A Place in my Dreams

by SeerKing

Slaying Kayaba Akihiko on the 75th Floor was more significant than one Kirigaya Kazuto anticipated. It elevated him to a position beyond humanity, one that had graced the world for ages. He was now a Campione, a God Slayer. For all his enemies, there would be a place for them in Kirito's dreams...(Eventual harem)

6. Tomo, Asuna and Keiko

"Asuna!" - Regular Speech

'Kirito-kun!' - Thoughts

" Starburst Stream! " - Authority Chant

"Godslayer!" - Heretic God/Empowered Campione

Beta'd by BigCC

Chapter 5: Tomo, Asuna and Keiko

The Next Day

Living Room, Apartment of Hosaka Carina Tomo, Nishitokyo

Kirigaya Kazuto felt oddly bemused as he watched his first subordinate-slash-mistress continue to cackle like a hyena high on laughing gas. She had been like this since she passed through the doorway and it didn't seem like she was going to calm down any time soon.

"So, Tomo-chan, I take it that you enjoyed yourself while delivering our 'message' to the HCC?" he asked dryly while the honey-haired girl momentarily paused to try and catch her breath.

"Oh, Kii-bou, it was pure gold!" Tomo responded gleefully, an absolutely evil grin spread so wide across her face that he was honestly surprised the top half of her head hadn't actually detached itself. "Ya shoulda' seen how that dried up old Renjō nob nearly keeled over when I mentioned that you knew what that Tatsumi asshat was tryin' to do wit' Keiko and that you weren't happy 'bout it! He looked like someone had just dropped an aggroing Floor Boss right inta his lap. He practically fell over himself trying to get himself outta th' hot water."

"And the rest of the guys who took advantage of one of ours will be in that same tub as well?" Kazuto asked with the start of a smirk on his lips. Hearing about the frankly ludicrous amount of yen that Keiko SHOULD have been compensated for every use of her [Divine Servitude], Kirito had been more than a bit outraged at how thoroughly one of his friends had been taken advantage of.

"Heh, oh yeah!" the half-blooded ninja mage offered, frowning just a bit. "Fer all that I wanna complain about that Sayanomiya Bifauxnen, she's always taken her position as representative and leader of the HCC's Hime-Miko very seriously, and she honestly has been pretty buried under after suddenly being thrown into the top seat of both her clan and the HCC. I'm sure the chaos the SAO debacle kicked up and trying to figure out where magic got involved into it didn't help any either. Now that she's been clued into what was happening to Keiko, she'll start a full investigation into every Hime-Miko in Japan and make sure that no one's tried the same shit with them while she was busy."

"…just how many Hime-Miko are there?" Kazuto asked curiously. "The name and what little I've been able to learn about them seems to imply that they're fairly rare, but the way you're talking about them makes it sound like there's more than a few."

"That's 'cause Japan has always had a pretty large population of them thanks to the bloodline of the Princess with Glass Eyes. Most major countries are lucky to have more than half a handful at a time, but in Japan we've got around fifteen active ones if yer countin' the Mariya Sisters and Seishūin Ena; and they've pretty much moved to Italy for now."

"Those are three of the mistresses of Kusanagi Godō, right?" the young Campione asked, trying to remember what he could of his closest 'brother.'

"Yep. Story I heard says that he became a Campione while he was on some trip to Sardinia and came back to Japan not long after with the Diavollo Rosso an' the Fairy Knight in tow." the former Info Broker turned Spy Mistress offered. "He way only a year or so older than the two of us when it happened. Granted, that was quite a while before he ended up fightin' the King Who Manifests At The World's End, mind you."

"And who exactly was that?" Kazuto asked, feeling a bit unnerved all of a sudden and not knowing why. It honestly sounded like the kind of title Kayaba would give one of the upper-level Floor Bosses, but it still sent a chill up his spine for some reason.

"An unstoppable force and the most dangerous supernatural disaster in the world. A Heretic God beyond all other Heretic Gods, one who hunted and slew Campione and Heretic Gods alike." Tomo offered seriously. "Used to be that he would suddenly manifest every thousand years or so and then scour the world of any trace of the Divine, be it Campione, Heretic Gods, Divine Ancestors, or even Grimoires and other Artefacts if they somehow caught his notice, along with anyone who stood in his way before vanishing once again. The last time that the King of the End manifested, as in the time before he fought King Kusanagi, he gave birth to the legend of Camelot, King Arthur, and the Knights of the Round Table. Luckily, he was defeated by King Kusanagi and sent back to the Domain of Immortality like any other Heretic God. So long as no one manages to find a way to summon him up, and trust me when I say that every Mage Association in the world is doing their level best to make sure that doesn't happen, he shouldn't be able to show his face again for at least a few thousand years."

"Brr." the thought of being forced to solo that kind of opponent, who by the sounds of it made the monstrous amalgam of Kayaba and Morpheus seem tame in comparison, was not one he was excited about.

"Eh, he only showed up at the end of eras anyway, so either way we'd still be good for at least the better part of the next millennia or so. That's how he got his nickname, after all." Tomo offered with a bit of a grin. "Besides, like I said he's already bit the big one, so no need to worry 'bout him Kii-bou."

"That's reassuring, I suppose." Kazuto nodded absently before deciding to move on. He didn't even bother asking about how the HCC had treated the matter regarding the Hosaka Family; the sheer SMUG that his Beta Buddy was radiating when she had arrived back had said all that needed to be said on that matter.

A knock on the door had Tomo hopping to her feet and trotting off for a moment, only to return moments later with Ayano Keiko at her heels. Something which had changed since she had formally sworn herself irrevocably to his service was only visible to those who possessed magic; a golden collar that wrapped gently around her neck. It honestly looked more like a length of intricately woven golden rope done in knot like a miniature, one-piece shimenawa and was emblazoned with the symbol of the paulownia flower at the centre of her throat, which was apparently what Keiko's Hime-Miko abilities had declared his personal symbol should be. That was actually a little bit embarrassing, considering that flower was also the symbol of office for the Japanese Prime Minister.

