Story time 2: Unexpected (Part I)

Summary: The chapter one of their stories, because all tale has a beginning.

Timeline: Before and during Kyoto Trip.

Edit: This time, I put a timeline for everybody's reference. The main plot of the story did not change, but I took liberty with wordings to smoothen the story flow.


With our school trip approaching, Kayano-san invited me to join her group, while Nagisa-kun asked Akabane Karma. Even though he got an honour student's grade, I heard he was sadistic, provocative, and violent. He had been suspended because of it and I could see why from all his attempts to assassinate Koro-sensei by himself. His bloodlust was not aimed at me, yet it still sent shiver down my spine.

When he showed us the photo evidence of him blackmailing other students, my brain immediately screamed to me that taking him into our group was a bad idea. Sugino-kun voiced out the same concern, but Nagisa-kun reasoned that he felt bad since they had known each other for a long time. In the end, our group of six was consisted of Kayano-san, Kanzaki-san, Nagisa-kun, Sugino-kun, Akabane-san and I.

During planning, everybody except of Akabane-san and I suggested places after places with enthusiasm. Actually, I had something to say, but my mind could not help but thinking: 'what if the places I suggested were bad? What if I made the whole conversation awkward? What if they thought I was weird?'

It suddenly brought back voices that I thought I had forgotten.

"Okuda-san? That girl is so ugly yet she gave me a cold shoulder. Who still wear braids and that kind of round glasses?"

"She can only talk about science. Such a bore."

"You are not invited, Okuda-san. We do not want you to preach periodic table to us while we are singing."

"Just shut up, Okuda-san. Nobody asked for your opinion."

"Funny right, that kind of look and she still fall to Class E. Makes me wonder how she study."

"Okuda-san."

His low voice brought me back to reality. His eyes glanced at me for a moment before disinterestedly looking back at the group, "Just say it."

"Eh?"

Still sitting in his carefree manner, he spoke, "Ne, everyone. Okuda-san has some suggestions here. You all got a tad bit too enthusiastic so she feels bad for interrupting."

In instant, everybody fell into silence. If I could scream, I would. In fact, I was on the verge of bolting from my seat. I did not expect Akabane to chide them and put me as the center of attention. Now they were going to get annoyed and-

"Eh? Did we?" Kayano-san responded, "Sorry Okuda-san, we got a bit too carried away here."

"If you have any suggestion, feel free to suggest any." Kanzaki-san added with elegant smile gracing her lips, "We probably miss out some places, so do not hesitate to voice out."

I could not believe it. They apologized, even though it was not their fault. They actually said it was okay for me to speak. It gave me a spark of confidence, "Uh, so... About this route..."

It was difficult at first, but I gave my all. Even as I stammered, nobody tried to hurry me or shot an irritated look. When I paused, unable to find the words I needed, they pitched in to help. Akabane-san remained silent, but he gave a supportive look to me the whole time, as if urging me to continue and told me that I was doing a great job.

I had to thank him after this.

Soon, our finalized pocket guidebook was done and everybody went home. By some luck, my house and his turned out to be in the same general direction, so Akabane-san and I ended up walking together after everybody parted ways. The journey was silent, saved for our surroundings.

It did not take very long to notice our height differences or how good looking he was. His mercury-coloured eyes accentuated his red hair very well, giving him a striking appearance. Compared to me, I was plain and unattractive. My fingers were not enough to count how many girls had looked at his way appreciatively and those who glared daggers as if I was an eyesore.

I turned my face away, trying my best to ignore the uncomfortable sensation. I learnt this lesson the hard way at first grade after getting beaten up by my classmates for accidentally staring at them. From that point on, I learnt to hung my head down and kept moving, avoiding eye contacts with anyone.

Suddenly, Akabane-san increased his pace. He was not running, but I had to jog a bit in order to catch up with him. He asked me which street my house was in, and before I knew it, we were approaching the street which led to my house. He slowed down, but we would reach my house in no time.

Realising this was it, my heart was thumping loudly inside my chest. It was a struggle to force any word out of my mouth when my stomach tightened in knots.

"A-Akabane-san." I forced myself to look at him, "T-thank you for j-just now."

Upon those words, he stopped in his tracks and gave me a piercing look. I wish I could have dig a hole to hide myself. His tall stature only made things worse as he loomed imposingly over me with his height.

