XXVIII.

Disclaimer: I do not own Assassination Classroom.

Groaning at the newly announced exercise, I buried my head in my arms and tried to ignore the world around me. As much as I appreciated becoming better in English small-talk, I did not need to know about the sex life of another person nor their favorite type of bondage.

Call me a prude, but there were some things you really didn't need to know.

''… and then he-'' My head thudded back against the desk.

No details. Please. Please.


''Please widen your stance, Sayori-san. You need more balance for this.'' Despite feeling uncomfortable with this position, I followed the order and pushed my feet further apart. I wasn't able to hit the target on the same spot in a row and it grated my nerves that I couldn't do it.

I simply felt uncomfortable with the way I was supposed to stand and it threw off my sense of balance. Maybe I would try a few more times and then tell Hayami and Chiba, this wasn't working this way. It was not like there weren't any alternatives for shooting stances. We could find one together.

I was used to the learning process of repetition and correction due to various sports I had done like table tennis and taekwondo, but it still sucked to be so bad at things at the beginning with no real success. Of course I would maybe be able to do it in a few sessions, but I wouldn't be able to do well in this, least master it. But I didn't want to be a sharp-shooter anyway. This whole thing was still too unnatural to me.

(I forced myself not to shudder, when I realized I could easily apply this whole ideal to the beginning of this life and buried that thought far, far away. Having a meltdown now, was really not going to do me any favors)

''Stop, please, Sayori-san.'' My gun stilled at the order, my eyes flitting to my two tutors. Karma was sitting on the side and writing down something with a manic smile. I would probably be hearing about this later.

''We'll stop this for now. Chiba and I have now seen what you can do and will evaluate it. I'll write you a message when we're done and then we can tell you more,'' Hayami said and tilted her head in askance, while looking at Chiba. The boy nodded.

''Okay, thank you, Hayami-san, Chiba-san. See you tomorrow. I still have something to do in the building. Ill clean up, too.'' They hesitated for a moment out of instinctive politeness, but then gave in when I pointed my chin at Karma, who was now furiously writing down something. ''He'll help me. Don't worry about that.''

''Alright, see you tomorrow then, Sayori-san.''

''See you two tomorrow. Thanks again for this.'' I received two different ways of 'you're welcome' and turned then to Karma, who was grinning at me innocently. I gave him a flat stare.

''Right, spill.'' In return, the redhead gave me a mock-wounded look and pouted. I would have pointed that out if it had any effect of embarrassing him. Unfortunately it didn't have any.

''You're boring, Sayo. That's really no fun if you don't even react anymore.'' I arched up an eyebrow.

''I have spent just about half of my current life here with you. Do you think I'll even try to be surprised?''I got a face with an outstretched tongue for my smart-assing and sat down beside Karma to look at his notes or whatever it was.

Said notes were a rather eloquent plan for humiliating our teacher during the next lesson tomorrow. Also additional side notes for a possible assassination, but that was somehow besides the point even if it was a thing he was supposed to do. Karma rarely did everything according to the things he was supposed to do.

''You in, Sayo?'' He laughed at my expression. ''Of course, how could I have doubted you?''

''Well, damn you if you did, because I'm really not going to leave you alone with anything.''

''Sounds like we're married for life. Any suggestions?'' He waggled his eyebrows at me, though I didn't miss his hand touching mine. While I didn't particularly like people touching me, Karma was a welcome warmth I didn't want to push away.

''Well, I don't know about being married, but you'll never get rid of me. I'm like a bad case of fungi.'' Distantly I could feel Karma leaning a little bit closer to me, his body heat warming me.

''Well, I guess you grew on me,'' he purred out and I let out surprised bark of laughter. Well, guess he infected me, too. Kanzaki would have been proud of me that I hadn't even told anyone this one.

''You're awesome,'' I told Karma honestly and stood up after a brief bout of silence to dusk off my skirt, effectively destroying the atmosphere of emotional closeness. Nobody could say I didn't love Karma in my way, but I was so awkward at showing anything and my affection for him was not the same he felt for me, yet.

