"Hey, Asuna?" Koharu asks as she sets a tray with a pot and five teacups on the table. While the males converse outside, Koharu assists Asuna with the preparations for the meal. She learned that Asuna and Kirito was meaning to invite Jaymes and Koharu for a last supper anyways, but Kirito got lucky again with an S-class ingredient on the ninety-ninth floor, the Ragout Rabbit's Meat, and made sure Jaymes and Koharu were invited to partake in the meal this time around.

Asuna has a variety of entrees for the the dining players and her "daughter", the Mental Health Counseling Program known as Yui, and she's cooking it alone. There's a pot with stew simmering inside, which Asuna watches attentively while the other girls set the table. "What is it, Koharu?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course?"

Koharu leans against the counter a couple of steps away from Asuna, eyes locked on the front door that separates them from the boys. Crossing her arms, she looks to the warm, light-brown eyes of her best friend and says, "So how long have you loved Kirito?"

Asuna's face turns red. "H-huh? Oh, um... Geez, I wasn't ready for that type of question." Recomposing herself, Asuna clears her throat and stares at the ceiling. "Well... I don't really know the exact moment when my feelings started to develop. But I'm sure it was before we split off on the twenty-fifth floor. You and Jaymes spoke to me many times about it, so maybe I had feelings for him even then. All I know is that I was happy when the four of us started playing as a party again. I guess that leads us to now."

"Guess our stories have one thing in common. We realized and confessed our feelings for them right when we're about to die."

"Mommy, Auntie," calls Yui, who comes from finishing the arrangement of the table with Lisbeth and Silica who were also invited to join for dinner. She enters into Asuna's arms as she asks, "Who said 'I love you' first? Papa and Uncle or you two?"

"As if they would!" Asuna and Koharu's groans are simultaneous and lengthy as they share the same feelings. That shocks the other girls.

"Okay, Kirito is no surprise, he's an idiot," Lisbeth says as she takes a seat at the table. "But I cannot say the same for Jaymes. He just kept his feelings to himself."

"I agree," chimes in Silica. "But in defense of Kirito, maybe he just didn't know what to say."

Asuna scoffs. "Kirito barely has the heart to speak his feelings. Remember when we found out about Shivata and Liten, Koharu? He didn't understand it even though their feelings for each other were obvious, and tried rationalizing how a relationship would work here in SAO."

"Indeed. All Jaymes did was make fun of them, same with Eiji and Yuna too. Then whenever someone questioned our relationship, he'd act like nothing was there. Like when Stella did so when we met her."

"Yeah. They just stared, dumbfounded by her teasing, while we're embarrassed by it. And Leuer was no better."

"'We meet again, hero and consort.' Why am I Jaymes' consort? He never says anything about that."

"When Agil asked him why we were hanging out together, Kirito just brushed it off as me tagging along with him. Then I had to beg him to let me cook the Ragout Rabbit Meat, had to beg him to party with us on the seventy-fourth floor... Such an idiot..."

"Jaymes would tease and flirt with other girls right in front of me, like with Lisbeth and Sanya, never caring for how I felt about it. Whenever I wanted to do something fun, he'd act as if it's a chore, but let it be another girl, he'll swoop in to answer their requests. And when I try looking nice, he just passes it off... What an idiot..."

Unknown to both women, Yui, Lisbeth, and Silica bear distraught faces, regretting they ever asked.


Koharu and Jaymes

She has to keep her eyes on the rising sun. If she takes one glance at the blinking yellow message indicator, if she doesn't filter out its constant dinging, her nerves will falter. It was hard enough for her to remove herself from his party, hard enough to write that letter instead of saying goodbye face to face. and it's hard enough to drop her dagger on the sandy beach. Her resolve is only held firm by the morning sun peeking through the aperature of the sixty-first level of Aincrad.

