Clueless, that would describe Kazuto's current situation. He was presently trying to figure out something to do for Asuna as thanks for her help. A few days before, she had been helping him in some computer coding that Kazuto was doing for a prototype program for a small machine that the mechatronics club was working on. She had offered help despite having close to zero knowledge on the subject, but she had done it out of good will and now Kazuto was trying desperately to figure out something nice to for her.

'This is harder than a boss battle…' Kazuto thought. Not one think popped up in his mind as he walked through town on his way to school, looking into each store window for something she might like as he passed by them. None of the things he had seen had screamed at him that it is what Asuna would like. To Kazuto, this was like asking a blind man to point out a color in the sky.

'Come on! You have to find something for her, she deserves it.' He thought again as he began to run his left hand through his black hair nervously. The small voice in the back of his head was telling him that he might not find something which was what was making him nervous.

'Something she would like… something she would like…' he thought as he neared the entrance of the school, seeing two girls in the school uniform. One of them, being the person he was thinking about, turned around and gave him a smile. Asuna had gone to school earlier to tutor Rika, who had managed to convince her after hours of begging to teach her.

"Good morning Kirito-kun, hurry up." Asuna said as she waved at him from the entrance. He waved back and quickened his pace, wanting to be with her. Rika was lying down on the bench face up and half asleep, looking at the notebook in her hand and closing her eyes far too long to be called just a blink. Kazuto rolled his eyes at the semi-conscious Rika.

"Morning Asuna, Just how hard did you make Liz study?" he asked as he pointed at the bench, that now had Rika, with the notebook she used to have in hands now covering her face, with the sound of snoring coming from her form.

"I didn't make her study that hard. We only began going over one subject and she fell asleep not even halfway through and now she did the exact same thing again!" Asuna said as a pout formed on her face, making Kazuto smile.

"At least she's learning a little bit, right?" he asked. Asuna's brow furrowed in thought but after some seconds, they returned to their normal place.

"I guess you're right. She did manage to answer some question that she didn't know the answer to the other day when I questioned her." Asuna said as she looked at the sleeping form of Rika. She quickly walked over to her and shook the short-haired girl's shoulders.

"Liz, wake up! You fell asleep again!" Asuna said to wake Rika.

"…no… to early… mornings are… evil…" mumbled the partially conscious Rika as she tuned on the bench, turning her back to the couple. Kazuto turned to Asuna and gave her a mischievous smile.

"No Kirito-kun, you can't. We can wake her up some other way." Asuna said, knowing Kazuto had something in mind to wake up Rika, having been told before by Suguha about the time Kazuto had poured ice cold water down her back to get her fully awake.

"But this is the fastest way to wake her up." He said as opened his book bag and took out a bottle of water that was mostly frozen. He opened the bottle and took out a small chunk of ice about the size of his thumb from it. Asuna saw the ice and knew what he was planning. He pulled the back of the collar of Rika's pink sweater down along with the one from her shirt and threw the ice in. Rika's eyes immediately shot open and she sat up, clawing at the back of her shirt of her school uniform.

"DAMN IT KIRITO! YOU JUST CAN'T LET ME SLEEP CAN YOU!?" Rika screamed as she ran off to the school building to take the ice out. Asuna and Kazuto immediately began to laugh as Rika ran away. Asuna hit Kazuto's shoulder lightly, as she continued to laugh at sight of her best friend running.

"You didn't have to do something like that you know." She said between giggles. All he could do was nod his head. When they both calmed down, they both sat at the bench that used to have the sleeping Rika.

"By the way Kirito-kun, why are you here so early? School doesn't start for almost 30 minutes." Asuna asked, making Kazuto stiffen slightly, remembering how he still wanted to get her something.

"I guess I just didn't notice the time." He said, hoping that she would believe him. She narrowed her eyes slightly at his words but let it slide.

"Well… I was hoping you could help me with something."

"What is it?" Kazuto asked.

"I was wondering if you could help me learn more on computer coding." She said somewhat shyly. On hearing this, Kazuto's face showed slight shock.

"Wh- what's with the sudden interest in coding?" he asked curiously.

"Well, I just wanted to see why Kirito-kun is so interested in coding that I'd thought that I'd learn what's got your interest." She said as she looked him in the eyes with the same timid tone.

"You don't have to do that you know. You have my interest much more than computer coding." He said before he thought, making him blush and look away as he usually did when he blurted something out or when he was embarrassed. Asuna noticed this and smiled, also having an evident blush on her face.

"I-is that so…" she said as she looked away as well.

'Now I really have to get her something, something really nice for her since she was bothering to do this.' He thought. Asuna managed to regain her composure first.

