It was around 8:50 A.M. when Kirito woke up.

As he opened his eyes, he took a conscious, deep breath then let it out.

He couldn't help but let himself sink his face into the soft pillow beneath him.

Although his «Alarm Clock» had successfully woken him up, it was still a matter of willpower to actually get out of bed.

Still half asleep, he remembered that his guild had plans for the day – Although there was still an hour before they actually had to head out.

Letting out a defeated sigh, he turned onto his side and looked to the other side of the bed.

After blinking a few times, it finally dawned on him that it was empty and that he was alone.

She must have been up a while ago…

Steeling himself, he forced himself out of bed, not even bothering to stifle a yawn as he stretched his limbs. Barely conscious, he stepped out of the room without bothering to change out of his sleepwear.

Walking through the short hallways of the Black Cats' guildhouse, it didn't take him too long to get to the main room and as he turned the corner, he saw a girl wearing a sky-blue casual dress at the counter in the kitchen.

"Perfect," she whispered under her breath. At the same time, something, which looked like a vial, disappeared from her hands.

As she was distracted by that, he quickly approached her. Noiselessly, he got behind her back without her noticing.

Then he reached his hands forward and gently wrapped them around her midsection as he rested his chin on her shoulder.

"Eep!" she quietly squeaked. He felt her turn her head downwards and a few seconds later, he felt her gentle hands on his.

"Good morning," he whispered teasingly.

"…G-good morning…" she responded in a quiet voice.

Shortly after, one of her hands left his as she started opening menus and pulling out items. His hands didn't leave her.

"This is… nice…" she whispered as she worked. "It almost makes us seem like we're actually-"

Getting even closer, he cut her off as he intimately rested his chin on her shoulder, putting their heads directly next to each other. "'Actually'?" he repeated. "…Aren't we already…? You know…"

She lightly squeaked. "W-well, I…suppose… But you should be careful," her voice took on a teasing tone despite how bashful she still sounded. "You wouldn't want the others to catch you like this."

He couldn't help but note with amusement that she was implying that the others will only come after him if they were caught in this position – They both knew that they had her back before they had his. Still… "Why not?" he rebutted. "It's nearly been a year. I think it's about time they found out the truth."

He could feel her tense up at that, then her left hand touched his tenderly.

"…I…guess…"

Sometimes it didn't matter. They may have chosen to continue living with their guildmates for a while, so more intimate moments that they could share like this just felt more meaningful.

He was about to hold her tighter before he heard a thumping sound from behind.

Hastily, his hands immediately retreated from his partner's body and at a speed that he usually reserved for the battlefield, he spun around, rested his elbow on the surface behind him and looked towards the common room.

From the entrance to the area, he saw Keita entering the room while yawning. He was already wearing his maroon-brown field armour, reminding Kirito of something his leader had once said about «always being ready».

Once he got to the sofas, he grinned at them before sitting down.

"Morning, guys," he called over. "I hope I wasn't interrupting anything."

Kirito couldn't help but glare in his leader's direction. "…It's… fine…" he forced out in a normal tone.

Letting out a sigh, he got up, however he caught a glimpse of Sachi who was looking away from her cooking and despite her flushed expression, was giving him a playful look.

"We should tell them, right?" Was what he extrapolated from her smug expression.

He smirked back at her.

"Fine. You're right," he silently communicated with her.

Letting her win their disagreement, he gave another mocking smile to her slightly disappointed face as he joined Keita in the common room.

The older boy fixed him with a playful look as he worked around in his menus.

Kirito summoned his own menu, looking to see if he was prepared for the day.

"Careful, buddy," Keita said suddenly. "You may be my friend, but my duty as a childhood friend is more important than that."

Kirito jokingly rolled his eyes at that, putting aside the thought that his friend may have actually seen something between him and her.

"And what about the other guys?" he asked sarcastically. "Not as important?"

"They're probably priority 2. Collectively."

"So I'm priority 3?"

