The Red Hand

Chapter 195 – The Citizenship Requirement.

Once the stress relief was finished, Yumi and Akagi went down into the living room, where Hishya and Kana were enjoying some snacks on the couch.

"I wonder how much you can transform your body?" Kana sat next to Hishya poking the dragon girl in the face. She was very interested in Hishya's malleability and was keen to test it out later.

"I've got no idea, but I don't think it's anywhere near as extensive as Akagi. Also, why are you poking me again?" Hishya didn't appreciate or understand the poking.

{Am I really that squishy? Is it like Akagi when she goes cat?} (Hishya)

"I don't know. It just seemed like the right thing to do in this situation, and your skin is so much softer now." Kana said while continuing to poke her. “Its like poking fluff.”

{It reminds me of Onee-chan in cat mode, except not as soft.} (Kana)

"She's just claiming you as her squishy." Akagi laughed as she and Yumi walked into the room and caught this funny display.

"Don't start comparing her to you!" Hishya sighed. "Kana isn't as strange as you, Ms. Kitty." She stuck out her tongue.

"MEW!" Akagi let out a meow as she and Yumi sat across from them.

"How are you feeling?" Kana asked her sister. "I heard what happened, and I don't want to see you get depressed again."

"Too late for that." Akagi shrugged as she leaned onto Yumi's shoulder. "But it's fine. We handled things."

"Yes, we did." Yumi smiled. She enjoyed herself, immensely.

{I GOT TO PLAY WITH THE KITTY!} (Yumi)

"???" Kana tilted her head in confusion, but Hishya knew exactly what happened.

{Well at least that's taken care of... God these two are a pain in the ass...} (Hishya

"Well, that's good to hear." Kana sighed. "You really are a pain sometimes, Onee-chan..."

{SEE! Even Kana agrees with me!} (Hishya)

"It happens." Akagi laughed. "It just comes with the territory at this point. Oh well."

"Akagi and I had a lot to discuss anyway, and it was probably for the best that we talked things out like we did." Yumi smiled as she leaned on Akagi's head. "She was holding in a lot of frustration, and this event kinda made it explode."

"I'm not surprised that she-" Kana stopped. "Wait, there it is again!" She turned to Hishya. "I'm not going crazy, right?"

"No, she definitely did it again." Hishya replied. "And this time, I'm certain it wasn't a flub."

"What are you talking about?" Yumi didn't understand what they were referring to.

"You never call Onee-chan by her name, and you've done it twice today." Kana said. "That's not normal, and I've only heard you do it a few other times."

"Yeah, you're pretty adamant about calling her by some kind of formal title." Hishya agreed.

{Akagi complained about that before, so I wonder if that was part of their 'talk.'} (Hishya)

"Ah... well..." Yumi scratched her cheek in embarrassment. "That was part of what we talked about. I've been calling her My Lord because I thought calling her by her name wasn't acceptable, but we discussed that and I won't do it anymore.” She smiled. “We think the game did have some kind of influence on our minds since we were under a follower system, and thus it's possible that our attitudes towards her were manipulated. Which was part of why I found myself unwilling to do it before."

"I'm not surprised." Hishya mulled that idea over before, but was never certain. "Since you guys were pretty autonomous in-game, it makes sense that it would have some kind of enforcement mechanism."

{The devs claimed the NPCs would be very life like, so I'd bet they had something in the code to prevent a rogue AI from showing up.} (Hishya)

"Please don't tell me you've been mind controlled." Kana didn't like that notion.

"We don't think so." Akagi answered. "Right now, we think that it simply nudged whoever was within the system to be even more loyal to their master." She continued. "Yumi reported feeling elation when she did something I approved of or that benefited me, and an extra level of revulsion to the opposite."

"Indeed, but ever since we arrived on Earth, I've never felt such things. Likely because in the real world, the game's systems have no effect anymore." Yumi gave a wry smile.

