of videos, programs, but they weren't able to spend a lot of time together. Suddenly she was sick from the first night of her new job. The elder sister she respected so much, her saviour. There was trouble at her new job and it made her sick. It made her realize just how fragile Kazu was, just like any other person.
Now Yuuki wanted to make a delicious meal to help with Kazu's exhaustion.
"What was her favourite dish again...? It was in one of her instructional videos to me, but she didn't label them with favourite..."
Yuuki browsed through them as quickly as possible to refresh herself and found a sandwich recipe she recalled. It was a specially seasoned, well toasted bun sandwich with several healthy comfort foods stuffed inside. It was relatively simple and easy to make, but she confirmed it being Kazu's favourite. She considered some side dishes and got to work.
From preparing the vegetables, to frying ingredients, steaming others, getting everything nice and soft and easy to chew. The flavouring was just right the whole way. She understood Kazu's tastes from it, but also forgot that some other members of the family didn't like spicy food from the instructions. She continued, adding the spicy sauce to all of the sandwiches and setting plenty complimentary side dishes per Kazu's recommendations, and set the table. It took her about thirty minutes and Midori showed up, the first to get home from work, and before Suguha who had a job. Yuuki realized she had been forgetful that there weren't usually many people home that evening of the week.
"...well, at least it's good reheated and cold, the main dish. The side dishes though..."
"We can just have the side dishes for dinner with Kazu-chan. Don't worry about it."
Yuuki still maintained her blush. She was embarrassed to have made such a blunder for her first time. Though she had confidence in the food, she made enough for the whole family so it was too much, and she seasoned the main dish to the spice level Kazu preferred. She was fond of the spice level as well, she hummed in delight when she was testing along the way. She really liked Kazu's way of cooking and sense of taste, she felt like they were really family in that sense, at least.
"You're a lot like Kazu, you know. At least from what I've been able to understand of you so far. Quick to learn, elegant and nimble with your movements, you move like a princess. She really was in charge of your rehabilitation..."
Yuuki didn't get a break from her blushing.
"Oh, don't take it too seriously. I just enjoy your blush. That's also like her. You're both so cute when you're embarrassed. Especially since Kazu doesn't get embarrassed often, she doesn't blush much anymore. If you blush even a little more, that will be enough to remind me you're the younger sister. She's a bit of a perfectionist because of certain things in her youth, so she's careful to not embarrass herself. I miss those cute moments of hers."
Yuuki pouted, her blush finally fading.
"I'd rather not be a replacement for her embarrassing moments. I think I'll take up after her perfectionist motivations so I'm not viewed for such moments."
Midori pouted.
"Aww, well let's get to eating. I'm sure cute moments will happen naturally. I'm glad to have more family, especially since Kazu and Suguha have grown up so fast. They're already working, they're thinking hard about the future, and they're not having as many cute moments anymore. But that often happens when someone grows up and finds a purpose."
Yuuki smiled and adjusted the dishes so there was only the side dishes left, as Midori had suggested.
"I'm going to wash my hands, why don't you go and wake up Kazu, Yuuki?"
She nodded and went up to Kazu's room. When she got inside the room, she was still surprised by the amount of cute plushies and soft, light colours. It was the cutest she could imagine a girl's room to be. It didn't really fit with the expectations she had that she might be an incredibly tidy and minimalist with her decorations type of person. But she really was cute at heart. No matter how impressive and adult she was, no matter how much of an overachiever, she was still short of being an actual adult in age. She might keep on being a kid in terms of her room preferences.
"It's time for dinner, oneechan. I made some of your favourites."
Kazu groaned.
"Yuuki-chan?"
Kazu turned over and struggled her eyes open. When they opened, Yuuki was really close.
"How was your sleep?"
Kazu yawned a little.
"Not quite satisfying enough, but you said dinner so hopefully that'll help me get whatever else I need...thank you, Yuuki-chan."
She smiled, got up and checked herself over briefly in the mirror next to her wardrobe and tidied her hair. She pulled a housecoat over her shoulders to cover herself up more and nodded to Yuuki.
"Let's go have dinner."
