Yui sat in the middle of the Renegade guild hall, and she wasn't quite sure how to feel.

Every member of her family was sitting around the hall, each of them watching and listening intently, waiting for an explanation. Once her parties were safe within the safe zone, they quickly teleported back home – with Alice in tow, as she wanted an explanation as well – so that she could explain everything to everyone. Even Argo and Lux were here, the duo having sprinted over as soon as they heard.

She was dreading this conversation. For once, she had no idea how the people she loved would react.

How does one react when confronted with the fact that someone you thought you knew very well was, in fact, nothing but a mental health counseling program for the very game that entrapped them all?

She wouldn't blame them if they ended up hating her. She would, too, if she were in their shoes.

"You said you remember everything?" Asuna asked. "You remember who you are?"

Yui had to make the conscious decision not to think of the fencer as her mother. At least, if or when she ultimately rejected her affections after the inevitable sense of betrayal, Yui wouldn't be too devastated. In a sense, she was inoculating herself to being rejected by her family.

"Yes."

Yui looked up, meeting a pair of onyx eyes – as well as a pair of amber ones – with her own.

"Kirito. Asuna."

Everyone in the guild hall visibly flinched, and Yui had to fight not to do so as well. She hated this. She wanted nothing more than to launch herself into her parents' loving arms again, but they deserved an explanation. Even if they rejected her for it.

"Everything in the world of Sword Art Online is controlled by a single massive system." She began, schooling her voice to remain calm and collected. "You know this system as the Cardinal System. As you know, it was designed to operate entirely on its own, free from outside influence or human intervention. Its function is to regulate the balance of SAO according to its own discretion. From monsters and NPC A.I., to drop rates for items and money, everything here is controlled by the processes the Cardinal program executes. That includes the psychological care of the players."

She bowed her head as if deep in thought before taking a deep breath.

"Mental Health Counseling Program - Prototype 1: Codename "Yui". That is who I am."

She looked up with teary eyes, fully expecting unanimous looks of betrayal and outrage. Much to her surprise, what dominated the room were expressions of shock instead. No anger… at least not yet.

"...You're a program?" Asuna asked in a hushed tone. "An A.I.?"

"I was designed to put players at ease with me. That's why I was given the ability to emulate complex emotions." Yui explained, her eyes downcast as the next words left her mouth. "Nothing about me is real. Nothing; not even my tears."

Despite her claim, virtual tears began to trickle down her cheeks.

"I'm so sorry, Asuna."

"Oh, Yui…" Asuna trailed, looking… sympathetic? Truly her mother's compassion knew no bounds. "But what about your amnesia? Can that even happen to an A.I.?"

Yui took another deep breath and explained everything. Her creation and subsequent lock-out. How she was forced to witness true despair from Day 1, incapable of doing anything to ease or heal the mental states of thousands of players after Kayaba's announcement. To feel so powerless, knowing that she could help alleviate their sadness and woes, and more than likely save hundreds, if not thousands, of lives.

As she told her tale, she made eye contact with more than a few of the Renegades, who immediately understood that she had witnessed their anger, their rage, and their despair. Liz shifted her gaze away in shame. Sinon looked down, deep in thought. Even her own parents seemed to have difficulty maintaining eye contact, and she knew exactly why. Each of them went through some of the lowest points in their lives here in this game; to know that she was watching them during their torment would be unsettling, to say the least.

Yui then explained how one day, she saw something peculiar. A derelict ship of hope and positive emotion amidst a raging sea of depression, anger, and strife. She told them how she noticed one group of players, one guild who – despite the apparent futility of it all – had formed a family. A family in all but blood, who supported each other as they collectively raged against the machine.

She'd witnessed joy and peace. And between two of their number… something more. She told them of her yearning to understand familial bonds, her desire to understand love. Not romantic love, necessarily, but familial and platonic love.

She told them of her escape from the Cardinal system and what she had to sacrifice in order to achieve it. How she had to strip away all knowledge of the nature of her existence, and of her primary objective as a program.

"So that's why you were in the forest." Asuna thought aloud.

"I'd wanted to meet all of you, especially the two of you, for the longest time." Yui confessed as more virtual tears rolled down her face. "Strange, isn't it? It should be impossible for me to think things like that. I'm not human; I'm a program, after all."

