𝕎𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝔽𝕖𝕒𝕣 𝕔𝕒𝕟 𝕕𝕠 ✁𝔸𝕤𝕤𝕒𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕟𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 ℂ𝕝𝕒𝕤𝕤𝕣𝕠𝕠𝕞✁

II.XI

     Karma woke up to frantic voices nearby, and the moment he did, the blurry area and sounds immediately sharpened, snapping him awake sharply. He remembered what he'd seen—of Kayano and Kanzaki screaming as the delinquents bagged and tied them up, the others being kicked down by the delinquents like they were nothing, and Akako-

     He listened to Okuda stutter before sitting up. "I-I'm okay. A-and Akako...she got kidnapped, too. I-I didn't know what to do, so I just hid."

     "Don't sweat it. You did the right thing," Karma interrupted as he wiped off the dirt on his cheek with his sleeve. All he could see was red from his bangs over his eyes, but it was still all the same. He was completely conscious within seconds, and with that arrived the burning rage that erupted inside of him at the memory of getting beat down so easily. "I think it's safe to assume that those guys are pretty hardcore. We could go to the cops, but they're the type to know their way around the system, which is fine." A sharp grin found itself on Karma's face as his mercury eyes glowed with undeniable malice, fists clenched just from imagining what it'd be like to crush their faces as he knocked them out.

     "'Cause I'm the type who likes to hand these things personally if you know what I mean."

     "Okay, dude," sighed Sugino. "But how do we even find them?"

     It was a fair question and one that Nagisa seemed to have found the answer to with the textbook he pulled out of nowhere. Karma stood up from the ground with Sugino, pocketing his hands as Nagisa flipped through the heavy book on the ground with Okuda. Sugino stood over the two of them, while Karma waited farther away, listening to them mumble as they flipped the pages.

     Surprisingly, just as calming as it was for them to be reading through something of Koro-Sensei's, Karma was able to cool down some of his anger, even as his fists remained pocketed. He listened to them talk, exclaim, and laugh at the odd antics of their teacher with their ten-ton encyclopedia. Something about them helped him think a little more calmly, something that he imagined Sugino would've liked.

     As Nagisa took a couple more minutes to look through the textbook, reading out loud ridiculous scenarios, Karma sighed impatiently. He restrained himself from pacing or fidgeting just to keep his body busy. He understood what they were doing, but he almost couldn't put his finger on why he was so hasty for any reason other than retaliation. His eyes snapped out of it when he thought he noticed something pink in the corner of his eye. As quietly as he could, he stepped towards the glint to find Akako's bracelet. Fortunately, it wasn't broken, though there were obviously a couple of scratches. No one else noticed the glint in Karma's eyes as he scrutinized the bracelet and pocketed it.

     Karma came closer when Nagisa mentioned finding a map of the area and following instructions of some kidnapping section in the book. They were going to follow a certain trail to one of the warehouses that could be found in this shady area. They started getting up as Nagisa phoned Koro-Sensei quickly.

     Okuda crossed her arms, staring at the ground with a frown. "I hope they're okay," she murmured.

     Karma glanced away and looked towards Nagisa, who coincidentally finished his call with Koro-Sensei and noticed Karma looking at him. He smiled reassuringly, almost as if he was responding to Karma. He avoided Nagisa's gaze though, making the latter's smile falter.

     "Well, what are we waiting for?" said Karma. Okuda's uncertain gaze cleared away as the rest were looking more than ready to find the girls. Soon enough, they were all running to the location, hoping that the girls were going to be okay when they'd find them.

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