Aiighht, for once I'm on time XD
Special thanks to Arrysa Clair for constantly encouraging me, you're the best T.T And I appreciate the emotional support too, I'm better now :)
IN THIS CHAPTER: Karma and Gakushuu being silly, serious, then silly again, Class E's reaction to them being broskis and then big bad appearing ;) Enjoy!
If Karma had to describe what his ideal evening would be like, he'd say something along the lines of staying in bed with no school work to do, the TV turned on with the newest game he bought, a controller right by his hands. Even better, Gakushuu by his side, for once not complaining about the plenty of unhealthy sweets he was snacking on and being extra nice and mellow. A calm and peaceful night. If Karma knew that all it took was a hospital trip to be this spoilt by the strawberry blond, he would have probably gotten injured more often. Although...actually, nevermind, Gakushuu would die at a stress-induced heart attack.
Also, His body hurt from today's scuffle. Which was not exactly optimal. Still, this evening he found himself in an almost perfect evening scenario. Almost. Were it not for-
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S YOUR OLDER BROTHER?!" the voice on his phone screamed so loud Karma had to double check if he accidentally pushed loudspeakers. He didn't. Damn. There goes his 'calm and peaceful night'.
"I don't know how else to tell you, Nakamura. We came from the same womb. Same nuts. He's the accident, I'm the mistake. What exactly do you want to hear?" Karma stifles a chuckle. He sees Gakushuu pull a disgusted face at that statement but ignores it, sipping on his strawberry milk.
He's always wondered what his friends' reaction to this news would be, however, he never thought he'd live to see the day. Maybe in the future, much later down the line when neither he nor Gakushuu held any ties to the chairman anymore, they could have stopped hiding their relations, yet even that possibility seemed far-fetched.
"I- No, hell no," the girl groans, "absolutely no way. You're pulling a prank on us. Like hell I'll believe that,"
At that, Karma innocently stretches out his arm and pushes to phone to his brother: "Gaku-nii, my best friend doesn't believe we're siblings. Please convince her."
The latter immediately sends him a murderous look, unfortunately for him though, the redhead is starting to enjoy this conversation. Aware of the fact that he's not escaping the situation, Gakushuu relents: "I already admitted it earlier today. We're brothers." Then, he turns to Karma: "Happy?"
Before the latter can answer, the phone interrupts them: "HOLY SHIT HE'S WITH YOU RIGHT NOW?! Asano-kun, what bet did you lose? I hate your guts but no one deserves this kind of punishment from Karma, "
"I wish this was just a bet gone wrong," he sighs, walking away.
Karma follows him with his eyes and takes the phone back to himself: "Aww don't mind him, he's such a tsundere. He acts all annoyed but he actually really loves m- What are you doing?!"
For some reason, Gakushuu started cleaning off the table and packing away the wide variety of snacks. Karma wasn't done with them, damn it, he was looking forward to trying out that strawberry-matcha-flavoured KitKat and god forbid anyone stops him from that. He shoots up from the bed though the older boy effectively fights him off:
"Since I love you so much, it'd be appropriate of me to take care of your health and discard these processed, nutritiously valueless sugar bombs and instead replace them with more nourishing alternatives, don't you think?"
Ah... there goes his perfect evening.
"What about I get you some broccoli, hm? Or Celery? Or baby carrots, for a baby like you," the strawberry blond threatens and for the theatrical effect heads down to the kitchen. Of course, he takes the sweets with him, that spoilsport.
"I don't have any vegetables though!" Karma shouts but the door is long closed, which concludes their banter. Sighing, he plops back on the bed.
"Damn, you really are siblings," Nakamura blurted out of nowhere, pulling Karma's attention back to the call. He almost forgot she was listening in.
"Obviously. Actually no, not obvious, my bad," the boy acknowledges and for once drops the childish act. "We had our reasons for hiding it. It's complicated."
The girl let out a soft hum, understanding: "Right. I can imagine how it would make things difficult, so you don't need to say anything unless you want to. Damn, I did once have a fleeting thought that you two look similar, it was during the Island trip I think? But brothers? I'm still not processing that."
