Angel: Hey guys! Angel here! Thank you so much for continuing to support us through reviews, favorites, and follows. Sorry about the late update. Oh, by the way, this chapter was written by me. It's a filler chapter.

Kari: Hello everyone! Kari here! Thanks so much for all of your continuous support! We couldn't have made it here without you! I'm really sorry about the late update, you can blame Angel for that. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

-Asuka POV-

We found a decent place to camp out by the shimmering «lake» by what was around midnight in the real world. The «grass» was short and coarse and the «trees» provided just enough cover but didn't provide so much that we couldn't see the enemy if there was an attack.

As I helped the others pitch «tents», I hoped that no one, unless it was Katsu, had invaded my room yet. If my NervGear was taken off, who knows what would happen? There was that guarantee, but considering the whole «blood flow» thing, not much was really for sure at the moment.

"Angel-chan," Asuna asked as us girls settled down in one of the «tents», "are you okay?"

"Eh?!" I asked. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Thanks, Asuna-senpai." I still called Asuka "senpai" even though she already graduated from SAO School. I guess old habits die hard.

"Sure?" she asked, a hint of worry in her voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I easily lied.

"Y'know, if the patch was hacked, I have a twenty group hacker list going in my mind," Kari suddenly spoke up. All of our attention immediately turned to the sixteen year old Undine.

"Kouki and Daisuke are on there, right?" I asked. Kouki and Daisuke are my blood step-brother and step-father, but believe me; I don't want to be related to them.

"Yeah. The whole Fukui Empire. As well as Tsukino and Company, Medusa Enterprises, those kinds of groups," Kari replied, checking off her mental list.

"Tsukino and Company? As in...?" I asked.

"Yep, the one Dad's company tried to track down the other month. The banana farm one." Sinon, Silica, and I snickered at that, but Asuna seemed confused. "Their headquarters were disguised as a banana farm," Kari explained.

I face palmed as the «aroma» of steaming hot pot of whatever stew wafted through the tent walls and to our noses. Us girls quickly scrambled out side where a campfire illuminated the scenic hills around us.

Kirito dished out bowls of soup to each member of the three guilds. Bored to death by the fact we couldn't risk hunting at night, we decided to play the most dangerous game to ever exist in the history of the universe.

Truth or dare.

A part of me died.

"I'll start," Asuna volunteered. "Hmm…Truth or Dare…Angel-chan!"

"Eh?!" I exclaimed, afraid. Now I was forced to choose between the lesser of two evils. Dare meant a possibly embarrassing action. Truth meant a possibly embarrassing fact. I weighed the two options and carefully chose, aware of the diabolical mind Asuna had, thanks to Kirito. "Truth."

"Okay!" Asuna said, pausing to think. I shuddered in anticipation of a truly scary truth question. "Ah! So, Angel-chan! Who do you like?"

"Say wha-?" I asked, mortified.

"Simple. Who do you like?" the auburn hair girl repeated.

"Eh…" I stuttered.

"Oh, come on, Angel-chan! We all know you like someone!" Kari piped in. She knew who he was and could, possibly would, blurt it out.

"Kari-chan!"

"Who is it? It's a truth question; you have to answer," Kirito asked. Him, too? I glanced around at the curious faces of my friends.

"Um, you see," I stuttered again, psyching myself up to the job of admitting the truth. "It's Kuroshi-kun." My cheeks turned a slight shade of pink.

"Eh?!" Asuna screamed in surprise. "Kuroshi-kun?! As in Katashi-kohai?" Asuna used to attend «SAO School», the place Kuroshi and I attended now. In real life, Katashi was captain of the soccer club and was very well known among both the upperclassmen and underclassmen.

"Yeah," I mutter under my breath, completely embarrassed. I had known Kuroshi since third grade, and the boy had always been there for me during my worst times, even if during those times, he was suffering more than I was. "Okay, moving on. Eh…truth or dare…Kari-chan!"

"Hey what?" she asked. "Uh, I pass."

"There's no passing in truth or dare," Silica piped. Pina nodded in agreement, and you could see defeat written across Kari's face.

"Alright," she spoke at last, after what must have been long contemplation. "Dare." Kari was a naturally adventurous girl; after knowing her for half my life, I knew that better than a lot of people.

But picking dare may have been a little extreme, because our other friend, Hitsugaya Aiko, had asked a favor from me in exchange for keeping a dark secret that, well, just had to be kept.

"This one is compliments of Aphrodite-chan," I stated, noting a scared expression on the youngest «Undine's» face. "I dare you to confess to Kenshin-kun."

"Wait, wha-?" she asked in surprise.

"Eh, Kari-san," Kirito said, "I think there's something a little more mortifying than a confession now." The older of us two «Spriggans» gestured to an approaching threat. He seemed a bit on edge, and I realized why when I, too, turned to acknowledge the foe that we would later have to face.

They were «ghosts». The one thing a «sword» doesn't work on.

«Magic» was needed for this. The one thing I was terrible at. I glanced at Kirito, who shot back a look not too different from mine.

Damn being a «Spriggan».

"Don't worry," Silica said, "We've got you covered." She began chanting an incantation I didn't recognize as Asuna gave a nod in our direction indicating that she also had our backs. Kari and the others did the same after Kari recovered from the initial shock of the dare added on to the shock the «ghosts» left. Kirito and I flashed grins at our friends before attempting to figure out a strategy to defeat «ghosts» with «illusion magic».

Naturally, neither the eighteen year old «VRMMORPG» otaku nor I could figure a way out, so we decided it was prime time for us to sit back in the rear of the battlefield, casting «Night Vision» spells on our guildmates and ourselves.

Now, «ghosts» being «ghosts», they could phase through anything and everything, technically. Somehow, a «ghost» wove its way through the barrage of spells Kari and the others were letting loose and snuck up behind the rear guard.

As its hand reached to attack Kari from behind, I never felt so helpless. This was a monster that was about to attack my best friend since elementary school.

Why couldn't I help her now?

The world slowed to a near halt as the «ghost's» «attack spell» approached the back of Kari's head.

"Kari-chan!" I yelled. It was the only pathetic thing I could do.

She turned to face me, and in slow motion, her dark blue-black hair whipped through the air as her body rotated to face the monster that was ambushing her. Her expression turned from quizzical to shock as she noticed the attacker behind her, then slowly to mortified.

Angel: Naturally, there's a cliffhanger. *laughs* The "banana farm" is a shout out to the guy who inspired Katashi Kurosawa/Kuroshi. For a more detailed explanation of Asuka/Angel's backstory, please read Angel's Tears, which is on my profile. Please continue to support us!

Kari: Ahahaha, nice Angel-chan. You went and cliff-hangered it again. If you guys have any complaints on that, feel free to go bother Angel and spam her with PM's. She won't mind. Haha, anyways, if you want to learn more about my OC Hikari's backstory, please go read Water's Light. It will fill in a lot of blanks on Kari's life story. Anyways, thank you guys for all of your continued support! Please review!