Yellow Experience

Hi, how are you guys? It's been some time, isn't it? What a nice time to have a read. This chapter will set some big things in motion, I can promise that much. There'll be some characterization and lots of interaction. Just a beginning for a BIG chapter or even two in the future. Stay excited!

And don't forget to vote for the main girl, don't hold back. The more votes the better.

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

Chapter 22: Obstacles

Class 3-E was in a rather good mood. Very recently they defeated the elite class, 3-A in the Boutaoshi. They were still very proud of their achievement and their power.

Though it wasn't exactly the time to celebrate, as in 2 weeks, it was time for the 2nd midterm exams. They had to study hard and get even better grades, as the goal of both Korosensei and the students themselves was to dominate the top 50.

2 weeks for the midterm exams… 5 months for the deadline of assassinating their homeroom teacher.

For them, both were important, but the scale of circumstances were different, so there was a debate on what to prioritize.

"That Korosensei, he really goes all out to think of ways to teach us." Sugino remarked, as the class was walking out of their building. Just a few minutes ago, lessons had ended. "Moreso than teaching us how to assassinate him."

"I agree, but, you know, shouldn't we be concentrating on our studies right now?" Touka asked.

"There are only 5 months left, you know." Haruno also actively took part in the discussion. "We also have to improve our assassination skills."

Isogai walked pensively, placing a few fingers below his chin. "What about a more balanced approach, then? Those with good grades already, like you, can focus more on the assassination part, while those with less good grades can study more intensively for the exams." he suggested. "Division of labor, to be exact."

A few people agreed with him.

"Yes, why not?"

"Good idea."

"Wish it was that easy." Yoshida huffed, lightly shaking his head in annoyance. "We have no choice, as that octopus is all about 'equality'."

"Oh, that's also true…"

It was hard to come to an agreement, for various reasons. Taisei said it best, things weren't so easy and there were a whole set of options with counteractive benefits and disadvantages. No matter what option they'd choose, it wouldn't be benefitting them all.

"Kukuku… Don't worry too much about it, guys." Okajima then laughed, trying to sound cool and like a genius. "Leave it to me. I came up with an excellent idea."

"…"

Another new idea. The students were searching for the best option, so any better idea would be appreciated. Though given it was Taiga, a few girls were a little cautious.

'I hope it's nothing perverted.'

He took them to the lower part of the mountain, where the altitude was similar to the rooftops of the buildings around the mountain. The pervert then performed a jump, landing on the rooftop of the nearest building.

"So… What's there?" Hinata wanted to know, a bit confused.

"I trail blazed an awesome route to school." Okajima explained, smirking and bragging about it. "If we use parkour style running to move along the building rooftops from here, we can arrive at the next train station without hardly touching the ground. We can train just from going to school. Let's all go this way starting today."

"Ehh~~~, Isn't this dangerous?" Hinano voiced her concerns, unsure if that was a good idea. "If we fell…"

"She's right." Meg agreed with her, thinking this was irresponsible. "Karasuma-sensei even told us not to do this outside of this mountain."

"It's fi~~~ne!" Taiga insisted, smiling all the way. "I tried going, and there wasn't a single area that was difficult. The way we're trained now, it's a cinch."

His proposal started picking up traction, and fewer students remained opposed.

"Uhm…" Yuuma scratched his head, still reserved about this idea.

Total opposite of his best friend, Hiroto, who was thrilled about it.

"Come on, Isogai! Without disrupting our studies, we can improve our assassination abilities! Polishing 2 blades at once, that's exactly Korosensei's ideal!" he tried to convince him. "Plus…"

Next he moved towards Haruno, placing his hand on the blond's shoulder. "If something bad happens, Haruno-kun here can fix it!"

"You're not wrong." Even the delinquent was on board.

"It might be fun…" Tomohito was ready to go.

"Yeah." Nagisa as well.

When the large majority of the class rallied behind Taiga, he grinned with excitement.

"Alright! I'll lead the way! Follow me!"

One after another, in extremely high spirits, the boys and girls of Class E jumped onto the rooftop, following suit.

"Yeah!"

"Fuck yeah!"

"Let's go!"

And when they started their parkour, that's when the fun really began. Sprinting on rooftops, jumping above the gaps between the rooftops, over the streets.

"Uhaaaaaaaa, this feels good~~~~!"

That feeling of the wind blowing back their hair, that feeling of the air when jumping from a higher roof to a lower roof, the sight of pedestrians and cars small and below them, it felt too great.

"This is nothing!"

"Right?"

They felt it at the athletic festival, and they felt it now. Athletically, they were different from usual, normal everyday students, and they were letting loose that athleticism.

"Hehehe, I'm winning!"

"Not so fast!"

"I'll get you!"

There was a race going on and Haruno was up front. Right behind him were Sugino, the bluenette and the pervert who started this.

Everyone was smiling, the rush of adrenaline felt just too great. Pure excitement and competitiveness.

"Alright, I'm Number One! GOAL!" the blond loudly rejoiced as he was about to jump down from the last rooftop and descend onto the street.

"Hahaha- …!"

His proud laughing came to an end when he saw what was in front of him.

"…!"

On the spot where he was about to land, an old man was riding his bike. Peacefully, without any bad expectations beforehand. When his eyes met with the eyes of the delinquent above, who was about to crash onto him, they went wide in fear.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

And that was before the inevitable happened.

*Crash!*

The old man then fell from his bike, clutching his right leg in pain. The stuff he'd been carrying with him on his bike scattered around, creating a mess. But not as big as the mess Haruno had caused.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

'…FUCK!'

On top of the poor old victim, the blond was awkwardly sweating with a poker face. He'd messed up greatly.

'Although…'

Right, his powers. [Ougon no tomodachi], the miracle always with him. He could easily make the injuries and the pain go away.

