It started off small, and gradually and slowly grew bigger, so it was too late for them to realize. It was too late for them to do anything about it.
It started with Kayano.
She'd been upset that her pudding had been stolen, when a senpai gave her theirs instead. They'd given him a weird look, but accepted it and just assumed that he didn't know they were in E Class.
Next was Sugino.
He'd been telling Nagisa about the bat he had at home and how it had been broken, and the next day, there had been a baseball bat on his desk, a ribbon tied around it. When he asked, everyone told him it wasn't from them.
The mystery went on and on, with multiple incidents, until something happened with Karma.
The red head had been quite annoyed, having unintentionally been involved in multiple fights in the past week. Usually he would have gladly joined the fights of his own volition, but he hadn't been in the mood lately. To clear his head, he'd stood at a bridge over a river, chewing on his thumbnail. He climbed onto the railing, sitting there and closing his eyes as the wind blew on his face. Unable to handle sitting on the railing due to the fact it was an uncomfortable seat, he stood on the railing instead, inhaling and exhaling deeply. Letting a smile cross his face, he stretched his arms out above his head, feeling his muscles ache.
All of a sudden, the pounding of multiple footsteps approached him fast. Two pairs of arms wrapped around his waist in a crushing grip, knocking the breath out of him and making him wheeze. He was yanked off the railing. He elbowed one attacker in the gut and punched the other. One pair of arms let go, but the other didn't relent. He was about to continue when he noticed it was the school's so called Five Virtuosos.
"What the fuck?" He yelled. "What do you think you're doing?"
"What do we think we're doing?" Araki shouted incredulously. "What do you think you're doing, Akabane?"
"Standing and enjoying my fucking time," Karma snarled.
"No, you were about to jump off the bridge!" Sakakibara growled.
"Jump off the fucking bridge? Is that what it fucking looked like to you?" Karma glared, attempting to shove off who he now realized was Asano, who was still holding him in a death grip.
"Your arms were above your head and you were smiling!" Koyama accused. "Of course you were about to jump off!"
"We didn't take you for suicidal, Akabane, but going so far as to jump off the bridge?" Seo narrowed his eyes.
Okay, Karma will admit, so he might be depressed. He might be suicidal. But he really wasn't going to jump off that bridge. It wasn't a planned suicide attempt. It wasn't a suicide attempt at all. Those five had just jumped to conclusions.
"Stop struggling, Akabane," Asano said sharply. "I wasn't going to jump off the bridge, dumbasses! I was just standing there and enjoying my time alone! Can't a guy get some fucking fresh air without being assaulted by dipshits?" Karma yelled.
He finally managed to shrug Asano off.
"Look, I was just stressed and sitting on the railing was a pain in the ass so I stood on it instead. I wasn't attempting suicide. End of story."
Asano searched his face for any hint of lies, before conceding the fact that he was telling the truth, nodding and letting him go.
After that, it appeared the story spread throughout the main campus, because everyone would suddenly hover over Karma, making the redhead agitated. They'd bring him strawberry milk and steer him away from high places or dangerous objects. While he was somewhat satisfied about the strawberry milk, their doting had become increasingly frustrating.
His class asked him about the incident, concerned, but understood when he told them the truth about the events. Class A had apparently been given the duty of watching over him. They siddled over to him and chatted with him, and they even gave the E Class gifts and fawned over them and hugged them and-
Case in point. Class A had been acting weird.
It soon became too much for poor Kayano, because one day, during lunch, when it was just their class, she'd had enough.
"Okay," Kayano slams her hands on her desk. "Anyone notice Class A acting weird?"
"YES!" Maehara yells. "Thank god it's not just me. They're acting so weird."
"Yeeeees," Okano groans. "Like what."
The class agrees with nods and bewildered looks because Class A has been acting... Odd. Unusual.
"Heh," Karma scoffs. "It's not just the A Class."
3-E freezes.
"Wha...?" Isogai starts, eyes wide.
"Haven't you noticed? It's not just the A Class. It's the whole main campus," Karma says. "Class A, B, C, D, the senpais, even the senseis. They're all acting the same."
"No," Nakamura whispers, horrified.
