* LISBETH'S POV *
It's been a couple of days since U/N and Asuna's duel that they had as part of their agreement to reaching Floor 80. In fact, we now had access to Floor 81 now too technically. Although we've all been warned to not try and head out onto the Field of any of the newer Floors just yet. I guess that makes sense, because the mobs are really quite high-levelled now.
I heard that Argo was the one managing access to these new Floors mobs too. Players have to give her some decent proof that they have the level and equipment suited to a new Floor's mobs. I remember there was a bit of grumbling about it at first, all these top-levelled players aren't usually used to being restricted like this after all. But fortunately Asuna and Kirito had stepped up and laid down the law enough to prevent any dissention.
Normally I would totally agree with this sort of rule because I'm friends with U/N, and they would always be allowed to go onto a Floor no matter the regulations and I could just tag along with them. But... I haven't seen U/N at all since Rain showed up here on Floor 76! From the best I could tell, the two of them spent the entire day out in the Hollow Area together. I thought that once U/N finally got Philia back home safely from that place that we'd be able to spend more time together again, and I was kinda hoping that they'd help me with levelling up my forging skills together... like they said that they would...
???: "Good morning, Liz!"
Lisbeth: "Hmm? Oh. Mornin' you three..."
Asuna: "...Everything alright, Liz? You sound a bit off..."
Lisbeth: "Oh, I'm fine. Just thinking about stuff, I guess."
Kirito: "Oh yeah? What sort of stuff?"
Lisbeth: "I dunno... What I'm going to be doing today, I suppose?"
Yui: "Huh? But then why do I sense that you are so sad...?"
Asuna: "y–Yui! I thought we told you to stop reading people's emotions like that!"
Yui: "Oh... I'm sorry mama..."
To this, Asuna and Kirito both simply sighed aloud. I could see that Yui was now looking pretty distraught over this. And, to be honest? It really didn't bother me all that much. It's not like Asuna wouldn't have figured it out herself anyways, she's always been good at looking out everyone in this group of friends, and in a way that nobody else could.
Lisbeth: "It's fine, don't worry about it. I wouldn't say I'm sad either, Yui. More like... I dunno, a bit annoyed or frustrated, I guess?"
Asuna: "Oh, really? Did something happen?"
Kirito: "Has it got something to do with that fetch quest on Floor 79? I heard a bunch of lower-levelled players were struggling with it."
Asuna: "Ki–ri–to!"
Kirito: "h–Huh? What?!"
Lisbeth: ". . ."
Asuna: "Did something happen, Liz?"
Lisbeth: "...Hmph. More like something didn't happen..."
I knew if I said too much it'd only end up being an inconvenience, whether that be one for me with all the questions or for U/N, who I'm sure would sooner than later get bombarded and guilted into who knows what. They really can be such a pushover when it comes to us...
I could see the look of confusion on both Yui and Kirito's face after I'd said what I had. Asuna looked pretty confused too, but I could tell the cogs where turning in that mind of hers. She was the most socially aware of the trio after all, so of course she'd know exactly what I meant by what I had said. Fortunately Asuna also knows that I've been trying to be less invasive on U/N's time lately, so I'm sure she'll keep her revelation to herself. And fortunately, before either Yui or Kirito could try and push for more related conversation, we had another of our friends make their way down the stairs to the ground floor, with the inn's restaurant. And she made her way over to the table that we were all at to greet us.
Sinon: "...Morning all."
Asuna: "Good morning Sinon! Sleep well, I hope?"
Sinon: "Enough, I suppose. Did I miss everybody else? It's a bit quiet for breakfast, isn't it?"
Kirito: "You're actually one of the first down. We hadn't even placed our order yet! Well, except for Lisbeth, but she's basically just been poking at her food by the looks of it!"
Sinon: "Kirito... You have no tact at all with these things, do you..."
Asuna: "Hehe, he sure doesn't! Now, why don't I go fix us all up with some breakfast? Any requests?"
Sinon: "Thanks, but I've already eaten."
Yui: "Ooh! Can you do the eggs and swordsman, like U/N did for me that one time?"
Asuna: "Eggs and swordsman...? What was it exactly that they made for you, Yui?"
Yui: "Well, as I recall, it was a soft boiled egg and strips of toast that U/N told me I should try dipping in the egg. It was super yummy!"
