I have no excuse for my tardiness in uploading this chapter. I hope that a double update will decrease your frustration at me even just a bit. Thank you for all readers who reviewed, favorited, and followed this story, as well as all my silent readers. I hope these two chapters will please you ;)

Beware of heavy OOCs and grammar mistakes, I didn't really have much time to proofread it carefully.

Disclaimer: Last time I checked, the fact that I own nothing hasn't changed.


"Here is the draft of the exams material for the first term's finals." said an obsidian-haired man while handing a pile of paper to his interlocutor.

"Thank you for your good work, Koro-sensei and Yukimura-sensei. I'll look at these tonight and have them ready for next week."

"Please don't work too hard, Asano-kouchou*. There's still lots of time before the finals. Make sure to take care of your health too." added the short-haired woman.

"Don't worry, Yukimura-sensei. I only need two hours of sleep each day to function normally. Please take time to prepare your students well for the coming exams."

Yukimura Aguri looked at the middle-aged man in front of her, worry apparent in her expression. She was about to say something back when she felt a hand on her shoulder directing her attention to the tall dark-haired man standing next to her. She finally nodded after understanding the silent message he was giving her. "Alright. Please rest assured that we will."

"Then everything is settled. You can return to your class. And Koro-sensei, don't forget to supervise the students of your class who use the sciences lab after school to prevent chemical hazards."

"You don't have to worry about that, Kouchou. Okuda Manami-chan is a really responsible and careful girl. She already knew all the safety instructions for the lab, right Aguri?"

"Yes, as their chemistry teacher, I made sure to instruct them all about that. Manami-chan is an exceptionally bright student and knows how to take care of herself." beamed Aguri with pride while talking about one of her favorite students.

"Very well. You two can go now." concluded the principal, already starting to look at the papers that he just received.

The obsidian-haired man and woman bowed and left the room. They started heading back to the staff room. The man looked at his companion who still wore slight traces of worry on her face.

"You will have permanent wrinkles if you keep furrowing your eyebrows like that." said Koro-sensei with a teasing voice, his fingers touching the space between her eyebrows.

"Mou, Yama-san! I was just afraid that the principal will overwork himself till the point of exhaustion after … what has happened." Aguri finished softly.

"He needs time. All we can do is to watch over him and intervene if he pushes himself too much."

Yukimura mused over what her colleague said, and finally let out a sigh.

"I guess so."

Koro-sensei's lips turned upwards to a small smile. His left hand resting on top of her head ruffled through her dark locks. He could never get tired of doing that ever since meeting her. The former Ministry of Defense's secret agent always remembered the first time they met when he was working undercover in the lab of Yanagisawa Kotarou to gather intelligence. Yukimura Aguri was working there as a research assistant at that time.

She was the first and only woman who made him feel the happiness to have someone really looking at you. Despite his total lack of interest in anyone before that, their one year inside the lab has made him deeply attracted to the woman. After Yama found out enough proof to accuse Yanagisawa of conducting a research that transgressed the fundamental ethical rules of biomedical research, the mad scientist was properly charged and the research was stopped by the government.

The former agent surprised Aguri by reuniting with her as a fellow teacher at Kunigaoka High School, a job he deemed gradually to be really enjoyable with all the interesting students and Aguri by his side.

"Are you going to supervise Manami-chan making poisons tomorrow too?" inquired Koro-sensei.

"Yes. I can't overlook the safety concerns of a student creating toxins on her own. She got hooked into making them now thanks to you." Aguri pouted, remembering the time Yama-san mentioned about making poisons to Manami and suggesting her to fabricate some, getting the young girl hooked into doing so from that time on. Ever since the bespectacled girl asked Aguri the permission to use the sciences lab after school, the chemistry teacher always made a point to watch over her manipulating chemical solutions, or at least to go see her student every time before heading home herself.

Since the start of the year, Okuda Manami has always been one of the current freshman students who caught her attention. Aside from her propelling talent with chemistry and her outstanding achievements in sciences-related subject, Aguri could sense that the young girl intentionally closed up her heart to not let anyone in except for her sister and Kanzaki-chan, but even for these two it was only partially.

She was definitely a sweet girl in nature. However, Aguri felt that Manami forced herself to not be too involved with her other classmates in fear of something and instead chose to chase after a certain goal. She could remember that last time she tried approaching her bespectacled student about that while they were trying to fabricate the three latest types of poison that Aguri wanted to show Manami, which were sodium hydroxide, thallium acetate, and aqua regia.

