Chapter 2

Akari

When school ends, Rio comes to me and suggests we go out for some desserts. She pats my shoulder and with complete fake sympathy in her eyes, says "Poor you. You fall victim to Karma on the first day." It sounds more like a teasing than a consolation. Well, that's how she rolls. I've gotten used to it. Megu is the less teasing and more stern kind. She is almost going to chide him for doing that to me but I stop her.

"No worries. I won't let him get me," I reassure her. Teasing and playing pranks on people is probably a way of how Karma interacts with people. However I am sure I don't want to fall victim into any of his shenanigans in the future. Even though he will be my neighbour for the entire school year. I sigh.

After the desserts, I go straight home. I live in a tiny apartment in the upper district area of the town. Sounds high-end, but the security there is lacking. Recently there are bully cases going around there. I should have find a more secure area, but my allowance is barely enough for this apartment. I used to live with my uncle since my parents' death, but I want to be independent so he gave me an allowance for me to live outside. Besides, living in a huge mansion with my uncle alone seemed empty.

All these thoughts go through my mind I barely register the presence of strangers that approach me from behind. I turn around and see three bulky-looking high school students with mean looks. They have piercings over their mouths, ears and noses which make them look more like ruffians instead.

"Look boss," points one who has his hair dyed blond. "A cute little middle school student."

The one in the middle, who has green hair that reached his shoulders, snickers. He eyes me. "What's a Kunugigaoka Junior High rich girl doing here?"

The one to his right laughs hysterically. He has the most piercings over his face; the most prominent one was a gold ring that goes right through his nostrils like a bull's nose ring. "Look, cutie, why don't we have a talk right around the corner. Get to know each other."

I eye them and sigh. I feel no urge to reason with ruffians. Even though I am a pacifist, sometimes I'll still resort to violence in order to avoid myself from getting hurt. I drop my bag to the floor gently and withheld a battle-ready tae-kwondo stance. Both of my hands are projected before my chest and my legs open wider to get a stable base.

I am ready.

I thought I was.

My vision is blurring. I look down at my hands and find them shaking. I am quickly losing my stance and my legs falter as they backed away step by step. I don't know what wis happening until it hit me. Body intelligence. My body automatically senses a danger, a fear they could not overcome and now trying to protect me from harm. It isn't just that.

What my entire body is doing means I am not fully capable of defending myself even though I am a tae-kwondo black belt. My entire conscious hasn't healed from that incident, even after a year. I lose confidence in my skills, in my own. Apparently I tried to trick my useless brain into thinking that I am ready to face anything head-on.

I'm not ready yet. Hahaha...

Now I might be hurt because of self-deception. Or worse, killed. I should have run when I had the chance. I should have known.

The ruffians laugh at my predicament. Their voices are like an omen. I can't move, can't run, paralyzed. My eyes widen in horror as the middle one reach out for my collar with his beefy hands. But his action stop mid-air. His eyes don't focus on me, but they dart to something behind me. I turn my head slightly to the right and only see a very prominent colour of red in my blurred vision. I blink my eyes and realize it is Akabane Karma, who walkstoward the ruffian with most piercings on his face.

Fearlessly. Dauntlessly. Nothing but a mischievous smirk on his face. But his eyes, sharp and piercing, emanating a sense of seriousness and anger. His entire figure is a sign of strength and confidence, something I am lacking right now.

The ruffians have nothing to fear. There are three of them and he is alone. They are double his size and he is a thin as a stick. They stand tall, glaring down at the intervener, hands balled into fists ready to beat the crap out of the redhead.

Karma stands right in front of the ruffian. Before they take action, Karma grabs the man's nose ring and jerks it so hard it comes right out of the man's nose. The ruffian yells in pain, his nose bleeds profusely. The smirk on Karma's face intensifies.

The other two ruffians move. The one with green hair swing a punch at Karma but he dodges easily. The blond one dash towards him with a heavy punch ready. Karma immediately throws the bloodied nose ring at his forehead. The blond hugs his head in pain and Karma uses the opening to give him a strike in his abdomen. It is probably a very strong one because the blond immediately falls to his knees. Karma returns his attention to the other two, narrowly dodging a flying punch. He kicks the green-haired in the groin and the man rolls on the ground in pain. The remaining man holds his delicate bleeding nose in his left hand, slowly assessing the situation. His eyes dart to his companions on the ground, to Karma who is ready to give him hell, and then his eyes rest on me. From the malicious look on his face, I knew he is going after me instead. Before I can react, the man has sprinted towards me, his free hand reaching out to grab me. I can't flee. My legs are still paralyzed.

But Karma grabs him from his collar, kicks him in the stomach then a punch in his skull. The man yelps in pain, falls to the ground and tries hard to stop his aggravated nose-bleeding. The other two whom have barely recovered, immediately pick him up and flee from the scene without leaving any words like "We'll get our revenge!". Karma is too much for them. He is completely on a different level.

The smirk on his face is victorious as he turns to look at me. His eyes scan me for any injuries. Before he could say any of his snide comments, I bow at him, says, "thank you for saving my life again. I-I'll find a way to repay you later." My head is down so that he can't read the cocktail of emotions on my face.

I am not in the mood of hearing any of his teases. In my mind all I can think is how pathetic I was. To be unable to defend myself. To be unable to fight. To be completely useless despite I have the skills of fighting people. I almost laugh at myself. How am I going to kill a Mach 20 octopus if I can't even fight?

I walk straight back to my apartment, completely aware that the sound of footsteps is behind me. They don't belong to any other thugs or ruffians. I stop at the T-junction where I haave to turn left to reach my apartment.

"Why are you following me?" I speak to the redhead who is trailing me.

