Shiver{KarmaxReader}

The Truth

I'd never seen Karma so nervous after that night. If someone spoke about anything to do with me, he either walked out of the room, or zoned out.

It was different.

It wasn't him.

"Annabelle? Are you okay?" Okuda stepped in front of my desk and I smiled quickly. "Yeah, I'm fine!" I stood up and glanced at Karma's desk, he wasn't there. "Hm? Annabelle?" Okuda gently placed her hand on my wrist and I shook her off. "Sorry, I gotta go somewhere." Okuda frowned slightly but let me leave the room on my own without pushing it. I wanted to find Karma, and I knew where he probably already was.

As I stepped from each branch in the forest of trees, it was calming to listen to birds, or other animals that had made their habitat deep in the forest. Eventually, I saw Karma hanging upside down picking at a flower, talking to himself quietly. "Karma?" I leaped across a tree and stood beside him as he pulled himself right side up. "Ah, h-hey what's up?" He flashed a smile and I sighed. He was hiding something... "Nothing much, I just wanted to see where you were." I made eye contact for a second but Karma looked away too quickly.

It was clear there was tension in the air, but I couldn't tell why. "Ah, I-I guess I just got bored of class. Haha." Karma didn't look at me when he spoke. "Hey, y'know you can tell me anything. We're like best friends." The red head smiled back at me quickly but looked away and sighed. "Karma..." I moved my hand out towards Karma to hold his hand but the thought of that made me turn red. "Hm? What, you wanna hold my hand?" Karma smirked and eyed me down playfully. "I-uh well, n-no I was just...you look sad is all and I-"

"It's fine, I was kidding." Karma stood up on the same branch as me and looked past me. "Ah the others might be wondering where we are..." He tried to step past me but I lost balance and wobbled off the branch. "Ah-" I threw my arm in front of me but there was nothing to hold onto except Karma himself. He threw his hand towards me and latched onto my wrist and pulled me towards him but the force of me falling was too much.

When I landed on the floor, Karma was laying on top of me in agony. "Ow..." He lifted himself up and looked me in the eye. "Are- you okay?" I flinched when I noticed how close Karma was to my face, and I burned up. "Ah, y-yes." I looked away from Karma and he stiffened. "O-oh! R-right let me-let me just...get up." Karma stood up and shoved his hands in his pockets quickly. "W-well, I-I should get to class...then." He hesitated from moving at first but then he turned himself around quickly and started walking. "Ah, w-wait!" I grabbed onto Karma's wrist and stopped him from walking. "I-I wanted to say..." I wasn't looking him in the eye, I was looking at my feet. "I-I really e-enjoy your...company...Karma." I felt my face turn red and I let my arms hang down next to my torso.

"Thanks. I like my company too." When I looked back up, Karma was walking away casually. I waited for him to get further away before starting to head back to class as well.

I walked into the room a minute or two after Karma. "Oh, you're back Annabelle!" Okuda smiled and waved to me from the other side of the room. I flashed a smile and sat back at my seat, waiting for class to begin. Karma was staring at me confusingly. "Are you right there?" I turned my head towards him and he sat up straight. "Y-yeah, I just...wanted your attention is all." He pouted and I looked around. There weren't many people around at the moment. "So, Karma?" I watched the red head scramble through his bag before pulling out a strawberry milk out.

"Yeah?" He leaned back on his chair and stuck the straw in his milk carton. "I-I wanted to know..if you've gone home recently." I watched Karma turn slightly pale and he stopped drinking his milk. "I- yeah." He stopped rocking on his chair and looked down at his desk. "Yeah, I have." I narrowed my eyes to him and noticed his expression, he looked...scared. "Ah, you don't have to talk about anything you don't want to I just wanted to know about that...night when- "

Karma swallowed and slammed his hands on the desk as he stood up. His chair fell over behind him. "I need to go." He held his stomach and mouth simultaneously as he sped out of the room, causing a scene. "W-wait! Karma!" I stood up as well, but I didn't follow.

Nagisa walked over calmly and looked at me softly, "What was that about?" I sighed to myself and looked down at my desk. "I-I don't know." I lied.

I did know. Well, I had a pretty good idea.

Karma, like most people, had a lot of stuff he kept to himself. I just tipped him to the point of no returns and that made him nervous. So he left the room before anything else came out.

Class began after that and I couldn't risk failing to go and find Karma. It was better to leave him alone if he needed to think. "Well, I think that is all for today. Please enjoy your weekend and don't forget to brainstorm some creative ideas to kill me." Korosensei slithered out of the room and I sighed to myself. "Time to find Karma..." He hadn't come back from earlier, and I was starting to get worried.

I stood up and brought myself to the faculty room, Mr Karasuma was in there doing something that looked similar to school work. Does he ever not do work...? "Hey, Mr K?" He looked up from his work and placed his pencil down on the desk. "Annabelle, what's wrong?" I swallowed and looked back at the door, there was no one except myself there. "Ah, I was wondering if you knew where Karma was." Mr Karasuma looked back out the window and pointed towards the forest. I shook my head. "No, Karma doesn't normally go there more then once during class time. Did he go home do you think?"

"No, I forbid him from going there due to his abusive father. The state he was left in last time was-"

"What!?" I felt my stomach turn when the words filled my head. Abusive father... "No fricking way!?" I glared at Mr Karasuma, concerned. "Well, Karma told me he has been going home!" I grumbled something under my breath and stormed out of the room, to find Karma.

It took me a shorter amount of time to get home that afternoon, my vision was hazy and my head was spinning with anger. No. I wasn't angry.

I was furious.

With Karma for not telling me. With his stupid asshole dad for being abusive. With everyone else who could've known. With me for not finding out sooner. I was going to get that fury out, whether I wanted to or not.

When I reached my house, the door was locked. I threw my bag at the door and stormed back down the street. At the time, I thought it was a good idea. At the time, I wasn't thinking. At the time, I wanted to protect Karma.

                                       And that's what I was going to do...