Chapter 4: Beta's, Baths and Boo- WHAT?!
December 1st 2022
Daniel (Charlie) POV
"Hi ho, Hi ho, its on the way we go!"
"Whst whsssst whst whst whst whst whst whst!" (whistling)
"Hi ho! Hi ho!"
"Thats a really catchy song" Akair comments as we made our way down the road.
"I know right?" I smiled at her, she looked at my face for a second before turning her head the other way quickly.
Okay, what the heck's going on?
Did Robert tell her some embarrassing secret about me or something?
…
"Robert? Can I speak with you for a second" A mask of quiet rage slipping on to my features.
He looked at at me from over his shoulder with a neutral face.
"Sure"
I quickly fell into pace with him and we pulled ourselves behind Akari at a distance she wouldn't hear us.
"Okay, what the fuck did you say to her" I hissed at him.
"I didn't say anything-
"Bullshit, she's avoiding looking at me like I suddenly grew two heads, this has been going on since yesterday"
We had spent the night hiking towards Tolbana, and every time I attempted to talk to Akari, I would be met with awkward silence. With a few nods and 'Mmms' as her only responses.
And it has been going on ever since Robert talked to her.
"...so spill it"
"..."
"..."
"You just said a good logical point of argument in your head again?
DAMN!
"What. . Say?"
He looked up at the sky.
"I asked you-
"I told her you were a lesbian"
My jaw dropped, physically dropped and hung open as I comprehended those words.
"WHAT THE FUCK MAN!?"
Akari looked over at us.
I responded with a 'don't mind us' wave of the hand before she hesitantly went back to walking.
"Well, I didn't say you were interested in her or anything" Robert tried to defend
"Including her, there is about, what? Ten? Fifteen females in this entire game? I'm pretty sure she connected the freakin dots!" I whisper-shouted.
"I don't think she thinks that"
"Then what in the sam hell do you called last night"
"Lovers tiff?"
…
I drew my spear, slooowly out from behind my back.
"Uhhh, hah, Daniel?" Robert says with a trace of fear, "You know I was only joking, right?"
But before I could sink the weapon into his eye socket, I heard Akari call out from ahead.
"WE'RE HERE!"
Our heads snapped forward. Sure enough, the town of Tolbana filled our sights, the meeting for First Floor Boss Strategy Meeting.
I put my weapon away before Akari would notice, before going Robert a death glare.
"We WILL be talking about this later"
He nodded, with a grave expression on his face. More likely than not because of the floor and not my 'womanly' wraith.
I caught back up with Akari and made our way to the centre of the town.
Three Hours Later
Mmmmmmm
"You know what Lucian, forget what I said before, these cream pots were absolutely worth that hardass quest" I say to Robert, as I chow down on the delicious treat, my two party members were doing the same, sitting on either side of me on a bench.
Akari was farther seated from me than she usually did I noted.
"Enough to do it again?" inquires Robert.
"Fuck no"
I then looked at the large clock tower.
"When was the meeting again?"
"Four PM, we have fifteen minutes to spare" Robert answers, before finishing the rest of his bread.
I looked around the plaza, thankfully I saw quite a few able-bodied people here in armour and decent weapons. Could you lose weight here? Because I don't think I saw that many muscular people back at the City of Beginnings.
My eyes then caught a head of black hair.
It wasn't that uncommon of a sight, after all, this was a Japanese game. They practically ™ black hair.
But the clothes were familiar, the blue hoodie reminded me of…
"Hey, I'll catch you guys at the meeting place, I gotta check something"
"Okay" Robert shrugged, Akari opened her mouth to say something, before nodding her head.
Walking through the crowds, (quite a few gawking like gargoyes at me) I found myself behind the guy that caught my attention.
And he had a friend, and from the voice, a female friend.
This will be fun.
"...I did not come this far to this town just to eat delicious things." the girl said.
"Hmm. Then, for what purpose?" he asked.
