8 Chapter 8: Teaching Kei how to Fight

[Third Person Pov]

[8th of November, 9.49]

Ever since yesterday evening, Ayanokoji frequently thought about the same event over and over again. Ichinose throwing herself in front of him, saving him from the attack, that although would have only reduced 10% of his HP, she couldn't possibly be in charge of knowledge of that.

Players were only able to see a green HP Bar above the player, without any indication of the complete HP or anything else. The same applied when you were in a party or befriended each other.

This is why Ichinose had no ideas about his Stats at all. He initially planned on killing the other person in a instant, when the player revealed his true objective.

But what he didn't think about was her jumping in front of him, taking that attack, trying to save him.

It was the first time he saw someone risking his life to save his. Something he never thought he'd experience in his lifetime ever. Yet, even though she had a family, a mother, a little sister, she was willing to give all that up for his sake.

He didn't know what he felt. Was it appreciation? Was it something else? He was not in charge of his feelings at all.

But he knew what changed. He didn't consider Ichinose anymore as a pawn, whom he could use and then throw away. It was a bit different now. He saw her as a precious person he wanted to protect, just like Karuizawa.

That was all he knew for now.

But he could not easily change his mindset on how he views people on a single event. It'd take more than that to dismantle his White Room Persona that has been engraved to him since birth.

The persona he was denying and fighting against so hard was an essential part of his future survival in this world. As much he hates to admit it, it was necessarily here.

"*Huah*, I slept well. How about you, Kiyotaka?" Kei asked.

"Me too."

"This bed is really comfortable. I really can't see myself living anywhere else than here."

Ayanokoji nodded. "I guess I'm the same. Although, I'd prefer somewhere with a more beautiful view. Perhaps a house on a river or something like that."

Kei agreed. "Yeah, I think a house on the river would be really beautiful. But for that, someone needs to defeat the first floor, Boss."

"Yes, I wonder when that happens..."

Ayanokoji was deep in thought about whether he should wager sometime near soon to fight against the floor Boss on his own. But he was undecided and didn't want to risk his life to be lost.

He might simply decide to fully explore the Labyrinth, then offer at NPC shops to sell his Map Data, with the exclusive condition that no one can send it, publish it, nor use it to sell it further, alongside some additional condition.

That was one way of gaining a number of Cor's, he guessed. The basis price should be around 1.000 – 1.500 Cor's, for that large Labyrinth. A good price, with which he should earn quite a bit of Cor's.

This was definitely a plan for now. Even when trapped here, Ayanokoji wanted to enjoy his life as much as possible, and he guessed there should be quite many opportunities, given that the other floors will be completely different than this one.

In any case, that wasn't a matter of concern for now, given that they are on the first floor, without much progress at all.

While Ayanokoji was inside of his thoughts, Kei talked. "Kiyotaka, I'll come with you today."

"It's fine by me. If you are truly ready, I'll be happy to teach you," exclaimed Ayanokoji.

Kei nodded her head. "Thank you, Kiyotaka."

Ayanokoji lied comfortably in his bed, not wanting to get out. It was really comfortable, he had to admit.

As Ayanokoji was focused on his bed, he heard a sudden noise, that of an interface.

He deduced what it was in an instant. And he couldn't help but slightly gulp his throat because of what Kei was doing now.

She was unequipping her sleeping clothes completely. He decided quickly, giving it a try on glancing.

What he saw was Kei in a black bra and black underwear, something that was arousing a certain part of his body, that he tried to prevent on being noticed by her.

It was the second time already that such a reaction had happened. The first one was when Ichinose was showering, and now the second one happens here.

Although he had to admit that she was looking stunningly beautiful.

Kei noticed her boyfriend's glaze on her. "Kiyotaka, do you mind closing your eyes?" she asked.

Ayanokoji nodded. "Okay," he answered, closing his eyes.

"Baka, you're my boyfriend. You're allowed to look at me when I'm in my underwear."

"Is that so?" he asked.

"Well, then I'll open my eyes."

"Sure, go ahead. Stare at me however you like."

Ayanokoji opened his eyes, seeing Kei still in her underwear and bra. It was definitely arousing.

