It's a known fact that it can be tricky to get back into the swing of things after an amazing trip. In Nagisa's case, he didn't get much time to readjust to the demands of his normal life. There are always lessons to plan after all, although he managed to take care of all his grading beforehand. He hopes his routine will come back to him soon enough.

Nagisa's also never felt so cold at night, meaning he's a little down on sleep.

Rationally it makes no sense. It's not like he ever used to sleep at Karma's place all the time. In fact, especially on weeknights, it's more inconvenient than anything, since he doesn't just have a supply of clothes there. Going away with him for a few days shouldn't have changed that. Yet… it feels strange without him there.

He still doesn't instantly respond to his message when he checks it on his way home from work, though. Karma's lunch break tends to vary, so they don't always line up with his own. Karma didn't even say anything that warrants a response at all, but Nagisa still finds himself close to just typing 'I miss you'. He's not sure what's stopping him from sending it.

The train jolts all of a sudden, and Nagisa might have actually stumbled over if not for the wall of people blocking him. That's what he gets for not paying attention. He's actually pretty thankful though, as he realises he's actually come to his stop. It's the start of rush hour, so no chance to wallow over his phone screen for much longer.

It's not quite rainy season yet, but the journey between the station and his apartment is met with light downpour. He supposes it's one reason to be glad to be home, at least. Another is that he can concentrate on the few bits of grading he didn't manage to finish during school hours. It's a reasonable enough distraction, the faint hint of rain splashing outside turning out to be soothing.

He's pretty much finished by the time the ache in his stomach is too much to ignore. At times like this, instant ramen would be super convenient, but even in Karma's absence Nagisa would still feel a little bad about it. He sighs, figuring the least he can do is start up his rice cooker and throw something on top of it. It counts as donburi if he says it is.

It is a lot more filling than the ramen would have been, admittedly. It's nothing compared to Karma's cooking though.

A part of him doesn't register the sound of his phone vibrating. He just about manages to grab it in time, though he doesn't have a chance to think much about the lack of caller details. That's not to say he doesn't feel at least a little dread that it might be Bitch Sensei coercing him into babysitting again.

"H-hello?"

An unfamiliar voice sounds through the speaker. "Ah, is this Shiota san?"

For some reason, the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. It's not like he's expecting any sort of call from anyone, which leaves him with an air of seriousness. Especially when it's someone he doesn't think he recognises.

"Yeah, speaking. W-who is this?"

"I should apologise for calling you so suddenly. My name is Nanase Kazuki, I'm- well, it's a little difficult to explain. Essentially, I work for the Ministry of Education, though I'm usually stationed all the way up in Hokkaido," he pauses in what may be a light chuckle, before clearing his throat. "I'm sorry to use your personal phone number, but you appear to be a difficult person to contact! I'm actually in Tokyo for business for a few days, and I have to say your article stirred up a bit of a reaction, I was hoping you wouldn't mind indulging me with lunch. Nothing formal, of course!"

Nagisa's initial emotion is a bit of icy fear shooting through him. He's not getting his license revoked, is he? Logically speaking, that kind of a conversation probably wouldn't be as friendly as this though… But what else would anyone want to talk to him about? Nagisa swallows, realising he does actually need to respond with something.

"O-okay?"

"Great!" He says. "Call me old fashioned, but I much prefer to actually talk. I know it's short notice, but does tomorrow work for you?"

So he has no way of getting out of this.

"I think so," he just about gets out.

"I'll send you the details. Enjoy the rest of your evening."

There's a lot to unpack here. Nagisa just stares at his phone in stunned silence for a minute. Some official just wants to talk to him? That is… well, it dawns on Nagisa that he just agreed to meet a man who called him out of the blue. Isn't that the first rule of stranger danger? Come to think of it, is this standard behaviour?

"Ritsu," he starts. "C-can you help me with something?"

Her cheery avatar pops up on his phone screen. "What do you need?"

Nagisa hesitates for a moment, and then steels himself. "Do you think you can trace the source of the number that just called me?"