"Either way, I want to learn coding. This way I can help you bring Yui-chan to the real world!" she said with a determined expression on her face and in her eyes. Kazuto couldn't help but smile at her, knowing that she wanted to help bring their daughter into the real world as much as he did.

"If you really want to, I'll teach you. Just as long as you don't fall asleep on me like Liz did on you." He said, receiving a huge smile and a kiss on the cheek, making the red in Kazuto's cheeks to deepen once again.

"Wait, why were you and Liz outside? The library is open for you to study in." Kazuto said, wondering. Asuna pouted at the question.

"We were there earlier but that's where Liz fell asleep first. I brought her outside to study instead thinking that she would stay awake outside…" Asuna said, drifting off in the end since she knew that Kazuto knew what happened.

"Next time, bring an air horn."

"Wait, what?"

"A bucket of cold water would be good too."

"No! I'm not going to do that!"

"Or you could get an angry cat and put it in her sweater."

"Kirito-kun, where are you getting these ideas from!?" Asuna asked. Kazuto couldn't help but laugh at Asuna's reaction to his ideas. Her eyes had gone wide and her mouth was slightly hanging open at the notions he was suggesting her.

"I'm only kidding! Well only about the bucket and cat… the air horn would be a good idea." He said after he managed to control his laughter once some minutes passed. Asuna frowned slightly on hearing his words but it quickly dropped.

"The air horn doesn't sound that bad compared to your other ideas… but that doesn't mean I agree with it!" she said.

"You don't have to, it's just an idea." He said, making Asuna a little surprised. She slouched a bit in acceptance to his words and Kazuto took this as a sign to change to change the topic.

"Anyway, what do you want to do after school?" he asked her, making her posture return to normal and her eyes to sparkle with enthusiasm.

"How about we go to the park? We can have lots of fun there!" she said with her voice full of excitement.

"We can do anything you want as long as it makes you happy." Kazuto said as he kissed her forehead and held her hand. Asuna flushed red but she maintained her smile. Soon after, the sound of angry footsteps sounded from the direction of the school and the couple looked. What they saw was an angry Rika looking murderously at Kazuto.

"YOU ARE LUCKY WE ARE IN THE REAL WORLD OR ELSE YOU WOULD HAVE MY MACE GLUED TO YOU FACE!" She yelled at the Kazuto, who just sat there casually.

"You're fault for falling asleep when Asuna is the one taking time out of her day to tutor you." He said, making Rika withdrawal from the guilt almost immediately. She turned to Asuna and bowed slightly.

"Really sorry Asuna, but you know that I'm no good in the morning!" Rika said in a somewhat failed attempt of apologizing. Asuna merely nodded.

"With that I agree completely." Asuna said. Kazuto smiled and Rika simple looked at Asuna, waiting to see if she would accept her apology.

"It's okay Liz, you don't need to apologize. You're my best friend so of course I'll forgive you!" Asuna said, making Rika relax and return her stance to normal. Rika then turned her eyes to Kazuto, who still was unaffected by the lethal gaze she was giving him.

"If you ever do that again, Asuna will have to find a new boyfriend." Rika said with so much venom in her voice that Asuna tighten her grip on Kazuto's hand.

"Liz, if you do that then I won't tutor you anymore."

"Ah, never mind what I said! You didn't hear a thing! Anyway, I'm going to go fall asleep in my homeroom." Rika said before she scampered off to the school building again. The couple immediately began laughing again at the running Rika. The couple was laughing so much that they didn't hear the approaching steps of the small pigtailed girl.

"Good morning Kirito-san, Asuna-san." The couple looked up to see Keiko standing near the bench with a somewhat confused look on her face. Kazuto and Asuna quickly calmed down their laughter and responded to small girl at the same time.

"Good morning." They stood up from the bench and walked with Keiko to the school building.

"What are you two doing here to early?" Keiko asked the two.

"I'm here tutoring Liz, who is sleeping in her homeroom class now. Kirito-kun is here because he apparently didn't notice the time." Asuna said as she gave Kazuto a disbelieving look on what he said. He quickly looked away and changed the subject.

"Why are you here so early, Silica?" Kazuto asked in hopes that the change would work.

"I'm here to use the library to do some homework. Why didn't you notice the time, Kirito-san?"

'Damn it.' Kazuto thought quickly before responding.

"Uh well, I guess when I left home it was earlier then I thought." Asuna narrowed her eyes again and made a mental note to interrogate him later. Keiko merely nodded her head.

"Well at least you noticed that it was early and not late."

