Marionette

Oceans, Chapter Four - Mou Ikkai [もう 一回]

If there was anything in the world that Katsuragi Amaya was certain of, then it was just one thing:

Karma had obviously done something to make Kunugigaoka angry.

There was no way that Amaya could figure out what he did, and she had honestly tried as hard as she could.

About the only thing Amaya could find out through the hissing rumor-mill of the Student Body was that Karma had managed to get himself suspended - And she only learned that upon receiving her last written warning of the school year.

In regards to Amaya's own placement in Class C for her final year at Kunugigaoka, Amaya came to the assumptive understanding that her placement in Class 2-D was purely to put as much distance between herself and Karma as possible. Her scores were the same as they always were, no different from normal.

That was the only reason she would be put in Class C all of a sudden - With Karma ostracised to the so called Satelite Campus, there was no need to keep Amaya in the lower grade.

Either that, or they decided to just maintain the space in grades in just the opposite direction.

It was after three days worth of maintaining an irregularly perfect class attendance that Amaya just gave up and stopped coming to school altogether. The Student Body of Kunugigaoka were all hyper aware of her presence the whole time, and weirdly enough every student had a case of lock-jaw whenever they'd so much as think she was nearby. No amount of unpleasant confrontations seemed to loosen their tongues, either. Her attempts at asking very nicely didn't work, either - In fact, being nice seemed to make matters worse for her. It was only after receiving her newest written warning from the current Student Council President, Amaya decided that she really should stop pestering the students.

Not that getting suspended herself was a problem - She was beyond caring about it.

Ever since she found out about Karma's suspension, Amaya had made regular attempts at reaching out to Karma.

She had no idea if it was even working - Not only had she not seen Karma in what was just under three weeks, but she had no idea if he even noticed anything.

Every afternoon, just before sunset, Amaya made the walk across the street with snacks in hand, took the elevator up to floor 9, and would stand at that same door and call out to Karma, each time expecting to be ignored despite how much she hoped he would answer. She would stand at his door for what felt like half an hour, until eventually she had to go back home to cook dinner for Yuta and Reiko.

She'd always leave whatever she'd brought hanging from the doorhandle, and every time she went back, they were gone. So she knew Karma was at least coming and going every day. Whether he threw the snacks away, or actually took them was another thing.

There were times where she'd stand there, and she'd hear movement from inside, or she'd hear the television set playing ever so faintly. These were the times where she knew he was ignoring her, whether on purpose or subconsciously, she didn't know. At least on the days where there was no sounds inside, Amaya didn't feel so invisible - She could actually believe that on those days, Karma just wasn't home right now.

She understood that she was probably being annoying, clingy even.

But in her head, she at least wanted him to know that despite what he'd said, she still cared enough to try and make sure he was alright.

Whether he picked up on it or not didn't matter.

She at least tried.

But then again, something had to give.