It may seem odd that there's two parts to this but it'll make sense once you hit the end. Thanks for reading and as always, I hope ye enjoy.

Chapter 7: Lambent Elucidation Pt1

Two down, five to go. Kazuto laid on the couch with Asuna after returning from his day out with their daughter Yui. The AI had dragged him all around the park until her battery almost depleted itself. It was all in good fun, but it left him feeling tired. Once they came home, the family watched a movie before Yui's battery finally ran low enough that she was falling asleep sitting up. Asuna took her and put her to bed while Kazuto put the battery pack on charge and set up the next movie. When his wife returned, they both continued where they left off.

"So, what do you want to do with your date tomorrow?" Kazuto asked as she nuzzled into his side.

"Hmmm... I don't know yet. I cleaned the house all by myself so that's ruled out."

"Thank goodness." That earned him a light swat. "Okay, okay. I mean thank you."

"That's better. I don't really know what to do. I mean, I've spent so many wonderful years with you and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you. Be it real or virtual." Asuna turned her face and buried herself in his chest. He smelled wonderful to her. It reminded her of the way he smelled back in their two years in SAO. A pine smell with a hint of pepper. It reminded her of their home in SAO, as well as ALO.

Kazuto placed his hand on the small of her back and rubbed up and down. "It's never going to get boring, I'll tell you that. We'll have Yui that way forever so I'm sure she'll keep us entertained."

Asuna giggled as she looked up at him. "Yui-chan will grow older mentally, won't she?"

"I don't think she will. It's just how she's made." He sat silent for a second before broaching a new topic. "Yui did make an interesting comment today."

"Oh? What was that?"

"She pretty much asked if she would ever have any younger siblings." Asuna's face flushed red as to what that entails for the two of them, but Kazuto didn't seem to notice. Despite Asuna jumping him before his date with Shino, they didn't go all the way. "I told her that maybe one day. The two of us are still in college and don't have the time nor resources for a real kid yet."

They both sat in silence for a little bit before she spoke up. "W-W-Well, i-it's n-not like I'm totally against it." Her pointer fingers placed together. "But y-you're right about school and where we are financially."

He rubbed her head as she relaxed to his touch. "I've got two more years in classes, and you've got what, a year?"

"Mhmm. I finish my last bit of classes next semester. I'll be finished and looking for a job by then." That was the first time she'd ever really thought about work. As far as classes have gone, she finished her core classes in the first two years and started her healthcare classes this year. She wanted to help people like Yuuki overcome their diseases.

Kazuto laughed a bit. "You're still going into the healthcare field, right?" She nodded. "I might be able to get you a job with some of the people in RATH, or..."

"No, thank you, Kazuto-kun. I want to work in the hospital where... where she was." Asuna laid her head down on his chest again. "I feel like, like that is the best idea." Soon enough, they were both asleep on the couch.

Hours later, in the still of the night, Asuna was awoken by a noise. I wasn't the wind, she was sure of that, but more like footsteps. Creaking of the floor above her had her startled, but curious. She wriggled out from under Kazuto's protective arms and started quietly up the stairs. Part of her wondered if it was Yui, but she had to stay in the bed until her battery was charged. So who could it be?

She reached the top of the stairs and half expected to find an intruder poking around upstairs. However, she found nothing. There was no one in the hallway, no one in their bedroom, no one in Yui's bedroom, but Yui who was sound asleep. There was genuinely nobody upstairs.

"Maybe I'm just hearing things." As soon as she said that, something happened that scared her slap to death. One of the pictures that was hung in the hallway fell off and hit the floor. "Eep!" Asuna turned and scanned the hallways to find nothing there but the fallen picture. She carefully picked it up to hang it back but stopped.

The picture in her hand was a framed screenshot of her and Yuuki Konno. That girl was like Asuna's little sister that she never had. She was really energetic for someone in her condition. About a year ago, she'd passed of her illness. Thanks to Kazuto's quick thinking, and RATH's payment to him, they were able to purchase Yuuki's old house before it was demolished. Now they lived here. Coming to this realization startled Asuna a bit.

