Yellow Experience

Okay, as I'm writing this I don't know whether I'll manage to publish this before 2021, but in case I don't, late Happy New Year!

Answer to mimikyu: That reply is… long, to say the least. It took me quite some time to read it all. Don't worry, I'm not butthurt or anything, but I don't know when you'll read this, so that's just to let you know. Anyway, if you're reading this some time, feel free to Private Message me about your impressions. I feel like if you want to talk about THIS MUCH stuff, it's better to reply individually to each issue than to write a long ass reply about everything.

I do not own JoJo's Bizarre Adventure or Assassination Classroom

Chapter 18: A shocking secret

The time had come, come for Haruno to meet this person.

Meet me behind the hotel building at 30 past midnight.

That was what the letter said, and he was waiting there. It said '00:30' on his smartphone display, the delinquent just hoped the one wanting to meet him didn't arrive too late. Haruno thought, if that person were to come, say, 15 minutes late, it'd suck. Without that technically happening yet, he understood how Karasuma must've felt. 'Okay, I was being rude. I should really give him a break and be more punctual.'

Before it said '00:31' on the display, the person did arrive. It was a girl, and because the delinquent just went through tedious romance shit, he hoped that a boy would've come. Though that was not the only reason why he was negatively surprised about the person's identity. To Haruno, it didn't feel like they'd be fitting together if she really came for love matters.

"Really, Kayano-san? I thought you liked Nagis-"

"SSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHH!" Kaede hissed with a very red face, launching herself forward to press her palm against the delinquent's mouth.

Understanding that he pressed a sensible button, Haruno decided to leave that matter alone. "Mhkay, Mhkay. I'bl schud ub." Due to that hand strongly pressing against his mouth, the words didn't come out correctly.

"Okay, okay. I'll shut up."

Her eyes threatening the delinquent not to talk about this anymore, the green-haired let go of him. "Now… I came for something entirely different, so don't make any false assumptions." she quietly warned, her cheeks still maintaining some of that color.

'What false assumptions?' Haruno thought, rolling his eyes. They both knew the truth, but that didn't seem to be the reason as to why they should meet.

"Mhm mhm… Anyway, what's the reason you called me to this place for?" he asked, clearing his throat first.

"It's…" the petite girl had difficulties with getting to the topic. "Do you remember what you said to Itona when he got mad that you removed his tentacle?"

"Hm?" The delinquent raised his brow, that question came out of nowhere. He didn't expect that to be brought up again. "That it mutated, turned into a parasite, sucked away almost all of his life force and would've transformed his own body into one like Korosensei's. Yes, I do remember what I told him, but why would you need me to reiterate that?"

"…Because…" Kaede was trying her hardest not to sweat. She was about to share a tremendously dangerous piece of information, something she didn't really want to, as she had a clear goal in mind. But those tentacles… they scared the green-haired girl to no end. "…Let me show you why."

Undoing her hairstyle and letting her hair fall free, Kaede made it easier for her tentacles to reach out. Yes, Kayano Kaede, actually Yukimura Agari, had tentacles implanted into her head, same as Itona used to. Though they differed in design, hers were green and black.

Haruno's eyes widened greatly, he clenched his teeth at the discovery of this matter. It wouldn't have surprised him if another tentacle kid showed up because of Shiro, but this, having a tentacled person within his own class already, was beyond his expectations. What did this discovery tell him about Kaede? The delinquent couldn't help but react with noise. "WHA- Mmhhhhhhhhhh."

Like earlier, the green-haired slammed her palm against his mouth, stopping him from making any more loud noise that would've certainly alarmed the rest of their class. "Be quiet! I didn't come here for you to draw attention onto them, so cease your yelling! This is only between you and me, us and no one else!"

Unlike earlier, the delinquent had a good justification as to why he shouldn't stay quiet about this. "Noh, Kahyano-shan! I won'd schud ub dis tiem! Hoe cahn yu ekshpect me to?! Hwat de hell is de meanin of dis?!"

"No, Kayano-san! I won't shut up this time! How can you expect me to?! What the hell is the meaning of this?!"

