Chapter 4: Kyoto Exploration Time
"Now while your trip is meant for learning, as a reminder you kids are still on the clock." Karasuma-Sensei reminded us as we all sat out on the training field.
"So are we supposed to go and kill him there?" Okano questioned him.
"That is the idea. Kyoto is a very large city, a lot more cosmopolitan than this area. For your safety you'll be touring in designated groups. Koro-sensei will divide his time between you. There are a lot of good snipers' nests in the city. We plan to have sharpshooters planted everywhere. Weed your target into the crosshairs and the money will parsed between you and the lucky marksman." He paused to give us some time to think. "Now don't feel too bad if things don't work out as planned and your teacher manages to evade your gunmen. If the plan doesn't succeed we will just have to step-up training here and I will see you all for your physical education test upon our return."
"Yes sir…" The entire group whimpered, disheartened.
***
"Hey Shuri, did you wanna tag along with our group?" Isogai walked up to San.
"Who ya got in your group Isogai?" I interrupted.
"Oh sorry Shuri, I forgot you two are probably going to be going together!" Isogai bowed to me.
"Am I that forgettable?" I laughed, though my feelings were slightly hurt.
"No, no, it isn't like that. We just had a fairly large group already and I was going to invite Shuri to be our sixth member. Kurahashi, Kataoka, and I all agreed that he'd make a good addition to the group."
"Hey let me throw in my counterargument!" Nakamura spoke up.
"Yeah don't we get a vote, bro?" Maehara protested.
"I'd much prefer the younger Shuri if you ask me, Isogai! She's so much more chill than the big oaf," Nakamura said.
"Besides you going to invite the big guy would throw off our two to one ratio, bro. Gonna make it hard for me to-"
"Choose your next words carefully Maehara…" San glared at him. "Isogai," his face softened, "I'd be happy to join your group." He bowed. "Thank you for the invite. As for my sister, would it be okay if she also accompanies us? It's her first time in the city and Nagisa's group is also full."
"Of course, sure we're happy to have her!" Isogai smiled, Kataoka and Kurahashi both nodded with smiles on their faces. Nakamura was frowning at San.
"Bro you totally threw off our ratio…" Maehara whined.
"Oh please, you perv… there's still four of us to you three…" Nakamura rolled her eyes.
"Rio, I wish you wouldn't talk about us like that…" Kurahashi whimpered.
"I don't see you all like that," San chimed in. "You'd have to have a fairly misogynistic way of seeing things to talk about other ladies like that, Nakamura."
"Excuse you? Was I talking to you?" She barked back.
"Rio, Shuri! Let's not get into too big a fight…" Kurahashi grabbed a hand from each of them. "You're both my friends, so please keep things civil for me." Both San and Nakamura's faces were bright red as they looked at the hand holding theirs, then at each other, before quickly turning away.
"I-I feel Nakamura and I can come to some agreement." San stuttered.
"Y-yeah… Sure… Sorry for making you upset Hina!" Nakamura bit her tongue.
"So what… We got a bit of a love triangle situation here? Catch me up shortstack." Akabane said aloud in my direction.
"Funny Karma! NOT!" Nakamura growled.
"Eh, calm it, Nakamura, don't get your panties in a bunch. You're just my entry point into this little threeway… plus one." He smirked as he looked over towards me.
"Shuri's not leaving her brother's side Karma… so you can forget about her being in your group."
"Eh, my group's full up as is… but I just couldn't help myself with pushing butto-"
"Leave…" San's face went dark as his glare fell upon Akabane.
"Oh the bot speaks… How interesting…" Akabane smiled his usual devilish grin… "Three precious, nubile girls all vying for the attention of one tall drink of water."
I physically shuddered at what Karma was implying. "Akabane, I'm asking you politely… Please leave."
"Or what, Shuri? Please tell me why I should leave." He walked up to San and smiled right in his face.
"Karma! San! Stop!" Nagisa ran up between them.
"Oh don't worry Nagisa, I won't start anything… yet…" Akabane chuckled.
"I have no intention on figh-"
"Oh really, then maybe I should take a page out of Professor Bitch's page and show your dear ol' sis how Teach introduced herself to you and Nagisa." San's eyebrow twitched in anger, as Karma made kissy lips towards me.