"Why don't you try talking with other classmates aside from your two close friends, Manami-chan? I'm sure that you will get along great with them too." started Aguri while helping Manami rinsing the glassed beakers and cylinders as they were finishing another after-school sciences experiment.

There was a small pause. The bespectacled girl stopped what she was doing and looked down at her soap-coated hands.

"Thank you for your concern, Yukimura-sensei. But for me, clever wordplay and thinking through a piece's subtle emotions are both unnecessary. I am terrible with words and can never express myself correctly." finally let out Manami with a small voice.

"I'm not good with literature either, so I understand you quite well, Manami-chan."

"R-really? Even you, Yukimura-sensei?" asked the petite girl with surprise evident on her face.

"Really! You can ask Koro-sensei for confirmation. He made fun of my knowledge in Japanese literature so bad when we first met. He knew about it more than me and he isn't even Japanese!" Aguri couldn't help but let out a small smile reminiscing about that time. Yama-san was always so patient with her despite his frequent teasings about her weaker subjects and her fashion sense. She realized that she has grown fond of him ever since that time, and those feelings just kept growing over time after he started to work as a teacher at this school, courtesy of Asano-kouchou's suggestion.

"I can really imagine that." said Manami bluntly.

"You're too honest, Manami-chan." pouted Aguri slightly.

"Uhm…S-sorry sensei. I can only say what I think because I'm really bad with words." the shy girl bowed her head and looked down at the ground. She then felt soft hands resting on her shoulder, which made her look up. Yukimura-sensei had left her original spot near the door and planted herself just in front of Manami. With the warmest and kindest smile that the bespectacled girl has ever seen, Aguri spoke softly:

"I meant that as a compliment. Honesty is a very important quality to have, and not all people possess it. However, Manami, you should know that humans will wither away if they're always alone. The only remedy would be to seek out other people. You are a very sweet and kind girl. Don't be afraid to open your heart to others, to really get to know them and let know get to know you in return."

"E-even if it means that you will get hurt in the end?" whispered Manami so softly that Aguri would have missed it if she didn't pay enough attention.

"...What do you mean by that, Manami?" Aguri wasn't really expecting Manami's reply. Even though it was fleeting, the chemistry teacher did glimpse a sad and longing expression in her student's eyes. The young girl didn't answer though, and opted to bow her head down.

She only spoke after another pause, with a quiet and distant voice. "It was nothing, sensei. Please don't think much of it. I'll have to head home now. Please excuse me."

And with that, Manami put back the equipments and quickly exited the lab, leaving Aguri pondering over her thoughts.

"It seems that child carries something even deeper behind her timid and honest self." concluded Aguri after remembering her unsuccessful attempt to make Manami talk more to her classmates.

Koro-sensei couldn't help but agree with his partner at that. Even though he didn't interact with Manami as much as Aguri did, the faraway look of the young girl that he sometimes caught her having during his classes and her manners were enough to convince the veteran investigator about some background story. As he deeply cared for his students as Aguri did, the math teacher also wanted to help the young girl in whatever way possible. He already had a plan coming under way to talk to her and convince her to interact more with her classmates with the coming class trip to Osaka.

"Let's be a bit more patient. I will need your help with my plan involving Manami-chan for the class trip." reassured Yama while ruffling through Aguri's dark locks once again.


Meanwhile, at the mountain behind the school…

Manami froze on her tracks after fully processing his question, refusing to turn back and look at him.

She finally resumed walking after sometime and whispered softly in a detached voice:

"That is none of your business."

Seeing that she won't say anything more, Karma nonchalantly crossed his arms behind his head and proceeded to follow after her.

Ignoring the same uncomfortable feeling from earlier that was crawling up once again inside him, the red head decided to reply back:

"Ok, ok, I get it. You absolutely won't talk about him. Can I ask something else then?"

"You are going to ask me no matter what I say anyway."

"Glad to see you've caught up with how I am, Manami-chan."

"I don't remember giving you the permission to call me by my first name, Akabane-kun."

"Call me Karma."

"I choose how to call you myself."

"Then I can also call you in whichever way I want, Manami. Anyway, what other things can you make aside from those smoke bombs earlier?" finished Karma with a cheeky grin, not yielding to her stubbornness.

The young girl next to him sighed tiredly, reminding herself again about her inability to understand the young red head. She felt that she was fighting a losing a battle about trying to keep some distance from him. She wondered if he was this talkative with his other friends too, since that wasn't how she first perceived him to be.

