Manami Okuda adjusted her eyeglasses as she carefully tilted a test tube and added its contents to a large beaker. She was cautious enough not to spill any of it. She worked cautiously and silently inside the science laboratory.
"And there you have it. We now have hydrocyanic acid!" she proudly announced as she turned her attention to a certain red-haired boy who is seated next to hers at the laboratory.
Karma Akabane snapped out of his gaze as soon as he realized that a certain braided girl was looking closely at her. He almost fell to his chair when he noticed that their faces are a few inches away.
"Karma-kun! Are you alright?" Manami asked, concerned can be noticed in her voice.
"I'm fine, Okuda-san," Karma said as he regained his composure.
"You seemed to be in a daze. Do you have fever?" Manami asked. Karma shook his head in response.
"I'm fine. Really. Sorry I wasn't able to help you. I'll just store the chemical in a safe place. We'll use that for our next plans," he said while showing a genuine smile to the girl.
After cleaning the glasswares that they used and storing the chemical in a safe cabinet, they started walking home since it will soon be dark. While they were walking on the way home, Manami told Karma about her assassination plats and she noticed that Karma was a bit not himself. His face red and he can't look straight at Manami's eyes like he usually does.
"Karma-kun, y-you seem absentminded," Manami said, hoping to break Karma's uneasiness.
"Hmm? I'm not." Karma replied, trying to act natural when in fact, he really is. Manami have lots to tell him but their walk is over since her house is near. Before going inside her house, she said thanks and good bye to Karma. Still, she can still see that Karma is very uneasy. She wondered what could possibly be the reason for that but she didn't further ask the prankster anymore.
Karma was left on his home as he walk home. It was only a few blocks from Manami's house so he got home after five minutes. He entered his room and lay down on his soft bed. He stared at the ceiling and he remembered the bespectacled girl's happy reaction whenever they got successful in their experiments. He remembered how she got upset whenever things failed. He remembered her mannerism of tapping the desk with her finger when she's uncomfortable, her way of adjusting her eyeglasses, her stuttering, and every minor detail that she does. Suddenly, Karma noticed that his face turned red.
"What's wrong with me!?" Karma said as he sat on his bed, blushing more. He finally admitted to himself that he likes Manami Okuda. First, he thought that he liked her for her chemistry skills but it was more than that. He didn't notice earlier that he has a crush on her already.
"Should I ask her out on a date?" Karma asked himself.
The next day, Karma texted Nagisa to help him out. Nagisa has no clue on what the problem is but he replied that he's willing to help his close friend. They met at a coffee shop afterwards to discuss the matter. Nagisa was the first one to arrive and waited for Karma to arrive. Nagisa cheerfully greeted his friend and they both ordered their coffees. They chat for a while on random stuffs until their orders arrived and they were enjoying their coffees when Karma went to the main agenda.
"Nagisa, I was actually planning on asking Okuda-san out on a date. But I don't know how," Karma said while lightly stirring his coffee. Nagisa almost chocked himself with the coffee that he was about to drink. He coughed a little and when he was alright, he spoke in response.
"That was your problem? I was worried when you sent me that text message yesterday. It sounded like you were in grave danger!"
"But I am! I don't want to ruin our friendship so I've always hesitated to ask her out," Karma replied.
"Okay. Fine. So how may I help you?" Nagisa asked.
"Ask Okuda-san if she likes me too."
"WHAAAAAAT?! That's too dangerous! Don't you know that when Terasaka-kun asked her with that question that she almost spilled sulfuric acid all over his face!"
"It doesn't matter. Terasaka is too dumb to tease her like that. Wait, when did that actually happen? I don't know that," Karma asked, feeling amused on how dumb Terasaka is.
"Oh, you're probably skipped classes at that time. Well, Okuda-san was just minding her own business when Terasaka-kun randomly started annoying her. The last thing that he did was ask Okuda-san if she like you. Okuda-san is really, really scary when she's pissed off."
"That's why I asked for your help. You seemed nice to her so she's probably going to answer you nicely."
"Karma, that's girl talk."
"So?"
"I'm not a girl! Besides, we're not that close. She's probably will going to be embarrassed if I ask her that out of the blue."
They got silent for a moment when a familiar voice interrupted them.
"Then I'll help out!" said the voice enthusiastically.
The boys turned around to face whoever said that.
"Kayano! You were here, too?" Nagisa asked.
"Hehehe. I was actually going to the bookstore when I saw you entered the coffee shop so I followed you here. I was seated at the next couch so I overheard your conversation," Kayano explained.
"You followed him? Does that mean that Kayano-chan is stalking Nagisa? Or are you curious if Nagisa is dating a girl?" Karma teased the green-haired girl. Both Nagisa and Kayano blushed.
