There were many times that Amaya had thought Koro-sensei would utilize any and every opportunity to teach.

Such as the instance of utilizing Okuda's gullibility to teach her that she needed to learn how to better communicate, all while expanding on her Chemistry skills at the same time. Or how he had made modifications to the Fixed Artillery to give her the ability to further evolve beyond what was believable at the time.

Well, it turned out that this wasn't going to be any different, as far as Koro-sensei was concerned.

Everything was a learning curve when one's teacher happened to be a Mach-Speed Octopus who was devoted to teaching anything and everything he could wrap his mind around, to anyone that was placed in front of him, no less.

'Just as Sensei said he is not disappointed at all that you skipped some exams, there is also no sense in wasting the next hour, either!' Such was Koro-sensei's announcement once Amaya had finished with the waterworks and calmed down enough to drink that tea he'd foisted upon her.

And then she was escorted back to the classroom for what turned out to be a rather strange kind of lesson.

It consisted of subjects that their class weren't permitted to study as well as other subjects, though oddly enough, there was no science or mathematics. There was art, music, creative writing, a little bit of photography amongst other things - all those wonderful things that was reserved for the main campus.

And right in the middle of that, Amaya's fondness for birds came to light when one flew in through the window and landed on Koro-sensei's tasseled cap. She couldn't help but keep looking up at the little sparrow, itching to reach out and hope it would let her pat it.

Needless to say, the moment Koro-sensei realized just how much she liked birds, the rest of the makeshift class was filled with all sorts of bird references and themes. All of his little octopus drawings on the pages of her notebook turned into octopus dressed in bird costumes, or some of his drawings were just birds full stop.

One even looked like Donald Duck, of all things.

It was towards the half-way point in fourth period when her classmates began to trickle back to the classroom, End of Term Exams evidently over now.

Isogai and Kataoka would be coming up in the back with the marked exams, like the last time.

If there was one thing that Amaya could say was impressive about the faculty of Kunugigaoka was the fact that even though they didn't have Mach-Speed in their arsenal, they still had some system to get everything marked the same damn day the exams took place.

Probably, there were a set of teachers marking the exams as the ones overseeing them brought the completed ones over, just to make the system more efficient.

That would explain why the teacher disappeared every two-minute intermission like that.

The proof of the over-efficient marking-system the main campus had in place came in the form of Koro-sensei tapping five paper sleeves full of exam papers onto the teaching podium once everyone had returned to class, and they'd been handed over.

Nobody had really said anything when they'd returned to find Amaya sitting at her desk, though Isogai had cast her a relieved look that said more than enough.

Her absence had been noticed, though nobody was going to ask about it.

And it was probably for the best.

She wasn't really in the right mindset to really talk about anything all that serious right now – All the crying and emotional torment had sapped her of most of her energy.

So really, all she wanted to do was go home and sleep.

'Well, class. Your scores in all subjects have arrived.' Koro-sensei announced at the start of fifth period, tapping the paper sleeves against the surface of the desk.

A strangely serious air had overcome the majority of the class – Fuwa had propped up a piece of paper on the window next to her desk, preparing to mark a tally of top scores, Amaya guessed.

She didn't bother to glance at the lazy redhead seated at his desk as he linked his hands behind his head and leaned back in his seat – She'd like to stick with her apathetic mindset right now.

Even just thinking about him brought pain to her chest, and she had promised herself she wouldn't look at him following the events at the station.

Seeming to take the silence as his cue to continue on, Koro-sensei set four of the sleeves aside.

'Well then, let's begin with English.' The Octopus began, unwinding the string that held the sleeve closed so he could pull the cover paper out. 'First in the E Class, and first in the grade ... Nakamura Rio!'

A second of disbelief, before a resounding chorus of cheers exploded to life as all eyes fell upon Nakamura.

Amaya could hardly hear the blond's remark over the cheering, though she didn't doubt the girl was pleased about it.

'Perfect. Though your motivation had a whimsical side that worried me.' Koro-sensei spoke as Nakamura approached to receive her papers.

'Well, there was ten billion yen on the line!' Nakamura responded easily. 'Don't forget about that tentacle, now!'

'I won't.'

Tentacle?

Oh, right.

Amaya did recall something about Koro-sensei letting students have the right to destroy a tentacle without evasion if they got the top score for a subject. She was just more concerned about what manipulation Asano Gakushuu had in store for them if her class lost the bet.

Though the sudden appearance of marked English Papers in front of her face brought Amaya out of her moment of thought, and bringing her to instinctively grab them before she even knew it.

'Nagisa-kun, you put up a good fight, but you haven't kicked your habit of spelling mistakes when it really counts.' Koro-sensei continued.

Amaya guessed that made Nagisa the second best in English.

But her own score wasn't too bad, she guessed – A rough 79pts was scribbled in the top right corner in red ink.

'Still, top marks in a subject means that's one tentacle down.' Koro-sensei remarked as he stabbed a tiny white flag into the end of one of his tentacles. 'Let's wait until I've read all the scores to see if we have something to celebrate'

Something to celebrate?!

Was he a masochist or something?!

'Next up is Japanese:' Koro-sensei continued, opening up the next sleeve of papers. 'First in the E Class is ... Kanzaki Yukiko!'

The delicate girl in mention seemed rather surprised, though elated cheers echoed out of course.

