Part four to chapter 11.
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"Yuuki Konno?" Kirito echoed, her name confusing him.
Why did it have two parts?
Some players did have names like that, but it was uncommon. She seemed like a noob and rather straightforward, so he doubted the girl would have chosen a more complicated name. Thinking about it, the name Yuuki was a common name someone would have in real life...
...He landed on an explanation, but he didn't wanna believe it was true.
"...Don't tell me that's your real name?"
There was no way this chick named herself after her real name...
Her body stiffened up. She looked over with an embarrassed smile, followed by a nervous shine in her eyes. "Yikes, I did it again..."
Wasn't hard to imagine that. This girl seemed like the type to blurt out whatever was on her mind at any given point without considering what she might let slip. Kirito sighed, palming his face. "So is that also your avatar's name, or not?"
"Well it IS Yuuki... but I shouldn't a told ya that last part..."
"But you still named yourself after your real name?"
She nodded lamely. "Mn..."
"Rookie mistake."
"I know already!"
So this wasn't the first time she'd been called out on it, either.
A chuckle escaped from Kirito and she shot him a glare. "Don't laugh!"
Her face was all red, much more than before. She began making boxing motions as if she wanted to fight, calling him a bully and the like. It warmed Kirito's heart seeing that. She reminded him of his little sister when he would make her mad. Kirito once looked back at those memories with chagrin. Now, he remembered them fondly. He also recalled all the times he received the ire of Asuna and Sinon.
If not for nothing, the boy certainly had a talent for getting under women's skin.
The girl, Yuuki, finally calmed down enough to gather her breath. "Ya dunno how many times I've done that. I keep forgettin' this is all a game."
"Yeah, I get it. Talking to people face to face wasn't really a feature in games before VR."
Truth be told, he wouldn't mind teasing her until she fell over dead like Sinon had, but he didn't know her like that. She did remind him of Sugu, but there were clear differences. This girl was way more jumpy than Sugu ever was. Way, way too excitable.
"Let's just talk about something else, Nooby."
"Huh?"
Oops. That one had slipped. "I said we can talk about something else, Yuuki."
"Sure!" She smiled, again completely oblivious. "But you haven't told me your name yet."
Damn.
He had banked on her having short term memory. That wasn't the case, so now Kirito had two options.
The first was that he could be mean to her and shoot her down. Tell her he felt uncomfortable giving his name to someone who attacked him over a misunderstanding, or something similar. She would believe it, but it would hurt her feelings and by extension, his own.
Option two was that he could just give her an alias. If she didn't fact check it by trying to add him or checking the wall on the first floor, then he would get away with it.
Deciding the second was the better option, Kirito pondered on what alias he should choose. He hadn't really thought of any fake name to give out, so his silence caused Yuuki to look at him strangely. "You're not gonna tell me?" She assumed, a frown dawning across her face.
Suddenly, Kirito remembered the first time he'd met Asuna and had a conversation with her. He ended up telling her his username that day, but she had thought it would have been a bit more flamboyant.
As Yuuki's frown began to grow irate, Kirito decided to just send it. "It's DragonSlayer."
"...DragonSlayer?" Yuuki asked, unsure if she had heard him correctly.
"Yep."
She grew quiet. The only noise being the crunching of the virtual jungle leaves below their feet. Soon, Yuuki's mouth began to twitch as she struggled to contain herself. Her cheeks puffed up wide before she eventually burst. "Hahahahahahahahaha!"
Her laughter was loud enough to cause his ears to ring. Kirito chose to stay silent, letting her get it all out of her system. Though, the boy had felt his face warm up.
Even to this girl, he just couldn't help going about making a fool out of himself.
Yuuki began using her hands to wipe genuine tears that had fallen from how hard she had laughed. One of her hands fell down to clutch and soothe her belly. "Wow! When was the last time I laughed like that?!"
'Oh boy...' Kirito grimaced, hoping she wouldn't try teasing him after he avoided doing so to her. Kirito peeked at her over his shoulder. Her eyes glittered joyfully. A toothy grin told him everything he needed to know. 'Oh boy...'
