Those long-kept keys were now discarded.

Tossed aside, three new keys were allocated; One to Reiko, one to the Building Manager, and one Amaya kept.

There was nobody else she knew who had a key to get inside, now.

She would pass one to Shigure when she went next.

Reiko had been surprised to return home to find Amaya in the process of replacing the locks, though she didn't ask why - She just skipped inside to forage through the fridge for anything sweet to eat for a snack.

Amaya still had no idea what Maehara was planning. She was honestly a little scared of asking, after she saw Isogai cast her a rather odd look.

It wasn't pitying, but it still conveyed that he was feeling sorry for her future self.

But, she had a very long day to tend to, and worrying about whatever Maehara had planned wasn't going to help.

So she did her best to push it from her thoughts, tugging her headphones on as she left through the door.

The sun was uncomfortably bright as Amaya made her way across Kunugigaoka's main campus, almost bright enough where Amaya had to squint a little bit to actually see where she was going.

She wished for Autumn already - With the main things to love about summer being some of her least favorite things ever, it made everything else feel even worse.

But then again, there wasn't much point in complaining about it, now.

'Oh! Maya-chan!' Maehara greeted her the moment she'd opened the classroom door, drawing her attention with little effort. 'Morning!'

He was standing in front of Isogai's desk, seeming to have been in mid-conversation with him when she'd arrived. There didn't appear to be many others in the room - a glance at the clock told Amaya that it was actually a little early, which would explain a few things.

'Good morning, Amaya-san.' Isogai greeted as well.

'M-morning...' Amaya mumbled in response as she ambled towards her desk.

She was starting to get a little apprehensive of the situation, even though nothing out of the ordinary had happened yet.

It probably didn't help that she didn't know what to expect, so now everything felt uncomfortable.

People filtered in one by one over the span of just as many minutes, slowly filling the classroom up.

And then just as Nagisa had walked into the room, Maehara had come walking right up to her desk.

'Oi, Maya-chan~!' The Playboy spoke up, a grin echoing in the tones of his voice as Amaya looked up at him from her notebook on her desk. 'What were you doing last night? You look more tired than you were yesterday.'

Perplexed, but otherwise not finding anything wrong with his rather odd remark, Amaya chose to answer him.

'Fixing things at home, and studying.' She answered.

'Oh? Are you sure that's all?' He questioned, a cheeky grin across his face. 'I thought for sure I'd be on your mind all night~!'

Amaya stared at the smirking playboy in bewilderment, at a loss of words of what was going on.

'Umm ... no, not really.' Amaya responded hesitantly. 'I already told you yesterday, I was going to study...'

'That's a shame.' Maehara sighed, a little dramatically as the door of the classroom opened. 'Then I'll have to make sure that I do leave an impression on you, today.'

Wait ... what?

However Amaya didn't have an opportunity to question the playboy on such a strange remark - The sounds of the door slamming shut startled her out of her wits, and then the seat right next to hers was taken up a few seconds later.

'Good morning! Everyone please take your seats!' Koro-sensei spoke up as he entered the room, bobbing his head beneath the door frame, as usual.

And with that, Maehara cast her a grin before he made his way to his seat.

Leaving Amaya sitting there, even less sure of what was going on than she had been just ten minutes ago.

Though class began, and the confusion was forced clean from Amaya's mind.

She could feel the wave of discomfort and the pain in her chest growing the instance she heard that door close, the very second she recognized it to be Karma who'd arrived.

But she did her best to pretend she hadn't noticed him arrive, though she really had.

It still hurt as much as it had yesterday, but she couldn't hide out in a tree like she had all day yesterday, could she?

A small stack of papers had made their way onto Amaya's desk as Koro-sensei wandered around the room, reading out the textbook in his arm-tentacle before they'd begin the nightmare of a Mach-Speed class later in the morning.

They were a set of papers for a Pop-quiz, bringing Amaya to fix Koro-sensei with a rather exasperated look.

