Chapter 4:
Girls' Day Out
I do not own «Sword Art Online» just my OC's. © All rights belong to Dengeki Bunko and Reki Kawahara.
Sunday April, 20th 2025 «Tokyo Train Station» 12:31 p.m.
"We're finally here. Now we just have to wait for Rinrin-onee-san to come pick us up." Keiko hopped off the train with Rika, Asuna and Suguha behind her.
"I texted her a couple minutes ago. She said she'll be here in about 10 to 15 minutes." Rika stretched her arms and legs.
"I hope she's alright, last night I thought she was about to cancel on us again." Suguha had a worried look on her face.
"Yeah, you could just tell how bad she felt when she called us last week." Asuna was fixing her the collar of her light pink spring jacket.
"The fact that she called all of us individually, instead of sending a mass text alone, says something." Keiko sighed sounding worried.
"She was all I could think about last night. I got scared when she told us that she had to go to the hospital on Wednesday. It seems that her condition keeps getting worse everyday. But nothing happened the past couple of days." Rika sighed with some relief.
"She sounded like she was going to cry that day." Keiko sat down with the others on a nearby bench.
"You know we all haven't really decided on a nickname for Yumeko-chan yet." Asuna pointed out trying to cheer up her fellow comrades. "I mean we have to do better job than calling her Aka-chan, she's gonna grow up eventually." The rest of the group nodded as small smiles appeared on their faces.
"Onee-san said that Yumeko-chan has a meaningful name.[1] It only makes sense to give her a meaningful nickname to go along with." Suguha brought up.
"I forgot about that part." Keiko tapped her chin with her index finger thinking.
"I think we should choose one that isn't all that different from her real name." Asuna put into consideration.
"True, if we do that, than finding one for her won't be that difficult." Rika began swinging her legs playfully hoping an idea would come in her mind.
"Hey since were going to Akihabara, why not get some stuff for her baby shower?" Suguha suggested looking at her phone.
"I don't see a problem with that. We just have to be extra careful." Asuna agreed while the other two happily nodded.
"Good afternoon everybody. Such nice weather we're having this fine day." A young woman walked up to them making the girls' faces lit up with excitement.
"Onee-san you made it." They squeaked in delight hugging her.
"You look lovely today." They said in unison and bowed to her. "Say what ever you want I still feel like a swallowed a dango plushie." She smiled.
"Since all for of you are here I'm assuming that you have met my essential academic requirement." Rinko patted each of them on the back. The vital precondition was that each girl was to finish their homework prior to making the long-awaited trip.
"We met up at a library and helped each other. We even took pictures as evidence." Keiko showed her phone to Rinko, scrolling through a few images before putting the device back in her pocket.
"I used to procrastinate in middle school. My mom thought I was hiding something." Suguha chuckled.
"How are your hands and feet feeling today?" Rika was trying her best not to show any any concern in her face.
"The icing brought it down a little. Tell your mother I thank her for the tip." She replied she and gently rubbed the darker brunette's head. She removed her hand placed on her lower back with a silent moan.
"We should get into your car before your back starts to act up." Asuna took Rinko's hand bag.
"I call shotgun." Keiko gave out a giggle as the rest awed in an uncalled for defeat.
«In the car» 12:40 p.m.
"I can't wait to get to the spa. I haven't been to one without my mother before." Suguha called out from the backseat.
"I went with my cousin once. We had so much fun, we even went to go see a movie afterwards." Keiko turned her head to the backseat.
"Hey Asuna, did confirm our the appointment before you left home?" Rika poked her friend's shoulder.
"I didn't need too. Once I made they practically got rid of the other reservations. It turns out my family has some kind of business with them." The girl in the middle backseat explained.
"Must be nice coming from a rich family." Suguha speculated coming from a smaller family unit.
"I'll admit, it does have some perks." The orange-brunette chuckled.
A few streets signs pass by on the road before the vehicle came to a halt.
«Inside the spa» 1:15 p.m.
The five females were seated as soon as they entered. "This feels great. I love mani-pedis'. Its feels like you have new feet and hands when they're done." Suguha sank deeper into her chair as her feet were being soaked in the small tub.
"Expect you never used to the heavy scent of nail polish and remover." Rinko said in a relaxed tone.
"Onee-san there's something we want to ask you." Asuna began asking her question. "You told us that Yumeko-chan has a meaningful name." Rinko looked over to the curious young face. "What exactly did you mean by that?"
"I know this sounds selfish, but I have always wanted a daughter. My family has a tradition where whenever a female child is born we end her name with ko. [2] She explained.
"Yumeko-chan is a lovely name, onee-san." Asuna lowered her sight on the gestating stomach.
