Sword Art Online: Faithful Hymn

Chapter 38: Beyond Bounds

"Whoaa... Yuna! You never told me you were human!" I say to Yuna, jokingly. While I am preparing ourselves some bami goreng, I see that Yuna looks at me in response. "Yeah but of course I am. All humans are being born in a capsule right?" teases Yuna, while she throws a plush toy at me that she brought with her from upstairs. I shriek as result, due to the sudden motion thrown to me. I manage to grab the plush toy with one hand, while I hold a spatula in my other hand.

"Your bear will be mixed with this bami! Here goess!" When I move the plush bear closer to the frying pan, I can hear Yuna stand up and run towards me. "Noo, not Lil' Shoji!" she shouts as she snatches her teddy bear from my hand. She rubs her head on her teddy, while I pet her head whilst trying to make our delicious Indonesian food. The sight of her cuddling with her teddy bear is such an adorable view, that it almost makes me want to make a picture of her together with the teddy.

Wait a second, why haven't we taken a single picture yet?

"Say, Yuna, ever wanted to get onto a photo with me?" I tell her, with Yuna standing speechless in front of me. She then reveals a grumpy face, something I have never seen her pull off before. "Can Lil' Shoji be on it as well?" I wink at the beautiful girl, who looks like a real cutie together with 'Lil' Shoji'. "Well, just this once!" I tease the girl, who stands behind me with her plush, ready to meet the camera for the first time.

So far, only one picture has been taken ever since we've been together. That being the moment where I managed to dunk the ball in the basket during basketball training. Yuna took it, something I really didn't expect. If she is that talented already, without having had any practice before, I believe that Yuna can become way more than just a singer: A photographer even!

I let go of my spatula for a second, while I grab my phone which obviously has a camera has built in it. Yuna positions herself in a nice pose, together with her teddy bear. She sticks out her tongue to tease me, with me being ready to take the picture any moment now.

Until..

Yuna's body starts to resonate holy white light out of a sudden. The force coming from her body lifts her up, letting her float a little. The girl closes her eyes, while she absorbs the energy that comes from deep within her. Ten seconds later, she no longer levitates above the floor, thus she lands on her feet again. And before I knew, I recorded the entire thing.

"Yuna? Are you alright?" I ask the girl, who doesn't seem to know what just happened. She looks at me, with doubt in her mind. "I'm fine, but I got no idea what just happened. Could you check the time?" the white-haired diva asked me, while I have no idea what connection the time could have with the strange light coming from her. I grab my phone, checking the time.

March 22th, 07:01 PM

"The Augma got released a minute ago. Maybe it's connected to that..?" Yuna asks me, while I have no idea. It would make great sense, since Yuna got developed as symbol for Ordinal Scale, the famous Augmented Reality game after all. Because of that, I assume that Yuna obtained some kinds of bonuses?

"Maybe you've gained some bonuses? Maybe check your inventory!" I tell her, almost being certain that she might have gained some items as reward or anything like that. Yuna obeys my wish, and she opens her inventory which still is invisible for me. She swipes the menu down, seeing a surprised face as a result.

"New.." says Yuna softly, only by slowly pressing the newly appeared button shortly after. Next to Yuna, I could see something appear in holy white light, the same kind of light that appeared around Yuna before. My sight became brightened, and it even blinded me for a little while. However, it was totally worth it, knowing that the thing that appeared before me was an adorable looking... thing. I don't know, it has the shape of an airplane, even though it's something completely different. It has eyes, as well as two red orbs attached to each 'wing'.