"Alright then, Kaede, next time I come, I'll bring you a souvenir, so look forward to it."
"Okay, Big Brother, thank you!"
"Kaede-chan, see you later."
"Big Sister, see you later!"
Hachiman and Asuna said their goodbyes to Kaede, and the other three also exchanged greetings before stepping out. Just then, Haruno's phone rang.
"Oh, Rinko? How are things going? Mhm, okay, then please head over here right away."
The person on the phone seemed to be Rinko. Haruno ended the call and told Kyoko with a smile:
"Kyoko-san, by tomorrow morning, the Medicuboid equipment and its developers will be here. Let's install the Medicuboid here tomorrow. It's a simplified version, of course."
"That quickly? Haruno-san, thank you, truly."
"No, no, it's nothing. We can discuss the details when we install it tomorrow."
"Yes."
After returning to the reception room, Asuna, at the request of Tomomori and Kyoko, began to recount her meeting with Hachiman in SAO and their battles, which had been postponed. Hachiman, thinking he would surely be teased, immediately blurted out:
"I'll just excuse myself to the restroom for a moment."
"Oh, Hachiman-kun, the restroom is…"
And so, Hachiman left the room alone, using the restroom as an excuse. He proceeded down the hallway as instructed, just "for now," but then he heard something like a shout coming from somewhere. Hachiman instinctively gravitated towards the sound.
"Heave-ho!"
After the spirited shout, a round of applause could be heard. Hachiman wondered what it was and peeked into the room. Inside, he saw two strikingly similar, or rather, identical girls. One of them was practicing sword swings with a wooden sword in graceful movements. The other girl was seated on the bed, applauding.
"Ai, are you feeling alright physically?"
"I feel surprisingly good today, so I'm fine. How about you, Yuu?"
"Yeah, I think I'm okay too."
"You won't beat this illness if you don't keep moving your body and building up your stamina."
"You're right. Let me try next."
From their conversation and appearance, they seemed to be twin sisters. Looking like middle schoolers or freshly minted high schoolers, they didn't appear visibly weak, but their complexions weren't good, suggesting they likely had a serious illness if they were here. The girl called Yuu began to swing the sword, and the girl called Ai watched her. However, the room's entrance was directly in front of Ai, so she seemed to have noticed Hachiman's presence. Ai flinched for a moment, then stood up smoothly, stopped Yuu from swinging, and stepped forward as if to shield Yuu, saying:
"Who are you?"
Hachiman, hearing her, scratched his head and entered the room.
"Sorry, did I startle you?"
"A little, yes. So, who are you?"
"Ah, um, do you know a girl named Kaede?"
"Yes, I do, but…"
"I'm a man who's going to become Kaede's relative. You can call me Hachiman."
"Kaede-chan's… I see. Alright, Hachiman."
Ai said so, but she didn't let down her guard easily. Hachiman figured it was probably due to those idiots from the branch family. To try and ease their caution, he adopted a non-threatening posture by simply sitting down cross-legged on the floor.
"In this position, I can't get up quickly, so you can relax a bit, right? Can you lower your guard a little?"
Ai showed a slight gesture of contemplation at his words, but while she didn't let go of it entirely, she lowered her wooden sword and sat on the bed with Yuu.
"Thanks. So, why I'm here is, actually, my girlfriend—ah, she's Kaede's cousin—started telling Aunt Kyoko about how we met. I didn't want to be teased, so I fled under the pretense of going to the restroom. And well, on my way to the restroom, I heard a shout, so I just casually came over here."
"I see…"
"Did you, by any chance, come in that car just now, Hachiman?"
Yuu suddenly asked.
"Car? Sorry, I'm going to stand up for a second."
Hachiman said that and stood up, looking out the window. There, indeed, he could see Kit parked, a little distance away.
"It's a bit far from here, but that's definitely my car."
Hearing Hachiman confirm it, Yuu further said to Ai:
"Ai, this person came with Tomomori-san and two other women earlier. So I don't think we need to be so cautious."
"Oh? You could see that from so far away?"
"Yeah, my eyes are really good."
"I see."
Ai then conceded, convinced if Tomomori-san had brought him, and truly dropped her guard this time. Hachiman asked Ai:
"Hey, why are you so cautious? Did those idiots from the Yuuki family do something to you before?"
At Hachiman's words, Ai said, sounding exasperated:
"Since you're becoming Kaede-chan's relative, you'll soon be part of the Yuuki family too, won't you? Is it really okay to say something like that?"
"Yeah, no problem at all. Because I'm stronger."