Because of that, he could now track Keiko's presence anywhere in Japan with a thought, and she in turn could be made aware of his attention and presence with just a bit of focus on his part. The look of joy that had been on her face when she looked into the mirror after declaring her formal oath, which had reminded Kazuto a bit too much of a bride's marriage oaths to be really comfortable with, had done… interesting things to his mind. And of course, his Campione instincts had immediately classified Keiko as 'his Hime-Miko' before the ceremony was even over.

Stupid ultra-possessive instincts. And Sugu wasn't 'his' either, dammit all!

"Kazuto-sama!" Keiko greeted him happily. If she were a dog or something, the girl's tail would have likely been wagging up a small storm. It was rather adorable, honestly.

"Keiko-chan." he returned the greeting casually but warmly. "Anything to report? Good news I hope?"

"Hai! The head of the Renjō personally came to our home and promised my parents that he would ensure that Renjō Tatsumi would not be bothering us again!" the Dragon Tamer of SAO offered excitedly. "He also delivered four million yen to my parents to cover my previous 'services' to the HCC. That fully covers all the times that a member of the History Compilation Committee requisitioned my abilities, plus a good bit extra!"

"Looks like the Sayanomiya Bifauxnen has decided to hit the ground runnin' on this one." Tomo offered with a grin as she dropped herself onto a zabuton cushion. "What're yer parents plannin' on doing with that little influx of cash?"

"They wanted to give it all to me, but I only asked for them to let me take a million; they're going to split the rest, invest one half and use the other to pay off all the bills and stuff that piled up while I was caught up in SAO!" the Hime-Miko answered as she sat herself down on her own zabuton far more gracefully than Tomo had.

"That was very good of you, Keiko-chan." Kazuto said, offering her an approving smile, which made the young Miko blush.

"They deserve all of it and more after all they've done to protect me from over the years." Keiko answered with a sigh. "It can't have been easy for them, and I knew that we should have gotten something for me using my powers but I had no idea it would be that much!"

"Ya need to expand yer horizons a bit, Keiko-chan. What you were paid is chump change compared to what some of the older Hime-Miko can earn for use of their powers." Tomo argued with a shake of her head. "Granted, it's an agreeable sum for what yer age and power level was back when you were actually doin' the work, but if someone wanted yer services now, then I'd charge 'em at least twice the old rate. It's actually a bit of shame that ya can only 'serve' one master at a time, but at least now you don't have to worry about the HCC knockin' on yer door every time they think you could be useful. Not if the ones doin' the knockin' have any brains in their skulls."

The reason for that was unspoken but obvious to all three of them. Kazuto was now Keiko's 'master' and thus she could not use her powers in the service of anyone else without his express permission. And no one was going to be eager to go up to a Campione and request permission to borrow his Hime-Miko unless it was truly a case of 'need to' rather than simply 'want to' like her more recent 'jobs.'

"Say…Kii-bou…." Tomo asked cautiously after a moment of peaceful silence crept over them. "Ya never did explain to me why you and A-chan split up after the Elf War on the 9th Floor. Does it have anythin' ta do with why she cut contact wit' me an' everyone else after that?"

"Ah…" Kazuto winced a bit. "That…well that's…complicated. In the last battle of the Elf War Campaign, the NPC Dark Elf Knight, Kizmel was a member of the same party as me and Asuna and she…she died. Even now, Asuna and I still aren't really sure of how it happened, that final battle was utter chaos and we got separated. I'm still inclined to believe it was the work of that Player Killer, Morte, and the rest of his fledgling group that ended up growing into Laughing Coffin, but that's neither here nor there. The point is, Kizmel died and…and she and Asuna had gotten really close since we met her, as you know. They were almost like sisters near the end."

That made both Keiko and Tomo visibly wince.

"Yeah, it was bad. She had a major breakdown because of it and ended up trying to convince herself that NPCs weren't…real, I guess. That they didn't matter in the least if it meant that we could get out of Aincrad faster." the former Black Swordsman grimaced at the memory. "She focused everything on getting out of Aincrad after that, wouldn't let herself even think of anything else. We…we had a major fight after she tried to use NPCs like cannon fodder and she pretty much cut me out of her life. I guess she did the same to everyone else as well. She just kept bulling along until we hit the GeoCrawler Field Boss on the 56th Floor of Aincrad, the one I had to duel her in Half-Loss Mode in order to stop her from just luring it into an NPC village and letting it rampage about so the clearing forces could trap it and attack while it was distracted."

"T-That's…!" Keiko gasped in horror.

"Yikes…A-chan…" Tomo muttered softly. She'd heard about it, but to hear it confirmed from her friend/King's own lips was a different thing entirely.

"Since I won that duel, Asuna's plan wasn't used, and it turns out the boss would fall asleep whenever a certain lullaby was sung or played. Asuna was the one who found that out after she encountered another NPC, one named…Ruru I think." Kazuto continued. "After that, the actual GeoCrawler battle was a cakewalk as soon as we had a Player with the [Musical Instrument] skill play that lullaby. After that, I think she finally realized that there was more to getting out of SAO than just surviving and pushing forward. Then the Murder in the Safe Zone Incident happened and we teamed up to figure it out and reconnected. From there, she started getting better, but until she saw you in the hospital, I don't think she ever really forgave herself for cutting you out like that."

"Aw, silly little A-chan." the young woman known as 'Argo the Rat' in SAO just shook her head fondly at that. "As if I'd hold a grudge over somethin' like that. I'm more irked about how she treated the NPCs than her ignorin' me."

"Yeah, she was really ashamed of herself about that after she managed to get her head back on straight." the boy let out another sigh. "While we were married in-game, she admitted that she was sure that Kizmel would have been really disappointed by the way she reacted. And she's not wrong, Kizmel would have been disappointed, but she would have also tried to help her. I'm more ashamed that it took me so long to actually get through to her."

"Kii-bou, you were just a teenage boy back then, not a Campione, a miracle worker, or even a therapist for cryin' out loud." Tomo offered him reassuringly. "Ya managed to get A-chan back on the straight and narrow in the end, and I'm sure that Kii-chan would have been damned grateful for that."

The black-haired Campione let out a tired breath, but nodded. "Probably. Thanks, Tomo-chan."

