Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The celebration was loud. Everyone was talking, laughing. They had rented out a private space at a nearby restaurant. A reservation that had to be made in advance, as they needed space for 29 people.

It was a dinner celebrating not only the kids' transition to high school, which was to start in a week or so. But also to celebrate the fact that Karasuma and Irina were now engaged.

Irina was drinking up a storm.

“You’re gonna have to get used to being called Karasumasan,” Rio teased.

“Oh, that’s right… I will have that last name now won’t I?” she said thoughtfully. “Whelp… guess I should get used to it huh?”

Hinano was both fake crying and real crying at the idea that Mr. Karasuma was now taken. Kanzaki tried to console her, patting her back softly at the end of the table.

“So what made you do it Karasumasan?” Maehara asked curiously.

“It was the next logical step,” Karasuma said. He was busy typing away on his laptop still doing work even at their party.

“Whoa, slow down!” Terasaka snapped at Itona who had stuffed too big a bite of Ramen in his mouth and nearly choked on it. He hit his back until he was able to get it down.

“Look at this one,” Fuwa said, showing Hazama a dark manga she had found. “I thought you’d like this one.”

Muramatsu and Yoshida were looking at a motorcycle magazine, talking about the best tires for Yoshida’s new ride.

Mimura was trying to pull one of those hibatchi tricks and knock a piece of sushi into Hara’s mouth.

“You sure you don’t want to act Kanzaki?” Kaede asked. “I just casted on a new film. I could probably get you a role to jump start your career.”

“Oh no,” she said nervously. “I don’t think acting is for me.”

“Hey I’ll take that role,” Okajima said, leaning over.

“I don’t think you really have a face for film,” Kaede pointed out delicately.

Meg laughed at that, and Isogai, looking sympathetic, turned to Kaede. “Oh c’mon, he could play a burglar or something.”

“No way! If I’m going to be anything, I’m going to be the male lead with a hot costar that I get with at the end of the movie,” Okamima declared loudly.

“Can I request my refund on that film now?” Karma asked with a completely serious tone.

Despite the low roar of conversation, happy smiles, laughter. One person was very noticeably missing. Karma glanced at the chair beside him. Empty. The spot where Nagisa was supposed to be sitting.

“Hey Karma where is Nagisa?” Okano asked almost as if she had read his mind. She was a few seats down from him, so she had to speak a little louder for him to hear her.

He leaned forward so he could be heard too. “When we last talked he said he was coming. But he hasn’t answered me yet today.”

“Hope he didn’t have issues with his Mom,” Rio said softly, remembering how she could be.

“Probably,” Karma said offhandedly. “I could see her making him stay home. We are out kinda late.”

He took his phone out and sent a text to Nagisa:

Hey, are you coming or what?

He put the phone back in his pocket.

“I’m thinking, five kids,” Irina said, hiccupping a little.

“No,” Karasuma answered bluntly.

“Oh c’mon…” she said, leaning into him. “You don’t want five little rugrats running about?”

“Let’s just get through the wedding, then we can discuss if we are or aren’t going to have children.”

She frowned. “I think I’d be a great Mom…”

Takebayashi took out his phone, “Ritsu can you use face recognition software and compile a potential child for Karasuma and Irina?”

Karasuma rolled his eyes at the idea.

“Oh beautiful!” Irina said. “Show me!”

He turned the phone around and an adorable little girl with Irina’s eyes and Karasuma’s dark hair was staring up at them. A stern expression like Karasuma tended to wear but she had Irina’s waves. In her black strands.

“Oh… she’s adorable…” she said. “Darling, look!”

She shoved the phone in his direction, knocking over his drink. He lifted his laptop just in time to save it but it got all over the table.

“Whoopsie,” Irina laughed.

Everyone closest to the spill scrambled to clean it up before any got on the floor.

“Will you watch what you’re doing?” he demanded sternly.

“Sorry, but look at our daughter, isn’t she just the cutest?!?!?!”

“We don’t have a daughter,” he sighed. “Not yet anyway.”

“Oooooh, you hear that?” she said teasingly. “I think I got a maybe.”

Suddenly, there was a blood-curdling scream from the end of the table from Okuda. Everyone stopped what they were doing. Every face turned in her direction. She physically had to reach up and cover her mouth to stop the noise escaping. Shaking, wide-eyed.

