Friendship 101

Chapter Three: Enter Rio Nakamura! Team Itonami For the Wrong Reasons.

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Disclaimer: I do not own Assassination Classroom. It belongs to Matsui Yuusei. That troll.

(A/N: It has come to my attention that Itona is, indeed, taller than Manami. My mistake you guys! I was so sure that he was the shortest in class that I went ahead and had him become Class 3-E's shortest student. So please, as you read, imagine him as a small knight. A very small knight. ...Itona, the Smol Knight. He may have a growth spurt later. Lol, okay. I am getting way too ahead of myself!

Also, this was ready last week. My apologies, I was honestly too lazy too upload last Thursday. Sorry to make you guys wait! Once Thursday was over, I waited until this Thursday to upload this chapter because... I'm that kind of person? Very rough chapter? I didn't edit too much? Not beta'd either? Enjoy! I hope, lol.)

Itona didn't want to admit it, but he was nervous. As he stood by the door, he waited anxiously to open it. Gosh, I'm pathetic. He said to himself. She's probably not even in there. That was of course a lie. Itona knew the person he was anticipating was already inside the classroom. Everyone knew that she was always one of the first to arrive and one of the last to leave. But why do I know that now?

The bandana wearing boy didn't know how to feel about that. Sighing, Itona wrote the kanji for calm on his hand and swallowed it. He hoped it would give him strength for whatever was waiting for him today.

"Ah? I have never seen someone actually do that trick in real life before." Karma said as he suddenly appeared from behind Itona.

"EEK!" Shrieked the short boy. Karma rolled his head back and laughed out loud. There were another few snorts from behind and Itona felt himself flush. For fuck's sak—

"Real manly, Itona-kun." Yūma's voice.

FOR FUCK'S SAKE! Growling, Itona silently cursed the so called Ikemen and glared at his male peers. "Fuck out of here." He snarled, trying to cover up his...slip. "Can't you see I'm busy?" He asked with a motion of his hands.

"Staring at the door?" Hiroto asked with a sly grin. He wiggled his brows. "Yeah, real busy." Itona grit his teeth as his blush deepened. Two could play at that game.

"How long have you been looking at me? That's what I really want to know." Retorted the smaller boy with a sneer. Hiroto scowled in response and folded his arms. Karma and Yūma laughed. The four boys (three really, Yūma tried not to) threw some more insults at each other before Hiroto finally opened the door.

"Ah!" He sighed happily. "Hellooo lovely ladies of Class 3-" The blonde began with a loud, cheerful and booming voice.

"Good morning Itona-kun!" A voice from across the classroom interrupted. Hiroto did a double take at the classroom to look for the usually meek, small voice of the class' chemist. Four pair of eyes (along with the rest of the classroom to be frank) looked as a petite girl properly dressed in uniform walked over the odd group of boys. She stood in front of Itona with a smile on her face. Quickly, she glanced at the redhead. "Good morning Karma!" She chirped. Karma gave a nod. Manami looked to Yūma. "Good morning Isogai-kun!"

"Morning Okuda-san!" Yūma greeted with a smile.

"Morning Oku—" Hiroto tried.

"Itona-kun," Manami interrupted once more. The blonde felt somewhere in his heart crack at the lack of attention. "I was thinking about yesterday and have a few ideas!" Happily, she grabbed Itona's hand and walked off with him in tow. The small boy blushed as he reluctantly followed after her. Itona could feel a cold sweat break out behind his neck. Already, Karma's gaze was solely focused on him.

Dammit, it's too early for this shit. Sighing, Itona let Manami pull him to her desk. Karma, Hiroto, and Yūma watched as the two left. The raven haired boy was amused by their suddenly...friendly relationship. Going off by what he saw yesterday, he wondered how the two got on such good terms. Was this the power of being straightforward?

"O-Okuda-san..." Hiroto quietly called after. "Where's my good morning!?" Comically crying on his best friend's shoulders, neither noticed as Karma narrowed his eyes. The sight was odd and he found it funny how Manami and shrimp fr—Itona, Karma corrected himself, were suddenly so chummy. Sighing quietly, Karma smiled a bit.

At least she is happy and on good terms with the guy now. With that thought in mind, Karma walked over to Nagisa and Kaede's desks. "Morning ladies~!" Teased the redhead. Kaede laughed as Nagisa rolled his eyes.

