There was something in the way that the world works, which never ceases to reduce Amaya to a nervous wreck when she least expected it.

Just like there was something in the way that the discussion between herself and the man from the Japanese Ministry of Defence that would encite confusion, and remind her of her darker thoughts with alarming clarity.

It didn't help that Karma hadn't stopped laughing for nearly the rest of the time Karasuma and his shadow were there.

It got so bad that Amaya decided to just take everything the man had said as a joke, and think nothing of it.

Nothing he had really said actually stuck in her head, anyway, so what did it matter?

Amaya couldn't say one way or the other whether it was because of how outlandish and impossible the whole story was, or because of the jerk that sat right next to her the whole time laughing his ass off at the conversation. It wasn't long after Karam's fit of laughter began, where Karasuma had told her that Karma could explain anything further, and that if she let this slip to anyone, her memory would be erased.

He left with his shadow following right after this, leaving Amaya to sit there glaring at the laughing teenager.

About the most clear and concise information that stuck in her head was that she was now a member of Class E at Kunugigaoka, and she hadn't gotten expelled at all, no thanks to her former classmates of five days.

Amaya didn't really remember much of the rest of the evening - After the twins returned with a rather exhaused looking Nagisa in tow, Karma practically dragged the blue-clad boy with him out of the apartment, leaving Amaya to her twisted, broken sense of reality. She vaguely registered that the twins had kidnapped Nagisa so they could go buy dinner with an escort, and probably torment the guy with incessant questions the whole time, but there wasn't much else. After being handed a take-out container of yakisoba for dinner, Amaya ate in a sense of dull silence, her brain trying to sort through the information she'd been given while trying in vain to filter out Karma's incessant laughter.

It was bad enough that she was determined to punch the guy in the face next she saw him.

Right now, it had just gone 6am on Monday morning, and Amaya was in the process of getting breakfast and obento for everyone made.

Her long hair was pulled back into two loose braids tied off at the nape of her neck like twintails, and she was dressed in her ever normal pair of grey pants with her white button up shirt. She was without her gloves today, since she couldn't get her left one on over the bandages she still had wrapped around her hand.

The weekend had been spent more or less just resting up from all of the injuries she'd sustained from her little psycho-break at the delinquents on Friday afternoon, and getting mad at the new phone Karma had bought for her. Her injuries had healed enough where she could be free of all bandages, apart from the ones wrapped around her left hand, which really was a godsend. She didn't like the prospect of going to school all bandaged up, after all. That didn't mean the bruises up her arms and the split lip didn't stand out, either.

Her anger at the new phone was just because of annoyances at Karma, though she still got frustrated with the fact that her old phone had died on her.

It had taken her a couple of hours just to figure out what icons were her contact list, what one was her number pad, and where email composer was hidden. Learning how to type with it was another story entirely, and out of brused pride, she refused to walk across the road to demand that Karma tell her how to use it.

That was probably the whole reason he picked that phone for her - Because it was the same as his, and he could mock her relentlessly when she eventually cracked and asked him for help. She'd learned how to read emails pretty quick though - The painful teenager had been sending her messages on and off throughout the weekend, many just saying something pointless like 'I'm bored' and 'Still learning how to unlock the phone?'

The one thing she knew right now was that she was his current source of entertainment right now, and he wasn't going to leave her alone until he got bored of her.

And just like the masochistic girl she knew she really was, she didn't want him to get bored, despite how easily he was making her mad.

'Good morning Amay ...' Yuta's sleepy voice rung out through the apartment, snapping Amay out of her train of thought.

She looked up to see the boy walking in to clamber into his chair at the dinner table, his hair askew, with sleep still in the corners of his eyes.

However there was something about him that had Amaya blink in surprise.

The boy was actually wearing his reading glasses.

'Morning.' Amaya spone in response to Yuta's morning greeting, however she narrowed her eyes upon him as she took in his appearances.

The thin, dark green frames that sat upon the bridge of his nose made the amber in his eyes appear more like a bright gold, and they made him look a lot smarter than he already was.

That boy did not need to look any smarter - He was already too smart for Amaya's long-term sanity to handle.

