Chapter Five – Karma

Akabane Karma rolled his eyes for approximately the tenth time that day. He was at lunch with a couple of his officemates. His coworker, Kitamura Miwako had been absentmindedly stirring her coffee when she said, "Have you heard about the assassination?"

Yes, he had heard about the assassination. That's all anyone had talked about all damn morning. He would be absolutely shocked if there was a single person that worked in the Ministry of Defense who hadn't heard about it. The whole department was up in arms about it. They had somehow let a terrorist through national borders and they had no wind of the plan until it was actually executed.

"Of course we have," Morinaga Takuya said, echoing Karma's thoughts, "We've been working on it all day." Karma let a sigh escape his lips. Today was supposed to be an easy day. He had turned in a proposal yesterday, which would have left his day open until he received feedback from his superiors.

"Not all of us have the luxury of walking in at one pm," Karma drawled. She rolled her eyes.

"I'm sorry that someone has to be up to communicate with our Middle Eastern and European offices. So what's been going on?"

"You'll see the chaos when you walk in," Takuya said, "We've already started working on developing an investigation team to see where the holes in security were. We've got another team working on potential impact and another team working on researching potential security holes in the Minister's security detail. It's a total mess."

"Have we got any leads as to who did it?"

"I've got a friend that works down in the holding cells that says they've actually got a guy in custody," Takuya claimed.

"If they have the guy, why hasn't it been reported?" Karma asked.

"I dunno," Takuya shrugged, "Maybe it's someone high up? Someone in the government, maybe? It's also possible that they have the guy on circumstantial evidence and they don't want to reveal they aren't sure they got the right guy."

"Do you think it's someone in the government?" Miwako asked.

"I dunno," Takuya said with a shrug, "I just would love to know why they killed him. What does he know that we don't?"

"It's got to be a Japanese national," Miwako reasoned, "Who else would have the motivation to kill the MEXT? It's not like he deals in anything outside of Japan." A Japanese national, huh? It made sense. The Minister for Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology was not the typical target for assassination, and a political motivation would make the most sense. Although Karma couldn't recall any of his policies as being particularly controversial. He glanced at his watch.

"I've got to go," Karma said, "My team is meeting soon." Takuya and Miwako gave him solemn nods, wishing him the best of luck. This meeting was bound to last for hours, no one was looking forward to it.

This whole affair left a bad taste in Karma's mouth. He didn't care that he had a busy day ahead of him, nor did he even particularly care that a terrorist had flown under the government's radar. Rather, the whole assassin thing…that brought back a lot of bad memories.

"Name," The guard intoned. Karma hated doing this every damn time he left the Ministry.

"Akabane Karma." There was a beep. Vocal recognition passed. He inserted his ID into the slot and placed his hand over the scanner. Another beep. Facial and hand recognition passed. The guard moved to the side, allowing Karma to pass. He grabbed his messenger bag from the x-ray machine and continued onto his office.

Logically, Karma knew that not every single assassin was his friend from high school. Logically, he knew that it was dumb for him to associate the word itself with his friend. Yet, despite all logic, here he was. The whole damn affair was digging up bad memories for him. Memories that he'd rather keep compartmentalized and locked up in his mind.

He logged into his work computer, quickly going over the fifteen e-mails he had received in the last hour. According to internal documents, they did have someone in custody, although there were a lot of questions about whether they would actually indict them. Karma leaned on his hand as he scrolled through the e-mail that very clearly stated that this was confidential over and over again.

"Oi, Akabane-san, the meeting is starting," his boss called.

"Sure, Kawazu-san," Karma responded, grabbing his notebook and logging out of his computer.

Karma sat through the meeting with half-lidded eyes. He offered his opinion whenever he was called upon, but sat with little regard to the situation at hand. Honestly, it was just one guy killed by some insane extremist. All of these planned security measures, pointless. But they had to put up a front for the public and their superiors, so here he was. Stuck in a meeting all day. He tapped his pencil absentmindedly against the table.

Despite himself, his mind began to wander.

Akabane Karma pretended not to notice. The way that Nagisa would disappear after classes, the way he would come back winded for their morning classes. Karma just wished that Nagisa would be honest with them about what he was doing. It wasn't like it wasn't totally obvious to anyone in the class what he was doing…

"Nagisa's been gone a lot often, hasn't he?" Kayano commented one day. Karma clenched his fist.

"Yeah, he has," he said through gritted teeth. She clutched her school bag against her chest.

"He's doing it, isn't he? He's training," she asked quietly.

