Chapter Text
[ two years ago ]
you loved your friends dearly, almost everyone in Kunugigaoka knew that much of you. though, you only had a few selected friends you'd constantly be seen around with. One of them being Shiota Nagisa. you met due to a cross-class group assignment you've been partnered up in. and granted, you two were too shy and awkward to actually work together and ended up getting a relatively average grade on the assignment because you both felt bad trying to correct each other.
nonetheless, you and him remained friends ever since that assignment. days certainly felt less lonely when you know you had a friend you could always rely on, and Nagisa was always so nice to you, it was hard not to want to be friends with him. you've gotten so close to the point you were the only friend Nagisa's mother trusted him with.
one day, Nagisa wanted you to come with him to look at articles of his favorite director (who, coincidentally, you were also a fan of. so it worked out). and you swore you left him for a fraction of a second and all of a sudden he disappeared into thin air! you tried calling for him, but all you got were weird stares from concerned mothers and fed-up workers. So you switched to more traditional methods. a head of blue hair shouldn't be this hard to spot.
oh, there he was.
"Nagisa! I've been looking everywhere for you," you were relieved to finally see the boy, Nagisa gave you a meek smile and apologized for disappearing out of nowhere, "you've got to stop running off without me, your mother would've killed me."
"oh? who's this?" another voice— unfamiliar, made it to your ears, you and Nagisa turned around simultaneously. a redhead? "a friend of yours, Nagisa?"
and he was on a first-name basis with Nagisa? how come you've never heard of him?
"you're seeing other people behind my back now? I'm hurt, Nagisa.." you sighed dramatically, moving one hand to your heart in feign sadness. to really play into the act, you turned your face away from the bluenette and faked weep, "is this all our friendship means to you?"
while Nagisa looked beyond done with your theatrics, the redhead was more amused. you were, in a way, completely different from Nagisa. he was far more reserved than you were, whoever you were.. he still hasn't gotten your name, "the name's Karma, I believe you're in 1-B. no?"
you tried to rack your brain— you have nearly no recollection of this guy being in your school, he might just be lying to your face. you turned to look at Nagisa, who didn't help much, honestly. but you doubt you'd forget if you were in the same school as someone so.. brightly coloured..? then again, you hadn't paid attention to other students ever since you became friends with Nagisa.
"oh, [last name] [name]." you said in the spur of the moment, realizing you were half-zoning out. you didn't know if Karma could tell you were lying or not, but he just hummed in acknowledgement, so you didn't continue the conversation anymore. "and uhh, yes. yes, I am."
Nagisa sensed the tension, deciding to break the ice.
"so, [name].. I know I should've asked you before making these decisions on my own, but I thought it'd be nice to introduce you to one of my other friends. I hope you don't mind." he gestured to Karma as he said it, and while you weren't such a big fan of sudden-change-of-plans, Karma didn't look.. wrong? well, that's rather harsh. he didn't look like he'd give you any trouble, and this was Nagisa's friend as well. Nagisa's friend was also your friend.
he couldn't be that bad, could he?
[ a week later, ]
you take it all back, Akabane Karma was horrid.
the three of you decided to eat outside since Akabane told the two of you it was on him, at a fast-food restaurant he was a fan of. you sat beside Nagisa and across from Akabane, who thought his position was perfect to taunt both of you at the same time.
you thought he was joking.
you soon enough, unfortunately, learned he was not joking.
"no, no, no! don't you dare bring that centipede anywhere near my drink, Akabane! I swear if you get even an inch closer I will kick you where the sun doesn't shine!" you were thoroughly panicking now, why does he have a centipede? where did he even get a centipede?? you've been friends with him for a week and there's been no such thing as gentlemanly-chivalrous-whatever-the-hell people say now, all he's been is a huge tease.
"aww, it's just a poor little creature, I thought you'd like the guy."
"I would, but not near my drink! did a house land on top of your head?!"
Nagisa, who was listening to this whole encounter, had a pleasant smile on his face. at least his two friends were getting along to some degree. though he isn't so sure how he feels about Karma threatening you with a centipede, that part just doesn't seem so nice.
"come on Karma, knock it off. you're going to cause a scene." Nagisa finally said, to which you finally stood up and hid behind Nagisa, nodding violently.
