Work Text:
- 𝓐 𝓫 𝓼 𝓮 𝓷 𝓽 -
| 𝐊𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐍𝐚𝐦𝐢 |
ᥫ᭡
The clock on the brown wooden wall ticked thirty long seconds away and then the silence was ripped by a ferocious growl.
"Sensei, did you skip breakfast this morning?" The petite-looking boy with blue pigtails and azure eyes, firmly asked. His other friends that had been wondering the same thing just hummed in approval of that question.
"Ah Nagisa-kun, I suppose it's because I woke up later than usual. Don't worry! I'll fill up my food tanks with some goodies from Italy for lunch," the yellow bipedal octopus stated with his face changed its pattern to possess a few green stripes.
He's talking big per usual. Everyone has the same thought all over.
"Nya? Anybody know where could Okuda-san be?" Korosensei asked holding up a pen in one of his yellow tentacles.
With that question heard, almost all students of class 3-E turned to view the only empty table placed at the back- which usually been occupied by that certain chemist expert in round glasses, Okuda Manami. Some murmurs began to arose, specifically to display their hopes and concerns that Manami would soon show up albeit this late.
"She's absent, perhaps. Though it'd be odd if it's true."
Said a clear monotone voice as its owner threw a green knife towards Korosensei's direction, the latter easily evaded the attack while fuming in anger.
"Nakamura-san! I've told you the assassination attempt is done for today, no more attempts are allowed until after class hours." Korosensei nagged, visible gas could be seen escaped from his now red coloured face.
"Sumimasen," Nakamura Rio pouted at the end, supporting her chin on the heel of her left palm.
Kayano looked hesitant at first, until Nagisa gave her an encouraging nod that she stood up getting all the attention in the class.
"Gomen, sensei. But what Nakamura-san said is true, Manami-chan is absent for today." Kayano explained with her fullest effort to not stutter while at it.
"Naruhodo ne. . ." Korosensei rubbed a tentacle at his shapeless jaw, pondering for a moment since his phone hadn't rang a notification since yesterday.
"Okuda-san would at least e-mail me to state her reason, but I have yet to accept anything from her."
Nagisa blinked in daze at his octopus teacher at first. Then he shifted his position slightly to ask Kayano, "Kayano, does Okuda-san tell you why she's absent?"
"Uh yes! Apparently, sensei, Manami-chan caught a cold last night." Kayano told, and heard the whole class gasped in unison.
"Naani!?" Korosensei flinched, his shoulders dropped at such news. "Was it a very bad one?"
"... Manami-chan's not able to get up from her bed due to that fever. I just got a simple message from her this morning, sensei." Kayano pursed her lips after finishing her line.
"That's awful," Nakamura held a worried expression on her face.
"Poor Okuda-san!"
"I hope she could get better very soon."
"Perhaps she got hit by that heavy rain yesterday."
"I know, right."
"Why don't we visit her after class?" Sugino suggested right away, leaning to his table.
"It's better to pay her a visit tomorrow, today must be the day she wanted to spend for fully resting." Isogai proposed, earning a few nods from the others and Sugino flashed him a look of approval.
"I agree with Isogai-kun's suggestion, let's all visit Okuda-san tomorrow since tomorrow is Saturday. For today, it's better to give her some time to rest." Korosensei said.
"Understood, sensei."
"Good. Now let us continue with our yesterday's lesson!"
Unknown by everyone, except Terasaka at the back who had been eyeing that red haired man since Manami's last name is mentioned to the class- Akabane Karma was being oddly quiet as he kept his head low, his expression can't be seen or peek at. Terasaka swallowed a lump in his throat as he noted the change of air coming from Karma's place, which can't possibly be good news.
Even though Karma by nature, couldn't pay his full attention to the class every single time, he's usually able to pick up some important inputs especially when it comes to Korosensei's teaching.
But today, for the whole time until the end of the class, he found out that his head was empty- since only the thoughts of Manami swirling inside his mind. He tsked at the realization, annoyed and restless.
She could've at least texted me or something. Why is it Kayano-chan that got to know first? He was indeed throwing a fit quietly as he sank into his seat.
Karma glanced at the clock on the wall for the nth time, tapping his pencil on the random page in the book he had mistakenly open for that study period. It was supposed to be Maths, for crying out loud.
When the bell startled all of them with its annoying ring, Karma was the first person to stand with his chair fell backwards and his figure vanished in split seconds. He slammed the slide window open and jumped out without a care of the widened eyes behind him.
"Kk- Karma-kun?! Where are you going in such a rush- hey!"
