The large metal doors loomed over our party of four as we approached the entrance of the SBC Flugel. I'm quiet as Hikaru calls out for his mother to open the doors.

"Mom, I'm home!" However, an alarm goes off, making my heart skip a beat. A scratchy metal-like sound can be heard over a radio.

"Did we do something wrong? That doesn't sound like a good thing!" I exclaimed. Kirito nodded in panicked concern.

"Be careful! I don't know what it's trying to say, but it's clearly not happy we're here." He exclaimed to the three of us. Hikaru shook his head in disbelief.

"I don't understand, what is the matter? These people are my master and my new friends! They're fine, I swear!" Hikaru yelled back at the door. Kureha looks over at Hikaru, her brows furrowed in concern.

"Hikaru, do you know what it's saying?" He answers her question with a nod. The machine roars mechanically once more, causing Hikaru to flinch back in shock.

"W-what? We can't go inside...? It's saying all trespassers will be eliminated!" That made the rest of us flinch as well. Kirito frowns as he looks back to Kureha and I.

"It sure knows hot to cut to the chase. Let's do this, (Y/N), Kureha!" We nod back at him. Almost right after, the doors open to reveal a mechanical giant.

"It looks like we won't get in without a fight. We can't lose, you guys!" I exclaimed. After I stated that, the robot seemed to narrow its sights onto my form. As right after it had, it fired a rocket in my direction. I gasped and rolled out of the way, my friends yelling my name as I did so.

"I'm all right! You guys handle taking this thing down!" I yelled back at them. I heard Kirito's voice from somewhere nearby.

"Right!" We took turns running behind pillars for cover, however nothing seemed to be working. It was as if our bullets were doing absolutely nothing to the boss' armor. Even shots at what should be critical hit spots did next to nothing. Gritting my teeth tensely made my jaw sore. I must be gritting my teeth in real life as well if I'm able to feel it. Kirito runs up to the pillar next to mine on the bridge leading to the ship. I look over at him, covering my head as a rocket explodes nearby causing the ground to shake. Smoke and dirt fill the air, making it hard to breathe.

"What..." I coughed before I could finish my sentence.

"What are we going to do about this Gatekeeper?" Kirito shouted back, finishing my sentence. Kureha was beside him. Hikaru was beside me at my own pillar.

"That thing is..." Kureha coughs from the smoke as well. "It's crazy strong! I don't think its HP has dropped at all, even after hitting it that many times!" She yells back to us. Kirito nods beside her.

"Yeah, this is something else... I almost feel like it's too strong, and I think I might know why..." Kirito trails off as another rocket is shot out at us. My pillar, to be specific. I let a yelp of shock leave my throat. Kirito notices and makes the call.

"Let's pull back for now! It's clear we screwed up somehow! It's extremely likely this enemy is invincible by design and is supposed to force us to retreat." He yells back at us. Kureha looks around for an escape route. I do the same from my location as well.

"Okay, but how? I'm not seeing a way out of here!" She exclaims back to him. Kirito looks back at me.

"(Y/N), use your UFG and take Hikaru out of here! You should be able to scale these walls and get out while Kureha and I cover you." I frown.

"I don't want to leave you guys behind though!" I yell back at him.

"Just go! If something happens to Hikaru, then we won't be able to make it into the SBC Flugel at all!" He yells back. I grit my teeth again, knowing he's right.

"On you're command, Kirito." I call back. He nods. A flurry of attacks from the boss guarding the doors is let loose, there's a moment of respite for a second.

"Now! Hurry up and get out while we have its attention!" I nod, raising the UFG towards higher ground away from the bridge. Hikaru tries to run back to help them, but I stop him, shaking my head. I find myself looking back over at Kirito and Kureha as they fight. Kirito notices that we haven't left yet and yells at me.

"Just go!" I frown, launching us away from the fight. When we land, Hikaru has a frown on his face.

"I'm sorry, Master." I shake my head, showing him it's okay.

"It isn't your fault, Hikaru. Let's head back to the city and see if we can't figure out what went wrong." He let out a depressed sigh and nodded. He's really upset by this setback. We eventually find ourselves back in Kirito and the others' room. Everyone is there still from Itsuki to Yuuki. Asuna raises a brow when only Hikaru and I walk through the door.

"Is everything alright, (Y/N)? Did something happen?" I sigh and nod.

