Chapter Fourteen
"Two parents killed on the same night despite being in completely different locations, both in freak accidents considered suspicious to the media but deemed not murder by the police due only to a jarring lack of evidence..."
"Their only connection is their missing daughter."
"Are you saying Nagisa Shiota flipped a switch and killed them?"
"How could she be in two places at once? Unless she drove him to suicide through a phone call, or perhaps blackmailed him into it by harming the mother... she was last seen with the mother in a cafe."
"It's obviously the boyfriend. Karma Akabane, spotted with the girl and mother before their death and disappearance, criminal record of increasingly violent crimes, not to mention the accusation from the father not long ago."
"He either brainwashed the girl into doing it or kidnapped her and did it himself?"
"Worst case scenario, we find a third body."
"We have to find that girl. We have to find her alive and we have to do it quickly."
"Then, to find the girl, we just have to find Akabane and once we do we get the evidence for a conviction."
When Nagisa woke up, her body was as heavy as her senses were hazy. She'd woken up in a foreign environment, but despite this, the mattress below her pulled her right in, the puffy cushions at her head smelt of soap and the duvet that covered her was tucked in so neatly, no sense of urgency or alarm reached her.
For the moment, Nagisa was reacquainted with the pleasant mind of a child who hadn't yet learned how to think.
Climbing out of the bed, she stretched up on her tip toes, the pink pyjamas that weren't quite her size reaching up above her belly button as her arms pointed out above her.
Her hair needed brushing, but whilst running her fingers through it, she discovered a comb already laid out for her on the desk besides a well appreciated glass of water and a fruity scented face cleansing spray that made her nose tickling as she held down the release.
It was refreshing, but she really craved a bath.
Settling back down on the bed, she glanced around her with her head tilted. The carpet seemed to swallow her toes like sand, but for some reason, whenever she tried to look down to confirm the colours and textures, the only thing she saw were dark pangs of inky blue grey splotched blinding her vision.
Choosing to look up instead revealed a poor perfunctory imitation of the sun that gushed out white light that was even more painful to look at. She groaned and covered her eyes instantly, standing up and walking further and further into slow realisation of her situation.
The ceiling wasn't too high and the walls weren't too wide, a claustrophopic grey brick pattern on each side that surrounded the bed leaving just enough walking space for three stretched steps on each side.
Other than that, there was nothing in the room. Nothing but two doors, one an even deeper grey than the blend of the walls and the other a freshly painted white with a little pink pattern unscripted on the top.
One was evidently more inviting than the other.
Besides, it had been left open just enough for her prying eyes to admire turquoise tiles and a polished white floor she imagined glowed with sparkles as if she were in a giant dollhouse that had consumed her. Stepping in, the first thing revealed was the corner of a porcelain white bathtub and opposite it in the corner, another cabinet like the one back in the bedroom which, thinking back she perhaps should have searched for some food, some weapons or maybe a tiny clue as to where ever in the world she was.
Her hand had just curved around the body of the white door when warm skin suddenly grasped her. As the door creaked open, the polished shoes of a boy appeared. Her eyes took their time calmly glancing up from the black shoes below his dark smart pants to the dark purple open shirt he wore over a plain white top.
Finally reaching the face, her body jerked back. He has strawberry blonde brushed hair that should have been soothing to see, a sweet sort of smile that was unaware of its own existence and lilac eyes that seemed flatteringly thrilled to see her. And yet, all she felt was anxiety.
He was standing close, her name coming from his lips in an unexpected half gasp full off delight. All she could comprehend as she retracted her hand from under his grip, was a strong sense distaste and contempt in her gut as she looked at him.
"..kidnapper..?"
His eyes went wide, leaning forwards (too far into her personal space) on the door as he spoke frantically, "No! I didn't kidnap you, I'm the person who owns this place... well legally not until I'm eighteen, which is for a few more years, but I'm the one who brought this nice bed and rug and bath for you."
He grinned, resembling a sort of sly but young animal you would find on the floor of a forest crawling around, surviving on cunning schemes and hidden claws. She stepped back, uncertain of how to express her imminent distrust.
"Uh huh..."
"Are you feeling alright?" He frowned.
