Chapter 136: Hachiman's Party Fully Assembled
"Onee-chan~!" "Komachi!"
The five who arrived in Alne were greeted by Yukino and Komachi. Komachi gleefully ran up to Asuna and clung to her affectionately.
Seeing this scene, Hachiman felt a sudden sense of crisis. Nervously, he asked Komachi:
"H-Hey, Komachi... who do you like more—your brother or your sister?"
"Haa?"
Komachi responded with an extremely disgusted face, leaving Hachiman on the verge of tears. But the next moment, she suddenly beamed a radiant smile and approached him. Hachiman, moved, spread his arms wide for a hug—
—but Komachi nimbly dodged and said:
"Obviously, it's Onee-chan, you garbage brother."
"Guhh!"
Hachiman collapsed to the ground on the spot. Perhaps feeling a little sorry for him, Komachi added:
"The way you asked was the problem. If you'd asked, 'You love both of us, right?' I would've said yes~"
Encouraged by that, Hachiman sat up and rephrased:
"I-I see… Then, Komachi, you love both your brother and your sister, right?"
"Mm~ Well, there's a bit of a gap, but I love both, Onii-chan!"
"I-I see... As long as you love me, that's fine! Komachi, your brother loves you so much!"
"Mm, I don't love you that much, but thanks anyway, Onii-chan!"
Komachi then ran back to Asuna, seemingly ending the conversation. Still, seeing the satisfied look on Hachiman's face, maybe this was enough.
Watching their interaction, Yukino seemed unusually playful and suddenly asked Komachi:
"By the way, Komachi-san, who do you like more: me or Hachiman-kun?"
"Yukino-san!"
"And Yui or Hachiman-kun?"
"Yui-senpai!"
"And Iroha or Hachiman-kun?"
"Iroha-senpai!"
"H-Hey, Komachi..."
"I completely understand now. Thank you, Komachi-san."
"Yesss~!"
Yukino smiled sweetly and stepped back, thoroughly satisfied. Hachiman visibly deflated, and Kirito and Liz patted him on the shoulder as if to comfort him.
"Mi..."
Hachiman looked at them with eyes begging for salvation, only to be met with barely-contained laughter.
"Even you guys?! AAAHHHH!"
"Please be quiet, Hachiman-kun. Since it's the truth, you must accept it."
"......"
"Alright, let's do introductions. I'm Yukino. Asuna-san, Liz-san, nice to meet you."
"I'm Komachi! Liz-san, nice to meet you!"
"I'm Asuna, looking forward to working with you."
"I'm Liz. I'm a blacksmith, pleased to meet you!"
Komachi looked curiously at Liz's character design—it was rare to see a Leprechaun race character.
"Liz-san, you're a Leprechaun, huh."
"Yeah! I saw in the class guide that they're great at smithing and thought, 'This is it!'"
"I see! Then next time, let's go gather materials together!"
"Sure!"
Komachi and Liz hit it off immediately. Hachiman, clinging to a final shred of hope, asked again:
"Komachi... I know it's hopeless, but... between me and Liz, who do you like more?"
"Liz-san!"
"Ughhh..."
Hachiman collapsed again. Soleil (Haruno) grabbed the back of his collar and began dragging him as she said to Yukino:
"Yukino-chan, lead us to the temporary base, please."
"Alright, let's head out."
Everyone followed Yukino, with Hachiman being dragged by Soleil the whole way.
Seeing this, Asuna whispered to Komachi:
"Komachi, you actually really like Hachiman-kun, don't you?"
"Of course! But if I said that to his face, he'd stop trying to earn my affection. So I'll never let him know!"
"I see. Soleil-oneechan said something similar."
"It's the secret to a harmonious family!"
"Totally."
Yukino led the group to a modest standalone house on the outskirts of town. It was spacious enough to serve as a temporary base.
"The official base will be chosen after Hachiman-kun establishes the guild."
"This is more than enough for now."
"Now hurry up and pick a name for the guild."
