The Red Hand

Chapter 68 – The Mistake.

The next day, the girls went into downtown Kyoto to do their Christmas shopping. Kana wanted to hit up several shops, so Yumi dropped them off in front of Kyoto's largest mall. Mika and Naomi wanted to get gifts of their own, and Kana was also going to use this opportunity to stealthfully get the material to celebrate Akagi's upcoming birthday. Birthdays weren't something that most of Akagi's followers celebrated, but when Kana broached the idea of a party, they were surprisingly receptive. After some discussion, they decided to have not just a birthday party but a celebration of Akagi's return from FWO. It wasn't going to be a surprise, but Kana still had fun keeping things on the down low from her sister.

"Its a bit chilly out today." Mika shivered as they entered the mall.

"We'll, we've been lucky with the warmer weather this year, so it was bound to happen eventually." Naomi gave a wry smile, she was not a fan of the cold. “Also Mika, I thought you would be good with the cold now since you hang out with those two Yuki-Onna so much.” She'd been spending a lot of time with the two sisters either at her own home or Akagi's estate.

Mika stuck out her tongue in response. "Sure they can use cold magic, but their bodies are actually nice and warm!"

"Really? It's not that cold out, is it?" Kana was in comparatively light clothing, to the point that Mika and Naomi questioned her sanity. "I don't think it's that bad out."

"Do you never get cold?" Mika pouted. "Now that I think about it, I can't recall seeing you ever wear heavy clothes before." She recalled Kana showing up to her house in shorts during a fringed snow storm freshman year.

Kana gave a smug smile. "I guess I'm just lucky! I never seem to get too hot or too cold."

"Maybe Mizumi was right. Kana is probably a Yokai." Naomi shook her head with a sarcastic smile. "Maybe she's a shadow Yuki-Onna."

"Yeah, if her body is a shadow like Akagi's, then not getting cold would make sense." Mika decided to play along. "Also if she's a Yuki-Onna, I guess I'm getting girlfriend number three!"

"You'd have to outcompete Hishya for that one." Naomi said as both laughed. "Besides you you really want Scary Kana as your girlfriend?"

Not finding the joke funny, Kana bonked her two friends on the head.

"Owchi!" (Mika)

"Ack!" (Naomi)

"Any more funny comments?" Kana asked with a raised eyebrow and a still raised fist.

The two rubbed their heads.

"She's definitely got the anger issues like her sister." Naomi continued with her comments which caused Kana to chase her around in circles for a bit.

"Help me, Mika! The evil Yokai is going to get me!" Naomi ducked behind Mika.

"I expect this behavior from Mika, but not you, Naomi." Kana sighed. "Is this payback for making you two study?"

The two perpetrators merely whistled instead of answering.

"You two drive me nuts....." Kana turned around and started walking away. "Come on. We've got shopping to do."

Seeing Kana concede defeat, Mika and Naomi looked at each other and snickered.

"The monster has been defeated!" Mika laughed.

"Just be careful. She might still eat you while your guard is down." Naomi chuckled.

"I can still hear you two!" Kana exclaimed, which caused the two girls to run over and catch up with her.

And so, the shopping adventure began. The girls hit up many different stores throughout the mall and slowly but surely checked items off their lists. Mika and Naomi came for comparatively few items, but Kana was a woman on a mission. Not only was she going to pick up gifts for some friends and family, but she was also purchasing the supplies necessary for both a Christmas party and her sister's birthday. Luckily, money wasn't really an issue and any material that was harder to get she could simply obtain via Akagi's other family members. As the trip went on, however, something began to eat at the back of Kana's mind. Ever since the day that she'd moved in with Akagi, she'd had no physical contact with her parents. She'd unblocked them and had a lengthy conversation with them via text, but she never once saw them in person nor spoke to them over voice.

Akagi told her many times that she could see them if she wanted and that she was free to treat them however she wished. But in her mind, Kana believed that having a positive relationship with her parents would be akin to betraying her sister, so she kept contact to a minimum. This Christmas would be the first one she would celebrate without them, and this sudden realization made her sad. Despite everything, she still loved her parents, and she missed them. She didn't think she could forgive the way they treated Akagi, but she hoped that one day they might reconcile, even if only a bit. Kana had confided these feelings to Mika and Naomi, who tried their best to console her. Kana was a strong girl, but she was still just sixteen years old, and being separated from her parents and flung into this strange new world was a lot to handle, genius or otherwise.

Her friends encouraged her to visit her parents on Christmas, and Akagi told her that doing so would be a good idea. Of course, Akagi's statements came with the understanding that if their parents tried to restrain Kana, all hell would break loose. In the past, Kana would have never thought that such a thing could happen, but Airi's warning to Akagi made Kana wary of her extended family. She'd spent enough time with the Tomogawa family that she knew them quite well. They were obsessed with members meeting high standards and Kana already figured they had plans for her in the future. Once, she'd overheard a conversation between her mother and grandfather regarding intentions to make her family head in the future. So she wouldn't put it past her grandfather to do something dramatic now that she'd separated from the family. Kana and Akagi met him several times when they were younger, Kana more than Akagi, and the impression they both got was that he was a cold and heartless man. Apparently, he'd wanted to kill Akagi to prevent her from shaming the family name, but it was concluded that doing so would cause more problems than simply leaving her be. Kana knew that if push came to shove and the family tried to do something to take her back by force, Akagi wouldn't stop until they were all dead.

