STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING! Are you up to date with the current events of Marionette? (Minimum reading up to Cosmos, Chapter Twenty). These are NOT for new readers to read. These contain SPOILERS to the main book, and as such, read at your own risk. All Supplement chapters should not be read until Cosmos Chapter Twenty at the minimum, but it's recommended for readers to be COMPLETELY up to date. If you spoil yourselves by reading this while you're still in Oceans arc, then thats your own choice, but be mature and don't post spoilers from here onto the main book before a character even turns up. I wouldn't want to have to permanently mute you.

For the first time since his parents had started working away for weeks at a time, Akabane Karma didn't find it so lonely.

For the first time, he found that there was someone here who bothered to actually look at him.

And it was the last person he had ever expected it to be.

The days since his eighth birthday were spent in a rather pensive silence, mulling over the changes that had taken place without his realizing. His parents had come home the day after his Birthday Just as they'd said they were home before he even woke up that morning.

His mother had noticed the cake sitting in the refrigerator, surprised by the fact that there was one there at all. And he didn't have the guts to actually admit that the girl he'd been tormenting for a few months had actually been the one to give it to him.

His parents were home for the next month, a longer break than he was used to them taking.

Though there was the chance that something would come up part-way through, and they'd have to leave early.

The snow lightly covered the city streets during early January, speckled with footprints and turned to slush over the bitumen. His breath escaped him in clouds of white, one of the many signs of just how cold it was that day.

He rubbed his hands together gingerly, the friction bringing minor warmth to his otherwise cold hands.

Why did that girl decide to go out of her way and bring him a present like that?

How did she even know it was his birthday, to begin with?

And why ... why did she break her perfect silence?

Why for him?

Even at such an age, these questions pestered him beyond comfortable.

Classmates of his, and others from surrounding year groups ran right past him on their way to school, seeming to not even notice him at all, if not for the wide berth they all gave him.

He eyed them all with disdain, though otherwise he did nothing.

At least until he spotted a form up ahead that almost blended in with the snowscape seamlessly, if not for the girls uniform they were wearing.

The extremely pale complexion and white hair of none other than Rat-kun almost made her look invisible, if he didn't stare long enough to see the girl's movements.

If the uniform for the girls had of been white instead of the olive green it really was, he wouldn't have even known there was a person walking there at all.

The conscious realization that Rat-kun was up ahead had Karma slow in his steps, a small pout creeping across his face as he found himself almost wanting to approach her. He didn't understand why, exactly, and that bothered him.

There was a lot about that girl that bothered him.

However, out of a lack of excuses to approach her, he just followed up towards the classroom, that pout still in place.

With the exception of the usually mute Rat-kun, every other classmate of Karma's were obnoxiously loud, chattering brightly about what they got for Christmas, their first trip to the temple for the new year, amongst other things that just bored him half to death.

Even with his parents home, they didn't do anything like that at all.

'Good morning everyone!' Their homeroom teacher greeted as she walked in brightly just after the chime for start of first period. 'Have you all had a wonderful two weeks break? Did you get what you wanted from Santa this year?'

Karma scoffed distastefully at the woman's excessive amount of cheer as he dropped himself into his seat behind Rat-kun.

He planned to prank her later in order to wipe that excessive cheer right off her face, and spent the whole time the woman was taking attendance planning what she was going to do.

'Good, everyone is here.' The woman announced as she tucked attendance away, a painfully bright smile across her face. 'First of all, this coming Friday we, along with classes B and C are going on a field trip to the Aquarium.'

The aquarium, huh?

Karma turned his gaze upon the snowy cityscape outside as he tuned out the energetic woman proceeding to hand out papers.

In truth going to the aquarium didn't interest him in the slightest for a class trip.

It was boring, and he'd already been last year.

'We will be going to look at all of the ocean life from around the world, and you will be dividing into groups to make posters.' The teacher explained as she finished handing out papers to everyone in class, a particular spring in her step as she moved back to the classroom. 'So, since our class has thirty students exactly, I would like you to divide into groups of three to work on this project together.'

