Use that ridiculous "stone toy" of his?
But he couldn't give up.
For the company, for the family, he had to make one last struggle.
He forced himself to calm down and, with a trembling voice, attempted one final negotiation, trying to maintain the equal posture of "business partners."
"Mr. Fujiwara... your technology... is truly... epoch-making..."
"Our RECT possesses the most complete commercial channels and the largest user base in the world today... if... if we could partner with you, handling the product's promotion and operation... I believe this would absolutely be... a win-win..."
He used every ounce of business wisdom he had, trying to display to his counterpart whatever "value" he had left.
But Seiji Fujiwara refused to take the bait.
He merely propped his chin on one hand, watching him with an amused, interested gaze, as though enjoying some clumsy play.
As though watching a moth that had blundered into a spider's web, struggling in vain.
Finally, in that suffocating silence, Shouzou Yuuki's psychological defenses collapsed completely.
He could no longer maintain that pitiful posture of "equality."
"Mr. Fujiwara!"
He shot to his feet and bowed deeply to Seiji Fujiwara once again. "Please... please name your terms! Whatever they are, so long as RECT can survive... we will accept them!"
Seiji smiled.
This was exactly what he had been waiting to hear.
He walked over to Shouzou Yuuki and lightly patted him on the shoulder.
Then his gaze swept past this company president who had surrendered, and landed on the chestnut-haired girl behind him, whose entire body had gone stiff with fear.
"Mr. Shouzou."
For the first time, he addressed Shouzou Yuuki by name, with such warmth.
"Your best 'condition'..."
"...isn't she standing right behind you?"
Seiji's words were like a stone dropped into the dead-still surface of a lake, sending silent ripples through the conference room.
Shouzou Yuuki froze in place, that ninety-degree bow turning him into a sculpture set in stone.
Behind him, Asuna Yuuki's heart plunged.
She wasn't stupid.
On the contrary, as a top-class player who had risen from among tens of thousands to become the sub-leader of the strongest clearing group, her instincts and reaction speed far surpassed those of ordinary people.
She understood instantly the naked, unconcealed intent in that man's words.
It was the kind of gaze... that regarded her, herself, as a "condition." A sickening gaze.
"Mr. Fujiwara..." Shouzou Yuuki slowly straightened, his face paler than before, his voice dry to the point of cracking. "You... you must be joking?"
Seiji didn't answer him. He simply smiled and held up one finger.
"The first proposal is simple."
In a tone as casual as someone picking out vegetables at a market, he laid out his first "condition."
"RECT hands over fifty-one percent of its shares and is fully absorbed into my technological framework, becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary under the F.S. Foundation. In return, of course, I will grant you full access to the SoulCradle technology."
He paused, watching with interest as Shouzou Yuuki's pupils contracted.
"Mr. Shouzou, you and your team will go from being the owners of RECT to being my senior employees. You will continue to manage the operation of this subsidiary, working... for me."
This condition was a heavy hammer, slamming brutally into Shouzou Yuuki's dignity.
Hand over fifty-one percent of the shares...
Become a subsidiary...
Work for him...
It was the same as taking his life.
RECT had been founded by his father with his own hands and built up to greatness by him. It was the crystallized lifeblood of the Yuuki family, the symbol of decades of glory.
If RECT lost its independence under his stewardship, reduced to a dependent of another, then after his death he would have no face with which to meet his father.
The pride of his life, all of his dignity as an entrepreneur, would be utterly shattered in this moment.
"No... this... this is impossible..."
He refuted it on reflex, his body swaying under the immense blow.
"Oh?"
Seiji had clearly anticipated his reaction. His face took on an even more "kindly" smile.
His gaze landed on Asuna once again.
That gaze made Asuna feel as though she had been fixed in place by a cold, venomous snake. The blood in her body nearly froze.
"Well, since Mr. Shouzou finds that proposal unacceptable, I have a second one here."
He raised a second finger.
"We don't have to talk business. We can talk... family."
"We can engage in a deeper kind of 'family bond.'"
He looked at Shouzou Yuuki's face, written all over with confusion and dread, and spoke the proposal that would change everything, one word at a time.
"Mr. Shouzou, give Miss Asuna to me."
"What?!"
This time, the cry of shock came from Asuna herself.
She could no longer maintain her silence. She lurched up from her seat, the chair sliding back from the violence of her movement with a piercing screech.
