Sword Art Online - The Midnight Shadow

Chapter 9 - Open Air Bath - Girls' Side

There was something ironic about Sword Art Online.

Despite it being a game, it was not something that you play.

Furthermore, despite it being a game, it could sometimes be a bit monotonous with how similar it was to real life.

To alleviate the monotony, the Moonlit Black Cats had become interested in a form of entertainment that one may consider «archaic».

Sitting around a table, they were all holding a hand of cards.

Everyone had their poker faces on, which was actually more difficult in Aincrad due to the way that the system tended to exaggerate emotions.

...However, they were hiding more than just their expressions and cards...

What nobody wanted to admit to each other was that most of them had forgotten certain rules of the games they suggested and had to pretend that they knew what they were doing.

Unfortunately, the one of them who did remember the rules only remembered two games which they would otherwise be forced to play on repeat.

Perhaps that was why when their ally from another guild came up to them with a proposal for an activity, they readily agreed despite the condition attached.

***

"This is amazing!" Liz called.

She was overlooking the pool of water, which although small could probably comfortably hold six people. In fact, it was more authentic than they had thought it would be. The bathtub surrounded by rocks was slightly inclined and a lavish stream of hot water gushed out from uphill, flowing down without moderation. Beyond the plain wooden fence surrounding the bathtub was the foliage of trees turning bright-red and an unobstructed blue sky, as the outer circumference was nearby. It was practically the same as a free-flowing natural hot spring.

"I can't believe there was something like this so close by!" Asuna, who had tied her long hair into a bun, called with the same level of excitement as her friend.

Spreading their arms, they let the gentle breeze waft the steam emanating from the water over them.

Unwilling to wait anymore, they dashed towards a nearby rock and placed their weapons against it.

However, before they would jump in the water, they turned towards the girls who weren't joining in on their antics.

They were a teenage girl with shoulder-length, night-blue hair, which she had slightly pulled back and secured with a hairband, and a younger girl with brown hair which was ordinarily stylized into pigtails but it was let down for now.

Wrapped in white towels, they kept a considerable distance away from the more excited girls as they looked at them timidly.

"Sorry, girls," Liz apologized insincerely. "But if you want to get in, you'll have to take off everything."

They looked to Asuna, who they hoped would be more reasonable.

Unfortunately... she was not. "I'm sorry, Sachi, Silica," she spoke apologetically. "But we have to follow the authentic hot spring experience."

"And that means," Liz grinned maliciously and at the same time, she grabbed the edge of her towel, "no clothes at all!"

She punctuated her statement by tearing off the towel covering her to expose her avatar's body in all its glory.

...Although for some reason the steam from the water seemed to surround her body.

"Eep!" the younger girl squealed.

Not completely certain why, Sachi put her glove-covered left hand over Silica's eyes and a protective hand on her friend's shoulder. Quickly they took a step back, feeling a bit nervous of the other two girls.

"A-actually..." Sachi said timidly. "Maybe we'll go in with the boys when you're done..."

Liz looked at her incredulously, which Sachi returned nervously.

Somehow I feel like I'll be safer with-

Perhaps if she weren't too concerned at the thought of her safety, she wouldn't have been caught off guard by what happened next.

With an extremely fast motion, Asuna got beside Sachi and quickly picked her up in a princess style carry. "Sorry," she barely whispered.

"Eep!" Sachi let out a high-pitched squeak.

Being at a much higher level than her fellow frontliner, Asuna had a very high strength stat that rivaled her speed. It was easily enough to pick up a rather petite person.

At the same time, Liz immediately grabbed the girl's towel in her hands and with a single, clean movement tore it off.

"Hey!" Sachi could only shriek at the betrayal of the girls whom she considered some of her best friends.

One of said traitors only looked slightly apologetic with her eyes as she smiled maliciously.

"Sorry," Asuna insincerely apologized again, although this time she flashed her a thin grin.

And with that, she threw her into the nearby body of water with a loud splash.

For a second, she let herself lay at the bottom of the water, her back gently touching the rocks at the bottom. Despite being completely submerged, she could feel the heat of the virtual water warming every part of her entire body.

It took her some time to finally bring herself out of the water. Her hair, now waterlogged, was stuck against her neck and shoulders as she took a reflexive deep breath.

Taking a look back to the traitors and Silica, she saw that everyone was looking at her with what may have been concern as their eyes were widened and they seemed slightly slack-jawed.

She blinked a few times before putting up her arm, she beckoned the other girls over.

"The hot spring is great! Come and join me!"

It didn't take very long before all three jumped into the water.

Asuna and Liz didn't even care that Silica entered with her towel on as all four rested their backs against the back of the hot spring and let out a simultaneous sigh.

***

If anyone had told me that I would have a hot springs chapter when I began writing, I would've called them crazy. Personally, I've never been too much of a fan of the fanservice episodes of anything (or really fanservice in general), but I wanted a little more bonding time before going into the main story. Plus, it's not like we see all of the teen Aincrad heroines together in canon.