*swish* *CLANG* *swish* *CLANG*

The sounds of metal clashing against metal rung out across the field.

A boy wearing a fully black attire – adorned with a fully black ensemble, topped off with a black longcoat – was deftly dodging strikes from a standard sword.

There was not a trace of concern on his face as he dodged the opposing weapon.

Getting a little serious, he moved his own sword forward and tried to attack his opponent with a downward slash.

It was caught by a bluish-gray metal shield which was emblazoned with the symbol of a black cat against a simple white background.

Behind it was a girl in a light blue tunic. On her arms were silver and gold pieces of armour covering her forearms, elbows and shoulders. On her legs were silver greaves with stripes of gold at the top.

She hesitated to return the strike with an attack from her own sword, unwilling to leave herself vulnerable for even a moment.

Instead, she kept her shield firmly in place and planted her feet to brace herself.

Ready to see more, he made a particular combo. It was a complicated 8-hit combo that he could perform the incomplete movements of with no «System Assist»; A good thing, because as he did it now with the improper conditions, he couldn't be helped by the system.

Amazingly, she was able to block each of the hits with some difficulty as evidenced by the slight shaking of her shield; Then again, she had seen the proper combo several times.

The boy grimaced before attacking again, this time starting with a horizontal slash.

Responding to his attacks, she moved her shield to parry each of his increasingly faster sword strikes with her shield, however her sword stayed uselessly by her side.

His strikes continued, reaching towards her sword hand.

Suddenly, he attacked to her left side, cutting through her armoured arm.

The boy himself couldn't help but flinch at his own actions, but he quickly put it aside for the moment – she had accepted the risk.

The damage was negligible, but it made her realize how vulnerable she had left herself.

Realizing that she had been played, she tried to attack… but when she tried to swiftly bring up her sword, it accidentally clashed against her own shield.

With a smirk, he quickly struck the side of her shield, throwing her off balance and making her body vulnerable.

Unable to defend herself, she closed her eyes and prepared to take the attack.

But it didn't come. Hesitantly opening her eyes, she looked to her opponent. She saw that his sword was a centimetre from cutting into her, but it stayed in the air as he looked at her with a grin.

"I win again, Sachi," he teased her. His eyes glittered with amusement.

"You win again, Kirito," she conceded.

He withdrew his sword and with a dramatic flourish, returned it to its scabbard as he offered his free hand to her.

Putting her shield over her sword, she took his hand as he helped her stand up straight.

He gave her his infectious smile, which she couldn't help but return.

Currently, they were in the forest of the 74th floor, which was currently the highest floor that the players could reach.

After having made a productive venture in the labyrinth, Kirito had put forward the idea of having an informal one-on-one duel between them.

In spite of knowing that there was absolutely no way that she could beat him, she had agreed on the grounds that she wanted to show him everything that she had learned.

"That was actually pretty good," he complimented her as he switched the weaker sword that he used for training back to his usual, imposing black one. "Not as good as me of course," he boasted.

"Nobody's on your level, Kirito," she replied.

For her this was certainly the truth. Kirito was certainly the strongest and most skilled player in all of SAO. Only two people could even be compared to him: Asuna, the Vice-Commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath, and their leader himself, the paladin Heathcliff.

Some would argue that the latter was in fact stronger than him, but to her, nobody was as strong as her Kirito.

And certainly nobody was as kind as him either.

After all, who would train a mid-level guild to frontline level?

Nobody that I can name.

The day was October 17th, 2024.

Nearly 2 years have passed ever since the death game had began.

With nearly three quarters of the floors being completed, a sense of optimism had began to come over the survivors of the game.

Their guildmates whom they left behind today had began to make bets between themselves over how much longer it would take to end it.

For the first time in so long, Sachi couldn't help but imagine finally leaving this virtual world and returning to the safety of home.

As she dared to have these thoughts, all of a sudden, Kirito put his hand on her arm. His other hand was over his lips, urging her to stay quiet.

Afraid that there was a monster around, she kept turning her head trying to locate any movement.