While searching for clues about the labyrinth of the sixty-first floor, Koharu and her partner had encountered an NPC named Celene, the leader of a clan who maintains the seal over the serpent monster within the labyrinth's depths. Believing Jaymes and Koharu capable of defeating the serpent once and for all. Surprised they stumbled upon the boss quest, they accepted Celene's request.

Arriving at the Serpent Sealers' base, Celene explained more of the story. The serpent, prior to the Great Seaparation, was once human and the clan's leader. Her leadership brought peace and feedom to the land, but in time, peace brought strife. The ruler realized that, in her determination to rule, she had forsakened all happiness in her heart, and that birthed anger instead. Believing her people took the peace she worked for in her reign for granted, and the stress of her labors overcoming her, she began her dark spiral.

The ruler ordered for magical tomes and tools to be gathered and began researching the forbidden arts. She succeeded in her endeavors, regaining her youth with the addtion of eternal life, but at a great cost of becoming a serpent a short while later. The people, hurt by the misfortune of their ruler, took the burden of dealing with the ruler together. They changed their ways, but it was already too late to resolve the serpent's envy. Despite having eternal youth and eternal life, she still envied the fleeting lives she ruled, and attakced her people, leading to the present situation.

The sealers, despite their preparations as generations passed, haven't put down the serpent; in turn, the serpent hasn't stopped plotting, and she's not alone. Some people serve the serpent, drawn to her gift of eternal life.

In the middle of this, the serpent worshippers attacked the sealer's base. Koharu and Jaymes fought to defend Celene, and overwhelmed the enemy. However, one of them struck Koharu, That attacker seem to believe putting a symbol called the Mark of Cleaving on either Jaymes or Koharu would grant them eternal life from the snake, but the result was the serpent's betrayal and their body breaking down. As for the Mark, it normally is too extreme of a spell for a human to handle.

However, Koharu lived with the Mark of Cleaving appearing on the back of her neck. Part of a ritual called Soul Cleaving, It splits the user's soul and implants it in anohter, giving the serpent life. Thus, if she's defeated, the serpent can return time and time again as that small piece of her soul remains in another being. For Jaymes and Koharu, that means the Assault Team cannot beat the floor boss...not without ridding of the host who carries the implanted soul.

Of course, Jaymes and Koharu understood immediately what this meant, and Jaymes was against it at all costs. But Celene has a solution; a jewel in her possession known as the Holy Crystal of Transmigration. It can transmigrate the Mark of Cleaving from one perosn to another. Koharu protested Celene's solution, while Jaymes offered no words in the matter. Of course Koharu knew he wouldn't say anything, for he'd protect Koharu's life above all others. Either that, or as a long-time gamer who can dissociate himself from the world, knew that there's no point to fight the NPC's wish.

Koharu relented, and Celene lead them to the Altar of Rebirth to use the crystal there instead of the sealer's base, per their laws. During their travels, the partners noticed that they had two quests in the their logs, one dedicated to showing Celene a good time in Selmburg before her death (which Koharu spoke to her about before they noticed the logs) and another dedicated to the boss quest as a whole.

Determined to show Celene the sights of Selmburg, the transmigration ritual began, but was interrupted by a man in a black poncho. The former leader of the red guild Laughing Coffin and the deadliest player in the game, PoH, slayed Celene before the ritual was complete. Angered, Jaymes attacked PoH. Koharu watched in fear as the Crimson Warrior dueled PoH, and PoH didn't make things better. As a matter of fact, he spoke the unfortunate truth of the situation.

With Celene dead, the only way to progress through Aincrad is for Jaymes-or someone-to kill Koharu. If Jaymes tries to hide and protect her, he endangers everyone else on Aincrad. A slow, agonizing death for thousands of people, the greatest kill count in SAO and MMO history that makes what PoH's done incomparable. PoH had given Jaymes a conflicting ultimatum-to save his partner and his friends and thousands of others, or to save the multitude and kill Koharu.

Why PoH did it? Just for another "main event" after the fall of Laughing Coffin.