"Ano…Kazuto-sama…does Asuna-san know about…all of this?" Keiko asked, indicating the three of them and the room at large with a broad gesture.

"She was there when I met with Kayaba and Morpheus so she knows about magic and the broad sweeps of what happened to me. Whether she actually believes it or not is another question entirely." Kazuto offered with a tired groan. "No, she doesn't know about the HCC, the full details about Campione, or even the existence of the magical community at large, let alone that you two are now my subordinates and 'mistresses.' I am really not looking forward to seeing how that talk is going to go. 'Oh by the way Asuna, Argo the Rat and Silica the Dragon Tamer are now my mistresses. Oh, it just kinda happened and why are you drawing Lambent Light?' Yeah, I have absolutely no clue how I am going to explain any of this to her without getting stabbed, let alone dumped."

"An' then there's the magic that Morpheus gave her that's still lyin' dormant inside her; waitin' fer whatever signal it needs to come alive." Tomo pointed out with a scowl. She was still very much not happy about a Heretic God messing around with one of her friends like that. "Well, A-chan already knows that I'm hangin' around ya, so includin' Keiko into our little group ain't gonna be that much of a stretch. I can also remember another SAO survivor that's connected to the magical world and will even be attendin' our Survivor's School…ah! Shinozaki Rika, or as you two probably better know her, Lisbeth the Blacksmith!"

"Wait, LIZ of all people was a mage?!" Kazuto blinked in surprise. The hard-working, teasing, and short-tempered blacksmith certainly didn't seem like the mystic type.

"Yup, though she's an independent magic user rather than a part of the HCC." the Last of the Hosaka explained with a frown. "That's rare, really rare, in this day and age. Most magic users will at least become minorly affiliated with their local Mage Association to get access to the information sharin' and resource benefits that they tend to offer up, if not the security aspect. Give me a sec."

Pulling out her brand new smartphone, the honey-haired girl quickly tapped away at it for a moment before she smirked in triumph. "Aha, that explains it! She's a Witch!"

"A what now?" her King asked in confusion.

"There's a buncha' different flavours and varieties of magic users out in the world, Kii-bou." Tomo elaborated. "I'm what most of the world generally refers to as a Mage, a standard magic user not trained for combat as a primary field. Keiko-chan here is a Hime-Miko, a descendent of a Heretic Goddess who lost most of her power and was incarnated as a mortal woman, a Divine Ancestor, and gained special abilities from it. A witch is, very simply put, a Mage with the disposition of a Hime-Miko. They're the only type of mortal magic users out there that can truly fly without it just bein' fancy fallin', glidin' with extra steps, or lettin' yourself be thrown around by the air."

"Sounds useful so far." Kazuto noted.

"Yeah, they can be pretty powerful. There are two main types of Witches out there. Witches of the Earth and Witches of the Heavens." the Mage explained. "Both types use different systems of magic and have different strong points, but both can get quite high on the power ratings. Liz is a Witch of the Earth, from what little I can pull up on her."

"Hmm, she and Asuna were close in SAO, so introducing them again in IRL seems like it'd be a good idea." the Campione thought aloud. "But she'll likely panic if I'm the one to approach her, because I'm apparently now some scarily massive beacon of magical energy according to you, Tomo. And I don't think you and Liz ever met in-game, Keiko?"

"No, I…I could never build up the nerve, and I didn't want to take her attention away from the Front Liners who needed her more." the Hime-Miko answered with a shake of her head.

Hiding a frown at how lacking in confidence Keiko was, Kazuto made a mental note to do something to encourage her a bit later. "Well, that leaves you to make the approach, Tomo-chan. I know she met Argo the Rat more than once and if anyone could track her down it would be you. And I think you mentioned earlier that your family's magical practices made you a bit like a ninja; does that include having a trick or two to conceal your magical abilities?"

"Yep! Glad ya thought of that, Kii-bou!" Tomo offered with a grin. "Just leave it to me. I met Liz quite often ta sell her info on new and interestin' mats she could use in her smithin' work. How do ya think she got all of that info on [X'rphan the White Wyrm] and the rare metal that it had?"

"Hah, I should have known that you had your paws involved in that misadventure, Argo!" Kazuto offered with a laugh, deliberately using her game handle now. "Liz and I almost ended up getting eaten by that damned lizard, you know."

"Meh, I knew that anyone Liz would ask to escort her would be capable enough to keep 'er safe." the former Info Broker rebuffed flippantly. "Anyway, I'm gonna make some tea, either of you two want some?"

"Sure." Kazuto nodded with a resigned sigh escaping his lips. Trying to argue or scold Argo/Tomo when she got like this was an exercise in futility. If he even tried, she'd just end up manipulating the conversation into something embarrassing, perverted, or probably both.

Godslayer or not, he knew that he couldn't win a war of words with Tomo, so it would be best to just enjoy his tea and move on.

Watching as his first subordinate, and boy did it ever feel weird to think of her that way, walk off towards her kitchen, Kazuto had to smile a bit. 'Well at least my life isn't going to be boring with Tomo around.' he thought absently, bemused once more by the situation he found himself in.

Later That Day

Renjō Bakushaku's Office, Renjō Family Estate, Tokyo

"YOU GORMLESS, DIM-WITTED LITTLE FOOL!"

Renjō Tatsumi did his best not to cower before the rage leaking off of his grandfather, despite Renjō Bakushaku being quite a bit shorter than him and that a desk was standing between them. Tatsumi himself was a handsome-enough young man in his twenties, with immaculately coiffed hair and sharp grey eyes, and he was currently dressed in what had to be a personally-tailored black suit and hand-made black shoes.

"O-Oji-ue, please." the younger Renjō begged. "H-How could I have known that that stripling girl was associated with the newly emergent Campione!?"

"By actually taking a look at the list of mystics and other persons of interest involved in that SAO debacle that the History Compilation Committee were able to confirm had interactions with the new Campione and had distributed to the Four Families! I personally had copies given to even the most minorly important member of our Renjō Family, so don't even try to pretend you've never seen it!" the Head of the Renjō Family snapped back with a snarl. "The bloody thing wasn't even that long and that girl's name was right near the top, you bungling little waste of oxygen! Now, because you don't seem to have the common sense of a fly, so much of our Renjō Family's hard work over the recent years has come completely undone!"

