He has yet to remember his own name.
As he's sitting on his bed, the sun violently attacks his pupils, making him squint and desperately search for relief. Even as he plasters his gaze down at his hands, it's to no avail. And as if that wasn't enough, his mind has melted into an absolute void.
"Karma-kun? Are you okay?" someone asks him from his left.
Ah. Karma. His name is Karma.
"Huh?" Karma groans, directing his narrowed eyes to the voice. Oh. It's- Right, he's on the island, sharing a room with Nagisa-kun. Right. And the reason behind this confusing out-of-body experience is a result of sleep deprivation.
Jesus. That's some next-level impairment of cognitive abilities.
"I'm asking if everything is alright. You have been sitting like this for the past ten minutes already." Nagisa-kun walks towards him and waves a hand in front of his face. "And you look tired," he adds.
Karma would bet his wasabi collection on the fact that he doesn't look half as exhausted as he actually feels. Which makes sense, considering that he returned back to the hotel at three in the morning and now his phone shows... what, seven? Seven a.m. He has a faint recollection of Gakushuu telling him yesterday they should get back soon else they'd be too tired to function the next day and Karma disregarding it, claiming himself perfectly capable of waking up regardless. Well, he was wrong. And now, the arrogance is biting him in the ass.
Well, at least he spent some quality time with his brother. The stargazing turned out more successful than Karma could have hoped for, the two of them trying to outdo the other by showing countless constellations and retelling the mythos behind them. At some point, they eased themselves into casual banter, though here and there, a grim reminder of their family situation wormed itself in. Karma's hazed mind won't allow him to remember the exact contents of that topic and maybe it's better that way. He doesn't particularly want to think of it anyway.
Nagisa-kun calls him again, his eyes filled with worry. Karma admits that motionlessly sitting on the bed for ten minutes straight like a fossilized corpse is a bit concerning. Sighing, he smiles, adds a pinch of mischief into his tone and reassures his friend: "See, I've been devising pranks all night, which was super tiring. I would gladly welcome a few more hours of sleep."
Nagisa-kun exasperatedly exhales: "Seriously?" Then he walks to his bag and starts packing it. "Unfortunately for you, we signed ourselves up for a boat trip and it starts at eight o'clock. Come on, Karma-kun, you will be awake after breakfast."
And true to his words, the sandwich, butter croissant with marmalade and orange juice sobered him up and pulled him back to his senses right away. Really, the food was wonderful. He felt like an all-mighty king, eating luxurious food in a luxurious restaurant and with luxurious everything.
While munching on the last piece of his breakfast, Karma notices his older brother sitting across the room with the other four guys (wannabe geniuses). Funnily enough, Gakushuu doesn't seem affected by a mere four hours of sleep, if Karma were to judge from all the smiles and lively responses the strawberry blond is generously giving. But then again, Gakushuu likes to stay up late and study all the time, so he's probably grown some kind of tolerance against the effects.
"So~ Excited?" Nakamura suddenly grins at Karma, flaunting a strawberry on her fork in front of his face. Karma fights back the urge to bite into it and eat it himself since the fruit here is so sweet.
The way she asks sounds quite innocent so their other companions, Nagisa-kun and Kayano-chan immediately assume she is asking about the tour. They nod cheerfully and tell each other what they're most looking forward to.
Karma on the other hand recognizes the evil spark in Nakamura's eyes (great minds think alike, right?) and realizes all too well she bears something completely different in her mind. Maybe the upcoming pranks. He definitely wasn't lying about devising various plans before. Or maybe she meant the one they had just pulled - unbeknownst to anyone else.
"Definitely," he answers with a smirk, secretly communicating with her in the 'devil-duo-telepathy'.
Kayano-chan interrupts their intimate sinister moment by clapping her hands in joy: "I checked the route of the boat - it follows the bank of the island so we will have a wonderful view of the cliffs and waterfalls. And the sea itself!"
