For the first time in what felt like months, Amaya felt a smile threaten to spread across her lips in spite of the darkness that tried to pull her under.

The pit of corrosion inside of her ate away bit by bit as she let Samuel cling to her like a life rope, gnawing incessantly against the wafer thin threads that had begun to pull the pieces back together.

However, as her head lowered and she felt herself begin to slip, she felt a hand gently rest against the contour joining her neck and left shoulder, and warmth graze against her back. She didn't need to ask who it was, didn't need to look to know as she felt the floor shift ever so slightly. He just carefully set himself down there on the floor with them, with no words escaping him as he gently eased her back to lean her weight against him.

Karma didn't utter a single complaint no matter the length of time they had been sitting there. He didn't even give any indication that he was bored, or even shift to pry Amaya from her brother's grip. The gentle caress of his hand against the top of her head on the odd occasion was all that she needed to know that he was sitting there with them for her, and her alone.

And that act alone helped ease the clawing corrosion away.

'Grubs up!' Muramatsu's voice had eventually called through the house, bringing the sudden echo of rushing footsteps from upstairs, presumably belonging to Reiko.

Amaya let out a small breath as she gently shook Samuel's shoulder to nudge him more aware.

But of course being the clingy and rather stubborn boy he was, Samuel refused and snuggled more into her chest.

So, she did the one thing that felt rather natural, which was to pinch the side of the boy's face and pull, earning a startled yelp in response.

'Owwww! That hurts!' Samuel whimpered as he tried to pry Amaya's hand from his face.

'Dinner's ready. Stop being rude and go.' Amaya instructed.

'Okay...' Samuel mumbled as he was finally released from Amaya's pinching hold to scramble to his feet. The frantic tapping of running footsteps leading out of the room was the only sign that the boy had listened, bringing her to let out a faint breath.

The energetic voices of Terasaka's posse in the rest of the house rung pleasantly enough in a strange way, and yet she ran her hand over her face wearily as she tried desperately to get her thoughts in order.

'Are you alright?' She heard Karma speak softly against her right ear, startling her within an instance as she quickly lowered her hand to tug her shirt back over to cover herself properly.

'Y-yeah, fine.' She mumbled, reeling from the sudden shock.

She'd honestly forgotten that he was even right there for a moment.

He didn't respond at first, though she felt his breath shift against the side of her neck, as if he was straightening up slightly.

'Who were you talking about?' She heard him ask as she tried to discretely force the buttons of her shirt back together again, with moderate success. This just had to be one of the most awkward situations she'd ever been in, and she was starting to feel quite uncomfortable at that moment.

'His mother... Elanor, I think.' Amaya admitted.

She received no response into the matter, though Karma certainly had heard her. He just shifted so he was crouched to her left with a small frown present across his face. She could see the curiosity there in his gaze, none the less.

'Can you get up?' He asked her through an obvious play at changing the subject.

'...Yeah.' She responded.

Though he hadn't let her be unassisted. She'd initially flinched as she felt him pull her left arm over his shoulders and before she knew it, she was helped back onto her feet with far less pain than she'd expected. He didn't say anything further, and he seemed to keep his gaze upon her as he gently nudged her towards the door.

The living room was bright with movement as Amaya emerged, and while she had already known they were here, she still felt rather surprised to see so many people inside her house. There weren't enough chairs in the house to cater to the eight people all there.

Hazama sat at the table along with the twins, and Samuel hovered in the kitchen nearby Muramatsu, who'd just finished serving up a bowl of ramen for the boy. The others stood nearby eating, and it felt so strange that Amaya had to rub her eyes slightly to register that she wasn't seeing things. The furballs still clawed and wrestled with the cuffs of Terasaka's pant leg, but he appeared so used to it that Amaya half-wondered if he'd been dealing with them for quite a number of hours.

Well... weirder things have happened in her life, like Koro-sensei crashing head-first into the lounge-room window of her old apartment, so there was no need for her to think too much on it.

She remained silent, taking in the atmosphere as the world moved and continued around her.

It shifted beyond her grasp until eventually, she grew too tired to keep track of anything and disappeared into the dark of slumber.

Lines of warmth appeared through the dark with the small peppering of pain just weak enough for her to merely stir in her slumber without awakening.

The next thing she knew, it was morning, and she found herself lying in her bed, but she couldn't remember even getting there. Her brow furrowed considerably as she tried to connect the now to the last she remembered, but she came up considerably lost. About the most she could presume was she'd nodded off and somebody had forced her to go to bed.

Amaya lightly rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she let her body acclimatize to the pain surfacing now that she was conscious. No sounds escaped her surroundings, no footsteps from upstairs or voices belonging to her siblings. It was almost as if she was alone in the house.

And in fact she found she was, for the most part.

As soon as she'd managed a sponge bath, gotten dressed and pulled a cardigan over her lacking ensemble of shorts and loose-fitting tank top, she wandered out of the bathroom to find that nobody was home.

