Disclaimer: I do not owe Assassination Classroom.

VIII.

The sixth grade was almost over and we had to decide where to go to middle school. Karma and I weren't sure about where to go, but we would go to the same school. It wasn't like it would be a problem for us to pass the entrance. We were still thinking about our choice, but we would most likely go to a nearby school. Taking the train would be too troublesome. The both of us didn't want that. We hadn't really looked into the existing schools around our prefecture, but we would find something.

For now I wanted to watch the meteor shower that was currently taking place in the sky. I had asked Karma to come with me. We would make something akin to a camping trip for this. Actually we would just use a holiday home of his family and stay there overnight. My dad had first protested against it but in the end we could convince him to let us stay there. I was really excited, because I had never seen one. Karma took it in a stride, as long I had fun he would go. I was thinking of telling him of my first life there. Maybe I was just being selfish but I wanted to share my secret with him. After all he was my most trusted friend, I wanted to believe in him and tell him the truth. It was just a question of when the right moment was. When he would truly believe me and not declare me as crazy and leave.

I was really trying not to let my inner conflict show, but it seemed that Karma noticed my slight change of behavior.

''Sayo, are you okay?'' he asked me the day before our trip. It was Friday and we were finally released from school.

''Ah, yes. I'm just excited. It's going to be my first time watching this!'' I answered.

''Yes, but you seem to have something else on your mind. Want to talk about it?'' Ah, he had noticed me spacing out more often. How should I answer to this?

''I'm thinking of telling you something tomorrow. Do you mind waiting a bit?'' I had made up my mind. I was going to put my faith in him.

''Sure, I don't mind.''

''Thanks, you are a darling.''

He scoffed.

''Whatever.''

We went home and continued packing the things that we would need for tomorrow. I would be checking up on Karma later with my mom. She was worrying about our trip, but somehow she didn't want to come with us. Moms were so weird. In my former and the life now it was still the same. After finishing I went with my mother to Karma.

When we arrived Karma was lazing in his room and reading a book. His backpack was already done and he greeted us with a half-hearted wave.

''Yo, Sayo, Kana-san.''

''Hello, Karma-kun. Are you already done packing?'' replied my mother.

''Yes, I am. Do you want to check my bag?'' Karma was already quite comfortable around my mom and behaved a bit more easy-going with her. My father was a different story, but this was somehow a man thing.

My mother nodded and moved to his packed stuff.

I went to Karma's side.

''You ready?'', I asked.

''Yup, all clear,'' came the unenthusiastic answer. He just continued to read his book and didn't look up.

''Wonderful, you are ready to go, Karma-kun. Yuiichiro will drive you tomorrow to your accommodation. He will pick you up. Ok?'' My mother was done checking and explained us the plan for tomorrow.

''Hai,'' we chorused.

The rest of the day Karma and I spent together at his home.


We were finally on the way to the holiday home of the Akabane's. My dad was grumbling something on the driver's seat, but Karma and I didn't understand what he said from the backseat. The two of us were listening to some music and otherwise didn't talk. I couldn't read during travelling by car, because I would get sick, so I just stared out of the window. My thoughts drifted to that what would be happening this evening. We would watch the meteor shower together and I was going to tell Karma my secret. I was a bit jittery, but you could just take it as excitement for the star-gazing. I was going to tell Karma pretty much everything. I wanted that burden to be gone. Not to have the feeling anymore that I was hiding things from him. To be finally able to answer his questions about my knowledge, my memories and everything else, without lying to him. ...I was getting a bit too dramatically.

Sometimes I felt guilty when I had to lie to him because I knew something that I shouldn't, but it wasn't like it broke our friendship. Karma had gotten used to my evasive answers, but he shouldn't get used to something like that, should he?

Urgh... Someone give me a book. I'm thinking too much.

The moment we stopped I practically jumped out of the car. I was totally pent-up from the whole sitting. Today was just not a day where I could stay still.

''Oi, Sayo! Wait for me!'', I heard Karma shouting behind me. I stopped running and turned around.

''Hurry up, you slowpokes!'' I was seriously impatient and my father just loaded slowly the luggage out of the car. ''Tou-san, please hurry up a bit!''

