XXX.

Disclaimer: I do not own Assassination Classroom.

Having followed Koro-sensei's advice, I woke up fully rested to the ping of my phone, that was telling me I had gotten a message. It felt unusually refreshing to have a full night's sleep. I often neglected that for either a good book, fanfiction, or manga/anime, despite knowing it was a bad habit, but that had never deterred me.

Stretching out my arm to reach my phone, I unlocked the screen to see that Karasuma-sensei had written us an e-mail with the subject "New transfer student". As I opened the mail, my stomach began to lurch uncomfortably. Nothing went smoothly when we got new people into our class, since the newcomers were mostly there for a sole reason - Koro-sensei's bounty. And they wouldn't spare a single glance at us and carry on ruthlessly.

Good morning everyone,

Here is Karasuma-sensei. I have just received the message from the higher-ups that the second assassin, who was supposed to transfer into your class with Ritsu-san, has been finally deemed as ready and is from now on in your class.

Despite having a few negative experiences with new people in your class, I hope that you won't let this deter you and that the new student will be able to contribute to the elimination of the target.

Karasuma Tadaomi

…

Now... where was my notebook again?

The moment Karma opened the door and saw me his eyebrows almost rose up to his hairline. Apparently, I made a very unbelievable sight with my backpack and the toolbox in the hand that was not holding an umbrella.

''Good morning, Sayo. Are you planning on moving somewhere? Or building a house?'' he greeted me cheerily, his hand making vague movements in the direction of my toolbox. The redhead's face was showing a bemused smile, though he immediately moved to my side to take the box from me.

''Thanks, Karma,'' I responded and adjusted the umbrella to cover him from the rain dripping down on us. ''No, I'm not moving. I brought that for class.''

''Are you planning on dismantling the blackboard or what?'' We continued to walk in a languid pace towards the train station, as my mind raced to come up with something that didn't sound like ''You know, I can look into the future.'' It was only a second, but I stretched my hands to give me some time.

''No, I'm just preparing for the case of our new classmate destroying a few things, but the blackboard has been also driving me crazy. It just creaks every time someone moves it, so I brought some oil with me as well.'' I paused for a second. ''And I got some paint. Got some new ideas, Karma?''

''Ah, and I thought you'd never ask,'' Karma responded with a mischievous smile. ''Let's greet the transfer student in our style.''

For a moment my childhood friend stopped talking, then swung his bag around his shoulder to get something from it.

''Give me a moment,'' the boy murmured distractedly, rummaging with his hand through the content of his school bag and taking out a notebook. With an absent-minded realization I noticed that it was the same one he had used when I had been practicing with Chiba and Hayami.

Slightly bemused, but not that shocked, I waited patiently for him to finish writing down whatever had occurred him as he sometimes did weird things like that, that were actually not that weird, since I did that too.

''Ah, sorry, I spaced out,'' Karma apologized once he was back again. ''Say, Sayo, do you have time on Saturday?''

A bit bemused, I tried to think of anything that was in schedule on Saturday. Karma was looking a bit... sheepish? Embarrassed? Whatever it was, I found it impossibly endearing.

''Yeah, I have. Do you want to do anything special?''

''Mmmh, pretty much.'' He stared into my eyes, his golden irises seeming to glow. ''How about a date on Saturday?''

At arriving at the classroom, Karma and I had tried to rig the classroom's door for a little prank on our new classmate. Regrettably our teacher disagreed with our little project.

Very strongly.

Of course, that thing we were doing was a far cry from kind and could easily ruin this person's school day, and I was perfectly aware of that. However, the temptation was too high, so we did it anyways. Perhaps, if not for those half-forgotten memories in my head and the notebook - two factors which made a good job in affecting my conscience and basically making me a reckless teenager with issues that stretches wide as the Japanese coast - I'd hardly attempted something like this or would have second thoughts on the matter.

But everything I did was one way, or another influenced by early memories, despite trying not to judge people and certain things because of it, but especially this class was something where I relied on my notes or memories, because I needed it, or I would not be able to change things. Every single thing that could become dangerous to us... I needed to know what it was and counter it with take measures. Mistakes could lead to death in the worst case, and I was not going to let that happen.