"U-uh, I mean during the trip planning." Taking a deep breath, I smiled, "Thank you for helping me to speak out. It was very kind of you."

I averted my eyes. Hopefully the way I smile came out right. The last thing I wanted was to creep somebody out.

"Anytime." It lacked his usual teasing tone. He flashed a quick smile when I looked back, "By the way, you can just call me Karma-kun. No need to be so formal."

It surprised me. Was this really the delinquent and troublemaker everyone say? My chest suddenly felt lighter, and the memory of him these last few weeks seemed to matter less.

"Let's go. I'll drop you home."

My belief was further strengthened when Kayano-san and Kanzaki-san were kidnapped. He took all opportunities presented to beat their kidnappers, but I noticed how his eyes were flooded with concern when Kayano-san shouted for help. When I felt down for being a useless one and ran away, he praised my decision as the right thing to do.

So even though what I would say would be against the popular opinion, I did not care. I believe he should be seen as how he was, not what the rumor said. Plus, did not Koro-sensei tell me to hone my language skills?

"Hmmm… He's really not that scary though."

XXXXX

When I first entered class E, my impression of Okuda Manami perhaps was the same with most people: a typical studious nerd. I did not mean to stereotype, but she fitted perfectly: two pigtail braids, round glasses, uniform which strictly followed school regulation plus timid and innocent look. There was no reason for me to pay attention to her when there was a very interesting Mach 20 octopus as target.

Until that day.

I had decided to stay until I had more information about our teacher. Still, lessons were boring and a total waste of time. The good thing was, Class E's mountain was a perfect hiding spot. Nobody would take an effort to climb, much less explore the area just to look for those skipping school assembly or class. Koro-sensei, Karasuma-sensei and Bitch-sensei also were not particularly strict on attendance. In the vast mountain region, I would nap somewhere before going back home.

Then on one quiet afternoon, I saw her walking inside our science laboratory. My first reaction was to hide. Years of living alone had taught me there were times when you should observe the situation before doing anything. On the table I could spot several test tubes, few chemical bottles and other lab equipment.

It did not take long for me to be astonished. Some boys and girls our age tended to be careless and reckless, but she was measuring, mixing and doing everything with utmost care and precision. In the end, she took two covered test tubes and one covered Erlenmeyer flask home after airing the room and put all cleaned equipment back to the store room. If my memory served me right, the content should be thallium acetate, sodium hydroxide and aqua regia.

What kind of middle school students could make all those? That was totally awesome.

But when she presented it the next day, I stifled a laugh. On the next day, I could not hold back anymore. But I never meant to be insulting. If anything, I respected her effort and agreed with our teacher. Her skill was definitely useful for our assassination.

Then during our Kyoto trip planning, I never expect myself to help her twice.

I could easily see that she wanted to say something. Since everybody was too immersed in their discussion, nobody noticed that she opened her mouth just to close it again for many times. Out of pity, I lent her a hand. At least the others were decent enough to react accordingly and she fitted in just fine.

The second time was when we walked home. When she turned her face away, one glance was all it took for me to identify her source of distress. But I really did not know how to make her feel better. Comforting words were something alien to me, that was Isogai and Nagisa-kun's expertise. So I just walked faster; she would have to keep up with me and had no time to pay attention to them.

But turned out she could do something unexpected too.

People would never bother to thank me at all. They would rejoice if I did not do anything whenever I passed by. Anybody except Nagisa-kun would cower at the sight of me and ran with their tails between their legs. I was used to it. In fact, I enjoyed that terrified look on their face. It gave me a sense of superiority knowing these people feared me.

Yet she did with one of cutest and most heart-warming smile I've ever seen.

It took a while to rationalize the warm feeling and rapid heartbeat I got from seeing her smile. In return, I figured it was not a bad idea to ask her to use my first name.

From that point on, she started to shine more than other girls in all classes to me. So when the boys asked me about who I liked, I did not even need to look at the list.

"Hmm… Okuda-san maybe?"


Hello all,

This is something I wanted to make as series, talking about how Karma and Okuda got closer, leading to conclusion in the fan book. Note they did not like each other here; Karma basically treat her as the most interesting out of the girls, but not in romantic way. Only later I would show the growing feeling in the pair, relating to each Arc and canon events.