Kana had desperately tried to get her parents to understand just how bad of an idea it would be to mess with Akagi any further, and she implored them to speak to her grandfather and dissuade him from doing anything that would upset her. But apparently, there was little her mother could do. Shima had been summoned by her father to explain her failure to deal with Akagi and to answer why Kana had slipped from the family's grasp. She wouldn't go into detail about what happened, but she told Kana not to trust any member of the family and that staying with Akagi was likely safer for her at the moment. Kana guessed that her Aunt and Uncle were also heavily involved and she knew they were little better than her grandfather. The family always seemed tot be hiding something, and Kana assumed she was being used in whatever game they played, though what her part in this game is was unknown to her. Hearing her mother tell her to remain with Akagi shocked Kana, she never imagined that her mother would tell her to stay with Akagi for her safety, but she did. This could only mean one thing, that the family was planning on doing something to retrieve Kana and take her back by force. Kana had initially wanted to tell Akagi of this but decided against it, fearing that her sister might take some kind of action, and Kana preferred to avoid any bloodshed. 

These thoughts and many others raced through Kana's head as she shopped. The concern on her face was obvious to her two friends, but they decided to keep quiet out of respect. They knew just how much pressure Kana was under and figured that if she needed their help, she would ask. As she always had.

"Alrighty, I think that's everything I need to get here at the mall," Kana exclaimed as she sat down on a bench. 

"Are you sure you got everything?" Naomi asked sarcastically. "You only have like ten bags. I think that's too little."

Mika laughed at this comment. "It's a good thing Yumi can just teleport those back to the house. I wouldn't want to carry all this."

"Yeah, especially since we have a few other places downtown that we need to go after this." Kana gave a wry smile as she figured that perhaps her shopping list was just a bit too long.

"Let me call Yumi and have her meet us-" Kana's words were cut short when the power in the mall went out.

"A power outage?" Mika looked around. "That's strange." Losing power was uncommon in Kyoto, so this was a little out of the ordinary.

"Internet service is down too. I can't make any calls or texts." Naomi was annoyed. "Why is it down? That never happens."

"What could possibly-" Kana was cut off again as an explosion shook the mall, followed by the sound of screams. "An explosion?!?" Kana looked around.

"What was that!" Mika looked around and saw what looked like fire coming from one of the mall's corridors. "A fire! Is that a fire?"

Suddenly people began running from the direction of the fire screaming.

"Monster!" (Civilian A)

"It's a giant green Ogre!" (Civilian B)

"Run for you lives!" (Civilian C)

People began to panic as more explosions echoed throughout the building. Things quickly devolved into a panic as the building shook.

*BOOM**BOOM* *BOOM* *BANG* 
Explosion continued to rock the building as flames and smoke began to erupt from other directions.

"We should get out of here!" Naomi exclaimed, her face showing fear. 

"Right." Kana grabbed the bags, and the three bee-lined for the nearby exit, but were stopped by the sound of glass breaking and an overhead voice that called out to them.

"What have we here?" Sumeralia laughed as she looked over the terrified faces of the people in the mall. "Trying to escape? Sorry, but I won't make it so easy!" She was floating in the air after having come through the glass rotunda in the ceiling. Seeing people attempt to escape through the doorway, she chucked a fireball at the door, which killed several people and collapsed the entrance. "Now, then. It looks like you're all trapped in here with me." She licked her lips like a hungry predator.

"Why are you doing this!" Kana yelled. "This isn't a game! These are real people your hurting!" She wanted to try and reason with the harpy lady.

"So what?" Sumeralia chuckled. "I wanted to kill them, so they died. Do I need some grand reason?" she continued. "Why should I care about how my prey feels?"

"Please, there's no reason to do all this. You don't need to hurt more people." Kana pleaded with her to stop. "I'm sure you can live in this world without doing things like this!"

"What's with all the yelling?" Hijax walked through a nearby wall, holding a man by the skull in his right hand. "Sumeralia, why are you wasting time talking to these people? We need to take out as many as possible before the fun police shows up." He crushed the skull of the man he held in his hand. "Though maybe fighting one of those idiots would be fun?" He laughed as he wiped the blood off his hand.

The girls were horrified by Hijax's presence. He was an ogre and quite the powerful one at that. His massive frame towered over them, and he was an order of magnitude larger than the three of them put together. But more than that, he seemed like a genuine monster, unlike the other players they'd met. 

{H-he's a real monster!} Kana was terrified, and Mika nearly collapsed on the floor in fear.

"W-w-w-w." Naomi began to shake.

"I know, I know." Sumeralia charged up a blast in her hand. "I was just dealing with them now!" She screamed as she launched a fireball at the three girls.

As it approached, time seemed to stop for Kana, and her life flashed before her eyes. All her regrets, her sorrow, everything played for her until it ended on the smiling face of her sister on the day that FWO was released.

{I-am I going to die?} Kana's mind blanked as it came towards her and she realized it would likely kill her. With one last breath, just before the fireball hit Kana cried out for her sister. "Onee-chan!"

*BOOOOM*
The fireball impacted Kana dead on and exploded causing significant damage to the pavilion area as well as starting other fires.

However, rather than instantly die as one would expect, the three girls were launched backward. Their hair was singed, and their bodies slightly burnt, but they were still alive. Kana was knocked unconscious as she took the brunt of the impact, but Mika and Naomi were not. They could barely see in the smoke and found themselves unable to speak due to burns to their throat. Around the three of them, a dim purple film covered them from head to toe, almost like film. After a few seconds, it grew bright before shattering like glass, and the particles flew into the air before disappearing.

Hijax and Sumeralia were surprised to see the three girls survive the explosion, but just as the harpy charged up another blast, a black swirling portal formed just in front of Kana. Out from it stepped Akagi, who looked around the room. Her eyes came to rest on the unconscious form of her sister lying in front of her and her eyes grew wide as her entire body started twitching.

"KANA!"  (Akagi)

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