Ritsu frowns at first, but it's soon replaced by her usual smiley demeanour. "Give me a few minutes!"

Of course, Nagisa tries to ignore the fact that he may be actively hacking into government property.

True to her word, Ritsu appears on his screen again, even faster than he expected. "The caller is Nanase Kazuki, from a government issued device. Based on the towers pinged, I estimate the location to be roughly here in Roppongi," helpfully she pulls up a map. "Do you need anything else? He didn't have a heavy duty firewall."

By the sounds of it then, he's probably not lying about his identity. That makes Nagisa feel a little bit guilty for asking Ritsu to check though. That, and confused once again. Well, he doesn't actually need to know much more than a confirmation at least.

"No, thank you."

Ritsu throws a peace sign. "Anytime!"

So this Nanase san might be who he says he is, but Nagisa's still not sure why he'd talk to someone like him just because of a small news article. He almost feels like sending Karma a message, to see if this kind of thing is normal. His fingers just hover over the screen, though. Wouldn't that be a little co-dependent of him? It's not like he should need Karma's validation.

And maybe he's a little bit bitter, looking at the last message Karma sent him, which he hasn't responded to yet. Getting dragged to a work thing, see you tomorrow? Nagisa has no idea why it annoys him so much. Maybe it's something to do with the ache in his chest. Fine. He won't ask Karma. It's not like he needs to anyway. Nagisa's adult enough to do a lunch meeting!

…So he asks Nakamura instead.

Of course, given the time difference between England and Japan, he's not expecting an instant response. He even manages to get some sleep in the midst of his tossing and turning. Emphasis on some, though, because despite the luxury of not waking up to his jarring alarm he still doesn't feel all that well rested.

In that state, he kind of forgets his actions before bed the night before, so seeing a message from Nakamura of all people confuses him.

Nakamura: Not my department, but it's not weird. Casual meetings are better than an email thread sometimes.

Nakamura: How come you only ask me fun stuff when you're drunk?

Memory jolted, Nagisa feels a fresh set of nerves start to build. Somehow Nakamura's assessment doesn't make him feel much better. Rather, it paves the way for even more questions. Like what business does a government official have with him directly like this? He still can't quite shake the feeling he's in trouble some way.

He calms down a little bit by the time he actually heads out to this… meeting? Nagisa wouldn't necessarily describe himself as nervous around new people, but this has still set him at least a little on edge. The actual location is at least not too formal, a little closer to a café if anything. It's enough for him to fully steel himself.

"Ah, Nagisa san?"

Nagisa meets the man's eyes. He's middle aged, and wearing a suit, but has a sort of air about him that lends itself away from formality. "N-nice to meet you," he bows.

Well. He's not so threatening. Then again, so was Takaoka at first, back in his 3E days, and the man turned out to be a total psychopath. Nagisa doesn't feel even slightly alerted by anything so far, though. He resigns himself to just keep his wits about him for anything especially unusual. At least he feels okay enough to relax a little bit, though.

"I'm sorry again," Nanase san says, "for bothering you on such short notice."

"It's no trouble," Nagisa responds politely.

By the time they've found seats and placed orders, Nagisa finds himself pretty relaxed. A part of him even wishes he'd brought one of his notebooks with him, because he feels like he could get some pretty good career advice from this. Nanase san has this way of making his words sound interesting, he discovers, which is a critical skill in teaching. Nagisa finds himself hanging onto the details of how he ended up working for the government more by happenstance than intention.

"Of course," Nanase san continues, "I do miss teaching sometimes. Though I haven't done it since the days of the economic crash. I'd like to think there's a lot more hope to go around nowadays…" He smiles gently. "Honestly it's rare I get to hear directly from actual teachers in my position. Ironically I have a lot of influence over policy, but most of what I see is statistics and survey responses. They don't always paint the full picture."

"It must be difficult," Nagisa thinks, "there's probably a lot of different opinions."

"Certainly, though I'm interested to know how you ended up sharing yours."

