Yukiko Kazaki was the type of person that he had never been particularly close to. Something about her always ticked him off. Maybe because he's never a person who would care too much about what people think of him while she's the complete opposite of him. Even when she said she had changed, Karma thought that she's still being a complete goody-goody person. Either she hadn't changed or she's downright a person who's unable to do (or at the very least think of) something slightly horrible, he concluded.

"Ne, Kanzaki-san."

It was lunch break, and the room was soon filled with loud laughter from his classmates. Like usual, everybody was sitting with someone to eat their lunchbox, setting the nearest desks and chairs to accommodate them. He sat there on his seat with Nagisa sitting on his left and Yukiko sitting on his right. Kayano was, as always, sitting beside Nagisa while Sugino sat beside Yukiko and Okuda across him. Sugino was having argument with Kayano over the last episode of a TV show's that they both watched (Kayano smacked him a few times) and Nagisa and Okuda were both stammering and flustering trying to calm them down.

Yukiko turned to him, slightly surprised that he would talk to her. Despite being in the same circle of friends, they never really talked before. "Yes, Akabane-kun?"

"Some shrewed poet from class A was looking for you yesterday."

Judging from her unfazed face, Karma was pretty certain that they both had an idea of who that person might be. He didn't know the guy (he did know that the said person was amongst Asano's underling as he saw him a couple of times from his peripheral view everytime he met Asano).

Yukiko just laughed uncomfortably before bowing her head slightly in embarrassment. "A—Ah, sorry about that.. He never knows when to quit.."

"Sugino could learn one or two from him." He commented to no one in particular, a little bit wanting to know how she would react. It's not like everyone hadn't known about the baseball player's little crush on her anyway.

But her complete lack of reaction put him off right away.

If anything, he was sure that she deliberately ignored his last comment when she instead asked about where he met Sakakibara (Oh, that's his name?).

"I bumped into Asano and the rest of his gang after yesterday's opening ceremony. The guy was upset that he didn't get to see you." He twirled his rubber knife around his fingers,

Yukiko was about to apologize again when Karma leaned away on his seat. An ever-mocking smile was still present on his face. "Really, Kanzaki-san." He emphasized her name with somewhat of a mocking tone that only he could pull off. "If you're bothered with it, you should have told him off. I never knew you'd enjoy that kind of public attention."

The others were still engrossed with Sugino vs Kayano argument so none of them noticed slight change of tension in the air between their group.

Yukiko stared at him like he grew two heads right then and there, mouth slightly opened. Karma's golden eyes were still locked on hers, albeit for different reason, mouth smirking. He was waiting if she would take the bait and lash off, something that would certainly make his day.

Yukiko was the one who broke the silence though, head slightly leaned to her right. And of course she had toflash him that annoying smile of hers. "Why Akabane-kun, I never knew you care so much for my sake. I'm glad you consider me as your friend."

That was unexpected. "I don't."

"Then why?"

"I'm just bored." He still smirked. "You just happen to be there."

"Glad to make you entertained even for a while, then." With her soft smile that he's sure Sugino was willing to die for, Yukiko turned her head away from him and joined in the argument effortlessly, as if she's been listening on their bickering all this time

It's official.

He could never get along with people like her. Not only did she bore him off with her lack of reaction, her nature to stay calm as if his tauntings were nothing was unnerving.

They said Yukiko Kanzaki was this big-hearted girl who never had ill-intention but in his eyes, she was far more than that. If only she wanted to work on it, she could use her charm to enchant and seduce people. She was obviously nothing like Bitch-sensei or Yada-san, but she could still play the same card albeit different type of one.

Too bad she's too stupidly naive to use it for her own merits.

-o0o-

Yukiko was walking down the hall that evening. She had given Sugino and some of her classmates that she was closest with (namely Kayano, Okuda, and Nagisa) their share of Valentine chocolates when she saw Karma was walking toward her direction.

She never got annoyed by anyone, but if what she felt right now toward this certain classmate of hers could be called one, then it's her first time.

He slowed down, his mocking smirk was starting to grow, and that's when she knew this guy would start being unbearably teaser. For some reason, he seemed to like doing that to her in the past few weeks. "Ara, Kanzaki-san, fancy seeing you here. I see that you'd made Sugino's day today."

