I really don't want to have a girlfriend.

"Maybe it's because I'm liking this game more and more? After all, you see..."

The next moment, the bushes rustled!

Asuna suddenly drew her rapier, the blade glowing with a deep red light, and stomped her foot hard.

The straight-line sword technique "Meteor" pierced through the long night with a brilliant trajectory that didn't pause even for a moment.

She darted past Yuu Tenkuji, then looked at the wolf that had been knocked into the air, and the glowing effect of its wounds.

"...If you attacked an animal in real life, you'd definitely get arrested by the police, right?"

As soon as she finished speaking, she quickly followed up with several more sword strikes, piercing the wolf, which was now suspended in mid-air, into polygonal fragments.

She stood back to back with Yuu Tenkuji, looking around.

More green eyes lit up in the woods, and the silvery moonlight traveled through the trees, faintly illuminating the deep blue fur of the wolves.

Asuna slowly tightened her grip on the sword hilt, lowering her body warily, but a slight smile escaped from the corner of her mouth.

"So, Tenkuji-kun... don't you think it's incredibly exciting to be able to enjoy freedom and ease that transcends reality without any worries?"

"what?"

Seeing her overjoyed and relieved expression, as if she had found a place to belong, Tenkuji Yu silently watched her for a long time before finally sighing helplessly and drawing his own one-handed sword.

"I am indeed excited. After all, the game's immersive experience is so realistic that it's easy to get excited..." As he said this, his expression became slightly complicated, but she didn't notice. "But now is not the time to worry about that. Let's deal with these little wolf cubs and hurry up and find the entrance."

"Roger that, Captain!"

The two men, back to back, simultaneously flashed a warlike glint in their eyes.

Without a single command, almost the instant they sensed the other's muscles tense, the two charged out like lightning, deliberately crashing into the pack of wolf-type aggressive monsters and beginning a massacre.

Then, all sorts of strange noises began to rise from the grove, making the otherwise indifferent night even warmer.

About five minutes later, the two finished.

Asuna was sorting through her loot when she suddenly noticed the health bar in the party chat and looked at him in surprise.

"Yu-kun, did you drink any potions? In that chaotic battle just now, you didn't lose a single bit of health..."

"Because I unlocked the invincibility cheat." Tenkuji Yu replied casually. Since Asuna didn't understand the reference, he had to explain again, "There used to be a swordsman who would happily move among the enemies, disappearing without a trace, leaving no trace behind. I just imitated him, it's nothing."

"I see..." Asuna nodded thoughtfully.

So in the next few battles on her way to the coordinates, she began to consciously dodge attacks, and even if it meant delaying the battle, she would try her best to avoid being touched by her opponent.

Her swordsmanship and movement became increasingly skillful. Every time she passed a battle without taking damage, she would look at him with a strangely smug smile, like a little girl showing off her accomplishment to her parents.

Yuu Tenkuji was increasingly puzzled... What did Asuna eat wrong today? Why did she suddenly become so friendly and enthusiastic?

Did her mother finally allow her to play games?

Without asking the question, Yuu Tenkuji suppressed his unnecessary curiosity and followed the ring's guidance to an abandoned mine surrounded by rocks.

This is the coordinate of the entrance to the "Land of Love" given by the "Ring of Beloved".

Just as Yuu Tenkuji had predicted, there wasn't a single thing that could be called an entrance on the flat, endless mine.

The stones were piled up into small hills, draped in the darkness of night, resembling tombstones of the dead, accompanied by a mournful chorus of sobs when the night wind blew.

—It wasn't that simple after all.

"What should we do? The coordinates are correct, but all I see are rocks... Do we have to dig it out?"

Asuna tugged at his sleeve, pretending not to be afraid of the eerie scene, and forced herself to remain calm.

Yuu Tenkuji shook his head and pulled out a tent with his other hand: "You should log off too. Let's talk about the rest tomorrow."

"Ah, that's true..."

So engrossed in playing that Asuna forgot she had to get up early for class the next day and couldn't stay up too late.

She couldn't help but feel a pang of regret, but watching him skillfully set up the tent and the oil lamp, for some reason, a warm feeling rose in her heart, flowing through her body and gradually dispelling the chill of the night.

Like a father striving to build a home for his child, his back view is both earnest and solid, giving people a strong sense of security...

"What are you standing there for? Come on in."

Sky, half-hidden inside the tent, peered at her with a puzzled look.

Coming to her senses, Asuna shook her head, dismissing the strange thought, and walked over with a smile.

"Here it comes!"

The tent still contained two sleeping bags, but today the distance between them was even closer than yesterday.

