Yoshida's eyes grew wide as he pulled his bike to a stop in front of one of the richest gated communities in all of Japan. The only reason he knew about this place was that it was all over the news for months a few years ago and his dad was big on watching the news.

"You live in there!" he exclaimed in surprise.

"I do now, usually I was only here on the weekends. Or when mom was doing a long work bender that made her stay at the lab. I used to live with mom, before, well... you know." Hanako explained as she leaned around him to talk to him better.

Yoshida stared at her in shock. Why in the world did a rich girl like her want to be friends with people like their group? Wasn't she a bit too far up the social ladder for them?

"Do you want to come in? I'm not sure what will be there in terms of snacks, but I know we'll have something to drink at the very least." Hanako offered, not wanting to be alone quite yet. Before SAO she was very used to being alone, but since then she had gotten used to nearly always being around someone. Usually Kirito, but she also spent a lot of time with Agil. After she woke up in the hospital she was always around doctors, nurses, the Gov. man, and Hazama once they met. She didn't want to be alone again, she knew just how big and lonely this apartment could be.

"Don't you have things you'll have to do your first day back home?" Yoshida questioned. He already felt out of place and they were still outside the gates.

"Um, not really. Dad's at work and probably will be there until super late, if he comes home at all. I don't really have anything planned other than not being at the hospital anymore." Hanako mumbled out.

Yoshida rubbed the back of his neck before nodding, "Yeah, sure, I can stay for a bit. Let me just update my dad." He pulled his phone out and sent a quick text saying he would probably be back later than first thought. When he looked back up from his phone he knew he made the correct decision. Hanako's face was lit up in happiness. They walked the bike up to the gatehouse and Hanako showed her ID badge to the guard. Yoshida had to sign in on a guestbook and was told to sign back out when he left. There were six different buildings, each three floors high, and from what he remembered from when this place was built each building had three homes to it. Each floor having its own home. Hanako's building was the farthest one back and she lived in what was basically the top penthouse floor. They parked his bike into the garage and were heading for the front door when a voice caught their attention.

"Miss Ishii?"

Hanako turned around sharply, suspicion flooding her face as she glanced at the man that was heading towards them quickly. Yoshida tensed up, ready to defend his new friend if he had to. He wasn't Terasaka, but he could hold his own in a brawl if it came down to it.

The man clearly saw how uncomfortable the two teens were and he quickly pulled out his badge and showed it to them, "I'm sorry for startling you, I was told you'd be expecting me. My name is Shoji Eto, and I'll be one of the agents stationed here for your protection. Kikuka Deijirou assigned myself and one other agent who will introduce herself when her shift starts as your guards. I had been expecting you a few hours ago, we were starting to get worried."

Understanding dawned on Hanako's face, she had totally forgotten that Gov. man was sending agents to keep reporters, angry family members of SAO, and her mother away from her, "Right, I'm sorry. I completely forgot." She glanced at Yoshida who had positioned himself in front of her slightly and a grin pulled at her lips, "This is my friend Yoshida, he gave me a ride home. And please call me Hanako."

The man nodded, "Right, Miss Hanako, there are a few things I'd like to go over, but that can wait until a bit later when you are free." Shoji told her.

Hanako nodded, "Right, well today is Friday and I'll be busy until later and I'll probably be busy most of tomorrow. How about Sunday morning?"

"That will work just fine." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card and handed it to her, "My cell number is on that, put it in your cell and call me the moment that you feel like something is wrong.

Hanako grabbed the card, "No problem, let's go Yoshida."

Hanako gently pulled him towards the front door of her building and Shoji went back into his car to continue the first day of his new assignment. Hanako and Yoshida took the elevator up to her floor.

"Well, welcome to my home. Thanks again for giving me a ride." She said as she unlocked the door. She'd never had friends over before, but then again she's never really had friends before. The only person she ever got close to before SAO was Gakushu Asano and that was pretty much only because their fathers were friends. They had bonded over their poor excuses of parents.