"Oh! That's right, I need a bath." I need to get further away from you.
"Hey wai-"
Before he could stop her, Nagisa poked her toes into the bath one foot at a time and sat down on the dry, hard floor with her arms around her knees comfortably, looking up at him every few seconds uneasily.
"Ah..." The boy glanced backwards at the door almost irritably, turning back to her with an unrediable expression. "Aren't you gonna take your clothes off?"
"Oh- that's right baths don't clean clothes." She thought aloud.
He half expected her to exted her arms and ask him to do it. Instead, she looked down and pulled the thin strap of the top over her shoulders, struggling with the other and then not quite sure of what to do next.
Gakushuu hastily walked over to the tap to turn on the water, testing it with his thumb until he found a suitable temperature, desperately trying to distract himself from her whilst keeping a straight face and calm heart beat.
It was just his luck that when he walked over to the door to escape, Nagisa gasped loudly at the first touches of rising water seeping through her pyjama bottoms. He turned on instinct, discovering an innocent but concerned pair of stunning sky blue eyes looking up at him with her top hanging off of her neck, still half dressed with her short hair tickling her shoulders and two pale lumps of flesh just about visible as she gazed at him with a painfully appealing pout asking him for help.
"Oh god..."
The door behind him clicked in roughly.
"What the hell are you doing? Can't I leave you with her for ten minutes without coming back to some sort of perverted scene?"
Gakushuu flushed hot red at the not too distant memory of Karma walking in from the bathroom to see him a little too beguiled with tucking the sleeping girl into her blanket.
"Karma!" Nagisa chirped, recognising the redhead instantly. She poked her toes out towards him, letting clear water drip down her ankle onto the floor by the bath.
"I-It's not what it looks like I swear. You're the one with your mind in the gutter." Gakushuu hissed lowly.
Karma smirked, eyes dead ahead and stupefied, making the other male wonder if he was being ignored.
"I wanted to have a bath, but I got stuck" Nagisa added nonchalantly to help his case.
"Oh yeah, and whatever the hell you gave her to keep her asleep as you brought her here, it really doped her up."
"Take this."
A pair of shopping bags was thrust into his arms without being even looked at. He watched aghast as Karma waltzed in as if it were his birth right and kicked the door gently so it revealed only the very edge of the room.
He heard splashing and a condescending roleplay of Karma as a doting manservant followed by hearty little giggles from Nagisa.
"Y-You're not so low as to take advantage of a medicated woman are you!"
Suddenly the door opened, Karma looked at him with his mouth in a bored straight line but his hazel eyes golden with fascination.
"Of course not. Get your mind out of the gutter Asano."
Nagisa's damp pink pyjamas he had just brought that day were thrust into his hand before the door slammed shut in his face.
Even if Gakushuu hadn't been the one to bath her or even see what had happened behind that closed door, he felt a small sense of victory in seeing Nagisa walk out wearing the clothes he had brought and smelling of the soaps brought by his parents money that decorated his house.
Karma seemed to detect this in him, as he eyed him in a puzzled sort of skepticism.
"Is she still doped?"
"I can hear you, you know." Gakushuu felt his stomach drop with guilt, quickly adding.
"I-It's good to have you back Nagisa."
Karma burst out laughing, hooking his arm around Nagisa and pulling her to be sitting on the bed next to him with an "Uff!"
"Don't cry Asano, she's still not quite sober I'd say..."
Gakushuu eyed her. She looked fine to him. But now that he was looking closely, it was strange that she had no problem with Karma being all over her and no shame whatsoever. She hadn't even begun questioning her whereabouts.
He glared at the redhead, knowing that if he wasn't here, Nagisa would be vulnerable to all kinds of danger.
"Can I open the window?"
When she crawled out from him and went to pull back the blinds, she remained despondent in front of the bricked up glass for several moments registering the lack of a background before settling down.
"Seriously, did you kidnap me?"
Gakushuu jerked back, "Me?" He appreciated her blue eyes gently gazing on him any time, but not when it looked so untrustworthy and darkened.
He scoffed, sinking down with his elbow on his knee. "Why do you always assume it's me? Karma's the one who drugged you."