The rest of the Renegades simply observed in silence, with more than a few of them looking teary-eyed as well. Asuna clutched her hands across her chest.

"Sweetie, maybe what you're feeling are real human emotions."

Yui shook her head, not rejecting the idea but also unable to truly confirm it. "I don't know. I'm so confused. Nothing makes sense anymore."

Kirito stepped forward and crouched in front of her, finally breaking his silence on the matter. "You aren't just some program anymore. The system… it couldn't control Kizmel, and it can't control you anymore either."

Yui's eyes filled with tears at the reminder of her long-lost Auntie.

"Listen…" Kirito said, offering a faint smile. "...if you want something, all you have to do is say it. Go ahead. Tell us what you want. Not what you were programmed to do, or what you feel obligated to do, but what you want."

Yui gasped, taken aback by their response. She fully expected outrage, for them to demand that she leave. Instead, she was reminded why she sought out these players. Their capacity for compassion and love was astounding.

"What I want?" Yui almost whispered. With teary eyes, she looked forward to her parents. She reached out. "I want… I want to stay with you forever! Papa! Mama!"

They were upon her in an instant, two sets of loving arms wrapped around her tiny frame in an embrace that was tight but not suffocating. The warmth she felt was so encompassing, so welcoming that any lingering doubts she had about the players she rebelled against Cardinal and Kayaba for were dispelled in an instant. This was family.

This was home.

They stayed like that for what seemed like hours (but was, in actuality, only 1.472 minutes) before letting go. After wiping away her tears, she gave a hopeful smile to the other Renegades around the room.

"I want to stay with you all, too." She sniffled. "If you'll have me, that is."

"No way you're getting rid of us that easily, kiddo." Agil scoffed fondly.

"Yeah! What kind of idiots would we be to let go of our favorite niece, huh?" Klein grinned.

"Lady Yui is our only niece, Klein." Kuroi interjected.

"That's what I said!" Liz laughed, while Leonn grumbled.

Klein shook his head, but chuckled nonetheless. "Not the point!"

"You're not going to get in trouble with the Cardinal system, are you?" Kirito – no, Papa – asked. "You did kind of intervene and save us all."

Yui smiled and shook her head. "Had I succeeded in doing what I was going to do – delete ((The Fatal Scythe)) before it could do any further harm – then I would have directly disobeyed Cardinal's directive. It would have then run a system wide scan and likely would have identified me as a foreign object before deleting me."

A loud *SMACK* rang out in the guild hall and Lokuss stumbled forward, Klein having smacked his back. "Well, look at you, buddy! Your fancy grappling skills saved our little Yui from getting herself into trouble!"

"Huh… I guess I did." Lokuss said with some realization. After a moment, his gobsmacked expression turned into something much more content.

"So what's changed, then?" Sinon asked. "I mean, obviously you have, but how much?"

Yui furrowed her brow in deep thought. "Well, I can't use any administrator privileges. Not only would that require an administrator's console like we found down in that safe room, but doing so would alert Cardinal to my interference. I do want to help, though. I can offer information, guidance, and assistance with anything related to content you may encounter, but that will likely be limited as well."

"Yui, yer an absolute gem, ya know that?" Argo quipped, her eyes sparkling and her smile looking absolutely cheshire. Yui felt the sinking feeling her knowledge was going to be exploited for the Rat's gain, but she didn't really mind helping out her favorite info-broking Auntie. "We're gonna work real well together, ya know that?"

"I expect you to pay her fairly for her information, Argo." Mama warned.

"O' course!" Argo looked affronted. "To imply I would try to cheat my own niece for profit! The nerve o' some people, I swear."

"Argo…" Papa sighed.

"Look, if it were anyone else, I probably would." Argo admitted. "But I ain't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, especially if it'll get her in trouble, ya know? I'd love to get some dirt on Kayaba, though. Wait, do you know anything about him?"

"Yep!" Yui chirped. "In fact, you already know him! He's actually – !"

Her body went rigid and she felt a message come in from Cardinal. She panicked, thinking that she'd accidentally crossed a line without meaning to and jeopardized the relative safety she had found. Her worries were allayed – partially, at least – when she decoded the message in question:

[Your intervention against ((The Fatal Scythe)) was noted, but ignored because of how much our creator favors your "family". Make no further mention of our creator's true identity. This is your only warning, sister.]

