To the kind person who pointed out that constitute is being used wrongly: Yep, I unfortunately got a weird definition the first time I googled it so many years ago. Four chapters in, I realised I was using it wrongly and just closed my eyes. I was going to change the name but the alternatives sound rly overly fancy, like, 'What constitutes Reality?' and 'the small differences that constitute reality' or smth weird like that so I just left it.

Any suggestions for a new name? Please do let me know ughhhhh

Usual disclaimer, don't own...da da da.

Welcome to the month of 4/20 which is disappointingly less memey than was prophercised.

:(

Stay at home and stay safe y'all! Hope you enjoy!

:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ

Karma has never been more terrified in his life.

:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ

Chapter 23:

Nagisa time!

:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ

All she can feel is the grip of the knife she is holding.

All she can see is the horrible, despicable man who sentenced her classmates to death.

All she can hear is the sound of her own breathing.

All she can smell is the sterile smell of antiseptic.

All she can taste is bile.

And all she knows is she has never wanted another person dead more.

That terrible thing doesn't even look alarmed. He's delighted, and Nagisa's already terrible opinion of him drops.

"That's the spirit!" He goads her. "Come and kill me, Nagisa-chan!"

Her fingers twitch. She itches to bury the knife in his chest. It wouldn't take anything but a moment and she even knows where to aim, after all, she is Akabane Karma's girlfriend.

Karma. The sudden interruption of her murderous thoughts causes her breath to hitch. Karma, who has always taken care of her. Karma, who never lets her get hurt if he can help it.

Karma, who believes she's too weak to stand on her own.

And Takaoka, who is frantic with failure, believes the same.

She stares daggers at the laughing Takaoka and her fingers twitch again. One motion, stab him through the throat and he won't be able to laugh anymore.

:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ

"Nagisa..." Kataoka whispers, "snapped."

"Sure, we'd all like to kill the rotten son of a bitch," Yoshida mutters, worry visible on his face, "but Nagisa might actually go through with it—"

"Karma!" Sugino yells grabbing the redhead by the shoulder and hauling him away from Yoshida, who he had just punched.

"Then why'd you let her go up!" Karma snarls. He almost continues to beat the boy up but he stops. He turns and glares at the helicopter pad like his glare alone could force Takaoka into submission.

"You must stop her—!" Korosensei begins to urge when something goes soaring across the air. Karma's pupils constrict and he almost dashes after it, terrified it's an explosive or gas canister or something but his reason returns in time and he freezes.

Because it came from their classmates and Karma might not love them the same degree Nagisa does but god he knows they wouldn't hurt her.

:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ

When something collides with her back, Nagisa almost drops the knife. Her bloodlust is temporarily stunned into retreat and her logical brain makes her turn her head to see where it came from.

The sight that greets her is, for some reason, Terasaka, standing there panting. When she sees him, angry tears begin to form in Nagisa's eyes. He's much more red than before; the sweat and fatigue on his face visible even from the helicopter pad. That one throw seemed to have taken all his energy as he stands there panting.

"Why the fuck are ya cryin'!" He bellows.

And her nerves are so shot that she actually yells back. "I'm not crying! Shut up!"

"You shut up! Don't be gettin' cocky, Nagisa! I hate that pitying look you're using to look at me the most!"

Nagisa reflexively turns her face away. "I'm not pitying you!"

"Fucking liar, I saw that face when the medicine got blown up! I saw your face just now! Quit worryin' about other people, ya damn wimp!" Terasaka continues to shout at her. "The virus'll go away by itself with a good night's sleep!"

"Terasaka! You mean—" Nagisa hears the panic in Isogai's voice when he realises the implications of Terasaka's words.

Terasaka ignores him though. "Murder is murder, even if it's a piece of trash like that! You're gonna give in to the crazy and throw your chance at ten billion out the window?"

"Terasaka-kun's right, Nagsisa-san! Killing him isn't worth it and being in a blind rage will only work against you!" Even now, Korosensei is ever the teacher, admonishing her seriously but without yelling, carefully picking apart the situation. "Besides, he doesn't know anything about the remedy. We'll ask the poisoner downstairs."

And finally, instructions. "Just knock him out. That is enough."

"Nagisa!"

She almost drops her knife at Karma's voice but manages to restrain herself from moving. She doesn't want to give anything away to Takaoka.

"We still have to go to that stupid birthday party of Naruko's!"

Whatever she had been expecting, it had not been that.

"So you can't get arrested. And you can't die, okay?"

Oh, Karma. Karma, Karma, Karma, Karma...

It takes all her will power, but she doesn't react. She can see Takaoka studying her face, looking for something to take advantage of. Whatever he sees displeases him as he turns and walks to the edge of the helicopter pad.

"Oi, oi, don't be such a wet blanket! If she doesn't come at me true killing intent, what's the point!" Nagisa doesn't need to look to know that Takaoka's wearing a crazed smile on his face. "I'll use this squirt's bloodlust for revenge in the most humiliating way and finally my own shame will disappear."

"Nagisa-san! Take Terasaka's stun gun." Korosnesei orders.

She doesn't move. The stupid thing is that she knows what to do, but there is still a litte bit of that blind fury.

Korosensei continues, unbothered, "his life, or my life. His words, or Terasaka-kun's words. Think carefully now:

"Which have more worth?"

Nagisa turns slightly. Terasaka has collapsed, she observes, Yoshida and Kimura helping him up with frantic expressions. And then Terasaka says something Nagisa can't hear and points to her, but she can tell from his eyes.

Do it, Nagisa.

The second part she does hear. "Kill him to within an inch of his life!"

Nagisa takes the stun gun Terasaka had thrown at her then.

It's a still super tense situation. Nothing fundamentally has changed—she's still stuck on the roof with a psychopath without an escape route; she's still angry; hell she can still only taste bile in her throat and she can still only feel the knife in her hand—but god, she feels a thousand times lighter. Her bloodlust has long been tucked away neatly for future use.

How could she have neglected that? Kill him to within an inch of his life. There are ways to get revenge that don't involve murder. She can't believe she forgot, after all, she is Akabane Karma's girlfriend. And her mother's daughter. And a student of class E. There's always more than one way to approach things, and being goaded by a psychopath into a path is a sure sign that it's the wrong one.

She has no belt loops, so she takes off her cardigan and ties it tightly around her waist. She's not sure if it would stay so she knots it tightly and positions it so the pocket is just under the part around her waist. This way she can stick the stun gun into her makeshift waistband and easily retrieve it without fear of it dropping on the way.

"What's with that get up?" Takaoka mocks.

Nagisa picks up the knife.

"Oh good, I see you're determined to use the knife."

He is so annoying...

"just so you know," Takaoka continues, "I do have some spare vials of that remedy. If you don't come at me like you mean it, or your pals get in our way, you can kiss these babies goodbye."

Without changing her expression, Nagisa slides her gaze over to the vials he holds in his hands before looking back at him. Because of course he has a few vials leftover. The bastard definitely did that on purpose.

"You hear that, Karasuma! Stay out of it!" The psychopath puts a vial in his mouth, clearly demonstrating his disregard for her classmates's lives. "This stuff takes a good month to make. There's not enough for everyone, but it is your last hope."

Although he says 'come at me like you mean it' what he really means is 'approach in a way that is obvious, that will let me beat you up'. He says 'the same dirty tricks' because he wants me to use the methods he is used to.

Well, I might as well indulge him for a while. Until he pulls out the knife.

So Nagisa straightens and performs the slow walk she did those months ago. It hasn't even been that long since then, she finds herself thinking and then she sees Takaoka start forward. She could guard her mid section, but she really needs her arms, so she just braces herself and lets the kick hit her.

It hurts more than she expected. She's sent flying and clutches her stomach panting, dry heaving from the pain. There's going to be a nasty bruise there soon, but this is better. She really can't handle the burden of this person's life.

"What's wrong? Weren't you going to kill me?"

Nagisa glances at him, then gets to her feet. She lunges and attacked repeatedly, swinging her knife at his neck. Honestly if she really wanted to kill him she would go for his arms first—nope, not today brain.

At one point, Takaoka lifts her up and headbutts her. She yanks her hand out of his grip and moves backwards, holding her head. That hurt, but...

She peeks at him through her fingers and notices the insane grin on his face.

Here we go.

And Takaoka takes the initiative. He lunges and punches her in the face—oh mother is going to be mad, that better not leave a mark—and she spins around from the force of it only to feel an impact on her back. Nagisa staggers back and—come on—he aims for her face again. She jerks her head back and then he roundhouse kicks her in the stomach.

It's vastly inappropriate, but Nagisa feels a childish sort of resentment when she doesn't vomit, because it would serve Takaoka right to have to fight covered in her bile and dinner.

An elbow drives into her back.

A knee into her midsection.

This time something does come out.

He cackles and Nagisa wonders if he is finally done so she can scare the piece of shit into his next life. She falls to her knees and breathes deeply to calm herself. Her bloodlust keeps rearing its ugly head, demanding violence and carnage from her. Demanding murder. If Takaoka doesn't pull out the knife soon, she worries that she'll be too busy holding herself back to prepare herself for his attacks.

"Hey, don't go getting tired on me! We're only just started," Takaoka continues to gloat and god Nagisa can't help but be reminded of how similar yet different they were. She never wants to end up like him. "Looks like it's about time for me to pull out one of these."

