It was a normal Sunday for Fuutarou. He has just finished giving out homework sets to the Nakano quintuplets the other day, and yesterday he has finished reviewing his recent exams and preparing for future lessons.
Having nothing left to do, Fuutarou decided to sleep in once for today, which is something he almost never do, to recuperate his mental strength before going back to deal with the idiotic sisters the next day during their usual tutoring sessions.
Of course, fate has other plans for him as knocks can be heard on his apartment door. With Raiha being taken out to a picnic by their dad earlier, our dear tutor has no choice but to get up and make his way out. Grumbling under his breath, complaining at the fact that his rest got disturbed, he opened the door expecting it to be either Itsuki or Ichika.
How surprising it must be for him when he was met with a dull looking guy carrying a package in his hand.
"Hello, is this the Uesugi household?"
Even his voice sounded flat, like he wanted to be anywhere but here doing his job. Despite his inner gripe, he still responded respectfully like any proper Japanese would in this situation.
"Ah, yes. May I know who you are?"
"Right, I'm here to… uh… let's see…"
This time Fuutarou can't help but twitch his eyes in mild annoyance as the delivery-looking guy lazily fish out a piece of paper from his uniform's breast pocket before continuing.
"Ah… here we go. I'm here to congratulate you on behalf of our company Argus for having won the first price of the Tokai Supermarket Lottery, and deliver to you said first price, two NerveGears along with the physical copies of our company's newest game, Sword Art Online."
Concluding his little speech with a clearly faked smile, the guy promptly dropped the package into Fuutarou's hands before bowing slightly and depart quickly. Meanwhile, our poor guy is just standing there at the door, agape at the events that have just transpired.
It took his brain a few moments to reboot before looking down at the box, a contemplative look gleaming in his eyes.
"I'm pretty sure I heard somewhere at school that this game is supposed to be super famous or revolutionary since it's using a new technology… I wonder how much money I can make selling this thing?"
Just as he was picturing the handsome amount of money he could get by trading off the device, Fuutarou heard his phone going off from inside the house. Quickly closing the door, he made his way inside to pick up the call. Seeing the ID of the caller is his dad, the young man answered the phone.
"Hey dad, what's up? You need anything?"
"No no, I'm just calling to tell you that Raiha and me are going to camp until late this evening, so you have to prepare lunch and dinner by yourself."
Fuutarou slightly frown from the slight annoyances, but when he thought that his sister is having fun, all traces of his bad mood is gone instantly. Noticing that he's still holding on to the box, he decided to ask his father something.
"Dad… do you know where I can sell a NerveGear?"
"What are you talking about? Don't tell me you're still daydreaming Fuutarou?" At the boisterous chuckle of his father from the other side, Fuutarou gained a deadpan look as he continued.
"Not that, I'm fully awake, mind you. I won the first prize from the lottery at the supermarket near our house, and I got a NerveGear and the game. I'm not into gaming, and neither does you, I think… And Raiha prefer going out playing with her friends, so the best thing I can do with this is to sell it off and make some money."
"Is that so… Well, I'm sure I can find somewhere for you to sell it, but I don't think you can." Isanari answered truthfully, now somewhat baffled at his son's luck, remembering the previous time he won them those tickets to the Nakano's grandfather's hotspring.
"What do you mean I can't sell it?" Fuutarou asked, confusion in his voice.
"I just remembered that while things like jewelry or cars can be sold off, trips or digital items such as this are often hard to make a profit on, and I'm pretty sure these things are locked in with your credentials, so you can't sell them even if you want to.
Hey, I tell you what, how about you go over to the Nakano house and ask if any of them want to play instead? It doesn't hurt to hang out with them more outside your tutoring time, you know?" By the time Isanari finished, Fuutarou could clearly make out the teasing tone his father is using, but chose not to comment on it lest he's made fun of again.
Sighing exasperatedly, Fuutarou said goodbye and wish his father and Raiha a good trip, hearing a distanced 'Thank you' from his adorable little sister in the process.
Hearing his sister's happy voice has lifted his mood somewhat, and with great reluctance, the young tutor open his contact list and began dialing.
….
