The night seemed to strangle the naughty child before pulling its nightgown and falling back asleep.
As the two locked eyes, the world seemed to die, even the background music falling silent, freezing with the air.
Facing Asuna, whose face had turned to stone, Yuu thought for a moment before taking the initiative to break the awkward silence.
"Nice song. Why not keep going? Pretend I'm not here."
"…"
Standing frozen in place, time stopped for a few seconds before Asuna snapped out of it. Then, she slowly raised her trembling hand, gripping the hilt of the sword at her waist tightly.
A violent, demonic aura erupted from her body, her eyes devoid of light.
"Hahahahaha… Looks like I need to beat you into amnesia and destroy your gaming headset before I can sleep soundly tonight."
Her broken laughter made the darkness colder. As she drew her rapier, its cold gleam reflected the warm yellow streetlights and her flushed, furious face, burning with embarrassment.
"Eavesdropping on a girl's singing is a grave crime. Don't resist—let me take your memories nicely!"
Her rough, resigned shout tore through the silence. Before she finished, a meteor shot across the street, briefly lighting the night, its trail vanishing like fireworks.
Yuu didn't dodge, letting the rapier stab at his forehead, looking at her with a face full of resignation.
"This is a safe zone in the city—you can't attack people… Even if you could, this is a virtual world. How would you beat me into amnesia?"
"Ugh…"
Her expression froze, and she bit her pink lips hard. Asuna glared at him with teary eyes, her rapier halting at his brow, trembling slightly.
Finally, the rapier dropped. She collapsed to her knees, burying her face between them, letting out a small, embarrassed whimper from her throat: "Ahhhh, just kill me~~"
Yuu couldn't help but massage his forehead.
"Overreacting much? It was just hearing you sing. You're not some knightly maiden who—"
He stopped short of the last part, avoiding any accusation of sexual harassment.
Thinking this, he took a moment to check the system and noticed she'd quietly changed the mission description.
(Alright, let's see what I have to do this time…)
[Description: Mission has started.]
[Become Yuuki Asuna's online boyfriend and fulfill her wishes. Rewards will be given based on the host's performance.]
[Mission end time: Unknown.]
[Mission Guidelines:]
[1. In this mission, the host's gaming experience will be fully synchronized with reality.]
[2. Injuries and death in the virtual body won't affect the real body, but pain will linger in consciousness. It's recommended the host avoid dying in-game as much as possible.]
[3…]
Yuu: "…"
More than just shock and confusion, an indescribable dark feeling surged, filling his chest. If the system had a physical form, Yuu would've slammed it to the ground, stomped on it, and cursed:
"System, I'm playing dirty!"
"Whatever, it's not like I was singing anything weird. If you heard it, so be it."
Singing wasn't a big deal. If a guy saw Asuna kicking water and dancing by an artificial lake, that would be a serious problem, unsolvable unless she dragged him down with her!
Finding an excuse to brush it off, Asuna fanned her still-flushed, hot face in the imaginary world, quickly regaining her energy and returning to her vibrant, carefree demeanor.
She looked at Yuu, about to move past the issue and bring up something else, but her expression turned odd: "Yuu-kun, what's wrong? Why do you look like you want to slash this game with a sword?"
"Because I do want to slash this game—and the system too."
Saying it triggered no warning, perhaps because it was taken as a reference to the—
Yuu sighed heavily, rubbing his displeased face, barely controlled even with perfect acting skills. He noticed his sense of touch felt more real, the slight disconnect from before gone.
Trying hard not to let his mood worsen, he said resignedly to Asuna, who seemed to wonder if she'd accidentally upset him: "What a coincidence, meeting here."
"Ah… Yeah, true." Asuna paused, then nodded. "The friend list shows if someone's online, right? When I logged in, I saw you weren't, and I wondered how I'd find you if our login times didn't match…"
She trailed off, scratching her cheek awkwardly and chuckling: "Then I got too into hunting Orcs, forgot about it, and kept playing until now…"
"Nice, looks like you're used to this game."
Replying casually, Yuu opened the menu, setting the friend window to be visible to others, then waved at her.
"Didn't I send you a sword skill bug guide before? Just use the same method… See, this is the private message function for friends. If you need to find me but I'm offline, just send me a message…"
Asuna stepped closer, listening attentively to his explanation.
Her clear, bright eyes focused on the window, the fresh scent of her hair and her soft presence drawing near.
"Hee… Oh, like that. Got it, I think."
She nodded intently, opened her own menu, tapped quickly a few times, then turned to look at him.
*DING-DONG!*
Almost simultaneously, Yuu heard a notification. He opened the message:
"Still level five." Yuu closed the window, turned, and smiled at Asuna, whose eyes widened in surprise. "I only played once the day we met. After that, I was busy and didn't touch the game."
"Today, I logged in out of boredom. Didn't expect to run into you just minutes after wandering the city… That's why I said it's such a coincidence."
Not just the meeting spot, even their login dates aligned. If Asuna hadn't logged in about an hour earlier, she'd probably be more surprised now.
"…I see. So we're at roughly the same level now."
Asuna muttered, her beautiful orange eyes slowly gleaming with a fiery fighting spirit.
*CRACK!*
With one hand on her sword hilt, Asuna stood tall, tilting her head slightly, smirking with a raised brow.
"How about it? Wanna try again?"
"This time, I'm sure I can beat you!"