Y/n's POV

"So you P/n do you have a new report?" Heathcliff pushed a pile of other documents out of the way. "Damn paper, why can't they just send a digital copy?" He sighed rhetorically.

I sent him the report from the other day. "Do you lot have a bathroom around here," I tapped my foot ignoring the urge to pee. "Last time I was here you offered me a few of those car dealership cookies, sure they sucked but at least I felt welcome."

He pointed outside of the chamber. "Bathroom? Yes. Right down the hall-"

"Thanks!" I rushed out of the room waving.

'Gotta go! Gotta go!' I shoved people out of my way until finally reaching the bathroom. I shoulder checked the door and looked at all the stalls and urinal, they were full.

I went to a nearby stall, knocking at first. "Occupied." A dry voice muttered.

I looked around frantically. 'Do these people pee rivers?! God damn I need to GO!' I kicked down the stall door in front of me. "Sorry! Get the fuck up! I gotta go!" I ripped him off the toilet and unequipped my pants.

"A-Ahhh!" The relief washed over me as I let go of the long stream. The man, just standing there, equipping all his clothing, excluding pants, his brown hair. His index finger twitched every few seconds.

When I was done I equipped my pants. "Man haven't shot it out like that since-"

"EXCUSE ME!" I turned around.

"Yeah man? What's up?" I nodded to him.

"Get out of here it's STAFF ONLY!" He jabbed his finger at me.

I felt a respect for him that he felt so secure about his package that he just left it out. He kept jabbing a finger at me.  I couldn't pay attention due to my eyes focusing on the tiled wall.

"It goes against regulation 6 in the employee handbook section 3 article 4." He opened his menu to put his pants back on. "Damnit you made me late for a meeting." He squinted at me. "Do I know you?"

I squinted back at him. "Do I know you?" I retorted. He was a bit taller but only a few inches.

He gave a long sigh. Afterward he finally unlocked the door. I walked out but so did. "Excuse me sir." He coughed.

"Oh yeah." I giggled. "Ladies first." I bowed as he walked off to the sink. I took the spot next to him.  I moved my head all around as he dried his hands. "You do look familiar. What's your last name? I know I've seen you somewhere."

He said nothing and walked out. I followed after him. His stride, his face, his slight twitch with his right index finger, even when unbothered. He got a good distance away and turned where I was heading.

Asuna POV

"Do excuse me commander I am sincerely sorry I was in the bathroom." Kazuma bowed to the commander. He then turned to me. "And I am sincerely sorry to you too Vice-Commander. I promise-"

"I know you! Your from my high school! Your in the club I was in! Man who knew I'd share a stall with a fellow kendo fan!" Y/n slide in taking a chair and sitting down near me.

He looked at all of the elders. They were not pleased, so wasn't Kazuma. He turned red from embarrassment. "S-Sharing a stall is not AND was not my idea." He looked around and pointed towards Y/n. "He kicked down the door and hip checked me off." We all looked at Y/n who tried to look serious.

"Hmm very interesting accusation, do you have proof?" Y/n raised an eyebrow.

Kazuma sighed into his hand. "Idiot... I am sorry should we kick him out?" He walked over to the commander and I. We looked to each other.

"No P/n is very essential to this committee. Actually you can sit right next to him." Heathcliff offered him a seat next to Y/n.

"B-But but b-but." He protested but Heathcliff just pointed at the seat. Kazuma frowned as he walked to the chair. Y/n saw him offering him a fist to bump which Kazuma completely ignored.

Your POV

I saw "Kazuma" sit right next to me. "Alright first order of business. You want my reports? I got them freshly typed just like you like. Now this would be the tenth, I rushed out to go to the bathroom before I could give the last one to you." I slid the commander the file which he tapped on.

"Asuna." He motioned for Asuna to read the report with him. From their faces they are both  equally shocked. I just sat there itching the underside of my nose-upper lip section. "P/n you've brought more than enough." The commander closed the screen. "Now..."

'What are you thinking? Do you still want me off?' I looked over at Asuna who avoided my gaze.

Flashback (Last Night)

*Huff* *huff* *urkk*

I grabbed my left leg in pain as I limped as fast as I could to Asuna's safe house on floor 4. We've been doing this "operation" for a few months at this point. It is now December 22nd, the "happiest time of the year".

My left eye was shut due to the cuts around it and the slight swelling. I limped and felt the hole through my leg. "Pain reduction my ass, Kayaba you really blow." I felt another slight pulse of pain after I cursed to the "God".

