He opened his eyes as the brightness of the light began to lessen. The ringing was still there though and it was giving him an almost unbearable headache.
"-gisa!" The ringing in his ears started to fade. "-agisa! Nagisa can you hear me?!" He opened his eyes and squinted at the bright sun. Kayano was shaking him.
"Oh thank god!" She sighed in relief. "You scared me!"
Nagisa blinked a few times. "What...?" Then he remembered everything. "Sorry." He rubbed his head as he stood up. They were no longer on the platform they were on previously.
"Where are we?" Nagisa asked looking around.
"Can't you tell?" Karma gestured dramatically to the building in front of them. "Kunugigaoka junior high! I'm not sure when though..."
A sudden flash of nostalgia hit him as he stared at the large school. He didn't have very good memories in this building. He much preferred the fun memories from the mountain top campus over the memories of stress and pressure. "Should we go in?" Nagisa asked hesitantly, not taking his eyes off the building.
"Well we have to go exploring! We're supposed to see how far the time machine boundaries go. Ritsu estimated that it will probably only let us be inside the city." Kayano explained.
"Ok..." He almost didn't want to go in. Almost. But curiosity got the best of him.
They started walking toward the building's door. It was the door they always used when heading down the mountain for the assembly. The dreaded assembly that took forever to get to and, in the end, wasn't in the least bit worth it. They slowly opened the door and peered inside. It appeared to be the first day of school.
The E class jokes were being thrown around, and the E class didn't look very confident. Then again, who would? They snuck inside to get a better look of things. They recognized some of the kids. In fact, Karma even saw himself! By the look of things, it was the first year.
Nagisa wasn't looking for himself though. He was too busy pitying the E class students of that year. They weren't as lucky as he had been. They wouldn't have an amazing teacher to help them through it.
"I can't stand this." Nagisa whispered.
"Neither can I! This is terrible!" Kayano whispered back.
"Let's just leave." Karma suggested.
The other two nodded and they left as quietly as they had came. When they got outside leaned against the wall by the door.
"You want a drink?" Nagisa offered.
"Sure!" Kayano said.
"I'm a little thirst-" Karma was cut of by the sound of voices and the door opening. The assembly was over. They hid behind the bushes near the vending machine and watched people pass.
That's when a certain blue haired boy walked over to the vending machines and inspected what was there. Nagisa remembered on the first week of school he was alone since he didn't know anyone yet. He was small, he looked like a girl, and he has no friends. Perfect target for bullies.
"Awe, you look so little Nagisa!" Karma whispered with a smirk. "You still are." Nagisa sighed at this but said nothing. He looked back at himself. This was so weird.
Some other guys walked over to Nagisa. They looked his age but their smirks weren't giving off a "let's be friends" vibe. In fact it was quite the opposite.
Nagisa cringed. He knew who they were. Tanaka and Takada. They hated him even before he was in E class. "We should probably leave now."
"Why?" Karma narrowed his eyes.
"Well there are so many people here, we could get caught." He was cut off by their talking.
"Why does it matter?" Kayano asked.
"Cause it could throw off the space time continuum or something like that..." Nagisa mumbled.
"Don't worry about that! It's science fiction, silly!" Kayano laughed. "Karasuma really didn't fill you in on anything, huh?"
Nagisa was about to retort when he flinched at a loud voice that he had heard too many times.
"Hey!" Tanaka sneered. "Where'd you get that uniform? You know it's against the dress code to where the wrong uniform. How 'bout you go get on a skirt and dress like the right gender, huh?"
Takada laughed and grabbed him by his collar. "You're weak as a girl too! Ha!"
Younger Nagisa looked down as tears filled his eyes. He was helpless. He was weak. He was pathetic. Nagisa hated his younger self.
"Awe! Looks like she's gonna cry!" Tanaka mocked.
Nagisa glanced at Karma who had a furious expression on his face. Younger Nagisa was thrown to the ground and Karma's hands turned to fists.
"Looks like you don't have any friends to help you! But that's understandable. Nobody would wanna be friends with a little crybaby girl!" Younger Nagisa closed his eyes and winced as those words were spat in his face. They walked away laughing and pointing out the "funniest parts" to each other.
Younger Nagisa sighed, got a drink and left. As soon as younger Nagisa left they stood up.
"Wow..." Kayano said to break the silence.
"Nagisa, why didn't you stand up for yourself?" Karma demanded.
"It's fine!" Nagisa forced a smile. "It's not a big deal... When you think about it they're kinda right. I used to cry about everything." he laughed sheepishly.
"No they aren't!" Kayano said, surprising them all. She turned red, embarrassed about by her outburst. But seeing them treat Nagisa like that boiled her blood. "Sorry."
Nagisa's face turned from surprised back to a "smile". "Let's go! We still have to do some more exploring!" He changed the subject.
"Yeah..." Karma said as his brows furrowed. He wished he could go teach those brats a lesson. They think they're so smart but they know nothing. They walked up to the door of the mountain.
"I forgot how tedious it was to climb this thing." Kayano looked up the path.
"Yeah." Karma said. Nagisa didn't comment because he was used to it. He took care of the old building so he was there a lot. They began their trek up the mountain in silence, taking in the scenery. It was quiet and peaceful.
They made it up the mountain and stopped in front of the old sign. The building was old and rundown and dirty but it was comforting. It was a reminder of the best and worst year of Nagisa's life. After killing Koro Sensei, his parents had tried to get back together which resulted in a lot of fighting and ultimately another divorce only six months later.
It made his mother's abuse worse. She blamed him and he believed her. He fell into a state of depression and suffered silently. He had taken the life of the only adult who genuinely cared for him, he caused his mother heartbreak, he had no friends, and he felt utterly helpless.
Though it wasn't as bad, he still was struggling. He couldn't bring himself to ask for help so he never got it. He didn't want to burden anyone with his troubles that He was convinced were ultimately his fault. He learned to hide it though.
"This brings back memories!" Karma exclaimed.
"Yeah." Nagisa whispered as his eyes began to fill with tears. He could still remember every day he spent here as if it was yesterday. Every single moment that had slipped through his fingers, that he had taken for granted, that were gone for good.
"Are you ok?" Kayano looked to him, concerned.
"What?" He snapped out of his stupor and tried to blink back the tears. "Of course."
"Are you sure?" Karma asked. He was surprisingly concerned for someone who didn't bother to show his face for years in Nagisa's opinion. Nagisa quickly pushed those spiteful thoughts from his mind. Karma was busy, that wasn't his fault. Nagisa silently scolded himself for thinking anything like that in the first place.
"I'm sure." Nagisa assured them with a smile. They looked skeptical but they didn't push the matter, which he was glad for.
"Shall we go in?" Karma suggested, stepping forward.
"Um, I don't think that's such a good idea Karma." Kayano told him.
"What's the worst that could happen?" Karma began walking forward but Nagisa stopped him.
"Kayano's right. How would people react if three random adults just waltzed into class?" Nagisa pointed out.
"You guys are no fun." Karma said in a matter-of-fact-like tone.
"We know." Kayano shrugged.
Then, a beep came from their bracelets. "We have all the information we need now," It was Ritsu. "We're sending you back now."
"Aw, I wanted to stay longer. This is fun." Kayano whined.
The bracelets glowed.
(This is the revised version)