Chapter 16.5
February 9th, 2024
"Alright gals, we gotta talk," Argo said without preamble. "We don't have much time 'fore Kii-boy gets home."
"Time for what?" Lisbeth asked. "Argo, you're not making any sense."
Argo sighed. "Sorries, sorries. I'm just... a little worked up, right now." With another sigh, she leaned back in her chair and stared at the ceiling. The wasted time gnawed at her, but she knew as well as anyone else that if she rushed this, then it'd just mean more time wasted in the long run. It was just... so hard to keep her cool, especially the whole kissing scene playing in her head over and over again. The way Kirito's lips connected with Sinon's, the way she leaned into the kiss, the way she burned to be the gal he was kissing... Argo shook her head and refocused on the there and then instead.
'There' being the small table in the center of their dining room in the log cabin, and 'then' being as soon as she could teleport her cute ass back to town and then sprint full-speed to the log cabin, bust into the house, and call a guild meeting with everyone relevant for the discussion. As a result, every girl that lived in the house was sitting at the table except for Leafa.
That would be because the subject of the discussion she was about to have was Kirito and his availability.
"Alright, I'm calm," Argo announced. She straightened up and looked around. "I've got good news an' bad news."
"Good news first, please," Silica said. "It's been a long week."
Lisbeth nodded. "Yeah, what she said."
Argo shrugged. "Fair 'nough. Good news is, Kii-boy's finished with whatever he went chasin' after Sinon for. The gal's okay, they talked stuff out, 's all good."
Asuna sipped at her tea. "And the bad news?"
Argo kissed her teeth and looked around. Yeah, she decided, there was no good way to break this gently. "Look, we all know all of us have a crush on Kii-boy. No point in hidin' it from each other, yeah?"
The reaction of the room was mixed; Lisbeth's cheeks practically caught fire, while Silica buried her face in her hands. Argo could still see the tips of her ears were bright red, and Pina crooned gently at Silica. Asuna, though her cheeks were a little pink, poured herself a cup of tea and raised it to her lips. "Why are you bringing this up?" Asuna asked, her voice remarkably composed.
"'Cause we can't play around anymore. We gotta go on th' offensive. No hard feelin's ta whoever wins, alright?"
"Wh-why can't things just be like they were?" Silica asked, peeking through her fingers.
Argo's shoulders slumped and she stared at her own mug of hot chocolate. "After they talked it out, Sinon had some sorta freakout or somethin'. Kii-boy caught her, they hugged, an' then she kissed 'im."
Silence reigned for a good ten seconds. Argo counted.
Then... "What?!" Silica exclaimed, shooting to her feet. "She k-k-kissed Kirito?!"
"What the heck?" Lisbeth complained. "Asuna, can you believe this? ...Asuna?"
Asuna had, strangely, remained completely still. Unsurprisingly, this terrified Argo the most. "Argo," she said slowly, "are you certain?"
"Sure as I can be, A-chan. Argo's guarantee. She said 'I love ya' an' then laid one on 'im."
The beautiful long-haired girl set her cup down on her saucer with a quiet clink. "I see." The girl smiled sweetly, and Argo could feel the spirit of rage emanating from her. Yep, Argo nodded to herself. A-chan was pissed. "So, someone stole his first kiss?"
"Looks that way." Argo shrugged and then raised a finger. "Though, uh, shoulda mentioned, pretty sure Kii-boy's bringin' Sinon back here ta join th' Royal Blades, not quite sure why. So, hopefully yer beef's with the kiss an' not with Sinon?"
"What? O-Oh, I couldn't be mad at Sinon!" Asuna said. "I'm just... I always thought his first kiss would be mine, you know?"
Lisbeth sighed and leaned over to Silica. "Childhood friends get all the luck, right?" she faux-whispered loud enough for Asuna to hear and color in embarrassment.
Argo snickered. "Don't worry, A-chan! My first kiss is still available, ya c'n have that if ya want!" She grinned widely.
Asuna shook her head with a fond smile and opened her mouth to reply before a light knock came from the front door. "Who could that be?" she asked.
