Chapter 5 (FINAL)

Nagisa blushed, as he watched Karma grin -- his heart did several flips -- and wildly swung the table tennis racket again. He missed, of course.

"What's wrong, Nagisa? You seem out of sorts," Karma commented from where he was leaning against a wall, arms crossed, watching intently.

Nagisa blinked. "Huh? Oh, nothing."

Koro-sensei had appeared abruptly in front of Nagisa's face, slowly leaning in, his eyes squinting as if he was scrutinising Nagisa's soul.

"Eep!" Nagisa jumped, and he would have tripped over his overly long yukata if he hadn't caught himself in time.

"Umm," said Nagisa, beginning to feel faintly perturbed by Koro-sensei's unnerving, unwavering gaze.

Koro sensei was not deterred from his starring, however, by his Nagisa's discomfort. If anything, he stared just a little harder.

Karma tossed an anti-sensei ping-pong ball towards Koro-sensei's head. He grinned - and Nagisa was ever-so relieved by his intervention—"Oi. No kissing your students," said Karma, then paused, as if carefully aiming a verbal knife, " You pedo bear."

"EHHH?" Koro-sensei blurred from the path of the determined ping pong ball. He backed away from Nagisa's face, tentacles squirming in a decidedly guilty fashion which Karma was not at all pleased to notice. "EHHH?"

Nagisa facepalmed. "Urgh! I knew I shouldn't have shown you that meme! Now you keep referring to it! And Koro-sensei is a teacher. A teacher," he insisted, as if he doesn't always see teacherly-looking men in scandalous positions with their students on manga covers whenever he visits the bookstore.

Karma smiled, his teeth gleaming in threat. "I should hope so."

Nagisa felt an uncomfortable warmth beginning to pool in his cheeks.

The room was quiet for a moment, then—"Ah! Love!" Koro-sensei cried, his body suddenly turning a positively florescent pink. "The possessive, bad Ka —"

Karma lobbed a green rubber knife at Koro-sensei. To his disappointment, Koro-sensei managed to dodge it again - but that was expected.

"Nagisa, let's go!" Koro-sensei announced suddenly and took off with Nagisa in his tentacles, while Karma raced out the room far too late.

++◈++

"Phew!" Koro-sensei sighed. "I finally lost him!"

"Umm sensei, why are we in here?" Nagisa asked uncomfortably. Karma's warning of Pedo bear sprang unbidden into his mind.

"I'm here to talk about your feelings for Karma," Koro-sensei declared firmly, and Nagisa felt a distinctly foreboding sinking in his gut.

++◈++

Meanwhile, Karma was being kidnapped by Kayano and Okuda.

++◈++

"Nagisa?" Karma entered Koro-sensei's room. There was a sudden slam, then an ominous click from behind him. A moment later, Karma began to feel dizzy.

"W—what the heck?" Karma said and shifted around in confusion for a few seconds before finally passing out.

Okuda entered the locked room, wearing a gas mask. She bent down to pick up the empty gas canister below the bed, throwing it in the bin and opened up the windows of the room. Taking off her gas mask, she apprehensively poked Karma's cheek to make sure he was out cold, before poking her head out the door to call for her green haired friend, "Kayano-chan, it's OK to come in now!"

Kayano stepped in with a piece of rope in her hands and giggled softly. "Plan C Part A is a success! Now, help me out Okuda, time for the main show!"

++◈++

"My feelings?" asked Nagisa with widening eyes. "What about them?"

"You like him don't you? Karma, I mean," Koro-sensei said, patting Nagisa's head with a tentacle. "If you're undecided about confessing, you should just go for it. You don't have to be afraid of rejection."

"Easier said than done. I don't want to ruin our friendship if it ever goes wrong. I mean we're both guys for one thing so how am I not supposed to be scared of rejection?" Nagisa nearly yelled.

"If you don't confess, you might regret it. This is your last year in Junior High after all. You two will eventually go your separate ways after this year, be it if the earth blows up or the class manages to kill be and proceed to High School," Koro-sensei reassured Nagisa. "So gather up your courage and tell him!"

Nagisa remained silent. Uncertain. Deciding, then doubting, and again pondering.

"There's a shrine nearby. You can go and clear your head there if you want. It's your decision after all," Koro-sensei said, gently laying his tentacles on the blue-head's shoulders.

"Thanks a lot, Koro-sensei." Nagisa smiled, walking off after giving his octopus teacher a hug.

