A soft tune echoed throughout the darkness, that of which drew soft reminiscence and nostalgia to overcome the unconscious girl. It softly tugged and prodded at the black, bringing her to edge closer to waking up, the longer it played.

In the waking world, Amaya knew the song very well.

In fact, it was a song she adored almost as much as the three people she let into her own world.

She'd heard it when she started attending Kunugigaoka, and before her MP3 player had died, the song itself had over 10,000 plays. She listened to it every day, because it reminded her of something she didn't want to forget.

If she didn't listen to it, she'd forget, because it connected her to a memory that was older than the friendship between herself and Karma.

Perhaps it was her earliest memory, one she kept alive stubbornly in both heart and mind.

Blue skies, soft white sand, and cerulean-coloured oceans stretched out as far as the eye can see. Soft, white curls of hair swept up in a gentle breeze, and far-away eyes of deep red danced just in the edge of her mind's eye, a vivid contrast to the snow-white form they belonged to.

A musical, soft chiming of laughter mingled with the song that continued to drag her towards the waking world, a voice she hadn't truly heard in many years.

She couldn't see what her face looked like, even though she knew who this was.

Because Amaya had long since forgotten what her face looked like, even though she held onto the keepsake photograph buried in the most secure pocket of her purse. She remembered the colour of her eyes, and the colour of her features, because of the photograph, but she could never remember her face.

It was a sad understanding that Amaya had become used to over time.

The lively, dancing form in her memories turned, and a sad smile was all that Amaya could detect. Almost as if in response to something, she spoke, her lips moving to form words that Amaya couldn't depict, nor could she hear. Mute words that no matter how hard Amaya tried to grasp, she couldn't.

And then the song dancing in the world stopped, coming to a gentle end.

It brought Amaya to open her eyes.

Amaya found herself in a somewhat similar situation to the last time she'd passed out.

She was in a different place to when she was last conscious, this time lying on what she could tell without looking was a bed. She was staring up at a time-worn ceiling, and there was what she could immediately tell to be cubicle curtains pulled part-way shut.

Amaya could tell without even thinking about it that she had ended up in the Class E infirmary, though it didn't smell like a normal infirmary.

She could also tell from just the colour of the light that it was mid-day.

Maybe just before lunch break?

Oddly enough, there was not single whiff of disinfectant chemical, or any of the other smells that was standard for a medical room. Instead, she could smell the tiniest hints of vinegar, thyme and rosemary.

Wait ... natural remedies?

She guessed it was because the Class E campus had access to the whole mountain, and there was bound to be medicinal herbs galore up here. Why not utilize a natural resource instead of using the chemical compounds that everyone had to pay for?

'Oh good - You're awake now, Katsuragi-san.' Echoed a voice all of a sudden from Amaya's right.

Fright overcame her as she recognized the jovial, peculiar toned voice from the last time she was conscious.

Enough so that Amaya's immediate reaction was to throw herself out of bed, and over the top of the empty bed in her immediate proximity to hide on the other side.

Amaya's wide eyes fell upon that same yellow form that she had come face-to-face with just that morning standing just a few paces away from the bed she had just fled from. The yellow creature who introduced himself didn't appear the least bit bothered by her flight-or-fight reaction, and instead watched her with that same yellow-faced grin of his.

However something came to her notice, dragging her gaze directly to his right fingered tentacle waving gently in the air like it was just a normal habit to sit there waving like that.

Held securely so that he didn't drop it, was a silver and aqua touch-screen phone, not a single scratch or fingerprint upon it's shiny surfaces.

'Hey!' Amaya exclaimed as she recognized it to be her own phone, and she forgot all about hiding behind the infirmary bed. 'Why the hell have you got my phone?!'

'Oh? This?' He waved the tentacle holding her phone a bit more dramatically, before he looked at it. 'Karma-kun suggested I use it to wake you up.'

Amaya felt her brow furrow at those words.

She was going to wring Karma's bloody neck when she saw him next!

'Here.' Koro-sensei spoke, and his tentacle holding her phone stretched easily over the three meter distance to return her phone to her. 'It has served it's intended purpose, so I'll return it to you, now.'

Amaya hesitantly held her hands out, watching suspiciously as the creature gently set her phone in her hands before withdrawing his fingered tentacle.

She noticed immediately that there was no slime or residue over the yellow appendage like she had expected.

How odd ...

'Katsuragi-san?' The peculiar, energetic voice spoke up, drawing her gaze from her phone to the creature that had called her.