“Okuda?” Karma said, concerned, half rising from his seat.

She was staring at her phone. But she jumped up from her seat, the chair falling to the ground behind her with a clatter.

“Ritsu, put my phone in projector mode, turn up the volume, and replay the last fifteen seconds.”

She held it up so the screen projected onto the blank wall nearby. It was a news reporter looking solemn.

“Tonight, we bring you breaking news as we come on the air. A downtown tragedy has taken place, leaving a family destroyed.”

Everyone was watching nervously. Karma was still half out of his seat, wondering what on earth could have caused Okuda to make that sound.

“Next of kin has been notified so we can now release the details. A loving father Shiota Naoki and devoted mother Shiota Hiromi were tragically murdered last night in their home. Their only son Shiota Nagisa,”

A picture of him appeared in the upper right-hand corner.

“…a recent graduate from the famed Kunugigaoka Jr. High appears to have gone missing. The police suspect kidnapping, but as far as they can see, this crime appears to have no motive. We’ll keep you updated with more at 11.”

...

The silence struck him first. A blinding, deafening silence. Then, more cries from the girls around the table. Tears. Angry faces. Curses both mumbled and shouted. Then the uproar of questions.

“Who talked to Nagisa last?” Terasaka asked. Everyone had taken out their phones, frantically trying to do something. Anything.

Karma sat back down in his seat, too stunned to speak.

“I talked to him yesterday morning,” Rio said.

“I talked to him last night around 6pm,” Karma said in a low, barely audible voice. “He said he bought flowers for Irina to celebrate the engagement…”

Itona pulled out his phone, “Ritsu can you track his phone?”

“On it!”

“Who would want to kidnap Nagisa?” Maehara asked in a serious slightly panicked voice.

“Who would want to? Don’t you mean who could kidnap Nagisa?” Okajima pointed out. “He was the best assassin in our class.”

“He wasn’t a fighter,” Karma said blankly. “A good fighter could take him… but there is no way this could have been done by some random petty criminal. Whoever took him had to be professionally trained.”

The moment he saw the news; Karasuma had begun typing on his laptop with a frantic vigor. Irina still looked shocked, but the news seemed to have sobered her up.

Suddenly, Karasuma’s phone rang, and he stood up and left to take the call outside.

“We don’t think it might have been Takaoka?” Kaede said softly. “Do we?”

“Isn’t he still in jail?” Sugino asked. Okuda typed away on her phone before looking up.

“He is still currently in jail, no news of any breakout.”

“Found it,” Ritsu said. “Nagisa’s phone is currently at his house.”

“Fuck,” Karma sighed. If his phone was still in the house. That meant he didn’t have it with him. Thus, there was no way to track him…

Karasuma returned a minute or two later to the continued panic of everyone. He cleared his voice. “The party is over; the bill is paid. I want you all to go home...”

“We can’t just go home!” Rio said, looking anxious. “We’ll help find Nagisa. We—”

He held his hand up to stop her speaking.

“I know you want to help Nagisa, but this calls for expertise far beyond your skills. Please just go home.”

“You and Korosensei taught and trained us to handle these kinds of things, we should all—” Terasaka began, but he was also cut off.

“You are children. The target you faced was a man who had no genuine intention of actually harming you. If he had do you really think any of you would be alive right now?”

They all exchanged glances, frowning.

“Despite all the drills and techniques you were taught the only time you all faced an enemy with the intent of hurting any of you, you had to be saved by me and an artificially enhanced super being, and in the end, we still nearly didn’t get you all out alive!” he snapped harshly. “Situations like this are very different when you’re fighting someone willing to go to the lengths this man already has.”

“But…” Isoagai began, but his retort faltered with Karasuma’s final glare.

“Nagisa’s parents are dead. We have no clue if Nagisa is even still alive. This is not a game or a training session. Statistically, the longer he’s missing, the less likely it is we’re going to find him alive. Go home!”

There was a deafening silence upon hearing that. Realizing he may have been too harsh, he added. “I’ll message you all when I have any updates. So just go home. Irina, let’s go.”

She got up following him. She didn’t even look back.

