Memories of SAO

Memories of Death and Love

"Hey, Asuna?" Koharu asks as she sets a tray with a pot and five teacups on the table. While the males converse outside, Koharu assists Asuna with the preparations for the meal. She learned that Asuna and Kirito was meaning to invite Jaymes and Koharu for a last supper anyways, but Kirito got lucky again with an S-class ingredient on the ninety-ninth floor, the Ragout Rabbit's Meat, and made sure Jaymes and Koharu were invited to partake in the meal this time around.

Asuna has a variety of entrees for the the dining players and her "daughter", the Mental Health Counseling Program known as Yui, and she's cooking it alone. There's a pot with stew simmering inside, which Asuna watches attentively while the other girls set the table. "What is it, Koharu?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course?"

Koharu leans against the counter a couple of steps away from Asuna, eyes locked on the front door that separates them from the boys. Crossing her arms, she looks to the warm, light-brown eyes of her best friend and says, "So how long have you loved Kirito?"

Asuna's face turns red. "H-huh? Oh, um... Geez, I wasn't ready for that type of question." Recomposing herself, Asuna clears her throat and stares at the ceiling. "Well... I don't really know the exact moment when my feelings started to develop. But I'm sure it was before we split off on the twenty-fifth floor. You and Jaymes spoke to me many times about it, so maybe I had feelings for him even then. All I know is that I was happy when the four of us started playing as a party again. I guess that leads us to now."

"Guess our stories have one thing in common. We realized and confessed our feelings for them right when we're about to die."

"Mommy, Auntie," calls Yui, who comes from finishing the arrangement of the table with Lisbeth and Silica who were also invited to join for dinner. She enters into Asuna's arms as she asks, "Who said 'I love you' first? Papa and Uncle or you two?"

"As if they would!" Asuna and Koharu's groans are simultaneous and lengthy as they share the same feelings. That shocks the other girls.

"Okay, Kirito is no surprise, he's an idiot," Lisbeth says as she takes a seat at the table. "But I cannot say the same for Jaymes. He just kept his feelings to himself."

"I agree," chimes in Silica. "But in defense of Kirito, maybe he just didn't know what to say."

Asuna scoffs. "Kirito barely has the heart to speak his feelings. Remember when we found out about Shivata and Liten, Koharu? He didn't understand it even though their feelings for each other were obvious, and tried rationalizing how a relationship would work here in SAO."

"Indeed. All Jaymes did was make fun of them, same with Eiji and Yuna too. Then whenever someone questioned our relationship, he'd act like nothing was there. Like when Stella did so when we met her."

"Yeah. They just stared, dumbfounded by her teasing, while we're embarrassed by it. And Leuer was no better."

"'We meet again, hero and consort.' Why am I Jaymes' consort? He never says anything about that."

"When Agil asked him why we were hanging out together, Kirito just brushed it off as me tagging along with him. Then I had to beg him to let me cook the Ragout Rabbit Meat, had to beg him to party with us on the seventy-fourth floor... Such an idiot..."

"Jaymes would tease and flirt with other girls right in front of me, like with Lisbeth and Sanya, never caring for how I felt about it. Whenever I wanted to do something fun, he'd act as if it's a chore, but let it be another girl, he'll swoop in to answer their requests. And when I try looking nice, he just passes it off... What an idiot..."