Time seemed to pass by as slow as it possibly could, wanting to drag out every second to make it feel like a minute. To make matters worse, Nagisa was freezing. Sitting alone in a stark white room wearing only a t-shirt and shorts while strapped to a cold metal chair wasn't doing him any favours.

After that man had come in and taken his blood, nobody else had come into the room for ages. Nagisa had been counting the minutes, but had soon given up after he reached an hour. It was the only thing that had been keeping him distracted so he didn't have a full blown panic attack and so he could avoid any intruding thoughts, but now he couldn't help himself.

His thoughts kept drifting back to his classmates, specifically Karma, Kurahashi and Karasuma. He still had no idea if they had also been taken or if they were safe. He thought of his mother. How would she react when she found out he wasn't home? Would she be angry? ..Probably.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, he once again tried slipping his wrists through the straps tying him down, but that only left angry red marks on his wrists. To make matters even more annoying, he could feel his body slowly trying to succumb him to the effects of sleep. He hasn't got much sleep the past two days, considering everything that has been going on, so now he was exhausted.

At the back of his mind he knew forcing himself to stay awake was a bad idea, but who knew what would happen if he allowed himself to sleep? He'd rather not find out. Instead he continued to sit there in silence, going back to counting the minutes to give him some form of an activity to keep him busy.

Another hour passed.

And another.

And another.

For the eight time he counted how many tiles were on the roof. Then the floor. He tried seeing how many words he could rhyme with the things he found in the room, before imagining a massive dragon breaking through the wall and setting him free. At the thought of something breaking through the wall and rescuing him, he instantly thought of Koro-sensei.

Now he was staring aimlessly at the wall in the hopes Koro-sensei would abruptly break through.

But it was completely still and silent.

He could feel his body slowly shutting down, his vision blurring as he continued to stare at the boring white wall.

His head bobbed as he struggled to keep his consciousness, sleep trying to take a hold of his tired body. Just one minute…

He snapped his head back up, blinking rapidly to keep his eyes open.

This continued for several minutes.

Slowly, his eyes slid shut for the final time, his body finally succumbing to the effects of sleep.

…

"Subject is…"

"...steady."

"...Vitals are steady."

"Waking up."

Nagisa's eyes owlishly blinked open as he awoke, the voices of several people forcing him out of his slumber. When had I fallen asleep?

"Finally, you've woken up."

Huh?

Rapidly blinking his eyes to clear his vision, he prepared himself for the bright onslaught of lights and the painfully white room as he awoke. First thing he took note of was the fact that he was no longer sitting in a chair, rather he was lying down. Glancing down at his body, he felt his blood run cold as he discovered why.

He was strapped to a table. Being tied down to a chair was bad enough, but being strapped down to a table was a different level of both discomfort and overall wrong. He pulled desperately on his arm in an attempt to dislodge himself from where he was strapped down, but soon found the restraints were a lot tighter than they were before. Not only that, but there was a large leather strap holding down his chest and one positioned over his knees.

"Apologies for the discomfort, I hope you're not too cold?"

Nagisa felt the blood drain from his face. He recognised that voice.

Warily, he turned his head, his eyes widening a fraction when they landed on none other than Shiro. He was leering over him, wearing his typical white outfit.

The man seemed to smile from under his white mask, fixating Nagisa with a stare he knew said 'you failed.'

Nagisa opened his mouth, "why am I-" Shiro cut him off. "I must say, your classmates are quite loyal, going through all that trouble just to protect one of their friend."

His eyes narrowed, "what did you do to them?" Shiro had the gall to look confused, "do to them? I haven't done anything."

"The others who were in the car with me- where are they?"

"Oh, the girl and the boy? They're probably off wallowing in their defeat in the middle of the forest."

"Middle of the forest?"

"No matter, they're none of my concern. You, however…" Shiro bent down, reaching his hand out to touch Nagisa's face. He flinched away from the man's touch, staring him down with a deadly glare. Shiro paused, a pleased smirk forming under his mask. "There we go, that bloodlust- it's beautiful."

Nagisa clenched his fists as far as he could, digging his nails into his palms to calm his racing heart. Just stay calm, just stay calm…

Shiro finally pulled away, his hand resting itself behind his back. "You may be wondering why you're here."

Nagisa continued to stare at him, waiting for an answer. "In truth, I needed somebody to get rid of that octopus, and now that Itona is compromised I needed a new subject."

Nagisa stiffened, his thoughts flashing to the theories him and his classmates had made about who Nagisa's kidnappers could have been. We were right. He wants to use me.

"You seem to have already figured it out." He commented, looking down at him with an impressed grin. He continued. "After observing your class for quite some time and seeing how you all fight, I couldn't help but be intrigued by you."

"What's so good about me?" Nagisa asked, his voice low.

Shiro turned away from him, walking out of his view as he continued to speak. "You're an interesting character, Shiota. You look like the runt of the group- one of the weakest, but in reality you are one of the strongest."

