So most of this chapter is from Kikuoka's point of view as he's handling the repercussions of the live feed, it's kinda dry but had to be done.

Now, some are complaining that characters are OOC, that they don't fit their previous roles, yadda yadda yadda.

Guys, I've said it like...a half dozen times, this is a mixture of SAO abridged, SAO Anime, and SAO Progressive as well as Nem's personal flavor of chaos. I know things aren't like they are in cannon, isn't that WHY we read fanfiction?

Anyway, once again big call out to Lady Lily Anne for being an awesome friend to bat ideas at, she insists otherwise but I still think she is co-creator of Keiko.

Please review

Kikuoka Seijirō was not in a good mood, if he were to be honest he hadn't really had a reason to be in good mood since this entire 'Death Game' situation had become more or less his problem. Sure sure the Virtual Division was put in charge of this situation from the get go but they had never been equipped to do so to begin with, nor after the fact for that matter.

They were supposed to be supervisors of a new era of technology stumbling through its infancy, more paper pushers than anything really; instead they had this life or death scenario thrown in their laps with no guidance as to how to go about their new unwanted jobs.

The Virtual Division was so, so very lucky he was undercover military otherwise they would be collectively screwed; and frankly it was the simple fact that he was not allowed to walk away from an unfinished job that kept him here despite his desire to do just that.

It wasn't smooth sailing in the least, even with Kikuoka's steady hand on the tiller. Oh no they had plenty of obstacles thrown in their path, the largest, most ominous being this goddamned live feed that everyone who worked under him agreed was a terrible idea from the start.

After the floor boss fight on Sunday night their division had been given a rather unexpected reprieve as the world absorbed Kirito's actions. The charismatic, manipulative, heroic and so, so young leader taking her friend Argo up on the offer to find the 'Martial Arts' extra skill, and thus far she and Asuna had spent two days punching a rock to earn said skill inside of a mountain grotto.

On the upside, both young ladies had amazing singing voices, if you were fond of listening to covers of pop songs anyhow, something he was sure Keiko would be heavily embarrassed of if anyone outside her family found out.

That thought led him full circle, where he was in a meeting room with the various ministers leading the government, ostensibly his 'superiors' considering his cover position. Sighing he observed the self serving bureaucrats with a gimlet eye, trying to understand exactly how they were going to try and pin this entire fiasco on himself.

Apparently, they had shockingly realized broadcasting a vindictive, psychologically damaged genius's personal struggles through a life or death scenario without any permission from her or her guardians was a bad idea. Never mind that there was a very real chance of said struggles becoming little more than a snuff film.

Go figure, he'd only been saying that for the entire week leading up to the live feeds release. The only reason this meeting wasn't more tense than it could be was that...Kirito and Asuna were punching rocks singing pop songs, or occasionally quoting poetry or pop culture references at each other. At the moment, they weren't in any real danger, and that made things slightly less poignant for those in power.

Sighing Kikuoka extended a finger to slide his glasses up the bridge of his nose before clearing his throat to gain the groups attention, "So, gentlemen, to what do I owe the invitation to this rather auspicious gathering?"

One of the men, the pig nosed fellow with an overbite, bad luck there, sneered at him as he gestured towards the documents scattered across the highly polished table.

"Your report stated that this girl would be the perfect figurehead for this situation, that we could use her to calm the masses, to let them know everything was under our control. Now look at this! The girl spits in the face of authority, she manipulates and toys with those around her and has no qualms with blackmailing those that get in her way. She is nothing like what the report described!"

Resisting the urge to let his composure slip Kikuoka reflected on the sad fact that, while they branched out a bit, there really were four primary personality traits that you'd find in the average human being.

Ironically, the most rare element was Common Sense, something that few possess, yet most think they have in abundance. More prominent and significantly more dangerous on its own was Pragmatism, a double edged blade there because sometimes the most obvious course of action is too obvious. Next and the most common was something that could be found combined with the prior two but was usually on its own, Ambition.

These ministers, all to the last, exhibited Ambition, but could only supplement it with a watered down, weaker version of Pragmatism, namely, self preservation. This led to terrible decision making skills, as shown with their insistence to go through with the live stream.

Kikuoka and Kouichirou, they had the blessed combination of Common Sense, Pragmatism, and Ambition, which tended to level one out enough to make well formed, educated decisions that in the end would benefit you. Asuna was heading this way as well, now that she no longer had her horrifically overbearing mother smothering said ambitions. Which was good because her partner exhibited all three of these traits, along with the rather terrifying fourth.

Keiko was Machiavellian, the ends justify the means.

She had Common Sense to avoid ridiculous situations where she could, the Pragmatism to accept the hand she was dealt, the Ambition to get what she wanted, and the willingness to do what needed to be done to achieve her goals no matter what.