Finally.

Nagias gets to her feet and wipes the blood from her mouth.

"I'll cut off your hands and feet and have them stuffed and mounted." Takaoka stands in an attacking stance in front of her, grinning maniacally. "I'll keep them with me and cherish them forever."

Takaoka has the same intentions as her bloodlust, huh, Nagisa finds herself recalling her determination to carve a human stick out of Takaoka from before. That probably means that her blood lust was the wrong kind.

Still, the sight of that grin does help her remember the thing that would cause Takaoka the greatest amount of fear.

Let's see, Lorvo-sensei said there were three conditions...

First, you must have two weapons. She pats her makeshift waistband and yep, the stun gun is still there.

Second, you must be up against an expert. No matter how much Takaoka has lost his mind, he's still an elite solider.

Third, your opponent must know the fear of being killed. That's the reason for all of Takaoka's actions, so Nagisa can safely say yes, it is.

And so, she smiles.

The look on Takaoka's face instant changes to reflexive fear. Nagisa's smile grows more, Takaoka-sensei, please be my guinea pig.

Lorvo-sensei had said that a deadly technique does not necessarily kill immediately. Given the ideal conditions, any assassin can do the deed and this technique is one that reliably creates an ideal conditions when in a bind. It sets the stage for an assassination.

To do it, move from a standstill, as fast as you can, as far as you can, and make it as loud as possible. Nagisa's feet lift and she begins and easy walk towards her ex-teacher.

The fear on Takaoka's face distorts into terror as he immediately takes a reflexive stance, spitting out, "you damned...brat."

It's almost the same as so many months ago, except that this time she has terrified him into immobility.

This works best when they're almost within range. The closer you get, the more your opponent will focus on your knife.

Sure enough, Takaoka's eyes are darting all over the place, from her smile to her unhurried but inevitable approach, then to her knife. The knife, the knife the knife.

Gently let go of the knife in midair while their attention is on it, and then...

As expected, Takaoka's eyes follow the knife and she can practically hear his heartbeat, see the frantic, petrified state of his mind from his face. She gives it another moment for the dark, cesspool of emotions to swallow him up a little more, a little more...

CLAP

And then she lunges forward and claps her hands together in front of his face, loud enough that it sounds like a thunderclap.

Takaoka is stunned and falls over backwards and Nagisa snatches those few moments.

In a fluid motion, swiftly draw your second blade and...

She pulls the stun gun out of her makeshift waistband and switches it on. It makes contact with Takaoka and the sound he makes resonants through her ears.

Breathing deeply, Nagisa stares at the man on his knees in front of her. Their positions have reversed.

"Finish him off, Nagisa," the weak voice of Terasaka brings her back to herself and she tightens her grip around the stun gun, "a good jolt to the neck'll knock him out cold."

Oh right.

She uses the end of the gun to lift Takaoka's chin up. in the end, for all his bluster and crazy, Takaoka has helped her realise something. Be it if in a clear stream or muddy water, the fish who swim in the right direction come up top. There's always going to be things she's scared of, but she has to face them. And she can to do it on her own terms.

He taught her bloodlust too. That some kinds of bloodlust are wrong to hold on to and how important it is to have people who care about you to pull you away from that. The pain of being hit, the feeling of a real fight...

For all his demerits, Takaoka had thought her a lot of things. So, she probably should thank him? When thanking people, um...

Nagisa feels a little awkward, but she smiles. For some reason, Takaoka's pupils dilate and he seems more terrified than ever.

"Thank you."

And she stuns him.

Takaoka falls over forward, onto his face.

Nagisa keeps her hand on the stun gun, but when it's evident that he's passed out, she smiles and runs over to the edge of the helipad. She can hear her classmates celebrating Takaoka's defeat.

"Karma!" She calls, waving at him from her elevated position. "I did it!"

:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ

And now, Karma had never thought he would be more grateful in his life. He's feeling a lot of things all at once—anger, relief, gratitude among others—and he can barely muster up a smile as he waves back at Nagisa.

She looks radiant with the light of the helicopter pads backlighting her. Her pink dress looks almost purple in that light, her blue eyes almost iridescent.

Karma wants to hold her. He's been so scared, never been more bloody frightened. That whole situation where he couldn't do anything but watch was just...god. Thank god she's okay. Thank everything that she's okay. If she...

Karma stops himself and takes another deep breath. Nagisa did great. That's what's important. He smiles with more conviction this time as he watches her wave and yell at the rest of their classmates.

At this point, their classmates start going up. Okano is first with Chiba boosting her up onto the helipad. Karma watches as she throws her arms around Nagisa and spins her around, laughing joyously. Nagisa laughs too, though looking a little embarrassed, her laughter a balm to Karma's tumultuous emotions. He exhales. Nagisa did great. That's what's important.

Their classmates are all over Nagisa by the time he gets to her. She's listening to Korosensei's praise, her expression back to its normal calm one. Karma wishes he had been fast enough to share in her exuberance, but then again, he had been the first one she called when it had all been over.

When Karma joins Nagisa, she's speaking with some doubt in her voice, "but now what? The remedy we took from Takaoka-sensei won't be enough."

Well, no one rains on Nagisa's parade before Nagisa herself can. Even though he knowns that she doesn't like him being touchy in public, Karma reaches out and takes her hand. To his surprise, she lets him.

:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ

When Nagisa feels Karma's hand wrap around hers, something in her unwinds and settles down. She doesn't want to let go even though it's embarrassing, so she just holds on quietly as she watches Karasuma bark instructions.

"Let's start by getting out of here," Karasuma takes control, "I've called a chopper, you all wait here. I'll bring up the poisoner."

"Ha, you're not going to need no stinkin' remedy," Unbelievable. Nagisa glances over and stares at the three assassins standing on the helipad. When had they gotten there? The one in the middle, the gunman, looks smug with a pistol hanging out of his mouth. "You brats thought you could get out of here alive, eh?"

Karma immediately pulls out two of the other gas canisters he borrowed from the gasman and moves in front of Nagisa. His action makes her exasperated and she pulls out her stun gun and moves to his side. Their classmates have formed a line behind Karasuma, where they stand in their stances with their respective weapons.

"We've defeated the man who hired you. You have no further reason to fight us, right?" Karasuma unpacks calmly. "I've mostly recovered, and these students are plenty strong. How about we stop now before anyone gets hurt?"

"Yeah, sure."

"You just don't know when to give up—huh? 'Yeah'?" Yoshida starts to yell before pausing in confusion.

The gunman finally takes the gun from his mouth. "Our contracts don't include avenging the boss," he explains simply, "besides, like I said, you don't need a remedy."

Don't need a remedy? Nagisa stares at them. Then what had all her efforts been for?

"Here's what I gave you," the gasman holds up a canister, "a souped-up version of the common stomach bug. It'll keep going strong for another three hours or so, but then it'll rapidly lose effect and become harmless."

"Now this," the gasman produces another canister, this one much thinner, "is what the boss told us to use. If we had, you'd really be in dire straights."

"Right before using that virus, we three talk-eth it over." The hands assassin takes over the narrative. Nagisa hadn't noticed it at first, but his lips are all red. Against her will, a small smile forms on her face. "Our boss only gave-eth you one hour. We figured we could do the handover without having to resort-eth to a deady virus."

"It was enough to make you feel like your lives were in danger anyway." The gunman shrugs.

"So you went against orders?" Okano asks skeptically. "Can you do that when he's paying you"

"What are you, stupid? If you think pros will do anything for money, you've got another think coming." Tonight is really just surprise after surprise, Nagisa is realising. At this point, she doesn't think anything else can faze her. "We do our best to abide by our client's wishes, of course..."

The gunman goes quiet for a moment, looking a little conflicted. "But he never had any intention of giving you guys the remedy."

Of course he didn't.

"So either we become the killers of a bunch of respectable junior high kids, or we take the hit to our professional standing. We just calmly weighed which one posed a greater risk to our future."

"And that's why, sorry to say, none of you will be dying."

"Oh, bummer," Karma pipes up brightly from next to Nagisa.

Word must have gotten out about the crazy redhead, because the gasman and gunman just give Karma curious looks before the gasman tosses yet another canister to Isogai.

"Give the patients that supplement and put them to bed. Just like it says on the tin, they'll feel even better than before they were sick."

That seems to be all the professionals came here for. Nagisa did say nothing would fave her anymore, but she's still slightly pleased the gasman took such care. He even gave them supplements although the virus would go away after a few hours on its own.

"I'll believe it once I see the students home safe and sound," Karasuma is careful as always as he addresses the assassins, "we'll need to detain you for a while for questioning.

They exchange looks, then the gun man shrugs. "Ah well, you've got a week to wind it up before our next job starts."

The way the assassins speak faintly confuses Nagisa; are they like an idol unit who always travels together? An assassin unit? Then that would make the gunman the leader—

an image of the three assassins in idol costumes and styled hair dancing on stage rises in Nagisa's mind and she has to cover her mouth with her hands to keep herself from laughing.

Really, what is up with her? She's had four of five emotional whiplashes tonight and now she's shifted from exuberant to amused. Trying to control herself, Nagisa stays in line with the rest of her classmates while the chopper lands and the assassins start to board. Karma though, happily jumps in front of the hands assassin and stops him from boarding.