He was still wearing that grin, and his face hadn't taken on any other changes like it did when green stripes appeared.

'PE is in session right now, however I believe a bit of revision is in order.' Koro-sensei announced jovially, suddenly, and then faster than Amaya's eyes could follow, he suddenly held her messenger bag from one of his arm tentacles. 'Please come with me to the classroom!'

Amaya watched cautiously as Koro-sensei turned towards the infirmiry door at a much slower pace than his movement just a second beforehand, and she hesitantly lifted herself to her feet to do as she was told.

She was suspicious, and of course didn't trust this creature, however she did acknowledge something else.

Karma had no care or concern about anything this creature could be capable of, as if there was no danger at all.

So she'd follow with that subtle hint of knowledge, but other than that, Amaya wouldn't trust this creature.

About the only thing she'd trust was that he wasn't going to harm her while school is in session.

Amaya watched the way this bizarre teacher moved, picking out discrepancies and small tidbits that didn't mean anything right now.

Like how he had just one pair of fingered tentacles that appeared were his most dominant of all his tentacles, and how the tentacles that were in constant contact with the ground seemed to move like he was trying at least a little in order to walk like a human.

Well, maybe not trying to ... something in the back of Amaya's head told her that it might be something more subconscious.

Koro-sensei snapped Amaya out of her observations by sliding the door of the classroom open with his left dominant tentacle, ducking his head beneath the top of the door as he entered the room.

Amaya hesitantly followed suit, her bandaged hand automatically reaching out to slide the door shut behind her.

Through the windows of the class directly in front, Amaya could see many forms up ahead, those of which she knew to be her new classmates, all dressed in what she knew to be PE uniforms. She could see that the man called Karasuma was out there as well, however he seemed to be sparring with one of the students?

No, not sparring.

One boy with black hair was in the middle of trying to hit Karasuma with what Amaya immediately realized was a green rubber knife, while the man just easily blocked every strike with the smallest movements - He used the momentum of the boy's movements to push his strikes off course, much like he had trained for a very long time in self defense.

Amaya's eyes widened in understanding as she watched.

She only knew how to competently inflict harm - She wanted to learn how to do that, too.

'Katsuragi-san?' Koro-sensei's voice spoke up once again, snapping Amaya out of her observations once again. She turned her head to look at the creature, who had taken up the spot in front of his desk.

Amaya stepped away from the classroom door to approach the yellow creature.

'Normally, I would introduce a student to their class much like in a normal school.' Koro-sensei spoke up, still holding onto Amaya's messenger bag by the strap. 'However I couldn't help but notice something, curious, I should say.'

'Okay ...?' Amaya hedged.

'But first thing's first!' Koro-sensei remarked suddenly, and his tentacle holding Amaya's messenger bag stretched out towards the back of the classroom, where he set her bag gently upon the third desk from the right, in the back row. 'Since you already seem to get along well with Karma-kun, Sensei will give you the desk next to his.'

Amaya struggled to stop the smirk from touching her face.

Oh he was going to regret that decision before the week's up.

'Now, it is time for revision.' Koro-sensei announced, drawing Amaya's attention back to him.

It was rather strange, but this guy was nothing like any other teacher she'd dealt with before, and not in the whole he's a yellow octopus kind of creature way, either.

'Judging from your reaction when you walked into the Faculty Office this morning, it's safe to say that you haven't been made fully aware of the situation surrounding Class E.' Koro-sensei surmised, his arm-tentacles waving once again as he spoke. 'Considering that Karasuma-sensei had selected you for the task of assassinating me, I had assumed you were up-to-date with everything, considering that he tends to be very scrupulous.'

That wording caught Amaya by suspicious surprise, and she felt her brow furrow ever so slightly.

'Eto ... what do you mean by that?' Amaya couldn't help but ask this weird creature.

'Oh dear - I mean scrupulous, as in diligent with detail--'

'Not that!' Amaya interjected, however from the small 'Nyuu?' that escaped Koro-sensei, she realized he didn't quite understand what she was getting at. 'I actually know what that word is - I meant that part about my transfer!'

Koro-sensei seemed to observe her for a second before he spoke, as if he was choosing his words carefully.

'Your transfer was sought out and overseen personally by Karasuma-sensei.' Koro-sensei answered, his tentacles wriggling once again as Amaya blinked silently. 'It is different from everyone else for that one simple fact. Karasuma-sensei saw promise in you, and made immediate arrangements. Your presence here was decided well before your former teacher had even sought to issue an incident report, I hear.'

