What was intended as an afternoon reprieve from the world in order to settle back in her shell again turned into an evening where she remained confined in her new hiding place without return. She had emailed Reiko and told her the three of them could order whatever they wanted for dinner using the money stored away in the kitchen, and not to worry about her.

And so, with no complaints that Amaya could hear through the floors of the attic, that was what her siblings did.

The searching attempts that Karma had made that evening were unsuccessful, with or without Ritsu's aid.

The fixed artillery had apparently told Karma that Amaya's cellular phone's signal was located at home, in exactly the place that the couch was in the loungeroom. Amaya knew, because she could hear Karma practically seething rebukes that she couldn't be here – He'd just searched in every possible location for any sign of her, and that the house neither had an attic nor a basement.

His return later that night yielded him no sign of Amaya, either, and only worsened his mood.

Ritsu reaffirmed that her cellular phone had not shifted an inch while he'd been away, and her siblings all agreed that if Amaya was here, she certainly hadn't moved anywhere.

She could hear all of this, without even having to leave the strange egg-basket.

And so, morning eventually came, yet Amaya did not retreat from the attic to go to school.

In fact, she waited in the basket without movement, entirely conscious the whole time with no sleep gained in any shape or form. She heard her siblings leave for school at their new time of 6.30am, and a handful of hours later, she heard the door slam shut.

She slowly crept to the locked window to look down over the edge, to catch a mere glimpse of red hair pass through the branches to head out of the property.

She expected that Karma would be back sometime later, like he usually was, so she took this moment of absence to actually investigate the attic properly.

She used the flashlight of her phone to illuminate parts of the attic the small incandescent globe hanging above the table could not. She wandered around, making sure her fingers covered both lenses of her phone's cameras, revealing nothing to the large space at first.

At least, until she reached the back right corner of the house, about where the staircase stood.

The floor appeared to more or less disappear here, completely absent aside from one metal ladder firmly affixed to the inside of the wall, approximately where the wall of the staircase would be. It was an extending ladder, with its bulk lifted away from the bottom by a mere hook clip.

So, Amaya carefully unclipped it and watched its extension slide straight down to the ground below.

A noisy, metallic clang echoed for several long seconds, before all was silent.

And so, after collecting her messenger bag from the center of the room, Amaya descended with careful, measured movements.

The ladder extended down what felt like two whole floors, right down to a triangular landing room with concrete floors and reinforced steel walling. Her phone illuminated what appeared to be a steel door in the wall facing into the house.

So, after a couple of attempts, she managed to unlock it with the keys she wore around her neck.

The door opened inwards, revealing a wooden panel in front. There was a hand-groove, providing her grip enough to slide the panel aside with relative ease.

And on the other side, she found herself face-to-face with the backless shelves that made up the pantry. The jars of flour and rice were directly in front of her face, with the shelf below holding all the cleaning supplies she used to clean.

The shelves were an inconvenience, though as she thought about it, it was better this way. She definitely would never have thought there was a hidden door behind the fixed shelves.

After a few minutes worth of effort to lock the door and slide the walling partition back in place without rearranging anything, Amaya dusted herself off and made her way back into the other parts of the house.

It was as normal, for the most part.

Nothing had been rearranged, though she could easily see that breakfast had been made, and lunches tended to - The kitchen sink was filled entirely with used dishes.

That was a task she would tackle later, however.

Instead, she decided to take advantage of the minor emptiness of the house and wash up in the bathroom as best she could.

Her thoughts, although easier to collect than yesterday, were still difficult to string together without dwelling on the events that weighed heavily on her heart.

She decided, it would be functional to move some of her limited belongings up into that hidden attic.

If, she were trying to avoid a moody redhead or she wanted to access some belongings through another bout of isolation, she wouldn't need to wander down where she would be spotted.

The attic, in a sense, felt more homely for her than the room she had been using of late.

She'd glanced herself over in the mirror on her way out, inwardly sighing at the mess she found herself to be in. Her bumps and bruises beyond her injuries to her head and hands were an unsightly blackish hue against her pale skin, in particular the skin around her wrists and the left side of her face were noticeably dark, unlike they had been yesterday.

They probably wouldn't improve for a week at the earliest, which was not a thought she appreciated.