Nagisa finds himself looking at the table. "It really wasn't my intention. The head teacher wanted me to do the interview in the first place… But the journalist was an old friend of mine. I didn't expect him to talk about all of that in his piece."

"You have to admit it was eye-catching," Nanase san appears to watch him for a response. "Channelling our natural instincts for violence into drive for learning? It's not really done, here."

"It's how my favourite teacher taught us," he admits. "A-and, I wouldn't be the person I am today without it. He helped me figure out how I could choose the life I wanted, rather than what was expected of me. Well, he never told me directly, but he gave me everything I needed to learn it for myself." Nagisa takes a shaky breath. "And I always wanted to be like that."

Nanase san continues to watch him for a moment, to the point it's almost a little unnerving.

"It seems like you're doing pretty well so far. You passed your practical assessments early and in an underperforming school, immediately secured your current position which appeared to have been quite competitive, and your grade improvement rates are enviable."

He flushes. "W-well…"

"Is it all down to this… what did you call it, blood-lust?"

"I'm not sure about that," Nagisa affirms. "It's not like they'd learn anything if I just handed out rubber knives and let them loose. There are ground rules. I don't think I do anything else so differently, though."

Nanase san nods as he speaks. "You'll have faced opposition to the idea, I'm sure. But when I read about it I couldn't stop but wonder if it was replicable." He straightens in his chair. "I wanted to know if it's just you, or if it could become a sort of system."

He shifts in his seat. "Like I said, I didn't invent it. I don't think it's all you need either. I-if you don't end up nurturing that blood-lust carefully enough, it'll probably just end in anarchy."

"Anarchy?" He raises an eyebrow.

"For most children," Nagisa thinks, "a teacher fulfils the role of their authority for a large part of their awake hours. Turning that on its head can be a bit confusing if you don't handle it right, but I think that way you ultimately end up actually earning their respect, rather than prescribing it to them. In my experience my students don't actually care about their grades directly, it's more about their parents, or the idea of being ranked lower than their friends, or even their future prospects. But when they have a weapon to use… that's something they can touch, and that kind of reward is more powerful. The hard part is just challenging that feeling into everything else."

Nanase san looks at him seriously. "Do you think you could demonstrate it?"

For some reason heat rises up Nagisa's face. "W-well…"

"How would you like to try it?" Nanase san says. "Small scale first, naturally. But if you're right, and your results are repeatable, I don't see why this wouldn't become a popular teaching method. You're passionate about this, clearly."

Nagisa doesn't entirely know what to say. Ultimately, Korosensei hadn't exactly intended to teach them in any kind of method, he was just trying to fulfil a promise to Yukimura Aguri. Their ultimate assassination task wasn't by design by any means at all, not to say Korosensei hadn't started utilising it like that… Nagisa's ended up creating his own theory about why it worked so well over the years.

And privately he does think it's more effective than the textbook rote memorisation strategy…

"H-how would I do that?"

Apparently done with his lunch, Nanase san sets aside his cutlery. "You could look at it like a consultancy. Of course, I only have control up in Hokkaido, but the relative remoteness of some locations would be ideal for something experimental… We'd cover your costs, naturally."

Nagisa tries to follow him. "You're offering me… a job?"

He nods. "It would be temporary by nature of course. I've wanted to try a more radical approach as it is for a while now, and I think you have a point. Who better to oversee things than the originator?"

"I really appreciate the offer," it slips from his lips too easily, "but I'm not sure I'm experienced enough for something like this. B-besides, I'm not unhappy in my current job."

Nanase san's lips spread thin. "Shiota san, if I didn't think you were capable of it, I wouldn't have offered. Why else would I have looked into your statistics?" He looks Nagisa intensely in the eye. "We'd be able to offer you something in the region of seven million yearly, to start with."

His mouth falls open.