"Y-Yuuki? Is that you?" She wasn't sure if she wanted to know the answer. What if it wasn't Yuuki? What if it was... "Wait, Aiko is your twin sister. A-Are you both..." Another picture fell off the wall. This time, it wasn't one of the pictures she'd taken. This was a picture of Yuuki and Aiko when they were little. Asuna found it in a storage box and didn't have the heart to throw it away. "You are! You're both here aren't you!"

Back in SAO, there was a floor filled with ghost type monsters. In short, Asuna never went to that floor. She had an intense fear of astral mobs and refused to go anywhere near it. Even when they found Yui, she was freaked out of the possibility that Yui was a ghost of a lost child. She never really did get over that fear so she was a little scared of being the target of a ghost that seemed to be with her. But if that ghost was the persons she saw as a little sister, she wasn't as scared.

At first she wasn't sure what to do next. Should she go get Kazuto? Should she just go to bed? Eventually, she just bid the two spirits goodnight and that she had a plan for tomorrow. She then returned to Kazuto and went back to sleep.

When Kazuto woke up, Asuna wasn't in the same position she was in when they fell asleep. 'Must've gotten up at some point.' He looked at the clock which read 6 in the morning. Asuna's alarm always went off at 7:50, so she still had time to sleep. He picked her up and carried her up the stairs. It was then that he noticed the two pictures on the table that used to be on the wall. "Oh, so you two are messing about again?" His eyes darted around, then fixated on a certain corner near a door. "Don't worry, you guys can all talk soon."

He returned Asuna to bed and moved downstairs to his office room. Both he and Asuna had an office made in the spare rooms of the house. While his was nothing more than a small room to house his desks and projects, hers was Yuuki and Aiko's bedroom. When he was cleaning it out to get her office put in there, he kept hearing noises. Some were footsteps, some were things falling to the floor. The one that let him know exactly who was there, was they day he heard two different giggles in the room. It was then that he knew that both Yuuki and Aiko's spirits were in the house and messing with him. Ever since that day, he'd been working on a device to let the twins talk to them. Not only that, he was using some of RATH's discarded tech to create a sort of compartment that the two spirits could enter. This worked a lot like Alice's soul to her body. He was essentially recreating the light cube from scratch. If he could manage to get a hold of the souls of both Yuuki and Aiko, he just might be able to get them into a VR world again. But that was a long ways away. Maybe in time...

Soon Kazuto was tinkering with his new toy. The idea was that it would scan over many radio frequencies to try and hear voices inputted by a spirit. He'd never really cared that much about the paranormal until he moved into this house and had his first encounter with Yuuki and Aiko. He figured it would be a great present for Asuna one day and he was almost done with it. Doing all of this kind of reminded him of messing with Yui's body to get her going right before the wedding.

Before he knew it, 8:00 rolled around and Asuna was up, Yui wasn't far behind her. There was a knock at this door with Asuna's voice following. "Kazuto-kun. Breakfast will be ready soon."

"Got it, thanks Asuna." He listened for her footsteps to leave before firing up the small screen for it's first official test run. "Alright. Let's see if this works." He took a deep breath. "Yuuki and Aiko Konno. Let's see if you're here."

After about 10 seconds, an automated voice came from the little brick phone looking thing. There was also an LED display that showed the words spoken in text form in case it wasn't clear. Astonishingly, the first word to come through wasn't a real word. It was a name. "Kirito."

Kazuto fist pumped into the air. "It works! It really works." This was a huge breakthrough in both his goal and science. Of course, this wasn't the first time something like this was used, but he made this from scratch. An old Nintendo screen, a small text keyboard from a slide phone, and a blue tooth speaker. He took a second to compose himself before asking another question to the box. "Who exactly am I speaking with?"

Another few seconds passed. "Zekken." Zekken was Yuuki's nickname in ALO. It meant absolute sword.

"Yuuki, is it really you?"

The box spoke again. "Yes."

"This is amazing. Asuna is going to love hearing this for the first time."

He wasn't expecting the response he got, or even one at all. "Onee-chan." Another second passed. "...una"

Kazuto knew what Yuuki was trying to say. "Yeah. You can speak to Asuna soon enough. Once I get this thing to emit your voice clearly enough to speak full sentences, this will be amazing."