Though unluckily, before he could do so…

"That noise just now, did something happen?!"

"Wait… That's that asshole Shiobana!"

Outside of the building in front of him, a flower shop, 2 people came out, having been alerted by the crashing noise and the scream of pain.

'Oh no… What the hell is that douchebag doing here?!'

One of the young males hurrying to the scene of the accident was Asano Gakushuu. Him seeing the delinquent like that only meant bad news.

"You idiot, what have you done?!"

Immediately, the orange-haired pulled out his smartphone and started taking countless photos as he came running right towards the bike, taking pictures from wide and near, even as from as close as the injured leg.

Quite soon, all the students of Class 3-E assembled, both shocked and displeased about the unfortunate accident Haruno had caused. Even worse for them was the fact that Gakushuu was the first person to get wind of this.

"Oh no…"

"We're so screwed…"

Having taken many photos, Asano eventually put his phone back into his pocket. "Assaulting a geriatric, how low can you stoop? Yup, that's incriminating evidence."

Such a disaster was the last thing the blond needed. The orange-haired's presence aggravated his problem manyfold, meaning reputational problems on top of legal problems in nothing was done soon. He gritted his teeth as he was cursed with loads of stress.

"Evidence, what evidence?" the delinquent hastily spat, already back on his feet. "Wait just a second and try telling that again!"

Without hesitating a single moment, Haruno summoned his healing Stand and poured lots of healing energy into the body of the injured man. In few seconds, he completely fixed the injuries he caused, and additionally almost reinvigorated the man as well, making sure the old man would feel better and healthier than even before.

Unbeknownst to him, the 2 people that just came there weren't any ordinary people, but fellow Stand users. So they saw the entire thing.

'Interesting…'

'So this is what your Stand looks like, Shiobana.'

"Uuuuhhh… What…?" the now formerly injured accident victim reacted, in total disbelief about the changes to his body.

"Hey, old man, sorry about that." the blond briefly apologized. "How are you feeling now? Does it still hurt?"

"Phew, that was a close one."

Reacting from the other side, the delinquent's classmates were glad about the development. Any physical harm caused to the man was taken care of. And the material damages were nothing serious either.

"My body… What have you done to it?" the man questioned, totally bewildered and unable to comprehend the situation.

"I… healed you, Sir." Haruno politely stated, his posture and gestures indicating nervousness. "Your bone was broken, and I fixed it."

"Well well, if that ain't a confession." Gakushuu commented, acting very callous towards his rival.

They both looked each other in the eyes very hard, before the former turned to the newly recovered old man. "Sir, I have photographic proof of the harm this brute unlawfully did to you. Would you like me to call the police?"

In the background, the blond's classmates started giving annoyed, distasteful looks at Asano.

"What a jerk…"

"Screw this guy!"

The delinquent himself was very frustrated with the orange-haired's attitude, getting angry. Extremely annoyed, he wasn't going to tolerate any bullshit.

"Give it a break, you piece of shit! Did you come here just to provoke?! Just to pick a fight?!"

He event went as far as to give Gakushuu a light push on the chest. Though as light as it was, the latter took full advantage of the bodily contact and threw himself on the ground.

"You… You dumb thug! You good-for-nothing violent hoodlum!" Asano insulted Haruno, with a mix of mocking and venting intent. "First that old man, and now me?! How many more people will you brutalize with your primitive violence? Scum like you should just rot in juvie, then the streets would become a much safer and cleaner place!"

"That guy…"

Class 3-E universally bore hateful, scornful expressions watching that act.

"Oh my, I better call the police now." The other young male, a florist, murmured. "Such scenes in front of my shop are bad for business."

For a moment, Class E had forgotten about the other guy.

"Yes, do so…" the old man encouraged him to, standing up again. "These brats are a menace, especially that big one!"

With a shaking finger, he was pointing at the blond, singling him out. "You… I don't know how you healed me, but you're not normal! I have no clue what you did to my body to heal me, so I'll have the police investigate this."

"Crap…" the entirety of Class 3-E let out, really feeling that they'd messed up royally.

They didn't have the luxury to frown at the orange-haired, who was grinning in mean fashion at their misfortune.

Isogai took out his phone, attempting to control the damage.

"Hello, Karasuma-sensei? I have bad news…"

XXXXXXXXXX

Karasuma wasn't happy in the slightest when he found out about the happenings. As fast as he could, he pulled some strings so that the police would keep this on the low down, and that the victim, Mr. Matsukata would get some quick hush money.

The main concern was that Mr. Matsukata was extremely suspicious and wary of the delinquent's treatment, so he would make sure that doctors would prove and convince the man that there was absolutely nothing wrong with him.

If this old man would keep quiet about Haruno's incident, the boy could be protected from getting thrown out of the school. Because Gakushuu, who had proof of the (former) injuries, continued turning down monetary offers to delete those pictures. All to keep his leverage over his personal adversary.

'Dammit, Shiobana Haruno, can you not needlessly stress me for once?'

Korosensei, who got the information from Tadaomi, got involved too. Prepared hundreds of flowers as an apology for his students' misbehavior, and even performed a special dogeza. Excessively asked old man Matsukata for forgiveness, acting obscenely polite.

But when it came to disciplining his pupils after coming out of the old man's room, his attitude changed by 180 degrees.

His skin was black, fully expressing his fury. Contrasting with that, his eyes were tiny white dots. The anger terrified his students, who were intimidated by his dangerous aura.

"Ko…"

"Korosensei…"

On the spot, in fear and stress, they started making up excuses.

"He- Hey… In the end, it wasn't that bad, you know? Haruno-kun did heal him up!"

"That's right! I admit we were careless, but whatever mistakes we made, Haruno-kun undid those!"

"Besides, we weren't the ones who escalated this! It was that provocateur Asano!"

