Watching Kaguya pull Yusei outside, everyone else finally snapped out of their daze... They looked at each other, eyes full of confusion.
After a long moment, Asuna looked nervously at Shiro. "Shiro, has your brother been in contact with Kaguya recently?"
Shiro looked up, thinking hard. Then she shook her head in confusion.
"I don't know. Nii doesn't seem to chat with anyone much."
"I see..." Asuna nodded absently, lost in thought.
Kiriko, however, said nonchalantly, "It's fine. They knew each other in the real world anyway. They're probably just talking about real-world stuff."
"Maybe." Asuna sighed and looked at Kanna, who was still eating.
A slight doubt arose in her heart, 'This... Kanna-chan's name is surprisingly similar to the dragon Kanna's.'
But she only thought it was a coincidence. After all, no one would connect a dragon with a person, nor a monster with a player.
Outside the tavern, in a small alley.
In the dimly lit alley, there were no passing players, only two figures standing facing each other.
This level of darkness wasn't a problem for either of them, and they could see each other clearly.
Yusei looked around at the environment, feeling it was very strange. He said helplessly, "Kaguya-sama, can we stop this? Couldn't whatever it was have been said back there?"
Kaguya didn't answer Yusei's question. She looked somewhat lost, yet also expectant, seemingly a bit distracted.
After a long while, she finally snapped back to reality. She looked seriously at Yusei with her unique crimson eyes.
"You... where did you go during the dragon Kanna raid?"
Hearing Kaguya's question, Yusei's heart inexplicably skipped a beat, but he maintained his composure, "I was grinding field monsters. After all, we needed to find the Dragon Knight first."
"Not that. I'm asking about the very beginning, when you said you were separating from us to go to the 15th floor to get something." Kaguya stared intently at Yusei, seemingly trying to detect any clues from his face.
Yusei's expression didn't change. He continued smiling, "I did go to the 15th floor. I just came back quickly and happened to save you all."
A trace of disappointment flashed in Kaguya's eyes, 'He chose to lie to me, rather than trust me and tell me the truth?'
Pushing her thoughts aside, she slowly shook her head.
"No, you didn't. It was a coincidence, I suppose. The moment you saved us, I happened to check the friend location's display."
Kaguya paused here, glancing at Yusei. Her expression was complex.
"Your avatar was right in front of us, on the 26th floor. But the friend location display showed you were on the 15th floor."
"I've already asked Kiriko, the Beta Tester. This game does have many unreasonable mechanics. But that does not include the friend location display."
"In other words, the only administrator of this game is Kayaba Akihiko. The only one who can modify data is Kayaba Akihiko."
Kaguya said everything she wanted to say in one breath. For some reason, she felt a lot more relieved.
Yusei, standing opposite her, remained silent.
For a moment, the dark, quiet alley and the noisy street outside formed a stark contrast, the atmosphere becoming extremely strange.
Kaguya didn't press Yusei for an answer, just silently watched him.
After an unknown length of time, a soft sigh finally came from the dim alley.
"So? You think I'm Kayaba Akihiko?" Yusei said lightly.
Kaguya shook her head seriously, denying it.
"Impossible. Even if you were Kayaba Akihiko and could design Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu sword skills into the game based on your knowledge, you couldn't fool Shiro's observation."
"You and Shiro are together all the time. If you were pretending to be that guy..."
"So, you are Kazami Yusei. But you know Kayaba Akihiko. You knew him before playing this game?"
"The reason for the location discrepancy, I think, was also due to a miscommunication between you and Kayaba Akihiko, right?"
"You told Kayaba Akihiko you needed to conceal your identity to do something, to set your friend location to the 15th floor. But then at the Dragon's Lake, you saw the dragon Kanna's attack was about to hit us, so you had no choice but to reveal yourself to protect us. It was an emergency, and you didn't have time to tell Kayaba Akihiko. That's why I kept seeing your friend location displayed on the 15th floor, while your actual avatar was right in front of us."
After listening to Kaguya's deduction, Yusei was internally complaining about her meticulousness, 'Why are you so fixated on these details? Can't you just consider it a system error?'
Feeling helpless, Yusei could only sigh.
"Alright, your reasoning does make a lot of sense. But why can't it be a sudden system error? A friend location display error is entirely possible."
He still wanted to try and wriggle out of it, refusing to give up until all hope was lost.
Hearing Yusei's excuse, Kaguya was silent for a moment, then shook her head.
"No. It wouldn't be. You probably don't know this, but Kayaba Akihiko must have realized in time that you were on the 26th floor... so... he restored your location data."
Hearing this, Yusei's eyes lit up. He quickly said, "Then it was probably the system repairing itself."
Kaguya's expression didn't change. She said flatly,
"At that time, you were riding the dragon flying far into the distance. And the friend location display... was also flying far into the distance with you."
Yusei was also at a loss for words, 'This... Kayaba is screwing me over.'
Kaguya looked at Yusei and continued, "Your Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu sword skills are powerful and usable. The people around you all possess powerful sword skills to varying degrees..."
"Your Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu, my Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu, Asuna's [Flash], Kiriko's... formidable strength."
Then, Kaguya let out a somewhat self-mocking laugh.
"Actually, thinking about it now, I realize... the reason we can stand out, the reason we can be at the forefront of the players... it's all because of you, isn't it?"
"Our sword skills, our luck, our strength... it's all because you've been protecting us..." She paused, then added,
"I think... Kanna is the dragon Kanna, right? I never thought a giant dragon could transform into such a small child. This must also be something you asked Kayaba Akihiko to do, right? Truly, as Kiriko said... you're a lolicon... a big hentai."