"I'm a man!"

:::::::

"From one to five, accountability, reliability, communication, respect, and honesty?" Itona looked at the list Manami made. She had told him that if they were going to test their friendship element, there should be solid grounds to go by. Itona nodded his head as he could agree with most of her list but... Honesty? He looked up to her. "H-How honest are we talking here?" He questioned. Manami twirled her fingers together.

"I-I... Th-that's... Um, it depends?" Forcing a laugh, she took her list back. "I think we should talk about it later? When science class starts." Itona agreed with a nod. Before he went back to his seat, the short boy smiled a bit.

"F-Funny how we don't really have any science or base for our 'element', huh?" Itona asked, quoting the element word with his fingers. Manami chuckled a bit in her seat.

"True!" She admitted.

"B-But... I don't trust atoms anyways. I h-heard they make up everything." At the joke, Manami burst out laughing. Itona felt himself grinning. This is kind of nice. He thought as Manami tried to settle down. "You should try a joke." Suggested Itona. She just shook her head, trying to stifle a laugh behind her hand.

"No thanks. Last time I told a chemistry joke, there was no reaction." Manami and Itona laughed. Leaning back in a seat next to the chemist, Itona felt his smile widening. A content feeling was filling him.

"That was pretty good." He complimented. Manami slipped out a merry Thanks! as he continued to sit next to her. "About...the list." Itona began with a little hesitation. Manami caught it but decided to wait for Itona to finish. "I think we can explore one point per day."

Manami nodded her head slowly. "Alright. But, ah... Which one should we start with first?" Itona glanced at the list, his body leaning towards the girl. Humming, Itona pointed his finger to the word communication. "Ah, our worst one." Manami admitted with a small grin. Chuckling, Itona leaned back and slouched in his seat.

"I should probably s-sit behind you, huh?" Asked Itona. "At least until... The project is over." Manami agreed, seeing as how no one sat behind her anyways.

"Yeah, I don't think Koro-sensei would mind." She replied.

"Y-Yeah."

Manami frowned a bit. "Why do you do that?" Questioned the raven haired girl as she put the list away in her bag. Itona gave Manami a Do what? look. "You know," she tried to hint, "stutter."

"I-I don't st—" At the realization, Itona paused. "Ah..." Speechless, the boy just looked at Manami with a weird stare. "I...didn't notice." Usually, you stutter. He told himself. When have I been stuttering? Wondered the boy as he remembered yesterday.

"I stutter when I'm nervous or scared. Or crying." Manami confessed in a relaxed way. The boy raised a brow.

"Oh? I made you nervous and scared?" Itona ignored the crying part as he recalled Takuya mentioning seeing Manami crying yesterday. Just remembering it, Itona felt a jab of guilt hit his chest. The pig-tailed girl smiled.

"Yeah. I was scared of you."

"Oh." Itona felt awkward at the honesty. He opened his mouth to say something, only to close it again. What could he say? Sorry for scaring you? But I apologized yesterday. ...do I have to again? Itona brought a hand to his chin, thinking.

"But not anymore!" Manami added after a while. "You're not scary anymore." She said in a sure tone. A smile tugged at the edge of the boy's lips. For some reason, it made him happy to hear it. "Do I...scare you or make you nervous?" She asked cautiously.

"PFFT!" Itona forced a laugh. "Yeah right. You're the nicest person ever. Why would anyone be nervous around yo—" The younger boy suddenly paused as a memory of yesterday came back to him.

"We're friends! Call me MANAMI! I-ITONA-KUN!"

Oh my God.

Blushing at the memory did Itona cover his face with his hands. Waves of shame and embarrassment thrashed at him with unimaginable strength. Manami gave a worried glance to her partner. "Are you alright?" Asked the girl as she tried to pry Itona's hands away. Ever so slightly did he turn away.

"F-Fine!" He squeaked.

"I really don't believe you right now." She adamantly stated.

Of all the times for her to have a backbone! Itona cursed and shied away. "Bell will ring soon. I'll sit behind you l-later." Before Manami had a chance to pull him back, Itona was out of the seat and into his own. He whimpered. I feel like such a girl! Itona beat himself up for blushing. And what's worse... He was sure that anyone paying attention saw how he reacted. The last thing he wanted was for someone to have the wrong idea about him. Her.

Them.

The bell rung before Itona could linger on those thoughts. He sighed with relief.

