Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-162.210.247.179-20191010163316/@comment-26871907-20200115170209

37.59.132.203 wrote: When did he call Asuna his friend ? Do you mean the scene where Kirito is introducing people to Sinon ? is there any other scene ?

if it's only the Sinon's introduction scene, then firstly, in the novel, Kirito never said "these are my friend from ALO"  plus he never directly refer to Asuna as friend even in anime. he is just generalizing when introducing all of his friends.

2ndly, why do you think Kirito intorduce every person with some kind of nickname ? Rip-off blacksmith, Berserk Healer, Agil the Wall. it's becouse Sinon was stranger to them and Sinon had a trauma of making friends, since all her friends before either bully her or end up wanting to kill her... she was extremely fearful and anixious and kirito was lighteing up the mood with some joke.

3rdly, Kirito and Asuna are so obvious that they are a couple that just a few minute of talking, you can see Sinon in the novel start thinking in her mind :

The way he explained that made her wonder if the two were a couple.

so as you can see, there is no need to yell, Hey ! this is my Girlfriend, everyone can see it if they are together for a bit, and it's kinda rude to tell it to others on their first meeting. I agree with you