Nagisa knows it's inappropriate, but he can't help it. In fact, his eyes practically pop out of his skull. That's nearly double what he currently makes. It's probably more than he could hope to make period, outside of possibly some very elite schools… It's not as though Nagisa's never seen that kind of money. He has been, albeit briefly, in control of more money than he had ideas on how to spend it all…

Collectively, their class had chosen to give most of it back. Outside of a few grumbles in the background, it was unanimously agreed. They owed it to Korosensei to use his lessons to make their own way through life, not coast through it with money. Technically speaking, Nagisa owned a third of their old class building, mostly to preserve it and prevent the media vultures. Like the others, he'd also kept some of the winnings to give him a bit of a head start with the rest of his life. That had paid for his education, including high school so his mother couldn't hold it over him. All of that, along with the eyewatering living costs he'd had during university, meant he didn't have much of the government bounty left at all. Given that he lives in Tokyo of all places, his salary only just covers him month to month as it is. And recently, he's been dipping into those 'savings' way more than he'd like to. Given that last minute holiday trips are expensive even with 'budgeting', they're in a pretty bad state.

So this kind of pay rise would be a big deal. And, he thinks, it's not like that's the only thing that matters. He'd actually have the opportunity to make things better for a lot of kids… At least for Nagisa, despite the literal weapon training, school felt like his safest space. Not that he has any desire for anyone else to have somewhat miserable lives at home, but if more kids could feel like he did?

He can't say it doesn't stir something in him.

"I'll do it," he says, and somehow it feels like a ghostly hand reaches into his chest and squeezes.

Nanase san looks happy at least. "That's excellent news! Well, I'm sure you'll understand this will take some time to formalise. I'm presuming you can't easily get out of your contract until April?"

All of a sudden it feels like a lot. "N-no," Nagisa tries to take a deep breath. "I wouldn't want to leave so suddenly, anyway."

Though he can't say he's uncomfortable exactly, he finds it hard to focus fully on the rest of their conversation. Before he knows it, Nanase san walks away with a 'I'll be in touch soon' and Nagisa has no idea what to do with himself. Granted, this is hardly how he expected his day to go. This isn't the kind of thing that just happens, right?

Underneath it all, he feels a buzz of excitement. Tries to remind himself this is a really good thing, like he could positively influence a lot of people. And that's part of what inspired him originally, isn't it? That thought makes him feel happy in a way that's free from other baggage dragging it down. Which is nice?

It feels like he needs to launch it off his chest, like speaking this through aloud will help it make more sense. Who does he even spring this on? Perhaps naturally, Karma comes to mind. He is his boyfriend after all. Surely this is the kind of thing you'd share with your boyfriend. Still, he hesitates. It's not that Nagisa doesn't want to. Karma will be happy for him… proud of him, maybe?

Plus, Nagisa thinks, it'll be nice to be in a more equal position for once. Not that he knows what Karma's exact salary is… What he does know, though, is a lot of his problems are his own making. If Nagisa asked, he has no doubt Karma would pay for most things. He'd already explicitly offered more than a few times. And it's not that Nagisa doesn't appreciate it. He just… doesn't want to receive something he has no way of returning.

At the same time, Nagisa feels a real discomfort at the thought of holding him back somehow. He doesn't want Karma to decide not to do something out of any obligation to him. So this is Nagisa's own doing. Hence why he's been more than flippant with his savings recently… But he can't do that forever.

So. This is good for multiple reasons! He stares at his phone screen though, finding himself unable to string any of this into a sentence. Maybe it's just not the sort of thing you text someone? The thought of that at least somehow possesses him towards the train station, which feels like progress. It doesn't do much to ease him from his feeling though, like there's an itch deep within his chest he just can't get to. Is he forgetting something?

Sure, Karma didn't actually invite him or anything, but Nagisa's a little surprised when he doesn't answer his door. That thought is almost enough to snap him out of it, apparently winning out over whatever desire to just see him possessed him over here in the first place. This is stupid, he thinks, what am I even doing?

"Ah, Nagisa kun?" Karma's neighbour, Hisaishi san, opens her door. "It feels like it's been a long time."

Despite Nagisa finding himself at Karma's place so often, he hasn't actually run into her much. Maybe because their relationship has been considerably more stable… And Nagisa has definitely tried to be a little more considerate given the relatively thin walls between the apartments.

