The Red Hand

Chapter 149 – Checking out the Sights.

After dinner was concluded, the girls returned to their rooms for the evening. The week would consist of many meetings between Akagi, Mizumi, and various government officials. Topics would vary between magical trade, diplomatic relations with Omara, and the lending of Birdy to the Americans. Mizumi would spend a large amount of time independently of Akagi as she would be handling the important task of representing her people to the American government. So she would be busy, which was fine.

The week went on with meeting, after meeting, after meeting. Something Akagi was all too used to, and she actually had some fun with this setup. There were a lot of tense discussions, but the Americans generally had a cautious yet respectful and amicable attitude, something that pleased Akagi. So in return, she agreed to work on more favorable deals with them. A few of the most important agreements were as follows.

(1) Akagi would be recognized as the leader of the Kingdom of Dumetor, once it was established, with the promise of limited Democratic institutions in the future.

(2) The U.S. would set up official diplomatic relations with her new nation.

(3) The U.S. would sponsor her country's entry into the UN.

(4) The U.S. would guarantee her nation against hostile attacks and invasion.

(5) The U.S. would accept Birdy and use her as a part of a non-military unit to deal with natural disasters and relief efforts.

(6) Akagi will begin trade in both knowledge and material regarding magic.

(7) Akagi will be recognized as a Demon Lord by the United States.

(8) Akagi will facilitate trade and transport between the U.S. and Omara until other methods are developed.

(9) The U.S. will recognize Mizumi as the official spokesperson of her people.

(10) In a gesture of goodwill, Akagi will recall her agents from spying on the American government and its military institutions.

(11) The American government will recognize the status of those brought from FWO into the real world as people protected under international law as de-jure humans thereunder.

(12) The U.S. will not interfere with her family operations where possible. (I.E. not stopping nations from hiring them and ignoring small-scale crimes. This provision is secret.)

(13) The U.S. will work with Akagi to provide technical support for the construction of her new town, and will work with Japan to provide safe transport and relocation for those who wish to enter it as citizens.

(14) The U.S. and Japan will work together to clamp down on discrimination of returnees and FWO survivors.

(15) The U.S. will assist in future negotiations with Japan on legal issues regarding her new nation, such as tariffs and customs.

In addition to negotiations, Akagi met with ambassadors from various nations ranging from South America to Europe. And while each were kind and cordial, she could tell that opinions on her were divided.

Mizumi met a similar number of important figures and had an equally long list of meetings over the week. Though, it seemed that there was more interest in her and her people than Akagi. Something the Demon found funny. Thursday was set aside as a free day so that Akagi and the girls could check out D.C. Originally, Rosewood wanted to prepare an itinerary and even have Nariyuki accompany her. But when her agent checked in Akagi's room that morning, she found a note saying that she and Yumi would head out with Hikari to walk around D.C. and that she could relax on a nice happy day off.

Naturally, this resulted in a minor panic as Nariyuki contacted President Rosewood, but she was told to just leave things be. Though the annoyed agent had to take a few more stomach pills that morning due to stress.

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"I am honored you wished me to accompany you, my Lord!" Hikari smiled. She was excited to see D.C. together with Akagi. She'd not spent much time with her as she was always overseas and was looking forward to spending time with her leader.

{I get to hangout with Lady Akagi! Everyone's going to be so jealous!} (Hikari)

"It's the least I can do. Plus, this way, we don't have that minder watching us over our shoulders." Akagi laughed. "Mizumi is a bit busy still, so it will just be the three of us." The three of them walked down one of the many busy streets in D.C. People seemed wary of them, and there were a few hecklers. Most of whom were silenced by one of Akagi's sharp glare along with Yumi's scowl.

"So, where are we heading?" Yumi asked.

"Well, we're in D.C., so we've got to hit up all the important locations, the Smithsonian being one." Akagi was excited to see one of the best Museums in the world. "Then we should hit up the National Mall, the Holocaust Museum, the National Archives Museum, and oh! We need to go check out as many of the U.S. government buildings open to the public as possible!" She wanted to see things like the Lincoln Memorial and even Capital Hill.

"Ah, heh-heh." Hikari gave a dry laugh. She had little interest in history or museums but would go anyway.

"It's rare to see you get so excited over something like this." Yumi laughed. "It's almost as if you did all this just to come to this city as a tourist."

{I wouldn't be surprised if she did.) (Yumi x Hikari)

"I can neither confirm nor deny that statement." Akagi chuckled. "Now onwards!" She charged forward with her two totally willing tour buddies. The Washington Monument was first on the list since it was so close. The girls thought such a massive structure was neat, and Akagi started rambling about how it was only partially finished before the Civil War, and that's why it had two colors of bricks. As they walked around, she gave the two of them a 'brief' history of the country, and you could literally see the Hikari's eyes glaze over in boredom.

The WWII memorial was nearby, and they checked that out as well. Akagi then explained just a small amount about what happened, who the war was between, why it was fought, and what side Japan was on... It was interesting explaining that some of her ancestors had been the bad guys in the war, a fact that made Yumi state that nothing had changed since Akagi was now the Demon Lord. Which saw Yumi get bonked on the head. Once they were finished, they went to the nearby Holocaust memorial. A place that actually caught both girls' interest. There was a bit of confusion from the employees as they entered, but they soon found themselves checking out the exhibits.

"So many people died in such a terrible way." Hikari's ears drooped a bit. "How awful."

"Yeah, it's truly horrifying. People were killed for nothing. Just because they were undesired for some arbitrary reason." Yumi shook her head. "They were even considered non-human." That bit hit close to home for her since it was how many players interacted with NPCs.