With careful thoughts once she had entered her room and tugged on a loose shirt and shorts, Amaya opened up her luggage case Koro-sensei had returned to her, pulling out all items she was intent on relocating upstairs.

The box Shigure had given her, which held her mother's journal amongst other things, a couple of changes of clothes, and some of her small items of comfort were stuffed into her messenger bag to the point of being unable to close it up again.

Her next item of acquirement was the blanket from atop her bed, more of a comfort than something that was really necessary. Once she felt she'd gathered enough for her first bout of relocation, Amaya turned to head back to the hidden ladder in the Pantry room.

Only, she didn't actually get all that far.

As she'd tugged open the door of the room, she found herself realizing right then that she wasn't actually alone in the house. She'd come face to face with none other than Karma standing on the other side of the door, a hand lifted towards the doorhandle.

'I've been looking for you, Amay.' She heard the drawling tone before she even acknowledged what he'd said, and from the glimpse she'd caught of his face before she'd averted her gaze was that of a rather strained smile. 'Mind explaining where you've been?'

There was no way out of answering – She could tell that by how he was standing in the doorway to obstruct her way past.

So, she let out a breath as she rearranged her hold of her blanket.

'Nearby, I guess.'

'I checked nearby.' He quipped.

'You didn't check up on top of the roof, did you?' She responded as she managed to squeeze past him.

There was silence at first as he seemed to stand there motionless, all the while Amaya just wandered towards the couch – Since he was here to see her disappear into the Pantry Room, now wasn't a good time to retreat to her new hiding place.

''Then how did you get inside?' She heard the irritable redhead question her, though he hadn't shifted from the door of her room. 'I've got your keys.'

'I slid down the chimney, obviously.' Amaya's response was immediate, and not without the smallest edge of sarcasm. 'If it bothers you that much, then you shouldn't have taken off with my keys...'

No answer, at least there wasn't one at first. She could hear his approaching footsteps, though she didn't look over.

Her gaze flicked to the clock as she tossed her blanket over herself and snuggled herself in.

11.29am, apparently.

It felt far later in the day, to her.

'So you were ignoring me all this time?' His reply was touched with the smallest edge of irked pleasantries, a polite tone that told her he was annoyed. 'You heard me calling you and decided not to answer?'

She didn't answer him as she foraged through her pockets for her phone.

'Amaya--'

'I just wanted to be left alone' She huffed as she managed to pull out her phone. 'I wasn't ignoring you. I heard you arguing with Ritsu-san, after all.'

The approaching footsteps stopped right in front of her, and his tall frame loomed over her form on the couch.

'Heh? And that's a smart thing when you're supposed to be kept under watch?'

The agitation tinting his tone of voice actually brought Amaya to look up at him, with no ounce of emotion showing across her face.

'Don't you think that if you weren't in such a terrible mood, I wouldn't have wanted to go hiding up on the roof overnight so you wouldn't find me?'

'You're not exactly easy to reason with.' He responded with sincerity.

'Yes, I obviously test your patience fairly often, but seriously? I don't know what's worse, knowing that you will follow through with your threats, or just how nasty you get when you're already in a bad mood.' She offered up in response, inwardly wincing as she felt the words she spoke might come across rather harsh. 'And I copped both of those from you, just for wanting my keys back.'

She actually saw the smallest glimmer of guilt in his otherwise rather neutral expression, bringing her to let out a small breath as she tore her gaze from him.

She cursed the power he actually had over her during times like these.

Already, she was felt guilty for what she had said, even if it was how she actually felt.

'Move over.' Karma said after a few seconds, surprising Amaya with little effort.

She looked back up at him in confusion.

'H-huh?!--'

'I said move over.'

'What the hell for?!' She demanded.

It was here that she felt the redhead fix her with a rather exasperated look.

'Fine, have it your way.' He muttered, tossing the blanket aside as he leaned over her.

A startled yelp escaped Amaya as she was simply picked up from the couch, and within two small motions, the redhead had taken up her spot in the corner of the couch, and she was half-way between kneeling over him and falling off the actual couch. The blanket slipped off to tangle with her legs through that sudden change of position.

Her eyes widened considerably as she realized just how this looked, and she made a move to retreat quickly to the opposite end of the couch.

Except, before she could, he had grabbed her around the waist and tugged her forwards, resulting in her practically falling face-first into his shoulder.