Seeing Hachiman's smug look, the two girls snickered.
"What was that?"
"Hachiman, you're funny!"
"I get that a lot."
"Um, before…"
Ai explained that she had been bothered by some ill-mannered boys in the past. Hachiman thought, just as I suspected, and said to the two of them:
"You two are twins, right? And of course, you're both beautiful. So those guys probably used their authority to try and get friendly with you, didn't they? Even though they can't do anything by themselves. I'm truly sorry you had to go through such an unpleasant experience."
"No, no, you're not to blame."
"That's right, don't worry about it."
"You're not denying that you're beautiful?"
"Well, that's true."
"We have the same face, after all."
The two said that and laughed cheerfully.
"By the way, which one of you is the older sister?"
"That would be me, technically."
"I'm the younger sister, technically."
It seemed Ai was the older sister and Yuu the younger. Hachiman then broached a new topic with the two of them.
"Well then, as an apology, or something, I'll show you a trick."
"A trick?"
"Yeah, just look towards that car."
Saying that, Hachiman took out his smartphone, performed some operation, and then spoke into it.
"Kit, can you see me from there? Ah, yes. Alright, come here for a bit."
"Ah!"
True to his words, Kit sped towards them. The two girls seemed very surprised, apparently seeing no one in the driver's seat.
"It moved by itself even though no one's driving."
"What's the trick?"
"Trade secret."
Saying that, Hachiman made the gull-wing doors open and close, and made Kit spin in place. Each time, the sisters gasped in surprise.
"How was it?"
"Amazing, amazing! Everything you say into that smartphone, it does!"
"Is Hachiman some kind of magician?"
"Something like that. Alright, Kit, thanks. Go back to your original spot."
When Hachiman said that, Kit returned to its original position, and the two girls clapped their hands.
"Did you enjoy it?"
"Yes!"
"It was even more amazing than I expected!"
"That's great to hear, then."
Hachiman then sat down again and casually asked Ai something that came to mind.
"Hey, Ai, did you used to do Kendo or something?"
"Oh, yeah, just a little bit in elementary school. But how did you know?"
"Ah, actually, a friend's younger sister, she's been doing Kendo for a long time. Your movements just now kinda reminded me of her."
"Oh, I see, that makes sense. And have you done any martial arts? You said you were strong earlier."
"Mine is self-taught."
"Heh~, could you show us a little?"
"I don't mind, but I'm primarily a counter-attacker, so I can't really spar in such a small room… Oh, right."
Saying that, Hachiman took out his smartphone, pulled up a certain video, and showed it to the two. It was the video of Shana vs. Sutoraizer from the first BoB.
"This is me. Well, I lost that time. Damn it, remembering it pisses me off. I'll definitely win next time I see him."
"Is this a VR game or something?"
"Yeah. There's an interruption here, but just watch."
"Okay."
"Whoa!"
Immediately after those words, Zexceed was cut in half, and the battle with Sutoraizer began. The two girls watched, engrossed in the screen, and exhaled deeply the moment Shana lost.
"Phew~~~"
"I got so absorbed, I forgot to breathe."
"Well? Even though I lost, I'm strong, right?"
At Hachiman's question, the two girls said with sparkling eyes:
"Yeah, you were truly amazing… Honestly, it didn't even look like human movement."
"Hachiman, amazing, amazing! I wish I could try something like that too…"
Hearing Yuu's murmur, Hachiman prefaced with "this is a secret," and then told the two of them:
"This facility, it's going to be gone soon—ah, wait, wait, don't be so surprised, listen to me to the end. Remember those idiots who were bothering you? To get rid of people like that, this facility will be abandoned, and everyone will move to my company's facility in Tokyo. And there, we'll have something called the Medicuboid, which is a medical VR machine. With that, both of you can play games like that for your treatment."
"Really? So those guys won't come here anymore?"
"That's right."
"Really? Yay!"
The two didn't seem to have any particular feelings about the move; they were simply happy.
"So, in that case, I need to head back soon, so the two of you should secretly start preparing for the move. I'll show my face again if the timing is right."
"Okay, we understand. Thank you for everything, Hachiman."
"Hachiman, see you later!"
"Yeah, see you, Ai, Yuu."
And so, Hachiman returned to the reception room. By then, Asuna's story had just finished. Hachiman ignored the warm, knowing glances directed at him, and they decided to head home for the day. As he got into the car, Hachiman glanced towards the window of the room where the sisters had been. He saw the sisters waving from the window, and after a slight wave back, Hachiman got into Kit's driver's seat, started the car, and the three of them returned to the hotel.
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