"In the first place, we only did it to polish our abilities! Do you understand the heavy pressure and anxiety we get from having to save the world?"

They failed to convince him. Moving far faster than all but one could react, the octopus man rapidly slapped them across the face, making them really feel it.

Though when it came to a certain boy, he was gripping the slapping tentacle with a spiritual invisible arm. Seconds without a slap landing gave the other students time to both feel and react to their own slap, as well as to look at the outrageousness happening where the powerhouses were. Slightly looking down, the delinquent's eyes were shadowed black. In front of him, the blackened octopus kept smiling as thinly as a surgical knife.

Everyone could feel it, the tension was reaching its boiling point. This was the greatest confrontation between those two yet.

'Holy shit… This might get ugly.'

"What's the meaning of this…?" Haruno questioned in a low, dangerous tone, evidently suppressing his temper akin to a bomb.

"You tell me, Haruno-kun…" Korosensei ordered him to speak up, also trying damn hard to stay calm.

"You're going WAY too far here, Korosensei…!" the blond claimed, his eyes flashing up in a raw feeling of anger at perceived injustice.

"No… With you, I didn't go far enough."

"Tch! Why you…!"

Livid at the remark, the delinquent clenched his teeth and pushed his teacher away with [Ougon no tomodachi], almost sending him into the wall.

"Are you kidding me?! I admit I was in the wrong, but ultimately, it was me who fixed it! I took responsibility for my actions, Korosensei!" he raged, loud and uncontrollably. "Yes I injured him, I shouldn't have done that, but on the flipside, it was me who undid his injuries! I owed up to my mishap, Korosensei, and I refuse to be treated like this!"

'Haruno-kun has flipped!' the others thought in great suspense, remembering the Takaoka night. If this argument went on like that, things could get even nastier.

"With what logic do you justify slapping us like that, huh, Korosensei?!" he continued without cooling down. "We never wanted to make a big fuss out of this, it was that shithead Asano who caused the big shitty mess that we're in! All that when it was me who tried not to escalate the conflict! Blame him, not me… not us!"

'Aah, what will Korosensei's response be?' everyone anxiously wondered, the tension making them sweat heavily.

"I I I…" the octopus man said through his teeth, pressing them together to quell his fury and remain civil and barely smiling. "Me me me…! Are you listening to yourself, Haruno-kun?!"

'Man, I wonder if the hospital staff is going to throw them out.' the entire class and the government agent wondered, given that it was a loud, ridiculously big ruckus.

"What of it? Am I wrong?" the blond challenged, not backing down. "Because I sure as hell don't think so, Korosensei!"

"Ah, yes! Of course!" Now the pitch-black octopus was so mad he started resorting to sarcasm. "The oh-so-great, oh-so-gifted Haruno-kun with his unique godly powers that he logically shouldn't even possess! He can do no wrong, because he can just heal people back when something goes wrong. This makes him exempt from paying attention and gives him permission to act however carelessly, irresponsibly, dangerously as he pleases, because one cannot image an alternate world where he doesn't have abilities that can oh-so-conveniently heal victims of his carelessness!"

"…!"

'Oof… This one stung for sure!' the others reacted, feeling second hand emotional damage when seeing how the harsh and downright brutal criticism that Korosensei delivered startled the delinquent.

"Wha…" Haruno let out, taken aback by his teacher's savage counter. His guard dropped, giving the octopus man a teeny tiny timeframe to deliver the last slap.

*Smack*

The blond was still too shocked from the intense verbal lecture from earlier to return to his fierce anger.

But there was no need, as the other party also ceased the anger, returning back to yellow from black. He realized that he too became too angry, which wasn't good.

"Haruno-kun, you're in dire need of a reality check." the teacher diagnosed. "This applies to all your classmates too, but especially to you, Haruno-kun."

"…"

He looked down in shame, tilting his head away.

"Ever since your victory, you've become too strong. Drunk on your abilities, you've forgotten the fragility of the weak, who aren't privileged with super powers like a few of you." Korosensei spoke to all his pupils. "You can't do as you please, since that'd make you no different from the students of the main building."

His students had nothing to reply with. They hung down their heads in shame, really understanding how wrong they were.

"You know what, I've thought of a new method to teach you a lesson for the next 2 weeks until the day of the exams." the octopus man announced. "Wait here for a few minutes, I'll negotiate with the old man you've wronged and arrange some things."

That said, the yellow man went back inside Mr. Matsukata's hospital room for a few minutes, to work on a new temporary schedule for his students.

XXXXXXXXXX

After a talk between 2 educators, Korosensei eventually returned back to the hallway, where everyone else had been waiting for him.

They all were quite anxious about what he had to say next.

"I've had a chat with Mr. Matsukata." the octopus man informed. "He'll take a light break from work during the next 2 weeks. In his stead, you'll be caring for kids in a nursery school and afterschool he runs."

"What?" Everybody reacted in surprise, many tilting their heads. This was completely unexpected.

"And during those hours, no studying for the exams." the yellow man additionally forbade them. "If you want to study, you'll have to do it in your free time, when work's over and you can go home."

"…"

This was a heavy blow for the students of Class E. They could already see themselves dropping positions almost collectively in the rankings of Kunugigaoka.

"This is a joke, right?"

"I'm afraid it's not." Korosensei solidified. "However, this isn't a sort of punishment. You'll just be learning something that takes precedence."

Their heads and shoulders hanging low, the pupils were close to sulking. There was almost no point in studying by themselves, since no one came even close to the quality of the octopus man's teachings. They would do worse in the next exams and get ridiculed by the higher classes accordingly for that.

"Now come along, I'll have you all apologize to Mr. Matsukata." the yellow man then said.

"Okay…"

After their teacher, they all entered the hospital room of the old man, having another meeting with their victim.