Karma hums affirmatively and returns to his food since they only have ten more minutes left. While the rest of them talk, Karma internally chuckles at the realisation that Gakushuu is actually going too. Not that anyone knew yet – neither his friends nor Gakushuu's classmates. The way it worked, the students individually formed groups of two to five. Since each group could choose independently what they wanted to do, Karma suggested to his brother yesterday that they both sign up for the boat trip and then just pretend it was pure coincidence that the two classes ended up together.
That was the main argument.
Truth is, Karma also wanted to see the results of his own prank personally, in 4K.
"Are we done?" Nagisa-kun asks at the end and with all of them agreeing, they stand up and head to the meeting point.
Their tour guide is already there and upon their arrival immediately starts with the typical procedure, explaining the safety protocols and rules. Karma only half-heartedly listens, since he's only waiting for one thing. And that is...
"What the-" Kayano-chan suddenly gasps as she spots two figures walking towards them. Karma and his friends then glance at whatever it was that made the girl jolt in surprise only to react just the same way.
"Oh, lookie who came," Karma remarks sarcastically, not letting the delight show.
When the two people - Asano Gakushuu and Sakakibara Ren spot them, the strawberry blond makes a disgusted face, his companion sighing in annoyance. Karma wonders to himself why and how only Sakakibara-kun joined his brother – wasn't the whole virtuosos gang supposed to stick to him? He decides he'll ask later.
"Oh, there you are! I was explaining the rules, let me give you an overview," the tour guide beams at them and proceeds to summarize the information from the beginning. The man's jolly, Karma notes, he likes that easygoing attitude.
When the tour guide finishes, he beckons for them to follow him on the boat.
"On second thought, this isn't worth my time," Gakushuu states and turns around to leave.
Karma exchanges a look with Nakamura who right away understands his desire to see the student council president suffer from the prank they pulled earlier this morning.
"Come on, Asano-kun! This will be fun, won't it?" Karma grabs him by the elbow and drags him into the small boat. His victim quakes, eyebrows shooting up. At the strong and unexpected pull, Gakushuu loses his footing, unable to fight back and falls on the boat butt first. Sakakibara-kun tries to catch him but ends up in the vehicle just the same.
Nakamura pushes the remaining two (horrified, hesitant) classmates in as well and in the end, both she and Karma hop on, beckoning the tour guide to start the machine. And before anyone can realize what has just happened, they are off the shore, providing neither Gakushuu nor Sakakibara-kun a way out.
Karma muses about how easy it is to fool their friends. Sakakibara-kun, despite being a proclaimed best friend of Gakushuu's, doesn't even bat an eye at how easily the strawberry blond gave in. Had he actually known him, he would have realized that Gakushuu could have easily broken away from Karma's hold the very second he got caught. His sharp reflexes and mastery of martial arts in itself would be enough to allow him to defend himself and retaliate, even against someone as strong as Karma.
Plus, he'd never fall on his butt. If Gakushuu ever had to be compared to any animal, he'd would fit the image of a cat, graceful in his movements and unbothered by the motions of the world around him.
But hey, it's exactly this lack of awareness that allows the two of them to pull a trick like this. Karma won't complain.
To complete the act, Gakushuu snaps at him: "What is wrong with you, Akabane?!"
Karma innocently tilts his head: "What do you mean?"
Gakushuu dusts off his clothes, a frown etched on his face: "Get us back. We refuse to participate in this trip with you lot."
Nakamura promptly joins Karma, her speech sickly polite: "Oh but we sincerely want to enjoy this trip! Together! There should be no problem whatsoever. Right?" she turns at the redhead, receiving an eager nod, and then at Nagisa-kun and Kayano-chan who till now remained quiet. Their eyes clearly scream this is not a good idea but the devil duo grins wider, deliberately ignoring it.
"Or do you mind their presence?" Nakamura purses her lips, dejection seeping through. Karma feels proud of her capability to judge the right way to manipulate particular characters.
