Sword Art Online:ME12

Status: Incomplete

ME12: Sword Art Online 16.8

Part 1

The first consumer use full dive machine «nerve gear» sent super weak electromagnetic pulse signals containing information on the five senses of vision, hearing, taste, smell and touch to the user’s brain, allowing the creation of a virtual reality environment with full bodily sensation. However, that virtual reality, from the perspective of I, who had lived in the electronic prison for two years, reproduced the senses slightly different from in reality. The reproduction of touch and hearing can almost be called perfect. The information that came in were artificial 3-D objects and synthetic sounds, so although it couldn’t be exactly like the real world, I practically had no memories of discomfort with my senses of sight and hearing.

My senses of smell and taste were also fairly consistent. «The feeling of eating», in other words the data for taste, fragrance, texture, and consistency, were being generated in real time, were resigned to doing that. Preset data could be made with a «taste playback engine», but if you somehow got used to it, you’d think that simply delicious virtual food was incredibly delicious real food. In particular, food made by a certain Fencer-sama who had completed her cooking skill, like even a simple fried egg, gives an unforgettable satisfaction in this virtual world. Well, I guess a few mental changes were also made.

And finally tactile sense, which includes, in particular, the feeling of warmth and the sensation of skin touching. Unfortunately, this uncomfortable feeling that I’m being followed has yet to disappear... Anyways, it feels good to actively touch things, like the leather lovingly wrapped around the sword handle, creating a reliable, comfortable grip, or the smooth, long hair of the one I love.Those feelings have a resolution no less than the real world, satisfying my tactile senses. However the passive information, in other words the various natural feelings of my skin on the entire body, is vastly different from the real world. The feeling of rubbing against the inside of my clothes; the weight of my outer garments and the stretchiness of my pants; the temperature of the air and feel of the current; the feeling of pressure on the soles of my feet as I stand on the ground, or on my bottom as I sit in a chair. These «continual complex sensory systems» were simplified to the maximum in SAO. This was probably because the amount of information would be too much. Of course there was the feeling of wearing something, but it was blurred, like a low resolution image. Nonetheless, it’s still possible to get used to it. Even in reality, one can not possibly be always conscious of the feeling of their clothes. As long as you don’t mind it, everyday life (although there’s a sense of discomfort using this word in Aincrad) is not really ill effect at all. However, situations where bodily experiences are affected by the low quality tactile data inevitably occur. Like how the entire body, fully unequipped, feels when submerged under heated liquids. In other words, a hot bath.

October 25th, 2024, 10AM. From the other side of the bathroom door I could faintly hear humming “nnnn fufu fufu n” in addition to the light sound of water. I recalled my time spent at a dark elf’s camp, but now, I now have something I didn’t have back then--the right to open this door. Breathing heavily, I lightly knocked on the wooden door. The humming stopped, and after a brief pause, “come in” was softly spoken in response. “E-excuse me”, I replied, also in a soft voice, as I opened the door. Rays of sun entered the bathroom through the window in the back, reflected off of the enveloping steam, causing me to squint my eyes.

The log house on the 22nd floor of Aincrad wasn’t really large, but it did have a bath house. It was about 2x4 meters. The size of a normal unit bath in the real world was 1618, or 1.6 meters by 1.8 meters, so the area was was a little over 2.8 times larger, on par to a hot spring inn--or perhaps that would be a bit of a stretch. Rumor has it, in the «DDA», fort-class guild home on a hill on the 56th floor, there was a 10 meter large, enormous marble bath, but it’s unlikely I’ll ever be able to go there. For a player home, however, this bath is simply luxurious. Furthermore, It’s covered in cypress trees, and hot spring water flows from it’s source.

“Nee, how long are you going to keep standing there?”, sounded from the other side, behind the dense steam, interrupting my thoughts.

Returning to myself, I hastily replied, "Ah, coming, I'm coming".

From the other side of the large bathtub came a second question, "Dressed like that?"

Looking down at my body, I noticed I was still clad in my usual black garb.

"Ah, I'm stripping, I'm stripping", I answered as I opened my status window and pressed the removal all equips button. I stored my equipment in my storage, and was greeted by the gentle feel of the hot steam on my avatar's exposed skin. I'm glad to be able to be here, I thought. But in this situation, if I, a young 16 year old boy, were able to maintain my sanity, then I would truly have become elevated to the level of the hero of a single-player RPG. For a simple VRMMO player like me, however, I received a debuff of 90% of my mental capacity. Thus in this state, I had no choice but to unsteadily advance.

In my view, after going about three meters into the bath, was a vast spread of shimmering water. And at the end, exposed from the shoulder up, was the fencer-san with chestnut-color hair. As Asuna looked up at me, her face turned red due to the heat of the water, or perhaps because... Thinking this, I quickly finished my trek across the bath. Although it is customary to bathe oneself before entering an onsen, in Aincrad, one doesn't get dirty even from the mucus of mud-type monsters.

"Excuse me" I muttered in a small voice. Opposite of Asuna, it was as if all my discomfort vanished. Although it was this type of situation, what I first felt was definitely the goodness of the bath. "Ahhhh", a moan of contentment naturally slipped out of my mouth. I had about a 30th of Asuna's passion for bathing, but I definitely didn't dislike it. The perfect temperature, with moderate pressure, permeated through every single cell of my skin.

