Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Nagisa remembered his parent’s divorce. He remembered the fighting, the crazy look in his mother’s eyes. He remembered the courtroom fight over which parent should look after him. Which parent cared more. Which parent LOVED him more. Nagisa remembered thinking that they were fighting for the sake of fighting. They only wanted him because the other did. He remembered deciding he didn’t want either of them. But no one asks what the child wants. No one cared about what would happen to him. No one LOVED him for him. They only ever LOVED the idea of him.

His father only wanted the assassin that could fool everyone. His mother only wanted the daughter he will never be. They both wanted the girl, never the boy.

That is how Shiota Nagisa ended up sitting in class 1-D of Kunugigaoka Junior High School. The two years before that he had been home-schooled by his father, while they travelled the world and trained. He was going to miss the travelling he did with his father. He wasn’t going to miss the blood they left behind in each place they went. He knew his training had ended that day the court ruled in his mother’s favour.

‘ Travelling the world is no way to raise a child’ the judge stated, ‘He needs to be around children his own age.’

The judge’s IDEA of him was a defenceless child with no place to call home, so Nagisa played the part.

His mother’s IDEA of him was the perfect daughter, so Nagisa played the part.

His father’s IDEA of him was the perfect assassin, so Nagisa played the part.

He used his father’s training to be the idea everyone saw him as. Because who would ever LOVE the real him.

So Nagisa sat quietly at his desk. Waiting to be everyone else’s ideas. The quiet one, the strange one, the no hoper one, the stupid one, the End Class one. Nagisa played everyone’s ideas until he couldn’t. He played everyone’s ideas until Akabane Karma.

Akabane was different. Akabane was everything Nagisa wasn’t. Akabane didn’t play on everyone’s ideas of him, and he never held any ideas of anyone else, he just didn’t. Akabane knew he was better than them so why bother thinking about them at all. He knew he was going places others only could dream of and it showed in the way he spoke. In the way he held himself. In the way he acted.

Akabane was different.

Why, Nagisa could never understand, did Akabane want to be friends? What made Nagisa different that Akabane chose him? He chose Nagisa to be on his level. To be seen as his equal or as his sidekick? Was it a ruse to hurt Nagisa? If it was, why couldn’t Nagisa have seen it? Why couldn’t Nagisa just play the role like he did with everyone else? Why were there feelings? Akabane did have an idea of him after all. He was just a mouse to Akabane and Nagisa played that role as perfectly as he did every other role he had.

Until he couldn’t and Karma left him just like his father.

Chapter Text

“Good morning class, I hope everyone had a lovely weekend.” Yukimura-sensei brightly smiled as she walked into the room. There was a bruise on her cheek too dark for her foundation to hide even though she tried. It seemed as if there was an unspoken rule that came with her being their teacher. Ask questions about her shirts, not the bruises she was failing to hide. “Shall we start with roll-call?”

There was a murmur of agreement throughout the class.

“Akabane!” No answer. There never was. Akabane has been on suspension since the end of the previous year.

“Isogai!”

“Here.” Yuuma Isogai, the male class president, had his dark brown hair spiked up with two small hair antennae at the top and pale gold eyes that reflected the sunlight. He could be described as attractive by many people and is seen as a prince among men with his friendly and kind personality that came with his attractive looks.

“Okajima!”

“Here.” Taiga Okajima, the class pervert. His dark hair in a butch cut was out of his face. He seemed to be one of the happier ones in the class, whether that was because he didn’t care that he was in E-class or because of their large breasted teacher, no one knew for sure.

“Okano!”

“Here!” Hinata Okano, the class gymnast. Her short brown hair ended just below her ears and not near touching her shoulders. Her light purple eyes eyed her teachers new bruise passively. Most of the class saw her as serious and stuck up, believing herself better than the others, though her Kataoka would disagree and states the girl was shy being around her new class.

“Okuda!”

“H-here!” Manami Okuda, the class’s own crazy scientist. The rumour has it that she accidently poisoned her last teacher and ended up here. Though that rumour is false, the class is still a little weary of her. She hid her dark purple eyes behind thick black rimmed glasses. Her black hair tied in two twin braids lying on her shoulders.

“Kataoka!”

“Here.” Megu Kataoka, the swimmer, held her head high and spoke clearly. Her long light brown hair was kept neatly in a ponytail, her straight bangs touching her eyebrows. The girl held herself like a leader should, but that wasn’t that got her the female class president title. What got her that title was her kind heart and her rational thought process.

“Kanzaki!”

“Here.” A soft spoken tone rang out through the classroom. Yukiko Kanzaki, the class beauty. The girl was clearly the prettiest girl in class, with her pale skin and petite figure. Her straight black hair went just past her shoulders, her bangs brushing her eyebrows and highlighting her light brown eyes. What makes her the most beautiful in her class was her kind, calm and graceful personality. She was the definition of beauty both inside and out, no one in class would debate that fact.

“Kimura!”

“Here.” It was a groaned reply to his name. Masayoshi Kimura, Justice, was average in every way. The only above average thing about him was his dark green hair with a brownish tinge which he styled in a spike ending in a triangular tip. His black eyes stayed close as his head rested on the desk in front of him.

“Kurahashi!”

“Here!” Hinano Kurahashi’s cheerful reply spoke volumes of her personality. The class’s resident bug expert’s olive-brown eyes lit up as she smiled at their teacher. Her wavy chin-length orange hair bounced as she moved in her seat. Her energetic and positive nature lit up any room she was in. Some of the class still wondered how she could smile when they were stuck in the end class.

“Nagisa!”

“Here,” quiet as a mouse, Nagisa Shiota had requested on the first day during roll-call to be called by his first name. No one really knew why but went with it. The first three days of class everyone thought he was a girl, which wasn’t exactly a stretch, with his long light blue hair that was always worn in a low ponytail and petite-frame. Nagisa couldn’t blame them for thinking it, even though he was wearing the boy’s uniform.

“Sugaya!”

“Here.” Sosuke Sugaya, the class artist. His tall and slender frame makes him tower over the rest of the class. Silver hair that goes past his ears and ends in sharp edges showed his more creative side. His dark eyes have always been able to see everything in a more creative way. Above all his calm and easy-going demeanour held his look together.

“Sugino!”

“… H-here!” The late stuttered reply of someone who was daydreaming. Tomohito Sugino, the baseball lover, had probably been daydreaming about going out with Kanzaki again. His short black hair was spiked as if he hadn’t brushed it, whether he chose to style it that way or if he just never brushes his hair, the class will never know. His dark blue eyes kept moving between Kanzaki and the front of the room, most likely nervous thinking he was caught staring.

“Takebayashi!”

“Yes! Here!” Kotaro Takebayashi, the 2D girl lover, was distracted by the manga of his favourite anime, Ore No Imouto ga Totsuzen Haroshima-fan ni Natta no wa Kareshi no Eikyou ni Chigai Nai ken ni Tsuite. His black hair was combed over along the sides of his head, framing his long face. His eyes were covered by his glasses making it near impossible to tell the colour of his eyes.

“Chiba!”

“Here,” the reply was muttered through the thin lips of Ryunosuke Chiba. The stoic boy of class E had his long bangs covering his unnerving maroon eyes. If there was one other student quieter than Nagisa, it would be Chiba.

“Terasaka!”

“Here.” The rough reply of Ryoma Terasaka stood out in the small room. His brown hair was dyed blonde around the sides and spiked up on the top of his head. He was by far the largest in the room with his bulky frame which got him labelled as the class bully as he uses his frame to intimidate people. His light green eyes glared at anyone that looked his way, including their teacher.

“Nakamura!”

“Here!” Sweeping her strawberry blonde hair, ‘ that is absolutely natural’ , behind her shoulders, Rio Nakamura called out. The resident troublemaker smirked at their teacher, aqua eyes lighting up the mischievous energy.

“Hazama!”

“Present.” The different and curt reply came from the back corner of the classroom. Kirara Hazama, the class witch, was a slender girl with wavy, shoulder-length black hair. Her dark eyes and pale appearance comes off as very gloomy and melancholic. In her hands was her latest book which she had not looked up from since sitting down.

“Hayami!”

“Here.” Rinka Hayami could beat Chiba in a staidness competition and Nagisa in a silent competition. Her light reddish-brown hair ran down her back, her green eyes held no emotion as she looked ahead of her. The businesslike and professional way she held herself made her stand apart from the rest of her classmates, making her seem older than she was.

“Hara!”

“Here!” An equally enthusiastic call came from Sumire Hara, the class mom. While larger than the other girls in the class, Hara never let herself get self-conscious of her bigger frame, even with Terasaka’s jabs about her weight. She wore her brown hair in a ponytail, her small brown eyes held nothing but warmth and kindness. The passive girl would always try to support her classmates through their endeavours.

“Fuwa!”

“Here!” The high-pitched voice of Yuzuki Fuwa carried through the classroom. The class’s resident manga lover was constantly coming up with new theories about one of her favourite manga. Her green eyes lit up when speaking of her favourite ships. Her purplish-black hair was styled in a bob cut with straight bangs she was continuously brushing out of her eyes. The girl was also known to speak as if breaking the 4 th wall in an anime.

“Maehara!”

“Here.” Hiroto Maehara smirked as he dragged a hand through his wavy light brown hair, his light brown eyes held a flirtatious glint as he glanced back to Okano, who simply glared back. Maehara was the class’s new playboy. His live in the moment attitude about life was what drew most girls in along with his good looks.

“Mimura!”

“Here.” Koki Mimura was one that could blend into any setting, his light brown hair styled in a bowl cut and light-coloured eyes didn’t grab many people’s attention. He does, however, have an eye for photography and film.

“Muramatsu!”

“Here.” The dead-end reply of the ‘Noodle man” Takuya Muramatsu came from Terasaka’s corner. Muramatsu was a laid-back student who never really held much enthusiasm for learning. His dirty blonde hair that framed his face and his small black eyes could make some people uncomfortable due to the way it looked as if he had no pupil.

“Yada!”

“Here!” Cheerful and loud just like Toka Yada. The big sister of 3-E held her brown hair up in a high ponytail, her light purple eyes sparkled with enthusiasm. Yada was known to encourage her classmates’ dreams and respect their choices.

“Yoshida!”

“All here.” Was the final reply of the roll-call. Taisei Yoshida, the grease head, was part of Terasaka’s corner. His dark brown dreadlocks stood up on his head, his dark eyes held a sharp look in them. While he acted as if he didn’t care for any subject, he held an interest in engineering, particularly in motorcycles as his family owned a motorcycle company.

“Now that role-call is complete, let’s continue on with our lessons!” Yukimura-sensei cheered, trying to get a response.

The day continued similarly, Yukimura-sensei trying to get some sort of response from her class in every lesson that day. Though no effort was made on her student’s part, she was sure with the right type of motivation she could get them all enthusiastic about learning again. She just needed to find the right motivation.

As class ended, Yukimura-sensei said good-bye to each of her students, reminding them of homework and telling them she would see them tomorrow. As she packed her own things and left for her second job at her fiancé’s laboratory, she thought of different ways to motivate her students.

Little did she know that she’d never see them again. Maybe if she had known, she would have tried harder that day, said goodbye properly instead of reminding them of homework. Maybe she would have called her little sister and told her how much she loved her. Maybe she would have called in sick, to live another day. But she didn’t know that the moon was going to explode. She didn’t know she was going to lose her life to protect the man she loved.

She didn’t know and neither did her students. Maybe things would have been different if they had known. But how could anyone know the future?

Chapter Text

The class of 3-E sat in their classroom on top of the mountain next to their school’s main campus. Their teacher, Yukimura-sensei, had not arrived yet, while this was odd the class didn’t feel the need to go down the mountain to let the main campus know they were left unattended, that and they didn’t want some main campus snob coming to teach in their teacher’s place. Afterall, Yukimura-sensei has never missed a day of work in her life, she may just be running late, after all a lot of shocking news happened over night.

The students sat at their desks talking quite loudly to each other about what happened to the moon. Some were on their phones trying to get more information about what had happened the night before. Others were theorising about how the moon could go from full to crescent in a matter of moments and what will happen to the tide now that the moon will never be full again. It wasn’t until an hour into their day that the students noticed that their teacher still had not turned up and started to worry for their teacher.

“Maybe a small group of us should head down the mountain? Yukimura-sensei could have gotten hurt on her climb up,” It was class president Isogai who spoke up first. A murmur of agreement flooded through the class. “Okay then, I think the group should be Terasaka, Maehara, Yoshida, Nagisa and myself, because we may need to carry her up or down the mountain depending on if she is hurt badly.”

“Then why bring the runt?” Terasaka asked, pointing to Nagisa. Everyone else agreed that it was an odd choice, especially if they may need to help a fully grown woman to walk.

“Because Nagisa knows first aid, he used to tend to Akabane and his victims when he got injured in his fights,” Isogai pointed out, which caused the entire class to turn to look at Nagisa. Nagisa who used to be friends with Akabane Karma. Akabane Karma who was well known for causing fights. How could anyone like Nagisa be friends with someone like Akabane? It was a thought that ran through everyone’s head when they found that small piece of knowledge, even Nagisa himself used to ask that question.

“Well damn Nagisa, you just got a lot more interesting.” It was Nakamura that voiced everyone’s thoughts this time.

“Why don’t we discuss Nagisa’s choice of friends after we find Yukimura-sensei?” It was Kataoka who spoke up this time instead of Isogai.

“Agreed.” Isogai confirmed, “Everyone in the search and rescue group follow me,” Isogai started for the door, “Kataoka, I’ll message you any updates.”

The search and rescue group followed Isogai out the door and through the E-class building. The group started down the mountain calling out their teacher’s name in hopes she could hear them and let them know where she was.

It wasn’t until they were halfway down the mountain that the group found a teacher. Though it wasn’t their own, it was class D’s teacher, Kensaku-sensei.

“Good morning Kensaku-sensei.” Nagisa greeted politely, “We were just on our way down to ask if we were supposed to be getting a substitute teacher today as Yukimura-sensei has not arrived today.”

“Ah, yes. I was heading up to speak to your class about that.” Kensaku-sensei grunted, “Head back up the mountain so I can speak to your whole class.”

Their group nodded and turned back around, heading back to their classroom. Isogai had sent a quick text to Kataoka in warning that Kensaku-sensei is coming to speak to them, and that Yukimura-sensei isn’t coming to class today.

Back in the classroom Kataoka had just received the text. She frowned. If the school knew Yukimura-sensei wasn’t coming in today, why hadn’t they sent someone earlier? Even with her own questions in her head she relayed the message to the rest of the class.

“How strange?” Yada stated, agreeing with Kataoka’s own thoughts and most likely the rest of the class’s thoughts as well.

The class didn’t have to wait long before the search and rescue group reappeared back into their classroom.

“Where’s Kensaku-sensei?” Kataoka questioned, looking over the teacherless group.

“He’s still climbing the mountain, even Nagisa’s little legs can move faster than him.” Terasaka stated walking back over to his seat. Ignoring the looks he got for that comment.

“It was honestly pathetic; he has to stop like every 10 steps to take a breather. Even I did better on my first climb up.” Maehara stated as he fell into his own seat.

“Did he say anything about Yukimura-sensei?” Yada asked, looking over the group.

“No, whenever we asked, he said we had to wait to hear about it as a whole class.” Isogai sighed, copying Maehara and collapsed into his chair.

“A bit-tired boys?” Nakamura joked as she watched them try to catch their breaths, slumped in their seats.

“This is serious Nakamura; this means something really bad has happened to Yukimura-sensei!” Kurahashi exclaimed, “Maybe she lived near that science facility that collapsed!”

“Stop panicking Kurahashi, if something like that had happened the Chairman wouldn’t have left us unattended for an hour,” Nakamura rested her head on her desk, blowing off Kurahashi’s worries off. “Besides, what really happened is that Yukimura-sensei called in sick, and all the other teachers have been arguing for the past hour about who was going to take our class today.” Nakamura’s theory made sense, but Kurahashi’s worries were going through everyone’s mind. What if something really bad had happened and they had been sitting here and talking about the moon?

Before anymore horrible thoughts crossed their minds Kensaku-sensei and the Chairman walked into the classroom, causing the class to do a double take, and making them freeze in shock. Nagisa was the one to take them out of their stupor by standing.

“Stand!” He called; the class quickly followed the instruction. “Attention!” Some quick shuffling happened after this instruction. “Bow!” The class in sync bowed to the Chairman and Kensaku-sensei.

“Thank you, class monitor. You may sit,” Asano-sensei stood in front of Yukimura-sensei’s desk. “Now, I’m sure you are all worried for your teacher,” Asano-sensei started. “Unfortunately, I have some upsetting news,” He looked over Class 3-E wondering why this class seemed different to the others before them. “Your teacher, Yukimura-sensei, passed away in a lab accident last night.”

Gasps filled the classroom as the news was delivered. Many students even started to cry.

“I have already notified your parents about this upsetting news, and I am allowing your class to spend the rest of the week recovering while we search for a replacement teacher,” Asano-sensei continued. “Kensaku-sensei will stay here until you have all left the mountain. I am sorry for your loss.” The Chairman finished. He walked out of the classroom before anymore could be said.

The class stayed seated, trying to take in the information he had left them with. Yukimura-sensei hadn’t been their teacher for very long, but she always had hoped that they could be the very best versions of themselves. That just because they were in the End Class didn’t mean they should just give up learning.

Why do people never appreciate a person’s work until they’re dead?

Kensaku-sensei left about 10 minutes after the Chairman when he realised none of them were making an attempt to move. It was almost the end of the day when they all decided to leave. They slowly packed up their things and left the building together. None of them spoke as they all made their way down the mountain.

By the time they got to the bottom of the mountain most of the other students were out of their own classrooms and were watching them as they left the school’s grounds. By now everyone in the school knows that Class 3-E’s teacher was dead. Some were even spreading cruel rumours that she was one of the people to blow up the moon.

Class 3-E ignored the looks from the main campus and made their ways home, separating whenever it was necessary. None of them wanted to be alone right now.

Once they were all home and alone, away from people who could understand how they were feeling, they broke. Some screamed and threw things, some cried silently into their pillow and others tried to make themselves busy by doing anything they could think of.

It was just after midnight when the birth of the Class 3-E group chat happened. They messaged each other until the first rays of sunlight could be seen on the horizon.

Chapter Text

The week was over, and the class hadn’t recovered. Were people really expecting the group of 14-to-15-year-olds to get over the death of their teacher in a week?

The new week had the sun shining as the class of 3-E climbed the mountain. As far as they knew, the school still had not found a teacher to replace their deceased one, which made them slightly happier because it made Yukimura-sensei unreplaceable by just some common, stuck-up, snobbish teacher, like teachers that filled the main campus.

The class was hesitant to enter the run-down building on the top of the mountain. They stood at its steps, staring at the door. Most of them had never had to deal with grief until now and while some who had known the feeling from their own paths of life, this felt different. Was it because they didn’t really know their past teacher? Was it because they didn’t truly know how she died? Was it because they weren’t really grieving but pretending?

Isogai had felt empty when his father passed. Like a hole he’ll never be able to fill. If he was really grieving for his teacher, how come he didn’t feel like that now?

Kanzaki had completely lost who she was when her grandmother died. She couldn’t see her future. Why didn’t she feel that again if she was really grieving?

Hazama had read about grief. It was always described as if the light and warmth of the world was torn out of it. How is it she could feel the sun shining its warmth over her?

Nagisa had seen grief in action, time and time again. He heard people’s screams, saw their tears, felt their heartbreak. Was he broken because he couldn’t feel anything?

The class sat in their seats, not a single whisper was spoken in the dead silence that was Class 3-E. The loudest sound was when the door creaked open, a short girl walked in. The class stared as she made her way to the front of the room, a smile so bright that it could replace the sun made its way to her face as she bowed to them.

“Good morning, I’m Kayano Kaede.” She wore the school uniform to perfection and looked like all the other main campus students, other than her hair of course. Her light green hair was fashioned in cat ear-styled pigtails that bounced when she walked. Her hazel eyes shone as bright as her smile as she looked over the class.

There was only one thought going through the class’s heads. ‘Who the hell is she? And why was she here?’

Isogai stood and bowed to the new student, “Good morning Kayano, were you transferred to this class?”

“Yep!” The girl’s smile still hadn’t faded. It was like rubbing salt into an opened wound, a new student who was cheerful and happy as if she had never felt grief in her life. “The Chairman, Asano-sensei, told me that we would be having a substitute teacher for the week. Is our usual teacher sick?” The class flinched at her question, a sadden look filled every student’s face.

“Why don’t you read the room peep-squeak, our teacher is dead!” Terasaka growled from his seat glaring at the green haired girl.

Kayano flinched at his tone. Her smile faded, her whole frame shrunk as she bowed to them, “I’m sorry for your loss and I’m sorry for the crass way I introduced myself. I should have questioned Asano-sensei about the reason for the substitute.”

“It’s okay, Kayano. I’m Isogai Yuuma the male class president, until we get a new permanent teacher you can come to me or Kataoka, our female class president, for anything to help you with your adjustment to E-class,” Isogai smiled kindly and pointing out Kataoka in the class. “You can sit by Nagisa, if you would like.” Isogai then pointed their resident blunette out to Kayano who bowed politely and took the desk next to Nagisa.

Kayano’s presence in their classroom broke them out of their silent state. If their teacher hadn’t showed up yet they may as well chat to one another and distract each other. Nagisa looked over to his newest classmate. He thought the whole main campus knew about Yukimura-sensei’s passing, why didn’t Kayano know? He didn’t think she was just trying to be mean, not with the way she reacted when she found out.

“Kayano?” Nagisa started gaining the girl’s attention. He kept his voice soft as he asked his next question, not wanting to put her on the spot in front of everyone again. “You didn’t transfer from the main campus, did you?”

Kayano froze slightly before giving him an awkward smile, “No, I was kicked out of my last school for destructive behaviour.” She gave a small, awkward laugh, “Someone recommended this school to my parents because they had heard about E-class’s rehabilitation program.”

“Oh, ah, that’s cool. I mean, um. I don’t really know what I’m trying to say.” Nagisa stuttered, making Kayano laugh.

“So Nagisa,” Kayano said, pronouncing each syllable of his name, “Why are you wearing a boy’s uniform?” That sentence gained the attention of the entire class. The question brought much needed laughter to everyone. Kayano frowned, confused why everyone was laughing and were they laughing at her. Nagisa simply groaned, laying his head on the desk in front of him.

“Honestly Nagisa, you should just give up and put on a skirt.” Nakamura crackled from the other side of him.

“Nakamura!” Nagisa exclaimed, looking over at the blonde in alarm.

“That’s enough everyone, you know how Nagisa feels about this subject.” Isogai spoke over the laughter as it died. Kayano was still confused, was there something wrong with Nagisa? She took a double take of them and suddenly understood.

“Oh! I’m so sorry Nagisa, I didn’t mean to upset you!” Kayano was back to bowing apologetically.

“It’s okay Kayano, it is everyone’s first thought when they meet me and honestly, I think we all needed to laugh about something after our past week.” Nagisa smiled a small and polite smile and stood up, “So thank you for making us laugh.” Nagisa bowed.

Their substitute teacher made themselves known not too long after and the class got to work.

Lunch came quickly, Nagisa stayed seated while everyone else got up to go outside, no longer being able to stand their classroom. Even their teacher left the room faster than any of the students, as if E-Class had a disease that he could catch by being near them longer than necessary.

Nagisa glanced over to the only other person in the room. Kayano smiled at him as she pulled out her lunch from her bag. “Your hair is really long.” She stated.

“Yeah, I want to cut it later in life, but now I don’t really have much of a choice,” Nagisa sighed following her example of pulling his own lunch from his bag.

When Kayano stood, Nagisa expected that she would most likely be joining the others outside, so it became a surprise when she pulled his hair out of its ponytail. Nagisa didn’t move as she fiddled with his hair, styling it up and off his neck. When she was done, she picked up her phone and opened the camera to show him what she had done.

“There you go, now we look the same!” Her cheerful voice carried through the empty classroom, “Can we be friends Nagisa?”

Nagisa stared at the girl in shock. He couldn’t read her, even with all his training, he couldn’t understand what she saw when she looked at him. What role was he meant to play?

“Sure!” Nagisa smiled. He didn’t care what role he needed to play because he was going to be his honest self with Kayano. She was going to be his first true friend.

Chapter Text

The rest of the week passed slowly; each day a different teacher from the main campus came to ‘teach’ them. The E-Class realised quickly that no other teacher really cared for what happened to them. Most just gave out difficult worksheets and would answer questions by starting, ‘You should have learnt this in year…’

So, when a dashing young man in a suit walked through the door the class had very little hope about their new teacher. His piercing dark eyes darted around the room examining each student, his short black hair was spiked up and away from his face, his eyebrows narrowed, and a crease appeared between them once he had finished taking everything in.

Nagisa knew instantly that this man wasn’t a teacher. The way the man held himself was like a military man and Nagisa has dealt with the military before, though they don’t know that. Maybe they did? Maybe he was here to take Nagisa away?

“I’m Agent Karasuma from the Ministry of Defence, I’m sure by now that you have all received an email stating that the school has hired a new teacher to teach your class,” Agent Karasuma stood in front of the room watching all of them carefully. What he saw was a bunch of junior high kids pushed away from everyone else because they were different. “What I am about to tell you is classified information.”

The room was in shock. What was an agent of the Ministry of Defence doing here and what did this have to do with their new teacher?

Before Karasuma could continue his speech, something big and yellow blew into the room. It was like a giant yellow octopus that was 3 metres tall and a large, bulbous head with a large smile that took up most of his face. Its eyes were small and beady and felt as if they were watching only you.

“Hello, how are you?” The octopus thing spoke to them, “So I’m the one who blew up the moon.”

“Huh!” The class stared at the alien octopus in utter shock. What is going on here?

“And next year I plan to do the same to planet Earth but don’t mind that now, I’m going to be your new teacher! Isn’t that exciting?” The octopus’ tentacles kept moving in the air as he smiled at the class.

‘There are so many things wrong with this picture’ The class thought as they continued to stare at the alien.

Karasuma sighed, “You were supposed to wait in the hall while I explained what was going on.” Karasuma pinched the bridge of his nose before looking over at them, “Ah hell, I’ll just come right out with it. I’m going to need you to kill this thing for the sake of mankind.”

The class couldn’t believe their ears. Could they be having a mass hallucination? Was there a gas leak?

“Um, excuse me, no offence but is this a joke because if that’s the alien that blew up the moon-” Before Mimura could finish his question the alien cut him off.

“Ya, ba-ba-but-ta, I’m an Earthling born and bred, thank you very much!”

“I’m not at liberty to discuss the details of this juncture, I’ll just say he is telling the truth, his threat is all too real, as of this coming March, he will obliterate the Earth.” Karasuma took in the shocked and confused look on the student’s faces and reminded himself that they’re just children. “Apart from you the only people that know this are world leaders. If word of this leaks out to the public, we will have widespread panic on our hands. He must be terminated soon and with extreme prejudice, which means you must become assassins”

Nagisa gasped. Become an assassin? He already tried that, and he didn’t want to try it again. He used to miss life with his father, the travelling to every continent, the training, the acting, the life of a would-be-assassin. The more he thought about it now-a-days the more he wondered how much blood did he help his father spill? How much blood does his father still spill without him?

Karasuma attempted to stab their new teacher, “Now!” The thing moved faster than they could see, “You’ll notice he is incredibly fast!” Another swipe and another dodge, “And for some reason he likes grooming eyebrows! Immaculately!” Swipe and dodge, swipe and dodge. The target moved so fast he looked like a yellow blur, “You’re looking at a being so powerful he can obliterate over half the moon in seconds, so fast he has been clocked in at Mach 20. A world where he’s allowed to live is a world waiting to be destroyed, plain and simple.” Karasuma looked over at the scared faces of Class 3-E. Before he could say much more the target spoke up,

“He makes it sound so grim, doesn’t he?” The smile hadn’t left his face, but his head now had green stripes going around it. “Cheer up! I’ve graciously made your government an offer, ‘Stop making fools of yourselves trying to kill me’ I said ‘And let me teach class 3-E at this illustrious institution’”

“We didn’t have much of a choice, we have no idea what his motives are, but we agreed on the condition that none of you students be harmed in any way,” Karasuma paused looking over the class. “The advantage is twofold. On the one hand we’ll know his whereabouts a good portion of every weekday, which is something. On the other he’ll be in close range to 26 people with the means and incentive to kill him.”

’Incentive?’ Nagisa thought. Sure, saving the world sounds great and all but that isn’t a big incentive to no hopers.

“Do the deed and you get 10 billion yen.” Shouts and gasps filled the classroom. “It’s only fair, kill him and save the Earth. If that doesn’t deserve a life on easy street, what does?” The class stared at Karasuma as if he was the yellow humanoid octopus, if he noticed the looks, he didn’t show it. “He doesn’t think you can do it, use that.”

The green stripes appeared back on the target’s head, “The green stripes indicate he’s feeling superior, we have some experience with it.”

“Truth be told, I’m not worried. The military couldn’t kill me, why would anyone assume students could.” The green stayed as he continued to brag, “Afterall, you don’t even have fighter jets!”

“What’s with the cleaning fetish?” Kataoka asked, though her question was ignored.

“It is up to you all to find the cracks in this smug bastard’s defences and exploit them.” Two more ministry goons wheeled in a trolley filled with knives, guns, and ammunition. “The weapons you’ll be provided are harmless to humans but deadly to him and it goes without saying you will need to keep this between us.” The class all nodded, some looking sure, some unsure, some confused and some angry. “The clock is ticking, decide whether you’ll stand for our home being blasted to smithereens or not.”

“That should cover it, I think.” The target cut in, “What do you say we hit the flips and make the final year of your lives a productive one!”

The class stayed silent as they took in all the information. The government wanted them to become assassins and kill an unkillable being for 10 billion yen? It sounded insane but the proof was in front of them. There was no way this could be a prank and if it was, it was a good one.

But it was kind of cruel, wasn’t it? Their last teacher had only died two weeks ago and now they have been given a new teacher that they had to kill?

As Nagisa walked home from school, he wondered if he should call his father. Maybe he could come home and give him some more assassination tips and tricks. Nagisa shook his head, ‘No, I don’t want to be an assassin.’ But then why did blood and violence follow him wherever he goes? His father, his mother, Karma, and now 3-E. Why is it whenever he tries to walk away, something pulls him back in under a false disguise?

Chapter Text

The class was tense in their seats. The room felt darker and colder than before. The class knew that this next attempt would fail before they could even try, but they had to try, the sake of the Earth depended on them.

They could hear him before they could see him. The earth moving bang shook the building as he landed on the school’s ground, they all tensed in their seats. The slithering sounds as he got closer to the classroom made their breaths become shallow and mouths dry. As the door slowly opened, no one could face their new teacher. No one could look him in the eye.

“Alrighty students, let’s get started, shall we?” The target could feel the tense energy in the room, but he ignored it, “Class monitor, if you will do the honours?”

Nagisa nodded as he stood, “Right, stand!” The first command brought the students up on their feet, guns aimed solely on their target, “Attention!” Fingers were placed on triggers, tensing, waiting for the next command, “Bow!” Anti-sensei BBs hailed towards the front of the room. Round after round of ammo used, but their target simply laughed.

Moving at Mach speed he created a mirage of two other perfect copies of himself, “Nufufufu. Well, why don’t I just call rollcall while you children wear yourselves out?” The only answer the teacher got was more gunfire, “Isogai?”

“Here!” The class president called out as he reloaded his gun.

“What was that? I can’t hear you over all this gunfire!”

“Here!” Isogai repeated louder as he continued to fire his weapon.

“Okajima?”

“Here!” The class pervert shouted.

“Okano?”

“Here!” The gymnast’s voice was high pitched as she called out.

“Okuda?”

“Here!” The mad scientist called out, trying to reload her gun at record speed.

“Kataoka?”

“Here!” The swimmer shouted while trying to re-aim her gun at a different mirage, hoping it was the real teacher.

“Kayano?”

“Here!” The green hair girl exclaimed as her finger slipped off the trigger for a moment too long.

“Kanzaki?”

“Here!” The class idol hollered.

The pattern continued as such until the teacher ran out of names and the students ran out of ammo.

The classroom suddenly felt lighter as the students lowered their guns, panting slightly. They stared ahead amazed at their teacher who didn’t even have a scratch on him.

“Excellent! All present and accounted for!” His yellow face turned red, “No absentees, congratulations!”

Ignoring the octopus teacher Nakamura sighed, “He’s fast.”

Isogai hummed in agreement, “The whole class opened fire on him, and he doesn’t even have a scratch.”

Nagisa looked down at his gun. ‘What are we even doing right now? It’s not like we could kill an unkillable monster with an unimaginative plan like this.’

“No luck today either, eh?” Their teacher’s continuous smile stayed present mockingly, “That’s really too bad! What’s the lesson here?”

Nagisa could answer if he wanted to. It was one of the first lessons his father taught him, ‘We’re assassins, not soldiers. Numbers are no substitute for inventiveness.’

Their teacher continued when no one answered, “Numbers are no substitute for inventiveness, perhaps that any hack could point a gun and pull a trigger?” He looked over the class, “I get that you’re trying to cast the net as widely as possible, but the approach lacks originality.” If he wasn’t mocking them before he was now, “When a target clocks in at Mach 20, an assassin must think outside the box.”

Maehara scoffed, “Right, Mach 20. No freaking way you dodged that wave of bullets!”

“He’s got a point! I mean these are only BBs, right?” Sugino started as he examined the BB in his hand, “For all we know you just stood there and took it like a champ!” Muttered agreement went through the class.

The teacher sighed, “Collect the ammunition and hand it here.” The students started to move around the classroom trying to collect all the BBs. Okano handed her gun to the teacher as he continued, “As it was explained, these are anti-me BBs. Harmless to you but…” He used the gun to shoot one of his tentacles, gasps and shrieks made their way across the classroom and a yellow tentacle fell to the floor still wriggling. “Able to split through my cells like a knife through warm butter.” He finished as his tentacle regenerated.

The students exchanged looks, all of them were wearing a mask of confusion. “Luckily for me I can regenerate as good as new, a luxury you won’t have if you accidentally shoot your eye out,” Nagisa continued to watch the tentacle on the ground as it squirmed. “From now on, no discharging firearms in the classroom. Safety first!” The teacher confirmed his mocking attitude as his face turned to green stripes, “And good luck killing me before graduation, you’re going to need it.”

The class moved on as the lessons began. It had been three weeks since their target arrived at their classroom, and they were given their mission. Nagisa still wondered why? Why would this unkillable monster that blew up 70% of the moon, would want to teach them? The outcasts and delinquents of their top tier prep school. It made no sense. Nothing of what their teacher did. He spoke of killing and being killed as if it were nothing. So many things he has said are scaringly similar to what his father told him during his own assassination lessons years ago. The target claimed he was born on earth, that he wasn’t an alien and Nagisa believed him. Nagisa wanted to believe that it wasn’t their target’s first experience of assassination either, too many things lined up, and if their target was once an assassin and a good one at that, there would be no way to kill him. However, it may be a way to identify him. If he was a good and known assassin, someone will take notice when his kills stop. How would Nagisa find out when someone notices? It may be surprising, but assassins love gossip, especially if it was about a big name and Nagisa knew a fair few assassins, thanks to his father’s connections.

BANG!

The noise brought Nagisa out of his thoughts. He looked to his right to see Nakamura standing with a gun in her hand. The target of her gunfire held a BB bullet between two pieces of chalk.

“Nakamura! What did I say about discharging guns in the classroom!” His face had turned pink as he yelled at the class troublemaker, “Back row young lady! Think about what you have done.” He turned back to the blackboard and continued to teach the lesson as if he just scolded Nakamura for talking in class, not shooting a deadly weapon.

‘Why would this thing want to be our teacher? And how are we going to assassinate him by this coming March?’ Those were the things we should have asked at the start. Nagisa sighed as he watched their target teach his lesson. We have a year to live and if we can’t find a way to kill our teacher, the Earth is going to be history.

The day continued without any distractions. When lunch started their target flew out the window saying he was going to China for a quick bite. Meanwhile Nagisa was lured out of the room and to the front steps by Terasaka and his gang.

“So, we know the Octopus’ face changes colour depending on what mood he’s in.” Terasaka stated and he lounged on the steps looking down on Nagisa. “Have you been keeping track like I asked? Can you give me the specs?”

Nagisa nodded, “Well for starters, green stripes mean he feels cocky, when we give a wrong answer, his face turns dark purple, but if we get it right, it becomes red. What’s interesting is every day after lunch without fail-”

“Blah, blah, whatever! We’ve got more than enough,” Terasaka stood walking towards Nagisa. “When his guards down, that’s when we make our move. Well at least you do.” Terasaka raised his knife. Nagisa looked up at the larger boy, something was off about his aura. His bloodlust is a little too big for itself. You could sense it a mile away. Terasaka was right about one thing, there was no way he could ever catch the octopus off guard, not when he couldn’t hide his bloodlust.

“Yeah, about that. I-” Nagisa wanted to say he didn’t want to be an assassin. That he didn’t want to take another life. That he didn’t want more blood on his hands. But the world never did care for what Nagisa wanted.

“Don’t start! We’ve been over this.” Terasaka leaned close to Nagisa’s face, so he was nearly the same height as Nagisa himself, but he made sure he was still a couple of inches taller than he was. Intimidation is what Terasaka is best at. He knew how to scare others into doing what he wanted. Terasaka knew how to instil fear. “What? Are you worried about your transcript?” Nagisa tried to lean away but Terasaka just moved closer, so they were nearly eye level. “Wake up dude! We’re 3-E everyone expects us to be thugs and murderers anyway.” Terasaka stood back to his full height, towering over Nagisa, “You know what the E stands for, right?” Terasaka watched Nagisa closely, making sure he had hit every sore point. “The End Class.” Terasaka backed up, knowing he had won but decided to hammer it in. He didn’t need Nagisa backing out at the last minute, “Think they shuttle us up this mountain every day for the view? Sorry to burst your bubble man, but society don’t want us.” He moved back closer, wrapping his arm around Nagisa’s shoulders in something like a friendly, comforting gesture for show. “When do nobodies like us have a shot at the kind of cash at stake here! This is our one-way ticket out of the boonies.” He handed a small heavy bag to the blunette.

Terasaka started to make his way back to the classroom calling over his shoulder, “No guts, no glory! Let this be your moment to shine! Man up!” Terasaka smirked knowing Nagisa won’t back out now as he went back into the building.

Nagisa stared down at the bag in his hand. Memories flashed before his eyes, his dad teaching him how to hide his bloodlust, his mother and the dresses she wanted him to wear, the family court, his former class.

‘Nagisa, the only way you’ll ever blend in is by hiding that bloodlust of yours. Don’t show it until you make that killing shot.’

‘My precious daughter, why do you never like what I buy you?’

‘He needs to be around children his own age!’

‘Did you hear about Nagisa? They’re chucking him to E-class.’

‘Blend in.’

‘Daughter.’

‘Child.’

‘E-class.’

Nagisa didn’t know how much time had passed. He only woke from his memories when the boom of his teacher landing sounded.

“Hello there, I’m back!” The target smiled down at Nagisa.

“Uh, hi sir. What’s with the missile?” Nagisa questioned as he hid Terasaka’s bag. If his teacher saw it too early, Nagisa didn’t know how angry Terasaka would get or what an angry Terasaka would do.

“A souvenir from a strike force that tried to bring me down over the Sea of Japan.” The teacher explained still with a smile on his face. Even in the little time Nagisa knew their target, he had not stopped smiling. Nagisa wondered if he smiled when he slept. Did he even sleep?

“Must be lonely spending your life in the crosshairs.” Nagisa wondered. He thought back to the time he spent his father travelling the world, moving from job to job, running from a different enemy in every place they went. It was lonely for him, and he had his father.

“Quite the opposite actually! Reminds me of how amazing I am.” How could this man have so much confidence? If Nagisa could even have a fraction of the confidence that his teacher had, he wondered where he would be right now? Would he still be on the main campus? Would his hair be short? Would he still be friends with Karma? Would he still be with his father? Would he even blink at the blood on his hands? “Now then, inside for fifth period please.”

“Sure.” Nagisa whispered, looking down. There’s no denying it. He is amazing, confident, capable, powerful enough to make people stand up and take notice. Even if they are trying to kill him, everything I’m not. Everything I’ll never be. No matter how hard I try. No matter how many lessons his father tried to teach. No matter how much makeup his mother puts on him. Or how many chances I’m given.

I can do this.

Chapter Text

Nagisa sat in class watching and waiting for their teacher to assign their next assignment.

“Okie-dokie, your assignment this afternoon is to compose a short poem.” The teacher stated as he wrote on the blackboard, “The final line should read, ‘Was tentacles all along’ ” He smiled facing them and groans and complaints filled the classroom.

“Really sir?” Asked Kanzaki. The girl was probably the best in the class when it came to this topic and even, she was having a hard time.

“Really. When you have completed the assignment kindly bring it forward. You will be marked on creativity, grammar and overall beauty of expression,” he explained. “Here is an example;

‘Not the storm of garden snow

Of flowers moving on

But sprouting there

Was tentacles all along’ .”

Isogai sighed, resting his head on his hand, “Yeah, because that makes a whole lot of sense.”

“You may go home once you have finished.” The teacher finished as if he hadn’t been interrupted. Though he couldn’t ignore the whole class as an uproar of unhappy delinquents started to complain about the circumstances of the situation.

“What? But sir, ‘Was tentacles all along’ -” Kurahashi started only to be cut off.

“Should get those little synapses sparking and the imagination slithering!” The teacher interrupted and started moving his tentacled round quickly making a hissing noise.

“Could you please knock that off!” Maehara shouted as he looked up from his work. Their teacher stopped as he started to turn peach pink, ready to wait his student out.

Kayano raised her hand, “Um sir question!” Her voice breaking their teacher out of his trance.

“Of course! Fire away Kayano!” He was a little slow answering but not a single student noticed. At least that was what he thought.

“Do we always have to call you sir? You haven’t given us your name yet and I think we need one,” The green hair girl questioned. “I mean it would be kind of awkward if we didn’t call you anything, right?”

The teacher froze as murmurs went throughout the classroom. How has it taken them three weeks to notice that they never got their own teacher and target’s name?

“Well now, the trouble is I don’t have a name that you just give out to people.” He explained. Nagisa’s eyes narrowed, another reason to think their target was an assassin . “Why not pick one for me?”

“What could possibly go wrong with that idea?” Maehara grunted knowing he’ll be ignored.

“Just focus on metre and syntax.” The teacher continued, proving Maehara right.

“Okay!”