"What else could he be doing?" Karma responded bitterly. Why did Nagisa have to go off and do things on his own? Let alone, why couldn't he have told his friends? It's not like they would've judged…

"Do you think he's going to follow through with it?"

"If he can start training only a few months after that, he's a lot stronger than any of us," Karma responded. He heard her shuffle next to him.

"Yeah, I guess he is."

Karma would be glad when this whole assassination affair was over, god knows what other memories would resurface in the upcoming months. He released a sigh of relief when his boss finally dismissed the team.

"What're you doing after work today?" Yakuta Mori asked. Karma sighed, looking over some of the files he had been handed.

"I suspect that my evening has already been planned out for me," he said, gathering up the documents. Yakuta laughed.

"Same here, I was hoping to watch the game." He pointed towards his own pile of documents to review. "My wife is not going to be happy." Karma thought of the spaniel that was waiting for him at home.

"Yeah, I understand."

"Anyway, see you bright and early tomorrow, Akabane-kun!" Yakuta said, giving Karma a salute as he left the office.

"Yeah, bright and early," he muttered. Karma shuffled the papers, stuffing them into his briefcase. He didn't mind his job, the long hours and the hard work, it was exactly what he wanted to be doing and where he wanted to be. He walked down the long hallway, opting to avoid the rush at the main elevators. It was bound to be rough around this time of year. It was longer, but not by much.

The briefcase weighed heavily in his hands. Yeah, he would be a lot more at peace when this whole affair was over.

"Halt," a guard called. Karma tilted his head.

"What is it this time, Takahito-san?" This better not be a surprise frisk, especially after how the last one ended…

"Criminal passing through," he said, his voice curt and unusually stiff. It was very unlike the fun-loving guard. Criminal? It couldn't possibly be the assassin, could it? Despite himself, he felt excitement course through his veins. In the distance, he heard the pounding of combat boots against the tile. Lots of combat boots, it was a dangerous criminal, at least. Even better.

"Is it him? The assassin?" Karma asked.

"I don't know," Takahito said with the same serious voice. Akabane Karma peered over his shoulder. The group was slow-moving, but from what he could tell, heavily armed. It is the assassin, it's got to be. The footsteps were growing closer and closer. Time seemed to slow down as the group crossed his path. Karma couldn't immediately see the criminal, given how the soldiers towered above them. He's short, not that impressive. He watched carefully, hoping to just get a glimpse. His breath hitched when the formation broke for just a moment, allowing Karma a look.

The world stopped.

Karma's briefcase clattered to the ground, his whole body frozen. Impossible. Impossible.The criminal turned towards the source of the noise. Blue eyes met brown and Karma felt like he couldn't breathe. IMPOSSIBLE.

The group continued onward, totally oblivious to the fact that Karma's entire world had been turned upside down. Every single memory he had been trying to suppress exploded out of him.

"Hey, we did it!" Nagisa chirped enthusiastically.

"Was there ever any doubt?" Karma said with a smirk, balancing his diploma on his head.

"I dunno, I was pretty sure our teacher wanted to kill you after about a week. I'm surprised she made it through the three years." Karma grinned.

"Hey, why don't we hang out together tomorrow? Just you and me. We can celebrate finally getting out of this shitty school system." For a fraction of a second, a funny look overcame Nagisa's face. Nagisa didn't think he'd notice, but he noticed. He always noticed.

"Sure! Let's do tomorrow," Nagisa agreed with a smile. Karma's heart skipped a beat, as it always did whenever he saw that smile.

He didn't remember picking up his briefcase, pushing the guard to the side, or leaving the building, but it apparently happened. He ran his fingers through his hair. His mind was blank, unsure of what to think. Nagisa was the assassin. Nagisa was the assassin.

But why would Nagisa (oh god it really was him) assassinate the MEXT? How was he caught? The Nagisa he knew was careful and calculating, never careless. There were only rare moments that he showed his vulnerability.

"Nagisa?" Karma whispered. The blue-haired boy stood at his doorway, visibly upset. He hadn't seen Nagisa this upset since his death. Nagisa launched himself at Karma, wrapping his arms around him. Karma reciprocated the gesture and mindlessly drew his fingers through the boy's long hair. Karma didn't notice him start crying or even care. All that mattered was them, right then and there. He looked up, and saw Karasuma in the background. He just gave Karma a nod and turned around.

This had to do with Nagisa's not-so-secret secret assassin training. Really, did Karasuma and Irina really think that 24 trained killers wouldn't notice the way that Nagisa disappeared for days at a time or that their two assassin teachers were still hanging around? They needed to put a lot more effort into their job.

