***This is the second part of the 'double-upload feature'. (The rest of the note and a further explanation this is in the previous chapter).

I don't own or have any affiliation with Sword Art Online. I apologize for any grammatical and/or spelling errors and/or missing words that were made into the official text.

Chapter 34: Gemini in Winter

Wednesday, December 21st, 2033 | Late Morning

Rika's water broke in the early hours of the morning while she was helping her busy husband get ready for work. As their luck would have it, the life-changing event had occurred the very day prior her planned cesarean section was scheduled for. Her multiple pregnancy pregnancy was thirty-seven weeks and three days gestation.

Nonetheless, within the hour the couple were admitted in the maternity ward of a private hospital.

"What's taking them so long?!" Rika grunted while tightly squeezing her martial partner's hand. "Don't they know what time it is?!"

Mikado kissed her ring hand and stroked her enlarged stomach. "It's eleven-thirty." He spoke quietly to his wife's inflated abdomen.

"I'm scared." Rika took a slow deep breath after her contraction was over.

"You're not the only one."

"What if they'll hate me?"

Mikado gave her an encouraging smile and pressed his hard lips on her forehead. "That's going to be pretty hard to do." He lightly stroked her arm and brushed his knuckle over the right side of her face. "When this is all over, you are going to be loved very, very much. I can definitely guarantee it. We came in as two people, but we're going to leave as four, and that's all because of your hard work. You can take in as much pride as you want."

"Do you really think they'll love me that much?"

The husband caressed her face while his dark blue eyes looked into her dark brown pair. "They're going to love you so much that they will never have enough of you, like I can't. To be honest, I think I'm going to get a little jealous of that."

Rika could feel oncoming tears in her eyes. "I love you."

Her husband used his thumbs to erase them before evolving into streams of salty liquid running down her face. "I know you do. It's apparently big enough to give me two beautiful and brilliant daughters." The civil engineer smirked, kissing his hard lips against her soft ones.

"I can't thank you enough for all of this." He continued to kiss her face all over her, showering Rika with enough tenderness she laid her head and ring hand on his chest to make him stop. "You're spoiling me too much." She smiled.

He smoothly glided his hand over the large bump. "I'm just practicing for my brand new girls you are going to spoil me with."

An unknown period of time had passed until the couple's friends had finally made it to the hospital. Although to a labouring Rika, it had felt like an entire day has come to pass since her admission that morning.

Due to the stringent limitation of the healthcare facility's visitors policy, a majority of the over-sized group was forcefully removed from the room to upload the uncompromising, authoritative regulation, however the acception of keeping Asuna and Rinko inside the confined four walls was gained, although only on the behalf of Rika's comfort and still-standing need of moral benevolence that could the pair of experienced mother's to an anxiety ridden and beyond doubt unequivocally frightened new mother in the making.

Both women were standing on Rika's right side. Asuna was beside Rika's swollen feet while Rinko tousled the mother-to-be's mid-length brunette hair and covered her slender fingers by laying her hand sideways, avoiding the IV inserted in Rika's left hand.

"How are you feeling right now?" Rinko placed a small peck on Rika's then resumed caressing the same spot on her hair, in an effort of sisterly comfort.

"I'm still so nervous onee-san, maybe more then before. In a few hours, I'm going to go in a major surgery that is going to change our entire lives permanently and I can't do anything about it." Rika took a sharp breath.

"Well, you know what they say, two is better than one." Asuna attempted a hand in trying to support in cheering up her close friend.

"Yeah, but they never tell you how it is to have both of them on the same day." Rika replied in a snippy tone but apologized.

The woman laying on the gel bed, shut her eyes tight and sniffled. "What kind of mother will I be if I can't have them naturally? Now I have to through a damn operation and by then I'll be so tired I'd probably pass out and won't be able to see them as soon as they're born." Rika halted her blundering as soon as she thought of her nominal's older situation from nearly a decade ago.

