Zongman, Rebirth of the Heaven-Defying Kirito

The wind chimes in the entryway were still swaying. Suguha hummed a club song as she changed her shoes, then draped her backpack strap over the hook.

After pouring myself a cup of barley tea, I collapsed onto the living room sofa, took a deep breath, and sighed, "It's so comfortable at home!"

I wish these carefree days could last forever.

Then she heard muffled voices coming from a cell phone receiver on the second floor, around the corner.

"Um...I'm available anytime."

"Okay...we'll go with the time Asuna suggested..."

"...See you at the usual place."

The sound was intermittent; only her own brother's voice could be heard, while the other person on the other end of the call couldn't be heard at all.

But this didn't prevent Leafa from extracting crucial information from it—Asuna.

The name sounds like it belongs to a girl, but it seems like this is the first time I've ever heard of her.

Eh? What's going on?

The name exploded in Suguha's mind like an ice bead falling into boiling water.

She thought she knew all of her brother's friends, like that blond boy in her class, but she had never heard of this name before.

Could it be... that Onii-chan has a girlfriend?

At that moment, Kirito came down from the second floor: "Oh, it's Nao. You're back early today."

In fact, Suguha had already moved subconsciously as his foot approached the corner.

Instead of sprawling on the soft sofa, he sat upright, picked up the freshly poured barley tea with his right hand, and rubbed the bottom of the cup with his left.

It's like a child who's been playing games all day suddenly hearing their mother come home; they almost instinctively try to cover it up.

"I came back early because there were no club activities today."

As she spoke, Suguha met her brother's gaze, but quickly looked away.

Kirito quickly sensed something was off and felt that something was wrong with his younger sister today.

So he asked, "I feel like Xiaozhi is acting strangely today. Did something happen?"

"Do I look strange? Maybe I'm just a little tired from practicing too much?"

"Didn't Xiaozhi say there were no club activities today?"

"Who...who said you can't practice if you don't have club activities?!"

Seeing that the other person was so emotional, Kirito stopped asking questions, but still left a message: "If anything really happens, be sure to tell me, and your brother will help you solve it."

After saying that, he poured himself a drink and then went upstairs.

Suguha breathed a sigh of relief; thankfully, she had gotten away with it.

Onii-chan is still Onii-chan, even after getting a girlfriend, he's still so gentle with me.

...Wait, I almost forgot.

Thinking of this, the relaxed expression on her face fell again.

Years of living together led me to mistakenly believe that life would continue as usual, but I was wrong.

My brother is growing up too, and when he reaches the right age, he'll fall in love and eventually get married...

That's probably when the brother and sister will part ways.

Thinking of this, Suguha felt a wave of powerlessness wash over her, and she collapsed onto the sofa, her arms feeling as heavy as a thousand pounds, unable to lift them.

But then, as if remembering something, Suguha sat up abruptly from his deathbed.

"What if... what if Onii-chan was just fooled by a bad woman?"

After all, even his older brother is only of school age, and marriage is still a long way off.

It turns out that people will grasp at any straw when they are desperate.

"It's decided. I'll secretly gather intelligence and make Onii-chan wary of bad women!"

So at dinner that evening.

What appeared to be a cozy dinner for the two of them was actually a source of intense nervousness for Suguha.

There was nothing she could do; it was the first time she'd ever done something like this.

She didn't muster the courage to speak until they were almost finished with their meal: "Um... does Onii-chan have any plans to go out recently?"

"No, Xiaozhi, where do you want to go?"

"I didn't really want to go anywhere~ Ahaha..." Suguha's laughter, though concealed, carried a hint of smugness.

After all, she clearly heard the two agree to meet, but her brother said he had no plans to go out recently. What does that mean?

This means my guess was correct; maybe Onii-chan doesn't have a girlfriend at all!

Oh, I was just scaring myself.

But thinking about how careless her brother was, she reminded him, "I heard that online scams are rampant lately, Onii-chan should also be more careful."

"Don't worry, your brother isn't that easily fooled."

Kirito just smiled, taking it as Nao's concern for him.

Seeing that her brother didn't take it seriously, Suguha said seriously, "These days, scams are different. They'll pretend to be women online to attract men, then have long, in-depth conversations with you, making you completely immersed in the 'online romance.' In the end, the person might not even realize that the scammer is actually a man more than ten years older than them..."

"Ah..." Kirito was taken aback by the other person's eloquent speech: "Nao really knows a lot."

"Huh? Actually, I just heard it by chance... I just overheard it from a classmate!"

Suguha hurriedly covered up the fact that she had deliberately searched for him: "Ahem, anyway, Onii-chan, you have to be careful in SAO, don't be deceived by the appearance of strange girls."

"I'll pay attention."

That would make us safe for the time being... at least that's what Suguha thought.

......

At night, on the sixth floor of SAO, moonlight shone on the 'Giant City of Paladins and Holy Swords'.

Apart from a few players still fighting hard in the suburbs, the whole area appeared peaceful, and was even more tranquil under the cover of night.

At this point, Kirito and Asuna chose a secluded, quiet meadow to begin their date.

The two of them looked more like they were having a picnic.

The two sat on a white tablecloth, and under Kirito's longing gaze, Asuna slowly took out some food from her backpack.

Roasted saury leg, predatory salad, barnyard bread...

Kirito immediately grabbed a large piece of meat and stuffed it into his mouth, exclaiming as he savored it, "Delicious, so delicious!"

"Really, eat slowly, there's still plenty left." Asuna simply watched with a smile.

Kirito was happy that he liked the food, and the other person's puffed-up cheeks made him look quite cute.

Asuna chuckled softly as she watched him wolf down his food. She reached out and gently brushed the breadcrumbs from Kirito's mouth, her eyes full of affection.

Kirito immediately cried out, "You have no idea how I've managed these past few days. For days on end, I could only watch the delicious food go into his mouth. I could see and smell it, but I couldn't eat it. It was so unbearable!"

Huh? There are quests like this in SAO?

Although Asuna had never heard of it, she could imagine Kirito drooling over a pile of delicious food.

As he was thinking about it, he suddenly burst out laughing.

Kirito muttered, "Fine, you're laughing at me, aren't you?"

"Sorry, sorry~" Asuna calmed herself down: "I'm just curious why Kirito would do a mission like that, it's so inappropriate."

Kirito sighed, "It's all for the future of SAO~"

Asuna assumed the other person was joking: "Okay, okay, so hurry up and eat, don't let this delay your school time tomorrow."

"Good~"