I'm giving y'all a whole ass recipe btw.
Floor 50: Algade
Reina walks through the streets of floor 50 now dressed in her new uniform along with her guard Klahadore. "What to do now." She wonders. "Maybe I could do some shopping and then go visit Agil." She tells herself. "Yeah, I'll do that." She nods. Reina spent the entire day buying produce and other things to stock her house. When she was done she made her way to Agil's shop. She gets to the shop and sees Kirito standing with his eyes closed. "Kirito." She calls, tapping him on the shoulder. Kirito turns to her and stares at her before grabbing her hand. "I've got my chef." He says. "What?" She stares at him confused. Klahadore clears his throat and Kirito straightens himself. "Hey, remember when you invited me to your place for lunch?" He asks. "Yeah, I'm sorry I've been busy." She apologizes.
"Are you busy now?" Kirito asks. "Yes, she is." Klahadore replies, fixing his glasses. "No, I'm not." Reina tells him, before turning to Kirito. "Well, uh, maybe we could have that lunch now. I brought something as you asked." He opens up his menu and shows her the item he brought. "Hmm?" She stares at the item for a while before her eyes widen. "Is that a ragout rabbit?!" She asks. "Mm-hm. You maxed out your cooking skill right?" He asks. "I have, yes." Reina nods proudly. "All right. Let's go." Kirito grabs her hand and leaves. "Wait, leave some for me!" Agil shouts after them. "I'll tell you how it tastes!" Kirito tells him and Reina laughs a little. "You're so lucky I did grocery shopping before coming here." Reina tells him, looking down at their hands, meanwhile Klahadore glares at the back of Kirito's head.
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When they make it to Reina's house Kirito stares at it in shock. "You live here?" He asks. "Mm-hmm gotta spend the money I make somehow." Reina shrugs. "Wow." He says amazed. "All right, come on in." Reina walks towards the front door. When she hears two sets of footsteps she turns around and looks at her guard. "Klahadore, you're dismissed now." She waves him off. "But, Lady Reina I can't just leave you with this-" "I said you're dismissed." Reina says in a firm voice. "It's my duty as your guard to keep you safe. That task was given to me by Lady Asuna." Klahadore reminds her and she just rolls her eyes. "Asuna will understand that I wanted to be alone. We're in a safe zone, nothing's gonna happen." Reina reminds. "So, again I say, you're dismissed." Reina unlocks her door and ushers Kirito inside. "Bye-bye." She smiles at Klahadore before closing her door.
Klahadore glares at the closed door before leaving mumbling to himself. Reina sighed and looked up at Kirito who was looking around her house. "Is it okay if I take a shower?" She asks, walking over to the boy. "Yeah. How much did all this cost?" He asks. "Don't know, definitely over 4 million cols, though." She replies, walking up the stairs to the bathroom. Once she was in the bathroom she filled her bathtub and sat on the edge waiting for it to full. 'Kirito's in my house right now!' She freaks out blushing. 'Um, anyways what am I gonna do with that rabbit.' She thinks turning off the tap and stripping off her clothes and getting into the bathtub. 'I could make a rabbit stew.' She looks up at the ceiling and sighs sinking further into the tub.
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Reina walks down the stairs in her casual clothing while putting her hair up in a ponytail. "Kirito." She calls to the boy walking to the kitchen. "Yeah?" Kirito pokes his head through the doorway. "I need your help. Also the rabbit." Reina reaches her hand out for the animal. "Oh, right." Kirito opens his inventory and pulls out the rabbit before handing it to Reina. The black-haired girl takes the rabbit and places it on the chopping board. "I need you to chop some onions, carrots, and celery." She says pulling out the ingredients from her inventory. "Uh, sure." He replies. Reina equips two knives and hands one to Kirito before turning to the rabbit and other ingredients. She taps the rabbit with her knife and it's chopped into small pieces and then she minces three garlic. She turns to Kirito who is struggling. "Here." She moves behind him and holds his hand tapping the vegetables with the knife, chopping them.
"Thanks." Kirito turns to her and then he notices how close they are. He stares at her taking in her appearance. The way the light hits her face makes her eyes shine, and her hair looks somewhat brown in the light. They were so close that if one of them moved an inch they'd surely kiss. Reina stares at Kirito and her lips part a little she is about to lean in to kiss him but the knife falls from his grab and lands on the table with a loud 'CLANG' breaking them from their trance. The two of them blush and look away from each other. "Um, so now that you're done with those I'll start cooking." Reina says in a soft voice taking the chopped ingredients from Kirito. "Yeah." Kirito nods, clearing his throat. Reina pours some olive oil in a pot and then she seasons the rabbit pieces with salt and pepper. She then adds the rabbit pieces to the pot in batches for 3-4 minutes until they're golden brown on each side. Then she removes them from the pot and puts them on a side.
She adds a little more olive oil to the pot and sautes the onions, garlic, carrots, and celery for 5-6 minutes until they begin to soften. Reina pours some red wine and scrapes the bottom of the pot to deglaze it and loosen the brown bits stuck on the bottom, she then lets it simmer for a bit until the liquid slightly reduces, all the while Kirito stares at her in awe. Reina rinses her hand in the sink and turns to Kirito. "Would you like any sides?" She asks. "Uh, yeah sure." Kirito replies, looking away. "Good cause I had something in mind." Reina brings out some potatoes from her inventory and motions for Kirito to come cut them before turning back to the rabbit stew. She adds a can of diced tomatoes with its juices, vegetable broth, bay leaves, and dried thyme and stirs it until it's combined. She then adds the rabbit back to the pot and brings it to a boil before lowering the heat to low and covering the pot to let it simmer for 1.5-2 hours.