Akabane sighed and reluctantly obliged, muttering words you could barely hear. something between 'party pooper', you weren't sure.
aside from the teasing, you supposed Akabane wasn't that bad. he just does things in his own way, and by his own way, that meant teasing and poking fun at both you and Nagisa.
"also, cut it out with the Akabane thing. everyone else calls me by my first name, hearing you call my last name makes it weird." that sentence snapped you out of your thoughts, have you seriously been the only one calling him Akabane? you just thought you weren't that close with him. and yet, this makes you think of all the times he's called your name; it's always your first name. well, that's a bit embarrassing.
"alright, alright. I'll call you Karma, okay?" you finally said, lifting both your hands up in fake surrender.
Karma gave you a smile, and ended up throwing the centipede at your direction.
"damn it, Akabane!"
[ one year ago ]
when you truly think about it, having two friends like Karma and Nagisa might just be better than being on speaking terms with the whole school. the three of you were inseparable, it got to the point where teachers started letting the three of you hang out despite the class differences. Karma always had the grades to back it up, while you and Nagisa were always so well-behaved there was no reason for the three of you to not be allowed to hang out together.
now, speaking of friends. what you're feeling right now is probably the exact opposite of friendship, not hatred. but there's the slightest chance you've developed feelings for that redhead friend of yours. and— well, you hadn't meant for it to happen, it just sort of did over time. even with the reputation of a delinquent, Karma was actually awfully sweet most of the time. once you get on his good side, that is. and he's smart, so what exactly isn't there to love about him?
you realized your feelings for him a little over a week ago, when the three of you were supposed to meet up to do homework together. Nagisa, however, couldn't make it since his mother had sudden plans for the two of them.. which left you and Karma doing homework at his house. the homework you were discussing was math.
you were by no means at all terrible at math, in fact, you were brilliant at math. which was a miracle, since no one else from your family was this gifted, you managed to learn it all by yourself. it's just that— math has gotten so complicated over the years, it made your brilliance slowly fade off, you were getting slower and slower at understanding the material taught. it clearly showed when you and Karma were sitting in silence trying to do your own works.
eventually at one point, you gave up. you've been staring at the same problem for three minutes or more and you still can't comprehend the question.
"I can't do it. oh my god, I'm stupid, I don't get it. what am I supposed to.." your voice trailed off as you couldn't finish your own words, this may seem dramatic. but it was terrifying being so good at a subject and one day you just.. couldn't do it, "I'm going to fail, that's it."
your little outburst caught the attention of the redhead, who looked like he was having the time of his life doing these assignments. when he scooched over to where your math homework was, he began scanning it. 'are they having trouble with this?' this wasn't rocket science to Karma, but he knew not everyone was on the same level as him; he had to be more considerate. hesitantly, he reached out to pat your head.. this was weird, what the hell was he even doing?
"c'mon, don't start crying over a math problem," he started out, a bit confused on what to say next, "it's not that big of a deal—"
the glare you gave him made him knew he had definitely said the wrong thing.
"okay, it's kind of a big deal. but don't start crying over it, what are you having trouble with?" he didn't even think twice before moving closer again, practically glued onto your side as he took a look at the work you were struggling with.
'what the huh?' you couldn't even continue being upset because of how shocked you were by his unexpected act. where was all this touchy-touchy vibe coming from anyways? 'why is he so close, and why is he caressing my head??'
there were so many questions in your head at that moment. but since this was an opportunity to get your math work done, you didn't waste anymore time.
"i'm not getting this question. I know it's probably easy and I'm being stupid but I seriously can't wrap my head around it." you gestured at the question you were stuck in, Karma leaned forward to get a proper look at the question. it didn't even take him five seconds to hum in acknowledgement and brought the worksheet closer to you. his hand, which was still actively stroking your head, showed no signs of stopping.
-7x + 2 + 3x - 5
"okay, I know it looks complicated, but you have to trust me on this, okay?" he shifted his position so that his free hand could point and gesture at the worksheet, "if you look closely, you can see there's two kinds of numbers here; the ones with an x and the ones without." he pointed to each thing he was talking about, waiting for you to nod or give a verbal answer to say you understood, "now, to make the equation less complicated, you group the numbers with their partners. see? both -7x and 3x have x's, so they'll go together, 2 and -5 don't so they'll go together."
as he taught you, you were actively scribbling on your paper, this was finally starting to make sense.