"Don't worry. I'm not a perverted stalker," Karma replies. I can hear his snicker. "My house happens to be in this area too. Besides, it wouldn't be nice to let a girl walk alone in this hostile area."

I sigh. "Fine. Suit yourself." I take a left turn and go back to my apartment. I sneak a peek behind me and see Karma heading in the opposite direction.

*****

Nightmares haunt me throughout the night. I am relieved that I woke up. When I am done preparing myself, I grab my bag and go to school. Yesterday when I arrived at my apartment, I made a decision. I am quite determined about it too. If I am to improve myself enough for me to cope with the assassination, I need to do this.

As I make it to the T-junction, Karma is standing right there, leaning against the wall, earphones in his ears. I haven't even said anything when he felt my presence and looks up. "Yo. Morning, Aka-chan."

"What are you doing here?"

"I woke up too early today and found out there's still plenty of time to school, so I decided to wait here," he says as he pulls out his earphones. "Besides, it would be scary if I were to encounter a gang of malicious high school students or vicious snakes on my way there." Then he begins walking towards the campus.

As if. You beat the crap out of malicious high school students and stepped on a vicious snake deliberately. I sigh. Judging from my current condition, I can't afford encountering any ruffians or snakes anymore. It will be better for my own sake to have a companion on the way. I glare daggers at the boy in front of me, taking pride in his stride.

Then the most idiotic thing happens to me again. I trip on a rock on my path. Then falls face first on the ground with a loud thud. The sound of footsteps ahead of me deliberately stops. There is a silence. Then a loud laughter.

"Aka-chan fell again, didn't she? Poor baby. Should big brother give you a hand?" Karma's voice is so irritating I grab a rock near my hand and throw it in his face. He dodges it of course, but immediately my shoe comes into contact with his devilish face.

"What the hell?!" he curses, glaring daggers at me as I stand up from my fall.

"It's not nice laughing and teasing people like that!" I yell at him after I retrieve my shoe. "That's just mean! I don't care if playing tricks or creating mischiefs is your thing, it's mean to laugh or tease someone when they fall! You should have lent a hand no matter what! If you don't help people, no one will help you when you are in distress!" Angrily I stomp off to the school.

*****

Karma

It really hurts when that girl's shoe hits his face. But what she said pierces him like daggers. God, what is wrong with her? Somehow he can't stop feeling that maybe she is right. For the girl who had fell three times in two days and he is the only one to witness her clumsiness, he sort of felt sorry for her. Maybe he should have helped her instead.

But his pride and ego won't let him go beg for forgiveness from anyone, even from Okumura Akari.

In class, Karma is being down than usual. Usually he would play a prank on Terasaka or attempt to assassinate Korosensei, but he is not in the mood today. He can't comprehend why. He looks at Akari sitting beside him. She is very focused on Korosensei's teachings and jots down notes that are important. In Bitch-sensei's class, her command of conversational English is so fluent she immediately became Bitch-sensei's star student. Karma is now positively sure Akari's words got to him, slowly influencing him like a medicine-bitter, but good for his own sake.

If you don't help people, no one will help you when you are in distress!

He sighs. Why is this girl getting to him when no one else could?

During recess, he decides to make up with Akari. Before he could take action, Akari stands in front of his desk. She takes a deep breath. He can see there is determination in her eyes.

"Akabane Karma-san!" she calls his name so loudly everyone else in class turns their attention to her. "I know you are probably the best in this class in terms of fighting and assassination skills. You've shown me your confidence and skills which I am lacking in. If I want to stay in this class and be a help to everyone to kill Korosensei, I need to improve but I can't do it on my own. That's why," she bows down, "please teach me everything you know!"

The class is silent at first. Then they shout simultaneously: "EH?!"

Nakamura is the first to arrive at Karma's desk. "What the hell are you thinking, Aka-chan?"

Even Kataoka intervenes. "You know you can just ask for our help, right?"

But Akari's actions don't waver. Her eyes glisten with sheer determination is something that Karma has never seen before. Okumura Akari is now a completely different person. Her clumsiness and airheadedness seem to have vapourized in that moment.

Karma slowly digests the words she said earlier in the morning and her request just now. Even though he acts like a lone wolf, his main purpose here is to kill Korosensei and he'll need everyone else's help to do so. He looks into her eyes. They are the colour of the blue sky.

"Fine, I'll help you," he replies her request. Akari's face immediately brightens up with a smile.

He smirks. "But..." He takes out a green tube from his school bag and places it on the desk. "You have to finish this first."

Akari picks up the green tube and horror is written over her face. "W-wasabi?!"

Kataoka yells at him with anger. "What the damn hell? Karma, you can't make her eat the whole thing!"

Nakamura's fingers are itching to punch him. "How dare you?"

"Don't you think this is a little bit too much, Karma-kun?" Isogai intervenes. He turns to Akari. "Akari-san, you don't have to-"

Akari who is quiet the whole time suddenly speaks. "Fine, I will eat this."

The entire class sends out their second "EH?!"

"You must keep your end of the bargain," Akari's voice sounds brave, but somehow Karma knows she is faking part of it. "Do you promise to teach me everything you know?"

Karma smirks. "Yes. ALL OF IT. Now eat up." Maybe she would beg for mercy.

But Akari twists open the tube cap before her friends can stop her and squeezes the entire tube of wasabi into her mouth. Karma watches with complete surprise as her face distorts and she nearly chokes but she thumps her chest to force down the wasabi. After a few seconds, she wipes the sweat off her face and throws the empty tube onto his desk.

"Now you better keep your promise." Her voice sounds shaky but she looks more determined than ever.

Karma stares at her. She is gaining his respect now, something he rarely gives to anyone. This girl is getting more and more interesting. He realizes that he can't keep calling her a baby after what she did had impressed him.

"You have yourself a deal, Akari-chan."