Shylocking Diamonds
by koizumichii
Synopsis: They began as acquaintances and acquaintances still; but the moment Nagisa became Karma's personal bodyguard, which was also tagged as being his own ruthless assassin, Nagisa couldn't find the right word that would quite befit them now. Mafia AU (kind of)
Title Vocabulary:
Shylocking – from the mafia term shylock which originally means ruthless creditor (failing to make regular payments to a shylock are punished with violence). Here, it is a verb for killing.
Diamond – a term for important people who are better off dead, for the mafia anyway.
A/N: Based on the mini poster bundled with the volume three DVD & Blu-Ray of Ansatsu Kyoushitsu and my fckn headcanons which won't leave me even in my sleep. Full photo of the said poster is on my tumblr: koizumicchi-dot-tumblr-dot-com/post/119755926816/this-is-the-official-au-guys-official-au-you
会議の時間
Kaigi no Jikan
Meeting Time
It was in his first year of high school when Nagisa saw him. He had this vibrant crimson hair—like the ripest cherry Nagisa loved when he was a child—which somehow stood out in the crowd; and eyes a dull gold that sometimes glimmered red against the light. The school uniform fit him well, wearing it with two buttons undone, showing his collarbone and a little more of skin which seemed a bit unnecessary. He was quite handsome, if Nagisa was to be honest. His fangirls were proof enough.
Nagisa didn't pay much attention to him. He could see him at times but that was it. It was similar to seeing a person because he or she passed by—something as simple as that. Nagisa didn't care if he occupied his vision for a moment, heck even an hour, nor he looked forward to seeing him at a daily basis. His existence was like dandelions to Nagisa, fleeting and soaring up to the sky to eventually vanish.
However, around the second semester, Nagisa noticed his lack of presence. It was as if an important person (like the headmaster) disappeared and left his duties. The fangirls' buzzing became lesser, and it made the bluenette curious, but not to an extent that he asked around for the guy's whereabouts. A week later, he got word that the red head was suspended because of violence. Nagisa's expression sunk a bit. So even a school idol can be suspended for aggressiveness, huh. He figured everyone would forgive him because of his looks or something.
Two seasons breezed past and it was the start of a new school year again. Around this time, Nagisa had forgotten about the red head so it became quite a bolt from the blue when he spotted him entering the classroom. The red head was handsome as always—Nagisa briefly wondered how that innocent face of his would warrantee violence suspension of all things.
It was already their third year when Nagisa was chosen as the class representative. It was okay for him, but precipitously assigned to show the red head—that he later got wind of the name to be Akabane Karma—around? Well, he couldn't say his face never contorted to an unreadable expression that was almost similar to a grimace.
Nagisa couldn't say the two of them came to be friends. He was merely looking out for Karma-kun—apparently the red head found it uncomfortable to hear Akabane (if it came from the bluenette anyway)—so Nagisa opted the first name, though not forgetting to add the appropriate honorific. However, the people around them thought otherwise. Those times of Karma skipping classes? Nagisa was the one tasked to deliver homework papers and group assignments—because let us face the fact that this kind of guy wouldn't be absent because of such simple matters as down with illness. And with that kind of false responsibility (really, he wouldn't be doing this if he wasn't the class rep), Karma took advantage of it: copying the bluenette's notes whenever he came over to his house. It became known to the school (and an unspoken rule) that only Nagisa—and Nagisa alone—could visit the red head's confidential home, which is similar to a celebrity's in luxury, by the way.
After high school, they both went to different colleges. That was the point all ties between the two was cut. They didn't bother messaging or catching up with each other. Their impertinent relationship—which Nagisa doubted to exist in the first place—officially evaporated like mist.
Nagisa went to an assassin's school, pursuing for a professional degree. His grandmother was the one who insisted, even with the blatant protests of his parents because of the reason that excelling in killing would be too dangerous and what kind of parents would approve of murder for a living anyway.
