Hey, sorry for the delay. I'm not feeling that well right now so it's hard to keep track of everything. Plus, this chapter is a big baby.
On another note, I had to watch the anime again for the purpose of planning the ending and guess what? Bawled my eyes out. Not even joking. Just crying, sobbing, pulling my hair out. I genuinely do not understand how assclass manages to rip my heart out even a decade later. But I'll push through the tears, I swear.
One day. Not today. But one day.
"104 Missed calls, 42 unread messages and around five missing person posters on every street I passed," Karma recapitulates, holding out his phone for Koro-sensei to look at. The teacher stiffens in his chair, one tentacle holding a pen midair and another stopping halfway while turning a page of an awfully thick book.
It's funny as hell and it takes all self-control for Karma to not burst out laughing. Is this octopus for real? Maybe Koro-sensei thinks that if he doesn't move (or breathe, he's turning blue), Karma won't see him.
Well, too bad. Karma isn't a T-rex and this isn't Jurassic Park.
"You really couldn't have just told my father that we're camping? One mountain away? Did you really have to let them organize a search group and get the press involved?"
Koro-sensei remains motionless but his face starts dripping waterfalls. And as much as Karma would enjoy to continue tormenting his teacher, he knows when to hold back for the sake of holding a proper, important discussion.
He pulls another chair from the side and pulls it to Koro-sensei's table, flopping into it lazily. The mountain of papers and other stashes all around tumble slightly from the impact and Koro-sensei finally aborts operation 'become-a-statue' in favour of picking them up.
"I'm not mad. Just curious. If you saw there was such a commotion, you could have just flown by to let me know. Or better yet, let my parents know." Karma sighs, putting his phone back in the jacket. His eyes wander around until they land on the book Koro-sensei is currently hovering above.
It looks like a yearbook. He can make out some words and even recognizes some of the images in it. Is Koro-sensei putting it together already? Then, those stashes of packages must be photos.
Before he can ask about it, Koro-sensei clears his throat and sheepishly admits: "Actually, your father did turn to me."
Karma raises an eyebrow at that but keeps listening.
"I didn't know back then that you went out camping and circumstances made it appear that you were both on a run. I wanted to protect your decision and privacy! Give you time to consider what's best for you! That's why I never told your parents where you are, only that you're safe." He gesticulates vividly with his tentacles, voice jumping an octave higher.
"Oh." Karma lets out a breath, surprised. That wasn't exactly what he expected. "But... why? Shouldn't you have dragged us back, you know, like any sensible adult would? What if we actually ran away?"
"Then I would have been there on each step to help and protect you," comes as an answer. "I have trust in my students to do what is right. And I promised you, didn't I, Karma-kun? That no matter what decision you make, sensei will respect it and be there to support you."
With that, all awkwardness dissipates from Koro-sensei's expression. It's a stark change from before when he didn't dare meet Karma's eyes. Right now, the one looking at him was not a mere superhuman creature anymore, but a person who over and over again expressed unconditional love and belief in his students. In Karma.
Somehow, in less than a year, Koro-sensei became the first and only one in Karma's life whom he'd without a second thought call a real parental figure. Despite all of the goofing around and flaws in his personality, Koro-sensei was a home he'd always return to.
This realisation fills him with immeasurable sentiment. It's hard to swallow with how much Karma's heart swells in affection and he's reduced to a flustered mess, barely holding back small tears.
"Thanks," he manages to croak out. Koro-sensei smiles at him wordlessly, giving him a pat on the head.
He doesn't have to say how much he appreciates everything. It lingers in the air, light and soothing like a summer drizzle.
"Anyway-" Karma diverts from the topic, his cheeks red, "-this. Is that the official yearbook?" He points at the book.
Koro-sensei nods enthusiastically: "That's right! I'm already assembling the materials! Though I do wish I could be in the photos with you as well," Koro-sensei sobs, showing Karma all the pictures. And truly, apart from the students, only Karasuma-sensei and Bitch-sensei are present, since they are the only official teachers.
"Oh, right," Karma acknowledges. "The school does archive them so I guess you can't just show yourself like that."
Koro-sensei starts crying even harder.
Even Karma finds it regrettable. He isn't the type to hold on to photos for sentimental values but he feels like this - class E, his teacher, the last year, this he will want to document. Even though he knows Koro-sensei is staying with them and he can meet his friends even after graduation, maybe having proof of it all wouldn't be such a bad idea.
"Then..." Karma drawls, an idea forming in his head. "Just take them anyway. You don't have to put them in the yearbook. Let's just make our own album. Doesn't have to have anything to do with Kunugigaoka either."
