Sapphire eyes

§11§

Seconds turned to minutes and minutes became hours- the potential mass murderer Takaoka had been arrested and rightfully banished to the dungeon. Those hours soon turned to a new morning, one that called for a reward from Lord Gakuho who was generous enough to provide them with a hefty sum of money and the title as the heroes who'd saved a grand total of more than a million of innocent lives.

Knight Karasuma had been promoted, so had Chiba and Hayami, and Miss Bitch refused the prize for later negotiations. The citizens of Nihon were still somewhat unsure of addressing deviants as heroes, but at least their judgment had decreased. If Lord Gakuho had noticed the absence of one of their member, he didn't point it out, out of respect probably.

Even though they had received rewards that would make anyone green with envy, the air just wasn't of someone who'd practically saved an entire Kingdom. Even the brusque ones such as Terasaka had been down the dumps since the escape.

"I couldn't say I didn't expect that," Miss Bitch had said, her lips pursed, "I vaguely knew who he was,"

No one questioned her.

Okuda's head was downcast, "I'm so sorry, I did too,"

Again, only silence followed before Toka cut in.

"It's not your fault, Manami," she tried a smile, "I guess you could blame me too if that's the case since I was supposed to know," she was a Fae. A deviant who could feel magic, it didn't make it her fault though.

"Kid," She took a stick of cigarette out of the box, "I can only hope that you'll be fine," she left the common room to light a cigarette.

Who was she addressing? Karma didn't want to know. Everyone here was blaming themselves as the reason for Nagisa's escape. If only I had done that, if only I could have done this, if I would've told you already it wouldn't even be a problem- statements that were self-depreciative in nature and in a strange way, words that were meant for comfort.

But Karma wasn't hearing it over his own mind. The moment Nagisa had been so close to him, the time his eyes had turned from frantic to wide-eyed realization- not even the good kind, the hopeless realization and the moment when he jumped into the dark waters, not to be found again.

In the end, it was his fault.

None of the reasons his crew members made sense. They said that it was their fault that Nagisa had escaped but even if they already knew, what would've that even changed?

Karma was the one who got shot to his heart at the moment of truth, and left vulnerable without the thing that steadily beat against his chest.

The kiss had almost felt like a regretful message that this- whatever this was between them- was coming to an end. But Nagisa was hardly convincing when his reluctance could be felt from miles away, that was probably what made Karma lose his grip.

The fact that Nagisa didn't want to let go, just like him, but at the same time, almost as if they were both like poles of a magnet, something drew Nagisa away from him.

Karma could hardly care about Nagisa being a merman or a deviant as a whole. He'd accept it without any hesitance and he knew that Nagisa knew it too. What was it that drew Nagisa away then? Nagisa had lied to him, sure, but Karma knew very well that Nagisa didn't like lying. It must've been something complicated if Nagisa was willing to lie to such an extent.