Strange, Karma mused. Looking at them now, you wouldn't think they were the outcasts of the school, or that they're assassins. They just look . . . normal.
Karma sat in the back of the classroom as he discreetly observed his classmates eat lunch and socialize. Normally, he would disappear into the woods during lunch. He vehemently disliked being around crowds or people his age, so he avoided it whenever possible. Something about mindless chatter of pointless subjects irked him, made his fists itch and his head ache. Not to mention he abhorred discussing himself or (gag) his hobbies. Unfortunately, Karma was confined to the classroom during lunch that day due to the rain which poured outside and sequestered even the most enthusiastic pluviophile[1] indoors.
So Karma sat in isolation, poking idly at his lunch, contemplating whether escaping the noisy classroom was worth the soaked clothes. He had just about decided that it was, in fact, worth the soaked clothes when a bright voice interrupted his rumination.
"Hey, Akabane!"
Karma glanced up, too surprised he heard his name to ignore the call. A blond girl stood before him, mischief lighting up her eyes and her lips pulled upward in sly amusement, which he suspected was at his expense. He reflexively tensed at her sharp gaze, yet outwardly displayed perfect indifference. He vaguely recognized her from roll call - Nakamura, wasn't it? - but he wasn't overly familiar with her personality or mentality. I need to know how she ticks so I can scare her off. I can't have her thinking I want to be friendly with her or anyone else here.
"What do you want?"
"That's kinda harsh! Don't you know how to talk to girls?"
He didn't, but that was beside the point. The girls in his class had avoided him like the plague. Even with his number two ranking, he had been something of an outcast in his class. They had tried to befriend him in the beginning despite his clear apathy towards them all, but they quickly changed their tune after his sudden change in their first year. His twisted personality, his delinquent actions - his intellect and scores were admired, but his violent nature was shunned. Karma had celebrated his newfound peace back then, finally liberated from their constant attempts at conversation. The avoidance of the girls had been a blessing. He had never been interested in them, or anyone else. The very idea of being forced to interact romantically or sexually with anyone, male or female, was enough to send shudders of horror throughout his body. If Nakamura was hoping to get a flustered reaction from him due to her gender, she was going to be sorely disappointed.
"Sorry," he said blandly. "Do you want something?"
She rolled her eyes, but his attitude didn't seem to phase her much. "Actually, there is. See, we've all been talking and we can't agree on what got you sent to Class E. Some think you skipped too many classes, some think you were too lazy with your grades - the list goes on. Anyway, the debate got pretty heated, so we started a betting pool."
Karma's eyes narrowed. "Who's we?"
"Uh, most of the class, I think."
"Okay, so?"
"So," she emphasized, "now all the bets are in! Are you gonna tell us, or what?"
"Or what," he deadpanned.
"Aw, c'mon! I bet ¥1000[2] on this."
"And how is that my problem?" he questioned.
Her smirk grew, and Karma felt a vague sense of foreboding at her next words. "It'll be your problem when I bug you about it until you give in. In between classes, during P.E., all throughout lunch - I'll nag you every chance I get!"
Just the thought of Nakamura hanging around him all day was enough to irritate him. From the little he had observed during lunch, she was the social type. Mindless chatter, teasing, practical jokes - those appeared to be her forte. If she bothered him for as long as she claimed, he would be the victim of the worst kind of torture. His silence wrecked; his solitude destroyed - the very idea made his eye twitch uncomfortably. She's smarter than she looks, he thought grudgingly. She figured out what would annoy me the most by observing my behavior, then made it into a threat to convince me to comply. I'll have to keep an eye on her.
Karma sighed. "You really won't leave me alone about this?"
"Nope!"
"Seriously?"
"Seriously."
"Fine," he grumbled. "But you have to leave me alone after."
"I can do that," she agreed.
"And I want twenty percent of the betting pool."
Blue eyes narrowed at him. "Ten."
"Twenty."
"Fifteen," she countered.
