So it has been WAY too long since I updated this. I almost doubt that anyone will read it, especially since a lot of my more dedicated reviewers were guests, but anyway.. Thank you to everyone who reviewed, it really encouraged me to bring out this next chapter!

Nagisa didn't even remember getting home. He knew he must of walked to the station, made it past the barriers and sat on the train, but he had no recollection of his journey. The only thing he could think about was the pain in his body, and the taste of blood in his mouth that seemed to linger no matter how much water he drank.

As soon as he walked in, Nagisa quickly locked the door, then ran into his bedroom and dived under his quilt, feeling a rush of relief. He'd made it home without anyone following him home, without Seo or Tanaka returning for retribution. For a little while, he was safe.

In reality, Nagisa knew he still had a lot to worry about; He could get in trouble with the school for fighting.. he'd hurt Seo pretty badly, what if he was expelled? Or what if Seo came back for revenge with more goons? Karma won't be there to protect him all the time. Karma... should he tell Karma what happened? But Karma would probably attack Seo and then get expelled again.. he didn't want that. But he didn't want to lie, either... God. He really was useless, he couldn't manage one journey by himself without being attacked. If Karma was there it wouldn't of happened... karma was right.. he couldn't look after himself..

Nagisa was too exhausted to properly process all the worries swirling about his head, so he tuned them out. He felt completely drained from all the stress and fighting. So Nagisa simply sent a text to Karma saying he made it home, then fell asleep a few seconds later, still wearing his uniform.

"Nagisa."

"Nagisa!"

Nagisa was awoken from a dreamless sleep by the feeling of skinny fingers digging into his shoulders and shaking him awake. He opened his bleary eyes to see his mother stood over him, and he quickly sat up.

"Oh for goodness sake Nagisa! You're still wearing your uniform?" She tutted. Nagisa could tell by her expression she was angry, he instantly felt a thrill of dread. He tried desperately to gage what was going on.

"Mum, is everything okay?" Nagisa questioned, pulling himself quickly out of bed. Hiromi just shook her head in exasperation.

"Just put on a clean shirt and come into the dining room. And for gods sake, comb your hair. Be quick about it." Hiromi hissed, in a low and dangerous voice, before turning to leave the room.

Put on a clean shirt? They must have guests. Sure enough, Nagisa could hear the muffled murmurings of conversation in the other room. Who could that be? With great haste, Nagisa quickly changed into clean clothes and dragged a comb through his hair, before making his way into the dining room, trying his best not to look as though he'd been asleep moments earlier.

Nagisa felt his heart drop when he saw who was there. Tanaka and his mother were both sat at the table, drinking the tea from Hiromi's best cups. It was clear from a glance that the two of them were mother and son; they both had the same stocky build, bulbous noses and tiny eyes that seemed slightly too spherical. As soon as he saw him walk in, Tanaka gave Nagisa a quick sneer, before his expression returned to neutral.

"Nagisa- " Hiromi said, her voice sharp. "Tanaka here says you've been fighting at school."

"No- That's not it- " Nagisa said quickly, trying to defend himself.

"Oh? So you didn't bite that boy from your school, Seo Tomoya, so hard he started bleeding?" Tanaka's mother said in an accusatory tone. Nagisa felt as if he'd walked into a Lion's den. They'd all clearly been talking about him before he'd entered, and they'd all decided upon his guilt.

"He attacked me first." Nagisa said weakly. "I wouldn't just- "

"I didn't tell on you to get you into trouble, Nagisa, I'm worried about you." Tanaka said, in a sickly-sweet simpering tone. "You never used to get into fights- I think it's hanging around with that Delinquent Akabane. He's a bad influence."

"Tanaka you attacked me first along with- " Nagisa started to say, but was cut off by his mother's shrill shriek.

"Akabane! I thought I told you not to associate with that riffraff!"

"Oh, Ms Shiota, Nagisa sticks to Akabane like glue every day in school." Tanaka said, a devious smirk on his face as he realised he was getting Nagisa into even more trouble. Nagisa wanted to dive across the table and beat him with his mother's best teacup.

"Nagisa, how could you? You've disobeyed me. I knew Akabane was dangerous and now look- he's got you fighting like a wild animal!" Hiromi cried, aghast.

"That's not Karma's fault- Seo, Tanaka and Tadaka attacked me- " Nagisa said, desperately. This was unfair. It was so unfair.

"I don't care about your excuses, Nagisa, fighting is unlady like, and I won't have you doing it." His mother shouted. Nagisa felt his cheeks burn with a mixture of humiliation and rage as she talked about him being 'lady like' in front of other people.

"Yes Nagisa, you have to remember to be lady-like." Tanaka said, with a hardly repressed snicker. Nagisa glared, feeling helpless against everyone in the room.

"Well. I just thought we'd make you aware, Ms Shiota." Tanaka's mother said, getting up from her seat with a prim expression. "Thank you for the tea. We'll see ourselves out."

And with that, the mother and son duo left, not before Tanaka sent Nagisa a smug and knowing grin.

As soon as they were out the apartment, Hiromi dropped all restraint. She grabbed a fistful of Nagisa's hair, forcing his head down towards the floor, and started screaming.

