Disclaimer: I do not own Assassination Classroom.

XXII.

Exams, the horror of probably almost all students existing. Or at least the pressure that came with it.

Personally, I disliked exams. I knew that they were necessary, but I still didn't like the feeling of nervousness that always appeared, when taking tests.

In this new life, I had never been nervous per se, but I still remembered clearly the gut-wrenching feeling. No matter how many times people assured me I had done well, there was still a tiniest bit of doubt.

This-

-wasn't so difficult.

All those questions were easy. I had most of them either already covered in my old life or had them beaten with sensei's help into my skull. Everything was already prepared for me. I had just to write it down.

When I looked at the front the teacher – Karma's and Nagisa's old homeroom teacher – had looked shocked. Serves him right for being such a horrible teacher. He hadn't expected class E to write down even anything.

At the end the problems of each test became more familiar. It almost too easy to solve them. Some of those problems had been used in some kind of test I had taken.

After writing down the last answer in math, I frowned.

Hadn't the test been actually in high school or so? My dear classmates had complained about the difficulty of this and I had somehow gotten the inverse of the right answer last time.

Absentmindedly, I checked my answers, correcting tiny mistakes.

Huh... How much I remembered. That was quite surprising. I could barely recall the face of my old friends and family, but shit like that I could?

How useless.

Or not. I didn't really know what I preferred.

The others were still writing. With a glance to the clock, I confirmed that I still had about 16 minutes until the end of the test.

The teacher, sitting at the front, still looked shocked. His arrogant face from earlier had vanished. At the beginning, when we were still reading through the problems, he had tapped annoyingly with his index finger on the table.

I rubbed my temple.

I could have sworn that it had been the Morse code for 'You will fail.' but when I had listened more closely it hadn't been that. Just something similar sounding, but it hadn't been Morse code.

How annoying. The bastard was even mocking us in his subconsciousness.

Then I noticed the lack of noise from pens scratching against paper. My head turned around to survey the situation. Most of my classmates had stopped writing, looking frustrated to no ends.

The last questions still hadn't been answered by them yet. Why? This was easy, wasn't it?

Exactly the same thing kept happening in every single subject. Everyone had a good start, being able to answer almost all of the questions, only to be stopped at the end and seemingly being swallowed by a too great beast, unable to do anything.

...Where did that metaphor come from?

Then it clicked. A picture of a vaguely monster-like shaped problem appeared in my mind.

Ah, the chairman had most likely done something to the tests, since the level of the tests had clearly risen. So, what could he have done to have the other classes cover all those problems in such a short amount of time?

I drew a blank. Honestly, I was rather exhausted, not only from studying and just writing tests. My mind had been rather jumbled lately and didn't let me rest enough. He must have changed it only recently, since I couldn't imagine Koro-sensei not being careful enough in researching what we had to know for our exams.

I sighed and rested my head on the table. We had one hour to rest and eat. After that we would have to move back to the classroom.

I'd love it to avoid any students of Kunugigaoka. Especially Asano and his little hoard of fangirls and fanboys. They had never been particularly fond of me.

Haha... I wonder why?

Something cold touched my neck.

''Waah!'' I jumped from my chair. ''What the hell?!''

A grinning Karma held a bottle of cold juice in my face.

''Awake, Dornröschen? Aw, and I didn't even need to kiss you,'' I snatched the drink, that was dangling in front of me. Karma had taken to my fairy tale references in German and frankly? I didn't know whether to be annoyed or plainly amused. Much to my disappointment he never used Red Little Riding Hood. That would have been humorous.

''Thank you very much, Karma,'' I stressed out his name. ''I am very tempted to hit you, my dear prince.''

''But, Sayo! Don't you love me?''

''I'm not answering that.'' I didn't even look at his face. His puppy dog eyes weren't exactly harmless. Maybe my sister had been a good exercise against them once upon a time, but that had been years ago. I couldn't recall all of it.

I searched for my lunchbox in my bag. Where was it?

My hands searched fruitlessly between my notes and pencil case, but I didn't find it. I let out a frustrated groan.

It seemed that fate hated me. I had forgotten mine. Just fucking shit. Just when I didn't want to see the assholes of this school, I had to coincidentally forgotten my lunch.

My eye twitched. This was just taken out of a bad movie.

