The Red Hand

"Yumi, please help her!" Kana looked at the priestess. She knew that Yumi could heal with her magic, and she pleaded with her to help the poor girl. Seeing no reason not to, Yumi obliged and knelt down next to the injured girl. Her entire body was covered in cuts, bruises, and burns. Some looked old, while others looked new. Yumi chanted a spell, and her palm glowed with a bright white light. She place it over Kaori's body, and most of her injuries began to fade. Seeing that she was out of danger, Kana relaxed.

Mika and Naomi finally shook off their initial shock and asked Kana who this girl was.

"She's Kaori Nanahashi," Kana answered. "She was in my middle school class for two years until she moved away. For the short time I knew her, she was a good friend." Kana's eyes showed a sense of sadness.

"What on earth could have happened to this poor girl?" Mika asked. "Her entire body was covered with those awful injuries."

"Should we take her to the hospital?" Naomi asked. "She seemed like she was looking for help since she called out to you."

"I would advise bringing her back to the estate," Yumi interjected. "My magic may not have been enough to handle all of her injuries from just that simple spell, and I doubt your medical technology will handle these injuries." Yumi stood back up and summoned her staff.

"What are you talking about?" Kana became worried. "Aren't they just burns and cuts? Surely the hospital can handle that?"

"If these wounds were not inflicted by magic I would be inclined to agree with you. However, those wounds were caused by fire and wind magic respectively." Yumi was quite knowledgeable about magical injuries so the girls believed her.

"How is that even possible?" Naomi was confused. "Is Libra attacking people around here?"

"I have no idea, but if that is the case, it's even more reason for me to get you three back to the estate. Now stand close, we're leaving now." Yumi swung her staff around and teleported them and the injured girl back to Akagi's estate.

Appearing in front of the estate, Akagi was waiting for them, having already been informed of the situation via her telepathic link with Yumi.

"Mimi has already been informed. Take her immediately." She looked at one of her followers who grabbed the girl and placed her on a stretcher. "Chloe's team didn't report any unusual activity in Kyoto, so I'm not entirely convinced this was done by a member of Libra," she said as she walked over to the girls.

"Yes, I have received no report of Libra activity in Kyoto." Yumi was in charge of intelligence gathering, so if anyone would know it would be her. "Though the fact remains, that girl's injuries were caused by magic," Yumi said as the girl was carted away to the medical wing.

"Well, let's go see what Mimi has to say." Akagi motioned for them to follow her.

The unconscious Kaori was taken to Mimi's medical station and was quickly placed into a bed and examined by Mimi and her daughters. They reached the same conclusion as Yumi, the girl's injuries were caused by magic. However, they stated that much of the older scaring was caused by conventional means. Most of them were covered by her clothing, so whoever did this wanted to hide them from plain view.

"It's very strange. These wounds remind me of the wounds that some of the prisoners would have after the Empire took over a town and tortured people." Mimi had a scowl on her face. She'd seen firsthand just how ruthless the Empire could be in interrogation and how they took pleasure in torturing people.

Akagi looked at them. "Whoever did this is one sick puppy." Akagi commented. "Each of these old burns were done on top of nerve bundles and held back just enough not to destroy them for maximum pain over a long time. I'd be impressed by their steady hand if it wasn't so sick." Akagi had conducted torture many times, but she didn't exactly like seeing innocent people suffer like this.

"Kana, Yumi said you knew this girl?" Akagi looked at her sister, who explained her connection.

"That's right." Akagi snapped her fingers. "I remember you hanging out with this girl from time to time when you were little. But didn't she move away? I thought you said she moved to Nagoya?" Akagi barely remembered the girl in any real detail.

"That's what she told me. So I don't know why she was here." Kana was at a loss.

"Ugh," Kaori began to awaken from her slumber. "Where am I?" She looked around dazed and confused. Her eyes wandered between the different people in the room until she locked eyes with Akagi.

"Akagi!" Kaori sat straight up. "Is that really you!"

"I'm pretty sure it is." Akagi shrugged.

"How did I...." She took a moment to recall her last memories before she collapsed. "That's right, I was wandering through the park and I saw Kana."

"Kaori." Kana stood next to her. "What happened to you? You were in terrible shape." Kana was worried about her friend.

"Ah, yes...." She looked at her arms. "My injuries?" she was confused.

"Yumi healed you." Akagi clarified why her injuries were gone.

"Thank you." She bowed her head in appreciation to Yumi, who gave a polite smile in return. "As for what caused my injuries, would you please hear my story?" Akagi decided to humor the girl and told her to continue.

"Akagi, do you recall a player in FWO named Sweet Blossom?" She asked.

Akagi had to think for a moment before replying. "I think so. Wasn't she a potion maker? I think she mostly stayed in the starting town." Akagi couldn't recall every little detail about every player in FWO, though she knew most of them in some form or another.

"Yes, I was. I ran a shop in Adelaide where I made potions and elixirs for the assault team." Kaori said.

Adelaide was the starting town and the place where most non-combat players stayed.

"So you were a player? Judging from your appearance, you didn't keep your abilities, did you?" Akagi asked.

She shook her head. "No, I did not. Otherwise, perhaps I wouldn't have been in the shape you saw me in." Kaori continued. "My sister was also a player. Her name was Hoshino. Do you remember her?"