She traced the expanses of the house slowly, ambling along slowly with her good arm raised to run along the wall as she walked. There was no sign of her siblings anywhere, no sign of Terasaka's gang, and there was no Karma anywhere. All dishes were done, the interior of the house was in far greater order than it usually was, and Amaya had no understanding of what was even going on.

She could only guess that they'd left for the day.

She vaguely recalled that it was Monday, with a glance at the clock confirming that it was just past noon, so she surmised that they all left for school, even Karma, she guessed.

But in a strange sense, she hadn't expected to be left all alone.

It was merely alone in the physical sense, she found as she'd managed to get down the stairs with little more than the odd stumble here and there. Atop the kitchen counter sat a plastic-wrapped plate of three small onigiri, with a piece of paper taped to the front of it and a small blister-pack of the pain medication the hospital had obviously prescribed her. And, as she'd stepped over to investigate properly, she found her brow furrowing as she read the note left by Karma of all people.

These need to be eaten by the time I get back, or else >:)

Or else he was going to have some punishment for her, was it? She could picture exactly which one he had in mind, considering the last time she'd refused something. Drowning in horrid caramel didn't really appeal to Amaya very much.

In spite of the rather valid threat, Amaya felt a small smile appear across her face as she decided to listen for once and wandered down to the couch to sit somewhere a little more comfortable than the high-backed dining chairs.

Her thoughts bounced along slowly inside her head, dulled as if her physical condition had drained her mental state as well. And she knew it, as well. It was mildly disconcerting to feel the sluggish edge to her thoughts, the difficulty to coherently string together words that were in fact there. It was as if a concussion had risen, but there wasn't one.

Perhaps she was still quite exhausted.

Minutes passed in silence as Amaya struggled to gather her thoughts clearly, moments space circling back and forth without coming to a clean end. She barely even registered the onigiri she held mostly untouched in her hand.

Her thoughts kept tracing back to her admittance to Karma back in the hospital, about Hayashi's information about multiple people tracking her, and the state Samuel had been. She kept going around in circles, over and over again as she tried to settle her thoughts. Immeasurable time passed, and she was no closer to an answer than when she'd started off.

The sounds of knocking was the only sign that time had passed, and it startled Amaya with a jolt.

Amaya's gaze immediately lifted towards the front door, where another knock sounded with almost leisurely presence.

'Amaya-san~' Came the unmissable call belonging to a yellow octopus, confusing the girl even more. 'Sensei has come for a home visit! Are you home?'

Well ... guess that answered who could be at the damn door.

Carefully, Amaya set her lunch back on its plate and went to answer the door, though she paused as soon as her hand had closed around the handle.

A note was taped to the door right at head-height, with familiar handwriting giving away Karma as the one who'd left it for her.

Don't you dare sneak out alone, or there will be hell to pay ^_^

What the hell was this? Was she going to walk into the laundry next and find a note taped to the washing machine telling her off for even thinking of housework?!

Actually, that sounded horribly plausible.

But the knocking at the door once more reminded Amaya of who was standing on the other side, bringing her to let out a breath and unlock the door.

'Good afternoon, Amaya-san!' Koro-sensei greeted as soon as Amaya had gotten the door part-way open, his disguise doing nothing to hide his particular octopus features or the broad grin he wore like uniform. 'I'm glad to see you're awake. I have some matters I need to go over with you, if you have time.'

Well, of course she had time.

She stepped out of the way so Koro-sensei could step inside, where he didn't even seem to pause to appraise the changes to the house since he'd last dropped in.

Or perhaps he had, but in mach speed.

'Oh, I see I disrupted you during a meal. Please continue eating, Sensei will go prepare some tea in the meantime.' The disguised octopus announced as he stepped past to head towards the kitchen.

A small, almost unnoticed sigh escaped the girl as she shut the door and decided to do as she was told.

Amaya didn't dare question why the octopus was even here during class hours, since undoubtedly he was going to announce his reasons as soon as he was ready. And she didn't deny him the use of her kitchen, either. She just let him do as he wished, though she wasn't sure if she was appreciative of his energetic company right now. Koro-sensei had a remarkable knack of wearing her out just by talking to her.

The ruffling of material echoed through the house as Amaya set herself down on the couch once more, tucking a leg beneath her as she tried to finish her lunch. The clinking of ceramic echoed a second after, combined with the sounds of water running.

'Excellent, now that we have some tea, we should get started.' Koro-sensei announced minutes later as he appeared in front of Amaya, with a teapot and pair of matching cups being set on the low table next to the now-empty plate. 'I had wanted to stop in earlier today, but when I stopped to consider that you needed rest, I decided now to be the best time.'

And without so much as waiting for any response from Amaya, the Octopus tugged over one of the dining chairs and sat himself on the opposite side of the low table, in front of her.

It felt oddly surreal to be sitting there in her house with Koro-sensei sitting in front of her, kindly smiling at her as if nothing was wrong with the world.

