The Red Hand

Chapter 41 – A Return to Normalcy.

The rest of the night came and went with little fanfare. Akagi, Yumi, Hishya and Kana ate dinner together and discussed more mundane topics; today's events had tired them out. As the night dragged on, Kana became nervous about returning to school the next morning, worried just how others would react. Akagi and Hishya told her to try and act as normal as possible. Hopefully, with a little prodding, the other students would return to at least some level of normalcy.

The next morning, Akagi was awake bright and early to see her sister off. Hishya was not exactly a morning person and decided to sleep in, causing both sisters to joke that she had embraced her draconic blood. The two discussed, briefly, the conversation with Mika about her brother, and agreed to revisit the issue of Akagi's involvement in her brother's death at a later date. Akagi figured that now was not the best time, and she even told Kana that they would likely be able to get away without ever telling her. Kana knew this, but the thought of lying to her friend made her uncomfortable.

"Alright, Onee-chan. I'm off!" Kana hugged her.

"Have a nice day, and don't worry. Everything will be fine, ok." Akagi hugged her back. "If you need me, don't hesitate to contact me. I'll never be more than a moment away." She smiled as Yumi teleported Kana to the courtyard of her school. 

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<Kana POV>

When Kana arrived in front of her school, her stomach tightened. The other students were awestruck as she, from their perspective, appeared out of nowhere. The stares of the other students who were waiting for the front doors to open made Kana feel like a weight was suddenly dropped on her shoulders. She was about to tell Yumi to take her back when the priestess cast a healing spell on her.

"Breathe," she said while rubbing her back. "It's alright. Take it slowly. Everything is going to be just fine." While her magic couldn't remove Kana's anxiety, it helped alleviate the physical symptoms of her stress. After a few moments, Kana collected herself and took a deep breath.

"Thanks, Yumi. Sorry for being such a pain." Kana scratched her cheek.

"Your welcome, and it's no problem at all. It's normal for you to feel like this, so don't think of yourself as a bother. My Lord wouldn't like that." Yumi gave a warm smile.

Feeling better, Kana gave Yumi a quick hug and walked over to Naomi and Mika who were sitting together on one of the benches. Once Yumi saw that she had united with her two friends, she teleported back to Akagi's estate.

"Wa-was that magic?" (Student A)

"That was the girl from TV!" (Student B)

"Why was Kana with her?" (Student C)

"I just hope her sister doesn't show up." (Student D)

The three girls tried their best to ignore the stares and the whispers about them. They figured this would happen, but knowing didn't make it easier. Once the front doors opened and the school began for the day, the three headed inside and prepared for class. The first day was rough, to say the least. As expected, the other students avoided them, and even Naomi and Mika's other friends were unwilling to approach them. From the whispers they could hear, the other students were afraid or at the very least, unsure of how they should act toward them. Many feared retaliation from Akagi if they were to upset them and so chose to keep their distance.

Other than that, the girls were left to their own devices and continued their daily routine in relative peace. The teachers tried to put on a brave face, but even their hesitation was clear. After the first week, some of the students began to break the Cordon Sanitaire around them, which helped the girls readjust. Things weren't perfect, but as Naomi predicted, things would get better over time, and they had. That was, until the second week back.

*RINNNNNNNNNNNNNNG*

Class finished for the day. Ordinarily, the students would have immediately left, either heading home or going to their club, but today was different. Kyoto Central High School's cultural festival was going to be held in mid-October and the majority of the class stayed to discuss what they would do for it. As the class rep, Kana was in charge of her class's activity, and today's meeting would be the first of many before the festival. Today was supposed to be a brainstorming session where the students would pitch ideas, and perhaps the class might even decide what it wanted to do.

Once the students had settled down and the teacher left; Kana called the class to order and attempted to start the meeting. However, just as she began, one of the students in the class spoke up.

"Before we start, I think we need to have a vote on a new class representative." A boy named Hito Tamaguchi said.

"A new class rep?" Kana was puzzled. "Why do we need to do that? Do you not think I'm up to the task?" She had an idea as to why he brought this up but wanted to be sure.

"Don't play dumb!" he exclaimed. "There's no way our class rep can be someone like you! Your sister is a monster and a murderer, and I don't feel that someone related to her should be in charge of anyone!" His statement caused a murmur among the students. It wasn't exactly uncommon for the family of a criminal to be ostracize, even if they had nothing to do with that family members crime. 

"What are you saying!" Naomi interjected. "Kana is not responsible for her sister's actions." She stared him in the eyes. "And are you forgetting that we were kidnapped, and that's why Akagi did what she did? I can understand being afraid of her, but how can you say such things to Kana, the person whose been our class rep for nearly three years now and worked her butt off for us!" Naomi was furious with Hito, and she gave a glare to the rest of the class, hoping to quiet them down.

