AN: Phones aren't meant only to hear somebody's voice, but to listen to the sound of their heartbeat in their worrs and hear their soul in between the lines.

I' really sorry for howlate I am with this chapter, but my laptop is dead (good news: should be beack this weekend) so yeah... Also, life- how does it dare get between me and fanfiction? Anyway, today's chapter is Boyle's Law. Boyle's law states that pressure of a set quantity of ideal gas in a can that doesn't change its volume and doesn't leak either will increase with the heating of the gas.

This isn't really cheating, since the study of the ideal gas is a part of chemistry. Even so, the last two chapter names are more physics-oriented, so forgive me.

Chapter 6: Boyle's Law

"What is he to you?" Tooru asked as she spread a second layer of Nutella on the hot toast.

"A special friend," she answered without second thoughts and bit into her butterbread, letting the salty cream wash over her taste buds.

"What kind of special friend? A best friend? A lover?" Tooru insisted, adding a third layer of chocolate for good measure and eyeing Manami with her unfaltering gaze.

The scientist munched on her bread thoughtfully. She knew Karma was her best friend back in middle school, that much was obvious. But right now, calling him her best friend seemed an understatement. He wasn't her lover, either. She stared at her hand intently, remembering the shape and feel of Karma's fingers. That alone was enough to bring a blush on her face, but she knew it wasn't a romantic gesture.

"I need him," she spoke evenly, choosing her words carefully, curling her fingers into her palm one by one. "And I… I think he may-"

"Need you too?" Tooru asked with her mouth full, watching her friend nod. "Symbiosis?" she suggested after gulping half of her breakfast in a single bite.

"Not quite. More like... completing each other." Manami hadn't realised describing their relationship was that much of a challenge. She hadn't realised Tooru could be so serious about listening to her, either. Most of the time, her teammate either joked around the subject of relationships or love, or she outright ignored it. Intuition told Manami tat her friend was avoiding the topic with all her might.

"Okay. It's good that you know where you stand," Tooru said after she swallowed, surprising Manami with the steadiness of her voice. "Does he know that, too?"

"I guess?" Manami asked more than stated. "We never discussed it, but I have a feeling he knows. However-" her eyes fixed on her cup of tea and she sighed.

"However?" her friend repeated, sipping her morning coffee to help the chocolate go down. It was still a scientific mystery how her tongue could stand the sugarless coffee after the three layers of Nutella.

"Karma-kun is a very-" she stopped, tracing circles on the wooden table as she searched for the right word "-guarded person. He doesn't let people in and that's-"

"Lonely," Tooru completed with a look that wasn't focused on anything in particular.

Manami nodded, staring into her cup of tea. "Yes, lonely. I thought he let me in, but there's still something he's protecting. Like some walls encircling his true feelings."

After a few moments of silence, Manami looked up only to notice that Tooru was in a trance, her eyes glassy as they reflected the world without taking anything in. Noticing the bespectacled girl's stare, she snapped out of it and resumed her neutral voice.

"So what will you do?"

"Synthesize the substance that can melt them down," Manami smiled broadly, finally taking a sip of her tea.

Tooru smiled back, remnants of chocolate curling around her lips. "That's the Manami-chan I know."

"Karma-senpai, you read chem articles?" Tanaka's attempt at whispering in the library was short-lived.

Karma caught a glimpse of the excited underclassman through his bangs and held back a simper. The boy was perched on his chair, his eyes wandering over the lines of Karma's study instead of the cases scattered in front of him.

Karma was mildly amused by the underclassman that followed him around, venerating him like the redhead was some kind of VIP or life model. Karma would have found it obnoxious if Tanaka was a poorly written copy of Takaoka, but the was anything slightly related to Karma made him overly excited intrigued the prankster. Whether it was curiosity or entertainment that made Karma keep him around, he still hadn't decided.

"I do," he answered.

"Why?" Tanaka's eyes sparked up like they did when he was taking notes in class. It reminded him of Okuda's excitement for science, though it wasn't as endearing.

"Because I like chemistry," Karma shrugged, reading further into his article on Lewis Acids.

"But you're studying Law?" Tanaka asked yet again and Karma decided to humor him, since he was in a good mood.

"I am, so that I can impose a law of shutting up while others are focusing."

