The early morning air clawed at Nagisa's skin as he reluctantly followed Korosensei out of the hotel and onto the beach. Anxiety pooled in his stomach as his feet trudged through layers of sand. Does he know what I've done? Nagisa squeezed his fingers together tightly in an attempt to regain his composure, not wanting to worry his teacher any more than he already had.
Abruptly, Korosensei paused and motioned for Nagisa to approach him. He wordlessly walked over to his teacher and tensed slightly when he felt a tentacle gently wrap itself around his frail form.
"The ocean is so interesting, isn't it?" Korosensei said airily. "It exists in its natural state, seemingly calm, yet it still as the strength needed to destroy anything that it deems a threat."
Nagisa's skin prickled at his words. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Korosensei's head turn towards him but Nagisa deliberately avoided his gaze, focusing on nothing but the crashing waves.
"Are you scared of it?" Korosensei asked, his voice gentle. Nagisa slowly shook his head as he continued to watch the mesmerising rhythm of the water as it flowed back and forth.
The tentacle wrapped around his torso wormed its way to the top of Nagisa's head, forcing him to turn and look into Korosensei's beady eyes. Nagisa's heart rate spiked and, no matter how hard he tried to stop them, his hands began to shake as he awaited Korosensei's next words.
"You are the same. You appear weak to outsiders but have a natural talent for assassination hidden within you. Despite this," Korosensei tilted his head towards the growing group of students who were huddled together in front of the hotel's entrance, "the others aren't afraid of you." His head spun back to Nagisa, who had his lips parted in mild surprise.
"They trust you. We all do." Even though Korosensei's words were intended to comfort him, a tidal wave of guilt crashed down onto Nagisa. I just betrayed that trust. Korosensei must have noticed the change in Nagisa's expression as he moved forward to intentionally block his classmates from view.
"Nagisa," he began, "the emotions that you are feeling right now are completely natural." Nagisa's gaze drifted down to his feet. "You were forced into a difficult situation and were willing to essentially sacrifice yourself for the safety of your classmates. You completely disregarded your own wellbeing for the greater good."
Nagisa could barely hear his teacher's comforting rambling of the sound of his own heart pounding in his ears. Tiredness seeped into his bones, dulling the stabbing sensation of pain that enveloped his entire body. The world lurched forwards as Nagisa's vision blurred and his knees buckled.
He tipped forward and braced for the impact of sand hitting his face when Korosensei's tentacle quickly grabbed him and hoisted him upright. Nagisa's eyelids grew heavy. Realising how much Nagisa was struggling, Korosensei fully wrapped his tentacles around his body, allowing Nagisa to go completely limp as his teacher supported his body weight.
"Rest, Nagisa." Those two words were the only thing Nagisa needed to hear as his eyes slipped closed and everything around him disappeared.
The world slowly sputtered to life once again and the first thing Nagisa noticed was the agony that coursed through his veins. Every muscle in his body was stiff with over exertion, his body refusing to move no matter how much he willed it to do so. Summoning every ounce of strength he had remaining, Nagisa managed to slowly pry his eyelids apart.
His surroundings were a haze of different colours as he blinked rapidly in an attempt to focus his eyes. Colours swirled together and began to form familiar shapes when Nagisa noticed a figure standing in front of him.
Karma.
Karma's eyes were glued to Nagisa's face, unblinking, as Nagisa weakly looked up at him. He could feel a strange material spread out underneath him and subtly glanced down to see that he was laying on a deck chair. Memories of what happened before he passed out began to play in Nagisa's mind. Recalling Korosensei's words caused a shiver to run up his spine.
Karma and Nagisa stared awkwardly at each other for a while, both of them at a loss for words, before Nagisa saw the other boy take a deep breath.
"You should have told me you were hurt." Karma said, anger morphing his expression. Nagisa didn't even have the chance to think of a response before he continued.
"Do you know how stupid you are, pulling a stunt like that? Do you even have a brain?" His booming voice reverberated around the room, drilling into Nagisa's skull. Nagisa's chest tightened painfully. He watched silently as Karma grabbed the frame of the deck chair and shook it in a fit of rage.
"You could have been killed!"
Nagisa's breath hitched in his throat.
He had known the danger he was placing himself in when he agreed to Takaoka's fight but hearing it voiced out loud made it feel too real. The sudden dose of reality mixed with the violent shaking of the deck chair forced harsh coughs to force their way out of Nagisa's body. He doubled over, his eyes tearing up and his throat burning.
The rocking sensation stopped and Nagisa registered Karma muttering his name. A hand hesitantly hovered over his back. As his coughs died down, Nagisa pulled his hand away from his mouth to reveal sticky red splotches of blood splattered on his palm.
"Shit…" Karma murmured as Nagisa felt himself be pushed down into a laying position. Instinctively, Nagisa's hand shot out and grabbed Karma's shirt sleeve. He looked at Nagisa with a mix of confusion and mild annoyance.
Nagisa's mouth tasted like iron as he desperately tried to form a sentence. The pain that engulfed his body was nothing compared to the pain that he had caused everyone else to feel. Karma was proof of that. Why did he come to see me anyway?
"Why did you come to see me, anyway?" Oops.
A look of hurt flickered across Karma's face. He pulled away from Nagisa's grasp, baring his teeth like a wounded animal. Heat climbed into Karma's face and Nagisa felt like a bomb was about to explode. He worked his jaw as Nagisa waited apprehensively before Karma spat out,
"Well, screw me for caring, right?"