"R-right." They all walked to the building and began to put their stuff away when Kazuto smelled something sweet coming from the direction of the school yard. When he looked towards it, an idea formed in his mind for a gift.

"Kirito-kun, what's wrong?" Asuna asked as she saw Kazuto look to the yard with an inspired look in his eyes.

"What? Oh, nothing's wrong." he said as he walked in the direction of the mechatronics club room. Kazuto opened the door and the lights turned on automatically from the movement sensors. He placed his book bag on the desk near the computer that he always used and turned it on.

"What are you going to work on?" Kazuto looked up and saw Asuna standing at the door of the room. He gestured for her to come closer, pointing at the screen with his other hand. Asuna moved closer and saw the screen.

"Remember you were helping me with this? I'm putting it with the main program now since you actually helped me finish it." He said, making Asuna do a little double take.

"Wait, we finished it!?" Asuna asked with some disbelief in her voice. Kazuto nodded with a huge grin on his face.

"Yep, by myself, I should have only completed close to half of the program, but with Asuna's help the entire thing is finished." He said to the shocked Asuna.

"But I didn't even help that much..."

"You helped plenty, and that was enough to finish the program. When I teach you later, I won't have to teach you much." He said as he gave another grin.

"Is that so? Maybe I'll be better at it then Kirito-kun." Asuna said with a playful tone. Kazuto looked at her and decided to go along with it.

"If you are, then you could join the mechatronics club and start teaching everyone." He told her, making Asuna's face fill with regret that she had said that.

"Um, forget I said anything. Anyway, class is about to start so we should go to our homerooms. All of the other students have started to arrive." She said as she walked to the door. He watched as she walked away, thinking that she would be ecstatic when he does what he has planned. Asuna stopped at the doorway and turned to look at Kazuto.

"Are you coming, Kirito-kun?" she asked, making him realize that he had just been sitting there watching her, making him blush slightly.

"Y-y-yeah, I'm coming." He said as he quickly grabbed his stuff and followed Asuna out to the hallway.

"Maybe you could also help me in math…" Asuna said as she and Kazuto sat down on the bench on their usual lunch spot.

"What? But Asuna does really good in math!" Kazuto exclaimed, surprised at her words. Asuna was one of the best students in the school so this obviously shocked him.

"It just that this part of math is something I just can't wrap my mind around. I was hoping Kirito-kun could help me with it since you're really good at math as well." Asuna said as she did a pleading look, automatically rendering Kazuto weak against her.

"I can help you with that too."

"Thank you Kirito-kun! As a reward, I'll make you some sandwiches for lunch tomorrow!" she said, automatically making Kazuto smile at the thought of having a taste of Asuna's sandwiches, but a thought came to mind.

"You don't have to do that."

"Eh? Are you feeling okay? You love it when I make you sandwiches!" Asuna said as she tried to make sense of Kazuto's words, thinking that maybe she should check if he had a fever or something.

"I do love it! I just feel like since you've been working so much that you don't need to do anything more that will make you work even more." He said in defense to his previous words. Asuna nodded slightly after hearing Kazuto's words, but she immediately replied.

"Kirito-kun, this isn't work since I love to cook, especially for you since you get such a childish face when you see my food." She said with a smile on her face. Kazuto was about to response her but she spoke up before she could.

"Anyway, let eat!" Asuna said as she took out a large bento from her bag. Kazuto forgot what he was going to say and immediately showed the same expression that Asuna had just been talking about, making her smile more.

"Why are you listening to Liz again?" Kazuto asked as he walked Asuna to the library to tutor the waiting Rika again.

"Because she said that if I tutor her right now, then tomorrow morning I don't have to tutor her and have to suffer through her falling asleep again."

"How long is this going to take?" he asked, hoping that he had enough time to do his surprise in that time frame instead of having to do it the next day.

"Probably… about more than half an hour? Sorry about making you wait Kirito-kun, but after this we can go to the park!" she said excitedly.

'More than half an hour…perfect!' Kazuto thought to himself, already planning what to do in that time. Asuna could practically see the gears turning in his head but she didn't ask what was on his mind since he would probably come up with a completely unbelievable lie to escape answering truthfully.

"That's fine, take all the time you need to that you don't have to work so hard tomorrow." Kazuto said to her, just making Asuna more wary of him. As they reached the entrance of the library, Asuna quickly kissed him on the cheek.

"I'll send you a text as soon as I fell that Liz is almost done, okay?"

"That's fine; just make sure that she doesn't fall asleep while you're teaching again."

"If that happens, I can always call you to wake her up right?" Asuna said playfully, to which Kazuto responded by instantly showing a devious smile on his face.