'What's ... with the glasses, Yuta?' Amaya eventually asked, her gaze flicking down to the Onigiri she was preparing. 'I thought you hated them?'

A sleepy point and the faintest tint of pink touched the boy's face, though all he did was turn his head to look away.

'Mor ... ning!' Reiko's voice yawned out through the odd silence, causing Amaya to turn her head to look at the sleepy girl.

Reiko was in the middle of teetering into the kitchen, her eyes screwed shut as she managed to amble past Amaya. The girl was trying to stop the yawns from escaping her, with little success.

'Morning.' Amaya responded, turning her head to watch Reiko come to a stop at the fridge. 'Any idea why your brother's suddenly decided to wear his glasses?'

Reiko froze at the fridge oddly enough, blinking for a few seconds before she turned her head to look at Yuta over the counter.

It was after that which Reiko smiled with a cheshire grin as she looked up at Amaya.

'Oh! That!' Reiko quickly hopped over to Amaya's side, her hands lifting to grab Amaya's sleeve and tug downwards so that Amaya had to bend over slightly. 'He found out from Kouichi-kun that Mako-chan thinks he's even more cute wearing them.' Reiko whispered into Amaya's ear.

Amaya stood there unmoving as those words sunk in on her, her expression blank as Reiko returned to the fridge in a fit of giggles.

Mako-chan thinks Yuta's cute?

Amaya straightened up to look at Yuta once again.

He was still looking away from her, that pout still in place, and a bright blush was beginning to spread across his face.

Meaning he heard what Reiko had just told her, and was becoming very embarrassed.

The sight itself had Amaya burst into laughter, now that she knew what was up.

'Oh my god! That's the cutest damn thing I've heard all year!' Amaya gasped out, wiping the small forming tears from the corners of her eyes with the back of her right wrist.

'Sh-shut up!' Yuta snapped indignantly, but it didn't really help.

Amaya continued to snicker to herself at the revelation of a two-way fondness between two eleven year old kids.

'No way in hell!' Amaya announced once she'd managed to regain enough of her composure to talk, returning to her job with the onigiri as Yuta cast her that indignant look once agan. 'It's my right as your big sister to laugh my ass off when you both start developing first crushes.'

Reiko emerged from the fridge grinning, the bottle of vanilla soy milk clutched in her arms.

'Like you can talk, Amay.' Reiko spoke with a sleepy grin, walking over to the dining table as Yuta continued to frown at Amaya. 'You get mad at us whenever we bring up how much you obviously like Karma-san.'

Amaya felt the grin fade just a little, though she shook her head and placed her gaze back upon what she was doing.

'And as I tell you every time, it gets really old having to explain to you two that we're just best friends, and how there's no single ounce of romantic intention between us, at all.'

'Liar!' Reiko and Yuta announced in usioned chorus.

'Keep saying stuff like that, and I'll let both Mako-chan and Kouichi-kun in on some embarrassing stuff.' Amaya responded easily, taking note of the sudden still that had taken over the twins.

She glanced up to notice that the two of them were staring up at her, eyes wide with concern.

'N-no! Please don't!' Yuta managed to plead with her, while Reiko just nodded frantically.

Amaya cast them a smirk as she lifted the plate of onigiri to take it over to the table.

'Do we understand each other?' Amaya questioned as she set the plate on the table, her gloved, left hand lifting one of the twelve onigiri for herself. 'There's the story about sleeptalking, and then there's the sleep-walking...'

'Okay! We get it!' Amaya heard Reiko squeak out.

'Good.' Amaya remarked as she took a bite of her onigiri as she turned to head back to the kitchen.

It was as Amaya began to seal up the obento that there was a knock at the door.

She looked over at the clock, and saw that it displayed 6.12am.

'Oi - Mako-chan and Kouchi-kun don't normally stop by until around Seven, right?' Amaya asked her siblings.

'I don't think that's them.' Reiko spoke up mid-pause through her glass of soy milk. 'Mako-chan always emails before they get here.'

Amaya thought for a few seconds before she shrugged, shoving the last mouthful of her onigiri into her mouth as she began to untie her apron to deposit it onto the counter. It really didn't matter who it was - She was going to leave in like five minutes, anyway.