"Give it a rest, Karma…" Nakamura sighed. "It's not like Shuri or Nagisa had a choice in all that…" San shot Nakamura a look of surprise.
"Anyway you two should be getting back to your group, right Nagisa?" San, eyebrow still twitching furiously, smiled like he was just trying to get Nagisa to take the hint.
"Oh yeah! C'mon Karma…" Nagisa began to push Akabane, uneffectively.
"Fine… Fine…" Akabane rolled his eyes, "Be Seeing you Shuris!" He waved and walked back to his group with Nagisa.
Moving right back into things the seven of us started to plan our group trip. It really helped that before coming to Kunugigaoka, San had lived with his family in Kyoto, so he'd seen many of the sites.
"Did you wanna visit your family, Shuris?" Kurahashi turned to the both of us.
San turned away… "Our father kinda threw San-Nii out when he refused to feed his gam-"
"Our family business is our own!" San shouted at me. I could tell he was holding back tears, looking more hurt than mad as he yelled at me.
"I-It's no big deal Shuri!" Isogai tried to quell the situation. "We understand if family is a touchy subject for you."
His outburst had the whole class looking over to us. I couldn't help but notice Kurahashi's worried face. Even Nakamura was looking at him with some level of sympathy. "S-Sorry sis… Sorry Isogai… Sorry everyone." His face returned to its normal shade.
"Oh don't worry about it Shuri…" Kataoka assured him… "We all get it…" Everyone in our group nodded.
"Yeah… Just consider all of us your fam, man!" Maehara agreed.
"And I'm the proud PAPA!" The Tentacles Menace exclaimed.
"WHO ASKED?!" Nakamura, Maehara, and I berated him, and then proceeded to stab at him with our anti-sensei knives in frustration.
"At the end of the day Shuri, just remember we're here for you okay?" Isogai put a hand on his shoulder. "We're all in this together, right?"
"Yeah… Thanks Isogai." San walked away and went to his seat in the back of the classroom. Kurahashi was quick to follow, and Nakamura tailed right after her.
"Anywho…" The Toothy Tentacled Beast drew our attention with a rather large book in his hands.
"What are those sir?" Isogai asked.
"They're field trip guide books," replied as he sped about the room dropping a copy of the book into each of our hands, nearly knocking several of us like Nagisa, Kayano, and me off balance.
"They're more like dictionaries!" Maehara screamed in aggravation, probably still peeved at him like I was. Koro-Sensei spent a good bit of the next few seconds speaking on everything inside the brick of a book he'd personally written out.
"You are way too excited about this trip!" Okajima exclaimed in disgust.
***
Kurahashi, San, and I stood on the platform looking at the train. "While I do appreciate you two waiting for me, please don't feel it necessary to hold yourselves back on my account. San wasn't afraid of trains, but he had told us the night prior that the reason he always avoids taking them is that his main source of income, and by proxy the main reason he got thrown out of his family home was that he had developed a new brake system for the bullet trains and several of the companies were still using them, so he gets royalties from the contract for each train that uses his system.
"We'll only get on when you feel comfortable, Shuri…" Kurahashi reassured him, taking his arm between hers.
"Kurahashi, people will start to get the wrong idea…" Red spread over San's face.
"Let them think what they want to…" I puffed up my cheeks and grabbed San's other arm.
"A-Ame not you too…"
"Well with all this embarrassment you aren't thinking about the other stuff anymore, so let's hop on the train before-" We were interrupted by a squabble Nakamura and Maehara were having with a few students from D-Class and the person I could only assume to be their teacher.
"Pardon me boys!" Professor Bitch cut them off, showing up in something you'd think would only be on a runway model. Lovro can't be serious about this chick… I mean sure she's hot… like mega hot… but when it comes to situational awareness… she's as dumb as they come. "Everyone having a glamorous day so far?"
"Professor Bitch… Why are you dressed like the Paparazzi should care who you are?" Maehara asked a lot more astutely than I'd expect from the womanizer.
"When it comes to womanly wiles, a femme fatale pulls out all the stops. Besides, travel is no excuse not to look devastatingly fashionable."
"You stick out like a sore thumb…" Karasuma-Sensei berated her. "Go change. You're a chaperone not a runway model.
