Nagisa's P.O.V.

Today we would visit Karma-kun. Koro-sensei had agreed, being worried just like me and Nakamura-san, despite the convincing, carefree speech our friend gave us. No matter what, be it his laziness or love for films, it was strange for him to skip after finally looking so genuinely happy. His smiles weren't fake, there was no desperate or confused mood, all that I saw was relief and the feeling of belonging in his eyes.

Then why would he skip again?

It wasn't right. I called him today but Karma-kun just laughed it off, claiming to be killing time with that new game of his. If I didn't know of the redhead's tendency to lie, I would believe it and not worry. But the very fact that even Nakamura-san was uneasy confirmed my suspicion.

"Nagisa, you are frowning too much," the blonde haired girl remarked, giving me a reassuring smile. She was just as anxious as me but still stayed firm and unhesitating, unlike me. I admired her for that strong character.

"Students, prepare yourselves! I will take off in: three," I closed my eyes to mentally prepare myself.

"two," a deep breath.

"one!" And we flew up. The accelarating always made me feel kind of sick but soon after, the flight would get much more comfortable and we could enjoy the scenery.

Not even ten second later, we arrived at the Akabane mansion. Sensei knocked at Karma-kun's window in a second floor but no one answered. So we opened it ourselves.

"Hello?" I called out as I entered the room. However, there was no trace of my friend.

Nakamura looked at me, puzzled: "He's out?"

Appparently yes. His bed was a mess and the table burried beneath a pile of books combined with some game dics I have never seen. Was the redhead really only playing them these two days?

"Sensei, what do we do now?" I wanted to ask myself but Nakamura-san was faster. "I don't feel very good with the idea of waiting until he returns. We never know what could have happened."

Our teacher scratched his head, thinking: "Indeed, this is such a tricky situation. Then~ what about we ask him?"

Both me and the girl deadpanned, surprised by Koro-sensei's suggestion. We broke into Karma-kun's house just to call him and ask straightforwardly where he was?

Seemed legit.

I took out a phone and dialed his number. After quite a long time, his voice said quietly: "Nagisa-kun?"

"Ah, Karma-kun! What are you doing? I hope you didn't mess around too much, you know that school is important." I decided to rather get to the issue indirectly than to question his whereabouts just like that. If I did, he would be aware of the fact we were in his house and if something was really happening, he would lie again. So this was a good way to find out the truth.

The latter snickered: "Yeah, yeah, sorry. But you can't deny that the lessons are boring."

"Only you find them boring, since you, well, know it all already."

"Haha, can't help it, I'm a genious after all." He put on an amused and cocky tone.

I sighed at that boasting remark and returned to the main purpose of this call: "So? What game is it now?"

"This time it's not a game. You see, I ran out of food so I went to buy some and then I saw this really good bookshop with music and films and stuff so at the moment, I am trying to choose between 'WW3-battle' and 'Demons of the underground'. Though I think I'm gonna buy both of them."

Immediately taking another step, I pretended to be surprised: "Wait, you aren't at home? I just wanted to come." Nakamura-san and Koro-sensei were holding their thumbs (Koro-sensei could do that too?!) up in an approval to my acting skills.

"Huh? Nope, sorry. Won't be till the evening, probably. What about we hang out tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow is Thursday. The classes!" For some reason, I was losing my temper but at least tried to hide it.

Karma-kun let out a breath and I could imagine his annoyed face: "Ah right. Well since I ditched two times already, I guess I will have to come."

Even though everything - his voice, his words, his actions were saying that he was alright, I felt uneasy. I knew that if he was hurt or anything, he would stay home and skip school and think of excuses. However, this time he didn't know of us being here so there was small chance of him lying. And then he himself suggested going to school.

"Okay then. I will see you tomorrow then." And with that, I accepted his 'bye' and ended the call.

Everything was okay. Right?

Karma's P.O.V.

I grinned at the thought of my friends worrying. Was that mean? I didn't mean to make it sound like that, it's just that it feels nice when there are people who care.

And yet I had to decieve them.

Of course I wasn't looking for books or films. Or course I didn't buy groceries.

I was just sitting on a hill with earphones, doing my best to stay away from the sight of anyone I know.

Everything went just as I expected. Nagisa-kun and Nakamura would most likely be able to ignore my absence for a short time. Which means that either today or tomorrow they would come to my house to make sure I was fine. However, if I wasn't there, they would either have to call or wait.

If they called, just right now, all to do was say a sensible reason why I wasn't home. And that would rid me of any suspicion.

If they however decided to stay, I would know the moment I stood in front of the house. The only way in was either through the doors which were locked or by a window in my room which I had open (it didn't matter much since not many people lived there and it was a second storey). If they cracked in, the window would be off the position I put it previously. And I could calculate that precisely just by a single sight.

Either way, I would go back to the class tomorrow. Not going would make it obvious something wasn't right. All to do was be careful so that no one would see my shoulder, back or forearm and head. Hair and clothes would hide that perfectly so the only thing left to worry about was P.E. and Koro-sensei's observant eyes. But I could blame that on being lazy.

Now, wasn't I genius?

Of course not. Genius would find an answer to his problems instead of running away from them.

I had to fight, I knew. It couldn't go on like this anymore. They were waiting for me, they were ready to accept me and I wanted to go back to them. Class E, my friends, my teachers. The ones who haven't lost hope in me yet.

But what could I do? Honestly, I was scared of that woman. It pained me to admit it but my body froze when I saw her sadistic face, my legs turned jelly when she reached her hand out to me and my head spinned like crazy. It got hard to breath, to see, to defend myself.

I didn't get it though - why? I wasn't weak, not even some high school thugs were capable of beating me, dirty tricks and methods were nothing new and using them was my speciality. However, when it came to her, I was nothing. I was a kid, a vulnerable, useless kid waiting to get devoured by a monster.

How was I supposed to fight like that?

Sorry, I'm really depressed right now and it's so hard to keep up with everything so my writing isn't the best. I don't want to trouble you guys with my personal problems so please ignore this.

I just would like to say that I didn't mean to make the stepmom become a rapist. It wasn't even supposed to be rape? She just kissed him - is that also rape? I'm sorry if it sounded like that and made you think 'okay, that was too much'.

About what happened - I provided you with the basic information and let you fantasize about the rest. He is hurt and depressed, again.

Thank you all for the support, you really make the day easier to bear and at least you guys make me smile when everyone else fails.

Bye, Satsuki :)