Disclaimer: I do not owe Assassination Classroom
IX.
Karma and I took the entrance exams for Kunugigaoka Junior High School. It wasn't a problem to pass those, Karma and I aced them. We got a letter, that we had qualified ourselves for Kunugigaoka.
The first day of the new school year Karma and I went there together. We had to take the train, even if we both hadn't wanted to go by train to school. I guess you couldn't always have what you wanted. I had looked Kunugigaoka Middle School up. It was a relatively new private middle school, only having been founded a few years prior, but it was well known.
There was a weird class system at this school. There existed in the third grade a class named 3E or san-nen E-gumi , who were taught in a building one kilometer away from the main campus. In this class were the school's worst students of the third grade. You could be either lousy at school or some sort of delinquent. It was possible to land there if you broke the school regulations. In the end they were looked down at and discriminated against. It wasn't a pretty system, but it seemed to work. The school rose quickly since its founding and was highly regarded in Tokyo. The other students worked hard not to end like the losers in class E and often ended in influential positions of companies and such. It was a really cruel system, but no one said anything against it. They were either not the ones, that were shunned or those who were, didn't have the courage or the means to do so. The chairman had for sure everything under control.
I myself didn't know how I should change it. I didn't want to go through the hassle, but it didn't seem right. Those kids deserved better, but how could I, as a single student, help them? And in the end I decided that I wouldn't. Maybe I would one day but not now. I felt a bit guilty, but they weren't my responsibility. Maybe later. For now I would just lay low.
In the back of my mind I felt that this was familiar. I knew this system from somewhere, but I didn't remember from where. I looked at my best friend. Once upon a time I had the same feeling when looking at him. How did that connect again? Yes, I remembered. It was a story of an alien wanting to destroy the world and a class should kill it somehow. I didn't really remember any more details but the school had a similar system as Kunugigaoka. This was all coincidence, wasn't it? I shoved it somewhere in my mind where I wouldn't have to think about it. I didn't want to deal with a sudden realization of being reborn in a fictional world. It wasn't possible, was it?
Karma and I stood before the score board and looked for our names.
''Ah, Sayo look up there,'' Karma informed me.
I saw my name. Second place, huh? Not bad. Another name was above mine. Asano Gakushu, I remembered the chairman having the same surname. Maybe his son. Karma's name was on place four. Pity, I expected him to be one place beneath me.
''Ah, Karma. Not good. You are just number four. I expected you to be one place under me.'' I sighed in mock disappointment.
''Yes, I'm very sorry,'' came his monotone voice. I snickered. ''But I expected you to be first place. What happened?''
''Nah, I just wasn't good enough. The guy above was better. Maybe I should study more.'' I feigned thoughtfulness.
''I'm sure if you would study even a bit, you could simply skip middle school,'' he deadpanned. ''It's not like you would need the experience.''
I laughed. He was referring to my first life. Karma had questioned me about my experiences and almost every embarrassing memory. It had been fun telling him about it.
''But I could never leave you alone! You would be so lonely without me, I wouldn't be able to bear that thought.'' I think I got an inclination to dramatics.
Karma just grinned. I could feel glares stabbing into my back. Huh, they took that way too seriously. Karma looked at the homeroom placements.
''Ah, we are both in class D. Let's see... room 211,'' Karma stated.
We went to the classroom. Most of our classmates sat already in our homeroom. We both sat next to each other and waited for our teacher. In the class weren't any classmates from our old school, so it was practically a new start. I wondered what we would make out of it.
The teacher came in. He held a little welcome speech and took note of our attendance. After that we went to the gym hall. It seemed that the other classes were already there. When we had settled down on our assigned place, the chairman, Asano Gakuho, began to speak.
''I welcome you all to our Kunugigaoka Junior High School. I'm the chairman, Asano Gakuho, of this school. Hopefully all of you had relaxing holidays and are now ready for this new school year. Make this a successful year and create your own future. You are the best of the best, so I expect a lot of you.''
