Louise and I knelt before her highness in the official ceremony that took place at the academy to celebrate the restoration of peace between Tristain and Albion.

'And now, as a reward for the exceptional services you have offered to the nation, I declare both of you Chevalier Knights,' Henrietta said by gently touching my and Louise's shoulders with a sword. 'Do you swear loyalty to the crown for as long as you shall live?'

'Yes, your majesty,' Louise and I spoke almost simultaneously, eyes closed.

'Stand up,' the princess ordered us.

Next, she placed her head on the shoulder of Prince Wales, who was standing next to her. 'Furthermore, on this ocassion, I would like to announce the wedding between me and the prince of Albion.'

Everybody in the hall cheered.

Taking a more casual expression, Henrietta turned to Louise and me again and asked: 'By the way, what about you guys? Do you two want to get married too, since we are at it?'

'Kirito and I? To each other?' Louise cried, blushing.

Ettie giggled and nodded. Truth be told, I was blushing a little too!

'We will have a wonderful, double wedding!' Henrietta proposed.

Who could have imagined? When I arrived in that land, I was a slave, with no hopes for the future. And now, look at me, a Chevalier Knight, about to marry the girl I loved, at the same time my good friend, Princess Henrietta, would marry her own true love. I bet the four of us would get along really well and have plenty of swinging sessions in the future!

At that moment, Principal Osmond stormed into the hall. 'Your majesty, I apologize for interrupting the ceremony, but I think I have discovered a way for the familiar of Miss De La Valliere to return to his world.'

Everybody gasped. Especially me! I had given up hopes of returning to Japan months before, and now, when I was about to begin a new life, that thing happened! As if Fate wanted to drag me back to the past!

That was the moment I realized that I no longer knew whether I really wanted to go back! After all that time in Halkeginia, my former life looked so distant! I could barely remember the love I once felt towards Asuna!

Silence in the hall. As if everybody was waiting in anticipation for my decision! Louise looked at me, with eyes full of hope.

'I... I don't know,' I admitted with a sigh. 'I wish to be left alone for a while.'

I walked outside of the hall, slowly, with a lost expression, like a ghost, ignoring the whispers and reactions around me.

Louise's POV...

'Kirito!'

I tried to run behind him, but the princess held me by the shoulder.

'Leave him alone, Louise,' she said. 'This is something he has to decide himself.'

I went back to Louise's dorm room. I gazed out of the window for a while. Or maybe it was more than a while. I don't know how long I stayed there.

Trust me, guys, that was the toughest decision of my life. I really tried to drag up from inside me what I used to be, how I used to feel, but I really couldn't. Trying to remember Asuna and the other girls I used to hang out with was like trying to remember a past life.

I smiled. It was obvious Halkeginia was now where I belonged! I would go back to Louise and tell her I would stay with her!

My eyes fell on a pair of trousers on the floor. The trousers I was wearing when I came to Halkeginia! The last remnant of my past. I felt the need to pick it up and burn it.

I crouched. And then, as I was picking it up, I felt something in the trouser's pockets. (Don't make any jokes about my trousers being happy to see me! That was a serious moment.) Of course! It was my cellphone!

How had I forgotten about it all those months? And, if I was not mistaken, it was still charged! (I hadn't used up any of the battery's energy during my stay in Halkeginia!)

Without knowing why, I took out the cellphone and turned it on. I had some photos and videos stored. I watched a video. It showed Asuna crawling mischievously on my bed and drawing something on my face with a marker while I was sleeping. That giggle of hers!

WHAT WAS I THINKING? How could I forget about my first love? My true love!

I burst into the principal's office.

'Mister Osmond, I want to go back!' I declared solemnly.

The old man smiled. 'I knew you would make the right choice, lad,' he said. 'This is not where you belong. You have to go back!'

I preferred not to say goodbye to Louise. It would be hard!

Darn! In a perfect world, I would be able to be with my girls from Japan as well as with my girls from Halkeginia. Who knows, maybe someday, in the hereafter, we can be all together, as a large, polyamorous family. But, for the time being, my second harem and I had to be apart.

A portal opened on the street, on the same spot where I got transported to Halkeginia in the first place. I jumped out.

I ran over to my house, as fast as I could. Who knows what had happened here all those months? Was mom still alive? Or had she died of sorrow? Had Asuna found another boyfriend? Oh, God, I would die if that had happened.

I stormed into the house. I saw Suguha and Asuna. The latter being there meant she probably hadn't found another boyfriend. Or maybe she had but she was still friends with Sugu, that was why she visited my house. So many thoughts were flashing through my head in a fraction of a moment. I didn't want to think anymore. I just wanted to hug them!

'SIS! ASUNA!'

I squeezed both of them in my hands. They were shocked. But something did not feel right! That shock in their eyes was not the kind of shock they would normally feel if they had not seen me in months.

'Whoah, calm down bro,' Suguha pulled away. 'We have been to the mall only for a few hours. Did you already miss us that much?'

'Perhaps we should go to the mall more often,' Asuna giggled.

Eventually, I realized it. In my world, only a few hours had passed!

Later, when I had calmed down, Asuna, Suguha and I were sitting in the living room and I was trying to explain to them all that unbelievable stuff that had happened to me.

'So,' Asuna summed up. 'You want us to believe that you got sucked into a portal and went to a fantasy world, where you had months worth of experiences within a few hours?'

'I know it sounds crazy,' I sighed. 'But...'

I didn't know what else to say.

Asuna raised and eyebrow and giggled. Oh, who cares whether they ever believed me. I was just glad to be back.

'Wait a minute!' Suguha suddenly stood up. 'What did you say that land was called?'

'Halkeginia,' I answered.

Suguha ran over to her bedroom and came back with a history book.

'I knew it was here somewhere,' she explained, opening the tome. 'According to some ancient legend, Halkeginia was a continent somewhere close to Japan. Something like the Lost Atlantis. At some point, a brave familiar was transported to that continent and helped his master, Louise, end a war between two nations.'

Wait a minute, does all that mean I had been transported to... the ancient past?

'A few months after that lad returned to his own world,' Suguha continued, her attention on the book's pages, 'Princess Henrietta gave birth to a boy, who would later become a great king. Rumors had it that that boy was not her husband's, but it was a result of a short affair of hers with the mysterious lad!'

Wow, my son became a king! I was so proud... WAIT, I WAS A FATHER? And my son died thousands of years before I was even born?

Asuna glared at me. 'Kirito!' she said threateningly. 'What exactly did you do during your stay there?'

I laughed in embarrassment and stroked my nape. I guess medieval condoms aren't as effective as modern ones!