Nagisa tried twisting his head so he could see the man, but he had moved out of his field of vision. "It's that bloodlust of yours. I've never seen anything quite like it."

He returned to his eyesight. Nagisa's eyes trailed down to what he was holding in his hand.

His entire body stiffened, his breath hitching in his throat.

"I want to drag it out of you."

Shiro's body stood against the light, casting a dark shadow over Nagisa as he loomed over him.

"I want to make you my weapon."

A sharp knife glinted against the lights on the roof, Shiro's red eyes gleaming down at Nagisa with a look he couldn't decipher. If he had to call it anything, he'd say it was the look of a psychopath. Somebody who's teetered over the edge and was on their last straw, willing to do anything and everything to get what they wanted. It was the same look Takaoka had adopted when Nagisa had last faced off against him.

And he was at the mercy of that.

Despite the fear coursing through his veins, he swallowed down the bile rising in his throat and spoke out as confidently as he could. "I'm not going to help you."

And he laughed. Stepping away from Nagisa, his laugh echoed throughout the large room, as if he had just told him some hilarious joke. Nagisa, frankly, did not find any of this funny.

"Look at yourself." He motioned to his body that was completely immobile. "You're in my hands now, Shiota. It's best if you behave."

Nagisa heard a door click open from behind them. Shiro looked over at the door. "Sir, are we ready to begin?" A male voice asked.

Begin? Begin what?

Shiro thankfully put the knife away as he walked over to the new person in the room, leaving Nagisa. "Of course. I'll leave you to it." With that he left the room, slamming the door behind him.

A new person took his place, looking down at Nagisa. He stared at the man, trying to decipher what he was feeling, but he looked just as empty as everyone else. It almost felt like all the people he had met so far were brainwashed, or simply devoid of emotion.

A few minutes passed as the man walked around the lab, grabbing items he couldn't see. He slipped on a pair of gloves, wheeling a metal table over to Nagisa. "Hey, what are you going to do to me?" Nagisa finally decided to ask, watching him warily from where he lay.

He didn't reply as he finally stopped beside where he was laying, seemingly having got everything ready. His hands fiddled around on the wheely table beside him as he grabbed for something Nagisa couldn't see.

Then he held up a scalpel.

Pulling the small silver knife towards his arm, Nagisa finally allowed himself to panic, trying to pull his body away from the dangerous man. "Wait, stop, don't touch me-"

The scalpel dug itself into the skin on his upturned forearm, drawing out blood as he pulled the sharp object through his skin. Nagisa bit his tongue at the sharp sting, hissing between his teeth as the man dug the knife deeper.

Finally, after what felt like ages, he pulled the scalpel away from his skin. Nagisa dared a glance down at his arm, and he had to swallow the bile that had risen up his throat to avoid vomiting, so instead he looked away.

For a while this continued. The man would create slits in different parts of the skin on his arm, before jotting something down on his clipboard. He'd clean up the wound with stitches and bandages, before moving onto whatever part of his arm he'd cut next. Nagisa just wanted it to end. It felt like his entire body was burning, each time a new cut was opened felt even more painful than the last.

After what felt like an eternity he finally put the bloody scalpel away, placing it back on the tray with his other torture devices. His pencil scribbled furiously on the page attached to his clipboard, his eyes narrowed in focus. Nagisa was busy focusing on his breathing. He was trying to direct air through his nose, before letting it out through his mouth in an attempt to calm himself before he had a heart attack.

Luckily for him he was good at this sort of thing. Well, not getting cut up while strapped down to a table, but he was good at pulling himself away from his consciousness while his body was getting injured, and bringing himself back through careful breathing and positive thoughts. Only those times he pulled away so he could hide the feeling of humiliation when his mother dressed him up, or when she would pull on his hair and bash his head against the table. Arguably this situation was a lot worse, and a lot more painful.

But still, he figured the best he could do was focus on his breathing in the meantime. It was the least he could do. He refused to look down at his body that he knew would have looked...unpleasant. Atleast the man was kind enough to patch up each cut he made with stitches and a bandage, but then he had just moved onto another body part, repeating the process.

He considered the fact he had only done his arms and not any other body part a good thing. He could only hope he'd be able to keep his shirt and pants on. He cringed at the thought of them de-clothing him, a shiver running itself through his body.

After a few long moments of the person doing something off to the side, they reappeared, his eyes looking over Nagisa's body. His gaze landed on his face.

Violently flinching away, his back slammed into the tray of items behind him, causing a few things to clatter on the floor. Nagisa felt a hint of satisfaction at the expression the person wore.

The man stared at him as if he would somehow leap off the table and stab him from behind, his shaking hand gripping the table behind him to keep him steady. Growling out a curse, he glared at Nagisa as if he was some alien. Grabbing the clipboard he had been writing on, he walked backwards towards the door that led to the outside of his room, his eyes not leaving Nagisa.

Fiddling with the handle, he swung it open, slamming the door shut behind him as he left.