'Now Amaya-san, I'll cut to the chase. Today is Career Counseling, and I would like you to participate as well.' The octopus began as he gently held out a piece of paper towards her. 'It's time for you to think more on your own future, not on what you feel will happen, but what you want to happen. No more thinking about the well being of everyone around you. This is time devoted entirely to your own wishes and dreams.'

Was he serious?

Amaya lifted her gaze from the paper in Koro-sensei's tentacle to look up at him.

'But I'm not a student of yours anymo--'

'It is not yet Wednesday, Amaya-san.' Koro-sensei spoke over her with little hesitation. 'Give or take, I have until tomorrow night guaranteed to act as a teacher would for you.'

He wasn't going to let this go...

Amaya's gaze shifted down to the piece of paper once more.

'I don't know...' She mumbled softly.

'Are you sure?' Koro-sensei questioned.

And yet her answer was just the same.

'I don't know...'

'Why is that?' The octopus asked.

'I don't know what you expect me to write, Koro-sensei...I don't... I'm not like people...' Amaya hedged as her breath escaped her with a sigh. 'I'm not like Karma where I just know what I want ... I'm not good at things like Isogai-kun, and I'm not like everyone else where I have a like or fascination that I can use for life...'

The octopus was thoughtful in his silence, dwelling on the words that Amaya had spoken much like she'd offered him a physics conundrum to solve.

'You don't have any hobbies? No particular fascinations that stand out among the rest? ' Koro-sensei asked, though he didn't appear to be expecting a particular answer. 'I don't believe that's true, Amaya-san. I've been your teacher long enough to have a very clear idea of what interests you as a person, not to mention where your many strengths and few weaknesses lie.'

Amaya honestly had to resist the urge to scoff at the rather contrasting response she received.

'First and foremost, Amaya-san, allow me to nominate the three most prominent skills you do actually hold, those of which you could possibly use to outperform even the most clever students from the main campus if you applied yourself proactively.' Koro-sensei began as he pulled out a notebook and pen from the inside pocket of his teachers robes, where he then began to list things off as he spoke. 'First would be your linguistic skills, and no, I do not mean based on your scores in school. You speak English with far greater fluency than even Nakamura-san, and you listen quite well in spite of yourself. You have the capacity to learn many languages, if you would just apply yourself to it. Second would be your affinity with physical tasks, most prominently when it comes to Karasuma-sensei's classes. You think so well on your feet that if you applied yourself properly, you would be a very formidable opponent. And third, while you will find this to be quite a surprise, Amaya-san, I have actually seen all of the music scores you've tried to erase out of your notebooks before handing them in for marking, so I am also quite aware of your musical nature, in spite of the fact that you refuse to let it show at any point at all.'

The octopus smiled a little wider as he began to add more points to each of the three so called "Strengths" he had jotted down.

'You have many different avenues you could take just by these three points alone, even though your have even more skills at your disposal, Amaya-san, you could become a language teacher, or you could work in a translation career for high-ranking officials who require linguistic aid in foreign countries. You could also travel down the same route as Karasuma-sensei, for example.' Koro-sensei then lifted his gaze to cast a small, rather sheepish smile at Amaya. 'Nururufufufu~ In actual fact, the conversation had come up in the past between Karasuma-sensei and myself, even though he probably won't admit it if you ask him. If there was any student in your class who would do well working in the same field as Karasuma-sensei, he admitted without too much deliberation that the person he believed most suitable would actually be you. Moreso than Karma-kun, even.'

'What?' Amaya was stunned at first, failing to comprehend exactly what the octopus was telling her.

'I assure you, Amaya-san, I'm being quite honest with you.' Koro-sensei responded with a rather simple nod of his head. 'Traits that are required for working in Karasuma-sensei's field of expertise is endurance, tenacity, keen intuition, the ability to adapt to unpleasant situations at a moments notice, combat training, and of course maintaining the divide between work and personal life, just to list a few. And these are all traits that you have firm control of. The ability to speak and understand various languages is also very well appreciated, as in Karasuma-sensei's position, he has to interact with people of varying walks of life. Of course, this is just one of many paths that you can take with more comfort than your classmates can.'

'Specifically ... what do you mean by that? With more comfort than the others, I mean.' Amaya couldn't help but ask.

'Nurufufufu~ I mean simply that of course.' Koro-sensei responded as he lifted the teapot he'd brought and poured out two cups of tea now that its contents had brewed to his preference. 'You, and Itona-kun as well, but speaking solely on yourself, you are far more familiar with the way the adult world works. Far more familiar with the way the world moves towards the whims of the powerful and just how selfish people can be. Which means you are more world-ready than your classmates. You understand far greater that actions must be paid for, and when it comes to world injustices, let's just say you're far more desensitized to it in the correct way. Your reasons for choosing to leave my Classroom following that incident proves that without a shadow of a doubt.'

The octopus then set one of the cups of tea next to Amaya before he picked up his notebook once more.