"I'll explain it if you shut up! Be quiet, nobody else can find out about this!" Kaede dangerously hissed, venomously glaring at Haruno. If because of the volume of his voice, her state became known to her class, she'd never forgive him. "Just… shut up and I'll explain! Otherwise…"

Usually, the delinquent wouldn't back down because of a simple threat like this. But there were many factors he had to take into account. Like how she managed to fool him the entire time without him noticing the slightest hint. Same as with why she had tentacles in the first place, he had to know how she managed to do that as well. Haruno found out about an entirely new side of Kayano Kaede, in more than one way. And he had to know, his thirst for knowledge was stronger than his custom to not be bothered by simple verbal threats. "…Fine."

"Good." Kaede let go of his mouth a second time, slightly calming down. "…I know I can't back out of this anymore, I have no other choice as to spill it all out… But first, can you do something for me?"

The nerve of her, asking for a favor when she was supposed to talk. "What?" the delinquent lowly muttered in a moderately annoyed manner.

"Your miracle power, you call it [Stand], right?" the green-haired inquired, slowly getting towards her objective for the encounter.

"A Stand by definition, the manifestation of my soul. Its name is [Ougon no tomodachi], I gave it myself." Haruno answered, summoning it by his side. Not that she could see it anyway. "Don't tell me you want to fight me?"

"No!" Kaede stated abruptly, slightly raising her volume. "That's actually the exact opposite of what I want! Sparing the sweet talk, I ask you to help me."

Again, the nerve of her. The delinquent had the right to refuse, and a good one. "Why should I?" He crossed his arms. "Kayano-san, with what I have learned today, it wouldn't be good for me to help you. The fact that you have tentacles means you have some sort of connection to Shiro, our enemy. Oh wait, maybe he's not your enemy, since you probably work for him and received your tentacles from him. With the way you are right now, you really seem like a spy. I shouldn't help you, as you might pose a danger to our class."

'A spy…' Ironically enough, there was some truth to that. The green-haired had an ulterior motive when joining the class. But to say she was a spy working for Shiro was very, very wrong, making her quickly shake her head. She, Yukimura Agari, never liked Yanagisawa Kotarou in the first place.

"Take back what you said just now!" Oh, Kaede reacted with anger at Haruno's words. "I am NOT working for Shiro! He can go die for all I care, and his tentacles are so faulty! I'd never let him place them inside of me."

'Is she serious?' What the girl said made no sense to the delinquent. "If they're so faulty and you'd never let him place them inside of you, those are your own words, then why do you have tentacles implanted into you?" Haruno questioned, becoming more strict with her. "You already promised me to explain yourself, so this is the time for it."

"I infused them into me myself." the green-haired informed with a hissing voice. "I have a secret goal I have to achieve at all cost that I deem more important than my own life. That's why I willingly took those damn parasites! Despite them being so faulty, for the exact reasons you recited me, and on top of that, worst of all, them being so painful, painful, PAINFUL!"

Taking a gulp, the delinquent took a step back. The petite girl was clutching her head in agony, screaming herself when she wanted him to be quiet. It was a miracle that no one got attracted by her own noise. 'Hot damn… I can't understand her at all! If she's really not with Shiro and not a spy, then why's she doing this to herself? That's madness!'

"A… are you okay?" Haruno carefully asked. Admittingly, that was quite the useless question since he clearly knew that she was not. But this wasn't just about physical pain, it was also about the emotional pain of the user of a supernatural power. As normal humans couldn't possibly understand Stand users, he couldn't claim to understand her currently either.

"Haruno-kun…" Kaede was crying now, tears running out of her eyes like waterfalls. "I have a very important personal reason I have to carry them with me no matter what… I can tell you all about it to the tiniest detail… But please, PLEASE! Make the pain go away with your Stand!"

"…I beg of you…" she managed to faintly let out before succumbing to full on weeping and sniffling.