''...ruin their entire school life!'' Koro-sensei seemed to have finally ended his lecture, which I completely ignored in favor of my own rather scolding thoughts. Breaking out of my current train of thoughts, I sneaked a glance on Karma - he looked bored. In hindsight I realized our morals were somewhat screwed.

''I expected better from you.'' And then Koro-sensei noticed he had made a mistake.

That sentence made something inside me snap and I had to stop myself for a moment, but then I remembered that our teacher was also just a person. Tilting my head to the side, I pulled my lips into a mockery of a smile. How would he know? Maybe he suspected something about me, but to judge me like that?

''I guess you shouldn't expect too much from me then, sensei,'' I pointed out and waited for him to say anything. Instead, he just went silent and stared at me with a non-telling expression, gauging me. Every noise in the classroom had stopped – everyone now listening to our conversation.

Intense gazes bored into my back as the silence continued and I let out a loud sigh.

''Seriously, sensei, I know what we did is wrong, but I'm not going to sit on my ass and wait for everything to go its way if the new student is going to cause trouble. I hate being powerless.''

''I guess, I will have to take that into more consideration, Sayori-kun. If you could enlighten me on that particular subject later on?'' Koro-sensei answered me with a thoughtful expression. It released our class from its spell and time seemed to move on. Our classmates were still watching us closely and there was still the nervous undertone of some kind of balance being tipped over.

''Later on,'' I agreed and felt now better knowing he was going to listen. I needed to do this, to let him understand what I going to do every time; that I was not content with just waiting. ''But maybe not today, sensei. I'm sorry, but I'll be busy after school.''

He gave me a nod in acceptance.

''My, Sayo, I don't think it's very nice to challenge our teacher like that,'' Karma muttered from behind, as we moved to sit down again.

''As if you didn't want to say anything when he said that,'' I countered and plopped down on my chair. Our class continued to speculate on the new student, to which I listened with half an ear, though I was more interested in my conversation with Karma.

''Yeah,'' Karma's gaze went distant. ''And at these times you notice that our teacher is not perfect. You've shaken him, Sayo.''

''I know,'' I answered quietly and mulled over what had happened. Hadn't Terasaka and Karma also done similar things? What made this different? Internally, I grimaced at my problem with authorities. ''This time he made the mistake, Karma. This time he did not choose his words so carefully.''

''I guess he paid the price now. How well is going to handle the transfer now?''

With the sound of the door opening our attention snapped to the figure standing at the class entrance, and all conversations died down. Our already tensed class flinched at the interruption almost as one, as the new person entered the classroom

The person, clad in white, introduced himself as Shiro. I took a deep breath and felt my whole body tense up. Something was off and it was looming over us, and I was overcome with a sudden feeling of danger. As if there was something behind me, breathing down my neck. A fleeting glance at Karma showed that the boy had also noticed and was now frowning and staring intensively at the newcomer.

Against our expectations Shiro was not our new classmate. He called himself the guardian and was here only for observation apparently.

''Itona, you can come in now!'' the man called out, and everything in my body just screamed to get away, just as the wall behind me broke down and I threw myself out of the harm's way closer to Karma's seat. A loud crash resounded behind me, closely followed by screams and the noise of wood breaking into pieces. I could feel the pieces of wood under my body and the dust on my face and hair and tiny pieces of gravel dug uncomfortably underneath me into my skin.

For a short moment, I let myself mourn for the broken wall and was glad that I had thought of bringing a blanket with me for a case of destruction, though there was nothing I could do about the rain invading the classroom through the hole. Yukimura-sensei would have been in tears.

A sharp stab of guilt made itself known as I was reminded of our missing teacher again. How long hadn't I thought of her now?

My guilt was quickly pushed away, as I tried to focus on our current situation again by looking at Itona. His clothes were spotless and most important dry. It was raining buckets outside. Why wasn't he wet?

The new guy was a white-haired, pale, yellow-eyed person with a shorter stature than most guys in our class. His hair in the front was styled in a funny twist, which just looked chaotic.

The boy, who had just literally walked through the wall, sat down on his seat, his gaze focused on the front, while I wondered what just happened. How the fuck did someone use so much force just by walking to break a wall and leave behind such a big amount of rubble?