To Miku, Sunday used to be the day she liked the most because it means she can sleep as much as she wants, and generally doesn't have to bother herself with schoolwork or anything of sort. Yet ever since she met Fuutarou, Sunday has became unbearably boring to her because she couldn't hang out with him or make him try her foods or trying (and failing) to get Fuutarou to notice her and then he'll push her down and- …
'Wait wait wait, what am I thinking?!' Miku scolds herself before once again sinking into her fantasies…
'Actually, don't stop, Fuutarou…' While it'd been nice to see how dirty-minded she really is, we've got other plans for her, including this extremely well-timed call from none other than Miku's target of affection, the one and only Uesugi Fuutarou.
The sudden ringtone snapped her out of her thoughts, making her yelped cutely before taking deep breathes to calm down. Looking at her phone, Miku smiled vibrantly as she saw her caller's ID.
"Y-Yes, Fuutarou-kun. I-Is there anything you need?" The third quint asked shyly, still unable to fully forget her fantasies regarding her tutor…
"Uhmm… Right, so story short is I won the first prize of the lottery and got a game, but since I don't play game at all I'm thinking of giving these to you. Besides, you've been doing quite well recently in our lessons. Think of it as a reward of sort."
While he couldn't physically see Miku at the moment, he can certainly picturing her brightening up at his word, slight excitement and happiness bleeding into her tone.
"Y-Yes, thank you Fuutarou. D-Do you want to come over now? Of course if only you're free…" The headphone wearing girl shyly asked, before smiling brightly at Fuutarou's acceptance of her invitation.
It turns out that this Sunday might not be so boring for her after all.
…
[Nerve Gear]
That's the name of the hardware that drove the VRMMORPG known as [Sword Art Online].
The basic structure of this machine is completely different from the older generations.
Unlike the old-style man-machine interface hardware like "flat screen monitors" or "hand-held controllers", NerveGear only had a single interface: a streamlined helmet that covered your whole head and face.
Inside was a marvel of technology. Numerous cerebral signal transceivers are housed within the gear. By utilizing the electronic signals sent by those transceivers, the gear accessed the user's brain itself. The user didn't use their eyes or ears to see and hear, but instead receive the signals directly to their brain. In addition, the machine could access not only sight and sound, but also: touch, taste and smell as well- that is to say, all five senses.
After slipping the NerveGear on, locking the strap under your chin and reciting the initiation command "Link Start", all noises fades away and you're swathed in darkness. As soon as you pass the rainbow colored circle in the middle, you're in another world made entirely of data.
Half a year ago, this machine (which started selling sometime around June 2017) successfully created a [Virtual Reality]. The electronics company which created the NerveGear called the act of linking to the virtual reality… [FullDive]
It was a total seclusion from reality, befitting of the word [Full].
The reason for this is that the NerveGear not only send fake signals to the five senses, it also blocked and rerouted the orders that the brain send to the body. This can be called the most basic requirement for moving freely in a virtual reality. If the body received the brain's signals when the user was in FullDive, the moment the user decided they wanted to "run", their actual body would run into a wall.
Fuutarou couldn't help but showing his astonishment reading the article detailed about the devices he's carrying in his bags. He knew what he didn't keep up with technology that much, evidently shown when he was locked out by the automated door at the Pentagon, but he certainly didn't think he was this far behind.
A miracle of technology like this, and they decided to create a game with it. He could only shook his head in exasperation, listing out in his mind numerous possible medical usage for this thing before giving up and accepting the reality.
After a quick lunch and a 15 walk, Fuutarou now stood before the doors of the quints' apartment. Knocking on the door thrice, he didn't have to wait long before Miku came out, a small smile on her lips.
"Fuutarou, you came." A simple greeting, but the young tutor could feel the happiness laced within. Giving Miku a wry grin (partly due to the heat getting to him), he quickly followed her inside to escape the hot weather.
A few minutes later, both Fuutarou and Miku can be seen in the shared bedroom, with Fuutarou taking out the devices from the bags he brought with him. A look of recognition passed Miku as she saw the familiar looking headpiece, and her suspicion was solidify after she saw him bring out the games.
"Fuutarou, thank you for giving me these… But I already have one…" Miku said, taking out the same NerveGear and game from her drawer.
"I got these as a reward for participating in the beta testing phase. Thank you for thinking about us like always, but maybe you can try giving this to Yotsuba instead? She's also interested in videogames, despite not showing it most of the times." And speak of the devil, Yotsuba came crashing into their room at the exact moment.
"Miku, do you want to pla- Uesugi-san?! What are you doing here?" Jubilant to shocked in a fraction of second, as expected of our resident genki.
"Ah, Yotsuba. You came at the right time. I'm just dropping by to give these to her as I think she'd like them, but as it turns out she already has one, so I'm thinking of giving these to you instead. I heard you like videogames, right?"
