Chapter 8

A new student joined the class. Not exactly a student but AIFA, Autonomous Intelligence Fixed Artillery programmed to kill Koro. But he didn't flinch from the position of a teacher. He fixed her and even added programs that can help her make friends. The class accepted her pretty quickly, and gave her a new name - Ritsu.

Other than that nothing more eventful happened after they came back from their field trip. More like, Y/N avoided discussing about it. Rio knew that something happened that changed her attitude towards Karma, but she didn't press her much to talk about it. Well, okay she did force her a little bit but Y/N said that it wasn't a big deal. And she's wise enough to change her attitude.

After the trip, Y/N didn't exactly avoid Karma. No, it would give away the fact that she knows about him and who he likes. So she acted the way she usually did with him, except now she didn't hope for more.

But well, she acted the same way. Didn't have to do that before.

During lunch, she used to come earlier in class to spend more time with him. Now that was of no use.

"Hey cherry," Karma said sitting on her desk.

"Hey?" Y/N said, "What's up?"

"What's up?" Karma smirked and moved closer to her face, "I don't know, you tell me."

Even if she acted like friends, she couldn't help but feel for him. It's not like her feelings for him would go away instantly. She still blushed when he called her cherry.

Just friends.

Y/N didn't say anything about it . "Move, the teacher is gonna be here."

During the P.E. period, Rio pulled her aside to talk about it in the changing room. It was painful to watch her best friend struggle that way. She couldn't just stand and watch it.

"Seriously Y/N," Rio said, "Talk about it. I know you'll be fine but...you're not your usual self."

Y/N sighed. It would lessen the burden of carrying it all alone. "Okay, but promise me you won't lash out."

Rio said, "I'll think about it."

"No please, I want to handle it on my own. So just..."

"Fine," Rio sighed, "I won't."

"During the trip, I heard something...I mean, I didn't mean to pry but I was passing by the boy's room and I heard Karma say something."

"....that he prefers Okuda?"

Y/N whipped her head towards Rio, eyes wide and asked, "You know about it?"

"Yeah, I talked with the boys. They wanted information about who liked who, and I wanted information in return."

"Wait! Why would you-"

"I said we all preferred Karasuma sensei. It's not a lie," Rio sneered.

Y/N chuckled and shook her head, "Gosh, you really are evil."

"Not as much as Karma though. The girls weren't lying when they said he's a psycho."

"Hey, he's nice once you get to know him."

"...that's what Okuda said too."

Y/N fidgeted and stuttered, ""Well...good for them."

"What? You really won't care if they started dating?"

"Come on you know me. It would bother me but...I won't interfere."

"In other words you would ignore him, right? I don't see you do that to him now."

"Yeah, that's my last resort and it worked everytime. Karma isn't at fault here. I just...took it all seriously."

"Isn't at fault?! Dude he's flirting with you! How is that not a signal?!"

"I don't know okay?!" Y/N shouted, and cleared her throat when the other girls looked at them.

"What are you gonna do about it? Cause if you don't I will."

"You promised me that you won't lash out."

"Well I promised to be in Top 50 but things change!"

"I would too, if you do break the promise."

"Why are you even protecting him? He doesn't need that shit! He probably doesn't even care!"

"I'm not protecting him, but protecting our friendship. I don't want to break our bond in all these stupid stuffs."

"Fuck you," Rio sighed, "Fine. But don't stop me if I want to keep you to myself."

"I won't," Y/N laughed.

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After their P.E. class, the students went back to their classes. Karma did notice the change and he wondered what happened in the trip that made her like this. Was it because of scolding her back there? No, she wasn't so petty..right?

He walked and sat down on her desk. "Hey, you wanna go work for your maths homework tomorrow?"

He looked at her, no stared at her intensely. It was obvious he wanted a yes, and Y/N didn't...couldn't say no to him. They were still friends.

"Yeah, sorry we have plans," Rio said, keeping a hand on her shoulder.

"I didn't ask you though." Karma's voice sounded rude, "I asked you, cherry."

Y/N averted her eyes and said, "Sorry we have plans."

"For what?"

"Movies and then sleepover. Don't be annoying Karma," Rio said displaying her signature sarcastic smile.

The door opened and Koro came in. Both of them went back to their seats.

Y/N sighed. The tension in the air was suffocating. Karma saw through her, didn't he?

___________________________________

The day was over, and it felt exhausting to act like everything's fine. Y/N just wanted to go home and sleep. Before Karma and Nagisa could catch up to her, she wanted to leave. But something stopped her. Ofcourse.

"Y/N?"

Karma called her by her name. She looked back at him, but he didn't have his usual smirk.

"Care to join me and Nagisa to watch Sonic Ninja? Koro sensei will take us."

Y/N looked at the ground and said, "I'm really tired Karma. Maybe another day."

She was about to leave when he stopped her by holding her arm.

"I'm not stupid," he sighed and rubbed his forehead, "What I'm saying is, if you have a problem, talk about it instead of acting like a coward."

Y/N couldn't look at him. It would annoy him if she told about it. It was a private discussion and she was the one prying. But she knew, eventually they have to talk about it. "It's nothing," she replied, "alright bye."

Karma watched her leave, with her head hanging down. She was looking at the ground again. He could remember the last time she walked this way. When those other sections were bullying Nagisa, right?

But, all of this wasn't useless. Karma got his usual smirk on his face.

"Y/N is a terrible liar."