Mysterious Guardian

6. Someone To Lean On

Yuuki Asuna

"Asuna!" I turned around with a hum and saw Y/N running towards me. Some students in the hallways turned in our direction but one glare from Y/N made them turn back and minded their own business.

"What... are you doing here?"

"Where are you going?" Y/N asked, completely ignoring my question.

"Rooftop. As usual," I answered and looked down at my feet.

"It's lunchtime. Why don't we go to the cafeteria?" My head quickly snapped upwards and looked at his eyes.

"Wh-What?" Y/N shrugged and grabbed my hand.

"Come on," he said and began dragging me to the cafeteria.

"B-B-But..."

No, Kirito's... there...

"Every time I try to invite you for a lunch in the cafeteria, you always say you'd rather eat a snack and stay on the rooftop. Rude to say but you're getting malnourished, Asuna,"

"N-N-No. I'm fine with that, Y/N. I-I really don't need to be there," Y/N stubbornly shook his head.

"Nope! You're going with me either way,"

How am I supposed to tell Y/N? Why do I even hesitate to tell him?

- | -

"Is that... Asuna?"

"She's sitting with Y/N?!"

"I must be blind,"

"It's weird seeing the two of them together,"

Words crossed their lips. Their eyes focused on our table. So, Y/N and I did stay in the cafeteria but it seemed like it came out as bad as I thought. Every student was now murmuring about us. Most of them were negative and ridiculous assumptions. I slightly looked up and stare at Y/N who looked irritated.

"Is that how helpless Asuna is that she even sits with Y/N?" a girl said aloud. I looked at her only to realize that she said that aloud on purpose.

"Poor Y/N. Does he even realize that Asuna's only using her?"

I'm not using anyone...

"Hey, Kazuto," my shoulders jolted upwards, hearing his name. My eyes followed a guy approaching their table. He placed a hand on Kirito's shoulder, eyes still on Y/N and me.

"It seems like your ex-girlfriend's getting a bit rebellious now. Given that she's sitting with your rival," I looked at Kirito and our eyes, unintentionally, met. He stared at me before lifting his head to look at whoever that guy is.

"What are you talking about? Y/N's not my rival," I saw the guy let out a huff.

"Your ex looks like a she-devil to me though," I felt my ears reddening, probably from that comment. I felt... hurt and embarrassed. I wanted to run.

"Hey! Don't call her that," Kirito scolded the guy.

"Why?" the student said while laughing.  I was about to rise from my seat and leave when I noticed that Y/N was no longer on his seat. I looked around and saw him approaching... Kirito with a tray— no wait! He was approaching that... student.

"Hey," Y/N called out. The student turned to him and raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"What did you call Asuna again?" he asked, scrunching his eyebrows.

"What? She-de—" he couldn't finish what he was saying when Y/N hit him with the tray. It wasn't really hard but it did knock him to the ground.

"Damn! What was that for?!" the student yelled at him. Y/N turned serious, eyes looking down at him like he's about to devour his soul.