Which is not what she wanted, at all.

The dustings of colour over her face began to appear brighter and brighter with every second, and the best she could honestly do was try and hide her face from his view.

It was worse for her composure to know that he hadn't pulled his arms away from around her.

He didn't say anything at first, though she couldn't tell what was really going on – She refused to lift her face from his shoulder.

'I know...' She heard Karma murmur. A subdued edge touched his tone, confusing her more than the words he had actually spoken. '...Nagisa-kun already lectured me about almost everything you said, and something else while he was at it.'

Amaya's lips twitched slightly towards a smile in spite of herself – Just the image of the petite boy lecturing Karma of all people about being nice to people was rather amusing.

It didn't help that the perturbed expression she imagined across Karma's face at the time just made it all the more amusing.

'You've been horribly moody of late...' She mumbled into his shoulder.

'Yes... Usually, you're the moody one, cat.'

'You're not forgiven yet...' She muttered as she lifted her face from his shoulder to fix him with a frown.

'Heh? Did you raise the price?' He responded easily.

The frown across Amaya's face darkened slightly as he fixed her with one of those "innocent" smiles of his.

'Your respect points are insufficient to subsidize the cost.' She quipped, bitterly. 'You've spent too many of them on your temper.'

'Ah.' Was all he said as he tightened his hold of her, drawing a pout across her face with little effort. 'I'm going to have to do something about that...'

'Torture does not count...'

'Would I really do that?'

The blank stare she fixed him with said it all, and it didn't help that he snickered slightly.

'I won't.' He reaffirmed as he gently lifted a hand to set it atop her head. 'I'm not that cruel.'

'You could have fooled me...' She mumbled as her eyes slowly began to droop shut on her.

She hadn't realized how exhausted she was feeling, but now that she was surprisingly comfortable there half-slumped against his side, her weariness became more prominent with the smallest shift of his hand running over her head.

She half suspected that was what he was up to ever since he'd refused to let her out of his grip, though right now she found herself too tired to care.

She had to remember to call him a jerk later, when she was more conscious.

And so, she lost herself to gentle slumber, inwardly knowing that she will already forgive him the moment she woke up again.

But he didn't need to know that.

Amaya's recollection of time was thoroughly warped by the time she woke up entirely.

The three days of absent sleep had taken its toll on her, and before she knew it, Saturday morning had come.

Apparently, she was woken up at regular intervals to make sure she was actually okay, but beyond that, everyone left her to sleep.

And so, when she was entirely conscious at 6am on Saturday morning after finding herself lying in her bed, she was not only bewildered, but horrified at the fact that she lost basically a whole day to nothing but sleep.

And worse yet, she discovered that her clothes, as well as her bed, smelled of kitten.

Which meant that someone had decided to let the two furballs loose on her bed while she slept.

'You were so far gone, I could have forced a tube of caramel down your throat and you probably wouldn't have noticed.' Karma had helpfully offered her sulking mutters when she'd put two and two together.

'I thought you said you wouldn't be cruel and torture me?' She quipped.

'Heh, is just talking about it considered torture, now?'

She said nothing, only glaring at him as she slumped over the edge of the dining table.

His amusement was evident from the faint snicker she heard escape him as he set a glass of something that had the unhealthily sweet scent of syrup right in front of her.

'The hell is this?' She questioned without lifting her chin from atop the table.

'What does it look like?'

'Something I'll give to Reiko or Samuel if you don't tell me, right now.'

The ongoing snickering from the redhead said nothing other than the fact that she was just amusing him.

So she turned her gaze upon her cellular telephone left unlocked on the table just next to her.

Across its display was an email she'd read thrice already when Karma managed to wake her up by dropping a thick sheet of Konnyaku onto her head – He'd actually been slow enough with his reaction that she managed to hurl the sheet back at him, clobbering him in the back of the head with it.

[5.49am: Hello everyone! I've come up with an Assassination Plan! Please come to the Classroom by 9am so I can explain it to everyone :) – Kayano]

So, there was an assassination that the little green-featured girl had come up with?

That was ... new?

Amaya certainly hadn't expected it, none the less.

'Why does this have to be on a Saturday? Why not Monday? Amaya huffed wearily as she reluctantly straightened up to lift the glass of what seemed to be juice from the table.

