Nurufufufu… I, the sensei of Class 3-E, have collected enough information on the class couples to compile into a realistic novel. Ah, how endearing it is to see young love!

Author's Note:

Karma's family was never explored much in the manga, so I had writing this in mind because I wanted to read more about his family.

A Scarlet Christmas

~Part 1~

"Mom? Dad?" A red-haired boy slowly gazed around the dark living room until his eyes set on a small scrap of paper taped to the table.

"To Karma-chan from Mommy. We're going to California! Mom and Dad will try to get back by Christmas, so behave yourself and don't run away like last time!"

"Tch. They said they would stay…" The boy gave a hopeful glance towards the dark doorway before crumpling the paper and throwing it in the trash can.

Karma Akabane was staring out the window. Koro-sensei, the huge yellow octopus-like creature, was teaching a boring math problem that he could finish in 10 seconds. This was annoying. Why was he thinking of that memory that he decided to bury deep in his mind?

"Ah, it seems that someone is not paying attention…" Something prodded at Karma's shoulder. He immediately pulled out an Anti-Sensei knife and tried to stab it. Koro-sensei withdrew the tentacle in alarm. "Karma-kun! Did sensei do something? Oh no, my student is –"

"Shut up, octopus." Koro-sensei started wiping tears. Karma himself didn't know why he bothered to get angry with his teacher. Must've been the annoying flashback he had earlier. "I'm leaving." Karma swung his bag on his shoulder and sauntered out the door before Koro-sensei could stop him. He wouldn't have anyway, because he was still dramatically wiping tears.

"Um, can you stop it, Koro-sensei? It's delaying class." Okano's statement made Koro-sensei stop and return to the problem reluctantly.

School was out, but Koro-sensei blocked the door, not allowing anyone to exit.

"What are you doing?" "Let us out!" and other shouts came from the students.

"Oh calm down everyone. Sensei just has a plan in mind." The class quieted down when they saw Koro-sensei's expression. "I have created a slideshow to make this easier for everyone to understand. Ritsu, please project the file onto this screen that I have bought." "Hai sensei!" Ritsu started reading out numbers, and an image emerged on the screen that Koro-sensei prepared.

"Operation Christmas!" appeared in big red letters on the board as pixel snowflakes floated down.

Murmurs started in the class, and Koro-sensei started speaking. "As you can see, Christmas and Karma-kun's birthday is approaching in a few days, followed by winter break. Sensei wants to make this time fun for you, so we are planning a party!" Koro-sensei flew out at Mach 20 speed and came back in a Santa suit.

"Cut it out! I want to know what's next." Even Terasaka looked interested.

The slide changed to one with a huge picture of Karma on it. Except that his usual grin wasn't there. In its place was a frown. "Sensei has noticed that Karma-kun wasn't particularly paying attention or playing pranks lately. So, I had devoted a day to recording Karma-kun's doings."

"That's so creepy. Are you stalking us?" Toka Yada eyed Koro-sensei suspiciously.

"No! Sensei is not stalking any of you! Now, I've discovered that he talks to himself recently. Examples are 'India, huh.'and 'Why do I keep thinking of that day?'"

"With an in-depth study with Nagisa-kun…" All eyes went to Nagisa, who seemed to shrink in his chair. "Sensei has deduced that Karma-kun is a very lonely child!"

"Hah?" Everyone's faces looked confused. "Him, a lonely child? No way." Terasaka was laughing.

"Um, excuse me?" A small trembling hand was raised, and the class stared at a nervous Manami Okuda. "I think what sensei said is true. Lately, when we stay after school to make chemicals, Karma-kun seems really distracted, and he doesn't seem to be listening whenever I started one of my long chemistry lectures. He usually does, and that's so nice of him…" Okuda stopped talking as she realized the class was staring at Koro-sensei, whose face was bright pink. He was jotting down things in his 'Student Data- Boys & Girls' notebook and everyone knew what section he was in.

"Ah, please continue, Okuda-san." The pink sensei quickly switched back to a normal yellow grin and hid his notebook. "Um, that's all." Koro-sensei switched to a next slide, which was a picture of a little boy who looked exactly like Karma. Or you could say that he was Karma. "Awww…" The girls were won over with the little grin on the small round face. "Sensei has done extensive research and concluded that Karma's parents are rich. They love to travel around the world, and he was often left alone as soon as they deemed him old enough. That is further evidence for sensei's observation that he is lonely. So, as a remedy to this result of neglect, we will do a surprise birthday party!" Koro-sensei waved his tentacles around in excitement.

"Is that all? You called this Operation Christmas, but talked about nothing but Karma-kun for the past 10 minutes," Isogai raised his hand. Koro-sensei nodded. "I am always concerned about my students. Now, we need someone to send Karma his homework and get a look at his house." Kayano raised her hand. "I vote Okuda!" "I say Nagisa," Nakamura raised her hand too. Koro-sensei paused for a while and considered. "Nurufufufu… How about both?" Everyone agreed that Nagisa and Okuda were by far the closest to Karma, and they would deliver the missed work.

"So, Nagisa-kun has known Karma-kun since 7th grade?" Okuda and Nagisa were walking to Karma's house, holding the bag of homework. "Yeah. He was pretty popular, but nobody really got close to him because of all of his behavorial issues. You're probably his first girlfriend." Okuda reddened. "Oh, I don't mean that kind of girlfriend. I mean like a female friend," Nagisa found talking to Okuda somewhat hard. He didn't know her that well, anyway.

They stayed silent for the rest of the trip until they reached Karma's house. It was large, but dark. Nagisa rang the doorbell, and Karma answered. "Hi, Nagisa-kun and Okuda-san. Are you giving me the homework?"

"How did you know?" It's predictable. The octopus never lets his students miss any work." Nagisa glanced at Okuda, and she took the signal. "Um, Karma-kun? Can we come in and look at your house? I've never seen it before, so I'm a little curious…" Okuda's voice started to fade away as she saw Karma's eyes narrow. "Sure. You guys can explain the homework to me." He held the door open for them, and they went in. "Wow, it is big!" Okuda looked around the spacious house. "The bigger it is, the more maintenance it needs. I don't get why my parents bought such a big house if they're never even home."

Okuda leaned over to Nagisa and whispered in his ear. "Don't you think one of us should check out the house while one of us goes with Karma?" Nagisa agreed, and they quickly continued walking when they saw Karma staring at them.

"Say, Karma-kun, I've always wanted to look at your books. Can I?"

Karma nodded, and Nagisa glanced at Okuda as a signal.

Karma and Okuda walked on as they entered his room. It looked pretty normal, except that there were so many things placed there. Painted elephants, amber jewelry, Russian lacquer boxes…

"Where did you get these?" Okuda placed the homework on Karma's desk. "My parents go out traveling and come back with suitcases full of souvenirs. These are just some of them." Okuda gazed at a small amber stone with an insect in it. "What's that?" "It's a planthopper. You can have it if you want."

"Really?"

"That is, you'll have to make some more chemicals for me. I bought that one myself."

"Of course I'll make more! You don't have to ask."

However, Okuda felt some coldness from Karma. Did she do anything to aggravate him?

"Here." Karma tossed it to her carelessly, and Okuda lunged forward to keep it from falling. Karma chuckled. "Okuda-san isn't very good at physical things, aren't you?" Okuda felt the usual Karma again, and decided to ignore that thought she had earlier.

Nagisa finished "reading" and they parted ways to go home.