Disclaimer: I own nothing as usual.
Note: As this story is semi-AU, Koro-sensei and Yukimura-sensei are both alive here, and Koro-sensei is in his human form. The assassination never happened in their last year of junior high, and both teachers are normal staffs at the Kunigaoka high school.
Thank you so much for your reviews! The guest reviewers please at least leave your username so I can properly address my answer to your review here :)
Sugar: Thank you! I hope you will like the later chapters too.
I12Bfree: The senpai's name will be reviewed soon. I'm trying to keep up the suspense as much as possible ;)
Guest1: I hope I could read Indonesian, but I needed to use Google translate in the end ;) Thanks for liking the concept! Please keep reading and commenting :)
Guest2: Thanks for leaving a review! Hope you will like the next chapters also.
Sorry for taking so long to update! Hope you enjoy this chapter.
The afternoon classes went by quite slowly that day, according to Manami, as she could sense the constant stare of her red head classmate on her back. How could he always be first of the class when he never listened to lectures! The chemist absentmindedly thought how unfair it was for people who tried their hardest to get good grades compared to those who didn't work as hard and still got what they want. Akabane-kun seemed to belong to the latter. She was also reminded of the fact that their seats were so close to each other, thus increasing the difficulty of discreetly escaping from him at the end of the day.
Desperate situation called for desperate action. After weighing the pros and cons of each method she could use to escape her predicament, the braided-girl opted for the best one according to her, which was to ask for Akari's help, despite knowing how her black-haired best friend will bombard her with questions about what happened between her and the class delinquent after. Manami flipped through her phone under the table, making sure not to let Koro-sensei and Akabane-kun see what she was doing, and texted her friend.
"Hey Akari-chan." A white text box popped up on the black-haired girl's phone screen.
"Wow Manami-chan! You don't usually text during classes. What happened?" The child actress wasted no time in replying back.
"You're pretty close with Shiota-kun right?" The chemist went straight to the point.
"Uhm, we're just friends that's all. Why?" Akari was glad that Manami couldn't see how blood rushed to her cheeks when she saw who was mentioned by her bespectacled friend.
"Relax. I'm not interested in him at all, you're so obvious Akari-chan ;) I just want you to ask him something for me." The bespectacled girl couldn't help but let out a small smile, knowing full well how her best friend felt for the blue-haired boy.
"Manami-chan, stop teasing me! What do you want me to ask him?"
"I need him to distract Akabane-kun and get him out of the classroom for some minutes when classes end today. I don't want to be caught by him after class because I have some photos to take. I will explain everything in details to you later. Please just make sure that Akabane-kun won't suspect anything."
"Ok, but be prepared for all my questions. I want to know everything that happened! And Akabane-kun of all people! He didn't seem to be interested in any girls until now."
"Got it. Thanks Akari-chan."
"Anything for my best friend! And Manami, be careful of wherever you have to go to take those photos of yours. I know that I've already said so many times, but you have to tell me who this senpai is someday."
"Akari, I..."
"Just know that I'll always be there to listen to anything."
"Thanks Akari. I really appreciate it."
The obsidian-haired girl turned off the screen with a sigh. She remembered how every time Yukiko and she asked Manami about her favorite senpai, the chemist always answered with a shy smile that if they knew who he was they would like him too. However, Akari wasn't fooled at all. She knew Manami long enough to see through her excuse. She also understood that her friend wished to not disclose anything else about her crush, and she respected that, because she knew that Manami always had a good reason to do what she did. All she could do was to be patient and wait for the chemist to open up to her on her own. The child actress just hoped that everything will go well for her best friend in the end and that her feelings towards that senpai were indeed mutual.
She then proceeded to text Nagisa, explaining what Manami told her. The short boy was surprised by the request, but thankfully didn't ask more details about why the class trickster got interested in her friend all of a sudden, because Akari herself wouldn't know the answers. She couldn't wait to get all the juicy details from Manami, maybe they should do a sleepover this coming weekend so that they would have more time to girl talk. As the shortest boy and shortest girl in class finished their conversation, Nagisa turned to his left and flashed a smile at her, making her blush hard and unable to think for some moment. Akari finally shyly smiled back and nodded her head, her face as red as a tomato. Her bowed head made her miss the small blush on the blue-haired boy's face.
Still reeling from the so-called sensation of butterfly in her stomach after seeing his smile, Akari proceeded to text Manami to tell her friend that she got the ok from Nagisa to her request.
The raven-haired girl smiled gingerly when she saw the text message from her friend and replied back to thank her once again. Manami was relieved that Shiota-kun agreed so quickly to what she asked without much question, courtesy of Akari's help. She could only hope now that the blue-haired boy would be able to fool his delinquent friend, temporarily forgetting about the hawk-like eyes on her from the back row.
