No words were said in response to Amayas confession, though she was heard with deafening clarity. After what felt like a minute of uncomfortable, horrified silence, Sugino was called up to bat.

Hesitantly, as Sugino succeeded in clearing Kimura, Nagisa and Isogai off of the field while reaching Third Base himself, Maehara broke his silence.

He let out an uncomfortable breath, lifting a hand to gently ruffle Amayas hair as he looked over at the ecstatic, cheering Chiba, Sugaya and Okajima nearby.

'Of course you can stay in here - Don't be stupid, Maya-chan.' He spoke, though he didn't say anything further on the point. He nudged her towards the bench, casting as bright a grin as he could towards a beaming Isogai, who hadn't noticed Amayas appearance just yet.

Amaya heard loud and clear, so she did as she was told.

She ambled over to the benches that Karma was sitting on, dropping herself down on the floor behind with her back resting against the wood.

'Huh? What the--?' She heard him say all of a sudden, though she didn't look up. 'What are you doing, Amay?'

She bit her lip, maintaining her silence as she heard Karma turn on the bench to look down at her a little better.

'Amay?' He spoke her name, concern reflected in his tone of voice at her lack of response.

A few seconds later, he let out a breath, closing the little gaming machine in his hands before he rose to his feet.

He leaped over the back of the bench to land just next to her, crouching down just in front of her as something happened out on the field.

He seemed to glance down at her hands for a second, his brow furrowing for a second before he looked back up at her face.

'Okay, who'd you pick a fight with?' He questioned her.

'I didn't ...' She spoke quietly in response.

'Wanna try that again?' He asked her, grabbing her right wrist and waving the back of her hand in front of her face gently. She found that her knuckles were a little swollen, and there was a little blood flecked over her hand.

Great ...

Amaya shook her head slightly in response, a small breath escaping her.

'I didn't pick a fight with anyone ...' Amaya responded, furtively looking away from the redhead.

'Oh?' He hummed in surprise, though she didn't believe this was the case - She could hear the sarcasm as clear as day. 'Then who'd be stupid enough to pick a fight with you?'

Stupid enough?

Amaya didn't know what to say to that, and she didn't know if she should be a little bothered by it, either.

Most people either threw her filthy looks or picked a fight with her.

Or in Asanos case, throw prodding remark after prodding remark just to make her mad.

'I don't ... really want to talk about it ...' She spoke softly in response.

There was no immediate response to her words, however she heard him shift slightly in front of her.

His hold of her wrist was still there, strangely enough.

'Awww jeeze.' Maehara all of a sudden seemed to sigh in exasperation, seeming to draw Karmas attention away from Amaya. 'Top of the first inning and the final boss already makes his appearance?'

Amaya couldn't stop the flinch from escaping her as she immediately realize who it was that Maehara was talking about.

She hoped to whoever the hell was listening that he wasn't here to personally inform her that she was expelled.

It would be just her luck if he was.

'A-According to the information I've just received, Terai-sensei, the Advisor of the Baseball Club had been gravely ill since before the match, and the students were so worried for their teacher that their hearts weren't in the game.' Came the strangely awkward and uncertain voice from the loudspeakers, gaining everyones attention. 'The Principal could not stand by and do nothing, so it seems he will be taking charge immediately!'

A sudden booming chorus of cheers echoed from all of the main campus students, causing one or two of the boys nearby to sigh slightly.

And then Maehara was called up to the batters plate thirty seconds later.

The redhead in front of her seemed to let out a small breath as he gently released her wrist.

'We're continuing this after the game, so don't even think about running off all of a sudden.' He told her, fixing her with a particularly stern gaze. 'I know every one of your hiding places, after all.'

Amaya shivered at the unspoken threat hanging in the air, managing to force herself to nod ever so slightly.

She was sure that he didn't know every hiding place, but he did have a nack of finding her when she didn't want to be found, regardless.

A torture of what she knew to be liquid caramel and sugar was going to meet her if she made one false move.

So she sat silently, unmoving as Karma stood up and began to join the other boys at the front of the team shed.

