The smell of blood, sweat, and wet concrete lingered in the air. In the center of chaos that happened in the alley, there stood a boy with fiery red hair and golden eyes seemingly unfazed by his surroundings. He was ambushed but he wasn't surprised at the very least. Many delinquent-wannabes hate him, which makes this situation simply mundane to him.

He leaned back against the wall to catch his breath, albeit to the number of the thugs, the boy survived nevertheless. Yet he was tired and had a few scratches.

The sun was long gone while the sky had already turned dark. The fight lasted for a good five minutes.He minimized the noise of the fight as much as possible so outsiders wouldn't take a peek in the dark alley, which could have made the situation more problematic.

He could hear the faint groaning of the thugs, he grinned deviously, satisfied that his victims were still in pain.

The redheaded boy glanced at his right when he heard some shuffling noises which turned out to be the leader of this merry-delinquent wannabes.

"K-karma you...bastard!" the pudding-hair spat at him trying his best to stand.

"Heh~ I dont remember being buddies with you to call me by name. You sure you don't have a crush on me?" the named boy, Karma scoffed positioning himself in a figthing stance.

The leader growled at him and was dead serious to kill him. Karma took a step forward but stopped for a brief second when he felt a sharp pain in his sides.

This fight would probably end badly for him now that he realized someone had actually hit him earlier. Maybe it was because of the adrenaline as to why he was oblivious to the pain. Regardless he should probably render Tachibana? Teru? Takagi? Or whoever unconscious.

Seeing the slight delay of the redhead's assault, the leader raised both arms above his head with a baseball bat in hand. His grip tightened till his knuckles turned white, vengeance coursing through his head. With a loud war cry, he was ready to swing the bat and hit the slightly smaller teen in the head.

Everything happened so fast, the redhead felt a throbbing pain at his sides, then saw the thug ready to hit him in the head with a fucking baseball bat. With his body on auto-pilot, he raised both his arms to either catch the bat or block it. He waited for the swift motion but instead heard a small feminine voice squeaked instead.

"S-stop!"

Karma saw a pair of petite arms slighter its way to the looming figure ahead. A pink handkerchief held by small hands, covering the titan's nose and mouth. A few moment later the thug limply fell to the wet concrete, sleeping like a baby. With his opponent sound asleep, Karma rests his back against the wall to assist his descent and sat on the ground. He sighed and examined the person who saved him from being banged in the head.

Twin braids resting on each side of her shoulders, a pair of slightly skewed round glasses and a dumbstruck expression plastered in her face. Her right hand clutched the small fabric and held it against her heart, her steady breathing rung in his ears in the quiet dark alley. She looked so harmless, meek, and cute, he quickly shook that last thought out of his head.

Suddenly their eyes met and he'd noticed she has amethyst colored eyes, they stared at each other longer than they should've until the girl broke the contact by turning her head and grabbing her bag. He closed his eyes to collect himself and tried standing up, Karma just wants to go home, take a nice long bath, play a few video games and then sleep. Really can't he have that much?

When he finally relaxed he felt something warm flowing down his left arm with the same color of his hair albeit slightly darker. He tried recalling the small fiasco that happened in the alley, and maybe yes, someone did had a knife back then, and yes the thug was just lucky enough to injure him.

It wasn't life threatening, he thinks. "P-please sit down! I-I'll treat it for you..." He then heard her voice sweet like honey and felt himself obliged to her command.

The girl reached for her school bag beside her and searched for a first aid kit, which surprised Karma that she even has one. She quickly cleaned and treated his wounds which most are a few scratches except for that knife wound.

"Are you fine? Sorry, that was a stupid question--so um-- your name is...?"

After finishing treating his arms, her small hands traveled to the hem of his shirt and lifted it without a second thought, Karma fought back the urge to blush. The twin braided girl gently applied an ointment to the bruising sides of his body, "...Akabane Ka--ack!" his sudden shifting made her applied too much pressure and made him wince.

"S-sorry!"

When everything was said and done, and the girl finished gathering her belongings, the raven head helped him stand up and the two teens walked quietly to the entrance of the alley. Upon arriving there, the two felt the gentle prickling of the drizzle which then transformed into a rain. The glossy-eyed teen took out her lavender colored umbrella and opened it. She turned her head to face the red headed boy with a smile, he felt her hands on his, cold and soft. Then without a second further, he was now holding her umbrella.

"I'm glad you're fine now, Akabane-san..."

and she left.

He looked at the umbrella he was holding and saw a small tag hanging by the handle.

Okuda Manami

Karma decided that it was time to go home yet he contemplates whether or not had he forgotten something relatively important.

"Hey Karma!! I bought you an umbrella--?!Huh? W-what happened?! I was gone for five minutes! "

and it clicked.

Oh, Nagisa...right.

The newly arrived teen scanned the alley while trying to catch his breath. While it wasn't surprising that Karma gets involved in fights, what surprising was seeing the redheaded teen with his wounds already treated and holding a girly lavender umbrella.

Karma doesn't bring any first aid with him since that was usually Nagisa's job. Ironically though he never really had the opportunity to treat Karma's wounds.And the reason is because the sadistic teen is confident that he'll always win a fight unscathed.

"Idiots happened. Where were you anyway? You missed all the fun Nagisa~"

There is an important mystery that Nagisa needed to solve to satiate his curiosity.

"I saw Akari on my way back here. Are you okay? And what happened?"

"Yeah, a cute girl saved me."

"Pardon?"

HUH?

WAIT.

DID KARMA JUST--

Cute?

KARMA.CALLED. A.GIRL.CUTE?