''Not so impatient.'' My father laughed. ''You are finally acting your age. Haha!''

''What are you saying? My age?'' I asked confused.

''Nah, it's nothing. I'm done. Let's get your things into the house.'' He moved to the door.

''...like I'm giving her to him,'' I heard him muttering. I wondered what that was about.

My dad brought the luggage into the bedrooms. The holiday home had four bedrooms. One for two people and two single rooms. There was a bathrooms in each of the two existing stories. My dad insisted that we should sleep in two separate bedrooms, so we unpacked our things alone.

After settling down Karma and I decided to explore the terrain. Karma hadn't been here for a long time but he could still find his way around. He led us to a little stream, which was behind a nearby hill. On the hill you had a perfect view of the sky so we decided to stay there for our star-gazing.

At lunch we cooked something simple with the ingredients that we had brought with us. After cleaning the dishes we went outside again. Karma wanted to look for some animals and I just followed. We saw some squirrels and rabbits, but after a while I just sat down and laid in the sun. I liked it more when it was warm than cold. A few moments after that Karma came running with something in his hands.

''Sayo! Look what I have here.'' He was excited. I wondered what it was. Hopefully not some insect, I strongly disliked them. They had way too many tiny parts that moved and you never knew when one was near you.

''What is it Karma? Don't bring some bug or something like this here,'' I said in a warning tone.

He looked dejected.

''But they are just so cute. Look here!'' He held his hand in front of my face. I stared at a giant stag beetle. Its Y-shaped horn dangled in front of my nose and crawled slightly in Karma's hand.

''AAAAAAH!'' I let out a high-pitched shriek and dashed away as fast as I could. Karma was first stunned by this action but then chased after me. He was getting evil again.

''Sayo, don't run away!'' he shouted. ''Kabuto-san just wants to play.''

''Like hell I'm playing with that monster!'' I continued to run. I would never play with that bug, but Karma was damn determined to torture me with that thing. I continued to sprint, but I quickly noticed, that I didn't have enough stamina to endure that tempo and thought of a plan to get rid of Karma. I saw the stream a bit further down and an idea popped into my mind. I slowed down my speed and ran into the direction of the little river. Karma wouldn't notice my sudden change of speed and if he did he would just come closer. He was after all hell bend on catching me. Exactly that was my goal. Just in front of the stream I turned sharply to the right. The red head of course couldn't adjust quickly enough to my change of direction and ran directly into the water. I watched with satisfaction as Karma fell right into the river and the beetle flew away. Dumbfounded he looked up to me.

''Wha-, SAYO!'' I just splashed more water into his already wet figure.

''That's for bringing a bug to me.'' I send another wave. ''And that's for chasing me with that damn thing.''

''Woah, Sayo! Wait!'' He held his arms up to defend himself of my attacks. ''I'm sorry. Come on help me out. It's cold here.''

Seeing that I had punished him enough I stopped and held a hand out for him. A mistake I realized. My dear best friend just took it and pulled me with him into the stream.

''Sweet, sweet revenge,'' he said, grinning. I looked sourly at him. The ass had the insolence to laugh.

''Come on. Let's get dry.''

We went back to the house and dried ourselves off with some towels. I dried Karma's hair. Just because I was being helpful and not because I wanted to mess with it. No, definitely not.

Till the evening we just lazed around and read some books. There wasn't a lot to do and I wanted to tell him of my reincarnation during the star-gazing. I stared at the wall. Hopefully the time would go by quicker. When the sky was finally dark enough Karma and I went to the hill, where we had a perfect view on the night sky. It looked breathtaking. The disadvantage at living in a city was the light pollution. The sky in the city was just so dark and you never could see the stars. In the countryside it was different. The sky always looked so bright and full of stars. I had lived in the countryside in my previous life, but even in Europe was the light pollution so bad, that you only could see a few stars.

It was kind of sad. I could count 37 years of living experience together but only after 37 of which 12 were from my second life, I was able to see the whole Milky Way. Besides Karma looked admiring at the stars. He seemed to be impressed by the sight, just like me. We first just laid down in comfortable silence and said nothing. Karma was the first one to break it.

