The Red Hand

Chapter 148 – Dinner with the President.

Akagi and the girls relaxed in their private room together until it was time for the formal dinner with President Rosewood. Akagi's discussion with Nariyuki made the agent even warier of the Demon, and she assumed Rosewood would be made aware of her statements. Though, Akagi didn't care.

Returning to the White House, Akagi, Mizumi, and Yumi were escorted to a large and ornate dining room. Nariyuki would be joining them as a translator, a position she had already grown tired of. Taking their seats, they were informed that President Rosewood was running late with one of her meetings and that it would be a few more minutes until she arrived. The Speaker of the House wanted to discuss the situation in more detail after their press conference, and Rosewood couldn't exactly duck out of a meeting with the third most powerful politician in D.C.

After around twenty minutes of waiting, President Rosewood finally arrived in the dining room and greeted everyone.

"Good afternoon everyone and I'm so sorry for being late." Rosewood looked exhausted.

"It's fine. Trust me, I know just how bad meetings can get." Akagi laughed. She dealt with a similar issue within the clan during peak times. "You sure look like hell, though. Did our little conference cause that much of a headache?"

"Like you wouldn't believe." Rosewood let out a deep sigh as she sat down at the table across from Akagi. "I had to answer god knows how many questions, some of which I couldn't even give a concrete answer to."

{And its only going to get worse as the week goes on. Woopie...} (Rosewood)

"I'm confident you'll be fine!" Akagi gave a smile, acting like this wasn't her problem.

Rosewood groaned. "I have a bad feeling this is only going to get worse after your address on Monday.... isn't it?" Her eyes looked dead as she imagined the coming headache. "Perhaps I should just resign now while the going is good?"

"Where would be the fun in that?" Akagi chuckled. "Besides, when you're all done, I want you to come and work for me. So I think you'll be in trouble no matter what."

"Oh great, the Demon has its sights on me now. Lovely." Rosewood slumped back in her chair. For whatever reason, she felt like she could relax around Akagi.

"Hey, just ask anyone who works for me. The perks are amazing! Right, Mizumi." Akagi turned to the Spirit,

"Well, besides the fact that my entire people might die if I anger you, sure. It's great being your slave!" Mizumi shrugged as she gave a cheeky grin.

"Oh? A wise guy?" Akagi poked Mizumi in the cheek. "You say that, but the other day, you were singing a vastly different tune. Weren't you?" She was referring to her thanking Akagi for helping get Omara off the ground.

"That is that, and this is this," Mizumi smirked. "I can enjoy our good relationship and point out that fact that you've got me in the palm of your hand."

{When did she get so cheeky?} (Akagi)

"I've heard much about your kind from Hikari, but could you tell me a bit more?" Rosewood asked Mizumi.

"There is much to tell, but here is the long and short of it." Mizumi began to explain everything to Rosewood. She discussed what she was, where she came from, and her connection to the FWO incident, and even told her they were originally from this world. President Rosewood knew some of this information but not all of it, and to say she was shocked would be an understatement.

"So this world really did have supernatural creatures?" Rosewood put her hand over her mouth. "You wouldn't happen to know if this was exclusive to Japan? Or should we be looking for such existence throughout the rest of the world?"

{I'd rather not find out that bigfoot is alive and well or that Loch Ness really does have a monster.} (Rosewood)

"Sadly, I have no idea. Kukurihime couldn't answer that either since she'd never left Japan. She did say in the past, there were rumors of mystical creatures throughout East Asia, but she couldn't confirm anything." Mizumi said.

"I think it's possible that they exist across this world," Yumi spoke up. "I would find it hard to believe that only Japan had supernatural creatures. That would be strange."

"My people haven't found anything, as of yet, but I've got them on it." Akagi said as food was brought in from the kitchen. "Oh? This looks good."

"I had no idea what kind of food would be acceptable, so I left that up to my chefs." Rosewood smiled. "I hope you two can eat most food of this world. I didn't think to check if you had any dietary issues."

"I have no problems," Mizumi said as she picked up a fork.

"Same." Yumi smiled.

"Good, then let's continue our discussion over dinner." Rosewood put a napkin over her lap and started eating.

"May I ask something, Ms. Yumi?" Rosewood glanced over at her.

"Sure, and just Yumi is fine," Yumi replied as she took a bite.

"I hope this is not offensive, but you were an NPC within the game, correct?" Rosewood's words caused a brief pause in Yumi's movements.

"Yes, I was." She gave a wry smile as she swallowed her food. "I've been told that I was nothing more than a background character in a simulated world for entertainment. So I do understand what I was."