"Why do you always chose to disappoint me!?"

It carried on until she was exhausted; Hiromi screamed, cried, pushed him, pulled his hair, grabbed a knife and threatened to slit her throat (since you don't care either way!). She made him promise not to speak to Karma again (something he said just to sate her)

It went on for hours, then finally Hiromi swallowed one of her sleeping pills and stormed off to bed.

Nagisa was left there, trying to catch his breath. His body ached and his ears stung. He felt as if he'd just been hit by a hurricane. Now what? How was he supposed to be with Karma if Tanaka was keeping tabs on him even at school? There was no escape. Shakily, Nagisa pulled out his phone and typed a message to Karma.

'We should run away together'

His finger hovered over the 'send' button, before instead, deleting the message and going back to his room. He'd work something out in the morning. He had to. He couldn't live without Karma.

Karma walked out the corner shop with two bags full of the best comfort food known to man; there was pocky, of course, hot chocolate mix and some particularly tasty instant ramen. Nagisa had seemed a little on edge this week, so he wanted to cheer him up when he saw him later this weekend. He knew Nagisa's problems weren't something you could eat away, but having nice food can at least make a bad situation feel a little better.

His 'progress meeting' had been a complete waste of time, he just had to spew out some bullshit about how he had 'reflected on his bad behaviour' and was 'staying on the right path' to a disinterested councillor. Karma would of much rather gone home with Nagisa like he had done for the past two weeks.

The past two weeks had been pretty good, actually, the other students clearly hated him but were too afraid to hassle him, so he got to spent all his time with Nagisa, which was just how he liked it. Nagisa had seemed a little fragile and more clingy than usual, but Karma wasn't complaining; he enjoyed Nagisa relying on him.

Karma was walking back to his house (a mere 2 minutes away) when he felt someone bump into him so hard he was sure it had to be on purpose. Damn he almost dropped his bags.

"Have you ever heard of looking were your going?" Karma growled, turning to look at the offender, some guy in a hoodie. His eyes widened when he saw the face- he'd recognise those damn Violet eyes anywhere. Fate hated him. "Asano. Of course."

Gakushuu looked back at him, his face was flushed red and his eyes were hazy, there was something about his stance that seemed unsteady. Was he sick? Had he caught whatever bug Nagisa had last week?

"Akabane. What a strange coincidence I'd see you now of all times." Gakushuu said, glaring at Karma. Karma expected him to carry on walking, but instead Gakushuu lurched forwards suddenly until he was inches from Karma's face. His eyes, although unfocused, were intent and brimming with emotion.

"You're a nasty piece of work, you know that?" Asano hissed, and Karma swore he could smell alcohol on his breath. "You're rude and and arrogant- you're constantly getting into trouble.."

"You're one to talk- " Karma hissed glaring at Asano. He seemed completely disheveled, Karma wondered why it only ever seemed to be him who saw the rough side of Asano that hid beneath that 'perfect' visage.

"But you know, maybe you aren't so bad." Asano said, cutting Karma off before he could finish his sentence. "You aren't a complete idiot and you do care about Nagisa, don't you?"

"More than you ever could." Karma said, narrowing his eyes. This whole interaction had taken a strange turn, it was hard to keep up.

"Probably." Asano said, an unreadable expression flitting across his face, before he returned to glaring at Karma with those unfocused eyes. "You need to look after Nagisa, okay? Don't mess him around, don't let anyone hurt him. Protect him."

Karma was about to retort, and tell Asano was a hypocrite he was being, saying at that. All Karma had ever done was protect Nagisa! He didn't need the likes of Asano telling him that. But as soon as he finished speaking, Asano just walked past Karma, continuing on down the street. Karma glared after him. What was wrong with him? Asano was a mess. He was an overachiever, a perfectionist, control freak, yet completely out of control, wandering the streets drunk.

Karma was hit an uneasy feeling that, if he didn't go after Asano now, he would never see him again.

The end! Next part will show us how Asano got to the point that he is at the end of this chapter. Thanks for all the support so far, lease review for more!

Miss Ena; Thanks for the review! I was going for the 'false sense of security' vibe in the last chapter, so I'm glad that came across. And I wanted to showcase Nagisa's ability to defend himself (even if he doesn't recognize it), so I'm glad you enjoyed that too.

Falaffle: Wow thank you for such kind words! I'm honoured you hold this fic in such high regard :o I agree that I can rush chapters sometimes (this one is no exception, unfortunetly), hopefully future ones will be longer.

Rivaelle: Yeah, Nagisa's definitely not a weakling by any measure, not even in this story. The end of this chapter shows how Gakushuu's facade has completely broken down, the next Chapter will go back and show how. But yeah, you're right about Gakushuu being able to manage his reputation on autopilot pretty much, even though he's been mentally shattered. I think the Chairman's redemption arc in cannon is mostly good, but he does get off a little easy in some ways. The Chairman in this story is pretty much so evil he's almost a completely different character (probably the most ooc) and I definitely wont be redeeming him.

Guest: Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you were able to relate to the story on some level, hope everything is alright