"Didn't pass anyone on my way home," Argo said. "An' Kii-boy wouldn't knock."
The knock at the door sounded again, and Asuna pushed her chair back. As the girls headed to the front door, Leafa came down the steps. "Asuna, who's knocking?"
"I don't know," the beautiful girl replied. She went to the door and pulled it open. "Hello? Can I help you?"
The cute black-haired girl - barefoot and in a sundress, without a player cursor, Argo's mind idly noted - smiled up at Asuna. "Asuna-mama!"
Argo's mind screeched to a halt. Wait what?!
March 14th, 2024
Argo took a few steps in her heels, and grinned when she didn't wobble. Yeah, still got it, she thought. It had been a while since she'd worn heels at all, let alone seven-centimeter heels, but the orange shoes with the cute flower on the side matched her dress so perfectly that she couldn't pass up the opportunity.
Yui clapped. "You look so pretty, Argo-mama!"
"Kazuto will be blown away," Asuna told her.
"Nya hah hah! Great!"
Silica tilted her head. The young girl was sitting on Asuna's lap, caught by the older girl and subjected to cuddles. "Um... You look wonderful, Argo, but why are you getting so dressed up? I mean, you even got Kirito matching clothes and everything."
Argo grinned and twirled. It'd taken ages to find a dress that she liked, but once she had everything had just seemed to fall into place. She found the heels, that little bow sitting in her hair, even some nice clothes for Kirito to wear so they looked good together. After all, this was totally a date, even if she wouldn't call it that out loud, and she had to try to fight back. Sinon had already confessed to Kirito, and the others were really far ahead; Asuna and Kirito looked like they were made for each other, Lisbeth had that special connection as his blacksmith, and Silica could sit down next to him and he'd started patting her head without thinking! So, Argo had to do what she could! "Well, I figured it's time ta make my move," she told her.
Asuna's eyes focused on her. "You're going to talk to Kazuto?"
"Mm-hmm," Argo nodded. "Poor guy's been tryin' ta figure out what he's doin' all month, so I figured I could give 'im some help. It's like I told ya last month."
Argo was an info broker, and rule one of the job was never give out info for free - but she was also a girl, and a member of the Royal Blades. So, when she saw Sinon kiss Kirito back in February, she'd gone back to the Log Cabin and called an emergency meeting. Every girl with a crush on Kirito was there; in other words, everyone except the little sister. Argo had quickly outlined everything that she'd seen, and let them know that they had to kick things up if they wanted to remain in the running.
Argo and Silica had both been for confessing right away, but Asuna had cautioned against that. The beautiful long-haired girl knew their silly boy the best, so they all agreed. One month; that's how long they'd wait before one of them said something. In the meantime, Argo had done her best to get even closer to Kirito, and she'd noticed the others doing the same thing. It had been fun, especially when she and Lisbeth had noticed Kirito fall asleep in his recliner a few days ago. So, the two of them had kissed his cheek, deliberately leaving lipstick prints behind.
"Don't worry," she continued. "I'm not gonna do anythin' other than see if he's willin' ta talk 'bout Sinon." Argo grinned. "Ya don't gotta worry 'bout me tryin' ta snatch him up from under yer noses. We agreed this's his decision."
Asuna's eyes softened a little bit. "I wasn't worried about that, Argo. I know you wouldn't take advantage of Kazuto like that."
"Eheh... Yeah," Argo mumbled. "...Anyway! I think I heard Kii-boy's door open, so I'm gonna head out."
"Enjoy your date," Asuna called out as Argo walked to the living room.
"Still gotta get some work done first!" the Rat called back. Business before pleasure, after all.
Of course, she was going to indulge in some pleasure first. She entered the living room to see that Kirito wasn't ready yet, and the girl shifted awkwardly. She checked her settings, and grimaced at the fact that she couldn't turn off her notifications. She had to be able to meet with the guy before she could turn them off and just be a cute girl out on a date with a cute boy.
Argo clicked her tongue. A date... Well, she thought it was a date, so that totally counted, right?
Click click click
She took a lap around the couch, just walking to take some of her nervous energy off. She didn't want to be bouncing off the walls like a girl on her first date. ...So what if she was going on her first date, anyway?!