Karma gritted his teeth, fists clenched on the table. “Nagisa…”

He was tired. Everything hurt from their fight. A fight he clearly lost, and his parents paid the price for that. He closed eyes… he couldn’t think about them now. He had to keep his head clear. Though it was hard, because the man had injected him with something that had knocked him out. How long had it been? The sky outside was dark. At least a few hours then…

Nagisa was in the passenger seat of a truck. Buckled in by the man who had kidnapped him, since his hands were bound behind his back. He let his forehead rest against the cold window beside him, and he exhaled. The heat fogged the glass with each breath.

“I can stop and get food if you’re hungry?” the driver said calmly.

Nagisa didn’t answer. The idea that he was even speaking to him so calmly like this upset him.

“What do you want with me?” he asked.

“Ah he does speaks,” the man joked. “I was beginning to think you might be mute.”

The man was an average height, average build, and average pretty much everything. Black hair, dark eyes, and an unusual smile that felt fake and unnecessarily wide. Like he knew it wasn’t real, and he was trying to pretend it was.

“What do you want with—”

“I heard you the first time,” he said softly.

Nagisa peeled his sore head off the window and noticed there was blood left on it when he did. He felt dizzy and nauseous. The passing highway lights flashing overhead didn’t help his headache either.

“Are you going to answer me th—”

“Nope,” he interrupted.

Nagisa sighed. “Can I know your name?”

“I don’t have one.”

“…”

“Though you have to call me something, I suppose. Hell, why not Korosensei?”

Nagisa felt like his stomach had sunk through the floor. “I’m not calling you that…”

“Why not?” he asked, his voice almost joking. “Your class named him that, because he was… unkillable. Right? Well, I would say he doesn’t deserve that name anymore, seeing how he’s dead and all. Someone who hasn’t died ought to have the name.”

“Did you know Korosensei?” Nagisa asked, trying desperately to stay awake. His brain kept trying to drift off again, and he needed to start remembering details.

“Of course I do. Well… I did. Before he became that yellow, freak thing.”

“How did you know him?” Nagisa pryed gently. He couldn’t risk upsetting him when he couldn’t even fight back.

“I made him,” he said simply. “Everything he was, everything he knew. I made him into that.”

“You mean, you raised him?”

“I did that too,” he nodded.

“So you knew him as a kid?”

“Sure did.”

“What was Korosensei’s real name?”

“He didn’t have one either... Though there were several years I called him Kurou. Had to call him something after all. Couldn’t go around saying, hey, brat all the time,” he chuckled slightly, as if it brought back a good memory for him.

“Are you like, his Dad?” Nagisa questioned tentatively.

“Not biologically, if that’s what you mean,” he said softly. “But he was in my care from the time he was about eleven until he was seventeen. I’m estimating those ages, like me, he never had a birth certificate. But… you could say I was something of a father to him. Reluctantly…”

Nagisa wasn’t sure what he meant by that.

“See, I kidnapped him. Just as I have you. Tied him up, put him right in the passenger seat as you are now,” he pointed out. “You’re going to be a lot trickier though… See, I kidnapped him because no one was going to look for him. He didn’t have parents, friends, a birth certificate, or anyone to even report his being missing. But you have all those things. Thus, keeping you hidden is going to be a bitch… but I’m willing to take on the challenge.”

“Keep me hidden why?”

“Aw c’mon, you don’t want it to be a surprise.”

“No I don’t,” Nagisa snapped.

“Well alright then,” he said, shrugging as if it didn’t really matter. “I’m very skilled and knowledgeable in what I do and what I am. An assassin. And like anyone, I want to see my knowledge passed down. Kurou was the one I passed everything I know to. And he took those skills and talent and taught a whole damn class… and what happened. Almost none of them actually learned anything; the only person any of them actually killed was him and he let them do it. It was rather pathetic, honestly. Apparently, I taught him everything except how to be a good teacher.”

He laughed at that idea, and only when his humor died down did he speak again. “And now he’s gone. So… I’m gonna pass on my knowledge to you, his best student. You and maybe a few of your classmates can’t hurt to have backups in case one of you doesn’t survive the training.”

He laughed a bit at that, as though one of them not surviving was funny. “I’m going to make you into the best assassins who have ever lived.”

“I don’t want to be an assassin, I want to be a teacher, like Korosensei,” Nagisa argued. His head was starting to pound now.

“You’re going to be whatever I make you kids into,” he said softly. “So, who do you recommend I kidnap next?”

Nagisa felt his heart stop hearing that.

