The Red Hand

Chapter 110 – The Squishy and Clothing.

Mika, Naomi, Yumi, and Kana sat around the kitchen table having lunch together at the estate. Hishya and her parents went home yesterday after they'd recovered from their poisoning, something that took a bit longer than expected. Akagi figured that the effect of the drug was even more potent in the real world, and since the two lacked magic to bolster their constitution, recovery would be slower. She'd warned the two of them to watch their health in the coming weeks and to immediately notify Hishya or her if anything seemed wrong, to which they agreed.

Originally, Mimi wanted them to stay a bit longer to monitor them, but they declined, stating that they wanted to return to work. They were grateful for being saved, and thanked Akagi for her help, who told them to repay her by keeping her future sister-in-law in line. A comment that the two found funny.

"So are we just going to ignore the fact that Akagi is coiled around Yumi like a rope?" Mika said while chewing on a sandwich. “Because no one is saying anything. Was I not suppose to bring it up?”

"I didn't want to be the first person to say anything, but I guess there's no reason not to speak of it." Naomi gave a wry smile.

"Onee-chan has been doing that for a while, you've just not been around when she's done it." Kana sighed. “Just ignore her like we ignore Mika when she gets all hyper.”

“Hey!” Mika took a moment to realize what Kana just said. “What's this about ignoring me?”

"Yumi is my squishy!" Akagi said while wrapped around the priestess. "What's wrong with wanting to be close to her?" She didn't see the problem.

"Did becoming the Demon Lord make Akagi clingy?" Naomi chuckled. “I never imagined she could be like that.”

"I think it's cute." Mika smiled. “I'd like to snuggle like that.”

"Not clingy! Possessive!" Akagi corrected. "Trust me, as someone who previously hated physical contact with other people, this is a strange thing for me too. When the bond between us was created, for some reason, we were both struck with a insatiable desire for skinship, hence me being like this.”

{Also doesn't help that my anxiety has now expanded to include separation anxiety too, but lets not get into that.} (Akagi)

"I like how casually she says that." Kana rolled her eyes. "Aren't you suffocating, Yumi? You can tell her to stop if it's bothering you."

{If Hishya got that clingy, I'd need to break out the descaler...} (Kana)

"Ah... um... I would prefer she stay like this." Yumi averted her eyes, blushing. "Having her wrapped around me feels nice, so its fine."

{Ah, so both of them are weird.} (Kana)

"See! Yumi understands!" Akagi said. Her imaginary chest puffing out in pride. "She is my squishy! Tis only natural she likes being squished!"

"What the hell does that even mean?" Naomi asked with an exasperated face. "Squishy?"

"She feels good to snuggle and hold tight, and when I thought about a word to describe it, the term squishy came to mind!" Akagi coiled around Yumi further. “Yumi is my squishy!”

"Sure..." Kana shook her head. “Odd choice of word, but whatever.”

{I don't care enough to challenge every one of your oddities. So go ahead and touch Yumi to your hearts content. You two both deserve each other if you want this kind of relationship.} (Kana)

"You can't tell me you didn't enjoy having Hishya all over you, Kana." Akagi laughed. "So you must understand my feelings."

Kana got slightly red as she nearly choked on her food. "I... I guess."

{Don't bring that up!} (Kana)

"Perhaps a better explanation is necessary, my Lord? I'm afraid this will be hard for anyone but us to understand, and you are quite bad at describing things at times." Yumi sighed.

“Hey! Am not!” Akagi protested, but was ignored.

"She and I are bound by a connection that runs between our souls, a literal link between us if you will. It does many things, but a side effect is that we prefer to be around each other as much as possible. Which means that such closeness is desired by the two of us.” Yumi continued as she stroked one of Akagi's smaller tendrils.

{Mmmmm pets...} (Akagi)

“As my Lord is the Senior partner, she has become quite possessive and protective of me, as you can see by her coiling around me. Its a natural defensive mechanism, especially as she lacked someone of such closeness in her life before. It was why she reacted so violently when I was harmed by Armalthy. I may no longer be able to die, but the thought me being taken away, even temporarily, is unacceptable to her." Yumi had gotten a bit more information from Akagi, and the bond gave her a vague sense of understanding. She actually thought it quite a nice connection, as it was something of a deeper level than mortal love.

