Chapter Nine – Plan Execution

"Terasaka Ryoma plus one guest," Terasaka spoke as he inserted his ID. The security system beeped. Vocal recognition passed. He placed his hand on the scanner. Another beep. Handprint recognized. He stepped forward. The security officer was already pulling out a guest pass.

"May I see your guest's ID?" He watched Itona fish in his bag before pulling out a worn looking wallet. He handed his driver's license over to the guard.

"Horibe Itona," the guard read, "Strange name." Itona shrugged, he got that a lot. Terasaka tapped his foot impatiently. He and Karma had thought about using fake names for Itona and Okajima, but it would take too much time to forge an ID for the two. It was more important for everyone else to look genuine. Besides, he'd be erasing their data before anyone could closely examine their origins. With the hundreds of employees that brought guests every day, why would Okajima and Itona stand out? The guard looked over the ID carefully, glancing up and down a couple of times. He handed the card back over and reached to activate a temporary pass.

"This will allow you onto the eighth floor to HR with Terasaka-san and give you access to our employee lounge on the second floor. It will not work anywhere else and you will be expected to sign it out when you leave." Itona nodded. He shoved his wallet back down in the depths of his bag and pinned the badge onto his shirt pocket. He walked closely behind Terasaka, his eyes wandering everywhere.

"It's big," he said.

"Of course it is, we're becoming one of the biggest ministries," Terasaka said. He could rattle off facts about the growth of the ministry, just one of the many perks of working in HR. He should look into transferring somewhere else. Maybe into the Bureau of Operational Policy? That was sure to be a lot more interesting.

"Why?" Itona asked.

"Why what?"

"Why is the Ministry of Defense becoming one of the biggest ministries?" Terasaka frowned.

"I dunno, I guess because it does a lot of things?" He had never really thought about it. Either way, it wasn't particularly important. Right now, they needed to focus on their mission and just their mission. They couldn't afford to be distracted by anything right now. He and Itona had to get up his computer to add in fictional personnel files to validate Team B's identities and delete Itona and Okajima's visitor records. In about an hour, Karma and Okajima would go in and begin their work on the cameras.

He still couldn't believe he had been roped into doing this.

Terasaka sat in his freshly pressed shirt, tie, and trousers. His shoes were polished, and his hair was less of a wild mess than usual. Today was the first official day on the job, he had gone all out. He sat in a conference room, awaiting the other trainees and their HR director. He heard the door open behind him.

"Oh ho! Is that who I think it is?" an annoyingly familiar voice crooned over him. Terasaka scowled.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he asked, pushing Karma away.

"Read the badge, I work here." Terasaka spared a glance at the ID. Really? Here he was hoping he could begin a respectable life as a government employee, and now Karma was here to ruin that.

"How the hell did you get a job here?" Terasaka had an idea already. From what he had heard from Muramatsu and Itona, Karasuma had offered jobs to all of their classmates post-graduation. He just didn't know who had actually accepted.

"Same way you got yours." Karma said, sliding onto the bench next to him. Terasaka would have thought (and hoped) that he would learn personal space in college. He was wrong.

"Karasuma?"

"Of course. Where did you end up?" Terasaka sighed.

"Bureau of Personnel Management. You?"

"Bureau of Defense Policy." Terasaka blinked. He must have heard that wrong.

"Defense policy?" He scanned Karma's face for any trace of a lie. "Who the hell had the brilliant idea to put you there?" Karma just gave him that insufferable grin. Terasaka suspected that his job was not going to be as low key as he wanted. Though maybe since they were in different divisions, perhaps they wouldn't see each other that often….?

Hopefully…

Not likely.

"This is your office?" Itona asked.

"Yeah," Terasaka said as he sat down at his chair. It was a Sunday, so there were very few people in the office. Only a few very dedicated to their jobs (and their overtime paychecks) were in.

"Yo! Terasaka! Unusual to see you here on Sunday!" a nearby co-worker greeted.

"Hey, Katashi," Terasaka greeted weakly. Act normal, like you're not going to break out a high security criminal. "Working hard?"

"You know it! Gotta get away from the house, y'know?" He tilted his head. "Who's this?"

"An old friend of mine, Horibe Itona. He's some kind of computer genius, so I thought I'd bring him in to take a look at mine. You know how it's been acting up in the last month."