'I understand you don't know what you want to do with your life in the long run, and I also understand thinking for your own well-being over others doesn't come naturally to you given your relationship with your siblings.' Koro-sensei continued as he looked down at the notebook. 'But, I suppose we should narrow this down a bit so you have more thinking space. You're world-ready enough where you can probably decide what you want for yourself before you finish High School, though I do want you to pass me this paper filled in with something by Wednesday morning, even if it's something simple, such as "Graduate High School".'

'Umm... I can't write.' Amaya hedged as she looked back up at Koro-sensei, motioning to her arm in the sling with her other. 'I'm right handed.'

'Surely you can get one of your siblings to write for you.' The octopus remarked with a smile.

Amaya's brow furrowed slightly, though she didn't reply.

He had a damn point...

'Back on track, Amaya-san! I want you to decide on a hobby to take up.' Koro-sensei remarked as he flipped to a new page in his book. 'And this hobby, I would like you to take up outside of time caring for your siblings, and time outside of whatever studies or work you take up should you leave my classroom, as per your plans thus far. It doesn't have to be an impressive hobby such as Itona-kuns, and it doesn't have to be as life-consuming as Fuwa-san's hobby, either. Just a hobby that can help you unwind some of that stress on your shoulders.'

'I don't really have a lot of free time for that...'

'I want you to make time for it.' Koro-sensei responded patiently. 'Even if this hobby is all of about ten minutes a day, or something you can do with somebody else, that is still somewhere to start!'

'But I already told you, I don't have the time, nor do I even have anything I want to do.'

'There is a hobby bubbling away in the back of your head though.' Koro-sensei countered as he foraged through his pockets once more. 'You write it so much it's undoubtedly subconscious, but it is there!'

Koro-sensei then proceeded to pull out his phone, and with the brightest of grins, he set it down and started playing what sounded like a piano piece from the little device.

The notes sounded with gentle overtones at first, leading into a more upbeat rhythm more and more with every repetition of the main melody.

'That, Amaya-san, is the transcribed sheet music you drew on the back of the Pop-quiz I issued you as a punishment during first term, in spite of the fact that you frantically tried to erase it before you handed it in. Poorly, might I add.' Koro-sensei remarked as he then skipped the rest of the piece to another of varying contrast. 'And this, I found written in the margins of that report I had you complete when you failed Home Economics class just before the Sports Festival.'

Amaya hesitantly looked up at Koro-sensei, failing to follow exactly where he was going with this.

Though it appeared the Octopus knew, for he continued without hesitation.

'Amaya-san, I've been copying these scores down for quite a while now, and I have had Ritsu-san transcribe them to these pieces here. While you may not necessarily appreciate knowing this, I have also shown Irina-sensei these scores, though I neglected to tell her where they came from until afterwards.' Koro-sensei continued to explain. 'In spite of the incomplete pieces, Irina-sensei actually mistook them to be from a completely different source and was rather impressed with them already.'

Amaya's silence in response didn't seem to bother the octopus, even as she hung her head and struggled to wave off the haunting glimpse of the woman's bruises from her mind.

Her so called strength in music was irrelevant to her.

She refused to have anything more in common with Yukariko. She couldn't cope with any more.

'Amaya-san, I'm not saying the hobby you need to take up must be related to music, I was merely making a suggestion.' Koro-sensei responded amiably enough as he folded his notebook shut. 'If there are reasons for which you do not feel comfortable with it, then there are reasons, and it would explain why this hobby appears more subconscious. I'm not faulting you for anything.'

No... he wasn't.

She was the one faulting herself for it.

'In any case, I'll give you some time to think on it.' Koro-sensei responded with a smile as he tucked away his things, though he didn't touch the teapot or cups he'd brought. 'But I would like you to email me your decision this evening.'

Amaya nodded silently.

'Well then, I still have some others from class that I still need to council as well, so I'll be taking my leave.' Koro-sensei announced as he picked himself up out of the chair. 'I recommend drinking the tea before it cools too much.'

'O-oh, right.' Amaya shook her head slightly as she moved to rise to her feet, however Koro-sensei held out a tentacle to stop her.

'There's no need to stress, I can see myself out.' Koro-sensei told her. 'Have a content afternoon, Amaya-san.'

And then, as she lifted her head up to look, she was alone in the house. She hadn't heard the door close, hadn't heard anything that signed that the octopus had left, but she didn't doubt he had.

...A hobby, huh?

She let out a breath as she found herself wondering if there was even any point in it. It didn't look like she would be around too much longer anyway, regardless if she did away with herself or not.

Even if she stayed, there was no telling when those people trying to track her down would eventually find her. Far too many things could change as soon as tomorrow, and she didn't know what she was even going to do, either which way.

There were just too many variables.

'Stupid...' She muttered beneath her breath as she found herself staring down at the floor beneath her feet, though for how long, she didn't know.

'Finally admitting that you're a stupid cat, are you?' Came a voice all of a sudden, ripping a startled gasp from Amaya as she practically jumped.

Frantically turning her head in response, Amaya found that again she'd lost track of time while lost in thought, and Karma of all people had turned up without her even knowing. He was leaning forward over the back of the couch just next to her, fixing her with a mischievous smirk.