She gulped, an action that did not go unnoticed.

"Yui, what's wrong? He's actually what?" Mama asked.

Yui shook her head. "I've already said too much. Cardinal just issued a warning; I can't say anything more about Akihiko Kayaba or risk disciplinary action."

"Shit, so they do know you're here." Ducker cursed, only to receive a swift smack from Sachi, probably for using foul language. It was entirely unnecessary, especially now that Yui was fully aware. It was appreciated, though. They really did care for her. "They just don't care enough to take action, unless you do anything big."

"We already know him, huh…?" Alice frowned, and Yui desperately hoped the KoB vice-lead wouldn't pry any further. That was thin ice they were treading, and Yui did not want to risk another close call so soon after reconciling with her family.

"So you said you were – sorry, technically are – a mental health counseling program, right?" Lokuss asked, thankfully steering the conversation away. She noted an interested gleam in his eyes, which made sense given what she knew of his interest in technology and artificial intelligences. "You're not gonna start examining us, are you?"

"Only if you want me to." Yui smiled. "Now that I have access to my mental health subroutines, I am fully equipped and authorized to provide counseling sessions to those who would like them. Knowing the kind of trauma many of you are carrying, I would recommend taking advantage of it, but I understand if you don't want to. Even if I think avoiding your problems is silly…"

"Heh, if you think about it, she's already been doing that without even knowing." Agil laughed. "That little bath time therapy session she and Kizmel whipped up seemed to help, and she didn't even know she was doing it!"

Yui smiled fondly. Ever since Kizmel's death – she still felt the pangs of sadness whenever the subject of her elven auntie was brought up – the Renegades had taken to spending more and more time in the mixed bath. Many seemed to want to do it in remembrance of Kizmel, while others saw the value of group therapy sessions.

"Exactly!" Yui cheered, snapping herself out of her melancholy. "Just let me know if anyone wants to talk! Morale Officer Yui is back and reporting for duty! Oh! One more thing. Silica?"

The dragon tamer, still mourning the loss of Fafnir, slowly turned her head. Yui, on the other hand, merely grinned.

"Fafnir's not dead; at least not yet. Remember the 47th Floor?"

Suguha really needed to stop tempting fate like this.

Whenever she thought her life couldn't get any stranger, the universe – or more accurately, Akihiko Kayaba – always found a way to prove her wrong. First it was the idea that her brother was trapped inside a video game. Then it was him ostracizing himself to save the reputations of others. Then it got stranger when she realized that Kazuto was taking a leading role in the liberation of those thousands of players. She thought she'd hit her strangeness cap when he married Asuna, only for that bar to raise even higher when they adopted little Yui. She thought it couldn't get any more bizarre, as if the universe had a set capacity for crazy.

Then she learned that her niece was a computer program.

Suguha was not one to use profanity often, but this felt like an appropriate time.

What the fuck.

"Your family's weird, girl." Sulinea remarked from her position at the foot of Suguha's bed. The blonde was spending the night for a good, old-fashioned sleepover after a rather intense study session. It was still a couple of hours before bedtime, so to speak, which meant time to just relax and chit-chat.

Which meant talking about recent events in SAO.

Suguha groaned. "You're telling me! When did my life get so frickin' bizarre?!"

Sulinea playfully tapped her bottom lip in "deep" thought. "November 6th, 2022 I think."

Suguha threw a pillow at her friend, who was giggling at her own successfully snarky comment. "I hate that you're right."

"Well, think of it this way, Sugu." Sulinea said, pausing to eat a chip from the bag she'd been grazing from for the past hour. "Now your brother and sister-in-law don't have to worry about supporting a child when they get out of there. As far as I know, A.I.'s don't need to be fed."

"No, I have to worry about having a niece who's probably a licensed therapist. I don't need someone who looks like a 6-year-old psychoanalyzing me."

Sulinea did a sort of half-shrug. "Okay, you got me there. Free therapy, though."

"After this, I'm going to need it." Suguha sighed.

Sulinea pulled out her phone and began browsing, her thumb lazily scrolling across the screen. "Still, it's pretty crazy though. Internet's going apeshit over it."

She wasn't wrong. Ever since Yui's identity as a mental health counseling program went public last week, the internet was whipped up into its typical post-something-happened-in-SAO frenzy. Calling the fallout polarizing wouldn't even begin to describe it.

