This is my second story published! I hope you guys will like it, I had a lot of fun writing it myself! To those who're upset that I haven't published/added anything to my other story yet, I've come to realize that i'm actually really bad at sticking with one fandom for a very long time. Which is probably why it will take a while before I return to to my other stories. I'm very sorry about this, but that's just how I function best.
I hope to turn this story into a Nagisa x oc. Though it would probably not contain any sexy times (so sorry). The reason I put it as M rated is because I'm still unsure of where this story will go and I'd just like to have warned you beforehand. The oc will have dealt with/deals with depression, so be aware of that before you start reading this story!
Have fun reading!
Chapter 1 So this octopus did what?
It happened just after my Saturday night shift.
I was on the trip back home after finishing up my late night shift at the cafe when suddenly the entire street lit up in a blinding white light in an ear piercing blast. I had stumbled back in shock and buckled to the ground. I screwed my eyes shut as I relinquish my hold on my backpack to protecting my ears from the offensive sound.
The terrible occurrence luckily passed quickly enough, relieve came to me as the unnatural light and the rumbling decreased in volume. And then, just as fast, it was as if nothing had even happened. I warily uncovered my ears and glanced around me.
The street seemed to be in the exact same state as it was before the explosion took place, except for the fact that the other people around me were also down on the ground and in various states of distress. What just happened? Panic rose around me, people were starting to scream and run around the place and I swiftly grabbed onto my backpack as I hurriedly scrambled to my feet to get out of the way of the masses. What was going on? People were running around me in a blind panic and I had to remind myself to take deep breath to keep myself calm.
An explosion had just gone off but I couldn't tell where it took place. Everything was just suddenly casted in a blinding white light and the boom had seemed to echo from all directions. My ears were ringing and the people on the streets weren't helping me figure out what to do either. They didn't evacuate in one particular direction, they were all over the place. Something big hit me out of nowhere and I went down again, roughly landing on my shoulder. I hissed painfully and crawled backwards till I hit something solid. This was insane! What was happening?! I breathed in again through my nose and shakily let the air out through my mouth. I repeated the action.
That's when I noticed arms stretching out above of the crowd, pointing at something in the sky. I looked up and felt my limbs go slack as my eyes went wide and my mouth dropped open.
A crescent moon hung in the sky, seemingly innocent, had it not been for the fact that it had been a full moon not 5 minutes ago. What the… hell? Did the moon explode?!
So needless to say that following weekend was both very exciting and tiresome.
The madness and panic of the masses eased up later on in the night and I was able to make my way back to my home just fine, although I had been terribly jumpy the entire way back. I didn't like how uncertain this entire messed-up situation was.
Mom called me while I was hiding away from the crowd. I had found a narrow alleyway in between two shops that seemed promising and wormed myself through it. It led to another narrow street which I instinctively knew had to be used by the shop owners around the area to unload their products. It was quieter in that alleyway than in the main street and there were less people rushing through it since it didn't exactly lead to anything in the first place.
Mom had gone into a right panic from what I could hear through the phone and although I didn't exactly feel like the calmness itself either, I pressed myself to talk to her in the most soothing tone I could muster.
Because essentially speaking, I was doing alright after all. I mean, sure. In the physically sense, I was a bit tired from working all day and I, of course, got that lovely bruise on my shoulder now. But aside from that I was doing quite fine. And mentally and emotionally speaking, I was actually quite okay with the situation now that I had gotten a moment to ease my own nerves. Which yes, I knew was honestly rather sad for a fourteen year old to say. But I was still working on that. Now though, I was quite happy to be able to remove myself from the situation for a bit. And yeah, I mean sure, yes, I would like it if I could survive the night. But I wasn't exactly equipped to fight against something like this. The freaking moon blew up! How was I supposed to handle that?
So I ignored the chaos revolving around me as I waited out the height of the crowd's hysteria. I imagined myself sitting on a bench in the middle of an overcrowded mall. That was also noisy and unpleasant. Getting worked up about this entire situation wasn't going to do me any favours anyway.
I managed to calm my mom down enough to reassure her that I was safe and sound and already on my way home. She made me promise not to use the trains though, so I had to walk the hour long journey from city center to home.