However, just once, Nagisa heard about Karma—rumors, obviously—that the red head was studying in a prestigious university. Well, that wasn't really a shock. That guy was rich and intelligent beyond comparison; though Nagisa didn't expect that he was rumored to succeed a mafia family. Of course, the bluenette didn't believe it.
Three years after graduating from college and being a professional killer, Nagisa was hired one day by a rich man. The order was to protect a certain boss from being murdered at an important meeting. Nagisa didn't have the say in the matter, being hired as a bodyguard and was already paid immensely. A bodyguard, of all things! How preposterous for a pro killer! Well, at the moment, Nagisa didn't really care as long as he could live off his payment; but it was a surprise when he learned Chiba was also taken into service at the same time—as an assassin, unlike him.
After all these years, the bluenette doubted a coincidence existed at being hired simultaneously. His thoughts were proven to be reality when he spotted Chiba that night, high at that building away from the restaurant he was currently in. If he squinted his eyes, he could see the gleam of the scope of Chiba's most powerful sniper rifle: an OSV-96.
It didn't take long for Nagisa to discern the person he should guard from the crowd. The boss, who was in a semi-formal suit, was sitting across from another man (a partner in a certain deal, perhaps?). The bluenette stood at a distance, cloaked by the shadows, ready at any moment of peril. It wasn't soon when he heard the dreadful faint sound of a sniper firing.
Nagisa positioned his VP70z hand gun, eyesight focusing around the boss so he could shoot a bullet that would dislodge the fired sniper cartridge and possibly ram the bullet to a different direction. Chiba was an exceptional sniper. Though, Nagisa couldn't take a risk that would endanger the boss even if he highly doubted the target was his client in the first place.
Again, the bluenette's contemplation was proven true when he spotted the trajectory of the almost invisible bullet at the last second—Chiba's target was the person sitting across the boss. The bullet was moving as if in slow motion, before sinking at the warm flesh of its target—splattering blood athwart the table and also coloring the dark tiles with an even darker shade. The body thumped on the ground, lifeless.
Chaos erupted.
Several men, all in black and frankly hideous in appearance, dived for Nagisa's client, while others tended to the dead form of their boss, searching for any sign that could save him.
Nagisa's client kicked the table to serve as a temporary blockage and then did the same to his attacker, all done in a suave manner with hands inside his pockets. Nagisa didn't give any indication of being in awe but nonetheless impressed, although just slightly.
Nagisa sprang into action a second later; firing his gun and slashing his way to get to where the boss was standing. After all, the nearer he was, the easier he could defend his client. At this kind of situation, anyway. He didn't have a sniper in hand, such a shame, and normal bullets tend to be too slow to kill a blood lusting target sometimes. To make it short, the boss' safety was his top priority. It was the reason he was hired in the first place, was it not?
The current situation wasn't as dangerous and challenging compared to the ones Nagisa had in the past. He didn't move that much; just fired his gun and slashed a knife to one or two. In fact, he thought the boss did not need a bodyguard at all—he could manage with himself alone. For a split second, Nagisa wondered why he was hired as a protector. But he didn't dwell on the thought that much because the danger (was it, really?) was already over.
His client turned and looked at him.
For the first time this evening, Nagisa was utterly stunned, seeing the boss' face that was too familiar for his own good. He'd thought a man sporting a head of red hair was pretty common. But to see Akabane Karma in the flesh, being the mafia boss he just submitted himself to guard, and that same devious grin on his face—it was a blow, to be honest. Nagisa didn't believe in coincidences, but this? What were the odds?
"It's a small world, isn't it Nagisa-kun?"
And well, him remembering the bluenette's first name…the blow currently felt literal instead of figurative.
A/N: I don't even know what the heck I had done. I am not even familiar with mafia shits. The fic's only crafted out of whim. *throws manuscripts in the air* Complete for now 'cause responsibility isn't my virtue.
Footnotes:
The academic year of a Japanese school is divided into two semesters:
first semester (April - September) and the second semester (October - March)