'When the hell did you get there?' Amaya demanded.

'Just now~'

'And what was with all those stupid notes?!'

The smirk across his face merely broadened as he straightened up on his feet. 'Just some reminders.' He dismissed as he buried his hands in his pockets.

'They weren't necessary.' Amaya snapped.

'I beg to differ.' He snickered, thoroughly amused with her exasperated mood. 'You have a habit of never listening when it's important.'

She was sorely tempted to respond in kind, but she instead let out a breath and sunk a little more into the couch.

'Right, right.' She dismissed with little thought.

She received no response, though he didn't appear to have intended to give her one, or was all that surprised by her response. Instead, she heard him step around the couch and drop himself on the opposite end and kicked his feet up so he was taking up a good half of the space.

'You look bored.' He observed as he tugged out his 3ds from his bag, before setting the latter on the floor.

'No shit, Sherlock.' Amaya quipped as she turned her head away a little more with a frown. 'What on earth gave that away?'

'I was just making an observation~' Karma responded with a broadening smirk, though he didn't look up at her. 'Someone's obviously moody.'

Fine! Moody, bored, whatever.

That didn't change the fact that Amaya was tempted to slap him upside the head for annoying her.

But then all of a sudden, Amaya found herself flinching as the evil incarnate casually tossed what turned out to be her own little 3ds into her lap. She looked down at the device, before turning her suspicious gaze upon the boy sitting across from her.

'What the hell were you doing with this?' She demanded.

And why the hell did he just throw it at her?

'Just open it.' Karma snickered without so much as looking up from his game.

Suspiciously, she reluctantly did as she was told albeit with difficulty considering her lop-sided condition, to find that he'd put in a game that she certainly didn't own, and it was set up on the loading screen.

Pokemon, was it?

'Even you should be able to play that easily enough.' Karma remarked, earning another frown from Amaya.

'Is that a roundabout way of calling me stupid?'

'Only if you want it to be~' Karma responded.

And with one swift, relatively painless motion on her part, Amaya managed to turn herself on the couch to lean her back against the arm and kick him in the shin. Of course, all she received in response was the broadening of that damn smirk as he glanced up at her from his game.

'What am I supposed to be doing with this, anyway?' Amaya questioned.

'Do I have to explain everything for you?'

'You're the one who tossed it to me with no damn context!'

And yet that smirk didn't let up as Karma pulled himself away from the opposite end of the couch and leaned over her to peer down at the game screen. He tapped away at whatever was showing on the screen, providing only the smallest glimpse of a save file named 'Cat' within, before the game started loading.

However, just as he'd opened his mouth to undoubtedly mock her and her lack of understanding, there was a knock at the front door, cutting him off within an instance.

She saw the way his gaze narrowed darkly as he turned his head towards the front door, noticed the way his hand hovering just over the game console held in her hand seemed to clench slightly, as if he was not the least bit pleased by the thought that had appeared inside his head.

'You'll probably want to answer that.' Karma eventually responded as he shifted himself back across the couch.

'It's probably just Koro-sensei again.' Amaya hedged, though she didn't miss the fact that the displeased look across the redhead's face hadn't left.

He didn't really say anything in response, leaving Amaya to hand him the game and carefully ease herself back onto her feet.

At least, until she'd moved to step past him to head for the door.

'Oh, but you'll want to lose that, first.' Karma stated.

'That?' She repeated in confusion, before shock appeared as he reached out for the neck of her cardigan. 'Oi! What the--'

However the exasperated sigh she received in response only confused her all the more.

'Look, trust me on this.' He huffed as he managed to grab the collar of her cardigan and unhook the lone button that held it in place over her shoulders, though she'd managed to catch his wrist right after. 'You can get mad at me for this after, but this is important.'

She frowned at him for a brief moment before she let out a small breath and let go, allowing him to tug the lone piece of clothing from her.

'Fine, but I'm not doing this for free.' She responded. 'I expect compensation.'

'I'll buy you a fish, don't worry.' He responded dismissively, though he snickered as she immediately slapped his arm in retaliation. 'Okay fine, two fish then.'

'God you're a jerk...' She muttered.

'You'd be disappointed if I wasn't.' He responded with a grin as Amaya walked away from him with a glare.

She wasn't going to even admit that he was unfortunately, quite right.

Another knock at the door echoed, a little louder than the last, bringing a small breath to escape Amaya as she checked that the door was unlocked, and carefully tugged it open.

However, the sight on the other side was not Koro-sensei, like she had presumed, and it certainly wasn't one she had expected.

There in the front yard of her house stood people, many people, and Amaya didn't comprehend what was even going on at first.

At least until she realized exactly who was there standing in her yard.

Minus Karma, who was still inside, the whole of Class 3-E were standing there with varying looks of thought, apprehension and concern written across their faces, at least until they looked up at Amaya's form standing in the doorway. It was that moment that the bulk of the class looked positively horrified at Amaya's overall appearances, besides Terasaka's posse, who had already seen her just last night. Yoshida and Muramatsu in particular cast her wry smiles.

