Disclaimer: I do not own Assassination Classroom.

XXXII.

Footing steady, I lunged at Karasuma-sensei with Karma close behind me. Our opponent dodged the attack moving three steps back and I focused on going low, trying to sweep his leg off the ground. I landed in a crouch, that enabled Karma to take care of the upper half.

The teacher didn't even pause, casually stepping over my own leg and slapping away Karma's lazy stab. Seeing a chance, I swapped the hand I was holding the knife with and slashed across his tight, though I only nicked him with the tip, and rolled out of the way just in time, when he decided my position was annoying.

Karma's knife grazed the Karasuma-sensei's elbow, when the redhead stepped to the right where I was moving away, the man slightly distracted by me.

I didn't get away in time and Karasuma-sensei followed up with his other leg, tipping me over while I was in the process of getting up. In order not sustain too much damage, I rolled with the blow and trusted Karma to distract our teacher enough for me to get away.

Still watching their fight carefully, I stood up and attacked at the same time Karma did.

That game continued for a minute, Karma and me stepping alternatively out of the fight in order to get our bearings together and letting the other cover. It was not a real fight, especially when the older man was only defending and leaving us enough time to coordinate our moves with each other but fighting with Karma was familiar and even fun.

''Okay, we'll stop here,'' he ordered us, dropping his stance when we were at a stand-off. In response we relaxed our posture and waited for him to give us our feedback.

Fighting with Karasuma-sensei was exhilarating. It made my blood boil and adrenaline course through my veins in a way that didn't make me want to scream. It didn't have anything to do with life and death.

I wasn't afraid of death itself. I was more terrified of losing someone to it, afraid of dying without knowing. The assassins we encountered nowadays were able to kill us in a flash. They could poison us, twist our necks, shot us and we wouldn't know. Their concept unnerved me, frightened me.

For all it was worth, I appreciated Karasuma's way of teaching. He was strict and professional, without the quirks that I have come to associate with killers. He didn't pretend there was a distance between us and we were his job with the responsibility of saving the earth.

Getting carried away was a real problem in this class with all its weirdness and extra-ordinariness.

''Akabane, Kitani, good work for today,'' our instructor interrupted the small break. ''You two work well as a team. Your fighting style is very dependent on each other, but in a pinch, you're required to work with other people, too.''

We mulled over his words, while he watched us with sharp eyes.

''Nonetheless, you did well. Mark down your points and send the next pair forward,'' the teacher dismissed us and turned around to prepare himself for the next round of fighting.

''Good fight,'' I said to Karma and watched Karasuma-sensei from my peripheral vision. Something was off about him. While he was still a fearsome opponent and could no doubt pin Karma and me both on the ground in seconds, he seemed distracted if I had to put it into one word.

''Yeah, you too,'' the redhead answered me, humming. ''A penny for your thoughts?''

''Just a bad feeling. Somethings going to happen.''

Wasn't there one day going to be a new instructor on the government's orders? Dread settled in my stomach as I remembered the lines what I had written down about that person. He had done something after being dismissed. Something that had endangered the class.

The substitute instructor was proud, and we had somehow hurt his pride enough for him to come back for revenge. If I prevented that...

Which was impossible. Whatever class E had done to him, he probably deserved it. The fact he came back in first place to a class of middle school students to get revenge didn't vouch for him. There was no way I would be able to reign in myself enough to keep his ego intact. I would most likely just fan the flames burning.

Right, so... I could do damage control after that. Tell Karasuma-sensei to watch him. Talk with our teacher about the contract we signed.

I had read through the agreements once again and found them lacking. There were so many holes in them and cases unaccounted for that I wanted to rip the idiot who wrote them a new one. No matter how much of a last-minute contract this was, the government, out of all institutions, could do better than that.

There were also the questions I wanted to confront Koro-sensei with. Like the circumstances about Yukimura-sensei. He couldn't dodge our questions forever and I wasn't going to live on with the regret of not getting those answers out of him.

Suddenly I felt tired. It was an issue I had felt in my last life. One of the things I vividly remembered. Sometimes, I had been just tired of life in general, especially when being with people drained my energy, which made me want to shut out absolutely everything. Communicating was hard during these times.

A shudder ran down my spine when I felt something behind me, something not unlike the feeling when I encountered Lovro.