As the situation began to turn around against the boys, Amaya became lost in her thoughts, her arms wrapped tightly around her knees as she stared unseeingly at her feet.

She knew not to trust that boy - Not to take the words of a silver-tongued snake so personally.

But she did, rounded on anger in spite of everything and struck him when she already knew it was just going to make things worse.

How could she just screw up like that?

Why did she keep making all these mistakes like this, like all she wanted to do was drown inside?

Why did she have to keep messing everything up, the moment someone would put just the tiniest bit of faith in her?

She didn't stop to wonder why Karasuma had told her to behave herself, because it was obvious that she couldn't be trusted with just a simple little task, and she'd just made it worse yet again. She already had to tell Karasuma about what Asano's been asking about, and now she had to fess up and tell him that she clobbered him, too?

Why didn't she just say no to talking to Asano?

Hell, why didn't she just walk away, or even just stay up in the tree, unyielding?

She could have even just stuck to Karasuma like glue.

The only saving grace she had was that she didn't just agree and follow him elsewhere when he'd first mentioned it - She might have done even more damage if she wasn't out in the open like that.

She doubted that it would make any difference to Karasuma, though.

It honestly felt like she'd gone and betrayed what little trust he'd put in her.

If she didn't get expelled for this, then she was certain that Karasuma was never going to let her walk off on her own, ever again.

A sudden booming chorus of howling complaint and rejection echoed all of a sudden, so loud that Amaya had been shocked right out of her downwards spiral.

It sounded like the whole student body of Kunugigaoka had shouted in that one instance.

And yet she couldn't figure out why, until she turned her head to look through the gap between the back and base of the bench at her back at the field.

Karma was standing at the batters plate, his tongue poking out as he looked over at one place on the field in particular, ignoring a rain of empty cans and other items of rubbish that the students were throwing.

It was next that she'd noticed the Baseball Club were all standing right up close, far too close to be normal.

She guessed he'd protested the Baseball Club's close-range fielding, though she couldn't comprehend why - He twisted rules horribly to get what he wanted a lot of the time, so why would he be a stickler for following the rules, now?

It was next that she'd noticed that the rest of the boys had returned, though their attention was upon the game.

There must be some kind of plan in motion, now that the Principal of all people was here coordinating things with the Baseball Club with the obvious intention of crushing them mercilessly.

Koro-sensei wouldn't leave the boys to fend for themselves in this kind of situation, after all.

So she pulled herself upright a little, turning on her spot behind the bench to watch between the planks of wood.

With the Principal on the job, the Baseball club were doing their utmost to smush everyone into the ground, and they were doing so pretty well, too. The atmosphere did a whole 180, and all of a sudden, it was like the Class E boys were facing off against some horrible monsters clawing out for bloody vengeance.

By the change-over of the final innings, Amaya found proof to show that she was right about Koro-sensei.

As the Baseball Club slugged through and thrashed the boys on the final leg of the match, Karma seemed to suddenly look down at his feet out on the field, like someone down there was talking to him.

About thirty seconds later, he began to approach the rest of the boys to relay some kind of message.

Isogai in particular looked astonished by whatever this message was, though he soon appeared to look exasperated, like he was greatly displeased by what he was hearing.

What they did had Amaya at a loss of what was going on, her breath hitching as she watched Isogai and Karma just walk most of the way towards Shindo as if they were taking their fielding positions right there.

Wait, wait! WHAT?!

What the hell are they even doing?!

She scrambled to her feet in the hopes that it was just half her vision cut off, and they weren't really that close.

Though as the guy on the loudspeaker suddenly let out a startled exclamation, Amaya knew that she hadn't been seeing things.

In fact, it all felt so much worse now that she was on her feet and able to see everyone elses reactions, too.

She couldn't hear what was being said, but she knew immediately that she didn't like it.

The exchange between Karma and the Principal was taunting, causing Isogai to look more and more exasperated with every word.

No, no! They weren't going to that were they?!