Karma deliberately coughed trying to distract himself and his friend's attention from the sudden warmth that bloomed in his face.

"Well I do know that I'll see her again."

I'm looking forward to meeting you again, Manami-chan~

With a smile on his face he raced Nagisa to the nearest station.

"W-wait! Tell me what happened when I was gone?! KAAAARRRMAAAA!!!"

"Akari!"

"Nagisa-kun!"

Manami and her friends were on their way home when Akari said she didn't have an umbrella, they ended up buying one at the closest convenience store they found and was greeted by one of Akari's friend.

Shiota Nagisa, a friend of Akari since middle school but judging by the way she subtly glances at him...Manami and Yukiko thinks that he's more than a friend to her.

"I only got back yesterday. I have so many absences because of work."

'Akari-chan is so obvious..' the two teens thought simultaneously.

Since the blue haired teen and her slightly green-hued haired friend were absorbed in their own little world, Manami tried to take interest in her surroundings when she noticed a familiar face.

What is he..

Her friends were out of sight when she realized she had followed the person she saw. She arrived in a dark alley and saw hell broke loose.

Manami was confused. What was the reason they started fighting, who is it that they want to obliterate, and why does it seem that the largely numbered team is losing? As if enchanted, her eyes caught sight of red and gold. The opposed teen seemed calm even in this kind of situation.

It was strange, she thinks. Why does she feel so anxious for that stranger? Without a second thought she bought a first aid kit.

'No matter how strong that person is, being outnumbered like that... He will surely get injured! Not that I want him to...'

Upon arriving back at the alley she noticed how one of the thugs with a baseball bat was advancing his way to the redhead. Manami pulled her chloroform flask and basked her clean handkerchief with it and slithered her way to the enemy making it fall asleep.

She was thankful that she carried a flask around for self defense and was glad that it had helped someone..and the rest was omitted...

Thinking back, it was rather a miracle that her voice didn't crack when she spoke to him and how her hands didn't tremble when she felt his warm skin make contact with her cold hands. Just the mere thought of that short encounter made her heart leap out of her chest.

After handing out her umbrella to an unknown boy and was again thankful that her face didn't explode in red, she quickly walked away and go back to the convenience store where her best friends were waiting for her. Seeing them insight she calmed herself not wanting them to worry from her sudden disappearance.

Two obsidian-haired girls the other has a faint green hue in the tip of her hair, proof that the dye is close to fading completely, were standing a few feet from her. One waving gracefully at her with a kind smile while the other girl is running in her direction ready to tackle her with a hug.

"Manami-chan I was so worried! Where did you go?" The one with obsidian-green hue asked whilst pinching Manami's cheeks like an older sister scolds her cute sibling.

"Sowwy Akwaree-chan.." Manami tried apologizing while her cheeks are being pinched.

Seeing how Manami was cutely suffering, the girl named Akari quickly let go of the bespectacled teen's reddened cheeks.

"So? Why did you leave?"

I saw some familiar faces and followed them. Not like I can say that.

Manami tried to make up an excuse about suddenly needing to buy something at the bookstore but her efforts are futile since her friends know her too well when she lies.

"I-i helped a guy...He was really c-cool." she tried her best not to stutter nor blush yet in the end she did. Manami could not help but scratch her cheek in embarrassment for having such thoughts about a guy she just met five minutes ago.

And without further ado, her curious friends dragged her back to her house to have a heated discussion about her fateful encounter, or so they say.

In a sunny afternoon, where their fourth period had ended and it was time to eat luxurious bentos, Manami yawned as she opened her bag to take out her lunch.While the three of them are friends, they all are from different classes. Akari was absent today due to work while Yukiko had club activities. She was rather sleepy since her friends made her spill every detail she could possibly remember, their girl talk lasted till ten in the evening. Akari and Yukiko ended up staying over that night since it was rather too late to go home.

"The most important question is...from what school is he?" Akari wondered while hugging one of Manami's plushies.

"I-i don't know... It was dark a-and he was wearing a black cardigan." Manami replied her whole body wrapped in a blanket cocoon, disheartened that she didn't notice.

'It's not like I can casually ask him what school he goes to! We're strangers to one another!'

"Well since Manami-chan gave her umbrella I'm sure he'll search for you!" Yukiko reassured her making her unwrapped her cocoon.

With great optimism, Manami slept comfortably that night.

"Still, I think that's too much of hopeful thinking..." the bespectacled teen sighed while taking a small bite from her lunch.

In the end all she had was his last name, and Akabane is a pretty common name. Manami sighed again.

"What's with the sad face, MA-NA-MI-CHAN~"

Hearing a voice that she only once heard, Manami dropped her chopsticks when she caught a familiar sight, like a spell she was entranced by the beauty of red and gold. Then the boy smiled eyes squinting, teeth as white as snow, she almost had a heart attack that very moment, fortunately she survived.

The teen reached out a hand to her face and swiftly pushed a strand of her hair at the back of her ear. His warm touch seemed contagious because of how her face suddenly felt warmer and her ears are especially hotter. She feels that she might melt at any moment.

"I'm Akabane Karma, let's get along well Manami~"

Eh?

EEEEEEEEEEeeeEEeEehhhHHhHHHh?????!!!!

Hey guys riiyeen here! This idea has been lying around for quite some time now. I'm glad I finally finished it! If i feel like it I might make a part 2! Thank you for still reading my stories! I hope everyone is safe, always remember to wash your hands, stay at home and wear a mask!! Bye guys!!

Here's a small teaser for part two ahahahha

"Liar. Stop pretending to be so innocent."

"Who is..."

"Horibe-san..."

"Manami I still--"

"You didn't know?"