Juicy
There's a knock on the office door, making the man look up from his paperwork. It's dark and bland in here, with only just enough natural light to see what he was doing. Despite that, and the fact that the door is closed, he still knows who is behind it. Call it instinct, call it senses, call it whatever you want.
It's like he isn't human.
Nagisa smiles, knuckles resting against the door, not even preparing to knock again.
Nagisa hadn't bothered putting any shoes on, and it's not like he regrets it, because, even though there are sharp stones digging into the soles of his feet, it doesn't hurt. Nobody is gaping at his immunity to simple pain, either. They probably all got it out of their systems a while ago.
He keeps his hands in the pockets of his blazer, that he randomly picked up off his chair to put over his bare chest. He solely did it to have something to put his hands into, he doesn't like walking without personality, like a robot.
Karma is next to him, equally as casual, but he isn't wearing a jacket, and now it's Nagisa's time to gawk, like the rest of the class when he gave them the juicy info on his situation. This is definitely juicy.
He has more self respect to outright stare though, so he watches from the corner of his eye as they walk, and promptly trips on a tree root. Karma laughs, offering a hand, but Nagisa furiously blushes, and slaps it away.
"I saw you staring" He says evilly, making Nagisa turn even more red, and he looks like he's about to explode. He gets up, brushes grass and dirt off himself, and kicks Karma in the shin, who laughs again.
"I wasn't" He can tell he looks like a child right now, but he doesn't really care, anything to annoy Karma, who keeps snickering at him. How did he fall in love with idiot?
"Yeah, right"
They carry on walking in silence, and Nagisa wishes he put something on his feet, because there's a trail of dirt and bloody footprints behind them, from when he cut his foot on a particularly big rock after he let his guard down.
He doesn't feel a thing, and it heals in seconds, but you can never erase blood stains, no matter how literal or how figurative.
"Come in" His voice rings through the room, which is probably because it's literally a square cave. Apparently this guy has never heard of decor, or common furniture, for that matter. Nagisa grins as he closes the door behind him, and strolls up to the desk.
"Ah, Nagisa, what can I do for you?" He asks, fake smile ever present on his face. He looks weary, though, like the years are finally starting to eat at him. He looks like a war veteran, and knowing him, he probably is. Nagisa has to resist the urge to make a joke, because that would be completely irrelevant.
"I just wanted to ask you something" He answers, looking anywhere but those eyes. Cold and dead, but not from age, not from war. Instead, he looks at the walls, noticing cracks, like a fight went on in here, a big one. The windows have cracks, too, but they have obviously been replaced a couple of times. He thinks he knows where all the furniture went.
He isn't threatened. Not in the least.
"So, what are you going to do now?" Karma asks out of the blue, shocking Nagisa for an instant. It's an intense line of questioning, and almost makes him lose it, because for once, Nagisa doesn't actually have a plan.
There's no reason to plan, because he knows Takako will come to him in due time, because of the game plot. He just has to go along with it until then. That probably means he has to live as a highschoolers for a while, but he could do with a bit of a normal life, for now.
"I don't know," he starts nonchalantly, pretending the lack of a plan doesn't irk - if not alarm - him. "Probably, for now, just live. I've been so caught up in my revenge fantasies, my plans - tried so hard to live in the future - I forgot to just be" He stares out at the vast forest in front of them, eyes downcast, but not sad.
"Plus, I should probably stay with this class until I do find that monster, considering trouble always finds you - us. I have time to enjoy my life right now" He ends with an uncharacteristic chuckle, remembering how bad this class is for finding trouble.
"What about when you've killed that peice of shit?" Karma continues, rolling his eyes at how sappy Nagisa is being right now. Nagisa thinks for a second, stopping and turning to the red head.
"I'll probably kill myself. Once that's over, I have no drive to live, unless the plan changes, but then I'll act accordingly. I guess that's what scares me the most. My plans all going wrong"
Karma laughs again, picking the pace back up, and rubbing Nagisa's hair, probably about to make a suicidal joke, or a long hair (girl) joke. Instead he looks at at him, understanding.
"I trust your judgement"
"What is it?" Gakuho asks, voice mimicking genuine curiosity, eyes still cold and calculating. The day this man will actually care about his students will be the day pigs fly.
"Why did you stop me?" Nagisa responds, eyeing him suspiciously. Gakuho laughs, eyes shining with superiority, hands neatly resting on his desk. Nagisa doesn't take his eyes off them for a second. He doesn't trust this man, but he's not scared of him, either.
"I can't have a student murdering a teacher" Simple, but it makes Nagisa's blood boil. He clenches his fists, gritts his teeth and glares daggers at the man, ready to say something, but he's cut off.
"However, I have no problems with this, if, for instance, the deed is done outside of the campus, perhaps through the holidays, or the weekend. But that wouldn't be right, because, as a student at this school, studying should be all you do. Maybe a vacation, that would be perfect, would it not?"
Nagisa stops, before nodding in understanding, and then turns to leave, because there isn't much more to be said. It annoys him because of how much he's changed, how comfortable he's become, acting like a normal person.
"Before you go," Gakuho starts, hands entwined together with his chin leaning on them. Nagisa halts, and turns around, as if he was expecting the conversation not to end.
They get to the pool in no time, according to everyone else, but to Nagisa and Karma, it feels like years after such an intense conversation. Nobody hesitates to jump in, the exception being the two boys. Their gaze lingers for a second.
"But tell me, honestly, are you willing to lose everything you have now? Are you willing to die and leave all of this behind" Karma says, eyes dead set on their classmates having fun in the pool. Nagisa smiles.
"You misunderstood me, Karma," The red head looks confused for a second, but slowly his emotionless mask slips back on, as he realises what that means. Nagisa turns to him, the biggest, most cheerful smile he's ever worn firmly planted on his face.
"At first, I wanted to see him again, but now I know, that's impossible"
Nagisa doesn't say another word. He walks away, happily jumping into the pool and instantly mingling with their friends - part of Class E, again. Karma is left alone, still staring.
"Still as cryptic as ever" He mumbles, before joining him in the water.
"Let's make a bet"
Nagisa is enthralled by the man's proposition, and he's dying to know what. His eyes sparkle, and he takes a seat, the only chair here.
"If you get to see your 'brother' again, you can be happy, yes?"
Nagisa nods, even though he knows the question was rehtorical. He's fully intrigued.
"But if you don't, if you get your revenge and decide to stay here, alive, you have to do a job for me" He finishes, smiling at Nagisa, who's staring back with his full attention.
"Fine, let's see who wins this bet" Nagisa says, shaking the man's hand over the desk, before actually taking his leave this time. He just stopped, but he still hears one last thing before the door closes behind him.
"I can guarantee I'll win. You won't see him again. You'll never even see the afterlife"
"At first, I wanted to see him again, but now I know, that's impossible"
I'm planning on writing the chapters at the same times, like 1-2 chapters per day, but only posting them once a week, but I don't know yet.
Also, it's gonna get real juicy now, but the next chapter isn't AS juicy as this one, or the ones to come, mostly just filler or something. It's an important plot point for the actual anime, but not to this.
It's like childsplay compared. Hehehe.
1500 Words
Also, I just wanna say, this entire fanfiction probably changes characters personalities a lot, because I'm great with plot and writing, but I really need to practice on personalities and characters. I think I'm doing ok, though. Tell me if you have any criticism ( :