Karma saw the boy's flashed ears and smirked. As Tanaka opened his mouth, presumably to apologise, Karma noticed his phone blink with a call. Poison Glasses.

His smirk widened.

"Okuda-san?" he answered, his voice a mere hush. "Hang on a moment, I'm in the library." He got up and circled five more statements on Tanaka's page. "I'll be back in less than an hour and I want to see a thorough analysis on this five cases." He left with a grin, feeling Tanaka's puzzled look on his back.

"This is rare, Okuda-san," he said as he closed the massive ulm door behind him, sticking the hand not holding the phone in a pocket of his cardigan. He strolled through the empty hallways, considering his destination. The inner garden would have to do.

"You said I could call whenever I wanted," Okuda excused herself. Her voice was distorted by the phone, holding nowhere near the same emotional impact as her real voice. "I told you you're like a drug, Karma-kun." A pause allowed Karma to hide his grin with a hand. "Why were you in the library?"

"Hmm, can you guess?" he hummed his question. He liked the sound of his steps echoing on the empty concrete.

"Karma-kun, you're being as secretive as ever," Manami sighed on the end of the line. "But I'll humor you. In return, will you also answer a question of mine?"

"Depends on the question, Okuda-san," he mysteriously chanted.

There was a heavy exhalation on the scientist's end. "How many guesses to I have?" she eventually asked.

Karma leaned against a wall. "Let's make this interesting," he said in a voice that allowed Okuda to hear his smirk. "Three."

"Am I allowed to ask questions?"

"Yes, and I am allowed to refuse to answer."

"Alright then." Karma closed his eyes to focus on her presence. It was impossible to keep the image of her from his mind, and the warmth she draped him in brought back the icy shiver. Or perhaps it was just the wind howling through the windows. The inner garden didn't seem a good choice anymore.

"You were in the library with someone," she stated. Karma hummed in agreement. "Was it a friend?"

"Friend is a strong word, Okuda-san." An often misused and abused of one, at that. "When do you call someone a friend?" he asked, opening his eyelids halfway and squinting at the light reflected by the glassy walls of a classroom.

"Well, after I've know that person fairly well… and if I like sharing my time and talking with them, I guess?"

"That's a generous description," he commented, closing his eyes again. Always so straightforward and open. Karma took more damage than her innocence intended to cause. "Let's assume he is a friend," he compromised, taking advantage of the empty building. Tanaka wouldn't have shut up had he heard that.

"Aha, Karma-kun just gave me another clue!" Manami's voice was both victorious and amused.

"What did I say?" he answered, batting away the image of her gleaming face. He knew the fuzziness would only last as long as the phone call.

"That it's a guy," Okuda declared. Karma sighed in defeat and she let out a chuckle, rendering it impossible for Karma to keep her out of his head. The more involved he was, the more he talked to her, the greater was the pit his stomach fell in afterwards, and the slower the time went by. And yet her happiness was contagious and she sucked him in her world effortlessly.

"You caught me," he said and indulged himself a genuine smile.

"But Karma-kun," the woman replied after a pause, "what would you call him if not a friend?"

"This is when I abuse of my power and refuse to answer the question," Karma purred, to Okuda's annoyance. He heard her humph and pictured the pout adorning her mouth, fighting against the sudden imbold to get on a train and see her again.

"You leave me no choice but to bombard you with questions," Okuda said with what she wanted to be a scary voice but only managed to be a cute threat. She cleared her throat in what Karma supposed to be embarrassment once she heard his chuckle. "Is he your colleague?"

"No," Karma whistled, pacing the halls. He gave up on trying to find a destination. Wasn't the journey more important?

"Does he study Law, at the very least?" she continued.

"No," Karma hummed again, taking a corner. The classes were empty on the weekend, but the university was still buzzing with students taking advantage of the libraries and laboratories.

"But you talked to him about some cases so he must be-" Okuda murmured more to herself than for Karma. "Ah!" she suddenly let out. "He is an underclassman, isn't he?"

"Bingo," the redhead snapped his fingers. He could faintly hear the scientist clap her hands on the other end of the call.

"So were you working on a project?"

"Nope," Karma teased in his whimsical voice. "My Okuda-san, be careful, that's already one missed guess," he taunted.

"Then-" there was silence as she ran the possibilities through her head "-how did you meet?"

