There were times when Kirito and Asuna just stared at each other’s eyes, not breaking eye contact even for a moment... Bathing in the other’s gaze in silence even though both had lots to say, but at the cost of their feelings...

  The couple somehow knew that if they ever talked about it, then the feelings would not be conveyed fully enough for them to understand one another or even worse, they might even find themselves believing in a false reality that they themselves dug into... Unfortunately, they themselves had personally experienced such an outcome in Kirito’s health, so fools would they be if they had again done the same mistake this time, or will they ever again...

  Now was such a time... They stood just there, without even moving a muscle, as they displayed their five years of trust in the form of an ‘exchange’ unique only to them... It was simply wonderful, how two once lonely people could come a long way through ‘tough times’ and be so attuned with each other, like the two faeries currently facing each other, standing in the courtyard leading up to the entrance to the ‘Word Tree’.

  They were aware that they had been through a lot, that both had lost too many people that they treasured... But most of all, both were aware that they had had to fight and give it their all to come this far, so in some ways, this was not that different from old times... It was still Asuna and Kirito... And it will always be Asuna and Kirito... So long as they had each other, then nothing was impossible. So long as they had each other, then they had the courage to believe in what they were currently oh so dearly wanting to believe in... In this so-called game that they considered as life...

  It was such a scene between the couple that Lady Sakuya ‘walked’ into in a rush as she too was concerned for Kirito and from the bottom of her heart, wanted for him to be in this world where he can have a ‘second chance’ with his sister.

  The moment that she confirmed the presence of the two faeries, she couldn’t hold her tears back as she then launched herself to the couple, pulling both of the now surprised faeries’ heads tightly to her chest, with either of her arms around them as they collapsed, falling flat on the ground as she cried out,

  “Thank god! Hahahaha!” not minding the shocked faces of her aids who were quite flabbergasted seeing their normally stoic ‘leader’ showing such affection to the suffocating ‘kids’ in her arms.

  She was not known for her impulsiveness that was for sure, but it was a well known fact that she really cared for her Sylphs. There were similar thoughts on the minds of the speechless aides as they just watched the strange scene of their Sylph Lady indulging...

  Perhaps this was their real Sakuya-sama...