"You have your mother's eyes."

Karma hasn't heard those words since he was 3 years old, barely a preschooler. He has always prided himself in his extraordinary memory, in the way his brain effortlessly sorted through information and immediately categorized it, stored it in the correct boxes and always knew which to open when. Already at the early age of three, he started to make sense of the things around him, not only the trivial matters like numbers but also words and the meanings behind them. He started to notice that when people said one thing, they could also mean another.

The first time someone commented on his looks, he was being carried home by his mother after they went grocery shopping. The person who uttered that sentence was their neighbour, an elderly woman with a beautiful garden which she spent most of her time catering. It was a particularly bright day and as they were entering their yard, the neighbour called out to gift them some of her freshly cut flowers. Karma remembers burying his nose into the peony he received, the lovely scent completely distracting him from whatever it was that the woman and his mother talked about. At some point though, the lady looked at him and cooed, complimenting his (back then) fair hair and big golden eyes.

He remembers the delight that bloomed in him. He remembers realizing that this particular comment wasn't just about the color of his eyes, or about how much he resembled his mother. He didn't, really, now that he looks back at the photos. That delight stemmed from knowing that people looked at him and could see traces of a person he thought the world of, that he was a part of something - a family - and he had proof of such.

He never told Gakushuu, but he felt slightly jealous back then that he didn't get their father's eyes too. Of course, his childish mind wouldn't accept the strict concept of genetics and the fact that heterochromia was an absolute exception, so he foolishly wished that one day, either of his eyes would turn violet and then he'd not only have part of his mother but also his father.

Yet when Karma was 5, his parents were on their way to get divorced.

He knew what it meant in words when Gakushuu explained but it took him a long time to truly let the implications sink in. Maybe it was the fact that his mother turned colder, no longer spent the evenings playing with him and his brother, watching the TV or reading to them. Or that his father rarely stayed at home and when he did, he wouldn't even look at them without sending chills down their spine.

It was probably their father who changed first. Karma found out years later about the death of Gakuho's first student and only then when he managed to put things into perspective, did it start to make sense why he stopped being so soft-spoken and gentle with them, opting to rather drill harsh truths and principles into their heads.

Somehow, in the span of a few months, the family that he once so adored and felt safe in turned into a constant battlefield. He and Gakushuu were eventually separated too. His mother wouldn't tell him the details, probably deeming him too young to grasp the situation. She started to talk to him less and less, to avert her gaze from his and at some point hired a nanny to take care of him every day while she worked. It wasn't even like she was busy with work, she was more than well off, job or not, she simply opted to not stay home.

Yes... somehow, in the span of a few months, Karma has lost both his father and his mother.

He hated them both for it, for the longest time. In fact, he still did until recently - until Koro-sensei turned his world upside down and taught him that there's more than just his own thoughts and beliefs. And that there is no way to change the past, only the future.

So now, he wouldn't go as far as to blame either side anymore because, despite his mischievous and playful nature, he understands the intricacies of emotions and relationships. He understands that his father was stricken with grief and fear, that he was reminded of it with every glance at him and Gakushuu, at the possibility of his children meeting the same fate as his student Ikeda. He also recognizes that while his mother did leave him alone, essentially abandoned him, she probably did so because deep down she cared too much and couldn't bring herself to face the damage she had a hand in.

Karma really tries to reframe his experiences and memories of her in order to find peace, maybe even forgive her.

Still, when he hears those words again, this time as a teenager, there is no joy anymore. He can't help but feel his throat closing up and his heart sinking. Although, that was probably for a different reason.

"I don't know how I haven't noticed before. Perhaps because you look so different from the last time I saw you?"

Karma feels the sweat running down his spine. He recognizes the voice but slowly turns towards the speaker to make sure his ears aren't playing any games on him.

Unfortunately, they aren't.

"Principal Asano," the boy exhales, trying to keep his voice. "I don't know what you're talking about."

The man only smiles, tilting his head slightly to the right. Or left. Karma really doesn't know anymore. He's glad he at least still knows that down is the ground and the ground is where he's standing because it sure as heck doesn't feel like that.

"Your hair got darker. You also grew up quite tall. Are you Asano-kun's - no, Gakushuu's height already? Even though you're younger..." his father continues, not paying Karma's denial any mind.

He stays quiet.

Out of all the things he expected to see when he was walking home back from the 3-E campus, the Principal standing in front of his house and curiously looking at the nameplate at the door was definitely not one of them.

"Three years," the man suddenly stepped towards him, making Karma almost jump in his own skin, "you managed to stay under my radar for three years. Impressive. Though I suppose I never would have thought my other son would even be in the country, let alone the same city, since his mother moved to Singapore. Or was it Taiwan? She always loved travelling. How is she?"

Karma's heart pounds so hard he worries it might burst. How did Gakuho even know that?