''Come on. Let's clean up the field.'' I turned around and offered him my hand. His expression was for a moment unreadable, before he stretched out his hand and took mine.

''Okay, Sayo.''

After taking back the targets into the storage room, I went back to the classroom to get a good look for any damage we had done these days. It always payed to look out for anything out of place to either use it or to repair it.

Karma had said he would come later, since he wanted to geta few things for his next plan from the storage room first. I would get an explanation either way, so I let him proceed as he wanted. Not like I could stop him.

I noted down a brittle plank, the newly repaired window and the way our blackboard seemed to creak at every move it made, while being pulled down. Right, how sensitive were sensei's ears?

''Hey Ritsu-san, are you still online?'' A short pause.

''Yes, I'm here, Sayori-san. Is there anything you want?'' the AI answered me, while her screen flickered to life to reveal her pretty face. Turning my head slightly to see her from my standpoint, I weaved with my hand through my hair.

''Yeah, did you inspect Koro-sensei's susceptibility to sound? I'd like to make a list on his five senses,'' I answered easily and ran though a few plans to test it. The most successful one would be to play out different sequences in class and gauge his reaction to them, though they would have to be non-harming to anyone of us.

''I haven't done that yet, Sayori-san, though that would be an interesting subject to inspect. Do you have any ideas?'' Nodding, I told her my half-assed idea of broadcasting different tone sequences.

''That's quite a good idea. We could also test the hearing range of everyone in class. How about puns?'' she told me to my surprise and her face lit up in a brilliant smile. For a moment I thought I had found someone who could truly appreciate all of the puns that I cracked every day.

''That, Ritsu-san, is an absolutely brilliant idea.''

Satisfied with the plan, I went out to see what Karma was doing for so long. I had been in the room for at least 20 minutes and he hadn't surfaced yet from his hideout.

I was just about to go out of the door, when I felt an uneasy prickling on my neck and a second later something was dropping down on the floor. My pulse jumped dangerously high from only the aura of that person, my stomach twisting into painful knots.

Sensing something along the lines of dangerattackmoveaway, I desperately swung my bag at the figure and moved the hell away, my face facing whatever it was.

''Not bad, little kitten,'' a male voice with an Slavic accent chuckled and I felt a shudder go down my spine. Mentally preparing myself, I forced myself not to show anything of the anxiousness (fear, you call it fear) I felt and deliberately didn't think of Karma or any reasons why he wasn't here yet.

(Ohgodkarmawherewashewhat-)

The assassins weren't allowed to kill us, but I didn't like to take the risk of any of them not being mentally stable enough to hold that rule. Paranoia was not paranoia when it was actually justified.

(fuckwherewaskarma-)

''You have good instincts, I have to admit. Your class has certainly more potential than I thought.'' The figure turned his body to me so I could see him. His gloved hands held my bag still in his right, the other was stroking his chin.

He was left-dominant, I realized. His worn-out gloves showed more signs of being used on his left side, but I couldn't see his muscle size through his trench coat. Was he so confident or why would he give away such a big clue about himself? (Also, what's with this cliché?)

Still looking for any signs of danger, I analyzed his European looking face, his dark eye bags and the wrinkles on his face. The man was maybe in his mid-fifties, though he was still fit. Not many people around his age could react that fast.

I stood no chance against him, I knew that instantly. Not with so little information about him and without any back-up. Maybe I was good at street-fighting but this assassin was completely out of my league. And wasn't that just humiliating?

Not really, if I thought about it, but being left powerless was definitely not the nicest feeling.

''Now, don't be afraid, little kitten. I'm not here for you. An old man like me leaves those things to the younger ones,'' he said, as if he was amused by my tenseness or the difficulties I had with keeping my breathing in check and just not bolt. I could understand how he felt, but I didn't felt very appreciative of that fact. It was normally me, who looked at people with that thought in mind, not the other way around.

Ah, there was that superiority complex again. Hello, again.

''Do you have any business with Jelavic-sensei or Karasuma-sensei?'' I asked warily and moved my thoughts away from my own self-criticism. Now was not the time and I would use it better if was using to try to draw a connection from him to one of our teacher. If he spoke some kind of Slavic language, he was most likely connected to Jelabitch-sensei.

