One by one, the lights in the windows of the Kirigaya-Yuki house faded to black.
Kirigaya Leafa padded softly barefoot from ore-lamp to ore-lamp, extinguishing the lights and adjusting their shades to collect the suns rays the next morning. Living room, family room, dining room, kitchen. The sylph paused at the base of the stairs and gave the first floor one last sweep.
The big butcher topped kitchen table where Asuna prepared ingredients, already ground in with the smell of herbs and spices and hundred knife marks. And the little breakfast nook under the stairs where Yui would do her school work. The rocking chair by the hearth that had become her brother's favorite place to read or to sleep.
'A place becomes a home so quickly.' Suguha thought. But it didn't erase the pang of longing to stand at the foot of another set of stairs and breath in the lifetime of scents in another kitchen. She willed herself to stop being mopey headed and extinguished the last light.
As she climbed to the second floor, the Sylph did the same down the hallways, stopping at the door to Yui's room.
With the exception of the <<Guild Master's Suite>> their rooms were all the same size, which was to say luxuriously large compared to Suguha's bedroom in that other home, in that other world. Yui was practically swallowed up by her full size bed, sitting in her nighclothes with her back propped by pillows. There was a small book in her hands and for once she was reading like a normal child, with slow careful deliberation from a colorful slim book.
Suguha pondered this for a moment before rapping on the door frame.
"Come in, Aunt Sugu." Yui answered unsurprised. Of course she'd known the Sylph was there.
"I just came to say goodnight." Leafa smiled as she seated herself on the edge of the bed and gently pried the book away from her niece. "And to make sure you stop reading and go to bed." She studied the book in her hands, the cover depicted a crude water color of stars and a young boy. "Isn't this a little simple for you, Yui-chan? I thought you liked more advanced books. Like the ones for adults."
Her niece nodded her head seriously. "But Exupery-sensei says his story is written for adults. And . . . "
"Hmm?"
"I've been deliberately reading literature now for almost four months." Yui said thoughtfully. "And I've found there is no correlation between a story's reading level and the complexity of my thoughts and feelings about it."
"And what sort of feelings does this book give you, Yui-chan?" Leafa asked, smiling gently at her niece.
Yui looked at her hands cupped in her lap. "Sadness."
Suguha's heart skipped a beat.
"But it's . . . a gentle sadness." She added quickly. Yui scrunched her brow and blinked furiously as she thought. "It's a sadness that doesn't hurt so much to feel . . . And when I think about it alongside other sad things . . . It makes the other things hurt less sometimes." The little girl looked seriously at her Aunt. "Aunt Sugu, how can two sad things feel less sad together?"
The Sylph took a long time to answer that question. Because she sensed it was a very important one. One with a sacredness that came with parenthood. Kirito or Asuna should be the one to answer this question. But Yui had asked her.
"Well. Do you remember our first night in this world." Yui nodded. "And remember when we were drinking Dew Milk and I realized what had really happened and I started to cry? Your Papa came and held onto me, even though he was feeling all the same things."
"Papa's psychiatric state stabilized while he was holding you." Yui nodded. "Even though you were the one being comforted and he had so many other worries."
"Sometimes, sharing our sadness can make it hurt less, Yui-chan." Suguha explained. "But I thought you already knew that because . . . "
"Of my MHCP functions?" Yui's voice turned suddenly firm and brusque in a way that was . . . a little unsettling right before bed. She smiled as if to say it was okay and that her Aunt hadn't said anything upsetting.
"Un . . . That . . ." Suguha admitted. The more she knew Yui as a little girl, the harder it was to think of the way she had met her.
"Please understand, Aunt Sugu, that my original purpose was to provide emergency psychiatric diagnosis and care as part of the intended SAO design document. My mission was to stabilize a player's mental state and encourage them to log out and seek professional medical attention. Therefore, while I was programmed with a wide range of psychiatric data, this was primarily biometric in nature. My comprehension of the feelings of the people I helped was not necessary or intended, and any personality was to be created and disposed of to suit each patient. I was basically just smoke and mirrors."
"Don't say that." Suguha snapped. "You are a real person, Yui-chan!" She didn't realize she'd raised her voice until after it was over and Yui was staring. "I . . . uhm . . . Sorry."
"Aunt Sugu?" Yui took her hand and squeezed. She was being an idiot!
So she told Yui about her conversation with Kuwata that morning. His thoughts on the mobs and her own. Yui was a good listener, simply drinking in her worries until she'd made them all felt, then nodding.
"Kuwata-san's opinions aren't that unusual." The little Maeve observed.
"But . . . "
"Before I was actualized as a physical existence, my true personhood was debatable." Yui admitted. "While I grew beyond my design parameters and developed my own volition, I was still restricted at a more fundamental level by my basic software architecture."
"But that was before the Transition." Suguha emphasized. "Now then, you've become an independent existence. Just like the mobs." Like the Pixies, Octavia, <<Wolf>>, and the Kurotsune. "But you remember what happened before. You remember Earth and when ALfheim was a virtual existence."
"That's something I've thought about a lot." Yui agreed. "It may be that the complexity of my AI and the data stored in my instance had something to do with what happened. My memories already formed clear foundations for my identity. And I retain a will and priorities that match with my previous existence. I can only conclude that I am still fundamentally myself but . . ."
"But?"
