Nagisa found himself saying Karma's name a lot, in the coming days. It was more than ridiculous at that point, Nagisa wasn't even talking as a natural human. Still, every time he said it, leaving the honorific off, he felt a kind of giddiness.

"Karma, can you pass the salt?"

"No problem, Nagisa."

Of course, Karma was doing it too. That helped, at least a little bit. Perhaps they were just as strange as each other… If that was true, he feared for whatever Akuma's personality was going to be, if he was to buy into the whole nature vs nurture thing. For all that his pregnancy had given him as a preview, there was no doubt that his child was half Karma.

"Hey Nagisa, want to play another round on the DS after this?"

"Sure, Karma."

A few days after New Year, the country had churned back into its regular self. Since the few days of celebration had passed, Nagisa knew his time in this small bubble with Karma was coming to a swift end. Despite a few moments of weakness, where he allowed himself to just be happy, Nagisa was beginning to snap himself out of it. It was all too good to be true, really.

Nagisa couldn't be an ignorant little kid anymore. Through everything, he'd sacrificed that part of himself. Strangely, he wasn't that mournful about it. At least, right then, there was no time to cry over lost childhood. It also meant that he couldn't allow himself to get lost in fantasies. Spending a little over a week in Karma's company, as good as it felt, was unsustainable.

"Karma, do you want to come with us to visit Kayano later?"

"I'm alright, Nagisa."

Honestly, Nagisa didn't know what was best for himself. There was no way this was normal. It felt normal, at the time, but… It shouldn't be, right? His head was getting all confused. They were just friends, friends who made a pretty big mistake and were trying to make the best out of it or something. Whatever his head was doing to him, working against all logic, thinking of Karma as 'mate'… It needed to stop. And he wasn't going to stop, cuddling up next to him every night. At the thought of Karma's warm arms around him, Nagisa softened, and immediately lurched.

What was wrong with him?

"Are you sure you don't want to come?" Nagisa asked once again, right before the time he had to leave. He'd arranged to meet Sugino, Kanzaki, and Okuda outside the hospital, once Kayano had recovered enough for visitors. He knew that they weren't exactly close friends, but…

Karma shrugged. "It's cool. You go."

He sounded bothered by something, though Nagisa had no idea what. There was no use dwelling on it, Nagisa supposed. There was no use trying to convince Karma to do something he really didn't want to. Perhaps it would be some good air space from each other, anyway.

"Shoes?"

Nagisa nodded, leaning most of his weight on the railing of the staircase. If he had really wanted to, Nagisa could have suffered through the exertion of trying to put them on for himself… But he didn't mind the help. He lifted one foot, allowing Karma (who was basically squatting) to slip the shoe on and tie the laces up. They repeated the process, almost therapeutically. After that was done, Karma wordlessly grabbed one of his coats, not going as far as to fully put it on Nagisa, but draping it over his shoulders.

After he let go of the stairs and put his arms properly into the garment, Nagisa felt the beginnings of that all too familiar twinge. Automatically, he reached out for the closest thing to cling on to, which happened to be Karma's arm. Nagisa thought he'd become better at handling these, ever since they'd started happening. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to focus on his breathing.

"Contraction," he managed to bite out in explanation.

Thankfully, Karma chose not to say much, but allowed Nagisa to cling onto him, supporting his back with his hand. Until it was over, Nagisa stood like that, using Karma's body as his only tether from the pain. It was a pretty bad one, but not as intense as that first one in class.

Finally, he breathed, coming down from it. "H-how long was that?"

"Minute and a half," Karma answered. "Are you okay?"

Nagisa shuddered slightly, but pulled back. "Mm. I'm fine now."

"I can come," he said.

"I can get there fine," Nagisa said. He didn't want Karma to come just for Nagisa's sake. "We still have two weeks before we really have to watch out."

Saying it aloud, their eyes locked and widened. Saying it like that, two weeks, it made Nagisa feel weird. He wasn't due for another five, but Doctor Shirogane had made it very clear that Akuma might not actually wait that long. It still seemed so far in the distance that Nagisa hadn't really allowed himself to think about what would happen next, but in reality it wasn't that much time at all. His appointments were about to bump up to weekly visits, even.

"See you, Karma," he said softly, letting himself out.

"Later."

To be honest, Nagisa was enjoying his ability to walk whilst it lasted. From everything he'd seen, it would get pretty tough from here on out. Not that he wasn't completely exhausted by the time he made it to the train station, though. Luckily, pregnancy did have one benefit. Automatically getting the good seat on the train… he was going to miss that. The first few times he'd hated it, feeling as if he was inconveniencing everyone, but now he was so uncomfortable with standing on his own two feet for so long he'd stopped caring so much.