Neither of them noticed this subtle change. After getting into their sleeping bags, they didn't rush to log off, but instead looked at each other through an oil lamp.

"Asuna, there's something I want to ask you," Yuu Tenkuji suddenly said.

His expression became somewhat serious, which made Asuna abandon her casual conversation and respond to him with a puzzled look:

"what's up?"

With her lips slightly pursed, Tenkuji Yu gazed intently at the girl before her.

The warm light illuminated her face, eyes, and lips; as if by the light, everything seemed several times gentler than usual.

He asked:

"What are your wishes, or goals?"

Chapter 43 I, Yuu Tenkuji, have a dream

Inside the tent, the lights shone quietly, illuminating the darkness in my pupils.

The two huddled in their sleeping bags, like two people gazing at each other from opposite sides of a riverbank, yet somehow they also had a fireside chat feeling.

"Target?" Asuna blinked in confusion. "Why are you suddenly asking about this?"

"I just wanted to get some advice for my friend." Yuu Tenkuji smiled slightly, and once again used 'Little Friend' as a shield.

Xiao Peng is short for "air friend".

Just like some people's girlfriends, they can't see, touch, or exist.

"I see... Hmm." Without thinking too much about it, Asuna pursed her lips and pondered for a while. "The current goal... should be to save Granny Ma, and then go to see more distant places, right?"

Yuu Tenkuji paused for a moment, then added with a chuckle, "I'm not talking about games, I'm talking about reality. Is there anything you want to do in real life?"

"Eh—" Asuna made a clearly unwilling expression, puffing out her cheeks slightly and staring at him suspiciously, "Why are we talking about real-world things here? Besides, you were the one who said 'we should distinguish between reality and virtuality,' but now you're asking me about my real-world goals in the game..."

“Ah, you’re right.” With a sigh, Yuu Tenkuji turned her gaze to the top of the tent and said softly, “Never mind, forget I said anything.”

"...But it's no big deal to ask, anyway, my brother is very familiar with you."

Perhaps she didn't want the chat to end like that, or perhaps she didn't want him to look disappointed.

After subconsciously finding a reason to convince herself, Asuna turned over and looked up with him.

There was no romantic starry sky, only a small but warm blue canvas.

"My realistic goal... is probably to get into a good university, and then find a good job after graduation, right?"

Seemingly finding her words too uninteresting, she couldn't help but give a wry smile: "After all, that's how my parents taught me since I was little. Besides that, I don't know what else I can do."

Yuu Tenkuji turned his head to look at Asuna: "You're not interested in anything else?"

"I do have one or two interests, but..."

She closed her eyes, interlaced her fingers in front of her body, and stretched her arms forward as if she were yawning, letting out a lazy "hmm" sound.

Then, a sound like a canary flapping its wings and then quickly crashing into the railing quietly rose and fell.

“My mother would definitely disagree and would say something like, ‘Don’t cultivate any interests before going to college, just focus on your studies,’ so I didn’t think too much about it.”

"...I see."

Yuu Tenkuji did not offer any comment, but simply nodded thoughtfully.

"Yu-kun, what about you?"

Asuna turned her head and smiled slightly, gazing intently into his eyes as if searching for the fleeting shadow of a small fish beneath the clear spring water.

What are your dreams?

"me?"

"Well, we can't be the only ones talking, can we?"

After saying this with a smile, she looked at Tenkuji Yuu and paused for a moment as if thinking, then looked at her with those warm and bright black eyes like candlelight.

A gentle, warm smile, like a spring breeze, lit up inside...

Wait a minute, the sound of my heartbeat is so loud!

I just think it looks really good. What if he hears me?

No, no, that will definitely be misunderstood!

"As for me, I haven't thought of anything yet... but it'll be soon."

As for what he said afterward, and what expression he used when he said goodbye, that remains to be seen.

Asuna was so focused on maintaining her composure and preventing herself from overthinking that she used up all her strength, and she had almost no memory of the rest.

There was one sentence she remembered more clearly than anything else—

Good night, see you tomorrow.

△

"..."

Yuu Tenkuji took off his helmet, got up and sat on the bed, gazing at the vast night outside the window.

Darkness enveloped the city gently like a veil, and the faint sound of engines roaring past on the road could be heard, stirring up the lingering warmth of summer.

It doesn't happen that autumn arrives only after summer ends.

After watching quietly for a while, Yuu Tenkuji suddenly laughed, with a hint of helplessness and relief.

"I want to make awkward people smile openly, and I want to cheer up those who are down... These are heroic thoughts, not my style."

However, the dog system on his body was clearly leading him in that direction.