AN: Sorry it took me so long to post this. I wanted to make this perfect (read:This is the extra-awkward, extra-crazy chapter before the other awkward, crazy chapters), and it turned out to be nice and long anyways. So, as always, I hope you enjoy!


It was Friday after classes. Karma had finally accepted his feelings for Rakurai, but of course refused to allow a single being to know. Which was hard to do when he couldn't stop thinking about their 'date'. It hadn't been officially called a 'date', but thats what anyone would assume of the situation. The bruise she had given him was fading.

"Karma-kun." The one who had started this whole 'date' mess was standing in front of him, smiling in that way that made him feel like he had seen an angel.

"What is it?" He allowed himself to be kind to her, for his standards. But not so much to raise suspicion from the class-or the octopus.

"I was thinking that we could go to this new cosplay-karaoke place tonight. Nagisa, Sugino, Kanzaki, and Kayano already said that they'd come. I asked Minami, but she said she was busy working on a new Sensei-poison. I already paid for a everything for the evening, so no one will have to worry about the cost. So, do you want to come?" He could say no to that smile, when paired with those vivid green eyes.

"What's the deal with the 'cosplay' part?" "Oh, they just have a wardrobe of costumes we can use if we want to. You don't have to dress up if you don't want to."

"Alright then, where do we meet up?" "Train station, silly."


The group had just arrived at the karaoke place. "Wow, this place looks amazing!" Kayano was looking around in awe. They were shown to their room, and immediately she started to beg Kanzaki to sing a song. "C'mon, you'd be great!" "I don't want to be the one to go first though..." Kayano then looked around the room, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Who'll go first then, I wonder..."

"...N-no way Kayano! I'm not going to go first!" "Oh, come on, Nagisa, you could even dress up!" "NO!"

Karma stood up, closing his eyes as if resigning himself to something. "I'll go first, if it'll get you guys to stop bickering."

He walked to the machine, and picked a song that he vaugly knew due to it currently being popular.

He was utterly terrible. He was off-key, and any note that had to be held out resulted in squeaking and voice cracks.

At the end of the song, the others were afraid to say anything about his performance. He put down the microphone.

"There. None of you can be any worse than that, so start singing already."

After a while for them to recover, Kayano convinced Isogai and Kanzaki to do a duet. While she was enjoying their singing (both of them had decent singing voices), Nagisa ordered some drinks and Karma sat in his seat.

Hopefully they won't make me do that again. But if Rakurai asks...

Wait, where is she?

She was nowhere to be seen. She must have slipped out while I was singning. *cringe*

"I'm back! I wanted to try out the cosplay outfits. There are some really neat ones!"

She was wearing a black maid costume with a knee length skirt and short pouf sleeves. She had black tights and shoes as well. In addition to this, she had a ruby red choker with an oversized plastic bell painted gold around her slender neck, white cat ears attached to a headband, and frilly wrist cuffs. Karma barely caught himself staring, and quickly looked at the suddenly quite interesting floor.

"Wow, Rakurai-san, you look so cute~!" Kayano was instantly enfatuated with the outfit, and apparently she had forgiven the younger girl for her bust for the moment. It took her a few moments of adoring her outfit before she sat back down.

"So, cat-maid, huh?"

"Yep! So, what do you think of it?" She had sat down right next to him as she asked this, catching him a bit off guard. Karma looked at her, pretending to evaluate the outfit while in reality gathering his thoughts. Her eyes had a faint blue tint within their green depths.

"You look nice."


Rakurai caught his small slip-up. She had asked what he thought of the outfit, but he had instead voiced his thoughts on how she herself looked. She didn't say anything, she just smiled, the flash in her eyes letting him know enough of what was going through her mind to make him involuntarily stiffen. She leaned back and watched the rest of Isogai and Kanzaki's performance, noting the faint pink dusting both their cheeks. After they finished, she leaped up, selected five songs to play in a row, and grabbed the microphone.


She sang like an angel.

Karma was trapped from the moment she sang the first note. Her voice seemed to slide from one word to the next, transforming them into something liquid, almost tangible. Her voice trembled wonderfully on every note she had to hold out. He didn't even listen to the words of her songs, all he could hear was her beautiful, perfect voice.

And by the time she had finished, he immediately regretted his train of thought. He had been staring, and his mouth was hanging open. He quickly shut it and looked elsewhere, feeling lucky that the others had been as focused on her as he had been.

"Rakurai-san, you're amazing! How'd you learn to sing like that?" Kayano was as impressed by her performance as one would expect.

