"Thank you so much today, Shana."
"Nah, it was mostly your own power."
"No, I really think I couldn't have done it alone."
"I don't think that's true, but I'm glad if I could be of even a little help."
"If something like this happens again, please be by my side then too."
"I'll try my best, but you need to learn to be more careful."
"Okay~"
Sinon stuck out her tongue as she replied. And, fueled by the joy of acquiring Hecate II, Sinon logged out in a happy mood.
Shana then sent a message to Rosalia, attempting to contact her.
"Where are you now? Alright, send."
"I'm here."
"Whoa!"
The moment Shana sent the message, Rosalia's voice came from behind him. Shana was startled and asked Rosalia:
"How long have you been there...?"
"Since Sinon was begging Shana for a kiss."
"You're still playing that character here, huh... Just so you know, I didn't do anything."
"Of course, I know because I saw it. You just embraced her."
Shana decided he should clear up the misunderstanding and began to explain the reason to Rosalia.
"Hey, that was..."
But before Shana could explain, Rosalia shrewdly hit upon the essence of the matter.
"It's fine. Sinon got that gun she'd always wanted, her long-awaited anti-material rifle. And the embrace was simply Sinon, overcome with joy, hugging you in excitement, and Shana merely accepting it gently. On the contrary, if you had rejected Sinon in that moment, I would have had to yield my position as Shana's top slave to Pito."
"That's a really difficult judgment to make, a subtly disparaging way of putting it... And you're incredibly competent here, aren't you...?"
"I am Shana's spy, after all. This much is only natural."
"I-is that so...?"
Then Rosalia, anticipating Shana's next words, said:
"So, is it about Sinon's part-time job?"
Shana was dumbfounded and couldn't help but complain to Rosalia.
"Why are you so competent only here? Why are you such a scatterbrain in reality?"
"It's your imagination."
"I clearly don't think it's my imagination..."
"The matter of the part-time job has been handled. Also, I believe Shizuka is waiting. You might want to hurry."
Shana felt a strange sense of discomfort in Rosalia's tone, but for now, he followed her words and decided to log out quickly.
"Come to think of it, it took quite a while. Well then, I'll leave that to you."
"Understood."
And so, the two logged out. Rose then asked Argo for Shino's contact information.
"Phew..."
Shino returned to reality, removed her Amusphere, and let out a satisfied sigh on her bed.
"Hehe, hehehe, I did it, I did it! Isn't hitting every shot amazing? You think so too, right, Shana... Hachiman."
("Yes, you did well, Shino. You're great.")
Shino said that to the "Air Hachiman" inside her. Of course, there was no reply, but the Air Hachiman within her certainly praised Shino.
"Haah, is it okay for me to be this happy...? Ever since meeting Hachiman, the world seems different. That's true for school, and for my part-time job... and my long-desired anti-material rifle, Hecate II. But whenever I'm this happy, there's always a pitfall somewhere. I have to be careful."
The moment Shino reminded herself of this, her cell phone rang. It was an unfamiliar number, so Shino initially thought of ignoring it, but reconsidered, thinking it would be troublesome if it was an important matter, and decided to answer.
"H-hello, this is Asada..."
"Oh, Shino? Sorry for calling out of the blue. It's Rose."
Shino didn't remember giving Rose her number, so she replied, surprised.
"Oh, Rose-san? Good evening. How did you get this number?"
"I felt bad, but it was an urgent matter, so I used information I looked up previously. I apologize."
"That's fine, but is something wrong?"
"Hachiman told me to call you about the part-time job."
Remembering that he had just mentioned it, Shino thanked Rose.
"You contacted me right away, thank you. Oh, um, are you sure about such generous conditions?"
"Actually, our part-time jobs aren't open to general applications. So, those conditions are perfectly fine."
"Eh?!"
"In short, only people directly chosen by our boss or Hachiman work for us. Oh, but don't misunderstand, we're completely merit-based. So, that means you're trusted that much by him."
"Ah... I-is that so?"
Shino felt tears welling up in her eyes, but managed to reply. Her voice was slightly tearful, and Rose, sensing Shino's state, said to her in a gentle tone:
"I understand. He usually doesn't say anything about those things. But when you find out later, it makes you incredibly happy, doesn't it?"
"Y-yes!"
"Then shall we finalize the detailed conditions?"
"Yes, please do!"
Hachiman, upon logging out of GGO, let out a deep sigh of relief as the tension released, sprawling on his bed.
"Phew, for a moment I wondered what would happen, but it all worked out somehow..."
"Oh, Hachiman-kun, you're finally back! You were quite late, did something happen?"
Asuna, seemingly sensing Hachiman's return, said that as soon as she entered the room.