Jaymes struck down and nearly killed PoH with murderous rage, but the villain escaped by spitting a poison at Jaymes. Calmed down, they found the Holy Crystal on the ground, but Koharu prevented Jaymes from using it to move the Mark to him and made him promise never to use it.

In the hours that followed, Koharu came to terms with the situation. By then, she knew what needed to be done, but felt that there were so many things she wanted to do first. So after the Assault Team and their friends came to a decision to search for another way to save Koharu, Koharu lead Jaymes around the sixty-first floor, searching for a solution while checking off her bucket list. She initially felt bad about having fun when others were looking for a way to save her, but Jaymes convinced her to not worry about it and relax.

They played together at the beach, eventually coming upon a quest between a bride and a groom. Their reward for completing it was an ring and an paid wedding ceremony. Jaymes placed the ring on her finger, got it engraved with her name at the wedding hall in town, and they took part in the wedding ceremony despite not officially becoming married with the "Marriage" option.

If she loved Jaymes' face when he saw her in the swimsuit, his face when she wore the wedding gown was unparallel. She said she wasn't ready for the game's marriage option, but for a moment, she wished she went along with it. The dress was so beautiful, but it was of the western style and looked very expensive. The wedding as a whole might cost a fortune, but in VR, it was so easy.

As she dropped the subject to search for more quests and clues, Jaymes said something. He may had not meant for her to hear it, but she did anyway. "'If we were in the real world, there'd be no cost that would prevent me from giving her this wedding."

For a couple of days, they rented a player vacation home outside Selmburg, cheaper than a permenant residence. She remember, in embarrassment, how she, Jaymes, and Sachi talked about owning a home, and how convenient and safe and normal it'd be for Koharu and Jaymes to share one. During that time, Koharu would wake up, put on the maid outfit she owns, and make breakfast for the two of them. Because Jaymes is from America, Koharu decided to grace him with a western-styled breakfast, which he ate heartily. It made her happy he ate it all, whether because it reminded him of home or because it was her cooking.

But as time passed, so did the patience of the players. One day, a group of players came after Koharu, but Jaymes took on the trio by himself. Despite their green cursors, Jaymes fough them as if they were Laughing Coffin assassins, and almost killed one of them had not Koharu intervened. The player Jaymes almost killed begged for mercy, saying he just wanted to go home to his wife who was pregnant right before SAO began.

That's settled the matter in Koharu's mind, but she knew she could never let Jaymes in on it. He would never sacrifice his partner's life for thousands of others, but she can. She shot down her partner's plea to run away and hide as he regretted his decision to take Koharu away from the Town of Beginnings long ago.

But by that time, she knew what tomorrow-this morning-would become. She had spoke to Asuna, learned that the Assault Team were going to scout the boss room, so the time had come. That night, she took the letter-writing materials they got from the wedding hall and wrote a letter to her partner, thanking fim for all the good times and to keep pressing onward. The only thing she did not say, that she could not say, was that she loves him.

So she stands on the beach, gazing at the setthing one last time before she looks for a mob to engage and kill her. It's better than some other player doing the deed, or worse, her own partner. It is the right thing to do, the best thing for the world at large. As long as she dies, she removes herself from the curse, Nasya the serpent become vulnerable, and thousands of lives are saved.

"Koharu!"

Shaken by the familiar voice calling her name, Koharu turns around, facing her partner. She holds her hand out to stop him, which causing him to slide to a stop in the sand about ten feet away. His face is set in distress, a rarity for him who usually keeps that emotion unseen. Even more rare is his eyes that bear an overwhelming sadness that Koharu innately wants to comfort. Her voice wavering, she shouts, "Stay back! I already made up my mind... I already decided...that we'd part ways. But when I see your face, Jaymes, all that determination..."

"Koharu," he says in an fluttering tone, something she hasn't heard from his voice before, "let's go home together."

"No... I can't... I've already said goodbye. Even the reason I came here was so I could see this place that meant so much to me...one final time at the very end."

