Project: Karma

37 | His Past

<Nagisa>
We sat silently for awhile in the archives and Koro-sensei started tearing out pages from his journals and handed them to me.

"What would you like to know?" He asked.

"Are the projects entirely artificial?" I leaned in closer. I looked over the papers and each of the projects files in my hands.

Koro-sensei scratched his head.

"Not necessarily, you could say 95% of them, but on the other hand I'm around 75%." He explained. "I'm a different case, as you figured out already."

"What makes up the other 5%?"

Koro-sensei slightly chuckled.

"Would it be cliche to say that what makes them 5% human is their hearts?"

"T-their hearts?"
I swallowed back. A rush of relief suddenly calmed me for some reason. It is cliche, yes, but the fact that it what keeps them from being monsters altogether.

"W-wait, when I read Project Itona's papers, it said that he was 80% artificial-"

"Ah, you read those too huh?" Koro-sensei sighed, "those were old documents and you just misunderstood. 5 years ago he was put under surgery for completion. He's just like the rest of them now, with Project Ritsu and Karma."

Well, that does make sense.

"What about Project: Death?" I questioned.

"Well, he's a whole other story. He was the first that I worked with and along side Irina who came later on. He was intentionally going to be partially artificial, however so many errors and malfunctions occurred. We ended up replacing the damages as it was the only option then."

"Are you saying that-"

"Yes indeed, he's 100% artificial. Having a heart and brain of his own was too dangerous, despite that he's overcome our alterations still." Koro-sensei didn't look pleased with his own words. "Honestly, he's getting out of hand. It's only a matter of time before we have to close down Project: Death."

"H-how do you do that?" I pestered.

"That, I can't tell you. I apologize but anything else can do." He tapped his fingers on the black clipboard.

"What about their memories?" Even if they're lost, I want to know if it is possible to get them back.

"Memories?" Koro-sensei scratched his head again. "Explain."

"Well. I was wondering if it was possible to attain them in some type of manner." I brought up.

"Nagisa, you don't understand do you?" Koro-sensei stood up and started fingering the spines of the old books on the shelf. He turned his head and looked at me. "Those memories of theirs, its better to have them not be brought back into their lives. There is no purpose." He explained.

I shook my head in disbelief to his words.

"But if-"

"You're doing this for Karma. It's one-sided and I'm quite disappointed in you. What will you achieve from this?" He crossed his arm and his eyes showed no pity.

He dipped down and took the papers from my hand and started ripping them to shreds.

"Besides, their memories shouldn't be tapped. All the Projects suffered distasteful deaths. I hope you know that we never kidnapped them, nor pried them away from their families. They were sent to us confidentially from the MD through the hospitals in Tokyo." He went on.

"May I ask how they died?" I started questioning my own motives. What will I accomplish? I felt really insecure at the moment and even tired myself.

Koro-sensei sighed and closed his eyes.

"Our dear Ritsu was found dead, floating about in Senzoku Pond. Itona was killed instantly in a car and truck collision. Death was shot point-blank in the skull. Your prize possession, Karma, his body was found at a bottom of a cliff. Possibly foul play and fell to his demise." Koro-sensei patted my shoulder.

They died young too.
Even though it was good to be informed about their ways of passage into the underworld, there was no reason. He was right. What good will come if they get their memories returned to them?

Koro-sensei walked towards the door and turned the knob. He didn't fully turn his body around, he just spoke.

"It's time to go home, wouldn't you say Nagisa?" He left first and closed the door behind him. Leaving a trail of torn paper.
••••••
What had gone wrong? That I, Nagisa Shiota would not follow the words of one of my superiors? It was interesting how I could just ignore his suggestions about leaving. In the end, I couldn't just leave.

I snuck into the Project Karma department and scanned my ID at the lab door. It was in my favor that none of the sensors went off as I did so.

"Karma." I whispered about as I turned on the laboratory lights.

"N-nagisa?!" Karma scurried over to the dome wall. He pressed his hands against it. "Are you alright? W-wait! It's 2am, what are you doing here?!" He questioned.

"Long story for another time." I slightly giggled. "I'm fine, thanks for the concern."

"That's-." Karma face palmed. "I was so worried. Thank goodness you're alright." He laid his head against the glass.

I tapped my forehead against the glass where his forehead was and stayed there. I could feel heat from the other side. He looked into my eyes as I looked into his. Such wonder and life that I wanted to explore.

"Karma." I called his name.

"Yes Nagisa?"

"If I could make it possible, would you like to regain your previous memories, prior to becoming a subject?" I asked.

"Huh? Regain my memories?" He repeated with a confused expression.

"Yeah, would you be willing to-"

"No." He flat out rejected. "Even if I said I was willing to before. I'm sorry Nagisa, I don't know think I'll like it."

I froze for a second and saw the answer in his gaze. Why did he look so sure that he didn't want to know what his previous life was? I took a step back away from the glass.

"Why?" I could feel myself emotionally unstable. Wouldn't it be best to know?

"The past is the past Nagisa. I can't just waltz back to that kind of life freely. It would be painful for me. To know what freedoms I had before but be confined as an animal." He explained.

He didn't look like he could be swayed by his final decision. I want to change that.

"If I can surgically rewire your brain I can-"

"No Nagisa, please stop." Karma interrupted me. "I can't afford to have you lose your federal license and job because of me. My one-sided desires to become human again."

What are you saying? Karma, you don't understand the situation. What I do is for our sake, I want to make you happy. I want us to be happy. Why don't you want your memories back? The memories of us?

<Karma>
I saw Nagisa clenching both her fists, resting on the side of her body. The innocent tears that rolled down her soft cheeks.

"Nagisa-"

She wiped her face with her sleeve and sniffled. She looked at me with such a despondent expression and frowned.

"Do you not want to remember the time we met?"