Click click click
Argo tugged at one of the artfully messy locks of hair framing her face. Once again, she silently thanked Asuna for being beautiful and amazing and doing her hair for her, and to Cardinal for letting her play with her hair without ruining the style. It was so much easier to be a girl in the game - aaaaand she was distracting herself from thinking about Kirito again. She'd turned up her flirting, and she thought it was working. He was treating her a lot like the way he treated Asuna, at any rate.
Click click click
Which was good, right? Argo shook her head. She couldn't worry about this, her mind was racing in circles -
Footsteps on the stairs alerted her that her Black Prince was arriving. She turned around as Kirito walked downstairs, and Argo grinned at the sight in front of her. Yep, the blue was a good choice, she decided. It flattered his figure. What was even more flattering, though, was the way his eyes widened and his jaw dropped when he caught sight of her. Alright, time to put her worries in the back part of her mind and turn up the charm, Argo told herself. "Well, how do I look?" Argo grinned and twirled.
When her dress settled down again, she tilted her head and waited for Kirito's response. "Great," he said, almost without thinking. "You look amazing, Argo."
What a flatterer she'd fallen in love with, huh? "Aww, that's nice ta say, Kii-boy," she said. "Now stand still, lemme take a look at ya." She strutted towards him, enjoying the way her heels clicked on the hardwood floor. When she stopped in front of him, the Rat couldn't help but enjoy how her head came up to just under his chin thanks to their assistance. After that, though, she gave him a once-over with a critical eye. Hmm, she thought. Yeah, she's good. "Ooh, don't you look handsome."
"Thanks..."
"Though I gotta ask, did ya put that flower petal on yer shoulder ta look pretty? Maybe I should go get a petal accessory so we can match." Argo teased him and reached up to pluck a flower petal from where it had landed on his shoulder. She let herself enjoy the warmth of his body for an instant before she brushed it off and patted his chest. "An' there we go. Let's get goin'."
...
Okay, so she'd been enjoying herself, even after getting 'stood up' by that jerk. In any event, it was a good enough excuse to spend more time with Kirito, so Argo hadn't minded too much. But this...
"It's just... This is the first time a girl's had a crush on me," Kirito said. "Having someone like me like that... It's something I'm not used to." He chuckled, scratching his cheek. "But it really made me happy that she said that, so... Um, Argo?"
This was beyond dense, Argo grumbled to herself as she buried her face in her hands. This was black hole levels of density. How had he not noticed?! She'd thought he was just trying to spare all of their feelings while he figured out what to do! Honestly, the whole mess was gonna be tough to sort out without anyone getting upset or permanently screwing things up, but that's why Argo had checked with Heathcliff a week or so ago. She'd known that as soon as things came to a head, the Royal Blades were going to have to take a break.
But she hadn't expected this.
"Argo, are you oka-"
Argo raised her hand towards Kirito, even while she pressed at her forehead with her other. "Jus'... Haah," she sighed when Kirito fell silent. "Guess I gotta be up front about this sorta thing, huh?"
"What?"
She turned towards Kirito, the Black Prince, the boy she loved, and looked at him. His face was illuminated by the warm light of the streetlights. His eyes were warm, but confused, and Argo couldn't help herself. That single look blew through all of her rational and her defenses, and her heart swelled with love as she looked him in the eyes and said, totally seriously, "I love you. We all love you, Kirito. All of us in the Royal Blades inner circle."
Kirito's jaw dropped.
Meanwhile, Argo - after a second or two - realized that she might have, maybe, just a little, screwed up. She'd told Asuna she wasn't going to say anything to Kirito about their feelings. She'd literally told her that she wasn't going to do anything other than ask him about Sinon.
Whoops, Argo thought as she whimpered internally. Asuna was going to be mad...
Kirito turned and stared at nothing in particular, resting his elbows on his legs and his chin on his hands. Argo turned to face the park as well. Silence stretched between them; it was normally light and easy-going but now Argo felt like the lack of words was strangling her. It didn't help that a breeze had kicked up, and while normally she didn't mind it, the fact of the matter was, she wasn't wearing her usual hood and shorts combo. She wasn't used to -
"Achoo!" Argo sneezed and rubbed her nose.
