20 Chapter 20

After Asuna leave the place, Nao stay for a while. He sat down on a bench and rubbing Haku on his lap.

"I don't know that you had a very unique hobby like eavesdropping." Nao said, not too loud but enough to make the one he meant still could heard it.

"Since when?" A black attired man come out of the alley way and show himself. He is Kirito.

"From the start." Nao said while smiling and still rubbing Haku. He knew that after Asuna arrived, Kirito reach this place not long after that too.

"Sigh~ I wonder why my Hiding skill never work on you. My hiding skill level now already very high enough though, and even Asuna couldn't detect me just now." Kirito then walk toward Nao and sat down on the bench with him while gazing at the sky.

'heheehe~ You want to use something like hiding skill, a skill that assisted by game system to me, your father who has something called Sixth Sense? It's still too early for you, too early.' Nao said and chuckled inside his mind.

They didn't say anything and silent for a long time without anyone start the conversation. Nao keep rubbing Haku make its purring from time to time and Kirito gazing at the sky contemplating something.

After a very long silent, Kirito was the one who start to speak in the end.

"Why?" Kirito asked him.

"About what?" Nao asked him back.

"Asuna." Kirito said again.

"What did you want to know?" Nao asked him again make Kirito silent for a while thinking what the thing he should asked him first.

"Why did you reject her? She like you and you know very well about that. If the problem was Sugu, then there's Yuna too beside you now. So, why didn't you do the same thing with Asuna? The same thing like what you did with Yuna." Kirito asked him after thinking for a while.

Nao remained silent and didn't answer him right away. After a while, he finally said.

"They said that love was something that you fell into. You'll never know when or where it started to appear and will never know how and to whom it would be. Maybe that's why." Nao said to him after remained silent.

"So you didn't like her?" Kirito asked him again.

"Un! Something like that." Nao said simply at him.

Kirito didn't saying anything again after his simple answer. The both of them remained like that again for some time and Kirito started to ask again after that.

"Just now, she said that you never try to look at her as a woman. That you didn't want to. You close your heart as soon as you realize that she liked you, while you still open your heart when it was Yuna who liked you. Isn't that mean you didn't fall into the "hole" called love when it was Asuna just because you keep yourself away from it?" Kirito said and asked him in the end.

Nao remained silent again after heard what he just said and think about it. Kirito let him be and waiting for him patiently to answer him.

Nao thinking about it for some time and answer him.

"Yeah, you're right." Nao said.

"Why did you close your heart for her?" Kirito asked again.

'Because she is your future wife. Well, it's impossible to said something like that, right.' Nao said inside his mind.

"Because I didn't want to?" Nao said while tilted his head.

"Then isn't it unfair for her? You open your heart for Yuna but you close your heart for Asuna as soon as you know she liked you. Isn't it unfair for her that you didn't give her a chance at all?" Kirito asked him again didn't understand.

'Why is he selling his wife to me like that? Well, she isn't his wife yet but still.' Nao look at him strangely and blinking several time make Kirito confused.

"What?" Kirito said because he look at him like that. Nao always help him anytime he has a problem and always give him an advise if needed to, so Kirito want to help Nao too about his matter.

"Well, nothing. Then how about you?" Nao asked him instead.

"About what? Why is it about me all of a sudden?" Kirito confused that the topic suddenly changed.

"Well, you see. What did you think about Asuna?" Nao asked him back again.

"Huh? My opinion about Asuna? I think she's a beautiful girl and someone who will be her lover would be a very lucky..... guyy..... Wait?!! Did you close your heart for her and reject her in the end because of me?" Kirito realize something and asked him in the end.

'Absolutely! Well, I won't said it though.' Nao thought.

"Of course not. Why did you think like that?" Nao lied perfectly. It's ridiculous but his [Extreme Super Growth] even rise his lying skill.

"Well, to think about it carefully, since the beginning, you always tease us and said that we're couple and she's my girlfriend. So I think maybe you close your heart for her, and distant yourself from her slightly when you realize her feeling, because of me." Kirito said to him.

'You are right.' Nao said of course inside his mind again.

"That's not it." He lied perfectly again.

"Even if somehow I like her and all, the man she liked in the end was you and I won't be able to do anything about that. It'll be unreasonable and unfair for her if you reject her just because of me." Kirito said to him again.

'Well, you are right, though. But still,...' Nao thought again.

The both of them remained silent again after that and sat still on the bench without saying anything. Nao and Kirito look at the sky, lost in their own thought for a while and think of many things inside their own mind.

"What would you do about her from now on?" Kirito asked him again after the long silent.

"Hm? Nothing." Nao said simply.

"Nothing?" Kirito asked again.

"Yeah. I already rejected her just now, so she will move on from now on and forget her feeling about me." He said to answer his question.

"And how if she can't?" Kirito asked again.

"Huh?" Nao said while tilted his head.

"Like I said, how if she couldn't move on and still has her feeling about you? What will you do? Will you reject her again like before? You want to reject her for the second time?" Kirito asked him the questions in one breath.

Nao look at Kirito blinking several time after hearing his words. He only think that after Asuna was rejected by him, she would normally forget about her feeling and liked Kirito again. He never considering the possibility about she would still has that feeling after rejected.

"She said that she realized her feeling towards me was an impossible thing just now, of course she would forget that and try to move on, right?" Nao said remember that Asuna said she knows it was impossible to have that feeling.

"Of course she would try, but my question was what will you do if her attempt to forget that feeling was failed and still have that feeling?" Kirito said again.

"Well, that was ...." Nao didn't know what to say and looked at the ground thinking about that.

'Sigh~ That's right. There's that possibility too.' Nao thought inside his mind.

"Well, we haven't known yet about that right now. So I don't know. Let's see that first in the future then I will think about it." Nao said while looking at the sky.