'Heh, you'd rather sleep for two whole days, instead?' Karma remarked from the kitchen, earning a frown from Amaya with little effort.

She was silent, ignoring the jab as she took a sip of the juice.

And immediately, she winced as she was overcome by the most sickly sweet taste of fruit - she practically slammed the glass back on the table.

This wasn't juice, or syrup in its truest form – This was fruit flavored sugar.

The snickering she heard erupt from the Kitchen said enough, bringing her to shoot a glare in the redhead's direction.

'Oh shut up, jerk.' She shot at him, failing to do anything more than amuse him further. 'I swear, you're trying to kill me or something...'

And she put up with this boy, why?

Oh, right.

She was in the stage between liking him more than friends, and being able to say she might be in love with him, only, he had this painful habit of knocking her back towards the lesser of the two all the time.

Eventually, the time to head for the classroom came along, right as she'd recalled the simple fact that she needed to go do some household shopping.

For a day she was supposed to do the household chores stacked up since she was put out of commission by those delinquents who'd managed to get the jump on her, things had been derailed by the arrival of a class-wide assassination plan.

And for once, she was included, unlike the last one which, known likely only by Karma and on a lesser note, Maehara, had resulted in her own personal hell coming to the surface.

So she decided, for once, she was going to entrust the most dangerous of tasks to her siblings.

That was in fact, the bulk of the house-shopping, and that was to Yuta, more specifically.

She couldn't keep up with the housework and other jobs anymore with three siblings, even if she were in perfect health and mental fortitude.

Back before Samuel had joined them, she could, because the twins had been raised to be rather modest with their living habits.

Samuel, was a wave of chaos gifted with a baby-face, capable of eating them out of house and home if one gave him half an opportunity.

So, she wrote a general list of what items were definitely needed today, with a secondary list of what was not to be purchased at any point, more so to thwart the inevitable plea's and begging of Reiko and Samuel that were likely to play out.

And unfortunately, the list of what was not to be purchased ended up being just as long as what was to be purchased.

Amaya wasn't too worried beyond that – The twins had gone on enough shopping trips with her to know just how shopping was supposed to be done, and as a general rule, what particular brands and types of products were to be purchased.

They should know how much shopping usually totals.

And so, after pleading with a tantrum-throwing Samuel to actually behave himself while ignoring Karma's snickering at the door as he waited for her, they left to head for the Classroom at the top of the mountain.

All the while, she was lost in thought.

She had her special keys tucked beneath her shirt, though the evil incarnate had noticed the chain that showed around her neck enough to remark on it - He had ample time while she was asleep to see it up close since she fell asleep in his arms.

His remark hadn't been anything peculiar – He merely expressed confusion about it's sudden presence.

Which said a lot, since she always believed he never paid that much attention to her, appearances or otherwise.

So, she managed to palm it off to her box of Yukariko's belongings she got from Shigure back in June she never truly went through, convincingly enough that he didn't question it further.

For someone who apparently couldn't lie to save her own life, she seemed more convincing than she'd been led to believe.

Though she hadn't heard Karma tell her that, since Okinawa, oddly enough.

Upon arriving at the classroom, it was immediately apparent that they were the last to arrive.

Mostly everyone was already seated at their desks, with Kayano standing at the front, clutching a notebook against her chest as she practically brimmed with enthusiasm. In the corridor, just as Amaya and Karma had entered the classroom, Irina and Karasuma stood at the front door of the room, as observers.

'You guys sure are late.' Isogai spoke up at their arrival, a sheepish smile written across his face.

'Sorry, tantrums while delegating chores for the day.' Amaya huffed as she dropped herself into her seat.

Half of their classmates looked rather confused by the offered excuse, while those who were at the very least aware of the arrival of her third sibling seemed to shoot her a myriad of sympathetic and understanding smiles.

Needless to say, that was Nagisa's circle plus Okuda for some reason, Maehara, Isogai, and Kataoka.

'Now that everyone is here, I'll start explaining what I have in mind!' Kayano announced brightly, lifting up her notebook as she grinned brightly.

It was enough to bring Amaya to furrow her brow slightly as she listened in.