"Huh?" Kirito looked over at her in surprise, as if he'd just remembered that he was sitting next to Argo, and then his eyes widened. "O-Oh, you must be cold, Argo. Should we head back?"
Argo grinned weakly and shivered. "Yeah, prob'ly," she said.
While the two of them walked back to the Teleport Gate, Argo stole glances at Kirito whenever she figured she could get away with it. Every time she looked at him, he was staring straight ahead, eyes distant like he was thinking hard about something. The walk was silent, and part of her wanted to reach out and take Kirito's hand in hers; the smarter part of her, however, reminded her that she'd just confessed to him and that maybe trying to push things wasn't the smartest idea. Argo bit her lip and stared at the ground instead, trying to ignore how awkward the silence was.
Sh-She wasn't wrong, right? He hadn't immediately turned her down, so that meant she had a chance, right? Maybe he was just in shock. Argo tugged at her hair, but it wasn't like it was holding the answers she was looking for. It made her feel better, though.
It wasn't easy, but they made it back to the Log Cabin. From time to time, Argo opened her mouth to start to say something, but when she looked at Kirito the words would die in her mouth. The Log Cabin's inviting light was a haven from the awkwardness, and Argo couldn't deny the relief she felt when their home was in sight. Kirito still held the door open for her, and Argo ducked inside. Kirito looked at her, opened his mouth, and then looked away without a word and headed further into his house. He vanished up the stairs, and Argo sighed again.
"Did I screw up?" she wondered quietly to herself. Aside from Kirito, apparently, it was an open secret that every girl in the house loved him. None of them had made a move, though; and it was for obvious reasons. Unspoken, yeah, but none of them wanted to ruin what they had together. Argo didn't have many people she could call friends. She didn't want to hurt the few she could.
Well, what was done was done, Argo thought. She'd just have to live with what she said. But first, there was something she had to do. After opening her menu and swapping back to her regular clothes - no more heels making her taller, she thought wistfully, but then again she was wearing her comfy shirt and shorts - Argo wandered the house in search of the others.
Asuna and Leafa were making something in the kitchen for dinner, the younger girl more of an assistant than another chef, and the long-haired girl turned around as Argo entered. "Argo?" Asuna asked. "I thought you'd be out longer with Kazuto." Then she studied the info broker a little bit closer, and her brown eyes filled with concern. She swept across the kitchen and wrapped Argo in a hug immediately. "Argo, what happened?" she asked. "Did Kazuto say something rude to you? I can go scold him for you, if he did -"
"It was me, A-chan," Argo sighed even as she leaned into the hug. "I screwed up."
Asuna looked down at her. "Is this..."
"Yeah, call the gals. I think this's a house-wide issue we gotta deal with."
Asuna looked over and nodded to Leafa, and the black-haired girl headed out of the kitchen. Meanwhile, Asuna gently ended the hug and turned back to the kitchen. "I'll go make us something nice to eat," she said. "Whatever happened, I think having fresh tea and sweets will make things better."
Argo didn't know how she did it, but Asuna was always the best. "Yeah," Argo said. "Sounds good."
It didn't take long for the girls in the house to gather around the dining room table and enjoy a small fruit cake of Asuna's design; Argo's main reason for her little date with Kirito hadn't exactly been hidden from the others, so the info broker was pretty sure they were all waiting for her to report back. On one hand, that was great, because she could get this over with quickly. On the other hand, that sucked, because Argo had way less time to figure out what to say than she really wanted.
"Okay, so spill!" Lisbeth grinned. "How'd it go? What did he say?"
"No way," Silica gasped. "Did he... choose?" The young tank fidgeted awkwardly. Argo was pretty sure she was torn between eagerness and nervousness.
Argo looked around at all of the eyes on her, and then grinned weakly. Maybe the band-aid strategy was the best idea. "Nya hah hah... I mighta accidentally spilled all the beans an' told him we all love him?"