She carefully pulled off the plastic glove she wore to stop the bandages from getting dirty, discarding it to the bin as she threw her apron up onto it's hook on her way past.

Another knock echeod from the door, causing a small frown to touch Amaya's features.

'Alright already! I heard you the first time!' Amaya called out, a small sigh escaping her as she reached up to unhook the chain from the door.

As Amaya opened the door, she found herself face-to-face with none other than Karma, who was standing there with his hands buried in the pockets of his jacket.

'Huh? What're you doing here?' Amaya deadpanned, taking note of the smirk the red-head was wearing.

'Just making sure you weren't chickening out, or anything.' Karma responded easily as he fixed her with his trademark not-so-innocent smile.

Amaya fixed him with a frown as she crossed her arms over her chest.

'What the hell made you think I was chicken of school?' Amaya deadpanned in response.

'You weren't answering any of my emails, so I got worried.' Karma remarked knowingly.

However all Amaya could do was scoff in response.

'You? Worried?' She questioned him, and a smrik began to creep across her face. 'I'd only believe that if I saw hell freeze over.'

'Eh? You're always so harsh.' Karma spoke whimsically, however he was still smriking at her.

However the sudden sound of sprinting footsteps from right behind Amaya cut her thoughts off.

'CHARGE!!!' Yuta and Reiko yelled at the top of their lungs, and before Amaya even knew what had happened, two sets of hands suddenly slammed against the small of her back and shoved her forward.

Somehow, she didn't end up crashing to the floor inelegantly, and instead, as soon as she had regained her footing, she managed to turn her head to look over at the source of mad cackling at the apartment door.

She caught just the tiniest glimpse of Reiko dumping her boots outside the door next to Amaya's discarded messenger bag, and before she knew it, Yuta had slammed the door shut and locked it.

Did they just throw her out of the apartment?!

'What the hell ...?' Amaya blinked owlishly at the locked door as she tried to make sense of the situation.

But it all made sense the moment she realised why she hadn't hit the floor when the twins slammed into her back like that.

Karma was still standing exactly where he had been before, except when she had been knocked off her feet, he'd managed to catch her. Right now, she was held upright by his right arm around the small of her back, with his other hand to her shoulder to steady her. Karma himself was staring at the door with a bewildered stare, appearing to have no idea what had just happened.

It was enough to cause a small chuckle to escape Amaya as she pulled herself out of his grip before the blush would engulf her face.

Oh those two were going to regret doing that.

'Hey Karma - I need some help with something. Interested?' Amaya asked Karma with a grin, making sure that her voice carried loud enough for the twins to hear from inside.

Karma looked at her in confusion at first, however the tiniest wink from Amaya gave him an idea of what she was up to.

'Maybe. What's the plan?' He played along with a sly grin, placinig his gaze upon the door as Amaya began to pull her boots on.

'Nothing much. Just I was going to say hi to Yuta's Girlfriend.' She explained, glancing at the door for just a second.

'Eh? He's got a girlfriend now?'

Amaya struggled to stop the laugh from escaping her as she heard the tiniest hints of a strangled gasp echo from inside.

From the evil grin across Karma's face, she knew he'd heard it, too.

'Well, more like future girlfriend. She's this cute little mousy girl from three blocks away. You've probably seen her around, before.' Amaya shook her head slightly as she managed to get both boots on, and lifted her bag from the floor. 'Anyway, I figured between the both of us, we'd have a mountain worth of embarrassing stuff to tell her about Yuta.'

'You mean stuff like how he doesn't go to the movies anymore, because --'

'PLEASE NO!' Yuta's voice suddenly exclaimed from the other side of the door, and before Amaya knew it, she'd been tackled by a frantic eleven-year-old as the door flew open.

This time however, Amaya hit the floor with a painful crash, made worse by the weight of the frantic boy landing on top of her chest, and his knee smacking right on top of her injured hand.

'I'm sorry!' Yuta exclaimed desperately, clinging to Amaya's stunned form. 'I promise I won't say or do anything like that again! Please don't say anything to Mako-chan! Please!'