The teacher then turned back to pink as he watched over the class. Nagisa stood a moment later, “It seems the muse favours Nagisa.” He remarked.

Nagisa approached slowly, a knife hidden behind the paper. He knew the class could see the knife. He knew his teacher was expecting something like this. He made sure to make his bloodlust so obvious that everyone could feel it. Though, like the rest of the class, he made his bloodlust weak. This was the distraction; his target knew his intent, but he didn’t know about the second blade around Nagisa’s neck. Nagisa’s own necklace of death.

‘Every day after lunch he gets sleepy’ Nagisa thought as he approached, trying to keep a level head. ‘I can tell he checks out when his face turns pink’ He reasoned. ‘Kayano’s question threw him off, he seems distracted’ Another reason why this was the perfect time. ‘All signs point to this being the right moment’ His footsteps echoed in his ears. ‘Prep-school flunkies know how to slip between the cracks, it’s what we do’ He could feel everyone’s eyes on his back. ‘Parents and teachers are always yelling at us to apply ourselves’ Nagisa thought back to his D-Class teacher, his mother, his father…

‘Apply yourself Nagisa! If you don’t, you’ll end up dead as well as your target!’ His father was right. He was going down with his target.

As quick as a snake Nagisa whipped out his knife, aiming for the centre of this target’s chest. Maybe if this was a normal target, a normal teacher, he might have been able to kill him. In the same moment Nagisa lunged, the teacher caught his wrist.  “What did I say about thinking outside the box?” he reprimanded.

‘Okay! You asked for outside the box!’ Nagisa thought as he jumped to hug his target, revealing his second blade. The second his target saw the grenade, Terasaka pressed the button to activate it. Nagisa could feel the heat on his chest, he could hear his classmates’ screams sound in the distance. The hail of BBs filled his ears, it sounded like gunfire.

Gunfire .

When else did he hear gunfire?

The first time his father taught him to shoot.

The first time he went on a mission with his father.

The day in family court, when his heartbeat was the only thing he could hear.

The time it rained so hard, it drowned out his mother’s screams.

The first movie he and Karma went to see.

That same morning when the class worked as a group. When he knew the plan wasn’t going to work but wanted to do it anyway, because the planning of it was fun.

Fun.

He was having fun. He never used to have fun when he was in assassination training. He never used to have fun before Kunugigaoka. The last time he had fun before Class E was when he was friends with Karma.

He was having fun.

Now he was going to die.

He knew he could smile now because he had his fun. He was going to die having fun.

Did he want to die?

Yes. That would have been the answer before he met Karma.

Yes. That would have been the answer when he lost Karma.

Yes. That would have been the answer when he found out he was going to E-Class.

Yes. That would have been the answer to almost every day of his life.

But if you asked him that last week or yesterday or even this morning, his answer would have been NO.

He didn’t want to die.

Who could save him now?

Who would want to save him?

No one ever wanted him around for too long.

His father.

His mother.

The judge.

His teachers.

His class.

Karma.

Please Save Me!

Chapter Text

Screams and BBs filled the air as Terasaka activated the grenade.

“Fuck yeah!” Terasaka yelled once the BBs slowed down.

“We did it!” Muramatsu jumped from his seat.

“Nagisa.” Kayano whispered, staring at the smoke in the front of the room.

“We’re going to be Billionaires!” Yoshida exclaimed as he followed his friends to the front of the room.

“You jerks!” Isogai shouted, turning to look at the three as they made their way to the front of the room.

“What the hell have you done?” Maehara copied his best friend’s actions.

“Huh, never saw a suicide bomber coming, didn’t ya?” Terasaka stated as he leaned over the charcoaled body of their teacher.

“Terasaka!” Kayano shouted. She stood from her desk, she looked terrified. “What did you make Nagisa do?”

“What?” Terasaka asked, looking over to the green haired new girl. “I’m sorry, did you have a better idea?” Terasaka couldn’t really understand why she’d care so much, after all she’d only been attending the school for less than a month and Nagisa seemed to be a social outcast even before he was part of 3-E. “I gave him a modified version of a toy grenade filled with those stupid BBs and a spoon full or two of gunpowder, so they’d scatter at a high enough speed.” Gasps filled the classroom as they all tried to check on Nagisa. “Don’t worry, it wasn’t enough to actually kill him. I’ll pitch in on his medical bills!”

Terasaka knelt to see the damage, but Nagisa didn’t even have a scratch on him. He was covered in some weird clear skin-like fibre and seemed to be unconscious but breathing steadily. “Woah. He doesn’t even have a mark on him and what the hell is this membrane! Did the body-”

“It’s not a body, it’s a husk.” A voice called from seemingly nowhere. The class looked around the room while their teacher’s disembodied voice continued, “I shed my skin once a month. I wrapped it around your classmate to protect him from the blast.”

Nagisa sat up, breaking the old skin that covered him. ‘While I’m thankful I didn’t die, this is just gross’ Nagisa thought to himself as he looked up to their teacher. The teacher hung from the roof, his eyes were glowing red, his smile bright white. The bloodlust that poured out from him like shadows making the room darker by the second even though the sun shined through the windows.

“I’m going to go out on a limb and assume you didn’t see this coming.” His bloodlust was so strong, it froze everyone to their places. “Terasaka, Yoshida, Muramatsu.” His tone got rougher with each name he spat out. The boys he named stood there shaking in fear as their yellow teacher became pitch black.

‘Okay’ Nagisa stared at their teacher from his spot on the ground. ‘That’s a face we hadn’t seen before’ His smile was no longer there; he now bared all his teeth as he growled. ‘Pitch black must mean pissed!’

“This was your doing.” The teacher growled out, looking down on the three.

“W-what!” Muramatsu stuttered.

“Us?” Yoshida tried to continue from where Muramatsu left off but couldn’t because he was shaking too much.

“It was all Nagisa!” Terasaka tried to defend his friends and himself, fearing the worst was about to happen.

Suddenly their teacher moved at his top speed around the classroom creating gusting winds. He was gone for no more than ten seconds and when he returned, he was carrying something out of sight. He dropped what he was carrying.  The name plates of the three’s houses cluttered to the floor.

“The name plate off my house!” Yoshida exclaimed, staring down at the name plates.

“Here’s the deal kiddos.” The class looked back up to their teacher, in his arms were all their name plates. “The agreement I have with your government forbids me from harming you.” He held up Nagisa’s name plate above the pile in his arms, “But there’s a catch. If you pull another stunt like that again, there’s nothing that says I can’t harm someone else.” He dropped all the name plates to the ground before continuing, “Family, friends, everyone in the world except for you if I feel like it!” Stutters and gasps filled the room.

‘Suddenly it's clear how hard this is going to be. We can’t run, we can’t hide, slipping between the cracks isn’t an option. The only way out is to kill him.’

“Go on! Threaten us! I ain’t afraid of no squid!” Terasaka shouted, his friends hid behind him shaking in fear. Terasaka himself was no better, he looked as if he could wet himself. “Where do you get off blowing up the moon? We got rights; you know. Call us irresponsible! We’re just defending ourselves!”

The bloodlust faded instantly, the sun’s natural light filled the room and their teacher’s face went from black to orange in microseconds.

“Of course! I know that.” The teacher’s smile was back. “I’m not calling you irresponsible for trying to kill me.” He extended a tentacle to Nagisa, placing it on his head. “No, no, no. As a matter of fact, Nagisa here gets full marks for his technique. His composure was simply outstanding, he could even stand up with some of the best assassins in the world with that technique!” The teacher turned back to the other three, “However, none of you cared if he was injured, not even Nagisa himself! Students with that attitude aren’t fit to assassinate anyone!” His face turned purple as he looked over the four before turning to look at the rest of the class. “You must see yourself as worthy of your target! That means taking pride in what you do and in yourselves. All of you are more than the sum of your parts.”

‘Chewed out at Mach 20, reassured by a tentacle clap. It is a bizarre education but one that is starting to grow on me. I guess when you spend your whole life living as everyone else's ideas of you, it’s something to feel as if you are being seen for who you are’ Nagisa stood from his place on the floor.

“Here’s a puzzler for you Nagisa,'' the teacher smiled down at Nagisa. “Given that I have no intention of being killed, though of course I have every intention of enjoying our time together before the planet goes ka-pluie, what exactly are you going to do about it?”

Nagisa stared up at their teacher. He thought about the question. ‘Did he know something about my past? If he did, had we met before? Maybe he simply had a theory or maybe I’m being paranoid? Let’s test this theory.’

“I think you will find out I can do plenty, just you wait and see.” Nagisa smiled as he released a little more bloodlust towards his target.

“Nufufufu. That’s the spirit.” The teacher then turned to the class, green strips colouring his yellow face. “No one leaves until I’m killed!”

Groans and complaints filled the classroom, the class blaming Nagisa for their misfortune and not their teacher.

“Way a go Nagisa!”

“What no fair!”

Nagisa walked towards his desk as Kayano looked out the window, muttering about an unkillable teacher.

“I don’t want to be a killer.” Someone stated from the back.

“We’re so screwed.” Another groaned.

“Korosenai sensei,” Kayano thought out loud. “Oh! Korosensei! What do you think?” Kayano turned to Nagisa.

“Korosensei,” Nagisa repeated. It sounded like the perfect name for their teacher.

Korosensei looked over at the two, looking as if he agreed with this name as well.

Nagisa watched as Korosensei went back to cleaning their house name plates. After everything that happened this afternoon, Nagisa knew two things for certain. One; Korosensei was once an assassin, there was no other way he could have such control of his bloodlust. Two; He wasn’t of Japanese origin, Nagisa was sure of this because of the way he spoke of the government and the Ministry of Defence, he always said your government as if it wasn’t his. At first Nagisa thought he did this because their target was an alien but now that he wanted it to be known that he was earth born and bred and if he was of Japanese origin, he would say ‘ the government’ . That second hint will help Nagisa find out Korosensei’s real identity. But there was one other thing that was bugging Nagisa, and it was about Korosensei’s bloodlust. He wasn’t sure before but now that he has had time to think about it, to recall the feeling. Nagisa was almost certain.

He had felt that bloodlust before.

Chapter Text

The morning was quiet and peaceful. The sun was shining, and the birds were chirping and like every morning Korosensei sat hidden in the dense forest of the mountain that housed Class E’s building.

Sugino and Nagisa were also hidden amongst the trees watching their unsuspecting teacher and target as he read a newspaper from Hawaii, muttering about the moon as if it weren’t major news anymore. Nagisa supposed that while the moon blowing up was still major news to the rest of the world, it didn’t seem as important to their class of delinquents, after all, when you see the thing responsible for the moon’s destruction every day and had been tasked to kill it, that information seemed a lot more important.

“There he is chilling outback before the first period without a care in the world.” Sugino stated as he watched the scene unfold, “Thanks for the tip Nagisa, I owe you one.” He turned to smile at his new friend.

“You’re welcome, good luck.” Nagisa whispered, praying that their teacher couldn’t hear them.

Sugino stood to his full height as he held up a baseball that was embedded in pink anti-sensei BBs. As he posed to throw, he curled in on himself, raising a leg before swinging his body forward and used the momentum to throw the ball.

Nagisa watched the fastball move and in a blink of an eye, the ball and Korosensei were both gone.

“Good morning Nagisa and Sugino!” Their teacher’s voice came from behind them. The two students froze, not willing to turn to face their teacher after another failed attempt on his life. “It is usually polite to reply.”

Sugino made a strangled sound as he moved his head from where their teacher was previously sitting to where he was standing behind them repeatedly as Nagisa simply turned to face their monster teacher, sighing in defeat.

“Good morning Sensei.” Nagisa replied, sarcasm heavy in his tone. The tone made Sugino suddenly understand why Nagisa and the school’s demon, Akabane Karma, were best friends. Before this morning, Sugino would have never guessed that the class’s angel could have been friends with Karma, and he was in D-class with them in previous years.

Korosensei broke Sugino out of his memories, “A baseball embedded with anti-me BBs? Creative!” Korosensei smiled at Sugino. “Points for choosing a method of delivery quieter than a standard air rifle, but unfortunately, onced released, the weapon gave me nothing but time to organise a defensive manoeuvre. A quick visit to the equipment room and ta-da!” Korosensei held up a baseball glove with Sugino’s modified baseball in it. Korosensei smiled down at his students, green stripes wrapped around his face as he turned away from them heading back to the classroom. “Tik tok students, graduation will be here before you know it.” He called over his shoulder as the school bell rang in the distance. 

Sugino slumped down, his head hung as he groaned, “Dammit! So much for my fastball.”

“It was a good throw.” Nagisa defended as he looked over at Sugino worryingly. He remembered Sugino from D-Class; all he had ever cared about was baseball and now he couldn’t be on the Kunugigaoka Baseball team. Nagisa could understand feeling helpless in a situation where your skills seemed useless.

Nagisa sat in class trying to focus on the lesson Korosensei was teaching but he kept thinking back to the absolute defeat Sugino had displayed after the failed assassination attempt. Nagisa knew in his head that while it was worth the shot, it wouldn’t have worked, and one shouldn’t get bummed out by one failed attempt and somewhere in Sugino’s head he knew the same thing. But knowing something in your head and feeling something in your heart were different things. Sugino felt that all he had was baseball and now even baseball had failed him, Nagisa knew what that felt like, believing that you had one thing only to find out that it was never even yours to begin with.

“Hey Nagisa,” A voice whispered in his ear. He turned to look at Kayano, “I heard that Sugino’s plan didn’t go so well this morning.”

Nagisa hummed in agreement, “You could say that.” He was trying to keep quiet for two reasons. One; he didn’t want to disturb the lesson and two; he didn’t want Sugino to overhear and feel even worse about himself.

“What’s there to get all bent out of shape about it, it’s not like any of us could do any better.” Kayano wondered, her tone sounded slightly condescending towards the end. Nagisa ignored her to check on Sugino to make sure he didn’t hear Kayano’s comment. With the way he slumped further down in his seat, said he did in fact hear Kayano. Before anything else could be said on the matter the lunch bell rang cutting the conversation short.

“If you excuse me, I have some off campus business to attend to.” Korosensei walked towards the window, his large smile never leaving his face.

“So, tofu from China?” Isogai translated, putting his books away before his teacher could blow them off his desk.

“Actually, I’m catching a ball game in the Big Apple! Chao!” Korosensei took off out the window blasting the room with air blowing away anything that wasn’t being held down by his students.

“He sure knows how to make an exit.” Yoshida grumbled.

“You know that thing is starting to get on my nerves.” Terasaka agreed.

“Talk about unfair!” Kurahashi complained, “He gets to travel all around the world, and we’re stuck here, the least he could do is bring us a souvenir.”

“Think about what he might bring back?” Kataoka stated in return.

“I’m just saying, an exotic snack would be nice. It’s not like he has to sneak them through customs.” Kurahashi defended.

“You have definitely thought this through.” Kataoka chuckled.

“So, what is New York’s biggest export?” Isogai asked as he finished packing up his things.

“I don’t know, booze?” Maehara guessed as he leaned against Isogai’s desk.

“Sucks we’re not drinking age.” Isogai replied.

“What about something greasy from one of those food trucks!” Kurahashi exclaimed.

“Man! New York girls are hot! Especially the blondes!” Okajima shouted standing up from his desk.

“Oh yeah.” Maehara agreed.

“Imagine if one became an exchange student!” Okajima looked like he could faint from excitement.

“They’d probably be on the main campus for one thing and besides, New Yorkers are rude.” Nagisa stated as he walked towards the door.

“Come on Nagisa, that’s just a myth.” Nakamura stated from her seat.

Nagisa shrugged, “I’m telling the truth, New Yorkers can be really rude and the food from those food trucks is nothing too exciting.”

“Wait! Nagisa, have you been to New York?” Isogai asked, shocked. He knew that the school housed a lot of rich people that liked to flaunt their wealth, but he never took Nagisa as one of those rich kids.

“I lived there for about three months with my dad before the first year.” Nagisa stated as if it wasn’t a big deal and to a class of delinquents and slackers it was definitely a big deal.

“That suddenly explains why you are so good at English.” Nakamura stated. Nagisa shrugged, instantly regretting mentioning his time in New York. “So, does that mean your dad lives in New York? Is your dad an American?”

“No, we lived there due to his work. He travels a lot for his job.” Nagisa explained, he knew how to answer these questions when they came up. It was one of the first things his father taught him.

“Wow! That’s really cool! What does he do?” Kurahashi asked. This conversation had the entire class’s attention.

“He works in security. I really don’t know more than that, whatever he does is really boring.” Nagisa explained hoping to end the conversation there. Which it did but not for the reasons Nagisa was hoping.

“Children,” The class jumped as they turned to the door. In the entrance way was Karasuma, “Any progress on killing the tentacle menace?”

 The class went quiet looking between each other and the floor.

“Define progress?” Nagisa asked, looking up at the agent. Everyone continued to look in any other direction other than the doorway.

Finally, Hazama broke the silence, “Yeah this is E-class, you’ve got to lower your expectations.” She leaned back in her seat, her eyes still avoiding the front of the room.

“With all due respect sir, he’s too quick!” Isogai defended the class.

“Yeah, so quick you can’t even see him sometimes.” Mimura backed Isogai up.

“You said so yourself, he clocks out at Mach 20. How can you even kill something like that?” Maehara stated, irritation in his tone.

“I don’t know.” Karasuma stated looking over the children in his command and they were children, most hadn’t even turned 15 yet, “But you kids better figure it out.”

“Seriously?” Okajima complained.

“Seriously.” Karasuma deadpanned, “You’re the only hope we’ve got. He teaches willingly, putting himself in the line of fire by choice.” Sighs and groans filled the room as students slumped forward, some falling so far they hit their heads on their desks. “You kids need to remember that this classroom is the last stand between mankind and its extinction.”

Karasuma left quite quickly after his stare down with the students and the class went back to lunch. Nagisa was thankful for Karasuma’s interruption because it seemed everyone forgot about their conversation about New York and Nagisa’s father and jumbled conversations filled his ears as he ate. Nagisa thought back to his time in New York; he wasn’t lying when he said New Yorkers were rude and the food wasn’t all that good, but he hadn’t mentioned the most important part about his time in New York, it was one of the easiest places to assassinate someone. His father had taken on nine contracts there before someone even noticed that they were there. Even then his father took on two more before they left for Japan. That was the last mission Nagisa did with his father.

Nagisa sighed and looked out the window to see Korosensei back and talking to Sugino. No, they weren’t talking, Korosensei was attacking him. Nagisa jumped from his seat and rushed out of the room. If anyone noticed, no one said anything. Nagisa made it to the courtyards as Korosensei held Sugino up tangled in his tentacles.

“Please sir don’t do this!” Nagisa shouted running towards the teacher, “He was just doing what he had to. The deal was you couldn’t hurt any of us!”

“Eh?” Korosensei glanced at Nagisa for a quick second before focusing on the task at hand, “There it is!” Confusion appeared on both Nagisa’s and Sugino’s face. “I thought I recognised that pitching style. You were imitating major league pitcher Arita!”  Sugino gasped in shock. “That’s right these tentacles don’t lie.” Korosensei placed Sugino back on the ground as he backed away from his student, Nagisa moved to Sugino’s side. “Your shoulders are less flexible than your idol’s I’m afraid.”

Sugino’s face hardened, “What exactly are you trying to say?” Sugino glared up at their teacher.

“That the famous Arita fastball you’re trying to imitate is simply never going to be your thing.” Korosensei stated, looking down at Sugino on the ground.

Sugino gasped, his face betraying his heartbreak but before he could come up with an argument against his teacher Nagisa stepped in. The blue haired boy was shaking in anger.

“That’s not fair.” Nagisa defended Sugino, “You don’t know, how could you? That’s ridiculous.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Sugino sighed looking up at Nagisa’s shaking form. Why was Nagisa defending him? The two of them barely knew each other before E-class, so why help him?

“I get it, why even bother?” Nagisa asked rhetorically, “We’re just E-class, right?” Another rhetorical question, “We’re just a bunch of losers and lost causes!” Nagisa finally looked up at Korosensei, he looked him dead in the eye. Korosensei looked back, looking him right in the eye. He was the first adult to ever really look him in the eye. The only adult that believed that this class could be better than what it was. The only adult that cared what might happen to them if they managed to kill him. The only adult that cared about them. So why was he telling Sugino that he couldn’t do something. It didn’t sound like him.

“You misunderstand me.” Korosensei looked down at Nagisa, “I based this entirely on firsthand experience.” Korosensei reached into his sleeves to pull out a newspaper article, “First through eight hand experience!”

“What is wrong with you!” Nagisa and Sugino shouted at their teacher.

“I even got his autograph!” Korosensei cheered, holding up a framed piece of paper that said, ‘ Don’t screw with me tentacles .’

“You asked for his autograph after you assaulted him!” Nagisa exclaimed, wondering how the crying, yellow tentacle monster could ever pose a threat to Earth.

Sugino sighed as Korosensei continued crying and fangirling over Arita. “He’s right though, some of us are just born with talent, some of us not so much.”

Nagisa thought about what Sugino said. Some people are born with talent, even if they don’t want that talent at all.

“Talent is relative,” Korosensei butted in as if he hadn’t been crying a second ago. “Arita’s elbows and wrists aren’t as flexible as yours.” His tentacles wrapped around Sugino’s wrist, bending it forward to test its flexibility. “Like I said, these tentacles don’t lie. Give it enough time and practise you could become just as good player or even better and besides, why settle for being an imitation.” Korosensei turned away towards the classroom, “Next time try assassinating me in your own style.” He called over his shoulder as he made it to the steps of the building.

Sugino looked down at his wrists, flexing them like Korosensei did, “More flexible huh? How ‘bout that? My own style.”

Nagisa knew Sugino was talking more to himself than to him which made him smile. However, dark thoughts filled Nagisa’s mind as he watched their teacher enter the building.

‘If you give a group of outcasts and misfits like us a chance to play hero, things are going to get interesting to say the least.’ Nagisa could hear his teacher humming as he slid through the door and disappear. ‘It is a tall order, especially considering all we don’t know about our target. We can’t even say why Korosensei wants to blow up the planet in the first place, let alone what he gets out of teaching us. So how can we do it?’

Nagisa looked down at his hands. ‘Talent, some are born with it, some aren’t, and some create everyone into thinking they have it, but could Nagisa’s skills really be called a talent when all they do is hurt others for his own personal gain?’

Chapter Text

“Hey Korosensei! Wait up!” Nagisa called out trying to catch up to his teacher. He needed some questions answered and not just the ones on his homework.

“Yes Nagisa?” Korosensei turned to face his student before he could enter the classroom.

“Did you really fly all the way to New York just so you could give advice to Sugino?” Nagisa questioned as he held out his homework.

“Why not? I’m his teacher.” Korosensei stated as he reached for the homework.

“Well, it’s just that most teachers I know wouldn’t go that far for a student and here you are planning to blow up the entire planet.” The question seemed innocent to others but in reality Nagisa was trying to dig out more information about their strange teacher.

Korosensei watched Nagisa, he of course knew Nagisa was more curious about why he wanted to blow up the planet and less about the advice to Sugino. Afterall, Nagisa was smart and cunning. He knew how to phrase his words as innocent questions. He knew how to hide his motives until the last second. Which made Korosensei wonder, ‘Why does the boy in front of him feel so familiar?’

“Nagisa, the details aren’t important. Let’s just say I’m here on a promise, one I don’t take very lightly.” Korosensei looked over Nagisa’s homework, marking it. “Yes, the Earth will still be destroyed but my first priority is to you and your classmates.” He handed the homework back with a bonus question on the back, “Nothing beats giving you kids the credit you’re due, not even me blowing up the Earth.”

Nagisa looked over the homework before his eyes settled on the ‘Bonus Question’. “Korosensei,” Nagisa paused as he took in the question, “Could you not write problems like this on the back of our homework?”

“What!” Korosensei’s tentacles started to flail in the air, breaking the serious mood of the conversation.

“We get it, you're fast but no point getting all weird about it.” Nagisa complained.

“Aww, but it’s only a bonus question.” Korosensei mumbled in defence.

“Honestly sir, it feels more like a penalty.” Nagisa replied.

“Eh, yeah, well,” Korosensei was trying to find the words to win this little battle Nagisa started. “I hope my students take assassinating me as seriously as I take their education.” Korosensei could only hope that his face betrayed the confidence that his words held or otherwise Nagisa just might win. “Not that you will ever pull it off of course.” He started munching on his pen before turning back towards the classroom. Leaving with the last word said still counted as a win, right?

Nagisa sighed. That didn’t get much information from him, but it did help. While Nagisa didn’t know Korosensei's motives for wanting to blow up the Earth, he did know about his motives for wanting to teach their class. A Promise. Who could get a being like Korosensei to promise to teach their class before blowing up the Earth and why? According to Karasuma, Korosensei had demanded that he teach their class in particular. So, it wasn’t the government making him do this, but who else? Their principal? No, that would be crazy even for him and it was obviously someone Korosensei cared about enough to make that promise to hold off blowing up the Earth, and why blow up the moon and let every government in the world know about his existence? Was it a trial run to see if he could do it?

Nagisa sighed before entering the classroom himself. Maybe he should call his father and try to get a second opinion without letting him know too much. Maybe he could find out what assassins he had met before, and which ones were still active. Still calling his dad seemed like cheating, no one else in the class had their own assassin mentor they could call when things got tough. What would his father say anyway?

‘If your target seems difficult to kill, wait until he is at his most weakest and strike like a snake’

‘How do you know he is at his most weakest?’

‘Watch and take notes, learn his moves and poke when necessary, some snakes like to play with its food before they eat it’

Chapter Text

Shouts and crying came from the garden bed as Nagisa headed outside to enjoy his break. He started to head that way pulling a small notebook from his pocket.

‘Assassinations can’t be rushed Nagisa’ His father stated when Nagisa complained about the length of a stakeout, ‘The bigger the target the more you need to know about them, every tiny detail could come in handy when you go in for the kill’

He broke out of his memory when he got to the back of the building to see Korosensei planting new flower bulbs with Kataoka and Okano yelling instructions at him. The scene had caught the attention of the rest of the class as everyone had stopped what they were doing to watch.

Nagisa looked down to his notebook to go over his notes and edit them, while trying to come up with other weaknesses that he had seen in the past few weeks.

“Oh, hey Nagisa!” Kayano stated as she walked over to him, breaking him out of his note taking, “What’ya writing in your little book?”

Nagisa barely looked at her before going back to his notes, “It’s a running list of all the chinks in Korosensei’s armour,” Nagisa explained. “A good assassin keeps notes on their target, you never know when a tiny detail could come in handy.” Nagisa repeated the words of his father.

Kayano looked over Nagisa’s shoulder to take a better look at the notes already taken.

‘Korosensei’s weak spot #1: when he shows off, things get shaky’

“Um, is that really a weakness?” Kayano questioned, taking a step back to see if Nagisa was serious.

The two were so focused on deciding if the first ‘weakness’ was really a weakness, they didn’t notice Sugino until he snatched the notebook from Nagisa’s hands.

“Nagisa wouldn’t put it in there is it wasn’t!” Sugino exclaimed, “Like Nagisa said, every detail gives us an edge.” Sugino smiled as he flipped to the first page of the book to read it.

‘Height: About 3 meters

 Weight: Lighter than he looks

 Motto: Learn and let die

 Birthdate: Unknown

 Weak points: Unknown’

“Height about 3 meters, weight lighter than he looks, birth date unknown, weak points unknown,” Sugino read out loud, his voice growing quieter the further down the page he got. “What the hell is this.” He deadpanned as he looked back to Nagisa.

“Doesn’t seem like a lot to go on.” Kayano agreed, giving Nagisa a smile.

“Maybe not at the moment but that’s why it is a running list.” Nagisa replied, reaching for his notebook. The learning curve is steep, most classes don’t have murder on the syllabus. We’re the exception. Then again, we are E-class, we are the exception period.

P.E was a little different that day. As a way to apologise about the tulips Korosensei allowed the class to tie him up and take shots at him. Kayano was heading from the classroom with more bamboo sticks to add extensions on their knives as Karasuma headed towards the building.

“Hey Mr Karasuma, what are you doing here?” The green haired girl questioned as she jumped from foot to foot, unable to keep still as if she had too much sugar for lunch.

“New job assignment, as of tomorrow I’m joining the faculty as a P.E teacher.” Karasuma replied, looking around for the target. He was supposed to be teaching at that time, why was one of his students running out of the classrooms with sticks?

“Oh, that sounds cool!” Kayano exclaimed, more hyped than before.

“It should be fun.” Karasuma agreed. His eyes stopped looking for the target and went back to the young girl in front of him. He honestly didn’t know much about the students, and he didn’t know how the school deemed them undesirable. What rules had they broken? What grades did they receive? Who decided that these kids were unteachable? Why was the target so certain that they were?

“So that means I’ll get to call you Karasuma-sensei now!” Kayano cheered. She seemed so happy and excited, but she had been like that when he had approached the building.

“So, where is your target right now?” The octopus didn’t hesitate to annoy Karasuma whenever he was on the old campus, it was strange that he hadn’t come up to him yet. Karasuma wouldn’t be surprised if the thing could hear him or something.

“Apologising.” Kayano stated earnestly as a couple more of her classmates ran out of the building with an assortment of weapons. “He messed up the tulips we planted, so we reduced his speed and now he’s letting us take shots at him.” Kayano explained as she walked Karasuma over to where they had Korosensei tied up and hanging from a tree. “Isn’t he totally the coolest teacher ever or what!”

Karasuma followed Kayano as she went to stand by Nagisa. He stopped behind the two, taking in the scene. The target hung in the tree but still managed to dodge every attack the class made at him.

“So, any luck yet?” Kayano questioned Nagisa.

“No.” Nagisa sighed, his eyes never leaving the target. He was hoping to spot any opening in Korosensei’s movements, but he was just moving too quickly to even spot. “This is pretty much just a game to him.”

“This is not what the Ministry of Defence had in mind.” Karasuma sighed but the students took no notice of him as Nagisa continued.

“Wait! Hang on a minute,” Nagisa pulled his notebook from his pocket. “There is bound to be a corresponding weakness.”

Laughter came from Korosensei as his face showed the green stripes of his superiority mood, “Shoot and stab all you want class but even with this handicap I am too fast for you!” He mocked, “Only in your dreams will you have any hope of getting the deed done!” Suddenly Korosensei was on the ground, the branch he hung from lay next to him snapped from the tree.

The class froze as time caught up with them and they stared down at their tied-up teacher. A whole minute went by before anyone could react to the change of situation. Then as suddenly as the minute came, it went, and the class started to chase their teacher all screaming and shouting.

“Wait! Wait! Wait!” Korosensei shouted as he rolled away from the stampede of knives and BBs. “This wasn’t part of the deal!” He defended. The students ignored his pleas as they continued after him.

Nagisa, Kayano and Karasuma hadn’t moved from their spot as they watched the scene unfold. Nagisa looked down to his notes,

“When he shows off, things get shaky.” Nagisa read off the second page.

“Well, I’m sure your notes will come in handy at some point.” Kayano sighed, giving the blunette a smile.

“Hm.” Karasuma hummed, not so much in agreement but the fact that he was surprised that one student had started taking notes on their target’s weaknesses. The ministry hadn’t noticed that when the target got overconfident that he started to make mistakes, yet. It was proof that this program may just work. The students may not see how it will be relevant now, but that knowledge may come in handy later in the coming year.

“Right!” Nagisa’s voice broke Karasuma out of his thought process. “That’s why I’m jotting everything down!” The two seemed to ignore their teachers' cries of tangled tentacles and ‘oh crap’s.

“Stop it! Stop it!” Korosensei shouted, his head turning red. “Stop it all of you! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!” His voice kept getting higher as he continued repeating the same two words. Suddenly he was out of his ropes and in the air. This gained Nagisa and Kayano’s attention but not for long as Nagisa went back to his notebook and started jotting down the next weak point.

‘Korosensei’s weak point #2: He has an unusually short fuse.’

“Nufufu! What’s the matter children? Can’t jump this high! Oh wait, of course not! Nufufu” Korosensei gloated from the rooftop.

“Hey! Get back down here!” Okajima shouted, glaring up at their teacher.

“Oh man! We were so close!” Kimura growled. Others were groaning in agreement as Korosensei laughed maniacally.

Panting and groaning quickly followed Korosensei’s laughter as he glared down at the students, “Guess who just earned themselves extra homework.”

“No fair!” The class shouted along with a fair few inappropriate insults.

Nagisa looked back down at his notebook before jotting down another fact.

‘Korosensei weak points #3: No tolerance’

“I really don’t think we can’t count that as a weakness, Nagisa,” Kayano sighed as she read over his shoulder.

“You never know what could serve as a weakness until the time is right.” Nagisa replied.

Karasuma watched the class as the target took off to the sky. How would these kids deal with endless disappointment? It was still the early days. How long until they stop bouncing back? How many failures will it take before they lose the will to continue?

“We’re getting close! I can feel it!” Kataoka turned to face the class. Her smile was large, and she moved with as much energy as Kayano showed when Karasuma arrived.

“Keep this up and it’s only a matter of time before we get it!” Isogai agreed, pumping up the class.

Yada smiled, gun in hand while Okano jumped and cheered with a knife in one hand and a gun in the other. Maehara wrapped his arm around Mimura as the two boys fist bumped each other. Kataoka and Okajima started to talk strategy with Kimura jumping in.

Karasuma sighed. They were being asked for so much. They had so much pressure on their shoulders. How could they stay positive? Was it child nativity or were they all just acting for each other to keep spirits high? How much more could they take before they start to crack? But…

A bunch of junior high kids, keyed up on killing…

Strangest class ever.

Chapter Text

Somewhere in the Ministry of Defence’s Headquarters sat a boy no older than 15. He had a few healing bruises hidden beneath clothes on his pale skin. His red hair was short and unstyled. His mercury eyes were cold and sharp as he looked over the two agents in front of him.

“As you can see our situation is a desperate one,” The female agent explained. “Needless to say, this information is shared in the strictest confidence. If you break the non-disclosure clause, you will be subjected to a memory wipe.” She finished her speech.

“Yikes.” The boy looked back down to the file that he was handed. The picture of the overly large yellow octopus was centred at the top of the page. This monster was supposed to be his teacher. It was the most ridiculous thing he had heard in a while.

“Your fellow classmates have already been debriefed and are trying their best but so far to no effect.” The agent continued, “Once your suspension has ended you will report to E-class and assess the situation from there you are authorised to do as you see fit.”

“Whatever,” The boy threw the file to the side and focused on the knife in his hand, testing it. It seemed to be made of rubber and it bent and wiggled with impact. “You expect me to take him down with this?”

“Correct.” The agent answered, “That knife, while harmless to humans, was designed specifically with your target in mind.”

“Human, not human, doesn’t matter to me.” He stabbed a hole into the file containing his target's information. “Either way I’m good.” He sighed, dropping the knife and file to the floor. “Should be a lot of fun,” He smiled up to the agents showing off his sharp canines. “I’ve always wanted to kill a teacher.”

“See ya Nagisa!” Sugino called as he ran to catch his train.

“Yeah, bye” He called after his friend. Nagisa sighed wondering how long he could stay out of the house before she would get angry that he wasn’t home. He turned away from the station wondering where he could go. He could go to one of his favourite manga stores, but he could possibly run into Fuwa again and while he likes his classmates, he didn’t really feel like being the polite and friendly Nagisa he shows to the class at the moment. Maybe he could go to the library and do some research on assassins and see if he could get some idea who Korosensei might really be. Did researching Korosensei’s past in a public library go against the non-disclosure agreement?

Before Nagisa could decide where he was going, a hand grabbed the back of his collar and dragged him into a nearby alleyway. Another hand covered his month before he could shout out and the next thing he knew he was against an alleyway wall, facing the person who grabbed him. Luckily for the two of them Nagisa had recognised Karma’s red hair before he let several years of combat training muscle memory out on the taller boy.

“I’m going to remove my hand and you’re not going to scream, got it?” Karma asked carefully. Nagisa fixed him with the most unimpressed look he could get while being held against a wall in an alleyway. “You’re supposed to nod Nagisa, gods, don’t you have any survival skills?” Despite the question, Karma released Nagisa.

“I do, but it’s you so I don’t really care because I know you won’t hurt me.” Nagisa stated. He wasn’t in the mood to entertain Karma today. “What do you want, Karma?”

“Wow! In the delinquent class for all of a month and you’ve changed!” Karma remarked, “Or are you just acting tough?”

“Karma I’m really not in the mood and I need to go home.” Nagisa turned to leave.

“If you’re going home then why are you heading away from the station?” The redhead questioned following the blunette. Nagisa froze, not really having an answer to give. Karma inspected Nagisa closely, they both knew why Nagisa didn’t want to go home but neither were going to say anything without the other encouraging the conversation. Karma sighed, “Come on I’m hungry, let’s get something to eat.” Karma moved past Nagisa, taking the boy’s bag off his shoulder as he continued to the closest fast-food restaurant.

“Hey! Karma, give that back!” Nagisa shouted as he chased after the taller boy.

“While we eat you can catch me up on what I’ve missed at school while I’ve been on suspension, for example since when were you and the Baseball Geek friends?” Karma stated, not returning Nagisa’s bag to him.

What he said made Nagisa realise how long Karma had been watching him for and the fact that Karma was watching him and didn’t just see him and decide to mess with him. Continuing with the no nonsense act he had made for himself in the alleyway, he replied,

“Sugino and I have been friends since you decided you like violence more than me and ditched me because I didn’t fit in with your aesthetic.”

Karma tried not to flinch at Nagisa's reply and the tone he used. Nagisa did sound hurt about how their friendship ended and honestly he did feel guilty. If he could go back in time and punch himself, he would. He missed not talking to Nagisa, it was why he stopped attending school as often and started to pick more fights. But Karma couldn’t apologise now, it was too late and while he knew Nagisa would accept the apology, he didn’t want him too. They couldn’t go back to acting like they had before, he had hurt Nagisa too much to make him suffer like that.

“Well, that’s news to me! So, what are our other classmates like? None I’ve beaten up before, right? ‘Cause that would be awkward.” Karma retorted back.

Nagisa sighed. Karma walked a few steps ahead of him, still holding his school bag hostage. Why was Karma here? What did he want? Nagisa stopped walking, “Karma, what are you doing here?”

Karma stopped and turned to face Nagisa, taking a couple steps closer, towering over him. “I told you I’m hungry and I don’t want to eat alone.”

“Why are you even near the school? You’re suspended.” Nagisa argued back.

“I won’t be soon. I had a couple of meetings about me going into E-class and all the shit that goes with it and now I’m hungry and bored.” Karma turned back around and headed towards their destination while Nagisa stayed frozen looking down at his feet.

Karma knows about Korosensei. He had too, what other meetings could he be talking about that he’d actually attend. That was why he was asking about the class and what he had missed, because while it had only been a month since school started, Karma could skip the whole semester and still place high in the finals if he wanted.

Nagisa looked back up to realise Karma had left his field of vision before noticing the sign of the McDonalds that Karma was most likely in. He moved towards the store hoping Karma wouldn't go through his things and that he was in the restaurant.

When Nagisa finally entered the restaurant, Karma sat at a table with his order and Nagisa’s bag in front of him.

“Oh good, I was starting to think you just ditched your bag with me and went home.” Karma stated as Nagisa sat across from him. He slid the food he had gotten for the shorter male across the table along with his school bag. “I got some food for you; I hope you still like what you used too.” 

Nagisa inspected the food in front of him. He wasn’t worried Karma had poisoned it but was more shocked that he remembered all the details of his order. He looked back up to Karma in shock before shaking his head and smiling a soft smile, “Thank you.”

“I take it, I got it right, then?” Karma asked through chewing his burger.

Nagisa scrunched his nose up at Karma’s actions, knowing he was doing it on purpose to annoy him. “Yes, you did.”

“So, what’s our new teacher like? Is he as bad as the last one?” Karma questioned.

“You know I can’t say anything until you come to class,” Nagisa sighed, “It's a suspension for a reason, it’s supposed to be a punishment. You can’t know things before you go back and everyone will know it was me that told you, they all know we were friends.”

“Fine then, who else in class D dropped into E-class other than us and the Baseball Geek? You can at least tell me that?”

“Kimura, Hara, Mimura and Muramatsu.” Nagisa answered.

“So, the guy with the weird name and hates being called it, the girl who used to share baked sweets back in first year before someone called her fat, the plain looking guy with the film obsession and the noddle guy?” Karma summarised.

“Do you only remember people by their skills or the thing they hate about themselves?” Nagisa sighed. He knew Karma knew them all by name, that the nicknames and odd facts were a way to make him seem less connected to the class so he couldn’t care about their names.

“I really don’t care about their names or their feelings, Nagisa I thought you knew this about me.” Karma jokes. Nagisa rolled his eyes as he stood up.

“Look Karma, I really need to go home. My mother will be angry if I’m not home soon and I have homework to do.” Nagisa started to pack up his things and collect his rubbish as Karma stood and copied his actions.

“Okay, I’m on the same train as yours so we can continue the conversation when we head home.” Karma started to head to the door, leaving Nagisa nothing to do but follow.

The walk was silent back to the train, both wanting to ask the obvious questions about why neither wanted to go home but they already knew the answer, so why bother opening those cans of worms.

Their train had arrived as soon as they reached the platform, so they didn’t need to wait around awkwardly. Neither knew how to act around the other after everything that had happened between them.

Nothing was said through their train trip as the dread of going home started to fill their bodies and got fuller at every station closer to theirs the train stopped at. The ride passed quickly and awkwardly and the two were suddenly stepping off the train, this was where they would split and head different ways home.

“Well, bye.” Nagisa whispered before turning away and heading home.

“Nagisa wait.” He didn’t shout it; he didn’t need to. In fact, his voice was quite low. Karma watched as Nagisa stopped but didn’t turn around. “They told me what happened with the grenade.” Nagisa tensed but he didn’t run, which was something. “I just need to know; did you want to die? Or did the others force you to do it?”

“Yes.” Nagisa stated as he turned back to face Karma, “When I agreed to the plan, I wanted to die.” Karma stared at him in shock, “No one in my life cares about what happens to me, I’m either my mother’s doll or my father’s tool.” Nagisa took a deep breath as tears fought to be released. Karma looked down at his feet, did he also play a part in Nagisa’s decision? “But then when I was getting closer and closer, I kept thinking about everything I’ll miss and then when the grenade went off, I realised that for the first time in a long time I was having fun, I was making friends and, in that moment, I didn’t want to die.” Nagisa looked down at his feet, “I’m lucky that sensei managed to save me, or I really don’t know what would have happened.”