Of course, I had written down a passage about this, but that was it; just a short sentence where I had described something being broken and nothing more. The memories were always just beyond my reach, taunting with the short distance I wasn't able to overcome; always being a step away. I had more focused on the part that he possessed tentacles and that those things made him fucking crazy.

And of course, he was sitting in the seat beside me. Congratulations, darling.

His blood lust was flooding the room violently, threatening to suffocate me. It wasn't the cold clinical one I had felt from Jelabitch-sensei's teacher. No, this one was full of hot, burning anger, that didn't want to stop.

The feeling of an asthma attack sat in my chest, as my body tried to take in too much air and too little at once. The dust in the room was not helping the least.

Get yourself together! I forced against the urge to cough out my insides and stood up shakily to take a few steps into Itona's direction. My instincts screamed at me to stop, to get away, just to do anything but to go there. I hated being so fucking terrified.

Maybe that was why I was now standing in front of an unimpressed Itona, my own face equally unimpressed despite my inner terror and my closed fist hitting the top of his desk with a loud bam.

''You're sure a fucking idiot. Use the goddamn door, won't you?'' I snarled at him, as I could feel the stares of my class boring into my back. Behind me sensei was fluttering around uselessly, panicking, and making excuses for my behavior to Shiro.

Itona didn't remove his gaze from me, despite the insistence of Koro-sensei and Shiro for us (me) to stop doing what we were doing, his gaze assessing. Patiently, I waited for his answer, not breaking the eye contact.

''I merely proved that I was stronger than the wall. You are not the strongest one in this class, but I could even wipe out the existence of your strongest person in a single blow,'' the white-haired boy told me flatly, his blood lust rising. He was clearly looking at Karma now, challenging my childhood friend, which all just went under my skin. ''Challenging me will not do you any good, so get out of my way.''

Itona's orbs glowed in an eerie way, his less than intact sanity showing just for a little moment. There was a promise of violence inside them, yet I could see the part of him that was undeniably human, desperate to let out his anger. He was only a toy of Shiro's, I reminded myself. Not even worth to get worked up over.

''The only one who is allowed to get killed is that thing there,'' I jutted out my thumb behind me where sensei was undoubtedly panicking. Leaning forward to be on an eye level with the boy in front of me ,I spoke to him a quiet whisper. ''If you think that you can do this alone, you are wrong. Sooner or later, it will cost you, Itona-san. Your success depends on this class, whether you believe me or not, and if you can't see that, you will fail.''

''I can't see how that is possible.'' His face showed no understanding and for a moment I just felt weary and old. Give them time, I told myself. They all weren't just mature enough for what I was expecting.

''Your fucking problem then,'' I told him and sat down on my seat again. My heart was pounding inside my chest, but I felt utterly calm. At one glance in Karma's direction, I held back a wince when I saw him looking more than just a little bit unhappy. In my mind, I could already picture the lecture he was going to hold about being reckless.

I could only watch as Itona began to challenge Koro-sensei, and everything just played out like some ridiculous story. There was no way that any bullshit that Itona was spouting could be true. Neither that Koro-sensei was his brother nor that he could kill Koro-sensei. Just like I told him, his refusal to work with us would turn against him.

Lunch break was a quite tense affair. Itona's challenge was still weighting in everyone's mind, making everything a bit more awkward than usual.

I had covered the hole in the wall with a blanket and a few nails, but now that I had time, I would be doing a few more repairs. Taking out my toolbox and another blanket, I took my chair and set it in front of the damage. After taking hammer, nails, and tong, I stepped on the chair to pry out the nails I had hammered into the wall at first and took down the blanket.

To be honest, after fishing out a few wood planks, I just hammered nails into the wall until I felt satisfied. It was really just a rudimentary fix for the day, and I had full confidence Karasuma-sensei would surely call a troupe to repair this or I would raise hell over it.

Coupled with the information that Itona had tentacles just like Koro-sensei, it made sense they had both a high sugar intake. Their use of tentacles was very energy consuming, and sugar was the fastest way to replenish the burnt energy. While consuming a lot of sugar was a sign for tentacles, it wasn't that foolproof. I couldn't go around and accuse everyone of possessing tentacles even if they were eating many sweets. Many people did that already without the calorie-burning extra-limps.

