Chapter 7: The Next Day…

Suguha turned off the TV. It was time to go meet up with Sinon. She went upstairs and put on a shirt and some shorts just in case Kazuto came home while she was in Alfheim Online. Her thoughts kept going back to what she had done with Leafa last night. With time to reflect, her feelings were mixed. She had thoroughly enjoyed it, but it also felt weird. She had sex with a bunch of numbers and code. But it had felt so real… What would it be like, playing as a person she had just had sex with? Would it feel weird? Uncomfortable? All these thoughts flooded Suguha's head as she logged into Alfheim Online.

This time everything was normal. She was in her apartment as expected. Leafa looked down and saw that she was wearing her usual armour. She opened her menu and everything was as it was supposed to be. Her username was Leafa. All her items and gold were there. Everything felt normal, which unsettled her. Just last night, she had been licking this avatar's pussy, yet it still felt as if this body was her own. Leafa sighed. She was about to go wait for Sinon, but she saw her reflection in the mirror. She examined her avatar. There was not a thing out of place. Her blonde hair was braided, her armour resembled a dress, and her sword hung at her side. Leafa checked the time. She still had a while before she was going to meet Sinon, so she removed her armour and examined her naked body. Her breasts were their regular size, there was no pubic hair, her skin was smooth as always. Leafa didn't know what she had expected to see. Maybe just something different. A mark showing that last night's event had really taken place, maybe? Leafa re-equipped her armour and went to where she was supposed to be meeting Sinon.

Leafa waited at a teleport gate. According to Sinon, near the entrance to Jotunheim there was supposed to be an NPC who would give them a quest which would reward Sinon with a bow. Hopefully a legendary one. Sinon would be arriving soon, but Leafa couldn't keep her thoughts on the quest. It seemed silly to keep thinking about her night with her avatar, but it was all she could think of. Her breasts, the taste of her cum, the way she moaned… The thoughts were enough to arouse Leafa slightly. She tried not to think about it, to no avail.

Before Asada logged into ALO, she double-checked her door. Ever since the Death-Gun incident, she had always made sure to slide the bolt across. Once she was certain that the door was locked, she logged into ALO to meet up with Leafa.

As Sinon appeared in ALO, everything appeared normal. She was in her apartment, which was a good sign. She could feel her tail, and after running a hand through her hair, found that she had her Cat-Sith ears. Everything was as it should have been.

Sinon went to the teleport gate to meet Leafa. "Hey," she said.

"Oh, hey Sinon," Leafa said after a moment, as if she hadn't quite registered her presence.

"You ready to go?" Sinon asked.

"Yep, I bought extra potions last night, so I'm well stocked-up on supplies," said Leafa.

"That's great, let's go!"

The girls used the teleport gate and found themselves in Jotunheim. Very few safe-zones had been discovered in Jotunheim so far. There were no towns, so the only safe-zones were cleared boss-rooms in dungeons, meaning that players had to be on their toes. "If the info I got is correct, then there should be an NPC in a cave just North of here," said Sinon, placing a marker on her map to show the general direction they needed to go in. They began to walk in the direction of Sinon's marker, which was a pain because they couldn't fly in Jotunheim.

The journey to find the NPC was pretty boring. The location of the NPC wasn't far away, but actually finding them was the hard part was actually finding them. There were frequent snowstorms which didn't help at all. During a particularly bad one, Sinon and Leafa took refuge inside a cave to wait for it to die down. They were just a little way away from the marker Sinon had set, so they looked at Sinon's map for places the NPC might have been hiding. They marked a series of locations they thought it would be best to search.

Once the snowstorm had died down, Sinon and Leafa left the cave and went to the nearest marker, which was a clearing of trees. There was no NPC. They repeated this a few times before they eventually found a cave with an old man inside. He was covered with a grey cloak, which only allowed the girls to see his beard. He was sat next to a small fire.

"Come, fairy warriors," he invited, gesturing to the fire. Leafa and Sinon entered the cave and sat opposite him with the fire in the middle. "I apologise for the small fire, but all the wood around here is too wet from the snow. I was lucky to find as much as this." Sinon and Leafa remained silent, waiting for him to get to the quest. "There are rumours about a dungeon somewhere nearby that offers a weapon of legends to those who clear it. I'm looking for warriors strong enough to clear this dungeon. If you can defeat the beast who lives at the top, I'll reward you greatly," he said.