"Huh? It's not that hard to believe. I mean, we're both super good-looking and super smart too!" he exclaims as a matter of fact.
They both laugh at that and Karma feels so free for the first time. To think he'd ever be able to joke like this, that he'd ever be able to put his brother on the phone with any of his friends? At least something good came out of the chairman finding out.
"Sure, sure," Nakamura appeases him and there's soft rustling on her end. Now that Karma concentrates on the background noises, it sounds like she's walking outside. What a strange time to go on a walk.
"Anyway. You good?" she suddenly asks, interrupting his train of thought.
"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine. A bit bruised and stuff but nothing serious," the redhead answers, then teases a little bit: "What, you worried about me?"
"Have you seen yourself today?" the girl retorts, voice a pitch higher from exasperation. "If you saw how freaked out everyone was! Nagisa was practically fizzling with anxiety! Poor Okuda almost cried, you ass, I hope you wrote to her or something. Even Terasaka looked like he was gonna punch someone square in the face! And after we returned from the hospital, Koro-sensei just sent us all home and told us to take it easy. But thanks for your sacrifice I guess, we escaped afternoon classes."
Karma surprisingly finds himself grateful for Nakamura's antics because the knowledge that everyone worried about him made him a tad more soft than expected and he refused to become any more emotional. He's written to Nagisa-kun the moment got his hands on his phone and sent the rest a text assuring them he's alright too. Even sweet Okuda-san he followed up with after she left him messages wishing him a quick recovery. God knows that this combined with his talking session with Gakushuu made for enough emotionality for at least a year.
So instead, he snorts at the last comment: "You're welcome. Always glad to help."
There's a silence on the other end and Karma knows Nakamura well enough to give her some time. All too similar to himself, her easy-going and witty attitude was mostly a ploy, a way to hide deep concern. It'd be strange for the two of them to openly fret like others did, yet to leave those feelings unsaid wouldn't be right either. So he stayed quiet, patiently waiting for her to gather her thoughts.
After a while, she finally drops the bomb: "Yeah... Was great and all but I'd still appreciate you not getting yourself hospitalized again. We can always skip, you know?"
Strangely a bit sheepish, he concedes: "Yeah, sorry. Won't be a next time," and then he smiles to himself: "Koro-sensei kept trying to get into my house ever since and asking if I need anything. Fighting him off without drawing any attention from Gakushuu is something I don't wanna repeat. Ever."
And that's a sign for Nakamura that her message was well received and appreciated. She lets out an amused puff: "Totally deserved that though. Anyway, you going to school tomorrow?"
"Gakushuu's trying to keep me home for the time being but once he leaves tomorrow, I'll sneak out," he whispers, glancing at the door to make sure he's not being overheard.
"Damn, what a disobedient little brother," the girl tuts. Then, as if realizing something grandiose, she takes a sharp breath in: "Wait! You're younger than him. Which means you're younger than us. You're our kouhai! I'm your senpai!"
"Never say that again. You just gave me the creeps," the boy groans, earning himself a loud outburst of laughter from his friend.
"Don't be like that," she coos. "Anyway, I'd love to keep talking to my cute kouhai but I gotta go. I'll see you tomorrow!"
Just for the sake of it, Karma audibly gags at both the words cute and kouhai, still, he bids his goodbye. The phone call ends right after that and the room falls silent again, with the only distraction being the TV screen paused in the middle of his game. Two minutes into resuming it, Karma realizes that it's been a damn while since Gakushuu left and decides to go after him to see what's taking him so long.
The strawberry blond isn't hard to trace down. Karma walks downstairs and follows the only source of light which emanates from the kitchen. There, in the corner right by the stoves stands his brother, chopsticks in his hands.
"Are you cooking something?" Karma asks, trying to catch a glance at what's in the pots.
His older brother jolts, apparently not aware of the redhead sneaking up on him. Which was frankly a bit strange, considering his omniscient mind.
The strawberry blond regains his composure in a split second though: "I promised you vegetables, didn't I? Broccoli and carrots, plainly boiled. Just for you."
