(Rewriting) Akashi Seijurou, the Emperor of Sword Art Online

Chapter V

"That was the last one."

"Good job team, now let's head back home for some refreshments." Will fetched his teammates to the exit before some other parties who had accompanied them for the clearings decided to continue fighting.

"Good," said Levi. "I'm hungry."

"Today's Ki's turn to cook, isn't it?" Atsuran smiled playfully as he ruffled Ki's peach coloured hair. She snapped her tiny teeth at him acting like a crocodile when he did. She looked uncomfortable at first but decided to play along with the elder man. Although they act like they're siblings, both of them weren't actually blood related.

"That's awesome! I love Ki's cooking!" cheered June skipping happily next to the team. "She happens to be one of the only person here who'd bother upgrading her cooking levels."

"Well, if it wasn't for me. You all won't be having nice meals everyday." Ki sneered playfully. She quickly approached Sei who was walking casually behind everyone. He stopped abruptly when Ki appeared in front of him. "Hey, let's go get some groceries together."

"What? Me?"

"Yes. The others are too boring to go with," she said as the other people have already started talking about what they're going to do when they've reached home, and she bet that they were all going to gamble at some card games again.

Knowing for weeks that she and Sei both hates gambling, she's decided she might as well just drag the boy who shouldn't be involved with that kind of activities with her.

"And I've never tried grocery shopping with you," she said. "It might be fun."

"I'm not sure if I'll be able to help."

"Sure you can! Just be my escort." Ki winked at him as she gestured him to the others who busy bickering amongst themselves about who's in dept of who.

The second he had got the message, he hastily nodded. "Okay, what do we need?"

-

"Do you like fish, Sei? Maybe we can get some fresh ones by the lake outside of town."

Sei was picking up their herbs from the seller for their appetizers when Ki asked. He looked at her for a while and nodded. "Not a bad idea. I do fancy fish, but I'm not sure about how the fish in SAO would taste like."

"Good news is I just leveled up my cooking skills and I was given the recipes for fish! So, I was hoping that I could try them out tonight." Ki proudly said as she strode down the path to the lake. She passed by a few onlookers before she stopped, looking at Sei who was at the back. She motioned him to come faster where he only smiled to see how adorable a girl could be whenever she's excited.

Speaking of which, Sei was surprised to see that Ki was one of the lesser ones to smile. She might have been traumatized as well to not show any sign of happiness.

But in all of a sudden, Sei's train of thoughts were taken off tracks when he saw Ki jumping into the lake with her shoes on without any further notice.

"Ki!" he reactively shouted running towards the lake.

The girl looked up from the water smiling at him, "What?"

It might have been for a moment, but Sei swore that his heart stopped when he thought that she would drown.

"Y-you... Why are you in the water?" he retorted sounding angrier by the minute. He had to stand by the edge of the lake to talk when she was swimming further and further away from the shore.

"Just taking a swim!" cheered Ki splashing around the lake.

"Are we not here for the fish?" he asked, annoyed.

Ki took a few seconds to swim back to where Sei was, she stayed in the water as she gave her answer. "Well, you can start fishing, and I'll try catching some while swimming."

Sei looked at her with wide surprised eyes. "You...?"

"Or would you like to join me in the water?"

The second she had said that, Sei looked devastated. "N-No, thank you," he quickly said as he went to the wooden platform by the lake to start fishing. Ki giggled a little before resuming her swim in the water.

Basically, the boy doesn't really fancy the water as much as he like being trapped in this world.

-

"Dinner's ready!" announced the petite little girl setting up the table with one swipe of the menu button. Things in SAO were oversimplified where it showed no sign of realism at some point.

"Great! Coz I'm starving," grumbled Will coming closer to the table with June behind him.

The dishes served were looking unbelievably magnificent, and thanks to Sei's skill at catching one decent fish, which was by luck, the main course dressed the table with mouthwatering food.

When Ki first joined the team, it was a shock for the team to hear that the Little Ki would volunteer to cook. At that time, the boys have already experienced the severity taste of food from June's cooking. The members have never thought of giving this kind of chore to the little one, however, it all changed when Ki started cooking for them that fine night. She became the chef of the team, not that she complained though.

Atsuran had appeared from the bathroom looking soaked and wet from his shower. As much as the others fancy his and Levi's cooking, he personally enjoyed Ki's cooking more than him own.

"Let me get dressed and I'll be down in a minute," the blue haired man hastily said as he jumped up the stairs, like in super lightning speed.

"Where's Levi?" asked Will already munching away the meat.

June was looking at her boyfriend disgustingly before saying, "He's in his room sleeping ever since we came back."

"He's still in the room?"

June nods.

"I'll go get him," said Ki swatting away Will's hand from stealing another piece of meat from someone else's plate. "Sei, make sure that the glutton doesn't take anything extra from the others."

"Hey!"

Sei sat down on his seat facing Will looking at him carefully. "Okay." The leader swallowed hard when he did.

When Atsuran had come down from the stairs, he quickly sped across the room to get seated by the dining table. The others had already started eating when someone noticed that Ki was taking longer than expected to fetch the other guy.

"Where's Levi and Ki?" asked June sipping on her tea when she was already done savoring her dish.

"They're here," said Atsuran.

Then, something inside of Sei ticked the instant he saw Ki holding Levi's hand walking down the stairway.

-

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Author's Message;

It takes a lot of courage to continue a chapter and publish it. I hope you enjoyed! Thank you for the ones who've waited for this.

SingingFish.