He made it to the hospital only a little late, but his friends were already standing outside talking.

"Hey Nagisa!" Sugino said, as he approached. "How was New Years?"

Nagisa wasn't entirely sure how to describe how he'd spent the winter break. "I didn't do that much," he said, "but it was pretty fun."

"Man," he said, "I ate so much."

They continued to converse casually, as they made their way inside the hospital. After briefly talking to the receptionist, they were quickly let into the room that Kayano was recovering in. Even at a glance, Nagisa could tell she looked a lot better. She was sitting up comfortably, and smiled when they walked in.

"How are you doing, Kaya-" Nagisa stopped himself. That was right, she wasn't actually the Kayano he'd known. "Yukimura san."

She kept her fond smile. "You can call me 'Kayano'. 'Kayano Kaede' isn't bad at all."

Sugino sighed, sitting down on one of the designated visitor chairs. "So much for your winter break, huh? Not to mention the holidays."

"I'll make it back just in time for the new term," she said, sounding not at all bothered by her situation. This really was the real her, huh? "How was your time off?"

"None of us could even bring up the subject of assassination," Sugino said.

It was true. They'd made a LINE chat when they were planning their assassination on the southern island, to iron out some details without having to physically be together. Since then, it had retained its use for assassination planning, amongst other things. The only message Nagisa had noticed all break was somebody asking about the homework.

"I'm sorry," Kayano looked down. "It's all my fault. Now that I know the truth, I've gotten some closure, but… Now the rest of you all know about Korosensei's past."

"No Kayano," Nagisa felt the need to say, "we had to find out sometime."

"We all tried so hard not to face facts…" Okuda sighed, "so we could enjoy our fun assassinations for even just a little longer."

"Everyone's probably spent the break thinking how we can face our assassination classroom from now on," Nagisa said honestly. At the way Kayano hung onto his words, Nagisa remembered something very important. "Oh! And… I need to apologise to you Kayano. About that night. I'm sorry!" For emphasis, he bowed as best as he could. "That's the only thing I could come up with in the heat of the moment. Are you mad?"

When she was silent for a moment, Nagisa expected the worst."Heck no! You saved me. All I can do is thank you!"

"Thank goodness!" Nagisa breathed a sigh of relief. "If you'd said we were through…" He didn't know what he'd do, actually. The guilt of driving one of his best friends away from him with a kiss, even if it was only to save her life, would have been horrible.

"You worry too much." She dove under the covers. "We'll be friends forever."

Kanzaki stood up. "We should get going. Kayano san must be tuckered out."

"You're right," Nagisa said. He didn't want to wear Kayano out more, now she was definitely recovering. "Bye, Kayano!"

"See you in a couple of days!" Okuda added.

"Later!" Sugino called, as they left the room.

Once they were outside, Kanzaki leant against the doorframe, letting out a laugh sound that could also easily be a cough.

"What's up, Kanzaki san?" Nagisa felt compelled to ask.

"She'd been watching the class from somewhat of a distance, but now I feel like she's finally joined us in the same place."

She had a point, Nagisa realised. The others asked if he wanted to come with them to get some food with them, but he declined, therefore having the entire way back to think about things. He was really glad that Kayano was still himself. He hadn't had much of a chance to really dig deep into what had happened. Now that he could plainly see that the Kayano he'd made friends with was still there, he didn't mind that she'd hidden her real identity. At the end of the day, she was an assassin, just like everyone else.

Was that why Karma refused to come see her? Nagisa got the feeling he had a hard time trusting people, so that would make sense… Thinking about Karma, something deep inside him lurched. Walking alone back to the train, Nagisa realised he missed him. It can't have been more than an hour or two, but Nagisa felt all wrong without Karma at his side.

That couldn't be healthy, on any kind of level. He'd diagnosed it for himself, finally. His head was just all confused, that was all. Internally, being so close, his stupid instincts had decided to latch on. Staying in his presence would only make it worse, so Nagisa needed to leave as soon as possible, re-build the distance between them enough so that he could think of anything other than being held by Karma.

"How's Kayano chan?" Karma asked from the kitchen, when Nagisa got back.

Nagisa bit his lip. "A lot better. She's going to come back to school with us."

Nodding, he ate a spoonful of ice cream. "Well, looks like the final term's going to be interesting."

He really had gone overboard with the ice cream. Nagisa was never going to be able to eat the stuff again, after this. They'd managed to go through about seven of the large tubs in a few days, and that had taken effort. At least Karma could see the back of part of his freezer again, at least. There was that blurry, funny feeling again that threatened to swallow Nagisa whole.

"I'm okay to go back today," Nagisa said, whilst he still had his nerve.

Karma blinked. "Why?"