And true to his word, the huge container was filled to the brink with water and cut-up vegetables. Karma scrunched his nose in distaste and Gakushuu's face slowly morphed into a smirk.
"I salted them, don't worry."
"That changes nothing, I'm not eating those," he refuses right away, taking a few steps back. "Where did you even get them from?!"
"The fridge. Where else, genius?" Gakushuu nonchalantly replies. He doesn't even look at the boy, instead, he pours out the water and transfers the food onto a plate on the table.
Meanwhile, Karma follows his brother to sit down, genuinely struck - he hasn't gone grocery shopping yet and quite surely, the last thing in his fridge as of today were a few eggs, leftover rice, a single stalk of green onion and unfinished takoyaki-
Ah. Right. He did have a certain octopus fuss over him and bring him various things for over an hour after he announced having been discharged from the hospital. He'll make sure to put some wasabi into Koro-sensei's gelato tomorrow. And maybe thank him. But wasabi first.
Out of boredom, the redhead nibbles on one piece of broccoli. As expected, it tastes bland, the alleged salt either a blatant lie or gravely insufficient, though also a bit cold. Karma raises an eyebrow at that. Didn't his brother literally just cook them?
He looks up to complain but halts upon realizing that the strawberry blond's gaze was set somewhere distant, eyes glazed. It all suddenly clicks then - Gakushuu being so distracted he didn't notice the vegetables being long finished, the water getting cold and him not observing someone else sneaking up on him.
"Did the chairman call you?" he prods carefully, finishing the broccoli.
The strawberry blond visibly stiffens. His hands lay on the table and Karma sees him clench and unclench his fingers. Finally, Gakushuu gives him a meaningful look and answers: "No. Not a word."
Well. That wasn't great news either, considering the stunt they pulled. One would think that faking their father's written letter of authorisation to get Karma released from the hospital would warrant them at least a threat or a furious call.
"Maybe he doesn't know about your new phone number?" he offers, though even he doesn't believe it.
"Unlikely. He could have also just come here if he had something to say to us, it's not like we have anywhere else to go. I have a bad feeling about this, what if he's plotting something?" Gakushuu rubs his temples. He's been on the edge the whole evening and the radio silence from the principal was starting to drive him crazy. The man appeared to be on the verge of insanity already and maybe the time alone as well as the fact that both his sons escaped him would be the tipping point. For all he knows, their father could just tear down the whole school with everyone inside tomorrow.
"Doesn't matter. At least now we can devise a plan to stop him. And you need a time-out from him anyway, right?" the younger boy reasons. The last thing he wants is for Gakushuu to go paranoid and return back to his house, only to be suffocated by the oppressive tension. The strawberry deserved one quiet, uncomplicated evening after the whole pandemonium and distress he had endured. One night when Karma would be the one to keep an eye on and look after the older boy. That shouldn't be too much to ask.
"Yeah," Gakushuu agrees, though his brows remain furrowed. "Still, I'm worried about what he's going to do. Ren said he dismissed our class after he hit-"
He freezes right then, horror immediately spreading throughout his chest. He tries to keep his face as neutral as possible and carries on: "Hit a low point. He was gravely distraught and disappointed in everyone and gave us a pretty heavy lecture. After that, no one saw him."
Karma looks at him with an interested expression but doesn't bring up the stutter. Gakushuu secretly breathes out in relief.
"It's been hours since then. Who knows what's going on inside his head and what he's going to do? I wouldn't put it past him to interfere with the school system or your class. Worst case he could get violent. He might not do anything to you but he didn't have any qualms hurting the exchange students when they defied him."
There are beads of sweat running down his neck at the memory of the chairman's walls in the office stained with blood and the American students on the ground begging for mercy. Kevin, who stood up for Gakushuu and only tried to reason with the man, crying in fear and pain.
"Gakushuu?" the redhead's voice cuts through those images and the strawberry blond is back in the kitchen with his younger brother.
"Sorry. What I mean to say is, until we know what we're dealing with, I want you to stay out of his sight. Okay? I know him and his tactics better, first-hand, so I'll be fine. You're strong and smart, no doubt about that, but you're not used to his mind games."
