The chaos continues ;)
"Would you please enlighten me to the reason behind our... private dinners?" Gakushuu asks in a stuck-up manner, similarly rigid as the white button-up he is sporting right now. Karma finds it funny because he gives off the impression of taking part in a governmental conference instead of a simple school trip.
Gakushuu doesn't bother lifting his murderous gaze from the food. He is still pissed off from the small prank Karma pulled on him just earlier today after all. They once again sit in the same dining room they found themselves in on day one, though this time different waiters led them in.
"Oh, why, you don't like it?" Karma forces a chuckle, doing his best to hide how the question made every muscle in his body tense up. He still hasn't mentioned that a certain teacher may know something about them and in all honesty, he doesn't want to. Gakushuu would have his head for letting their secret be discovered (even if partially).
Thankfully, his older brother didn't seem to notice how on edge Karma is since he still stubbornly refuses to look at him.
"I don't know what strings you're pulling or what game you're playing, but it's foolish. You are putting our efforts to maintain this peaceful life in danger by selfish desires," Gakushuu declares with an icy-cold tone. It makes Karma shift uncomfortably in his seat, losing all his appetite.
"This island belongs to Kunugigaoka High, in other words - to the chairman. There is a great possibility he will hear of majority of what has happened here from the employees. What would he think if he suddenly heard that his son had been privately dining with a certain delinquent from E-class?" he finally meets Karma's eyes, the glare unforgiving.
"Not only would he find it disgusting - for me to hang out with someone from E class. He would be suspicious. Why would I go along with that? Who was I meeting with?"
Karma desperately searches for something smart, anything to defend himself, but fails. Gakushuu is right. Not only about the dangers but also about Karma's selfishness. Indeed - he wants them to spend more time together. He's aware of how much he's risking, of the gamble he's taking, and yet he still does it. He manipulated his class to agree on this trip. He didn't stop Koro-sensei from arranging the meals for the two of them together. Deep down, Karma knew that what he had been living was just a fleeting lie.
And yet he couldn't help it.
"Sorry," Karma says, looking down in shame and putting the fork and spoon down. "I was being a brat again, wasn't I? I, uhm... I will take care of it." And he stands up, ready to have a serious talk with the reason he's found himself in such a predicament - Koro-sensei.
What he however doesn't expect is to be dragged back to his seat by Gakushuu: "Where do you think you are going?"
Dumbfounded, Karma stares at the hand holding him by the elbow. "Out?"
Gakushuu exhales in annoyance, pointing to Karma's dish: "You didn't finish the vegetables."
"What?"
"The vegetables. The green things on your plate that are healthy but you refuse to eat. Finish them," he orders as a matter of fact.
"Gakushuu, what the actual f-"
"Eat it."
"I'm not a ki-"
"Eat it."
"Don't be a mom-"
"Eat. It."
Karma shoots him a confused grimace. He can't be serious. Karma really wasn't a child anymore and hello, Gakushuu wasn't his mom. Like hell he'd let himself be bossed around by this egghead. Nah, this wasn't even about the vegetables anymore. Not that the broccoli staring back at Karma appealed to him in any way, but just the very fact that Gakushuu was displaying his superiority over Karma rubbed him in the worst way. Gakushuu could go and stuff his vegetables all the way up his-
"My beloved Nii-chan, I appreciate your concern but I-" Before Karma can finish the sentence, his mouth gets violated by a spoonful of mushy greens.
Gakushuu plays dirty and doesn't miss the opportunity when it presents itself. Karma berates himself for being so stupid. Of course his older brother would try to shove the vegetables down his throat while Karma was speaking.
Forced to eat them, tears start to build in Karma's eyes as he violently hacks. At that moment, all of the remorse and embarrassment at his own selfish actions dissipate, replaced by sheer hatred and disbelief. When he finally calms down the cough and the intrusive urge to punch Gakushuu in the face, he screeches: "WHAT THE HELL?! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?!"
Gakushuu feigns innocence, shrugging: "What are you talking about?"
"I hate you! You know I hate broccoli! I feel sick!" Karma complains. He's not joking either, he remembers an incident when he was eight and his brother didn't let him get up from his seat until he downed all the broccoli on his plate. Karma puked.
"Consider it revenge," Gakushuu grins smugly and then stands up to leave. Once he's out of the door, Karma huffs.
Revenge?
