The Red Hand

Chapter 369 – A Good Friend.

*PAT* *PAT* *PAT* *PAT*

"Ah... Sorry..." Mika slowly moved her hand away from Akagi's head, embarrassed by her pets. "Just... You looked so frustrated and sad that... I... I Blame kitty... I'm so used to petting you on the head..." She sighed as Akagi burst out laughing.

"No, it's all good." Akagi said while laughing. "I can always count on you to cheer me up, huh?" She nudged the blue-haired girl with her elbow. "See! That's why you're my Official Backup Squishy!"

"You're..." Mika rolled her eyes as a small smile formed on her lips. "You're a lot of things, but first and foremost you're my friend. It's only natural that I worry about you."

{Especially knowing everything that I do about you.} (Mika)

"God, how fucked am I in the head that I'm actually really happy to hear someone tell me that." Akagi laughed as she scratched her cheek in embarrassment. "Man..."

{Hearing somebody genuinely say that... It makes me uncomfortable and yet happy... I never... I never thought anyone would ever care about me....} (Akagi)

"Which part, that I'm your friend or that I worry about you?" Mika snickered.

"Smart ass..." Akagi rolled her eyes. "But both, really. Even after all this time, having an actual friend is still a concept that hasn't fully soaked its way into my head. I suppose that's what happens when you don't have a single one for so long."

"You had Hishya at least, and Kana was basically like a friend but better... I guess that's not a great way to speak about a sibling, but yeah." Mika said, reconsidering her word choice.

"No, you're right." Akagi nodded. "Kana was always there for me, or at least she tried to be as much as a kid could be, and for how much of a pain in the ass Hishya is, I'm glad to have met her all those years ago." She smiled. "The same goes for you, Naomi, and the others. My life has improved so much since I met all of you, and I'm truly grateful for having met you all."

"Are you feeling okay?" Mika put her hand to Akagi's forehead as a joke. "The Akagi I know doesn't say such sappy things. At least not this often."

"Hey, cut me a break. Every now and again I can open myself up and be vulnerable, though Yumi or Kana tend to be the ones who get to see it." Akagi said as she blew a raspberry.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Is this one of the special Backup Squishy privileges? Is this my VIP reward?" Mika snickered.

"Who knows?" Akagi shrugged as she stood up. "It probably has more to do with the fact that you're quite accepting of me and all my problems more than anything else."

"Are you calling me weird?" Mika pouted.

"You asked to become a Magical Girl and have a recording of me eating people in high resolution. Mika, if you're not weird, then that word has no meaning." Akagi deadpanned, causing Mika to get flustered as her secret was revealed.

"How did you find out about that?!?" Mika exclaimed.

{IS THIS HOW HISHYA FELT WHEN THE PILLOW SECRET CAME OUT?!?} (Mika)

"Kana." Akagi answered, throwing her sister under the bus.

"I knew telling her about it was a bad idea! That girl can't keep a secret to save her life!" Mika grumbled.

{Why the hell would you tell my sister about a recording of such a gruesome thing anyway?!? I mean, yeah she saw it with her own eyes, but really Mika? You told KANA of all people?!?} (Mika)

"No, she cannot." Akagi replied flatly. "But speaking of secrets." Her eyes grew sharp as they snapped back to Mika. "There is still a loose end here. One that must be dealt with one way or the other."

"Yeah... Naomi..." Mika replied, relucantly. "I... If we tell her what her father did... Its... It's going to break her, Akagi..." Naomi idolized her father, and she'd held him in high regard throughout her entire life. To find out that he ordered something so horrific surely would shatter her worldview, and likely her very mind.

{She's already fragile, if she finds out...} (Mika)

"I presume that nobody else knows about this whole thing?" Akagi figured that Mika intended to take this secret to her grave and had told nobody else.

"Only you and I, unless some other Onmiyoji out there is aware." Mika said. "I wasn't going to tell anyone about what I found, and my goal was to one day forget it."

"Sadly things don't work that way. Take it from me, the things you want to forget the most are often the things that stick with you the longest." Akagi said, seeming to think back on something particularly unpleasant from her own past.

"Please... Let's not tell her..." Mika pleaded with Akagi to keep this information a secret. "Just... Just let her keep thinking that her father was the kind man that she thinks he was. Naomi's suffered so much throughout her life, and I don't want to put her through that kind of pain. Naomi... Naomi is... I'm always afraid that she's one or two steps from going down a bad place, and we shouldn't take the risk of her doing something stupid." She knew that Naomi had contemplated suicide multiple times after her parents' murder, and Mika was afraid, rightly or wrongly, that Naomi still had such thoughts in the back of her mind. Though Akagi figured that Naomi's desire to repay Akagi for her kindness wouldn't allow her to do something like that.

"I'll leave that call up to you." Akagi replied,internally believing that keeping this information a secret was likely the better option. "I've got no interest in seeing her hurt, and I see no real harm in concealing that information."

{I lie for people's benefit all the time, and Mika is still keeping the facts surrounding her brother's death from her parents for their mental health, so I see nothing wrong with doing the same here. Sometimes, ignorance truly is bliss and Mika is correct to assume that finding out THIS would cause significant mental damage to Naomi.} (Akagi)

"I'm truly horrible... I'm hiding so many things from people I care about..." Mika sighed. “I'm the truth about my brother... The truth about Naomi's father... Am I nothing but a liar? Is... Is that who I am?”

