Sorry this took almost a year to write. Even though I love writing this story I sort of lost inspiration for a while, and I thought I might abandon it! But I haven't, and here is the latest chapter. I hope people still like it! Also this is pretty much a monster chapter with 6000+ words so I hope that makes up for the huge hiatus a little.

Thank you for all the favs and follows and a huge thank you to people who review. Re-reading reviews gave me the motivation to continue writing this.

"A play!?" E class exclaimed, eyes wide, most of them leaning onto their desks in utter surprise. Their teacher only nodded while grinning at them.

"Yes, a play. The School has decided that E class will put on a performance during the lunch hour of the drama festival." Korosensei explained, with a nod of his massive yellow head. There was a glint of excitement in his black beady eyes.

"A play? More like a spectacle." Terasaka grumbled. "It's alright for the kids at the main school, since they get assured entry into Kunugigaoka high. But we have entrance exams to study for."

"This school thinks it's students should be able to balance studying with things like memorising lines." Asano spoke out. "Besides, something like this should be easy for this class who managed to beat A class and train to be assassins at the same time."

He said the last part partially begrudgingly, but it was true; After seeing first hand how hard E class class worked, and how they had triumphed, there was no way he could deny how strong they'd become. Suddenly he was aware that the rest of E class had gone incredibly quiet, but they were all looking at him with knowing eyes and wide grins.

"What is it?" Gakushuu grumbled, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable as 28 pairs of eyes bored into him, all with smug smirks on their faces.

"Asano! You are coming to accept E class into your heart more and more! I'm so happy!" Korosensei gushed, suddenly right in front of Asano, tears of joy streaming down his face as he gripped the boy's hands in his.

"Asano actually said something nice about us? I think he'll might freeze over." Nakamura said with a grin.

"Looks as though the ice-prince has thawed. So you do like us!" Maehara said with an equally teasing grin.

"You're all being ridiculous. Stop over thinking things." Asano said dismissively, unable to stop his voice from rising. He could feel his cheeks heating up.

"You shouldn't tease him too much, he's shy." Karma taunted, a glint of mischief in his eyes.

"I am not shy, Akabane." Asano huffed, crossing his arms and looking the other way. "You're impossible! I'm never saying anything nice about any of you ever again. Honestly, everyone in this class is so ludicrous."

"Well, you're in this class as well, so I guess that makes you ludicrous too, Asano." Rio said with a chuckle. Nagisa watched on, a gentle smile on his face. It really had seemed that Gakushuu had steadily found a place among the class. It was refreshing to see him being teased like this without any malice, and despite his frustration, it was clear that Gakushuu wasn't really taking any of this to heart and didn't really mind joining in. Nagisa was sure that back in the main school, Gakushuu would never have the opportunity to interact with his peers so freely and so equally, since he played the role of 'supreme leader' there. Here he was just 'classmate'.

What happened last Friday had been scary, and being drunk and having a hangover was no fun, but a small part of Nagisa was glad that he'd had the opportunity to help Gakushuu and prove to him that having support really was useful.

"Anyway, we should decide type of play we should do." Isogai said, taking back control of the classroom. The class quietened down as they paused in thought.

"I volunteer Nagisa to play the leading lady!" Karma said with a wide grin on his face. "I think we should do a story about Sada Abe's life."

"Karma dont volunteering me for weird things! This is a middle school play, we can't do Sada Abe. And what do you mean leading lady?" Nagisa said, horrified. A few members of the class laughed. "I'm not going to do any more cross-dressing!"

Asano raised an eyebrow, what did he mean 'any more' cross-dressing? He decided he'd rather not ask.

"But it suited you so well all the other times, look!" Karma said, getting out his phone and showing a picture. Asano glanced over, his eyes widening when he saw it was a picture of Nagisa. But not just any picture; Nagisa was wearing a black vest top with a red tartan skirt and tights. His hair was in its usual pigtails with the addition of ribbons. The Nagisa in the picture looked very candid, as if he wasn't aware the picture was being taken. If Asano didn't know better, he'd assume it was a picture of a cute girl.

Nagisa noticed Asano's bemused look, and waved his hands out defensively. "Asano, it's not what you think- we were at an island and I- "

"You don't have to explain it. What you and Akabane do in your spare time is up to you, I'm not here to judge." Asano said, putting his hands up, a neutral expression on his face.

