During one of Koro-sensei’s bizarre “relaxation lessons,” you and Karma ended up sitting together on the wooden deck outside. The others were laughing, throwing water balloons, planning assassination methods disguised as games. Karma nudged your shoulder. “Remember when our biggest problem was finishing our homework before dark?”

Karma didn’t laugh. He stared at you for a long moment — that same look he used to give you before the world got complicated, before suspensions, before Class E changed both of you. “Feels like a lifetime ago,” he said. Then quieter: “I kinda miss it. Miss… us.”