Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Hey, Shuu. Psst, Shuu.”

Gakushuu does his best not to look around and glare at the insufferable bastard floating comfortably next to him. It would be trouble for him, he knows, to suddenly look off into space again while Watanabe-sensei gives one of his very important start-of-year lectures, even if Gakushuu already knows everything being said. Top grades only get him so much leeway, and he’s already stared off into space far more often than his teacher would like.

So instead he puts his hands on top of his desk and starts signing, something he’s damn glad he picked up. It’s simple, easy, and considering he can type out long essays and contracts in seconds, fast enough that no one will catch it but the one he’s speaking to.

‘Can this wait until after class, Ikeda?’ he signs, somewhat irritably. ‘I don’t feel like getting another long after school lecture today.’

Ikeda just laughs, the asshole. The cheerful blond boy has been hanging around Gakushuu for as long as he can remember, in that pristine high school uniform of his, cheerfully offering his own commentary regarding Gakushuu’s life.

That’s not to say Gakushuu doesn’t appreciate Ikeda’s company, because he really does. The once-drowned high schooler had been his only source of companionship in the cold darkness that was his house and his father. It’s just… sometimes Ikeda could be a bit much. Gakushuu was never one for constant cheerful theatrics. It’s why he turned down the offer to run for Student Council President. He just has better things to do with his time.

“Hey, I get it, sorry. But this is important.” Out of the corner of his eye, Gakushuu can see Ikeda’s smile morph into something far more serious.

“There’s a new ghost on campus,” he says softly. Gakushuu stiffens, then forces himself to relax. It doesn’t take long, so no one looks his way.

This isn’t something entirely new, per say. There have been a few ghosts at Kunugigaoka, usually students who had died in some sort of accident. He mentally rearranges his schedule, making space for information gathering and searching for lost objects to return.

There’s more than one reason Gakushuu doesn’t show any hint of his weird ability in public. Besides the obvious not wanting the general public to think he’s going crazy, he’s realized that if ghosts know he can see them, there’s a very good chance of him being swarmed en mass, all of them begging for him to solve their problems so they can finally move on.

It isn’t that Gakushuu doesn’t feel for these people, because he does. It’s awful, especially when a ghost is in distress, and their looks revert to how they appeared when they died. But he knows if he spent all of his time helping the dead, he’d never be able to interact with the living. Not to mention Father might actually take notice for once.

But he always finds himself making exceptions for his schoolmates, and little kids. Father might call it weakness, but Father was clearly in the wrong, and has been obsessing over his own dead kid for almost a decade at this point, so Gakushuu finds it easy to ignore his words.

It’s usually something simple. Once, a girl a year above him had no one at home to feed her dog, so Gakushuu went and patched the poor thing up, then made sure he was sent to a loving family.

Last year, a boy wanted a letter delivered to his crush. That one was extremely awkward, and so Gakushuu had made sure no one found out who had found and put the letter inside the girl’s desk. Still, that had seemed to be enough for the boy to move on, so Gakushuu considered it a job well done.

Then there had been the little girl wandering through a park a few weeks ago. When she saw Gakushuu watching her, she had bounded up to him, introducing herself as Aoi-chan and asking if he could find the mean man who took her and her brother. He succeeded in finding the kidnapper, of course, and the boy was returned to his family. Gakushuu always made sure to succeed when it came to helping kids to pass on.

But damn if it took all his energy just to get out of bed the week after that whole mess was cleared up.

‘So, who is it? Can you tell what they need?’ There’s really no way to be certain just by appearances, after all. Someone Gakushuu has known to be rather shallow has asked him to make sure his parents knew he always loved them, and someone with top grades in many subjects just wanted to beat their older sister’s high score on a video game.

“Ah, that’s the weird part. Well, not weird, exactly. I mean, I know you’re not big on helping adults fix their problems, but…” Ikeda trails off awkwardly. “It’s Yukimura, the teacher for 3-E. She’s at the foot of the mountain right now.” Gakushuu’s gut twists, as it always seems to do when someone he knows dies.

This… is definitely different from Gakushuu’s usual people. Like Ikeda says, he’s made a habit of ignoring adult ghosts. They’re much more pushy and unfriendly as a whole. Still, Yukimura is a teacher at his school, even if he personally hasn’t had her, so perhaps he can make an exception just this once.

He heads over to the bottom of the mountain as soon as school is out, Ikeda lazing alongside him. Yukimura is right where Ikeda said she would be, decked out in a lab coat, sun shining through her transparent figure.

Ikeda nudges him. Gakushuu only feels a brush of cold air, as per usual. “See? I told you she was here.”

“I never disagreed with you,” Gakushuu points out dryly.

“Still. I’m surprised she hasn’t left yet. Or maybe she has, and she’s just come back? Who knows?” Ikeda grins. “Let’s call her over so we can talk.” He cups his mouth with his hands, as though sound waves would still function for him as they did when he was human.

They don’t, by the way. Gakushuu’s tested this theory out, with Ikeda as his willing volunteer. Ghosts don’t actually emit sound waves. Their vocal chords don’t exist anymore. How can Gakushuu hear them? Magic, probably.

“Um, Miss?” Ikeda says loudly. “Can we talk to you?”

Yukimura does the thing most new ghosts do, looking around to see if anyone else was being addressed. There’s no one here yet, the E Class students must not be far enough down the mountain this close to school getting out. She looks over and spots Gakushuu and Ikeda, eyes automatically drawn to the other ghost.

“Ah, you’re like me?” She says, a sad smile on her face. “Sorry, it was me you were calling, right?”

“That’s right.” Ikeda smiles cheerfully. He’s always had that natural charm, unsurprising considering how quickly Gakushuu’s bastard of a father grew close with him. Gakushuu always brings him along when talking to ghosts for the first time. He seems to put them at ease.

Ikeda gestures to the both of them. “We’d like to talk with you, if you don’t mind.”

Yukimura looks down at Gakushuu, and he knows what she’s thinking. He’s seen it on plenty of faces before, after all. “Of course, I don’t mind. Nothing better to do at the moment.” She laughs lightly. It’s the laugh of one who is trying very hard not to think of their own tragic demise. “But when you said both of you-”

“He meant it,” Gakushuu steps in smoothly, watching with some satisfaction at Yukimura’s wide eyes. He bows politely. “Yukimura-sensei, right? I don’t think we’ve talked much before, but I’m Asano Gakushuu.” He nods to his side. “Ikeda here is a friend of mine.”

“Oh!” She floats over, looking rather unused to the action. “You’re the principal’s son, correct?” Gakushuu tries not to let his irritation at the moniker show. “No, I don’t believe we’ve really spoken, but it’s nice to meet you! Yukimura is fine, by the way. Not exactly much of a teacher anymore, am I?” She lets out another sad laugh, eyes drifting longingly towards the mountain. Gakushuu honestly feels for her.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” he says quietly. “I’m sure you didn’t deserve it.”

“Thank you. Not many do, do they?” She reaches out her hand, but is too far away to touch him, and they both know she would pass right through. “I’m sorry for your loss as well.” Yukimura smiles gently at Gakushuu’s confused expression. “It must be hard, constantly seeing and speaking with the dead.”

...Is it? Gakushuu’s not sure. It’s all he’s ever known, after all. Maybe sometimes it is, like little Aoi-chan, or finding that poor puppy. Or Ikeda’s whole mess with Father. Even so, if Gakushuu hadn’t been able to see ghosts, they may never have been able to find that puppy, or Aoi-chan’s kidnapper. He would never have met Ikeda. He has no idea what his life would’ve been like, if not for his ability.

Still, Yukimura’s the only one besides Ikeda who’s felt for him, not just the other way around. It’s silly, because Gakushuu isn’t dead and therefore probably needs comforting less than the person who actually died, but he really does appreciate the thought.

“Thank you, I guess,” he finally says. “Do you mind moving a bit into the woods so we can talk in private?”

“Of course.” They three of them head off the beaten track. There’s a nice sturdy log not to far in, and Gakushuu decides to sit down there. Ikeda hovers above him as usual, while Yukimura looks conflicted as to what she should be doing, settling with sitting down next to Gakushuu. It’s interesting, how ghosts can interact physically with just about anything, save for people.

“What is it you wanted to talk about?” Yukimura asks. Gakushuu clears his throat.

“Right. Well, I was wondering if there was something you needed done?” At her confused expression, he elaborates. “Ghosts can’t pass on to the afterlife because there’s something down here holding them back. Seeing as they can’t interact with people, I’ve gotten pretty good at passing along messages for them, among other things.”

“It’s true,” Ikeda chimes in. “He’s the best medium out there.”

Gakushuu rolls his eyes. “Don’t say that. Calling me a Medium makes me sound like a hack.” Ikeda just laughs. Yukimura lets out a soft chuckle as well, which was most likely what Ikeda was going for. “Anyways, I was wondering if you had a last request for me. I can’t promise anything-” he can, but ghosts seem to consider him saying that arrogant, even if it’s true, so he doesn’t say it “-but I could try and help.”

“That’s so sweet of you,” Yukimura murmurs. “And I appreciate the thought very much!” She looks away. “But… my reasons for staying here on earth are certainly ...complicated.”

“It couldn’t hurt to talk them through,” Ikeda points out. “We’ve both heard some pretty strange things over the years. I’m sure it can’t be that weird!”

“I wouldn’t say that if I were you.” Yukimura’s eyes have regained a bit of that sparkle father always said she had. “It’s a pretty unbelievable story.”

“Try us,” Gakushuu challenges.

“Okay,” Ikeda coughs awkwardly. “So, it can in fact be that weird.”

“So let me see if I’ve got this straight.” Gakushuu says. “You’ve been working with your fiance at a government facility for about a year now, where they were doing experiments on an assassin called the reaper. The two of you got really close, but it turns out that all of the antimatter shoved into him has turned him into a ticking time bomb, and so he went on a rampage and accidentally caused your death. During this time, you managed to convince him to pick up teaching. Your little sister saw him and thought he killed you, so now she’s performing experiments on herself to try and avenge you.”

He takes a deep breath. “Okay then.”

“Okay then?” Yukimura stares at him. “Is that all you have to say?”

“Sure.” Gakushuu shrugs. “I’ve talked to ghosts my whole life. At least there’s some actual science behind all the weirdness you just described.” It’s definitely the weirdest request he’s ever gotten, that’s for sure. But according to Father, Yukimura was one of the most honorable teachers at Kunugigaoka, despite teaching 3E. And as a ghost, she would have no reason to lie.

“If Reaper does plan on taking up your teaching job, he’s going to come to E Class, right?” Ikeda says. “And your sister, Akari, she’s coming to E Class as well.” He looks over at Gakushuu. “If we want to keep an eye on them both, we’ll need to be either around E Class a lot, or in E Class ourselves.”

“You mean I need to be in E Class myself,” Gakushuu says dryly. “Yeah, I figured. Looks like I’ll be joining this class soon enough.”

If there’s one thing he prides himself on, after all, it’s that once he’s agreed to help a ghost pass on, he’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen. If this time, that means dropping down to E Class, then it looks like he’ll be working on failing his classes.

Yukimura looks hesitant. “Are you sure? Your father-”

“Can kiss my ass, honestly,” Gakushuu reassures her. “Hey, maybe this will get him off my back once and for all.” Yukimura just looks slightly more concerned.

“If you say so.” Yukimura frowns. “But really you don’t have to do this. I don’t want you to feel obligated to try and solve my problems.”

That’s… really kind of her. Kinder than most ghosts are about things like this. Dammit, looks like Gakushuu’s going to have to go all in for this one. Not that he wasn’t already planning of doing that anyways.

“Don’t worry, I want to do this,” he tells her.

Ikeda gives her a mock salute. “You can count on us!”

Getting into E Class is surprisingly easy.

Gakushuu’s been a disappointment to his father for years now, spending more and more time working with ghosts than making any effort on winning just about everything. Sure, he still achieves top scores, plays the guitar, and takes martial arts, but Father insists that he must be the absolute best at everything, or none of it really matters.

Yukimura (although now she’s telling him and Ikeda to just call her Aguri; Gakushuu accepts, as he knows just how desperate for human connection some ghosts that are forced to wander around without being able to connect with their loved ones can get) keeps him updated on Reaper’s situation. The government is still trying to kill him, and he hasn’t made his demand to teach E Class yet, but it’s only a matter of time, so Gakushuu hurries.

He fails two separate quizzes and one test, making sure not to get everything wrong, as that would just raise more suspicion. He skips over two martial arts classes (but practices by himself, since he doesn’t want to get rusty), and before long, Father is calling him to the principal’s office.

“I’m heavily disappointed in you, Asano,” he says, in that tone of voice Gakushuu absolutely despises. “I know you have been intent on wasting your whole life away, but to go this far? One would think you want to die in obscurity.”

Ikeda snickers. “Dramatic much?”

Gakushuu smiles pleasantly. “Now why would I do that? Don’t be silly, Sir.”

“Hm.” Father looks unimpressed. “Considering just how drastically you’ve fallen, not just these past couple weeks, but during your middle school years as a whole, I have no choice but to take certain measures.” He holds out a piece of paper. It’s a statement, transferring him all the way down to E Class. “I do hope you won’t complain. You brought this on yourself, after all.”

Ikeda sighs dramatically. “Sensei, you sound more like a mob boss than a principal. At least fix the lighting in this room.” Years of practice keep Gakushuu from laughing.

It’s always an exciting moment when he gets a leg over his father, but not as much as it used to be. He’s got a whole separate world Father isn’t a part of, after all.

Gakushuu never really had that many friends in A Class. Sure, he had friendly acquaintances, and there was a group of the four top students at the school who had invited him to spend time with them a few times, but he always knew he was just a bit to off for most of them to handle all the time. Of everyone in class, there was only one who continuously made an effort.

“Asano?” Gakushuu looks up. Ren has approached his desk, smiling, but looking somewhat worried. “People have been saying you’re dropping down all the way to E Class… is that true? What happened?”

Gakushuu shrugs. “It’s not that big of a deal. The principal simply wanted me to learn a lesson, that’s all.”

“Wait, for those couple tests you did bad on?” Ren looks personally offended, for some reason. “But that’s no reason to ship you off to the mountain without going through the other classes first!”

“He’s a sweet kid,” Aguri notes, somewhat fondly. She’s been hanging out around Gakushuu all day long, and he has no idea why. It’s not like he’s going to talk to her in class.

“Probably.” Gakushuu answers Ren, unconcerned. “It’s not so bad though. Some fresh air will definitely be nice.”

Ren bites his lip. “Well… I’ll miss having you in class.”

“...You too.” Ren was one of the few who just took his odd habits without question, after all. Gakushuu has no idea how 3-E will respond to him, so losing Ren is just about the only blow he really feels from all this. “We’ll keep in touch.”

Ren agrees. Gakushuu doubts they will, to be honest. Once someone is made E Class, no one would ever want to associate with them again. That’s the system his father created, and like it or not, it’s the one he has to live with.

He appreciates the sentiment, though.

The next day, Gakushuu makes his first trek up the mountain to class 3-E, Ikeda and Aguri by his sides. It’s kind of nice that they’re there, because even though he disagrees with his Father about the idea of having an E Class, he’s still been going through this system for years, and hitting the lowest of the low is hard, even if on purpose.

Aguri seems to notice. “Hey, hold you chin high! These are all wonderful children. I would know, after all, I taught them. I’m sure they’ll be very welcoming to you.”

“You only taught them for like, two weeks,” Ikeda points out dryly. “Not sure you can call yourself an expert on them.”

“Hush!” She hisses back. “We’re trying to make him feel better, aren’t we?”

“Your efforts are appreciated. Honestly.” With a slight smile, Gakushuu enters his new class.

Almost everyone is already there, chatting among themselves. Gakushuu recognizes Takebayashi from last year, Isogai from B Class who was sent to the mountain for a part time job, and Nakamura, who he remembered as being a genius before her grades started to slip. He decides to ignore all of them and find a spot.

“Hang on, aren’t you Asano? The principal’s son?” Gakushuu isn’t sure who asked that, but suddenly everyone is looking at him curiously.

Ikeda gives him a thumbs up. Gakushuu clears his throat. “Yes, that’s me.”

Someone in the back scoffs at him. “Well well. Look how far the mighty have fallen, huh?”

Gakushuu raises an eyebrow. “Bold of you to assume I have fallen at all.” Ikeda snickers and makes bunny ears behind the guy’s head, and Gakushuu smiles. The statement seems to throw the boy off balance, and he doesn’t respond. Others in the class narrow their eyes at him.

“But you scored at the top in everything, didn’t you?” One of his new classmates asks. She has bright green hair in put in pigtails. “Why are you here?”

Aguri lets out a soft gasp, going right to the green-haired girl’s side. “Akari,” she whispers. “What happened to you?”

So that was Akari, then. Gakushuu takes mental note. She’s got impeccable acting skills as well as killer tentacles she gave herself. He knows he can’t take her in a fight. He’s just going to have to pretend he doesn’t know, for now.

“We all have sides of ourselves we don’t like to show others,” he says simply. Aguri looks back at him. “There were plenty of things leading up to this. It was wasn’t really public information.” 3-E seems to accept this at face value, some of them introducing themselves before heading back to their seats.

Their substitute teacher is supposed to arrive soon, but they seem to be late. Since this is Gakushuu’s first day, he doesn’t know what they’re like, but he figures this isn’t normal, as everyone around him has started to whisper.

The room gets colder, and Gakushuu shivers, rubbing his arms. The hairs on his neck prick up - he knows this type of cold.

Ikeda goes outside to check, and confirms Gakushuu’s suspicions. “The Reaper’s finally here,” He says solemnly. “And he’s brought a few angry ghosts with him.”

It seems Gakushuu arrived just in time, then. He glances over at Aguri, who is still hovering by Akari (Kayano, she called herself).

Time to get started with his new job.

Chapter Text

For the first few days with the human turned octopus called the Reaper (now going by Korosensei), ghosts flit in and out of the classroom, making it almost impossible for Gakushuu to concentrate. He’s seen more rage-induced yelling fits, near poltergeist attacks, and gore from ghosts reverting to how they looked when they died, than he’s seen in the past year or so. If it wasn’t for Ikeda and Aguri’s support, he’s not sure he would’ve made it through as well as he did. It’s a miracle he managed not to slip in his grades.

And then the ghosts discovered he could see him, and things got far worse. Gakushuu knows it’s going to be hard to look at Korosensei the same way, not that he’s heard more than his fair share of horrible deaths at the assassin’s hand.

So many spirits begging him to kill the Reaper so they can pass on, and it seems him working with the class to kill him by the end of the year wasn’t enough for them. Lucky for Gakushuu, Ikeda’s deep connection to the 3-E building has apparently given him some sway when it comes to the supernatural happenings inside, and it isn’t too long before he has some breathing room again.

In the end, most leave, convinced there’s no point in sticking around a ticking timebomb, that they’d rather haunt their families, or political rivals, or whatever else. By Korosensei’s second week in class, only three ghosts remain.

There’s Alfred Everson Durham, an elderly British man with white hair and a kindly face, who likes to go by his middle name. A former head of a prominent family, whose own relatives hired the Reaper, although Everson doesn’t seem to know which ones. Apparently he himself is a former scholar, and is interested in seeing how Korosensei, the infamous assassin, plans on teaching his new students. He’s only there occasionally, flitting back and forth between the class and his children and grandkids, and mostly observes. Gakushuu reserves judgement on him for now.

The other two are Japanese. One of them is Ozaki Kado, a middle aged former Yakuza leader with a constant scowl and absolutely nothing good to say about anyone, living or spirit, in the class. Gakushuu suspects the only reason Ikeda and Aguri haven’t asked him to leave is that despite his grumblings, there’s nothing he’s actually done to warrant such a response. He’s there the least, usually off who knows where, but he keeps returning, so he counts in Gakushuu’s eyes.

Finally, there’s Sakai Naomi, the twenty-something daughter of an extremely wealthy CEO who was caught in the crossfire of her father’s feud with another company. A college student majoring in sociology, she seems both furious with Gakushuu’s father and interested as to how such a unique classroom will develop. She’s there the most, usually talking to herself and occasionally asking Gakushuu questions, but she’s definitely harmless.

It’s hard to see Korosensei as a kind teacher when a distressed Sakai’s fingers are all bloody - she clawed them down that way trying to escape the vat the Reaper drowned her in.

Nagisa tried a suicide bombing attempt the day Korosensei got his new name, with Terasaka setting the bomb off. Korosensei survived, naturally, and Gakushuu could hear Ozaki laughing in the background at everyone’s faces while their teacher threatened to kill everyone in the world except for them. In fact, his laughter was almost as loud as Aguri’s groaning.

Now Gakushuu sits under the shade of a tree, reading one of his new books, when someone who makes footsteps approaches him. One of his classmates.

“Asano?” They ask, hesitant. Gakushuu looks up to see Isogai standing over him, two anti-sensei knives in his hand. “We were planning an attempt on Korosensei. Would you like to join us?”

Gakushuu frowns. Reaper or not, he’s dealt with and befriended so many ghosts in his life that the idea of killing another being just feels repulsive to him. “What are you going to do?”

Isogai tells him about their plan to act all sweet and nice before jumping him as a group with the knives.

“Go try it,” Aguri encourages him. “You know it won’t work, so you don’t need to worry about actually killing him. It’ll be a good time to bond with your classmates!”

It’s true that this attempt is doomed to fail. Anyone with a brain should be able to figure that bit out. He’s not quite sure why Aguri keeps insisting on him bonding with his classmates though. Gakushuu has always felt he didn’t have much in common with the living, and this class hasn’t proven to be the exception.

Still, she and Isogai are looking at him expectantly. Gakushuu sighs and takes the offered knife. “This won’t work,” he tells Isogai honestly.

Isogai doesn’t lose his smile. “Well, it doesn’t hurt to try, does it? I’m glad you’re helping us out Asano. We all want to get to know you better.” Isogai doesn’t strike him as the type to lie, although Gakushuu wonders why the hell this weird class wants to know him. They all have plenty of friends each, after all.

Still he joins in the assassination attempt, and is wholly unsurprised when Korosensei not only dodges all of their attacks, but replaces their knives with tulips.

“Why don’t you stop and smell - well, if not the roses, than these lovely specimens,” he says cheekily.

Aguri lets out an indignant “Koro!” And Gakushuu turns to her, surprised. She catches his eyes. “We grew those starting from the beginning of the year,” She explains. “The kids worked really hard on them.”

Sure enough, the girls who participated in the attempt get pretty pissed off, and Gakushuu gets the pleasure of watching the Reaper frantically trying to make it up to them by re-planting the bulbs. Ikeda and Sakai are laughing behind him.

“He’s planting them all wrong,” Ikeda notes cheerfully.

“You’re planting them wrong,” Gakushuu deadpans. Korosensei freaks out even more, and somehow they manage to rope him into agreeing to being tied to a tree and reduce his speed while they all take shots at him.

The man who first introduced Korosensei, Karasuma, comes by while they’re fruitlessly trying to hit their teacher, mentioning that he’ll be taking over PE class. He stands by and watches while the tree branch Korosensei was hanging onto snaps, and everyone chases after him.

They don’t catch him, of course, and they get extra homework. But… it was surprisingly not bad. Gakushuu wouldn’t go as far as to say enjoyable, but it was at least entertaining.

“We were so close too,” one of the boys, Sugino, pouts. Then he smiles. “But we’ll definitely get him next time!” He sees Gakushuu standing right next to him, and after a moment of wariness, holds out his hand in a fist. Gakushuu reluctantly fist bumps back, and Sugino laughs.

“Never thought I’d fist bump the principal’s son,” he admits. Gakushuu can at least admire his honesty.

He replies honestly in kind. “I’ve never gotten a real fist bump before.” Not one where both participants are solid, anyways. Sugino looks shocked.

Then the other boy smiles again. It looks sadder this time. “Well, you’ll get a lot of them in E Class, that’s for sure. Look forward to it!”

Gakushuu likes Karasuma. He’s strict but fair, makes sure everyone understands the exercises he teaches, and encourages them all to do their best. In short, he’s nothing like the teachers on the main building, and while neither is Korosensei, Karasuma doesn’t have that manic energy that can get on Gakushuu’s nerves, nor is he secretly an assassin with a kill count over a thousand.

Gakushuu has a leg up on the rest of the class, he knows. He’s taken martial arts and practiced parkour since he was a kid, and even if Father had him stop when he moved down to 3-E, he still keeps up his exercises. Learning how to properly handle knives is different though, and Gakushuu finds he rather enjoys the routine of repetition.

“You’re doing really well!” Ikeda encourages him, after one particular PE period where Karasuma challenges Isogai and Maehara to hit him, easily dodging their attacks. “He’ll notice pretty quick you’ve been practicing at home.”

Sakai frowns at Karasuma. “I understand the motivation, but is teaching kids how to kill with knives really a good idea in the long run? Reaper is to fast for them to hit, and if they do succeed, what kind out people will this class be sending into the world?

‘What would you suggest then?’ Gakushuu signs at her, keeping his eyes on Karasuma and his classmates.

Sakai snorts, almost bitterly. “Try drowning him, for one. Figure out how strong he is and close a filled container tighter than that so he can’t escape. It works on humans, doesn’t it?” Her fingers are bloody again.

She does have a point though. Perhaps if they lined the inside of the container with whatever’s in the knives and pellets… but how to get Korosensei in?

Gakushuu’s stomach turns, and he’s almost angry at himself for it. The entire world is on the line, and he can’t even stomach the idea of ending the biggest threat the earth has ever faced, for what? His conscience? Was he just a coward?

“You’re not a coward for sticking to your beliefs,” Aguri says softly. His conflict must’ve been showing on his face then, which is embarrassing, because he thought he was better than that. “And you don’t need to pull the trigger. Just come up with some good ideas!”

‘Like Sakai’s drowning idea,’ he signs back. Sakai chuckles humorlessly.

“You know what? I like it.” She smiles. It’s not a nice smile, but most adult ghosts don’t have nice smiles. “I hope it works. It would be the perfect payback.”

The problem, of course, is how to get Korosensei into such a trap. Reaper was able to overpower Sakai, but they aren’t able to overpower Korosensei. Oh well. Gakushuu’s sure he’ll come up with something.

They’re walking back from that period when Karma shows up. Gakushuu knows Karma, and somewhat well at that. He was in A Class near the beginning of their first year, but his violent behavior quickly sent him all the way down to D Class, despite his excellent marks.

He’ll probably fit in just fine here. Sure enough, Karma is the first one of them to get the drop on Korosensei, having taped bits of the anti-sensei knives to his hand. He gets Korosensei again later in the day, stealing their teacher’s ice cream and laying BBs down on the ground in front of him.

“You could kill me right now,” Karma says, false cheerfulness in his tone, “but then no one would see you as our teacher anymore. They’d just see you as a monster.”

“Who says we don’t already see him that way?” Gakushuu mutters. Karma’s eyes meet his. Gakushuu is trying hard not to look at Kayano, who is viewing all of this with some apprehension. Aguri stands by her sisters desk, trying not to look too worried.

Korosensei looks distressed, but really, why should he care? The octopus did murder thousands of people, after all. He was a monster long before the lab got ahold of him.

“Well then, Sensei! Looks like you’re already losing on that front,” Karma continues. “So maybe you can afford to kill me now. But I don't think you will. I think you’ll try and win everyone over, including Principal Jr. over there.”

Gakushuu grits his teeth. He ignored Karma before, and he can do it again. Karma finishes his spiel and heads out before any of them, like the smug bastard he is.

The day finishes before they know it. Gakushuu gathers his things together and gets ready to head out, but Korosensei stop him with a tentacle.

“Asano? Would you mind waiting back for a moment?” He asks.

“Not really,” Gakushuu says. Ikeda hovers to his side. If Korosensei tried anything, there isn’t much Ikeda could do to protect him, but it’s nice to know his oldest friend has his back. Not that Korosensei would try anything. Gakushuu may dislike him, but Karma was right. The former assassin really did want them to see him as their teacher.

“You said earlier in the day, that you don’t see me as your teacher,” Korosensei begins. “Maybe you could tell me why?”

Gakushuu frowns. “I never said that. I said I see you as a monster. I can see you as both.”

“Is that so?” It’s hard to tell, but Korosensei almost looks intrigued. No, curious is a better word for it.

He looks up at Korosensei’s unchanging face. “You’re going to destroy all life on earth in a year,” he points out. “That’s not killing one person, or a group of people, or a massive collection of people. That’s everything. Not just people, but all the animals, dogs, cats, birds, all the beautiful plants, the structures made by people that have lasted thousands of years. You claim you’re going to kill them all.” He pauses for breath. “So yes. No matter what you say, I will always see you as a monster.”

“I see.” Korosensei doesn’t even sound angry, or frustrated. Just disappointed. Gakushuu understands. He knows Korosensei doesn’t have a choice, that if he is alive in March, he will destroy the world along with himself.

But Korosensei did have a choice in being the Reaper. Gakushuu’s met his victims. For that he’s a monster.

“But you’re also my teacher,” he continues. Korosensei perks up. “You’re a lot kinder than the teachers I’ve had before. More patient and understanding. I can appreciate that. And you know you’re subjects like the back of your tentacle.”

Korosensei chuckles. “Ohoho, it’s true! I understand where you’re coming from, and I suppose that’s as good of an understanding as we’ll reach for now. But know this: Me destroying the earth comes later. Right now, I’m dedicating everything I have to being your teacher.”

“Not very useful if the world blows up,” Ikeda points out.

“I’ll consider that,” Gakushuu says.

“A drowning vat?” Nagisa repeats.

Gakushuu flips through his classmate’s notebook on Korosensei’s known weaknesses. There’s not very much in there so far, but the one about his punches being weak sounds very useful to his idea.

“Yeah,” he says. “Line the inside of the vat in the anti-sensei stuff, close the lid on him. He won’t have much air to breath, and if he tries to get out, he’ll dissolve his tentacles. Since his punches are weak, he can’t blow the lid off if we screw it on tight enough.”

Nagisa considers it. “That… could actually work. That’s a great idea! How would we get him in though?”

“I’m still working on that,” Gakushuu admits. “Maybe if we learn a few more of his weakness, we’ll find a way to trick him in there.”

“Lure him in with pudding!” Kayano suggests. “That would work for me.”

“Of course it would.” Aguri laughs fondly. “You always had a weakness for the stuff. Now more than ever before.” Her expression falls. “Come to think of it, Koro had the same love for pudding, especially as time went on, and he was experimented on more and more.”

“We could always try it,” Sugino says. “Although I think he would know that it’s a trap.”

“We’ll work on the idea,” Nagisa promises, taking the notebook back so he can write it down. “Where did you come up with this anyways?”

“Oh, you know.” Gakushuu searches for something non-reaper related, and comes upon the time he had a lot of ghosts resenting Father haunting around his house, and how he had taped a picture of his father to a dart board for them to relieve their anger on. “My daily revenge fantasies, I guess.”

“Mood,” someone calls out. He thinks her name’s Hazama. After that, they all watch as Karma is humiliated for the fifth time in the same day.

Ikeda comes to him later in the day, looking paler than usual, a feet for one who is already transparent. “Karma jumped!” He gasps, looking almost nauseous, except that ghosts can’t throw up. “He jumped off the side of the mountain!”

Gakushuu leaps to his feet. “Is he hanging around the building now?” Ghosts are always disoriented when they first become ghosts, and he’s sure Karma is no exception. They also commonly take to haunting places or people their deaths are connected to, and the 3-E building has both. How should he explain things to the other boy? Karma seems like one who would want the flat out truth, so a non-sugar coated explanation would be best-

“He’s okay. Korosensei saved him,” Ikeda says.

Gakushuu takes a moment to process, then sinks to his knees. “You could have said that at the beginning! Why didn’t you say that at the beginning!?”

“Sorry.” Ikeda’s voice is shaky. “I - sorry. I’m sorry.”

Gakushuu wants to hit himself. Of course Ikeda is shaken by someone jumping. “No, it’s okay. Sorry I snapped.” He looks up. “Are you going to be okay?”

Ikeda manages a smile. “I’ll be fine. And we can talk about it later.”

Right. Later. Right now, Gakushuu needs to find Karma, to understand what the hell was going through the other boy’s head.

They run into Everson first. The old man isn’t smiling. “You’re looking for the redheaded boy, correct?” He asks. “He went with the blue boy to go get something to eat. They haven’t left the mountain yet.”

“Thanks.” Gakushuu bows at him quickly, before taking off in a run.

“Good luck!” Everson calls after him.

He reaches Karma near the entrance to the mountain climb. Nagisa is up ahead, talking quickly with Sugino. Karma looks surprised for a moment, before smirking.

“Everything alright Asano? You look worried. The loss of dignity that comes with E Class not suiting you?”

“No, I’m pissed,” Gakushuu snaps. Ikeda had filled him in on the full story while he was running. “What the hell made you think risking your life to kill Korosensei was in any way a good idea? I thought you were supposed to be smart.”

“Rude!” Karma doesn’t look offended. “It was a very good plan, I’ll have you know. If he let me die, than everyone would see him as a monster, something he fears more than anything. If he tried to save me, I would shoot him. If it wasn’t for his tentacle stunt, I could have killed him for sure.”

“But you would have died either way,” Gakushuu points out. “Is that worth it? What do you know about what comes after death? Are you really the kind of person to risk oblivion, the uncertainty of endless nothingness, for a cheap shot at possibly killing a teacher?” Not that he would go to oblivion, of course. Gakushuu knows better than others that there was something after death that ghosts move on to, even if he doesn’t know what. But maybe saying so would freak him out enough to not try again.

“You have a second chance now,” he finishes. “Be thankful, and don’t waste it. Talk to someone if you really feel like dying. Let them help you.”

There’s not much more he can say. He doesn’t know Karma well enough to comfort him if he needs it. He doesn’t know what Karma needs at all. So Gakushuu walks past him and towards Nagisa.

Nagisa looks up from where he’s talking with Sugino. “Hey Asano. What’s up?”

“You saw what Karma did today.” It isn’t a question. Nagisa’s face falls.

“You too, huh? If it makes you feel any better, I don’t think he’ll do it again.” Nagisa frowns. “Still, I’ll keep an eye on him.”