They gave each other a smile and Kazu moved a little slower than Yuuki expected her to. She seemed to be looking at her hands when she looked back, but Kazu just lowered her hands with a disappointed expression.
"Are you okay?"
Kazu nodded.
"Mhm, I just need to wash my hands before I eat."
Yuuki looked at Kazu's hands. She didn't understand why a disappointed expression would have been the result of looking at her hands, but she didn't think it was appropriate to push it at the moment. Kazu turned off to clean her hands in the kitchen sink, and joined them at the table after. The three of them gave each other a smile and placed their hands together in thanks for the meal before beginning.
"I just noticed, these are all side dishes. Did you not make their accompanying main dish? Either way, I'm grateful you're just serving the side dishes. I'm not sure my stomach could handle a main dish right now..."
Kazu's words had Yuuki worried. Kazu hadn't eaten anything all day, sleeping since getting home from her job. If she wasn't hungry, then she was really sick.
"I made the main dish too, but I accidentally made enough for everyone, and Suguha-neechan and papa aren't home early enough for dinner to be fresh, so I put the main dishes away since they can be reheated..."
She was blushing again, but she wanted to show a sign of good faith so that Kazu might tell her more.
"If I think I can handle some more after my share of these side dishes, would it be okay if I have a main dish? I won't push it, but it would be a shame for no main dish to be eaten here."
Yuuki shook her head.
"If you're feeling sick, then just eat until you're no longer hungry, right? You were so persistent with that while I was rehabilitating..."
Kazu smiled.
"That's right. I'm just figuring out how my body is responding to such a long sleep. It's been a long time since I had such a long sleep after all."
Yuuki nodded.
Midori was enjoying the dinner while Kazu and Yuuki were chatting and she was pleasantly surprised how much the food tasted like when Kazu made the same dish. She didn't know about the recipe videos and teaching Yuuki had been making use of.
"This is so good! Where did you learn how to cook, Yuuki-chan?"
"Uhm..."
She looked to Kazu, then back to Midori.
"I learned in VR from oneechan during rehabilitation, and she gave me videos and recipes, so I learned from her."
Midori nodded happily.
"No wonder your cooking is so good, you learned from such a good teacher. Did you know, Suguha used to struggle with making food. When Kazu started living with us, she got even less time in the kitchen, but at some point I think during that unfortunate experience they went through before, Kazu started teaching her so now they trade days. I haven't been able to make anything unless both of them are busy for a while. But both of their food and yours are delicious. I wonder what your unique changes will be to the cooking eventually..."
She was happy with her daughters all being commonly good at something they could share and help teach each other with and grow eventually. Kazu and Suguha had their own cooking signatures. Kazu liked making spicy food for herself, but she was really good at making something according to a situation or someone's need. Suguha was very good at comfort cooking, making dishes that tasted gentle and were easy to eat, very little effort. She wondered how Yuuki would be different.
They finished the side dishes, but along the way Kazu had to stop because she wasn't hungry anymore at some point while Midori and Yuuki were eating.
"That was really good, it seems your lessons have really paid off. Congratulations on your first real meal."
Yuuki nodded with a smile.
"I'm only embarrassed that I made so much, forgetting that Sugu-neechan and papa wouldn't be here early enough to eat with us."
Kazu nodded.
"I've made that mistake before, but it's not so bad. At least you prioritized us eating the foods that would spoil faster."
Yuuki smiled with a soft blush on her cheeks.
"Well, let's get cleaned up then. I think I need to have a bath to wake myself up the rest of the way, because I've been feeling ready to fall back asleep the whole time I've been out of bed."
Yuuki nodded.
"I'll start the bath and be right back then."
She got up and hurried to the washroom. Kazu leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes, breathing like she was relieved of some kind of pressure.
"Are you sure you'll be able to stay awake in the bath? That could be dangerous if you're still that sleepy."
Midori's question got a nod out of Kazu and she kept her head leaning back.
"I'll be fine. I'm more exhausted from...something confidential. I just need a bath to remind me where I am. I feel like I worked eleven years last night..."
Midori nodded.
"Ela-san said as much and apologized to me, but I didn't think it would get to you so much. You always bounce back so quickly, after all."