Shouzou Yuuki was equally struck dumb by the proposal, staring at Seiji Fujiwara in stunned disbelief.
Seiji ignored their reactions and continued, at his own unhurried pace, to lay out his "goodwill-filled" plan.
"As long as you give Miss Asuna to me."
"Then RECT will remain under your management. It won't have to hand over a single share. In fact, I will inject massive amounts of capital and technology into RECT."
"Mr. Shouzou, look,"
He spread both hands, his face wearing what could only be called a perfect smile, full of sincerity. "Isn't this proposal far more humane than the first?"
The conference room fell into a dead silence.
Shouzou Yuuki's mind was in chaos.
He couldn't accept the first proposal, because it would destroy his dignity as an entrepreneur.
But he... couldn't accept the second proposal either.
Because it would destroy his dignity as... a father.
He looked at his daughter, her whole body trembling with rage and humiliation, and a sharp pain welled up in his heart.
But at the same time, a devilish voice whispered madly in his heart:
Agree to it... hurry and agree to it... that way, RECT will be saved! The honor of the Yuuki family will be saved! You'll never have to work for anyone again!
It's only giving up a daughter. In this world, isn't that perfectly normal...
That voice plunged him into an unprecedented inner battle between heaven and man.
And Asuna, after that brief moment of shock, finally erupted.
"I am not merchandise!"
With every ounce of strength in her body, she screamed at the man seated at the head of the table, the man who sat there like a Demon King.
"You can't... you can't use me as a bargaining chip!"
In the game world, as "Lightning Flash" Asuna, she was free, she was strong, she was respected.
She had never imagined that in the real world, she would be priced openly, like merchandise, and "traded" as an object.
The immensity of the gap left her feeling a nausea and humiliation that sank into her bones.
And yet, to Seiji Fujiwara, her resistance looked so pale and powerless. Even... a little cute.
"Miss Asuna, you misunderstand." Seiji shook his head, his face taking on a "regretful" expression. "This isn't a transaction. This is... a choice."
"And right now, the choice lies in your father's hands."
He turned his gaze back to the man who was still violently struggling within himself.
Shouzou Yuuki looked at his daughter's tear-filled, pleading eyes, then looked at Seiji Fujiwara's face with its amused smile.
He hesitated.
Was he really... going to sacrifice his daughter's lifelong happiness for the sake of his own "dignity"?
Seeing him waver, a flicker of impatience crossed Seiji's eyes.
This foreplay had gone on long enough.
It was time for the final player to take the stage.
He picked up the tablet beside him and tapped it casually.
"I think we may need a more 'rational' family member to join this discussion."
The moment he finished speaking, the large display screen on the conference room wall, which had been switched off, suddenly lit up.
A video call had been connected.
On the screen appeared a face Asuna knew so well, and yet found utterly unfamiliar.
It was her mother, Kyouko Yuuki.
The Kyouko Yuuki on the screen was sitting in her study, packed with academic books. Her face was, as always, devoid of any expression.
"Mother?!" Asuna stared at the screen in disbelief.
"Shouzou. Asuna." Kyouko Yuuki spoke.
Her voice, carried through the conference room's sound system, echoed clearly in everyone's ears. "I heard your entire conversation with Mr. Fujiwara."
She didn't appear to see her daughter's face, written all over with shock and tears.
"Asuna."
In a tone that brooked no argument, she said slowly:
"This is the duty you owe to the family."
"This is not a request, nor is it a discussion."
"This is, as a daughter of the Yuuki family, the most important 'mission' of your life."
"You will fulfill it."
The pressure from her mother was the final straw, completely crushing Asuna's nerves, which had already been stretched to their limit.
If her father's hesitation had left her with even a sliver of fantasy in her heart...
Then her mother's cold, merciless words ground that last shred of hope into dust.
...
...
Three days later.
In the virtual world, Aincrad, on the twenty-second floor, in that tranquil place known as the "Forest House."
In front of a warm little log cabin built of natural timber, a black-clad swordsman was pacing back and forth in agitation.
"Damn it... what's going on... Asuna hasn't logged on for three whole days now..."
Kirito stared at the tightly shut door that belonged to Asuna, his brow knit tight.
"Hey, Kirito, still no contact?" Next to him, a burly samurai-type player with a red bandana asked, his face equally worried.
He was the guild master of Fuurinkazan, Klein.
"None," Kirito shook his head. "She doesn't return messages. She doesn't read them either."