"W-What do you mean, Oji-ue?" Tatsumi asked, gulping fearfully.

"Hmph! Typical overly-ambitious pups, you lot never think beyond your own short-sighted ambitions to look at the bigger picture." Bakushaku huffed in annoyance before deciding to explain just how much his idiot grandson had managed to screw their family over. "For the past several years, our Renjō Family has been gathering influence to push for a rewriting of the laws that would reallocate the duty of paying Hime-Miko for their services away from whatever Family, individual, or group that requested their aid, and instead see that any work that they do for the Committee would instead be paid out of a fund that would be communally maintained by the Four Family equally. This would remove some of the Sayanomiya and Seishūin Families' ability to profit from their bloodlines' abilities and allow us to more easily make use of the HCC's Hime-Miko. However, because of your damned recklessness, that bifauxnen brat has already started sniffing about every Hime-Miko in the HCC and she's uncovered just what we were planning and is moving to utterly sink all of our hard work."

The elder Renjō slammed his fist into the desk in frustration. "Not only was I forced to openly apologize to our ungrateful stray descendants, but I was also forced to pay out four million yen from our family's coffers to cover all the previous times that either our family directly or one of our associates made use of that damned brat's abilities. That money will be coming directly out of your own pocket, boy!"

"…yes, Oji-ue." the younger Renjō had no other option but to bow his head. Four million yen, while not an insignificant sum by any standard, would not be a major setback for him.

"Furthermore, Sayanomiya Kaoru is now on a fucking crusade against everyone involved in our plan and is hunting down every single time that a Hime-Miko was rebuffed or otherwise denied their proper payment and is coming down on those responsible like a Wrathful Buddha. You'd best hope that most of them won't be able to be directly linked back to us, otherwise you'll be paying for every one of them as well!" The old man continued bitterly. "But more importantly, you have cost the Renjō Family more than simply money, grandson; you have cost us years' worth of work, you have cost us an immense amount of political capital already leveraged, you have managed to ruin several favours that we would have been owed, and worse of all you have caused us a significant loss of face."

Again, Tatsumi fought back the urge to cower. For a family as old, traditional, and status-conscious as the Renjō, the dishonour caused by a loss of face was far worse than any financial or political losses they might have accrued.

"I sincerely doubt that you truly understand just how much your short-sighted obsession with acquiring that girl has cost us, Tatsumi. As your elder, it is thus my duty to elucidate you to everything you have cost the Renjō Family." Bakushaku growled as he slumped slightly back into his seat, his raging anger mostly spent for the moment and reduced to a burning frustration. "In the aftermath of Sayanomiya Toshiro's sudden and unexpected passing via a freak accident, there has been a brief but ideal opportunity to affect and enact changes within the HCC. The new head of the Sayanomiya was fumbling as she tried to balance her newfound responsibilities and duties as a Family Head and the Head of the HCC with her previous duties as Head of Japan's Hime-Miko. This presented a plethora of cracks that we of the Renjō have been using to try and strengthen our position. Then you came along, played your hand far too heavily and, with neither my knowledge or consent, attempted to force a fourteen-going-on-fifteen girl into an Omiai. A girl that just-so-happened to be a 'dear comrade' of the newly emergent God Slayer and thus brought an immense amount of attention onto our recent actions."

The glare that he levelled at his descendent may not have been as heated as the previous ones, but the sheer disappointment and annoyance conveyed in it was palpable.

"I have already stated where you made your mistakes, but I will now list them as clearly as possible so there can be no misunderstandings here. One, you did not check the list despite having to have known that stripling girl you are so obsessed with was part of the same incident that gave birth to the newest Rakshasa Raja. You did not bother to even check with me or any other higher-ranking member of our Family to see whether your little plot could interfere with any of our active plans. You simply attempted to use our family name to try and bully a small offshoot branch of our family into handing you their daughter." the old mage sighed tiredly. "By doing this, you have unravelled nearly half-a-decade's worth of our family's work and effort. Oh, some portions may yet be salvageable and our work to increase the visibility of the Renjō will doubtlessly be kept, but our attempts to subvert some of our two largest rivals' power base have all been utterly and completely set to flames."

"I…I am truly sorry, Oji-ue." Tatsumi could only offer up a nervous apology.

"No, you are simply sorry that you ended up getting caught." Bakushaku corrected absently. "Unfortunately, even if I were inclined to ignore this, I cannot simply wave this foolishness away; not with the Campione well aware of you and what you attempted. I must punish you severely for your actions against that girl if the Renjō are to not earn His Majesty's ire."

"But, Oji-ue…" the far younger man tried to argue, but was quickly silenced by his grandfather directing a dark glare onto him.

"Enough!" the Family Head commanded simply but sharply. "You are already trying my patience, Tatsumi, and, my own blood or not, you do not wish for me to lose my temper over this. This is for the good of the Renjō Family and Name, so you will accept and abide by your punishment without complaint. Am I understood?"

Quelled, the younger man said nothing and simply nodded sullenly.

"First, you are to be confined to the estate for the next six months barring an emergency." Bakushaku stated simply. "As you are not working directly for the HCC yet, that should be little more than a slap on the wrists for you. Second, the funds that our Renjō Family has been forced to sacrifice will be coming directly from your personal accounts rather than the Family funds, and that includes any other incidents that the Bifauxnen manages to link to us. Third, you are to have no further contact or even enquire about Ayano Keiko or her family ever again. As far as you are concerned, the Ayano Family no longer exists. Fourth and finally, half of your monthly stipend will be confiscated for the next year and sent to Ayano Keiko as a direct gesture of apology from the Renjō Family for the discomfort that one our own has caused her."

"Half!?" Tatsumi squawked indignantly.

"Would you rather try and live off of the bare minimum for the next year!?" the elder Renjō threatened. "One more uncalled for word out of you and that is exactly what you will be experiencing!"

With an almost-silent whimper, the younger mage shook his head.