He swallowed. "I-I totally sprung myself on you. I'm really sorry about that," he lowered his head, "and thank you for letting me stay here this break. B-but, it's not right for me to take advantage of that permanently."

"This is just as much my fault," Karma pointed out calmly. "You don't have to leave."

Like static in the air, he could sense something coming from Karma. He wasn't entirely sure what it was, it wasn't the same clear way he could tell how his mother was feeling – that came from years of practise. Trust him to make this hard for Nagisa.

"I know I don't have to," Nagisa tried to match his tone, to keep himself from bursting into tears or something equally ridiculous. "But I still feel like I'm imposing."

"Nagisa-"

He couldn't. "This is my choice."

If Nagisa was ever going to look back on this conversation, he knew it would be with regret. He just didn't have the guts, right then, to tell Karma the truth. Perhaps Karma would have understood, if he'd really let him know that he was feeling this crazy attachment, and the only way to sever it back to a manageable level was by putting their regular distance back between them. It was for the best, anyway. Karma didn't need someone like him tying him down, no more than Nagisa already was with all of this. He'd have agreed with Nagisa, if he'd told him, Nagisa was sure.

"Fine," Karma lounged back neutrally, "whatever. Can you get your things okay?"

Why did Nagisa feel so… disappointed? He almost wanted to take it all back, to declare that he'd changed his mind, but then he remembered he had to be firm. There was no way he could act like a child anymore. Forcing himself to grow up… that surely meant doing the things he didn't want to do at all, because they were for the best.

Karma was so hard to read. Probably the hardest person Nagisa had come across in his short life, since he discovered his talent for it. Everything up there, in his head, came across with whirling complexity. When Nagisa could truly interpret what Karma's intentions were for certain, it was because Karma wanted him to know. As Nagisa picked up all his things, Karma was very quiet, even when he said goodbye.

Forcing himself to take a deep breath, Nagisa made his way out into the cold. He couldn't let himself turn around. When he reached the Asano residence, definitely absent of Asano Senior, given the lack of car (the easiest tell-tale sign of his presence), it felt almost eerie. It was as if Nagisa had somehow moved on, begun a new chapter of his existence, and was trying to force himself back a few pages.

Still, he walked up to the back door as he usually did, opened it like always, and made his way upstairs like he had so many times before. Nothing had changed, in the week and a half since he was last there.

Likely having heard the door, Asano chose the right moment to come out of his bedroom. "You're back."

"Mmm," Nagisa forced himself into pleasantness. "Did you have a good break?"

He leant against the door frame. "More like weird. Your class didn't do anything to my father, right?"

Technically, they had, when he tried and failed to knock down their class and faced off against Korosensei. Nagisa hadn't immediately noticed that large of a change in his personality, right off the bat. Then again, Nagisa didn't know enough to get a full measure of it, unlike his son would have.

"Nothing out of the ordinary," Nagisa replied. Technically, it was the truth.

"He got me a birthday card," he wrinkled his nose.

Wait. "It was your birthday?"

Asano rolled his eyes. "Yeah, the first."

That was the final straw, apparently. Tears formed at the corners of Nagisa's eyes, spilling out at steady rates. He didn't know why that had done him in, but there was definitely guilt. After all, Asano had really saved his ass, even if it was for less than honourable purposes. Deep down, he was lightly aware that this was probably also his hormones playing up, at least.

"I'm s-sorry I didn't know," Nagisa managed to get out. "Y-you were so nice to me on my birthday, a-and you took me out, and I didn't even know about yours."

Blinking slowly, Asano looked over Nagisa much like he looked at homework. "I'm not that bothered by birthdays. So what, you lived another year? It's not that much of an achievement."

"But," he felt so awful. Nagisa forced himself to take a breath. "I'll make it up to you! Like an IOU."

"I don't need-" Asano stopped. "An IOU? Something I can cash in, whenever I want? That's an interesting proposition, Nagisa kun."

Nagisa was beginning to hate the ideas produced by his stupid brain. "W-within reason. I'm really sorry," he repeated, again. "Uhm, happy late birthday."

"Sure," he said, "I forgive you."

That made him feel a little better, at least. He excused himself, returning to the same blank canvas of a room that had somehow felt like his own in the last few months. It didn't smell at all like Karma. There was no warmth, no ultimate comfort that had left him the most at ease he had been in his memory. This was for the best. Nagisa went over to the bed, forcing himself to lie and try to relax on it.

Giving up on that plan, he opened the draw from the bedside table, pulling out the notebook, and the knife he'd hidden underneath it. He flicked through it, the list of Korosensei's weaknesses all written out before his eyes. It was time to focus.

Taking a pen, he did some quick maths, and wrote it out.

Days until assassination: sixty four.

Days until birth: forty three – approx.

The final term was about to begin.