I knocked with my bad foot lightly. No answer. I knocked with my head. Immortal Object. I knocked with my hand. Finally there was a turn of the doorknob.

The door cracked open. I saw her golden brown eyes. As soon as her eyes saw me the door flew open. "Well a little late for dinner why are you-" she saw my cuts and the hole in my leg. "Never mind." I braced myself against her.

"What happened patchy?" She sat me down and kneeled in front of me. I laughed and collapsed forward. "No no not the time for a nap, in a few minutes." She whispered.

"I was ambushed by a party of players. They were heading to the summit. Project Coffin ya know?" I laughed some more as she held up a healing crystal.

"Heal."

I felt a 2nd wind get knocked into me. "Thanks." I sighed. Laying down on the soft couch. The hole in my leg was closed and healed. My eye was still shut tightly.

"They were clever bastards that's for sure. They know how to close the eye temporarily. I think it is pin point paralysis." I was about to explain when I looked over at Asuna. "Don't cry. I'm alive." I swiped the tear away.

She didn't say anything, she only went up onto the couch laying down close to me. "Don't die." She buried her head in my neck. "I can't loose another person." I took my arm and reassuringly pulled her closer.

"I'm with you till the end. After all I have to see my family again and my friends. My grandfather is probably sitting by me right now." I whispered to her.

Asuna looked up from her position. "I won't leave anytime soon either." She stuffed her head back into my neck. "After all you wouldn't survive without me." She teased.

I closed my eyes. "Yeah." I drifted off. "Your right." I went off to asleep.

Present Day

Still Your POV

"We've put you through a lot haven't we P/n. Please accept our apologies." The commander opened his menu once again. "Here's your payment, it'll be in your inventory later on this evening."

I nodded at them. "Well if that's all then should I leave?" I pointed to the door.

"No stay, this includes you too." Asuna walked over to me. "Please just sit down." She whispered, pleading with me.

I nodded, as I sat back down "Kazuma" looked over at me with a side glance. He was frowning, looking conflicted.

"Anyway, elders, Kazuma, P/n, we are at war." Heathcliff opened a large screen overlooking all the deaths. "We've lost 3,565 players in just a year. That is partly our fault as the largest guild in the game. When the players need help it should've been our responsibility. I think that we should go after each dark guild in this game one by one. With our military power we should stop the spread now." He explained.

He switched over to a new screen. "All the known dark guilds are high level, the largest is Titan's Hand followed by Demon's Strength. The two biggest player-killers however are," he looked at the screen. "PoH and Selim, a deadly two man team that is never apart. Rumor has it that they were in charge of the summit last night. We believe from P/n's information that they are creating a guild larger than anything we've seen." He closed the screen.

I raised my hand. "May I speak?" I request, Heathcliff nodded. "Why just your military power? There are guilds out there that are smaller but their players are a better range of levels due to the lower split in loot collection. The only one I feel confident in sending off is you and your second. I have friends who are almost half better than the next person in this guild. Also, I know you hate them but the Holy Dragon Alliance and Fuurinkazan got some of the best players in the game. I say we have a summit of our own." I looked around the room and they seem to agree with me.

"Only one question, we all hate each other. Who's gonna mediate the political situation?" Asuna inquired.

I gulped. "I will meditate because I'm not bias." They all seemed to have some sort of protest and they turned to an uproar but Heathcliff put up his hand.

"Fine where do we meet, when do we meet?" He inquired.

I smirked and opened my menu schedule, pointing to a date. "Christmas Eve of course." I then got out a Santa hat from my inventory. "What's the most happy time of the year going to do besides bring joy?" I rhetorically asked.

They seemed to open their schedules. They all had no plans besides the Christmas party that is hosted on floor 35. "My friends getting married the next day anyway, guys a real loner so his fiancé should be able to cheer him a bit. He's in by the way, him and the guild he belongs to." I ranted as they all put the summit down in their schedules.

Heathcliff finished plugging the date in. "Where then?"

I thought back to each floor. "Floor 20, the wedding hall,"

"Not your friends wedding! He means the summit." Kazuma glared at me.

"If you'd let me finish I would've told you... Kazu." I continued. "Floor 20 has the wedding hall, yes, but it also has a council hall where meetings can take place. The summit will take place there. Next to the wedding hall." I explained, they seemed to all be in agreement.