"We got to the door just fine, but when we tried to enter, we basically got the bad ending of the quest and a giant robot spawned. Thing is, we couldn't kill it no matter what we did. Kirito and Kureha stayed behind while Hikaru and I escaped. Kirito thinks it was an event designed to make us run away." I explained. Sinon hummed in thought.

"So, Kirito thought that's what it was? You're sure that's what he said?" Asuna looked over at Sinon with a nod.

"It can happen. If you don't trigger all of the event flags for a quest right, sometimes you'll spring a trap or some other sort of punishment." She stated and Sinon crossed her arms.

"Yeah, that's true. Spawning an unbeatable enemy isn't unheard of in those sorts of cases. That might've been what happened here." I nodded in agreement to what the both of them had said. Hikaru's frown deepened, catching Asuna's attention.

"Don't let it get to you Hikaru, I'm sure Kirito and Kureha will be back soon." Yuuki gave the AI a bright smile, trying to cheer him up.

"Asuna's right! Besides, it looks like we can retry this quest as many times as we want, so a loss or two isn't a big deal." After she said that, Kirito and Kureha walked in through the door.

"Hey guys, we're back!" Kirito exclaims, waving to us all. Leafa's eyes widen in shock as she looks over at Asuna.

"Whoa, speak of the devil! It's like you're a psychic, Asuna!" My own eyes widen when I realize that Asuna had indeed said that the two in question would be back soon. Kureha sighs in dismay at Kirito.

"I really think we should have stayed, we almost had it. If we kept going we could have killed it." She complains and Kirito shakes his head at her.

"I don't that would have happened. It was pretty obvious that enemy was rigged to never let its HP hit zero." He explains to her. Asuna smiles at the both of them.

"I'm just glad the both of you are back safe and sound." Kureha nods her thanks to Asuna, and then places a hand on her hip.

"I take it you already heard about what happened from (Y/N), then?" Asuna nods and I sigh.

"I'm sorry for leaving you two to fight on your own out there. We should have done more research before attempting to get into the SBC Flugel. I should have known it wouldn't have been as easy as just walking up and getting access." I stated, closing my eyes and waiting for the berating remarks from Kureha. Instead, she laughs.

"What's done is done! It's all in the past now. If you really want to make up for it, you can treat me to dinner!" I fight the urge to make any noises of shock. Kirito agrees with Kureha.

"Actually, yeah, that sounds good to me. I saw a funky little place that caught my eye earlier. We should go check it out. But before we do that, we should figure out our next move." Kureha agrees with Kirito.

"Right. It's clear that we're still missing something in order to get inside the SBC Flugel. But what? We did all of the required quests." I sweatdrop, how are they able to switch subjects so fast like that? Itsuki voices his thoughts out to the rest of us.

"Do we still need to find more ArFA-sys parts?" He asks and Hikaru shakes his head dully.

"No, I have all of them now, thanks to you guys." He states. Kirito hums in thought.

"Hm, maybe we need to find a password or some sort of key that'll let us in?" He states and Itsuki shakes his head, looking at Kirito.

"No, I don't think so. The way this quest is supposed to go, the ArFA-sys units are supposed to serve as that key. There are already multiple players who have brought their ArFA-sys units along and managed to get inside the ship." At the mention of other players already inside the ship with their ArFA-sys units, Hikaru lets out an almost unnoticeable whimper of dismay. I look over at him and frown in concern. He's really not taking this well. Itsuki hums in thought and then shakes his head with a full body shrug.

"I've got nothing. Hey, ArFA-sys. You're not forgetting something important, are you?" He asks Hikaru that in an almost patronizing tone of voice. He's upset I get it, but he should take it out on Hikaru. Hikaru shakes his head, you can see the disappointment on his face when he responds.

"I don't... I'm sorry everyone..." I frown in concern and shake my head at him.

"Hikaru, you don't have to apologize. This isn't your fault." I tell him. He frowns even more.

"But, still." I shake my head once more.

"As your master, this is my responsibility." I state back to him. It doesn't seem to do much to life Hikaru's spirits, though.

"I think what (Y/N) is trying to say, is that it's on us players for not having enough info before trying to get into the ship. It's a bit unfair to try and pin a mission loss on an NPC. You were just doing your job as an ArFA-sys, after all." It seems Itsuki realized he might have been too harsh with his words earlier. I let a small sigh of relief slip past my lips. I was gonna have a talk with him if he kept on acting that way to Hikaru.