Jaymes glances down at Koharu's right hand, which Koharu palpates a ring with a blue stone embedded in it. "I gave you that ring here."

Koharu nods while trying to hold back her tears-failing miserably at that. "I'm ready now... I'll be able...to end it now... And I'll be the one...to see it through to the end... Now all I need...is to get myself killed, and...then everything will be okay again..."

"I won't let you do this, Koharu," Jaymes says as determinedly as possible as his face is streaked with tears. He takes two steps forward, causing Koharu to look away. Eyes on the sand around her feet, she tightens her fists to keep the resolve her built up from shattering completely.

"Listen, Jaymes... I'm a top player too. I have a responsibility to get everyone I can back to the real world. I can't let it all come to a halt here. As a fellow top player, I want you to promise you'll bounce back from this and get back on the front lines. Become the strongest player of them all... A true hero. Free everyone from this world so no one else has to feel this way again. That is my final request. Don't worry, Jaymes. I know you can do it. So please, live on. My one and only partner..."

She tried to play it off with a huge smile, but on the inside, Koharu's in turmoil and conflict. The part of her that spoke is mostly how she feels, ready to sacrifice herself for the greater good. But the opposing force is small in her mind but encapsulates her heart. It's just as true a feeling as her will to save everyone. It's selfish, it's detestable, but her desire to stay alive with the boy she loves beats hard in her chest.

And as if he knows it, Jaymes makes a large step forward, closing the gap between them to within his arm's length, and he states, "I can't go on without you."

"Please... You have to understand... This is...my only option now!" She stares at Jaymes desparately, but he no longers look at her. Instead, his eyes are on his right hand, which glows a faint bluish white, as if a crystal was used... No. No, he did not use the Transmigrate Crystal. He pulls an mirror from his inventory to look for a dark mark on his brown skin. He doesn't see it as he looks at his face and neck, for it's on the back of his right hand. Partially angered by his trick and betrayed by his promise not to use the crystal, she frowns and steps closers to him. "Jaymes! The Mark... I can see it on you... Nooo!" She raises her hand to strike him, either on his chest or his face, but he moves first.

And the next thing Koharu knows is that her body is in her arms, crushed against his, and their lips are together. Stunned, she doesn't realize what's happening until her mind catches up to the situation. And once she does, her shock, fears, and conflict becomes elation. Her body relaxes, save for the hand that was raised lands on his face to hold him there.

After the kiss breaks, his head rises, landing the chin on her head. She plants her face on his cheek, continuously crying despite her previous happiness. "...I'm sorry... You did all of this for my sake... Nngh..."

"It's fine. Everything's okay. I got scared for a second there, that I really couldn't find a way. I didn't know if it'd really work. The Mark vanished for a second. If only it had stayed gone. I wish it came with an manual. But furthermore, Koharu... I know your secret. I was just a fool for keeping the same secret to myself. But I hope you understood it now. And...there's no other partner for me. No one can claim it because there will never be a void in that space. I made a promise to see that you return to the real world, Ko, and I plan on keeping it. But for now on, I don't plan on putting my life on the line for that promise. When you return, I want to return too because I want to spend every day afterward with the girl I love."

"J-Jaymes..."

"...Oh! That's right! A manual!" The tender moment is ruined as Jaymes releases her and peruses his inventory, materializing the Transmigrate Crystal again. Whatever's on his mind, she sighs and steps over to look over his shoulder as he reads the properties of the crystal to himself. She's happy enough to be alive, happy that Jaymes might've found another way, but most of all, she's happy to be with her one and only partner again.


Asuna and Kirito

Asuna hadn't seen the affair with her own eyes, but from afar via her map. The entire buildup to this moment was unsettling in one way, but this was different.

This morning was Kirito's first assignment as a member of the Knights of the Blood Oath. Usually, the knights work in parties of five, but Asuna pulled her strings as vice-commander with Commander Heathcliff to form a two-man party instead, and secretly thought to pull their friends Jaymes and Koharu into the fold to go dungeon-clearing as they did in the old days.