Kazuma spoke again. "You seem to know a lot about wedding halls, don't tell me someone married you P/n?" He spat smugly.

I shook my head. "No they just let me think about what it could've been like. No one would marry someone like me." I laughed. I nodded at them all. Then to Heathcliff.

"I need your 2nd for a while by the way. We've gotta spread the word." I walked over to Heathcliff, almost pleading. "Besides I'm hungry and she makes a killer breakfast you know?" I explained.

Heathcliff looked at the clock. "P/n it's 11:45."

I shrugged. "Brunch is better." I laughed.

He chuckled. "Meeting abjured."

I walked out equipping my sword. Asuna quickly followed after me. "I had 2 more meetings to go to, how did you get me out of them?"  I shrugged.

"He owes me. Big time." I replied causally. I turned my attention to her. "So do you." I smirked.

She nodded in agreement. We traveled out of the hideout on the 30th floor. It was all silence, there was tension as well. When something gets awkward she just stays silent or wait for me to start a conversation. I kept double checking the road, then her, the road, then her. She seemed to notice but not say a thing.

"So do you want to get breakfast? No, sorry, I mean brunch." I pointed to a small tavern ahead.

"That would be nice." She nodded.

The tavern wasn't crowded. The only few that were there were the drunks that stayed the night before. We sat in the far corner from the door, we are celebrities around some parts due to our statuses in game.

"I'm sorry we dragged you into this, it was only supposed to be me. It seems that I have a knack for bringing people close to me into shitty situations. Please for give me, Asuna." I bowed to her at the table.

"Don't worry about it, what are friends for?" She smiled. I tried to nod but I only hit my head on the table more. She just giggled.

The waiter came up to us. "Orders?"

"Just some hot coffee for me. Please don't make it scorching. No sugar either. I will take whatever you give me." Asuna read the menu as she ordered.

The waiter turned to me. I read the menu. "Whatever your finest alcoholic beverage is. Same as her, give me whatever doesn't matter." He wrote it all down.

"Please show me your identification to verify that you are 20 or older." He replied to my order.

"Pfft IDs, come on... I'm from Hawaii, I'm uh, McLovin!" I stated trying to feel for an ID.

Asuna frowned at me and leaned into whisper in the waiter's ear. "He'll take a coffee, load up the cream. He's a little young." She mused.

The waiter nodded and walked off. I tired to protest but Asuna kicked my shin and glared at me. I started to sweat.

'Don't stab me with a spork... I just wanted a drink.' I thought looking around for eye witnesses... there were none.

"Anyway, back to business. The summit. Why do you know where the Wedding Hall is? There's only rumored to be 2 in the game. Did you go there for someone else." Asuna avoided my eyes.

I shrugged. "No I that's where I got my rings renamed, you know," I placed my hand on the table. "Hina, Ducker, and finally Jolt who is with Hiro." The black, red, and clear rings shined. I smirked at her. "I thought you said "back to business"."

She got flustered. "R-Right, anyway... why Christmas Eve? Are you planning a party or something?" She laughed at her own joke but then saw my face. "Your not serious are you? Why not just you, Hiro, Eve, and I? Why everyone else?" She questioned.

I shrugged again. "Why not sever the war between guilds and take out a common enemy? We have a good chance of being figured out sooner rather than later, the safe house that is." I got up in front of her. "I don't want you to die, nor Hiro, Kirito, Sachi, Heathcliff, heck even Kazuma. I just want to do something about the hell we live in." I replied smiling down at her.

She nodded at me, grabbing my hand. "If you want me to live, then you will have to protect me from now on." She sat me down next to her. "Don't worry partner I'll protect you too." She rested her head on my shoulder. "I will help you with all this hate. Together." I put an arm around her again just like last night.

Our food and drinks came out and we quickly dug into the "westernized" sandwich. She got a napkin and wiped the corner of my mouth. I caught her hand and held it tightly.

I rested my forehead against hers. She looked into my eyes nuzzling my nose softly. "Merry Christmas Eve Eve, Y/n." She whispered softly.

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

(A/N: This was Not Proofread)

A/N: Holy shit January sucks... I'm sorry everyone January is my busiest month. It's my birth month, I had midterms, and I had my license exam and all the preparations. It's been such a hectic month I'm so sorry. I'll try to get another chapter out ASAP. please don't criticize this chapter I wrote it all in the last two nights into the afternoon. Again SO sorry please forgive me.