''Sayo?'' an amused Karma asked me.

''I forgot my lunch...'' I mumbled to him.

Which meant I had to buy something at the cafeteria and probably meet some people. I was really in no mood to. Well, in the worst case I would turn to either color all of them green or resort to homicide. Yeah, no. I wanted to live without that kind of burden.

I burrowed my head in my hands.

Oh, fuck it all.

Clearly having followed my line of thoughts, my childhood friend patted me sympathetically on the shoulder. I had the feeling he was treating me like a child.

Though that didn't matter, I was too busy pitying myself.

''I can come with you if you want that.''

''Please!'' I latched immediately onto his offer. Normally I wouldn't really behave like this but I was really too exhausted and annoyed to care. Karma seemed to notice too. His face being partly amused by my behavior, partly worried.

''Well, let's go then. I can get some snacks then too.''

After extracting some money out of my bag, Karma and I went out of the classroom to get lunch. The cafeteria was packed with many students, all relieved to be outside of the stuffy classroom, now that the exams were over. We had gotten a break beforehand, but now the stress of the tests was finally gone.

Karma and I stood in for lunch. So far, no one had actually noticed us, even with Karma's outstanding hair color. Which was almost the total opposite of my own.

His bright red hair contrasting to my dark bluish. That lead to more comparisons. A tall boy, a fragile looking girl, with admittedly little height. A sly foxlike persona against a blunt pole.

Now which one went to whom?

I smiled prettily at some idiots, who had finally begun to notice us. They were chattering between themselves, sneaking glances at us. Seeing my face, they turned around and went still.

Hah, take that, you assholes.

We had reached the end of the line and packed the food on our tablets. I put some sandwiches on my plate, juice and some fruits.

This school's cafeteria had a huge variety. For lunch, you could buy at least 5-8 warm meals and several additions. Vegetarian, vegan, you could get all of it. Allergies against nuts, whatever. It seemed like the staff had more or less memorized everything and the meals changed from day to day.

Which was probably as crazy as our teacher. Kunugigaoka was truly a prestigious school.

Paying for the lunch, I went to get a table. Karma seemed to want to buy almost all snacks available, so I went to get a table. He was probably being picky and all just to annoy the staff. The dirty looks they had given us only served to drive him further.

Their luck.

I didn't really mind the wary stares I was getting. It was only a minor annoyance and I had better things to do than getting worked up about something like that. The thing that would let me get probably a bit angry would be people gossiping about Karma, but they had learned their lesson well.

A rather disturbing smile graced my lips.

Ah, it wouldn't be good to smile like this without reason. People tended to get freaked out by something like that. Hiding my mouth behind my sandwich, I began to eat. Chewing, I looked up to see where Karma was now.

...Only to see the face of a very familiar face again. Why did I always see his visage when I was in the main building? I swallowed.

''Could you please go away, Asano-san?''

''Not even a 'hello' from you, Kitani-san?'' He raised an eyebrow. ''That is truly rude of you. I am simply here to greet a fellow student of mine. We were classmates once upon a time, weren't we?

Yeah, go tell that your fangirls. I was so sure, that they would be more eager to talk to him than I was. Where was Karma? I was so not ready to deal with this shit. Asano could stuff his greetings god knows where.

My hand gripped my meal tighter.

''Asano-san, fuck off. I'm really not in the mood to deal with you,'' I let go off my bread and took a deep breath, trying not to punch him in the face. This guy was just so annoying. No matter how much I actually loved to annoy him. In the end I knew, that I couldn't really deal with him.

''I am sad to hear that. I only wanted to chat a little with you. Are you sure that you won't?'' He gave me a face that was probably equivalent to puppy eyes, only without the actual facial expression.

I hesitated for a moment. Just-

''You have one question and then I want you gone.'' I glared at him, knowing that I had probably lost to him just now. He would only bug me more if I didn't agree, but that didn't help me feeling less petty.

I picked up my bread again and bit in it with more force than necessary.

''Well, I must thank you, Kitani-san. One you said?'' At my face, his lips just twitched a slightest bit. That son of- ''Straight to the point, what is going on in class E?''

Huh? ''What?''

''I believe you heard me. I was asking what was going on in class E,'' his was getting unnaturally serious, different from the situation just now.

