The E-Class prepared for the midterm exam.
Everyone was into it.. motivated by Koro-sensei himself.
"Karma?" Achlys noticed him leaving the class earlier than he should be.
She decided to follow him even though they were still supposed to be studying.
Karma knew she was behind him but said no word about it until they reached
the forest area outside.
He stopped walking.
"Why do you keep following me again?" He stopped and asked but he didn't
sound like he was annoyed, more like, curious.
"You are my home, Karma" Without any change to her dead expression,
Achlys answered him without hesitations.
"Huh?" Confused and unsure of what she meant, he turned around and faced her,
he gave her a questioning look. But she only stared back into his golden eyes.
He sighs and continues walking. "(She's the strangest girl I've ever met.)"
After a few minutes of walking around the mountain area of the E-Class,
Karma lies down on a grassy field with his hands under his head.
"Ah~ sure feels nice out here" Karma says and then he looks back to her
who was still standing, looking at him with the same empty expression.
"You're just gonna stand there?"
Achlys blinks her eyes a few times before sitting down next to him.
"Say, Achlys. What made you 'love' me?" Karma asked her with his casual
cheerful smile.
"You already know why. Besides, we've known each other since our first
year of Junior High, right? It was only until now that I.." Achlys's voice
becomes lower the more words she speaks. "..I fell for you" she looked away.
Karma was only staring at her and silence crept in between them.
It was a little bit awkward, but there was no tension between the two.
It was as if.. they were slowly getting closer to finding a closure.
"You know what" Karma suddenly broke the silence.
"I never really expected this" he said and he sounded a bit more serious
than earlier.
"Hm?" Achlys looks at him.
"Having to kill someone" Karma smirked.
"Koro-sensei?" Achlys tilts her head.
"I love picking fights~ and I am prepared to kill" Karma raises his hand, open
palm, he seemed like he was reaching for the sky itself. "But I never expected
it to be this fun"
"It's not fun if I can't kill him." Achlys then turns away and pouted.
"Hahaha. You have a childish side too, I see." Karma teases her and laughs.
They remained that way for the rest of the day.
With silence disrupting them every once in a while.
But at the end, they found comfort in that silence.
Finally, the midterm exam day came.
She was silent, while the rest of her classmates were having a hard time
trying to overcome the questions in their test papers.
"(What do I do? Should I answer correctly? It's not like I will automatically
go back to the main campus, it depends whether or not I choose to)" Achlys
bit her lower lip as she thinks deeply.
"(I bet she's trying to figure out what to do. To play dumb or to show her cards.
Ha. Strange girl indeed..)" Karma was observing them calmly as if the exam was
not a bother to him at all. "Well then let's start." he says and starts answering as well.
Right after the exam..
"I don't think it will go too well.." Nagisa was frowning.
"I have a bad feeling about it" Nakamura sighed.
"How did you do, Ouma-san?" Isogai asked Achlys when she walked up to them.
"Just the right level." Achlys said, but it was definitely not a clear answer.
"Don't sweat it guys" Karma says before waving 'goodbye' and leaving the room.
Achlys rushes to follow him, like before, she was walking behind him again.
While walking, Karma, as usual, notices her anyway but pretends not to.
In his mind he recalls...
"Eh? She's the top in class? She sure looks annoying to me" Karma's words
regarding Achlys when he first found out about her. They were never really friends
in the beginning.
"(She really turned out to be different from what I expected)" Karma thinks
about her since she's around him again. "(Guess she annoyed the hell outta
me at first because I felt threatened. Because we were too similar but
we looked too different.)" He stops and turns around to look at her.
Achlys only stares back at him like the other day.
Karma says nothing and continues walking.
"(How to deal with her?)" He was starting to feel uneasy.
And finally, the results the exams came out.
The E-Class felt defeated.. until Karma stood up and showed his scores to
Koro-sensei.
"There is nothing I'm not good at" Karma says with a proud smile.
While she hid her own test papers.. and admired Karma who was in the
center of the class's attention. "(Really now, you're too amazing, Karma.)"
She remains silent with a contented look on her face. "(This place isn't bad)"
After class..
"Karma" Achlys called him out before he could leave the room.
"I get it, I get it. Off to stalk me again. Just do what you want" Karma's voice
was calm and he sounded like he was used to her already.
Once again, she follows him around.
"You were great" Achlys complimented him.
"Nah.. it was nothing." Karma didn't show any reactions.
"Yes." Achlys smiles at his back.
"Oh man now I'm bored again.. I wanna do something fun.
But killing Koro-sensei has been a challenge so I wanna do
something else." Karma sighs.
"Well then I'm gonna challenge you to entertain you this time"
Achlys suddenly proposed her idea.
"Ohhh?" Karma turned around with excitement seen thoughout
his eyes. "Now you're talking!" he said in a cheerful tone of voice.
"Well? What's the wager? Challenge me in what, I wonder?"
he chuckles.
"The usual. Let's spar." Achlys says as she gets into her fighting
stance.
"I see. Just like always." Karma smirked. "Oh, but I bet you're
not gonna beat me in math. I think you suck with math." Karma
sticks his tongue out.
"Huh? Why did you say that? You know how I always take first
place in all subjects--" Achlys seemed confused.
"No, you suck. Then if you were good, how come you've failed
to count the times I've fallen for you?" Karma sounded like his
usual, playful self, but his words were enough to confuse a girl who
loves him. He laughed and played along with her and sparred.
At the end of the day, she was on her own..
wondering, "was it only just a joke?"
End of Chapter IV 7/20/16