Nagisa's entire existence sucked. It sucked so hard, he could be the king of suck. He really had to stop thinking about sucking, given the situation. The whole 'glow' rumour was fake, completely and utterly fake. Nagisa felt gross, sweaty and disgusting. Ever since getting back from the island trip, all he'd wanted to do was hide under the covers and sleep for days on end. The more he slumped around in bed, though, the worse the itch under his skin for a change of scenery became.

He just wasn't built for laziness. Nagisa needed to go out, do something. Unfortunately, the lack of clothes that fit him was an issue. Most of his clothes had been loose to start with, but in the heat of summer, he was down to one shirt that hid his stomach, and it was starting to get scratchy considering how much he had to wash it.

There was only one day left until they were back at school. He wasn't sure how effectively he was going to hide it then. Maybe that was the best. Though it was true he didn't actually know how Karma felt about it, he probably wouldn't appreciate a massive announcement. If people just gradually realised, surely that would also be okay, right?

They still hadn't had that conversation yet. It was far, far overdue. At least they weren't avoiding each other. That had to be some kind of progress. Maybe Karma had something going on, Nagisa was never sure. Though they were on speaking terms, Nagisa hadn't even seen him for a couple of weeks. He'd have to shortly, in less than twenty four hours. At least they still had another five or so months.

Thinking too hard about Karma wasn't helping the itch underneath his skin. Nagisa tossed the blanket away from his body, forcing himself to sit up. At the very least, he needed to go for a walk. He was going to die without the sun on his skin, he was sure of it. He stretched out, and picked up his phone for the time.

Hey Nagisa, I don't know if you're busy today but I'd love to take you out for sushi later, if you want. Please let me know! Love, dad.

Nagisa blinked at the message, reading it over and over. His father hadn't had much time for him recently. Although his reaction to being put in the E Class wasn't as strong as his mother's had been, he had still seemed pretty upset. They hadn't actually spoken since, rarely did these days. He always claimed to be busy, so Nagisa would feel bad if he said no.

He texted back, and immediately decided that he was going to have to bring a jacket, regardless of the heat. Nagisa had become somewhat of an expert when it came to which angles to stand at and how to cover himself in the right way, recently. Fashion had never been anything he much cared about, but it really did come in handy.

His father greeted him outside the small restaurant, pulling Nagisa into a somewhat awkward hug. Nagisa immediately noticed the tired look about him. Even though he'd been younger at the time, Nagisa had picked up on the way he acted like being a part of their household was a curse. The distance didn't seem to have fixed that.

He still looked cheerful, enough. "Nagisa! I'm sure you've grown!"

Outwards, maybe. Nagisa was more than aware it was just a comment to make him feel better, but he still smiled all the same. "A centimetre or two, I think."

His father led the way inside. "How's school treating you?"

"It's good," Nagisa replied, though he knew he had to be reserved. They did, after all, have a non-disclosure agreement with the government. "I was nearly in the top thirty at finals."

"That's great!" He said, as they took their seats, perhaps just a little too cheerfully. "I'm truly happy for you, Nagisa."

Nagisa looked over at the sushi whirling around on the conveyor belt. He didn't know exactly, but he was pretty sure he was meant to be avoiding raw foods. As much as sushi was his favourite food, most of it looked pretty unappealing, anyway. At least the vegetarian options were probably safe. He reached for a few plates, not his regular choice.

"Do you have enough wasabi on that?" his father joked as Nagisa spread out the paste.

Looking down at his dish, Nagisa realised he was definitely right. It didn't seem bad, though. He tried one of the rolls, finding the spice more appealing than he usually did, despite the burn in his throat. As if he was doing it to prove a point, Nagisa added even more. All he wanted was spicy food, and lots of it.

"It's really good," he defended, and continued to eat.

"Are you getting along with your mother alright?"

"…" Nagisa didn't know what to say. If he was asking that question, then he clearly hadn't spoken to her. That was probably a good thing.

"Must be hard when she's so strict," he continued, "I feel bad for bailing on you."

It was not the time to open up that can of worms. Nagisa had mostly pushed those issues so far away that they were practically buried. After all, it had in the end been his own choice to stay living with his mother after the divorce, not that it got him particularly far. Still, he didn't want his father to worry or anything.

"It's not so bad," Nagisa lied, "if you don't get her mad she's not so strict."

"I thought sashimi was your favourite," he changed the subject, once again looking at Nagisa's plate.

