Contains the following headcannons: - Argo & Asuna are twins - Argo's real name is "Akira Yuuki"
- Rika's a rich kid (but hated it 99% of the time) but grew up with Kirito from school
- Rika's been forging since she was little
- Shino's a GGO VR champion sniper & studies VR world creation
- Shino & Kirito work together from time to time
- Shino is biromantic demi, Rika's Bi, and Argo's pan


"Ey, ya seen A-chan yet?"

Kirito wasn't surprised to find his lecture hall's table suddenly occupied by a certain blonde. Who had zero qualms with completely shattering his focus on taking notes in his math lecture and jumped up onto the table next to him.

As if he needed another excuse for looking like he was dating her.

"Not since this morning, when you saw her too," Kirito sighed and lightly pushed the mousey woman to one side so he could properly see the laptop in front of him. He had learned his lesson last week regarding paying too much attention to Argo when she interrupted his class. Since he in no way wanted a repeat of having to cancel a date with Asuna to hunt down his childhood friend and beg her to cancel her own date in favor of tutoring him so he didn't fail their midterms after failing a practice test.

Unsurprisingly, having three women, one of them who caused it all in the first place, all mad at him for varying reasons wasn't an experience he wanted to repeat.

Still, at least he hadn't had to go to Rika of all people. The engineer major never would've let him hear the end of it if he had been forced to be tutored by her because his girlfriend, her twin, and his other childhood friend had ignored him to let him fail. Hold on…

He looked up at the blonde sitting at his table who was looking at her phone, only to look up and make eye contact with a cheekier than normal smirk.

Argo was definitely here to get back at him. To get back at him for stealing her girlfriend for the weekend to tutor him instead of going to a hotspring with Argo for the weekend.

Damnit, he said he was sorry, and he said it many, many times, not to mention he paid Caylee to tutor him! So he contributed to the money she spent skipping classes for a day with Argo and going on some kind of double date with her girlfriend Argo, Rika, and whoever Rika brought with her!

"Mmm…" Argo hummed around the white stick of a sucker poking out from her mischevious lips and very faint freckles of her cheeks like whiskers. "Pretty sure 'er class went out 'eady." As per usual, she was totally messing with him. Most of the time the half-nocturnal, and would be entirely if her twin sister was nocturnal too, investigative journalism major usually sat beside Caylee or waited outside for him and her girlfriend. Though waited was a strong word when she wandered around the building. Poking her nose into everything till Caylee called her just before class ended and she'd pop up at the door when they left the lecture hall.

Still… why was she bugging him for a reason besides to get back at him? Especially when everyone would get the wrong idea, again.

"Can you get down, please?" He asked her in a whisper, lowering his voice to keep other students from hearing him. "Asuna will kill me if someone gets the wrong idea again this month!" He ended the statement in a hiss, especially when he felt the gaze of some of his nosey classmates bore into the back and side of his head.

Despite it being common knowledge on campus that he was dating one of the Yuuki twins, the question everyone who didn't know him had, was which one was he dating?

Which was a question he had learned to quickly avoid since Asuna got irritated at it and Argo would just smirk and tease him when it was asked.

Most students either knew or didn't care, like proper adults, but there were those that wanted drama and used the vagueness of the campus' general knowledge to make some. Which meant, of course, that he was a prime target, since Argo didn't care enough to destroy the rumors and would tease him about them.

What didn't help was that this math class, advanced calculus, was a class that was half full with overly smart seniors in high school. High school students were not know for their ability to give people privacy and keep secrets instead of making and circulating rumors.

The mischievous grin he received in turn and the lack of moving toward getting down from the table, told her the answer to his request was a definite no. Which reminded him just how stubborn she was and why she was practically a final boss in VR with how stubborn and resourceful she was. Granted it wasn't like he had expected her to get down, since there were only two people on the planet that could tell her what to do and he was not one of them.

After all, only her twin sister Asuna, and her long time girlfriend Caylee, could tell her what to do and even then, it was shaky at best for the ADHD highly impulsive journalist. To the point that her girlfriend usually just went along with whatever she was up to and kept a constant eye on her to make sure she wasn't going to hurt herself.