'Nurufufufu~! I want those completed, as you did yesterday.' Koro-sensei announced, taking advantage of her words yesterday about homework.

Damnit, she should have guessed that.

However all Amaya did was nod slightly, a small sigh threatening to escape her as the tentacled creature disappeared back to the front of the classroom.

Oh well, at least if he was doing it this way, she didn't have to even look at another piece of homework again.

Yay for small blessings, right?

Class began after the usual morning procedures, and Amaya absorbed her into absent-minded thought while Koro-sensei continued about what he was doing. Her pen scratched across the papers as thoughts and answers bounced through her head.

She of course cursed that Baka-Five for this stupid bet - Just so she wasn't the one bringing the class down, she was putting all of her time and effort into studying.

And she honestly hated spending her time like that.

She had so many better things she'd like to spend her time on, after all.

All of a sudden a hand appeared in her field of vision, tossing a folded piece of paper on top of the quiz she was filling in.

It took Amaya a few seconds to realize it was Sugaya who'd done it, and as she looked at him in confusion, he cast her a wry smile and motioned to the front of the class.

And there was Maehara casting her a not-so-subtle grin before Koro-sensei had bopped him on the head with a squishy tentacle.

Well this was new.

She'd seen her classmates in other classes exchange notes like this before, but nobody ever had done it with her.

Letting out a small breath, Amaya picked up the paper and unfolded it.

Where do you hide your wings?

Confusion was as clear as day across Amaya's face as she stared at those words - Not only did the question not make sense to her, but she didn't understand why he'd send a note like that in the middle of class.

Where did she hide her wings?

Since when do humans even have wings to begin with?!

'Amaya-san! I'll be confiscating that!'

And then all of a sudden, the piece of paper was tugged out of her grip faster than she could blink.

It was a no-brainer as to who had decided to grab it.

'Now, what is this...' Koro-sensei had begun as he looked down at what was written.

What confused Amaya even more was how Koro-sensei's face suddenly turned light pink.

'Nurufufufufu~! How interesting~!' The octopus remarked, making his way back to the front of the classroom to place the note on Maehara's desk. 'Please refrain from sending notes in class, Maeahara-kun~!'

His remark didn't make sense to Amaya - It honestly looked like Koro-sensei was greatly pleased with it, since he was busy scribbling away in his notebook.

'Sorry, Koro-sensei.' Maehara responded, though he didn't sound apologetic at all.

But what the hell was all that about, anyway?

Deciding to question her friend about it later, she shrugged it off and resumed the task of filling out that quiz.

Second Period came along, and it was PE, thankfully.

Amaya didn't bother to put her papers or writing implements away - She merely grabbed her bag with her Gym clothes and made her escape before anyone else had so much as risen out of their seats.

She'd left before Karma had even made a move to.

She took her time in the change rooms, savoring the alone-time she was getting away from prying eyes.

Namely those of a Yellow Octopus with his interest captured with that strange note Maehara had sent to her.

She didn't know what to expect of the rest of the day - and quite honestly, she was a little apprehensive of it.

Though her peace was broken the moment she'd gotten changed and stepped outside.

'Maya-chan!' Echoed Maehara's voice all of a sudden, drawing a small sigh from Amaya as she turned her head in response.

The playboy in mention was approaching from just a few meters along the outside wall of the building, a smile across his face.

It looked like he'd been waiting for her, though she couldn't guess for the life of her why that would be - Everyone else was over near the climbing ropes a good 20 meters away.

'Want to pair up with me? We've got knife-practice again.' Maehara offered.

'Sure ... I guess.' She hedged.

Knife practice, yay...

The sarcasm in her thoughts was quite strong - She honestly rathered unarmed fighting to using knives and guns.

Having her hands occupied with something, even if it was something like a knife just frazzled her too much.

A familiar laughter from up in one of the nearby trees told Amaya that Koro-sensei was going to be spectating today - Though why he was hiding up in a tree was beyond her.

