Deadly One

Chapter XXVII: Discord Time (Edited)

The same day Korosensei had told 3E of his true past, Emiko and Karma returned home in silence- while he had tried to spark conversations with her, she was very clearly not in the mood to talk...

Emiko herself was still finding it difficult to wrap her head around the fact that the yellow octopus she'd been assigned to kill— was the same Ryushi Korogsne, the same one from her childhood. The same one who she used to see on a near day-to-day basis.

'How is that possible...?' She thought of almost every possible she could conjure at that moment, she had seen him die when she was twelve. She was sure of that. Had Yanagisawa brought him back somehow? She didn't know, 'No' she shut the idea down, 'Maybe Ryushi hadn't died, maybe his apprentice betrayed him and Yanagisawa took him away?' It wasn't a difficult theory to believe, she'd never liked his apprentice from the time that she had first heard of him. But another issue was- why didn't she look deeper into the name Reaper when a new one had appeared so shortly after Ryushi's incident?

'What if Ryushi was tormented and turned into that monster octopus he is now, all while I had turned a blind eye and chose not to question things when I was told that he was gone?' Emiko bit her lip, a frown evident on her expression as her brows furrowed in irritation, 'Other than Oneesan and Lovro sensei, Ryushi was the closest thing to home for me, he knew me since I was born, he knew both my parents and was really close to them. But now I find out that the Octopus is him when I was told that he was dead? Agh, this thinking hurts.' She let out a heavy sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose, 'Let me get this straight, The Octopus is Ryushi Korogane who used to be my father's best friend and has known me since I was born, Ryushi was the second closest thing to family besides my real parents. So doesn't that technically make the Octopus my family? But then—'

"Emiko!!" His alerted voice snapped her out of her thought process and put her full attention on him. Karma sighed. "I've been calling your name for the last five minutes"

"Oh," She cleared her throat, "What?"

"You've been all out of it and muttering and sighing heavily since we left school. What's wrong?" His voice was laced with concern, and if it weren't for the situation, maybe she would've picked up on it...

She shook her head, muttering incoherently as she moved to walk past him. He grabbed her by the shoulders and gave her a hard, intense look.

She sighed, "Seriously, it's nothing" Karma just continued to stare at her, not accepting her response. Emiko stepped closer to him, leaning her head on his shoulder, "Just tired is all"

"Then let's get you to bed" She let out a low hum as they approached his room.

---

A few hours had passed and Emiko was still yet to fall asleep. Karma has long fallen asleep in his own bed as she laid on the floor- after strong protests from the redhead and him consequently losing the debate, wide awake. She stared up blankly at the ceiling as her thoughts continued to race on about Ryushi. She heaved a sigh, running her hand down her face as she thought about him, there was no possible way she could face him normally... what would she say? 'Oh hey, my name is Emiko Mizuki. You've known me since I was a baby because you were my father's friend before he got killed' She sat up with another sigh as she tugged at her hair in frustration.

'I can't sleep like this' Silently getting to her feet, Emiko left Karma's room, gently shutting the door behind her as she went to the living room, ready to pull an all-nighter...

A few hours later...

"Emi..?"

Looking up from the piles of papers sent by Lovro stacked in front of her, Emiko watched as she saw Karma standing in the doorway with a sleepy look as he rubbed his eyes.