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Chapter 15: A Milestone Reached
September 14th, 2025
A soft banging came from the front door. Rinko opened it and left Kazuto inside.
"Hello onee-sensei." The black-haired teenager bowed.
The woman reciprocated the gesture. "Your voice sounds a lot more better, Kirigaya-kun."
"Yeah, those cough drops that you recommended really worked for me."
"Where is everyone else?"
"They're gonna come by later. Suguha got held up practice. Asuna's driver got stuck in traffic, and Rika and Keiko will be coming together. I thought I'd make it here earlier before her aunts start obsessing over here again."
Rinko nodded at his explanation. "So I see that you brought your bag with you. I assume that you didn't get your homework finished yet." She tsked and shook her head from left to right.
Kazuto gulped and bit his lips. "Well...you see. Since we were all gonna meet up here. We'd figure... We could keep an eye on each other...and do some work for now."
"Hey, no need to sound so tense. I was just kidding around." Rinko ruffled his hair. "That sounds good to me. I hope you get some done."
She said that so calmly, I thought she was going to be pissed. The student sighed in relief.
"By the way, how is that app you've been working on?" She asked him.
"There's some programming notes I may have to give another look at and run them over again, but Yui can still hear and see everything clearly. She's been a great help on the other side, and that advice that you gave to me was we very helpful."
Kazuto smiled as he leisurely sauntered to kneeled down to the bassinet. "So she still hasn't learned to smile yet?"
Rinko shook her head left to right.
"So, how is you PTSD?" Kazuto looked at the older woman.
"I still have it, but I am also gratefully fortunate to have such a wonderful support system at my side." She went up to him and patted his head.
"Onee-sensei, is it still okay for me to call her Yumemi? I mean... It doesn't have any sort of resemblance to her actual name." Kazuto waited for her answer.
"I think it's perfectly fine. A nickname doesn't necessarily have to be identical to it."
The black-haired boy nodded in agreement.
Rinko then turned her attention to the time being shown on the clock. Nearly noon.
He watched her grab her purse and ring of keys. "I have to leave for my appointment now. There's food in the fridge and you have to feed her in a little while." She kissed her daughter goodbye and thanked him for coming early.
After watching the door close behind her, the teenager takes out his cell phone.
"Hi Yui. Can you hear and see me right now?"
"I can see and hear you clearly Papa." A small lovely voiced chimed through the mobile phone terminal speaker.
"Guess where I am Yui." He whispered into the screen.
"Where?" She asked him curiously.
Kazuto's bright grin was interrupted by a shrill cry.
"What's that noise, Papa?" The AI's voice came through the other end.
"Oh, Yumemi just woke up." Kazuto answered her question.
"Eh? Yumeko-chan is with you?"
"Yeah, your mother and aunts are going to look after her for a while. So much for keeping that a surprise."
Kazuto carefully held on to Yumeko in his arm while positioning his cell phone with his right hand.
"She's so cute and pretty!" Yui brightly chimed once more.
"Trust me, she's more cute and pretty when she's quiet." Kazuto gently rocked her against his chest.
"I have to go feed her now Yui. I'll see you later." Her father gently whispered.
"Okay, remember to take some pictures Papa." She giggled as the screen went blank.
Kazuto put the device back in his pocket.
After warming the full, cold plastic bottle and testing it on his skin, he gladly placed the teat in her mouth. "I'm a little surprised that Yui didn't get jealous. She can be pretty clingy at times." He smirked.
"You must be very special to her." He said while burping her. "She even thinks of you as a younger sister."
While hearing her ear-splitting screams several minutes later. The teenager was still able to maintain his calm demeanor, while swaddling and shushing into her ear. "You're a very good girl." He commented.
He put back in the bassinet and went to answer the door.
"Hi Kirito-kun." Asuna entered the apartment.
"Onee-san said you came here early. I talked with Rika and they're going coming soon." She pecked his cheek and walked into the living room. "I was getting worried when I found out that you were alone with her again. But it seems that you've proven me wrong." Asuna stroked the child's hair and face with her slender soft fingers as form of greeting herself.
"Like I said before, she and I are friends." Kazuto grinned.
He offered to take her school bag her which she kindly accepted.
The young couple both found themselves on the couch with a small distance in the middle of them. The awkward silence broke when the boy's phone vibrated on the coffee table. When he read the message that he had recieved, his face went from sightly shy, to his jaw dropping and turning red in colour.
When his girlfriend wanted to know what had happened to him and why his face looked like that, he showed her the message, and she unwittingly read the text aloud:
Just a friendly reminder that this apartment is not a love-nest. So don't try to do anything. You're just too young.
Asuna covered her mouth, as her face had gotten a reddish hue that was quite similar to his. I can't believe onee-san actually sent that! The girl managed to focus her herself, returning her face back into its natural colour tone.