She activated her «Enemy Scan» skill, and quickly located the source of the disturbance…

Wait… she realized something and snapped her head to her right.

Kirito pulled out two picks ready to throw it at the enemy in front of them.

Before he could say anything, she pulled out her sword.

At the same time that Kirito threw his second pick, she leaped to her right and plunged her sword into a particularly big leaf that formed a slope on the ground.

Two Ragout Rabbits!

They couldn't believe their luck.

In their inventories were two pieces of Ragout Rabbit Meat, which was not only an exceptionally rare item but an S-Class ingredient.

She was so excited that she declared that their whole guild would be able to eat well today.

They were so excited by their catch that they were completely oblivious to the person sneaking up on them.

All of a sudden, a hand was placed on both of their shoulders. Although there was no hostility in the gesture, the two turned around with panicked expressions.

In front of them was a familiar face. She was a girl with clear hazel eyes and chestnut-coloured hair, dressed in her usual attire of a red and white uniform.

"Hello, Kirito, Sachi," she greeted with a smile.

"Hello, Asuna," Sachi greeted back.

"Hey," Kirito greeted tersely, clearly wanting to be somewhere else right now.

"Well you two seem excited about something. Did something good happen?"

"Oh, you know," Kirito sang, "just ran into some good fortune."

"Good fortune?" Asuna asked suspiciously.

"Sorry, that's classified," Kirito tried to shoo her away.

At that, Asuna got up into his face. She smiled menacingly as she stared into his eyes. "So classified that you can't tell your first partner?"

For a second, Sachi could only look in shock that Asuna would dare to get so close to Kirito.

"…Yes…" the boy squeaked in an uncharacteristically scared voice.

Asuna continued smiling as she backed away and turned to Sachi who was wordlessly fighting her urge to grab Kirito's arm or her sword.

"Care to explain?" Asuna asked her.

"Nope," Sachi responded icily.

The other girl smiled at her friend, even if her eyes were squinting at her.

"By the way, Asuna, why is the prestigious Vice-Commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath here?" Kirito asked her once he was able to collect himself. "I don't suppose that it was to look for us?"

At that, she smiled at them.

"Actually, you two are precisely the reason that I'm here."

Now it was their turn to stare.

"So how about I tell you in exchange for info on your 'good fortune'?"

The two Black Cats looked at each other, trying to ask what they should do.

Before they could come to an agreement, a voice cut through the town.

"Asuna-sama!"

Panicked, Asuna hid behind Sachi and crouched down a bit.

Naturally, that didn't hide her.

"You shouldn't hide from me like that!" a tall man fully equipped in metal armour over a white uniform came bounding in.

"I wouldn't have to hide if you didn't follow me everywhere!" she countered.

In front of them was a man who may have been in his early twenties but the wrinkles on his face made him look several years older.

His narrow eyes seemed to look right through the girl with dark hair and were focused on the girl behind her.

"And that's another wonderful situation you've gotten us into, Asuna," Kirito snarked.

The man glared at him for a second before returning his eyes to Asuna behind Sachi.

The two Black Cats exchanged a look, asking each other whether to get involved.

They came to an agreement quickly.

"Well I'm sorry, Sir," Kirito addressed the older man with pseudo politeness, "but we had something important to discuss with Asuna. It's our fault for being late."

Asuna smiled at them gratefully before going on.

"That's right, and I'd rather not waste more of my day," she said as she grabbed Sachi's arm and started pulling her away, "so let's get going."

The man looked like he was going to protest, however he was stopped by the arrival of another man in a similar outfit.

Using that distraction, Asuna quickly pulled the timid girl into a far away alley located about three houses away from the Moonlit Black Cats' guildhouse.

"Phew," Asuna sighed. "I thought I'd never get away from them. It was awkward enough having them stare over my shoulder while I was talking to the boys."

"Well that's good for you," Kirito snarked as he entered the alley. "Anyways, we should get going. Come on, Sachi."

He took her hand in his own and tried pulling her away. She tried to follow after him, however…

Asuna's arm was still wrapped around hers and she didn't move from her spot.