Kayano and Hara ate plenty of sweets and even I had times where I was stuffing my face, despite not liking sweets. Such was puberty.

''That's... sick,'' Maehara muttered suddenly beside me, and I jumped from the unexpected voice. Damn it all, I was just spacing out too much.

''Don't- Just don't do that, Maehara-san. I'll faint.'' The moment I said that I could already see I had given him munition on a silver platter to mock me. The smirk he was sporting was suggestive.

''I can revive you just fine, Sayori-san. Make it a bit lasting.'' The blond waggled his eyebrows in a ridiculous fashion, making me laugh.

''Anyone but you. I still want to live and not choke from lack of oxygen,'' I replied playfully and bent down to get another plank. Surprisingly Maehara also moved down to help me. Huh, gentlemen moves. Not bad.

''Nah, I know what to do. Give me the plank and you can continue hammering. I'll hold it for you.''

''Thanks, Maehara-san.'' He was a surprisingly decent guy when he wasn't trying to get into your pants. When he did, he was just ridiculous. I didn't really get his fixation on dating. Sure, it was nice, pleasant, and made you feel warm and fuzzy if the person really cared about you, but I never dated someone long enough to want to stay. It may have been because of commitment issues, but I hoped I was past that.

Absentmindedly I tried to pick up a few more nails, only to realize that I had used up most of them and the rest was still in the toolbox. Opening my mouth to let my classmate know he could put down the plank, I was suddenly blinking at a hand with a box of nails. Following the body attached to arm, I came face-to-face with Karma, whose lips were quirking up lightly.

''Need those, dear?'' Taking the offer, I smiled back at him. I felt far more than just a bit amused by his actions.

''Smooth, darling. Thank you.'' I took out a few more nails. ''Want to help me, Karma?''

Maehara, who was watching our conversation with interest, gestured for Karma to take over his position. Not pausing in his stride, the redhead moved along easily.

''Well, seems like you have this covered, Sayori-san. I'll go back to Isogai,'' the blond excused himself and then leaned closer to Karma to whisper something into the other boy's ear. In exchange my childhood friend raised his eyebrows at the playboy.

''Come on, Karma. That's just an idea!'' Hands raised in his defense, Maehara went away, whistling cheerfully and ignoring the looks we were giving him. One of confusion and the other just of slight amusement.

We were more or less ignoring the elephant in the room, who was sitting right in front of us by just pretending everything was fine. Or at least I was, since I liked to pretend everything was fine, until it wasn't. That was how problems between Karma and me normally came into existence if I was too stubborn and didn't confront them.

I was ignoring the low emission of hot blood lust in my back, but it seemed to jump and fall at random and increasing the difficulty of ignoring it entirely. Honestly, I was not sure if it was only me or if my classmates could also sense that irregular rise.

And after the porn incident, in which Okajima was apparently also Koro-sensei's brother and by default Itona's, everyone started to move the desks into a circular formation at sensei's request. On one hand I could understand why our teacher would want that; ensuring our safety was easier if there was a clear line between us and them in the fight. On the other hand, it felt like he was putting himself on the silver platter and at the same time giving away our chance of killing him.

''I feel so frustrated,'' Nagisa told me, eyes downcast, just after everyone had cleared the premises inside the circle.

''So do I, Nagisa,'' I replied softly, eyes trained on the yet to be used battlefield. Part of me wanted to run because I undoubtedly knew that this was going to be a battle of blood lust as well as one of speed and power. And I was going to curl up in a ball of pure terror, but I just didn't want to miss this.

...Somehow, I got the feeling that I was far more masochistic than it was healthy. Maybe I should talk with someone about this.

''It's just- I feel just so damn useless when I see people like Itona coming after sensei and then seeing us, who all just strife after that success. We're not even close to that level, but I still want to kill him!''

The boy said those words with such insistence, conviction, and desperation, that I had to wonder for a moment when Nagisa had become so self-confident. For such a soft-spoken boy to say out loud his opinion and wants was marvelous. Without a question his mother was still bothering him about his current prediction and her delusion of Nagisa being her second chance of life, but it didn't seem to weight him down that much anymore as it had done before.