"Oh c'mon! Lighten up! What's wrong with a little style?" She retorted with a wide-mouthed smile on her face. "These kids are going to cit-"
"Shut up! Get changed now!" I was very happy to not be on the opposite side of the look he gave her as all of E-Class quickly moved to board the train.
San sat between Kurahashi and I, we could tell he still was not happy being on the train.
"Yo Shuri, it cool if I sit here," Nakamura asked as she sat across from him in the center. Nakamura's attitude towards San since finding out his family situation.
"Rio, please don't say anything that might upset Sa- Shuri…" Kurahashi quickly stumbled over her words.
"It isn't gonna be like that Hina…" Nakamura shook her head. "Look Shuri… Maybe I've been more than a bit harsh to ya…"
"Y'think!" I snipped before San shook his head at me.
"Please Nakamura continue…" San spoke calmly.
"You got a good head on your shoulders for one… and you don't allow others to push you around, even me." She brushed her hair out of her face. "Hina's a good friend of mine and perhaps I was just being a bit rash with seeing how you're always looking at her." Perhaps if somebody didn't hang out with Maehara and Okajima so regularly… I thought to myself. "You're not a bad guy and I'm sorry I judged you so harshly. You think I can offer an olive branch… to you and Ame?"
San looked to be thinking for a while. "You took your jokes more than a bit far Nakamura… Normally someone like that I'd always have some level of guard up, that being said however, you are Hina's friend and as you said before we all have a reason we are in this class." San extended a hand.
Nakamura's ears perked… "Hina huh? Didn't know she'd given you nickname privileges… you two that close already?" She smirked.
"Rio…" Kurahashi groaned.
"You know I've seen enough-"
"Rio!"
San was glaring now, as Nakamura took his hand. "Fine, you two can call me 'Rio' from now on too. Since we're gonna be such good friends and all. C'mon Ame! Put your hand in here too!" I cautiously put a hand to join the two of them. "Hina you too…"
"You know you really should ask permission before you start using my sister's first name Naka-"
"Aht! Rio! I already told ya!"
San took in a deep breath… "Rio…" He exhaled.
"Hina you get in here too…" Kurahashi extended her hand. "Great…" A devilish smile very reminiscent of another devil that hid somewhere on the train appeared on her face. "Now…" She paused. "Let the great Harem Adventure begin!"
"RIO!" All three of us shouted in unison.
***
"Kanzaki and Kayano were taken by some thugs!"
"Calm it, White Knight! Koro-Sensei already rescued them! They're fine!" Rio chastised San who was about to run off.
"Well sorry Rio if I'm not someone that just stands around while bad stuff happens to my friends!"
"And haven't you heard that the last thing doctors need is another patient?" She countered. "Look I don't like it either, but we're just some kids, San. For someone that's known for keeping a level head, you sure don't act like it when it counts. Maybe if other people saw this side of you, they'd actually see you're a pretty cool guy…"
"Well that's an about face I wasn't expecting," I uttered, cocking my head to the side.
"Yeah when you get to know her, Rio isn't all that bad herself," Hinano smiled. "She can be a kind person when you actually take the time to get to know her."
"Gee thanks for the vote of confidence Hina…" San and I both laughed.
"Anyway… I don't know… up until coming to E-Class, I just never really felt at home… So you guys aren't just my friends… I see ya as sorta a bit of a surrogate family and can just be myself around you. Two sides, y'know what I mean."
"Hmmm, I'm confused…" Hinano gave a look as if she was trying to figure out what San was getting at.
"Two sides of every person…" Rio chimed in. "It's an expression, a well known one at that. It means that more often than not a person has a personality he shows to those like your average co-worker or student, the other to those closest to him. It's said to be fairly watered down as there may be even deeper layers, some that the person in question doesn't even know about himself…"
"Couldn't have said it better myself," San nodded.
"Oh I get it!" Hinano smiled. "Like you wouldn't be able to tell that Ame is an amazing cook by just looking at her, but the way she dances around San's kitchen back home it's almost like a show."
"I'm not really that silly, am I?" I rubbed the back of my head.
"Ooops Sorry Ame-chan! I didn't mean it like that!" Hina bowed.