Silence befalls the room. Karma keeps his gaze low in contemplation before he hums and Gakushuu takes the liberty of interpreting that as an affirmation.
He suddenly becomes aware of the tension in his shoulders and relaxes them, letting the apprehension seep away with each exhale. He feels the redhead scrutinize him and the ingrained habit of never showing signs of weakness commands him to pull his act together. Yet lately, Gakushuu has been nothing if not powerless, the ground under his knees slowly crumbling away until his knees wobbled like a newborn fawn anywhere he tried to go.
The world was cruel like that, he finally learnt. Though he supposes without those failures, he would have been confined to a limited perspective and never grown. He would have never been able to see eye to eye with his little brother either.
That knowledge provides enough comfort to reciprocate the kindness given to him, so he sends the redhead a reassuring smile. Then, he notices something quite amusing.
"Karma," he starts, barely holding back a chuckle.
"What?" the latter drawls sceptically.
Gakushuu points at the boy's fingers, which are currently holding a piece of half-eaten carrot: "You seem to be enjoying those vegetables,"
Absolutely unaware of the fact that he's been stuffing himself with the food on the plate the entirety of their conversation, Karma's brows rise in confusion until it turns into disgust.
"I hate you," he spits and runs towards the pantry to find something sweet to wash his taste buds with. Gakushuu laughs himself silly.
The strawberry blond leaves the next morning reassured that he can face the chairman, knowing that his younger brother would be safe at home. Yet unbeknownst to him, Karma has a different plan.
See, he never said he'd stay home. The appeal was on avoiding the principal, which Karma intended to do anyway, therefore he made no effort to correct Gakushuu in his false conviction. Not to mention the older boy had also slyly lied (or been evasive) about the ugly bruise on his cheek, for some stupid reason. As if Karma would have believed that some random small fry at school could land such a heavy blow on the superhuman brother of his. He had the hunch before but after the slip-up at the kitchen table, there was no doubt that it came from their father.
Asshole.
Either way, coming to class should pose no problem, since the chairman never came there. Besides, Karma owed his friends and teacher an explanation, for one, he also mentally promised to put some wasabi into the octopus's ice cream and most importantly… he could ask for help. It's taken some time to realize he's not alone, not even in his family matters and supposes that in a situation like this, guidance of some sort would prove valuable.
So he goes up the mountain and meets his classmates, retells them the same explanation he gave Nakamura the day before through phone and enjoys the calamity he's caused.
"I can't believe this," Sugino-kun barely manages to pick his jaw from the floor. "Holy shit. You're that Asano Gakushuu's brother? Holy crap."
"You do look practically identical. And they're both brainiacs," Kayano-chan admits.
"Okay, right, you do look the same, why didn't we think anything of that?!" Okajima-kun claws at his face. Then, he stiffens: "Oh no. Does that mean he's gonna get our ass for all the times we poked at you?"
That idea entertains him, so he jokes: "Yeah, just wait till I tell him. You're gonna get a month of toilet cleaning duty."
Okajima looks genuinely horrified at that prospect and falls on his knees, feebly asking for forgiveness. Karma almost feels sorry, but he doesn't need to for long since Isogai immediately clarifies that toilet cleaning duty does not get assigned by the student council president. We have janitors.
Koro-sensei is jumping from one corner to the other, absolutely flabbergasted and slowly putting one and one together: "SO THAT TIME IN THE TRAIN TO OUR ISLAND VACATION, WHERE YOU FELL ASLEEP ON EACH OTHER-"
"Yes," Karma cuts him off promptly, unfortunately, his friends heard it clearly and immediately demand what it meant. Another round of explanation ensues, after which more screaming follows.
"And when he followed you into the woods when Takaoka attacked us-" Nagisa joins, at which the redhead also plops a "yup".
"But all those pranks? And you guys hating each other's guts? Was that all-"
"An act. Yeah. Though I gotta say I got a real kick out of most of the pranks."
"You're a terrible sibling, Karma-" He doesn't let Fuwa-san finish such nonsense:
"He loves it too, surely. But yes, the antagonism was just a ruse."