Nagisa had found something to fight for and it was even better for him than his friendship with Karma and me. Of course, that stung, and I wasn't even deluding myself into thinking that I wasn't a bit jealous of Koro-sensei's effect on the male, but still that octopus was good for the people here.

I just dreaded the time when this would come to an end.

Focusing back to the present, I gripped Nagisa's shoulder tightly, probably surprising him with that action.

''Nagisa,'' I called him from his doubts, looking into those azure blue orbs with my own gray ones. ''Maybe all those guys are stronger than us and we are weaker than them. Maybe we can't do anything now. But Nagisa, we all feel the way you do. We want to get better than people like Itona and we all want to kill Koro-sensei ourselves. Every one of them failed up until now and even so, we have the biggest chance of killing him. We can learn, adapt, and use whatever those guys reveal to us.''

I drew a deep breath. Giving pep-talk sucked, but I wanted to believe those words, wanted for him to believe in his class and himself.

''Don't think we are weak because we are not. Everyone can think that class E is a place for losers, but we are going to show them, and we are going to kill that damn octopus, so don't give up.''

Nagisa looked startled at my speech, but the haunted look in his eyes had lessened only just a little bit. His mouth was opened, as if his words left him before he could utter out a word. Anxiously, I waited for his answer, hoping that I had done something.

''Thanks, Sayori.'' The other teen squeezed my right hand on his shoulder and gave me a small smile in gratitude. It felt like a small win for me, since I had most of the time so little success when it came to words, but I could see that Nagisa's smile was genuine and that was enough for me.

''No problem, Nagisa, just... when things here go to hell and I'm a bit too crazy to be careful enough, help out a bit, please. I can't-'' and I cut myself off before I bit myself in the tongue, because they were starting and the hot, hot blood lust was curling around in the classroom and reaching a boiling point.

''Sayori?'' a voice prodded me tentatively. Right, calm down, we aren't allowed to get harmed. Sensei had set that as a rule.

''Yeah, I'm alright. Thank you, Nagisa. Do that again when I look a bit too panicky, okay?'' He nodded, looking worried about me.

Sure, Nagisa was no Karma, who spent a chunk of his life with me already, but he was familiar enough to me, so that I could calm back from wherever my mind went when I had those crazy panic attacks and think for a minute.

Meanwhile, Itona had taken off his coat to expose a short-sleeved crop-neck top and a toned upper body. While that gesture was dramatic, even his muscles didn't show how much force the guy could actually produce with his tentacles. Urgh... I hated not knowing and gauging opponents was only as effective as long as they let you see things.

Pretty much everyone was now staring at the unfolding scene before us and waiting for this to start. And- oh, hello arms. Turning my head, I saw Karma embracing me from behind, his head near mine.

''You gonna be okay?'' he whispered into my ear, obviously worrying about me. I wasn't really sure what to say. For one I wanted to snap and say it would be alright and that I wasn't a baby. I hated it when my weaknesses were so obvious. If it had only been Karma, that would have been okay, but here was my whole class watching and even some strangers.

''I think, I can manage as long as either you or Nagisa remind me of where I am,'' I let out after a pause and relaxed for a moment in Karma's hold. Goddamn it, I just felt safer knowing he was here.

''Nagisa too?'' The surprise was clear in his voice and a bit of envy. If I hadn't known how many things in Karma's life didn't stay, I would have been annoyed by this, but I just wanted to sooth his fear of things being taken away from him.

''He's just... familiar. Enough so that I can calm down from a minor freak-out. I don't think he could do anything if I panicked too much,'' I revealed to Karma and saw his shoulders relax from their tensed state. Lately Karma reminded me a bit of a possessive cat, but I found that oddly endearing.

I could imagine him bristling with cat ear and tail, trying to keep whatever offended him away.

Just as Itona's guardian let his hand fall as sign for the battle to start, everyone, who had not some kind of physical enhancement, flinched for a good amount. The killer intent rolled off in waves from Itona's form, taking me out of my daydreaming.

ohpleasehelpstopnonononono-

And immediately I could feel the hold on me tighten and calm voice directing me to breathe.

''Come on, Sayo. Breathe with me,'' Karma's murmured to me and he began to set an even breathing pattern. Forcing my breathing to match his, I watched with wide eyes as the assassin in the ring sliced off Koro-sensei's tentacle with his own.