It really must have been a shock, though right now Amaya understood exactly why Karma had insisted on confiscating her cardigan like that. It wasn't all that subtle, really, and it had Amaya understand that the redhead was probably still quite annoyed with the group standing before her, though whether it was purely on her behalf, she did not know.

How she wished she hadn't answered the damn door... But there wasn't much point in agonizing over things she couldn't help anymore.

'Well, this I wasn't expecting.' Amaya spoke as she let her hand fall from the door handle and faced the group properly.. 'What's the occasion? Party invite? Unfortunately, there aren't any Birthdays here for two months at least.'

The sarcasm, albeit absent from her tone, was duly noted by the various students, with Maehara casting her a wry smile off to the side, and a few of the less-familiars visibly wincing up in the back.

'We apologize for turning up unannounced, Amaya-san.' Isogai spoke up in response, drawing Amaya's gaze from the bulk of the class immediately. 'We'd like to talk to you. Do you think you can spare us some time?'

Well, it wasn't like she was rude enough to say no and slam the door in their faces.

But let them inside? Or just hold this talk out here? In truth, while she had no problem whatsoever with about half of the group setting foot inside her house, there were a few that she just didn't want to have anything to do with, and that included letting them so much as see inside her house. But as she cast a discrete glance down the street towards a certain Student Council President's house, and actually spotted said boy and his cohorts walking up the street, she decided she really didn't have a choice in the matter.

Undoubtedly, this was about her resignation from the Assassination program, and that was a discussion that Asano didn't need to hear.

'Very well.' Amaya responded as she reluctantly stepped out of the doorway. 'However you should come in quickly, unless you like the idea of catching Asano's attention.'

'A-Asano-kun?!' One of the girls squeaked out, causing Amaya to motion in the boy's direction. 'What's he doing here?!'

'Does it really matter?' Sugino muttered with a sigh.

Of course, Amaya just left the door open for the group to wander in whenever they got around to it, and wandered over towards the dining table.

There was no sign of Karma anywhere as Amaya cast her gaze over the living area, not even on the couch where he'd been just a minute before. She didn't doubt he was still around somewhere within earshot, however.

He was too nosy for his own good.

Amaya carefully tugged one of the chairs away from the table as she heard the front door close, before she set herself down to sit facing the group, many of which were carefully easing themselves out of their shoes.

'Don't bother about the shoes.' Amaya decided to speak up, earning a few startled glances in response. 'The floor's going to need mopping when my siblings get home, anyway.'

Though in truth, Amaya just wanted this over and done with as fast as possible.

There were a few awkward glances here and there, though they quickly resecured their shoes without question.

And then, the group of twenty six stood in the empty space of flooring before her, making for an even more awkward situation than even Amaya had anticipated.

'Well...?' Amaya spoke up as the seconds of silence ticked along and accumulated, leaning against the chair as she gave the group her undivided attention. 'You all came here to talk to me about something, right? So open your mouths and talk. I'm not a psychic.'

Because if she was, then her life would be much easier.

'Sorry Amaya-san...' Kataoka was the one to speak up in response. 'There's just a lot to say.'

'That's fine. Just lay it all on the table.' Amaya responded simply. 'I won't interrupt.'

A rather clear grimace spread across both Isogai and Maehara's faces at that last remark, and Amaya knew it.

'Well, okay... It's probably really late for this, but... we're sorry for ... well, a lot of things really...' Nakamura, who was standing on the left of the group, spoke out as she looked awkwardly away from Amaya's motionless form. 'We're sorry we've made you feel like you want to leave the class... we're sorry for the way we've acted towards you ... and for what we've inadvertently said to you, too...'

'We umm, wanted to ask you to consider actually staying...' Yada was the one to actually speak this time, though like Nakamura, she had a hard time even looking Amaya in the eye when she spoke.

'We don't actually want you to leave, Amaya-san.' Nagisa decided to continue, obviously noticing, like Maehara and Isogai, that Amaya was going to keep her mouth shut until everything was said. 'I know we haven't had a lot of opportunity to work with you to try and assassinate Koro-sensei, and we want to have the opportunity to try.'

'Why did you decide to leave without talking to us first?' Kurahashi asked from nearby Nakamura and Yada. 'You could have talked to us, but you didn't... You didn't even talk to Bitch-sensei before you left...'

'Talking to us about this first would have been fine, wouldn't it?' Mimura questioned. 'We would have listened, Amaya-san.'

'It was selfish and inconsiderate on your part, even though we hold blame.' Hayami in the back spoke.

Now it really did sound like they'd finished, at least for now. Though in spite of the discussion they were all hoping for, that was not what Amaya was going to let happen.

She just had to be particularly careful with the way she directed her words to ensure it.

'I have just two questions before I will give you any form of response, and I expect them to be answered.' Amaya eventually spoke, calmly and without any tone showing in her words, which appeared to make some of the students in front of her even more uncomfortable. 'I will warn you now, don't bother lying.'