''Why would you believe that something was happening?'' I carefully didn't say that there wasn't anything. I was good at lying, but Asano was good at manipulating people. And that required reading their body language and facial expression. A too blank face would give me away, while reacting too violently would make him even more suspicious.

''I asked first,'' this was almost too childish. ''Would you please tell me, Kitani-san?''

''There is nothing wrong with class E from the usual,'' because that was true. The whole assassination thing was nothing unusual from a month ago. It was perfectly normal for us.

Asano's brows furrowed, just a bit and would I had not sit directly in front of him I wouldn't have noticed.

''Are-''

''Sayo!'' a cheery voice interrupted him. ''I do not remember inviting annoying stalkers eating with us.''

Karma was standing at the side of the table, deceptively smiling. His body language told a different story. His hands clutched the tray of food just a bit too tight and he was leaning towards me in a territorial manner.

The chairman's son just looked frustrated for a second, but then wiped the expression of his face.

''I am not a stalker, Akabane-kun,'' he told Karma in a haughty manner. ''I believe I should go now, Kitani-san. It has been nice seeing you again. I can't wait for the results of the midterm exams. Goodbye.''

''Goodbye, Asano-san,'' I answered just for the sake of politeness. Why I did that was beyond me.

Karma settled on the now empty chair. With a seemingly pleasant expression and eyes closed, he opened his mouth to ask a question.

''Now, Sayo. What did he want?''

I leaned forward making a show of wanting to steal a snack. My body moved just enough so that I could whisper into his ear. Hopefully he would understand.

''I'll tell you later. He suspects something about us,'' I carefully switched into German. This situation was simply not good. Or at least I had to be a bit more careful. ''Nah, don't worry. It wasn't that important.''

He took my words in, thought a second about it and nodded. ''Okay then. How did you do in the exams?''

''Just like always. I was a bit tired, but they should be okay.'' Should I maybe learn Spanish or something else? I had the time...

''So, you'll take the top spot?'' he took out a muffin and bit in.

''Maybe, I don't know yet. It depends in how Asano did,'' at the mentioning of the chairman's son, Karma scowled. ''I think I will be easily in the top 10.''

''Were you anyone else, I would call you arrogant,'' was his dry reply.

''Oh yes?'' my voice going a bit higher. What a hypocrite he was. ''Look at the mirror and tell me what you see.''

''A handsome guy, what else?'' he smirked at me. Oh my... And maybe simply out of the suddenness of that I started to laugh. Because, yes. Sometimes I thought he was attractive. But-

''Sayo~! You're supposed to agree!'' he whined.

''Yeah, sorry,'' I patted him consolingly on his shoulder. He had to grow a bit more before I would really call him handsome. Sure, he was definitely attractive in a 15-year-old's view, but my taste was a bit different. ''I'll call you handsome, when you're bit older. Don't worry. You look great.''

''Stop treating me like a child,'' he narrowed his eyes at me. Ah, that was no good, I guess.

''Just payback from earlier. You did the same after the exams.''

''But it cheered you up, didn't it?'' a challenging tone colored his voice.

''Yeah, it did. Let's hurry, we only have fifteen minutes left,'' I clumsily changed the conversation.

He nodded. At least he let me. Bah, lately he didn't really like it when I tried to pull I'm-the-mentally-older-one-card. Well, I guess his parents were the cause of it.

The rest of the day was spent more in silence than anything else. It simply felt foreboding and everyone knew it in some way. The class' mood was rather down.

I forgot to tell Karma about Asano. Again.

The day the tests were given back, the tension seemed to skyrocket suddenly.

Do you know that feeling when everyone is unhappy, but you actually have something to be happy for? And then you feel bad about it, because telling them would seem like rubbing it into their face?

Yeah, I felt that many times in my past life and now it only seemed to repeat.

The mood in the room was simply bad. My classmates looked all down and no matter how many times I looked into their faces, all I could find was disappointment. Karma to my right was wearing a poker face, but from what I could see his grades were good. Excellent to be precise.

I didn't really want to say anything. The others (ah, I finally stopped to refer them as children) felt already as if they had disappointed Koro-sensei. I didn't have to make it worse.

And everyone felt it. The whole class was simply silent.

(What are you even sorry for?)

Shut up, can't I just feel like this?

