11

Karma sat in the middle of them in class.

Terasaka sat on his right. Zumi on his left.

All afternoon, after heading in from P.E., showering, putting back on his regular school uniform, making sure his top two buttons were un-done as usual, he just hated the way a tight collar felt, he was silent.

He hadn't taken a hot shower like the others.

He sat not looking at either one of them, just straight forward, slouching in his desk like he normally did.

Forcibly not staring at anything except either his books, pencil working lead into writing, or Koro Sensei.

Karma felt like this little 'secret' he had been let in on, he was in the middle of it, and what made it worse was that he literally WAS in the middle of it.

His desk separated them in class.

No doubt that if Terasaka had his seat instead of him, that he would of been the one that would of spoken to her first.

Tried to speak to her.

He had to correct himself.

Their meetings, the ones he forced on her, they weren't really conversations.

He hadn't really... learned anything.

She'd been incredibly cold, probably because of that little slip up she had had.

Salmon.

That nickname had came out with such frustration.

He got that he was being frustrating, that was exactly what he wanted. To pull info out... his un-working methods.

Then this past week, he'd just been spouting Terasaka & Zumi comments, trying to get deeper underneath. But instead of cracking more, like an eggshell, she instead clammed up.

His previous statement in his mind, of her...

picking and choosing her battles.

Remained.

When met with upfront confrontation... without a choice, she met it.

But how was she meeting the confrontation of him throwing a mocking Terasaka/Zumi 'sitting in a tree'?

It dawned on him.

I have been giving her choices.

It was mockery, it was an attempt to try to get under her skin, more abrasive than just following her down the path on the mountain/meeting up with her when she didn't want it, but still he offered her a way out.

Even when she had let that unflattering name fly.

He didn't make a move to really 'pin her down'.

Picking and choosing her battles.

He had already realized that she pegged him as not worth her time, and that only made him want to push harder, and he had, but in response she chose to evade him even more.

She'd been silent all week. Cold. Colder than normal. Not even really gracing him with a 'fuck off, go away, shove off.'

It occurred to him, he hadn't heard her voice in nearly 6 days.

He thought it was kind of funny the way she lashed out.

It reminded him so much of Bitch Sensei, like a younger, brunette, more Japanese version.

But now this.

Terasaka.

He liked her?

It was most confusing.

Karma was... not understanding.

He had been using that fake relationship. But it was exactly what it was... fake.

He didn't expect those words to fall out of the lunk's mouth.

Did Terasaka have a thing about tough girls?

Did it matter?

Karma sat, Koro Sensei's voice wavering out of his mind, creating a melancholy of enough atmosphere for him to mentally explore himself.

Does it matter?

He asked himself internally.

She was his project.

Nobody told him what to do.

But Terasaka wasn't telling him what to do.

That information. It had caused his mind in that moment, to just STOP.

It was threatening. The words Terasaka said.

Because that meant, that for the mean time, his charade, it'd have to stop.

Out of respect for Terasaka's feelings.

He wouldn't try to step in front of a classmate's attempt at happiness, if that really was what Terasaka was after.

For some reason though, Karma felt that he knew better.

He knew her better.

He had been the one that watched her watch them.

He did.

Karma did.

I did.

He seen that she had no interest in the guys.

Except Isogai, which he hadn't entirely worked into an equation for him to use as of yet.

But, with this recent information, he might not even get to that.

For now, Karma felt like he had had the door closed on him.

And it was infuriating.

What was just as bad as someone telling him what to do, was someone blocking his fun.

But what was worse was another guy getting in another's guys way when it came to a girl.

He had to follow the 'bro code'.

He didn't want Terasaka unhappy, at the root of it.

And he knew, that if Terasaka said it, the tall dummy was too upfront to be much of a liar, then it must be the truth.

His truth was that he really did... somehow... like her.

Even after she had broke his nose.

It was down right laughable!

But Karma wasn't laughing.

He wasn't doing anything.

He noted:

He was just... put-off.

Put-off as hell.

But he'd stay out of it.

Right now, facing forward was what was best.

He honestly, did find his eyes, without reason, trying to make their way to her side of the classroom.

Kind of habitually.

He'd need to cut that out.

