11
I did so. I didn't go into details after Swii had ordered me onto the bed, and Naru didn't ask, though I could feel a dangerous tension in the air. A part of me warned me that if I went any farther than that, Naru might break.
Mostly, however, we focused on the beginning.
"Can you tell me the consistency of this white powder?" he asked as we waited at a red light. It was only then that I took the chance to observe the oddity of seeing Naru driving. It almost made him look…normal. Cars had a way of doing that, I guess.
"Consistency? How was I suppose to get that when the moment he blew it into my face it was gone? And I was a little preoccupied with the fact that I couldn't stop myself from doing everything he said." I paused, then asked the question that terrified me most. "Are there really drugs that can do that?"
"One does come to mind, but from what I understand it takes the will from the victim. You're reporting you had plenty of will, but you were disconnected from it." The light turned green and he eased forward. He was proving to be a bit more of a jerky driver than Lin and the van jumped a bit before easing into a steady speed. "This could mean three things: one, the drug affected this girl differently, which would explain why she remembered the experience at all because scopolamine is famous for memory loss; two, you were only half a passenger to her memories so you didn't fully experience the effects of the drug, just the experience of being in a body taken with it; or, thirdly, this is a drug I haven't heard of yet with similar traits as scopolamine. Personally, I think the first is more likely, as it would give a traumatic experience to tie the girl's spirit back. The real question I'm concerned with, though, is whether it really was Swii or a symbolic representation. If it was the real him…"
"And what if she has something to do with the case?" I asked quietly.
He glanced at me as he pulled into the parking lot of my apartment building. He told me to stay put, but I felt I had gain enough of myself to walk, even with the increasing pain of my cramps. I made sure to tie the jacket around me and Naru didn't argue when I slipped from the front seat and gave him a nauseated, but stubborn glare.
"You have some painkillers on hand?" he asked, eyebrows ducking in concern. "Should I get anything?"
"This happens to me once a month. I think I'm prepared."
That just made his eyebrows go deeper. "I still think this much pain can't be normal. If you would just let me carry you—"
"Naru, I've just passed out in a boy's bathroom in front of a bunch of said boys taking a pee, thrown up all over their shoes, and started bleeding out of my vagina for all of them to see. For God sake, leave me this one shred of dignity."
That got him to back off. Though when I wobbled on the stairs and had to take a moment to clench my knees against the pain, he drew near again and even put a hand on my elbow.
By the time I had made the exertion to go up all those steps and down the terrace to my apartment, my pain had peaked. Whoever said exercise helped with cramps should be sued, or shot.
Naru stopped me from melting against the door in a heep of bloody misery when I realized I hadn't gotten my key from the college.
"I got this."
And from the key ring of the van, he picked out a key, pushed it into the door, and unlocked it. I gawked at him as he tugged me into the wonderful comfort of my she-cave.
"When did you get a spare for my apartment?"
"Since my dead twin brother pushed me out of my body and tried to take advantage of you in said apartment. I figured it wouldn't be a bad idea."
"You know that's on the level of creep, right?"
He chose this time to flash me one of his not-so-rare smirks that he pulled when he was trying to be particularly handsome. It worked, and I could feel my cheeks flush and even more heat go to my already burning lower abdomen.
I tried not to be swayed, but it's hard to keep up acts when you're in pain. "I take it that's your 'but I'm so sexy I can get away with creepy.'"
"Just tell me where your Midol is." He had wrapped his other arm around my lower back, as though ready to catch me. "You said a hot shower helps? Are you okay if I hand you some pills through the curtain?"
I was about to tell him that I had already gone through the mortification of bleeding vagina blood all over his arm, so being naked was nothing, but then a flash of being bare to the painful hands and limbs of Swii made my knees buckle. I suddenly felt like throwing up again.
Naru caught me. Good thing he's so stupid omniscient sometimes. Without bothering to ask, he scooped me up once more in his arms and carried me the short distance across my apartment to my bathroom. Lucky for him my happy strawberry peppered curtain was already pulled aside, and he set me gingerly into the tub.
"Meds," he said.
"Cabinet above the stove."
He walked out. I somehow managed to pull the curtain across the tub before allowing myself to be sick once more over the bath drain. Naru walked in about then.
"Mai, does…does menstruating often make you throw up?"
"No," I gasped, wiping at my mouth, tears beading down my cheeks. "No. No."
He didn't pull back the curtain, probably just in case I had somehow managed to strip in the time I was throwing up whatever could have been left in my stomach, but stuck a small glass of milk and two little blue Midol pills in. I took them, starting to weep uncontrollably. I cried because I hurt. I cried because I had thrown up. I cried because I was more humiliated than I had ever been in my life. I cried because I felt sick and filthy and couldn't forget the overwhelming wrongness of being violated. And I cried because…
Because that girl with the soft gaze, the one who I had thought meant me no harm, had raped me.