But before she knew it, Isogai sighed, and the two boys walked even closer to Shindo, stopping a mere meter away from him.

'What the hell are you even doing?!' Amaya whispered frantically, staring horrified at the two boys standing perilously close to being struck - If they weren't paying complete attention, they were going to get hit.

In fact, she was sure of it.

Piercing gold eyes fell upon her for a small second, a smirk dancing across his face as he then turned turned his head back to Shindo, who looked particularly shell-shocked at the situation.

'Don't you dare get clobbered ...' Amaya whispered as she watched the continuing exchange, her hands clutching tightly on the back of the bench as she forced herself to stay motionless.

If they did, she was going to murder Koro-sensei for this reckless plan of his.

No, screw that! She was going to murder him for even suggesting it!

She didn't care how much Karma was obviously enjoying himself right now, the idiot was going to get himself hurt if he made a habit of this!

Stupid smug redhead thinking he was unbeatable!

At least Isogai had his reservations and wasn't likely to go doing anything like this unless he had no choice!

Even Sugino over on the Pitch looked uncomfortable with the plan, too, however he had to contend with the fact that he had to throw strong pitches straight between Isogai and Karma without hitting them, and even he would have his own reservations about that.

However he braced himself, and threw his pitch.

Shido swung big in response, not at the ball, but at Isogai and Karma, his bat flying much faster than Amaya had expected.

She felt her heart crack a little inside her chest as she watched with wide eyes.

The two had merely leaned out of the way, just enough for the tip of the bat to skim the air right in front of their faces.

No further.

If they'd misjudged by just the slightest, they would have definitely gotten hit.

And it didn't even phase them in the slightest.

No -- no more.

Frantically, as Nagisa threw the baseball back to Sugino, Amaya retreated out of the team shed and back into the sea of students, who stared transfixed at the scene ahead of them.

Heart racing so fast it hurt, stomach lurching and her chest screaming with pain, Amaya found she honestly couldn't watch any more - Not this spectacle where the slightest misjudgment would end with her friends getting hurt.

Not this scare-tactic masquerading as baseball.

It was scaring her more than the rest of the Baseball Club, and she honestly felt like she was about to be sick.

She forgot all about her bag, the punishment hanging over her head if she'd so much as made a move to leave without first going through an interrogation from Karma.

She even forgot all about having to talk to Karasuma about Asano and his prying questions, and the fact that she'd struck him without warning.

Instead, she ran home and hid inside where she didn't have to deal with anyone.

She shut the door and locked it, leaning her back against the door of the apartment as she tried desperately to stop that tightening in her chest from crushing her. Her eyes prickled with tears threatening to well up, and her breathing was still uncomfortably shallow.

And then ...

Chirp-Chirp!

The foreign sound startled Amaya enough to have her jump, her eyes widening as she then felt her phone in her pocket vibrate a mere instance later.

With trembling hands, she fished her phone from her pocket as she tried to blink the tears from the corners of her eyes.

It turned out she'd just received an email.

Since she'd gotten back, she hadn't received very many emails at all, so she hadn't quite gotten used to the charm hanging from her phone.

I'd always thought you were a closet masochist ^_^

Amaya stared down at the email in confusion, not quite understanding what was going on, until she read the Sender information.

Karma?

Damnit ...

He was probably mad at her...

She didn't bother to reply -- She had no idea what she could even send as a reply that wouldn't either annoy him or cause more problems for her in the future.

So she opted for silence, because she didn't have the right state of mind to reply.

Shaking her head sharply, she threw her boots off without a care, leaving her phone and her bag lying with them as she ambled over to her room, and shut the door behind her.

Numbly, she decided that she didn't want anyone to bother her, and she didn't want to emerge from hiding unless it was on her own terms later. So she discarded her shirt and strapping for her chest in preference for a loose tank-top and lifted the subtle handle beneath the mattress at the foot of her bed.

She climbed in and let the lid of her little box seal her in the darkness filled with fluffy blankets and pillows - The only enclosure that didn't remind her of green-lit water.