Karma blinked and stopped, leaning against the closed door of an amphitheatre. "That's a sudden question. How does that relate to the library?"

"The context might give me a clue. Besides, this is a game I'm playing to learn more about Karma-kun."

She was dangerous alright, and had Karma not known better, he would have deemed her lethal. It was strange, he reasoned- people like her, so unguarded that they didn't even see barriers, were those he usually feared the most. And yet…

"That's too vague. You'll need to ask more questions," he conceded.

"You're making this difficult on purpose," she argued, but didn't back out. Okuda never gave up. Instead of spider-walking down his spine, the thought proved to be a security-blanket to Karma.

"I'm making it fun," he shot back. If anything, it was easy- he wouldn't have let anyone start it at all.

"Is your underclassman just as excited as you to prank people?"

"That hurts, Okuda-san," Karma claimed. The silence made him continue, "But no, he doesn't prank. He's a pure guy."

"He's in Social Studies… and wants to enter Law," Okuda deduced and Karma hummed in agreement. "So he's a first year. Do you have a common teacher?"

"Yes, Professor Aizawa. The one who makes us wear suits," he clarified.

"Unique," Okuda commented and Karma snorted. "If meeting through a prank is out, did your professor introduce you?"

"You could say that," Karma pondered.

"That's awfully imprecise. Cooperate with me, won't you?" the bespectacled girl accused him.

Karma smiled, but he didn't let his voice reflect that. "You're close, so I might as well tell you." Okuda cheered and Karma's smile grew. He made a mental note of scratching the unhealthy presence and replacing it with healing properties. "I was talking with Professor Aizawa when he entered the teacher's office."

"And let me guess: he already knew you." Karma heard the smirk in her voice, which managed to be smug and adorable at the same time. It was a cheap imitation of the Akabane-trademark smirk, but that it made all the more valuable, Karma supposed.

"You're getting better at this. Wanna guess why?"

"Because you are very well-known?" Okuda tried, sounding somewhat proud.

"Precisely." Karma really tried not to be flattered. He failed lamentably.

"So he bugged you to teach him the parts he didn't get?"

"No, the boy is the best in his year. He's just clingy- thinks I'm some kind of deity and doesn't let me breathe," Karma crooned.

Okuda laughed like chimes even through the phone. "So you're being a good senpai. And you were in the library on a weekend to spend time with him. How commentable, Karma-kun," she cooed. "Now that I've found out-"

"I am a man of my word, Okuda-san. You won your right to ask away." She had won before the game even started. That, Karma decided was better kept a secret. "So, what was it?"

There was a long silence on the other end of the call before she whispered, "Why do you like strawberries?"

The hall echoed with Karma's laugh. He was thankful that he was nowhere near the library right then.

He could tell Okuda didn't mean to ask that. He could also tell that he wasn't ready to hear her actual question yet. But Karma wasn't in a rush- he was content with talking about his culinary preferences or listening to macromolecular biology concepts for hours on end.

It was still too early for him to see the cracks in the defense mechanism.

"Cut!" the director yelled. "Good work, Haruna-san. You may take 10."

Haruna Mase gathered all of her energy to raise a smile and nod before making it to her cabin, but Akari didn't register anything from what was going on around her. The closer she got, the faster her steps were. She took a corner and almost bumped into the makeup artist until she finally reached her cabin.

Akari closed the door behind her with a loud bang. She leaned against the door and grabbed the glasses off her face, throwing them against the wall of her dressing-room. The fact that they didn't even break fueled her annoyance.

She couldn't take it anymore.

Her hands were shaking so violently it took a minute simply to fumble for her phone and Type Manami's name in the engine. She pressed call only to hear the generic message when the other end was busy with a call. Just her luck, she cursed under her breath.

Akari was about to throw her phone where the glasses were. She couldn't give a damn about breaking it- she would buy a new one with the money she made from this stupid commercial. Although finding time to go phone-shopping was just as annoying and she'd rather stay in and sleep, she reasoned before launching it against the wall.

Defeated, Akari's shoulders slumped and she clenched the wig on her head helplessly. She loved acting, but not like this. Not being a mascot. Not doing commercials and posing for magazines. She wanted to act in movies with a decent plot, not to be typecast as the "moe character". She was an assassin for crying out loud.