“I want the best from your class. At least two, but we may require more to successfully pass on my knowledge to the next generation. Go on… who is the next most skilled besides you?”

“I’m not telling you.”

“Why not? You’ll be reunited with them.”

“After you murder their families, too?” Nagisa snapped bitterly.

“Hey, that was on you,” he said softly, turning down a dark road with no light on it. “I told you to come quietly. You’re the one who tried to attack me and woke your parents.”

Nagisa blinked at him. He could barely remember what happened. The drug in his system was clouding his brain so much. He was sure he would remember later, but… did he really do something that made this man kill his parents… He felt sick… he couldn’t think about that now.

“Though I admit it’s easier when you kill the families. Police give up quicker on finding someone when they don’t have parents breathing down their necks.”

Nagisa looked back out the window. It was too dark to see where they were headed, and what little the lights from the car were able to show didn’t help him in recognizing where he was.

“Go on then… who should I take next?”

Nagisa didn’t turn back to him, stubbornly keeping his gaze out the window. He wasn’t about to mark one of his friends to go through this next, and the man seemed to understand he wasn’t going to help him after a bit because the car went silent, and despite his effort to stay awake. Nagisa felt himself dragged back to sleep.

Chapter Text

“Just who was this kid?” One of the officers whispered to the other officer he had been working with until this Karasuma guy showed up. “Why is someone from the Ministry of Defense here to take over our investigation?”

“Yeah no kidding…”

They both stood stunned at the sight of how swiftly and easily he commandeered the investigation. A hot woman had gotten out of the car with him, too, and they couldn’t help but stare at her either. Her face was flushed, but she looked cold and angry.

“I’m going to go look at the crime scene,” Karasuma said to their chief. He turned to Irina. “Are you coming?”

She nodded solemnly.

He held up the crime scene tape so she could step under it. Opening the door to Nagisa’s apartment, they stepped inside.

It was cold. The heat had been turned off to preserve the bodies. The door immediately led to the small kitchen. On the counter were the roses Nagisa had planned to give Irina were sitting in a vase. A tag on it.

Walking over she looked at it:

Congratulations to the Happy Couple!
~Class E

She didn’t smile while reading it. Her face remained flushed from the alcohol but expressionless.

Turning she walked around the counter.

Karasuma was kneeling next to Nagisa’s mother. Lying at the odd angle in which she fell, at least 3 stab wounds to her chest. The blood dried, her eyes open. He closed them.

Nagisa’s father wasn’t far away lying next to a broken lamp. Irina did the same thing and closed his eyes.

Karasuma was scanning for any evidence that might have been left by the killer. There was blood all over. The floor the walls. It wouldn’t be possible to tell whose blood was whose. He walked over noticing a partial hand print on the wall. He held his own hand up to it without touching it.

“This was left by Nagisa,” he said softly. The hand print was far too small to have been left by anyone else in the house, but that didn’t necessarily mean it was Nagisa’s blood on the wall… it could be the killers…

He moved on to Nagisa’s bedroom. He used a tissue to open the door to prevent his contaminating any possible evidence.

The room was small. Barely fitting his bed and a desk in the corner, but there was definite signs of a fight. The comforter had been partially dragged off the bed. The desk chair had been knocked over. A few items were strewn about but it was impossible to tell if that was from the fight or just from the bedroom of messy teen. Based on what he knew of Nagisa he assumed the prior. Nagisa seemed like he would keep a clean room.

There was a crack in the sliding glass door that led to a small balcony from Nagisa’s room, and there was blood embedded in the cracks of the glass. The break was fairly low on the door.

Karasuma imagined Nagisa’s height and reached out his hand as if he were grabbing hold of his hair. He swung around as if sending the imaginary Nagisa crashing into the door, and that was about where he estimated Nagisa’s head would end up if the killer had shoved his head into the glass. Nagisa was the right height, and that would have been the right angle…

Karsauma turned, heading back to the door to find Irina leaning in the doorway, watching him.

“What do you think they wanted with him?” she asked.

“Couldn’t say…” Karasuma admitted. He paused, noticing on a bulletin board in Nagisa’s room he had pinned up a sliver of a ripped photo. He recognized the top of it. Reaching in his jacket pocket, he pulled out a picture. All of Class E, Karasuma, Irina, and Korosensei together in one photo. They all got a copy of this picture at the end of the year.

