When Nagisa woke up, Karma only felt one thing – anger. Now that he knew Nagisa was fine, well, as fine as he could be, a searing rage flooded his body. Words spilled out of Karma's mouth but he couldn't hear them as he let his fury mask every other one of his emotions. He vaguely noticed that he had grabbed the deck chair but he didn't care. In that moment, Karma didn't care about anything except the burning feeling of betrayal that stabbed his gut. Why didn't he talk to me? Snapping him out of his thoughts was the sound of Nagisa's hoarse coughs.

Cursing at himself for being careless, Karma pushed Nagisa down back against the makeshift bed. He already felt uncomfortable trying to soothe Nagisa as his anger still lingered in the air, but he felt even more lost when Nagisa suddenly grabbed his shirt sleeve. Karma was torn between interrogating Nagisa further or fleeing to let someone better them him handle this situation when a voice that sounded like it had been torn to shreds quietly spoke.

"Why did you come to see me, anyway?"

Anger switched to hurt for a moment before his exasperation hit him twice as strong. Karma ripped his arm out of Nagisa's grip. Ignoring the blush that was slowly spreading across his face, Karma forced himself not to punch Nagisa as his mouth voiced the first thought that formed in his head.

"Well, screw me for caring, right?"

Karma let his legs lead him to the door as he violently pulled it open. Fleeing it is, then. Right before he was about to escape into the middle of the ship, he heard a startled squeal behind him. Confused, he turned around just in time to see Nagisa heading head straight towards the floor, his arm desperately reaching out to him. Something akin to panic shot through Karma's brain as he swooped down to catch him. Interlinking their arms and pulling him upwards, Karma stopped Nagisa before his head could bounce off the tough floor. They both sat panting, neither of them knowing what they should do next. Karma watched, dumbfounded, as Nagisa moved his hand on top of his and interlocked their fingers. He couldn't help but notice the sense of security that he felt as he looked at their hands. He's alive. He's alive and safe.

Mr Karasuma's cough behind them made Karma's heart skip a beat. He tore himself away from Nagisa and stood up faster than he ever had before, a thousand different emotions piling up inside of him. Embarrassed, Karma stormed out of the room and back to the cafeteria where he had been earlier. He lent against the wall in an attempt to distance himself from everyone, his face set in a permanent scowl. The only person that dared to approach him was Nakamura.

She followed Karma as they disembarked the ship and seemed oblivious to how Karma wasn't listening to anything she was saying. Karma trailed Nagisa, a strange surge of nervousness punching him in the gut whenever the blue haired boy dipped out of his eyesight. This nervousness grew stronger when he saw Terasaka step infront of Nagisa. Karma watched intently, curious to see what would happen next. The more Terasaka said, the more incompetent Karma felt. How can someone as dense as Terasaka say the words I wanted to say so easily? He watched them all disperse and began to walk home himself, dreading the tense atmosphere that would definitely be present in the classroom on Monday.

For once, Karma arrived on time for school. After almost deciding to give up on school entirely and not show up for a couple of months, Karma decided that no matter what, he was still going to attend class to try and kill Korosensei. Yeah, that's the only reason I'm here. For that and nothing else. He tossed his bag down next to his desk and watched lazily as his classmates slowly trickled into the building.

"Good morning, everyone!" Korosensei greeted them in his forever cheerful voice before taking attendance.

"Kimura?"

"Here."

"Kurahashi?"

"Here."

"Nagisa?"

The room fell deathly silent.

"Nagisa?" Korosensei asked again, looking up from the attendance sheet. Some people began to fidget nervously in the quietness. Karma gripped his pen a little tighter. Korosensei seemed to ponder something for a moment, his tentacles wriggling behind him.

"Hm." The teacher hummed before swiftly continuing on with attendance.

The uneasy ambience stayed present in the room even as the first lesson of the day started. A few people, including Karma himself, couldn't help but look at the empty desk every so often. Nagisa never misses school. Karma was sure that everyone else was thinking the same thing as no-one fully paid attention to the work that Korosensei was explaining. Even Korosensei himself seemed to be slightly distracted by his unusual absence. Just as Korosensei had finished writing something down on the board, the door opened. There stood Nagisa, hair slightly disheveled and shirt full of wrinkles. Everyone in the classroom turned to him, but he paid no attention to them. Instead, Karma watched as Nagisa rushed over to his seat, muttering a quick "sorry I'm late, sir" as he sat down. Somehow, the unsettling energy surrounding them heightened.

"No worries, Nagisa. You haven't missed very much." Korosensei said in a surprisingly gentle voice.

The class resumed but Karma still couldn't concentrate. He could see Nagisa's pen frozen in the air as he stared out of the window at seemingly nothing. He could see Kayano also watching Nagisa, a concerned expression on her face mirroring his own. He could see Korosensei standing closer to Nagisa's desk than he had previously, almost as if he was trying to protect his student from something. Karma could see it all, but he still couldn't see a way to help Nagisa.

As soon as break time rolled around, Karma felt himself naturally gravitating towards Nagisa, though he was still unsure what he was actually going to say to him, or even if he would say anything at all. Sugino and Kayano had already rushed to his side and had immediately began bombarding him with questions. Nagisa gave vague yet calculated responses, almost as if he was reading them from a script he had memorized.

