The feeling of being watched only got stronger over the following week, and Drifter had started to become quite paranoid. But even after commissioning Akari and Fuumaningum to keep an eye out on the Reaver's Mansion's surroundings, nothing out of the ordinary had been found.
Right now, the spearmaster was sitting on the roof of the estate, scanning the surroundings with eagle eyes. Kirito joined him, both using Searching with reckless abandon, but with similarly lackluster results.
It was maddening. They both knew there was something out there, both felt it, but they were the only ones.
"So, everyone downstairs thinks we are insane?"
Kirito snorted.
"Being who we are, I don't think that was ever in question. But they don't believe we are going crazy, if that's what you are asking."
"At least someone doesn't. I'm not so sure myself."
The spearmaster laid back on the roof and stared at the underside of the floor above.
"The hell is going on with us, Kirito?"
"Dunno. But something is out there. I'm sure of that."
"So am I. But what? Not players. Not mobs. Between us two, Sinon, Akari, and Argo, we have five of the highest proficiencies in Searching in Aincrad. Sinon's only about 80 points from maxing it out. There's nothing that could hide from her."
It was a discussion they had had before. But saying it aloud helped pass the time, and who knew? Maybe they would have some miraculous insight.
"Something that isn't affected by Searching then. Some long-range spying skill."
"Never heard of one."
"Me neither. So something else. A system glitch. Or the system itself..."
That was what Drifter was the most afraid of. What if it wasn't a glitch, but rather Cardinal or Kayaba themselves watching them? That would explain why they couldn't find anything no matter how hard they tried. After all, those two were the gods of this world. If they didn't want to be seen, they wouldn't.
But that assumption begged the question: why? Why would Kayaba or Cardinal be so interested in them, especially now of all moments? Why not after the 25th Massacre of the Laughing Coffin Raid? Or even the opening of the 51st floor. Those were all much more interesting occasions.
"We should get down before Asuna and Yuna send out a search party."
Kirito said that in a tone which made it clear he was too tired to think on the topic of their stalker. Drifter's answering smile was just as exhausted.
"I could do with a good night's sleep. Don't think today will be the day, however."
Kirito just nodded, all the weight of the world on his shoulders. Bidding good night to his guild leader, the Black Swordsman jumped down from the roof to the second floor balcony, and from there to inside the mansion.
Drifter lingered, gaze still staring unblinking at Aincrad's beautiful and terrible imitation of the night sky.
It was too much sometimes. Too real and too fake. All of it, all at once. A virtual world where love and hate and life and death were more intense than they had ever been in the outside world.
It overwhelmed Drifter, especially in moments like this, when he had nothing but his thoughts to dwell on.
Luckily - or unluckily - he didn't have much more time to lose himself in his own mind. A warm breeze brushed his face, and his eyes widened. His spear was in his hand before he had fully gotten up.
Something was here.
...
Kirito had just left Drifter and was making his way to the kitchen to pick up a midnight snack for himself and Asuna when his instincts kicked into overdrive.
The feeling of being watched had suddenly got so much stronger it felt like a physical pressure.
"Who--!"
His head snapped to the side, and he saw her.
His right hand swept through his menu so fast it was barely visible, and his black sword materialized on his back. His hand reached for the hilt, half of the weapon out of its sheath, before he got a good look at the person across from him.
Standing at barely over a meter tall, barefoot, long black hair flowing down to the middle of her back, and a modest one-piece pink dress covering her frame. Those were the first things Kirito noticed.
The next were her eyes. Big and blue, framed by delicate round cheeks covered in a light pink blush, as if she had been running just seconds before.
The girl was one of the prettiest children Kirito had ever seen. She looked to be just 8 or 9 years old, but he had no doubt she would grow up to be a beauty comparable to Asuna, Yuna, and Kizmel.
The hand that was drawing the sword halted. But he didn't release it.
"Who are you?"