Karma swallowed. He looked back up from the ground. Had Nagisa felt like this when they were friends? He knew about his mother’s obsession but whenever Nagisa spoke of his father he had nothing but praise. What did he mean by ‘tool’? “You know my door is always open when she gets too much, right? I know we’re not close anymore, but I-” Karma stopped himself. No, he couldn’t do that to Nagisa. He had already put him through so much pain, saying that will just hurt him more.

“You what?” Nagisa asked. He was glaring at Karma, begging him to say it. To say that he still cares. That they were still friends.

“I should go, and you should too.” With that said Karma turned around and started his walk home.

Nagisa sighed. Karma doesn’t do feelings. Nagisa knew that but why was he hoping, praying even, that he had changed. He should know better. Nagisa was Karma’s puppet just like he was for his parents.

Chapter Text

“One! Two! Three!” The class chanted as they moved through the knife motions Karasuma-sensei has taught them. “Four! Five! Six! Seven! Eight!”

“Ah, sounds of a choreographed exercise regimen echoing across the fields on a golden afternoon,” Korosensei sighed as he watched over the class’s training. “So peaceful, militant.”

“Make those knives seen! Treat every move like a legit kill strike!” Karasuma-sensei commanded from next to the Octopus teacher. “You’re in the way here pal, phys ed is my department now.”

“But I’m lonely!” Korosensei cried.

“Find something else to do then,” Karasuma-sensei sighed before pointing in the other direction “There’s a sandbox, have a field day.”

“Are we supposed to ignore their conversation?” Sugino panted as he continued going through the motions.

“And here I thought there were only 26 students in Karasuma-sensei’s care.” Maehara agreed. Muffled laughter was drowned out by other students counting.

Crying could be heard from the sandbox area along with a shout, “You don’t have to be so insensitive! The kids liked it better when I was their gym coach anyway!”

The counting stopped abruptly at the statement as the class stopped to stare at their homeroom teacher disbelief.

“Yeah, not so much.” Sugaya sighed, “No offence or anything but when it comes to exercise you…” He trailed off not knowing how to word the rest of his sentence without making their teacher cry.

“Set the bar kind of high.” Sugino finished for Sugaya as he recalled one of Korosensei’s ‘easy’ phys ed classes. “Like when you did that jumping warm up.”

“Oh yeah, the one with the cat’s cradle?” Nakamura jumped in, “Like we could keep up with that.”

“We’re human beings you know, I for one think our coach should be too.” Sugino shrugged.

“You could have been a little gentler Sugino.” Nagisa sighed as Korosensei started crying over the rock tower he had built.

“Alright! Back to work people!” Karasuma-sensei called, getting the attention of the class once again and mentally cursing the octopus for distracting the class.

“Can I ask an obvious question, sensei?” Maehara asked as the class crowded back towards Karasuma-sensei. “If there is an actual point to this training, should we be practising right in front of our target?”

“Whether killing or studying, it’s the same principle, drill the basics and they will serve you well.” Karasuma answered, “Isogai, Maehara, step up.” The two cast a nervous glance at each other before stepping towards their teacher. “I want you to try to tag me with those knives.”

“Wait! Like as a team?” Isogai questioned, glancing between Maehara and Karasuma-sensei. “Do you think that’s a good idea?”

“The blades are harmless; they weren’t designed to injure human beings” Karasuma-sensei stated as he loosened his tie. “Tell you what, manage to hit me and you can go home for the day.” Karasuma-sensei smirked as whispers filled the class.

“Okay.” Isogai agreed, he could think of a hundred things he could do with the extra free time for his family.

“Here goes nothing.” Maehara agreed, knowing what his friend was thinking.

Isogai lunged first, the move was obvious and easily dodged by Karasuma-sensei. Maehara moved next, slashing his knife towards their teacher’s face. Karasuma-sensei barely moved as he knocked his knife away.

“Come on.” Karasuma-sensei taunted as he continued to dodge the two’s strikes, “See that kids! Even with the bare minimum know-how, I can practically dodge their attacks in my sleep.” He kept moving around and dodging the two’s attacks. “They’ve got no technique.”

Maehara and Isogai looked at each other, deciding to charge at the same time. The two moved forward in sync, knives pointed directly at Karasuma-sensei’s face. Quicker than the two could comprehend, their teacher’s hands were on their wrists and they were heading towards the ground.

“If you can’t land a hit against a guy like me, you haven’t got a prayer against a target whose top speed is Mach 20.” Karasuma-sensei glared down at the two students on the ground, “See, we haven’t even been sparring for half a minute and look! He’s had time to change clothes, make tea and build a model of Osaka castle.”

“That is so irritating!” Okajima hissed in defence of his classmates.

“That’s why we drill, when the whole class can hit me, you have a shot.” Karasuma-sensei helped the two up from the ground and readjusted his tie. “Do as I tell you, as often I tell you to do it, you’ll become assassins.” He turned to face the class, “This isn’t recess kids, from now on gym class will be about the basics; stabbing, the correct use of firearms, everything you need to succeed in your mission.” He looked over the students, trying to pick out the breadwinners, “All right! That ought to do it for today!”

“Thank you, sensei!” The class bowed towards their teacher as the bell rang and the class headed back to the old building to get changed for class.

“We’ve got a quiz in sixth period.” Sugino groaned as he and Nagisa walked together.

“Right! They should just let us go home after gym,” Nagisa agreed. He had a bad feeling that he wasn’t going to do well in the quiz because for the past week he hasn’t been able to focus on anything but what happened with Karma. All Nagisa wanted right now was a clear head. He hadn’t thought about Karma since the grenade incident and now all he could do was think about him like a lovesick schoolgirl. Where was he? When was he coming back to school? Was he supposed to be back already but just skipping like before? Most importantly, why did Karma even care that he tried to kill himself? It wasn’t like they’re close friends anymore. If we aren’t close friends, then why do you care when Karma is coming back? That stupid voice in the back of his head is another one of the reasons he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Karma. The most annoying thing about it was that it used to encourage Nagisa to forget about Karma and now all it wanted to do was remember him again.

Suddenly as if reading his mind Karma was atop the steps to the school building, a smirk on his face and a strawberry milk in his hand. The wind blew his red hair around his face as his mercury eyes skimmed over the class.

“Nagisa, sup. It’s been a while” Karma eyes were solely on Nagisa, daring him to say something about their previous encounter the week before. Daring him to act like he did when they were with each other last. To drop the act and maybe Nagisa should do that. After all, the act is what is slowly killing him.

But instead Nagisa said, “Karma, you’re back.”

And just like that Karma’s attention drifts. Nagisa isn’t fun when he doesn’t play Karma’s games.

“Oh hey! That must be the notorious Korosensei!” Karma walked down the steps and pushed through Sugino and Nagisa making a beeline towards Korosensei, “Wow, he really does look like an octopus!”

The class stared in shock as Karma made his way to the teacher. It was almost as if Nagisa could read their minds, he knew what they were thinking.

‘That’s Akabane Karma? I thought he’d be buffer.’

‘What is he going to do to Korosensei? Try to fight him hand to tentacle?’

‘Is he even supposed to be on school grounds right now?’

‘I thought he and Nagisa were friends? Why did he just ignore him like that?’

“Ah, Mister Akabane.” Korosensei looked down upon the approaching redhead, “I understand that your suspension ends today, welcome back.” Korosensei's face suddenly turned purple as he continued, “However, tardiness is a no-no.”

Karma laughed a polite and kind laugh that Nagisa had never heard before and was obviously fake, but it seems Korosensei bought the act. “It’s kind of tricky getting back into the swing of things, oh, and feel free to call me by my first name.” Karma smiled and held out his hand in a western greeting styled handshake, “Anyway, I’ve heard some good things teach, nice to meet ya.”

“The pleasure is all mine, should be a fun and educational year!” Korosensei agreed as he took Karma’s hand to shake but as soon as Korosensei’s tentacle hand touched Karma’s it burst just like when Korosensei shot his tentacle earlier in the year. Not even a second later the strawberry milk was flying through the air and Karma had a knife swinging towards Korosensei’s neck but as quick as Karma could move, Korosensei was quicker. Suddenly Korosensei was facing Karma ten meters away from where he was before.

“Wow, you are fast aren’t ya and who would have thought these knives actually work!” Karma held up his hand so everyone could see he had taped cut up pieces of an anti-sensei knife to the palm of his hand. “I just cut one up into strips and tacked them on, pretty elementary stuff chief, I’m disappointed that was all it took to catch up by surprise but good jump! If you don’t mind coming off like a fraidy-cat.” Karma looked over at Korosensei as he slowly started to approach him. “What are you scared of me?”

Nagisa watched in shock. He knew Karma would do well in this class, better than their previous class but wounding Korosensei within the first few minutes he was here truly shocked him. Could Nagisa do that if he had tried harder? Shown his true colours the moment he became their teacher? Drop his act and go all out? He had the training. Karasuma-sensei’s lessons are just jogging his memory. His muscle memory had never faded, even after two years with minimal training. Could he do it? Could he make Korosensei scared of him like Karma?

“I heard they call you Korosensei ‘cuz you’re supposed to be unkillable.” Karma stopped right in front of Korosensei and lent in, “Come on, no way you could be this big of a push over.”

Korosensei was turning red. His veins were raised and looked next to bursting. He was shaking, but not in fear, anger. Anger was coursing through his veins. Korosensei couldn’t hurt the students. That was rule number one. Karma was wounding not just his body but his ego too and that hurt the prideful teacher more than a lost tentacle.

“Hey Nagisa,” Kayano questioned approaching the said boy. She hadn’t heard much about Karma, except that he had been on suspension since the year prior. Well before she ever even thought about enrolling into the school. Her sister never mentioned him, but then again, her sister didn’t really talk about her students often and what better way to learn about the new player in her game then ask about them to the person they addressed “What type of person is this Karma guy?”

“Uh well, he and I were in the same class in our first and second years,” Nagisa started. “He was violent, so violent they suspended him and shipped him here, E-class is where they send you when they don’t know what to do with you.” Nagisa finished, looking back over to Karma and Korosensei. “Thing is, under the circumstances, he might end up a star student.”

“Uh what do you mean?” Kayano questioned frowning. How could someone so violent be a star student?

“Weapons and blood are his passion and it’s not like he isn’t smart either, he is in the top 10 of our year when it comes to grades.” Nagisa sighed, “Trust me if anyone can kill our teacher, it will be him.” Nagisa’s eyes hadn’t left Karma as he watched Karma leave Korosensei alone and started to head back to the school.

“Stick around next time Korosensei, I’ll show you what it’s like to be assassinated!” Karma called over his shoulder. “You won’t want to miss it!” Karma’s grin could be described as feral and animalistic as he made his way through the gathered class stopping short of the stairs and turning back to look at Nagisa. “Well, are you coming or not Nagisa?” He asked before ascending the stairs, not giving Nagisa a chance to answer.

The class’s stares turned to Nagisa as he turned red at the attention.

“Jealous prick.” Nagisa muttered under his breath before going to follow.

“Man, I forgot Karma and Nagisa were friends.” Mimura stated as he watched the blunette go.

“They aren’t,” Sugino stated. “Nagisa told me Karma had been ignoring him since second semester last year.”

“I think this is a more ‘He was my friend first’ kind of situation.” Hazama smirked.

“What do you mean?” Sugino questioned the girl.

“You and Nagisa weren’t really close before this year, right?” Hazama questioned. Sugino nodded in agreement. “Even though he and Nagisa fell apart, Karma still feels that he has more claim on Nagisa than the rest of us do.” Hazama shrugged.

“What are you saying? That the punk is jealous that the pip squeak has other friends? How pathetic.” Terasaka laughed.

“Pathetic maybe, but if I were you, I would hope that he never finds out about the grenade thing.” Hazama replied. Silence filled the class at the reminder. It had only been a couple of weeks since then, but it had felt like a lot longer. With nothing else to say about the new addition to the class, the class headed back inside ready for some more class work.

The classroom was silent except for a repeated squish of Korosensei’s tentacle hitting the wall. The class were taking their quiz and were getting annoyed with its sound.

“What is he doing?” Mimura whispered to Yada. He was more focused on their teacher than the paper in front of him. Korosensei will hopefully understand that he was the reason that Mimura won’t get a good grade on this quiz.

“I don’t know,” Yada stated. “I think he is punching the wall.” She guessed. She too was getting distracted by the teacher.

“No, you’re right,” Isogai jumped in confirming the theory. “Karma’s smack talk has really touched a nerve.” He was still trying to focus on the paper, but the repeated punches were getting on his nerves, and he had two little siblings at home, so he knew a thing or two about patience.

“But what’s the point of punching a wall when his tentacles are too soft to do any damage.” Maehara had completely given up on his quiz and had stood up to see if the wall was doing any damage.

Nagisa had looked up at that point to investigate what was going on. He had to agree with Maehara as he took in the scene of his teacher facing away from them.  The endless squishing noise rebounding around the classroom. He had no idea what the class had spoken about after he left to follow Karma. But Sugino and Kayano seemed to want to stay even closer to him than before. In fact, even Terasaka was keeping an eye on him. Were they worried Karma would hurt him? That didn’t matter at the moment, he could question them later. Nagisa quietly slipped out his notebook to quickly write some notes about the events unfolding.

‘Korosensei’s weak point #4: His punches are soft’

“Okay!” Okano shouted, gaining everyone’s attention. “That’s enough! Could you stop that! We’re trying to take a quiz here!” It seemed Korosensei drew out Okano’s patience as her face was red while she was yelling at their teacher.

Korosensei’s alarmed face showed that he had no idea what the students were talking about. Let alone that they were talking during a quiz. “Yes! Sorry, absolutely.” He stuttered.

Terasaka huffed at the scene in the front of the classroom. He glanced at the newly occupied seat next to him. The redhead had been leaning back in his seat for the last few minutes. He had barely even touched his pen to the paper and that annoyed Terasaka for some reason. In fact, everything about Karma annoyed Terasaka. The fact that Karma thinks he could walk into class late and make a move on the teacher and then boss Nagisa around, pissed him off. “You sure you know what you’re doing, Karma?” He asked, trying to get under the redhead’s skin. “The jellyfish is seriously pissed off at you.”

“You can’t pay me enough to be in your shoes.” Yoshida backed Terasaka up.

“If I were you, I’d stay at home with my hand under my pillow.” Muramatsu agreed, recalling the last time they pissed the octopus off.

“Of course, he’s pissed.” Karma stated, turning to face the three. “Who wouldn’t be if someone made an attempt on their life.” He smirked. His eyes narrowed on Terasaka, “‘Less the would-be assassin screwed up and pissed himself in the process.”

Muramatsu and Yoshida froze as Terasaka gasped, slamming his fist on his desk.

“I didn’t piss myself!” He growled out. “That attitude is going to get your ass kicked!”

“Quiet please!” Terasaka’s outburst caught the attention of Korosensei, “No noise during a quiz.”

“Tell that to your tentacles.” Maehara muttered.

“If you continue to talk, I’ll assume you are cheating!” Korosensei spoke over Maehara’s complaint.

“Sorry Korosensei, my bad.” Karma stated politely, “No worries though, I’ve already finished.” He smiled, pulling something out from under his desk, “I’m just going to eat this gelato if that’s okay.”

Barely registering what food item Karma brought out of his desk Korosensei started talking, “Not so fast! No eating in class!” Korosensei took in the gelato Karma was eating and made the connection that the gelato was his. “Hey! That’s the gelato I brought back from Italy yesterday!”

The class groaned. They were never going to be finishing this quiz if these antics continued.

“Sorry, my bad.” Karma smirk watching the teacher shake from anger. “I just saw it chilling in the faculty lounge.” With a shrug he started to eat the gelato, ticking the teacher off more.

“This won’t do you man!” Korosensei scolded. “I flew through the coldest layer of the stratosphere to keep that delicious treat from melting!”

“Really?” Karma smirked. He took another bite from it. “What are you gonna do about it?” Karma smirk grew when he saw Korosensei’s red face, he just needed to push him a little further. “Hit me?”

“Of course not!” Korosensei said diligently. “I will simply take it back and finish what is left!”

Nagisa wanted to hammer his head into his desk. He knew what was coming and he understood what Karma was trying to do.

‘Karma why are we in here?’ Nagisa questioned. He had just followed Karma inside the faculty lounge.

‘I’m looking for that creature’s belongings. I have a plan and I need something of his that will trigger him to get angry.’ Karma explained as he was rummaging through the desks.

‘Korosensei has a short fuse and he likes his food, it's one of the only things I’ve seen my care a lot about.’ Nagisa supplied.

‘Well then I should be looking in the fridge!’ Karma laughed as he started rummaging through the fridge, having given up on the desks. ‘uh-huh!’ Karma cheered, pulling out some gelato, ‘This will do quite nicely.’

‘What are you planning, Karma?’

‘I can’t tell you that! It will ruin the surprise!’ Karma exclaimed walking back towards the classroom. Nagisa had no choice but to follow behind.

The tell-tale bang of Korosensei’s tentacle bursting took the class by surprise. Did someone manage to stab him? No one fired a gun. Korosensei looked down to his feet to see anti-sensei BBs covered the floor. When did he put those there?

Karma pulled out his gun and started shooting at the stunned target. Korosensei did manage to dodge and move away but it was delayed by a few milliseconds. Karma laughed, “Wow! That’s two in one day, teach!” Karma gun stayed aimed at the teacher’s chest as he walked forward, “I’m going to keep pulling the same old tricks, class will get interrupted, then our grades will slip.” Karma stopped when his gun touched his chest, “Let’s be straight up though if you want this to stop you can just kill me or anyone else in this class for that matter.” Karma swapped the gun for the gelato and rubbed it into his teaching robes, “You just gotta let go of wanting us to see you as our teacher.” He dropped the cone to the ground, “Give us a taste of your ugly side or you can make peace with all this and accept that I will be the one to kill you.” Karma took a step back before pushing pass and dropping his paper in front of Korosensei. “Here’s my quiz, easy peasy.” He walked to the door calling over his shoulder, “Pease out for now teach, what do you say we play again tomorrow.” With that as his last taunt he left the building.

Nagisa looked back down to his paper, sighing. Karma is not afraid to go there, he knows exactly what buttons to push. Case in point, he drew a line in the sand that Korosensei couldn’t cross without changing the way we all saw him. It took nerve. It also took homing in on his target’s weakness. He’s clever, he’s manipulative, he’s ice cold, he sees what makes you tick and how to exploit it, he’s everything I’m not, he’s what my father wanted in a successor. If anyone could do this, it's him.

Chapter Text

Karma didn’t come back to class after his last attempt and so Nagisa walked to the station with Sugino once the school day was over. He kept an eye out for Karma as they strolled down the mountain and towards the station, he had no doubt that Karma would be watching them like last time.

“Why are you friends with him?” Sugino asked. He had been silent since they left the school. Nagisa guessed this was why.

“He was the first person who was nice to me.” Nagisa stated. Sugino looked shocked at the answer. Who would ever expect Akabane Karma to be nice? “When we started back in first year, I didn’t know anyone,” Nagisa explained. “I had been home-schooled since my parents’ divorce and my father took me in, I didn’t know anyone my own age or how to interact with them. I was the weird, quiet kid.”

“But Karma being nice still sounds strange.” Sugino defended.

“Maybe to you, but I saw a different side of Karma that he didn’t show to anyone else, and he can relate with me when it comes to parents who are always travelling.” Nagisa shrugged. He could also relate to never being shown love if you didn’t earn it.

“Sorry Nagisa but I still can’t believe there is a nice bone in Karma’s body and if there was, I’m ninety percent sure he broke it during his fights.” Sugino stated. Karma and nice shouldn’t be in the same sentence, unless they were describing the opposite of him. “Why do you listen to him and let him boss you around?” He questioned. “And I know that isn’t just your nature, Nagisa, I’ve seen your sassy side.”

“I don’t know, it's just the way it’s always been.” Nagisa shrugged. “I don’t always listen to him like a puppet, if that’s what you think!”

The two were at the station and Sugino was going to have to run off soon to make his train and Nagisa was thankful for that. He was hoping Sugino would decide not to continue the conversation the next day.

“I’ll see you tomorrow Nagisa.” Sugino sighed as he moved towards his platform.

“Yeah, bye!” Nagisa called back as he watched Sugino leave. Before Nagisa could turn towards his destination he heard the familiar voices of his old classmates and bullies Chosuke Takada and Nobuta Tanaka.

“Are you kidding me?” Nobuta spoke loudly, clearly wanting Nagisa to hear the conversation, “Is that actually Nagisa?” He snickered; his round face scrunched up around his nose. His brown hair was spiked up to make him seem taller, it didn’t. Nagisa clenched his fist as he continued, “Look at that guy, all cozy with the E-Class dumbasses.”

“Ew gross,” Chosuke agreed. His black hair was combed to the side and his glasses rested on the end of his nose. It was apparently a technique to make people see he was looking down on them. “Gotta hand it to him, he’s adapted to the crowd he’s going to spend the rest of his life with.” He laughed. Nagisa looked down at his feet. His eyes were stinging, why were they stinging? He shouldn’t care what they had to say about him. They were right after all, Nagisa will end up on the wrong side of the law just like his father. He just hoped no one in E-Class would be there with him.

“Hey, did you hear the news about Akabane?” Nobuta asked his friend. “Now that his suspension is over, they shoved that insane freak over to E-Class.”

“No kidding?” Chosuke asked, “I’d rather be dead than be stuck in a class with that nut case again.”

Before Chosuke could even finish his sentence, a glass bottle broke over their heads. Suddenly Karma stood in front of the two, the neck of the bottle in his hand. He towered over them menacingly, his grin animalistic.

“Seriously?” The red-haired demon questioned sarcastically. “I can help you out with that!” He pointed the broken bottle to their throats as he smiled. “It will be messy but real quick.”

“I’d rather live thanks!” Nobuta shouted as he took off running in the other direction, Chosuke following close behind him.

Karma smirked looking over at Nagisa. “Te, Like I’d actually do anything right?” Karma laughed as Nagisa approached him. “I’m not going to risk another suspension with the once in a lifetime deal they’ve given me in E-Class.”

“Uh hey,” Nagisa looked up at Karma. “You didn’t need to do that; I could have handled it.”

“Handled it how? By crying?” Karma looked down at Nagisa. Why did he still care about him? When did he start caring about him? “You know you’re an assassin, right? You could scare the shit out of them easily.”

“We shouldn’t be using the skills Karasuma-sensei is teaching us on the unsuspecting public.” Nagisa stated, “It's not right, they can’t fight back.”

“Okay I’m sorry about the scene, but at least they won’t be bothering you for a while.” Karma stated, wincing slightly at the apology that slipped out. Why does being around Nagisa make him weak? “Anyway, I wanted to speak to you.”

“Why?” Nagisa asked unsurely. What could Karma want from him?

“Don’t sound so worried Nagisa,” Karma laughed at Nagisa’s worried face. “I just want to pick your brain about the Octopus.” Nagisa nodded and the two headed toward their platform. “I’ve noticed that you’ve been keeping notes on the Octopus.”

“Yeah,” Nagisa agreed. “I’m trying to find his weak spots.”

No doubt Nagisa couldn’t do that. He’s always been able to spot things before most people. Karma thought as he watched Nagisa go through the station gates. “Does he hate that nickname? The Octopus?”

“Now that you mention it, whenever he draws himself it's always as an octopus and that’s the skinny pic for his characters in every video game and there’s this thing he does in the sand box, he calls it octopus trap.” Nagisa explained, “So no I don’t think he minds at all, in fact I think it’s like his personal avatar or whatever, he loves it.” He summarized.

“Does he? That’s good.” Karma smirked, his face alight with planning and schemes. “Oh, this is going to be fucking epic.”

Nagisa sighed. He knew the look on Karma’s face, and it wasn’t going to end up well for anyone involved. “I know that look, you’re cooking up something really dark.”

“I might be.” Karma shrugged. He wasn’t going to let Nagisa in on this plan, cause the plan wasn’t to kill the monster, only the teacher. He turned to face Nagisa as he stood on the edge of the platform, “I was into this when I thought that he was a monster but now that I know what his personality is like; I finally get to kill an honest-to-goodness teacher.”

A train rushed past picking up the wind blowing everything around the station. The look on Karma’s face was something Nagisa hadn’t ever seen before. It was like looking into the face of his mother when she was in one of her moods. It was insanity and all Nagisa could do was watch. He couldn’t bring Karma back until he was done, just like his mother.

Karma ditched Nagisa after that, he didn’t even get on the train home. Instead, he had left the station muttering about dead teachers and octopi. Nagisa learnt what Karma did after he ditched him when he entered the classroom the next day. On Korosensei’s desk sat a dead octopus with a knife in its head. The sight honestly made him sick because he knew what it meant. He glanced over to the back of the room. The redhead sat there smirking as he took in everyone’s reactions. Nagisa sighed, he was still in that insane mood, but he was hiding it now, which made Nagisa more worried than before. He wanted to say something but didn’t know how to word it without Karma lashing out, so instead, he walked to his desk quietly and took a seat.

Kayano looked at Nagisa as he sat down, she was worrying her lip as she glanced between him and Karma before looking back at the octopus on their teacher’s desk. “Hey Nagisa, do you know what he’s planning?”

“No, but this is just the start of it. I don’t think we’re going to be learning much today.” Nagisa whispered. No doubt Karma knew what they were talking about. Everyone was whispering among each other about it, but no one dared say anything at full volume.

As the last of the class arrived everyone had gone silent waiting for Korosensei to walk in the door. They could hear him before they could see him, the tell-tale squish of his tentacles made it easy for them to distinguish between their two teachers. That and you can never hear Karasuma-sensei’s footsteps.

As the door slid open the class tensed in preparation.

“Good morning boys and girls!” Their homeroom teacher greeted them cheerly. “Eh? Why the long faces?” He questioned when no one greeted him back with either a bullet or a knife. It was becoming a common occurrence in the mornings. No one needed to answer his question when he took in the image of his desk. An octopus sat dead on his desk with a knife in its head. Before he could ask about the item the student responsible for it spoke up.

“Oops that’s on me!” Karma smirked as he leant back in his seat. “Yeah! I totally thought that it was you, an innocent mistake.” The redhead shrugged. “I stabbed it so I suppose I should get rid of it?”

Korosensei sighed, he was hoping Karma had calmed down overnight but it seemed that he had not. However, today was not going to be the same as yesterday. Karma had surprised him twice but now Korosensei knew that Karma was going to keep playing those surprise tactics and he would know how to counteract them. “Yes, you should.”

Korosensei walked towards Karma’s desk slowly, watching out for any anti-sensei BBs on the floor or knives sticking out from unseen angles. Karma’s grin widened with each step and that’s how Korosensei knew he had a knife on him ready to stab. At the last second before he could get in reach of the weapon, Korosensei sped away from the room and was back with the next second, a missile in hand.

“Observe if you will Karma, my boy,” Korosensei looked down at Karma as his tentacles turned into drills. “The versatility of these tentacles and the power of this missile yoinked from the self-defence force.” Karma stared dumbfounded as he watched Korosensei cook the octopus in front of him. “If you think I’m gonna let the new kid get away with murder, you’re dead wrong.” Korosensei then fed Karma one of his Takoyaki balls. “Don’t you know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” Karma spat out the Takoyaki as he looked at the teacher in shock. “Your complexion tells me you haven’t eaten yet so please, help yourself to this delicious Takoyaki, I insist.”

After the scene from that morning Karma made an attempt in every period but Korosensei thwarted each and everyone. Nagisa wasn’t shocked that Karma kept going. Both teacher and student were egging each other on. Karma plotted and Korosensei thwarted. It was like an endless cycle that was getting more and more desperate on each round as Karma started running out of ideas. That’s how Nagisa ended up on a cliff behind the old building watching Karma as he swung his legs over the edge.

“Come on man, I’m telling you not to sweat it.” Nagisa spoke. It was the first time they spoke since the station the day before. “We’ll do it together as a group.” Karma scoffed at that sentence but didn’t say anything, so Nagisa kept going. “You can have the sneakiest, most foolproof plan in the world ready to go but if Korosensei has his eye on you forget it, he’s not like other teachers.” Nagisa sighed, was reasoning with Karma like this going to calm him down or just wind him up further?

“Other teachers huh?” Karma muttered as he thought back to what other teachers were like. “You don’t understand, I want to do it on my own.” Karma looked below him at the rough terrain. “Let me ask you, would it tick you off to die in some random place?”

Nagisa didn’t get to answer due to Korosensei appearing.

“Oh Karma!” The teacher called, “I feel I have taken exceptionally good care of you today.” He was in a cocky mood as the green stripes appeared on his face. “Keep trying to kill me if that tickles your fancy, I certainly don’t get tired of spiffing you up.”

Karma smirked, he looked back down below his feet before standing up. “Just so we’re on the same page here, you pretty much consider yourself a teacher beyond everything else?” He questioned, his smirk never leaving his face. Korosensei nodded. “Cool and you wouldn’t think twice about putting yourself in the line of fire to save a student?”

“What type of teacher would I be if I did?” Korosensei retorted.

Karma’s eyes narrowed; he took a glance over at Nagisa wishing he wasn’t here. He didn’t want the blunette to watch but he had no choice. What a hypocrite. If he doesn’t die, Nagisa will lecture him until the blue moon. “Good to know,” Karma raised his gun at Korosensei. “I can kill you now.” With a smirk Karma fell backwards towards the rough terrain below.

Nagisa’s eyes widened as he ran to the edge. He had to stop himself from jumping after Karma and instincts kicked in. What was Karma thinking? Why would he jump? Was Karma that desperate to do this by himself that he’d want to die doing it? After their conversation the week before, he thought they were becoming friends again. How could Karma do this? He knew how Nagisa felt. Suddenly Nagisa understood. Him and Karma understood each other. With parents projecting their futures onto them. Having to earn their love and respect every day. The moving goal that was set for them. They feed off each other’s misery.

Nagisa barely registered Korosensei moving past him to catch Karma. He only pulled himself out of his own head when both teacher and student were back on the cliff with him.

“Thinking of jumping too Nagisa?” Korosensei questioned, “I hope you know I’ll catch you as well.” Korosensei looked between the two students. He hoped that both of their suicide attempts were simply creative ways to kill him and didn’t have a second agenda.

“How did you stay calm the entire time?” Nagisa questioned Karma, ignoring Korosensei.

“No big,” Karma shrugged. He was trying to come off as nonchalant about the entire situation and hopefully it was working because he won’t be able to stand Nagisa’s pitying look. “What really sucks is that was my best bet, nothing else I could come up with can even touch it.”

“Aww, run out of ideas already?” Korosensei broke into their conversation, “But I have an entire beauty regimen lined up just for you.” He complained. “Come on, no way you can be this much of a push over.”

Karma growled, “I still feel like killing something.” ‘But it's different this time somehow’ Karma sighed as he stood up and looked over at Korosensei. “Don’t worry teach, you’re still dead meat.” He smirked at the teacher.

Korosensei's face turned orange at Karma’s correct response. “That’s the spirit! Never give up!”

“Yeah, well let’s head back, Nagisa!” Karma called as he walked past the teacher throwing and catching something in his hand.  “We can grab some food on the way home.”

Korosensei saw what was in Karma’s hand and screamed. “Excuse me! That’s my purse!”

“Come on teach, you have got to stop leaving your things unattended in the faculty lounge.” Karma stated as he threw the purse to their teacher.

“Uh, this is empty.” Korosensei cried as he tipped the purse upside down to prove his point.

“There wasn’t much in there to start with.” Karma shrugged, a smirk playing on his lips. “Call it a donation.”

Korosensei looked close to fainting as he screamed about the so-called ‘donation’. The whole scene caused Nagisa to laugh, happy that Karma was no longer listening to his insanity and back to his normal tormenting self.

Every time one of us goes in for the kill we miss the mark but somehow end up better off. I guess that’s the way it goes in our assassination classroom.

Chapter Text

Nagisa stayed quiet as he and Karma descended the mountain. Karma continued to talk about different assassination plans and how they could take their teacher by surprise. When they reached the base Karma stopped and looked at Nagisa.

“I know that look.” Karma stated. “What are you thinking about?”

“Why’d you do it?” Nagisa asked the question plaguing his mind since they left the cliff.

Karma didn’t need to ask what he meant by it. He knew what Nagisa was talking about. “I guess you and I are a lot alike.” Karma sighed. He knew this was coming, he was hoping he could get some sushi into the blunette first to make him happy. “I mean the motivation behind it was to kill Korosensei, but I guess I have some unresolved issues as well.” Karma suddenly found it hard to swallow. In the back of his head, he had been hoping that Korosensei wouldn’t catch him, whether he had been too slow, or Karma killed him. “The only difference was I wasn’t wishing to be saved at the last minute like you were.” Karma turned away from Nagisa to avoid looking in his eyes. “I was hoping that I could kill him, and I die, or he just didn’t even try to save me.”

“Karma?” Nagisa asked, slowly approaching. He wanted to hold him, hug him but didn’t know how. He wanted Karma to look at him. To know that Nagisa could understand.

“I can’t make friends like you do!” Karma shouted, turning back to face him. “Everyone fears me or uses me! The only friend I ever had was you and I went and fucked that up too.” Karma’s vision was blurring. He wanted to run away but he couldn’t because Nagisa had caught his eyes and the look on Nagisa’s face wasn’t pity but understanding.

“I know how that feels, everyone using you for their own personal gain, you know what my mother can be like.” Nagisa stated, moving closer so they were chest to chest. “You were my only friend too and during that whole friendship I didn’t show you who I truly was, not because I didn’t trust you but so you wouldn’t be scared of me!” Nagisa kept Karma’s eyes. Watching as emotions flew through them. Shock, confusion, fear, anger. “But I slipped up right? Back in the diner last year before you started distancing yourself, started to get into more fights?” Nagisa sighed and stepped back. “We’ve been running around in circles for a while now and I’m not saying we should apologise and forget everything that happened but maybe we could start talking again, stop the acting.”

Karma watched Nagisa until he started to squirm under his eye, but he didn’t run. He was the only one who never ran. “I’m not apologising.” He stated firmly. “Because I know you will forgive me, and I don’t want to be forgiven.”

Nagisa laughed, “What makes you so sure I will forgive you?”

“Because you’re Shiota Nagisa, you may say that you’ve hidden your true self from the world, but I know who you are on the inside.” Karma shrugged like it would be obvious.

“Well then you’re not forgiven,” Nagisa joked before thinking about it more seriously. Did Nagisa even want to forgive Karma after everything that happened? “I’m not joking, I don’t want to forgive you.” Nagisa decided. “You’ve made me want to kill myself, you’ve made want to be everyone’s puppet even more than before, you hurt me Karma.”

Karma felt like a kicked puppy. He deserved everything Nagisa threw at him. “I’m glad we can agree on that.” Karma sighed, “How about we get some sushi and discuss what you’ve apparently been hiding from me.” Karma turned and walked away knowing Nagisa would follow.

The two walk slightly side-by-side with the weight of their past lifted off their shoulders. They’ve still got a lot of issues to get through but for now they could be a little lighter as they made their way to one of Nagisa’s favourite sushi restaurants.

“Let’s skip the small talk and get down to business.” Karma stated as soon as they were seated, “What are you hiding from me Nagisa and what did you do to me back in that diner.”

Nagisa looked Karma dead in the face and with no expression he said, “I’m an assassin.”

Karma snorted. “No shit sherlock, you’re in a class that’s main subject is assassination.”

“No, I mean I was an assassin, like a trained assassin, before I started junior high.” Nagisa stated.

Karma laughed so hard he almost fell off his seat. “I thought… we agreed… we’d stop… lying to each other.” Karma said between gasps of breath and laughter.

“Karma,” Nagisa stated seriously. His expression hadn’t changed since he started the conversation. Karma ignored him in favour of laughing. “Karma?” Karma was starting to attract the other restaurant goers’ attention. “Karma! People are staring at us.” Nagisa hissed. Reaching over Nagisa grabbed his wrist and pressed hard on his pulse causing Karma to flinch but he stopped laughing.

“Okay, say I believe you, which I don’t, prove it.” Karma smirked.

“How am I supposed to prove that I’m an assassin?” Nagisa questioned. His confusion broke into his expressionless exterior.

Karma simply shrugged as he took a plate of the conveyor belt, “Dress as a girl and hit on an unsuspecting guy.”

“And how exactly will that prove anything?” Nagisa asked as he copied Karma’s example of getting a plate. He knew he was going to regret asking that question before Karma even said anything.

“It just will and you’re willing to do anything to prove you’re not lying.” Karma stated as he started to eat the salmon nigiri that he had chosen.

It was like he had already planned this and was waiting to use it. “Why do I have the feeling you have already picked the target?” Nagisa asked.

Karma’s smirk was enough to go by as he pulled out his phone and swiped through the photos before finalising on one and showing it to Nagisa. The picture was of a boy with short strawberry blonde hair with bright violet eyes. He was handsome in a way that even straight men could appreciate. “Who is that?”

Karma laughed at Nagisa’s question. He seemed both shocked and somewhat happy that Nagisa had no clue who that was in the photo. “He’s the prince of our school, I’m surprised you don’t know who he is.”

“The prince of our school is Isogai, and no one can say otherwise.” Nagisa defended Isogai’s princely title.

“If I didn’t know better I’d think you had a crush on the class president himself,” Karma teased. “Look Asano is really our school’s prince because he’s-”

Karma never got to finish his sentence, “I’m not helping you get blackmail on the Chairman’s son.” Nagisa cut in.

“But Nagi!” Karma whined, “It’d be so much fun, think about what he’d do when he saw you in your uniform at school.” Karma got a devil’s look on his face, it was like Nagisa could see the horns and tail on him. “He’d freak out and he couldn’t tell anyone about why! It’d be so hilarious!” Karma started crackling at the thought of the scenario.

“Karma, I’m serious, I’m not going to do it.” Nagisa glared over the table at the redhead still crackling away. “Just don’t believe me about the way I was raised,” Nagisa shrugged as he stood up from the table and started to leave. “You’re paying right?” Nagisa called over his shoulder as he walked away.

It took Karma roughly ten minutes for him to catch up to Nagisa who had left him so kindly with their bill. In that time Karma did a little bit of reflecting on Nagisa’s proclamation. He was raised as an assassin? It would explain the constant travelling Nagisa did with his father and the way Nagisa said he was nothing more than his tool. It could also explain the way Nagisa’s mother treats him, but something told him that his mother didn’t know anything about assassination, and she was just a psychopathic bitch without the excuse. But still Nagisa, sweet, little, innocent Nagisa, is an assassin. He still couldn’t believe something so crazy and yet it started to make perfect sense. Even Korosensei said Nagisa held himself like a pro.

Karma finally comes across Nagisa at the station waiting for him to catch up.

“Took you long enough.” Nagisa grumbled as he stood up from the bench he had claimed.

Karma didn’t retort. He still had too much on his mind that he barely even registered that Nagisa was there.

“Karma?” Nagisa questioned when Karma didn’t answer but stared at him blankly, “Are you okay?”

“No.” Karma finally said something. “My friend just told me he is an assassin and has been one his entire life, but I don’t believe him because he is too kind and sweet and he hates violence and fighting, so much so he used to scold me whenever I started fights or ended them or even threatened people with them, so I can’t believe him even though he promised he wouldn’t lie to me and now I’m just so confused and I don’t know what is going on in my head anymore.” Karma’s rant continued as Nagisa tried to understand what he was seeing. He had never seen Karma look this confused and defeated and he didn’t know how to fix it. It took Karma another minute to stop talking but that didn’t stop the look in his eyes as his vision narrowed in on Nagisa.

“Karma-” Nagisa started.

“No.” Karma cut him off. “I don’t, can’t, believe you because if you’re telling the truth then you’ve been acting and playing me this entire time!”

“Karma please-”

“I’m still talking Nagisa!” Karma shouted in the boy’s face. “I won’t believe you until you kill Korosensei because until then you are still the sweet and innocent Nagisa I met in first year!” Karma did give the boy a chance to respond as he took off and left Nagisa to go home alone.

Nagisa sat on the train by himself as he thought about what Karma said. There was only one choice left on what to do next if he ever wanted Karma to be his best friend again. If he ever wanted Karma to trust and believe in him again. The only thing left to do is…

To Kill Korosensei.

Chapter Text

A week had passed since the whole Karma jumping off a cliff fiasco and to say Karma and Nagisa’s friendship has gotten better would be an overstatement. The two barely acknowledge each other at school. If Karma was even there that day.

Karma hadn’t been avoiding Nagisa, that’d be too easy for the two of them, because without fail, whether Karma had attended class that day or not, Nagisa would be kidnapped from the station after Sugino left and be taken to some fun place or another. Arcades, parks, ice cream shops and cafes. Karma was pulling out all the stops for some unexplained reason.

Currently however, they were both in class staring at the strangest thing anyone in the class had seen, and they have Korosensei for a teacher. A blonde woman was hanging off one of Korosensei’s tentacles complimenting him and fussing over him.

“Okay,” Karasuma-sensei spoke next to the disturbing scene. “Look alive people.” He broke them out of their shocked trance as he continued to explain the situation. “Meet our newest addition to the E-class faculty.” He glared over at the blonde as she took her eyes off Korosensei for a moment to look over the class.

“My name is Ms. Irena Jelavic, nice to meet you all.” She smiled at them all but something about it seemed too sweet and a little forced. Irina is a tall and beautiful fair-skinned young woman with wavy hip-length light blond hair that is split on either side, large light blue eyes, and a very sensual body as Okajima kept muttering behind a hand over his bleeding nose. Her clothes seemed high brand and very fashionable which emphasise her flattering form.

“Talk about inappropriate clothing for a teacher.” Kayano hissed as she glared ahead at the new teacher.

“Talk about a knockout!” Maehara whistled as he leaned forward on his desk.

“Knockers more like!” Okajima agreed.

“Does anyone else think it's weird that she is all over Korosensei?” Kataoka questioned.

“A little bit, yeah.” Okano agreed.

“There is no possible way that someone who looks like that is attracted to someone like Korosensei.” Nakamura jumped in.

“We decided to bring on Ms. Jelavic in the interest of beefing up the English curriculum.” Karasuma-sensei brought the students' attention back. “No hard feelings, right?” He questioned Korosensei. After all, the octopus was very protective of all his teachings and had not taken to Karasuma-sensei taking over Phys. Ed. all that well.

“No harm in that, is there?” Korosensei smiled down at the new teacher.

“She totally has a thing for Korosensei.” Kayano snickered, “I guess she seems nice, so it’s kinda cute.” Kayano shrugged and looked over at Nagisa.

Nagisa nodded as he pulled out his notebook, “Might be something we can use to kill him too.” He looked back to the scene at the front of the room. ‘He seems thrown off with the attention she is giving him. Is it because she’s human or because she’s a woman? His face changes colour to reflect his mood so what’s the colour for hot and bothered?’

