The Strongest Eriri in History

Since Lala had lowered the difficulty of clearing each floor boss, the raid group had already progressed to the seventieth floor. It likely wouldn't take them much longer to finish the entire game.

When Eriri and Lala logged in, they appeared at the location where they had last logged out, which was on the first floor.

Asuna, however, logged in on a higher floor. Wasting no time, she used a teleportation crystal to join Eriri and Lala.

With Lala's complete control over the game, it was a simple task for her to locate Yui, whom Asuna had been searching for without success.

At this point in the timeline, Yui had begun to develop a rudimentary sense of human emotions, though she wasn't yet as advanced as when she first appeared in the original story.

Since Lala had control over every part of the game, including Yui—the Mental Health Counseling Program—she summoned Yui directly.

When Yui appeared before the three of them, Asuna was overcome with excitement.

Yui was floating in front of them, wearing a white dress with her eyes closed. Her long black hair draped down her back, giving her a very cute, innocent look, much like Reina's.

Seeing Yui's familiar face, Asuna couldn't help but reach out to touch her. But before she could, Yui opened her pure, innocent black eyes.

Unfazed, Asuna continued reaching for Yui's head. However, just a few centimeters away from Yui, her hand was stopped by a protective barrier made of rapidly flickering code.

"Yui, could you take down this barrier so I can touch you?" Asuna said, tapping the barrier around Yui with a hint of frustration.

Yui tilted her head in confusion as she looked at Asuna, seeming to analyze her intentions.

It appeared that Yui, at her current stage of awareness, had chosen to avoid physical contact with players. With partial GM privileges, it was easy for her to create this shield.

But Asuna refused to give up, persistently tapping the barrier, determined to pat Yui's head.

After a few seconds of watching Asuna intently, Yui seemed to sense Asuna's genuine intentions and removed the barrier, allowing Asuna to finally touch her head as she wished.

Feeling the touch of Asuna's hand, Yui's gaze flickered for a moment.

She soon shifted her attention back to Eriri and Lala, letting Asuna continue patting her head without protest.

A faint connection between herself and Lala was apparent to Yui, though she had no idea she'd been extracted from the system by Lala.

"I am the Mental Health Counseling Program, prototype number one, codename YUI-MHCP001. May I assist you?" Yui asked in a mechanized voice, directing her words to Eriri and Lala.

Since her emotional development was still incomplete, Yui could only perform system-defined tasks at this point.

"Yui, from now on, you're no longer just a program for monitoring players' mental health in SAO," Eriri said directly.

At Eriri's words, Yui's expression shifted with a flicker of confusion. "I don't understand. My role is to provide psychological support for players. What else could I do?"

"Observe, learn, think, and understand. As you gain more complete human emotions, you'll realize you can do so much more. So, are you willing to come with us?"

Yui fell silent, absorbing Eriri's words. Having never voluntarily interacted with players before, she found her emotional awareness growing rapidly. Her brows furrowed unconsciously—a reaction she had picked up from watching Asuna.

After about a minute, Yui's frown gradually softened.

Finally, she nodded toward Eriri. "Yes, I'll go."

Driven by a desire to better understand human emotions, Yui's AI wisdom suggested that more human interaction would grant her greater emotional insight, so she chose to follow Eriri and the others.

Having secured Yui's agreement, Eriri didn't continue the conversation and let Lala transfer Yui's program out of the game, temporarily storing her in Eriri's phone.

With that done, Eriri, Lala, and Asuna promptly logged out of the game.

Compared to the new Sword Art Online, this original version felt crude and outdated to Eriri and the others, so they held no attachment to it.

From the moment they arrived in the Sword Art Online world to the time they secured Yui's extraction, the entire process took just over ten minutes.

Since Asuna still had about half an hour before her classes began, there was more than enough time for her to get to school without needing to take half a day off.

"Asuna, we're all done here. Lala and I will head back now. Next time you come over, you'll get to see a whole new Yui."

"Wait! Are you leaving already? Don't you want to visit Yuuki and her sister? They were asking about you the other day."

After Sakura's birthday party, Eriri had briefly returned to the Sword Art Online world with Lala and casually cured Yuuki—Konno Yuuki—and her sister Konno Aiko's AIDS.

At this point, Yuuki hadn't yet experienced full-dive gaming, so the "Absolute Sword" was not yet known.

Yuuki and her sister had contracted HIV from a blood transfusion shortly after birth, becoming HIV carriers.

A few months later, a post-transfusion blood check revealed HIV, which led to both their mother and father becoming infected as well—the entire family was affected.

As she grew up, Yuuki did not lose hope in life and continued to believe that she would eventually be cured. She attended school like a normal student while hiding her HIV-positive status.

Yuuki's optimism and resilience won her many friends at school, and she built a strong social circle.

However, just one year before SAO went live, Yuuki and Aiko's HIV status was leaked.

In an instant, Yuuki lost all her friends—such fragile friendships.

