I, the spiritual mentor of beautiful girls from all over the world

He simply let her hold him quietly, feeling her body trembling violently and the hot tears that soaked his chest.

The girl in his arms had cried until she was almost mute, only able to let out weak, intermittent sobs like a small animal.

“Lynn…Lynn…”

She called his name again and again, stubbornly, with her last ounce of strength.

It was as if this was the only piece of driftwood she could grab onto in the dark sea that was about to sink.

She knew that pleading was useless.

The rules set by that demon named Kayaba Akihiko cannot be changed.

So she gradually stopped her meaningless pleas for life.

Slowly, with all her might, she lifted her tear-streaked, pear-leaf-like face from his embrace.

She looked at him, and his calm, godlike face was reflected in her hazel eyes, which were now crystal clear from the tears.

She smiled, a smile more heartbreaking than tears.

"I... I won't ask anymore."

Her voice was hoarse, yet it carried a sacrificial, sacred resolve.

"I have only one... final request."

She reached out her slightly trembling hand and gently, tenderly, touched his cheek, as if to remember his eternal features with the touch of her fingertips.

"Lynn..."

"Don't forget me, okay?"

Even if my soul dissipates...

Even if everything I have is formatted...

"And please..."

"Occasionally, I can recall that clumsy and cowardly girl named Yuuki Asuna..."

"I used to like you so much."

After saying this, she seemed to have exhausted her last bit of strength, slowly closed her eyes, and prepared to face the final, meaningless end.

She thought that she would eventually fade away in this silent tenderness.

But what she received was not a cold emptiness.

Instead, it was a soft chuckle.

His voice carried a faint hint of laughter, a mixture of teasing and tenderness, but the words he spoke—

Enough to turn the whole world upside down!

"dissipate?"

"Who said you were going to disappear?"

Asuna's crying stopped abruptly, as if someone had pressed the pause button.

She suddenly raised her tear-streaked face, her swollen, red hazel eyes filled with incomprehensible bewilderment.

Lynn, what... is he saying?

Looking at her adorable, clueless expression, Lynn couldn't resist gently pinching her soft cheek.

Then, he snapped his fingers.

"Snapped."

A crisp sound echoed in the quiet room.

The next second, the sky collapsed and the earth cracked.

boom--!

The world before Asuna's eyes began to collapse like a mirror shattered by a heavy hammer!

The soft bed where she slept for two nights;

That kitchen where she personally burned countless slices of bread;

The bookshelf was filled with books she couldn't understand...

All the warm and cherished everyday scenes she experienced during those three days—

At that moment, they all turned into countless scattered fragments, dissipating in all directions.

In the blink of an eye, the entire cozy room vanished without a trace.

Instead, there was a deep, boundless, pure darkness.

In the very center of this darkness, an enormous virtual screen appeared out of thin air.

The screen lit up, displaying a scene she knew all too well, viewed from a godlike, bird's-eye view—

SAO, the bustling square of the starting town.

Countless panicked players ran around the plaza, crying and desperately trying to access the long-dead logout button.

Immediately afterwards, time sped up, and the scene changed.

We arrived at a lush green grassland.

A girl wearing a deep red cloak closed her eyes in despair.

Before her stood a ferocious, raging wild boar about to crash into her.

That girl was herself!

The scene was precisely paused just before the wild boar's sharp tusks were about to touch her body.

Asuna Yuuki's brain completely shut down.

She stared blankly at the still, incredibly realistic image on the screen...

She looked at herself again, and then at the man beside her who had remained calm throughout.

"This……"

She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

Lynn's voice slowly rang out at that moment, clearly reaching her ears, like a final verdict being read out.

"You are not dead, Yuuki Asuna."

"This is not some afterlife, and I am not some hidden NPC."

"This is my 'home'."

“And you,” Lynn paused, then uttered the word that made her soul tremble in a calm, factual tone.

"Just a guest that I 'invited' from that death game."

not dead?

guest?

Family?

These few simple words, like a series of depth charges, exploded in her already overloaded brain, leaving her mind blank and disoriented.

She froze, remaining unresponsive for a good ten seconds.

He just stared blankly at Lynn, his beautiful hazel eyes filled with the ultimate philosophical questions of "Who am I? Where am I? What happened?"

Looking at her adorable expression, which looked like she was about to burn out her CPU, Lynn chuckled softly.

The most effective way to deal with such moments of logical confusion is to use more primal instincts to override her unruly rationality.

He lowered his head, and precisely... looked into those slightly open, still dazed eyes...

"Well……!"

Asuna's eyes widened instinctively, but her body's reaction was far more honest than her brain's.

Almost instinctively and skillfully, she wrapped her arms around his neck, subconsciously responding to this sudden gesture.

A familiar, reassuring scent instantly enveloped her.

five minutes later.

When the two separated, Asuna's cheeks were so red they looked like they were about to bleed, and her eyes regained a sliver of clarity.

At that very moment, she finally... realized what was happening!

She didn't die!

The "cruel" truth, and the immense elation of surviving the ordeal that followed, overwhelmed her reason like a burst dam.

She didn't even think about how Lynn did it, nor did she care whether she had been deceived.

Because, ever since she gave everything to this man, she subconsciously held an almost blind and absolute belief in everything he said.

Therefore, what he said must be true!

"I'm alive?"

Asuna subconsciously reached out her trembling hands and touched her cheeks.

The warm, real touch of skin, the pounding of my heart like a drum in my chest, and the warm tears sliding down my cheeks...

So it turns out... that bowl of creamy stew that warmed her soul, that bed that allowed her to sleep peacefully... all the real feelings she cherished were real!

All of this tells her—she is not a cold string of data, nor a soul about to dissipate!

I'm still alive!

The life she thought was completely over actually... had a sequel!

She could... she could see Lynn again... she could be hugged by him again!

"Waaaaah—!"

Tears of ecstasy welled up in her eyes once again, more turbulent and unrestrained than ever before.

Having "died" once, she understands better than anyone how precious the word "living" truly is.

But then, another, even more devastating realization struck her like a belated tsunami.

etc…!!!

If I hadn't died, if this weren't the afterlife, if Lynn wasn't an NPC...

So... what have I been doing these past two days?!

In her mind, the images began to replay uncontrollably and wildly.

"Before my soul... completely dissipates, please allow me to dedicate it to you."

“This is not begging, nor is it repaying a debt of gratitude. This is the first choice I, Yuuki Asuna, have made for myself.”

"Tonight...can you stay with me the whole time?"

boom--!

Scenes that were incredibly embarrassing, lines that sound so explicit now that they'd make you want to groan or even die on the spot…

They played on a loop in Asuna Yuuki's mind, complete with 3D surround sound.

She wasn't confessing to cold data or a fictional god.

Rather, it is about a…living, real, deity from another world…

He voluntarily gave up everything he had!

No, that's not right. It can't be described by the word "proactive" anymore!

That was... that was like a shameless... (?) insatiable wildcat that had been starving for three days and three nights, had never been loved, and had never been pampered!

Upon seeing a warm door, it desperately tried to squeeze inside, sticking its butt out and using all its strength to please the only owner who had ever given it warmth!

An overwhelming sense of shame, enough to make her instantly ascend to the heavens, shot from the soles of her feet straight to the top of her head!

"Ugh... Ah... I..."

She let out a dissonant, animal-like wail.