The child had an expression of such confusion that Kirito felt like a bad guy for asking the question so harshly. The way she tilted her head to the side, as if not fully comprehending his words, was one of the cutest things he had ever seen.
There was something about her that set him at ease. Something warm and fuzzy and protective.
It scared him.
This was the Reaver's Mansion. The only ones who could access it were the guild members, and whoever else Drifter wrote on the list. He was sure this strange little girl wasn't one of them.
How had she gotten past the system protections? Who was she? What was she? The feelings she inspired on him, were they true or some sort of skill?
Too many questions, and the girl hadn't even answered the first one he asked. His grip tightened and a couple more centimeters of the sword were revealed. He repeated his inquiry.
"Who are you?"
The girl wasn't afraid of him, that much was certain. Her gaze flickered briefly to the cold steel shining under the lamp, and he saw the curiosity in it. But then those big, round eyes were back to staring at him like he was a puzzle she was trying to solve.
"I... I am..."
The words were halting, unsure. The cadence was wrong, like a child learning to speak for the first time.
"My... name..."
She frowned as if trying to recall a memory that danced just out of reach. Her brow scrunched up cutely, and the Black Swordsman once more felt like a ray of sunshine had beamed directly into his heart.
"...Yui? Yui... Yui. Yui!"
She repeated the word, each time with a different intonation, at first uncertain, then stronger, louder. Her smile as she seemingly remembered her name could have lit up the sun, and Kirito was almost unable to resist the urge to praise her.
There was just something about the girl that drew him to her. Not the same kind of affection he felt for Asuna or Drifter or any of his guildmates.
Something... intimate, but not in any silly way. Like a bond he never knew existed, and yet felt so right.
"You're called Yui?"
"Yes! I am Yui!"
She looked entirely too proud of it, and, despite a voice in the back of his mind that sounded suspiciously like Drifter telling him not to lower his guard, Kirito smiled.
"Nice to meet you, Yui. But how did you get here?"
He tried to make his voice sound gentle, even going so far as to let his sword drop back into its scabbard, though he kept his hand loosely around the hilt.
"Uhmm..."
Yui tapped her lower lip with a dainty finger, seeming to be furiously thinking. Then she tilted her head again and smiled.
"I don't know!"
Kirito couldn't help but notice her speech pattern was improving rapidly. But her answer caught his attention more than how she spoke.
"You don't know?"
"Uhum! I was asleep! And then I woke up! I felt like I would be happy if I came here. So I did!"
Kirito stared at the happy little girl, unsure of how to respond. On one hand, what she was describing was impossible. On the other... she was just a child.
But it wouldn't be the first time appearances had been deceiving. Mobs covered themselves in all manners of disguises, and some red players had seemed normal until the moment the truth was revealed.
His eyes flickered to just over Yui's head, where a green cursor floated, and he used Searching. Only her name popped up.
A player, then. Or an NPC. Though her behavior was too fluid to be an ordinary non-playable character. Possibly an advanced AI like Kizmel had been.
Or still just a player, in which case Kirito was staring down a kitten as if it were a mountain lion.
He would rather that than make the mistake of doing the opposite. And he wasn't the only one who seemed to think so.
"Everything alright, Kirito?"
Drifter's tone was conversational as he made his way down the corridor behind Yui, but his gaze had only briefly landed on the Black Swordsman before boring down onto the girl, and his spear was in his hands, even if lowered towards the floor.
Kirito nodded, but raised an eyebrow and jerked his head to the side in a question. The only way he could have come up behind Yui was if he had gone the long way around the building to purposefully trap her between them.
The spearmaster shrugged minutely. That was exactly what he had done, as soon as he had come down and heard Kirito talking to someone whose voice he didn't recognize.
Maybe he was being needlessly paranoid, but Drifter didn't think so. He was a guild leader, and one of the pillars of the Assault Team and Aincrad. He had to keep an eye out for all kinds of odd developments in the castle, and a strange girl bypassing the security of a private safe zone definitely classified as odd.
