The afternoon was warm and golden, and rays of sunlight streamed inside the diner. The two occupants at the window-seat, one with red hair and one with blue, enjoyed the full benefits of it as they ate their lunches and talked.

Nagisa closed his notebook. "That's all I really have to so far with Korosensei."

"All of it?" Karma's tone was teasing. "I'm disappointed, Nagisa. I thought you'd have a lot more scandalous details in there."

On the outside, everything had changed. Both of them had fallen into the infamous and presumably hopeless E Class. Nagisa was once again back at the receiving end of bullies' hurtful remarks, if not attacks, and the once star student Karma Akabane was just days back from his humiliating suspension.

A closer look, though, painted a different picture. They were having lunch together, same as they've done for the majority of the past three years, and the unconditional acceptance they both felt and gave hadn't yet changed.

Nagisa gave Karma a wry smile. "I'm not sure I want to give you any more details, after what you did with what I gave you last time."

"What, jumping to my death?"

"Yes!"

Karma sipped his strawberry juice. "That's the pot calling the kettle back."

"What does that mean?"

"It's an English expression, and it means," he said, his eyes turning serious, "you shouldn't strap a bomb to yourself and risk your life just because someone says so."

Nagisa bit his lip. "You heard about that, huh?"

"Yeah. Listen, I'm sorry I haven't been there for-"

"You don't have to be sorry, Karma," Nagisa said quickly. "It wasn't your fault. It was a bad time, that's all, but Korosensei made it a lot better. And hey, you're here now."

"True," the red-head said, returning the blunette's smile. "So, enough about the octopus. How have you been in my torturously long absence? Inconsolable, I'm sure."

The two misfits talked and talked until the blue sky outside turned dark, and the sun was replaced by the forever crescent-shaped moon. The diner's owner had to chase them out when closing time came; but who could blame them, really? They were old friends, after all.

And they had a lot of catching up to do.