Fuutarou explained, gesturing to the NVG and games in his hand. A look of jealousy briefly crossed Yotsuba's face as she thought about how Miku is getting presents from Fuutarou, but the happiness that came from receiving these from Fuutarou himself quickly squashed those negative thoughts.
Smiling her iconic megawatt smile, Yotsuba replied cheerfully.
"Yes, I'd love to. Thank you so much Uesugi-san!" And to really show her appreciation, she gave him a tight hug that may or may not have cracked a few bones in his spine…
Of course, she also didn't miss the death glare Miku's giving her but unlike before, Yotsuba just flashed her a cheeky grin as if taunting her to do the same. The silent war between the sisters continued for a few short moments before Fuutarou tap on Yotsuba's shoulder, signaling her to let him go, because he really need to breathe. Also because he felt Death in the room, but that's beside the point.
Now with three people and three gears, Miku and Yotsuba quickly reached a compromise after a quick exchange of glance.
"Ne~ Fuutarou, do you want to play with us? Of course, if you're busy then it's okay if you don't, but we'd like to hang out with you…" The third quint asked hesitantly, with Yotsuba nodding animatedly beside her, ribbons practically waving in excitement. 'I swear one day I'm going to find out if her ribbon is alive or not!' Fuutarou silently vowed with himself, and just as he was about the decline, the earlier words of his father resurfaced in his mind.
'It's not bad to spend more time hanging out with them, eh?... Well, getting to know them better can help me tutor them even more efficiently, so be it. What can go wrong?' Nodding to himself at his impeccable logic, Fuutarou voiced his acceptance as the sisters smiled, or in Yotsuba's case trying to engulf him in another hug.
Setting the device up has been simple with Miku's help, and when the time to play came the young tutor couldn't help but blush slightly at the close proximity. Miku and Yotsuba are both taking up his sides, and the former is even shyly grabbing his hand.
"M-Miku?" Unable to hide his embarrassment, Fuutarou called out but was only greeted with the sight of Miku's nuclear blush. Yotsuba saw it and decided to up her own game, hugging his other arm as a result.
Our poor young man was about to ask them to stop before seeing the puppy eye looks. The same look his sister used whenever she wanted him to do something for her… He's definitely blaming Raiha for this, clearly they've hang out together too much.
Getting over the initial embarrassment, a trio of "Link Start" resounded throughout the apartment before it grew quiet once more, it's occupants now fully submerged into the VR.
Remembering the basic guides Miku gave him a few minutes prior, Fuutarou quickly punched out the details and skipped the character creation screen entirely. He was amazed at how everything felt so real, but then again he did read that the gear stimulated all five senses and send them directly to the brain.
Darkness overtook his vision once more before a scene shimmered into view. It was a massive square made of stones roads with a large monuments in the middle. The sensation he felt from the world around him was so real that if he didn't know before hand, he'd be hard-pressed to point out which is real and which is VR.
Something collided into his back and before he could properly turn around, a pair of arm sneaked around his waist as it was revealed that Yotsuba glomped him. Miku was a few steps behind, looking no different than normal.
A green cursor can be seen atop both of their heads before a screen popped up in front of him.
Player [Kagemusha-3] is inviting you to create a Party
Accept/Decline
It appears Yotsuba also got an invitation, as he can now see both their… health bar as Miku calls it, right below his in the corner of his vision.
Yotsuba is [Ribbonmania428], and somehow she's still hanging from his waist.
'Quite fitting indeed' Fuutarou hummed to himself before following Miku's gesture and opening up his menu.
Inside the first tab of his menu is his in-game name, which he, Yotsuba and Miku decided after a swift argument, [TheTutor], sits right atop of a representation of his character, and along with the sub-tab Items, Skills and Equipment.
Miku took the time to guided them through all the details of the game mechanics that she knew. Just as she was about to finish, three familiar voices greeted them from behind.
"Oya, Fuutarou-kun. I didn't expect to see you spend time playing games like this. Are you finally mellowing out in front of Miku and Yotsuba's charm?" Ichika teased him, a chesire grin perpetually on her face.
Nino and Itsuki followed close behind, both giving him a brief greeting, or in Nino's case, a hug that made Miku and Yotsuba pouted as a result.