I turned around and saw how Nagisa was thrown off from Karasuma-sensei by the man himself.

''Sayo?'' Attention drawn off the scene by Karma's voice, I raised my eyebrows at his questioning tone. ''Are you okay?''

''Nothing special. I'm feeling a bit moody lately,'' I diverted, but couldn't shake of the sensation. Of course, Nagisa would be the perfect assassin. The thought of Karma noticing this gave me a headache.

Tadaomi had mixed feelings about the change in his assignment. He could accept that he had maybe not trained the children not as hard enough as he could have, but he wanted them to have a decent education. Treating them as soldiers in training didn't sit well with him.

He may be strict, but he wanted to maintain a business relationship with them, not get more attached than he already was. They were an assignment, a job that could be taken out of his hand just as easily as it had been. Feeling pride as a mentor was allowed, but he didn't permit himself more otherwise he would become too attached, too clouded in his judgment.

Tadaomi declined their offer of spending time together; he had a report to write. Imagine his surprise when he wasn't left alone as he had intended.

''Karasuma-sensei!'' a female voice called him in front of the door to the building. ''Please wait, sensei. I want to talk to you about something important.''

His eyes landed on Kitani Sayori, a rather troublesome student with the tendency for mischief.

''Is there anything you want, Kitani?'' he asked the girl, surprised she was approaching him. The raven normally wasn't with the group that wanted to mingle with him. They had some unspoken understanding, since he just gained too many headaches from watching her.

''Yes, I would like to talk with you about-'' The sound of the opening door cut her off mid-speech, effectively startling her. He would have to up the awareness training in this class. They got surprised far too easily, even if it him amused quite a bit.

''Howdy, Karasuma!'' Tadaomi recognized the man as Takaoka Akira. A fellow member of his former air force battalion. At the arrival of the other man, Kitani tensed up unnoticeably.

Tadaomi noticed it. Tadaoka didn't.

The teacher didn't like what Kitani was doing, didn't like her immediate response of guarding herself against the new teacher. While he knew she had good reasons to do so, the girl was a turbulence in the classroom. Everyone in the class was unique in their own way, but she could get more than just half of them swept up in her pace. If she would show her dislike against Tadaoka, many of the class would follow.

Tadaoka passed them without further notice, not even taking any efforts to greet Kitani and it struck Tadaomi as odd. She was going to be his student, yet the larger man wasn't introducing himself. As far as he was concerned Tadaoka was supposed to be better than him at teaching and following that also pedagogic methods. The other man should have at least talked to her about going to the others. At least it seemed like he was going to introduce himself.

Maybe he was just nervous, Tadaomi reasoned and turned back to Kitani, who had begun to bounce her leg in a distracted manner.

''What did you want to talk about, Kitani?''

''Huh?'' She blundered for a moment before catching herself. ''Yes, about the contract we signed. I wanted to talk to you about the conditions, sensei. I don't like that the line between our security and the mission isn't defined clearly.''

Tadaomi wasn't surprised she wanted to talk about that. He himself had been unsatisfied by the answer he had been given by his superior and Kitani showed above-average maturity when it concerned her classmates' health. Though she didn't do the same with her own.

''I see there's an issue. We should talk about that later and I will propose some amendments to my superiors.''

The girl in front of him wrung her hands in a nervous fashion, looking conflicted. The raven turned her head into the direction of the large group on the field, where Akabane had been watching her up until now. Said redhead cocked his head in askance and the girl shook her head in response.

''Can't we talk about this now? I-'' she cut herself off, before he could guess what the sudden emergency was. Her body language showed unease and anxiety for some reason he didn't know. So far as he had known her, their relationship didn't entail anything that would make her uncomfortable talking to him, so it had to do with the recent events. Maybe she was afraid he wouldn't associate with her class anymore now that Takaoka was here.

Which seemed to be quite out of character, but despite anything Kitani was still a teenager

''Kitani, I'm still going to be there for your class, even if Takaoka takes over the P.E. lessons,'' he tried to reassure her, but her expression didn't shift.

''It's not that, sensei. I'm not worried you are going. It just doesn't want to get out of my head, that extreme cases aren't managed by the contract,'' she looked at him resolutely in the eyes. ''This is important Karasuma-sensei and the earlier we settle this the better it will be for us in the future.''