But that didn't matter right now.

Karma gently pulled Nagisa into the house, and closed the door. He was sure Nagisa wouldn't be happy to know that the entire neighborhood had seen breakdown. He slid down to the floor so that he and Nagisa were just on their knees. He wasn't quite sure how long Nagisa's legs would hold on him. They stayed like that for as long as Nagisa needed. When Karma finally felt the tears stopping and the shaking slow, he took a good look at him.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Nagisa shook his head. That was alright. Karma would wait as long as he needed to.

Nagisa had just made his life a lot more complicated.

Shiota Nagisa tapped his fingers against the table. He had been waiting for a solid hour by his estimates for his interrogators. It was an incredibly predictable technique. Make the perp sweat it out until they're ready to spill everything. It might've worked for a common criminal. But he was not a common criminal

It also hadn't escaped his notice that he had yet to be given a meal. They wanted to starve him out, make him desperate. They wanted to make this process as easy for the interrogators as possible. Nagisa wasn't nervous. He'd been trained to withstand a number of interrogation techniques, most of which were intended for the underground. Japanese interrogations? Piece of cake.

Instead, Nagisa's mind wandered back to the conversation he just had with Asano. He was going to be framed for the murder of five cabinet members (Well, four, he did actually kill the MEXT). Asano's network, however big it may be, was probably going to frame it as an attempted take down of the Japanese government. Nagisa snorted. High treason. That was going to be hard to get out of.

Also, was that Karma he had seen on his walk here?

A long, long time ago, Karma had told him that he was on track for a job in the Ministry of Defense once he finished university and red-hair wasn't exactly a staple in Japan. He hadn't missed Karma's shocked and desperate face. He let out a bitter laugh. Of course, the one person he didn't want to see in Japan. Boy, if he got out of here, he would have a lot of explaining to do. There was no way Karma had any doubts about his identity. What he would do with that information, he had no idea.

The door creaked open, throwing Nagisa out of his thoughts.

A large, middle-aged man in a suit entered. Probably a veteran. Behind him stood younger man with dark brown hair. An obvious newbie. Nagisa mockingly saluted them.

"Nice of you to join me. I'm afraid dinner's already gotten cold." The older man didn't even blink, although the younger man was visibly surprised.

"Shiota Nagisa," the older man boomed, "Born the 20th of July in 1998 in the Yamanashi prefecture. Born to Shiota Hiromi and Shiota Ichirou." Nagisa regarded him boredly. Another classic technique. Make the perp feel as though they have no secrets. "Attended Kunugigaoka Middle School and High School. Graduated 23rd in the class. Never showed up for your first semester at Hosei University." Nagisa leaned on his hand.

"Sounds about right."

"Those close to you say that you got a job at an international business consulting firm." He placed one of Nagisa's business cards on the table. "One that does not exist. Police and eyewitness reports show you turning up all over the world for the next eight years. You're wanted by a lot of people, Shiota."

"Tell me something I don't know," Nagisa said. The interrogator wasn't wrong. There were a number of organizations (and a few governments) that would call for his arrest if they linked him to some of these deaths. Hell, the UAE alone would kill him on sight if they recognized him. Nagisa spared a glance at the younger man, who stood somewhat awkwardly against the wall. What's his purpose here?

"Shiota, we have uncovered a number of documents in your hotel room that point to your plans to take down the Japanese government." Planted. "It's some pretty damning evidence." I believe it. Asano was never known for doing things half-assed.

"I was framed," Nagisa said.

"Shiota, we have you at the scene of the crime with illegally smuggled arms. You had, quite literally, a smoking gun. In your hotel room, we found your entire plan to take down the government. All of this will be used as evidence against you. You will spend the rest of your life in jail. If you confess, we can work out a deal. It could keep you from getting the death penalty." Keep me from death penalty? For treason? Unlikely. A blatant lie.

"I'm innocent." Mostly. The older man gestured towards the younger man. The brunette pressed a button on the camera. They were starting the real interrogation now, weren't they? Nagisa regarded them coolly. He stiffened when the older man moved towards him. He roughly grabbed the back of Nagisa's head, pulling his hair. He slammed Nagisa's head against the table. His vision went black for a moment and dizziness took over his vision. He involuntarily coughed.

