I don't own or have any affiliations with Sword Art Online.
Chapter 17: Giving
Kazuto woke up to the feeling of silent vibrations coming from his charging cellphone sitting next to him.
The effeminate young man yawned and stretched his arms.
He looked around the plainly decorated bedroom and realized that he was not in his comfortable warm bed but in a large black leather computer seat wearing camouflaging dear pajamas.
"That was some night." He groaned and rubbed his eyes open.
Knowing that his girlfriend would wake awaking up about then, he sends her a quick message telling her to check her email inbox.
"I better get down there before she calls me down." The tired school-boy rose from his seat and stiffly walked out to the bathroom.
After getting himself ready and dressed in his school uniform, he went downstairs in the kitchen to make his breakfast.
"Good morning onii-chan." Suguha greeted her older cousin.
"Morning." Kazuto grumbled and took out a plate and placed two slices of bread into the toaster.
"You pulled another all-nighter for her present again didn't you?"
Kazuto lazily nodded to her question. "What made you think that?"
"I guess you can call it woman's intuition."
Kazuto glared at her. "You're not old enough to have that yet."
The girl rolled her eyes and changed the current subject matter at hand. "That's the second time you pulled one this week." Suguha opened another cupboard.
"Yeah, but at least I made the deadline for now." He got a small, round container of margarine and a butter knife when he heard the toaster pop up.
"Try not to sleep online, ok? It's get distracting when we girls are trying to talk to each other." She teased him. "So you finally sent her that email with the file huh?" The school-girl sat down with a plated and porcelain cup with steam seeping through the top of the wide rim.
"I thought it would take forever, but I did it." Kazuto took out a carton of juice.
"What time did you go to sleep?" She asked him.
"It was around 3 AM. And I fell asleep in my chair." He rubbed his forehead.
"Well, at least that's earlier that your first one."
"I don't care. I'm still tired." He grumbled.
"Geez, someone's feeling a little grouchy this morning." She said with a little laugh.
"Don't push it." He took a bite out of her breakfast.
"Hey! That's mine." Suguha pouted like a little girl and crossed her arms on her chest.
"I need the energy to help me stay awake."
"Then eat your own food. I swear you can be so annoying sometimes." She muttered and glanced a sharp glare towards him.
"Sounds like someone doesn't want a ride on a kickass motorbike this morning." Kazuto teased as his mood got a little better.
"Hey, wait a minute! I'm the reason why you have the bike in the first place." Her face got reddish tint in her natural colour.
"And I'm the reason why you don't go on a crowded bus every morning." He debated her statement.
After taking in some deep breathes Suguha regains her cheerful composure.
"Did you send Asuna a message when you woke up?" He asked her.
"Of course I did. What about you?" She replied and put away her dirty dishes.
"Well, sorta. In a way..."
"What do you mean by that?" She looked at him.
He unlocked his phone, opens up to the message log and passed it onto her and waits for her reaction.
Suguha reads the unorthodox wording in the text box and frowned. "You can't something like that on your girlfriend's birthday. That doesn't even the words happy birthday written in it. Are you insane?"
"What's wrong with it? It's simple and to the point." He looked at her with a confused look on her face.
"Simple and to the point? All you wrote was wishing her a good morning and told her to go check her email and follow what it says. It's an instruction within an instruction."
"But I wished her in the email." He took back his phone.
Suguha palm-faced herself. "You really are hopeless. You managed to give her a one-of-a-kind present and you practically almost ruined it by sending her that text."
"Hey we should get going if we want to be at school on time." He looked at his watch.
"Way to change the subject. I completely forgot what we were talking about just now. Very subtle." The girl spoke in sarcastic tone and clap then straightened up her uniform.
"Do you want a ride or not?"
The exhausted student stood in front of an old-fashioned coin operated vending machine.
He picked up the slender, colourful aluminum canned energy drink and chugged it down as fast he could with choking due to the rule of a very limited amount of food or beverages being allowed in classrooms during teaching and student studying sessions.
Why do I have this feeling like I'm forgetting something really important... The thought made him feel slightly frustrated.
Kazuto wipes off his mouth with his dark blue blazer cuff and begins to quicken his walking speed to his scheduled first class as he heard the first bell of the morning chime echoed through every square inch of the massive three storey building.
The student thankfully managed to make it with a few minutes to spare and sat in the second row facing a the electroluminescent panel located in the front of the room. I wonder if she's getting worried about me. He thought about his girlfriend.
The boy takes out his tablet personal computer as the teacher who is standing in front of the students turns on the LED projector.
Kazuto puts his bag on his knees and nonchalantly rummages through the other storage compartments. Aw, shit! I did forget something!
