GBK 3

So, I'm uploading this one a bit earlier then intended mainly because I'm not sure if I'd be able to update as planned due to RL stuff, and I'd rather update a bit early then not be able to update for a while. Especially given my track record for getting back to stories after RL stuff...

Disclaimer: I don't own Highschoold DxD or Sword art Online. I am a fan of both series who likes to writing probably more then he should.

Kirito swallowed nervously as he waited in the hall. Inside, he heard the teacher call the class to order, and then she started to introduce him.

"Everyone, today we'll be having a new student join us." She said, and he took his cue to enter the room.

"G-Good morning." He stuttered, bowing in front of the class, "My name is Kazuto Kirigaya. I'm looking forward to working with you all."

"Kazuto, if you could take a seat next to Issei, we'll be able to begin class." The teacher smiled, and Kirito took the seat next to one of the only people in the class he knew.

"Be careful!" A girl whispered as he passed by, "If you hang around Issei too much, you'll be corrupted!"

"I'll be careful." He replied with a slight smile before sitting down for the start of class.

At lunch, Kirito was, as predicted, swarmed on all sides by girls asking him questions. Though he tried his best to answer the questions, he quickly lost track of who asked what, and what their names were. Inwardly, he almost wished he were still in SAO, where at least he'd be able to see their names above their heads.

"Um, I guess my hobby is gaming." He answered about twenty minutes after the questioning started, "I've never really been good at sports, though I did practice kendo when I was younger."

"Wow." The girl who asked the question, Murayama, said almost like she was surprised, "So, are you going to join the kendo club?"

"Nah, I'm not nearly that good." he chuckled, "But I got invited to join the Occult Research Club, so I was planning on joining them."

"Lucky!" One of the few guys in the group said.

"Yeah, we are pretty lucky." Issei said from the desk next to him, ignoring the angry looks of jealousy from the two guys in front of him.

"Kirito, listen, you need to be really careful." Murayama's friend, Katase, warned him, "The ORC's full of really cool people, but Weasel boy-" She jerked her thumb rudely at Issei, "Also managed to get in. Keep as far away as possible. Trust me, it's for your own good."

"Sorry for living." Issei mumbled into his lunch.

"You should be." Murayama said harshly, and Issei almost started to cry.

"Don't worry, Issei. I'm glad you're alive." Asia said, softly patting Issei's head.

"Thank you Asia. You're such a good girl." Issei said tearfully before getting punched by both his friends.

"Drop dead!"

"Why you gotta be keepin' all the hotties for yourself?!"

"Those three are gross." Katase scoffed, "Don't worry though. Kiba's a member of the ORC as well, and he's awesome."

"So, Kazuto..." the girl called Aika Kiryuu asked with a bizarre grin, "Do you have a girlfriend?"

For the first time since lunch started, the room was entirely silent. Even Issei's group, which wasn't at all interested in questioning him before were looking at him expectantly.

"Well, I guess I do..." Kirito stuttered in response to the unexpected question.

"Oh?" Kiryuu said, looking around at all the other girls who seemed utterly heartbroken, "Sorry girls, but he's not on the market."

"Jackass!" Issei shouted along with his two friends, much to Kirito's confusion.

"Oh, that sucks." Katase sighed, "So what's her name? Did you go to school with her before you transferred?"

"Asuna." He answered, "and yeah, something like that. She said she'd be transferring here in the near future."

"Stupid pretty boys." Issei cursed.

"Did you have an enjoyable first day?" Rias asked that afternoon when Kirito followed Issei back to the old school building for the Occult Research Club meeting.

"Yeah, I guess." Kirito said, scratching the back of his head, "I'm pretty sure I failed all the classwork though. After two years, I guess a week of cramming isn't enough..."

"Don't worry about that." Rias said, "Akeno and I will help you get back on track."

"Sorry to trouble you." Kirito bowed slightly, but Akeno just giggled.

"There's no need for you to apologize. It's not your fault, after all. You couldn't help it."

"In the meantime, Kiba-" Rias said, turning to the blond knight who just walked into the room, "Why don't you and Kazuto go and get a bit of training in?"

"You sure?" Kirito asked, but Kiba just nodded.