"Yep," Karma pops his lips to the sound of the last letter.
Okajima thumps his head on his desk.
------------------
"Excuse me," Karasuma looks up from his paperwork to see four students standing there in front of him. "Do you know where Shiota is? We're supposed to hand this to him," A green haired student asks as he hold up papers of his own, belonging to Nagisa. "Ah," Karasuma nods. "Yes, I can direct you to him."
He leads them to Karma, who is sitting on a tree branch and leaning against the trunk, strawberry milk in hand. He looks at him before narrowing his eyes at the four students behind him. "What's up, Karasuma-sensei?" He asks.
"They're looking for Nagisa," Karasuma says bluntly. "They need to hand him some papers. You know where he is. Direct them to him."
Karma groans, protest on his tongue, but Karasuma doesn't leave him room for complaint. "Go," he says.
Karma sighs, rolling his eyes. He jumps from the tree, the students behind the teacher rushing towards him in panic. Karma lands safely on the grass, glaring at the four, before throwing his empty carton of strawberry milk in the trash and walking away.
The four students shuffle behind him quickly fussing over the redhead. Karasuma raises an eyebrow, before sighing and shaking his head.
Karma purses his lips as Sakakibara straightens his jacket and Seo wraps an arm around his shoulders. Araki grabs a strawberry milk carton from his bag and shoves it in Karma's hands as Koyama hovers just above his left shoulder. Karma is annoyed, very much so, but he refuses to say anything.
"Oi, Nagisa!" He yells out when they reach the blue haired boy, who'd been sitting and attempting to tie up his his hair in the usual pigtails (his hair had gotten messed up during training). Nagisa looks up, smiling at Karma, before giving the four virtuosos without their leader a cautious look. "Shiota," Sakakibara says gracefully. "We brought you some papers from the principal."
"The principal?" Karma raised an eyebrow. "What does he need to give Nagisa?" Seo shrugs. "Beats us, Akabane. We're just the messengers."
Araki walks over to Nagisa, handing him the papers, before handing him a packet of hair ties from his bag. Sakakibara gently lifts Nagisa's locks, helping him tie his hair up. Seo doesn't leave Karma's side, arm still wrapped around his shoulders. Koyama grips Karma's bicep as the redhead starts drinking from the carton gifted to him by Araki.
"Thank you," Nagisa says once Sakakibara is done. "For both the papers and helping me with my hair."
"Ah, no worries, Shiota," Sakakibara smiles. "We'd be happy to help any day."
Both Karma and Nagisa give them bewildered looks.
-----------------
Isogai and Maehara had been shopping together during the weekend. The air was getting more chilly lately, so they wore warm coats. They sat down on a bench to rest for a bit, when Maehara suddenly fell asleep on Isogai's shoulder. The raven haired boy let his childhood friend sleep, feeling content and warm. He sighs happily after a while, snuggling into his best friend as he pulls out his shopping list. They still needed to get a few more things...
From the corner of his eye, he sees a jacket suddenly being wrapped around Maehara's frame. Looking up, he's surprised to see Tsuchiya and Seo. He was pretty sure they weren't on good terms with anyone in Class E- especially Maehara. Tsuchiya had been cheating on him and pushed all blame and accusations on his best friend, while Seo was a part of the Five Virtuosos who looked down on them and was the one Tsuchiya cheated on Maehara with. Seo had beaten up his best friend when he found out about Tsuchiya, and degraded him and treated him like scum. He was pretty sure they shouldn't be looking at the two of them with fondness in their eyes. Especially not his best friend.
He eyes them warily. "Hello," he greets. "What can I do for you?"
"It's nothing, Isogai," Tsuchiya smiles. "We just noticed Maehara sleeping on you here. It's a bit chilly so we were concerned he'd be cold when we wakes up."
Isogai then notices that Seo is missing his jacket. "Ah, no, you don't need to..." He protests. "Hiroto is already wearing a coat, and as you said, it's a bit chilly. Won't you get cold?"
Seo waves off his concern. "It's fine, I'll just buy a new one," he says. "Besides, he's sleeping, he might need a blanket."
