Nagisa couldn't process what was happening in front of him.

Who was this bright yellow octopus? Why was he always smiling? How could he talk? And most importantly, why the hell was he teaching them!? Nagisa cast a glance over at his new friend and seatmate, Kaede Kayano, who looked just as shocked and confused as he was.

As if things couldn't get any weirder. The government agent, who looked like he hadn't slept in three years, explained the situation. "Your job before the end of the year, to put it bluntly, is to kill this monster!"

Nagisa rolled his eyes. His situation at home was suddenly the last thing on his mind.

While Nagisa walked home with Kayano and Sugino, he wondered how his stepfather allowed this whole setup. There had to be some kind of catch. Like, was the principal being paid by the government to allow this? Was some sort of blackmail going on? What did the principal plan to do in the event that this new octopus guy turned out to be a great teacher and E class rose up and proved him wrong?

Oh, who is he kidding. That's obviously nothing but a pipe dream.

When Nagisa arrived home, he muttered "Tadaima" and took his shoes off. He intended to go up to his/Gakushuu's room and do his homework, but he was corralled into the kitchen by his stepfather.

"Look, son." He ran his fingers through his hair. "Just… Don't tell your mother about this, okay?"

"Tell her about what?" Nagisa rubbed his eyes, as this was the most tiring day he'd had in months.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about." He smiled and patted the teenager's shoulder. "And don't tell your stepbrother either. I'm sure the government guy gave you this spiel already, but no one can know about this. Just imagine their reactions."

Nagisa had no intention of telling either of those two, he had thought of this earlier today. His mother would throw a fit. Probably sue the school and bring media attention. No one else was allowed to hurt Momma's baby. Only she could do that.

Gakushuu, on the other hand… He'd probably find some way to use this against his father. Threaten to go to the press and report his 'academic policies' and the numerous skeletons he definitely had in his closet. Nagisa almost admired how devious his stepbrother was. He could 'accidentally' let his brother in on it and vicariously assert power over his parents. But Nagisa, at the end of the day, didn't want to rock the boat, so he agreed to keep tight-lipped about the arrangement.

As the days went on, what became even more baffling was how this managed to stay a secret. Of course, Nagisa would never say a peep to anyone outside of E Class, and he trusted the rest of them to do the same, but no one on the main campus ever trudged up the mountain, just for shits and giggles? To pull a prank on the poor unsuspecting E Class 'losers'? Nope, apparently not. But if they did, would sensei be able to hide himself with so little warning? Actually, he probably would.

Nagisa leaned forward in his desk, pretending to write the tentacle poem that Koro-sensei had requested. Soon Terasaka's plan would be put into motion, and Nagisa would be a central part of it.

Gulping, the cute little blue-haired boy got out of his seat, and walked towards the octopus sensei.

Gakushuu was sitting in math class right at that very moment. A test was being distributed, so he knew he should be focusing. He'd studied for four hours last night. But he couldn't relax. He was deeply disturbed by his stepbrother's behavior as of late. He was… strangely jovial about school. That must've made their folks happy (deep down somewhere, if it was true they didn't obviously show it). But he also seemed to be hiding something. It irked Gakushuu. He was supposed to lord over the entire school, yet he didn't even know about the life of on E Class student who lived with him, for goodness sake?

Time was running out on this test. There was one question left. The redhead looked at the clock. 45 seconds left. No way could he solve something like this in that amount of time. So he just scribbled down X = i.

Oh well, Gakushuu thought with distain. The principal's gonna kill me when he inevitably looks over my test.

Well, as one might've guessed, Terasaka's assassination plan didn't go as well as he hoped. But it didn't do quite as badly as it could have, as the moment it occurred the yellow octopus had terrible visions of poor Nagisa's guts splattered across the floor and blood everywhere. Luckily, that didn't happen. Instead the octopus teacher shed his protective skin to shield his precious student. And he was PISSED.

