A/N: Hello readers, I'm back with another chapter of Mother's Reconciliation. This chapter, Asuna will be telling her family on how she met Yuuki and the adventure the two of them started. This chapter will also talk about Kouichirou's personality and background (or at least my speculation of it).

I'm sorry if I made some of the characters from the previous chapters a bit OOC. If you see something that you think needs improvement, then please leave it in the comment section! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own SAO or its characters. They belong to Reki-sensei!


Chapter 3: Looking Back – Part 1


After washing herself and changing out of her soaked school uniform, Asuna felt considerably better. So, after getting out of the shower, she went back to her room to see her parents sitting on her bed and her brother sitting on the chair near the bed, waiting for her.

Asuna went into her room and sat down on the bed between her parents.

"Here. Drink up. It'll help warm you up." Kouichirou said as he handed Asuna a cup of tea that Sada had brought up when she was in the shower.

Asuna accepted the cup gratefully and practically downed the tea in almost one go.

"Would you like to start talking about it? You don't have to if you don't want to…" Shouzou said to Asuna with slight hesitation in his voice. But Asuna shook her head.

"No, I insist, Tou-san. I need to get this off my chest. But, it'll take a while to tell you everything, so please listen to the end." Then she gave a sigh and started her story.

"That girl in the picture with me, her name is Konno Yuuki. We first met in ALO during the first or second week of January this year. Around that time, in ALO, there was a rumor going on about a particularly powerful player nicknamed the 'Zekken' who was challenging people to duels in ALO and won every single one of them. The Me and my friends started talking about the player and it got my interest when Kazuto-kun's sister told me that even he had lost to the Zekken. Kazuto-kun was well known to be one of the strongest player in ALO, so I wanted to see for myself who this Zekken was, so we decided to meet up next day and go the place where the Zekken always dueled, so that they could watch me duel the Zekken." She said and her family listened on.

"So, when we went to the place with my friends as well as Kazuto-kun, I was surprised to see that the Zekken was a girl. A girl in her early teens at that." When Kouichirou heard that part, he put the pieces together. "Wait. Then does that mean that this Konno Yuuki-chan and Zekken were one and the same?" Asuna nodded in confirmation to her brother's question.

"Wow… and here I thought that this Zekken was a guy, with how you described her." Kouichirou said, sounding astonished. Asuna almost giggled at her brother. It was funny how their thoughts were alike. She had, like Kouichirou, thought that the Zekken was some muscular guy when she had first heard about it. So, she gave a small smile to her brother and then continued on with her story.

"Anyway, when I got to duel with Yuuki, I could immediately tell that her skills weren't anything to be scoffed at. And so I started fighting more seriously because, well, because the day before the duel, I had a fight with Kaa-san about changing school and the whole suitor business. I'm sure you remember about it Kaa-san. So I wanted to get them off my mind by fighting her." Asuna said as she looked at Kyouko.

Kyouko could remember that day. At the time, she had been dissatisfied with the way Asuna's study was going. She had already missed two years of studying because of the SAO incident and honestly couldn't understand Asuna's fascination for the virtual world, especially after Sugou.

The argument they had that day had been very uncomfortable, for both Asuna and Kyouko. Asuna, because her Kyouko was practically forcing her to live her life the way she wanted, when Asuna should be free to make her own choice for her life. For Kyouko, because Asuna had brought up the name of the man that disgusted her just by thinking about him.

Now that Kyouko thought about it, it was only natural for Asuna to be distrustful of Yuuya-kun, who she had chosen as her daughter's suitor earlier that year. After all, who in their right mind would trust the judgment of a person who had once made such a fatal mistake of arranging her own daughter to marry a psychopath like Sugou?

When Kouichirou heard the 'suitor business' part, he gave his mother a stern glare. Like Asuna, Kouichirou hated the prospect of arranged marriage.

When he was Asuna's age, his mother would have him meet girls from other families of "High social standings." But with almost all of them, he could tell that they were only interested in him because of his handsome features and his social status, so he rejected them all within day one, much to his mother's frustration. (A/N: I'm just going to assume that Kouichirou is handsome, just because it would be unfair for him if Asuna is the only one that looks attractive.)

As time went on, his mother would become more and more overbearing, so he started to stay out late when he started to go to university. This routine continued even after he graduated and found a career in his father's company, Recto Inc. In fact, Kouichirou wasn't busy because his boss gave him too much workload, but rather because he kept himself busy in order to be away from his overbearing mother for as much as possible.

But as he kept working, he knew that sooner or later, Asuna would have to face the pressure from their mother like he did, so he contacted Asuna on a regular basis to give her support or comfort, should she ever need them.

His desire to get away from his mother's pressure was one of the reasons he had wanted to get a copy of Sword Art Online, the other reason being that he loved the game during the closed beta. And of course, getting SAO led to Asuna logging into it and being trapped inside the virtual world for 2 years.