"That's right!" he said as he kissed her cheek back and saw her walk into the library before the door closed.

'Alright, now to get to work before she's done' Kazuto thought as he ran in the direction of the school campus entrance to leave.

"Hello sir, are you looking for something in particular?" asked the worker of the shop that was fixing things in the aisles to Kazuto, who had immediately run to the shopping district nearby to get what had come to his mind earlier.

"Yeah I need an arrangement…"

"Can I help you with anything?" asked an employee from the other side of the display that Kazuto was looking at.

"Yes you can. I need something special made…"

Kazuto quickly hide the bigger of the gifts behind his back as he began his walk to go back to the school campus. The smaller of the gifts was in his book bag, wrapped up nicely by the employee of the second shop.

'I can't wait to see Asuna's face when I give this to her. She'll be more excited than when Klein finds a new wine in ALO.' Kazuto thought as he heard his phone ring along with the small vibration it gave off. He took out his phone from his pocket and saw a text from the very person that was on his mind.

'We are almost done with the tutoring so you can start to come back to school now Kirito-kun. See you in a few. –Asuna'

'Good, perfect timing! Now I'm glad that I ran to the shopping district in such a hurry.' He thought as he passed a store that had something that he had mention to Asuna earlier. A playful smile formed on his face and he ran into the store and bought it with his remaining money. He sped up his pace to the school and got there a few minutes earlier than he expected. He took the smaller of the gifts out of his book bag and put it into his pocket and hid the other behind his back again as he waited for Asuna and Rika to exit the library. After some minutes, the doors opened and Rika went running out, with Asuna walking out behind her. Kazuto stepped closer to Asuna, kissed her cheek and before she said anything, brought out the bouquet of different colored roses before her. Asuna looked at the roses and blushed deep red.

"Ki-Kirito-kun… they're beautiful…" she said as she took them in her hands. Asuna looked down at them and saw a lot of different colored roses, all of them with different meanings that Kazuto knew that she knew. The red roses were for love; the yellow ones were for happiness, white was for innocence, orange for enthusiasm, and the lavender ones were for beauty. Asuna was blinking away the tears that threatened to spill from the emotion of Kazuto's action. She looked back up with a smile on her face, one that Kazuto took a mental snapshot of since it was so beautiful. That smile gave him the confidence to go ahead with the second gift and took out a small square box the size of a cell phone in his hand.

"You forgot the other part of your gift." He said with a grin on his face as he placed it in her hand. She looked at the box, a light red box with a white box on the top. She looked up to Kazuto again and he nodded, gesturing with his hand to open it. She slipped the ribbon off and put it in her pocket, and opened the box. A gasp immediately came from her mouth as she saw the contents of the box.

A black chained, red and white bracelet. Asuna took out the bracelet and placed it in her palm, look at the details more. The black chain had small red and white adornments that each had the Japanese symbols of the meaning of the flowers on it. Asuna quickly wrapped her arms around Kazuto's neck and kissed him. He stiffened slightly at the sudden action but quickly relaxed and wrapped his arms around her waist, returning the affection.

"You guys are seriously tempting me to take pictures for blackmail."

The couple immediately separated from surprise and embarrassment. They looked towards the direction of the voice and saw Rika with her hands on her waist.

"You guys could at least do that away from school grounds." She said, making their cheeks redden.

"Liz, I-I thought y-you left…" Asuna said, putting the flowers behind her back, not wanting Rika to see them in fear of being even further embarrassed.

"I did, but you have my phone, remember? You took it so I wouldn't get distracted."

"Oh right." Asuna moved to take out the phone from her bag, still keeping the flowers behind her back, but failing to notice that she still had the bracelet in hear other hand. As she passed the phone back to Rika, the short- haired girl took the opportunity to ask about it when she saw it in Asuna's hand.

"What's with the bracelet?" Asuna blushed as did Kazuto, but he quickly grabbed the bracelet out of her hand and put it on her right wrist.

"Nothing's wrong. She just hasn't put it on yet." Kazuto said as Asuna mentally thanked him because Rika just shrugged but she took into notice something else at the same time. Rika noticed finally how the other of Asuna's hand was hidden behind her back, and decided to ask.

"Well then what's behind you that you're hiding your hand?" Rika asked, making Asuna curse silently to herself that Rika was so perceptive when she wanted to be. Kazuto just looked at Asuna and nodded to her, telling her that it was okay to show her. Still slightly shy, Asuna hesitantly took the bouquet of roses from behind her back while blushing even more then she had been earlier.