Sinon: "Eggs and swordsman...? Wait, that sounds familiar for some reason..."
???: "Nyehehe! Seems to me like U/N is usin' a more thematic name for the world we currently find ourselves in. As I recall, the actual namin' is "Eggs and Soldiers" and it's a staple bit'a cuisine somewhere out in Europe, though the specifics are escapin' me."
Kirito: "Oh, Argo? When did you— Hah, I bet you've been here this entire time haven't you!"
Argo: "Well, not quite the whole time, but the lot of ya seemed pretty engrossed so I can see how ya missed me showin' up!"
Asuna: "Eggs and Soldiers...? I've never heard of something like that before. Argo, what dish would that be listed as in the kitchen here in Aincrad?"
Argo: "Hmm... Not sure. Here, why don't I accompany ya into the kitchen and we can both figure it out together!"
It seemed that Asuna was fine with that, and the two of them made their way into the back where the restaurant's kitchen was. This left our group to be a much smaller one, with Kirito, Yui and Sinon with me. And if I didn't already have my own plate of breakfast in front of me, I probably would have asked to try out this new food too. Heh, maybe I'll have to ask U/N to make it for me themself sometime soon, if they ever show their face again that is...
Sinon: "Hey, are you busy today, Kirito?"
Kirito: "Hm? Oh, do you want to do some more training today then, Sinon?"
Sinon: "Yeah. I was going to ask U/N for some more training, now that they're supposedly going to be around more often and all, but... well they've disappeared again..."
Yui: "I was kinda surprised about that actually. It's not been that long since U/N and Philia got out of the Hollow Area, and then U/N went straight back in there yesterday. Although Philia was with me and Mama most of yesterday, so were they out there on their own?"
Lisbeth: "They were with Rain. I reckon one of them brought up the need for Rain to level up quickly to catch up with the rest of the front liners, so U/N probably took her into that place to help her level up fast."
Kirito: "Oh yeah, I almost completely forgot that Rain arrived up here just the other day... That wouldn't make me a bad friend, would it?"
Sinon: "I wouldn't say so. I didn't know her before that night she just showed up, but we only spoke with her for like thirty minutes or so before we all retired for the night, and she wasn't around us at all the entirety of yesterday."
Kirito: "I guess you're right! I'm sure we're all glad to have Rain back in the group again, but where U/N grinds on their own before coming back to meet with us, Rain was kinda just the type to stick to her own most the time unless we needed her."
Yui: "Huh, really? But my readings would suggest otherwise, in that Rain seemed to be really happy whilst she was talking to everybody?"
Lisbeth: "Oh, really? Huh, I never would have guessed... Maybe we should try inviting her to join us for things a little more often..."
Kirito: "That sounds like a good idea, she's probably already well-levelled if she spent the entire day with U/N in the Hollow Area after all. So she'll be in the same boat as U/N in that they're waiting for all of us."
Sinon: "...So. Are you busy today, Kirito?"
Kirito: "Hm? Why are you asking that again?"
Sinon: "Well, you never answered my question the first time..."
Kirito: "Oh, I guess I didn't! Well... sure, I don't mind joining you on another training day I suppose."
???: "Huh, Kirito? You're making other plans now? But I thought we were going to go to that special place you told me about in the Hollow Area today?"
I guess Asuna and Argo had figured out that dish they were looking for, as they had now made their way back to our table with a plate in hand– and on that plate being an egg cup with two eggs and a lot of stripped pieces of toast. Looks like they were able to successfully find what Yui asked for then! And they returned at a perfect time too, before Kirito could once again make a problematic promise to a damsel in distress!!
Kirito: "Ah, right. I almost forgot about that. Sorry Asuna, I guess the thought of some more training was just kind of exciting to consider. But you're right. I made a promise, so... Sorry, Sinon, I guess I won't be available for training today after all!"
Sinon: "Oh. Alright then..."
Asuna: "Well... I guess we can always take a rain check on our outing... at least until it's more convenient for us to be gone..."
Sinon: "You don't have to do that on my account... I'm a pretty good level now, so I can always just head out on my own."