Which was fine, honestly.
Though walking down the usually busy streets was rather unsettling now. There were a lot less people on the streets now and the people that were there were either sprinting past like crazy or in the middle of a mental breakdown. I couldn't help but feel helpless as I passed by the later group of people, wanting to help them but feeling rather uncomfortable approaching strangers while they were in such an unstable state.
I clutched my backpack straps tighter to my chest, lowered my head to avoid making eye contact and hummed under my breath to keep my pace from faltering. I made it home around three in the morning and stayed up the rest of the night with my family as we kept a sharp eye on the news.
Sadly enough, the news reporters didn't exactly seem to know a lot of what was going on either. A few headlines even repeated themselves once we watched long enough. The most popular appeared to be these:
'The moon blew up!'
'Leaders from countries all around the world are pointing fingers at each other.'
'Religious figures announcing the end of the world.'
'Some scientists discussing the possible consequence of the moon disappearing on the natures balance of the earth.'
'70% of the moon is now gone.'
'Riots are emerging all across the globe. People want their questions answered.'
'The government is requesting its people to stay calm and to remain inside their homes.'
They might have been more informative but this was essentially what I got from them. So all in all, no real leads on what happened or what will eventually happen.
We stayed indoors all day through Sunday, just like the government requested us to do. Keeping a sharp eye on the news as we took turns sleeping, but nothing much chanced. The streets outside our home stayed deserted of any lifeforms and inside our house a heavy tensing prevailed. I couldn't remember the last time we were all inside the house together at the same time and the fact that we were now constantly on each other's lip was honestly driving me up the wall more than the possible disastrous aftermath of the invisible by day overhanging cataclysm better known as the eternal crescent moon.
And then finally, during the six o'clock news, the government sent out an announcement to the people. No real chances have occurred in earth's position to the sun nor in the moon orbit as our natural satellite. The sea levels and currents were unchanged around the world and no further extreme issues have take place in the past couple of hours. We were fine. And if the science people's research from TV were correct then there was no need for us to think we would be anything but fine in the near future.
Cheers and hugs went all around in our living room and I happily joined in on the celebration. Dad even went as far as to open up a new bottle of rice wine which he apparently saved since New Years. Both mom and Suzue-nee were on the phone the moment they received their share of the drink and refused to get off of their devices for the rest of the night.
I watched the rest of the news together with my dad while he commented on the news reporters and drank from the wine. I disregarded my glass right after the first sip, not at all used to the taste. This had actually turned to be one of those rare celebratory moments in which my parents allowed me to drink. And although I did appreciate their enthusiasm to share something with me, I could never seem to stomach the drinks the offered. Which in all honesty, was probably a good thing since I wasn't legally allowed to drink yet.
I noticed through the duration of the evening that the news readers never mentioned anything about a cause or reason for the moon to have exploded. There were no names or countries pointed out as the main perpetrator. And although I was happy about the fact that things seemed to be settling down now. I was still rather uncomfortable with the fact that nobody seemed to know the answers to the who or why questions.
I woke up early on Monday morning and went through my normal morning routine to get ready for school. I got dressed in the girl's winter time uniform that was worn- and proudly represented by the Kunugigaoka Junior High School students. The warm feeling of pride that used to be woven into the very fabric of this uniform had gotten dulled down in the past couple of weeks but I guess that was just to be expected.
I was in class 3-E after all. The infamous classroom that housed all the rejects and delinquents that got sifted out and were eventually separated from the able students of Kunugigaoka, the ones that do have what it takes to perform well when they go out in society. It would be pretty bad after all if those two groups mingled. What if the terrible habits of the students from the 3-E class were to influence the chances to a good future of the other students? Wouldn't it be so unfair to them if they were dragged down because of something as easily preventable as that?
I signed and quickly dressed myself for the day. Going through the familiar motions. I re-checked my school bag to make sure I had all the necessities for class and then quietly made my way down stairs. I collected my bento from the fridge and refilled my water bottle. Then I ate some leftovers from dinner the night before and brushed my teeth. I switched off all the lights, doing a double check to make sure I got all of them and put on my shoes at the genkan before leaving the house.