''Yes, I'm here for Irina. Do you know where I might find her?''

''She's in the teacher's lounge down the corridor,'' I answered readily, willing him to leave. Whatever it was, Karasuma-sensei was still there and our other teacher was a skilled assassin. They could deal with him.

He seemed to be familiar with the blonde assassin, but he could be also faking it.

''Thank you, little kitten. Goodbye.'' He set my bag gently on the ground and walked down the corridor, completely silent.

As I hurried out of the building as fast as I could, bag clutched in my arms tightly, I realized that he hadn't made a single sound, beside talking. I let out a strangled choke. Fuck.

''Karma! Are you here?!'' Frazzled and panicked, I turned my head around frantically to look for the familiar head of my childhood friend. (pleasenothimeverythingbutnothim-)

''Yeah, I'm here, Sayo. Why are you so panicked?'' His head appeared behind a shelf, expression pinched into a frown. I didn't waste any time explaining, my mind still fueled by adrenaline and pure panic.

''Hey, Sayo-?'' Karma's voice was puzzled, but I paid him no heed. The urge to check whether he was alright or not was stronger and didn't let me order my thoughts let alone utter out a single sentence. The terror of losing him, the fear of dying again constricted my ability to talk. I did not want to leave again or him to leave me. This life was too precious to me to lose it again.

My arms rested around his neck and I let my head fall against his chest, leaning my ear near his heart, so I could feel his strong pulse beating.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

When I found myself able to focus again, I was sitting on the floor while hugging a worried Karma, who was rumoring some nonsense to me. Or not so much nonsense. He was actually talking about what he wanted to do when he took me on a date.

''-really love that Sushi restaurant, that opened a few weeks ago. We could go to the movies before that. Or maybe the ice rink. We haven't been there in ages. What-?''

''I'd love to go to the ice rink. Let me catch you if you fall,'' I interrupted his chatter with a still shaky voice, while taking his hand to ensure that everything was fine. Karma squeezed back a little, but didn't move. I was definitely not better by still resting my head on his chest and checking his heartbeat periodically.

Feeling somewhat calmer now, I let out a deep sigh and finally relaxed into Karma's hold.

''Hey, tell me what happened?'' The tenderness in his voice made something inside me purr and melt. It felt scarily similar to affection and it surprised me with its strength. I looked into Karma's worried and questioning face and couldn't find the energy to squash it.

''I met an assassin in front of the entrance. He told me he had been watching our class. He was just so fucking skilled. He could have killed me or anyone of us and I wouldn't have noticed it.'' I tried not to let the cold horror from before creep over me again. ''You know, I felt something watching me and then he dropped just behind me and when I threw my bag at him he just caught it and didn't making a single sound. And then you weren't there and I thought he-''

I couldn't get myself to tell him these words. Out of cowardice and for sparring Karma another round hurt, hurt feelings and guilt he could possibly develop over that time. I knew he was smart and smart people got ridiculous thoughts, that went in even more ridiculous directions.

(Well, aren't you a prime example? Though, I have to decide first whether you're smart or not)

Karma just gripped my hand tighter and rubbed my back to ensure I was not panicking again.

''I'm here, Sayo, and I'm not going anywhere, I promise you,'' was murmured into my ear and we fell into silence again.

''Can you sleep over tonight?'' I asked him, subdued. It felt childish to ask him for that, but I knew I would get nightmares over this and relive those that I had had before.

My childhood friend put his chin on my head and covered my neck with his long arms.

''Why are you even asking?'' Was it weird of me for wanting to kiss him in that moment? It could be just the adrenaline and the panic speaking, but I felt a pull of wanting to touch him. Cuddling would have been not the problem if I just didn't want more. It conflicted with my reluctance to do anything romantically with Karma and pushed the question I was always trying to avoid.

So how did I feel about Karma? I was pushing the question away each and every time I tried to think about it. I didn't like the confusing storm of emotions that came along with puberty. Not then, not now. Sometimes, I would love it if my mind would just give me a rest and not just contemplate every decision I did, so for just a moment I tried to stop thinking and just started to feel.

