Progressive Factor II: Lacrimosa Of A Reaper

She Was My Friend

On the third floor, the night Kirito and Koharu encountered Morte...

"What could have compelled Kirito and Koharu to go out together in the middle of the night?" Though she says it to herself, Asuna hopes for an answer. The chestnut-haired swordswoman hides underneath her red hood, taking an unplanned midnight excursion through the forest of the third floor of Aincrad. She rather be sound asleep back at the elven camp, not rushing to aid the skilled swordsman beater known as Kirito, but there's no way she'll leave the only other girl she calls a friend in trouble. She's only known Koharu for a short while, just a couple of weeks now, but...Asuna doesn't want to be left alone again.

"We're close to the spawn point of the camp," Jaymes, the dark-skinned warrior clad in basic armor colored red and black, says as he checks his map once more while leading the group consisting of himself, Asuna, and their insanely beautiful NPC companion, Kizmel. He stops and looks at Asuna, masking whatever emotions he could be feeling right now. "You didn't have to come, Asuna. If it's just Morte as Ko says, then I'm sure Kirito has it handled. And Koharu...he wouldn't let anything happen to her."

"You don't sound certain," Asuna says, without the usual bite that she speaks to him with. Asuna may have mixed feelings about their current, self-taken quest, but Jaymes has only one objective: Koharu, his cute, kind, and steadily growing other half. As far as Asuna knows, they've been together since the game launched, which means they were together when Akihiko Kayaba told almost 10,000 players they were trapped in the world of Sword Art Online. That was more than a month and a week ago, and just thinking about it puts a slight pit in Asuna's stomach.

Jaymes shakes his head in response to her statement and looks at the moon, its light breaking through the treeline. "Of course not. But not because I believe I'm the only one who can protect her. I'm not that foolish. It's just... Don't take this the wrong way, but... I don't want to be without her. Ever."

Asuna purses her lips. "I understand. She's attractive, after all."

"I just said don't take it the wrong way. She means more to me than another pretty face. I might be a boy, and I have my moments, but I'm not that shameless."

Asuna manages a smile and looks at him. "Maybe one day you'll feel that way about me...Never mind, I feel disgusted thinking about it."

Jaymes grins. "Same here... Anyway, Asuna, maybe this is the veteran gamer in me speaking, but a straight-laced bookworm like you don't seem like the type who'd take time out of their day to play video games. What sparked your interest?"

"I thought you were against speaking..." Asuna pauses and glances behind them. Kizmel follows behind, quiet and attentive to their surroundings as Jaymes asked of her, so whether she's paying the humans any heed is anyone's guess. She figures it's okay to finish her sentence without tripping Kizmel's curiosity over the human language. "...about the real world?"

Jaymes shrugs. "Considering it makes Koharu happy to talk of the real world with you, it doesn't bother me as much as it would Kirito. Just a simple curiosity I had for a while."

"Well... In all honesty, I had no intentions of ever playing Sword Art Online. But there was...a friend of mine who convinced me. So I took my brother's NerveGear and copy of SAO on the day of release...and you know the rest."

"A friend, huh? You weren't alone at the beginning?"

"No. I guess, like you and Koharu, I had a partner at the beginning, but...as you are aware since you two and Argo saved me that day, I eventually was alone. My fault, actually. I accidentally hit a Little Nepenthes with the fruit on its head and caused a horde that nearly killed me had another passing party come to save me. Two days after, that would be the day I entered that cave we met at." Asuna swipes her right hand and presses buttons that lead to her friends' list. She scrolls just a bit, not that there are many names present on the list, and hovers her finger just above the name underneath Koharu's.