A few looked between one another, confused and rather apprehensive, it appeared.

'Okay... What's the first?' Sugino was the one who prompted.

Amaya did not pull her gaze away from the overall group as she decided on which of the three important, and rather loaded questions she was going to ask first.

She took a deep breath as she decided to word it as bluntly as she could.

'At the time my youngest brother and I were attacked in that alleyway Saturday night, those eleven of you... how long had you all been there just enjoying the show?' Amaya calmly asked, with no emotion showing across her face.

And in immediate response, the group was grasped by two distinct, and rather telling reactions.

The eleven who Amaya mentioned in passing froze up in an assortment of fright, panic and possibly guilt while the majority of the others actually seemed rather horrified by the implications of Amaya's question itself – Maehara in particular actually turned his head towards the others in sheer disbelief, his mouth agape as he struggled not to say anything.

It was sign enough that not everything had been equally discussed ahead of coming here, and the reactions themselves told Amaya that her guesses into who the specific eleven were wasn't actually that far off.

'We weren't enjoying it!' Kurahashi practically cried out, though Amaya remained perfectly silent.

'It wasn't like that!' Okajima gasped.

'It was ... just as you shattered the smaller man's arm.' Came Nakamura's uncomfortable and rather hesitant answer as the panicking students grew more upset, answering Amaya's question as simply, and factual as she wished.

Amaya took a deep breath as she struggled to keep her face devoid of any expression, but she knew her voice was going to betray her.

'Then why didn't you do anything?' Amaya forced herself to ask. 'It was obvious what was going on, right? You knew, obviously. So why did you just watch an armed man try to bludgeon an eight year old boy to death?'

And unlike the first question where the reactions were horribly sudden, this time, Amaya knew that she wasn't going to get any sort of clean-cut answer.

Nobody spoke, whether out of fear of how she would react or the possibility that they didn't know what to say, Amaya honestly didn't care. It didn't matter in the end, because the longer they stood there, awkwardly struggling to find words to try and give some form of answer, she received answer enough to sit with.

'Was there anything else you'd like to add?' Amaya offered once she'd had enough of their struggling silence. 'This is your last chance. I'd take the opportunity now, if I were you.'

Yet, nobody spoke, and those who Amaya still held some form of fondness towards had grave, knowing looks written across their faces.

'Alright, if you're sure, then I don't want to hear a word out of any of you until I'm finished.'

In the back nearby Takebayashi and Maehara, Okuda practically flinched at Amaya's words. Though Amaya paid the bespectacled girl no mind as she tried to gather her thoughts.

She was at a brief impasse with herself, where she wanted to speak as politely as she could, but all the words pushing forth in front were anything but polite. Nothing she did to try and shove the harsh words away worked, and all she was left with was to fly off the handle in a spitting rage, or continue with the blunt and painfully direct way she had been speaking all this time.

If it were just those in immediate fault here and nobody else, she would let herself be angry and show it... but not with those who have done her no immediate wrong here, too.

Whether it was intentional or not, their being here as a class only made it more important for Amaya to be blunt.

'A-Amaya--'

'Did it ever occur to you that there was a reason I just went straight to Koro-sensei and resigned from the Assassination Program?' Amaya cut over the petite greenette who'd opened her mouth to speak, silencing the girl immediately. 'If I'm to be entirely forthright with you, I was hoping that you would have realized that there was nothing to discuss. And yes, if you want to claim that I'm the selfish and inconsiderate one for that, go ahead, because that's just fine. I'm sickeningly familiar with people hanging accusations and beliefs on me just to make themselves feel better about their lives. Do whatever it is that makes you sleep better at night.'

Nobody dared to speak a word, allowing Amaya to continue.

'About half of you standing here, you shouldn't even be here taking blame for things you haven't necessarily done. You've dealt me no wrong. You've been considerate of me, helped me, even if I wasn't the one who asked for it, or at the very least, you've never so much as looked at me as if I'm filth. I trust that you all know exactly who you are.' Amaya paused for just a second as she cast her gaze upon those she was referring to. And she could see, that they indeed knew, but more importantly, the ones who were in fault all knew and looked rather uncomfortable. She saw sad smiles across the faces of her closest, and vague, understanding looks across the others. 'I'm going to be honest, I'd like for you to leave now because there's nothing further to say to you. But I know you won't, since you all came here as a group to begin with. So I'll just continue and speak as generally as possible... You should be able to read between the lines, anyway.'

Amaya shifted slight in the chair as she straightened up, wincing slightly as she felt her shoulder ache at the attempted movement.

'At this point in time, there is absolutely no reason for me to stay in that classroom with you. Absolutely none. It was mentioned that you don't want me to leave, that you haven't had the opportunity to try a proper assassination attempt with me, and all that. But that's absolutely wrong. There's been opportunities. Many opportunities. I've been in that classroom with you for almost as long as Karma has, so you can't tell me there hasn't. And as it stands, you're all that comfortable working without me involved that I know it really wouldn't make any difference to you if I wasn't there anymore. My presence in that classroom does absolutely nothing except fills up a desk. What reason beyond sentiment is there for me to even stay, to begin with? The only thing you don't like about it is the circumstances.'

