Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-142.116.101.203-20170605024627/@comment-27384850-20170606014728

Ordinal Scale was also originally written with the intent of being post-Alicization, however, this was changed by Itou (the director). I'd bet money that the scenes with Kirito going to Asuna's house were written for the original idea of Ordinal Scale and kept in despite the shift on the timeline.