'Oh ...' Amaya felt all expression leave her face at that explanation.

She was kind of hoping this teacher didn't actually hear about what she'd done to the last one.

'I do look forward to seeing what kind of student Karasuma-sensei has picked to join my class.' Koro-sensei remarked as he stepped around to stand behind his desk. 'However, that is later, right now I need to make sure you understand what we expect of you.'

'Okay ...?'

'First of all, Katsuragi-san. You are aware that your task is to assassinate me by the end of the school year, that's correct?'

'Yeah.' Amaya responded honestly, crossing her arms over her chest as she saw the yellow creature lift a stick of chalk from the shelf beneath the blackboard.

'Good.' He said as he began to write in point-form as he spoke. 'Then you are aware that I intend to destroy the Earth, as I have done with the Moon?'

'Hang on! WHAT?!' Amaya exclaimed in shock, causing Koro-sensei to look back at her. 'I knew about you wanting to destroy Earth, but the Moon!? That was you?!'

'Yes, it was.' He responded in a self-assured manner, those green stripes once again appearing across his face. 'It is a trivial matter for someone like me.'

Amaya stared at the yellow creature in stunned silence, which seemed to cause him to laugh in that peculiar way of his.

'Nurufufufu! Are you really that surprised?'

Mutely, Amaya nodded her head slowly.

Oh god ... if Yuta ever found out ...

He'd never leave her alone!

'It appears you really know very little.' Koro-sensei surmised, though he didn't look over at her.

'Well, there was a Hyena present during the talk, so I missed a lot.' Amaya spoke with a sigh, lifting a hand to rub her forehead tentatively. 'All I really know is the obvious fact that you're not human, I have to kill you before you destroy the world, and I can't tell anyone about it, otherwise the Government will brainwash all of the memory out of me and whoever else I tell.'

'I see. I had better give you an entire overview, then.' Koro-sensei responded, this time turning to face her properly. 'To summarize on myself; I am not human, as you have said. Normal weapons do not work on me, and I have abilities that make it exceedingly difficult for anyone to hit me - For example, I have a maximum speed of Mach 20, so you can imagine it would be impossible for a normal person to punch me at my maximum speed. Special weapons have been developed that are guaranteed to kill me, provided that you can hit me with them, first. Karasuma-sensei will provide you with a set when PE is over.'

Amaya nodded her understanding, feeling rather odd that her assassination target was the one ultimately explaining everything to her.

'To summarize on your situation; I intend to destroy Earth by the end of the school year if nobody can assassinate me.' Koro-sensei continued, one of his arm-tentacles returning to jotting down notes as Amaya listened. 'To the persons that assassinate me, ten billion yen will be paid for saving the world by the Government. The one thing I insist on is teaching Class E for this year only. The government has agreed, one, because it's one way for them to keep constant supervision of me, and two, because it gives some thirty people an opportunity to kill me for a whole year.'

Ten billion ... That's enough to set someone up for life without cutting corners. With that kind of money, she could save Yuta and Reiko from having to come to this disgusting school in one year time. With that kind of money, she wouldn't feel forever indebted to someone else...

But Amaya's stomach told her that Ten Billion yen really wasn't worth it.

No damn government body would so easily give over that much money, no matter who the hell it was, or what it was for.

There were strings attached, she was sure of it.

'Umm ... You said your name was Koro-sensei ... is that right?' Amaya questioned tentatively.

'That's correct.' Koro-sensei responded immediately.

'I'm not going to ask why you're teaching, cause that's obviously your business, not mine...' Amaya began, taking to burying her hands in the pockets of her pants as she placed her weight on her left leg. 'But doesn't the fact that your students are trying to kill you .. well ... bother you?'

'Not at all!' Koro-sensei announced enthusiastically, causing a small frown to touch Amaya's face. 'In fact, I look forward to seeing how everyone will grow because of it.'

'And you're not going to retaliate if someone does try to assassinate you? Not ever?'

'Absolutely not!' Koro-sensei responded, his tone hinting at amusement that escaped Amaya at that moment. 'While you are a student of Class E, I will not lay a finger on you!'

Amaya felt her brow twitch at the mention of finger, grasping her curiosity even more.

She guessed the two finger-like digits protruding from the ends of his arm-tentacles were really fingers, but it was weird hearing him refer to them as such.

Just what was this creature called Koro-sensei?

