Relief, like none other was Amaya's best friend when she'd eventually wandered home that evening.

It felt like Amaya would finally be able to sort those other loose ends out, now that there was room in her life for the freedom of thought - A resolution to Yuta's disposition towards her, her training with Shigure, and that prodding in school books and exam papers about controversial experimentation.

With the resolution of many things that had been weighing heavily on Amaya's mind for longer than she was happy with, it appeared that with all that stress gone, she was going to sleep her whole weekend away.

She'd passed out as soon as she'd cooked dinner for herself and Reiko and had a shower.

When morning came, the first to greet her wasn't her alarm-clock set for her usual 4.30am.

She wasn't roused from the depths of slumber by a possible phone call, nor was it the sounds of Reiko calling her, either.

She was entirely dead to the world after the past week.

Instead, consciousness came in the most startling of events, to the point where her heart almost jumped up into her throat.

It was the most unpleasant of sensations in the most sickening ways, and the moment it hit her, she threw herself upright with a jolt and a startled gasp escaping her.

She found that she wasn't in her room like she'd been expected, instead on one of the couches in her living room, and it was easily the daylight hours.

What had so rudely awoken her out of her much-needed rest was what she immediately recognized to be a whole liter of yogurt dropped over her chest, with what she could immediately recognize to be a few raw eggs lightly mixed in to give it a slimier, more disgusting texture.

'Good morning, Amaya.' Came the familiar voice belonging to Karma, causing Amaya to flinch.

Hesitantly, she turned her head to look over her shoulder at the redhead who'd obviously woken her up, to find that he was standing over her, an innocent smile across his face, and an empty tub that used to contain yogurt in one hand.

'What the--'

'Mind explaining what happened to the door?' Karma cut Amaya's attempt at questioning short.

The door?

Oh, right... she changed the locks of the apartment.

He must have tried to wander in like he usually did and found the key he had didn't work anymore, which would explain the particularly mean method he chose to wake her up with.

Reiko must have let him in, because the building manager wouldn't have opened the apartment for him.

'Did you attack me with that stuff just to ask me that?' She questioned with a sigh, her gaze falling back down to the dripping mess that was about to start pooling in her lap.

That was gross.

Why couldn't he have just gone with just a raw egg or something else, instead?

This was excessive...

'Heh? What gave it away?' He remarked innocently enough.

She huffed slightly as she wiped the flecks of yogurt from the side of her face, contemplating how she was going to get to the bathroom without dripping it all over the floor on the way there.

'You didn't have to put it that way ...' She muttered as she picked herself up, leaving the evil redhead alone to get herself cleaned up.

Throughout her motions, Amaya found herself drifting further and further into thought.

She didn't have a spare key – She'd already given the one for Shigure to Reiko just yesterday, since she could just give it to Yuta at school to pass over, and the only other she had was her own. She'd honestly thought Karma wouldn't decide to turn up right away, but he had a tendency to prove her very wrong.

Which made her wonder just how often he really was turning up.

He'd probably be annoyed with her until he got a key again, and in truth, she honestly didn't want to have to deal with these sorts of pranks of his in an excess.

So as she finished getting dressed and wandered into her room, she decided she'd just hand him her own key just to be done with it. She made sure to remove those papers she had stuck on her wall, discarding them quickly into the empty space in her bed where she sometimes curled up when she was upset.

She didn't need him to see those.

That was, if he hadn't already wandered in her room before he'd decided to wake her up like that.

There was no sign of Karma anywhere in the living room, Amaya found as she'd re-emerged from her room. The couch she'd been attacked on had no hint of the splattered yogurt that had been there when she'd left. His shoes were even gone, a sign to Amaya that he'd left.

Typical, she guessed he got annoyed at her reaction and left.

Even though they'd supposedly patched things up, things still weren't entirely normal, either.

Well, it hadn't even been a whole day yet.

She had to let it go and give things a chance to resume the usual momentum.

She gathered her belongings, tossing a spare change of clothes and a towel into her bag just in case some other messy prank was pulled on her. After giving Reiko money for lunch for the day, Amaya left.

