Asuna awoke to the sound of Ryuto's voice. Blinking away the haze, she saw him sitting cross-legged in front of her, a small loaf of fresh white bread in his hand.
The warm aroma of wheat drifted into her nose, and her mouth watered before she could stop herself.
Over the past few days, all the Col she had painstakingly earned had gone toward healing potions and weapons. For food, she could only afford the cheapest black bread—hard as stone, bitter as ash, and nearly impossible to swallow. But she had forced herself to endure it. In a death game, survival mattered more than taste.
Without thinking, she accepted the bread Ryuto offered. His expression held none of the fear so many players wore; instead, his eyes seemed open, almost unguarded—like a clear window into his soul. And through that window, Asuna thought she caught a glimpse of something she hadn't felt in a long time: joy.
She lowered herself to sit across from him and asked quietly,
"…Why?"
Ryuto tilted his head. "Why what?"
Beneath her hood, half her face was hidden in shadow, but Ryuto caught the soft lines of her jaw, the faint purse of her lips. He couldn't see her eyes, but he could imagine the conflict there. Even if she'd gathered the courage to face death, that didn't mean the fear had vanished.
He understood. His reply was gentle.
"Because I'm alive. I live because I'm alive."
Asuna blinked. "…Live because you're alive?"
It sounded contradictory, almost absurd. But before she could press him, Ryuto continued.
"For me, living doesn't need a grand reason. You don't have to live for something—family, love, achievement—just… to live. That's enough. It's simple, maybe even a little baffling, but it's one of the most important truths I've learned."
He looked up toward the endless blue sky of Aincrad.
"Fate or will, life or death, reason or emotion—none of it matters when you ask, 'Why do people live?' People like to dress it up with excuses: marriage, career, dreams. But maybe life is simply about experiencing it all—joy and sorrow, gains and losses, the whole journey from birth to old age. To see, to think, to love, to hate… that's what separates the living from the dead. As for what comes after death—" he gave a faint shrug, "—that's not for the living to worry about."
His gaze returned to her, steady and warm.
"So live well. Be kinder to yourself. Even if this is a game, we're alive inside it. For us, this is a world—the real world."
Asuna's breath caught. She had always told herself this was just a game… a game of death she needed to escape. She had never considered truly living here.
Her mind drifted to her life before all this. Her mother's strict control had charted every step of her path. She'd been little more than a marionette, dancing on strings. When she'd secretly taken her brother's NerveGear to try the game from the commercial that promised a "real world," she'd been chasing something she'd never felt before—freedom. The chance to feel alive.
Silence fell.
Ryuto waited, uneasy. In the anime, Asuna had always seemed so strong. But here, in the early days of Aincrad, he could see the tangled mix of pain, fear, and uncertainty she carried. He hoped his words might shake her free of it.
At last, Asuna's shoulders relaxed.
"…Thank you, Ryuto-kun."
Ryuto scratched his head, a sheepish smile tugging at his lips. That was a start. But words alone wouldn't be enough—he'd have to show her. The road to the Mines of Valleys was full of breathtaking sights. If she saw them for herself, maybe she'd understand what it meant to live.
"Here—try this. Bread's better with cream."
He handed her a small glass jar and showed her how to use it. Asuna tapped the lid, activating the cooking skill, and spread the sweet cream over the soft white bread. The first bite made her pause… then she devoured the rest with surprising speed. Predictably, she choked, coughing and patting her chest.
"Here."
Ryuto had already set out a glass of water. She took it quickly, the cool liquid washing the bread down. A small burp escaped before she could stop it, and she clapped a hand over her mouth, cheeks flushed.
Ryuto chuckled softly. This is the real Asuna—someone I can see, hear, touch… someone alive.
"Sorry, Kirito," he murmured under his breath. "There's nothing underhanded about love."
After a brief rest, Ryuto rose to his feet.
"All right. Break's over—let's move."
Asuna stood, dusting herself off, her hand brushing the hilt of her rapier. She inhaled deeply. "Mm."
Ryuto opened his map, picked a location, and smiled. "Let's go."
Light swirled in his palm, condensing into a long spear. Ahead, a tree spirit had spawned right in their path.
Ryuto grinned.
"Heaven offers you a path, but you ignore it. Hell has no door—yet you barge right in."
Sonic Leap
Like a streak of light cutting through the forest, Ryuto shot forward, spear in hand, closing the gap to the nearest treant. Asuna followed close behind, her cloak fluttering with each stride.
The treant reacted instantly, lashing out with two thick vines. Ryuto caught them in his free hand, twisting his body to pull the creature off balance. In the same motion, his spear dissolved into shards of light, replaced in a flash by a longsword. He slipped around to the monster's blind spot.
Behind him, Asuna's rapier flared with the telltale glow of an activated sword skill.
Parallel Stab – Two-Hit Combo.
At the same moment, Ryuto's sword lit up as he shifted into a clean horizontal strike.
Slant – Single-Hit Basic Skill.
Their attacks landed almost simultaneously—rapier thrusts and a slicing arc of steel—tearing through the treant's HP in an instant. It dissolved into a stream of blue polygons before either of them could even disengage.
Their eyes met for a brief moment. No words, just matching smiles—the silent understanding of players moving in perfect sync. Without breaking stride, they sheathed their weapons and continued deeper into the forest.
Five hours later, at the forest's edge—
"Good chance, Asuna! Switch!"
Ryuto's spear had wound itself around one of the treant's vines, locking both him and the monster in place. The treant's other vine was tangled around Ryuto's sword arm, leaving neither able to move.
Hearing his call, Asuna pivoted, spotted the immobilized monster, and sprang backward to open the distance. Her rapier flashed to life once more.
Meteor Break.
She launched forward like a comet, the trailing light effect carving through the shadows. Her blade pierced the treant's core, shattering it into a burst of blue fragments.
But the second treant—the one Asuna had been dueling before—roared in digital fury. A thick vine lashed toward her like a whip. Her HP was already dangerously low from their earlier exchange; if the strike landed, it would be an instant kill.
Ryuto's pupils contracted sharply. Time seemed to slow.
Before he even thought, he was moving—lunging forward, wrapping an arm around Asuna's waist, and using the momentum to hurl them both out of range. They hit the ground hard, tumbling several times before coming to a stop.
Asuna quickly pulled free of his hold and looked at his HP bar. The long white gauge had been slashed almost entirely red, leaving only the smallest sliver of health. Her eyes trembled, and her voice broke into a whisper.
"…Idiot. Big idiot."
She yanked a healing potion from her inventory and shoved it at him. Ryuto, still grinning through the pain, tried to brush it off.
"Okay, okay… see? I'm fine."
But Asuna didn't answer. Her gaze turned toward the treant that had attacked, her voice low and cold.
"…Unforgivable. Unforgivable."
She surged forward, rapier blazing.