As they walked inside, Mr. Matsukata was sitting on a lounge chair with his legs crossed. The doctors had thoroughly checked his body and perfectly assured him that there was absolutely nothing wrong, contrary to what he himself had suspected.

Still, he looked judgingly at the boys and girls entering the room. And his eyes were mostly on one boy only.

"Ahem, do you guys have something to say?" the yellow man prompted them to apologize.

Crossing their upper arms in front of the belt area, and politely bowing their heads, each student of Class 3-E humbly apologized to the old man.

"We're sorry for our carelessness."

"We apologize sincerely."

"We were wrong for wounding you. Please forgive us."

"Well, you've heard them." Korosensei spoke. "What do you say, Mr. Matsukata?"

"Hmph, you're lucky I'm not impaired in any way, so I can technically continue work like nothing happened." the old man said, also crossing his arms. "But since your teacher here has requested so hard from me to have you work in my stead to turn you into 'wholesome students', I'll only accept your apologies if you do a good job caring for all the kids at my institutions."

Nodding, the pupils all raised their hands.

"Understand."

"I'm expecting flawless work from you brats. And when I say work, there's a lot of work."

Realizing that the next 2 weeks were going to be quite tough, the students tried to mentally prepare themselves. And they weren't very delighted.

"Understood."

"Alright then." the octopus man spoke, lightly clapping his tentacles once. "Karasuma-sensei will send you an email about the location and timetable this evening. Work starts tomorrow, so rest well today, got it?"

"Got it."

With that, the yellow man dismissed them. "Alright, you're good to go."

Bowing also to their teacher, they all then left after one more quick 'Sorry' to Mr. Matsukata. That day was a disaster, but what was done was done. The best they could do was to handle the following 2 weeks professionally and patiently. There was no easy way out, so they just had to power through.

'Well damn, let's see how this turns out…'

XXXXXXXXXX

The following day, they arrived at the old man's nursery afterschool. It was an old, run-down wooden bungalow called Wakaba Park. Inside, a female worker was introducing them to the kids.

"Everyone, due to certain reasons the principle won't be able to come here for a while. In his place, these onii-chans say they'll do anything for us."

"O-Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!"

Unexpectedly for Class E, the kids accepted their sudden presence immediately. Still, it was awkward for them.

"So, what exactly are we supposed to do with them?" they asked the worker.

"Everything." she informed. "Playing, watching, studying… Taking care in general."

"Everything… Yeah, it's gonna be tough."

And it turned out like that. Most kids were fine, but there were also the overly clingy ones, the perverted ones who took advantage of their age, and the biters. Especially the biters.

One of the worst offenders was a primary schooler, considerably older than most of the kids. Her character was rebellious, and she acted very hostile.

"What brings you people here?" she asked, making her presence known. The Kunugigaoka students quickly noticed her. "Barging in here with your large group, you can at least work off the oxygen you're taking, right?"

In just a matter of seconds, they were bewildered at the rudeness of her. She spoke so intolerantly while making a super smug face that everyone sweatdropped incredulously.

'We have a rather edgy mistress here too!'

"Oh no, Sakura-nee is in a bad mood."

"Yeah…"

Through 2 smaller boys, they learned that the girl's name was Sakura.

"These nii-sans are gonna die."

"Here for 5 years, she's the oldest… She's actually continued to reject the school's control for 2 years." They narrated, unaware how it sounded to their surroundings. "Sakura nee-san the elite neet."

Muramatsu and Yoshida deadpanned at them.

"You make it sound cool, but that just means she's always absent, doesn't it?!"

Meanwhile, Sakura picked up a broom leaning on the wall.

"First, whether or not you have the guts to work…"

Watching her movements, Nagisa got a bad premonition.

"Eh… Wa-"

Not batting an eye, she moved in for the attack.

"Let's test it out, eh?!"

Though mid-swing, her attack came to an abrupt end when the floor crumbled beneath her.

"Bugeeh!"

If it wasn't for the soft floor mats cushioning and stopping her fall, she could've injured herself.

'Damn…' the middle schoolers sweatdropped, cringing.

"Ah ah, I told her the floor is broken there."

"How sad. You can't grasp true victory with violence." the second of the two boys commented, not realizing how comical they sounded to everybody else.

"It's your characters I can't grasp…"

Worried about more accidents like this occurring, the pupils turned to the nursery staff.

"Do you not do repairs?" Isogai asked. "Because this building is pretty worn down…"

"We don't have the money." a worker kindly answered with a weak smile. "Because the principal charges very little to take in any waitlist or truant child, he can't even hire the workers he needs, so he does most of the work himself."

Then they thought back to yesterday and remembered how Mr. Matsukata was carrying a lot of things. They realized how busy and responsible the old man was, and how badly his absence would've affected this place if it wasn't for them filling in.

And although that technically Mr. Matsukata was fine now thanks to Haruno's powers, they still empathized a lot with how the old man was working his bones off for the wellbeing of the children, but could only barely keep things intact because of very little outside help whatsoever. They felt the need to help him and do him a favor.

"28 people for 2 weeks, huh? Don't you think we can get a lot done?" Maehara questioned, pensively holding his chin.

In response to his question, the students of Class 3-E thought hard about it.

Some even became motivated.

"We sure can." Hara spoke, smiling in motivation. This girl had the will.

The others remained silent for a short while after, but eventually almost all of them started smiling resolutely.

Seeing how the absolute majority of his classmates intended to do some work, Yuuma acted like a leader and made a proposal.

"Alright guys, let's hold a strategy meeting. We'll split up and take care of things for that man."

No one objected. He had full support.

Smirking, he ignited the little flames of motivation of his fellow students into a wildfire.

"2 weeks? Let's give this place a makeover worth 2 years of work!" he rallied the support of everyone, making them all the more resolved about their cause.