"My family has a similar one based on the periodic table, due to my grandfather being a chemist." Keiko felt a hand press on her head. "How coincidental that you both your names are similar." Rinko patted her head.
"You know onee-san, we you sent me that photo last time. I thought she looked more like a Yumemi-chan."[3] The voice came from the girl in the middle.
"That sounds like a good name possible nickname Suguha-chan." Asuna complimented the «ALO» player.
"Oh I didn't think of it. Onii-chan did. After he called her an alien." The black-haired girl explained.
"He called her what!" Asuna gasped her expression turning to anger like her hair was about to turn into flames.
"Don't worry when he said that I used him as a practice dummy with my shinai. But what he really meant was that she looks like a cute alien. Heh heh, after all who said all aliens are ugly. You know how he is sometimes." Suguha tried to correct her little slip of the tongue.
Upon hearing this, the former «KoB» vice-commander's demanor cooled down turing into her regular self. "Yeah that does sound like something he would say. He can be so careless at times it's amazing. He's just lucky that I wasn't there to give him an earful." She shook her head in annoyance. "But it is nice to know that he's taking an interest in her. That is a good petname. I wish I thought of that earlier." She added in a smiling way.
Whenever I think of all the things we're going to do with Yumeko-chan. I feel that something bad is going to happen?Something ... something... scary... will happen? When will it come and...f-for how long? Why can't I shake this feeling out of my mind? The uncomfortable thoughts begin to race in Asuna's head like a go-kart on a track.
"Is something wrong?" Asuna's eyes came into submission when she noticed a hand waving in front of her face.
"You know daydreaming is a bad habit." Rika teased still waving her hand.
"Eh? What are you talking about?" Asuna looked like a lost puppy. "Nevermind about that." The «blacksmith» hand was placed on her lap. Asuna turned her head to her left side. "Eh? Where did onee-san go?"
"She went to the bathroom. Wow, you must have been pretty out of it too not notice." The «dragon tamer» responded.
"Do you guys think something bad might happen, but not sure exactly what or when?" Asuna directly asked the trio with concern and doubt filling her eyes. The girls knew what she was talking about, its been on their minds for a while now.
"As of right now, the only bad thing that could happen right now is rain." Suguha tried to cheer up Asuna. Keiko pressed the orange brunette's hand. "Imagine rain on a beautiful day like today." Rika joined in to help the other two. "You know when we become aunts we have to be careful about the things we say."
Seeing the smile made the orange-brunette's tension decrease. "Onee-san will be a great mother." Rika stretched her back in her leather chair. "Anyone who's willing to go through this much illness really has a loving heart. If she's this strong I can't imagine how strong Yumeko-chan will be." They rest nodded in agreement.
"It's funny how its only been a full month and we already gave Rinko-san three nicknames but only gave her daughter one." Keiko frowned a little at her own fact.
"Some future aunts we are." Rika sighed like she was admitting defeat.
"What kind of future aunts do you think you're going to be?" The question came from a wobbling woman with an inflated stomach.
"The kind that can't figure out a nickname for their own niece." Rika pouted.
"I'm sure you'll think of one in time." Rinko sat back down and place her feet back in the small tub.
"Kirigaya-kun thought of a good one though." She unfairly teased the high school girls.
"That was only because he was getting hit with a big stick." Suguha pouted at the smirking woman.
2.50 p.m.
"Glads that over with." Keiko muttered and moved her stiffened legs after paying her share of the bill.
"So where should we go eat?" She made her way to the front passenger seat.
"We should let onee-san choose." Rika turned to the woman wearing blue sunglasses.
"I was thinking a maid café." The driver turned around to see for any oncoming traffic before reversing. The fellow girls nodded in agreement.
3:20 p.m. «Maid Café»
"We better eat quick if we want to shop til we drop." Rika pulled her hamburger to her face.
"Someone sure loves shopping." Rinko said blowing into her soup.
"So how did you find this place?" Asuna sipped into her milkshake.
"Klein-san took me her on... our date," Rinko blushed as an 'ooo' sound came from the rest of the party. "He said he wanted me to be comfortable, because I was... nervous." A moment of silent came along before Suguha playfully nudged the adult. "Say onee-san, you didn't really said anything about her little date. Unlike Klein-san was to onii-chan and Agil-san." Hearing that made the woman's face turned a light red as the girls giggled. "Like I said before we had a good time and he took good care of me."
"So how long were you two out?" Asuna was trying to get more details.
"He picked me up and 11 and dropped me off at 8." Rinko was already halfway into her salad.
"9 hours is a long time to be out in your health." Rika sipped into her soda trying not to look too concerned.
