>>>>>

After making sure everything is ready, Kaito went out to the concert stage below since he know the party is about to start. As he just arrived behind the stage, Kaito can't help but feel amazed as there are so many players looking very excited around even though the event is just started. The seats were already filled full to the brim-- which is already impressive itself since this place has the capacity to accommodate 5000 audiences. 

...

"Hello, everyone! Welcome to our guild leader's birthday party, and today, me, Uta, your beloved idol singer is going to become the host for the entire party!" (Uta)

""Uta-sama!""

""We love you!""

""We don't care about that jerk! We come for you!""

"Thank you, everyone! I will make sure the event is going to be amazing so stay with me okay?"

*cheers from the audience intensify*

Well, part of the reason why there are so many people attending here is because Uta is appointed as the host of the party. Her identity as a worldwide idol made her more influential than all the rest of the guild members combined, after all.

...

"Ouch, that last comment a bit hurt." Kaito wryly smiled hearing that last comment from the audience.

He knows his image isn't exactly great even though he did everything to fix it thanks to what he did on the first floor a long time ago. Funny enough, his group party members are quite good in the player's opinion, so Kaito could only blame his bad luck for that.

"Kaito-kun"

Noticing someone called him, Kaito turns around and finds Heathcliff who seems also waiting in the off-stage area.

"Heathcliff-san. You are here?"

Heathcliff nodded and offered a handshake, "I am going to participate in a duel with Kirito-san later, so Crocodile-san told me to wait behind the stage." 

Kaito accepted his handshake and replied, "Ah, that makes sense. I am sorry to bother you today, Heathcliff-san

." 

"It's okay. This is also a great chance to spread my influence and the reward I got from this deal is really tempting. While there is a chance my reputation could get hurt if I lost in this duel, I am sure I will be okay." Heathcliff said in confidence.

'Of course, you will be okay, you are a goddamn game master after all' Kaito thought.

"I see. I was afraid you are going to reject our idea but it seems you are okay with it."

"Well... My subordinates also pressured me to accept the deal, so there is also that. The reward was also too good to be ignored" Heathcliff said in a joking tone.

"You are also Uta fans?" 

Heathcliff nodded and excitedly answered, "Who isn't? She is an amazing person. Because her presence alone raised the morale of players and overall happiness." 

"I-I see..."

"In fact, I am genuinely impressed with all DSA guild efforts to make this world a better place. It wouldn't be wrong to call myself everyone DSA guild fan" 

"Uhh..."

"Take a look at Uta-san. It's not exaggerating to say that she singlehandedly made this world a better place---"

After that, Heathcliff continue said his appreciation for the DSA guild nonstop in front of Kaito which made him feel troubled. He really forgets about the strange enthusiastic behavior of Kayaba about their guild but Kaito could understand why he does feel that toward their guild. After all, in his eyes, they are basically doing a great service to make his world great for living. 

'Damn it, it feels weird to have the final antagonist keep praising us! Just about my luck...' Kaito thought depressingly.

...

Fortunately, not long after that Kaito suddenly got called by Uta to give his speech as the guild leader, making it a great excuse to escape from this awkward situation.

"Anyway, everyone! We don't want to waste our time so let's start the party with the opening speech from the main character of this party itself. Our beloved guild leader and strongest player in the world, Kaito!"

"With that said, Kaito, please come on stage quickly!"

""WOOOH!!""

...

"That's my call." Kaito said, 'pretended' to feel sorry, and bowed his head down a bit, "So Heathcliff-san. I will excuse myself."

"Ah... I am sorry too." Heathcliff nodded and replied, "Good luck. I will wait here when you have done"

"Hahaha... thanks." Kaito quickly turns around, waves his hand, and immediately set off toward the stage.

Even though he said, Kaito didn't plan to come back here after giving his speech. He would rather deal with paperwork again than listen to Heathcliff non-stop preach about the DSA guild.

>>>>>

After getting called, Kaito immediately went on the stage as Uta gave the mic to him. Kaito quickly accepted it, and then facing all the players whose attention was directed towards him, he responded with a smile and confidence. Thanks to his experience as the guild leader for more than two years in this world, Kaito is used to carrying out activities in public, is good at winning people's hearts and he is starting to be able to lie well (thanks to politics).

"Etto... Good Afternoon, Everyone. Everyone should already know my name is Kaito, the leader of the DSA guild."

"Honestly, I don't have much to say here. Thank you for being here to celebrate my birthday, even though I am sure 99% of you all here just want to watch Uta's free concert. So, I would keep this short."

""Yeahhh!""

The audiences quickly become very excited after hearing what Kaito said, knowing they don't need to spend a long time listening to his speech. Kaito knows the audience wouldn't like a long boring speech coming from him anyway since their interest is more in Uta's performance, and doing this actually makes them pay attention to him-- which is something he needed at the moment.

"However! Before that, I want to announce something important. My party have found the 75th boss yesterday but we didn't dare to challenge it by ourselves. So, I am here to invite all capable players to help us to raid the boss, since we know it would be a hard fight as in the past, floor boss 25 and 50 was really hard one."

"As the reward, all the clearers who participated will have a free ticket for Uta next big concert as always, plus merchandise that will have Uta's personal signature on it for each person!"

"Ehhh??! I didn't hear this before, Kaito?!"

Hearing what Kaito just said in public, Uta was shocked and confused because she didn't hear this before the event started. Almost everyone in the guild also feels the same and wonders what is his plan, since they know that Kaito never does something without purpose. Meanwhile. Kaito himself was satisfied that people react positively to his invitation and people even begin to yell his name, which mean his reputation become much better than before. As much as Kaito doesn't care about his reputation, it's better for him to complete this group task while having a good reputation after all.

""Woooo!!""

""Long Live Kaito!""

""Long Live DSA!""

...

After confirming his work is done here, Kaito quickly leaves the stage, leaving Uta who was still confused after giving the mic back to her. Next, Kaito plans to go control room to watch the rest of the event (since off-stage was occupied with Heathcliff) but when he opened the door, Half of the chat group already waiting for him, including Aika and his own party.

"Umm... What's up? Why is everyone here? Did we have an emergency meeting?" Kaito asked, pretending to be ignorant.

"There is no way out, Kaito-san. Everyone needs your explanation here." Miya commented while holding her Katana at her waist. Her act made Kaito unconsciously step backward, but then Aika already stood there to prevent him from escaping.

"Don't think to escape, and please be honest, because all of your girls could tell whenever you lied to them."

Knowing that he is outnumbered and there is no way to escape from this situation, Kaito raises his hand in the air to surrender, and then the girls quickly drag him to the room in order to interrogate him right away.

'Just about my luck.' Kaito thought.

...

Renaxan

I will be back on my normal schedule next year. I just need this break in order to sort out all my thoughts and ideas (and heal myself from stress), Sorry!