"No, I –" Nagisa started but was cut off by Karma abruptly walking towards the door. He swung the door open with such force that Nagisa feared it would fly off its hinges.
Something in Nagisa snapped and he flung himself forward out of the deck chair, hand reaching out for Karma's shirt once again. Haste combined with the sudden momentum tugged at Nagisa's injuries and he fell forward with a startled yelp.
Karma spun around and dove down after him, acting on impulse. His arms wrapped around Nagisa's and he yanked him upright before he hit the floor. They both sat on the floor for a moment, catching their breath.
Still terrified that Karma would leave, Nagisa sloppily lifted his arm and grabbed Karma's hand, keeping him in place. Karma's eyes were stuck staring at their intertwined fingers. Feeling exhausted for what seemed like the hundredth time that week, Nagisa lent backwards against Karma's torso, eyes beginning to close once again. Karma stayed silent.
Someone behind them cleared their throat.
Karma instantly sprang up off the floor, jolting Nagisa and causing him to become wide awake. He turned around and was greeted with the sight of Mr Karasuma standing there with his arms crossed. Blushing with embarrassment, Nagisa pushed himself up and managed to stand on his shaky legs.
"We've almost arrived." Mr Karasuma said, straight to the point.
Karma stormed forward and barged past their teacher before disappearing out of view around the corner. Awkwardly, Nagisa and Mr Karasuma looked at each other before he motioned for Nagisa to follow him.
They left the room together and walked through the ship to where the rest of the class were gathered. Nagisa noticed Karma leaning against the wall in the corner of the room but, judging by his face, Nagisa decided that it probably wasn't the wisest decision to try and talk to him now.
Instead, Nagisa chose to make his way over to his usual friendship group. Sugino did a double take as he approached, grinning widely and waving him over.
"Hey, Nagisa!" He said cheerfully. Nagisa smiled timidly.
"Hi."
"Where were you? Are you okay?" Kayano asked before anyone else could speak. They all waited expectantly for his reply as Nagisa paused for a moment.
"Oh, I was really tired so Korosensei set up a bed for me on the ship. I've been asleep this whole time." He said. They don't need to know about Karma's visit, Nagisa thought to himself, that will just create more questions.
Everyone nodded, accepting his answer. The conversation slowly dissolved into idle chatter which Nagisa was silently grateful for. One of the last things he wanted was for his friends to ask him more questions. Ones that he couldn't give an honest answer to.
Eventually, the ship came to a stop and everyone began filing out, dragging their luggage behind them. My luggage! Groaning internally, Nagisa started to walk back to the room he had been resting in when his suitcase suddenly materialised in front of him.
"Thanks, Korosensei." Nagisa said as he grabbed his suitcase's handle and tried to catch up with his friends. In his peripheral vision, Nagisa spotted Karma continuously glancing in his direction. Nagisa took a tentative step towards him and Karma immediately walked away from him and over to Nakamura. Not in the mood to deal with any teasing, Nagisa halted his step and chose to walk next to Sugino instead.
The feeling of normality in the atmosphere as he let Sugino's voice wash over him helped Nagisa to relax. He almost forgot about the stunt that he pulled earlier. Almost. Every few minutes, Nagisa would catch his mind drifting back to the text conversation, mulling it over and trying to predict what their meeting would actually be like. Will Lovro be angry? Will he be disappointed? Impressed?
Constant chatter by his friend next to him pulled Nagisa out of this downward spiral, only for him to trip and fall all over again. Nagisa was in the midst of one of these spirals when he almost walked straight into Terasaka.
"Oi, watch it." Terasaka growled. Bowing his head, Nagisa tried to scuttle out of the way but Terasaka blocked his path. Nagisa's grip on his suitcase handle tightened. Sugino gave him a sympathetic look but kept walking.
"Sorry." Nagisa said quickly, trying to get out of the situation as quickly as possible. Terasaka looked startled for a moment, as if he didn't expect Nagisa to try and flee so quickly, before he stepped in front of him once again. Nagisa looked up at the taller boy in confusion.
"Listen," Terasaka started, "I don't care what the hell you are thinking about yourself right now, but you need to snap out of it man." Nagisa's breath speed up.
"You keep moping around, acting like you didn't totally thrash that psycho teacher and save the day. Well, news flash, the only person that disagrees with what you did is you. So you need to grow up before you start annoying everyone." He said, getting more riled up the longer he spoke.
Staying silent the entire time, Nagisa shifted his gaze off of Terasaka's face as guilt swelled up inside of him. His gaze wandered to Sugino, whose own stare was flickering uncertainly between him and Terasaka. Behind Sugino stood Karma. He was watching Nagisa with calculating eyes while he barely acknowledged Nakamura excitedly talking to him.
"R-right. Thank you." Nagisa said. He refused to let any emotion bleed into his voice in fear that he would end up revealing too much about himself. About his plan.
An uncomfortable silence settled over the two of them. Noticing this, Sugino casually strolled past Terasaka over to Nagisa. He hastily walked up next to him and slung his arm around Nagisa's. Nagisa let himself be dragged away, too drained to try and fight it.
They walked together for a while and managed to make casual conversation when everyone began to go their separate ways. Nagisa quietly sighed when he remembered that he would have to face his mother when he got home but luckily Sugino was too distracted to hear it. Saying their goodbyes, Nagisa watched as Sugino left.
Nagisa hesitated for a moment, before turning the opposite direction and beginning his journey home, purposefully ignoring Karma as he went.