Kei looked embarrassingly at the blanket, which was covering his whole body.

She noticed at one part of the blanket something unusual and proceeded to ask a question. "Do you like what you see, Kiyotaka?"

Without any hesitation, Ayanokoji nodded his head. "Very much," he answered instantly.

"Baka, you're not supposed to say this with a straight face like this," Kei exclaimed.

Then, she talked further. "You too..."

Ayanokoji looked confused. "What?" he asked.

"I don't want to be the only one in my underwear. Get undressed, too... It's kind of embarrassing if I am the only one..."

"Okay..." he answered.

He got up from his bed, walked to Kei, opened his menu, and then unequipped his sleeping clothes.

"Better?" he asked.

Kei nodded. "Better," she said.

Then, without any warnings, she proceeded to touch Ayanokoji's abdominal area. "I never saw your body up close, but you are really muscular, Kiyotaka. What did you do in middle school?" she asked, continuing on touching him.

"Piano and calligraphy," answered Ayanokoji.

Kei didn't really get an answer to her question. "And?" she asked.

"I did Tea Ceremony too."

She looked at him blankly, as if he was trying to joke to her. But he did not joke. He meant it seriously.

Once again, she hasn't gotten any useful answers. "That doesn't explain why you are this muscular, Kiyotaka," she said.

"I guess I'm genetically gifted. It's not like I trained particularly much or anything like that."

Kei, although a bit dissatisfied with the answer, decided to accept it and not pursue this topic further. "I see... I believe you, if you say that."

Besides that issue, she was also regarding something else a bit dissatisfied. "Are you not liking my body?"

"What makes you think that?" he asked.

Kei looked a bit embarrassed. "You aren't touching me. I'm the only one who touches you."

Ayanokoji seemed a bit surprised. "Am I allowed?" he asked.

"Yeah, you baka," she answered.

Without hesitation, Ayanokoji began to touch her.

He didn't know he was allowed, so he held himself back. But now that he has gotten the confirmation, he did not hold back.

As many men would do, he touched her with his two hands at her breasts.

He squeezed them, explored their shape, their velocity, their weight, the softness of her breasts, and at last, watched Kei's expression whenever he squeezed her breasts.

She moaned quietly, but he could hear it all. It wasn't as if he wasn't aroused already, but that aroused him even more.

Kei could feel something hard pressing against her stomach and embarrassingly looked slowly down.

She knew what it was, but she didn't imagine it to be that big.

As much as she tried to hide it, she was definitely surprised by the length of Ayanokoji's thing. And yet, she did not see everything, as it was covered in his underwear.

Ayanokoji noticing that she stared at his thing, grabbed her back, forcefully moved her right in front of him, then moved with his hands down, at another part he wanted to touch.

He admired the softness of her butt, the satisfactory feeling it gave him. He had never known that it'd feel that good, to be honest. He continued for a few minutes on squeezing her butt until deciding to move elsewhere.

Kei then suddenly talked. "Kiyotaka, stop. Can we decide on doing it some other time?"

Ayanokoji nodded. "Sure, but what's wrong with your sudden change of mind?"

Kei looked a bit embarrassed. "You know... My parents... they'll probably visit me every day. They probably took a few weeks off, so I don't want them to see me like this, especially in a situation like this..."

Ayanokoji nodded in understanding. "Sure."

"What's with you?" she asked.

"What do you mean what is with me?" he asked back in confusion.

"I mean, what is with your parents. Do they visit you?" Kei asked.

"My parents, huh? No, they don't," he answered truthfully for the very first time regarding his upbringing.

Kei thought that Kiyotaka was being sarcastic, but he wasn't sarcastic at all. "You mean that seriously? Neither your mother nor father visit you? What are those for parents..."

"Well, I don't know my mother. And regarding my father, he's quite a busy man, you see. I doubt that aside from getting the best treatment in hospitals, he'll do anything else than that."

Ayanokoji tried to prevent referring to his father as 'that man' in front of Kei to his best ability. Neither he nor his father ever thought about their relationship as a 'loving' or 'parental' one at all.

