Sword Art Online: Yuuichirou of Laughing Coffin

Chapter 3: The Truth

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!

Kouichurou groans from the sound of his alarm clock going off. He is currently in his bed; he didn't open his eyes and attempted to reach his arm out towards the alarm clock. Feeling it on his fingers, he searched for the snooze button and found it before pressing it.

When he tried to go back to sleep, he heard his curtains open as beams of sunlight flash his face. He hears Mayumi's voice afterward.

"Don't you have work today?" asked Mayumi.

Kouichirou pulled the bedsheets over his face, which was later yanked off his body by the blonde. He sits up and rubs his eyes before slowly opening them, looking at Mayumi with a tired and annoyed look.

"Come on, I made breakfast and everything," she pouts at him.

"Just because I'm letting you stay at my place doesn't mean you have to be all wife-like to me," chuckled Kouichirou softly.

Mayumi responded with a huff as she looks away from him.

"I'll get ready. Just leave the room," Kouichirou requested.

Mayumi looked back at him before smiling again, nodding and leaving the room.

Later, after getting changed and having breakfast, Kouichirou went for the door. He stopped in front of it before looking back at Mayumi.

"You sure you'll be fine being alone while I'm gone?" He asked.

"I'll just play your video games to pass the time," answered Mayumi. "Get going, or you'll be late!"

"Quit acting as if you're my wife," Kouichirou chuckled as Mayumi responded by sticking her tongue out at him. "See ya."

He opened the door before stepping out of his home. Once he closed the door behind him, he walked towards his car in the driveway, unlocking the doors before going inside the vehicle.

~~~

A few hours later, Kouichirou was in his office at RECT Inc. He works for his father's company as the company's CFO (Chief Financing Officer).

"Six years of college wasted..." he sighed.

Kouichirou has his master's degree in electronic engineering. It paid off when he helped with the designing of the NerveGear with Akihiko and the development of Sword Art Online for ARGUS.

But when he started working for his father, he put him in a position that has nothing to do with what he specializes in. He is good at it, but it wasn't a position he wanted.

Kouichirou heard his door creak open as his eyes glanced towards the door.

He saw a Japanese man the same age as him with short, slicked black hair, dark eyes and glasses, and is wearing a black business suit with a red tie.

Kouichirou immediately recognized the man as Nobuyuki Sugou. But Kouichirou usually, in a spiteful manner, calls him by:

"What do you want, four-eyed pervert?" Kouichirou questioned his colleague with a disgusted tone.

"Still as witty as ever, Kouichirou-kun," Nobuyuki smiled back at him, ignoring the insult made towards him.

Kouichirou knew Nobuyuki since middle school since his father knows Nobuyuki's parents. They weren't exactly friends, not even rivals. Nobuyuki has made claims of being Kouichirou's rival throughout middle school, but those claims soon ended when Nobuyuki could barely get second behind Kouichirou, who always had the top scores.

"I'm busy; what do you want?" Kouichirou asks Nobuyuki once more.

Kouichirou always found Nobuyuki as an annoyance, but he never really hated him. The disrespect towards Nobuyuki started to grow when he acted as a rival for Akihiko and persistently attempted to court Rinko. Why wouldn't he get pissed at him? He's best friends with Kayaba, and he also had feelings for Rinko at the time.