"Good. Now learn from your mistake." Bakushaku stated, deciding to offer a bit of wisdom to his overly ambitious grandson. "No matter how high the mountains may reach, they shall forever remain beneath the heavens. No mere mage can hope to try and challenge a Campione and survive. I will not say that your plans to try and incorporate a Hime-Miko bloodline directly into the Renjō Family's was without some merit, but your approach was far too direct and heavy-handed. Any further attempt to pursue such a goal will have to wait for at least another generation or two to give King Kirigaya a chance to cool his head and forget our attempt to take what he saw as his."

Taking a final breath, he dismissed his descendent with a simple motion. "Go back to your area of the estate for now, and do not let me catch sight of you for the next few days. I will be far too busy trying to clean up and salvage what I can from your mess to have any further patience with you."

Bowing, Tatsumi left his grandfather's office and walked back to his own section of the sprawling estate that was home of the majority of the Renjō Family's Main Branch. There were only twenty or so member of their direct bloodline left, and each adult was allowed their own section of the estate's grounds.

"See that I am not disturbed for the rest of the day!" Tatsumi spat to his housekeeper as he entered his own personal dwelling. The woman merely bowed silently, knowing better than to speak and risk drawing his ire. He stomped into the room specifically prepared to handle spell practice and spent the better part of the next hour venting himself by releasing spell after spell of his favoured wind element, leaving the target wall looking like it had been attacked by a madman armed with a sword.

"Shit! Shit! Damnit all, what the fucking hell!?" Tatsumi snarled out as he blasted out spell after spell. "My plan was going fucking perfectly! If that damnable Campione hadn't stuck his nose into…! What the flying fuck was a Hime-Miko doing even being involved into those stupid video games anyway!? That worthless servant!"

He'd had several viable Hime-Miko to target for his plans, but had selected Ayano Keiko because she was young and thus could easily moulded to suit his desires, had been weak-minded enough to be easily trained and controlled, and was physically petite which suited his personal tastes when it came to women. Granted, her Hime-Miko bloodline was fairly weak and thus would bring less value than some of the other options, but she was supposed to be just the first step! Once he'd managed to secure her and proven his plans' merits to his elders then they could have started to gather the rest of the Hime-Miko without strong blood-ties to either the Sayanomiya and Seishūin and have them incorporated into the Renjō bloodline via a few well-planned marriages.

It would have all been perfect, adding considerable clout and notoriety to their family's bloodline and he, as the originator and organiser of the plan, would have soared even higher in acclaim among his family, perhaps enough to finally secure his position as his grandfather's successor.

But now, however, he was basically stuck under house arrest, all of his 'projects' forcefully paused or derailed at the risk of attracting his grandfather's ire again. He could still freely wander the interior of the Renjō Estate, of course, but the fact that he was now trapped while so much of his work would be left to wither or stagnate rankled him beyond measure. Still, as his grandfather had said, it was a slap on the wrists compared to what could have been done to him. The two financial punishments, on the other hand, were what was truly making him irate. Either on their own would have been an annoyance but bearable, but combined they would severely curtail any of his workings going forward.

Tatsumi did not consider himself a spendthrift by any measure, but the old adage about needing to spend money to make money was also true in the games of politics and influence. Those penalties, combined with the level of extravagance expected on a direct heir of a bloodline as auspicious as the Renjō, were going to severely hurt many of his plans going forwards and he might be forced to discard many of his own plots simply because he wouldn't be able to afford the costs anymore.

'It will all depend on just how much Sayanomiya Kaoru's little inquisition manages to link back to the Renjō in the coming weeks.' he thought to himself bitterly. He had never liked the bifauxnen, she was far too smug; always acting as if her vaunted Hime-Miko bloodline somehow made her above the likes of him. Bah, Hime-Miko were nothing compared to true mages, merely tools that could be wielded by proper wielders of magic. Granted, Seishūin Ena, the honoured holder of Susano'o no Mikoto's Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi, which combined with her [Divine Possession] ability had earned her the title of Hime-Miko of the Sword, was an incredibly dangerous threat on her own, but she was simply the exception that proved the rule. There was no other Hime-Miko that had any practical value on the battlefield.

They were simply resources. Yes, they were useful and sometimes even vital resources, but resources all the same. They should not be allowed to try and direct their betters.

Shaking off his mental rant on his, somewhat unique, bias regarding Hime-Miko, Tatsumi managed to gather himself once again. This was nothing more than a setback. This new Campione was supposedly even younger than Kusanagi Godō had been when he had first ascended as a Godslayer; still a student in school. That likely meant the boy wouldn't be coming haring off after him anytime soon, even if that little bitch had decided to spread her legs to get him on her side.

As he planned out his next moves, he was unaware of a pair of divine eyes that were watching him from afar.

The Next Day

Shinozaki Residence, Yagisawa, Nishitokyo

Double-checking that her magical concealments were all in properly in place, Tomo peered cautiously up at the house before her. The Shinozaki family home looked to be your basic detached house, with a small garden and wall in front of the door. It was exactly the kind of place you'd expect a modestly well-off, upper-end of Middle-Class Japanese family to live. To the eyes and more supernatural sense of a magic user, however, one could detect the numerous subtle wards, spells, and enchantments covering the building.

Shinozaki Sai and his wife, Shinozaki Mayuka, were both regular mages that were associated with the History Compilation Committee, with Mayuka's family having the bloodline of a Witch. Oddly enough, the woman herself was not actually a Witch. That was odd because ordinarily, Witch bloodlines tend to breed true and strong up to a certain point; every female born to the family would likely be born a Witch, while male decedents would simply be normal, if slightly stronger-than-average, mages with a slight chance that their daughters might be born Witches. Having managed to track down her target's family tree, she'd noticed that Rika's family had somehow seemingly lost the potential to give birth to new Witches nearly four hundred years ago, right at the start of the Edo Period, with Rika herself being the first Witch born of their bloodline in centuries.

'Quite a few strange things seem to have happened back then. How very interestin'.' the Last of the Hosaka mused sceptically. That bastard Sayanomiya Eisuke had started his plots to cripple her Clan at the exact same time that a long and prestigious line of Witches seemingly lost their inherited ability…

Tomoe by her very nature was not a big believer in coincidence, and this frankly stank of something bigger happening behind the scenes. She'd have to look into it further later on and see if any other 'mysterious misfortunes' had befallen magical bloodlines of a matriarchal leaning during that time.

