This is one of those chapters I'm not sure if I like. Also I'm pretty sure I caught strep throat. Just in time for the holidays.
Responses to reviews:
Tsukiko K: Haha. Yeah, I loved writing that part. I think if Nagisa didn't make his students cringe at least a little bit, he wouldn't be the spiritual successor to Koro-sensei. Never fear, it was a one-time joke and won't become a running gag.
G: Meh. I don't hate the ship (I only downright dislike two ships I've seen floating around the AssClass fandom and only one of them is really classifiable as 'canon'), I just didn't get the feeling the Karasuma genuinely returned her affection. It felt to me like he was taking pity on her whenever they had any significant interactions. But if other people like it, that's great. I refuse to diss other people's ships.
The days had begun to fly by; it was already mid-January. In the front office, the secretary had begun a countdown to graduation. Nagisa ignored it; he didn't want to think that his first year teaching was almost over. When he walked in the building, he liked to focus on who was in the room with him. And so far this term, he hadn't seen neither Shibata not Nakagawa. While it was pleasing to not have to deal with their condescending snarkiness and fearful looks, it deeply concerned Nagisa that he didn't know what they were doing now.
Who knows what they're up to, Nagisa thought with indignation as he entered the classroom one such Monday morning. Instead of doing the standard morning greeting, the students threw crumpled up paper at him. He ignored it and took his scarf off. "I hope you're all prepared for the test today-"
"Yeah, this is how we study!" Azuki yelled.
Nagisa picked up all the paper later when the test was distributed. It was indeed homework and scratch paper full of notes and equations. Nagisa sorted them out and handed them to each student individually with notes about taking care of study materials in case they are needed later.
Kagato's hearing for the trespassing event came and went, and Nagisa heard of it. "I have to do 24 hours of community service before graduation." He whined and sat down in his desk.
"You got off easy compared to what they did to my cousin for the same thing." Hamada yawned.
"Oh, it must be nice to have a politically influential daddy." Shisaki frowned.
"Hell, it must be nice to have a daddy." Kasegawa snapped he pencil in half. Kazama handed her another one.
"I see. What are you going to do?" Nagisa looked up from stapling packets of work, addressing his 'most difficult student'. He certainty felt the pain of the other three.
"I dunno. Whatever they force me to do, I'll probably fight it."
"Maybe you could work at the Wakaba Park daycare." Nagisa suggested mischievously, remembering the days he spent there with his classmates to atone for their misdeeds.
"Fuck no." He put his feet up on the desk. Nagisa glared at him until he put them back on the floor. The delinquent continued to try the tough guy act. "I know you're content to do bullshit work, but I-"
"Then what's this all important, non-bullshit work you plan on doing?" Nagisa titled his head. "Because I haven't heard a word about it. Remember, career counseling is coming up."
The whole class went quiet. Nagisa broke the silence by smiling sweetly. "You guys look like you're getting hunted down by a vicious killer." He giggled.
The class joined in, albeit uncomfortably. Oh, if only they knew…
Predictably, it was later that day that Kaede began to sniffle and sneeze, then Akari followed, then the following morning Nagisa woke up with an awful cold.
"Class," His hoarse voice meekly rose above the class. "Put down your 'weapons'. We're about to start reviewing for the midterm. I told you no assassination attempts if it interferes with your academics." He turned around to write on the board. January 18th. 22 days 'til midterms.
Nagisa walked through the halls of the school after talking to Tsukuda when class let out (He was still having trouble in science). Contemplating where was the best place to buy ingredients for miso soup, he bumped into someone had hadn't seen in what felt like an eternity.
"Principal Akino." Nagisa coughed as he bowed, resenting his weak immune system.
"Hello there, Shiota-san." The principal's smile was big and fraudulent. "Actually, I was looking for you. You know what's coming up?"
"A lot of things." Nagisa rummaged through his pockets for a pack of tissues.
"The kids are voting on teacher of the year." His voice was almost mocking. "What have you done to ensure that your students are voting for you?"
The question caught Nagisa off guard; he hadn't paid much attention to the whole thing. His only hope regarding this was that neither of his suspects got the award. That would make it really hard to pin this whole 'stealing money from the school and who knows what else' thing on them. Honestly, he didn't even care if anyone voted for him.
"Um. Well. I like to think my teaching methods speak for themselves." Nagisa tried to laugh.
"Ahh, to be young again." The man stared out the window.
That really did lead to the question: How old was the principal? Where was he from? He seemed borderline otherworldly. He did remind Nagisa of Principal Asano, but that was more his attitude and aura than his appearance. Nagisa felt less threatened by him than he ever did by Asano, that was for sure. But it was still an uncomfortable feeling, like a puppet master trying to pull your strings.
But threatening or not, Nagisa didn't feel like dealing with this today. He wanted to go home, take some cold medicine, and take a nap. So before the principal could say another word, Nagisa gave a second bow and began to leave.
"Have a nice day, principal!" He smiled.
"Wait." His boss's deep voice echoed throughout the empty hall.
Nagisa obeyed and stood still. Principal Akino walked menacingly towards him and handed him a yellow envelope. Nagisa looked for writing or a note, or something to indicate what it was for.
"Here. For that other thing that's coming up."