Korosensei’s face turned a pink so bright it glowed, his cheeks even pinker than the rest of his face.

“He is all about her.” Maehara stated as he, with the rest of the class, sweat dropped.

“Yeah.” Kayano agreed, “No mistaking that face.”

Nagisa looked down at his notebook as he started to write the latest colour of his face and his newest weakness.

‘Korosensei’s weak point #5: BOOBS!’

“Oh! The more I look at you the more I get drawn in!” Ms Jelavic exclaimed, “Those tiny suppository eyes, those gelatinous joints, I’m simply captivated by the whole package!”

“Oh my!” Korosensei gasped.

Meanwhile that class watched the show seething in annoyance. It was clear from that point that this woman wasn’t just here to teach them, and she also wasn’t trying to bang their other teacher either. She was trouble.

“Don’t fall for it! She’s trouble!” Okano hissed from her spot in the front.

“No woman in her right mind would be into you.” Nakamura followed Okano’s example of hissing her thoughts. They both knew their teachers could hear them and if the blonde bimbo didn’t, their super soldier and their alien octopus teacher most certainly did.

Nagisa watched the scene closely. Looking over the class’s reactions. ‘We all know there is something going on here. The woman in front of us isn’t a teacher at all but an assassin. An assassin that is putting on the act a little too thick for my liking. It makes her seem inexperienced when she clearly isn’t. But the real question remains… Can Korosensei see through this act and is playing along or is he completely blind?’

“Heads up!” Korosensei shouted as he kicked the soccer ball into the air. It was lunch break, and the class was playing their version of soccer.

Karma caught the ball with his foot before kicking it back towards their teacher as he shot his gun towards Korosensei’s head. “Pass and Kill!” He shouted as he made his actions.

Korosensei managed to dodge both projectiles as Okano came up behind him and kicked it back at his torso. “Pass!” She shouted before lunging, her knives bared ready to strike. “Kill!” Korosensei narrowly dodged her two knives as he caught the ball.

“Yuhoo!” The game stopped suddenly as Ms Irena Jelavic called out as she made her way down the building’s steps. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything!” She pushed through the students as she ran up to Korosensei to embrace him. “Mr Karasuma tells me you can move at Mach 20, and I just had to see it with my own eyes!”

“Well, he might have exaggerated just a tad.” Korosensei stuttered as he dropped the soccer balls he was holding.

“I’d hate to ask this, but I would be ever so grateful if you could fetch me some Vietnamese coffee?” Ms Irena questioned bringing her hands together in a begging gesture and using her arms to push her breast closer together to emphasise her cleavage. “I thought that you could grab it while I run the students through their English lesson.”

“But of course!” Korosensei cried as his blush came back at full swing. “It just so happens that I know a fabulous café in Vietnam!” Barely even finishing his sentence he took off into the air and flew off heading towards the discussed country.

The bell rang as the class recovered from the sudden take off.

“Eh… Ms Irena? Class is starting, shouldn’t we go back in?” Isogai questioned their newest teacher.

“Class?” Ms Irena questioned as if she forgot she was a teacher. She placed a cigarette in her mouth as she thought about it. “Oh right, just make it a study hall or something,” She spoke around the cigarette as she lit it.

Gasps and shocked looks rippled over the class. Nagisa watched the blonde take a drag of her cigarette. ‘Like a coin flipping in the air she showed us her other side. She didn’t care about her cover unless Korosensei was around, and she didn’t see any of us as threats that could get in her way of getting the bounty.’

“And…” She let out a breath of smoke. “Can you not call me by my first name? I won’t be playing teacher unless that octopus is around, so you are to call me Ms Jelavic.”

“So, what are you going to do Ms Bitch?” Karma spoke up and Nagisa groaned as the serious atmosphere fell in an instant from the foul nickname Karma gave their teacher.

Flustered and pissed, the assassin turned to Karma and shouted, “No nicknames!”

“You’re an assassin, right? The entire class working together can’t kill this monster, what makes you think you can?” Karma questioned. His eyes stayed focused on the assassin in front of him, only wavering for a second to glance at the other self-claimed assassin that stood behind her.

“Brat! Grown-ups have their own certain ways of doing things that you children can’t fathom.” Ms Bitch stated, flipping her hair off her shoulder, before turning to the boy behind her. “You must be Shiota Nagisa.” It wasn’t a question but a stated fact. She had clearly done her research of the class before coming here.

Nagisa’s eyes widened as she singled him out. He started to panic; did she know his father? Did his father ask her to come here? Was she going to out the biggest secret he had ever kept to the entire class? These questions ran through his head as she approached. No, she didn’t do any of that. What she did was much worse. She kissed him. On the mouth. In front of the entire class. He would have preferred her outing him as a trained assassin since birth. (Age of 5 actually (His dad wasn’t a psycho))

Screams, shouts, and clicks of cameras filled his ears as she kept counting her hits. What should he do? She was already at 10 hits and wasn’t stopping. He was not going to try to fight back but what was his other option? His dad didn’t give him any training for this! Who is their right mind would? At 20 hits Nagisa knew he was just going to have to act like this was affecting him. At 25 hits he stopped struggling. At 30 hits he froze and became numb.

Pulling him closer to rest his head on her breast she spoke, “Come to the staff room later, I’d like to have a look into that little notebook of yours.” And just as suddenly as she kissed him, she threw him off her giving Nagisa no time to catch himself causing him to fall to the ground. Ms Irena turned to face the class, “That goes for any of you, you snot-nosed brats who feel they have intel worth sharing” she called. “Give Ms Jelavic something useful and I’ll let you go home while these gentlemen stand in for you.”

Three men carrying heavy black cases and bags approached the group. Nagisa could only imagine the kind of weaponry that those bags held. But it also made Nagisa wonder… Was Ms Jelavic using anti-sensei BBs or live ammo?

“This is what separates the pros and the amateurs, boys and girl.” She paused to give a dramatic effect, “Connections and a little thing we like to call technique.” She smirked as the three men stood menacingly by her side as if they were more bodyguards than assassins. “Now piss off. Go play and a word of warning from those of us who know our job… Get in the way and you die.” With her last threat said she stalked off, the three men following her.

“That seductive femme fatale kiss,” Maehara stated, looking over at Nagisa with jealousy in his eyes.

“Her shady-looking companions,” Okano stood next to him, her eyes narrowing at the sight of the four assassins discussing how to kill their target.

“And the weight of her off-handed threat,” Isogai continued the thought process out loud, looking clearly shaken.

“Clearly we’re not dealing with a teacher but an actual pro assassin.” Kataoka completed the class’s train of thought.

“Which, all things considered, would be sort of cool.” Nakamura agreed.

“You know if she wasn’t such a bitch.” Karma continued. No one other than Nagisa had seemed to notice that Karma’s eyes hadn’t left Nagisa since she had kissed the blunette. Which made Nagisa wonder why. Was Karma jealous about her kissing him like Maehara and Okajima?

Nagisa later found himself pressed against the wall in the faculty lounge as Ms Irena leaned over him while the rest of his class sat in the classroom participating in study hall. He fiddled with his notebook trying to find the most helpful and useful notes he has taken, all while trying to avoid her eyes. He was trying to avoid her attention as much as possible. He knew that sometimes assassins end up having to work together on bigger jobs, but the only other assassins Nagisa met in the flesh were only in passing, his dad avoided him being too close to them. Any assassins he had spoken to were always behind a blank screen so no one could see each other’s faces. So, collaborating with the one in front of him was intimidating.

“A couple of us have actually gotten as far as destroying a single tentacle but he just dodges the next attack while he lets it regenerate.” Nagisa explained as much as he knew about the situation. “I dunno, maybe he can be killed if you destroy all his tentacles at once?” He theorised looking down to his notebook. “Good luck at hitting more than one though,” He sighed. “Also, if you’re planning to sneak up on him you probably don’t want to smoke.”

“Huh?” Ms Irena recoiled slightly, the cigarette almost slipping from her lips.

“For a guy without a nose, he’s a bloodhound.” Nagisa explained. That was all that Nagisa had certain evidence for but maybe the woman in front of him could help with his other theory.

“That’s it, kid?” Ms Irena questioned, “You look like you want to say more.”

He did want to say more but how could he put it so he wouldn’t blow his cover. What did everyone already know about his father that people wouldn’t be able to connect the dots unless he or Karma nudged them in the right direction? “My father has been the head of security for some pretty high profile people,” Nagisa started.

“Is that so? Why does it matter now?” The woman leered, glaring down at him. Maybe that was the wrong thing to say. Too late now.

“He used to take me to work with him when I lived with him,” Nagisa explained. “I’ve been there when my dad has caught assassins going after his clients, I know what assassins look like, act like,” Nagisa sighed as he dragged on the act, “I know how it feels to be in their presence.”

Ms Irena looked shocked that the smallest and seemingly weakest of the class had such an interesting past.

“I have no proof of this, but I think Korosensei once used to be an assassin.” Nagisa met his newest teacher’s eye for the first time since she arrived.

“That is a very interesting theory kid, but now I’m interested to know who your father is?” Ms Irena questioned, leaning over him, pressing him closer to the wall.

“Sugiyama Hiroshi.” Nagisa spoke clearly as the teacher recoiled slightly. Of course, Ms Irena had heard that name, he was well known. One of the best personal security agents in the world and thwarted every single assassination attempts on his clients except for one. The one on Okinawa Island where he was protecting a family of mobsters on vacation but each member, but the three children, were killed by an unknown assailant. What most people didn’t know was that Sugiyama was the one to kill them. He had overheard some of the members talking about their child trafficking business and lost it. He assassinated all of them by leaving two puncture wounds in their wrists after dosing them with sleep medication and they bled out in their sleep. By the afternoon of the next day a new assassin was in the news and had been titled as the Safaia Habu.

“There is no way you’re the son of Sugiyama Hiroshi, you have a different name.” Ms Irena accused, the cigarette that was between her lips was now on the floor.

“I’ve carried my mother’s name since she gained custody of me two years ago.” Nagisa shrugged. “We should probably re-join the class now Ms Irena.” With all said, Nagisa left their shell-shocked teacher in the faculty lounge and joined his class in their study hall.

Ms Irena followed Nagisa into the classroom five minutes after the blunette took his seat. She seemed much more composed than when Nagisa had left her. She sat at the teacher’s desk playing with her tablet as she thought to herself.

Meanwhile the class sat still as they watched her silently. Though the silence didn’t last long because when a class full of delinquents were bored, they act out and Ms Irena is going to learn that the hard way.

“Ms Helabitch ma’am, are you going to teach us anything?” Maehara spoke up from his spot at the front. Smirks and snickers filled the room as the teacher looked over at Maehara wildly.

“Yeah, come on Ms Helabitch,” Nakamura jumped in as the teacher dropped her tablet.

“No disrespect, but you are a teacher, aren’t you Ms Helabitch?” Sugaya called from the back, absolutely meaning to disrespect her.

A sudden scream came from the blonde as she fell from her chair in anger, “Enough on the bitching!” She screamed standing up and slamming her hands on the desk. “The name is JelaVIC, understand? Helabitch is what I’m going to be if you don’t get the difference through your thick prepubescent skulls!”

Snickers filled the class. This was the fastest any of them managed to crack a teacher, but at last, this wasn’t going to make her give up just yet.

“Let’s review my name is Jelavic. Jela-V-vic, bite your lower lip and hum.” The class followed the instruction and started to hum the consonant’s sound. “V, excellent.” She smiled over the class, slightly proud of their sounding of the letter. “Now practise that sound quietly for the next hour while I ignore you.”

‘Just as she was starting to act like an E-class teacher, she turned straight back into a main campus jerk.’

“Lamest. Lesson. Ever!” The class yelled but the shouts landed on deaf ears as Ms Jelavic picked up her tablet and continued whatever she was doing before.

It was the next day, and the class were outside doing their PE lesson, practising their aim at the shooting range. When Mimura noticed Korosensei and Ms Jelavic walking together toward the equipment shed.

“Huh?” His small noise brought the classes attention to what he could see. “Oh, come on, you have got to be kidding me, seriously?”

“Wow, he’s really falling for it.” Sugaya muttered in agreement, “I can’t look, you’d think he’d have more sense.”

“Karasuma-sensei?” Kataoka questioned, gaining the stoic teacher’s attention. “I get that she’s a pro, but she’s not exactly easy to get along with.”

“Yes, I know.” Karasuma-sensei agreed, “I’m sorry you kids have to deal with her, but the higher ups seem to think she’s all that.” He turned to take in the scene himself, “Well, seeing what she has been able to put together in such a short amount of time, I’m inclined to agree.”

Nagisa looked over the scene as his classmates spoke around him. He had taken a small peek this morning at her set up before being caught and yelled at by the three men hidden in the shed. Her set up was good but nothing Korosensei couldn’t see coming from a mile away, not to mention the lack of anti-sensei material being used. Making Nagisa less than worried about Ms Jelavic pulling this off.

Even if the class hadn’t noticed the two head off into the shed, they would have known when they heard the gun start to go off and the bullets start to hail.

“Those don’t sound like BB’s and air guns.” Kayano sounded unsure, her voice wavering slightly.

“No, it isn’t.” Karasuma-sensei agreed, “What does she think she’s doing?”

Nagisa's eyes never left the shed as the scene continued to unfold. ‘A M61, a M134 and a M249. That is a lot of fire power going to waste.’ Nagisa was inclined to agree with Karasuma-sensei, ‘What was she thinking?’

The sounds of gunfire and bullets stopped as quickly as it started. Deathly silence so tense you could cut it filled the mountain top. The class stood there wondering if she had done it. If she had managed to kill their unkillable teacher.

Then there was a shriek of terror that sounded like it came from Ms Jelavic and a loud crackle that clearly came from their monster of a teacher.

“Uh! What was that?” Okano exclaimed. Slight fear took over her features but like watching a horror film she couldn’t look away.

“I heard gunfire, a scream and now a slithering noise!” Okajima shouted the obvious, he too couldn’t move from his spot. Moans replaced the scream as the slithering continued. “I really want to know what he’s doing to her in there!”

“Let’s go!” Maehara shouted as he started to run toward the shed. The boys quickly followed before the girls had no choice but to follow as well.

Nagisa and Maehara rounded the corner of the shed together before the rest of the class had caught up. Okajima and Yada made it around as Korosensei stepped out of the shed blushing from head to tentacle.

“Korosensei?” Nagisa questioned unsure how to continue.

“Did you touch her boobs?” Okajima shouted only to get hit by Yada.

Not that Korosensei noticed the abuse to the pervert as he answered his question, “Ah, if only I had the time to be really thorough.” He seemed to come back to his senses as he realised who he was talking to. “But class isn’t going to teach itself, isn’t it children?”

 “Um, what exactly went on in there, sir?” Nagisa questioned their teacher. But before Korosensei could answer Ms Jelavic stepped out of the shed dressed in an old school PE uniform. “Ms Jelavic has been stuffed into a retro gym outfit!” Nagisa shouted so the people who were still around the corner knew what was going on.

“It would take longer to describe the things he did to this body than what he took to do them.” Ms Jelavic moaned as she stared blankly ahead, not seeming to process what was going on around her. “My back and shoulders have never felt looser.” She started, “He somehow worked in a lymphatic oil massage, a change of clothes just because and he still had time to do this thing with his tentacles.” She groaned before falling to her knees and then face-planted into the ground.

“What thing with his tentacles?” Okajima and Mimura shouted.

Nagisa turned his unimpressed look over to the accused teacher, “Korosensei, what’s she talking about?”

Korosensei looked away as his face turned expressionless white, “Adults sometimes need special care.”

“I don’t trust that look.” Nagisa stated, glaring in Korosensei’s direction.

“Come now back to the classroom boys and girls!” Korosensei quickly ushered the class away from the shed and back to the classroom.

The class sat back in their ‘English Lesson’ with Ms Jelavic. As she tapped angrily at her tablet, they sat there glaring at her.

“Oh! Come on!” She exclaimed, “What is with the Wi-Fi in this place? What are we on Mars?”

“Wow. Looks like Ms Helabitch is pissed.” Karma smirked leaning back in his chair. “I know my pride would be in shambles if my plan went tits up.”

“Like you can say anything Mr throw-yourself-off-a-cliff.” Nagisa retorted. He wasn’t really sticking up for the angry blonde but wasn’t in the mood of Karma’s taunting.

“Looks like Mr suicide bomber wants to explode.” Karma bounced back.

Before Nagisa could reply, Isogai broke in, “Ignoring the clear worrying signs of depleting mental health coming from you two,” The Ikeman glanced between the redhead and the blunette before turning to face the front. “Excuse me Ms?”

“Ug, what?” Ms Jelavic demanded, not really bothering to look up from her tablet.

“If you’re not going to teach us anything, do you mind if we swap you out for Korosensei?” Isogai asked politely. “It’s just we got entrance exams coming up, and-”

“Hah!” Ms Jelavic cut Isogai off, “You want to swap me out for that disgusting creature?” She questioned, finally looking over the class. “You’re worried about entrance exams when the planet is on notice?” She stood from her chair placing her tablet on the desk. “Must be paradise not knowing your ass from a hole in the ground.” She faced Isogai dead on, “Give it a rest, even if the Earth wasn’t on the brink of destruction, entrance exams are for students with a future.” She looked down her nose at them as she continued, “News flash: that’s not any of you losers.” She smiled widely at them as if she gave them the best advice possible, “How ‘bout this kids, forget the ‘studying’, help me brainstorm on how to kill the octopus and I’ll give you a nice percentage of the reward money. That’s the best deal any of you E-class jerkoffs are going to get out of life. Otherwise, knock it off with the whining and let-”

An eraser thrown at her face, missing the mark by inches cut her off.

“Get out.” Maehara hissed. The class glared at her, their bloodlust turning the room red. Those two words triggered the rest of the class to act. Soon projectiles were flying towards the front of the room and bouncing off the blackboard. “Now you’re just a plain ol’ bitch!” Maehara shouted, throwing other pieces of stationery.

“We want Korosensei back!” Yada shouted as she threw her stationary as well.

“That’s it! I’ll make you rue the day you were born!” Ms Jelavic shouted as dodged the flying projectiles aimed for her.

“Yeah! Go ahead, we dare you bitch!” Sugaya shouted.

“Your boobs are way too big to be a teacher!” Kayano shouted holding up a sign that had ‘No big boobs’ written on it.

“Seriously!” Nagisa shouted over the chaos to look at Kayano, “When did you have time to make that sign?”

The next day Nagisa arrived at the old building earlier than anyone else with only the teachers in the building. He went to the classroom to set his things down and go over his homework before he needed to hand it in. He had only just pulled out his homework when the door slid open. Nagisa was expecting another classmate, so he was shocked when he saw Ms Jelavic in the doorway. His eyes narrowed into a glare as he spoke, “What do you want?”

“I looked into what you told me about your father.” She spoke clearly. She looked over at him as if he was the real target in the classroom rather than the yellow octopus. “It took some digging, but it turns out you were telling the truth, you really are Sugiyama Hiroshi’s son.”

“Why would I lie?” Nagisa questioned, “I mean my dad kind of has a tarnished reputation thanks to the Safaia Habu.”

“So, I read.” She agreed, taking a step closer to his desk. “Do you really think the octopus has a past as an assassin?”

“I mean, I’m not an expert but yeah I think that may be the case,” Nagisa answered. “And if it is, that means it is going to make him a lot harder to kill than initially planned.”

“Indeed,” Ms Jelavic agreed, “Not to mention we have no clue who he truly was before this, which will make it even more difficult.” She sighed looking down at her feet, “I’ll look into it, see if anyone has gone missing but that may be a long shot.” Nagisa nodded his head in understanding. “You know what I find ironic, Sugiyama’s son is training to become an assassin which is something he must be surely against.”

“Yeah he is,” Nagisa lied. “Could you please not mention to anyone who my father is? I don’t really want it getting back to Korosensei or the government.”

“I guess I can keep that to myself as long as this conversation never happened.” Nagisa simply nodded his head as she turned back to the door. “Oh, and about yesterday’s lesson, I couldn’t help but notice that you were the only one that didn’t throw anything at me.”

Nagisa looked down at his hands, “Well yeah because what you said about the class is true when it comes to me, I don’t have a future beyond E-class.”

She froze at the door before turning around very slowly, “The redhead wasn’t lying about the suicide bomber thing?”

“His name is Karma and no he wasn’t.” Nagisa kept his eyes trained on his hand as their fidgeted with each other.

“At one point in my life I didn’t think I had a future either and I became reckless with my missions, and I almost died.” Ms Jelavic stated trying to get Nagisa’s attention away from his hands, “My mentor shared something with me that day when I was in a hospital bed, ‘Our futures will always be cloudy and uncertain, but you will always have one, even if it is dying’.”

“Your mentor sounds wise.” Nagisa smiled at her.

“He is.” She simply agreed before turning back around and exiting the room.

Later in the day, the class sat around the room chatting. It was supposed to be their English lesson however, after the last couple of days they assumed they wouldn’t be learning anything again. So, when the door opened, Ms Jelavic entered. They went silent.

Ms Jelavic walked straight up to the blackboard and wrote a single sentence in English on it before turning to face them.

“You’re incredible in bed.” She stated in English, “Repeat it.” Class stared in shock for a second before shuffling to their seats. “Come on.” She encouraged.

“Y-You’re incredible in bed.” They repeated the sentence in broken English.

“When I assassinated a certain VIP in America, I first turned on the charm to get close to his bodyguard.” She explained, “Those were the words he said to me,” She continued. “They mean ‘You’re great in the sack’.”

Nagisa felt his face go red with embarrassment. ‘Just what are you making us junior high kids say?’ .

“It is often said that the fastest way to learn a language is to get yourself a lover who can speak it.” Ms Jelavic continued her lesson, “You want to know what they are feeling, so you try your hardest to understand what they say.” The class sat in silence listening to her lecture. “When necessary in the course of my work I have to use that way to learn more than a few new languages.” She looked over the class, “Therefore, in my lessons I will teach you how to sweet-talk foreigners, the basics of chummy chats straight from a pro assassin, master them and they’ll come in handy with a real live foreigner.” Gasps and dreamy sighs filled the classroom and imagination ran wild. “Let that octopus teach you what you need to know for your exams, the only thing I can teach you is practical conversation skills and if you still don’t think of me as a teacher, I’ll give up my assassination and leave, that ought to fly with you all.” There was a moment of silence as she looked over the class, “Oh, and I’m sorry for all that other stuff.” She finished her speech, and the class was silent.

‘What happened between this morning and now?’ Nagisa thought as she watched her fidget with her hands under their intense gaze. It was clear she didn’t apologise often but she wasn’t bad at it either. The tense silence only lasted another moment before the laughter broke out. None of them could take moments like this seriously anyway.

“Why are you so nervous?” Karma questioned from his seat in the back, “Weren’t you just threatening to kill us?”

“She’s totally a teacher now.” Maehara agreed. It was the truth, Korosensei was constantly threatening their early demise but still teaching them important life skills.

“We can’t call you Ms Helabitch anymore.” Okano stated.

Ms Jelavic gasped, “You – You understand?”

“It was a pretty rude thing to call a teacher.” Kataoka agreed.

“Yeah, we’re going to need something else.” Nakamura jumped in, her smile doubling as an evil smirk.

“How ‘bout Bitch-sensei?” Sugaya called out, breaking Ms Jelavic's elated mood with one sentence.

“Eh… Why don’t we move away from the bitch thing?” She asked, “Just call me by my first name, I don’t-”

“But the bitch thing isn’t really going away.” Maehara cut in.

“Yeah! Bitch-sensei fits you much better than Ms Irena!” Okano smiled at their newest teacher, “Well there you have it! Welcome Bitch-sensei!”

“Let’s get started Bitch-sensei!” Okajima called.

“I hate you all so much!” Bitch-sensei screamed.

After school Karma had kidnapped Nagisa from the station again. Nagisa was unsure what all this meant. Was Karma trying to apologise without saying so? Trying to make up for what happened in the past?

“How ‘bout those past few days huh?” Karma asked. He looked unsure of himself. Like he wasn’t sure what to say around Nagisa. Which seemed old considering that he and him had almost completely healed their relationship. Though Karma had avoided him since Bitch-sensei arrival to the class. It was the first time Karma had kidnapped him in three days. “Must have been nice to get kissed by a woman like that?”

Nagisa scrunched up his nose in slight disgust, “Not really, it was all tongue.”

That one sentence caused Karma to laugh, “Do you understand how many of the guys are jealous of you right now?”

“Are you?” Nagisa questioned, “Are you jealous of me?”

Karma stopped walking and Nagisa almost crashed into him, “No why would I be jealous of a small fry like you?” Then without saying anything more Karma stalked forward, and the walk became silent.

Chapter Text

Nagisa walked behind Karma in the silence that Karma left them in trying to figure out where they were going today only to end up at a convenience store.

“Karma, why are we here?” Nagisa broke the silence to question. They didn’t enter the store, in fact, they stayed hidden amongst the bushes away from the entrance.

“We’re stalking Korosensei.” Karma explained in a hushed voice, “I stole all his newly bought snacks, so he’ll need to buy new ones, and this is his favourite store.”

“Ok, but why?” Nagisa questioned, “It's not like we can kill him here, there are too many people around.”

“Yeah, but I want to know if he’ll buy the same things or go for something different.” Karma explained.

“What are you going to do? Poison his favourite snacks?” Nagisa asked, “He has a nose like a bloodhound, he’ll smell it.”

“Yeah, but that’s not what I’m going to do.” Karma smirked over at Nagisa, “I’m going to steal his snacks again and buy out the store of his favourite snacks.” Karma explained, “I’m not ready to kill him yet, I just want to torture him.”

Nagisa didn’t ask anymore questions as he observed Karma. He had been acting odd ever since Bitch-sensei showed up and Nagisa couldn’t understand why. Had he felt threatened that the pro would take away his fun and kill their teacher, something both boys had promised their teacher that they would do. If that was the case, wouldn’t Karma be in more of a rush to kill him? Maybe that wasn’t the issue at all, but what could it be then if not that? Nagisa couldn’t picture any other reason for his strange behaviour.

Before Nagisa could ask anything else, Korosensei showed up and went into the store. Nagisa was almost sure that the teacher hadn’t seen them but not even a moment later a slight breeze blew from behind them, and a voice came along with it.

“What are you two boys doing behind here?” Korosensei was in his disguise. His yellow skin now tan, a black wig sat up his cap and his fake nose sliding down his face. “Some people might get the wrong idea if they see you, especially with Nagisa looking so flustered.”

“Korosensei!” Nagisa exclaimed as Karma swiped his knife at the teacher.

“What the hell do you mean by that you octopus freak!” Karma bared his teeth at their teacher.

Korosensei simply laughed at their reactions and went back into the store. Nagisa felt his cheeks burn as he stared over at the entrance of the store.

“Damn octopus.” Karma muttered; his cheeks were also red at Korosensei's suggestion of what the two were doing. “I’m going to kill him for that comment.” He sounded repulsed and disgusted.

Nagisa looked down at his feet. Why was he saddened by Karma’s reaction? He should be in agreement and reacting the same way. So, why wasn’t he? Was it because he was broken? Maybe he had never had his own feelings, only ever copied them off others? If that was the case, was he a fraud? Acting upset over Karma’s treatment of him?

“I don’t think your plan is going to work, Karma, he’s seen us, and he’ll know it was you.” Nagisa sighed. He just wanted to go home now. He was tired and wasn’t really sure what to feel at the moment.

“Yeah I guess, want to grab something to eat before the train gets here?” Karma asked. He looked over to the blunette wondering why he looked so depressed.

“Sure,” Nagisa sighed as he turned to make his way towards the station. Karma had no choice but to follow.

Karma wanted to say something but didn’t know what. He was hoping to leave their feeling talks behind when they made up-ish. Not to mention Korosensei’s suggestion threw him off his game. What was wrong with his chest? And why did it make him so angry?

“Everything okay, you seem down?” Karma finally asked.

“What?” Nagisa sounded alarmed, “Oh, no, I’m fine. Just a little worn out from the past few days, that’s all.”

“Okay, if you say so.” Karma replied. Something about Nagisa’s answer made him worried. Nagisa was one of the only people he had never truly been able to read like an open book, it made him wonder if Nagisa was lying or holding things back.

The two entered a fast-food place and got their food to go before continuing their way to the station, eating their food and as they walked in silence. This time Nagisa was leading by two paces instead of Karma. A few more words were shared around fries and slurps of soda, but by the time they got to the station nothing more was said. It was much like their first re-encounter the week before Karma’s suspension ended as Karma had kidnapped Nagisa’s bag and held it for ransom. Their silence carried onto the train and all the way to their stop before finally it left.

“Nagisa I-” Karma started but his voice fell flat when he noticed someone hidden in the shadows watching them. He couldn’t see many details of the person, but he knew that feeling he got whenever she was around. “Bye.” He ground out between his teeth. Nagisa would never forgive him if he did something to upset her. It was bad enough that she had seen them together, there was no need nor want to make it any worse.

Nagisa tensed at Karma’s cut off sentence. Nagisa didn’t need to turn around to know what stopped him. He knew her aura. That feeling of chains crawling up his body, holding him in place, holding him in his life. “Thanks for the tutoring, Karma.” Nagisa lied instantly. The chains locked in place as he heard the harsh breathing coming from the shadows behind him. He knew he shouldn’t ignore her. He shouldn’t bait her unless he wants a punishment so hard that he wouldn’t be able to participate in phys. ed. tomorrow.

Karma turned away, walking home. The fear on Nagisa’s face etched into his mind. He remembered the first time he found Nagisa after one of his mother’s episodes. Karma didn’t want to leave him alone with her but if he didn’t it would be so much worse. So, Karma resigned himself to wait for a phone call once the monster had used all her energy and fallen asleep or at worst wait until tomorrow to look for the carefully hidden bruises and marks as Nagisa acted like nothing was wrong.

Nagisa turned to face the shadow that held his stalker, “Hey Mom.”

Chapter Text

Karama didn’t sleep that night. He waited with his phone in hand all night, but the call never came. When it was time to get ready to leave for school, moving away from his phone to shower was one of the most difficult battles in his life, but he couldn’t be late today. He needed to be there when Nagisa arrived. When he finally left his phone alone, he rushed around his apartment moving the fastest he ever had to get ready for school.

Karama was more paranoid when he realised Nagisa wasn’t on his regular train and only became more so when it was only Isogai, Maehara and Okano in the classroom when he arrived. The three gave him curious looks as he made his way to his desk at the back, breaking into quiet whispers when he sat down and pulled out his phone to check his messages for the hundredth time in the past hour. Nagisa still hadn’t arrived once everyone in class was seated and Korosensei was taking attendance. Korosensei paused when no reply came when he called Nagisa’s name. The yellow octopus looked over the class as he double checked that his seat was empty.

“Has anyone heard from Nagisa this morning?” The teacher asked, after all the kid with perfect attendance doesn’t show up for school without letting anyone know was worrying. Everyone glance at each other, some even going as far to pull out their phones and check for missed messages. “Karma? You were with Nagisa after school yesterday, do you know where he is?”

Karma froze like a deer in headlights as everyone in class turned to look at him. Sugino gave him a questioning look, wondering what happened after he left Nagisa for his train. “I don’t know, last I saw him was when we split up at the station, his mother was there so we didn’t walk home together like we usually would.” Karma shrugged nonchalantly. The confused looks spread across the classroom like wildfire, after all Karma had skipped most of the previous day.

“Okay, I’ll mark him down as absent. I take his mother being at the station as unusual, maybe there has been a family emergency.” Korosensei seemed to be trying to calm the class down but also himself. But Karma knew the truth, but he made a promise to Nagisa to not tell anyone and so he won’t. Nagisa never missed school, he was never even late, and Karma had stayed up all night talking Nagisa through different ways to bandage things without it showing through their uniforms and helping him forge notes to get out of Phys. Ed. when his movement was limited to walking slowly and trying to sit down without wincing.

Korosensei continued to take attendance of the rest of the class as Karma sat stewing in the back, wondering if he was going to have to break his promise and tell Korosensei the truth about Nagisa’s absence. But alas, as Korosensei put his attendance book down Nagisa came running in looking like a mess. He was missing his blue vest, his shirt untucked, and his hair was out and clearly unbrushed. In all Nagisa looked like he had only just gotten out of bed.

“Sorry I’m late Korosensei, I slept through my alarm.” Nagisa supplied as he moved towards his seat, ears pink with embarrassment. His ears are what clued Karma in that Nagisa was in fact wearing foundation and a heavy coat of it as well. Karma watched Nagisa closely after his late entrance. Trying to pinpoint any other sign of what happened the night previously. The Japanese Literacy lesson ended quickly, and they all moved to the science lab next door.

Karma barely paid attention to the surprise attack Maehara, Okajima and Mimura pulled as Korosensei, with the help of the class reps, set up the experiment. “You know a sneak attack like that just isn’t gonna cut it.” Karma supplied to the panting trio at the front of the room.

Karma tried hard to avoid looking over at Nagisa during the lesson because he couldn’t just it blow any questions off as looking toward the front of the room in this class and he also needed to focus on the experiment in front of him and even so, he caught himself staring in Nagisa’s directs hoping no one noticed his distraction.

Gasps filled the classroom as Korosensei extracted the red dye from the strawberry rope someone had brought from home for the experiment. “And that concludes our experiment to extract artificial colouring!” Korosensei summed the lesson up before racing around the classroom to collect all the snacks the class had brought in. “I’ll be taking the left-over snacks now!”

Karma suddenly understood why they were doing this lesson today and he knew from the glare the blunette sent across the room that Nagisa was blaming him for their class’s loss of snack food.

“We bought those ourselves!” Mimura shouted from the centre table.

“He used this as an excuse to swipe snacks ‘cause his payday isn’t until tomorrow.” Maehara grumbled from Nagisa’s left.

“I blame Karma.” Nagisa stated, leaning heavily against his desk. The boy clearly looked ready to fall back asleep.

“Why is a super-organism that can destroy the Earth living paycheck to paycheck.” Kataoka grumbled across from the two boys.

“Um, Nagisa?” Kayano started, “Why are we blaming Karma for this?” The greenette smiled gently and the sleepy boy. His hair was still out and hanging around his shoulders as he rested his head on the table in front of him.

“Karma stole all of Korosensei’s snacks yesterday and then dragged me to ambush him at a convenience store.” Nagisa explained. The three that shared the table with him looked down with amused looks.

“That explains why Korosensei knew you and Karma were together yesterday afternoon.” Maehara stated, he couldn’t resist glancing over to the red head, who was staring at the blunette next to him.

Before their conversation could continue Okuda stood up and walked up to Korosensei, stopping in front of him.

“Um S-sensei,” The shy girl stuttered.

“Can I help you, Okuda?” Korosensei smiled down at one of his more quieter students.

“Um… This is poison! Please drink it!” She shouted as she shoved three vials with different coloured liquid in Korosensei’s directions. The class stared in shock at the assassin and target.

“Well, that is straightforward.” Maehara snickered before he started hissing and went to glare at Kataoka for kicking him under the table.

“I guess… That was too much to ask.” Okuda looked down as she lowered the vials.

“My, this is certainly an honest assassinations attempt, Okuda.” Korosensei looked at his student.

“Well, um… I-I’m not g-good at s-sup-p-rise at-t-tacks l-l-like everyone else is, b-but I am good at chemistry, so I made this with all my heart and soul!” Okuda stopped stuttering halfway through and started shouting instead. It was like she only had two settings, a stuttering mess or loud and passionate.

“Okuda, no one would be dumb enough to drink that.” Sugino stated

“Heart and soul?” Korosensei questioned looking over the three vials in front of him, “Well then! I would be delighted too!” And then he drank the first of the three vials.

“No way!” Kayano gasped.

“He actually drank it!” Maehara shouted.

Korosensei started to choke as his body started to pulse.

“Is-is it working?” Isogai questioned unsurely.

“This might be it!” Maehara exclaimed.

“Or he could just grow horns.” Isogai groaned. Korosensei's head was now blue, and horns had been added to the back of his head.

“Quite a kick!” Korosensei stated, “Sodium hydroxide I believe? Good try Okuda!” Korosensei smiled at the girl with braids in her hair. “If I were human, I would have most definitely bought the farm.” Korosensei then chose his next vial, “Down the hatch!”

Korosensei started retching and his body began to pulse once again. The class didn’t get their hopes up for the next one. They now understood that none of Okuda’s poisons were going to kill the target, but he was just being a teacher and supporting one of his students.

“He grew wings this time!” Isogai exclaimed while looking over their newly green-faced teacher with small flapping wings growing out the sides of his head.

“Wow he’s actually looking kinda fancy right now.” Maehara commented.

“Thallium Acetate, interesting.” Korosensei stated, watching Okuda’s reaction. “Let’s see what the last one does.” Korosensei shot back the last vial of yellow liquid. His reaction was much larger to the final poison. He was retching and grunting as his body pulsed wildly.

“Uh Oh!” Kataoka exclaimed.

“Not sure I wanna see this!” Sugino shouted over the noise his teacher was making.

Korosensei was now yelling before he suddenly stopped. His face had turned white, and smile had been erased to a small straight mount.

“Well, that’s boring.” Kayano stated, blankly.

“This just keeps getting weirder and weirder.” Sugino stated, breathlessly as he stared at the front of the room in shock.

“I don’t like this look.” Isogai stated, “It’s creeping me out.”

“And the never-ending smile doesn’t?” Nakamura asked, looking over at her table mate.

“So, poison turns him into an emoji?” Mimura questioned.

“He already was one Mimura; poison just updated his choices.” Terasaka grumbled remembering Nagisa’s information he had given him before the grenade incident.

“If you hate me, I understand.” Korosensei spoke to Okuda, “But please, don’t hate assassination.” His voice was soft and croaky. His mouth was unmoving, just like when he was smiling.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Okajima shouted from his seat, causing everyone to turn to him and when they turned back Korosensei’s yellow face and never-ending smile had returned.

“Also, young lady, as your teacher I can’t overlook the fact that you handled toxic substances without adult supervision.”

“Yes sensei, sorry sensei.” Okuda wasn’t stuttering but she wasn’t shouting either. Her voice was barely above a whisper as she wrung her hand in front of her, her chin tucked tightly to her chest.

“Don’t worry, I have an idea!” Korosensei caught the girl’s attention. “Why don’t we work together on a poison that has a little bit more of a kick!”

Okuda’s head whipped up so fast that everyone was surprised she didn’t get whiplash, “Uh, sure!”

“That doesn’t seem like that’s gonna end in success, if you ask me,” Kayano stated, “What do you think, Nagisa?” She questioned her friend as she turned to face him, only to find the blunette had fallen to sleep. “Eh! Nagisa!” The assassin’s head flew up as his eyes widened in confusion. Her shout had also caught the attention of the rest of the class.

“Don’t tell me you actually slept through all of that!” Maehara exclaimed, facing the small boy next to him. Nagisa’s ears had once again turned pink as he tried to hide behind his hair.

“Falling asleep in my lessons, Nagisa?” Korosensei broke into the conversation.

“N-No sensei.” Nagisa stuttered. He was usually a much better liar but even Nagisa knew he wasn’t going to talk his way out of this one.

“Lying too Nagisa?” Korosensei questioned, “Answer me this, how would you poison me?”

“Hmm, well, I’d probably put it in something you liked. Something sweet.” Nagisa started looking directly in his teacher’s eyes as he answered, “Then I’d offer it to you as a gift, you’d more then likely take it because your student was gifting it to you, and you care most about our happiness.” Nagisa frowned, “The problem would be trying to either mask the smell and taste of the poison or have it deadly enough that it would kill you in one sip.”

“Excellent answer as always Nagisa, but you still will be having detention after school today.” Korosensei explained. “It is now time for recess, why don’t you all go and play outside, Okuda, I believe we have a date with our chemistry equipment.”

The class all filed out of the room, leaving Okuda behind with Korosensei. Before anyone could question Nagisa on his sleeping schedule, Karma was already dragging the blunette towards the forest surrounding the school building.

“What do you think that was about?” Sugino asked. His question wasn’t aimed at anyone in particular as the class all watched as the shorter boy tried to keep up with the taller one.

“Looks like those two are back to being how they used to be.” Mimura stated, from behind Sugino.

“And how did they used to be?” Yoshida asked. They could no longer see their two classmates.

“Just like this, keeping to themselves, whispering to each other, you never saw Karma without Nagisa close by, their dynamic was a weird one, but it definitely stopped Nagisa from getting bullied for a while.” Muramatsu explained to his friend.

“Yeah but then as suddenly as the two became friends they stopped,” Hara jumped in. “Karma started to ignore Nagisa to the point he wasn’t even coming to class, and his fighting habit got so bad he ended up attacking the teacher in his office.”

“Wait! Seriously? That’s what happened?” Maehara asked, looking shocked.

“Yeah, I remember the day it happened. According to the other student that was in the room, Karma flipped out and started cussing him out before he grabbed Kensaku-sensei and slammed him into the desk, breaking it.” Kimura told the story their class had been told.

“How do you guys know all this?” Kayano questioned the five students.

“We were all in Class-D with them.” Sugino explained to the newest addition to Kunugigaoka Junior High School.

“Anyway! Let’s stop worrying about those two and play assassination Volleyball!” Isogai suggested as he walked towards the net.

“Fuck that!” Terasaka exclaimed as he and his group walked off in another direction.

The end of recess came quickly and Nagisa was already back in the classroom before everyone else. He seemed to be writing notes in his notebook on Korosensei. Nagisa’s hair was back up in his cat-ear pigtails and he looked to be in higher spirits than he was before the break.

“Hey Nagisa, where did you and Karma run off to?” Kayano asked as she took her seat next to him.

“Hm, oh no where really just to the next clearing over.” Nagisa supplied easily.

“Cool, what’d you guys do? I didn’t realise the two of you were close?” The class was quiet trying to hear what happened between the two, but before he could answer Okuda walked into the room with a circular vial of red liquid.

“Is that the poison to kill Korosensei?” Nagisa asked as he stood up to approach the girl’s desk.

Okuda nodded, “Yeah, he gave me this and left me to make it with a warning to be careful.” She explained.

“Okay, so he really asked you to bring the poison to class?” Kayano asked, watch the red vial carefully. She stood closer to her desk then Okuda, like she was afraid even getting close to the vial would kill her.

“Yeah! He said the stuff in this vial should work like a charm.” Okuda explained.

Nagisa was looking for the recipe that Korosensei had given Okuda during recess, “He even drew a manga of the safety guidelines for proper use and storage.” Nagisa looked over at Okuda with a small smile on his face, “I’m impressed.”