If it was any other day, it probably would have just made her a little angry her to see the two boys standing perilously close to a concussion, but today?

She was already riled up because of a stupid spoiled boy hell-bent on tormenting her for reasons she had no understanding as to why.

And she was already upset because she had gone and acted against Karasumas instructions, no matter how hard she tried not to.

The interior of her little box was a whirlwind of emotions, driving her on the verge of screaming.

But as she finally began to feel herself begin to calm down, her heart rate slowing down and her mind stopped reeling so much.

She closed her eyes as finally, after what felt like hours, she was able to empty her mind enough to become a little drowsy.

But then something happened, so suddenly that she had no comprehension of what was going on at all, and all rational thought had escaped her grasp.

All of a sudden she was grabbed through the darkness under the arms and dragged backwards.

A terrified shriek had escaped her, and before she even knew it, she'd made an attempt at throwing her elbow backwards into the face of whoever it was who'd grabbed her like that with all her strength.

Her elbow connected with her assailants jaw, causing them to flinch and loosen their grip of her, though it was only slightly.

A pained chuckle she actually recognized had her freeze in her tracks, her eyes widening as her brain began to start working on rational thought once again.

She also began to notice features of her surroundings - She'd been dragged out from inside her bed, the light was on, and she was half-way to the door, held upright by those arms beneath her arms.

'A bit jumpy, are we?' Karma remarked in a rather amused tone of voice, though there was an edge of a grimace in his words. 'Didn't I already tell you there's no point in hiding?'

She grit her teeth, closing her eyes tightly as she tried to will her racing heart to slow yet again.

Her chest already felt horribly tender as it was, and it wasn't helping that he was holding most of her weight off her feet with the way he'd dragged her out from the safety of her hiding place.

'L-let go, please ...' She managed to get out.

'Hmm? Okay~!' He responded with an innocent tone of voice.

Then a second later, he'd dropped her like a sack of potatoes, allowing her to crumble to her knees as her legs failed to support her own weight.

Though thankfully, Amaya could feel herself beginning to calm down, now that she wasn't practically dangling from his grip.

'Come on, Amay, it wasn't that bad, was it?' He questioned her, amusement dancing in his tone of voice.

'Says you! I was practically asleep, you jerk!' Amaya spat with far more venom than she'd intended, massaging her aching chest with a hand slowly. 'You scared me half to death...'

There was no response to her words, though she heard him seem to shift on his feet.

She didn't really know what he was doing - She had closed her eyes as she tried to stop the pricking in her eyes from turning into tears again.

'You done sulking, yet?' He asked her after a few long seconds of silence.

'I'm not sulking...' She muttered under her breath.

'Oh? Was your hiding place was due to your feline tendencies, then?' He taunted her rather mockingly.

She made a point of keeping her mouth shut - Anything she'd say now would just be turned on her.

Though from the small snicker that escaped him as he crouched down in front of her, she knew her silence merely amused him.

'So what did Asano say to make you hit him like that?' He questioned her, his tone hinting at a devious smile.

Startled, Amaya lifted snapped her gaze up to look at the redhead.

'What--?!' She managed to speak, blinking momentarily as he stared her down. 'Who told you that?'

'Nobody - It was obvious after I saw him skulking around after the match with a swollen face.' He remarked, that smirk across his face seeming to grow with every word. 'You did a good job, too - He's gonna be feeling that for weeks.'

Amaya bit her lip nervously, inwardly feeling even worse for what she'd done.

Though she was a little curious as to why he seemed rather pleased right now.

'That doesn't make me feel any better...' She muttered beneath her breath as she looked away.

And yet she still saw the grin growing across his face.

'Why are you so bothered about it, anyway? It's not like you're gonna get in trouble with the school or anything.' Karma remarked.

Wait - What?!

Amaya found herself looking up at the redhead in disbelief, who chuckled lightly in response.

'So that's what's been bothering you.' He stated, more to himself than to Amaya.

Well, mostly...

Meekly, she nodded slightly.

She really hoped this wasn't his idea of a joke.

