The Red Hand

Chapter 2 – A Face that Others Could Never Forget.

{Huh, I don't think a freaked-out Nurse is a good sign.} (Akagi)

A few seconds after the nurse's shouting a voice can be heard from the hallway just outside of the room.

"I'm coming, I'm coming, I am aware that the patient has awoken but I don't think shouting is necessary Kirika." (???) The owner of the voice soon after enters the room and it quickly becomes apparent that this individual is a doctor based on his clothing. "Now then what is so important about her condition that you felt the need...... to..... shout......." As he sets his eyes on Akagi, the doctor becomes visibly perplexed and is slightly taken aback, but quickly regains his composure. "Well, I suppose Ms. Rishia having a completely different hair and eye color is grounds for some concern and surprise. Please bring me her chart it should be in my office on my desk."

Akagi noticed that the doctor standing at the foot of her bed is not Japanese, rather, he looks American with his brown hair and grey eyes. His hair is slightly graying but he only looks to be in his mid forties. Appearances like his are something Akagi had seen in the many American tourists in Kyoto over the years.

{Am I in an American hospital? No that wouldn't make sense, that Nurse is clearly Japanese and there is no way they could fly me across the Pacific without the headset killing me. At least it seems like he speaks Japanese, I would rather not rely on my very poor English if I don't have to.} (Akagi)

"Ah, my apologies you're probably a little confused after waking up. My name is David Amherst and you are currently in Kyoto Central Hospital. You were moved here with your parent's permission not long after it was made public that Free World Online's Alpha testers could not leave the game. " he says with a frown. "The United Nations created a task force which brought together doctors who specialize in comatose patients. As well as those with experience treating patients in/with VR, like myself." His expression darkens. " As you no doubt know, we were unable to do anything to help you beyond simply keeping your physical bodies alive. There were a few attempts to remove the headgear from players but....." (Amherst)

{If I recall correctly, there were a few cases of players dying suddenly for no discernible reason. Makes sense, we always figured people on the outside removing it would kill us but we had no way to 100% confirm that; poor bastards.} (Akagi)

"Are you able to speak at all? I wouldn't be surprised you found it difficult with the significant muscle atrophy." (Amherst)

Akagi took in a deep breath "Yes.. I can... it's a little difficult but I should be able to speak." she said in a weak voice.

"Good, that makes things much easier, can you tell me if all of the players were able to log out, or are you the only one? (Amherst)

Akagi slowly explained to Dr. Amherst how the assault team had defeated the final World Boss and the system stated that it would log everyone out as promised.

At first, the Doctor's face was quite happy but it slowly turned to sadness.

"It's good to hear that all those people will no longer be trapped in that nightmare, but I can't help but feel regret for not being do anything." he said almost on the verge of crying "Almost two thousand people dead and there was nothing we could do but just sit and watch from the sidelines. All the advancements in technology, both hardware and software and we couldn't even figure out HOW the damn headgear was killing people. Every day I wondered how many more of you would die and if there would be anyone left to save." At this point, Dr. Amherst was crying. "My apologies, I seem to have let my emotions get the better of me. I'm glad this ordeal is over and I suppose we will have to deal with the aftermath."

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Not even a minute later the nurse returned with what looked like a file folder. "Here you are doctor." (Nurse) "Thank you Kirika, can you do me a favor and contact both her family as well as Chief Nakagumo and schedule a meeting with Dr. Ishihara ASAP." (Amherst)

He looked over at Akagi.

"Kirika will contact your family, I suspect they will be here quite quickly. Your sister, her name is Kana I believe, visited you quite regularly over these last four years. That girl swore up and down that if anyone would survive being trapped in that game it was you. She called you, what were the words, a Gaming Genius and said no game could best you." He let out a small chuckle. "I'm glad to see she was right." (Amherst)

"In the meantime, I am going to need to perform some checks on your body, nothing major I just want to go over your vitals." (Amherst)

Naturally, Akagi agreed, after all, she was also concerned about the state of her body after effectively being in a coma for four years. The doctor had not lied when he said the checks would be basic, and after a few minutes he was finished. "Everything seems normal, well as normal for someone this atrophied can be, but nothing dangerous. Now then, we move on to what is likely to be the most uncomfortable part about this. Ms. Rishia from what I can see your appearance has changed. Your eyes are now the color of amber, and your hair has a great deal of green mixed into it. You also appear to have grown slightly and your skin has paled to a noticeable degree. Although, that may be a side effect from being in a coma-like state. From what your information tells me this is a little different than your normal black hair and brown eyes." (Amherst)

He looked at Akagi with a sympathetic look, but also with a mild amount of confusion. Clearly, physical changes to those trapped within FWO were not something anticipated and you could tell he had no idea how this occurred.

