Work Text:
Off to a 'great' start, Karma's head was being thrown to the imaginary ground when he woke up. As much as it throbbed and waved signs of being sick, his legs worked and that's all that mattered. End of the discussion between body and brain: he's going to school ridden with the thorniest vine tangling and piercing his every bone.
Now, what could the brain think to easily persuade an aching redhead to push through a school day? The mile.
Kunugigaoka's phys ed teacher has always been brutal. Not exactly a death wish to join her class, but the lady that runs it trails off into endless rants to degrade every student that needs to make up a mile run.
Karma's pride is far too pricey to let a fever screw him over. Make up miles are always on the days with the worst weather. After being forced to make it up on an 'unexpected' rainy day, he swore to never miss a mile run again. Pure trauma from that one.
Thankfully, he is staying at his mom's house. It'd be all over if his dad or brother saw him right now. Gakushuu never gets sick. Good for him to actually be physically capable of attending every fucking day.
Also, thankful to this thing called an internal clock, Karma has woken up a whopping three hours earlier than usual on days he plans to go to school! Logically, it should be three hours late, but getting more time to walk slowly to school is appreciated.
Of the three hours plus the forty minutes it takes to walk to school from his mom's house, an hour has been drained on getting ready. What should be twenty minutes max turned triple from the shakiness in his every movement. Including the ten minutes he spent cleaning the floors after he vomit and slightly missed the trash.
Oh, he mentally lamented, today is going to be one heck of a train down a wreckage.
Showing his absolute genius, Karma trudged to school through the alleyways sluggishly. Persisting to make it to the school with a fever made his brain forget to snatch even the smallest of food as breakfast. That's what makes it so genius!!
Every so often, he'd hold the wall and refocus his dilated pupils. Couple of thugs strolled by yet couldn't bring themselves to attack a pitiable teen. Just this once, he's never been so grateful for people not wanting to lunge at him and tear his guts apart.
With all the extra time he'd given himself to make it to school, he landed half an hour early. Half an hour to rest and think of how much brain power he could possibly offer the teacher that teaches before the mile run.
"Karma," a familiar voice called, "I have never seen you this early. What-"
"Fuck off," he muttered. Oddly enough, Karma's trained himself to make muttering comprehensible whether it be from his or a random stranger's mouth, it makes sense.
Someone with an unidentifiable voice pushed the owner of the voice away from Karma to which he is rather ecstatic about. Spending his thirty minutes resting is much to his pleasure!
"Ren, what arr you doing?!" Gakushuu questioned while yanking his arm away from the one dragging him. "You know that I know Karma never goes to school early!"
Heavy hearted, Ren sighed. "Then I hope you know Karma only uses short remarks when he is not in the mood- like- at all." Apparently, the argument didn't go through the blonde. A full blown attack says it'll be immune!
"He's still my brother. What more of a reason do I need?" Honestly, going to school early because of a bad mood isn't in any book of reason.
"Ask later," his friend told him, "I think you should only demand if it proceeds to the end of the school day."
Advice from Ren Sakakibara. Odd, but he generally does try. Asano will take his opinion on the matter and leave his brother alone. Glancing back every 'appropriate' time counts as leaving him alone in his books.
Whatever genius made such a blaring school alarm needs to be found and sent to a lifelong sentence to jail. His head throbbed and curled into swirls of blooming pain the second he heard the morning announcements led by his brother.
Since the first step into the classroom, Gakushuu tried to engage with Karma- while the teacher was talking! Actively trying to disrupt class wasn't a thing to him, it simply wasn't! It lasted until the teacher berated the Asano Gakushuu in the flesh. Nobody put a disruptive Asano Gakushuu on a bingo card, so don't forbid the feverish student from thinking he's going delirious.
At the first break, Karma just sat with a nausea alliviating lollipop in his mouth.
Little did he know it only made his brother suspicious. Why? That lollipop was brown, indicating it isn't strawberry, raspberry, or- because he has them- coconut-flavored. New flavor? Think not. There's gotta be something more to it.
Asano Gakushuu
what lollipops are brown
that Karma eats
Ren Sakakibara
I sit next to him
none
literally not a single lollipop he eats is brown
either pink, dark pink, or white
Tomoya Seo
wtf white??
Ren Sakakibara
he likes coconut
Araki Teppei
so his lollipop stash looks straight out of Valentines
Asano Gakushuu
are we sure
Karma has a brown-ish grey lollipop in his mouth
right now
Ren Sakakibara
forbidden coconut?
Araki Teppei
STOP
Natsuhiko Koyama
the one time you use your phone at school is to investigate lollipops
.
Araki Teppei
.