“Good.” Gakushuu nods at Sugino and heads back up the mountain to grab his things. He had dropped them in the classroom, after all.

A comforting chill rests on his shoulder. “Will you be okay?” Ikeda asks.

“Of course,” Gakushuu answers. “You?”

“Give me some time. I’ll be fine.” Ikeda smiles. “Crazy class we’ve got, isn’t it?”

Gakushuu huffs. “You can say that again.” These past few weeks have been almost uncomfortably hectic. Still, interesting classmates have made for a more interesting class.

Maybe he could come to tolerate their company.

Chapter Text

“Heads, up kid,” Ozaki says, a look of contempt on his face. “We’ve got new company. And not the nice sort either.”

Gakushuu frowns, adjusting his bookbag as he walks up the mountain. “What kind is it? More Reaper victims, or something different?”

“Nah, they’re not his. Looks like a new assassin’s joining the party to take a crack at the bastard.” Ozaki sneers as he says this. Does he not like the assassin, or their victims? “You can tell what kind of assassin she is. All the ghosts around her a horny men in their twenties to forties. And they’re all assholes.”

So, this new assassin must be the undercover fem fatale type. Gakushuu doesn’t have a problem with that, but he worries that her type of victims will be an issue. He really doesn’t want to have to deal with a constant stream of horny rich people. “Thanks for the heads up.”

Ozaki scoffs. “Don’t get used to it. I just hate those bastards more than I hate your class, and I don’t want to have to deal with them for long. Get your teenage friend to kick them out.” He disappears, probably back to wherever he usually goes when not at 3-E, and Gakushuu braces himself.

In the end, she shows up right before gym, all blonde and blue eyed, and every bit the fem fatale Gakushuu had guessed she was. There’s different men of varying ages surrounding the classroom glaring at everyone; their killer, Korosensei (who she was currently latched onto), the class, Karasuma, and even each other.

Most ghosts are dressed in the same clothing as when they died. Some of these ghosts…

“Yikes,” Ikeda says. “I’m reserving judgement, but…”

Gakushuu is only able to hear the assassin introduce herself as Irina Jelavic before the new ghosts take notice of Ikeda talking to him and swarm him, peppering him with questions. He makes a face and ignores them, but that seems only to anger them further.

This continues through gym class, and while everyone else seems rather stunned as Jelavic drops the act, Gakushuu is trying not to throw up at all this new information he’s been given about her assassination methods.

Forget Reaper’s victims. These are some of the worst stories he’s had to hear about a bunch of people dying to one person.

“That’s enough,” Aguri snaps at some of them, shoving him away from Gakushuu. “Stop it, he’s fourteen, he doesn’t need to hear this.”

“Don’t be so prude,” the man smirks. “Lots of fourteen year old boys-” Gakushuu tunes him out, and soon enough Aguri is lecturing him and Ikeda and Sakai are in his face. It isn’t even true, he’s never really found interest in anyone before, and especially not like that.

“Bitch-sensei” comes out of the storeroom with Korosensei looking… stunned. Her ghosts look far more interested than is healthy, and at that point Ikeda kicks them all out for good.

It’s far too late, of course. Gakushuu has heard more than he ever wants to know. He’s not going to sleep for a few days after this.

After an English class filled with Bitch-sensei talking down to them, and everyone deciding to throw things at her (Gakushuu had not been one of those people, no matter how much she pissed him off, but Ikeda had been more than happy to throw things in his place), she decides to approach him.

“What’s with the looks you’ve been giving me?” She snaps at him. “Don’t pretend you’re not, I’ve seen you doing it all day long.”

“Better than the ones you usually get, I’d assume.” It takes a moment for him to realize he’s spoken once the words leave his mouth. Gakushuu does his best to look dignified and gives her a polite nod, before going on his way. He’s not usually that open with his opinions, but the morning has just taken so much out of him, he can’t help it.

Ghosts gone or not, Gakushuu decides he’d rather avoid Bitch-sensei if necessary. Being around her will most likely just drag up some unpleasant memories from today.

It’s a surprise when the next day she walks into class during English period and writes “You are incredible in bed.” on the chalkboard. Ikeda bursts into laughter. Aguri looks miffed.

“Is this the phrase she decided to use?” She complains. “That’s for during or afterwards! If she’s going to coach you all on English, she should start with the foreplay!”

Gakushuu struggles to maintain a straight face. Ikeda rolls over in the air, heaving.

“I know, right?” Sakai has a sparkle in her eye. “Start with something like: “I don’t suppose we could go somewhere more private?” That would be better.”

“Ah, but she’s teaching them a new language,” Everson says cheerfully. “She’s starting with simple sentences. That’s smart of her, really. It’ll be easier for the kids to keep up with something like this than a more long winded sentence. Although if we want to talk about beforehand, maybe shorten your sentence down, Sakai?” He seems to think. “How about we go to your room?”

“Yeah, I guess that would be better,” Sakai admits, smiling. Gakushuu just sighs.

His class looks either interested or conflicted about Bitch-sensei’s word choices, but she doesn’t seem to care, having them repeat the sentence aloud and telling them how “incredible” modifies the word “you”. Then sharing a story about how she took out an American VIP of some sorts. Gakushuu doesn’t think any of the ghosts who visited were American, so at least the man may have had some shred of dignity.

“To learn grammar, you’ve got to see how it works in the real world,” she says. “Like a full immersion course in a foreign language. Take a lover that speaks it and you can’t miss. I know grammar seems boring and technical, but it underpins how we communicate. Communication is key in my line of work, and in real life. No matter the language, people have an underlying need to express their feelings.”

Interesting point, Gakushuu can admit. Maybe he does need Ikeda around because he needs to express his feelings. It’s not like he’s expressed them to almost anyone else. Gakushuu did always study up on languages, if only so he could communicate with all different types of ghosts and get them to admit their problems. It would have been a lot trickier if he couldn’t speak their language.

In the end, Bitch-sensei apologizes to them all. Everyone laughs, but still agrees to keep calling her Bitch-sensei. Without her ghosts around, Gakushuu thinks, she might not be so bad to have as a teacher.

That doesn’t mean he’s going to be able to forget what he’s heard anytime soon though.

Today, they need to trek down the mountain during their lunch break for the school assembly. And of course they need to be there early and line up before everyone else, or, according to Isogai and Okano, they’ll be cleaning out the entirety of the main campus flower beds. Gakushuu isn't looking forward to it.

“Oh yeah, this is your first time doing this, isn’t it?” Isogai mentions to him. “It’s not so bad, we’ll just need to hurry this time.”

“It is so bad,” Maehara interrupts. “It’s as bad as you think it is and more. You know those flowerbeds! They’re as big as a house!”

“Don’t bitch about it, we did all the work,” Isogai says dryly. “You were just messing around the whole time.” Maehara laughs like he doesn’t really care.

“Ugh, this sucks!” Okano groans. “Someone tell me why we’re the only students in school who have to put up with this crap!”

Gakushuu shrugs. “We’re the End Class, which means the principal of this school and all the other teachers have decided we deserve it for being bad students. It’s all to build our character.” He sees Aguri wince, and smiles at her to show he doesn’t blame her. “And clearly if the teachers think it’s right, then who are we to judge?”

“Seriously?” Maehara eyes him. “Don’t tell me you buy into that crap. You’re in E Class too, remember? If we’re late, you’re going to be in just as much trouble as the rest of us.”

“Don’t worry, I know,” Gakushuu assures him. “But Okano asked why we’re the only students who have to put up with this. Seeing as I’ve personally heard the principal explain it to me time and time again, I thought I’d share my knowledge.”

Okano glares at him, but then something seems to occur to her. “That’s right, you’re the principal’s son, aren’t you? I forgot about that. Why would he send you down to E Class?”

“I’ve been distracted lately. He saw my grades dropping on some of my tests, and decided I needed to learn a lesson about what happens to “those who loosen their hold on the top”. Or something like that. I usually tune him out at that point.” Gakushuu takes in their concerned looks. “What?”

“You… didn’t do well on a couple tests,” Maehara repeats.

Gakushuu blinks. “Yeah? That’s what I said.” Maybe they thought he meant an A- or a B? His father would be angry at those grades, sure, but not to this extent. “I should clarify, I guess. I failed them.”

“So you failed a couple tests, and your dad sent you from A Class to E Class.” Okano frowns. It’s different from before, not defensive, but somewhat hurt. Why would she be hurt though?

Aguri sighs softly behind him.

“I don’t see why you’re all making a big deal out of this,” Gakushuu admits. “Maybe things are different for you, but that’s the way it’s always been. The Principal never even talks to me if not to teach me a lesson, not even at home. He doesn’t take failure as an option for anyone, so why should I be given special treatment?” They cross a rickety bridge and creep around a snake infested area. Gakushuu isn't even sure why there are snakes on the mountain. Did someone let them loose at some point?

Isogai shakes his head at him, looking stunned. “It’s not about any sort of special treatment, Asano! No one should be treated that way, that’s unfair! Especially not by your own dad.”

“You should listen to them Gakushuu,” Aguri says softly. “What your father does to you is unfair.”

They’re probably right. Ikeda always says the same thing. It did work to his advantage this time though, although it’s not like he can just tell them he meant to get into E Class on purpose. He decides to avoid any more conversation the rest of the way down the mountain.

Although there is an amusing moment where Okajima runs past them, drenched, covered in snakes, and being chased by bees. They just sort of watch him pass, not sure what to say, if anything at all.

They finally make it to the main campus, and most of Gakushuu’s classmates collapse from exhaustion on the pavement. It seems that just a few of them aren’t at least kneeling over.

“Well, at least we’re not late,” Isogai points out, always positive.

Maehara tries for a grin. “No idea how that happened.”

“Sheer determination not to clean out the flowerbeds,” Gakushuu suggests. They both offer him a tired smile. Everybody pulls themselves up with a groan, and they all head into the gym to get in line.

It’s the first time Gakushuu has seen the rest of the students since joining E Class. There are stares their way, jeers at individuals in their class, or E class as a whole. People are pointing at them and laughing, talking about how terrible their class is.

‘You’d think they’d have better things to do,’ Gakushuu signs. Ikeda rolls his eyes. Aguri looks on rather sadly.

Eventually the other classes fall in line, and the dean begins his speech. “You are the cream of the crop!” He says into the microphone. “This nation’s shining elite. Never forget that. I am proud to be your dean!” His smiles turns mocking. “But don’t get to comfortable! Let E Class remind us of the perils of that.”

The other classes laugh openly at them, like the dean made some sort of funny joke. Gakushuu never found it funny, even when he was still an A Class student. Just another thing his father created to “cultivate strength”. An ugly reminder of how easily people fall in line with those ideals.

The student council goes to the stage, and Gakushuu tunes out the whispers that follow Karasuma’s arrival to try and listen. He was never close to these people, but he did know them. And Ren happens to be on the student council.

He catches Ren’s eye, who looks surprised… and then smiles cheerfully at him. Not sure how to respond, Gakushuu nods back. Ren’s gaze lingers for a moment longer, then returns to his papers.

He had assumed Ren would just ignore him, but maybe he was wrong. Surprisingly, Gakushuu finds that he wouldn’t mind if that were the case.

Then of course Bitch-sensei walks in, and everyone gets distracted. “Five minutes ago she was down on all fours, but look at her now!” Sugino says.

“Well already knew she has lots of stamina,” Ikeda snickers. Gakushuu glares at him. Bitch-sensei then goes and ruins the look with what she does with Nagisa, of course.

“Okay,” Araki says into the mic, “The upcoming student council events are detailed in the handouts you’ve just been given.” Gakushuu glances over at the papers of the D Class students next to him, memorizing what’s on their papers, or at least what he can see. He figured something like this would happen.

Araki smiles when Isogai calls him out on it. “Is that so? Strange, I thought we had printed enough for everyone. Oh well. Guess E Class will just have to memorize it off their neighbors. You guys could use the mental exercise anyways.” The other students laugh again.

Ikeda slips up to the front of the room, and flips Araki’s speech papers into his face, just as a wind obviously coming from Korosensei drops one of the event papers into each of their hands. Gakushuu smiles as Araki stutters from onstage.

Even if he did get himself into E Class, he’s not a fan of being told he “needs the mental exercise”. He’s only human, after all.

The assembly finishes as smoothly as it can, what with E Class’ interruptions and all. Gakushuu decides to stay behind for a while, waiting by one of the entrances near the gym. Sure enough, Ren comes out only moments later, a bright smile on his face.

“Asano! It’s good to see you again.” He rushes over to meet him. “I told Araki that his jokes went a little too far, I mean, you’re in E Class too, after all, but I guess he didn’t listen. Sorry about that, I’m glad you got a paper anyways.”

Gakushuu notices Ren doesn’t seem very bothered by Araki insulting any of his new classmates, but decides not to comment. Ren’s already risking a lot of his social standing by talking to Gakushuu, after all. “I appreciate it. It hasn’t really been that long though.”

“That’s still a pretty long time!” His friend defends. “How have things been going? I mean, is E Class treating you okay?”

Gakushuu feels the corners of his mouth twitch upwards. “It’s been surprisingly interesting. The students are far more laid back then they were in A Class-” Not just because of A Class’ top grades, but because of their teacher’s attitude towards learning, or so Gakushuu suspects “-But for the most part, they’re friendly.”

“That’s good. I’m glad.” Ren smiles again, but someone calls his name before he can say anything more. It’s Seo, another one of Ren’s group of friends, one of the top five in the year. Ren waves at him, then turns back to Gakushuu. “Sorry, I need to-”

Gakushuu interrupts him. “Don’t worry about it. I understand.”

“We’ll talk again later,” Ren promises. Then with one last smile, he heads off to join his friends.

“I told you he’s not so bad,” Ikeda says as they watch him go. “You thought he would just forget about you. I told you he wouldn’t.”

‘And it looks like you were right,’ Gakushuu admits. ‘How long that lasts is another matter entirely.’ He turns around and starts for E Class once again.

“Hey, you never know! He might just decide to keep being friends this whole year long!” Ikeda protests, following him. “You never know, right? Don’t you want to find out?”

A part of him doesn’t. Gakushuu’s never had a living friend before Ren. Maybe that’s why the idea of losing him seems to frighten Gakushuu, just a little. Maybe it would be better to just cut off the attachment before things inevitably get worse.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Ikeda warns. “Don’t do it.”

Gakushuu raises an eyebrow. ‘You sure about that?’

“Yes. You’re thinking of ending the friendship yourself. You can’t do that! If you’re so afraid of him leaving that you would consider it, than that means your friendship is worth fighting for!”

‘Or that it’s toxic,’ Gakushuu points out.

“It’s the former, trust me,” Ikeda deadpans. “The only thing bad about it is your instinct to turn away a good thing when you still have it, just in case it goes bad. That’s what’s up, and you know it. I know you do.”

The sad thing is that Ikeda’s probably right. Ren’s not the type to let go of his friends just like that, even if said friend goes down to E Class. That doesn’t make the fear go away.

Father is waiting for him at the entrance to the mountain path. Ikeda tenses.

“Ah, Asano.” His father smiles, pleasantly and coldly. “How good to see you at school. I feel as though we haven’t spoken much to each other lately.”

There’s a reason for that. Like Gakushuu told his classmates, Father doesn’t talk to him if not to teach him a lesson. Not even in their own home does he get so much as a hello most of the time. Since he’s off at the mountain now, they don’t have time to talk in school either.

“I feel the same way,” he decides to say, keeping his face neutral.

“It’s because you’re being an asshole, sensei,” Ikeda sighs. “If you would just talk to your son-”

“I find it interesting, I must admit,” Father continues. “I’d hoped that your trip to E Class would teach you discipline. Considering how rudely your class acted towards your betters during this assembly, it seems as though the message might not be sinking in like it should.”

“Really?” Gakushuu says lightly. “Perhaps you should take it up with Korosensei, then. In my opinion, he’s been an excellent teacher so far. Funny enough, I’ve aced all my tests in his class. Maybe it’s the atmosphere?” He can hear Ikeda snorting behind him, and smiles. “Strange, isn’t it? That his method of teaching seems to be working better for me.”

Father narrows his eyes. Gakushuu wonders if he pushed a button he shouldn’t have, but really, what can Father do? Demote him down a class? Tell him how much of a failure he is? By putting him in E Class, he’s taken away plenty of his own bargaining chips. They both know it.

Father smiles. “It’s really that good then? Fascinating, that my own son learns better with a monster than with a normal human.” Ikeda bristles. “If that’s the case, then I don’t suppose you could tell me why you were talking with an A Class student earlier? You are implying that you enjoy your new low-class status better. You can’t have both, Gakushuu.”

“You bastard, sensei! You’re really going to try and take away your son’s friend-”

“I suppose I should be getting to class then.” Gakushuu brushes past his father. “After all, since I’ve been brought down to the lower class, I shouldn’t be speaking with someone as high ranking as our esteemed principal. What would the student body think, after all?” He pushes on wards, as fast as he possibly can without running.

Ikeda looks devastated. “I’m so sorry,” he says, even though he should be used to it by now. “I’m so sorry Shuu.”

“It’s okay.” It’s not really. But sorry won’t change anything. Midterms are coming up in just a little while, and Gakushuu plans to blow them out of the park, as usual. And he’ll drag his classmates up with him, whether they want to or not.

His father can take away his nonexistent reputation, his one friend, his childhood innocence. But Gakushuu’s going to get the last laugh, no matter what.

Chapter Text

Korosensei gets the brilliant idea of splitting up into thirty different copies of himself to help everyone individually study for midterms. Gakushuu sees the appeal, although he wonders why the somewhat manic teacher felt the need to teach Terasaka with a Naruto headband. Even if the guy was near the bottom of the class, making him out to be a joke might only help him slip down further.

Still, his classmates as a whole are working hard, which means Korosensei’s teaching methods are obviously working. That’s something, at least.

Gakushuu wants his father to go down. And while he could ace midterms easily by himself, it would be even more sweet if E Class as a whole performed admirably.

It’s almost ironic, that Gakushuu is thinking about his father just as he and Nagisa pass the teacher’s office, and Father’s voice can be heard inside, talking to Karasuma-sensei and Bitch-sensei. That whole trick with the Rubik's Cube, it seems. He’s used that analogy before.

Gakushuu looks over at Ikeda. ‘Can you tell me what he says?’ He signs. It wouldn’t do for him to stick around and Father to find him.

Ikeda gives him a thumbs up. “‘Course I will! Don’t worry about it!”

Aguri peers into the room. “I’m interested as to what he’ll say as well. And you’re right, you should probably be moving.”

‘I’ll be going then.’ With a small nod, Gakushuu heads away from the door. Nagisa looks at him questioningly, but he just shakes his head. It wouldn’t do for father to hear him, after all.

Honestly, it’s no surprise when the next day, Korosensei goes overboard with his doubles, trying harder than ever to get everyone’s grades up. It’s clumsy, and almost pathetic. Gakushuu just powers on through it, and tries not to think about what his father was saying the day before.

And then of course the class rubs salt in the wounds caused by his father by claiming they didn’t need to work at midterms if they were going for the reward money, and that seems to be the last straw for Korosensei. He orders them all outside. He whips himself into a frenzy, almost literally, creating a tornado from the sheer speed of his spinning alone, one that can definitely been seen by Gakushuu’s father on the main campus.

The dust clears, and the schoolyard has been transformed into a track, a field, and numerous other things. Korosensei’s eyes shine red. “I am a superior lifeform, capable of destroying the earth,” he says.

“No, you’re a lab rat and a bitch,” Ozaki sneers from somewhere behind Gakushuu. He tries not to look back at the yakuza, even if he’s surprised to see the man again. Ozaki hasn’t been here in weeks.

“Cast your second blade, otherwise I’ll be forced to conclude no would-be assassin here is worthy of me. And I won’t have just a mind to leave, I’ll flatten the entire campus as I go,” Korosensei says. Gakushuu thinks he can see the man who killed Sakai, Everson, and Ozaki inside the supposedly friendly teacher of theirs.

“He’s bluffing,” Aguri says, confidant and reassuring. “He wouldn’t do that. He’s just trying to motivate you.”

“Need I remind you he’s a killer?” Ozaki snaps. “He’s killed over a thousand. A few kids won’t make any difference to him.”

“No, I think she’s right,” Sakai contemplates. “It wouldn’t fit with this character he’s creating for himself.”

Ikeda pitches in his two cents. “Sensei mentioned yesterday that Korosensei is struggling with trying to be both roles: savior and villain. If he cares so much about this class, and really does want to keep that balance, then he won’t do anything to them or this school.”

At the very least, hearing all of this is comforting. Gakushuu was reasonably sure Korosensei was bluffing before, and now he’s confidant in that feeling. What will happen when they call his bluff soon?

“Midterms are upon us, class,” Korosensei says. “I want all of you to place within the top fifty.”

No sweat. When it comes to tests, Gakushuu knows his so called “‘second-blade” is next to none.

The results are in, and Gakushuu looks over his scores with a tinge of satisfaction, even cracking a small smile at Ikeda’s elated whoop from behind his chair. “That’s so awesome!” he says, pounding a fist in the air. “Knew you could do it!”

So did Gakushuu. And while he’s reasonably certain he would’ve gotten the same score had he been in A Class, there was no denying Korosensei’s methods had made him quicker and more efficient than before. Gakushuu could say that he was more than satisfied.

Karma also looks pleased, but the rest of the class is wincing, looking distraught. Aguri shakes her head. “The new material took them all by surprise,” she sighs. “Looks like the principal wasn’t kidding about wanting to keep E Class down by any means possible.”

Maybe it’s because he knows it’s his father’s fault that their scores are lower than they should be, but Gakushuu realizes that a part of him hurts with them, even though he performed well. It’s a bit strange, actually. He’s always empathized with ghosts, but hasn’t found much connection with the living.

Maybe the students of E Class really are different from the rest.

Korosensei faces away from them all, looking ashamed. “I take full responsibility. Clearly I underestimated the school’s dedication to keeping the status quo. Forgive me if I can’t bear to face you.”

By what must be coincidence, Gakushuu finds himself locking eyes with Karma, and an unspoken agreement runs between them. Karma smiles, then chucks a knife right at their teacher’s head. “Have it your way. Keep your back turned if you want. Just makes it easier for us to catch you by surprise.” He and Gakushuu make their way to the front.

“I am in no mood Karma! This whole situation is- huh?” Korosensei stops short as they lay their test scores down on the table. Karma has a hundred in math, and 99 and 98’s on every other subject. Gakushuu has perfect scores. The other students gather around with wide eyes.

“You got a hundred on everything!?” Kayano yelps, looking down at his scores. “How is that even possible?”

Gakushuu let’s Karma make the sappy speech. He doesn’t think he could come up with anything great, and doesn’t usually like to stray from the truth (like his suspicions that he would’ve done well either way), so he does what works best for him and stays quiet. That hardly seems to matter, as soon everyone is laughing and calling Korosensei a coward for trying to run away, and with his indignant sputtering, they all take their seats once again and get on with their classwork.

The school field trip to Kyoto is upon them, and everyone is excited for it. Gakushuu can admit he is as well, as he hasn’t been there in a long time. Ikeda and Aguri are the only ghosts in class today, and they spend their time going around and listening to everyone’s plans. Korosensei even dresses up for the occasion. The whole classroom is alive.

“Asano?” Gakushuu looks up from his pamphlet to see Isogai, Maehara, and Okano looking his way. “Would you like to join our group? We could use another member.”

Gakushuu blinks, then gives him an awkward nod. “Sure. Thanks.” It isn’t as though he hasn’t been invited to join a group before. The virtuosos had brought him along on a few or their outings, after all. Still, he doesn’t think of himself as particularly close to anyone in class, so this is a bit of a surprise.

Joining their group are two more girls, Isogai’s fellow representative, Kataoka, and Yada, who seems friendly enough. In fact, planning their trip together is kind of fun, in a strange way. Aguri had visited Kyoto recently before her death, and lets them know of popular and interesting locations, which Gakushuu suggests.

Then Irina pulls a gun on their group and demands to go along with them, and Korosensei comes into the room with stacks of massive guidebooks that, as Maehara so eloquently puts it, feel much more like dictionaries than anything else.

“Overexcited much?” Ikeda grins. Gakushuu just rolls his eyes.

After an entertaining train ride with a distraught Bitch-sensei and a motion sick Korosensei, they really do manage to get the field trip kicked off. Gakushuu finds himself walking through a quaint part of town with his group, right of the outskirts of Kyoto. It’s a pretty place, he has to admit.

“We’ll be going down by the waterfront next, right?” Okano says, checking her notes. The massive guidebook Korosensei gave them is tucked away deep in her bag, but they had all decided to take a leaf out of Kanzaki’s book and make their own itinerary.

Yada smiles at her. “Yeah, that’s the plan. This is a sweet place, isn’t it? So many little nick nacks to buy.” Gakushuu doesn’t miss Isogai’s slightly crestfallen face, but decides not to comment.

“Shuu.” Gakushuu looks over to see Ikeda floating next to him, not smiling. “There’s a ghost kid two blocks ahead, and he’s headed your way.”

‘Thanks,’ Gakushuu signs. He tunes out the rest of the group and keeps his eyes open. Sure enough, a small boy floats over a few minutes later, all wide eyes and dark, messy, hair. He notices Ikeda first of course.

“Wow, another ghost like me!” He floats over. “I’ve only seen a few before!”

“That so, huh?” Ikeda ruffles the boy’s hair. “It’s nice to meet you then! My name’s Ikeda. Can you tell me your name?”

“I’m Yuto! It’s nice to meet you too.” Gakushuu watches the exchange out of the corner of his eye. Usually he would’ve gotten involved by now, but since he’s stuck with five other people, he can’t do much until Ikeda points him out.

“So Yuto,” Ikeda asks casually. “You said you haven’t seen many ghosts before? Why is that? There are plenty of ghosts here in this city. I’m sure you could meet some nice ones.”

Yuto shifts awkwardly. “Yeah, but… I haven’t really been in the city yet. In the main part of it, I mean. We were on our way here, but there was a crash… I don’t know what happened to Dad, but now I’m stuck as a ghost, and no one can see me! I couldn’t get any of the cool things here, even though I want to.” His eyes well up with tears.

Ikeda smiles. “Don’t worry. That’s what this guy is for.” He points to Gakushuu, who takes the moment his group is looking away to smile at Yuto, and give him a little wave. Yuto’s face lights up. “His name is Gakushuu, and he can see us.”

‘If there are things in Kyoto you want, I can get them for you,’ he signs, and Ikeda translates for him. ‘It won’t be the same thing, I know. But you should be able to enjoy the city just like everyone else.’ Maybe this isn’t what’s keeping Yuto from moving on, although Gakushuu hopes it is, but the little boy deserves to visit the city he never got to see.

“Really? Thanks Shuu!” Gakushuu feels the rush of cold that comes when ghosts try to touch him, but he smiles anyways.

“Asano? You coming?” He looks over to see the group has somewhat moved on, and are looking at him with concern.

“Yeah. One moment, please.” He walks over to one of the small stands and gestures for Yuto to pick something out. The little boy does so, and Gakushuu pays for it. “Alright, I’m ready.”

“Really? You were just deciding on what to get from a stand?” Maehara asks, somewhat incredulously.

“It’s important to consider.” Gakushuu smiles. “You never know when a visit may be your last.” As they all walk away, and when no one is looking at him strangely anymore, He slips the little object to Yuto. The ghost boy squeals in delight, and Gakushuu really is thankful that ghost can interact with everything but humans.

This continues throughout their trip, with Yuto tagging along and Gakushuu buying him different souvenirs. Unfortunately, ghosts can’t eat food, so they do need to skip that part of the experience, but Yuto seems to be enjoying himself nonetheless.

It isn’t just Yuto though. Unexpectedly, Gakushuu finds himself enjoying his group’s company, especially that of Kataoka and Isogai, who possess calmer personalities. Okano and Maehara’s banter is amusing, and Yada just seems to add more excitement to every place they visit.

Not to mention how absolutely filled Kyoto is with amazingly high profile ghosts, including those who were assassinated, which just adds a little more excitement to the trip. Yuto goes and talks to every person he can, and Gakushuu doesn’t blame him. He’ll have to come back to Kyoto on his own some day.

Korosensei is with them for a point in time, when they’re on the tram, and Gakushuu notices a gathering of ghosts a distance away from him, where the sniper must be located. Funnily enough, the ghosts don’t seem to be very hostile, as far as he can tell, which is unusual for an assassin. Ikeda may have kicked almost all of Korosensei’s and all of Irina’s ghosts out of their classroom, but the memories are still stuck in his brain. This assassin’s ghosts seem strangely friendly. Still, there’s not much Gakushuu can do to learn more, so he moves on.

The highlight of the trip has to be their visit to the Ryozen Gokoku Shrine, where plenty of ghosts are hanging about, mingling with the population. It’s pretty exciting, because while Gakushuu’s interacted with plenty of ghosts before, some of these people are famous.

The group splits up briefly to look around, and thank god they do, because the Sakamoto Ryoma is right there, and Gakushuu doesn’t blame Ikeda and Yuto from zooming over to say hello one bit. In fact, he follows them as casually as he can.

Sakamoto gives them a small smile, clearly used to visiting ghosts coming up to them, and answers the boy’s questions patiently. Gakushuu wonders if he’s changed any from his living days, or if his personality is the same as it was nearly two hundred years ago. The way he speaks and acts is certainly more modern than Gakushuu was expecting.

He looks up at some point, notices Gakushuu watching them, and a knowing look appears in his eyes. “You can see me, can’t you?” He says, then laughs at Gakushuu’s surprised look. “You aren’t the only living person I’ve met who can see me before. In fact, another man came and saw me just the other day.”

“Seriously?” That’s all Gakushuu can make out, because while he supposes it would be unrealistic to assume he was the only person in the world who could see ghosts, he’s never met anyone else who can before. Then he realizes his mistake and switches to sign. ‘Can you tell me who he was, or what he looks like?’

Sakamoto shakes his head. “As much as I understand why you want to know, we have a strict rule about privacy here at the shrine. Too many ghosts asking us about those they wish to get their revenge on. While both of you may be living, the same rule applies.”

‘I understand.’ He’s disappointed sure, very disappointed. But he gets it. ‘Thank you anyways.’ He hesitates. ‘Is there something you need?’

Sakamoto looks confused. “What do you mean?”

‘I make it a personal point to help ghosts who can’t move on.’ Gakushuu shrugs. ‘I was wondering if you needed help as well. I don’t know if I could make it happen, but I could always try.’

Sakamoto’s confusion morphs into pleasant surprise. “Thank you young man! No one has asked me that in a long time. But I’m afraid I must decline. My place is here, and in my hometown, meeting with other ghosts and observing the progress of our country. Japan has been to both amazing and terrible places since my death, and I wish to continue to see it grow and evolve.”

‘I think I get it. Thank you.’ Yuto bids a cheerful farewell, and they meet up with Gakushuu’s classmates again.

“Why were you just standing there the whole time?” Yada asks. “You didn’t look anywhere else.”

“And now you look almost weirdly happy,” Maehara points out.

“Do I?” Gakushuu supposes that would happen after meeting someone like Sakamoto Ryoma. Oh well. “We were about to move on, weren’t we? We should go.”

They all relax in their hotel, which is way on the downside compared to what Gakushuu is used to, but he did sign up to be in E Class, and Yuto seems to be having fun cheering Kanazki on in the arcade. They had all heard about her and Kayano’s kidnapping, although Gakushuu had heard about it first, from the mouth of her worried sister. Honestly, it was just a relief that they were both okay, even if he knew Kayano could handle herself.

At night, all the boys are gathered in one room, and all the girls in another, with Ikeda and Yuto joining them in their room, and Aguri staying with her sister. Gakushuu has no interest in what the others are doing, which appears to be making a list of the girls they think are cute, but he can’t stop thinking about what had happened early in the day, with Kayano.

He’d promised Aguri he’d keep an eye on her, didn’t he? That was part of the reason he was here in 3-E to begin with. With those tentacles, she was a danger to everyone around her, as well as herself. But Gakushuu had no idea how to approach that subject, much less get close to her. Even since he had joined the class, they had barely spent any time together. Getting rid of Kayano’s tentacles seemed almost as hopeless as killing Korosensei.

“Hey Asano,” Mimura says. “Which of the girls in our class do you have the hots for?”

“Kayano,” he says, still distracted by his thoughts. Then Ikeda and Yuto gasp, along with half the living boys in the room, and he realizes what the question was, and what he had just said. “Wait, no, that wasn’t what I meant!”

“You like Kayano?” Maehara is smiling, a teasing look in his eyes. “Dude, who would have thought? You seem like the guy to deny any sort of crush at all.”

“I don’t like her!” Gakushuu spits out. “I mean, not in that way. I was just - she was on my mind, that’s all. I talked without thinking about the question! That doesn’t mean anything.” He can hear Ikeda cackling and rolling around in the air, which is not helping whatsoever.

“So Kayano was on your mind when we started talking about what girls we like.” Karma grins, looking like he’s enjoying himself. Bastard. “Of course, I’m sure that’s just a coincidence, nothing more.”

“It is!”

“Shuu and Kayano, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G,” Yuto sing-songs.

“You don’t even know who she is!” Ikeda points out through his laughter.

“Calm down guys, he obviously doesn’t want to talk about it.” Gakushuu silently thanks Isogai, although the other boy is still smiling, so he feels as though he’s not going to hear the end of this for a while. “Besides, we can all agree to keep this to ourselves, right? If this got out, we’d have a real problem…”

He trails off, and they all look over to see Korosensei, totally pink, and taking notes.

For once, Gakushuu doesn’t mind participating in an impromptu assassination attempt.

“Um? Shuu?”

Gakushuu stops walking to the station with everyone else and looks back at Yuto. It strikes him suddenly how young the boy is. He can’t be older than eight. And right now, he looks more vulnerable than ever.

He leans down, pretending to look for something on the ground. “Yes? Is everything alright? Did you have fun?”

Yuto bites his lip. “I had a lot of fun. More fun than I ever did before. I - I wasted your money didn’t I? I lost some of those things you got for me-”

“Don’t worry about that.” Gakushuu opens up his bag to show everything safely stored away. “I made sure to find everything and keep it safe.” He notices that Yuto is tearing up. It’s probably just hitting him that Gakushuu and Ikeda are leaving. It hurts, that he has to leave the kid behind. But he doesn’t want someone that young exposed to Korosensei’s class and ghosts.