Fuutarou asked the trio why they are here and Ichika began her explanation. In short, she was hired to be in a number of ads promoting several of Argus, the company that created the NerveGear, products. In return, she was given the NerveGears and games as compensation, which honestly worth more than what she expected to be paid originally.
Imagine her surprise when she came home right after Nino and Itsuki and found her beloved tutor is playing videogame with Miku and Yotsuba. No, she wasn't jealous that they were essentially sleeping with Fuutarou, not one bit…
Long story short, they decided to join in, and I'll leave their sleeping position to your imagination my dear readers…
Back to the story, the 6 quickly form a party with Miku leading the group out into the fields right outside the Town of Beginning. The third quint was just about to explain about Sword Skills before something bizarre happened in front of her and her sisters.
Fuutarou, by any means of definition, is not a physically fit guy. So the Nakano sisters were surprised to say the least when they saw how dexterously their tutor is handling the longsword in his hand.
"F-Fuu-kun, you know how to use a sword?" A slight admiration in her voice at how cool Fuutarou is in her eyes right now. If this were to be a Dating Sims, then Fuutarou would've gotten a dozen Affection Gain notifications right now…
"Y-yeah… My grandparents used to train me in sword fighting every time I spend the holidays at their house… It wasn't until my junior high did I devoted time into studying and stopped training. I guess my muscle memories still remained even after all these years." Fuutarou explained, a wry smile on his face when he reminiscent of the gruesome training under his grandfather.
He took a stance, the sword held aloft in his right hand behind him before dashing forward, performing a quick slash downward. The young tutor was surprised when he saw the blade glowed and felt his strike becoming much faster, but was somewhat alarmed when he froze up for a moment after finishing.
"W-Wow… Fuutarou, you've just used a Sword Skill. This one's called Vertical. And as you can see, there's a small [Post-Motion] after he used the skill, during which he is vulnerable to attacks. The higher the Sword Skill level is, the longer the [Post-Motion]. So make sure to be mindful of your position at all times." Miku explained enthusiastically to her sisters, who were all listening with rapt attention. For the most part, they were awed with the display of Fuutarou and excited at the prospect of doing so themselves.
After getting Ichika, Nino and Itsuki to choose their starting weapon, which is a short sword/shield combo, mace and one-handed sword respectively, the headphone girl then explained and helped them all picked their first two skills.
Fuutarou has gone for One-handed Sword and Searching due to Miku's recommendation. Our resident onee-san got One-handed Dagger with Shield, Nino has gotten One-handed War Hammer (despite complaining how barbaric the name sounds) and First Aid.
The casual Sengoku enjoyer has chosen One-handed Curved Blade skill along with Leather Armor. Ribbonmania, with Miku's help, has chosen One-handed Spear and Sprint. Lastly Itsuki the eternal eater, has selected One-handed Sword and Acrobatics. After this, with the help of her knowledge from the beta phase, Miku demonstrated some of the basic Sword Skills of her sisters' weapon of choice.
Now it was time to get some practice. Their first enemy was a single Frenzy Boar. With Fuutarou, Miku and Itsuki as DPS, Nino and Ichika as sub-DPS/Support and Yotsuba as Tank, the fight went as well as one could imagine… that is if all of them knew how to fight.
"Awawa, Miku, how do I beat it?" Yotsuba screamed at the top of her lungs while running away, the mob following closely behind. Too focused at running, the ribbon girl didn't notice the rocks in front of her and as a result, she tripped. Flailing comically through the air, Yotsuba didn't even have the chance to land before the Boar caught up and charged into her from behind, flinging her even further. Ichika and Miku shared a giggle at Yotsuba's expenses, while Itsuki worriedly came up to her to check her wounds. Fuutarou and Nino instead found themselves sharing an exasperated sigh.
"A-Are you okay, Yotsuba? Here, let me check your woun- Eh?" Itsuki gasped in shock, seeing that there's no visible wound on Yotsuba despite receiving a rather "gruesome" attack.
"This is a game, Itsuki. Take a look at Yotsuba's health bar and you'll see that her health has dropped a little bit. Though Yotsuba, do you feel any pain?" Miku gently chided Itsuki, who looked slightly embarrassed at her overreaction, and Yotsuba who's still grinning widely.
"Nope, not at all. And I want to have another go at it, can I, Miku?" At her sister's request, Miku gave her approval and gestured to the Boar, which is still huffing away from the group, now that they've gotten out of it's aggro range.