Putting that idea to the side for now, the honey-blonde girl once more checked her concealment technique. The Hosaka Family, as a clan of spies, had always specialized in concealment, movement, and subversion spells. That, of course, also included spells that could occlude their own status as magic users from most normal means of detections. Their family's go-to spell for concealing their magic from detection, Door of the Sheltering Sun Goddess: Ame-no-Iwayato (Heavenly Rock-Cave Door) , was rather simple for its highly auspicious name, but was incredibly effective at what it did.

It was far from a perfect stealth spell by any measure, but it was likely going to be more than enough for the moment. While the main members of the HCC would have been made aware of just who Hosaka Carina Tomo was, associate members wouldn't have been clued in just yet. Associates were those that wanted some form of independence from a Mage Association while still having its protection from major threats. One of the trade-offs for such a deal was that they were rather low on the priority list when it came to dispensing important knowledge among the Mage Association.

Squaring her shoulders, Tomo quickly rang the doorbell next to the gate and waited. A half-moment later, a rather pretty woman with brown hair and eyes peeked out of the open door. "Yes…?"

"Hello Shinozaki-san." the former Information Broker bowed slightly. "I am Hosaka Tomo, is Shinozaki Rika-san in? She and I were acquainted during the SAO incident, and I recently moved into the area and was hoping to track down some old friends that I knew lived nearby and introduce myself properly before the Survivor School opens."

"My, how polite of you." the woman, Shinozaki Mayuka, offered her a smile. "I'm afraid that Rika is out at the moment running a few errands, but you are welcome to come inside and wait for her."

"Thank you." Tomo said with a happy smile. "Ojamashimāsu!"

Minutes Later

With Shinozaki Rika/Lisbeth the Blacksmith, Streets of Nishitokyo

Rika did not have a lot of reasons for cursing magic, either her own or in general, but right now she honestly wished that her parents hadn't used theirs to get her body back up to full strength so quickly without anyone noticing. If they hadn't then she currently wouldn't be traipsing around buying stuff from a dozen different stores all across the Yagisawa district.

Sure, none of the items individually were all that heavy or otherwise hard to carry, but it all added up and she was, as she stated earlier, being forced to walk a full circuit around Yagisawa just to grab everything while carrying her ever-increasing load. Why her parents refused to just have their stuff delivered like regular people these days was beyond Rika, but apparently her imprisonment in Sword Art Online had left them with a newfound distaste for modern tech.

Just another reason for her to spit on that bastard Kayaba's grave, she supposed. Even while he was rotting, he still ended up making her life more difficult.

Fortunately, she was at long last finished and almost home. The last item was in her bags, the last bill paid in full, and she could see her house from where she was standing!

'Great, now I can get back to working on my arguments to keep my parents from trying to drag me along with them into joining up with the HCC.' she thought grimly. As she was now officially seventeen, her parents could no longer just force her to join the local Mage Association with them, something that they had been working up to before SAO had happened and things had gotten…chaotic. Instead, now they had to convince her to willingly go along with them when they decided to join, something that the young Witch was not at all eager to do.

The 'why' behind that decision was a bit nebulous, though. A gut feeling? An instinct? Some strange shiver that went through her magic whenever she thought of it? More akin to a strange mix of all three, and Rika was still clueless about just what exactly was causing it. As a Witch of the Earth, her magic wasn't nearly as focused on the more esoteric arts of divination-related witchcraft that Witches of Heaven tended to practice, but both schools had at least some prescient abilities within them. Trying to dive into hers hadn't revealed any new information, but had reinforced those same feelings of disquiet. In the end, all it did was leave Rika was very much against the idea of joining the HCC.

Unfortunately, her parents weren't willing to accept a 'gut feeling' as a good excuse not to gain the benefits fulling joining the Mage Association could bring their family. And you know what, that was fair on them, but Rika was not going to doubt her instincts on this one. Those instincts had helped her develop her skills as a Witch despite not having any real mentor in those magical arts, had kept her alive through several near-misses while she was trapped in Aincrad, and she trusted them implicitly by this point. Speaking of Aincrad…

'Kirito…' she let out a wistful, mental sigh. The boy that she had fallen hard for, but had stood back to let her dear friend Asuna chase after her own monster crush on the black-clad boy. She'd even heard that the two had ended up tying the knot in game and she was pretty damned sure that the 'Black Swordsman' was involved in whatever had ended SAO prematurely. She just hoped that his damned devil's luck had managed to hold out and he was alright now.

"I'm home!" Rika called automatically as she made her way into her family's home.

"Hey Liz! Th' claws ya made for me broke! Can ya make some new ones for me?" a familiar voice called out, and Lisbeth the Blacksmith answered back automatically.

"Again!? Just how many of my masterpieces do you intend to ruin, you infernal little rodent!?" she shot back in annoyance before pausing in shock as she processed what had just happened. Nearly dropping her bags, Rika sped into the living room where the voice had originated from and could only gape when she caught sight of Argo the Rat, sitting as casually as she pleased on her couch and sipping at a cup of tea. Even outside the game, the little rodent still managed to radiate ALL the smug as she snickered in amusement at her little prank.

The fact that her mother was sitting there, barely hiding her own giggles, only added to the disjointed image before her.

"AGRO!?" she half-gaped, half-shouted, the young Witch's jaw nearly falling out of its socket.

"Yo, Liz-cchi!" the insufferable little mouse offered a cheery wave and smile in greeting. "Nice place ya got here. Just moved to Nishitokyo myself and I happened to find out a few of my old in game pals also lived nearby, so I thought I'd drop in and say hi."

"Please, for the love of all things holy, stop calling me 'Liz-cchi', it makes my avatar sound like some weird type of cheese when you say that." Rika rebuked automatically. "And the name is Shinozaki Rika, remember it you money-grubbing miscreant."

"Hosaka Carina Tomo, at your service. Though considering everything, please feel free to call me 'Tomo-chan.'" Argo responded with a smirk.