That was the weird thing about this whole situation. He actually seemed really concerned about the wellbeing of his students for a guy who was ready to blow up the world and by extension everyone in it. And he was a really good teacher on top of that…

After shooting around town at Mach 20 (without any of the class even noticing that he was gone), threatening his students' families, and giving Nagisa two bright red circles, the octopus was finally given a name and everyone was sent home. Nagisa breathed deeply before entering the house, remembering the story he fed his family (except for the principal): Mr. Karasuma is his new teacher. He teaches every subject. He's a good teacher, that's why he now does his homework and is happy to go to school. No exciting new projects. Certainly not ones that put the fate of the world in jeopardy. No sir.

The weekend was now here. Since there was no homework immediately due, Nagisa had gotten up at about 9 am to meet Sugino and Kayano at the local mall.

"Where's Nagisa?" Gakushuu asked when he went downstairs at noon to and bumped into his father.

"Off to see his friends in E Class." His father said with derision, chopping up a radish.

Gakushuu felt a twitch of envy. He wished he had friends who wanted to spend time with him, yet alone the time to spend with them. Wait a minute, he was jealous of an E Class student?

"The only reason your stepmother allowed it is because she was too preoccupied with stuff at work." Moving the sliced radish into a bowl, Gakuho placed an onion on the cutting board.

"Isn't she always?" Gakushuu snarked.

"Don't talk that way about your stepmom. Unless you prefer the woman who ran off and abandoned you?"

"No comment." Gakushuu was tearing up from the chopped onion.

"Maybe she gave you a little sibling," Venom dripped from Gakuho's words. "Wouldn't that be lovely. Anyway, this kind of thing is only going to make Nagisa's grades drop even more. Take this as an example, boy."

"Oh? Can I go see my friends too, father dearest?" Gakushuu felt like pushing it today.

His father laughed, then patted his head condescendingly. "As if anyone is going to hang out with you willingly. And even if they did, you have midterms in a month. Better start preparing now."

Nagisa found himself carrying Kayano's bags. His newest friend was closely looking at macrons, obviously internally debating between blueberry or chocolate for her last in the box. Sugino was in the restroom.

Nagisa got the sudden feeling that something was off. He had this ability, and he wasn't quite sure what it was. He didn't know if it was a sixth sense or just him picking up on cues that no one else noticed, what whatever it was, he knew something bad was about to happen.

He walked forward. "Kayano, we have to go."

"Waa? But why?" Kayano payed the man behind the counter for her French almond cookies.

"We just need to grab Sugino and go. Believe me."

As if on cue, the baseball player walked toward them. "Guys, I just saw some of the dudes from A Class."

"Doing what?"

"I don't know… Asano was one of them."

Nagisa nearly spat out the lemonade he was drinking. Crap! Even these guys didn't know that he and Gakushuu were family! And he was certain that the people from A Class didn't either. Now they really had to leave.

"L-let's go to the park. It's nice and sunny." Nagisa picked up all five of Kayano's bags and headed to the front entrance, his friends deciding to go along with his intuitions.

"Hey, E Class dorks!"

That voice. Dammit, he heard that voice somewhere before.

Sugino was roughly patted on the back by Koyama, the ugly guy with the big jaw.

"What are you doing here, losers? You should be studying, can't afford for your grades to drop any lower." Seo flicked Nagisa's pigtail.

"Guys, let's back off. There's a lady among them." Sakakibara rubbed Kayano's shoulders. She gripped her cookies extra tightly. "Such a waste that you're in E Class."

Nagisa saw orange hair in the corner of his eye. His stepbrother. Wait, wasn't he supposed to be at home studying? Did the principal decide to be generous and give him one minute of vacation?

Gakushuu was good at many things, but acting and hiding his emotions was not among them. It was clear he was struggling to come up with an excuse to stop this miserable sight. He awkwardly made eye contact with Nagisa, then looked away.

"Uh… Guys! I just remembered something!"

The virtuosos froze. It was apparent they hung on every word Gakushuu said.

"We have a quiz on Monday! Let's get to the library and study."

"Huh?" Araki scratched his head "We don't have a quiz-"

"Yes we do." The valedictorian cut him off. "Now let them go. Can't let your grades drop anymore, now can we Araki?"

The virtuosos admitted defeat and complied with their leader. Koyama cast them a dirty look and Sakakibara slipped a paper with his number on it in Kayano's pocket (she promptly threw it away), but they shuffled off and Nagisa and company gathered their belongings and went to the park.

