Asano's P.O.V.
I came back to life with a piercing headache and a faint feeling something was wrong.
Time had been stolen from me, but I wasn't sure how much.
I was blind, but not deaf. My body may be stuck in place, but my mind was still working.
Soft, muted whispers came from a few feet in front of me, and I could hear the shuffling of feet as they paced anxiously.
They may be E class, but they were still just kids. They weren't experts in kidnapping, and I began to form a plan. They were inexperienced, and didn't know what they were doing. They let their emotions get in the way of their mind, and now they were in too deep to pull back.
I smirked to myself. You should never let your heart rule your head. I learned that a long time ago.
I experimented with my fingers, seeing how much they could move, and focusing on what they could feel. Touch receptors told me my hands were still bound behind my back, as well as to the back of the uncomfortable chair I was sitting on.
Judging by the pain my back was in, I had been out for at least half an hour.
I waited, not daring to move any more. I wanted to let them keep thinking I was still knocked out. It wouldn't be long until one of them came to their senses and started to panic. That's when I would strike.
-
I didn't have to wait long.
The silence was pierced by a male's voice.
"Guys, what are we doing?" He asked, and I could hear just how deep his anxiety was rooted. "What the hell are we doing? That's the principals son we have tied up right there! And why did we think the dance was the best time to grab him? He was supposed to give a speech ten minutes ago! Everyone is going to be looking for him! We're stupid! So stupid! We're all going to get expelled, and we'll be lucky if that's all that befalls us!"
Isogai.
Somehow I knew it would be him.
"Calm down," a voice I didn't recognize said. "No one knows he was taken, or that we had anything to do with it. And after that fiasco on the dance floor they'll probably assume he ran home to cry to daddy." A girl's voice laughed.
"They'll know the truth once we let him go." Isogai argued.
"Who said we we're letting him go?"
Nagisa.
It took all my willpower to not react in disgust and anger at his voice, and even more when I heard his steps walking closer to me.
A hand grabbed my hair suddenly, yanking my head back and I couldn't prevent the surprised gasp from leaving my mouth.
"It's rude to spy on people, Asano." He smirked in my ear.
-
Nagisa's P.O.V.
I glared in contempt at the orange haired boy under me.
He didn't react to me besides that muffled gasp, and that made me more mad. How dare he act like he had any power here?! That's the principals son for you, I suppose.
"What are you talking about, Nagisa?" Isogai laughed nervously. "Of course we're letting him go...we are letting him go, right? That was the plan...we were just going to tell him to leave Karma alone and ask about the monsters. We weren't going to...you know..."
"Plans change." I announced, letting Asano's hair go.
I glanced at the tied up boy, but he was still and calm.
I wanted him to be trembling, crying and begging at my feet to spare him. I wanted my hands to be covered in his blood. I wanted to watch his eyes widen in shock and pain as I took his life away. I wanted to watch those same eyes fade to nothing.
"Just how far are you planning on taking this, Nagisa?" Rio piped up again, her voice lower this time. "We all only agreed to this- taking him and demanding information about what the hell was going on around here. None of us said we were comfortable with hurting him-"
"What the fuck do you think 'demanding information' means?!" I shouted, taking them all by surprise.
I glared at each of them in turn. More than half of them couldn't meet my gaze. Even Terasaka glanced up at the ceiling.
"Did you idiots think he was just going to tell us everything like we're his diary?" I continued, spewing my rage at everything at them. "There's only one way to make sure he tells the truth."
I let my knife fall out of my sleeve, catching the handle when it dropped to my palm.
The classmates closest to me took a step back when they caught sight of it.
"Whoa, Nagisa, you need to chill out!" Okuda gasped.
I rounded on her in the blink of an eye. "Shut up, bitch! I know you've had eyes on Karma since the beginning of the year!"
"That's enough!" Maehara pushed his way to the front. "We only agreed to this stupid plan because you told us Karma was in danger! But by the looks of it, you're the unstable one here and you're putting more people in danger!"
