The Red Hand

Chapter 143.5 – Venting Session

A bit after the mom discussion, Akagi and Naomi moved into one of the side rooms, alone. Since she was already here, and was planning on sticking around to monitor her new magical power, Naomi figured that now would be a good time for her first session with Akagi. The Demon was reluctant to do something like this, mostly because she didn't want to bother her friend, but Naomi insisted.

"Here, I got something for you to drink." Akagi handed Naomi a cup of juice while she sat down with her coffee.

"Thanks." Naomi took a sip.

"How are you feeling?" Akagi wanted to check in on her condition before they began.

"I still ache a bit, but it's definitely gotten better than the other day." She laughed. "Though the increased food consumption has really spooked my staff."

{They were a bit concerned with my sudden increase in intake, and explaining that I could now use magic was a fun conversation.} (Naomi)

"I can imagine. Suddenly needing a good bit extra food daily is sure to cause some concern and confusion among those around you. There aren't many reasons for such a change normally." Akagi chuckled. "Mika has apparently just been sleeping a ton and eating even more, much to her parent's chagrin."

Naomi rolled her eyes. "As if she needed an excuse to sleep or eat."

"Fair point." Akagi smiled.

"So then, how about we get started." Naomi put her cup down. "Is there any place you wanted to begin? Or should we start from the beginning?"

"To be honest, I have no idea what to even say or do here." Akagi gave a dry laugh. "I've never really talked about things to anyone, even Yumi, so I'm a bit at a loss. And I don't exactly want to burden you with my problems."

{She shouldn't have to do this. It's not right to rely on her for something so heavy, so maybe I shouldn't go too in-depth.} (Akagi)

"Stop right there." Naomi put her hands up to signal a time-out. "I might not be able to read minds like you, but I can tell what you're thinking." She scolded Akagi. "Don't you go thinking this is a burden on me, and don't go holding back because you think I shouldn't be doing this."

{You're such a pain...} (Naomi)

"I brought this up to Kana, and it was my idea to give you someone to talk to. After the nightmare the other day, it only strengthens my resolve to give you help." Naomi's eyes told how serious she is. "I can't do much for you in this friendship, so at a bare minimum allow me to lend you an ear. Trust me, I'm not going to get upset or anything from just listening to your story or problems. Lord knows I've gone to enough therapy myself after my family was killed, so I understand how strange it can be to talk to someone about how you feel."

{And it didn't help that said therapist was garbage at her job...} (Naomi)

"Are you really ok with this?" Akagi asked. "Isn't hearing what I have to say going to stress you out? I mean, it can't be easy to listen to someone else's-" She was cut off by Naomi tapping her fingers on the table between them.

"Do you really think me so weak that I couldn't handle listening to my friend's issues?" Naomi glared at her.

"N-no, that wasn't what I was trying to say..." Akagi averted her eyes.

"Listen... Friends listen to other friends problems, it's one of the perks of being friends." Naomi sighed. "I'm not going to pretend to be a therapist, but I can listen and that is probably just what you need since you've never really articulated your feelings to anyone else. So I'll be ok."

"Fine, but if it gets to be too much, then please tell me to stop." Akagi sighed.

"I will, but I don't think that will happen. Besides, we're going to do this a bit at a time rather than all at once." Naomi shrugged. "So, since you've got no idea where to start, let me kick things off." She straightened up and picked up her juice cup. "Kana has told me many things about your childhood and how things were at the house. But I'd like to hear about it from you since you were the one affected by everything." Naomi wanted to get the entire story and was hoping for more detail than what Kana could give.

"Well... where do I even start?" Akagi gave a dead laugh. "Shima and Taichi... they hated me. Ever since I was little, I couldn't tell you one instance where either told me they loved me, and looking back the few moments that I thought were them showing me affection were just my young mind imagining things."

{I still feel stupid for thinking we had fun at the summer festival after my fourth birthday...} (Akagi)

"So they never acted like parents? Not once, ever?" Naomi only knew part of the conversation in the kitchen from last fall since Kana didn't want to talk about it that much.

"Yeah, I originally thought that Kana being born was where things really went downhill, but that was just me lying to myself." Akagi sighed. "I thought..." She paused. "I thought that, at least before then, before Kana's intellect became known, that... that at least until that point they loved me. But that wasn't true, and they told me as much themselves." Akagi gave a bitter smile. "From the day I was born, the two never loved me and always thought of me as some creature that took away their real child. I got as much from the documents I found in the Tomogawa compound, as there were a few correspondences between Shima and Kenji discussing what should be done with me." She gripped her cup harder.

{She... she was asking for advice on how to kill me... her own...} (Akagi)

"They wanted to kill me as an infant... at least they were planning on it, but Kenji for whatever reason couldn't go through with it. Something about killing children I suppose didn't sit right with him." Akagi laughed. "But that didn't mean I was accepted by the family, and once Kana was born. That was when things only started getting worse."

"Because they had someone to compare you to." Naomi guessed why.

{I can imagine that even in a normal house there would be problem if such a disparity between siblings emerged.} (Naomi)

"Yup, Kana was the born genius, and I was just the mediocre monster with behavioral issues." Akagi sighed. "After it was revealed just how talented Kana was, and how fucked up I was, the abuse gradually got worse, and worse. What little remained of their parental attachment disappeared, and I was basically just a stranger in my own home." Akagi's grip on the cup nearly caused it to crack before she stopped and put it down. "Did... did you know they never took me to my kindergarten graduation? Heh..." Akagi put her hands on her face as she gave a sad chuckle. "They couldn't even bother taking five-year-old me to a stupid little ceremony where I got a silly piece of paper... All because I didn't matter and because it would have required them to give up their night!" Akagi's voice got louder. "Like... I'm a five-year-old kid who doesn't know any better, and you tell me that your stupid fucking night where all you did was sit on the couch and watch T.V. was more important than this event?!?" Akagi got increasingly angry as she remembered that day. "I remember that night... I was so sad and disappointed that I couldn't go!" She glared at Naomi. "I thought... I thought that I did something wrong. I thought that... I thought that I was a bad girl and this was my punishment. I cried in my room that night... and what did those two fucks do! NOTHING! They never came to check on me either, and they yelled at me when I came downstairs later for causing a fuss!" She sat back down.