"…" Shiobana Haruno was never a more emotional than practical person. If not for his passionate dream and his genuine concern for his friends, he could be called cold. In most situations he had the ability to keep 100% cool and stoic. Though this situation… is where he couldn't. The delinquent was completely ruthless to his enemies he deemed evil. Because he learned this night that Kayano Kaede was far more than what met his eye, and there was the possibility of her being an evil enemy due to that same reason, he was quite conflicted. Because no matter how he looked at her, she didn't look like an evil person to him, only like a hurt girl who desperately needed help.

"O- o- okay, dammit! I'll help! I'll do whatever it takes! But please, please don't cry anymore!"

As his words didn't reach her, he merely started treating. [Ougon no tomodachi] immediately lessened the effect those tentacles placed on the green-haired, lightening her pain.

"Honestly, we should go somewhere else. I have the feeling that our class has noticed the noise and will come here to check out why it's so loud. And you don't want to be seen, do you?" Haruno argued, becoming more sensible.

Her cheeks red, this time from crying, Kaede silently nodded. "As long as you stop the pain…"

That said, the two sneaked away from the hotel grounds.

XXXXXXXXXX

Hiding behind an enormous rock on the coast just outside of the hotel's property, the delinquent and his Stand began treating the tentacled girl in more detail. During the 'operation', Haruno made some shocking discoveries.

"Unbelievable! These things are more than just faulty!" he ranted in a such livid way about the tentacles that Kaede felt like he was harshly scolding her. "I could tell that Itona's tentacles at least received some treatment and substances to control them, but this pair right here… they're like… an untreated cancer!"

The delinquent couldn't find the words to describe his exasperation. "And Kayano-san, why on earth do you not want me to remove them at once? On our way here you asked me to ease the pain, suppress them enough for you to have control over them and not them over you, improve genetic compatibility between you and your tentacles, repair your damaged nerves… You know how toxic those parasites, again, your own words though I fully agree, are to you both physically and mentally, so why do you not want me to remove them?"

"…Because of my goal." the green-haired merely answered. "I need these tentacles to achieve my objective, no matter what."

'So stubborn.' Haruno thought, though able to understand her to a degree. He too wanted to achieve something in the future, his dream. "Let me in on that."

"Since I owe you a great debt, I have no choice." Kaede said, willing to tell him her secret she didn't want to tell twice. "My goal is to take revenge on Korosensei for my sister's death."

This information took the delinquent by surprise. He briefly widened his eyes. That was big news, even if it sounded incredulous. Naturally, he had a lot of questions to ask, his natural curiosity took over. "You have a sister… And Korosensei killed her?"

"My real name's not Kayano Kaede, you know. It's Yukimura Agari." she revealed her true identity. "My sister's name is Yukimura Aguri, heard of her"

"Yukimura Aguri…" Haruno was pensively rubbing his chin, searching for results in his brain. "I remember reading her name somewhere… Wait… Wasn't she… The old teacher of Class 3-E before I was demoted?"

"Yeah, she was. A teacher who loved teaching and her students…" Now the green-haired's eyes were becoming nostalgically sad. "She didn't deserve death, but she was sadly murdered by Korosensei."

Speaking out his name, Kaede felt some anger. But due to her tentacles not fuelling her hate to more than unhealthy levels anymore, her scorn wasn't that strong.

'Murdered by Korosensei…' the delinquent quoted her inside of his head, unable to believe her words. "Hold on, are you really serious? Are you really sure he is the murderer? Because no matter how I see it, Korosensei doesn't strike me as the type who'd kill a person!"

"But I have seen it!" the green-haired sharply insisted, wanting to clear away the doubts. "Just listen to my story before you subjectively doubt me."

Because it was so important to her, Haruno believed she'd tell the truth. Though other than that, he expected a story from her personal point of view, a subjective story where she didn't know all the facts. Nevertheless, he heard her out. "Fine, go ahead and tell me."