Every fibre in his body screams run, tells him that this isn't his father anymore, it's not a human being even, this is a monster wearing a familiar face. He could fight. Or maybe he couldn't. There were people walking around, bystanders, who could help him or at least distract the chairman while he ran away. Karma could easily just cause a commotion and make it more difficult for the man to try anything. Yet to them, this must have all looked like a friendly encounter, with the perfect smile plastered on Gakuho's face.

"You must be mistaking me for someone, sir," the boy states firmly, refusing to move despite how close they were standing now. "I lost my mother from an early age and only have my grandparents."

The man chuckles, taking another step forward: "Indeed, according to the school database, your legal guardian is an elderly couple with the surname Akabane. Are they the family of the man your mother remarried? They must be quite kind, taking in a child they have no relations with."

At those words, Karma unwillingly winces. Those words, although true, hurt more than he cared to admit.

With the chairman hovering over him like a tower, Karma felt like the five-year-old boy he once was, used to unconditional and warm love, only to one day wake up and find out the very same hand that caressed him had now mercilessly thrown him to a pack of wolves to be eaten alive.

The redhead was rarely ever scared but this time was damn close to it. He doesn't know what he means to this man by now, if he even considers him anything at all but a pawn, a thorn in his side. After all, he had no place in the Asano household. Gakushuu was the one and only perfect son he brought up. Gakushuu was the embodiment of his ideals, of his efforts and principles... that is, until Karma came along and changed him. Made him weak, he can imagine the chairman scoff.

"Excuse me, that was a bit insensitive of me to say. Surely it must have been hard, growing up alone. Had I known you were still here, I would have continued my role as a parent and raised you myself."

Fuck, Karma curses. No matter how hard he thinks, he can't come up with any way to change his father's mind. All his attempts at denying it got promptly brushed aside. So Karma clenches his teeth, dropping the act.

"What do you want from me?" he hisses, not breaking the eye contact. "Why are you here?"

Gakuho raises his eyebrows at the abrupt switch but maintains the perfect smile: "Is it so strange for a father to simply want to see his son after a decade of being separated?"

The redhead rolls his eyes at that.

Right. As if.

"I don't believe a word you say. You're barely a father to Gakushuu. You don't see me as your son." He venomously snaps.

The chairman sighs, slowly shaking his head: "How sad. If only you knew just how wrong you are in that."

Then, his face morphs into something akin to solemn honesty, except there is no god, human or devil on this Earth that would ever be able to convince Karma of this man having the capacity of being honest.

"I only wish the best for you two. I want to lead you on the winning path," he starts and Karma has to hold back a gag. "Class E is not somewhere you belong. Admittedly, your habit of picking a fight anywhere you go is somewhat undesired but you have the brains, the spirit and most importantly the ego of a ruler. You're not one of those failures. You're not a mere pawn either. You're a born leader."

Huh… that's not what Karma was bracing himself to hear.

"Say, don't you want to come back to class A and stand side by side with Gakushuu? The two of you at the top, at last together, dominating the school. Isn't that what you want too?"

Karma's too stunned to even notice the man reaching out his hand, only realizing so when there's a squeeze on his shoulder. He flinches at the touch as if there were needles impaling him.

"I have thought of you often, even though we parted ways under unfavourable circumstances. I always hoped I would get to see you again, that I could be there for you to teach you about life."

The needles keep him rooted in place, the pain almost paralyzing.

"I have missed you, son."

He should have been happy to hear those words.

Behind all the mischief and toughness, Karma was still a child. And as embarrassing as it was for him to admit, he knew he always longed for love. He longed for someone to care for him, to want to be with him, to miss him. His brother, for one, but also his mother. His father. He knew that it was too much to ask so he never did, he gave up the thought and berated himself for even coming to such ideas. It's not like he gave up without a good reason either.

The whole reason he and Gakushuu kept this a secret and hid from the chairman was that they didn't believe he'd accept a disruptive element in this game he called life. Karma was too much of a wildcard. They expected the chairman to threaten them to stay away from each other, to try to get rid of Karma even, because he "belonged" to the ex-wife he was no longer on speaking terms with. And if that wasn't a problem anymore, then later because he would be a "distraction" to Gakushuu's academic and personal growth. Then because he would be labelled a "disgrace" for falling to class B, C, D and at last class E.

And yet here he stood, aged 14, being told by the very same Asano Gakuho that he was missed. That he had a place in that world.

It almost brings him to tears.

See - sometimes, Karma wishes he was oblivious. He wonders how happier he could have been if he wasn't so sharp, so good at picking up even the slightest of cues instead of blindly trusting in people's best intentions as so many do. Maybe he would have gotten hurt somewhere along the way but maybe, he would have also been able to make and keep more friends, to sleep soundly instead of contemplating his nights away about why humans always need to lie and deceive each other. If he wasn't aware of such a depressing reality, maybe he would have been able to lead a normal carefree life. And in this case, believe his father's words.