Akari lowered her hand and clutched her phone, feeling her tears prick at her eyes. She rubbed them fiercely, trying -and failing- to pick herself up. She had to be back on the set in- she glanced at the screen- 8 minutes. 8 minutes wasn't enough time for self-pity. The actress slapped her cheeks, checking the mirror for puffy eyes.

And then, with the timing only fate could manage, her phone blinked. And as the same merciless fate would have it, it was what caused Akari to lose any semblance of self-control.

In a moment's imbold, with a mix of what was anger, sheer annoyance and the state of not giving a damn, Akari scooped up the phone and called her messenger.

The line went through two times before he picked up. As soon as his unsure voice questioned, "Kayano?" she was out of commission.

"Uhm-hi," was all she could come up with. "I'm sorry, can you talk?"

"Sure," Nagisa answered, his voice followed by the noise of shuffling. He must have been at home. Of course he was, Akari gritted her teeth. It was 8 p.m. on a Saturday evening. Any normal college student would be at home, resting or cramming.

"Is everything alright?" Nagisa asked, and Kayano clenched her fingers into a fist until her nails dug deep into her skin. He could read feelings even through the phone, couldn't he?

"The truth is-" she almost wanted to snort. The truth? Has she even said the truth in the past few years? Akari breathed in deep. "The truth is, I'm not." She didn't even try to hide her brittle voice or the way it cracked near the end.

"Kayano-chan?" Nagisa's panicked voice didn't startle her. She basked in the pleasure of having blurted out the truth. Accepting her misery felt refreshing.

"I'm not okay," she repeated, and the relief was heavenly. Her facial muscles relaxed into a smile as she continued, "I can't keep this up. I haven't stayed home for more than the five hours a night I manage to sleep, I haven't had a warm meal in what feels like forever and I- I can't even remember the last time I took a bath instead of a shower." She was surprised to look in the mirror and see tears well up in her eyes. "I haven't seen my family since March." She almost didn't recognise her own hoarse voice.

"Where are you right now?" Nagisa asked. Akari heard a creak and the sound of a door opening on the other end of the call.

"Tokyo. The shooting set," she wheezed out.

"When are you off work?" he asked again and Akari heard the sound of a key in the lock.

"Two hours," she said, still wobbly despite her attempts to control her voice. She should have stopped him from coming, but she didn't want to. She wanted- needed him there.

"Okay," was all he said, but didn't hang up. She put the phone down and on speaker and proceeded to blow her nose and wipe the tears that hadn't fallen down- and a good thing too, or her makeup would have been ruined. The remaining three minutes weren't enough to fix that. As crappy as the commercial was, they had amazing beauticians- Akari was torn between feeling impressed and disgusted.

Nagisa waited with her for the break to finish, keeping her quiet company. Two minutes later, Akari talked again, adjusting her voice in preparation for the set.

"Thanks, Nagisa. I'm imposing on you and I shouldn't-"

"Stop spouting nonsense," he cut her off with an understanding voice. Akari heard the buzz of the train station and Nagisa raised his voice to talk over it, "I'm glad you called. You've been bottling it up for too long. You shouldn't keep this in, you know?" A pause- Akari didn't dare answer. "I'll be there in two hours."

Akari nodded, although Nagisa could see her. "I have to go now," she said.

"Okay. Just- hang in there."

"Mhm," she hummed back.

She closed her phone and picked up the glasses, fixing them on the bridge of her nose. Another light slap and a last look in the mirror- she was Mase Haruna and she could do it.

She shut the door to the cabin behind her just as the producer was about to call for her.

Kayano's apartment was just as quiet as she was, sunk in darkness except for the lamp in the living-room. The actress had climbed on the sofa and hugged her knees, waiting silently as her friend fixed her a cup of coffee-he tried convincing her to go for tea, but she claimed she needed to be awake for at least the next hour to talk to him. Besides, Kayano added, she was so tired she often passed out as soon as she drank her coffee.

From the dusty TV and empty cups of instant ramen on the kitchen table, Nagisa could tell Kayano hadn't lied to him. The apartment barely seemed inhabited, save for the outrageous provisions of instant ramen and the pudding in her fridge.