Argo: "Hey now! Why're we speakin' like there's only two option here of Kii-bou or goin' solo? There are plenty of skilled players who can help out ol' Sinon with her trainin' nowadays. An' I see no reason to have Aa-chan and Kii-bou here have to call a rain check on their little date for this."
Asuna: "a–Argo!!"
Argo: "Nyehehe! Now then... who should we get to assign to Sinon duty...?"
???: "Hm? You're all up early. Is there some special breakfast being offered or something like that?"
* Y/N'S POV *
Argo: "Oh, U/N! What perfect timin' ya have!"
Y/N: "...Why do I feel like I just volunteered myself up for something...?"
Argo: "Nyehehe! That's because ya did! You'll help out our good pal Sinon with her trainin' today, won't ya? She's lookin' for a trainin' buddy after all!"
Y/N: "Hm? You want to take another crack at some weapons again then, Sinon?"
Sinon: "I wouldn't mind. But if it puts you out..."
Y/N: "I wouldn't mind. I've not got anything else planned today for now at least."
Lisbeth: "Oh, really? Not spending another session in the Hollow Area with Rain?"
Y/N: "Not that I know of, no. We managed to get her up to a pretty decent level now, so she'll be all set to join in the future Boss Raids we do."
Kirito: "Oh? That's great news! She's definitely a useful person to have on hand, what with her using so many different weapon types and all. But I'm sure she's still got some weapon levelling to do too, right? And she'll need new equipment in general for the level curve, and—"
Asuna: "We can discuss the details at a later date, we're not due to have another Boss Raid for a little while at the very least. Isn't that right, U/N?"
Y/N: "y–Yeah, that's right. Floor 81 is good enough for me for now. I'm happy to take a break and let everyone catch up again."
Asuna: "I'm glad to hear that. Now, with that sorted, you said it would be best that we got there for noon right, Kirito?"
Kirito: "Yep. U/N told me about this really nice place in the Hollow Area that I wanted to share with you. You, uh... you wouldn't happen to have made some lunch for us both... have you?"
Asuna: "As a matter of fact, I did. And, to pay me back for thinking ahead like that, I want you to show me around the Hollow Area first before we go to this spot that U/N found for us. Alright?"
Kirito: "Sounds good to me, I've been meaning to explore it anyways!"
Asuna: "Wonderful! Well then, shall we head out now then? As I understand it, the Hollow Area is quite the expansive realm."
Lisbeth: "And don't worry about Yui, she'll be joining me at the smithy today, isn't that right?"
Yui: "Mhm, yep! I've never seen the forging process in person before, only what I know from the system. So it will be really interesting to witness it myself first-hand."
Asuna: "I know she'll be in good hands, Liz. And I'm sure you'll be on your best behaviour whilst we're gone, won't you Yui?"
Yui: "I will, Mama, don't worry!"
A quick hug goodbye between Asuna and Yui followed, before Kirito and Asuna then took their leave from the Inn's ground floor so as to head towards the Teleport Gate. This left it to be just Lisbeth, Yui, Argo, Sinon, and myself. Argo then made an excuse about information gathering that let her leave shortly afterwards too. But Yui was still eating her breakfast, so she and Lisbeth would likely be here for a bit longer. Although...
Y/N: "I see somebody made you some Eggs and Soldiers. Was it your Mama?"
Yui: "Mhm! She made it for me when I told her about the time you made it for me. But Mama's tastes... different."
Y/N: "Well, that's probably because of her higher cooking level, isn't it? And she's your Mama, too. So it would make sense that hers taste better than mine did!"
Yui: "Well... the cooking quality is definitely of a better quality, although only by a margin of 4.0023634 percent. But there is definitely something different between the two meals... something Mama's is missing..."
Y/N: "Oh? Huh... Do you mind if I take a look at it?"
Yui seemed more than happy to hand over a strip of toast to me, probably because she was really quite inquisitive as to what this problem of hers was. I will admit I was rather intrigued myself. But I very quickly realised the difference within moments of Yui passing the strip of toast to me...
Y/N: "She didn't put any butter on the toast..."
Yui: "Oh! Yes, that is it! I'm surprised that I did not notice that myself..."
Sinon: "Yeah, that is a bit strange. Wouldn't SAO class it as a different meal if it was made with different ingredients?"
