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The first time Nagisa picked up a gun wasn’t in E-class.
His mom had been particularly mad at him that day. And he wasn’t sure what she was going to do to him, what sort of punishment he’d face at her hands.
Over and over and over and—
He was in an unfamiliar place, he didn’t even know where he was, he just knew he needed an out.
And he’d find one.
He ran.
He ran, and ran, and ran, and ran.
His feet were wet, water cascading down him from above.
Then, finally, lying on the ground, almost as if it was meant for him:
His very first gun.
He picked it up.
It was heavy.
He aimed, and—
“Hey!” Someone shouted.
Nagisa turned the gun away from himself, immediately pointing it at the imposter. His mother. It had to be his mother. Who else would it be? It was always her.
The figure that walked towards him wasn’t his mom, though.
“That’s mine!”
No, it was a kid, just like him.
Nagisa was six, you see.
The other kid, who was also six, looked just about as mad as his mom would have looked though, or how Nagisa imagined she would have looked.
And he was bigger than Nagisa, with bright red hair and seething yellow eyes. He was also already holding two water guns.
Nagisa’s brows furrowed.
“But—” he tried to start.
“Put it back down. That’s my gun!”
Nagisa just stared at him, not sure how to proceed. On one hand, he wanted—almost needed the gun. The weight of it calmed him down. And it was so hot that all he wanted to do was splash himself with the water inside of it. Plus, he needed a way to defend himself in case his mom came!
On the other hand, this kid seemed business. Nagisa knew that he wouldn’t back down, even if Nagisa managed to explain himself in plain Japanese why exactly he wanted the gun for himself—and why he thought the other didn’t really need three (or, probably more, hidden around somewhere) guns all to himself.
So, in lieu of explaining himself, Nagisa took better aim at the other and—
His finger pressed down on the trigger before he could really think about it.
And the other, though he was already soaked to the bone, was immediately doused in water.
There was a shared moment of tense silence as the boy just stared at Nagisa in shock.
Then, he took up his own aim, pointing both guns at Nagisa.
Nagisa ran.
“Get back here!” The other shouted, as he leapt after Nagisa.
Luckily, Nagisa seemed like he was faster than the other kid. He ran far enough that when he turned around, he couldn’t see the red of the boy’s hair anymore.
He hid around the large post that held up weird bucket-looking thing that poured water down every so often, and held his gun close to his chest, catching his breath.
Then, out of nowhere, a flash of red crossed his vision.
Nagisa immediately flew to his feet, aiming his gun wildly.
He found him!
But, how?
No matter, Nagisa just ran again. He could outrun this kid as much as he wanted. But then—
A repeated sharp feeling right between his shoulder blades.
He’s been struck!
Nagisa fell to the ground (slowly, one limb at a time, as the ground was hard and he was worried he’d scrape his knee if he fell too seriously).
He, from his spot on the ground, twisted around, aiming up at the red figure.
His eyes were nearly squeezed shut, but he could just barely make out the boy throwing one of his guns away. It must have been empty from the repeated shots to Nagisa’s back.
His blood roared in his ears.
He squeezed his eyes shut, and began shooting wildly, pressing the trigger over and over, feeling the weight of the gun grow lighter and lighter.
Until, suddenly, the trigger pulled too quickly, too easily, and he opened his eyes again. Only to find that his gun was empty of water.
No!
“Hahaha!” The other boy cackled. His hair was dripping wet, though. Nagisa knew he must have gotten him.
Nagisa scrambled to his feet and glanced over at the bucket—just in time.
It was about to tip!
Quickly, Nagisa ran forward, right towards the boy. He looked shocked, like he didn’t expect such a wave of bravery. He closed his eyes, looking as though he was bracing for impact—
And Nagisa ran right past him, though not without bumping into the boy and causing him to drop his other gun. He ran, just as the bucket poured its water down, and just as Nagisa undid the clasp of the water container on his gun.
Perfectly (not actually that perfectly, but Nagisa ignored it), the gun filled with water.
Recapping it, and aiming again, Nagisa found himself at a standstill with the boy, who was staring at Nagisa with a wild grin on his face.
The boy had no gun to defend himself, and Nagisa had a perfectly (half) full one.
Nagisa’s chest clenched. It didn’t matter that both of them were already soaked to the bone. One of them was going to win.
And it was going to be Nagisa.
He squeezed his trigger just as the boy ran at him.
