Fifteenth Day of the Month of the Ash Tree, 2032. (Otherwise, October 15th, 2032.)

1330 AST

En route to the deepest Labyrinth Safe Area, 74th Floor.

Shiranami was alone.

She liked to be alone.

It had been just about two years since this game had entrapped both her and ten thousand other players in a game of death. As far as she was aware, time within SAO traveled at the same pace as time in the real world. Despite this, the game uses its own unique calendar, a fact that has consistently intrigued Shiranami ever since she was trapped in here; said timekeeping system is referred to as the «Aincrad Calendar» with it also having a “time zone”, «Aincrad Standard Time».

In those twenty-four months, more than three thousand players had failed to evade the jaws of death. Most of the remaining seven thousand players were far too scared to leave the protection of the «Town of Beginnings» on the very first floor as not everyone was able to acclimate themselves to a death game while those who had found the courage to move forward have been working tirelessly in order to survive. Among those who chose to forge through were the truly hardcore players who spent as much of their time possible on the frontlines, fully knowing that they could die at any moment; this group of players were known as the «Clearers», named as such due to these players’ main goal being clearing SAO. Shiranami counted herself as one of the «Clearers» considering that she was a member of the «Knights of the Blood», regarded as the strongest of the «Clearer» guilds and as the overall strongest guild in SAO, which was formed after a particularly terrible incident on the 25th Floor.

For this particular instance, Shiranami was investigating the Labyrinth of the 74th Floor under the direct order of the commander himself; this was prompted by the fact that he had received information concerning his vice-commander, that is, the guild’s second, had escaped from her partner and had run off with a solo player. Upon first receiving the orders, Shiranami had to force herself to keep her face straight as she knew said solo player personally… However, she pretended not to know anything further about the player outside of the epithet the SAO playerbase gave him, the «Black Swordsman», and accepted the dispatch.

And now, here she was, wandering the Labyrinth on the lonesome.

However, this was not exactly true as a voice yelled, “Assistant Second!”

Oh, great… Shiranami sighed internally, as she made peace with the temporary respite she had given herself. After all, she knew who exactly was calling her. Turning around, she regarded the boy, who was older than her and was wearing the same white-themed guild uniform as her. “Nautilus…”

“I swear, Assistant Second!” he scolded. “Please don’t run away by yourself! Your childish behavior is uncouth of the third-in-command of our guild!”

Behind him, a girl with a white hat appeared and reprimanded, “Nautilus, don’t go scolding our team leader like that!”

“Bu-But, Yuna!” he complained. “Just because she’s ranked above me doesn’t mean she can slack off! I’m still older than her! By like, four years!”

“Yes, yes, I know that,” she replied. “Still, you can’t just scold her! I’m also older than her, however, I still hold a high level of respect for her since she is strong, strong enough to compete with Vice-Commander Asuna.”

Nautilus opened his mouth but nothing came out. He then closed it and sighed, “Alright, fine.” The eighteen-year-old boy took a deep breath as he tried to calm himself. He then asked, “What are you doing here?”

“Relaxing,” Shiranami simply stated. “It’s tiring going Labyrinth-diving, you know that?”

“Well, I’m still raring to go…” Nautilus shrugged. He then got an evil twinkle in his eyes. “Wait, could it be… Ah, I get it now. Must be that time of the month.”

Shiranami immediately blushed and drew the sword at her side. She stabbed the point under Nautilus’s throat and hissed, “Sa-Say that again, you peony! I-I’ll off your head!”

Nautilus raised his arms in surrender. “Sorry, sorry!” he replied, although his expression betrayed the fact that he didn’t regret making that jab.

“Nautilus!” Yuna cried.

Yuna’s loud plea managed to shock Shiranami back to her senses as she realized what she was doing. Clearing her throat, she sheathed her sword. “Ahem… So-Sorry about that. Making jokes is fine and all but please don’t make them at my expense, especially at something I have no control over… and just so you know, I wasn’t on my period at all!”

“Yeah, yeah, fine,” Nautilus replied, ignoring Shiranami’s last comment to save her from further embarrassment. “So… Are we stopping for a lunch break?”

Yuna interrupted, “Well, if it’s lunch you’re wanting, I have you covered.”

“Yuna, I must say,” Shiranami began. “As fellow idols, we sure think alike; I’ve also bought lunch.”

“Oh?” Yuna said, raising an eyebrow. “What did you bring to the table today, Miss Shiranami?”

