Asuna's POV...

Do you want to know about one of the perks of attending a luxurious dorm school? You can swim in the pool even in the winter! The heating was amazing in all indoor parts of the academy premises.

That winter day, I hit the school pool with the original group: Leafa, Strea, Lisbeth and Sinon. (Kirito and I call those four girls 'the original group' because they were the ones we would hang out with when I first came to that academy, before... err... Kirito's harem expanded.)

I was wearing my white-red bikini, Leafa was wearing her white bikini, Lisbeth was wearing her red, Strea her pink and Sinon her blue. (That was so unlike Sinon, who usually wears the color black all the time.)

We were sitting on the tiles next to the pool, lazily swinging our legs in the water, relaxing after our swimming workout. There was no one else in the hall. The pool was all to ourselves, yay!

In a few words, almost everything was like in the good, old times.

Speaking of the past...

'You know, Asuna, you've never told us how you and Kirito met,' Lisbeth said at some point, caressing my calf with her foot underwater. (Most likely, that was an innocent gesture; I know that I have engaged with all those girls but Strea in heavy lesbian sessions in the past, but, at that moment, there was no sexual tension.)

'Oh, Kirito told me some stuff about that, on his first day here, but he didn't go into much detail,' Leafa interjected. (See Chapter 1)

I chuckled. I lowered my eyes to the water shyly.

'Come on, Asie, tell us,' all girls leant towards me, pleading like little children who are curious to learn how their parents met.

'Well, since you put me on the spot...' I began.

Before I could start telling the story, Strea removed her legs from the water, assumed a kneeling position behind me and placed her hands on my head.

'What are you doing?' I raised my eyes, baffled.

'I want to see the flashback in your head while you're telling the story,' she giggled.

I rolled my eyes and began without further ado.

Asuna's POV... (about 4 years ago)

I was sitting on a bench in the school yard, wearing my school uniform, eating my dull lunch. Everything was dull about me, not just my lunch. I was an awkward looking 12 year old girl. My red hair was tied in a stupid bun, my face was full of acne and I was wearing glasses and braces.

Darn, how was I supposed to meet people like that? Until then, the only social life I had really had was the times I would go with my parents to the church! Yes, I had spent my six years in the primary school all alone!

Anyway, that year, soon after I began attending the middle school, I noticed that there was another kid who suffered from the same invisibility syndrome as me. A boy called Kirito.

Speaking of Kirito, that day, for whatever reason, he approached me when I was eating my lunch and talked to me!

'You know, this lettuce sandwitch would taste better if you put some butter in it,' he smiled.

He took a butter wrapper out of his lunch box and offered it to me, along with a knife for me to spread the butter on the bread with.

Asuna's POV... (present day)

'Aww, how romantic,' Leafa commented, uniting her palms together. 'Usually, boys use flowers or chocolates to near a girl they like. But he was different. He gave you butter instead!'

'Do you want to hear the fucking story or not?' I asked boredly.

Leafa stuck out her tongue and I carried on.

Asuna's POV... (about 4 years ago)

'I consume no dairy products today,' I snorted. 'I am a Christian and, today, us Christians are fasting.'

Kirito wiggled the wrapper in front of my face. 'Come on, I know you want it,' he teased.

'If I take it, will you go away?' I sighed.

'We'll see,' he smiled.

I took the butter, opened my sandwitch and put some in. Then I resumed eating. I admit it was a lot better that way. I didn't admit it out loud of course.

'I'm Kirito, by the way,' he offered his hand.

'Asuna,' I reciprocated the handshake.

'So, Asuna,' Kirito walked around me, eyeing me playfully while I was eating. 'Why are you always sitting all alone in recess?'

'Why do you?' I raised an eyebrow. 'I've never seen you with anyone either.'

Kirito let out a melancholic sigh and told me about how his only company was his little sister, who usually was a thorn in his side.

I giggled. Kirito seemed happy that he had at last made me giggle. I told him that he was lucky to have a sister, which he disagreed with.

I told him about my own family and loneliness.

We chatted for a long time. We didn't even hear the bell ring, so we missed the next period.

'So, how about we hang out together from now on?' Kirito proposed in the end. 'That way, neither of us will be alone anymore.'

'No way!' I snapped.

Kirito suddenly lost his smile. 'Fine, as you wish,' he sighed in a low voice and turned around.

Looking at him walking away, I wondered. Why did he want to hang out with an ugly and awkward girl like me? Was it because, like me, he was at the bottom of the social ladder, so he had no other option? Or could he see in me something that no other boy could?

'Wait,' I called out.

Kirito turned around, full of hope.

'Just to thank you for the butter, I'll buy you lunch tomorrow,' I carried on.

Kirito's face became radiant with joy.

'But!' I raised a finger. 'After that, we're even. Got it? After that, you'll leave me alone.'

'Okay,' Kirito chirped and skipped away.

He knew already what I didn't know yet. He knew that the time I would buy him lunch tomorrow would not be the last time we would talk!

Asuna's POV... (present day)

'So, essentially, you were the one who made the first move, huh?' Leafa nudged me with a meaningful smile.

'What?' I shrieked. 'Of course not. He was the one who talked to me first.'

'Yeah, but you were the one who stopped him when he was about to walk away,' Sinon winked.

'You even bought him lunch, Asuna,' Lisbeth playfully caressed my shoulder. 'You really are a female knight in shining armor.'

'But I...'

Oh, who was I kidding? I made the first move!

I blushed.

'Tell us what happened afterward,' Strea asked in excitement. 'When did you become a couple, Asie?'

Asuna's POV... (about 3 years ago)

Kirito and I were sitting in a patisserie and drinking the same glass of lemonade, with two straws. Lol, how uncool and old fashioned.