“I know it's unconventional and all, but giving us the good on a poison that would kill him?”

“Nice right?” Okuda smiled down at the vial in her hands, “I think it’s his way of encouraging me, I’m good at chemistry not words, he said to focus on my strengths.”

Nagisa’s eyes narrowed at Okuda’s words. He knew Korosensei liked encouraging his students, but Korosensei also wanted his students to focus less on what they already knew and more on what they struggled with. His pop quizzes proved that. They were all individual for each student, they focused less on what they were already good at but more on what they needed to improve on. Nagisa knew from that moment that the vial in Okuda’s hands wasn’t going to kill their teacher.

“Hello everyone, how was your break?” Korosensei walked into the classroom smiling as the class moved back to their seats.

Okuda moved toward the front of the room to give Korosensei the vial. “Here it is sensei! Just like you asked.”

“Ah! Nice work!” Korosensei took the vial of poison from Okuda and uncapped it, “Well! Here’s to your health children!” He called before drinking the red liquid.

Korosensei retched before manic laughter bubbled from him as his body started to pulse faster than it had with the other poisons Okuda had already tried. “Thank you Okuda.” His body started to glow red, “Thank you very much indeed. This concoction is precisely what I needed to level up!”

“W-wait… Y-you tricked… I don’t!” The girl’s stutter was back as tears started to well up in her eyes.

Suddenly Korosensei roared and then he exploded before everything stopped. The class stared at the front of the classroom where their teacher once stood but was now a puddle of silver goo.

“He melted!” The class shouted as Korosensei chuckled.

“You didn’t think that was a poison did you?” Korosensei asked, voice sounded as if he breathed in helium. “On the contrary, I had you whip up a special tonic designed to increase my fluidity.” Suddenly he moved, bouncing off the walls before landing in Kataoka’s desk. The girl gasped as Korosensei continued to speak, “In liquid form, I fit comfortably into the tightest nooks and crannies.”

“What are you doing in there?” The female class representative questioned their goo teacher.

Ignoring her question he continued, “Best of all, I lose none of my speed!” and suddenly he was bouncing off walls again. “Go ahead, try to beat me!” The class pulled out their guns and knives, but their teacher moved too fast to hit.

“This is messed up dude!” Okajima shouted as he ducked from Mimura’s gun fire.

“What in the world did you give him!” Kayano shouted, jumping from her seat.

“You tricked me!” Okuda shouted as Korosensei settled in the corner above the door, “That’s not fair!”

“Hmm, fair?” Korosensei questioned, “Verbal deception is a vital part of the successful assassin’s toolkit, don’t you agree Nagisa?”

“Huh?” Okuda whispered, glancing at the boy next to her.

“What are you talking about sensei?” Nagisa asked. He had to make his body relax. There was no way Korosensei knew who he was, he still didn’t know who Korosensei was.

“Approaching the target so naively, like you did Okuda, is a good way to fail in your mission, even the deadliest of poison would be made useless if you can’t convince the mark to drink it.” Korosensei answered, “Think back to Nagisa’s answer this morning, to deceive someone you have to get inside their head; know what they respond to, use language creatively.” Korosensei returned to his clothes on the floor and returned to his usual appearance. “In poisoning, as in life, the key to success is communication.” He stood to his full size, “Imagine one day you make an Earth-shattering scientific discovery, how can it benefit life if it stays locked inside your head? Knowing the right thing to say can make all the difference, right?”

“Right! Thank you sensei!” Okuda cheered.

‘Leave it to Korosensei. To him, even a student trying to poison him is still, first and foremost, a student. We’re a long way off from being able to kill him. He’s just that good.’

Lunch came around quickly after that and lunch meant the dreaded hike down to the main building to go to the school assembly.

“Quite dragging your feet! We show up late again, there’s no telling what kind of messed up stuff they’ll make us do.” Isogai called from the front, leading the class down the mountain.

“Yeah, last time we had to clean out the flower beds.” Okano agreed.

“Man, that blew, those things were the size of houses.” Maehara grumbled.

“What are you bitching about? We did all the work?” Isogai rebutted.

Maehara laughed, “I was moral support!”

“Ug, this sucks! Someone explain to me why we’re the only students in school that has to put up with this crap!” Okano shouted to the sky.

“Oh damn, Hinata snappe.” Maehara hissed, taking a step back from the short haired girl.

Nagisa, Sugino, Kayano, Okuda, Kanzaki and Sugaya were following the three childhood friends, silently laughing at their conversation. Suddenly they heard Mimura shout out Okajima’s name as Okajima’s screams could be heard.

“That didn’t sound good.” Okuda stated. Looking back to see what was going on.

“Those three took one of Karma’s ‘Short Cuts’” Sugino explained. The other two’s eyes widened.

“That’s not going to end well.” Nagisa sighed.

Suddenly more screaming could be heard from where Fuwa, Hara and Yada were walking.

“I think those three saw the snakes,” Kayano huffed. As shouts of Okajima’s name filled the air again.

“Sounds like Okajima also found the snakes.” Sugino huffed a laugh.

Shouts then sounded from Terasaka and his gang along with sounds of falling boulders.

“That doesn’t sound good.” Nagisa pointed out. Okajima’s name was then shouted from the delinquent gang.

“Okajima doesn’t sound like he’s having a good day.” Sugaya pointed out, a smirk on his face.

“Speaking of sounds, does anybody else hear that?” Kanzaki questioned their group.

“That sounds like bees.” Kayano agreed.

“Uh oh,” Sugaya stated looking to his right. Next to his head there was a giant beehive and Nagisa not realising that Sugaya had stopped ran into the artist causing him to accidently hit the hive.

A swarm of bees came rushing out and started attacking the group of six.

“Whose big idea was it to poke the beehive!” Sugino shouted as he swatted bees away from his face.

“It was an accident!” the tallest and shortest boys of the group shouted in return.

They could hear him coming before they could see him. The sound of his screams, the hissing of snakes and the rolling of the boulder chasing him gave his location away as Okajima ran towards the group of six getting swarmed by bees. The group managed to get out of the class pervert’s way as he ran into the area they were in, making himself the target to the bees as well.

“Look out Okajima!” They screamed at him as he flew off down the mountain.

“He’s having a really bad day.” Sugino agreed.

“I hope the poor guy’s alright.” Sugaya sighed.

“Me too.” Nagisa agreed.

The group sat at the halfway point down the mountain trying to catch their breaths.

“Can we be done with the rocks and the bees and the things trying to kill us please?” Kayano asked.

“I’m glad Okajima was there to take the brunt of it for us.” Sugino panted.

Karasuma-sensei approached the group that had just arrived. “Hey, anyone hurt?”

“I think we’re mostly ok.” Nagisa answered.

“Good, no rush.” Karasuma-sensei glanced down at his watch, “In fact, at this rate, we’re making excellent time.”

“Wait for me!” Was screamed from somewhere at the top of the mountain and in record time Irena Jelavic was on her hands and knees panting in front of Karasuma.

“Hey Bitch-sensei!” Kayano smiled at the blonde.

“No one said anything about a class trip during lunch.” She panted.

“Yeah, no offence sensei but you looked wrecked.” Sugino stated, looking down at the blonde teacher.

“You try running through nature in heels!” Bitch-sensei yelled at Sugino.

Nagisa glanced over to Karasuma-sensei wondering what the stoic Ministry of Defence agent was thinking about the blonde international assassin before realising only two of their three teachers were here. “Karasuma-sensei, where Korosensei?”

“We told him to wait back at the old campus for security reasons, it wouldn’t do for the other students to see him.” Karasuma-sensei explained.

“I bet that went down well.” Sugino laughed.

“I bet 800 yen that he shows up in the first ten minutes of the assembly.” Sugaya stated.

“You’re on!” Sugino stated, holding out his hand, “I say five minutes.”

“Deal.” Sugaya shook Sugino’s hand as Karasuma grumbled about he shouldn’t be letting students gamble but knew it was already too late to stop it from happening.

“The main campus isn’t much further away, are you ready?” Karasuma-sensei asked the group.

“Yeah.” The students and teacher groaned.

 The class were mostly on the ground panting to catch their breaths as Karasuma stood watching over them.

“Are we sure he isn’t the superhuman teacher?” Kimura groaned once he caught sight of the man.

“I’m starting to think the Japanese government actually did the super soldier experiment like in Captain America.” Mimura agreed.

“That sincerely sucked.” Okajima groaned. He still had snakes around his drenched body and a few bee stings on his face and hands.

“Well, at least we’re not late.” Isogai replied as Maehara laughed.

“No idea how that happened.” Maehara agreed.

“Hurry up people, we gotta get in line before they start!” Isogai called over his classmates’ pants.

“Okay.” Everyone groaned and got up from where they were lying.

E-Class stood in two lines facing the stage, head bowed down. Not a word came from the class as the other classes milled around them chatting to their friends.

“Hey! Nagisa!” Chosuke called out, catching all of E-Class’s attention. “Wow! Look at you guys! I’m surprised you made it, must have been a heck of a trek rollin’ down the mountain.” He and Nobuta started to laugh loudly as E-Class went back to looking down at the ground in front of them.

‘The only reason Class-E is invited to the assembly is to remind us that we are the lowest of the low and to warn others about what will happen if you fail. It’s not something we look forward to but there isn’t much we can do about it either’

The assembly started as the Dean started to speak.

“You are the cream of the crop! This nation’s shining elite, never forget that.” The Dean spoke last of the teachers, “I am proud to be your dean, but don’t get too comfortable, let E-Class remind you of the perils in that.” He paused as the students of the other classes laughed. “Now, now, it is unkind to laugh at their expense.”

Nagisa looked down at his feet wishing for the assembly to be over sooner. “Hey Nagisa?” Sugaya broke through Nagisa’s thoughts, “Why isn’t Karma here?”

“Because he’s ditching, like always.” Nagisa sighed. He knew if Karma was here there would be a lot less laughter. Not many people were brave enough to laugh at Kunugigaoka’s own psycho.

“What? Is he out of his mind?” Sugaya asked, looking around to make sure no one was noticing the conversation.

“It’s not like he doesn’t know he’ll catch hell for blowing off assembly, he just doesn’t care.” Nagisa explained, “Wish I had the grades to get away with that, they’d probably just throw me out.”

“Yeah, ain’t that the truth.” Sugaya agreed before deciding to dig further, the laughter was nowhere near ending anyway, “That’s why he dragged you off at recess, he wanted you to ditch with him?”

“Something like that.” Nagisa shut down. Sugaya knew he wasn’t going to hear anything about his and Karma’s trip in the forest.

The dean continued to make jokes on E-Class’s expense until he had nothing left to say and the student announcer called the student council members to the podium.

Though the classes closer to E-Class started to get a little distracted as they noticed the newest teacher, speaking to the ones closer to him. Whispers started to break out wondering who the man was.

“Who’s that?”

“I’ve never seen him before?”

“Is he a new teacher?”

“He looks way too cool to be a teacher.”

Karasuma ignored the whispers from the other classes as he continued to introduce himself to the other teachers. That was until he could hear his own students whispering to each other.

“You too?” Kurahashi whispered over to Nakamura.

“Yeah.” Nakamura agreed, holding up a decorated knife sheath. The sight alone gave Karasuma a heart attack. “Hey, check it out sensei.” Nakamura smiled as Karasuma made his way over to his students.

“We decorated the thing we keep our knives in.” Kurahashi smiled sweetly as if she was talking about bedazzling a phone and not a knife sheath.

“So stylish.” Nakamura agreed. Before the girls could say much more, Karasuma had lent up close to them and grabbed their sheaths to push them down and out of sight.

“They’re ‘totes adorable’ yes! Now put them away.” He hissed glaring at the two girls. “We’re supposed to keep this on the DL, remember the other students can’t know!”

“Oh, sorry.” Both girls sighed. Luckily for them the other students didn’t hear what had been said.

“I think he’s the new E-Class teacher.” Another student whispered.

“Looks like he’s big on the hands-on approach.”

“No fair, why can’t the regular teachers be that hot? I mean seriously, is there some kind of rule?”

More gasps and whispers filled classes C & D as Irena walked into the gym.

“Whoa, who’s the boobalious foreign-looking chick?”

“Five minutes ago, she was down on all fours, but damn look at her work it.” Sugino snickered.

“Quick recovery, huh?” Nagisa agreed.

“Maybe all our teachers are superhuman?” Sugaya whispered.

“That honestly wouldn’t surprise me.” Kayano agreed.

“Don’t tell me she’s an E-Class teacher too.” Another wave of whispers rang out across classes C & D.

“So jealous.”

“Are we supposed to be ignoring the whispers?” Sugaya laughed silently. Most of  Class E were following Sugaya’s example of silent laughter at the whispers about their teachers.

Class E could tell that Karasuma-sensei was not happy about Bitch-sensei’s arrival and got even more annoyed as the blonde moved toward the class, narrowing in on Nagisa.

“Nagisa, the octopus isn’t around. Talk to me.” As she placed a hand on his shoulder he flinched away. She decided to ignore his reaction and continued to interrogate the boy. “Gimme some intel, you’re still keeping a record of all the ooey-gooey bastard’s vulnerable points, right? Let sensei take a peek at your notebook and I’ll make it worth your while.”

“Uh, I uh… I haven’t added anything since the last time you saw it.” Nagisa answered.

“Please sweetheart, you and I both know you’re keeping the good stuff all to your lonesome.” Nagisa instantly knew this had to do with something that he told that wasn’t in his notebook. She may have found something to prove his theory was right.

“Actually, I have shared everything I know.” Nagisa stated.

“Ug, come on now kid!” The assassin grabbed the back of Nagisa’s head and shoved his face into his chest. “Don’t make me smother you!”

“I can’t breathe! Your boobs are too much Bitch-sensei!” Nagisa tried to stay quiet, but it was getting a little difficult when the assassin/teacher didn’t understand that there was no new information.

Another wave of whispers broke out among the two lower classes.

“So Jealous.”

“Too bad she is a bitch.”

“What the hell!”

“The End Class isn’t supposed to have fun!”

Karasuma then pulled the blonde off Nagisa, dragging her out of the gym by her hair.

“All right everyone!” The student council representative called all the student’s attention back to the stage. “The student council events are explained on the handouts you’ve just been given.”

“Uh? What?” Okajima asked looking around his classmates to make sure he was the only one that had been missed, only to notice no one in Class E had one. Leaning forward to whisper into Isogai’s ear, “Where are ours?”

Okano turned around to shrug at him as Isogai spoke up, “Excuse me! E-Class didn’t get any handouts!”

“Oh? You didn’t get any? Now that’s strange,” The student council representative stated, “I’m sorry! It seems we forgot to make some for 3-E! I guess you’ll have to memorise it all before you leave!” More laughter broke out, “In fact, you and your classmates could stand to sharpen your memories anyway!” Then there was suddenly wind inside the gym and 3-E each had a handout.

“Isogai?” A new voice spoke from where the teachers were standing.

“Damn it!” Sugino groaned as Sugaya snickered,

“Ten minutes on the dot.”

“There you are, it seems everyone has a copy now.” Korosensei smiled at Isogai.

“Oh, we got our handouts, please continue!” Isogai called out to the stage and the student representative did a double take.

“What? N-No way! How?” The representative stuttered, “Hey! Who killed our fun!” His eyes widened when he realised the words that had come out of his mouth, “Er… Ahem! Let us continue.” Class-E struggled to contain their laughter as he continued to speak, “Let’s take a look at the upcoming student council schedule…”

“He must have gotten lonely.” Nagisa whispered.

“Well, he just made me 800 yen richer by being lonely,” Sugaya snickered as Sugino groaned into his hand.

What broke the camel’s back, in this case Karasuma-sensei’s patience, wasn’t when Bitch-sensei tried to smother Nagisa, or when Korosensei showed up when he was told not to, but when Bitch-sensei tried to stab Korosensei in front of the whole school. Forcing the blonde to drop her knife and put her in a restraining hold, he walked her out the gym once more.

The laughter that Class-E had been trying to hold in broke out as they could hear the whispers about their teachers from the other classes.

“Well, that’s Bitch-sensei for you!” Maehara jokes.

The assembly had ended, and E-Class were slowly moving towards the mountain to make their dreaded hike back up.

“We’re going on ahead Nagisa,” Sugino called as Nagisa stopped to get a drink for the vending machine.

“Okay, I’ll catch up after I get a drink!” Nagisa called back. Selecting a juice, Nagisa crouched down to get it from the bottom.

“Hey, Nagisa.” Nagisa groaned. He really did not have enough energy to deal with Chosuke and Nobuta at the current moment. Nagisa stood to face the two as Chosuke continued to speak, “Don’t you guys think you’re getting a bit carried away? Laughing during the assembly and stuff, you should learn some respect.” Chosuke smirked, “E-Class should just keep its head down and shut up.”

“You got crappy lives weighing you down after all.” Nobuta stated, Nagisa couldn’t help the tired look he gave them, all he wanted was for the trash talk to end so he could catch up with his class. “What’s with the dirty look? Got something to say E-Class!” Nobuta shouted, reaching forward he grabbed Nagisa’s vest with both hands and lifted him up so only his toes touched the ground. “You want me to kill you!”

Nagisa’s eyes widened slightly as he heard that word. That one word that ruled his life, ‘Kill’ . Nagisa knew none of his classmates were nearby. None of them would see what Nagisa could do with his bloodlust. He released it in waves, washing it over the two boys in front of him. A smirk forming on his lips he levelled the two with a deadly look,

“As if you’ve ever tried to kill anyone before.” He whispered for only the three of them could hear his confession.

Freaked out, Nobuta dropped Nagisa back to the ground before stepping away from him. Nagisa simply smiled at the two before walking between them back to the mountain.

What Nagisa hadn’t noticed was his two teachers watching the interaction. Karasuma stood shell shocked at the bloodlust he had felt coming from the boy as Korosensei chuckled quietly at his colleague’s reaction.

“My reaction was similar when I first felt his bloodlust too, I’m not sure if he realises what he is doing or how strong his bloodlust is, but he certainly has the potential to become a pro.” Korosensei looked down at his colleague, before moving towards the mountain himself. The movement startled Karasuma out of his frozen form. He shook his head trying to clear his thoughts before double checking that no one from his class was still on the main campus before following the international state secret up the mountain to the classroom of students, he was training to become assassins.

Chapter Text

Nagisa could feel the questioning stares on his back as Karma dragged him away from the class and into the forest surrounding their campus.

“Karma, slow down! I can’t keep up!” Nagisa shouted as Karma continued on his high-speed pace. Karma froze before looking back at the blunette and letting go of his wrist. He continued walking but at a much slower pace for Nagisa to manage. He didn’t speak until they were back at the cliff Karma had jumped from only a week ago. “Karma… I-”

“I thought she had killed you.” Karma whispered softly, “You didn’t call me last night but that wasn’t unusual,” Karma looked down at his feet. “But then you weren’t on the usual train or in the classroom when I got there or even there when Korosensei arrived and started asking me where you were and I thought ‘ Oh shit, I’m going to break my promise’ But I didn’t and I couldn’t stop staring at your desk wondering where you were, if you were ever coming back…”

“Karma I-”

“No Nagisa!” Karma cut him off again. “You need to tell someone. You need to report her!”

“If I do that then I go back to living with my father and I wouldn’t be here anymore!” Nagisa shouted at him.

“That would still be better than her!” Karma retorted.

“No, it won’t, here I only need to kill one person to carry on with my life! There the killing and the blood and the violence would never stop!” Nagisa yelled back. Karma recoiled slightly. “I just need to get through High School and then I can leave her, even if I go straight into the workforce and even if I have to skip out on University, I’ll be free.” Nagisa looked down at his feet. “I’ll be free of the blood and the violence and the killing and everything else that comes with my shitty family.”

“Nagisa…” Karma whispered; his hand started to raise subconsciously trying to comfort his best friend. The blunette flinched away from his hand. “Let me look, there was a reason I brought my bag with me.”

“What?” Nagisa’s head whipped up to look into Karma’s eyes.

“You’ve spent so much time fixing up my wounds, let me return the favour.” Karma smiled gently, “I also have a few hair ties as well.”

Nagisa snorted before he started unbuttoning his vest and school shirt. Purple bruises blossomed over milky white skin. The darker bruises were extended across his shoulders and were in the shape of handprints. There were a few light bruises in the shape of fingerprints dusting his hips.

“Luckily Phys. Ed was cancelled due to the assembly today.” Nagisa whispered softly as Karma hovered his hands over the bruises scared to touch him.

“No open wounds?” Karma asked, looking Nagisa in the eye to make sure he didn’t lie. Nagisa shook his head as Karma got to work. The red head pulled out the couple of ice packs he’d stolen from the sick bay before leaving for recess and rested them on his shoulders before falling to his knees to inspect the smaller ones on his hips. Karma pulled out his Vitamin K cream and started to carefully rub the cream into the bruised areas. Once he had finished treating the smaller bruises, he moved back up to Nagisa’s shoulders and removed the ice packs to start applying the cream to those areas too. “Do you want me to bandage your shoulders?” Nagisa shook his head again, staying silent. Karma nodded his response before instructing Nagisa to sit down and pulling out a hairbrush and a couple of hair ties.

“Did you sleep last night?” Nagisa whispered softly, his question mixing with the wind.

“No.” Karma sighed back as he started to brush long blue locks of hair in front of him. “From the way you kept dozing off in class I take it you didn’t sleep last night either.”

“Yeah,” Nagisa agreed. The conversation stopped and Karma started to pull Nagisa’s hair up and into his iconic cat-ear styled pigtails.

“When did you start wearing your hair like this anyway?” Karma questioned. It was clear that Karma was struggling to style his hair but was also being gentle as to not pull.

“When Kayano joined the class, she asked me why I was in a boy’s uniform.” Nagisa started the story only to be cut off by a snort from Karma. “It made the whole class laugh and for once I didn’t mind. We all need to laugh at something after that horrible week.”

“What made the week so horrible? And didn’t Kayano start E-Class with everyone else?” Karma questioned and Nagisa shot him a confused look.

“I sometimes forget you weren’t here at the start of the year,” Nagisa whispered. “No Kayano transferred to the school three weeks into the term, the same week she transferred into the school and got put in E-Class was the week our class came back from our week off after Yukimura-sensei passed away.”

“Wait, Yukimura-sensei died?” Karma asked shocked, “I thought they just paid her to quit or found her a new job, I didn’t realise she died.”

“They didn’t tell you?” Nagisa asked, confused, he thought everyone knew about Yukimura-sensei.

“No, they didn’t mention her at all.” Karma stated, “How did she die?”

“She worked at that science facility that collapsed the night the moon got blown up.” Nagisa explained. His heart twinged a little when he spoke about what happened, but it didn’t hurt to think about anymore. Maybe he really was just acting, and all his emotions are just for show. If that was the case, then the nervous feeling in his stomach wasn’t real and the way his heart pounded against his chest was because of the pain from someone touching his bruises.

“Wow, I had no idea. I’m sorry.” Karma whispered as he tied off the second pigtail and stood up. He picked up Nagisa’s shirt and helped the small boy up. Carefully he helped slide the shirt over Nagisa’s shoulders before buttoning it up.

“Karma you don’t have-” Nagisa started to fuss with the buttons Karma was doing up.

“How bad is the bruise on your cheek? I can tell you’re wearing a heavy coat of foundation.” Karma cut him off and swatted his hands away to do up the last few buttons.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Nagisa stated defiantly.

“Okay, fine be stubborn but take the Vitamin K cream, it needs to be applied two times a day for as long as you need, if you need more let me know, I have another tube at home.” Karma stated, handing Nagisa the cream and his vest. Before picking up his bag, “I would offer you to ditch with me, but I know you won’t.” With that said Karma left the area to head off home or to wherever he goes when he ditches halfway through the day. Nagisa knew he’d be back to kidnap him from the station or even after his detention.

Nagisa sighed as he looked down at the cream Karma used only to smile. It wasn’t the same tube Nagisa gave him back in their first year, but it was the same brand. He remembers that day so clearly, it was the first time he ever witnessed one of Karma’s fights. He remembered wanting to run away and forget the budding friendship between the two of them, but he couldn’t move. It was the first time he realised blood and violence followed him wherever he went, but it didn’t scare him this time. Because that time the violence was protecting him. Karma had started and finished the fight with the second years that were bullying Nagisa for his looks. After the fight Nagisa dragged Karma away and took his hands in his and started to rub the cream into his knuckles where the bruises were already forming. They didn’t speak after that until they got to the station closest to their homes and Nagisa whispered a quiet thank you before handing him the cream and giving him the instruction on how to use it.

Nagisa sighed and sorted himself out, so he looked presentable for the class, before moving back towards the old campus. He was dreading the walk down the mountain to the main campus and wished he could ditch like Karma. If only he could be an honour student delinquent.

Chapter Text

The final bell of the day rang, and the students of Class 3-E started to pack up their things and head to the door to go home. The only two students that didn’t move from their seats were the class’s own demon and the class’s angel.

“Nagisa? Why aren’t you packing up? Don’t you have a train to catch?” Sugino questioned when he noticed Nagisa hadn’t made a move to pack up.

“Nagisa has detention, Sugino.” Korosensei spoke up as he watched the blunette slump further into his seat.

“Ok, but what’s Karma doing?” Nakamura broke into the conversation. That’s when the class’s attention shifted to the red head who was playing with an anti-sensei knife as he lent back in his chair.

“I also have detention.” Karma answered for Korosensei causing Nagisa to whip around in his seat to stare at him.

“Ba-ba-But! I didn’t give you a detention!” Korosensei shouted. “Don’t make this a protest Karma!” The idea of protesting Nagisa’s detention for sleeping in class when Karma did that almost every day, seemed appealing for the class.

“It’s not a protest.” Karma stated leaning forward in his chair, “What? You’re not going to punish the student that skipped the school assembly?” Karma’s smirk grew as Korosensei froze. Honestly with everything that happened at the assembly, Korosensei had forgotten that Karma wasn’t even there.

“W-well, I was going to give you detention tomorrow evening as not to put you in the same room as your friends.” Korosensei shot back, only stuttering on the first word.

“Eh, but I’m here now so I’m just going to have that detention now.” Karma shrugged.

“Y-You can’t just give yourself detention!” Korosensei shouted flabbergasted.

Karma smirked, “Watch me.”

The teacher and student stared each other down, waiting for the other to give up. The rest of the class watched the scene unfold like a tennis match. The tension kept growing as neither stepped down from their stage, the air becoming so thick it was hard to breath. But like when one is trapped in a small place, relief came when someone opened a window. Or in this case when Bitch-sensei opened the door.

“What are all you brats still doing here! I thought I only had to watch one of you for detention!”

“Wait you’re on detention duty?” Sugino questioned, confusion radiating around the room.

“It’s Karasuma’s punishment of being ‘too distracting’ in the assembly” The blonde woman put air quotation marks around what was clearly Karasuma-sensei’s words.

“As it my punishment to not watch my students in detention.” Korosensei grumbled as he packed up his things at Mach speed before heading towards the window. “Karma I will see you in the morning for a before school detention as for everyone else I’ll see you in class tomorrow.” And just like that, Korosensei was gone.

“Well, you heard the octopus! Get out!” Bitch-sensei shouted at the class as they all, but Nagisa and Karma, scrambled out of the room. “That includes you dye job.” Bitch-sensei glared at the red head.

Karma rolled his eyes as he stood up to leave. He knew when to give up and he knew that if he tried to stay, she’d end up dragging him out.

Once Irena deemed Karma far enough away she turned her stare onto Nagisa.

“Remember what we spoke about the other day?” Nagisa simply nodded. “Well, I reached out to some of my contacts to put feelers out there, but nothing has come about yet.” Nagisa nodded again, he wasn’t expecting an immediate response. “However, while you were all in assembly I got a call from my handler.” Nagisa frowned waiting for her to continue. “He warned me against looking into other assassins’ where abouts if I want to keep this job. He’s worried that if I call attention to myself, someone bigger is going to swoop in and take the reward.” Nagisa nodded in understanding.

“So, what’s the plan from here? If you’ve been warned against looking into other assassins, do we just carry on like usual, treat him like an ordinary target?” Nagisa questioned.

“I still have my feelers out, but they are minimal at best, we might not hear anything from them.” Irena explained. She looked anxious. She kept shifting her weight like she was waiting for a fight.

“But?” Nagisa encouraged.

“But nothing! I don’t know what to do!” Her anxious energy was let go as she fell into the teacher’s chair at the front of the room. “I thought I was an accomplished assassin but now I have a bigger job, I’m cracking under the pressure, maybe I really am just a small fry.” Her voice grew soft towards the end. Her life crisis reaching a breaking point.

“Hey now, I’m sure you can do this. We just need to work together to figure this out. You’re clearly good when it comes to team ups which I have feeling a lot of assassins fail at so think about all of those that you’re better than.” Nagisa had moved closer to his teacher and current assassin partner.

“No! That makes me even worse!” Irena cried. “Being an assassin is a career that you’re supposed to work solo! Team ups aren’t supposed to happen and when they do you’re supposed to look out for yourself and no one else, get ready to betray and be betrayed.”

Nagisa sighed. How did a simple strategist meeting ended up with him trying to reassure his teacher that she was good enough? Maybe he could distract her? Make her feel like she was doing something… But what? Karma’s words ringing in his ears. ‘Tell someone! Report her!’

“My mom hits me.” Nagisa stated. He didn’t try to sugar coat it or really explain what he was going to tell her before outing one of his biggest secrets.

“Wha-”

“She didn’t like that I was born a boy, she wanted a girl.” Nagisa cut her off. “It’s why my hair is so long. She used to dress me in feminine clothes when I was younger too,” Nagisa sighed. “The funny thing is, it wasn’t even one of the big things that made my family fall apart.” The look Irena gave him, made him rethink what he was going to say next. “I mean it was one of the things that caused the divorce, but one of the major ones happened when I was 4, someone put a hit out on my dad, to give him a warning and an assassin broke into our house and almost killed me.” Nagisa moved to unbutton his shirt, not caring if she saw the bruises his mother left the night before.

Irena’s eyes trailed over the bruises covering his shoulders. Her eyes narrowed at the paper thin, silver scar that was almost impossible to see behind all the bruising. The scar stretched from just beneath his left shoulder and across his chest and ending at his right hip. It was a clean cut, no jagged edges, whatever cut him was sharp and smooth. Clearly the work of a professional. Irena pursed her lips in disgust.

“It wasn’t too deep, and the assassin left quickly after he did it but that was the tipping point of my parents relationship, it all went down hill after that. Mom started forcing me into more feminine things and growing out my hair longer, her breakdowns becoming more frequent and lasting longer.” Nagisa continued, “Dad started to go away for longer period of time, taking back to back jobs so he didn’t have to come home.” He took a deep breath. “When the divorce finally happen, it was more of a relief for both of them, but then they remembered they had a kid and the custody battle was worse than the actual divorce case.” Nagisa struggled at the confused look his teacher shot him, “Neither actually wanted me, they just wanted something the other couldn’t have.” Nagisa explained, “Both wanted me for their own personal gain.” Nagisa paused as he watched his teacher’s demeanour as she shifted in her seat, a look of understanding made its way onto her face, “Mom wanted the perfect daughter she didn’t get, so she was going to make one out of me and Dad wanted the perfect heir to carry on his legacy after he retired.” Nagisa concluded.

“Why are you telling me this? Shouldn’t you be telling the police or a proper teacher?” Irena asked. Her eyes didn’t move from the scar on his chest.

“If I go to someone else they’ll want to report her and get me taken away from her, which could lead to two things; going back to living with my father or getting put in foster care, both of which I don’t want to happen.” Nagisa explained. “As for why I’m telling you is because I know you’ll understand why we have to put up with things we don’t like in life and I know if it gets worst or I need to get out, you will know who to tell and how to save me.”

“You’re too trusting,” Irena sighed. “You really shouldn’t trust me, I’m an assassin, I could betray you at any moment.”

“And I’m the son of a man who likes to help put assassins in jail, you shouldn’t trust me.” Nagisa argued back with a shrug as he re-buttoned up his shirt hiding the evidence of his mother’s abuse and the mark of the assassin that tore his family apart.

“So, what you are saying is that we can’t trust each other?” Irena summarised. Eyeing the boy as he walked back to his seat.

“No, what I’m saying is that if we only look at a person’s backgrounds, we won’t be able to trust anyone.” Nagisa sighed as he started to pack up his things.

“You’re wise for a kid.”

“And you’re childish for an adult. It seems we balance each other out.” Nagisa shot back with a small smirk as Irena turned red in the face and started to scream at him for being a brat and talking back. All Nagisa could do was laugh quietly and watch as she let off some steam. Her shouting and ranting didn’t scare him like his mother’s did. It was like listening to an older sister complain about her younger sibling.

When the detention was over, the two packed up the rest of their things and made their way down the mountain and towards the station. It was a quiet trip as no talking was needed. When the teacher and student went to part ways Irena stopped Nagisa by gently grabbing his wrist. She didn’t look him in the eyes as she spoke,

“Thank you for trusting me with your secret and if you ever need help, even if it is after this whole year and the world keeps spinning, all you need to do is ask.” She caught his eyes, “We can have a safe word or something you say and I will know to get you out of there.”

Nagisa kept the blonde’s eye contact as he thought of something that wasn’t common enough say by accident but also not too strange to say in front of others. His eyes widened when remembering how he compared her to an older sister.

“Irena-chan.” He stated before turning away to enter the station.

Irena watched as the blunette walked away. She had slight tears in her eyes as she repeated the safe word softly, committing it to memory.

“Irena-chan.” She whisper softly. Repeating it over and over again. Lovro was going to call her weak for caring about the boy but she just couldn’t help it.

Chapter Text

“Let’s begin, shall we?” Korosensei spoke through all 26 doubles from the front of the classroom.

“Begin what exactly?” The students questioned as they stared at the doubles that started moving around the room.

“Midterm time has rolled around and that’s why this period will be spent in a high-speed study session!” The Korosensei army explained. Each double had a different headband on representing the subject it was teaching. “My clones can work with you one-on-one to drill you on each of your worst subjects.”

“Ridiculous.” Terasaka grumbled ignoring the chaos round him. “He even switches headbands for each subject.” When a clone finally reached him he took notice of the headband his clone was wearing. “Hey! Why do I get a Naruto headband!” He shouted at the clone reading manga instead of teaching him.

‘I think Korosensei is getting faster. Six Japanese, eight math, three social studies, four science, four English and one Naruto. Splitting up for each student like that? It wasn’t too long ago that he could only handle four or five clones.’

Nagisa was broken out of thought when the Korosensei clone that was tutoring him suddenly had a hole through his head.

“No sneak assassinations now, Karma!” The multiple clones shouted. Nagisa whipped around to look at the redhead to see he had a gun raised at his clone sticking his tongue out. “Dodging will disrupt my persistence of vision!”

“These clones are so fine and delicate.” Nagisa stated staring up at his clone, “But do you have any strength left after making them?”

“Not to worry, I have one clone resting outside.” Korosensei smiled down at him.

“How is that helping?!” Nagisa shouted at the teacher.

‘This power-up in acceleration… I wonder if it’s preparation for destroying the Earth in a year? No matter how you slice it, he’s one tricky target for us.’

“Do you understand so far, Nagisa?” Korosensei questioned the blunette.

Nagisa smiled up at him, “Yes, sir.”

‘If you’re facing exams… he’s a good teacher to have.’

The school day was over and Nagisa and Kayano were on cleaning duty. “Goodbye Korosensei!” Nagisa called as Korosensei left the classroom.

“Bye, Sir!” Kayano cheered as she cleaned the blackboard.

“Have a good afternoon! I hope you manage to kill me tomorrow!” Korosensei called over his shoulder.

With cleaning out of the way, Nagisa and Kayano made their way out of the building when they heard Korosensei’s voice in the faculty lounge,

“Say, might I receive a little bump in my salary?”

The two teens glanced at each other before deciding to peep through the open door of the lounge. The two then glanced at each other as they saw the chairman in the room.

“So, he likes to suck up and beg to his superiors?” whispered as she watched the scene in front of them. Korosensei was moving around the small room at Mach speed; making and pouring tea, giving the strawberry blonde a shoulder massage and fanning him.

‘Korosensei’s Weak Point #6: Subservient to Higher-ups’

Nagisa and Kayano leaned closer to get a better look.

“I must apologise.” The chairman smiled up to Korosensei, “I’d meant to come and pay my respects.” He stood from his seat as he continued, “The Ministry and Mr Karasuma have told me all about you. I can’t claim to understand everything, but… How very sad you are.” He stood close to Korosensei. “Looking to become the saviour of the world, only to fall into the role of the great villain who would destroy it.”

Nagisa and Kayano exchanged confused looks, what did the chairman mean by that? ‘The saviour of the world’?

“But let’s set that aside for now.” Breaking eye contact, the chairman looked down to the ground. “Struggle as I might, I cannot hope to save the planet from it’s crisis. Barring the unexpected, I’ll stay out of your assassination altogether.” He walked away from the monster teacher to pat Karasuma’s shoulder, “You’ve certainly paid me enough.”

“That will be helpful.” Karasuma ground out, failing to hide his displeasure towards the strawberry blonde.

“Well, aren’t you rational! I do like a rational man.” Irena purred.

“I’m honoured.” He looked over the blonde assassin. “However, as principal, I must consider what’s in store next year and beyond, should the Earth survive,” He leant against the windowsill. “In other words, if someone does happen to kill you, what is this school’s future? Frankly, we need the E Class to remain as it is.”

Nagisa and Kayano gasped. Nagisa had no doubt that Korosensei knew they were eavesdropping.

“As it is? You mean, with rock-bottom grades and treatment, like now?” Korosensei questioned.

“Yes.” The principal agreed. “Are you familiar with the worker ant principle? In any group, twenty percent will be lazy, twenty percent will work hard, and the remaining sixty percent will be average.” He explained, “My goal is a group with five percent slackers and ninety-five percent hard workers.” He continued, “‘I don’t want to be like the E Class.’; ‘I don’t want to be in the E Class.’” The man imitated, “With ninety-five percent of students thus determined, my ideal ratio is attainable.”

“I see, how logical.” Korosensei was still smiling but his voice had gone dark. His bloodlust making the room feel heavy and dark. “Then the five percent in the E Class must be kept weak and pitiful.”

“I received a complaint from the D Class teacher today; ‘A student from E Class glared at one of my students and threatened to kill him.’”

Nagisa groaned quietly as Kayano shot him a questioning look.

“I’m sure the glare is part and parcel of the whole assassination thing and that’s fine. The problem lies in a student with rock-bottom grades defying a regular one, under my policies, that cannot stand.” The principal looked over the three E Class teachers. “Please tell him in no uncertain terms to control himself.” He moved to the door, “Oh, and Korosensei? You have one second, solve this.” The principal turned back to the octopus teacher and threw a metal ring puzzle.

“What? Just like that?!” Korosensei moved in a blur, catching the puzzle and using all his tentacles to try to solve it. A second later his tentacles were tangled in the puzzle and Korosensei was on the floor trying to untangle himself.

“What the hell is this?!” Kayano hissed as Nagisa whipped his notebook out a second time to record the perceived weakness. “He gets freaked out by metal ring puzzles?”

“More like he gets flustered when things get sprung on him.” Nagisa whispered back.

‘Korosensei’s Weak Point #7: Gets flustered when things get sprung on him’

“Your speed lives up to the hype.” The Chairman stated, “No doubt you can dodge any attempt on your life, but you know, Korosensei… There are some problems speed can’t solve.” Korosensei gave up on the puzzle to lay face down on the floor and the Chairman continued his speech. “Now, if you’ll excuse me.” The Chairman made his exit. Kayano and Nagisa moved quickly to lean against the wall next to the door, hoping to look as if they were waiting to speak to a teacher. When the Chairman noticed them he gave them a smile, “Hey there!” The two students exchanged looks before giving the man a nod. “And Miss Kayano, how are you settling in, not getting in too much trouble I hope?”

“No Sir,” Kayano replied, “I’m liking E-Class very much!” She smiled.

“That’s good to hear.” Asano-sensei cheered. “Looking forward to seeing your midterm results! Good Luck!” The man then left.

“It was like two different people.” Kayano whispered.

“Yeah.” Nagisa muttered, wrapping his arms close to his chest.

‘With that dry “good luck”, I went from being an assassin back to the End Class, just like that.’

“Good morning, class!” Korosensei cheered. “Today I’ve tried making even more of me!” There were now too many clones to count. Easily three clones per student.

‘That’s way too many…’

“Now, let’s begin!”

‘Even the afterimages are getting sloppy. So sloppy, it’s like he’s turning into someone else!’

“What’s wrong Korosensei? Isn’t this a little too gung ho?” Kayano questioned one of her clones.

“Hmm? Not at all!” Korosensei replied quickly returning to his summary.

‘We need the E Class to remain as it is.’ Nagisa remembered Asano-Sensei’s words from the day before. The cram session continued throughout the period.

When the period ended, Korosensei fainted on top of his desk.

“You know, he does look pretty beat.” Maehara stated as the class surrounded their teacher

“Maybe this is out chance?” Nakamura grinned raising her knife.

“Why’s he teachering this hard, anyway?” Okajima questioned the group. Nagisa and Kayano exchanged a quick look, both having a better understanding as of why Korosensei was trying so hard and wondering if they should inform the class of what they overheard the day prior.

Korosensei’s laugh stopped Nagisa and Kayano from explaining what they knew. “All to get your test scores up!” Korosensei answered Okajima’s question. “If that happens…” Korosensei trailed off entering his fantasy world in his head. Turning pink he continued, “… and with no fear of being killed, I’ll be rolling in good fortune!”

“Uh, the whole studying part is fine and all…” Mimura started glancing over at Yada.

“Yeah! But if we assassinate him, we get ten billion yen!” Yada finished the thought.

“And with ten billion, you don’t need good grades to live the good life!” Nakamura jumped in.

That broke Korosensei out of his fantasy and brought him back to the world of the living. “I-Is that what you think?!” He shouted at the class.

“We’re the End Class, Korosensei.” Okajima stated as if that explained everything.

“Assassination is way more accessible to us than any exam.” Mimura agreed.

Korosensei bowed his head, “Ah! I see how it is.”

“How what is?” Mimura asked.

“You still don’t have what it takes to be assassins.” Korosensei’s face started the get darker as he stood to his full height, never moving his head from the bowed position. Dark energy and bloodlust waft off him, making the room seem darker than what it was. It was eerily similar to what happened after the suicide bomber attempt earlier in the year. “Out into the schoolyard, all of you!” His face turned purple with a large X across it as he looked over the class.  

The class gathered on the steps while Korosensei stood in the overgrown schoolyard.

“What’s the big idea, sendin’ us all out into the yard like this?” Mimura whispered to the group.