Karma pondered the sum for a minute, then shrugged. "Deal."
It's not like I need money, anyway. Still, it's surprising they're curious about me. I'd hoped just to remain in the background, but that won't be possible if they keep trying to talk to me. Why are they doing that? All my previous classmates left me alone when I made it clear I wanted nothing to do with them. Are these guys oblivious, or do they just not care? Honestly, I can't figure these people out.
"Awesome!" She glanced over her shoulder and called out, "guys! He's gonna tell us!"
Karma watched multiple heads swivel to face his direction, and he felt a slight twitch of discomfort. She really did mean most of the class, didn't she? Dammit, I hate people getting into my business. Well, maybe this will get them to leave me alone. Nobody wants to be friends with the psycho who sent two upperclassmen to the hospital. If I leave out the part about defending a Class E student, then that should be enough to scare them off.
So he sighed loudly and proclaimed to the room in a tone that conveyed his complete disinterest, "I sent two third-years to the hospital at the end of last semester. Apparently, one of them was the top third year honor student, so I got suspended for the rest of the year and booted to Class E. All the other fights I had already gotten into before probably didn't help." He glanced over at Nakamura, his lips stretched into a smirking taunt as he questioned mockingly, "satisfied?"
They gaped at him, eyes expressing both their horror and shock at his nonchalant disregard of violence. The stares left him slightly uneasy, but his mask stayed firmly in place. What were they expecting? Really, this shouldn't be that much of a shock based on my behavior so far. I obviously enjoy fighting - why is being suspended for it such a surprise? Well, maybe it's not the violence, but my complete apathy towards the situation.
"You sent . . . the top student . . . an upperclassman . . . to the hospital?"
That wasn't Nakamura. Mercury eyes searched for the owner of the voice, and to Karma's surprise, it belonged to the average-looking boy - Sugino. He appeared to be completely astonished at Karma's words, and Karma felt a sense of accomplishment at rattling the typically composed guy.
Karma grinned maliciously at him. "That's what I said."
"What did you do?" he questioned.
"Uh," Karma tilted his head back to gaze at the ceiling as he thought. "I think I gave him a concussion and a broken nose. I definitely knocked a few teeth out, and I might have fractured a few ribs . . . And his jaw," Karma added after a beat. "The other one got off easy. He just got a concussion when I knocked him out."
"Ha!" a new voice piped up. This one belonged to the male seated next to him - Terasaka. He appeared to be the perfect mascot for the stereotypical 3-E student - big, obnoxious, and dumb as a brick. Karma had already labelled Terasaka as not a threat when he first laid eyes on him. There was no conniving intelligence behind those eyes, just a playground bully attitude and a disregard for others. Karma relished the thought of putting him in his place, but he had decided to wait until the other did something to really piss him off. It wouldn't do to attack a classmate solely because he irritated Karma. That just wouldn't be fair to Terasaka.
"We're supposed to believe a weakling like you took on two third years?" Terasaka sneered from his desk. "As if!"
Weakling?
The voice in his head giggled savagely. That guy doesn't even know how close he is to the truth! You are weak, aren't you? Wasn't that what otou-san was always saying - you're weak, you need to be stronger, you need to be better. Even a 3-E reject recognizes how pathetic you are! Well? Are you going to let him get away with it? Is that enough of a reason to show him how much of a monster you are?
Karma fought to keep the mania in his eyes, inwardly seething at the dumb brute's taunts. All he wanted to do was slam the idiot's head into the wall, but he managed to restrain himself. If he showed the jab irritated him, then he would only reveal a weakness. Better to portray perfect calm with a hint of madness to serve as a threat than to lose his cool. I won't show you any of my weak spots. I'll observe yours, slowly, and then I'll strike at them all simultaneously. But not now. No, not now. I have to wait. Wait for the perfect time, the perfect moment.
Heads swiveled at the sound of a familiar chortle to see Korosensei entering the classroom, authentic Indian curry clutched in his tentacles. "What are you all so excited about?"