'However! First in the grade goes to Asano Gakushuu of the A Class!' Koro-sensei added rather quickly, though as Amaya expected, he wasn't the least bit disappointed. 'Kanzaki-san, you did an excellent job, and that's all that matters.'

A small smile tugged at Amaya's lips at those words.

A second later, papers with a score of 83pts were right in front of her face.

'Asano can really nab those points, huh.' Maehara muttered from the front of the classroom.

'He's crazy tough. Nakamura only beat him in English by one point.' Mimura added.

'That's the top in the nation for you. No chinks – not in any subject.' Agreed Isogai with a grave look.

'They're collectively known as the Big Five, but really it all comes down to Asano. You've got to take him down, or you'll never get to the top.'

Amaya let out a small breath as she dropped her papers onto her desk.

Damnit, she really didn't need to hear that the guy pestering her for information was the top student in the nation.

That just made her nerves bristle with even more discomfort when she stopped to consider what the future may hold for his infuriating appearances.

'Let's move on. In social studies, first in the E Class goes to Isogai Yuuma.' Koro-sensei spoke up, seeming eager to continue the announcements along. 'As for first in the grade? Congratulations! You beat Asano to take the top spot with a perfect score of 100 points!'

A bright red face was what the class was met with as they looked up in surprise.

'YES!' An ecstatic Isogai cheered as he stood up at his desk.

'An excellent job, especially considering all the fiendish questions on the exam!' Koro-sensei continued to congratulate as he handed over all of the papers.

Though from the lack of papers finding their way into Amaya's hands, it turned out this was one of the exams she missed.

Funny how that turned out.

'We're 2 and 1!' Fuwa announced, the tension clear in her voice as she turned away from her tally on the window.

'Next up is science, right? ... Is it Okuda?' Sugaya spoke up, turning the group attention to the girl in mention.

Koro-sensei was quick to continue.

'First in the E Class for Science is Okuda Manami! And ... Marvelous! First in the grade is also Okuda Manami! Also a perfect score!'

As expected on the first count – Amaya would be surprised if it was any different.

Excitement and glee was written clear across Okuda's face.

Amaya honestly didn't need to see it to know it.

It appeared that it was this moment that had the more excitable of their class rise to their feet and start cheering.

Though Amaya let out a breath as she looked at the spectacled girl collecting her paper.

So, a perfect score, huh?

That meant she answered that particular question right... In that case, Amaya hoped hers was marked wrong.

'That's 3 and 1!' Fuwa announced with glee as she amended her tally.

'We don't even have to hear how Math turned out – We've won this!' Maehara cheered.

'Great work, Okuda!' Okajima congratulated the embarrassed girl, while Koro-sensei handed out the science papers. 'That tentacle is yours!'

'And so is what we're asking for in this little deal!' Kimura added with enthusiasm.

'I can't wait!' Kurahashi agreed.

Amaya blinked in surprise as she looked over at the boy in mention, confusion taking hold of her as she found herself at a loss of what was going on.

Wait – Surely that didn't mean that everyone already decided what the E Class wanted from this bet if they won?

Since when was that?!

And why the hell didn't anyone decide to clue her in about this?!

'Great ...' Amaya muttered beneath her breath as she turned her attention onto her science papers.

She decided to wave this bit of confusion off as an absence of hers – She did basically hide out in the trees all Wednesday just to avoid people, so it made sense to think that the discussion took place then.

After all, she honestly doubted Isogai or Maehara would deliberately keep her out of the loop.

Amaya paid no care for the measly 31 points in the corner of her half-completed science exam, instead scanning her gaze over the answers she'd written until she found that one question.

Q 27 – Following the Investigations of a facility off the coast of southern Australia in the year 2007 - Which controversial studies underwent in other facilities were later revealed to be a breach of human rights, allowed by the current laws of volunteer experimentation and marital legislation?

She looked down at her shakily written answer, her gaze carefully tracing the characters.

Genetic Variation and rewriting through Chemical exposure in regulated, repeated dosages for extended periods of time. The controversies include the nomination of a spouse deemed "unstable" for supposed treatment, voiding the subject's will through such legislation. Any offspring produced by the marriage fall under guardianship legislation, and can be volunteered for supposed treatment in the same way.

She loathed the answer she wrote, but that was greatly outweighed by the sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach as she looked at what had been marked against it.

What she hated most of all was the simple fact that her answer scored double the allocated points for that one question.

6 points, instead of the 3 that it was supposed to be.

'Last but not least, we have Mathematics! Now, the top of the class is ...' Koro-sensei called out, slicing through the haze of thoughts that had descended upon Amaya. She glanced up as the Octopus lifted the page from the last sleeve, though her gaze went back down to her science pages.

It wasn't like she didn't know who would get that.

He was sitting right next to her, after all.

Unless Asano got this point, too.

But then all of a sudden, the octopus seemed to pause in his motions, staring down at the piece of paper much like he was staring at a ghost instead.

'Nyuuu? This is a surprise!' Koro-sensei announced, lifting his gaze from the paper to look over at the back row of the classroom. 'Top of the class for Mathematics is actually Katsuragi Amaya! Congratulations!'

The papers in Amaya's hands dropped to her desk as she realized her name had just been called, and horror gripped her hard. It felt like a bucket of ice had been poured over her, all the colour draining from her face as Koro-sensei's words of praise sunk in on her.

