Karma's P.O.V.

They brought me to the hospital to be sure I was really okay. The doc made me stay for two or three days for observation and it was such a pain to do nothing at all. The only thing left for me to kill the time was read books from here.

By now, I have finished seven of them.

Suddenly, someone knocked at my doors. It was probably Nagisa-kun, Nakamura and others. They usually visited at this hour, after school.

"Come in," I managed to get out. My vocal cords were more or less healed (I could talk a bit now) and just by the way, the concussion got better too. Thanks god.

As the doors opened, a stranger came in. It was a middle-aged man in suit with a single case in his right hand. His forehead was wrinkled, probably by stress from work and the chaotical hairdo and rather uneven breathing indicated that he had run at some point. And the probably most important thing-

He was my father.

Despite not seeing him for years, it was easy to recognize him.

I frowned, putting the eight book down. My eyes pierced through his soul, trying to find the reason why the fuck he was here. The man did not utter a single word, just closed the doors and slowly approached me, sittind down on a chair nearby.

"Hi," was the first thing he said.

Hi my ass.

"What do you want?" I cut him off sharply, not giving him any openings. This man was not my family. He was someone who abandoned me. An enemy.

My voice seemed to surprise him. Ah right, the last time he heard me was probably eight years ago when I was still a kid. Even more of a reason and reminder that the man before me meant nothing at all.

"As soon as I... found out what has happened, I came back from America to... to visit."

Ahaha.

What?

I wanted to scream at him. I wanted to get out of the bed, kick him, beat the shit out of him, kill him. I'm sure I would have if the IV drop wasn't blocking my way. For some reason, those words really, really, really pissed me off. No, they enraged me. Such horrible lies. If he cared about me, wouldn't he have come back like years ago?!

I hated him. He was someone I resented even more than that whore of his.

"Go away," the fury and hatred were obvious from my tone. My jaws and fists hurt from the clench as for not losing cool before my foe. No need to provide him with any more weaknesses.

"I know you are angry, but lis-"

"Go away."

"Listen to me,"

"GO AWAY!" I threw the book at him without a second thought. Just a bit later, I regreted doing so - I forgot to look at which page I was.

My voice was raspy, breathing rapid and face probably completly flushed. This was bad, I couldn't be like this. I had to be cold, to maintain the facade. And yet I couldn't. Not after seeing him for the first time in who knows how long. Not after seeing his face which looked genuinely worried. Or hearing his sweet words which surely just wanted to hurt me again.

No way I was going to let that happen.

"Karma, scream at me, throw things at me, do whatever you want. I know I deserve it and am ready to accept the punishment," The man stood up and bowed down, leaving himself completly defenseless.

I could stab him. I could punch him, hit him with a pole or another book. There were so many options to hurt him, to let him feel at least a fraction of my pain. It was so easy.

So why couldn't I move?

He spoke up again: "I have been running away from you and your mom. In America, I searched for any way possible to forget you and then met Cicely. Clinging to her, I thought I would be happy again. Even when your mother died, I tried to convince myself that this was what I wanted. That it was my wish. But it wasn't."

Shut up.

"I realized that the argument we had was meaningless. That we could be happy if I wasn't such a selfish person. And it became so hard to face you or to return to that house which I left behind. What would I say? Would a simple sorry be enough? Of course not."

Shut up.

"Karma, returning to you after all my mistakes was just too painful for me to bear."

Painful?

"I am a coward who ran away."

You call that painful?!

"I blindly kept trusting Cicely because she was the only one who would stay by my side. Never would I even think of what she had been doing to you. She said that she was taking a good care of you so I did not return, believing in her words."

Lies.

Lies. Lies. Lies. Lies. Lies. Lies. Lies. Lies. Lies. Lies. Lies. Lies. Lies. Lies. Lies. Lies. Lies. Lies. Lies. Lies. Lies. Lies. Lies.

He was just a liar.

"But when your teacher told me about your condition, about how much you went through, how badly you suffered, my heart almost stopped. After making so many mistakes, after having hurt you before already, I did it again. I am so sorry."

The man was still keeping his head down. I could silence him. Everything he said were just bluffs, complete nonsense. Even the frustration and regret in the words were just a pretense. He did not care. He did not love. He was a monster.

"I am truly so sorry!"

Enough.

Getring rid of the IV, I jumped out of the bed, landing a punch on his cheek. The old geezer fell down but did not stand up. He finally revealed those eyes which-

-were crying.

"I deserve it. Go on, let it out."

He was giving in. He was at my mercy, accepting the fact that I was dying to kill him.

I gritted my teeth. I wanted to tell him so many things. How much of an asshole he was. How much I wished to pierce him into pieces, cut off his fingers, stab him to death. How much of a traitor he was. My whole existence desired to spit out words of pure wrath. But instead, a completly different thing happened.

"You left me!" It was a desperate cry. "You broke our family, you broke the place we called home! It's all your fault and yet you dare to ask for forgiveness?!"

He widened his eyes in shock.