“Something that will defeat your mindless cooking, Miss Yuna,” Shiranami replied, emitting just a playful smidge of rage.

Nautilus could do nothing but watch as the two girls gave each other the evil eye and fiddled with their menus to extract their respective bento boxes, packed full of nutritious (well, it’s not like nutrition is paramount in a VRMMO like SAO) treats. He scratched his head as he tried recalling what exactly had happened that resulted in this honestly weird rivalry.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

If he remembered correctly, it had all started three days ago when the three of them decided to take a break in the open fields of the forty-seventh floor after doing a hunt in the Labyrinth; this was at the direction of the commander who so graciously gave them temporary leave so that they were able to relax. Upon arriving in the flower fields, Nautilus relaxed on the ground. “Ugh…” he moaned. “I’m so tired!”

“Well, we’ve been basically slaves for the past few days,” Shiranami shrugged. “Commander Heathcliff is nice to let us off for the time being. On that note, who’s hungry?”

“Wait, Shiranami-chan, you have a cooking skill too?” Yuna asked.

“Yeah, why?” she replied. “Wait… Senpai, you have a cooking skill too?”

“Yup…” Yuna took out a picnic basket and opened it up while Shiranami also took out one of her own baskets. Yuna looked over in Shiranami’s basket. “Huh, we both made sandwiches.”

“They’re the easiest and the quickest to make,” Shiranami shrugged. “However… Since we made two batches, it will probably be too much.”

“Nah, nah, not at all,” Nautilus boasted. “I’ll eat them all! After all, I’m quite sure my stomach is larger than the both of yours combined.”

“Uh…” Shiranami began. “I guess I’ll share…? I mean, I also have a large stomach. Eating should have a unique skill that gives cool buffs.” She barely got to finishing her sentence when she shoved three sandwiches into her mouth.

Nautilus yelped, “He-Hey!”

“Wadies, fwirst,” Shiranami replied, her mouth full.

“Tch,” he muttered. “I won’t lose!” Nautilus grabbed two sandwiches in each hand, a pair of each from Shiranami’s and Yuna’s baskets.

“Hey!” Yuna complained.

“What? It’s a man’s duty to try the food of the girls, right?” he said. He shoved Yuna’s into his mouth. “Oooooh, this is delicious!” he squealed. “Yuna, your cooking is as good as ever!”

The girl blushed and lowered the brim of her hat to hide the fact that her face was heating up as she mumbled, “Re-Really?”

Shiranami asked between bites, “What about mine? Not like I care if you like it anyways.”

Nautilus swallowed the first sandwich before going at his right hand. He shoved it into his mouth as well. “Hmm…” he thought. “It’s also really good. I wonder how both would taste like together…” This time, he opened his mouth up extremely wide and swallowed both. “Jeez, you girls are going to kill me with how delicious your food is!”

Shiranami shrugged. “Well, I never gave you permission to eat out of my basket…”

Nautilus laughed. “Oh, come on, Captain!” He then took out a canteen of water and drank it down. “Bwah!” he said, sighing in satisfaction, “Oh, speaking of unique skills… Yuna, you have the uh… whatchamacallit?”

“«Songstress»?”

“Is it in any way related to the normal «Chant»?” Shiranami inquired.

Yuna hunkered down, deep in thought. “Maybe? We both had the «Chant» hobby skill since the second floor. Shiranami-chan, didn’t you max out your Chant skill?”

“Yeah, two days after you did…” Shiranami replied. “If I recall correctly, I maxed it out a few months ago…”

“Exactly on the morning of Valentine’s Day,” Yuna stated. “I completed mine faster because you were helping me level it up.”

“Oh, right, I had stored my «Chant» in a «Mirroring Shard» so I didn’t level up mine while helping you with yours.”

“As I remember, we held a surprise concert in celebration on the seventeenth floor the following day…”

Nautilus laughed, “Oh man, you should’ve seen how fast the impromptu concert tickets sold out.”

“Don’t remind me!” Shiranami groaned as she shooed away the memories of the overexcited crowd which made even the most drunken of raves seem like a kiddie party. “The floor was literally based on Akihabara and yet, they gave it a Western name…” Shiranami stated. “What was Kayaba thinking?” Shiranami shook her head as she continued, “Anyways, during that concert, we sang our original piece we composed together, “A Cloud’s Silver Lining”, yeah?”

Yuna nodded. “Yup. Shiranami-chan, you and I can really synchronize!”

Shiranami nodded before continuing, “I’m suspecting that there was a second condition you needed to clear besides completing «Chant» in order to manifest «Songstress»; I believe that condition to be singing once after completing the skill.”

