The Red Hand

Chapter 228 – High Speed Discussion.

"I swear to god, Mika." Naomi lay on the floor, exhausted. "One more crack like that, and I'll become the villain in your Magical Girl Story." She'd just spent the better part of twenty minutes chasing Mika around the house and showing her what the sole of her shoe looked like in full detail.

{What a good way to embarrass me in front of Akagi with THAT fucking line! I'll pay you back, Mika!} (Naomi)

"I think that Naomi would make a great dark Magical Girl." Akagi commented. "Now, all we need to do is get her a costume and a name. Do you want animal ears, or will becoming a Loli suffice? I think we can manage to make you equally as cute as our resident idiot over there."

"No, she needs to be a voluptuous Onee-sama type." Mika laughed, ignoring Akagi's comment. “Naomi is definitely some kind of femme fatal.”

{Oh god, I could see it! Naomi would lead men around by the nose and then kill them for justice!} (Kana)

"Fuck all of you. Fuck right off to hell." Naomi glared at both of them.

{I'm not sure which would be more embarrassing. Being a loli, or some kind of very sexy Magical Girl...} (Naomi)

"I'm sure Imp would lolify you all." Akagi laughed. "We could have our own Kyoto Magical Girl team!"

"I think that Kana would be cute if she got small like that!" Himari commented. “She could run around Kyoto and hopefully the friendship energy would purify the evil within her heart!”

"Fine, but you have to be my wand. I expect that you'll look all nice and cute with some ribbons on you." Kana smirked.

"Nevermind..." Himari retracted her comments, fearing being turned into something far to embarrassing.

{Swords are cool... Magical Girl wands... not so much...} (Himari)

“Too bad, I think it would be an upgrade for my foolish sister.” Momo giggled.

"Getting back to the reason we came, are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Kana asked her sister. "I know you don't like the beach, but you really should come. We're planning on doing a lot more than just spending time at the water." She really wanted her sister to come.

"My appearance will just cause trouble, and as I said, I've got things to do. The Tournament is coming up soon, and I need to finish the arena, among other things." Akagi shook her head. "We've got the foundation finished, and I've got guys from South Korea coming soon to help do all the networking."

"Why are you bringing in people like that?" Mika asked.

"We're going to do things a bit differently." Akagi explained her plan. "I don't want a real audience here, so instead I've contacted a company to set up a VR/AR system that people can use from home. That way people can take a virtual seat in the stands rather than actually coming all the way here."

"I've heard of that!" Naomi sat up quickly. "That stuff is really cool but ungodly expensive. I've went to a concert that used one, and it was almost like we were actually sitting in the stands."

{Venues that use it charge CRAZY prices since the infrastructure is basically bleeding edge.} (Naomi)

“How can you even afford something like that?!? Even governments don't like paying the prices asked for such a thing!” Naomi figured it would be more than what Akagi could reasonably muster.

"Eh." Akagi shrugged, not really being bothered. "The South Korean government owes me anyway, and it's not like I couldn't pay for it myself. I got quite a lot of gold and jewels during my time in FWO, Naomi. So money will likely never be an issue to me."

{Also I can just TAKE whatever I want, so there's that.} (Akagi)

"Why do the Koreans owe you one?" Kana glared at her.

"You'll find out later." Akagi stuck out her tongue playfully, and refused to elaborate.

{Oh god... She's going to do something crazy, isn't she? Are we going to see her collapse North Korea?} (Kana)

"There's also another reason that I can't go with you." Akagi sighed. "If/when those heroes show up, we need to be ready. So I've got other planning to do." Her eyes went dark for a moment. "That's going to take up lots of time, and boy oh boy is that going to be fun." She snapped to a very fake smile.

{SCARY!} (Kana x Mika x Naomi)

"I can't believe we're going to be attacked by literal heroes." Kana sighed as she recalled what her sister told her about them. "You said that you believed them to be from Earth, so maybe we can reason with them?"

"Maybe, but based on what Halifax and Mizumi told me..." Akagi shook her head. "We've got one hello of a collection, Kana. One is a harem protagonist and hero of justice, another is a psychopath, the third is degenerate, and the fourth... she's sword crazy." She figured none of the Heroes were going to just happily stand aside.

"Please don't tell me you're just going to exterminate that entire world." Kana locked eyes with her sister. “I don't want to see you start going crazy all of a sudden.” She didn't trust Akagi not to do anything drastic.

"I mean, I don't plan on doing something out of character." Akagi shrugged. "But if push comes to shove, I might have to finish Vike's job." She winked, which caused Kana's glare to intensify.

{This world is the only one I care about anyway. The others... not so much.} (Akagi)

"Maybe the moment Akagi steps over the threshold, the True Demon Lord will be unleashed!" Mika laughed. “It will be like a switch gets thrown and the kitty goes total evil on the world!” She imagined Catkagi marching legions of doom to burn the world, and found that thought it sounded funny.

"That's not funny, Mika." Naomi groaned. "If Akagi goes cuckoo, we're all doomed."

{Please don't jinx things...} (Naomi)

"I'm sure Hishya's gonna have the same question when the time comes." Akagi sighed. "When you cross into that other world, are you going to suddenly revert to being a crazed monster?" Akagi mimicked the Dragon's voice. "That's along the lines of what I expect her to say."

"I figured it would be more like. I won't allow you to hurt innocent people!" Mika tried to mimic Hishya's voice. "She is the hero, after all. Defending the innocent is kind of her thing."

"Yeah, that's also possible." Akagi shrugged.

{Though if she does, I might need to remind the pet who's boss.} (Akagi)

"You won't actually go crazy, will you?" Kana asked, wanting a serious answer. “Please tell me no...”

