Chapter 56: Worries

Naoki Kirigaya finally mustered the courage to come to Asuna's room.

The room number was naturally told to him by a certain Misumi Tozawa, who wished to remain anonymous.

According to Misumi Tozawa, who wished to remain anonymous, she had spent a lot of effort to gather information about Asuna from the side, told Naoki Kirigaya the specific information, and then slightly satirized and ridiculed Naoki Kirigaya in the chat interface.

Naoki Kirigaya sent a face-down-on-the-ground emoji.

This stunned Misumi Tozawa on the other side.

"Good grief, why can you send emoticons?" she thought.

Naoki Kirigaya was standing outside the door, feeling a little embarrassed.

He knocked on the door, and Asuna should have received his request to enter the room.

But the door showed no signs of opening, and there was no system notification of rejection.

Naoki Kirigaya, standing outside the door, scratched his cheek, thinking about how to start the conversation.

He was wearing a slightly loose yukata, which wrapped around the boy's sturdy body. The boy's appearance was needless to say, with reddish-gold eyes and dazzling blonde hair. Handsome features and a sunny smile. In a manga, he would be a complete "yellow-haired guy."

The kind of yellow-haired guy who would casually hit on other people's girlfriends.

He stood at the door for almost ten minutes, and luckily, this was the second floor, and only the four of them had arrived here so far. Otherwise, he would have been socially dead.

Finally, just as he was about to sigh and leave, the door opened.

Asuna stood behind the door with a sullen face.

Naoki Kirigaya subconsciously gave her a cheerful smile.

But she didn't fall for it at all. She coldly swept over the grinning boy and said coldly, "Come in."

Hearing this, he smiled sheepishly, entered the room, and closed the door behind him.

The door made a clicking sound as it closed.

But in a place Naoki Kirigaya couldn't see, Asuna's originally cold expression instantly turned red, and an unnatural flush appeared on her cheeks.

Honestly, after letting Naoki Kirigaya in, she felt a little regretful.

What was the difference between this and letting a wolf into the house? Although that was what she had initially thought, she couldn't help but shrink back when it came to this step.

Taking a few deep breaths, she kept telling herself not to panic. When she turned her head, she had regained her cold expression. She pulled out a chair next to the bed and pointed to the seat next to her, saying, "Sit down."

Naoki Kirigaya was confused, but he sat down as she said.

The moonlight was hazy, and the pure white moonlight shone on the boy's handsome face. The room was not lit, but the moonlight alone was enough to illuminate everything in the room. Although it wasn't as bright as with the lights on, it was precisely this pure white moonlight and the hazy, unclear feeling that created the best atmosphere.

Naoki Kirigaya looked at the girl.

How old was the girl now? The little girl who used to follow behind him had grown into a young woman.

This feeling of raising her made Naoki Kirigaya feel both gratified and accomplished.

Especially since he wasn't an old father, he didn't have to face the terrible choice of seeing his own "cabbage" being taken by another "pig."

Neither of them spoke. Looking at Asuna's calm expression, even Naoki Kirigaya, who had known her for many years, couldn't guess what she was thinking.

Naoki Kirigaya was never the kind of person to beat around the bush. If he couldn't guess, he wouldn't overthink it. He said directly, "What did Asuna want to see me about?"

He no longer called her Asuna, but Asuna, and Naoki Kirigaya also had a hint of implication.

But Asuna turned a deaf ear, pretending not to hear the boy's implied words. She looked at the world outside the window.

The world outside the window was beautiful.

The night sky was filled with countless stars, and the starlight gathered into a galaxy. Looking down from above, you could see the empty streets of Urbus. NPCs stood in groups of two or three by the side of the street. There were old people, children, and rough-looking men.

A breeze blew in through the window, caressing Asuna's hair and the boy's cheeks.

The white curtains fluttered slightly in the breeze.

The night was hazy, and this was what the night was like.

Asuna was silent for a moment and then suddenly said, "Do you think we can clear the game alive?"

For some reason, the thoughts that were originally full of desire were suppressed, replaced by a kind of worry.

Worry about the present, worry about the future.

One hundred floors, a full one hundred floors.

The difficulty of the game was beyond doubt.

The higher they climbed, the harder it would be, especially when they only had one life now.

Naoki Kirigaya suppressed his smile. He looked at the girl's slightly bewildered expression and sighed. He nodded seriously and said, "Clearing the game is natural. With me here, even if I die, I won't let you die. And clearing the game is just a matter of time."

Asuna rolled her eyes at Naoki Kirigaya and said, "Don't say such unlucky things. I'm just feeling a little sentimental."

Naoki Kirigaya muttered to himself, "Weren't you the one who said it first?"

Asuna looked out the window and continued, "I was just thinking, even if we can leave this game, it'll be two or three years from now, maybe even five years. Five years of doing nothing. The real me must be lying quietly in a hospital bed. My mother must be tearing her hair out over me. She probably wants to scold me. Just, five years, five years cut off from the outside world."

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but sigh.

She wasn't indecisive. On the contrary, Asuna was stronger than most men. So she just sighed, not showing any sadness or blaming fate.

She was just a little worried.

Looking at Asuna Yuuki in front of him, Naoki Kirigaya stood up and hugged the girl.

Girls are emotional creatures after all, and a little comfort was needed at this time.

And in fact, that was indeed the case.

Naoki Kirigaya felt the soft body in his arms. Asuna had a unique fragrance, the scent of a girl fresh from the bath. Chestnut hair was scattered around her waist. Holding the girl's slender waist, Asuna's face was flushed with shyness, and her previous composure was gone.

Naoki Kirigaya leaned close to the girl's ear and whispered, "It's okay. If no one else wants you after we get out, I'll take you."

Suddenly, Asuna's eyes widened. The boy's directness was so blunt that she didn't know how to react.

After so many years, Naoki Kirigaya finally said these words at this moment.