Turning his head up. Keita paused to tap his chin as if to help him think.

"I'd say 4. After Sachi again."

"I'll be sure to tell them that," Kirito snarked.

The older boy's response was a light chuckle and to roll his eyes.

Completely relaxed, Kirito went through his menus, sorting out his items to find anything he should change about his equipment.

Within an hour, Tetsuo, Ducker and last of all Sasamaru arrived into the room, completing the set.

They each greeted everyone as they went through their menus, as was their daily routine.

Unbeknownst to the others, Kirito couldn't help but still feel a bit nervous of having so much company.

A natural loner at heart, Kirito was often alone… even in the real world where he shouldn't have been on his own…

He turned around to take another look at Sachi as she began to hum louder as if she wasn't embarrassed at being heard by any one of them. This routine was something they always did, however, he couldn't help but realize how familiar this setting was…

For a moment, he was no longer in Aincrad. He was a good distance away from a young girl with shorter black hair. Standing with her back to him, she was alternating between humming and singing a song that they used to listen to together while doing her chores.

~Cloudy memories…Of the way it used to be~

Back then, there was a part of him who wanted to approach her, to close the distance that he himself had imposed on them…

But he was always too much of a coward…

He blinked a few times, trying his best not to tear up and worry everyone. At the same time, the image faded as Sachi came back into his view as she approached him, placed a tray with cups of tea on the table, and picked one up before sitting next to him on the couch.

Right now, the girl he was thinking about may have been visiting him every so often – maybe she was at his physical body's side right now – but she was still so far away. Still, he couldn't help but slip out a melancholy smile when he thought of his sister.

I'm coming back to you, Sugu, Mom, Dad… I'll apologize for how I've treated you all… and I'll introduce you to the friends I've made…

Fully engrossed in his fantasy, he barely noticed when there was a knock on the door.

*Knock*knock*knock*

The beating kept increasing in frequency and magnitude.

As one, everyone looked to Ducker.

The boy rolled his eyes and got up with the exaggerated energy he always put into his actions.

Within seconds, he reached the door which sounded like it would break open from the beating it was taking.

"Wel-"

He cut himself off when a flash of red, white and chestnut rushed passed him.

"Act like I'm not here!" the trespasser called as she ran into the hallway.

"…"

Nobody bothered to answer as Ducker closed the door and the rest of them returned to what they were doing.

"…Act a little more concerned, why don't you?" the intruder said incredulously.

"We're just doing what you said, Asuna," Kirito called over with a suppressed grin, not even bothering to look her way.

Before she could give a retort, the door started to be hit once again.

"Were we expecting more people?" Ducker asked.

"No," Tetsuo called over.

"Strange…"

As if he didn't have a concern in the world, the blond boy opened the door again.

Framed in it was a man who wore an outraged expression and a KoB uniform, accompanied by a white cape and carried a sword that seemed to be a little overly decorated. Kirito and Sachi recognized him – he was the long haired bodyguard who had been following Asuna around yesterday. Now that they thought about it, they didn't catch his name back then.

Not even sparing Ducker a glance, he used his extra height to look over him into the room where most of the rest of the Black Cats were sitting.

"Where is she?!" The man demanded tactlessly.

"'She', who?" Ducker responded automatically. "Only one girl lives here and she doesn't know you."

"Don't play games with me!" the man barked.

Without warning, he brought his arms forward and tried to push Ducker aside.

Thankfully, he couldn't enter their guildhouse without permission and Ducker would not move from the spot.

Naturally that didn't stop him from trying to get answers.

"Do not take me for a fool!" The man declared in a loud voice.

"You don't need my help with that," Ducker snarked under his breath.

Everyone inside the house wondered how much of a crowd this loud man must have been gathering.

"I know that the Vice-Commander is in this hovel right now!"

As the man gave his completely correct theories, Sachi and Asuna exchanged a look with each other.

Silently, Sachi asked the other girl whether they should keep this charade up.