She honestly didn't know what to say or do, even as nearly everyone turned to look at her with smiles as she hesitantly picked herself up out of her seat to go collect her paper.

She didn't understand what was going on.

The exams had to of been marked wrong! They just had to!

There was no possible way that she could have scored top of the class for her worst subject!

... could there?

'Of course, Asano Gakushuu still has top place, however you've done very well, Amaya-san.' Koro-sensei congratulated the bewildered girl, his face the bright orange with a scarlet circle as he passed her the papers. 'All that work of yours wasn't for nothing now, was it?'

Not possible.

This wasn't possible, regardless of the many hours she did spend on the subject to spite Karma's callous remark, before.

But at the same time, there was an undeniable glimmer of happiness inside of her.

It felt like she'd just done something right, after all.

'This is excellent work, everyone!' Koro-sensei cheered as he handed everyone else their remaining papers, his tentacles waving erratically as if in excitement. 'You've all polished your second blades superbly! And to celebrate, the rest of class will be free time until sixth period!'

'Hai!' A resounding chorus of voices rung out as Amaya turned to head towards her desk.

Just in time for her to catch the departing glimpse of Karma walking out of the door, papers clenched in one hand.

She'd frozen in her steps, entirely unnoticed by her classmates as she watched Karma disappear down the corridor.

He seemed rather angry...

Instinctively, she found herself wanting to follow, but she stopped herself the moment she felt herself begin to make the move. She didn't like seeing him like this, but there was no helping it. In truth, she honestly doubted she would be of much help, if any at all. In all likelihood, she'd probably make it worse.

He'd said he didn't want to talk to her, after all.

So she decided to keep doing the same thing.

She sucked in a breath, tearing her gaze away from the door, her gaze falling back upon her papers as the chatter in the room continued all the same.

The scores on her paper were rather unexpected, considering that in her better subjects of English and Japanese, she scored 79 and 82 points respectively. A score of 86 points were written in the corner of the cover page of her Mathematics exam, causing her brow to furrow slightly.

Well, it looked like she did best in Maths ... though she still felt like the exam was marked wrong.

However, as Amaya went to discard her exam onto her desk with little care, a small slip of paper slid out from between the pages, falling to the floor in front of her feet.

A small sigh escaped her as she crouched down to pick it up, flipping it over in her hands as she found herself rather curious.

She then found herself realizing it was the piece of paper Koro-sensei had pulled out of every paper sleeve to announce the top scores.

Asano got a perfect score in Maths, as Amaya had expected, and just as Koro-sensei had read out, her name was the top for her Class.

And right behind her was Karma's score, just one single point difference.

A bittersweet smile touched her lips as she stared down at the two scores.

This was probably the first time she'd ever beaten Karma at anything in her whole life, and it was just by one point. Even if he was having as bad a day as she was beginning to suspect, it didn't change the fact that she'd beaten him.

There was no way he'd want to talk to her, especially now.

All that work of yours wasn't for nothing now, was it?

She guessed Koro-sensei had purposefully slipped the paper in with her exam sheets to further prove that to her.

Her overall place was 91st out of 187 students in her year thanks to skipping an entire exam plus her other shortcomings. But she guessed her other subjects were enough to pick up the slack, in a way.

Worse than her 50th place during mid-terms, but maybe she would have gotten placed at 45th or something else like that if she'd sat through all the exams?

'Maya-chan!' Maehara's familiar voice called out through the excited rabble of her classmates, bringing Amaya to look over her shoulder at the approaching playboy. 'What're you doing hiding down there? Wait-- forget that! I got something I've gotta ask you!'

She carefully slipped the piece of paper into her pocket as she stood up straight on her feet, turning her full attention onto the rather excited looking Maehara.

'Sure, you can ask.' She responded, dropping her exam papers onto her desk.

Ask, yes.

But that didn't mean she'd answer or agree to anything.

'Don't worry – I'm not gonna ask you something personal like what your three sizes are.' He remarked with a smirk. 'But if you want to tell me that, I won't complain.'

Okajima a few meters away flinched at those words, his attention caught by the mention of 'sizes'.

Amaya let out a breath as she crossed her arms, a frown across her face as she stared Maehara down.

'I'll just pretend I didn't hear you say that, Maehara.'

'Oi!' The playboy exclaimed with a jolt, fixing Amaya with an incredulous look. 'When the hell are you going to call me Hiroto?!'

'When I feel like it, I guess.' Amaya responded with a sigh - Honestly, she was too tired for the back and forth between disagreements and jest.

'That's not fair ...' Maehara huffed slightly, though he quickly seemed to regain his composure. 'Right! This isn't what I wanted to talk about!'

'But you wanted me to call you by your name, Maehara.' Amaya offered in response.

He laughed in good humor, though there was a bit of a wry edge to his smile.

'I hope you didn't forget what I asked you yesterday.'

'Yesterday?' Amaya questioned, averting her gaze as she tried to wrack her brains.

Yesterday as in in class? Or what?

Oh, wait a minute.

'You mean hanging out, today?' She asked curiously.

'Not just hanging out! I said an actual date!' Maehara was quick to correct her, shaking his head slightly with a wry smile. 'And you, Maya-chan, haven't given me an answer yet.'

Damnit, no she hadn't given him an answer.

In all honesty, she was hoping he was going to forget about that.

'You mean that wasn't a joke?' She questioned uncertainly.

'Would I say something like that to you as a joke?' He questioned.