“Thank you so much, Shuu,” Yuto whispers through his tears. “I wanted so bad to have fun in Kyoto, and you and Ikeda gave me that. Thank you.” And The boy wraps his arms around Gakushuu again, careful not to touch him, as his body fades away, his spirit moving on. “Thank you.”

Gakushuu kneels there in the alleyway until Isogai finds him. The other boy is understandably concerned, but Gakushuu pushes away his worries and wipes the tears from his eyes.

It’s just a day in the life, really. And he has another ghost’s request to get back to.

Chapter Text

The idea of a new transfer student was interesting before Ozaki revealed she was a machine, but it’s even more so now. As it is, Gakushuu gets to be the only one completely unsurprised when they walk into the class to find a massive black box waiting in the back of the room. It’s amusing, watching his classmates gape at the A.I.

Things become less amusing when she starts firing nonstop at Korosensei, disrupting their lessons and nearly deafening everyone in the classroom.

Eventually Ozaki has had enough. “Shut the fuck off!” He snaps, slapping the A.I as hard as he can. Something sparks on both of her sides, and her guns wilt to her side, before shutting down completely.

“I appear to me malfunctioning,” She says. “I cannot kill you in this state.”

“Thank god,” Gakushuu hears Maehara mutter. “I thought we’d have to deal with that all day long.” Around the classroom, everyone else seems to be sharing similar statements. Korosensei certainly looks relieved, which wasn’t what Ozaki was going for, but oh well.

The next day, The A.I has decided to call herself Ritsu and is much more friendly. And even when her creators try and take all her new upgrades away from her, she manages to hold on the that friendliness and newfound appreciation for her classmates. Gakushuu can’t help but be happy for her.

“Gakushuu?” Aguri approaches him after school one day. “If it’s not too much trouble, would you mind talking to Akari? She’s always been good at hiding when she’s feeling down, but I’m her sister, I know something’s up.” She smiles sadly. “Sorry for asking, I’d do it myself, but-”

‘Don’t worry,’ Gakushuu signs. ‘I can handle it.’ He walks over to Kayano, who is still packing up her things, even though almost everyone else has left. Since Aguri mentioned it, he can see that something seems to be weighing on her greatly.

She looks up at him and smiles. “Hey Asano! Didn’t realize you were still here!”

“Yeah.” Gakushuu’s never been good at comforting living people, but since Aguri asked him, he’s going to try his best. “Do you want to go grab something from the cafeteria? They’re still open, and they had pudding last time I was there.”

“Are we allowed to do that?” Kayano asks. He shrugs.

“As far as I can tell, after school use is free game, even for E Class.”

“Then, yeah. I’d love to!” Kayano smiles again, and it looks a bit brighter this time. They walk down the mountain together, Aguri following them, and even though the workers in the cafeteria give them strange looks, they’re able to buy what they want.

The two sit down at a table outside, and Kayano opens up her pudding. “Not that I don’t appreciate this or anything,” she says. “But what is this all about? Didn’t think you were the type to just randomly grab snacks with someone, no offence.”

Gakushuu deliberates his answer. “None taken. You looked down, and you mentioned that you really liked pudding before.”

Kayano blinks. “How did you-?” Then she wilts. “Aww man, I thought I was being really good at hiding it. Do you think anyone else noticed?”

“I don’t think so,” Gakushuu assures her. “You were good, I almost didn’t see it.” He hesitates, clears his throat awkwardly. “You don’t have to talk about it, but if you want to… I’ll listen.” Aguri gives him a wide smile and a thumbs up.

“Thanks.” Kayano fiddles with her pudding, eyes looking at it without really seeing. “I just - there’s someone that I haven’t seen in a while, that I really miss. And I know I won’t be able to see them again, so… I was just thinking about it, and it bummed me out.”

“Oh Akari.” Aguri’s voice trembles as she reaches out for her little sister, knowing she’ll never truly reach her like this. “I’m so sorry, trust me, I didn’t want to leave you.”

“I’m sorry,” Gakushuu says after a moment. “I can’t pretend I know what you’re going through.” Not really a lie, since the only people who leave him without coming back are the ones who’ve really moved on, who he’s happy for. “But if you ever need a listening ear, I’ll be there.”

“Thanks.” And Kayano gives him what he thinks must be the most genuine smile he’s seen from her yet. “I didn’t expect anything else. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“You know,” Gakushuu says slowly. “I have an idea for an attempt on Korosensei that might cheer you up.”

“Really?” He explains his idea to her, and watches a small smirk grow on her face.

“It won’t kill him, I’m sure of that,” he finishes. “But it’ll be amusing, I think.”

“Definitely,” Kayano agrees. “You’ve got some of the best ideas, you know. I mean, the plans you’ve made have actually come pretty close. Where do you come up with all this stuff?” He shrugs, unwilling to tell her that most of them are Korosensei’s own kills. “We should get Okuda in on this. She’ll totally want to help!” She seems to look somewhat better after this, as they make small talk until they eventually leave the school.

“Thank you, Gakushuu.” Aguri’s eyes are almost wet as they walk home. “I mean it.”

“Of course.” Gakushuu did enjoy his time with Kayano. Maybe helping her with those tentacles might not be such a far off idea after all.

Okuda turns out to be completely on board, and the next day they all watch in amusement as Korosensei freaks out, unsure of what things in the classroom, like parts of the floor, his desk, and the board, are covered in clear anti-Korosensei material. It doesn’t kill him, naturally, but they get a kick out of it, and Kayano genuinely laughs, so Gakushuu considers it more of a win than an actual kill would be.

There’s a load of new ghosts today, twenties or older, and plenty with clothing that dates them back decades at the very least. Gakushuu does his best to ignore them as they mil about the classroom and observe everything curiously.

“There’s an older man in the building. I think he’s another assassin,” Ikeda tells him. “They’re probably his ghosts.” Fantastic. Gakushuu just hopes he leaves quickly and takes his ghosts with him. It’s been a long day, and he’s at the end of his rope right now when it comes to patience.

Still. ‘Can you get any information in him?’ He asks. Ikeda grins and floats away, returning some time later, getting Gakushuu up to speed.

“They call him Lovro the assassin,” he says. “He’s the one who brought Bitch-sensei into the mix. Trains and books gigs for assassins all over. Scary guy, from what I’ve heard. Then again, he did kill these people, so they might be embellishing."

‘Thanks. We should be prepared then.’ For what, Gakushuu isn’t sure. But the last few times an assassin has shown up with ghosts, his life has temporarily become a living hell. He’d rather not go through that a third time.

“I can set up a perimeter,” Ikeda suggests. Make it so these new ghosts can’t get up here anymore without my sayso. Head anything off before it starts.”

“Please do that,” Sakai floats past the two of them. “I just talked to one of them, and he’s a real pain in the ass. Creepy bastard from the sixties, and even creepier views on women.”

“Done,” Ikeda vows.

“Asano? Are you listening?” Gakushuu turns back to Korosensei. “Do you mind answering this question?” Gakushuu puts the new assassin in the back of his mind for now.

Karasuma explains the situation to them the next day, right before Bitch-sensei’s failed assassination attempt on him, and during lunch, they watch as she approaches him for another attempt, one that seems to go off a lot smoother than the first time, even if it doesn’t work out. Good enough that Lovro lets her stay.

It’s been a pretty interesting day, Gakushuu thinks as he walks home with Ikeda. They really did dodge a bullet by sending all of Lovro’s ghosts away quickly, which made the ensuing events genuinely entertaining to watch.

“Young man.” Gakushuu freezes and turns around, as Lovro walks up to him.

“When did he get here?” Ikeda yelps. Gakushuu doesn’t blame him. Still, he recovers and straightens up.

“Something I can help you with?” He asks, trying to keep his voice neutral.

Lovro narrows his eyes. “There’s something about you. You’ve seen more death than you let on. And from what Irina told me about your class’ assassination attempts, you’ve being heading the ones that are most similar to a real life assassins.”

Calm down. There’s no way he knows. “Is there a problem with that?”

“No,” Lovro says slowly. “You interest me, is all.” He starts to walk away. “Good luck with your assassination. I will see you another time.”

They watch him go. Ikeda lets out a nonexistent breath. “Forget Korosensei and Bitch-sensei. That’s the scariest assassin we’ve met, ghosts or no ghosts.” Gakushuu is inclined to agree with him.

Everything is on edge today. Gakushuu isn’t sure why, but there’s a chill in the cold rainy air, one that doesn’t come from the weather, or the usual ghosts. He looks on as Ozaki and Sakai laugh as Korosensei rings out his inflated head, and finds he can’t even smile along.

“Something up?” Ikeda asks him. “You’ve been acting kind of strange today.”

‘Not sure. I’ll get back to you on that.’

“Now then,” Korosensei says. “According to Karasuma, we have another transfer student joining us.” They all listen as Ritsu explains how they were meant to come together, but he was deemed not quite ready, and she unable to match his skill.

Sakai frowns. “I hope it’s another machine. It would be awful if they turned a kid into an assassin just for this."

“I wouldn’t put it past the government,” Ozaki sneers, ignoring Everson’s look. “They’d do anything to get rid of this shit assassin.”

Then the door opens, and so many ghosts flood the room, Gakushuu can barely see the man they’re haunting. He’s dressed in all white, so he can’t identify him either.

Aguri can, it seems. She lets out a choking gasp, and when Gakushuu turns to her, her entire midsection is bloody, with a hole right through it. Items not chained to the floor start moving sporadically, and Gakushuu feels ice run down his back.

“He’s - no, he can’t be - why is he here? Why is he here?” Sakai and Ikeda move to comfort her, and some of the man’s ghosts, noticing her pain, seem to try and move to block her view of him. Everson slams the door shut on the man with a gust of wind, and Ozaki keeps it shut.

Then a boy their age blasts a hole in the wall, and the man walks around to follow the boy in, introducing him as Itona. He’s their age, and this man, who calls himself Shiro, has turned him into a weapon.

A weapon with tentacles.

‘Do you want to-?’ Gakushuu signs at her, as they watch Ikeda and Korosensei go head to head.

Aguri shakes her head, but answers anyways. “He was my former fiancé. He did this to Reaper, got me - got me killed.”

And it’s funny, as Gakushuu watches Shiro make snide comments again and again, then simply carry Itona away when he loses, that he’s found someone besides possibly his father that he hates.

“Asano?” He looks over to see Isogai looking at him, worry in his face. They’re heading to ask Karasuma for extra assassination training. “Are you alright? Something about Itona’s guardian really seemed to set you off.”

Gakushuu looks away. “I just don’t like him, that’s all.” Shiro is gone, and his ghosts with him, but that doesn’t make everything better. He still feels shaken. Aguri is still shaken. Even Ozaki stayed behind to check on her, making some bullshit excuse of having nowhere else to haunt at the moment. “Somehow, I have a feeling he’ll be coming back soon, and we’re not going to like it when he does.”

Chapter Text

One day, after sparring in gym class, they find themselves with a new teacher, Takaoka. Gakushuu has no idea who he is, save for that he works with Karasuma-sensei, and neither do the ghosts (of which this Takaoka man has none, unusual for this classroom).

He lays out a bunch of sweets picnic-style on the ground, and jokes about keeping his figure. There’s something off about him though, something Gakushuu can’t quite put a finger on.

“But he doesn’t have any ghosts, right?” Ikeda says. “He can’t be that bad if he doesn’t have any.”

“Don’t judge a person by how many ghosts they have,” Everson corrects him gently. “I’ve seen plenty of awful people back in England who have no ghosts, but are still despicable human beings. And besides, one could argue that Gakushuu here has plenty of ghosts himself.”

“I guess,” Ikeda frowns. “But Gakushuu’s an outlier. He doesn’t count.”

‘I’m right here you know,’ Gakushuu reminds him. Ikeda smiles sheepishly.

“You know, for being colleagues, you and Karasuma-sensei are like night and day,” Kimura notes, holding an éclair.

“He’s nice to us and all,” Hara agrees, “but you’re like the neighborhood dad.”

Takaoka laughs. “Dad, huh? I like the sound of that!” He grabs Mimura and Nakamura and pulls them into a hug. “Life’s too short not to spend time with people you think of as family, am I right?”

Family, huh? Gakushuu narrows his eyes, even more suspicious than before.

“I agree with Gakushuu,” Aguri admits. “Ghosts or no ghosts, something about this is off. It feels like he’s trying to gain something from my students, like there’s something he wants from them.”

Their suspicions are proven true shortly after, when Takaoka passes out new schedules for them. 10 periods, most of them gym class, leaving almost no time for them to do anything else.

The Maehara speaks up, and gets a hard knee in the stomach. Spit goes flying out of his mouth. Gakushuu sees the horror on his classmates faces, and even if he couldn’t tell Aguri’s reaction to this on her face, the sudden chilly wind would’ve given it away quickly.

“Rule number one,” Takaoka says with a smile, dropping Maehara to the ground, “We don’t do can’t.” Gakushuu sees him fall, and something along the lines of anger, a feeling usually reserved for murderers and his father, seems to well up in him out of nowhere. “Rule number two: we’re a family, and I’m the dad. Show me a family where dad ain’t in charge, and I’ll show you a family in crisis.”

“How rude,” is what comes out of Gakushuu’s mouth before he realizes what he’s saying. He can hear Ikeda and Aguri warning him about something, but it’s starting to be drowned out by the anger that is pounding in his head. He finds himself standing up. “Perhaps you’d like to say that again, to the principal’s face? Question how his family dynamic works? I’m sure he’d love to hear it.” Gakushuu smiles at Takaoka’s surprise. “But my father always encourages me to fight against him, so if you’re really going for that kind of dynamic, be my guest.”

Takaoka licks his lips. “A rich daddy’s boy, huh?” Which, no, that’s not at all what Gakushuu implied. The man stalks closer, standing right over him. “Well, if that’s the case….” He raises his hand up and brings it down.

It doesn’t hit.

Ikeda is floating over Gakushuu, soaking wet and absolutely furious. The cold wind whips up all around them, everyone’s new schedules flying away from them. Takaoka’s hand, much to the man’s confusion, is stuck in midair, raised above Gakushuu’s face.

“You won’t touch him,” Ikeda snarls. Gakushuu smiles again. It’s nice to have someone like Ikeda by his side, nice to remember that scum like Takaoka is nothing.

“Stop it!” Karasuma comes running out of the building, and Takaoka steps away from Gakushuu. Karasuma looks at him, concern in his eyes. “Are you alright? Did he hit you?” He asks.

“I’m okay,” Gakushuu assures him. “He hit Maehara though.” Karasuma turns to where Maehara is still bent over on the ground.

“Are you alright, Maehara?” He asks. Maehara give him a weak thumbs up.

“Eh, I’ll survive.” And with that, Korosensei starts intervening, clearly pissed off, and Gakushuu makes his way over to Maehara before sliding to the ground.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” He mutters. “That looked like a bad hit. Try sitting upright and breathing in slowly. Suck your stomach in, then out with your breath.”

Maehara looks at him almost… wearily? But he does so, Isogai helping him sit up straight. Okano is sitting with him as well, and she’s looking at Gakushuu strangely. In fact, all three of them are. A bad feeling settles in his gut.

Ikeda, Aguri, and Everson float over to them as Takaoka challenges Karasuma. “You’re okay, right?” Ikeda still looks worried, although he isn’t soaking anymore. Gakushuu manages a small nod.

‘You should’ve let him make contact,’ he signs. ‘Now people are suspicious.’

“No he shouldn’t have,” Aguri says firmly. “He shouldn’t have just let that horrible man hit you. Don’t say that again.”

“What was that?” Okano asks him. “You just stood right up to that guy!”

Gakushuu shrugs. “It was nothing.” His father’s face flashes in his eyes. “I talk with a far scarier man on an almost daily basis.”

“Almost daily?” Isogai mutters. He exchanges looks with the others. “Asano, are you sure you’re alright? Is there something you need to talk about with someone? Because we’re willing to listen if you do.”

“Not really.” Gakushuu frowns slightly. At the very least, the attention is away from Ikeda’s stunt, but his home life isn’t exactly something he’d like to discuss either. “There’s nothing to talk about.”

Takaoka has them doing three hundred squats, and almost beats on Hinano of all people, when Karasuma finally steps in. He picks Nagisa of all people to go and challenge Takaoka with a real knife, and Nagisa succeeds with flying colors. Takaoka is left helpless on the ground as they all go to congratulate their classmate. Of course, the bastard gets back up, ready to beat the stuffing out of Nagisa, but the boy stands firm, and they all stand behind him, even the ghosts. Aguri looks particularly proud.

“It’s going to take more than that to get rid of me!” Takaoka snarls. “You get this job over my dead body!”

“That won’t be necessary.” Gakushuu stiffens. Ikeda stiffens. They all look around to see Father strolling up to Takaoka. “I trust you’ll forgive the intrusion, everyone.”

“Principal Asano,” Aguri murmurs.

Father kneels down in front of Takaoka. “I came to see our new hire in action. And it must be said, your methods are nothing short of a travesty. Granted, fear is the engine of education. But a teacher only able to instill fear through violence is nothing but a brute. And I do not employ brutes.”

“Says the biggest brute himself,” Everson says dryly.

Gakushuu’s father says a few more things, and then walks away, calm as ever.

He doesn’t even look in Gakushuu’s direction.

Gakushuu feels the brush of cold air that must be Ikeda’s hand on his shoulder, and then, to his surprise, the warmth of a living hand on his other shoulder. He turns around to see Isogai.

“I-I’m sorry,” the other boy says softly. “You deserve better than that.”

For a moment, words don’t seem to want to come out of Gakushuu’s mouth. Eventually he manages a “Thank you.”

After another incident with Shiro occurs, final exams are upon them, and Korosensei reveals a brand new motive: for every subject that someone in their class scores first in, they get to shoot off one tentacle, reducing his speed by ten percent.

Ikeda laughs at this, and Gakushuu is wondering if he should say anything, when Kayano raises her hand. “Um, Korosensei? Does Asano count in this bet? He did get top scores in every single subject during midterms.”

The can see the sweat drops on Korosensei’s head. A few amused heads turn to him, and Gakushuu tries to look as innocent as possible.

“Well, looks like we’ve got this one in the bag!” Maehara declares, holding his hand up for a fist bump, one that Gakushuu returns. “Guess we’re getting five tentacles from this!”

“Yeah, this was a great idea,” Nakamura snickers.

“Now, wait a second!” Korosensei looks flustered. “Change in challenge! For every subject where anyone besides Asano scores first place in the grade, they get to shoot off one tentacle!”

“But Korosensei, that’s not very fair, is it?” Maehara grins. “Are you really signaling out one of your students and saying his scores don’t matter? How could you?”

“I don’t mind,” Gakushuu interjects. They all look at him, betrayed, and he shrugs. “I get the feeling that if we keep pushing Korosensei, he’s going to change the challenge entirely. Besides, I don’t think it’s that big of a stretch for some of you to beat me in certain areas. We all know how good Okuda is with science, and how Nakamura aces English.” He can see their faces brighten, and Aguri gives him a thumbs up. “Not that I’m not going to be trying my best, of course.”

“Oh, it’s on!” Nakamura cheers. “Prepare to go down!”

“You’re right, I can do this!” Okuda smiles.

“You forgot Karma,” Nagisa points out. “He got second in math during midterms, right under you.”

“He hasn’t studied at all for this test,” Gakushuu points out. “I’m not worried about him.”

“Well then, the motive is set!” Korosensei announces. “This is how we do things in the Assassination Classroom, boys and girls!”

With everyone riled up, Korosensei approaches him personally later. “Thank you, Asano,” he says. “If the other students thought they didn’t have to worry, as you would take all the top spots, they wouldn’t try as hard as they are now. I’d say I hope you understand, but I think you do.” His smile grows. “You have a good amount of charisma, you know. It’s a shame we don’t get to see it more often.”

Gakushuu raises an eyebrow. “You think? I’m flattered, but that’s not my style. Besides, where’s the fun if no one else is working to beat me?”

Korosensei chuckles, his face flashing red. “That’s exactly what I’d like to hear!”

“Asano!” Gakushuu turns to see Isogai running up to him. “I reserved a spot in the main campus library to study in. A few others are coming, would you like to join us?”

“Are you sure?” Gakushuu asks. “You are planning to beat me, after all.”

Isogai grins. “All the more reason to study with you. Motivation or not, you did get top scores for everything on midterms. It’ll be good to have someone like you helping us study. I mean, we know the virtuosos are helping A Class study, so…”

The corners of Gakushuu’s lips twitch upwards. “Alright then, if you say so.”

They head to the library later that afternoon, with Isogai, Nagisa, Kayano, Okuda, Nakamura, and Kanzaki. It’s funny, that Gakushuu didn’t realize just how much he missed air conditioning until he got it back again. People are whispering and pointing in their direction, but it’s easy to block that out and focus on his studying.

Eventually he stands up. “While we’re here, I think I’ll get some reading materials to bring home. Anyone else want something?” He gets their requests, as well as their student IDs, and goes hunting for all the different books. Ikeda starts off with him, but floats away at some point, something else having caught his attention.

By the time he gets back, everyone is staring at the doors to the library, where a group of people - is that Ren and the other virtuosos? - are running out of the library. Ikeda is there, rolling around in the air with laughter.

“Did I miss something?” Gakushuu asks, putting the books down on the desk as gently as he can.

The others look to him, and grins spread across their faces. “You know,” Nakamura starts, “You might not count in the bet with Korosensei, but no one every said anything about this bet.” She winks. “How’d you like to get your revenge on A Class, Asano?”

The bet the six of them have made is explained to the entire class, and Korosensei suggests they use it to steal away A Class’ vacation to Okinawa, something the entire class agrees to. No one seems particularly worried about losing, and with all the looks his way, Gakushuu can guess why. Now he just has to make sure he doesn’t let them down.

The day of the finals arrives, and Gakushuu walks to their testing room, as confident as he can be in his own abilities.

“You got this, Shuu! I know you do,” Ikeda encourages him.

“You studied really hard, and I’m more than sure it’ll pay off,” Aguri adds. “I’m sure you’ll be happy with your results.”

“We’re rooting for you.” Sakai insists. Everson gives him and encouraging smile from behind her.

“Yeah yeah, break a leg and stuff.” Ozaki rolls his eyes. “Just make sure to kill that Reaper bastard by the end of this.”

‘Thank you everyone.’ Gakushuu’s heart lifts a little as he enters the testing room and finds his seat. A part of him almost wants the others to beat him, to get the drop on Korosensei. But at the same time, he’s competitive by nature. He wants to win, and he doesn’t think anything is going to change that.

They pick up their pencils, and the test begins.

Soon enough, the finals are done, and Korosensei has their scores all ready to be read to them. “Alrighty class, this is it. Without further ado, the English portion.” He unfolds the file and holds up the paper. “First, both in E class, as well as in the grade… Nakamura Rio! Congratulations!”

The class cheers, as Nakamura flips her hair smugly. She goes up to collect her papers. “Hey, nothing comes in between this girl and the promise of cash. There is the matter of your tentacle, of course.” She looks back at Gakushuu. “No hard feelings, right?”

“None at all,” he replies. He’ll admit to himself that he’s frustrated, but he’s also happy for her. It’s not as strange a thought as it used to be.

“Don’t worry Asano, you did wonderfully as well! Nakamura only beat you by a single point!” Korosensei assures him, handing him his scores. “And Nagisa, excellent job, although your spelling could use a bit of cleaning up. Next we have Japanese.” He unfolds the next file. “First in E Class, as well as first in the grade… Asano Gakushuu!” Gakushuu takes his scores with a smile. Even though that means they don’t get a second tentacle, people are still congratulating him, and Ikeda is cheering.

“Now, too Social Studies… we have a tie! Isogai Yuma and Asano Gakushuu, you both clenched the top spot in the grade!” The class cheers, and Isogai flashes him a smile, which he returns.

“Do we get the tentacle or not then?” Okano wonders.

“Absolutely,” Gakushuu says, before Korosensei can say anything else. “To me, a tie still counts as a win for you.”

“That’s stretching it a bit, but I’ll allow it,” Korosensei agrees.

“That gives us three out of five!” Fuwa cheers. “That means no matter who won science and math, we’ve still won the bet!” It’s surprising that the good mood of E Class can get any better at this point, but somehow it does.

“And you’ve earned it!” Korosensei assures them. “But let’s talk tentacles! Can you get more than two? We’ll go to science and see! First in E Class, as well as first in the year, for science is… Okuda Manami!” Okuda accepts her score happily, and the rest of the grades are passed out to see that Gakushuu got second, right behind her.

“And for the final subject.” The class waits as Korosensei pulls the paper out. “For mathematics, first in E Class and the grade… Asano Gakushuu, with a perfect score! Congratulations Asano, you’re first in the grade!” The class, as well as Ikeda and Aguri, cheer for him as he accepts.

“You did great,” Ikeda says. “Sorry about your record being broken, but that doesn’t mean you still weren’t awesome anyways! And you’re still first in the whole grade!”

‘It’s okay.’ And it is. Sure, there’s frustration, mostly in himself, that he didn’t do as well as he did on midterms. But in the end, it’s a frustration that he can live with.

And he’s… well. He’s happy for his class.

And it’s not just that, of course, Terasaka and his crew get up to the front of the room and show that they’ve all scored 100s in Home Ec, which means Korosensei will be losing seven tentacles.

“You know,” Karma says dryly. “We all agreed to leave Asano out of the bet, but is that really fair to him? He should have a claim on two of your tentacles. We get it, you were scared of including him for that reason, but are you really going to deny your own student his well earned prize?”

“We could lower it down to one tentacle, if you’re really that scared,” Takebayashi says, adjusting his glasses.

“W-Wait, hang on! This wasn’t what we agreed upon!” Korosensei flails. “A-And you haven’t asked Asano what he wants! This is about him, after all.”

Gakushuu tries to hide his smirk. “I wouldn’t mind shooting off a tentacle. What good is an assassin if they don’t pursue a chance to get their target, after all?”

“That means eight tentacles in total!” Hinano cheers. Korosensei wails in despair, and they all ignore him. They decide to hold off on claiming their tentacles until they reach Okinawa.

The last day of school arrives, and they take the trek down to the main campus for the final assembly before summer break.

“Hey, Asano?” Gakushuu is walking with Isogai, Maehara, and Okano again, all three of whom have been giving him nervous glances since the results of the finals were released. He looks at Isogai, and makes a “go on” gesture.

Isogai takes a nervous breath. “We were just thinking about the finals, and, um, we were wondering-”

“Are you okay at home?” Okano interrupts. “We all remember what you said when Takaoka was here, and that whole thing about your dad sending you to E Class over a couple tests.”

“He’s not mad at you for not getting perfect scores again, is he?” Maehara asks.

“Oh.” That’s not what Gakushuu expected them to say at all. He feels almost touched. “Thanks for your concern, but it’s not so bad. He just mocked me for it a bit when it first happened, but we haven’t spoken to each other since then.”

“And he threatened your friendship with Ren again,” Ikeda pointed out. “I think that’s a pretty big deal.”

None of them look satisfied. “You haven’t talked since?” Isogai repeats. “That was days ago!”

“We never talk, unless he feels the need to “teach” me something.” Gakushuu shrugs. “I appreciate the thought, but it’s not so bad. You don’t need to worry.”

“Dude, you’re our friend,” Maehara says. “Of course we’re going to worry.” Gakushuu has no way to reply to that.

They reach the assembly before anyone else, and when A Class enters, Terasaka and Isogai take the lead in demanding that the bet be honored. Gakushuu tries to hang towards the back, and refuses to look. It’s less of a satisfying win when he knows Ren is now being humiliated in front of the rest of the school.

Somehow, they end up locking gazes anyways.

Ren gives him a sad smile. That makes things a little bit better.

The assembly begins, and while the dean tries to get in some remarks at their expense, none of them hit. Not when E Class got first in every single subject. Later Korosensei gives them top marks for the end of the semester, and they all celebrate together.

Gakushuu came to E Class to help fulfill Aguri’s request. But he’s more than glad he’s here.

Chapter Text

They’re practicing outside the school, before the trip to Okinawa begins, when Lovro shows up again. Thankfully Ikeda’s ghost barrier has continued to hold, so Gakushuu isn’t swarmed when he’s trying to focus on shooting. Ikeda and Aguri listen in while Ozaki watches everyone still practicing.

“Slightly, lower. Correct your grip,” Ozaki snaps at his side.

“Right,” he murmurs, and makes the adjustments. Gakushuu’s never been that bad of a shooter, but he’s always been much more into hand to hand then marksmanship. Having someone who knows their way intimately around all kinds of guns as a personal trainer of sorts has helped a lot in his training, even if the guns they work with are different than the real versions Ozaki is used to.

“Lovro, sir?” Gakushuu looks up to see Nagisa approach the assassin. “I assume you know the best assassin in the world, right? What are they like?”

Almost involuntarily, Gakushuu finds himself making eye contact with Aguri.

“What a bizarre question. Why are you wanting to know?” Nagisa looks away, seeming somewhat embarrassed.

“Just curious, is all,” he confesses.

Lovro appears to be thinking. “Well, in my considered opinion, there can be no question as to who holds the rank of world’s greatest. Of course, professional killers are a secretive lot. They are rarely known by their given name. This one is no exception, save he prefers to go by a very particular name: the Reaper. Mysterious, elusive, cold as ice. An assassin from whom no target escapes. It is said if an assassin cannot finish a target, sooner or later the Reaper will come to finish it for them.”

The mood is somewhat chilled between the two, as Nagisa seems to ponder this information. It’s all so serious… and yet Ikeda is making faces at him, Aguri is obviously fighting a smile, and Gakushuu can’t help but think of Korosensei when he, Kayano, and Okuda coated various parts of the classroom in Anti-sensei coating, or when he had gotten motion sick after the train, and can’t help but snort in amusement.

Lovro trains his eyes on him, and Gakushuu’s smirk falls fast. “So. We meet again.”

“That we do,” Gakushuu agrees warily. Nagisa looks on curiously.

Lovro seems to glare at him, although it’s hard to tell, with the man. “You find the Reaper funny?”

“No.” He considers. “Well…”

“He told me he once cried of happiness when he finally got this giant toy from a carnival,” Aguri giggles.

“He seems like the type of person to cry of happiness when he finally scores some toys at carnivals,” Gakushuu suggests. “You never know, right? Maybe he’s a dork, or a penny pincher, or a porn addict.” Even Ozaki is laughing now.

“Like Korosensei.” Nagisa smiles. Gakushuu inclines his head, ignoring Ikeda and Ozaki’s snickers in the background.

“Interesting guess. You know, young man, I find it very interesting how casually you speak of the Reaper. You know, I asked this young man,” and he gestures to Nagisa, “show me his notebook of ideas, and he told me which ones were yours. It is almost scary, how similar they are to the Reaper’s assassinations.”

“Busted,” Ikeda groans.

Gakushuu hides the nervousness in his gut. “Luck, I guess. Great minds think alike, perhaps.” He turns away and goes back to shooting, effectively seeing himself out of the conversation. Lovro and Nagisa return to speaking to each other again, and Gakushuu knows he’s dodged a bullet.

They reach Okinawa, and it should be an amazing, fun trip, where they explore the island, relax, and hopefully assassinate Korosensei for good. And maybe it would’ve been that way.

Except that their resort is teeming with all sorts of ghosts. They’re the first thing Gakushuu notices when he steps off the boat. At first he suspects that other assassins have come to try their luck, but the way the ghosts are looking at his classmates has him nervous.

They reach the resort and head out back, where the ghosts seem to congregate around a particular waiter, who is serving them drinks.

“Don’t drink it, don’t drink it!” One of them, a young man, moans. “No that’s poison, don’t drink it!”

Gakushuu’s untouched glass crashes to the ground. Everyone looks at him, startled.

“Everything okay?” Meahara asks him.

It takes a minute for Gakushuu to find his voice. “Drink smelled wrong. I think there’s something in them. You should put that down.”

“Are you sure?” Maehara asks. But he puts down the drink anyways, and so do a few other of his classmates. Karasuma goes and smells the drinks.

“I don’t smell anything,” he says. “Maybe your glass wasn’t properly cleaned out from the last time they served a drink.”

“No, I’m positive,” Gakushuu insists. “I know something’s wrong with them.”

Karasuma studies him for a moment longer, then turns to the rest of the class. “Put those drinks down everyone. We’ll stay on the safe side for now.” There are some groans, and those who (to Gakushuu’s horror) have already drunk are eyeing their glasses warily, but everyone complies. Maehara is still looking at him, but Gakushuu far more focused on the wide-eyed ghost who had mentioned the poison in the first place. Ikeda says something to him, and then becons Gakushuu to follow them.

He meets them around the corner. “Yes, I can see ghosts,” he announces, before the man gets a word in. “Why was your assassin aiming for my class?”

The man gets over his initial shock and clears his throat. “His codename is Smog, and he’s a poisoner. The stuff in your drinks isn’t fatal, but it’s made to look that way for his and his coworker’s employer, who really does want you kids dead. Something about you having wronged him.”

Gakushuu frowns. “Can you tell me what he looks like?”

“Kinda stout, maybe muscular, bit hard to tell. He keeps clawing at his eyes.” The man shrugs. “I didn’t get a real good look beyond that, sorry. He hired Smog and two others to do his dirty work, but apparently they got cold feet at the idea of killing middle schoolers and decided not to go all in.” There’s bitterness in his voice, mostly likely since he wasn’t given the same courtesy.

“Thanks for your help.” Gakushuu thinks on the information he’s been given. He doesn’t know at the clawing at his eyes bit, but…

“Most of that could describe Takaoka,” Ikeda voices his thoughts aloud. Gakushuu nods.

He turns to the other ghost. “One more thing, sorry. Did this man have any ghosts of his own?” The guy shakes his head, and something sinks in Gakushuu’s stomach. “Thanks for your help.”

“What are we going to do?” Ikeda asks. “Even if you tell Karasuma and Korosensei, they might not believe you with no proof. It’s good that no one will die from the poison or the other assassins, but what about Takaoka himself?”