She'd probably give him that long-awaited black eye if it was.

'He wouldn't get you in trouble with the faculty over something like that, even if you'd taken another swing or two at him.' Karma explained, amusement dancing in his eyes as Amaya listened carefully. 'He'd rather get even with you on his own terms, probably throw in a bit of public humiliation for good measure.'

Amaya's expression turned rather blank as she let his words sink in on her.

So ... what?

Was that really the situation now?!

Whether by a rare glimmer of fortune, or misfortune disguised, Amaya couldn't come up with anything else that made anywhere near as much sense.

And before long, she couldn't help but feel that the redhead was probably right.

'...Oh...' Amaya eventually said, bemusement creeping across her face.

Karma snickered at her in response.

'I can't believe you never thought about that.'

'Shut up ...' Amaya muttered under a huffed breath.

She was honestly quite scared about that, and it bothered her to have him teasing her about it.

Now she just had to apologize to Karasuma ... Oh how she wanted to avoid the topic altogether.

But he probably needed to know if someone was snooping around trying to learn about what they were trying to do.

However she didn't have an oportunity to dwell on her thoughts any further.

All of a sudden, a sharp pain shot through her forehead like she'd just been struck, and she'd jumped in fright.

'Don't zone out on me.' Karma told her with a small smirk across his face.

'I didn't mean to ...' She mumbled, rubbing the pain from her forehead gently as she averted her gaze from the sadist still crouched down in front of her.

'Try not to think too hard - you'll just fry your brain if you do.' He teased with a smirk.

Again with the overthinking taunt.

She honestly was a little tired of those particular remarks, even though she would never tell him.

If she did, he'd probably just say them even more because they bothered her.

'That's everything that was bothering you, right?' He asked her.

In response, she shrugged slightly, her gaze remaining on the floor beneath her.

In truth, that was everything that she would say, even if he tried to torture the rest out of her.

However all of a sudden he snickered as if something was funny to him, and he lifted himself to his feet to leave the room.

'If I just so happened to cook something, will that put you back in a good mood?' He asked her, his tone a drawling taunt that bothered her just as much as his other taunts.

She couldnlt help but let out a breath as she shook her head slightly.

'No ... I don't want anything ...' She spoke as she dragged herself to her feet to follow him to the door, keeping her gaze averted from him.

Even though she'd whispered her words, he'd heard her - He actually stopped dead in his tracks and looked at her, confusion written clear across his face.

She guessed she must have startled him.

'That's obviously a lie.' He spoke in response to her words, though he didn't sound so sure of it for some reason as he watched her come to stop at the door of her room, just a few feet in front of him. 'You never say no to food.'

No, it wasn't that, and she knew it.

The truth was that she never, ever truly said no to him like this.

He just wasn't seeing it.

'...Sorry, I just want to be left alone right now... okay?' She spoke softly in response, looking up at him for a second apologetically.

As she closed the door to separate the two of them, he stood motionless on the other side, staring wordlessly, seeming at a loss of what was going on.

She didn't understand what she was even doing.

And she couldn't follow her own thougths and emotions.

The oceans inside of her rose to spill over the sides of her face as tears as she stared at the smooth surface of her door.

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

Here's the next chapter :) I hope you enjoyed, regardless of poor Amaya's turbulence. Yander3RedQueen, I am not completely sorry to inform you that I updated again >:D

I will have another update soon. Expect it by Monday :)

Haha, I have a question for all of you lovely readers :D I've seen those Q&A fun chapters that quite a few other writers on here have done with their OC and a couple of the characters answering questions, and I was wondering your opinions on those :3 I've always been curious about them, and honestly, a little intrigued with the thought of actually doing one, since I'm writing a kind of frequently updated story :) What do you guys think? Should I do one? Should I not?

Haha, anyways, thanks for reading, and here's the translation notes for this chapter:

Kanjō no hako - In this instance, translates roughly as Box Of Emotions, which is written as 感情の箱 in Japanese. The Kanjō (感情) being emotions, hako (箱) being box.

Loki-Roki out~!