I couldn't believe all my classmates were turning on me. How did this happen? We hadn't even gotten started yet.
The worst part was I knew Asano could hear this turn of events. He was probably smirking behind his gag at me.
"I'm getting Karma," someone announced.
I threw my knife and it buried itself into the doorway, sealing it shut, an inch away from her face.
A few strands of her hair fell to the floor.
"No one is going anywhere. Not until we have this all figured out." I said slowly, eyes blazing.
I faced the tied up boy at my mercy.
"We're going to ask you a few questions, and you're going to answer them honestly and fully, understand?" I growled, placing my hands on either side of the back of his chair.
He didn't answer, and even though he still had the cloth in his mouth, I knew he wouldn't have answered me anyways.
I guess we had to administer some...motivation first, and maybe then he would be more cooperative.
I walked to the supply closet in the back and threw the doors open.
"What are you doing?" Isogai asked, worrying as usual.
"Relax, we're not going to hurt him. That badly." I pulled out a longer knife I had hidden in the very back of the closet. "Maybe he'll even still be able to walk after this."
"Stop! This is too far!" Maehara shouted. He ran to me, fists raised, but the idiot seemed to have forgotten I was literally holding a fucking knife.
I slashed it through the air, and he gasped in shock when the tip of it grazed his shoulder, cutting right through his clothes.
"Maehara!" Isogai ran over, dropping to his knees to catch his injured boyfriend.
"What the hell Nagisa, you're out of control!" Terasaka shouted. "So far, you've done worse than Asano ever has! You should be the one tied up, not him!"
Isogai pulled Maehara a few rows back, as if I was planning on continuing my assault on him.
"Like I said, no one is going anywhere until we get this all sorted out." I said, stabbing the bade into the nearest desk.
Coincidentally, it was Karma's.
"Now, if you all want this to go smoothly, you had better do as I say, or else more blood is going to be spilled." I narrowed my eyes. "And since you all suddenly seem so against that, it's in your best interests to listen closely."
They were all seething at me, but they realized they had no choice but to try and not make this get any worse, for their own sakes.
Now. I faced Asano again.
"Um, if we want him to talk, shouldn't we remove the gag first?" Rio asked.
"Not yet," I whispered, more to myself than to her. "I want him to scream first."
-
Asano's P.O.V.
The pain was excruciating, but what hurt even more was my anger and humiliation that it was Nagisa of all people delivering it.
The blade had been slowly traced up and down my legs and torso for a few tense moments, before suddenly being plunged through my thigh. I knew he had been waiting to do that since dinner.
I bit down hard on the cloth, shaking and squeezing my eyes shut to avoid screaming out. I would rather die than admit to Nagisa he had hurt me. My hands were in fists, my fingernails digging into my palms.
Calm down, don't scream, don't let him know he's won. It's not even that deep, and he made sure not to puncture any arteries or organs. He's not trying to kill you, at least not yet. He just wants to torture you, break you. You can't let that happen. Stay strong, for Karma's sake. For your own sake. Don't scream.
The knife had been yanked out and the tip was slowly tracing patterns on my again, like a shark waiting for it's next attack.
"Alright, that's enough." Terasaka growled. "You made your point to him, now let him talk. At least give him the opportunity."
"Shut up." Nagisa snapped, but a few moments later, the cloth was pulled away from my mouth.
I made no sign that I appreciated that. I was still blindfolded after all, and I would have preferred they had taken that off instead.
"What do you know?" Nagisa asked coldly, still tracing the knife along my chest.
"I know we're in the 3E classroom, on the old campus. I know Karma is looking for me. And I know exactly where you will all be buried once my father finds about your actions here." I said, taking pride in the fact my words pierced fear in some of the students, judging by their gasps.
Nagisa, however, was unaffected, and he made that clear by delivering a harsh backhand against my cheek. The same one that seems to be a magnet for peoples fists.
I bit my lip to keep from crying out.
