KARMA AKABANE AND MINA HAYASHI hadn't talked in two weeks.
It was showing, and weird, too. Everyone around them thought that they'd surely make up in a few hours, they just needed a bit to cool off. But, no, they hadn't even shared a look.
When karma fought against the second assassin during their mission, when they returned to their friends after the mission, when mina hugged Rio like there was no tomorrow, when they set up a date between Irina & Karasuma, when koro-sensei send them into that cave.
The two people who usually sticked together as If they were one, avoided eachother like they'd the pest in medieval France. Normally, wherever mina was, karma was. and wherever karma was, she was. It just worked that way.
When it didn't, their friends grew concerned.
____
ONE: 3RD DAY OF OKINAWA
"Why don't you just apologise?" Rio raised her eyebrows, confused.
The blonde currently laid in mina's hotel bed, sitting against a few pillows that pressed against the bed wall.
After the group had returned with the Anti-Virus, their ill friends recovered quickly. Some of them still had flushed faces and sneezed occasionally, but nothing major.
Neither did Rio.
Mina, on the other hand, walked up and down her room. This had been going on for thirty minutes.
"No, Rio!" She came to a halt, pressing her fists together and staring at her best friend with a frustrated look in her eyes. "If I apologise, my dignity will be destroyed. I wasn't wrong! Well.. right? I mean, it was stupid of him, right?"
"Well.." Rio crossed her arms, hesitating.
"Rio!"
"Sorry, sorry!" Rio quickly apologised, waving her hands in the air for defense. "But you do know about what his teacher said to him after he beat up those bullies, don't you think you could've stated your opinion a bit less.. harsh?"
Mina stared at her best friend before letting out a big, exhausted sigh. She let her back slide down the end of the hotel bed, leaning against it while sitting on the ground.
"I know.. " the brunette mumbled, defeated. "But I can't apologise so quickly. It will look like I miss him,"
"Oh," Rio smiled mischievously "but you do miss him."
"As if!" Mina's cheeks heated up as she sent her best friend a daggering stare. "He doesn't have to know that, anyway." The girl rested her head on her knees as she wrapped her hands around them.
"Ah, young love~" Rio mumbled, more to herself.
And then, quiet.
They sat in silence for a couple of minutes. The duo rarely did that, but when they did, it was nice. Rio usually broke the silence with a dumb joke or funny anecdote- but when one of them felt really down, she stayed silent too.
An outsider could look at the situation and easily comment how, when they sat so far in complete silence, they might as well sit alone.
But Rio and Mina didn't work like that.
Knowing that the other one had a shoulder to cry on, a comforting smile or just a calm presence was comforting.
Mina was convinced that if the world ended, she would just sit in a room with Rio and watch everything.
Of course, usually, the room would also include her mom, lady youko, Irina, and... Karma.
Their thoughts got interrupted when mina's door flew open to reveal an excited kaede. At which mina would have usually screamed at, another cause for concern.
"Guys! We're gonna set up a date between Irina and karasuma, come quick!"
"Oh," mina brought her head up, weakly smiling. She couldn't let her frustration out on kaede, no one did that. The girl with freakish hair was just too sweet. "I don't know if Rio's-"
"We're coming!" Rio interrupted her best friend, excitedly.
Kaede giggled before nodding and closing the door again. "Great! See you in ten minutes!"
Mina stared at her blonde companion with a wide mouth, unbelieving that she just did that. "What? You need a distraction!"
____
TWO: OKINAWAN DEPARTURE DAY, A FEW HOURS BEFORE THE FARRY ARRIVED
"What exactly are we doing here?" Maehara groaned at his yellow teacher, speaking for the whole class, currently assembled on the beach.
"Well, I've been thinking," koro-sensei was currently dressed in a pool supervisor outfit, smiling as cheerfully as ever. "You all did such great work in the time we've been here, you didn't even really get to enjoy Okinawa!"
Mina gently smiled at that, still down from the previous day.
The new tactic was just to pretend karma didn't exist, completely ignore his presence. That way, she couldn't be reminded of Their argument.
Basically a 'if I don't see it, it's no problem." Argument, but the girl was getting desperate.
"Yeah, but we don't regret doing it in any way." She smiled sheepishly before waving her hands in defense in front of her face, quickly following up to clarify "At least I don't. Sorry if I spoke too big."