"It was just because there was this bad guy and we were trying to infiltrate- "

"Just because you dress up in woman's clothing and then Akabane takes pictures of you doesn't mean I think any different of either of you." Asano said, still with that infuriatingly neutral expression.

"Wait- wait- you're making me sound way too shady there." Karma said, with a slightly forced smile. "What actually happened was- "

"Come on everyone! We're getting way off track for this discussion about the school play!" Isogai said, interrupting them before Karma could finish his explanation. "Does anyone have any other ideas?"

"Maybe Kayano could be the lead? She was really wonderful at acting for the children when we spent that two weeks at the daycare." Kanzaki suggested, glancing over at Kayano hopefully. "She really kept them engaged."

"Oh, I'd actually rather work with props." Kayano said politely, a forced-looking smile on her face. "I know not sure if I could act in that type of play."

"Right! So you could entertain a bunch of babies, I doubt those tricks would work on middle schoolers!" Terasaka laughed rather obnoxiously. All of a sudden, he was hit with a book so hard he was almost knocked off his feet.

The class turned, rather surprised to see the one who had thrown it was none other than Kayano. She was still smiling, although a rather pissed-off aura radiated off her.

"So yes. I'll take care of the props." She repeated, before turning back to Kanzaki. "Yukiko, you should be the leading lady, you are the class idol after all."

"Well, if nobody else want to." Kanzaki said, blushing lightly. Sugino's eyes lit up.

"I uh- wouldn't mind being the leading man with you Kanzaki." Sugino offered, a noticeable blush rising to his cheeks.

"I could write the script." Hazama offered. She was a sullen looking girl with chin-length curly black hair and droopy reddish-brown eyes. Asano hadn't spoke to her really other than that time in PE, but he noticed she was almost always hanging around with Terasaka's gang and reading Gothic literature. "I can't be the only one who's a slightly irked that the main school have decided we should be a spectacal performance during their lunch time. Let's pay them back with our words, after all, words have the ability to wound others.."

Well, that was ominous. Isn't she a ray on sunshine, Gakushuu thought sardonically. The whole class seemed to suddenly have gotten a darker atmosphere.

"Oh! And Sensei wants to be the star of the show!" Korosensei cried out, an excited expression on his face. The class gave him a disbelieving look.

"Isn't it a little counter-intuitive to have an international secret as the spotlight in a play?" Rio said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah Sensei! That's just unrealistic!" Maehara said. Hazama however just paused in thought.

"Hmm, a story were Sensei can play the main part. Were Kanzaki and Sugino can be a couple, were we can strike fear into the heart of the main school." Hazama muttered. "I'm going to take everyone's feelings and all our objectives into account to write this script."

"What about you?" Karma asked, turning to Gakushuu. "You love being centre of attention, you seem like you'd want to be someone front and centre in the play."

"I'm not sure what you're trying to imply, Akabane, but I'm not an attention seeker. I can't help it if I naturally draw people's attention." Asano said, with all the humility of an Emperor addressing his subjects. "I'd rather not have an acting role. Maybe I could assist with music?"

"Whoa, Asano not wanting to be centre of attention. That really is a shock." Karma said playfully. Asano would never admit it, but Karma was maybe a tiny bit right about how much Gakushuu liked to be centre of attention, indeed he'd played the lead role in school plays countless times, performed at concerts in and out of school and even spelling bees he did when he was younger were something of a performance. But this was different. The thought of having to get up on stage in front of the rest of the school, including his former classmates felt like he was opening himself up to ridicule; Him being sent to E class was still something that polarized the students of the main school, with many of them still wanting him back, and others satisfied with seeing him being knocked down a peg. Just thinking about putting himself in front of all those expectations and judgement in a spectacle of a play made Asano's stomach lurch with nerves... Not that he'd ever admit to such weak feelings.

"The music huh?" Hazama mused, already writing away at the first draft of the play. "Are you thinking of sorting out the a CD or playing an instrument?"

"I can play an instrument.." Asano offered, a slight smile on his face. "Violin, acoustic guitar, piano, accordion, flute, saxophone, Xylophone, the drums, electric guitar- so whatever you think suits."

"He's such a show off!" Maehara grumbled.

"Asano, how many instruments can you play?" Isogai asked, eyes wide with amazement. Asano merely shrugged.