Kazu hummed.
"I guess that is normal for me...I feel so out of place still."
Midori sighed.
"Eleven years...Ela-san said you spent some time in an accelerated virtual environment to test something, but eleven years is a little too specific to shrug off, and that's over five times longer than you were trapped in the other game."
Kazu nodded.
"Sorry, I can't really go into more details for now. But yes since she included that, I spent roughly eleven years in a virtual environment. I should have taken more breaks in between, but I guess there was just so much work getting done that they pulled me out when they realized the risk to my health. I recall Ela-san saying...that such events toward the end of when they pulled me out were things that I would take out and probably be stuck with."
Midori got up from her chair and pulled Kazu to her feet when she got next to her from around the table, hugging her with enough strength to make Kazu feel like she was finally rooted in reality again.
"I'm home."
"Welcome home. You worked real hard. I'm so proud of you."
She didn't get such moments with Kazu very often, but it was something she was glad Kazu was allowing. She hoped it would help somehow. Kazu hugged back a little stronger, and Yuuki returned, hugging Kazu from behind.
"Just remember that you're here, you're safe, and you'll always have family ready to support you."
Kazu had tears in her eyes. She hid them through the hug, holding herself closer to Midori. Yuuki hugged tighter as well.
"If I become a little different from how you know me to be, please take care of me in the future..."
Those words sent chills through Yuuki and Midori. They looked at each other, back down at Kazu and Midori asked.
"Why would you become different?"
Kazu blinked away the tears, let go of them and looked up to meet their eyes.
"...my current job has certain risks that Ela-san is doing everything she can to prevent, but if something goes wrong or someone hacks in with bad intentions, the me you know could become overwritten."
She ran up to her room, locked the door and cried herself back to sleep in her pillow, to muffle it from them. She didn't want to worry them, but something in her let it out. She could only regret not holding that part of herself back.
Kazu in her sleep accessed the augmented network and with her virtual body, she used stealth to leave the house undetected. She used level three stealth from back during her time in Aincrad. It only worked for a short time, but she could walk through solid objects with it so long as it wasn't too large. Weapons were easily useless against her in that form of stealth, but she was also able to be perfectly undetected in every way. When she got out, she swapped from stealth three to stealth one so that she could only not be seen. She sprouted her fairy wings from Alfheim and flew to the RATH headquarters, where she saw Ela's vehicle parked. She quickly switched back up to level 3 stealth to pass through the entrance and stopped for a moment to wait until Argo was typing again, but it seemed Argo was on a break.
Kazu applied full silence to her visual stealth and continued moving. She made her way to the STL wing and she stopped along the way at a server room. There was someone she didn't recognize from the crew in there. It was possible that one person from the crew hadn't been introduced to her, because her memory was hazy on who all was on the team. She shook her head and continued the rest of the way to the STL wing. The main room of the STL wing was as imposing as ever, the giant light cube telling her how many lives were living inside of Underworld. One light inside the cube was completely still, but brighter than the rest.
"I'm begging you Ela-san, please let someone else go in with her!"
"No, Kikuoka-san. I'm going to run her participation in the project from my vehicle. It'll be safer and I don't need to worry about her being affected by whatever tampering your previous workers were doing. I'm going to have to take the remaining days of this next week installing an STL medicuboid in my vehicle so she can have the full safety."
Seijirou sighed.
"Please, just hear out the reasoning to sending another person in there-"
"No, I've already explained to you several times that another person is too much information to manage, and too much possibility for critical change to happen too fast. Kazu-chan is progressing it at just fine of a pace. Imagine two people at her level in there. They could change everything in days if the other person had destructive urges."
He was tapping a foot against the floor.
"Please listen! I have someone in mind that would fit similar criteria to Kirigaya-kun, and I can prepare everything to manage this person myself the same way you were managing her. I've been studying everything you were doing and have all the information recorded. This person could just support her, and they would also have memories from this side suppressed so they don't interfere."
She shook her head side to side.