'Well, I believe that should do it for revision.' Koro-sensei remarked as he turned away from the blackboard full of point-form notes, discarding the stick of chalk as placed his gaze back upon Amaya once again. 'If you have any further questions about anything, then now is your chance to ask them.'

Amaya was silent at first, her brow furrowing once again as she thought to herself.

Were there any questions she had that stood out from the mess of tangled thoughts and confusion going on inside her head?

Right now, there weren't.

It was just chaos, and Amaya didn't quite want to divulge into this with a creature she'd just met ...

In fact, she wasn't going to divulge with anyone about what was in her head unless she trusted them explicitly.

And there were only three people who she would ever do that with.

'No, thanks.' Amaya eventually responded with a small shake of the head, shifting her weight onto her right foot as she looked back up at Koro-sensei. 'Nothing right now.'

'Very well, then do not hesitate to ask if you think of anything.' Koro-sensei announced, and all of a sudden the blackboard was completely clean in the blink of an eye. 'There is fifteen minutes left out of PE class, so feel free to wander around and familiarize yourself with the campus until then.' Amaya nodded her head slightly, watching as Koro-sensei made his way towards the window, where he slid one open, and then disappeared in a flash.

A gust of wind swirled in the room where the creature had been just a second ago, and a small sigh escaped Amaya as she trudged over to close the window.

That strange, otherworldly feeling that hadn't left since she woke up hung in the air like a thick smog, and despite the warmth that was in the air from the sunlight, there was a cold chill that continued to shoot down Amaya's spine.

She wondered if it was because of the strange situation.

Amaya reached up to the window in order to close it, however she hesitated, her gaze falling upon everyone outside.

Things had moved on from the boy with black hair sparring with Karasuma, and everyone had separated into pairs, with Karasuma wandering from pair to pair just supervising, giving pointers, and other such teacher-like things. There really was just two people that she recognized other than the strangely serious man.

That was Karma and Nagisa of course.

Amaya didn't quite feel like just wandering around looking at the place - She was kind of interested in just watching what was going on, even though it was a bit late for her to be joining in.

So she pulled herself up onto the windowsill so that her legs were hanging outside, and she settled herself in to just sit there for the rest of class.

Maybe she could learn some things just by watching without being noticed?

Karasuma wasn't sparring with anyone, so she couldn't observe the way he deflected strikes, but she could observe everyone else, figure out who else was proficient at hand-to-hand, and other things like that.

There wasn't anything else for her to do right now, anyway.

There were twelve girls out there on the parched, weed-ridden grounds, along with fourteen boys. That made Amaya the thirteenth girl, and the twenty seventh student in all.

Out of all of the girls, it appeared that there was two or three of them that were at least a little athletic, seeming to keep up rather well with the boys in terms of movements and simple strikes.

There was a girl with short, dark brown hair that appeared to be rather confident with her movements, another with her greyish brown hair pulled back in a neat ponytail at the nape of her neck, who just seemed capable full-stop. Finally, there was a girl with long golden hair that seemed to just hold herself well full stop. The other girls were rather uncertain on their feet, as if they were second-guessing themselves. The boys however were a different bunch, swinging confidently, in a self-assured manner as they practiced.

As such, Amaya found herself more interested in watching the boys, if for nothing more than the fact that she was interested to see who would do what.

Amaya crossed her left leg over her right so she could prop herself up with her chin cradled in an upturned palm, her sharp gaze following movements that seemed just too slow to her.

She found it rather amusing in an offhanded manner that Karma didn't seem to really interact with anyone except for Nagisa, unless he was dishing out taunts to a tall burly boy with short bleached-blond around the sides of his head, and a mousy brown top. To Amaya's keen gaze, this burly boy looked more like a brawn over brains kind of person.

In fact, the burly boy looked more like a regular throw-your-weight-around kinda bully more than anything else. There were two boys that seemed to hang around him, one with black hair starting to turn to dreadlocks, and another with blond hair. Certainly not the kind of boys that Karma would spend time with, so Amaya knew the main interactions was of taunting and tormenting.

In a weird way, watching the way that Karma interacted with the people of Class E, Amaya had weird, mixed feelings about it.

One part of her was a little sad by the fact that he still seemed to have this wall between himself and the people around him, whether intentional or on purpose, she really didn't know. But then another part of her was also a little relieved by this at the same time, because she at least felt like she hadn't been left behind, yet.

Watching like this was nostalgic for Amaya, too.

It felt like nothing much had truly changed about the red-haired devil - He acted the same, seemed to look down on people in just the same way, and he clearly still loved to torment people. He could actually go far in life if he really wanted to, but he preferred to use his abilities and skills in order to clash with people.