Rinko had a single high note playing deep inside of her chest and clandestinely placed her hand ontop of the now eight-year-old, minimized scar from her own caesarian procedure located under her shirt after accepting Rika's sincere and wholehearted expression of regret for not choosing her word's more cautiously.

"Onee-san, can I ask you something?" Rika refered to the respective female figure.

"Yes." Rinko smoothed her nimble fingers across Rika's right arm while Asuna's hand was touching the dark brunette's right hand.

Rika licked her lips moisturizing them. "Last year, when we were in that hospital cafe... The way you acted with Himeko-chan... It looked so natural and nurturing. How...how exactly did you do that?"

Rinko took a moment to think about that time during the previous year when she affectionately kissed Yumeko's face and closed doe eyes, while the mother cupped her 'deluxe daughter's' cool face with her soft warm hands as the ends of her palms were touching the sides of her only child's small forehead and then Rinko's french fingertips were tenderly stroking Yumeko's short stretched-out neck, similar to a cat's. I'm not the perfect mother I think am. I can't even call my own child by her real name. The scientist slowly exhaled. "It...just came to me, but I've been a mother for quite a number of years now."

Asuna stepped into the conversation. "Hey, remember that time all of us kids slept-over at the apartment?"

Rika nodded. "What about it?"

Asuna cleared her throat. "Did you forget about how Himeko-chan started crying in the middle of the night?"

Rinko's face showed some regret. "I felt pretty bad for all of you. You've never been in that kind of situation before, but I have to say you handled it very nicely." The eldest woman brushed hand on Rika's arm. "Especially you."

The brunette blushed. "It was really nothing onee-san."

"Nothing? Thanks to you, we were all able to get some sleep." Asuna raised her thumb in sincere approval.

"All I did was a shoulder massage." Rika said quietly.

"One that put her to sleep for a good few hours." Asuna winked.

"But...it's so much more different now. We were only over there a night and we hardly ever saw her." The mechanical engineer resumed to belittle herself. Rika shook her head left to right. "She's our niece. That was temporary, but this is permanent. I'm about to have two daughters today. I can't mess this up at all. I'm going to have to see the same milestone twice. What if one of them develops faster than the other? How am I supposed to handle that?"

"It will work out by itself. You need to trust your instincts and give things time." Rinko gave a short hug.

Asuna joined in the gentle embrace. "You have us to help you whenever you need it."

Rinko lightly peck both their heads in an elder sibling-esque manner.

When the bodies separated, the triumvirate of divine, seraphic females still continued to exchange words.

"I remember the first time I held Himeko-chan when she was in the hospital." Rika let out a large, deep sigh over the slowly aging nostalgic recollection. "Her skin was red and thin, I was nervous about bruising it by accident, somehow I still knew she enjoyed it, even when her eyes were still sealed." A reliving smile grew on her lips.

"When it was my turn, I ran to my room and cried as soon as I got back home." Asuna glanced to the floor.

"All three of the girls are growing up quickly." Rinko turned to her focus to the middle schoolteacher. "How is the teething?"

The strawberry blonde smirked. "A lot better than Himeko-chan's. It's like Sachi-chan doesn't feel it all."

"Lucky." The black haired women muttered jokingly and pinched the younger mother's cheek.

They both returned her attention back to Rika.

"Trust me, someday after your discharge, the kids and I are going to come over to your place to help you guys out." Asuna winked.

"You're not the only one going to be in that kitchen."

Rika became wide-eyed. "You to onee-san?"

Rinko nodded. "And Yumeko of course."

"I think I'm getting excited already." Rika folded her hands on her swollen stomach.

Yumeko was sitting in her seat, being absorbed in the novel she was reading.

Her honorary cousin fifth-grader Yui, was sitting beside her, next to Kazuto who was holding his youngest daughter Sachi, on his lap.

"Hey Yumemi, did you forget that you're cousins are here to?" Kazuto chuckled.

The third-grader didn't respond.

"Yumemi?" The black haired man repeated to say his special nickname for her.