Looking up at the sky, I suddenly realized that, for a moment, I had actually forgotten the happenings over the weekend. I guess that was the power of habits at work. It was easy for me to lose myself in routines. It was like my mind went on standby then. But now, looking up at the sky, I realized that I probably shouldn't allow myself to be doing that as much.
Up in the sky the moon was still a crescent. It looked unnaturally so, as its empty gap didn't quite resemble the usual shadows that coloured the dark side of the moon. No, now it was truly like a lopsided Cheshire cat grin. Too big and admittedly quite unsettling.
I huffed and heaved my schoolbag a little higher onto my shoulder. Deciding that I should probably check if the trains are running, I dug into my vests pocked and pulled out my cell phone.
"Oh-" A notification signaled that I had received a massage earlier this morning. A massage from Kataoka, the female class representative of my classroom, with an e-mail enclosed from the school board. I opened it up immediately, both hopeful and apprehensive of getting more free time. But the mail merely stated to go to class as usual and that additional information on how to proceed given the severity of the current situation would be given before class.
I signed. This was going to be a long day, I could already tell.
The train was, to my own surprise, nearly empty of passengers. And mentally I cussed out the school for even allowing its students to come to school while the adults with paying jobs apparently got the day off. Talk about study diligence… But well that was the famous Kunugigaoka for you, I guess…
During the walk from the train station to the mountain path that lead up to my classroom building, I actually got the chance to appreciated the peaceful silence around me. I thought it was nice, despite the reason for it being the way it was.
The hike up the mountain path was tedious and tiring as ever, the route had already become familiar enough to be boring. And what was even worse was that I tended to run into classmates up here. Which was exactly why I usually listened to music on my hike up, or I would in the very least keep my earplugs in my ears to create the illusion of being occupied. I was rarely in the mood to have small talk with my classmates, never mind so early in the morning.
Suzue-nee had commented on this habit of mine before, telling me it was rude and that it didn't exactly help me with my socializing issues. Which was probably true. Though I didn't think she was one to talk considering she was the one who usually ignored me in favour of her phone whenever we travel to school together.
And it wasn't like I was actively trying to keep my classmates at a distance. I just didn't seem much use in making friends with people who I would probably never see again once this year was over. And secondly, it wasn't exactly like they were putting a lot of effort into befriend me either.
Which, I admit, might have something to do with the fact that I'm not exactly behaving very… approachable. But they weren't exactly brimming over with welcoming smiles… though that might be the result of us being taught in this particular classroom. So far there hadn't been a day in which the atmosphere hadn't been depressing or desolated. To be honest, I think we are all a bit too distracted with the fact that we are essentially losing our future the longer we spend in the E classroom. There really was no escaping it anymore. We were all doomed to be the bottom feeders, the losers, failures…
Nearing the classroom building at the end of the path, I was surprised to see multiple cars parked besides the dirt path. I clearly wasn't the only one startled by this, seeing as a couple of my classmates were actually slowing down their walking pace to glance over the sleek black vehicles.
I took out my ear buds, rolled them up and stashed them away in my schoolbag. I glanced at the cars from the corner of my eye and noticed that there were men sitting behind each of the steering wheels. All of them were dressed in neat simple suit. I furrowed my brow as I followed my classmates inside the classroom building.
"What do you think those guys are here for?" I overheard Mimura asking Sugaya while he was putting his outside shoes away. Sugaya shrugged his shoulders dispassionately and turned to walk off to the classroom with an yawning Okajima.
I stepped up next to Mimura and took off my outside shoes, behind me I hear one of the doors of the head entrance open once more. "What's with those officials outside?" A female voice, that I had come to recognize as Hamada's, asked.
I took my indoor shoes from out of the shelf and put them on.
"I don't know either…" Mimura stated his confusion. Hamada moved next to me to get to her own shoes.
"Maybe the government is visiting the schools to make clear on how they want us to proceed?" I offered as explanation. "It said something like that in the mail…"
"Then why would they bother coming all the way up here and why so many?" Hamada rebuked without really any heat, "Shouldn't we be having an assembly at the main building or something?"
Placing my outdoor shoes in the little shelf, I turned to Hamada and signed. "I don't know, I'm just throwing out ideas here."