Nagisa let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, his body untensing when he was finally left alone. Why did he get so freaked out? All I did was glare at him. I'm not that threatening, considering I'm so defenseless.

He made a note to keep this interaction in mind, in case it might be useful for later.

It was quiet for a while. After the person had exited the room, Nagisa had been left alone, still lying uncomfortably on the cold, metal table. What was he waiting for? For someone else to come into the room to hurt him? He didn't know.

He decided to use the time he had alone to observe his body properly. He lifted his head as far as he could, trying to get a decent view of his body that was pinned to the table. Swallowing uncomfortably, he ran his eyes over his arms that were now covered in white bandages, hiding the injuries that had been formed underneath. He didn't understand why he had cut up his arms, only to stitch and bandage them.

His eyebrows creased as he thought. Was it an...experiment? Or flat out torture?

Cold air continued to wrap around his thin frame. What he would do to be lying in his bed, wrapped up in his warm blanket like a cocoon, soft music playing gently in the background, a warm cup of hot chocolate sitting on his bedside table, his head cushioned into his pillow...

He snapped his eyes back open, pushing the daydream to the back of his mind. Wishing for something wasn't going to help him, or make him feel any better. He had to blink rapidly to keep his eyes open.

Blood loss sure made him tired.

Will I be lying here for hours again? What will happen this time if I fall asleep?

He'd rather not find out.

Seems he didn't have to worry about falling asleep any longer because the door situated behind him creaked open, announcing the arrival of…

The man had returned. Huh. I thought I scared him off for good.

True to his nature, he stayed completely silent, grabbing a few things off the tray before making his way back over to Nagisa.

It happened so quickly that Nagisa didn't even get a chance to react. One moment they were facing away from him, fiddling around with something, the next they had stuck a long syringe into his flesh, pushing an unknown substance into his body.

The effect was instant. Nagisa felt his body go numb, his senses dulling as his body was forced to shut down.

His surroundings began to blur, the face of the man becoming warped as his eyes lost their vision. Dully, he thought he saw Shiro also leering down at him, but it felt like his brain was turning into mush. With a final blink of his eyes, they slid shut, his limbs loosening as he faded.

This isn't fair.

The room clicked with the sound of a keyboard being typed on, a small light shining down on a lone figure in a spacious room that was mostly empty, save for an obnoxiously large bed, a desk and other basic necessities people had in their rooms.

Asano scribbled something down on a small piece of paper, before dropping the pen as he continued to scroll through his laptop. Soon after his encounter with Karma and Terasaka, he had returned home, his mind reeling with the information he had gained.

He hadn't acknowledged his father as he had walked into his house through the front door, instead making a quick cup of coffee before escaping upstairs to his bedroom. Placing the cup down on his desk and opening his laptop with a notepad and pen by his side, he had gotten to work.

Karma and Terasaka hadn't specified who had been kidnapped, or why, or anything really, but he was going to find out. He could simply just ask them but he took pride in being able to find information by himself and solving issues without any assistance. Who was to say this wasn't a simple kidnapping case? Asano was sure he could find their friend in an instant.

A small smirk found it's way to his face as he visualised the dumbfounded looks on their faces when he returned his friend to them. They'll be in my debt.

He looked through the students presented on his laptop who resided in class 3E. His eyes scrolled over each of their faces, his eyes narrowed in focus. Which of them would those two muscle-heads care about if they got kidnapped?

He hummed in thought as he observed the members of Terasaka's gang, them being his first suspects. Yoshida, Hazama… Karma wouldn't give a shit about them.

He ruled them out.

Isogai… No, I don't think so. Any of the girls? Definitely not, they're all probably too scared of Karma and Terasaka to become close friends. Maehara, Sugaya, Sugino...

Then his eyes landed on a certain blue-haired student. From what he could recall, Karma and the blue haired student who he quickly discovered was named Nagisa had a friendship back in their first year of school. He didn't know the details, as he didn't particularly care, but he was certain they had a falling out and ended up not speaking for a long period of time.

But then they had been situated in the same class. Have they rekindled their friendship? Perhaps that was why Karma was so desperate to get him back, as he didn't want to lose him again. Terasaka, however, confused him. Why would a lump of meat like him care about Nagisa? All he was was a bully who picked on students like Nagisa.

Was they're more to Nagisa that Asano was unaware of? He was unsure. However, he wanted to ensure the kidnapped student was indeed Nagisa.

The clock ticked by as he observed everything he could. His beverage that he had prepared earlier was now gone, as he had downed it awhile ago. Letting out a sigh, he clicked open another set of files, only to find nothing of interest.

He sat back in his chair, glancing over at his window where the sun was beginning to rise. He had no clues to go off, no evidence and had no clue why Nagisa, who he presumed was the victim, was kidnapped. He had a lot of work to do if he wanted to solve this. Rationally, he could get class 3E to share their inquiries with him but figured he was smart enough to figure this out on his own.

Leaning forward to continue his research, he got back to work.

"Another all-nighter it is."