Chapter 1:
June 24, 2024: Lindas, 48th floor
"We need more soup!"
"Okay…"
I laid out the ingredients, touched them with my knife, and they were instantly diced and ready to be scraped into the pot beside me.
All I have to do now is to wait.
My name is Aki, I work as a cook in a small player-run eatery on the 48th floor. Player-run eateries weren't exactly common, and they don't serve food as fast as NPC's do, but they made the food better.
Only three people work in this eatery, me and my childhood friends, Kei and Kizu.
Since cooking soup was slow, I usually sit down near the windowsill, looking at the neighboring blacksmith's shop.
Today, I saw her leave her shop with a guy in black. Since we were on good terms, I plan on asking her tomorrow.
When my soup finished cooking, I called Kei over.
Kei was a guy with light-brown hair and glasses. Back in the other side, he was the son of a rich family, but he spent his money mostly on anime and games.
He was the one who bought the NerveGears me and Kizu were using, and he was also the one who brought the copies of the game.
Then, a black-haired girl, Kizu walked over to us, and said "We're almost running out of ingredients."
"Kei, tell the customers that we'll be closing in a few minutes." She told him, "Also, you're cleaning up."
"Are you serious?!" Kei sighed, "Oh well…"
"Wait." I said as I brought out my sword, "My knife is-!"
I swung my sword and, holding my worn knife in one hand, destroyed it.
"My knife is broken."
"What the-?!" Kei dropped the bowls he was holding, "What are you doing?!"
"It's okay!" I said as I put my sword back in my inventory, "I'll take it to Lis-san tomorrow."
Kizu chuckled, "You just want to check if she's there, don't you?"
"I-uh-ah-?!" I stammered, "It's not like I broke my knife just to see a girl or anything!"
Kei and Kizu giggled, "What a tsundere…"
June 25, 2024: Lindas, 48th floor
Kei and Kizu went to the 50th floor to buy ingredients.
Meanwhile, I went to the neighboring blacksmith's shop to buy a new knife.
"Lis-san?" I asked as I entered, "Hello?"
There was nobody up front, but I could hear voices coming from her workshop.
After I while, I saw the shop owner, Lisbeth, come out of the back door.
"I'll let you two keep an eye on it!" she told the people behind her.
"Lis-sa-?!"
She ran past me.
Wait, was she crying?
"Lis-san!" I shouted, but she had already closed the door.
. . .
I waited for a while, but then, the guy dressed in all-black came out of the workshop and ran after her.
Was that a break-up or something? At least it wasn't as stupid as when my classmates, Akatoshiro and Shinnokyara, broke up.
"Sorry for the mess."
A girl wearing a red-and-white uniform stepped out of the workshop door.
"What happened to Lis-san?" I asked her, "Boyfriend issues?"
"What?!" the girl looked shocked, "Boyfrie-?!"
"I saw them together yesterday, so I thought that-?"
"Kirito-kun has a lot of explaining to do." the girl said, "RIGHT NOW."
She was about to unseat her rapier when I said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa!"]
"I just came here to buy a kitchen knife!"
"Oh, you're a chef?" she asked me, "I didn't expect meeting another chef around here!"
"How high is your cooking skill?"
"85?" I told her, "What about you?"
She flicked her hand in front of her, opening her menu.
She pressed skills, and then showed it to me.
Below her Rapier skill, was a…
"MAXIMUM COOKING SKILL?!" I shouted in surprise.
"By the way, my name is Asuna." The girl told me, "What's yours?"
"Aki." I sighed.
"Okay then." Asuna smiled, "Here we are."
She was pointing at a display of knives, each differing in size, length and usage.
I picked up a balanced cooking knife and tried activating a knife skill.
The knife glowed green as the system assisted my movement.
"Wow!" Asuna clapped, "I have no idea how you would use that in cooking though."
"Hopefully, it would help me make soy sauce." I joked, "But that's as impossible as using a knife skill to help in cooking."
"Not really." Asuna chucked a bottle at me, "There."
"What is this?" I asked.
"Soy sauce."
. . .
Soy sauce, an essential in Japanese cuisine, was an extreme rarity in this game. No chef has ever found a suitable replacement for it…
Until now.
"How did you make this?" I asked.
"Abilpa Bean, Sag Leaf and Oorafish Bones." She said, "Oh! Wait…"
A friend request screen popped up in front of me.
"It's almost nighttime." Asuna said, "I'll see you some other time, Aki-san!"
"Sure..." I waved her off as she ran off.
That kind of girl… she's not my type.
Too hot, plus it seems like she's in love with that guy in black.
Wait, I didn't pay for this knife, right? Lis-san is probably gonna kill me...
I walked back to the eatery and noticed something- no, someone outside.
I opened my menu.
"Aki-kun?" the person said, "What are you doing?"
Shit…
"Hi- I mean..." I stammered, "What are you doing here, Wi?"
"What about you?" she said, "You're blushing like crazy."
"I AM NOT!" I shouted defensively.
I sighed. "Just go in."
"Sure." Wiosna said with a smile.