Ren Sakakibara
.
we fr
Asano Gakushuu
I need to know
there's no way he switches up flavors that quickly
plus he doesn't start with new flavors in lollipops
he starts with a snack from who knows where in that flavor
if he likes it, he somehow finds the milk candy version
THEN
THE MILK CARTON
THEN THE LOLLIPOP
Ren Sakakibara
you're creeping me out bro chill
WHY TF DO YOU KNOW THE ORDER OF HOW HE DECIDES IF THE FLAVOR GOES TO DAILY LOLLIPOPS
Tomoya Seo
hecks no I'm out
Araki Teppei
same bro
Natsuhiko Koyama
fuck it I'm out
Ren Sakakibara
literally tho why do you know this
Bell rings, the day continues. Some groan at the noise. Especially since their mile run is in an hour. On a day the sun seemed physically offended because it chose to be the hottest day of the week.
Whenever the blonde looked back, Karma always seemed to be relaxing in his chair, half-heartedly taking notes. Given any extra time, he has this extra piece of paper to scribble on. His head is towards the board, but the things he scribbles are.. scribbles.
As stupid as it is, Gakushuu holds a little seriousness when it comes to physical education. It only started the day he lost a point in participation because just that deep in thought over what to join in sports that year thus lacking in warm-ups. Now Karma has a point better of a grade than him and he wishes there was extra credit.
Sworn to paying attention in P.E., he's also learned somethings about Karma. Obviously, he's fit. So much so that the new teacher has chosen him to be his favorite. This teacher kept exposing what other teachers think. Having favorites is a truth all the others try to deny. Unfair, but reasonably so, the teacher allows the favorite of his period to walk miles if he pleases since the redhead always actually tries while maintaining basic acceptance. By that, he genuinely agrees with literally everything the teacher says without trying to be a suck up.
Despite being able to relax in that class, Karma is always adamant about never skipping mile runs. Per usual, they dressed out and the teacher's favorite looked ready.
"Okay.. go!" the teacher said. She tries to shout it, but it honestly gets overriden to the point half the kids don't realize they're starting until the athletic people explode away.
Always at the front was the Asano brothers. Neither looked desperate to finish. By the third minute, they were more than half of the way done. To finish, a mile is four laps around the track, yet the two already hit the third lap.
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. At least to the class. They knew the two of them blitz the mile every time with ease. Possibly a little bit concerning. Gakushuu was behind a little bit more than usual.
"Five twenty-seven!" she told Karma, who came in first. "And five thirty-three," she called to Gakushuu.
"That mile did NOT feel good," Karma stated.
"Well, this is your best time the whole year," she replied, "that only says you're trying to aim for more to me!"
That whole conversation unnerved Gakushuu. If he chose to work up a sweat, there was a chance Karma would've been beaten. Having seen each other run, he knows that five and a half minutes is far from the fastest his little brother can go. To say he is more exhausted than usual? Bad, bad, bad.
Favoritism privileges in use, Karma got to get water from the fountain long before anyone could leave the track. Well, the teacher trusts him to think he'll return in due time.
With Ren pulling up, she announced his time and he dragged his feet along to his friend. "Damn, I wish I could get water like Karma."
"Bring your own bottle," Gakushuu said.
Groaning, Ren complained, "Why does Karma get water from the fountain as soon as he finishes?!"
One childish Ren and a stern Gakushuu bickered on and on, not noticing that by now, Karma is usually back.
"Fuck.." Karma muttered, chest pained in ways a mile never should do him. "Stupid overcompensation.. you should've said you wanted to finally put that skip to use and not run the mile today.."
Pride kept together, he remained the fastest runner even on a fever. He's Gakushuu's pace maker, but he doesn't need one to do well. All of his energy was spent on the mile. By overcompensating, he ran as fast as he could on a speed he could maintain, but still had a score similar to the rest.
With the amount of effort he put, he usually gets a little less than five minutes. A milestone Gakushuu has yet to reach. Now he gets a shit score with a bile in the rising.
Before a water break, he immediately vomits into the trashcan near the fountain. Right now, he can barely stand. Blurry vision clouded him and now all he processes is that he is alone and the track is a minute walk away. Just go from there and back and it's done.
He intakes extra water since the last thing he wants is to smell of stomach acid. Running on a fever with no food is not fun. When all is said and done, no make up mile is needed. That was the one and only goal out of today.
One hand holding his head, he trudged back to the track. Five minutes left before they head back. Walking back is one minute but at this pace, maybe two. Three minutes to rest. Please tell him that's all he needs.
When he got back, he sat on the ground with half-lidded eyes. Many were furious over how while they're still panting, he basically made a full recovery. Gakushuu too- but he's actually liked for his athleticism.