The suggestion hits the mark. Koro-sensei abruptly stands up, almost knocking the whole table down and exclaims:
"NUYAA?! Karma-kun, that's genius!"
"That's me. You're welcome," Karma chuckles.
"Truly! And that allows me to use your secret photos with Asano-kun on the train during our island trip!" Koro-sensei claps his hands in excitement.
"You still have them?!"
"Of course! And many more! For example, here-" He takes out the most recent one - an already printed picture of the two of them sleeping, holding their two plush octopuses... from yesterday.
Karma's eyes widen in horror.
"HOW- WHEN DID YOU- GET RID OF THAT! BURN THAT!" He screams, taking out the rubber anti-sensei knife to attack. Koro-sensei dodges and flies away along with the photo, a creepy Nurufufu echoing through the halls.
It's then that Koro-sensei decides to include every single photo he manages to snap of the siblings.
When Karma walks into the homeroom, the whole class looks at him with varying degrees of bewilderment.
"Oh, there he is. Our local star," Nakamura whistles, holding a missing people poster of his and Gakushuu's faces.
"Too busy fighting the press to answer our phone calls, asshole?" Terasaka-kun snorts from behind. He too flaunts the paper.
Nagisa's mouth is forced into a straight line but it's obvious he's trying really hard not to laugh.
"Burn that. Please," Karma groans into the palms of his hands.
The rest of his classmates each pull out more such posters and wave them in the air.
"This? You mean this poster? Of you and your older brother Asano Gakushuu with whom you went camping over the weekend? Which mobilised the entire city to search for you?"
He will never live this down.
"You think your friends making fun of you is bad? You think that's bad?! I came back to an altar of my face, burning candles and sacrifices from my classmates!" Gakushuu screeched, hands shaking like a chihuahua. "The whole school folded a total of a thousand cranes! Thousand fucking cranes as a prayer for my safety!"
Karma spits out his water.
"It's a cult, Karma! I built a cult and now it's coming to haunt me!"
"Calm down, they were just worried about you. You missed a day of school after all - in their eyes, that must have meant you were either dead or... no, just dead. No other thinkable possibility."
Gakushuu's brows twist in utter defeat: "They started writing a biography about me. Posted it on the internet. It got over a hundred thousand views. And then, each class wrote its own eulogy for me."
Apart from the fact that it's hilarious as shit, Karma's impressed. All of that in three days? How has he not seen that post yet?
"Wait. Just for you? I was also missing though, why are there no eulogies for me?" He remembers, suddenly very offended.
Gakushuu rubs his temples and looks at Karma exasperatedly: "Out of all things, you choose to be jealous of this?"
"Fair point."
The following days cannot be described as anything but out of place. There wasn't much going on apart from Koro-sensei's spontaneous trips and cosplay sessions to snap as many pictures as possible. Still, Karma's life has shifted, ever so slightly, and it throws him off. Even though they're small changes, barely impactful really, he trips over them like a child walking on uneven ground for the first time.
He still goes out on lunch breaks to get some fresh air, a strawberry milk in hand. He still receives frustrated looks from Nagisa, the usual comments about how he should eat real food. Karma laughs it off as usual, ready to rant about how much effort it takes to buy or cook meals - only for the excuse to die on his tongue, the homemade bento box heavy in his bag and waiting to be opened.
He doesn't see his mother often enough for it to feel like she's truly back home. More often than not, he's spending the time outside - with his friends, with Koro-sensei, with Gakushuu too sometimes, lost in his own bubble. It's dark when he walks back, taking a few detours here and there for the sake of it too because why not, who cares what he does and where he goes, anyway-
except when he arrives home, sees the kitchen lights on and suddenly realizes that someone does care. Even if it's till midnight, his mother waits for him every evening and they eat together. Sometimes, she reprimands him for returning late and sometimes she just asks him about his day. There are also moments outside of dinner when they sit together, although in silence. It's not uncomfortable per se - Karma's not the type to force conversations, doesn't expect his mother to either - but in these quiet nights, he finds himself wondering if they'll truly ever bridge the rift between them.
It's one of those moments now too. Karma sits by the kitchen table, a mock entrance exam splayed open in front of him, but the pages remain blank, barely a word written. Golden eyes are plastered on his mother's back, following her nimble movements as she puts the dried dishes in the cupboards. He could have gone up to his room to work, to avoid being distracted, but dejection tugs at his heart and ties him to the spot. Karma doesn't know what he hopes to achieve by staying yet he does, nevertheless, waiting for anything to happen.