"Hey." A voice said from behind Karma. Caught off guard, he quickly turned around and saw Terasaka standing behind him.

"Ugh, what do you want, idiot?" Karma said, exaggerating his annoyance in an attempt to cover up his anxiety. Terasaka shifts uncomfortably on his feet, wringing his hands together.

"So, you're pretty good friends with Nagisa, yeah?" He asked.

"Sure I am." Liar.

"Do you know why he was late today? And why he's acting like that?" Terasaka's voice was uncharacteristically quiet and Karma's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Well, I mean I know you're stupid, but surely I don't need to explain to you how getting beat up by a crazy teacher in front of your entire class isn't exactly the best experience in the world." He scoffed. "Like you even care anyway, aren't you the guy that tried to blow him into pieces with a grenade?" Karma said spitefully.

Terasaka ignored his comment as he looked back over at Nagisa, who was now halfheartedly eating a snack bar given to him by Sugino.

"Is…" Terasaka's sentence trailed off and with every second that ticked by, Karma grew more impatient.

"Well, spit it out, I haven't got all day."

"Is this my fault?" He said finally. "The other day, when I told him to get over himself, was I too hard on him? Don't get me wrong, I still meant what I said," He faced Karma once again, "but should I have tried to be nicer about it?"

Karma was taken aback by the genuine remorse dripping off of Terasaka's words. At least you managed to say something useful to him, he thought bitterly.

"Don't overthink it." Karma replied casually. "Not that you think much at all anyway." He added. Immediately, Terasaka was back to his usual brash self.

"Oh yeah? At least I'm not a sadist like you!"

Before the conversation could descend into an argument, break ended and Korosensei ushered them back to their seats. The rest of the day was uneventful and ended so fast that Karma didn't even have a chance to talk to Nagisa before he was scurrying down the mountain to get home. The next day wasn't any different. Nagisa was late to school again, but Karma noticed that he seemed to be more tense than exhausted. Whenever he talked to his friends, the strained tone of voice he used made Karma's chest tighten. He's definitely hiding something.

It was Wednesday morning when Karma had finally had enough. For the first time that week, Nagisa had arrived on time. His hair was perfect. His shirt was ironed. Somehow, the sudden change made Karma even more alarmed. Nagisa strolled over to his desk and went to sit down when he spotted Karma observing him. Instead of awkwardly ignoring him like Karma thought he would, Nagisa flashed him a bright smile. A chill shot down Karma's spine. It's that feeling again. Fear swirled in his gut, making him feel sick as Nagisa casually slumped into his seat and waited for Korosensei to arrive.

As the day went on, Nagisa seemed to buzz with energy, making Karma's skin crawl. Why is he acting so different? Sugino seemed to be slightly confused but pleased by the sudden change while Kayano was overjoyed that Nagisa was acting more like his normal self again. Even the teachers seemed relieved, no longer having to watch over him with concern during lessons. Karma tried to ignore Nagisa. Don't overthink it, he told himself, that's what you told Terasaka, isn't it? No matter how hard he tried, Karma couldn't stop little worms of worry burrowing themselves into his brain.

The more he analysed Nagisa's movements, the more odd behaviour he witnessed. Nagisa's leg was bouncing up and down and he was his pen tapping against his desk. Instead of aimlessly looking out of the window like the previous two days, Karma noticed that Nagisa's eyes never strayed far from the clock at the front of the room. As soon as the bell went to signal the end of the day, Nagisa sprung up from his desk and darted out of the building. Karma was about to pursue him when he noticed Nagisa's schoolbag laying forgotten on the floor. Silently thanking the universe for giving him this opportunity to finally talk to him again, Karma snatched the bag from the ground and rushed over to Nagisa. The younger boy was almost too far away for Karma to catch up to.

"Yo, Nagisa! You forgot your bag!" He yelled, waving the bag the air. Nagisa stopped in his tracks and hurried over to him.

"Thanks." He said as he grabbed one of the straps. Nagisa instantly turned to walk away again but Karma impulsively grabbed his wrist. Nagisa stopped, confused. Now or never.

"Where are you going? You look like you're in a rush." Karma said.

"Oh, I'm not really in a rush, I just don't want to be late." Nagisa replied, clearly dodging the question.

"Late to where?" Karma asked again.

Nagisa paused for a moment. "Home. You what my mother is like, if I stay out for too long she'll get worried."

Karma scanned Nagisa's face for any clues that could help him understand what was really going on but found nothing. Usually, Karma could read people with ease and learn almost anything about them from their facial expression alone. But never Nagisa. He reluctantly relaxed his grip on Nagisa's wrist and let him pull his arm away.

"Want me to walk you home?" Even though their relationship had been strained ever since the events on the island, Karma didn't want Nagisa to face his awful mother alone. Though he didn't know everything, Karma was the only person Nagisa had confided in about his home life. Karma had promised Nagisa that he wouldn't tell anyone what she was doing to him, and he promised himself that he would help Nagisa as much as he possibly could.

"No thank you, I'm okay. I really should get going, see you later!" Karma barely had the chance to speak before Nagisa was running along the path once more, eventually disappearing out of his sight.

Distrust still gnawing in the pit of his stomach, Karma stuffed his hands into his pockets and walked away in the opposite direction.