All of the other girls stared at her, and Argo shifted in her seat. Maybe the band-aid strategy wasn't the best idea. "...Wait, so..." Lisbeth said slowly, "you told him how all of us feel?"
"Um... yeah." Argo shifted. "Sorry."
"I thought you said you weren't going to say anything," Silica complained. "Didn't you say you were just going to ask him about Sinon about that kiss?"
"Huh?" Sinon asked. "Y-Y-You knew about that?"
Argo grinned at her. "Sorry, Sinon, but we all knew ya kissed since ya joined us." The archer stared at her in shock and maybe a little horror. "Gotta say, though, it was kinda cute how the two 'a ya thought ya were bein' all sneaky about it." Ah, there went the blush, and Argo's grin widened.
"Forget all that," Leafa said. "What are we going to do about Kazuto?"
"Sugu's right." Asuna sipped at her tea and then set it back on the saucer with a quiet clink. "Argo, what did Kirito say after you told him how we felt?"
Argo drew her legs up to her chest and squirmed on the couch until she could rest her back against Lisbeth's side. "Well, nothin'," she sighed. "He jus'... took me home, an' now he's upstairs, I think."
Leafa sighed. "That doesn't surprise me. My big brother isn't good with this stuff..."
"So what do we do?" Silica asked. "...I don't want to fight with all of you, but... but I'm not going to give up on Kirito!" The young tank clenched her fists. "B-B-Because I love him!" she squeaked out.
Lisbeth sighed. "So do I, Silica. You're all my friends, but I'm not going to ignore how I feel either."
Argo's eyes darted back and forth between the girls. Lisbeth and Silica were staring at each other, and Sinon had sat up, her eyes focused and ready like she was about to go hunting for mobs. Was this it, she wondered. Did the Royal Blades break up because they couldn't handle liking the same -
"Why is everyone fighting?"
Asuna's innocent question stopped the budding argument in its tracks. The four of them turned and stared at the second-in-command of the guild. "Uh, A-chan?" Argo asked. Gotta be delicate... "Not sure if ya noticed, but I jus' told Kii-boy we all love him." Yeah, that was delicate enough.
"I know that, but why does that mean we have to fight?" Beside her, Leafa's eyes widened in surprise. "Why don't we just agree to share him?"
Argo stopped and stared.
Everyone stopped and stared.
In the silence, Asuna took another sip of her tea.
"Whaaaaat?!" they all exclaimed.
"What are ya talkin' about, A-chan?" Argo asked. "Share him?"
"Of course," Asuna said. "I already agreed to share him with Sugu. And you're all just as precious to me as she is, so I don't want to lose you."
Argo blinked. There were... a lot of things to unpack in those sentences. First though, she couldn't help but smile at Asuna's confession that she was just as important to her as Sugu was. That... felt really nice, actually - wait a second.
"Um, I have a question," Sinon said. "When you said you'd share him with Leafa, what did you mean by that, exactly?"
Lisbeth waved a hand at Sinon. "Pfft. She meant that she'd share him like family, right?"
Leafa shook her head. "No, we'd both be dating Kazuto," she said with a smile. "Asuna suggested it after the two of us had a talk about it, and I agreed!"
"W-W-Wait," Silica stammered, blushing bright red. "B-But you're his sister!"
Lisbeth looked like she wanted to tease Leafa, but the blush on her cheek and her ears was too powerful. "Y-Yeah, siblings shouldn't do that sort of stuff together!"
"But we're not?"
This time, Sinon was the one to cough and nearly drop the teacup in her hand. "Excuse me?!" she yelped. "But... Kirito said you were -"
Leafa smiled, though Argo could tell it was a little shaky. "We're actually cousins," she said. "Mom adopted Kazuto when we were both really young. My aunt and uncle..." She shook her head, trailing off, but Argo was able to figure out what she'd started to say. "Anyway, we're cousins even though we say we're brother and sister. Kazuto doesn't know that, so I haven't said anything, but I realized something was weird with our birthdays and asked Mom. She told me the truth about everything."
Argo rubbed at her forehead. "Alright, so the lil' sis is actually his cousin, an'... Wait, don't tell me, yer in love with Kii-boy too?"