Y/N: "Well, I'm not sure how SAO does it without looking at the code myself. But Asuna and I both made the same meal, I just manually put the butter on the toast myself rather than relying on a recipe to handle the process for me. SAO's cooking might be far less complicated than that of the other world's, but it does at least let you choose to add spreads and sauces to meals without it affecting the original meal."
Yui: "That's right! The ID used for each meal doesn't get affected by extra additions such as the sauces and spreads that U/N mentioned. However it does attach an additional object to the meal, this is so that the system will recognise and apply the additional flavouring to match with the amount of extra adornments that were applied. But I didn't even notice the attached object last time..."
Lisbeth: "Heh, U/N, you better hope Asuna doesn't hear about this. She'll be picking your brain for hours on end if she realised you knew ways to cook food better than she does!"
Y/N: "I–I wouldn't say I did it better..."
Lisbeth: "Come to think of it, you've figured out a good couple of cooking cheats over the past years, haven't you! Like, right at the beginning, when you made those burgers manually on the First Floor. I remember Asuna telling me about that, and how amazed she was seeing you eat something that wasn't like anything you could get on that Floor— Oh! But don't tell her I told you! Heh."
Y/N: "Huh, I never knew that..."
Lisbeth: "Well, you'd probably have figured it out if you kept at levelling your cooking skill and experimenting. But then you started to just cook basic rations for yourself and stopped with all that ingenuity that we all figured you had!"
Yui: "Hmm... Stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigour of the mind."
Sinon: "Oh, that's a quote from Leonardo da Vinci, isn't it? Why would you know something like that, Yui?"
Y/N: "It might just be that the developers liked the quote and used it as a personal creed. Maybe the system picked it up from them, or they might have just inserted a bunch of things like that into the system so that the AI could better deal with the player base it was to manage?"
Lisbeth: "Well, that went way over my head... But what are you two still doing here?! Daylight's burning, and I'm sure Sinon's got a lot she wants to try out now that you're actually here to help again. Don't worry about us, me and Yui have just as much planned today. So you two should head out and get started!"
After having been ushered and shoved out of the Inn by Lisbeth, me and Sinon now found ourselves walking towards the Teleport Gate via the city's streets. I was letting Sinon lead because I didn't know what type of training she was after, whether it was that she wanted to try some different weapons again or if she was thinking of learning some actual Sword Skills now. Kirito did say that she hadn't learnt any particular skills yet and was instead just practising with all the default skills.
Sinon ended up walking us past the Teleport Gate and instead heading out towards the Field of the Floor we were currently on, that being Floor 76. I wonder what she has planned? Or what it is she's looking for...? We slowly made our way through the area, with Sinon disposing of any of the mobs that aggro'd onto us, but that didn't seem to be what she was looking to do, considering the way she treated these mobs like an afterthought!
Sinon: "Here, this place should be alright. Right?"
Y/N: "Hm? Alright for what? There aren't any enemies around here. Do you just want somewhere quiet to practise some Sword Skills?"
Sinon: "...Not exactly. I wanted to ask you about skill types."
Y/N: "Skill types...? Oh, yeah. I suppose you'll have gotten quite a few skill slots now, right? So you can learn a wide variety of skills."
Sinon: "Well, I've already learned a few. Why don't I show you?"
Y/N: "Show me? Show me what, exactly? Your Status Screen?"
Sinon: "Sure. Why? Is that a problem?"
Y/N: "Kinda. Well... It's just not really the best of ideas to show your status to other players in here. If somebody knows your level, HP, skills, items, or any other stats like that. Well... it would give them a huge advantage over you if they decided to try anything! Not only would it make beating them in a duel much more difficult, but it they were a Player Killer, then it could be fatal..."
Sinon: "But... You're not a Player Killer. And we're not going to duel..."
Y/N: "Well, I guess that's true..."
Sinon: "So it should be fine, right? Now come on and take a look!"
There was not much time for me to argue against this, not before Sinon had brought up her Status Screen and shimmied on over to my side; basically shoving the menu into my face. I might have closed my eyes to prevent myself from looking, but knowing Sinon she would have stayed there and waited until I relented. That and she did ask me to help in a much more earnest way than she might usually... I might even think she had a small smirk on her face!
Y/N: "w–Well, alright. But you really shouldn't go showing your Status Screen to other people after this!"