No ... he wouldn't.

When it counted, he never lied to her, either.

'So? How about it? Wanna take a chance on someone like me?' Maehara asked with a hopeful look across his face.

'I guess I can hang out as frie--'

'Don't be like that, Maya-chan!'

Amaya stared at him silently, weighing her options carefully.

'Do I have to?'

'Yep.' Maehara was quick to answer, grinning brightly.

'No you don't!' A nearby Kataoka corrected, fixing Maehara with a reproachful glare he coincidentally didn't see. 'If you don't want to, then don't let him push you into it, Amaya-san.'

'That's right! He's just being a no-good playboy!' Okano added vehemently.

God damn it, how much of the class were watching this?!

'I'll hang out as friends.' Amaya repeated her original answer. 'Not as a date.'

'But that's not fai--' Maehara had begun, however he jumped as a hand suddenly fell upon his right shoulder.

'That's enough, Maehara.' A thoroughly exasperated Isogai cut in, tugging the startled playboy back towards the front of the classroom. 'She gave you her answer, so the least you could do is accept that.'

'Come on, Yuuma! Don't do this to me!'

And yet Isogai didn't yield – He dragged a struggling Maehara right out of the classroom, leaving Amaya to finally sit down at her desk again.

The spectators to the display had decided to start minding their own business, all the while Amaya was feeling more than just a little bit uncomfortable with the situation.

She pulled her phone and headphones from her bag, shutting the world out with her music as she propped herself up to sleep.

In truth, she wanted to go skip out on the rest of the day, maybe go home while the coast was clear.

But that meant spending the energy to haul herself down the mountain, and she honestly couldn't be bothered right now.

Voices swam around her as she let the bass and beat of the tracks wash over her, washing away the small strands of tension she didn't live with every day.

The sliding of doors, footsteps, exclamations from familiar voices pierced through the sleepy haze of apathy she'd ended up being dragged into once again.

And nobody disturbed her from her apparent sleep.

Familiar pains of emotional conflict still resided within her, aching away a little louder now that her stress over exams and the bet with Class A was gone. With that overlying trouble gone from her concentration, the emotional aches regained full-volumed voices once again.

However with the words Koro-sensei had given her up in that tree, she found herself a little less inclined to direct her chaos inwards.

Instead of the acidic, corrosive oceans inside of her, it felt a little clearer. Less tainted, if anything.

She could identify a little clearer what was hurting the most inside of her, now.

And it was the gaping hole the recent deterioration in her coexistence with Karma had caused.

She missed him.

She really, honestly missed him, to the point where it almost reduced her to tears just thinking about it.

Even just getting glared at was better than being ignored.

And she didn't want to ignore him, either.

But it was hard when he'd just walk away from her attempts at reaching out to him every time.

The sounds of horrified screaming and a repeated chant of the word 'Sev-en' stirred Amaya out of her apathetic daydreams, bringing her to gingerly lift her head from her arms crossed over her desk. Shifting her headphones with one hand, Amaya blinked groggily at the bizarre scene in front of her.

Mostly everyone was seated at their desks except for Terasaka and his three friends, who were standing at the front of the classroom, a victorious air about them as Koro-sensei flailed around in what was undeniably a mix of disbelief and horror.

In fact, the tentacled creature was trembling at the chanting, as if a fate he'd not expected had just been dealt out to him.

Oh well, if Terasaka and his friends managed to land Koro-sensei in hot-water through that declaration he made about tentacle-destruction for motivation, then it couldn't be helped.

She let out a breath as she rubbed her eyes sleepily, beginning to tune out the havoc once again.

Though Isogai lifted his hand up to gain the terrified octopus' attention.

'Oh, and Koro-sensei, we've been talking. We'll use our prize from the A Class wager with this assassination.' He remarked, holding up a copy of the Student Handbook for Koro-sensei to see.

'What?' Koro-sensei responded in English, confusion clear in his tone of voice.

Oh, so the wager prize was in that book, huh?

Then she wasn't really all that interested in even knowing what school-related thing it was right now.

Though in spite of her drifting in and out of thought, she got the basic idea of what was going on from the talking that continued around the room.

There was a trip reserved just for the A Class during summer break for being so super-smart normally, which had been picked as the perfect location for cashing in those seven free tentacles that Koro-sensei had just lost because of his little wager on Monday afternoon. Apparently, it was going to be an open, completely planned trip, so all inhibitions like keeping the public from learning of Koro-sensei amongst other things weren't applicable here.

Well, Class Trips were a bit of a moot point for Amaya following the events of Kyoto, so she couldn't really find it in her to get excited or curious about it.

As long as it had nothing to do with water was fine with her.

The only amusement she really found about it was the fact that if her class was going on this trip now, then it meant that the A Class wasn't.

Which, through cause and effect meant that Asano and his handful of morons weren't going to be popular with the rest of their class.

The rest of the class went by in a kind of buzz, words lost in amongst the sea of excited chatter and plans.

'Maya-chan!' Maehara's voice rung out through the slow drawl of her thoughts, startling her back out of her little world with a jolt. 'Come on, you're not sleeping the afternoon away!'

She found herself slumped over her desk once again, though she didn't recall ever setting herself down.

It looked like everyone was getting their stuff together to go home, which sounded like a really good idea.

However the grinning playboy slamming his hands down on her desk had her return her attention to him.

