Free Sword Art Online - Volume 1 - Aincrad by Reki Kawahara Page B

amount of food they ate, so it sent fake signals to the parts of the brain registering heat, taste, and smell to trick it. In other words, our real bodies weren ’ t actually eating anything right now, and all that ’ s happening was that the program was wildly stimulating our brains.
    But thinking of such things in this situation was just not cool. I was, without a doubt, eating the best food I ’ ve tasted since logging on. Asuna and I didn ’ t say a word and continued to go through the process of scooping up the soup with our spoons and bringing it to our mouths.
    Finally, as we cleaned our dishes — in every sense of the word, as if the stew actually existed — and left the empty plate and pot in front of her, Asuna let out a big sigh.
    “ Ah … I did well to stay alive till now …”  
    I totally agreed. Feeling full with the pleasure of having completely fulfilled a basic need for the first time in a long while, I sipped the mysterious-smelling tea. Does the taste of the meat I just ate and of the tea I ’ m sipping actually exist in the real world? Or were they man-made by manipulating the system? I pondered these thoughts absent-mindedly.
    Asuna, sitting opposite of me with a tea cup held in her two hands, broke the few minutes of silence that lingered after the end of the feast.
    “ It ’ s strange somehow … How should I put it, I feel like, I was born in this world and I ’ ve been living here until now or something. ”  
    “… me too. Lately there have been some days when I didn ’ t think about the other world at all. It ’ s not just me either … There aren ’ t many people who are obsessed with ‘ clearing ’ or ‘ escaping ’ nowadays. ”  
    “ The pace has slackened as well. There are only about five hundred players on the front lines now. It ’ s not only because of the danger … everyone, has gotten used to it, to this world …”  
    I simply stared at Asuna ’ s beautiful face, with the light from the orange lamp reflecting on it.
    That face, it was definitely not a human ’ s. With smooth skin and the shiny hair, it was too beautiful to belong to a life form. But to me, the face didn ’ t look like it was made from a bunch of polygons anymore. I could accept that it was what it was. If I returned to the real world now and saw an actual person, I ’ d probably feel pretty disconcerted.
    Did I really think that I wanted to go back … to that world … ?
    I was puzzled by the sudden thought. I woke up early and gained experience points while mapping the labyrinth. Was this really because I wanted to escape from the game?
    In the past, I really did. I wanted to get out as fast as I could from this death game where you had no idea when you could die. But now I ’ ve gotten used to the game-.
    “ But I want to go back. ”  
    Asuna said in a clear voice as if she ’ d seen my inner conflict. I raised my head sharply.
    Asuna smiled at me for some reason and continued.
    “ Because, there ’ re so many things, that I haven ’ t done yet. ”  
    I willingly nodded to this.
    “ Yeah, I suppose we have to try our best. I won ’ t be able to look at the faces of those technician classes that supported us if we don ’ t …”  
    I drank a mouthful of tea, as if to get rid of the conflict inside me. The top floor was still far away. It wouldn ’ t be too late to think about all this then.
    Feeling strangely honest, I stared at Asuna while trying to pick the appropriate words to express my gratitude. Then Asuna scrunched up her face and waved her hand, saying.
    “ N-N, no. ”  
    “ Wh-What? ”  
    “ Some male players confessed to me when they made that expression. ”  
    “ Wha …”  
    Disappointingly, although I had mastered my battle skills, I ’ d never experienced that before, so I simply opened and closed my mouth without being able to rebuke it in any way.
    Asuna looked at me and laughed. I must seem pretty half-witted right now.
    “ So there ’ s