"Rika-chan, why don't I take those and you can take Tomo-chan here up to your room for a chat." Mayuka offered as she stood and quickly grabbed the bags from her daughter's unresisting hands. "I'm sure the two of you have quite a bit to talk about. Lunch should be ready in about an hour, by the way."

Still shocked by the sudden appearance of Argo within the sanctity of her house, Rika just nodded along and beckoned Tomo to follow her upstairs.

Rika's room was actually fairly cute, for all that the girl herself was more than a bit of a tomboy. She also made sure that she didn't keep any of her magic paraphernalia up here; everything like that was always kept securely hidden in the basement with her parents' stuff just in case something like this happened.

It was partially the desire to have a full and proper workshop that had her parents so dead-set on fully joining the HCC, but a family could only join if every of age member (which was 17 in the magical community) in the household agreed. Honestly, it was fast approaching the point that Rika was considering moving out and letting her parents do their own thing while she did hers. It wasn't like she didn't have any experience looking after herself after all.

With a slight shake of her head, the Witch quickly put that line of thought to one side as she sat herself down on her bed, watching as 'Tomo-chan' commandeered her desk chair.

"Alright, first off; how the hell did you find out who I am and where I live?" she asked bluntly. Experience had taught her the best way to deal with Argo was to attack directly, otherwise the sneaky little tease was liable to draw things out for her own amusement while injecting innuendos whenever she saw an opportunity.

"Ah, that? I know someone who knows someone that has an in with the Sword Art Online Victim Rescue Unit." the shorter girl responded, grinning unrepentantly. "I'm also an emancipated minor out of necessity, so I have free access to my family's funds, and just like in Aincrad, when money starts to talk, people have a tendency to listen."

Rika couldn't help but just goggle at the teenaged girl who had just unashamedly admitted to bribery of public officials! What the utter hell?! She'd always thought that the whole 'Argo the Rat' persona from SAO was just that, a persona, an act; but this seemed to indicate that there was a lot less difference between 'Argo' and 'Tomo' then she would have thought. That was…both comforting and terrifying for very different, but very similar, reasons.

"Anyway, you're not even the first on my list to hunt down, that was Kii-bou. So, you wanna hear just how Aincrad actually ended?" Tomo asked, pulling Rika out of her shock.

"Urgh, I knew that boy was going to be involved in that mess." the Witch of the Earth rolled her eyes with a fond huff as she regained her equilibrium. "He just cannot help but dive into trouble head-first, can he?"

"Nya-hahahaha! Ya got ol' Kii-bou pegged right and proper, don't cha' Liz-cchi!" the former Info Broker cackled happily before she suddenly stiffened and became serious. "I should warn ya' though, this ain't gonna be a very happy story, but Kii-bou managed to make it out in the end, at least."

She then launched into a story that had Rika gasping in utter outrage and wishing she could get her hands around her faithful hammer just so she could introduce it to 'Heathcliff's' stupidly smiling face. How dare that utter bastard fool around with them for all this time!? Her anger and frustration continued to build to tooth grinding levels at how he had talked down to the entirety of the Clearer Force, only for all of that to vanish as her heart nearly leapt up into her mouth when Tomo told her about his offer to duel Kirito one-on-one with his life on the line!

"What in the name of all the gods was that fool boy even thinking!?" she hissed out, utterly furious from a mix of concern and worry. She forcefully reminded herself that Tomo had already said that Kirito had survived, but still!

"He wanted to put that nightmare to an end once and for all." Argo/Tomo responded simply. "He was fightin' to get us and everyone else out of that hell before it killed another one of our friends; there was no way someone like Kii-bou could just walk away. The final boss standing right in front of him, offerin' up his vulnerable neck and even promisin' to match Kii-bou's HP and disabling the 'trump card' that let him win their first match? It was too much of a good offer for Kii-bou to be able to walk away from, no matter the risks involved."

The Rat then continued as Rika slowly digested that, explaining Heathcliff's promise to prevent Asuna from killing herself if he died, which brought up a whole new slew of mixed emotions for that wonderful little black-clad bastard. Then there was the duel itself, a blistering recounting of swordplay so intense that even just hearing the details via Tomo's recounting had her heart thumping. Then Heathcliff pulled out his last card and transformed into his true 'final boss' form, some kind of giant, winged minotaur.

Rika's heart nearly stopped when Tomo finished the fight with how Kirito had beaten Heathcliff but had lost the last of his HP to earn that final hit.

"But…but you said he was still alive, right?!" she asked hoarsely, needing to be sure.

"Yeah, Kayaba decided that the hero dying slaying the monster didn't fit the kind of story he was writin' or some other drivel, but Kii-bou made it out in one piece, thank the kami." Tomo muttered out, her own eyes a little misty. She really didn't like thinking of how close her 'Beta Buddy' had come to stepping off the mortal coil. Which…he actually had, just in a very different way than what anyone could have expected. "So yeah, that's pretty much everything that happened at the end of the game. Then there's what I've learned about A-chan. Whoo boy, is that a whole different kind of roller coaster."

"Asuna? What happened?" Rika asked, feeling a little less like her heart was caught in a vice now.

"Remember that Sugou Nobuyuki guy that had all his dark and dirty laundry plastered across the net for everyone to see by Kayaba? Bastard was apparently the one A-chan's parents wanted to marry her off to." Tomo offered with a snort. "Not that A-chan ever wanted to have anything to do with that scuzball."

"Wait, wait, wait. The guy was supposed to be in charge of RECT Progress was Asuna's fiancé?!" the Witch gawped. She hadn't bothered to take a look at the so-called 'Sugou Files' herself, but from what she had picked up, the guy was a very messed up piece of work.

"Yup. Creeper was downright obsessed with marryin' our girl so that he could take over the parent company of RECT Inc." The was nothing but pure, icy distaste in the half-blooded girl's tone. "He was a real nasty little bastard. Anyway, A-chan is still going through physical therapy, she apparently had it a bit worse than the two of us, but she's almost at the point where she can switch from a pair of crutches to a single cane, so I was thinkin' that she deserved a nice surprise and another friendly face around other than me, Kii-bou, and her brother. Her old lady is apparently a piece of work herself and had been tryin' to set up Asuna with some new old guy before our girl finally lost her temper and laid into her right and proper; which seems to have taken some of the fire out of her. So, you interested?"