'You awake yet?' He asked with a smile.

'I'd like to be able to say no ...' She mumbled as she lifted herself out of her seat.

'Trust me, you won't be saying that, later.' Maehara replied confidently, leaning over to grab Amaya's bag from the hook of her desk. 'I'll get that for you~!'

She blinked sleepily at Maehara, though she let him do as he wanted on that count.

'Okay ... so where are we going?' She questioned as he lead the way out of the room, absentmindedly rubbing her eyes as she followed along after him.

'I already told you, we're going on a date!'

'Damnit, you're still saying that?!'

'Just stating the truth.' Maehara remarked with a smile, glancing back at Amaya's frowning form.

'I didn't agree to a date, you jerk!'

'I know, I know.'

'Then stop calling it one!' Amaya rebuked, wearily.

'Nurufufufu~!' The familiar laughter from a Mach-20 Octopus echoed from the open faculty room, where the octopus in mention was standing, watching with a pink-coloured face as he wrote in his notebook. 'Have fun on your date, you two~!'

'Not you, too!' Amaya ground out, face-palming.

'Okay, okay, it's not a date – We're just hanging out, as you said.' Maehara reassured the frustrated girl, ruffling her hair gently with a pat.

He was still grinning, though.

'I think I wanna go home ...' Amaya muttered as she pushed his hand away, straightening her hair as she disregarded the snickering Koro-sensei in preference for swapping her shoes over.

'Now that's mean, Maya-chan.' Maehara responded in good humor.

All the while, it felt like somebody was watching her.

It was uncomfortable.

It felt like someone was glaring right at her, or at least in her general direction.

And she couldn't bring herself to look to see who it was, no matter how hard she tried.

'Good to go, Maya-chan?'

'Yeah, yeah ...' She sighed in response.

She guessed she could humor Maehara for an hour or so, though she had cleaning and cooking she had to get done.

He wasn't that one person she wanted to spend time with right now.

And she felt guilty for that.

The walk down the mountain was spent more or less in mutual silence, with a few remarks from Maehara here or there to stop it becoming awkward. He walked close enough to her where their shoulders almost bumped against each other with the walk down, but she didn't make a move to put distance between them.

She did trust him not to overstep anything, though the fact that he insisted on tracing that separating line very closely seemed to say enough.

It wasn't lost on her, so she kept check of it.

That was probably the one thing all those pick-up lines and strange actions had her learn over the past three days.

The trip to wherever it was Maehara was taking her wasn't all that long, though with how tired she was feeling, it felt like it had been a while since they left the classroom. They took the usual train that stopped closest to their respective homes, however instead of stopping at any of the stops Amaya was remotely familiar with, Maehara walked her off the train at the stop right before his usual one.

And soon, she found herself being lead down residential streets she hadn't wandered in her recent memory.

Though as soon as she found herself face-to-face with a large shopping complex, she found herself understanding just where they were going.

'Umm, Maehara-kun?' Amaya spoke up hesitantly.

'I said to call me Hiroto!' Maehara quipped in response, though he was grinning all the same.

'Not enough respect points...' She muttered in response, a small breath escaping her as Maehara grabbed her by the wrist and proceeded to tug her towards the large shopping complex.

In truth, his remark sounded a lot like what Karma used to say in the beginning when he wanted her to stop calling him by his family name.

Though Karma's version of making her call him by his actual name was accompanied with torture methods he'd long since refined in terms of malice and simplicity.

'What're you getting all quiet on me, for? I didn't really bring you here to go shopping you know.' Maehara remarked with a grin as he glanced back at Amaya.

'Then why are we in a shopping complex?' Amaya spoke back in response.

The playboy grinned as he slowed his pace so that Amaya could walk even-pace with him.

'Trust me, I've taken enough girls on dates to know what places I'm taking you, today.'

The glare she shot him at the return of the word 'date' drew a small laugh from him.

'Stop that.'

'Hehe, alright, I'll stop.' Maehara remarked, still in good humor in spite of all of Amaya's complaints. 'But sooner or later you're gonna have to accept the fact that dates are really just something as simple as what we're doing.'

'God damn it, it's like I'm talking to a brick wall, or something ...'

'An attractive brick wall.' Maehara supposedly corrected her, though all Amaya did was face-palm.

He was lucky she was so tired – She probably would have clobbered him for the headache he was giving her if she wasn't.

She did promise herself if he got too much worse, she'd make a move to head home.

Her sanity was already rather addled, and she didn't need him to make it worse.

'And we're here!' Maehara announced all of a sudden, startling Amaya out of her inward complaining with a jolt.

She lifted her gaze from the sea of people walking around them to find that they'd ended up standing outside a remarkably large arcade, filled with all the machines, UFO Catches, games and everything else that could possibly be associated with them.

Well, she certainly hadn't expected that.

'Told you I didn't drag you all the way out here for the usual date.' Maehara remarked smugly, ignoring the immediate glare Amaya shot him in response. 'Come on, you're picking the games, today.'

'Why aren't you listening to me?!' Amaya complained.

'Because you don't know what you're talking about.' Maehara rebuked with ease as he tugged her inside the arcade.

Damnit, not even a brick wall was as stubborn as this guy!

Itona had proved that when he busted up the classroom wall last month, and now Amaya was contemplating trying to track him down just to get wall-destroying lessons from him to use on the playboy.

Sarcasm aside, Maehara really was starting to drive her insane.