Sinon: "I wasn't planning to, just you, so don't worry. Okay, take a look at this..."
With that all being said, Sinon returned her attention to her Status Screen and I followed suit. If I'm going to get a glimpse into her stats then I might as well pay attention so that I can best help her out I guess...
I watched as she slowly scrolled down through the list of skills, most of them seemed fair enough for a new player who hadn't yet picked a main weapon to follow yet. But then there were a couple that stuck out to me...
Y/N: "Huh? You've learned Precise Movement and Aiming Assistance...?"
Sinon: "Uh, yeah... Why? Should I have learned something else?"
Y/N: "Well, it's not that exactly... It's just that these are pretty unusual skills for someone to learn, that's all. They don't usually even appear on your list unless you're going after them... Plus, these skills are pretty advanced too..."
Sinon: "That's good isn't it? Do you think they'll come in use?"
Y/N: "Well, I guess if you were going to go for a ranged build they might work out well. I don't know any players that really use throwables as a main weapon this high up in Aincrad, though."
I wonder if she picked these skills up because she saw me using throwables that first time we trained together? I suppose the concept is pretty reasonable to someone new to the game with such an arsenal to choose from and a fount of knowledge that we've collected over the years at her disposal. Someone afraid of dying in-game would reasonably choose to use thrown weapons so as to stay as far away from the threat as possible, and—
Y/N: "Hold on! Is that...?!"
Sinon: "What is it?"
Y/N: "You've got the 'Sniping Skill' unlocked... I've never heard of anyone else having unlocked it before..."
Sinon: "I... I don't know anything about it either. It wasn't on the list yesterday."
Y/N: "Then I guess maybe you reached the threshold to learn it whilst fighting those mobs earlier...? The Sniping Skill, huh..."
Sinon: "This sniping this... That means shooting guns, right?"
Y/N: "I guess I could see why you'd think that. But there aren't any guns in SAO. The only ranged weapons most players have access to in here are things that are thrown like boomerangs."
Sinon: ". . ."
Sinon seemed to be thinking about something, she'd gone silent as she pondered over her menu. And that left me time to ponder things of my own, like... what was it exactly that Sinon did that no other player has done that would unlock the Sniping Skill for her? It couldn't have been that she'd levelled up some niche skills like Precise Movement and Aiming Assistance, because there are like six thousand players in here, at least one of them would have done that before. Maybe there's some other prerequisite that she's hit? Maybe from her time in the Hollow Area? Or maybe even because of her late arrival into Aincrad? Maybe we should speak with Argo about it, and— *DING*
Y/N: "Huh? You just learned it? Without even knowing what it's useful for?"
Sinon: "What? I shouldn't have?"
Y/N: "Hmm..."
Sinon: "Sorry, but I couldn't resist. Anyway, nothing bad has happened yet."
Y/N: "Hey Sinon, trade with me?"
Sinon: "Huh? Why do you want to trade with me all of a sudden?!"
Y/N: "Well, I want to see if I can send you something now. I haven't been able to give anybody else any of these before, but nobody else had the Sniping Skill before either..."
Sinon: "Oh, you have the Sniping Skill too? Why didn't you just say that before?"
Y/N: "I guess... well, I guess it's just because I'd never seen anybody else with it before and it caught me off guard is all. Sorry."
Sinon: "I don't get why you're apologising... but sure, let's trade."
Sinon already had her menu open, so when I initiated the trade with her it was instantly accepted and we were both shown the trading window. After which, I scrolled through my list of equipment until...
Y/N: "Huh. It really is listed here! It never popped up when I tried to trade with other people before... Here, let me add it to my offer and tell me if you see it on your side."
Sinon: "...Mahogany Bow? What, is this an accessory or something? I don't really think I'd a bow would suit me... and how could it be made out of wood anyways?!"
Y/N: "You're thinking of the wrong type of bow, Sinon. But if you can see it then that's good. You can just hit accept, I don't need anything in return for it."
Sinon: "r–Really? But the estimated cost it's giving— I don't really want to get into debt..."
Y/N: "Don't worry about it. This is some old gear of mine, I don't use it anymore and I can't sell it to anybody."