Their relationship was one of mutual interests, if he had to say in the past. Ayanokoji was provided with knowledge, martial arts, and everything that was giving him the edge of any other human since a young age, while 'that man' was able to make the White Room more successful through him.

In any case, 'that man' and his goals couldn't interest him less. The only thing that was important now was to survive inside this world.

Everything else was a problem he should deal with later, when he gets out.

Kei looked a bit sad. "I see... Is your mother perhaps..."

He knew what she wanted to say, but he denied it quickly. "No, she is not. She left us when I was a baby," he answered.

"Anyways, shall we go killing monsters?" he asked.

Kei nodded, noticing that her boyfriend didn't want to talk about this topic. It was the first time he told her about himself. "Okay, but before that, can you help me choose which clothes I should put on?" Kei asked.

Ayanokoji simply nodded without saying anything.

In an instant, Kei opened her interface, equipping quite familiar clothes that she was always wearing in school.

"You know, I learned the [Sewing] Skill, so I decided on sewing my old clothes from the school."

[Kei's Appearance in new clothes:]

Then, she asked. "How do I look?"

"Good," he answered.

"Really? Thank you, Kiyotaka. I can sew clothes for you too, if you give me the necessary details, like wingspan, and all that," exclaimed Kei.

"Well, let's see. I'm not really quite sure."

"Just tell me if you want to have some. I'll definitely make sure to sew some for you."

Ayanokoji nodded his head.

Kei, then again, changed her clothes.

[Kei's appearance in new clothes:]

"So, Kiyotaka, how do you like this pair of clothes?" she asked.

"They're also good."

"Which one of these two do you like, Kiyotaka?"

"I think I'm more accustomed to your former school clothes."

"Me too. It feels kinda strange not having them on," she answered, immediately equipping them on.

Ayanokoji, just like Kei, already equipped his clothes. Then, the two of them left the house.

"Here isn't really anyone," Kei said, as no one was here in this area, where Kei and Ayanokoji lived.

"Yeah, I guess that is the advantage of having not Inn's nearby," Ayanokoji replied.

"True, I guess. Well, Kiyotaka, how do I kill monsters?"

"First of all, you must choose your weapon of choice. Have you ever thought of which weapon suits you the best?" he asked.

She shaked her head.

"Well, that makes it a bit harder. How about we try which weapon suits you first?"

Kei nodded her head. "Okay," she replied.

While Ayanokoji and Kei were walking, a familiar person appeared out of nowhere in front of them.

"Ayanokoji-kun, Karuizawa-san, hello, you two," the girl with long silver hair and violet eyes said.

"Ah, hello, Hiyori," Ayanokoji answered.

"Shiina-san, long time no see," Kei said.

[Hiyori's Appearance:]

"What are you two doing here?" she asked.

"I wanted to teach Kei how to fight monsters. What about you? What are you doing here?"

"Well, I was going to sell some items to an NPC here nearby to earn some additional Cor's."

"I see. That makes sense. Is everything alright with you and your class?" Ayanokoji asked.

"Not really. I'm feeling a bit better, but as for my class, many still are in shock and disbelief about the whole situation. Besides that, Ryūen-kun announced that he's only going to finance our classes, housing, food, and safety until next week at most."

Ayanokoji was slightly shocked. "He did?"

Although he understood what Ryūen was aiming to, it was still a surprise, nonetheless.

Hiyori nodded a bit sadly. "Although I know that Ryūen-kun wants everyone to feel safe, many people condemn him already in our class. Some understood Ryūen-kun's aim, and some did not. He wants everyone to get by without the fighter group that is constantly fighting monsters. He plans on fighting on the front, with Albert-kun, Ichizaki-kun, Ibuki-san, Komiya-kun, Kondo-kun, and Kaneda-kun, once the floor Boss is discovered. Soon, they also want to head out to the Labyrinth, too, when everyone is at least at level 6."

"I, for my part, searched for other means of making Cor's. I did find a few ways though, through selling rare plants for potion making to a few players and NPC's."

"Your class is in a quite complicated situation. What did your homeroom teacher say about all of this?" Ayanokoji asked.

"...." Hiyori looked uncomfortable talking about this topic.

"Sakagami-sensei... died while protecting our group in the forest, yesterday evening..."

