Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this story except for the OC's. Assassination Classroom is owned by Yusei Matsui, Viz Media, and FUNimation. Time in a Bottle is owned by Jim Croce, ABC Records, and Vertigo Records.
Nagisa groaned tiredly as he got up out of bed. It had been almost a week since that fateful night. A week since he plunged the knife into their teacher, Korosensei's, chest, killing him. A week since Knugigaoka's End Class, now known to themselves as the "Assassination Classroom", claimed their 10 billion yen reward. A week since they graduated, a week since the E Class system was forever dismantled and Gakuho Asano was forced by public opinion to step down as principal, and a week since they all went their separate ways at the beginning of their short spring break. But now the break was over and it was now time for the first day of high school.
After getting dressed and having breakfast Nagisa set out for his new school. Any normal kid would experience the combined feelings of excitement and dread at the prospect of going to high school for the first time. And while Nagisa, who was far from a normal kid, was having those feelings he was also feeling kinda sad.
If I could save time in a bottle
The first thing that I'd like to do
Is to save everyday 'til eternity passes away
Just to spend them with you
In the year that he had spent with his classmates they had formed a strong bond. They had become a family; brother and sisters in arms. And Nagisa trusted his 27 brothers and sisters with his life, he knew that they would always have his back. Their time together in the Assassination Classroom was a time they would all treasure for as long as they live. It was those experiences that changed them for the better; that made them better people and drove them to do better.
The crescent moon, which had symbolized that wonderful year they spent together, was just starting to crumble. Apparently it was collapsing in on it's own gravity and would eventually revert back to its original shape, albeit a little smaller.
It didn't matter if the moon changed its shape, they would always keep those moments in their heart. And even though they wished those moments could last forever, the cruel reality was that nothing lasts forever and it was time for them to move on.
If I could make days last forever
If words could make wishes come true
I'd save everyday like a treasure and then
Again, I would spend them with you
School started off as pretty standard, first the orientation and then off to actual class for introductions. He did his best not to stand out too much. It wasn't that he was opposed to meeting new people, but the thought of making any new friends outside of his existing circle of friends….something about it just felt inherently wrong. Like the deep connections he had with his friends in the Assassination Classroom just couldn't be replicated.
But despite the initial feeling of hesitation he did manage to make a few new friends on his first day.
First was Sora Kubo and Midori Kudo. They were childhood friends and apparently inseparable since birth. Sora was a boy with dark forest green hair who was absolutely obsessed with video games. A self-proclaimed gaming master who also boasted an enormous collection of retro consoles that included the original Nintendo Color TV-Game 6 and 15 consoles. Midori was a petite girl with long pale sage green hair who loved comics and manga and drawing. It was her dream to become a famous manga artist and eventually, hopefully, get an anime based on her work.
And then there was Ren Hasegawa. Ren was tall with bleached hair with some slight brown locks poking out at the roots and a myriad of piercings in his nose, ears, and even one in his eyebrow. He was a star player on the basketball team and was absolutely obsessed with the sport.
All would turn out to be good friends to have but it wasn't the same.
But there never seems to be enough time
To so the things you wanna do once you find them
I've looked around enough to know
You're the one I wanna go through time with
It was actually at the suggestion of another eventual friend, a buxom purple-haired Chinese girl named Ming Hsu, that he should join the Kendo Club. Hsu was the captain and had taken notice of his speed and agility during PE. Despite having some hang-ups, Nagisa accepted her offer and, thanks to his assassination training, insantly became the best on the team constantly dodging and striking with intense speed.
He also quickly became very popular, especially with the girls.
If I had a box just for wishes
And dreams that had never come true
The box would be empty except for the memory
Of how they were answered by you
In between his studies, he did want to be a teacher after all, Nagisa would find time to hang out with his new friends. Though Ren was not always there as he was usually busy with team practice or otherwise preoccupied so it was mostly Sora, Midori, and Hsu. And they would often go to karaoke or an arcade but other times they would go over to Sora's house to just sit around and eat snacks and play video games or whatever.
Nagisa wondered why Hsu would always readily go with them as he figured she would have been busy with the Kendo Club. Another curious thing, whenever he suggested going to his house Hsu would instantly and almost in a panic try to shoot that idea down. He had also noticed that she seemed more irritated whenever other girls would try to talk to him. It was abundantly obvious that she had a thing for him and it made him wonder why she wouldn't want to go to his house.
So the next time their little group, including Ren this time, got together Nagisa took Hsu aside while everyone else went in line to get their food. He asked her and she, as tears threatened to escape her eyes, told him that she was afraid that his parents wouldn't accept her because she was Chinese. Nagisa then took her hand and assured her that his parents weren't like that.
He later asked her out on a proper date, they went to see the latest Sonic Ninja movie and dinner. Afterwards he took her to meet his parents who accepted her instantly, like Hsu and Hiromi got along great. Nagisa later took her home and they departed with a warm hug and a deep kiss.
For Nagisa Shoita, life had moved on. And for Nagisa Shoita, life was great.
But there never seems to be enough time
To so the things you wanna do once you find them
I've looked around enough to know
You're the one I wanna go through time with
It had been several months since he began high school. In between school, Kendo practice, friends, dates, and occasionally tutoring Sakura, Nagisa was exhausted. After falling onto his bed he heard the sudden ping of a notification on his phone. Figuring that it was Hsu as she would usually message him, especially with sexy photos, he checked it out. It was not Hsu, but rather an unknown number saying to meet at the festival later tonight.
He ultimately decided to go to the festival if not out of some sick curiosity. Upon setting foot on the festival grounds he heard a high pitched voice call put his name. He turned around to see his old classmate Kaede Kayano (real name Akari Yukimura and known to the rest of the world as Haruna Mase) still with green hair, waving and smiling warmly at him. His first instinct was to run towards her and scoop her up in a tight hug.
After both had calmed down from their emotional reunion, Kayano told him that the others were waiting for them. She led him to a large tent, upon entering he saw several rows of wooden picnic tables. And sure enough, sitting in a bunch in the far right corner was the rest of the Assassination Classroom.
They proceeded to catch up on what was going on in their respective lives. Sugino was the star player of his high school baseball team, Chiba was taking an architecture class, Fuwa was writing a short manga series that was also being published in her school's magazine, Yoshida had snagged first place in a bike race a couple weeks ago, and Karma still at Kunugigaoka had taken the top spot away from Asano. Nagisa had also caught everyone up to speed on his own life but left out certain details, specifically his girlfriend.
Later they went to all of the stalls, ate some street food, went on the rides, and watched the fireworks.
Not only was his life better than it was a year ago, but he also got to reunite, albeit very briefly, with his old friends at the festival.
If I could save time in a bottle
It was times like these that he wished would last forever.
THE END