"All of them. Although guitar is my speciality." Asano said simply with a shrug. The class stared at him in disbelief.

"There are over 2000 instruments in the world, there is no way you have even heard of all of them, let alone can play all of them!" Nakamura exclaimed.

"Prove me wrong." Asano challenged, the a competitive flame in his eyes. Nagisa couldn't help but laugh slightly. Sure, they were getting way off topic, but it was nice to see Asano let his guard down and join in for once. He seemed more relaxed than usual, and not as concerned about keeping up an inhumanly perfect image.

E class may have a play to rehearse for and entrance exams to study for, but that didn't mean they allowed themselves to slack on their Assassination training. Even after school, several pupils stayed behind to train. Unlike Gakushuu, most people's parents don't exactly know they're precious children were training to kill a super being, so it wasn't as if they could train with their knives and guns at home. Besides. It was more fun training with everyone else.

For the first time, Gakushuu decided to join them instead of training by himself. It was definitely just on a whim, and not because of the events of the weekend had changed his feelings towards E class.. or so he told himself.

So that day, after class had finished, he went to go and fetch his PE uniform from the cupboard. All of a sudden, he felt a rush of air, and his Mach-20 teacher had appeared in front of him.

"Asano-kun! Your father informed me that you had a rather eventful weekend." Korosensei said to the startled strawberry blond. "I wish I'd been able to help, but from what I can tell, maybe things worked out better by you having the chance to work with one of your classmates; Nagisa. I hope that may of opened your eyes to the value of teamwork."

"I'll admit it. Nagisa Shiota helped me out of a difficult situation." Gakushuu said, just confessing he had needed help was hard, but despite his many moral flaws he usually tried to be an honest person. He wondered when his father had told Korosensei about this, the image of the Chairman gossiping on the phone with the E class teacher was odd. "I would likely of been in a lot of trouble without him."

Even now, Gakushuu wasn't entirely sure what Yoshinaka would of done with him if Nagisa hadn't intervened and he'd been drugged and kidnapped. Would Gakushuu of been held to ransom? Beaten up?Tortured? Something worse? He'd rather not think about it.

"I'm glad that it all worked out in the end. But as a teacher, my pupils being hurt is something I cannot stand for! Especially by someone so dangerous!" Korosensei said, fuming, his cheeks red and puffed out. "Luckily, the man who attacked you is currently in police custody. There may of been a tip-off about him hoarding drugs with the intent to supply in his property."

"So what you're saying is, you planted illegal substances on him then called the police." Gakushuu said with a completely straight face. Korosensei gasped, horrified.

"Of course not! I am a teacher! I could never- WOULD never, handle drugs! What the police found belonged to Yoshinaka himself!" Korosensei said, his usually smiling mouth frozen in a gasp. "Planting drugs on people is never okay! We need to talk about your morals young man!"

"You're starting to sound just like my old ethics teacher." Gakushuu said, peeved. "I suppose the important thing is that there's one less dangerous person on the streets."

"Police custody may currently be the safest place for Yoshinaka. Your father was very intent on finding him and enacting his own justice." Korosensei said, a shudder running through his body as if he was remembering something terrifying. Gakushuu frowned; Part of him found it strange that the Chairman would even care about some criminal nobody, even if he had hurt his son, part of Gakushuu still instinctively felt as if it were his own fault for being weak. "A-anyway, enough about that! I'm just glad my beloved students are okay now. You have a present- it's from Karasuma-Sensei."

A few minutes later, Asano stepped out onto the field wearing his new PE uniform; Karasuma sensei's gift had been a outfit fit for battle; It was grey combat trousers with a hooded jacket. The material was light weight, but hardened upon impact protecting the wearer from injuries. The material made minimum sound for maximum stealth, and the user could easily paint camo over it.

In other words, it was the perfect attire for combat. Asano made a mental note to thank Karasuma-Sensei next time he saw him.

"Asano! They finally got a PE uniform made for you; you really are part of the class." Isogai said as soon as he noticed him. Asano looked around at other pupils, they too were wearing an attire identical to his. He'd seen them wear it before when they were doing something particularly physical in PE.

"I'll admit, this uniform is impressive." Asano said, tugging at it. He didn't want to seem like an excited child, but it really was, well, cool. For a moment he felt a glimmer of gratitude for being sent to E class and having the opportunity to experience things like this. "Are you staying behind for training too, Isogai?"