"Kinda like how the World Bosses lost their damage reduction." Hishya nodded along. "That makes sense. Those kinds of things were hard-coded parts of the entire system, not specific to a player or NPC."

"So what does that mean? What happens now?" Kana asked with worry.

"What do you mean?" Yumi wasn't sure what she meant.

"Well... if your heads were messed with... aren't you and the others angry?" Kana asked. "I can't imagine you would be happy knowing that you've been controlled like that, even if Onee-chan had no influence over it."

"I'm not happy about it, but it doesn't change anything for me." Yumi shrugged. "My feelings for her will not change, and even if they were implanted by the game, which I doubt they were, they won't suddenly go away."

"I've asked the others about that possibility before, and as you'll recall, they told me that they didn't care if it were true." Akagi sighed. "Plus, we technically have no proof, other than claims of such small influence. We have no idea if that was the game or something else."

"Indeed." Yumi nodded. "So nothing will change. Though we've elected to at least inform everyone of the possibility that something was manipulating us."

"I swear, it's been nearly a year, and we still keep finding out ways FWO fucked with things. Mizumi and her people did one hell of a fucking job with that mess." Hishya sighed.

{And the worst part is that she has no clue about any of this.} (Hishya)

"Hopefully Black Company and the others tear through the documents in their archives and let us figure out as much as possible about the entire ordeal." Akagi said.

"Oh yeah..." Hishya groaned. "Please for the love of god, tell me that you won't make brainwashing people like that the norm."

"Brainwashing?" Kana hadn't been told this story.

"During the Libra thing, four players led by Merkyul attacked the house during the night. They were easily captured, and Imp and I used them as test subjects. Once we were satisfied with our research, I decided to transform them into a Special Operations Team by messing with their personalities and souls." Akagi answered. "It ended up working great."

"I can't exactly say those four didn't deserve it since they killed so many people. It's just that brainwashing them into dedicated, zealous, and loyal servants just seems... wrong." Hishya shook her head.

"Would you rather I ate them?" Akagi laughed. "Cause I could have easily just done that, but this way they can make up for their past actions and use their power for good."

"Yeah, I get that. But brainwashing people to make them good is some seriously dystopian stuff." Hishya still didn't like it.

"I don't exactly plan on doing it all the time." Akagi waved off her concern. "They're the only ones I've done it to, and I have no plans on further procedures."

{For now.} (Akagi)

"I can read your thoughts, Akagi." Hishya groaned. "Whatever, just don't go crazy with it."

"Brainwashing people like that is kinda..." Kana gave a wry smile.

"Speaking of messing with souls and brains." Akagi shifted the topic. "I should probably go fix Elna sometime soon." She figured the Elf had suffered in insanity long enough.

"You can fix her?" Hishya didn't think she could.

"Yeah, I've been messing with her over these months she's been in custody. Driving her mad and playing with her mind was part of it, but I think we can wrap that punishment up." Akagi was also doing it for testing purposes.

"Well, Superbia and Excel will probably be happy to hear that. Those two have been wanting to talk to her, but she's been too broken for a real conversation." Hishya had been told about her ranting and raving within her cell.

"She won't be back to 100%, as I've done some permanent damage to her." Akagi laughed. "But she should be mostly fine."

"I guess that means she will get tried for her crimes after all. Some of the others have already gotten charged, and more than one is facing the death penalty." Hishya said.

"Can they actually kill one of them with normal methods?" Yumi asked.

"Probably not. Which means an RRT member or someone else will need to do it." Akagi answered.

"Yeah, and that discussion has already caused anxiety within the RRT and the forums." Hishya said. "Personally, I'd rather just do it myself. I've already taken lives, so it would keep other people from getting blood on their hands."

"Hishya..." Kana grabbed her hand.

"Imp might figure it out." Akagi shrugged. "Otherwise, you might have to cook 'em."

"Can't you just do it?" Yumi asked. "I mean, it's not like you care."