'And besides, you've pointed out on many occasions that I have no skills to contribute beyond hurting people, and clearly you believe I'm volatile enough to truly ever raise a hand against you. That's why after that stupid mess with that hitman just last week, you've been so utterly scared of even looking at me, right? Why would you want anything to do with a monster, right? You're all obviously better off not having to deal with me even being in your classroom anymore. That's probably why you didn't even think of trying to help when we needed it on Saturday, right? It's not so much that you didn't want to save that little boy, it's because you couldn't shake the fear that I'd just round on the lot of you just the same way. That's why you stood back and only acted when I was long gone.'

The silence that she earned in response to her words was thick with a whirlwind of different emotions, with tension so profound it was painful. Heads were hung, guilt written almost as clearly as if it'd been done with marker, and even with all of that, Amaya had nothing more she wanted to say.

She felt like anything more would be wasted.

'That's all I'm going to say, and I don't think any of you have anything more to say to me, either.' Amaya spoke up as the seconds ticked by, watching as nobody seemed to disagree with her words. 'So you should leave, now.'

And leave, they did.

Without a word, Amaya watched as they left in silence.

She would never grant them forgiveness, and it appeared that they knew that.

Exhaustion plagued Amaya like a shackle attached to her throat, and it was all she could do to pick herself up and make sure to lock the door behind them.

She honestly doubted they would come to try and talk to her about this, again.

And even though she had spoken everything that she felt to be true, her own feelings and thoughts, she couldn't stop the guilt from prickling at the back of her mind.

The house was silent as Amaya ambled towards the hallway, with her head hung and her shoulders slumped against the weight that threatened to crush her. She wanted to go sit alone in her room and think, since she didn't have the ability to get up into the attic at the present time.

But she found herself pausing in her steps as she found herself spotting exactly where Karma had gotten to.

Standing against the left wall just a couple meters down the hall, he'd taken up the space out of sight of the dining table and where their classmates had been standing that whole time. He hadn't appeared to notice her unsteady approach, even as she'd come to a stop right in front of him. He was undeniably quite angry, by the look across his face, though lost entirely in those suffocating thoughts inside his head. And for the first time in what was months, she could see that he was biting the nail of his thumb roughly as he sunk back into that bad habit of his.

This was too angry for it to be purely on her own behalf, and she knew it.

So, without so much as speaking a word, Amaya carefully stepped forward and pulled him into the best embrace she could manage, as damaged as she was.

Immediately, Karma not only jolted out of thought, but he'd practically flinched when he'd realized she was right there embracing him, and she'd felt him manage to look down at her.

'You shouldn't do that, you know.' She remarked, not the least bit surprised to see that he'd managed to bite hard enough to split the skin beneath and draw blood. But of course, she could see that he honestly didn't care about it.

He didn't say a thing, however, as the seconds ticked by, she heard him let out a breath and carefully circle his arms around her.

Neither spoke as the seconds ticked by towards minutes, and she could feel the tension in him begin to recede bit by bit. She half contemplated pulling away, however, just as she'd made the slightest move to do just that, his arms around her tightened considerably before he buried his face into the crook of her neck, effectively halting her attempt in its tracks.

'...Did I say too much?' Amaya couldn't help but ask.

She didn't miss the way he seemed to jerk all of a sudden, as if her question had startled him.

'No.' He answered with no hesitation at all, and his grip only seemed to tighten a little more. 'You shouldn't have gone easy on them.'

'I didn't go easy on them...' Amaya denied, though she quickly continued as she felt him about to speak up in argument. 'I just wanted them to leave...'

As soon as possible, with as little argument as possible.

No response escaped Karma at first, at least until he let out a breath.

'Well, at least you got the point across...' He muttered into the crook of her neck.

She hummed slightly in sign that she'd heard him, though otherwise she didn't speak another word, and neither did he.

They remained there wrapped up in each others arms, even as the light shining into the house from outside dulled down to sunset ambiance, and the chill of the autumn evening began to creep in.

She decided she would try and hold on, for him.

For the one who, through the nightmarish hell of her life, still held onto her so tightly without caring that the broken shards of her heart were cutting into him.

---=[Authors Notes]=---

Back again, apologies for all the lack of replies. I've been in bed sick for about a week, and I haven't been able to type much because my brain wasn't in gear for it. In any case, hope you enjoyed the chapter all the same.

I'll reply to everything once I'm back from work this evening.

By the way, is it just me, or is the wattpad disabling URL image pasting a horrible pain in the ass? I'm now downloading images just to put headers in and it's driving me insane! Oh well. Anywho, translation notes...

Yōsuru - This one should translate as Embrace, which I believe is written as 擁する in Japanese.

All the best, guys~!

<3 Loki-Roki