Once again, he was taken aback by her maturity, when he had seen her be the most childish one out of the class, but he conceded to her point.

''Kitani-'' he started but stopped once he realized she wouldn't let this go. ''Later today. Give me an hour at most and I will contact you about this.''

''Thank you,'' the raven looked glad he had given her the chance and he felt he had done the right thing.

''In one hour.''

''Do you want to go alone?'' Karma looked at me intently, searching for any doubt in my face.

''I don't know yet. It'd be better if I did,'' I answered, watching the class interact with Takaoka. Even if I didn't know, that he was planning something, he would have still made me uneasy. I liked Karasuma-sensei and suddenly changing out teacher didn't sit really well with me.

Our soon-to-be teacher felt artificial. This whole family business didn't suit our class. We were something, but we weren't a family yet. Forcing this ''role play'' onto our class seemed wrong. Not to mention weirdly inappropriate, when I looked at my relationship with Karma or Sugino's with Kanzaki. While Karma was family, he was family by choice and not a circumstance.

''Would be,'' he said airily, and I turned my head to watch him.

''Would you like to be?'' His face became a thoughtful mien, crinkling his eyebrows. It was adorable.

''No,'' he answered slowly, shaking his head. ''This is your project. I shouldn't interfere.''

''This isn't about you interfering, Karma. It's about all of us and you all have the right to butt in this.''

''But you didn't tell them.''

''No,'' my mouth turned upwards. ''No, I didn't, and I'll probably be paying the price for it.''

''And yet you are smiling, Sayo.'' I barked out a laugh, watching his face conform into a smirk of his own. He looked satisfied for some reason.

''I-'' Kurahashi running towards us stopped me from talking.

''Sayori-san!'' she called out breathlessly and halted in front of me. A bit helplessly, I held out my hands towards her.

''Do you want something, Kurahashi-san?''

''Yes,'' she straightened. ''I saw you talking to Karasuma-sensei. Did you maybe convince him to stay?''

Oh, that was why she wanted to talk to me. It wasn't a secret Kurahashi fancied our teacher quite a bit, which was understandable. Though I didn't really talk to her. She was a pleasant person on her own right, but she didn't interact with the same people I did.

''Oh, I'm sorry, but we didn't really talk about that. But he said, he would definitely stay.'' Her eyes narrowed at my word, though her demeanor changed from "braced for disappointment" to "challenging". It was safe to say I was wholly confused.

''That's good to hear,'' she said under her breath, which I probably wasn't supposed to hear. ''But Sayori-san!''

I startled from her sudden change of tone. Beside me, Karma peered curiously at Kurahashi.

''Yes...?''

''I must warn you to stay away from Karasuma-sensei!'' She huffed her cheeks and glared at me as much as she would, which wasn't all that impressive, but nevertheless I took a step back, not knowing what to do. Was she really-? ''I've seen you how you look at him. You already have Karma, so look at him and not Karasuma-sensei. I don't need more competition besides Bitch-sensei.''

And with these words she stormed off, radiating a put-off aura. I stared at her, shocked by her words.

''What... just happened?''

''I believe you were told by Kurahashi to go out with me instead of Karasuma-sensei. I can only agree,'' my childhood friend told me calmly before breaking out in roaring laughter.

Going alone through the corridors of class 3E was intimidating when the sun was setting lower than what I was used to. Karma had decided to linger around in the city to wait for me, saying something about preparing things for Saturday. I had waived him off feeling endeared by his efforts. Karma being so earnest was just sweet.

Karasuma-sensei was waiting inside the teachers' lounge with his female assistant sitting nearby with a laptop in front of her. Probably to document our discussion.

Not deterred by the presence of the female (I think her name was Sonokawa) I sat down in front of our teacher and greeted him.

''Hello Karasuma-sensei, thank you for meeting me on short notice.''

The teacher stared at me for a long second, before he sighed, pinching his nose.

''It's alright,'' he said, a resigned expression crossing his face for a moment. ''You have the right to talk about your contract. The timing though could be better.''