Akagi knew exactly who that was. "You bet I do." She looked disgusted. "That son of a bitch loved killing NPCs and was just generally a real prick. I was honestly hoping someone would pay me to off the fuck." Hoshino had gotten on Akagi's nerves even more than Hishya had with the NPC bashing. Hishya was already bad enough, nearly getting herself killed from one comment about Yumi, but Hoshino was even worse.

"Well, you might just get your wish." Kaori chuckled. "She was the one that did this to me." she waved her arms around showing off her scars. "Ever since we were little she enjoyed abusing me, and almost every day she would do something to me."

"What!" Kana was shocked. "Why didn't you tell me?" she treated the girl as a friend, so why didn't she confide in her?

"Because even if I told you, it wouldn't have mattered." she gave a wry smile. "My sister always managed to get away with things. I have no idea why, but her uncanny luck would allow her to sweet-talk her way out of punishment. Besides, the few times I did tell my parents, they always accused me of lying to get her in trouble." She sighed. "So I figured it best not to involve you, lest she hurt you too."

"Kaori....." Kana shook her head. "You should have told me. I'm sure there was something I could have done."

"The fact that you care enough to get mad on my behalf is enough for me." Kaori let out a tired smile. "My sister was one of the 100 who kept their powers, and you can imagine that she put them to great use in torturing me." Her eyes grew dark as she remembered the hell she forced her to endure.

"Good god." (Naomi and Mika)

"But why were you in Kyoto? Didn't you move to Nagoya?" Kana didn't understand why she was there.

"You can blame my sister for that one. After she accepted a job with the Rapid Response Team, she had one last bout of fun with me. When she was done, she decided to dump me in Kyoto to see if I would survive my injuries." Her eyes teared up a bit as she recalled the events.

"HA." Akagi laughed. "I guess those idiots are so desperate they'll take on that fuck. But they wouldn't give me what I wanted because the price was too high." Akagi shook her head as she mocked them.

"Akagi." Kaori's voice became assertive. "I would like to purchase your services." Her statement immediately caught everyone's attention, and Akagi's mouth contorted into a terrible smile.

"How interesting, and I feel like I know just who you want dead." Akagi's smile gave the girls the creeps.

"Wait!" Kana interjected. "Kaori, do you know what you're asking!"

"Of course I do!" Kaori responded. "I may not have left Adelaide much, but I know very well what Akagi does!" she was determined.

"Take a moment and think! There's no need for you to-" Kana was cut off by Akagi.

 

"Kana, one way to piss me off is to get in the way of my job. So how about you three please leave and get out of my way." Akagi glared at her.

"But-" Kana tried to argue but was quickly stopped.

"NOW!" Akagi's voice grew louder. "Don't make me say it again." She motioned for Yumi to take the girls somewhere else.

Seeing how serious her sister was, and not wanting to upset her, Kana and the girls left without a fight. Kana was still unsure how to feel about her one-time friend asking her sister to kill someone, but she couldn't really argue. This was Akagi's job, and something she took seriously. Kana had already accepted this part of her sister, if anything, she was more uncomfortable with Kaori being the person asking for assistance than anything else.

"Sorry about that." Akagi apologized. "I think sometimes Kana can forget just what I do."

"If anything, I should be apologizing to you. I shouldn't have said anything in front of Kana. Will the two of you be alright?" She was afraid she may have damaged their relationship.

"Na, it will be fine. I think it's more that Kana doesn't want to see you do this. She knows I kill people, so it's not that part that she takes issue with." Akagi sighed. "Though sometimes I feel like she treats my occupation as a game."

Kaori chuckled. "Kana always talked about you when we hung out. That girl really looks up to you."

"I have no idea why, there's nothing here that she needs to emulate." Akagi shook her head. "Anyway, onto the main topic." Akagi's eyes got serious. "If you want your sister dead, you understand that I require compensation?" Akagi's price wouldn't be cheap, even for one of Kana's friends.

"Yes, I know." Kaori nodded. "I only have one thing to give you, myself." She bowed her head. "I hope that will be acceptable."

Akagi was surprised by her offer. "How interesting. Most people are reluctant to offer themselves as payment. You understand that will effectively make you my slave?" Akagi had long discarded her ingrained disdain for the institution of slavery built into her by modern morality. Though it would be wrong to say she liked it. Rather, it's more that she accepted it as a form of trade for her services. She would never go out of her way to purchase a slave from the market, but she would happily take a person in as one if that was what they wished. She even had a few members of her family that were indebted to her in such a way.

"That is fine." Kaori continued. "I have no future as long as she lives. If I return home now, she'll just continue to torture me in the future, and eventually, I will die." She looked into Akagi's eyes. "I would much rather live and serve you than die by my sister's hands."

"Then let me ask you this. Do you think that, even without your abilities, you could still craft potions?" Crafting skills were useful, but making potions required knowledge of ingredients, mixture ratio, and other things that could be done without game skills.

"If I was given the ingredients and supplies, I think I could handle most of them. Though, I suspect there may be a few issues without the game's assistance." She wasn't sure if she could continue her potion crafting in the real world, but she figured it might be possible.

"I see. Then we shall run some tests later." Akagi nodded. "For now, let us go over the details." Akagi then asked a list of questions, much like Yumi had when discussing the assassination of the Mitsuhide family with Naomi.

{So my first player contract will be against someone in the RRT, ain't that ironic?}