Karma smirked with satisfaction as the last person left his office, looking beaten down, just like they always did.

Suddenly his phone rang, and he picked it up. "Akabane Karma here," he said disinterestedly.

"Karma! Finally, I got the right number. Doing pretty well as a bureaucrat?"

The voice on the other end was vaguely familiar. Karma frowned. "Who is this?" he asked casually.

There was a sigh at the other end. "You can't even remember me? It's Nagisa!"

Karma double-checked the voice, as well as the number, realizing it really was Nagisa. Well, you couldn't blame him for not noticing sooner. It had nearly been seven years since they last talked. Brief chats barely counted. "Nagisa!" he said. "So, what's up?"

Nagisa chuckled nervously.

"Ah… about that, I need some help."

Karma snorted. "Seriously? Ask someone who's got more time on their hands. Or Kayano - even though she's a celebrity, I'm willing to bet you could get her wrapped around your finger," he teased.

Nagisa groaned. "I knew you'd say something like that," he mumbled. "But I really need your help, Karma… please, I'm begging you."

Karma rolled his eyes. The guy sounded pathetic when he talked like that. Barely changed since junior high - still short, still soft-spoken. A bit more assertive, maybe, but not by much.

"Fine," Karma said. "Where do you want to meet up?"

Sounding relieved, Nagisa rattled off an address before hanging up, leaving the bureaucrat to stare at the phone resignedly.

"Geez," he muttered, putting it back. "You haven't changed at all, Nagisa."


He stood, dumbfounded before the gate. If anything had changed, it was Nagisa's tastes. Why were they meeting at a graveyard? He flipped open his phone. When Nagisa picked up, Karma snickered, "Wow, way to pick a meeting place. What is this, the set-up for a prank? Pretty sad."

The other end was silent before Nagisa said, "Last row, near the back. See you."

Another abrupt hang-up. Karma frowned. He'd dressed casually so he wouldn't stand out, so he had no problem being anywhere muddy like this… but why a graveyard? The redhead pushed open the gate, letting it creak as he walked in. As he passed by the gravestones, he ignored them. Finally he reached the last row, where Nagisa was waiting as promised.

"I'm here," Karma said.

Nagisa nodded. The guy had bags under his eyes, and his hair was a mess. So were his clothes.

So was… wait a second.

"What are you doing with a knife, Nagisa?" Karma said disapprovingly. "Doesn't fit you."

The boy looked haunted for a moment, shadows crossing his expression. Then he smiled - but Karma knew he hadn't imagined it.

Slowly, Nagisa raised the knife, the tip aimed at Karma. "I'm going to kill you," Nagisa stated calmly.

Karma raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?" he asked just as passively. He slipped out a knife in his sleeve, feeling the weight of his other weapons in his clothes. "Why?"

Nagisa looked hellish - he had the same expression as when he had fought Takaoka all those years ago.

"So that we can all be together. This is crossing the line - I don't want to leave school. School was where he was."

Karma blinked, realizing who Nagisa was talking about. "You work in a school," he pointed out, annoyed.

Nagisa hissed before striking, pressing down against Karma's knife.

Karma parried, then lunged. "You want the best of both worlds," Karma said.

"But reality doesn't work that way." Nagisa smiled. "I know it doesn't." Suddenly he moved oddly - in a way no assassin would. He leaned forward, burying Karma's knife into his chest - into his heart. "Only you could live with this," Nagisa muttered. His hands went limp, his eyes dull.

Karma dropped the knife, letting the body fall. He was in shock, staring at the corpse.

He glanced to the left, seeing the empty grave he'd failed to notice before, fixated as he had been on Nagisa. On the tombstone were the crudely carved words: "Shiota Nagisa."

Karma fell to his knees, tears beginning to fall from his eyes. Just because he could live with this didn't mean he wanted to. Just because he could handle it didn't mean the burden wouldn't crush him.

"Why?" he whispered, reaching out to the still body. "Why?"