Gakushuu has no idea. He needs more information. “Can you go find him?” He asks. “See what you can learn.”

“I’ll be back before the assassination attempt,” Ikeda promises.

All things considered, besides his ever growing worries, Gakushuu does have fun flying around taking shots at Korosensei, and the dinner on the boat is nice. Still, he’s more than ready to get down to business by the time Ikeda shows up halfway through Mimura’s video.

“He’s planning blowing up the antidote in Nagisa’s face, then beating him to the ground. Seems he went crazy after his loss to the kid,” Ikeda informs him gravely. “But that means this could just be a matter of making sure Nagisa doesn’t confront him in the first place.”

‘Yeah, that would make things simpler,’ Gakushuu agrees. ‘But we can’t know for sure how he plans to lure him there until he makes his move.’

The video ends, and the real meat of their attempt beings. Gakushuu shoots off a tentacle, along with the other seven, and they keep Korosensei locked in until Chiba and Hayami can make their shots.

It goes well. Almost perfect.

Of course, "almost" isn’t enough with Korosensei. He emerges as a small face in an impenetrable bubble. It’s amusing, when Karma starts mocking the former assassin, but it’s also frustrating, how close they were to succeeding.

And maybe Gakushuu feels some relief as well, that he still isn’t a killer. But he’ll keep that to himself and Ikeda for now.

And then their classmates start dropping. Mimura, Hara, Muramatsu, Nakamura, Okajima, the five who had already tasted the drinks before Gakushuu’s warning. And Okajima is spitting blood and Rio is collapsing, and there’s an audible sense of panic in the air. Ikeda flits around them, using his ghostly chill to cool them down, but there’s not much he can do.

Karasuma receives a call. Takaoka wants the shortest boy and girl still standing to give him the immobile Korosensei, or everyone dies.

“It might be a bluff,” Gakushuu suggests. At the very least, the assassins have essentially made it a bluff.

He should tell them, that it’s Takaoka. But he can’t give them a believable explanation as to how he knows, or why that is his guess. Even if he were to expose his secret (and isn’t that crazy? That he’s even considering admitting he can see ghosts for a couple of classmates who won’t even die?) time spent making them believe him would be time away from Takaoka’s demands.

Karasuma runs a hand through his hair. “We can’t take the chance. You smelled something off about your drink, right Asano? Did you recognize what it was?”

“No, sorry. Just that it was wrong.” Gakushuu winces, because he can’t tell them the truth, and that makes this all just a bit harder. “I wish I could be of more help.”

“Don’t worry, we get it.” Gakushuu feels a hand on his shoulder and turns to see Maehara giving him a somber smile. “If it wasn’t for you, I would be sick too. Probably a lot of other people as well.”

“Maehara is right, Asano. Don’t beat yourself up over this,” Korosensei assures him. “You did what you could, and you spared a lot of your classmates, which leaves us with even more hands to rescue those who are sick.”

Karasuma looks at Korosensei intently. “You have a plan?”

Korosensei’s smile widens. “Ritsu? Could you pull up that thing we’ve discussed?” Ritsu smiles.

For how steep the cliff ledge was considered to be, Gakushuu finds that climbing up it is surprisingly easy. It seems that all that work with Karasuma, plus his own training outside of school, has made him a lot stronger than he expected. Ikeda is watching him nervously from the side - Gakushuu knows how much he hates drops like these, and feels bad for putting him through the pain of watching - but there’s not much he can do besides whisper words of encouragement.

They make it to the top and slip in the building. Gakushuu notices a few different ghosts floating around, and he nods at Ikeda, who makes his way over to them. A younger woman and older man come back with him.

“I’m Yamada, and this is Suzuki,” The girl introduces. “We know this place by heart, including where all the security posts and guard cameras are. We can distract them all for you.”

‘Thank you, we appreciate it,’ Gakushuu signs back. There’s a large amount of guards in the piano lobby, but before they need to do anything, Yamada and Suzuki are zooming away, and an alarm is going off somewhere across the first floor level of the hotel.

“Nice going Ritsu!” Kayano whispers, as they make a break for the stairs.

Ritsu looks confused. “It wasn’t me. There’s no one causing trouble over there either. I think it was just a random false alarm.” Ikeda snickers, and Gakushuu smiles.

“Alright, we’ve cleared the first area,” Karasuma says. “If we’re stopped, we’ll say we’re staying here.”

“But sir, we’re a bunch of junior high kids!” Sugaya protests. “They look at us, they’ll know we should be here.

“Why not? There are lots of junior high kids here,” Karasuma tells them. “Where do you think the kids of the ultra rich and famous go? That’s right, only the best for Daddy’s little prince or princess. You should see some of the antics those trust fund brats get up too.” Which, okay, fair. And it’s pretty amusing when everyone “acts entitled”. They manage to get by for a while with little trouble.

His classmates are starting to get relaxed, and even running ahead, when Bitch-sensei is calling for them to hold back, and Karasuma is jumping in front of Terasaka and Yoshida, getting covered in purple gas. Ghosts swarm the room as their teacher struggles to his feet, including the young man from earlier.

“I know him,” Bitch-sensei says. “He’s another one of Lovro’s students, goes by Smog.”

“Nice to see you too, Jelavic,” Smog smiles at her, receiving a scowl in return.

“You’re the one who poisoned our drinks!” Fuwa declares. Over Bitch-sensei’s grumbling that she could’ve told them that, Fuwa shows them all exactly how she deduced who Smog was. It’s admittedly impressive.

Smog taunts them and pulls out another can to fire, but a sudden wind from his victims blows it back in his own face. Karasuma manages to knock him out while he’s down, and they hide him under a table, to the amusement of his ghosts.

“Thanks,” the young man says. “If nothing else, it’s nice to see him humiliated for a while.” When they press on, plenty of the ghosts are following them. Still, Karasuma is down for the count, and Bitch-sensei is carrying him for once, instead of the other way around, showing a surprising amount of strength.

“I didn’t know you could carry this kind of weight,” Karasuma notes.

“Shut up,” Bitch-sensei snaps. “Get better soon, because even if it is all muscles, you’re still way too heavy!” The rest of them laugh at the commotion. Gakushuu wonders if either of them even notice what’s really going on between them.

“They’re kinda dense,” Ikeda points out. “Karasuma is, anyways.” Gakushuu has to agree with him.

They meet with more ghosts later on, along with someone Bitch-sensei introduces as “Grip.” The strange talking man has more than his fair share of ghosts as well, wandering anxiously down the hallway.

An older woman notices him looking, and her eyes light up. “Careful sweethearts! He’s got some of that other man’s poison on him.”

So when Karma challenges him to a one on one hand to hand battle, Gakushuu taps him on the shoulder. “He’s working with Smog so he might have paralizar on him,” Gakushuu mutters. “Be careful.”

Karma blinks, and then smirks. “Don’t worry, I am. Thanks for the warning, but I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve as well.” The ghosts watch anxiously with them, then cheer as Karma takes Grip down.

Gakushuu bends over Grip as he struggles beneath the weight of some of the other boys. Grip narrows his eyes. “You. You look like one of my colleagues, hm.” Gakushuu frowns. “You’ve got the same eyes, ones that say you’ve seen more than you should.” Gakushuu can hear Bitch-sensei’s intake of breath.

“You know what he was talking about?” He asks her, as they move forward. They still have yet to meet any guards, which means Yamada and Suzuki are doing their jobs well. “About me looking like one of his colleagues.”

“Yeah, I do.” Bitch-sensei narrows her eyes at him. “I’m actually surprised you don’t know. We’ve all seen death, but he’s off, even with the rest of us. Acts like death is an integral part of his life, not just his job. And you do the same. You’re one freaky kid, you know?”

“I - what?” Because what? Gakushuu hasn’t really ever talked about death around Irina, and he’s never thought of himself as callous when it comes to the subject. If anything, he understands the concept of death more than others. She doesn’t sound like she knows, but…

“She doesn’t know.” Ikeda tries to sound confident. “No, there’s no way.” His voice grows stronger. “We would know by now if she did. There are so many ghosts constantly in the classroom - we’d know. And Shuu’s not off! He might not be normal, but he’s definitely not freaky!”

Gakushuu appreciates the sentiment. Ikeda’s right, they’d know if Bitch-sensei had figured it out. All the assassins they’ve met seem pretty strange, it must be just that. “Sure, okay then,” He says out loud, and moves past her without looking back, placing himself in the middle of the group. The rest don’t know it, but Grip’s ghosts have joined them as well, which means the hallway is almost full of them. Gakushuu really doesn’t feel like walking through anyone.

They reach the club floor, where Ritsu tells them they’ll need to get through the club to reach the manual lock and let everyone else in. They’re worried for a moment, but then Bitch-sensei steps forward and flips her hair.

“Allow me, boys and girls. This’ll just take a minute.” Sure enough, she’s back with the door unlocked before they know it. A master of the rich man’s world indeed.

“That was one minute and seventeen seconds,” Karma points out cheekily. “You’re going soft, Bitch-sensei.”

“Shut up you little brat!”

They reach the VIP floor, and once again, Yamada and Suzuki lead the guards away before they need to slip past them. The mass of ghosts are rowdy, cheering them on. Some have even joined in, causing their own little bits of mayhem to draw away unwanted attention. Others are sticking close by the group, sending them encouragement, even if they know (most of) the class can’t hear them.

“Irina, do you happen to have any guns on you?” Korosensei asks. They all turn to look at him, surprised.

Bitch-sensei clearly wasn’t expecting that, but she nods. “Uh, yeah I’ve got three.” She pulls them out of seemingly nowhere, to the great surprise of her students.

“How do you fit so many guns in an outfit like that?” Yada sounds more admiring than anything else.

Bitch-sensei smirks, twirling one of the guns around her finger. “In my line of work, you fit as many weapons in as you can. You’d be surprised at how many places you can hide a gun, even in a revealing dress.”

“Well now we know where all those guns you pull on us come from,” Maehara remarks.

“Shut up!”

“Irina, please give one to Chiba and one to Hayami. Keep the last on for yourself,” Korosensei instructs.

Hayami winces. “Are you sure?”

“We blew it on your assassination,” Chiba points out.

“I’m positive. I know that when the time comes, you’ll do just fine with them.” Korosensei assures them. Still scowling, Bitch-sensei hands her guns over.

“Just remember to return them at the end of this,” she snaps. They make their way up to the VIP floor, entering a concert hall filled with one assassin and a whole lot of new ghosts.

“Watch out!” One of them calls. “He’s a crack shot with a gun.”

“They can’t hear you,” another points out.

The assassin makes a warning shot, then turns on all the lights and taunts them - and soon Korosensei is calling out directions for everyone to run in, to keep the new assassin - Gastro - occupied.

‘Ikeda,’ Gakushuu signs. ‘Can you ask the other ghosts to make a racket all around the room? It won’t help with his sight, but it’ll cover our footsteps so if we need to move quickly, he won’t tell. And it’ll disorient him.’

“Got it,” Ikeda grins. He floats up above the other ghosts. “Alright everyone, you all wanna help these kids make it through, right?” There’s a murmur of agreement. “Then let’s put our inability to die a second time to good use! If we create a lot of noise all around the concert room, we can confuse Gastro even more, and give these kids a fighting chance!” The ghosts all cheer, and get to work, flickering lights and slamming seats and making the stage under Gastro groan. A wonder symphony of haunting.

“Hey, purple-eyes! Stop lollygagging and move four rows down!” Gakushuu lets out a sigh and does as he’s told.

Once they’ve sufficiently confused and distracted him, Chiba shoots the light’s support, so they crash down on Gastro, and Hayami shoots his gun out of his hand. Gastro tries to get up, but Irina, having snuck around the back while the ghosts where raising a racket, stomps on his back and puts her gun to his head.

They manage to tie up Gastro with no problem, and even while the students are wondering where all that noise came from, the ghosts are high fiving each other and cheering everyone on. Gakushuu can’t help but smile.

‘You did great,’ He tells Ikeda. Ikeda smiles bashfully.

“Just glad I could help,” He says back.

Karasuma’s up to about half his strength, which means he’s able to take down the one guard the ghosts couldn’t drive away with no issue. They sneak into Takaoka’s control room, making sure to stay as silent as possible. The room fills with ghosts, all waiting with bated breath.

Then Takaoka reveals himself, the many different detonator switches, and his plans, plans to put Kayano in a bath filled with anti-sensei BBs and Korosensei, ensuring that he would come out of his defense form without exploding rather than blast out and kill his student.

It’s sickening. If Aguri were here, she’d be at the end of her rope with this man. Gakushuu wishes she were here, and not spying on Shiro to see what he’s been up to.

Takaoka has Nagisa come to the helicopter pad with him, them blows out the walkway between them. He has Gakushuu’s classmate bow down in front of him and apologize.

Then he blows up the antidote in front of their faces.

Nagisa is horrified. Their classmates are horrified. Gakushuu, who knew Smog hadn’t really given them something lethal, is horrified. He can’t help it.

And all around them are angry spirits. A whirlwind kicks up. Frost appears on the ground. Takaoka is blown off his feet entirely. Ikeda hovers behind the class, unnerved by the sudden change in attitude, and Gakushuu feels the cold presence of all these furious ghosts chill him to the bone. It hurts, there’s too many of them for their emotions not to affect him. He steps forward, wanting them all to stop but unsure of how to make it happen. Someone is calling his name, but he can barely hear them over the ringing in his ears, the shouting of the dead, who hate the idea of five kids joining them.

“Asano, please!” He feels a warm hand, a living hand, on his shoulder, and spins around wildly. Isogai is looking at him, almost frightened. The ghosts seem to take notice, and the cold recedes, the wind calms down, and Gakushuu can breathe again. He all but collapses in Isogai’s arms, and while a part of him hates the weakness he’s showing, most of him is just glad to feel some warmth again. Ikeda is hovering nearby, a constant presence as usual, and Gakushuu slowly calms himself.

He hears the noise of a stun gun in the background, but can’t find it in himself to pay much attention. Then there’s cheers from everyone, including the ghosts, and the cold is gone completely.

“What are we going to do?” He hears Nagisa say. “Nakamura, Muramatsu, Okajima, Hara, and Mimura are still infected.”

“No they’re not,” He whispers. He can feel everyone’s eyes on him. “Takaoka wasn’t bluffing, but Smog didn’t go through with what he wanted.”

“Smart kid. How’d you figure that out?” Smog’s voice comes from the other side of the rooftop.

“Not a surprise,” Grip responds. “He seems like him.”

“True.” They and Gastro go on to explain their real plan, making sure Gakushuu’s classmates all made it out safely. The class gets to breathe a collective sigh of relief. And while Korosensei and the assassins are taken away, everyone else heads back to their own hotel.

“Are you okay now?” Okano asks him, as they head into the lobby. She, Maehara, and Isogai are by his side, and have been since the rooftop. “You got a little scary back there.”

Gakushuu blinks. “I did?” He supposes that they’ve never seen him lose his cool before, especially not like that. He can almost feel his face flushing with embarrassment. “I’m fine. Thanks for asking.”

“Right.” They’re all giving him that strange look. Gakushuu tries to shrug it off.

He finds he can’t.

They don’t know about the ghosts… what do all of them think of me? Freaky, like Irina says? Why do I even care?

He knows why, of course. But he hates admitting how much this class, and especially these three people, have made their way into his heart.

“It’s going to be okay,” Ikeda says. “I promise.”

Gakushuu forces a smile. “Really, I’m okay.”

He wishes he could believe himself.

Chapter Text

“This ocean cavern is the ideal spot,” Korosensei announces. “I want everyone to walk through in boy-girl pairs.”

“You heard the teacher,” Ikeda quips. “Guess I’ll be sticking this one out.”

Gakushuu narrows his eyes. “Why do I get the feeling that you know something I don’t?” Ikeda raises his hands as if to proclaim his innocence, but the cheeky grin on his face tells a different story.

It’s their last day on Okinawa, and Korosensei has decided to have all of them go through a test of courage. Gakushuu had never really seen the point in those things - he knew actual ghosts, after all, so there was nothing any sort of “courage test” could do, besides give him a bit of a laugh. Still, with Korosensei being the one to set it up, it could be interesting.

“Alright then!” Korosensei continues. “First pair will be Asano and Kayano!” Gakushuu looks at Kayano, surprised, but returns the smile she’s sending at him. Korosensei goes into the cave to prepare, and the two of them head on in.

Kayano looks around nervously as they step through the dark. “So, uh,” she starts. “You’re not bothered by this kind of thing?”

Gakushuu shrugs. “Not really. I’ve just never found it all that scary. It all seems too fake.”

“Y-yeah, I guess.” Kayano trails behind him, sweating, eyes darting around the cave. “I guess I’m just not that good at this stuff.”

“We all have our strengths and weaknesses,” Gakushuu offers. Still, knowing how dangerous Kayano is makes it all the more amusing, as she continues to look around the cave. He does feel kind of bad for her, but considering the fact that there’s no ghosts in the cave, he doubts anything actually spooky will happen.

Something starts playing, and blue lights spark along the cave walls, as Korosensei slides into view, appropriately dressed for the odd occasion. “Beware,” he says dramatically. “You have entered a cave drenched in blood and tragedy. For here, routed in battle, members of royalty met most terrible and violent ends.” He slides out of view.

“Is that true?” Kayano wonders.

“Not sure. Most likely he’s just creating atmosphere.” There aren’t any ghosts here anyways, so it must not have been as bad as Korosensei made it out to be.

Their teacher’s voice comes from right behind them. “You would be wise to stick together. Those found wandering alone will be haunted by the restless spirits that reside here.” Kayano yelps, and Gakushuu - dammit, he can’t help himself - snorts with laughter.

“Wow, you really aren’t bothered by this at all, are you?” Kayano sounds half wondering, half amused.

“Sorry,” Gakushuu chuckles. “Didn’t mean to ruin the experience.”

Kayano’s eyes sparkle. “No, it’s fine. Let’s get through this as quickly as we can, alright?” They head on forward, and share another laugh as they hear Korosensei give his shpeal to the next couple, likely Nakamura and Nagisa.

It’s only a few minutes later when they hear the sounds of Korosensei screaming in abject terror and bouncing off the walls.

“Kinda weird he’s more freaked out than any of us,” Kayano points out. “Who knew just how scared he was of the supernatural.”

The thought of Korosensei, who seems to be terrified of ghosts, teaching in a classroom filled with them has Gakushuu biting his lip to keep from laughing. It’s so typically Korosensei.

Then he thinks about how most of the ghosts haunting the classroom are people who Korosensei himself has killed, and his amusement is struck down cold. If anything, the man has brought it all upon himself, and any sort of pity Gakushuu had flies away from him.

“We should just go,” he says.

They find out Korosensei’s real intentions once they all gather back on the beach. “So let me get this straight.” Maehara narrows his eyes. “This whole thing was about you trying to hook us up so you could get material for a book?” Korosensei starts sobbing and protesting, defending his intentions. Ikeda cackles above them, clearly knowing what was happening beforehand.

Gakushuu frowns. “What is with the pairings though? And why me and Kayano?” He mutters.

Isogai stares at him. “Why you and Kayano? No offence Asano, but everyone knows you like her. Even Korosensei can see it, and we all know how he is.”

“What?” Gakushuu gapes. “No, that’s not - is this still about the Kyoto incident? Because I was telling the truth when I said that I didn’t mean it like that.”

“And the times the two of you go out for lunch together?” Okano points out. Gakushuu almost wants to tell her straight out that those were times Aguri asked him to help out her sister when she was down, and eventually he had gotten attuned enough to figure her moods out on his own. “Or hang out after school?”

Maehara joins in. “Seriously man, you don’t need to deny it. Kayano’s pretty and cheery! Sure, she’s not who we imagined you’d go for, but you’re not exactly who we thought you were either so…”

Gakushuu narrows his eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You know.” Okano shrugs. “Like, Principal Jr, or whatever. And it turns out you’re super different from your dad, and a lot cooler. Just not what we expected.” Something warm blossoms in Gakushuu’s chest.

“I dunno, maybe you do just have the hots for her,” Ikeda drawls. Gakushuu shoots him a quick glare. “But that’s sweet that they all like you! Makes sense, of course, once anyone gets to know you, they realize you’re a really likeable guy!”

It’s nice to hear that, but it also feels like there’s something the three living people talking to him aren’t saying. Do they think he’s a freak, like Irina does? A part of him wishes he could just go back to not caring again.

Lucky for him, they’re all distracted by Karasuma and Bitch-sensei walking out of the cave together, and everyone in class simultaneously decides to pair them up together. It actually turns out to be sort of fun, even if Bitch-sensei doesn’t really make a move in the end.

“Um, Gakushuu?” Aguri hovers around him. “Do you mind? I sort of need a favor.”

Gakushuu slips out of the house. ‘I don’t mind. What is it?’ Aguri looks around nervously.

He can recall the former teacher’s devastation when she heard about what had happened on Okinawa, and how she hadn’t been around to help. She was horrified at the idea of Takaoka coming back and planning on killing her sister and her students, and had spent much of the next day concerned about how Gakushuu was dealing with the aftermath of all those angry ghosts.

Still, she did have an approximate time and plan for Shiro and Itona’s next attack. It seems their new goal is to frame Korosensei for stealing undergarments, and draw him into trying to catch they real attacker, where they would spring their trap on him.

Now Aguri has calmed down, but it’s still obvious she feels bad about missing the whole thing. “I hope you don’t mind, but it’s my birthday, and Akari is going to be all alone for it. I just don’t want her to have to deal with this day alone, and there’s no one else I could ask.”

‘Don’t worry, I understand,’ Gakushuu assures her. ‘I’ll go find her. And happy birthday.’

Ikeda swoops over. “Happy birthday!! Why didn’t you tell anyone? Let’s let Gakushuu help Akari, and we can find Sakai and Everson and Ozaki and do something fun! Let’s go somewhere exciting! It’s not like we’ll get in trouble for it, after all.”

A smile spreads across Aguri’s face. “You’re right. I may not be alive, but I am still here. I might as well make the most of it.” She glances back to Gakushuu. “Have fun, alright? Thank you so much.”

‘Of course.’ Gakushuu smiles as he watches her and Ikeda go, then pulls out his phone.

Asano: Heard a new restaurant is opening near downtown. Wanna go today? I can get us reservations. Who knows, they might a sale for short people

Kayano: Sure! Gotta love having rich friends!

Kayano: Also I’m not that short

Kayano: You asshole

Asano: Is that still a yes?

Kayano: haha yeah. I’ll meet you there

They meet up for a late lunch, and Gakushuu has seats for them as promised. Kayano digs into her food, and they talk about nothing for a long time, careful to keep conversations of Korosensei and the like to a minimum, in case anyone hears them.

“...Thanks, Asano,” Kayano says quietly, as they’re finishing up desert. “I really needed something like this today. But I’ve gotta ask, why me? Why not Isogai or Maehara or Okano?”

Gakushuu gives a half shrug. “You’re a friend of mine too, you know. I thought it would be nice to bring you here.”

Kayano seems to take that explanation, laughing. “You know, less than half a year ago, you would’ve been super offended at the idea that you had three E Class friends. It’s cool to see that you’ve grown used to us.”

“I wouldn’t say that.” Gakushuu rolls his eyes. “It’s more that half a year ago, I would’ve been super offended at the idea that I had more than one friend at all.” One living friend, anyways. “But I’m glad to be in this class, and have met all of you. It’s a nice place to be.”

“Yeah, it really is, isn’t it?” Kayano sighs and looks out the window. “Kinda weird that it’s almost halfway over.” Gakushuu wholeheartedly agrees.

“Ah, but we must all cherish the fond memories we have of this class, children. And I must say that this is a fine restaurant you picked out, Asano. What a wonderful place for a date!” They both freeze, and turn to see Korosensei grinning at them and taking notes. And, if Gakushuu isn’t mistaken, Karma and Nakamura are outside, looking in on them with Cameras.

He scowls, and Kayano leaps to her feet. “This isn’t a date!”

“Why are you spying on us!?”

“Wasn’t that mess at Okinawa enough?”

“What are they doing out there?”

“Oh come on!” Korosensei protests. “Sure, my matchmaking didn’t work as I’d hoped it would, but it turns out that you two are together anyways, so at least I got that right! I need material, people!”

“We’re not a couple!” Gakushuu and Kayano protest at the same time. Social convention prevents them from chasing Korosensei out then and there, but as soon as everything is paid for, they have no such qualms.

Dammit, Gakushuu’s going to have to explain all this to Aguri, so she doesn’t get the wrong idea and think he took her sister out on a date on her own birthday.

Aguri clasps her hands together. “Oh, so there is something going on between you! That’s so sweet, maybe one day we could become family for real.”

“I knew it!” Ikeda crows. “I called that ages ago.”

“I hate you both.”

Gakushuu agrees to go to Korosensei’s summer festival, and it turns out most of the class did so as well. He walks around with Kayano and Nagisa, the former having dragged him along as soon as she saw him. Ikeda and Aguri float around them, messing with booths for fun and taking in the scenery.

“Aw, you look so pretty in that!” Aguri coos at Kayano. “I wish I could change my outfit to match.”

Korosensei looks rather relieved. “Thank goodness. Quite a few more of you showed up then I’d been led to expect. In the event that no one bothered to come, I was contemplating suicide.”

Ikeda winces, briefly looking as though he had been dunked in water. “Don’t joke about that,” Gakushuu snaps at his teacher, while his friends look at him curiously.

“Ah, sorry about that,” Korosensei says. Still, Gakushuu’s mood is thoroughly killed, and he wanders away from the group, looking for some time alone from everyone.

“Sorry I ruined your fun,” Ikeda looks away. He and Aguri have followed him away from the big crowds, and honestly, Gakushuu is grateful. “You were having a good time before.”

“It’s okay,” Gakushuu assures him quietly. “I just needed-”

“You there! Are you Asano Gakushuu, by any chance?” Gakushuu looks up to see a man with messy blond hair, goggles sitting atop his head. He’s the only living person in the alleyway Gakushuu happens to be in, and he’s surrounded by ghosts, and while most seem to be wandering off, there are a few watching them both curiously. Funny enough, the ghosts don’t seem to be too bothered by the man.

And one of the ghosts behind him is-

One of them is-

Oh god.

“H-How?” Ikeda gasps. Aguri’s hands are cupped to her mouth in shock. “What the hell - we just saw you a couple weeks ago!” The ghost trains his eyes on them and says nothing.

The man looks back and makes eye contact with the ghost, before turning back to Gakushuu. “Yeah, he just showed up yesterday, told me all about you. Said you might be at this festival, so I decided to drop by, meet you for myself."

He holds out his hand. “The name’s Red Eye. You can call me Red if you want. Always a pleasure to meet someone like me. Lovro here has told me a lot about you. Why don’t we have a chat?”

Chapter Text

Red invites him to a secluded diner, where he asks for a booth seat in the corner of the room. Gakushuu nervously follows him there. Ikeda and Aguri are trailing behind him, and there are two other ghosts besides Lovro with Red.

“This is all on me. Order what you want.” Red hands him a menu, and Gakushuu decides to just go with water. The waiter delivers their drinks, and all of them sit or float in silence for a moment.

“You probably want an explanation,” Red offers.

“That would be nice,” Gakushuu agrees. He sneaks a look at Lovro, and all of a sudden he can’t help but think about the Kyoto trip, Sakamoto’s mention of another person who was able to see him, and the strangely friendly cluster of ghosts as they went over that one bridge. “You sound like you know Lovro well - were you the assassin at Kyoto?”

Red grins. “Yeah, that was me. Interesting teacher you’ve got there. Considering who he is, I was surprised he didn’t have any ghosts with him, but now that I know about you, it makes a lot more sense."

“We kicked all of them out but three,” Ikeda says. “They just weren’t in Kyoto at the time. They’re usually around.”

Gakushuu narrows his eyes. “What about you? Why would you become an assassin if you can see ghosts?” How do you justify yourself, in your mind? I can’t even do that with the Reaper.

“I have very specific requirements for the targets I chose to pick up.” Red sips the coffee he ordered. “I always scout out the target, figure out everything I can about them before I take on a job. And I only take on targets who have far too many ghosts of their own. Those who more than have it coming.” He smiles lightly. “I understand where you’re coming from though - seeing ghosts certainly changes one’s view on death.”

“That’s one way to put it,” One of Red’s ghosts mutters, a smirk upon his lips. “He took out the corrupt official who dealt in human trafficking, and who lead to my death.”

“As well as the militant who ordered the bombing of my town,” the other ghost says. “I’m Farkah, by the way, and this is Ben.” She offers out her hand.

Aguri takes it. “Nice to meet you. I’m Aguri, and this is Ikeda.” Ikeda gives them a little wave, while Gakushuu and Red look on.

Lovro eyes them. “I suppose you know who I am, although I do not know you.” He turns to Gakushuu. “I must say, it is good to finally understand you, young man. You were a puzzle it seemed I could not solve.”

“Thanks, I guess.” Gakushuu tries to hide his awkwardness at seeing Lovro. The former assassin is the first ghost he was even relatively close to prior to their death, and that seems to make it even harder to see him transparent now.

“So,” Red starts. “I was thinking maybe we could come to an agreement, of sorts. I can tell you about lots of different tricks I’m sure you haven’t figured out yet.”

Gakushuu raises an eyebrow. “And in return?”

“Some company, occasionally.” Red grins. “I’ve only met one other person who can see ghosts before, and they were old when I was young. It’ll be good to have company who can see the rest of my company again.”

“Don’t worry,” Farkah assures him. “He might seem weird, but he’s a good guy. At least, deep down.” The last bit was said rather playfully, and Gakushuu suspected Red really was being honest about wanting company. Ghosts had no reason to lie, at least not for something like this.

“I think I can make that work,” he agrees. “But you say you know tricks to seeing ghosts? I know I’m affected more by their emotions, and can feel their cold more so than those that can’t see them, but there are other things?”

Red leans back in his chair. “Oh yeah. First of all, I don’t know if you’ve noticed or anything, but ghosts actually have more power in general when they’re around people like you and me. Unless a ghost has gone Poltergeist, they aren’t nearly as powerful when they don’t have something nearby to bring them closer to the living world.”

“Poltergeist? They exist?” Lovro asks.

Ikeda is the one who answers him. “Yup. Certain conditions need to be met though. Most angry ghosts don’t just become Poltergeists, that would be a disaster. And no one’s really sure what those conditions are until they’re met. But they can be seen by regular people and become a lot more powerful. It never lasts long.” He shudders, obviously remembering what Gakushuu is. “We met one once. Guy was pretty scary until he calmed down.”

“And one of us powering up ghosts isn’t the same as meeting Poltergeist conditions,” Red adds. “So that’s something different.”

Gakushuu thinks about how Ikeda was able to hold Takaoka’s hand in place, and how the swarm of angry spirits were able to cause such a commotion on the rooftop in Okinawa. It makes sense when he thinks about it: if they were able to do that whenever they got pissed off, people would know something was up. Gakushuu being there seemed to have given them the strength they suddenly had.

He’s… not sure what he thinks about that.

“And then there’s possession,” Ben chimes in.

Aguri frowns. “Possession? That’s a thing?” She looks to Gakushuu and Ikeda, the latter looking just as lost at Gakushuu feels.

“I thought that was just in stories,” he admits. “Like how exorcisms don’t really work.”

“No? Then how does one get rid of a poltergeist?”

Ikeda snickers. “Usually the Poltergeist is so stumped or amused by what’s going on that they stop meeting the conditions to be a Poltergeist, and that’s problem solved for those doing the exorcism.”

“It’s not like in movies or stories,” Red explains, looking amused as well. “Only people like you or me can be possessed, and it has to be consensual. We can kick them out any time we feel like, but the ghost will keep all their skills and ghostly powers while driving the meatsack.” He seems to read Gakushuu’s expression. “Don’t worry kid, you can’t be tricked into it or anything. Otherwise you would most likely know all this already.”

“Or be in jail for murder,” Aguri finishes dryly. Gakushuu thinks of all the angry ghosts who want Korosensei dead and agrees.

"You know, as much as it's a good idea to keep this whole thing secret from the general public, it's always good to have someone among the living you can confide in." Red looks him over seriously. "I have someone like that, and I'm an assassin. Something tells me you don't have that person."

Gakushuu glances at Ikeda, then avoids looking at anyone. "No, I don't. I tried to tell someone once. To say it didn't go over well is an understatement. I haven't tried since. Nor do I really want to."

"Suit yourself," Red says. "But if you do find someone you can trust, you should keep yourself open to the possibility."

"Right." His phone rings, and he checks it to see a text from Kayano, wondering where he is. “Looks like I need to go.” He can’t help but feel reluctant. The first person like him he’s ever met, and now he has to part ways.

“We’ll see each other again, kid,” Red Eye assures him. “Don’t you worry about it.”

Kayano has them making a giant pudding for Korosensei, at the bottom of which lies a mass of anti-sensei BB’s just waiting to be exploded by remote control. Gakushuu helps crack eggs and mixes masses of pudding together. Even though he knows this whole plan is most likely just to throw Korosensei off her trail, Gakushuu can admit he’s having a lot of fun.

“You’re being pretty active in this one,” Maehara notes, as the two of them take a break from their pudding plan. “You’ve been a lot more active in the last few attempts, actually. It’s really cool to see you joining in on everything.”

“Yeah, well.” Gakushuu looks at Kayano directing their class, and Aguri smiling proudly down at her, occasionally bursting into giggles. Lovro, who’s decided to hang around their classroom, is looking up at the pudding with an amused and impressed expression. “It’s a neat plan. Besides, it’s Kayano’s plan, so of course I’d help.”

Maehara smirks, and Gakushuu’s heart sinks. “Wow, you’re just straight up admitting you like her now? Good on you man!”

“Not like that!” He glares at the other boy. “She’s my friend, so of course I want to help her with her plan.”

“Right, I’m sure.” Maehara rolls his eyes. “I don’t get why you don’t just ask her out. It’s not like anyone in E Class is going to judge you or anything. I mean, the worst she could do is say no.”

“The worst she could do is say yes,” Gakushuu deadpans, “because I don’t like her that way, and it would be unfair to her if she thought I did.” There was, of course, the extra problem of her having those tentacles, but that wasn’t the point. Could he not just be friends with a girl without everyone asking if he liked her?