"I said no. Think about it this way. One more person would be unpredictable no matter how much we understand their personality. They will act the way their personality would naturally develop in whatever environment they are placed in. If you want to drop a "lost child" near Rulid and have them interact with everyone, it could potentially be very damaging. Suddenly another dark lander with their memories gone is there. And would they be a blood elf like Kirim and Kirii? Or would you send in another race? There are too many things to consider, and if you make one mistake, it could lead to them ostracizing whoever you send in, or make it so imbalanced that they just decide to wipe out the dark lands in no time. We always have to think about a person's base personality. That's another reason I shouldn't be the one in there. If there was something I didn't like, I might not hesitate to destroy it, having the power to."
He sighed, but at the end he was startled.
"I...didn't know you had such destructive tendencies. It indeed is good we have Kirigaya-kun in there. I guess that also dispels my suggestion. I really think after last night we should have someone else in there, but if there's no way..."
Ela tapped her fingers against a desk and brought up an AR window.
"She won't be alone when I send her in next. I'll be backing her up with a world appropriate support – Kiin. I've been teaching her pet dragon from Sword Art Online things that can help with protecting Kirim. I've also been teaching him how to communicate with her for the first time in there all day. Kirim won't be fully sentient, so only able to communicate directly with Kirim's mind."
Kikuoka had an expression of disbelief.
"You want to send in another AI?"
Ela gave an expression of disdain.
"You have a problem with that? I'm tailoring a familiar to her pet into the role perfectly. I'm clearing up any issues that sending in another person could cause. It wouldn't hurt her to have a baby dragon companion in case something happens to Rithi regardless. If you keep thinking inside of boxes, it makes it more difficult to keep things simple and easily achieved. Throwing another complex person at an already complex problem is adding potential for total disaster. Do you want to start over and hurt Kazu that badly? I told you to leave it to me."
He recoiled and flopped back in his chair. He couldn't help but admit that he was wrong. He was always wrong when it was an argument with Ela. His confidence was taking a major hit all the time around her. She was amazing in countless ways, and never wrong about anything in a way he could help. It was his project, but she completely took over it. She had the kind of personality that completely overtook whatever she was working on. The unreal pace she moved at was completely impossible to keep up with. She already worked like a machine before her body was one, now it was even more impossible to keep up. He wondered sometimes if he could trust her and her AI to not usurp the current world order and change the world into her ideal through force. For her, now she could just take her time and eventually have it her way, and that terrified him. Even if she didn't have her new connection with the Japanese government through him, she would have been on that track.
Seijirou realized that his intents with her in the beginning were no better than her intentions. And she made it clear she was only planning to advance the world. No force was involved in her explanation. But manipulating people through their desires was also an underhanded way of dealing with things. He recalled something that she said near the beginning of their agreements, that money didn't mean anything to her, and she hated the currency system because of how broken it was. He had a feeling that would be something she would change. If he accounted all the small things she said she hated, he realized there was little to fear as far as anyone being hurt or overly manipulated. The currency system might be changed to some perfect system she had come up with and work globally, the work system could change in the same way, the governing systems of the world could change, and she had a short story which told of her perfect future. A future with true equality between all people. She had mentioned so many things she disliked, but not one was something he could think would endanger life. She'd be saving the world, just in a way that was like waging war on the governments of the world and the corporate powers entangled with them.
The more he thought about it, the more interested he was in her. The less afraid. She was a logical person from the beginning, driven by her desires and what was logically possible. If it was her, anything was possible. He wondered if he would see her ideal world in his lifetime. He wanted to see it. Vehicles like hers all over the place, people no longer fighting over meaningless things, AR literally everywhere, melded with the world. Governments dissolved for being replaced by the original purpose they were to serve, corporations transformed to serve people and not the select few at the top, and infrastructure transformed to a point that people could live in comfort while living interesting, exciting and fulfilling lives. It was all hinted at through how she talked. He found terror toward her turn into admiration and support. He wanted to support her with everything he had.
"I have no problem with you sending in Kiin to help Kirigaya-kun. In fact, could you tell me any other plans you have with regard to the project I could help with?"
"Nope, just leave it to me."
"So cruel~ you've taken my project from me."
His tone changed to teasing, but he was excited. He couldn't help himself. The world she would make Earth into might be a paradise to him, but the most important thing was that it was interesting, and so was she.