Rika saw the bouquet and immediately stifled the retorts that were begging to be spoken out loud. She knew the meaning of those flowers from having heard Asuna speak of them often. She saw the symbols on the bracelet and saw how they were the same meanings of the flowers. She knew that this was not something to be making fun of, at least not today. Rika smiled and quickly moved to stand behind Asuna and Kazuto and began to push them toward the direction to leave the school grounds.

"Why are you guys still here? Go on your date already!" Rika said as she smiled. Asuna was still embarrassed and almost dropped the flowers from it, but Kazuto caught them, still smiling at the way Asuna looked so flustered. He quickly slipped something into her hands and Asuna had to look at it for a couple seconds before she caught on to what he was inferring that she should do. She smiled and made another mental note to thank him. She pointed the air horn towards Rika and pushed the button at the top. The short haired girl immediately stopped pushing the couple and ran away from the noise.

"YOU'RE LUCKY YOU'RE MY BEST FRIEND OR ELSE YOU WOULD BE DEAD!" she screamed as she ran away for the third time that day while covering her ears. Asuna shot a look of gratitude to her boyfriend before a question came to mind.

"Why did you get this?"

"I got it on the way here after your text. I saw it in the window and I couldn't resist buying it for when an 'emergency' came up…." Kazuto said with a sheepish grin. She smiled and kissed his cheek.

"For once, I'm glad you bought something like this."

"Good, now I don't regret buying it for you." He said slightly relieved as they began to walk away to the edge of campus.

"So… Kirito-kun… why did you get me these beautiful gifts?" she finally asked, curious as to that his reasons were. He looked away slightly as he answered with a tint of red in his cheeks.

"The other day when Asuna was helping me with the computer coding, I thought that I had to get something for you. Then this morning when you said that you did it to get to know my interest, I thought that I had to get something even more for you since you are so important…" he didn't finish his sentence, causing Asuna to stop and look at him to see his face with a determined expression.

"What's wrong Kirito-kun?" she asked just before he took her hand and pulled her closer.

"You're the most important thing in my life and I realize that I haven't said the most significant thing to you." He said, making a confused expression on her face.

"Wh-what are you talking about?" Asuna asked as Kazuto leaned in slightly to be within inches of her face, making her blush as his onyx eyes meet her chestnut ones.

"What I want to say is… I-I love you." He said before claiming her lips, bringing the reaction that he had earlier in Asuna. She stiffened but relaxed, wrapping her arms around his neck at hearing those words come from his mouth. When they parted, they were both red-faced from the kiss and the lack of air.

"I love you too, Ki-Kazuto-kun." She said blushing even more. Kazuto's face turned even more red when she said his name. Listening how his name sounded with her voice, he couldn't help think that it sounded heavenly, as if it was coming from the voice of an angel. He held her left hand and handed the flowers back to her, to which she took with a smile on her face. They passed the entrance to the school and began to walk to the park, still holding hands.

"I have a question for you." Asuna said.

"Shoot."

"Is this what was making you act weird earlier and why you came to school early?"

"Yes. I left home early in look of a gift but I couldn't find anything that I knew that would be special enough for you and that I knew you would like. Then when we were putting our stuff away in the morning, I smelled the scent of the flowers from the school yard and the idea popped in my head."

"But why did you choose those flowers and meanings to put on the bracelet?" Kazuto blushed as he heard her next question.

"Well… all of those things are what apply to you."

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"Um, well… how to explain this… all of those meanings are what you are and what I think about you." Kazuto said looking away, not wanting to be further embarrassed. Asuna was about to ask another question but he continued before she could.

"The meanings love, happiness, innocence, enthusiasm, and beauty. Love is what we have. Happiness is what we feel with each other. Innocence is what you are. Enthusiasm is what you always have. And beauty doesn't begin to describe you… those are the reasons why I chose those meanings." Kazuto said, embarrasses that he confessed to why he chose those things.

Asuna could feel the tears threatening to fall again from his words, hearing how he felt all of those things applied to her… she wanted to grab his face and kiss him again. Of course not now, they weren't alone, maybe later…

"It… really makes me happy to hear you say that Kirito-kun. I hope you're ready for some sandwiches tomorrow." Asuna said making Kazuto's face show that excited look at the thought of the food he loved.

"That is," Asuna said, interrupting Kazuto's thoughts," if you can catch me!" she said as she let go of his hand and ran off in the direction of the park. Kazuto stood there for a moment before he finally registered her words.

"Hey, wait! That is so not fair, at least warn me!" he complained, but the smile didn't leave his face as he ran after her to spend the rest of the day with her, the mental picture of her smile still in his mind.