Sword Art Online: INCURSION

Episode 4: Arrival of Despair

The following noon was not as joyous as Asuna and Kazuto would have liked it to be, in fact it was the exact opposite. It was just an endless stream of despair and anxiety, them both now knowing that 'he' is close by and is going to be paying them a visit here soon enough.

Asuna, with her eyes fixed on the notebook paper she is writing the words her professor on her computer screen is saying at a pretty fast pace given his age, though despite this, she just cannot not shake that feeling as she is only able to know that he is coming by soon enough for goodness knows what reason. It plays at her conscious ceaselessly.

'Damn you, why... Why does it have to be this way...? Why does this all have to be happening now, after we finally were able to settle down...? Can I get a break? Did we HAVE to have this happen to us? Do we HAVE to be subjected to this constant torment?'

That sobering moment replayed in her conscious over and over again, when Kazuto had told her of some damning news that if her life hasn't yet turned upside down before, it sure as heck is now...

⭐️~~~⭐️

"Asuna, he texted me..."

"You mean...?"

His eyes are laced with a certain seriousness she rarely saw in him, mostly in the prelude to life or death situations... No, such a look in him was reserved for things that were immensely personal. Such as someone they don't like barging back into their lives...
Her hands stopped manipulating the knife that she guided into chopping the celery laid out on the cutting board, as her blank expression becomes accompanied by a now agape mouth. Asuna cannot help but stare at Kazuto, albeit absentmindedly to herself doing so, those words of his visibly sinking into her consciousness. All the while, Yui continued comfortably sitting on Asuna's shoulder, munching on a digital cracker, and now looking up at Kazuto with a look of indifference.
They understood well that while this man is no direct threat to their lives, the same cannot be said to their way of life, nor his knack for pulling them into threatening circumstances that they don't want to be a part of anymore, and Asuna thinks to herself...

'It... Can't be... This is way too soon... I figured he'd be here in the day or two, not...'

"And... you're... you're sure...? You're not...-?"

"Asuna."

His words are abrupt and stern, reflecting the sense of seriousness glimmering in his eyes, spoken in a way she's never really observed from him before. Yet... she understood perfectly what he was really telling her...

Seeking confirmation, Asuna quickly looks down to Yui with a subtle look of fear in her eyes, almost wishing for this to be false, yet she is met with Yui only giving her soft, saddened eyes that only confirmed what Kazuto had told her.

Asuna takes a deep breath, and looks down onto the celery again, where she quietly and decisively says to them both "Okay."

⭐️~~~⭐️

That was what Kazuto had told her earlier in the day, before she took Aka to school. It was an unsettling feeling all throughout it, and even beyond, needles to say. She was still feeling that anxiety that consumes her mind, trying so desperately to not focus on his inevitable arrival. Yet it was so strong and powerful, she couldn't not focus on it, despite her best efforts.

With Yui still on her shoulder and nomming on another cracker, Asuna's focused eyes stays on the notebook paper that she writes notes from her textbook stuff on her computer screen onto, but the same cannot be said for her mind, as eve m rything her professor says just goes in one ear and out the other, in favor of the circumstances they are in now.