Beasts [Nagikae]

Beasts

Hm. First things first. People.

I'm in school, and people are unavoidable. Sadly. But I guess it's fine, they just stay a foot away from me.

It's 7:50, May 15th. I guess it's a normal morning, walk to class, sit down, have lunch, have some devil's take your lunch, go hungry for the rest of the day, and finally go home to an empty house.

Life is plain and never seems to entertain me. I guess most haven't released that.

"Hey there, it's Naegi, right?" a person stopped me at my class door.

I looked up from the ground, that's right, I never look people in the eye in the halls... Let us keep going.

"Um... I'm sorry, but you're mistaken." I put my hand over my mouth so the person wouldn't leave. "My name's Nagisa, and you?" I had my head down.

"Oh, sorry about that, Nagisa. My name's Karma Akabane." the red head introduce himself.

It stayed silent, so I decided to walk into the classroom. I know that sounds rude, to just ditch a person, but what do you expect from someone as antisocial as me?

I sat down at my desk with my hand cupped over my mouth.

... Why the hell did he just suddenly talk to me?!

"Excuse me, Nagisa, but you sorta left me alone over there." Karma poked me from behind.

I turned around with my hand over my mouth. "Uh.. Sorry, Karma. But I have to ask, why all of a sudden talk to me." I avoided eye contact as in the last conversation.

"Because, I've noticed how you have it tough. Don't think I don't see people picking on you." he exhaled. "And I wanna make sure that people don't get hurt. I know that isn't normal for a devil to say."

Did he just say devil!? He's a devil?! He has fangs and horns and one of those pointy tails things doesn't he?! But wait, how do I know, I've never seen a devil before.

I looked at his face. He had a smirk on his face, so you could see the fangs. Long, pointy horns were on his head. And I was glad to see that he had no tail.

"So you're a devil, I had never met one before." I smiled.

His eyes widened as I removed my hand from my mouth.

He shot up and opened my mouth with his thumb and index finger.

"You have fangs?! I never would've guessed." He sat back down.

"Hehe, most people assume I'm something more delicate so I'm not surprised that you're surprised." I grinned.

"Haha, yeah, I thought that you were a sheep or a goat. Maybe even a rabbit... So what are you?"

"Me? I don't even know for sure."

He inspected me for awhile more. "Do you happen to have scales?"

"Do you happen to have a tail?"

Dammit, my curiosity is gonna be the end of me.

"Yes of course! But only when I'm planning something evil." He grinned mischievously.

And with that his tail popped up! Pointy and red. Just like his horns.

"Oh, there it is." I smiled.

He smirked one last time and returned to the state before, and with that his tail disappeared.

"Now answer my question." Karma went back.

"Oh, well I do have scales but very little do they show." I said sheepishly.

"Hm... Now, do you have sliver like pupils?"

"Does it look like I do?" I raised an eye brow.

"Sorry, I thought you'd have slivers like eyes."

"You didn't let me finish. Only once have my pupils turned into sliver like."

"Okay great, now, for the final question." He smiled. "Do you have wings?"

"Wings?!"

"You heard me, wings. Because of you do, then it's safe to assume that you're a dragon." He nodded.

"... I don't have wings." my eyebrow twitched.

"Oh.. Then.. Um, let me think for a sec. What has scales, fangs, Sliver like pupils, but no wi-It's a Snake! That's it!" he slammed his hand on the desk.

The whole class turned to us as the bell rang. I held my head down and didn't utter a word.

"Mr. Akabane. Mr. Shiota. What's with all of the noise over there?" Ms. Yukimura asked.

"I figured out something that would change Nagisa's and everyone else's opinion about him." Karma said as if it were nothing.

"Oh really? Could you please tell the class?"

"Yeah sure, I figured out that Nagisa's a-"

"Karma!!!" I interrupted him and slapped a hand over his mouth.

"What?" he said innocently from under my hand.

---

"I don't see why you got all defensive is in there, Nagisa." Karma and I walked out to the Cafeteria.

"Because I'm sure people will start asking questions about me. I mean, there are no other snakes in this school. But come to think of is, most would just keep ignoring me. Not like I'm not used to that already." I mumbled the last part under breathe.

"Hey, you have me now, don't ya?" he said as we sat down at a table.

"I guess so." I opened up my bento.

We began to eat our lunches, until Mr. Devil spoke.

"Nagisa, I'm gonna go and get some snacks from the vending machine. Don't leave." Karma got up.

I watched his go out of the loud cafeteria, and into the hallway.

It stayed quiet where I sat. Nobody even looked at me.

"Hey, Shiota," someone slammed their hand hard on the table.

I was startled so I jumped up. Looking up I saw the same face as every normal lunch.

"You weren't in your normal spot, how come?.. Ah you don't need to answer that, you know the drill and after school are gonna pay for making me look around."

I looked down at the ground.

Why had Karma gone out now? Couldn't he of gotten the snacks on the way here?

"Shiota, why so quiet now? You usually try to run away. Are you trying to man up now?" He asked.

I shook my head violently in denial, trying to get him off my back.

Karma, I need your help.

"Come on, answer." tick marks grew on his head. "... Answer, goddammit!" he picked me up by the collar.

It all happened so fast. The first thing I knew, I was in the air being held by the collar. Next, my instincts kicked in. The snake kind of part of me was for all to see.