A small box appeared in front of Sinon as she was the party leader. She tapped the accept button and said "I'd be happy to."

From the depths of his beard, the old man smiled. "I thank you, fairy warriors."

A marker on Sinon's map appeared, showing the location of the hidden dungeon. "Here is the dungeon's supposed location. Fight well, and return once the beast is dead."

Sinon and Leafa stood and left the cave to begin their journey to the hidden dungeon.

The journey to the dungeon was far more eventful than the one to find the old man. More monster appeared, for one thing. They started off weak enough for Sinon to shoot before they could engage. However, soon they took more and more arrows before Sinon could kill them, so Leafa drew her sword in order to save Sinon some arrows.

The location of the marker was a flat cliff on the side of a mountain. Sinon ran her hand over it to search for some clue as to where the true whereabouts of the dungeon were. As she did so, red lines appeared on the cliff face which disappeared quickly. After a moment, a deafening roar could be heard from the forest. Leafa drew her sword and Sinon readied her bow. A Jotun came charging from the trees, holding a large club in his right hand. Before either of them had a chance to react, the giant swung his club across the snow, throwing Leafa off her feet, but missing Sinon. A large chunk of her health bar vanished. Leafa got up and charged at the giant, dodging his swinging club. After one particularly close call, she noticed that there was a small spike driven into the side of the club. She jumped onto the club and used it as a ramp to jump and slash the Jotun's face, taking off a good portion of his health. Sinon let loose arrows, taking off even more health.

After repeating that tactic a few times, the Jotun collapsed and disappeared in a sea of blue polygons. All that was left of him was his large wooden club. Leafa searched it for the spike and pulled it out after locating it. Once it was out, the club disappeared. The spike turned out to be a small black crystal. "I think I found the key," she said.

Sinon examined the cliff face once more and noticed a small hole. "And I think I just found the keyhole."

Leafa placed the crystal inside the hole. For a moment nothing happened. But then the ground began to shake. The forest disappeared and was soon replaced with a large wooden tower.

Before entering, the girls took a minute to rest. They drank health potions and Sinon retrieved whatever arrows she could. She noticed that Leafa was phasing out a lot during their rest. In fact, she'd done the same when they first met up. "You okay?" Sinon asked.

Leafa took a moment to register the question. "Hm?" her head quickly turned to look at Sinon.

"I asked if you were okay?" Sinon repeated. "You keep spacing out."

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Leafa. "I just didn't sleep well last night."

"Did you get into a fight with Kirito or something?"

"No, nothing like that. I just couldn't sleep," Leafa lied.

"I dive into ALO when I can't sleep," Sinon suggested. "Asuna suggested it a while ago and it really works for me."

"I'll give it a try sometime," said Leafa. "Let's go clear this dungeon. It's freezing out here."

Keiko was staring at her phone. More specifically, a text from Rika. It read: Hey, Keiko. Want to meet up in ALO later?

After last night, Keiko felt a little awkward at the thought of seeing Rika. She had seen more of Rika that night than she had ever expected to. When she thought back to seeing Rika being restrained by those vines...her face covered in cum…. It turned her on a little. But what made Keiko feel awkward was the fact that they had sex. Keiko had never even considered her first kiss being a girl, let alone her first kiss and time having sex being with Rika. But then again….was it actually her first time? It was in ALO, not the real world. So she was a virgin, but had also had sex. Keiko put her phone down and stroked Pina for a while. It buzzed again. Another text from Rika. Hey, you awake?

Keiko typed a quick reply. Yeah, I just woke up. I'm busy right now, so I'll be on later

Her phone buzzed yet again with another text. Okay. Has Pina still not had her litter?

No not yet

Sinon and Leafa had reached the top of the tower. It resembled a wide bird's nest with shallow sides. At the top was a large bird that resembled an eagle. It screeched and took flight. Sinon fired an arrow, hitting its left wing. A small portion of its HP went down. The bird turned and attempted to hit them with its wings. Sinon ducked, firing as many arrows as she could into it, searching for a weak spot. Leafa slashed it with her sword, taking even more of its health. The bird lifted itself into the air, turned to face the girls and flapped its wings, creating a gale, sending Sinon's arrows back at her. Sinon tried to avoid them all, but one struck her arm. The bird then began to fly around the tower. Sinon fired arrow after arrow at it, taking off small portions of its health. The eagle swooped towards them again, but this time Leafa grabbed one of its legs and was taken into the sky with it. As the bird soared around the tower, Leafa limbed up its body, using her sword to stab it along the way. The bird tried to shake her off, but Sinon kept firing arrows at it. The eagle's health eventually dropped into the red and shattered into blue polygons, causing Leafa to fall into the nest.