Ayanokoji looked a bit uncomfortable, seeing that he had reminded her of the tragic incident.

"What happened?" he asked. "You don't need to say it, but it might burden you less if you talk about it."

"It's fine. Yesterday at noon, Ryūen-kun, Ichizaki-kun, Ibuki-san, Albert-kun, Komiya-kun, Kondo-kun, Sakagami-sensei and I headed out to the forest, to earn more Cor's, to ensure that each one of our class had good equipment at their disposal. We fought a few of these <<little Nerpent's>> but then, after having killed a single one of them with a distinctive feature, more than hundreds of these appeared and surrounded us all. We were in panic. All of us. But then, Sakagami-sensei ran away, shouting out loudly, gathering many of them away from us. We first thought he abandoned us, but he was luring them away from us and gave us a chance to escape. We only escaped barely with our lives. Ever since then, Ryūen-kun's attitude changed immensely."

'A near death experience, huh? It makes sense that his attitude changes after having experienced that.' Ayanokoji thought.

"Ayanokoji-kun, Karuizawa-san, do you mind if I added the two of you as my friends?" Hiyori asked, steering the topic elsewhere.

It was clear that this topic quite affected her. Her usual smile was gone. She looked more apathetic now. A change that this world caused.

Both of them nodded.

"So, what are your usernames?" she asked. "Mine is Hiyori, by the way."

Kei spoke as the first one. "Mine is Kei. Kiyotaka's is Ayanokoji. His username is quite plain, right? I don't know what he was thinking when choosing this one."

Hiyori slightly giggled. "It's indeed quite a unique choice choosing your surname as your username."

[Hiyori has sent you a friend request]

[Do you accept?]

[Yes] [No]

'Yes,' Ayanokoji thought, selecting the 'Yes' button in the Interface.

"As much as I'd like to talk further, I really have an urgent plan on delivering these items to the player and the NPC."

Ayanokoji nodded in understanding. "Sure."

"Goodbye, Ayanokoji-kun, Karuizawa-san," said Hiyori, greeting them off.

It was quite the nice gesture of her, not speaking in front of his girlfriend, his first name, as they usually would do.

"She seems nice," exclaimed Kei.

"She sure is," replied Ayanokoji.

"Either way, Kiyotaka, how about we buy us something to eat?" Kei asked.

"Yeah, I know a good place."

"Really? Then, let's go there."

[TimeSkip]

Both Ayanokoji and Karuizawa arrived at the NPC, who sold food.

"When I heard you saying I know a good place, I expected something like a restaurant, or something else..."

"Don't worry, this here is also good. Two panini's, please."

"Baka," Kei muttered.

"That will be 24 Cor's."

[Cor: 88.420]

[Cor: 88.396]

"Here," Ayanokoji said, giving Kei one of the panini's.

She immediately took a bite off. "~Ume~" Kei expressed. "That tastes really good."

"I know. That's why I suggested this place."

"You know, you could be a bit more romantic. It wouldn't hurt, you know?" she muttered quietly.

Ayanokoji looked at Kei in confusion, not hearing what she said. "Did you say something?"

"Nope," she said childishly, walking a few steps in front of him.

As Ayanokoji and Kei were eating, they both seemed to have attracted much attention. Especially Kei, who had unlike any other, quite unique clothes on her on.

"Kiyotaka, they're all staring at me. It's kind of embarrassing," she muttered in his ear.

"Is that so? Well, one moment, please."

He opened his interface, taking one of his robes out of his inventory, then giving it Kei.

"Try this on. It should keep you warm," Ayanokoji said, indicating towards Kei the direction of the conversation.

"Thank you. I'm feeling a bit warmer now."

"No worries."

[Kei's New Appearance:]

"It might be a bit too large since it's my robe, but it should help. I'll buy you later a robe that should be around your size."

"No, no, Kiyotaka, this robe is really comfortable. Can I keep it?" she asked.

"Sure, I guess, if that's what you want."

Kei looked really satisfactory. "Then, let's go hunt some monsters now. I am ready."

"Do you have any ideas what weapon you'll be choosing?"

"Perhaps a dagger?" Kei frowned.

