Hey y'all! How are you doing today?

Here I come with another one-shot! This time, I've set it in the Test of Courage episode, wanting to rewrite it and make it more NagiKae-ish, let's see how it turns out! Sorry if I ended up updating very late, I've been busy all this time with final exams and preparing the uni entrance exams as well. Wish me luck!

I hope you like this one though!

Read and enjoy!

3. In the dim lights of a cave

"A test of courage? Are you really sure about it, Koro-sensei?" Maehara asked, incredulous. In comparison to everything that had happened on the island trip with Takaoka and his gang of assassins, a test of courage seemed something childish to do.

"Of course! Unlike other people, I've been trapped in a bubble for a whole day and I haven't got the chance to have fun!" He complained. It was true; he'd felt forced to use his special armour, otherwise his students would have killed him. He felt very proud of them, they had got something that not even the military forces could. They were formidable students, he didn't think they would come a very long way in such a short time, but as usual, they ended up surprising him.

"The thing is that he just wants to entertain himself!" Karma chimed in, as the slimy octopus nodded his head frantically.

"I don't know, it sounds kinda scary!" Kurahashi commented. Kayano, who was beside her, lightly patted her shoulder to comfort her.

"Don't worry, all the ghosts will be Koro-sensei!" Maehara softly smiled at her, as Kurahashi turned to him, nodding. It did make sense.

What they didn't know is that what Koro-sensei had in mind wasn't exactly a test of courage, it was something more simple.

Matchmaking service.

As they approached the cave where "the test of courage" would take place, some of the students in class 3-E were already suspicious of their teacher's real intentions but just ignored them, others were completely clueless and the rest were neutral about it.

"The test will take place inside this cave! You'll have to complete it in pairs; one boy and one girl!" When he said that, everyone started looking around as if searching for a reliable partner. "But I'll be deciding the pairs!"

"How come?"

"That's not fair!"

"We're being forced to do this! We should at least be able to decide!"

"Why are you doing this to us?"

The students shouted. In the end, Koro-sensei didn't know how to stop this mess, but he was determined to go with the pairs of his choice because it wasn't a normal test of courage; actually, his goal was to enjoy some romantic gossip between his students. Karasuma brought a hand to his forehead, whereas Irina was watching the whole scene, amused with the situation. She had to admit she was kind of curious to see what this test would bring them; she also wanted to witness love blossoming between the kids.

"QUIET!" Everyone immediately stopped yelling "I'll be deciding the pairs because I'm the one who suggested this! My game, my rules!" Koro-sensei stated, raising one of his tentacles. "I'll be listing the pairs right now!"

"Nagisa and Kayano,

Karma and Okuda,

Sugino and Kanzaki,

Isogai and Kataoka,

Maehara and Okano,

Sugaya and Nakamura,

Terasaka and Hazama,

Yoshida and Hara,

Chiba and Hayami,

Takebayashi and Ritsu,

Kimura and Kurahashi,

Mimura and Fuwa,

Okajima and Yada"

(Muramatsu doesn't have a girl I can pair him with, so I guess he won't participate in the test)

Apparently, Nagisa and Kayano both had the same thought because right after their names were called, they stared at each other from afar. She gave him her usual grin and he returned it with one of his own. She was happy with her partner for the test; to be honest, even if Koro-sensei had let them choose, she would have chosen Nagisa for sure. He was her closest friend among the boys and someone she trusted.

"Hey, Nagisa! What do you think about all of this?" Kayano asked while walking towards her blue-haired friend. Nagisa could sense some kind of worry in her features, but decided not to ask her about it.

"Like Karma said, I just think that Koro-sensei wants to have fun! But I really think he's up to something else…" The blue-eyed boy sweatdropped; he could infer Koro-sensei's true intentions, but he still wasn't sure about them. The girl next to him simply nodded and got a little fidgety; he wondered why.

"Okay, my dear students! You'll go in pairs, get in line and I'll call you in when it's your turn!" The supercreature exclaimed. He was really excited to see if any of these pairs turned out to have a more coupley approach thanks to the test; if there were any students secretly in love who didn't confess because they feared rejection, he expected that this test would encourage them to reach out to their crush or at least, he'd have some gossip.

Kaede and Nagisa watched as their classmates entered the cave, some of them already knowing their chaotic teacher's plan. A few minutes later, they could already hear them screaming or yelling insults at Koro-sensei for, as his students said, being so stupid. The others outside the cave sweatdropped; they hardly believed that this was the creature that would destroy the Earth the following year.

