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Dominant Lisbeth~

Asuna's POV

"See you later, Asuna!" Kirito said as he walked out of the battle room. He had some other business to take care of, and left me at the last meeting we had together.

"Bye, Kirito!" I replied. When I turned away to go grind to gain a level or two, I noticed my sword was falling apart. The main part was intact, but the hilt just suddenly shattered without warning.

"That's weird...I guess I should go see Lisbeth."

I used my teleportation stone to bring myself to the blacksmith's. I hadn't seen Lisbeth in a while, so this would be a good time to reunite as well. I wonder what she's been up to recently.

I arrived, and walked down the stairs to the counter.

"Hey, Lisbeth, could you fix my sword for me?"

"Yeah, sure-wait, I don't have the power to fix a sword. I can only make new ones."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"Can you at least tell me how it broke? It seemed to break out of nowhere."

"Okay, I can do that. Let's see here..."

Lisbeth started examining the sword, and I saw many blank blue buttons show up in front of her. This still seems so unreal. Even though I had been exploring Aincrad for several months, the concept that dying in a regular video game could kill you in real life was incredibly scary. I had to make sure the sword Lisbeth created, or re-created, will be perfect.

Though I know it will be. I've seen her work many times before, and it is more than a little admirable. Though it is all pushing buttons, Lisbeth put hours upon hours making herself useful to other players who were stuck in this game.

After a few minutes had gone by, I noticed Lisbeth could still not figure out how it had broken.

"There's no possible way it could have just broken so suddenly," she said, "maybe someone rigged it to break, thinking you would be in battle at that moment?"

"There was a raid that was canceled today! But who could have done this? The only person I let hold this was my substitute bodyguard, assigned to me by the leader of our squad. It must have been him! I have to call Kirito!"

"Kirito...?"

"Yeah? ...What's the problem?"

"Y...ways....o...thin...wi...m..." Lisbeth mumbled.

"What?"

"You always do everything with him! I can't stand it!"

"What? Do we have a case of jealousy here...? Hm...? You want Kirito to yourself, don't you!"

"Actually, I..."

"I knew it! It was so obvious from the way you acted around him!"

"Asuna..."

"Seriously? I can't believe-"

"Asuna!"

"Yes?"

"I'm not jealous of you. I'm jealous of Kirito."

"You're what?"

"I like you, Asuna. I want to help you find the guy who tried to kill you. I want to catch him before he hurts anyone else! Without Kirito!"

What? I was not expecting this. I had no idea she'd swing this way. I was so wrapped up in the jealousy of seeing them together that I didn't consider her feelings...I was so selfish. Not anymore. Even if it is just for a small while, I want to bring Lisbeth some happiness for how much she has done for others already.