Chapter Two
I had to admit, some of the lessons in this class were literally the most interesting I'd ever had. There were a few ordinary lessons dotted in, but there were just as many where we learnt things like how to blend in with your surroundings, how to sneak up on someone, how to see a flaw in a plan and my favourite - how to cause people extreme pain without killing them.
Why weren't all schools like this?
By now, I'd managed to show up to school on time. Usually I'd come in at the latest possible moment so I wouldn't have to suffer from boredom of waiting and end up harassing some poor soul, but I quite enjoyed the conspiratorial plans for future assassination attempts that seemed to be shared most in the moments before class started.
This was one of those moments. The class was huddled up around the guy beside me's desk, so I didn't have to move, choosing to twist my body instead. I was delighted when Nagisa and his little girl buddy came to stand beside me, Nagisa even leaning his little frame against my desk.
"...So to get him alone, someone just needs to approach him with their work, being the great teacher he is, he should be focused on the work, when you trap your arms around him and don't let him go until the bomb detonates." Terasaka exclaims excitedly.
There was silence.
"Yeah, that could work, but it has a major flaw - someone has to die." Isogai rolled his eyes.
"He's right nobody wants to blow themselves up." Someone else agreed, as the crowd begun slimming out.
"W-wait, I'm sure someone will! That person will be the noble sacrifice who saves the world, the main character-like hero, that's the most special title in our class. Fuwa?"
The girl he mentioned eyes sparkled, catching my briefest intrigue before her friend rolled her eyes and dragged her back into the chair, yelling for her to sit down.
"Nice try Terasaka, if it's such an honour why don't you do it yourself?"
"That's different, the genius behind the plan doesn't get both roles, that's just unfair, it's the class I'm considering."
I laughed to myself as people started to mutter, turning myself around as the group dispersed. I just missed the angry glare Terasaka shot Nagisa, but I didn't miss the way the boy tense up, nails suddenly digging into my table, head suddenly down.
I looked up at him in confusion, but when his voice spoke up, loud enough for the class to hear, my blood froze. "I-I'll do it."
The boy's voice triggered many people to turn around and look at him in shock, the class instantly erupting into whispers, some people wondering if that boy had been in the class the whole time.
"Nagisa-" Kayano spoke up, putting her hand on his back, only to have him flinch away, gently taking her wrist and placing it back on the table. I was relieved she had said something, because my voice was uncharacteristically dry.
"I want to do it."
To those who didn't know him, he sounded honest, but to me it couldn't have sounded more forced, as if he were pleading in his head for someone to object.
"There's a good spirit!" Terasaka jeered, placing his hand quite roughly on the boys shoulders and shaking him about proudly.
I closed my eyes, unable to see the boy being gripped so roughly, because I knew that punching the teeth out the mouth of another not-to-be-harmed student would get me thrown right out, away from this job and from a distance where I could no longer be with Nagisa.
Someone...say something.
"Are you sure?" A quiet voice braved.
I blinked open to see Nagisa nodding. The beauty of his blue eyes was wasted on the floor, the symmetry of his features was shamefully invisible when covered by his hair, and the tremble of his arms at his sides where the brute who invented this plan held him told me everything I needed to know to put two and two together.
That morning, I had walked by Terasaka and the rest of his gang crowding around Nagisa, and although I was a bit jealous, I didn't interrupt because the were only saying nice things like how great he was, how he wouldn't regret it. Only now could I piece together what they were referring to. Why else would several boys who had barely noticed his existence before suddenly be amazed by him?
He had been threatened into doing this.
This fact only gave me more reason to beat them senseless, but with that not an option, I was left choking my anger out in words.
"I'll do it instead." I stood up, the heads of the whole class turning as I did, but the only head I watched turn up to meet my gaze was Nagisa's. I gave the startled boy a small smile.
Terasaka looked at me confused, like I had just committed some mind blowing deed that had destroyed his evil plan. My eyes narrowed threateningly in his direction, daring him to make any complaint, he just stuttered "Whatever, you can do it if you want," detaching himself from my Nagisa and stepping back into his seat.
The blue eyed boy looked back at me, once again, where I was expecting relief, I saw nothing but bottomless sadness.
"Karma... you can't."
I raised an eyebrow, but didn't let him press on,"Of course I can."
I was going to die today, huh? I didn't see that coming, but if it meant Nagisa would get to live on, I didn't mind at all. I wasn't sad I wouldn't get to do anything I loved anymore, I wasn't happy that I'd be the one to save the earth. I felt nothing but a terrifyingly calm numb.
"But... you're the new guy, no one wants you to die before we even got to know you, that's just sad!"
I grit my teeth, not quite able to see the girl who had said that since there were so many people drawing in. There was no way I was pointing this out in front of Nagisa, but by saying that, she was basically saying that they had no problem with letting Nagisa die.
"She's right." Nagisa mumbled, his arms were crossed over so his hand played with the loose end of his sleeve nervously.
"Besides," Somebody else added,"No offence but with the amount of times you've tried to deceive Koro-Sensei, I doubt he'd be distracted from you by your work."
Despite my utmost complaints, the class almost unanimously voted that Nagisa would be the one sacrificed. Compared to my own death, this made me feel like there was a supernova happening inside me, with my heart as the origin.