"Helllllo Mr Groper"
The boy jumped up with a yelp before spinning on the spot to look at me.
"Y-you!" He stuttered as he looked at me, "You were from… before right?"
The girl turned to look at us both in curiosity, the cloak she was wearing hid her face from where I was standing. I could only see her cheeks and mouth.
"Yup! Good to see you again dude! Super sorry for intruding on your date by the way"
Both of the teens blushed a deep red.
"W-we're not on a date!" Kirito shouted in embarrassment.
"Yeah, I didn't think you would be able to hold on to a girl anyway. Mr Groper"
The girl stiffened a little before looking at Kirito with a wary expression (I assumed)
"T-That was an accident! And a month ago!"
"There are no Statutes of Limitations for groping kid" I answered back with a cheeky smile.
He sighed deeply.
"Sorry, where are my manners?" I grin as I leaned forward to the hooded girl and she flinched slightly at my close proximity.
"Names Charlie, what's yours then?
She was silent for a few moments before answering.
"...Asuna"
"And you of course know Kirito, AKA Mr Groper" I heard a groan from him at his now permanent nickname.
"...not that much" she said, looking the other way.
Robert didn't talk to this girl this did he?
"I guess you guys are here for the same reason then" I said in a slightly more serious tone as I stood up straight to face them.
Kirito mirrored my expression and nodded, Asuna with him.
Well, I couldn't see her expression, but I assumed it was the same.
"Yeah…" I looked out at the crowd. I hope there were enough here to help, "Me and Lucian, you remember him right? And a new member of ours Akari found out about the thing, rushed over here through the night"
Their silence prompted me to continue, "I reckon that everyone here has a reason to be here, they want to get out the game obviously. But I meant a reason THEY would want to be here, you know what I mean?"
Two nods again.
"... as selfish as it sounds, I know living here is going to be an uphill battle, so I thought to come here to make a name for our group you see? I'd help these guys in a heartbeat, but what got me here was to keep me and my group surviving and alive"
"Kind of ironic since this battle would most likely kill us but, hey. Sitting on our asses all day is not going to do us any favours"
I waited for them to talk,
Asuna's voice spoke up, "My… reason, for coming here, was to prove I existed"
Pause.
"When this all began, I locked myself in a room of the city's inn, I would have stayed there. But I decided, if I was going to rot away, then I wanted to be myself up to the last moment"
" Even if I lose to a monster and die, this game… this world, I don't want to lose to. No matter what"
I could get that, everything being so hopeless, you might as well give it your all, so you are remembered that way.
So what will YOU be remembered as?
I shook the voice off, I hated this, the biggest decisions I had made in my life before this mess was whenever I wanted chocolate or caramel ice cream for dessert. Not risk my life.
Out with a bang, sounds pretty cool.
"-rry"
I snapped out of it, Kirito had said something I couldn't really catch, I then pieced together that it was a sorry.
"Sorry… the current situation, or rather, what pushed you so far, in a sense, it might be my-
DONG DONG DONG
All three of us looked up at the giant windmill/clock as it rung out.
"...I guess its time to go" I grumbled, turning to the two of them, "Four O'Clock, we have a meeting to get to, right?"
And so we picked ourselves up and made our way to where it would be held.
"By the way…" I said as an after thought, "Thanks for listening, it's good to get something off your chest to a stranger, easier too, I wonder why that is?"
"It's because…" Asuna said at my side, slightly startling me, "You don't feel you have to hide anything from them... and don't need to match their expectations because you just met them… I think"
You think? Well, better explanation than I've ever had.
We then walked the rest of the way in comfortable silence.
First Floor Boss Strategy Meeting
When we came to the fountain clearing, it had this large seating area I immediately found Robert and Akari sitting not far off and went to join them, Asuna and Kirito sat together by themselves.
"Where have you been up to then?" Asks Robert as I sat down beside Akari.