Amaya supressed a groan of pain as she heard Karma start laughing at the spectacle.

That was damn typical of him, wasn't it?

'Oww! Okay okay! Just get off, already!' Amaya managed to get out.

Immediately, the frantic boy threw himself off of Amaya, his knee lifting from Amaya's bandaged hand quickly.

'I'm sorry!' Yuta wailed dramatically, causing a groan to escape Amaya as she managed to prop herself up on her elbows.

'Yeah yeah, whatever.' She responded, casting a glancing frown at Karma, who had recovered enough where he was just sniggering at her misfortune. 'Just so you know, I can find out anything I want from Kouichi-kun, so behave yourself, please.'

Yuta nodded meekly, seeming quite apologetic as he then retreated back into the apartment.

The door closed with a soft thud this time, causing a sigh to escape Amaya.

'That didn't work out how you expected, did it?' Karma spoke up all of a sudden, causing Amaya to flinch.

She looked up at him, to find that he was slightly bent over her prone form, a hand held out to help her to her feet.

'No, not really.' She agreed, accepting his hand up with a small wince of pain.

Her hand was hurting so much, it felt like it was on fire.

'We should get going.' Karma surmised all of a sudden, surprising Amaya with little effort. 'Wouldn't want to be late to class today.'

Amaya stared at Karma as his out-of-character remark stuck out like a coloured pinata in an office building. However she guessed there was something up with the way the corner of his mouth lifted into a smirk.

Yet she couldn't find anything in his statement that would give any hints as to what was going on, so she shrugged and let out a small sigh.

'I guess ...' Amaya gave in as she straightened herself up. She followed after Karma as he stepped around her to head for the elevator. 'What's got you suddenly wanting to get to class on time, anyway?'

'No reason.' Karma responded with a smirk as he pressed the call button for the elevator.

Oddly enough, the elevator doors opened right away.

'Bullshit, there's a reason.' Amaya responded immediately, following Karma inside.

However the guy didn't respond, only snickered momentarily to himself.

The Elevator ride down to the ground floor was spent in silence for the most part - Amaya yawned momentarily as the elevator stopped and started multiple times as others boarded and exited on separate floors, and Karma just stood there as if he was lost in thought.

If he was, it was only because he was thinking of something evil he could do later on.

And Amaya hoped to god that she wasn't the recipient of those ideas.

'Ne, Karma?' Amaya spoke up as they left the apartment building to head towards the train station.

Her red-haired friend gave a small hum to show that he was listening, but didn't really say anything. So Amaya continued with her question.

'Apart from Shiota-kun, is there anyone else in Class E that I've met before?'

'What? Are you getting nervous, or something?' Karma asked her with a smirk, turning his head to glance down at Amaya walking next to him.

'No.' She retorted with a small frown, though she didn't look up at him. 'I was just wondering, that's all.'

'Well, you've met Karasuma-sensei.'

Karma's toying response caused Amaya to sigh in response.

'Well of course, you idiot!' She grumbled, crossing her arms loosely over her chest as they boarded their train - Oddly enough, it was rather empty, allowing Amaya to take up her usual spot next to the opposite door. 'I was meaning the students though! Not the teachers!'

'I know.' Karma responded as he leaned against the wall just next to her.

There wasn't much else said, and Amaya just let out another breath.

To her it always felt kind of awkward when these pockets of silence would come up, but it never seemed to bother Karma.

That alone was normally enough to bring Amaya's mood right down.

It was like there was a gap in their friendship, an invisible wall that hadn't been there before, and there was no way that she could find to overcome it. Usually, when these instances came up, Amaya went silent until something happened, or Karma decided to break it. If she didn't find a way to break the silence, then he wandered off to find something else to do.

In fact, that was what usually happened.

But Amaya really didn't want that to continue, even though she didn't know what she could do to remedy it. She often wondered if she would ever figure out how to remedy it. Or even if Karma was fine with things as they were.

He was really good at acting - So good in fact that Amaya never truly knew if the side of him she was seeing wasn't just something he was projecting.

The idea itself was depressing beyond belief, considering that aside from her presumed feelings for him, she was entirely honest with him.