"Nurufufufufu. Ahh! Love!!" Koro-sensei exclaimed with a pink face.

++◈++

When Karma came to, he found himself lying on the floor, all wrapped up in rope.

"S-sorry Karma but we had to restrain you. Koro-sensei was sure that you would run away if we confronted you normally," Okuda apologised.

"Eh? Confront me about?" Karma said as dumbly as he could.

"About your feelings for Nagisa!" Kayano piped up behind him. "And... we have invited an expert in love! Please welcome..... Irina-sensei!"

"If you don't confess to Nagisa... we'll break his heart. " Irina cackled.

"I'll crush yours first." Karma smiled. His smile fell. He sighed. "Well seems like you guys already know about my feelings for Nagisa. So? What are you going to do about it?"

"We'll give you advice and help in winning Nagisa's heart, of course!" Kayano exclaimed.

"I figured. Since you tried handcuffing me to Nagisa. I already knew about that before hand," Karma stated breezily.

"Why are you being so—Ugh! Just confess your love already!" Irina yelled.

"What's there to admit? You already know about how I feel," Karma said.

Irina sighed. "You're afraid of being rejected."

Karma opened his mouth to object but was interrupted before he could make a sound.

Irina continued, "if you believe that your friendship will crumble to dust, think again. What if Nagisa feels the same? If you don't confess you'll regret it for the rest of your life. We don't have much time before the end of Junior High, regardless of whether the earth will get blown up."

Karma said acidly, "and what if he doesn't reciprocate my"— Karma bit out the word after a very long pause — "feelings? Our relationship will be in ruins afterwards."

Irina smirked. "You're a special kind of dense, you know that? Do you think I'd sacrifice my spa-time to waste my time match-making two students if I wasn't certain that it wouldn't all be in vain?"

Karma gaped.

"Yup!" Irina kneeled to untie his ropes. "Nagisa probably feels the same way, which is why this plan came about in the first place!"

Karma scoffed. Then he laughed and stood up, ropes falling at his feet. "Thanks, Bitch-sensei."

"FOR THE LAST TIME, I'M NOT A BITCH!" Irina screeched before adding with a wink, "there's a shrine nearby. Clear your head there."

Karma nodded in thanks and ran off to the shrine.

++◈++

The shrine was serene and silent. It was already 8 o'clock at night and the shrine was entirely empty. Nagisa strolled down the shrine courtyard to the place for prayer and admired the peace and the canopy of stars in the night sky. He inhaled deeply, enjoying the fresh air that entered his lungs.

Upon reaching the prayer place, Nagisa clamped his hands together and closed his eyes.

I hope that my relationship with Karma will turn out well, he thought.

"Nagisa?" a voice snapped him out of his prayer.

Seeing the familiar fiery red hair, Nagisa gave a small smile. "Hello, Karma."

Karma grinned and said a short prayer before turning to the other boy. "So, what did you do with Koro-sensei?"

"Koro-sensei was giving me... advice," said Nagisa, carefully choosing his words. "What about you? What happened to you while I was gone?"

"Haha. Long story short, Okuda gassed me and kidnapped me with Kayano and Bitch-sensei finally said something useful for me."

Nagisa laughed.

Heavy silence followed, dampening all conversation. Neither knew what to say. Confessing right now didn't seem right, because the silence felt far too stifling. Even three paltry words – I love you – seemed impossible to choke out.

So they stared.

They stared more intensely.

And when the stifling silence and the heated blushing and their desire grew too unbearable, they leaned forward and kissed.

Their lips fit perfectly like two pieces of a puzzle. Karma nibbled Nagisa's lips and nearly sighed at their softness. Nagisa began threading his fingers through Karma's hair followed by a moan of pleasure from Karma. They broke off for a moment, catching their breath, before Karma captured Nagisa's lips and they kissed again.

Someone whistled behind them and the couple jumped apart.

"MAEHARA HIROTO!" The entire Class-E screeched from the bushes.

"Oops!" Maehara scratched his head sheepishly.

"You guys...." Nagisa and Karma grinned in unison.

"OK class let's run!" Koro-sensei exclaimed, albeit a bit too happily. And the class started running helter-skelter.

"Oi! Come back here you damn voyeurs!" Karma shouted after them.

"It's futile." Nagisa sighed. "Come on, let's go back. And when we sleep I'm gonna crash your futon."

Karma laughed and pecked Nagisa's cheek. "Anything for you, Nagisa-chan."

fin.