Immediately, the bulk of his classmates obeyed without hesitation, rising to their feet to go and approach their friends within the classroom.

And all the while, Karma just stared out the window, though he did notice that Rat-kun made no movement, either.

She just sat without movement, just as she always did.

And so, after a few minutes the groups had been decided, more or less. He and Rat-kun were assigned in the same group, just like every other group project that took place ever since she'd transferred in, and their third person was one of the boys from class, one who was more friends with students from class B, if Karma recalled correctly.

The only name Karma knew the kid by was Ito, nothing else.

Needless to say, Ito wasn't pleased to be grouped up with Karma and the unresponsive Rat-kun, though he didn't argue the grouping, either.

Classes were tailored to this stupid field trip coming up from then on, everything from different fish, sharks, whales, even coral and certain ocean plants. And all the while, Karma planned how he was going to torment this obnoxiously cheerful woman into being a bit more reasonable with her energy.

There were a few times that he'd thought he'd caught the smallest hints of movement from Rat-kun, though he did nothing more than glance at her. When he'd look at her, it felt very much like he'd imagined the tiny glimpse of movement out of the ordinary, though he did notice something else from the little he could see of her face.

If it was even possible, Rat-kun actually looked a little pale – The thought in itself was rather ironic considering her complexion have her blend in with snow.

And so, the days leading up to the field trip wore away with little notice.

He'd pranked that teacher by putting covering the underside of her desk with honey the very second day, earning him relief from her painfully enthusiastic attitude for at least one day.

Though, he found himself noticing how bored he was less and less, and how more towards odd Rat-kun was starting to act.

Well, not so much act as opposed to look.

He was certain she was looking quite pale by the morning of the last day, and he found himself coming to an explanation that had him soon frowning at the back of her head.

The damn girl wasn't even eating her lunches anymore – He hadn't noticed it before, but when lunch break came around, she didn't even go to retrieve her usual lone onigiri.

She just sat there looking as pale as ever, puzzling the moody boy even further.

His brow furrowed as he glared over the silent girl's shoulder at her non-existent lunch.

Maybe that's why she's always so frail looking? Because the only things she was actually eating were cheap Onigiri, and now she wasn't even eating that?

'Akabane Karma-kun, Katsuragi Amaya-san of class 3-A, please report to the administration office.' Rung out over the PA speaker at the front of the classroom, drawing Karma's glaring attention from the absence of Rat-kun's lunch. 'I repeat, Akabane Karma-kun, Katsuragi Amaya-san of Class 3-A, please report to the administration office.'

Karma's expression soured even further as he recognized that voice to belong to none other than the vice principal, Nishimura.

The scruffily-dressed man was probably calling him in for detention over the pranks he'd been playing on the painfully energetic teacher all week.

Though who was this Katsuragi called as well?

He didn't recall anyone with that name – Not that he ever made an attempt at remembering anyone from school to begin with.

With a sigh, he lifted himself from his seat and went to report in as required, making sure to take his bag with all his belongings – There was the odd time here and there that he'd been sent home, so it was better to just take everything with him.

'U-umm, Katsuragi-san...?' He heard one of the girls from class speak up just as he'd reached the door. 'You have to go to the administration office now ...'

Curiously, Karma turned his head to try and source who this "Katsuragi" was, though he soon found himself scowling as he found himself discovering it was Rat-kun.

Rat-kun was Katsuragi.

He probably just forgot, because nobody ever bothered with her after her first day transferred in, teachers and students alike.

'Katsuragi-san! You have to go!' The girl pleaded, Yamamoto, or something like that. 'You can't ignore the school!'

And yet, Rat-kun failed to even respond.

In fact, it grated on his nerves to even watch that, and he found himself soon turning to petulant action.

Without really understanding why, Karma practically stomped back towards his desk, ignoring the frightened looks he was receiving from his classmates as he then grabbed a handful of the back of Rat-kun's uniform and dragged her out of her chair with a rather vicious tug.

There was no sound or response from Rat-kun at all, even as Karma just dragged her along with him out of the classroom altogether.