"Well we got stuck at the hospital and traffic as well." She explained further.
"Well I'm done. Who else wants some dessert?" Rika wiped her mouth with a napkin.
"Weren't you just in a hurry to leave?" Keiko bit her lip after Suguha lightly kicked her foot under the table.
"Oh I forgot about those..." Rinko quickly rampaged in her purse and took out a plastic container sealed with an air tight red lid. "Would you like one?" She asked as she pulled out a cookie. "Did Takato-kun make them?" Rika's mouth began to water remembering the cake from that night. Rinko nodded and passed it to her.
"Itadakimasu." Rika humbly bit into her cookie. "It's oatmeal chocolate chip with walnuts." She swallowed her first the soft dessert as it melted in her mouth. "You guys should have one. They're delicious." She finished her treat after three more bites. Looks like I have some competition Asuna thought to herself biting into hers. "This is so good." Keiko and Suguha said in between bites. "Don't talk with your mouths full, its very rude." Rinko looked a little red after she realized what she had just said to them.
"Okay we should get going before the stores get even more crowded." Rinko clapped her hands and got up from her seat.
4:47 p.m. «Inside a store»
"Okay, here's the plan. We try to buy enough things for the party as fast we can. Onee-san said she'll be back from the grocery store in less than 20 minutes." Asuna whispered to the huddled girls and departed. If she thought being in the strongest guild in «Aincrad» was difficult then she had never really took part in this type of party before.
The gang managed to obtain the party supplies before Rinko found them. "What's wrong you look like your hiding something." They instantly shook their heads. "It's just we... needed things for...school." Sugu stammered. "You know how high school was, you could never have enough supplies." She tried to laugh off. "Lets go to another store and buy some real fun stuff." Asuna hurried to the exist.
5:25 p.m. «2nd store»
This time they would make sure that they could actually buy a gift instead of boring party favours. Small blue boxes on a shelf under an attractive sign. "Recordant..." Asuna began to read the small print. "A heart-shaped pendant that can record any message 8 minutes or less." She stopped and went to got tell her friends.
"It's a new product and it looks like everyone wants one. And the price tag doesn't seem to be going down any time soon." Asuna glared at the shelf again.
"Onee-san said she's going over here letter right now. It could be more sentimental if recorded it." Suguha added.
Without any argument they each took out some cash with leaving themselves enough to take them back home.
Sugu decided to keep the secret and hid the gift in her party favours bag.
Rinko was patiently sitting in the car tapping of her on touch screen phone waiting for the girls to return. As she noticed the familiar silhouettes she unlocked the doors. "Do you girls even to how to shop." Rinko saw only 2 small bags in each girl's hand, looking a bit suspicious.
"Erm- its because the spa, the food and school stuff, were a little pricey." Keiko explained looking a bit nervous. "She's right and not to mention train ticket prices these days." Sugu bit her lip.
"I wish I could take you somewhere else but you can't afford to miss your train." Rinko sighed looking a little guilty.
"Its okay, the spa just took a little longer and the resturant was a little busy." Asuna ruffled the bag in her hand. I wasn't this nervous in the guild, why the hell now? She let out a small yawn.
"Your train won't be here until 6:45. Do you want to take a little drive?" Rinko pulled the car in reverse.
"Yeah, we should visit that shrine, before leaving." Keiko replied.
"Then you can just drop us at the station when were done." Rika spoke softly.
"As you wish, it's your day after all." The driver smiled lightly.
6:15 p.m. «Train Station»
"If it wasn't a school night, we could have had some real fun." Rinko frowned a little.
"It's alright. We can do that next time, at least we went to a temple. Besides there's always summer break." Suguha touched the scientist's hand. "Maybe even a nice picnic." Keiko leaned a little closer. "I'll make my special sandwiches." Asuna moved in a little closer. "I'll bring napkins, plates and other utensils." Rika chirped with delight.
With that said the girls wrapped their arms around Rinko. "We love you, onee-san."
"I love you, too." Rinko snuggled in between.
The students slowly pulled away and bowed respectfully.
"We love you too, Yumeko-chan. We can't wait to meet you." They softly spoke in unison to the swollen abdomen.
Neither can I my lovely Yuyu. A small tear trickled down the right side Rinko's face after the thought.
"It's a terrible thing to see a mother cry." Asuna gave her a leftover napkin.
"Thank you for today. Take care yourself." They waved at the departing woman.
[1] Yumeko means "dream child", "little dream" or "dream girl"
[2] The suffex -ko is common ending for a female name meaning "child" or "girl"
[3] Yumemi means "dream beauty."
Thanks for reading this chapter! =3 I hope you liked it! I am open to criticism as well. I also take suggestions for for chapters!