"Do you really think it matters, Shiota? Do you really think your innocence will endear you to the public?" Nagisa froze. The man's face was inches from his own. "We know you abandoned your friends, and soon the public will know that you killed our Minister for Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Can you imagine the look on your mother's face when she learns who you really are?" The man pulled back on his head, and exposed Nagisa's neck. A move he knew would make the assassin incredibly uncomfortable.

"Imagine the looks on your friend's faces when they realize how you've changed?" Nagisa's grip tightened on the chair. This man was in Asano's camp, he realized slowly. This was pointless. He wouldn't break. "Do you even have friends anymore, Shiota? What a lonely existence you have to live." Nagisa couldn't break his eyes away from the man. He wasn't wrong. It wasn't easy being a lone wolf.

The man smirked. He finally backed off and stepped back to the other side of the table. Nagisa's eyes followed him. "You and your team are going to be doomed to die. Asano-sama will make sure of it." Nagisa almost sighed.

Although…

Team? What team?

He didn't have a good feeling about this.

Karma's thoughts hadn't calmed any since he made it home. He was restless and he couldn't sit for more than a minute before he began pacing again. He slammed his fist against the wall, hoping the pain would take him out of it. He needed to tell someone. He let out a yell, roughly grabbing his keys. He slammed the door behind him, pounding his feet towards an apartment that he rarely visited.

He knocked loudly, not bothering to muffle anything despite the fact it was getting late. He heard swearing and shuffling inside the apartment. Karma probably just interrupted a very serious video game session. Somehow, Karma had a hard time feeling bad for the occupant. After a moment, the door opened. The occupant scowled when he realized who was at the door.

"Shithead, I said never to stop by again after what happened last time," he growled.

"Nice to see you too, Terasaka."

"Look, asshole, I don't know why you're here, but it's getting late. What the hell do you want?" Karma pushed his way into the apartment, ignoring the way Terasaka protested.

"I need to talk to you now," Karma said, urgently. Any further protests died on his lips when he saw the raw desperation and shock on Karma's face. The man scowled and closed the door.

"What is it? Let's make it quick."

"I saw Nagisa," Karma said simply. Terasaka cocked his head, his face momentarily blank.

"Nagisa? From accounting?" he asked dumbly. Karma scowled. His friend was too damn dense.

"No, Shiota Nagisa."

"What?!" He exclaimed, "Shiota Nagisa? What was he doing here? I thought he'd've been long gone or long dead by now."

"He was on his way to interrogation," Karma explained.

"Interrogation?" Terasaka repeated. Realization hit him hard. "Then he was-! Holy shit, dude!"

"He's the guy we have in custody for the assassination," Karma said. Talking this out was helping, his heart was going back to a normal pace.

"Holy shit! I never thought the dude would make it back to Japan, let alone for something like this. Why do you think he did it?"

"What kind of life you do want to live?" Karma asked. Nagisa looked up at him and blinked.

"That's kind of a strange question to ask. Why are you bringing it up now?" Karma carefully regarded Nagisa. It was annoying to pretend like he didn't know that Nagisa was undergoing "secret" assassin training.

"Well, we're graduating soon. Apparently we have to think about our futures now."

"You don't have to if you don't want to," Nagisa teased, "What do you want to do?"

"I apparently need to go to university. I pestered Karasuma repeatedly to get me a job in the Ministry of Defense and he says he'll do what he can once I graduate. I'll be heading to Tokyo University."

"Eh? Really? Though I guess with your scores, you'd blow away the entrance exam. So you still want to be a bureaucrat?"

"Of course," Karma said, "I intend to be senior advisor to the Minister for Defense one day." Nagisa smiled.

"As senior advisor to the Minister, what do you want to do?" Karma blinked. He had never really thought that far.

"I dunno. I'll figure it out when I get there." Nagisa offered him a smile. "What do you want to do anyway?" Karma watched as Nagisa got a far-away look in his eyes. Karma didn't know what that meant but he didn't like it.

"Well, I'd like to do some good in the world," Nagisa said quietly. He stared off into the distance. Karma didn't ask how. He didn't want to know.

"I don't know," Karma admitted quietly, "I don't think he did. It's not something he would do." The Nagisa he knew would never kill people without reason. He wouldn't go after government officials just for fun.

"You don't think he did?" Terasaka repeated, incredulous. "The dude makes a living killing people. He's not exactly the shining beacon of morality." He crossed his arms. "What the hell do you know about him anyway? He's been gone for eight years now, he could've changed for the worse."

"He wouldn't! You didn't know him like I did!"

"Yeah? The same guy that abandoned everyone without a word?" he countered. "Why do you even care, anyway?" Karma scowled. "Just let him be."

