"Alright then, Seiya-ge, close your eyes. I need to get my clothes on."
Seiya couldn't tell if it was his imagination, but he felt that Suguha wasn't as happy as he had expected her to be when he said he hadn't seen anything. Did she not believe him? To preserve his integrity in her eyes, Seiya obediently closed his eyes this time. If he didn't, he would have gotten another eyeful when she stood up.
Seeing Seiya close his eyes and show no signs of peeking, Suguha felt a mix of emotions. She was happy that Seiya was still trustworthy, but as a man, his ability to remain so calm in that situation made her wonder if she wasn't attractive enough. Her classmates always told her she was well-endowed and charming to guys during gym class. Could it be that Seiya-ge preferred a more petite type? If that was the case, what should she do? It was possible to go from small to big, but how could she go from big to small?
"Suguha, are you done yet?" Seiya's voice interrupted her train of thought.
Suguha, realizing her mind had been wandering, replied awkwardly, "You can open your eyes now, Seiya-ge."
Seiya opened his eyes and saw Suguha's flushed face. He didn't question her odd behavior and instead began to examine himself. He should have done this the moment he woke up, but the first thing he saw was so shocking that it completely threw him off. He took off the medical equipment attached to him and checked his pulse. The feeling of being truly alive was captivating.
Most players who were trapped in SAO for two years were bedridden and had become skinny, but Seiya's body was different due to the power-sharing from his other selves. His physical condition was far from normal. Although he was a bit thin, he wasn't as gaunt as Kirito. After being inactive for so long, he felt incredibly hungry, but his physical fitness was far superior to when he first entered the game.
Suguha was surprised to see Seiya, who was only wearing a pair of shorts, get off the bed on his own. She had seen her brother earlier that day, who had also been lying in bed for two years, and he needed help just to sit up. Seiya, on the other hand, could already walk on his own. Suguha couldn't understand how a person who had been bedridden for two years could have such well-defined muscles.
Suguha's face was flushed as she secretly glanced at Seiya's eight-pack abs. She then remembered something and said, "Seiya-ge, you must be hungry. I'll go make some porridge."
Without giving Seiya a chance to refuse, Suguha hurried downstairs. She felt she couldn't stay in the room any longer, as she didn't know where to look.
Seiya was calm as he watched Suguha panic and run out of the room. He didn't reject her offer. He was indeed hungry, and he also wanted some alone time to verify something.
"Shikigami Summon: Azure Dragon—Golden Dragon!"
A light appeared in Seiya's room, and as a ritual array began to form, he quickly cut off the spiritual energy output.
"This is amazing! I thought I couldn't use supernatural powers from other worlds in the real world, but it seems I was just overthinking things. I can use these powers in the real world? This is basically like playing a game on easy mode!"
The ritual array had lit up and then disappeared, which wasn't a failed summon; Seiya had intentionally stopped it. He had gotten the confirmation he needed and didn't want to actually summon the Golden Dragon in his room. The dragon's massive body would not only break his room, but it might also scare Suguha downstairs.
In addition to verifying his shikigami ability, Seiya was also surprised that his Damage Invalidation ability from his Cursed-Knight persona had not been activated. If it had been, he would have felt weak from using up some of his life force to negate the instant-death damage. But Seiya felt no discomfort, aside from being incredibly hungry and a little stiff from being inactive for so long.
He hadn't fought Kayaba with a selfless spirit in their final duel. He had his own reasons. Even if they had both died, he would have been fine. In SAO, if your HP reached zero, the NerveGear would release a pulse to destroy your brain. This "instant-death damage" would have directly affected Seiya's real body, so his Cursed-Knight persona's "special effect" would have been triggered. In other words, even if his HP reached zero, the real-world Seiya wouldn't have died. This was the real reason he dared to fight Kayaba to the death.
Seiya had been prepared to use some of his life force to activate the special effect of Damage Invalidation. But it was clear from the results that Kayaba, despite his cheating, was a man of his word and didn't destroy Seiya's brain when his HP reached zero.
After a few simple stretches to get his body accustomed to moving again, he heard Suguha's voice from downstairs. Since he hadn't eaten in so long, she had thoughtfully cooked a very soft porridge. Seiya knew Suguha's cooking skills were only slightly better than his and Kirito's, so asking her to make anything more complex would have been difficult.
He was so hungry that he finished the entire pot of porridge Suguha had made. Although she was surprised by his appetite, she was happy to see that he had eaten everything.
"Suguha, I'm going out for a walk to stretch my legs. If you're going home, you can just close the door behind you."
After he finished eating, Seiya saw Suguha in the kitchen washing dishes and told her he wanted to go out. Suguha was about to say she wanted to come with him, but by the time she walked out of the kitchen, Seiya was already gone.