"I wish I could, but I have a shift today." Isogai admitted. "Oh- and could you maybe keep that on the down low?"

Before Asano could answer, Terasaka interjected.

"Don't worry, Asano has to keep his mouth shut, we won the pole toppling competition, remember?" Terasaka said with a chortle. Asano frowned, crossing his arms and huffing at the memory of that unfortunate failure.

"Aw, don't get all pouty on us." Karma snickered, taking his attention away from his spar with Nagisa to join in the teasing.

"I am not being pouty, Akabane. You should stop being so impossible or else." Asano said, although it didn't sound very threatening.

"Or else what? You'll challenge me to a pole toppling competition?" Karma retorted. Even Nagisa couldn't help but laugh at that one. Gakushuu's mouth twitched for just a fraction of a second, but of course, Karma Akabane noticed.

"No way. Did I just make Gakushuu Asano laugh?" Karma said sounding completely gobsmacked. "The heavens will open! blood will rain from the sky! The dead will rise from the grave. Look out for the four horsemen; the apocalypse is surely upon us!"

"Honestly you're ridiculous." Gakushuu said, incredulous. The rest of E class just laughed.

It was inevitable that Karma ended up sparring with Gakushuu. The tension crackling between the two made it impossible not to want to break it.

All while Gakushuu was doing warm-up exercises, his eye kept catching Karma's. Gakushuu remembered how Karma had took the top spot from him in the exams. Yes. He definitely wanted payback for that, and for Karma generally being a pain. As he thought this, a wide blood thirsty grin unconsciously grew on his face. ('Wah! Asano looks extra scary today' Kurahashi exclaimed to Yada).

As soon as Gakushuu finished the warm up, Karma sauntered over. There was a cocky grin on his face, but his chin was dipped and his mercury eyes looked at Gakushuu head on. Karma was no longer someone who would underestimate his opponent.

"Fancy practicing sparring together?" Karma challenged. His voice was deceptively light. Asano pretended to pause in thought as if he was taking time to consider Karma's preposition.

"Hmm, I suppose if you really want me to I could." Asano replied as if he hadn't been wanting to do this for a while now. Karma grinned.

"I understand if your hesitant. But I assure you, there's no need to be intimidated. I'll go easy on you."

"If anyone should be intimidated it's you, Akabane." Asano retorted, facing him head on, pointing his green rubber knife at him.

A few of the other students who had been sparring turned to look at the two squaring off. ('I hope this doesn't get too violent' Takebayashi said, pausing in his spar against Nagisa).

The two faced each other for a few moments, both of them perfectly still. A second past, then suddenly, both of them struck. It wasn't clear who made the first move, but the fight was on. Karma and Asano were both exceptionally gifted physically and mentally and both of them had combat training (from martial arts to Assassin training). Needless to say, the fight between them was intense.

Nagisa couldn't help but watch. It was interesting how their different styles interacted; Karma was wilder, more instinctual, while Asano's moves were more precise and disciplined. His years of martial arts training, and Karma's years of fighting thugs were evident. The two styles clashed against each other, so fast that Nagisa was sure if he didn't have combat training himself, he wouldn't be able to follow. Even he wasn't sure who would win.

Asano went in for a punch but Karma suddenly struck out his leg. Instead of kicking him, however, the other simply whacked his foot into the dirt below, effectively kicking dust into Asano's eyes. Asano let out a cry of shock, covering his eyes and quickly backing away, but Karma managed to land a blow on him.

"That's a dirty move, Akabane!" He hissed. Karma just laughed.

"When your an assassin you have to use all the means at your disposal. If you're too ridged in your fighting style then you're just setting yourself up for failure." Karma explained with a wide grin on his face. "Give up yet?"

"You should be so lucky!"

The fight continued for what seemed like ages with neither boy willing to give up. Half the other students had gotten changed and headed home. Nagisa still stayed and watched, wanting to know the outcome. Both of them managed to land a few blows on the other, and their stamina was starting to run out. They faced each other, both panting heavily, sweat staring to appear on their foreheads. 'They must be close to their limit now' Nagisa thought. 'They're both taking their sparring way too seriously! At this rate, one of them might pass out'.

Nagisa's train of thought was broken when the sound of fist hitting flesh resonated through the air.