"What's your relationship with Karma?" he hissed, and I could feel his presence in my face.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" I smirked. "Tell me, Nagisa, just how far are you willing to go to find out? You really do seem unstable. Threatening, scaring and injuring your own classmates...not very heroic of you. You say you're doing this all for Karma, but you're really doing it for yourself. I wonder what Karma would think of your actions. I mean, if he wouldn't even willingly go on a date with you before you did all this, I can't imagine how much he'll hate you now after he finds out what you've done."
The burning fire erupted from my other thigh, and I couldn't keep my scream in check.
Nagisa pulled the knife out of my leg. "Shut up. You don't know a damn thing about me and him."
The knife wiggled its way underneath my blindfold, and faint light trickled in.
I tried to remain calm and not react, but my heart was hammering in my chest.
The knife cut a path through the blindfold, and then it fell to the ground. I was free to see.
I had to blink a few times to adjust to the new rush of light, and my suspicions were confirmed.
We were in the 3E classroom. The students were sitting on desks and standing around, clearly uncomfortable with this, but too scared to do anything about Nagisa.
Speaking of the blue eyed devil, he was leaning right in my face, glaring daggers sharper than the one in his hand.
"Tell us about the monsters." He demanded.
"I don't know." I answered, pleased that was the honest truth and he was even more in the dark about them than me.
"Liar!" He screamed, raising the knife over his head with both hands.
"Stop!" Someone had finally gathered up enough sense and bravery to run up to Nagisa, grabbing the blade and there was a tense moment of a tug of war, before Nagisa broke away, still holding the weapon.
He ran behind me, and I stiffened when he was out of my sight.
The blade was placed against my neck, not hard enough to draw blood, but the intent was there.
"Okay Nagisa, we're done." Terasaka said, his hands raised. "We went along with your crazy plan, we brought him here. You got to ask him some questions. We're done now. It's time to let him go."
He tried to advance, but Nagisa hissed and pressed the knife tighter, making me wince at the pressure. Just a tiny bit further and blood would spill.
"Stay back, you idiot! All of you! Don't you see we're all in too deep?" He snapped. "He's not going to just let us walk away from this! We stabbed him, remember? If he's not dead by the end of the night, we will be."
"You stabbed him," Isogai countered. "And you attacked Maehara."
"Yeah, we may have screwed up by kidnapping him, but you're the one who went too far. We just wanted to make sure Karma wasn't going to be hurt, but then you started hurting Asano." A female I didn't know piped up.
Despite my position, I couldn't help a pleased smile from worming its way across my lips. I didn't do anything, and yet the situation had still turned out to be in my favor.
"You're no better than him, and by the looks of your mental state, you're even worse!" Someone else shouted.
"Let him go! We'll take our punishment for tying him up and stuff, but we aren't going to share in the fall when they ask about his injuries. That was all you." Maehara glared.
Agreement rippled through them like a wave.
"As happy as I am that you've all suddenly come to your senses, please refrain from angering the unstable boy with a knife at my throat any further." I said.
Terasaka looked at me, before shaking his head. "Unbelievable."
"I know right," Karma said, sitting on the windowsill. "I can't believe you all had this party planned and didn't invite me."
Everyone froze.
He jumped off and calmly walked over to me and Nagisa.
"Makes me feel a little left out." He continued, eyes locked with Nagisa's.
The blue haired boy had lost all brain activity in the shock of Karma's sudden arrival, and was stuttering out nonsense, backing up as Karma advanced.
"K-Karma!" Someone gasped. "We...we were just-"
"I know what you were doing," he interrupted, turning to look at them. "Sticking your noses in places it doesn't belong. And don't act like you were doing it for my sake, you all know very well I can handle myself better than any of you. I'm in charge of my own life, and what I choose to pursue in it has nothing to do with any of you, so back the hell off!" The last part was shouted, making everyone but me flinch.
"B-but Karma-kun," Nagisa stuttered. "I-I, please-"
"Drop the knife." He said simply.