“Who knows? A bad mood came over him all of a sudden.” Nakamura replied.

“One good thing about the E Class system is its built-in remedial process.” Korosensei started, “By scoring in the top 50 of 186 student on periodic exams and receiving permission from their former teacher to return, they can leave this outcast E Class.” Korosensei explained. “However, it’s too difficult to meet these conditions given their poor grades in this inferior academic environment. Most E Class students, with their sense of inferiority that remediation is far out of reach, accept this harsh discrimination.” Korosensei finished as started moving a wooden structure across the field.

Bitch-sensei’s voice could be heard as Kataoka dragged her outside to stand with Karasuma. “What do you mean, hurry up?”

“Korosensei asked me to bring you outside with everyone.” Kataoka explained, before running to join the rest of the class.

“Irena-sensei, let me ask you something as a professional assassin.” Korosensei called out to his colleague catching the blonde off guard.

“What is all this?” She questioned. She had never seen the octopus act the way he was at the moment and suddenly she could understand exactly where Nagisa was coming from when he accused him of being an assassin. The bloodlust that was radiating out of his body was close to terrifying.

Ignoring her question, he continued his own, “When you’re on a job, do you have one single plan prepared?”

Her eyes narrowed, “No.” She stated shortly, “It’s not often that my main plan goes as expected. Making more detailed backup plans in preparation for any contingencies is Assassination 101.”

“And you, Karasuma-sensei?” Calling on his other colleague, “When you teach knife skills, is the first strike the only important one?”

“The first strike is of course the most important, but your next move matters too.” Karasuma answered, “Against a powerful foe, your first blow is likely to be dodged, so the precision with which you can land your second and third blows can decide the fight.”

“What are you getting at?” Maehara asked getting inpatient.

Korosensei started to spin on the spot picking up the wind and dirt as he answered, “As your teachers have answered, having a trusty second step is what makes for a confident assassin. But what about you?” Korosensei shouted over the wind he was creating, “‘We’ve got assassination, and that’s enough’” He mocked, “You think, and down go your academic goals. You’re just trying not to face the reason for your inferiority complex!” The class was now covering their faces and digging their heels in the ground to avoid being blown away. “What if I got away from this classroom? If another killer managed to do me in? Without the assassination you rely on, all you’re left with is good ol’ E Class inferiority. A word of advice from me to you, as you walk that fine line: Those who can’t wield a second blade, aren’t qualified to be an assassin!” By this point the wind and dirt Korosensei was controlling turned into a tornado and the class could no longer see their teacher.

Soon the wind stopped, and the dust settled. The class slowly moved their hands from their faces and opened their eyes to blink the remaining dust out of their vision.

“The yard was very uneven and full of weeds, I tidied it up.” Korosensei explained as he emerged from the collected dust. Gasps filled the class as the student took in their schoolyard. The weeds had been removed and the ground evened as their teacher stated, however, he had also painted lines on the ground detailing a track and soccer field, along with a new goalie net as well.

“I am a super-creature capable of wiping out the Earth.” Korosensei stated, his bloodlust surrounding him like a shadow covering his body making his eyes glow red. “Flattening out this area here is a piece of cake.” He grinned a large sadistic grin at his students. “If you can’t show me that trusty second blade, I’ll know there’s no assassin in this classroom worth taking me on, and I’ll flatten this entire campus before I go.”

“A second blade? When?” Nagisa asked. He had a feeling of what the answer was going to be but there was no way Korosensei would set such an unrealistic target, right?

“Tomorrow, of course.” Korosensei stated. “I want all of you in the top 50 after tomorrow’s midterms.” Shouts filled the crowd as Korosensei continued, “I’ve already been developing your second blades. I don’t use the doltish teaching methods they do at the main campus.” Korosensei smiled widely at the class. “Wield those blades with all confidence. Succeed in your mission and hold your head high smiling unashamed. You are proud assassins and proud members of the E Class!”

‘Then…

…It was midterm time.’

Kensaku Ono tapped his finger against the desk loudly as he watched over the E Class students take the exam. All the students seem to be clearly struggling with the exception of Akabane Karma who sat in the back seemingly not trying to fill out the answer sheet in front of him.

‘All students took these exams at the main campus, which means it was an away game only for us E Class students.’

Nagisa stared at the questions laid out in front of him. They honestly looked like monsters that he couldn’t defeat and in his imagination all he and the others could do was run.

“One knife isn’t enough to kill it! What’s with Question 4?!” Nagisa could almost hear Sugino shout. In his mind Nagisa and his classmates could only run from the monster that was question 4. The large purple-red beast looked like was what could happen if a crocodile and a fish had a child together and then made it ten times bigger.

Nagisa picked up his pencil once again and imagined it was one of the knives he has been so comfortable holding his entire life. ‘I was well aware that our school’s exams are the pits of hell and I don’t know where to begin. If this keeps up, this question… will do me in’

‘NO! I just have to remember what Korosensei taught me. What would he say right now if this was a question in class?’

“I’m sure I have taught you this.” Nagisa could imagine Korosensei’s tenacle on his wrist and voice in his ears. “That’s no mystery monster, start by observing that fin carefully. See? On closer inspection, it’s just a fin. Look carefully at each part of the question one by one, then string them all together to see the whole: See? What a trivial adversary.” The monster question turned into a simple fish on a chopping board ready to be carved into.

Nagisa relaxed as he took a deep breath and looked over the exam questions again, this time using Korosensei teachings. ‘I got it. The trick to working out the important parts of a question, it’s all just like Korosensei taught us!’

The change in the classroom was almost instant. Everyone seemed to be following the steps Korosensei and the tapping of pencils to paper filled the room as Kensaku-sensei looked over the class in alarm.

‘This question is dead meat! And the next one! And the next one! And the-’

Question 11 stood over the class. Unlike the other monsters that were some hybrid crocodile/fish, this was a humanoid lava giant that destroyed everything it touched and the students of 3-E couldn’t kill this question. They couldn’t even touch it and in Nagisa’s head, it grabbed him and swallowed him whole.

‘-And then an unseen question beat us to death from behind.’

Nagisa stared down at his exam results defeated.

‘Shiota Nagisa – Ranked 105^th of 186’

The rest of the class were seemingly in the same boat. All looking down and going through their exam answers. All wearing the same defeated look.

“I take all responsibility.” Korosensei finally spoke after handing out the test results. He had yet to look at them, facing away, towards the blackboard. “I seem to have underestimated the system at this school, I can’t bear to face you.”

The knife thrown at Korosensei’s head contradicted what he had said the two second previously as he turned to dodge and ended up facing the class.

“You sure?” A taunting voice asked from the back. “If you can’t face us, you can’t see me coming to kill you.” The red head responsible for the knife was slowly approaching the front of the classroom.

A red face Korosensei started to yell, “Karma! I’m very depressed right now, and-” Karma cut the teacher off by throwing his test results onto his desk. Korosensei took in the results as Karma spoke,

“Changing the questions didn’t matter to me.” Karma’s results now revealed to the class. The bright red 98’s, 99’s and 100’s shining on the black and white paper.

“Whoa.” Sugino whispered.

“100 in math? No way!” Isogai gasped amazed.

“With my grades, you taught more than you had to. Still, I won’t be leaving. Assassination is way more fun than going back to my old class.” Karma explained.

“More like Kensaku-sensei wouldn’t take you back, even if you tried.” Nagisa muttered. A slight chuckle arose from the former D Class students and Karma shot the blunette a glare.

“So,” Karma stated over the giggling, What’s the plan? You gonna use our not all making it into the top fifty as an excuse to turn tail and run?” Karma leaned closer to the yellow teacher and target, “You’re just afraid of being killed, that’s all.” Karma taunted.

Understanding hit the class as the serious mood was broken. Nakamura started to smirk at the scene. Mimura and Yada exchanged knowing looks as Kataoka nudged Maehara to speak up.

“Oh, is that it? You were afraid!” Maehara stretched and rested his arms behind his head and smirk played across his mouth.

“You should have just told us!” Kataoka spoke up.

“Right? Like, ‘I’m scared and want to run away!” Nakamura gave her impression of Korosensei.

The mocking of the class continued and at every taunt and jab Korosensei’s face grew redder. “I’m not running away!” Korosensei shouted, his tentacles jiggling above his head.

“Oh? Then what?” Karma questioned, a smirk still playing at his face.

Korosensei froze for a second and turned back to his normal colour of yellow, “We’ll get revenge on them twofold in the end-of term exams!”

Laughter and cheers filled the classroom.

“This is no laughing matter!” Korosensei exclaimed.

‘We ran smack into a wall there with our midterms, a big think wall surrounding the E Class. But inside, I was proud. Proud to be in the E Class.’

Chapter Text

The day had ended, and the relief of the exam period had washed over the class as they made their ways down the mountain.

“Hey, in a way to celebrate end of exam season, why don’t we stop by that café that is around the block from the station?” Sugino called out to the group.

“I would love to, but I have to get home quickly this afternoon.” Kataoka replied.

“I would too, but I have to do something after school.” Isogai sighed. Maehara shot the boy a knowing look before pulling the attention to himself.

“I’ve got my own way of celebrating,” He smirked and gave the boys a wink, “If you know what I mean.”

Okano rolled her eyes at the innuendo before smiling over at Sugino, “I would love to join.”

“I need to procrastinate going home anyway.” Kayano stated cheerfully.

By the time they reached the bottom of the mountain, only a handful of Class E had agreed to head to the café before going home. Which is how Nagisa, Sugino, Kayano and Okano were witnesses of Maehara’s epic dumping.

“C’mon, let me have one of those strawberries on top?” Sugino begged Kayano who had bought an extra cake for the way home.

“NO WAY!” Kayano shouted. “I always eat the most delicious thing last!” Kayano twisted her upper body holding her cake close and away from Sugino. Nagisa and Okano laughed as they watched the scene playing out in front of them.

“Hey, look at that.” Okano called the other three’s attention. Stopping to stare at something across the street.

“Ah, it’s Maehara.” Nagisa stated. Looking over the street. Maehara stood with a girl in front of the station, chatting away.

“Who’s he with?” Kayano asked the group. Still not used to the main campus students like the others were.

“I’m pretty sure it’s Tsuchiya Kaho from Class 3-C.” Sugino stated with a smirk, “He’s just as popular as always!”

“I see, I see.” Was muttered behind them. The four turned to see Korosensei hiding badly behind a tree watching Maehara’s date.

“Maehara spotted with a main campus girl outside the station.” Korosensei muttered as he wrote in a notebook.

“Uh, Korosensei…” Nagisa trailed off.

“Your love of gossip about your students is the same as always.” Sugino groaned.

“Nufufufu, it is a teacher’s duty after all.” Korosensei chuckled. “I plan to release a non-fiction novel by the third semester about all the students love lives.” He explained, “The first chapter is about Sugino’s feelings for Kanzaki which can’t reach her.” Korosensei held up his notebook, on the front he had written ‘Class 3-E’s Love Stories’

‘Korosensei’s Weaknesses #8: Juicy Gossip’

“Maehara’s chapter is going to be pretty long then…” Nagisa trailed off.

“He’s so popular with the girls, so the one he’s with is constantly changing.” Okano finished the thought. The group watched as Tsuchiya laughed at something Maehara said. The girl moved closer to the strawberry blonde, grabbing a hold of his bicep.

‘He’s a good-looking guy, who is active in sports. If he were in a normal school and had better grades, He would probably be even more popular.’

The group of four was about to move on and leave Korosensei to his creepy stalking when something else drew their attention. A group of main campus boys were moving towards where Maehara and Tsuchiya were standing.

“Hmm, if it isn’t Kaho.” A voice drew the couple’s attention. Maehara was about to tell the boys to leave them alone when Tsuchiya pushed passed him to move towards the approaching group. “What are you doing?” The leader of the group asked.

“Ah! Seo!” Tsuchiya shouted as she moved closer clearly flustered by the extra attention. “Weren’t you staying after for student council work?”

“Oh, we finished up earlier than expected.” Seo answered, looking over the other boy, “If I’m not mistaken, that guy is…”

“You’ve got it all wrong, Seo!” Tsuchiya shouted as she started hang off Seo’s arm. “He started to talk to me, and I didn’t want to be impolite and ignore him and-”

Maehara’s dry chuckle cut her off, “Ah! That’s how it is.” Maehara leant back and relaxed his posture, “Lately, you’ve hardly answered your phone when I call, and you suddenly switched bicycling to commuting by train, so, you figured you’d keep me around when your new boyfriend’s busy.” Maehara explained the situation to the main campus group.

“Kaho, you little-” Seo started.

Tsuchiya paled, “He’s wrong! It’s not like that at all!” She then suddenly switched her attitude and turned to glare at Maehara full on. “Hey! Don’t you know that you’re bad news!” Maehara recoiled slightly as she continued to yell at him. She was loud enough that the group across the street could hear what she was saying word for word. “You didn’t put enough effort and ended up falling into E-Class, the bottom of the pack Maehara!” The four started to make their way over before Korosensei stopped them with a tentacle on their shoulder and a shake of his large head. “On top of that, the students in E-Class don’t continue onto Kunugigaoka High School anyway, and sooner or later we would have lost touch.” The girl explained her logic, “I thought you might be in shock after falling into E-Class, so I felt anxious and clearly didn’t state that we’d broken up, but I wish you’d have noticed without me having to say it though.” She finished. Looping her arm into Seo’s, the new couple laughed.

“There’s no way he’d figure it out with that E-Class brain of his!” Seo retorted.

Maehara’s glare hardened at the couple, “That’s like the pot calling the kettle black…” He started to approach them but before he could get too close Seo kicked his leg out pushing Maehara to the ground.

“You really don’t get that we won’t be in the same High School, do you?” Seo ground out as he leant over the downed Maehara, “Even if we do anything to you it won’t cause us any trouble in the future.” Seo kicked Maehara in the ribs. “Now, give Kaho a proper apology for bothering her and talking to her without her permission.” Soon the rest of the boys moved around Maehara and started to kick him as well.

The four E-Class students across the street moved to intercept but before they could a car pulled up next to the grapple.

“Please stop.” The voice of the board chairman came from the opened back window.

“Eh?” Seo and his goons paused their attack as Asano Gakuho stepped out from his car. “Board chairman!” Seo gasped, moving away from Maehara.

Asano moved towards the boys, “Violence is never the answer.” Asano instructed, “Your actions should always reflect higher than your opponents, even though they reach below you should always reach above.”

“Yessir.” The group sounded.

Asano knelt down to Maehara holding out a handkerchief, “Please use this to clean yourself up.” Asano smiled, “I’m glad I stepped in before things took a turn for the worst.” Asano leant closer, his smile never leaving his face. “You were very close to getting removed from this school.” Asano whispered before moving back to stand over Maehara. “Well then, take care on your way home!” He cheered before walking back to his car.

“We will, good-bye!” Tsuchiya called after the man.

Seo turned back to look down at Maehara, “Out of respect for the board chairman, I’ll overlook your adultery.” Seo explained moving away, “You better be grateful.” Seo and the group walked away leaving Maehara on the ground.

Tsuchiya was still watching the downed form of Maehara, “I never would have thought you were such an awful person, don’t ever look at me again.” She turned back to catch up with Seo and the others.

Maehara groaned as he moved back to lay on the ground looking up at the sky.

“Maehara! You alright!” Sugino’s voice brought his attention to the group moving towards him.

“You guys saw all that?” Maehara asked the group weakly. With nods as answers, he groaned. “Man, that board chairman is good, settling things without a fuss and yet no change in the discrimination.” He sighed looking back up at the sky. “He’s got perfect control over the students.”

Maehara blinked a couple of times when a small pale hand appeared in front of him. He looked up at Nagisa and smiled has he took the hand and got up with the assistance of his friend. “Damn Nagisa, how strong are you, you practically pulled me up without me lifting my weight at all.” Maehara exclaimed as he leant on the smaller boy who turned bright red at the attention from the womanizer. Nagisa froze wondering why he felt so embarrassed from the attention. Irena-sensei said flirty comments like that all the time, so why did Maehara’s genuine comment make him suddenly warm all over. Was he just used to Irena-sensei’s comments or was this more evidence that he was broken?

“More importantly, that girl!” Sugino called back the attention to the whole situation. “What a Bitch!” Sugino exclaimed before frowning, “No wait, if its bitches we’re talking about, our class has one too.”

“That’s different.” Nagisa stated sagging slightly under Maehara’s weight. “Irena-sensei is a professional, so we know the reason and focus behind her bitchiness.” Nagisa explained, “That girl isn’t a sophisticated bitch.”

“Wow Nagisa, you trying to win my heart or something.” Maehara joked as he stood up straight, no longer leaning against the once again red Nagisa. “Besides, I don’t really care, even if she’s a bitch.”

‘There’s that warm feeling again… Why is it only coming with Maehara’s comments?’

“You don’t?” Kayano asked shocked.

“Who you like does change and if your feelings for that person fades, you might as well find someone new.” Maehara shrugged as he dusted himself off. “That’s what I do too.”

“What sort of philosophy is that for a junior high 3^rd year?” Okano asked as she held out the forgotten handkerchief towards Maehara.

“Even so,” Maehara overlooked Okano’s question as he started to explain his anguish. “You saw how she was just now, right? In mere seconds she entered guilty excuse mode and then she did an immediate face-about and shifted to attack mode.” Maehara sighed, “Before long it became a succession of unjustified anger and excuses, shamefully tossing around such cruel and ugly words.” Maehara looked down at his feet, “Its kinda sad and frightening, I wonder if all people are like that. I wonder if I would also end up acting like that if I was faced with a weak opponent.”

The group looked down to their feet as well. There worries and wonders flinting across their minds.

‘I thought about that too. If I weren’t in Class E… How would I interact with everyone who was?’

“Nufufufu,” Korosensei broke to sullen mood, catching the group by surprise. “Maybe you would have before Class E, but now that you know what it feels like to be on the other side of the shoe, you will never want that for someone else.” The teacher smiled. “However, that doesn’t stop us from being petty and you are not the weak opponents in this challenge, but they are.”

“What do you mean Korosensei?” Nagisa asked looking up at their teacher.

“We’ll retaliate!” Korosensei cheered.

“I don’t think you, as our teacher, should be promoting this.” Sugino stated.

“For the unreasonable humiliation you received.” Korosensei continued, bypassing Sugino’s comment. “The powerless would simply accept the situation, but all of you are strong.” Motivation leaking out of every word, “You have an assassins power of killing a target without being noticed or leaving proof.”

Maehara snorted, “What are you scheming Korosensei?”

“An eye for an eye, let’s give them an even greater dose of humiliation.” Korosensei laughed as matching grins appeared on the students’ faces.

‘Even if you’ve been felled, it’s not just a matter of getting back up’

The next day the new couple sat in an outdoor seating café, enjoying a coffee. The perfect setting for Class-E’s plan.

“You know some pretty good shops Kaho.” Seo stated as he sipped at his coffee. He was looking around the area, his eyes wondering but never really seeing anything.

“Their coffee is delicious after all.” Tsuchiya stated a smile on her face as she sipped at her coffee as well. “This place is managed by one of my Daddy’s friends and is a real treasure for me.”

“Talking about it like that… You ever come here with that E-Class guy?” Seo asked as he leant back in his seat and crossed his leg over his knee.

“T-There’s no way! You’re t-the only person I’ve brought here.” She stuttered, waving her hands side to side. “I’m sorry you had my old boyfriend acting so shamelessly yesterday, I never knew he was such an ugly person.” Tsuchiya looked down at her lap, seemingly ashamed by the previous day.

“Yeah well, don’t hang out with the sort of guys who drop into E-Class.” Seo stated from his relaxed position. “Still sitting in an open-air café in the rain is nice. Being in the only area that won’t get wet gives you a real sense of superiority.” The two started to laugh as others around them ran around in the rain.

“Pardon me, could we get through?” an aged voice broke through the couple’s laughter. The couple turned to look up at an old couple trying to move passed Seo’s outstretched leg. “We would like to sit further in, so…” The older man trailed off gesturing to Seo’s leg.

“If you would pull your leg back just a bit?” The old woman continued her husband’s request.

“Haah?” Seo looked at the two in disgust, “I’ll move it out of the way if you’re coming through sir, no need to be so disagreeable about it.” Seo moved his leg as he glared up at the elders.

“Thank you young man.” The gentleman stated as he moved passed their table.

Looking down on the scene through binoculars, Sugino stared shocked at the old couple.

“I can’t believe that is Nagisa and Kayano.” Sugino turned to the boy sitting next to him.

“They’re disguised using party masks I revamped, that’s the result.” Sugaya smirked twirling a pencil in his hand. He leaned against the window of the top floor apartment they were keeping a look out from.

“Wow, I was right to call you Sugaya.” Sugino stated as he went back to watching their targets.

“I still have a long way to go before I can fool Korosensei.” Sugaya sighed, recalling his last disguise fail where Korosensei ripped his mask off his head before he could even pull out his gun.

“Well, this much is enough to fool those two.” Sugino reassured. “After all, they have no interest in people who appear weaker than them.”

“But man, I’m thankful that we got a hold of this private housing that’s right across from them.” Sugaya sighed. “I would hate to be doing this out in the rain.”

“Yeah!” Sugino agreed, “Yada and Kurahashi are keeping the landlord occupied.”

“It’s easy for them, considering they learned how to entertain guests from Bitch-sensei.” Sugaya replied. He could imagine what heaven the landlord believed himself in.

“Nufufu, it seems all our preparations were successful.” Korosensei drew the attention to him as he looked over the small group of students they enlisted for the plan. “Now then, let’s commence the operation.” Sadistic grins and dry chuckles broke out across the room as Korosensei turned to their head of chemistry. “Okuda? Do you have the custom bullets I requested?”

“Yes! I whipped them up as quickly as I could.” Okuda held out a capped test tube of small brown spheres that looked similar to their BB bullets. “I had a hard time getting them into the shape of BB pellets though.” Okuda smiled.

Hayami and Chiba took the specialized bullets from the scientist and loaded them into their guns, while Sugino sent a text through to Nagisa.

‘All set. We’ll match the timing to your end’

Nagisa and Kayano exchanged smirks before starting their part of the plan.

“Dear, do you think there’s a restroom around here.” Kayano asked loudly, drawing the couple’s attention. “Well, there’s a convenience store 100 meters back…”

“Oi, oi, just use the one over there. Even if we’re seated outside, we’re still customers you know.” Nagisa replied pointing to the restroom inside the café.

“Of course, I’ll just be a minute then.” Kayano stood making her way to the restroom.

“Senility is awful.” Tsuchiya stated, watching the old woman move inside, “I definitely don’t want us to turn out like that.”

Before Seo could reply and loud crash was heard from the next table and a weak “Oh no!” followed. The couple’s heads turned to watch as the old man start to move to pick up his knocked over plate and glass making an even louder racket. It was so distracting the couple didn’t notice the two brown spheres enter their coffee at a high speed.

“Enough already!” The two yelled, “Quit with all that racket you senile old fart!”

“My apologies,” Nagisa stated shakenly as he shook his hand with the plate and glass stacked. “As soon as my companion returns from the restroom we’ll leave.”

“Jeez, they’ve got some pretty low grade customers today.” Seo seethed.

“Sorry about that, usually it’s a pretty smart crowd around here.” Tsuchiya defended the shop. Both went back to sipping at their coffee unaware of the grinning yellow octopus watching them from above.

“Nufufufufu.” Korosensei laughed as he munched on a coffee cup. “Now the rest is up to the ground team.”

It wasn’t long before the effects hit. The twin groan of their stomachs was loud.

“My stomach kind of hurts.” Tsuchiya groaned.

“Mine too.” Seo stated, arms wrapping around his waist. “Is there something wrong with the coffee here?”

“Don’t say such an idiotic thing about my favourite place!” Tsuchiya shouted at Seo.

“So, Okuda, what did you mix into those bullet to make them work so fast?” Sugino asked the girl in question.

“I mixed these using magnesium as the main ingredient.” Okuda smiled holding up one of the specialised bullets. “It causes bowel irritation much stronger than over the counter drugs.” She explained, “In short, it is a powerful laxative. I call it Victoria Falls.” Sugino and Sugaya looked on the girl with fear running across their faces, both making a mental reminder to never cross her.

“I’m going to the toilet!” Seo shouted racing towards the restroom.

“No fair! I’m going first!” Tsuchiya moved in front of Seo as they both rushed to the restroom. “Wait! Why won’t it open?”

“It must be that old hag from before!” Seo shouted before turning to the barista. “Do you have any other bathrooms?” He yelled the question.

“Well, erm, aside from ours there’s one more in the area…” The barista trailed off as the two remembered the old woman’s words from earlier.

‘A convenience store 100 meters down.’

Seo was off without a pause as he grabbed his umbrella and ran out the store. Tsuchiya followed behind closely shouting at her boyfriend.

“Wait a second! Why are we going together damnit? You’re a boy, just do it wherever!”

“Like hell!” Seo replied. The two so focused that they didn’t noticed the conversation going on above them.

“Ooh, here they come. Right on time.” Isogai stated as he pulled out his knife.

“They’ve got a lot of pride after all,” Maehara sighed as he watched them run clutching at they stomachs. “They would never think to ask to use the bathroom in one of these private houses.”

“Well then, shall we knock that pride down a few pegs?” Okano asked her two childhood friends. The three moved quickly chopping down their respective branches.

The couple were so focused on getting to the bathroom that they didn’t even hear the breaking of wood until it was too late, and they were covered in wet trees and branches.

“No way! I’m utterly soaked!” Tsuchiya shouted.

“Who would do such a- Crap I need to get to a toilet.” Seo started to run again as Tsuchiya freaked out over a caterpillar.

“They really don’t have time to figure out the situation.” Okano laughed, the two boys joining in.

“Thank you so much for getting rid of those troublesome branches for me.” A call from the ground came. The three looked down to see the lady they offered to cut the branches for, “You children are so skilled and agile.”

“It was nothing.” Isogai called down, “It’s all because we do special ambu- uh tree climbing training!”

“Nice save.” Maehara muttered.

“Shut up.” Isogai shot back.

The special ops team soon met up not too far from the café it all started at.

“Well then…” Korosensei looked over to Maehara, “Quite refreshing, wouldn’t you say?” Korosensei smiled. “Making a mad rush to the bathroom while looking dishevelled will be extremely humiliating for those two.”

“Erm… How to put this?” Maehara started, “Thanks, for doing this for me.”

“What’s the matter Maehara? Do you still believe you are the sort of person who would calmly torment the weak?”

“No,” Maehara sighed, “Watching everyone just now, it would be impossible for me.” Maehara smiled up at the group. “At first glance, you guys don’t seem strong, but everyone has a secret weapon they can rely on.” Maehara looked down to his feet, “A ton of weapons I don’t have.”

“That’s how things are.” Korosensei stated hitting Maehara on the back, “Strength and weakness can’t be determined by sight alone, that’s why you, who study while attempt assassination in this class will likely find it difficult to look down on the weak in the future.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right Korosensei.” Maehara smiled up at their teacher before turning away. “Bye! I’ve got a dinner date with a girl from another school!” He called over his shoulder not noticing or ignoring the groans he got in response.

Chapter Text

Nagisa cursed as he made it to his door. He hadn’t seen his mother the day before as she worked late enough that it was justifiable that he was asleep when she got home, and she was still asleep when he left this morning. However, his mother didn’t have work today, meaning she will be home when he gets home, he will also be late getting home and with the grades he received the day before, he knew she was going to be angry.

“Mom! I’m home!” Nagisa called out as he entered the house. Moved to take off his shoes and slide his house slippers on as he could hear his mother in the kitchen. She hadn’t answered him. Nagisa could almost feel her hostile energy from the door as he made his way into the house.

“You’re late.” His mother stated from where she was stirring a pot at the stove.

“Sorry, my teacher was offering extra tutoring after school for people who struggled during exams.” Nagisa lied hoping she’d buy it by appealing to her taste of school came first.

“I’m glad you brought up exams because we need to talk about your results.” His mother turned to face him, her face was cold and her eyes held only anger. This is when he wished he still lived with his father, but he knew he wouldn’t survive in his lifestyle either. “Those are not the results you need to be getting to get back to the main campus.”

“I know, I need you to know I truly did aim for the top 50, but the administers broadened the scope 2 days before the exams and didn’t let our teacher know.” Nagisa told her the truth, “And 105^th is a lot better then last year’s finals, I am improving.”

“It’s still not good enough.” His mother argued. Her demeanour changed, before it was just cold and angry but now it held a hint of danger as well and Nagisa knew he won’t be leaving this room without bruises if her mood doesn’t turn around soon. “This is more than likely that Akabane boy’s doing, I know you’ve still been seeing him even though I’ve strictly told you not too.”

“We’re in the same class, of course I still see him, it doesn’t mean I’ve been hanging around him.” Nagisa defended before freezing. Wrong thing to say. That hint of danger from before turned into a shark smelling blood in the water kind of danger and before Nagisa knew it his cheek was stinging red, and his mother was screaming.

“WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE! SPEAKING TO YOUR MOTHER LIKE THAT! DON’T YOU KNOW WHAT I DO FOR YOU? DO YOU THINK EVERYTHING IN THIS LIFE IS EASY? WAS LIFE SO MUCH BETTER WITH YOUR FATHER? HUH? NEVER HAVING YOUR OWN BED! NEVER HAVING FRIENDS! NOT EVEN GOING TO SCHOOL! MAYBE THAT’S WHY YOU’RE LIKE THIS! MAYBE YOU’RE JUST A FAILURE! JUST LIKE YOU’RE FATHER! HE FAILED TO PROTECT THOSE CLIENTS! HE FAILED TO PROTECT THIS HOUSE! THIS FAMILY! HE COULDN’T EVEN PROTECT YOU!” As she screamed more hits and punches found themselves on his body, nowhere near his face like last time but more aimed towards his chest, towards his scar from the assassin that broke his family. He moved himself closer to the ground as he curled himself into a ball as she continued to scream and punch and kick. Now only getting his exposed legs, back and sides.

‘Yeah… I’m definitely not leaving this room without bruises.’

His mother’s dangerous mood lasted another 30 minutes before she started to calm down. She barely even looked down at him as she moved away back to the stove.

“Dinner will be ready soon, clean up and come back when it’s ready.” She stated coldly.

Nagisa slowly stood from his curled position as he watched. It was rare for her to go into a rage twice in one night but never unheard of. When he was sure that leaving was the right move, he slowly made his way towards his room to assess the damage he had taken.

After he entered his room he moved toward the full-length mirror by the wardrobe and removed his shirt to access the damage done. Red marks and slight discolouration made its way along the silver scar running across his chest. His pale skin making the bruises more obvious than they should be so soon after the damage was made. He took in a deep breath to make sure breathing didn’t hurt and she hadn’t injured his ribs. Twisting his upper body, he inspected his back. Surprisingly, there was very little damage done to his back other than a large bruise slowly spreading across the small of his back. Sighing, he turned facing forward again and moved to put on a shirt before noticing the small but very noticeable bruises littering his lower arms.

‘Looks like I’m wearing my blazer tomorrow… Damn! Karma is going to know about this.’

With another sigh, he pulled his shirt over his head and reached for his pyjama pants.

‘I wish this happened after dinner. At least then I’d be able to get some ice.’

Moving back towards his bedroom door, he made his way to the bathroom to shower and get ready for the night. ‘Hopefully a cold shower helps with the swelling’

It wasn’t long until his mother called him for dinner. The steaming chicken curry sat at his place on the table across from his mother. His mother had already started eating her portion, but when he moved to his seat she looked up. She looked over his appearance, nose crumbling up in distaste as she noticed his damp hair.

“You’re going to catch a cold if you sleep with wet hair.” She reprimanded.

 “I’ll dry it before I go to bed.” Nagisa whispered across the table.

The table stayed quiet after that, the only thing heard was the clicking of chop sticks and the soft sighs his mother let out.

“Well, aren’t you going to ask me how my day was? Or how I have been since we last saw each other? Gods forbid, we haven’t seen each other are in over 24 hours?” She finally let out. Nagisa’s eyes widened slightly. Surely she had calmed down by now, right?

“I’m sorry,” Nagisa spoke clearly, knowing the whispering and muttering will get on his mother’s nerves. “How have you been? You had today off work, right? What did you end up doing?”

“Thank you for asking.” His mother started, “I’m well thank you, I decided to go shopping for some new clothes and don’t you worry I picked something extra for you.” She smiled over at him, “I know I shouldn’t spoil you after your horrible exams results, but I just couldn’t help it.” She sighed, “I’ve left it in your wardrobe for you to find, please let me know if you like it.”

“I’m sure I will.” Nagisa stated emotionlessly.

“I’m glad to hear that, I had a hard time deciding which colour I should buy, but if you like the dress, I’ll buy the other colours too!” She smiled widely, “Now, tell me about your day?”

“It was rather uneventful, we went over our exam answers, to figure out where we went wrong and our ranking for individual subjects.” Nagisa explained, “I was 49^th in English!”

“I would expect better, considering all the time you and your father spent in English speaking countries.” His mother remarked.

“I’m good at speaking English and I just need better grammar and spelling.” Nagisa stated.

“Well maybe you should study more.” Was the next remark, why couldn’t she ever be proud of his achievements? He and Nakamura tied in English and were the best in class other than Karma. She should be proud. Would dad be proud? Or would he be disappointed like her? More than likely it would be the later.

“Speaking of studying, I have homework.” Nagisa made his exit. He had barely touched his food, but he knew if he stayed much longer her fragile mood would break again.

“Very well, I’ll leave your leftovers in the fridge for your lunch tomorrow.” She called after him.

When Nagisa was once again alone in his room, he sighed. ‘I might be able to get some ice later tonight to put on my bruises’. He moved towards his desk to get started on the homework Korosensei assigned. He didn’t dare look in his wardrobe, not wanting to see the monstrosity his mother left for him to find.

Sitting at his desk staring down at the paper in front of him, he couldn’t focus. His thoughts kept travelling back to his mother’s rant. Maybe she was right? ‘Maybe I am just a failure?’ He thought about everything he’s failed at. ‘I failed at being a perfect daughter. I failed at being the perfect assassin. I failed at being a perfectly normal kid. I failed at being a perfect student. I failed at being a perfect friend. I even failed at dying. I’m just a failure. Hell! I fail so much, I even fail at being human with my broken emotions.’ Nagisa looked at his hands. ‘Am I good at anything?’ He asked himself. “No.” He answered his thoughts aloud, “I’m just a broken failure, who just copies the emotions around him.” Tears filled his eyes, “I’m just broken.”

A single teardrop fell onto his paper and before more could follow his phone vibrated. He moved his gaze to where he left his phone. It sat lit up on the edge of his desk. The preview of the message caught him off guard.

I may have a hint at who the octopus is. Read under Irena’s contact.

Nagisa picked up the phone to see if she wrote anything else. Opening the full message:

I may have a hint at who the octopus is. Can I call you?

Instead of answering Nagisa simply pressed the phone icon next to her name. It barely rang once before she answered.

“Is it safe to talk?” She asked. She knew something of his homelife to know it wasn’t all rainbows and sunshine.

“Yes.” Nagisa’s voice was heavy, filled with unshed tears.

“Are you okay?” Nagisa could hear the frown in her voice. He cleared his throat before answering,

“Yeah.”

“Okay, well I may have caught wind of a Japanese assassin that was stopped killing.” Irena stated. She knew Nagisa would say the safe word if he was truly unsafe. “It’s one you’ll definitely know too, the Safaia Habu.”

“Korosensei isn’t the Safaia Habu.” Nagisa stated.

“You sound incredibly sure.” Irena retorted. “How are you so sure?”

“Because Korosensei isn’t Japanese.”

“He has never stated his nationality.”

“No, he hasn’t,” Nagisa agreed, “He has however, confirmed he isn’t Japanese by the he speaks about the government and the MoD, not to mention the two of you speak the same.”

“What do you mean?” Irena questioned, “We speak the same?”

“You’re both fluent in Japanese and neither of you sound like tourists but there is a way you pronounce certain words that clearly state that neither of you are native Japanese.” Nagisa explained. “Nothing against you and its barely noticeable unless you’re listening for it.”

“Huh, you really are observant.”

“I have to be.”

“No fourteen-year-old needs to be as observant as you are.”

“I’m not a regular fourteen-year-old.”

“No, you’re not.” Irena sighed, “And you don’t understand how much I wish you were.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever be the perfect teenager.” Nagisa stated sadly. “I’m too broken to even pretend to be.”

“Did your mother tell you that?” The anger in his teacher’s voice confused Nagisa.

“No?” The answer sounded like a question.

“Then why do you think you’re broken?”

“Because I am, I don’t feel emotions like everyone else.” Nagisa defended, “I only ever copy other people’s feelings.”

“Give me an example and I’ll prove that you’re wrong.” Irena stated defiantly.

“When Yukimura-Sensei died, I felt empty, void of emotions.” Nagisa explained, “I know I wasn’t close to her, but she was still my teacher and I should have at least feel sad.”

 “Do you feel guilty that you didn’t feel sad?”

“Yes, but I-”

“No buts.” Irena cut him off, “Feeling empty and void is a valid response to death, especially for people who are experiencing for the first time.” Irena explained, “While it can be described as unhealthy, it is a perfectly natural response.”

“When Karma left me, I felt empty too.” Nagisa stated trying to prove he was in fact broken. “I should have felt angry for leaving me alone but all I felt was-”

“Was loneliness and sadness.” Irena cut in.

Nagisa paused, ‘Maybe she was right?’

“That event probably triggered your depression,” Irena stated, “Which made you feel empty and void.”

“My depression?” Nagisa questioned.

“I’m not a doctor but in my opinion, you have severe suicidal depression.” Irena explained, “It was more likely brought on by your parents unattainable goals of being perfect.” Irena continued, “Though E Class has made this better, I’m afraid the unattainable goal of killing our target may retrigger it.”

Nagisa frowned. “I’m not broken?” He questioned, “I’m just depressed?”

“Nagisa emotions are fluid, they are constantly changing with the environment we put ourselves in.” Irena explained, “You need to learn your triggers and how to avoid them, but you’ll also need people you trust to fall back on, so you don’t end up with another grenade around your neck.”

“People I trust to fall back on? My triggers?” Nagisa was now just plain confused, “How do I know what my triggers are?”

“That’s the thing, you’ll never know all of your triggers and that is why you need that support to help lift you back up.” Irena sighed, “This class is your support without anyone even realising it. You don’t need to always explain to people what you are going through for them to make you happy.”

“Okay,” Nagisa stated unsurely. “But if I’m not broken how do you explain my empty feeling when you kissed me?”

Irena started to laugh, “Don’t tell me you acted strung out when I kissed you.”

“Guilty,” Nagisa smiled slightly. “I’m sorry to offend you.”

“You didn’t.” Irena stated. “The explanation is simple, that kiss only works on people who are sexually attracted to me.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Nagisa, I’m saying you’re not sexually attracted to me.” Irena continued, “Which could mean multiple things, for example, maybe you’re gay or asexual.” She sighed, “The thing you should understand; sexuality is fluid, just like your emotions, you don’t need to put a label on yourself if you don’t know how you feel.”

“How do I know?”

“Have you ever had a nervous feeling in your stomach, like its doing backflips, when you’re around a certain someone or maybe blushed at something a certain someone said or did that wasn’t exactly out of the ordinary?”

Nagisa thought back to the day before. When Maehara commented on his strength and the way he lent on him. The way his stomach felt warm and tight and how he flushed at the complement.

“I’ll take that silence as something like that has happened.” Irena’s voice made him jump.

“It was something Maehara did yesterday, it made my stomach warm and I blushed under his attention.” Nagisa explained.

“Huh, not the name that I was expecting but okay, what did he do to cause that reaction?”

“It was nothing special, I helped him up off the ground after some jealous main campus guy pushed him down.” Nagisa explained, “He complemented my strength and then leant on me while he gained his bearings and made sure he wasn’t injured.”

Irena giggled slightly, “Okay, we’ll work with that, think on those feelings could you imagine yourself cuddling up close with Maehara? Kissing him? Do you want to do those things with him?”

Nagisa frowned as he thought. Did he want to kiss Maehara? Did he want to hold hands and walk down the street? Share an umbrella? Go on a date? Maybe? He felt nervous and ashamed thinking about a classmate like this.

“I don’t know.”

“And that’s okay, things like this take time.” Irena explained gently, “Not everybody knows their gay straight away.”

“When will I know?”

“You may never know for sure.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re annoying?” Nagisa asked jokingly, trying to cut through the serious tension

“On multiple occasions, I tend to ignore them.” Irena retorted before pausing and letting the serious energy back into the conversation. Though this time, it felt lighter than before. “But seriously Nagisa, just follow your heart and don’t let anyone tell you how you should feel.”

“I’ll try that.” Nagisa smiled. Before remembering their original topic and remembering what she said about the Safaia Habu. “I just remembered, I scheduled a call with my dad, I need to go.”

“Okay but remember I’m always here.” Irena reassured.

“I will.” Nagisa paused. “And thank you, I really needed your support and you helped me a lot.”

“Good, I’m glad.” Irena yawned slightly, “I’ll see you in class tomorrow.”

“Yes, good night.” Nagisa ended the call and stared down at the call time. That must have been the longest phone call he’s ever had. They had been talking for nearly an hour. He almost derailed into a thought process about the call before remembering that he needed to call his dad.

Looking back down at his phone, he scrolled through his contacts. Finally landing on his father’s contact, he simply pressed the call button. He wasn’t sure what he was hoping for. Did he want his dad to answer? Or not? Before he could pounder on the question the dial tone ended, and his father’s voice came from the other side.

“Nagisa?”

“Hey dad.”

Chapter Text

The next morning Nagisa was climbing the mountain by himself. He was thinking about the night before. The conversation with his father didn’t last for more than 3 minutes and was incredibly rushed.

“Nagisa?” His father answered on the third ring.

“Hey dad.”

“Is everything okay? Did something happen with your mother?”

“No! Nothing after the ordinary.” Nagisa answered.

“If that’s the case then why did you call?”

“I’m sorry.” Nagisa sighed, “I wanted to make sure you were okay, I had a bad feeling.”

There was silence on the other side of the line. Nagisa opened his mouth to ask if his dad could hear him but before he could-

“Hey Nagisa! Wait up!” Nagisa broke out of the memory and turned to see the familiar form of Maehara moving quickly up the mountain to catch up with him. Nagisa frowned Maehara normally comes to class a lot later than Nagisa, especially after a date. “I was hoping to catch you before class.” Maehara panted as he caught up to the blunette.

“Really? Why?” Nagisa asked the strawberry blonde.