"Got it. I'm guessing you made arrangements with Meguri ahead of time?" He asked her, setting the papers he was carrying down on the table.

"Of course." She replied, turning to Kirito, "Don't worry too much, alright? I hear you did some kendo when you were younger. I'm just curious at what level that skill is now."

"That's fine." he nodded, "Then let's go."

"Sure." Kiba said as they walked out of the room.

Five minutes later, they walked into the school dojo, where the girl's kendo club was busy practicing. As soon as the door opened, all of them turned to look.

"Kiba!" They squealed almost all at the same time.

"Hello ladies." He waved to them, "Is everyone doing alright? Working hard?"

"Sure are!" Katase replied from the front, "So what are you guys doing over here?"

"Well, I heard my new friend here used to do some kendo, so we were just wondering if we could have a little practice match." Kiba told them, then turned to a girl in the back of the dojo with reddish brown hair, who was also the only one in the group who wasn't previously engaged in a practice match of their own, "Meguri, I'm sorry for the short notice."

"Not at all." She nodded, "Alright girls! Clear the floor! For now, everyone observe Kiba and-" She looked at him quizzically for a few seconds.

"Ah, my name is Kazuto Kirigaya." Kazuto said, suddenly realizing she didn't know his name.

"Kiba and Kazuto then." She nodded.

"Ma'am!" The club said immediately, running to stand along the edge and leaving the center of the dojo empty.

While Kiba and Kirito changed into their protective gear, he couldn't help but chuckle, "Sorry about that, Kazuto. Every now and then, the girls ask me to do an exhibition match so they can pick up a few tricks."

"Nah, it's cool." Kirito assured him, "I didn't think they'd make such a big deal out of it though."

"Well, we'll have to be sure to live up to their expectations, won't we?" Kiba said, grabbing one of the shinai from the back of the room.

"I'm guessing I shouldn't hold back then?" Kirito asked, and Kiba fearlessly nodded.

The two exited the changing room to the cheers of the girls, taking their respective positions. Kiba took a standard kendo stance while Kirito instead used what he knew best. The girls all started muttering amongst themselves, though neither Kiba nor Meguri raised any objections.

"Begin!" She called out, stepping out of the way.

As soon as Meguri started the match, Kiba darted forward even faster than Suguha, forcing Kirito to dodge since he didn't have time to parry. The follow-up slash was almost the same speed, and Kirito quickly stepped back to avoid it.

"Not bad." Kiba smirked, "I can't remember the last time someone dodge me so easily."

Taking a calming breath, Kirito gripped the shinai tightly in his hand and charged. Kiba raised his sword to block the attack, but he realized too late it was a feint. Unable to move to block, he instead stepped backwards to dodge. Kirito's attack missed him by mere centimeters, and on sheer reflexes, he tried to follow up with his other, empty hand.

Realizing too late his blunder, Kirito couldn't do anything to stop Kiba from hitting his wrist before he could correct himself.

"Winner, Kiba!" Meguri called out while Kirito nursed his hit wrist.

"Sorry about that." Kiba said, running to check on him, "You okay?"

"Yeah, fine. "he nodded, "Good match."

"Mind if I ask you something?" Kiba said as they went to change out of their protective gear.

"Go ahead." Kirito nodded.

"You're used to using two swords, aren't you?" Kiba asked.

"...Figured you'd have seen through that." Kirito sighed, "Yeah, I guess you could say that I am. Though I've never actually used two swords in kendo."

"So where'd your skill come from?" Kiba asked, "You said you haven't done kendo in years, and I find it hard to believe that you're this good rusty."

"You mean Rias didn't tell you guys?" Kirito said in surprise, and Kiba shook his head.

"She's probably told Akeno, but the rest of us didn't know anything beyond your name until we met last week." Kiba answered.

"Well, I picked it up in a game." Kirito said, "A VR game you've probably heard of..."

Kiba's eyes widened, "Sword Art Online?"

"The very same." Kirito nodded, "So I guess I didn't have much of a choice but to learn fast if I wanted to survive."

"That's terrible." Kiba sighed, "At least you'll be able to put those skills to good use, right?"