Asano had managed to hit Karma across the face. It was a hard blow Karma stumbled back slightly, and for a second, Nagisa thought it was over. However Karma just about steadied himself before launching forwards, straight into Asano.

Taken by surprise, Asano toppled over, Karma literally on top off him. Asano glared up at Karma's stupid smirking face. The red head had managed to pin both Asano's wrists to the floor and was straddling him so as to restrict his movement (although Karma was being careful not to put too much weight were he knew Asano was injured). Asano attempted to pull himself free, but it was near impossible from this disadvantageous position.

"Give up yet?" Karma asked, grinning wolfishly. His eyes were practically lighting up with delight at his apparent victory. Asano huffed, trying with renewed vigour to free his hands and pull Karma off him. Finally, even he had to admit it was impossible.

"Fine. You won this round. Now get off me." Asano admitted through gritted teeth. Loosing was frustrating, but it wasn't tearing him apart inside like it usually did. Maybe he's just worn himself out too much to be inconsolable. Or maybe it was because he respected Karma so much as an opponent loosing to him, although annoying, wasn't the end of the world.

"Wait! I didn't catch that. Could you repeat it?" Karma taunted, eyes glinting with mischief. "Hey Nagisa! Can you come over here and record this?"

Nagisa laughed awkwardly. Asano took it back. Loosing to Karma was the end of the world.

"I'm not saying it again! Now get off me!" Asano hissed. Karma laughed, but actually complied, rolling off Asano and standing up.

"Fine." Karma said, offering Asano a hand. "And when your injury has fully healed, we'll have to fight again. I want you to give me a proper match next time."

After a moments hesitation, Asano took his hand and stood up.

"Considering that wasn't a 'proper match' you look completely worn out." Asano teased.

"Let's not forgot who lost this time.. second place." Karma replied, using that dreaded nickname. Nagisa ran over to them to intervene before they started fighting again and really did kill each other.

"Have you seen the time? We should head home!" The blue haired boy interjected. "I don't really want to walk down this hill once it gets dark. The Mosquitos of a night here are brutal."

Asano glanced up at the sky. It really was getting dark. "It's later than I thought it was." He admitted. Together, the three remaining E class students went back to the school house to get changed. Just as Asano was buttoning up his shirt, he noticed a few unread texts on his phone. They were from his father, the first one was from about 15 minutes ago, and the latest one from a few seconds ago.

'You missed dinner so I've left your plate in the fridge.'

'I take it you're coming back home late today.'

'What time are you planning on coming home. Reminder that it is a school night.'

Asano frowned at the texts, perplexed. No matter how late he'd stayed out in the past he'd never received these sorts of texts from his father before. His friends always had, but never him. His father almost seemed... worried.. like he had done the night before. It was so strange and out of character for him. Why did he suddenly care about when Asano came home? In the past the only thing the seemed to Chairman care about was Asano's performance at school. Why was his father acting this way now? Did he have an ulterior motive (or did he really just care?).

Asano texted back 'Was training. On my way home now.'

He didn't like how a few simple text message could give him so many confusing feelings, but it was the exact opposite from what he'd come to expect from his aloof father who seemed to treat him merely as a tool or a trophy.

"Asano, Karma are you ready?" Nagisa asked, breaking him from his train of thought. Asano gathered up his bags and shoved those thoughts to the back of his head.

"Let's go."

The three of them walked down the hill, b the time they reached the bottom the sky was properly dark. When they reached the edge of the trees, Karma turned to the other two. "The new sonic Ninja game came out at the arcade yesterday. You two want to come check it out?"

"I'm not wasting my time playing a mind-numbing video game." Asano replied. As far as he could remember, he'd never played a video game in his life, let alone owned a gaming console. He had more productive things to do with his time!

"Of course, Supreme Overlord stick-in-the-mud. I should of known you'd have a strong aversion to anything considered fun." Karma said sardonically. "Nagisa?"

"Sorry Karma, my mother doesn't like me staying out too late on a school night." Nagisa replied. Karma shrugged.

"Your loss." He said.

"Don't your parents mind?" Asano asked, not sure why he was suddenly interested in the others parents. Karma laughed.

"My parents took a flight to India yesterday and they won't be back for another week." The red head said flippantly. "I could stay out all night if I wanted to and they wouldn't even know!- catch you two later."