(Ask that yourself.)

I tried to distract myself from these thoughts. I had been losing it a bit lately, considering my situation it wasn't that unlikely for me to do so, but it wasn't exactly healthy. At least I wasn't having mood swings and being a bitch to just everyone in the vicinity (or just Asano). I was done with that for the rest of the week.

Karasuma-sensei had started to dial the number for the main campus' faculty. It seemed that he was having a rather heated conversation with the other on the line – his hands were moving in an infuriated way.

''-matter how you look at it. That's not normal. Drastically changing-'' At this point I stopped listening. I knew that I would only get more infuriated on behalf of my class and I didn't need a clouded mind right now. I knew what the school had done.

They had set the level of the test question higher and apparently, all the other students of the main building had studied that certain area. And somehow, I just realized that this was one of the chairman's schemes. The kind of realizing that you were somehow already aware of it. How... disconcerting.

I stared unseeingly at the front, only when I blinked to get some fluids into my dry eyes again, I saw Koro-sensei turning his back to us. I couldn't see his normal yellow face looking at us. Come on, now sensei shouldn't go emo on us too!

Our class being frustrated was bad enough.

''… I can't bring myself to face you all.'' Oh no, he didn't just do that. I readied myself to do something. I couldn't bear this sad sight, because why was everyone giving up?

But Karma already finished the job. He took a note out of my book and threw his anti-sensei knife at the unsuspecting teacher.

A mere second before the blade hit the yellow head, Koro-sensei dodged.

Karma, that damn copy-cat. And I didn't imagine that smirk he sent me. I could only scowl back at him.

''You suuure?'' striding towards the teacher's desk, he stretched out the word in a way only he could. ''If you couldn't face us, you wouldn't be able to see me, when I come to kill you.''

''Karma-kun, stop it! Sensei is feeling really depressed right now.''

That whole scene was so familiar and felt so rehearsed. I haven't seen this seen before, at least not in this life. So, why did I know this? The answer was easy.

(Your previous one, what else?)

Karma had already chucked his tests to sensei and I could literally feel the admiration from my classmates towards him.

He was talking about something too, maybe some kind of speech for sensei, so that nobody would get so depressed again, but I couldn't bring myself to listen when this weird familiarity was still lingering.

Because it was still disturbing. I thought I had already dealt with all of this, but apparently not. With bitter realization I thought, no, nothing could prepare one for this. Not when your life and the life of your precious people was somehow written down and you know what would happen next.

At least I wasn't in Naruto or One Piece or any of that superhero shit and some crazy powers that could kill me with one move.

I let out a startled laugh. Why was I having a mental breakdown in class? I could deal with that later. Maybe write it down what I was getting now in pieces and look at it so that I could change things that didn't suit me. The future wasn't written in stone after all.

My laugh had gathered some attention and now Terasaka and Okano were looking at me weirdly.

''-have no intention of leaving this class. An assassination is much more entertaining than returning to my previous class, right Sayo?'' and somehow everyone was looking now at me.

''Yeah, yeah. Karma, you're so full of shit. I didn't even want to say anything before sensei pulled that fucking pity number,'' I supported my head on my hand in a more disinterested manner. Sensei looked ready to wash my mouth with soap. ''You get to brag when I'm even better than you. What kind of fucked up logic is that?'' I held up my tests with one hand. My classmates were now openly gaping. Well, goal archived.

''It's you own fault, Sayo. You didn't want to say anything in first place.''

I waved him off.

''I wanted to say something, before you went all bitchy and provoked sensei,'' I turned to look at the yellow creature in front of us. ''So, what now, you wannabe teacher? Are you going to run away, because you were to stupid and underestimated our school system? Go and play hero and say that's all your fault, but-''

''Aren't you just afraid, octopus? You said you would run away.'' Karma picked up my line and was now leaning dangerously close into Koro-sensei's personal space. To say that the teacher was irked was an understatement.

I was distinctly amused by the sudden change of atmosphere. The before gloomy mood of my classmates turned 180 degrees and they were now teasing Koro-sensei with subtle or not so subtle remarks, enjoying his overreaction.

Our teacher didn't make a big scene of hiding his relieved feelings. At least in my eyes. His form wasn't hunched anymore and his red tinted face seemed to actually sport a bigger grin than his default face.