But he can't. He hears the manipulation immediately because it's second nature to him, because he's familiar with it more than love or honesty or literally anything else. If he wasn't, he wouldn't have survived alone for long.

"You feel threatened," Karma says at last. He shoves the hand away and puts distance between them again, clearly rejecting the idea. "You're scared I'm going to place well in the final exams, too well for your teaching system to tolerate since I'm in class E and class E is supposed to stay at the bottom."

The principal's gaze turns cold and there are alarms ringing in the redhead's mind but he continues, standing his ground: "You also know Gakushuu doesn't fully share your vision anymore and if made to choose, would stay by my side rather than yours. So you're trying to make him obedient by keeping me a hostage. You're basically scrambling to salvage whatever left there is of your philosophy."

Before his father can even oppose those claims, Karma quickly backs off far enough to then head towards his house all the while not keeping his eyes off of the man. He doesn't trust himself to engage in this conversation any longer, there's a sharp pain in the back of his skull from the tension and anxiety, his fingers are clammy and cold and all that he wants to do right now is collapse into a heap of exhaustion.

"What I told you is the truth, Karma-kun," the man interjects though thankfully doesn't stop him.

Even if it was, it doesn't matter, he thinks. It really doesn't, because this wasn't what he wanted anyway. Not anymore. He had friends he trusted, a teacher he could count on not only at school but also at life and a loving, caring, mother-hen of a brother.

"I do wish for us to rule togethe-"

"You know, if you told me this a few months ago, I might have taken you up on that offer," The redhead cuts him off. He doesn't want to hear this. He doesn't want to be given this false, painful hope when he knows its purpose is controlling them. "But I know what's real and what isn't anymore. And the family in class E that I have, Koro-sensei - those are real. They aren't worth risking just for a fickle promise from you."

And with that, he wishes the man a nice rest of the day and shuts the door close.

The moment he does, he leans his back on it and slowly slides down, feeling faint. The previous throbbing in his head develops into a full-blown migraine and if it was hard to breathe before, now he was suffocating.

What the hell happened?

How did the chairman find out?

Karma's thoughts are racing faster than ever at any point in his life and they conjure hundreds of possible scenarios of what could have occurred as well as of what could occur from this point on. Did he just figure it out on his own? Did he see something? Did he hear something? What- when?

Then, something even more worrisome hits him.

What about Gakushuu?

What happened to him? Is he safe? Did their father punish him for going behind his back? No, probably not. He never even touched a hair on Gakushuu's head. But - Now that Karma thinks about it, he hasn't heard from his brother since yesterday. He hasn't seen him since they took the final exam two days ago either. With all the studying and the stress from exams and assassination plans, he didn't register the fact that they haven't actually made any contact in what was more than an ominously suspicious amount of time.

Fuck. Why didn't Karma notice sooner? Clumsily, he fishes out the phone from his pocket and starts typing a message to find out what situation they are in and what the plan is-

but then he realizes... are messages even safe anymore? Is that why Gakushuu hasn't contacted him since?

Nothing makes sense anymore. The boy groans into the palm of his hands and tears up, pathetic as it sounds. His safe, comforting life until now has just crumbled 5 minutes ago at his front door and with it all prospects of carefree dinners, talks, trips, walks... His whole relationship with his brother was on the line.

What was there to do? He needed to talk to Gakushuu but for all he knows, his phone might be hacked or the chairman himself could have it in his possession. Sneaking in to meet him at his home was something he didn't want to risk either, no matter how good his stealth skills were.

At school? The principal stays in his office most of the time anyway, maybe Karma could find a window slot during break where he could pull Gakushuu to the side. Sure, it would require him to actually come to the main building but as long as he kept his presence low, wore the same boring uniform like everyone else and maybe topped it with a hat or something...

He had to make it work. He would have a good excuse, anyway. The results from the school's finals were going to be officially displayed on the main board by the entrance anyway so he could just pretend to be checking them out just like everyone else. This idea gives Karma enough hope to let him gather himself up and actually move from the cold ground. He's exhausted from the class and mostly from the distasteful encounter earlier and opts to just collapse on the bed full of books and papers.

Tomorrow he'll see Gakushuu. Yeah, he might miss the announcement in his own class - he really wanted to be with them, to celebrate (or mourn) together and be engulfed with comfort in that warm supportive home - but his brother takes the priority.

Karma will go and see if he's okay, ask what the strawberry blond knows and then they'll figure out what to do next. If it was the two of them together, they would be alright, no matter what the chairman plots. Surely.

If it's the two of them, they'll find a way.


Alright loves :) There goes the first chapter in forever. I know it might be hard to orient yourself but I literally just picked off where I left it. But, if it isn't clear by now... most of you fell for my trap. "Unhuman teacher" didn't necessarily apply to Koro-sensei only ;)

Just a reminder, the plot isn't fully canon-compliant.

Next update: Hopefully next Sunday

Hope you liked this one and until then!