"U-um, Asuna," Sachi stuttered as she tried to pull her arm out of her friend's iron grip. "Can you please?" She moved her arm to indicate what she meant.

"Now, now," Asuna said in a mischievous voice. "If I let go, I may not find out about your 'good fortune'."

Kirito groaned as he let go of Sachi's hand and looked the other girl in her eyes. "Look, it doesn't really have anything to do with you."

"Well then," Asuna teased, "you don't get your girlfriend back."

They couldn't help but blush at that word.

"I mean…" He looked away nervously. "All right, fine," he sighed.

He went through his menu and put a window on show mode so that she could see it. For half a second, Asuna looked at it suspiciously, and then her eyes widened at the name of the item.

"That! That's an S-rank food ingredient?!"

"Yup, and we were planning to cook them before the rest of the guys could see them."

"'Them?!' As in more than one?!"

"It's supposed to be a surprise," Sachi added. "An S-class meal."

"Although it would've been nice if we didn't have to share…" Kirito grumbled.

"W-well," Asuna stuttered. At the same time, she lost her grip on Sachi's arm, allowing for her to escape. "I'm practically a member of your guild!" she reasoned. "So if you're making it for them, I should get some to!"

What she was saying had some merit. For a while now, she had been spending a lot of time with the Moonlit Black Cats and going on quests with them.

"Well, officially you aren't so…" Kirito tried to reason.

Naturally, this isn't something anyone would let go. And as they both knew: Asuna was not someone to give up when she put her mind to something.

"Ok then, how about a trade?" Asuna reasoned.

"What can be on the level of an S-rank meal?" Sachi asked skeptically.

Asuna smiled before walking right next to her.

Whispering in her ear, what she said made Sachi's eyes immediately light up.

"Deal!" she agreed without a second thought.

"Yes!" Asuna cheered as she pumped her fist.

Kirito looked at his partner in surprise. "What did she offer?"

She returned his look with a shy smile. "You'll find out soon."

He gave her a skeptical look but didn't disagree.

Despite losing a portion of the potential meal, Sachi couldn't help but feel happy to include Asuna in this.

I guess she is my best friend from this world.

"Fine, fine," Kirito griped impatiently. "Let's get back home then."

He tried to walk off, but Asuna grabbed him by the collar.

"Not a good idea," Asuna said. "Your friends are home right now, so you can't make it a surprise like you hoped."

That would put a damper on their plan.

"Well I guess we can try an inn's kitchen," Sachi suggested. "…Although it would be better to eat it as fresh as possible…"

"Better idea," Asuna interrupted. "Just this once, we'll cook it at my house. I'll even aid in the cooking."

They immediately flinched at that. Being invited to the home of the Vice-Commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath? That was a high honour that many players would fight for. Even considering Sachi's friendship and Kirito's history with her, it could be scandalous if anyone found out.

She smiled and spread out her arms slightly. "We'll invite all your guildmates, it'll be a party."

"Are you sure?" Kirito asked hesitantly as he turned his head to the entrance of the alley. "If you're bodyguards find out… Shit! If your leader finds out!" he said with more concern.

"Then let's not let them find out!" she proclaimed as she pulled the two of them out the alley.

As she dragged them along, Kirito and Sachi exchanged an awkward look with each other.

Finally here… No turning back from here, no changing my mind…

Oh sweet, merciful Stacia! (I'm not waiting until Alicization to swear by this fictional deity) I'm loving these shorter chapters!

It's a bit strange reading Volume 1 after going through Progressive, so many things don't quite align.

In a different story, I brought up how some characters had their hair and/or eye colours changed in the anime (and many novel illustrations). For the most part, I will stick with the anime colours (Sachi and Liz have been the primary victims so far here), however, Asuna will be the main exception to that guideline. There's no deep reason, chestnut-coloured hair Asuna just feels iconic after going through the novels.

And one more thing, "Merry Christmas, Kirito." This chapter was published on December 25, 2023.