"That's truly awful. I just can't imagine something like that happening." Naomi said.

{We've only just started, and if these things are just the tip of the iceberg. Just what the fuck did these people do to her for this to be a seemingly minor footnote?!?} (Naomi)

"Yeah, well. It did." Akagi scoffed.

"Let me interrupt for a second." Naomi took a sip of her drink. "How much have you told Kana about what they did to you over the years? Does she know how bad it was?"

"Honestly." Akagi thought for a moment. "What she knows doesn't even scratch the surface of the surface. She knows generally that I was abused, and is aware of certain things. But I've kept a lot from her over the years, mostly to protect her."

"While I understand not wanting your younger sister to know what her parents were doing to you, I think you need to start being a bit more open with Kana about what happened." Naomi sighed. "Because to be honest, I think Kana has a very limited understanding of what kind of treatment you dealt with."

{I believe that Kana is drastically underestimating just how bad things were. I've only heard this small amount, but the look in Akagi's eyes are telling me this goes deep.} (Naomi)

"You might be right." Akagi slumped back onto the couch. "She should know the truth... I've just been hiding things from her for so long... that it might be a painful conversation."

"Yes, but I think she'd rather you be truthful. It might hurt to hear the truth about her parents, but she can handle it." Naomi smiled.

"Yeah, your right. But it's gonna suck to tell her about all those times I went to Aunt Nana's." Akagi groaned.

"???" Naomi tilted her head. "What does that mean?"

"That was code for leaving Akagi at home alone while the family went on a trip somewhere, or dumping me at her house to get rid of me when I was being inconvenient." Akagi laughed. "If you go look through the family album, and carefully inspect all the pictures. You'll notice a conspicuous lack of photos of me, with the few that exist being school pictures or a handful of other events where they couldn't keep me away."

"So wait, t-they just lied to Kana and left you at home?" Naomi's eyes went wide. "Every time?"

"Mostly, yeah." Akagi laughed. "Kana would always ask why I wasn't going, and they always said that I was going to stay with Aunt Nana for whatever reason." She shrugged. 

"And in reality, you were left at home by yourself?" Naomi said while sipping her drink.

"Yeah, at least most of the time. There were plenty of times where they did dump me at her house, but it really doesn't matter. Do you know how stupid and dangerous it is for a ten-year-old kid to be left at home alone?" Akagi sighed. "I'll never forget the time I burned my hand on the stove trying to cook popcorn and nearly burned down the house. The best part was that I got scolded for wasting food, and then went without dinner the day they got back as punishment."

{T-that's...} (Naomi)

"And if you think that's bad. Ohhhh boy do I have stories for you." Akagi laughed. "I've been put out in a blizzard, poisoned, left at school and forced to walk in the rain, nearly ran over by them, and so much more."

{Not to mention the time Shima locked me in the shed for an entire day...} (Akagi)

"I hate to ask, but was there really no one who could have done anything for you?" Naomi asked. "Or couldn't you have reported them?"

{Where the hell were child protective services?!?} (Naomi)

"Pffff." Akagi laughed. "You don't think I tried?!? Kenji had a fuck ton of influence, and the one time I told a teacher about what those two did to me when he asked about a comment I made, not only did I get punished for spreading 'lies', but the teacher in question 'committed suicide.'" Akagi put up air quotes around that phrase.

"Did the Tomogawa family really have that much power?!?" Naomi's eyes went wide in shock.

{The Mitsuhides had lots of influence, but that was because of their political connections. I don't recall the Tomogawa's having something similar.} (Naomi)

"The Tomogawa clan had sunk its teeth into so many different businesses, NGOs, political parties, and the like that we'd be here all day if I tried to tell you each one." Akagi shrugged. "I found all the info in their archives, the family had apparently used its spiritual powers and shikigami to get dirt on people so they could exploit them later."

{They even had dirt on the Mitsuhide and Tokugawa clans.} (Akagi)

"Quite ironic then that they were supposed to be the defenders of good." Naomi gave a dry laugh.

"Yeah, they bought into their own hype hard." Akagi said. "Everything was for the greater good, and blah, blah, blah. Thus they couldn't do anything wrong since they were the force for good and defenders of the world." She mocked them. 

"They were nothing but a bunch of fucking hypocritical blow-hards, and I'm so glad I tortured those fucks before eating them!" Akagi accidentally spoke aloud.

"Hmmmmm. I'll just ignore that one." Naomi sighed.

"Oops." Akagi let out a wry laugh. "Yeah, I might have gone a bit overboard in how I went about that..."

{But god was it fun.} (Akagi)

"Yeah, I can only imagine what you did, and honestly, I don't want to know." Naomi shook her head.

{Venting about your issues does not mean telling me the gory details of how you tortured your relatives before consuming their souls.} (Naomi)

"Yeah, no." Akagi shook her head quickly. "Let me just tell you this, that night.... that night, I dropped the human disguise for a bit." She bit her lip but cracked a smile. "And it felt good." Her voice distorted briefly. "I got to sink my teeth into those who I've wanted revenge on for so long, and in that moment, I wasn't Akagi, the nice older sister of Kana and your friend." Akagi looked into Naomi's eyes. "I was Akagi, the Demon Lord, and nothing else."