"You okay" Sinon asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Leafa. "That was fun actually."

"Yeah, it was," Sinon agreed. "But I don't see a bow anywhere." She checked her quest log. "There's nothing new," she added.

"Let's go back to the NPC," Leafa suggested. "There may be something else."

"I've got no better ideas," said Sinon.

They travelled back to the NPC. His fire had gone out and he was standing beside the smouldering remains. "Fairy warriors," he began. "I commend you on your valiant efforts. Yes, I deceived you about there being a legendary weapon in the dungeon. However, I do have something that should please you." The old man held out his hand. In it was a silver bow with elegant Norse runes carved into it. "It's not a legendary weapon, but it's more powerful than the one you have now." The bow disappeared and a notification box appeared in front of Sinon telling her that the bow was in her inventory.

"Farewell, fairy warriors," said the old man. He left the cave and disappeared in the blizzard.

Later, Sinon and Leafa were in a town restocking to go and try clearing a dungeon that many player had been working on for months. The boss fight had drained Sinon of her arrows and she needed more. Before they left, Sinon asked if they could stop somewhere for a while to rest. "I just want to sit down for a moment," she said.

They went to Sinon's apartment as it was nearby. Leafa sat on the sofa while Sinon got a couple of drinks. They had no effect on the game, but were delicious. "We spent all day on ALO yesterday and it wasn't until we'd been on way longer that you wanted a break," Leafa said.

"I didn't sleep well either," said Sinon. Both girls found it curious that they had both had trouble sleeping on the same night that they had logged onto ALO, not that either of them knew about what had happened to the other that night.

"Why not?" Leafa asked.

"Nightmares," said Sinon without elaborating. She wasn't sure if Leafa would believe her story about the tentacles on the beach and then having sex with her avatar. Leafa felt the same way about her own experience from the night before. She didn't believe for a moment that Sinon would believe her story.

The pair sat awkwardly for a moment. As Leafa took a sip of her drink, Sinon decided to ask her a question. "I heard that in SAO, everyone looked the same way they did in real life. How did that happen?"

"I remember Kazuto explaining that part to me," said Leafa. "I think there were cameras in the NerveGear to create the head."

"But how did it create the rest of the body?" Sinon asked.

"I think it took the data used when each player calibrated their NerveGear," Leafa explained.

"Do you think it could happen with the Amusphere?" Sinon asked.

"Maybe, but I don't think the Amusphere has cameras in it," said Leafa. "Why is she so interested in NerveGear and SAO all of a sudden?" Leafa thought. "Did she try to log in last night too?"

Later that day, Leafa and Sinon had made some big strides in clearing the dungeon, but needed more people if they were going to make the final push. They'd decided to leave it for another day, and went to do some more quests instead. Just after accepting a quest, they decided to break for lunch. They found somewhere safe and took turns to log out. Leafa went first.

Suguha pulled off her Amusphere and sat up. She checked her phone. She had a text from Kazuto. I'm going to stay at Asuna's late, so you'll have to make your own dinner. Sorry, I know it was my turn. I'll make it up tomorrow.

Of course he skipped out on making dinner. It made Sugu wonder what they were getting up to. Not that it wasn't obvious.

While eating, Sugu thought over what Sinon had asked about the NerveGear and how it recreated each player's body. "Why is Sinon so interested in it all of a sudden?" she wondered. The only conclusion was that Suguha could reach was that Sinon had tried to log into ALO last night and had been in her real body. She considered asking Sinon why she was so interested. When Suguha was finished, she went back upstairs to her room. It was a scorching day. Suguha had woken up with her clothes drenched in sweat. She decided to open her window, but leave the curtains closed. She remembered her text from Kazuto and figured that she'd be safe diving naked until dinner, so she stripped off her clothes. Just before putting her Amusphere back on, she examined her body. There was nothing amiss. She wasn't sure why she checked herself. It was just a curiosity.

Sinon had gotten a little bored waiting for Suguha to log back in. She had begun to play with her tail just to see what it felt like. She'd never really paid much attention to it really. It had hurt really badly whenever someone grabbed it. She gently stroked it and had to admit that it felt pretty good. She let go as soon as she saw Leafa's eyes open.