"Delete. It. Now." She hissed at him.
"D-deleting." He shook his head like a bobble-head trying to forget it.
The door was this time answered by Asuna.
"Sorry we're late. That bus was took forever to come." Rika took off her shoes.
"Where's Suguha-san?" Keiko asked the older male, sounding a little disappointed.
"She'll be here, she just got held up at practice." Kazuto replied.
"Oh good." The cat lover regained her smile.
"So you two were here. In this apartment, alone. Without nobody else around to see you." Rika narrowed her eyes at the high school couple with a mischievous grin while raising an eyebrow.
"No, not...not exactly. I just came a few minutes ago myself." Asuna tried not blush. "And we weren't completely alone. Himeko-chan is still sleeping.
"So what I'm hearing in that you did think of doing something." Rika gave a sly smile.
"No, not really." Asuna said in a calmer voice.
"Oh, give it a rest, Rika-san. We're just here to babysit and study for the time being." Keiko tried to change the subject matter.
"So since we're here, why not get started right now?" Kazuto suggested the activity.
"But it wouldn't be very fair to Suguha-chan then." Asuna debated her boyfriend's suggestion.
"Don't worry about that, it'll be fine. Last night she said that if she comes last and takes longer then we could go ahead get a little head-start before then." Kazuto handed Asuna her school bag. "And with the kid around, the only real chance to do some actual work would have to be right now."
The remaining three teenagers glanced at each other and reluctantly nodded in agreement.
The group was interrupted by the sound of short fast tapping coming from the door.
Suguha gave a big beaming grin as she saw all of their faces from the opened doorway. "Sorry...I, hope...I'm not too late." She spoke while taking deep slow breaths.
"Not at all, we were just about to start." Keiko passed her a cool glass of water.
"Did you run all the way here?" Kazuto asked his exhausted looking younger cousin.
"No, the elevator was busy and taking forever. So I decided to climb the stairs instead." She guzzled down the colourless liquid. "I didn't want...to keep you waiting... any longer, because of me." She spoke in short breaths.
"You took all of those stairs while holding a backpack and a shinai?" Rika's eyes widened.
"It's okay, I'm used to carrying this kind of weight." Suguha took off her shoes.
"That's not something you should get used too." Asuna lectured her junior.
Unsettling ear piercing screams come from the bassinet. Asuna who was standing a few inches away from the it, tenderly picked up the bundle, communicating to it in a soft, gentle voice while circling her back in a slow pace.
They all take turns trying to make the crying stop through common methods that were unable to downside the noise.
"C'mon on, kid. Please stop and tell us what you need us to do to help you." Kazuto nearly begged while bouncing the infant in his arms.
"Does she need another changing?" Asuna asked.
"No, she's fine."
"Is she feeling too warm or cold?" Keiko shook the bell rattle near him.
"Her temperature feels normal."
"Is she hungry?" Rika continued to hold the plastic feeding bottle.
"I don't think so." Kazuto buried her face in his chest.
Without even a monet's notice, the boy felt a small, sticky, thick substance on the left side of his black buttoned shirt.
His comrades had either bit their lips turning them white or covering their mouths trying to contain their laughter.
"Looks like she's going to need another change after all." Suguha took her away from him and wiped her mouth with a damp kitchen cloth. He still stands in the same position and saw the girls take her back into the bedroom.
Kazuto checked the digital clock being displayed on the virtual screen on his laptop. He quickly takes out his cellphone for the second time and stops tapping on it, until a moving image of Yui popped up.
"What's going on, Papa?" The AI questioned him.
"I'll tell you about it later. How are you feeling right now?"
"I feel fine, the server is still undergoing its current maintenance session, but I'm still alright."
"Are you still able to hear me loud and clear?" He asked his daughter.
"Yes I can. However, due to the current lag that the game server is experiencing, not all of our current conversation is in one hundred percent syndication." She notified him.
"Alright, I'll keep that in mind. Are you sure that's the only thing bothering you right now?" He repeated the same question.
"That's all for right now, Papa." Her sweet voice chimed through the speaker.
"Okay, good."
"Papa?"
"Yes, Yui?"
"This application that you are working on, is it for a special occasion that both involves you and Mama?"
"Yeah, that's why I'm working extra hard on it. Take care of yourself. I'll see you later tonight."
"You and Mama take care of yourselves too." She spoke loudly through the speaker.
Kazuto was staring intensely at his notebook screen trying to come up with solutions to help fix any potential errors in his program design. The computer enthusiast felt his concentration slowly reaching depletion as he heard the sound of a group of girls giggling amongst themselves.
"It took the four of you that long just to change her clothes?" His visual focus leaned toward the others.
"It's not easy trying to find something to match her up with. We dressed her up in a bunch of different clothes." Suguha replied.
"Match her up with what? She isn't going anywhere and she's not a doll." Kazuto criticized.
