Thanks for all the reviews! I hope you enjoy this chapter :)


"Karma- I- I cant keep going." Nagisa panted, slowing down. His breathing was ragged and his face was pink. He slumped down onto the floor and Karma did the same. There wasn't any bridges to cross that river for almost half a mile. If the police wanted to find them, they'd have to bring out the dogs.

"Where we really just in a shoot out? I think we might be the next Bonney and Clyde, what was that guy thinking?" Karma said. The adrenaline was starting to evaporate, leaving him with a giddy relived feeling.

"I think you have to shoot back for it to be a shootout." Nagisa replied, and they both started laughing deliriously. It wasn't even that funny, but this whole situation was absurd. Karma stopped to catch his breath, realising suddenly that his shoulder hurt, he turned his head to look at it, Nagisa followed his gaze and suddenly, his jubilant expressing turned into one of horror.

"Karma.. Karma I think you've been shot." He murmured. Karma bent his neck trying to look; it was the back of his arm, just below his shoulder. He could indeed see a rip in his jacket and a small amount of blood.

"Oh yeah." He said, dazed. It didn't hurt that much, and he could still move his arm, so that must be a good sign, right?

"Let me have a look." Nagisa said, sounding worried. With careful hands, he pulled the sleeve of Karma's coat down and inspected the wound. It was a tiny puncture wound, and just under the skin, Nagisa could see the dull metal of a bullet.

"Fuck, I can't believe he actually shot me. I wasn't even a threat to him. That bastard should loose his badge for that." Karma.

"Shouldn't we find a hospital? Or a doctor at least?" Nagisa frowned, Karma shook his head vigorously.

"No. We're running away, if we go to the hospital, we'll be caught." Karma insisted.

"But it's not like we can go to the airport anymore either!" Nagisa snapped back, before sighing. "What are we going to do?"

"We don't need the airport to run away. We'll- we'll go down to the docks. We'll sneak across the border to Russia or South Korea or somewhere." Karma said feverishly. "We can't give up now."

"O- okay." Nagisa relented, still looking unsure. "But you still have a bullet in your arm."

"It's only a flesh-wound. You brought a first-aid kit, didn't you?" Karma said, glancing down at the injury on his arm, as the adrenaline faded, the pain was getting worse and worse.

If you asked him that morning what his plans for this evening are, Nagisa probably wouldn't of told you he'd be hiding in a freezing cold forest, removing a bullet from his boyfriends arm with a pair of tweezers after with a wiki-how article as his only guidance, but here he was.

"It doesn't hurt too bad, does it?"

"I'm fine." Karma said through gritted teeth, sweating despite the cold. The bullet hadn't gone too deeply, and Nagisa had pulled it out relatively easily. The best thing they had to sterilise the wound was a small bottle of hand sanitizer, Nagisa squeezed a blob onto some gauze and wiped.

Karma let out a cry of pain. Okay. That stung like a bitch.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine- it's just took me by surprise." Karma said hurriedly. The application of hand sanitizer to the wound hurt more than being shot.

"I'm nearly done now." Nagisa said in a soothing voice as he wrapped the bandage around his arm. Karma was so glad that Nagisa had decided to bring the first aid kit.

"Thanks, Nagisa." Karma said. He glanced down at his phone, he didn't get any signal out here, but he still had notifications for all his unread messages. "They can track us through our phones. We'll need to get rid of them."

"Oh. Yeah." Nagisa said, pulling his phone out. Karma glanced at the screen; forty two missed calls from 'mum'.

"This is us saying goodbye to our old lives. We've got better things coming ahead." Karma said, sounding surprisingly convincing for someone with a gunshot wound in a freezing cold forest. He held up his phone with his uninjured arm and chucked it as hard as he could. The slim silver device disappeared into the darkness of the forest.

Nagisa glanced down wistfully at his phone. His Lock Screen was a picture of him and his mum (to make her happy) but behind that, his home-screen was one of him and Karma. It was the only picture they had of the two of them that wasn't a selfie; when they were in the park a few weeks ago, some college girls asked Nagisa to take a group picture of them, and then they returned the favour.

It was Nagisa's favourite picture.

"To better things- " Nagisa echoed, holding his phone up like Karma had done, then hurling it in the opposite direction, watching it fade into the night. It felt like the end of something.

"There's an old inn about an hours walk from here. It's pretty cut off from everything." Karma said. "I think its our best bet."

"Right. Let's go then. I'm freezing." Nagisa said, and the two took off walking hand in hand. Nagisa glanced back, he knew no matter what happened from here on out, the life he knew before was over.


His father looked like a corpse laid on the bed. His skin was deathly pale with dark circles under his eyes. Numerous tubes and wires fed into his body, forcing it to stay alive. He had a nasal cannula supplying him with oxygen, but was breathing otherwise unaided, although each respiration sounded ragged and difficult.

Gakushuu hadn't wanted to see this. The hairs on the back of his arms stood up and he suddenly felt nauseous. He wanted to run away, but agent Karasuma kept tight hold of the handles of the wheelchair he was sat in.

"I told you this was still too early." Dr Otori hissed. Apparently Gakushuu wasn't hiding how he felt. "The boy has just been through a traumatic event."