The next day was Sunday. Nagisa and Gakushuu got up before their parents and ate breakfast together.

"Uh, thanks for yesterday." Nagisa reached for the butter. "So, I see the principal softened up and let you have a minute of play time?"

Gakushuu snorted. "Nope! I was sick of staring at that stupid diagram of the plot of Titus Andronicus, so I snuck out. Called up the other virtuosos, we spent some time together."

"Would you say they're your best friends?" Nagisa titled his head.

"They're not really my friends. I mean I guess in the loosest sense of the term, but I don't really consider anyone a friend."

"That's so sad!" The bluenette blurted out.

Gakushuu did not respond. Meanwhile Nagisa awkwardly petted Gakushuu's cat, Sakura Mochi.

Nagisa and Gakushuu walked to school together the next day. This was a rarity. Gakushuu insisted he wanted to make sure they both got to school on time, but in reality it was because he wanted intel on whatever his brother was hiding. Could it be related to his father's weird behavior (well, weirder than usual)?

"Hey Nagisa?" Gakushuu asked, having patiently waited for Nagisa to finish his description of the book he was reading in Modern Japanese.

'Yes?" His step brother nodded.

"Do you know what happened to Yukimura-sensei?"

"Nope. We never got an explanation. Just 'personal reasons'." Nagisa answered with sincerity.

"Shame. I heard nothing but good things from the principal about her." Gakushuu brushed the pollen off of his blazer.

This was a surprise to Nagisa. The principal could be impressed by someone?

"Well, what about this new teacher? What's he like?" The redhead continued.

Nagisa didn't seem caught off guard by the question at all. Gakushuu had yet to figure this part out, but Nagisa in fact anticipated the question. "He's great. He really gives each of us the individual attention we need."

Gakushuu's mouth hung open in shock. But, though he didn't want to admit it, a part of him was happy that his brother was doing well in school. And another part of him was a little envious, again. He wished he got the teacher's one-on-one attention every once in a while.

One weekday afternoon, Hiromi was sitting at the kitchen table, legs crossed in frustration and rolling her eyes. It seemed she was on the verge of tears. Nagisa and Gakushuu knew better than to cross her, so they tried to go straight to their rooms.

But she couldn't be avoided forever. During dinner, she informed the boys of her and Gakuho's predicament.

"Boys," She sighed. "... My husband and I have something to tell you."

Both sons twitched. They knew this wasn't going to be good news.

"We've been trying for another child for a couple of months." She shifted to sit on her feet. "And it hasn't been happening. The doctor says we're both too old." she lifted her hand up to cover her face. "This is really harsh on me. I still can't have a daughter." The middle-aged woman tore the hand away from her face, then used it to knock a glass vase off of the table. "Why can't I get a happy ending!?" She broke into a sob and fell to the ground.

Nagisa and Gakushuu exchanged awkward glances, while Gakuho got to the ground to soothe his wife. "Shh, it's okay honey." He ran a hand through her hair, which was getting rather long recently. "We've got a perfect family already. We can wait for a granddaughter in the future."

The forty year-old woman stopped shaking for a moment. Nagisa, sensing that this was one of his mother's 'dark' moods, decided to try to appeal to her. So he joined the adults on the ground and tried to hug Hiromi. He was promptly slapped.

"You bastard," She sobbed. "Why couldn't you…. I don't know, be less disappointing?" She grabbed his left pigtail and yanked the hairtie out, freeing his long silky hair.

Even Gakuho seemed a bit shocked. He pulled his new wife away from her son. "Hiromi, I'll make you a drink and draw a warm bath for you."

Nagisa got on his knees and bowed. "I'm sorry Mom. I should have been more sympathetic."

The hairtie fell on the floor. Nagisa subtly picked it up.

To the shock of absolutely everyone in the house, even the cat, it was Gakushuu who intervened. Or rather, he tried to. "Um, ah- Have you considered IVF? Or using a surrogate?"

Hiromi didn't even acknowledge him. "Just go upstairs. Both of you. Especially you," She honed her gaze on her biological son. "I can't stand to look at you. You remind me of my failures."

The boys knew to comply.