Nagisa swallowed. "I can't eat it right now," he said without thinking.

"Why? Is something wrong with you?" He asked with concern.

He really didn't want to do this. He wanted to crawl right back into that duvet cave and hide. Never in his life did Nagisa envision he'd be having this conversation with his father. Though to be honest, there were many things going on currently that he wouldn't have imagined in a million years. After all that had happened recently, Nagisa didn't have much fear.

"I'm pregnant," Nagisa shrugged, taking a bite of his food.

"Oh," his father said, "that's… nice? Congratulations."

It was better than him yelling and making a scene, Nagisa supposed, though the indifference wasn't that encouraging either. Though, after a few seconds, he seemed to slowly realise the weight of Nagisa had actually told him, rather than the polite response he probably saved for office assistants or something. Nagisa couldn't help but attempt to avoid his eyes as his expression slowly morphed.

Before anything could be said, though, a familiar figure appeared on the seat behind him, holding up a sign. Korosensei looked earnest as he always did, though he was wearing his typical disguise reserved for public appearances. He pointed at the sign, which read: 'Summer Festival! If you're free at seven tonight, meet at Kunugigaoka Station!'

Well that sounded… fun. A summer festival? Nagisa hadn't had any plans to go to one, but it would be the trip out that he really needed, perhaps.

Sensing his slight hesitation, Korosensei swiftly took out a marker and scribbled something else: 'The last day of summer vacation! Let's hang out and have some mindless fun!' He darted off at his great speed, leaving Nagisa to stare at the wall.

Nagisa stood up. "Hey, uh, thank you for the sushi, dad!"

"Huh?" He blinked. "You're already done? Wait, I-"

He didn't hear whatever his dad had been about to say, already at the exit of the place. The conversation had gone on for long enough, at least. Nagisa didn't really want to just sit through the awkwardness that was bound to follow, as much as he would always love his father. Besides, he didn't want to be late.

Asano's house was actually pretty close to the sushi place, in comparison to where he used to have to come from. Never too careful, Nagisa came in through the back entrance as usual, observing the property quickly before calling out to announce he was back. Nobody responded to him at first, so he assumed Asano was probably holed up in his room. Unlike Nagisa, he seemed to have no issue in remaining within the same four walls for long periods of time.

Good, Nagisa thought as he checked the time on his phone, I'm not late after all. He paced upstairs, though paused opposite the door to the guest room. It still felt wrong to refer to it as 'his', on some level. Hesitating, he wasn't sure if Asano would appreciate him knocking on his bedroom door. Though, he also didn't seem like the type who would appreciate lateness, either.

It turned out that Nagisa didn't even have to knock, because Asano pulled the door open before he reached it, wearing the same uninterested face as he usually did.

"Are you just going to stand there?" He asked, leaning against the door frame.

Nagisa blinked. "N-no."

Asano moved aside. "Come in, then."

His bedroom was surprisingly the same as the rest of the house, utterly plain. It was meticulously clean, lacking even the smallest speck of dust. If Nagisa didn't know any better, he would have thought Asano was preparing for a military room inspection or something. He was sure there was more to Asano's personality than just this, at least.

"This movie had better be good," he said, sitting back down on the bed where his laptop was out.

Nagisa joined him. "It is, I promise."

Nothing made him feel better than his favourite movie. Though, he'd seen it so many times he could practically mouth the lines of the best parts, he found himself rather lulled by it. Asano seemed to want to watch it in complete silence. With nothing to really keep his brain active, he flitted in and out of light sleep after a while, blinking to see a few specs of action.

He still didn't quite understand why Asano was being so nice to him still. At least, he was a much nicer person than the aura he gave off implied. A summer in his presence had confirmed that for Nagisa. There was no way he was letting his guard down, though, as genuine as some of his actions had seemed to be. Nagisa just couldn't put his finger on it, yet.

A glancing thought in the back of his head undermined everything else. He was letting his guard down right then, wasn't he? Nagisa had easily allowed himself to get too comfortable, casually falling asleep. Another side of him realised that comfortable wasn't necessarily bad. That was, of course, until he realised his head had made its way to Asano's shoulder. Not that the other boy seemed to mind, but Nagisa wanted to douse himself in holy water as soon as he realised, quickly jolting off.

"Are you okay?" Asano asked, not taking his eyes off the screen.

Nagisa realised it was the end credits playing. "Fine! I'm totally fine… What did you think of the movie?"

He shrugged. "It's just a cliché action movie," he sighed, "but some of it was pretty creative. It's not awful."

