The Devil Is Her Prince (Akabane Karma X OC)

CHAPTER 16: HIS DILEMMA, KARMA'S INSOMNIA

Normal:

Karma fell asleep during class for the 6th time, his insomniac nights increasing more than usual. But his shut eyes twitches once in a while, his face reflects the expression of pain...

He was seeing a nightmare.

Two bloodlusts mocking the red haired boy, a confident smile on their faces to reveal their sharp fangs, sharper than Karma's. Finally giving in to their taunts, his rage strengthens his bloodlust. He punches the bloodlusts mercilessly, his sanity left him.

Before he could send a punch to the more powerful one, before his eyes is an unconscious Sakura, covered in her own blood. "Huh?" He turns to find Nagisa in the state as the girl, he too, was covered his own blood. "What have I..." Fear and guilt slowly controls Karma, his fists soaked in red trembles.

Then he feels a finger poking his shoulder, the same stabbing sensation he felt recently reflects in that poke. It's what made Karma wake up instantly and shoots his head up, his face reveals an expression that tells: He is ready to fight and protect himself.

But his need to fight slowly fades away when he hears the other person yelp and fall back, losing her balance and crashing onto the floor. Anger turns to confusion, the only thing he sees is Hime on the floor, a bit scared after his sudden action.

"T-That surprised me." She sighs in relief before standing on her feet, Okuda worriedly checks on her after the fall, to which she replies with an assuring smile. Karma calms down and dons an impassive mask like always, but he worries that this dilemma of his is making it worse.

"S-School's over, Karma-kun. You fell asleep for two periods." Hime says nervously, smiling at him. "Okay, thanks for waking me up." His voice spoke in a dull tone as he gets up and picks up his packed school bag, leaving the classroom without waiting for Hime. His actions worries the brunette even more, this wasn't the first time he behaved this way with her.

Sakura:

This is the 6th time he has reacted rather violently to me when I woke him up, and that's not all I noticed. His behavior towards me has changed, ever since I showed Karma my true strength. These observations make me worry for this boy even more.

I greet our classmates goodbye when I put my black pumps on and try to catch up with Karma. "Karma-kun, wait!" As I run up to where he is, I tripped on something and lose my balance, I knew my face was going to meet with the ground.

But I didn't fall thanks to Karma catching me in time, preventing me to fall on my face. "You should be more careful, clumsy." I laugh nervously as I scratch my head, "S-Sorry, I'll be more careful next time."

"You say that all the time, but you always trip and fall." He nonchalantly speaks, what can I say? It's part of 'Hime' to be clumsy, an excuse for my recent clumsiness. As we walk to the train station, I hear a yawn from Karma's lips.

"You have been sleeping a lot during class recently. Is something the matter?" I ask, turning to face the boy. "I'm fine, I'm not getting enough sleep at night." Judging from his dark circles, it is obvious to me that he isn't getting any sleep at all during the night.

"Insomnia, I take it. One of the common problems faced by adolescents and adults..." I mumble, holding my chin in deep thought. "Like I said, I'm fine. I'm really smart so I can quickly pick up on the lessons." He yawns again before his movements are a little slow and sluggish.

"It is not okay. Lack of proper rest will affect your health." And our exams are around the corner, it will affect his mental abilities as well. What could be the reason to his insomnia? For all that I know of, he is the least to be stressful about anything. There must be another reason, so...