'I'm sure you all have heard at least something about the supply of chicken eggs being disposed of due to an excess in the surplus,' Kayano began, flipping open her notebook as she began. 'It's such a waste to destroy all of them, when we can use them to assassinate Koro-sensei!'

'Eggs for an assassination...?' Mimura spoke up in disbelief mirroring the confusion of quite a few present.

However, for Amaya, she instead found herself reminded of that article mentioned on the front of a magazine cover she'd glimpsed just Thursday afternoon.

'Oh, I forgot to write eggs on the list...' Amaya muttered beneath her breath as she retrieved her phone to email Yuta to add them to the list. Double the usual, plus some if they needed them for their home economics class that week.

She did make plans to buy some today, but she'd forgotten all about it.

'Keh. Are you planning on making food with these mixed in?' Terasaka's voice cut through Amaya's thoughts of household shopping, bringing her to look over from her phone. 'We already tried that and got busted.'

He spoke this as he tossed some Anti-Sensei BB's lightly in his hand.

Instead, Kayano just gave a small laugh as she smiled knowingly.

'I'm thinking of something more.' She responded, before outstretching her left arm towards Karasuma and Irina standing in the doorway. 'I asked Karasuma-sensei for help, so the initial arrangements are okay! Everyone, please head to the school yard!'

And in immediate response, nearly everyone present actually turned their heads to look curiously.

However, Amaya sat there looking a little perturbed by the sudden direction this Assassination plan was going.

Cooking...

And how Karma loved to mock her for the fact that she couldn't cook very well – To quote, "She couldn't even cook to save her own life".

She was having second-thoughts about this plan purely based on that one factor.

Reluctantly, Amaya pulled herself from her seat to follow everyone else outside, a few steps behind the evil boy who had been taking up msot of her thoughts that morning.

And, the very second they had all arrived out the back of the classroom, Amaya found herself horrified at the one simple thing.

Sitting right there in the schoolyard was a small fleet of liquid-transport tankers, electric generators, giant spoons amongst many other things, and one huge object hidden beneath a giant earth-brown sheet of plastic. There was even a group of eight adult men standing there, one for each of the liquid-transport tankers sitting there in the schoolyard.

Just how the hell had they all gotten here and not seen all of that while walking down the corridor of the classroom?!

The very walls both left and right were made entirely of windows!

Was Amaya's eyesight just that poor?!

At the arrival of all students, the group of men standing in the schoolyard moved towards the massive object in the centre of the yard at the approving nod from none other than Karasuma.

And then, with one swift tug, they pulled the huge sheet of plastic free to reveal a massive, glass container that looked eerily familiar, if for no other reason than the influence of Reiko's sweet tooth on Amaya's shopping life.

Amaya's right eye twitched slightly as she found herself realizing that a milder form of hell was about to begin.

'That shape, and eggs... Does that mean...?' A shocked Hara standing a few meters away spoke up.

'Exactly. Starting now, I want everyone to make an enormous pudding.' Kayano summarized from up at the door of the classroom. 'I call it, PUDDING KILLSPLOSION PLAN!!!'

And then, the petite greenette launched into an avid explanation about how she received a so called confession from Koro-sensei about his wishes for a giant pudding at least once in his peculiar life.

'Well, this is going to be fun.' Amaya heard Karma snicker from right beside her as he fixed his gaze upon her rather motionless form. 'Careful you don't turn this into a disaster like everything else you cook, Amay~'

And without any restraint or care for the spectators around, Amaya immediately whirled around and slapped him hard on the arm.

'Oww~' He laughed as he gently massaged the sharp pain from his arm, 'Don't get mad just because I'm telling the truth, Amay~'

She huffed moodily as she turned away, though she did think about it for a second.

Something felt wrong about his remark, but she couldn't put her finger on what that could be.

'YES! LET US FULFILL HIS ROMANCE!!! BUT HONESTLY, I REALLY WANT TO TRY IT, TOO!!!' Kayano gushed with the most firey look Amaya had ever seen across her face – It certainly didn't help that Nagisa was in the background, smiling sheepishly at who was probably his best female friend.

The sight was so bizarre and wrong for Amaya, that she began to fear that soon, both Samuel and Reiko would end up like this.

'At the bottom of the pudding, we'll airseal some anti-sensei bullets and an explosive.' Kayano continued, apparently not finished with explaining her plan. 'When Koro-sensei eats his way to the bottom, Takebayashi-kun will set it off and BOOM!!'