This earns him lots of sympathetic looks, which feels really uncomfortable. However, an even more uncomfortable question came from Terasaka-kun a moment later:
"Wait. So if you and Asano are brothers, that means... you're the chairman's son too?"
Right. Of course they would question it. He was prepared for this matter to be brought up, so he knew what he wanted to say. He had it on his tongue too, an easy explanation and then a simple request...
But god was it hard. Karma's gaze wanders to Terasaka-kun in an attempt to gather up fortitude, it lands briefly on Nakamura who seems to have figured out the story from the solemn expression she wore, on Nagisa-kun whose eyes radiate empathy and then on Koro-sensei, who has calmed down and was now listening intently.
He was safe. This was his family too.
"Yeah, he is," the redhead clears his throat and the class instantly notices the change in tone. "Our parents separated when I was five, it was really complicated. Legally, he's only Gakushuu's guardian, whereas mine is our mother. She has been overseas for years now and remarried, thus the name Akabane, but I stayed in Japan with Gakushuu. We decided to keep it a secret mostly because of the chairman, but he found out recently. And it seems he plans to gain custody of me again to take control over us, so we-" he takes a deep breath, "I need your help. Please."
Patiently, he awaits their reaction. This was the most vulnerable he has ever been with anyone apart from Gakushuu and while it truly feels liberating, anxiety gnaws at him from the inside. Karma would trust them with his life and that's something coming from him who grew up hardly capable of relying on anyone, yet a small part of him worries that they would see him differently now, maybe even hold it against him for deceiving them.
However, those concerns prove to be unfounded, as Terasaka-kun firmly pats his back with an easy smile: "That all? Thought you were gonna tell us some terrible news with that constipated look you gave us."
"It truly is concerning to see you this serious and uptight, Karma," Itona pipes in from the corner. "No idea what we can do but we'll try our hardest."
"Yeah, man. We've done all sorts of stuff before, what's one measly adoption paper? Bring it on," Nakamura throws an arm around his neck and pulls him down cheekily.
The rest join in to support him and reassure him that they'll "pull it off, easy peasy". Karma beams in gratitude and it translates into the way he looks at them, the way he reciprocates the hugs and bashfully thanks them. Koro-sensei is the loudest of them all, pulling his pupils into a warm embrace and listing down all of the possible ways they could foil the chairman's plan.
There is light at the end of the tunnel, Karma thinks. His father isn't invincible and the events of the last few days confirmed that. They can do it, together, as they always have. This time though, not just with his beloved class but also with Gakushuu.
Then, without a warning, a thunderous noise and tremor stop them in their tracks. The whole building seems to be shaking, but it's not an earthquake, it's coming from outside.
They look out of the window towards the source of the raucousness.
Immediately, Karma catches a glimpse of the all too familiar figure, giving directions to a bulldozer tearing down their campus. His classmates scream at the man to stop which earns them his attention, but he still meets Karma's eyes first. The chairman lifts his hand, the machine stops, and he turns fully towards him with a grin.
"Hello, Karma-kun. Glad to see you're well," his father greets.
At the same time, Gakushuu's words play in his head.
Until we know what we're dealing with, I want you to stay out of his sight, okay?
Yeah.
Well.
Shit.
Shit indeed, AHAHAHA.
I love writing bonding between Karma and literally everyone else, plus it's a pretty big deal (everyone finding out about his family) so yeah it deserves a whole chapter ;)
Also, controversial (or not) opinion: Karma's best friend should really be Nakamura, not Nagisa. Like yeah, they spend the most time together in the series but in reality, they've got little in common, their personalities clash and Nagisa makes him uneasy for almost the entire two seasons, until they fight it out. Besides, Nagisa himself also just tags along and has to overlook the chaotic qualities Karma has in order to get along with him. So yeah, Nakamura, who shares the same hobbies, possesses a similarly sharp mind and naturally understands him better goes for the win. Sue me.
And to clarify, I don't ship them. I also don't ship him with Okuda. I just acknowledge that the two of them do talk/are good friends.
Anyway, hope you liked it! Feel free to voice out anything you liked/disliked or would like more/less of!
Next update: August 9th, Wednesday