This Is Not a Tragedy

18 | I Hate Sergius

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Sergius calls me into his office. "How have you been doing lately," he asks, arms crossed as he leans on his desk. I raise an eyebrow. "Physically. Hunger-wise... Um... Feeling sick... Dizziness... Fatigue..."

"I'm fine."

He nods slowly. "Do you mind..."

"Probably."

My acerbic interruption makes him chuckle, and he smiles before continuing, "Do you mind if I do a blood test to see if you have any nutritional deficiencies? Don't worry; I won't force you to take those supplements, but I'd just like to know."

Is there a risk to agreeing? What else might he do with my blood without my knowledge? "Is there some way you can guarantee you won't do weird experiments on it?"

"Hm?" His eyes widen then blink, which sends me into a fit of suspicion. "Yeah. I give you my word? Um... Well... In order to do other tests, we'd have to have written permission, anyway, so if you don't—"

"But you can test my blood for nutrition without permission?"

"Um... Well, when you have a doctor, they automatically... I'm your doctor. Surprise." He flashes a smile.

"はー?" This is news to me—unpleasant news.

Sergius then has the nerve to roll his eyes. "Ugh, Natsu. Why must you make everything so difficult? Would it make you feel better if you came to IVA's labs? I'll even get permission for you to watch us do the blood test."

I sigh. "I honestly don't trust you."

He stares at me in silence for a moment, then says, "Okay."

"...I'm fine. I don't feel sick."

"You know, Transformatis are required by law to take supplements and suppressants or get blood packs. You are... spoiled?"

"Spoiled?"

"By being half Nativus. Even full Nativus aren't required to take supplements—I mean, it's just for their health, not to protect humans and our race—so it's a personal choice whether a Nativus decides to suffer from malnutrition, which they definitely will. You aren't trying to kill yourself, right?"

My mouth drops open. How can he just say that? So nonchalantly? Use those words after what I've seen and experienced? As he stares at me without flinching, I realize he's trying to manipulate me. "くそくらえ," I curse at him in Japanese.

Sergius pouts then says, "Say it again."

"いいえ," I refuse, raising my eyebrows defiantly. Even if I think in Japanese, it turns out Sergius can still somehow understand quite a bit of my thoughts. In any case, it's hard to speak in English and then automatically switch my thoughts to Japanese, so avoiding his eavesdropping is difficult. But if he wasn't listening in when I first said it, and I don't repeat it, he won't know that I just cursed at him. I can torture him a bit. "Hmm," I continue, pretending to think to myself as I look away. "一日中日本語話してやろうか?" I glance back at Sergius. I might actually do it. If I speak Japanese all day, it'll make things more difficult for him.

He lets out an exaggerated sigh. "Speaking of teenagers—"

I frown. "We weren't speaking of teenagers."

He shifts his eyes as he speaks in monotone, "Ah, well, you were acting like one, so... Anyway, we're getting another boarder."

I stare at Sergius as what he just said doesn't sink in probably because my mind is automatically shoving it away before it can even get close.