Asuna blinked at her a few times. For a moment she looked confused, then she shook her head and smiled.

"Sorry about this," she whispered as she stood up.

Standing tall, the girl resolutely walked to the door, merely shaking her head at the silent looks of her friends who were telling her to wait it out.

"Hello, Kuradeel," Asuna greeted politely but cautiously. "What brings you to the guildhouse of the Moonlit Black Cats?"

The man had a look of shock on his face before he returned to his usual "professional" demeanour as if he wasn't screaming for her a few seconds ago.

"Fufu, I knew something like this would occur," he said with smug satisfaction at his actions, "so I've been going to Selmburg to watch your house since a month ago."

"–Wait, what?! Ducker was the first to yell out.

At the same time the rest of the Black Cats got up and immediately rushed to the door.

"Are you some kind of stalker?!" Sasamaru spat in disgust.

Kuradeel simply glanced at him hatefully in response, annoyed that anyone would accuse him of such a thing.

"That… That's not part of the leader's orders, is it?" Asuna asked nervously, afraid of how far this predicament goes.

"My duty is to escort you, Asuna," he confirmed bitterly. "Watching your house is included in-"

"What do you mean 'included', idiot!" she yelled.

Kuradeel walked as close as he could without entering the house, his expression becoming even more angry and annoyed. He reached forward and grabbed Asuna's wrist and pulled her roughly.

"You don't seem to understand," he implored without looking at her. "Please don't be like this… Now, let's go back to HQ."

Asuna could hardly argue. She threw an imploring look at everyone, begging them to help.

For a moment, Sachi contemplated leaving Asuna to take care of herself, to leave the situation to others as she usually did. But as soon as she saw Asuna's eyes as she crossed the house's threshold, she knew that she couldn't do that. The fear in her eyes—it was just like her own… and that of the first person to suffer because of her cowardice.

Before she or anyone else could do anything however, a black blur appeared in her vision and went outside.

"Sorry, but we're borrowing your vice-commander for today," Kirito declared as he crushed Kuradeel's wrist.

"You…!" Kuradeel rasped.

While he was distracted, Sachi inconspicuously pulled Asuna's hand out of his grip, and pushed her protectively behind her as the boys stood in front of them. All of this greatly surprised the Vice-Commander.

"I'll personally guarantee Asuna's safety," Kirito declared without hesitation. "It's not like we're going to fight a boss today. You can return to HQ by yourself." Somehow, he was able to sound confident despite still being dressed in his pajamas.

"D...Don't kid with me! Do you think a group of pathetic children like you can protect Asuna-sama?!"

"Better than you can, without a doubt," Kirito declared confidently.

Sachi couldn't help but feel impressed at his confidence. If anyone else had said the same thing, she would have thought of them as arrogant, but she knew that Kirito was truly that strong.

"Y-You insolent fool...!" he declared with a white face.

Suddenly, his eyes widened before he squinted hatefully at Kirito. "…Wait… I know you! That's right... You, you were definitely a «Beater»!"

As soon as he said that word, everyone reacted in different ways; Tetsuo, Sasamaru and Ducker immediately got defensive on their friend's behalf and balled up their hands, as if ready to punch out the man, Asuna and Sachi couldn't help but look at Kirito, worried for him as they both knew the true connotations of that word – especially how it referred to Kirito, Keita seemed to be at a loss for words and slightly shrunk back guiltily…

"Yeah. You're right," Kirito answered, his tone betraying nothing although his demeanour seemed to become slightly colder.

As if the boy's nonchalance bothered him more, Kuradeel continued even more angry, "I-If you can talk big, I suppose you're prepared to back it up...?!"

Without waiting for a response, he opened his menu and manipulated it quickly. Instantly, a system message appeared in front of Kirito. Although only he could see it, everyone knew exactly what it said:

[A 1-on-1 duel has been requested by Kuradeel. Do you accept?]

Suddenly a bit worried, Kirito looked to Keita, asking his leader whether he should accept it.