And not in the good way, either.

Tokens were acquired, and before long Amaya was being lead through the arcade by the hand to get a look around the place. Even though he said she was going to be deciding what they were playing, she had no idea what she was supposed to be picking, exactly.

Her eyes had been drawn once or twice to one of the UFO Catchers with an assortment of coloured plushies that seemed to resemble ... penguins?

She recalled seeing one similar at the other arcade she'd been taken to by the playboy and Isogai.

'Oh! If you don't have any picks first up, Maya-chan, I know something I think you'll like.' Maehara spoke up, pausing to cast a bright grin at the rather baffled girl.

She didn't know why, but she got a bad feeling about this.

After all, they'd stopped a stones throw away from the music games.

'What would that be ...?' She reluctantly asked.

Without saying a word, Maehara pointed towards a machine in the corner, where it appeared to be some kind of arcade shooter.

And what intrigued her about it was the fact that it wasn't the brightly coloured, loud kind of design like the DDR machines or UFO Catchers.

'You like horror when it comes to movies and books, right? I think you'll like this, then.' Maehara explained confidently, surprising Amaya.

Wait ... he actually remembered that?

She'd only said it once, in passing.

'Okay ... I'm game.' Amaya eventually responded.

And much to her surpise, Maehara was right.

It was a First Person shooter game where the player had a lazer-pointed gun as a controller, and the aim of the game was to force back the waves of shambling corpses ambling over to try and eat the player.

And because its controller was a handgun similar to the Anti-Sensei air guns they'd been learning to use all year, Amaya found that she was actually able to play it.

Well enough where she could keep up with Maehara, no less.

She was thankful guns weren't his forte, either.

It was actually a lot of fun, and she'd laughed when Maehara would yelp and get so into the game he'd become frantic when the corpses got too close.

And some of the other games they played were similar.

But no matter how much fun she really was having, there was one person she'd rather spend this time with.

And it brought her mood right back down every time she started feeling that ache growing, because she'd reminded herself of it.

She'd probably enjoy this time with her friend a lot more if things between her and Karma weren't so messed up.

But she had no idea how to fix that, or even if she could.

Was there even any point in thinking about it?

'Maya-chan?' Maehara spoke up, taking note of her rather subdued disposition as he lead her through the crowds that had begun to appear now that school had been over for a while. 'You alright? You're zoning out a lot.'

'Yeah, I'm fine.' She responded with a small smile. 'Just a bit tired, is all.'

He seemed to appraise her appearances for a few seconds, before he cast her a kind smile.

He lifted a hand and set it atop her head gently.

'Just give me another ten minutes of your time.' He spoke quietly, a cheeky smile appearing as he seemed to glance just past her. 'That cool with you?'

It was a second later that she caught the tiniest glimpse of a familiar sky-blue from the corner of her eye.

Wait a second! Was that--

'Right~! There's something I wanted to have a go at!' Maehara announced all of a sudden, his enthusiasm back in full force as he began to tug her through the many people. 'You're coming with me, of course~!'

Amaya let out a small breath as she decided there was no harm in humoring him if this was all today was going to be.

In spite of his insistent remarks of this being a date, it honestly felt just like the last time she went to an Arcade with him and Isogai.

That time, he'd tugged her along by the wrist like this, too.

Out of all the places Maehara wanted to go in the last few minutes, Amaya certainly had not expected to be standing in front of a UFO Catcher filled with an intricately organized mountain of stuffed animals.

Even more, she certainly hadn't expected to find Maehara carefully assessing the assortment of stuffed animals, either.

'What are you doing?' She couldn't help but ask the preoccupied playboy, burying her hands in her pockets as he shifted his attention to a different part of the stuffed animal mountain.

'There's one in particular I'm trying to get...' He responded seriously, standing back as he continued to think. 'It has to be that one.'

'Huh, I didn't peg you to be the sort to like stuffed animals.' Amaya remarked honestly.

She never saw any that one time she visited his house...

'What?' Maehara seemed taken back by her remark, though he was quick to grin in good humor. 'Really, Maya-chan? It's not for me.'

Oh.

Guess that explained that, then.

So, Amaya patiently waited as Maehara decided to have a go at this UFO-Catcher

In truth, she understood the basics of it – She'd watched Yuta work the machines many times when Reiko would spot something she'd want in one of them, though it was from outside the Arcade just down from where she usually picked up groceries.

She'd never seen it from this close up.

Her eyes scanned around the many different UFO-Catchers, taking in the sight of stuffed animals left right and center.

At least until her eyes fell on one machine in particular that housed an assortment of round balls with faces on them.

They all looked rather unremarkable, some in pink, blue, some yellows and then purple.

Though it was the moment that she noticed something odd about that mass of stuffed toys that she actually jumped.

Cleverly disguised in amongst the many round objects she saw Koro-sensei's head, matching the same colour and size as the nearby pink toys, except his expression was exactly the same as it always was.

And he was staring right at them.

Of course...

God damn it, of course Koro-sensei would be snooping about for gossip!

Why didn't she find anything weird about how easily he seemed to let them leave alone that afternoon?!

'That sneaky bastard ...' Amaya muttered beneath her breath.

'Huh? What's that, Maya-chan?'

'Nothing. I'll tell you later...' She responded as she carefully lifted her phone from her pocket.