"Argo!" Kirito hissed and gave her a pleading look at the low whispers he could hear form his classmates, "get down! The professor's trying to teach!" He was grasping at straws if he thought that would actually work.

The blonde merely looked over her shoulder at the professor and offered him a lazy salute, as if greeting him and aware she'd never get in trouble, which was entirely too true.

The professor merely nodded politely to her with a mildly amused look and continued on with his lecture like usual and Kirito wasn't surprised. After all, who would? Besides Caylee, Argo's girlfriend of course. The reach of Argo's connections was terrifying. You searching for a memory of something you did as a kid? She could find it. Your long lost ex that you don't remember? She knew it and could be bought into silence about it. Some stupid thing you did as a teenager that you regret and don't want to get out? Argo knew about it and would and could use that leverage when and if she absolutely had to.

If Kirito wasn't in the middle of class and was no doubt going to be utterly murdered by her gentle sweetheart but tempermental girlfriend because of her own sister's antics, he wouldn't be bothering her like this either. Unless of course, he was going to pull a prank on her or with her.

The only person here who could keep the blonde contained was… his gaze flickered to one of the tables toward the middle of the lecture hall. Where he could see the slumped over form and the back of the head of one of his three childhood friends, Caylee. Damn, she was probably asleep since her head was down, tucked into her arms resting on the table.

To be fair, Caylee slept through almost sixty percent of her lectures and dealt with Argo about the other thirty percent of the time. Lectures just weren't her thing and he knew that, though he wished he could sleep during them as much as she did.

Now he loved math, but it would be nice if it was that easy. Put him in computer tech and he'd fly through it, but math in general was too boring for it to be easy, for him at least.

Granted, Caylee probably needed that sleep around dealing with Argo all of the time, working from home, and not sleeping at night…

The more pressing matter reeled in his thoughts. Namely, the prickling of the hairs at the back of his neck. Which was caused by the curious but intent stare of one of his classmates on the back of his head.

Oh he was so not getting put in the dog house by Asuna for some stupid high schooler spreading rumors.

After reaching into his bag for a notebook, Kirito quickly tore a piece of paper from his notebook before he crumpled it up into a ball.

That annoying kid had two seconds before he nailed them in the face with a harmless but hopefully effective lined paper ball.

Argo's golden brown eyes narrowed suspiciously, "what're ya…"

That was before he pulled his arm back in preparation to throw the ball at the staring student who's stare had changed to confusion.

"Ki-boi!" She lunged for his hand, "A-chan will-"

But it was too late to stop it completely, even if Argo's lunge threw off his aim.

The paper ball, originally supposed to hit the staring highschooler, had it's trajectory changed via Argo's fingers grasping his wrist and it went flying off in a direction he hadn't intended, to a target he hadn't intended to hit either.

Kirito's eyes widened and he winced as it went flying toward the back of his childhood friend's head.

"Now Ki-Lii's gonna 'ill us both!" She hissed and Kirito winced when she got him around the collar and pulled his head toward her almost nervous scowl so they were nose to nose, not that he blamed her.

They were both doomed, even if the girl with black hair and teal ends sitting beside Caylee caught the paper ball and nudged the sleeping girl.

"I didn't mean to throw it at her!" Kirito disagreed and felt his ears flame at the scene his classmates were going to definitely take wrong. While he saw Caylee lifting her head and speaking briefly to the other girl.

"So?! Doesn't 'atter!" The blonde practically growled and not in any sort of protectiveness over her girlfriend. Rather, it was the same nervous fear that he was feeling right now, since Caylee was going to kill them.

Now, Caylee was a very mild tempered person with an intensely snarky tongue but very laid back personality. She wasn't much of a people person and preferred their small group of friends, but her temper terrified everyone. She was very intense beneath the relaxed, laid back exterior, and he and Argo knew that the best for two different reasons. Argo lived with her and witnessed every aspect of her girlfriend, whereas Kirito had known her since they were both kids alongside Rika and Klein.

The long fuse was no joke, so she took an absurdly long time to actually get fully mad, but that didn't mean Kirito didn't remember what she was like when she was angry. Or angry and protective like when he had been a senior in high school and she broke a guy's nose for harassing Argo for a week without the blonde telling her.

