Yusei's words made the girls all turn their attention to him, especially Kiriko, who looked at him in shock.
"You're already buying a house? What kind of house?"
"Haven't decided yet. But I don't plan to get one in the busy city center. I'm thinking of a villa in the forest on the outskirts of a town. Better scenery, and a quieter environment."
"Ah... hearing you say that, I kind of regret it now. I just bought a house in the city on the 20th floor a couple of days ago." Asuna sighed at this point.
"What's the big deal? It's all the same. At most, you can't see forests and lakes when you open the window." Kiriko seemed rather nonchalant about it.
"Kiriko-chan, girls should understand a bit of romance and warmth. You obviously don't get that feeling in the city center." Asuna lectured Kiriko seriously.
"Well... maybe it's because I'm a shut-in. Things like love feel very distant to me. I think I'm only interested in games." Kiriko laughed awkwardly.
"You can't say that." Yusei shook his head, "Even shut-ins can find boyfriends. The most important thing is shared interests."
"Shared interests?"
Yusei's words made the three girls' hearts suddenly stir, each thinking of different things.
Kaguya subconsciously thought of her and Yusei's shared interest in Kendo.
Asuna thought about how they were both playing SAO, and how Yusei's strength attracted her.
As for Kiriko, her considerations were simpler… she had never really thought about finding a boyfriend before.
But now, talking about shared interests... she couldn't help but glance at Yusei, then had a somewhat strange thought.
'Games, Kendo... it seems we both have contact with those.'
For Kendo, her grandfather had once forced her to learn it for a period, so she had some exposure.
And games… needless to say, they were her favorite thing.
'So, if we're connected to both Kendo and games, then wouldn't that...?'
Kiriko fell silent, but she was already starting to consider some things, 'After getting out of SAO, should I ask Grandfather to practice Kendo again?'
Yusei took a sip of his beer and went to the NPC at the tavern counter to settle the bill.
As for the expressions on the three girls' faces and what they were thinking, Yusei had no way of knowing.
Afterwards, everyone left the tavern and said their goodbyes.
Kiriko continued her solo grinding path. She had previously stayed with a guild for a while, but unfortunately, due to mistakes by other guild members, almost everyone died. Only one girl named Sachi was pulled to safety by her in time.
That girl relied heavily on Kiriko. After a period of recovery, the girl essentially withdrew from the raiding team and settled down in a town, opening a tailor shop to repair equipment for others.
Asuna and Kaguya returned to the Knights of the Blood Oath's headquarters. On one hand, they needed to handle guild affairs, and on the other, they needed to select personnel for the next floor's Boss Raid...
Yusei, Shiro, and Kanna found an inn to stay at, planning to go look at houses on the 22nd floor tomorrow.
However, when it came to assigning rooms in the evening, Yusei found himself with a headache again.
The NPC-run inn had plenty of empty rooms. The key problem was that neither Shiro nor Kanna were willing to sleep separately from Yusei.
But in this inn, the largest room was a double room. There were no triple rooms. That meant a room had at most two beds, not three.
This was troublesome. It meant either Yusei slept on the floor, letting the two little girls have the beds, or one of the little girls slept with him.
Yusei certainly didn't want to sleep on the floor. So that meant either Shiro or Kanna would sleep with him, and that's where the difficulty lay.
So... who exactly would sleep with him?
Regarding this, Shiro and Kanna argued their cases vehemently.
"Nii is Shiro's brother. Brothers should sleep with their sisters."
'Shiro, what kind of logic is that? A brother and sister sleeping together is the biggest problem! ...Though not for me, I suppose.'
On the other hand, Kanna had her own reasoning.
"Husbands and wives sleep together. Yusei and Kanna are husband and wife, so we should sleep together."
"No, you're not! That's just what you think! Nii wouldn't like a little pipsqueak like you!"
"But Yusei said he likes Kanna!"
Kanna said this, looking at Yusei with her innocent eyes. Shiro also stared intently at Yusei, nervously awaiting his answer.
"I like both of you. It's just for one night. Tomorrow, we'll go look at a new house and buy a big room."
Yusei, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, patted both little ones on the head.
"Alright, stop arguing. Time for bed. We'll sleep together."
Shiro might be a little kid, but Kanna was fourteen thousand years old. Although in dragon terms, she was indeed still young.
However, that wasn't the key point. The problem was that Shiro genuinely wanted to cling to Yusei while sleeping, as she did the same at home.
As for Kanna, Yusei guessed it was more curiosity driving her... Even terms like husband and wife were probably just her curiosity about this new world.
Of course, it was certain that Kanna had fond feelings for him. Just as she herself said, "When Kanna saw Yusei, Kanna felt very close to him, like 'love at first sight' in this world."
Kanna didn't know how to use fancy words, but that didn't stop her from liking Yusei. It was the simple, straightforward liking a child has for a toy.
Under Yusei's authority, Shiro and Kanna finally settled down.
After the three finished washing up, they went to bed and drifted off to sleep.
The next day, Yusei, still in his sleep, felt his nose was a bit itchy. He drowsily opened his eyes... to find Kanna lying on top of him, her large, sparkling eyes looking at him.
Her cute face had a dumbfoundedly cute expression, seemingly unaware that she was disturbing Yusei's sweet dreams.
"Good morning, Yusei." Kanna's soft voice greeted him.
Yusei felt Kanna's weight on him. Kanna's true form was a spirit dragon, but in her human form, her weight was still very light.
Kanna had a soft, milky scent about her... not cloying, but rather giving a very comfortable feeling.
"Good morning, Kanna."
Yusei smiled, moved Kanna's body to the bed beside him, and then sat up.
Shiro next to him still had her eyes closed, breathing softly, sound asleep.
Yusei yawned and checked the time. Seeing it was already 8 a.m., which is not early anymore, he decided against going back to sleep and prepared to go to the 22nd floor later to look at new houses.