I'm back! So sorry for the late chapter but I will try to update this story once a week or once every two weeks. If it takes me two weeks to update then understand that I am super busy or suffering from a huge writer's block! My finals is in a week and I'm freaking out because there's so much I need to study! T.T Anyway, let's us proceed to the reviews~!

Sparkle9510 : I'm really happy that you love it! For a moment, I was worried that that everyone was OOC but hearing (reading) your review made me relieved! Thanks for the good luck! Now, to continue my studying... *whips out a huge textbook with notes and papers flying everywhere* You will not break me, Study!

Amaya Kuruta : Well in two weeks... tada! You have to read the next chapter to find out! *hides as readers throw tomatoes at me* Well, it was supposed to be this chapter but... *Grins sheepishly* Your welcome and hope you like this chapter also! ^.^

Yhanrah Shinaide : Glad you love it! XD

Zerephel : Just wait until this one chapter I'm gonna write that contain angst all over the place! *laughs manically**readers look at me with a blank face* What?! I think angsty chapters are interesting okay?! *sulks in the corner*

Frwt : The darkness actually means how Nagisa is slowly losing himself in a world where he had to be someone else and his mother controls everything that he did. So sorry for the confusion!

Kearsli : I'm so glad my story encourages you to read more story like this! *celebrates with cake and balloons* Yes! My plan to rule the fanfic world is coming true! Muahahahahaha!

13590anime : First of all, let me just say your profile picture just gave a heart attack for a nanosecond! Akashi having his eyes on me is a nightmare! *shudders* Anyway, here's your update! ^.^

"Nagisa, can you come over here for a moment?"

Instinctively, Nagisa's grip on his pen tighten but he immediately loosened it before he stood up from his desk. Downstairs, Hiromi was waiting for him with a shopping bag. She flashed him a smile when he neared and took out a beautiful blue floral dress that stopped short on his knees with a deep purple lace decorating the hem.

"As soon as I saw this, I knew it was perfect for you, Nagisa! It goes perfectly with your eyes and you will look absolutely beautiful!" she exclaimed as she held the dress in front of Nagisa's frame.

"And it's the perfect size for you! Hurry and wear it! I can't wait to see you in this!"

None-too-gently, she thrusted the fabric onto his hands, as if daring him to refuse. Nagisa was smart enough to quietly take the dress and went into a bathroom to change.

His hands felt heavy as he lifted his cotton T-shirt over his head. His mind felt numb as he took off his pants. He didn't dare to glance himself at the mirror before he hurriedly pulled the dress over his head.

It was suffocating.

He couldn't breathe when he finally mustered enough courage to look at the mirror. The dress was beautiful and true to his mother's words, the dress did bring out his eyes, making them more eye-catching than ever. The dress was soft and silky and was very gentle to the skin but to Nagisa, it was scalding every inch of skin that it touched. His hair that was never in its usual twintails before was now held back into a single ponytail.

Shakily, Nagisa reached out his hand and touched his reflection. In the mirror, he saw his expression crumpled in pain before he lowered his head, his bangs obscuring his eyes.

He couldn't look at himself anymore.

His fingers that were still on the mirror clenched into fists and he shut his eyes.

"Nagisa! What's taking you so long?! Come out NOW!" The impatience and anger were evident her voice.

Reluctantly, Nagisa gathered his shirt and pants in his hands before he pushed the door opened where an angry Hiromi was waiting. But as soon as she took in his appearance, a gleeful smile broke out and she rushed to hug him. He heard a snap before he felt his hair tumbling down onto his shoulders, free of the restraint of the hairband.

"You look beautiful! I'm so proud of you, my perfect daughter," she whispered the last part as she caressed his hair.

When she finally broke away and pulled back slightly to face Nagisa, he flashed her a smile when he saw the anticipation in her eyes.

A smile he knew that would never be real.

"Thank you, mother."

As I saw the delight in those eyes, I could see my world became just a little bit dimmer.

Karma was staring into space as his classmates were shooting non-stop at the grinning yellow octopus who was moving at Mach 20. He ignored the frustrated sighs from his classmates as they failed yet again to kill their teacher. There was an abrupt change of attitude ever since Nagisa's visit. The dark atmosphere had completely disappeared and was replaced by a new enthusiasm and zeal when Nagisa had challenged them.

But the most obvious was Terasaka. It was clear he had taken a blow on his pride since that incident so with every punch, every shot, there was a slight frustration and strain beneath every assassination attempt.

However, Karma was a different story.

Instead of his usual devious attempts, he had not done a single thing to kill his teacher. Unbidden, his thoughts were constantly revolved around a certain teal haired boy. Ever since his meeting with the boy at the main campus, he tried to find out what event would be taken place in 2 weeks' time.

But the only thing he found was that it was the day of that their mock high school entrance results would come out.

His eyes lazily scanned the classroom.

The exam would start in 3 days and Korosensei was trying to cram every single thing in their brains. Fortunately, it wasn't as severe as before since the exam was not too important but it was obvious the class was too distracted in thinking up ways to kill Korosensei.

Karma wondered briefly that Nagisa knew this would happen. He was about to ridicule that thought since this was Nagisa he's thinking about but he suddenly remembered the smile on that day and changed his answer.

Yeah, he knew.

And it was that though that made him banished all ideas he had come up with to find out the truth about the bluenet.

Somehow, he doubted that any plans he was thinking of would actually work on the current Nagisa.

So all he could do was wait until the day came.

"I don't like the new Nagisa."