Yoshida looked around the room in wonder as he responded, "It was no problem really, I don't mind helping friends out."

Hanako gave a small smile to herself when Yoshida called her his friend. She headed towards the cupboards to see what she could offer him in terms of snacks. As she opened the first cupboard her stomach dropped a little, there was practically nothing. Not that she was really surprised, her dad didn't cook. He usually went to high-end restaurants or had food delivered to him. She would have to go shopping. She didn't really know how she was going to accomplish that with no car to put her things in. With how much she would need to buy there was no way that she would be able to carry it all by herself. She did manage to find a package of unopened cookies and after checking the expiration date saw they were still good. Next were drinks. She opened up the fridge and a frown pulled at her lips, there was barely anything in there either. There were a few cans of soda in there though and she grabbed a couple of them. She put her finds on the table and gave Yoshida a shaky smile, "Well I managed to find something at least."

He had seen the state of her cupboards when she opened them and he worried for his new friend a little, "Why is there so little in your kitchen?"

Hanako shifted a little as she sat down, "Well, dad doesn't really come home all that often. Even when he does it isn't like he cooks for himself. Nothing looks different from when I was last here two years ago, so there is never anyone here to keep food here for. It would just go to waste otherwise."

Yoshida nodded in understanding, not that he liked the answer though. He cracked open the can of soda and took a sip, he glanced at Hanako and saw the slightly uncomfortable look she had, "What's wrong?"

Hanako jumped slightly, "Um, nothing." She was silent for a moment before saying slowly, "What do people do when friends are over?"

Yoshida stared at her in shock, surely she had people over in the past. She had a great personality and as low as it sounds she had a lot of money. Most people would try to get close to her just because of how rich she was, "What do you mean?"

Hanako could feel her face turning red, "I've never had friends over before okay!"

"How is that even possible?"

Hanako shrugged slightly keeping her gaze away from Yoshida for now, "As I said before, I used to live with my mom. Mom wasn't, isn't, the type of person you bring your friends around. So the best way to keep friends from showing up at your house was to simply not have any friends." She defended herself.

"Surely you had to have had somebody." Yoshida said softly.

Hanako pursed her lips in thought before answering, "Before SAO, there was really only one person my age I'd hang out with. I would always go over to his house to hang out, but I doubt what we did is what normal kids do."

"Well, what did you guys do?"

"Study." Hanako said blandly, "His dad is super strict about keeping perfect grades and he was a great study partner. He had a way of explaining things that just clicked with me."

Yoshida let out a deep sigh, "Okay, well you obviously made friends in SAO, right? What did you do with your friends in-game?" he knew it wasn't all peaches and roses in the game that was dubbed the death game, but there had to have been some fun and normal moments within that time. Right?

Hanako thought carefully, "Well, it would depend on who I was hanging out with. Though I didn't waste that much time on free time. If I was hanging with Agil I was usually helping him run his store, or just clinging to his back to get some rest in. If Kirito and myself wanted to rest for a while we usually just took a nap somewhere nice. Asana would teach me how to cook, though cooking in-game is completely different from the real world. Klien and I would go on some easy quests together to kill some time. I didn't really hang out with my other friends all that much, usually, I was helping them with something. Either helping them level up or fetching items for them that they needed."

"Okay, yeah that isn't very normal. You've really never had just a normal day with a friend over?"

"Nope."

Yoshida munched down a cookie before nodding, "Well, you said you did a lot of normal gaming before you started playing VRRMO games right?" when Hanako nodded he continued, "Do you have any two-player games?"

A smile split Hanako's face, "Yeah! I never got to try any of the games that had a two-player option to their full extent. You said you played first-person shooters right? I'm pretty sure I have a couple of those that have a two-player option."

"Cool, let's do that for a while."

Hanako jumped up and grabbed his wrist in excitement and started dragging him down the hall to her room.