That glare, the one she was giving him right now in fact as she turned around, reminded him of back in that moment. When he watched her bend the guy's wrist till he released Argo, then pull back and nail the guy as she and pulled her girlfriend behind her, protectively. According to her, the suspension had been wholeheartedly worth it.

Caylee glared at them both and sat up. 'What are you two doing?!' She mouthed to them and he hastened to shake his head and point at Argo. Who released him but did the same thing with puppy eyes that could've killed a human if they weren't a certain grumpy from being woken up in the middle of class Caylee.

Normally puppy eyes worked on her, which he and all of their friends knew well and joked that she was totally whipped and had no resistance to her whims.

Still, when Caylee tucked her paper-like table into her bag, stood up, swung her bag over her shoulder, and said something to the girl sitting next to her; Kirito couldn't help but exchange worried glances with Argo.

He was going to be killed three times over once by the grumpy brunette and of course, twice by his girlfriend for the idiot highschoolers in his class spreading rumors today, again.

His jacket rode up awkwardly as he sunk low in his seat with the knowledge that he was going to pay the price today for being in a class with highschoolers. See, this was why he preferred online courses like what Argo did for her classes. The journalist didn't have to step even a toe into a lecture hall this semester unless she actively wanted to like right now. Though with the photographic memory that gave her a reputation of being all knowing, she had it kind of easy. Much easier than he did anyway, though he also felt bad for his friend here and there with Argo's lack of actual in person classes. Since Caylee rarely had the chance to study properly, too busy chasing her troublemaker girlfriend around, working, and or letting her accompany her to whatever she did for work at the moment.

That didn't mean that he was going to enjoy dealing with the repercussions of something he wasn't even responsible for for how sideways it had gone. Which only encouraged him to sink further down in his seat as Caylee approached the table. Even if his posture was quickly rectified when the brunette seized the shell of his pale ear with her forefinger and thumb.

"What's that for? Stop it!" He whined helplessly and winced when the pressure only increased on his ear at his complaints and she pushed his chair in slightly so the table was digging into his stomach. So he wisely, reluctantly fell silent and suffered the embarrassment of being partially hunched over from pain with his childhood friend's grip on him by the ear and her foot against a wheel of his chair.

The curly hair of her bangs tickled his ear when she leaned down and hissed in his ear, clear irritation in her voice. "Asuna told me to pinch your ear if you were being oblivious or in this case, really fucking annoying," she hissed and he could tell how annoyed she was with just her language alone.

Granted, he couldn't exactly blame Asuna for coming up with this particular thing as what she'd use to tell him off for being oblivious to any girls flirting with him or showing any kind of romance interest that he wouldn't notice at the time due to how oblivious he naturally was.

First it was Rika, who hadn't been interested in him since highschool, then Caylee who was dating Asuna's sister and had been since half of forever, then Asuna herself and her sister who had always been his partner in crime and pranking, then Keiko the adorable freshman he was tutoring this year, the dance major Phila, Strea who he honestly didn't know if anyone could contain or manage her, the list just never seemed to end.

So with the amount of girls he was around all the time, it wasn't a surprise that Asuna was a bit uneasy, even if a few of them she knew could care less about dating him and two of them were practically his siblings.

Still, Asuna's uneasiness was enough of a motivator to get a better handle on the whole, surrounded by girls situation, without the rumor mill being another source of a headache. He wasn't interested in literally any of them and had grown up with two of them, Rika and Caylee, and had crushed on Asuna for three years before managing to ask her out with the help of his childhood friends, but that didn't mean it was something he wanted to have continue. Which was why he had asked to come up with something that would be used by him, Argo, Caylee, and Rika, to tell him that he wasn't doing enough to push the other girls' affections aside.

Though he hadn't thought it would be pinching his ear, and he already knew that Asuna had definitely intended for it to be softer, Caylee was just really cranky today for some unknown reason.

Granted she was pretty irritable this morning, having worn her earphones all morning and occupied herself with her laptop. Even Argo had turned it down a few notches this morning, not causing any trouble or mischief that would require her girlfriend's attention or would make her anxious. Preferring to spend most of it just working and participating in the group's conversation perched on the table while Caylee didn't speak or eat all that much, evidently feeling a bit off of something. Which he had just guessed had to do with her just having an off day.