"We watched an anime once where the two characters could fuse into a single body, and they felt happier that way, right? Think of it like that, minus the desire to fuse together." She had found the concept amusing when she saw it the first time. “Neither of us want something like that.”

"Wait can you actually do something like that?" Kana asked her sister. With Akagi's repertoire of crazy powers, taking control of someone's body wouldn't surprise her.

"No." Akagi responded. "I cannot merge with or take over someone's body, and I wouldn't want to." The thought of having a mortal body again made her non-existent stomach churn, she'd messed around with giving her body more human features and it always disgusted her.

{Though, within my body, I'm pretty sure I can control people.} (Akagi)

"Yeah, that's probably for the best," Kana said. "I'd rather not see the two of your run around fused into some crazy thing." She imagined what kind of amalgamation the two would form into.

{It would be kind of neat to see.} (Kana)

"Even if I could, I wouldn't do it." Akagi said. "Joining together like that would blur the lines between Yumi and me too much, and I want Yumi and me to be separate beings, not merged as one." Akagi and Yumi craved the attention and affection of each other, and while they enjoyed being close, merging into one person would actually have detrimental effects, rather than make them happier. “I view Yumi as a part of me, but joining together would mean she disappears and just the thought of that makes me violently angry.” Akagi's form shook for a moment before returning to normal.

"What a conversation topic." Naomi rolled her eyes. "Here we are, sitting at the kitchen table of a centuries old estate speaking to the Demon Lord and the Demon Princess about merging bodies and soul bonds." She shook her head. "Whatever happened to nice normal topics?" She said this but had a smile on her face.

"They went out the window the moment you met me." Akagi laughed.

“I'd say we got an upgrade.” Mika smiled.

"Demon Princess..." Kana slumped in her chair. "School starts back up tomorrow. I wonder what's going to happen this time..." If the first return to school was problematic, this one might be even worse.

{Please don't let people cause me trouble. At this point I'm starting to understand why Onee-chan's motto is LEAVE ME ALONE.} (Kana)

"Yeah, I better avoid going out in public for a bit." Akagi sighed. "The literal Demon Lord walking through town would cause a panic, and I don't want to deal with that." She didn't care if people freaked out, but it would be a pain.

Mika finished her sandwich. "You know. I think people might not be that afraid of you now. So things will probably be fine.”"

"I had Hishya stream me devour the souls of six people, one of who I devoured in the literal sense, as I gave a speech about being the incarnation of evil who can to destroy the world. People not being afraid would be strange, especially since I was trying to scare people." Akagi lifted up a shadow tendril and shook it in disapproval.

{You three being so ok with everything is the strange part. I have no clue how on Earth Mika and Naomi are able to be around me, or why they would even want to? Is it because they're afraid? That they think I'd kill them if they tried to leave? I bet that's it...} Akagi began to imagine the worst case scenario, a habit caused by her mental instability and illness, and something that only worsened with her release. {It's fine... I shouldn't have real friends anyway...}

"T-true..." Mika flinched as she listened to Akagi's words. "But! You defeated the terrorist group that was killing so many people, and the online conversation about you has trended positively over the last week!” She tried to convince Akagi that things weren't all doom and gloom.

“People are glad you stopped Libra, though many are also now worried about what you may do next." Mika gave a wry smile as she recalled some of the chatroom conversations she had with people.

{You're overboard killing of Libra mayyyy have soured a few people on you. Even for me, that was a bit much to watch.} Despite Mika's thoughts, the girl was glued to her screen during the attack and even recorded it for future re-watching.

"Mika, I still think if Akagi walked down the street, a lot of people would run away screaming." Naomi said while wiping her mouth. "Her eyes alone would probably freak people out." Demonic eyes were unsettling to most people, and Akagi's were especially unique.

