Sword Art Online

After The Incident

Chapter 48 – A Proposal In Moonlight

~At Agil's shop in ALO, Kirito's POV~

"Ahhhh! AGIL! *Hic* Another one!"

"Klein I swear to god, if you climb over the counter one more time, I'll have you arrested!"

I laughed as Agil put Klein in a headlock and began escorting him into the back of the room and far away from the liquor-filled bar. Klein had, as always, been the one who had drank the most, and he had therefore also reached a state of wasted far faster than any other customer in the shop.

"Agil, maybe you should simmer down on the effect your alcohol takes on the players" Asuna mumbled apprehensively as she watched Klein be dragged off with a worried expression "I mean, look at him, he can barely even stand"

"Hey, it's not my fault that he's a showoff" Agil said with an annoyed expression "He was the one who dared he could chug five shots at the first cheers."

"Yeah, but still, 5 shots shouldn't be doing this to him" Asuna mumbled as she walked over to help Agil with a very groggy Klein "My alcohol knowledge might be limited, but I can tell as much as that"

"You don't know how much he's drunk" Agil said with a hearty laugh "Besides, his drunken self makes quite effective entertainment"

I laughed again and took a gander around the bar. Everyone was sitting by their own tables, Lizbeth and Scilica in the right corner by the door, Sinon was scolding Kyouji for not listening to her in the boss battle somewhere in the middle of the bar, Klein was currently being laid down on a bench by the left wall by Agil, and Suguha and Asuna was sitting by either side of me by the bar, Yui proudly sitting on Asuna's shoulder.

"mommy, Klein seems to have a raised drunken status" Yui advised Asuna as she gazed at Klein "I advise that he finds a bed and gets some rest so his character can get the alcohol out of its system. Either that, or log out temporarily"

"Even when you say that, Yui…" I mumbled as I tried to hold my laughter "Klein would probably protest"

"Seriously, he's got some sort of problem" Leafa mumbled as she took a sip of her cranberry drink "Either stubbornness or a drinking problem"

"Don't say that Leafa" Asuna said quickly "He was pretty stressed in the dungeon after all"

"That, I can agree on" I said with a smirk "It seemed that he feared my boss more than I intended for him"

"Oy, Kirito!"

Right on cue, Klein wandered up to me on unsteady feet.

"Please tone down on all the creepy shit in your dungeons man," He said with a solemn expression as he collapsed in a barstool next to Asuna "I could have sworn that place scared at least 2 years off my lifespan"

"Just stop being such a buzzkill, Klein" Lizbeth said with a laugh "No one else seemed as scared as you, you know?"

"That's because… *Hic* no one knows that little bastard like I do" Klein said with a smirk as he grabbed me and began giving me a noogie "Ain't that right, pal?"

"K-Klein, let go of me!" I laughed and pushed him away "Anyway, you should probably get some rest."

Lizbeth shook her head with a sigh and smiled as she walked over to Klein, takin his arm by the wrist and helping him go through his own menu to find the logout button.

"I'll go check up on him IRL" Lizbeth said with a sigh "The fulldive system does have some effects on your body in real life, after all"

"Alright Liz" I sighed softly and shook my head at Klein's drunkenness "Come right back though, this celebration is for everyone"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll hurry"

She smiled and watched Klein's avatar disappear, before her own avatar logged out as well.

"I hope uncle Klein is okay" Yui said with a frown.

It was true. The body could react very poorly from going from completely wasted to absolutely normal in what would be the span of seconds. The fulldive system does have some negative side effects, though normally they were only in the smallest of categories.

"I'm sure he's fine, Yui" I said with a laugh "Believe it or not, he's been worse than that"

"Alright, if you say so, daddy" Yui said with a smile.

The rest of the night went along decently calm. At least there were no longer a Klein to try and climb over the counter, and Liz came back fairly quickly, though I did notice she had a fairly evident blush all over her face when she did return. I wonder what had happened between her and Klein when they were gone?

"K-Klein told me to wish you guys a happy celebration" she said silently "He was incredibly tired after this whole evening"

"Liz, are you okay?" I asked curiously as I looked at her closer "Your face is all red"

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine" She said defensively "I'll go chat with Scilica!"

She quickly ran over and settled beside Scilica, no doubt because she wanted to avoid me asking anymore questions.

"What the hell…?" I mumbled, before shrugging my shoulders and reaching for my drink, a weak strawberry sunrise, when Asuna pouted and took it away.