"Hell Yeah!"

With a noble but difficult new goal set for them, they went got to the strategy meeting as soon as they could. Given how badly they surprised the old man yesterday, they'd surprise him twice as hard 2 weeks later, though this time in a positive way.

XXXXXXXXXX

During lunch break, when the children were eating and playing among themselves, Class 3-E discussed their plans for the following 2 weeks.

"Okay, does anyone have concrete ideas?" Isogai inquired, leading the discussion.

"Division of labor." Meg suggested, slightly raising her hand. "The physically gifted team of boys can take care of renovation works, while us girls can help the children with their studies and play with them."

"Wow, that's a simplistic way of dividing labour." Terasaka complained, crossing his arms. "You can all sit back comfortably while we'll spill the sweat."

"Hey hey, settle down. Don't think it's easy to entertain these little goofballs all day." Kirara countered. She'd have it harder than every other girl combined.

Ryouma sweatdropped, as the goth girl was a clear outlier. So did plenty of other boys.

"Well, how about you do rotations then, when you want a break from physical labor?" Manami proposed, more forthcoming to the boys.

"Sounds good."

"Yeah."

Many boys nodded, as this was an easy but excellent compromise. Having to do the same thing all the time would be dull, even if they were more suited for that kind of work. Some chance of pace would be very helpful.

"This is how we'll proceed, then? Any objections?" Yuuma wanted to know, sparing a look for everybody.

When there were none, he continued.

"One subordinate of Karasuma-sensei, Mr. Ukai, is a licensed architect. I can ask him to find and send blueprints for a cheap but solid building mostly made out of wood. Because on our school mountain, there's lots of free wood." Isogai told, obviously referring to all the trees in the forest.

"When will we get those blueprints then?" Sugino curiously asked.

"Most likely tomorrow." Yuuma quickly replied. "Which means, for today we can still take it easy."

Only relatively. Because dealing with dozens of little children was no effortless task. Though they all got the point.

"Let's just see how it all goes… We can do it."

They sure could.

XXXXXXXXXX

After the break, the class resumed taking care of the children. Right now, there was a little theatre play going on which entertained primarily the smaller children.

"I, Giorno Giovanna, will exterminate you, monster."

Haruno was playing the role of a hero, saving a kingdom and its princess attacked by an evil monster. He was very popular, mainly for one reason.

"Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda!"

Terasaka, acting as the monster, got pummeled hard.

'Seriously, this sucks…'

Obviously the blond was going easy on him, but was still punching hard enough to seem realistic.

"Wow… the action looks so real."

"Yeah… It's much more stimulating than the Disney-monopolized Hollywood." the two little boys with odd opinions evaluated, thinking they sounded very cultured.

"Muda!"

Striking the last blow, the mighty hero fell the defeated monster, who pretended to collapse.

'Ugh, I might actually faint…'

"As you can see, the hero put the monster to sleep with his strength, pacifying it." Kayano narrated the end. "Okay everyone, clap if you had fun!"

The audience erupted into cheers of amusement, clapping in joy.

With this, Class 3-E had gotten popular among almost all the kids around. Though Sakura still remained unaccepting of them, watching with an unimpressed face while crossing her arms.

Along the day, multiple students tried to get her to open up to them and become more extroverted with them, one failing after the other.

In the end, the last one who failed called the delinquent as her successor, hoping he'd fare better.

Compared to the others, Haruno was a lot tougher, both mentally and physically, so she believed he'd endure her better. Plus, they were both the main delinquents of their respective groups, so she also believed he could connect better with the edgy little girl.

"Oh, so it's you next." she said, uninterested in dealing with him.

"Sorry if it bothers you, but you'll have to bother with me, Miss." the blond quickly let her know. "It's a bother for me too."

"You're not funny." Sakura spat, turning away. "Just go away."

"Solve these questions correctly and I'm going to." the delinquent mere spoke, dropping a maths textbook in front of her. "Change of pace, all your fellow kids around here are studying right now, so join in."

She briefly looked around, seeing all others indeed studying, with the teens tutoring them.

"Don't know if it's good news or bad news for you, but unlike the others, I won't be trying to get you to like us. I'll just help you studying."

"Fine…" Studying was something she had to do nonetheless, whether the temporary new caretakers from Kunugigaoka were there or not.

Sakura picked up the educational book, readying herself to study.

"Say, which part is the part you're supposed to be learning right now?" Haruno inquired.

"This part." the girl answered, showing the pages and exercises.

"Do you want me to explain this stuff do you first, or do you want to start studying and show me your answers after you're finished, for reviewing?"

"I think I'll pick the second option." she decided, just wanting to get it over with. She hoped to get most of the questions right by chance, have the blond quickly review them, and then go away.

"As you wish, Miss." the delinquent accepted, letting her be egoistic. Maybe afterwards, if things wouldn't go so well, she'd realize something, he hoped.

So when Sakura got to work and solved questions, Haruno simply goofed around looking at his smartphone and watching Youtube videos. He watched video after video, meme after meme, listened to one song after another, wondering when she'd be done.

Albeit being patient, she took longer than he wished her to.

"Alrighty then, let's see what you've accomplished in that time."

He took her notebook, checking her answers and comparing them to the sample solutions at the end of the maths book.

'Oh dear…'

The blond didn't even need to look at the sample solutions to see that most of her answers were completely wrong. He knew that she at some point stopped attending school and therefore was behind her studies, but this…

"Miss, I think I need we need to go through the basics."

When the delinquent put the notebook back down, Sakura saw all the markings standing for incorrect and correct. Mainly incorrect.

"Oh, this sucks…" she huffed, crossing her arms. After spending so much time with those question that were so troubling for her, and then finding out they were mostly wrongly answered, she really didn't want to.