I gave him a tight-lipped smile and shrugged. Better now than never, when I had finally kicked my rear up to do something. In all honesty, I couldn't give a flying fuck, whether the timing suit him or not. I was feeling inconsiderate enough, since the government was thinking we were incapable of doing our job and didn't give us a full-fledged contract.

''I'm not sorry. I'm glad you considered it high enough on your lists of priorities to meet me here, but I think it has to change before someone exploits the loopholes in the contract.''

''I know.'' He didn't specify what exactly, but I could guess he meant both. ''What exactly have you thought about?''

Seeing we were getting down to business, I reached into my backpack and pulled out a staple of papers, on which my demands were written down on. It was only handwritten, but I didn't have the time to go back home and type them out on paper.

''I've only written a brief outline on what I want, but it's enough to discuss it here with you. It would probably not be bad to consult the others,'' I added a little sheepishly and pushed the stack towards Karasuma-sensei and Sonokawa for them to look at them. ''I think our own security and insurance in case of an emergency is the thing that needs the most amendments.''

To Karasuma-sensei's credit he didn't act surprised, only raised the papers to read through them.

''Well, I suppose we should go through this then, Kitani. Your first point is your security, right?'' I nodded.

''Yes, I read though the contract again and there wasn't anything on what should be done if we were endangered by an assassination attempt, even if it had a high possibility of succeeding killing Koro-sensei. That's an obvious flaw.'' For a moment I could see Karasuma-sensei debating with himself. The only sound in the room was the tapping of the keys on Sonokawa's laptop.

''I have asked my superior about such a case,'' the teacher admitted finally, and it seemed to cost him a fair bit of courage to admit that. I could see again the pinched expression on his face. Obviously, some things pained him more than he wanted to admit. ''He told me, that I was the one to decide what to do in such a case.''

''He pushed the responsibility onto you,'' I said flatly, not very impressed by that answer. Surprise and disbelief were raging inside my mind, though I felt sorrier for Karasuma-sensei to be put in such a position.

The continuous tapping of the keyboard stopped for a moment and I could see my own feelings mirrored by the other female's face. I realized more and more how much of a patchwork job our situation really was.

''He did,'' the man answered, his voice not unlike my previous tone.

''I'm sorry you have to decide this.'' This explained partly his reserved behavior towards us. He couldn't let his judgment be influenced by feeling least he made a mistake and either doomed earth or us. A truly horrible burden.

''Better me than someone else. I don't want to regret teaching you, Kitani,'' he told me sincerely, yet his face was an unreadable mask. ''I will think about this condition and I will tell you what I have decided by then. We can them amend the contract according to that.''

Well, not what I had expected, but I was willing to give him some time.

''The second point,'' I said, pointing at the next paragraph on the sheet. ''Insurance and dealing with the repercussions. I know you try to make us kill Koro-sensei in a controlled environment, but a mission can always go badly. I want full financial coverage for medical and psychological care.''

''The financial aspect is already inside the contract. There will be little need for amendments,'' Karasuma-sensei pointed out, but still attentive.

''Yes, but it's conditional. It states either during assassination or training. And even training accidents are only covered by two thirds. This training makes us reckless and far more prone to accidents even outside of the school. This mindset is an indirect consequence of being in class 3E.''

We were teenagers after all and also outcasts, cut off by our own parents and pressured by social norms. The chance and the opportunities we were given by the task of killing our teacher, who was so supportive of us it was sickening, and the backing of the government was like a fairy tale come true. Even if it hadn't sunk in yet, our class had gained an edge most of the world population didn't have.

And one day, we were going to experience the taste of being superior to someone and we would stop caring for the others, whether they were weaker or stronger, because this feeling was incredible and addicting.

It was our teachers' task to curb us then, but when they'd notice something was bound to happen.

''You are aware, Kitani, that we'd have to compensate for every injury happening outside of our mission, aren't you?'' Karasuma-sensei asked, raising an eyebrow and leafing through the sheets once again.

''And how high would that chance of injury be if we weren't trained by you? Or not even involved with this mess?'' I shot back.

Incredibly lower, was the answer. If we didn't have to kill Koro-sensei, the only ones being prone to injuries would be Karma and Yoshida. The redhead due to his violent nature and the motorbike enthusiast due to his hobby. And perhaps Okuda... the chemist would get herself in trouble one day if she didn't watch out for herself more.

