The Assassin Experiment (An Ansatsu Kyoshitsu FanFic)

Chapter 14: Come On

3rd Person POV

A small boy came tumbling into the classroom, head hunched down and hands gripped tightly on his schoolbag. His hair was tied in a ponytail that he attempted to hide with a hoodie he stole from his mother.

It didn't work when the teacher called him out on classroom policies that restricted any hoodies to be worn in the learning environment. Hesitantly, the boy pulled back the hood revealing his messy blue hair.

The teacher didn't seem to notice his longer than normal hair and simply took the discarded hoodie and informed the middle school boy he could get it after class.

His gut twisted as he found an empty seat in the middle of the room. He would have liked to sit in the back so no one could see the back of his head but life was not fortunate enough today. He took his seat as fast as he could and tried to play calm.

It didn't work when he heard the whispers and chatters from his other classmates. His anxiety flared. They probably weren't even talking about him. They probably didn't even notice him. And yet his mind was hell-bent on convincing him he was the focus of their negative attention, the focus of their ridicules.

He fought back a sob. He didn't want to start crying on the first day of class. He didn't want to show weakness in front of the students he'd have to face for years. He bit his lip, stuffing his hands in between his thighs to try and muffle his trembling limbs. His eyes were downcast and he did his best to tune out the increasingly high voices around him.

Oh god, if this kept up he was going to have a panic attack. A panic attack over something as stupid as this. He felt even worse.

"Hey!" A loud, bellowing voice resonated in his ears and he visibly winced and shrunk into himself. Maybe if he did that then no one would see him.

"Hey!"

Nope, it didn't work.

"Man, are you okay?" The voice continued on, now paired with a gentle sensation on his shoulder, like someone's hand was there.

He willed himself to look up and when he did he saw a student with brown hair that he didn't know. His face was knit in concern and it took a moment to realize who he was concerned for. He opened his mouth to say he was fine but out of the corner of his eye, he spotted his mother standing by the doorway with a sharp stare.

His heartbeat sped up and his body began to tremble.

"Speak, my daughter," His mother spat out, "The lovely boy asked you a question, didn't he?" Her mouth grew into a grin that haunted him in his dreams. Then, in almost a second, her face contorted and she started screaming.

"ANSWER HIM. ANSWER HIM YOU INSUFFERABLE BRAT!"

He fell from his chair, eyes now filing with tears, surprising those in the classroom.

"No, no, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he whispered as he shook. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

He couldn't think, his mind was a daze with panic. The hallucination of his mother had triggered a panic attack and he didn't know how to stop it. His breathes came out short and heavy, his lungs working overtime and burning in his chest. He tried to move his hands to hug himself but his arms wouldn't stop shaking. He was a mess, tears streaming down his face and eyes blown wide open.

His lips trembled as he continued whispering, like a mantra. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry-"

From the back of his head where he contained a bit of logic he could hear the conversations of the students around him.

"Dude, what did you do!" A boy's voice rang accusingly.

"Nothing, he just jumped out of his chair for no reason!" voiced the boy who had approached him earlier.

"You scared him!" Piped up a girl whose voice was a little too high for his liking.

"Is he okay?" His brain couldn't process who the voice belonged to and he almost laughed in response and he might have if he wasn't having trouble breathing.

"Back off!" A loud voice broke through the conversations of the other students and he felt a presence by his side.

"Hey," the boy whispered quietly and he could barely hear him from the pounding and screaming in his head. "Hey, it's okay. It's not real."

He whimpered. How did he know he was having hallucinations?

He tried to speak but it only resulted in his teeth banging together harshly so he quickly shut his mouth. This, apparently, was not gone unnoticed by the boy attempting to comfort him.

"It's alright. You don't have to worry. They aren't there. You're here. You're okay." He talked to him quietly and gently, as if he were a scared animal on the verge of jumping off a cliff.

Who knows, maybe jumping off a cliff was a good idea. That way he didn't have to deal with his anxiety and the stress from his mother.

Maybe everyone would be better off without-

"Nagisa? That's your name right?"

The boy looked up, summoned by the call of his name. His eyes shone with clear tears, his hands wrapped around his torso. He trembled in front of the boy who had knelt down to him.

His comforter was a boy with bright red hair and mysteriously mesmerizing eyes. His mouth formed a frown and his face wrinkled in concern.

"I-I..." His voice came out shakier than he would have liked or thought but he took a deep breath and continued.

"I-I'm Nagisa." He said, mustering up as much confidence as he could bear.

The redhead grinned and Nagisa felt something go off in his brain.

That grin.

He knew it.

He, he knew who that belonged to.

It was... His best friend.

It was-

"Karma?" Nagisa spoke with a hesitant voice, his body had long since stopped trembling.

He hadn't noticed that. He hadn't noticed that the other students had disappeared. He hadn't noticed that the two of them were no longer in a classroom. He hadn't noticed that the boy in front of him started to fade away.

"Come on Nagisa," Karma smiled. He stood up and offered him a hand. "Don't just sit there."

Nagisa stared at his hand for a moment but the hesitation he felt quickly dissipated and left him.

Nagisa grabbed the outreached hand in front of him, wearing a smile of his own and he pushed himself off his feet and into the light.

The white light surrounded the two, forcing him to close his eyes. However, his hand never left Karma's.

When his eyelids pushed outwards, he wasn't in a classroom nor a room of light. He was sitting on a cold bed in a grey room.

And his hand still rested in Karma's palm.

He looked up to see Karma standing there with the sweetest smile plastered on his face.

"Nagisa." He whispered but Nagisa heard it loud and clear.

Nagisa grinned. "I'm here."