But I guess both Kirito and I were still regarded as uncool and old fashioned by our classmates, although we were no longer anywhere near as awkward looking as we used to be. Myself, for example, I now dressed more stylishly, tied my hair in a beautiful ponytail instead of a sloppy bun and had taken care of my acne with special ointments, though I was still going around with glasses on. But I was planning to start wearing contact lenses soon. It was all worth it for my boyfriend... NO, WAIT, Kirito is not my boyfriend! We're just friends. I would never date someone like him!

At some point, with only a drop of lemonade left in the glass, Kirito unconsciously moved the lower end of his straw in order to catch that last drop. Equally unconsciously, I did the same!

As a result, the upper ends of our straws bumped into each other and so were our lips and... well, the next thing I knew, we were making out! The glass was knocked by our flailing arms and eventually rolled and fell off the table.

The sound of the glass breaking brought me back to reality. I abruptly broke the kiss and glared at him for a moment, showing my deadly teeth.

'A-Asuna,' Kirito raised his arms. 'I'm sorry... I... I didn't...'

'HOW DARE YOU?' I screamed and punched him in the face!

Okay, I admit that kiss was initiated by both of us at the same time, but I was mad at him, because... shut up!

Asuna's POV... (present day)

Sinon and Lisbeth gasped in shock.

Leafa tossed her head back and burst into laughter, with her palms on the tiles behind her ass. 'You're such a bitch sometimes, red,' she commented.

I blushed.

'Poor Kirito,' Strea said with sympathy. 'And then? What happened then?'

'Well,' I carried on, 'Kirito had a black eye for a few days. But he still wanted to date me. Even after that!'

I closed my eyes, tossed my head back and sighed like a fairytale princess in love. 'Can you imagine that, girls? I punched him in the face and he still wanted to date me!'

'AWWW,' all of them cried in unison.

'He's a keeper,' Leafa remarked.

'Wife him as soon as you graduate,' Lisbeth recommended.

'Now tell us some... more spicy stuff,' Leafa meaningfully caressed my foot with hers underwater.

I gulped. I knew what she meant!

'The first time you had sex,' Leafa, Lisbeth and Sinon said in unison.

Lisbeth and Leafa, who were sitting at either of my sides, took hold of either of my shoulders and eagerly leant towards me. Sinon, who was sitting next to Leafa, leant towards me by resting her palms on Leafa's thighs.

'Fine,' I said after some hesitation. 'Here is how it happened...'

Asuna's POV... (about 1.5 year ago)

Kirito and I were dining at my house. My parents were not home, nor would they be for a few days, for reasons irrelevant to this story. I had exploited that opportunity and invited Kirito to spend the night in my house. He had accepted!

'You're an excellent cook,' Kirito praised me at some point. 'I think you could become a top class chef if you wanted to.'

I blushed. 'You really believe this?'

'Sure,' he winked.

I gulped. I was so nervous.

Oh, don't be a crybaby, Asuna. It's just the first time you're gonna have sex. Big deal.

Sure the second time will be better, but, before the second time, there has to be a first time! You can't skip it and move on to the second time right away. That's just how it goes. Just get it over with.

I stood up and began undressing. Kirito's eyes bulged when he saw me taking off my white cooking apron and my greenish t shirt. I proceeded to take off my blue jean skirt. And so, I was left only with my white underwear on.

'Come on, undress too,' I prompted him, covering my half nude body with my arms. 'It's awkward to be the only one with their body exposed in here.'

'Um...' Kirito trembled. 'I don't know how to say this... when you said we were going to sleep at your house tonight... I thought you meant... you know... just sleep.'

My eyes widened. Soon, my surprise was replaced by anger. Then by rage!

'You... you...' I clenched my fist as my rage was boiling up.

Kirito had realized what my reaction was going to be and had a look of terror in his eyes.

'AND COULDN'T YOU HAVE TOLD ME SO BEFORE I UNDRESSED?' I finally screamed and charged at him.

I knocked him off the chair. We were now grappling on the floor, me on top, him helplessly trying to defend himself. But I was stronger. And angrier!

'YOU ASSHOLE,' I kept screaming. 'YOU WERE JUST WATCHING ME UNDRESSING ALL THIS TIME AND YOU... AND YOU...'

I didn't know what else to say. I realized I had abruptly calmed down. Kirito and I exchanged looks. We were breathing heavily.

Our lips joined. I don't know how long we made out like that.

He raised an arm and groped my back and ass.

Past a point, I began taking off his black clothes. Almost by force!

When he was left only with his black underpants on, I rolled us over so that he was now on top and wrapped my legs around him. We made out like that for a while.

Finally, I stood up. 'Let's take this to the couch,' I instructed.

We removed our respective underwear while walking over to the couch.

I lay down first and put a pillow under my butt, for the sake of comfort. I opened my legs, thus inviting Kirito.

Kirito awkwardly tried to put his reproductive organ in mine as I wrapped my legs around him. Finally, with a little help on my part, he managed to 'discover' my womanhood hole.

He thrusted... and thrusted... and cummed!

'I'm sorry,' he whispered, relaxing after the one sided orgasm.

'It's okay,' I lied. I let my legs fall and sighed in disappointment.

I didn't expect the first time to be anything special, but that was a disaster in every way. I shouldn't have pressed poor Kirito so hard.

Asuna's POV... (present day)

Sinon, Lisbeth and Leafa burst into laughter.

'Shut up,' I blushed.

'And what happened then?' Strea asked.

'Well, we discussed it the next morning,' I answered. 'We decided to let the second time happen naturally, so, for a while after that incident, we didn't talk about sex again.'

'And then Kirito met me. And the rest is history!' Leafa winked. 'You're welcome, As.'