CHAPTER 16:
"Panacea?"
"It's a type of mescaline drug produced and circulated by the Fikasiju Yakuza in Japan. Kairi told me that you had a suspicious 'incident' at the parking lot with him. He saw several signs of you having taken Panacea but he still wasn't sure. Until yesterday he said that it was best to keep an eye on you more. And that was when you collapsed after drinking water from the bottle you took from your room,"
My brows furrowed themselves. Ikuto wasn't making any sense at all. The water from my room were all bottled and sealed. We order them from my father's own water company. And if our water supply was 'poisoned' then even Ami and the quads were in danger!
I snapped my eyes to Ikuto, oblivious to the two people talking at my other side. "What about Ami?"
He shook his head. "I noticed your sister wasn't fond of drinking water. She prefers juices and soft drinks from the outside. And when she drinks water, it wasn't from your room but from the canteen. If you're thinking about your other roommates, that was the same situation with them."
"Seems to me, whoever did that probably knew you well. At least well enough to know you don't drink other liquids aside from water,"
I looked at him in the eye, afraid that he was only tricking me – that he went behind my back and was already handing me to the enemies. The incident with Kairi happened over two months ago. The yakuza he mentioned was the one my father told me we were up against. If they already knew where I was at that time, then they would've probably made a move already. Not just some lame drugging thing but a big time assassination. Why did they hold back when they already knew where I was?
Not only that, but the mention of the drugged used to me was confusing, as well. Mescaline is something that could not be mixed in a person's drink without him noticing the taste. I was told it was nauseating and therefore, I probably would've noticed if my water tasted different.
Ikuto's words left me nothing but doubtful.
"The stocks of bottled water in my room were distributed by my own family. It's impossible for anyone to poison me in that case," I said.
He raised an eyebrow at me, incredulous. "Not if it was an inside job,"
"Are you possibly insinuating that there's a traitor among our people?" I snapped.
Ikuto took a step away from my bed and paced. "Tell me, Amu, did you know that your family isn't the only one connected to the black market?" he asked, reprimanding, "Did it ever occur to you that your mafia isn't, at all, that perfect?"
My heart constricted but I held my ground. "I know my men–"
"Well enough to trust them with your life?" Ikuto snapped. "Did you ever stop and think that probably the only thing that keeps them on your side is the amount of money you pay them?"
I threw him a glare. "Is that why you're so mad?" I spat.
Ikuto looked at me incredulously. "What?"
"The reason why you're mad," I threw my hand up, "is because I endangered my life, therefore, endangering your paycheck, as well,"
I jumped when a door slammed shut. Only then, did I realize that Ikuto walked out on me. And I never felt this disoriented and betrayed before.
"Fuck this!" I screamed angrily.
I wanted so much to punch someone's face for putting me in this hell but not a second passed that I was already heaving again in the metallic bucket.
I had to get out of here. I didn't feel confident just sitting here, throwing up. So many things needed to be done, so many people needed to be talked to. And on top of that, I couldn't shake the feeling of discomfort of having only Utau watch my sister. Not that she was incapable. Surely, she was ultimately capable of protecting my sister.
Like Ikuto, she also worked as a henchman – or woman for that matter. Only, she was working under different people. It was a thin line to walk on. Her capability was out of the question. What really made me uncomfortable was how careless she was acting. If the people she worked for found out that she was out protecting someone without their order, surely, things wouldn't go as smoothly as planned.
I was worried she might endanger Ami because of her recklessness regarding that matter.
Now, I have to contact my father about this drug. There was a possibility that Ikuto was right, though, I hate to admit it. And I couldn't risk having him correct.
Apparently, the nausea side effects of this 'altered' mescaline only happened when the user discontinued the use. Unlike other drug users, however, I did not feel the unusual need to take more of it which kinda makes the cleansing easier.
The downside?
Musashi, the guy with the chonmage, said that the 'Cleansing' would only take two to three days. And I was already on my 5th freakin' night!
Another downside to it, I was also informed that whoever took the Panacea will experience having nightmares of your greatest fears (This is according to Lace. *smiles* There is no real reference for this one). Going back, I recall having a nightmare about Nadeshiko getting hurt in the parking lot. Why would I fear being the cause of her injury?
Weird.
But what's really absurd was that I also had a nightmare about Ikuto coming to class. What could I possibly fear about Ikuto studying? Is it more about the event or more about what he did? What was it that he did in the nightmare, anyway?
He came in early, took a seat and–
My thoughts jumbled up as another batch of sour vomit rose up to my throat and splashed in the bucket. I heard myself cough and choke, feeling very, very, very helpless.
"Easy there," a chuckle interrupted my heaving session.
I wiped my mouth on my sleeve and meet the eyes of the intruder.
Kairi leaned casually against the door, his hands on his pockets.
"What do you want?" I snapped.
He shrugged. "Nothing. I just wanted to check on you,"
"Right," I said, sarcasm practically oozing out.
"You might want to go easy on Ikuto-kun, though,"
I glared at him. "And you said that why?"
"Because you are being so blinded by the hate, chaos, lies and death around you that you couldn't see who's really on your side and who's not," Kairi said.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Short. Crappy. And short.
Sorry for not fulfilling my promise of 2 chapters on the next update. My tablet's charger broke and that's where I type my stories. I have to wait until the new one arrives and that's probably, next, next week or so. Until then, I have to either make you guys wait or remember really hard how I wrote the next chapters, which is very unlikely because I can't remake the exact same copy of my works out of memory. I'm sorry.
Anyways, please review :) Thankies.
With all the love for writing,
Lace Ashdown
P.S. I updated because it's Sehun's birthday. So thank him for that :D