Ah, so that's how this nightmare of a pudding was going to kill Koro-sensei - beyond the murderous sugar content within such a feat of course.

'...It might be worth trying.' A had-been uncertain Isogai eventually conceded, a wry smile touching his face.

'Yeah, Koro-sensei does lose himself to ero-stuff and sweets, huh?' Okajima agreed with a similar smile of his own.

'Alright, While Sensei's gone during this three day weekend, let's get ready for battle!' The Ikemen announced in his ikemenly way, earning a chorus of agreement from those around him.

And yet, all Amaya could do was let out a low sigh.

Making giant sweets all through the weekend she didn't even realize was extended, while being known to be incapable of cooking things beyond lunches for her siblings.

And even those were apparently poor, so the redhead claimed.

Well ... in spite of all that, she felt like that wasn't really her fault.

All the foods she was familiar enough with to cook to an at least edible standard, the twins hated, so she never cooked them – Japanese cooking was ironically something she did all the time, but she wasn't exactly comfortable or completely familiar with.

Like the battered toast she learned from Genivierre, she learned more European dishes than the Japanese she tried to cook.

Throughout all the time Yukariko couldn't be around right up until her unfortunate passing, Genivierre was, so in a twisted sense, the mournful woman raised Amaya on her own style of cooking through the more impressionable years. The time after arriving to Tokyo, she was trying to learn how to cook to her siblings tastes, which narrowed the selection down to Japanese dishes.

She was learning most of this during the time Karma started to mock her for her poor cooking, and not long after that, he would randomly turn up and derail her attempts at learning by cooking instead. Or at the very least, his sudden arrival would derail her intended learning and she'd have to get take-out just to cater.

So right now, she was starting to get a little nervous about even being included in this.

She couldn't help with Okinawa because it was water, and now it looked like she shouldn't help with this plan because she was practically convinced that she couldn't cook.

If there was something involving sewing in the future for an assassination, she could at least help with that!

She could at least do basic sewing repairs from all the holes she'd torn in her own clothes through scuffles and fights in her life.

'Here, Amaya-san.' A suddenly present Hara spoke up with a smile, handing the startled Amaya an apron and a dark, purple square bandanna to wear in preparation for the task at hand. 'Let's all pitch in and get this done~!'

'A-ah, right...' She hedged, taking note of the fact that mostly everyone else was in the process of gearing up. 'Thanks...'

'No problem!' The kindly girl responded brightly before leaving to hand more aprons and bandanna out.

Amaya stared down at the cooking ensemble for a few seconds, before she began to tug them on.

There was no point in dwelling on this, now.

Dwelling on it would ensure that she would screw something up, and the last thing she wanted was for this assassination attempt to fail just because she did something wrong.

'Oh? Amaya-san?' Came Nakamura's voice all of a sudden, snapping up Amaya's attention mid-attempt through tying the purple bandanna over her hair neatly.

The confused girl could only blink owlishly as she found the mischievous blond, Kataoka and Okano standing right there a few paces away with shocked looks across their faces.

'Wow, thats umm...' Okano hedged, apparently at a loss of words.

'What?' Amaya couldn't help but ask – Her confusion was beginning to show across her face.

'Please forgive me for saying this Amaya-san,' Kataoka hedged, seeming rather sheepish as she looked up at the bandanna Amaya still hadn't quite tied off yet. 'But now that we've gotten used to your natural white, I hadn't realized just how different colour makes you look...'

'Huh?!'

Amaya's confusion could only grow stronger as Nakamura snickered slightly in well-meaning humor.

'Purple makes you look so mean and angry! Like you're always in a bad mood!' The blond explained with a grin. 'And here we all thought you were just opening up to us after all these months!'

'Amay's always mean and angry, didn't you know~?' Came Karma's amused response, drawing a scowl across Amaya's face with little effort. 'The purple just brings it out.'

'Maybe I was dying my hair purple to scare jerks like you away!' Amaya rebuked with snap as she turned her head to glare at the snickering boy.

'No you weren't, you were just tired of being called an old hag by people because of your hair.' He responded knowingly as he practically ripped the bandanna out of her hands. 'Yuta-kun begged you for purple out of everything you could have picked, just so you would look like an anime character he likes.'