"Do you have any idea how this might have happened? Because I honestly don't understand at all. I've worked with comatose patients before and while I've seen some issues, this is frankly baffling." (Amherst)

After thinking for a minute Akagi asked "Do you have a mirror?"

"Huh, yes there should be one in the room, give me one moment." (Amherst) The doctor then quickly went to the other side of the room and grabbed a small portable mirror and held it up so that Akagi could see her image.

What greeted her was a face she was all too familiar with. A face she could never forget and a face she had come to love. After inspecting it for a few moments Akagi began to laugh quite hard, loud enough to startle Dr. Amherst. Taken aback by this sudden outburst, he became concerned that her new appearance had caused mental distress, but she quickly assured him that nothing was wrong.

"This face," Akagi stated with a surprising amount of vigor. "This face is mine. Or at least it's the face that I created within FWO. There is no way I could mistake it. This face, this hair, these eyes all of it is mine and it greeted me every day for the last four years whenever I saw my reflection." Akagi said with a small smile.

{I wonder if this is the reward promised by the system? If it is, I'm not exactly gonna complain.} (Akagi)

It was obvious to Dr. Amherst that Akagi was elated with this discovery and he was not exactly sure how to react. On the one hand, he wanted to be happy for her that she had received something positive from this ordeal. But on the other hand, there was no telling what sort of effects this change might have on her body.

"I...see if this was the appearance of your game avatar then I understand why you would approve of it. However, I do not understand how such a change is even possible." (Amherst)

{This doesn't make any sense, we never detected any interaction between the body and the headgear. Hell, we don't even understand how the headgear killed people as everyone who died simply "shut down" as we termed it. Their bodies just stopped functioning and they died. But now you're telling me this headgear.... NO this game can change people's bodies to look like their Avatar???? How the fuck am I supposed to even begin to understand this? God, Ishihara is gonna go nuts over this."} (Amherst)

Akagi was equally in the dark about the transformation. She thought that it might have something to do with the Reward she was promised by the system but decided to keep quiet about that as she had nothing but speculation to go off of.

"We will need to run extensive tests once you are well enough to move. I am not trying to put a damper on your happiness but I believe it would be best to move cautiously in case there are side effects from this change." (Amherst)

Dr. Amherst then spent the next forty-five minutes going over a series of questions with Akagi. The questions mostly focused on her memory, and cognitive functions as well as on anything which might be helpful for the medical team.

"Well, it seems that everything is normal, although its quite unusual for someone to forget their name.” He looked at Akagi with some concern. “From what you've told me though I would be inclined to agree with your assessment. It would seem that you disassociated yourself from the real world to the point that you genuinely forgot it, rather than it being forgotten as a result of any mental damage. Of course, I will insist on an MRI of your brain to check for any issues." (Amherst)

{Rishia Tomogawa, so that was my original name. Hearing it, I understand why I chose to forget it. Honestly, it feels strange to be called that, almost... wrong I guess is the word for it? The name Akagi definitely suits me much better.} She smiled internally. {Strange, why do I get this feeling that a familiar presence is approaching this room? Actually, no it's not one but three. Am I going nuts, because this is the same feeling I got with my detect presence skill in FWO?} (Akagi)

Akagi chose to brush this off, for the moment, chalking it up to the side effects of being immersed in full dive for far longer than was healthy.

"All right, your family will likely be arriving soon so I will take my leave so that you may spend time with them when you arrive. I will inform the nurses that rules regarding visiting hours do not apply to you since I can imagine you have much to discuss with your family." He said with a smile.

"Don't push yourself too hard you need to focus on resting and recovering it will be a long road but you will pull through." (Amherst)

*BANG*

Just then the door to the room flew open and a young girl with a black ponytail and wearing a school uniform barged into the room. Akagi instantly knew who this was.

"ONEE-CHAN!!!!!!" (Kana)