I pulled Karma's hand in mine and counted his pulse.

Thud

He loved me.

Thud

I loved him in a different way.

Thud

But that was changing

Thud

And that scared me.


Swinging my hand around without any sense of coordination, I groped for my alarm clock, which was blaring loudly into my ear. After turning the annoying thing off, I stood up. I would have followed my normal routine of trotting around like a zombie, had not the the sight of a sleepy and disgruntled Karma graced my eyes.

It had been a while since he slept over my place, but he was normally earlier awake than me.

''Réveille-toi, ma belle,'' I greeted him, yawning, and then snickered at his bleary look.

''I think you're the beauty, not me,'' he replied a few moments later, still trying to orientate himself on the futon next to my bed. We hadn't used it in a while and it had been sitting in my closed, waiting to be used again.

''Whatever, I'm in the bathroom. You know where everything is.'' Waving, I moved slowly to my intended destination. It was a bit to early for trying to banter and Karma had never been a morning person – something we definitely had in common.

I realized also that I shouldn't just go into my room in just my bra and skirt, when Karma was still inside and trying to cram out his own clothes. Morning thee are not my best time.

''We should establish some rules for changing, but that would be for nothing. I won't remember them anyway,'' I blurted out and immediately to hit myself for saying something brainless like that. Or at least get some clothes, which I did. Karma blinked at my rather stupid comment, then shrugged, his cheeks a bit red from the memory. I tried not to let this go to my head too much, but hormones and puberty were not as easily dismissed even with an older mindset.

''It's not like we haven't seen each other in worse situations,'' he tried to dismiss the situation casually, so I gladly let him and hummed, remembering the street fights and how Karma had to take off my blouse once to staunch a bleeding wound. In a way, I was glad we didn't do these things so often anymore. The fighting as well as those awkward situations.

No matter what, it still didn't take away the awkward feeling of this moment.


My good mood from the morning diminished quickly, when I sensed the presence of the new assassin again. It was like an itch in the back of my mind, constantly reminding me something was there and it was also dangerous. I didn't know what the guy wanted, maybe he was here to kill Koro-sensei, but there was nothing.

It unsettled me.

The situation came also with the uncomfortable realization that I did jackshit about my fore-knowledge of another possible dimension without me. I could have prepared myself for this, could have made preparations and saved myself from uncomfortable surprises like this. This whole time I had been procrastinating and wasn't that just dumb of me?

So I kicked myself in the ass and started to observe and note down ideas. My notebook about the future was still in my room, but I had a hunch I would need it sooner or later and maybe would have to burn it if I didn't have an idea how to hide it better.

There was no way I was going to be able to avoid outright planning and researching the whole matter later on. So, I resolved myself to pay a visit to the library in town.

As soon as those two crazy killers hiding in the bushes would stop to watch our teacher like a particularly appetizing piece of meat. While standing on two flocks, I snorted at my hypocritical thought and stabbed the ball in form of Koro-sensei's head a bit harder than it was necessary. My balance was thrown a bit by that unnecessary show of force, but I caught it in time.

And promptly got Karasuma-sensei's attention with it.

''Kitani! Control the force you put in your hit. Otherwise your balance will be disrupted!''

''Aye aye, captain!'' I chirped back dutifully and gave my target a softer shove. Figures that I would get his attention this way.

Nagisa shoot me an amused glance from the side.

''So today's pun theme are pirates?'' he asked me, fully aware that I normally didn't even think about something like that.

''Try some time again, when I know what I can even joke about, mate,'' I huffed and glanced back at our teacher, who was still relaxed as he could be. That was probably not that much relaxed, but he didn't let it show on his face that he knew he was shadowed.

In a way I felt respect for that man, but at the same time he was bound by the government and could not do things easily without orders. He may have changed in the other universe, but now we were still at the beginning of everything of this clusterfuck.

Trust may be an issue, since almost every adult here could be compromised.