The games Amaya played in the arcade with Maehara yesterday had tugged at her interest, enough for her to pick up her little 3ds on the way out.

There was unfortunately, an end of term assembly today that was mandatory, but she had a feeling Karasuma still wouldn't let her go just in case she decided to take the chance to humiliate Pseudo-sensei a little more.

But seriously, he really deserved it after all the crap he'd pulled.

The fact that the disgusting man was going to stay that way for the rest of his life was a rather sad truth.

Stifling a stubborn yawn, took her usual place on the train and watched the world outside as others boarded.

For whatever big assassination plan everyone was working on, Amaya honestly knew nothing conclusive about it, apart from the bits and pieces she'd heard in class while Koro-sensei was there.

Nobody approached her to include her in the conversation. Hell, nobody had spoken to her about what the class was asking for as the prize from Class A, and yet everyone else had already discussed it apparently.

In fact, it was as if the topic didn't exist when she was there.

Was there a reason she hadn't been included in the discussions?

'Heh, something on your mind, Amay?' A familiar voice spoke up, startling Amaya out of her train of thought. 'I can practically see the steam coming off you.'

Ah, one of those 'thinking too hard' taunts of his, was it?

Amaya could only let out a breath as she turned to face the mischievous redhead.

'Where'd you disappear to?' She asked as she leaned back against the wall of the train, burying her hands in her pockets as she looked up at the smirking boy.

'I didn't disappear anywhere, you just left before I got back.' Karma responded, though his smirk did fade just a little. 'You're not skipping today, I see.'

'You have no idea how much I really want to.' She sighed in response.

'You still can.'

'I'm contemplating it, don't worry.'

Karma snickered slightly at her remark, though he didn't quite say anything – Instead, as the train pulled up at a stop to let more passengers on board, he shifted over to practically stand over her.

The joys of public transport during morning rush, teaching all pros and cons of the true value of ones own personal bubble.

Thankfully, it wasn't all that crowded yet – She could still stretch her arms if she was careful about it.

And she didn't mind certain people stepping into her personal bubble.

By which, a certain redhead was already doing just that.

The guilty feeling she'd been plagued with ever since Karma had woken her up hadn't left, and it drew a small breath from her as she guessed she may as well just hand over the key and be done with it.

She could get Reiko to let her into the apartment later, get the key duplicated tomorrow or something.

'Here...' She mumbled, holding the key she'd separated earlier out to Karma with her gaze averted.

Even without looking, she felt his curious gaze upon her for just a second, before his deft hand lifted the metal object from her grip.

'Change your mind, did you?' He questioned.

She shrugged slightly to hide the few seconds she thought on his question.

She didn't quite understand what he meant at first.

But then she guessed he presumed she wasn't intending on giving him one at all – It probably didn't matter if she didn't, he'd just harass her with phone calls and emails until she opened the door, like he used to.

'Not really...' She let out a breath as she looked further away from him.

Its not like he'd been talking to her all this time.

If he had, then she wouldn't have had that small spiteful moment and changed the lock.

'It's not the only key you've got, is it?'

'Reiko has it ... I'll just get another, later.' Amaya muttered, keeping her gaze averted.

There was no response, though she did see him pocket the key after a few seconds, an exasperated breath escaping him at what was probably an unfavorable response.

Which was interesting – She'd half expected him to call her stupid and hand the key back.

Classes were rather normal in spite of the fact that it was the last day of the term, though Amaya never really attended school on Saturdays purely because she'd rather do the chores and everything else she needed to on these days.

In fact, this was probably the only Saturday she'd attended all year, though oddly enough Koro-sensei had never complained about it.

And hell if her teachers from the main campus complained about it either – Her lack of presence was a blessing to them, in all likelihood.

There wasn't very much teaching going on, either. Koro-sensei was too hyped on something he was in the middle of working on, since end of term exams were just yesterday, classes seemed to be more along the lines of free time than anything else.

There were other instances like this, too.

Like when Sugaya had come in with Henna ink, the day after mid-terms last when they were all supposed to be prepping for the Kyoto trip, and other such instances.