Isogai stares at them, confusion in his eyes. Since when had they worried about Maehara that much?
His best friend chooses that moment to wake up, leaning away from his shoulder and yawning.
"What-?" Maehara mutters. He doesn't remember having a second jacket when he fell asleep.
He turns to look at Isogai, who's looking at something behind him. He turns to see Seo without a jacket and Tsuchiya.
He jumps, eyes bulging from his head as he gapes in shock.
"What the f-?"
Tsuchiya laughs.
Maehara stares at the two warily, glaring and scooting away cautiously. "I noticed the shopping bags. Are you two shopping?" Tsuchiya asks. "We can help you shop."
"Er, no thanks," Maehara says.
"Ah, it's fine. No need to trouble you," Isogai smiles.
"Ah, it's nothing," Seo insists. "Besides, it might be too many bags to carry, and you might need help."
The two childhood friends stare at each other, before relenting.
Tsuchiya and Seo had been hovering the whole time. Seo had at one point wrapped an arm around Maehara's shoulders, making the boy stiffen in shock and wariness. Maehara expected another bruising, perhaps.
The two main campus students had been very helpful the whole time they were shopping and on the way home. They carried the bags inside Isogai's house for him and gifted him cash. When he refused, they told him it was for giving them a happy time, even if the boy boy didn't know what exactly made them cheerful. When Maehara announced he was going home, the two fussed and insisted they walk him home. "It's dangerous to go alone," Seo had protested.
They ended up walking Maehara home, Seo's arm around his shoulders and Tsuchiya's hand around his forearm.
When the two left after seeing him inside, Maehara flopped on his bed before pulling out his phone and dialing Isogai.
"Yuuma," he says when the other picks up. His voice is soft, bewildered and horrified. "What was that?"
"I don't know, Hiroto," Isogai says in the same tone and volume. "I don't know."
------------------
Sugino had been sitting at a picnic table in a park, upset. He'd gone to the park to get some fresh air and clear his head. Lately, there'd been some senpais from school bothering him, and he didn't feel in the mood to stand up for himself. His class hadn't known about it either, so no one else had defended him. Today, the senpais at school had been treating him worse than usual, so he needed to get away from everything for a while.
Suddenly, someone sat next to him. looking up in surprise, he found it to be Shindou, with Machida and the rest of the baseball team behind them. "Uh- hey," he greets.
"Hey," Shindou greets back. "What's got ya lookin' so down?"
"Ah, it's nothing," he says.
"Can't be nothing to get you looking like that," Machida points out.
The baseball team stare.
Sugino laughs nervously.
"Eh, really, it's nothing," he insists. "Just some senpais bothering me, nothing too bad."
"Some senpais are bothering you?" Watanabe frowns.
"Ah! I mean, yes, no, eh-"
"Who are they?" Sugiyama asks.
"Eh? Why-?"
"Answer the question. Who are they?" Kobayashi glares.
"J- just some-"
"Their names, Sugino," Nishimura says icily.
"W-"
"Their names," Shindou demands.
"Eh- Mori Akihiro, Matsuda Haru, Nakayama Koshiro, and Miyamoto Masahiro," Sugino listed. "Why do you want to know so bad?"
"Don't worry, Sugino," Machida assures him. "We'll talk to them for you."
Sugino stares at them dubiously. "You all look like you want to kill someone."
Yeah, the baseball team collectively thinks. Those senpais.
"Don't worry, we'll talk to them," Maruyama smiles. "They'll get off your back."
The next day, Sugino didn't see those senpais. Nor the day after, or the day after that. When he finally did see them, they paled the moment they saw him, and scrambled away, silently screaming.
He didn't see them after that. He thinks maybe they're avoiding him.
When asked, the baseball team merely says, "We talked to them for you. They won't be bothering you anymore."
---------------
"Hold me, I'm scared," Maehara whimpers.
Okajima hugs him, wailing.
"The school," Muramatsu sobs dramatically.
"They are acting weird," Takebayashi nods.
Terasaka scowls in annoyance.
Sugaya nods in agreement.
Mimura buries his face in his hands.
Kimura sighs.
Fuwa sniffs.