Again, the thought that he treated her just like anyone else came up, and it brought a small breath to escape her.

It was always depressing to consider the very real possibility that your best friend in the whole world saw you as just another person.

It was a lot like that sinking feeling where you began to wonder if anyone was seeing the real you, after all.

'Ne, Amay?' Karma spoke up all of a sudden, jerking Amaya out of her train of thought.

She turned her head to look at him, to see that he was still leaning against the wall of the train carriage, except he was looking at her from the corner of his eye.

'Huh?'

'I was wondering about something.' He responded, though he didn't really elaborate.

It brought a small frown to touch Amaya's face.

'Well? Spit it out!' She commanded, her right hand tightening on the passenger rail above her head as the train swayed uncomfortably.

'What exactly did you do on Wednesday?' Karma asked, causing Amaya to blink up at him.

'Huh? ... Oh!' Amaya laughed as she realized he was still bothered about something to do with her supposed expulsion. 'You mean that whole expulsion thing, right?'

'Obviously!' He deadpanned, though he turned his head to look at her properly. 'What did you do?'

'Nothing major.' Amaya responded honestly, burying her hands back in the pocket of her jumper. 'You know how your old homeroom teacher ended up being the one for my class this year, right?'

Karma nodded, though he didn't say anything.

'I kinda kicked him in the face.'

Amaya didn't quite know what reaction she was expecting, but she knew the blank stare he was giving her was not it.

In fact, Karma was silent for many seconds, before he finally blinked and spoke.

'You kicked him in the face? That's it?' He asked her.

'Well, maybe not just kicked him ...' Amaya hedged, looking away from her friend sheepishly as she felt somewhat embarrassed by having to explain what she'd done. 'I got mad and lectured him for a good five minutes on common sense, then I kinda kicked him hard enough that he near on bit his tongue off ... and crashed over his desk...'

It was as the last of her words left her lips that she saw his expression change ever so slightly.

His lips twitched like he was trying hard not to smile.

But as soon as she tilted her head a little in confusion, he cracked.

He started laughing so hard he actually had to grab ahold of the passenger railing to steady himself, and all Amaya could do was stand there and watch.

'Did ... I do something wrong?' She couldn't help but ask.

'No.' Karma responded, flashing her a mischievous grin as he managed to calm his laughter down to faint snickering. 'I just wish I could have seen it.'

'It's not that funny.' Amaya responded, though she did wear a sheepish smile. 'You have no idea how angry I really was at the time.'

'I guess - but once you're actually mad, it's easy to send you berserk.' Karma responded with a knowing look.

'Don't say that!' Amaya complained dramatically, lifting her left hand to brush some of her fringe out of her face. 'I do not like the connotations attached to the word berserk.'

'It's true, though.' He taunted her, that recogniseable smug grin written across his face. 'Its the most appropriate word to describe your anger-tendencies.'

'Will you shut up!?' Amaya snapped, fixing the mischievous one with a glare. 'People are going to think I'm a Yangire or something!'

'Maybe that's your inner calling?' He suggested mockingly.

It had stung her bad enough where Amaya released the rail above her head in order to smack him on the arm.

Retorting with words was just going to make things worse.

'Oww!' Karma chuckled slightly, massaging the assaulted spot on his arm with a smirk across his face. 'You're just proving my point.'

'Shut up, you jerk.' Amaya retorted.

The rest of the train-ride was spent in much the same manner, though thankfully for Amaya, Karma had decided to stop teasing her over her anger.

She didn't fancy having to ignore him for the rest of the morning, after all.

Once the train had pulled into Kunugigaoka Station, Amaya followed Karma out of the student-filled facility.

'Sooo ... I heard the classroom's up the mountain,' Amaya began as she looked at Karma, her brow furrowed as they began to approach the lush, green pillar of nature standing behind Kunugigaoka's main campus. 'But how far up is it?'

'Not that far.' Karma responded with a smirk as he glanced at Amaya. 'You know that clearing we sometimes skip class in?'

'Yeah?'

'That's pretty much half-way there.' He responded.

Amaya blinked in surprise, though a wry smile soon touched her face.