Fine. He'll show him revenge.
To be absolutely frank, Karma intended to pull this prank way before Gakushuu decided to terrorize him with those disgusting miniature trees. But now, instead of being reluctant about it, Karma looked forward to subjecting the strawberry blond to suffering. You see, there was a fine line between a joke and a plain assassination attempt. And making Karma eat the broccoli crossed that line.
Oh, Gakushuu is going to regret ever being born.
So here Karma stands, putting the whole box of my homemade itching powder into Gakushuu's and his minions' clothes. And before anyone asks why he takes these kinds of things with him - Karma did not pack it. He made it there, on the spot with little effort. It was quite easy actually. All he needed were either rose hips or maple tree seeds and grind them and voilà - there it was. Perfect means of payback.
Karma, like a proper younger sibling, takes pride in being a pest.
Now, he also got presented with a golden chance to get access to their clothes:
Bathing time~
The inn holds two enormous hot springs for men and women and at that moment, it was Gakushuu's class' turn. While sneaking into the men's changing room, Karma briefly considers popping in to scare the shit out of them, record it and then blackmail them, but that would be too much work. So he concentrates on the task at hand.
Because seriously, he needs to see Gakushuu suffer. There's no point to collecting any blackmail on him anyway since he can't properly use it without outing their situation. Plus, Karma already knows enough embarrassing things about the allegedly perfect student council president.
No, what Karma craves is to see the horror in Gakushuu's violet eyes when he realizes what's happening and then have him helplessly itch with no relief. Bonus points if he curses Karma in all the languages he speaks. That part really amuses him.
In a matter of a few minutes, Karma's mission is complete. First, he cracks the locked door open with a bobby pin, (barely takes him a few seconds, practice makes perfect) and then he silently steps in. Looks like training to be an assassin does have many merits even outside of assassinations. Together with the contents of his box, Karma leaves a small signed note there.
One would think that leaving traces of your crimes behind is a stupid idea but hear him out. This is all part of the plan.
The note isn't for Gakushuu - his brother would know right away who did it anyway - but for his 'friends'.
Karma wants a scene. Karma aims for something grand to satisfy his evil thirst. Had he just sprinkled some itching powder into their clothes, the dense A-class assholes wouldn't necessarily connect the dots since they weren't familiar with Karma's antics. Worst case, they would assume having an allergic reaction to something in the inn, the baths or shampoos there. That in itself showed a rather low probability of escalating. Even if Gakushuu realized who stood behind their misfortune, he wouldn't be able to just blame Karma without a proper explanation.
However, if the culprit signed himself, they'd charge straight at him! Karma would openly laugh at their faces and they'd all direct their fury at him, which meant that Gakushuu yelling death threats and accusing Karma wouldn't stand out anymore either. With that, Karma could further tease and publicly embarrass his older brother without raising any suspicion. And in the end, Gakushuu would explode into a red ball of fury and everyone would bear witness to that comedic sight.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why Karma's nickname rang "mischievous devil".
Satisfied, he walks back to join his class. Nagisa-kun is easy to spot and Karma effortlessly slips into the conversation between his friends, a smile on his face. Nakamura measures him a bit longer, suspicion rising. She's spent enough time with the redhead to realize his spontaneous disappearances usually spell a disaster. Well, not that she can complain. All she can do right now is just wait.
And then, ten minutes later, she gets her answer.
"AKABANE!" Karma's name rings through the halls, the rage so powerful it shakes through everyone present. Karma personally relishes the despair lacing the tone though.
Nagisa-kun shoots him a suspicious glance, not doubting for a second that he had most definitely just pulled another prank. Well, fair, considering the afternoon laxative incident. Rumours have it that some of the virtuosos did not escape unscathed.
"What did you do now?" his friend clutches his head.
Karma shrugs.
Nakamura hides her smirk. She did see that devil collect some maple seeds earlier that evening and now that she thinks of it, weren't the A-class assholes bathing right now? Ah... of course. Now she knows what's up. She nudges Karma with a silent 'nice'.
Karma grins. It's so nice to have an accomplice or at least someone capable of understanding his wicked urges.
In one loud bang, the door to the common hall bursts open with the five virtuosos following. In their lead stood Asano Gakushuu, fuming red.