He finished his speech with a brilliant smile. This man had for sure charisma. He was fairly tall and really handsome. His brown hair was neatly gelled back and his lightly purple eyes held a warm spark inside them. I could see the admiration in the other students' and teachers' eyes. The perfect leader, but at the same time, this man had created this school system. He was to be wary of.
Another teacher began to talk and I spaced out. This was just another speech for us to do our best and so on. When he neared the end, I could hear snickering. I looked up. The students of the upper classes sent condensing looks at a class on the right of the hall. Class E. It seemed that the teacher had insulted them. The class looked bitter and angry. Their heads were bowed down as a sign of submission. It was a sad sight.
Once the teacher has ended the boring speech, a student stepped forth. He had a similar appearance to the chairman, the exception was the hair color. The boy's hair was in a strawberry blond hue. Just like the chairman he was handsome. Ah, that was Asano Gakushu, the one who got the first place in the entrance exam. I was sure now that he is the chairman's son. Once he had positioned himself in front of the podium he began to speak.
''My name is Asano Gakushu and I go into the 1A. This school is one of the best private schools in Tokyo, which is one of the reasons why I am here. In school you learn, so that you can get a job in the future, but that's not all. We create memories here, that we will never forget. We forge friendships and bonds that will for sure hold longer than just for those three years that we are here. I tell you, enjoy those years and don't waste them, because they are precious and unique.''
Again the students seemed to be moved. A loud applause resounded in the hall and didn't die down until the teacher raised his hand. I looked at the strawberry blond. His mouth was curved into a pleasant smile and he held himself proudly. Again, the perfect student. Eventually his gaze met mine. I hadn't expected that, but send him a polite smile nonetheless. He returned it and held eye contact a little longer than needed. I looked away first. He was definitely creepy in my eyes. His gaze was calculating no matter how kind his smile was.
After a few introductions and instructions we went back to the classroom. We had to introduce ourselves to the class. This was the first impression for our classmates. Honestly I didn't care much, but I guess I should be nice so that I'm not going to be targeted for some shit. Karma had to go before me.
''Hello, I'm Akabane Karma. Nice to make your acquaintance. Hope we aaaaall get along nicely~.'' His voice sounded mocking and sarcastic all the way down. Way to go Karma. The others had him already on the radar as troublemaker. I stared blankly at him. He smiled at the end of his introduction. My turn.
''It's nice to meet you. I'm Kitani Sayori. I hope we will all get along,'' I said, bowed and sat down. Japanese custom and their bows…
After that our teacher, Yamamoto-sensei, handed us out our schedule. He explained a few more things and lastly asked if anyone was willing to be the class' representative. If there weren't any willing to or wanted to think first we would discuss this at a later date. The class wanted to pick one later, so we waited. Then our lessons began. In every subject the teacher introduced themselves again. We had been meeting them already before the lessons in a teacher meeting. We didn't really do much on the first day.
When lunch came Karma and I went outside for some fresh air. The classroom was a bit stuffy with about 30 students breathing in there, excluding the teacher. We both had brought some bento for lunch and settled down outside on a bench.
''So,'' I began. ''What do you think of the class?''
''It's boring. The other students seem so ordinary. It's just like primary school again.''
''Maa, it's just the first day. Maybe you will get an interesting friend later. Are you going to do club activities?''
Karma thought about it for a bit.
''Most likely not. I have looked at the clubs already, but there is nothing interesting there.''
''Really? A pity, I was going to look at them later.'' I was a bit disappointed, but then again I would be home too late. Club activities were after the afternoon classes and lasted two hours. By the time I would be home it would be already evening.
Seeing my disheartened face he changed his mind.
''Well, join one. I will probably go with you if you want that.''
''Thank you.'' I smiled at him. ''Let's look at them tomorrow. Maybe we can decide then.''