“Not here, I don’t want anyone to overhear us.” Maehara stated glancing around. “I know a more private place, c’mon.” Maehara started walking into the heavy forest surrounding them, leaving Nagisa no choice but to follow.

When they got to what Nagisa assumed was their final destination, Maehara slumped down onto a tree stump in a very small clearing.

“How’d you find this place?” Nagisa asked as he looked around.

“I found it with Hinata and Yuma when Hinata was looking for a place to practise her gymnastics.” Maehara explained. Nagisa nodded in understanding before turning his full attention to the other boy.

“What did you want to talk about?”

“Well, first I wanted to say thank you again for yesterday and the day before.” Maehara sighed as he looked up at the trees avoiding Nagisa’s gaze. “I may have acted like it wasn’t a big deal, but it really hurt me, and I needed time to lick my wounds last night.”

“So, no date last night?” Nagisa asked.

“No date last night.” Maehara confirmed with a slight huff. “What I wanted to ask was how you do it?”

“Do what?” Nagisa asked.

“Be in a committed relationship? If I was with someone for as long as you and Karma had been together I would have lost interest.” Maehara stated, not noticing Nagisa’s reaction. “How do you cope with the hate as well? I know you guys pass most things off as just being friends, but do your parents know?” He continued. “Do they accept you? Or don’t they know because they won’t? I’m terrified of coming out to my parents that I don’t just like girls but guys too. I’m thinking about coming out to the class though.” Maehara was rambling now. “Wait! I never even came out to you, well I guess I have now but I’m Bi by the way. Wow! That felt really good to say. You know who I’m even more terrified of coming out is Yuma. He’s probably reason why I haven’t told the class yet, not cause I don’t think he’ll accept me, I just don’t want him to treat me differently and it definitely doesn’t help that I have a massive crush on him and I don’t want him to know about that either cause then our whole friendship will be ruined and I don’t want that and-”

Nagisa’s brain finally began working again as he cut Maehara off, “Can we back it up to where you think Karma and I are together?”

Which made Maehara’s head whip back to him with his eyes wide, “Are you saying you’re not?”

“Yes, Karma and I are not together!” Nagisa exclaimed. “What made you think we were?”

“Oh, I don’t know. The secret escapades at lunch, the after school dates, the way the two of you follow each other like lost puppies, would you like me to continue?” Maehara asked

“I get the first two, but what do you mean like lost puppies?”

“I mean, if you tell Karma to do something he’ll do it, maybe not right away but he’ll still do it and you do the same thing for him.”

“Trust me, none of that is what you think and Karma’s straight!”

“Ok, I believe you but what do you mean just Karma is straight?” Maehara smirked, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees.

“I-I mean we’re both-we’re both-we’re-”

“Nagisa, I don’t care if you’re gay. Hell, I just came out to you, would you really think I’ll judge?”

“You’re the first person I’ve told.” Nagisa sighed, sagging to the ground.

“Ditto.” Maehara smirked, moving closer to the smaller boy.

“I’m not really sure myself.” Nagisa looked down to his hands, “I only started exploring the idea last night myself. I honestly thought I was broken when I didn’t feel anything when Irena-sensei kissed me.”

“Trust me Nagisa, you’re not broken and I get you need time to figure things out but if you ever need to let those thoughts out of your head, you can speak to me.”

“You’re not the first person to tell me that this term.”

“Good, I’m glad you have support, don’t take this the wrong way I only came out to you because I’m terrified of Yuma finding out and I thought you knew what I was going through.”

Nagisa laughed, “Gods, we’re messes.”

“I heard that most of the LGBTQ+ community are.” Maehara replied, “Pining for straight men can make anyone that way.”

“I’m not pining for Karma either!” Nagisa defended.

“Yeah, sure, whatever you say Nagisa.” Maehara rolled his eyes.

“Seriously, I’m not. We’re just friends,” Nagisa stated, “He was my first friend and only friend before E-Class.”

“Seriously?” Maehara asked, shocked. “You’re telling me that before this year you’ve never had any other friend?”

“Before I started at Kunugigaoka I was living with my dad who was always travelling, I lived in hotel rooms and was homeschooled, I was even homeschooled before my parents divorced.” Nagisa explained.

“Man, that sounds lonely.” Maehara stated.

Nagisa sighed, he was glad they were off the topic of crushes but he didn’t really want to be on this topic either. “We need to get going if we don’t want to be late for class.” he sighed as he moved to get up from the ground.

Maehara groaned, not really thinking about the situation, leant over and body flopped on top of the small boy stopping his process of getting up. However, the sharp hiss of pain from the boy under had him moving quickly.

“Shit, Nagisa I’m sorry I didn’t mean to hurt you!” Maehara’s eyes moved over the other boy trying to pinpoint the source of the pain.

“Don’t worry! I’m fine, you just caught me by surprise.” Nagisa waved the other off, though the look of pain and the fact that Nagisa stated through gritted teeth made Maehara think otherwise.

“Nagisa, you're hurting me more by lying to me about this.”

“Trust me, you didn’t hurt me Maehara.”

“Ok.” Maehara stated, “But someone else did, right?”

“Maehara, please just leave it alone.” Nagisa begged.

Maehara looked into Nagisa’s eyes. His eyes pleading him to forget what just happened. “Fine, but are you safe?”

“Yes.” Nagisa stated, keeping eye contact.

“If something changes, you can come to me.” Nagisa looked over Maehara before giving a short nod and walking away, back towards the beaten track towards the 3-E building. Maehara quickly followed and the two made their way to class.

When they got close to the building Nagisa paused and Maehara had an idea that they were just out of Korosensei’s hearing range.

“Please don’t tell anyone about this, about anything we spoke about?” Nagisa asked, looking up at Maehara.

“Promise.” Maehara whispered.

“Promise.” Nagisa responded.

With that the two made their way into the building. Nowhere near mentally ready to begin the day.

Chapter Text

After the talk with Maehara, Nagisa felt slightly better about his feelings. He wasn’t alone in this and has someone else other than Irena-sensei to rely on. He was so focused picking apart all the details of the conversation he didn’t register Kataoka approaching him.

“Hey Nagisa, Have you figured out who else is going to be in your group?” Kataoka smiled at the blunette she was questioning. She could tell the boy was distracted and hadn’t been focusing on the morning lessons. While that was unusual, the stranger thing about the boy was that instead of his usual blue vest and rolled up sleeves, he was wearing the school’s blazer. 

“My what?” Nagisa asked, breaking out of whatever thought was going through his head.

Kataoka avoided sighing, she didn’t want to make the boy feel like he was in trouble, so she simply explained her role in the upcoming class trip, “It’s mine and Isogai’s job to keep track of who’s with who, so let one of us know.” She moved on to the next group leader before Nagisa could reply. She knew it was unlike Nagisa to forget important things, so she decided to give him a little leniency.

Nagisa frowned as he tried to remember what activity he signed up for and was drawing a blank. Before he could chase after the female class president to ask her, Kayano approached him.

“You look confused.” She stated, “She’s talking about next week’s trip, remember, Isogai appointed you as one of the group leads.” She waved the brochure that was in her hands at him. The brochure itself was about the different tourist attractions in Kyoto.

“Right, with mid-terms and everything else that’s happened recently, that slipped to the back of my mind.” Nagisa sighed.

Korosensei the two’s conversation short, “Honestly! Who arranges a class trip this early in third year?” His out cry drew the attention of the entire class, which they instantly regretted when they took note of what their teacher was wearing. Korosensei was dressed as a geisha girl, posing with his fan in a small tentacle and an umbrella in his teeth. “I can’t say I approve.”

“You’re totally into it!” Maehara shouted at Korosensei’s contradicting ways.

“Geisha clothes?!” Mimura exclaimed, panicked.

“And they look good on him!” Okajima shouted, finishing Mimura’s panicked thoughts.

A second later and a couple of powerful wind blasts, Korosensei, now dressed in his usual teacher get up, stood at the front of the room blushing. “You saw right through me.” He sweated, “Yes, in fact, I can hardly wait to go on this trip with you.”

Nagisa shared an uncertain look with Kayano. ‘First we had exams, and now there’s a class trip. Even in this assassination classroom, our schedule’s jam-packed with school events. But with all these events, will there be enough time to kill Korosensei before the school year ends?’

Classes moved on and eventually Nagisa’s question was finally answered in P.E;

“As you know, next week is our two-night school trip to Kyoto and while I hate to ruin the excitement, let me remind you that you’re still on duty.” Karasuma-sensei stated before the lesson began.

“You mean we’ll be attempting assassinations there?” Okano questioned.

“Precisely.” Karasuma-sensei answered. “Kyoto is far larger and more complex than this school, and you’ll be moving in groups that he’ll be following. It's an ideal location for snipers, and the government has already arranged for sharpshooters to join you. Upon success, each person will share in the ten billion yen based on the degree of their contribution. Be sure to pick assassination friendly tour routes.”

“Yes Sensei.” The class replied.

“Now, let's get onto today’s activity.” Karasuma-sensei moved onto the explanation for the activity, which was a simple sparing exercise, and all Nagisa could think was that he wished he had come up with a believable excuse to not be able to participate.

The period after P.E was a study hall to help the students plan their groups and itineraries for the class trip. Nagisa stood at his desk with Kayano and Sugino as they looked over the school trip notice and the rules for the groups.

“Groups for the school trip, huh?” Nagisa asked the two. “Hey Karma, want to be in my group?” Nagisa looked over at the red head who was looking out the window.

“Sure, it’s not like any of the other group leads would want me in their groups.” Karma shrugged as he moved towards the three. 

“Are you sure about this, Nagisa?” Sugino asked, eyeing Karma suspiciously. “We don’t want to get into trouble because Karma’s picking fights.” 

“No sweat,” Karma replied instead of Nagisa, “When I fight offsite, I make sure to silence any witnesses.” Karma smiled sadistically as he held up a photo of two middle school kids from a different school. They were both holding up their IDs looking beaten up and scared while Karma smiled cheerfully with his arms draped over their shoulders. “No one’ll breathe a word.”

Sugino turned to Nagisa in alarm, “C’mon! You can’t let him in our group!”

“We are old friends though.” Nagisa sighed as he tried to lean away from Sugino without aggravating his bruises.

“Yeah, we’re old friends Sugino.” Karma pulled Sugino away from Nagisa and leant on him as the two looked down at the shorter boy, “Besides, who do you think took the photo if I’m in it.” Karma smirked and Sugino froze, clearly remembering the stories of Karma and Nagisa’s relationship. Karma the breaker and Nagisa the fixer. Karma makes a mess and Nagisa cleans it up. Nagisa is probably the only reason Karma didn’t get expelled in their first year, simply because of how many fights didn’t make the teachers eyes and ears all because Nagisa had cleaned up the scene and patched up all the victims.

“So what’s the group?” Karma asks, breaking Sugino out of his memories. “Nagisa, Sugino, Kayano and…?”

“Oh, I invited Okuda!” Kayano took the attention away from Karma to the newest member of the group. Kayano was holding Okuda tightly by the arm with one hand while her other hand rested on her shoulder, as if she was afraid Okuda might run away, and with her shy nature, she just might.

“We need six. Shouldn't we get another girl?” Karma asked, drawing the attention back to him so Okuda felt more comfortable.

Sugino chuckled at that, “I thought this might happen, so I asked her way in advance.” Sugino moved to the side to present Kanzaki to the group, “What about the class idol Kanzaki?” Kanzaki blushed at the attention, while Kayano agreed with Sugino’s choice.

Nagisa smiled at Kanzaki before moving to write down the members of his group to give to Kataoka and Isogai. ‘The group isn’t bad and Korosensei will be much more trusting of our intentions with Kanzaki, Kayano and Okuda there. The three of them haven’t really tried much to kill our teacher. I don’t think Kayano really wants to be a killer and is putting off any attempt she could make, while after Okuda’s failed attempt, Korosensei has been less suspicious of her. Kanzaki on the other hand, doesn’t stand out in class but she’s popular with all the students, especially the boys. All three were very easy to read and Korosensei may use that to his advantage. Karma and Sugino will probably be at each other’s throats, afterall, it’s no secret that Sugino doesn’t like Karma and Karma loves to tease Sugino, which in turn, annoys Sugino, which amuses Karma and it continues as a cycle, one that may cause tension in the group. However, Kanzaki may help with this problem too. Sugino’s crush on Kanzaki isn’t a secret to anyone in the class, including Kanzaki herself, no doubt the invite was a scheme to get closer to her and may keep him distracted enough.’

“Thanks for having me, Nagisa.” Kanzaki smiled over at the blunette.

“Yeah, sure.” Nagisa stuttered, a little flustered at the attention.

“Okay, now to figure out where we’re going to go!” Kayano cheered.

“Yeah! Where should we start?” Sugino wondered aloud.

“What children.” Irena scoffed as she watched over the class planning their trip. “After you’ve been all over the world, a school trip is nothing.” She smirked, flicking her hair over her shoulder.

“Feel free to stay behind, Bitch-sensei.” Maehara called over his shoulder.

“Keep the garden watered, ‘kay” Okano called from her space next to Maehara. “Hey, where should we go on day two?”

Karma chuckled, “I bet that wasn’t the reaction you were hoping for.” he taunted.

“I don’t want to hear it from you dye job!” Irena sneered at the red head.

“I’m just saying you’re wrong, I mean I haven’t been all over the world, but I have been on my fair share of international trips.” Karma smirked as he got the class's attention, “I’ve got to admit, a school trip is something exciting and different from travelling with my parents.” He looked over to Nagisa, “You agree Nagisa? I know you have been, as Bitch-sensei put it, ‘all over the world’” 

The class’s attention moved to Nagisa, who blushed at the call out. “I haven’t been all over the world, Karma.” Nagisa muttered.

“Remind me how many countries have you been to?” Karma questioned.

Nagisa levelled Karma with a glare as he answered, “96.”

“What!”

“No way!”

“Seriously?”

“Can you speak any foreign languages?”

“How have you been to so many?”

“Can I read your passport?”

“It really isn’t a big deal, I spent most of my time sitting in a hotel room doing school work while my Dad worked.” Nagisa replied.

“So you were home-schooled by your Dad?” Maehara questioned.

“Kind of, it was more online teachers than anything my Dad taught me, I suppose he was the one to teach me the languages I speak.” Nagisa explained.

“And how many languages can you speak?” Nakamura asked, leaning near Nagisa’s desk.

“Fluently? Only 2, not including Japanese. Partially? I think about 6, in varying fluency.” Nagisa answered.

“Where does English sit on that list?” Nakamura questioned. She knew she was one of the best in class when it came to English, Karma and Nagisa were her only competiors.

“English is actually my worst language, it is really difficult to get the hang of.” Nagisa explained.

“Damn Nagisa, you have got my respect.” Maehara smiled over at the blunette, “I can barely speak Japanese and you are fluent in 3 languages and know another 6 well enough to get by, I’m jealous.”

“It really isn’t all that special, It’s just things I’ve picked up from my Dad and his friends, honestly, I think I know more swear words than anything else.” Nagisa explained quickly, shaking his hands in front of himself like a double wave.

“Even cooler, you’ll have to teach me some.” Maehara smirked.

“He will not be teaching you swear words Maehara, nor will he be teaching anyone else such vulgar language.” Korosensei broke into the conversation, “In fact if I hear any of you using any foreign swears, I’ll be giving Nagisa detention, even if he wasn’t the one to teach you them.” Exclaims of unfairness rose throughout the classroom. “Now, now children, you should be getting back to your planning for your trip.”

“Right back to planning!” Okano stated, pulling Maehara’s attention back to their table.

With the class’ attention back to planning their trips, Nagisa turned and levelled an icy glare at Karma, causing the rest of his group to freeze while Karma smirked.

“Thanks for the attention Karma, how would you like it if I tell the class what happened the last time you travelled to India with your parents?” Nagisa hissed over the table.

Karma scoffed, “Honestly Nagisa, it wasn’t that big of a deal, besides it shut Bitch-Sensei up.”

“You know I hate it.” Nagisa stated, while Karma rolled his eyes. “Seriously Karma, I know more of your secrets than you know mine.”

“True, but I know secrets that will ruin your reputation as the class’ Angel. So threaten all you like, I’ll still win.” Karma leant forward resting his elbows on the table. The rest of the group was watching their fight like a tennis match. They had never seen the sides the boys were showing to them. Before much more could be said Bitch-sensei approached the group.

“Nagisa, speak to me outside please.” Bitch-sensei moved away after her short instruction. Nagisa frowned but followed the blonde outside the classroom and towards the medical bay. 

The medical bay, like the rest of the building, was run down and old. In the center of the room was an old creaking hospital bed with the thinnest rubber mattress imaginable. The frame of the bed wasn’t much better, it looked to be more rust than steel and would collapse if anyone tried to lie down on it. The rest of the room wasn’t much better. In one corner hung an old, once white-now dirty grey curtain on a droopy wire, the other side of the room was a small desk covered in a thin layer of dust and a broken lamp sitting on top. Next to the desk was a couple of wooden benches that were also covered in a thin layer of dust, with a few sculptures you would like in a doctor’s office, such as a model of a skull and model of a heart. Next to the benches stood an old fridge, that Nagisa was sure came from the 1950’s, it was so old you could no longer tell what colour it once was due to the rust, dust and grime covering it. Along the walls were faded and peeling posters that you could no longer read. The state of this room made Nagisa realise that even though they were all training to be assassins no one has really been hurt or badly injured during training. It made Nagisa wonder if all the injuries and pain he went through with his Father were any different than the pain he received from his Mother. 

Irena turned to Nagisa, breaking him out of his thoughts. ”First off, strip. Let me assess the damage.”

“What!?” Nagisa exclaimed, “I’m fine.” 

Irena gave him an unimpressed look, “In training today, you were favouring your chest. Not to mention that you’re wearing a blazer which I have never seen you do and you were the last one out of the changing room, shall I go on?” She pointed towards the curtain, “Strip.”

“You’re annoying.” Nagisa stated stubbornly, crossing his arms across his chest not wanting to do this..

“A thing we have already discussed.” Irena smirked, “Now get a move on, we don’t have long”.

“Vlastnaya Suka” Nagisa muttered as he moved past her to the curtain.

She laughed, “You really do know more curse words in other languages, if you want to learn how to actually speak russian, I can help.”

“No need,” Nagisa called from behind the curtain, “Russian is one of the languages I am fluent in.”

“Good to know, we can communicate through Russian when needing to speak around the target.”

“No point there,” Nagisa stated, coming out from behind the curtain in just his underwear. “Korosensei more than likely knows Russian.”

Irena didn’t reply, she stood there looking over Nagisa’s body. His chest and arms were covered in mostly dark purple bruises, there were a few yellowish-green bruises that looked to be on their way to healing prior to whatever his Mother had done the night before. His arms had fingerprint bruises trailing up from his wrists to his elbows with dark red and swollen scratches in between, clearly Nagisa had protected his chest with his arms and his Mother had tried pulling them away. 

“Turn.” Irena stated. The joking atmosphere that had been in the room before Nagisa had stepped out of the curtain had disappeared, leaving the two in a dark and almost suffocating room.

Nagisa turned to show Irena his back, to which Irena saw more bruises than pale skin. Pursing her lips she took a small step forward, making sure to make every move exaggerated and known. “How did you treat these at home?” She asked.

“An ice cold shower and ibuprofen.” Nagisa muttered, “I was worried I might set her off again if I tried to get any ice.”

“I see, let's get you seated on the bed and get the ice packs flowing from the freezer.” Irena smiled lightly, trying to keep a calm facade and not show the anger she felt inside. She knew if she showed that, Nagisa would simply blame himself for getting hurt and not his psychopathic Mother for hurting him for no reason other than him wanting to live his life.

Nagisa moved to the bed and got situated comfortably the best he could as Irena went to the freezer to get the ice packs. After passing Nagisa the ice packs, she went rummaging through the draws to see if she could find any painkillers that were in date. After refilling through them thoroughly, she took a step back and sighed before turning back to face Nagisa. “I’m just going to run to my bag to grab some pain killers, I’ll be right back. Don’t move.” She instructed, before leaving the room.

Going into the faculty lounge was risky as Karasuma will be in there and she was going to have to lie to him about why she isn’t in the classroom and why she won’t be going back right away. She hopes he hadn’t heard that she had also pulled Nagisa out of class too. Which leads to the second reason going to the faculty lounge would be risky, she was leaving Nagisa alone in that room covered in bruises. If any nosey students or more likely octopi went to investigate, she would be leaving him wide open to discovery. But she had no choice, this school’s poor conditions for this class was forcing her hand.

Walking into the faculty lounge, she tried her best not to acknowledge Karasuma who sat at his desk going through files and writing things down in a notepad. She moved to her own desk and took out her bag.

“What did the kids say that is making you leave early?” Karasuma grunted, not looking up.

“I’m not leaving early, I’m simply grabbing a few things from my bag.” Irena stated, not looking over at Karasuma as she shuffled through the items in her bag, trying to find the items she would need.

“And you couldn’t do this after class?” He questioned, looking over at her.

Irena smirked as she pulled the items out of her bag, “Unfortunately, this simply can’t wait.” She held up the painkillers and the tampon that she pulled out of her bag, “You see this is a woman’s emergency, Karasuma. Now excuse me.”

Karasuma reacted shocked instead of the usual calm and expressionless man and turned red at the sight of the tampon and ducked his head back to his work instantly. Though Irena acted as if she paid no mind and moved back towards the medical bay.

When she returned to the room, she found the second reason she needed to be worried for, as Nagisa was not alone. Maehara stood near the entrance of the room staring with mouth agape at Nagisa, as Nagisa had moved off the bed and was trying to hide himself behind the curtain.

Clearing her throat, she got the attention of the two boys. “Nagisa, I thought I told you not to move from the bed.” Irena stated as Nagisa continued trying to hide away from this problem. Irena then turned to Maehara, “What are you doing out of class?”

“You and Nagisa had been gone a long time and we were worried, so I volunteered to go look for you guys.” Maehara explained.

Irena sighed, “Turn around and face the wall and cover your ears.” She instructed Maehara. Maehara gave her a funny look but followed her instructions. Irena then turned back to where Nagisa had finally hid himself. “What do you want to do? I know a few moves that can cause memory loss.”

“Then we’re going to have to explain why he’d been knocked unconscious.” Nagisa stated from behind the curtain, “Besides, he’s still listening to the conversation.”

“No, I’m not!” Maehara defended. 

“Really?” Nagisa deadpanned as he walked out from behind the curtain fully dressed. Irena sighed when she saw this. Treating those nasty bruises will have to be put on the back burner for now while they focus on the more pressing issue.

“You can turn back around brat.” Irena growled at the strawberry blonde.

Maehara turned back around and saw that Nagisa had dressed and he could no longer see the bruises and scratches covering his body. “You should be icing those bruises!” Maehara exclaimed, moving closer.

“It’s fine, I’m fine.” Nagisa stated, taking a step back from Maehara. “Well?”

“Well what?” Maehara asked, confused.

“You have questions.” Nagisa stated. It wasn’t a question, people always have questions when they see his bruises and he always had his list of excuses ready.

“Well, of course.” Maehara stated, “But those don’t really matter, until I know you are okay.”

“Well aren’t you sweet, but we don’t have time for this.” Irena stepped back into the conversation after watching the exchange. “We all need to get back into class, so Nagisa take these and lets go.” Irena handed Nagisa the painkillers that caused this issue. “You boys can talk about this later.” Nagisa quickly swallowed the painkillers dry and followed Irena out the door. Maehara trailing after the assassin duo.

“Maehara, please don’t tell anyone.” Nagisa whispered before entering the classroom, not giving Maehara a chance to reply.

Chapter Text

“Wha! The A through D classes are riding first-class!” Sugaya exclaimed. As he, Fuwa, Maehara, Nakamura and Yada watched the high classes board the train. Expressionless faces watched the smirking ones as they boarded.

The day of the trip the class met at the train station with the rest of the school. The only difference between them and the rest of the student body was that they were travelling in economy and everyone else was travelling in first-class. 

“We’re the only ones travelling in coach.” Nakamura sighed “Like always.”

Kensaku-Sensei noticed the group watching the other classes board the train, a smirk playing on his lips as he turned to them. “Those are the rules at our school and they explained them well when you came here.” He snarled.

“Students with exceptional grades get priority use of school funds.” Chosuke Takada quoted the student handbook, while leaning out the train car door in front of his teacher. His usual rectangle glasses had been replaced by sunglasses of the same shape.

Nobuta Tanaka pushed past Takada, his chubby face peered over the group of E-Class students. A block of chocolate hung from his mouth as his face scrunched up at them. A bright red sun visor sat low on his forehead. “Oh dear…” He smirked around a chocolate filled mouth, “Is that the stench of poverty I smell?”

Before the 3 D-Class representatives could insult them more, a feminine chuckle broke through the one sided conversation. “Pardonnez moi.” The loud voice called in french. The teacher and student trio turned to watch the blonde teacher move past them and towards Class-E. 

Irena was dressed lavishly. A beige beret sat atop her styled blonde hair. She wore a pink button up blouse, buttoned up to where her cleavage showed and lined with her cream blazer. Her skirt was black and frilled and very short, considering the cooler weather and her legs were covered in lace patterned stockings. Her maroon boots had a small heel giving her a little extra height and dark sunglasses graced her face. Ignoring the D-Class trio she smiled over at her students. “Greeting students!”

“Bitch-sensei, what’s with the Hollywood Starlet look?” Maehara looked over their teacher’s new look wearily. He’s been avoiding her, while also trying to chase Nagisa. He had kept his word and not mentioned to anyone what he saw when he went looking for them but neither had explained what he saw either. His worst fear was that Bitch-sensei was the one to do that to Nagisa, but at the same time it hadn’t made sense. His first thought Nagisa had gotten hurt during training, but that didn’t make any more sense than Bitch-sensei doing it. Maehara’s mind kept making up more wild ideas the longer he was in the dark for the reason of Nagisa’s injuries.

Their English teacher chuckled. “It’s a given for any assassin who uses their womanly wiles.” She explains, “A good woman doesn’t neglect fashion just because she’s travelling.”

Karasuma-sensei came up behind her, “You stick out like a sore thumb. Go change.” He ordered. “That’s not what a teacher chaperone looks like.”

“Don’t be such a stick in the mud, Karasuma!” Irena exclaimed. “These brats are going on a grown-up trip-”

“Take it off. Now.” Karasuma growled out, cutting off whatever excuse Irena was going to use. 

A few students snorted, holding in their laughter as Irena wilted and moved towards the train car to get a change of clothes. 

***

Kataoka watched their English teacher sob into her seat. She had changed into less fashionable clothes. Her pink sweatshirt and black sweat pants looked a lot more comfortable than what she had been wearing previously, considering the long train ride they were about to endure she was a little envious of the comfortable clothes, much preferring to be wearing sweats than her school uniform. “Who’s chaperoning who?” she whispered over to Isogai, who was also watching the scene unfold.

“My guess is that she’s a little disconnected from regular people, seeing as she’s only ever killed rich guys before.” Isogai replied. As a prince among men, he is always trying to see everyone in a positive way, even when they test his patience. 

With all the students on the train and moving towards their destination, they had sat in their school trip groups to quietly discuss plans and kill time as they travelled.

It was Sugino that pointed out the glaringly obvious issue with everyone’s plans for the school trip, catching everyone’s attention. “The train’s left the station, but where is Korosensei?”

Before anyone could answer, Korosensei made himself known by shouting against the window he was stuck to, causing the class to look over to Sugino’s window in alarm.

“Why are you stuck to the window, Korosensei?!” Nagisa shouted. Luckily, their car was empty except for them.

“Well, I was buying snacks in the station and was late boarding, so I’ll tag along like this till the next station.” Korosensei explained. His reasoning caused his class to eye roll and the reason he was late to board. “Oh and don’t worry, this camouflage just makes it look like my clothes and luggage are stuck to the train.”

“That’s normal in the slightest!” Nagisa shouted. “Just fly to the next station and wait there to board!”

“But then I’ll miss bonding with my students.” Nagisa, forgetting himself, glared at the offending teacher through the window before reaching over and pulling the curtain shut, covering Korosensei’s face. The action caused Karma to laugh, before moving to do the same to all the windows in the car.

“That’s going to hurt his feelings, guys.” Kayano stated as she watched Karma move about the train car.

“Oh well.” Karma shrugged, “Serves him right for missing the train.”

The class watched the pair of friends take their seats next to each other  pretending that they couldn’t hear Korosensei crying about the curtains being closed.

“Just as I forget how alike Karma and Nagisa can be, they suddenly remind me again.” Sugino muttered as he moved to his seat against the window that had Korosensei crying on it.

***

When the next station came Korosensei, in his human disguise, boarded the train to join his students in the car. He even made a point of not greeting the two students that shut him out as he greeted the rest of his students.

“Who knew Korosensei could hold a grudge?” Maehara whispered over to Okano.

“Who knew Nagisa could be so stubborn?” Okano whispered back.

“It sure is tiring, trying not to stand out while travelling.” Korosensei sighed as he took his seat. A few students started to crowd around the fatigued teacher.

“Then don’t cling to the side of a train.” Nagisa muttered stubbornly only to be ignored.

“Then don’t bring such an enormous suitcase.” Okajima stated, staring down at their teacher.

“Yeah!” Kurahashi agreed, “You already stand out enough.” 

“Isn’t it iffy, a state secret being so obvious out in public?” Nakamura questioned. That sentence caused Korosensei to sit up in alarm, causing his fake nose to fall off. “And not to mention, that disguise won’t fool anyone up close.”

“Hey! Korosensei!” Sugaya broke into the conversation. “Here!” He stated as he threw a small object at their teacher.

Korosensei caught the object, ignoring Karma’s comment that he shouldn’t be catching unknown items, unless he wants to be killed, he looked down in his gloved hands and found that the object thrown at him was a new nose. It was much rounder than the nose he currently wore and seemed to be better quality too.

“First we’ll fix that droopy nose of yours.” Sugaya stated.

“Wow! What a fantastic fit!” Korosensei shouted excitedly.

“I carved it so it’ll fit the roundness and spirit of your face.” Sugaya explained, “Making stuff like that is a specialty of mine.”

“That’s amazing, Sugaya!” Isogai called as he leaned over the back of his seat to speak to him.

Kayano laughed as she turned back to her group. They’d managed to get Nagisa and Karma to stop sulking about Korosensei public display to play a game of cards. “You always see new sides of people when you travel together.” 

“Yeah!” Terasaka grunted from across the walkway. “Who knew a runt like Nagisa had such a backbone to shut out a teacher just to punish him for missing the train.”

The comment caused Karma to snicker. “You have yet to see everything Nagisa is capable of, Terasaka.” 

Nagisa shot Karma a glare before smiling over at Terasaka. “Please ignore Karma, he likes to rile people up, I was just slightly annoyed that Korosensei was endangering his secret presence, I would have reopened the curtain but Karma, like always, took it too far.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Karma asked, leaning into Nagisa’s space.

“Just what I said.” Nagisa shrugged, not looking at Karma but looking at his cards. “Besides, depending on how this trip turns out, who knows what true colours will be revealed?”

Before Karma could carry on the fight, Kanzaki spoke up, “Hey, I’m going on a drink run. Who wants what?”

Okuda raised her hand, “Ok, I’ll come too!” 

“Me too!” Kayano stood. The two girls wanted to get away from the tension between Karma and Nagisa. The three moved away from their seats and down the walkway towards the snack car.

**

Hiroto stood up from his seat. He was hoping to pull Nagisa aside to talk to him. When he turned to where Nagisa was sitting, he saw Karma and Nagisa’s glaring faces inches away from each other. He quickly turned back around and slumped back in his seat.

“Everything okay Hiroto?” Yuuma questioned.

“Yeah, I don’t want to get caught in Nagisa and Karma’s fight.” His explanation caused Yuuma and Hinata to turn in their seats to look over at the red and blue duo. 

“You know, if Nagisa hadn’t mentioned that he didn’t know anyone at Kunugigaoka before becoming a student here, I would think those two would have known each other for almost as long as we have known each other.” Isogai stated, “Karma just brings out a side of Nagisa that no one else can.”

“I don’t know about that.” Okano stated, “While the two don’t always act like it, there is this air of unfamiliar respect and care when they are around each other, something that people who have been friends that long don’t have.” Okano looked over to Maehara, “Why were you going over there anyway?”

“I was going to ask Kanzaki if she wanted to go out while we were in Kyoto.” He lied with a smirk and a shrug.

“ ‘Don’t date people in your own class’.” Isogai quoted. “That is literally one of your biggest rules.”

“It wasn’t going to be a date, I wouldn’t do that to Sugino.” Maehara defended himself.

“What was it going to be?” Okano leaned into his space and mischievous smile playing on her lips.

“Laying the foundations for High School if Sugino doesn’t grow the balls to ask her out himself.” He explained. The sentence caused the other two childhood friends to laugh.

***

“Uggg!” Korosensei groaned as he sunk into the couch in the traditional inn the class were staying in.

“So he gets all sick and groggy on bullet trains and buses?” Kimura whispered as he watched the scene in front of him next to Nagisa, who was scribbling the information down in his notebook.

“Korosensei’s Weak Point #9: Prone to motion sickness”

Behind Korosensei stood Isogai, Kataoka and Okano with anti-sensei knives aimed at Korosensei’s head. Whenever one of the three brought their knives down towards his head, he moved to another spot on the couch.

“Are you alright? Why don’t you lie down in your room?” Okano questioned, her concern showed through her words as she brought her knife down again at his head.

“No need to worry.” Korosensei stated as he dodged the attacks. “I’ll just pop back to Tokyo, I forgot my pillow.”

“All that luggage and you still forgot something?!” Kimura shouted.

“Korosensei’s Weak Point #10: Can’t sleep without his own pillow.”

Ignoring their teacher’s antics, Kanzaki and Kayano sat on another couch as Kanzaki rummaged through her bag. 

“Well, Kanzaki?” Kayano questioned, “Did you find the itinerary?

“No.” The girl moaned.

“You’re so earnest, Kanzaki. I admire you for putting that itinerary together all by yourself, but never fear, as long as you have one of my handmade guidebooks, everything will be fine.” Korosensei spoke up from his couch. He was still dodging knives being aimed for him as he held up one of his guidebooks.

“But we wrote up an itinerary because we didn’t want to lug those around!” Maehara stated, only to be ignored.

Kanazki sighed, “I know I put it in my bag…” She whispered to Kayano. “Did I drop it somewhere?”

***

“Nagisa, this might be a good assassination spot.” Sugino smiled over to his friend.

“The snipers should be able to see it, if they're good.” Nagisa stated, which caused Karma to scoff.

The group were walking around Kyoto, taking in the sights and keeping their eyes keen for places where the snipers could meet them without Korosensei being suspicious. 

“This is one weird school trip.” Kayano sighed as she stopped walking on the Shijo Bridge, to look over the Kamo River.

“You bet it is.” Nagisa stated as he looked up from Korosensei’s guidebook to where she was standing. “But it's fun!”

Kayano groaned at Nagisa’s very Nagisa reaction, “We’re here in Kyoto and all!” She wined. “I want green-tea warabimochi dumplings!” Nagisa chuckled.

“Then why don’t we put some poison in them?” Okuda asked.

Kayano jumped back from Okuda alarmed as she shouted, “What for?!”

“Korosensei has a major sweet tooth.” Okuda stated as if the plan was obvious.

“Nice!” Karma smirked, looking over to Okuda, “Poison him with famous local treats.”

“What a waste of good dumplings!” Kayano shouted as she whipped her head back and forth between Okuda and Karma, her face betraying absolute betrayal.

“If only there was a poison that actually worked on him…” Kanzaki thought aloud.

“Not you too Kanzaki! I thought you were my friend!” Kayano cried. She turned her back to her group and looked back over the Kamo River.

“Y’know, I wanted to forget about assassination on this trip.” Sugino groaned, “I mean look at these sights, what does any of this have to do with assassination?”

“You’ll be surprised.” Nagisa stated, causing Karama to snicker as the group moved towards the Inoshikacho Sushi-Go-Around and stopping at a marking next to the store.

“Here marks where Ryoma Sakamoto and Shintaro Nakaoka met with disaster.” Kayano read aloud. “Ryoma Sakamoto… You mean?” She looked over to Nagisa for confirmation.

“Yeah,” Sugino agreed. “This is where Omiya was, the inn where Sakamoto was assassinated in 1867.”

“And walk a little further and you’ll be at Honnoji Temple, though its location’s shifted a little over time.” Nagisa stated, looking over at Sugino with a smile.

“Oh right!” Kayno exclaimed, “Nobunaga Oda’s death was a kind of assassination too!”

“Mhm” Nagisa hummed in agreement. “In just this one kilometre, some big-names assassination went down. This city’s always been the heart of Japan; well, it’s also the mecca of assassinations.”

“I get it.” Sugino stated rather excitedly, “Now that you mention it, this is turnin’ out to be a real assassination vacation.”

Nagisa smiled as he walked behind his group. ‘All those targets were people who had a huge effect on the world. Even his Father has had a few influential targets that ended their influence in Kyoto.’ Nagisa thought back to his few trips to the city previously, they were nothing like this trip. Karma was right when he said school trips were different to the ones they take with their parents. ‘The Earth-destroying Korosensei was a textbook target.’

“Next up is Yasaka Shrine!” Kanzaki announced.

“Yep!” Okuda smiled. She had been worried about being a part of this group, given Karma’s reputation but for the most part it had been going pretty well. The least part was when Nagisa and Karma would argue or worse when they somehow non verbally threaten each other.

“Oh, c’mon, let’s take a rest! I want some sugary Kyoto coffee!’ Sugino groaned.

“Yeah, let’s have some!” Kayano agreed. She was always ready to get sweets.

Nagisa laughed at his friends’ responses to their tight itinerary. Though he has a feeling that something wasn’t right, he couldn’t put a finger on it. It was almost like they were being followed but whenever he looked around couldn’t see anyone out of the ordinary. Between locals, tourists and other school groups he couldn’t tell who wasn’t supposed to be there, but one glance at Karma made him aware that he wasn’t alone in his feelings.

***

“Wow, Gion is practically deserted this far inside.” Kayano noted.

“Yeah, with all these places that turn away newcomers, no one much comes here just to wander around and you don’t need a nice unobstructed view.” Kanzaki stated as the group moved further into the crowdless streets. That feeling of being watched hadn’t left Nagisa and being in the quiet streets with no one around wasn’t helping his anxiety. He kept looking around, trying to spot anyone that could be following them. “That’s why I put it on my ideal course: it’s perfect for an assassination.” Kanzaki finished explaining her reasoning of bring them here.

“That’s our Kanzaki! You’ve really done your homework!” Kayano exclaimed excitedly. “This is where we’ll do the deed then!”

“ ‘Perfect’ is right.” a voice broke out from the shadows. A group of High School students surrounded them. “Why are ya walkin’ around somewhere that’s ripe for a kidnappin’?”

Karma moved forward slightly, his head held high and a cocky smirk on his face. “Something tells me you fellows aren’t here for sightseeing.”

The big one stepped forward, his crooked teeth showed as he grinned predatorily at them and his droopy black eyes stayed watching the girls behind Karma. “Well, we ain’t here for you.” He emphasised, “Hand over the girls and get lo-” Before the guy could finish Karma launched forward pushing his palm into the guy’s bulbous nose making him lose balance and fall to his back.

Karma stood over the guy and smirked as he looked over at Nagisa, a clear challenge in play. “See, Nagisa?” He said, “Fighting’s no problem at all when there’s no witnesses.” Karma’s challenge is clear in Nagisa’s mind. ‘If you want to prove to me that you are really an assassin, fight.’

“Um Karma.” Nagisa pointed ahead.

“I’m gonna stab ya!” Another one yelled as he launched himself towards Karma. Karma didn’t hesitate as he sidestepped the high schooler and moved toward the bike next to them. He took a red coat off the bike and threw it over the guy’s head. Before using the same technique to push him to the ground as the first opponent.

“Stab me?” Karma taunted, “As if.”

Shouts from Kayano and Kanzaki took Karma’s attention from the fight in front of him. While the boys had been distracted in the fight, a group of high schoolers came from behind and grabbed the two girls. The moment of distraction was all the leader needed to knock Karma to the ground. Once Karma was down, another group of high schoolers circled the red head and started to kick his downed form making him unable to rise up and fight back. Sugino, torn between helping Karma or helping the girls, hesitated too long and was then kicked down by the leader as well. Nagisa managed to leap out of the way before Sugino landed on him.

Nagisa took in his surroundings. Kayano and Kanzaki were being dragged out of the street by two high schoolers, while another shouted for a car. Karma was nearly unconscious from the kicks of the high schoolers surrounding him and Sugino was being held down by a foot on his chest. There were too many of them, Nagisa had never been this outnumbered and outmatched before, any plan he could come up with would more than likely lead to their deaths.

“Say kid, I can’t tell.” The leader stated as he looked at Nagisa for the first time from where he stood over Sugino. “Are ya a boy or a girl?” Nagisa stared at the leader weighing out the pros and cons of each answer. If he says he’s a boy, he’ll just get knocked out with the others or if he says he’s a girl he’ll be taken to wherever they’re taking the girls and if they find out he’s a boy there, they may just kill him.

“Girl.” Nagisa whispered as he reached into his pocket and pressed one on his speed dial. 

“Is that so?” Leader abandoned Sungino in favour of leaning over Nagisa, “What with the boy’s uniform?”

“I got something on my skirt and one of the boys leant me a pair of pants.” Nagisa spoke clearly, he could faintly hear an answer on his phone, he just hoped the other guy couldn’t hear it too.

“What’s your name, little one?”

“Irena,” Nagisa answered, “You can call me Irena-chan.”

The leader smirked as the line in Nagisa’s pocket went quiet at the use of their code word. Sugino shot Nagisa a confused look from his place on the ground. His was now being held down by another goon that had left an unconscious Karma with the other’s who were still kicking his unconscious form. “Well Irena-chan, are ya gonna to walk to the car or am I gonna drag you?”

“Walk.” Nagisa answered.

“Well, allow me to lead the way.” The leader stated, and roughly grabbed Nagisa’s arm and led him to the car.

Chapter Text

Nagisa was blindfolded before he could even see what car the leader was taking him to. Nagisa wasn’t exactly sure what his plan was, he couldn’t hear anything from his phone in his pocket so he was unsure of what Irena had planned and if she was still on the line. He wondered if whispering the turns would give away what he was doing.

“Careful Irena-chan, you’ll need to step up to get into the car.” The high schooler leading him stated and he nudged him forward to what Nagisa assumes is the back of whatever car he was being pushed into. He could hear confused and distressed noises coming from the same area, more than likely coming from Kanzaki and Kayano. 