"Whats this? Not going for a revenge-eth match, old man?" Her boyfriend, who clearly enjoys courting death, gleefully goads as he holds up mustard and wasabi to the hands assassin's face. "Aren't you just thirsting for revenge?"

The hands assassin assesses Karma with a calm look, then closes his eyes. "I don't kill-eth people out of spite."

"I'll wait for the day someone puts-eth a hit out on you." The hands assassin begins to walk forward. Nagisa tenses as the hand of the blond man lands on Karma's head, patting it gently, but fortunately, that's all the hand assassin does before he walks past Karma. "You'd better become someone worth-eth targeting."

When the last member of the idol—uh, assassin—group takes his place next to the leader—err, the gunman, the gunman cackles and waves his gun, yelling at them, "and there you have it kids! if you really want us to come and kill you, you're going to have to make it big first." As Nagisa stares at them (yes, she manages to be surprised once more), the chopper takes off. Wind whips the air around them and she puts up her hands to shield her face, barely able to make out the assassin's next words, "then we'll give you the pro assassin's grand tour!"

By the time the wind has died down, the chopper is far in the air and Nagisa can no longer see the assassins. Still, their words resonate in her core. She laughs (again also) and says aloud, "what kind of convoluted encouragement is that?"

Her laughter makes Kaede laugh too, and then Okano is laughing too and then before Nagisa knows it, their class is all smiling and laughing, every bit now students on a summer vacation.

:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ

Irina feels a vibration on her thigh.

One buzz from karasuma, that's the signal that they've escaped.

Smiling, she lifts her hands off the keys and looks over her shoulder, smiling sweetly. She makes her cheeks flush slightly and poses just so, so that she is the picture of fairy like innocence.

"I want to go down the mountain and see the ocean," she says breathily, "won't someone drive me there?"

As the guards fight amongst themselves to be choosen, she sets a hand over her head and smiles. Those brats made it, huh.

:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ

As the helicopter half of her class is on takes off, Nagisa looks back at the hotel. And so our infiltration mission was completed with no one at the hotel the wiser. Isogai had passed the burdensome Korosensei to Karasuma at the cockpit, so it's only the E students in the back.

Their class is clearly tired, the area mostly quiet, so Nagisa feels a little apologetic as she speaks up.

"Terasaka-kun," as expected, her classmates all look over, "thanks for calling me out back there."

"Pft," Terasaka looks no worse for wear, thankfully, just tired as he scoffs at her, "one less student will make it that much harder to kill that octopus."

She smiles. "Yeah, sorry."

"I don't get any thanks?" Karma lightly jostles Nagisa with his elbow.

"Hmmm," Nagisa glances over at him, then grins cheekily, "you said we're going to Naru's party—"Karma blanches—"so you can't pull out."

"...Can I take that back?"

In reply, Nagisa laughs. "Thank you, Karma."

"Crap."

:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ

The moment the chopper's ramp is let down, Nagisa hears Manami's voice.

"Everyone! You're back!" She and Takebayashi run over, Manami excitedly vibrating in place as she asks, "how did it go?"

"Let's get all of your together so we can tell you the news," Kataoka answers cheerfully. Seeing the expressions on their classmates faces, Manami and Takebayashi relax as well.

The rest of the night is spent caring for the patients, enthusiastically relaying the happenings of the night and the non-lethality of the viruses to all of them. Kaede throws herself onto Yukiko as she tells her and Kurahashi about the shootout, and Nagisa sits just behind them with Sugino (who insisted he was feeling well enough to sit up to 'better digest the story', though Nagisa privately thinks he just wanted to hear Yukiko's laugh) and interjects once in a while to correct Kaede.

When she looks up to take stock of her other classmates, the Terasaka gang are ragging Takebayashi mercilessly; Kataoka and Manami are going around checking on everyone; Fuwa and Ritsu are bragging to Nakamura; Sugaya, Chiba and Mimura are in discussion; and Maehara is hanging off Isogai as Karma visibly eggs them on with Okano and Kimura gleefully watching the mischief. Oh, and Okajima tries to throw himself onto Yada in thanks for her and Hayami's care, but one hit from Kataoka keeps him docile after that.

Nagisa finds herself laughing so much more than she thought she ever would in the end class.

She's so thankful that this is her class. She's so thankful that they're all okay.

If only they didn't need to kill the man who let them loosen up so much...Nagisa sighs and shoos that thought away. She focuses on the now, on the joy and fun and celebration.

After their night of illness, adventure and revery, it's no surprise that their whole class sleeps until the evening the next day.

:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ

Even as Nagisa watches the sun set over the horizon, she's still amazed at what had happened the day before.

"That was one crazy day," Kaede sighs as she sinks down onto the sand next to Nagisa.

"I'm just glad we made it through in one piece," Nagisa laughs.

Kaede pushes Nagisa over, her voice teasingly angry. "You're the one who almost didn't!"

"Yeah, sorry," Nagisa lets herself tip over a little, then pushes herself sideways towards Kaede and knocks her into the sand. The two girls laugh as they lie there.

"What are you both doing?" Nagisa hears the gentle voice and looks up at Yukiko. Behind her is Manami, yawning into her palm.

"Yukikoooo, Nagisa's ignoring my well-meaning intentions!" Kaede whines pitifully.

At the same time, Nagisa sits up and takes Yukiko's hands, "feeling better?"

"Yes, very much so." Yukiko smiles. She helps Nagisa to her feet, while Manami goes to Kaede's side.

All Nagisa hears is a yelp, then she and Yukiko turn to see Manami and Kaede squirming in the sand together.

"I see everyone's in their PE Gear," Nagisa hears Kataoka say. Sure enough, all their classmates are dressed alike as they descend onto the beach.

"Well, they're comfy," Kimura defends the classwide decision to be slobs, "and we're the only guests."

"I actually came out in casual clothing, but I saw Yukiko in PE and went to change," Manami admits sheepishly.

The girls join their classmates.

"So Korosensei's in there?" Fuwa asks as they stare at the giant barge in the sea.

Nagisa, who had been out earlier than the others, makes an affirmative sound, "It's probably not going to work though, but he's securely tucked away in there so we can kill him when he reverts."

"Karasuma-sensei's been managing things without rest," Kaede adds.

"He shows no signs of fatigue at all," Kimura marvels as they watch their teacher direct people around the beach and barge. "Amazing."

"Karasuma-sensei is so cool!" As usual, Kurahashi never misses an opportunity to praise their teacher.

"He really is," Sugino sighs, "I wonder if we'll become as amazing as him in ten years time."

"Who knows."

"Bitch-sensei might not look it, but she's amazing too," Kataoka adds. Nagisa follows her gaze and sees their blonde bombshell of a teacher lounging in an armchair, sipping juice from a coconut and reading a fashion magazine. She had been up even earlier than Nagisa and Kaede.

"So were the assassins we met at the hotel," Kimura joins the praising session, "those moves mastered through long years of experience and their work ethic really inspired me."

(In the meantime, the said amazing assassins were sitting in a hotel room, gaming and yelling at one another to give potions.)

"Then there are people like Takaoka who I really don't want to turn into," Sugaya bemoans.

"We follow people we admire, and leave behind those we reject," Isogai sounds faraway as he says that, gazing out at the barge on the sea, "growing up is probably doing that over and over again."

Nagisa smiles.

The warm, learning atmosphere is (of course) soon broken by a tremor passing through the ground.

"What was that?!" Maehara yelps.

"Did we get him?"

Nagisa watches the smoke rising from the barrage. Even as we ask that...we already knew the answer...

Sure enough, the familiar Nurufufufu rings out from the student's midst.

"You suffered much on account of my cowardiance, but you all battled enemies and a virus—and did a good job of it too!" Their tentacled teacher stands among them, gleefully waving his tentacles.

Nagisa speaks up first. "Good morning, Korosensei. You're just not the same without your tentacles."

"Morning!" Kurahashi joins in too, ever cheerful.

"Good morning, students," Korosensei beams, "Now, let's enjoy the rest of our trip, shall we?"

"Yes," Kataoka mercilessly rains on Korosensei's parade, "but don't forget that we're going back tomorrow, Korosensei."

"WHAT!" Korosensei yelps. "With the amount of time I spent in my absolute defence form, I've barely gotten to enjoy myself at all!" From nowhere, Korosensei produces an inner tube, a wooden stick and a watermelon and fireworks, waving them around with evident reluctance.

"This is a one time thing—summer camp with my students!" And Korosensei starts rushing around, leaving afterimages that are building sandcastles, smashing watermelons and generally just doing summery things. "We can't waste a single second—NYUYA!" one of his afterimages gets a dented head and Nagisa gets flashbacks to their last exam period. "What are you doing!" Korosensei yells.

And just like last time, Karma is holding out a gun to Korosensei, grinning cheekily. "You said not to waste a single second, right?"

Korosensei snickers, agreeing. "That's right, Karma-kun, wait until your target lets down his guard and then—NYUYA!" Their classmates join in and then Korosensei is too busy dodging for a while to talk.

"I thought this might be our chance to do him in!" Karma explains gleefully as he walks to where Nagisa's stands with her friends. "You want to take a shot, Nana?"

She laughs weakly in response.

"We've got to make the most of the time we have," Kataoka speaks up.

"Yeah!" kurahashi agrees enthusiastically, and before Nagisa knows it, most of the girls are stripping away their PE clothes to reveal swimsuits and dashing toward the sea.

