The next morning, 6:30 a.m.
Yuuki Asuna couldn't remember when she'd finally fallen asleep. Rubbing her drowsy eyes, she sat up, yawned, and stretched long. The loose T-shirt she wore slipped down a little with the motion, exposing a pale shoulder and the delicate line of her collarbone.
"Haa… I'm still so sleepy…"
"Yo. Morning."
"Hm?"
Hearing that smiling voice, Asuna blanked for a second. She turned her head and saw Hōjō Yoru sitting by the bed. A few seconds later, her brain finally caught up. Her cheeks flushed instantly; she yanked the blanket up to cover herself, eyes shimmering slightly as she mumbled in a mosquito-soft voice:
"G-good morning… Sorry, I forgot I was sleeping at your place…"
"No need to apologize."
Yoru stood up from the bedside, face straight as if giving a serious lecture.
"Next time, it'd be best if you forgot a little more. Like forgetting you're supposed to sleep on the floor, and climbing into my bed in the middle of the night. And then forgetting you're supposed to wear clothes to sleep, and then—"
"Stop! Stop, stop!"
Asuna went beet red and cut him off immediately.
"You start this the moment I wake up?! Seriously—twenty-four seven, nonstop nonsense."
"What do you mean, 'wake up'?" Yoru said. "I didn't sleep."
"Huh?"
He opened the bedroom door and walked out into the living room, speaking as casually as if it were nothing.
"I told you already—living together was to make sure nothing goes wrong. If I'm not watching you, how am I supposed to react the moment something happens?"
Hearing that, Asuna's feelings turned complicated. There was a warmth in her chest—moved by the fact he'd been looking out for her—mixed with a kind of embarrassed shyness she couldn't quite put into words.
After all, a boy watching her sleep… for a pure-hearted teenage girl, that was way too lethal.
Just as her face warmed and her heart began to beat strangely fast, Yoru added another flat, merciless strike.
"By the way, you drool when you sleep."
"Y-you—what kind of nonsense is that?!"
Asuna ran up and lightly punched his shoulder, puffing her cheeks.
"How could a beautiful girl like me drool in her sleep?! You definitely saw wrong!"
"Ugh…"
Yoru looked at her with visible disgust and complained.
"Who calls themselves a 'beautiful girl'? That's insanely narcissistic."
Asuna pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.
"Of all people, I don't want to hear that from you."
...
They didn't eat breakfast at home. After washing up and changing, they went out, bought a couple of rice balls at a convenience store, and took the train to the small apartment Asuna lived in alone.
Since they were going to school soon, she needed to put on Sōbu High's uniform, and she also had to change her close-fitting undergarments.
Compared to Yoru's place, her apartment was smaller—just one bedroom, the kind of single-occupancy unit under fifty square meters. Of course, given the location, it was still expensive.
"Then sit and wait a moment," Asuna said. "I'll go change."
"Sure," Yoru replied.
After Asuna went into her room and closed the door, Yoru—sitting on the small sofa—finally rubbed his eyes, which felt a little sore. A trace of fatigue showed on his face.
His physical stats were absurd at this point. If he had to put a number to it, he was probably around three times the human limit. His endurance was the same—he could stay awake for days and nights and still remain fairly clear-headed.
But "fairly clear-headed" wasn't the same as "not sleepy."
Still, it didn't matter. He could just sleep at school. Sōbu High was basically his second home—sleep freely, sleep proudly.
"That thing she summoned… what exactly is it?"
Leaning back against the sofa, Yoru stared at the ceiling, thoughtful.
If it were someone else, they might not be so sure the metal object was Asuna's ability. But Yoru was a transmigrator.
Yuuki Asuna—the Flash, "Asuna the Lightning" in the original Sword Art Online—was a swordswoman in SAO. And that metal object looked like hundreds of long swords fused together… undeniably tied to "swords."
According to the Anti-Demon Special Operations Division's intelligence records, yesterday was the first time it appeared—and it appeared at the exact moment Asuna first encountered a Devil.
Just like how he'd awakened his own power when he ran into the Sea Cucumber Devil.
And then there was the rooftop "experiment"…
Could there really be that many coincidences?
No. That wasn't how the world worked.
So if their abilities were similar, why couldn't Asuna command that metal object to fight?
Or rather—why hadn't the thought of issuing it an order even occurred to her in that moment?
Why couldn't she control the product of her own power?
Yoru began to deploy his "world-shaking wisdom."
Simple: use elimination.
Remove what he and Asuna have in common. Then look at the differences. The answer should be sitting right there.
And since this was a mind-over-matter type of power, it definitely wasn't about physiology. Like, if someone's "psychological gender" is an attack helicopter, would they summon a propeller Devil?
That would be…
kind of insanely cool, actually.
"I'm done changing!"
At that moment, Asuna came out wearing Sōbu High's uniform. Before she could even process what Yoru was thinking, he dropped a stunning line.
"Yuuki, is it possible you can't control your power because your parents are both alive?"
"…Huh?"
Asuna's brain froze. The amount of information packed into that one question was too much. When she finally reacted, her expression turned complicated. She bit her lower lip lightly.
"Hōjō-kun… don't tell me your parents—"
"Dead."
"Hōjō-kun, are you—"
"Don't," Yoru said, raising a hand to stop her from finishing.
Seeing the sorrow and sympathy starting to form on her face, he smiled and deliberately steered the moment away with teasing.
"What's with that look? You're about to cry. What is that expression? And what are those tears worth? With tears like that, do you think you can protect the entire Earth?!"
For a split second, Yoru looked like he'd turned into some righteous cane-wielding alien, lecturing a confused young hero—like he was about to start the engine on a jeep and ram someone into enlightenment.
"There you go again with the weird lines," Asuna complained, exasperated.
She understood he was changing the subject on purpose, so she forced the emotion down and returned to the actual question.
"It's not that," she said softly. "I thought about it a lot last night, and I think…"
She recalled what had happened yesterday, looked at Yoru, and spoke quietly:
"It's because I'm not like you. I don't have such a firm conviction."
Yoru blinked, genuinely confused.
"Huh? What conviction?"
"…Eh?"
Asuna hesitated, lips parting.
"You became a Devil Hunter because of some firm belief… and you even went out of your way to eliminate ghouls…"
Yoru laughed and waved it off.
"That has nothing to do with conviction. I just think it's fun."
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 90)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 95)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 80)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter70)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter70)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter50)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter60)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 30
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 30
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