''I will have to talk to my superior about this,'' he backed off. ''The psychological care is sensible and will probably be accepted easily, the other part less so. I don't think paying for injuries that don't have any direct connection to killing the target will be accepted.''

''Alright, what about a death case?'' I asked and immediately winced. Wow, that was morbid to say aloud.

Karasuma-sensei's face grew a bit alarmed but soon settled back into a more professional mien.

''My superiors have avoided talking about such a case,'' the man answered me honestly and I could see it unnerved him as much as it did to me. I regretted having brought up that subject, but I really couldn't have let that out of the conversation without thinking about it constantly.

''Should we... discuss it here?'' The atmosphere became awkward and stilted at the prospect of having to talk about hypothetical death of my classmates and his students. I pushed my glasses up my face in a subconscious gesture and waited for his answer.

''Let's talk about a vague outline and... end this meeting.'' He looked into my eyes more somber than he had been at the beginning of this. ''I will contact you about further progress and then will present the results in front of the class. I trust your e-mail has not changed?''

''Yes, it's still the same and sounds good,'' I answered and be began the remainder of the time talking about the actions in case of one of us dying.

''So how did it- off!'' I cut Karma off by throwing my arms around him with more force than actually needed, hiding my face in his chest. Automatically Karma wound his own arms around me and used my head as a prop for his chin.

''Did anything go wrong?'' he asked carefully, and I melted into the embrace, needing to reassure me Karma was alive and there.

''No, it went fine,'' I answered to quell his worries. The guy could out-worry my mother on a good day, even if nobody noticed it. Karma was too good at overthinking and hiding his thoughts, which lead to more arguments and moody sulking than I liked. ''I'm just fucking exhausted. The shit was heavy to talk about. I think I gave Karasuma-sensei a scare.''

Karma chuckled above me, the vibrations going right down his torso and moving against my forehead. It felt pleasant and distracted me from the heavy weight in my chest. Death was not my favorite topic to talk about.

''You wanna talk about it?'' I made a humming noise at his question, not entirely ready to talk about the meeting yet.

''Yeah, at home,'' I said eventually. Letting go of the redhead, I removed my head from his chest and looked up. Karma was forced to lift his chin and stared down at me, worry lining his expression.

I pushed a strand of his hair out of his face, tracing my finger along his cheek.

''It went fine,'' I repeated, mostly convinced it was true. Karasuma-sensei had been more willing to listen than had expected. ''Don't make that face, Karma. You look constipated.''

''What-'' he spluttered, and I smiled faintly at his outrage. There, that was so much better than before.

Shrrrrrr-

The sound of ripping paper drowned out all the complaining voices and forced a stunned silence over the group except for the noises of birds chirping in the background.

''I refuse.''

Heads shriveled around to look at me, mouth wide in shock or agreeing expressions on their faces. Instead of watching their reaction, I watched the face of our new instructor, the flash of rage and the unhinged smile that had taken over his face.

''Ah, but you can't. I've been given permission by your principal and I'm also in charge of your curriculum.''

''But I can,'' I told him stubbornly, jutting out my chin. A move which I stole from Karma. ''Your schedule is detrimental for our bodies and also an endangerment to our development. The change of our time table has to be approved by a medical supervisor and until then we don't have to follow it. Even if the world is at stake, we have the right to go through this without being inflicted any predictably long-lasting harmful effects.''

We had been given a new schedule with more than 30 hours of P.E. classes. And what the fuck? Why the hell was this psychopath even allowed to teach us this way? Was the government so desperate that they wanted to sacrifice us in the name of the greater good? It was appalling.

More than 17 hours of physical work-out a week was harmful in the long term for teens. I could already see the impending injuries. There was no way we could come out of this intact.

Several of my classmates had started to glare at the teacher, a sense of hostility against him forming. On the one hand, I was proud my classmates were thinking the same thing I did, but on the other hand I didn't really want to know what would have happened if I hadn't gone ahead and spoken up. I was fortunate enough to sit a bit farther away from him, since he had to move through the crowd first to get to me.

Kanzaki wasn't that fortunate. The girl was sitting in the front row and had turned around to look at me approvingly, but Takaoka had caught her and seized the chance as well as my friend's collar. Later I would look back and tell Kanzaki of that awful pun, but right now I was flooded with searing white rage, that I didn't even notice Karma holding me back before I could do something stupid like attacking our teacher.