One of the good things of sitting at the farthest row in the back of the class was that you could observe all the movements of other students sitting in front of you, mused Karma. As his eyes never really left the petite chemist, the young man carefully observed Manami's reaction as she was texting with her phone, as well as his friend Nagisa and that Yukimura girl that Nagisa had a crush on. And when he saw the latter's text message to him about going to get the limited edition one-day-only of Sonic Ninja action figure after class, Karma could already guess what their, or rather her, plan was.
Nice try, Okuda Manami-san, but I'm not backing down on this either.
The best course to take for now was to make her believe that her plan worked, so that she wouldn't think of making another one. Not only she was too stubborn for her own good, the petit girl was pretty resourceful as well. She was able to make both her friend and his friend help her in achieving her goal of getting away from him. He had a feeling that he won't ever get bored watching her, as well as anticipating what she would do next and countering those plans.
"Sure, I'll wait in front of the school gate after class." texted back Karma.
Nagisa was relieved that Karma gave the okay and proceeded to text his crush immediately to tell her the good news, while not thinking twice about why Karma would want to meet at the school gate instead of going to his desk directly when classes would end.
As the bells rang, Manami took a peek behind her and saw that Karma's seat was vacant. Drawing a sigh of relief, she quickly put all her stuffs in her bag to get out of the class and go to the mountain. She stealthily half-ran, half-walked through the wooden corridors leading to the back door of their school building, which no one usually used or went near. As the bespectacled girl was a careful person, she made sure to use the back door to crush any chance of Karma spotting her.
As she neared the door, Manami unconsciously increased her pace even more, arms stretching towards the handle. Just a little bit more and I can finally get away from him!
Instead of being greeted by the sight of green grass, she collided face first with a broad and slightly toned chest. The first thing she saw when she looked up was his smirk.
"Do you think that you can get rid of me that easily, Okuda-san?"
Even if she was beyond shocked at the sight of the red head male in front of her, Manami managed to compose herself quickly and started desperately rummaging in her bag to find some chemical solutions which could somehow help her escape this situation. She refused to stop resisting until the very end. Of all days, why did I have to be out of chloroform today? Manami hastily took out her last smoke bomb that she could find from her bag and threw it between them as fast as possible and proceeded fleeing away to the nearest trail that she could find. She knew that she would never be able to outrun him with her physical condition so she had to give him a disadvantage.
Karma was taken aback about how this girl never failed to surprise him. He has never heard of a first-year high school student being able to make smoke bombs before. He knew that the chemistry-lover usually stayed behind class to do experiments in the school lab, but he didn't think that she was able to make such complex solutions as these.
This girl was too talented for her own good. She was just the perfect partner for me with her chemistry prowess!
Karma couldn't even imagine how many sophisticated pranks he could come up with her help. As soon as his eyes were able to adjust and see through the smoke, he wasted no time and ran to the trail that Manami took.
Meanwhile, the chemist pushed herself to the limit with her running, while slightly berated herself to be so physically unfit. Seeing that she finally managed to lose him, Manami proceeded to keep running a little bit more for good measures. Not noticing a tree branch sticking out in the middle of the trail, she tripped and found herself falling forward quickly. Bracing herself for the pain which never came, she felt instead a familiar broad chest that her face collided with and strong arms wrapped around her small torso. Lifting her head up, Manami realized that it was none other than Karma who was supporting her once again. Unlike the first time though, the distance between them was almost inexistent, as she could hear his steady heartbeat against her ear. The young girl blushed till the point that her face felt hot as she noticed the intimacy between them. He was warm and she couldn't help but feel safe in his arms, no matter how much she tried to deny it. Manami had never been so close to a guy like that before, maybe once with senpai but he was quick to break their contact. Karma, on the other hand, didn't seem to have the intention of letting go of her anytime soon.
She decided to blame it on the blood rushing to her face and head for distracting her. When Manami finally managed to snap out of her reverie and tried to push him back, his grip, firm but gentle, tightened around her even more instead of complying with her request. Clenching her small fists, the raven-haired girl tried hitting his chest slightly to get his attention. She needed to get out of his arms soon, because anymore of this and her madly thumping heart would burst out any second.
Unaware of Manami's inner turmoil, Karma, on the other hand, was distracted by the faint lavender scent from the small girl in his arms. For reasons unknown to him, it felt just right to have her against him like this. She was even more fragile and petite than he imagined. It would take little effort to break her if he wanted to. However, Karma knew better than anyone that despite her fragile appearance, this girl wasn't weak. If any of her little outbursts earlier today was of indication, she was actually stronger than most girls in their class. Even if her physical strength was a bit below average, she made up for it with her quick thinking and chemistry prowess.