He held it up to the sliver that remained pinned to the wall. The small strip left matched the top of the photo he was holding.

That isn’t something Nagisa would have thought to grab in the heat of a battle for not only his life but the life of his parents. It would, however, have been something a man with an intent would take. Why would he care about a photo of Class E, unless he had a reason to want it.

Irina seemed to understand the same thing.

“Do you think the other kids are in danger?” she asked.

“Possibly, but I can’t say for sure.”

“Real nice of that ass to up and die on us… Sure could have used his mack20 speed to help retrieve Nagisa,” she sighed, turning to leave the apartment.

Karasuma followed her, and Irina grabbed the flowers from the vase as she went.

“Irina, you can’t take anything from a crime scene.”

“They’re my damn flowers…” she snapped. “I’ll take them if I want.”

He didn’t argue, simply followed her out, closing the door behind them.

Karma, Itona, Kaede, and Terasaka were all walking home after dinner. At a slow pace. Each step took effort because they were all doing what they knew they shouldn’t be. Going home. To their families. When they should be helping to find Nagisa.

“He’s alone,” Itona said, sounding detached after too many minutes of silence.

“Yeah no shit,” Karma snapped. His nerves were already on edge.

“If he had taken me…” Itona said softly, almost as if he was considering a possibility. “I would have been able to handle the solitude better.”

“What the hell are you going on about?” Karma stopped in his tracks. Itona, who had been lost in the thought, ran into him.

Blinking he looked up.

“Sorry,” he said softly. “I was just thinking, Nagisa’s always done best when fighting for other people’s safety. But he doesn’t know how to fight for or protect himself. Someone needs to be there with him. Or he’s not going to have the will to fight back. If this person’s intent is to kill him, they’ll do so easily if he doesn’t have someone else to survive for. His parents are gone, he has to be feeling alone.”

“Tsk,” Karma grabbed him by the collar of his shirt furiously, pulling him forward and holding him up so his toes were the only part of him touching the ground. “He needs to be saved, is what he needs! God you’re infuriating!”

“Hey!” Terasak reached forward grabbing Karma’s wrist. “Let him go!”

“What the hell does it matter if he doesn’t fight for himself, none of us can get to him, so if you don’t have something productive to say, then how about you fucking stop talki—” he was shaking Itona despite Terasaka holding his arm.

“LET HIM GO ALREADY!” Terasaka snapped using all his strength to wrench Karma’s arm away.

Karma turned walking on ahead, shaking angrily.

“I’ll walk with him,” Kaede said, speeding up.

“Don’t take that personally, Itona,” Terasaka said, his whole frame lowering slightly. “He’s just upset. We all are.”

Itona didn’t look like he was fazed, though, at least not by Karma being rough with him. His eyes were narrowed in thought. An expression Terasaka had seen him wear hundreds of times when tinkering with electronics.

“He does his best fighting when he has someone to fight for… if it were me, I’d only need to find a drive. A single goal.”

“Hey, let's stop talking about if it were you okay?” Terasaka’s expression narrowed. He didn’t even want to think about that… Anyone in Class E being taken was bad enough, but Terasaka didn’t think he could handle it if it had been Itona. “I’m glad it wasn’t you. I wish it hadn’t been him. But… look… I don’t know what to say. It’s not like there's a Hallmark card for when your friend gets kidnapped…”

“I wish it had been me…” Itona said softly as they started walking again.

“Well don’t think like that!” he demanded. “Shit… what do they call this… survivor's guilt... I don’t know. But either way, it shouldn’t have been you and it shouldn’t have been anyone else in Class E. It’s bad enough it was him. So… we just have to look ahead now. Okay…”

He didn’t know what to say. Itona was taking this harder than he expected, and he wasn’t a damn therapist. What do you say when someone’s talking like this?

“It’s not survivor’s guilt. I just… I could handle this situation better than he. Because I’ve already survived being kidnapped once.”

“What are you talking about?” Terasaka asked.

“With Shiro…”

“With… wait I thought you were working for him…”

“Not exactly, I agreed to go with him initially, but I wasn’t allowed to leave once I agreed. After a point they had sunk too much money into my augmentations. Every time I wanted or tried to escape they’d start another round of injections and it made all my thoughts leave my head, everything except the single goal of Killing Korosensei. And I work best like that. Single goals. Solitary purposes... What I’m trying to say is Nagisa’s mind doesn’t work that way. If it had been me—”

Terasaka pulled him into a sudden hug, “Damin it if you say if it had been me one more time, I’m going to punch you!”