Kayano hadn't muttered a word on the ride home. Nagisa hadn't pushed for smalltalk either. Kayano didn't need a talker tonight- she needed a listener.

He took two cups out of her cupboard and filled them with the steaming beverage, figuring he might as well drink some if he was going to spend the night taking care of her.

When he returned to the living room she was still curled up in herself. The last time Nagisa had seen her this fragile was when Korosensei saved her from the tentacles. The smallest outside factor seemed to be enough to destroy the front she kept up, and she lacked the drive to pick up the pieces herself.

"Here," Nagisa said, placing the cup in front of her. He was ready to sweep and clean and glue back.

She didn't say a word as she reached for her cup, took a sip and put it back down mechanically.

"I'm sorry," she eventually said, without making eye contact with Nagisa.

"I told you, stop apologising alre-"

"But I shouldn't put this burden on you. It's my fault that I haven't refused any of the offers and I-"

The storm began with the rhythmical pitter-patter of rain. The rain grew torrential, accompanied by thunder and lightning. Nagisa doubted there was any umbrella to keep them from getting drenched, but he sat there anywhere, letting the water wash over them.

"It's been like this since spring. Producers saw my sudden rise in popularity and asked for me." She said all the words at once, as if they found a leak and making their way through it expanded it. "And of course my manager was delighted because hey, the more roles I score the more money he gets, right?! And he stocked my schedule like crazy," she wheezed, punching the sofa without power.

Nagisa let her rant about the crappy production values and valuing name over plot, about her becoming a mascot, about the way she felt her acting abilities sunk. Her worries left her in bursts, pouring in the river of her sadness.

"And this week was the last drop," she said, shaking her head. Her eyes were red and puffy, her hair was ravished and her eyeliner surely wasn't waterproof, but she was her true self, and that was the best version of her.

"I postponed some things in order to make it to the class reunion and guess what? My manager decided to cast me in production with the only guy I can't work with. I told him that was the only thing I won't do as an actress- I won't work with someone who only sees curves and makeup instead of talent but does he listen?" She didn't have enough energy left to answer her own question.

Nagisa moved in closer and wrapped a hand around her waist, bringing her in a warm hug. She jolted, but didn't oppose him, instead curling her fingers in a fist around his shirt.

"I can't," she choked on her tears. "I can't make it. I'm not perfect. I have my limits. They think I'm some kind of superhuman who can just act whatever character they think up, but they forget I need time to enter a role." Her grip tightened around Nagisa and she clung to him like a lifevest as they both jumped in the river.

"I love my job, but this isn't what I signed up for. I'd rather be unknown my whole life than act only in commercials. Rather than act with people who see my face and name." Kayano pushed her head against his chest, trying to break through an invisible barrier. He hugged her tighter to him, trying to crush whatever she was fighting against.

"I don't have time for movies, and they don't want an attention whore either," she sobbed, shifting her weight as she tried to pull back. Nagisa's grip tightened around her, preventing her from getting up. Letting her go would mean letting her run away again.

"I can't pretend I know what you're going through," he said calmly, patting her head. "But I've seen you act, Kayano. I've seen you put your all into your roles and you have talent. When you're in a movie, you aren't even Kayano or Haruna or Akari anymore, you are a whole different person, you make that character yours. No matter what role you're casted in, no one can take that talent and passion away from you."

He felt her smile against his chest. It was weak and a sob shivered through her shortly thereafter, but it was a beginning.

"What you're going through now may seem meaningless, but I'm sure you'll look back on it in the future and realise you've learnt something. If only to say no, and it's still progress." He caressed her hair with a hand. Black suited her the best.

She didn't have the strength to look up at him, but she did grunt, "I really should have learnt that lesson long ago."

Nagisa shook his head. "Always trying your best to make everyone happy is what makes you who you are," he told her. His words sent a new series of sobs through her and she rubbed her eyes in his shirt before looking up. Her weavering smile was enough of an answer for Nagisa.

"For how much longer does he have this projects planned?"

Kayano snorted. "God knows. He said November, but I doubt it."

"Then we're going to call him and tell him he needs to stop. He needs to stop starting tomorrow," Nagisa declared, tilting Kayano's chin up so she met his unyielding gaze.

"We?" she questioned. Despite being hoarse, her voice had something of her spark.

