The Demon Within (Karma x Nagisa)

Chapter 19: Karma and Kayano

Nagisa was training again, another two weeks had past and he was slowly getting better at relaxing his mind...

"SENSEI!" Nagisa called out.

The tall, silver-haired man appeared behind Nagisa. "Have you made progress?"

"Actually... I did."

The reaper's eyes widened.

"How so?"

"Well I could communicate with him?"

"What do you mean... can you control your subconscious?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well a bit I guess. I can't really fall 'asleep' or anything but I can access my thoughts if that makes sense. So I could talk to him but I couldn't give him control...if that makes sense."

"Hmm...yeah, well at least you're making progress." The reaper said, before vanishing.

Nagisa resumed his training, It wasn't as boring now that him and Mika could communicate. Plus he could help guide him now, though it was still easier said than done though.

In the meantime Karasuma and Irina were slowly losing hope. They were in a bad state and spent many sleepless nights trying to locate Nagisa. They still hadn't found him.

"Ka...Karasuma do you ever think we- we'll get him back?" Irina said in between sniffles and tears.

"Don't cry, it's still Nagisa. I haven't lost hope." Karasuma said, comforting his wife.

Meanwhile, Karma was getting worse as the days went by.

"Nagisa, where are you? Come back to us." He repeated in his mind all day long.

Everyone around him started to realise what a state he was in. He had dark circles under both his eyes, scratch marks along both his sore red arms and his face was dry from the flow of tears that would occur every time something reminded him of Nagisa.

He sat down at his desk. A note was sitting on top of it, it read..."Meet near old 3-E building after second period." Normally he would ignore any note like this, he just wasn't interested but this time he decided to see who was requesting his presence. Why not?

After second period he went up to the hill and walked towards the 3-E building. It was like watching a zombie he just didn't have any life in him.

"Glad to see you came." Kayano said, with the sweetest smile as she waved at Karma.

Karma tried to smile back but he simply didn't have the energy to even move another muscle. 

He nearly tripped over a little rock but Kayano managed to catch him in her arms.

"Hey, be careful." She said, lifting him upright as she walked with him into the 3-E building that she somehow had the key for.

She pulled out a chair at the front of the classroom for him to sit on, as she went and sat on one of the desks just beside him.

"Okay so...Karma what's been going on? You don't seem yourself at all, even Asano noticed it." Kayano asked, with concern.

Karma shrugged his shoulders, staying silent.

"Listen, Karma we have enough history for you to share anything with me. So what's up, and don't worry about time I already got the all clear from the principle." 

"N-" Karma tried to speak.

"Nagisa?" Kayano asked, as she pulled out a pen and paper for him.

Karma nodded.

"What's happened? You can write it down if that's easier." Kayano suggested.

Karma began writing on the blank white paper in front of him. 

When he was done Kayano looked over to see what it read.

"He's gone? Now that you mention it I haven't seen you two together lately. We aren't in the same classes but still." Kayano mentioned, as she moved slightly closer to Karma to make him feel safer.

Karma gave a nod in response.

"So, where is he? Or do you not know?"

Tears began flowing down Karma's cheeks as he wrote on the paper.

"Oh I see." Kayano said, as she put an arm around Karma.

She felt really bad, she didn't actually know what she could do to help but she would try anyways. Before she became known as Akari Yukimura the great actress, her and Nagisa were really close and she really cared for Karma as well as all her other classmates.

"We'll get him back." She said, tears rolling down her face now.

Karma nodded, reaching out for a hug.

Kayano hugged him tightly.

About half an hour later they walked back down the hill, to the main building. Kayano spoke with Asano so he could try and get the principle, his father, to give Karma some time off. He really needed a break and of course the principle agreed.

Asano passed Karma a note the principle had gave him so he knew he didn't have to come into school or anything for now.

"Karma Akabane, as he the principle I am granting you some time off. I think it's best for you to come back when you're feeling better. Don't worry, this won't be on your record. As a school we all wish you the best." ~ Principle Asano

That's what the note read.

Later that day...

"Nagisa!" Reaper Sensei called out.

Nagisa appeared in front of his teacher, waiting to hear what he had to say.

"I have an idea. It should make this process a lot more 'controllable' so to speak."

"What do you mean?" Nagisa questioned, looking slightly confused.

"Well I have an injection. It will help you manage the power inside of you for when you do have control. I know that you have told me about this 'Mika' before but a demon is a demon. Let alone the demon king himself." Reaper sensei said, matched is wave length with Nagisa's to make Nagisa feel more relaxed as if he was speaking to his own thoughts.

"Sure...if you say it will help." Nagisa was so distracted by the warmth coming from the reapers voice that he wasn't even paying proper attention to what he was agreeing to.

"Okay, It will only feel like a pinch."

Nagisa lifted up his sleeve. He had adopted a minor phobia of needles and syringes since 'the incident',  so he closed his eyes and looked away while it was happening.

"Done." 

Nagisa's heart pounded once, before returning to it's usual smooth pace.