But that was not to be. Upon arrival at the KoB headquarters in Grandzam, the main city of the fifty-fifth floor, Asuna and Kirito were informed by Godfrey that Asuna was to stay behind; Kirito will party with him and two others. Asuna has no clue as to who's going with Kirito and Godfrey, had half a mind to join Kirito, but he convinced her to stay behind. At their levels, the fifty-fifth floor's labyrinth will be easy to clear.

So she watched from afar in Grandzam, her eyes glued to the map that showed Kirito, Godfrey, and two other indicators heading for the labyrinth to the west. But suddenly, Godfrey's indicator's vanished. Alarmed, Asuna closed the map and ran through the dry canyon towards Kirito at lightning speed.

Threee miles and five minutes later, without much thought, she thrusted her sword at one of the two figures she sees remaining, sending him flying across the canyon. The other, laid on the ground, grunts in surprise himself. Once Asuna recognizes him, she removes a healing crystal from her inventory and holds it over the white-cloaked figure.

"Heal!" Asuna crushes the healing crystal, immediately restoring Kirito's health to full. Seeing his relieved expression, the adrenaline in Asuna's system depletes, Asuna falls to her knees above the fallen, paralyzed Kirito, her voice shaking, tears briming in her eyes. "I made it in time... I made it in time! God, I made it in time... I was wathcing you on the map, the Godfrey disappeared. So I thought something happeened. You're alive. You're alive. Right, Kirito?"

Kirito smiles. "Yeah, I'm alive..."

Metallic sounds from behind Asuna in the curving canyon switches her mood. Anger taking hold of her mind, she turns around to face the man who killed Godfrey and attempted to do the same to Kirito. "Just hold on. This will be over soon." Standing up and pulling out the teal-colored Lambert Light rapier, Asuna confronts the snake-faced man who wears teh same guild colors as her, Kuradeel.

"Asuna, this was just training. That's right... We had a training accident-Gwahhhh!" Kuradeel recoils after Asuna's blade cuts through his cheek. "Damn it!" He tries to attack, but Asuna dodges and attacks again relentlessly. The man cries out, drops his sword, and holds his hands up once Asuna ceases her flurry. "F-fine, I surrender. I was wrong! I'll leave the guild... You'll never see me again! So... I don't want to die!"

Asuna lets her rapier hang over the pitiful, crunched over form of Kuradeel momentarily. If she was Jaymes, who went through this situation with his partner many times, he would have slayed Kuradeel without hesitation. However, she considers her next move, unexpectedly allowing Kuradeel to grab his sword and make his move.

Shocked, Asuna's disarmed. Seeing his opportunity, Kuradeel hoists his sword over his head. "You're pretty gullible, Vice Commander!" The man's broadsword comes down, but it doesn't cut through Asuna's white and red uniform, but Kirito's left wrist. Mentally stunned and physically locked in a skill delay, Asuna drops back as Kirito's right hand glows yellow and plants itself through Kuradeel's chest.

"You...murderer..." Those are Kuradeel's last words before his avatar vanishes, becoming another victim of the death game.

Once Kuradeel is gone, Kirito falls to his knees, head hanging low. Unsure of what to do, Asuna walks over to him, drops down behind him, and reaches for his hand, yet finds herself unable to take hold of him. And the tears she held back moments ago finally run down her face. "I'm sorry," she says. "This was... This was my fault, wasn't it?"

"Asuna..."

"I'm sorry! I... I shouldn't... I should stay away...from now on." Asuna begins to break down, then Kiirto takes hold of Asuna's shoulder. Frozen by the gesture,, her mind goes black as Kirito leans forward and kisses her. At first she jumps, surprised that Kirito of all people initiated it, then melts into it for the couple of moments their lips are interlocked.

Once it breaks, Kirito rests his head on Asuna's bosom. "My life belongs to you, Asuna. So I will use it for you. Let's stay together until the end."

"And I... I'll protect you, too. I'll protect you forever."