"Maybe they finally realized that the 'E-system' is corrupted and now they're here to tell us that the principle has been arrested for his crimes." Hamada suggested darkly as a slight smile graced her lips and I chuckled dryly.
"I somehow doubted that…" Mimura muttered and turned to go to the classroom.
Feeling like lightening the mood, I gasped dramatically, "What if they're looking for the one who blew up the moon!"
"It was Chiba." Came Hamada immediately replied.
I blinked at her, "So fast, Hamada-san…"
"It's always the quiet ones you need to look out for." She said as an explanation, looking me straight in the eye and then lazily walked off herself.
I stared after her for a moment. This had been the first real conversation I had with Hamada and it had actually kind of surprised me how well she reacted to my dumb jest. She had always struck me more as the kind of person to get annoyed or even catty with anyone outside her little circle of friends. Huh. I guess, I have been a bit too fast to plaster her in a specific category, after all. I mean, in my defense, she did tend to give off a kind of negative attitude, but maybe that wasn't necessarily directed at any of us?
Shaking my head and I followed my classmates to our classroom. The classroom was nearly entirely complete, which in itself actually kind of an odd thing, as it was still quite early in the morning. Usually, I was one of the first ones to arrive, though this time it seemed that I wasn't the only one minding the possible cancellation of the trains.
I made my way to the back of the classroom and sat down in my seat behind Okuda. She didn't greet me like she usually did in the morning, right now she actually seemed to be daydreaming about something. Huffing in amusement, I tapped her on the shoulder and got a small squeak in reply. I snickered behind my hand and smiled apologetically when she turned around in her chair. "Good morning, Okuda-chan."
"G-good morning, Sasaki-chan." She replied so what shakily, a kind smile found its way on her face and I smiled back just the same.
"What were you dreaming about just now?" I asked curiously.
"Ah- that is! You see, we have a transfer student in our class starting today."
"Transfer student?" I gave her a confused look. Okuda pointed to our left and sure enough, there sat a small girl in the formerly empty desk. I gave her a once over, She was quite small and she wore her straight hair in two high pigtails. She seemed to settle in nicely with the other girls in class as she was already flocked by Okumura, Kataoka and Kurahashi.
What the heck did she do to get transferred into the E class though? It couldn't have been her grades, could it? They wouldn't just allow students into the school with bad grades right of the bat… But she also couldn't have done anything bad to get her sent here, could she? Wasn't this supposed to be her first day at school? How weird.
"She seems like a nice person." I decided on commenting.
"Yes, she does…" Okuda quietly agreed with me, stills staring at the small pigtailed girl.
"Why don't you go talk to her?" I inquired softly, just then realizing why Okuda had to be spacing out in the general direction of the new girl. Sometimes it was quite funny to me how easily Okuda intentions were to read.
Okuda straightened up suddenly and grasped the back of her chair with both hands as she leaned over to me. "I-I can't just do that!" She insisted urgently, "What if she thinks I'm weird or-"
"You are weird," I insisted back, "but that's just another aspect of why you're such a great person."
"I-I'm not, I'm, I-" Her cheeks were slowly becoming more coloured now. Oh dear.
"If you all would please take your seat." A low male voice suddenly boomed over the chattering students. It was completely silent within mere seconds, a commendable feat in this classroom really, all eyes turned to the unknown speaker.
A tall man of, assumedly, Japanese origin stood unshaken in front of the classroom. He looked around the classroom as the straggler found their desks and sat down. For a moment his eyes landed on mine, his eyes were intense and scarily so. His hair was short, black and spiked back. He wore a well tailored black suit, much like the other officials standing behind him. The officials behind him had guns out.
My eyes went wide at that. That was not at all proper firearm safety. Those guns were out and ready to be used at any given moment. I inspected the faces of the officials handling the guns. They were nervous for some reason. What the hell are they nervous about in a classroom filled with kids? We should be the ones nervous, if anything…
The man on the forefront glanced over to the right, "You may come in now." He stated firmly, though to me it honestly sounded more like a demand.
The door of the classroom slide open and something weird moved inside.
