The Yuuki family residence.
"It's snowing…"
Reaching her hand out the window, Asuna watched as the cotton-like snowflakes slowly melted in her palm. The cold seeped into her skin, then vanished as if it had never been.
Only a few drops of water remained in her palm, proving the traces of its existence.
"Even small snowflakes can become thick snow that covers the entire city."
—Everything that accumulates will not disappear. Someday, it will make everyone unable to ignore it.
The various thoughts crossing her mind were hidden within the heavy snowy winter night as the window closed.
Wiping the water from her palm, she glanced at the virtual reality helmet beside her bed—Sword Art World was holding a special Christmas event today. Only by defeating the randomly appearing BOSS, 〈Santa Claus. Nicholas〉, could players obtain various rare items and materials, and a massive amount of experience, allowing the assault team to immediately distance themselves from ordinary players.
A leveling maniac like Asuna shouldn't miss this event.
Asuna averted her gaze and fell back onto the bed, feeling somewhat weak.
"The me now isn't Asuna (in-game), but Asuna (real name)…"
Her arm covered her forehead, creating a shadow. She stared blankly at the ceiling. Her eyes were filled with bright but not dazzling neon lights, yet those lights couldn't illuminate the deepest confusion in her heart.
"After that, what actually happened?"
Since the day of the Sobu High Culture Festival, Asuna had been constantly thinking about this problem.
She vaguely remembered that to find her missing gaming partner, and also to pierce through the illusory fog that made her whole life feel like a game, she forcibly convinced her mother to transfer her to Sobu High. At the game booth during the Culture Festival, she successfully met the overwhelmingly strong, one-handed swordsman she missed so much.
That's right! That guy, only him! The person she was looking for was him!
The joy at that moment, the happiness that nearly brought her to tears, Asuna would never forget it for the rest of her life.
That feeling couldn't be described merely as satisfaction and excitement; it was as if a missing puzzle piece of her body was finally returning.
The truth she discovered in the fog also made her vaguely remember things that weren't in her past memories.
She saw the door but didn't know where the key was, and couldn't see the scenery that should belong to her behind it.
…Perhaps, she had once obtained the key and successfully opened that door.
Asuna certainly hadn't forgotten that at that time, in her excitement, she seemed to draw upon a mysterious power hidden within the game.
A white light lit up following her strong intent, and 'Asuna' directly overwrote the guest account, then attacked Yuu across from her with speed and strength exceeding the character's statistical limits.
And after that, Asuna couldn't remember anything.
The last scene stopped when she stabbed his chest with her sword, her original character also overwriting the guest's virtual body, a pair of crystal rings appeared on both their hands, and Yuu looked at her with a shocked face, unable to resist in time.
"Of course, Yuu-kun is the person I'm looking for… But, besides the fact that he already has a girlfriend, if I can't remember anything, I have no reason to approach him and find out more…"
Asuna pulled the stuffed animal beside her, burying her face deep into it, and a bitter complaint emerged from within.
"Like solidified light of intent, a miracle that pierced system limitations, rings that disappeared again… And, the pain and joy when I saw him in person…"
She thought this action would make everything clear and bring relief. However, more mysteries emerged afterward, entangling her like a tangled thread, making her increasingly unable to move.
Yuu definitely knew something, and she really only needed to ask him…
But Asuna restrained herself; she wanted to emerge from that fog on her own.
Even though she didn't remember clearly, she knew she had made a promise with someone, that she would remember everything by her own strength.
That person was probably Yuu, right?
So, she could ask anyone except him.
It's a bit embarrassing to admit, but the reason she didn't dare approach him and intentionally kept her distance actually had another reason…
Asuna clearly liked him, but this baseless feeling of affection wasn't enough reason for her to interfere between him and Yuigahama—not to mention becoming a third party and stealing someone else's boyfriend. Even if she wanted to confess her feelings, she had to wait until all that was lost was recovered.
But if she were by his side, Asuna was afraid she couldn't restrain herself from doing something, and she also didn't want to become the 'lamp' witnessing the scenes of togetherness between Yuu and Yuigahama.
So, she could only keep her distance. Better not to see him than to see him every day and torture herself with 'soft knives.' Now she had just returned to her school days at Kuroyuri Academy. Asuna wasn't someone who couldn't restrain herself.
"But I still want to get along well with him…"
Muttering to herself, Asuna picked up the phone by her pillow. She first opened the message sent by her older brother.
The gist was, the helmet had been checked, no abnormalities were found, and no traces of data alteration. As for the white light originating from intent, the character overwriting situation, that was more like his nonsense. From a scientific perspective, there was no convincing evidence.
The only strange thing was probably the strong white light in the arena match recording that nearly blinded all spectators, which lasted for two or three seconds.
However, even so, the answer given by the technical department was only one: they couldn't find the reason. It was as if a mysterious force prevented them from investigating the truth. The entire RECT programming team could only resign themselves to it.
"Completely useless. Nii-san is really useless…"
Shaking her head and sighing, she dragged Yuuki Kouichirou's icon to the bottom and opened Yuu's icon pinned at the top position.
Inside were only a few unimportant small talk conversations. The latest message was last week, when Yuu asked if she had time to go out for afternoon tea with the three of them. Asuna refused with the excuse that her brother's photos in maid outfits were discovered by their mother, and she had to help contain the situation.
Since then, Yuu never sent her any more messages.
"Such a cruel man… No, here I should say he's principled."
Smiling wryly and shaking her head, Asuna opened the chat box. Although she wasn't thinking of anything, her fingers uncontrollably typed a few words.
(Suddenly want to see you, can you come out for a bit?)
Then, she stared blankly at the message for a few seconds, then quickly deleted it with a red face. She threw her phone aside and hid her head under the blanket like a turtle retracting into its shell.
"Stupid me, what am I doing…"
Her breathing became rapid in the dark, stuffy space. A dizzy feeling like oxygen deprivation made her hit her head a few times. Her small feet kicked the bed as if venting frustration.
This commotion seemed to be noticed by her mother who happened to be passing by the door. Soon after, a knocking sound was heard.
"Asuna, are you playing games again? What time is it already? Even though it's winter vacation, you can't slack off. Quickly prepare your assignments for the winter vacation tutoring!"
"I know—don't worry, I'm going to sleep right now!" Asuna threw off the hot blanket and answered loudly, then snorted softly.
"How many times have you nagged about the same thing, I can get first place, you know…"
"I just spoke once, and you're saying I'm nagging?! It seems I've really been too lenient with you lately…"
"Oh no!"
Sticking out her tongue, before her angry mother went downstairs to get the keys and unlock the door, Asuna quickly turned off the lights, pretending to be asleep. Her mother wouldn't go so far as to wake her up just to scold her.
Because at that time, she could use lack of sleep as an excuse to act up.
However, secretly lifting a corner of the blanket, looking at the snowy scene outside the window, Asuna still couldn't help but swear in her heart:
"I can't delay any longer, I must remember soon… For the sake of being able to approach the person I like openly and honestly!"
The faint moonlight seemed to reflect in her pupils. The girl's determination was tenacious, shining beneath the night.
CLICK!
This time, the sound heard outside the door was the sound of a key unlocking.
"I know you're pretending to sleep, wake up!"
"Zzzzzzzzzz…"