It wasn't just the tree-residing Koro-sensei that was watching them however - Okano was standing closest paired up with Kataoka today, and her gaze kept on flicking over with what Amaya immediately recognized to be frustration.

Though the gaze was directed at Maehara, not herself.

Just what the hell was going on with everyone, today?

Remark after remark escaped Maehara as the class continued on, most of which made no real sense to Amaya - And certainly not enough for her to remember the remarks themselves.

At least until mid-way through class, when he made a very particular remark that set her temper loose.

She'd been just seconds before making a move to try and score a point against the playboy with a strike to the gut when he'd spoken those words, in the same way that he had all those other remarks.

'You know, I've been wondering something, Maya-chan.' Maehara had begun, casting her a rather bright smile as he prepared himself to either block or parry her next strike. 'Is your dad a master sculptor? Because you're definitely a masterpiece!'

She had been stunned for the first fraction of a second, her brain hitching on the mention of her father.

Then the next second her mood had switched to volatile as she was immediately reminded of the grinning maniac in all of those memories she loathed to recall.

She dropped the knife without even thinking, throwing herself forward to grab him by the wrist before he'd even had a chance to blink, let alone realize what was going on.

And in one swift movement, she'd pulled him into a judo-throw very similar to the one Shigure always used on her - She used all her strength to flip him over to land with a painful crash on the ground a few feet away, hard enough to startle a few of their classmates.

'Damn ... I already knew you hold back in class, but not this much!' Maehara groaned out, a wry chuckle escaping him as he looked up at the girl standing over him. 'Guess I know how to make you mad, now.'

She wasn't sure what to make of that remark, only that she really didn't like it.

The class had stopped to stare at the commotion that had transpired, surprised perhaps that Maehara had been thrown to the ground with such strength and ferocity.

Though what she heard next surprised her more than anything else she'd heard today.

'That's what you get, you jerk!' Okano spoke up as she made her way over to grab Amaya by the wrist. 'Come on, Katsuragi-chan! Lets leave that womanizer be. You can come join us, instead.'

'O-okay?'

And with that, Amaya was tugged over to the part of the schoolyard she and Kataoka had been practicing at.

'That jerk... why does he have to act like that?' Okano muttered beneath her breath as she let go of Amaya's wrist.

'Good morning, Katsuragi-san.' Kataoka greeted the rather quiet Amaya.

'Amaya's fine, you know ...' Amaya sighed as she stretched her arms slightly. 'I don't like my family name.'

Kataoka blinked in surprise.

'Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't realize.' She apologized, glancing at an equally as surprised looking Okano. 'So you don't mind if everyone calls you Amaya-san, then?'

'Not in the least.'

'I guess that explains why you always seem a little uncomfortable when we call you that.' Okano remarked, a little sheepishly.

If that was the end of the frustrations and confusion for the day, then Amaya would be content.

But of course, it wasn't.

Seeming more than pleased with gossip-relevant events that had been transpiring through the morning, Koro-sensei had decided to make things even more chaotic during third period.

English Class, and they were divided into groups of two or three so they could apparently practice conversational English.

And what else does he decide he's going to do?

To dictate who will practice with who.

Isogai, Kataoka and Okano.

Nagisa, Kayano and Nakamura.

Terasaka and Hazama.

And of course, he just had to pair Amaya with Maehara.

She hadn't failed to miss that he'd paired Karma with Okuda, either.

It was after listening to Okano mutter curses at Maehara all through the second half of PE that Amaya realized just what Maehara was doing, and of course it made sense as to why Koro-sensei of all people was so gung-ho with throwing it way out of proportion.

That stupid book of his - He was after more gossip and information for that god-damned book he'd been writing since before Kyoto.

'Nurufufufu~! This arrangement is perfect!' The yellow creature had spoken once or twice throughout the class, and all Amaya could do was sit there and try not to let her agitation and frustration get the better of her.

And at the same time, it felt like her heart was beginning to sink.