After that we chatted about irrelevant things and waited for the bell. Next was clean up. We were shown the cleaning utensils. Today would be no cleaning since it was just the first day. Afternoon classes came afterwards and Karma slept fully through them behind his book. The teachers just didn't care. I really couldn't understand that, but they were paid for standing in the classroom and lecturing. As long as the students got good grades they wouldn't be fired. Oh my, how sad.
When finally the bell rang I made my way towards Karma and woke him up with a flick on his forehead.
''Dornröschen, wake up.'' I snickered at his disgruntled expression. He seemed a bit disorientated at first. I had slipped into German. Dornröschen meant basically Sleeping Beauty.
''Only if you kiss me awake,'' he said in a half-loud voice. I smirked.
''Sure.'' And I planted a kiss on his cheek. ''Now wake up. I want to go home. Good that you still know a bit of German.''
He deadpanned at me.
He slowly rose and mumbled something of 'old hag' and 'making me talk in it every day' under his breath. I elbowed him in the rips for that. Well, I insisted on talking in many languages. I didn't want to get rusty. Eventually we began our journey home to the train station. We took a shortcut through the alley. The both of us were way too lazy to take the longer route. Just to bump into some delinquents. Of course they didn't let us pass.
''Hey, ya two kiddies. You are from that stuck-up private middle school there, aren't ya? I'm sure you have some money left for us. Why dontcha hand it over to me?'' I cringed from his horrible language. The idiot tried to look intimidating but failed horribly. The goons behind him didn't look any better.
''I refuse.'' I wasn't going to give them anything.
''Yes, me too. I don't want to give some thugs my money. You could do bad things with it and little kids shouldn't do that,'' Karma taunted them and they fell right into his trap.
Red-faced, be it from anger or embarrassment, the boy ran forward. I had a feeling that we were in that kind of situation way too often. I sighed. Karma loved it to provoke his opponents and it worked every time. We both stepped aside and he raced past us. Quickly Karma kicked his knees from behind and knocked the guy unconscious with a few well-placed blows.
One down four to go.
The others were rather frightened by Karma's display of violence and decided to go for the weaker target, which was me. One lunged forward to grab me and probably hold me hostage. In return I ducked under his arms and shoved my attacker forwards. He crashed into the wall of the nearby building. Of course that didn't knock him out, but at least he would spurt a nice bruise tomorrow. I simply sent a kick towards his head. It connected and the wall met his head again. During that time Karma had been occupying two others of the group. He simply dodged their clumsy attacks until one got close enough so that Karma could grab his face, hold it down and kneed him into it till he had a bloody nose.
The other planned to attack Karma while he was distracted but I swept his feet away and planted an axe kick into his stomach. I think he vomited but I already went to another opponent. The only guy left stared at Karma and me and noticed quickly that he had no chance, so he started running. Of course the red head beside me didn't want his victim to flee and outran him. As he tackled the guy to the floor, Karma pulled something out of his pocket. It was chili sauce and wasabi.
I shook my head. My friend was such a weirdo. The delinquent paralyzed by fear couldn't do anything but watch as Karma opened the spice bottles.
''Hey, mister, do you know what this it?'' asked Karma. The guy began to answer but Karma didn't let him talk. ''I'm going to put those lovely things into your nose. And it's going to burn.''
By that time Karma had pulled a robe out of nowhere and had bond his arms and feet. Now he squeezed the substances into the nose of the poor guy. I think I saw his soul leaving his body.
''Hey, are you done?'' I asked Karma.
''Sure, sure. Let's go home.''
And we left the alley and the delinquents behind.
''That was a nice first school day, wasn't it?'' I snorted at Karma's statement.
''Yeah, sure. We got into a fight on the first day after school. You are too violent for your own good.'' I sighed.
''Come Sayo. Don't sigh. You will get old and that's why I have you, don't I?'' he slightly scolded me.
I smiled lightly.
''Do you want come over today? Kaa-san is going to question me about school later. Please stand by my side during this big crisis.'' My voice dripped in sarcasm at the last sentence.