Yoshida looked around her room curiously when she let go of his wrist to start setting up a game. The only girl's room he's ever been in was Hazama's and she didn't really count as a normal girl. Well, Hanako wasn't exactly normal either, but she was a lot calmer about her weirdness than Hazama was. She had a king-sized bed that he was totally not jealous about. The room had a lot of deep purple and black color schemes. A few old stuffed animals were sitting on top of her dresser. One corner of her room was completely taken over by all of her gaming equipment, a huge flatscreen TV, and a gaming desk. He saw two separate doors that he was assuming were going to be a walk-in closet and a private bathroom. He didn't know what else they could be. Otherwise, her walls were covered by tall bookcases that were filled to the brim with different types of games and manga. His gaze caught sight of something on her bed that caught his breath in her throat, however.

"Is that..." He said quietly.

Hanako looked up and followed his gaze. Her nerve gear was sitting innocently on her bed, she had sent it home with her dad the first time he had visited. She had wanted to keep it, "My nerve gear, yeah. I wanted to keep it as a reminder of my time in SAO. I'm obviously not going to ever put it on again, but I want to keep it." She walked over to her bed and picked it up. She glanced around her room before putting it on top of one of her bookcases.

Yoshida shook his thoughts off of the damned near cursed piece of technology before turning back to her gaming corner, "Shall we?"

Hours passed with them teaming up to play against random online players and totally dominating them. Yoshida wasn't quite as good as Hanako was, but he was still a very good player. He hadn't even realized how much time had passed until he heard Hanako's stomach growl signifying her hunger.

Yoshida chuckled as Hanako blushed and then he remembered what her cupboards consisted of. He rubbed the back of his head, "What do you plan on doing for supper?"

Hanako shrugged, "I'll probably just order something in. I'll have to get some shopping in, somehow." She gave a sigh as she got up and stretched, her back cracking satisfyingly. Her gaze caught sight of the door to her closet and dread suddenly built up in her. Like she had noted earlier, hardly anything had changed since she had last been here. Her room had been exactly as she had left it, only being cleaned and dusted by the maid that her dad hired. She practically darted to her closet and she couldn't stop the shout of, "You have got to be kidding me!"

Yoshida jumped up at her shout, "What's wrong?"

"He didn't buy me any new clothes. These are the same clothes from before SAO. Nothing is going to fit me." Hanako growled out.

Yoshida frowned at Hanako's obvious distress. Hazama was completely right, Hanako's dad was a total Tool. He knew that his daughter was coming back home after so long and he didn't stock the kitchen up or update her clothing with stuff that would fit, "Hey, for supper tonight do you want to go to my friend's family ramen shop. Their ramen isn't the best but the company is great. You could meet Muramatsu and maybe tomorrow we can convince Terasaka's dad to let us use his truck to help you out and do some shopping. That way you could meet the rest of the group." He offered.

Hanako froze and felt herself pale a little. Why was making and meeting new friends in SAO so much easier than in real life? Was it because in SAO she always had Kirito around to act as a buffer if she got too overwhelmed? Meeting two new people in as many days was a completely different type of terrifying than fighting a floor boss in SAO.

"I... I don't know. I don't want to intrude on anyone." Hanako mumbled out.

Yoshida rolled his eyes, "You won't be intruding on anyone. Hazama and I have been talking about you to the other two so you don't just appear out of nowhere. Muramatsu has been wanting to meet you and while he won't say anything I know Terasaka has been curious as well. Hazama doesn't take interest in just anyone. Plus, Terasaka's dad won't mind helping us out tomorrow. He can look a bit scary, like Terasaka at times, but he's a big softy."

Hanako bit her lip in worry before she let out a sigh. Time to take a leap of faith, "Okay, that sounds good. Um... thank you, Yoshida."

"No problem, let's get going to Muramatsu's ramen place. I'm pretty hungry myself. Do you have to update that agent guy about where you are going?"

Hanako gave a hum of thought,"You know, I'm really not sure." She pulled that card out of her pocket and quicklyprogrammed the number into her phone. She'd let him know, just to be safe.