Asano could of been mistaken, but he was sure he heard a hint of bitterness in Karma's voice. He supposed that even someone as seemingly carefree as Karma had his own issues.

Nagisa noticed Asano frowning at his phone slightly as the two of them walked home together. Had he received some sort of text that was bothering him?

"Something the matter?" Nagisa asked tentatively, glancing sideways at the other.

"No, I'm fine. Why do you ask?" Asano replied. Nagisa resisted the urge to roll his eyes; Typical. Of course Asano still wanted to keep up appearances, he may of mellowed out a little since he'd joined E class, but old habits die hard. If he wanted an honest answer, he'd have to find the perfect moment to ask. Nagisa once again glanced at Asano, carefully analysing the frequency of his emotions until the most opportune moment when Asano's guard was down.

"Because it seems like there's something bothering you. Is there?" Nagisa asked, being careful to keep his voice disarmingly gentle.

"It's the Chairman; He's suddenly started acting well.. like a father. Or at least it seems like he's trying to. I'm not sure why he's doing it though. It's so confusing. I'm sure he must have some sort of ulterior motive but I don't know what." Asano replied without thinking. He suddenly covered his mouth realising what he'd let slip on accident. He glared at Nagisa with dangerous violet eyes, his aura suddenly becoming more threatening. Okay, so maybe getting Asano to spill details about his personal life was predictably a good way to piss him off, Nagisa realised.

"Don't worry, I won't mention anything you say to me to anyone else." Nagisa assured with an awkward smile. "Not even Karma. In fact.. especially not Karma."

"Good because I wouldn't let you off lightly if I caught you gossiping about me." Asano said. Nagisa could sense by the wavelength of his emotions that Asano's guard was firmly raised now. Suspicion and annoyance radiated off him. Nagisa realised to get him to open up a little more, he'd have to even the playing-field by telling Asano a little bit of his own personal information.

"I maybe understand where you're coming from.. a little. Until recently, my relationship with my mother was pretty dysfunctional. We've started trying to mend things, but it can take some time to adjust. Even though I didn't like how my mother acted towards me before, I'd gotten used to it. So sometimes it feels strange for her to act different now." Nagisa said in a calm voice. Truth be told, he didn't like talking about his home life. He'd spent all of middle school keeping hidden the extent of his families dysfunction. But he thought if sharing his experiences helped Asano at all it would be worth it. Indeed, when he glanced at Asano, it appeared the other was looking at him with an interested expression.

"When you say dysfunctional.. what do you mean exactly?" Asano asked with an uncharacteristic gentleness to his voice. Nagisa sighed slightly.. this was still hard to talk about. He knew he could just refuse and Asano likely wouldn't push it, but once again he felt compelled to talk if it could help the other.

"My mother had incredibly strict parents.. all her life growing up she was never aloud to do the things she wanted to do; Wear nice clothes, grow her hair out, pursue her interests. I think because of that she tried to give herself a second chance at living the life she wanted by living life through me." Nagisa explained. wistfully, he touched the ends of his lengthly blue hair. "So she had me act as the 'daughter' she always wanted and keep my hair long, she always used to dress me up in 'pretty' clothes. She's always been very overprotective, I had to study the subjects she wanted me to.. she had a short temper and when she felt as if I wasn't trying my hardest to live up to her expectations she... snapped."

Asano looked at Nagisa with wide shocked eyes. He knew Nagisa's relationship with his mother must be somewhat complicated because of how he acted back when he'd been drugged, but he had no idea it had been that bad. I mean, who forces their son to pretend to be a girl? That would be humiliating and demeaning for anyone but especially a teenage boy. Especially one who's already as self conscious as Nagisa. Maybe that was part of the reason he was so self conscious?

Noticing Asano's concerned gaze, Nagisa laughed awkwardly.

"Of course, things are getting better now. A few months ago some things happened and she's finally starting to respect me as my own person, not just as an extension of herself." Nagisa explained, his mind drifting back to when his Mother had tried to force him out of E class but ended up realising how much he had grown. It was a fond memory now.

"Even if she's trying to make things better, can you forgive her? For what she put you through for all those years?" Asano asked averting his gaze slightly. Well, he doesn't mince words, that's a loaded question, Nagisa thought, But I have a feeling he isn't just talking about the relationship between me and my mother. Nagisa didn't know much about Asano's relationship with his father but he could tell there was a lot of dysfunction and tension.