The atmosphere in the classroom was filled with shock, fear, and confusion, but most of all it was anger. Itona's anger had been rising from the start of the lesson, but now it paled in comparison to the emotion that was being emitted from Koro-sensei. His anger filled voice growled out his question, but Itona and Shiro looked unconcerned.

''Where did you get this?'' I flinched from the fury clouding the room.

''What the hell?'' my childhood friend uttered out in shock, his grip loosening. Tearing my gaze from the scene before us, I could see the whole class in some state of disbelief, and I could relate.

I had known about it, in maybe some kind of vague sense of it, but I had known what to expect and still became shell-shocked by this show of force. How could I do something against this kind of power?

''My, my, does this rouse an unpleasant memory? But anyway, that doesn't concern you, as you are about to die anyway. Though I will tell you just one thing, Koro-sensei'' the white-clad figure drew out the syllables, looking highly amused despite everything that was happening around us. ''Even if he has different parents and a different upbringing from you, he is still your brother. I guarantee you that. Now, it's time to say goodbye.''

On cue Shiro pulled something out of his sleeve and a blinding light shone across the rooms. My mind shuttered to a halt. Right, light, car, classroom, noise. This situation was so not good for my mind. I felt like puking or outright running, but Koro-sensei's frozen form convinced me otherwise.

''...pressure light beam reforging your cells... frozen...weakness...'' I was able to filter out a few words from the white noise, that had filled my ears, and promptly had a fit about the pressure-light-beam-thing. How the fuck did light convert into pressure?

My knowledge in physics wasn't advanced enough to know how that worked, but I knew that it worked the other way around on touch screens with the right technology. Did that also work like this? On such a minimal scale?

I was so caught up on that small detail and I wasn't very proud to admit that I didn't pay attention to the fight until Shiro used the beam a second time and a loud crash announced the renewed loss of tentacles on Koro-sensei's side. Inside the ring lay Koro-sensei's skin and again were a few pieces of tentacles merrily sizzling away.

''Karma, please let go.'' The redhead startled from my sudden request and shifted his head look at me doubtfully.

''But-'' I shook my head.

''It's okay. I'm getting used to it.''

Unwillingly, Karma let his arms falls off my form, but he didn't step any more away from me than it was necessary. He was clearly remembering the last few times where I had a panic attack and decided to be stubbornly glued to my side.

What a dork, I thought absentmindedly and focused back on the match, which had grown steadily worse on Koro-sensei's side. Another pair of his tentacles had been sliced off and he was heaving with the effort of regenerating his limps. Although... I noticed Nagisa taking out his anti-sensei knife and the twitch of Koro-sensei's tentacles into the short boy's direction.

This... didn't seem so bad. At least he had a plan to recover from his loss, but if someone took the knife away, his chances of winning would become slimmer. Should I-?

It was too late anyway, I realized when sensei executed his plan and sent Itona sprawling outside of the classroom, taking the entire wall with him. I winced at the destruction and fervently hoped that the government would pay for that. I definitely didn't have enough material for that.

The shaking in my hands had settled down by now and I was now looking at the defeated form of Itona. His gaze was stunned, incomprehensible and he looked up only to catch my gray eyes with his own. That was when the realization hit him that he lost, and he snarled at me.

I haven't lost yet. I can't lose. Don't tell me I lost! His eyes screamed at me, crazed by his own pain. If he had still enough of his self-control to see the pity in my eyes, I didn't see it. All I saw was someone so horribly caught up in his own emotions, unwilling to accept reality. And that thought hit a little bit too close to home.

The boy sprang forward in a straight line, black tentacles replacing his normal ones; whether he was aiming towards sensei or me I didn't know, but he stopped moving in mid-jump and slumped motionless on the ground.

That... must have been a quite strong dose of tranquilizer, I mused absentmindedly, a bit horror-stricken by his knockout. He had a high intake of sugar, which equaled energy and hinted a high metabolism. His sugar levels had to be pretty low by now from the use of his tentacles.

''I guess he isn't ready yet for school,'' Shiro said, effectively startling me out of my reverie. My eyes were still glued to Itona, who was out for count, but occasionally twitching. ''Give him a bit more time. In the meantime, I'll just be his teacher.''