Iori suddenly turns around and catches her son's stare.
"What's wrong?" she asks, noticing the emotions on his face.
Karma jolts a bit but shakes his head. "Nothing."
It's not nothing she realizes and puts the dishes down, walking to the boy. The pen between Karma's fingers, blank paper sheets, the way his left hand forms into a fist, thumb rubbing into index finger - none of it escapes her attention.
"Are you having trouble solving the problem?" She takes a seat beside him.
"No."
"Nervous about the entrance exams then?"
Again, Karma denies it.
So she takes a different approach.
"What high school do you want to apply to?"
Karma hesitates. He's avoided mentioning it for the fear of... what, really? Judgement? Disapproval? His mother still waits for an answer though so he has no other option and quietly mumbles: "Kunugigakoka."
She'll probably give him a funny look. Ask him why he'd willingly choose to go to his father's school after the whole ordeal when he could go literally anywhere else.
But she doesn't.
"To stay with Gakushuu, I assume?" There's a small laugh in her voice. "If it's Kunugigaoka, then you - its number one student, will have no trouble getting in."
Both the statement as well as the conviction with which she says it takes Karma aback. Involuntarily, his lips part in a gasp and he gawks at her with wide eyes.
"How do you- How do you know about that?"
Karma never told her about his placement in the finals. Didn't think she'd care either since she never asked about his results in any exams.
Iori runs her fingers through Karma's hair, amused. "What do you mean, how do I know? How would I not? I saw your name all the way at the top of the school board. You received full points on every single subject despite your father throwing in such complex problems. He was so fascinated. And do you even know how proud I felt?"
The silence she's met with answers that.
"Oh dear," Iori whispers, pulling Karma into the nook of her neck. "I am. I am so proud of you. You must have worked so hard."
He did. He studied day and night, stressed and worried despite his nonchalant exterior. Karma worked his butt off to get where he is. And even though the whole class threw a party to celebrate his and their success, it didn't even come close to the delight flooding through his veins at this very moment.
For some reason, it's so much easier to talk now.
"You know," Karma starts, a smile slowly forming. "Gakushuu's been top of the school for every single exam for these last three years."
"And I'm beyond impressed by that," Iori nods.
His ghost smile warps into a wide grin. "Well, this time, I beat him," Karma declares cheekily, "and I will beat him in the entrance exams too."
"I'm looking forward to that," his mother laughs, planting a kiss on his temple.
The bridge starts to form.
Those small changes make themselves known outside of home too.
Karma doesn't believe in knocking, especially not in the class E campus - what is there to hide, anyway? Worst case, Koro-sensei ogling some perverted magazines. So instead of asking for permission to enter like any normal person, Karma barges in without a single care for what or who he may see.
It's this bad habit of his that one day lands him between Koro-sensei and the principal, who both immediately turn to him and pin him down with their gazes.
On instinct, Karma flinches. It's the leftover part of him that's ridden with the fear of being discovered by the chairman and even though he logically knows there's no need to hide anymore, he finds himself curling inward.
His father notices, somehow. "I'm just having a small chat with Koro-sensei," he reassures. Then, his expression softens and he asks: "How are you?"
It's the first time in four days that they've talked, four days since the evening their whole family spent the night together. Karma would be lying if he said he wasn't avoiding the man, but he credits that mostly to the awkwardness between them rather than hostility.
Karma has accepted a few things. One of them is that their mother cares about Gakushuu enough to text or call him regularly. Gakushuu hesitated the first few times but had gotten used to it quickly. He seems at peace now, when her caller ID lights up his phone. Happy even. Karma was there once and it took his breath away hearing his brother's softened voice match the balletic mannerisms of their mother's. Surprisingly, talking and reconnecting came naturally to the two of them.
Another thing Karma had to accept - though admittedly, found harder to swallow - is that their father may still see Karma as his own son, may even love him (the concept sounds eerie to Karma's ears. Love? What was love in his father's terms, anyway?).
But to them, it doesn't come naturally. Gakuho doesn't have the same disarming warmth as Iori does and Karma hasn't learned how to open himself to strangers like Gakushuu either.
He may have indirectly allowed the man to enter his life again, yes, but that doesn't make it any easier.
A bit lost, Karma glances at his teacher. Koro-sensei nods encouragingly, his smile unfaltering.
"Good. Sir," he answers, the tone uncharacteristically serious.
Gakuho falters for a split second before he lightly shakes his head. "No need to be so formal, Karma-kun."