“…”

“It wasn’t you, so stop worrying about what ifs,” he said, physically pulling him back slightly to look into his eyes.

Itona blinked up at him. Wide eyes, curiously watching his every facial expression.

“Just stop saying that…” Terasaka said sternly. Gripping his shoulders tighter than necessary.

“Sorry…”

Terasaka’s grip relaxed and his hands slid slightly down Itona’s arms before he released him, sighing. “I’m sorry too.”

“For what?”

“I didn’t realize Shiro was holding you against your will… it never even crossed my mind,” he said honestly.

“It’s not a big deal, I didn’t bring it up to get an apology,” Itona said softly. “I was just trying to figure out how to help Nagisa.”

“I know,” Terasaka said, ruffling his platinum hair gently. “We’ll get him back. I don’t know how… but we will…”

“Nnngh,” Nagisa groaned as he was shoved to the ground, unable to catch himself because of his hands being tied. The man had blindfolded him, too. For the last hour of the car ride. He assumed to make sure Nagisa had no clue where he was. But it hadn’t been necessary; he hadn’t known for most of their car ride where they were at.

He laboriously pulled himself into a sitting position, which wasn’t easy when his hands weren’t free. He began listening intently as the man walked around the room.

After a few minutes, rough hands ripped the blindfold off, and he blinked, letting his eyes adjust to the light.

He wasn’t sure what he had expected, but it hadn’t been this. They appeared to be in a cabin. Rustic furniture that looked like it was made by hand filled the living room. A  wooden couch with a number of cushions piled on it. A coffee table. An armchair and a rocking chair. In the corner by the door was a desk with paperwork. The door itself had a number of locks on it. Too many for any normal door. All the windows had bars on them as well. He could see the night sky outside. There was an old TV. One of those big ones. TVs today were flat and thin, but his was large. He likely wasn’t the kind of man who updated anything until it was necessary.

Nagisa got the same impression when the man sat down in the rocking chair, kicking off his boots. Which were old and worn. Frayed at various parts, missing the aglet on one of the boots.

He didn’t say anything. He didn’t know what he could say. Nothing felt appropriate.

Whatever he had been drugged with seemed almost entirely out of his system now, but he was still horribly tired. Thus the pain he was in felt more intense. He clearly had a few injuries, but they were nothing compared to the pain in his heart. His mind drifted to his Mother how she had screamed. His father, who had attempted to defend his family… poorly. He didn’t mean that as an insult he was proud that his Dad  had tried so hard. As any good father would have... But ever since he had been trained to fight himself, he couldn’t help but realize how foolish his attempt had been. Grabbing the lamp and attempting to throw it at the intruder. It was almost laughable how terrible the throw had been but still…

“Thanks for trying, Dad…” he whispered, hoping he could hear him all the way in heaven. Maybe Korosensei met him when he arrived. Maybe they were talking now. Maybe his former teacher was telling his Dad about how strong Nagisa had grown during their school year, and how proud he was of his boy. Maybe his Mom was learning the whole story about that year and why her son had changed so much. Hopefully for the better.

“Why you lookin’ so upset?” the man snapped.

Nagisa looked up at him, his eyes expressionless.

“I’ll untie you if you promise not to do something stupid,” the man offered.

Nagisa kept staring at him a moment longer before he nodded.

The man got taking a knife from his jacket. It was the very knife he had used to kill Nagisa’s parents. A very similar to the knife to the one he had used on Takaoka during their first fight, the one Karasuma had handed him with confidence. There was a small surge of panic in his chest as he approached, there was still dried blood on the blade.

Sharply, the man turned him and used the knife to cut him free. He wasn’t careful about it, and it nicked the side of his hand and he winced slightly from the pain but otherwise gave no sign he had gotten hurt.

Nagisa continued sitting there. Not certain about what to do now.

“What’s wrong with your hair?” the man asked.

He wasn’t sure what he was talking about, what about his hair?

He reached up feeling it. His hair was falling out slightly from his hair ties.

“It’s just coming loose,” Nagisa said softly. He reached up to undo them. Letting his hair fall onto his shoulders.

The man stared at him. “What the hell, are you a girl or something?”

