Hello! Taking a break to update with this second chapter! :) We have more Gakushuu time in this chapter, as well as Nagisa & Karma. Yuuma, Hiroto and Ren will have their spotlight in the next chapter. :P

Also, that extra information we have on the characters thanks to Roll Book Time and Graduation Album Time is hilarious and it's really fun to dig around trying to find out more about all the characters. (Gakushuu is worried because early baldness seems to run in his mother's family and the secret side of Karma's character made me legit laugh out loud.) XD

Okay, random comment aside, hope you enjoy!

It's only two days after reading the Top 50 list later when Gakushuu sees Akabane with the girl Ren told him about. He recognizes her as Shiota Nagisa, another student of D Class. She has average grades, so she's not someone noteworthy when it comes to academics. He's seen her before, and she has always seemed gentle, nice and friendly. No-one really dislikes her. So it's a bit of a surprise when he sees a girl as calm as her talking to a boy as wild as Akabane. They seem to get along well, though. He overhears a bit of their conversation as he walks through the hallway; they're talking about some fighting video game that is going to come out, and they both seem pretty hyped for it.

"I'm gonna buy it as soon as it comes out, so maybe you could come over to my place so we can play it, Nagisa-chan," Akabane's saying as he walks past them. He's leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets, a posture that annoys Gakushuu, but he doesn't let it show.

"Really?! That's awesome! Thanks, Karma-kun!" Shiota sounds so excited about that. "I would like to have it myself, but there's no way my mom would let…"

Her voice fades into the distance until Gakushuu can't hear it anymore. For some reason, seeing the two together has kind of struck to Gakushuu. They're so different, and yet they seem to like similar things and they seem to get along really well. They're even on first name basis! The only person Gakushuu ever calls by first name is Ren, and even he refers to Gakushuu by last name.

Akabane and Shiota haven't dropped the honorifics, though, so they're probably not dating… Wait. Why should he care if they're dating or not? It's nothing important; he should not bother wasting time on wondering about what Akabane and Shiota's relationship is.

For some reason, however, after that time, he sees Akabane and Shiota everywhere. It's really bothersome, and he's starting to get a bit paranoid, even though he knows there is no way Akabane and Shiota even know what's going inside his head. It's annoying, though. No matter what he's doing, he somehow always catches a glimpse of them.

Buying drinks of the vending machine, studying together, walking together and talking about whatever comes to mind. Sometimes he sees them hanging around with other boys. There was this time he saw them hanging out with Sugino Tomohito, Maehara Hiroto, Isogai Yuuma and Mimura Kouki. (Gakushuu is not sure how that group came to be, but he doesn't particularly care.) Ren is right; Shiota rarely is seen hanging around girls for some reason. She sticks to the boys, and they accept her.

He doesn't know why it bothers him. It's not like he knows Shiota, or Akabane for that matter. It's not like he cares to.

How annoying.

"It wasn't so bad to hang out with other people, see?" Shiota Nagisa smiles at the boy sitting across from her. She doesn't have any club activities today, so she and Karma came to a café together after school.

A couple of months ago, she wouldn't have believed she'd be friends with Akabane Karma. She always kind of admired Karma; his laid back, cool attitude, how he's smart and tough and does whatever he wants. But she never thought he'd look her way ever, so she just hanged out with classmates she got along with and admired him from afar.

It was a complete shock to her when he invited her to watch Sonic Ninja with him. She honestly didn't expect him to acknowledge her. And unlike most people, she wasn't afraid of the rumors surrounding Karma; about him getting into fights and beating up people. After that movie, the two of them have become close friends, and she's really happy about that.

She's still not afraid of Karma. Even though the rumors about him fighting turned out to be true (she's lost count on how many times Karma's gotten into a fight and she just stands there waiting for him to finish beating people up. She doesn't mind; it doesn't bother her like it would most people, and maybe that's one of the reasons she can be friends with Karma in the first place). And he's more open with her than he is with anyone else. She's glad.

Karma is the person she can be herself with. Her mother wants her to be as 'girly' as it can get; care about fashion, wear high heels, go shopping, use make-up, try on different hairstyles. While Nagisa doesn't see a problem with other girls liking fashion and make-up and whatever, it's not something she likes. Unfortunately, her interests are considered too 'boyish' by her mother, who has shouted numerous times during her rages that Nagisa may as well be a boy considering how she acts.

(Nagisa disagrees; just because she's not as interested in fashion and romance and being a wife as her mother is, and the fact she gets along better with boys, doesn't make her less of a girl, but she knows better than to argue back.) With Karma, there's no such thing as 'too girly' or 'too boyish'. She's just Nagisa, and he's just Karma.

She appreciates having a friend like this a lot. She hasn't told Karma about her mother, so he probably has no idea just how much he helps her.

"I dunno, Nagisa-chan. It's pretty stressful, isn'it it~" Karma takes a sip from his strawberry milkshake. "I mean, they're obviously scared of me because of my reputation, so I have to tone it down a little to not freak them out more since they're your friends and it's no fun~"

Nagisa giggles. It is true that it's because of her that they ended up hanging out with Sugino, Maehara, Isogai and Mimura earlier today. See, she met Sugino two weeks ago, when they were both assigned to work on the school's greenhouse. Sugino's in the baseball club, and he is really friendly, so it's easy for him to make friends. He's friends with Maehara, who is in the same class and is friends with Isogai and Mimura, and when Sugino invited her to join, she brought Karma along.

At first, they seemed a little uneasy about Karma being there because of his reputation (except Isogai, because he is an Ikemen), but they seem to like him more now. Nagisa's glad. She knows just how hard it is for Karma to open up to people and despite all of his charisma, while he can perfectly have conversations with people, it's a bit hard for him to make real, close friends (even though he doesn't seem to particularly care; when she commented on it, he said, "But I have Nagisa-chan, and that's enough for me." Nagisa will never openly admit that she couldn't really sleep that night because of her excitement and happiness after hearing Karma say that). So, as his best friend, she thinks she should give a hand.

"I don't think they're afraid of you," she says. "At least, not as much as they were before they knew you. Rumors can be scary; you know?"

Karma shrugs. "Yeah, I guess." He sighs and gives her a small smile. It's not that devil smirk he usually has; it's a genuine smile. "But since you clearly had so much fun with them today, then I guess we could hang out with them a bit more."

Nagisa beams at him, smiling widely. She doesn't care what people think of Karma; he is the best friend she's ever had.

Once again, thank you all for reading! Please leave a review and tell me what you think! If you have an idea whatsoever, like a scene between these characters or other characters, feel free to tell me. If it fits into what I have planned, then I might add it. :)

Until the next update!