Sinon got out of bed and made herself some lunch. She hadn't bothered to put any clothes on because it was a hot day and she lived alone, so there was no need to worry about anyone seeing her. She used her phone to quickly skim through articles about the possibility of a death-game similar to that of SAO on the Amusphere. She soon read that the Amusphere had safety precautions taken to prevent it from using microwaves from frying someone's brain, but she remembered Kirito telling her that. By the time she had finished eating her lunch, she hadn't found anything on recreating a player's real body. She didn't want to keep Leafa waiting so she quickly logged back in.

While Leafa had been waiting for Sinon to return, she had been comparing her avatar to her real body. It was much lighter, which is something she had gotten used to and hadn't thought about since she first played ALO. She quickly grabbed one of her nipples to check how sensitive her avatar was. She was surprised to find that it was slightly more sensitive than her real body. She didn't do it for long in case Sinon caught her.

A little while after Leafa and Sinon had taken a lunch break, Keiko was sitting beside Pina who had given birth to five adorable little kittens just two hours ago. They were all asleep, curled up. Since the birth, Keiko had been thinking about meeting Rika in ALO. Pina and her kittens would be fine for a while. She held her phone, trying to build up the courage to text Rika. She had spent the last half and hour like that. She eventually managed to text Rika. But she was so nervous, she made a few mistakes. HeyRIkanattogoonALO!

After a few minutes she got a reply saying: ?

Keiko rewrote her original message. Hey Rika. Want to go on ALO?

Sure!

Silica woke up in ALO. She was in the hotel she had last stayed in. She was half surprised that she wasn't in the inn she and Rika had stayed in. She knew that she was using her avatar this time. She could feel that her body was lighter. Her tail brushed between her legs, and her cat ears rustled in her hair. Pina was asleep on the bedside table. Silica checked her inventory. All her items were there. She swapped her nightclothes for her regular armour. Just before leaving, as an afterthought, Silica checked her list of familiars. The only name there was Pina. Desirae was nowhere to be seen. "Probably for the best," she muttered to herself. "Liz would probably try to kill her."

Lisbeth woke up in her bedroom in her shop. She was glad but also disappointed that she hadn't woken up next to Silica in the inn they had stayed in last night. Everything was as it should have been. Her items and gold were in her inventory, she could activate her wings, and after a quick check in a mirror, she saw that her hair was pink.

Silica and Lisbeth met up in a tavern. Luckily, it was nearly empty, allowing them to discuss what had happened last night. They sat opposite each other at a round table. Pina lay on the table while Silica petted her. "So, how are you?" Lisbeth asked.

Silica blushed and said. "Oh, erm….I'm fine," she answered.

"Thanks for last night," said Lisbeth. "I really appreciate it."

"Y-You're welcome," Silica whispered. She was too embarrassed to speak properly. Lisbeth reached over and clasped Silica's hands within her own. "I'm serious, Silica. Thank you. If you hadn't come rescued me, I would have been trapped there all night."

Silica didn't say anything. Lisbeth could see that she was getting embarrassed, so she decided to move things along. "So, is there anything you want to do?" Lisbeth asked.

"Erm," said Silica. "Not really."

"Then do you mind if we do this quest I've had my eye on for a while?" Lisbeth suggested. "The reward is some rare metal."

"Y-yeah….That's fine," Silica agreed.

It was nearing the end of the day. The sun was setting in Alfheim Online. Leafa and Sinon had climbed to the top of a mountain for a quest which involved an enemy that when beaten would drop an NPC girls missing necklace. They had already beaten the enemy and were admiring the view as the sun set. There was a cool breeze, which combined with the fresh air, felt amazing. "Leafa," Sinon began, "thanks for today and yesterday. It's been a lot of fun."

"I've had a great time too," said Leafa. "Sorry I've zoned out a few times. I'm going to try to get more sleep tonight."

"Same," said Sinon. "I wasted a ton of arrows because I've been so tired."

Leafa giggled. "Its been great getting to know you better without everyone else."

"Yeah," Sinon agreed. "I've loved spending time with you too. It's actually been great to spend a day questing without Klein trying to hit on every female player or NPC we come across."

Leafa laughed again. "Yeah, he's so desperate. I can't believe he actually tried to pick up that NPC from the Excalibur quest."