Before any moron could answer him, Karma interrupted. "Nothing." He smiled at his classmates as he stood up from his desk. While the sweet, innocent expression may have fooled any stranger, his countenance conveyed a clear threat - keep your mouths shut or else. "I'll be back in a sec," he said, making his way down the aisle of desks.
"Please return in time for class, Karma!" Korosensei called after him.
Karma waved a hand in acknowledgement, then ducked around the corner of the door and pressed his back against the wall - waiting, listening. In a moment or two, he heard exactly what he suspected when he withdrew from the room.
"Terasaka, Karma did indeed hospitalize two upperclassmen," Korosensei said, much to Karma's agitation. "But he failed to mention that he did so to defend the 3-E student those boys were bullying."
Mercury eyes narrowed in irritation. Shut up, Korosensei! he wanted to yell. Shut up! I don't want them to know about this. I want them to leave me alone. They won't do that if they think I'm some defender of the weak. All they need to know is I beat people up. They don't need to know the why's. The don't even need to know there is a why! I'd rather they think I'm a psycho and avoid me. So shut up!
He remained hidden outside the door as Korosensei continued.
"Karma wasn't suspended because of excessive violence, but rather who he chose to attack and who he was defending." Karma could hear Korosensei's audible sniffle. "What a tragic story! The heroic underdog banished by the corrupt officials for choosing to defend the powerless - how poetic!"
Karma's right eye twitched.
"In fact, most of Karma's transgressions had good reasons behind them. School records say he mainly fought bullies or other offenders[3]. Most students would have been suspended and transferred solely on account of the violence earlier, but Karma was a special case. His teacher was probably hesitant to send the second ranked student to Class E."
Karma was inwardly screaming. Are there no secrets in this class?! No boundaries, no lines, no privacy?! First, you tell them I had a somewhat decent reason for hospitalizing two upperclassmen. Then you tell them all my other violent acts had good reasons behind them. Now you tell them my ranking?! How am I supposed to act like a psycho when you just made me seem like an upstanding guy? I don't want to be an upstanding guy; I don't want to be treated like a potential friend. I want to be left alone, and if showing off my sadistic side gets them to avoid me, I'm perfectly happy to amp up the mania! I can't do that if you go and justify every offense that made me a delinquent! I don't need friends; I don't want friends. Stop trying to help, Korosensei![4]
He glared at the floorboards as the students fell silent. Perhaps they were contemplating Korosensei's words, perhaps they were analyzing Karma's behavior, perhaps they were struggling to reconcile the twisted personality he had shown them with the defender of the weak Korosensei claimed he was - Karma wasn't sure. All he knew, all he thought, was They better not treat me any differently. They better still avoid me. They better leave me alone.
When no one spoke again, he abandoned his hiding spot. Lips twisted in a snarl as he made his out of the Class E building, disregarding the rain and sudden chill on his skin. Karma vaguely realized he had approximately fifteen minutes before class restarted, and he was determined to spend the remainder of that time in solitude. He plunged into the surrounding woods, not sparing a single thought to the mud being splattered on his shoes, or the uncomfortable feeling of his clothes being plastered to his body.
He would rather suffer through a hurricane than be subjected to the stares of his classmates.
Notes:[1] Pluviophile: a lover of rain
[2] ¥1000 is about $10
[3] Please note that these are only the people Karma fought on school grounds. His fights with random delinquents after school are NOT justified in this. In his after school fights, Karma was looking for a fight on purpose. I just needed to clarify that point.
[4] I also need (more like want) to clarify this point. In this chapter, Karma has been in 3-E for maybe two weeks, and he has yet to make friends or interact with anyone. Basically, he's been in complete isolation. Korosensei, the fabulous teacher that he is, noticed that, and is trying to justify Karma's behavior to make his classmates warm up to him. He's concerned about whether Karma has any friends, and is trying to rectify that. Whether he was successful, well, you'll just have to see.
Otou-san: Father