Asuna, lying on the other side of the bed, felt her whole body tense up when she heard Xia Yan's movements.
However, she soon relaxed when she saw that he didn't make any further moves.
Even Asuna found it unbelievable.
She was actually sharing a room, a bed, with a guy she had only met less than a day ago.
In the outside world, it was simply unimaginable.
“It’s not my fault, this guy is just shameless.”
Asuna muttered in her heart. How could he take her words seriously? She was just being playful.
Lying on her back, Asuna used her peripheral vision to see Xia Yan. He was lying there calmly, and her heart started to beat faster.
“Could he actually like me?”
Especially when she thought about what Xia Yan had just said, “I’m lusting after your body,” Asuna couldn’t help but feel her face getting hot.
However, Asuna wasn’t sure.
All sorts of strange thoughts were flooding her mind.
Asuna couldn’t sleep at all now.
But with a guy lying beside her, Asuna didn’t dare to make any drastic movements.
Suddenly, as if remembering something, Asuna opened the game system’s operation menu.
She brought up the virtual keyboard and quickly typed something on it.
“What are you doing?”
Xia Yan asked suddenly.
Asuna’s hands trembled when she was startled by Xia Yan’s sudden voice. She stopped what she was doing, turned her head, and gave Xia Yan a very resentful look.
“I was trying to see if I could find my friend.”
Asuna replied faintly.
“You have friends?”
Xia Yan was surprised.
“Where did you get that idea? I’m not some wild person. Of course, I have friends.”
Asuna said strangely.
“People like you, a rich heiress, shouldn’t you be bound by countless family rules, with strict control over your social interactions? You’re probably an unattainable beauty at school, off-limits to everyone. At most, you're worshipped by your juniors, and envied by many, leading a solitary existence. You must always maintain your senior demeanor.”
Xia Yan said.
“It’s not as serious as you said.”
Asuna choked on her words and laughed dryly.
While Xia Yan’s words were hurtful, they were also mostly accurate.
As one of the inheritors of “RECT Manufacturing” company, Asuna was naturally born to shoulder more responsibility than ordinary people, and learn more things.
Especially since Asuna had a strict mother who had high expectations of her.
Therefore, she didn’t have as much free time as ordinary girls.
Even in school, Asuna prioritized her studies to maintain her grades, and had few opportunities to gossip with her classmates.
“Aren’t you a young master too?”
Asuna retorted, her pain point having been touched by Xia Yan.
“Me?”
Xia Yan laughed, saying, “I’m different from you. In the group, I’m the one setting the rules. Nobody comes to tell me what I can’t do today or tomorrow.”
“You’re lying.”
Asuna didn’t believe him.
She naturally interacted with some rich young masters in her circles, and she even had a brother.
These young masters didn’t have much freedom either. They were constrained by the rules of their families.
“You’re just envious and jealous, aren’t you?”
Xia Yan said with a smile.
“No, I’m not.”
Asuna retorted.
Although she would be very happy if she could have more freedom.
“But that’s the reality.”
Xia Yan said helplessly, “I can play games whenever I want, make friends with whomever I want, and sleep wherever I want. Accept the reality, girl.”
“You’re such a…”
Asuna felt like she wouldn’t be able to sleep if she kept talking about this. She had to return to her previous topic, “I started playing SAO because of a friend. I originally wanted to find her at the launch, but I was delayed by something back home. I entered the game very late, and I didn’t find her. I don’t know how she is now, or if she even entered SAO.”
“Probably not good?”
Xia Yan said tentatively.
“No way!”
Asuna immediately refuted, “She’s a gaming master. She’s really good. I learned to play games from her, she’s definitely fine.”
“Then there you go.”
Xia Yan said with a smile, “You’re so confident in her, your friend will be fine. Plus, everyone in SAO is using their real-life appearances now. If you run into her, you’ll definitely recognize her.”
“I actually hope she didn’t enter the game.”
Asuna said, “But considering her obsession with SAO, she probably wouldn’t miss it.”
“Does she know you’re in the game?”
Xia Yan asked.
“I don’t think so?”
Asuna said uncertainly.
Although her friend had invited her to play the game together, she didn’t even have a gaming headset back then, so she declined. As for later, she used her brother's headset to enter the game.
“Kirito knows an intelligence dealer. We can ask her to look for your friend.”
Xia Yan asked, “What’s your friend’s name?”
“Tōzama Fukamizu.”
Asuna said.
“What’s her game ID?”
Xia Yan continued to ask.
“Game ID?”
Asuna said, while typing on the virtual keyboard, “Tōzama Fukamizu, Fukamizu, Tōtō, 澄澄, Tō澄......”
Asuna typed a string of names, various combinations of the four characters “Tōzama Fukamizu”, but the friend search bar showed no results. There was no matching ID.
“After all, few people use their real names as their game IDs. Your friend must have used a different one.”
Xia Yan said, “When Kirito finds the intelligence dealer, describe your friend’s appearance to her. It shouldn’t be too hard to find her.”
“That’s all we can do.”
Asuna closed the game menu.
They chatted for a while longer, and then fell asleep.
...
The next day.
“You two?”
Klein saw Asuna and Xia Yan coming out of the room together. He immediately showed a suggestive, lewd smile.
“Yan just came to my room to wake me up.”
Asuna’s face immediately flushed red. She quickly realized what Klein was thinking and hastily refuted.
“I get it, I get it!”
Klein chuckled, his laughter as lewd as it could be.
“You get nothing.”
Xia Yan rolled his eyes and said, “Are everyone else awake? We’ve already chosen a place to level up today. Go tell them to gather downstairs.”
“Understood.”
Klein immediately ran off to call everyone.
.........
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