"I found that Beta tester from before, Mr Groper, seems he found another girl to bother" I smiled with mischief, he looked around and saw the couple talking to each other.
"I guess thats him, I wonder what that boyfriend of yours must look like after it showed everyones features?"
I felt steam gush from my ears, "Freaking hell I hate you"
"I know"
"Boyfriend? but isn't Charlie-Chan ga- AH!" Akari snapped close her mouth and looked the other way.
I looked back at Robert. "I hate you SOOOOOOO much"
I then turned back to Akari "He's just fooling around, likes to do that sometimes. So don't worry about that, okay…" I struggled with the name before giving up, "...Akari-Chan?"
Her face brightened slightly as she looked back at me before taking a red tint.
"Yeah…" she then avoided my eyes again, damn, I really hate Robert. I need to get rid of this awkwardness later.
I kissed a girl and I liked it!
Oh god, I don't need this freaking shit!
But before anymore words could be exchanged, a armour wearing guy comes up on stage, and I realised everyone was clapping.
"O—K! Now then, it's five minutes late, but let's start! Everyone, a bit more to the front... there, come three steps closer!"
30 Minutes Later
"YOU DIRTY FREAKING RAT!"
Yeah, it should be noticed I have a bit of an anger problem. But seriously, talk to Argo the Rat for longer than five minutes and you're liable to get frustrated.
I first met the girl when me and Robert went out selling information after the Dungeon of spiders and boars, leaving Akari in the inn to recover, the woman would give us money for info and vise-versa, that was kind of her job.
And she haggled like a farmer with a Golden Goose.
Anytime I just asked something trivial, she would put a price on it, I was tempted to talk to her later when I got that 100, 000 col and find out about those whiskers.
And did I mention I hate rats?
Currently I was on the verge of strangling the twerp however, when I heard that the guide that I spent 500 col on was going to be free and updated barely two weeks later.
"Ah- you know how it is Charlie-Chan, times change and prices rise and fall" Argo said in that nasally smug voice of hers, she had auburn brown hair and hid herself under a cloak and hood, her weapons were some metal claws (which were admittedly kind of cool) and throwing nails.
"You freaking sneak thief, you knew fine well that you would be giving out free versions soon didn't you?"
"Mmm, that information costs-
"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" I launched myself at the pint sized extortionist before I felt arms loop around my waist.
"LET ME GO, I'M GOING TO BULLDOZE THAT VERMIN!"
"It wouldn't be beneficial if you killed the only reliable information broker of the game Charlie" Robert said in a bored tone.
"LET! ME! GO!" A teach word I tugged viciously, my strength won out and I broke out of his grip, looking around, I found my target was gone.
"Freaking coward…" I muttered.
"Why did Argo refer Charlie as Chan? Are they close?"
"Personal joke, don't think on it too hard"
Another reason I hate the girl was that she took every opportunity to mock my 'situation'.
Robert actually spent a lot of time with Argo whenever they met in the Beta, I teased him for having a thing with her but he simply replied the dates would cost a small fortune if he did.
And so, he would mention to her that he had me as a friend, a MALE friend who liked to play as a girl in games, who would be playing SAO from another country due to 'special means', and had a raging temper and favoured the hardhead heavy approach (his words).
She connected the dots, and took every opportunity to mock me for it.
I guess I should be thankful she hasn't put this on sale, but I have a sneaking suspicion Robert bribed her to do it.
"Theres not enough people…"
Roberts words cooled my anger, I looked around at Akari who was getting a few health potions out of the shop, and thankfully out of hearing range.
"Are you sure?" I asked him, as if we didn't have enough worries.
"Even us included, we're one player short on a full raid group, and two are needed to guarantee no deaths. Unless someone was really stupid of course"
This wasn't good, "What about the level, even if we don't have quantity, quality could do it, right?"
