Diabolik Lovers: Recovery

Chapter 3: Thought (All, Subaru)

The sun was late in the sky when I awoke. It danced behind the curtains, so I drew them back to bask in its light. Technically, I was up early - school wouldn't begin for another three hours, so I had ample time to do what I wished.

I strode to the dresser and began rifling through it for a swim suit, but the only one I found was a bikini.

"Typical," I growled, fingering the frilly material. "Also not my size."

Despite the fact that Ayato called me a pancake, I was in fact a B-cup thank you very much. I simply preferred to wear sports bras to regular bras. In the case of these swim suits, however, I would be very squished. Despite this, I donned one of my choice and threw a coverup over top.

With feet lighter than a rabbit's I darted through the halls, stopping only when I had reached my destination. The eerie, toxic-blue light was just as I remembered it. The pool lapped idly like a sleeping water-monster.

I'd never learned how to swim. Our family had been so far inland that I wouldn't have ever needed to know; it's not like I would sail or fish or live near the water. Now, I wasn't so sure that I could be safe without the knowledge of how to swim. Especially since I ran the risk of power hungry vampires throwing me into bodies of water to assert their dominance.

There was another part of me, though, that was enchanted by the mystery of the water. Yesterday, her voice had sounded in my ears. Mom had spoken to me. Would the water let her speak to me again? Would it, despite it's watery threats, let me relax to the sound of her voice?

I folded my coverup and put in on the sofa beside a towel I had collected. Gently I dipped a toe into the cold water.

I'm coming mom.

More unknowns wreathed around my mind as I adjusted to the temperature: why, of all things to do to me, had Ayato thrown me into the pool? Well, for someone who knew how to swim, becoming sodden would be a minor inconvenience. I doubted that he wanted to simply annoy me in that way, I got the feeling that he meant to punish me, in which case he was relying on the possibility that I couldn't swim.

My thoughts distracted me from the coldness of the water as I waded in up to my chest. It lapped in a hungry way at my skin, but I ignored it. Water couldn't be that bad. We relied on water, so it had to be friendly.

Mom? Can you hear me? You wanted me to be kind, but I don't know how. I don't know anything about them. And besides, how can you be kind to people who do nothing but cause you agony? Please Mom, tell me.

As I waded up to my chin, I began trying to balance my body in the water. Remaining vertical didn't do me much good, but when I put myself horizontal in the water, I grew frantic from lack of breath. Immediately, I rolled onto my back - this seemed to work. I could float without sinking completely.

Why would Ayato's first choice be to throw me into water for punishment? Would you know, Mom?

The white noise of indefinite water filled my ears with a deafening silence.

Drowning was certainly a terrible way to die, actually, and it was quite frightening even if one managed to escape death. A worthy punishment. Yet, if I were to choose the punishment I thought to be most terrible it would most certainly be emotional abuse.

That's it! That's my view, not Ayato's!

I kicked lightly and propelled myself around the shallow end of the pool as I sorted through my thoughts. The water laid heavily in my ears, muting all sounds around me to help the thinking process.

"He thinks that drowning is the worst punishment," I said aloud, righting myself in the shallow end.

What gave him this notion? He isn't hydrophobic, he saved me after all.