"And while you were still within the game, you could act as you are now?" Rosewood continued. "You were free of thought and action? Like a normal person."

"Yes, I never noticed anything restricting me or otherwise confining my thoughts. As far as I was aware, that world was as real as this one." Yumi said.

"Strange." Rosewood thought. "I've been told countless times that such advanced artificial intelligence was impossible even with our best tech. You said Ms. Mizumi had a hand in that world's creation with her magic, does that have any bearing on this?"

Mizumi answered. "Yes, the ritual crossed the boundaries between worlds and caused time and space to bend. The virtual world created by those developers overlapped with the world my people inhabit now. As a result, the NPCs were given self-awareness. It's not easy to explain how, and sadly my people's most knowledgeable elders are no longer with us to explain the process. But suffice to say, our actions are what gave Yumi and the others life." She looked at Yumi.

"It's fine." Yumi smiled. "I was indeed subject to great tragedy, but without you and your actions, I wouldn't have met my Lord."

"I presume that overlapping is why the players trapped within died?" Rosewood asked.

{As far as I've been told, there was no explanation as to why they died. Doctors couldn't detect any physical injury or trauma.} (Rosewood)

"Yes, since their souls were bound to their avatar bodies, if they were destroyed or disconnected, so was their soul." Mizumi looked guilty. "Our kind view souls as sacred, and doing something like this was... a gross violation of our taboos."

{There was a lot of debate among the elders before we agreed to this, and many felt we were committing a grave sin.} (Mizumi)

"Since it was all technically just data, is there no way to recover those who died?" Rosewood was hoping for some positive news.

Mizumi shook her head. "I'm afraid not, that world was purged once the transfer was complete and the players were logged out. Even if the servers on this end still existed, it wouldn't matter. All who died or were left behind were removed from existence entirely." She sighed. "I wish we could at least revive those players who died, but that is not possible."

President Rosewood froze for a moment as she realized something. "S-so basically an entire world's worth of people were deleted?"

Mizumi just looked down at her plate, not wanting to answer that question.

"It's why I've told people that FWO was much more than a game. All those innocent people who were not lucky enough to follow me out of the game were destroyed. And every one of them was just like Yumi, real and alive."

"Th-that's..." Rosewood paled slightly.

{That's horrifying...} (Rosewood)

"I will never be able to atone for that sin." Mizumi's face darkened. "It might have been indirectly, but my actions caused the deaths of millions of people." She continued. "It was to keep my people alive, and while I would do it again. It was still a horrible act." It meant Mizumi and her people were responsible for an extraordinary loss of life. There were millions of residents in the FWO game world, all of which, baring Akagi's family, were gone.

"I wish I would have known that those turned into items via my exploit would come with." Akagi sighed. "I would have tried to bring as many as possible."

"Don't blame yourself." Mizumi said. "You had no way of knowing anything. That you treated the people of that world as real was already more than what most people did."

"How widespread is this information?" Rosewood asked.

"I've put it out there that the NPCs were real, and the devs have even come out denying it. But Mizumi being involved or the real scope of things is something I've kept close. Though I intend on bringing that to light on Monday." Akagi said.

Rosewood thought for a moment. "I have no idea how people will react to the issue of the residents of that world being real and being wiped out, but I can say finding out you were responsible for nearly two thousand player deaths isn't going to go over well."

"That's why I've kept that quiet until now, but if her people want to have a good relationship with humanity this needs to be disclosed. If I hide it and it leaks out later, that's gonna cause a worse problem." Akagi figured lying here would only make things worse down the line since leaks would happen and rumors would swirl.

"You're probably right." Rosewood sighed. "But, it's going to cause backlash in Japan and likely around the world. People will want her to face trial for their deaths, and I can't do anything to stop that." An intervention on that issue wouldn't be politically feasible.

"That's fine, Mizumi is mine, and I won't let anyone have her. I've accepted her as a subordinate and she is my responsibility. Thus if anyone has issues with her actions, they must go through me first." Akagi grinned. "And we both know that won't be easy."

"Really starting to regret the whole Demon Lord comments..." Rosewood sighed. "Can you at least give a rundown of what you plan to explain on Monday regarding that? Because otherwise, I'm going to struggle to answer the countless questions flung my way."

"Sure," Akagi smirked as she began giving her the entire story of what a Demon Lord is, why they exist, and what they do. This prompted more paleness from Rosewood and a bit of sweat to run down her face. The added explanation of this world's religions being wrong was also an unpleasant conversation, and Nariyuki and Rosewood vowed to take that knowledge to their graves.