"Even though I fought as hard as I could, Yuuki was simply too fast in her movements. She really lived up to her title, the Absolute Sword. In the end I lost to her, but that was because Yuuki had used a sword skill powerful enough to bring my HP to the red zone. She could have finished me off then, but she didn't. Instead, she led me away from the dueling place so we could talk in private. She told me that she needed my help." Asuna said.

"Help with what, exactly?" Shouzou asked curiously.

"I'm getting to that Tou-san. Yuuki then took me to a place where her guild friends were. She was the leader of a small guild of 6 people called the Sleeping Knights…" Asuna said as she remembered on how she had met the Sleeping Knights.


Flashback: January 7th, 2026, New Aincrad, 27th Floor, Town of Ronbaru, after Asuna's duel with Yuuki.

A/N: This flashback will contain details from the light novel that was skipped in the anime.

After leaving the little island where Yuuki had her dueling matches, Asuna had traveled with Yuuki to the 27th floor of Aincrad towards the town of Ronbaru. 27th floor was an area of perpetual darkness, with little to no lights visible even during daytime, so the young Imp's night vision allowed them to proceed to their destination quicker than usual. They came across several monsters, but didn't bother fighting them.

Soon, they had arrived at Ronbaru and at this point, Asuna was getting curious as to why Yuuki had brought her there.

"Why exactly did you bring me here?" Asuna asked. In response, Yuuki smiled and just said: "Before anything, let me introduce you to my friends first! Over here!"

After some running through the town, they finally arrived at a building that looked like an inn. They stepped into it and entered the restaurant.

"Minna, tadaima! (Everyone, I'm back!)" Yuuki said to a group of 5 people sitting at a round table at the center of the restaurant.

One of the occupants of the table, a teenage Salamander boy responded: "Welcome back, Yuuki! Did you find someone?!"

The Zekken then walked in front of them and said: "I'll introduce them to you! These are my guild mates of the Sleeping Knights!" Then she faced her guild mates to introduce Asuna to them.

"And this here is…" Yuuki began, but trailed off and then stuck her tongue out in an adorable manner. "Oh, sorry, I haven't asked your name yet, have I?"

"Eh~?!" The Sleeping Knights members all fell onto their chairs in disbelief.

Seeing this, Asuna couldn't help but laugh a little. Afterwards, she introduced herself.

"Hajime mashite (Nice to meet you). My name is Asuna."

And the other 5 members of the Sleeping Knights, Jun, Talken, Nori, Siune, and Tecchi introduced themselves to Asuna.

Finally, Yuuki finished the introduction with: "And I'm the guild leader, Yuuki! Asuna-san, let's do our best together!" She said as she stepped forward and held Asuna's hands, with an enthusiastic glint in her eyes.

But Asuna had to ask the following question, because she still didn't know exactly why she had been introduced to Yuuki's guild: "Ano (Um)… do our best together for what, exactly?"

Yuuki paused at that statement and then again, stuck her tongue out. "Aa… Oh, right… I still haven't explained anything to you!"

"Hah~?!" Once again, the Sleeping Knights collapsed onto their chairs, dumbfounded.

"You brought her here without explaining ANYTHING?!" Jun asked incredulously.

"Taku~ (Geez). Remind me again, why we made you our leader?" Nori said, shaking her head.

"Yuuki…" Talken, Siune, and Tecchi all groaned at their leader's silliness.

"Ahaha… Sorry! Totally forgot!" Yuuki said, maintaining her adorable expression.

"Pff… Ha ha ha!" Asuna couldn't hold it in any longer. She started laughing out loud at the antics of the guild. Yuuki and her friends soon laughed together as well.

Asuna could tell just from their interaction together that the Sleeping Knights members were more than just guild mates to each other. They were actual friends, trying to have fun playing the game with each other.

Flashback end


When Asuna told her family about Yuuki's antics, the father and son found themselves laughing. Even Kyouko had to laugh a bit at Yuuki's silliness. It was as if the previous gloomy atmosphere had never occurred. Not only that, it had been so long since her family had gathered like this to just talk with each other casually. It was just the atmosphere that she had craved for so much in her home.

That was precisely the reason she liked the Kirigaya's home to her own home; the Kirigaya's had a certain warmth amongst them that made anyone watching to have a sense of welcome among them, while her house, while big and luxurious, had a cold, and somewhat unwelcoming feeling in it.

"So the so-called 'Absolute Sword' turns out to be a bit of an airhead… Who would have thought, huh?" Kouichirou said as he finished laughing.

"Yuuki then explained why she needed my help. The Sleeping Knights wanted to beat the boss of the 27th floor with just 7 people." Asuna explained. Then Kouichirou interrupted.

"What? But the bosses of New Aincrad are ones powerful enough to be able to wipe out a raid party of about two dozen people. Why go through the trouble?" Even though Kouichirou didn't play ALO as often as Asuna did, he still knew enough about the difficulty curve of New Aincrad.

"Because their ultimate goal was to have their names appear on the Monument of Swordsmen on the 1st floor. When you defeat a boss of New Aincrad for the first time, your name is engraved onto the Monument of Swordsmen. But the problem is, if the raid party exceeds 7 people, only the party and guild leaders' names will be engraved onto the Monument of Swordsmen. So, since they wanted ALL of the members of the Sleeping Knights' names to appear on the Monument of Swordsmen, their only option was to fight with 7 people. That was the reason Yuuki was holding the duels: to find someone strong enough to help them. And from the looks of things, the Sleeping Knights looked like they were all skilled players."