Nagisa-kun and Kayano-chan grow flustered, cheeks tinted red and they shake their heads in denial: "N-No, of course not! We'd like to have you here, Asano-kun, Sakakibara-kun! Genuinely!"
Both A-class students mellow down, taken aback by the sincere welcome.
And with that, Karma glances at the two guests: "There you have it. No need to be shy, come on~ We are all friends here, right?"
He receives a death stare but at the very least they accept their fate.
From that point, the voyage goes smoothly. They pass certain checkpoints, each with its own charm. What captivated Karma the most was a coral reef visible all the way from the surface, a deception of being an arm away despite over twenty meters of water separating them from him. Karma marvels at the clarity of the water until a groan pulls his attention.
Ah. He reaches for the phone and checks the time. Roughly a bit over half an hour since his and Nakamura's prank. He glimpses briefly over to Gakushuu and Sakakibara-kun to see their faces twist in confusion and discomfort through gritted teeth.
It seems the effects started kicking in.
The two A-class students inconspicuously walk over to the tour guide and mutter something. Karma doesn't hear them over the sound of waves and wind, but he's blissfully aware of what exactly it might be that they're discussing right now.
The nearest toilet.
Well, that's to be expected. Since the five virtuosos all received a good dosage of laxatives in their breakfast (Good job, Nakamura!)
Unfortunately for the two of them, the nearest toilet presented itself either twenty minutes back to the hotel or right there under the morning sun, in the glistering blue water, with five different pairs of eyes to witness it. But Karma doubts that Gakushuu and Sakakibara-kun would discard their pride and expose their cracks to the open sea, so hotel it was.
If they manage to hold it in.
God, this was funny.
Next to him, Nakamura clears her throat into her elbow, obviously trying to hold her laugh in. She too is reveling in their embarrassment. It gets even more amusing when their tour guide announces they're going back for a short time due to 'unforeseen circumstances' because it's clear to everyone on board that said unforeseen circumstances were related to their two A-class guests. Though Nagisa-kun and Kayano-chan probably only thought they insisted on returning due to their unwillingness to spend their time with the E-class students.
Gakushuu fidgets in the corner of Karma's view and it takes all self-control to not cackle like a madman.
As they sail back, Sakakibara-kun moves closer to them, probably trying to distract his digestive tract by flirting with them. Funnily enough, he pays attention to Nagisa-kun too (maybe he mistook him for a girl), which gives Karma enough free room to walk up to his brother.
"So, how is it going?" he smiles, leaning on the edge of the boat.
Gakushuu takes a staggered breath, his face twisted in concentration. He doesn't answer, seemingly not very comfortable with sharing out loud that he's about to shit his pants.
"I see you've got some problems going on?" Karma asks, the mockery accidentally spilling into his voice. He realizes that he's probably just exposed himself, but he was enjoying it too much to care.
Gakushuu shoots him a suspecting glare: "Karma," he hisses, turning murderous. "is this... your doing?"
Well, definitely exposed himself there. He could try to lie his way out but Gakushuu wasn't that dumb. Maybe dense, but not dumb.
"I thought you were just too stiff lately so I wanted to help you loosen up," he emphasizes the last words daringly. Karma was teetering on the line between life and death with that attitude and he knew it only took one more push before Gakushuu actually, legitimately killed him.
"Akabane Karma, you didn't," Gakushuu threatens, standing up menacingly and looking ready to snap the redhead's neck with his bare hands. Karma glances shortly at the rest of the crew who is still too immersed in their conversation (Sakakibara-kun sure knew how to steal the spotlight) and realizes he might not get the easy way out by blending into the crowd.
He holds his hands out hands in a defensive way, the grin on his face unconsciously growing wider. And that's when he seals his fate. Gakushuu lunges forward, straight for his neck. Karma however nimbly dodges, taking a step back only to find out that-
-there was nowhere to back off.
It happens so quickly that he doesn't even realize what's happening until he's falling over the edge. With barely any time to react, he feels his brother's hands grabbing his shirt and trying to pull him forward into the ship. However, gravity proves to be stronger and Gakushuu immediately follows him into the water.