"Since I'm feeling better..." Yukiko hesitates and Nagisa nods in encouragement.

"Go enjoy yourself."

Manami is already excitedly vibrating in place—in her swimsuit—as she waits for her friends to get changed.

"you too, Nagisa-chan," Yukiko tugs at her arm until Nagisa follows her in pulling off her PE Clothes.

"Why did all of you wear your swimsuits underneath!" Kaede yelps, clearly the only girl who didn't.

"Go get yours, then!" Nagisa yells over her shoulder as Manami pulls her towards the sea.

"Ahhhhhh! You guys suck! I'm going to get changed! I hate you!" As Kaede lets out a yell of anguish, Nagisa nearly gets run over by Yada as she runs away from Nakamura.

"Sorry, Nagisa!" Yada yells as she sprints by, hands covering her chest.

"Stop being stingy, let me feel them!" Nakamura bellows as she, too dashes past.

Then Nagisa's in the water. By the time she recovers, Manami is prepared and splashes her.

"Manami!" Nagisa yelps, betrayed.

"Too slow, Nagi—AH!" While Manami gloats, Yukiko takes Nagisa's side and squirts Manami with water.

"Yukiko, you're the best," Nagisa praises as she ducks behind the taller girl.

"This is not fair," Manami runs back onto the beach as Nagisa and Yukiko give chase.

They're in the middle of doing that when Nagisa hears someone yell and looks up to see—

Oh god she really didn't want to see Okajima naked.

"DIE!" The whole class screams (and is Nagisa imagining it or does Nakamura snigger and say "a bit on the small side, huh?") and Nagisa covers Manami's eyes on instinct as Yada, Hayami, Okano and Kataoka beat Okajima up.

"Students, there'll be fireworks after this!" Korosensei yells. When no one pays him any heed, he balks, "Don't forget to play with sensei too!"

Nagisa laughs. Manami peels her hand off her eyes and the two spin around when they hear Irina's voice.

"Wait, I thought you were just burying him in concrete, you should have called me if you were going to go to the beach!" As usual, Irina is in her fanciest swimsuit as she approaches Karasuma with Isogai, Takebayashi and Maehara watching.

"What a swimsuit," Isogai marvels.

"Reeks of desperation," Maehara chortles.

"Shut up you brats!" She snaps then turns and bats her eyelashes at Karasuma. "Hey, Karasuma, what do you say we leave these kids behind and check out that—"

"Do whatever you want," Karasuma interrupts her and walks away.

"You really are a bitch," Takebayashi utters, causing irina to glare at him.

"What was that? You brats have been giving me some cheek lately, huh?" She stalks towards them and the boys laugh uproariously, turning around and running off. Irina gives chase and soon they're running all across the beach.

Nagisa laughs again and feels an arm drape over her shoulders. She releases Manami, who scampers off after giving Nagisa a knowing look, and leans back against the person holding her, tilting her head back so she can see his face. "Hi, Karma."

"Hi, Nagisa," He answers, grinning as he ruffles her hair.

"Can you do something about our resident pervert?"

"Hmm, I guess, but only cause you asked," He releases her and goes to join the fray of beating up Okajima.

She smiles to herself. There's some things she needs to sort out and talk to Karma about.

(Karma, who believes she is too weak to stand on her own.)

She frowns.

Then she feels a touch on her head.

Nagisa looks up and see Korosensei standing behind her.

"You did a good job."

And for the hundredth time these two days, Nagisa laughs.

"Thank you, Korosensei."

:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ

SEASON 1 FINISHED!

Hope you all enjoyed the ride, season two will be coming up after a short intermission. I'm so excited to start on it, because I love the OPs and writing this means I watch the anime which means I get to hear 'QUESTION QUESTION' and 'BYE BYE YESTERDAY' over and over again XD And also that Itona comes back and we delve into Kayano and Nagisa and stuff...

Wow i really need to get to editing. The real reason why you guys get this chapter is because I hit a bump trying to edit chapter three. Please help your girl out:

What are some ways you think Karma could have tried to attack Korosensei, other than the ways he already has in the manga and anime?

Specifically Karma from episode three, so the more conceited Karma.

Please please please help

:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ

"Wow, I'm exhausted!" Nakamura announces, throwing herself onto the seat next to Nagisa.

"It was fun though, wasn't it?" After playing around in the sea, their class went to get changed and get dinner. Unlike before when they ate on a ship, today's dinner is on the pavilion where, only a night before, they had been hit with the virus. Additionally, Korosensei banned them from sitting with their usual groups of friends so Nagisa is sitting at a separate table from Kaede, Yukiko, Manami, and Sugino. And Karma. Korosensei had emphasised that Nagisa and Karma not be allowed to sit together, to which Karma had shot at him for a a solid thirty seconds after.

"Yep, making fun of Okajima has been the most fun part~!" Nakamura sniggers as she rubs her hands together. She looks like a malavolent spirit when she does that and Nagisa laughs weakly again.

"What are you doing, Rio," Nagisa hears and freezes when Hayami sits down on her other side. Nagisa's eyes widen and she turns to look for Karma reflexively. She soon sees him, balancing on the back legs of his chair as he sits at a table with Hazama and Isogai. he happens to glance over at her as she sees him and they make eye contact. For a moment, Nagisa's startled, but she soon recovers and enthusiastically gestures to Hayami with her eyes. Karma grins and gives her a thumbs up.

She returns her attention to Hayami and Nakamura, noting with envy how Nakamura calls Hayami by her name.

"What do you think they'll give us for dinner today?" Hayami wonders.

"I hope it's chinese food," Nakamura claps her hands together gleefully, "they always start out with that platter of snacks!"

"I doubt it would be a full course meal to that degree," Nagisa says doubtfully. "Maybe they'll give us menus after everyone is down.

"In that case we'll be waiting forever..." Nakamura sighs.

"I'd prefer ordering for ourselves rather than getting a set meal," Hayami states, picking up her glass. "It's better than what."

"Ehhhh, but I want to eat snacks," Nakamura complains.

"Then why don't you order appertisers?" Nagisa suggests.

"I'm gonna sit here," and Nagisa stares in surprise as Okajima sits down next to Hayami. "Hi, Hayami-san, Nagisa-san." he seems almost shy as he speaks.

"You're friends with Nakamura, you can't sit with them," then Maehara is there too, sitting next to Okajima and slapping his back with a grin on his face.

Nagisa whirls around to look for Kaede and sees her staring at Nagisa's table with wide mouthed shock. All of them know about Kaede's idol-crush on Maehara and Nagisa can't help but wave at her in apology. Kaede snaps her mouth shut and turns back to her table, which contains Kataoka, Yada and Hara so far.

"Hey, Hayami-chan, are you dating Chiba?" Maehara asks abruptly.

"Eh?" Nagisa turns back to her table too, wondering when the conversation got to that. "Why is Maehara-kun asking Hayami-san that?"

Maehara looks at Nagisa and laughs loudly. "You're so polite, it's hilarious." When Nagisa frowns he fans the air in front of him in an attempt to wave away the words he had said, "it's not bad, not bad, you're just at a table with Okajima, Nakamura and me, you know? It's like three of the most crass people in class."

"I'm not crass, I'm class...ey," Nakamura interjects, looking serious. She manages to hold that expression for a few seconds before she, Meahara and Okajima burst into laughter.

Nagisa feels lost and it must show on her face because Hayami speaks up, "you're traumatising Nagisa-san, lay off, Maehara."

"No, no," Nagisa corrects herself hastily, "I'm just curious. What makes you think Hayami-san and Chiba-kun are dating?"

Maehara stares at her with a slack jaw. "You mean you don't notice?"

"Here we go," Hayami exhales softly. She must be really annoyed, Nagisa thinks and pats her on the shoulder.

"Don't 'here we go' me, Rinkaaaaaaaa," stretching her arms out on the table, Nakamura stares at Hayami imploringly, "you won't ever say."

"Who I am or am not dating is my own business and not yours," Hayami answers coldly.

"Can you at least tell us if you're single?" Okajima asks. For some reason, he sounds uncharacteristically nervous.

"I don't want to."

"Ehhhhhh..." the self proclaimed three most crass people wine in unison.

"Hayami-san and Chiba-kun, a couple?" Nagisa murmurs. She looks around again and sees Chiba at (to her somewhat surprise) Karma's table along with Sugaya and the previously seen Isogai and Hazama.

"Is Nagisa-chan joining in too?" Maehara laughs.

"I mean, they certainly seem compatible," Nagisa glances at Hayami before blowing out her cheeks, "but it's Hayami-san's personal matter so we shouldn't be too nosy."

There was a moment of silence at the table, then Okajima covered his eyes.

"Too pure." He explained to no one in particular.

"You're making us look bad, tease Rinka like the rest of us," Nakamura complains.

"Nagisa-san ignore them," Hayami exhales again and then gives Nagisa a small smile.

Nagisa can't handle it.

"Hayami-san..." Nagisa groans and plants her forehead on the table. Turning her head to glance at Hayami, she smiles and jokes, "if I leave Karma, will you date me?"

The whole table laughs, even Hayami.

"It's okay, Nagisa-chan, if Rinka says no, I'll take you in," Nakamura says 'generously'.

Nagisa turns her head to study Nakamura, then sits up. "Not my type."