"Well you don't think I'll let you do it alone, now do you?" Nagisa smiled. "You're not alone, Kayano."

"Akari," she muttered. Nagisa squinted at her in confusion. "Call me Akari," she said again, louder. Nagisa felt himself blush and started stuttering but she stopped him. "I'm done with acting. I know I'm still Kayano to class 3E but at least to you, let me be my real self. You saw me look like this, after all," she pointed to herself with what wanted itself to be a nervous laugh but was a heart-wrenching sob.

"What do you mean like this?" Nagisa scoffed at her lack of self-confidence and planted a kiss on the crown of her hair. Her locks were rich and smelled like vanilla. "Trust yourself some more, will you? You are an assassin, after all."

Kayano- Akari, Nagisa corrected himself, blinked a few times before her lips curled into a shaky smile and her cheeks colored deep red. "Thanks, Nagisa."

"Don't thank me," the man ruffled her hair so that it covered her soul-penetrating eyes. "You are insanely talented, popular and beautiful. Any producer with two eyes and a brain can see that, and no commercial can take it away from you." The fact that her face was covered didn't help his own blush.

"You-you really think so?" Akari crooked her head so she looked at him from under his hand. Nagisa thought her tears had tried up but they welled up again and he stared at her in a daze.

"Kaya-Akari?" he stuttered. "What did I say? I'm sorry!"

She shook her head, unable to talk or explain herself. Lacking tissues, Nagisa wiped her tears away with his sleeve, which seemed to only make her cry more.

"I'm happy-" she sobbed, clutching his arm with a trembling hand "-to have you." His heart leaped "Here," she added. "I don't deserve you"

Nagisa's hand froze on her cheek and he squashed it. She looked up puzzled, but he simply opened his arms to welcome her in a hug. Akari jumped at the offer, hanging her hands around his neck and throwing him off balance. Nagisa lost his footing and landed on the floor, dragging her with him.

"S-sorry." He tried getting up, but she just lay on top of him, cushioning her chin on his chest. A giggle leaped out of her and it evolved in an uncontrollable laugh interrupted by hiccups.. Seeing her happy was contagious, and Nagisa ended up chuckling as well.

"I'm really a dummy," she said as she got up, offering Nagisa a hand. He took it and dusted himself off.

"Alright!" Akari yelled and slapped her cheeks so hard they burned bright red. She turned to Nagisa with her fists clenched, as if ready for battle. "I'm gonna call that manager of mine and tell him what's on my mind!"

"And take tomorrow off!" Nagisa added, scratching his back from the fall.

"Off?" Akari repeated in a daze.

"Yeah. We need to go shopping- you can't keep on living off instant ramen."

"We?" she asked for the second time that night.

Nagisa smiled sheepishly. "You didn't think I was leaving you alone, did you? We can do whatever you want tomorrow- though you probably don't want to go to the cinema or anything… but I can even help around with housework if you need!" he blabbered.

"Nagisa."

"I'm sorry I can't really think of anything you'd like to do inside because you probably don't want to go out where everybody will fawn over you so-"

"Nagisa," she repeated, this time stepping closer.

"Anyway, I'm not letting you run away again. Akari." The name suited her better than Kayano and it rolled naturally out of his mouth, as if it had waited to be used for so long.

She stared at him for a few moments before a smile tugged at her lips. For the first time that night, it wasn't obstructed by tears. "Thanks."

They held each other's gazes for what seemed like forever until Akari broke the silence. "We can do whatever you want."

"That's not fair, you should decide!" Nagisa argued.

"I don't really care," Akari said, spinning on her heels as she strolled towards the bathroom. "Not as long as I'm with you."

Nagisa stared behind her as she closed the door and he heard the water running.

Akari Yukimura was a wonder.

AN: Hello guys!

I'm sorry that this chapter was a bit heavier on the feels but hey- all's well that ends well, right?
Anyway, Karma and Manami will keep having discussions like that of this chapter, but I won't write all of them. As for Nagisa, he spent the night at Kayano's. After she gulped down her coffee, she called her manager at midnight and gave him a peace of her mind. Nagisa stood no chance when he tried to make her lower her voice...

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed:) Next chapter will be back to more Karmanami and more about Okuda's team. Hopefully, you'll enjoy.
As always, comments are much beloved and they keep me alive!