It was fun to him, in a weird way.

It wasn't like Amaya didn't understand how it could be fun - In truth, if someone deserved being messed with, then she enjoyed tormenting the hell out of someone, but she often wondered if he enjoyed it a bit too much.

Something in Amaya's line of sight caught her absent-minded attention, snapping her train of thought and starling her.

She blinked her eyes quickly, looking towards the class outside as she realized that something had changed.

A couple of the students had stopped sparring with each other, and were looking in Amaya's direction, telling her that they'd noticed her presence. One was a girl with green hair, who seemed to be talking to a girl with glasses and dark brown hair pulled into plaits. Another was a boy with orange-brown hair, standing next to the boy who Amaya had seen sparring with Karasuma when Koro-sensei lead her into the classroom.

One by one, other students slowly stopped what they were doing to look over as well.

However she couldn't see either Nagisa or Karma in the group.

Where on earth had they gone?

Actually, Amaya noticed that Karasuma had disappeared as well.

Odd ... She hadn't noticed anyone walk off.

Had she lost herself too much in her train of thought?

'What're you looking at so intently?' A voice spoke up all of a sudden from right by Amaya's left ear.

It scared her so bad that she actually jumped, losing balance enough where she ended up falling back through the window with an inelegant squeal.

With a sudden crash, Amaya found herself lying on the floor of the classroom, her fright-filled eyes wide upon the ceiling above her head as her heart thudded away in her chest.

Standing over her were two forms she immediately recognized - Nagisa stood with a sheepish smile written across his face, while Karma just shook his head with an amused smirk, his hands buried in the pockets of his PE shorts.

'Amay, you squeal like a girl.' Karma told her.

That slapped her right out her fright, and caused her to scowl up at him.

'Wow, thanks, Captain Obvious!' Amaya shot with venomous sarcasm as she gingerly pulled herself to her feet. 'I have no idea what I'd have done if you weren't here to tell me that!'

'Glad I could help.' He responded with his not-so-innocent smile, causing Amaya to let out a sigh.

'So you're in Class E now, Katsuragi-san?' Nagisa asked her.

Amaya blinked in surprise at the question, glancing at Karma as she spoke.

'Umm, yeah...' She hedged, glancing at Karma once again. 'Didn't you know?'

'No.' Nagisa responded honestly, causing Amaya to frown at Karma once again. 'I didn't even know you were here.'

'She's been in the infirmary all morning.' Karma explained with a smirk, earning Nagisa's surprised attention as Amaya glared.

'Really?!' Nagisa responded in shock, turning his head to look up at Amaya in concern. 'What happened? Are you alright?'

'She fainted when she saw Koro-sensei. Dropped so fast I thought she'd died or something.' Karma spoke up dramatically, though he didn't look the least bit concerned.

In fact, Amaya realized he was about to start laughing at her.

Again, for what was probably the tenth time today!

'Yeah, laugh away, you heartless bastard.' Amaya seethed as she turned her gaze away from him in preference of stepping around Nagisa to head towards her newly allocated desk. 'You'll get yours someday, and I'll be there to laugh.'

That was a lie - Amaya knew for a fact that she'd be too busy stressing about him to even find it in herself to laugh at any misfortune that would meet her best friend.

From the laugh that she heard echo in response, Karma knew it too.

She couldn't find anything in her to gripe at this.

It was just fact, nothing she could really argue, even if she wanted to.

She just had to push the thought aside and just continue with what she had to do.

And right now, she had to get through her first day as Student 27 of the End Class.

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

And I bring you Chapter Twelve of Marionette! I apologize for the delay, however for the time being it looks like my updates are going to be one a week, maybe two at most until I finally get my copy of the Manga in the mail. OMG WHY DOES AUSTRALIA POSTAL SERVICES HAVE TO BE SO DAMN TERRIBLE???

Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter :) I enjoyed writing it.

I have a question for you lovely readers out there :) I'd love to hear from you all, cause I have a lot of ponderings.

What do you think of Irina Jelavic? Is she a character that you like? Or a character that you dislike with great passion? I'm interested to know :)

Translation notes for Chapter Twelve of Marionette. Just one word, this time around :)

Kaisou - Translates as one form of Recollection, which is written as 回想 in Japanese

I'm thinking of consolidating a copy of all of these translations notes into a separate part at the beginning of the story as well, so it's like a glossary of translations. What do you guys think?