"Nagisa and Kayano, it's your turn!" Koro-sensei exclaimed as he guided the duo inside. As soon as they had gotten into the cave, the only guidance they had was a dim light that indicated the path. There was no turning back. The entrance closed, and immediately Kayano jumped, latching onto Nagisa's arm unconsciously. The boy looked at her, dumbfounded, as he found the greenette's look; he could see the fear in it. Her eyes widened and she let go, embarrassed.

"Sorry…" Kaede pinned her look to the floor, her cheeks were tinted red. Nagisa gave her a comforting smile.

"Don't worry Kayano, I don't mind." She widened her eyes; she would have expected Nagisa to be uncomfortable with her sudden approach, but he showed his usually calm and collected demeanour. It almost made her blush even more. "Let's continue!"

She nodded, silently following him. The next minutes were quiet, neither of them broke the silence. Nagisa spent that time wondering if something was bothering her, whereas Kaede thought about ways of speaking up without forcing the situation.

"Aren't… you afraid of this, Nagisa?" She looked around the cave, hesitantly.

"Well… I'm not really scared of horror stuff, but I'm definitely not keen on jumpscares. Koro-sensei is so fast that he could easily scare us if that's what he really wanted."

Suddenly, some strange chords played out of nowhere.

"Isn't that an Okinawa shamisen?"

A green octopus dressed as a horror character turned up. The duo didn't expect that and it made both of them jump. Koro-sensei wasn't scary at all, but he was surprisingly good at playing roles. He was very convincing. Kaede once again didn't realise that she threw herself onto Nagisa, leaning her head against his chest and gripping his shirt tightly. She started trembling slightly, something that startled Nagisa. He didn't know what to do.

"Kayano, you okay?" The question came out on its own; the answer was obvious. Great, Nagisa, couldn't you come up with a better question? He mentally scolded himself.

"Yeah…" She kept gripping his shirt as some tears threatened to escape her eyes. Her tone didn't sound convincing at all; she couldn't fool anyone even if she tried, and Nagisa also knew her better than that. Despite that, he was paralysed and didn't know how to act.

"Kayano, I know you better than that… you can tell me." His tone was reassuring. Someone else would have been judgemental or would have thought she was childish or immature for that, but he wasn't. He genuinely wanted to know, but his only goal was to understand her. Kayano could feel that. Nagisa was a trustworthy person, someone who wouldn't make fun of her for being scared about something so stupid.

"I don't like horror movies… or anything that has to do with this genre. I just simply can't stand it; it's been like that since I was little, I can't take jumpscares. People used to make fun of me for that as well, that's why I always try to hide it. I'm not a kid anymore, but for some reason, I still can't handle them…" Her voice was cracking as she spoke and at that point, she still hadn't let go of his shirt. But that was fine to Nagisa, it wasn't like he was gonna push her away when she needed someone to comfort her.

Nagisa was surprised; she usually looked so brave, confident and determined to face any challenge. She was in a class where she was trained to be an assassin, so it was quite ironic that she would fear something so trivial; at the same time, it was normal. She was a teenager at the end of the day, so one would have expected that she didn't like horror movies. He smiled tenderly at her and brought her closer, giving her a one-arm hug.

"Shhh, it's okay… I understand, Kayano. You don't have to worry about it, it's normal that you don't like horror movies. I'm not a big fan of them either." He let out a little laugh, which sounded (in Kaede's opinion) really cute.

"Do you really think so? Are you sure that you just don't wanna make me feel bad?" She muttered between sobs. Nagisa's hug was comforting, but for some reason her heart started racing.

"Of course!"

Kaede couldn't stand it anymore and embraced Nagisa, her head buried in his chest. He brought his other arm around his friend, tightened his hug a little and waited for her to calm down, occasionally stroking her back in an attempt to make her feel better. She was aware of her surroundings (a scary and dark cave) but she wouldn't have minded staying like that all night if it was with Nagisa. It looked like he didn't mind either. She comforted him the previous night when their assassination attempt backfired, so he felt the need to return the favour.

Some minutes later, Kayano stopped sobbing and loosened her hold on Nagisa. He let go to check on her for a moment and once again, he gave her a cute grin.

"Do you feel better?" The blue-haired boy asked, gently grabbing her wrist.

"I really do… Thank you so much, Nagisa. You're the best!"

"It was nothing…"

They stayed there, staring at each other briefly before Kaede got out of that trance.

"We… should get out of here…" She pointed out, shyly.

"Oh my God, it's true! Come on then!"

The pair resumed their pace, looking for the exit of the cave, oblivious to the fact that a delighted octopus had seen all of that and he had detailed notes of the whole moment between them.

"Ahhh, teenage love is beautiful…" Koro-sensei whispered as he watched the shorties duo walk away.

Hey there! Did you like it? Once again, I apologise for the late update! I really want to make it up to you! I hope you enjoyed this one-shot, let me know what you think in the comments.

See ya soon!