"O-Okay… I'll think of something."
Everyone settled inside.
"In about two hours, everyone will be here. What should we do until then?"
"Who's coming today?"
"The people who are expected to join your guild, Hachiman-kun."
"I see. So these are the future adventure companions."
"Normally it's hard to gather everyone, but we managed to coordinate today."
"Speaking of which..."
Hachiman stared intently at Soleil.
"Kyaah! Hachiman-kun is giving me beast-like eyes! Save me, Asuna-chan!"
"...Can you not."
"Fine, fine. I just wanted to ask—Soleil-san, are you a guild member too?"
"Huh? Of course! Though I probably won't have time to join activities. Thanks to you, Hachiman-kun, I'm super busy these days."
"Ah... um... s-sorry, Soleil-san."
"Hachiman-kun, you fell into Onee-chan's pace again."
"But yeah, I really am busy, so I need to work hard for a while."
"Don't worry about it, Hachiman-kun. Onee-chan looks really happy lately."
"Yeah, because I have so many adorable little sisters."
Saying that, Soleil hugged Asuna again. Hachiman noticed Yukino's eyebrow twitch slightly.
'Yukino definitely feels something toward Asuna. I'm not in a position to comment, but I'll have to keep an eye on it.'
"Back on topic—the members joining today are Klein, Agil, Silica, Leafa, Recon, Yui, Iroha, Mobius, and someone I don't know named Argo."
Hearing that surprising name, three people reacted:
"Argo-san!?" "Argo's coming?" "So even Argo..."
"Though Argo-chan is really busy, so she probably won't be around often."
"Even seeing her occasionally is enough."
"Right… so that makes... sixteen people?"
"More might join later. Probably up to twenty at most."
"That's quite the scale. Good luck, Hachiman."
"..."
(As a side note: the guild would eventually exceed even twenty members.)
Soon, members began arriving. Klein, Agil, and Silica joyfully reunited with Liz, sharing recent updates.
Mobius sat beside Hachiman, listening to stories from the SAO days. Leafa was prying Kirito for info about Liz, hoping to build rapport.
Then came a knock at the door, and two players entered.
"Sorry we're late~" "Sheesh~ We finally made it."
"Yui, Iroha, you're late."
"Sorry! We had to go to the Sylph capital first~"
"What for?"
"To pick someone up. Yumiko, over here!"
"Yumiko?"
"Right here, senpai."
"Senpai?"
A female player nervously stepped inside, guided by the two, and introduced herself:
"Um... I'm Yumiko. Pleased to meet you."
"Huh? Miura-san!?" "Miura!?" "Whoa, it's Miura-san!"
All the Sobu High members and even Kirito recognized her.
"So even Miura—Yumiko's joined the world of VRMMOs. How is it?"
"Uh… it's so real it's scary… but using magic is a totally new experience."
"I see... This is my old classmate, Yumiko. She's a beginner, so please help her out."
Hachiman introduced her, and everyone warmly greeted her. Yumiko, surprisingly uncharacteristically shy, responded timidly.
"Yumiko-san, are you alright? Your personality seems totally different."
"Yukino... even I get nervous sometimes, okay?"
"You'll get used to it soon. No weirdos here."
"Except Recon."
Leafa chimed in, prompting Recon to protest:
"Leafa-chan, that's so mean!"
Hachiman stepped in to smooth things over.
"Alright, alright. I actually have high hopes for you, Recon."
"H-Hachiman-san... I..."
Hachiman patted him on the shoulder, and Recon nodded with emotion.
"Now that everyone's here, let's work well together from now on."
"Wait, what about Argo-san?"
"I'm right here, Asuna-chan."
"YAAAH!"
At some point, Argo had silently appeared behind Asuna. Hachiman had apparently noticed but stayed silent. Komachi had seen her too, but stayed quiet since Hachiman didn't react.
"That's everyone. Let's all get along from here on out."
With that, the full roster of Hachiman's guild was assembled, and a new chapter of their adventure was about to begin.