Koro-sensei seemed to pale just a little as Amaya snapped a photograph of him inside the UFO-Catcher.

She was sorely tempted to try and use the claw of the machine on him, since he was so shamelessly stalking his students for gossip.

For a stupid romance novel, no less.

Karma certainly wouldn't hesitate at the opportunity to torment the teacher.

Though she realized the mistake she'd just made with that thought – Her expression fell just a little as she found herself yet again thinking about things she shouldn't be right now, and she tore her gaze from Koro-sensei to look back at the UFO-Catcher Maehara was operating.

Or rather, had been operating, she realized as she found herself face-to-face with a sudden mass of black material.

'Here you go, Maya-chan!'

Maehara grinned brightly as Amaya lifted her hands up to lift what turned out to be a penguin, no decorative features like a sleeping cap or brightly coloured appendages. In fact, the only feature that stood out to her was the slanted eyes that gave it a rather evil appearance, in great contrast with the sugar-sweet versions in bright colours still in the machine.

It was the same kind that she'd been drawn to in the other arcade before.

'Is this ... for me?' She couldn't help but ask, looking up at Maehara from the stuffed animal in her hands.

'Its customary for the guy to give a gift when he takes a girl out on a date.' Maehara remarked, a cheeky grin across his face as he ruffled her hair gently. 'At least to me, it is. And besides, that's the one you were looking at a lot in the other arcade, right?'

Wordlessly, Amaya nodded her head slightly.

'Then I'm glad I managed to find one for you. Though if it was red, it'd be a freaky resemblance, huh?'

She felt a smile tug at her lips as she looked down at the stuffed penguin.

'Thank you, Hiroto-kun ...' She spoke softly.

Oddly enough, the playboy seemed to glance furtively away from Amaya, and the smallest hints of colour dusted his face.

'No problem.' He responded with a smile, albeit a little awkwardly.

She wasn't sure if she'd imagined that, though.

This whole day had done a number on her – It wouldn't be too far a stretch for her to start imagining strange reactions.

Though the sounds of a small chuckle snapped Amaya out of her small moment of thought-filled silence, and she found herself surprised to realize that it was Koro-sensei.

'Nurufufufufu~! Its time to wrap things up, Maehara-kun!' The Octopus had said, before he vanished from the premises, causing the mountain of stuffed toys he'd been hiding amongst to tumble and fall down the chute.

A small sigh escaped Maehara after a few seconds, bringing Amaya's gaze back to him.

He actually looked a little disappointed, though his smile was back in place has he noticed Amaya's confusion.

'Man, that bastard honestly doesn't realize how good he's got it.' Maehara remarked, stepping towards her as he rest a hand on her shoulder gently. 'Well, maybe he'll start paying attention.'

'Wh-what?!' Amaya squeaked out in surprise, the colour quickly draining from her face as he leaned a bit too close towards her - Any closer, and his nose would be against hers.

And yet, all she saw was a kind smile as his other hand lifted to take hold of the side of her face.

'It's all you, now. Time's up, Maya-chan.'

Time's up?!

But what does that mean!?

However she didn't have an opportunity to even ask him what he meant.

Before she'd even began to speak, a hand closed tightly around her elbow and dragged her backwards, tearing a startled yelp from her.

And just in that same moment, there was a deafening crack that echoed through the air – It was a very familiar sound to Amaya, so much so that she instinctively knew someone had just been struck.

'What the hell--?!' She managed to squeak out as she struggled to regain her footing, bewilderment and a lack of understanding for what was even going on rattling her further as she found herself standing behind a startlingly familiar form.

A very volatile Akabane Karma, no less.

'K-Karma...?' She whispered out, her breath hitching in her throat as she noticed just how riled up he really was. 'What are you doing?!'

'I warned you.' Karma seethed as he stared a staggered Maehara down, seeming to ignore Amaya completely. 'Did you really think that was an empty threat?'

A wry chuckle escaped Maehara as he straightened up, rubbing his jaw carefully where a large welt was already starting to develop.

'Not really - Its not like you were making any effort to actually help Maya-chan.' Maehara remarked, shooting a scathing look at Karma. 'I'd have an easier time taking anything you say seriously if you even bothered putting an effort into something.'

The scathing bite in Maehara's words actually sent a chill down her spine, though her attention was immediately rerouted right back to the volatile redhead standing in front of her as he twitched slightly.

She could literally feel the ill intent behind whatever was running through Karma's head at that second.

This wasn't good.

This really wasn't good, and she didn't know what to do.

If things kept going like this, there was going to be more than just scathing glares shot back and forth.

What could she do!?

What could she actually say?! 

There had to be something! Anything!

But as she struggled to conjure up something to say, she found herself immediately startled out of her wits by another sudden turn of events.

'We're going. Now.' Karma snapped as he turned, throwing a glance at Amaya's stunned form as he snatched up her wrist, proceeding to drag her away by force.

Her words ended up trapped in her throat, caught as she stumbled backwards.

The last glimpse she got of Maehara as she was dragged out of the crowded arcade was the kind, almost sad smile written across his face as he waved her goodbye.

The trembling in the grip of her wrist had her fail to bring up any words or struggle, even though it was tight enough to hurt.

She kept all hints of that locked away as she managed to regain her footing, allowing him to drag her along in spite of how much she wanted to just stop.

Because she realized that the trembling in his grip wasn't from anger.

She remembered something that the scruffy and laid back vice principal of her elementary school, Nishimura, had once said.