"Yeah, that's right." he nodded.

When they finished changing and returned to the dojo, the girls were already back at work, though Meguri waved them over before they left.

"Good job, both of you." She said, facing Kirito personally, "You said your last name was Kirigaya?"

"Yes ma'am." he nodded, "Why?"

"Are you Suguha's brother?" she asked him to his surprise.

"Cousin, though we were raised like siblings since before either of us can remember." He replied, "Do you know her?"

"I fought her at the nationals last year. It was a narrow win, but I can safely say she's probably one of the strongest human in the country." Meguri said to Kirito's surprise.

"Oh, that's right." Kiba said with a light laugh, "I forgot that no one told you. The Gremory's aren't the only devils in the school. Meguri here is the knight of Sona Sitri, the student body president."

"That is surprising." Kirito nodded, though both Kiba and Meguri could tell he wasn't half as surprised as he appeared to be.

"Anyway, Meguri, we'd better get back to Rias. Keep up the good work." Kiba said to her with a small wave.

"Sure thing. And both of you are welcome any time you want to practice." Meguri said as she saw them off.

As soon as the old school building came into view, Kiba pulled Kirito aside into the forest.

"While I'm thinking about it, why don't I make some sword for you?" He said with a smile.

"Make swords?"

"Right." Kiba nodded, holding out his hand. In a flash of light, he was holding onto a long sword with a pitch black blade. "I've got a scared gear called Sword Birth hat let me create swords at will. It'll probably take a bit of time, but I should be able to create something pretty close to what you're used to."

'Sacred Gear?' Kirito thought to himself, but he didn't voice his question. Instead, he began to list off as much as he could recall about his sword as possible. Within minutes, Kiba was able to recreate the Elucidator, identical right down to the feel of the grip.

"Good and heavy." Kirito said as he gave it a few practice swings, "It'll probably take some time to readjust, though."

"And here's a sheath for it." Kiba said as he created the sheath for the blade, which Kirito strapped to his back. And after a few more practice swings, he was able to easily sheath it without any problems.

"Let's get started on your second sword then." Kiba said, sounding almost eager, but he shook his head.

"I'd rather get used to using one sword again before I try and relearn dual blades. This isn't a game anymore, so I want to be absolutely sure that I'm ready before I take that step." Kirito said, gripping the hilt on his back, "For now, this is plenty."

"Alright." Kiba smiled, "Then let's get back and show that off to the others, shall we?"

"Right on." Kirito said, following after him. The weight of Elucidator felt refreshing on his back after months without it.

As they approached the main meeting room of the old school building, they could hear the sounds of voices shouting, and when Kiba went to knock, there was a violent crash.

Kiba threw the door open and Kirito jumped in behind him. Issei was lying on the floor struggling to get up as a girl with blue hair holding a staff in her hand charged at him.

Kirito jumped between them and unsheathed Elucidator as quickly as he would've in SAO, and the staff shattered the instant it came into contact with the blade.

"I don't know what's going on, but get away from my friend." Kirito warned the girl looking down at her staff in shock, "I really don't like having to knock out chicks."

"Issei!" Rias shouted, running over to the defeated pawn. Kirito chanced a look away from the girl and saw that she wasn't alone. More than a dozen other were waiting patiently in the back of the room, though a man with the same cocky sneer as Sugou stood at their front.

"So this is the infamous Red Dragon Emperor?" He laughed, "What a joke. Though at least your knight proved a little more entertaining. Tell me, boy, do you know who I am?"

" Nope." Kirito replied, "Don't care either. The only word for someone who attacks my friends is 'enemy'."

"Cocky little shit, aren't we?" He sneered, a torrent of fire held in his hand. Suddenly there was a sound like a clap of thunder that left everyone in the room clutching their ears.

"That will be quite enough." A silver haired woman in a maid outfit said as she stepped between Kirito and the rest of them, "I repeat, Lord Riser, that there will be no disruption of peace. This will be your final warning."

"...As you say." he replied, gritting his teeth as he allowed the fire to die out, "Well Rias? What will it be? Will you accept the game, or will you accept your fate?"

