The Serpent Inside (A Karmagisa Fanfiction)

30: Interrogation

The park was quiet.

A smattering of birds dusted the trees, chirping among themselves. Sakura trees sat planted firmly in the ground, raining their leaves across the dirt in preparation for the harsh winter to come. Grey clouds dotted the sky. Nagisa blew his hair out of his face and made a mental note to get another haircut.

The sound of someone letting out a tiny swear caused Nagisa to turn his eyes around. Yumi was standing off-balance, apparently just having stopped herself from tripping over her own feet. Nagisa stood to greet her, noting that the tension could be cut with a knife.

This would be... harder... than planned.

"Hello Yumi, thanks for meeting me. I just wanted to make sure you were alright."

"O-Oh, yeah. Heh, heh, I've been, uh, locked up in my house for a while..."

"I see. Do you want to sit down?"

Yumi nodded and the two of them sat on the bench.

A silence stretched between the two of them. Nagisa's eyes flitted over Yumi's form, taking in her breathing pace and heart-rate, both of which were elevated. Her eyes were wildly looking around the park- at anything except for Nagisa. Yumi had her hands clasped in her lap, clenched just too tightly to be natural. Her whole body appeared to be curling in on itself, as if she was trying to physically protect her secrets.

Nagisa's eyes glanced over at the woods to their left, where Karma was hiding up in a tree, watching over them. He was there to make sure nothing went wrong, and if it did he would intervene.

The blue-haired male took in a breath before turning back to Yumi and finally creating avisual of her wavelength in his mind.

"Nice day, isn't it? Though it looks like it may rain later."

"O-Oh, I didn't notice. I've been inside."

"I see. I saw some papers on your desk last time we were over. Work project?"

"Papers? Oh- uh, papers! Those, uh, papers. Yeah, work, uhm. Yeah."

"Speaking of, what do you work as again?"

"I- well I'm a, I work as a public relations manager at this, this smaller little company."

"Ah, I see. Not the Akabane Corporation?"

"Oh, no, no. I'm- I'm not a big fan of my family. Except for Karma."

"Right, well I have to agree with you there. I'm not the biggest fans of them, to be honest. I don't like how they just left Karma alone when we were younger."

"Yeah, they- they were like, um, that. I guess. They didn't really, uh, care about us... they cared more about, uhm, what's the word.... ah, reputation. Yeah, that."

"I got the same vibe."

Nagisa continued to speak as he made the finishing touches to his posture and breathing to match himself with Yumi. Once they were matched, his altered his voice and started to speak in longer chunks to hurry up the process.

"It seems as if you're happy now that you don't live with them. I remember Karma was very happy when the two of us got to be without their meddling. They weren't for Karma and my relationship, but at the very least they didn't try to break us up. They just gave disapproving glances every now and then, but that was only when they were home. I guess in that way it was kinda nice they were always gone. Where are they now, again? I don't even keep track."

"I think they're... they're in... Equa...dor..." Yumi began to slur her words halfway through the sentence.

Nagisa had to fight to keep the smile off his face.

"Ah, yes, Equador~" He purred out, smirking inwardly as Yumi's eyes glazed over. "Such a nice place, but a little far. I went once. But that was when I was younger. I was stressed back then."

"Hm..."

"Speaking of, what's been stressing you out lately?"

"Mi..su...i..."

"Oh? Misui-san? Did something happen?"

"She's... missing..."

Nagisa had to put his hands over his mouth to stop himself from gasping out loud.

"Misui-san- she's missing? What- what happened?"

"Two... men... they tried to... take me...but I fought... she... didn't..."

Nagisa swore under his breath, just a little two loudly.

Yumi snapped back to reality.

"Huh... what...?"

"Yumi. Takaoka must have had a backup plan."

"What- what are you talking about?"

"We need to go find Misui-san."

"How- how do you know she's... Misui... she's..." Tears began flooding into Yumi's eyes, and she broke down crying.

"Misui! Misui, Misui, Misui! She's gone! Gone! Nagisa please! Help me get her back! I miss her!"

Nagisa pulled Yumi into a hug, and soon felt another pair of arms wrap around both of them.

"Don't worry Yumi," Karma whispered, "We'll get Misui back, okay?"