Wiosna was a girl with shoulder-length brown hair styled in a bob-cut. She is a friend of Lisbeth, so she visits her frequently. Wiosna and I became good friends after meeting each other outside all the time.
"Are you hungry?" I asked her, "I think we still have some meat from the 32nd floor somewhere around here..."
Then I remembered the bottle Asuna gave me.
"I'll add a surprise." I grinned at her.
"What kind of surprise?" Wiosna asked me.
I didn't answer her question.
"Seriously now..." she sighed.
YES! Thank you, Asuna-san! The best gift for Wiosna!
A taste of reality!
I layed out the ingredients and left the cooking to SAO's oversimplified cooking physics.
While waiting, my message icon flashed. Kizu had messaged me, saying that they weren't going to be delayed, with a side note saying (If Ui-chan is there, let her sleep in.) accompanied by a bunch of Lenny faces.
I sighed as the cooking finished up.
The meat was reminiscent of a piece of tonkatsu… if someone were to make tonkatsu without panko.
Well, time to bring out the soy sauce!
…
Is this it? A purple substance? This is soy sauce?!
But Asuna had her cooking skill at maximum, so I can trust her, right?
I picked the plate up and carried it out to the counter, where Wiosna was slumped over with her head resting on her arms.
"Wi!" I shouted, "Wake up..."
I poked her cheek.
"Wha?" she stirred, "Mmm… smells nice..."
"Aki? Is that-?" Wiosna paused, "Why are you blushing?"
"Nothing..." I said as I passed the plate over to her, "Here you go."
"What's this purple stuff?"
I said nothing.
She sliced off a portion and put it in her mouth.
Wiosna's eyes widened.
"What?" I asked her, "Is it that bad?"
"This is… DELICIOUS!" she shouted, "Is this soy sauce?!"
"Yeah..."
"Mmm! You outdid yourself!"
"Really?!" I shouted.
"Mmph!" she said as she scarfed the meat down.
"Umm… you do realize that's the only one…" I told her.
"Eeeeeehhh?!"
Before Wiosna could complain, there was a sudden knock on the door.
"What was that?!" Wiosna said, "Was that a monster?!"
"Monsters can't enter safe zones." I said, "Wait here."
I brought my sword out of my inventory and positioned myself behind the door, ready to strike.
"Who's there?" I shouted.
"Help..." a voice called out from the other side.
"Please help me..." the voice was female, and familiar.
I opened the door and, upon seeing the person, I dropped my sword.
It was a girl with light-brown hair extending past her shoulder, purple eyes, purple clothes and a green scarf. Her scarf and clothes were tattered, as if she was barraged with swords that failed to hit her.
She was shorter than me, maybe as tall as Wiosna or Kizu… or maybe as tall as my sister when I last saw her.
"Come inside." I told the girl, "Wi help me with her!"
"Her?" Wiosna asked, "Who-?"
She saw the girl's condition and flinched.
The girl's HP was critically low, and her left arm had been cut off.
Since SAO was a game, her arm would probably grow back in an hour or so…
But it doesn't change the fact that she almost died, both in this game and in real life.
June 26, 2024: Lindas, 48th floor
(Seriously?!)
(This is the fifth time I've said yes…) I typed.
(Sorry, I just couldn't believe you. Hahaha.) Kei sent back, (You lucky bastard. One day without Kizu and I, and you already got yourself a harem?)
(It's not a harem! I mean, I don't even know her name!)
Man, this guy is pissing me off.
(You didn't check?!) Kei sent, (Check above her, below the identification symbol.)
(I'm going to check…)
The girl was fast asleep on a bed in a spare room. I sat beside her all night, while Wiosna slept on the study desk beside it.
I checked the girl's name.
"Sylvia, huh?" I muttered as I typed it.
(Nice name.) Kei replied, (Does she have a guild icon?)
(I dunno.) I told him, (Stop asking me for shit that I don't know.)
"Onii-chan..." the girl, Sylvia, muttered in her sleep.
Her voice was very familiar, as if I had been hearing it my entire life.
"You..." I muttered, "You remind me of my sister."
(Aki? You still there?)
"Dammit, you really remind me of her..." I muttered before replying.
(Yeah, just wondering why she reminds me so much of my little sister.) I typed in.
(Saku? She reeminds me you of Saku?) Kei said, (lol send pic now.)
(Wait, don't send anything. Kizu's back.) Kei said, (She says she want's to go to the 47th floor.)
(Sorry bro, gotta go.)
(Isn't the 47th floor the one filled with… nevermind.) I told him, (Good luck becoming a man.)
(WHAT?!)
. . .
I felt my shirt being pulled on. I looked beside me to see Sylvia tugging at my sleeve.
"Onii-chan..." she seemed to be muttering, "I missed you..."
"I think you have the wrong guy..." I said.
She opened her eyes and stared at me. I could see tears forming.
"You idiot..." she said, "Onii-chan, it's me, your twin..."
Wait, what? She doesn't even have lo-!
No.
The more I look at her, the more she seems familiar.
Don't tell me she's-!
"Akihiro-onii-chan, it's me, Sakura Chisaragi."