"H-Hey! What gives!?"

"I'm not letting you end up as Klein" She said teasingly as she took a sip of my drink herself "Leafa, help me keep an eye out on your brother for the night, okay?"

"Huh!?" I pouted and glared back at Suguha, who just grinned at me and hummed yes to Asuna's request "Are you seriously going to babysit the hero of SAO!?"

"Please, being good with a sword doesn't mean you're good with booze too" Leafa said with a laugh as she wrapped arms around me from behind to keep me from reaching for my drink "Besides, you've already had three or four drinks, AND, you're still underage"

"What, you keeping tap on me now?" I pouted and sighed "Can't I at least finish my last one?"

"nope, you've had enough" Asuna said with a laugh "And if you want it back-"

She smiled and tapped the drink before it disappeared, having gone into her inventory as an item.

"You're gonna have to catch me!"

She laughed and twirled around before dashing out the door, leaving me behind in complete disarray and confusion. I had never seen her be that playful, so I puffed out my cheeks in a pout before I tried pushing Leafa off me.

"Leafa, let go of me!" I yelled, before I managed to pry her off me and took off after my virtual wife "Asuna, wait!"

"Oy, Kazuto!" Leafa yelled in an attempt to keep me at the bar.

Though it failed horribly. Before anyone else could stop me I had ran outside and exposed my wings before setting off the ground, high into the air, and looking in all directions to see if I could spot the playful undine fairy who had escaped the bar just a few moments earlier.

"Asuna!"

I tried calling. No response.

"hmm… Maybe she's hiding on one of the floating islands" I mumbled, gaining altitude before I began checking them out one by one.

I raised my altitude again and raised myself up over the clouds. Maybe she was hiding up here?

I suddenly felt a heavy impact on my backside and yelped in surprise, before female giggles. I pouted as I turned around and saw my wife smiling up at me mischievously as she hugged around my chest.

"Now would you care to explain why you're acting like this?" I said with a laugh as I began hugging back "It's not like you to be this playful, Asuna"

"Well, I thought changing things up a little would do nicely" She said with a giggle "Actually, I wanted to show you something, Kazuto"

Kazuto huh? She usually only ever called me by my actual name when it was something really serious.

"Sure, where to?"

She smiled and pecked my cheek before taking my hand, and we both began flying through the air at high speed. I noticed we were heading in the general direction of our cottage, but when I saw the house and began ascending, Asuna just shook her head and pulled me back in our original altitude.

"Not here, wait for a moment"

I looked up at her, confused and, very much intrigued. If we weren't going to the cottage, then where could we possibly be going? I couldn't think of that many places that would hold as much of an emotional value to Asuna as the cottage would, but I guess I would find out with time.

We flew for a while, a couple of minutes at best, in comfortable silence. I didn't need to say anything, since I didn't want to pry into Asuna's little secrets. Besides, I had more than enough to look at anyway.

The game of ALO was beautiful. As much as I hated to admit it, Sugou and his team had managed to build an incredibly beautiful game. From the sandy dunes of the salamander desert to the south, to the grass and wetlands of Sylphs and Undine's to the east and southwest respectively, there were so many different areas and places to visit and explore, that I doubt you could explore the entire game in a year if you tried.

I had been playing the game with my friends for a good while at this point, and I still hadn't even set foot in the capital city of Undine territory, which Asuna and I had been talking about on several occasions.

I was quickly distracted from my train of thought when Asuna tucked on my hand and began ascending. I naturally followed, realizing that we were landing by a large lake somewhere outside Alde, the central city of the world tree.

"Asuna, what are we doing out here?" I asked silently, my curiosity uncontainable at this point "I mean, this is a pretty place and all, but…"

Asuna giggled a little and sighed as she turned towards the lake, the moonlight above us shining against us in the water, and creating a surreal fantasy-like atmosphere around us.

"Hey Kazuto… Did you ever realize that we never got remarried here in ALO?"

I widened my eyes and held a breath back from escaping me. That was true, we never did get remarried here like what I had imagined would seem natural for the two of us, considering our backgrounds in SAO.

"Yeah that's true…" I mumbled, a bit embarrassed at the fact that I hadn't even given remarriage a thought "I hate to admit it, but I never even thought about it…"

She smiled silently and nodded. Apparently she didn't mind my embarrassment at the topic, or the fact that I had actually forgotten it.