Keita narrowed his eyes before slightly nodding, but he cut himself off when he turned to Asuna. "Is it okay?" he asked in a whisper. "This won't cause a problem in your guild?"

"It's fine," Asuna replied. "I'll report this to the leader myself."

Kirito nodded when he heard that. However before he could press yes-

"Wait," Sachi interrupted and grabbed his wrist.

Everyone turned to look at her, confused at her actions.

"Let me take care of this," she requested as she gave Kirito an imploring look, requesting permission from him.

Kuradeel's eyes widened when he heard this. "You?" he cackled. "You're nothing but a low ranked player in some no-name guild."

Sachi continued to glare at him, her eyes unwavering in their resolve.

"You're weak," he mocked.

That hit a little too hard.

"You're not even close to as strong as the beater," he continued mocking. "You're not worth my time."

Clenching her jaw, she steeled her resolve before answering. "You're right, I'm much weaker than Kirito," she declared, briefly surprising him that she would admit this. "So if I beat you, that shows how qualified we all are, wouldn't it?"

Kuradeel's mouth spread into an arrogant grin, sneering at the girl in front of him.

He thinks I'll fail, she thought. I guess I can't blame him.

"You truly were trained by the beater," he taunted as he manipulated his menu. "Hopefully you'll fall faster than him!"

Not a second later, a screen appeared in front of Sachi, saying the standard duel message:

[A 1-on-1 duel has been requested by Kuradeel. Do you accept?]

She brought her finger up and let it hover above the [Yes] button. For a second she hesitated, but she was going to press it.

Briefly, she felt a hand squeezing hers reassuringly. Looking to the side, she saw Kirito giving her a look that told her two things: 1; he was surprised at her and 2; he was proud of her. "Do your best," he whispered into her ear.

She smiled back at him before she was interrupted again. Pushing passed Kuradeel while hanging on to Sachi's wrist, Asuna said something without looking back.

"Let's take this duel to an area with more space." She stopped and quickly turned her head to the left. "The rest of you, get dressed and meet us over there." She pointed out an empty area where two people could easily fight.

Kirito lightly chuckled. "We'll try to hurry. I don't want to miss a thing."

The two Knights and the single Black Cat walked in silence through several metres of the city. Now that she was away from her own guild, Sachi couldn't stop the anxiety that was creeping up on her.

Once they made it to the area, Sachi took a deep, deliberate breath and let it out before opening up her menu. Among nearly every other type of fighting, «Duels» were not something Sachi liked to participate in; especially because they involved fighting another person.

"You've got this, Shadow," Asuna whispered as she lightly pat her left shoulder and took a few steps back.

Sachi returned the sentiment with a smile. You already agreed, she told herself, there's no backing down now…

Checking through the options presented towards her, she chose the «First Strike Mode».

The message changed to [You have accepted the 1-on-1 duel with Kuradeel], and a countdown of 60 seconds appeared below it.

For a brief moment, she thought she made the wrong choice, but she pulled out her dark blue sword and detached her shield, putting them up in her stance; Holding her shield a little bit in front of her with her sword pointed forward, angled a few centimetres lower than her shoulder – a sword style that she always used. Don't be afraid, she told herself. This won't kill me.

"Please, watch, Asuna-sama!" Kuradeel shouted as he drew out his huge two handed sword. "I will prove that there is no one better than I to escort you!"

As the man boasted, she noticed a black-clothed figure walking towards her side of the field. The boy nodded as he gave an inconspicuous thumbs up.

As they waited for the countdown to finish, people – including who she was certain were the rest of her guildmates – began to crowd around them. Being the centre of attention always made Sachi self-conscious, this was no exception.

Focus, she told herself. Only this duel is important.

As she focused, the cheering of the crowd slowly left her senses, instead she focused on her enemy, ready to see what he does.

"The girl from that Black Cats guild is having a duel with some guy!" shouted one spectator.

"That symbol? Isn't that guy from the Knights of the Blood Oath?" asked another.