"Everything could be different if you weren't a fucktard! She would still be alive! I wouldn't be suicidal! I wouldn't have to struggle every day to survive!"

I was hitting him. My arms were still weak but I did my best to make it hurt.

"And now you are standing here, saying how goddamn fucking sorry you are and accepting the blame, confessing yourself to me?! Telling me that you actually loved both of us?! What am I supposed to do? Tell me what in the hell am I supposed to do?! Shrug it off, say "okay" and be all happy go lucky again?! Because it's not fucking okay!"

My legs gave up and I fell to the ground, still sending hits on the man's chest.

"It is not okay!" I repeated as if everything I felt was in those four words. "I'm not okay,"

He took whatever was left of me and pulled it into a hug which made my whole body scream in disgust.

"Let go of me."

Gently, silently, he whispered: "I'm sorry"

Again and again.

Sorry for not being here.

Sorry for not being honest.

Sorry for not giving you love.

Sorry for being a coward.

Sorry for leaving you alone.

Sorry for not protecting you.

Sorry for not being the father you needed.

...

Today I was discharged. After the unexpected meeting yesterday, I got determined to do something before completly throwing away the old, thorny past.

Just a moment ago, I stood before Koro-sensei, Bitch-sensei and Karasuma-sensei, requesting a very strange, dumb and yet important thing. Of course Nakamura and Nagisa were there too, strongly disagreeing, but I took no notice to their words. In the end, I got the permission.

"I know you guys said hospital but... I didn't know you meant the mental hospital," Having been lead to a psychiatry and standing in front of the doors to the building, confusion washed over me.

"Miss Cicely has never had a healthy mind in my opinion and it seems the small warning became the last straw," Koro-sensei in disguise tried to make it appear a little less bad than it was.

Bitch-sensei just crossed her arms: "Basically, she completly lost it. Tch, that filthy scumbag deserved more than that."

Her words made me internally laugh.

My two classmates however weren't in the mood to talk. They were staring at the ground with a slight frown, thinking of the best way to persuade me to go back home.

"Karma-kun, are you sure you want to go there?" Nagisa-kun pulled my sleeve, sending me a worried look. Nakamura didn't say a thing but I could see in her eyes that she would love to lock me in the classroom, far away from the psycho stepmother.

"No," sheepisly, I confessed. His hold got stronger, "but I will. I need to get done with this."

And he let go with a single nod.

I turned at the blond: "Nakamura, don't make that face. It's not like she can harm me now."

She snorted, a grin forming: "It's not like I'm worried about you. I'm just afraid I might kill her as soon as I spot her."

Hah, such a bad lie. Obviously, all she was thinking of right now was me. Considering how perfect I am, it's only understandable.

"Well then, let's go," The yellow octopus said and we entered.

My old geezer's ex-slut was in room 064. I took a deep breath in and pushed the doors, revealing a woman sitting on her bed and biting her nails.

"Hi there, bitch," It was hard to curve the lips into a smile with all the experience still freshly in my memory.

She noticed our presence only then and as soon as she did, her face changed into into excitement when she spotted me.

Abruptly standing up and running towards me, she pulled my blazer and her unfocused gaze met with mine. I could see her desire to hurt me, to steal my dignity and to relief herself from the madness. Both Nakamura and Nagisa-kun were ready to step in but I motioned them to let me deal with it. After all, that was the purpose of my visit.

To graduate from being helpless.

"I am no longer your puppet," firmly, I declared, freeing myself from her hold.

"What are you talking about? Karma, don't you see?" The lunatic had no intention of being brushed off that easily, "I am your mama, your goddess! Without me, you are nothing! Nothing but a worthless brat, a cursed child!"

This time, I said it louder: "I found the reason to live, the people I love and who love me. You have no control over my life anymore and from now on, I am not going to loose sight of what really matters."

The light hair covered half of her face, making her look twice as crazy as she already did: "No, no, no! That can't be! You should be hurting! You know you deserve pain and-"

Before I could even say anything, all four of those who were with me pulled me away from her and Bitch-sensei twisted her hands, Nakamura landing a blow which made her collapse to the ground. Koro-sensei threw off his disguise and as soon as woman noticed, she screamed in horror, recalling whatever it was that sensei did to her, and started crying and slobbering.

She pathetically begged him not to kill her, making a ruckus and hysterically hitting the floor.

"I thought that I would want to beat you till you turned blue. To massacre you. I thought that I would hate you for the rest of my life," I started, looking down on the person. "But just seeing you like this, realizing what a meaningless, awful life you have and will lead, fills me with sheer pity."

Her ugly face widened in shock but I left no space for her to say more. Leaving her room, we made our way out of the building, outside, where fresh air washed away the unwanted memories.

"You okay?" Nakamura asked a little worried.

I stopped in my tracks and turned at my friends which suprised them. Smoothly, without a single hesitance, I wrapped my arms around the two of them, letting my head fall on their shoulder.

And finally, after so many painful years, I smiled for real and truthfully answered:

"Yes, I am okay."