"I'm pretty sure he left a little while ago," she says, motioning Karma's door. "Speaking of which, would you tell him he doesn't need to slam the door so hard every time?"

"I-I'll mention it!"

A smile grows on her face, though she tilts her head. "You seem on edge."

"I'm fine-" he tries to deny at first, but even he can tell his voice raised in pitch at the words. "Weird day."

She hums. "I was just going downstairs to check on my mail. I can listen."

It seems like a better option than standing around outside like a crazed stalker, Nagisa figures.

"I got offered a job," he cracks almost instantly. "I think? I-It's a really good thing, and I ended up accepting it. It just caught me off guard, is all?"

Hisaishi san pauses after taking a step down. "Well, congratulations. What is it?"

It's like opening the floodgates. Nagisa ends up reciting the whole story to her as they walk all the way to the mailing area. It feels good to get the thoughts out of his head at least, and by the time she's sorting through her mail, Hisaishi san appears to be processing the information.

She raises an eyebrow, when Nagisa stops speaking. "In Hokkaido? Ah, I see," her expression turns stoney and she lets out a sigh. "Well, if you can, could you break it to him before 6? The next episode of my favourite drama is airing."

"Why would I-"

The look on her face seems sad, as she sorts through her mailbox. "You're moving to the other side of Japan then, I presume? That's a hard thing to tell someone you care about. That's why you're nervous, isn't it?"

Oh.

Somehow, Nagisa feels like he must have realised that. Maybe it explains why he's been feeling like he's about to explode all day. Because Tokyo is on a completely different island. How long does it take to even get to the southern parts of Hokkaido? Several hours at least… surely? Nagisa hadn't even been thinking.

"Haha, yeah."

How can he un-accept this job?!

If that's what he wants to do. Is it? Moving so far away is definitely something Nagisa should have thought through a bit more before accepting, but the fundamentals are still the same. It's still an amazing job, right? And maybe he and Karma can… he feels a chill race through him. If Nagisa feels like he's going crazy after not seeing Karma for a week, how could he possibly live a plane ride away?

…Is he really going to have to pick?

And there have to be other concerns, right? Something else tying him here? He tries to go through them, as he makes a far quieter return trip with Hisaishi san, but everything comes up blank. Somehow, the thought of letting something go for the sole reason of his boyfriend seems, logically, ridiculous.

Something that sounds like an annoyed yell comes from behind the door, when they return to the right floor.

"Looks like he came back," Hisaishi san says. "Good luck."

Well.

Also, that's mildly concerning? Nagisa knocks on the door, taking the opportunity to dig himself out of his mental spiral as it comes.

"Nagisa?" Karma just stares at him blankly, like he's a phantom. "You're not supposed to be here."

Nagisa blinks. "I-I can leave?"

He corrects his posture. "No- I meant, you didn't say you were coming over. You can come in."

Glancing around his torso, nothing seems out of the ordinary. "You sounded, uhm, stressed?"

Finally Karma sighs dramatically. "No, it's just a video game."

"Ah."

Karma raises an eyebrow. "Well?"

"Right!" Nagisa practically stumbles inside and throws off his shoes like they're hot coals, closing the door behind him. "I'm sorry, I was just-" he squints, "is that Animal Crossing?"

His shoulders stiffen. "I was just checking the daily shop items."

Nagisa keeps looking at the TV though. "I didn't realise it was such an intense game."

Apparently Karma gives up, simply slumping back on the sofa and picking up his controller again. He purposely shifts to the side though, which Nagisa takes as invitation to take his own seat. Sure, Nagisa knows this game exists, but he's never played it himself. He didn't know Karma owned it.

"Look at this!" Karma's character interacts with the two small tanukis. "Do you even know how many turnips I'm wrapped up in. I mean, 43 bells?! It's daylight robbery." Karma groans dramatically. "And it's Saturday afternoon."

"Uhm," admittedly, Nagisa doesn't get it, "is that an issue?"

"They'll rot," he explains. "I have no choice but to take the loss on this one. I'll invest more tomorrow morning."