This was probably the most laid-back classroom in existence.

At least until lunch break came around, and it was time to head down to the main campus, at least.

'Amaya-san, are you coming?' Kayano called out, causing Amaya to lift her gaze from her notebook. Karma had already wandered off, with Nagisa and Sugino following a few paces behind.

Would Karasuma notice? Or would he conveniently forget this time?

She decided she might as well test the waters, at the very least.

'Umm, sure. Gimme a sec!' She quickly shut her book, hoping that Karasuma was still in the faculty room.

The green-haired girl smiled as Amaya jogged after them, picking up the pace herself so that she caught up with Nagisa, Karma and Sugino.

A conversation was had between Nagisa and Sugino, with Kayano adding on every now and then. Remarks about various things that didn't really interest Amaya, some things that didn't make sense to her at all.

All in all there really wasn't anything she could contribute, so she followed along silently with her hands in her pockets.

At the bottom of the trail was the gymnasium the assemblies were always held, and they were just before the gate of the mountain trail when footsteps from behind came to Amaya's notice.

'Stop right there, Katsuragi-san.' Karasuma commanded her, a excruciatingly stern tone to his voice bringing her to slow to a halt.

It appeared that Karasuma's sudden arrival had caught the attention of the others, for they stopped to look as well.

'Hmm? What's up, Karasuma-sensei?' Amaya asked, maintaining a laid-back disposition as she looked over at the serious man.

Unfortunately, she could feel the piercing force of his stare as he slowed to a halt just a few paces away.

'State the purpose of your attendance, at once.'

Eek, was he in a bad mood or something?'

'What purpose? Its a mandatory assembly, right?' She offered up in explanation.

Instead of agreeing with Amaya, Karasuma's gaze instead narrowed upon her in suspicion.

'You're to return to the classroom immediately.' He commanded her, a piercing glint appearing in his gaze as Amaya gaped at him. 'There is no purpose for you to attend, when all you are likely to do is humiliate a particular member of the faculty or pick a confrontation with one of two members of the student council.'

'What?!' Amaya practically exclaimed, gaping at the rather intimidating man as he continued to stare her down. 'But I already walked all the way he--'

'Now, Katsuragi-san!' Karasuma reaffirmed, his tone of voice raised.

God damn it, she had to walk all the way back to the classroom!?

That really wasn't the least bit fair.

'Fine, fine...' Amaya huffed slightly as she turned on her heel, beginning to walk all the way back up the mountain. 'Whatever you, say, sensei.'

She could honestly see why Irina got so upset with the man when he'd tell her off.

He had the worst way of spoiling someones fun, even when they weren't doing anything wrong.

And in all likelihood, she was probably going to mind her own business the whole time. It wasn't like she would have an opportunity to wreck havoc in an all-school assembly, of all things.

'This is so stupid...' Amaya muttered petulantly under her breath as she walked into the classroom half an hour later, stashing her belongings into her bag and taking it with her outside again.

She was annoyed, well and truly.

Sure, if he'd caught her part-way down the trail she'd feel like she just lucked out and it wouldn't have bothered her.

But she was right there! Just thirty meters and she would have been at the damn door of the gymnasium! Wasn't making her walk all the way back up the mountain right then and there just a little bit harsh?

She certainly felt like that was the case.

She was tempted to skip PE in retaliation, though she would decide for sure once she'd had a few minutes to stop stewing on it. Though if she skipped PE, she'd be skipping everything else for the day, too.

There was honestly no point in having classes for the rest of the afternoon, since Koro-sensei probably wouldn't do any teaching through it, anyway. Visiting Shigure to get thrown around the tatami room like a rag-doll for three hours straight was more productive that sitting there listening to all the chatter, anyway.

It was last day of term, after all.

It wasn't like there was anything important to teach before the 40 day break between semesters, anyway.

The so called trip the class had won fit in somewhere in those 40 days, though Amaya guess she'd get the info later.

Someone was bound to tell her eventually.

Hell, Isogai would probably email her the day before the trip, just to make sure she was packed and organized.

