The Red Hand

Akagi finished getting her new maid Mizumi prepared for her duties. Yumi would take over her training, and Chloe was assigned to her as a minder until she could be trusted. With that out of the way, she returned to the main house to see what Kana and Hishya were doing. It was already getting late, so she was going to see if Hishya wanted to stay the night rather than fly back to Tokyo in the dark. However, upon reaching the doorway into the living room, Akagi was greeted with an amusing sight.

"Is it really ok if I touch it?" Kana asked pensively.

"Yeah, it's fine; not like it's gonna hurt me," Hishya responded with a smile.

Akagi watched for a moment as Kana stroked Hishya's tail and touched her horns. Both girls were enjoying themselves, especially Hishya, who seemed to like being pet.

"This is amazing!" Kana exclaimed. "They're not sharp at all, and they're warm to the touch!" she was referring to Hishya's scales.

"Well, I am a fire dragon," Hishya chuckled. "Warm is kinda my thing."

Neither girl noticed Akagi, who just stood and watched this amusing situation. Seeing her sister so enthralled with Hishya's draconic features gave her an amusing idea. She waited for about five minutes before making her presence known; she wanted to allow the two to thoroughly engross themselves before she chimed in.

"Sorry to interrupt your special alone time with Hishya," she called out to Kana, which caused both girls to jump in surprise.

The two looked over at Akagi, and their faces turned bright red in embarrassment. “H-how l-long were- you-you." Kana stammered.

"Since about the time you said: Is it really ok if I touch it?" She mimicked her sister's voice. "Fair warning Kana, dragons have quite the appetite, so I hope you have plenty of stamina." Akagi stuck out her tongue. Seeing as Kana took the opportunity to comment on her relationship with Yumi this morning, she figured that she might get a little payback.

"S-stamina... appetite....." It took a moment for the girl to understand what her sister meant, but once she did, her face only got redder, and you could practically see steam rising from her head.

"Take good care of Kana for me, Hishya." Akagi let out a big laugh, and Hishya responded by burying her head in a nearby pillow. The two girl's reaction was better than she could have hoped for, and it took about ten minutes before the girls were in any state to speak.

"Onee-chan why did you have to do that!" Kana exclaimed, her face still red.

"I figured I would pay you back for this morning." Akagi cracked a smile.

"AH!" Kana recalled her comments about Akagi and Yumi. "That-that's... fair." she couldn't argue with her on this one.

"Do I even want to know what you're talking about?" Hishya gave an exasperated sigh.

"She saw Yumi and me sleeping together and got the wrong idea." Akagi shrugged.

"Ah, yeah....... the first time I saw that It threw me for a loop as well." Hishya's nervous laughter said there was more to the story that she wouldn't tell.

"Putting aside the need to buy red rice." her comment caused both girls to turn red again. "We finished Mizumi's orientation, and she's being put to work under Yumi. I intend to keep a close eye on her for the time being." Akagi explained how she was going to deal with the potential threat in her home.

"That's smart; we have no idea what that girl is really capable of." Hishya shook her head. "If she had the power to transfer her people between worlds, who knows what else she could do." They only knew that she was a high-ranking spirit, while they assumed that meant she was strong, just how strong was unknown.

"From what she told me, she's actually not that strong." Akagi had asked the girl more questions while she prepared her for her new position. "Apparently, the spirits in her world were weaker than most members of the assault team. I don't think she's lying, but we should take her words with a grain of salt, just to be safe." Akagi was quite good at picking out deception, but she didn't assume lying to her was impossible.

"How did she even manage to pull off something so unbelievable then?" Hishya was confused. "She made a pocket dimension then brought it and herself here with all her people. There's no way she's that weak if she can pull something like that off." Hishya didn't understand the concepts behind the magic used, but her knowledge of fictional works told her that something like this would require immense power to pull off.

"She said that it required the accumulation of an enormous quantity of magic and that most of the elder spirits sacrificed themselves to generate the power used in the ritual." Akagi sighed. "Apparently, she is the last high-level spirit remaining, and was tasked with overseeing the ritual and protecting her people. So she doesn't really understand the technical side of things."

"So, was that box really where all her people live?" Kana interjected.

"That's what she told me." Akagi confirmed. "Supposedly, that it's an anchor which stabilizes the pocket dimension by attaching it to our world. She needed me to transfer its connection from her world to ours." Akagi's role was still unclear even after Mizumi's explanation; mostly, because it was too technical for her to understand.