Time flew as he continued to mess with the box. One such thing he added was white stickers spelling out the name Zekken on the top of the box. Every once in a while, he would hear an unprovoked response from the box. Most of the time it was Yuuki asking a question with one word or two. There was one time that another name was said. "Aiko." Obviously, that meant that Yuuki's older twins sister was there as well. Both spirits seemed to be very interested in this device that would allow the dead to speak to the living.

9:30 and Asuna came back to the office. "Kazuto-kun. I called you for breakfast an hour ago! What on Earth are you doing in there?" The door flung open in her face as she stood shocked. Kazuto had the brightest smile on his face. "K-Kazuto-kun?"

"Asuna. Today is your date with me, right?"

"That's what I remembered, yes."

"Well, I got you something that you can do today." He grabbed her hand and pulled her inside. While Asuna looked around, he placed a finger to his mouth to indicate for Yuuki and Aiko to be quiet. "Alright sit right here and listen carefully." He waited until she was good and relaxed before stepping back. "Okay you two. Say hi."

A few silent seconds passed before a box on the table lit up. Instantly, Asuna's eyes were drawn to it. "What did you..."

"Onee-chan." The speaker box said bluntly. It was clear as day and distinctively a female voice. The tech made it sound scratchier than it was, but it was clear to her. Asuna knew exactly who it was. "Asuna onee-chan." The box spoke again.

Tears welled up in Asuna's eyes. She couldn't believe it. Only one person in the entire world called her that. Yuuki Konno. If it hadn't been for last night's discovery, she would have said that Kazuto was pulling a cruel prank on her. "Y-Yuuki? Is that really you?" It didn't take long for the box to let out an energetic 'Yea!' in response. She couldn't believe it. She was talking to Yuuki again. "Oh, Yuuki. I've missed you so much."

"...ssed you too." Although the box was crackly, her message came through. "Been... here... whole... time..." Those next four words brought nothing but joy to Asuna's heart. To think that Yuuki had been watching over her the entire time they'd lived in this house was wonderful. Despite the fact that she was terrified of ghosts, Yuuki was her favorite ghost ever.

"Is it just you? Or is Aiko here too?"

"Ai...ko ... here."

"Hello." A new voice called out to them.

Those were two different voices this time. Kazuto just stood back and watched. Asuna was talking to one of the most precious people in her life as well as Yuuki's older sister. Part of him wanted to record the entire thing, but he knew that she would not be a fan of this. "I'm going to go eat. You three enjoy your conversation."

Before he could get out of the door, Asuna caught his hand and pulled him into a hug. "Thank you, Kazuto-kun. You made me so happy when you married me, then you brought Yui back. Now... now you've brought my little sisters back to me." She only thought of Yuuki as a sister, but felt bad leaving Aiko out.

As Asuna held him, the box shouted with both voices combined. "Married!?"

Kazuto had to laugh. "You two really didn't catch on? We got married in December."

For the first time, the box spoke a clear full sentence. "Well I proposed second!"

"Huh?"

Asuna giggled. "Yuuki was teasing me when we came here. She said that the two of us would get married as a joke, but that I would have to be Asuna Konno because she couldn't be Yuuki Yuki. It would be too confusing."

"Hahaha!" The box erupted with laughter from the twins. The sound was a bit crackly and the speaker seemed ready to bust, but it was most definitely Yuuki and Aiko Konno who was laughing with them.

The next hour brought a curious Yui into the room. "What's going on in here?"

Kazuto turned to greet her. "Mama is talking to an old friend."

"Who're you calling old!?" The box, now a lot clearer than it was before.

"Is that Yuuki-san?"

"Yep. Hiya Yui-chan!"

"Hello." Yui turned to her father. "Aren't you and Mama supposed to go on a date today?"

He just laughed. "I doubt that I can get her away from that box for a while. Even to go out."

As he said that, Asuna turned back from where she was sitting. "I, I mean we can go out, Kazuto-kun. It's just..."

The voice box came to life again. "Don't worry, Onee-chan! We'll be right here when you come back!" The second voice of Aiko chimed in. "Go have a nice day out."

"A-Are you two sure? What if..."

"No 'what if's'. Go enjoy yourselves. We can just talk to Yui."

Yui giggled. "Sure!"

"There, it's settled." Kazuto gently pulled Asuna from the room. "Let's begin our date."