“I see…” Yuna nodded. “It does make sense. I kinda feel sorry that I got the skill though.”

“Naaaaah, don’t worry about it,” Shiranami laughed. “I’d rather not stick out any more than I already have. You guys are like me and are on the frontlines nearly every day but unlike me, you also take the time to go around and motivate other players. I think that skill going to you must be a reward from above. Besides,” she shrugged, “I’m Level 93; I’m four levels above both of you. I also have 9550 HP which is almost a whole thousand over you.”

“Hah, that’s not a big difference!” Nautilus snorted. “We’ll catch up eventually!”

“Uh-huh…” Shiranami replied skeptically.

“Oh, by the way…” Yuna cut in, hoping to stop the argument from escalating further. “Ei-kun! Who do you think is the better cook?!”

“Wha—?” he said. “‘Who’s the better cook?’ It’s obviously Yu—” He stopped in his tracks as he sensed danger emanating from the two girls. Clearing his throat, he stammered, “Uh… I… I honestly don’t know… They both tasted equally delicious…”

Not noticing his change of tack, Yuna pouted and she glared at Shiranami. “Shiranami-chan, I won’t let you steal Ei-kun! He’s mine and mine only!”

Shiranami simply shrugged. “I’m not interested in him anyways. I mean, he looks cool and all but he’s just not my type.”

“Then why are you trying to impress him with your cooking?!”

“I’m not. I’m simply cooking my best for myself.”

“You won’t get away with this!”

Nautilus sighed as he lightly shook his head to clear his mind of those events; while they were fun memories, the Labyrinth wasn’t so nice to let one drift off in idyllic recollections. He then tensed up when Shiranami squealed, “Oh! Kirito! Asuna!”

Nautilus directed his gaze where Shiranami threw her voice and noticed the seated onyx-haired boy turning his head and seeing them. He smiled as he waved, “Shiranami? Even Nautilus and Yuna too? What are you guys doing here?”

Nautilus’ expression quickly twisted into an unfriendly one (he has some history with Kirito). “We’re here on the others of the Commander to investigate the Labyrinth because a certain someone has been constantly striking out alone with a boy.”

Nautilus directed a piercing gaze in Asuna’s direction to which she replied with, “Kyaa, please protect me, Kirito-kun!” She hid behind Kirito, albeit playfully.

“Dude, seriously, Nautilus,” Kirito said, shaking his head while patting Asuna’s, “Can you not scold her that much? Your eyes are literally giving your intentions away.”

“Oh yeah?” he replied, walking over and staring directly into Kirito’s face (quite weird as Nautilus glared at Kirito while the latter was seated). “Why are you in the «Safe Area» too? Aren’t you on the job?”

Kirito rolled his eyes and stood up. “We were just taking a break to eat lunch but by all means, if it is a fight you want, I’ll give you one.” He reached for the sword on his back.

Nautilus growled as he too reached for his own sword but Yuna clapped her hands. “Okay, guys, let’s not fight, please? By the way, since you guys plan to eat lunch, do you want to hold a group picnic?”

Asuna drew herself out from behind Kirito, her eyes lit up. “Yeah, that sounds great!”

Shiranami had grabbed Nautilus’ hand when he reached for his sword. “Stand down, Nautilus… Save the fighting for when we find the boss room.”

Nautilus kept scowling at Kirito before he sighed. “Alright, fine. I still won’t allow you to sneak off with the vice-commander any more, you got that, Kirito?”

“Hey, man, Asuna’s her own person,” he replied. “You don’t have any right to stop her. Besides, we’re still doing our jobs of searching the Labyrinth. Isn’t the fact that we’re here in the furthest safe zone so far found in the 74th Floor’s Labyrinth evidence that we were the first ones inside?”

Nautilus rolled his eyes and sat down cross-legged. He posed the question, “What did you two make today?”

Shiranami smiled smugly. “Today, I cooked some ramen… or at least, I think it is ramen.”

“Oh?” Asuna asked. “Shira-chan, do you have a completed cooking skill too?”

“Yeah, both Yuna and I have one.”

“Awesome! I’m not the only expert cook here!” Asuna smiled. “Well, today, I just brought some sandwiches.”

“I got some sushi,” Yuna interjected.

Kirito’s mouth opened as he drooled, “Alright! It’s a feast!”

For once, Nautilus was of a similar opinion as he too exclaimed, “Hell yeah! Time to eat!”