“If you say so.” Maehara says dryly. Gakushuu decides to ignore him for the rest of their break.

In the end, Kayano rushes out to stop Korosensei from exploding the pudding, Korosensei manages to save some for all of them, and the class enjoys pudding treats with each other.

“Akari’s wanted to do that for a while. Build a giant pudding, I mean,” Aguri admits. “Even in these strange circumstances, I’m glad she got to do this, and that it worked.”

“Only wish we could try it!” Ikeda groans. “We had to watch that thing be built, and it looked so good!”

‘Though luck,’ Gakushuu signs cheerfully, and Ikeda fake sobs.

“Um, Asano?” Gakushuu looks over to see Nagisa nervously approaching him. “Can I talk to you about something? In private, maybe?”

Gakushuu frowns. “Sure, I guess.” They sit out on the lawn together with their pudding.

Nagisa fiddles with his hands. “About the summer festival… I wanted to apologize. It’s none of my business, but I couldn’t help but notice you ran off right when Korosensei was talking about… you know. And you got really angry at Karma at the beginning of the year, when he jumped to try and kill Korosensei.” Gakushuu stiffens, Ikeda stiffens, and Nagisa seems to notice. “You don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to. But if you need someone to talk to…”

Something in Gakushuu softens and warms. “Thank you. I - have had - bad experiences with suicide in the past. A friend of mine.” Aguri puts a comforting arm over Ikeda.

“I’m sorry,” the ghost boy whispers.

“I don’t blame him, or anything. I’m not mad at him either. I just don’t want others to get hurt that way. It’s not so funny when you - when you know someone who-” His voice breaks off, and he hates it.

“I’m so sorry, Shuu.”

Nagisa looks away. “I can see why that would bother you. Sorry for bringing it up.”

“Don’t worry,” Gakushuu assures him. “It looked like it was bothering you, so it’s good that you got it off your chest.”

That earns a smile from Nagisa. “Thanks, Asano. You’re a lot nicer than come across, you know.”

“Say that again and you’ll be hearing from my lawyers.” Nagisa snickers. “Let’s go rejoin everyone else.”

Someone in yellow is stealing undergarments, and all eyes are looking at Korosensei.

“It’s not him, even if he is a creep,” Ozaki mentions to Gakushuu offhandedly. “Sakai and I saw someone in a suit planting evidence all over the building, and they were definitely human.”

“It’s Shiro,” Aguri says quietly. “This is his new plan to lure out Korosensei, by having him track down the culprit in a desperate attempt to regain his honor with his students.”

Is that so? While everyone is debating the merits of confronting Korosensei over the newspaper article, Gakushuu speaks up. “It’s not him. Someone was planting evidence to make it look like it was him who did this.” He can’t tell them it was Shiro, but him spotting the real culprit isn’t too unbelievable.

They all look at him for a moment. Then-

“Okay, so we need to catch the real guy before he does anymore damage,” Isogai says. “Anyone have any idea where he could be striking next?”

Fuwa grins. “Ritsu and I are looking it up now!” Ritsu appears on her phone with a detective outfit on. “We’ll have this case cracked in no time!”

Gakushuu can’t help but stare. “Just like that?” He mutters.

“You have proven time and time again that your odd words have truth to them,” Lovro says. “It is not a surprise that they would trust you.”

Maybe not to Lovro. Still, a small smile creeps onto Gakushuu’s face, and he lets it stay there as they plan.

Despite their own plans, Korosensei still shows up and is trapped by Shiro, but he’s learned enough about Itona by now to dodge his attacks. Then Shiro abandons Itona, and they spend the night finding him, rescuing him once again, and helping Korosensei remove his tentacles.

“I hope it’ll be that simple with Akari,” Aguri remarks, as they watch Itona recover with Terasaka’s gang. “But unfortunately, I doubt it.”

‘We’ll figure it out,’ Gakushuu assures her. ‘We have to.’

Chapter Text

“It looks like Koro is upping the workload,” Aguri notes, as they walk through the hallways. “But he seems to still be going at a good pace. I’m really glad he’s been able to get into teaching as much as he has. It’s done wonders for him.”

“He’s still a murderer and a bastard,” Ozaki mutters, although there’s not much venom in his voice.

Sakai floats over to join their conversation. “Oh, he’ll always be that. But at least he’s doing something genuinely productive with his time now, instead of, you know, murder.”

‘Father would say differently,’ Gakushuu signs dryly. ‘Not that it matters or anything.’

Ozaki snorts. “Your old man is a bitch. Don’t you ever think of getting back at him, at least once?”

Ikeda snickers. “Oh, he does. Last year he took all the furniture in the house, as well as everything in Sensei’s office, and moved it all three centimeters to the left. I’ve never seen Sensei bump into anything before then. It was hilarious.” Gakushuu smiles as he recalls that fond memory. Father had known it was him, of course, but since Ikeda was the one moving everything in front of the cameras, he’d had no proof.

Gakushuu walks back into the classroom and grabs his bag, only to see the other boys all standing around Itona and some sort of device. Most of them have suspicious looks on their faces.

“We need to be able to record.”

“Absolutely.”

Lovro looks over to them from where he’s hovering behind Itona with the long suffering gaze of someone who has dealt with many teenage boys before. “They’re planning on using a camera from an assassination attempt to look up girls skirts. I don’t suppose you’ll be joining them?”

“They’re doing what now?” Aguri mutters.

“Nope.” Gakushuu picks up his bag and leaves the room as fast as he possibly can.

“Hang on a sec. Justice? I thought your name was Masayoshi,” Kayano says, looking at the spelled out version of Kimura’s name.

“Yeah, if you write it out in Kanji,” Kimura sighs. “But my parents insist on saying it’s Justice. Korosensei’s just nice enough to say it my way. But when they say my name like that at the closing ceremony, it’ll be even more public humiliation! When I was a kid, I’d complain about having a weird name. But mom and dad would just get all upset at me! They didn’t put a lot of thought into the kind of hell they were setting me up for when I got into school.”

“Poor guy,” Ikeda agrees, floating right next to him.

Hazama walks over to him, placing a hand on his desk. “You can’t expect parents to have your best interests at heart.” She grins. “Does a cute name like Kirara go with this face? My name makes me sound like a sparkly princess. My mom lives in her own little fantasy world. When the smallest thing threatens it, she can’t take it. You have any idea what it’s like growing up in a house like that?”

“As a matter of fact.” They all look at Gakushuu, who shrugs. “You know how the principal is. Imagine living at home with him.” He feels his friends worried stares, so he hurriedly moves on. “And Gakushuu means “To Study”. I guess when someone has a theme, they stick to it, even in their kid’s names."

Ikeda laughs. “I never thought about that, but that’s just so Sensei, isn’t it? Of course he would.”

“Getting saddled with a weird name?” Karma grins as he approaches. “How do you poor bastards cope?” He snickers at their classmate’s looks. “I happen to like my name, actually. Guess some of us inherit our parent’s strange tastes.”

Yada proposes that they use code names, and Korosensei rolls with it, creating a lottery box for everyone to suggest others code names and then have their own drawn from it. Something tells Gakushuu this won’t be nearly as professional as Red Eye, Smog, Grip, or Gastro.

Karasuma (aka “Da Densest”) runs through the woods and heads their way. “Poison Specs, Forever Flat! If I can see your positions, I can dodge your shots.”

“He spotted us!” Kayano groans. “Dignified Didact, Uncanny Valley, take over!”

“We’re on it!” Gakushuu and Kataoka jump out of the bushes while Kataoka calls for Nagisa and Rio. They all run forward, directing Karasuma towards where they want him to go. Sure, their shots miss, but they’re meant to, as Karasuma heads in the right direction.

Everyone starts complaining about their nicknames as soon as they get back to class.

“Womanizing scumbag, really?” Maehara groans. “That’s so not true! Who came up with that?”

Isogai sighs and looks away. “At least yours wasn’t President Poverty. I’m not that poor.”

“Who came up with Uncanny Valley for me?” Gakushuu wonders.

“Could’ve been anyone,” Okano says. “I mean, you’ve kinda got the look and the act and everything downpat. The name fits you pretty well.”

“If you say so.” Gakushuu knows his classmates think of him as strange and off, but when he looks at Okano’s smile, it strikes him that they don’t mean it in a bad way. Him being “off” is just par for the course in this classroom. He finds himself smiling back.

Gakushuu sits with Kataoka and Okajima, and across from Maehara, Nagisa, and Kayano. When Kayano had asked him if he wanted to go with them to see Isogai at work, he’d been hesitant, since Ikeda was off accompanying Everson and not with him for once, but ultimately he’d accepted. It was beyond strange, not having a single ghost around him.

They watch as he greets and talks playfully with customers and how he woos each one of them over.

“Our leader isn’t just a man, he’s a prince among men,” Maehara says dryly, smiling as Okajima groans.

Isogai hears them and walks over. “You’re really nursing your tea. Sure you don’t want anything else?”

“Actually yes,” Maehara smirks playfully. Might as well get the most of keeping your job a secret.”

“Ah, I get it. Good old extortion, huh?” Isogai leans over and winks. “In that case, this one’s on me.”

“He’s prince charming!” Nagisa and Kayano whisper. They spend time listening to Maehara talk about all the different ways Isogai happens to be a prince charming and a man among men, and Gakushuu wouldn’t believe any of it if he didn’t know Isogai personally. As it was, the boy was just that good.

“Alas, some things are only cool when done by a cool person. Like Isogai, or myself.”

“He’s prince-” they all turn to see Korosensei sitting in the booth behind them. “What are you doing here?”

Korosensei digs into his food. “Their honey toast is absolutely divine! Enough so that I can turn a blind eye to Isogai’s illicit part time job.” He munches contently. “I’m somewhat surprised. You’re not the least bit irked at him being such an ideal man?”

“Why would we be?” Gakushuu points out. “Those are all good qualities. Why would we be jealous of him being a good person?”

“It’s Isogai,” Maehara says, as if that explains everything, which in this case it kind of does.

“Do we need a better reason?” Kayano points out.

The door rings again, and familiar laughter fills the door. And while normally Gakushuu wouldn’t care, this time it makes the hairs on his neck stand up on end.

“What’s this?” Araki says. “Looks like the rumors of a student working here are true after all.”

Koyama snickers. “Isogai, you’re such a bad student. Isn’t this your second time getting busted?”

“Oh no,” Nagisa mutters. “This isn’t good.”

“Isn’t there anything you can do?” Okajima asks desperately. It takes Gakushuu a moment to realize that everyone is looking at him with worried and hopeful expressions.

Ren is there, and he used to spend time with the others - a part of him doesn’t want any more conflict with them. But on the other hand, Isogai is his friend, and if there’s a chance Gakushuu could somehow help him… he wishes Ikeda was here, but he knows he can handle this by himself.

Mind made up, Gakushuu stands and walks over to the Virtuosos. He can hear the others getting up as well, and motions for them to sit down as he makes his way over.

“Ren, Araki, Seo, Koyama. Long time no see.” He places a hand on Isogai’s surprised shoulder and faces them. “It’s been awhile since finals.”

“Asano.” Ren’s expression is weary, and Gakushuu knows he doesn’t want to get into an argument either. “You know this is against the rules, even if he is your classmate now.”

Gakushuu shrugs. “This isn’t about him being my classmate. There are some rules that are meant to be broken in desperate situations. For example, if one needed to take a part time job to help keep their siblings fed, I’d say the rules should certainly be bent.” He smiles. “It’s not as though this is unusual, after all. Even strict federal laws can be broken if survival is on the line.”

Araki, Seo, and Koyama look nervous. Has he always made them nervous, and just never noticed it before? Clearly something about him makes them uncomfortable. He wonders what he looks like from their perspective.

“How’s this?” He says. “You go on your way and don’t tell anyone about Isogai’s part time job, and everyone walks away happy and healthy. I’ll even guarantee it.”

Only Ren doesn’t look nervous. He’s just looking at Isogai with a somewhat pitying expressing. “You really need the money that much?”

Isogai nods. “I wouldn’t work again if I wasn’t desperate. If my family wasn’t desperate. Please don’t tell anyone. I’ll stop as soon as we have enough regular income again.”

“Fine,” Ren agrees. He isn’t looking at Isogai anymore though.

“Just this once,” Seo snaps. “Guess we know whose side you’re on now, Asano.”

“I guess we do,” Gakushuu says, unrepentant. They watch as the four students leave the building, and Isogai breaths a long sigh of relief as he walks with Gakushuu back to their table.

“Thank you so much,” he says. “I meant it when I said I would stop as soon as I’m able. I’m sorry you had to go against your friends like that.”

Gakushuu shrugs. “It’s fine, I trust you. And you’re my friend.” He pauses, and the words sink in, and it’s strange because Ikeda is an older brother to him and Ren is his friend but he never really said it out loud because of Father, and this might be the first time he’s told someone they were his friend out loud.

There’s a shine in Isogai’s eyes as he smiles.

“Dude, that was awesome!” Okajima says as Gakushuu sits down. “You just went up and stared them down with the creepy smile, and it totally freaked them out!”

“Glad you’re on our side,” Kayano agrees. “Can you imagine if you were still in A Class and were with them instead of us?”

“I’d rather not think about that.”

Maehara reaches over and punches him lightly on the shoulder. “No what ifs. Trying to imagine Asano in A Class is kinda hard at this point, actually. How did you manage to stay there for so long?”

“Tenacity,” He deadpans. They all laugh, and Gakushuu is so glad he’s a part of this class.

Gakushuu is studying at home when he gets the call to meet up with the rest of the class.

“Any idea what this is about?” Ikeda wonders. Gakushuu shrugs.

They make it to were everyone else is to find Aguri hovering around, face solemn. “Some of the class was parkouring over rooftops, and they injured an old man," she tells the two of them. “Koro is furious.”

Sure enough, after Karasuma gives them the rundown of the situation, Korosensei appears, pitch black and gritting his teeth. When some of his classmates try and justify their actions, Korosensei slaps all of them. Lightly of course, but Gakushuu touches his cheek where the tentacle hit.

The wind picks up around them, and the air chills. “Excuse me?” Ikeda is pissed. “Shuu had nothing to do with that! Plenty of the kids had nothing to do with that! That was so unfair!”

“Koro, that was excessive,” Aguri frowns. “I know why you’re angry, but-”

Korosensei rips a book in half. “We are now exactly two weeks away from midterms. Consider yourselves prohibited from studying for them.”

Distantly, Gakushuu feels panic grip him, and the wind picks up, the chill gets colder, becoming noticeable by the others. He - he can’t abide by this rule. There’s no way. Sure, he could get a very high grade and make top marks without studying, but it won’t be his best and if it’s not his best he has no idea what his father would do-

Someone warm holds his hand. He looks over to see Kayano, and as Aguri calms down Ikeda, Kayano whispers: “I think he’ll understand if you don’t follow his rules just this once. It’s gonna be okay.”

Gakushuu takes a deep breath, and the wind and cold die down. “Thanks,” he whispers, trying to ignore his classmates concerned looks.

It’s interesting. He’d always assumed that Ikeda and Aguri’s ghostly powers had nothing to do with him. But now, after talking with Red Eye, a part of him realizes uncomfortably that the reason they and those ghosts on Okinawa had been powerful enough for others to notice was because he was the one empowering them. So was he really at fault for his own problems?

Korosensei explains his plans for how they’re going to be spending their two weeks, and Gakushuu is sure he can work around them. He’s studied under far stricter conditions.

And working with kids? That doesn’t sound too bad, actually.

“How the hell are you doing that?”

Gakushuu looks up at Terasaka. “Doing what?”

“Getting the brats to behave, what else?” He snaps. Gakushuu looks down at the sweet girl sitting on his lap, laughing at something he said.

“They’re not bad at all,” he says. “Most kids are pretty sweet, if you get to know them well enough.”

“One of them is chewing on me!”

Gakushuu tries to fight off a smile. “That’s really too bad.”

“Shut up!”

“Asano?” Little Rin tugs on his hand. “Can you tell me another funny story? That last one was really good!”

Gakushuu thinks. “Sure I can. Hm, let me think.” A few more kids settle down around him. “Oh, I’ve got one. See, a few months ago, I met this little boy named Yuto, and when we were walking around together, he told me this pretty funny story of some trouble he and his older brother got into…”

By the time the rest of the class has decided to redo the school building, he’s put on duty to entertain the kids for a while. Not that Gakushuu minds. With Nagisa helping the angry older girl with her schoolwork, he just gets to spend some time helping some little kids, which he hasn’t had the chance to do in a while. It makes him feel a lot better, to be helping again, even if they are living.

Ikeda making faces in the background doesn’t hurt when it comes to making appropriate facial expressions either.

Gakushuu studies at home as best he can, and manages to keep his top spot. Which is a good thing, because besides the fact that he likes being number one, he hasn’t had to make a trip to the principal’s office since he was put in E Class, and since his scores are just as good, even with almost all of E Class dropping, Father has no room to complain.

They’re also given new uniforms, which Lovro seems to highly approve of. It doesn’t hurt that they look great as well. They spring a small trap on Korosensei while he’s having a private barbecue.

“We’ll use what you teach us for good,” Kataoka promises.

Aguri smiles fondly at them all. “You kids have grown so much this year. Even if I couldn’t speak to you, I’m so honored to have watched you all grow.”

‘I’d like to think you taught me a thing or two,’ Gakushuu signs to her.

“Thank you.” She smiles back.

“Asano? Can I talk with you?”

Gakushuu turns to see Isogai walking up to him. They’re the only two left on the main campus. “Sure. What is it?”

Isogai hesitates for a long moment, then takes a deep breath. “Okay, this might sound - I don’t know how this will sound. I just - please don’t take it the wrong way, I guess?”

Ikeda, who is floating next to him, sits up in the air. Unease clutches at Gakushuu’s stomach. “I guess that depends on what it is you’re going to say. I’ll try not to take it the wrong way.”

“Right.” He seems to steady himself again. “Can - can you see ghosts?”

Everything feels frozen. Or maybe it’s Gakushuu that is frozen, while the world moves around him. He can’t breathe, his thoughts racing everywhere and nowhere, and he knows, he knows his reaction is all the answer Isogai needs, but there’s panic and-

“Shuu!” Ikeda’s cool hand touches his shoulder just as Isogai apologizes and asks if he’s okay. Gakushuu takes a deep, steady breath, and then another.

“I’m - I’ll be alright,” he manages. “When did you find out? Does anyone else know?”

“I’ve suspected for a while,” Isogai admits. “I wasn’t sure what exactly it was, at first. Lots of little things that could all be taken as clues to something else, but they matched up with this theory. Looking at things that weren’t there, some of the things you said to people. I tried to find out what you were signing, but you moved too fast for me to catch it, but it looked like you were signing to someone. And the weird happenings around you sort of - sort of match up to what I’ve read about ghosts.”

Despite himself, Gakushuu scoffs. “Don’t believe everything you read. Exorcisms, for example, aren’t real.”

Isogai blinks. “Really? Huh.” A small smile appears on his face. “But your other question. No one else knows, not really. They all know that there’s gotta be something supernaturalish going on with you, but I’m the only one who thought of ghosts.”

“Okay.” He breathes. “Okay. Please don’t tell anyone else.”

“No one will judge you or not believe you-”

“I know that.” He sighs in frustration, for once finding the right words difficult. “But it’s not something I like to broadcast, and people knowing-” He thinks of Korosensei, who is the Reaper. He thinks of his father, and remembers what happened the last time he tried to tell someone living about what he could do. “I might, later. But give me time. Please.”

“Okay.” Isogai smiles. “I won’t tell anyone, I promise.” Gakushuu believes him.

He lets out a long sigh. He feels somewhat exposed and uncomfortable. It’s not like with Red, who knew exactly what he was going through. Isogai doesn’t see Ikeda next to him, doesn’t know about Aguri. But still, the other boy sits down next to him, and there’s a little comfort in that.

Red had told him that finding someone to confide in would make things better. Maybe Isogai is that person.

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Isogai starts, “are there any ghosts around E Class?”

Gakushuu looks at Ikeda questioningly, and Ikeda shrugs. He turns back to Isogai. “There are six mainstays, actually. Used to be five. One of them followed me here, the others have their own reasons.”

“Korosensei,” Isogai guesses. “That makes sense, if I think about it. No way Korosensei doesn’t have some skeletons in his closet, with the whole blowing up the world thing and all. But you said someone came with you?”

“Hi there,” Ikeda says cheerfully, even though he knows Isogai can’t see him.

Gakushuu hesitates. “He’s…”

“It’s okay,” Ikeda prompts. “I don’t mind. You should ask the others before you tell, of course, but I don’t mind.”

“His name is Ikeda,” Gakushuu says. “He’s been with me since I was four years old. He’s like my older brother.”

"Aww, Shuu! You're like a brother to me too!"

“Oh.” Isogai looks around, but funny enough, never looks directly at Ikeda. “Is he, um, here right now?”

Gakushuu smiles. “He says hello.” He points at where Ikeda is, and Ikeda whips up some wind to make leaves fly all around him. Isogai looks at the scene, wide-eyed. “I can’t tell you who the others are, not without their permission. But they all like this class a lot. They’ve been looking out for everyone.”

“Then there’s no reason to complain, is there?” Isogai jokes lightly. His smile turns more sincere. “Thank you for sharing, Asano. I know it was hard, but you’ve helped me and the rest of E Class out so much, and if you need anything, just ask.”

“I - thank you.”

“Of course.” His smile turns joking again. “Maehara’s going to be pretty disappointed though. He thought for sure you were some sort of “winter magic user”. Like Elsa.”

“Really?” A laugh almost startles out of him, and Ikeda straight up cackles.

Isogai puts his hands up. “Hey, with all the wind and the cold, you can see where he’s coming from! Or not, I guess.”

The laugh finally comes out, and there’s a weight that’s been on Gakushuu’s chest for more years than he can remember that’s finally gone. Isogai knows his secret, and accepts it, and won’t tell anyone, and it’s more than he ever dreamed of before this year began.

Things were only getting better. He just hopes they stay that way.

Chapter Text

Things start off normally enough.

It was Bitch-sensei’s birthday, and Karasuma had forgotten to get her a present. All of them know just how she feels for him, so they hatch a plan to fix the situation. Gakushuu is put on present-finding duty with some of the others, and they search around for what could work well.

Then a cold chill spreads through the air, one that Gakushuu has always been familiar with. There are ghosts approaching, and lots of them. Lovro, who is floating nearby, stiffens, and for the first time, Gakushuu can see genuine fear on the man’s face.

“The Reaper is here,” he says, voice quiet and taut. “Or I suppose he is the second Reaper.”

Gakushuu shivers. ‘Should I warn the others now?’ This Reaper is the one who betrayed the original to the labs, and studied under him beforehand. The idea that they might be going up against him was nerve-wracking.

“No!” Lovro’s words come out quick and harsh. “You must carry on as normal, and not let him know that you know who he is. If he finds out that you know he is the Reaper…”

Gakushuu understands. This is a trained killer, and one who would have no problem with silencing some brat who guessed his identity. But as their group wanders closer to the source of the cold, he can’t deny that a part of him just wants to grab everyone and run.

They’re on the same street as him now, and there are so many ghosts, all crowding around a flower van. Gakushuu almost gags, because while some of them look normal, most of them look as they did when they died. People with their heads bashed in, people bleeding from gunshot wounds, people stabbed, drowned, suffocated, hung, and a few with bloody lines all over them, as though they were chopped into little pieces.

A horrified sound comes out of Ikeda’s throat, and the ghosts turn to look at him, and many have such haunted eyes that looking at them makes Gakushuu feel like he’s closer to the line between life and death than ever before.

He tears his eyes away before any of them realize he can see them. Reaper suggests giving Irina flowers to the class and Gakushuu listens to the other ghosts talking to Lovro, listens to them desperately telling his class to run for their lives, before it’s too late.

“It’s not just that they look good. Their color, shape, and scent, the fact that they don’t last. Flowers are an ideal metaphor for the human condition,” Reaper says with a smile, and Gakushuu does his best to look somewhat interested while his stomach curls.

They walk away with a bouquet of flowers, as well as the cries of their seller’s victims, begging for the people who can’t see them to at least see reason. Even when they’re out of the Reaper’s sight, Gakushuu refuses to let his guard down. He can’t let anyone know, or they could all be in danger.

Unfortunately, their plans for their teachers don’t go well either. Bitch-sensei realizes that they gave Karasuma the flowers to give her, and, thinking that she had been pranked, predictably gets mad and storms off.

“If she’s going to let her emotions cloud her judgement like that, then she can’t cut it here,” Karasuma says bluntly. Lovro scowls down at him with the judgement of an angered parent worried about his adoptive daughter’s heartbreak.

Lovro comes to him later that night, face paler than usual. “Reaper has taken Irina hostage,” he informs Gakushuu and Ikeda. “He hopes to use her to lure you in.”

“Wait, seriously?” Ikeda gapes.

Gakushuu feels sick. “Is she alright at the moment? Has he hurt her?” If Bitch-sensei became a ghost, how would he be able to handle that? She can’t die, not yet!

“She is alright for now. The Reaper has convinced her to join him in his plan,” Lovro says grimly. “She has said yes, not only because she is frustrated and heartbroken, but because she is not an idiot. She knows she has a better chance of survival working with him for now.”

“That’s - that’s good for now.” Gakushuu lets out a small sigh of relief. “Would you mind keeping us posted if anything changes? Even if I don’t tell anyone else yet, we’ll need every edge we can get when the Reaper really starts making his move.”

“Of course, that is smart.” Lovro nods. “I will come back if anything changes.” He disappears, presumably to wherever Bitch-sensei and Reaper are.

“This is going to be a disaster,” Ikeda groans.

“No kidding.” Gakushuu sighs. “All we can do now is damage control, and try to survive whatever he has planned.”

Three days pass by, and Irina stays with the Reaper. Lovro explains the plan: to trap them in a room, with bars coated in anti-sensei material, and then release a floodgate that would drown them and push Korosensei against the bars. A good way to kill Korosensei, Gakushuu supposes, but he’d rather that he and his classmates not die alongside their teacher.

Then the chill comes again, and Reaper strolls into the room followed by all of his beaten and bloodied ghosts. Gakushuu forces himself to look the other way once again, because he can’t let any of these newcomers know, even the dead ones.

“You children have bonded rather nicely with her, there’s no denying that.” He sets his bouquet of flowers down on the front desk. “You see, my preliminary reconnaissance confirmed as much. Your connection gives me something very handy to exploit.”

Another moment, and everyone else seems to realize what just happened, and with all eyes on him, the Reaper introduces himself. He has Ritsu pull up an image of Bitch-sensei, all tied up and looking unconscious.

“I’ll cut to the chase,” Reaper says, over the angry murmurs of his ghosts, who know just what he and Bitch-sensei have done. “It’s simple. If you want her to live, show up when and where I tell you to.” He draws her naked figure on the board without looking, then neatly cuts a vertical and several horizontal lines over her. “And not a word to your teachers. Of course, I can understand if you’re not comfortable with those terms. If you’d rather not come, there’s always the option of sending her to you, in tiny little pieces.”

Gakushuu knows it’s a lie, but damn if Reaper doesn’t know how to sell the intimidation factor, in part with how casually he says all of this. He threatens to make one of the class his next flower, and the room’s chill gets noticeably colder.

Reaper leaves in a dramatic flower toss, and lets a map with a location marked on it in his wake. The ghosts follow him out, and Isogai picks up the paper.

“Come as a class to the location shown on the map, at six sharp. Huh.” He looks up from the paper and focuses on Gakushuu, eyes questioning. “Asano…” Gakushuu looks away.

“You knew about this,” Karma says. It’s not a question.

“How could I?” He tries to reason, although he knows they won’t buy it.

Sure enough Karma smirks mockingly at him, and there’s no humor in his eyes. “Oh come on. Everyone here knows that you’re our resident psychic. You were the only one unsurprised by the Reaper showing up. Don’t pretend you weren’t, I was watching you.” He leans forward. “So, what do you know?”

“We don’t judge you for it or anything,” Hinano adds. “Please, Bitch-sensei is in danger! We need to help her!”

Surprisingly, Gakushuu feels more relieved at this than anything. They haven’t guessed that the reason he knows is because he sees ghosts, and this gives him an excuse to tell them what’s going on, even if he can’t reveal everything just yet.

He takes a deep breath, and doesn’t meet anyone’s eyes.

Aguri floats in front of him. “It’s okay, Gakushuu. They won’t judge you for this, I promise. And you know it too.” She smiles at him. “You can do this.” And she’s right. He can, because he has to.

“Bitch-sensei is in danger,” he starts hesitantly. “But not in the way you think. The Reaper threatened her life, and so she agreed to join him to trap us rather than be killed.” He decides to keep it simple, and is glad he did so, as worried whispers break out among the class. “Other than that… I know that there’s a room in his hideout that we really need to avoid getting stuck in. I can’t-” Gakushuu lets the frustration bleed into his voice. “I’m sorry, other than that I-”

“It’s okay.” Isogai places a hand on his shoulder. “That’s more than enough. If Bitch-sensei is working with him so he doesn’t kill her, then we should probably rescue her anyways. Who knows if he’ll keep her around if we don’t show up.”

“True,” Kataoka agrees. “And I guess we can’t really fault her for not wanting to be killed. We’ll just need to convince her that we can help.”

“What about Korosensei and Karasuma?” Hara pipes up. “Should we contact them? Will he know if we do?”

Yoshida grimaces. “He sounded pretty confident that he would. I guess we’ll need to go without their help.”

“It won’t be too bad,” Kayano tries. “We’ve got Asano’s powers and Nagisa’s assassin skills on our side. No way this can go wrong!”

They dress in their new outfits as they move towards the building Reaper specified, Ikeda, Aguri, and Lovro by their sides. No one is outside the perimeter, and They have Ritsu on tap to call Karasuma and Korosensei if they don’t return by midnight. With all that settled, everyone runs inside.

Almost as soon as they do, Reaper greets them, and the room starts moving downwards, eventually finding themselves looking at Reaper from the other side of bars. His ghosts mutter angrily from the other end, and the cold seems to seep into every corner.

“This is the place,” Lovro mutters. “He intends to drown and flatten you here. It is a good plan, if not callous.”

Gakushuu’s breath hitches. “This is the room,” he mutters to Kayano, who’s eyes widen. They need to get out of there, and fast.

Lucky, Takebayashi plants an explosive in the hollow part of the room, and with Okuda managing to throw down some smokescreens to cover their tracks, the bomb goes off and they run out of the room.

“We can’t let him put us back in there,” Gakushuu says aloud to everybody else. “If he gets his way, we’ll die in there.”

“Don’t want to do that,” Karma agrees dryly.

A speaker sounds all around them. “Hello, E Class, can you hear me? Nice Work! Honestly, I’m happy you escaped. It’ll be a good warm up for the main game to come,” Reaper says cheerfully.

“This is all a game to him,” Hayami says. The group splits up, some of them heading over to find Bitch-sensei and hopefully convince her to rejoin them.

They pause at an intersection. “We’ll intercept him here,” Isogai announces. “Which ever way he decides to come from, we’ll still have him outnumbered, so stay alert.”

“That won’t work,” Lovro says, as Hara tries to ask Ritsu for help and they realize that she’s been hacked. “Numbers have no meaning to him.”

Ikeda frowns. “Don’t be so pessimistic. They can pull this off.”

“Don’t underestimate Koro’s students,” Aguri adds. “These kids are good.”

“I am not. But Reaper was Korosensei’s student as well, remember? And he has been at this job for far longer.”

Gakushuu shivers, and realizes that he can now see his breath. There’s even more ghosts down here than there were before. At Aguri and Ikeda’s surprised cries, he looks up to see that the entire massive tunnel is filled, floor to ceiling, with incredibly bloody and pained ghosts, all crying for vengeance.

“Asano?” Isogai asks him softly, as the rest of the group focuses on the approaching Reaper.

“There are so many of them.” He doesn’t mean to say it out loud, but it slips out anyways, and Isogai’s face pales.

The Reaper himself is nothing more than a shadow with teeth and pinpricks for eyes at the moment, as he saunters his way towards them without a care in the world. Muramatsu and Yoshida rush him, and Reaper takes them out in half a second. “Hand to hand combat was one of the first skills I honed as an assassin,” he says cheerfully. “Unnecessary for ninety-nine percent of my work, but I wouldn’t be the best in the world if I let one percent get away.” In the blink of an eye, he slams Kiruma into the wall.

Then, in another second, he’s right in front of Kayano, and brings her down over his knee. If she wasn’t wearing their new outfit, her ribs would be broken. “Females are so fragile.”

“YOU BASTARD!” With an anger Gakushuu has never seen from her before, Aguri swipes her hand upwards, and the Reaper’s face is knocked back with the supernatural force. Not enough to uncamouflage him, but enough so that he lets Kayano go. “Don’t touch my sister!”

Isogai seems to have noticed the chill in the room now. Ice is creeping up the side of the walls as the ghosts swarm back and forth, like a collective mass of agony. Still, there’s something surprised in their exclamations now, and somehow that just makes Gakushuu feel even more uneasy.

“Everyone, stay back.” Nagisa walks forward, eyes filled with bloodlust. “I’ll handle this guy.”

“Are you out of your mind?” Karma hisses. Still, Nagisa walks forward, clearly preparing to use his now signature move.

Then the Reaper claps, and Nagisa is frozen. Before he can react, Gakushuu feels someone kick him in the back, and he falls to the ground, Ikeda’s cry ringing out overhead.

He’s going to put us back in the room. Gakushuu struggles to his feet as Reaper monologues to Nagisa.

The blue haired boy drops to the ground. “So that’s it then?” Reaper says, sounding disappointed.

“Do you want it to be?” Gakushuu manages to get out. Reaper looks at him in surprise, and Gakushuu looks right on back, ignoring his friend’s worried cries.

“Interesting.” Reaper walks towards him. “Not many can get up after a blow like that. But you really think that means you can beat me?”

Honestly, he doesn’t think so. But if everyone is put back in that room, that could be the end of them. They have no idea when Korosensei and Karasuma will arrive, especially with Ritsu hacked. Gakushuu needs to stall him.