When she was still unresponsive, Kazuto whispered in his eldest daughter's ear some instructions, inwhich Yui nodded in obedience towards.

Kazuto handed Sachi over to her sister's lap and fastly tapped on his nominal niece's shoulder.

Hm? After Yumeko heard the familiar chuckle of her intangible companion, she lowered the paperback book that was covering her face, revealing the pair red, squared eyeglasses. The elementary school student saw the older girl with long black hair and eyes, alongside an infant with the same coloured hair and hazel eyes, just like her mother's.

Yumeko gave the youngest girl a small smile and smoothed her hand over the one-year-old's short length hair and gave both of Sachi's hands a gentle shake. She really likes me... Both of them do, for some reason. Yumeko drew a short deep breath.

Yumeko noticed the electronic device on the back of Sachi's neck.

It was a [Neuro Linker], a collar-esque personal computer that can enable communication wirelessly via the user's brain. It has two main functions [Virtual Reality] and [Agumented Reality]. However, Yumeko didn't know very much about the history of how to the newer technology came to existence, expect it being not a more further descent of the once very popular [FullDive] console the [Amusphere], but the much different and older gaming console known as the [NerveGear] and acting the role of the direct descendant of the groundbreaking fourth generation [FullDive] product the [Brain Implant Chip] that was later banned and declared illegal by the federal authorities.

Although, that was everything the eight-year-old girl knew about it from her [FullDive] researcher mother, whom was also apart of the [Neuro Linker's] initial production, two years prior, alongside Kazuto.

Someday... The entire world won't be able to know the experience the joy of holding a beautiful pen or pencil, or the fresh blank page of a notebook. In a way it's kind of like how the earth can never return to it's natural soil. They won't exist anymore. Will that world still be as beautiful? Yumeko blinked her emperor grey eyes slowly.

The girl's invisible friend told her via thought transference that was certainly going to be the case someday, definitely in the future decades to come, like the plot of an old science-fiction film coming to life in the real world.

I wonder what people will come up with next. Yumeko couldn't hold back the profound reflection.

Her invisible friend replied telepathically, only time will be able to tell.

Yumeko took a deep breath.

"Yumemi?" Kazuto waved her hand in front of her face.

"Yumemi, are you okay?" The last question finally met with her eardrums. She looked up the faces of her titular uncle and his children.

Yumeko quietly nodded in response.

She's been quiet for a while now. The young father sighed.

"You were spaced out for almost six minutes." Keiko commented.

"You weren't thinking about a boy, were you?" Suguha laughed.

Oddly enough, Yumeko's cheeks grew a pinkish tinge.

"Himeko-chan, why are you blushing?" Shino observed.

"N-no reason, Constable-sama."

"It's against the law to lie to a cop. So how come you were smiling like that?" Keiko tittered not wanting to move on from the topic of conversation. The veterinarian student exhaled. "We always knew you were gonna break lots of hearts someday. Who knew it would be this soon?"

Kazuto was narrowing his black eyes at the grown women in annoyance.

Yumeko felt a hand glide up and down her back with soft pressure like a massage. When she looked up, Klein pressed his lips on her forehead. "Everything okay?" He picked her up from her comfortable seat. "Were you bothering my squishy angel face first sweetheart?"

"Onii-chan started it." Suguha pointed her finger in Kazuto's direction.

"What are you, ten?" Kazuto groaned.

"Himeko-chan should be a model when she grows up." Suguha hurriedly changed the discussion.

Roomates Shino and Keiko second the notion.

"I'm trying to prevent that as much as possible." Klein grumbled.

Suguha smirked. "Alright then, how about Yui-chan and Sachi-chan?"

Without wasting a single second, their father immediately wrapped his arms firmly around both of his children. "Why do I have to keep reminding you about not involving my kids?"

Shino half smiled. "What I pity. Not allowing the outside world to witness such natural beauty. That's pretty uncompromising."

"It's my decision and I'm standing by it." Kazuto pulled his beloved children closer to his chest.