"You know why I couldn't do that," Karma hissed. Terasaka rolled his eyes.

"Really? Still? That can't be healthy, dude." He met Karma's glare. "What the hell do you want to do about it anyway?" This was where Karma was stuck. He had the vague makings of a plan in his head, although he doubted Terasaka would be happy to participate. He needed to see Nagisa, he needed to know more. He had so many questions to ask…

He needed more information.

"We need to get more info," he said, "Then we'll figure it out from there."

"No, you'll figure it out from there," Terasaka corrected, "I don't want any part of this." Karma brushed the dismissal off. Terasaka would help whether he liked it or not. It was just how things worked. "What the hell do you even want to do?"

"If we can get an ear into the interrogation– "

"No," Terasaka said, "Besides, the interrogation rooms are unwired. They record the interrogations on physical camcorders, they aren't connected to any system. We would need to get the camcorders and NO, we are not stealing evidence from the government. Especially not the one that signs our paychecks." Karma scowled. "Come up with another idea."

"Can you see who's doing the interrogation and where he's being held?"

"Yes to the first, no to the second."

"Are you sure about that?" Karma leveled Terasaka with a serious stare. Terasaka scowled.

"Maybe, if I do my digging. But you're forgetting, unlike you fucking policy wonks, I have actual work to do. I can't just decide to hack the fucking government just because I fucking feel like it. I have deadlines." He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.

"And outside of work?"

"I am not doing work outside of the office." Terasaka moved from the wall. "Look, I'll get you the names of the interrogators, and I'm doing you a favor doing this, remember that." He opened the door and pushed Karma out, slamming the door behind him.

Well, that went better than expected.

—

Karma sat impatiently in his cubicle the next day. He was desperately awaiting Terasaka's text. In the meantime, he was scouring through headlines, trying to find literally anything about the assassination. Domestic news wasn't reporting anything new and international news was focused on the death of a CEO of some major international children's non-profit. Apparently he had been using volunteers to support a major human trafficking network or something. While interesting, it wasn't what he was looking for. There was an information black out about the finer details of the assassination. Maybe he could sneak down to the police headquarters and try and get some internal documents…

Karma's phone buzzed. He glanced over the screen. 1 Message from Terasaka. Karma quickly unlocked the phone, opening the messaging app. His heart pounded against his ribcage. It had only five words in it. Sakubara Mokichi and Shinozaki Kaoru.

Shinozaki? He was very well known in the Ministry. He was pretty high up on the totem pole in the interrogation department. He had been working for the department for years. They were not taking his crimes lightly. The other name…

Karma frowned. Sakubara Mokichi was an odd choice. Shinozaki normally worked with other senior members of the Ministry. He occasionally taught training sessions, but typically avoided other newbies. Karma wouldn't have even recognized the name if it weren't for Terasaka bitching about the newbies he and the rest of the Personnel Management division were training. According to Terasaka, he was some pretentious kid that held his head too high because he had written a paper on the Art of War like he was soooo intelligent for understanding it.

So what was an annoying newbie doing with a senior member of the interrogation squad? Something was fishy, Karma knew that much.

When he wasn't at a work computer, he was definitely going to do some research on this kid. If he was lucky, he might be able to dig something up. Karma's phone buzzed again. He glanced over, hoping it was a text from Terasaka saying that he had changed his mind on stealing the camera footage from the interrogation room. His heart dropped. It was a news alert.

Suspect in custody for MEXT Assassination

He stared at his phone numbly. The information black-out was coming to an end. If he wanted to get information on Nagisa without seeming suspicious, he needed to act fast.

He twirled a pencil between his finger, thinking. His mind was in overdrive. His mind kept replaying the words that Nagisa had said to him years and years ago. "I'd like to do some good in the world." Karma could barely remember what Nagisa's voice even sounded like now. But everything Nagisa had ever done was for good. Karma couldn't attest to how Nagisa had changed in the last eight years. But Karma's gut told him that his resolve hadn't changed that much.

So where did the assassination of the Minister for Education fit into this? Disagreement over educational policy wasn't enough for a goddamn death order. Karma unlocked his phone, picking the first of many articles that were on the subject. They weren't detailed, only stating that he was found in his office by a secretary. The articles promised that they would be updated as more information became available. Karma scowled. Useless. His phone buzzed again.

1 Message from Terasaka.

I don't want any more involvement in this.

Karma ignored it. If he wanted Terasaka involved, he'd be involved. Something was up and he'd get to the bottom of it.

He owed Nagisa that much.