''It looks amazing, doesn't it?'', he asked.

''Yes, it does,'' I murmured. He looked at me.

''Sayo, my parents want me to go to some prestigious private middle school in Tokyo. It's named Kunugigaoka Junior High School.''

''So? Are you going?''

''I don't really know. Will you come with me?'' He seemed a bit lost.

''Yeah, I'll follow you to the end of the world, my dear, dear friend,'' I answered with a wry grin.

''Thanks.'' He looked grateful. I wonder why he even doubted.

''Now... I'm going to confess something. You ready?'' I mentally prepared myself. Karma nodded.

''Shoot.''

''Have you ever asked yourself why I know so much? Why I know things that a normal girl in my age isn't supposed to know?'' I took a deep breath. ''I have once lived another life, you know? I was just a normal girl with a normal life. One day I just... died. I ran in front of a truck to save a kid. Pretty stupid, isn't it? I don't even know if he survived, I was just gone. And suddenly I was in a haze for so long, just to wake up in a body of a two-year-old. I thought I was going insane. Maybe this was just a near death illusion and I was imagining all of this.''

I glanced at Karma. He looked shocked. I could tell that he looked slightly hurt by the comment of the near death illusion. I didn't want to hurt him but he needed to hear that or rather, I needed to tell him that.

''But one day I just knew this was real. I had panicked and even went into a state of depression once, but one day I decided that I would just live this life. Maybe not in an ideal way, but hey, I was just thrusted into a new life after my death. I was just trying so hard to get a grip on all of this. I didn't want to think about my old life. I just wanted to forget, so I buried myself into books. I think what held me here were my parents. They were simply so kind and I had just possibly robbed the life of their daughter. You know, I remember this body dying and after that I woke up here. I just had filled it up. I didn't want them to live with someone, whose mind was still stuck between two lives. I would be just causing them grief. So I just decided to live.

Then I meet you. You were something like a new light in my life. I don't interact with people easily, you know? A tiny part of me just fears of what could be. I could leave my loved once behind once again. For them to leave me for being different. One day you just came to me and asked. I suddenly found a new meaning for my life and you are such a big part of it now. I'm really afraid of that what you could say. I really want to tell you everything. I know it's really selfish. You could, after all, just think that I'm insane, because I don't really believe in my own sanity. I'm afraid that you could leave me. I was never good at keeping friendships, all of them had ended in a bad way.''

I stopped talking and didn't look up. Karma had to digest all of this first. I was just nervous. Afraid how he would react. That he would reject me.

''I don't care.''

I was dumbfounded. I... I didn't know what that meant.

''I don't care, that you have lived a different life. I don't care that you could be insane. You are my friend. That is everything that counts. Just believe in me, will you?'' He looked at me dead serious.

''You... You believe me?'' I asked, feeling a bit unsure of this situation.

''I do, I guess. It just explains so much. I don't even want to question its logic, but I think it just makes sense.'' He shrugged.

I didn't expect that. But to be honest I had thought that it would be more difficult. I had told him something scientifically impossible. He just... accepted it. A warm feeling spread in my chest.

''Thank you, Karma.''

''No problem. What are friends for?'' He grinned at me. ''Look! A shooting star!''

I looked up. There was really a shooting star and many followed afterwards. The sky was lit in a celestial light. It was beautiful.

I knew, this day would be forever engraved into my memory.


Haaah... finally over... I had some problems writing this. Seriously it's difficult to write down my ideas, but Shiki helped me quite a lot. Does this chapter seem a bit rushed? I was a bit stressed the last days. My laptop keeps crashing down. I probably lost about a fourth of that what I wrote down first

It's way too hot today -.-

I thank you, animemangafangirl, brie72201, Guest and SilverSapphire34523 for your suggestion how Sayori could enter class E. I'm so touched.

And I thank everyone who has read, favourised and followed this story, not to forget those who reviewed.

Next chapter is the first school day in Kunugigaoka Junior High School.

Look foward to it.

As always Shiki has betaed this chapter. Thanks to her.

Wish you a nice day!

-Yuki