The Red Hand

Chapter 32 – Knocking is Important.

The five of them chatted together for a few more hours, discussing Hishya, the upcoming school festival, and some more mundane topics. They even played a game where Akagi would transform into a duplicate of one of the girls, and they would have to guess who was who. Funny enough, Mika was the only one to get it correct each time, while Kana was saddened that she was always wrong. This made her friends tease her about not knowing them or Akagi well enough. Eventually, it got late, and the girls headed to bed. Tomorrow was Sunday, and they planned on studying for the upcoming exams as they originally planned. Mika was hoping that school would get canceled due to the past two days events, but Akagi doubted they would get that lucky.

Yumi and Akagi headed into the master bedroom and got into their pajamas. Akagi's bed was huge and could easily fit two or even three people, which meant that on most nights, the two would sleep together. Yumi and Akagi had known each other for over two years at this point and, by now, sleeping in the same bed had become the norm. What started as a way for Akagi to calm the girl's night terrors had become something of a habit that neither gave much thought to.

"Are you alright? You look pretty tired." Akagi asked Yumi as she hopped under the covers.

"Yeah, I am. These past few days were a whirlwind of emotions; I'm spent." Yumi talked while brushing her teeth. "But it's alright; everything worked out in the end, and that's all that matters."

{You say that, but I can tell by that look in your eyes that you're at your limit. I just hope that it's not too bad; I really wish she wouldn't push herself, even for my sake.} Akagi could tell that the added stress from going with her to her parents had caused Yumi more mental distress.

"Then let's head to bed, you need your rest, and I have to prepare for Hishya's visit tomorrow. I think she'll be here around one." Yumi finished brushing her teeth and crawled into bed alongside Akagi and hugged her from behind.

"Good night." (Yumi)

"Night." (Akagi)

The two girls drifted off to sleep. While Akagi herself didn't actually need to sleep, she still enjoyed doing so, and it did leave her feeling refreshed in a sense. While she slept, she was not defenseless and was still semi-conscious of her surroundings which meant that when Yumi started to yelp a few hours later, she instantly jolted awake.

Akagi slowly spun around in bed and saw Yumi's face contorted in pain and anguish. Her attacks would take one of many forms, but the most common was severe nightmares. Usually, she would be forced to relive the day her village was destroyed, and it seemed tonight was no different.

Yumi's entire body was shaking, and she began to sweat profusely as she cried out.

"Mom... Dad." Yumi cried out for her parents, "Please, no.... don't leave me. I don't want to be alone......"

Akagi lifted her up, hugged her, and began to stroke her back. She had done this many times before, but seeing her friend like this was never pleasant.

"It's ok..... It's ok...... Shuuuuuu." Akagi tried to calm her. "I'm right here, and I'm not going anywhere." Her words were warm and soft as she comforted the shaking girl.

"Mr. Yuji, Ms. Hakamura... why... why... why... why..." The names Yumi called out to were two people in the village who helped her as a priestess. From what Akagi told her, they were basically her second parents, and she cared about them very much.

Yumi began to fidget in place as she tried to run in her dream. "Please, no... not Miji... DON'T HURT HER!" Yumi screamed causing her to wake from the dream; her face filled with tears. Miji was her younger sister and the final person from the village that Kyojaro killed during his rampage. On that day, she watched as he took the young girl's life right in front of her, even as she begged him not to.

"It's ok Yumi. It's ok....." Akagi squeezed her tighter. "You're not in that village anymore, and that man's dead. He can't hurt you or anyone else anymore." After waking from the nightmare, Yumi was in no condition to speak. Her mind was still damaged from those events all those years ago, and being forced to relive them left her in a delirious state. Akagi continued to comfort her, and it took nearly an hour before Yumi regained her mental faculties. Once she was coherent, Akagi had her take a shower and change clothing, due to the sweat, before the two went back to sleep. This time the two girls faced each other, and Yumi clung to her tightly.

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The next morning.

"How long is Onee-chan going to sleep? It's already after 10 am, and she's supposed to help us before Hishya gets here!" Kana and the three girls were sitting at the large kitchen table together with their study supplies. They woke up early to try and regain some of the lost study time from this weekend. Though, most would be surprised that the three girls could devote any time to studying after what happened on Friday.

"She was probably pretty tired after the last two days; I know I was," Naomi commented as she filled in math problems.

"I wouldn't blame her for wanting to sleep in, but it's strange that we haven't seen Yumi all morning, she didn't strike me as one to sleep in." Mika pointed out that their resident priestess was also missing.

"While I understand wanting to sleep, we really need her help when we review history." Kana was quite good at all subjects, but for some reason she struggled with history, while her sister excelled in it.

"I'll go wake her up. It wouldn't be the first time I've had to claw her out of bed." Kana sighed and headed upstairs toward Akagi's bedroom. She was quite annoyed that Akagi overslept, something she had done many times in the past, so when she reached her bedroom she barged right in without knocking.

"Onee-chan, I get that you're tired, but we really need-" Kana stopped mid-sentence as she saw her sister and Yumi lying on the bed in a deep embrace.

"Huh?" Akagi slowly woke up. "What's wrong, Kana? Why is your face all red, are you sick?" Akagi was still half asleep.

Seeing the two girls lying in bed together in such a way sent Kana's mind spinning. She had already suspected the two had some form of intimate relationship, but she never expected to catch them together in bed!

{Were-were they..... together.... at night.... while we were here!} Kana's mind immediately went to a dirty place.

"Sorry for barging in!" Kana ran back out of the bedroom, completely embarrassed. Which left Akagi even more confused.