"Of course," Leafa said immediately. "I love Kazuto the most! Ever since he saved me from drowning as a kid."
Asuna smiled. "Sugu here was really jealous when I started getting closer to Kazuto."
"Asuna!"
"But we talked it out," Asuna continued, ignoring Leafa's blush and embarrassed protest. "After I suggested sharing Kazuto, she agreed." The long-haired girl tilted her head. "I never understood why the girls in Kazuto's shows refused to get along. They're all good friends, so why are they ruining their friendship over a guy?" Argo stared at Asuna. This girl... She was sitting there, speaking like all of that was perfectly obvious, instead of the weirdest thing she'd ever heard. "In any event, I've already made this sort of agreement with Sugu... so why not with all of you as well?"
Asuna extended her hand. Argo and the others could only stare at her beautiful face. An... an angel! A beautiful angel had descended from up above and offered them a miracle!
"I'm in."
Argo looked around to see who'd jumped on the offer and realized after a second that she was the one that had spoken up. "I mean," she continued, only a little flustered, "this's the best answer, right? We stay friends, Kirito doesn't have ta choose only one of us..." She shrugged. "It's weird thinkin' my boyfriend will have a bunch of girlfriends, but... all of ya are important ta me. I don't want to lose any of my friends. And I think we can sort things out between us."
Lisbeth sighed. "Well, when you put it that way, Argo... I'm not going to say no, am I? I wasn't sure how I was going to avoid hurting anyone when I confessed, but this works out for everyone, in the end."
"I-I'm okay with it too!" Silica exclaimed. "Kirito wouldn't like it if we fought, would he?"
"No, he wouldn't," Sinon said. She shook her head. "I love him," she said plainly. Argo couldn't help but respect how easy it was for her to say that. "When I first met him, I wasn't sure if I loved him because he was the only happy memory I had, or because I actually loved him... but now, after spending time getting to know him and getting to know you, I know that my feelings are real. The reason he was taking so long to answer me... was because he didn't want to hurt any of you. I could see how much he cared about you, just by watching. If he can be happy like this, then..." She smiled at the other girls. "Let's get along, okay?"
Asuna smiled faintly. "Alright. Shall we go talk to Kazuto? Knowing him, he's probably a little worried about what Argo said."
"I didn't mean ta blurt it out," Argo grumbled.
"I know you didn't." Asuna stood up. "Alright, ladies, let's head upstairs and find Kazuto."
The six of them talked and whispered to each other on the way up the steps. Leafa and Sinon were talking about something or other - from what little bits Argo was able to overhear, Sinon was asking about what happened to Leafa as a kid - and Lisbeth and Silica were whispering back and forth. Fortunately, that meant she could talk to Asuna. "A-chan? Ya sure this's gonna work?"
Asuna shook her head. "No, I'm not. But as long as we do our best, we can make it work."
"Sharin' with each other, huh..." Argo sighed. "I never woulda thought 'bout it, ta be honest. Yer kinda weird, A-chan."
"Hey," Asuna protested.
"But," Argo continued, "guess that's part 'a what I like so much 'bout ya."
"...Say, Argo?"
"Hmm?"
"Why do you call him Kii-boy and me A-chan, but you call the rest by their names?"
Argo grinned. "'Cause I only give nicknames to the ones I like." She raised on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to Asuna's cheek.
Asuna went bright red. "A-Argo?!"
"I never said Kii-boy was the only one I had my eyes on," Argo purred, giving Asuna a quick wink. The beautiful girl blushed and stammered, but before she could reply they arrived at the door to Kirito's room. Argo swallowed, looking up at it. This was it...
Kirito sat on his bed and stared at the ceiling. He really wasn't sure what to feel. On one hand, Argo had just confessed that she was in love with him - but on the other, she'd confessed that all of the girls were in love with him. Sure, he was thrilled, but part of him wished that she could have let him figure out what to do about Sinon first. Now, he had an entirely new problem to deal with. There was... He'd have to hurt four of them, and Kirito couldn't let himself be responsible for that.