It reminded her of that page she'd read in Koro-sensei's book, where the boys had that discussion about the girls they'd liked, and Karma had apparently said it was Okuda.

She didn't count.

And she didn't fail to recall how Koro-sensei had a tendency to try and separate her and Karma when they seemed to be getting too close, whether by just appearing all of a sudden or physically moving them to opposite sides of the room.

She had no idea how this weird behavior from Maehara was supposed to help her sort things out with Karma.

She honestly didn't understand it, and the worst thing about it was that she was starting to feel worse than before.

'You're awfully quiet, Maya-chan.' Maehara spoke up, his gaze shifting from the snickering Koro-sensei hovering around Isogai, Kataoka and Okano. 'Did what I said during PE really upset you that much?'

Amaya could only let out a small breath at the fact that Koro-sensei had insisted on English only for talking this period.

While she could understand the playboy sitting at his desk in front of her, it didn't mean she wasn't having to mentally retrace his words to make sure she picked the right words through his accent.

'Just that one.' Amaya responded slowly, turning the page of her book.

'Was it the 'Dad' part?'

No response.

Honestly, Amaya was hoping he'd drop it - She didn't want to talk about her so-called father issues, especially here of all places.

'Maya-chan?'

She looked up at the playboy, before a small sigh escaped her.

'Forget it - Just don't do it again.' Amaya responded, lowering her gaze back down to her notebook in her lap.

She could see Okuda and Karma in the back of the classroom when she'd look at Maehara, and it hurt.

'Okay, sure. I get that.'

'Thanks...'

'Amaya-san!' Koro-sensei barked from the other side of the classroom, the sounds of squishy movements echoing faintly as he approached. 'This is an English Conversations Class today! Converse in English! English!'

'I don't want to.' Amaya responded flatly.

'But how will Sensei mark your practical skills if you do not participate?'

'Dunno.' She shrugged slightly, though she didn't lift her gaze from her book.

'Amaya-san, this is no time to take on a petulant attitude! This is a perfect opportunity to show just how much you have been paying attention during Irina-sensei's classes.'

Persistent, wasn't he?

And yet all Maehara did was watch with mild interest.

'Nurufufufu~! Or perhaps theres a particular reason you appear to be rather irritable today?' Koro-sensei remarked, almost tauntingly.

The particular shade of pink he'd been wearing before had appeared once again, causing Amaya to lift her gaze up to glare at him.

'What makes you say that?' Amaya questioned bitterly.

Knowingly, Koro-sensei chuckled to himself as he crouched down next to Amaya, a squishy tentacle lifting to rest atop Amaya's head to pat gently.

It almost felt like he was beginning to patronize her.

'Amaya-san, you have been depressed ever since Karma-kun has stopped talking to you.' Koro-sensei remarked, quiet enough where the only other who could have heard him was Maehara - But even he seemed to have missed what was said from the curious look across his face. 'Its certainly not a hard problem to figure out once one has the basics down for observation.'

Damnit, why did he have to be so nosey?

Yes, she already knew.

So why bother prodding at it like this?!

'I'm going.' Amaya muttered as she rose to her feet, lifting her bag off the floor next to her.

'Not yet!' Koro-sensei spoke up quickly, suddenly rising to his leg-tentacles. 'You still haven't attempted any Conversational English for me to grade!'

He wasn't going to let this go, was he?!

All she could do was sigh as she decided she may as well say something to shut him up.

'I'm going, whether you agree to it or not, Koro-sensei.' Amaya ground out, her gaze narrowing as the octopus continued to wave his tentacles a little. 'I'd rather revise Mathematics than provide gossip and amusement for your stupid novel.'

'Whoa...' Maehara seemed to gape at Amaya like she'd done something really strange at first. 'That almost sounded like how Bitch-sensei would pronounce that...'

And unlike the rather affronted exclamation, or even a slightly hurt remark, Koro-sensei's face instead flashed his usual orange with red circle.