His bombarding questions had long surpassed the level of small talk, and she got a feeling that he had every intention to get out every bit of information about her from their current conversation. She got to hand it to him though, the fellow was cunning when he decided to ask about chemistry, as if he knew that she won't be able to resist talking about her passion. Furthermore, it was better to direct his questions towards less personal aspects about herself.

However, as she was going to give him an answer, black entered her visual field and she directed her gaze towards the wisteria tree to her right. Lo and behold, the infamous black cat with a white heart-shaped spot was lazily stretching at the corner of the said wisteria tree. Karma seemed to notice it too, as he quickened his pace while being mindful to not make any noise.

While she was doing the same, Manami couldn't help but squeal, mentally of course, to finally manage to spot the heart-shaped-spotted cat for the first time. From the beginning, this specific photo was so hard to get since the cat was rarely seen on the campus, and her chance of taking it was now or never! Slowly and quietly approaching the cat, Manami carefully reached into her skirt pocket to take out her phone. While doing so however, she diverted her eyes from the cat for a moment and accidently stepped on a pile of autumn leaves, creating a light but clear rustle sound. It seemed to alert the cat, which proceeded to run away at full speed right at that instant.

"W-wait!" cried out Manami while already chasing after it, with Karma closely behind.

They managed to chase it until a wired barricade wall came into view. The small creature quickly slid under the little space at the base of the wired wall and hurried over to the other side. Manami desperately looked on to the feline creature while searching for any opening that she could pass through, but the only thing that she glimpsed was a big metal board with the words "no trespassing" in bold capital letters.

What should I do…? There's no guarantee that I'll find it again tomorrow. I want to chase after it. Even if I climb over, there's a barbed wire.

Plus there's no trespassing. And if there's an entrance, it surely will require a key.

While mentally berating herself for her stupid mistake, Manami was so absorbed in racking her brain for any other ways to get through the wired wall that she completely missed the look that Karma was giving her. She was only reminded of his presence when his deep voice rang in her ears:

"Hand me your phone. I'll take a picture for you."

The handsome young lad, who was just next to her moments ago, was now standing in front of her with the wired wall separating them. His hand was stretching toward her, demanding the electronic gadget currently in her possession. Shock was an understatement for what Manami was feeling at that moment.

"H-h-how…W-w-why are you on that side!? W-where did you enter from?" blurted out the raven-haired girl.

"Huh? There's a gap over there." coolly answered Karma while pointing towards a hole in the wall partly camouflaged by some green bushes to her right.

"I'll go too!" quickly said Manami while hurrying to the hole, and proceeded to crouch down.

"Just stay there. I said I'll take it." insisted the scarlet-haired boy.

"If I don't do it myself, there's no meaning." concluded Manami in a firm voice, eyes looking determined.

At those words, Karma's amber orbs widened.

From her acuteness, I sensed sincerity. From her recklessness, I sensed devotion.

"What kind of guy let the girl he likes doing all these dangerous things? Even if he doesn't return her feelings, he should make it clear to her and not giving her false hope with this strange and reckless game." Karma slowly realized that he was getting angry at a guy that he didn't even know. Anger, frustration, admiration, curiosity. He couldn't remember the last time he felt such varied emotions inside of him all at the same time. He couldn't decide if Manami was too naïve or too devoted. He found it strange how one person would unconditionally try so hard for another like what she was doing.

Karma continued to brood while observing Manami carefully crouching down and tried to get through the hole. It seemed like it was broken down for someone to get through, with all the tips being teared apart unevenly making them spiking out in all directions. She could get through the hole but it was easy to prick herself with those spiky tips, which made her slowly proceeding with precautions.

"How strange. Akabane-kun's body is bigger than mine and yet he got through this spiky hole without a scratch." mused Manami, noticing some small tears in her uniform because of the tips.

She couldn't care less about them, however, because the black cat was at that moment stationing barely two metres from her. Quickly taking out her phone and mindful to not make another stupid mistake this time around, Manami pressed the shutter and couldn't suppress a contented smile at her final result.

"10 more to go." whispered the petite girl with sakura-color slightly tinting her round cheeks, still looking at the photo in her phone.


Songs: Bokura no Machi de (In Our Town) by KAT-TUN, ninelie by Aimer with chelly from EGOIST

*kouchou: a Japanese suffix to address the Principal of a school.

Since Koro-sensei doesn't have a real name in the manga, I took the liberty to give him a Japanese-like first name (because I think it will be weird if Aguri calls him Koro-sensei all the time) which reflects his God of Death title: Yama is an appellation for the Death Deity in Asian Culture.