Kazuto's POV
The first thing I noticed when I woke up was that I was not on the chair, I was on a bed. The sun was shining brightly making me squint my eyes. I was about to get out of bed when I felt something holding my hand. I open my eyes seeing Sorano sleeping next to me. 'Wha-? What's she doing here?!' I thought. I moved some of her hair out of her face. 'She looks so peaceful...' She started to move. I froze. She scooted closer and cuddled me. She let go of my hand so now both her hands were close to her and her head was rubbing my chest. If she was awake she would have seen me blushing. I didn't want to wake her so I decided to go back to sleep. I put one hand under my head and the other pulled her closer to me. After a few minutes, I fell back asleep.

Sorano's POV
I felt warm. Like I was enveloped with sunshine. The bed was very comfortable. When I tried to turn to face the other side, there was something holding me in place. I felt an arm wrapped around me and someone's chest rising and falling. I slowly opened my eyes. I saw a black shirt and I looked up to see Kazuto's face. Instinctively, I pushed him away making him fall of the bed. Thump. I was breathing like I just ran a mile. My cheeks were flushed and I slightly back away from the side of the bed where I pushed Kazuto off. He was rubbing his head and yelled, "OWWW! What was that for?!" He looked at me with an angry face. 'Why did I do that?' Unable to come up with an answer, I asked him a question.

"Why were you hugging me while I was asleep?"

"Because you looked peaceful and I wanted to hug you!"

His eyes widened at what he said. We both were speechless and embarrassed. I looked away. We sat in silence. During this time I remembered the situation we were in. 'We're still trapped in here.' He stands up and exits the room leaving me in the room alone with my thoughts. Not wanting to think about it any further, I started to change into my armor. After equipping all my things I tied the upper half of my  hair into two pig tails and let the rest of my hair cascade down my back.  I unsheathed my sword. The blade was the color of dark silver and reflected the sunlight shining through the window. 'No, I'm not going to use my sword to hurt Kazu- I mean Kirito. Wait... We're in a safe area so if I attacked Kirito his health won't go down and he won't die.'

'Nah. I don't think I should do that. I mean, it was my fault for staying with him. And I think I hurt him just by pushing him off the bed.' Getting rid of my threatening thoughts, I sheathed my sword and opened the door. There was no one outside and the door to the other bedroom was closed. I walked over there and knocked on the door. "H-hallo? Are you in there?" I asked quietly. There was no answer. Only silence. Then I heard footsteps coming towards the door. When he opened the door, I saw he was also in his armor. "Ano... (Umm...) do you want to go out and eat?"

We arrived at the town's cafe and sat in the outdoor seating area. An NPC waiter asked us what we wanted to drink. Kirito answered first. "Can I have a cup of coffee?" He looked at me waiting for my response. "May I have a cup of black tea with lemon and honey?" The waiter nodded and went to the kitchen to make our drinks. Kirito and I were looking at the menu. After we have decided on what we wanted the waiter came back with our drinks. He took our order, which consists of toast, bacon, and eggs and a banana crepe with ice cream, and left. I didn't know what to say to Kirito so I just mixed the honey and lemon into my drink. But it didn't help the awkward silence.

"So... Gomen (Sorry) about this morning," I said, "About pushing you off the bed." I looked up at him. He turned his head and he replied, "It's fine. Gomen for hugging you in your sleep. We good?" I nodded. "Yeah." When the waiter came out with our food we thanked him and ate. After finishing, we headed out to the field to farm (aka kill mobs).

It's been 8 hours and I leveled up to 12. Kirito left the town 6 hours before and headed out to find quests. We added each other in our friend list before he left so we can message each other. I head back to the cafe to eat and distribute my skill points. My meal was angel hair pasta with Alfredo sauce and some water. This was going to be my last taste of fancy food since I'm going to be traveling a lot. I pay the waiter and walk back to the barn. The dog greeted me at the door. I smiled and bent down to pet the dog. It soon walked away to sleep on the hay bales. I slowly walked up the stairs, trying not to make any noise to wake the sleeping animals. Once I reached the top of the stairs, I headed towards the bathroom to freshen up. I unequipped everything and let all my hair down. The bathroom had a large tub in the middle of the room and the walls were covered in vines and flowers. I soaked myself in the tub until the water reached my neck and just sat there relaxing and thinking about what I should do next. In SAO, there's no need to actually bathe or shower so this is just for thinking and relaxing.

