As he held her hand, Asuna informed Kazuto that the park was visible from the cafeteria, and, in response, he let go of her hand and apologized. Kazuto then asked Asuna about her rehabilitation, and she replied that she no longer needed a cane, but was advised not to run. She greeted him as Kirito but he reminded her that it was bad manners to call another person by the names they used in games, and teased her for using her real name in a game, but they laughed when they remembered that the school was specially formed for the survivors of the Sword Art Online incident who were still students, so everybody had to have guessed their identities by now, due to their in-game avatars being replicas of their real life bodies. As one of his classes was now over and it was time for a lunch break, he walked to the park outside the school, where Asuna was waiting for him. Months later, on May 16, 2025, Kazuto was at his new school. Kazuto looked at the window and saw their Sword Art Online (SAO) avatars, who held their hands and left together. They then hugged, kissed and revealed their true names to each other as if they had only just met and fell in love. He came up to her and told her that everything was finished, even the "true final battle" that occurred moments ago. Contemplating everything he had done to him and Asuna, Kazuto was about to kill him for revenge, but ended up sparing him and left the fainted Nobuyuki in the parking lot for the police to arrest him.Īrriving at Asuna's room, Kazuto paused for a moment before a voice encouraged him to continue, and he moved the curtain to find Asuna waiting for him. Kazuto pushed Nobuyuki off him, took the knife, smashed Nobuyuki's head against a car and put the knife to his throat. Nobuyuki then tried stabbing him again, but this time Kazuto grabbed his arm and reversed the situation. Finally deciding to finish him off, he tried to stab Kazuto, but missed, as his right eye was still blurry from Kirito's attack. Kazuto fell on the pavement as an attempt to dodge Nobuyuki's attack, but was then repeatedly kicked by him. He then decided to kill Kazuto to take his revenge on him. Kazuto advised Nobuyuki to turn himself in, but the latter refused, stating that other companies would accept and shelter him due to wanting his work. Nobuyuki was angered that Kazuto not only thwarted his plans, but also caused him immense pain, since if the Pain Absorber level was set to level 3 or below in ALfheim Online (ALO), the pain also affected the person's real life body and Kirito had set it to level 0 during their duel before slicing Oberon into pieces. When he realized that he had been cut and saw blood dripping, he turned around to identify his attacker, Sugou Nobuyuki (Oberon).
As he ran towards the entrance, someone appeared and lacerated Kazuto's right arm. Kirigaya Kazuto continued riding his bicycle to the hospital, but fearing for Yuuki Asuna's safety, he peddled faster and eventually arrived at the parking lot.