"It's important to figure out how these sorts of things happen, but let's not lose sight of what comes next either." Kirito stated. Klein nods and looks over to Agil, Silica and Lisbeth.

"Right! I say we go to the city and try to gather some more intel. If we're lucky, that cute little Type-B just might know something!" He exclaims in excitement. I sweatdrop, not knowing if he's excited to look for information, or to hit on the female NPC again. Probably the latter, if I'm honest. Agil and the girls shake their heads at him as well.

"You're still hitting on her? Seriously?" Agil asks in disbelief. I laugh at that. Agil responds before Klein can answer his question.

"On second thought, don't answer that. I don't otherwise disagree with you; scrounging for more intel is a good idea." Lisbeth nods in agreement.

"Yeah, I'll ask around and see if I can dig anything up. Somebody's got to know something. We're not the only ones who want to get into the ship, after all." She states to them, Silica pumps her fists into the air.

"In that case, I'll see if there are any rumors floating around that might be worth looking into, too." After hearing their talking, Yui looks over to Kirito and Asuna.

"Judging by how many people have made it inside, I'd say our chances of coming across some sort of lead are really good." She stated, and Sinon speaks out next.

"We could always pay for the information from info brokers like Argo. Do keep in mind about our resources though." Asuna gives the teal-haired woman a curt nod.

"Right. I think we just generally relied too much on Hikaru, placing more pressure than was needed on him." I nod in agreement to that statement.

"Yeah, I feel really bad about it too." Kureha looks over to where Hikaru, should have been, only to find him not there.

"Wait, where did he go? He was just right there!" I gasp, realizing she was right. I look around, only to not spot him anywhere.

"Why didn't I notice him leave?" I asked myself. Asuna notices my panicked expression and she smiles calmly.

"Stay calm, it's probably all right. He couldn't have gotten that far." Agil nods.

"Yeah, but I'm still worried. You saw the way Hikaru looked. I doubt he just took off to run some errands." Leafa's eyes widened when she realized what Agil was saying.

"Wait, you don't think he ran away, do you?!" She exclaimed in shock. Kureha frowned, her brows furrowed in concern.

"We have no way of knowing for sure at this point. But I think it's safe to say he's in a lot of pain right now. He probably feels weak, like he was just being a burden on that quest. I know that's how I'd be feeling if I were in his shoes." She stated, causing me to frown. I immediately took off out of the room. I heard my friends calling out my name as I left.

"I have to find him." I whispered under my breath. I race out of the housing building and right into Zeliska. She catches me so that I don't fall.

"Woah there! What's wrong? You look like the world's about to end or something!" She exclaims after she helps me stay upright.

"Tell me what happened, (Y/N). Maybe I can help you out somehow." She tells me soothly. I bite my lip, frantically looking around.

"Hikaru's missing." I then explain everything that's happened up until this point.

"Hikaru ran away from home just because you lost at that quest? Really?!" She asked in shock and I nodded.

"Yeah, he did." I frown at the thought of how much pain he must be in right now. Zeliska tilts her head in confusion.

"You've got me curious now, though. I was able to go inside the Flugel with no problems, myself. You really should only need an ArFA-sys unit to get in." Zeliska stated. Hearing that just concerns me even more. If that was the case, we should have been able to get in, right? Daisy shakes he head at her master.

"Master, your assertation is slightly incorrect. When passing through the gate, we did have to engage in combat with an enemy in order to prove we had the strength to fo inside." Zeliska nods at her ArFA-sys and shrugs, not seeming to understand what her unit was getting at.

"Well, yeah, but that thing was so low level, it barely even counts, if you ask me." I raised a brow. The enemy was easy for her?

"What? When we fought the Gatekeeper, our attacks did nothing to it. Nothing we did would drop its health points to zero." Zeliska raised a brow.

"Hm? It wasn't like that for you? Don't tell me Hikaru never told you about the-" I stopped her before she could say anything else. I want Hikaru to tell me what we missed.

"Stop! If Hikaru missed something, I want to hear it from him." She chuckled and smiled.

"Yeah, you're right. You should hear about all of this from Hikaru directly." She then chuckles again, her smile on her face is a teasing one.

