Yay~ Thanks for the follows and reviews, minna-san! Sorry that I'm not updating for a while because it's the dog days here… It's so hot… -.-

Please read, enjoy and review!

Standard disclaimers apply XD

NINE

Me…?

"Kirigaya-san," Omori said gently, "Please."

"Y-yes, sir…" he murmured awkwardly, standing up as if his chair wouldn't let him do so. His legs felt wobbly, as if they magically turned to jelly. He was breathing rapidly, as his heart was beating in similar pace. He was nervous.

Unconsciously, he looked over his shoulder, searching for some little encouragement. He quickly found light brown eyes, and Asuna's face was beaming at her. The raven haired teen stifled a gulp.

Just when he was starting to calm as if the earth was once again a planet, he heard an impatient 'ahem' in front of the class. Their teacher gestured for him to come forth. The addressed complied, walking like some jelly-man.

"Would you kindly show us your portrait, Kazuto-san?"

Gingerly, he slowly revealed his paper, a messy drawing of Asuna, wearing her usual Knights of the Blood uniform, with an adorable smile. Soon whispers of 'oohs' and 'aahs' echoed the room.

"Hm, that looks wonderful. Would you mind telling us who that is?"

Oh, right. Kazuto thought. I suck at drawing.

Here goes nothing, then. Kazuto took a deep breath, gathering his courage. He was probably the bravest of all in their school; after all, he was the one who had cleared the death game, and thwarted the evil plans of Sugou, who created AlFheim online. There were no large monsters before him- what assaulting him at the moment was pure nervousness. And he had no sword to battle it.

Ah, I can't do this!

The raven haired teen racked his head for someone, who he can use as an excuse. He couldn't say Sachi, he couldn't say Yui, he regretted it that he should've just drawn Yui instead. But there was someone he could say:

"This is… Silica."

"And who is she to you?"

Kazuto practically cursed his meddling teacher before answering. "Well, let's just say that she was the first one who understood me… before-"

No! I'm going to spit it out!

"I see, thank you, Kazuto. You may go back to your seat."

The raven haired teen could only walk back to his desk, and heaved a sigh of relief.

Ugh. Dang, I'm such a coward…

X

Kazuto was sitting quietly in his room, busy doing complicated algebra homework when his phone suddenly ringed. He grabbed his phone and quickly answered the phone.

"Hello, oh, good evening, Yuuki-san."

A husky voice replied at the other end. "Ah, Kazuto-kun., so how was Asuna today?"

"She's doing fine… great, actually. She's been keeping up with our lessons." The former replied with an airy chuckle.

"I see…" the other replied, with a fond laugh. "Can I ask you a favor?"

"Yeah," Kazuto replied immediately. "Sure."

"The doctors said it will take some time, even some years for Asuna to regain her memory…"

Kazuto held back a gasp. Years? Wouldn't that be too long?

"But the recovery time can be sped up if less stress was experienced. So for now, could you please watch over Asuna for me? Little by little, she'll surely remember things, and don't go hysterical like last time if we take it slow. Maybe after a few weeks, she'll start to remember some stuff about what happened to her in SAO."

"I see…" Kazuto mumbled.

"Can I count on you, Kazuto-kun? I know things won't be like before, but surely things will go back to normal." The other said reassuringly, chuckling at the end of his statement.

"OK, you can count on me, Yuuki-san. I'll notify you immediately if something happens, and I'll stay by her side at school and-"

"Kazuto-kun," Asuna's father said gently. "I'm happy that… Asuna met someone like you."

"Ah…" Kazuto said sheepishly, scratching his nape. "Well, I'm happy I met her, too."

"I know it will take some time for her to adjust, but I'm sure she'll get better soon. I know it's still early, but," Asuna's father let out a fond chuckle. "I'm already rooting for you."

Kazuto could only reply with a flustered laugh and shy thanks. Then after exchanging goodbyes, he got back to Algebra.

"Brother," Suguha called from the kitchen. "Dinner's ready!"

"Yeah," Kazuto yelled back, "I'll be there in a minute!"

"Geez, just bring your homework to the table and eat with us!" The former grumbled. Kazuto sighed and picked up his notebook and pen, then he went to the dining room.

At the dining table, he would help himself with some food then he would go back struggling to answer his complicated homework. Our raven haired protagonist frowned in frustration.

Monomials, binomials, trinomials, equalities and inequalities-

His eyebrows creased even more.

I don't get any of this…

He tore out the page of his notebook in frustration and crumpled it, much to his aunt and cousin's amusement.

He flipped the back pages of his notes only to find messy doodles of Asuna's face in it. He laughed.

"Ne, Onii-chan, what are you looking at?"

Kazuto slammed his notebook shut, replying abruptly. "It's nothing!"

-.-

OK, I admit the last part was ridiculous.

Review please, minna-san, review~