"No! You got it wrong! Kayano will never do that!" Nagisa said defensively. Kayano nodded while looking away as her face was red as Karma's hair. But she admitted to herself that Karma's very smart to quickly figure out that she got curious if Nagisa is seeing a girl so she spied on him.
"Anyway! You were saying that you wanted to know if Manami-chan likes you too, right?" Kayano asked as she regained her composure. Karma nodded, a bit blushing from the topic.
Kayano began being confident. "Consider yourself lucky because you're talking to her closest female friend!~ "
"Now that you mention it, Kayano and Okuda-san seem to get along really, really well" Nagisa said.
"So? Have you talked about me before?" Karma asked.
"I asked her back then who she likes but she didn't respond. She got a bit nervous and that's when I asked if she likes you, Karma" Kayano replied. The boys waited for the continuation.
"Well, Manami-chan said that she's comfortable when you're around. It's a bit an off-track answer but at least she appreciates you."
Girls' emotions are too difficult to comprehend, the boys thought.
"But don't worry. I'll ask her tomorrow!" With that, Kayano left the two, saying that she has an errand to do.
"I'm kinda surprised that things like this trouble you a lot, Karma," Nagisa said.
"Yeah. I noticed that I'm not my usual self and it's troubling me. So this is the thing they called love, huh?" Karma replied as he smirked. "Anyway, if ever things turned out as planned, help me in preparing for the date, will you?"
"Sure thing!" Nagisa said and smiled, knowing that Karma is being real with his emotions.
It was Friday morning when Kayano asked Manami about it. Only less than five people were in the room when Kayano asked Manami if she can accompany her in going to the bathroom. When they opened the door, Karma was also about to enter the room. Karma was caught off-guard. Nagisa told him to be early tomorrow and this is what happens.
"G-good morning, Karma-kun!" Manami greeted as she was being dragged by Kayano to the girls' CR.
While they were there, Kayano pretended to fix her hair so that they will have time to be there to talk privately.
"It's very unusual for Karma to arrive early, isn't?" Kayano said, starting the topic.
"Y-yeah. He's usually late for 17 minutes in morning classes," Manami replied. Kayano made a sheepish smile, trying to tease Manami.
"You're quite a keen observer, Manami-chan! I'm sensing love!~"
"I-it's not like th-that. I-I just noticed b-because…." There was a long pause.
"Because?"
"…" And Manami's face turned bright red.
"Hehehe. Manami-chan, you do like Karma, right?" Kayano asked. Manami's face turned a brighter shade of red.
"Kayano-chan, s-stop teasing me!"
"Well, do you?"
"Kayano-chan!"
"I won't stop teasing you until I get an answer~" Kayano said as she took a photo of Manami's blushing face, teasing the bespectacled girl more.
"Wha-what for? D-delete that, Kayano-chan. Please!" Manami exclaimed as she reached for Kayano's phone.
"Well, you always avoided that question and I'm just dying to know the truth. I'll delet this if you admit the truth. Or else I'll send this picture to, hmmmm… Okajima?"
Manami panicked. 'Not to the class pervert!', she thought. Manami nodded in response.
"I do like him. B-but p-please, don't t-tell anyone about it!" Manami replied shyly.
"Alright then!" Kayano smiled cutely as she deleted the photo.
Once they returned to the classroom, Kayano signaled Karma and Nagisa that the plan was successful. They boys were relieved and Nagisa noticed that Karma blushed a little. He giggled.
"Stop laughing at me or else I'll ask Nakamura-san to dress you up in a maid costume." Karma threatened his friend. Nagisa felt chills just by imagining it so he stopped giggling.
"Okay, I will."
"Well, do you have any suggestions on how I will ask her out?"
"Geez, just be yourself and ask her out. That's just how Sugino-kun asked Kanzaki-san"
"Okay then."
Later after class, Karma and Manami were alone in the Science Laboratory since they were mixing the hydrocyanic acid in a box of chocolate that they will send later to Koro-sensei. There was an awkward silence and it's killing them. Karma remembered Nagisa's advice to just be himself so he finally broke the silence,
"Okuda-san, do you want to go out with me?"
Manami almost dropped the beaker that she's holding.
"G-g-go out? Y-you mean a d-d-date?"
"Yep." Karma said as he played with his anti-sensei knife.
"S-s-sure." Manami said as she blushed heavily.
"Okay then. It's settled. That would be on Sunday," Karma said as he smiled genuinely while blushing a little.
"E-eh? Th-that's two days from now."
Karma chuckled. "Don't' worry. Nagisa-kun said that Kayano-chan will help you if you agreed."
"S-so that's why you were so out of character for the past days and that's why she asked me that earlier," Manami mumbled to herself
"Hmm? What was that?"
"N-nothing. I'm l-looking forward on our d-date, Karma-kun," Manami said as she smiled.
'So this is the thing they called love, huh' she thought to herself as she involuntarily blushed while busily working with Karma.