"Yeah, actually..."
Hearing Hachiman's explanation, Asuna was very surprised.
"Wow, hitting every shot is amazing! Sinon-chan's awakening?"
"Yeah, I don't know what happened, but she probably had some big change of heart. It was truly incredible sniping, something you could only call an awakening."
"Change of heart, huh..."
Asuna thought it was probably related to Hachiman, but having seen such examples often before, she didn't particularly question it. She sat down next to Hachiman and, gently resting her head on his shoulder, said:
"Hachiman-kun, you keep changing the people around you for the better, don't you?"
"I don't think I did anything special this time..."
"No, Hachiman-kun's various actions gradually accumulate, and then at some point, they 'bloom' in others."
Perhaps it's something the person themselves rarely realizes, but Hachiman seemed to have no real sense of Asuna's words and tilted his head.
"All I really did this time was get forced to sing a song while sniping..."
"A song?"
"Yeah, Jingle Bells."
"Why did that happen?"
"She asked me to hum a Christmas-y song or something. Well, that was after she'd already awakened, though."
"Heeh~"
"It's almost Christmas, right? Until now, you know, because of her family situation, she apparently hated Christmas. But this year, she thought that since we were all together, we might be able to gather, and she seemed really happy, saying it was the first time she'd ever looked forward to Christmas since she was little."
The moment she heard that, Asuna said to Hachiman with a very happy face:
"I see! Yeah, Hachiman-kun, then let's do our best to plan it!"
"Yeah, sounds good."
"There's also the Valhalla Resort gathering, so we and Komachi-chan will have to do it twice."
"Oh, right. It's still a bit much to invite Shino there."
"It'll be something to look forward to when Sinon-chan starts ALO someday!"
Asuna, dreaming of such a future, made a request to Hachiman.
"Hey, Hachiman-kun, sing Jingle Bells for me too."
"Hm? Oh, I don't mind, but I'm not good at it."
"That's fine."
"I see."
Saying that, Hachiman began to hum Jingle Bells for what must have been the umpteenth time that day. Asuna listened happily, but then started humming along halfway through, and their two hums continued for a while.
"Ah!"
Suddenly, Asuna let out such a cry, and their humming ended.
"What's wrong?"
"U-um, I forgot to tell Hachiman-kun something important..."
Hearing those words, Hachiman remembered what Rose had said earlier.
"Oh, was that what Rose was talking about when she said Asuna was waiting?"
"Yeah, I think so. Um, the data from Argus America has been found!"
"Oh, where was it?"
"Um, Rinko-san said it was from Kayaba-san's PC!"
"Akihiko's?"
Hachiman couldn't hide his surprise, finding it an unexpected place.
"Yeah, when they investigated, it seems Kayaba-san was fully cooperating with that project, and they thought 'maybe' and checked, and it was a bingo! And what's more, detailed VR records were left behind too!"
"So that's how it is..."
"Because of that, Rinko-san wants you to come to the Sleeping Forest tomorrow morning, Hachiman-kun."
"I see, understood."
Hachiman felt genuinely relieved that a clue to somehow cure Kaede's illness had been found. Perhaps because of that, Hachiman suddenly felt a wave of sleepiness.
"I suddenly feel sleepy... I'm tired from everything today."
"Then let's take a quick bath and go to sleep right away."
"Yeah, let's do that."
And then, seeing Asuna begin to undress in the changing room, Hachiman, as if noticing something, suddenly spoke.
"Hm, Asuna, a moment?"
"What's wrong?"
"Oh, just a bit."
Saying that, Hachiman gently embraced Asuna.
"Eh? Eh?"
"Just as I thought. Asuna, have you gained a little weight recently?"
Asuna heard those words and looked at Hachiman's face with a stunned expression.
"EHHHHH?! D-I need to go on a diet..."
"Hm? You don't need to, do you?"
"B-but..."
Seeing Asuna's troubled face, Hachiman gently explained to her.
"Listen, Asuna, winter is like that. You can't withstand the cold without gaining some fat.
Besides, you expose less skin, and other than me, who has the chance to see your bare skin all year round, no one would notice such a subtle difference in you.
If it bothers you, you can always deal with it before summer.
In fact, knowing you were so thin right after clearing SAO, I feel much more at ease with you being this healthy. So there's no problem at all."
"U-um... but 'all year round' and being so direct about it is a little embarrassing."
Saying that, Asuna gently kissed the Hachiman in front of her.
The two then got into the bathtub, and Asuna, also relieved, succumbed to sleepiness right after drying her hair.
And so, the two of them, just like yesterday, fell asleep cuddled together. Thus, the second night in Kyoto passed peacefully.
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