"Nice to meet you, Horibe-san!" he greeted. Itona gave him a small wave. "You know we have people in IT to do things like that?"

"Since when has tech done anything well?" Katashi laughed.

"True that!" He agreed. "Oh, did you see the news? About that dude that tried taking down the government?"

"What news?"

"Dude's being officially charged with treason. He's been indicted and everything!" Terasaka kept his face straight. He didn't need to be reminded of what they had to lose if they were caught. Treason held the penalty of death. Helping break someone out who had committed treason was treason. He clenched his fist. Why did he let Karma talk him into this?

"Treason?" Terasaka repeated, "That's a pretty hefty charge."

"Could you expect anything less? Dude killed a lot of super important people."

"Terasaka," Itona interrupted, "Can you log in?"

"Ah, I should get back to work, good luck with your computer." Terasaka waved him off as he leaned down to enter his username and password. Moments later, the computer loaded the Ministry of Defense's intranet system.

"Do you need anything else?" Terasaka whispered to Itona. He had just given him access to the department-wide file system. The white-haired man looked up at him.

"No," he said, "This'll be enough."

"Geez, I knew security would be harsh in the Ministry, but I didn't realize it'd be that thorough!" Okajima exclaimed. Annoyance flickered in Karma's eyes. Maybe he should've reconsidered bringing Okajima…

"The government is on high alert after Nagisa," Karma explained, "It's only natural that they'd want to frisk you."

"Did they have to though!?" Karma rolled his eyes. He didn't bother letting Okajima know that if he wasn't acting so suspiciously they wouldn't have this problem. He pushed open the door to the stairwell. They would need to take the long way up to get to Terasaka's floor. Thankfully, it was only a few flights up.

"Do you really think we're going to be able to do this?" Okajima muttered.

"Hmm?" Karma said, "Of course I do, I wouldn't be here if I thought we'd fail."

"What're you gonna do when you see Nagisa?" he asked.

"I'll figure it out when I see him."

"Have you thought of anything cool to say when you see him? Like 'Come with us, Nagisa, we're here to save you' or 'It's been a long time, Nagisa.'" Karma rolled his eyes. He was really beginning to regret putting Okajima on his team…

"Life isn't a movie, you know that right, Okajima?"

"Yeah, but we're basically pulling an Ocean's Eleven right now, we're basically living a movie right now. It's not like we haven't done crazy shit before either. You should figure something out," Okajima decided. Karma pushed open the door to Terasaka's floor. Okajima wasn't entirely wrong, Karma did have an idea of what he wanted to do when he saw Nagisa. It was something he should've done years ago.

"Oh, you guys are here already," Terasaka said. He gestured for them to walk in, "Everyone's left the office now, so we're clear."

"Good, let's get started," Karma said, "Okajima, it's all yours." The aforementioned man cracked his knuckles. He pulled a chair from a nearby cubicle and took a seat next to Itona.

"What'd you managed to do?"

"I've planted the false profiles and added Nakamura and Kayano to the list of public defenders," Itona explained, "I added an appointment for Nagisa to meet with his defender later tonight. We have about an hour and a half." Karma nodded, if Okajima could get into the camera system, then he could move freely. "I'm all done on my part." Itona swiveled back to the computer, bringing up another window. "I've started getting into the camera network, what do you think?" Okajima leaned over the white-haired man, his brows knitted together. It looked like nonsense to Karma, but then again, there was a reason he had put a team together.

"It's a tight system," Okajima concluded, "It's a lot more intense than anything I've ever seen."

"Just how often have you done this?" Terasaka mumbled.

"Hey, celebrity sex tapes are not going to release themselves."

"Do celebrities really keep cameras in their bedroom?" Karma wondered aloud. Okajima chuckled to himself.

"It's not in the bedroom they're doing it," he said knowingly. Karma and Terasaka rolled their eyes.

"I'm starting to see why you're being called Celebrity Public Enemy Number 1," Terasaka said.

"They can't ever prove it's me," Okajima bragged, "I'm too good to get caught."

"You should be glad none of the girls are here right now," Itona commented. Okajima shivered, he agreed wholeheartedly.