Wait, Argo had said everyone in the Royal Blades was in love with him. Did she mean that his little sister felt about him that way? Thinking back on it, some of the ways she'd been acting... It would make sense. But she didn't know the truth, right? Leafa didn't know that she was his cousin, and not his sister, right?
"Ugh, why does this have to be so difficult?" he complained, scratching the back of his head.
Someone tapped at his door. "Papa?" Yui's muffled voice came through the wood. "Can I come in?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, come on in, Yui."
The door opened, and his daughter walked in. She carefully closed it behind her and sat down on the bed next to him. "Papa, what happened? When you left for dinner with Argo-mama, your happiness levels were normal, but now they've decreased dramatically to coincide with an increase in what I can only describe as confusion. I want to help Papa, even if all I can do is listen."
Kirito smiled and patted Yui's head. "Good girl, Yui. No, it's... your Argo-mama told me something I wasn't really expecting to hear, so I'm just trying to figure out what to do."
Yui thought about that for a second, and then looked up at Kirito. "Did Argo-mama tell you that she's having a baby?"
"What?!" Kirito coughed in surprise. "N-No, that's not possible."
"But I thought when a mama and a papa love each other very much, they'll have a baby. D-Do you not love Argo-mama, Papa?"
Yui's eyes were dangerously close to watering, and Kirito immediately shook his head. "That's... not quite how babies are made, Yui." Her mouth opened in a little 'Oh'. "Who told you that?"
"Well, first I was curious about how babies are made, so I asked Silica-mama. But she got very red and embarrassed and didn't answer me, so I asked Aunt Sachi. She didn't answer me either, which was very strange." Yui smiled up at him. "Finally, I talked to Uncle Klein, and he told me!"
Kirito wasn't really sure whether he should be grateful for Klein for answering that, or upset that he gave Yui such a misleading idea on how babies were made. Then again... "The real way is a little more complex than that," he said, feeling incredibly awkward about the whole conversation. "B-But you don't need to worry about it for now."
"...So Argo-mama isn't having a baby?"
"No," Kirito said.
"Oh," Yui said. Then she tilted her head. "Then what did Argo-mama say?"
Kirito sighed. "She told me that all of your mamas are in love with me."
"Huh? Of course they are. All of my mamas love Papa very much! Why is that surprising?"
"Because..." Kirito trailed off. ...Had Yui known the whole time? Then, when she was calling them her mamas because they all loved him, that had been... How much had he missed?! "Because I wasn't thinking things through," he admitted. "I thought... I've been friends with Asuna for so long, I thought that this was just how girls acted when we were best friends. Blushing, sneaking glances, getting jealous... But now I'm stuck, trying to figure out what I'm going to do next. I can't... I have to choose, now," Kirito told Yui.
"Choose?" Yui gasped. "Papa, you can't just choose one Mama!"
"I know," he said. "And that's the problem. How could I choose any one of them? They're all so wonderful. Lisbeth is amazing, the way she pours her heart and soul into every blade she forges. I wish I could have that kind of passion. And Silica... She's always trying her best to grow and get stronger. I can't hurt Sinon like that, after she's done so much to get stronger, all for me. Argo is clever and such a sweetheart, no matter how much she tries to pretend otherwise. Sugu... Once I found out she was my cousin, she was my first crush. I told myself it wasn't that kind of love, but I guess deep down I've always known otherwise. And if Sugu was my first crush, Asuna was my second. She's my best friend, and she's helped me through a lot. Neither of those crushes ever went away...
"And all of them are beautiful, too!" For the first time, Kirito regretted that he'd become the leader of this guild, for the sole reason that every single one of his closest friends were absolutely gorgeous. "They're so important to me, Yui. Choosing one of them... I'd be telling the other five to give up, and I can't do that to them."
Yui hummed and scrambled onto Kirito's lap. He wrapped his arms around his little girl and she giggled, before tilting her head back. "But not answering them wouldn't help either, would it, Papa?"
"No," Kirito sighed. "And that's what's killing me. I've made Sinon wait long enough, I won't do that to all of them."
Yui tilted her head. "Then why choose anyone at all? If they all love Papa, and Papa loves them all, then it wouldn't make sense to choose just one!"