Yotsuba now sits at 80% health from tanking a few attacks with her own body before remembering that she has a weapon to use. The rest were mostly unharmed, but all of them were somewhat mentally drained, especially Miku having to directed them during the battle. Nino was amongst the most active between her sisters, having to switch between attacking and healing. Even as she complained about having to move so much, the rest can clearly see her enjoying herself.
All in all, it was a fun experience and getting to spend time with Fuutarou was already making it worthwhile for the five. The hunting continued, with everyone gradually growing into their role and moving together more harmoniously.
"Haa... Yosh, this is getting easier..." They never thought they'd see the day when Fuutarou enjoyed himself playing games with them. Even the normally serious and hard-working Itsuki is having a radiant smile on her face as she hacks away at the Boar in front of her.
"I must admit, this is strangely therapeutic for me. Maybe I should do this every once in a while, what do you think, Uesugi-kun?" The fifth quint asked while back-to-back with Fuutarou, vigilantly watching the 3 Wild Boars surrounding them.
"Yeah- Sei!- I think it's a great idea Itsuki!" Fuutarou replied, grinning as he used Horizontal to render another Boar in twain, breaking it into polygons motes of light.
"They are certainly enjoying themselves eh?" Ichika commented with a wry smile, seeing Miku pouting with her aura flared out while casually murder a mob brutally by stabbing through its skull. Yotsuba just gave a dry laugh as she blocked a rush attack with her spear, while Nino moved in and using her mace to bludgeon the monster to death.
"A little bit too much I'd say." Nino grumbled, Ichika and Yotsuba chuckled at the jealousy rolling off in waves from their sisters. Besides, it's not as if they're not feeling slightly jealous themselves as well...
At the end of the day, all of them were sitting on the cusp of level 2, but decided to retire since it's already a long afternoon. Even Itsuki, the ever studious one also came to enjoyed her time playing and showed some reluctance at parting with it so soon.
"Today was a lot of fun Uesugi-san. Thank you for bringing the game." Yotsuba thanked him earnestly and gave him a hug much to the jealousy of her sisters.
"While normally I'd spend my free time studying (and eating), I must admit that spending time together like this is indeed enjoyable, I hope we can do this again sometime soon, Uesugi-kun." Blushing lightly at the teasing grin sent her way by Ichika, Itsuki quickly gave her thanks before hiding behind Yotsuba, face flushed with embarrassment.
"It's as Itsuki said. Fuutarou-kun, I'm glad that you decided to hang out with us today. Thank you." Ichika gave her appreciation, and a quick hug followed by Nino.
"Fuu-kun, thank you. If we do well on our next exam, can you come and play with us again?"
With some reluctance, Fuutarou conceded. He sighed lightly before agreeing.
"Sure, if you 5 managed to get a decent score on the next test we can do this again." This made the Nakano sisters smiled brightly, before Yotsuba pulled them all into a group hug.
"Fuutarou, thank you for being considerate like this to us." Miku shyly said, hiding her face behind his back as she hugged him. Our young tutor allowed a small smile to appear on his lips before he returned the hug and gave each of them a head pat.
Suddenly, the bell noise resounded throughout the 1st floor of Aincrad, confusing many players within the game. The tutor and his students looked up to the beautiful sunset, only for a ominous feeling suddenly appeared in the air.
Just a moment later, bright flashes of white can be witness on multiple locations across the floor, with one engulfing the party of 6 as well.
After the white flash has dissipated, Fuutarou looked around only to realized they're now back at the square in the middle of the Town of Beginning. Feeling someone pulling his sleeve, Fuutarou looked down seeing Nino, still in the hug, looked worried as she pointed to the sky.
A red hexagon with "Error" written on it was blinking on the sky, and soon it multiplied and covered the whole skyscape, bathing the ground beneath in a menacing red hue.
Droplets of a blood-like liquid flowed from in-between the hexagon, falling down like rain before stopping mid air, slowly building up into a red silhouette before it revealed a crimson robed being. There was no face, hand nor leg visible beneath the robe, only pure darkness.
A sense of unease boiling deep in the gut of Fuutarou and the quints, yet none of them dared to look away. Some of the nearby players are whispering about a possible secret launch event, but all of them found it hard to believe considering it's bizarre appearance.
"Players, welcome to my world"
A/N: Thank you to all the amazing people in the discord server that helped me with writing this story. Special thanks to LanceSennin, , AllSlayer, Bobalon, Fox, Blackflame, ShadowLivy, YuuKuma for growing this fandom with your amazing stories… This is XXAlter, out