She just stumbled along after him with no ounce of resistance in her.

Within three minutes, Karma found himself at the administration office, where the women behind the front counter cast him stern, almost unwavering stares.

'Nishimura-san is in his office.' The eldest of the women remarked, her tone brisk with a lack of humor. 'Don't keep him waiting, Akabane-kun.'

Right, this woman was still mad because of the soap he'd covered the walkway with before the rain, wasn't she?

He found Adults and their grudges to be painfully tedious to deal with.

So he said nothing and just dragged Rat-kun stumbling along after him towards the door to the immediate right of the administration office main counter.

Handing an immediate right towards the open door within a meter, the scruffy appearances of Nishimura stood out with glaring contrast in comparison to the snobbish, prissily dressed women back in the other room. His brown hair was long and unkempt for the most part, pulled back into a ponytail at the nape of his neck, something that made him look like some layabout adult too lazy to bother coming to work.

The man in mention lifted his head at the sound of Karma and Rat-kun's arrival, an eyebrow raised as he watched the redhead practically hurl the snowy girl inside.

Though the man was particularly quick about catching Rat-kun's arm to prevent her from tripping and injuring herself.

'Karma-kun, you should be much more gentle with Amaya-san.' Nishimura remarked as he helped to right Rat-kun on her feet, an exasperated and rather wry smile appearing across his stubbled face. 'She is one of your precious classmates, after all.'

Precious? Her?

Karma didn't even bother to quip against Nishimura's remark – Instead, he crossed his arms over his chest and tossed himself onto one of the spare chairs in front of Nishimura's desk.

'Ah, well. I suppose I had better get to the reasons why I called you both here.' Nishimura remarked, running a hand through his scraggled hair as his other foraged through the drawer of his desk. 'Amaya-san, these are for you.'

Karma watched as the Vice Principal passed a small stack of papers to the girl his brow furrowing in confusion.

'Don't lose them, they just arrived this morning.' Nishimura remarked with a pleasant smile. 'I've also signed and given your set of permission slips back to Kou-sensei, so you're free to go on tomorrow's field trip with the rest of your class.'

Karma's gaze narrowed as he looked back at Rat-kun, his confusion growing.

Since when did the vice principal have the okay to sign parental permission slips on the behalf of a student?

And why was he doing that for Rat-kun?

'You're free to go, Amaya-san.' Still smiling pleasantly, Nishimura closed his desk drawer shut with a small thud. 'Why don't you stop by the Music Room on your way back to the classroom? I hear Fujioka-sensei is giving piano lessons now.'

No vocal response escaped Rat-kun, however Karma noticed her nod her head ever so slightly as she turned on her heel, and left the room.

Leaving Karma there to sit through what turned out to be a lecture on how to be nice to his fellow students and teachers alike.

As he'd expected, Nishimura had heard all about the various pranks on Karma's homeroom teacher, and while Nishimura lectured, it was as usual, half-hearted and not without the smallest edge of an understanding smile. And half-way through the lecture, the scruffy man slid a store-bought sandwich across the table to Karma, just so that he wasn't missing out on lunch because of the lecture.

By the time the warning bell for fourth period rung, Karma was making his slow walk back to the classroom, a scowl inflicted upon the floor as he walked.

The Vice Principal was weird – He didn't act high and mighty, didn't even dress or look like a person of high-rank in the school's staff, and he didn't seem to care all that much about rule-breaking.

And it bothered Karma to be lectured by some adult who smiled so much, and even to be given lunch by that adult at the same time.

He huffed slightly as he turned the corner at the end of the corridor, however he soon found himself slowing to a stop as he noticed something strange in the corridor.

In front of what he recognized to be the Music Room was none other than Rat-kun, seated down on the floor next to the door.

He was at first, rather surprised by the rather alarming sight of the snowy girl just sitting there, though he did recall Nishimura suggesting she came by.

Gingerly, he shrugged the peculiarity off and continued the route he'd intended, pulling his gaze away from the motionless girl against the wall.

Though with every step closer, he found himself more and more curious about what she was even doing here.