"So, can you get into it?" Karma asked urgently, "We're kind of on a time limit."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Okajima said. His eyes scanned the computer screen. He scanned the nonsense with trained eyes, and typed furiously into the system, trying to find any backdoor. Every single attempt he made was thwarted with an ACCESS DENIED screen or an error message. The minutes ticked by, and Karma felt himself becoming more and more impatient. Forty of them had already gone by, a little less than half of their time was gone. Okajima bit his lip and feverishly focused on the screen. Itona stood over him.

"Can you get in?" Karma repeated, for what was probably the fifteenth time. Time was ticking. Nagisa was going to be moved, and it was going to be soon. Team B needed to be the ones to move him.

"Yeah, why don't you sit your ass down in this chair and do it for me?" Okajima snapped.

"Have you tried the X311 Protocol?" Itona asked. Okajima snorted.

"As if the Ministry of Defense would have such an obvious security hole," Okajima dismissed. Itona tilted his head. He leaned over the desk.

"But look, the coding there, it's out of place," he said. Okajima stopped, leaning into examine the screen.

"God damn, you're right," he said, "Shit, even celebrities have that hole patched." Karma was relieved. "And you guys are supposed to be like a fortress."

"Yeah, yeah, we'll tell IT about it tomorrow, but can you hurry it up?" Terasaka muttered.

"Don't get your panties in a knot," Okajima said, typing into the computer. Karma's heart leapt when he realized what he was seeing. The views from each of the 100 plus cameras in the Ministry flashed on the screen. Okajima cracked his knuckles. "Now for the real work."

"Can you give us a shot of the cells?" Terasaka asked.

"Sure, sure," he said, rapidly clicking through the screens. He wasn't familiar with the system or the building, so he kept switching through very similar hallways. He stopped when he got to a very familiar looking office.

"Woah," Okajima said. Terasaka went a little pale and turned around.

"I didn't realize they had a camera in here," he said weakly. Karma rolled his eyes, no doubt Terasaka was thinking of all of the games he had been playing on his work computer. Okajima continued to flip through the cameras, flashing through numerous hallways and offices. They couldn't tear their eyes away as Okajima meticulously went through every screen. Karma's breath hitched. Okajima stopped, staring at the screen. They were in the holding cells.

"We're almost there," he muttered.

"Which one do you think is his cell?" Itona asked. Karma shrugged, he had no idea. He worked in an entirely different department, he knew very little of how the procedures of the holding cells worked. Slowly, Okajima flipped from camera to camera. Empty cell, empty cell, some unknown man, another unknown man, empty cell, Nagisa. Karma's heart leapt. It was him.

"Woah," Okajima said, letting out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding.

"It's him," Itona whispered.

It was bizarre. Karma had wondered what his old friend had been up to so many times now, it was utterly surreal to see him just sitting there, still and calm. He's here. He's really here. All things considered, he didn't look like he had spent the last eight years making a living off of killing people. It looked like his blue hair had dulled, probably with streaks of gray from the stress. His face, his posture, it was all the same. It was him. Karma willed Nagisa to look up, he wanted to see those blue eyes again. He needed to confirm something.

But Nagisa wasn't psychic. He wasn't going to react to Karma's will.

"I gotta set up the camera loop," Okajima said, forcibly minimizing the screen. "Which hallways did we need the loop for?"

"We need it for the hallway outside this office, the stairwells, and the back entrance."

"Give me levels."

"Ground, 8th, and 6th," Karma said.

"Gotcha," he said, clicking through the pages of camera screens. Karma watched as Okajima went into the program, clicking around and typing things in that Karma couldn't hope to understand. He waited with baited breath for the confirmation that they could head over to interrogation. The seconds ticked by. Karma dug his nails into the chair. C'mon, c'mon, we're on a time limit. Okajima let out a breath. "We're good."

"Team B, are you in position?" Terasaka asked, breaking their mandated radio silence.

"Yes," Isogai said.

"Team C, are you ready?" Karma called over the radio.

"Yes," Nakamura intoned, "We're ready to head in once you give the signal."

"Good, I'll give you the signal soon."