"Papa, do you think the three of us aren't pretty enough to be models?" Yui looked at him with sad eyes.

Kazuto's irises widened in shock and surprise. He unloosed his grasp on them. "No I didn't mean anything like that Yui... H-honest. I swear." He took Sachi back in his embrace. "All three of you are very beautiful it's...it's indescribable." The father of two rambled. "You know that one saying about how love can make things grow a lot?"

Yui nodded.

"Well love is also something used to help make things look and feel beautiful." He rubbed her long locks of hair of both of his children. "I love you, your sister, your mother and your cousin, but if you ask me, Asuna's the runner up compared with all of you three combined." Kazuto playfully winked.

"So this is how I find out?"

Kazuto felt the hair on his neck stand up and turned his neck to see his stunning and gorgeous wife. "I-I'm happy to see that you're back Asuna. How did it go?"

"Just needed to talk some things out, she's fine for now." The middle school teacher took Sachi from her husband and began cuddling her smallest child.

After sitting down a moment later, the strawberry blonde started to mess up the young one's hair and biting her daughter's cheek with her soft lips, much to her spouse's chagrin.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to play rough with her?" Kazuto muttered.

"And how many times do I have to tell you, that she can handle it. She's not a newborn anymore."

"Why do you think you have to keep reminding me about that certain part?" He moaned.

"Which certain part would that be Kirito-kun?"

The adult male crinkled his eyebrows and cross-folded his arms on his chest. "You know exactly which part I'm talking about."

"Was I ever like that with her?" Klein questioned Rinko.

"Why did you ask me in the past tense?"

Klein rolled his eyes.

Suguha, Keiko and Shino share a simultaneous laugh.

Mikado stumbled out of the private room. The civil engineer had a bewildered exterior on his face.

"Inoue-kun, what happened?" Is everything alright?" Rinko queried the father-to-be.

"She kicked me out."

"Kicked you out? Why?" Keiko asked.

"Give me a mintue." He reopened the door and nervously gulped. "Rika, why am I out here?"

"Your the reason why I got here in the first place! Now get back in here so I can hold your hand!" The labouring female's bellowing voice caused Mikado to flinch from head to toe, looking a little frightened. "Y-yes dear... I love you." He stepped back inside.

"I may be in law enforcement, but that was one brave man." Shino tapped her foot.

"He will be greatly missed." Keiko tsked.

"What a shame." Kazuto laid his hand on his heart, trying not to crack into a smile.

"So who's up for lunch?" Suguha suggested, breaking the thread of light humor.

Yumeko, Yui, Rinko Suguha, Shino and Klein decided to go to the private healthcare institute's cafeteria, while in the meantime Asuna and Kazuto decided to stay in the waiting area with a sleeping infant Sachi.

Keiko, Suguha and Shino decided to save a couple of tables while Rinko, Klein, Yui and Yumeko were looking around the available vending machine options.

Amoung the variety of selections included there was an ice-cream machine, one filled with soup cups, one that makes burgers, a pizza-making machine, one that dispenses frozen hot meals, a french fry machine and of course one that sells popular brand-name beverages.

"I don't know which one to get first." Klein snatched his credit card from his wallet.

"Ryo, relax you're a grown man, and not a teenage girl at an overpriced concert." Rinko swiped her martial partner's plastic money card.

I can't believe this is really happening. Yumeko facepalmed herself trying to hide her embarrassment.

"Ryo, you can't just have ice cream like that. It's the beginning of winter." Rinko whispered hoarsely.

"Then you are they still selling them then?" Klein grabbed the plastic currency from her smaller hand and kissed his partner's cheek making Rinko's body go under a spell of slightly momentary numbness and her face bloomed a pinkish hue from the sudden general gesture of public affection.

"I got you." Klein stuck his tongue at his wife.

The woman continued to blush as she couldn't stop herself from casting her head down to the floor. "You got lucky this time, because there are security cameras so I can't hit you and two little girls watching us right now. One of them happening to be our daughter and our friends are sitting right over there." She pointed her index finger over her right shoulder.

