Looking For Something Real (Sword Art Online)

16. Very First Date

Chapter 16- May 24th "Very First Date"

Dicey Café

As I approached the dicey café my heart was pounding in my chest. Yet despite the adrenaline coursing through my veins my mind was strangely clear. The pact that Liz and I had made to ignore the voices in our heads had really let a weight off my shoulders, but that didn't mean I hadn't made an effort for the occasion.

I had taken my smartest jeans and casual shirt that I could find to change into after work. I had even polished up a pair of smart shoes usually only reserved for family get togethers.

I reached the entrance to the café and saw that Agil had left the 'Booked for the Day!' sign on the door. I began to panic a little, was there another booking? I slowly opened the door and as my eyes adjusted I saw that the café was empty aside from Agil behind the counter.

"Hey Tyzn, you're a little early. Come on in." He said waving me inside.

"I'm sorry Agil I didn't know the place was booked for today." I said as the door closed behind me.

"What? I haven't got any bookings."

"Then why is the reserved sign still up?... wait Keiko told you didn't she?" it all made sense now.

"Yup that girl was so excited for you both it got me pumped too. I've got lots of cleaning out back to do today so it only made sense for you and Liz to have the place to yourselves."

"Thanks Agil, but you didn't need to do that, we could go somewhere else." Agil walked over to the seat I had taken at the bar and raised a fist to me. I raised my own and bumped it.

"Nah brother, its fine honestly. I owe both of you, and making you and Liz happy is a pleasure. So what can I get you?"

"I'm ok for now thanks, I'll wait for Liz to arrive." I said with a smile.

"Should've known that between you and Kirito you'd be the romantic." Agil said with a wink.

Just then the door opened and I swung around to see Rika's head poking around the corner just as I had done.

"Errr... hey guys" she said. "What's with the reserved sign?" The grin on my face grew larger at seeing Liz, even if it was only her head.

"Keiko" I said in response and Liz instantly put the pieces together.

"God damn blabber mouth I swear I'm gonna give her a piece of my mind..." Liz opened the door all the way and I was struck with a bewildering sight. I know that I say that a lot but this was seriously a memory that will last in my mind forever.

Bathed in the light behind her Liz stood there wearing a white summer dress which frilled out at the knees with a green trim. She had flowery hair clips holding back her bangs and white shoes which had long lace going half way up her calf. She looked the most dazzling I had ever seen her and my mouth went instantly dry as the whole world slowed down in that moment.

Liz made her way to sit at the bar next to me and oblivious to my awestruck state asked Agil for a tea. I spun back around on my chair and asked Agil for the same. A memory of the previous night ran through my head "just say what comes naturally to us".

My nerves calmed and I looked Liz in the eye. "Hey... so, just say what comes naturally to us right?" Liz nodded and smiled. "Well in that case you look like the most beautiful girl in the world right now. Scratch that the universe!"

The little voice in my head was screaming at me that what I just said was way too far and sounded too dorky.

Liz's eyes went wide and I heard a slight gasp but to my amazement she smiled at my comment. "Wow good opening muscles. You know you don't scrub up bad yourself!"

She gazed up and down my body inspecting my attire. When she was done she let out a slight growl and instantly raised her hand to her forehead. "Oh god that was dumb!" She said under her breath and I couldn't help but chuckle.

"Just say what comes naturally remember?" I tried to reassure her.

"That works until I make myself sound like a horny housewife!" she said from behind her hand.

I reached up and gently moved her hand out of the way of her face. When she saw me smiling she burst out laughing which also started me off.

After we were done laughing we settled down to talk about ALO and new Aincrad. Liz spoke about how she wanted to get her old workshop back and build a smithing empire spanning from Yggdrasil City all the way to floor 100 of new Aincrad.

We then moved on to more mundane topics such as home, family and school life. It turned out that Liz grew up in a rural town not too far from Tokyo, yet the distance to and from the school necessitated her moving into the city when offered.

Liz even laughed at my bad jokes which seemed like a good sign.

Before long it was getting late. When Liz saw that the clock on the wall reading 7:00pm she said to me "We should be off, you know what the security gets like when students come home late."

"Yeah you're right, guess I had best walk you home then, you know to explain why you're back so late" I said with a smile.

"you dofus" Liz said with a chuckle back.

As we reached the door I pulled it open and allowed Liz to pass through first.

"Oooo, get me Agil, I bagged me a gentleman." Liz said with another chuckle as we waved goodbye to him.

It wasn't all that far from the dicey café to the hostel but every second I had with Liz was precious to me, especially after the afternoon I had spent with her. My mind was swimming as I felt that it had all gone so well, but lurking in the back was always the thought that she wouldn't feel the same.

However even that thought was drowned out when I felt Liz's hand take mine and our fingers intertwined.

As we reached the hostel entrance Liz stopped and turned to stand in front of me, taking my other hand into hers.

"Thank you for today, it was really great!" She beamed up at me with a big smile.

"So does that mean you want to go on another date?"

"Of course it does dummy!" she went on her tip toes and gave me a peck on the cheek before continuing. "Congrats muscles you win a second date" she said with a wink as she walked off towards the female dorms. As she reached the entrance door she blew me a kiss and walked in with a big smile.

I turned to walk into the boy's dorms, it almost felt like I was flying in ALO with how much skip there was in my step.

Authors note:

So this was one hell of a fluffy episode!

I've decided that I'm going to try and get a chapter uploaded every couple of days to space them out a little and give me time to write new ones while proof reading the older ones.

If you like the story so far or have any feedback make sure to leave a comment :)