At least that made him alert. "You should watch the second one! You can definitely tell they had a bigger budget this time around, the special effects were amazing. It sucks that it's not out in Japan yet, more people should get to see it."

Asano's eyes narrowed. "How have you seen it if it's not available over here?"

Uh oh. Nagisa could hardly explain that his teacher had flown he and Karma to Hawaii on a whim for one evening. He needed to think of a reasonable lie, and fast.

"I, uh, streamed it online?"

It seemed to pass. "In English?"

Nagisa stood up, needing to get out fast. "I'm good at English."

"Going somewhere?"

"Yeah," Nagisa realised, "A summer festival. I'm glad you liked the movie!"

Once Nagisa was out of there, there wasn't a lot for him to do. It wasn't like he could change into anything more festive, given the situation that his stomach had put him in. He didn't know what he was going to do when it was twice as big. In the end, he decided to ask Kayano if she wanted to meet up before everyone else. They hadn't actually spent much time together the whole break, and Kayano was one of his close friends.

He headed out around an hour early, meeting her just outside the station. Like a few other girls he'd seen on the way, Kayano was dressed traditionally. She smiled brightly and waved when she saw him, and a warm sensation rolled over Nagisa. There was nothing like spending time with your friends.

Before the rest of their class arrived, they had a good time catching up with each other. Kayano was one of those people who was always so genuine and light-hearted, it was admirable in a way. Nagisa was happy that she was assigned to sit beside him in class, over anybody else. For a moment, he considered taking advantage of the privacy to tell her about the baby.

Nagisa hadn't even managed to spit it out to Sugino, though, who was much closer to him and more laid back. He wasn't sure how Kayano would react to such news, be it support or horror. At least he'd managed to get it out to his father. That was a pretty good start, surely. Eventually, he and Kayano wandered to the site of the festival, where everything was in full swing.

They mostly stuck together as they checked out all the stalls and games, chatting lightly about the atmosphere. The night was warm, and the site so colourful - it was definitely the perfect way to end the summer break. As had been happening quite a lot recently, Nagisa got a deep and somewhat uncontrollable urge to eat. Kayano didn't seem to mind, though, happily going over with him to the stalls.

Korosensei was currently running at least ten of them, using his super speed cloning abilities to do so. At least he looked happy. "Ah, Nagisa kun, I'm happy you decided to visit my stall, I'll even give you a student discount!"

He was running most of the food stalls, but Nagisa wasn't going to argue with him. Kayano eyed him a little weirdly when he ordered five chicken sticks and a bag of candyfloss, but he was so hungry, and thinking completely with his stomach. The weird stares continued when Nagisa ripped open the candy floss, pulling a little off as the perfect garnish to his chicken.

"You're eating that, Nagisa kun?" She said with slight horror in her tone.

Nagisa stopped chewing. "Uhm-"

"I bet that actually tastes pretty good," Karma appeared behind them, carrying a large bag.

He eyed him. "Did that guy actually give you the games consul?" Earlier, they'd both walked past Karma had been arguing with the guy running the string lottery. Nagisa wasn't particularly surprised. Karma sure was persistent when he wanted to be.

"Plus my other prizes," he grinned. "Can I try some?"

Nagisa was so hungry, he didn't want to share his food, but he still found himself handing it over with a smile. It was pretty weird, but it was all he wanted to eat right then.

"I like it," he admitted after a few seconds, "if you get the ratio right." Karma's eyes darted between the two of them. "I'll see you around," he announced, and walked back off in the direction he'd came.

Kayano had gone quiet, as she usually did when Karma was present, but turned to smile at him. "Let's find somewhere to watch the fireworks."

"Yeah," Nagisa agreed, following her in the direction of a mound nearby, to give them a bit more of an elevated view. He frowned, his stomach producing the small vibrations usually responsible for hunger pangs. There was no way he could physically be hungry. He'd eaten so much chicken on the way to the hill he didn't even want to look at food.

When the fireworks actually started, it only got more intense, though if Nagisa really focused, it felt more like popcorn bursting. Not unlike… movement. Staring down at his own stomach intently, the little butterflies started up whenever a new firework exploded, creating a loud bang in the sky. Nagisa's doctor had said babies could hear stuff… He couldn't help but rub his stomach lightly. I like the fireworks too.

"Our summer break sure was packed," Kayano said beside him.

"But I bet our second term'll be even more packed," Nagisa replied. He was counting on it.