"But... Karma's my boyfriend. Why did you drug me?"
"Yeah, why did you drug her Karma?"
Nagisa rubbed her soft blow dried her as she looked at the red head frowning. "To protect you from bad guys."
"Oh." She seemed confused, but then smiled and laughed it off. "That's okay I guess. But why is he here?"
Karma was grinning like a cheshire cat, "I don't know Gakushuu, why are you here?"
"It's not like this is my property or anything." He rolled his purple eyes sarcastically. "Besides, if anyone's a bad guy it's this bastard. I'm just here to make sure you don't get hurt Nagisa." His voice softened.
"That's funny Gakushuu, you've hurt me much more than Karma has." The sadness in her voice was a bullet. Even in this state of her, his sin had penetrated her so heard her resentment had lingered.
Gakushuu was expecting the kind of mocking laugh her boyfriend used to give when he and Nagisa would speak, instead what he got was Karma sitting up a little straighter and narrowing his venomous eyes. "What did he do to you when I was gone?"
If it weren't for the traces of amused curiosity, he may have become afraid. Gakushuu glanced at Nagisa, sweating and knowing she was in no mindset to hold back on the truth or consider the repercussions of her words. He swallowed hard, suddenly feeling like he was way to close to Karma, and the spoken red head was way too close to a nonexistent item in the empty room that could be used against him as a murder weapon.
He had killed a man by lighting a match and spilling some petrol thanks to Karma. The last thing he wanted to do was get on the bad side of someone so cunning. It would be easy for him to frame him for all his crimes and disappear with Nagisa at this point.
All it would take was another of those awful pills and she would follow him off none the wise to his evils. It was his job to make sure that never happened.
"I don't remember actually, I just know that you did something."
The blonde stopped stressing just a bit, slowly unclenching the tight grip his pale hands had on the lighter still in his pocket. He was just about ready to light the flammable carpet the fuck up, grab Nagisa and run leaving her boyfriend still on the bed behind them had she answered differently.
He breathed out. He was a killer now. These thoughts that would have once made him sick felt close to natural survival.
He glanced at Nagisa thankfully, but she seemed to reject this gratefullness by averting her gaze to elsewhere.
"Ah." Karma breathed, closing his eyes. "But you seem to remember with how much your sweating Gakushuu. Want to share?"
"No actually. But what I want doesn't matter, either way you're just gonna threaten me aren't you?"
"Oh? So it's something worth threatening you over?"
Cringing at his mistake, he brushed his hair out of his face and looked Karma dead in his eyes, smirking slyly. "No. Honestly, I didn't do anything to Nagisa. She's far too prescious for me to harm her."
"You're no fun at all. Sometimes, if you harm her just right she ends up enjoying it."
The grin he shot seemed to resemble something demonic, predacious fangs practically visible even from this distance.
"Do I?" Nagisa looked away in bewilderement.
"Did you drink your water Nagisa?" Karma asked instead of answering her, successfully distracting her as she pondered cutely in a tiny voice.
"Ah... do you mean the water from the bath or the glass?"
The two boys locked eyes anxiously, looking back at her simultaneously. "Both." "The glass." The answered at the same time, blurring the meanings of their words.
Nagisa looked puzzled, sinking down. "I need to pee so I must have done."
"...You shouldn't drink soap water Nagisa..." Gakushuu trailed off, expression somewhere between concern and confusion.
"Why don't you use the toilet Nagisa, do you think you can manage?"
"Of course, why wouldn't I be able to." She laughed as though she were herself again and it were the most normal conversation ever.
"When you come back, you can have some lunch."
"Where did breakfast go?"
"You were sleeping."
"Oh." Her sadness was apparent right up until the bathroom door clicked shut behind her, leaving the two boys alone in each other's bitter company once more. Gakushuu glared, turning up his lip.
"Promise me you won't use that drug on her again."
"Why should I? I don't see what's wrong with it."
"She's humiliating herself. Can you even comprehend how ashamed and embarrassed she could feel when she snaps out of it. It's wrong."
"That's the fun part. You don't like to see her embarrassed?"
Gakushuu blushed, his voice aggressive like the calculating tiger in training he was. "I don't get what she sees in you."
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