''Sayo, you are like your parents, you know that? Always dramatizing the situation.'' He scoffed at me.
''What can I say? It runs in the family.'' I paused for a moment. ''Actually maybe my old one just wants to haunt me. They did it too.''
''I can imagine that,'' was the dry reply.
After a few minutes we reached my home and Karma decided to stay for a while. When we came inside my mother still wasn't home. We went into my room and lazed around there, after I had changed my clothes. Despite it only being the first school day the teachers had given us homework.
''Urgh... What a waste of time, I already know this all,'' I complained. The only thing that I didn't really know was the history part in social studies and maybe Japanese, but in social studies the teacher had begun with the geography part and I had most of it memorized already. I had switched to non-fiction for a while and the first thing I had looked for had been about that.
''Yeah, I know, but we still have to do it,'' came from Karma. Even if he was lazy I had pretty much annoyed him in primary school to do his homework to the point that he did them, just for me to stop. Now the roles were switched.
''This is somehow wrong...'' I realized.
''Isn't it? Normally I would be the one complaining.'' He chuckled and I followed his example.
Suddenly we heard the sound of the door opening downstairs. My mom was home. I looked at Karma.
''And off we go.''
We greeted my mom downstairs and her reaction was just as expected.
''I'm home, Sayo-chan, Karma-kun. How was your first day? Did you find new friends? Any nice boys in the class?''
The last question was sent to me.
''Welcome home,'' I answered her load of questions. ''The first day was ok. No, we didn't befriend someone new and the boys in the class don't look special. Well, except the sleeping beauty beside me. He slept through the afternoon classes.''
Karma made an indignant face at my statement.
''I even had to kiss him awake,'' I added jokingly.
My mother laughed.
''Well Karma, be lucky. You have such a special place in the heart of my dear daughter.'' I think Karma's face was dusted slightly pink now. Teasing him was for sure funny. ''But we better don't tell Yu that. He would be moping for hours.''
A grin settled on our faces and we began to talk a bit. Today's fight popped into my memory.
''Ah, kaa-san.''
''Yes, Sayo-chan?'' She turned her head in my direction.
''Karma and I got into a fight today,'' I said in an even tone.
''What?'' Her voice had taken a sharp edge and I was slightly reluctant to continue this conversation. My mother's expression didn't look friendly.
''Calm down, kaa-san. We didn't get hurt,'' I tried to soothe her temper. ''It were just some middle schoolers. We knocked all of them out.''
She pinched the bridge of her nose.
''You are going to be the death of me, Sayo-chan. Do you want me to get gray hair?''
Karma looked like he had a feeling of déja vu. Well, I had said the same to him once.
''Come on, kaa-san. Everything turned out alright.'' I smiled lightly.
She sighed.
''As long as you aren't hurt. Try to be more cautious, next time.''
I noticed that she didn't prevent us from fighting.
She only said that we shouldn't get hurt. I enveloped her into a hug.
''Yeah, we will do that, kaa-san.''
I grinned at Karma. My mom was just awesome.
Yahoooo! They are finally in Kunugigaoka! I can slowly start with canon now and next chapter is going to include Nagisa! I'm so excited for that ^-^ I'm thinking that Sayori is going to class E due destroying the chemistry lab. She will be experimenting without teacher's supervision and then well... I will say it didn't go smoothly. I think, she is going to do this intentionally by a request from a classmate. After all she would follow Karma pretty much everywhere. Coupling it with her infamous reputation this is going to work I think. What do you think?
I'm totally proud of this fic, since it's my first and I thank everyone who has read, followed, favourised or reviewed to this story. Is there anything else? I'm feeling a bit absendminded lately.
Shiki betaed this chapter. She complained about the length, but it's true this chapter is a bit longer than usual (/./)) I think I torture her with my spelling mistakes xD
Wish you a nice day!
-Yuki
03/24/2016
Does anybody want to rewrite the speeches? They are total crap, I know. PM me if you want.