When he managed to get seated next to one of the girls he whispered, “Left one tap, right two taps.” He wasn’t speaking to the girls but hopefully Irena.

“Irena?” It was Kayano who spoke, she was sitting next to him. Hopefully she understood what he was trying to do.

“No talking!” One of the boys from the front shouted as the car launched forward and took a sharp left. Nagisa tapped his finger once on his pocket where his phone was kept. A few moments later they took another left causing Nagisa to tap again. Almost immediately after they took a right and Nagisa tapped his leg twice. This continued for roughly 10 minutes before they pulled to a stop. Nagisa heard the high schoolers in the front of the car get out before the door on the other side of the car to Nagisa was opened. They started pulling Kanzaki and Kayano out of the car when Nagisa’s door was opened.

Nagisa was the first one pulled out of the car, the other two girls were quickly pulled from the car after him and they were all quickly led into wherever their kidnappers were going to keep them. Their blindfolds were removed quickly after, but their hands were then tied behind their backs. Nagisa still had no idea whether or not Irena was still on the phone or if anyone was coming to save them. Looking around they were in some kind of warehouse, there wasn’t too much natural light coming from the skylight above them, so clearly they were still in the densely populated city with taller buildings surrounding them. The thick concrete was clearly made to dampen the sounds in the warehouse so as to not disturb the neighbouring buildings, even if the three of them started screaming for help, it is highly doubtful that anyone will be able to hear them. In fact, it may just piss their kidnappers off. 

Speaking of their kidnappers, the high schoolers were talking amongst themselves, deciding what to do with them. The group clearly hadn’t thought their plan through after the initial kidnapping.

“Are you both okay?” Nagisa whispered to the others.

“Considering we’ve just been kidnapped?” Kayano retorted, giving Nagisa a look that clearly said ‘Are you being serious right now?’ . Nagisa had to agree that it was a dumb question.

“All things considered, I feel like we’re both fine at the moment?” Kanzaki answered, giving Nagisa a small smile.

Their whispering caught the ring leader’s attention. He gave the three of them a sadistic smile. “I’m glad that the three of you are feeling fine.” He stated. “I called up a few more of our buddies, they are getting everything ready for a little commemorative photo shoot. And before you do anything stupid, like screaming for help, no one’ll hear you here so we can make as much noise as we want.” His eyes narrowed at Kanzaki, “You.” He stated, “I thought I recognized you on the train, I’ve seen you before.” He pulled out his phone, “This is you right?” He showed the three of them a photo of a girl that was clearly Kanzaki, however, in the photo Kanzaki’s hair seemed longer and fuller, possibly the use of hair extensions considering the blonde ends, she was dressed much more casually, definitely fitting in with crowd at the arcade the photo was taken in. She also seemed much more comfortable in that get up then anything Nagisa has seen before. “We had plans to kidnap you back then but we lost sight of you.” He pulled the phone away. “Who knew you were a student at that famous junior high? But I get it,” He smirked, “The higher you are, the deeper you want to fall, well, from now until nightfall, the professor of Ruin will teach you all about it.” He leant forward, his face inches away from Kanzaki’s. The group of high schoolers moved away from them after that conversation. They were waiting for their photographers before they were going to do anything to them. With their kidnappers seemingly distracted, Nagisa started working on untying himself.

“That picture…” Kayano whispered, causing Kanzaki to look over at the greenette. Nagisa listened in too, trying to not draw attention to himself from the group holding them captive. “So even our earnest Kanzaki went through a phase, huh?” Kayano sighed, “I honestly didn’t see that coming.”

Kanzaki sighed looking down at her lap, “Yeah…” She whispered, “My dad was really strict, always after me  to get a good education and prestigious title. I wanted to get away from all that,  so I’d take off my famous school’s uniform, change my look and hang out where no one knew me.” Kanzaki sighed again, “How  dumb can you get? The only title all that playing around ever got me was ‘End Class’ . I don’t even know where I belong anymore.” 

The story caught the ring leader’s attention again, “Whyncha hang out with us? We’re totally anti-titles here!” He exclaimed, “We trash those elitist bastards, or maybe just put ‘em back the way they were, like?” He chuckled, “Oh, yeah, we done plenty of that kinda stuff.”

Suddenly a cold feeling crawled up Nagisa’s back. Bloodlust, but it wasn’t his. It was Kayano’s.

“You’re the worst.” She glared up at the teen standing over them. Her energy was nothing like what Nagisa felt coming from her before. Her bloodlust at that moment was more similar to Korosensai’s rather than the one she had before. 

But as soon as the feeling was there it was gone. The ring leader reached out, grabbing Kayano by the neck and pulling her up. “You some kind of elitist, lookin’ down at us like that, huh?” He glared down at her, “I’ll pull you down to our level, all right!” He threw her back down to the concrete, she groaned as she landed, gasping for breath. “Now, when you get back to your rooms, you stay real cool and say, ‘We were just having some fun singing karaoke.’ Do that and no one gets hurt.” Nagisa stayed quiet as Kayano glared up at their captors and Kanzaki looked at the ground avoiding eye contact with everyone in the room. “Let’ get together once we’re all back in Tokyo, eh?” The ring leader smirked as he watched the three stay quiet. “Maybe while we reminisce over our fun vacation -” He was cut off by knocking on the door. “That would be our buddies with camera equipment.” The leader smirked at the three junior high students before turning to the door to greet the rest of his friends.

As the door slowly creeped open a severely beat up high school student with dyed orange hair was revealed, he was being held up by the collar of his uniform by a severely pissed off Karma. Behind him was Okuda, Sugino and Irena-sensei.

“Good thinking Nagisa,” Karma smirked as he held up Irena’s phone. “Calling someone and giving them directions!” He called out, “The only dumb part was calling the Bitch!”

“You’re here!” Kayano exclaimed. There was joy in her voice, all the darkness that had washed over her was gone. The switch almost gave Nagisa whiplash, but there were still other things to worry about.

“It’s you!” The leader yelled. He was angry, glaring at Karma. “How’d you know we were here?” He growled.

“Did you not listen?” Karma taunted. “Honestly, is this your first time kidnapping people, ‘cause normally I would check that I…” Karma held up one finger, “One, I’d check to make sure I grab the correct victims, honestly did you really think that Nagisa was a girl?” Karma then held up a second finger,”Two, I’d also take their phones to make sure they couldn’t call anybody.”

“Who the fuck is Nagisa?” The leader yelled, he looked taken aback. Unsure if he should check the captives that were behind him. Luckily for Nagisa he chose to keep his focus on Karma and the others. The distraction was enough for Nagisa to break out of his bounds and reach his bag. Nagisa wasn’t sure what he was looking for in his bag but surely there was something that he could use as a weapon. Nagisa’s hand landed on the guidebook that Koro-sensei had made, it is certainly heavy enough to be used as a weapon and by the looks of these guys, Nagisa will be doing them a favour by making them hit the books. Nagisa grabbed the oversize book and quietly moved behind the ring leader.

“Nagisa is the boy that is currently sneaking up behind you.” Karma stated. This caused the high schooler to whip around to take notice of Nagisa behind him holding the gigantic book.

“Wait, you’re a-” The high schooler never got to finish his sentence as simply smiled at him and swung the book up, hitting him in the head. 

“Looks like the guidebooks became useful after all.” Nagisa called out as he stood over the downed kidnapper.

“That's a guidebook?!” was exclaimed by someone in the crowd.

“No wonder their bags were so heavy.” Another grumbled.

“Yeah,” Karma smirked, “Luckily our itinerary was stolen so we had to carry those things around.” He looked over at the rest of the high schoolers, “So? What’s it going to be, fellas? You’ve already done so much! You’ll be spending the rest of your trip…” Karma trailed off as he glared at the crowd, “in the hospital.” 

The group of high schoolers looked at each other unsurely. They could see Irena standing behind Karma, clearly not caring about the threats or abuse. She clearly wasn’t a student but didn’t look or act like a teacher either. Irena noticed the glance and gave a smile and a wave before looking at Karma, “For anonymity’s sake, I’ll be stepping outside.”

“Hmph.” The leader groaned and stood up. He shot a glare at Nagisa before reaching out and grabbing his wrist so he couldn’t move away. “You junior-high brats, actin’ all tough…” He growled. “You think you scare us? Think again, the only people ending up in a hospital will be you lot.” A rumble and a couple of bangs sounded outside. “Looks like back up’s arrived and dealing with that teacher you brought along with you.” He looked down at Nagisa, “They’re the worst badsasses you goody two-shoes will ever have the displeasure of meeting.” Nagisa tensed up, he’s met a few bad people in the past and no doubt that the guys pulling up won’t be too much trouble. “Don’t worry, I’ll be dealing with you personally.” The leader caught Nagisa’s eyes as he said that last sentence. The door slowly creeped open behind Karma and the other’s and before anyone could react the four goons could be seen. The issue was, they were all unconscious and twisted in yellow tentacles.

“Ehhh!” The leader exclaimed. His shock made his grip on Nagisa loosen and Nagisa wiggled his arm free before moving over to the girls still tied up. 

“No badasses here! I took care of them all!” Korosensei smiled, holding up the four goons in his tentacles. Nagisa sighed in relief, ‘Everything will be fine now that Korosensei has arrived.’ He thought as he started to untie Kayano.

“Sorry I’m late. I was letting you handle this while I searched elsewhere with a fine-tooth comb, just in case there were any miscommunications with the directions given.” Korosensei explained his tardiness to his students. 

“And, uh, why are you hiding your face like some stagehand?” Sugino questioned. The question caused Nagisa to look over at his teacher. Sure enough, Korosensei wore a black veil over his head, it was being held by his graduation cap to not simply fall from his sphere shaped head.

“This is an act of violence, and I’m afraid you’ll associate this face with me being violent.” Nagisa groaned. Of course he was still caring about what they thought of him, but why does he not just change his face colour like he does when he is angry? Nagisa sighed, wishing he had time to note down the potential weakness.

“Korosensei’s Weak Point #11: Worries about keeping up appearances”

“Nagisa, as you called Irena I was alerted right away!” Korosensei smiled before quickly dispensing spare guidebooks to the other students, even leaving two spare near Nagisa to give to Kayano & Kanzaki. 

“This is your teacher?” The leader growled, “Bullshit.” He was glaring at Korosensei, “ Who’s he think he is? Lookin’ like that?” Nagisa sighed, hopefully whatever Korosensei does makes them lose their memories of the events that happened today, including seeing their international secret teacher.

The group of high schoolers charged at Korosensei, maybe they thought that more numbers meant that they had more of a chance to hit him. Nagisa thought back to when their class tried that and the lecture that happened afterwards.

“ ‘Bullshit’ , you say?” Korosensei questioned watching the group move forward. In a sudden movement that Nagisa barely saw, the whole group was flung backwards. It clearly confused the high schoolers. Their bewildered looks almost made Nagisa smile. “Don’t be touching my students with your filthy hands.” 

The leader heaved a few breaths before standing back up, glaring at Korosensei he began another rant. “So even the teachers are special at elite schools…” Nagisa almost wanted to facepalm at the idiotic comment, did he really think all elite schools had teachers like Korosensei?  “You’re lookin’ down on us ‘cause of your rank, aren’t you? Makin’ fun of me for bein’ a stupid high schooler!” 

Nagisa tensed before he even saw the glint of the knife the leader had pulled, he felt the energy and bloodlust flowing out the older student and knew he was going to do something stupid. Apparently that stupid thing was to charge at Korosensei with a knife. Korosensei didn’t hesitate to stretch out his tentacles and punch the charging teenager.

“We’re not elite.” Korosensei corrected the teen, “They’re students at a famous school, that’s true.” More of the group pulled knives and started charging at their unkillable teacher. ‘You’d think they’d learn their lesson at this point’ Nagisa thought as he watched another group of high schoolers get flicked away from another swipe of a yellow tentacle. “But they’re considered the school’s outcasts! Their class name is the object of discrimination. The high schoolers continued their separate charges as Korosensei continued not only his rant but also the battering of his would-be attackers. “And yet, they take on so many things with a positive attitude.” Nagisa had finally freed both girls from their ropes and stood to fully watch the fight take place. “They wouldn’t drag others down with them, not like you.” Just as Nagisa could finally focus on the fight Korosensei threw the leader back landing at his and the girl’s feet, knife scattering to a stop at the discarded ropes from their ties. “It has nothing to do with our school or my title, be they in a clear stream or a muddy river the fish who swims forward turns out the finest.” 

Nagisa glanced at Kanzaki when he heard her gasp thinking she had been hurt, she seemed fine just taken aback by what Korosensei had said.

“Now then, students, let’s take care of them.” Korosensei called, even behind the veil you could still see his large smile. Nagisa moved to grab his guidebook, Kanzaki and Kayano following his lead. “We’ll teach them a physical lesson on the fundamentals of school trips!” The three met up with the rest of their group as they sneaked around the high schoolers, moving so they were behind them before bringing down their guidebooks quickly knocking them out. Nagisa ensured he was the one to take on the leader again. 

“When did they get behind us?” one groaned as they fell.

“And they didn’t waste any time takin’ out those cudgels…” another groaned.

“We picked…” The leader groaned, “... the wrongest bunch to hassle”

The door swung open once again and the group tensed, readying for another fight. Irena walked in and glance over the scene before focusing her attention on Nagisa, eyes running over him ensuring that he wasn’t hiding any wounds before doing the same to Kayano and Kanzaki. “Karasuma is almost here with a car and the police…” She trailed off as she let her eyes focus on Korosensei, “You best not be here when they arrive and the rest of you better have your stories straight to explain what happened.” She turned and walked back out of the warehouse. The group inside exchanged looks before following her out.

“Man, for a while there, I didn’t know what was gonna happen.” Karma stated as he stretched and stopped next to Nagisa. The redhead glanced down, “You okay?”

Nagisa rolled his eyes, “I’m fine Karma.”

Karma smirked, “If it’d been just him and me, I’m sure it would’ve worked out.” 

“Quit scarin’ me!” Sugino glared at the redhead, wondering what would have happened if the teachers hadn’t been with them.

“I’m just glad we are all okay.” Kayano sighed, “You okay Kanzaki?”

Kanzaki turned to the group, “Yes, fine.” she smiled.

“What happened, Kanzaki?” Korosensei questioned looking over his student. Kanzaki was a quiet one, he expected her to be shaken and scared after what had happened. “No one would blame you for being shaken up after that terrible event, but instead, you look like you’ve shaken off all your hesitation.”

“That’s right! Thank you Korosensei.” Kazaki continued her smile.

“Shall we get on with our school trip then?” Korosensei asked only for Irena to groan.

“We can once you get out of here! The sirens are getting closer!” Irena yelled at Korosensei.

“Nufufu, I will see you back at the hotel then.” Korosensei laughed before taking off.

Irena looked over the students she had been left with. “You all best sort out your stories because the cops will have questions and leave out hitting them all with books.” She stated, “My story is I arrived after just as you were coming out of the building. Work around that.”

Nagisa watched their teacher for a moment, she looked annoyed that this had happened, that she didn’t care that they could have been hurt. However, Nagisa knew the opposite was true. He knew Irena-sensei did in fact care, otherwise, she wouldn’t have answered the phone, she wouldn’t have made a code word for Nagisa to use when he needed help.

“Nagisa, are you even listening?” Karma asked, looking over at the bluenette. Taking in Nagisa’s confused expression, he sighed “We’re going over the details for the cops, pay attention.” Nagisa nodded and actually started to listen to what Karma was saying.

The police arrived about 5 minutes later and took their statements. They arrested the high schoolers and left a business card with their teachers. It was all a blur for Nagisa, everytime a officer was near him he cringed internally. His father had always taught him to avoid the police and any other governing body, no matter which job they were performing. Soon however, they were released to go back to the hotel and advised to call their parents. Nagisa was not going to listen to that advice and one glance at Karma showed that he was going to do the same.

Chapter Text

It was later in the evening when group 4 found themselves in the arcade of the hotel. Nagisa watched on with Kayano, Sugino & Okuda as Kanzaki played a video game beating the current high score.

“Dammit! How the hell are you dodging those?!” Sugino exclaimed as they tried to follow what controls Kanzaki was using. 

“This is a little embarrassing.” Kanzaki sighed as she watched the screen in front of her. Her cheeks were slightly pink but she was smiling nonetheless.

“Now that’s a pro,” Sugino laughed, “Smiling so sweetly with that grip of hers!”

“Wow! I had no idea you were this good at games, Kanzaki!” Okuda leaned in, watching intensely.

“I kept quiet.” Kanzaki started, “In my family frivolity was frowned upon.” She explained, “But maybe I’ve been too worried about what others think,” She shrugged. “Clothes, hobbies, status… I ran from it, got swept up in it and wound up lacking confidence.” She sighed as beat another level of the game, “But Korosensei made me realise, you just need the person you are on the inside to face forward and do their best.”

Nagisa smiled as he listened to Kanzaki. Most people who were kidnapped wouldn’t be so happy and unshaken as the three of them were right after. Sure people would put on a brave face and act as if it didn’t bother them but Kanzaki and Kayano really seemed fine after everything that had happened today. Nagisa learnt a lot today about both of them, he wasn’t sure who was more surprising, ‘Kanzaki sure has her surprising side.’ Nagisa thought of the feeling of Kayano’s bloodlust, ‘Kayano was more of a surprise, she always seems so light-hearted. The good thing to come out of the kidnapping was that things between the two girls seem light, almost cheerful.’

***

Okajima groaned, “This inn is a real dump, though, isn’t it?” Nagisa bit back a snort at Okajima’s question. While he has stayed in some interesting and some might say sketchy locations, Nagisa did have to agree that this inn was in no means glamorous compared to the fees they paid the school to come. “Two big bedrooms separated by sex?” Nevermind, Okajima just wanted to complain because he couldn’t be near the girls. Nagisa did laugh at this comment. “The students in all the other classes get their own hotel rooms.” He continued. Nagisa simply nodded along, he, Okajima & Sugino walked down the hall from the arcade back towards their room. 

“It’s more fun this way.” Nagisa pointed out with a smile. It was fun, he was never allowed to have sleepovers growing up, this was the closest thing to it.

As the three moved around the corner, Nagisa got a glimpse of Nakamura and Okano walking towards the mens bathroom. He exchanged looks with Sugino and Okajima before moving to follow the two girls. 

When they got around the corner they found the girls kneeling on the ground peeping into the Men’s Bath.

“Hey!” Nagisa called their attention, “What are you two up to?” 

“Shh!”  Okano hissed as Nakamura smirked in Nagisa’s direction. “Isn’t it obvious?” She asked, “We’re peeping.”

“But that’s our job!” Okajima exclaimed, pointing at himself. Sugino snickered as Nagisa sighed.

“It’s no one’s job…”

“Can you still say that after seeing this?” Nakamura questioned as she moved to open the bath door. Just inside the door hung Korosensei’s robes, his hat and tie sitting on a shelf next to them. “Clothes hung like that mean their wearer is in the bath.” Nakamura stated as she looked back at the boys. “You get what I’m saying?”

Nagisa’s eyes narrowed as he remembered his father’s teachings. ‘Find where your target’s most vulnerable, a tip that works for everyone, wait until they feel comfortable to bathe or use the toilet. No one really expects to die while on the toilet.’

“This is our chance to see what’s inside Korosensei!” Nakamura’s eyes narrowed as Nagisa bit back a groan. Of course that was what Nakamura was thinking, not surprise and attack. “Does he have a body, or is it tentacles all the way down?” She thought aloud, “What’s the harm? It could help us assassinate him.” 

The group quietly entered the bath, moving toward the showering area. “This has to be the least sexy peeping ever.” Okajima grumbled under his breath as he followed behind Nagisa. 

Nakamura slowly slid the door open to the bath and froze as she took in the image presented in front of her, the others behind her at similar reactions. 

Korosensei was stretched out in the bath, skin pink, with a shower cap on his head and using a brush to scrub his lower tentacles. Bubbles were spilling around him and water was running to the floor over the side of the bath.

“Is he a girl?!” Nakamura exclaimed, ruining the surprise and attack plan Nagisa had. 

“Ah! Hello, students” Korosensei smiled, looking over at them.

“Why are you taking a bubble bath?” Sugino questioned.

Nagisa groaned, “We’re not supposed to add anything to the water.”

“This is my mucus.” Korosensei replied and Nagisa made a note to never bathe after Korosensei. “It makes a nice lather and deep-cleans stubborn dirt.”

Nakamura laughed, “But you’ve let down your guard and we’ve blocked the exit.” Nakamura pulled her knife out of her sleeve, “When you get out of that tub you’ll have to walk by us.” Nakamura pointed her knife toward the bathing teacher, “We might not be able to kill you, but we will see you naked!”

Nagisa had to bite back another groan, he did not want to see Korosensei naked. Why did he think this was going to be a good idea? 

“That won’t do!” Korosensei exclaimed. He then stood and the water followed him. Nagisa stared in shock.

“Jellied broth?!” Okano shouted. 

“Oh dear, the water’s getting cold!” Korosensei laughed before jumping, jellied water and all, out of the window behind him leaving his student in the men’s bath standing confused and shell shocked. 

“He got away.” Sugino whispered, unsure if he should be upset or not.

“Well Nakamura, that was a lot of pointless peeping.” Okajima glared down at the blonde.

Nagisa simply laughed, unsure how he felt about recent events. “I sure learned a lot about everyone on this school trip.”

***

By the time Okajima, Sugino and Nagisa made it back to the room, everyone but Karma was there. 

“Perfect timing you three!” Maehara called as the three entered. Maehara held up a paper, waving it around in the air, “Who do you three want to date in our class?”

Nagisa groaned once again.He had been groaning a lot tonight, maybe he should go to bed and everyone would stop annoying him as much. Lost in his own thoughts he didn’t realise everyone was looking at him until Sugino elbowed him in the side. “What?” Nagisa asked, noticing the stares.

“Which girl in class do you want to date?” Sugino repeated the question and Nagisa’s cheeks turned red.

“Yeah Nagisa?” Terasaka asked, smirking at the boy’s reaction, “Who do you want to date?”

Nagisa shot a glare at Terasaka before thinking about the question and turning his glare to the person who started it. Maehara shrinked in on himself, realising, in his stupidity to fit in with the others, he’s outing the only person in the room who he’s been honest to. “You don’t have to answer.” Maehara quickly supplied an out.

“What?!” Isogai exclaimed,  “You wouldn’t stop bugging me until I answered and now you’re giving us an out!” 

“I agree, why does the shrimp get an out and not the rest of us?” Terasaka questioned as he stalked forward.

“No need to fight!” Nagisa exclaimed, moving himself between Terasaka and Maehara. “Maehara gave me an out because I told him back in Tokyo who I liked and asked for advice.” Nagisa explained, “I made him promise not to tell anyone until I got up the courage to confess.” 

“Aww, that’s cute Nagisa.” Kimura smiled.

“Wait, I thought you were dating Karma?” Yoshida questioned, frowning and looking up from where he was lying down on the ground.

“W-what?!” Nagisa stuttered looking down at Yoshida, “Why do people think that?”

“Because you two are always together.” Mimura supplied.

“Because he’s so possessive of you.” Muramatsu added on.

“Because you always defend him.” Sugino jumped.

“Sugino! Not you too.” Nagisa groaned.

“New list!” Maehara laughed, “Reasons why people think Nagisa and Karma are dating.”

“I hate you all.” Nagisa huffed as he moved to sit away from the circle.

“Wait!” Maehara called over to Nagisa, “We’re sorry, no Karma talk, I promise.” Maehara did look pretty sincere, “Besides, we need to go over the results.” Maehara held up the paper once again. 

Nagisa sighed but moved closer to hear and watch as Maehara tally the data up. “Figures.” Maehara stated as he showed the paper, “Kanzaki’s in the top spot.” Maehara smiled up at the group.

“Well, no one doesn’t like her.” Sugino supplied.

“What about you Sugino?” Yoshida asked, “Real slick of you to pull her into your group.”

“Y’know, with all the crap that went down, there weren’t many chances for us to really talk.” Sugino sighed, “Nagisa ended up spending more time with her than me.”

“Yeah, you guys had it rough.” Maehara agreed. “What was terrifying was no one was telling the rest of us anything.”

“Yeah, Korosensei got Karma’s call and took off before answering any questions.” Muramastu agreed, “Then none of you guys were answering in the group chat.”

“Lucky, you weren’t on Irena’s side of the call then.” Isogai stated, “She answered Nagisa’s call and then went deathly silent for 15 minutes before calling Karasuma and asking where Nagisa’s group was supposed to be before taking off.” Isogai went quiet for a moment, “I’m pretty sure she stole a car though.” The laughter began again.

“Quick thinking, calling someone.” Kimura added, “Pity you had to get misgendered to do so.”

“Kimura, you do realise I was born a boy, right?” Nagisa asked.

Kimura looked like a deer in headlights at the question. “Sorry.” Was all he could muster causing the rest of the boys to laugh.

“Karasuma’s side was also pretty scary, he gets a call from Korosensei and all he answers is he’ll call the police and then before he could do that Bitch-sensei called and he answered where your group was supposed to be.” Mimura supplied his group’s point of view. “He moved away from us when he called the cops so we couldn’t hear what was going on, but moved back towards us when he called the snipper, all we heard was there was an issue with group 4 and high schoolers.”

“We were all pretty worried, I’m glad everyone was ok in the end.” Okajima stated as he moved closer to the group now that his freak out of choosing one girl in the class was over.

“Oh, it looks like a fun time here.” Karma stated as he entered the room, holding a lemon soda he’s gotten from the vending machine down the hall.

“Karma!” Maehara exclaimed, “Perfect timing, who in the class do you like?” Noticing the wording of the question, Nagisa’s eyes narrowed at Maehara. Maehara, noticing Nagisa’s reaction to his carefully worded question, winked at him. 

Karma didn’t blink at the question, only picked up the list of the girl’s names and read over it. “Hmm…” He thought. Nagisa couldn’t help but wonder what the redhead was thinking and was generally curious to know the answer to the question. “Okuda, maybe?” Nagisa blinked, it was not the answer he was expecting. He thought that Karma might answer Nakamura or no one at all, but Okuda was a surprising choice. Clearly, Nagisa wasn’t the only one who thought this given the reactions of the other boys in the room, everyone was sharing looks of shock or confusion at the answer.

“No way!” Sugaya exclaimed.

“Interesting choice!” Maehara smiled, “Why?”

“I bet she could make some sketchy drugs and chloroform, really kick my mischief-making up a notch, y’know?” Karma smirked. 

“That’s one match no one needs to be making.” Terasaka groaned. Everyone thought back to the specialised laxatives she had made, shiving at the thought of Karma having access to things like that.

Isogai reached over to take the list from Karma, “You guys, these ratings are just between us, okay?” 

“Well, obviously.” Mimura stated.

“I mean, most of us don’t want this getting out.” Isogai stated, shooting a warning look between Maehara and Karma. Out of everyone in the room, those two were the most likely to let the list slip.

“Hey!” Maehara exclaimed, “What was that look for!”

Isogai continued on like he hadn’t been interrupted, “So do not let the girls or any teachers find out ab-” What did stop Isogai’s speech was the sight of a blushing pink Korosensei peeping into the room. He was writing in a notebook labelled as ‘Student Data: Boys (3)’ . The boys all watched in shock as he continued to write before slowly slipping away and closing the door. 

“He took notes and split!” 

“Kill him!”

Were a few of the shouts as the group of boys jumped from their seats to run down the hallway outside of their room, chasing after him. BB’s were being shot from air guns and knives were being thrown at his retreating form.

‘Koro Sensei Week Point #12: Loves gossip’

***

Irena watched the girls discuss their crushes from the door, she wondered if any of them would mention Nagisa or would they stick to the obvious choices like Maehara and Isogai. Either way, she didn’t care, all she wanted was for them to go to bed so she can enjoy a beer in some peace and quiet. She didn’t want to think about what had happened earlier in the day or how she felt like she had her heart in her throat the moment she heard Nagisa quietly say her name. She had hoped that he would never have to use their safe word, but he had and it wasn’t even for the reason it had been created in the first place. Now that she knew how it felt when it was used, she honestly wanted it to be never used again, but she was selfish. She didn’t care at first, but now, after looking after him; helping him; caring for his injuries, she knew she couldn’t lose him. Nagisa was like a little brother, if she told anyone about his home life, he would be gone and she would never see him again and she was selfish.

“Alright children.” She broke herself out of her own thoughts and broke up the tickle fight the girls were having. “I’m here to tell you it’s almost time for lights-out, more or less.”

“More or less?” Nakamura questioned.

“It’s not like you won’t stay up talking anyway.” Irena rolled her eyes, it’s like these girls don’t realise she is closer to their age than their other teachers. “Just keep it down, all right?” She moved to leave.

“How come you get to drink?” Kurahashi stopped her, “That’s unfair!”

Irena stopped and turned back to face the girl, “Well I am a grown-up, after all.”

“I know! Tell us some of your grown-up stories Bitch-sensei!” Kurahashi begged. “They’d be much more useful than your usual classes!”

“What’s that supposed to mean!” Irena shouted at the girl as Yada moved behind her and started gently nudging her into the room.

“Come on, take a seat..” Yada smiled as she guided Irena by the shoulders.

An hour and a few sweet treats and beer later, Irena sat against a window as she finished telling the story of the assignment she had right before she had taken her current job. During the story she had admitted to being twenty. The admission of her age seemed to have caught the girls’ shock more than the actual story .

“Bitch-sensei, you’re only twenty!” Nakamura exclaimed, staring at her in newfound shock.

“She’s so experienced,” Kataoka agreed, “I thought she was older.”

“Right? And she’s got that whole ‘Black Widow’ vibe going on.” Okano agreed.

“Yes, the sex appeal of a black widow that only a rich life can-” Irena started to agree before she took in the words and meaning of them. “Who called me a black widow?”

“A little late on the comeback there.” Okano giggled.

“Now listen here!” Irena chose to ignore the last few comments and continue on with her lesson, “Women have a short shelf life, unlike me, you were born in a country free from danger.” She took a bite of a chip before continuing, “Be grateful, and polish your woman-ness with all your might.”

“Wow, Bitch-sensei actually said something decent!” Okano gasped, taking away the seriousness of the conversation, which Irena was grateful for. She didn’t want or need their pity. 

“Don’t toy with me!” Irena glared at the short haired brunette, just because she was grateful for the distraction, her past being made fun of, still hurt.

“Tell us about the men you seduced.” Yada leaned forward, pulling Irena’s attention and relieving the tension. Irena blinked at the girl, Yada was surprisingly good at reading people and directing their emotions, similar to Nagisa. It made Irena wonder how the girl was so good at her age, did she have the same reasons as Nagisa? Irena’s thoughts were now on Nagisa once again, the girls had been a good distraction from them. She didn’t realise she had spaced out and was glaring at Yada until a slight breeze and glowing, blushing pink target was in front of her.

Her glare moved to the target, “Don’t just waltz into our girl talk like that!” She made note of the gasps and shouts of the girls, who had clearly not noticed the pervert. She will speak to karasuma and mention that they may need some space awareness training.

“Aww!” Korosensei complained, “Why not? I’d like to hear your love stories, too.”

“Easy for you to say, Koro Sensei.” Nakamura jumped in to defend their English teacher, “You never tell us anything about your private life!”

“Yeah!” Okano backed up the blond, “Fair’s fair!”

“Don’t you have any love stories of your own?” Kurahashi pointed at their teacher accusingly.

“You like big boobs!” Nakamura accused, “You must have at least had a crush on someone!”

Koro sat there a second longer looking at nothing in particular before speeding away.

“He’s gone!” Irena shouted, jumping from her position on the floor and pulling out her knife. “Let’s catch him, make him talk, then kill him!”

The girls followed her example, pulling out a variety of weapons from various spots hidden in their outfits. 

From the distance you can hear a shout from Okajima, “There he is!”. The girls then knew they weren’t the only ones that their target and teacher spied on this evening. 

“Murder him!” was another shout from the boys group running from the other end of the hallway.

“Over here!” Called one of the girls, leading their group towards their target. 

Converging in the middle the two halves of class E started to attack their teacher. The super being narrowly dodging their attacks and causing a dust cloud in the hallway as he moved to avoid knives and bb pellets.

Nagisa watched the chaos unfold, standing to the side, slightly too sore to try to keep up with his classmates. Maehara, noticing Nagisa’s hesitance, moved to his side. 

“I guess it all comes back to assassination in the end.” He smirked, glancing at the blunette and eying the gun he held. He knew while Nagisa wasn’t the best shot in class, he was the first to get a bullseye.

“Yeah, it seems like it.” Nagisa sighed, not moving his eyes away from the crowd their classmates created as they searched for their missing target. ‘It all comes back to assassination, huh?’ Nagisa thought. Maehara had no idea how right he was with that sentence when it came to Nagisa. Everything in his life leads him back to this path, his father introduced him to it, his mother hones him for it and now even school, his once only escape from it, now makes him run towards it. 

“Can we talk in private?” Maehara asked, breaking Nagisa away from his thoughts. “Every time I try to get you alone, you always have someone around you or it isn’t the right time.”

Nagisa looked up at the strawberry blonde wondering if he knew Nagisa was doing that on purpose, in a span of a day Maehara learnt more about Nagisa than nearly anyone else knew and for some dangerous, unknown reason, Nagisa wants him to learn more and that’s a terrifying thought to have. Atlas, this conversation couldn’t be avoided any longer. 

Nagisa nodded slightly, before leading Maehara away from the crowd. The two made their way to a more private area in the Inn and situated themselves to be facing a window, which Nagisa was grateful for, he couldn’t face Maehara during this conversation.

“It was certainly an interesting school trip.” Maehara chuckled, “I don’t know what else I was expecting with this class though.” He sighed as he leant against the window sill. “Seeing everyone in a different light really puts things in perspective.”

Nagisa hummed in agreement.

“Are you going to be quiet for this entire conversation?” Maehara sighed. He didn’t blame Nagisa for wanting to avoid the topic they were about to discuss. “Who left those bruises on you?”

Nagisa blinked at the anger in Maehara’s voice, like the teen wanted to hurt the person who hurt Nagisa. “If I tell you that I did it to myself, would you believe me?” Nagisa asked half jokingly, only wishing it would be that simple.

“No.” Maehara still sounded dangerously angry, “I’ve narrowed it down to only a few people and situations on how it happened and I’m praying that none of them are correct.”

“Oh?” Nagisa wondered what Maehara had come up with and maybe Nagisa shouldn’t have left him stewing on what he saw.

“Option one, someone went a little too hard at training.” Maehara raised an eyebrow at the smaller boy, he wouldn’t put it past Nagisa to push himself. “Though I don’t think this is the case due to the fact that you were already injured before school and you had let it slip that someone had hurt you.” Nagisa refused to meet Maehara’s eye. “Option two, Bitch-sensei had done it. It might have been an accident or she did it on purpose because the two of you are doing extra special training. I also don’t think this would be the case because Bitch-sensei seemed underprepared when she was treating you.” Maehara explained his next theory. “Option three is Karma. You two always are sneaking off and hiding away, not to mention Karma is violent and you feel indebted to him as your first friend so you’re not going to tell anyone. I have no reason to go against this theory other than the fact that I don’t think Karma would do it.” Nagisa winced at the thought of Karma attacking him and the fact that it wouldn’t surprise anyone. “My final option is you parents, well your mother, it’s only the two of you and you’ve made a couple of worrying statements in the past involving your mother, your parents are also separated and you used to be in your father’s custody before starting school here.”  

Nagisa stayed quiet as he stared out the window and up to the moon, Maehara figured it out. What was he going to do? Could he even convince Maehara to leave the issue at bay and trust Nagisa to handle it himself when he is ready to handle it. “You need to promise that you will not tell anyone or even try to interfere in it.”

“I don’t think I can do that.” Maehara confessed.

“I need you to,  I have it handled and I have a plan to get myself out.” Nagisa explained. “I just need you to trust me.”

“Only if you come to me or someone more trustworthy than Bitch-sensei if it gets to be too much.”

“I don’t want to lie to you Maehara.”

“Then don’t.”

“Then don’t ask for the impossible.”

“I’m not.”

“You are.”

Maehara, not thinking clearly, reached over and grabbed Nagisa’s shoulders forcing him to face him. “Please don’t lie, I trust you and I don’t want you to hurt anymore.”

Nagisa searched Maehara’s face, looking and judging what he saw. Maehara, at first seemed to be the worst for keeping secrets, but Nagisa knew that was not true. Nagisa has told a secret to Maehara before and he hasn’t let it slip to anyone. Nagisa sighed, losing the tension in his shoulders as his body went slack and fell forward, his face landing in Maehara’s chest. Maehara stared down at the boy in his arms before gently wrapping his arms around him.

“My mom has always wanted a daughter and my dad wants a strong and capable heir,” Nagisa mumbled into Maehara’s chest, not trusting himself to look at him. “Ever since I was young I’ve had to conform to these two ideals, making sure I present the correct kid to the correct parent.” Nagisa continues, “My hair, my clothes, my personality all goes into keeping them both happy, reading and predicting their moods helps me continue the charade,” “But, sometimes I slip up and it upsets them,” Nagisa shrugged in Maehara’s hold. “My dad ignores me or leaves me in situations that I have to get myself out of, my mom lashes out and tries to beat out the imperfections to create the perfect daughter.” Nagisa finally looks up to Maehara, tears glistening in his eyes. “The only way to escape is to follow and conform until I can leave without repercussions.”

“Nagisa…” Maehara gasped, staring at the boy in his arms. Slowly, projecting his movements, he moved his hand to wipe the tear travelling down the smaller boy’s cheek. Not thinking about Maehara let his hand rest caressing Nagisa’s cheek, “You don’t need to be anyone else but who you are and who you are is a strong, confident, stubborn and smart boy ,”

Nagisa stared into Maehara’s eyes, looking for anything that would show that he was lying or making fun of him. None of those words that Maehara used to describe him is how he would describe himself. Nagisa would describe himself as small, a failure, useless, broken . ‘You are not broken.’ Those words have been said to him twice now, yet he still couldn’t make himself believe that they were true, because if they were, he’d feel something, anything, some sort of emotion that wasn’t anger.

“I know you don’t believe me…” Maehara smiled gently at him, rubbing his thumb on his cheek. “And I’m going to do something really stupid now, so please stop me before I make you uncomfortable.” Before Nagisa could comprehend what Maehara said, Maehara’s lips met his. The kiss was gentle and solid, nothing like Irena’s, which was powerful and controlling. Maehara’s kiss was just lips touching lips, nothing more, nothing less but it still gave Nagisa a fluttering feeling in his stomach. Nagisa closed his eyes and reached forward, leaning on his tippy toes to slightly deepen the kiss to see if the fluttering feeling continued or if it was just a fluke. Maehara smiled into the kiss, moving both his hands to the sides of Nagisa’s face, his fingers tangling in Nagisa’s hair making the pigtails loosen and start to fall out. The fluttering feeling stayed and intensified.

Before the kiss could go any further, Maehara broke it. Pulling away, a small smile on his face along with a slight blush. Nagisa stared at him, face flushed and mouth slightly agape. “I’m sorry, I should have asked first.” Maehara apologised. “You were in an emotional state and I took advantage of you.” He stepped away from Nagisa, leaving a small distance between them.

“I liked it.” Nagisa whispered, looking away from the other boy. “It was different from kissing a girl, it felt right.”

“Yeah?” Maehara smiled, he didn’t dare move closer to him, waiting for Nagisa to initiate any further touch between the two. “I have to agree, it was completely different than kissing a girl, I always thought it would be the same.”

“You’ve never kissed another boy before?” Nagisa asked, he still wasn’t meeting Maehara’s eyes. He was busy noticing the distance that Maehara created, wondering if Maehara didn’t enjoy the kiss.

“Nope, you were lucky number one on that front.” Maehara watched as Nagisa fidgeted in his place, ringing his wrists and pulling his fingers. He was still waiting for Nagisa to make that step forward, though a little nudge wouldn’t hurt right? Plus it would have the side effect of making Nagisa blush too. “You want to be number two, too?” Nagisa’s eyes widened at the question, his face turning bright red. Maehara had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from laughing. It didn’t take Nagisa long to recompose himself, but he did take that small step forward back into reaching distance which Maehara used to reach out and take one of Nagisa’s hand in one of his own, interlocking their fingers together. “Is this okay?”

“Yes.” Nagisa said quietly, just loud enough for the two of them to hear. Maehara’s other hand moved to Nagisa’s face, brushing a loose strand of hair behind his ear. Leaning forward, Maehara’s lips brushed his unsurely at first before moving more confidently against the blunette’s. Nagisa marveled at the feeling each brush of lips caused in him. That fluttering feeling in his stomach before has spread, reaching to his fingers and toes, making him lightheaded. Nagisa reached his hand that wasn’t being held by Maehara up to the boy’s shoulder and gripped the clothing there making Marhara lean further forward. That feeling intensified, making his fingers tingle and his body feel like it was on fire. Nagisa was sure you could see the glow of his face from space. Maehara moved their clasped hands to his other shoulder, encouraging Nagisa to let go and loop his arm around him as Maehara brought his hand back down to Nagisa’s waist and pulled Nagisa closer, leaving no space between them and causing Nagisa to gasp into the kiss. Maehara took further control of the kiss, swiping his tongue along Nagisa’s bottom lip. Nagisa, growing in confidence, reciprocated the movement but didn’t move any further to deepen the kiss. Maehara, getting the hint, pulled away, breaking the kiss and resting their foreheads together as they panted and shared the air between them.

“Wow.” Maehara whispered, “You really are amazing Nagisa.”

“What happens now?” Nagisa asked. He wasn’t naive enough to think that this would put them together, especially with Maehara’s dating history.

“Whatever you want,” Maehara laughed, “Though I really want to take you out when we get back and do this whole thing properly.”

“What about Isogai?” Nagisa blinked, Maehara was in love with his best friends. That much was established well before Maehara even found him in the med bay.

“Yuma isn’t the one in my arms right now and if anyone should be worried, it should be me ‘cause if Karma finds out that I’m taking you out he’ll kill me.” Maehara smirked.

“We should both be more worried about what would happen if Korosensei finds out.” Nagisa giggled, causing Maehara to shiver at the thought of being caught by the octopus.

“We should get back to the room before people start to worry.” Maehara laughed as he broke away from the blunette, leaving their hands interlocked. Maehara led them back to the room they were sharing with their other classmates. They stopped just in front of the door, dropping their hands and readying themselves to be questioned. “We should get our stories straight.” Maehara whispered.

“We went to the arcade?” Nagisa suggested.

“No, that closed twenty minutes ago.”

“We attempted to sneak into Korosensei’s room to set a trap?”

“Sounds good.”

The two then braced themselves and opened the door.