Frankly, she was a terrifying echo of the very man who had her trapped in that death game, though Kikuoka sincerely doubted she would appreciate being compared to Kayaba.

These thoughts though were meant for another day, because at the moment he needed to react to one of his personal pet peeves, namely, getting blamed for other peoples colossal fuck-ups.

Sighing Kikuoka gestured towards the ten page report before him, "My report went over her extracurricular activities which included taking college level programming and mathematics courses while dabbling in hacking. Along with her prowess at kendo and parkour, as well as her psychological issues pertaining to the incident when she was ten.

"My report described an incredibly flawed, highly intelligent, viciously anti-social young teenager who is willing to leave her own comfort zone to, as they say, 'fake it' in order to survive. Did I say she had leadership qualities? Yes, did I say that was a good thing? No. She is charismatic, manipulative, nearly an anarchist when it comes to authority, and is intelligent enough to know how to play the hand dealt to her. So what I would like to know is how none of you are aware of this?"

There was silence, after a moment one of the quieter officials, Minami if he recalled correctly, coughed while gesturing to his fellows, "Several of my colleagues felt that the report was too long to read, and since you did not supply a summary they had ordered their aides to do so for them."

The man was shot death glares by some of his fellows, but most of them looked rather sheepish instead, all while Kikuoka was silently wondering why seppuku sounded like a pleasant alternative to being in the middle of this situation.

One of the trio that had been glaring at Minami blew up, how a man of his girth had such a shrill voice was beyond him, "If you had prepared a summary instead of requiring us to waste our time plowing through reams of technobabble we wouldn't be in this situation! If-"

"That is enough," Kikuoka stated coldly, he silently hoped his glasses were doing that intimidating glare thing he could sometimes pull off in artificial lighting, judging by the gulping men around the table he had pulled it off.

Good times.

"I did not provide a summary for you fools because I wished to ensure you read the entire document, to fully understand what you were consigning us all to. I was hoping, rather foolishly it would seem, that you would all wish to make a fully informed decision before violating a psychologically troubled genius's privacy in the hopes of staving off public ire at the VR industry.

"You three, yes you, give me these 'summaries' you forced your aides to write, now." It amused him that using the same tone to get his children to clean up after themselves forced them to obey, he wasn't even channeling any of his military training into it.

Reading over the three summaries quickly he pinched the bridge of his nose and couldn't help at marveling at the amazing spin of bullshit they'd managed. This made Kirito out to be a freaking Mary Sue of epic proportions, completely glossing over the fact that she was one firm shove away from becoming a violent sociopath. Frankly, he was impressed.

"All right," he began slowly, "I'm going to remind all of you that this was all your decision from the get go while I was adamantly against it, this is on your heads not mine. You three," he pointed at the trio who had handed over their summaries with a bit of anger in his voice, "Were hell bent on going through with this regardless. It isn't any wonder your aides wrote these up as they did, chances are you'd have fired them otherwise.

"So this is what is going to happen, I've been in contact with Yuuki Kouichirou over at RECT to build up a contingency plan, something that might well appease the girl when she gets out of the game in hopes of her not taking legal action against us." Little chance of that, but it would protect those who were actually against the plan to begin with, all he really cared about honestly, "So when I finalize it, you will all agree to it no questions asked."

Time to drop the bomb, "Or the Prime Minister will find out exactly how badly you fumbled this entire fiasco, do recall I am in the position to give him information directly, so lets all play nice and stop pointing fingers for the time being yes?"

Ah blackmail, it never ceases to amuse, Minami spoke up again, the edges of his lips twitching up ever so slightly as he nodded once.

"We will of course agree to any action the VR Division wishes to partake in so long as it doesn't push your budget or require more oversight from other departments." Boom, like that he had what he wanted, none of those who had pushed for this damned feed to go live wished to speak against it with that threat hanging over their heads and the moderates only speaker had gone out on a limb to support him.

"Excellent, with that I believe the meeting is adjourned?" He was dismissed with a few disgusted waves and left the board room, entering the hall he saw several young people standing around nervously and quickly realized it was the ministers aides.

Oh he could have a bit of fun with this, coughing lightly to get their attention he smiled blandly at that gathering.

"Excuse me, some of you may know who I am, others might not, regardless allow me to introduce myself. My name is Kikuoka Seijiro head of the VR Division and I just left a meeting with your bosses were they near collectively threw you all under the bus. Apparently they had demanded summaries of my report and had expectations that were unrealistic enough that some of you had to get creative in spinning the facts to match your employer's opinion."