"Yeah, and the sad part is that this was only part of it." Akagi shrugged. "The Japanese in South East Asia, Korea and China did some really messed up things." There was still a lot of denial and revisionism within Japanese education and politics to this day.

"I want to joke about such people spawning you, but I think that would be in poor taste..." Yumi sighed.

"Yeah, probably don't." Akagi rolled her eyes. "Now that I think about it, me standing here and lamenting over millions of pointless cruel deaths is very strange." If you thought about it, she was right. As a Demon Lord, she was meant to kill everyone and make what happened during WWII look small.

"Not necessarily." Yumi said. "It just goes to show how you've kept hold of yourself despite your nature. You were born evil but overcame that through a great struggle. I'd say it's a wonderful thing." She smiled.

{I wouldn't say overcame that, since well...} Akagi was still very twisted, and she only restrained herself for her own reasons rather than some moral or ethical feelings. She was still capable of and willing to cause death and destruction where necessary. {Yumi, you were in the basement of the Tomogawa compound. You sat and watched what we did. Are you just ignoring that, or are you just trying to make me feel better?} She sighed. It wasn't really worth discussing.

As she was thinking to herself, Yumi pointed out a small video set that was playing a recording of an older man speaking in English. "What's that?" She asked.

Akagi couldn't understand what he was saying but figured it out immediately. "Those are recordings of survivors. They were made while they were still alive so that their stories could be preserved for people born long after they died. Today since it's been over one hundred years since the events of the Holocaust, there is no one alive today who was alive when it happened. All those involved are dead and buried." The three of the walked over, and Hikari translated a bit. The man was a young boy during the events, and he and his family were separated and taken to camps during the war. He managed to survive, barely, until Allied forces liberated where he was being held in 1945. Though, he'd lost his younger sister and his mother.

"Is that really all true?" Yumi looked at her.

"Sadly, yes." Akagi nodded. "Humanity is fucked up, both in your world and this one. Hell, the Empire ain't got nothing on this." The two girls were more impacted by the man's story than Akagi expected. Though, this was probably because, while their world had tragedy and horrors of its own, something like this was unimaginable. As they left, Akagi swore she saw some tears in their eyes.

Figuring it would be best to go somewhere less depressing they next went to the Smithsonian, which Akagi loved, and then to the Capitol building where Akagi had a fun time checking out the historical artifacts, documents, and other things. She'd been here for some meetings, but hadn't had the chance to just look around. The girls were also similarly disinterested in these things, but kept quiet since Akagi was enjoying herself.

After a while, and a lot of wandering around, Akagi sat on a bench holding a coffee as she checked off her list of places to visit.

"SCOTUS building, Library of Congress, Grant Memorial, Lincoln Memorial. We saw the inside of the Capitol building. Alright!" Akagi stood up. "I think that covers everything I wanted to check out!" She had a massive smile on her face. "That was fun!"

"You really do enjoy things like this, huh?" Yumi giggled. "You've been like a kid in a candy store since we started this morning."

"Well, sorry, I have hobbies and things I enjoy outside of being an assassin and the Demon Lord. Hmpf!" Akagi turned away.

"Now, Now." Yumi poked Akagi in the shoulder. "Don't get all pouty. It was fun for me too. And Hikari, you had fun, right?" Her eyes told the dog girl to say yes.

"Yes!" Her tail stood up. "It was so much fun!"

{No it wasn't. But if I said that, Yumi would kill me.} (Hikari)

"Well, I'm glad to hear it." Akagi smiled. "We should get back for dinner though. Nariyuki said they were going to serve us something Japanese inspired tonight, and I can't wait. Hikari, you should join us too." She figured the girl needed a reward, and food was very welcome to the beastkin.

"Sounds great!" Hikari's stomach growled.

"It's like we never left behind Mika with you here." Yumi laughed, and Hikari growled at her. Once they finished up at the park they were at, the three of them began a return trip to Blair House. Today was a full day, and Akagi thoroughly enjoyed herself, noting to make time to check out other historical places in the world and perhaps make a trip to Europe in the near future.

After a bit of a walk, they returned not long before dinner was to begin. Nariyuki gave Akagi a lecture about not taking off without her or someone from the government with her, but was promptly ignored. Akagi didn't want or need a minder.

"You're not even listening to me, are you?" Nariyuki sighed.

"Nope." Akagi laughed. "I do what I want. If that's an issue for you, too bad."

{As if I'm going to just leash myself to you. What do you take me for, some kind of weak minded fool?} (Akagi)

"You could have at least informed me before you went out." Nariyuki said.

"Hey! I left a note." Akagi shrugged. "I figured that would be good enough."

"She's doing this on purpose, isn't she?" Nariyuki looked at Yumi who started laughing.

"She has a bad habit of picking on people, and I think you've caught her interest on that front." Yumi giggled.

"Well, fuck me." Nariyuki put her head in her hands. "Why did I have to be the trustworthy one." She cursed Rosewood for this assignment.

{I swear, if the Secret Service wouldn't jump me, I'd kick her ass!} (Nariyuki)

Mizumi was running late with a meeting, so the four of them sat down for dinner in the dining hall. The chef brought out something that looked like curry and naan bread, two things Akagi very much loved. However, not all was well with this seemingly amazing food as just when Yumi moved to start eating, Akagi stopped her.

"No one touch the food." Akagi declared.

"What's wrong?" Nariyuki's eyes got sharp.

"It's poisoned." Akagi's words caused the three girl's eyes to widen in shock.

{I had a feeling something like this might happen.} Akagi internally sighed. {Why can't we just have a normal, peaceful day?}