Karma, on the other hand, did act similarly. She did catch him glancing in her direction a few times, though. That's at least what Rio told her. Mina betted that it wasn't too hard for him in any way, karma was better in things like this. Being cold, emotionless, blunt. Mina couldn't do that to people she lov-
Ever since yesterday, mina felt weird including him in the section of people she loved.
I mean, you do that, right? People you love are your parents, your grandparents, your friends, your siblings. You don't love them in a romantic way, but the saying evolved into it being more like you appreciated those who categorised for it very much.
Karma felt different.
She didn't know why she felt so angry at the fact he risked his life (or at the very least a couple bruises) for her. She was worried, obviously. But friends wouldn't be that worked up about it.
Frankly, the girl didn't recognise what she felt for karma as friendly appreciation.
She had to work that out, too. Until she could make up with him, that is.
Or rather until he would apologise.
(Yes, she will die on that hill.)
"Nah," Sugino chinned in, too, calming the brunette down "we really don't, do we, guys?"
"REGARDLESS," koro-sensei interrupted with an obnoxious cough, making Sugino sigh "my students deserve at least a little Okinawa to remember. That's why I set up a test of courage."
"Oh god, why do I have a feeling this isn't as good as it seems...?" Nagisa awkwardly smiled, making koro-sensei continue with his plan.
"Alright, I will set you up in groups of two!"
It would be fine, really. If it wasn't for mina being the only one not in a group after he had put everyone in groups.
"Oh.." koro-sensei huffed, he hadn't thought about this. He started thinking while everyone else met up in their groups.
Mina looked around. She could see Rio with Sugino, kaede with nagisa, kataoka with yada, and.. karma with okuda.
It wasn't like mina didn't think they'd make good team. It wasn't like that at all.
It was just that she thought this test of courage might have been a good place for them to at least stop ignoring eachother.
No, okuda stepped in the way of that.
That isn't fair, though.
Koro-sensei put them in groups, the kind girl with pig-tails didn't have a choice. Neither did she witness their fight, so who was mina to blame?
After staring for a while, okuda noticed it and send the brunette a nervous look. Mina only shot a sweet smile, and waved once their eyes connected.
Okuda couldn't bear her guilty pleasure, yet she didn't step away from it.
"I'm so sorry, mina. Seems like we don't have enough people, shoot! Why didn't I think ahead?" Koro-sensei cursed under his breath, pouting in a corner somewhere.
"Oh," the girl shook her head, smiling while trying to comfort her teacher "it's fine, koro-sensei, really! I will just wait here!"
"Are you sure?" Rio raised an eyebrow after rolling her eyes at sugino laying his arm around her shoulder. She furrowed her eyebrows now, a little concern visible "you can come with us,if you want."
Mina looked at her best friend before noticing her partner non verbally begging her to refuse. Sugino shook his head wildly, as quiet for Rio not to notice.
The girl giggled before shaking her head, re-assuring Rio.
"No, I'm fine, really. Koro-sensei," she started as gently as possible "why don't you explain your test to them? I will go hang out with irina-sensei by the bar."
Karma was annoyed while walking in that cave. It wasn't because of okuda, or the test of courage itself.
He couldn't believe how she could act so normal, unaffected, when their previous fight hadn't even been a day ago. Not talking irritated him. And, so, naturally, it should annoy her too, right?
In a way, karma felt annoyed at mina's lack of annoyance at his annoyance. Try saying that five times.
Still, this was no time for fun. He couldn't solve this argument with a simple joke, which he usually did. And he still thought he was right- so he couldn't just apologise either.
Little did he knew she was overthinking just as much as he did.
"Karma-kun..?" Okuda's quiet voice interrupted his thoughts, and he looked at her more irritated than he intended to.
Okuda never bothered him. Her science skills even impressed him, occasionally. He found her tolerable.
So he wouldn't mind doing a caveman test of courage under normal circumstances, this was just bitter.
He only hummed, making okuda regret even wanting to get to the bottom of this.
Of course she noticed how mina had karma hadn't talked the whole day, and since she wasn't stupid, she figured out quickly that something must have happened during the mission.
Surprisingly, this didn't make her as happy as it should. Sure, she was ecstatic about being in a room alone with her long-term crush, but there was a weird under taste to it, especially considering okuda's conversation with mina before she left.
"Did you.. d-did you and mina-san have a fight?"
"No," karma answered, shockingly. With a fake smile.
Liar.
"O-Oh.. okay. Just, uh, just know that you can talk to me no matter what, okay?"