Clang!
The weapon was on the floor before he had even finished speaking.
Karma bent down and began untying my hands.
"Took you long enough," I muttered.
"You're welcome, Shuu." He hummed.
Once I was free, I stood up, rubbing my wrists and trying to pretend I wasn't in excruciating pain.
He noticed my injuries immediately and bent at my side, studying the wounds.
"Who did this?" He demanded.
No one had to answer his question, he had turned on Nagisa automatically.
Nagisa weakly raised his hands in surrender. "Please, Karma, it was all done in your best interests." He pathetically tried to defend himself.
With one swift punch, Nagisa was flung across the classroom, hitting the chalkboard at the opposite wall hard enough to leave a dent.
The students gasped at such an extraordinary display of violence.
It's like we had all forgotten how dangerous Karma could truly be. How violent he really was.
His sunset eyes were bloodred now, full of murderous rage.
He straightened up, shaking his hand off nonchalantly. Blood splattered the floor and nearby desks, flung from his fingers.
"Anyone else want to say something stupid?" He asked, his voice rough and deep.
Everyone shook their heads quickly.
Terasaka grabbed Itona's arm. "Come on. Let's go tie up the real bad guy here."
They picked up the rope that had originally been on me and walked over to an unconscious Nagisa.
Karma faced me, his expression no longer angry. Instead he looked like he was close to tears.
"Shuu" He whispered, taking my face in his hands.
Not here, not now! In front of all these people! Not again!
I wanted to tell him that, but a bigger part of me wanted to crash into him and just let go.
Isogai walked up to us, and Karma reluctantly stepped back. He was still supporting the injured Maehara.
"Asano," He started, seeming unsure of how to say this.
"I know we all made a huge mistake here tonight, and we're all ready to take responsibility for that. We learned our lesson, and we won't be brainwashed by Nagisa anymore." He said, shifting uncomfortably.
Good.
I said nothing, wanting this to be hard for him to say. I wanted it to be the hardest thing he ever had to say. They deserved it.
"But we didn't know Nagisa planned to take it this far. If we had, we never would have listened to him. We never would have surrounded you. What he did to you was cruel and terrifying. Please, punish us as you seem fit, but don't group us with Nagisa." He pleaded.
"Send him away," Maehara piped up, holding his bleeding shoulder painfully. "I don't even want to be in the same class as him!"
The idea was tempting. With Nagisa gone, not only would I have Karma all to myself, but we wouldn't have to worry about him being on our trail anymore.
"I'll cut you a deal," I said coolly, crossing my arms and holding back the grimace that came with the movement.
They both looked surprised, Karma included.
"What is it?" Maehara asked.
"You forget anything and everything Nagisa told you. Anything about monsters or missing students- you never heard anything about it, got it? Do absolutely nothing to pursue any of all that. If you do, I'll leave the whole class out of what happened tonight. Only Nagisa will be punished. He'll take the full blame for everything. But if I hear or even have the faintest idea that any one of you even thought the word 'monster', I'll throw all of you into the same black hole as him. E class will be incinerated, do you hear me?" I commanded, looking down on them.
"You got it! Deal! Monster who?" Maehara looked relieved to be taken off the hook. "I know everyone will agree with that. We'll make sure no one ever breathes a word about any of this to anyone. I promise."
"Your word means less than dirt to me." I spat, narrowing my eyes to him.
He nodded meekly. "Right. Of course. Thank you, Asano."
They limped away, and I brought my hand to my head, suddenly exhausted.
"Shuu!" Karma caught me before I collapsed to the ground.
"Calm down, I'm not dying." I mumbled, clutching onto him tightly, trying to get back on my feet. The pain in my legs was searing, and the blood was freely gushing down to my shoes. "Not yet. Stop standing there all stupid and get me to a hospital before I bleed out, idiot."
He smiled, his normal, happy Karma smile, and scooped me up.
"As you wish."