He didn't know what would happen, but he would just let the future matter be handled by the future's him. He has Yuna's problem right now and didn't have time to think about something like the future which he hasn't known yet. Kirito didn't say anything either and let him decide his own life by himself.

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In a dimly lit room, sobs could be heard since the room's owner has comes back a while ago.

As soon as she's back and enters the room, she did nothing else and just throws herself onto the bed. She started to crying and sobbing while curdling on her bed, hugging her pillow and bury her face on it.

She hugs the pillow hardly while crying loudly to her heart content. Express her all pent up feeling out at a time.

She stops crying after a while but the sobbing still could be heard and her face still buried on her pillow with messy hair all around the bed.

She peeked out of her pillow and stared at the ceiling with her red moist eyes. She remained like that for a while and then roll around look at the lamp beside the bed.

"Nao-kun" She mumbled softly and close her eyes make her tears fall down again on the bed sheets one after the other.

'I will try to forget about him from now on.' She said inside her mind convincing herself to move on from her heartbroken state and forget about him.

"Can I?" She mumbled again under her breath.

'I will try, but if I can't then,' She thought in her mind.

"Honest, huh." She said softly and smiled slightly after that and buries her face again on the pillow.

'Nao-kun,'

The room quieted down again with the stopped tears and sobs until the light die down and the night come.

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A new day has arrived, along with a new hope to take a step closer towards the freedom accompanied it.

Today was the day the capture group that formed before, depart to the front line and fight the subjugation battle. As planed too, all of the forty-eight clearers of the capture group would be departed using a corridor crystal and reach the boss room right away to prevent them exhausted before the fight with the boss.

There's no stamina fatigue in the game, though. It's more of the mental exhaustion which could make them lost their focus during the battle.

The capture group planned to depart using the crystal from the plaza. That's why today, the plaza was once again crowded with many players who want to cheer at them and entrust their hope on them, then shoulder it to the battlefield.

Among the crowd of players at the plaza, there's a girl with blue one piece dress and white hat looking around there. She look at the plaza from time to time waiting for the purple haori wearing guy to arrived.

She was the famous utachan, Yuna.

Last night, Nao come at her place with the look of worry on his face. She thought that he was worried about the next battle, but to her surprise he was worried about her instead. She didn't know why and when she asked the reason, he just shook his head and said that he hasn't a good feeling these days.

He hugged her all night and asked her to stay in the town and didn't go around the outer area. She just nodded obediently looking how serious he was.

She was a bit worried too, but not thinking too much about it.

However, when she heard about the detail about the subjugation battle today. It said that today's battle was predicted to be a tough battle that forced the capture group have to be teleported right away with the corridor crystals. Her worried grow even more with this revelation.

She started to thinking that maybe Nao's bad feeling was not because of her, but because this fight instead. His worries about her maybe just because his love at her make the bad feeling he had directed towards her and something maybe happen towards him instead during the battle today.

Her worries grew even more when she was thinking more and more about it. So this morning, she send him a message that she want to meet him before his depart with the capture group and he tell her that it's fine right away.

"Yuna." A voice called her from the distance, not too loud but she could heard that.

She turn around to the source of the pleasingly familiar voice and could see that him, who she was waiting for was there at an alley way. She ran at him fast and jumped to hug him tightly. He catch her and hugged her too.

"What's wrong?" Nao asked her after seeing her like this. Make him a bit worried that maybe something really happen and considering to postpone the departure.

"Hmm~mmh~" She shook her head while buries her face on his chest.

They remained hugging each other in the silent alley way for a long time with no one said anything. The both of them using each other to relax their worry and anxiety in their heart.

"Nao-kun," Yuna said.

"What? Is something bothering you?" Nao asked her worriedly.

"I just worried about today's subjugation battle. I heard that today's battle would be very tough that make corridor crystal have to be used. You said you has a bad feeling these days, right? You said it was about me, but could it be that it was about you instead? I was very worried that something maybe happen towards you." Yuna said to him.

'I see. So that's why?' Nao understand why Yuna behave like this.

"It's fine. Nothing would happen towards me. Instead, like I said last night, stay in the town and safe area. Don't wander and go around the outer area without me around, okay?" Nao said to her.

"Un!" Yuna nodded simply and hugged him tightly again.

Nao hugged her back and still like that for a while until Yuna said something again.

"Please be safe. Please comes back alive." Yuna said.

"I understand." Nao nodded.

"Promise me then." Yuna said again.

"Promise?" Nao asked her what promise she talking about.

"Un! Promise me that whatever might happens, you must return safely. Promise me that whatever happens, you will survive. Promise me that whatever might happen you won't die." Yuna said while tightened her hug on him.

Nao smiled slightly and nodded as confirmation.

"Un! I promise that I won't die and will come back to you safely." Nao promised her and close his eyes then hugged her softly.

They hugged each other for a very long time until the time for the preparation meeting finally come and they separated.

"I need to go." Nao said while caressed her face softly. She closed her eyes to feel his touch and hold his hand dearly.

She finally opened her eyes after some times and let him go.

"Be careful." She said while reach her hand out and caressed his face.

Nao nodded and smiled warmly at her. He leaned forward and kissed her softly and affectionately. She kissed him too and separated after a while and Nao kissed her again on her forehead before turn around to leave.

She looked at his back and praying for his safety deep inside her heart while looking at the slowly disappeared back.

She still looks at his direction for a long time before finally turn around and join the crowd to look at him before the capture group departure.

"Huh? Eh-kun?" Yuna said looking at the far away crowd, there's her childhood friend too there. But he looks very dejected and didn't wear his KoB uniforms. He's wearing a plain clothes instead in the middle of the crowd waiting for the capture group departure too.

She then decides she'll approach him to ask what happen after this event done.