What's worse, no one notices or hears their fall because of the loud roar of the engine. So when the siblings emerge from the surface and catch their breaths, the boat is too far for their friends to hear them shout.
"HEY!" Karma calls again, but in vain. The silhouettes keep getting smaller and smaller until he sees nothing but colourful dots. Wonderful.
He sighs. This didn't turn out how he intended it to. Now, he's stranded in the middle of the ocean with the scorching sun over his head and who knows what creatures lurking around. Not to mention his very furious older brother who just seriously might snap Karma's neck at any moment.
"Karma," Gakushuu violently cracks his fingers, getting ready to beat him up. He starts swimming towards the redhead but suddenly comes to a halt, gasping and suddenly his whole body sinks under the waves.
Alarmed, Karma dives to see what happened, only to find his brother underwater curled into himself while holding his stomach. Ah right - the laxatives. This was quite a tricky combo. He wraps his arms around Gakushuu from behind and pulls him back up since having the strawberry blond drown would be the last thing he needs right now.
"Fuck you, Karma, fuck you so bad" Gakushuu groans, the look on his face somewhere between despair and rage.
Feeling a bit guilty by now, Karma suggests: "You know, now that no one is looking, you could just-"
Gakushuu violently throws his head back and hits Karma in the face, hard, screaming: "DIPSHIT! That's disgusting!"
Okay, well, he might have deserved that. Stars start to bloom in Karma's vision and he holds his face in pain. He whines, the salt water getting into his nose and eyes.
"Well? What do we do now?" Gakushuu asks seriously, looking around in the hope of seeing the mainland.
"Swim back?" Karma proposes even though he's fully aware of the ridiculousness. They barely even knew where they landed, let alone how far the shore was. Also-
"In case you haven't realized it yet, I can't swim at the moment."
Right, lol.
His brother's diarrhea was another factor.
"Hmm, let's hope they find us soon? They surely must have realized we're gone by now," Karma keeps the playful tone down, the prospect of Gakushuu slitting his throat way too realistic by now. However, Gakushuu only grumbles, probably way too tired of this whole situation and Karma himself.
"Don't you have your phone?" Gakushuu asks after a while, remembering that Karma pulled it out a while ago to take pictures of the corals.
"I left it in my jacket, unfortunately. And even if I had it right now, it's not waterproof. You?"
"Same," Gakushuu sighs, desperate. He tries lying on his back and relaxing under the sun but soon he curls back into a ball because of the laxatives' effect. It makes karma a bit more guilty, though not enough to suppress a chuckle.
"Do you need some help?" he jokingly offers him a hand.
"I would appreciate it very much if you went and killed yourself, thank you," the strawberry blond shoots back venomously, splashing water into Karma's face.
Karma pretends to be hurt by that: "Last time I tried, you didn't appreciate it."
Which earns him a shocked and enraged scowl from Gakushuu.
"Just kidding-" but before he can finish that, strange shadows start appearing from below. It's too big for normal fish and the familiar shape sends shivers down Karma's spine.
Gakushuu notices them as well and clicks his tongue, trying to keep calm.
"Those aren't sharks, right?" Karma remarks nervously and soon he feels Gakushuu's back bumping into his own.
Gakushuu gulps: "I fucking hope not."
The very moment he says that, a grey body surfaces from the water, scaring the living hell out of them both. The high-pitched shriek that escaped them would never be spoken of, a secret they'd take to their graves. Yet that panic proved unnecessary. Instead of any dangerous sea monster or sharks, those were...
"DOLPHINS!" Karma bellows.
And truly. Those round black eyes looking right back at them, the wide smiles and the specific squeals belonged to dolphins. And oh boy were they cute.
"Don't get tricked by their looks, Karma. Dolphins are actually beasts," Gakushuu suddenly declares, his body rigid.
But they looked so adorable! Although Karma did read some sketchy things about them, he just couldn't believe this gullible-looking sweetheart could be dangerous. Besides, how often does one meet and get to swim with these clever creatures?