“No…” Nagisa answered. He had started to retie it when suddenly the man reached forward, grabbing hold of his hair, pulling it back, and twisting it around.

“STOP What—? Ngh!”

He yanked his hair back hard, as if it were meant to be a warning for him to shut up. He kept twisting his hair. Around and around until it was in a single long twisted cord. Then…

He suddenly realized what he was about to do.

“Wait, don’t ple—”

He brought the knife up and the sound of it cutting through the strands met his ears. In a single tug he cut his hair right at the base. The remaining strands fell around his face, but all of them were short now.

“Men shouldn’t have long hair,” he snapped, throwing the blue strands onto the ground in front of him. They fell tangled about haphazardly.

He stared down at the hair…

His throat suddenly heavy. His eyes were starting to burn.

He had always wanted short hair…

and yet…

He would have given anything to reattach the strands back where they had been. His Mother might try to look down at him from heaven… and…  what if she couldn’t recognize him with short hair…

It wasn’t a logical thought process… but after all that had happened. He wasn’t thinking logically…

The tears started falling but he didn’t let himself make any noise. Thinking for a second he could hide it from his captor.

He just wanted to go home. But he didn’t have anyone to go home to.

And after so long... the apartment would get cleaned up. Their stuff. His parents’ things. They would be sold off. The pictures from his year with Korosensei and everyone. The Yearbook. The guides. His clothes. The dishes. The flowers on the counter…

Right… he had probably missed the engagement party... It was probably a fun night too. He had been looking forward to seeing everyone… and then…

Karma had said he wanted to ask him something after the party… he would never know now. What that question was…

“Would you stop crying,” the man snapped. “It’s fucking hair, it not like I killed your parents.”

He laughed cruelly at his own joke.

Nagisa reached out, taking the fallen hair in his hand, and slowly got to his feet. He walked over to the garbage bin he saw in the corner. Stepping on the lever at its base, the lid popped up and threw the strands away.

“We can begin training tomorrow. How about tonight we just get to know each other,” he said, smiling. “We’re going to be living together for some time after all.”

Nagisa turned slowly, walking over, and he took a seat on the couch, wiping the last of his tears off his face. Now wasn’t the time for crying.

“First things first… You need to call me something, and I think Kamisama is as good a name as any.”

“…”

“God makes people and I make Assassins, and that’s what I’m going to make you into. It fits perfectly. Give it a try.”

“…”

“Go on, say it.”

“…”

He let out an impatient sigh. “Now, boy, if you keep making this difficult. I’m just going to kill you and go grab one of your classmates. I’ll kill their parents too and bring them here, and I’ll keep your body rotting on that end of the sofa as a visual reminder to them of what happens when little brats make my life difficult.”

He had a sudden image of himself dragging Kaede into the room and her screaming in horror at the sight of his body.

“Kamisama.”

“There, see that’s not hard.”

“Can’t you just let me go?” he already knew it was pointless to ask, but what did he have to lose?

He laughed at that. “No, you’re going to let yourself go. Because I’m going to make you the same deal I had with Kurou. You can leave when you kill me.”

“What?”

“It’s as simple as that, if you can kill me, it will mean you’re better than me, and thus you can go and do whatever the fuck you please once I’m dead.”

“But you’re still alive…”

“No shit, Sherlock,” he laughed.

“No… you said you told Korosensei he could leave when you were dead. You’re alive, so. What happened?”

“Well I didn’t grow soft and let him go if you’re thinking that,” he scoffed, shaking his head at the memory creeping in. “That little shit. He was… about sixteen… seventeen when he finally bested me. But instead of delivering the final blow, he thanked me and then knocked my ass out. Left me alive. Kinda felt like a final “fuck you.” Heh… I hate teenagers…”

Korosensei refused to kill him… He had every reason, and he had killed countless others. Yet he refused to kill him…

Was it because that’s what he wanted, and he didn’t want to give his captor something he wanted… Or had he genuinely been grateful for the lessons learned and left him alive out of respect to that?

If he had known that this man would eventually kidnap and murder the parents of one of his future students. He wondered if he would have left him alive then.

“So, tell me about yourself,”  he said. “What knowledge did my student pass on to you? And if you start telling me about math facts or history lessons, I’m going to beat the shit out of you. Because I know that you know, damn well what I’m asking…”

He started thinking, “He taught me that I should believe I’m worthy of my target. That I’m more than the sum of my parts...”