"No need to worry…" I put my hand on her shoulder. In truth the only reason I was even able to follow what San and Rio were saying is because I was not even showing my true face to our two new close friends… Only San and Akabane had been privy to my previous attempt… and I wasn't too keen on letting the cat out of the bag just yet.
"Yo Ame… speaking of, I hear if we ask this place'll let us use the kitchen, you wanna go whip up some grub?" Rio said.
"I don't remember reading-"
"Just c'mon!" She dragged me out of the room leaving San and Hina alone.
"Hey!" I shouted.
"Will you quit complaining… I'd just figured you'd want to get in on what my plans were for tonight… I overheard Koro-Sensei say he was gonna get a bath once he got back here… How would you feel about catching him in the act?"
"Well… I've seen enough-"
"Haha…" She laughed, with a disappointed frown on her face.
"But yeah… Count me in!" I gave her a devilish grin.
***
"Fuwa, right?" San and Hina were off on their lonesome, so Rio and I met up with one of our other classmates.
"Yeah, and your Shuri's little sister, right? You sure you two are related? There's a whole foot and a half difference in height between the two of you." Fuwa looked me up and down.
"My father is a bit on the shorter side than his."
"Weird… I thought you would share a father… considering you share a last name…" My eyes went wide at Rio's comment.
"N-Nope! Moms are different!" In truth I wasn't even sure if I had a father.
"That's what I said…" Oh crap! Lovro would have my head… Even Jelavic wouldn't screw her cover up this bad… "Well let's not discuss this all out in the open." Rio knelt down by the entrance to the men's changing area, waving both Fuwa and I over to join her.
"Hey girls… what are you doing?" The familiar voice of Nagisa called out to us as I froze.
"What's it look like… we're trying to sneak a peek." Rio slowly cracked open the door.
"What?! That's supposed to be our job…" Okajima protested.
"It's nobody's job…" Nagisa looked disgusted, as Sugino just stood between them.
"Either way… who can resist? Look at the way that outfit is hung, that can only mean one thing…" Rio said slyly. Fuwa and I nodded with smirks across our faces.
"Let me go in first, I can be really quiet and assess the situation," I suggested.
"Normally I would agree with you Ame, but the guy's a major alarmist, with that super hearing of his I wouldn't be surprised if he already knew we were here," Rio gave me a nervous look as if to say she was sorry. "I think our best bet would just be to ambush him and force him into an uncomfortable situation, but enough talk time for action. You're a clever guy Nagisa, you get what I'm saying." Nagisa nodded in agreement. "We wanna see the guy naked. This may be our only opportunity." We began to tiptoe our way through the changing area of the bath. "We need to get our hand on all the intel that we can get…"
"Can we all agree that this isn't the least bit sexy?" Okajima whined. Speak for yourself chromedome… For some reason I'm finding someone in this group way sexy at the moment… I thought as I looked at Rio in a new light.
Rio cracked open the door, only to find a deeply pink Koro-Sensei lathering in what appeared to be a bubble bath. "Is he a chick?!" She blurted out upon seeing him.
"Oh hello children!" He greeted each of us.
"Is he taking a bubble bath in a public bath?" Sugino asked.
"We're not supposed to add anything to the water sir," Nagisa cautioned.
"Worry not. This is just my mucus." He informed us. "When exposed to water it builds up a nice lather and becomes a natural exfoliant."
"So is that a pro or a con?" Sugino asked.
"Well we're not gonna figure it out by just standing here!" I began to push past Rio, Fuwa, and the boys.
"Wait Ame!" Nagisa tried to stop me.
Koro-Sensei reacted by tossing a bit of his mucus across my face. As I wiped my eyes clean Rio exclaimed, "What the hell is that?" as a large prism of a lime green gelatin-looking substance hit me across the face. Only for our target to struggle out the window. Not letting him get a chance to recover I hopped on the window sill and followed him out. "Ame be careful!"
"Shuri, don't be reckless!" Nagisa yelled after me… however I was already chasing after him. I quickly ran into a dark space between part of the hotel in which the school was staying. I felt the feathers and talons from my yellow-eyed form quickly spread over my body as I took off into the air, but it was already too late… Our teacher had already flown the coop.