Reina turns back to Kirito who already peeled and chopped the potatoes and pours them into a pot of water so that she can get started on the mashed potatoes. Once everything was done, Reina and Kirito set the table. Then they sit down and enjoy the meal. When they were done Reina leaned back in her seat with a cup of tea on her lap. "Never have I ever thought I'd be able to enjoy an S-Class dish. I'm so glad I made it this far." She sighs, taking a sip of her tea. "Same here." Kirito agrees. "I can't believe it's been two years. I sometimes get the feeling that I've lived here my entire life. Ever felt that?" She asks the boy who takes a sip from his tea."Yeah, almost all the time. In fact, there's days I don't think about the real world at all and it's not just me. These days, more and more people don't seem to care about clearing the game and getting back to the real world." Kirito explains. "I've noticed. There aren't that many players fighting on the front lines. Maybe about 500." She looks down. "Maybe they're just used to it. They don't seem to care anymore." She places her cup on the table.
"I want to go back." She suddenly says shocking Kirito. "There's so many things I've yet to try and I have to." Reina shares and Kirito smiles. "I know how you feel. And when you stop to consider it, there's everyone else, right? All the people who still count on us. If we give up it's not fair to them." Kirito adds and they both drink from their tea. Reina looks at Kirito and puts her hand up shaking it. "Nu-uh. Don't go there." She tells him. "What?" He asks, confused. "I've seen that look on guys' faces before. They always make that face before they propose to me." She tells him. This shocks Kirito who nearly drops his cup. Reina looks at Kirito and giggles. "That look on your face is priceless. What? Never had a girlfriend before?" She teases. Kirito tries to play it off and closes his eyes. "Eh. Whatever I'm a solo player." He says drinking the rest of his tea. Reina chuckles and takes another sip from her tea before looking serious. "And that's okay with you? You don't ever wanna join a guild?" She asks. "Uh." He mutters staring at the girl.
"I understand how you feel. I mean, I myself am a beta player so I didn't really fit in but Asuna tried her best and I guess I sorta fit in now, but the higher we get the more dangerous it is. The monster algorithms are even more irregular." She explains and Kirito nods. "There are things a solo player can't handle. Unexpected things. Sometimes being solo isn't always the right option." Reina adds. "Yeah, well, I'm pretty careful. I work better by myself anyway. Besides most of the time, instead of helping party members just get in the way." Kirito replies nonchalantly. "Really now?" Reina asks, pointing a knife at him before he can even react. "My bad. Everyone except for you." He apologizes, sweating. "That's better." She puts the knife down. "How about we team up again, just you and me." Reina suggests twirling the knife in her hand. "Black's my lucky color this week anyway." She adds. "Hold up a sec. Don't you have anything to do for your guild? You can't just bail on them." Kirito reminds her.
"I don't really do anything. I just follow Asuna around and take over when she's busy but she'll be at the guild this whole week. Besides, it's not like we have any leveling quotas to meet." She shrugs. "What about your bodyguard?" Kirito asks. "I'll just ditch him. Who needs him when I have the Black Swordsman with me?" She asks smiling at him. Kirito blushes and leans back in his seat with his eyes closed. He goes to take another sip from his tea but realizes it's empty and Reina grins at him holding up the kettle. Kirito groans and moves his cup over to her so that she can fill it again. Once it's filled he picks it up and Reina sends him a party invite with a smile. He ignores the invite and instead takes a sip of tea. "The front lines are dangerous though." He says and the knife was in front of him again with such speed that wind blew in his face and this time Reina activated a skill. She glares at him and he eventually accepts her invitation. Satisfied, she deactivates the skill and throws the knife in the air before catching it with a smile.
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"You know, you could always stay the night." Reina offers, standing on her porch with Kirito. "I've overstayed my welcome." Kirito turns down the offer. "All right then, thanks for bringing the rabbit." She smiles. "Thank you for cooking it." He tells her. "Maybe next time-- what am I saying I could never get my hands on something like that again." Kirito sighs. "As long as you have the skill you can make anything yummy." Reina corrects him then she looks over at the tower and Kirito follows her gaze. "Looking at this world, and seeing what it's become since we got here. Is this really what Akihiko Kayaba wanted to make?" Kirito wonders. "Who knows what was going on in that man's mind when he made this game." Reina states turning to Kirito. "Let's just enjoy it while it lasts." She beams tilting her head to the side and a strand of hair falls onto her face. Without thinking, Kirito reaches out and tucks it behind her ear but doesn't remove his hand, instead, he cups her cheek and they stare at each other before they close their eyes and lean toward the other.
Just as their lips were about to touch someone cleared their throat ruining the moment again. They both quickly move away from each other blushing before turning to the source of the interruption. Upon seeing who it was Reina frowns. "What are you doing here?" She asks Klahadore. "Just wanting to make sure you were okay, Lady Reina." He replies, fixing his glasses with the palm of his hand. "Well, I'm more than okay so you can leave now." She tells him before turning to Kirito. "See you tomorrow?" She asks. "Yeah." He agrees, before leaving. Reina stays out and watches him until he disappears from her sight and then she turns to her bodyguard glares at him and goes inside. 'Stupid Klahadore!' She screams in her head, leaning against the door.