"Yeah, you should really change those back, Onee-chan." Kana agreed. “They're kind of-” Kana was cut off by Akagi

"No!" Akagi growled. "My eyes are an important part of me! I refuse to change them back when I'm not using a different body!" Her sudden out burst took everyone by surprise "People can get over themselves if my eyes are enough to cause them to scream in fear." They didn't understand why Akagi got so defensive and Naomi decided to get further clarification

"You really like them that much?" Naomi asked. She personally didn't care about them, but that was because she was used to Akagi by now.

"These are my real eyes, Naomi." Akagi tensed up. This conversation rankled her and got under her skin. "They are proof of who I am, and to hide them away is to deny that I am a Demon. And that, is something that I will never do again." Changing them while in another body was fine, but for some reason walking around in her usual body without them felt unthinkable. “On top of that, they serve as a good warning. I am a Demon masquerading as a human,  and it would do well for you and everyone else to never forget that there is a monster standing before you.”

{I might take a human form, but that is more for convenience and utility. My real appearance is a far cry from what you see before you. And while Kana knows better than most what I really look like, she's never seen all of it. Yumi is the only one to have gotten that privilege, and I'd prefer to keep it that way. Plus, I have a sneaking suspicion that simply looking upon my true form might break peoples' minds.} (Akagi)

Akagi's words caused the conversation to stop, and you could almost cut the tension in the air with a knife. Akagi was right, it was best that people remember just what lay behind the mask, lest foolish people do foolish things.

"I wonder when Kana will start turning into a demon?" Mika decided to cut the tension with a joke.

"She's already scary. So, soon?" Naomi placed her finger on her lips in thought.

"I'd rather not, thank you!" Kana exclaimed. "Unlike Onee-chan, I actually like being human."

"I agree with Kana. She should stay human." Akagi's words surprised the girls.

"Wait, really?!? I figured you be excited to have Kana change?" Naomi was surprised.

“Huh... I thought you'd be making some magic item to transform her.” Mika was equally surprised.

“I was honestly expecting to wake up one morning as a shadow blob...” Kana gave a wry smile.

"Why are you all acting so surprised? Especially you, Kana!" Akagi sighed. "A fundamental change like that is not something a normal person should deal with. Even other returnees had a hard time adjusting to their new bodies, and some still are having issues! My acceptance of such changes is not normal, and even I had trouble during the transition. I wouldn't wish that on anyone, especially Kana!" Akagi's thoughtful statement caught everyone off guard.

"I must admit that even I thought you'd be overjoyed to see Kana become like you, my Lord." Yumi gave an embarrassed smile.

"Et tu, Yumi?" Akagi said. "Why do you people think I'm some heartless, uncaring monster?!? Akagi yelled. “I mean, I can be, but that's not me 100% of the time! Demon Lord or not, I'm still a person with feelings!" Akagi exclaimed. Sometimes she got the sense that people had the wrong idea about her.

“I'm not mad, but please try to be more respectful of that in the future. I might have to turn on Demon Lord mode at times, but I'm mostly a pretty chill person who doesn't want to have to do that.” However, Akagi didn't make reading her intentions clear, and she could be contradictory and hard to read. Something that was likely an artifact of her broken mind and minor insanity.

Akagi wanted to be feared as the Demon Lord, but also asked to be treated as a person. These things were not necessarily mutually exclusive, but her attitude and mental problems made finding that balance difficult. Kana and Yumi understood this better than anyone else, and even they still could struggle at times, since determining how the Demon wanted to be treated in a particular moment could be difficult. “I-It hurts to hear that you think of me like that...” She was genuinely sad, probably a bit more than she should've been. It didn't help that her emotions were still jumbled from her release, and things were still in the process of stabilizing.

{Good thing I'm not using a body right now, otherwise I might have cried. Stupid fucking mind! Can you just knock off the mood swings and hurry up and fix yourself?!? It's been an annoying past couple of days with you acting all stupid! It feels like I'm going to split in two with all these strange contradictory thoughts and emotions!} Akagi sighed internally. {At least it has gotten better, and I guess being a Demon Lord that kept its sane mind has some repercussions. I just hope this hurries up and finishes soon...}

"Um. Sorry about that." Naomi apologized.

"Ye-yeah. I thought that would be a good joke, not kill the mood further." Mika sighed. Her attempt at levity only caused more tension.