"Don't worry, the odds of me winning again are pretty low." Klein smirked happily.

"So how are things with you guys?" Keiko moved the discussion onward.

"I made a few arrests the last couple of weeks, the paperwork is whole different story." Shino laid back in her chair.

"Tell me about it. The firm just got these massive new accounts, I had to do overtime twice last week and still up to my elbows in it." Suguha expressed her frustration. "Working in finances isn't it's all cracked up to be." The financial analyst frowned.

"At least it's just temporary." Shino followed.

"Personally, I won't be able to become a kendo instructor until I really feel that I saved up enough. It might take another two or three years."

"That's not so bad." Keiko added. "Do you know how much your going to charge as the fee?" The vet student asked.

"I was thinking until things get settled completely, I'd only start teaching a couple time a week."

"Sure you still want to keep your current job?" Shino added.

Suguha nodded. "Only part time, but I really need to get out of my full-time position first."

Shino turned to Keiko. "How did your exam go this morning?" The police officer asked her roommate.

The light brunette smiled cheerfully. "It wasn't too bad, I got to look over some notes before it started."

"Like I said, you were just overthinking." Shino wore a cool smile.

"Halfway done with school." Keiko stretched her arms and legs comfortably. "I got to get up early for my shift tomorrow." She yawned. "At least we'll have the rent paid off for the month."

"Man, the kids are super lucky that they're on winter vacation. Suguha moaned in complaint.

"We should take Himeko-chan and Yui-chan out when they're on still on vacation." Keiko proposed the thoughtful suggestion.

"Totally. Let's ask about their plans." Suguha returned to her regular positive and upbeat persona.

"They're great kids, they deserve to go out once in a while without their parents." Shino commented in her usual calm and collected tenor.

The others came by with their lunch choices.

Yui was holding a quartet of small cardboard boxes with individual freshly made pizzas inside of them.

Rinko held onto her cup of chicken noodle soup.

Yumeko was carrying the pair of baskets of plain french fries with ketchup and salt and pepper packets.

Klein had the soft drinks and a waffle bowl of cheesecake flavoured ice-cream with pieces of graham cracker pie crust, pieces of strawberries and and blueberries.

Due to the lack of chairs at the designated tables, a doting Klein happily placed his dearly loved eight-year-old Yumeko on his lap.

As Yumeko was helping herself to her own ten-inch pizza topped with pineapple, jalapeno and pepperoni and to a handful of the deep-fried potato sticks with some of the available tomato sauce.

Klein wrapped his arms around her torso, making Yumeko pressing her back against his chest. "Hey buddy, you wanna have a bit of my ice-cream?" He pulled a spoonful of the dessert closer to her mouth. "I know how much you like cheesecake."

Why does Papa still like to hold me like this? Yumeko parted her lips, accepting the tempting offer.

The little girl's intangible friend used the special clairvoyance connection to 'say' it was because she is loved by him very much.

Papa must miss the old bedtime routine. Yumeko quietly reflected.

Her friend mentioned that could also play a factor as well.

Klein snuggled and covered his first sweetheart's cheeks with little smooches in a fashion that reminded him of what he used to during her infancy. "Your just as cute as the day I first gave you your first ice-cream bite." He leaned his left cheek against the little girl's right one while swaying her softly from side-to-side.

"It's good to see you eat something other than ramen, Yuyu." Rinko took a bite of the sweet treat.

Yumeko retaliated by saying that noodles are her trademark food.

"I know that, but having more than one serving in a day is unhealthy even if you still put in a few things." Rinko poked her nose. "If you do that one more time, I'm going to cut your allowance in half."

"But I only use half of the flavour packet when I make it. I'm still trying to come up with a recipe for the broth."

Her mother put her left hand against her left cheek and sighed. "I you need help, then I can give you some examples."

The third-grader frowned. "I want to do it on my own."

Rinko took a moment. "Okay, but if you don't come up with your own broth recipe by the end of your vacation, say goodbye to half of your allowance."