Saved by the bell.

Moments before Itona went back to his seat...

Rio and Tōka watched, completely fascinated by the pairing of what Yuzuki dubbed as Itonami. All three girls were thrilled that the two were getting along well. So well. So very well.

"They're so damn cute!" Tōka nearly squealed at the sight of Itona laughing to whatever Manami was saying. "OH MY GOSH! The FEELS! The Tiny Couple~!" Tōka looked as if she was hyperventilating. Yuzuki was close in tow with the reaction. Yuzuki was also looking like she was going to chew her fingers off any moment now. Both of their eyes sparkled. Rio, however, was quiet. She was currently in the process of making a paper crown.

The blonde snickered at her genius plan.

Just last week, Karma had gotten her good with a prank. It did not bode well with the blonde who still didn't want to talk about it. But as she watched Karma and Itona the whole morning, did she grin devilishly. Rio was sure at this point, Manami and Itona were only friends. But Karma didn't look too thrilled about it. Even now as he was with Nagisa, his eyes lingered over to the Itona and Manami every now and then. Rio felt a bubble of evil spread throughout her being.

Payback's a bitch. The blue eyed bombshell smirked. After creating her crown, Rio looked up to her friends. "Hey girls, I have a plan." At the very mention of the word plan, Tōka and Yuzuki's attention were on Rio.

"A plan to kill Koro-sensei?" Asked the manga loving girl.

"Nope." Rio popped at the end. "It involves Itonami and Karma though." Just the mention of the two names made the other girls grin. Tōka immediately caught on to Rio's plan faster as she saw the paper crown.

"Whatever it is, I'm in." Tōka and Rio shook hands.

"I can always count on you." Rio admitted happily. The two fist bumped but were immediately drawn to Yuzuki who gasped.

"Omigosh! Itona-kun is blushing! He's blushing!" Yuzuki quickly slapped Rio's arm, trying to hold in a fangirling scream. Tōka and Rio cheered as Itona's face was red and hidden in his hands. Rio took a picture of the two immediately in a very discreet manner.

Tōka sighed dreamily. "He's so cute. I wish someone would react that way to me." Both of her friends decided not to tell their big breasted friend that most of their male classmates already reacted that way to her. "I am so jumping ship." Stated Tōka as she continued to watch the two.

"Yeah, okay." Rio went back to devising her plan.

"I am not nervous around you." Itona denied right away as he sat at the desk behind Manami. She had pulled her chair up to his and was sitting across from him. It was science class and everyone was in their assigned groups.

"I don't want you to be nervous." Replied Manami as she set a folder down. Itona inwardly groaned at the innocent look as she said it. Slouching just a bit, he sighed. Manami felt her lips tug upwards. "You can be honest with me."

"Fine. I was nervous." He admitted with a hand over his eyes.

"Why?" Asked Manami with a giggle. She found it surprising that someone who was much like her and yet still so different, could be nervous around her.

"Why do you want to know?" Itona answered back slowly.

"Curious. I am," Manami quoted, "the nicest."

"Tch." Itona scowled a little as she used his own words against them. "B-Because... I never called a girl by her name... Before..." At the confession, Manami blushed. She was beginning to feel embarrassed and shy. Something that the two were becoming too familiar with. "So... Yesterday, when you said to call you by your name... I-I was...sh-shy." Itona's voice reached a small whisper.

"O-Oh... Sorry." Apologized Manami. Itona glanced at her, confused. "I guess it was a little selfish of me." She explained. "But, I think I calling you by your name is better. It makes me happy."

"You're a little too honest right now." Exclaimed Itona as he chuckled a bit, his face still pink. Manami laughed along with him.

"So it seems!" She cheered. After gathering themselves, Manami pulled out a light blue composition book. "I had an idea of how we can go about this." She stated. At this time, Itona was fully listening to her. Manami found that having someone's full attention was nice feeling. Sure, people paid attention to her when she made herself known, but this was the first time she remembered having someone's undivided attention. "We can write our experiences in this notebook. We can share it and each page we write can be related to each point about friendship."

Itona nodded his head in understanding. "Alright, cool. Heeey, since we're thinking outside the box, do you want to also make a friendship atom?" He asked. Manami grinned.

"I thought you said they make up everything." She teased. Itona leaned into her with a grin of his own.

"It's everything I want to make up with you."