-7x + 3x + 2 - 5
"exactly like that, now that they're all grouped up it's easier to count them, right?" he continued when you nodded, "good, now sum them up."
"-4x - 3?" you muttered, unsure of your answer. you looked at Karma for approval. what you got in return was a smile and a ruffle on your hair. which messed it up and made you look ridiculous, but at this point you were more relieved you finally got this question down.
"there you go, I knew you got it. that wasn't so hard, was it? just unfamiliar."
he was so uncharacteristically.. nice, you never thought there was a side of Karma like that. it was softer, kinder. and.. you wouldn't admit it, but he looked damn good when he was teaching you, he was patient with it too. Karma ended up helping you with the whole thing, by the time you were done you had fully mastered the topic.
but every time you remembered those hours with Karma, you felt your heart beating a tad bit louder. you originally thought it was just because you've never been this close to anyone before, but the more you think about it, you've been this close with Nagisa and you didn't feel anything, so maybe it was just Karma.. to top it off, you really couldn't find a reason why you wouldn't date him, the delinquent thing included.
and obviously, once you got home, you immediately told Nagisa everything.
Nagisaa ദ്ദി◝ ⩊ ◜.ᐟ
you
NAGISA NAGISA NAGISAA
PLEASEPLEASE NASWER
THIS IS SUPER DUPER URHENT
16.34
Nagisaa ദ്ദി◝ ⩊ ◜.ᐟ
????
are you okay??
what's wrong???
16.36
you
I might or might have not made the realization that
I like. someone.
like
like like
and I might or might have made the conclusion that it's Karma
16.36
Nagisaa ദ്ദി◝ ⩊ ◜.ᐟ
excuse me??
16.37
not even a second later, your bluenette friend called you, which scared the shit out of you and made you almost drop your phone.
you then had a long, long talk about the pros and cons of being with Akabane Karma of all people.
. . .
"why couldn't you have chosen Asano?" Nagisa sighed, to which you gave a noise of protest.
"excuse me! I'm just friends with Gakushuu! besides, I didn't expect this to happen. don't sound like a disappointed parent!!" you huffed on the phone, clutching your pillow as tight as possible, "why Karma of all people?? what if he thinks I'm weird?"
"I think that's his literal first impression of you, so that's off the list.."
"Nagisa!"
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding!"
[ two weeks ago ]
"what? you got suspended??" Nagisa was the first to react between the three of you, your jaw was agape and Karma looked like this was nothing short of the usual.
"yeah, kind of. sort of, but hey, positive note." he paused, looking at both you and Nagisa, "I'll be in the same class a you two."
wait, but that means..
"3-E?! they're transferring you to 3-E? for what?!" you reacted this time, outraged. Karma's grades definitely didn't belong in E-class, it was bad enough you and Nagisa were transferred there, now him too?? "ehem. I mean, what are they suspending you for?"
Karma stayed silent for a few seconds, before shrugging. he then admitted what happened with the guy from A-class and the guy from E-class. and at first, you questioned why he would help someone from E-class. but then you realized they're just as human as you were, and grades weren't everything. actually, that's the whole reason you're being transferred to E-class.
"I guess it'll be nice to be in the same class for our final year," you finally mumbled after a period of silence. Nagisa looked up at you, then a smile crept onto his face, "and we get our very own building, so we won't have to share with the other students. fun, right?"
you supposed being in E-class wasn't all that bad, and you had both your friends in the same class as you. what's there not to love, really? you just had to.. deal with the main campus students. but you don't talk much with them anyways, only a few people, Gakushuu included. originally, he was upset you were being transferred to the End class, but he wished you the best of luck and hoped you'd join back to the main campus soon.
you couldn't really tell if he was being serious or not, but that might just be because he was hard to read.
well, all the three of you could do now was to wait for the school break to be over to reunite again. 3-E class, hm?
you truly wonder what the year forward had for you.
you hoped nothing would break your friendship with Nagisa and Karma. your friendship would defeat the odds, won't it?
yeah, you're sure it will.