"Standing by." Karma gave Itona, Terasaka, and Okajima a salute before exiting the office. He threw the door to the stairwell open, bolting down the stairs. He descended, taking the curves and turns with ease. Less than five minutes later, he was on the ground floor. He breathed heavily as the run took its toll on him (he wasn't as fit as he used to be, maybe he should start working out?). He hugged the walls as he made his way to the emergency exit. A long time ago, it had been alarmed, but no one had bothered to replace it after the battery died. Karma had been using it as a secret exit for a long time now.

He pushed it open, allowing four familiar faces to pop in.

"There you are!" Okano exclaimed, "We thought you had gotten lost!" He could sense the relief in her voice. He pushed the door open wider, allowing the disguised group through. Damn, Sugaya wasn't half-hearted with their disguises. He didn't know what kind of make-up magic he had worked, but they didn't look anything like themselves. Isogai looked like some kind of macho man, and Maehara appeared about ten years older. Megu and Okano both looked like they had come straight out of a war film.

"Are we ready?" Karma asked seriously. They sobered up instantly. They were all at attention.

"Yes," Isogai said, "We're ready." Karma nodded.

"You're on your own from this point on. You know what to do and where to go?"

"Yes," Maehara insisted, "We studied those maps for hours. We know what we're doing." Karma met their determined eyes. They wanted in and out, so that they could move on.

"Be at the holding cells, wait for our commander to unlock the door and escort Nagisa to the private rooms, once there, distract him by any means necessary," Okano repeated. Karma nodded.

"I trust you," he said. I'm relying on you. "Nagisa is set to meet with his lawyer in forty minutes. His jail cell is set to automatically unlock in 25. You need to be there when that happens."

"Understood," Kataoka said.

"Alright guys, let's go."

"Tamura Masae," Nakamura intoned at the guard, sliding her ID to him, "I'm here to meet with a prisoner. I'm his legal counsel."

"Shimakage Sen," Kayano said, "I'm Masae-san's assistant." She pushed her glasses up and gave the guard a kind smile.

"Masae-san," he repeated, "It's unusual for lawyers to arrive this late at night." Rio let out a dramatic sigh.

"Yeah, I'd much rather be at home, making dinner right now. But I've got a case that can't quite wait." The guard's eyes widened in realization.

"Are you the lawyer taking on the Shiota case?"

"Ah, we'd really rather not make a spectacle of it," Kayano said, lowering her voice, "We'd prefer to stay quiet for now." The guard recovered.

"I understand," he said with a nod. He turned back to his computer screen, looking over the data. Nakamura felt her heart race as he scrolled through the information. They should be in the system, Itona had assured them that they were in the system. If they got caught now… They waited with baited breath as the system slowly loaded.

Loading.

Loading…

"Alright, everything checks out," he confirmed as the screen brought up their profiles. Nakamura barely kept herself from releasing a breath of relief. He reached behind the desk and pulled out two guest passes. "Kotoku-san will escort you to the sixth floor."

The security guard gave them a wave. She gave the man a short bow. "Thank you. Hopefully we'll see you again soon enough."

"Good luck," he said. She and Kayano shared a look as they followed the dark-haired guard to the elevator.

"I haven't see you guys around before," he commented, "Are you new?"

"Yes," Nakamura lied, "I recently signed on at the public defender's office after a few years at a private firm. I wanted to do some good, you know?"

"That's very noble of you. Is this your first case as a public defender?" Nakamura laughed.

"Oh no, of course not. I've defended a few minor offenses, you know, drunk and disorderly, a couple of car accidents, the works. This is the first big case I've had." The man snorted.

"Good luck, the guy is as guilty as sin," Kotoku muttered. Kayano bristled and Nakamura gave him a hard look.

"Why don't we let the courts decide that?" Kayano intoned. Kotoku was thrown off, but recovered relatively quickly. Nakamura mentally memorized the route. If anything went wrong, it would do her good to know exactly where she had to go. He pushed his keycard into a slot and hit a series of six numbers.

"This is where you're supposed to be meeting him. Your client should be here in fifteen minutes or so. If he tries anything funny, you have five armed guards outside. They can take care of him."

"Right. Thank you very much, Kotoku-san." The man tipped his hat and flipped the lights in the room.

"Good luck Tamura-san, Shimakage-san."

The room filled with silence as the door shut. They both let out sighs of relief.

"That was incredible, Rio!" Kayano gushed, "You couldn't have been any more perfect!" Nakamura flushed pink.