"So where is she now? That Mizumi girl?" Kana was curious as to what she was doing; she knew she would be trained as a maid but didn't know what that would entail.

"She's busy undergoing Yumi's boot camp." Hearing that made both girls shudder; even Kana's spartan studying program couldn't compare to what Yumi was doing to the poor girl. "But here look at this" Akagi pulled out her phone and showed the two of them a picture of Mizumi in her new outfit.

"She looks really cute," Kana commented.

"Why do I get the feeling she kinda likes it? Like her face shows embarrassment but like...." Hishya didn't know what to think. "Leaving a young child in Akagi's care, that might not be the best idea." Hishya had a moment of pity for the girl, and also dread as she thought what Akagi might do to such a child.

"Yeah, young, she's several thousand years old apparently..... god, I never thought I would actually see that trope in real life." Akagi hung her head. "At least the F.B.I. won't be banging down my door." her joke went over the two girls' heads.

"Why does she look like a kid?" Kana asked. "If she's an adult, why does she look like she's ten?"

"Because she likes being cute," Akagi answered instantly. "I asked her that myself, and that was the response." she chuckled. "Like me, she can change her appearance, so if she wanted to, she could use a more mature form, but she doesn't want to. I think it has something to do with the whimsical nature of spirits."

"Now I kinda wanna see you small like that." Kana laughed.

"Oh god, that's right. You can change into other people's appearances." Hishya had forgotten Akagi could do that. "Please don't go messing with people like that."

"So your saying I shouldn't transform into you and let Kana pet your tail?" Akagi laughed, and the two girls stuck their heads in their hands.

"We're never gonna live that down, are we?" Kana gave up.

"Nope, not with her." Hishya was equally defeated.

"Alright, I'll stop messing with you." Akagi chuckled. "The other reason I came back was to see if you wanted to stay the night, Hishya. I know you're pretty fast, but a trip to Tokyo is still a few hours and it's going to be getting dark soon." Akagi looked out the window, the sun was still high but the days were getting shorter this time of year.

"Wait. Why not just have Yumi teleport her? You went to Tokyo once before so can't she just do that?" Kana asked a pretty good question because she was right Yumi could do that.

"She could, but I will not ask her to do that, Kana." Akagi denied her sister's idea.

"Eh? Why?" Kana didn't understand Akagi's refusal.

"Because Yumi and I don't get along very well," Hishya interjected. "She doesn't really like other players, and I've tried to kill Akagi once before, so that already made things difficult." She scratched her cheek. "On top of that, the times we've been alone have almost always resulted in fighting." She sighed, recalling just how many arguments the two had gotten in over the years. "The fact that I didn't treat the NPCs like real people... might also have given her a very bad impression of me." Hishya didn't go out of her way to harm them and generally treated them well, but unlike Akagi, she still viewed them as A.I. programs until the very end. Needless to say, Yumi didn't really appreciate some of the smartass comments Hishya made to her on that issue.

"Really, is your relationship is that bad? I honestly didn't even notice." Kana didn't notice the two having any problems before; she couldn't speak to the real v. A.I. issue but understood that it was a huge problem for Akagi and Yumi.

"Because Yumi and Hishya weren't left alone together, Kana" her sister chimed in. "When they're around others, things are fine, but putting them by themselves causes friction. Last time I did that, I had to practically pull Yumi off her when Hishya made an insensitive comment about the Hassan townsfolk." Looking back, Yumi and Hishya were always separated or with Akagi/the girls at the estate. "So, while Yumi would teleport her to Tokyo if I asked, I don't want to cause any issues."

"Yeah, and it's fine. I like flying so it's no inconvenience." Hishya reassured Kana. "As for your offer... I think I'll take it. I'm still not 100% in my flying, and getting over to Kanto in the dark will be annoying, even if I can see." She would probably be fine, but would rather not chance crashing into people's houses or the topography. "I would like to try to speak to her at some point; do you think that's possible? At the very least, I owe her an apology for some of the things I've said." Seeing Yumi in the real world made Hishya reevaluate her stance on FWO's NPCs, and she began to regret her attitude toward them.

"No promises, but I suspect she would be fine with that." Akagi wouldn't force her, but Yumi wasn't stubborn enough to refuse a sincere meeting with Hishya.