"I could, but then that presents a funny situation since a foreign leader would kill Japanese citizens." Akagi laughed. "And there's no way in hell they want that PR nightmare."

"I don't want you to kill more people either." Kana still didn't like her sister taking lives.

"Now that I think about it." Akagi recalled something. "Hishya, you probably couldn't do it either."

"???" Hishya didn't know what she meant

"You're going to be a foreign national too. Japan doesn't really do dual citizenship." Akagi reminded her.

"Ahh, that's right." Hishya had forgotten that bit.

"What? Are you moving somewhere?" Kana squeezed Hishya's hand.

"Yup! But don't worry! Your favorite pet is moving here!" Akagi laughed.

"Wait, what?!?" Kana exclaimed. She hadn't been told this important detail by the Dragon yet.

"Y-yeah." Hishya gave a nervous laugh. "I might have told Akagi I wanted to move to her new country once it gets established."

"That's great!" Kana hugged her. "But wait, what about your parents? Are they coming too?"

"Probably not, since they've got their jobs and lives in Tokyo, but I can easily visit them anyway. Plus, I've been spending a lot more time here than there lately, so it just kinda works out." Hishya smiled.

"What are you going to do here anyway?" Kana asked. "Don't tell me you're going to laze around all day like Onee-chan."

"Oi!" Akagi took exception to that comment, but was ignored.

"I have no idea." Hishya hadn't thought that far ahead.

"That's no good! If you don't figure it out, you'll turn into the kind of Dragon who sleeps on her hoard all day!" Kana disapproved of that kind of lifestyle.

{That sounds nice...} (Hishya)

"Your face is telling me everything I need to know, Hishya." Kana squinted in disapproval. "I won't let you turn into a lazy good-for-nothing like Mika!"

"Hey, Mika provides quality entertainment, so she's not good for nothing." Akagi stuck up for her friend.

{Also she spoils the heck out of me, and plays along with catmode, so that means she gets some leeway.} (Akagi)

"Yeah, Mika is fun!" Himari agreed.

"Onee-can you just enjoy Mika's antics..." Kana sighed. "And Himari, you're as bad as Mika, so it's no surprise you like her."

"So mean!" Himari cried.

"Tell me I'm wrong!" Kana bit back and got no response. "I thought so!"

"This reminds me of something." Akagi got a nasty smile. "Hishya, since we don't have all the stuff set up, we'll do your citizenship thing ad hoc."

"Why am I getting a bad feeling about this?" Hishya asked nervously.

"Because this is Akagi..." Yumi gave a dry laugh as Akagi leaped into the air and landed next to Hishya on the couch.

"Great..." Hishya groaned. Akagi had transformed into Catkagi mode and was staring at the Dragon.

"Don't worry! This will be easy." Akagi smiled. "All you have to do for acceptance into the Kingdom of Dumetor is one simple thing!"

"And that would be?" Hishya had an idea of what was coming.

"You must pet me!" Akagi giggled.

"I fucking knew it..." Hishya sighed. "Why?"

"Because I find it funny?" Akagi figured she needed no better reason.

"And if I say no?" Hishya asked.

"Well, you are more than welcome to decline, but just be informed that your visa for entry into the country might be delayed or declined due to administrative or procedural issues. I'm sure Kana will understand if you can't visit." (Akagi)

{Onee-chan...} (Kana)

"You bastard! You'd do it too!" Hishya hissed.

{Stupid Cat!} (Hishya)

"Who knows? But go ahead and call my bluff if you feel like finding out." Akagi smiled, and Hishya knew full well that Akagi would do just that if she refused.

"How much petting?" Hishya caved, not wanting to play chicken with the invincible cat.

"Until I say to stop." Akagi was going to milk this for all its worth. It wasn't every day she got Hishya to pet her, and both Yumi and Kana were trying their best not to show anticipation for the coming 'show.'

{I swear to god, Akagi. One day I will make you pay for everything you've done to mess with me over the years!} (Hishya)