The Serpent Inside (A Karmagisa Fanfiction)

28: Struggle

Yumi's breath was quicker than normal as she shuffled around her office space, throwing papers left and right as she looked for a specific one. Each paper had a printed-out image from an online map of different locations around town.

"Where are you, where are you..." She grumbled before releasing a quiet "aha!" and holding up a specific map.

Yumi jumped as her phone began ringing. She let out a girlish scream before collecting herself and picking it up. The caller ID read Karma.

"Hey Karma! What do you need?" She asked, doingn her best to hold her breath to a stable. guessing she was likely on speaker phone after how obvious Nagisa and Karma's worries were after that dinner.

"Hey Yumi, we just wanted to make sure you were alright, you seemed pretty stressed last night." Karma said.

"Oh? That, yeah I had a... lot on my mind. Yeah. I'm sorry I was such a mess, I'm fine, don't worry."

Yumi cringed as she picked up on an unimpressed hum come from the other line. Likely Nagisa, as he spoke up one moment later with a voice as sweet as honey it almost had her falling into his sticky trap willingly.

"Alright Yumi, but I hope you know you can always reach out if you need help, okay?"

Yumi thanked any higher power that they were not speaking face to face as she was almost sure she wouldn't have been able to hold herself back from spilling all her secrets then and there.

"Of- Of course. Thank you, Nagisa. I'm sorry but I have to get going now, I have to do some work."

Without waiting for a response, Yumi hung up.

Nagisa winced as he heard the dial tone.

"Not okay. Not okay at all..." Karma murmured. Nagisa hissed to himself.

"If only we had been talking in person... I think I could have gotten her to tell us what is going on."

"Don't worry Nagisa, she's obviously hell-bent on keeping whatever it is on the down low. We can either wait her out or try to catch her off her guard in person."

Nagisa nodded, "If we can see her in person I can try and lull her into a tranquil state using my wavelength. Hopefully, if it works right, she won't realize she's telling us everything." Nagisa murmured to himself.

"Wait, what?" Karma cocked his head to the side.

"Yeah, it was something Silver-sensei taught me, but I don't use it often. The only people who I can't get to talk with other means are people who have personal investments in whatever secret they are keeping. And I didn't have to ask many questions anyways so it isn't my most practiced skill, but I am really good with my wavelength so it should be fine." Nagisa explained.

"So it's like hypnosis?" Karma simplified.

"Pretty much, yeah." Nagisa affirmed.

"That makes a lot of sense..."

"What does?"

"Do you remember a few weeks ago when I couldn't fall asleep? All you did was talk to me for a while and I fell right asleep, so it makes sense why now."

"Ah," Nagisa hummed, "yeah I do remember that. Though that was a little different because the end goal was getting you to sleep rather than putting you in a sort-of trance."

Karma hummed, "Alright."

Nagisa checked his phone for the time before sighing.

"It's Iyuka's bedtime. I'll go put her to sleep. Love you." Nagisa said before leaving the room.

"Love you too." Karma smiled at his husband.

Meanwhile at Yumi and Misui's House

"Where are you...

Misui..."