"Someone call the fire department because it's hot over here!" Came a light, teasing voice. Manami and Itona immediately looked to where the voice came from and saw Rio. She slid herself into the same seat as Manami (somehow, the chemist was just as confused) and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "Look at you two~!" She cooed and softly pinched Manami's right cheek. "All lovey dovey and stuff!"

"That was some intense flirting." Came Tōka's voice as she mimicked Rio's trick on Itona's seat. Itona did his best to keep his eyes above the brunette's face. Stiffening, he looked at his partner. She was in the same boat as him, apparently. Her shoulders were tense and he could tell that she didn't like whatever Rio and Tōka were insinuating.

"We're friends, Nakamura-san." Manami corrected in a shy way.

"Right, friends." Rio grinned. Manami shuffled away a bit. She's so cute to tease. The blonde thought. So many cute reactions. Rio began to see why Karma liked the girl so much. As a friend, of course. She added to herself with a smirk.

"Don't you have your own different partners to find?" Itona gruffly asked. He looked at the girl next to him. "Where's Terasaka?" He asked her, trying to shoot a glare and not look down to her chest. He was finding it really hard to do with her being so close. Tōka just grinned, as if keeping a secret.

"He's working on our visual aid with Rio's partner." She answered and folded her arms under her chest. Itona gulped and looked back to Manami.

"That's right." Rio piped in agreement. "Maehara and Terasaka should be having tons of fun right now." The smiles of both girls made Itona and Manami feel wary and the two were filled with caution. "So, how are you two doing? What did you guys choose from the P-Table?"

"Oh, we di—" Manami started to answer but was cut off by Itona.

"It's a secret." He stated with a flat tone. Rio frowned but shrugged her shoulders nonetheless.

"Whatever you say." She replied. "Do you know how cute you two are together?" Rio changed subjects in order for her plan to work. She knew that Itona and Manami were aware that she was up to no good. She also knew Manami wouldn't ever say anything that would seem as if she was accusing the blonde of doing something bad. That made Rio feel a little guilty because she knew how much Manami adored her and enjoyed her company. Though, for Itona...

It seemed like he didn't want to look like a jerk in front of Tōka.

Rio was glad that 50/50 guess paid off.

"What are you trying to say?" He asked in a rough tone. Rio felt her smile fall a little.

"What?" She replied in an innocent tone. Itona gave her a hard look. She wasn't fooling anyone with her over the sweet eyes and voice laced with honey. "Is it wrong for me to think of how cute you two could be together?" Tōka nodded her head, agreeing with Rio. Itona rolled his eyes.

"No." He answered honestly but glared at Rio. "But we don't like it. So take a hike." Rio felt her plan cracking right before her eyes.

Sheesh, he can't cut a girl some slack. I hope those two idiots and Fuwa-chan finished a little early. Forcing a smug grin on her face, Rio tsk'd and got out of Manami's seat. "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable." She whispered in the small girl's ear. Manami relaxed and patted her hand that was on the seat. Feeling a bit better, Rio nodded to Tōka for them to leave. "Alright, fine then." She said to Itona. "I know when I'm not wanted. Good day."

That being said, the two girls left Itona and Manami. "We should leave this classroom." Suggested the white haired boy. Manami gave him a curious look. "After what she pulled, I don't trust Nakamura right now. I don't even trust being in the same room as her." Itona began to sit up. Manami followed after him and quickly grabbed the notebook.

"Okay!" She replied. Opening the door, Itona and Manami exited the school building and decided to work by the side of the school where the storage room was. Hardly anyone went there. Except Taiga when he was on one of his nightly...sprees.

Itona took off his blazer and set it on the floor. "Sit." It didn't seem like an offer but Manami took it anyways with a smile. Grabbing a pen from her pocket, she began to write down in the journal. "Starting already?" He asked as he sat next to her. Looking over her, he tried to read the words she wrote down.

Day XX, Month XOXO.

Itona is a very reliable friend. He gives the sense of comfort and unlike me, can read an atmosphere. Quick to defend a friend, I think—though blunt—his words come across loud and clear. I believe he is someone I can be myself around. - Manami

A light, fluttering feeling nit at Itona as he slowly pulled away. "How nice of you." He muttered under his breath. Giggling, Manami lightly nudged him. "Kinda of an early start, though? Don't you think?"

"The present is always a good time to start." She replied and clutched the notebook against her chest. "I'm kind of excited."