"Thank you, Kaede." She had been working on her character all day yesterday. She had felt herself almost slip a couple of times, but she held it together the best she could. She pulled a small radio out of her pocket and placed her earpiece in. "Team C is in place." She and Kayano exchanged a nervous sigh and sat back in their seats. Now it was just a waiting game.

Nagisa's head touched the cold hard wall behind him. He fiddled with his thumbs, trying to find anything to distract himself. He was being moved soon, to an actual jail cell in an actual prison. He let out a sigh. At least the Japanese court systems were relatively fast. He would probably get his next chance to escape in the next two months or so. Although, given how Asano had taken down the Minister of Justice, it may take longer.

He hated feeling like a trapped animal.

He tapped his fingers against the hard concrete, the rhythm momentarily distracting him from his situation. What the hell did Asano even get out of this? It had been bothering him for a while now, and none of the scenarios in his mind made any sense.

From his profile, it sounded like Gakushuu had fallen straight off of the deep end. Outwardly, he showed the public a golden persona, a man who had ambition, but loved his friends, treated his coworkers and subordinates fairly, and only wished to do good in the world. But then there was his other half, his shadow. This was the side of Asano that had ordered the murder of his father, who had ties to gangs and mafias, and manipulated the people he knew to his own gain.

But what did he want?

Was this all some sort of ridiculous revenge over high school? They hadn't even interacted that often. Maybe it was something more? He had no idea, and it was driving him insane.

The creak of his door threw him out of his thoughts. He stood up, listening to someone punch in a code and unlock the door. It swung open, its creaking hinges protesting the movement.

"Shiota Nagisa, turn around," a loud voice boomed. He sighed and complied. Were they already moving him?

"What's this about?" he asked as the officer placed handcuffs on him.

"You will be meeting with your lawyer," he said. Lawyer? Already? He had been indicted only two days ago.

"I see," he said. He stepped out of the cell, noting how tense his four guards seemed. Then again, he had accidentally shot one a couple of days ago, he would be surprised if word hadn't gotten around. They were an older group than usual, he realized. Probably want me to be escorted by people who are more experienced.

The marching of their feet echoed through the hallway. "So who's my lawyer going to be? Some fresh-faced kid right out of law school who's getting in way over their head?"

"We don't know, prisoner," the gruff man responded, "It's not your place to complain about who you get."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm just curious. Can't imagine anyone was jumping to take a treason case," he said. God, I'm getting tried for treason. What the hell did Asano want out of this?

"Silence, prisoner," one of the guards said forcefully. His voice was deep and unnatural sounding. Nagisa furrowed his brows. What? His heart pounded as he realized a number of things at once. It was Sunday, the break in the work week. Why was his court-appointed lawyer meeting him on a Sunday? Let alone late Sunday. His eyes focused on one of the guards. His breath hitched when he realized that her hair had the unnatural sheen of a wig.

Was Asano going to take him out before he could even go to trial?

The group stopped as they came in front of a door. The man slipped his keycard in and punched in six numbers. 9, from the looks of it. The door clicked and he pushed it open.

"Are you ready for the prisoner?" he called inside the room.

"Yes, we're ready to see him," a feminine voice called back. The man stepped back, holding the door open for him.

"Prisoner, enter," the man commanded. Nagisa reluctantly complied.

"Sure."

The room wasn't any different from the interrogation rooms he had been in. The walls were painted a dull beige, and the carpeting was gray and worn. He steeled himself for his "lawyers" if that's what they really were. His trained his eyes on the two women on the other end of the table.

"Would you like him with or without handcuffs?" the man asked.

"Without," the woman on the right said. Nagisa cocked an eyebrow. Without? That was unexpected.

"Very well. If you need any help, we have five guards posted outside of your room. There is a panic button underneath the table. Push it if you need help."

"Good to know. But I don't think that'll be necessary. We're just here to talk." The man shrugged.

"Suit yourself."

The door closed with a slam and oppressive silence filled the room as they sized each other up.

"Nagi-"

"Cut the crap," he snapped, cutting her off. Now that he was looking for it, he could see that both of the women were wearing wigs. The lines around their eyes were drawn on, and their suits were ill-fitting. They were fakes. "If I was brought here to be killed, at least be honest about it."