Picking a comfortable spot in amongst the trees and underbrush part-way back down the trail, Amaya settled herself down for the next half hour, lifting her 3DS from her bag as she decided now was as good as any to give it a go.

She'd never played it before, though as she turned it on, she found that it had a full battery, and Reiko had done well in setting it up.

It took a few minutes for her to figure out how the game-card actually fit into the machine, and a further three to actually figure out how to actually access the game itself.

It was so different to the auto-playing machines at the arcade, and the machine of Maehara's that used the large plastic pieces through the top.

The fact that the machine had two screens didn't fail to confuse her even more – She had no idea which screen she was supposed to focus on.

But eventually, she managed to get past the opening sequence of the game and start playing.

She became so absorbed with just getting her character to walk through the strange and musical town without crashing into anything that she'd completely lost track of time, and her sense of her surroundings had completely gone.

'What the hell?!' Amaya cursed as she tried yet again to make what she learned was Deku-Link spin-slash the little tan dog trying to attack him in the main part of town with the clock-tower. 'Why can't I kill you?!'

And then a split second later, something cold and slimy suddenly dropped down the back of her shirt, ripping a frightened yelp right out of her.

Her mission to try and kill that annoying mutt in the game was forgotten in an instance, as was the 3DS itself as it slipped out of her hands, and before she even knew what was going on, she'd instinctively thrown herself forward to escape whatever had just decided to attack her.

Laugher burst into life as she'd managed to retrieve what turned out to be a single raw fish from inside her shirt, drawing a volatile glare from Amaya as she realized just what had happened.

And just who had decided to make use of her distraction.

Still snickering away, Karma stood just where she had been sitting seconds before her sudden fright, her dropped 3DS held safely in his grip.

He'd gone with another unpleasant prank just because he felt like it.

'A fish? Really?!' She complained.

'Aww, and here I thought cats loved fish.'

'Don't call me a cat!' She spat, turning to throw the raw fish at Karma as hard as she could.

With the easiest of movements, Karma sidestepped the fish to avoid it, a smirk playing across his lips at Amaya's evident agitation.

But then, something even worse happened.

A previously unnoticed Maehara and Isogai on their way to the classroom walked past, directly in the thrown fish's way. Isogai with his faster reflexes noticed the approaching hazard and managed to throw himself out of the way in time, but that was all the luck there was.

Because Maehara had turned his head to look curiously at Isogai, none the wiser about the raw fish.

And it struck him in the face with a resounding 'splat', hard enough to actually have him stumble a few paces and trip over a large clump of overgrown grass with a startled yelp.

A had-been smirking Karma burst into laughter at the scene that had just taken place, doubling over from what Amaya could only fathom to be a hilarious chain of events.

Amaya however, was horrified at what she had inadvertently done to the unsuspecting playboy.

'Oh my god! Are you alright?!' Amaya squeaked out as she dashed over to check on the sprawled boy lying off the side of the track, guilt overcoming her immediately in spite of the fact that it really was an accident.

She hadn't failed to notice that Karma's fit of laughter had suddenly cut short, though she didn't look at him.

'Huh!? Was that you, Maya-chan?' The stunned playboy looked up at Amaya's concerned form in surprise as he spoke, watching as she crouched down in front of him.

Isogai however just let out a sheepish chuckle as he stood to the side.

'Y-yeah, I'm really sorry, Hiroto-kun! I wasn't throwing it at you, I promise.' Amaya apologized profusely, foraging through her bag for the handkerchief she kept hidden in the bottom of her bag for instances like these.

'It's cool, don't worry about it.' He waved her apologies off with an amused smile.

'Are you su—' She'd begun, however she was cut short as a hand closed around the collar of her shirt and dragged her to her feet with a squeak. 'Wh-what the--?!'

No response was given, and in the same fashion, Amaya was dragged away from the sheepishly smiling Maehara.

'Damn it, Karma! Let go!'

'No.' Was his only response as he continued to drag her away.

'God, what is it with you and dragging me around like this?!' She complained, scarcely able to maintain her precarious balance when she was constantly being tugged off balance with the way he was pulling her along.