His only goal for today is to see Manami. Anything or anyone who tried to stand in his way will pay for a sufficient price non other than their lives.
ᥫ᭡
Manami rarely gets sick since she was a little girl. Or perhaps that's what she wanted to believe until now. It was her own fault for running so effortlessly under the pouring downfall yesterday without a shield such as umbrella or raincoat. Once she reached home, she had collapsed in her father's arms.
She shouldn't be so confident of having such immunity at this age.
The lavender eyed girl kept on pondering her mistake the whole day and it disturbed her dreams as well. Turning slightly with her hands tugging the comforter over her head, she shivered and sneezed loudly seconds later.
A loud ring of her phone on the nightstand made her groan in defeat, though she tried her best to reach it before the call could be missed.
*beep.
"Manami-chan?" The voice greeted her in genuine concern.
"Tou... -san," Manami weakly muttered.
"How are you feeling now? Does the fever go down?" Though it might be heard faint, Manami could hear echoes of people talking from the phone- her father was in the middle of his business meeting, she simply thought with a low huff.
But a part of her was relieved, her father could abandon the meeting just to ask about her condition. She couldn't ask for more.
"Mmhm," Manami knew it was hopeless to lie, but she couldn't think of anything else to say to ease her father's worries. "I'm feeling better, now. No need to worry, Tou-san."
"I'll try my best to be home before midnight. Take some rest, I'll buy you miso soup from that favourite restaurant of yours." He sounded restless, and Manami smiled at that effort.
"Thank you, Tou-san. Have a good time at work," Manami spoke slowly as her energy began to drain out of her body. Her phone slipped past her hand and down to the floor.
"Hnngh," Manami clutched at her stomach in pain, her head bang a few beats at the same time.
"I need... the pills..." She mindlessly extended a hand to the nightstand, searching and not giving a single thought about her current position on the edge of the bed. The scene in her room was too dark for her to notice the risk.
Manami gasped as she ended up hitting her body with the floor after that.
"Ow. . ." Her eyes formed blur images when she opened them back, a sob escaped her lips. "... I'm such a baby."
She was about to get up when a gentle, warm hand wrapped around her stiff shoulders.
"Indeed you are," the heart-warming whisper greeted her left ear, causing Manami to stone at the first thought that came in her mind.
". . ." She let herself in the embrace of the person veiled in the dark, her other hand involuntarily shot up to touch another face so close to her. When the person breathes out, the familiar scent of earthy cologne mixed faintly with strawberry milk set her heart to race a thousand miles.
"Karma-kun?!" She squeaked in absolute shock, her hand froze at the side of his cheek in which he took the advantage to nuzzle into it in comfort.
"Okuda-san, what makes you so careless?" Karma murmured, hoisting Manami up to set her down in the bed.
"How- how did you get in here?" Manami shot herself up once again and flipped the light switch beside her bed, the room blinked to give light for both of them to capture each other faces for a long second.
"Sorry, I got myself in." Karma explained after a sigh. "I found a spare key behind that flower pot next to the door, I just figure it was there."
"... Why did you come?" Manami asked, averting his piercing gaze.
Karma slowly blinked, "Is it wrong to visit your classmate out of concern?"
Manami was left fidgeting at that, "You can just come tomorrow when it's this late."
"You were absent for class today," Karma pressed his voice a little on the last word. "So I'm checking out on you today to make sure you're fine."
It was Manami's turn to blink so dumbfoundedly at him, "You're going through all the troubles just to make sure I'm fine? How's that so matter to you-"
"I know what I'm doing, Okuda-san. And when it comes to you, it all matters." Karma spoke to stand his ground, Manami was speechless for a good 10 seconds.
"K- K- Karma-kun, you should wear a mask or... s- s- something. I don't want you to catch my cold," Manami stammered as she struggled to push her glasses into her face.
"Relax, I have a tough immune system." Karma leaned towards her, scanning her pale, fragile framed face, "More importantly, have you eaten?"
"I- um no, I don't have the appetite to take anything but medicine," Manami spoke a little low as if she didn't mean for Karma to hear in the first place.
"That's not good," he replied, bringing his palm to slide Manami's bangs up and felt her forehead with his. "You're not going to be better like this. Why did you lie to your dad?"
"..." Manami pulled her head to the side, too embarrassed to even look at Karma in the eye. "I don't want to be a burden to him. He's busy at work, this is just a small cold."
"Small, you say?" Karma squinted his eyes in disbelief.
"Thank you for being concern about me, Karma-kun. But you don't have to be here. I can take care of myself," Manami mumbled as she lied down on the bed, tucking herself under the comforter once again. "All this time I'm doing fine on my own, so it doesn't matter if my dad is here or not."