"I want to forgive her." Nagisa started. That much was true, he really did want a happy relationship with his mother. "But right now it can be hard to forgive her completely.. Maybe I will one day, but right now it can be hard to forget how bad she made me feel."

Nagisa was overwhelmed from guilt just from saying that. His mother had said she was sorry so he felt as if he should be able to forgive her right away. But truth be told the hurt stuck, even when he didn't want it to.

"That's understandable." Asano said, actually managing to sound somewhat assuring.

"So?" Nagisa asked, managing to look Asano straight in the eye as they walked. "What about the Chairman? Do you think you can forgive him and accept him as your father?"

Nagisa knew he was prying, but he couldn't help but ask. Besides, he'd spilled more than enough about his own personal life. Asano looked slightly surprised, but after a heavy sigh started talking.

"I don't know. For as long as I can remember he's never acted like a father to me. It never bothered me though." Asano said. Okay, that may be a complete lie, but whatever. "But there are some things he's done this year in particular that have really irked me; Trying to convince me to poison E class's food at the festival, beating my foreign friends to a bloody pulp, brainwashing my classmates.. And that time he punched me in front of A class did actually hurt."

"Wait what was that about poisoning our food? And violence against you and others..?" Nagisa murmured incredulously. Asano's relationship with his father was more twisted than Nagisa had originally thought; Half the things Asano had listed were straight up criminal! Should he like, call someone..? Then Nagisa remembered his own mother had drugged him and tried to convince him to burn down a building.. Okay so maybe both their parents could be pretty twisted. "You know what: never mind."

"Besides. How do I know this 'fatherly' act will last? He'll probably grow tired of it soon, and if I get used to it that will throw me totally out of sync." Gakushuu said, acting as if he were talking about school work or a business venture. But Nagisa recognised what he was truly saying 'I'm scared to believe in a good thing because I won't be able to stand the pain of having it pulled away as soon as I get used to it.' It was a feeling Nagisa knew well, because even now he harbored doubt towards his mother's change of heart. He was scared that one day the relative stability at home will be ripped away from him and it'll be back to being treated as a puppet again.

"It can be hard to trust someone who's let you down so many times before." Nagisa said, a bittersweet expression on his face. "But there's no reward without risk, right?"

Asano nodded thoughtfully. Speaking to people about personal problems wasn't normally his style, in fact, it was something he usually went to all lengths to avoid. But somehow, speaking to Nagisa made him feel.. better.

The two of them continued walking in comfortable silence until they reached the station were the two of them went their separate ways.

"See you tomorrow, Asano." Nagisa said, waving goodbye. "Hopefully we'll have better luck at killing our Sensei then."

"Who needs luck when you have all the strength our class has?" Asano said cockily before pausing briefly, averting his gaze to the side. "And speaking to you about those things helped me put matters into perspective so... I'm grateful. Goodbye."

As soon as he said that, Asano quickly turned away and began walking home quickly. Nagisa smiled slightly 'Is the great Gakushuu Asano being bashful?' Before he got to know him, Nagisa wouldn't of thought it even possible. But if there was one thing Nagisa had learned this year was that people have all sorts of hidden faucets to their personality, you just have to uncover them.

Sorry not much exciting happened in this chapter, but this chapter is more character focused.

Gakushuu has changed quite a lot since the start of the story in terms of how he views himself and others. Of course, his old views remain in some capacity, but he's beginning to let himself relax a bit more, and show a tiny bit more vulnerability. Of course, this isn't an easy transition.

The incident with Yoshinaka reminded the Chairman that Gakushuu really is still a kid and maybe he should be looking after him better. Of course, this sudden change is very strange for Gakushuu, who has a lot of mixed feelings (Which he discussed with Nagisa). I'm glad I manged to write a situation were Nagisa gives Gakushuu advice on dealing with a dysfunctional parent. The part were Nagisa reads Gakushuu's emotional wavelength to find the best time to ask him is ripped of from the scene in Korotan C, were Nagisa does that to find out Gakushuu's feelings about Princess Lea.

I enjoyed writing Karma and Gakushuu's spar. I had a hard time deciding who'd win because they're both so strong. In the end I copped out and went for 'Karma won but it didn't completely count because Gakushuu is slightly injured'.

Anyway Please review and let me know what you thought!