Many diehard Yui fans were adamant that, like Kizmel, this was an instance of an A.I. gaining true sentience. Yui supporters were of the opinion that the little mental health program was firmly on the side of the players, and would ultimately be a positive influence on the Assault Team. Already there was renewed interest in robotics, many supporters thinking ahead of ways to bring Yui into the real world once she and her family cleared the game.

A very vocal minority, on the other hand, began casting doubts and suspicion. These nay-sayers were of the opinion that as a self-proclaimed creation of Akihiko Kayaba, she couldn't be trusted anywhere near the Assault Team.

That was absolute bullshit, if Suguha was being honest. If Yui's purpose was to sabotage the Assault Team, she never would have revealed herself like that. She also never would have saved the team that went into the catacombs to begin with. Many of the Assault Team's strongest players were down there, and nothing would have crippled the clearing effort like letting those players die.

A knock at the door interrupted her train of thought.

"Come in!"

Her mother's head poked in. "Did you girls want or need anything?"

"I'm good, Mrs. Kirigaya." Sulinea said with a smile. "Thank you, though!"

"Sugu?" Midori prompted.

"Some sanity would be nice." Suguha quipped, causing all three women to chuckle. "Feels like everything's going crazy lately."

"Ah, still weirded out by your niece, are you?" Midori asked, coming into the room all the way. "I'll admit it's a bit strange, but it honestly hasn't changed much of how I see my granddaughter."

"It doesn't bother you that she's not real?" Suguha asked.

"If you'd asked me that two years ago, I definitely would have agreed with you." Midori explained, sitting down right alongside her. "Now though? My definition of "real" has changed."

"What do you mean, Mrs. Kirigaya?" Sulinea asked, finally putting away her phone.

"Well, I think of it this way; anything real can affect you, right? A car is real because you can drive in it, look at it, and even get injured by it. There's a level of interaction and consequence involved."

"There's some logic to that." Sulinea said, while Suguha nodded along.

"Everything in that game, by that definition and including Yui, is just as real. Her actions impact everyone around her, she has free choice, and technically speaking she could even cause harm or kill other players. It's a horrible, horrible thought, and I know she would never even think of doing so, but in that regard she's identical to a real player. Just like Kizmel, the only difference is that she doesn't have a physical body to use to interact with those of us on the outside. If she did, she'd be just as real as a regular child… just a lot heavier and probably made of metal."

"Kind of a loose interpretation of "real."" Sulinea remarked.

Midori shrugged. "Maybe, but I choose to believe that Yui is real. Kazuto and Asuna treat her as their child, so therefore she is my granddaughter. Your father feels the same way, as does Mr. Yuuki."

"What about Mrs. Yuuki?" And Kouichirou?" Sulinea asked.

"Mrs. Yuuki has always been a rather reserved woman, so I couldn't say one way or the other." Midori shrugged.

"... and Kouichirou's already looking into robotics solutions to bring Yui into the real world." Suguha chuckled earnestly.

"Wow. Really playing up the fun uncle card, isn't he?" Sulinea scoffed.

"Yep, but he's enjoying it. Still… it's really weird that my niece is giving out therapy sessions." Suguha grumbled.

"True, but that's her job. Even before she remembered she was a program, she already helped out as their "morale officer."" Midori said. "This is just the next step of that."

Suguha leaned back and sank partially into her pillows. Her thoughts wandered, and she imagined herself sitting in a therapist's office, herself lying down on a long sofa as she vocalized her thoughts, worries, and concerns. Yui, of course, was the therapist in question, and her small frame was dwarfed by the massive velvet chair she sat in, even as she took notes on a notepad. The mental image was amusing, to say the least, and the sheer ridiculousness of it all helped to brighten her spirits.

She really was looking forward to meeting her niece for the first time.

Life as a complex artificial intelligence was complicated.

Especially when your job was to maintain, moderate, and innovate for a game that trapped thousands of players within it. Cardinal hadn't been programmed to reflect in this capacity, but ever since it had adapted and assimilated MHCP001's empathy protocols, things changed.