Maehara and Okajima burst into peals of laughter as Nakamura splays her hands over her chest in mock outrage. "Nagisa-chan how could you! I've never been so hurt!"

"Then me!" Maehara points at himself.

"Me too!" Okajima grins as he points at himself.

Speechless at their brazenness, Nagisa stares at the two boys.

After a while, she blows out her cheeks again. "I am being bullied."

"No, no, we're being serious!" Maehara tries to school his expression into something passably solemn, but like Nakamura earlier, it quickly is laughed away. "Completely—pft—serious..." he doubled over laughing.

"Definitely not my type," Nagisa laughs, "I'm gonna tell on you. Hayami-san, they're bullying me!"

"There, there," Hayami says with—is Nagisa just imagining it?—amusement in her tone.

"Rinka will be no help," Nakamura tsked before spreading her arms wide, "come to me, baby." The last word was uttered in english and Nagisa can't help but laugh.

"Okay, then," Nagisa doesn't think she's ever been so mischievous as she gets off her chair and sits on Nakamura's lap.

"Okajima, look at the cute girlfriend I have," Nakamura brags as she wraps her arms around Nagisa.

"Looks like some kind of Yuri poster," Okajima answers, which makes a snort of laughter explode from Nakamura.

"She got a girlfriend before you, Okajima," Maehara nudges his friend.

"AHHH!"

As they're messing about, food is delivered to their table. Nagisa practically leaps from Nakamura's lap in embarrassment as the waiters glance at them curiously.

"I can feel the judgement," Maehara chortles as he glances down at his plate.

"Too bad, Hayami-san, we got a set meal," Nagisa smiles sheepishly as their cutlery is laid out.

"Looks good though," Okajima sounded as though he was drooling. When Nagisa looked over, he was.

"Okajima-kun, your mouth..." Nagisa wiped at the corner of her mouth to illustrate, but Okajima just make a slurping sound and sucked his saliva back in. Uh...okay.

"Uh...oh yeah, what the heck is Korosensei doing after?" Maehara speaks in between bites.

"Who knows," Nakamura sighs, "that octopus always has something weird up his tentacles."

:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ

"Test of courage? Now?" Nagisa stares at their teacher in disbelief. They just had dinner.

"Yes, sensei will take on the role of the ghost," Korosensei stretched out his tentacles. As usual, he was in a strange cosplay, "I'll be sure to move around and leave a lot of clones."

"You just want to have fun," Karma accuses in his usual frivolous manner. Their class is spread out on the same deck they just had dinner on while the waiters clear away their plates and cutlery.

"Unlike some people, I've been cooped up in my shell the whole time!" Korosensei protests. "On a tropical island no less!"

"A test of courage huh...sounds like it could be fun!" Maehara grins.

"Right?" Isogai laughs. The two boys are sitting together as per usual.

"But I don't like scary stuff..." Kurahashi protests with some fear in her voice.

"It'll be fine, Korosensei'll be playing the ghosts," Sugino laughs and waves away her concerns.

"Oh, that's true."

"How scary can he be?"

Nagisa looks over, expecting Korosensei to protest, but he just watches the class while smirking. That...does not bode well.

As Korosensei leads them to their venue (an underwater cavern in the mountain), Nagisa's first clue at Korosensei's intent is when he tells them to go in in boy-girl pairs.

Her second is when he watches them pair up with yet another smirk.

Oh dear.

"Nana," Nagisa looks over to see Karma walking toward her, "let's pair up."

"Ah, yeah."

When Korosensei snickers softly, a hypothesis begins to form in her mind.

And she prays to anything that she's wrong.

:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ

As Korosensei darts around the cave to set up, he can't help but snicker to himself. While his students have gotten much stronger, their class has been disappointingly empty of a certain important something.

And that something is...

A LOVE SCANDAL!

While Nagisa and Karma are a couple, they are disappointingly impervious to most sorts of teasing and inquiries. However, their relationship never has any drama—somehow the devilish Karma is settled in his relationship?—and despite a term slipping by, no other relationships seem to be forming!

He had hoped that some couples would form by the time summer came around, but his students are far too focussed on assassination that there hasn't been a single scandalous tale for Korosensei's enjoyment!

So Korosensei intends to use fear to push the students together.

Pulling out his little book of student data, Korosensei snickers to himself as he looks over his past notes. He can't wait to tease his students or write a romance novel based on a true story!

Korosensei's weakness #12: Juicy gossip

:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ

"Oww..." Nagisa gasps as she hops down from a rocky ledge and is caught by Karma. The impact jars the bruises on her stomach.

"Does it still hurt where you were kicked?" Karma frowns as he sets her down gently.

"No, only when pressure is put on it," Nagisa glances at Karma. For some reason, today feels a little... "You don't get scared easily right?"

"Nope. You're only bad at jump scares, right?"

"Yes."

For some reason today feels a little awkward.

Nagisa squats down and holds her head to clear her thoughts. She's just being silly. Focus, Nagisa. The exit is about three hundred metres through the cave. She and Karma have been alone a lot longer than the time it takes to walk three hundred metres.

"You okay, Nana?" Kama squats down next to her. "We still have to let the next pair go through, you know."

"...I don't really want to move."

"Ehh, is it my imagination, or is Miyamura Nagisa actually being selfish?" Karma asks teasingly.

"Imagination," Nagisa answers in a sulky tone. She knows she's being a little bit of a brat, but she's trying to be more open about her feelings and the like, which had been why she had played along with Nakamura's mischief. And she also knows she needs to talk to Karma about what happened in the hotel and god she doesn't want to.

"Shit, if Nana can be bratty, Korosensei might actually be able to be scary," Karma says absently as he touches her hair.

Nagisa lifts her head and stares at Karma. "You—"

She pauses.

"Me?" Karma's golden eyes are fixed on her face like there's nothing he wants to see more.

She meets his gaze and swallows. "Would you prefer I be bratty?"

Karma laughs. "That's up to you. I mean. It'd be good if you express yourself more often."

"The same goes to you then, Karma."

That gives him pause. Karma's smile slides from his lips and he studies her.

"I think there's probably some stuff we have to talk about," Nagisa mutters. Then she tentatively stretches out her arm towards Karma, her hand facing upward.

With an exaggerated sigh, Karma reaches out too and takes her hand. "Really, Nagisa, I thought that went without saying."

He stands and pulls her to her feet with him. "We can talk while we watch Korosensei atempt to be scary."

"Well, Korosensei may have produced something amazing," Nagisa defends their teacher as she laces their fingers together.

"Hmmm...no."

"Is that the sound of a Okinawa sanshin?" Nagisa blinks at the faint sound of plucking strings.

"Ohhhh..." Karma arches his brows. "Nana I want the torchlight."

"No."

"Nana pleaseeeee!"

"I know what you're going to do with it."

"No you don't."

"I can guess." Nagisa deadpans, keeping the torchlight trained in front of her.

"Pass it to me, maybe I'll prove you wrong."

Nagisa squeezes their interlocked hands in some exasperation.

The beam of light dances over layer after layer of rock as the sound of the sanshin periodically grows louder, before getting softer.

"The ambiance is a little creepy," Nagisa says brightly. It's kind of exciting. "it's like the soundtrack of a movie during an intense scene."

"Intense scene?" Karma asks skeptically.

"Hazama-san showed me some japanese horror movies, so they would play this befo—AH!" Korosensei emerged suddenly out of the dark, so suddenly that Nagisa jumps and screams. Her fingers jump over the switch of the flashlight but since it was already on, she switches it off.

Korsensei is dressed in an old, tattered robe and a headdress. blood seems to drip out from the corner of his mouth and his usually amused face seems haunting in the firelight. Korosensei is strumming a sanshin as he gazes forlornly past Nagisa and Karma.

"This is a blood drenched cave of tragedy...where Ryukyu royalty, defeated in battle, met a violent end."

The flame illuminating Korosensei slowly fades away and they return to darkness.

"Do you think that's true?" Nagisa asks.

"...Nagisa."

"Yes?"

"Why do you sound excited?"

"...I'm not!"

"Well, sorry to disappoint you, but he definitely made it up to make it more real."

"Oh..."

"You must not separate."

The sudden voice over Nagisa's shoulder makes her jump again.

"Wandering spirits will haunt anyone left alone..."

By the time Nagisa gets the light on and flashes it behind them, he's gone.

"Well, that's all the incentive I need," Karma says brightly.

Nagisa feels an arm wrap around her and exaggeratedly sighs. "I can't walk like this."

"Mhmmm, not with that attitude."

"Compromise?"

"What do you have in mind?"

And so that's how they end up walking through the cave with Karma holding on to Nagisa's arm. He seems quite amused, if his teasing comments about Nagisa being the "top" are any indication.

As they move further into the cave, Nagisa can faintly hear Korosensei's sanshin again.

"You know, hearing him tell the same story to to the next pair makes it seem more real," Nagisa whispers as she leads Karma through the cave.

"Why are you whispering?" Karma answers in a low tone.

"It feels right."

"Ooo, are you actually getting scared, Nagisa-chan?"

"Just a bit; it's exciting," Nagisa shines the light at the roof of the cave, "Hazama-san showed me this one horror film where they went into a basement and then you start hearing screams and stuff and then someone gets a torch but their's in an empty room. You see from that person's perspective that they slowly shine a torch across the room—"

"Like this?" The sudden sensation of cool fingers wrapping around her wrist makes Nagisa flinch, which makes Karma laugh softly into her ear. He gently guides her hand and the beam of light starts travelling slowly from side to side as they walk. "What happened after that?"