Karma waves: "Oh hello, student council pres. What can I do for-"
"Cut the crap, what have you done?!" Gakushuu grabs him by the collar, gaze piercing. Karma finds it funny how he's reversing their roles: the son of a chairman who should be composed and graceful, about to beat up a delinquent to a pulp. Class E has apprehension written all over their faces, fearing this escalating into a true fight, but Karma knows Gakushuu won't resort to that. Maybe later, in private, but definitely not in front of an audience, since he cared about his "perfect image" after all. Besides, even if his brother tried to fight him, he wouldn't be able to beat Karma anyway (yes, his ego is peaking once again).
"Just what are you talking about?" Karma innocently asks.
"Don't play dumb, we got your message. 'Itching powder. Because you're worth it. Love, Akabane Karma.' Now how do we get rid of it?!" Gakushuu hisses through gritted teeth, animalistic grunts echoing from behind him coming from the other four virtuosos. Karma catches something about them gutting him and feeding him to the sharks.
On the other side, he hears Nakamura chuckling, Nagisa-kun's 'don't laugh' and Okuda-san's panicked 'this is serious'.
Karma believes they should all be more openly appreciating his humour. Come on, that L'oreal slogan was just so genius of him! Plus, Asano Gakushuu was sweating buckets in full HD and probably trying not to scratch his butt.
Oh god, this was so good.
"Do you really want to know?" Karma playfully drawls, enjoying the view of Gakushuu's minions hopelessly jumping around and scratching themselves. Karma has so much experience with this prank, he mastered it to the point where even washing the clothes wouldn't get rid of the itching powder.
The strawberry blond growls and tightens his hold on Karma's neck.
Karma lifts both his hands in defeat: "Okay, okay. Just get some vinegar on it and it will stop in five minutes."
The look on Gakushuu's face is priceless.
Then Karma frees himself from the hold and whispers lowly so that only they can hear it: "Consider it revenge."
Ten minutes later
"AKABANE! WHAT'S UP WITH THE VINEGAR?! WHY DOES IT STINK LIKE WASABI AND MUSTARD?!"
followed by
"MY EYEESSS!" - from Sakakibara Ren.
Another ten minutes later
"YOU LITTLE SHIT WHY IS THE SHAMPOO SO STICKY?! DID YOU PUT GLUE IN THERE?!"
Ten minutes later for the third time
After the five virtuosos finally stepped out of the bathroom, fully clothed (Ren Sakakibara with eyes bandaged and the other four trembling like chihuahuas).
"You are so fucking dead," Gakushuu smiles sweetly, death in his eyes. Karma's hair stands on his arms, knowing fully well that his brother is serious. But then again, Karma did have a reputation of not entirely valuing his life so at least he'd die true to his life philosophy.
"But it did stop the itching, didn't it?"
Gakushuu throws a rock into his face.
9 p.m. in Karma's room
"That's what you get for being insufferable," Nagisa-kun sighs while putting a bandaid on Karma's cheek where Gakushuu struck him. The rock was pretty damn sharp. It hurt. Surprisingly. (or not) But Karma probably deserved it.
Nagisa-kun rubs his temples, face concerned: "I'm pretty sure Asano-kun is going to make your school life hell after we return. He will probably make sure you get detention or something. Seriously, what were you thinking? There is a certain limit to pranks. Now the chairman will-"
But Karma cuts him off: "Do nothing."
His friend raises an eyebrow: "How can you know?"
How can he know? Oh come on, it was the chairman they were talking about. The insane, insensitive monster with no concern for anyone, not even his own son. Karma can't imagine his father caring the slightest about some childish pranks. He would most certainly just scoff at Gakushuu for letting himself be humiliated or something.
Karma can already see it in his head. 'If you can't take care of such minor inconveniences, how do you intend to become number one?' Their father liked to put so many expectations on Gakushuu it left Karma genuinely furious for his brother.
Gakuho deserves the title of a father no more than Gakushuu deserves to have him as a father. The possibility of them ever confiding in him was null, no matter what problems or joys crossed their path. Karma doesn't know the man beyond what he presents himself at school and what he shows is a lack of remorse or hesitance to use any underhanded, dirty tactics to achieve his goals.
Nagisa-kun is still eyeing him as he waits for an answer.
Karma huffs, playing coy: "Just a feeling."
His face is patched by now so he stands up and stretches, thanking Nagisa-kun for helping him with this near-mortal wound.
Low price for today's fun.
Gakushuu surely loved it too, no matter what he says.