The sudden statement made everyone turned towards Kayano who must have suddenly said her thoughts out loud from the look of her blushing face. But seeing as the deed had been done, she braved herself to continue her statement and the embarrassment was changed into concern and worry on her face

"I don't know why but his smile looks..." Kayano trailed off but everyone understood it.

There was no word that could describe the chill they experienced when they saw that smile.

Silently, Karma couldn't help but agreed.

Asano was looking around as he felt the tension slowly fading away.

There was little to none people walking around. The serene atmosphere in the park was the reason Asano had come in the first place. For some reason, he was feeling anxious since the end of the mock exams.

Maybe because he had tasted defeat before from Akabane Karma and he was determined not to let history repeat itself.

The feeling felt foreign to him.

Because of his father's upbringing, he had never felt nervous and anxious before since it was always guaranteed that he would secure first place.

But not this time.

He had worked hard despite the exam being trivial. He would not let anyone defeat him ever again.

Just as sudden, his thoughts wondered to a teal haired boy. He had silently observed the boy ever since his transfer day. And Asano couldn't help but notice that he was the only one in class that could rival his determination in studying. When the others went for break, he stayed at his seat and finished the homework the teachers had given them earlier that morning. And when others went home when the bell rang, he would pack his things and went to the library.

Once, Asano decided to see how long Shiota had stayed back. When he did leave, it was already dusk.

Asano furrowed his brows.

Somehow, he could almost feel a tint of desperation when he observed Shiota at the library.

As if he had no choice but to complete those workbooks one by one.

He was broken out of his musings when he saw the object of his thoughts standing a few meters away from him. With a sharp gaze, he watched as the boy wondered aimlessly, seemingly to be in thought.

Asano immediately noticed a small girl rushing towards him with another group of children chasing her. The girl was too absorbed in laughing and running away from her friends to hear their shouts of warning and to notice the oblivious boy that she would crash head on.

On instinct, Asano reacted to shout at the boy but the words died in his throat when right in front of his eyes, Shiota disappeared just moments before the girl could crash into him.

He blinked and realised that Shiota had only moved away from the girl's path and was now watching the children with a calculating look, in contrast of the oblivious look he had shown moments ago. Asano was a little startled when he saw the boy again.

He didn't even see when he moved.

And it was at that moment he saw a black haired woman approaching Shiota. The calculating look immediately vanished and was replaced by a smile.

But to Asano, the smile looked strained.

He let himself be engulfed by a hug from the woman. Although he looked completely relaxed, Asano still noticed how he had clenched his fists until they turned white. When the woman released him, she immediately walked away and he silently followed her.

Close enough to know that he was following her but far enough that she could not immediately reached out to him.

Asano deducted that the woman was in fact, his mother.

So why didn't she looked at all disturbed to see her son wearing the girl's uniform?

For a split second, Asano thought that Nagisa did this for his own sick entertainment and his mother had just played along but he immediately discarded the idea.

He could still vividly remember for a fact that Shiota Nagisa used to wear normal boys' clothes.

His thoughts suddenly remembered what Akabane Karma had told him a few weeks ago after assembly,

"Shiota Nagisa has a secret that not you nor me could fully comprehend."

The memory was still fresh in his mind because at that moment, instead of his usual mischievous or lazy grin, Akabane had turned dead serious with a dark expression.

For some reason, Asano found himself glaring suspiciously at the woman as they both slowly disappeared from his sight.

The class waited in anticipation as Korosensei opened the brown envelope that contained their test results. Truth to be told, none had studied for the exam as seriously as they did during the final second term exams. The challenge from Nagisa kept haunting them, mocking them at the back of their minds and had become their drive to work harder to kill the once human octopus.

And true to their assumptions, their ranks were not as high as before but none had fallen too hard.

"And last but not least, congratulations, Karma-kun! You scored second place with a score of 497 while Asano-kun is in first with a score of 498!" Korosensei announced happily.

Karma bit the fingernail on his thumb in frustration. He could practically imagine the smug look on Asano's face and that irritated him more than anything. And the fact he had lost by a measly one point irked him more than ever.

"Korosensei! What about Nagisa-kun?" Kayano suddenly asked.

Everyone else who finally remembered that Nagisa's name was not called out turned to look at Korosensei expectantly.

"Well..." Korosensei trailed off, mentally debating whether to tell the students or not.

"Hurry up you octopus! We want to know how that stuck up goody-two-shoes scored! I'm not surprised if he didn't get the top 50 considering the time he spent surrounded by those good-for-nothing Class A bastards!" Terasaka sneered. It was obvious that he hadn't forgotten the incident.

There were mix reactions among the students.

Some, like Terasaka, were sneering along with him while others held anger and fury at the jeer. One in particular was emitting a killing aura as he struggled to keep calm.

Nagisa wouldn't want him to beat up the muscle idiot for his sake.

But then again, what he didn't know won't hurt him.

Korosensei realised that if he didn't do anything, there would be a brawl so he quickly made his decision. "Students, please calm down. Now, I'll announce Nagisa-kun's results."

Now, everyone's attention was focused on their teacher.

"Nagisa-kun has been placed second with Karma-kun with a score of 497."

For a moment, nobody said anything.

They blinked.

"What?"

It was Sugino that broke the silence, disbelief colouring his words.

"Nagisa is on par with Karma!"

This time it was Isogai, astonishment clear in his voice but also the admiration and awe.

While all of this happened, none of them realised that a certain red-haired had vanished as soon as Nagisa's results were announced.

So the answer for two weeks were finally answered! Yup! The only reason for the two weeks was because Nagisa was waiting for the results for the examination! On next chapter, Karma confronts Nagisa!

Leave a review on your way out so that I can know your thoughts so far! It will definitely push me to update faster!