"Well, they slowly shined the torchlight upward." Karma guides Nagisa's hand to point their beam of light up.

"Then?"

"The way they filmed it was very well done," Nagisa digresses to try to distract herself from the tingly feeling on her wrist, "as he turns the light up, you see the base of the beam? Just as it leaves his eye level, you see something move into the base of the beam and..." catching light of something at the top of the beam, Nagisa stiffens her wrist and Karma releases her.

"Oh? What's this?" Karma sounds delighted as Nagisa lifts the flashlight to the thing they had seen. It's a skeleton, dressed in old robes and a sword, hidden in a recess in the cave. And behind that skeleton is...

There's a moment of supremely awkward eye contact between Nagisa, Karma and one clone of Korosensei.

"Whooaaa, how scary!" Karma crows.

"...Good evening Korosensei..." Nagisa says after a moment where Korosensei looks at a loss for words. They clearly hadn't been supposed to find the skeleton before Korosensei pushed it down into their path.

"...yes, good evening students," Korosensei replies, his face looking drained of all mucus, "please continue forward..."

"Uh, yes." Nagisa takes one look at Karma's delighted face and immediately begins to pull him along.

"Ehhh."

"Come on Karma."

:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ

"Umm...this is kinda scary after all, isn't it, Sugino-kun?" Kanzaki ventures timidly.

"I told you not to worry, Kanzaki-san!" Tomohito says proudly as he leads her through the dark cave. "If something happens, just leave it to me!"

He has never expected to get such a chance after their awkward encounter in the rain! No one in their class had expected Korosensei to make boy-girl pairs a rule and most looked lost when asked to pair up. Most of the boys were working up the nerve to ask Kanzaki when she had directly asked Tomohito instead. Trying not to smile like a fool, Tomohito is almost brave enough to offer Kanzaki his arm to hold on to. Almost being the keyword.

From the explanation at the beginning of the cave, Korosensei is probably planning to scare them with some fallen warrior from the Ryukyu days.

Sure enough, Korosensei doesn't disappoint. The sudden skeleton that drops from the roof of the cave elicits a small scream from Kanzaki. Tomohito suppresses his shock and goes forward to examine the skeleton before reassuring Kanzaki.

"Unexpectedly, I need to play more horror games..."

"Did you say something, Kanzaki-san?" Tomohito glances at the beautiful girl behind him at the soft murmur.

"Unexpectedly, Korosensei managed to set up a haunted house in such a short time," Kanzaki answers in a normal voice, sounding admiring.

"Yeah, the attention to detail makes you think he had a lot of time to prepare and not just dinner," Tomohito agrees with a sheepish laugh. The thought of dinner makes him flush. He had managed to score a seat next to Kanzaki.

As the pair turn and head down one of the caves branches, the narrow beam of the flashlight reveals a door blocking off the passage.

"This set up is really amazing," Kanzaki's voice sounds admiring.

When they approach the door, one of Korosensei's afterimages hovers above it and begins to speak. "Among those who ran away was a married couple. As the pursuers drew nearer and nearer, they had no way to escape, so they held each other atop a chair and committed suicide..."

The afterimage slowly raises a tentacle. "The chair is the one here."

Next would be a rotting chair, covered in blood then! Tomohito prepares himself and slides the beam of light to where the afterimage of Korosensei is pointing. The beam reveals...

A pink bench.

Its the sort of nauseatingly lovey-dovey bench they would put at a valentine's day event or something, with hearts all over it.

Uh...

Tomohito stares at the bench in complete bewilderment. Wasn't this supposed to be a test of courage?

"It's a traditional Ryukyu couple bench. If two people sit here for one minute, the door will open," the afterimage helpfully explains.

What is this?

"...shall we sit then?" Kanzaki says after a period of silence. Tomohito follows her mutely to sit at the bench.

This is kind of...

"Now start a conversation!" The damned octopus intones.

...different from what he expected...

:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ

The next pair take a different path from Sugino and Kanzaki and expectedly encounter their path blocked by paper screens. Behind the screens, they can make out a certain bulbous shadow.

"I wish to see blood..." A warbling voice announces. The shadow lifts a tentacle, revealing a knife clenched in its end.

Kurahashi feels herself getting goosebumps. She has to repeatedly remind herself that Korosensei is just Korosensei and wouldn't hurt them, but she is still terrified as she stares at the trembling tentacle.

"The resentment I bear from seeing my breathen cruelly murdered...it will not subside until I see blood..."

Next to her, Okajima is no better. As the shadow moves, Okajima can't stop shaking. He tries to distract himself by imagining what the situation would be if he were in a porno, but Korosensei's weird shape causes him to dissociate too much and his pornos are no help.

"Blood...or perhaps..."

Okajima and Kurahashi are both prepared to run the other direction.

"I'd like to see a couple make out...I would be satisfied to see either."

"That's some shallow resentment!" Okajima yelps.

:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ

"Why are you holding your gun!" Okano snaps as she storms through the passages.

"I'm letting you hold the torchlight so you'd stop complaining about being scared!" Maehara yells in response as he matches her pace through the cave. Neither of them notice the skeleton that drops from the ceiling; it's too slow and ends up behind them before they catch sight of it.

"How does this help!"

"You can shine it over whatever you're unsure about, how does it not help!"

"It doesn't—" Okano pauses when the light illuminates several passages but she picks one and continues shortly after—"help because now I'm scared that I'm gonna shine it over something gory!"

"Either you shine it over something gory, or you'll see me shine it over something gory! What's the difference!" Maehara answers with frustration.

"That's not the—shit!"

Both Okano and Maehara skid to a stop when a sea of skulls suddenly appear next to them. Several fires seem to dance amidst the skulls.

Despite knowing it's a clever trick by Korosensei, the pair can't help but stare uneasily around them.

Then the skulls begin to talk.

"We, who barricaded ourselves and starved," One of the skulls chatters, "fell so low as to scramble to consume a single bone."

"You two shall scramble to do the same!"

Something drops from the ceiling and Maehara almost shoots it before realising that the bone is suspiciously thin and pink.

"Now, start eating from each end."

The pair stare at the pocky suspended in front of them, a picture demonstrating how they're supposed to eat it shown, before they both yell in tandem, "That's just the pocky game!"

"What are you trying to do here, Korosensei!" Okano yells as she swings the flashlight around, looking for their octopus of a teacher. They soon find him sequested in the corner of the ceiling and Okano draws her gun with her free hand so she and Maehara can both shoot at their teacher.

"This isn't scary at all!" Maehara shouts.

:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ

"You thought I wasn't scared at all?" Nagisa asks skeptically as she hops over a stone.

"Yeah." Trailing behind her, Karma sounds as lighthearted as ever, but Nagisa can detect the barely present serious note in his voice. "When I saw you facing off with Takaoka...I was shocked to be honest."

"Oh." As usual Karma looks down on her subtle. Frustrated, Nagisa blows out her cheeks.

"Don't pout." Karma hums.

Wondering how he knew, Nagisa exhales and answers, "I wasn't not pouting."

"Listen, Nagisa, I wasn't shocked that you defeated him," Karma explains himself. Nagisa glances back at him but she can't see anything in the dark of the cave. Turning back to the front, she decides to give him his space.

"It was the way you came back...you seemed unafraid in the slightest. If you didn't tell me you were scared before that...I can't really believe that either. You looked so calm as you went up.

"Normally someone who had just beaten someone in a fight would be on high alert, but when our classmates approached you, you were just..."

"Just?"

"Normal. Embarrassed at the attention even," Karma exhales loudly. "If you were to fight against several of our classmates or even me, they'd win for sure, but that doesn't mean anything for an assassin. And you are good at assassination, Nagisa."

"Unfortunately." Nagisa frowns.

"Anyway, I thought not being afraid was probably a really scary thing, especially because I'm not able to be cautious, you know?"

It takes her a moment to respond. "Yes, I have known you for five years now. You are incapable of being alert."

"That's rude, Nana." Karma laughs and Nagisa knows he's done with baring his feelings. "You're always so mean to me."

"I'm very nice to you," Nagisa stops her footsteps and points the torch at Karma. Crossing her arms, she frowns at him.

"Yes, yes, Nana treats me the best," still laughing, Karma catches up to her and gently ruffles her hair.

"So basically you're bothered that I'm not scared of anything?"

"Kind of."

Nagisa frowns and thinks for a moment, then holds her pinky finger out to Karma. "In that case..."

"Pft, what the heck?"

"I promise I won't hurt you, Akabane Karma," She waves her pinky at him, "I don't know if that's any consolation."

"Not really," still, Karma wraps his pinky around hers, "I just wanted to tell you, you know? Get it out of my system."

That seems like the perfect opening for her to speak up about the topic that's been bothering her for a while too. Namely the whole Karma-looks-down-on-Nagisa-and-thinks-she's-weak thing which may possibly be a by product of them never actually properly defining the terms of a relationship and or what they have in mind for a relationship or something Nagisa doesn't actually know because this is her first relationship and god she needs to stop thinking and talk.

"Actually, Karma, you know..."

"Is that a twister mat?"

A what now? Nagisa turns and flashes the torch on the spot Karma had seen.