"So... I'll see to it that you can go back to the other world, no matter what happens." Asuna lifts his head off her, glancing up with a smile. "Asuna. Today... Tonight, I want to stay with you."

She gasps, surprised by his statement. Forming a smile of his own and blushing, she nods. "Okay."


Later on that night, after a moment Asuna shall remember for the rest of her life, she feels a finger trace her back. Slightly roused from her dream of the other world, she opens her eyes, adjusts to the light, and smiles up at the young man who holds her in his arms.

"Sorry, did I wake you?"

She adjusts her position to rest on his chest. "Mm...I was dreaming. Of the old world... It's weird. In my dream, I got so worried. I was afraid that everyonne about Aincrad, and the fact that I met you here, was a dream of its own. I'm glad it didn't turn out to be that way."

"That's weird. Don't you want to leave?"

"I do, I do. But I don't want to lose the time I've spent here. We've come a really long way...but these two years are very important to me. I realize that now... I'm sorry, Kirito. It should have been me who finished that fight."

"No. Kuradeel went after me, and I was the one who drove him to do what he did. That was my battle."

Kirito nods at her, and in response, Asuna raises her hand to his lips. For two years, there's been a couple of words she wanted to say to Kirito when they were originally partners. The words never came out when they were partied with Jaymes and Koharu; it never came out when her best friend in the real world died; it didn't come out when Kirito passed her off to the KoB on the twenty-fifth floor; it hasn't been said since they reunited as a pair of sorts on the fifty-sixth floor. It's been the words she's been jealous of hearing passed between Jaymes and Koharu for two years now, but now they flow out from Asuna's mind, heart, and soul.

"I'll be there to help bear what you bear. We'll carru ot together. I promise. No matter what happenes, I'll be there to protecct you."

Kirito's lips tremble. "And I...will be there to protect you." It doesn't sound convincing, given Kirito's awkwardness, but he reinforces his plea by holding her hand. You're strong, Asuna. Much stronger than me."

"That's not true. In the other world, I was always the type to hide behind someone else. In school, I was behind Mito, no matter how hard I tried. I didn't even buy this game for myself. My brother bought it and had to go on a work trip, so I got to try it out on the very first day to meet up with Mito. It was so hard for him to leave without it, and now I've been hogging it for two years. I bet he's angry."

Kirito nods in agreement. "You need to get back and say you're sorry."

"Yeah... I've got my work cut out for me," she mumbles, pressing her body against Kirito. A thought crosses her mind, one that conflicts with everything she's done in the last two years, especially considering how she scolded Kirito for it quite a few times. But after what happened today, how they nearly died against Kuradeel and how they've professed their desire to give each other their lives, Asuna doesn't want the next morning to be them fighting the world.

And for the second time, she finds herself mimicking the pair of partners she's insanely jealous of. "Hey…Kirito. I realize this contradicts what I just said, but…do you think maybe we should leave the front lines for a bit?"

"Huh?"

"I'm just scared…We've finally connected in this powerful way, and I can't help but feel like going back into battle will lead to some terrible thing happening…Maybe I'm just tired of this."

"Hey…Kirito. I realize this contradicts what I just said, but…do you think maybe we should leave the front lines for a bit?" "Huh…?" "I'm just scared…We've finally connected in this powerful way, and I can't help but feel like going back into battle will lead to some terrible thing happening…Maybe I'm just tired of this."

"Good point... I'm tired, too." Kirito wraps his arms around her further, sinking his facing in her hair. "There's a nice place down in the southwest region of floor twenty-two. Lots of forests and lakes, no monsters. There's a tranquil little village there. Couple of log cabins available to buy. Let's move down there. And then…"

"And then?"

"L... Let's get married."

The smile and single tear that rolls down Asuna's face is one she'll never forget. "...Okay."


"Why is it suddenly so cold?"

"You too? It's usually warm on this floor, so I wonder what's up."

"...I think the girls are badmouthing us."

"That... That sounds about right..."