“I think you’re pretty unoriginal.” He lets a small smile onto his face. “Drowning your victims in a contained area where all they can do is try and claw their way out? Pretty sure I’ve heard that one before.” Feeling emboldened, he takes it a step further. “I don’t suppose there was someone who taught you that trick?”

For half a second, Reaper freezes. There’s an intake of breath from Aguri, but everyone else is holding their breath in. Gakushuu searches Reaper’s shadowed face, trying to gauge his reaction.

Reaper smiles. “Everyone has to start somewhere, don’t they? And sometimes the best tricks an assassin has at their disposal are the old and simple ones.” His mouth twists into a sneer. “But enough of that. There are so many of you kids, and you don’t seem to be taking this seriously enough. Perhaps you can be an example for the oth-”

Gakushuu motions to Ikeda, and a blast of wind from the high schooler sends Reaper flying backwards, into his swarm of ghosts. They waste no time, trying to pin him down, but they aren’t powerful enough and Reaper gets to his feet, looking almost genuinely ticked. His hands, Gakushuu notices, look frostbitten, when they hadn’t before.

“Feisty little brat, aren’t you? You’ll pay for that.” Before Gakushuu can do anything, he finds himself lifted off his feet, then slammed repeatedly into the ground. His head rings in pain, and his vision goes fuzzy. Some people are crying out, but they sound far away.

“I wasn’t being serious before, when I said I was going to make an example of you.” There’s a blur, and then Gakushuu has the barrel of a gun to his head. “But now I think I will. Hope it was worth it.”

Gakushuu kicks weakly, but everything seems to be so out of focus. Someone his screaming now, and it sounds like Ikeda, and there’s wind and ice pushing against the Reaper but the assassin stays firm, and then-

And then Lovro is beside him. “I do not know how this works,” the older man says. “Red Eye was not specific when he told us about this. But perhaps I can help you, if you would let me.”

Gakushuu briefly thinks back to Red’s words about possession, and with his vision going black as Reaper’s finger nears the trigger, there’s no other choice to be made.

Suddenly, everything around him is cold, and when he looks around, he only does so in a metaphorical sense, as he doesn’t seem to have a body anymore. Still, looking forward he gets the strangest sensation of looking through his own eyes, seeing his body flip out of the Reaper’s hold and knock his gun away faster than he thought was physically possible for him. He sees himself moving in ways he doesn’t know, with strength he didn’t know his body had.

It occurs to him, as he watches Lovro hold the Reaper back in a tight telekinetic grip, that the Lovro they met was an old man past his prime, and there was a reason he was considered one of the best assassins in the world for decades. And now he is using a younger body.

Reaper clearly knows something is off. It shows in his face, each time Lovro manages to block an attack, or when Ikeda and Aguri blow him astray of his target. He’s clearly getting more and more frustrated by the second.

Then Reaper smiles, and he’s behind them, holding his gun to Sugino’s face. “I wouldn’t keep going, if I were you.” He says, clearly regaining his cheer at Lovro’s pause, and Gakushuu knows that even if Lovro did try and go for Reaper anyway, Gakushuu would kick him out to protect his classmate. The others, who have either gotten to their feet by now or are attending to Nagisa, look on in horror.

Then there’s the sound of a bullet being fired, and the gun goes flying, along with part of Reaper’s hand. Sugino stumbles out of his grip and Karma catches him, setting him down. They all look into the darkness where the bullet came from.

There, behind him and pointing a gun at him, is Bitch-sensei, followed by the team sent to get her.

“Sorry we’re late,” Kataoka says. “But we managed to convince her, and now we’re back.”

“The little brats over the world’s best assassin? My Irina, you really have fallen far,” the Reaper tells her, cradling his bloody hand.

“Just because you’re better than these snot-nosed punks doesn’t mean you can kill the octopus, you ass,” Bitch-sensei fires back. “And honestly, I’d rather deal with them for a few more months than you for a few more minutes.”

As though he knows what she is about to do, (which he probably does,) Lovro holds Reaper still with his ghostly powers, and Bitch-sensei fires six more shots into his body. Reaper snarls and struggles, but by the sixth, he finally goes still. The masses of ghosts cheer so loud that Gakushuu feels physical pain in his ears.

Lovro lets go, and as if sensing what Gakushuu wants, leaves his body. Suddenly Gakushuu is aware of sensations again, and the pain he was experiencing before is back. He finds himself dropping like a puppet with its strings cut, and lands in someone’s arms.

“I thought you said exorcisms weren’t real,” Isogai says lightly, although something shakes in his voice.

“They’re not,” Gakushuu replies drowsily. “I let him in and out. Lovro’s a nice house-guest.” He’s not quite sure if anything is real anymore. He still hurts, and he’s so, so cold.

He blacks out shortly after that, and wakes up again on the grass, looking up at the night sky while Bitch-sensei crows about her victory to Karasuma.

“-And where were you this whole time? All this talk about me not being professional enough, but who was there to help the brats take down the Reaper himself? Not you, that’s for damn sure!”

Gakushuu looks up to see Ikeda hovering over him, worry clear in his face. ‘Has anyone mentioned that she did in fact join the Reaper before we came?’

“She never caused anyone harm, so no one blames her for it.” Tears are running down Ikeda’s cheeks. “Thank god you’re okay, Shuu.”

Gakushuu sits up. ‘How long was I out?’

“Just a couple of hours.” He looks up to see that Aguri has joined them. “Everyone was waiting for you to wake up, but Karasuma sent them all home before their parents could get too worried.” There’s a warm feeling in Gakushuu’s chest at that, combating the cold he’s felt all day.

“Asano!” There’s a blur, and then Korosensei is in front of him. “You’re finally awake. How are you feeling? It seemed that assassin did a number on you. No lasting damage, don’t worry! And your father says you’re free to come home whenever you want to.”

That puts a damper on Gakushuu’s mood almost instantly. He’s not sure how much Father knows about what happened, but him not caring enough to pick him up is… expected, really.

Karasuma frowns. “You shouldn’t go all by yourself. I don’t know what the principal was thinking.”

“I’ll be fine.” Gakushuu pulls himself to his feet, followed by a similarly disappointed Ikeda.

“But-”

“He just stood his ground against the Reaper, Karasuma,” Irina points out. “He’ll be fine.” Gakushuu gives her a grateful nod. Her responding glance indicates that they need to talk. With Karasuma still fretting behind him, he sets off down the mountain.

“Are you going to go with Kayano?” He asks Aguri.

Aguri shakes her head. “I think you need me more, at the moment. If you don’t mind, I’ll stay with you and Ikeda tonight.”

“Of course we don’t mind.” Ikeda wraps an arm around her, and the three continue on in comfortable silence.

The stars are out tonight, or as much as they can be in Tokyo, and it’s rather warm outside. Gakushuu passes by streets both empty and full, walking through parks and alleys that he knows by heart.

And then, the chill comes back. Gakushuu freezes.

There, in front of him, covered from head to toe in blood, is Reaper. The skin on his face and silver hair is gone, showing the skeleton underneath.

“What the fuck!?” Ikeda curses.

“You little brat.” He comes closer, his ghost following, and Gakushuu is still frozen. “I’m going to kill you, and your father, and everyone else you love.”

And alongside the overwhelming fear, there is now anger, a burning anger Gakushuu can’t get rid of, doesn’t want to get rid of.

Someone who is not the Reaper laughs, and one of the ghosts floats out of the masses. A man. “You can see us,” the man says. “Your emotions can give us the power we need. Good. Thank you.”

And right in front of Gakushuu’s eyes, over a hundred ghosts turn into poltergeists, and just as the Reaper notices them, they descend upon him, swirling around in a mass of flesh and blood and screams. Bits and body parts are flying everywhere as Reaper is torn limb from limb by his former victims.

Aguri screams out loud. Ikeda forgets that ghosts can’t throw up. Gakushuu can’t move, can’t blink. He distantly thinks about how lucky he is that he was far enough away that none of the blood is getting on him. He wants to turn and run, to blind himself, but he can’t do anything.

The ghost of the Reaper rises above what used to be his body, looking terrified and confused. The ghosts are on him in seconds again, and then there is nothing. Reaper is gone for good, with not even a ghost to pass on.

Gakushuu doesn’t remember how he gets home after that. Maybe, he thinks, this is all just a horrible nightmare.

The next day he stays home sick. The day after he plasters on his most neutral expression and goes back to school.

Chapter Text

Gakushuu looks up from the toilet as Father looks down upon him with a disappointed expression.

“A sick day?” He says, disbelieving. “What makes you think that I’d allow that? Especially with finals coming up?”

Gakushuu stares at him blankly, then gestures to the toilet he’d been heaving over. True, nothing did come out, most likely because he had eaten nothing yesterday, then relieved whatever he had eaten that night after- but this morning he had awoken from dreams of blood and screams and spent half an hour in the bathroom trying unsuccessfully to stop the tears from streaming down his face as he gasped for breath.

Of course, he could use that. “You really want me coming to your school looking like this?” He gestures to his bruised eye and arms, his pale tear-streaked face, his pajamas soaked through with sweat. “People would wonder, wouldn’t they? And you don’t want that. Think of your reputation.”

Father looks at him impassively. “I suppose. But only for one day. I expect to hear that you’re back at school tomorrow. Put some cover-up on if you need to.” With that, he strolls out of Gakushuu’s room.

Another half-hour later, and Gakushuu is finally dragging himself to his feet and heading back into his bedroom, with the odd and uneasy feeling of actually having a day off almost leaving him more winded than he already was.

He sits down on his bed, stares at the ceiling, and tries not to think.

Ikeda isn’t here. He stayed by Gakushuu’s side all of last night, but seems to have gotten the idea that Gakushuu would rather not be around any ghosts right now, including him. Which is ridiculous of course. Just because someone sees a human committing some - some vile act, doesn’t mean they’re suddenly afraid of humans in general.

Will he have some lasting trauma from this event? Logically speaking, most likely. He sa- he saw- he witnessed something horrible, the kind of thing that can give people trauma more often than not. But he can handle it, he has to. Not only would no therapist believe him, but he’s still got well over three years left with his father, and if there’s one person he can’t afford to show weakness in front of, it’s that man.

He stays in bed until it’s around lunchtime, then makes his way down to the kitchen. He puts together a simple sandwich for himself, but just as he’s taken his first few bites the thing that happened last night flashes through his head again and he’s back to the bathroom getting rid of that tiny bit of lunch he’s already had.

Idiot. He should’ve started smaller anyways. He knows that he needs to eat small bites sparingly after throwing up, and he had just gone and made himself a whole sandwich like a dumbass.

Fuck, he’s crying again, isn’t he? Forget whatever Father says, this has got to be his lowest point yet.

Someone knocks at the door. At first, Gakushuu thinks of ignoring it, but there’s always the chance that it could be important, so he wipes his eyes as quick as possible and heads for the front hallway.

He opens the door, and on the other side is Isogai, with Ikeda hovering behind him and giving Gakushuu something that could possibly pass for a smile, except it’s too sad.

“Hey Asano,” Isogai says softly. “Do you mind if I come in?”

Gakushuu blinks. “I guess not. But what are you doing here? School’s still going. Lunchtime isn’t even over yet.”

“I sort of skipped,” Isogai admits sheepishly, and Gakushuu gapes at him, before letting out a small laugh. Funny, he wasn’t sure if his mouth was going to work like that today. He opens the door wider, and Isogai steps in.

They sit at the counter and Gakushuu sips some water while Isogai tells him just what compelled the class representative to skip class.

“I kept feeling like someone was trying to get my attention this morning,” he admits. “Knocking my pencils over, blowing things in my face, things like that. Eventually I sort of figured out that it was probably one of the ghosts.”

“It was.” Gakushuu lets out a long suffering sigh, but can’t help but smile at Ikeda’s unashamed face. “Sorry about him.”

“Well I’m not sorry,” Ikeda says. “You needed someone to help, so I got you someone. I’m never gonna feel sorry about something like that.”

Isogai seems to agree, even if he can’t hear Ikeda. “Don’t worry about it. You look like you need someone.” He shifts in his chair. “Listen. You don’t need to talk about it if you don’t want to. But if you do want to…”

Gakushuu can’t meet his eyes. “It’s - I just - what’s the point?” He knows the point, of course. He’s basically tutored himself in psychology since he was a young kid, so that he could better help the ghosts around him. He knows that talking over one’s trauma can help in recovery. But he feels so on edge at the moment, a part of him is afraid talking will tip him over.

“It could help you get it off your chest,” Isogai offers. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“But we both know it could help,” Ikeda says pointedly from behind him.

Which is, of course, the fucking problem.

And while he knows, he knows that it could help, Gakushuu can’t bring himself to talk about it just yet. It’s too raw and new, and it still hurts so bad. He’ll talk about it someday, he’s sure, but he needs time.

“I appreciate the offer, but I’d rather not.”

“Okay,” Isogai agrees immediately. “Then let’s just take it easy this afternoon.”

So they play video games and talk about some of the recent books they’ve read. Both Ikeda and Isogai pointedly remind him multiple times that he should be actually resting because he has in fact been throwing up and acting sick, and later on when Gakushuu finds himself frozen on the floor, Isogai thankfully doesn’t comment.

They’re watching a movie when Isogai cautiously asks about Lovro.

“He was killed right before summer break ended,” Gakushuu admits, trying desperately not to think about the person who did the killing. “He’s been hanging around Bitch-sensei and the 3-E building since then.”

“I see. Does Bitch-sensei know?” Isogai wonders. “That he’s gone, I mean.”

Gakushuu thinks back to when she had been captured by the - had been captured. Lovro had said he - that she was told then, right? “I think she does know now.”

And Isogai must sense that he doesn’t want to talk about it anymore, because the subject is dropped. Isogai leaves before Father gets home, and Gakushuu is still feeling awful, but maybe just a little bit better than before.

He goes to school the next day and is greeted by plenty of friendly faces who ask questions like “Are you alright?” And “Is there anything we can do to help?” and not anything about what had happened the day before. Karma looks like he very much wants to, but Kayano and Nagisa hold him back, and Gakushuu is extremely grateful. Karasuma is also eyeing him with a strange look, but he never comes over to ask about anything, so Gakushuu tries to ignore him.

Aguri, funnily enough, doesn’t look as happy as everyone else. “You should get more time off,” she tells him. “After what happened, I think you deserve more than just a day to recover.”

‘From what I’ve heard, trauma can take years to get over,’ Gakushuu signs pointedly. ‘I don’t think an extra day or two would make any difference. Besides, father would never allow it.’ Aguri looks like she wants to argue, but Korosensei is starting his lesson, so she hangs back until later.

He’s nearing his house when a new ghost approaches him. She’s older, gray hair tied back in a bun, looking down at him curiously.

“I think you go to school with my grandson,” she says. “Shiota Nagisa?”

Gakushuu looks up at her in surprise, then nods yes quickly.

“Good. I need your help with something,” she informs him, leaving no room for debate. “And it will need to happen fast.”

Which, normally, Gakushuu would agree to, if only because Nagisa is his classmate, and a good person. But something tightens in his chest at the thought, and maybe it’s because the last ghosts he helped took away his choice and she’s demanding that he help like he doesn’t have a choice-

“We’re not really accepting requests now, sorry,” Ikeda tells her coolly. “Not for a little while.”

But that sounds so selfish. And it’s Nagisa, and Gakushuu can’t just refuse to help the other boy because of his own dumb problems. ‘What is it?’ He signs to her. Ikeda translates, but gives him a concerned look.

“My daughter in law,” She explains. “Nagisa decided to stay with her after she divorced my son with some misguided idea of helping her, but she continues to treat him like a plaything. If there’s anything you can do to help-”

‘We’ll do our best, I promise.’ Thinking back on it, Gakushuu can see some of the signs that Nagisa’s home life wasn’t good. There has to be a way to make things better.

But what can he do? Seeing Ghosts won’t help in this case. And even if it did he- with what happened to- what would happen if he did try and interfere?

There’s the cool breeze that’s Ikeda’s hand on his shoulder. “We’ll figure something out,” the other boy murmurs. “And you don’t have to do everything, solve every problem, all by yourself.”

November rolls around, and Korosensei has them all writing down their preferred school and careers of choice. Preferred school is easy, because there’s no way Gakushuu’s father will let him attend anything but Kunugigaoka High, but careers…

He knows what’s expected of him, of course. To rise to the top in a field, to become some big-shot CEO of some major company, or whatever. But that’s never been Gakushuu’s thing, and considering he can work the stock market just like his father, money isn’t going to be an issue for him, so he doesn’t have to choose based on that.

He could be a Private Investigator. He’d probably become one of the best in the world, considering the fact that he can actually talk to the victims, find out the murderer, and just how they had planned on getting away with everything.

But does he really want that though? After what had happened with- is that really the life he wants for himself?

Does he have a choice?

In the end, he decides to put PI as his second career choice, and leave his first choice blank. He’s sure he’ll figure out something, eventually. Hopefully.

The next day, Nagisa’s mother visits E Class, and his grandmother follows her. Gakushuu sits outside with the rest of the class, listening to Shiota Hiromi scream at the top of her lungs, all the while Shiota Sakura is looking at him with a disapproving expression. See what you’re letting him go through? She seems to be saying.

Everyone is unnerved, even Ozaki and Everson. But something has changed. Unlike before - before, where they would all make plans to fix things, no one is asking Gakushuu to do anything. In fact, they seem to be rather pissed at Sakura for putting this on him.

But he can’t just sit there and watch this. He’s not just some fragile doll now, he’s seen plenty of dark things before. (And still, he can’t even get out of his own home. How is he supposed to help here?)

Shiota Sakura comes to his house that night, looking absolutely furious. “She drugged him!” The woman hisses, while Gakushuu and Ikeda look on in horror. “She drugged him, and now she’s going to burn down the building!”

Ikeda goes pale as Gakushuu jumps to his feet. “What do we do?”

“I-” Fuck, he could intercept her, but he can’t just go around hurting his classmate’s parents, Father would-

Of course.

Gakushuu rips out of piece of paper from one of his notebooks and scribbles a note down on it, rushing downstairs to put it on the counter where Father always puts his bags as soon as he gets home. “Ikeda, do you know where Karasuma lives?”

“Y-Yeah, Aguri, Lovro and I have visited before,” Ikeda manages. “What are we doing?”

“There’s nothing I can do to help him,” Gakushuu points out. “So I’m getting someone who can.”

It’s a bit of a longshot, he knows. Domestic abuse isn’t exactly in Karasuma’s mandate. But the man does care about them, and he’d rather not have 3-E burn down when they’re still using it for assassination. And Karasuma should be getting back from his work trip tonight, so it’ll work out. It has to.

Ikeda guides him to Karasuma’s house, and they’re just in time, as Karasuma’s car pulls into the driveway. Gakushuu runs up to him.

“Asano?” Karasuma stares at him as he exits his car. “What are you doing at my house? How did you-”

“No time, sorry Sensei.” He’s almost out of breath. “Nagisa’s mother just drugged him and is planning to burn down our building. We need to get to the school.”

There’s a long moment where Karasuma just stares at him, and Gakushuu worries that he won’t help. Then the man nods. “Alright, get in the car. We’ll go there now.” Gakushuu lets out a sigh of relief and does so.

They get to the school, and some of the grass is burning. Nagisa stands over a downed assassin while his mother looks on in shock. Karasuma runs over, and Gakushuu decides to stay back while they talk.

“You’re not going to see what they say?” Ikeda wonders.

“It’s not my place.” Out of the corner of his eye, he spots Father strolling up the lawn. He seems casual to the inexperienced observer, but Gakushuu can tell he’s on the warpath. Shiota Hiromi will have hell to pay for this, and Karasuma’s there to keep the damage from spreading to Nagisa. “I think I’ll head back to the car. My job is done.”

They find out the next morning that Nagisa’s mother was nearly charged with attempted destruction of property, as well as domestic abuse, and the only reason she wasn’t taken to court was because she finally agreed to let Nagisa stay with his dad.

“Mom and the principal are two of the scariest people I’ve ever met,” Nagisa admits quietly. “Watching them argue, I felt like the world might explode any second.” He meets Gakushuu’s eyes, and Gakushuu sees the questions there. Did he have anything to do with it, since his father was there, and so was Karasuma, even though there should’ve been no way they could know about what was going on?

Gakushuu coughs and looks away, but not before he sees Nagisa smile. There’s been a sort of stunned expression on the boy’s face all day, but it’s been fading to reveal a more genuine smile than Nagisa’s usual sort.

He’d like to say that he’s done something right, but it wasn’t really him. Sakura hasn’t visited him since last night, so he doesn’t know if the older woman has moved on or not. Everything feels different than how these sort of problems usually go for him.

And yet Nagisa’s away from his mom, so maybe it all works out?

Gakushuu tries to ignore the feeling that might possibly be jealousy in his chest.

Gakushuu runs into Red Eye on the streets by accident, but the two quickly decide to find a place to eat while Gakushuu fills him in on what’s happened lately.

“-And there was - was nothing left. No ghost.” Gakushuu hates the way his hands shake. It’s easier telling Red all this than anyone else, even Isogai, because he can really understand, but the words feel like sandpaper in his mouth, even weeks later. “Have you ever seen that happen before?”

Red frowns, looking serious. “I’ve seen it once, and heard about it another time. It’s pretty rare, but it makes sense. Reaper’s got one of the highest and ugliest body counts of anyone in the business. And this second Reaper kills a lot messier than his predecessor. Those are some of the exact conditions for something like this to happen.” He looks right into Gakushuu’s eyes. “It would’ve happened anyway.”

“Even without me there?” That’s a bit of hope Gakushuu didn’t know he needed, and he hangs onto it like a lifeline.

“You said they all went Poltergeist? That would’ve happened anyways. Eventually, they’d have gained enough people and power to kill him no matter what. You just… sped up the process, so to speak.” Red leans back in his chair. “It’s awful, definitely. But odds are you’ll never see something like that again.”

Gakushuu lets out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. “You said you’ve seen it before? Do you still think about it? I mean, does it still affect you?”

“Yeah.” There’s a tinge of bitterness in his tone now. “But not any more than any other type of trauma. Going to see a therapist for this thing is near impossible, but there are books on working through trauma, if you can find them.”

“It’s too bad there aren’t any therapists that can deal with this.” Gakushuu pokes his food gently. “How many people see ghosts, and could benefit from something like this?”

“Hard to find out a statistic, since we don’t exactly broadcast our abilities. But the one other person I’ve met who could see ghosts guessed around point zero-one of the world population.”

Gakushuu frowns. “That’s still over five-hundred thousand people. A pretty big number. If we didn’t have to keep to ourselves…”

“Not much use thinking about that though, is there?” Red finishes his food. “But hey, maybe someday things will change. And then maybe someone could take up that therapy job.”

“Yeah.” He thinks of the open career spot on that form Korosensei had them fill out. “That would be pretty useful.”

The school festival approaches, and Korosensei suggests they make a restaurant out of the mountain’s natural resources. They set up their restaurant for acorn noodles, and the taste-tests go excellently.

There’s still some problems, of course. “How are we supposed to get everyone to notice us?” Sugino wonders, as they set up the tables. “I mean, we’re so far away from everything else at the school.”

“Hm.” An idea pops into Gakushuu’s head, and he catches Ikeda and Sakai’s attention. ‘Do you two think you could make our fliers spread out around the school? If, say, a sudden wind has them drifting down over unsuspecting customers from out of nowhere…’

“That would definitely catch some eyes,” Ikeda agrees cheerfully.

“Alright then. Count on us.” There’s humor in Sakai’s expression as they grab unattended stacks of posters and float off.

Once the tables are set up, Gakushuu takes out his phone and fishes for Red’s phone number.

He makes contact immediately. “What’s up kid?”

“We’re hosting a festival at our school. Our restaurants up on the mountain,” Gakushuu tells him. “Think you could come? And invite your friends?”

Red’s laughter rings across the phone. “Sure! I’m in Japan anyways. I’ll spread the word around, see who’s available.”

Sure enough, the tables start piling up. And it’s not just assassins, high school thugs, the kids they babysat those two weeks before midterms, and some rich kid who saw Nagisa when they were walking around in that Okinawa hotel, thought he was a girl, and decided to look him up.

There’s people Gakushuu has personally met before while doing jobs for ghosts, people he never expected to see again. Everson is proudly standing behind his granddaughter as she waves to him, Sakai’s cousin has brought his rich business friends to try their food, to everyone’s awe, and even some of Ozaki’s people seem to be here.

“Looks like you got a real turn out, kid!” Red waves to him as he comes over. “Good for you! Course, the food’s genuinely good, so it’s not that much of a surprise.” He gives Gakushuu a one-armed hug, while still holding some huge bird he took out with the other.

“Quality of food doesn’t have as much to do with restaurants working as it seems,” Gakushuu says dryly, wriggling out of his hold. “That’s more in the marketing and connections department. And customer service, of course.”

“Learn to take a compliment,” Ben snarks, as Farkah chuckles.

“Course, there is something missing,” Red continues. “You know, this place would be a lot more lively with some music to go with the food. Maybe from someone who knows how to play guitar really well?”

His classmates are looking at him now, and Gakushuu flashes Red a betrayed glance. “I told you that in confidence, you know.”

Aguri wanders over, looking pleased. “But it’s one of your favorite hobbies, isn’t it? You know your classmate’s hobbies, why not show them yours?”

“You two know each other?” Bitch-sensei says, confusion all across her face. The same confusion is mirrored on Korosensei.

Red grins. “Ran into him at that festival near the end of summer. We’ve got a lot in common, so I took him under my wing!”

“And now I can’t get away from you,” Gakushuu grumbles. “Yeah, I can play guitar. It’s not a big deal.”

“Come on, for the customers,” Nakamura insists. “It’ll be great! And we want to hear you.”

“We won’t judge your music,” Okano promises.

“Even if it’s really bad,” Karma pitches in, like an asshole. Ozaki swats him on the back of the head with a gust of wind, leaving Gakushuu oddly touched.

In the end, he does play music for the crowd at the restaurant, and when that rich kid’s reviews send reporters up the mountain, he switches from acoustic to electric and puts on a bit of a show. Guitar has always been something he’s kept to himself, but it’s kind of fun, playing for others.

Then again, he mostly kept to himself in general before this year. And while a part of him is still uncomfortable with all the attention, he’s found himself enjoying living company more and more.

In the end, they manage to score second, right under the high schoolers. And while they did need to shut down halfway through the second day, they still managed to beat out all the other classes in their grade. It’s more than enough for them.

Gakushuu’s pleasant mood spoils over quickly, though. It’s finals time, and his father is angrier than he’s ever seen the man.

Something in his gut tells him that, no matter how they do on the tests, things between E Class and the principal, things between Gakushuu and the principal, are going to come to a head.

And whatever comes of that mess?

It’s going to hurt.

Chapter Text

It’s as finals draw even closer that Gakushuu discovers his father’s gameplan.

He’s walking by the main campus when he runs into Seo. Except… he doesn’t really look like Seo. Hate is sculpted into his face, like someone carved it on there. His eyes look utterly lost, and he seems to be muttering vague threats and mantras against E Class as he passes Gakushuu by with nothing but a glare.

Gakushuu knows his father’s brainwashing techniques when he sees them. And so does Ikeda, who watches the virtuoso pass by with nothing short of horror.

“Sensei, what the hell are you doing?” The ghost mutters in disbelief.

Gakushuu’s thoughts flash to Ren. If Father is doing this to Seo, there’s a good chance he’s doing this to Ren as well. He finds himself running towards the main campus, Ikeda trailing close behind.

They find Ren outside the cafeteria, and it’s like Gakushuu’s worst fear is confirmed. Ren has that same lost, hateful, look that Seo is donning.

It’s funny. With all the supernatural and ghostly horrors he normally faces, this is just as much a punch in the gut. Because they might not spend a lot of time together now, but Ren was Gakushuu’s first living friend, and now his father has gone and done this to him.

“Ren?” He asks cautiously, almost wishing he wouldn’t be able to hear the response.

Ren fixates a glare on him, even as some part of him looks pained. “We’re going to crush you, you traitor. You and the rest of E Class.”

“Fuck,” Ikeda swears. Something sick rises in Gakushuu, and he turns and walks away as fast as he can. He knows that this isn’t Ren, and he can’t bear to see him like this.

“We’ll fix this,” Ikeda promises.

“Of course.” The thing is, he’s not sure how.

“I warned you, Asano.” Gakushuu freezes, and turns to see Father leaning up against the school building, looking smug. “You seem to fit in so well with E Class, which means you shouldn’t be associating with those above your station. You didn’t really expect him to stay your friend if you continued to waste away on the mountain, did you?”

Gakushuu pauses, letting Father’s words sink in. “You didn’t just put him against E Class, did you?” Anger swells up in him, more than he knew he was capable of towards his father. “You hate the idea that I could go against this system in E Class so much, you decided to destroy our friendship.” He grits his teeth. What the hell is wrong with you? Is the next sentence that goes through his mind, but that would be useless. He knows just what’s wrong with Father.

Ikeda doesn’t say anything. The wind and chill that Father stubbornly ignores says it all for him.

So instead, he says: “Our class will beat everyone in finals. Every single person will make the top fifty, and you’ll be forced to conclude that you’re wrong. I promise you that.”

“Is that so?” Father smiles slightly, but there’s a challenge in his eyes. “I guess we’ll see about that.”

“Yes, we will.” And with that, Gakushuu storms away.

“Shuu-”

“I’ve got enough money to rent a room for the night somewhere cheap.” He refuses to look anywhere but forward. “I’m not going back to the house right now.”

“You’ve been pretty quiet today,” Gakushuu notes, as Ikeda looks off into the forest of the mountain they’re climbing. “I know you followed Father to school, did he make a stop on the way there?”

“Yeah.” Ikeda’s voice is distant. “He’s still giving gambling money to the boys - men now - who, you know.” Ikeda doesn’t have to finish. Gakushuu knows about how his father destroyed the life of the kids who drove Ikeda to jump off that bridge. It’s one of the few things his father does that he doesn’t totally condemn.

Still, Father is blind not to realize that he’s encouraging the actions those boys took with his current students. It’s honestly a miracle no E Class student has committed suicide so far, with the polices his father implements.

“Alright, it’s time to review everything we’ve learned this year,” Korosensei informs them. “I hope you’re all ready for a classwork battle. Asano, Karma, you two will be aiming for the top spot, I assume.”

Karma makes some lighthearted joke about being an idiot that grates on Gakushuu’s nerves.

“You two are awfully tense today,” Aguri notes. “Did something happen at home?”

‘You could say that.’

Ikeda sighs. “Nothing too big. Just Sensei being an ass, as usual. I just can’t wait for E Class to all get in the top fifty, and hopefully shut him down for good.” In front of them, Korosensei sets that same goal for the entire class, telling them that they’ve matured enough to make that first midterm dream a reality.

“It’s not gonna be that easy,” Sugino says. “A Class has a new teacher to help them prep. You’re not going to believe who it is.”

As one, the class seems to turn to Gakushuu, who looks down at his desk and refuses to met anyone’s eyes. “I’m not surprised. He’s pissed about our success, and he’ll do anything to prove his education policies aren’t flawed, no matter who he has to crush.” He ignores all the sympathetic looks sent his way, because while sympathy is nice, it won’t help them win. “We need to beat him, prove we’re not some ants to be stepped on.”

After everything that happened with- after- with all that’s been going on lately, Gakushuu’s surprised he’s this invested in bringing down his father’s ideals. But this is something that’s been going on his whole childhood. It’s something he has to do.

“And we will,” Korosensei assures them. “Every one of you has the potential to do so. I expect great things from you, but you should also expect great things from yourselves. Show the principal why his constant attempts at putting us down won’t work!”

“And who’d want to be brainwashed by that guy anyways?” Mimura says. “The way I see it, we’ve got the better end of the deal.” Yoshida elbows him, and he looks back at Gakushuu. “I mean-”

“You’re right,” Gakushuu interrupts. “We do have the better end of the deal. I’ve seen what he’s already done to A Class, and even if they’re our rivals, I still have a good friend in there. I can’t just let him get away with this.”

“But it’s your dad…” Kataoka says, hesitantly.

Nagisa clears his throat awkwardly. “Sometimes, just because someone raises you, doesn’t mean they were meant to be a parent.” His voice is soft, unsure, but there’s steel underneath. “And sometimes you need to stand against them to fix things.”

“When you think about it, Korosensei and the principal are kind of similar in a lot of ways,” Fuwa notes, as they all walk through the main campus. “They both seem to have these extraordinary powers, and yet they settle for being teachers. I mean, the principal easily could’ve been the prime minister, or a business tycoon, you know? So why didn’t he?”

“It’s because Sensei chose his profession before he changed,” Ikeda mutters softly, although only Gakushuu who already knows this, can hear him. “Back when he genuinely loved his job.” He pauses. “You know, Sensei really was a lot like Korosensei back then. Although without the whole murder thing.”

“That’s a good point.” He realizes he spoke out loud, and now people are looking at him. “Sorry, I was just thinking. We need to go about this like we’ve always done. We’re assassinating a teacher. Just this time it’s his educational polices we’re killing, not actual murder.”

“If we put as much into this as we do into our assassination plans, we can’t go wrong,” Okano agrees. “The principal is good, but he can’t move at mach twenty.”

This thought seems to cheer everyone up. Gakushuu honestly hopes they can pull it off.

The day of the finals arrives. Gakushuu winces as they pass by 3-A, seeing all the wrong looks in his former classmates faces - in Ren’s face.

“We can beat them,” Ikeda says, confident and steady.

“Don’t worry,” Aguri assures him. “You’re all ready for this.”

He hopes they’re right. The only thing to do now is take the test.

“Alright class. Let’s have a look at your compiled exam papers.” Korosensei pulls out the envelopes filled with their results. “Did those crucial second blades manage to pierce their intended targets? I wonder.” They all sit, waiting for the answer, and he passes the grades out. “No splitting hairs over missed points. The main goal is whether you placed in the top fifty. And the main campus should be reporting the results as we speak. So I see no reason we can’t do the same in E Class.”

Gakushuu looks down at his grades. 499.5/500. It’s half a point off from perfect, but like Korosensei said, no splitting hairs, right? He looks up at the placement results.