"Heeh. Is that so..." Karma murmured, his voice croaked in a way that clenched Manami's heart.
"Then, I'll see you later."
Manami didn't have the urge to see Karma's figure leaving her room until the door of her bedroom was closed. She huffed a long sigh and pressed her lips in a straight line.
To be honest, she wanted his company.
But again, she's not going to let that desire win. She's not that selfish to begin with.
Don't leave me, Karma-kun.
ᥫ᭡
"Hey, Okuda-san. Wake up."
Her shoulder blade was moved by someone, stirring herself awake with a soft yawn. She turned around, her lashes fluttered in daze when her lavender eyes began to take a cloudy shape of the person before her; short red hair, and pale sharp eyes that appear as either mercury or goldish in colour.
Manami caught her breath in a startled gasp, "Kk- Karma-kun?! Why-"
She was silenced when Karma put a finger on her lips.
"You said you're doing fine on your own all this time, correct?" Karma slowly asked, he didn't really wait for a specific answer from Manami though.
His fingers caressed her cheek warmly and then he pushed strands of hair behind her reddened ear, "Well, this time and next time, you're not going to be on your own."
Manami's eyes widened.
Karma got up after Manami pushed herself to sit on the bed, flashing her that rare smile of him anyone couldn't see everyday.
"I'm here for you, Manami. So please don't push me away."
He just used her first name. It stopped the time and second she was counting. Manami swore her heart skipped a beat after seeing that soft expression on his face.
Would he make that face to any other girl he felt concern of?
The longer Manami stares in daze at him, the more obvious that Karma's face was taking a change of colour that matches his hair.
He faked a cough and held up a bowl from the nightstand, "*ahem. I... I made you some chicken porridge, so you have to eat, okay? Then you can take your medicine and have a good night sleep."
Manami shook her head to snap the train of thoughts running inside her brain. Nodding to Karma, she fixes her position to sit at the edge of the bed.
"Thank you, Karma-kun. It smells wonderful," she didn't lie though, her inner self was more than excited to taste the result of Karma's homemade chicken porridge.
"Really? This is my first time cooking for someone besides my family, I hope you like it." Karma muttered. "Do you want me to feed you-"
"No, no, it's fine! I can feed myself just fine!" Manami blurted out with her arms flailing wildly in the air.
Somehow the Akabane was a bit offended, a small pout greeted his lips.
"Jeez. You don't have to show so much effort in declining that offer, you know." It kinda hurt. As if I was getting rejected without being able to confess first. Karma pondered to himself.
"I'm just being shy. . ." Manami gently took the bowl from Karma, their fingers brushed against each other in brief moment.
Karma could feel his eyes growing bigger at the new sight before him.
"You've done so much to me today, so..." Manami took a spoonful of porridge and let the content melt in her tongue. Her sight began to blur and tears ran down fast to her rosy cheeks.
"Thank you so much, Akabane Karma-kun."
*ba-dump.
Karma was currently in the middle of huge crisis, to calm his heart from beating so loud in his chest, and to comfort Manami who was out of blue crying her eyes out.
"Hh- hey, Okuda-san?! Why are you crying, does it taste awful? I thought it tasted just fine, maybe something's wrong with my tongue-"
"The porridge is too delicious," Manami took another spoonful and sniffed as she munched. Her eyes twinkled with mirth as they looked straight back at Karma.
"I can't control my heart, I feel so happy and my tears are the solid proof of it."
Manami would always have that kind of warm, soft smile on her face. It's just the same smile she used to display with everyone.
But then, how does it possible for Karma to think that smile only meant for him and nobody else?
He's being possessive again.
Was it wrong for him to feel that way?
Karma clenched his fists at his sides, about to throw his pride away when he said those lines.
"... I can't control my heart too."
"Huh?" Manami almost dropped the spoon she was holding. "... Karma-kun?"
"... You should eat some more while I'm taking care of your medicine," Karma cunningly smirked at that clueless face Manami made. Of course she wouldn't figure something out.
"Yare yare. You're even more oblivious when you're sick, Okuda-san."
"Eehh?! What- what do you mean by that?" Manami's face started to let out some steams.
"Next time," Karma stood up to land a soft pat on Manami's head.
"If you have a thought of being absent for the day, quickly text me first."
Manami blinked at him, confused. His next line left her breathless.
"Then I'm going to fill in the absent records with you on the same day." Karma continued with his mouth curving up to a toothy grin.
.
.
.
.
.
.
ᥫ᭡ end ᥫ᭡
- 𝓐𝓫𝓼𝓮𝓷𝓽 -