On the 22nd floor of a building in a high-end residential complex in Tokyo.
Sugo, having returned to his apartment door, reached into his bag for his keys. Just then, he suddenly heard a young voice.
"Have you met Yuuki Asuna?"
"Who?" Sugo's hand froze. He spun around to see a hooded boy with a youthful face, like a student who had just entered high school.
Sugo's mind raced for a moment, then he relaxed.
'Probably a classmate of Yuuki Asuna's,' He thought, 'He must have heard from somewhere that her parents plan to introduce her to me, and now he's showing up unannounced.'
Thinking this, a benevolent smile spread across Sugo's face.
"Students should focus on their studies now, not think about romance."
Yusei's face maintained a faint smile. He slowly shook his head.
"I don't know Yuuki Asuna. Or rather, I don't know her yet. I'll get to know her after SAO launches. And I came here just to ask you to die, to save me the trouble of you being a nuisance behind the scenes later."
"What did you say?" Sugo was stunned, not quite processing the boy's words, when he saw a pair of red eyes.
Then, his consciousness was already altered by Yusei. His face took on a blank, dull expression.
"Later, you will go to a bar to drink, then pick a fight, and get killed by the bar's thugs." Yusei issued the hypnotic command.
"Yes..." Sugo responded dully.
After successfully hypnotizing him, Yusei left immediately, leaving Sugo standing there in a daze.
After a while, Sugo suddenly started, scratching his head.
"Huh? That's strange, what was I doing?"
He thought for a moment, then seemed to remember, "Oh, right, I remember I was going to go drinking later."
Standing at his own doorstep, Sugo turned and left, heading for the most troublesome bar in the area.
…
The next day, a weekend with no school. Yusei sat in the living room, drinking milk and eating bread while watching the news on TV.
The news anchor, a woman in her thirties, had a serious expression.
[Early this morning, at the 'Lame Bird' bar, a fight broke out involving weapons, resulting in one fatality.]
[The cause of the altercation is still unclear, but building a harmonious society and eradicating violence should be the duty of every citizen....]
Seeing this morning news, Yusei felt much better, and his appetite improved considerably.
With the SAO launch date approaching, getting rid of a potential pest early was quite satisfying.
"Comfortable."
Yusei took a sip of milk, feeling very much at ease.
For him, this SAO journey was for Shiro. He wanted Shiro to enjoy the game to the fullest, and he also wanted to experience what a truly immersive game felt like.
Under his influence, the game's difficulty was actually quite low. Shiro herself had a genius-level intellect and her understanding of games far surpassed his own, so he wasn't worried about her ability.
Talking about games made him think about missions.
'Speaking of which, the last time the system issued me a mission was when I became Old Man Koken's disciple, right?'
Just as he thought this, the system in his mind suddenly sounded.
[Mission Target: Clear SAO.]
[Mission Reward: Mangekyo Sharingan.]
[Special Achievement Reward: Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan (Enhanced Version)]
The sudden mission made Yusei pause, but it was quickly followed by pleasant surprise.
'Finally, a mission! And such a generous reward!'
Just clearing SAO would evolve his eyes to the Mangekyo-level. That was incredibly convenient.
What surprised Yusei even more was the later reward, the [Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan], not to mention the added [Enhanced Version].
He didn't know what the [Enhanced Version] meant, or what the [Special Achievement Reward] entailed, but he guessed it probably involved performing exceptionally well within the SAO Game.
Yusei hadn't expected such a windfall to come his way just as he was about to play a game.
'Three days until launch. I'll use these days to draw more of the [Attack on Titan] manga, as compensation for not being able to update for the next few months while I'm in the game.'