2nd place.

2nd place.

It’s like the floor has dropped out from under him, like something hit him hard in the stomach, and Gakushuu can’t breathe. He feels numb, and even the cheering of his classmates can’t change that. He got second place, for the first time. He didn’t manage to keep the top spot. He failed.

“Gakushuu…” Ikeda says softly.

Father is going to kill him.

“Asano?” Someone asks. He knows that the person is Isogai, who has taken a moment from the celebration to check in on him, which is great. He’s great, thanks. Maybe he’s having a bit of a panic attack, but that’s all okay, right? “Asano, you still did really well! You were only half a point off!”

“Guess I can call you second place now, huh?” And Karma is there, poking at him with a huge smirk on his face. “Looks like all your psychic powers couldn’t help you on that last math problem, could they? When it came down to it, normal ol’ me beat you out.”

Isogai flashes him a soft glare. “Karma, don’t be a jerk about it. He didn’t mock you when he beat you.”

“Oh come on, it’s just friendly teasing.” He’s still prodding Gakushuu, even as a cold wind blows around the both of them. “Don’t get so worked up over it.” Karma seems to take notice of Ikeda’s aggravation, but misinterprets it. “What, are you going to throw a magic tantrum because you lost for once?”

“No. I’m not.” Ikeda huffs, but calms down. Gakushuu gets to his feet. “I’m happy for you. I’m happy for everyone.” The words are like sandpaper in his mouth. “Please excuse me. I need some air.” He steps out of the classroom, and tries to breathe again.

“Karma’s just being a jerk. You should ignore him.” It’s hard to believe Ikeda when there’s worry written all over his face.

Someone else approaches. It’s Kayano. “Asano? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Which is a lie, of course. “Just not looking forward to going home tonight.”

“Well, boys and girls,” Korosensei says, at the end of the day. “You’ve all officially qualified to transfer back to the main campus. Anyone here ready to leave the mountain?”

Naturally, no one is. In fact, they all start shooting at him.

“A glutton for punishment, I see,” Korosensei snickers. In that case, I ought to divulge my most notable weakne-ahhhhh!”

Everyone startles as the entire building rumbles. From the corner of his eye, Gakushuu sees Ikeda wince. Kataoka opens the window, and yelps in surprise at what she sees.

Aguri comes dashing in. “The principal’s taking the building down!” She manages to get out.

“Evacuate the premises, please.” Father’s voice comes down like a knife. “The board reached a unanimous decision. The old campus building is to be demolished today.” On his face is a smug grin. “Oh, don’t worry. You’ll be moved to an affiliate school slated to open next year. We need students to performance test their newest facilities.”

“You’re kicking us out somewhere?” Muramatsu gasps.

“It’s not all bad. Call it a social experiment. The building is state of the art, with closed circuit surveillance cameras and escape proof architecture. It’s similar to a prison. The culmination of my education philosophy.” He sounds so proud of himself as he says this.

Korosensei flies outside. “I see you’ll spare nothing to see your methods vindicated.”

“Correct. Oh, and incidentally, your services will no longer be required. I’m afraid this is the part where I terminate you.” Korosensei freaks out, predictably. And with that, Gakushuu has had enough.

“Shut up!” And maybe it’s louder and more forceful than he meant it to be, but it gets everyone’s attention, including Father. Gakushuu hops out the window and strides over to him. “Shut up about your policies, your “educational methods”. You’re just angry because Korosensei proved your methods wrong. The only way you know how to deal with it is by getting rid of him.”

There’s a collective intake of breath, but the blood pounding in Gakushuu’s ears is drowning everything else out, including most of his fear. After everything he did, after everything he put Gakushuu’s class, put his friends, put Ikeda through, the man has the gall to pretend he can just go about doing what he wants.

Father leans in front of him, eyes trying to burn him down. There’s the panic from before, but Gakushuu knows he can’t back down now. “Bold words from someone who was beat out at their own game. What was that about Korosensei’s methods working better for you? Considering how you lost so humiliatingly, what makes you think you know anything about strength?”

“I still did better than everyone you taught,” Gakushuu fires back. “And make no mistake, you didn’t teach me. In fact, I’d say I learned less about how the real world works with you than I did anywhere else.”

“Yeah, he did great!” Maehara calls out. “You’re really ratting on him for missing half a point?”

“He did better than anyone in A Class!”

“And Karma was in 3-E too! So he still counts against you.”

Hearing his friends back him up ignites something in Gakushuu’s chest. He gestures to the machine, which is ready to tear Ikeda’s building down. “Moving us to a prison school is what your educational philosophies have been leading up to? Really? How is that supposed to inspire strength?”

“Have you forgotten?” Father nearly growls. “Students must become strong, or they will be trampled upon. I will not let my students be weak, not when I can stamp that out from the beginning.”

It’s so hypocritical, Gakushuu almost laughs out loud. “Do you really think that this would help? Or do you think Ikeda would’ve been one of the students who you encouraged others to trample upon, and would be heading to this prison school of yours to get his spirits crushed further?”

A half second later, something hard hits him in the face, and Gakushuu finds himself slammed far away from where he was, hitting the ground hard with his shoulder. Everyone is yelling, and Isogai and Karasuma - when did he get here? - are running towards him.

Head ringing, Gakushuu touches his jaw. He’s bleeding.

Everything around him is going cold.

“Principal Asano!” Karasuma snaps, a surprising amount of anger on his face. The man turns to Korosensei. “Get the rest of the kids out of here, now.”

“Um, okay.” Korosensei turns to the rest of the class. “Come along children.” Protests meet him immediately.

“But he just slapped Asano!”

“What the hell was that? How could he do that?”

“We can’t just leave him there like that!”

“Asano, are you okay?”

“Now!” Karasuma orders, and reluctantly, everyone but Isogai heads to the other end of the building, which is a good thing, because not only is Father looking at his hand like he’s glitching out, but what could almost be described as a miniature storm is brewing around them.

Ikeda is dripping wet. Furious doesn’t even begin to describe him.

“Is that-?” Isogai shivers. “Wait, I can see-!”

“SENSEI!” Ikeda snarls. “What the hell have you done!?”

Father is frozen, staring at Ikeda in horror.

Wait. He’s looking at Ikeda. He can see Ikeda. Which means Ikeda’s gone Poltergeist.

Just like- just like-

“All this time, all this GODDAMN TIME, I was right here, you bastard! I was waiting for you to come to your senses, I was watching after your son, who you threw a glass vase at because he said he could see me when he was FIVE!” Blood seems to have nearly stopped flowing to Father’s head, and maybe that’s his panic, and maybe that’s Ikeda, nonono he can’t see this again Red said he wouldn’t see this again-

“What the hell is going on?” Karasuma whispers. The man is looking at the soaking ghost in horror.

“It’s a long story,” Isogai answers softly. He looks at Gakushuu. “That’s why you didn’t want to tell anyone, isn’t it? Because of how your dad reacted.” Gakushuu can’t say anything. All he can do is watch.

“Do you know why I stuck around your house?” Ikeda continues, mercilessly. “I stuck around because I knew your change was my fault, that it happened because I died. And then I realized you weren’t going to change back, and my goal changed to helping Gakushuu because he needed SOMEONE in that goddamn house to care! But I held on hope that you would change, that you would be a good person again!”

Gakushuu can’t breathe again. All he can think about was that night with the Reaper, and blood and body parts going everywhere, and he doesn’t want that to happen to his father, he doesn’t want Ikeda to do that-

“But you never changed.” The fury in his voice is softer now, as Father hangs there choking. “After everything, it was false hope, because you never went back to being the Sensei I loved. The only adult in my life who gave a real shit about me. And I think, Principal Asano, that’s because Sensei is dead. You’re just an empty shell that happens to look like him. You’re worse than a ghost. Now get the hell out of my classroom!”

The wind and the cold and everything else is all so much worse, and everything feels like it’s gone upside down and suddenly Father isn’t the one Gakushuu’s afraid of at the moment. Still, he gets to his feet, Isogai supporting him.

“Ikeda!” He calls out. “Rikuto! Please, stop! You have to stop!”

Ikeda looks back at him, and something softens. “But-”

“Yeah, he’s shit. He’s been shit for as long as I can remember. But this - you’re hurting yourself, this isn't you, you need to stop!” He’s rambling now, but he can’t help himself. It’s like all his common sense has gone out the window. Are those tears on his face? Is he crying again? “Please!”

“Asano told me you’re like a brother to him,” Isogai says. “Please listen when he says he doesn’t want this!”

There’s a terrifying moment where Gakushuu’s afraid Ikeda won’t listen. But then the wind dies down, whatever grip was holding Father up releases him and he sinks to the ground. Another moment passes, and Ikeda punches Father straight in the face, knocking him out immediately.

“I’ve wanted to do that for a while now,” Ikeda whispers. He turns to look at Gakushuu. “I’m so sorry, Shuu. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

The world spins with relief, and Gakushuu sinks to the ground again. Ikeda floats over and puts a hand on his shoulder. The hand goes right through; he’s not corporeal anymore.

“I can’t see him anymore,” Isogai says. Gakushuu chokes out a small laugh.

“What the hell was that?” Karasuma asks aloud. He looks at Gakushuu and Isogai. “You two seem to know. Mind filling me in?”

Isogai looks from him to Karasuma. “Right now?”

“No. Right now he needs to recover.” Karasuma puts Gakushuu’s other arm around his shoulders and helps him up. “I think it would be best if you stayed somewhere else tonight. Hopefully after tonight as well. Is there any place you can go?”

“I could get a hotel room again.”

“Again?” Karasuma shakes his head. “Not happening. You can stay at my place for now, and tell me everything when you’re ready.”

They find everyone else, and Gakushuu finds himself swarmed with worried faces. Maehara, Okano, Kayano, and Nagisa are there first, but everyone else is right behind.

“I can’t believe the principal did that!” Kayano fumes. “He should pay for it!”

“That was seriously messed up. Who let that guy around kids?”

“Are you going to be okay?”

Aguri is floating over, looking worried, and Ikeda is right at his back, and Karasuma is telling Korosensei to pick up Father’s unconscious body but not telling why he’s unconscious, and everyone else seems to care so much, that Gakushuu’s smile smile is genuine.

He doesn’t have to go home tonight.

“Not yet,” he tells them. “But I think I will be.”

Chapter Text

Karasuma’s house is cozy, small but well lived in, the opposite of the Asano home. He sets up the guest room with his near inhuman speed, and Gakushuu makes himself as comfortable as he can be, dumping what he had brought from his own room, in his temporary space.

Ikeda is there, hovering near him. “Shuu, I’m so sorry, I didn’t want - I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“I know. It’s alright.” And it really is. It hasn’t really sunk in yet, that he’s out of Father’s house, at least for now. There’s a big part of Gakushuu that’s still numb with shock over everything that happened. But even with the scare, he does have Ikeda to thank for this.

Karasuma orders takeout, and the two of them eat in comfortable silence, then watch tv in the living room together, and it’s surprisingly nice. Sure, Karasuma is quiet, but it’s not the stifling silence Father always imposed. It’s far more natural, filling the room instead of creating a void.

“So,” Karasuma eventually says. “Ghosts.”

Gakushuu shifts. “Yeah. I’ve seen them for as long as I remember. They don’t usually go solid and visible like that.”

“It explains a lot about what’s happened this year,” Karasuma admits. “And I saw your friend with my own eyes. It’s just a lot to take in.”

Gakushuu snorts. “Try living with it twenty-four seven.” Ikeda sticks out his tongue at him. “You should probably be aware that I come with an invisible roommate who likes to pull the occasional practical joke. Just so you know.”

“You help me with those, don’t deny it!”

“Understood.” Karasuma’s eyes scan the room, as if looking for Ikeda. “Is he the same one I saw?”

“Yeah, that’s him.” Gakushuu offers a small smile. “His name’s Ikeda. He’s been with me since I was four. You’ve… already heard the story of why.”

Karasuma understands. “I won’t press on it then. Still…” He narrows his eyes. “Have any ghosts around this class besides this one gone solid recently? The autopsy report we got on the Reaper was…”

Gakushuu’s breath hitches, and suddenly it’s much harder to breathe. Of course Karasuma would know about- of course he would find out, and suspect. “I didn’t mean to,” he chokes out. “I didn’t- that sounds bad, I didn’t- I couldn’t stop-” Dammit, why is it so hard to speak all of a sudden? “I’m sorry-”

There’s a heavy hand on his shoulder. “I don’t blame you, Asano.” Gakushuu looks up at Karasuma. There’s nothing but sympathy, and maybe some pain, on his face. “I’m sorry you had to see something that awful. I’m surprised you came to school only two days later. You could’ve taken more time off.”

“As if the Principal would let him,” Ikeda snorts bitterly.

“Father didn’t want me to stay home for more than one day,” Gakushuu says plainly.

Something in Karasuma’s face hardens. “Well, you’re not going back there. Not if I have anything to say about it.”

Strangely enough, Gakushuu finds himself believing him.

“Is everything okay?” Aguri asks him, as soon as he comes back to class. “With Karasuma, I mean. Has the principal tried anything?”

‘Everything’s alright,’ he assures her. ‘I haven’t seen father since then. It’s a nice change of pace. I’m okay, I promise.’

Aguri lets out a long sigh of relief. “Good. I was so worried, but I’m glad everything is working out now.”

“It’s about time you got out of that mess,” Ozaki pitches in. “Seriously, your old man’s face was priceless!”

“It certainly was amusing,” Lovro chuckles. “Who knew cheerful Ikeda had such an angry side?” Ikeda laughs awkwardly, cheeks red, as Ozaki slaps him on the back and Aguri pats his shoulder.

“You know,” he says. “I could never leave Shuu hanging. He’s my little brother, after all.”

Things settle down a bit afterwards, or at least once Gakushuu convinces some of his classmates not to storm the main campus and yell at Father. He’s honestly more than a little touched that they’d go that far for him, but he’d rather not get E Class in trouble again.

He stays with Karasuma the next night, and the nights after that. Slowly, as the days pass by, the comfortable silence is filled by comfortable words. Karasuma doesn’t judge him when he stiffens at questions thrown his way, or ask why he avoids talking about his living friends. Ingrained habits from years with his father are hard to break, and Karasuma seems to understand that.

Two days after Gakushuu moves in, Karasuma puts up a cheap chalkboard in the kitchen, for Ikeda to write notes on. Ikeda loves it, and is constantly writing little phrases, or random thoughts. It’s heartwarming, to know that Karasuma accepts them as a pair, and doesn’t mind Ikeda’s presence.

A few days after finals, Ren finds him near the school campus. “I want to apologize,” he says awkwardly. “I’m so sorry about what happened-”

“Don’t worry about it,” Gakushuu interrupts him. “It’s already forgiven. I’m just glad you’re okay now. I missed you.”

Ren beams. “Good, I’m so glad! But we really should find more time to hang out, the two of us.”

And so they make plans, and every minute he spends at the library or arcade with Ren is a minute Gakushuu silently rubs in Father’s face. He threatened and tried, but he couldn’t take away Ren. Father gambled his cards and lost, and now, finally, Gakushuu is the one claiming the rewards.

Around when high school entrance exams are scheduled to start, the student council announces that there will be a drama festival held, and E Class is to perform a play for the rest of the school during their lunchtime.

They make their play as dramatic and uncomfortable as possible, and while Gakushuu is on lighting and not an actor, he still takes some pleasure in watching the main campus students slowly lose their appetites.

They’re all relaxing in the classroom after the play when something nearby explodes, shaking everything around them.

Then Aguri is there, stomach bloody. “It’s happening!” She cries. “Akari, she’s making her move now!”

Gakushuu runs out of the classroom, followed by everyone else, to see Korosensei burst up from out of the ground. A few seconds later, Akari follows him, perching herself on the roof of the building, tentacles in full view. There are tears in Aguri’s eyes as she looks up at her sister. Gakushuu’s stomach clenches.

“Ah, dammit,” she says with a smile. “And I attacked you with everything I had. You’re slipperier than I thought, clearly.”

“No no no, Akari!”

“Fyi, my real name’s not Kaede,” Akari says. “It’s Yukimura Akari. I’m Yukimura Aguri’s little sister.” She eyes Korosensei with more bloodlust than Gakushuu has seen in most ghosts. “You get it now, don’t you? Murderer.”

“Kayano - Akari!” Gakushuu calls up to her. He feels everyone’s eyes turn to him, hears Isogai gasp in understanding. “Akari, you need to stop! I know how you’re feeling-”

“Oh really?” Akari’s smile is more like bared teeth. “Since when? It’s not like you have any sort of close relationship with your family, after all.” Gakushuu feels as though he’s been struck, and flinches back. A sob escapes from Aguri’s mouth, and Ikeda rushes over to comfort her.

Akari turns back to Korosensei. “Oh well. No use crying over spilled milk. Guess I’ll just have to reset. We’ll do this again tomorrow, Korosensei. Don’t worry, I’ll tell you where. Now that we’ve fought tentacle to tentacle, I’m feeling pretty good. Like I can kill you.”

A split second later, and she’s using her tentacles to leap far away, quickly vanishing from sight. There’s something hollow in Gakushuu’s chest, and he realizes with a start that it’s not just because of Aguri’s request, or even because he’s grown to care for the former 3-E teacher.

He cared about Kayano - Akari. He genuinely liked being her friend, had fun going along with her strange schemes and coming up with his own. He always knew it was an act, but he’d grown attached anyways.

He really was an idiot, wasn’t he?

Karasuma is looking at him, and Isogai makes his way over. “Asano, is Yukimura-sensei-?”

“She’s here,” he whispers back. “She’s been here this whole time, and she’s here right now.” He needs to make sure she’s okay. She’s clearly not, of course, but there has to be a way they can fix this, make things better.

If Itona is any indication, Akari’s life might depend on it.

“What are we going to do?” Aguri whispers. Her stomach is still bleeding, and Gakushuu can’t blame her. Ikeda silently passes her the chalkboard, and she writes her question with shaking hands.

Karasuma grimaces. “I’m not sure. For now, all we can do is wait to see what she has in store for the octopus. But who knows if it’ll be too late by then.” Aguri wraps her arms around herself and squeezes tightly.

“When it came to Itona, we just needed to calm him down enough for Korosensei to remove his tentacles, right?” Isogai offers. “Is there any way we can do the same for Kay- for Akari?”

“Maybe if I could talk to her,” Aguri says, writing her words down. “But I don’t know if I can go Poltergeist. I don’t even know how it works.” She glances at Ikeda.

The other ghost winces. “I wouldn’t count on that. It’s not something you can plan for, it just sort of happens. And like Red once said, the right conditions need to be met. Not saying this is traumatic or anything, but we can’t know for sure if this will make you visible.”

“There… is another way,” Gakushuu offers. They all look at him. “Lovro was able to use my body to fight the Reaper, remember? And that can happen anytime, as long as I give permission.”

Isogai looks troubled. “I dunno, Asano. It was pretty scary when Lovro did it. And super worrying. You almost died. And Akari wouldn’t normally, but if she’s not in her right mind, then who knows what could happen?”

“It’s risky,” Karasuma agrees. “Really risky. You’d probably need to time it perfectly.”

“I don’t want you to put yourself in the line of fire like that,” Aguri insists.

“I put myself in the line of fire all the time,” Gakushuu counters. “And Akari is my friend. I refuse to let her kill herself, especially like this. I’ve had enough of that for a long time.” Because going at Korosensei like Akari plans to is almost suicide. She doesn’t seem to care anymore what happens to her. And Gakushuu won’t let that happen. He refuses to let one of his classmates, one of his friends, become a ghost. Not when he can help it.

“Is there any other choice?” Ikeda wonders glumly. None of them have the answer to that. “Right then. How are we going to do this?”

“Asano?” Isogai asks, as he’s standing in Karasuma’s doorway. “Do you know?” About Korosensei’s past?”

Gakushuu stays silent for a long moment, then sighs. “Yes. I’ve always known. But he said he’ll be telling everyone, and I think he’s telling the truth. If not, I’ll let everyone know.”

“Okay then.” Isogai lingers. “Just, be careful, okay? I don’t want to lose Kayano, but I don’t want to lose you either.”

Gakushuu offers him a smile. “I’ll be fine. I promise.”

They meet her in the grass fields at night, everyone standing behind Korosensei, as he stands behind Akari. Aguri hovers nervously next to him, keeping her eyes trained on her little sister.

This is what Gakushuu’s time in E Class has been leading up to, he realizes.

And he’s going to pull this off. Just like he has every other request.

He has to.

Akari turns around, smiling. “So you showed up! Great. Let’s end this.” She slices the grass down. “I gave you your name. Practically makes me your mother. What’s the old joke? I brought you into this world, I can take you out of it?”

“Listen to me,” Korosensei insists. “It’s too dangerous for you to keep using those tentacles. They have to be removed, your life is in Jeopardy!”

“Kayano!” Nagisa looks pained. “I thought we were your friends. But this whole time, you were acting? All the stuff we’ve done, what we’ve been through together?”

“It’s what I do,” Akari shoots back. “I’m an actor, I act. Watching Nagisa take that beating from Takaoka, seeing Asano almost shot, it took everything I had not to step in. When I was kidnapped by thugs, kicked in the ribs by the Reaper, I was pissed enough to have killed them.” She smiles. “But I maintained. Never once let the mask slip. Poor pitiful Kayano, the frail girl everybody loved.”

“You did all this for your big sister?” Fuwa wonders.

Aguri shakes her head. “But it’s not what I would’ve wanted for you. You should’ve known, Akari.” Not even E Class’ kind words about her can break her concentration on her sister.

“Feel like you’re overheating, but the nape of your neck is ice cold?” Itona says. “That’s a good indication that your metabolism is shot. Which means that those tentacles have just about taken the wheel. You fight in that condition, they’ll sap your life force. Worst case scenario, you die.” Aguri flinches.

Then the ends of Akari’s tentacles light on fire. “Shut up. I don’t recall asking you for a prognosis. Every weapon comes at a price. But if it’s the least bit usable, you polish it, don’t you?”

“Akari no!” The ice cold wind whips around them, but Akari’s flaming tentacles are faster, and then there’s a circle of fire around her and Korosensei. And then she’s attacking him, cackling madly as he dodges her fire and tentacles.

“She’s too fast,” Ikeda mutters worriedly. “You can’t get in there.”

‘We have to,’ Gakushuu signs back. He ignores Isogai’s eyes on him, Karasuma’s worried face, Ikeda’s fear. He and Aguri can do this. He’s sure of it. ‘Aguri?’

Her eyes linger on Akari a moment longer, but then she turns to him and nods, her face solemn.

The strange numb sensation is there again, as Gakushuu watches his body move without really being a part of the movement. It’s cold, but he can bear it. He has to.

“Akari!” There’s a rush of wind and ice, and the fire in front of them goes out. Aguri rushes forward, concentrating, and with all her effort, holds Akari in her grip while her little sister is in midair. “Akari listen to me!”

Something about Aguri’s tone, which Gakushuu knows is much different than his own, gives Akari pause. She looks down.

“Remember when you were seven, and mom got in the accident?” Aguri says. “You could barely sleep for weeks. Eventually you asked me what you would do if I left you too.” She takes a breath. “Remember what I told you? That even though there was a good chance I wouldn’t be going anywhere for a long time, I would want you to live your life to the fullest?”

Aguri isn’t holding her in a telekinetic grip anymore, but Akari is frozen, staring down at her. “I’m sorry, Akari! I’m sorry I left you. I promise I didn’t want to! But I wanted this for you even less. Koro didn’t kill me, but even if he had, I wouldn’t want you to throw your life away like this. Not for me, not for anyone.”

Akari drops to the ground, her eyes blown wide, tentacles still waving around. “Aguri? No, no that’s impossible. You can’t - but you- no! NO!” She raises her tentacles threateningly. “No, I won’t let you trick me like this!”

“I’ve been here the whole time, Akari,” Aguri insists. “I’ve been watching over you this whole time. Remember when we tried to make that giant cake in the yard, and Our neighbor’s dog ate it all? Remember how we went into Tokyo that one time, and you almost threw up in the trains?”

Akari’s screams are turning into sobs. “No, no! No, it can’t be.”

“Please, Akari.” She steps forwards, until she’s right in front of her sister. “Please. I want you to live for me. That’s all I’ve ever wanted, is for you to have a happy life. Ever since you were seven, and it was just the two of us, that’s all I wanted for you. Akari, I don’t want you to die for me. I want you to live for me.”

A sob escapes from her, and Akari all but collapses into Aguri’s arms. Korosensei swoops in and removes the tentacles, and then Akari is just sobbing, harder than Gakushuu has ever seen, into Aguri’s arms.

“It’s okay,” she murmurs. “I’ve got you, I promise.”

“Asano?” Someone asks. “Asano, is that you?” Aguri gasps in surprise, and then Gakushuu is back in his body, and nearly collapses over Akari. Isogai, Okano, and Maehara are right next to him in seconds, and everyone else is looking at him in shock.

Oh, this is going to be so awkward.

Chapter Text

They listen to Korosensei’s story, get the other perspective on how this whole mess came to be. It’s a sobering moment for everyone, to say the least. Finally, the whole class understands, not just who their teacher is, but just what they’ve been asked to do to him.

And then, after everyone has time to process it….

“So. You can see ghosts, huh?” Maehara speaks up, and Gakushuu looks around to see everyone staring at him. Aguri and Ikeda, Isogai and Karasuma, they’re all here backing him up. But still, the thought of actually talking about it to a large group of people is nerve-wracking.

He forces it out anyways. “Yes. I can see ghosts. And they can - take over my body, so to speak, but only as long as I let them. I know how it sounds, but it’s true.”

“Hey, we believe you,” Okano assures him. “After what we just saw, and everything we’ve seen this past year? Of course we do.”

“Our teacher is a flying and now possibly exploding former-assassin and current octopus,” Karma says dryly. “Sorry to break it to you, but you’re not that special.”

Gakushuu can’t help the laugh that startles out of him. “That’s fair.” The laugh fades, but the smile doesn’t. “I just didn’t expect - most people wouldn’t. Believe me, that is. So it’s generally something I don’t like others knowing about.” He doesn’t mention his father’s reaction towards Ikeda, and he doesn’t mention Red, because the man deserves his privacy. But his classmates are smiling at him, and Ikeda is nudging his shoulder, and it feels as though a ten-ton weight has been lifted off his shoulders.

“Speaking of,” Itona says. “Give.”

“Oh come on!” But most of the class is handing him cash, and there’s something akin to a smirk in his eyes. Isogai shakes his head in exasperated amusement.

“I was so sure it was psychic,” Fuwa groans as she hands him some cash. Ikeda is snickering, and Gakushuu looks back and forth between everyone as the reality of what just happened dawns on him.

“You guys bet on me?” He asks incredulously.

Nakamura smirks. “Are you really that surprised? The betting pool’s been going on since Takaoka. Itona was the only one who guessed ghosts.” Gakushuu looks at Itona, who shrugs.

“It seemed to add up,” he says.

Korosensei lets out a long, drawn out sigh. “And I need the money until payday, too. Can’t I give you it another time? I’ll add interest!”

“Not a chance.”

“Koro!” Aguri laughs.

Bitch-sensei walks forwards and adds her own cash to the pile. “Don’t be such a cheapskate. We all bet on this.”

“I didn’t,” Karasuma grumbles.

Bitch-sensei rolls her eyes. “Yeah, because you’re a spoilsport.”

“Seriously.” Kataoka is right by him, and smiling, and so is the rest of the class. “You’re our friend, Asano. So what if you can see ghosts? It’s helped us out more than a few times. We like you for who you are.”

“We told you before, sure you might get kind creepy sometimes, but it’s really cool!” Maehara adds. “You’re a good guy, ghostly powers and all.”

Gakushuu eyes them warily. “Even if I ended up in this class in the first place because I already knew about all of this?” He gestures to the fields, to Korosensei and his story.

“We kinda figured that out when we realized seeing ghosts meant you saw Yukimura-sensei.” Takabayashi adjusts his glasses. “So yeah, even then.”

He’s not tearing up, dammit, he’s not. But this, these people who he’s grown to care about so much, who know him and accept him even if he’s different and maybe creepy, who like him for him? It’s like there was some sort of hole in his chest that he didn’t know he had, and now it’s filled.

“Thank you,” He manages, because he doesn't trust himself to say anything else.

They go back to Karasuma’s house that night, after making sure Akari got to the hospital, where she needed to go, and things almost feel surprisingly normal, save for the fact that Gakushuu still feels a bit like he’s walking on water.

“They’re good kids,” Karasuma says. “All of you are. I’m glad to have gotten to teach you.”

“You can say that again.” Ikeda grins. “Except for the teaching part, I mean. Not really my role in all of this.”

Gakushuu smiles. “Everyone really is, aren’t they? I’m glad that I’m in this class.”

He thinks about Aguri, who has gone with Akari to the hospital. Everything had begun with her request for him to head to E Class and help her sister, and now that request had finally been fulfilled. When it had begun, he had never imagined he would gain friends that knew about his abilities, much less a way to escape his father. And yet here he was.

“E Class really is something,” He says softly. The other two in the room agree.

He goes to visit Akari in this hospital, but hesitates outside the room.

Ikeda leans over his shoulder. “Something wrong?”

‘I don’t know.’ Gakushuu frowns. ‘Even if I ended up getting to know her on my own, I did start hanging out with her because of Aguri. And she might’ve just hung out with me as part of her act. And her sister did use my face when trying to get things to calm down. So things might be awkward?’

He thinks about it. “Yeah, that’s pretty fair. But nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? How can you know for sure if you two don’t speak? Do you really want to leave it to when school starts?”

He doesn’t. So he steels himself and enters the room.

Akari is sitting in her bed, and Aguri is hovering beside her. She looks up, and her eyes widen. “Asano? You’re here.”

“Yeah.” He hovers in the doorway. “Do you mind.”

“No, I don’t mind.” She motions to one of the seats in her room. “Come in.” So he does, and Aguri smiles and waves at him, but that doesn’t do much to ease the tension. The two of them sit in silence for a few minutes.

Akari breaks it first. “So. Do you think you could tell me - I mean - how long Aguri has been with the classroom?”

An easy question, thankfully. “The whole time,” he answers honestly. “She was the one who told me what was going on in 3-E in the first place.”

“I see.” She’s oddly still. “And, so she’s been there - with me - this whole time?” Aguri looks at her sadly, brushing a hand against her cheek. Akari shivers at the sudden cold, then presses her hand to her cheek, eyes flickering with the kind of hope that one never wants, where they expect it to be dashed any second.

“Almost every single day,” Gakushuu assures her. “Privacy breaks, aside, of course.” Aguri looks jokingly miffed, and Akari cracks a smile.

“Is…” And now she looks really nervous. “Is she in this room right now?”

Gakushuu smiles at her. “Yeah, she is. She’s been watching over you during your stay here.” Akari’s eyes widen, and she starts tearing up, although she quickly wipes them away. She looks at him closely, and for a moment, he wonders if she’s going to ask him if she can talk to Aguri through him again.

Instead, she says: “Thanks, Asano, for helping me with those tentacles. And for the year as a whole. She asked you to look out for me this year, hasn’t she?”

Gakushuu winces. “At first, yes. I hung out with you because I wanted to as well, though.”

“But you knew it was an act,” she presses.

“Akari…” Aguri sighs.

“Yeah. I knew it was an act.” Gakushuu shrugs and tries to pretend he’s not as tense as he is. “But that didn’t mean I was just going to avoid you. Like I just said, I liked spending time with you anyways.”

Akari looks away. “Even if it wasn’t real.”

They sit there for another minute, neither of them voicing their thoughts out loud. Ikeda is shifting nervously, and Aguri is looking sadly from one to the other.

Eventually, Gakushuu sighs. “Okay, so maybe it wasn’t real, and we both knew it. You were acting out a part, and I was playing along without showing my hand.” Akari looks up at him. “So maybe we could start over? Be friends for real, this time. No more acting.”

Akari considers his proposal. A small smile graces her lips. “I don’t see why not. I’m Akari.”

“I’m Gakushuu. It’s nice to meet you, again.” Akari laughs, and the room gets a little bit brighter.

Chapter Text

Naturally, the now open information about Korosensei being the original Reaper has lasting effects on the classroom. No one tries any attempts on Korosensei’s life over the winter break, and no one is in the mood for just about anything when the next term rolls around.

Then Nagisa calls them all together after class. “I’m not even sure it’s possible,” he says, “but instead of killing Korosensei, I think we should try and save him.”

Ozaki, who is leaning up against a tree, sucks in a startled and angry breath. Aguri perks up, looking down at Nagisa with interest. The class all exchange glances, everyone thinking about the idea that Nagisa’s just proposed.

Everyone has questions, of course. How would they go about this? Where would they even start? And then Hinano jumps in. “Totally, I’m game! Korosensei’s way too good of a bug-hunting buddy to let explode!”

“Thank you for bringing it up.” Kataoka steps in. “If you hadn’t said something, I would’ve. Saving him is the least we can do.” Others start pitching in after that, adding their support to Nagisa’s idea.

“Do you think they can do it?” Aguri wonders. “Save Koro, I mean.” Her expression is a mix of disbelief and hope.

Ikeda sends a small gust of wind Gakushuu’s way. “Karma doesn’t seem too happy,” he notes. Gakushuu looks, and sure enough, Karma is leaning up against a tree, arms crossed over his chest. His face is carefully neutral, but Gakushuu knows a masked look of irritation when he sees one, and Karma is definitely irritated.

And sure enough… “I hate to be the one to spoil the mood, but I’m against it.” Nakamura steps forward. “We’re assassins, he’s the target. That’s our bond. Korosensei said so himself. I don’t know about you, but I cherish that bond. Think about it. Not killing him would defeat the purpose.”

And those words, they’re frustrating to Gakushuu, especially as he looks around and sees that half of the class seems to be against the idea of saving Korosensei. He’s under no delusions of Korosensei's character. The man is a monster in the sense that he killed so many people, but he’s trying to be better, at least somewhat.

And the idea that killing someone would defeat the purpose of a bond between them grates on his nerves.