"In the Beta, at this point most were an average of ten, at the best a lucky twelve, Kobold was seventeen in the Beta test and a boss, its not like the Nest Mother and the Boar Spirit in that dungeon, it is a difficult enemy, the beats barely won WITH two full raid groups, and we failed the first time"
I looked at the ground, this was sounding worse and worse.
"Thankfully, we have some advantages"
My head snapped up,
"The Betas didn't have to worry about their lives, so we be more careful and and concentrated with the threat of death looming over us. And we trained like dogs literally day and night making us able to battle like its second nature, strategies and planning are taken more seriously to ensure survival"
He looked directly at me, "As strange as it sounds, Kayaba actually helped us get stronger with this death game, sure, he was the one who made it a death game, but you can't fault the logic"
I thought on this, yeah. That would help, but all I was hearing through these accomplishments was fear.
Fearing death makes them concentrate more on the situation, fearing being weak in this world makes them train, fear of never advancing imploring them to play smartly.
It wasn't a motivator, it was a threat.
I looked around at the players that would fight along with us, fear kept more players from coming here, was it also possible it was what made the ones currently here to help?
"-arlie-Chan?"
I blinked, and my eyes focused on Akari, I must of blanked out.
"Uh, sorry Akari-Sa…" I stopped myself, "Akari-Chan, I was just thinking"
"Come on you two" Robert said as he took out his bow, "We have to look for this boss room, with the way these people are looking we might find it within the week"
We nodded, but then I caught sight of Kirito and and Asuna walking towards us.
"Uh…" Kirito started off, "We were hoping to join up in a party, we were left out from everyone else"
"I told you…" Asuna said beside him, "Everyone seemed to know each other… so I refrained"
Thats what being left out means…
"Do we know you?" Robert asked beside me.
"Lucian, the lovely lady is Asuna, and the pervert is Kirito, AKA Mr Groper" I said before Kirito himself could say anything, my cheeky grin back on my face.
Kirito gained a twitching eyebrow, while Robert put on a thoughtful look, Akari looked confused.
Robert (with a look of mischief) suddenly said in realisation, "You mean the one that pushed you down on the ground against your will?"
"Thats the one"
rrk...
I blinked at the quiet cracking sound, and looked at Akari, who was hiding her mace behind her back.
I shrugged and figured I imagined it, I then turned to look at a red faced Kirito.
"...nevermind, we'll just be going" And tried to swiftly turn away.
"OH no you don't!" I then grabbed him from around the back in a tight choke hold.
"What ye asked is what thou shalt receive" I continued in olden english.
"Le- arg! Go!"
I complied and then opened my menu, selecting the option, I sent a party invite, all the while Kirito looked at me strangely.
"... how did that get past the Code?"
"Huh?" I said to him.
"...nevermind" He then accepted my invite and we all walked towards the twentieth floor of the first floor of Aincrad.
One Day Later
"FOUR!" I shouted as I swung my spear as an improvised golf club, launching a skeleton into another, both breaking apart at impact.
"HELL YEAH!" I then looked at the rest of my group clearing the way down the path, I managed to pin down each person's way of fighting, Akari was more of an aggressive yet sigh fight, only able to focus on one opponent and treating it like a duel. Robert preferred to jump around the battlefield and deal nicks to monsters health, only occasionally going into direct combat to finish them off, Asuna and Kirito weren't into the group dynamic, preferring to fight alone, Asuna was quick and efficient dealing swings like a fencer, while Kirito seemed to have a Kendo stance.
THUD!
"FUCK!" a blow was landed on my back, I twirled around to see another grinning skull.
"YOU THINK YOUR ALL SO CLEVER SNEAKING BEHIND SOMEONE!" I cracked the shaft of my weapon across its head, "ITS COWARDLY!"
It fell to the floor and I raised my leg and brought it down as a curb stomp, cracking its ribs visibly, a flash of light and is dissolved into particles.
I sighed and I observed my teammates finishing their own battles.
But then I was distracted by the sound of cheering down the path.
Not long after, I got a message from Diabel, the Knight/Hero leader who was running the thing.