Was that a… costume? I looked over the absolutely absurd figure of the yellow octopus as it slithered in. It stood at least two meters tall and its width was about the same as two people standing next to each other. The octopus had many tentacles which were honestly hard to count considering the fact that most of them were moving. And not in that crappy animatronic way, no, they actually seemed to move around quite naturally. He also wore a professors robe, a huge necktie with a turned around crescent moon on it and a little graduation cap on its balloon like head. Its eyes were like tiny white beads, no pupils to speak off and it wore a large unsettling smile that showed way too many teeth.
The yellow octopus turned to us once he made it to the front centre of the classroom. "Hello~! Nice to meet you. I'm the one who blew up the moon. " It started off cheerily as if it were announcing some excellent news.
Huh?
He pointed one of his tentacles at himself, "I also plan to blow up the earth next year. Seeing as I've become your homeroom teacher, I look forward to working with you~. "
What the hell…
The professional looking man stepped forward again, "I'm Karasuma Tadaomi, from the ministry of defense. First of all, I would like you to understand that what I'm about to tell you is classified government information." He glanced over the students again, making sure that the severity of what he just told us was understood by all. "Cutting straight to the point. What I want you to do is to kill this creature."
…What.
"…Excuse me…" Mimura started off, "is this a joke? Cause if this is the alien that blew up the moo-"
"How rude!" The yellow octopus tutted in comical kind of anger as he madly swept his tentacles around. "I was born and raised on earth, you know!"
Eh..?
"I'm afraid I can't speak more about the details of this… But what he just told you is the truth. And his treat is all too real. For this creature, who damaged the moon, will also be destroying the earth coming March." Karasuma went on to explain, "Apart from you, the only people who know of this information are the world leaders. If word of this spreads out to the public we'll be looking at a global panic… You have to kill him before that happens. In other words-" Karasuma suddenly reached into his jacket at an impressive speed and pulled out what looked like a dull green knife. He then proceeded to stab at the yellow octopus next to him. Or at least he tried too. For the yellow octopus seemed to shift out of existence, blurred for just a split second and then materialize again on the other side of Karasuma. "An assassination!"
I jumped in my seat, not having expected either Karasuma's abrupt action or the yellow octopus'.
Karasuma turned to stab it again, and again, and again, "But as you can see, this guy is really fast! You try to kill him… and he ends up grooming your eyebrows instead, meticulously even!" Karasuma growled out, angered at not being able to hit his target and shot his arm out one last time to slice at the creature. A sudden wind burst forth from the front of the classroom, the creature had turned to face us again using his incredible speed as he menacingly moved about his little grooming tools.
"This super being possesses enough power to turn the full moon into an eternal crescent. His top speed is mach 20! In other words, if this guy were to run away, we'll be left helpless until the day of our destruction." Karasuma gritted out heavily and once more concealed his green knife in his jacket.
"But that's no fun~." The octopus cut in gleefully, "Which is why I made a proposal to the nations of the world. No killing me, because I don't want to be killed but… If I were to become the homeroom teacher for Kunugigaoka, Junior High School, class 3-E. Then you are welcome to try."
I wearily furrowed my brow at the creature, already feeling a headache forming behind my skull…
"We don't know what he is after… " Karasuma admitted arduously, "But we reluctantly consented on the condition that he causes absolutely no harm to any of you students. We have two reasons behind our agreement to this: First and foremost, him coming to this classroom everyday as your teacher will allow us to keep an eye on him. And secondly, it gives some thirty people the chance to kill him at point-blank range."
Silence predominated the classroom. And I was, just as I imagine my classmates to be, completely unable to process the entirety of all what we had just been told and what we had just been tasked with.
"W-…WHY IS THIS GUY GOING TO BE OUR TEACHER?!" Terasaka suddenly demanded, as he shot up out of his chair and slammed his palm on his desk in anger. He pointed accusingly at the taunting yellow octopus.
And as if cued in, the entire class cried out its protests. Why did we have to kill him?! How did this thing decide to teach us specifically?! How would we even kill it if the government can't?! What did they expect us to do against a monster that could move at twenty times the speed of freaking sound?!