"Still, the fact that this happened at all is intriguing. I don't know what's causing it to act in this way. Did the person that created him place unique personality traits in the unit, or is it your own influence as its master? I can't really say; but I can say that I've never heard of a runaway ArFA-sys unit before... or a master so intent on finding their unit, for that matter." She chuckles. I shrug.

"Who wouldn't want to find their friend, I mean ArFA-sys and make sure they were safe. You would do the same for Daisy, I'm sure." I ask her and she nods at my response.

"I would. Now that I think about it, a familiar figure did run past us heading towards the observatory. I'm pretty sure it was Hikaru." Daisy tilts her head at her master.

"I attempted to call out when it ran past, but I received no response. It's possible we may be mistaken." Daisy stated, causing Zeliska to laugh.

"Daisy, trust me. I'd recognize that cutie anywhere, even if I was blind. I'd hurry after him if I were you, (Y/N). I've got a feeling he's waiting for you." I nod and thank them for the information.

"Thank you so much, Zeliska! I don't know what I'd do if something happened to him..." She smiles softly.

"I know, now hurry along and go find him." I nod and take off towards the shop area with the intent of continuing to the observatory. As I pass through the shops, I'm stopped by a face I have seen in a while.

"Hey, what's got you all rattled up?" It's Joe. I stop, might as well ask him if he's seen Hikaru.

"Have you seen Hikaru anywhere? He ran off earlier and I'm trying to find him." I ask him, trying to be nice to him, even though he's tried to take Hikaru away from me before.

"Well, ain't that a damn shame... for you, at least." A tick mark grew on my forehead. "It sure didn't look like it wanted to see your sorry face ever again." Those words cut into my heart. Does he really not want to see any of us ever again? My mind goes back to how XaXa is in this game now as well. My eyes widen at a thought I hadn't thought of.

"What will happen if he finds out about Hikaru?" Wait, did I say that out loud?

"You talkin' about me?" Joe asks, I frantically shake my head.

"No, it has nothing to do with you. Now, if all you have to say to me is about how much Hikaru hates me, then don't bother. I need to find him for his own safety. If he's out on his own right now, someone that's after me could really hurt him! So please, if you know where he's at, I'd really appreciate it." I bowed, showing the urgency of the situation. The sincere look on my face made Joe rethink his earlier statement.

"Gah, he went up towards the Governor's Office. I don't need to know nor want to know any of the details." So he's still around there. I nodded.

"Thank you, Joe!" I took off before he could stop me. Racing up the stairs led me to being out of breath at the top.

"Man, that's a lot of stairs. Wait, this is VR... don't pull a Klein, (Y/N)!" I smacked my cheeks. That certainly would have been a lot of stairs to go up at a running pace in the real world. A shadow catches my attention. Looking up, I spot Hikaru looking out over the city. I sigh, and jog on up the rest of the way to the location he's at. When I approach him, he speaks up.

"You finally found me. I always knew you would... It was only a matter of time. I know I can't leave this city without my master. I actually forgot about that, funnily enough." I open my mouth to say something, but he beats me to it.

"Master, I think I've made up my mind. I... I want you to void your registration with me. There must be something that's broken in me. I don't think I'm functioning right. An android who can't serve their master properly has no purpose. I've been such a huge failure this whole time, just always messing up... I'm going to report back to my mom and see if she can fix me. I don't know what'll happen after that, but I don't have any other choice. I'll return my name too. I don't deserve to be called that by you... Goodbye, Master..." I frown, then sigh and smile at Hikaru.

"Let's go home, Hikaru. I wouldn't give you up even if you were broken. You're too precious to me and nothing you say or do would change my mind on the subject." He turns around with a surprised expression. Tears well up in his eyes.

"Master, I... Do you really mean that? Are you really sure about having an ArFA-sys like me?" I softly nod at him, however he only frowns harder.

"I'm trash. Garbage. Worthless! You deserve so much better than me!" I give him a stern glare.

"Hikaru, don't ever call yourself any of those ever again! You are none of those things, you're the best, and I wouldn't want any other ArFA-sys other than you." He looks down, away from me.

"I... I feel the same way. I want to stay with you, Master. I don't want to work for anybody else but you. There's only one master in this whole wide world... And it's the one standing right in front of me!" I smile at him. He seems convinced now and in a better mindset. His eyes suddenly widened in shock.