That's another thing. Their father starts to call them by their given names too, although he still keeps the honorifics. It doesn't make much of a difference to Karma since he actually insists everyone call him that (it's the one name that truly belongs to him, only him), but the same doesn't apply to his brother. To Gakushuu, this is an unknown territory, a bridge he has yet to cross. Keeping others an arm away and putting walls up became second nature to him, especially when it came to the principal. Karma sees clearly how much willpower it takes his brother to not raise them even further at any brush of affection.
"Right," Karma says.
Their conversation concludes curtly.
But since that brief encounter, Gakuho pops up more often than Karma's completely comfortable with. His father always gives an excuse along the lines of discussing something with Koro-sensei, but somehow he always does so shortly before recess, early enough to catch Karma before he scrambles off to the forest. At some point, it dawns on him that his father is checking on him, using the leverage of being the principal to move freely and meet Karma at school when he can't do so at home.
"I was wondering if you and your mother want to come this weekend for dinner," his father drops the bomb during one of those appearances and it almost catapults Karma out of his seat.
The bell rang not even a minute ago, Karma hadn't even managed to take out his lunch, Nakamura hadn't even stopped snoring on her desk - and already, there Asano Gakuho stood, offering a family reunion.
"Uh," Karma chokes, graceful as a wet tissue.
"Of course, I'll arrange everything with your mother. But only if you're fine with that," the man adds. He almost looks sheepish like this, asking for approval from his fourteen-year-old son.
"What-" Karma clears his throat. "What did Gakushuu say about it?"
His father chuckles: "He said, and I quote, 'Do what you want, I guess.'"
So logically, Karma doesn't back down from the challenge either.
And that's how the two teenagers find themselves in the living room of the Asano residence, again, except this time, instead of the sound of wailing, it's their parents arguing about the right way to cook curry that fills the house.
"I invited you to eat dinner, not criticize every single step while I'm cooking it," Gakuho sighs for the n-th time while stirring the huge pot.
"And I came to eat actual food, not this watery soup-"
"It's a curry," he stresses. Then he points at the contents with chopsticks. "Chicken. Potatoes. Carrots. Onion. There, can you see?"
Iori scrunches her nose in disapproval: "Where's the coconut milk? The spices? I barely saw you put anything in there, how can you call this curry?"
Gakushuu and Karma sit on the floor by the couch, piecing together a thousand-piece puzzle their father dug out of the attic. Neither of them is really into it, the picture is ugly as shit (Who chose this design? Who in their right mind would choose this rainbow barf?), but they left their phones in school bags which currently hang on the kitchen chair. So it's either hide behind the couch with this atrocious puzzle or risk landing on their parent's radar.
"Lemongrass? Lemongrass?" They hear Gakuho ask.
Karma looks at Gakushuu with a deadpan expression: "Maybe it's a good thing they divorced."
His brother hits him on the shoulder with a scowl. "It literally gave us trauma."
"I think this is going to give us more trauma."
It's a lie and they both know it. As unnatural as it felt to have the two adults interact (though those arguments were nothing in comparison to what Karma and Gakushuu actually braced themselves for), it lifted the pressure off their shoulders.
Gakushuu had mentally prepared himself for an oppressive silence, for something to bubble under the lid until someone made the wrong move, said the wrong thing and the trigger went off. He's gone through hundreds of strategies to placate both of his parents in case there's a tug of war and he's forced to take a side.
Thankfully, that doesn't happen. Yet.
After fifteen minutes, lots of shuffling and searching for the right coloured and right shaped pieces, Gakushuu realizes that there's no other sound apart from him and Karma bickering about the puzzles. Iori walks to them (so she didn't forget they were still there, huh?), passing them two full bowls.
The curry actually looks pretty good, considering it came from their father's hands. Gakushuu accepts it with a small thank you.
"To the dining room, boys," their father beckons to the neighbouring room, the sternness creeping back.
Gakushuu stands up without a word. Rules are rules and in this household, each room has its own purpose assigned.
"Oh no, stay," Iori stops him gently. Then she turns to her ex-husband. "They're doing puzzles."
"They can do that later, after they've finished eating."
She rolls his eyes on him. "Don't be so uptight. Bring the rest here."
Probably too tired to argue, Gakuho actually goes along with the suggestion (order). Gakushuu gapes in horror as he watches his father, his strict, disciplined, everything-according-to-protocols father sit criss-cross apple sauce on the floor of their living room. It's one of the wildest things he's ever witnessed, not that far on the list from seeing the same man cry.