One of them nudges Karma's cheek with its rostrum and starts playing with him. It's such an endearing and gentle gesture that he just can't help but reciprocate the affection, enjoying it very much.
Karma glances at Gakushuu to find him flustered and confused about what to do. The dolphins want to play with him too but his boring brother stays on guard, incapable of comprehending what 'fun' means.
"Relax, Gakushuu! They are nice!" Karma calls out and hugs one of the animals as proof. He couldn't believe this was true - he was playing with dolphins!
Gakushuu however frowns even more: "Stop acting like a five years old! We need to get back!"
And that's when an idea crosses Karma's mind. His lips curve into a mischievous grin and it doesn't fail to escape his brother's attention.
"Oh no, you don't-" Gakushuu objects as he realizes the ridiculous plan forming in Karma's messed up noggin.
"Oh yeah, I do," says Karma.
"It won't work. This isn't Disney and you aren't a little mermaid," he refuses vehemently, though his seriousness gets undermined by all the dolphins splashing water at him and trying to eat his hair.
"Come on, I have seen people do it. We can ride dolphins too!"
"Those people are pros and their dolphins are trained. Besides, where do you want to swim?!" Gakushuu throws his hands into the air in frustration.
"We can just play around until Nagisa-kun or Nakamura notices. They're quick on these things anyway, I bet they're already on their way to get us," Karma winks and then, despite all protests from his older (more sensible) brother grabs the animal's dorsal fin. It felt as though it wanted Karma to hold on anyway because exactly at that moment, the dolphin made a delighted sound and started slowly swimming around.
"Karma! Stop, this is dangerous!" Gakushuu yells from behind, trying to catch the brat and get him off the wild animal but to no avail. Karma ignores his calls and smugly relishes this extraordinary experience. He's going to enjoy his time with the friendly, adorable animals. And if Gakushuu wants to be a killjoy and focus on his diarrhea - then Karma will gladly let him.
Oh, how the turns have tabled.
Gakushuu, in his smug complacency, sees it coming.
About five minutes later, their friends and the tour guide find them. The adultfrantically scrambles to fish them out and thanks gods, heavens, hell and who knows what else that they were safe. However, that happens way before Karma gets ditched by the dolphins.
And by ditched, Gakushuu means literally ditched. They hurl him like a piece of meat in the air and shake him off, swimming away in the blink of an eye. Karma splashed into the water in an incredibly comedic way and Gakushuu would have laughed, pissed himself in fact at the view if his brother didn't look like an abused puppy. Gakushuu suspected the dolphins heard the machine and fled but Karma couldn't care for logic.
Before the idiot drowns out of shock, Gakushuu pulls him up: "I told you, dumbass! You okay?"
He's crying.
"What the fuck?!" Gakushuu shakes his shoulders, very disturbed by the sight of Karma's pained face. He's not a baby anymore, why is he heartbroken about some wild animals?!
"Why..." Karma mutters, fat tears rolling down his cheeks.
Gakushuu grimaces. This is really weird. Extremely uncomfortable. Every time his brother hiccups, it makes his stomach churn and he has no idea what to do - scold him for being such a baby or cheer him up.
"Stop it, Karma," he orders, the authority in his voice weak.
"Hey, stop crying." Gakushuu pokes his cheek. "Come on, it's not that deep."
"But I wanted to play more-"
"You can play with them later. I'll literally take you to an Aqua World or Dolphin Center or something so please just stop crying," Gakushuu begs, hoping that it will appease the teen in front of him.
Karma looks up in hope: "Really?"
Gakushuu nods with a heavy sigh.
And then their rescue arrives.
Karma laughs to himself.
He just manipulated his brother into going to Aqua Park. (Yay!)
Meanwhile, on the other side of the island, the rest of the virtuosos are pooping on a sightseeing trip.
Whether Gakushuu and Ren were saved from that fate, I shall never tell.