He turned to exit the classroom via the hole Koro-sensei had made but was halted by a yellow limp darting forward. Or not. The appendage melted as soon as it touched the white cloak Shiro was wearing, and my mind went overdrive as Koro-sensei and Shiro made some not so polite goodbye-conversation.

Could we get that technology, too?

Listlessly listening to my classmates questioning our teacher, I moved the desks with a few others into the right order. I was for sure interested in our teacher's origins since I had only half of an idea what could have been, but peer pressure wouldn't do anything right now and admittedly I was still a bit miffed about the thing from this morning.

When the sound of door rattled through the classroom I was looking into the faces of my contemplative classmates and tilted my head to analyze what they were worrying about.

''You know guys, he totally distracted you from asking. Are you sure that you'll let it lie like this?'' I was staring out of the window but called out those words casually. In times like these, I felt a bit like an outsider. When my classmates were still thinking about repercussions of current events and my mind was already going of tangents it wasn't supposed to go.

They were still teens, still thinking so emotionally and on one lane. It just appealed to me to challenge them, to let them see that they had different options and ways.

''Of course not! How can you think we are?'' Maehara called out indignantly. Figures that he would be the one to say something. He was one of the more outspoken ones, but I guessed that our conversations made it easier for him to answer me.

I turned my head to stare at them. Hard.

''Because I can hear all of you thinking of doing what he just said. Maybe it's betraying his trust, but I do believe we have the right to know, like you just said.'' I let out a sigh. Why was I doing this again? ''It depends on him, but don't let yourself be brushed off like this. Don't go ahead and do these thing mindlessly. He does this intentionally, so that we don't sympathize too much with him and hesitate to kill him. Ask yourself this; do you want to risk not being able to kill him anymore by learning what he is? Or do you want to live in eternal ignorance and regret every time that you hadn't taken more time to find out? Those are both shitty choices but realize what exactly we're doing. He's just as human as all of us, even if he's physically a different species.''

Not particularly happy about what I had done just now, I took off my glasses and rubbed the bridge of my nose. Whatever hopefully they would think about what I had said.

Not willing to mope anymore, I slammed my hands on my table and stood up, a few of my classmates flinching at the noise.

''Okay, think about it. Who's in for a training round with Karasuma-sensei?''

''You're sure a good teacher, Sayo,'' Karma remarked on our way down the mountain.

''As if you haven't given a pep talk to anyone yet, Karma. I'm sure someone would have said something eventually.'' He laughed at me.

''Sure thing. Are you going home now? Your mother asked me to come over,'' Karma shot back airily at my gruff reply. He looked happier now, that he had reaffirmed that I was okay enough to be snippy at him.

''Nice to see that my mother tells you these things before she tells me.'' I shook my head. ''I still want to go to the library and look something up. You can go ahead and talk with her. God knows what for evil schemes you two are planning.''

''If you say so, Sayo. Just don't get home too late.'' My chest bloomed with a warm feeling when he said the word 'home'. It was a minor thing, but I really liked it that he considered my place more as a home more than he did his own.

That was food for thought, but I nodded in answer, and we separated.

The library was still filled with quite a few people when I entered the building. There were a few students in between the rows, but mostly some from the university in the next district. Kunugigaoka had a good library considering that it wasn't that big.

I trotted down the bookshelves towards the science section to look for a book that could maybe tell me about the transformation of light into pressure or the aftereffects of low blood sugar levels. I was sure that should have been covered somewhere in school, but I just had to find out.

It didn't really occur to me that the person next to me was actually someone I knew, as I parsed through a few hopefully helpful books. Only when a hand actually grabbed a book that looked promising, I looked up and recognized the face.

''Asano-san?''

Right, please don't kill me, I'm really sorry. You guys are just freaking awesome and I don't know why I even deserve you. Come on, 700 follows and almost 650 favs? You are insane and damn it if I don't feel grateful. I'm sorry for not responding to reviews, but I'm just unable to do that. You can always PM me if you have a question.

This chapter was betaed by the wonderful Riladell. She's just awesome.

Questions: What is your opinion of Itona? I don't know what to think of him.