"Well, that is something I don't know."

"Yeah, I guess it's something I need to choose."

[TimeSkip]

After thirty-five minutes of walking, Kei and Ayanokoji arrived at the West Fields, the place where <<Frenzy Boars>> the weakest of all monsters of Aincrad would spawn.

"We've arrived," announced Ayanokoji. "Firstly, before you think of fighting a monster, you should think of equipping a sword skill. As of now, you have two skills, the [Cooking] skill and the [Sewing] skill equipped. But those aren't sword skills, so you should unequip one of them."

Kei looked in pain, removing one of her two skills in the skill slot bar. It was really painful to only have two skill slots. But perhaps, that'd change with leveling up one level each, Kei asked herself.

Although she was correct that you could gain more skills slotbars through leveling up, it wasn't per each level.

In the beginning, you'd need to level up to level 6 to get one additional skill slot bar. Then, at level 12. After that, you'd get them at level 20, 30, and so on.

"Then, I'll unequipp the [Sewing] Skill. I don't think I can survive without my cooking skill," Kei exclaimed.

Ayanokoji nodded without hesitation. He understood how important the [Cooking] skill was.

Kei began to equip a random base sword skill for her dagger. "So, how do I activate this 'Sword Skill', Kiyotaka?" she asked.

"I'm not sure how to explain it well, just think about executing them on an enemy, and well, then the system does the rest. Be aware, however, that sword skills have a cool-down, so you need to be able to fight, without sword skills, too, which requires your own understanding of how to fight effectively with your weapon."

Kei nodded, although she didn't understand everything that Kiyotaka said.

That being said, she understood that she should focus on doing the sword skill on her enemy, and then, the system would do the rest.

After a few seconds, the sword skill [Canine] for the dagger appeared, almost killing the <<Frenzy Boar>> until 10 remaining HP.

Seeing the HP Bar of the <<Frenzy Boar>> in front of her, she decided on holding the dagger with her two hands, then stabbing the boar, killing it in the end.

"Woah, I killed that boar. Look, Kiyotaka, I killed it," Kei expressed happily.

"You sure did," he answered. "How's the weapon?" he added.

"I'm comfortable with this. But I'm going to try something else, too."

[TimeSkip]

Kei tested multiple weapons, and most of them were not really towards her liking. The weapon she liked the most was still the 'Dagger' because it felt easy and comfortable in her hand. But she also liked the 'Rapier' somewhat to an extent.

However, she felt like the dagger appeared to be the right choice.

"I think I'll choose the dagger as my weapon," Kei answered.

"If that's the case, I might have something that you may like," Ayanokoji said, materializing one of his plenty Boar Tusk Knifes in his inventory.

By now, he had 59 Boar Tusk Knifes remaining, which was quite much, that he could sell each for at the very least for 300 to 400 Cor's, as this weapon definitely was better than the other beginner daggers, sold at weapon shops.

"Oh, a knife. Do you think I can use this in the kitchen, too, aside from killing with this Monster's?" she asked.

"I guess..." Ayanokoji answered, unsure what he should say in this situation precisely.

Well, in any case, he was happy that Kei found the weapon of her choice.

That was all that mattered.

[TimeSkip]

[Time: 13.47]

He had accompanied Kei until their home, after deciding on going to Tolbana. Before that, however, he decided to visit a blacksmith, if possible...

After all, the monsters he'd be facing in the Labyrinth were far harder than those here...

--

A/N: Well, this concludes this chapter.

Just a small question: What do you think about R18 scenes in this fic?

I'm not really against it, but I'm also completely new to that, so I have no idea whether it'd be appropriate or not.

The first part of the chapter was quite erotic, but well, I decided to stop before my fingers tipped further and further until the whole chapter would be covered by that.

I tried to choose a reasonable ending towards the erotic situation.

Luckily, I stopped before my imagination had gotten ahold of me. I'm not sure what I'd published then. But we'll never know.

Besides that, do you have any suggestions regarding the story?

Well, that'd be all.

It's a bit short, but well, I'm not sure what to precisely write in the Author Notes today.

Goodbye! Have a great day.

[Word Count: 3910]