The Seventh Case

Chapter 12

The world stood still for Kazuto. An entire year he had spent fighting and hunting to see one person, and that person was right in front of him, cupping her mouth and sobbing uncontrollably.

"Asuna", he breathed out softly. Asuna rushed forward with her insurmountable speed, reaching out to him pitifully. Kazuto responded in a similar fashion, but he was far too overwhelmed to rush forward. The legs that had helped him run thousands of kilometres without giving up on him, had finally given out. He was unable to take a step no matter how hard he commanded his legs to move towards the woman.

The gear he wore, which was not even half the weight of the heaviest hear he had worn suddenly seemed to be as heavy as three iron anvils piled up on one another.

The door separating them began to crumble and in less than a second, dropped down in a flash, separating them again.

"KIRITO-KUN, CAN YOU HEAR ME? CAN YOU HEAR ME?", Asuna yelled through her tears, slamming her fists repeatedly on the door.

"I can. The door is not that thick. You don't have to yell", he replied, running his hand over the wall cursing his inability at the moment.

"I'll leave you alone, Kirito", Diavel said walking off to the next floor, holding his stomach. Kirito softly smiled at the man, pulling his gaiter down. Diavel weakly returned it with a thumbs up as he limped to the stairs leading to the next floor.

"I am not getting out of my room for the rest of the week", Kazuto heard Diavel groan through the stairs.

"(sniff) Have you been taking care of yourself?", Asuna asked him, silently pleading her colleagues for some privacy. They seemed to understand the situation and left the place. Satisfaction and relief were the basic emotions Asuna could see in their eyes.

She turned around and rested her back on the wall. Yet again, she was at a loss for words.

"Somewhat. I mean, I am physically well. What about you, and why hadn't you replied to my messages? I was worried", he said, taking a similar position as Asuna.

"I was knocked out", she replied blankly and she was sure she heard him do a double take.

"Huh?", he asked, not having processed her answer well.

"The last attack, I hit my head on the boss. Well, it would not hurt to say that I might have broken my skull in that reckless attack of mine and...I don't know how to say it, I'm sorry, I just...I thought you could use a bit of rest. You had been single-handedly fighting the bosses and I didn't like the feeling of being a damsel in distress. I'm sorry", she apologized. Asuna could not explain the situation to him.

"I was truly very worried, Asuna. I will be honest, you have grown on me. I..I don't know if the affection I have for you is romantic or sisterly, like the one I have with Sugu. But.."

His words nearly annihilated Asuna's lungs, and she feared she might be running a fever based on the heat her face was giving out. She nervously began to twirl her finger in her long hair.

"Is..Is that so?", she asked him with an extremely large smile. "I think I can say the same"

"Have you cashed in your call?", Kazuto asked her and Asuna's eyes shot up. She had completely forgotten about the call. She had not cashed it in. The previous call was pretty much useless as it was all fuzzy and kept breaking halfway. She had not spoken to her brother ever since she had set foot on Aincrad.

"Not the recent one, but..."

"The previous one was all fuzzy and you couldn't speak to Aniki?", Kazuto finished for her and Asuna hummed in the affirmative.