I watched that scene with slight detachment. I didn't exactly feel the need to tease our teacher more or even to say anything. Only a voice nagging in the back of my mind got me moving again.

I stood up to grab Karma's wrist and pull him to our seats again. I probably should tell him about my encounters with family Asano.

Hah, I snorted at the stupid name. Sounded like mafia.

''Sayo?'' Karma shot me a questioning glance. He had seated himself in his chair again and was waiting for me to tell him what I wanted. Well, he knew me good enough for that.

''That thing concerning Asano-san,'' cue his scowl. ''He was asking me about class E.''

Karma snorted.

''What? Is he planning to come down to us to stalk you?''

I grinned wryly at him. Was he serious?

''What a horrible idea. I would rather not have that little asshole here with us,'' I told him. Really, the idea to have Asano with us was as appealing to me as having a spider as a pet. No thank you. All spider and bug lover could curse me and all, but no thank you. ''No, he was actually asking what was going on with class E. He was suspicious about something that was going on. I don't know what it was, but I told him that we were good.''

Karma's face was thoughtful for a moment.

''To be honest?'' My friend was scowling again. ''It bothers me more, that he thinks you two are acquainted enough to ask you question and talk to you on regular basis.''

I blinked at him.

''What? That's the thing you're focusing on?''

He shrugged.

''Well, Asano can be suspicious for all I care. If he doesn't find a prove, he can't do anything. And the government won't let a curious brat find out this secret, so that a mass panic will break out.''

I still looked at him weirdly.

''Yeah... I just wanted to tell you. Since you didn't seem to be happy when he talked to me.'' Was it conceited of me to think that he was jealous?

A smirk grew on his face.

''Aw, is my dear Sayo worried about me?'' He held his hand dramatically against his chest. ''I feel honored.''

''You dork,'' I still chuckled despite my words. ''So, what place did you get in the rankings?''

''Fourth out of 187. You? Though I can probably guess.''

''Well,'' I shrugged. ''I'm first with Asano. Since I miss one point to the perfect score I assume he does too.''

''Why don't you actually skip grade until university? I mean you theoretically could.''

His question surprised me a bit. Karma was rather sentimental today, wasn't he? First his sober up speech and now this.

''And miss this whole assassination thing? As you said, this is way too interesting to miss. And I actually would like to take it slow. And frankly? The adults' world sucks,'' I grimaced at the memories of mountains of paperwork for even the smallest things. Even part-time jobs had demanded a certain amount of bureaucracy. ''I'd rather stay here and enjoy my remaining youth.''

''You sound so old again, Sayo.'' I swatted my hand after him.

''Brat.''

''Old hag.''

''I thought you wouldn't call me that anymore,'' I remarked.

''Well, you called me brat,'' he managed to sound smug. ''We're even.''

''Whatever, we're having a lesson with Jelavic-sensei now.'' She had said something about kissing, didn't she? I was curious.

''All right, brats! Calm down! Since you all seem to be excited because of your exam results, we're doing something practical today,'' She walked to the blackboard. ''Today's lesson will be kissing.''

I could see the hot air escaping out of my classmates' heads. This lesson was going to be so very interesting, I noted with glee. Kissing she said. Let's see how they're going to fair.

''Generally, kissing is reserved to your special people, but you can also use it as a tool. For example, during an assassination when you should distract the person with you enough to kill your target, I prefer to tongue kiss them, so that they don't even know what's going on anymore,'' she licked her lips. ''Maybe you won't need it in this assassination, but it will be useful to shock your future partner seven ways to Sunday.''

''Normally for a normal kiss, you have two stages, three if you include the post kiss stage. This is an important stage to use, especially if the kissed person is still in shock. But back to the first two stages. It's the lead in to a kiss and the kissing itself. I would say the importance of those two stages are weighted fifty-fifty. Because no matter how good you're at kissing without a good set up your whole potential won't be exhausted. But of course, if you're really good at it, even a bad beginning won't matter.'' She gave us a sensual look. This was so very interesting. When you look behind her immature behavior she was truly a master manipulator.

''Today we will start with the buildup of a kiss and then see how you will do from here. If you're actually good at that we will move to an actual kiss and then tongue kissing,'' she told us bluntly. ''If anyone of you doesn't agree to kiss anyone of this class tell me in private. If you don't want to kiss at all please just stand and watch. Does somebody have a problem?''