"Yui, th-that's not how that works..."
"Why not?"
Kirito opened his mouth to reply to the young AI, but found that he didn't really have an answer. At least, aside from 'because that's how it is', and Argo would smack him up and down the entire Castle Aincrad if she knew he'd even thought about using that as an answer to a question. "I..."
"If it was an option," Yui pressed, "would you? Love all of them equally."
"I- I..." Kirito stammered. Yui hopped off his lap and turned to face him, standing by the door. What should he say? Kirito wondered. But... It was... "Yes!" he said. "Of course I would. In a heartbeat. But there's no way they'd agree to that sort of thing." Kirito shook his head. "I really wish we could solve things that easily. But, it's just not -"
"Well, Mamas? You heard him!"
With a cheerful smile, Yui tugged open the door to his room. Kirito could only stare as Leafa and Asuna tumbled into his room, falling on top of each other; Argo managed to catch herself on the door frame, and the other girls were standing in the hallway proper. Lisbeth had a huge blush on her face, and Silica's eyes were practically spinning. Argo's fingers scratched at the wooden frame as the info broker stared at him. From the floor, his sister and best friend didn't even bother trying to get up. Leafa was giggling happily, and Asuna had the most satisfied smile.
"Uh," Kirito began.
"I listened in on my Mamas' conversation down in the kitchen before coming up to talk to you, Papa!" Yui announced. "They decided that they'd try to share you as well, if they could convince you! Ah, as an MHCP, I'm so happy. Human emotions are so interesting, and this will give me so much to study!"
They all stared at each other silently for a few seconds, before Lisbeth finally exploded. "W-W-Well you said you'd date all of us! So you'd better not have been lying, Kirito!" She stepped over Leafa and Asuna and grabbed him by the shirt - before awkwardly looking to the side. "...D-Don't make me say it... I'm still a girl, I'm not supposed to be the one asking for a kiss..."
"Ah! Liz!" Leafa exclaimed. "No fair jumping ahead! Kazuto's first kiss should be mine!"
Kirito was still a little shaken by everything happening at once, but he decided it wasn't a big deal. Gently he leaned forward and captured Lisbeth's lips with his. As Silica squealed and Lisbeth melted into the kiss, eagerly responding to his inexperienced technique, he couldn't help but think that this was probably a bad idea...
But, on the other hand, it definitely felt like a good one.
And there's the 'climax'. We've reached peak harem, in which everyone decides to be one big polyamorous blob. Now comes the hardest argument - who gets to be the official Wife? (Seriously, who? Vote for the girl you want, and the winner gets the ring in VR~ (Though, uh, don't just vote for someone in the reviews. Have something else to say, please.))
I really wondered about putting this in the last chapter, but I really wanted Argo's side of the 'date' and didn't want to just repeat stuff. Plus, it was already 15k when I decided to split this off, so no big deal. Just think of the last chapter and this one as one huge 20k chapter, if you want! Either way. Argo's impatience was hopefully a little more obvious here, as well as the reason she just confessed for all of the girls.
And then we have both sides coming to terms with their feelings. Asuna revealing her master strategy; Leafa revealing the fact that she's known she's not Kirito's sister pretty much since the beginning (she figured out the birth dates were weird about… six months before Kazuto met Asuna, and that was the start of her crush on her big brother); Argo revealing her targets, plural; and, of course, Sinon pushing for any ending that makes everyone happy.
Then, on Kirito's side, we have his realization that he's being a coward and running away, though if I'm being fair his outlook on how girls acted was skewed thanks to his only source of girl contact being Asuna and Sugu. As well as Yui deciding to be Yui for a bit, and social-ninja Kirito into being willing to talk about what happened, and then talk about his feelings for the girls. Sometimes it's nice being able to have a character make other characters talk about feelings by dint of A) being a cute girl and lowering their guard and B) being surprisingly grown-up, as an AI.
And I chose Liz for receiving the sacred First Kiss because she wasn't First Girl, Best Sister, Best Girl, Silica, or First Love Confession. Also because her character development is showing, that too.
Many thanks to everyone that favorited, followed, or left a review.