"Everyone lies, Mika. Its just a natural part of life. People lie like its nothing and just about everyone does it without even thinking about it much. Besides, if lying makes you an awful person, then what does that make me?" Akagi snickered.

"A pain in everyone's behind..." Mika said as her lips curved into a smile. "But that's alright, we like you anyway."

"How much of a pain can I really be?" Akagi said with fake shock on her face. "I'll have you know that I'm such a wonderful person to be around! I even let you pet me and give me snuggles!"

"If Kana were here, she'd question how you can keep a straight face while you say such things." Mika laughed.

"Such mean words! And after we had a heart-to-heart! How can you all be so crue?!?" Akagi fake cried.

"Think of it as payback for all those times you stole my socks!" Mika retorted.

"And yet you found it funny when I did it to others." Akagi smirked.

"Well, that's because it was. But my point still stands!" Mika turned up her nose.

"Such nice people that I call my friends." Akagi rolled her eyes. "But I think I'll keep you all, despite your quirks." She put her hand on Mika's head, patting it gently. "Are you gonna be okay? With the Naomi issue, I mean. Even if we both know its for her benefit, I can't imagine its going to be easy on you."

{I'll be perfectly fine, but Mika... She's too good of a person for all this stress, she doesn't deserve it. Though that tends to be how these kinds of situations go, huh.} (Akagi)

"Okay? I doubt it, but it's what needs to be done, right?" Mika replied. "Lying to my friend isn't something I enjoy, but the alternative..." She paused

"Picking the lesser of the two evils sucks, huh?" Akagi asked.

{Just do what I do and make a third path that tells both go fuck off! It makes life so much better when you're not forced to make a choice that someone else forced on you!} (Akagi)

"Its not exactly pleasent, and unlike you I can't just tell all my problems to stuff it where the sun doesn't shine." Mika sighed, able to tell what Akagi was thinking.

"Not with that attitude you won't." Akagi said as she took her hand off Mika's head.

"I'll be fine though." Mika said as she stood up. "It will take a bit to get this out of my mind, and hopefully one day I can actually tell her the truth. But until then, let's allow things to continue as they are. I'd... I'd like for things to be like this at least a bit longer." She gave a bitter smile.

{You and me both, Mika. You and me both.} (Akagi)

"Hey, when I'm through with our latest crisis, I plan on spending as much time with you idiots as I can. So look forward to plenty of kitty pets, hugs and a nice fun vacation!" Akagi said as she walked over to the window. "After all, I've got to make the most of the limited time we have together." Her last words were practically a whisper as she leaped out the window, jumping across the rooftops before disappearing in the distance..

"Was it really necessary to leap out my window?" Mika sighed as she looked out onto the street. "Wait, this is Akagi. She who turns cat for attention. Of course, this was the only way to do things." She smiled as she shook her head, closing the screen on the window.

_____________________________________________________________________________

<Alm POV>

"Hmm..." Alm was enjoying a bit of playtime with Alice and Miji, with the three of them relaxing on a set of swings that Akagi had built at the back of the house. The strange mix of memories left her feeling unsure of who or what she was, which led the Oni to not know how to act with the other two girls.

{Am I me? Who am I? What Am I? Can I even-} (Alm)

"Alm... Alm!" Miji's voice snapped the Oni girl out of her stupor. She'd started staring at her hand, becoming fixated on it until Miji appeared in front of her after leaping off the swingset.

"Ah... Sorry, Miji..." Alm looked into the girl's eyes, noting her fierce expression that told her she wouldn't let this go. "What did you need?"

"Why are you acting funny?" Miji asked as she grabbed Alm's hand. "Are you feeling sick? Do I need to get Ms. Mimi?"

"Sick?" Alm paused for a moment, internally debating whether she indeed was sick before dismissing such a thought.. "No, I'm... I'm just a bit confused, that's all."

"Confused?" Miji tilted her head, not understanding the Oni's words.

"Its nothing. Don't worry about me, just go play with Alice and have some fun without me." Alm said with a wry smile.

{You don't need to be around someone like me...} (Alm)

"No!" Miji pulled on the Oni, surprising her. "We all have to have fun together! So come on! No being sad or confused! Come with me! We're going to play hide and seek together!" She pulled on the Oni more, resulting in her being dragged away from the swingset and nearly tripping over her own two feet.

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" Alm protested as she was practically dragged away by the young girl. "Fine! I'll come, just stop pulling me before I trip!" She sighed as Miji giggled and letting her go before the two headed toward the greenhouse.

"That girl..." Alice sighed as she watched the two from a distance, Sophie slowly walking over to her. "Mama said that her memories were jumbled from a past life but..."

{I wonder if those other memories have left her confused about who she is? It... It even kind of reminds me of me... For a time I could barely remember anything about who I was and... And I felt like some kind of impostor...} (Alice)

"Is Ms. Alm okay?" Sophie asked as she was handed an empty teacup to clean. Alice had been informed of her new servant, and while she initially didn't want one Alice figured it best not to find out what happened to the girl if she was turned away. "She looked so distant."

{Almost as if she didn't know whether it was okay for her to be here.} (Sophie)

"I'm not sure. But if Mama isn't worried, then neither am I." Alice said as she picked a nearby Floofy up as he waddled up to her. "For now, let's try and help her out the best we can. I'd like to be friends with her, and I think Miji feels the same way." She smiled as she walked toward Miji, who was yelling at her to move faster so that they could start their game.