"Grayfia, tell my brother that we accept." Rias said, angrily standing up and walking in front of Kirito, "Riser, believe me when I say that we will annihilate you."

"I'm looking forward to it." He smirked as he and the rest disappeared in a flash of fire.

"That was intense." Kirito sighed, sheathing his sword, "So, what's happening everyone?"

"You did all that without knowing?" Kiba said, eyes wide.

"I saw Issei on the ground and reacted." he shrugged, "Anyone?"

"I'll keep it brief while Rias is talking with Grayfia." Akeno said while Rias and the silver haired maid stepped aside, "That man was Rias' Fiancé, Riser Phoenix. He and Rias had a slight disagreement about that, so they've decided to have their servant fight it out to determine who's right."

"Oh. Alright." Kirito nodded, "So basically we'll just kick their collective asses?"

"Basically, but it's a lot harder than that." Akeno chuckled, "As you might've noticed, we're a bit outnumbered. And if we went up against them now, we're pretty much screwed."

"Why's that?" Kirito asked, and she pointed towards the couch where Issei lay resting after his ordeal.

"Because you and Issei aren't fully trained." Kiba answered for her, "Issei has almost no battling ability, and you haven't reached the point where you can fight at your best either."

"I beat that girl earlier." He protested, and Koneko responded.

"She was about an eighth as strong as Issei, which makes her only marginally stronger than a human. Against a Knight or a Rook, you'd be killed."

"So, what's the plan?" he gulped nervously after hearing Koneko's ominous premonition.

"That's for Rias to decide, I guess." Akeno replied as Rias and Grayfia returned.

"It's been decided that we'll have a ten-day training camp before the Rating Game." Rias told them all, "Akeno, I need you to let Sona know that we'll all be out of class for the next nine days starting tomorrow."

"Yes ma'am." Akeno bowed, leaving the room immediately.

"Everyone else should go pack for training camp." Rias said, "got it?

"Yes ma'am!" Everyone said at the same time.

Kirito returned to the 'dorms' that Rias had provided to pack. Though it was called a dorm, he couldn't help but think it was complete BS. The dorm room consisted of two bed rooms with queen sized beds, a large bathroom, an eat-in kitchen, and a living room complete with TV, couches, and the Amusphere he'd bought with the money his mom gave him for getting into Kuoh.

"I guess I won't have time for games for a little while." He sighed after deciding against packing the Amusphere. The Bag Rias had provided for him was soon filled with around a week's worth of clothes, along with his cell phone and laptop computer that he could hopefully use wherever they were going to end up.

Just in case, he quickly dialed the second number on his speed dial, and she picked up after the second ring.

"Hello?" She asked.

"Hey, Asuna." He smiled, "How was your day?"

"Kirito!" She replied before hastily correcting herself, "I mean, Kazuto... So, how was your first day of school?"

"Well, I think eventful is the only way to describe it." He sighed, "But long story short, I might've dragged Rias into a fight with her Fiancé, we're leaving to do some power leveling IRL for the next ten days, and I've got Elucidator strapped to my back again."

"Oh." She said, seemingly accepting all of those crazy claims without any trouble, "Well, hopefully when you get back, we'll be able to meet someplace besides the hospital. The doctors think I'll be alright to leave some time later this week."

"That's great." He smiled, "What would you say to having a little date once I get back?"

"I'd say absolutely." She said eagerly, "I'm holding you to that, you know."

"Yeh, I know." He nodded, "And I've never broken a promise to you before, have I?"

"Nope." She said with a smile he could hear even over the phone. The sat in silence for a few seconds before she continued, "Kirito... try to keep in touch if you can, but just make sure that you're safe, alright?"

"Yes ma'am." He said with a grin, "I'd better go. Rias'll probably want us up early."

"I'll talk to you later." She smiled, "I love you, Kirito."

"I love you too, Asuna." He said honestly, and both of them hung up at the same time.

The next morning, the club was called to the old school building at five o'clock, where Rias and Akeno were already waiting for them with four massive backpacks as well as two much smaller bags.

"Alright then, if Koneko and the boys will take these, we'll get going." She smiled.