He didn't answer her, though he'd let go of her once he was satisfied with how far away they were.

It was a miracle she hadn't fallen over yet, what with all that flailing around.

Though her relief was short-lived as Karma turned to fix her with a rather startling glare.

And yet, all she could do was sigh.

'What? Did I do something wrong, again?' She couldn't help but ask, crossing her arms over her chest as she watched the redhead approach her.

He didn't answer her at first, though he did seem to glance back the way they'd come for a second.

'What was that all about?'

The odd question caught Amaya by surprise, causing her to blink silently as he stared her down.

He actually looked annoyed, and for some reason Amaya didn't understand why.

All she'd done was go see if he was alright after she'd hit him with that fish...

'By that you mean, what...?'

His brow furrowed slightly, as if her response had bothered him.

Not even the sounds of a distressed Koro-sensei yelling in the distance was enough to relieve her from that piercing stare.

And yet, she didn't quite get the impression that he was mad at her, in particular.

'What's his points?' He suddenly asked her, seriously, as if this was a very important question to him.

Huh? Points?

Why bring respect points up now?!

'You mean Hiro--'

'Just answer the question.' Karma interrupted her.

'Why?'

She regretted asking that question the moment it left her lips.

A glimmer of frustration appeared in Karma's eyes, so suddenly that she didn't have an opportunity to react before he'd reached out and grabbed her by the sides of the face, and started pinching.

'Owww! Dammit stop!' Amaya squeaked out.

'Tell me, Amay.'

'Let go!'

'Only when you answer my questi--'

'S-Sixty one!' Amaya squeaked as best she could.

'And mine?'

'DAMN IT LET GO!'

'Answer—'

'SIXTY EIGHT, YOU JERK!' She answered.

He loosened his hold, though he hadn't quite released her from the pain-inflicting grip he had of her.

'Have I lost points again?' He questioned her, glaring down at Amaya's struggling form.

'No, you've gained points!' Amaya's sarcastic response quickly earned her even more pain in the grip of her face. 'Owww! And you have to wonder how you keep losing them!?'

She felt the frown he cast her at those words, though thankfully he stopped pinching her as he let out a breath. She didn't quite understand it, only that there was an edge of grim understanding there that didn't exactly make her happy to see.

'Why are you suddenly bothered about points, anyway?' Amaya questioned, managing to pry herself free of Karma's grip and regain at least a little of her personal bubble.

'That's none of your business.' He responded quickly enough, though his gaze narrowed all the same.

It was enough to convince her that she wasn't going to get any answers out of him.

Not when he was in such a mood, in any case.

'Right ... sure.' She sighed as she stepped completely out of his reach, turning to head back towards the trail. 'Forget I said anything.'

Why the hell was he getting so bent out of shape over this, anyway? Even if his points weren't as high as he'd like, it still didn't really mean anything!

Unless ... it was Maehara's points that bothered him?

That was stupid, though. It wasn't like she actually saw Maehara as anything more than a really good friend. A really good friend who basically played the bad-guy to help get Karma to start talking to her again, in fact.

But she couldn't exactly tell him that.

She guessed now was as good a time to go skip the rest of the day.

Seeing Shigure for training was more beneficial right now than sitting through the rest of the day's classes.

But at least this was more normal than the morning had been.

---=[Authors Notes]=---

Chaaapter :D Hope you enjoyed :D

Ansoku no toki - Translates roughly as Time of Repose, which is written as 安息の時 in Japanese. The title of this chapter in particular is taken from an OST from Final Fantasy XII of the same title. Its a nice, melodious piece that I listened to for the majority of writing this chapter.

Title Image - Just a note for those unfamiliar with Majora's Mask (The game Amaya was trying to play). The image at the top of the page is a fan-art of Deku-Link from Majora's Mask fleeing the dog that runs around in circles in the middle of Clock Town. Deku-Link is the only form that the dog attacks on sight. And like most NPC in the Zelda Games, its immortal ;P

All the best~!

<3 Loki-Roki