"A whole half?" Yumeko turned her body looking up at Klein's face. Her doe, emperor grey eyes were displaying a 'sad kitten form', even though they were covered by her red squared eyewear. "You wouldn't do that, would you Papa?"

The parent cringed his teeth, trying to resist the 'super effective' attack.

The eight-year-old curled up against the front of his body. Her arms hugging the middle of his back.

Klein could already feel his face warming up.

"Ryo, you can't let her beat you. Your the adult. You can't always be soft on her, remember that." He heard his wife's stern sounding words.

Klein gulped and blinked. "Your mother's right about that buddy. So if it doesn't work out... say goodbye to...her part of the money."

Rinko rolled her black eyes.

"So what do you kids have planned for your winter break?" Shino brought up the topic for further discussion and insight.

Yui answered first. "My friends and I are going ice skating this weekend and then have a sleepover."

"Sounds like a lot of fun." Suguha praised.

"What about you, Himeko-chan?" Keiko asked innocently.

Yumeko felt a pit in the bottom of her stomach. "I have a couple of training fights coming up."

"That sounds like a ton of hard work." Shino commented.

"You're forgetting who your talking to." Klein smirked, holding her tightly and kissed the back of her head.

"Do you know what weapon your going to choose?" Suguha asked.

Yumeko moved her head left to right. "I was thinking maybe a sword or a staff."

"Hey, how about us sparring in front of one of my kendo classes, when you get the chance." Her aunt winked.

Yumeko silently nodded.

"Do you like aikido or jujutsu better?" Keiko queried.

"I think... I like both the same."

"When are you fights happening?" Shino took a french fry.

Yumeko took her cellphone from her coat pocket, accessing the calendar application. She then passes the slim electronic gadget to the female triad. "It's the ones with a yellow mark on them."

Looking at the screen, acknowledging how close both dates were, they three shared glances.

"I have my field practice and a doctor's appointment on those dates." Keiko bit her lips in regret.

Shino exhaled. "I have some evaluations I can't reschedule, or else I'm not no longer eligible for that early promotion offer."

"I'm sorry but since those new accounts got settled, a lot of the dirty work went to all of the full-timers." Suguha lowered her head.

Yui returned her phone to her cousin. "That's when the sleepover is but there's a chance I could make it."

The eight-year-old nodded in complete understanding, stating that having a big audience watching would greatly distract her.

Her mysterious, doe, emperor grey eyes somehow managed to cover their sensitivity.

Her friend told her that it was going to be alright and that they would feel more guilt, if they see her like that.

"But once I get my things in order, I promise that we can spare with the weapon your choose." Suguha wore a big smile, extending her pinky finger. "Promise."

The only reasons promises exist is so they can be broken. Yumeko extended her smallest finger.

"And when you win, the three of us will treat you two, and have lots of fun." Keiko lightly petted Yumeko's extended arm.

"And if I don't?"

"We'll still have, all five of us." Shino patted her head.

"We'll save a date right away and ignore any other plans that dare to ruin our day out." Suguha wrapped her pinky tighter.

Yumeko made a little smile when her eardrums met with the calm speaking voice stating how unfair it is to see her face like that especially when it's that seraphic.

Thank you, Friend. For taking care of me. The eight-year-old expressed her silent gratitude via clairvoyance.

It's been some time after Shinozaki Rika had gone through her cesarean section. The last thing she heard while conscious was when her husband informed her that he will check on their brand new children, who were born just four minutes apart.

The brand new mother felt the numbness from the epidural she had received during the operational procedure. Her blurred eyesight was adjusting to the room's lighting as the clarity came from the squared cyan coloured bifocals.

Rika then turned her stiffened neck to her left.

Mikado had changed from the hospital scrubs, back to wearing his regular sophisticated sweatvest outfit while looking very closely and very fondly towards the new female twin children laying in his arms, as if the tension and nervousness he hopelessly fell victim to before his wife's medical procedure had vanished without a single trace. "How are you, sleepyhead?"