"Why would I?" Akagi raised her eyebrow. "It's just another location. I'm not 'sane' because I'm within this world. It's my own internal stuff that controls that, so going somewhere else won't change anything."

"Yeah, but I was just worried you might say. Hey, this isn't Earth, so I can just do whatever evil horrible things here, and no one will know or care." Kana mimicked Akagi's voice. Today seemed to be the popular day for that activity.

"I'm not turning off my rules just because I'm in a different world, Kana." Akagi flicked her on the forehead. "Besides, if I do something like that, then there is no going back." She shook her head. "I'll never be able to return to who I am, and things will be a lot less nice afterward. So no, I am not doing something like that. Any death or destruction must fall within my rules."

{Though as I've recently figured out, my rules have loopholes and are quite flexible as to what falls WITHIN them. The Gods sure do, and I'm pretty sure the people of that world will once they stand against me.} (Akagi)

"Well, I just hope that's true." Kana rubbed her forehead. "I don't want to see you cackling as your torch cities."

"Will you send Hishya to stop me?" Akagi cracked a smile.

"I will sacrifice the lizard to slow you down at the very least." Kana smiled, and the two sisters shared a hardy laugh.

"But if you're going to the beach, could you do me a favor and take Alice?" Akagi asked. "I want to get her out of the house for a bit, and I think she'll enjoy it." She hadn't had Alice on many outings, and wanted her to see more than just the Estate.

"I don't mind, are you two good with that?" Kana turned to her friends for confirmation.

"Fine by me." Mika smiled.

"I've rented out the entire place, so it doesn't matter if we bring a few more people." Naomi nodded.

{Oh yeah, that's right. I sometimes forget with how rich Onee-chan is, but Naomi is wealthy. I guess being the leader of your own NATION kinda makes Naomi's personal fortune seem tiny...} (Kana)

"In fact, why don't we invite Yumi and Miji?" Naomi continued. "We can bring them too. I'm sure they'd like a break."

{Its too bad Hishya is busy with her parents, otherwise we could have the whole gang together.} (Naomi)

"That sounds fine. I'll just move her duties to someone else." Akagi smiled, and one of her poor clan members got a chill as they realized work was going to be dumped on them.

"We're going to be gone for a few days, so please don't fall into another spiral because Yumi's not here." Kana was worried they'd have a repeat of before.

"Don't worry! I've got a new friend to pet me!" Akagi smiled. "Halifax has taken well to the kitty, not to mention I've got lots to do that will keep me preoccupied. So its all good!" She didn't think there would be much of an issue as long as she got pets.

{And now the person from the other world has joined the petting harem... Great...} (Kana)

"I assume that you mean all that planning on those whiteboards." Kana walked over to them and examined a few of the notes. "Not bad, but I think your designs could use a little work." She pointed to a few spots on the drawings. "Not to mention, this layout over here is entirely unrealistic based on the topography and geographical makeup of the soil."

"Yeah, I know." Akagi moved to her side. "But you see, I was thinking of moving this here." The two sisters began discussing the city planning that Akagi put together. At first, it was a normal discussion. However, as things progressed, Naomi and Mika noticed the two sisters began speaking faster and faster until their words were little more than an unintelligible mess.

"I... um..." Naomi turned to Mika. "Can you understand any of that?"

{It sounds like the audio on an old video tape when you fast-forward!} (Naomi)

"N-No..." Mika gave a dry laugh. "Look at them go..."

{They're speaking so fast that I can't even understand a single word...} (Mika)

The two continued their high-speed discussion for several minutes until they began moving at high speed and redrawing sections on the whiteboard. The strange sight was both comical and fascinating to watch, and Mika even began to record it to show others later.

"I think that fixes most of the issues that I saw." Kana said at normal speed as she put down the marker.

"Yeah. Damn, that really was off, wasn't it?" Akagi clicked her tongue. "When did you get so good at city planning anyway?" She didn't know Kana even understood most of this stuff, especially since Akagi's knowledge was only half baked.

"I just figured out some mathematical inefficiency in your plans and combined that with my knowledge about structural engineering." Kana shrugged. "It wasn't that complicated."

{I FUCKING DOUBT THAT!} (Mika x Naomi)

"As expected of Kana!" Akagi got a smug look on her face as she pat her younger sister on the head. "You always were the smart one. I have the best little sister ever!"

"Well, one of us has to be." Kana sighed as she was pat. "My older sister is an insane and eccentric catgirl Demon. I have to be the normal one here."

{YOU ARE NOT NORMAL, KANA!} (Mika x Naomi)

"Akagi!" Miji popped her head through the door. "Class is over, so it's time to play!" The little girl ran over to Akagi. She'd cast aside her earlier fear of the Demon and the two played together quite frequently, much to Yumi's delight.

"It is that time now, isn't it?" Akagi smiled as she transformed into a small Catkagi and jumped into Miji's arms.

"Yeah! Kitty!" Miji squeaked in joy as she began hugging Akagi. "Let's go feed you some snacks, and then we can take a nap together on the futon!" She gave a big smile.

"MEW!" Akagi meowed happily as she was taken out of the room, smirking and waving at the girls as she vanished into the hallway.

"S-She really has the fucking life, doesn't she..." Kana groaned.

"Akagi has countless numbers of people who dote on her, a dedicated 'Wife' in Yumi who always wants to give her attention, and enough power and money to do anything... So yeah, she's got it made." Naomi shook her head.

"Do I detect a smidgen of envy coming from the two of you?" Mika giggled.

"MAYBE A LITTLE, OK!" (Naomi x Kana)