"So... who's taking this one?" Kirito nervously asked, staring at the backpack bigger then he was. Koneko just grabbed it with one hand and hefted it onto her back without a word. That left three big, but not completely unmanageable bags for the three boys to carry in addition to their own.

"So where are we going, president?" Issei groaned from underneath his own bag.

"We'll be warping most of the way there." She answered, raising a hand and creating a large red magic circle on the ground, "It's an island that my family owns. So we've got free reign to do whatever we need to."

Kirito couldn't help but shake his head in amazement. Somehow, even with everything that's happened to him recently, he was still surprised to hear her casually mentioning that her family owns an island. The group huddled up inside the large red circle, which flared to life as the scene around them disappeared. When they arrived at their destination, Kirito immediately recognized the fresh sea air. Opening his eyes, he couldn't help but notice one thing about this island.

It was dominated by a massive mountain. The white sand beaches they were standing on only lasted for about a hundred feet in front of them before they reached an uncountable number of stairs leading up onto the mountain.

"The house is up this way." Rias said as she started to climb the stairs followed by all the girls and Kiba. Kirito and Issei just groaned and followed after them, backs aching from the overly heavy bags.

twenty-five minutes later, the finally reached the top of the stairs, where they found a huge wooden mansion.

"It's not much, but it'll do." Rias smiled as she put her bag on the ground, "Everyone, let's go put this stuff away and then get started.

"This is going to be painful..." Kirito chuckled nervously while Issei started to cry.

Once everyone had picked a room and put away their bags (Issei wasn't happy to learn that the bag he was carrying was filled with cooking utensils), Rias called them all into the dining room.

"Alright, now, Kiba, Koneko, and I are going to be doing our own training for the time being. In the meantime, Kazuto, Issei, and Asia are going to be learning magic from Akeno."

"Oh, hell yeah!" Issei shouted, "Finally we're getting into the good stuff!"

"I dunno..." Kirito shrugged, "I've got a feeling that I won't be good at it."

"Don't get discouraged before you even try it." Akeno said encouragingly as the others leave the room to do their individual training.

The three quickly gathered around Akeno, who started the lesson by placing four bottles of water on the table in front of them, "Now, to start you need to visualize the aura surrounding yourself." Holding her hands out in front of her, she continued, "Then visualize your aura forming a sphere in your hands."

All of them watched a ball of yellow light appear in Akeno's hands, then started bouncing around.

"Cool." Issei shouted, already trying himself to no avail. Kirito and Asia both began to try it as well.

"Um... am I doing it right?" Asia asked timidly a minute later, and both Issei and Kirito looked over to her. The ball of green light in her hand was much smaller than Akeno's but it was still about the same size as a baseball.

"That's great, Asia!" Akeno said, clapping excitedly, "You're a real natural at this."

"Yeah, I guess she's doing alright..." Issei nervously, "But she's not the only one..."

Kirito glanced over to see that Issei had a speck of light, no bigger than a grain of rice floating in his hand.

"Um, you should be able to do a bit better." Akeno told him, "Just keep at it. I'm sure you'll get it in no time." She then turned to Kirito and smiled encouragingly, "Everyone learns at their own speed. Don't let it get you down, alright?"

"No worries." he replied, sitting down on the floor and closing his eyes.

Slowly, he started to drown out all other sounds in the room. Issei's vocal complainants, Asia and Akeno's continuing encouragement, and even what might've been a small explosion. Instead, he focused only on the sound of his own breathing.

'Visualize.' he said to himself, tensing his hands while visualizing an aura around his body. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he felt something like a shock, and his eyes shot open. In front of him, Akeno, Asia, and Issei were staring at him in surprise.

"W-What?" He stuttered before looking in his hands. A black ball, easily the size of a basketball, was hovering silently in front of him.

"That's incredible!" Akeno cheered, "See? I told you could do it."

"Way to show off, dude." Issei huffed, holding a ball of red light the size of a golf ball this time.

"T-T-Thank..." Kirito started until there was a black spark in front of him that caught their eye. Looking down, he gasped as the ball in his hand started to swell while shooting off sparks before exploding in a cloud of black mist.

"W-Wh..?" Kirito asked, looking around at the fearful Asia, the smug looking Issei, and Akeno who looked puzzled.