"At least I know you won't be scheming to make me a Demon like you." Kana breathed a sigh of relief.

"I won't be scheming to turn any of you into Yokai or other creatures." Akagi groaned. "That's also why I was so reluctant to allow Mizumi to try the magic experiment with Mika."

"I can't wait!" Mika's eyes glistened. Akagi had reluctantly given permission for Mizumi to perform the procedure to give her magic circuits. Akagi had tried to talk her out of it, but the blue-haired girl's enthusiasm was too much, even for Akagi.

"I still want your parent's approval, which reminds me." Akagi uncoiled from around Yumi and formed behind her. "I would like to come with you after school tomorrow if that's ok? Maybe we can hang out?"

"Eh?" (Mika, Naomi and Kana)

"You want to hang out with us after school?" Naomi asked.

{That's a shocker! She's never shown interest in that before.} (Naomi)

"Yes." Akagi nodded. "You can say no if that's not ok. I just wanted to ask. I'd understand if you don't want anything to do with me in your regular life." She scratched her cheek nervously.

{And now she's gone to self depreciation mode....} Kana sighed. {If either Naomi or Mika tried to avoid her outside of the estate, I'd kick their ass for being so rude! And besides, they wouldn't do that.}

Kana turned to her two friends. “How about it? I think it sounds fun, and I've never really got the chance to do some after school stuff with Onee-chan before.” Akagi was part of the going home club and rarely went out of the house except for school or things she either wanted or needed to do, which was very infrequent.

"I don't mind." Naomi smiled.

"Yeah, we never get to just hang out together." Mika nodded.

Hearing their acceptance, Akagi's face turned into a smile. She was excited to spend some time after school with them. The Demon had come to value Mika and Naomi's friendship and wanted to start acting more like peers and friend with them if possible. Being a normal girl was definitely off the table, but Akagi wanted to try to act as normal as possible with them every now and again.

"Really!" Akagi smiled. "I'm not good at that stuff, so I'll just go along with whatever you guys have planned." Akagi thought for a moment. "Trying on clothes or dressing me up will see you tossed on a deserted pacific island for the day." She actually didn't mind going clothes shopping, but hated the idea of someone playing dress up with her. Kana tried to do that once when they were kids and found herself trapped under a laundry basket.

{They actually want to hang out? But do they really? Or are they just doing it because they feel they have too...} Akagi's anxiety was once again making her doubt things. {It would make sense, I am the Demon Lord, who would willingly hang out with me? They probably just fear me and what I'd do to them if they said no... but that's fine... Demon Lords don't have friends... right?}

"Dang." Kana snapped her finger. "And here I was wanting to see you in a proper dress."

"That would have been fun." Mika laughed. "Akagi always wears Kimonos and other traditional clothes, so I'd like to see her in something more normal."

"Yeah, that would actually be kinda neat." Naomi agreed.

"Uhhhhh." Akagi snapped her fingers and changed into a t-shirt and shorts. "I in fact, do have other clothing. You just aren't around when I wear it." Akagi actually wore quite a large variety of casual clothing, though she did prefer Kimonos and other traditional dress to normal clothing.

"Huh." Mika eyed her up. "It's kinda strange to see you dress like that."

"Yeah," Naomi just stared at her.” But you look good, almost like a normal girl. Minus the eyes.”

"I'm going to strangle the two of you one of these days, I swear." Akagi put her head in her hands. "What do you people want from me?!?"

"Oh yeah. I guess they've never seen you in different clothes." Kana laughed. "Onee-chan actually has a pretty big wardrobe."

"In that case, if you're gonna hang out with us after school tomorrow, come in something different!" Mika asked, excited to see Akagi in other clothes. “Wear something normal, like what we'd wear!”

"Fine, but I won't be in this body. People would probably freak out if they saw me walking around Kyoto.” Akagi shrugged. “Is that ok?”

"Wait, who are you gonna look like?" Kana asked, worried. "Please don't copy us, that would be bad."

"You'll just have to wait and see." Akagi gave a toothy smile. “But don't worry I won't do anything bad.”