As the sub-leader of the Knights of the Blood, the core commander of the clearing group, "Lightning Flash" Asuna had never been offline for so long.
It was deeply abnormal.
A foreboding feeling spread through the hearts of every core member of the clearing group.
It was at that moment that a cold system notification chime suddenly rang out in everyone's ears.
[System Notice: Player "Asuna's" residence on Floor 22 has exceeded the contract retention period due to the contract holder's prolonged absence.]
[System Notice: Ownership of the residence will be forcibly reclaimed by the system in ten minutes.]
[System Notice: All personal items within the residence will be transferred to the system warehouse. Please log on and retrieve them as soon as possible. Items left past the deadline will be automatically destroyed.]
Hearing this notification, the faces of Kirito and Klein paled with alarm.
A residence being reclaimed by the system...
In this game, that meant only one thing. This player might never come back again.
"How could this be... what on earth happened..."
They watched helplessly as the little log cabin, once filled with Asuna's laughter, dissolved at the end of the countdown into countless fragments of blue data, drifting slowly away into the air.
As though it had never existed at all.
A legend, ending here.
That night, the entire Aincrad player forums exploded.
[SHOCK! Clearing group core, "Lightning Flash" Asuna suspected of quitting the game permanently!]
[Her house has been reclaimed by the system! Have we lost our goddess forever?]
[What on earth happened? Does anyone know the inside story?]
Countless threads were discussing the matter in a frenzy.
Speculation, rumors, mourning...
Every kind of emotion stirred up an unprecedented tremor through the virtual world.
No one knew that their beautiful and powerful sub-leader, who existed for them like an article of faith, who had always charged at the very front of every raid, was at this very moment, in the real world, enduring a kind of hell.
...
At the same time, in the real world.
The eyes of the global tech industry were all fixed on a press conference that had just concluded, broadcast live to the entire world over the internet.
The F.S. Foundation and RECT had officially announced, at the press conference, the formation of a "deep strategic alliance."
At the press conference, the sovereign of the F.S. Foundation, Seiji Fujiwara, said only one sentence throughout:
"The future will be defined by us."
And beside him, the once-hegemon of the industry, Shouzou Yuuki...
...stood there like a puppet on strings, reading throughout, with a stiff smile, the cooperative statement, full of effusive praise, that Seiji Fujiwara's secretarial office had prepared for him in advance.
Anyone could see that this once high-spirited entrepreneur seemed to have aged ten years over the course of three days.
But none of that was the point.
The flashbulbs of every news outlet in the world were aimed in a frenzy at the chestnut-haired girl standing at Seiji Fujiwara's side.
Asuna Yuuki.
She was wearing the white dress that, in her mother's eyes, best represented "the face of the Yuuki family."
On her face was an exquisite layer of makeup.
A faint, ceremonial smile sat at the corners of her lips.
But everyone who saw her close-up through the high-definition lenses felt an inexplicable chill.
Because, in those beautiful hazel eyes, there was no light at all.
It was a gaze... like that of the most exquisite doll. Hollow. Calm.
She was like a rare work of art, quietly and beautifully displayed at that man's side, becoming the newest and most dazzling decoration on the vast map of his empire.
Everyone understood.
This was not, at its heart, any "deep strategic alliance."
This was a thorough, top-to-bottom annexation.
And the result was that Seiji Fujiwara's technological empire had now achieved an absolute monopoly over the next generation of virtual reality technology.
An unprecedented super-empire, capable of dominating both the real and virtual worlds at once, had been born.
...
...
One week later. Shuchiin Academy. The Student Council Room.
"From today, Miss Asuna Yuuki will be transferring into this school's International Class."
Seiji Fujiwara's voice echoed casually through the silent room.
Three girls stood before him.
Kaguya Shinomiya, Ai Hayasaka, and... Chika Fujiwara.
In their respective uniforms, they stood waiting in silence like three exquisite dolls without souls.
And beside Seiji Fujiwara stood the "new member" he had just introduced.
Asuna Yuuki.
She had already changed into the Shuchiin uniform. That deep blue dress made her chestnut-colored long hair and her fair skin all the more striking.
On her face was still that calm-to-the-point-of-terrifying expression.
"Lightning Flash" Asuna was already dead.
She had died in that conference room, in the moment her mother handed down the "mission."
The girl who stood there now was just Asuna Yuuki. A tool sacrificed for the continuation of the family.
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