I sigh, 'I wonder what Kirito is doing... He must be camping out somewhere or in the middle of a quest.' I sink deeper into the water. Now it's completely covering me from head to toe. 'I should have gone with him instead of staying here. Well, it's my fault for saying that we should go separate ways. We'll meet again someday... I hope.' I stand up and out of the tub and equip my sleeping clothes. I open the door and walk to my room and just completely collapsed on the bed. I quickly fall asleep, missing the warmth of having someone with me.

One month later

2000. That's how many people have died in the past month. During the past month, I leveled up to 16. I bought a new black cloak, armor, and clothes. My armor was a dark gray metal and I wore a white blouse with an indigo short sleeve jacket, black leggings and dark brown mid-calf combat boots. Though, no one can see it under the cloak, which covered most of my face and reached my ankles. My sword was the same and upgraded to +9. I haven't been in contact with Kirito since he left and I was hoping to see him while I was searching for quests. Most of the quests I did were to get EXP and some rare items. I got two anneal blades and I was going to sell them to Argo, an informant, and friend. She knew some people who wanted the sword.

Since the game started, no one has found the first-floor boss. I would look for it, but then people would question how I found it so quickly. I don't have to worry about that now. Today we are having a meeting for the first-floor boss fight. I get up from the bench I was sitting on and head to the amphitheater where the meeting was being held. I sit down towards the back where I see Argo, who is behind a pillar, and someone who I haven't seen for a while sitting a few rows below me. There was also a person in a maroon cloak. It was obviously a girl from her posture and since her cloak is short, her stockings are visible.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

The person near the stage claps to get everyone's attention. He was a middle-aged man with blue hair in knight looking armor. He begins to speak, "Arigatou (Thank you) for responding to my summons today. My name is Diabel. My job is... in my own mind, I like to think I'm a 'knight.'" Everyone starts laughing. A random guy screams, "There's no job system in this game!" Some people began to question the meeting. Diavel smiles and motions everyone to quiet down. His expression becomes serious.

"Today, our party discovered the boss room at the top of the tower."

The crowd is now on the edge of their seats. "We need to defeat the boss, reach the second floor, and tell minna (everyone) waiting in the Town of Beginnings that it's possible to beat this game. And that's the duty of every one of us here right now! Isn't that right, minna?!" The crowd murmurs in agreement, then they all applaud. "Then without further delay, I'd like to get this boss-raid meeting started. First, I want you to team up into parties of six." 'Okay... Wait. What?' "A conventional party has no chance against a floor boss. We'll need to form a raid group using multiple parties."

I scanned the area for a group that I can join. Then I remembered Kirito was here too. I look around for him but he found me first. "Hey. Were you left out? You can join our party." I turn my head towards the voice. I guess he didn't recognize me yet. I nodded my head and he sent me a party invitation, which I accepted. He was surprised at the name that appeared next to his and the girl's, who turned out to be Asuna. I stand up. We were both surprised at the names that were in our peripheral vision.

"You're Selene/Asuna?!" we both yell. I look around in relieve when I saw no one was paying attention to us. I look at the cloaked figure and Kirito looks at me. 'That couldn't possibly be her... can it?' I sit back down. Diavel continues talking. "Are you all done forming parties? Then-" "Hold up a second!" A man with really spiky hair jumps on stage. "My name's Kibaou. There's something thing I wanna before we take on the boss. Some of you here need to apologize to the 2000 who have died so far!" 'Oh no... This isn't gonna end well.'