"Would you have preferred me to explain that stuff to you first, in hindsight?" Haruno questioned, wanting her to realize that her current frustration was due to her own choice. "Imagine how much time we'd have saved."

"…"

Getting what the blond was implying, Sakura bore a sour, insulted expression. Though she said nothing in return, as the delinquent was undoubtably right.

"Either way, we have to do this. Listen closely, pay attention and try to understand, then you won't have any need to be frustrated anymore."

Begrudgingly, the young girl complied, having the older boy teach her. She wasn't very interested and thus made Haruno tell her to pay attention, multiple times.

And when it came to the second round of solving exercises, Sakura didn't perform all that much better.

Getting fed up, the blond decided to raise his voice and lecture her.

"Listen up, Miss, you can't continue like this! Even if you don't really attend school, you still have exams and the like, don't you? You're behind in your studies as is because you don't go to school, so if you don't concentrate and learn, you're gonna fail badly and never catch up to the others!"

She had a real attitude problem, and the delinquent wasn't going to tiptoe around it and appease her.

"Besides, why don't you go to school?" Haruno additionally asked, wanting to tackle the root of the problem. "What reason do you have?"

"Bullying!" Sakura immediately answered, looking away. Her arms were crossed and eyes were facing downwards, making a hateful expression. "The typical lame kind! Ganging up on a weak me in groups where they are strong, deliberately hurting me because I'm weak!"

"…"

In an instant, the blond's expression softened a bit. Yes, she had an attitude problem and had to be confronted about it, but when he heard the details, he felt the need to go more easy, since he understood her completely.

The delinquent emphasized with her, understanding her feelings. She wasn't any different than he used to be a long time ago. After getting to know this, he couldn't be that strict with her anymore.

Recalling his own severe bullying back when he enrolled into primary school, Haruno clenched his fists while his eyes were shadowed. The old wounds and terrible memories he buried deep down his heart became unearthed for a moment.

"You're probably thinking the same too, right?" Sakura went on, turning around and looking at him with bitterness. "'Don't run away. If it frustrates you, just go to school and get stronger.'… You'll probably say the same thing as Mama and Papa… Well, you're big and strong, so you wouldn't understand me anyway."

"You're wrong!" the blond instinctively let out, his eyes still shadowed. He was going to lecture her about this as well, but with a totally different tone. "I do understand you… I understand everything."

"What?" She didn't believe him.

"A strong group ganging up on a single, weak individual? I know your pain, I have gone through the same!" the delinquent told, getting heated. "But I also absolutely have to tell you that you're mistaken! Not running and getting stronger is the correct and only way! If you don't fight back, you'll only grow weaker while they get stronger!"

Their discussion suddenly became interrupted when there was a commotion outside.

Looking out the window, they saw that there was a kitten up on a high tree branch, unable to come down.

Sakura thought this was a case for her side of the argument.

"See, look. That's what happened after it built up the courage to climb up. The higher you go, the more dangerous it becomes. What's wrong with being safe and sound on the ground?"

"Huh, so that's how you feel?" Haruno figured out her metaphor. And he found it damn unagreeable, very easy to disprove. "Simply wait a minute, I'm going to change your view in a jiffy."

Without one more word, the blond ran out of the building, heading at high speeds towards the tree in the garden.

And while the girl was watching through the window, he rapidly climbed up the tree, greatly surprising all the children watching. They, including Sakura, didn't believe it was humanly possible to possess such speed and strength.

Especially strength, since the delinquent climbed by only gripping the trunk with his bare hands and pulling himself upwards.

When he reached the trunk with the kitty, he gently picked up the scared little cat with his strong but compassionate hands, and slid down the trunk the next second.

All kids widened their eyes and dropped their jaws at this more than impressive and super swift act of rescue.

As a side effect, Sakura trembled in disbelief. She, who convinced herself that weakness is good, and strength is bad, was undeniably stunned by this cool display of immense strength.

Putting the kitten back on the grass, Haruno then returned inside. When back with the girl, he simply smirked at her in victory, knowing that he disproved her faulty outlook.

"Sure, it's safe and sound on the ground. But when you're up, there's joy in knowing people look up to you."

"…"

Speechless, she figured it'd be futile to make any excuses, since it seemed like the blond could easily refute anything she said in defense. He just seemed that powerful to her.

"It takes physical strength to climb a tree, but do you know what it takes to not be intimidated by a group of bullies?" the delinquent confidently asked, expecting Sakura to answer, passively pressuring her.

"Eeeehhh…" pressured by his imposing figure and confidence, she found it difficult to answer. "Me… Mental… Streng… th…?"

"Exactly!" Haruno spoke, snapping his fingers. "First comes mental strength, then comes physical strength. Take it from me, who used to be in your position. If I can overcome those difficulties, then so can you."

Sakura was becoming more and more convinced by him.

"All it takes is belief in oneself. Believe in yourself to be able to become stronger than your bullies, and soon enough they'll stop bullying you." he motivated her.

And that was it, his opinion won over hers. She already admitted defeat deep inside, learning to have high hopes again.

The next moment, the blond sat down again and picked up the maths book one more time.

"How about we try it one more time?"

Overall inspired and motivated, Sakura intended to redo her studying once more, this time hoping to actually improve.

Finally opening up, the girl smiled to the older students for the first time since meeting.

"Alright, let's do it."

Serious about it, she actually paid full attention this time, listening to the delinquent's explanation of the topics and concentrating while solving the questions.

Third time's the charm, as eventually she managed to answer all questions correctly.

"Yay!" And she was happy about the development, which she owed to only one person. "Thank you very much for teaching me, …"

Unfortunately, she hadn't yet asked for his name.

"Haruno." he told her his name, making a new acquaintance.

"Thanks, Haruno."

