Hello everyone! Here is the first chapter of my Multi chapter Karmanami/karumana story! This is the main content which follows my previously posted one-shot called 'Thursday' (which can be considered as a prologue of this series). I'm really excited to present this to you!

Apologies for any grammatical and spelling errors in advance!

I hope you guys enjoy reading it!

Disclaimer – I do not own Assassination classroom and its lovely characters.

Summary - To survive, she needed to be strong and he needed to be weak. For others, she learned to be reliable and he learned to be dependent. In midst of pain and healing, of failing and growing, they found their hearts connected for ever.

Chapter – 1

Karma's day at high school

The sound of the birds chirping was being carried in the room, soft wind blowing, acting as a medium and the golden rays of the sun filtered through the curtains on the window. Large masses of books, some on mathematics, some on science, some on English and Japanese along with a few videogames and mangas were strewn across the table. The room, on first sight, could very well be deduced to belong to a normal teenager boy. But the occupant of the room was everything but normal.

How normal could a boy be, especially after being a member of a former class of trained assassins being taught by a super human teacher capable of travelling at a speed of Mach twenty?

The figure on the bed sheeted with a blanket slowly stirred. A head covered with red hair popped out from underneath blanket, eyes of liquid gold blinking to get the reminiscent sleep off his senses.

Karma woke up with a smile on his face.

That smile was present at most times when he had met any member o day before. Mainly it was Manami and Nagisa…sometimes, Kayano too. The warmth in his chest was something he cherished, something that only appeared after seeing his former classmates. Class E was special to him, he knows that it always will be. A rush of thoughts went through his mind, all wrapped up in a thin sheet of fondness.

That Class had so much good in it. So much good. The lessons they had learned there were precious, unforgettable. They had learned so many things that they cannot even properly count – courage, honesty, empathy, acceptance, humility and so much more.

There were no losses, no defeats, no punishment, no humiliation, only lessons. Lessons to become brave, lessons to become cunning, lessons to overcome weaknesses, lessons to help others, lessons to hone their skills, lessons to become humble, lessons to have faith, lessons to become a better person than what they were before.

Every member there had a significance, had a place with one another. Everyone in class E knew that this is where they belonged with their talents, with their weaknesses, with their desires and ambitions, together as an extraordinary unit capable of facing any dangers together and all of them knew that class E was complete in its own.

As he swung both of his legs toward the edge, his eyes came to rest upon two framed photos standing on his nightstand. One was of class E with Karasuma-sensei as their head teacher because Koro-sensei was a top secret threat and a way too eccentric to be present on the official school photo.

He remembered not wanting to go to the main campus just to get his face on a mere class photo, deciding that resting in the shade of a tree was a much better idea, but, only to find himself flying through the air at a speed of Mach twenty, and the next moment he was there along with his classmates posing for the photo. After threatening the yellow teacher of theirs that he was going to steal his wallet, the man had conceded and replied that why he had disturbed Karma from his afternoon nap.

"I'll need something to remember you guys by when you grow up."

"Oh? Sensei. It's useless, you're not going to live much anyway."

He had taunted casually, only to realise, now, that the man was actually trying to help them make good memories, knowing that he was going to die, knowing that his students would be the one to take his life, knowing that it was something for them to remember him by. And now it hurt.

It hurt like hell.

And then, there was another photo- which was of also the entire class E, mushed together, Koro- sensei's numerous tentacles were wrapped around each and every one of them, holding everyone together. Connecting them. And what was even more beautiful that all of them had bright smiles on their faces at that moment. Happiness. That was what they had felt back then. Never wanting those moments to end. It was a deep seated wish of theirs. Something they could never achieve. The moment Nagisa had pushed the green coloured knife through their teacher's chest, their dream was shattered, completely, utterly and they realised that it was all over.

Karma groaned and pushed his head back into the pillow. Remembering his former class would always bring a barrage of bittersweet memories in his conscience. He never had been someone talented with dealing emotions, sure he could easily manipulate others' but when it came to handling his own, he always had a hard time. That is why he avoided to keep himself unoccupied.

"Good morning Karma-kun!" a familiar voice full of cheerfulness echoed through his room.

"Morning Ritsu." Karma said lifting his face slightly up to greet their digital classmate who was currently occupying the screen of his cell phone. "What brings you here?"

"I just dropped by to tell you that if you don't get moving in next five minutes, then the probability of you reaching school in time to attend your Maths class will be decreased by 40 per cent."

"I don't wanna go today!" Karma said in reply pouting like a petulant child.

"Need I remind you that today you have test in Maths. Are you going let Asano-kun call you a coward for backing out?"

That got Karma up immediately. "Oh no! That's not happening! He is so going down this time!"

He swiftly moved to the adjoining bathroom to his room, leaving Ritsu on his phone behind.