He also realized another thing. Aside from his parents, Karma was always on guard with everyone else that he met. His experience with his previous teacher rendered him unable to trust anyone, especially adults. However, with Manami, Karma couldn't detect any hidden intention from her at all. He unconsciously dropped all of his cautiousness around her, thing that he couldn't do with anyone else in their class, even with his long-time friend Nagisa.
Tiny fists pounding on his chest made him snap back to reality, Karma looked down and saw what Manami was trying to do. He finally loosened his arms when he glimpsed how red her face was. As they separated, both of them unconsciously missed the warmth provided by the other. Leaning down to match their eyes' level, Karma put his hand on her forehead to check her temperature.
"Are you alright, Okuda-san? Your face is quite red." teased the young man.
"I-I'm alright. I just n-need some air af-after running too m-much." Manami panted and was relieved that she finally had some space from him, slightly backing herself away to increase their distance.
"If you didn't run away from me in the first place, this wouldn't have happened."
"Why are you here, Akabane-kun? Didn't you go to the Sonic Ninja event today with Shiota-kun?" Manami put her hand over her mouth as soon as those words left, realizing what she has said.
"How would you know? Nagisa told me that just now." smirked Karma with knowing eyes.
"Uhm…Akari-chan told me that Shiota-kun couldn't go home with her today because of that." the chemist silently congratulated herself for being able to come up with a good excuse quickly.
"Nice try for planning to throw me off, but you still have a long way to go before tricking others, Okuda-san. Nagisa and Yukimura-san already admitted everything. It was easy to predict what you were thinking and made Nagisa spilling out the beans. I will come with you today whether you like it or not." Karma couldn't help but laugh at her reaction at his words. Her mouth dropped like a fish, round cheeks flushed with the same color as his hair and huge amethyst orbs widened with anger and surprise. Karma would never admit it out loud, but she looked absolutely adorable when she was mad. He decided that he preferred to see her many vivid expressions like this instead of that calm and withdrawn façade that she usually put on in front of other people.
Even if she was really surprised and frustrated after realizing that he saw through her little scheme, Manami was quickly distracted by his laugh. She couldn't remember hearing such a hearty and boyish laugh from Akabane-kun before, at least when she saw him in the classroom. He didn't even laugh like that while chatting with Shiota-kun and Sugino-kun. She wondered how funny her face must have looked for him to do so. Also, even if Manami really hoped that her plan would work, some part of her already expected that he would see through it, as he had well established his intelligent and scheming mind from all his pranks to their fellow classmates and even to Koro-sensei. She was still a complete novice compared to him when it came to tricking people, as it was definitely not in her nature to do so.
Sighing, the bespectacled girl finally relented, seeing as she had no more alternatives to evade from him. Turning to the nearest trail, Manami proceeded to walk at her pace.
"I-I still think that you have better things to do then hang out with a boring girl like me, but fine. Suit yourself."
"You're the most interesting person that I've met though. And the cat with the heart-shaped mark is this way." said Karma nonchalantly while pointing to the direction opposite from where the raven-haired girl was heading.
"W-What? H-how do you know that?" stuttered Manami while feeling blood rushing once again to her cheeks. She wasn't sure if she was blushing because of embarrassment of going the wrong way or because of his compliment.
"Don't underestimate my information network." smirked the red head lad triumphantly.
It must be his fangirls who gave him the information. "Alright." nodded the chemist while remembering that there were always flocks of girls even from other classes surrounding him during breaks. He ignored all of them though and never took up any of their invitations.
They proceeded to walk in silence, which Manami hoped would last because she was afraid that the more she talked with him, the more he would see through her. He was cunning with words, which she definitely wasn't. He could also make her say things about herself that she didn't want to reveal. After what happened today, the young girl felt like she had no choice but to go through the remaining game with him tacking along, meaning that they would have to spend more time with each other. If everyone had a role to play in life, he would no doubt be a main character, while she would be a minor one, or even a mob character. She didn't mind that at all though, because it let her do things for the game without being noticed. However, with Akabane-kun now tagging along, he would definitely gather more attention and she didn't want that.
"Say…" started Karma, breaking through her intense musing.
"W-What?" Manami mentally berated herself once again for not being able to stop stuttering in front of him.
"What kind of guy is he?"
Songs: If by Kis-My-Ft2 and 「Transfer」by livetune adding Megumi Nakajima
Before you guys kill me with the cliff hanger, please rest assured that the next chapter has already been started and will take less time than this one to be released (hopefully XD).
Please R&R!