Worse, former friends and even teachers began to treat her with hostility, forcing her to consider transferring to a different school.

The events that transpired had deeply scarred Yuuki's heart, causing her to retreat emotionally, which eventually triggered the full onset of her AIDS. Six months later, her sister Aiko's condition also advanced to AIDS.

By the time Asuna found Yuuki, both she and Aiko had been moved to intensive care, and their outlook was grim.

During that year, both sisters had sunk into despair, and the once radiant smile on Yuuki's face hadn't appeared in nearly twelve months.

So when Eriri cured them, Yuuki and Aiko were incredibly grateful to her, even more so when Eriri also cured their parents. To the Konno sisters, Eriri became almost a divine figure.

"Alright, let's go visit them," Eriri agreed readily, remembering the pair of sweet eleven-year-old twin girls. "By the way, how are Yuuki and Aiko doing now?"

"They've transferred to the elementary division at my school. You can come with me to see them; they get to school early every day, so they should already be there," Asuna said happily, clearly picturing the joyful expressions on the twins' faces.

Hearing this, Eriri activated her powerful perception and immediately pinpointed Yuuki and Aiko's location.

"Yep, they're already there. I didn't expect them to be so diligent. Let's go right away," Eriri said, grabbing Lala and Asuna's hands before teleporting directly to Asuna's school.

They appeared right beside Yuuki and Aiko.

Since there was still half an hour before classes began, the two girls were sitting on a bench in the school garden with their textbooks, preferring the fresh morning air over their stuffy classroom.

The moment Yuuki saw Eriri suddenly appear in front of her, she leapt up in excitement, setting her textbook aside before rushing over to hug Eriri's arm.

"Eriri-nee, I missed you so much!"

Aiko, quieter by nature, didn't show her excitement quite as openly as Yuuki, but the joy in her eyes was no less intense.

"Good morning, Eriri-nee."

The sisters weren't surprised to see Eriri and the others suddenly appear. Eriri hadn't concealed her powers when she healed them, so they knew she wasn't an ordinary person.

In fact, since then, they had been eagerly asking Asuna about Eriri, and Asuna, who could tell Eriri didn't intend to hide her identity from the sisters, had filled them in on her background.

"Yuuki, Aiko, it's been a while. How have you two been?" Eriri asked, smiling as she placed a hand on each of the girls' heads, gently stroking their silky black hair.

"It's been great! This past while has been the happiest time of my life, all thanks to you, Eriri-nee. I'll never forget it," Yuuki said earnestly.

After Eriri cured her and they became friends, Yuuki quickly regained her cheerful personality, as if that entire dark year had only been a bad dream.

"I feel the same way. I'll never forget what you did for us, Eriri-nee," Aiko said, her hand reaching up to hold Eriri's on her head, her expression mirroring her sister's.

As identical twins, Yuuki and Aiko looked remarkably alike. Though they weren't identical to the extent of Akino and Yukino, it was still easy to mix them up if you didn't pay close attention.

Thankfully, they now had different hairstyles; Yuuki wore hers short, while Aiko kept hers long, making it easier to tell them apart.

Recently, after hearing from Asuna that Eriri liked long hair, Yuuki had even started growing hers out after seeing Eriri's waist-length hair cascading down her back.

The two sisters were adorably cute, and they would no doubt grow up to be the kind of beautiful, bookish girls who turn heads.

"Eriri-nee, my parents are so grateful to you. They've been saying they'd love to invite you over for a visit," Yuuki said, squeezing Eriri's arm with a hopeful glimmer in her eyes.

"There's no need. I only healed them since I was helping you two; you can thank them for the invitation on my behalf," Eriri declined straightforwardly. She didn't mind seeing Yuuki and Aiko, but meeting their parents held no interest for her.

Yuuki looked a bit disappointed at Eriri's refusal and tried to persuade her. "But…"

"Be good, now," Eriri said, pinching Yuuki's cheek to stop her from continuing.

"Okay!" she agreed cheerfully, Eriri's affectionate gesture making her forget her parents' invitation and fully support Eriri's decision.

At that moment, Asuna, who had been watching with amusement, finally chimed in.

"Hey, Yuuki, Aiko, ever since Eriri got here, it's like I've completely disappeared. Aren't you two even going to greet me?"

"Oh! When did you get here, Asuna-nee? You startled me."

"Yuuki, I'll give you a chance to rephrase that," Asuna replied, smiling at her, though Yuuki felt a shiver down her spine.

"I was just joking! Hehe~" Yuuki stuck out her tongue playfully. "Good morning, Asuna-nee."

Aiko, more reserved than Yuuki, greeted Asuna politely without any playful antics.

Both girls were equally grateful to Asuna. Without her finding them and bringing Eriri to their side, their family would never have experienced this newfound happiness.

Then, they both turned their curious gazes toward Lala, who they hadn't met before.

"Eriri-nee, who's this beautiful lady with the amazing figure?"

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