"She doesn't look ready to fight," observed another, probably taking note of her nervous expression.

"Kick his ass, Sachi!" Ducker yelled supportively.

"You've got this, girl!" Sasamaru yelled.

Kuradeel gave her another sneering look, "Once I'm done with you, your boyfriend is next."

Sachi glared at him with a look that said, 'Do not threaten Kirito.'

As soon as the countdown hit zero, Kuradeel immediately went in to attack, approaching her with a high hitting skill: «Avalanche».

Instinctively, Sachi felt like she froze in place.

As he was the only one moving – especially with a powerful, heavy weapon – Kuradeel by all means had the advantage. Without any force or skill being used behind it, even if his opponent were to use her shield to block his strike, he would've been able to overpower it and deal enough damage to end the duel with one blow…

However, Sachi quickly collected her nerves and searched for where the sword would hit should it make contact with her. Quickly, she put a foot forward while preparing a follow up movement with her sword as Kuradeel's sword was closing in to her shoulder.

Right before it made contact, in the middle of her movement, Sachi braced her legs and using the full extent of her strength, slammed her shield into the sword's centre with a strike whose speed and execution resembled a «Martial Arts» skill. For a brief second it stopped in place, no doubt surprising many of the spectators along with her opponent.

What she had done was strike the large weapon at one of its weak points, resulting in the knockback being amplified – which in in this case was enough to make it arrest its movement.

Kuradeel's eyes widened as he saw the girl seem to ignore any cooldown time completely and bring up her sword to stab it into his shoulder.

That marked the end of the battle. The entire area was silent for a while. Many of the spectators stared at the duelists in shock. Stoically, Sachi pushed Kuradeel away from her with her shield and took a step back, she watched him slump down, his sword still gripped in his unscathed hand.

"Incredible!"

"She blocked his strike and attacked in the same instant!"

"She's cute!"

Sachi looked at the man slumped down beneath her, a part of her wanted to assure him that he was still a good fighter, but another part of her wanted to insult him.

But the latter wasn't her.

"You fought well," she assured him kindly. "But I think we've proven ourselves. Asuna will be safe with us."

Kuradeel looked up, fixing her in a terrifying glare.

Stay calm… she commanded herself.

With a nonchalant movement, she returned her shield to her back, before trying to sheathe her sword… missing the scabbard again.

Darn it…

She could hear a few people snickering at her as she tried to point her sword into its scabbard, embarrassing her. By the time she was able to focus and sheathe her sword, Kuradeel had stood up and kept his glare fixed on her.

"You… I'm going to kill you… I'll definitely kill you all…"

She was immediately freaked out by this as her hand quickly froze while still on her sword's handle. Death threats still scared her, but she hated hearing threats against her friends.

Before she could say anything or retaliate against him, she felt someone pull her back by the arm. When she was able to focus her vision again, she recognized the black-clothed figure in front of her.

Kirito fixed him in a deadly glare of his own.

Stepping in front of everyone, Asuna put out her arm in their direction, urging them to stay back. "Kuradeel, I order you as the vice-commander of the Knights of the Blood. I relieve you from the position of bodyguard. Go back to HQ and remain there until further orders," she commanded her subordinate.

In spite of her cold, commanding instructions, Sachi felt the distress in every word. She had to resist the urge to reassure her, not willing to undermine her authority in front of her guild member.

"What… What's…this…?" Kuradeel stuttered out. "You can't be serious!"

Asuna kept her impassive glare on him. At the same time, the other Black Cats stalked over, adding their presence to the intimidating mix.

Soon enough he relented and retrieved a teleport crystal from his inventory. He raised it in preparation to use it, gripping it to the point it seemed that it would break.

"«Teleport… Grandum»," he muttered. Before teleporting, he gave a final hateful glare to Kirito and Sachi.

As soon as he left, everyone let out a sigh of relief, thankful that he was finally gone.

Now that the fight was concluded, the spectators slowly began to walk away, no longer interested in the group.