'It was better than the candy-pink Reiko wailed for weeks over!' Amaya snapped indignantly.

'Oho, that sounds like a rather amusing sight~' Nakamura interjected into the building disagreement.

'What?!' Amaya yelped out in shock.

'Actually, if Samuel was around at the time, you might have had two votes for pink.' Karma offered up in response, snatching Amaya's attention from the giggling Nakamura. 'He is obsessed with the colour after all.'

Amaya almost opened her mouth to disagree, but she caught herself just in time.

That was a can of worms she did not want to open, if for no other reason than she wanted to pretend that whole hell had never happened.

And worse still was the vivid knowledge that if Samuel had gotten his way in Moscow, she would have returned to Japan with deep scarlet hair instead of the coppery orange she'd been saddled with in the end.

Regardless of the fact that it was a wash-out colour, the fact is, Samuel would vote for deep scarlet with a proud announcement that its Amaya's favorite colour.

And that, would be a problem.

'Heh? He wouldn't?' Karma spoke up as he read the rather nervous look to her expression correctly, and his interest was immediately captured. 'Has this come up already?'

Wordlessly, Amaya made an attempt at retreating towards the parts of the schoolyard that Isogai and Maehara were currently standing in, though her attempt was thwarted before she could get three steps along.

All of a sudden, he grabbed her around the neck with one arm and tugged her backwards, preventing her escape.

'Come on Amay~ Spill~' The amused and painfully curious boy drawled, practically torturing her in the attempt at forcing her to answer.

'No!'

'Don't be like that~'

'Go to hell, you stupid--'

'Do I have to throw you in the pudding mix to sweeten you up?' She heard the redhead mock as he tightened his grip of her struggling form. 'You're awfully bitter, as usual.'

'Cram it, you sassy bastard!' She forced out, all the while she kicked and struggled against his grip. 'I'M NOT GOING TO TELL YOU NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO SO JUST LET GO ALREADY!'

'You're so cold, Amay~'

'Don't worry Maya-chan!' A suddenly present Maehara announced proudly as he began to dash over from where he had been working with Isogai. 'I'll save you!'

Karma's grip of her tightened ever so slightly at that announcement, though for a brief second Amaya knew the evil incarnate was distracted.

So with one struggling tug, she pulled Karma's arm away from her just enough to free herself, and she took off running.

She honestly didn't care what was going to happen, or even what was going on right now.

She took off down the other end of the schoolyard and hid within the group consisting of Isogai, Kimura, Mimura and Kurahashi, praying more than anything else that she would be able to spend a portion of the day free from whatever torture the redhead had next in store for her.

The group, who evidently saw the whole commotion, cast her sympathetic smiles before continuing with their task, making an obvious point to not mention anything about her unfortunate misfortune.

---=[Authors Note]=---

Hey everyone, I have another chapter for you :) Hope you all enjoy, and thank you all so much for all the feedback and votes after all this time :)

Now, not anything on my chapter (Though I do wonder if you guys have actually noticed I'm doing nearly double-length chapters for every submission now lolol).

KhristinZoeBas has announced that she would like to start getting back into writing her own Assassination Classroom Fanfiction, called Eyes of Azure. I've mentioned and recommended it to you guys a few times during the course of writing Marionette. But the problem is, she is lacking in motivation, so, if you guys have read her work before she got drowned in schoolwork, or you're interested in more Assassination Classroom Stories, please check her work out and give her feedback and comments. She, as everyone has experienced, is having trouble finding motivation, so let's try and help out with that, aye?

Anyways, that's about it from me lolol. There isn't a lot I can say about this chapter, so here we are with our translation notes:

Konnyaku - I actually had to research this one, cause I knew of it but I didn't really know what it is exactly. Its a kind of gelatinous substance made through a lot of preparations from a specific potato and water, with other additions. You've seen it used in the anime/manga, by Koro-sensei no less when he set up the test of courage in Okinawa. For ease of reading more into it, please read the following link if it interests you :) Myself, I have never tried it, but I really would like to.

https://www.lingualift.com/blog/what-is-konnyaku/

Kurushimeru - Translates as Torment in this case, which if I'm not mistaken, is written as 苦しめる

All the best guys~!

<3 Loki-Roki