Chapter 2

The streets of Vale were mostly empty at this hour, many of the residents opting to spend the remaining hours of the day in the comfort of their homes. Still there was the occasional person James and the rest of the group had to step around in order to avoid a head on collision.

"Wow so you guys are into VR games too?" James asked, glancing at Asuna who was walking to his right.

"Yup," Asuna nodded with a smile, "We usually play Alfheim Online together, have you heard of it?"

"Oh yeah definitely," he replied, "It's one of the few games I own."

"That's awesome, so what race do you play?"

"Spriggan."

"I see," Asuna said, glancing at Kirito whom was walking beside her, "Looks like you and Kirito have that in common then."

"You don't say," James said, also glancing at Kirito; he took note of how he was on the side closest to the road. "Guess that makes us brothers then," He grinned cheekily.

Kirito rolled his eyes, causing James and Asuna to chuckle.

James looked up and to the side, "Ah there it is," he said, nodding toward the entrance of a restaurant with a sign over it reading 'La Rosa Bianca'.

Upon entering the group was greeted with the scent of fresh roses as well as the faint smell of Mistrali cooking. The place was decorated heavily in red, well, everything, with a few bits of white here and there to accent the aesthetic. It wasn't very busy either, just a few customers scattered here and there, not that it was surprising considering the hour.

"Hello welcome to- ah James," The greeter, a balding man in a black suit with a red tie, said.

"Hey Lorenzo," James greeted, walking up and shaking the man's hand, "how's business?"

"Quite well," Lorenzo replied; he glanced behind the Huntsman-to-be, "I see you've brought friends with you."

"Yeah, we were looking to get some food before razing the town."

Lorenzo chuckled, "Well you're more than welcome here," he said, tucking a bundle of menus under his arm, "Follow me, please."

The group complied and Lorenzo led them over to a large booth toward the back of the restaurant that managed to fit everyone comfortably. After they settled, Lorenzo passed out the menus then went to a nearby counter and came back with glasses of water for everyone then left with a polite bow.

"Seems you're pretty chummy with our waiter," Klein commented, sipping on his glass of water.

"He's not a waiter," James replied, putting his arms over the back of the seat, "He owns the place."

Klein did a spit take, "For real?!"

James chuckled, "Yup, he likes to greet customers when he has the chance."

"Wow."

"So how do you know him?" Lisbeth asked.

"My teammate is his niece," he replied, "She introduced all of us when we came down here for a little 'team bonding time'." He made air quotes with his hand for the last part.

"Whaddya mean by 'bonding time'?" Lisbeth asked.

"The bane of a man's existence," James sighed, "shopping." The other men at the table nodded sympathetically.

Asuna chuckled nervously then looked at James, "So James, how long have you been going to Beacon?"

"We just started our second year last month," he replied, "And we're already the top team of our year too." He finished proudly.

Asuna was about to ask more when a group of particularly rowdy guys came in and sat at a table across the way and a few tables down. They started harassing one of the waitress', making catcalls and inappropriate comments about her outfit.

"Jeez guys like that are such pigs," Lisbeth muttered with a scowl.

"I think I got a way to fix that," James said with a mischievous smile, "Wanna see something cool?"

He raised his hand toward the group of guys, there were four of them, and made a pushing motion. A second after one of the cups filled with ice cold water tipped over and spilled all over one of the guys' lap, causing him to cry out then curse up a storm. James then made a swishing motion with his hand and suddenly another guys foot jerked up and hit the shin of the guy across from him. The guy who got kicked immediately got up and started yelling at the other one. Finally James made a motion toward himself and the fourth guy's chair tipped over, sending him toppling into the guy that got kicked. They were about to get into it until a large man wearing a stained apron came out and cracked his knuckles then jerked his head toward the door; they complied without question.

The cook glanced over at James and gave him a slight nod, to which he replied with a smirk and peace sign, then went back to the kitchen.

"Seems like our friends had a sudden run of bad luck," he said, putting his hands behind his head and lifting his leg and placing his foot on his knee.

"I'll say," Lisbeth replied, "What the heck was that anyways?"

"My Semblance, it lets me manipulate the air within a certain radius."