Sinon joined in the laughter. "I know! He's so needy, like a child. HOw old is he anyway? Like 30?"

"More like 800!" The girls laughed at Klein's expense for a few minutes. "Oh crap!" she realised what time it was. "I forgot to log out for dinner!"

"I guess we really got distracted," said Sinon. "If Kirito's back from Asuna's, you could get him to cook seeing as it was his turn anyway."

"Nice thinking," said Leafa. "Same time tomorrow?"

"What about school?" Sinon reminded her.

"Oh yeah," Leafa realised. "How about next weekend we try spending all of Saturday and Sunday in ALO, only taking breaks for meals?"

"That sounds like a great idea! How about we start Friday right after school?"

"It's a date!" Leafa blurted. She expected Sinon to go quiet or something.

"Alright then!" which was not the response Leafa had expected, so she played it off.

"I'd better get going then," said Leafa. "I don't want to be groggy for school and Kendo practice."

"See you later," said Sinon.

Silica and Lisbeth had also spent the day completing quests. Silica hadn't said much, which annoyed Lisbeth a little, but she tried to be patient. She knew how easily embarrassed Silica got, so it didn't surprise her that after what they had done, she became so withdrawn. Silica was ready to logout when Lisbeth stopped her. "Hold on a sec," said Lisbeth. "Let's go to my shop for a minute. There's something I want to do first."

"Can't you do it without me?" Silica asked.

"Not really," said Lisbeth.

Silica became worried that Liz wanted to have more sex. It wasn't that she didn't like it, but she was a little embarrassed to do it again. It made no sense, but she was just too nervous.

In the shop, Lisbeth heated up her furnace, took the metal she had earned from the quest and held it in the embers using a pair of tongs. Once it was ready, she placed it on her anvil and began to hammer it out. The metal began to glow. It took the shape of a small dagger, which Lisbeth combined with some material from her inventory to make a grip. The dagger was slightly bigger than Silica's current one. Lisbeth handed it to Silica. "To say thank you for saving me last night," she said, placing it in Silica's hands. "Liz…" was all she could think to say. Lisbeth shook her head and hugged Silica. "Thank you so much for getting me out of that mess," she whispered. After a minute, Lisbeth tried to let go of Silica, but the Cat-Sith wrapped her arms around the blacksmith and began to cry. "I'm so sorry, Liz," she cried. "I've been acting so horrible to you all day."

"No, it's fine," said Liz. "I'm just glad that we're both okay."

Silica held back a sniffle. Lisbeth leaned forwards a little, moving her face towards Silica's. Silica closed her eyes and pressed her lips against Lisbeth's. The pair kissed for a moment. Liz held back a little, so as not to scare Silica. They eventually broke the kiss. "I'll see you at school tomorrow," said Liz.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow," Silica replied.

Suguha felt the cool evening breeze coming in through her window. She pulled off her Amusphere and lay in her bed for a moment, taking it all in. She heard a noise coming from downstairs. "Kazuto?" she called. "Is that you?"

"Yeah," she heard her brother shout. "You okay up there?"

"I'm fine," she shouted. Sugu got out of bed and put some clothes on. She went downstairs to greet her brother. Kazuto was sat at the table looking at VRMMORPG news on his tablet. "Hey," he said.

Suguha decided to try Sinon's advice. "So I was busy playing ALO and I forgot to-"

"I'm not cooking for you," said Kazuto. "It's your own fault that you didn't eat."

"But it was your turn to cook," huffed Suguha.

"I already ate at Asuna's," said Kirito.

Suguha didn't win that argument. In the end she couldn't be bothered to cook, so just ordered some takeout. While she waited, she did some research. She soon found what she was looking for. The next time the ALO servers would be 'down for maintenance'.

Hey, guys! I'm sorry that took so long. I know that this chapter doesn't seem to have much direction, and lacks any sex, which is why I'm even more sorry for making you wait. But fear not! For there will be some sex in the next chapter!

In a couple of chapters, I will get back to the avatars in ALO, but for now I want to focus on the players.

I've also been writing a story that focuses on Yuri pairings across different anime. The latest chapter featured Yuno Gasai from Future Diary, and Akane from Psycho Pass. For this story, I'm trying to release a chapter every week. Feel free to leave any suggestions for future pairings. Just make sure they're from different series. Check out the first chapter for in depth instructions.

Until Next Time!