The octopus' head turned up slightly as Nagisa approached him, laying down his work on the table. "I'm having trouble on the last question." He whispered, quietly enough for only the front row to hear, but it seemed the class had gone deathly quiet, eyes rolling up attempting to see, but keeping their heads down so they weren't being too obvious. I had finished my work several minutes ago however, and had been waiting with my arms leaned back behind my head watching. Darkness had been growing in me since that morning. Mainly in the form of anger to the others.
My eyes scrutinised over the unworthy class one more time, noting that while some of their expressions showed the slightest traces of guilt, yet they had still gone ahead with their despicable plan anyway.
I had already made my decision from the moment the class had made theirs. But still, the seconds ticking by as Nagisa stood up had left me on the edge of my seat, sweating whilst trying to appear calm in anticipation.
When Koro-Sensei smiled and opened his mouth to speak, I interrupted him,"I'd get away from Nagisa if I were you. He's got a bomb."
His inflatable looking head turned up in my direction just a second before Nagisa jumped on him, wrapping his arms around him, only to have Koro-Sensei flicker to stand over where I was.
The blue eyed boy looked over in fright, falling with his hands on the desk, the bomb that had been attached to him by a string around his neck now visible to all.
The class gasped, groaning in irritation, some even shooting me looks of distaste and muttering curses. From the corner of my eye, Terasaka slammed his fist into the wall, cursing loudly that I was a traitor to the class.
But then, a black aura emitted from the corner of my eyes, bringing the attention away from me, and back to our friendly, grinning teacher...
A series of loud screams were let out at the ashen monster sprawled out before their eyes. "TRAITOR! THE ONLY TRAITORS IN THIS ROOM ARE THE ONES WHO INFLICT HARM ON THEIR OWN CLASSMATES! YOU SHOULD ALL BE ASHAMED AT DOING SOMETHING SO COWARDLY..."
His lecture went on, none of us daring to attack at that moment. Knowing that who we saw now was not our teacher, but the villainous monster threatening to destroy our planet.
"...IF ANYTHING, YOU SHOULD BE GLAD KARMA DID WHAT HE DID, BECAUSE IF NAGISA WAS HURT I WOULDN'T KNOW HOW TO PUNISH THIS CLASS."
He turned from the trembling class, back to the real victim of this situation, "As for you Nagisa, your own safety is always the first priority, even if others hate you for it, and even if you have to temporarily retre-"
He was cut short when he saw that there was no longer a shocked blunette standing on the table. Koro-sensei looked surprised, but I knew I was the one who was most surprised.
I could always pick out Nagisa first in the crowd, his appearance just always seemed to mesmerise me, drawing my gaze to him, but taking my gaze that was nearly permanently fixated on him off for just long enough to see our teacher, allowed the boy to vanish from every gaze in the class.
My heart was racing, but not nearly as much as I knew it would have been if he hadn't left the bomb on the table in plain sight. The class was no different, and even our teacher looked stunned.
Then out of the blue, a pale hand snaked it's way around our teachers neck, pulling his yellow body backwards as he grabbed ahold of his knife and dragged it across the skin, causing a massive slash to rip across him, a tentacle following suit and dropping to the floor from the very tip of it's joint.
Like a true assassin.
Koro-Sensei whirred away, taking the boys knife in another of his tentacles under a tissue, grinning broadly and flashing as red as my hair, with a circle over his expression as he laughed that signature laugh of his.
Despite his obvious wound, he looked almost as proud as I was.
"Very good Nagisa, I have reason to believe that if you had been more familiar with a knife, I would have been as good as dead by now~"
For once, I wasn't the only one awed into breathlessness by the blunette, the entire classroom of students was silent save for the laughter of the teacher himself. Good. So they were finally seeing some worth in Nagisa's life, I wouldn't have to despise them all anymore - even though I was a little jealous that I would no longer be watching him alone, I was relieved that this was how things should be.
I was walking home down the mountain that evening when I felt the air behind me stir. I turned around, fist bared and ready to kick a serpent or bring an offending human to an end. My fist stopped short of surprised round blue eyes, his pale hair flying about in the chilled breeze.
"Nagisa," I sighed happily, lowering my fist, upset that I hadn't been able to sense him, as well as the fact that was an inch away from hitting him, but proud that he had been so efficient as well as the fact that he was coming to see me.
He nodded, swallowing hard and bringing down his flinched shoulders. He looked up at me, it was all I could do not to drop to my knee's at the sight of him. I bit my lip, hiding the words that echoed in my mind. You're beautiful. You're beautiful. You're so fucking beautiful.
"I wanted to thank you for what you did today. Not just for standing up for me, but for stopping me being killed in the end and for giving me the opening to sneak up on Koro-Sensei. T-Thank you Karma."
He wasn't quite bowing, but he kept his head down and his eyes looking at the floor like a submissive pet. My fingers wanted to extend out, wanted to caress he smooth side of his face and bring his gorgeous gaze to meet mine. But my courage abandoned me, my mind instead choosing to teasingly flick him on the cheek and say,"It's fine Nagisa, just think of me as a body guard to protect you until you finally hit puberty and bulk up."
He winced from my touch, but didn't look deterred, nodding his head before turning to leave. Despite the sweet gesture he had just showed me, seeing his back as he walked away left me feeling somewhat sunken inside.
Okay, I confess...Karma is slightly - and only slightly - Yandere in this.