Hmm… Argo had probably kept her up all night last night…

The way her fingers tightened on his ear and she growled in his ear was proof that the words had unintentionally escaped his mouth.

"What was that? Kirigaya?"

"Nothing!" He squeaked in pain with his voice at a volume he hadn't intended and dropped his pen in his scramble to raise his hands in surrender, "I didn't say anything-"

"Kirigaya, Mitsuko," the professor interrupted him and thereby drew a lot of attention to him and Caylee. As if anything else could make the brunette even more irritated than very unwanted attention. "Is there something you'd like to tell everyone?"

"Besides an apology for interrupting? No, not really, huh, Kirito?" Caylee deadpanned and Kirito didn't fight her pulling his head down a bit by the ear into an apologetic bow of the head while he winced at the pain.

"Sorry for the noise," Kirito apologized swiftly, if mainly to get Caylee off his back, though he was surprised when he saw Argo shrug out of the corner of his eye and apologize herself.

"S'rry teach," Argo gave a half-assed apology that Kirito could hear traces of amusement in her voice. Though when Caylee looked over at her and discretely pressed her thumb into her thigh, probably a sore muscle with how Argo flinched and grabbed her wrist on instinct to try and make her stop, not that it worked. Argo cleared her throat to hide the pained squeal that nearly left her mouth and apologized properly with the correct amount of sincerity in her voice. "S'rry 'bout that, we'll be 'uiet."

Luckily the mostly sincere sounding apology seemed to be enough for the professor as he merely rolled his eyes in an exasperated fashion and returned to his lecture. While Argo tapped a finger against her girlfriend's wrist and Kirito rapidly followed suit, trying to tap out and get the angry and, judging by her reddened ears, embarrassed brunette to release them both.

Thankfully, Caylee listened to the silent requests and let his ear go and removed her thumb from Argo's thigh. In favor of slipping her bag off her shoulder and putting it down to Argo's right as she grabbed the chair Argo had disregarded and moved it toward her.

"Maybe this time you'll both learn to leave each other alone in class," Caylee whispered while Kirito rubbed at his ear to soothe the pain that had his ear ringing and Argo pouted and ignored the brunette in retribution. Even if the resolution to ignore her was quickly forgotten when Caylee sat down and rubbed at the sore muscle in the journalist's thigh and got an eye roll and a softened cheeky smile from her.

Which was just another reminder of how he didn't know how people on campus were convinced he and Argo were dating. When it was blatantly obvious that she was head over heels for Caylee, just like the brunette had it bad for Argo and they had been dating before they even came to this college.

So why did everyone like to dramatically think he was dating Argo?

"You pair of class clowns," Caylee's voice broke his sulking thoughts, "have never been in the same class since middle school, on purpose or have you both forgotten?"

He would've exchanged amused looks with Argo were the blonde not too busy practically being a melting cat at the moment.

Ever since a certain incident in middle school when he and Argo were in the same class, they had been banned from being in the same class without Asuna or Caylee. Since the latter was one of the only people that could control Argo even at that time. Since back then the roles were reversed between the two of them, with Argo harboring a massive crush on the brunette and chasing after her, pushing some of her buttons to get her attention, and listening to her since she'd ignore her if she didn't.

The incident in question however, involved silly string, a kickball, pressure plate Rika had rigged for them on the train platform, both of them failing said class, and the breaking of another student's wrist from the prank. Both of their parents had been called in, with Argo's parents being so livid they sent her older sister Kizmel instead and Kirito's aunt who was practically his mother, had suggested they be split up or have a mediator to keep an eye on them and Caylee had been reluctantly dragged into it all. Thereby meaning she wasn't allowed to participate in any of their pranks unless Rika or Asuna were visiting from their school, but also keeping them both from getting expelled from any schools.