Assuming he was doing the same thing Nagisa just did, what a copy-cat, Nagisa stood still, finger halted, yet still poised over his trigger.
Then, unexpectedly, Nagisa’s gun was kicked out of his hands.
No!
Nagisa stared in horror as the gun was then kicked further away, far out of his reach.
(Never mind that the boy could have just picked up his own gun, which was only about a meter from him).
“Now we’re both gunless! We’ll settle this like… ninjas!” The boy yelled.
He got into some sort of… ninja-esque defensive pose.
He was.
So.
Cool.
Nagisa tried to copy him, first mimicking his upper body, and then his lower. But, just as he was getting into the pose—
His foot slipped, butt meeting the hard, hard stone floor. The thin sheen of water did nothing to break his fall.
Ow!
Ow, ow, ow!
He felt tears well up in his eyes.
Immediately, the boy ran over to him, ignoring how they were supposed to settle the fight like totally epic ninjas.
He reached his hand down to Nagisa.
“My name’s Karma.”
Nagisa grabbed it. The other—Karma, a bit odd that he introduced himself with his first name instead of his last—squeezed his hand, kinda too tight but whatever, and pulled Nagisa up. As he did: “Nagisa,” Nagisa mumbled. He decided to introduce himself with his first name, too. He never really liked ‘Shiota,’ to begin with.
He ignored the tight feeling in his throat, the few tears that fell from his eyes blending in with the pool water.
He immediately felt better, anyway, now that his friend Karma had helped him up.
“Nagisa!”
Oh no.
That was his mom.
His gun, his gun! It was kicked away in the brawl!
So, the only thing he could do to protect himself was—
He hid behind Karma. His friend, Karma.
“Nagisa, what did you think you were doing?! No, actually, you didn’t think! You didn’t think at all! My precious baby running off from her mommy like that…”
There it was again.
‘Her.’
No matter how many times his mom referred to him as such, Nagisa would never get used to it. It always made Nagisa’s stomach flip, and not in a good way.
“Karma!”
Oh no!
Karma must be in trouble, too!
“Did you make a friend, kid?” His, presumably, dad said.
“Mhm! We played guns together!”
“Water guns,” Karma’s, presumably, mom corrected.
He didn’t… seem like he was in trouble.
“Uh-huh,” his dad interjected, “and how many guns did you have?”
Karma looked down at his fingers, counting them out.
“Seventeen!”
“No!” Nagisa spoke for the first time in a while. He usually never spoke in front of his mom. She never liked when he spoke in front of her. Then again, she didn’t seem to like when he was quiet, either. There was no winning.
But, he had to defend the truth.
“He had… three! Until I took one!”
“Oh, yeah! She took one of my guns, Daddy!”
Nagisa frowned. The ‘she’ catching him off-guard. “I’m not a—”
Then, he felt tight arms all around him, pulling him away from his friend.
“Mommy is just glad you’re okay, Nagisa!” His mom hugged him tight, too tight.
It was suffocating.
And it was a little embarrassing.
“Well…” Nagisa was broken out of his stupor (he always got into a funk when his mom touched him) by Karma’s mom’s voice. “Nice to meet you, miss Nagisa. I’m glad my Karma made a friend. He’s not… usually good at that.”
Nagisa’s mom released her choke-hold of a hug on him.
Nagisa met his mom’s eyes.
Miss Nagisa.
She stared back expectantly.
He turned to Karma’s mom, and he could only bring himself to nod.
He’d never be a boy, not like how Karma was. Not in anyone’s eyes. Not ever.
—
“Are you cool to come with me, Shiota?”
Nagisa stared off into space for a moment.
He didn’t… remember him.
This was Karma Akabane, resident genius of their class. Resident… troublemaker, too. He was leaning over Nagisa’s shoulder, staring at the magazine in Nagisa’s hands.
He seemed more interested in the director than he did in Sonic Ninja, like how Nagisa was interested in it.
Nagisa had always had a fascination for ninjas, but it wasn’t out of his own mind that that fascination was born.
No.
‘We’ll settle this like… ninjas!’
He remembers Karma, little Karma, yelling.
Ever since that moment, Nagisa had become obsessed with ninjas. And, ever since the Sonic Ninja comics came out, Nagisa was absolutely over the moon.
But Karma didn’t seem to remember any of that.
But no matter. Nagisa remembered him.
Plus, wasn’t there something about how you always met someone twice?