Karma tapped his fingers irritably on his desk as he watched a certain bespectacled girl talk to a certain bespectacled boy. On a daily basis, his poison glasses would greet everyone every morning when she arrived and went straight to the prankster, but today was different. Today, Okuda Manami had spent quite a while talking to Takebayashi and Karma was definitely peeved.

It was about some stupid book on the human body that the usually quiet boy had lent the girl and today, she was ecstatic. Not that Karma was eavesdropping or anything, but he could hear the violet orbed girl thank Takebayashi, saying that she learned so much all because of him. Karma almost snorted because it wasn't with that guy's help. It was the book's. And after that, Takebayashi somehow started a conversation with the girl about the human brain and how it worked, captivating the glasses girl. But Karma was definitely not eavesdropping.

Karma gritted his teeth in irritation. That glasses guy was sure taking up some precious time talking to Manami. Time that should've been spent with talking to the redhead instead. Karma looked at the clock again and cursed under his breath on how much time had already passed. Five. Whole. Minutes. Manami had been talking to some other guy for five minutes. That was 300 seconds. 600 half seconds. The mercury eyed boy had to bite his tongue to hold back his rage.

As Karma decided to give up and try to take a nap, he heard Manami giggle. He almost couldn't believe it. It was usually him that made her laugh and not Takebayashi...or anyone really. Karma sent a spine tingling glare that the glasses boy promptly ignored, seeing that he was too absorbed into his conversation to pick up the deadly aura that Karma was emitting.

"Then see you later Takebayashi-kun," Manami said, smiling as she walked over to Karma. The redhead blinked, realizing that he had missed part of the conversation due to his raging anger.

"'See you later'?" Karma teased, putting on a fake smirk, "Is Okuda-san going on a date with Takebayashi?" Karma nearly punched himself for saying that and wanted to kick himself when he saw the girl blush.

"I-it isn't like that!" denied Manami, waving her hands frantically, "I just asked him something and he said he'd help me with it…" The girl averted her glance to the ever so captivating wood floor.

"What'd you ask him?" asked Karma, faking his casual smile.

"Th-that's a secret," mumbled Manami as Karma nearly snapped his pencil in half. "A-anyways, Karma-kun, are you feeling okay? You're acting kinda…strange today." The girl observed him with curiosity, eyes filled with concern. "Are you sick, Karma-kun?"

"Me? Strange?" asked Karma playfully, "Are you sure that you're not the one acting strange?"

"If you say so Karma-kun," Manami replied suspiciously, "But if you feel sick, make sure to tell me." Karma smiled at her kindness and started to wonder how a guy like him could've befriended such an innocent creature. An angel to be exact.

As the day dragged on, all Karma could think about was the "secret" Manami was keeping from him. 'Could it be a date?' thought Karma, 'But wait, today's Wednesday. Shouldn't she be staying after in the lab with me?" As Karma broke the umpteenth pencil of the day, Manami shot the boy a worried glance only to be reassured by a friendly and playful wave.

Later, Karma waited anxiously in the lab. The girl had told him that she'd be a few minutes late due to that "secret" she wouldn't tell him about. Karma felt oddly frustrated. The girl told him everything and he listened to all of it. Up until now, he thought he was special, but no. Apparently, Takebayashi was secretly a girl stealing, eccentric silent guy that Karma couldn't admit that he was jealous of. He definitely was not jealous. The sound of footsteps and an opening door snapped the mischief maker out of his thoughts.

"Sorry I'm late," panted Manami holding a book in her arms, "I wanted to borrow another book from Takebayashi-kun about the human body."

"It's okay Okuda-san," replied Karma smiling on the outside, "How was your date?" Manami's face turned crimson red.

"I told you it wasn't like that," pouted the girl, "I just wanted to surprise you with something." Karma looked at the girl, confused.

"Eh~ surprise me?" asked Karma, faking amusement, "With what?" Manami placed the book down in front of the boy. It was on the subject of how the human mind worked.

"Takebayashi-kun mentioned something about a book he had at home about how people think so I wanted to show it to Karma-kun so he can…um…find new tactics to manipulate people...?" mumbled Manami, wondering if her wording was…appropriate. Suddenly, Karma started laughing.

"So that was all?" he asked as relief flooded through him, "Thanks Okuda-san." Karma flashed a genuine grin and Manami felt her stomach do a flip flop. As she pondered on why that happened, Karma asked, "You could've stayed longer with him if you wanted." The redhead didn't want to seem overprotective or obsessive even though he resented the actual idea.

"That's because I wanted to spend time with Karma-kun too," pouted Manami, "And…also…Takebayashi-kun said that you'd get j-jealous. Silly, right Karma-kun?"

Karma nodded. Yeah…silly.

A/N: Many #2 Ticonderoga pencils were hurt in the making of this chapter.