I didn't really want to end up in hospital. That man was twice my mass and age, which put me to a severe disadvantage, even if I dismissed his training.

''Let her go, you bastard!'' the snarl ripped out of my throat and I could hear the others shouting, their voices almost drowning out Takaoka's words.

''Oh, what have we here? Showing your rebellious sibling approval? Your father doesn't like any of this,'' the crazed man directed at Kanzaki and the girl was clawing feebly at his hold on her throat, his grip was tight. I could only helplessly watch, as he finally let her drop to the ground, harsh coughing filling the suddenly silent court.

Immediately I rushed towards her, Karma finally letting me go, but still going with me and standing there. Watching that lunatic and preparing himself to respond in case of any violence.

''Yukiko! Yukiko, are you alright?'' I dropped down beside her, making her sit up straight and rubbing circles on her back. Somewhere around me Sugino and Kayano were hovering, but I didn't care. Kanzaki was shivering and trying to catch her breath from the strangulation she was just subjected to.

''It's alright, he let you go.'' I took one of her hands gently into my own. ''Okay, squeeze once, if you can breathe. If not squeeze twice.''

I received one squeeze. Good. She was still trembling, but it was less than before.

''Okay, good. Take as much time as you need. Do you want to move to the infirmary now?'' Two squeezes. Okay, she still needed some time.

To my surprise another pair of hands joined mine and Kanzaki's and I looked up to see Kayano also trying to comfort the other girl. Unsure what to do next, I continued to rub Kanzaki's back, but else just stared at Kayano.

''I can take it from here, Sayori-san,'' she told me quietly, but I felt uncomfortable with the thought of leaving my friend alone. While I wasn't the greatest at comforting people I generally liked it to stay close to my friends, when something happened. It was mostly just basic human instinct.

I was also reckless enough to go right back to egging Takaoka on, should I focus on something else other than Kanzaki right now. Though, if Takaoka did anything anymore and if I went to confront him, Kanzaki would be safe with Kayano.

Well, seems like fate had it really out for me since in that moment the substitute teacher decided to continue being a colossal asshole.

''Oh, you all shouldn't look at me like that. You should be respectful towards your father.''

''Like hell we will do that!'' Maehara shouted but flinched when Takaoka turned to look at him menacingly. That just wasn't right. How could the government just discard basic human rights just because we weren't a top killer group yet? We weren't even adults for crying out loud. Maybe the world was at stake, but that just didn't justify everything.

"What for a good father you are," my voice dripped heavy with sarcasm. "Injuring your own children and practically abusing them to the point they are too scared to say anything. Really formidable. I really hope that you are never going to be a father."

I was angry, furious and enraged. Our class deserved better and just because some brute Neanderthal thought otherwise, I wasn't going to let it pass.

"I never thought I would meet such an ugly personality ever again, but it seems like I was wrong, father," I spat out the title like an insult, but before I could speak again, his fury-distorted face came into my view.

Karma had been shoved aside, lying on the ground and shouting my name in warning. Before I could even progress, he had bypassed the redhead so easily a fist swung in my direction.

Flailing, I tried to dodge, but failed to move entirely out of the path of his fist. In the end he hit my shoulder and I sported a newly throbbing shoulder. Any movement I tried with my arm hurt and I gritted my teeth at the pain.

I felt stupid, stupid for provoking him and stupid for going into this fight, knowing well I would lose it. I resigned myself to my fate, knowing this was the consequence of my stupidity, but the hits I was waiting for never came.

"Karasuma-sensei," my voice was tinted with surprise.

"Kitani, go immediately to the infirmary with Kanzaki," the man ground out tersely and I could feel the anger radiating from him, I just didn't know what it was directed at.

Nodding shortly, I moved back to Kanzaki and helped her up wordlessly. Beside me, Karma was fuming. I understood that he was angry at me for being so reckless once again, but that anger was mostly directed at himself for not being able to stop Takaoka.

''Karma,'' I broke the tense silence. ''Come with me and help me.''

We walked away from the others, intent on getting away from this mess.