…
"Looks like they found the floor boss" Robert said next to me, reading his own version of the message.
"So what, do we charge in?" I ask.
"No, more likely than not we'll be given the chance to rest and resupply and come back to it tomorrow"
Good, although I managed to iron out this awkward thing with me and Akari, I needed to take steps to clear out the misunderstanding, I can't have her thinking I am ogling her ass every time I'm behind her.
…
Okay, sometimes I do, but I'm a hot-blooded male my lords sake, no one can blame me for that.
Now all we need is a nice place to sleep.
At that moment, Kirito seemed to shiver.
An Hour Later
"YOW-CHA!" I shouted as we walked into the bedroom, "All this for twenty extra col? And we've been living in cruddy-ass inns for so long, Lucian, why the fuck is that?"
He gave me a look of warning before replying, "I don't know, I guess we didn't look hard enough"
I grumbled at the cheapskate.
"Being able to find a room like this quickly is an important skill not included in the system" Kirito says from behind us, before walking to the center of the room, "... well, with my situation"
He shook his head and cut off the line of topic.
I was immediately reminded of a meeting, the cactus haired guy was a prick, I mean, he didn't even know that the Beta testers was the source of all the info that Argo distributed.
The ignorant were truly idiotic.
Anyway, me Akari and Robert were discussing where we should sleep for the night, before we eavesdropped onto the lone wolf couple, hearing that Kirito had a large place to himself, what else could we do but crash there.
When Kirito protested, I said in the most serious voice I could muster.
"Do you seriously think we are going to leave two hormonal underage teens in the same room as each other at night?"
That shut him up quickly.
Kirito sat down on the comfy couch.
I call dibs on that.
"Erm, you can probably tell by looking, the bathroom is over there"
Sure enough, the pate saying bathroom kind of gave it away…
Wait, why did he say that?
I vaguely remember Asuna wanting to use it.
Ah…
So now I am feeling awkward.
"F-Feel free to use it" Kirito said, looking rather rattled.
"Ah" Asuna uttered, looking as nervous as he did, "o-okay"
"Sorry for the intrusion" Akari said bowing to Kirito.
Weird Japanese customs.
"Asuna-San" Akari addressed to the hooded girl, "Can I join you?"
"Eh?" Asuna replied in confusion, "Uh, sure"
"Why don't you join them Charlie?" Robert cut in.
My head swung so fast around I was sure I got whiplash.
"What the FUCK man!" I mouthed silently at him, his smirk told the story.
Okay, calm down, there's no way this could actually happen.
"Oh, you can join as well if you want Charlie" Asuna said.
Shit! Why do you have to be sociable now!? WHY?!
Maybe you should stop being a pussy and go for it, hell, your halfway their afterall.
Fuck you voice!
"N-nah, I'm fine" I said, trying to be casual, "The, uh, bathtub will most likely be a wee pinchy thing anyways"
As if god was mocking me, Asuna opened the room to reveal a two metre long tub.
I didn't know how I did it, but I glared at both Robert and Kirito at the same time, Robert for starting this mess, and Kirito for having such a bitching pad.
My only hope now was with Akari.
Wait, it was the perfect hope, I think Robert actually helped me with his mess-up, theres no way she would let me in the same room.
"Uh…" The said hope shuffled awkwardly on her feet. "I, think it would save… time"
…
FML
Internet spiel for.
Fuck My Life.
Before I knew it, I was in the bathroom with them, Asuna was admiring the flowing bathtub.
Akari was trying to avoid my eyes.
And I was wondering why she let me in here in the first place.
My eyes then caught the sight of a flash of light and Asuna was in her normal clothes.
This didn't register in my fully mind yet when another light flashed over her and-
Hello!
NO GO!
I shifted my entire body to look the opposite direction, never noticing how exquisite tile work could look in a bathroom.
Another flash of light and I noticed a marvellous set of soaps and conditioners on the shelfs.