"That's not why we're here!" The one on the right cried.

"Bullshit!" Nagisa said, slamming his fist against the table. The two jumped. When would they show their true colors? "I guess it'd just be easier for Asano to kill me off now instead of going through the hassle of falsifying evidence, right? Damn bastard knew when to cut corners."

"Asano?" the woman on the left whispered. They looked at each other with their eyes wide. "So it was Asano behind everything?" Nagisa faltered a bit. Shouldn't they know their boss? Unless he was going through a proxy.

"Yes," he said simply.

"Nagisa," the brunette on the right said, "Don't you recognize us?" Am I supposed to?

"Should I?" he asked quizzically, tilting his head.

Isogai let out a breath of relief as the door slammed shut. They had done half of their job, they had one more task, and then it was up to Karma to bring everything home. He stiffened as their leader slapped him on the back.

"Relax, soldier, it's not like he's going to shoot you guys through the wall," he said with a booming laugh. They still had to get rid of him. Isogai hadn't had any time to think up a 'character' for this.

"I can't wait until he's out of here," Maehara said, "Any idea when they're moving him?" Isogai silently thanked his husband.

"No idea," he said, "I'm hopin' sometime this week. I'm sick of being his keeper." Isogai took a deep breath and focused. He needed to find a reason to get this man to leave, and he needed to do it soon.

"Right? His ass shouldn't be our problem," Okano agreed. He has calloused fingers, probably from years of being a part of the military. His nose is crooked, probably from a fight of some sort. His back is hunched, probably from years of improper posture. That kind of thing probably causes pain if he doesn't sit for too long. His eyes flicked up. There are bags underneath his eyes, he's probably tired. The man stretched.

"Boss, your back hurting you again?" he said before he could talk himself out of it. He shot Isogai a curious look.

"How do you know about that? Didn't you guys just transfer in?" I was right...

"I overheard some of the other guys talking about it," Isogai said quickly. The man scowled.

"I'll have to talk to Yuki about gossiping," he muttered.

"If you're aching, we can take over from here," Isogai suggested, "They're not going to be done for another hour, tops, and I doubt the suspect is going to try anything with four armed guards outside and two innocent women inside."

"I dunno, did you hear about how he almost took down Minister Karasuma?" Isogai froze. He almost took down Karasuma-sensei? He glanced over at Maehara, Okano, and Kataoka, who were similarly perplexed. When did that happen? He recovered after a moment.

"It's not anything we can't handle," Kataoka assured, "We've been doing this for a while."

"If anything goes wrong, we can just call for you," Isogai added, "Anyway, if anything does happen, you'll want to be in your top form." The man thought over his words. Isogai's palms were sweaty. He needed this man to leave. If he didn't, they would have to resort to more drastic measures. The man laughed.

"Good point, Ugaki-kun!" He slapped Isogai on the back again. He struggled to keep his balance, but managed. "I'm going to finish up some paperwork so that we can get out of here after this. I'll check up on you guys in half an hour." He gave them a wave as he walked away. As soon as he was out of earshot, Isogai fell against the wall.

"That was lucky! How'd you know he had back pain?" Kataoka asked.

"Observation," he said with a shrug, "I've seen similar slouching with our older customers." He wearily stood on his shaking legs. Yeah, they were only going to do this sort of thing once. His poor heart couldn't handle anymore!

"You did a good job, Isogai," a familiar red-head droned as he popped out of a nearby room.

"Karma," he greeted, "Are you ready to see him again?" Karma had a dangerous gleam in his eyes.

"Yeah, I think so."

The girls had no time to explain themselves before Nagisa heard the sound of someone keying in numbers. The two quickly righted themselves, pretending to be serious. What're they acting for? Nagisa tensed. The door slammed open and Nagisa saw the brief shine of a knife flying in his direction. He jumped backwards, kicking the table over. It would make a decent shield, if nothing else. The girls jumped back, letting out yelps of surprise. Nagisa ignored them. I knew it, it was a set-up! The knife embedded itself into the wall behind him.