Sinon: "Even still... I feel like I already owe you enough as it is... it'd take me ages to earn this much Col to repay you..."
Y/N: "Really, it's fine! But if it really concerns you that much then why don't we just consider this a present from me to you, to commemorate your learning of the Sniping Skill?"
Sinon: "I guess that's fine with me! Thank you, U/N!"
Y/N: "Don't mention it. Do you want to try equipping it now, and we can see if it works for you?"
Sinon: "Sure. But... I can't see it listed in my accessories anywhere..."
Y/N: "It should be in your weapon's list."
Sinon: "Huh? Okay..."
Sinon was still standing right beside me, her menu brazenly showing, but she didn't seem to have any issue with letting me watch as she navigated her menus. Eventually though she arrived at her weapon inventory and started to scroll down. She sure had a lot of old gear still on her... I'll have to teach her some inventory management later.
But eventually she found the weapon I had just given her, and she equipped it in place of the dagger she had on at the moment. I knew she was going to just materialise it suddenly, without thinking about it, so I quickly took a step back and— just as I expected, she materialised it in a way that if I were still standing where I was I'd most definitely have gotten poked by it!
Sinon: "Huh... Oh! It's a bow, like a bow and arrow! I thought it was just some flashy decoration you wanted me to wear..."
Y/N: "Well, I guess I could understand you assuming that. Nobody else in Aincrad uses a bow like I do, so most people would associate it with the accessory type. How does it feel to hold?"
Sinon: "Hm. Yeah. This feels right. I feel like I could use this."
Y/N: "Alright. Then do you wanna head on over to the nearby mob spawn and try loosing some arrows?"
Sinon: "Sure, that sounds like—" *rumble*
Sinon had gone dead silent. I guess her stomach rumbling mid-sentence like that had thrown her off her groove? It's always interesting seeing different sides of Sinon to what she normally lets show. But I bet if I made a comment on her reddening face like I might with some of the other friends in our group then I'd get a much harsher reaction than I'm used to. So I elected to simply staying silent and waiting for Sinon to recuperate on her own. To which she soon did.
Sinon: "Say, are you hungry? I'm starved. Let's go eat something. My treat!"
Y/N: "Oh, you don't need to do that..."
As I would very quickly learn, apparently, that was the exact wrong thing to say...
Sinon: "What? Why? You don't want me treating you to a meal?!"
Y/N: "N–No, no! It's not that, it's just... w–Well, okay. Thank you."
That seemed to have been enough of an attempt at amends for her, and she pulled out a Teleport Crystal from her inventory, likely so she could get to somewhere with food quickly before her stomach would rumble again! I guess the bow practise will have to wait until some other time... But, to be fair, I don't think either of us actually had anything for breakfast today.
I knew better than to suggest I use my own Teleport Crystal rather than hers, as seen by her reaction to my initially turning down her offer to treat me to a meal. So I let her stand close to me before then using her Crystal and sending us both back to Arc Sophia: the city of Floor 76.
Silently, Sinon then walked off deep into the streets of Arc Sophia, leaving me to do my best to keep up with her. But the faster I walked the faster she would too! If I didn't know any better I would think she was trying to get away from me. But I bet I would only make it worse if I were to split off from her now. And, well, it would seem that we reached the destination she had in mind. Opening the door to the building we stood outside of before she then made her way in for me to follow swiftly behind.
Y/N: "Huh, quite the hidden restaurant. How did you find this place, Sinon?"
Sinon: "It was quite a while before you helped me level up, and even then I only head out into the Field when I've got someone to watch my back. So I've been spending a lot of time in town... I've scoped out all sorts of cool–looking spots."
Y/N: "Is that so...? You could probably make some decent Col by selling that type of information to Argo. If she hasn't already silently mapped it out herself that is!"
Sinon: "I guess. But I don't really talk to her often... Anyways, I know this is just a game, but there are so many nice shops. I can see why people get obsessed."
Y/N: "Are these the kinds of places you like, then, Sinon?"
Sinon: "Yeah. It's got a really relaxing atmosphere, don't you think?"
Y/N: "Hmm... I suppose I could see that, yeah. It's real quiet, with no other players in here. Just you, me, and the NPC's..."