'Oh, well that's not too bad.' Amaya surmised, looking around at the scenery as they began to make their way up the dirt track.

It wound in a kind of snake-like manner up the front of the mountain, crossing over a wooden bridge spanning a stream, passing through a particular stretch that appeared to have beehives, and every now and then Amaya spotted a reptile slinking out of the way, or insects buzzing through the air.

It had been many weeks since Amaya had come out to this part of nature, and it was only just now that she realised she missed it.

The air here was clean and free from a lot of the traffic pollution and smog that the rest of the city was tinted with, despite the trees and plants put in place to help bring it down. In fact, Amaya's sense of smell seemed to work better and better the higher up the mountain they went.

She could even pick up the faintest scent of charcoal on the air, causing her to blink curiously as she looked around to try and spot the source of it.

Twenty minutes after they'd started to treck up the mountain, Amaya caught sight of a humble, wooden building set in the middle of a large clearing.

It was humble in the sense that it was rather small, built out of wood and a little weather-beaten, with weeds overgrowing what she guessed was supposed to be lawn, and nothing much in the sense of school facilities. The windows were slightly opaque with white residue, and even from the edge of the clearing, Amaya could see that the furniture inside was shabby at best.

However the air was still very clean, and Amaya's repulsion for the main facility had her immediately liking this place.

There was just that feel about it that was kinder than the rest of the school.

'Amay!' Karma's oddly distant voice called out, causing Amaya to snap her gaze from the expansive clearing, and to the red-head in mention.

He was standing at the door of the building with his hands in the pockets of his jacket, just waiting for her to snap out of her little daydream.

She scoffed slightly and began to jog to catch up.

She could see that the majority of her new classmates were already inside, already at their seats, which intrigued her a little. She couldn't see any sign of Karasuma, or this supposed non-human teacher, at all.

'Sorry!' Amaya apologised as she caught up to Karma, however all he did was smirk at her before he walked inside.

Once shoes were changed in the foyer of the building, Amaya followed Karma through the weather-worn building.

For the most part the building was set up with the basics - The foyer opened up with a corridor to the left, which ran down the whole length of the building. The whole left side of the corridor ran along the side of the classroom, which was walled with windows along the whole length, like up at the main building, and further down she could see a door with a sign reading 'Faculty Office', and one further down which read 'Infirmiry. An additional two doors at the end were quite clearly restrooms.

Amaya glanced into the classroom for just a second, her keen gaze quickly flicking through for any sign of a teacher.

There was none, and as she looked back at Karma, she could see that he was continuing onwards towards the faculty room. So she followed suit.

She guessed she was required to introduce herself to the teacher, like in a normal school, but for some reason the broad smirk she could see across Karma's face told her that he was up to something.

Or maybe he was just wanting to watch and see what would happen?

'Amay, you're so slow.' Karma remarked as he looked at her over his shoulder, coming to a halt at the door of the faculty room. 'Are you sure you're not nervous?'

'Why the hell would I be nervous?' She deadpanned in a hushed voice.

Of course Karma just smirked at her even more.

'Okay~!' He drawled out, before he rapped his knuckles against the door of the faculty room.

There was a faint sound of shuffling inside, before a rather curious voice called out.

'Come in~!' The voice spoke brightly with a jovial edge, causing confusion to overcome Amaya.

Was this the voice of the teacher she was supposed to kill?

Karma cast Amaya another smirking glance before he opened the door.

'Oh, Karma-kun!' That voice spoke up at the sight of Karma. 'Is there anything Sensei can help you with?'

'Not really. I just brought Amay along to meet you.' Karma drawled out as he stepped inside, causing a sigh to escape Amaya as she hesitantly began to follow after him.

'Amay-san?' The peculiar voice spoke up in question. 'Oh! Is this our new student from the main campus?'

'Yep~!' Karma responded enthusiastically, turning his head to look at Amaya.

However Amaya was reduced to silence, staring ahead at the sight before her.

