Timeless [Yuuki Konno X OC]

Chp. 28 - Growing Warmth

[New Aincrad, Floor 22, Kirito's/Asuna's Cabin]

[Yuuki's POV]

It was coming up to 9PM and for a good portion of the afternoon, Malzeno had stuck with me to help me with my assignment. It was taxing, but with his, Yui's, and Asuna's help, it really stuck and I was flying through this compare and contrast coursework. Smiling happily to myself, I bobbed side to side as I stretched. "This really helped a bunch, thanks Kazuki!"

"Anytime, still a ways to go but not far from the end," He copied me, flicking through his menu, then his eyes flashed with surprise. "Ah, crap... dinner..."

"Mm? Go on, with Asuna, Siune, and Nori here I'll manage, really!" I assured him with a thumbs up, sitting back with a sigh. "No one said you had to help me, so take a break, you've earned it,"

Nodding along, he moved down to the Log-Out button. "Yes ma'am, I'll be back in thirty, cee,"

I giggled at his way of saying 'bye'. "Cee~" And in a flash, his avatar was gone, leaving me to flick through my schoolwork before minimizing those tabs to relax too. Sooner this is done, the more time I can psych myself up for the tournament tomorrow. 

According to the sign-up, the prerequisites were how they filtered out the average players from the best to avoid making the event unbalanced. So you had to have over 25 PvP games on record, and had to have won over 80% of them, lastly, at least 100 Hours in-game, meaning only those with genuine experience could participate. That still left a bunch to sift out.

I know myself, Kirito, Asuna, a guy called 'Klein' and Malzeno are participating, but I wonder how we'll be matched? If it's 1V1, which it probably will be, there's a good chance none of us will duke it out before the Final Ten, that would be difficult to achieve...

"Hey, what's with the slate face, Yuuki?" To snap me back to reality was Nori, the Spriggan flopping onto the sofa beside me. 

"Nothing, just thinking..." I answered vaguely, leaning my chin onto the pillow, maybe there's a way to place ourselves at points on the bracket so that we end up competing earlier? No, doubt that, guess we'll just have to tear through the whole event. Either way, it'll be exciting.

"Oh? Anything in particular? A quest? Tomorrow's event? Or maybe someone special?" Nori wiggled her brows as I shot my head toward her.

"Eh? Who?" I asked as she rolled her eyes at me.

"Duh, Mal, who else?" She just stared at me incredulously. 

"'Someone'..." That's about as far as I got before I realized why she was giving me that sly look. It took far less time for the blood in my digital body to flare hotly, and my cheeks started to burn up. "W-w-wait, what!? N-n-no, not like that!"

"Not like what?" My luck got worse, turning, we saw Asuna and Siune walking back from the kitchen with some snacks and tea. Asuna had asked, and I sharply looked to Nori, seeing that stupid grin of hers stretching.