“And what the hell is that supposed to mean?” God asked, scoffing at the ridiculousness of the statement.

“It means having pride in yourself and your abilities…”

“Right, so he didn’t teach you all shit… got it. Guess we’ll be starting from square one tomorrow...”

“I’ll make dinner,” he said, getting to his feet. “I suck at cooking, but you better fucking eat it. I don’t like wasting food.”

He went into the kitchen, taking out some eggs from the fridge.

Nagisa didn’t move. The knife was left on the coffee table carelessly. Slowly, he reached out towards the blade’s handle. Ignoring the dried blood and trying desperately not to remember that that was his parents’ blood on it. The tip of his finger touched the handle.

I can’t run. I can’t hide. Slipping between the cracks isn’t an option. The only way out…

…is to kill him…

He paused, then pulled his hand back slowly. No…

This wasn’t a mistake on his part. He hadn’t been careless. God was waiting... Waiting to see if Nagisa would try. He watched him. His attention seemed entirely engrossed in cooking.

Nagisa sat back without grabbing the blade.

“Smart boy,” God said without turning to look at him. “You’ll get your moment… but it’s not going to be tonight.”

Karasuma noticed him after stepping back through the crime tape. “Karma, you were supposed to go—”

“Inside… is it bad?” Karma interrupted.

“It’s bad,” he answered. Irina emerged from under the tape as well, holding her flowers. She didn’t seem surprised that Karma was there.

“I know they won’t let me in now,” Karma said. His fists clenched. “But do you think I could come back after the bodies are cleared out.”

“That will take some time. But I’m sure it could be arranged,” Karasuma said. “Was there anything specific inside that you needed?”

Karma shook his head. He was looking down at the ground. Karma was always the type of person to look people in the eye and he assumed he didn’t want Karasuma to see him crying.

“I just… Nagisa didn’t talk about his home life much. I knew about his Dad and his Mom. But I don’t know what he has as far as extended family goes. If he even has any. I’m just worried that whoever goes in there to clear out the apartment that they might just start tossing things. Things that might be important to Nagisa.”

“I’ve already thought of that,” Karasuma said. “I know the world got let in on many of the things that happened in Class E. But much of it is still considered confidential. I can have the entire apartment packed up and all its contents marked classified for years if necessary or until we find a body.”

Karma’s shoulders stiffened, and Karasuma cursed under his breath. He was so used to switching his brain into work mode during moments like these. Bedside manners were not something he was known for.

“I’m sure we won’t,” Karasuma said, though it was little consolation. “We’ll find him. We—”

Karma’s shoulders started shaking. He was crying. He couldn’t hide it now. Karasuma didn’t know what else to say…

Irina shoved the flowers into his arms as she rushed passed him pulling Karma to her in a hug. He didn’t hug her back, not right away, but slowly he raised his arms and wrapped them around her.

They stood like that for what felt like a long time.

Karasuma watched as Irina pulled back softly. “We will find him. Don’t you worry.”

She used her sleeve to wipe a few tears from Karma’s eyes.

Karasuma’s grip on the flowers tightened. Karma was one of the strongest kids in Class E. Seeing him break down like that somehow made this feel more real than seeing the bodies of Nagisa’s parents. The coroners were in the process of carrying their bodies out now. Maybe they should… but before his mind had even finished the thought, Irina had started to move. Almost as if she read his mind.

She put her arm around Karma’s shoulders, slowly turning him around so he was facing the crescent Moon, all so he wouldn’t see the bodies being taken out.

“Korosensei is watching,” she said softly. “He cared about all of you so much and always protected all of you kids. Itona told me something once that Korosensei told him. “If you ever come face-to-face with an obstacle that you cannot overcome. Then it will be time for me to come to your aid.”

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders to console him as he was still shaking, though the tears had stopped. “Death doesn’t stop someone who cares about you from helping you. And I know. Right now. Wherever Nagisa is. Korosensei is with him in spirit.”

The doors on the coroner van closed, and Irina softly stepped back, putting a hand on Karma’s head. She turned to Karasuma. “How about we give him a lift home?”

Karma wasn't a child. And he wasn’t stupid.

He didn’t believe a word she had said.

But hearing them. Just hearing that Korosensei was with Nagisa right now.

It meant something...

If only it were true.