Subverting his expectations, Yuuki surprised Kirito by not teasing him at all. "DragonSlayer is such a cool name! I like it!"
For a moment, Kirito believed she was messing with him, but that didn't appear to be the case. Her eyes were honest and so were her words. She may have thought it was silly, her laughter proving that. However, she didn't think it was dumb. Not at all.
She liked his dorky alias.
'Actually, it's probably good that I chose that name.' Kirito thought. After pausing longer than he should have when giving his name, he could be forgiven not wanting to give out a name like DragonSlayer so readily. It hadn't been intentional, but it had ended up benefitting him.
Before he could return any sort of reply, a monster known as an «Ophiometus» had spawned right next to her. It was a bright green starfish that spit rocks and could attach themselves to players to poison them. She impulsively reached for her weapon and gasped when it wasn't there. Just as it had leaped for her to attach itself, Kirito had jumped in front of her and cut in down the middle with «Sonic Leap».
"Uh, thanks for that. I thought I still had my sword." She laughed awkwardly.
"Sure." Kirito commented as he placed his sword back. "Those are good instincts to have. Did you practice that?"
"Nope, sure didn't. But I'm happy ya think so." Yuuki replied, nonchalantly folding her arms behind her head. If that were the case, then she had a natural talent for battle. Kirito had seen her react to it spawn and she'd reacted equally as fast as he.
Quite the surprise, considering she stood at five feet max and looked as thin as an anorexic.
Although gifted, her swordsmanship lagged behind severely, if their battle was anything to go by. If Yuuki managed to survive for a long time, practiced, and gained enough experience, she would likely become one of the top players. For now, she was a meager noob like the rest of the mobs fighting to survive. The only way she stood out currently was because of her gender.
They continued to walk and Kirito continued to protect her from any monster that tried and failed to attack them. As she watched Kirito fight everything off with extreme ease, Yuuki felt herself become intrigued. "You're really good at fightin' Mr. DragonSlayer. How'd ya get so good?"
Kirito puffed his chest a bit, pride swelling up. "They don't call me DragonSlayer for nothing." Saying that out loud, he immediately regretted it.
'Wait, that joke was dumb.' Kirito winced inwardly, reminded of the times he'd said similar stupid things to his two friends. He wanted to break the habit of making those stupid remarks and instead act cool. They had always laughed more so at him than the joke and it always ended with him feeling embarrassed.
And as he thought, Yuuki did laugh. Her laughter was much more boisterous and free compared to both Asuna's and Sinon's. Strangely though, it didn't make him feel self-conscious, like when those two laughed at his corniness. "That makes sense!" Yuuki said amicably, as if his statement was valid. "You're a funny guy, Mr. DragonSlayer!" She complimented, patting his shoulder.
It took him a moment to understand, but rather than him, Yuuki had laughed at the joke, once again subverting his expectations. It was an experience Kirito wasn't used to. When he loosened up and tried talking to others normally, they would laugh at his dorkiness. Even his sister would joke about his mannerisms the few times they'd interact. Yet here was Yuuki buying into everything he said and appreciating it.
The feeling may have been foreign, but it was nice.
"Did ya slay a dragon with that trick ya pulled before?" Yuuki spoke up, snapping his attention back to her.
Wait, she really did believe that?
Regardless, Kirito wasn't sure what she meant by trick. Inserting himself into a beginner's perspective, he tried ascertaining what she was referring to. "You mean sword skills?"
"Nooo~ I already know what those are."
That's good. There was a small part inside him that had thought Yuuki had been playing SAO this entire time without even knowing what they were. He had no idea what else she could be talking about. "What trick then?"
"That trick! The one where ya stopped your own sword skill and activated it again!" Yuuki gestured with her hands as she pretended to wield a sword with a one-hand grip and swinging her arm around, trying to replicate his movement. "Was it like this? Or was it like that?"
Yuuki appeared to be lost in her own little world, frantically swinging her arm around. Meanwhile, Kirito was shitting bricks. His heart nearly stopped when she had mentioned his technique. The last thing he would have ever expected to leave her nooby mouth was that.