He didn't want to create heat with Terasaka.

If he caught him staring at her, after telling him, what he told him... he wasn't sure what Terasaka would do, but Karma was certain he knew at least, what Terasaka would think.

'Saka would think that he had lied to him, if he caught him looking at her.

The brute was... possessive. Just as much as he was.

Possession.

That word made him feel like some sort of warlock.

A spell caster.

The only spells he wanted to throw were ones where she'd leak info.

He knew then.

That was why.

Put off.

Somehow. His mind. He had been giving her so much of his time, to figure her out.

And had been finding out so little...

That Karma felt attached.

A line had been drawn somewhere.

One that involved a mild form of possession.

He was instantly almost... disappointed in himself.

Why had he not realized that?

Realized where his brain had been going.

Almost.

But it was only almost.

He was okay with feeling possessive, he knew, and had known for a long time, just as feelings of hate, that feeling a sense of possession towards something or someone was natural. An accurate, real feeling, that humans muster, that if fed enough... could grow.

Do I want to feed it?

It was more so that he couldn't... right now.

His line was being cut with scissors.

By Terasaka.

The one thing, the only thing then, that he had a slight inkling towards was that...

She'd turn him away.

Selfishly, then he'd have the chance to either feed or not feed what he felt.

That small, tiny...

"KARMA!" Koro Sensei shouted loudly.

The salmon haired boy's eyes snapped up to him.

"What?!" Karma bellowed. Instantly annoyed.

"I asked, what is the answer to the social output study on page 24."

"Uh." It just came out of his mouth so ajar. That the class, some of them, turned to just look at him.

Karma always had the answer.

But not this time?

"Were you not paying attention?" Koro Sensei asked, his tentacles floating around with three books in them.

"Not really." He responded in a typical suave Karma voice, his go-to.

Koro Sensei blinked abruptly. "Karma-kun, you know how I punish those who don't pay attention right?"

Karma's eyes opened rapidly. He knew.

NO!

He wasn't fast enough! He had tried to jolt from his desk.

In an instant, there was a flash of wind through out the room, and Koro Sensei at mach speed got done in half a second what would have taken a proper hairdresser an hour to accomplish.

That saturated red hair of his. Only a few strands remained on his desk.

"What'd you do?!" Karma stood up balling a fist at the yellow octopus who was up front again with scissors, hair spray and a dust pan of Karma's hair laughing.

"Nurururuju! I gave you a sleek new haircut! You needed one!"

Karma knew he had needed one! It just wasn't on his list of priorities! He also didn't have money. His dad wouldn't give him any.

In a second, the octopus was in his face again with a handheld mirror.

"Oh lookie you Karma! You look so nice!" Someone said, teasing.

The class snickered.

He grabbed the mirror, he had to see what the octopus had done.

He held it up to his face.

It actually... wasn't bad.

He had left it shaggy on the top, obviously he had re-layered it like it had been before, and left his front bangs which the sensei knew he liked. But the octopus had shaved the whole underneath very short.

It looked.

It looked.

"This isn't Attack on Titan!" He exclaimed.

"But it looks so good on you Karma-kun! Don't you agree class?!"

Everyone started laughing.

He turned the mirror to look at the sides that he been precisely feathered into the back.

Koro Sensei had done a fine job, even if he wasn't sold on the Levi look.

That was when he seen it.

Her eyes, those gray ones, staring at him, using the mirror to do it, to see the expression on his face obviously.

Smiling eyes. Ones filled with entertainment... in his misfortune.

How cold. How ugly was the feeling he knew was behind those overcast orbs.

He knew she was laughing at him internally.

She had finally seen... what really got under his collar: The ridiculous 'punishments' Koro Sensei did, and he only did it to him! Because he knew that Koro Sensei knew it embarassed the shit out of him.

He knew right now, his cheeks were a shade of light pink.

Koro Sensei's punishment for not paying attention.

That's right, get a kick out of this.

His eyes met hers, it was the only contact they'd held all week.

It made him...

It made him...

All of it... made him mad.

That's when he knew, with his face dawning an embarrassing shade of red... for a number of reasons, and her staring up at him with a silent, amused look.

His lids narrowed.

She was his to figure out.