"So, I guess that means that you did accept their request and decided to party up together?" Kouichirou asked and Asuna nodded in response. "But the main reason I agreed to help them was because of their interaction together. Normally, guild members only get together to discuss game strategies together, but with the Sleeping Knights, with the way they interacted with each other, I could tell that there was some kind of special bond with all of them. Anyway, we agreed to meet again the next day to discuss our strategy for the boss raid and left. So I was going to take a look around the town I was in, but…" Asuna trailed off, remembering what came next.

"And? What happened?" Kyouko asked. Then Asuna looked at her and answered bitterly: "You unplugged the Amusphere as I was about to go around town."

When Shouzou and Kouichirou heard this, they both frowned at Kyouko.

"Kaa-san, you do know that if you did that to Asuna when she was wearing a NerveGear, she could've died, right? You're lucky she was using an Amusphere instead of a NerveGear. After SAO, I would've thought that you would at least have the decency to let her log out on her own." Kouichirou said, getting slightly angry for Asuna.

"Honestly, dear. I know you don't really appreciate virtual reality, but there was a better way to have her log out than what you did, wasn't there?" Shouzou said reproachfully.

"You could've just told her to log out by whispering into her ears or shake her body! Amusphere is designed to alert you when that happens!" Kouichirou fumed.

"Well, it's just that it took her 5 minutes to log out when I did that, so…" Kyouko tried justifying herself, but her son cut her off.

"So you just decide to rudely awake her by unplugging the Amusphere? How would you like it if I unplug the computer when you're working on something on it?" Kouichirou said. He usually wasn't one to initiate a heated conversation with his mother, but when it came to Asuna, Kouichirou was often quick to come to her defense, knowing what it's like to deal with their restrictive mother, and the frustration that came with it.

"Those are two different circumstances! I…" Kyouko started, but Kouichirou cut her off again.

"What's different? In the end, you'd be seriously annoyed, or even angry at the person that did it! This is exactly why me and Asuna can't stand being around you! You say that everything you do, you do it for us, but not have you ever stopped to consider how we feel about what you do for us? Pressuring us to use all of our time study so that we can have a good career is something I can understand a little, but the marriage arrangement? Do you have any idea how much we HATE it when you have us meet someone you pair us up with and hear them boast about themselves?" Kouichirou didn't know what came over him. All he knew was that all of the resentment that had accumulated towards his mother had suddenly exploded in one go.

Both Shouzou and Kyouko stayed where they were, stunned at their son's outburst. Usually, Kouichirou kept his emotions to himself and rarely got angry in their presence.

"If that wasn't bad enough, you still expect us to trust your judgment of what's best for us even after Su…" Kouichirou continued, but Asuna stopped him just in time when she realized he was about to say the name of the man whose name had become a taboo in the house.

"Nii-san!" Asuna said with a look in her eyes that practically pleaded him to stop. She really wasn't in the mood to be able to handle this right now. While she appreciated her brother's effort to defend her, right now, getting into a quarrel with their mother was the last thing she needed.

"While I was annoyed with Kaa-san for doing what she did, I did stay logged in for longer than I should have, so I guess I do bear some of the blame." Asuna admitted. She was also stern about setting time schedules and keeping them, though not as stern as her mother.

Kouichirou immediately regretted losing his temper when he saw the look his sister gave him.

"Okay, I'll stop. I'm sorry, Asuna, Kaa-san, Tou-san…" Kyouko gave no visible response while Shouzou nodded and told Asuna to continue her story.

Kyouko processed what her son had just shouted at her. While she was irked by what Kouichirou said, she couldn't deny that there was some truth to it. She decided to think more on that later and hear out the rest of Asuna's story.

So Asuna continued on with her tale, trying to forget the tense atmosphere her brother had accidently created.


A/N: That's it for the 3rd chapter. The main point of this chapter was to introduce Kouichirou's personality. Since Kouichirou is only mentioned briefly and never formally introduced even in the light novels, I wanted to give him a more significant role in my story. My imagination of Kouichirou was that he can voice his opinion when needed and is level headed, but can occasionally lose his temper, especially when his mother is involved. I also imagined him to be the protective type of older brother to Asuna. I hope that I've done a decent job portraying that. What do you guys think of my version of Kouichirou? Please leave a comment of what you thing.

One more thing: speaking of comments, ever since this story was posted 2 weeks ago, it's gotten about 300 views, which I'm grateful for, considering that this is my first ever fanfic. But so far, only KittenofthePastries has posted a review. So I would like to ask you guys to have a total of 10 reviews posted. I promise that I will upload the next chapter when the number of reviews exceeds 10, so I hope you do write a review of any sort, may it be a compliment or criticism. Please follow/fav the story if you liked it!

Again, thank you for reading this story, and stay tuned!