"C-Charlie-Chan?" Poor Akari sounded incredibly scared, "W-we need to… and get into… the b-bath"
I could hear either the gates of heaven, or the devil cackling, perhaps it was both.
Gulping, I opened my menu, and finding the remove armour option.
blip
I was in my regular tunic, a new option popped up, remove clothes option.
blip
I shivered at the last one that now appeared, or was it the weather?
"A-Akari?" I said quietly, "I-I could j-just leave n-now"
The silence lasted several seconds.
"T-that won't be necessary"
Accepting my fate in some way, I shakily pressed the last one.
blip
I was happy to say that I wasn't so much of a depraved man as to look at my new body naked, even if I was alone, with a full length mirror and large bed, I wouldn't do a thing.
So it was novel to look down and see… assets.
Closing my eyes, I took step by careful step towards where I thought the tub was, I jumped slightly when I felt a hand around my arm.
"T-This way" Akari said this, I didn't dare look to confirm it.
"Are… you two okay?" I heard Asuna ask.
"F-fine, don't mind us"
I felt it took hours, but then we were all settled into the tub.
"..."
"..."
So fucking awkward, I swear Robert must be rolling around the floor in laughter on the other side of the wall.
"So… is everything okay between you two?" Asuna asked,
Oh nothing, I'm actually a male player who is in the same bath as you, and more likely than not will burn in hell for it.
"Y-yes, why do you ask?" Akari questioned,
"It seems that you two are friends, but you are… kind of distant right now"
Asuna it seemed wasn't as closed off as I thought, this females are friends thing seems to break down barriers.
"Distant?" Akari asked, for once not stuttering,
"Well… it seems to just mostly come from you, no offense of course, Charlie seems pretty open… except right now. did you two have a fight?"
I realized I was the only one not in this conversation.
"W-well. no. Just s-some stupid thing r-really" I intoned,
"Why are your eyes closed?"
Fuck me!
"...enjoying the bath" I lamely defended.
"Ah… okay I suppose"
Thank god she bought that.
Technically its the truth, you ARE enjoying this bath.
Ignore the voice, ignore the voice.
I then felt a body sit next to me, I stiffened like a rock, we were so close I could feel the body next to me.
We weren't touching, but…
"Charlie-Chan?" Akari said to me quietly, "I'm sorry…"
I heard nothing from Asuna, she must not have heard us from the other side of the bath.
And why is Akari apologizing, I should be saying sorry for this.
"...for what?" I asked in the same quiet voice.
"For… treating you different…"
I raised an eyebrow at this, but my eye stayed closed.
"I… when Robert said you… were like that… I panicked, and I remembered everything we did… and… I just didn't know how to react"
I decided to talk, "It was perfectly natural, and I didn't tell you in the first place so I should be at fault"
I felt a hand grab my shoulder, "No it wasn't, I treated you unfairly, and its hard for something like that to come out and… I should have realised something like that shouldn't change anything between us"
Silence.
"Charlie-Chan…" her face was right next to me, my breathing hitched a little at that, I could feel her breath on my neck...
"Uh, e-excuse me?"
We both jumped in shock together.
"S-should I leave…" Asuna said from the other end.
"N-no, it's nothing like that!" Akari said loudly.
Click
The door opened, I could tell that much and it could only mean one of two things.
One, Robert was a bigger pervert than I thought.
Or two, Kirito was living up to his nickname.
An elbow hit my chest and reflexly opened my eyes, to look at a short hooded figure with whiskers on her cheeks.
"Whoaaa!" cried Argo in surprise as she looked at us all, her eyes landed on me, and she gave something akin to an embarrassed look, and feminine anger.
I didn't mind that however, nor did I mind that Asuna got her clothes on quicker than lightning to sprint out the bathroom, my attention had landed on how Akari and me were were smushed against each other so closely, naked as the day we were born, chests against each other.
And thats all I noticed, before I fainted.