"So that doesn't mean she still can't look nice." Keiko put Yumeko in her swing.
"What that's thing on her head?" He pointed to the soft blue head covering that was tied onto the infant's head.
"It's a bonnet. Isn't it just adorable?" Suguha stroked the clothing accessory.
"And we gave her a really good massage until she feel asleep again." Rika gave a further explanation.
"Did you already do that before?" The only boy asked them.
"So just because her mother is at a spa, doesn't mean she can't get any treatment." Asuna counter argued.
"Oh, you should have seen her, she had the most precious little yawn." Suguha said with a tiny squeak.
"We're so lucky to have such a pretty kitty for a niece." Keiko gleefully remarked.
"So much for being great friends with her Kirito-kun." Asuna scoffed at her romantic partner.
"But we are friends." He frowned.
"Hm, last time I checked, friends don't throw up on other friends." Asuna sneered at him .
"Or maybe we're such great friends that she wanted me to comfort her, and didn't want you to feel bad." He crossed his arms.
"Hey let's just forget about all of his nonsense before she wakes up again. Suguha spoke in a mellow whisper. "We should really get started now. There isn't much time left."
"I can already feel Himeko-chan's AOE skill status go up." Keiko reached for her book bag.
"Now I know what you meant by that warning you gave me, Sugu." Kazuto stretched his arms and legs still holding the portable computer on his lap.
"It looks like a certain someone's level earned some extra points." Rika sat next to Asuna on the floor.
"Whatever we don't get done here, we'll just meet up later at the inn room online." Asuna gave the instruction.
"Good idea, we can just get Yui-chan to do it for us." Rika snickered.
Hearing that Asuna pinched Rika's arm.
"Geez, someone's protective." The burnette rubbed the affected area.
Kazuto stroked Yumeko's face with his knuckle as she was soundly sleeping.
He turned his neck sideways only to observe his fellow online players had fall victim to the room's calming atmosphere and fallen asleep as aswell.
The teenager let out a small sigh as lips landed on the infant's forehead and slowly unfastens the bonnet that was covering the sight of her ears and hair from his eyes.
He applies a little bit of pressure onto her ears, rubbing his thumbs and forefingers against them. Then, he pulls his mouth his mouth closer to her left ear. "I know what your real name is, but your still my Yumemi-chan. What do you think about that?" He whispered softly and with great comfort and affection. He resumes his undivided attention and watches her sleeping peacefully.
He noticed something very different about his niece immediately.
The teenager felt his heartbeat undergo a slow rise in movement. He began to blink away the rupturing salty water nearly coming out from his black irises as there were other people around him. The boy hadn't the slightest similar feeling like this since he reunited with Yui in that other world, many months ago.
That 'challenge' that he had silently committed to himself during his solo hospital that day wasn't a competition that he had with someone else, nor was it a simple topic that was randomly inserted in effort to further that conversation he was having with her mother.
It was a vow. That was now completed and a story from the past.
Kazuto took out the camera from a compartment in his bag and found a suitable angle.
After commemorating the milestone accomplishment into a digital screen, he strokes her face in the same manner as before and gently presses his two lips against her face in several different areas.
He takes out his cellphone from his pocket and opens up to the note-taking application and taps on the screen:
Fill caption option with... Yumeko's First Smile.
He blankly stares at the electronic note as images from the past memory came forth to reemerge in his eyes.
*Flashback starts*
July 27th, 2025
Kazuto was sitting in his chair.
He momentarily felt puzzled, skeptical and yet hopeful all at the same time trying to make sense of it all.
Did I hear her right? Bringing Yui...here? In this world, living with me and Asuna? Even with today's outstanding technological progress and research. AI's are still one of the most complex topics to get by in computer science field...
"Kirigaya-kun, are you alright?" The caring feminine voice called out to him.
He eyes followed the repetitive directions as he witnesses that hand swayed from one side to next.
The student opens his dried up lips making a small slightly audible sound. "How? How could I repay you for helping me?
Rinko smiled at him. "You're helping me with my daughter so I'm going to be helping you with yours."
How could I help Yumemi? I'm too scared to do anything right now. But what about after she get discharged from here? Think. Think. Think. He gritted his teeth.
Kazuto takes a deep, slow breathe and tries to focus his vision on the miniature figure in the plexiglass structure, but in the end looks onto the floor instead. He clenched his cold hands into tight fists but releases them.
He looks at the mother next to him with determination in his black eyes.
"She may smile with her heart, but I'm going to make her smile with her mouth."
*Flashback ends*
Time is going by too fast but too slow at the same time. And we all won't be together for as along as we want to. Kazuto wordlessly reflected in his own mind.
"I love you very much, Yumemi-chan. Please don't forget that." Kazuto spoke into her ear.
If there are any suggestions for later, please send them to me. Thank you very much for the support! Please review.