Disclaimer: This story belongs to Saiken-chan, who wrote the original version in French and so generously gave me the permission to translate her wonderful story into English. I'm just a humble translator. Assassination Classroom belongs to Matsui-sensei.

Sorry for those who are waiting for the update of my other fanfic, Koi no Kakera. This translation was done a while ago, it was actually after translating this story that I got more motivation to start writing a Karmanami fanfic of my own, which was the start of Koi no Kakera. Even if I thought that I would be able to update the third chapter sooner, I didn't have much time this week to sit down and write because of an anime convention in my town which I am part of the staff team. I'll try to update as soon as I can. Thank you for your patience!

"I'm home…" mumbled almost mechanically Karma while taking off his shoes at the doorstep.

However, he was obviously only answered by the echo of his own voice, which made him sigh in irritation. Since when he didn't see his own parents? Two months? No, surely longer than that. How many kilometers from Japan were they now, he wondered?

Tiredly, he ran a hand through his flaming red hair and slowly climbed the stairs to his room, throwing his schoolbag all the way through the room and finally landed heavily on his bed. Today was particularly tiring, because exceptionally, he didn't skip the PE class and Karasuma-sensei obliged the whole class to run twice more than usual. That will definitely teach him to not try playing model students next time.

A small buzz sound from his bag reminded him that his phone was inside, prompting the red head to mentally chided himself for forgetting that fact and sent the bag flying that far. Karma half ran immediately to the bag's direction to see if his phone was still functioning correctly after being thrown like that along with the bag, and, while opening it, almost – almost, because it certain wasn't a Karma's thing to do, shouted with terror.

One day…

Here it was, a sort of figurine whose hands seem to be practically grasping at his phone; and, even though Karma was a big fan of anime and video games, he couldn't recognize the character of the said figurine. It was a girl, probably a teenager judging from her school uniform, with jet black hair neatly plaited into two braids. Her face, almost sticking to his phone, was hidden from Karma's view. It must probably have been Fuwa or Takebayashi who left it here by accident and forgot it…

As the red head prankster was thinking of calling these two otaku to ask them about it, he was reminded of the reason why he opened his bag in the first place. Karma then quickly made an attempt to take the figurine and move it from his phone. Surprisingly, he wasn't able to shift it even one inch and swore that he even saw its hands clutching tightly on his cell phone for one moment.

It was at this moment that Karma's ears deciphered, for the first time, a weak, but definitely audible, breathing sound. He understood right there and then what was happening.

The figurine was alive.

Aside from his intrigue directed to this new piece of information that he just processed, Karma was, unsurprisingly, not scared at all. His teacher was, after all, a yellow monster with tentacles who was trying to destroy the Earth in some months-time. What else was there to be scared about?

"Euh…Excuse me, I kinda need my phone for now. Can you release it?" Karma immediately felt ridiculous after saying that. However, the small figurine seemed to react to his voice and turned her head in his direction, allowing Karma to take a glimpse at her face. And there he saw them, familiar large round amethyst eyes behind a pair of glasses. Raising his eyebrows ever so slightly, the red head delinquent intently observed her every movements, as she was trying to stand up from the black screen of his phone.

"O-Okuda-san?" exhaled Karma hesitantly.

…I found Okuda Manami in my bag.

The said girl jumped slightly before turning completely towards him, and Karma could see that usual shy and innocent expression on his class neighbor which he had the privilege to look at every single day. His doubts were finally answered when her tiny but clear voice resonated near him.

"Euh… Karma-kun?"

He saw her quickly adjusting her glasses, which were getting loose near the tip of her nose. Now that he thought about it… it was true that the bespectacled chemist didn't assist in the last two hours of classes yesterday… What in the world happened that made her shrink to this mini-size?

"I-I… Euh… It's kinda long to explain…" stuttered Manami while nervously playing with the hem of her skirt.

Karma gave her a small amused smile, unlike the usual smirk that he showed to other classmates while playing pranks on them, and held out his palm towards the small girl as if inviting her to jump on it, which she did spontaneously. The prankster grasped his phone with his other hand. The chemistry-lover was surprisingly light, even for a figurine size. Karma unconsciously thought that he could very well break her with his fingers or dropped her to the ground if he wanted to, surprising himself. Wasn't she scared that this could happen to her in presence of an infamous delinquent such as himself? How could she have trusted a guy who everyone feared for his violence?

Manami threw him an interrogative look when she realized that he stopped after each three small steps while walking towards his bed. No trace of fear though, could be seen on her petite face. What could she be thinking of right now? Shouldn't she be more afraid of him and of her current situation? The red head chanted in his mind, as if wanting to convince her to fear him because he himself didn't think highly of the violent person that he was.

"I can hurt or even kill you, you know." said Karma in a monotone voice.

Yes, I can kill you. I can crush you under my feet or break you in my hands. I can drown you in a glass of water or dropped you on the ground. I can…

"You won't be able to, Karma-kun." declared Manami in a determined voice.