"To be honest, I had also forgotten…" She mumbled silently as she stepped closer to me "Everything we've been through lately… Honestly took most of my mind off any sort of remarriage"

I nodded silently and sighed. Everythin between Sugou, Kyouji, GGO and the return of the last members of The Laughing Coffin, everything had been a mix of insane chaos in my head, hence my nightmares earlier in this year. They had been at a much less intensity and amount lately, but still, they were still present sometimes.

"I know what you mean" I looked over at her with a curious look "Is remarriage the reason we came out here?"

A simple nod remained as an answer to my question, but she didn't continue right away, leaving me in yet another moment or two in complete curiosity and confusion.

"Yeah… Yeah, that is the reason" Asuna giggled a little and turned back to me "Kirito the detective, strikes again huh?"

I chuckled silently and shook my head at her goofiness. She smiled at me before steeling herself and stepping forward before taking my hand.

"Kazuto, this might be unconventional and all…" She mumbled silently, her gaze wavering a little bit "But… I feel like, now that we've finally managed to find peace with ourselves and our enemies, I find it to be a good time"

I blushed a little and smiled, but my smile quickly fell at surprise of her next move. She went through her inventory, and finally pushed a button, where a small box suddenly appeared in her cupped hands. My jaw practically hit the floor when I realized what she was doing.

"Asuna.. is this a…"

She smiled and nodded a little, the slightest clue of a tear in the corners of her eyes. She chuckled nervously and lowered her face, looking up at me nervously.

"Sh-Should I kneel or something?" She asked silently "I mean, it's normally the guy who proposes to the girl…"

I was completely baffled at the fact that this was happening at all, so I didn't find any other answer than "Do whatever you feel is the right choice"

I blushed a little as she opened the little box between her hands, and finally let the tears roll down her face.

"K-Kazuto… This will be our second virtual proposal.." she said with a silent tear-choked chuckle "Would you do me the honor of marrying me?"

I smiled softly and looked away as I quickly wiped a tear from the corner of my eye, before stepping forward and embracing her in a tight hug.

"Of course I will" I said with a soft chuckle "I would be insane to say no"

This whole emotional charade might seem weird from an outsiders perspective, but the virtual world was just as important to me as the real one. Despite the two world's differences, I really did not feel like VR was fake. The experiences I had had the honor to get in that world, was just as real as the once I had IRL.

It was in VR that I had met all my wonderful friends, and eventually my girlfriend IRL, and my wife in VR. Those memories and relationships was just as real as if they had happened in real life.

So this virtual proposal might have been a little silly. I'm sure other people would have felt weird if their respective counterpart took it so seriously.

But to Asuna and I, this virtual proposal was just as meaningful as one in real life would have been, hence our intense emotions.

I smiled and watched as Asuna slid the ring onto my ring finger, and a window popped up.

Do you wish to finish this marriage proposal? Your relationship status will be changed to Engaged and you will receive buffs and debuffs fitting to this new status:

N/Y

Asuna took my hand in hers and together, we pressed the yes button, and made the pop up window disappear. We were officially engaged.

I barely even looked up from the message before Asuna drew me in for another hug and kissed me suddenly, making me widen my eyes in surprise. I quickly melted into the kiss, the warmth of her body making my tenseness disappear almost immediately as I kissed back, and embraced her in my arms, just enjoying he closeness between us.

We finally parted from our kiss because of the unfortunate need to breathe, and I smiled as I leaned my forehead against hers and stared deep into her eyes.

"I love you, Asuna Yuuki"

I love you too, Kazuto Kirigaya. And at least in this world, it's Asuna Kirigaya now" she said with a giggle.

"Haha, not yet. Not officially married yet"

"No, but that's gonna change" She said, kissing me shortly again "Hopefully in real life too"

"That sounds wonderful…"

We kissed one final time before sitting down in the dew wet grass by the lake, holding each other's hand and leaning against one another.

There was only a distinct set of memories in my mind that I knew I was going to remember forever. And this was definitely one of them.

Yui eventually came back after having hunted down some monsters, and we sat together by the lake, throwing rocks into the water and talking about our most precious memories.

It was moments like this that made people like Sugou worth it to endure. To just have a moment to myself with my two favorite girls in the world, was worth all the pain and all the trouble the world could ever throw at us.

And with the pale moonlight shining up at us from the deep blue waters of the lake, the night eventually drew to a close.