Nagisa awoke to tapping on his window. He was somehow inanely aware the noise had been carrying on for a while.

He sat up in bed, feeling suddenly frightened; he had no idea who was tapping on his window in the middle of the night... A ghost? A serial killer? A home invader?

Steeling his nerves, he slowly crawled out of bed, almost shaking, he made his way across the floor and over to the window. Hesitantly, he pulled back a tiny triangle of the curtain and peeked out.

Stood on the balcony, was a man covered in blood.

Nagisa let out a silent cry and fell backwards, almost pulling the curtain rail down with him. The figure noticed him and pressed his face against the window.

"Nagisa- Nagisa it's me- !"

Nagisa felt a rush of relief as he recognised the voice. It wasn't some crazy axe-murderer, it was Karma. His heart still hammering in his chest from the previous scare, Nagisa stood up and pulled the balcony door open, and before he had a chance to say anything, Karma rushed into the room like his life depended on it.

"Karma- what are you doing here- are you hurt? Do we need to go to the hospital? There's so much blood." Nagisa gasped out all at once. Karma just shook his head.

"It's not mine. Don't worry." He said in an uncharacteristically small voice.

"Not yours... what do you mean?" Nagisa asked, he flipped on the lamp switch as he spoke. He was shocked at what he saw; Karma was covered in red, his clothes, his skin. He was white as a sheet and he eyes were wide and terrified and he looked close to tears.

"Nagisa.. I'm sorry for coming here.. I know it's dangerous with your mother and all.. but I just- " Karma started to say, his voice shaky. Nagisa cut him off with a hug.

"It's okay." He whispered. He'd never seen Karma like this before.. so terrified. He wished he could offer him a warm drink but he didn't dare go into the kitchen incase it woke up his mother.

He could feel Karma breathing heavily into his shoulder, like he was trying to stop himself from crying.

"Nagisa.. " Karma breathed out, holding onto him tightly, like Nagisa was the only thing stopping him from drowning.

"Take your clothes off, they're covered in blood.. then come to bed with me." Nagisa whispered to him after a few moments. He felt if he didn't say anything, Karma would remain frozen in the same position forever.

Karma complied, and a few moments later, he and Nagisa were lying in bed together. Karma was in his underwear.. it wasn't exactly like Nagisa had any clothes that would comfortably fit him..

"Karma... what happened?" Nagisa finally asked. His mind had been coming up with all sorts of theories and he was trying to ignore it.

"Nagisa.. I- I don't know where to start." Karma said. There was a long, pregnant silence before Nagisa spoke.

"Did you hurt someone?" He asked. His voice so quiet it was hardly audible.

"No." Karma replied, before adding. "Not really."

"What do you mean?"

"I- I tried to hurt someone who deserved it. But... now I just feel over my head. I don't know what the right thing to do is anymore- "Karma said, sounding utterly lost.

"But what exactly happened?" Nagisa replied, feeling desperate.

"I- ... Well- I thought I was..- I found out-..." Karma struggled to explained, starting his sentence then abruptly cutting himself off at least five times, his voice becoming more fragile with each attempt, before he finally said.

"I'm sorry Nagisa. I can't explain right now... I understand if you want me to leave."

"No!" Nagisa said- the thought of throwing Karma out in his current state was unthinkable, "Its okay. You can tell me tomorrow.. when you've calmed down."

"Thanks." Karma said, and wrapped his arms around Nagisa, pulling him close.

"I'm sorry, Nagisa." He said again. Nagisa had a feeling this apology was about more than not being able to give an explanation.

Nagisa felt his breath catch in his throat. He was stuck with the feeling Karma had done something awful...

The incident at the Asano house just kept replaying over and over again in his mind; The sound of the knife squelching into flesh, the feeling of blood seeping onto him, the desperate gasps of the principle, the blank look in Gakushuu's eyes...

Karma couldn't even think straight after all of that.. he just ran straight to Nagisa's house, not able to bare the thought of being alone. He didn't think he would be able to sleep at all, but he must of done, because the next thing he knew, he was being shaken awake by Nagisa. He opened bleary eyes to see the other boy knelt over him, as soon as Karma opened his mouth, Nagisa shoved a hand over it, silencing him.

"I need you to hide under the bed. Now." He hissed, and without thinking about it, Karma complied, getting onto the floor and rolling under the bed. It seemed he was just in time, because at that moment, Nagisa's mother walked in.