"Ahhhhh", sinking into the water up to my mouth, I let out a long sight of satisfaction. I had finally achieved «That». "Bo, bo bo bo... bobe?" After scooping up and letting fall the hot water countless times with my hand, I saw Asuna's face from the other side of the steam.

"Eh, it might be my imagination, but hasn't the water up until now been like, different?"

"Yeah, it's different isn't it", said a certain young wife with a maxed ofuro skill, nodding with her head popping out of the water. "I was thinking about this when I was bathing in the morning, but this bath really does feel natural. Until now, baths have felt more like being pressed by a hot membrane rather than hot water, but bathing here feels as if you're actually getting wet".

"Yeah... I can properly feel water pressure, myself floating, and the water flowing on my skin... Ahhh, ofuro's feel so nice... It would be nice to be able to do this everyday". As I sank back into the water, water droplets flew into the air with a splash. Asuna was splashing the water with her fingertips.

"Hey, Kirito-kun. It's not 'it would be nice', just come in every day. Although the question is why you feel that way"

"Hm... You're right..." Shifting my body again, I looked down at the rippling water. With that, I finally realized the truth. The water that filled the tub wasn't completely transparent. "Ahhh!!! It's as if we've entered a hot spring", I shouted, moving my right hand up and down underwater. The water became turbid for approximately 30 centimeters. Looking back up, I saw a certain fencer-san giggling happily from across the steam.

"It was rather hard to get, but I tried putting in some bathing powder in the form of an herb I acquired earlier. If you soak in it for 30 minutes, you get a poison immunity buff for three hours. It's a rather rare item you know".

"A buff from just an herb...."

"Huh, what was that?"

"I said nothing, sir"

"Is there a problem?"

"No problems, sir", I replied to the vice commander while I continued to stare at the water's surface. Normally, my line of sight would be on the being in front of me, but I could almost make out a pair of beautiful, thin, white legs, obscured by the turbid water. Wallowing in a sadness even I didn't understand, I said "Then, is this feeling from that too? Like, perhaps the bathing powder caused an improvement in our bathing experience?"

"I didn't put any in when I bathed in the morning, but it still felt like it does now"

"I-I see" Passionate to solve the mystery of the bath, I began my investigation anew, while absent-mindedly splashing around with my right hand. Although it surprised me at first, when I tried concentrating on my senses again, I realized the bath didn't feel exactly like a real bath. The way the water split into smaller pieces felt artificial, and the sound of the water was too standardized. But that was just my sight and hearing, so if I closed my eyes and stayed as still as possible, I still had the tactile sense of my body being fully immersed in the water without any of the previous disorientation.

"Hmm, maybe a liquid-environment related update was added without our knowing". Immediately after I voiced my idea, another splash came from the other side of the fog as Asuna shook her head. "The water didn't feel any different when I was washing the dishes earlier".

"Then... maybe there's a sensory enhancer in just the bath of this log cabin?"

"If this house had that kind of sale's point, then I think it would've been listed in the notes area of the purchase window". My second solution was also quickly struck down.

"Um... um...", searching for a third possibility as I slipped deeper into the water, i stretched my folded legs unconsciously. Upon doing so, the tips of my toes touched something incredibly soft. At the same time, Asuna moved her body with a twitch. This caused a 170 cm ripple to come across me, causing the water to ripple up to the tip of my nose. Moaning, "mmmm, mmmm", I moved my toes up and down. The thing I had touched conveyed a comfortable squishiness to my toes, and at the same time, another ripple formed.

"Hey!! Kirito-kun, focus on the task at hand".

"Of course I'm focusing". This was the back of Asuna's foot... No, the distance would be different. Then the calf... Or perhaps the back of her knee...

"Ahhhh... S-stop", Asuna quietly murmured as she tried to pull back her legs, but I slowly moved forward in the water, maintaining contact. Having found an incredibly soft and smooth spot, I was able to continue my squishing.

"Mmmmm... geez... I just said we would bathe together", protested a certain fencer-san in a husky voice, her face becoming 30% redder than just a few minutes earlier. Closing her eyelids and lightly biting her lower lip, Asuna accepted the tactile stimulus, making a really cute face in the process. Any 16 year old boy who was able to hold back in such a situation could definitely become the protagonist of a teen novel. I noticed I had reached the center of the 2 meter long bath tub. From here, I needed to take extreme care. However, at times, one must boldly advance forward. Watching Asuna's reaction, I extended my hand under the turbid water to where I predicted Asuna's slender right leg would be and grabbed.

"Ahh, yaaa!" Asuna reflexively pulled back. I advanced further, matching her movements. Asuna thrust her leg out of the water from calf to ankle, causing my fingers slide across her leg. I gently massaged the soft muscles of Asuna's leg, usually hidden by her knee-high boots, causing Asuna, who had been leaning her upper body against the tub, to sharply throw her head back.

"Nnnn" As the cloudy portion of the water divided, a stretch of water was left completely transparent. At this point, I lost all sense of reason, and in one final bound closed the remaining 75 cm between us.