''Hey.'' I walked out of the infirmary, holding an ice pack against my shoulder. Karma had left us, when I had started to unbutton my blouse. I was wearing a top underneath, but I guessed that this had more to do with the fact I was injured in first place than any feelings of shame. Even if Karma liked me he really wasn't he type to get embarrassed about a bit of skin between us.

''… Hey, you and Kanzaki okay?'' He was leaning against the wall opposite of the door, gazing at my shoulder intently.

''Yeah, I think, I'll have to be careful with that arm, but for now it just feels bruised. Yukiko will also only have bruises, but that's a really shitty place to have some.'' I clenched my fist at the memory of Kanzaki dangling in that brute's grip.

''Ease up, Sayo,'' Karma murmured into my ear, now invading my space and easing my hand not holding the cold pack into a lighter grip. I sagged against him.

''Right,'' I muttered back and just felt like something was stuck in my throat. I took a deep breath and looked at him. Karma had a somber expression on his face and was still looking at my shoulder. I hadn't put the blouse back on, so he could see the reddened skin, if he pushed the ice pack away.

''Karma, it's not your fault,'' I insisted, when I could see him blaming himself. His expression tightened.

''And Kanzaki's injury's also not your fault,'' he replied and pushed the ice pack away to look at the reddened skin underneath it. I flinched at his words.

''… Maybe.'' The door behind me opened at my words.

''Well, you're definitely not at fault, Sayo.''

''Yukiko...'' I stared at her, looking at her throat which was starting to color lightly. ''Are you alright?''

''Yes, I still am, and I was the last twenty times you asked,'' she replied immediately, and I removed my hand from Karma's grip to rub my neck.

''Sorry.''

''You both should put aside that guilt, Karma, Sayo. It's not your fault that our new teacher is violently trying to bring us under his control.'' She gave us a serious stare, but I still had difficulties banishing the picture of her being held up in the air by that brute. I could imagine Karma going through something along the same lines, but I realized this was pointless.

''Yeah, you win, Yukiko,'' I sighed and leaned my full weight against Karma. He shot me an incredulous look, but still put up with it. Something inside me relaxed a bit.

''Yes, I do, so now kiss and make up, please. I will stand outside until you come out.'' The other girl smiled magnificently at us, which left me open-mouthed when she marched out of the front door.

''Well, we can skip the kiss part for now, if you want, Sayo,'' Karma coughed amusedly beside me and I felt a bit like punching him, while wanting to sink down to the floor.

''Yeah, let's do that and just say we're both not responsible for the things earlier,'' I mumbled, avoiding looking at Karma for whatever for a reason.

''Why do you do that?'' he ignored my answer and forced me to look at him.

''Do what?'' I asked, a bit thrown off by his question.

''Avoid looking at me.'' I had to force myself not to look away again. ''Just like right now.''

''I'm allergic to feelings,'' I answered honestly and saw his lips curl into a smile, which made me feel somehow even more embarrassed.

''But not to cuddling and kissing?'' he asked dubiously with raised eyebrows.

''That's different when it's not romantic!'' I protested, rubbing my neck in distress. ''I can kiss people platonically, but when it's about romance I'm completely hopeless. I just shut down or think too much and then I don't know what to do.''

It was the same every time. Even in my old life I got embarrassed in the beginning of relationships even if I didn't mind physical contact as much anymore as before. This had also to with the customs in Japan. The place you got touched the most was in crowds, but otherwise you got through your day without touching anyone, since everyone just bowed instead of shaking hands.

Karma, the asshole, was laughing.

''Sometimes, you're way too adorable, Sayo.'' And then he kissed me.

We can skip the kiss part, my ass. That guy was a dirty liar.

So... hey? So, it's been a year. A busy one for me since I'll be graduating next year, and the teachers are really pushing us. I won't be able to write frequently, but we have vacation, so I thought I'd finish my chapter for once.

Sorry, that I didn't include the promised date. I had kinda other things in mind content-wise first. I'll try next chapter. In general, I struggle with romance, since I suck at feelings, so please try to be patient.

Riladell won't beta the chapters anymore, since I can't promise a clear writing schedule and she has other projects on her plate. Thank you for helping me until now, Ril!

Wish you a nice day!

-Yuki

Question: Where would Karma and Sayo even go on their date? How high is the probability of class 3E showing up?