"Gakushuu agreed to come here. To see if it jogs any more memories to help with the investigation." Karasuma replied to the doctor calmly. He dipped down to Gakushuu's level. "Gakushuu, do you remember anything?"

Gakushuu shook his head. "No." He lied. He couldn't take his eyes off his father's body, he couldn't believe he had done this to him. Maybe his father deserved it, but what kind of person was Gakushuu if he could do this to any other living person? He really was his father's son.

"Do you remember if Karma Akabane was there that night?" Karasuma prompted.

"No. I don't. I don't know why you keep mentioning him." Gakushuu hissed.

"Please. Try to think back to what happened." Karasuma insisted.

Gakushuu couldn't take it anymore, he stepped out of the wheelchair and started walking away.

"Gakushuu- Gakushuu your drip- " Dr Otori called after him. He was the one who had insisted Gakushuu sit in a wheelchair for the trip. Gakushuu stopped, trying to unentangle the drip from the wheelchair, forcing himself not to look at his Dad.

"Is he going to die?" Gakushuu asked. Dr Otori frowned.

"I wish I could give you a definitive answer, Gakushuu, but all I can say is, right now, he's stable, and the doctors and nurses in the ICU will be doing everything- "

"So what, is he a vegetable now?" Gakushuu cut him off. Dr Otori smiled.

"No, Gakushuu, his body is badly damaged but his brain and nervous system still seems to be working."

"Will he wake up again?"

"We have high hopes that he will regain some level of consciousness. He already woke up for a brief period and was able to speak to the police before he fell back into a coma again."

"He what?" Gakushuu murmured, feeling like the floor had fallen out from under him. What had he told the police? Did Detective Karasuma already know Gakushuu was guilty and simply forcing a confession all this time. "Why wasn't I told about this?"

"When he woke up, you were still unconscious yourself." The Doctor explained, putting his hands on Gakushu's shoulders and guiding him back into the wheelchair. "And you've been through such a trauma. I didn't want to.. give you false expectations.. by telling you your father had woken up."

"What.. what did he say?" Gakushuu asked, looking up at Dr Otori and Karasuma. It didn't feel like they were looking at him as a criminal. Karasuma sighed.

"I was reluctant to tell you, Gakushuu, because I wanted to hear your version of what happened that night without you being influenced." Karasuma said. "But your father told us it was Karma Akabane who broke into your house and stabbed you both. He was still quite... sedated... so he struggled to explain the full details, but he was very adamant that he knew who the attacker was."

"Oh." Gakushuu replied. It would make sense for his father to lie, that man would hate to have to answer any annoying questions about why his own son would want to stab him. It was much easier to pin it all on somebody who already had a reputation as a blood-thirsty psychopath.

"Are you going to arrest Akabane? Is he already in custody?"

The doctor and the detective shared a look with each other.

"The police are working on it. I don't want you to worry about that now, Gakushuu, you're safe here." Dr Otori said, wheeling him away from his Dad's bedside.

Detective Karasuma was saying something about how he was glad Gakushuu agreed to come, and how it was brave of him to be helping the investigation like this, but Gakushuu wasn't listening.

Was he really okay with this? Akabane was being blamed for a crime he committed, he should be happy; he wouldn't have to go to jail, and somebody he hated would take the fall. But did he even still hate Karma after everything that had happened between them? Karma was the only reason he was alive right now, and the only person who was making Nagisa happy.

"It wasn't Karma who did it." Gakushuu announced as they reached his side room. Both Karasuma and Doctor Otori stopped in their tracks.

"Did you remember something?" Karasuma said, both he and Dr Otori were looking at him intently. Both of these men had been so kind to him since he'd woken up. Dr Otori in particular had been so caring, it wasn't something he was used to from adults in his life. Suddenly, the words were stuck in his throat and he couldn't confess to anything. He didn't want to make these people hate him, he didn't want to have to go to prison after he'd spent so long fighting to be free.

"Yes. It was somebody else. Some random man. He was Russian." Gakushuu blurted out.

"Hang on; let me get my notepad." Karasuma said, and Gakushuu felt a stab of guilt, because even though he'd done nothing but lie to these two men, they were still listening to his every word.


I'm actually so sorry Gakuhou is still alive in this. But for him at least, there are some fates he would find worse than death.

I'm really enjoying writing Gakushuu in the presence of some nice/supportive adults. Karasuma and Dr Otori have been better father figures in one day than his Dad has been in 17 years lol, kid deserves better.

Tune in for the next chapter where Karma and Nagisa successfully run away to Korea and start a happy life together (maybe)

Thanks for all the reviews, I know I've said this for the past five chapters or so, but the fact people are still following this story makes me so happy, I hope you make it to the end with me (which is getting closer and closer)

Reply to guest reviews;

04.01.2020 guest: Once again, sorry Gakuhou isn't dead. The boys will be happy soon (maybe)

Jan 1st guest: I don't think anyone will miss the Gakuhou from this story, thanks for reviewing!

Guest Nov24: Thanks for your continued support and kind words 3

Asuza: Sorry again for keeping Gakuhou alive (for now) But yeah, I agree Gakushuu has been through enough and deserves a happy ending haha. Thank you for the review and the support!