Timidly, she turned to Asuna who was looking at her as if appraising her. However, before either of them had a chance to say anything, she felt somebody affectionately grab her sleeve.

"That was awesome!" Ducker exclaimed as he lightly hit her shoulder with his other hand.

Keita stood in front of her and put his hand on her head. "I always knew you had that power in you," he complemented her.

She blushed as she smiled at him unsurely, worried that he was reading her wrong.

Tetsuo and Sasamaru joined in on complementing her, however she couldn't help but look primarily at Kirito who had walked into her view but stayed on the side. He smiled at her and nodded.

«Good job», was what she read from his expression.

And that made this whole incident worth it.

"...Sorry," Asuna apologized. "That I got you all mixed up in this."

"It's all right, we're fine," Kirito assured her. "But will you be okay?"

"Yeah, I think that I'm to blame as well for enforcing the rules on everyone so harshly in order to clear the game quicker…" she admitted as she weakly shook her head.

"That's fine," Keita insisted. No doubt that he had a good understanding of how difficult it was to be a leader, although perhaps not to a larger group. "If this world didn't have somebody like you who would lead a large group like the Knights, the pace would be much slower."

"I mean, you're doing so much more than a small group of optimists like us," Tetsuo added helpfully.

Asuna turned to him and smiled gratefully.

"Or a lazy, former solo player like me," Kirito added with a smile as he pet Sachi's head. "So nobody should be able to say anything about you taking a breather with some no-name guild like us.

Hearing this, Asuna blinked a few times with a confused expression, trying to process what they were trying to say. When she understood, she smiled at them with a grateful expression.

"Besides," Kirito added before she could say anything further. "Thanks to this incident, we got to see Sachi's skills."

Sachi blushed at this, "Well… I learned from the best…" she said shyly.

"Hehe," Asuna giggled at the affectionate display. "I'm glad I could help," she told them with a smile, although there almost seemed to be traces of sadness in her eyes. Suddenly, her expression turned more mischievous. "And to you all helping me, I'll say thanks. I'll enjoy today as much as I can, and we'll entrust the position of forward to you, Kirito!"

"What? Hey! Forward is supposed to be taken in turns!" he complained as he turned to his leader to give him support.

Said leader closed his eyes as he put his right hand on his chin as if he was thinking. "Actually… that's not a bad idea."

"What?!" Kirito couldn't help but feel betrayed. He turned to Ducker who, for some unknown reason, Kirito thought would have his back.

"Well you are the strongest of us all," the mischievous boy pointed out.

"Plus it would be fun to see you defeating all the monsters with your skills," Sasamaru added without wasting a beat.

"And it would be nice to see you contributing a bit more," Tetsuo put in.

He never could understand how they were able to add on to each other's thoughts so easily.

He looked to his final guildmate – the one person whom he always believed to have his back…

Unfortunately… "Sorry, Kirito," Sachi apologized as she looked down (although he was certain that she was hiding a smile), "but democracy has to win."

Kirito looked at her with a false look of betrayal, pretending to be upset that she of all people would betray him.

She responded by looking directly at him with a wide eyed look of pure innocence.

"Mrrg!" he grunted, unable to argue when she gave him that look.

Finally he sighed in acceptance. He could have sworn that he could see music notes floating over Sachi's head, no doubt glad that she won against him again.

"Alright, fine!" he exclaimed. "You guys win." He put up his hands and rolled his eyes. On the surface, he was annoyed… although he couldn't help but appreciate how much fate his guildmates had in him if they were willing to let him take the position of forward.

"That dungeon isn't going to explore itself," he said as he started walking in the exact opposite direction of the teleport gate. "But first, let's finish breakfast before there are any more interruptions."

This was not my original draft of this chapter. That draft, which was similar to the original, canon chapter, was sitting in my notes for years, so it almost hurts to get rid of it… almost. I do mind removing the scene where the MBC boys act like Sachi's overenthusiastic brothers, but that's just how it goes…