"Honestly, Nagisa, still lallygagging in bed at this hour. How could I raise such a lazy child?" She tutted from the doorway. Nagisa of course apologised, and Karma felt his blood boil. How dare she speak to Nagisa that way! However, he knew better than to say anything. There was the sound of footsteps as both her and Nagisa left to go to the kitchen. Karma let out a sigh of relief he didn't realise he was holding.

It was a while before Nagisa came back. Karma didn't want to risk leaving the after of under the bed, so he amused himself by reading whatever old books he found... anything to distract himself from thinking about last night... how could he have thought he'd be able to kill Gakuhou Asano when he was this much of a mess just from watching it happen? He wondered what Gakushuu was doing now... had he tried to hide the evidence? Had he turned himself in? Was he still stood there, staring into space? And what would Karma do now? He could be accessory to murder..

Eventually, Karma heard the sound of Nagisa's light footsteps returning to the bedroom. The blue haired boy crouched down, looking at Karma under the bed.

"You can come out. She's gone for now." Nagisa said, looking apologetic. "Sorry you had to hide here for so long.."

"It's okay, I know how it is." Karma said, rolling out from under the bed, relieved he was finally able to be free from being alone with his thoughts.

"Here." Nagisa said, handing him a bundle of clothes in his arms. "They were my Dad's.. but I doubt he's coming back here anytime soon. They should fit you, at least."

"Thanks." Karma said, looking at the clothes. They were definitely the clothes of a middle-aged salaryman- not his usual pick- but at least they weren't covered in blood.

A few moments later, the two of them where sat in the living room, Karma had a plate of toast in front of them; he should be starving, given how long it had been since his last meal, but his stomach was churning uncomfortably and he couldn't bring himself to eat. Nagisa was sat next to him, the TV in front of them was on, the noise creating a buffer for the silence between them.

There was really nothing to say until Karma told him what had happened last night, but he didn't even know where to start. He was starting to realise coming here was a mistake.. how could he explain that he tried killing the Chairman without explaining to Nagisa the reason why? Nagisa hadn't asked him again yet, but Karma suspected he was allowing him to do it in his own time... He glanced at the TV, seeing the local news station was on, the anchors seemed to look at him with mocking smiles.

"So. How long is your mum out for?" Karma asked.

"She's gone shopping. So a while, hopefully." Nagisa said in response. His eyes were full of concern. "Are you not hungry?"

"Something like that." Karma responded. He needed to explain somehow, but he couldn't find the words. He turned his attention back to the TV.

"We have received a report of a stabbing incident inside a house in the local area in the early hours of the morning. Emergency officials have confirmed that two males -one adult, one minor- are in a critical condition, following neighbours raising concerns to the police. We now go live to the scene of the crime."

Karma almost dropped his plate. He felt the colour drain from his face as he watched with rapt attention.

The next clip, was yet another polished presenter, this time stood outside a house Karma had burned into his memory. He felt as if his heart was about to explode.

"The identity of the two victims has not yet been confirmed, but police are treating the incident as suspicious and believe the suspect is still at large- " The woman said. "We've been speaking to local residents here and they're shocked by these events- this neighbourhood has an incredibly low crime rate, and events like these are unheard of."

Karma felt like he was going to throw up.

"Police have released footage of who they believe is a prime suspect in this case, and ask anyone with further information to come forward."

The next thing Karma saw, was a grainy CCTV image, and a figure emerging from the shadows, making his way to the Asano family house, hood over his head. It was poor quality, but people who knew him may be able to tell who it was.

"Karma." Nagisa said, in a small voice, and in that moment, Karma was too scared to even turn to look at him, and see the expression on his face.

"Karma. What did you do?

Cliffhanger #19 lol

Because I'm rushing through the plot-points of this story because I really want to finish it, I've realised how crazy the pacing is, at the end of each chapter is some kind of huge cliffhanger/plotpoint; last chapter was the stabbing, chapter before; Gakushuu walking in on Karma attacking his Dad, Chapter before; Karma read Gakushuu's confession, Chapter before; Gakushuu's suicide attempt ect

ANYWAY

Thank you for the reviews! It makes me so happy to read them and I'm so happy people are still supporting the story even though it's been a ear or so and updates are slow.

Please review to tell me what you think, or if you have any ideas/theories about how this might go

Thanks!