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On a chilly autumn evening, people stood in line in front of the opera house, waiting for tonight's show.
Backstage, the actors and other crew members were busy getting ready, buzzing around to make sure everything is going as planned.
In a corner, a couple sat opposite of each other silently. The woman was wearing a beautiful white dress, her long chestnut colored hair pinned up. But despite her kinda exaggerated stage makeup, her face was almost as pale as her clothing, staring on the ground. Her boyfriend, who was dressed in a dark grey suit, looked at her, worried.
It was the first time she was going to play the lead role because her colleague usually casted for it was busy otherwise. Of course she was nervous, even if she usually doesn't suffer from stage fright too much.
When her hands started shaking, the young man immediately took them to calm her down.
The singer raised her head and looked at him with a little smile. It helped a bit, at least.
"Everything will be fine." he said and patted her hand slightly.
"How can you be so sure, Kirito?" Her smile faded again. "Everyone is expecting a great performance by the no. 1 opera singer Quinella and not her substitute, the mediocre understudy Asuna." she retorted and broke their eye contact, focusing on the floor again.
"Mediocre?" the man huffed and lifted one of her hands to peck a little kiss on it, getting her attention back. "You're awesome! I heard you while you were rehearsing these songs so many times! Every time you were sitting on a stone at the lake near to our log cabin, I just couldn't stop listening to it! You even attracted the animals whose AIs weren't programmed to do this, like you are some fairytale princess! It's that beautiful!"
"You're just biased, my love..." she mumbled after a sigh and let go of him.
A woman with a headset and a clipboard approached them and tapped Asuna on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry, but your boyfriend has to go now. We're starting in a few minutes." The crew member gave him a serious look. "And he has to take his seat."
He kissed his girlfriend's hand once more and stood up. "You can do this. I believe in you."
She also raised from her chair, put her hands over her chest and felt the little tear shaped gem hanging around her neck.
It was a necklace which Kirito gave to her after she graduated. But it was more than a simple gift. She always saw it as both the real life representation of their little daughter Yui and the symbol of his never-ending support and encouragement to follow her dreams.
Fortunately, the costume director didn't mind her wearing it during the performance.
"You always believe in me... thank you..." Asuna whispered to herself as he went out the door to his seat.
Then she turned around, took one last look at her reflection in the mirror, and walked towards the stage. Her steps along the wooden floor resounded, and so did her heartbeat. Though that was only in her imagination, as the orchestra had already started playing.
The young woman remembered what he said to her on repeat and tapped lightly on the gem again, which made her hear Yui's voice in her head now too. How lucky she felt having those two always at her side.
And with a confident and determined smile, Asuna finally got to her spot and began with the opening song.
It was about the female protagonist who was a princess going to marry a prince to solidify the peace treaty between their countries. Unfortunately, she loved someone else but selflessly wanted to go through with this arranged marriage for the sake of her people.
During her singing, she faced the audience multiple times. She wasn't sure where Kirito was seated - she forgot to ask due to her anxiety - and couldn't make him out among all these other people sitting in the dimmed auditorium.
But Asuna knew he was there. He always was. And that was enough for now.
When the break started, she immediately rushed onto the chair she sat on earlier and fiddled carefully with her necklace. She was quite satisfied with how the first half went, but was still nervous about the second one.
Especially the last song of the play was not easy... and it meant so much to the young opera singer.
At the end of the story, the wedding was crashed by the princess' true love who found out that her husband-to-be was planning to poison her and her family to restart the war all over again. So the two protagonists fought together and saved everyone endangered. After that, she sang out her love for him. And finally, they got the blessings to marry each other.
It reminded her so much of her and her boyfriend. Them fighting together, thwarting an evil scumbag, and her convincing her mother to let them date...
"Asuna!" a female voice called her, which shook her out of her thoughts, and she felt someone's hand on her shoulder. "You need to get back on stage!"
"O-oh, sorry! I'm ready!"
She immediately stood up and went past several of her colleagues. Taking a deep breath, she stepped towards the spotlights.
So the last act of the night began. And when it came to her singing part, Asuna gave it everything she had.
Complicated melodies, high and low notes, everything considered difficult by experts... It seemed like no problem for her at all. The woman was relieved that the many hours of practice and rehearsals apparently paid off. She put so much passion and dedication into her voice, not at all caring anymore if some of the audience were disappointed that she's not the opera singer they were hoping for.
The people watching were clapping enthusiastically and when it was time for the curtain call, she could even spot someone giving a standing ovation.
"Woo! Asuna!" a familiar male voice cheered pretty loudly, startling the rest of the audience a little.
Of course it was him. Her boyfriend was such a dork, but also so adorable and she loved him more than anyone else. Others would probably be embarrassed by that but she couldn't help herself but put her hands over her heart full of warmth, smile brightly, take a bow, and let small tears of joy sparkle down her cheeks.
After the whole show, the young singer quickly changed from her stage costume into her casual clothes and walked into the foyer where the last people were about to leave.
One single person was waiting there, smirking at the poster with the - in his eyes - wrong lead actress on it, and his face lit up completely as soon as she came in sight.
"Kirito!" she shouted.
Not able to contain herself, she ran to the man dearest to her at high speed, wrapped him tightly in her arms, almost toppling him. And he gladly returned her warm embrace.
"Asuna, you were awesome tonight! I knew you could do it!"
"It was all thanks to you!"
He blinked surprised. "Huh? What do you mean? I didn't do anything besides sitting in the audi-"
Kirito's comment was interrupted by her sealing his lips with hers. She really wanted to kiss him the whole evening and now could finally do that without smearing her stage makeup.
"You're always there for me, supporting and encouraging me..." She caressed his cheek, which made him blush. The two were in a public space right now after all. "During the whole performance I imagined that you were the only one in the audience." Then Asuna pressed her forehead softly against his and closed her eyes. "And most importantly, at the last song I thought of you as my prince. Well, actually I wasn't the character I played as anymore... I was actually myself singing to you. I love you so much and I always will, I just can't describe it. So I hope this song conveyed my feelings properly."
He let out a small gasp of astonishment and his eyes began to sparkle. "A-Asuna..."
She gently took his hand in hers and planted a little kiss on it. The young man tried his best to answer such a declaration, but didn't find the right words to say.
"Kazuto Kirigaya..." she started.
"Y-yeah?" He stopped breathing, almost unable to get something out of his mouth.
"Would you like to become my husband in real life too?"
His face turned red as a tomato, he cautiously slipped his hands out of her grasp, and began to search for something in his vest pocket. Much to her confusion.
Surprised, but also delighted, Asuna put her hands over her mouth and didn't even try to fight back tears about to form in her eyes when she saw what he presented her: a silver ring with a pretty diamond on it, fitting perfectly to her necklace around her neck and to the promise ring he gave her under the stars.
"Y-you know," Kirito said and scratched his left cheek with one finger, "tonight, I wanted to ask you myself."