Anger was a secondary emotion, one that something else leads into depending from person to person.

And Maehara had guaranteed that his 'Jealousy Plan' would work.

It brought a sad smile to her lips as she looked down at the trembling grip of her wrist.

Just how much did Maehara's acting bother him to have this strong an effect on him?

She guessed she'd better put a stop to this, now.

'Karma ...?' She spoke up, lifting her gaze to look up at what she could see of Karma's face.

No response – She almost didn't think he'd heard her.

'... Are you ... going to go back to avoiding me again...?' She couldn't help but ask, more to herself than anything else.

The thought had tears threaten to well up, but she did her best to avoid that.

But then, the grip around her wrist loosened just a little, and she found herself almost walking right into Karma.

She heard him seem to let out a breath, his head turning a little away from her as he slowed his brisk pace to a halt.

And then, she heard him say something, so quietly she thought she was hearing things.

It had her breath hitch in her throat.

'...I ... I'm sorry...'

He turned his head away a little more, as if he was actually trying to hide his face from her.

It honestly surprised her to hear him say those words, especially to her of all people.

Should she say something?

Should she not?

It was clear he didn't want to talk, but he was forcing himself for once.

The way he was acting right now was proof enough of that.

'... For what?' She forced herself to ask in spite of herself.

The grip around her wrist twitched slightly, before he seemed to loosen his hold of her.

Had she said something wrong?

Possibly, but she wouldn't know unless he said something.

Or walked off like he had last time.

However, she noticed him hang his head ever so slightly.

'Karma...?'

'... You just .... got under my skin.' She heard him eventually speak, frustration evident in his fidgeting as he seemed to wave off her question.

'Is that why you didn't want to talk to me...?' She couldn't help but ask, chewing on her bottom lip as she stared up at him.

'I didn't mean it like it was permanent, Amay ... I just needed a chance to think.' He responded, a little quicker that time.

Space... huh?

Was that really what all this was about?

She couldn't help but feel like that was some twisted joke so far from the punch-line it really didn't make sense anymore.

But in one sense, she could see why he'd decide to push her away if she got to him like that.

She'd spent so long trying to cut her attachment from her, because if she didn't, he'd be all she could think about. Her words and actions were always toned down because she was trying desperately to hide it from even herself.

So it wasn't like she didn't understand.

Letting out a breath, Amaya dropped her bag to the pavement without care, the stuffed penguin being dropped on top of it as she stepped around to stand in front of Karma, tugging her wrist from his grip as he looked up at her.

And then she grabbed him by the cheeks and pinched, just like he always did to her.

A pained gasp and the sudden gripping of hands trying to pry himself free was what she was met with, and as he'd manage to gain just a little relief, she'd pinch harder.

'A-Amay that-- Oww!'

He always did this to her whenever she did something so very stupid.

It made perfect sense to punish him like this for all the hurt he'd done because of something as stupid as this.

But as the seconds ticked by, she found she couldn't go through with it - Her hands began to tremble violently while tears began to well up, just as she realized something.

He could have freed himself easily by now, but he hadn't. In truth, he could have ripped her hands from him the very second she'd grabbed him, if he'd wanted to.

But he didn't.

In spite of the fact that she was inflicting what she knew for a fact as a very unpleasant pain upon him, his grip of her hands was remarkably gentle, considering.

'Why didn't you just tell me this from the start?!' She shouted at him as the tears spilled over, her pinching hold easing away. 'If I had of known, I wouldn't have spent all this time scared that I'd done something wrong! I thought I messed up somewhere again and caused you more trouble!'

No words met her tearful outburst, however the grip of her trembling hands had disappeared.

'You're still hopeless. Is that really all you have to say?' She heard him remark, a rather wry edge to his words.

Though she felt her breath hitch as she felt something gently set upon her head, her hair ruffling slightly as he shifted her hanging fringe out of her face.

'... I missed you...' She whispered in spite of herself, lowering her head a little more as she braced herself for whatever sharp remark he would have for her.

Except there wasn't one.

Instead, the hand atop her head shifted to wipe her tears away.

'I missed you, too...'

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

Kukuku~! A double-length chapter for you all, because I felt like it was needed xD And I hope you enjoyed reading :) You guys have a whopping 8,979 words for this chapter, after all ^^

Just letting you guys know, if I miss any comments, I'm really sorry - I'm actually losing a lot of notifications of late, and I'm actually finding comments almost a week after they've been posted. So I'll reply to what I can, but if I miss any, I'm not ignoring or anything, its just that I probably don't know its there T^T 

Right, a book-shout here, before I forget.

First of all, My buddy here called Ripetyde has started a Terasaka x OC Assassination Classroom book called Don't Die. I know its been a while, but do you remember the Cameo of a Character called Sabeji in Chapter 41, Torishirabe? That's Ripetyde's OC xD. In any case, please check out Ripetyde's book. She's got just one chapter out at the moment, but of course Terasaka fans or not, I hope you'll support her book ;) (By the by, Ripetyde's always looking for more Terasaka fans to fangirl with xD) She's always looking for constructive criticism and feedback on her story. No flamers, though. I'll be watching the comments there ;)

I think that's about it. Anyways, translation note:

Shitto - Translates roughly as jealousy, which I believe is written as 嫉妬 in Japanese.

All the best, guys ~!

<3 Loki-Roki