"And who are you?"
"My name is Yui!"
She said it so happily, and Drifter felt the same tenderness in his heart as Kirito did when he looked at her. Yui's wide smile seemed to strike them right where it mattered the most.
The girl herself wasn't sure why she felt such a connection to the two young men, to the point where even Drifter's obvious wariness and unsheathed spear did nothing to deter her enthusiasm.
Drifter exchanged another glance with Kirito, then slowly put away his weapon. He stepped closer to Yui, who beamed at him and made no move to retreat. She was even bouncing on her heels.
"Are you a player, Yui?"
She tilted her head, and Drifter was hit with the same cuteness attack as Kirito before him.
"What's a player?"
An NPC then, but definitely one just as special as Kizmel had been. Some of Drifter's unease returned, but Yui's next words threw him for a loop.
"Ah, you mean like you, mister?!"
Now the spearmaster was well and truly confounded. NPCs weren't supposed to know about players. Even Kizmel hadn't been able to grasp the concept before she became one herself.
Drifter looked at Kirito again, and knelt down in front of Yui, staring her in the eye.
"Yeah. Like me. Can you do this?"
He swept his left index finger down, and his menu popped up in front of him. With a few clicks, he made it visible to everyone. Yui gasped in delight.
"Ah! You have one too, mister!"
Before Drifter could react, she mimicked him and, lo and behold, a holographic screen appeared for her. Drifter furrowed his brow.
"Do you mind if I take a look at it, Yui?"
"You can!"
She had zero wariness towards him. Drifter silently shook his head at that, and peeked at her menu. His eyebrows shot up and kept climbing higher.
No items. No skills. No equipment. No level. Just her name, 'YUI' in capital letters.
What the hell? Definitely not a player. But also not an NPC either. What in the name of the gods was Yui?
Thankfully Drifter still trusted the system to enforce the safe zone rules inside the Reaver's Mansion, the random little girl break-in notwithstanding, otherwise he might have attacked her just out of principle.
Instead, he looked over her head to Kirito yet again, sending an unspoken message that the Black Swordsman should stay on his guard. Then he focused on Yui again.
"Tell you what. Why don't we go to the kitchen and get you something to eat. Meanwhile, Kirito here will wake everybody up so they can meet you."
And help if she turned out to be a problem, but that didn't need to be said out loud, though Yui appeared oblivious to the double meaning.
"Okay!"
She really did look and act just like a child. And odd one, but still just a child. Drifter couldn't bring himself to interrogate her. At least not without disguising it as a nice, polite conversation.
He still wanted to know what she was.
While Kirito rushed to wake everyone up, Drifter led Yui to the kitchen, taking care to always keep her in front of him.
But the young girl proved to be as harmless as she looked, her curious eyes darting around and taking in everything about the building, occasionally making 'ooh!' or 'ah!' exclamations when she saw something interesting. Despite himself, Drifter couldn't help but smile.
"Here, you can sit down. Are you hungry?"
Yui hopped onto a chair, her bare feet dangling without touching the ground, and tilted her head again the same way as before.
"I don't know. What does hungry feel like?"
Drifter blinked. How was he supposed to explain that?
"Drifter!"
Luckily he was saved from having to answer the question by the rest of the Reavers filing in on the kitchen, most wearing pajamas or some kind of nightwear, or, in Agil's case, just going around topless, but all carrying their weapons.
Their gazes were instantly drawn to Yui. Kirito had managed a short explanation while waking them up, but it mostly consisted of 'there's a kid here, Drifter is with her, might be an enemy'.
Now seeing the child in question, most of them were startled. She wasn't what they expected when Kirito said she could possibly be hostile.
Yui, on her part, simply looked at the heavily armed group with curiosity, still tilting her head, before putting on a bright smile and waving.
"Hi!"