Ritsu – in more proper terms known as Autonomous intelligence fixed artillery had been bought by class E after they had been rewarded with the money from the government. Karasuma sensei had informed them that she was going to be disassembled as her work of killing koro-sensei was over. Not wanting to lose their classmate, they had taken this particular decision. Since then, Ritsu has become the personal manager of each and every member of class E. She maintained their schedules with the time of their classes, submission dates for their assignments and projects, dates of their various tests, their study material and much more. As a result, class E had become much more organised collectively. For the more forgetful ones – she was a blessing. They appreciated her help.

Fifteen minutes later Karma was fixing himself a quick breakfast and after eating it, he moved out. Travelling through the road with a look of utter boredom, Karma's keen eyes were observing the surroundings, his mind cautious despite his seemingly relaxed body language.

Ever since the beginning of the high school, he busied himself and worked twice as hard before – the pertinent excuse was that he could not let Asano win over him. But subconsciously, it was only a way to prevent himself from losing his composure to the pain.

It was all simple to him. Remembering the past and lamenting over it was worthless. Painful memories fogged your brain and there was no way out. They brought tears. And Karma hated tears. Tears made you weak. No. It was rather tears made you vulnerable. And being the famous devil he was – vulnerability was something he could not afford. Yes, he had cried that day, despite trying his freaking hard not to, but he was also the one first people to gain his composure and help others move on.

He never knew that dealing with the trauma was much harder than killing their teacher. More often than not, he's heard many of their former classmates of E breaking down. They were all struggling in their own separate ways. All of them. The happy memories helped, of course, the others claimed but Karma never allowed himself to dwell on the situation.

He reached his class barely in time. The questions on the test paper were easy, too easy. He was going to score full. Rest of the school day simply floated by. His mind was distracted by his meeting with Manami. Frankly speaking, he loved Thursdays. He liked seeing her and recently she's been making more and more innovative stuff for his pranks! In the time he spent in class E, she became a constant presence in his life. And before he realised it, she had become his confidant. He could talk to her for hours and never get bored. He could tell her about his insecurities and she would never judge. And whenever he would talk, she would listen.

She is not the best in expressing her emotions, very shy around new people, socially awkward, gets confused when people talk with layered meanings and frighteningly innocent. But in the eyes of class E, she was amazing. Her honest and caring nature, her ability to lose herself in whatever thing interested her and her smile were few of the other things that endeared her to class E. Not to mention her encyclopaedic knowledge of science.

This is what others saw in her.

But Karma would like to consider himself lucky that he got to see a side of her that nobody else did. The fire in her eyes. The fire that was only visible in her eyes when she is in her lab. Her normally soft lilac eyes would burn with determination, as if they could read the endless possibilities that the world of science opened up for them, as if anything was possible. He knew that he was not the only person who saw it. Their tentacled teacher had also mentioned this trait of hers again and again, to make her realise that her knowledge was something she deserved to be proud of. And Karma had gladly supported it.

Her fiery look in her eyes was something Karma deeply respected, adored.

He knew that their friendship was not normal. But he didn't mind. Having her in his life, as an important person, as a friend, was something he welcomed with an open heart, and wasn't going to give up anytime soon. But he will not deny that yesterday's visit was immensely pleasing, oh not just because he got to mess up with the Asano and his minions, but more likely because he got to see her – that is always a pleasure, no matter the circumstance. The big five were simply an addition. It was an amazing experience, although he'll have to be careful from now on since they now knew one of his little secrets.

…

It was lunch break and Karma was idly sipping his strawberry milk when he noticed one of his classmate, a person with poor grades in maths struggling with his maths homework. Karma had noticed this early on that the kid was easily jumpy and frightened, maybe a result of having endured bullying for a long time.

"Oi. Yamaoto-kun! The one on the corner of the right page is wrong." He called out to the brown haired kid in front of him, causing him to startle and look up at him with eyes wide.

"A-Akabane-kun?" he whispered shakily.

Karma did not say anything as he leaned down to point out the error on the page.

The boy erased the error but kept staring at it, making no move to write the correct answer. Karma watched him for a few seconds and deducing that the boy didn't knew how to correct it, he asked.

"Do you need any help with that?" and received a hesitant nod in reply. Dragging the nearest available chair to his classmate's desk Karma plopped himself down on it. He grabbed the notebook of the boy and started explaining a proper way to solve the problems step by step. The boy watched the class delinquent in awe as the hardest part of the solution became fascinatingly easy to him.

"There. This is how it's done." Karma concluded.

Watching the boy stare in disbelief at his notebook, Karma mentally smiled.

So, this is how you felt when you made something easy for us to learn. Huh? Sensei?