"Hell yeah!" Rika didn't even have to think twice about reconnecting with the girl that had been her best friend for nearly two years. "When and where?"

"Couple 'a days from now at the Tokyo Metropolitan Matsuzawa Hospital in Setagaya." Tomo offered with a grin. "Kii-bou said he'd have yer name added to the approved visitor list on the down low so we can surprise her, just like I did. A-chan'll will be fit to jump for joy when she gets to see ya again."

"Didn't she have any real friends before SAO happened?" Rika asked, feeling a bit concerned.

"Nah, from her own words she only had a few 'acquaintances' and some 'academic rivals', but no one she felt she could call a friend." the honey-haired girl replied with a scowl. "From what I could piece together, it was more of her mother's work. Before SAO, she had A-chan under her heel, forcing her to do nothin' but study and learn how to be 'proper lady.' Not sure about you, but I've got a right and proper urge to go slap a bitch."

"Just let me find my hammer." the Witch agreed with a scowl. She knew that there more than a few 'traditionalist' people like that in the HCC, which just another reason she wanted nothing to do with them. She put that all aside for now, deciding to move to a different subject before she could start plotting how to place a curse on a certain well-deserving old sow. "So, how's Kirito doing?"

"Kii-bou? Oh, he's just fine and dandy. Already up and walkin' around like nothin' happened." Tomoe answered with a grin, a knowing look on her face. "He actually been workin' out something fierce to get back inta 'proper shape' as he put it. He's more muscled than his avatar was in game now~."

"W-wow…t-that's good to h-hear." Rika stammered as she blushed at the thought. During SAO, Kirito had been handsome, albeit in a slightly feminine way, but adding some extra muscle on top of that? Yummy yum yum. "Is…is he going to be there in two days time?"

"'Fraid not. He's got an appointment wit' the former head of the SAOVRU, Kikuoka Seijirō." the smaller girl responded with a frown. "He's been buggin' Kii-bou somethin' fierce about it for the past few weeks, likely 'cause he was the one who killed that asshole Kayaba in the end. If he doesn't back off after this though, I'm gonna have ta deal with that nosy spook, personal like."

"Wow, protective much?" the best blacksmith of SAO responded, one curious eyebrow raised.

"Kii-bou's the type that is good at puttin' on a front, but once ya get to know 'im better you'll find he's a lot less confident and self-assured, and a lot more delicate than you'd think." Tomo stated with a look that Rika had never seen on Argo's face before, something almost…tender. "He doesn't like ta' let his fears and his problems show so he keeps 'em all bottled up. Kikuoka is an annoyance, but he's also got Kii-bou startin' to worry 'cause he's bein' so stubborn 'bout this. I personally think the guy's workin' some kind of agenda, and I don't like that he's trying ta wrap Kii-bou up in it."

"Why not just tell the bozo to just buzz off and go to hell already, then? SAO's long over and the VRU has lost most of its authority." Rika asked, frowning now. "Just because Kirito is an SAO Survivor doesn't mean that this guy's got any right to butt his nose into his life."

"Depends on just what the government is anglin' after." Tomo replied sourly. "Kikuoka's not an official member of any police force or the intelligence agencies. He was just appointed to the position as the leader of the SAOVRU out of nowhere a scant handful of days after the First Day, with no one having a clue where he came from before that. Even the worst muck-rakers for all the tabloids around th' place never managed to publish a single story tryin' to scapegoat the man for the government's lack of progress in fixin' the SAO problem. That means the guy has got some serious connections somewhere pretty high up in the government and the means to keep them under wraps for over two years."

"Huh, that does sound suspicious." the Witch agreed. While regular citizens like they were had little to no real clue about how the inner workings of the government operated, someone who was appointed to a position like the Head of the SAOVRU should have had their entire history trawled and spread across every source of media given the kind of coverage the SAO Incident had. The fact that Tomo, formerly Argo the Rat, hadn't been able to find a clue about who Kikuoka was or where he'd came from either meant that someone had to be pulling the strings to keep the limelight pointed far away from him.

"Yeah, yer tellin' me. Aside from the initial announcement of his appointment, he stayed far away from any media coverage." the Rat grumbled unhappily. "Every announcement or update always came down through his second in command. He very deliberately avoided the limelight as much as possible and not a single media outlet, print or electronic, did a single article on his background, not to hype him up or tear him down, like they normally would in a situation like this. This entire thing stinks worse than that trap that [Laughing Coffin] pulled against the Cleaners, and I don't like it one bit. Makes me wish I still had my claws somethin' fierce."

Rika took in the person who had been the undisputed mistress of information gathering, sorting and dispersal among the Players of Aincrad and deduced, rather easily in fact, that she was probably just as head-over-heels for Kirito as Rika herself was. It was initially surprising, but not really after she thought for a moment. From what Rika knew about Argo the Rat, she and Kirito had been close friends since the one-month Beta Test. Of course, the Death Game would only drag them closer.

Given that Kirito seemed to have the unconscious ability to attract female attention like honey drew in flies, it wasn't that strange a thought that Argo the Rat would end up carrying a torch for her black-clad 'Beta Buddy' for quite some time. It did make Rika wonder just how many other girls were in her position. There was her, Asuna (who'd won the prize as it were), that Mid-Liner she'd seen heard about a few times, Dragon Tamer Silica…that was four of the rather small female Player population of Aincrad. And who knew how many girls that Kirito had managed to draw in here, in the real world.

As she and Tomo continued to chat away, Rika decided that this was another of those lines of thought that needed to be pushed to the side for the moment. Asuna, her dear friend, needed to be her priority right and now and, by god, she was going to be there for her. Once Asuna was up and fully mobile again, then she could turn her mind to just what she could do about her crush on her best friend's boyfriend.

She'd managed to put it off this long, a few more months couldn't hurt.

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Next Chapter: Annoying Meetings, Sword Maidens and Trouble

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