"Wow," Suguha said, awestruck, "So can you like make tornados like that one wind spell?"

James laughed, "No, nothing quite that big," he replied, taking a sip of his water, "At my limit I can only manipulate enough to make a fairly powerful gust," he let out another laugh, "And I almost passed out the last time I tried."

"Yikes," Klein commented.

James shrugged, "Yeah, mostly I just use it to redirect attacks or help with movement."

"I got it," Kirito said, crossing his arms, "So that's what happened to me with the boss."

"Well I couldn't let my Spriggan brother get hurt now, could I?"

Kirito scowled at him, causing the whole table to laugh.

Asuna waved to Silica and Lisbeth as they headed off in the direction of their respective homes. Klein and Agil had already off, the former of which doing so whilst complaining about his 'slave driver' boss and 'ridiculous hours'. That left her, Kirito, Suguha and James outside the restaurant they had just finished eating at.

"Sorry," Asuna said, approaching James, "It looks like we kept you from all that sightseeing you were talking about."

"Meh that's alright," he replied with a wave, "I wouldn't have seen anything I haven't already anyway, besides there's always next time."

Asuna gave him a grateful smile then turned and looked up at the starry night sky, brushing some of her hair behind her ear; James looked at the sky as well. "This was fun," she said, "maybe we should do something like this again sometime."

"No arguments here," he replied, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall, "Though don't expect Lorenzo to be so generous next time."

Asuna giggled, "I still can't believe he waved the check like that."

"Probably just did it as a thank you for getting rid of those guys."

"But that was all you."

James merely shrugged in response.

They stood in silence for a minute whilst Kirito and Suguha conversed off to the side.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot," Asuna said, reaching into her bag and pulling out her scroll, "I wanted to get your info."

"Really? Already?" James asked with a raised eyebrow then he gave a sly smirk, "Wow Asuna, Kirito's right over there, who knew you were so bold."

"I-it's not like that," Asuna stammered, her face flushing.

James laughed, "Relax, I was just teasing you." He pulled out his scroll and held it over Asuna's whilst grinning at the scowl and pout on her face. With a beep the scrolls signified the transfer was complete.

"Great," Asuna said, looking down at her scroll, "We should definitely all meet up in ALO soon."

"When I have free time again, sure," James replied, "sounds like it'd be a lot of fun."

"Any idea when that'll be?"

James took a thinking pose, "Well let's see…we have a mission this Friday so I won't have any work I have to do over the weekend."

"A mission? What kind?"

"Just a Search and Destroy mission; basically just finding and killing Grimm, easy stuff for us."

"Okay, I'll have to check with the others but this weekend should be good."

"Sweet, can't wait to show off my awesome sword skills again," He said with a grin as he pushed off the wall and stretched his arms above his head, "And maybe we can get a couple good duels in, whaddya say Kirito?"

Asuna turned just as Kirito walked up to them, "Alright, but don't cry if you lose," he smirked.

James returned his expression, "Oh you don't have to worry about that little brother," Suguha had to stifle a laugh at that, "If I were you I'd worry about Asuna getting jealous of your relationship with the dirt."

Asuna sighed, "Save it for the game, boys."

"Nothing wrong with a little pre-game trash talk," James shrugged. He glanced down at his scroll, "I'd better head off before the last Bullhead leaves." He pocketed his scroll and waved goodbye, "Take care guys, see you in ALO."

"See ya," Asuna waved as James set off in the direction of Beacon.

After James disappeared, Kirito let out a sigh, "I hope that brother thing doesn't become a habit," he grumbled.

Asuna and Suguha both looked at each other then burst out laughing.

"Hey come on. It isn't that funny."

A/N: And finally there's chapter 2, okay confession time I totally had this finished awhile ago and forgot about it with all the other stuff I have going on. Thankfully the semester is over next week so I get some time to myself till then. Oh yeah, remember when I said props to anyone who caught the ship reference in the last chapter? Yeah, that was totally in this chapter, my bad haha. Okay so as always I would really appreciate any feedback or hell I wouldn't mind answering questions if that's what anyone wants. Kay that's it, buh bye.