I let my head fall tiredly into the palms of my hands. At this point I was simply begging the universe to let some guy jump out to tell us we've been pranked. But the outcries of my classmates went on and on and the agents of the government stoically held their ground. Guns still at the ready. And the yellow octopus seemed much too content standing right in front of the students as they screamed bloody murder.
And then Karasuma raised a hand, willing it to be silent once more. And it did, again. How he kept doing that, I had no idea. Slowly lowering his hand, Karasuma delivered the final piece of crucial information to the classroom. "Success of his assassination will be rewarded with ten billion yen."
"AH!" Shock rang out throughout the classroom. T-ten billion yen?!
"It is an appropriate sum of money, considering his death will literally save the world." Karasuma glanced over at the creature, "Luckily, he doesn't think much of you. See those green strips?" Thick bright green stripes had indeed appeared across the octopus' balloon shaped head. "That means he's looking down on you."
"It's only natural, isn't it?" It teased, "If the government can't do it then why would you? Even when they attacked me with their state-of-the-art fighter jet, I ended up giving their aircraft a coat of wax right there in midair!"
"I would like you to strike if the opportunity presents itself. We will provide all of you with weapons and ammo which won't hurt humans, but will be effective on him." Two more agents moved into the classroom, one pushing a metal cart forward and another carrying a smaller metal box. "You must keep this secret from your families and friends. We are running out of time. If the earth disappears there will be nowhere left to run!"
"And that's about it~!" The octopus concluded happily, 'Now let's make the most of your one remaining year!"
T-this is so messed up…
"Starting off today, we will be teaching you how to handle and operate your main arsenal." Karasuma explained steadily, as the other agents begun to unpack and distributed to each student: a dull green knife, a handgun, sheer safety glasses and five little containers with tiny pink balls. "Tomorrow this thing will pick up its teaching position and you will be study your materials as you usually would during school hours. I will also be present while he's teaching here to personally keep an eye on him."
"These are… BB guns?" Takebayashi inquired perplexed.
"Hey! How is this supposed to hurt him?" Yoshida complained loudly as he nearly bend his knife far enough for it to be folded in half.
"These weapons are made of anti-sensei materials; basically they will break him down on a cellular level the moment they make contact with him." Karasuma explained calmly.
I grasped onto my own anti-sensei knife and trailed my fingertips along what was supposed to be the sharp end. My fingers came away uncut but I could feel that the knife was sharp despite the springy and flexible material. Absently, I wondered how durable this anti-sensei stuff actually was. Would pieces break off if I pulled on it hard enough? Could I pierce its face with a needle? The handle was a lot more solid than the blade. I curiously wiggled the knife and was surprised to find that the blade didn't give into the motion. It stayed firm. At most, I could probably bruise someone with this thing. And as for the handgun…
"As for now I would like all of you to take your BB gun, pellets and the safety glasses and head out outside. My agents will be waiting behind the building for you. They're there to help us speed up the process of teaching you all how to handle you BB guns. Afterwards we'll be going over a couple more weapon options that are available to you in your assassination attempts. After tha- "
"We'll be having a lunch break," The octopus cut in, letting the tentacles which he seemed to favour as arms slither up and around Karasuma's being. Karasuma grit his teeth in frustration and I actually felt rather bad for his situation. It mustn't be easy for him to work along with this thing… "You are not going hungry under my watch!"
"After that, I've made time for classroom questions. I will not be repeating myself thirty times over, so use your lunch break to come up with questions everybody will be satisfied with. And lastly, I want to have a private conversation with each and every one of you at the end of the day. I want to know your standing in this situation, any background information which we might be missing in our files and I want to hear your suggestions for future assassination attempts." Karasuma pointed his thumb at the yellow octopus next to him, "He will be present as well for the first two conversation topics."
"Of course I'd like to be present then! What better way to get to know my new students than to speak with them two-on-one?" He shifted out of existence then and I took notice of his blurred figure moving across the classroom, although to be honest it felt more like I simply imagined it… And then he reappeared again standing right behind Terasaka. Wind swept through the classroom and Terasaka let out a yelp in surprise as he suddenly felt two heavy weights pushing him back down into his seat. "I'll also be around during your other activities today, so let's get along alright~!"
And that's the end of chapter 1!