The faint sounds of a piano playing softly echoed through the air, scarcely noticeable as Karma found himself coming to a stop in front of Rat-kun's motionless form.

His brow furrowed as he stared down at her, his irritation beginning to grow as he found himself noticing that she looked like she'd fallen asleep. There was nobody else around – Class was in session, and he was supposed to be heading back to class.

But then again, the bizarre girl was sitting right here completely unaware of what was going on around her. He hadn't pranked her in nearly a month, though mildly tormenting her was rather common for him, so he was sorely tempted to take advantage of her rather vulnerable state.

Though he did have those plaguing, annoying instances of thought she'd inflicted upon him, those which he did want answers to.

So he crouched down in front of her after a moment, a frustrated huff escaping him as he stared her motionless form down.

'Hey, Rat-kun!' He called, poking the side of her face sharply. 'I'm talking to you! Hey!'

There was no response, nothing to show that she was even asleep.

She honestly just looked like she was sitting there with her eyes closed, ignoring everything and everyone that might happen to stumble upon her.

His brow furrowed into a rather sour frown as he stared her down.

She spoke before – He knew it for a fact.

She'd even brought him a cake on his actual birthday, so he knew for a fact that she did respond and understand to people. She had even responded to Nishimura not half an hour ago, damnit!

'You're not really asleep, are you?' Karma demanded, a bitter edge creeping into his words as he stared the motionless girl down.

Still no response, even as he poked her face a little harder.

And unfortunately, that just annoyed him even more.

'Hello? Anyone in there, today?' He demanded, grabbing her by the shoulder and shaking. 'Rat-kun! I'm talking to you!'

He received no luck – the frail girl merely remained with her eyes closed and leaned back against the wall of the music room. All he could do was fix her with a petulant glare as he gave in, dragging himself to his feet as he chose to just leave the girl sitting there.

He was sure she was ignoring him – Nobody could stay asleep with someone shaking their shoulder like that.

He was convinced she was just ignoring him.

'Stupid Rat-kun...' He grumbled under his breath,

If she was just going to ignore him, then he was going to return the favor.

Returning to the classroom yielded him nothing other than the stink-eye from the teacher as he walked in a good fifteen minutes late. Yamaguchi, who was the school's English Teacher, scolded him loudly for being late to class, claiming that there was nothing that could warrant being so late when lunch had just been – Not even a summons from the vice principal would, apparently.

This lecture was so common, even all of Karma's classmates had heard it more than a dozen times.

And needless to say, all the redhead did was filter out the incessant prattling as he sat down at his desk.

Minutes passed, the clock ticking away slowly as the painfully boring English class edged along.

Karma barely listened to any of it and just stared broodingly out the window.

But then, somewhere between the half-way point in class and the last few minutes, there was a knock at the door, cutting Yamaguchi off from his horribly boring lesson.

'I'm sorry to interrupt, Yamaguchi-sensei,' Came the voice of Nishimura. 'I've brought a straggler in for you.'

The scruffy and laid back looking man slid the door open fully, revealing none other than Rat-kun standing just next to him.

Yamaguchi narrowed his beady eyes upon the frail girl's blank expression, a frown quickly forming across his face.

'Is this another problem child?' Yamaguchi demanded.

At that, Karma couldn't help but smirk.

The person he was referring to wasn't a mystery to anyone, after all.

'Not at all, please pay her no mind.' Nishimura cut in with a pleasant smile as he nudged the girl in. 'She fell asleep outside the Music Room during lunch break is all.'

Wait – What?!

Karma turned his head to look at Rat-kun in surprise.

She couldn't have been asleep!

... Could she?

He couldn't be sure now that he'd thought about it.

The girl always looked sick and frail, and he honestly didn't know anything about her.

Bitterly, Yamaguchi waved Rat-kun inside as Nishimura disappeared to wherever it was he was going next, sending the pale girl to take up her usual seat.

With a scowl and confusion almost permanent in his mind, Karma turned his gaze back to the snowy grounds outside, and tried to ignore the building questions for the rest of the afternoon.