Rika slowly grinned and the remote to rise the level the level of her bed, hissing at the dissolvable stitches now on her abdomen.

Her eyes fixated on her just born children wrapped in pink blankets.

Mikado lightly cleared his throat. He turned to the firstborn daughter wearing a crocheted panda bear hat. The infant's weight was seven pounds and six ounces. He carefully pressed his hard lips on his child's head. "This is our Rai-chan." He then moved his head to the opposite side. The second born daughter was wearing a teddy bear hat. Her weight was four pounds and fourteen ounces. He kissed the top of her head. "This is our Mai-chan."

The proud new dad seem to have a confused look. "Or...this is Mai-chan?" He repeated the same action on the older twin. "And this is Rai-chan?" He kissed her again.

Rika smirked in amusement. "Nice try, but your a bad actor. You know exactly which one is which."

Mikado helped his wife lay them both soundly on her breasts and sat next to her right leg for a better view.

"I love you so, so, so much, Rai-chan and Mai-chan." After her effortless whisper of endearment, Rika proceeded her lips quietly touching the cheeks and noses of both her children. The new mother drew a slow tired breath. "I'm going to love you both more then anyone else for the rest of my life."

"I can live with that." Her spouse securely presses his rugged hands on his new children's backs. "Rai-chan is noticeably bigger than Mai-chan." He used his thumbs to stroke the left side of Rai's face face and the right side of Mai's face for some moments before he placed them back on his lap.

"They feel different." Rika's whispered.

Mikado smiled. "I wonder how protective Rai-chan will be of her sister."

"I think you mean how all three of us are going to be protective of Mai-chan." The woman's volume was still low.

The said, younger and smaller infant began stirring in her peaceful slumber.

Rika laid her left cheek on near her second daughter's forehead, lightly shushing trying not to disturb the elder twin. The woman smiled with a kind of pride she had never felt before. I'm a mother. An actual mother.

Mikado covered the back of twins' heads with his palms. Looking at his wife, he pressed his moreso tougher lips on Rika's fluffy pair and moved her hand to the top of her head. "I know it's been a hard day for you, thank you so much for giving me my very own family. Marrying you was the best decision I ever made." He held her face and traced his thumbs from under her eyes to beneath her chin.

I know that now. Rika smiled. "Your very welcome."

The visitors were granted access for a small period of time.

"See, you are a good mother." Rinko rubbed Rika's hair.

"They look like a pair of dolls." Keiko cooed over the newborns still resting on their mother.

"I just adore how their names rhyme." Suguha whispered excitedly.

"We have two more nieces to spoil." Shino smiled happily.

Klein patted the new father's back and congratulated him on the new, permanent lifestyle. "Poor guy, now you have two halves of a certain someone's DNA."

"Hey Kirito, come over here." The woman in the bed demand slowly.

Mikado placed the twins back in the shared incubator.

Rika grabbed on Kazuto's shirt collar looking at her with fire in her eyes. "If you even dare to think about bothering or making fun of my precious little babies. I will kill you with my bare hands myself."

After his release, the back haired man let out a nervous chuckle and forcefully swallowed. "Trust me, I wouldn't worry about anything like that."

"I'll make sure of the that." Asuna fixed her husband's shirt while holding her sleeping infant Sachi.

Yui raised her hand saying she will also help with that.

The witness' of the short scene remained amused.

Riri-sama don't look so nervous anymore. Yumeko recalled her mother and Asuna's recount of what happened when they were talking to a flustered Rika earlier.

The rest of visiting period was everybody getting pictures taken with each other.

Little by little, this abundant clique of fellowship was magnifying, yet growing distant at the same time.

_ END OF BOOK ONE: PREFACE _

This is the second chapter apart of the 'double upload special' (originally wanted as a triple-upload feature) in order to commemorate the first year since I started this story, (although belated). Sadly, I was struggling with writer's block during the rough copy of this one. Thank you very much for reading this chapter. Leave a review if you'd like!