Torn Between Worlds

Chapter 27: Ordinal Scale

It's been about 6 months since Yuuki joined our group and during that time AR was becoming a hit with VR taking a back seat. 

Personally, I didn't mind and Yuna often sang at some of the raids.  Kirito, on the other hand, was less than pleased. 

"Cheer up Kirito, think of it like this, Yui is now in the real world," I argued. 

"Yeah I guess that's true," he agreed as we sat at a booth in the Golden Nugget. 

"I like AR because we're exercising our real bodies," Lisbeth remarked. 

"You just like watching Mordred work out, Lisbeth," Rosalia argued as she brought over our drinks. 

"W-what?! N-no!" Lisbeth denied what she knew to be true. "But on a side note I bet you really like being able to eat real food again, right Yuuki?" she asked her. 

"Yeah, it's great," she agreed as she drank her shake a bit too quickly. "Owie! Mordred my headache's!" she cried. 

"That's what we call a brain freeze, it occurs when we drink something cold too fast," I explained. 

"I don't like it," she complained. 

"No one does," Lisbeth told her. 

"So Mordred it's going to be a hot week being the summer and all, what should we all do?" Asuna asked me. 

"Well Yuuki has yet to go to the beach, so I say that's where we should go," I suggested. 

"Yes, the beach! Golden sand, blue waves, Mordred in a bathing suit," Lisbeth fantasied. 

"I never knew you were such a perv, Lisbeth," I teased her. 

"What! No! You didn't hear anything!" she remarked before chowing down on her cake slice. "But didn't your folks say they were gonna take a trip back to the states?" she asked me. "Are you gonna go?"

"Maybe, not sure yet," I remarked as I ate some of my apple pie. 

"Well, it's as they say, nothin' says American like eating apple pie!" Yuuki stated.

"Who told you that?" I asked her. 

"Klien," she informed me. 

"That doesn't surprise me, and besides its eating apple pie, with fireworks going off in the background, and old glory waving high in the sky while a bald eagle rest on your shoulder that's truly American," I joked. 

Seeing Lisbeth and the others think to themselves, they all began to laugh.

"You imagined me as the person didn't you?" I asked them.

"No of course not," Asuna laughed. "Sorry, but next to Agil and Sasha you're the only American in the group, so it was bound to happen," she remarked. "Also isn't your make stuff explode day coming up soon?" she asked me. 

"Okay, you cannot be that naïve. It's called Independence Day and we do celebrate by blowing off fireworks and having barbecues with friends and family alike," I explained. 

"I know, I was just messing with you," Asuna admitted. 

After paying the tab, we left the golden nugget and walked over to the Dicey Cafe. 

"We're back!" Yuuki announced. 

"How was it?" Agil asked her. 

"Good, though I got a brain freeze which still hurts," she explained. 

"It'll pass," Agil assured her. "Though the day is still young, what's the game plan?" he asked us. 

"Beach?" we all suggested.