In the end, Sakura was grateful to have gotten to know him.

"By the way, will you study with me tomorrow too?" she inquired, hoping he'd say yes.

"Unfortunately, I'll be part of the reconstruction team upgrading this place, so no." he disappointed her, making her lower her eyes.

"Oh…"

"But don't worry, I know just the right person who can help you study, while also teaching you about mental strength." Haruno let her know, pointing at Nagisa, who was facing them with his back.

"Huh?" Sakura didn't think that was a good idea. Compared to the blond, the bluenette looked small and weak.

Reading her mind, the delinquent smirked widely. "Don't underestimate him, Miss. That's my best friend over there, and he's the mentally strongest person I know, despite his appearance."

She was still doubtful, but decided to give Haruno the benefit of the doubt. "If you say so…"

"Just stay tuned for tomorrow, then you'll find out."

Looking at the clock, he then saw that his shift was over and he could go home.

"Well, I gotta go now, but I'll surely see you again in the next two weeks. Bye!" he bade farewell, waving his hand.

"Bye!" Sakura waved back at the boy who greatly impacted her perspective in a matter of minutes.

Tomorrow she'd learn how his best friend would impact her. This girl, she was going to change a lot for the future in the following 2 weeks.

XXXXXXXXXX

The next day, as part of the construction team, the blond went to the school mountain to procure wood.

He convinced his class to mostly work alone, with only the Terasaka group assisting him a little. The delinquent promised that with his methods, procuring ALL of the wood needed for the renewal, including the processing, would take less than half a day.

Topologically, the area of work was split in three. The lower third of the mountain where the trucks transporting the wood would wait, the middle third of the mountain where Ryouma and his friends would take the wood from Haruno and carry it down to the trucks in order to load it onto the flatbeds, and the upper third of the mountain where the Stand user and animals he created would work with the wood.

Haruno would grow massive trees, have a colony of several million wood-eating termites cut off these trees like a chainsaw, and precisely cut the wood into all individual planks and beams like specified in the blueprints. After that, a squad of bipedal bears would take these planks and beams to the Terasaka boys, who'd in turn carry them down to the trucks.

As predicted, the work was finished after a few hours.

Thanks to this single day of work, construction back at the nursery afterschool sped up by a week. This meant that the boys of Class 3-E could join back up with the girls and tutor the children. Due to this development, they all became less tired after their shifts, and had more energy to study at home for the upcoming exams.

All in all, the situation evolved far better than initially feared.

XXXXXXXXXX

When the two weeks came to an end, so did the kind of forced vacation of Mr. Matsukata. The elderly educator was walking together with the yellow educator, going to see the work of the latter's pupils.

"Now, I wonder if my students did a good job…"

Korosensei had trusted his students to take care of things and left them alone. He was curious himself about the fruits of their work.

"No matter how many dozens there are, they're still a group of misfits. Those brats will have done well if they didn't crush the wooden bungalow below their weight."

Compared to the octopus man, the old man was a lot less optimistic. Their expectations clashed, and the only way to find out who's right was to go to the place and visit them.

They walked a bit, waiting to see the result of those long 2 weeks. And when they finally arrived…

"Mm?"

Without even fully reaching the place, Mr. Matsukata perked up. He saw a structure that wasn't there before. Something had changed, that was for sure.

So he walked closer, wanting to see that new structure in detail. And when he did, his eyes nearly popped out in utter disbelief.

"WHAT IS THIS?!" he let out a yell in shock, eyes bulging out in abnormal surprise.

The before and the after of his educational building were worlds apart. In place of the old, small and shitty bungalow was a huge, 3-story beauty of a building. It looked like it could be a comfy forest mansion.

"This… This…"

Speechless, the old man was at a loss for words at how brilliant the new building looked. He hadn't expected the unruly kids who caused an accident involving him to construct such a magnificent structure, much less in 2 weeks.

Urgently wanting to question them about this, he rushed inside the building. And when he did, he only got shocked even more.

Politely greeting him, they showed him around. The second floor was split into two, with both rooms excessively spacious. One room was a library where the children could concentrate on reading and studying. And the room looked like it could fulfill that purpose extremely well. The second room was an indoor amusement center. All the equipment stationed outside before got carried inside, where it wouldn't wear down from corrosion and rust. Plus, there were plenty of safety nets, so the risk of children accidentally getting injured was also reduced.

Hearing the warm laughter and joy of the kids visiting his nursery afterschool having fun really touched the old man.

'These guys…'

Mr. Matsukata felt great respect for the boys and girls of Class 3-E, now that he realized he'd greatly misjudged them after their single blunder.

Next was the new garage. Turns out they upgraded his bike from a traditional bicycle to a e-bike with a third wheel on the front end. But not just any e-bike, a very carbon-neutral economically friendly e-bike that got its power from the metal carousel inside the amusement room rotating when the children were playing with it. The peak of renewable energy.

"Th… This is too well done!"

Surpassing the old man's expectations by 1000000%, the Kunugigaoka teens got so much praise that it almost turned into an insult.

"You all performed so well that… It's actually kind of disgusting!" Mr. Matsukata comically described his feelings.

In front of him, the collective Class E smiled half sheepishly, half proudly that they gave the old man so much in return for an already healed injury. They'd really outdone themselves.

"However…"

As much as there was to praise, what they've shown to Mr. Matsukata was only one aspect of their purpose helping out at the nursery afterschool.

"The most important work here isn't construction. It's to connect to the hearts of the children. No matter how much you improve material things, if you guys didn't approach the hearts of the children, I won't acknowledge your work for these two weeks."

The material improvements of the facility were obvious, easily visible at first glance. However, proving the communicational, emotional and relational improvements between people wasn't that easy…

…or was it?

"Heee~y, Harunoooo~~~, Nagisaaaa~~!"