"Well, that's a bit of a surprise." she said simply.

"A bit of a surprise?" Kirito asked, "That's all? Isn't it not supposed to exploded?"

"Well, not unless you want it to." She agreed, "And you didn't want it to, did you? So it's pretty surprising that it did. I've never seen anything like it. Maybe Rias has."

While the carefree vice-president left to find the president, all three of them were left to gape as the last of the black mist dissipated.

It was more than fifteen minutes before Akeno returned with Rias, who's school uniform was now burned in several places.

"Kazuto, would you mind trying one more time?" She asked, sitting directly across from him, "I've got a few ideas, but I can't be sure unless I see it for myself."

"Sure, I guess." He nodded, closing his eyes to concentrate again. No matter how hard he tried, however, he couldn't get it to work again until he felt someone place a hand on his shoulder.

"Just relax, alright?" Rias whispered into his ear, "You can do this."

Nodding his head, he tuned out everything once again until he could no longer hear even Rias' encouragement. Finally, he felt the same shock as before, and his eyes snapped open. Slowly, the ball of black energy was returning. And just like before, it kept expanding while shooting off sparks until Rias touched it with her hand. The magic instantly stabilized.

"So, there we have it." She said with a strange look, "Your problem, Kazuto, is two-fold. First, your magic is strong, but unless you focus on it and nothing else, you can't summon it. That's why it was so difficult to bring out."

"Then, um..." Kazuto said as soon as she stopped touching it, and it exploded again, "What's with that?"

"That is a well-documented problem with reincarnated devils." She smiled, "You, my dear servant, have a sacred gear hidden deep within you."

"What?!" Everyone but Akeno shouted, but she just chuckled.

"It's a fairly common problem that occurs when humans with Sacred Gears are reincarnated as devils before their sacred gear manifests." Rias explained, turning to her Pawn, "Issei, do you remember the first time you activated your sacred gear?"

"The first time?" He frowned, "You mean against that fallen angel chick?"

"That's correct. Something else happened, didn't it?" Rias nodded.

Issei's face turned perverted, "I made her clothes fly off..."

"Exactly. At that moment, you became able to recognize the difference between magic and the boosted gear, and your magic exploded outward in an attempt to actualize your desire. Being Issei, this resulted in her clothes being destroyed. If your sacred gear hadn't activated yet, you'd be having the same problem as Kazuto is now."

"So I can't do anything until I unlock my sacred gear?" Kirito asked, thoroughly confused about what was going on, "And how exactly do I do that?"

"I dunno." Rias smiled, "That's your homework for this training camp."

"Fun." He said sarcastically before looking at Rias and grinning, "One more question. What's a sacred gear?"

Kirito literally collapsed into his bed that night. Once they finishing explaining that he apparently had a unique power that they knew nothing about, Issei and Asia got to continue learning to do magic while he had to discover how to use something he'd never used before, without knowing how to do it, or even what it did. Needless to say, it was a mostly wasted hour.

Kiba had eventually called him out to the side yard for some sparring, which soon turned into a full blown battle as Kiba polished his techniques and Kirito vented his frustrations. Afterwards, he got a few tips from the three sacred gear users in the group, though none of it was very helpful.

Asia apparently first unlocked her Twilight Healing while praying to god that a puppy could be saved. Kirito found out, the hard way, that God's reaction to devil prayers is splitting headaches.

Kiba's own advice, while slightly more helpful, still didn't amount to much. He recommended meditating and trying to activate it on instinct rather than trying to force it. While the idea was solid, no progress was made.

Issei's only advice was picture the part he felt was the strongest and focus all of his energy on that part. Unfortunately, the only part of him that he felt was strong was his reaction time, and that's not something you can just focus on.

And so his training ran into a brick wall, so to speak.

"Man..." He sighed, "Why's this gotta be so tough?"

Even though his body protested, he struggled over to his bag and withdrew his cell phone. As expected, however, he didn't get a signal.

"Figured." He muttered, putting the phone away and sitting back on his bed.

As he closed his eyes to sleep, there was a knock on his door. Not trusting his ability to walk across the room, he called out, "It's open!"