Shuffling the purloined summaries he quickly stated, "So without further ado which one of you spun Kirito's highly manipulative tendencies to reflect an 'innate charm'?" One woman raised her hand shakily and he nodded giving her a kind smile before shuffling the papers once again, "And who turned her lack of hesitation to respond with violence to 'Highly protective of her friends and colleagues?'"

A man raised his hand looking honestly exhausted as he did so earning another smile, Kikuoka went to the third and final paper, "Finally who spun her complete lack of respect for the authority of others as 'A desire to strive towards her goals without having her independence threatened?" A gangly brunette man with a thin goatee casually waved his hand with a resigned look on his face.

Smiling warmly at these three he folded the summaries and placed them in his suits pocket before slapping his hands together in small clap that seemed to startle everyone. "Excellent! You three are likely going to be fired within the next five minutes so those fine gentleman can rest in assurance that this entire fiasco wasn't their fault but rather yours.

"So here's the deal, my division is in need of a PR department, something to help along a new project proposed by RECT entertainment to try and contain the backlash of all this. I'm offering the three of you jobs, starting today, including a 10% pay raise over what you are currently making, all you have to do is offer your resignations to your current employer right now. No need to be gentle."

All three blinked as one, and turned to meet each others gaze before, collectively smiling. That wasn't a good sign, they really must have hated the men they worked for, stepping aside Kikuoka gestured towards the door and three marched in slamming the door behind them. There was yelling, a bit of screeching, than silence, a minute later his new employees walked out of the office, all three seeming much more relaxed and alive than before.

The woman, who introduced herself rather informally as Nagi pulled a violet curl of hair behind her ear while grinning widely speaking for the group, "What next boss?"

Gesturing them to follow Kikuoka walked down the halls and much to his amusement the trio fell into a perfect military formation around him matching him step for step, he liked them already.

"Kou, that's our contact with RECT as well as Asuna's big brother has put out a plan to monetize the live stream, with his knowledge of his sisters likes and dislikes, and input from Kirito's family we know what the girls favorite products are. We offer said companies a chance to advertise during the live stream and put all proceeds into an account in Keiko, that is, Kirito's name and split a percentage between those she interacts with while the lions share goes to her.

"Once the new VR headgear is released in a couple months we offer the live stream in full dive for a monthly subscription fee, which as we all know people will pay. This will also go into the fund, so with any luck, when those girls get out of the game and find out they're filthy rich-"

The goateed man, Tsunayoshi snorted in amusement, "Than hopefully they won't do everything in their power to sue the government into bankruptcy, right?"

Kikuoka nodded, "With any luck, judging by her personality though I doubt Keiko is going to be forgiving to everyone."

The man with silver hair, Hayato, finally spoke up, "But if she wakes up to a literal fortune and finds out who is responsible for it, she'll do her best to avoid involving them in the backlash."

Kikuoka smirked, "Exactly."

Nagi exchanged looks with her friends and grinned in turn, "Sounds like fun."

It took three days, three goddamned days for the two girls to break the rocks and earn the Martial Arts skill. Was it worth it? As Keiko spun around in a blur of moves doing her best to impersonate Spike Spiegel she could honestly say 'yes,' it had totes been worth it.

Asuna, much to her partner's amusement was acting simularly while adding in Bruce Lee level psych-out noises.

The perfect ending to a rather strange adventure if she had any say in it.

Now though the pair were walking back to the city as Kirito was arranging a message to Argo, negotiating the profit split for selling info on the skill and how long it took to earn it. She...she really wasn't sure how to handle the situation she found herself in with the older woman, yeah she had tried to help but...it was Argo. She sold everything, no loyalties to anyone but herself...yet...she really had wanted to be friends...

"A col for your thoughts?" Asuna muttered as she was still spinning about playing with her new moves, Kirito stared up at the starry sky a few moments before shrugging in resignation.

"All my instincts tell me I shouldn't trust Argo since she's, you know...an information broker. But...we were friends, in the beta, before this entire life and death thing became reality, and she had kept my secret, that I was actually a girl. So, I don't know what to do, should I let her in, and risk her betraying me for a profit, or should I just reject her?"

Asuna was quiet for a time before responding, "She didn't have to tell us how to earn the Martial Arts skill, and she really did appreciate you saving her from those ninja thugs. While she sold me bad information it wasn't intentional, her data was just outdated... I honestly think she really does just want to help you out..."

Kirito stewed on that a moment before sighing and hitting send on her message, "I've been such a bitch to her...you're right, I should have been more open minded about it... That aside, wanna find a inn for the night, tomorrow Diavel is going to go after the field boss and he wants us there, you in?"

Asuna grinned as she grabbed Kirito's hand and began swinging the intertwined limbs back and forth, "Of course, we're partners after all!"

HAHAHA! Fuck you writers block! I won out! *Cough* please review.