He stood up from his seat and pushed the chair back to its original place. Turning to his new student, he said, "You know, Yamaoto-kun, my teacher taught me that there is no shame in asking for help when you need it."

For a few moments, the boy stared up at him in silence.

"Really? You mean you won't mind if I ask for your help, when I find something difficult next time." The kid asked him in a hushed excited whisper.

Karma shook his head with a nonchalant smile on his face but got slightly surprised when the lad in front of him bowed in gratitude.

"Thank you Akabane-kun! I'll keep your words in mind."

And Karma felt contentment. Using your strengths to help others was an important lesson taught to them by their extraordinary teacher. If you could use what you've learned in the assassination classroom to strengthen someone else's blade to help them achieve their target, only then could you have done justice to Koro-sensei's memories and teachings.

Well…can this be considered a good deed? What do you say, sensei?

...

It was a few minutes later that Karma saw the class president Asano had come himself to give him some company. Karma controlled his smirk knowing that it must actually be regarding their adventure from yesterday. Gakushuu leaned against the wall beside the window near Karma's seat.

"Never expected you to be of the glasses type."

That got Karma a bit startled. Don't get him wrong, he knew that the other virtuosos thought the person he was meeting had some romantic connection with him, but he also knew that Gakushuu Asano was always careful with his assumptions and conclusions. Unless he found some strong evidences to support his theories he would not put them out loud.

So, you think I've non platonic feelings for Okuda-san? Why does everyone think that?

But having a retort on the tip of his tongue, Karma replied.

"Never knew that you are a stalker."

He was hardly able to hide his growing smirk due to the rising ire of his rival but was left stunned when the class president asked, "Girlfriend, huh?"

Karma found his head turning towards Asano in a sharp speed, the mischievous smirk being replaced by an indecipherable expression. His eyes dimming.

His voice replied before he could actually put his thoughts in words, "Okuda-san is not my girlfriend."

His rival smirked with his nose held high. "She's not? Then, what is she to you?"

For one of the few moments in his life, Karma had a hard time processing an answer.

That's one question that even I've been trying to find an answer too as well.

He knew that he behaved differently with her, he knew that her smiles made his heart skip a beat. He felt comfortable with her. It was not normal. Not for him anyway. He knew that. But just how he does not wish to allow himself to dwell in the memories of his teacher, similarly he also avoids to think of the implications of his weird behaviour and thoughts regarding his closest female friend. It scared him at times when the conclusion he would actually come across would move in a direction that he dreaded.

But one thing was clear to him, when he felt something for someone, it was strong. Romantic relationships might appeal to some people, calling each other 'boyfriend-girlfriend' was attractive, no doubt, but when he sees people changing or leaving their so called 'lovers', ruining their friendships, spreading wrong talks about each other out of spite, avoiding and occasionally fighting, to Karma, that all felt wrong.

If you can't afford to continue a relationship, and find it necessary to betray each other at some point of time than you should rather nip it in the bud itself. There will be less damage. That's exactly what he had done with Nagisa before they'd settled their differences in class E. Friendships and love, for Karma, were not something to be played around or figured out simply by 'trial and error' method.

If you've decided to stay with someone then stick with them through thick and thin, no questions asked. Support them with everything you've got as long as you know that it won't bring them any potential harm. Stand with them in their darkest times if you're strong enough.

That is how it works for him, it always has, and always will.

He cannot imagine leaving her behind. He is simply not capable of doing that. A part of him knows that she will never do it either. She cherishes their relationship, the shine in her eyes tell him. So, if having her as his 'girlfriend' leaves any vulnerability, any chance of them being separated than he's more than happy to have her only as his 'friend'. She is Okuda Manami. She is his friend.

And she is irreplaceable.

So, he explained that to his rival, wondering if his not normal thoughts made any sense to the latter and also himself.

"Definitely not my girlfriend. In my dictionary, it's a shallow term. Especially, when I see people like them flinging it all around every now and then, at anyone and everyone they see." He said pointing out Ren Sakakibara, who had his arm wrapped around his fresh conquest, his so called - 'girlfriend', but his eyes were focusing on someone else and talking and charming another horde of googly eyed girls. Karma almost stuck his tongue out at the scene.

He stood up from his seat and joined his rival, his golden eyes appreciating the outside scenery.

"You ask what she is to me. Then, let's just say….she's very…precious."

He did not turn to see his rival's reaction to his answer because he knew that he could not elaborate more of his feelings. He was satisfied.

For now, Karma knew that was the best answer.

This might have been unoriginal to the people who have read 'Thursday', and I'm sorry about that but I had to write that event from Karma's POV. There was no other option! There was not much plot progress in this chapter but I needed to show you a glimpse of Karma's life before jumping into plot related stuff. The next chapter will focus on Manami.

And please let me know what you think of this piece here.

Thank you!

See you again!