"Gaku-nii, you have some jaw in your bowl," Karma snorts childishly and presses his palm up Gakushuu's chin, closing it with an audible click.
He shoots the damn brat an unamused glare. Karma sticks his tongue out and then digs into the food.
The spoon isn't even fully out of his mouth and yet Karma's brows are already furrowing. "Oh..."
"What's wrong, Karma-kun?" Their father immediately follows up, apprehension clearly painted on his face. It was his first time cooking a proper meal after all and god forbid it turned out bad.
Karma puts the spoon down and looks at the curry in contemplation.
After a few seconds of thick silence, he finally admits: "It's bland."
"See? I told you!" Iori claps her hands on her thighs right then, victoriously roaring. "You didn't use enough spices!"
Gakuho takes a bite in panic to find out just how bad it truly is. Except it isn't. In fact, he feels that the curry is aromatic and spicy enough, from the way his tongue burns.
"It's not! This is the right amount!" He argues.
"It's bland! Even Karma said so!"
His father then turns to Gakushuu expectantly: "Try it, Gakushuu-kun. It's spicy, right?"
Several things happen in that moment.
His mother looks at him with the same kind of urgency that his father exudes, deadset on proving her point. The corners of Karma's lips tug ever so lightly, a clear sign of him trying to hold back a grin. It occurs to Gakushuu then that this little shit knows what he's doing, stirring unnecessary conflict for the sake of his own entertainment. None of their parents is aware of Karma's sky-high spice tolerance after all and now the spotlight lands on Gakushuu who is faced with an impossible task. No matter how he truly feels about the curry, there's no answer to this problem that can satisfy both Gakuho and Iori.
And so, Gakushuu decides to solve the problem...
By changing the problem.
"I'm actually vegetarian," he declares with a straight face.
"No you're not," Karma counters, but nobody hears it-
-because more panic ensues.
"Why the hell did you make chicken when our son is vegetarian?!" Iori's voice climbs an octave higher.
"I- I didn't know-"
"You didn't know?! You live with him!"
He does, but the last time Gakuho ever cooked for his son was maybe a month ago, the boy being self-sufficient enough to either cater for himself or buy meals outside. But didn't they have a Wagyu steak together just a few weeks back? Has Gakushuu stopped eating meat since? How has that escaped his attention?
It takes another five more minutes for them to calm down enough to hear Gakushuu explain that he was joking. By that point, Karma had acquired several blackmail photos of the demon chairman flustered, mortified, apologizing to both his son and ex-wife - and better yet, no one even remembered the curry issue anymore.
Gakushuu'd say that's a win.
"You know, I'm honestly surprised."
Karma looks up from the puzzle, confused. Gakushuu had been awfully quiet the last hour or so, especially since their parents joined in to help them. Karma chalked it up to laser focus (because the damn thing was hard), but it was only when Gakuho and Iori left for the kitchen to make lemonade that he spoke up.
"Why?" Karma asks, keeping his voice low.
Gakushuu's gaze remains downcast and he's fidgeting with the pieces.
"You're taking this better than I thought."
It's clear he's talking about their family. Out of the two of them, Karma was the one less inclined to accept the adults back into their lives, barely interacting with any of them until recently. Gakushuu didn't have big hopes for the dinner and accepted his father's suggestion mostly because he suspected Karma wouldn't, in which case it didn't matter what he said. At least that way, he wouldn't been the direct reason why it didn't work out.
Yet somehow, it did. His little brother seemed to have genuinely enjoyed the evening, even despite the 'underspiced' (read: normal, just not wasabi-level spicy) curry and the (loud, turbulent) presence of their parents.
"I figured it was time to stop holding on to hatred and maybe open up to something new," Karma shrugs his shoulders, maintaining the act of indifference. Truth was, however, that every fibre of his body was anything but. "Or at least, that's what someone told me."
At that, Gakushuu finally glances at him. "You talked about this with someone?"
"Yeah. Someone I trust," his brother admits. His face scrunches in contemplation, the puzzle long forgotten and Gakushuu patiently waits for his brother to find the words.
Finally, Karma takes a deep breath, determined to let him know the truth. His golden eyes gleam in determination as he begins:
"There's someone I want you to meet. Someone who shaped me into who I am now and became a very important person in my life. His name is Koro-"
At the same time, an intense beam of light accompanied by a loud tremor interrupts them, bringing the whole city to a halt.
It comes from the mountain.
It's here.
I'm doing this.
And I'm crying.
Next update: I'll really try for Monday 30th of October. But in case I have another delay, please forgive me.