After the mile run, Karma laid his head to the right on his desk, trying to take a break since the only goal of today was complete. Ren questioned whether he was sleeping or ignoring the teacher again.
"Karma," the history teacher called out, "what happened when-" his sentence was cut short. "Where'd he go?"
"Uh sir.." Ren pointed to the redhead. "He's sleeping.."
It infuriated him quite easily. "Karma!" he shouted loud enough for the room next door to hear, "Get UP!"
His demand was well followed. Karma shot up from his desk with eyes wide and cat-like. For once in his life, he genuinely showed a look of confusion. Even when he didn't understand, his face never read that.
What's worse was the silence that followed.
"Sorry.." he croaked, seeming to calm down from the shock. Maybe hearing him apologizing sounded like the biggest shock.
Their history teacher blinked. Once. Then twice. After that, he grumbled something incoherent. "Y'know what? Asano, take your brother to the office!"
Gakushuu's dumbfounded face would be funny to Karma had his eyes not been dilated for the entire day. Funny how not a single person realized that. Sometimes hearing that the most unbelievable people are not at their best sounds even more unrealistic, so they tend to ignore the signs.
While Karma left his head in his arms propped up by his elbows, his older brother was already grabbing both of their bags. Nobody could see the distressed face of the younger one, but Ren tried to reach out. White noise buried those words deeming it pointless.
"Karma," Gakushuu gently addressed, shaking him back to his senses, "let's go." When he didn't even do much as budge his arm, he shook harder. "Karma? Karma!"
"Putang ina mo.. WHAT DO YOU WANT?!" Of all people, the most unserious person snapped in broad daylight. Seconds after going crazy, he yanked his bag and sped out of the room. Without hesitation, Gakushuu bolted after him, forgetting his bag and permission to go on a run.
His chase was ended rather quickly. By the first turn, he already lost his brother. Only clue that even got him to the turn was a dropped lollipop. One wrapped up in a brand the blonde didn't recognize. Possibly, it was Karma's.
Brown lollipop.. is this what Karma had at break?
Ren Sakakibara
so uh
found him?
Asano Gakushuu
what flavor is this
Sent: lollipop_photo.
Ren Sakakibara
uh
aren't those anti-nausea lollipops
or throat soothing
either way
they're not for flavor-
Asano Gakushuu
thank you for being helpful for once
His mind swirled. Anti-nausea? Why would he be eating those?! Then the mile run mixed itself back in. I swear to all.. Karma if you ran the mile sick..
Immediately, he started running while trying to get his brother on the phone. It seemed like a hopeless endeavor due to how fucking big this shitty school is. Shit school for shit creator with shit students! That's how the presumably sick kid would see it.
A school this large has awfully long halls. Obnoxious echoes heard all the time! For once, it's an advantage.
Coughs were coming from Gakushuu's left. Not for a second did he think it wasn't his brother. Does he know what his coughs sound like? No, but he's now considering.
One door closed just as he reached the end of the hallway. Definitely a room to the right. A science room and another science room. Difference? One has lights on, the other doesn't.
Asshole, he mentally thought with teeth grinding. You locked the door!
In the room he heard two things: heavy coughing and something falling into a bag. "Augh- holy fuck-" the perpetrator cursed with a strained voice.
"Karma, I swear- let me in!" His banging only grew with the amount of whatever was falling.
Saying anything was a mistake. Knowing he had company, the room went silent. Though there was no light and blindfolds, a small amount escaped and he heard a window open.
"You stupid motherfucker.."
Asano Gakushuu
Karma's sick
Mother-ish
he went to school Shuu
did you pass him lime disease?
Asano Gakushuu
no
I know you have a tracker on him, so go get him
Mother-ish
I don't
I trust Karma
but
I can call him
Asano Gakushuu
do it and get him home
Mother-ish
will do
thank you for telling me <3
He never replied back.
"Hey, Berry, talk to me," a lady's voice came on from the phone. "Your brother said you're sick. Need me to get you home? I'll tell the office you left early."
"Thanks, Mama. I'm at the alleyway two away from the convenience store."
After the call ended, Karma's heart stop needing to throw itself into working ten times harder than needed. This head finally got the break it desperately needed.
Hopefully, Gakushuu is stupid enough to not realized the dropping fluids came straight out of his stomach. Despite what people say, Karma is safe in alleyways. Gangs have seen him sleep and don't bother. Something about the redhead makes it feel very peaceful and there's an unspoken rule to gang up on someone chilling.
A car blocked the light and before he knew it, he was riding on the comforting back of his mother. His only mom that cares ten times more than his father. Unlike his dad, a mother that doesn't drill this or that into his until he snaps to perfection.