I was forced out of my musing when someone's arms slung themselves around me and lifted me of the two poles I was standing on. On reflex I jerked and put my elbow into my attackers face-

-except I didn't. Karma dropped me just at the same time I had moved to elbow his face and escaped a messy nose bleed barely.

''Not nice to stare at him, Sayo,'' he whispered into my ear and slung his arms around me once again.

I flushed out of embarrassment for being caught staring red-handed. It hadn't even been for ogling, which I had no reason to flush for. Again, Karasuma-sensei was attractive. No, it was more along the lines of zoning out and being caught by Karma. I hated being sneaked on.

''Was thinking, not staring,'' I mumbled just as quietly as him and let myself relax against him.

''Then don't stare at him, while you do that. How about looking in my direction for once?'' Golden eyes looked with mine and for a moment it all felt so very intense. I opened my mouth to say something, then-

''Either you kiss or you don't because we don't need you to stare into each others' eyes all day,'' Nakamura shouted over from the other side of the poles and I flinched from the sudden noise. Karma on the other hand acted on those words. Taking my inattention as a chance, the redhead pulled my face into his right hand and kissed me within the time span of three seconds before he let go.

He looked kinda smug like a satisfied cat and I had to remember yesterday's breakdown. That urge was still there.

''Now, Sayo, that's my reward for helping.'' I snorted and tried to get rid of the warm chummy feeling in my chest. Now was not the time to think about our relationship. I just felt damn awkward with this. In fact, I didn't have a lot romantic experience or at least didn't remember anything like the thing, that was between Karma and me.

It was more than simple attraction, that had been at the beginning of most of my relationships, and I was hesitating out of reluctance to start anything. Karma was- he was so special to me, but I didn't know where he stood anymore.

''Right, thanks for helping me not stare at my hot teacher.'' Karma made a face and stuck out his tongue at me. He looked relaxed so as I could see it, but there was a hint of disappointment in his eyes and was covering his mouth in that what seemed to be thoughtfulness. I barely resisted to do the same and touch my lips. They were tingling.

''Speaking of hot, we're having curry today. Your mother and I planned already,'' he said and let go of me to put on his jacket. Of course I was looking forward to any food Karma and my mother made but they sometimes came up with weird creations that needed time for being appreciated.

''Don't burn off my tongue,'' I answered, thinking about that one time my mom had found new spices for cookingand had tested all of them on us. Deliberately I ignored everything else that had just occurred with tongues and lips. I was thinking too much. ''Grab your things, we're done, I think. You saw today's news on the robbers? I hope you don't want to buy new paint.''

''You guys are hopeless! How can you act like this?''Kayano was looking rather put off by our behavior though, I would have also have said she didn't like that Jelabitch-sensei was showing off her breasts to get Karasuma-sensei let his guard down. Her head seemed to be spinning from the rapid subject change we were having.

Karma looked at me with a half-smile.

''Just like that,'' he told Kayano loftily and shook his head.


The moment I felt the intense killing intent from the teachers' lounge I excused myself from class and didn't come back.


Reveille-toi - French for 'Wake up'

I'm alive and back with a new chapter. Or two, to be honest, since I had split up the chapter due its length. I'm going to upload it sometimes next week.

Between school exams, learning to drive and being sucked into the hell of a fandom that is Yuri! on Ice, I did not have a lot of time writing. I'm lazy, but also RL takes priority. Thanks to all of those, who still read the story and continued to support 'Raven'.

This chapter was betaed by the brilliant Riladell, who helped me so much with everything. I'm really grateful. Her ideas are awesome.

Just for everyone to know and if it's not apparent yet. Karma and Sayori are going to be in a relationship. HeartLuvAnimeGirl gave them the official shipname of Kayo. I like it and it's simple.

I have posted on my tumblr a snippet of Sayo being thrown into canon and wrote a one-shot about Karma and Gakushuu body-switching. It's on my profile. Please have a look.

Thank you for your support during the whole time. 600 follower, I'm honestly thrown.

Wish you a nice day!

-Yuki


Question: How likely is it for Asano (the younger one) to show up in a local library?