"What the hell was that about?" Akagi had a look of complete and utter bewilderment on her face. "Its too early in the morning for this, Kana." she sighed. Yumi was still tired after last night, so she opted to leave the girl in bed until she woke up. She stroked Yumi's cheek and ran her fingers through her hair. Akagi couldn't explain why, but she always enjoyed seeing the girls sleeping face.

Akagi went downstairs in her pajamas and found the three girls sitting at the kitchen table. Kana's face had gotten even redder and Naomi and Mika were asking what happened. When she walked into the room Kana tried to avert her eyes from her sister.

"Kana," Akagi called out to her which caused the girl to jump. "Would you mind telling me what's going on? And why are you as red as a tomato?" Akagi asked.

"Yeah, you went up to get Akagi, and then you came running back down looking like that's what happened." Naomi also asked.

“Are you sick or something?” Mika asked.

"I...uh...." Kana stammered. "Its... uh...

Naomi looked to Akagi and asked. "Can you tell us anything?" Akagi just shook her head.

"She barged right into my room saying something about helping her. When I looked up, she was like this." She had no idea what caused this.

"She said she used to wake you up all the time, so I'm not sure what the problem is," Naomi commented. "Maybe what you were wearing caused this?" She asked.

"I mean, I was wearing these pajamas so..." Akagi shrugged. "Come on Kana, out with it. What's wrong? I don't wanna play twenty questions."

"I..uh... you...Yumi.... together.... interrupt...." Kana couldn't get out a complete sentence.

"Yumi? What about her?" The two slept in the same bed, but that shouldn't cause Kana to act this way.

Kana violently shook her head before shouting. "I'M SORRY I INTERRUPTED YOUR SPECIAL ALONE TIME WITH YUMI!" her sudden declaration caused Mika and Naomi to look at Akagi.

"Really? You and Yumi? I guess that does make sense." Naomi commented.

"Now that I think about it, those two are really close. That's so nice." Mika smiled.

"WAIT, WAIT, WAIT!" Akagi shouted. "Kana! What are you talking about? Me and Yumi are NOT like that!" Akagi quickly tried to push back against the girls' assumptions.

"But, I saw the two of you in bed together, and you were clinging to each other!" Kana exclaimed.

"Ohhhh! That's cute." Mika was enjoying this.

"So Akagi can be passionate about things other than assassination." Naomi poked fun at her. “I bet Kana's jealous.”

"You two aren't helping!" Akagi yelled back. "Listen, Yumi and I are not in that kind of relationship." Akagi tried to correct the misunderstanding.

"Then why would you be sleeping together like that? It definitely looked like the two of you were lovers!" Kana pressed for an answer.

Akagi sighed. "Did you forget what I told you? That Yumi is still suffering from the effects of her trauma? Last night Yumi had an attack, one that was pretty bad." Akagi continued. "We do sleep together normally, it's just a habit at this point, but when she has a bad attack, I try and support her. Keeping her close by like that helps her to recover and makes her feel better."

"Ah!" The three girls recalled what Akagi told them about Yumi.

"You three really are idiots." Akagi rubbed her temples. "And Kana, you should know better than anyone that I'm literally incapable of loving someone that way." Akagi was referring to her mental illness. "On top of that due to my bodily changes, I don't even think I can feel sexual attraction anymore." Akagi shrugged

"???" both Mika and Naomi looked confused by Akagi's statement. The two were unaware that she suffered from a mental illness, though they chose to avoid mentioning part two of Akagi's declaration.

"You can't love someone?" Mika asked with sadness in her eyes.

"That can't be true, you obviously care for Kana so much." Naomi tried to refute her claim.

"Onee-chan, you should probably explain what you're talking about; you understand it better than me since..... you know." Kana's face had returned to normal and her embarrassment had dissipated.

Akagi took a seat and explained to the two girls that she suffers from Anti-Social Personality Disorder (APD). The kind she has is purely psychological and doesn't involve chemicals in the brain, so the changes to her body didn't cure her like Hishya. This illness has many side effects, but the most relevant here is that it, combined with her parent's treatment, essentially fried the part of her brain that handles love.

Her love for her sister is an exception, not the rule, and while she has quite a close relationship with Yumi, it's anything but romantic. If anything, Akagi described it as something like codependency. Though not anywhere near as dangerous or unhealthy.

"What about Yumi? How does she feel?" Mika asked, as she always liked talking about romance. "I mean, she clearly likes being around you. and she follows you around like a puppy." she chuckled.

Akagi shook her head. "I asked her about this once when we were in FWO. She admitted that she felt an attachment to me, but described it more akin to how she venerated her gods as priestesses than romantic love." Akagi continued. "Her attachment to me is a result of the severe trauma she underwent two years ago. It was bad enough to warp her mind to the point where I took the place of the gods she once worshiped. Kind of....." Akagi trailed off.

"She views you as a god? That's..." Naomi didn't want to finish that sentence.

"Crazy." Akagi did. "Yes, you are not wrong to say that, nor would Yumi disagree. She knows just how messed up her head is, and the two of us decided to roll with it since it seemed to help her recover."

Akagi explained that a priestess's powers come from belief. Ordinarily, after a cleric/priestess's belief in their god(s) was lost, they shouldn't be able to perform any divine magic or miracles. This was flavor text in the game and had no relevance to players, but seemed to apply rigidly to NPCs. The fact that she could still use her magic was likely because her belief in Akagi was a sufficient substitute for the game's purposes.

"That... That's really sad. I never knew Yumi had it so bad." Kana said while hanging her head.

"That's why I keep telling people, FWO was not just a game; it was a very real world with very real consequences for those who lived within it," Akagi said shaking her head. "Minazawa found that out the hard way."

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