With this, Kaede recited the events on that fateful day that changed her. Her face took on a serious expression. "It was on the same day most of the moon got pulverized. That evening, I walked past the research facility my sister worked in. By day she was a teacher, by night a lab assistant. Completely out of the blue, the building exploded. Well, at least a part of it. Pieces of debris were sent flying, security guards were running all over the place. Knowing that my sister was inside, I never would've been able to stay still. So using my small body, I crawled inside before any adult could. And then…"

The petite girl's gritted fists were shaking. "…I discovered her, my sister. Taking her dying breaths, a massive bloody wound on her stomach. And next to her, a tentacled monster playing with her blood. The next moment, it disappeared into the sky. I… I then went over to her, pleading her to wake up… But there was nothing I could do…"

Recalling that painful memory, tears were flowing out of the green-haired's eyes. "A few moments later… I discovered a note lying around. It was written by the monster, who mentioned that he would be able to be found as teacher of Kunugigaoka middle school…"

"Korosensei…" the delinquent uttered out in disbelief at gaining such an important bit of background information.

"I also found a damaged laptop and a container of liquid I'd never seen before. I found out later that it was the tentacles' seed. I can't really explain why I decided to take it home, but… I guess I thought it may have had something to do with my sister's death." Kaede continued her story. "Reading the information on that computer, I found out that those tentacles were a prototype human transplant weapon. It did say that overwhelming pain came in exchange for overwhelming strength, but that was fine by me. I felt like it was the only way I'd be able to go up against that monster."

'That was really stupid of you.' Haruno thought, planning to say this to her later. But only after her story was completed.

"It was then that I decided to become an actor. I forged a new identity, transferred over to Kunugigaoka's Class 3-E, changed my hair color and become a student of that class. But I didn't want to stand out, so I wanted to pick a protagonist who stands out more than me, so that I could blend in with the background characters." she disclosed her intention. "At first I thought Nagisa-kun would do it, and he did well. Then later Karma-kun, Ritsu-chan, Itona-kun, and most importantly, you joined, becoming all more notable than me. In the background, I thought that I wanted to become a killer. I had a grudge and pain, I only wanted to defeat my nemesis, even if it costed my life."

This was when the delinquent wanted to say it, as he opened his mouth, thinking her story was over. Though the green-haired went on even further, causing him to close his mouth.

"At first, my bloodlust was pure. I wanted to kill him, no matter what. But as time went on, and here we are, I started thinking about stuff like 'What if there's an explanation?' or 'Could there be more to the case than the context I am aware of?'. My bloodlust wavered, softened. The bloodlust in my tentacles didn't, which caused an increase in pain. You explaining the dangers of the tentacles gave me the final push… I knew that I had to change my ways."

Great, now Haruno had to reword what he prepared to say in his brain. But those few sentences also gave him much more to say in return. "Good thing that you did, changing your ways I mean." he spoke, crossing his arms. "Still, that was very, very reckless of you to begin with. The obvious danger aside, you should've had more self-worth. Even though there's no one who can preach the value and importance of dreams better than me, the dreamer's life is worth much more than the dream. What good is your goal if you die right after achieving it, or even worse, die failing to achieve it? I hate to say it, but you thought in a stupid way."

"…" Looking down, Kaede agreed with him. In hindsight, she was far too emotional about it, not thinking everything through.

"But again, it's very good that you decided to change your ways. You telling me that also made me figure out what I was wondering the entire time." the delinquent told, a firm but faint smile on his face.

"…? What are you talking about?" The green-haired was curious to hear that. Even though this boy could be really clear and good with words, at time he could also be hard to understand, talking too mysteriously.

"Your bloodlust softened because of your time around Korosensei, right? Because you learned that he wasn't the monster you wanted him to be, right?"

"Yes." Kaede replied, nodding. She did learn to hate the yellow man less than initially. "That's how it is. Exactly how it is."

"Because you had a good time here, right?" Yes, Haruno was getting to it. "Don't say anything, please let me finish what I have to say."

And he was very excited about it, motivated to speak. The green-haired let him talk.

"You came here putting up an act, but actually, you enjoyed this class more than you should have. You kept telling yourself that you weren't really a student and only faking it, but subconsciously you really enjoyed your role. Yes! The reason why I couldn't detect you as a fake was because you were actually natural, not really acting. Your objective may have been hidden, but your emotions weren't."

What a speech. This boy got all fired up because he figured out the answer to his question. Kayano Kaede may have only been a character thought up by Yukimura Agari, but Agari grew to fully adopt this character, literally becoming her in a sense. Kayano Kaede was not a fake, but the real thing. There was no fake for him to detect.