The door opened and Rias walked in, "Good work today, Kazuto." She smiled, "Sorry to bother you so late."

"It's fine." He sighed, "But Koneko hits hard. I've never felt so sore. I think my bruises might be bruised."

"Asia said that she'd make a quick round before she went to bed, so hopefully you'll only have to worry about them a bit longer." Rias said with a sad smile, "Have you tried to call Asuna yet?"

"Just now, but no signal." He shrugged painfully.

"Here-" she replied, tossing a phone through the air, "Try that one."

Kirito flipped open the phone, and to his surprise it got a signal just fine. Rias turned to walk away with a smile, "Every devil needs a devil phone. And the underworld has excellent cell coverage."

"Rias." He called out, and she turned around again, "Thanks."

"No problem. See you in the morning, and have pleasant dreams." She smiled back before walking out of his room and shutting the door behind her.

Kirito quickly dialed Asuna's hospital phone number, and she was clearly waiting for the phone to ring as it was picked up immediately.

"Hey." He smiled as he lay back and closed his eyes.

The training camp passed by much quicker then Kirito was expecting. In seemingly no time at all, they were already three days away from the Rating Game against Riser Phoenix. During that time, he'd made zero progress towards unlocking his sacred gear, and though he'd gone to a few of the lessons Akeno had with Asia and Issei, his magic remained completely unstable and unusable. Thankfully, his swordsmanship training with Kiba, as well as muscle training were proving much more fruitful, so the training camp wasn't a complete bust.

"Everyone, take a few days to rest, alright?" Rias told them after they returned to the school two nights before the game, "Don't push yourselves too hard if you're going to train. As we are now, I'm confident we can win this game no problem."

"YEAH!" They shouted, probably a little too loudly for the time of night.

"Rias." A voice said from behind them, and they all turned around. The girl walking towards them wasn't immediately familiar to him, but evidently she was to the rest of them.

"Hello Sona." Rias smiled, "Sorry for the noise."

"It's fine. I thought this might happen, so the area has a noise cancelling barrier around it." She replied calmly, "I was simply curious about the results of your training camp. Did everything go as planned?"

"Does it ever go as planned?" Rias chuckled, "But I think it was worth doing regardless. And I'm going to enjoy pounding Riser into the dirt."

"Sounds like you've regained some of that famous Gremory fire." Sona smiled, "Don't let it burn too brightly however. Remember that the other side has an inferno as well."

"Duly noted." Rias nodded.

"Very well." Sona said simply before turning, to his surprise, straight to him, "You're Kazuto Kirigaya, correct?"

"Y-Yes ma'am." He stuttered back.

"I thought I should inform you that while you were away, your roommate moved in. Please be mindful when returning to your home." She told him calmly, "And please be on your best behavior."

"Of course..." He answered, and she turned and walked away.

"Well, I think that's everything." Rias continued like nothing had happened, "Everyone, I'll be in touch. If you find any bruises or get any new injuries over the next few days, Asia's kindly offered her services to ensure that everyone's battle ready."

"Please feel free to give me a call if anything happens." Asia said with a cute bow.

"We meet up in two days at midnight. until then, Dismissed!" Rias smiled, and they all staggered home.

Kirito quickly unlocked the door to his dorm room/apartment and hurried to his bedroom, only to find the door shut. Since the other room was vacant, and he was too tired to care, he just collapsed into the free bed and fell asleep.

The next morning, he woke to the most wonderful smell in the world. The smell of bacon, sausage, pancakes, and eggs. Even his sore muscles couldn't keep him off his feet as he charges out to the kitchen. What he saw blew his mind.

Humming a sweet tune, the chestnut haired beauty flipped the pancakes while tending to the bacon in a separate pan. Clearly having heard the door open, she turned around and smiled.

"Good morning Kirito. I hope you're hungry."

Assuming everything turns out okay (and even if I doesn't, provided I'm actually able to to) I'll be uploading chapter 4 on my birthday, the 23rd. As always, feel free to review. As I'm sure you've probably guessed, the Rating Game with Riser starts next chapter, so you'll have something to look forward to.

Don't forget to leave me some feedback about the future SAO arcs I mentioned last chapter.