There were no objections.

''Good. Is there someone who wants to lose his first kiss to me?'' I couldn't help but burst out laughing at that. Her questions were hilarious in and out of context.

''Anything to add, Sayori-kun?'' she asked me with narrowed eyes. I really preferred it when everyone in our class called me by my first name. Suffixes were really complicated and all but I didn't mind them as much.

''Nothing Jelavic-sensei. I was simply admiring your ability to make such an interesting lesson,'' I told her with my eyes closed, smiling.

''Then do you mind being an example for your classmates?'' She beckoned me forward.

''Of course not.'' If anything, I loved attention like that. A big fault of mine, I knew, but I tried not to indulge myself too much in it.

''I need another volunteer, please. We won't go to the kissing part, so don't worry.''

Karma's hand shot up. I was rather amused by the mischievous gleam in his eyes.

''Well then, Karma-kun. Come forward.'' My childhood friend strode forward to where I had already moved to. When arrived I wasn't exactly surprised about what he did, but then again, I was. Firmly tugging my hand forward, he planted a kiss on my lips.

That little-

''A good surprise attack, Karma-kun,'' the blond assassin commented. ''But please follow my instructions now.''

''Okay, sensei,'' came Karma's reply. I narrowed my eyes at him. Well, his cheeks were faintly pink. Mollified, I listened to Jelavic-sensei's instructions.

''When you want to kiss someone, you should do a few things first. Important is the space that's lying between you. When you kiss somebody, you should stand close, so that you don't have to stretch to much. Important is also that you aren't too tense,'' she moved Karma and me so that the whole class could see us. ''Of course, you can be nervous, but don't be too stiff. Look at their body language.'' She pointed her hand at us. ''Do you notice something?''

A few hands were raised.

''Yes, Nakamura?''

''Yes, they are standing a bit too far apart and not directly facing each other.''

''Very good,'' She looked at us. ''Please correct that, you two.''

We both shuffled our positions until we were standing maybe a few centimeters apart from each other and able to look into each other's eyes. Karma had put his hand on my waist. I still had to crane my head a bit to see his face.

''You're too tall,'' I muttered.

''You're just too short.''

''Shut up.''

We listened to the blond as she gave us a few more tips, angled our bodies into a more comfortable position and tilted our heads slightly. I could feel the warmth that Karma was radiating.

''-most people tend to lean to the right side when they kiss. It's mostly because they are right handed. Touching the others body slightly, is also an important thing to do,'' she gestured to the hand on my waist. ''It gives a feeling of security. Those two give a quite decent example. Now angle your head a bit more to the right. Good, free feel to kiss, but you don't have to. We'll come to the theory of kissing later.''

It seemed like Karma felt very daring today, because he did exactly that after Jelavic-sensei's permission. Kissing me, I mean. It was just a chaste kiss, nothing dirty and short. I didn't jerk away from him. This sensation was pleasant. Nicer than any kisses that I had before, so I let him linger more three seconds before gently pulling away.

''Had fun?'' I asked him in a slightly huskier voice than usual.

''Very,'' was my answer with a bit of pink cheeks.

I hummed at this before being interrupted by our teacher.

''Now when the lovebirds are done, you guys partner up in pairs. We will practice the position only. We'll rotate anyway, so don't waste time picking. This means not only boy girl pairings.'' Her last sentence elicited more than just one horrified groan.

This had been a really productive day. Getting first on the rankings, embarrassing Koro-sensei and kissing lessons. Especially the kissing lessons.

And somebody out there seemed to ship Karma and Nagisa too. Was it bad of me to sit there and laugh at them?

Dornröschen - German for 'Sleeping Beauty'

Finally, I updated. Happy New Luna Year to you all and carnival if you celebrate it. Awesome that they fell together. I could visit my family because of that.

Anyway, thanks for reading, favorizing, following and reviewing. You are the best. Over 200 favs? I'm so happy I could simply hug you all. Just, I don't do that.

I'm toying with the idea of putting Asano in class E later. Blame it on 'Fall from grace' by 2. I really like that fic, so check it out.

Tell about your opinion. About the chapter and the idea.

Wish you a nice day,

-Yuki