"Oh, I've practiced quite a bit over the years." The group's collective thought? That was pretty obvious though...


"Alright, Kanzaki-san, Rakurai-san, let's go find some more outfits!" Kayano dragged the two other girls to the dressing room, a sly grin on her face, one perfectly happy to go along with this, the other a bit hesitant but willing to comply. Once in the dressing room, Kayano immediately started to drool over every outfit.

"Oo, this one looks neat, or maybe this one, or this one, or..."

"How about this one?" Rakurai held up an outfit, obviously having previously selected it for her green haired friend on her earlier visit. Kanzaki immediately nodded in agreement.

"That will definitely look good on you." Kayano decided to listen to their advice.

"Okay! Then how about, for Kanzaki-san... This!" Kayano held up another outfit, pleased with her selection. Rakurai nodded enthusiastically.

"Alright, if you insist." Kayano gave her a thumbs up.

"Let's put them on!" The two girls slipped into their costumes, and were greeted with applause from their young friend when they presented themselves.

"What about your outfit, though?"

"Oh, don't worry, Kanzaki-san, you go back and tell the boys we'll be there in a minute. I know what Rakurai-san should wear."


"W-wow, Kanzaki-san, you look a-amazing!" The faintest pink blush dusted her cheeks at this compliment. She was wearing a soft pink kimono with a lavender flower design and a matching sash. It did suit her quite well.

"It's just something that Kayano-san picked out for..."

"Kayano, do I really have to wear this?" "Yes, I told you already, this is penance for your chest!" Kayano walked in the room holding Rakurai's hand, who was hiding behind the door. The former was wearing a not-quite-too-short skirt and a tank top shirt, paired with black ankle boots, a witch hat, and a plastic wand. She was most likely cosplaying a heroine from an anime she liked. Despite her adorable attire and smile, however, the group was a bit fearful of what she meant by 'penance'. Nagisa decided to speak first.

"You look nice, Kayano-san, but, um, what about Rakurai-san?"

"You'll see... C'mon, Rakurai-san." The younger girl walked slowly into the room, her face scarlet. Everybody was staring, and Karma... Well, I'll let you imagine he extent of his reaction. She was wearing black high heels, sheer black tights, and bunny ears and a tail. But what had his attention at the moment was her spandex leotard, meticulously etching out every curve of her body. He couldn't look away, even when everyone else politely averted their attention.

"Kayano-san, why did you make Rakurai-san wear that?" Nagisa seemed to always be the one that said something after any of these incidents.

"It's penance!" Everyone just sighed and told Rakurai to go change. Except Karma. She had basically broken him for the moment.


When she returned, she was once again in the clothes she arrived in. She hadn't stopped blushing, and she sat down, apparently not willing to sing at the moment. The others took their turns, Kayano singing what was probably the theme xto the anime she was cosplaying, and Nagisa was content to sing anything the group rquested, happy enough with the fact that he escaped without being forced to cross dress... Again.

Karma was too occupied with the current situation to pay much attention to his friends' performances. Rakurai was sitting a bit apart from him, but still technically next to him. And he couldn't get the image of her in the bunny girl outfit out of his mind.

So yeah... Kind of a problem for him.

But as luck would have it, he managed to distract himself by looking at the girl as she was. Her face was still a bright shade of pink. He noticed that her eyes had taken on a hazel hue. And as he had finally managed to control his 'reaction', she suddenly fell over into his lap, restarting the whole issue. He calmed down much faster this time, though, and by the time the others had realized what had happened, Karma noticed two things.

1. She was asleep.

2. She was burning up.

He immediately put his hand on her forehead, vaugly hoping that he had imagined the sensation of heat, but her fever was real, and now quite obvious to everyone in the room. After a brief moment of panic, the group agreed to call it a night, and split up for the trip home, boys paired with girls for safety: Kanzaki and Sugino, Kayano and Nagisa, Karma and Rakurai. Karma had an almost primal desire to protect her, and reasoned with the group that he would be the most suited to look after her in her present condition. Knowing him, they raised no questions. So off they went.


"Wake up, Rakurai."

"Huh...?"

"We're going home. I need you to tell me your address."

"No."

She's probably getting delirious from the fever.

"I'm not going to take you to my house."

"Well, I'm not going to tell you my address, so there." Yep, delirious.

He didn't say anything to her, simply called a taxi and told the driver the address. Rakurai promptly fell asleep again, leaning against older man behind the wheel seemed to be about to say some snide comment.

"If you say anything along the lines of what I know you're thinking, I'll kill you myself."

The rest of the ride was quiet.