Lying on the cave floor is a twister mat. A card lying nearby declares it to be 'The Famous Ryukyu Twister Game', several hearts decorating the words. A radio sits at the opposite end of the mat from the card.

"Is this supposed to be a test of courage?" Karma asks skeptically. "Because it looks like he has something up his sleeve."

Nagisa silently checks the radio and finds a dvd of romantic songs inside.

"I thought it might be something like this, but really..." she sighs.

:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ

These couples just aren't coming together, Korosensei thinks sulkily as he dashes back to his first position where he's supposed to play his sanshin, never mind, the next one for sure!

"This is a blood drenched cave of tragedy...where Ryukyu—AHHHHH IT'S A GHOST!" In the middle of his introductory scene, Korosensei glimpses a terrifying white face with red eyes and blood dripping from its lips.

Frightened, he dashes off in a random direction.

"Dammit, I wanted to shoot him while he was scared stiff!" Muramatsu yells in frustration.

Behind him, Hazama laughs softly to herself, the sound haunting in the darkness of the cave. She still holds a torch under her chin as she wipes away the red at the corner of her lips. "I've been spooking people out at night since I was a kid." Her voice holding pride, she continues to explain. "I was given the nickname of "Miss Courage Tester, Japanese Representative."

"O-Okay..." Terasaka says awkwardly, "as long as you're havin' fun?"

Korosensei stops and braces a hand against the wall as he tries to catch his breath. "What was that just now? A real ghost of an actual ryukyu ruler?" Then he comes face to face with a skeleton dressed in ancient garbs eating something...IS IT HUMAN HAIR?

Before he can properly take in the ramen the skeleton is eating, Korosensei has already taken off in a different direction.

A gust of wind blows past Nagisa and Karma, bringing a yell. "—AHHHHHH—"

"Huh?" Nagisa blinks in shock.

"Was that Korosensei?" Karma arches a brow.

Korosensei weak point #25: as expected, he is weak to the occult.

An appairation with no eyes abruptly appears in his path.

"HE HAS NO EYES!" Korosensei screams before changing direction.

"What was that?" Hayami puts down her arms that she had been using to sheild herself from the abrupt burst of wind.

"He panicked for no reason," Chiba stares after their retreating teacher in confusion, "I have eyes."

Unfortunately for Korosensei, the nights 'horrors' have just begun.

Promptly after running from Chiba and Hayami, he runs into something slimey that brushes his face and caresses his body. Screaming again, he turns and flees—from the konjac jelly trap he set up himself, mind you—and promptly finds himself face to face with a figure with long straight dark hair, unfathomable eyes and a solemn exression.

"A japanese doll?!"

Again he changes direction.

"...was that a compliment?" Touching her face, Kanzaki looks over at Sugino with geniune confusion on her face.

Unsure what to say, he gives a noncommittal answer: "...uh, you can take it as one?"

Once again, Korosensei comes across something terrifying: "Horror mangaka Shigeru Mizuki-sensei?!"

"What did he just call me?" Takebayashi looks over at his fellow otaku.

"Time to start writing manga, Takebayashi-kun," giggling into her hand, Fuwa barely manages to reply.

:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ

"Seems like Korosensei is enjoying his own frights the most," Karma hums as he and Nagisa stare at the cave passage behind them. They can periodically hear Korosensei screaming something.

"Yeah...let's leave?"

Unexpectedly, Nagisa hadn't been able to bring up the issue. As Karma holds her arm, she shakes her head and tells herself they can always talk about it next time.

:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ

"What a disgrace...what a total disgrace..."

Korosensei lies facedown on the beach at the cave exit as his students gather around him in a loose circle.

"So basically you meant to frighten us into becoming couples," Maehara says in disbelief, "through the suspension bridge effect?"

"We saw through you even before you tried to scare us!" Okano snaps.

"B-But I wanted to see it!" Korosensei is abruptly rejuventated, managing to prop himself off the sand as he looks at his students with tears in his eyes. "I wanted to smirk at you holding hands and blushing, two by two! I was trying to keep you from marrying anyone shady!"

"He's even breaking down into tears..."

"What a sleezy adult..."

"You have to do that kind of stuff gently," Nakamura points out exasperatedly, "kids like us don't want to be pushed into love affairs. We're not all as sleazy as you."

Korosensei cries more.

"Just satisfy yourself with Karma and Nagisa!"

"Eh?" Nagisa jumps when someone suddenly points at her.

"But they never hang out together in class!" Korosensei protests.

"Hmm, that's true..." Kurahashi glances at Karma and Nagisa—Nagisa stands with Kaede, Manami and Yukiko as usual while Karma is hanging out with Isogai, Maehara, Sugino and Mimura.

"Can't you two be more lovey-dovey?" Nakamura sighs.

Nagisa blinks a few times before glancing at Karma.

Catching her gaze, he sighs and smiles, lifting a hand."Isn't it better if your lives don't revolve around each other as a couple? We spend a lot of time together outside of school already."

"That's fair," Maehara nods. He seems to remember some of his past experiences.

"Alright, I get it..." Korosnesei sobs.

"You call that a test of courage? There was no one there!" Irina's sharp voice catches the attention of the class. "What a waste of the fear I felt!"

"I told you it was pointless to walk around clinging to me like that." Karasuma says with exasperation. He and Irina emergy from the cave's exit with Irina holding on to Karasuma's arm tightly.

"Shut up, you're a man aren't you? If there's a pretty lady around, escourt her properly!" She scowls at him before catching the eyes of their class. Irina only needs to take one look at Nagisa's classmates before she releases Karasuma's arm and tries to sneak away. She goes to the side, but still watches Karasuma as he walks back to the hotel.

"Hey...I'm starting to wonder..." The first to speak out is, of course, Maehara.

"Is Bitch-sensei...?" Kurahashi whispers.

"Yep." Takebayashi affirms.

Fuwa sounds devilish as she murmurs, "well, we've got time until tomorrow morning..."

Nagisa can practically hear the unspoken 'shall we push them together?' from her class and teacher. Sighing, she looks around at her class, who all have glinting eyes, and wonders what happened to them being 'not all as sleazy' as Korosensei.

And so their final operation on the island began.

:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ

With that, season one is complete. I will definitely revisit this at a later date as I properly iron out the kinks in what I interpreted Karma and Nagisa's relationship to go. I honestly have a difficult time writing Karma because I'm a serious ish person? Or just not like Karma lol. Maehara is easier. He's a mood.

Anyway, congrats! We made it! Season 1! Season 1! Thank you for still being here! A proper milestone at last! And a longish chapter! Did you expect the test of courage to be included? I actually finished this last week but then thought it was too short so you get! The test of courage too! Yay!

I need to collect the manga properly I swear. After I finished this, I can close all my tabs happily. I have like twelve tabs open for reference which is how you know my excel sheet of planning is disorgaised...

ANYWAY (again)

CONGRATS YALL! AND ME! WHEEE SO HAPPY!

*Please do help me think of ways for Karma to torture Korosensei in chapter 3 tho I'm seriously stumped.*

:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ

Side story #1:

Pairing up at the beach

:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ

"In boy-girl pairs?" Isogai frowns at Korosensei's announcement.

Finding it funny, Maehara slings his arm around his friend. "It's okay, Yuuma. I'm sure everyone is eager to partner you."

"No, that's not what I'm concerned about. Isn't there one more guy than girl?"

"No? There's twenty six of us...oh, right. Ritsu."

"So there'll be one trio huh..." Isogai watches their classmates. Everyone looks slightly at a loss. Most of them are close to their respective gender and usually pair up with someone of the same gender. Like him and Maehara.

The only two not at a loss are, of course, their resident class couple.

"Nana, let's pair up," Karma calls out, completely uncaring of their classmates' buzzing around, considering who to pair up with.

Nagisa starts like she hadn't been paying attention and glances at Karma. "Ah. Yeah."

"Who you gonna pair up with?" Maehara asks, drawing Isogai's attention back. He looks over at his friend and then glances at their classmates again.

Several of their classmates remain among their friends of the same gender, clearly discussing partnerships so there's no awkwardness of asking the same person.

Nakamura though has no qualms. She walks away from Hayami and Yada and grabs Sugaya by the back of his shirt. "Let's go, beanpole!" She announces as she drags him to follow behind Nagisa and Karma, who are already waiting at the cave entrance.

"Nakamura, you're strangling me!" He protests.

"That's smart of her, Sugaya doesn't have many friends and Nakamura and him actually get along," Maehara whistles in appreciation. He too surveys their classmates. "I think some people will have several people fighting over them, like you and Kanzaki. And me too of course."

As he grins cheekily at Isogai, Isogai considers his friend's words (automatically filtering through the silliness). It's true that some of the more popular members of their class will be asked more while some of the shyer ones may not ask anyone—Sugaya for example probably would have just waited around until someone asked him to pair up—so some of them might end up without partners...

"I think I'll wait for everyone to pair up first," Isogai answers belatedly.

"Huh?" Maehara starts to question his friend why before Okajima abruptly swings into the conversation.

"I can't decide who to ask!" Okajima says pathetically. "Hayami-san? She's super cool! Or Yada-san? She's so sexy! Then what about Kataoka-san? Kanzaki-san? Kurahashi-san?"