She was staring at what looked to be a giant, yellow creature, at least eight feet tall with many, many yellow tentacles - Two of which appeared to be arms with two tentacle-like fingers protruding from round masses at the end, were waving around in the air around it. Dressed in what was a set of what she guessed were teaching robes in black with a teacher's cap atop it's head, Amaya's eyes were trained in astonishment upon a large, round head with two beady black eyes and a large set of teeth in a grinning smile.

She could feel the colour beginning to drain from her face, and her breathing had halted on her entirely.

Just what the hell was going on!?

'Good morning! You must be Katsuragi Amaya-san.' The yellow creature greeted Amaya, that same peculiarly jovial voice echoing from it's general direction. 'My name is Koro-Sensei, and I'll be your homeroom teacher for the next year, or until you succeed in assassinating me.'

All of a sudden its yellow face had a kind of metamorphosis, where green horizontal stripes appeared across its face.

'That's presuming you're even capable of assasinating me! Nurufufufu!'

This ... was her teacher?!

However Amaya failed to hear or see anything more - In fact, her body decided that her brain had enough to deal with right now, and severed her connection with it immediately.

Her knees gave way on her, and she fainted, her body hitting the floor with a resounding thud, elicting a startled exclamation from the bizarre creature that she had to assassinate.

Even in the darkness of unconsciousness, she knew that Karma was laughing at her right now.

---=[Authors Note]=---

And Chapter Eleven, here we are!

A bit of a heads up for those of you who have gotten used to a chapter every second day as a basis -- I've finally managed to locate a site that sells the Manga in English in Western Australia that doesn't have hugely exorbitant mark ups on the prices, so my chapter submissions will slow down just enough so that I can read up to date and know what I'm missing, or not missing, etcetera. :D However while I'm catching up with knowledge, I will be writing further chapters that I already know about, so it's not like I'm not working on this story :D I just like submitting in order, rather than going back and putting chapters in places, and making it oh so confusing, haha.

In any case, thank you everyone for the comments and votes on Chapter Ten of Marionette -- It was a huge surprise to come back six hours after submitting it and finding a hell of a lot of notifications in my email :3 I love comments and feedback, so fire away if there's anything on your mind or just a curiosity, I will do my best to answer anything that comes up :D

Anyways, here are the translations for words that have come up in this chapter of Marionette :D

Shokai - Translates as Introductions, which is written as 紹介 in Japanese

Yakisoba - A half translation; Yaki from fried, like with Takoyaki, Yakitori, etc, and Soba being a word used for any real kind of noodle (As translated from a prior chapter). It's a dish that likely originated from China and became Japanised greatly over time, a lot like Ramen.

Yangire (I'll have to go detail for this one, cause this even gets my anime-savvy dad) - The term Yangire is used to describe a character who exhibits Yandere traits, but doesn't fit the true definition of Yandere. For example, a Yandere can suddenly snap out of anger, jealousy, irritation, and it's mostly, if not always fueled by obsessive romantic feelings. A Yangire can suddenly snap in much the same way, except their actions are not fueled by any kind of romantic inclinations.

The term is coined from a combination of two words; Yan from Yanderu, meaning to be sick, and gire, meaning to cut, slice or "snap". The term Yandere is the same form of Yanderu combined with dere from deredere, which means exhausted lovestruck. A small note here is that while it's been stated by some that Yandere is the opposite of Tsundere, this is not true. Yandere and Yangire are quite honestly too different.

Notable, well known Yangire in Anime for reference is Ryuuga Rena from an Anime called Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (When The Cicada Cry in direct translation, 'When They Cry' here in Australia). This anime really is not for the faint-hearted. I don't recommend it unless you are comfortable in psychological horror and watching cute anime girls become psychotic killers. If you are interested, anyway, I recommend after you watch it, you look up the game synopsis so that it makes more sense (That's if you're not familiar). If you'd just like a brief explanation, send me a message, and I'll give you a run-down on how its chapters work.

Notable, well known Yandere in Anime for reference is Gasai Yuno from Mirai Nikki (Future Diary in English). This anime is very, very good, and I recommend it if you are interested :D Just don't watch it around young children ;)

Whew~! I kinda feel like a nerd right now with all of that translation information just on Yangire and Yandere, but oh well! I hope you guys find this chapters notes useful :D