Marionette

Cosmos Chapter Thirty Three - Nigai [苦い]

The torture of study went more or less as Amaya had already expected. It was an almost endless barrage of pinching torture whenever she would get something horribly wrong, with just the minor errors resulting in a minor slap upside the head. Beyond that, it was tolerable in the sense that she was comprehending more than when Koro-sensei tried to forcefully cram everything into her head within one sitting.

How anyone could focus like that was beyond her.

She didn't recall when the torture had ended, or even how long she had been subjected to Karma's rather painful form of teaching. When she knew it was over, she was curled up in the egg-chair in the attic waking up to the alarm she had set on her phone for morning preparations.

While there was no sign of Karma anywhere in the house, this wasn't all that uncommon an occurrence. It was just eerie that he'd decided to disappear again when he'd made his ongoing, daily presence known ever since she'd been brought back from Berlin.

What was odd however was the fact that the couch was missing. There was no sign of it anywhere, as if the damn piece of furniture had disappeared along with the pain in the ass who complained incessantly about its presence. Amaya did nothing more than shake her head in dismay as she went about her morning routine.

'Where the hell did that jerk go...?' Amaya couldn't help but mutter as she watched her siblings all disappear out the door, her brow furrowing as she resumed the dishes.

'Miss me already, did you?' Karma's voice responded smugly, earning a yelp from Amaya as she found herself whirling around on her feet.

An entirely blank expression was fixed upon her face the very instance she spotted him wandering out of the bathroom in just a pair of pants as he dried his hair off. Needless to say, she found herself immediately regretting the decision as a vivid blush began to creep across her face, and turned her head away immediately.

'Not in the least.' Amaya denied as she adamantly kept her gaze averted back towards the dishes.

'Really?' His response came with jesting effect. 'Your face is red.'

'So what?!'

He said nothing, though she heard the amused hum that escaped him as he seemed to appraise her rather tense form at the sink.

She found herself praying over and over again that he would go away, or at the very least pull on a shirt to spare her any further mishaps in composure. There was only so long she could actually clean in the kitchen to keep her gaze averted without it being extremely pitiful.

However, when it really did seem like he'd wandered off to do as she was inwardly pleading, a sudden chill tore right down Amaya's spine as she heard the floorboards right behind her creak ever so slightly.

All of a sudden the rather jarring sensation of tickling ripped through Amaya's sides as if she'd just been shocked. The instant and rather involuntary crumbling towards laughter however didn't take hold of her. Instead, a tearing pain as sharp as glass ripped straight through her fingers as she practically jumped from the fright.

Amaya immediately dropped the knife she had been washing and squeezed her hand shut tightly as she felt herself turn rigid there at the sink, much to the evil incarnates confusion.

'Great...' Amaya hissed beneath her breath as she stared down at the red taint slowly seeping into the sink water.

It was that moment where she heard an exasperated breath escape Karma as he peered over her shoulder.