Diavel steps in, "Kibaou, these people you're referring to... do you mean the ex-beta testers?" "Of course I do! On the day this stupid game started, the beta guys ditched us beginners, and they all disappeared. They took all the good hunting spots-" 'The mobs regenerate baka (idiot).' "and easy quests for themselves-" 'Multiple people can do the same quest.' "so they were the only ones getting stronger-" 'Are you saying you're not strong? He's starting to get on my nerves.' "And since then, they've just ignored the rest of us. There's got to be some of them here! Guys who were beta testers! We should make them get on their knees and apologize, and give up all the items and money they've hoarded. As party members, we can't trust them with our lives, and they can't trust us!" 'Well, obviously?! You are dissing us!' I was about to tell him off when tall African American guy steps up first. I turn to Kirito who has a look of regret. My expression softens, not that anyone can see it. I put my hand on his. They were in fists and trembling. I left my hand there to keep him from shaking. I turned to pay attention to the tall guy, named Agil, speaking. He was holding up a guidebook written by ex-beta testers, including me. I did the section on the first-floor boss. "Minna had equal access to this information. And yet, many players still died. What to learn from those failures, and how to try to defeat the boss... That's what I thought we'd be discussing here." After hearing his words, I felt Kirito stop shaking. Kibaou was angry and sat back down. Agil also sat down.

Diavel continued, "Okay, can we resume the meeting now?" Everyone nodded. "As for the information on the boss... Actually, the latest issue of the guidebook was just issued." I stood up and turned to leave the meeting. I didn't need to hear information that I put in the guidebooks. Since everyone was paying attention to Diavel, no one saw me leave. Maybe I should have stayed to hear when we were going to meet, but Kirito will just tell me later.

Later that night, I took out some bread and cream and ate it for dinner. I haven't had anything as good as the food I had with Kirito but this is okay. I was sitting on the floor while leaning on a planter. I heard footsteps come my way. I saw the cloaked figure from earlier. Asuna. I stood up I walked towards her. She was eating some stale bread. "Hey," I said. She didn't reply. "You're Asuna, aren't you?" She stopped eating. And looked at me. "Who are you?" I took off my hood and when she saw my face she was surprised. "S-Sorano?!" I used my hand to cover her mouth. "It's Selene in game, but yes it's me." I took my hand off and hugged her.

Asuna and I were friends because of my work and our dad's work. Her dad was the CEO of RECT Inc., which was developing a new game for the full-dive system. I was one of the GMs and designers for the game. He also helped with SAO. He was trying to learn how the full-dive system works. My dad worked for me and I taught them both the ways of the NerveGear. I didn't create the NerveGear or SAO, but I did most of the designs for the floors and mobs. I was the person that used many myths and legends to create the monsters. And now they are killing innocent people.

I started to tear up. "Asuna... What did I do? I made the monsters. I made the monsters killing the players." She hugged me back. "No, you didn't know this was gonna happen. It's not your fault." I kept crying until I couldn't anymore. The sky turned dark and the lamps are now lit. Asuna goes back to eating her stale bread. I was about to offer her some of the cream I had when someone sat down next to her. "Mind if I sit down?" Kirito asked. She scooted closer to me and away from Kirito. He took out a piece of bread. She asks him, "Does it really taste good?" He takes a bite, "Of course. Ever since coming to this town, I've been eating one daily. I do change it up a little though." And he takes out a pot of cream. "Try some on your bread." Asuna and Kirito tap the top of the jar and light shines on the tips of there pointer fingers like E.T. They spread the light on top. "Creme?" Asuna looks at it then takes a small bite. She stops. Then she eats the whole piece in very fast bites. "It's the reward for a quest called 'The Heifer Strikes Back,' one village behind us. If you want to do it, I'll tell you the trick," Kirito says.

"Are you just trying to show off your knowledge?" I question him. "No! I'm not. Wait, Sor- Selene?! You're here too?!" Now I'm angry. "I've been sitting here before you started flirting with her. How did you not notice me?!" "G-Gomenasai." He replies with a scared face. "Okay. As long as you don't do that again." I hear laughing. We both look at Asuna. She's laughing. I laugh with her. Soon we were all laughing for no reason.

I wiped a tear. "Okay. What time are we supposed to meet tomorrow?" I asked. Asuna quickly answered, "10 o'clock." I nodded and waved. I head towards the inn where I was staying. I change out of my armor and into my sleeping clothes. I climb into bed and sleep. 'Tomorrow is going to be an eventful day.'