Chapter 18: Chapter 18: Monsters, Part 3

The examination wasn’t over quite as fast as Emika would have hoped. She had been led to another floor of the building; it seemed to be some kind of laboratory complex. The walls were white, the rooms sterile. Eventually, she was told to lie down on a cot with an azure coloured mattress. The room was full of electronic instruments and devices, as well as some steel tools that looked suspiciously useful for dissections.

Victor didn’t accompany her down here; instead, there were several people wearing protective gearing so elaborate that it resembled space suits. They bustled around for a while, giving short instructions to Emika while preparing the examination.

By now, she was feeling pretty dizzy and lethargic, and couldn’t even respond to them properly anymore. They ended up taking pictures of her, cutting off her growth, then took some blood, some hair, and some saliva. Eventually, they scuttled out, telling Emika to dress herself back up.

For a while, she just laid there, too tired to do anything. It wasn’t clear to her how long it took, but eventually, she mustered all her strength and pushed herself into a sitting position, realising now that she had a splitting headache.

When she heard some squealing noises, she turned around and saw a battery of cages with lab animals of all kinds; bunnies, rats, mice, even a cat and a monkey. They issued those squealing noises because, right now, they were in the process of turning into vegetation.

“Oh god,” Emika whispered. What were these doing down here?

Vines stretched out between the meshes, and eventually, they even bent under the strength of the plant tissue that tried to make its way out, until finally, the noises died down.

By then, the tingling sensation in Emika’s legs had finally stopped. She got ready, then washed her face in the sink next to the animal cages, trying not to think about that big hole of emptiness she felt in her chest right now. Eventually, she left the lab, and was escorted back to Victor’s office, who acknowledged the workers — still wearing their heavy suits — and then welcomed Emika back.

“Thank you very much for your cooperation,” he said after she had sat back down on the sofa. He waved a pile of documents that he had apparently been provided with.

What a weird thing to say, thought Emika. A glance at the clock on his wall told her that she must have been dozing away down there for several hours.

“So?” Emika asked. “Do you have a solution?”

“Well. First and foremost, what we have now is data. It will take a while to get through. I did manage to take a cursory look, though, in case you want my preliminary opinion.”

Right now, all Emika wanted was to get out of this place as soon as possible. Despite that, she managed to reply with a calm, “Sure.”

“Okay. Before I do, please allow me one more inquiry. Earlier, you described what was happening to you as a ‘curse’. Could you tell me why you chose that particular word? Why is it that you came to the conclusion that your affliction is a curse?”

Emika wasn’t really prepared for that question. For a second, she just stared into the air, trying to sort her thoughts out and remember. The truth was; she wasn’t sure. She had always somewhat known that curses existed, and the word had circulated in her mind ever since that fateful day. That said… Wasn’t it Lester who’d given her the confirmation?

“Honestly, I don’t have a strong reason to think it’s a curse. I guess it was just an assumption on my part. Why do you ask? Are you saying it’s not one?”

Victor elevated his hands, and shook his head. “No, no, that’s not what I’m saying. Or rather, what we know so far is that a curse is one of the likely causes of what’s happening to you, but based on our data, it’s not necessarily the only one. I was curious as to whether you had some proof that it is indeed a curse. That would have made diagnostics easier.”

Emika sunk back into the sofa. More complications, then. She wasn’t very happy to hear that. “What else could it be?”

Victor took a short breath, and squinted a little, as if to find the right words. “Well, how do I put it? Let’s say it’s a curse. There are a number of very old curses that were initially created through human cognition, and they can, in some circumstances, spontaneously manifest within certain individuals or items. Curses can also be inflicted on other people by human users of magic. In other words, if you are suffering from a curse, then that means that whatever is happening to you is ultimately of human origin.”

Emika nodded. That pretty much sounded right; not that she had ever read an actual definition of what a curse was.

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He then continued his explanation, slowly stirring his coffee. “Assuming that it’s not a curse, there are two options left. The first one would be that, if it’s not of human origin, the affliction could be caused by some kind of monster. For instance, a parasite could have nested itself inside of you, or you could have been infected by a magical disease, or, maybe even suffer some kind of possession by a monster trying to take over your body.”

Emika had never considered any of these things to be possible, but now, it seemed reasonable. That said, she didn’t like what he said at all. If it could truly be such a wide variety of things, how would she ever find out what it actually was?

“So, in other words, it could be anything. What were these tests for? Are you trying to waste my time?”

Even though her voice remained calm, the content of her reaction seemed to cause a shift in his demeanour. Suddenly, Victor let go of his spoon and straightened his back. “Is everything okay? You seem unhappy.”

“Well, you drugged me.”

These words lingered in the room for a while, and Victor’s jaw started working. Emika wondered whether he was going to deny it, but eventually, he seemed to resign, and replied: “I apologise. I needed to secure the safety of our workers. Since we didn’t know anything about your affliction, we had to make sure the examination would go without issues.”

“I see,” replied Emika. “How did you do it? I did not even drink that coffee you made for me.” After all, she preferred tea.

He leaned back in his seat, avoiding her gaze for a moment, and then answered: “I made sure the vapours would be enough to induce the effect.”

At these words, Emika felt her skin prickling. All the blood in her body shifted around, finding its way into her head in its anger. She needed to get out of here before she killed him.

Instead, she just sat there, looking at him, not saying a word.

“I am aware that this seems really problematic,” he continued, “but I still would like to explain to you the third possibility of what could be happening to you, in which case you may be more receptive to my apologies.”

He took a sip from his coffee before continuing, as his voice was starting to sound a little dry. “Imagine someone coming in here, afflicted with a potentially deadly issue. Now, of course, as outlined, it could be that it’s caused by a curse, or by a monster invading you. But, the last option — and I imagine the one you want to hear the least — is that you might actually be a monster yourself.”

That rhetoric again? Lester had said something similar. Why were people so obsessed with insinuating that she was a monster?

“You can stop right there. That doesn’t help me,” said Emika. “I know it may not be easy for you to rule it out, since you don’t know me. But I already know I’m not a monster, so that line of thought isn’t going to improve my understanding of my situation.”

She really didn’t want to listen to him go on about that topic. And yet, he said, “Can you really be so sure about that?”

“What?”

“Well,” he continued. “Throughout the ages, some marvellous predators have evolved among monsters. To be more candid… There are certain situations in which it is beneficial for a monster to believe itself to be human — for example, for purposes of infiltration and deception. Be it through having a secondary human brain, or by erasing, sealing off, or altering parts of its own memory, it is certainly possible for a monster to consider itself to not be one.”

What kind of nonsense was that? More importantly, what exactly was the point of him telling her this? As Emika stared at him in disbelief, he sighed, and as if having waited for this opportunity, he said, “Truth be told, Miss Hasegawa… I want to offer you to stay with us for a while.”

Oh. So that’s why he was telling her this.

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