He slouched in his desk chair and sighed. Its gonna be a long class.
Kazuto walks down the path to the same plain wooden bench that he and his girlfriend have sat on a handful of times before.
He stops his trail of footsteps as soon as he notices that the girl laid her head in a backwards stance on the bench looking up at the partly cloudy sky.
Looks like it time go to wish a certain someone. A mischievous grin grew on his face.
He takes slow dragging steps and stands behind the girl with long shining hair and covers her eyes using this hands.
"Happy Birthday." He laughed and sat down right beside her.
"How are you feeling Kirito-kun?" Asuna's voice had a warm tone.
"Much better now that you're here." He settled his bag down.
Asuna rolled her eyes after he said that cheesy line.
"How were your classes this morning?" She gives him a sandwich.
"They were okay I guess. Kind of dragging though." He took a bite. "So Suguha told me that you got a special gift in the morning."
Asuna nodded. "Onee-san sent me some cookies and a card. But I wasn't able to try one because I needed of my father. He has a giant sweet tooth." She then told him a short story which ended up with her mother keeping a secret place in her study.
"So did you download that thing I told you to do earlier?" Kazuto asked.
"You mean that file? I did."
"Great." He grinned.
"Well since I have it with me, is it alright to connect to the wifi network with my phone?"
"Well, you...could if..." He stammered.
"If?" She looked at him.
"If I haven't...forgotten to bring a cable wire with me." He bit his lips.
Asuna frowned at him with cold eyes.
"I'm sorry I know I screwed up. Please don't look at me like that." He clasped his hands and begged for mercy.
Growing tired of the act, the girl gave a sigh. "It's fine. We all make mistakes."
"What do you need a cable wire for in the first place?" She asked.
"I fixed some leftover errors in-between classes. I have to admit it wasn't easy." The computer enthusiast replied.
"Tell you what. How about I come over to your house later today and I'll give the update then. Should I bring something with me?" She suggested.
"Nothing, just you." He gives her a playful wink.
They continue to talk about smaller more casual topics until the bell's whimsical chime sang around the educational institute indicating that the end of the lunch period.
Kazuto rides his motorbike to the closet convenience store near the Kirigaya residence after picking Suguha up from her school.
He instantly runs upstairs to his bedroom hanging up his school uniform.
He flops onto his bed wearing comfortable home clothes, trying to take a small nap before his girlfriend comes by.
The teenager's brief pleasant sleep was disturbed when heard his cell phone buzzing.
It was a text message from Rinko.
Rinko: Did you give her your present?
Kazuto: She downloaded it, but I'm giving her the update of it in a little while.
Rinko: Update?
Kazuto: Yeah, I fixed some stuff during my classes.
Rinko: Does she know what it is yet?
Kazuto: I told her not to connect it to any wifi. So I guess not.
Rinko: How will she react to it?
Kazuto: Well, she may start crying, or punch me for keeping this a secret for this long. My girl's full of surprises.
Rinko: Hope it turns out good.
Kazuto: Same.
Rinko: What time did you go to bed?
Kazuto: I actually fell asleep on my chair around 3am...
Rinko: Again!? That's the 2nd time this week! A kid shouldn't be up so late! At least you made to the bed before.
Kazuto: So I've heard.
Rinko: You should be asleep with your teeth brushed and homework done by 10pm!
Kazuto: Wow that's such MOM thing to say...
Rinko: What do you think I am!?
Kazuto: Ok, I'll do just that...
Rinko: Good! You should get some sleep for now. I'll see you when I login tonight.
Kazuto: Login?
Rinko: To ALO.
Kazuto: But what about Yumemi?
Rinko: Relax, she'll be fine. I have other friends you know!
Kazuto: Ok see you later then.
Rinko: Love ya little bro!
"Onii-chan she's here!" He heard Suguha shouting from the lower level of the house.
The boy sighed as he separated from the warmth and comfortable of the bed and blanket from his slim body.
He walks down the stairs hearing two female voice having a conversation with one another.
"Hi Kirito-kun." His visiting girlfriend smiled.
Kazuto nodded.
Suguha lit the small birthday candle. "Here make a wish."
Asuna pulled her hair back and blew as hard as she could until the beautiful, burning ember extinguished leaving behind nothing but a whiff of smoke in the air.
"What did you wish for?" Kazuto asked.
Suguha shook her head in annoyance.
Asuna rolled her eyes at the only male present in the household. "If I tell you it may not come true." She teased.
"Onii-chan, I think now would be a good time to go back upstairs and give her the rest of the present she has been patiently waiting for all day for." Suguha spoken words were in a slower pace than usual.