"Only one... Only one... That's it, Master!" I tilted my head in confusion.

"Did you remember something, Hikaru?" He nodded, perking back to his usual self.

"I remember what my mom said! She said I could bring one friend with me to see her!" My eyes widened in shock.

"We brought too many people! That's why Zeliska said she had no issues going in with Daisy." Hikaru nodded.

"Well, what matters is I remember how the SBC Flugel works now. First, you've got to register in order to enter and leave it freely. Initially, only the person accompanying the ArFA-sys can be registered. That person also has to pass a test from the gatekeeper to proceed. I broke that rule without even realizing it and brought three people, which must've made Mom mad. You don't want to get on her bad side, no joke. This is all my fault. If I'd remembered this sooner, this wouldn't of happened. I'm sure everyone's mad at me right now..." I chuckle and shake my head at him.

"They aren't, trust me. Everyone's been really worried about you." He sighs in relief.

"But if nobody's mad, then I'm extra not ready to go back yet. I have to atone for this grave mistake and set things straight first! Okay, maybe that was a little melodramatic. But, I do want to make up for what I did and clear my name! Master, come with me! We're getting past that gate this time! We're going to get that entry key for the ship and bring it back to the others! It'll be the best souvenir ever!" He exclaims.

"Alright! That enemy shouldn't be as hard this time either!" I told him. He pumped his fist into the air happily.

"Alright, Master! Now, let's hurry and get back to the SBC Flugel!" He exclaimed. We then hurried back out to the bridge leading to the ship. I found myself looking up at the towering metal door once more. The mechanical noise over the radio was back and Hikaru responded back to it.

"We're back, mom!" It responds back to him and Hikaru translates for me.

"She says she's about to start the test to determine if we can come inside. Are you ready, Master? You're already so strong as it is. I'm sure we won't have any problems with the gatekeeper this time!" I nod.

"As ready as I'll ever be, Hikaru." He nodded as well.

"I'll do everything I can to support you in this fight too, so give it your all, Master!" He exclaimed, and as he had done so, the doors opened and revealed the enemy we attempted to fight just hours ago.

"Alright, let's defeat this thing once and for all, Hikaru!"

"Right!" With that, we sprung into motion. It started once again with rockets. I rolled between the legs, making sure it didn't step on me and shot up at its weak point on its back. One hit was enough to make it bow down to its knees and we both took a decent chunk of its health off of it. It stood back up, and then stomped on the ground. The force of the movement brought both Hikaru and myself to our knees, stunning us for a moment. It began to fire a missile at Hikaru. I gasped, pushing through the paralysis to push him out of the way.

"Master!" Hikaru let out a panicked shout after I had done so. I felt the missile hit my body and send me flying back. I let out a pained shriek, but stood back up even if it hurt.

"Master, I'll heal you, just hold on!" I nodded. Hikaru shot a healing bullet at me and I sighed in relief, watching the bruises vanish from my skin. I narrowed my sights back onto the enemy. It turned towards Hikaru, leaving its back open for an attack.

"Gotcha." I swap weapons, opting for my sniper rifle in this moment, and kneel to the ground to stabilize my aim.

Breathe in. The Bullet Circle narrows as I calm my breathing. Everything seems to go silent as I focus on this shot.

Breathe out. The circle is completely still now. All sounds around me seem to have just vanished, even though the boss is moving around and firing.

Shoot.

The Gatekeeper falls to its knees and breaks into millions of polygons of data, floating up into the sky. I stand back up from my kneeled position and unequip my weapon. Hikaru looks at me in amazement, causing me to smile over at him.

"At last... We finally beat it, Master! I knew you had it in you!" He exclaims. After he does so, the radio comes back to life.

"You're now officially allowed to enter the SBC Flugel as you please. You can even bring everyone else with you too!" He explains. That's great!

"I can't wait to see the look on their faces when we tell them! Then I can put this all behind me!" Hikaru exclaims, causing me to chuckle.

"I'm sure they're going to be extremely proud of you." I tell him, he nod in agreement with me.

"Yeah, you're probably right. That's what I think so too!" He then looks towards the ship.

"I really want to see my mom again, but we should report back to Kirito first. Let's get going, Master!" We turn around and head back, only to run into some familiar faces.