He tilts his head. "Isn't this a kids' game?" Karma tenses. "N-not that you can't enjoy it!"

Karma's game character exits the shop. "It's not like I play it much or anything…"

Nagisa looks at the TV with scrutiny though. "You've decorated quite a bit?"

Karma just hums, sending his character running around the small town on the screen. Nagisa almost blanches when he sees a field of turnip objects though. There has to be at least a hundred of them… So it seems Karma really wasn't kidding about his investment. There's so much he completely fills out his inventory, and has to make a few trips back and forth. Nagisa watches him silently, allowing the motion to occupy his brain as far as it can.

"So," Karma says, after the last sale is done, "did you just want to hang out or?"

When Nagisa meets his eyes, his heart tumbles down into his stomach. He'd allowed himself to get distracted. This conversation is a lot bigger than he'd originally anticipated, though. The severity of it crashes down on him because Nagisa isn't even sure of the situation himself anymore. He opens his mouth, but his throat is suddenly too dry to form actual words.

"Hey," Karma flicks him on the shoulder, "are you just going to sit there and do a koi impression?"

He's always known communication isn't one of his strong points. And hadn't he been upset with Karma for not just talking to him about his feelings? This feels different, though. Like Nagisa will just do more damage by bringing his half baked thoughts up. No, he needs to figure out where he stands on this first.

"I… wanted to see you?"

Karma looks at him with some sort of odd expression, before clear mischief takes over. "You missed me, didn't you?"

He lets his eyes fall down. It's true, but Karma's just teasing him for it. Nagisa huffs instead, denying him the satisfaction.

"Nagisa~" Karma says again. "I'll get you to admit it~"

Even though he knows better, he takes up taking the bait. "You can try."

Maybe because he's still a little out of it, Karma manages to catch him off guard, fully diving on top of him. Even though Nagisa tries to fend him off, Karma gets his hands under his shirt with near frightening precision, and proceeds to tickle him. Nagisa almost would have preferred a real fight, because this just causes him to shriek as he tries to writhe away. Of course, Karma manages to block his attempts at escape, though the jostling ultimately causes the both of them to fall off the sofa entirely.

Ordinarily Nagisa might have been quicker from this position. Unfortunately he's gasping for breath after the tickling abuse, and Karma can easily react fast enough to pin his arm to the floor. Nagisa doesn't give up immediately, wrapping his legs around Karma's hips to attempt to find the leverage needed for escape. Without actually hurting him though, it's no use.

"Yield?"

Karma's panting lightly above him, eyes alight with mischievous gleam. For a moment, Nagisa doesn't even care anymore, his body humming with a pleasant kind of warmth. Lightly dazed, he takes the opportunity to stare up at Karma's face like he's seriously studying it. Nagisa can't help but be enthralled, even when he's smug like this.

But he's not going down without a fight.

Using his core strength to lean his torso up, he captures Karma's lips. It's effective, he can tell immediately, because Karma's grip on him loosens. It's enough to get his arm free, which he uses to tug Karma down even closer to him, deepening the kiss he feels like he's been waiting for. It's not innocent, though, because Nagisa still wants to win whatever they're fighting over. And if he has to use a few techniques to get him there, he's not opposed. Karma doesn't even try to resist, either. Knowing how right it feels to be like this… it hits him harder than he anticipated.

"Cheating," Karma gets out when they finally separate.

"A-all's fair in love and war?"

Karma looks surprised for a second, then his cheeks darken just a little, before he finally laughs. "If you put it like that."

Nagisa swallows, before relaxing entirely. "…I did miss you, though."

He grins. "Last I checked, I'm right here, so."

Even if making out with Karma on his living room floor wasn't how Nagisa had intended his afternoon to go, he doesn't hesitate throwing himself into it any further. Karma's incredibly good at drowning out the other areas of his brain, and it's just too easy. Nagisa feels blanketed and warm in the best way like this, and that part of him wins out. Maybe, he considers, it wouldn't be such a bad thing to just let himself be happy.