Kazuto sat at his desk typing on his keyboard looking at only one out of the three monitors on his self-made desktop PC. After detaching the cable wire from his computer central unit, he gives the cell phone back to the owner. "Here, try it."
Asuna who was feeling both nervous and reluctant at the time tapped on the application icon.
Kazuto was sitting calmly in his chair while hearing a high-pitched feminine voice coming from the electronic.
"Mama, can you hear and see me clearly?" The voice asked.
"Yes I can, Yui-chan."
"Will you be logging in tonight?" The AI questioned.
"Of course I will. I wouldn't miss it for anything in the world." Asuna sniffled.
"I can't wait." Yui replied.
"Neither can I. I'll be seeing you later. Goodbye for now."
"Goodbye Mama."
Seeing tears run down the face of his romantic partner, the teenager gently pressed his hand on her long strawberry blonde hair. "Happy Birthday Asuna."
"Thank you, Kirito-kun." She looked up at his face and stared into his black eyes with her red puffy ones. "Why... Why did you do this?" She wiped her face.
"I figured since this is the first birthday that were sharing together as a couple, I'd so something special."
"So this means I can speak with her whenever I want?"
Kazuto nodded. "This is only the first part of the plans I have."
"What do you mean?" She gave a curious look.
He then tells her about his future plans of creating a communication probing device that will initially give Yui access to the real world and vocally interact with while she is in the virtual world and vice versa.
He said goodbye to her on his doorstep and wishes her a safe trip back home.
"I'll be logging in a bit. There's some stuff I gotta check on first." His cousin took a bite in one of the leftover cupcakes from before.
"The party's gonna be in our inn room." He reminded her.
"Yeah, yeah I remember." She said as they parted ways.
Kazuto quickly went back into his bedroom and wore his NerveGear helmet. "Link start!"
When he opened his eyes his conscience was transported in a beautiful wooden themed room inside the magical fairy universe of ALfheim Online and was dressed in his Spriggan avatar attire.
"Papa when is Mama going to log in? It's late evening in the real world." Yui sounded anixous.
"Don't worry about that Yui. Just focus on being excited for the party." Her adopted father told her.
"How old is Mama in the real world?"
"She's 18 now..."
"Then how old are you, Papa?"
"I turn 17 next week."
"So that means that Mama is older than you are in the real world?"
"She is..." Kirito made an awkward smile.
"But I thought you already know that."
The floating pixie sadly shook her head. "In order to maintain strict confidential productivity measures, all of the player logs in the company's database system are being guarded by multiple security codes that changed frequently so certain incidents taking place in the real world may be prevented. As good as I am at firewall penetration, even if I try to break through only a handful of them as fast as I can, my total chances of success are still slim."
Kirito patted Yui's small head with his finger regretting his question. "You don't want Asuna to feel worried with your face looking like that, right Yui?" He attempted to change her facial features.
"Not on her special day!"
The guests came in little by little thankfully there was still space left even after the forming crowd settled down.
Yui was happily flying around and observing the small talk coming from the every corner of the current environment setting.
In a sudden movement, the navigation pixie hurriedly sat on Kirito's shoulder. "What is it Yui?"
"She's coming. I can sense her player data." Yui happily grinned.
The door opened revealing a female water-based avatar took a step inside.
An over excited full-body version of Yui jumped on Asuna.
"Happy Birthday Mama." The navigation pixie chimed.
"Thank you very much Yui-chan."
Kirito looked at the female Undine player being with the full-sized version of the couple's adopted daughter together. The dark clothed avatar smiled at the fact that this is only the first of many birthdays this small online family will spend together.
The next morning, Kazuto woke up hearing the sound of heavy raindrops hitting his bedroom window.
Before going to sleep hours ago, the local news weather broadcast said they were under a severe rainstorm watch.
Then the high school student goes onto his school's official website and discovers due to the onset weather conditions classes were cancelled for the day.
He felt his phone vibrate and checks the message that Asuna sent him:
Asuna: My wish came true!
Kazuto: What are you talking about?
Asuna: You mean you haven't figured it out yet?
Kazuto: Figured what out?
Asuna: *sigh* Last night I wished that you would some time to sleep in.
Kazuto's eyes widened in surprise at this.
Kazuto: Thank you!
Asuna: Haha. Go back to sleep. I'll see you later!
Kazuto: I love you!
Asuna: I love you too. Bye!
Putting his phone back on the night-table, the happy teenager inhaled and exhaled, then closed his eyes for a very well deserved rest.
Thank you for reading! Leave a review if you want. :)