The scarlet-haired prankster quickly closed his eyes and exhaled slowly, as if trying to hide his surprised expression from the raven-haired chemist. His closed eyes couldn't see the tender smile that the young girl was showing him, neither did he see her own eyes softened while her face relaxed considerably.

"People say that you are violent, but you always have a good reason to resort to that point. You defend your own beliefs and don't let people trample over who you are… I find that really admirable." breathed Manami softly.

When Karma finally opened his eyes, he saw all of that. Her smile, the determined shine in her eyes, as well as her gentle expression that is directed towards him and only him… This was the same shy girl who was wary of approaching others because of her self-presumed trouble with words and expressions, yet bravely and straightforwardly showed her honest appreciation towards someone chastised by others, even by himself. His lips curved upwards to form a small smile of his own.

A small, but genuine smile.

"Can you now explain to me how you found yourself in this predicament?" teased Karma while his smile transformed into a smirk.

"Umm…I…I was searching for another way to kill Koro-sensei and…euh...I thought that it would be a good idea to hide myself in his stuffs, so I created a chemical solution that made me…Basically, you see what I'm trying to say right…"

The delinquent and the chemist looked at each other in the eyes, with Manami trying to hold her own against Karma's intense gaze.

"Okuda. You have to marry me."

He enjoyed how the blood slowly but surely rushed to her round cheeks, giving her a natural blush. She kinda squirmed nervously while playing with her fingers; her whole reaction was so adorable that it squeezed Karma's heart in ways that no one was ever able to before.

"I was joking, laughed the red head, but I still think that you have to help me accomplish my pranks, your potions are perfect for this!"

"Uhm…I don't think that…"

"But yes! Definitely!"

And so, Karma couldn't tell how much time he spent afterwards to chat away with a mini version of Okuda Manami in the palm of his hand. Koro-sensei said that this girl had a lot of difficulties to express herself by words, but seeing the way she explained to him how she fabricated her potion with a radiant smile on her lips, he couldn't help but disagree with their octopus teacher. Now that he thought about it, the raven-haired chemist was the easiest girl to talk to in the whole class – Nakamura didn't count because they merely shared the same teasing tendency. With Manami, he discovered another side of himself that he never thought existed: a tender gentleness as well as a vulnerable insecurity by moments, which he would never dared to show to any other person.

The sun was just starting to descend into the horizon when he saw her yawning slightly while stretching herself a little bit. Karma wondered how a similar discussion and such complicity could have taken place between them if they remained simple classmates in their assassination classroom and talked for some minutes in between breaks and lunch times, and what would happen if this small incident didn't take place.

He decided that he couldn't have been more grateful for this opportunity to get to know the bespectacled girl better.

"But tell me, Okuda…" asked Karma after a while.

"Yes?"

"You told me that you wanted to infiltrate in Koro-sensei's stuffs for the assassination plan right? So how was it that you finally ended in my bag then?"

There was a moment of silence, then Manami lowered her head as if trying to hide her face from Karma – a gesture that didn't go unnoticed by the boy, who gently took her hand and raised it above her face to take a good look at it. A small chuckle escaped his lips when he saw the full-blown blush adorning her cute face and her futile attempt to look at everywhere but him.

"Cats got your tongue?" teased Karma slyly.

He had no doubts that if her face could get any redder, it would be right at that moment.

"N-No! It was because…uhm…" started Manami.

"Yes…?"

The shy chemist mumbled inaudible words while playing with the hem of her skirt, and when the young man wanted to push further by telling her that he didn't hear anything, she blurted out as loud as she could:

"I fell inside your bag by accident!"

It was immensely adorable. His laugh resonated once again in the room, this time even more genuine and less teasing than the first time. It has been so long since he could laugh like that. He couldn't remember the last time that he felt as contented as this. All the stress, frustration, fatigue and disappointment that he experienced in regards to his former teachers who betrayed him as well as the assassination tasks seemed to fly away and left his mind lighter than ever. He didn't have to be on guard at all in front of this innocent girl, something that he wasn't able to do with anyone else. The negative feelings would undoubtedly return afterwards, but that didn't matter, because he was happy right at that every moment.

"By the way, what did you tell your parents?" asked Karma while still reeling in the contented feeling that this girl incited in him.

"Uhm…that I will spend the night with a friend…" answered Manami. Kayano-chan said that she will cover for me just in case…"

"Kayano, hein…And now that you missed your chance to assassinate that octopus, you will drink the antidote?"

Another moment of silence. The young maiden covered her face with her small hands before whispering:

"I forgot it in my locker…"

Her voice sounded almost teary, and the teasing side of Karma made a full comeback at this.

"You will have to sleep here, then!" exclaimed the boy a little too excitedly.

And, when the night fell and moonlight illuminated the dark sky, Karma was so happy that Manami stayed the night because of her forgetfulness that he couldn't sleep at first. Only hours afterwards that he was lulled into dreamland by the sound of Manami's even breaths mixed with his.