If there was one thing that dominated Nagisa's work life this whole month, it was preparing his students for the midterms. The good news was that everyone seemed to be focusing and putting in an effort. When they weren't plotting for his demise, that is.
Aida tackled him to the ground and tried to strangle his blue-haired sensei. Nagisa was able to get him off by applying just the right amount of pressure to his jugular. He coughed once, and Nagisa was able to push him to the ground.
Nagisa gestured to the equation he wrote on the chalkboard. "How do we solve this?"
"I know! Use that formula you've been going on and on about all semester-"
"This equation is linear, you can't use the quadratic formula."
For that particular bit of tutoring, Nagisa was rewarded with another attack, this time aiming for his head.
Azuki threw thumbtacks at Nagisa (from where did he even get those, Nagisa wondered), while explaining the process of mitosis.
"Explain the part about spindle fibers again a bit louder, I can't hear you over the torrent of thumbtacks on the wall." Nagisa held up a fragment of cardboard box that had stayed in the room since Kasegawa threw it at him in September, to shield himself.
It was so stressful, in fact, that Nagisa almost forgot about the school festival until a flyer that the wind blew in his face reminded him.
Paradise High School's Winter Festival!
January 25th-27th
Come one, come all!
The flyer was decorated with Perry, the Paradise High Porcupine (the school's mascot). He had many speech bubbles erupting from him. Food! Games! Fun!
Sigh. Nagisa walked slowly to the train station. No one really came to the festival except for students, siblings, and maybe the occasional doting parent. At least this was what Nagisa was told by his pupils. And Kawaguchi. And Narayama. And the people at the front office. And- well, just about everybody who's been here for more than a year. This wasn't like Kunugigaoka at all, where student festivals were a spectacle. They weren't looking to impress anyone.
"So why bother?", as Takemura had put it when the topic of discussion came up during their tutoring session a few days prior.
Nagisa got to his flat, and immediately hugged his fiancée and daughter. Sometimes it's not about impressing people, instead it's about doing the best you can.
On a cold Sunday night, Nagisa sat cross-legged on the floor with the budget sheets spread out in front of him, holding Kaede in his arms and gently rocking her. There was one sheet for ideas about props, backgrounds, costumes, music, and sound effects. He figured he would get the ball rolling. Kaede clung to her stuffed octopus, occasionally cooing at Nagisa.
Nagisa looked at the envelope full of cash that the principal gave to him. According to a note inside, it was indeed the budget for the festival. It was significantly less than the other classes got- only about 65,000 yen. According to whispered rumors, Class 3-1 got 100,000 yen. And it was hand delivered to him, just to rub it in. Was this a part of the hazing ritual, some sort of intimidation tactic?
There were about eight students to costume, assuming four would set up and run the exhibit. It would probably take about 20,000 yen for props, maybe they could skimp on those since it was in the dark. But they probably shouldn't. That would leave 45,000 for costumes, split eight ways… How could they afford this!? He had no money of his own to contribute, and there was no time for another fundraiser.
Beginning to sweat in frustration and anger, Nagisa felt himself figuratively being taken back in time, again. He thought of a mountain, of himself surrounded by his friends at the age of fifteen. And of a bright yellow octopus-like creature's words. Being on this mountain isn't a disadvantage, it's our greatest asset.
Nagisa took a breath. If E Class could overcome our setbacks eight years ago, so can 3-5.
Nagisa's heart felt light again, though it was partially also because of his newborn daughter patting his back when he hugged her. Nagisa stayed up until two in the morning coming up with four different ideas for the atmosphere of the room. He was leaning towards the graveyard set up, but the haunted house and the scary forest and the abandoned asylum were also options. He had drawn out costume designs for a werewolf, a vampire, a ghost, an oni, an alien, a kuchi-sake-onna, and a black cat. All he had left to do was to figure out one more costume idea and show all this to his class.
Yawning, he finally was able to get the baby to go to sleep and himself crawled in next to Akari. Except, he could not get to sleep. The question of what exactly what that last costume would be plagued him. And yet, his mind was too exhausted to come up with anything. He tossed and turned for hours, until an epiphany came unbidden.
Inside Nagisa and Akari's closet, a large yellow dress was draped over some casual clothes. Nagisa saw it through a crack in the sliding door. Of course, Nagisa recognized this dress. Akari wore it when she had to appear as Haruna Mase in public. And it looked great on her, of course. But illuminated by the light from the television at four in the morning, it looked like another beloved person of Nagisa's.
That's it, Nagisa rolled over with yet another yawn. The eighth person will be Koro-sensei. We can just say he's 'that scary guy who destroyed the moon'. That's what they think they know...
His thoughts having finally been quelled, the bluenette finally drifted off into sleep until he woke up to take care of Kaede again.
These days, Nagisa was perpetually haunted by sleepless nights, long work days, and caffeine binges. Between preparing students for midterms (with that new goal he suggested, perhaps not his brightest moment), getting everything ready for the festival, and raising a child for the first time, Nagisa could confidently say he was busier than he'd ever been in his adult life. But one more thing was added to his plate. When Nagisa checked his email the next morning, his heart almost stopped.
To: Nagisa Shiota
From: Gakuho Asano
Subject: Hello there…