-1686- Just dinner?

"This is my room."

With these words, Rozen welcomed Asuna into his room.

"This is it?"

Asuna looked around curiously.

"Do you feel like it's small and plain compared to your house?"

Rozen shrugged.

Compared to Asuna's home, Rozen's room was indeed nothing remarkable.

Not to mention that a guy's room generally lacks all the details a girl's room might have. Asuna's home belonged to a prestigious family, and just in terms of room size, it probably outmatched Rozen's by a significant margin.

However, Asuna's focus was quite different.

"It's much better than a room in an inn."

Asuna said this with a smile.

"Inn?" Rozen was startled for a moment, then couldn't help but laugh. "You think we're still in the game?"

The inn Asuna mentioned, of course, referred to the inns in the game.

More specifically, the inns in Sword Art Online.

In the world of SAO, Asuna was familiar with inns, but in ALfheim Online, she had never left that golden birdcage, so naturally, she wouldn't know what the inns in ALO looked like.

Now, Asuna was saying that Rozen's room was much better than the rooms in the inns in SAO.

But that made sense, didn't it?

"In SAO, inns were just places to sleep. At most, they provided a box for item storage, with hardly any other purpose. And since it had a medieval fantasy theme, some of them were incredibly simple. Of course, they can't compare to modern buildings."

Rozen said this in a rather exasperated tone.

However, Asuna merely chuckled.

"If that's the case, then it really doesn't matter." Asuna blinked and said, "I don't know how many times I've stayed in an inn's room, let alone a place like this."

Hearing this, Rozen realized Asuna was subtly telling him that she was already quite satisfied with his room.

"Alright." Rozen smirked. "You're getting better at talking circles around me these days."

"What do you mean, 'getting better'?" Asuna slapped Rozen on the chest, feigning annoyance. "I've always been smart, you know?"

"Heh..." Rozen gave a polite smile, not fully convinced, which only fueled Asuna's frustration. She hit him several times before finally calming down.

Rozen then led Asuna to sit on his bed.

"Why don't you stay here for dinner tonight?" Rozen suggested. "Afterward, we can go to the gathering."

"Is that... alright?" Asuna hesitated.

"Why wouldn't it be?" Rozen sighed. "Ever since I told my mom I'd bring you over for dinner, she's been quite startled. Today, she's all set to have a good chat with you; there's no way you're leaving."

That was why Kirigaya Midori was at home; otherwise, she would have gone to work by now.

"With your mom?"

Asuna started to get a bit nervous.

Seeing this, Rozen found it quite amusing.

"Are you afraid?"

His tone was full of teasing.

"I... I'm not!" Asuna replied defiantly, "It's just dinner and chatting, right? I can handle it!"

Asuna was trying to encourage herself.

If people who knew Asuna saw her now, they'd surely find it quite novel.

The person who once fought so hard on the frontlines, the Vice Commander of the Knights of the Blood Oath, the one known as the Flash Asuna, had never backed down, not even against Sugo Nobuyuki. But now, she was nervous over a simple meal, which would surely surprise everyone.

Perhaps this was the kind of nervousness that comes when meeting the parents?

And when a guy meets the girl's parents, it's no better; only Rozen would go and make deals with the father and outright ignore the mother when he first met them. Truly, one of a kind.

Compared to that, in the real world, Asuna had returned to being an ordinary girl who needed care and protection.

(I wonder how Romani would react if I brought Asuna back to Chaldea to meet him.)

He'd probably be speechless for a whole day.

(If I introduced her to Natsuki-nee...)

Rozen's expression suddenly froze, and he shuddered all over.

If that happened, he could only envision one outcome.

He'd be thrown into the ocean to feed the fish.

With that thought, Rozen decided not to dwell on it any longer.

(Let's... let's leave it for the future...)

Rozen backed down.

Only in front of Natsuki would Rozen act like this.

As the saying goes, every person has someone who can keep them in check. Rozen might dare to act arrogantly in front of other people's parents, but he never would in front of Natsuki.

Who could blame him, given how much he owed her?

It was a debt that he'd probably never fully repay in his lifetime.

Shaking his head, Rozen cleared his mind and looked back at Asuna.

"I think my mom will ask you a lot of questions, so be careful not to slip up," Rozen warned.

"Slip... slip up?" Asuna was puzzled. "Slip up about what?"

"For example, about us getting married someday." Rozen said casually, "I mentioned you to my family, so they know our relationship is special. But I never told them we're planning to marry; otherwise, who knows how they'd react?"

After all, in this world, most people saw Rozen as a high schooler barely past sixteen. Talking about marriage was quite far-fetched for most families.

"Of course, you could be honest with them." Rozen said, grinning. "Just be ready for my mom and sister to question you till sunset if you do."

"Then... maybe it's best to wait until there's a better time to tell them." Asuna shrank back slightly, looking timid. "Today, let's just focus on dinner."

Just dinner today?

Then what about next time?

Would it be more than just dinner, maybe more personal?

Rozen entertained these mischievous thoughts, his gaze turning a bit unrestrained as he looked at Asuna.

"Wh... what are you looking at me like that for?"

Asuna blushed and instinctively folded her arms, putting some distance between them and giving him a wary look.

Rozen couldn't help but laugh.

"Miss Yuuki, isn't it a bit late to be on guard?" Rozen teased. "If I really wanted to do something, you wouldn't have escaped the moment you stepped into my room."

"Wh... who says?" Asuna retorted, "If it really came down to it, I'd scream, and your family would come to rescue me."

"Really?" Rozen raised an eyebrow. "Want to test it out?"

He took a step closer to her.

"Thump... thump..."

Asuna's heartbeat immediately sped up.