"Yeah!" Mika agreed. "Kana has been a great class rep, and she doesn't deserve your attitude!"

"Don't make excuses for that monster!" Hito exclaimed. "She killed my brother for no good reason, and there's no way in hell I'm going to work with her sister!" he turned and looked at Kana. "In the first place, why did you even come back here? Can't you tell we don't want you here?" He gestured to the students around him. "Do you know how terrifying it is knowing that if we do anything to upset you that we or our entire families might be wiped out, all because you decided to come back to school and act as if nothing happened?" His face was flush with anger.

"You don't need to worry about that, Onee-chan would never do something like-" Kana found herself cut off.

"Are you sure about that." a girl named Miyako Hitsubane interjected. "How can we be sure that she won't do to us what she did to those soldiers? How can we be sure that you won't go home to her and tell her that we were mean to you and that we should die because of it?" The black-haired girl was one of Kana's main academic rivals, and they had never gotten along.

"Of course, I'm sure!" Kana exclaimed. "Yes, Onee-chan kills people, that's what she does for a living, it's what she loves." She looked back at the girl. "But she has rules, rules that she sticks to religiously and the most important of those rules is that she never kills without a reason. I can tell you for a fact that if I would go crying to her and tell her that you bullied me, she would, at worst, tell you to knock it off." Kana was angry that these students were attacking her sister like this, she understood being scared, but that didn't mean she was going to allow them to insult Akagi freely.

"Like any of us would believe that!" Miyako exclaimed. "She killed how many people over the weekend? 600! All because her precious little sister was taken. So sorry that I find it a little hard to believe she wouldn't go on a rampage if we so much as looked at you the wrong way!" This debate was going nowhere fast, and Kana knew that, so she decided to try a different strategy.

"Then tell me." Kana glared at her. "If the two of you are so afraid of what Onee-chan might do.... then why are you acting like this now?" Kana mimicked one of Akagi's grins. "I mean, wouldn't your attitude now be more than enough for Onee-chan to come after you?" Kana began to tap her fingers on the podium.

At her words, the entire class went silent. She was right. If Akagi was as bad as they thought; surely, calling her sister out and ousting her as class rep like this would be more than enough to piss her off.

The sudden realization that she had done exactly what she feared set in. Miyako quickly sat down her face paled.

{I see Kana has learned a thing or two from that sister of hers} Naomi didn't know whether to be impressed or worried that Kana had picked up some of her sister's methods.

{When it comes to Kana, I don't think our classmates have a chance of beating her.} Mika chuckled.

"Hito." Kana looked at the boy.

"Y-yes!" he stammered.

"I'm sorry for your loss. Losing your brother must have been painful, but look me in the eye and tell me that allowing Mika, Naomi and I to die would be perfectly acceptable if that meant that your brother was still alive." Kana decided to go for the throat.

"Wha- that's.. that's not." he struggled to answer, as saying yes wouldn't exactly be the best option.

"Because that's exactly what would have happened." Kana slammed on the podium. "I spoke to General Iseyama and the soldiers on base, and guess what; they had every intention of killing us even if Onee-chan came along quietly and let herself be killed by the military!" Kana continued. "So tell me, not just Hito but any of you, tell me that letting the three of us die would have been better, that we shouldn't have lived and that Onee-chan should have let herself be killed when she had done nothing!" Kana's eyes showed determination. To Mika and Naomi, it was as if Akagi and Kana briefly overlapped.

None of the other students had an answer for her; they couldn't. Not a single one, not even Hito, could bring themselves to say that the three of them should have died. To do so would go against every piece of modern morality ingrained in them since childhood. Japan might still have issues with branding a criminal's family as pariahs, but that didn't mean a bunch of teenagers were willing to wish death on people simply because of who they were related to. When Kana presented the situation like that, her classmates were placed at a loss.

"I thought not," Kana smirked. "So tell me, do you still want to oust me as class rep? Because if you do, that means that all the work I've been doing will fall on someone else, and I can assure you it's not easy." After some murmuring, Hito sat down and withdrew his request.

"Good!" Kana smiled. "Now then, let's brainstorm some ideas for our festival project. Onee-chan will be coming, and I'm going to do everything to make sure it's perfect." Kana's eyes terrified the students. This would be the first time Akagi could come to her sister's cultural festival, and she was not about to let the other students prevent her from sharing such a moment with her.

{Scary Kana has gotten scarier.} (Mika and Naomi)

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