Especially high school when Argo's ADHD hadn't been treated yet, she had been unofficially disowned so she was living with Caylee who lived alone, and she was bouncing off the walls twenty-four-seven. Not to mention that she, Kirito, and Rika were all in the same class in the beginning of the year before Caylee had quickly been transferred in alongside Asuna to keep them all under control. Between a constantly hyper Argo, very irresponsible Rika who was lashing out at her parents, and an irresponsible teenage Kirito, was a serious recipe for disaster.

"Sorry," Kirito apologized and watched as Caylee briefly scratched her nose and rummaged through her bag, seated directly in front of Argo who's attention was occupied temporarily by her phone, "she started it though…" he added on childishly and Argo narrowed her eyes at him at the words, not appreciating the blame game when technically she didn't actually start the whole throwing the paper ball thing.

"I know she did, since she's sitting here," Caylee deadpanned in the whisper they had been conversing in and pulled out her tablet, evidently having a hard time finding what she was looking for."

"Uh, you do?" Kirito blinked at her while Argo opted to smirk and he turned a blind eye to the obvious cheeky smirk.

Caylee sighed and stopped looking around in her bag in favor of giving him a deadpanned look. "Kirito, how old am I?" She asked him flatly while Argo took up the search in her bag, looking for whatever Caylee had been searching for.

"Uh," Kirito wracked his brain for the older girl's age, since he knew out of everyone he knew, she was the least likely to ask him this kind of trick question, unlike her girlfriend. "You're… twenty-five this year, right?"

"Yes, and when did I start dating Argo?" she asked and unclipped her water bottle from her bag before she grabbed said bag and tugged it out of Argo's hands with a pointed look and an outstretched hand when the blonde pulled out her tablet.

"Got 'istracted," Argo shrugged but moved to hand over the tablet, which Caylee pushed back toward her with a finger and narrowed her eyes slightly, silently telling her to give it up and give her what she knew she had.

"Uh, at sixteen?" Kirito continued while Argo groaned but pulled a tiny medication organizer from the sleeve of her jacket with a flare and dropped it into her girlfriend's palm with a sulk.

"I'd think after almost ten years I would know my girlfriend well enough to know that she pushes people's buttons to know and see what they would do and or she's just bored and needs something to do," Caylee deadpanned and flipped the organizer open. Before she tipped it into her palm, closed her hand, and offered it to Argo alongside her water bottle. "Now take it Argo, today is not the day to mess with me."

Of course.

Argo was the definition of free-spirit, being someone who didn't take well to being chained down and had to be doing something or she would get bored and that was hell on earth. She was inherently nosey, inquisitive and curious about even the smallest detail, which was what made her such a good journalist despite not having her degree yet. However, she was also known for slipping through every loophole in book at least five times and being prone to breaking the rules if she could sense that something was going on that she wanted to be part of. One of those loopholes included avoiding the medication that was used to treat her ADHD when she couldn't get it under control and Caylee didn't have the energy to manage it for her.

The blonde was and always had been, hyper to the extent of fidgeting and needing to be occupied, but when she took the medication she was supposed to, she didn't take the same kinds of risks that she would've on any other normal day, and thereby it meant less stress on herself, her twin sister, and of course, her girlfriend. And more of her cunning and crafty side came out without all one-hundred percent of the high energy, needing constant stimulation and actively learning, that came from her ADHD.

Which was why she exercised all the time, doing almost three times as much as anyone else that they lived with, even Rika. Who spent almost seventy-percent of her time working with hot metal, running, working with heavy power tools, or accompanying Argo and Caylee rock climbing or somewhere else.

Argo gave Kirito a cheeky smirk when he looked at her, a smirk that fit her journaling name of Argo the rat and made him almost be able to see the whisker-like markings on her face in VR, and obediently took the medication with some water.

"As for you," Caylee plucked the tablet from her girlfriend's lap and handed the paper-like tablet to Kirito, "here."

Kirito cautiously took the expensive device, aware that she would kill him if he damaged it or could be pulling a prank on him with her programming skills, "err… what do I need this for?"

Caylee snuggled her head into her girlfriend's lap, evidently not in the mood to see or deal with the rest of the world anymore. "Plug in a USB with a USB-C option and copy my notes," she muttered, her voice rather muffled, "because you're not canceling my date at a hotspring this weekend, dumb-ass."

Well, Kirito definitely felt stupid.