Yui smiled at her and tapped on the cover of the book in Leafa's hands. "Sad . . . but gentle. It's like . . . chocolate rather than sugar." She blinked furiously. "Or salt in cookies. I know I couldn't feel this way before so . . . I must be different now too. And one other thing." She beckoned for Leafa to lean forward and then whispered in her ear. "I love you Aunt Sugu." And then leaned away smiling.
Suguha blinked and shook her head, trying not to giggle. "That's not a secret Yui-chan."
"But I said it that way because I wanted to." Yui explained. "Because it's something I thought to do. And because I knew it would make you happy too."
"Yeah." Suguha nodded.
She was overthinking things. The answer was very simple and right in front of her. It was just like she had told Kuwata that morning.
"Now then, it's time for sleep."
"Un!"
"Tomorrow's Day of Void so you can sleep in." And Suguha could take her day off to chase a new lead. "However." She stopped at the door and gave her niece a look over her shoulder. "If I wake up and catch a glow globe in here, strawberry milkshakes are gonna get scarce."
"R-right!" Yui pulled the cover over herself and then, just as her aunt was about to close the door she added one last thing. "Aunt Sugu?"
"Yes?"
"Just because we had to make our family. Doesn't mean it's any less real."
" . . . "
"I just wanted to be sure you knew."
"Um." The Sylph smiled. "Good night, Yui-chan."
"Good night, Aunt Sugu."
Leafa closed the door and leaned against the wall taking a deep breath. But her conversation with Yui just brought her back around to the other actualized existence that now consumed her thoughts.
The Kurotsune.
She was beginning to suspect the shape of what was motivating him, or them, or maybe even her. But she wouldn't be able to confirm her suspicions until she could get out of the house in the morning. In the meantime, her intuition told her that the Kurotsune wouldn't try anything more tonight. That hadn't stopped her from setting <<Tripper>> spells on all the doors and windows.
Reaching her own room, she found the lights were already on, Siesta busying herself with making the bed.
"I apologize Miss, I was airing the blankets before we went to the baths and thought it best to get things settled before you turned in for the night."
"I-It's fine. But you know . . . You are a guest in our house. You really aren't expected to do any work . . . Siesta-san?"
"A Commoner a guest in a Noble's house?" Pausing her activities.
Leafa nodded.
"That's . . . not a thing, Miss." She said simply, laying out the sheets and the blankets and fluffing the pillows. By the time she was done making up the bed it looked like something out of a hotel brochure with barely a seem or crease.
"I'm afraid I could not find the clothing iron, Miss, but I did my best with what was on hand."
"It's fine." Leafa sat at her dresser while she waited. "I don't think we even own one. Besides, we usually take the clothes to the launderers on Day of Void."
"Then I shall assist you Miss!" Siesta answered promptly.
Leafa saw her reflection in the vanity opening its mouth to protest. And then gave up.
She wondered if this was what it was like to be rich. For the people in your own home to be not even friends, but strangers paid to do a job. No wonder her Sister in Law was so hungry for anything that they did together. She'd never met someone who was so happy to clean, even if she wasn't good at most of it.
'If we had an iron, Asuna would have put holes in all of our clothes.' Suguha thought, frowning as she turned her head to and fro. It wasn't like she wasn't lacking in her own certain skills.
"Is there a problem, Miss?"
The sylph parted the locks that fell over her face like a curtain and looked at the girl who was an even bigger stranger with her hair down. She thought about cutting it, again, like she had thought every single day and not gone through with it.
Because . . .
'It would take a long time to grow back if I regret it'.
And because . ..
'It really is very beautiful.'
Almost as beautiful as her Sister in Law's.
Except Asuna knew how to move about and live with her gorgeous hair while Suguha struggled at the best of times. She'd always meant to ask her Sister in Law for advice. But somehow, whenever she started, she just became too embarassed to finish.
Suguha had taught herself a simple tie up and bun she used in the mornings for Kendo, and when she was expecting trouble at work. But it always felt like such a hastle, and it was easier most of the time to simply tie it back with a cord. But that was no good for sleeping. It would get under her back, and she'd roll over and wake up as she pulled on it . . .
"There are many fine braids and buns suitable for sleeping. Miss." Siesta appeared in the mirror behinder. "I'd be happy to show you."
"Something simple, please." The Sylph urged.
"I learned this one as a child, Miss." Siesta explained. Leafa closed her eye and allowed Siesta to do her work. The weight pulling on the back of her head climbing upward and gradually consolidating until . . .
"All done."
"That's it?" Leafa asked.
"That is it." Siesta nodded to the mirror where the Sylph girl's hair was pulled taughtly back into a pair unbelievably small buns.
"It shoudln't trouble you at all while sleeping. And when you wake up I'll show you how to undo it so you don't damage the hair. If that will be all, Miss."
Leafa simply nodded as she turned her head to and fro to examing her hair in the mirror. 'It actually looks pretty good'. "Oh, and Siesta . . . "
"Miss?"
"Goodnight."
"Of course." The girl courtesied. "Good night, Miss."
It felt good going to sleep with her hair up. Better than she was expecting. She'd almost forgotten being truly comfortable as she lay on her back and listened to the faint night noises of a sleeping city. A sleeping Faerie city. The gentle chords of a Night Watchmen gliding by and the low rumble of heavy cargo being moved up the Grande Promenade only deep in the night.
The Sylph closed her eyes, drifting just above the boundry layer of sleep, where intuition percolated to the surface and . . .
Sitting straight up, eyes wide open . . .
"Did she call my shoulders . . . manish?!"