"Also, sorry for calling you a spy." The delinquent didn't forget that, so he apologized.

"It's fine." Kaede accepted the apology, forgiving him.

Even though he uncovered a large piece of truth today, the puzzle was still incomplete. Haruno still had many things he didn't know about the octopus man, Shiro and their past. But with Kaede here, he could talk with her about it, further deepening their understanding together. After all, she was still a person he could trust.

"You know, ever since Shiro first appeared, I've really been wondering about the tentacles and Korosensei's past. I've already made some connections, and speaking with you today really broadened my understanding. May I discuss this with you?"

"Sure." The green-haired had nothing against that, as she trusted him back.

"So, it's pretty obvious that Shiro hates Korosensei. It's a personal kind of hate that heavily implies a troubled past between them. A past that connects to those tentacles." the delinquent started off. "Makes sense, right?"

"Right."

"Then, you told me that these tentacles are a prototype human transplant weapon. A secret military experiment. This is very important, as this implies that Korosensei was a test subject."

Kaede realized that this made a lot of sense now that Haruno brought that up. If he was a scientist, he'd have known of these risks and wouldn't have willingly inserted them into himself. "…Just what the hell is the story behind this all?" she muttered to herself.

"Given how much Shiro hates Korosensei, he must have a reason for it. It was that day on which the moon got partially obliterated and…" the delinquent tried to handle the next part very carefully "…your sister lost her life. Could that be… the reason for Shiro's animosity?"

"That's impossible." the green-haired flatly and distastefully reacted, outright rejecting his idea. "I have a hunch about who Shiro is. If it's really him, then that can't be the reason."

Relieved that the poor younger sister didn't take offense, Haruno questioned her about what she just said. "You think you know who he is? Do tell, please."

"This Shiro person has access to this very secret and very dangerous human experiment, and even got allowed to use a minor, Itona as a human guinea pig. All approved by the government of course."

The delinquent cringed inwardly at that, he got reminded that parts of the government could be even worse than the criminal underworld he wanted to take over to make the streets a safer place.

"Which means that Shiro was an important person regarding the project, like the project manager and chief scientist. Coincidentally, that kind of person was the fiancé of Aguri."

"What?" This was like a plot twist to Haruno, it took him by surprise.

"That man, Yanagisawa Kotarou, is the type of person I hate the most. Friendly to my sister in public or in front of me, in private he'd yell at her, order her around and even beat her. They may have been scheduled to marry, but there was no love between them." Kaede narrated in disdain. "No way he wants revenge for the death of Aguri. He never gave a shit!"

'Oh, loveless relationships exist everywhere…' the delinquent thought, feeling sorry for Aguri. "But… if that's not the reason, then we can only come so far with the information that we have."

"And that's why I'm gonna keep searching for the reason, assassinate Korosensei and force him to tell me everything." the determined girl told, narrowing her eyes and clenching her fist.

"*sigh* But don't force yourself, I didn't treat your implants for nothing, Ka-" Haruno was about to say to the green-haired, but stopped himself.

"Huh?" Kaede asked in confusion, not knowing why the delinquent interrupted his own sentence. "What's the matter?"

"When the two of us are talking, what should I call you?" he inquired. "You told me your real name."

"Hmmm…" She had to admit, that was an important question. "My real name is Yukimura Agari, and I intend to return to using this name in the future… But for this schoolyear, just this year, I am Kayano Kaede."

"So be it." Haruno said, smiling narrowly. This girl was not only comfortable with both names, but also the same regardless of the name: a trusted friend.

The end of another chapter. I did it again, having something change early. Planned it for a long time too. For Kaede to have someone to help her with her problem in her class, that's awfully convenient for her. Rather treat her tentacles early than bottling up the agony until she snaps. And Giorno, he'll become even more curious about Korosensei. He realizes that some shady shit was going on back then, and he'll be forced to think about this for a long, long time until Korosensei himself tells the whole story. For me, it truly is interesting to see characters wondering about a half-solved mystery from an outside perspective.

Feel free to review if you like to