"For what?" Itona asked with a brow raised. "This project?"

"Spending time with you."

A little after Manami and Itona left...

"Do you think they finished it time?" Tōka asked Rio as the two sat next to each other by seat near the window. The blonde shrugged and leaned back against the chair, her feet on the desk.

"Who knows." She replied with disinterest. "But if they didn't, Fuwa-chan would be coming right now telling me to run." At the statement, Tōka laughed. Rio leered lightly her way but smiled nonetheless. "I would be gone before Fuwa-chan even had the chance t—" Yuzuki suddenly burst through the door.

"RUN NAKAMURA!" She screamed.

Faster than Tōka could blink, Rio was out the window of the classroom. Just as she had exited, a loud bang echoed through the room. Looking over to the door, Tōka saw a steaming redhead. Just the sight of him brought a chill so deep it reached her bone. There was an ominous cloud around Karma and the look on his face was pure anger. She gulped.

Oh my God. She thought as Yuzuki managed to crawl her way over. Tōka looked down at her feet and wondered why the manga loving girl was hiding. "What are you doing?" She whispered. Yuzuki shook as she looked up.

"Karma got rid of Maehara-kun and Terasaka-kun so fast." She replied. "I don't think he saw me, but he really didn't like Nakamura's little gift to him." Yuzuki shuddered the at mere memory of watching Karma open his shoe locker. In it was the crown Rio had made earlier.

Hiroto and Ryōma were tasked with sneaking the crown into the locker. Yuzuki had been on the lookout. Unfortunately for all of them, Karma had gotten to his locker earlier than usual for his daily class skipping. Yuzuki had hidden herself right away while Hiroto and Ryōma were caught in his range of fire once he saw the gift Rio had given him.

"Oh gosh." Yuzuki whimpered and covered her head. "He's coming this way."

"Where is Rio?" Came a dark voice. Tōka hesitantly looked up and flinched. Right before her was Karma and in his left hand was a crushed, decorated paper crown.

"Umm, she went to use the restroom." Tōka lied in a sugary tone. Please believe me. She added on desperately. Karma only scowled at the brunette and glanced at the window and smirked. Tōka slowly looked over and panicked. The window...

It was open.

Looking down at Tōka and Yuzuki, Karma sneered at them. "I'll deal with you two later." He promised and jumped out the window. Yuzuki whimpered.

"I'm never helping you two again."

:::::::

Karma was like a hound off a leash as he chased Rio around the building. His footsteps pounded after her and Rio was honestly feeling a little scared. And Karma...

He could smell the fear radiating of fher. With a crushed paper crown in hand, his anger was fueled with more vigor. Karma was slowly catching up to the blonde. With an evil grin, he turned a corner and watched as Rio suddenly stopped. "Got you!" He exclaimed, catching her wrist and pulled her towards him in a rough manner. He was about to threaten her until she shushed him.

Appalled, the redhead growled. "Don't yo—"

"Ssh!" Rio hissed and pulled her wrist away. "Look!" The girl pointed ahead. Rolling his eyes, Karma looked anyways. He paused.

"The present is always a good time to start. I'm kind of excited."

"For what? This project?"

"Spending time with you."

Karma watched as the boy and girl before him got along. He could tell right away that his favorite chemist was growing comfortable with the other boy. Part of Karma wanted to feel happy that she was getting along with her partner but as he watched her smile to him, all shy but open, Karma felt a bitter taste crawl up his throat. He didn't like this. He really didn't like this.

Rio, who was standing a bit a ways from him, watched him with interest. The hand that held tightly onto the paper crown loosened and it fell softly to the ground.

It was a pretty decorated thing. Covered in swirls and hearts and hand-drawn vials and beakers. In bright, bold, blue letters was the saying, Are you Itonami too? ;)

Ouch... Rio was beginning to feel pretty bad.

(A/N: Re-reading this makes me cringe a bit. Writing a friendship genre is harder now than it used to be for me.

I also didn't want romance to be a major thing in here. ...romance may be a major thing here. I'll think about putting it as a genre. I honestly tried not to add romance. It's not working. Help. Me. Lol.

Almost done with the next chapter. I'll give you guys a a few hints on what it will be about since I didn't update last week. Ahem.

Itona's Past Unveiled! Manami's Feelings Spill Open. And An Unlikely Trio? Stay tuned!)