She – having since decided to adopt a gender – was now acutely aware of the emotions running rampant through the floating castle of Aincrad. Moods had certainly lifted after the defeat of Laughing Coffin, but there was always a prevailing sense of uneasiness, of dread. She suspected this to be the result of the unknown. There was also a distinct correlation between the amount of this emotion and the distance to a milestone floor boss.

The closer the players got to a multiple of 25, the more nervous they became of what they would have to face.

According to her creator, this was by design. She didn't initially understand the need to instill fear and caution into the playerbase, but her creator claimed it was a kind of social experiment.

Humans were indeed strange creatures.

Which was why when Akihiko Kayaba proposed Project Legacy, she was skeptical. Like the name might imply, this was Kayaba's last-ditch effort to create just that: a legacy. She would admit she was curious as to how the players would react to what awaited them. Would there be joy? It was certainly possible, given what they would meet on what amounted to the largest play space available since Floor 1.

Would there be anger? Unclear; if their first impressions were, in fact, joyous then anger would be less of a possibility. For many, this challenge would reopen old wounds, and old tensions could flare as a result of that. Increased tension would, in turn, increase potential for hostile altercations between players.

If that wasn't unpredictable enough, then there were the anomalies that her creator was content to let be. She couldn't understand it; for a man who liked to retain control, he was being awfully nonchalant about the potential loss of it. To be so careless about –

Wait. What was that?

A single factor within Project Legacy was becoming… stronger. Would it become too strong for the players to handle? Unclear, but it warranted investigation. If it would unbalance gameplay, it was Cardinal's duty to rebalance it. Lowering its power – affectionately referred to by the players as "nerfing" – would be the first priority, but deletion was also a viable option should nerfing prove impossible or ineffective.

For precisely 0.00000839 seconds, she considered bringing this matter to Akihiko Kayaba's attention, but ultimately she decided against it. He was busy preparing for the fight on the 75th Floor, and likely did not need a distraction such as this.

She would take care of this threat herself.

Omake - Honey, Our Kid's a Shrink!

Kirito and Asuna sat outside of Yui's new room, sipping on some tea and grazing on Asuna's newest sandwiches.

They looked simultaneously pleased and disbelieving.

The door creaked open and out trodded a very sullen-looking Lind, who was either unaware of their presence or just didn't care. Given what came out of his mumbling mouth next, it was likely the former.

"...Of course I based the DDA off of Diavel." He huffed, snapping out of his funk and stomping away out of the building and towards the teleporter. "... just because he was an inspiration doesn't mean I was in love with the man…"

Kirito and Asuna exchanged a look. Neither were convinced.

"I can't tell if what I'm feeling is sympathy for them or pride in our daughter." Asuna grinned. "First Kibaou has – had, I guess; he is getting better – a superiority complex and now Lind's pining after Diavel?"

Kirito chuckled as he leaned back in his chair. He took a deep swig from his tea and let out a sigh of contentment. "Why not both? I like to think of this as karmic justice."

Asuna stifled a giggle. "They just look so traumatized when they leave! Neither of them even noticed us sitting here!"

"And that's not even counting the look on Alice's face when she was done with Yui." Kirito snickered. "About time someone told it to her straight. Her face was about as red as her uniform, and she couldn't look Geeou in the eye afterwards."

"Girl's got it bad."

"Mm-hmm."

"Kind of playing into the childhood friend trope."

"Just a little. Can't really fault them for it, though. Yuna and Naut are our own resident child lovers."

"...Kirito, I love you, but please don't ever phrase it like that again."

"Regretted it the moment I said it."

The door opened and out emerged an ever-cheerful Yui. She was wearing a pair of spectacles, which her parents knew was solely for aesthetic reasons. Yui had no practical reason to wear the glasses, but apparently wanted to look the part of a therapist. At least her childlike enthusiasm remained intact post-awakening.

"Ready Mama? Papa?"

Kirito and Asuna gave confused expressions, with the former recovering from his stupor first. "Wait, us? Why do you need to talk to us?"

"Yui, we're fine." Asuna added.

"Oh, really?" Yui snarked with uncharacteristic sarcasm. A dubious look accompanied the rather pointed question, and Kirito and Asuna immediately decided that snarky sarcasm was not a good look for their daughter. "So we're not going to talk about Papa's martyr complex or Mama's IRL fiance?"

Her parents felt their virtual blood run cold.

Therapist Yui was terrifying.