Suddenly, Sakura came in running, loudly greeting the two boys that took care of her the most.

Both of them, as well as the old man turned around in reaction.

"Tadaaaaaa~! I was No. 1 in the class!" she called, happily flaunting an exam paper.

100 Points

"Oh, good. Why, that's very good! Yes, I like that."

Haruno was happy and proud of the girl he tutored for roughly a week.

"Yes, that's great! You really worked hard." Nagisa also praised.

"I did what you told me to do. I launched a surprise attack and showed up just for the test. After I finished solving everything, I made a quick break home." Sakura recited her situation.

"Your bullies, they were busy with the test and couldn't do anything, right?"

"Yeah. And other than the teacher, I didn't tell anyone I was going." she went on. "Actually, I heard their test scores were bad this time. Maybe they weren't able to concentrate because it bothered them that I showed up so suddenly."

"Probably."

"Most likely."

Baffled by how well the conversation was sounding, Mr. Matsukata sweatdropped. He was proven wrong yet again.

To think that these boys and girls brought even Sakura back on track… that was enough proof for him.

"Just continue studying like this, and you'll only continue growing stronger." the blond promised with a smile.

"Understood!" the girl smiled brightly, which also prompted the old grumpy man to softly smile in acknowledgement.

"Heh… You shitty brats, I can't come up with a single complaint."

Mission accomplished

"To tell you the truth, I had no interest in your secret from the start. Because my mind is full with my own work."

Out of good will, he let them all go immediately, not requiring them to stay the rest of the shift.

"Why don't you all hurry and return to your school too? You have important work to do, right?"

Right… But it was too late anyway, the midterm exams were tomorrow.

"Yes…"

All things considered, both sides were happy with how the 2 weeks went.

There were good feelings between everyone, which is why the departure was characterized by lots of smiles. Both the children and the teenagers waved at each other with heartfelt emotions, they were going to miss each other.

"See ya!"

"Thanks for everything!"

"We'll miss ya!"

"Take care!"

For both sides made many good experiences and learned a whole lot within this fun timespan.

XXXXXXXXXX

Time skip forward to the day the midterm exam results were announced.

As expected, the rank of Class E fell by quite a few positions. They didn't delude themselves that they'd get off lightly, not being taught by the godly teacher Korosensei for two weeks. Most of the students got a rank drop by about 5 to 10.

Class A looked significantly better this time in comparison.

"I knew it, last time was a fluke."

"There was no need to crush them in the Boutaoshi after all."

The 5 virtuosos were celebrating their success… but were quite half-hearted. Class E failed a lot less hard than they hoped they would, and the biggest beneficiaries weren't them, but rather the ordinary Class A students.

Except for Gakushuu, who looked like the biggest winner of all.

Asano Gakushuu

Total score: 496 points

Ranked 1st, up from 2nd

"Calm down, this is only the beginning. Put some work in, like I did, and you'll reclaim your rightful positions." Asano advised them, trying to keep their spirits not too low.

Only looked.

This was a disaster for him. He learned about their punishment for the Matsukata incident, and had really had high hopes for a nasty defeat, where most of Class E would get a rank drop by over 20.

'Damn it… How did they do it?'

"Ah, there he is!"

They then spotted Haruno walking towards them, pointing at him with their bare fingers. Their postures showed total insecurity and jealousy.

When he came near them, they gritted their teeth behind their lips. They wanted to talk shit to him, but knew they were in no position to do so.

"Yo, what's up Class A-mazing?" the blond sarcastically and nonchalantly greeted, making their blood boil.

Even the orange-haired was quiet, suppressing his urge to respond. He was the winner on paper, but the real winner was the delinquent who barely even dropped points despite a massive handicap.

Shiobana Haruno

Total score: 493 points

Ranked 2nd, down from 1st

"What? Are you not going to shit on me for losing 1st place?" Haruno provoked, grinning widely.

'Don't respond, don't respond…'

Each of them experienced lots of stress. Especially Gakushuu, who really worked his ass off during the last 2 weeks to reclaim the top spot.

While they were able to fool the normal students of Class A that this was a victory for the Class, they weren't able to fool themselves.

"Nothing? Nothing at all?"

The blond only stopped taunting them even further since he was satisfied with their pissed, miffed but stifled reactions.

"Fine, let's see if you have something amusing to say after the end-of-terms exams of the second semester."

Finally walking past him, the 5 boys were glad it was over. The only thing left was to vent their frustration elsewhere in private.

Both sides were facing each other with their backs, with one side really wanting to put some distance in between. They even walked with their eyes closed.

"Though next time… Please don't resort to underhandedness." The delinquent dished out one more jab, before finally stopping for good. "I understand that not everyone likes to play fair, but still…"

Upon hearing this, their eyes shot wide open, bloodshot. They rapidly turned around their necks, seeing Haruno peacefully walk away, unbothered. This sight invoked great anger.

'That's the last straw…'

Asano narrowed his eyes. That second, he wondered whether to involve his 4 friends in the big plot he schemed with the florist against Class E. But he did know for sure, that he'd get rid of his greatest foe when that day would come. Those 2 weeks, he didn't only train for the test, but was trained physically by his fellow conspirator Stand user for a specific purpose.

'Shiobana… Get ready! When we meet in that place… I'll end you!'

Thus, the rift between the two got wider, and the big showdown inched closer.

Chapter end. Whew, sorry it took longer than I'd expected in the beginning.

Personally, writing this chapter felt like a mixed bag. With the midterm exams, there was a great progress in canon time, which is a great thing. I also enjoyed motivational Giorno interacting with Sakura. But in the end, nothing of note really happened. Just some fanning of the flames between Giorno and Gakushuu.

I promise, though, when they actually face off, it's going to be an epic fight.

Feel free to rate and review if you like to