Still, more people are pitching in against Nagisa’s idea, backing Nakamura up. Bringing up good points, like the fact that they don’t know how to go about saving Korosensei, that the clock might run out before they can.

“We owe it to him!” Nagisa tries to convince them.

“Always the talented ones, hm?” Everyone looks over towards Karma. “Figuring whatever the odds, in the end things will always work out. Wow, listen to you. Getting a tad full of yourself there, chief.” His smile doesn’t reach his eyes.

And it hits Gakushuu like a bag of bricks: Karma is jealous. Of Nagisa, for his prowess in assassination. For the fact that Nagisa and Gakushuu were always talked about over him by the class. He’d been acting desperate since his first few days in class, where he tried to jump and kill Korosensei. And now Nagisa, the talented assassin, who got where Karma struggled to be with seemingly no effort, is suggesting they save Korosensei instead.

“Shuu, you okay? You’re glaring at Karma pretty hard.”

“I didn’t realize your precious ego was more important than someone’s life, Karma.” Everyone seems to turn towards him now, as Gakushuu steps forward to join Nagisa, his mind made up. “It’s good to know where your priorities lie.” Nagisa’s eyes widen at his choice of sides.

Karma snorts. “I guess it’s easy for you to say. You’ll get to see him either way, won’t you? I’m surprised you’re even so worked up about this. Sorry, but I’d rather not have everything decided to me by someone who has his talents handed to him on a silver platter.”

Gakushuu isn’t prepared for the rage that runs through him at that, and he has to keep himself from punching Karma in his dumbass face. “You know nothing! All of you talk about assassination, and none of you understand what that means! I’ve met people who were assassinated. I’ve seen the things death causes firsthand my whole life, and you have the gall to tell me I’m lucky for that? Talk to me about being talented and how important killing Korosensei is when you’ve spent your whole life surrounded by death!”

“We’re not trying to undermine Korosensei, or half-ass anything!” Nagisa tries to reason with the redhead. “We just want to save the life of someone important to us!” That just makes Karma even more furious, and the divide between him and Nagisa grows even deeper.

And so, in the end, Korosensei proposes a game of paintball. “Red for those who feel I must be liquidated, blue for those who beg to differ.”

“Well that’s one way to solve a dispute,” Ozaki snickers.

Aguri holds her head in her hands. “At least they’ll work out their problems this way.”

And so people start picking sides. “My mind’s made up,” Akari says. “I’ve already tried assassinating him once, and I regret it. I want Korosensei to live as long as possible. My sister felt the same way. Must run in the family.” Aguri is beaming down at her, and when Akari looks over at him, Gakushuu tries to convey that with a smile and a nod. “No more death. He’s entitled to our protection.” She chooses blue.

After that, Gakushuu decides to step forward. “I’ve lived with death all my life. And to be completely honest, I never wanted to be the one to cause it myself, even against Korosensei. If there’s even a slim chance of saving a life, I have to take it. That’s the way I’ve always been.” He grabs a blue can of paintballs. “My mind’s been made up for a long time.” Ikeda and Aguri and Akari are all smiling at him as he walks next to his friends.

Everyone else picks their side, and inwardly, Gakushuu is more than pleased to see that most of his closest friends picking the don’t kill side as well. He might not ever be Korosensei's biggest fan, but he'll be damned if he doesn't fight for him anyways.

In the end, it is agreed that they will save Korosensei. And so a whole new project is put into motion. And honestly, Gakushuu is much happier for it.

Their next escapade is far more daring. They have plans to steal away some intel on Korosensei, and for that, they’ll need to get into outer space. They decide that Karma and Nagisa will be the ones to go into space, and from there, the plan really starts to take shape.

It’s as the group is waiting for Karma and Nagisa to get onto the spaceship that Gakushuu notices a small ghost girl, looking up at the rocket with wide eyes filled with wonder. He approaches her softly.

“A big fan of space?” He asks, making sure to keep his voice gentle.

She turns to him. “You can see me?” He nods, and she beams. “Wow, that’s so cool! Yeah, I’ve always wanted to go to space. It was my dream to become an astronaut.” Her smile turns sad. “Guess that didn’t really work out, huh?”

“You know….” Ikeda pauses, deliberating. “There happen to be a few teens sneaking onto this particular ship right now. If you go with them, you could probably slip aboard.”

She brightens. “Really? That would be so awesome! Thanks for telling me?”

“It’s no problem,” Gakushuu assures her. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Yuna.” She beams at them. “Oh, this is going to be so exciting!” And with that, she wisps away, most likely to catch Karma and Nagisa before they board.

“Are you gonna tell them about Yuna coming with them?” Ikeda asks him.

Gakushuu thinks. “No, I don’t see the point. It’s not as though she’ll be bothering them anyways. Besides,” and he smirks. “The look on their faces when I tell them afterwards might just be worth it.” Ikeda laughs, and they follow the rest of the class to go see the launch.

The ship lands in 3-E’s homemade pool behind the classroom, and Nagisa and Karma embark. Gakushuu follows his classmates over towards them, but finds himself searching for Yuna. He doesn’t see her there. Maybe she moved on while they were in space?

“Hang on, I’m coming out! And I brought a new friend!”

Gakushuu looks up as Yuna practically bounces out of the ship, and in her arms is a female dog. A transparent female dog.

It’s not as though animals can’t become ghosts. Red’s mentioned that he’s seen two, and Gakushuu thought he saw one, once. Still, it’s pretty rare. And this…

“Oh my god,” Ikeda breathes. “Is that-?”

The dog bounces out of Yuna’s arms and runs in between the legs of E Class, barking happily at all of them. When she realizes Gakushuu and Ikeda can see her, she bounds over to them, tail wagging. Even knowing that he can’t touch her, Gakushuu can’t help but lean down and stretch out his hand feeling the chill that is Laika pass through him.

Ikeda has no such problems. He rubs Laika behind the ears and laughs as she licks his face.

“What is-?” Aguri’s question becomes a squeal when she sees Laika there, and she joins in giving the dog some much needed pets.

“Asano?” Isogai asks. “Um, what are you doing?”

Gakushuu looks up, and dammit, maybe he’s tearing up, but for once that’s okay. “You’ve heard the story of Laika, right? The first animal to orbit the earth? She died up there, but now she’s…” he gestures to where Laika currently is. “She’s finally back on earth.”

“Seriously?” And now everyone is looking to where Gakushuu is pointing, even Irina and Karasuma. There’s some “awws”, and even though the others can’t see her, everyone looks pleased.

Yuna gives him a wide smile. “Thank you for helping! And please tell Karma and Nagisa and Ritsu thanks for me too! This was the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I’ll always remember it.” And with that, she fades, moving on.

And Laika, after getting a whole load of attention, even from those who can’t see her, gives Ikeda a kiss and let’s out one last happy bark, before moving on as well.

Gakushuu wipes his eyes and looks over to Nagisa and Karma. “You just helped a dog finally get home, and a little girl achieve her dreams. She says thank you.” And yeah, their faces are totally worth it.

It’s February, and Korosensei is determined to make up for all the holidays they missed over winter break. Christmas, New Years, and of course, the upcoming Valentines Day. The day comes after high school entrance exams, and just thinking about it seems to make some of the class nervous.

Speaking of…

“Have you decided what high school you’re going to?” Karasuma asks him one night, as the two of them have a ramen dinner together. “I’ll support you no matter where you want to go, of course. But somehow I doubt you’re looking to re-enter Kunugigaoka for high school.”

“I’ve been thinking about that.” Gakushuu looks down at his food. “I always thought I was just going to Kunugigaoka High, no questions asked. But with everything that’s happened, I think I’ll be better going to another school.” His father’s face flashes in his mind. If he chooses a different high school, he may never have to see the man again. He’s not sure whether to feel guilty about the relief that comes with that idea.

He meets Karasuma’s eyes. “I’ve also been thinking a lot about what I want to be. What career path I want to take.”

Karasuma raises an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“Yeah.” Red, Yuto, Yuna, little Aoi-chan from last year, all the ghosts and living people he had met due to Korosensei. “I think I want to be a therapist. And maybe, if I can find a way to help connect others who can see ghosts like me, I could help the younger ones who struggle like I did.”

“That’s a good goal,” Karasuma says. Ikeda is smiling at him from the doorway, and it warms Gakushuu’s heart to hear people in support of him. Life with Karasuma had been so much different than life with Father, and the longer Gakushuu spends here, the more he finds himself able to relax and enjoy it.

Then Karasuma shifts, and an awkward look comes over his face. “There was, ah, something I wanted your opinion on, before I make a decision.”

Gakushuu blinks. “Sure, what is it?”

“Well.” Karasuma looks embarrassed, which is an emotion Gakushuu didn’t even realize the man had. I was thinking of inviting Irina to live with us.”

“Oh, just that?” Gakushuu shrugs and grins. “Sure, no problem.”

“Really? Are you sure?”

It’s amazing, to be asked for his opinion on what goes on in the house like that. “Positive. Everyone knows that you two have been head over heels with each other for a long time now. And we get along, so it’s no trouble to me.”

Karasuma sighs in relief. “Good. Alright then. Thank you.”

“This is gonna be fun, isn’t it?” Ikeda snickers. “We might need to be getting earmuffs soon, for rough nights.” Gakushuu glares at him.

Valentines day approaches, and Gakushuu walks into the class with an armful of chocolates. It was a big surprise, but that morning he had been greeted by Ren, as well as a few others from A Class, and found himself being given quite a few chocolates. It was a simple gesture, but Gakushuu appreciated it nonetheless. He dumps the chocolates into his pack by his desk, and ignores Okajima’s whining.

Everyone gives out their obligatory chocolates, and when break time comes, those giving out their treats head off to present their chocolates to their closest male friends (like Kataoka and Isogai), as well as those with a little something extra (like Hayami and Chiba).

None of this, of course, explains why Aguri and Ikeda are grinning so broadly at him.

Gakushuu frowns. “Is there something you two want to say?”

“Oh, nothing,” Ikeda smirks.

“You’ll find out soon enough,” Aguri singsongs. Gakushuu rolls his eyes and tries to ignore them.

It’s when school finally gets out that Akari approaches him. For some reason, she looks kind of nervous. “Um, Gakushuu?” She holds out her box of chocolates. “Here.”

Gakushuu takes them. “Thanks. I appreciate it.” He can see Aguri facepalming in the background, but he’s pretty sure that she’s misreading the situation.

Akari smiles. “I just wanted to say thank you, for everything. For being a good friend, even when I wasn’t a good friend back. It means a lot to me.”

“It’s nothing,” he assures her. “I’m glad I got to meet you, and be your friend.” Akari beams at him, and Gakushuu smiles back, and maybe he understands where Ikeda and Aguri are coming from, but for now, he’s far happier having Akari as a friend.

They head down the mountain together, and it’s nice. Really nice.

He’s so lucky to have joined this class.

Chapter Text

Living with Karasuma and Irina-sensei is an experience, to say the least. A good experience, but an experience all the same. Sometimes, he’ll be playing games with his english teacher, or watching her argue with Ikeda when both of them are using chalkboards to communicate, and he’ll be reminded that she’s not actually that much older than he is. It’s a bit sobering, but in a good way.

“So, when the Octopus first came on campus, he had tons of ghosts following him around?” Irina-sensei frowns, trying to imagine that. “Must’ve been a nightmare.”

“I learned more about assassination those three days than I did during most of the year, I think,” Gakushuu agrees. “And not in a good way. Luckily Ikeda has some power over ghosts on the mountain, so he kicked out all but three.”

Karasuma’s eyebrows come together. “Are those three still around?”

Gakushuu shrugs. “Sometimes. They’re all pretty cool, even the one who used to be a Yakuza. I’ve actually been working on their problems with them throughout the year, so they’ll most likely be moving on before graduation.” It hits him suddenly, that they won’t be around for much longer. Besides Ikeda, he’s never had ghosts stick around him for that amount of time. He’s going to miss them.

“Did I have any ghosts when I first came?” Irina-sensei wonders.

Gakushuu and Ikeda both shudder. “Unfortunately.”

“They were SCARRING,” Ikeda writes, emphasizing the last word. “Like, scarring for life. I kicked them out after half a day. We know terrible things now.”

“I feel like all the stuff we were told could fill about seventeen porn films,” Gakushuu agrees dully. “Not something I ever wanted to hear.”

“Excuse you! It would be high class porn, if anything.” Then Irina-sensei snickers. “No wonder you looked at me funny when I first came. Didn’t like what you heard, or liked it too much?”

“Irina.” Karasuma is shaking his head.

“The former,” Gakushuu says dryly. “Trust me. And I did buy some noise cancelling headphones, in case you were wondering.” Ikeda and Irina-sensei laugh as Karasuma buries his face in his hands.

It’s almost time for graduation, and things have greatly calmed down since valentines day and Nagisa and Karma’s trip to space. It’s almost enough to believe that things will end peacefully.

But… “The government’s final project is going to be executed tomorrow,” Karasuma says somberly. “If you don’t mind, could you tell the class that I have faith in them, whatever they decide to do?”

“I don’t mind,” Gakushuu promises. “I’ll tell them.”

Just as Karasuma says, the next night the government’s weapon is deployed, trapping Korosensei on the top of the mountain and leaving E Class unable to get anywhere near it while reporters grill them for answers. Everyone is feeling hurt and betrayed.

“I think Karasuma wants us to get up there,” Nagisa tells the class. “He told me he felt he could count on us.”

“He has faith in us,” Gakushuu confirms. “We’ll get up there before it’s too late.”

And so they plan, and train, and keep in contact. Per Karasuma’s request, Gakushuu doesn’t tell him what they’re doing, so that he and Irina-sensei can claim plausible deniability. Soon enough, the day comes, and they all head out together. Gakushuu runs over the rooftops, watching as Ikeda and Aguri float next to him.

After almost a year, it all comes down to tonight.

Lovro, Ozaki, Everson, and Sakai are there on the mountain, knocking out cameras and tripping up soldiers as they pass on by. They take them out, one by one, group by group, until they reach the top of the mountain, where Korosensei is waiting for them.

He knew this was coming all along. Gakushuu isn’t surprised. It’s just like Korosensei to let them believe things will work out so that they can share a month of happiness.

“By the way, Nakamura,” Korosensei turns to her. “I couldn’t help but notice how delicately you carried yourself during the last battle. And, ah, do I smell something sweet by any chance?”

Nakamura laughs and reveals the cake. “It’s been exactly one year to the day since the moon blew up. And if I remember correctly, Yukimura-sensei decided that today was your birthday.”

“Aww!” Aguri looks down on her fondly. “How sweet, Nakamura!” Korosensei has to ruin the moment by drooling on it, of course, but they all get a good laugh out of that. They light up a candle and sing Happy Birthday, and Aguri and Ikeda are singing along. Lovro, Everson, Sakai, and Ozaki aren’t, but they are smiling fondly, more at the kids than at Korosensei. It’s a sweet moment.

They cut up the cake, giving Korosensei the largest piece, and there’s soft laughter and kind words around them as they all enjoy this last moment with their teacher. Aguri is sitting right by her sister, and Akari is sitting right next to Gakushuu.

“Crazy year we had, huh?” She says.

“Definitely,” Gakushuu agrees. “But you know? I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

“Me neither.” Aguri smiles down at them.

There’s a sudden chill in the air, and then laughter. Lovro goes to check it out, and doesn’t come back for a few minutes.

Korosensei sniffs the air. “Do I smell blood?” Gakushuu shivers.

Lovro finally returns. “It looks like Shiro’s ghosts decided to off their killer in the same way as the Reaper’s did,” he says solemnly, and Gakushuu stiffens. “I would not look there, if I were you.”

No kidding. At least he didn’t have to see this one.

Isogai looks at him curiously. “Asano? Do you know what that was?”

He clears his throat. “Yeah. Shiro was most likely doing to try and off Korosensei before the government could. He’s not going to be doing anything, anymore.” Everyone around them pales, and Gakushuu avoids his classmate’s eyes.

“I wouldn’t wish that on anyone,” Nagisa says softly. “But if it had to happen to someone…”

“Then it’s a good thing it was him,” Itona finishes. No one disagrees.

In the end, rather than let the government throw away all their hard work and get the cash, the class decides to finish the deed themselves. Gakushuu helps pin down a tentacle as Korosensei calls his final roll call. The ghosts are hovering over them solemnly.

“Asano, Gakushuu.”

“Here.” And he almost manages to keep most of his emotions out of his voice. It’s one of the hardest things he’s tried to do.

Nagisa delivers the blow to his heart, and Korosensei goes up in lights. For a brief moment, Gakushuu can see over a thousand ghosts, looking down on all of them, expressions varied from solemn to relieved. Some are cheering, thanking them. Others are totally silent. Then they all fade away, one by one.

Sakai floats over to him, kissing his forehead. “Thank you. You kids were amazing. I’m glad it was you who ended this.” And she blurs, and is gone.

Everson ruffles his hair. “You did good. You stuck to your principals until the end, and that’s extremely admirable. Thank you for everything you’ve done. And say hello to Emily again for me, if you would.” Then he is gone as well.

Ozaki leans over, and looks Gakushuu in the eyes. “Chin up. This isn’t the end, you know. After everything, you think he’ll just leave? No way in hell. Hang in there.” A final lazy wave, and Ozaki is gone.

Ikeda, Lovro, and Aguri are still there. Everyone around him is crying. Gakushuu stares numbly into space.

There’s a burst of bright light, and a man with dark hair, wearing Korosensei’s robes, is looking down on them, smiling sadly. Aguri gasps.

Gakushuu finally lets himself cry.

Chapter Text

“So, how long are you planning to stick around?”

Korosensei contemplates his question. It’s odd, too see the man’s emotions show on his face like a normal human being, which for all intents and purposes, he now is, even if dead. Gakushuu has to admit, whenever he tried to imagine what Reaper looked like, this wasn’t what he had come up with.

Then again, maybe that was the point. It must’ve been easier for Korosensei to do his job if no one suspected him.

“I’m thinking that I’ll stick around until you all graduate high school,” his now ex-teacher finally answers. “I want to see what sort of amazing things E Class will do, how they’ll take my lessons and apply them moving forward. And of course, them being able to contact me as a ghost will lessen the pain, I think.” Gakushuu had, of course, informed the rest of the class that Korosensei was now a ghost, and suggested that they all get whiteboards if they wanted to communicate with him.

“I think I’ll stay until you and Akari graduate as well,” Aguri pipes in. “At first I thought I might move on at the end of this year, but now I think I’ll stay with Koro.” She pokes him lightly. “And try and reign in his impulsiveness. The students don’t need you pestering them every moment of the day.” Korosensei pouts.

“I’m kinda glad you’re staying,” Ikeda admits. “Shuu and I have never had anyone stay with us this long, and with the others having moved on, it’s nice to know we’ll be able to hang out with you a little longer.”

Gakushuu nods. “And I’m sure Akari will be happy to hear that as well.”

Aguri gives him a soft smile, and the wind ruffles his hair. “You’re a good person, Gakushuu. And you’ve only become better over the year that I’ve known you. I may never have been your teacher, but I’m so proud of what you’ve accomplished.”

“I was your teacher, and I can’t agree more.” Korosensei gives him one of his signature smiles. “When you first arrived in my class, you seemed lost, and more than a little angry. I’m so happy to have been able to watch you learn and grow.”

Gakushuu fights a smile. “Now you two are just embarrassing me.” He loses the fight. “But thank you. I’m glad to have met you two as well.”

“Wonderful!” Korosensei bobs up and down happily. “Now, I promised Sugaya that I’d check out his new artwork, so I must be going. See you later!” He disappears, most likely heading to Sugaya’s house.

Aguri shakes her head fondly. “I’ll keep an eye on him, I promise.” She disappears as well.

“I guess Koro really will be sticking around then,” Ikeda muses. “It’s kinda weird, having him as a ghost, having him able to see me. I mean, he’s friendly and all, but it’s still pretty weird.”

“Yeah.” A thought that’s always been at the back of his mind, one that he stored away a long time ago and tried his best not to think about, rises to the forefront once again. This time, Gakushuu finds he has the strength to ask it. “Ikeda, how long do you plan on staying? I mean, you probably weren’t expecting to stick around this long, seeing as you first came to our house for Father. Not that I’m complaining,” he adds hastily, because the idea of not having Ikeda there with him is more terrifying than he can imagine, “I’m just curious.”

“Oh.” Ikeda blinks. “I guess I haven’t really thought about it in awhile. I mean, I guess I’ll move on eventually, but I don’t think it’ll be any time soon. Like, at all. But I mean, I was planning on being here as long as you want or need me to be.”

There’s an immense relief from hearing that. Still… “Are you sure that’s what you want? I’m not keeping you when you want to move on, right?”

“Not in the slightest,” Ikeda assures him, expression fierce. “Not one bit! You’re family, Shuu. You’ve been family to me for a long time, and I’d rather be here with you as long as I can. I promise.”

“Thank you.” The two of them sit in comfortable silence, watching the cool winds of spring rush against the windows, uncontrolled by any ghosts.

“You know…” Ikeda says eventually. “I always enjoyed it more when people used my last name. That’s why I never asked you to call me Rikuto, even when I was calling you Gakushuu all the time. But I think - if you want - I think I could get used to someone calling me that.”

Gakushuu frowns lightly. “Are you sure? I know the name has some bad connotations for you.” He remembers Ikeda’s stories of the few people who had used his first name, besides his family. They had been the ones who had driven him to the bridge.

“Yeah, I’m sure. Maybe I could get used to it, reclaim it as my own again, not something used against me. Then you won’t be the only one of us working to get past their traumas.” Ikeda gives him a smile. “And I can’t think of anyone I’d trust more. Although maybe a nickname would help! Might not be as good as “Shuu”, but it could be fun!”

Gakushuu lets out a small laugh. “Maybe Riku?”

“Riku.” Ikeda lets the word roll over his tongue. “I like it. I think it’s a great start.”

Maehara stretches out his arms. “It’s been a pretty wild year, huh? Assassination, Korosensei, ghosts… It’s going to be weird going back to a normal school life in high school.”

“After so long with Korosensei, E Class feels like the new normal,” Kataoka agrees. “We’ll have to remind ourselves that most teachers aren’t like that. Even if it is a bit disappointing.”

“Yeah, but if Korosensei were here right now, he’d probably tell us that there’s always value in learning, no matter who teaches the lesson.” Okano turns to Gakushuu. “Hang on, is he here right now?” Gakushuu shakes his head amused.

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I just hope all of us can keep in touch, even when we’re all going to different schools,” Isogai says. “I’ve made so many memories with everyone, and I don’t want those friendships to fade away.”

“I don’t think they will,” Akari assures him. “I mean, considering what we’ve all gone through together? I think these bonds will last us a long time.”

Gakushuu hopes so. He’s grown to care so much about all his living friends, after all.

The graduation ceremony is as nice as it always is, with the added bonus of a formerly monster-assassin ghost sobbing in the audience about how proud he was of all of them. At one point, Korosensei holds up a sign on his own whiteboard, saying just that, to the joy and embarrassment of E Class.

Gakushuu smiles along, until he finds himself catching his father’s eyes. The smile fades, and the two look at each other for a long moment, one that feels as though it is stretching on forever.

Father has to continue his speech, and the moment is broken.

After everything is over, and Gakushuu is heading back to Karasuma’s car, Father steps in front of him. Riku is still talking to Korosensei, which means Gakushuu is on his own.

“We should talk,” Father says.

Gakushuu tries not to let the instinctive fear and anger that comes with his father’s words show on his face. “Do we, really? I think we did enough talking before. Is there anything left to say?”

“Yes,” Father says firmly, and even after over a month of being out of the house, Gakushuu still finds himself silenced at those words. “I have something I want to say.”

Gakushuu curls his fists up into balls. Father is between him and the car, and he’s pretty sure he can’t outrun the man. Maybe he should just pretend to listen like before, let whatever harsh words Father’s about to say rush over him without really taking it in-”

“I’m sorry.”

Everything seems to short circuit, because Father couldn’t have said that. Sorry isn’t in the man’s vocabulary, not when used in that sort of sentence. He must’ve heard wrong.

But if he didn’t? If his father really apologized? Gakushuu risks looking him in the eyes.

Father looks expectant.

A laugh bubbles up in Gakushuu’s throat. “That’s - okay then. You’re sorry. Really.” He digs his fingernails into his palms. “Right. Okay. You’re sorry. Hm. Well, I don’t forgive you.” With those words, it’s like the tension bleeds out of him, and Gakushuu can breathe easily again. “I accept your apology, weak as it is, but I don’t forgive you. Maybe I will one day, but I don’t see myself doing so any time soon.”

Father’s expression darkens. “You know how hard this is for me, Gakushuu.”

“Oh, is it Gakushuu now? Not Asano?” Gakushuu laughs again. He feels light. The fear is still there, still present, but it’s not all controlling like before. Gakushuu’s the one in control of himself now. “I know. You raised me to be the same, after all. But after everything you’ve done to me, an apology won’t make me come back.”

He doesn’t have to go back, ever. It’s funny how long that’s taken to sink in, but it’s like he’s walking on air. There’s relief and terror and loss and happiness all mixed into one, and it’s a good feeling. “I’m not coming back. You destroyed my childhood, my happiness. It’s only thanks to Ikeda that I’m not more messed up.” Father flinches at Riku’s name. Gakushuu wonders what he’s thought about Riku appearing to him, but realizes it doesn’t really matter to him. “I’ve gotten so much better, being away from you. So I’m going to stay with Karasuma. I accept your apology,” he repeats, “but I don’t forgive you.”

They look at each other for a long moment, and Gakushuu wonder’s what Father will say to that.

“I understand,” is what comes out, and it sounds heavy. And maybe he feels a little guilt at causing that, but considering everything Father put him through, he can ignore it. “I wish you the best, then. I tried to raise you to be strong, so that no one could cut you down when you went out into the world. Maybe I shouldn’t have done that, but I hope you appreciate the good things I have given you, even if they’re mixed with the bad.”

Gakushuu stares him down, refusing to let him have the last word like that. “I’ll decide what’s good for me. Now excuse me, I think Karasuma is waiting for me.” And with that, he moves around Father and slips into the passenger seat of Karasuma’s car.

Karasuma looks up to greet him and sees Father standing there. “Was he giving you trouble? Do I need to go talk to him?”

“No, I got it sorted out. I think he’ll leave me alone now.”

They drive away from Kunugigaoka Junior High, and it feels like a new beginning.

Chapter Text

“Isn’t it wonderful?”

Gakushuu sighs deeply as he checks his phone for Akari and Yuuma’s texts, trying to ignore the excitable man floating around in front of him. He and Akari are planning to catch a movie together on Saturday, and Yuuma’s invited him to hang out at Hiroto’s house. Even though their second year of high school has just started, the workload is still nothing compared to Kunugigaoka, and he feels comfortable taking the time to hang out with friends instead of study.

Korosensei continues on, oblivious. “Everyone’s just doing so well this year! I know it’s just started, but your second year has just been so successful! It’s so nice to see you all continue to bloom.”

Gakushuu raises an eyebrow at him. ‘Why don’t you go bother Aguri with this, or talk to someone else? Nagisa likes your company much more than I do.’

“Aguri’s having some sister time with Kayano,” Korosensei refutes, “and you’re the only one who can listen while I talk. I can’t write nearly as fast anymore, so sometimes the words just come right on out.”

‘I’m aware. You’ve been doing this for years now. But I have better things to do, so go bother some other ghost.’ Korosensei groans dramatically, and Gakushuu smirks as he watches his former teacher disappear. Truth be told, he doesn’t mind Korosensei’s company that much, and he’ll usually listen to the man’s rants. But he’s nearing his house, and he already has a frantic ghost to deal with there.

He’s not sure when he started thinking of Tadaomi and Irina’s house as his house. At some point over the course of the year, it just sort of happened.

“I’m home.” He steps inside, throwing his bag haphazardly on the ground. “How have things been?” Tadaomi looks up from his computer to give Gakushuu a wave.

“Heya Shuu,” Irina greets. “We had to take the whiteboard away from Lovro. Seriously, what’s his deal? I’m pregnant, not deathly ill.”

Lovro huffs from where he’s hovering in the living room. “Birth can be a very dangerous thing! I won’t have my prized pupil falling to such a simple thing. She needs to take more precautions, to ensure her safety.”

“I think you’re just acting like a worried parent.” Irina might not be able to see or hear Lovro, but she apparently knows him well enough to guess what he’s doing, because she laughs just as her mentor lets out a scoff of denial. Gakushuu flops down next to her.

“Seriously, you don’t need to worry,” he assures Lovro. “Everything’s going to be fine. Think about how the rest of us are acting. No one here would be this confidant if we weren’t sure things wouldn’t turn out alright.”

“I suppose you have a point,” Lovro admits. He eyes Irina with barely hidden worry for a moment longer before drifting off.

Riku laughs at the scene from the hallway. “No worries you two, I’ll talk him around.” He trails after Lovro.

Gakushuu looks over at Irina. She’s showing, but she’s not in the late stages yet, stomach not totally ballooned out. She’s still been confined to desk work for the time being, which she’s complained about more than once. They all know she doesn’t mean it, of course. She’s also made it clear that her unborn daughter matters more to her than anything else.

“Honestly,” Irina sinks lower into the couch. “I thought having Lovro around more once I started showing might be a nice thing, but he’s too overbearing! Sometimes I’m so glad I don’t actually have to hear or see him, so I can just ignore him.”

“Lucky you,” Gakushuu says dryly. Irina snickers.

“Wouldn’t it be funny, if she ended up seeing ghosts as well?” She sobers. “Well. I don’t know how funny she would find it.”

“...Yeah. It can be both nice and really, really awful,” Gakushuu agrees. On the one hand, he wouldn’t have met Riku or Aguri or Red, wouldn’t have been able to help as many people, most likely wouldn’t have ended up in E Class if he hadn’t been able to see ghosts. At the same time though, he wouldn’t have seen many of the terrible things he had seen, things that had left scars he was still recovering from. “Although I wouldn’t worry too much. The chance that she’ll be seeing ghosts is extremely slim.”

Irina squeezes his hand. “Hey, at the very least, if she does end up seeing ghosts, she’ll have a big brother that can help her figure it out.”

Gakushuu tries to hide his flush. “I - thank you. That means a lot to me.”

Honestly? Ghosts or not, he’s excited to have a little sister too.

“Well, it looks as though your little project is only getting bigger.” Red leans back in his chair. They’re at a restaurant together, the one they’ve frequented for almost a year now. It’s nice and cozy, just the way they like it. “I gotta admit, I wasn’t sure you could pull it off. Glad you proved me wrong.”

“It’s still a work in progress,” Gakushuu admits. “I was hoping to have gotten a bit further, but I guess until I graduate, it’ll need to stay small scale.” He wasn’t planning on starting until he graduated anyways, but he quickly realized he wasn’t patient enough to wait that long.

“Yeah, small scale,” Ben snorts.

“Small scale for now,” Riku corrects cheerfully. “It’ll get way bigger.”

“It’s already pretty big,” Farkah smiles down at them. “But I’m excited to see how it continues to grow.”

She isn’t the only one.

The project in question is an attempt to connect people who see ghosts to others like them, especially those in the same area, or at least in the same country. It’s a massive web project, with different servers for different areas of the world, as well as a single global server. It had taken a long time to get everything up and running, and for enough people to figure out that it existed in the first place, but ghosts were gossipers by nature, and now that the project was on its feet it was quickly starting to run.

Red looks nostalgic. “It feels just like yesterday that we first met at that festival. It's nice to see how much you’ve grown since then. How much we’ve both grown.”

“Yeah. I think meeting other people has helped.” Not just people like them, but people in general. Gakushuu can’t help but feel fond when he thinks of his former classmates. He’s still in touch with all of them, even Karma, who he’s slowly gotten used to over the year.

He’s made some new friends too, at his new school. People there are much less cutthroat, and very friendly. Still, his old classmates are special to him, and he doesn’t see that changing anytime soon.

A lot has changed, since Gakushuu was able to escape his father. He still plays guitar, and takes martial arts. But he isn’t pressured into any activity he doesn’t want to do, and it’s taken some getting used to, knowing all his hobbies are his own. He can pursue the path he wants, be friends with who he wants, be himself, without someone breathing down his neck, making him feel like a disappointment. Gakushuu can readily admit that he’s gotten much more confident in who he is as a person since leaving.

But if there’s something that hasn’t changed, it’s that he wants to help others. And now, that’s not just limited to ghosts.

“Hey, Shuu. Relax, okay?” Riku hovers over him, looking amused. “It’s going to be fine. Everything’s going to go great.”

“I know that.” He doesn’t actually know that. “What makes you think I’m nervous?”

“Because I’ve known you since you were a kid, and so I can tell what you’re feeling.” A breeze ruffles his hair as Riku runs his fingers through it. Another year, and Gakushuu will look older than him. “Everything’s going to go great, I promise.”

“Right. Of course.” He steels his nerves.

He spots her right away, as the waiter points him out, and she makes her way over to his table. She’s in her first year of middle school, with dark hair, amber eyes, and a nervous expression. She looks at him briefly, before her eyes flicker away to someone else.

Gakushuu smiles up at her. “Yumeno Himari? It’s good to meet you in person. I’m Gakushuu.”

“And I’m Ikeda Rikuto, but you can call me Riku if you want,” Riku says cheerfully.

“H-Hi, both of you. It’s nice to meet you.” Her voice comes out as a whisper, even though Gakushuu’s made sure that no one will overhear them. Yumeno finally looks away from Riku, and to him again. “And, you can see him too?”

“I can. Riku’s quite the character, but he’s harmless,” Gakushuu agrees, poking his finger through Riku lightly who sticks his tongue out at him. Yumeno’s eyes widen with wonder. “I assume you have questions?”

“So many.” Now that she’s over her initial trepidation, Yumeno is the epitome of excitement. “I’ve never met someone like me before, I don’t even know where to start. Um, how did you and Riku meet? How many ghosts do you know? Do - do you ever get really overwhelmed by it all, like, like I do?” She catches herself and leans back. “Sorry, got a little overexcited I guess.”

Gakushuu finds himself smiling. In his pocket, Akari confirms that she can make it for that new movie. Riku gives him a little nudge.

“It’s no problem. I’ll answer all your questions, one at a time.”