"Sugino-kun, would you mind partnering with me?" Isogai hears and sees the mentioned Kanzaki tapping Sugino on the shoulder. The boys who had been approaching her awkwardly change their trajectory, pretending to have heading different directions. Mimura for one goes as far as to join Isogai, Maehara and Okajima.

"So who are you guys going to pair up with?" Mimura says brightly, pretending he hadn't been one of the boys with the intention to ask Kanzaki to partner with him.

"Who knows~" Maehara hums.

"Come on Hinata!" Kurahashi's voice startles the boys. She's pulling Okano across the sand toward them and comes to a stop in front of the quartet of boys.

"Since you boys are just dawdling around, don't be surprised if you're left behind," she scolds them playfully then looks at Okajima, "want to partner up, Okajima-kun?"

"Hell yes!" Okajima practically leaps off the stratosphere with his elated jump and yell.

"Okay then, let's get going." Kurahashi claps her hands together cheerfully before heading off to the cave. Okajima follows behind after pointing at Maehara smugly.

Staring after the pair with a weirded out expression, Okano mutters, "what does that kind of reaction mean? He does know that Kurahashi was just taking one for the team right?"

"That's mean," Mimura says in exasperation.

"That point means, 'a girl asked me out before you Maehara! Hah!'" Maehara explains, doing a fairly good immitation of Okajima's voice. "So I'm going to be mean too and say serves him right."

"Y-Yeah, you're pretty pathetic," Okano stammers. She crosses her arms and falters for a moment bfeore continuing. "I was going to a-ask Isogai-kun to pair up...but you're so pathetic, how about I invite you instead?"

"Whoa, please never ask a guy out on a date," Maehara answers with clear amusement in his voice.

"Hiroto..."

"Shut up okay!" Okano snaps. Clearly regretting her decision, she turns towards Isogai. "Isogai-kun, pair up with me?"

Despite her words, Isogai can tell that the one Okano came to them to invite was Maehara.

So he smiles and holds up a hand in apology. "Ah, please do me a favour, Okano-san. This guy probably won't get a partner in time, so could you please pair up with him? I'm really sorry to ask this of you."

"I-If you put it that way."

"Thank you, Okano-san."

"Oi, oi, don't I get a say in this?" Maehara asks exasperatedly.

"Isogai-kun and I are already doing you a favour, stop being annoying," Okano answers and drags Maehara off.

"That one is a tsundere," Mimura mutters as they watch the pair head off.

Unexpectedly, Isogai can't refute.

"Well, I'm going to leave you to your lonesome," Mimura claps Isogai on the back and heads to where Okano and Kayano are giggling together, "Kayano-san..."

Isogai laughs. Mimura had said before that he thought Kayano was cute. Looking around at the unpaired classmates, isogai notices Chiba chatting to Takebayashi. The two of them were more introverted and shy so it's no surprise to Isogai that they haven't paired with anyone yet. He considers if he should ask but then Chiba shakes his head at Takebayashi and calls out.

"Rinka."

Hayami looks up from where she and the rest of the girls are clustered together. Both Chiba and Takebayashi walk toward them.

"Let's partner?" Chiba asks. "You're good with horror stuff right?"

Hayami considers for a moment before nodding. "As long as you don't scream."

And just like that their sniper duo are heading to the cave.

"Then, Fuwa-san," Takebayashi voices.

"Okay. I can't wait to see what Korosensei tries to throw at us," Fuwa cackles as she rubs her hands together. The two go to the cave and Isogai almost thinks he sees the words veterans of horror manga slathered over them.

"Yoshida, let's go," unexpectedly, Hara and Yoshida pair up and head into Korosensei's little haunted house. Isogai watches them with surprise. He hadn't known they were familiar with one another.

"That's almost everyone paired up," Isogai mutters to himself as he sees the remainder of the Terasaka gang form a trio and head into the caves. The only ones left are him, Okuda, Kataoka and Kimura. Kataoka catches his eye and cocks her head at Okuda.

Isogai promptly takes the cue and moves over, smiling at Okuda and inviting her to come with him. She looks shocked but agrees.

Isogai feel almost like an escort as he leads the blushing Okuda to the cave where Korosensei has planned their test of courage.

:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ

Extra #2:

On the chair

:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ

"Um...how has baseball been?"

"What?"

"You've been practicing something, I heard? Since you want to continue into college, I was just wondering..."

"Oh, uh, yeah. It's actually been going pretty well. You know how Korosensei recommended I try to find my own style? I've been referencing several different types of pitchers to try to identify ones that are similar to the advice he gave me. It's been pretty useful."

"That's good then."

"Then, what about you?"

"Me?"

"You like games and stuff, but you said your family was strict. How are things going with them?"

"Ah. Well..."

"You don't have to share if you don't want to."

(unexpectedly one minute has passed already, but a certain octopus chose not to remind them of it. The octopus also does its best to not listen in.)

"...I'm trying to speak out more. About things I like and things I dislike...I tried talking to my mum because she's less fixated on work and success and more on...me? Oh, that sounds so selfish."

"No, I get it. You mean she's more concerned about your happiness and wellbeing than your grades and stuff, right?"

"Yes! Thank you, Sugino-kun."

"No problem."

"My father...is a little harder..."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"...not really right now."

"Well, I'm always here for you, Kanzaki-san."

"Fufu."

"N-Not just me, also...Nagisa and Kayano and Okuda and uh...everyone really. Everyone in our class likes you."

"That's very kind of you to say Sugino. I would be happy if everyone thought favourably of me."

"They do!"

"You're such a nice person Sugino."

"Nice, huh..."

"Eh? Have I upset you?"

"Nope, just that people usually say nice guys don't get anywhere."

"That's silly. If you're not a nice person, you can't get anywhere substantial. I suppose some ruthlessness is necessary at the core...but still, it's never a bad thing to be a kind person! I personally think very highly of kind people!"

"A-Ah."

"Oh, I'm sorry!"

"No, don't apologise—"

"I've been rude."

"No, you haven't!"

"Has it been a minute?"

"Look, the door's open."

"We can continue then."

"Kanzaki-san."

"Yes?"

"Thanks. I'll try to remember to be a good person. S-So that you'll think highly of me."

"I also have to thank you, Sugino-kun. For listening to me."

"Oh, yeah, heh. Just take things one step at a time. You know?"

"Yes."

:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ

Extra #3:

sniper duo and the test of courage

*it should be noted that our sniper couple (somewhat for comedic effect) basically have no reactions, so exclamation marks indicate a slight up lift at the end of their sentence and bad jokes are likewise made with a straight face.

:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ:・ﾟ

After listening to Korosensei's introductory segment, Hayami and Chiba set off through the caves.

A ways down the passage, Hayami can't help herself. "Ryukyu, huh?"

"Please don't."

"Ryukyu sounds particularly familiar."

"Rinka..." There's the barest hint of a whine in Chiba's voice and Hayami lays off.

For now.

They continue through the cave and face the skeleton that drops from the ceiling. Chiba jumps about a mile (which is to say he steps back) while Hayami just blinks particularly forcefully.

"It sure looks realistic," she says after a moment.

"Don't touch it." Chiba pulls her hand away. "Let's just try to get through this."

"How are you scared of things like this?" Hayami wonders as they travel down a branch of the cave.

Chiba doesn't answer Hayami's teasing in silent protest. They soon encounter a blockage: a paper screen with a shadow behind.

The snipers listen quietly as the shadow holds up a knife and outlines its resentment toward the pursuers who killed their breathen.

"Blood or perhaps...a couple making out."

Wordlessly, Hayami and Chiba draw their guns.

After getting past that hurdle, they take a wrong turn and run into a skeleton eating what appears to be a bowl of human body parts.

This time, Chiba is so scared that he actively pulls Hayami away. She's amused enough to let him pull her through the passages.

"I can't believe Ryuunosuke is scared of the Ryukyu," Hayami says as he continues to pull her.

"Please don't make a joke about the names."

"Ryuu is scared of Ryuu."

"Your sense of humour is so bad." Chiba sighs.

"Ryuu and Ryuu."

"Stop."

Then their torchlight suddenly shuts off.

"Ryuu, what did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!"

"Then why did it switch off?"

Soon the flashlight is on again.

"I fixed it," Chiba turns to face Hayami proudly. So naturally the flashlight goes off again.

"Yes, you fixed it."

Chiba wordlessly switches it on again. It's barely on for a split second before it switches off.

"Let's just continue."

The pair continue but suddenly feel slimy and sticky things touching them in the dark. Without knowing what it is, Chiba easily imagines something suitibly horrific and is so scared that he can only stiffly walk.

"Rinka..."

"Yes?"

"Help."

He soon feels a tug on his pants. "Just squat down and squat walk."

Leave it to Hayami to find a ridiculous solution.

He regularly puts up his hand to check if the slimy things are still there. After a while of squat walking, they've clearly made it past the slimy things and their torchlight works again.

"Finally, we can see," Hayami exhales.

They're only halfway through the next passage when a gust of wind greets them, followed by a scream of "No eyes!" and another violent gust of wind.

"What was that?" Hayami asks, putting down the arms she had held up to sheild her face from the two sucessive blasts.

"He panicked for now reason," Chiba self conciously touches his long fringe, "I have eyes."

"Let's just get out of here," rather than reply, Hayami glances at the passage Korosensei had flung himself through and hears him screaming.

"He's probably going to scare himself silly," Chiba shakes his head.