I landed back down by the window and used my Blue-Eyed form to create the mist before sneaking back into the hotel through the window.
***
"Alright gang! Let's decide it here and now!" I heard Rio's voice come from behind the sliding bamboo door that led to the room in which we girls were staying as I slid inside. "Hey! She's back. Any luck chasing down the tentacled menace?"
"Sadly, no…" I looked around at all the girls. "So who wants to catch me up on what's going on?"
"Hehehe, why it's what all teenagers do whenever they're away from home in a group amongst their own gender." Rio held up a piece of paper. "DECIDE WHO'S HOTTEST! Betcha the boys are doing the exact same with us."
"Do you have to put it like that," Yada shuddered.
"I'll go first!" Hinano blurted out, much to the surprise of everyone, "I have a big crush on-" I noticed her glance over at me, and her cheeks go red, "Karasuma-Sensei!"
"Well that's all of us, Hina… major masculine energy coming off that guy…" Rio put a hand to her chin. "But methinks you're distracting from the task at hand on purpose."
"Rio, you know something don't you! Dish girl!" Yada took her hands.
"This isn't my tale to tell. Up to her!"
"Well if no one else is gonna get the ball rolling, I nominate Isogai for the top spot!" Okano spoke up.
"The Prince of 3-E himself. Yeah that's a solid choice to start us off… At least from a student perspective." Rio wrote Isogai's name at the top of the list.
"Excuse me for saying this Shuri…" Surprisingly Okuda spoke up. "But I'd like to nominate her elder brother, if I may… and Akabane."
"Shuri I'll give you…" Kataoka spoke up, "but I don't know if I'd put Akabane at the top…"
"Yeah, Shuri at least is kind and has manners…" Kayano joined in. "I was scared out of my gord, while traveling with Karma today… N-No offense Okuda."
"No offense taken. I mostly just suggest Akabane because he admires me for my skills, and Shuri for the opposite; I look up to him for his skills in science…"
"Shuri has more than manners, he's quite cordial and polite, and very chivalrous." Kataoka agreed.
"When we heard about what happened to Kayano and Kanzaki, dude went mental though, he was about to run off and meet up with Nagisa and Sugino… the guy was even willing to put an earlier argument with Akabane on hold… if it wasn't for Maehara and Isogai holding him back who knows what would have happened," Rio shrugged.
"H-He cares a lot." A quiet voice from an extremely flushed redhead rang out from the other side of the room.
"Speak up Hina! Claim your-"
"I also agree that my brother is a great guy!" I cut Rio off before she said something she'd regret.
"Shuri next? We all agree?" Every single hand was raised.
Several minutes of deliberating later… and when we asked Kanzaki her opinion, she deflected almost as much as Hinano… Rio, Kayano, and I had no choice, but to try and get her to confess with a tickle attack… Only to be interrupted by Professor Bitch… Seeing the blonde coming in with beer, Hinano called out for her to come in and tell us some of her adult tales. Several of the girls were all too willing to comply.
"Why you trash little ginger sl-" I glared at our female teacher for what she almost said to Hina, as Yada pushed her in. 20 years old and air-headed to all hell. It's tough to believe that this bimbo is said to be Lovro's protege. My predecessor and technical superior… but she sure doesn't act the part, and I don't think she's acting unlike me. "Anyway sex appeal… it's only skin deep…" Hina and I looked at each other, "in a place like where I was born in, by the time ya get it, it fades. You learn that all too quickly."
A few flung backhanded compliments and between Rio, Hina, Yada, and myself we were able to get Professor Bitch to start to spill some stories from her past… Or we would have if he weren't interrupted by a glowing pink cephalopod. Before he could give us any details on his love life, he sped off as we all chased after him.
"Ame! Glad you're safe!" San ran up to me as the rest of everyone met in the hall… Apparently Koro-Sensei had interrupted the boys sometime prior and he had brought them around with him.
"Y'know San, according to the girls, you're pretty prime real estate… You should corner a certain redhead sooner rather than later… If you catch my drift."
"When she's ready, we can discuss it… until then…"
"You sure she isn't talking about me?" A certain red-haired devil joined in.
"Didn't know you swung that way Akabane…" I smirked.
"Tch… You can dream all you want shortstack." He went back and stood by Nagisa.
***