"Oh, hi Zeliska. Nice to see you!" Hikaru greets Zeliska. Was she heading back into the SBC Flugel, or did she have a feeling we'd be here?

"Likewise. You look like you're in good spirits. I take it you two can now get inside the Flugel. I'm so relieved." Daisy bows to us, as she always does when she greets us.

"Congratulations on completing the event." I smiled at her.

"Thanks, Daisy." I met Zeliska's gaze again. She smiles at me, placing her hand on her hip.

"I always figured you'd pull through in the end, (Y/N), but I'm still impressed by how far you've come. You're so strong now. When we first met, I just took you as a newbie who managed to get by on a lot of dumb luck, however I know now just what it is you've had to go through to get to this moment." I let a little laugh slip past my lips.

"Well, I wouldn't have gotten this far if it weren't for you and everyone else. I was just a newbie in the beginning getting by on a lot of dumb luck, after all." I joked, causing her to laugh.

"I don't know if you realize this, but there's a real earnestness to what you say... I wish I had that myself, truth be told. It's one of your strongest points. I think that's the biggest reason why Hikaru has grown up to be capable of so many emotions. He's undergone a really striking transformation as an ArFA-sys, and its unusual specs and settings can only explain so much of that by themselves." Zeliska explains. I raise a brow at her words, taking in the information.

"You really seem to know a lot, that or you're really paying attention what goes on around you." I state and she shrugs.

"Well, it's not like I'm an expert in these sorts of things, so take what I say with a grain of salt. As you should with anyone online in any game." I nod, as she's right. The person I see before me could very well be someone with malicious intentions; however, after knowing her for so long, I'd be amazed if I was blind to it all this time.

"One thing's for sure: Hikaru is surrounded by a lot of love from you and your friends, and I think that's made a really positive impact." Just thinking about how worried everyone was when he ran off solidified that fact. They weren't concerned about their ticket onto the ship, they were worried for their friend.

"GGO's one of those games that has no shortage of players that just love to brag about how strong they are to anyone who'll listen. And I'm not denying their strength. Lots of them are plenty strong. But, if you ask me, I think the strongest players are those who recognize their own weaknesses and use that knowledge to better themselves. And you know something? I think you just might have what it takes to be one of the absolute strongest players in this game. And I, for one, like strong players." Her comment takes me aback by surprise. She continues, not giving me the chance to say anything just yet.

"Let me make a proposal to you, (Y/N). What do you say about becoming my partner?" U-um? Does she mean for the SBC Flugel or something else entirely?!

"I can only imagine the SBC Flugel will be crawling with enemies left and right- and who knows what else is in store for us?" Okay, she's talking about partying up for the Flugel.

"I could join up with a tactical squadron, I suppose, but I'd rather have a partner I don't have to second-guess." Daisy speaks up from beside Zeliska.

"Master, don't forget that I also have support abilities that are designed to help you in combat." She states and Zeliska looks over at her, smiling.

"Of course. I'm fully aware of that. Thank you, Daisy. I just don't want to drag you into battles as much as I can help it. Obviously, if push comes to shove, I'll be counting on you to help, but otherwise I'd rather you lie low in those instances." Zeliska explained to her ArFA-sys. Daisy did her signature bow.

"Yes, Master. As you wish." Zeliska turned her attention back to my form.

"So, what do you think, (Y/N)? I can guarantee you'll never find a better partner than me." She asks me. Is she asking to be my friend? But, aren't we already friends?

"Aren't we already friends, though? You're welcome to join me when I go with everyone else, they wouldn't mind. I consider you just as much a friend as I do everyone else." I stated and she laughs.

"That's not exactly what I meant. I'd rather it be just the two of us, you and me, if you get what I'm saying... But I can't say I'm surprised to hear you say that. In that case, I suppose I can settle for joining up with you all." I smile at her, feeling excited for the future to come.

"I'm glad, you'll get along with everyone, I'm sure of it!" I exclaim. She laughs again, hiding her smile behind her hand.

"I look forward to our future adventuring together. I'll see to it that I'm your right-hand woman sooner or later," She chuckles. "Those who have an eye on you better watch out, or else I might just end up snatching you right from under their noses!" She teases, causing my cheeks to burn red.

"Z-Zeliska!" She laughs.

"I'm kidding, well, maybe not so much..." She teases me the entire way back to Kirito's home.