Okay, don't blame him.
Karma didn't feel like talking about his feelings with some girl he barely knew in some cave, sue him.
The only person he'd dare to talk to about this stuff, usually, was mina.
this situation opened a dilemma.
Just- why didn't she care? Why didn't she care as much as he did?
____
THREE: ONE WEEK AFTER OKINAWA, TOKYO.
"If our love died, would that be the worst thing? Huh, James? You will leave for war!" The lady with a girlish voice cried, making her partner practically beg "please, Mary, you don't understand! I'm doing this for America, for you!"
"Liar!" Mina, with flushed cheeks and reddish eyes, threw her pillow at the TV, currently playing 'meet me at noon', a James dean-Ish cliché film. The girl was laying on the couch like a wet sack of potatoes, having spread out chocolate and crisps around herself. This had been going on since she came back from her trip, and that even though it was the summer holidays.
Mina had planned out various trips and activities to do with Rio, yada, kaede, nagisa, maehara or karma after they would return. She hadn't done any of them, and hori grew concerned of her only child.
Mina was never someone to bed rot.
"Honey, come on, you can't just lie here all day!" Hori tried, desperately, to make her daughter stand up. Currently, she was hovering over her almost dead body on the couch. "It's the summer holidays!"
When only a grunt of a sound came as a response, hori decided to call the only person who must have been an expert regarding broken hearts.
"Brat!" Hori had left into the kitchen, leaving mina to her movies once again. (She never actually finished any of Them, because they all had happy ending and she didn't feel like seeing sweet couples right now) although after twenty minutes, the apartment door behind mina swung open. Irina-sensei.
Luckily for her mom, mina turned her head for the first time in a day. Irina-sensei coming was a suprise, especially in the summer holidays.
Sure, the blonde teacher hung out with them really often lately, But mina had to beg her every time.
"Irina-sensei-" mina mumbled, eyes widened, only to get interrupted.
"We're going shopping!"
"What? But-"
"No buts!" Irina practically ran inside, her stilettos making a 'cluck' of every time they reached the floor. She snatched the TV remote out of mina's hands to then pause the movie."call the weird blonde, too. We're visiting the mall."
Mina stared at her teacher, unbelieving at what's happening. She moaned, unmotivated "moooom!"
"I told you I wasn't going to let you bedrot," hori calmly walked out of the kitchen, holding three cups of coffee.
She handed Irina and mina the disposable to-go cups of Hori stole from a Dunkin donut's a while ago. "Irina here will help, Now call Rio. you're not getting out of this, sweetie."
The tall woman ended her statement with a smile, hitting Irina with her elbow lightly.
____
FOUR: TWO WEEKS AFTER OKINAWA, AKABANE RESIDENCE, TOKYO
karma was lying in his bed, just staring at the ceiling.
He couldn't think straight for two weeks now.
He tried every trick in the book: he played every favourite game of his, which didn't work, because he lost every time. (Distraction) He looked at everything he had got from mina over the months to replicate her presence (nostalgia), he attempted to type an apology (problem solving).
It was pathetic.
This was classic break up behaviour, and they weren't even together.
So a friend break up, which sounded even more pathetic, considering how much it affected him.
Karma Akabane didn't want to admit it, but his house became so unbelievably lonely again.
The red haired boy might as well live alone, and he didn't do stuff with friends often, if he had any at all. He spent most of his time with mina, and vise versa, so he couldn't do anything but play basketball in the park alone for the last fourteen days.
This was how he was before he met mina, feeling it again was clouding his mind.
Oh, he also studied for the next exam before they went to okinawa, something he hadn't done in a long time. He didn't want to fail her again. He did continue that when they came back.
But he didn't know whether it was for the grade anymore or if his brain wanted proof of mina's existence.
So when a specific yellow octopus came flying into his window, asking him if he could attend the summer festival for his beloved teacher, he accepted, deciding to try the distraction method again.
It only then Struck him that mina would be there, too. And that they'd have to look at eachother- and suddenly, playing basketball alone didn't seem so bad after all.
But hey, maybe this was a chance.
Why did she have to be so bad at saying no?
>>> AUTHOR'S NOTE
Depressed teenagers guys, yay.
I hope this isn't too melodramatic, but it definitely won't be less dramatic next chapter.
Buzzword: '042: stolen kisses'
· ★ ·
2620 WORDS (jesus)
THURSDAY, 28TH OF MARCH
@MIRAI