'Excellent - Your pronunciation is better than Sensei had thought!' Koro-sensei remarked. 'Have you been practicing without anybody knowing?'

'No.' Her response was blunt, and completely truthful.

Of course she hadn't been practicing.

Because it was something she had already learned years ago, forced to the point that it rolled off her tongue clearly with just a little bit of effort.

'Very well, then Sensei will give you permission to leave. However you're to return in time for fourth period!' Koro-sensei gave in, though he didn't sound displeased by it.

And with that, Amaya stepped around the octopus teacher to leave the classroom, the curt nod from her the only response that showed she heard him.

The door shut behind her, perhaps with a little bit more of a slam than she'd intended.

But she had a feeling that nobody really noticed, anyway.

It was uncomfortably warm outside, though she ignored it as she wandered over to her favorite tree near the cliffs, propping herself up safely in the branches near the top.

The breeze was cool, inviting, with just the smallest hint of water in the air.

No uncomfortable levels of humidity, or stagnant air that she had picked down there on the ground.

Clouds eased the harsh sunlight to softer rays, and the leaves of the tree she was in shielded her from the rest.

And yet it didn't make her feel any better.

In fact, it didn't help at all as she felt tears beginning to well up as she stared out at the expanses beyond the cliff in front of her.

A sudden chiming, and a bird-like chirping echoed before long, eminating from the pocket of her pants.

She didn't know who that could be, or even if she wanted to read what she knew was an email.

In truth, she wanted to ignore it.

She doubted it was from Reiko, and even less her school.

And it certainly wouldn't be Yuta.

Shigure would contact her, but it would never be anything exceedingly important through an email - He'd call her, instead.

Though she did her best to ignore it, a familiar voice spoke up after a short while.

'Amaya-san?' Ritsu called out, her voice ringing with remarkable clarity through the silent expanses of the tree-branches.

Amaya kept her silence, however.

If she could pretend she was asleep or something, maybe the Fixed Artillery would decide to come back later?

'You have received a set of emails, all from Koro-sensei. Let me read it out to you.' Ritsu announced, effectively scratching up Amaya's wishes.

Why did everyone seem to do that of late?

'The emails read as follows,' Ritsu began, drawing a small breath from Amaya.

Couldn't they leave her to sulk on her own for just five minutes?

'Amaya-san, Sensei has some things to apologize for, but for now its appropriate to say some things in writing than in person.' Ritsu read out, her voice echoing just the same from Amaya's pocket. 'You have come a very long way since arriving in my class, though there is something that you might not have realized just yet.'

Oh yeah?

She wondered what that could possibly be, though she wasn't all that enthusiastic about it.

'You as a person are more open with your emotions than most of your classmates - You tend to wear your emotions rather clearly, though when it comes to words, you never say anything. At this point in time, its safe to say that your classmates have learned to utilize your emotions to fill in the gap that your refusal to speak always provides, though the finer details always seem to be rather skewed in hindsight.'

Amaya remained silent as Ritsu read out, gazing down at the ground below her.

'Sensei understands that the class arrangements for English have upset you. But Amaya-san, these arrangements were not done to alienate you, or to put further distance between Karma-kun and yourself.'

... What the hell?

What did he mean by that?!

'So try not to get discouraged - there is a very good reason for Sensei's actions to date. You'll see.'

She'll see, huh?

More waiting, letting things go to their own.

Why was that all she could do?

'And that's the emails received.' Ritsu finished, her voice echoing with a kind smile. 'Cheer up, Amaya-san.'

And with that, all was silent.

Amaya let out a breath as she closed her eyes, thinking over the emails from Koro-sensei.

She wasn't sure if she wanted to believe him.

After all, it was the hope being in vain that hurt more than expecting the worst.

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

^^

Konran - Translates roughly as Confusion in this instance, which is written as 混乱 in Japanese, if I'm not mistaken. Three guesses why ;)

All the best~!

<3 Loki-Roki