Personally, this place is a little bit too fancy for me. I don't think I'd ever come to a place like this without being brought here by someone else. Even considering the fact that there were no other players here, I would rather just eat alone in my room. But... if I'm going to be trying to enjoy myself more in this world before it comes to an end, like I promised myself and Philia that I would, then maybe I should try doing things like this more unprompted...?
Sinon: "Now, go ahead and order anything you like. Why not try the apple tart?"
Y/N: "They've sure got some choice of food on these higher floors..."
I took a look through their menu, and there definitely was some very fancy dishes on offer. But I decided I was more than happy to just go with the apple tart that Sinon had recommended to me. She was pretty quick to mention it after all, despite us not yet looking through the menus...
Y/N: "Ah, here it is... It sure looks pretty good."
Sinon: "I've come here lots of times by myself just for this dish! ...You know, it's pretty weird to be in a café with someone I haven't met in real life... I guess this is what it's like inside a game. It's like a dream, it just doesn't feel real at all..."
Y/N: "Really? It's always felt very real to me. I guess that's just me, though, when you think about it... We might be inside a game, but this isn't a dream. We're both alive, you and me. So everything that happens here is real. Every action, every memory..."
Sinon: "I guess so..."
Y/N: "What we're doing right now is real too. We're really sitting down at a café with another person. Huh... I guess to some people looking in, this might just look like a... n–never mind."
Sinon: "Hm? Might look like what exactly?"
Y/N: "...well, a uh... a date, I guess...?"
*cough! cough!*
Sinon: "Wh–What?! *splutter* A d–date?!"
Y/N: "What's the matter? Was there something in your tea?"
Sinon: "Listen. I know I invited you out for a meal, but I really didn't mean it to be a date!"
Y/N: "o–Oh! I didn't mean to imply that you did! I just... I just meant to say that it might have looked like that to somebody who didn't know us if they walked in right now is all, promise!"
Sinon: "If they didn't know us...? Hey, U/N..."
Y/N: "u–uh, y–yeah?"
Sinon: "...I wish we could go to a coffee shop in real life..."
Y/N: "You...? I don't understand?"
Sinon: "You wouldn't want to?"
Y/N: "That's not what I said. I just... really? With me? You realise I'd be nothing like how I am in here, right? Out there, in that other world, I was just a loser. Always was and always will be. Heck, if I wasn't such a stay at home loser I wouldn't have had the skills to even get noticed in this world, let alone to be worthy of friends like you guys..."
Sinon: "You shouldn't talk bad about yourself like that! I... I think you're pretty cool. You're the type of person I could never be: strong enough to stand alone, and yet still you stand by so many. I wish I... No, nothing... I guess we should dig into our meals before they ruin. Come on. Give me some of that!"
Sinon then reached across the table with her fork and helped herself to a sizeable portion of the apple tart that was placed in front of me. She offered me a cheeky grin as she moved the fork back to her own plate, with some of my tart with it. I think she was expecting me to protest, but I didn't have it in me to do so– not even as a joke.
But I guess she was ready for that too, because after placing the portion of what was once my dessert onto her plate, she then took a cut of her own dessert and brought it over to my plate before setting it down with an accompanying smile that I don't often see on Sinon's face of all people.
* * *
Our meal together went smoothly enough after that, with us then finishing our meals and deciding that we'd both had enough excitement for the day. To which we both then made our way back to the Inn and retreated to our own personal rooms. It wasn't until much later that the thought came to mind about Sinon's sleeping habits, and whether she had since managed to best those nightmares that she was struggling with.
I was contemplating whether or not to visit her room in person or just to send her a message to check on her, but before I could decide on one or the other I ended up getting a message from Sinon herself!
_______________________________
SENDER: Sinon
SUBJECT: Thanks for the bow
_______________________________
I really appreciated today. Thanks.
I'm going to put this bow to good use!
Oh, and the meal was fun too. ;)
_______________________________
She seemed pretty well off from the message's contents, so I decided not to worry about it too much and just sent her a reply back, saying that I really enjoyed today's outing too. And that if she needed any help or tips with using the bow that I'd be more than happy to give her some pointers. I ended off the message with wishing her a goodnight, and that if she need anything at all she knows how to reach me. I know she'd be annoyed if I just outright offered my help, so I'll leave her to make the leap there herself, heh.
<6036 words>