After saying her farewells to her friends, Asuna logs out from ALO and goes to join her mother, Kyoko, for dinner. Kyoko disapproves of her daughter playing VRMMO games, as well as her trying to do homework over a VRMMO, claiming that there's no point unless she "actually" does homework in the real world by herself. To that end, Kyoko would hire a private tutor. She also planned to have Asuna transfer from the school for SAO survivors, believing it to be substandard and little more than an "asylum" to contain the survivors, to one that a colleague has connections to.
Kyoko tries to convince Asuna that she had her best interests in mind, so that she could have a successful career and wealth. Asuna realizes that one of the people she met during her trip to Kyoto was a man Shoko wanted to arrange for Asuna to marry; the scion of a successful bank. Asuna does not want to marry him, and is shocked to learn that Kyoko had her actual boyfriend, Kazuto Kirigaya, investigated, finding him to be beneath her. Asuna leaves the dinner table, asking Shoko if she resented her own parents because she hadn't been born into wealth, infuriating her. She returns to her room and laments about how, in the real world, she wasn't anywhere near as strong as she was in SAO.
The next day, Asuna heads to the island where Zekken fights their duels. She is surprised to find that the legendary Zekken was actually a girl: an energetic young Imp named Yuuki.
The two commence their duel, and they wage a fierce battle with one another. In the end, however, Asuna is no match for Yuuki, whose reaction times are so lightning-fast that she was able to deflect one of her fastest Sword Skills.
To Asuna's surprise, however, Yuuki stops just short of finishing her off. She grabs Asuna by the hand and leads her outside of Aincrad so that she can ask for her help...