"What the fuck?!" He heard one of the girls shout. He pulled the knife out of the wall. Shit, I'm outnumbered. The two girls, the attacker, and at least five more guards outside. His fist clenched. If I'm going down, I'm not going down without a fight. Knife work was his forte. If he jumped and surprised them, he could slit their throats in about ten seconds. Nagisa heard them shuffle around. He couldn't wait any longer. He jumped over the table, using the momentum to launch himself towards the first person, the knife-thrower.

He caught the group by surprise, if their yelps were any indication. They weren't professionals, Nagisa analyzed. He held the knife's blade against the red-head's throat.

Everything stopped.

Impossible.

"Good to see you learned something." Nagisa's heart skipped a beat. "After all, if you couldn't dodge a knife, you'd be a pretty shitty assassin." The familiar figure stepped forward, with no regard to the blade at his neck. Nagisa took a step backwards, relaxing his arm only a little.

"Karma?" he said, not believing the name that just escaped his lips. The redhead advanced towards Nagisa, forcing him against the table.

"You kept your hair long," he commented.

"You cut yours short," Nagisa responded. This was all so surreal. What was Karma doing here? He let the knife fall to his side. Karma had never been good at personal space in high school, it didn't look like he outgrew that.

"You've got a weird accent, you forget Japanese or something?"

"I've been speaking Russian and English for the last eight years, forgive me if my Japaense is not satisfactory to you," Nagisa shot back. Karma got closer.

"You abandoned everyone," Karma hissed. The blue-haired man winced. He wasn't wrong.

"I'm not proud of it," Nagisa said honestly. He had spent plenty of sleepless nights questioning his decisions. Leaving Japan without telling anyone had been his biggest regret. Karma drew closer and Nagisa couldn't move back any further. Still, he stood strong. If Karma wanted to beat him, yell at him, then he deserved it. Their eyes met and Nagisa saw something he never thought he'd see. Tears.

"We were all so worried," Karma whispered, his façade cracking. Nagisa's eyes widened. "We asked your mom, and she said that you got a job abroad. But we knew. We all knew. We were so worried for you." He had never seen his friend cry before. "I was so worried about you." Nagisa felt his knees go weak and his heart go into overdrive. Rough lips pressed against his own. His knife clattered to the floor, forgotten by the moment. As soon as it had started, it was over. Their breathing filled the room. Oh.

Oh.

"How long?" Nagisa whispered.

"A long time."

"Karma. I-I—" Nagisa stuttered.

"Whatever, what's done is done," Karma said, cutting Nagisa off. "Let's go, we gotta get you out of here." Huh?

"We?" Karma grinned and stepped aside. The four guards from before were standing at the room's entrance. The two girls stood next to each other, their arms crossed. It was as if a veil had been lifted. Oh my God. Isogai, Maehara, Okano, and Kataoka were his guards. His eyes shot to the two women, Kayano and Nakamura. He furrowed his brows when he realized they were holding signs that said 10/10. Huh? Maehara scowled.

"Why the hell do you carry those around everywhere?!" he shouted, "More importantly, why are they at 10/10 and we're just a 4/10!?"

"These are very important, you never know when you're gonna need to rate something," Nakamura explained.

"And you and Isogai-kun only get a 4/10 because you give it up too easily. You guys are sluts," Kayano finished, "This has almost nine years of pent up feelings behind it. It's much more exciting!"

"Karma? How long have they all been standing there?" Any traces of Karma's emotional outburst were gone, replaced with a devilish grin. Some things never changed.

"Since the beginning."

"I see." Nagisa punched Karma in the arm. He grabbed his tie and dragged him down to eye level. "We'll talk about this later." He pushed him away. "Who else is here?"

"Itona, Terasaka, and Okajima are on the eighth level monitoring cameras. But that's it," Isogai explained.

"You know, you pulled a real dick move back then," Nakamura said, folding the sign back up into her pocket. She crossed her arms.

"When this is all over, we should have that lunch you promised eight years ago," Maehara said.

"No running away this time either, Nagisa. We'll be watching," Kayano added. Nagisa chuckled, taking a headset from Karma's outstretched hand. He placed it in his ear, as he leaned down to pick up the knife he had dropped. He spun it in his hands.

"Well, I've just had an opening in my schedule, so I guess I can pencil you guys in." He looked at them, determination in his eyes. "Well then, let's get to it."

A/N: I've had that last scene planned since I first started writing this fic in February. I'm so excited to finally be able to put it into the fic!