"Akabane-kun, happy Valentine to you too." She smiled, stopping to address him.

"He must be too ecstatic in receiving your chocolate that he didn't even realize yours was just a mere obligation chocolate." Karma mused.

"I wonder if that's the case." Well yes, it is an obligation chocolate but she felt like agreeing with Karma Akabane even for once would make him act more unbearable around her so she decided to play along. "It's not like I keep it a secret from him or act in any way to make him thinks differently, though."

He sighed dramatically. "You're too cruel, Kanzaki-san. Keep this up and you'll make him commit suicide from frustration." He taunted her, expecting it to hit her somewhere this time. Death has never been easy for human beings, she was no exception.

She lowered her eyes, her face showed some degree of guilt with troubled faint smile plastered on it as she was suddenly hit with shame and realization that such a possibility does indeed exist. "N—no way, everyone knows I'm not interested in dating someone right now..."

Does everyone really know? He doesn't.
But then again, it's not like he was keeping himself up-to-date with the newest gossip and juicy stories of his class members' so it's possible that he might miss things.

Wanting to change the subject, Yukiko caught a glimpse of a chocolate box in his hand and seemed to be brightened up a bit by the sight of it. "Oh my, Okuda-san gave you a chocolate? How nice!"

"This? Nah, it's just her experimenting with some chemicals. She said she wanted me to try it on and let her know how it is." He lifted his hand that held the chocolate box.

She clasped her hands with pure happiness. "Still, Akabane-kun, I bet you must be ecstatic to receive it."

"Not as much as Sugino, that's for sure." He smirked, again, determined to steer this conversation to her. He knew what she was trying to do here and hell be damned if he let himself got beaten in his own game. "I mean, banging his own head against a tree just for a chocolate? Man, that's hardcore."

Yukiko laughed with uneasiness in her tone. He was going to mention how a certain shrewed poet would jump off the building if he knew that the Yukiko Kanzaki gave a boy her homemade chocolate when he saw him rummaging through her bag, looking for something.

"Here, you can take this if you want to." She held an item in her right hand and extended it to him so that he could take a look of it.

"Ho, another obligation chocolate?" he eyed the perfectly wrapped chocolate box, so very Yukiko Kanzaki, he thought. "Can I ask why? We both know I'm the least person you like." He still accepted the chocolate though. Might as well need this if Okuda's went wrong, he reasoned.

She looked at the ceiling for a while, as if really pondering the question, before looking at him with her famous soft smile. "Let's just say you're the only person with whom I feel differently towards."

He knew what she clearly meant but he still couldn't help himself from teasing her. "Ara, Kanzaki-san, Sugino will definitely kill himself if he hears it, you know."

"He won't, the feeling is in a bad way."she countered, still with the smile. To some people who didn't know any better, it's as if she was merely complimenting him.

Karma laughed a little, clearly amused that she's not as kind-hearted as people would think. Her declaration that she had harbored some kind of annoyed feeling (or whatever bad feelings she was talking about) proved it. "Alright then, am I supposed to bang my head to the wall now?"

"That would be great, though I doubt it'll hurt you much,"

Even when she's annoyed, he noted that she still managed to laugh gracefully with one of her hands covered her mouth. Always the perfect manner, Karma smirked.

"Does Sugino know not only you're a masochist, you're such a sadist too, Kanzaki-san?"

"Akabane-kun, I honestly hope Okuda's chocolate chokes you out. "

They both laughed in unison.

By now, every class E students who were originally in class already stuck their heads out of the window, obviously wondering when and where their devil Karma and Class E madonna got along really well.

"Whoa, I never knew they're such good friends before..." Isogai mused out loud, watching the red-haired man and the raven-haired girl's interraction.

Sugino pumped his fist up, feeling proud for some reason. "Well duh, class rep, it's Kanzaki-san we're talking about here! Who wouldn't get along with her?"

"Err, I don't know about you, but I feel like there's something really, really wrong with this scene.." Maehara scratched his head, feeling weird watching how Karma, of all people, and Kanzaki laughed together but he couldn't pinpoint where exactly things went wrong.

I

f only they knew that Maehara was right for once.

_____________________________________
End chapter 1.