12. Impression

"You look happy," Irina observed. 

"Trust me, I feel absolutely liberated!" Naomasa stretched, standing over the hill and breathing in the fresh air. "Freedom!" he declared.

"You're not worried about the kids?" she asked, raising an eyebrow, "Karasuma told you about the wager that dumb octopus threw at them, didn't he?"

Irina cast a glance at Karasuma, who nodded.

"It'll be fine," Naomasa responded. "I can kind of guess what will happen, so... just, you don't need to worry about it."

"We do!" Irina groaned, "this puts the earth at stake, y'know?"

Naomasa laughed nervously, "well, worrying will get you nowhere!"

Karasuma coughed for attention, "last I've heard, people usually take a few days of rest at home before they begin their lives again," he mumbled, "and seeing as you've had the luxury of riding a human-cart up the mountain today, I strongly believe you should have stayed home."

"Wow, that's the longest sentence you've spoken to me, Karasuma-san," Nao's smile was still facing to the lush greenery, "and with all due respect, hell no. The cart was made for me, I'm just allowing my student's kind hearts to shine."  Cue a boisterous laugh.

Karasuma looked irritated.

Nao sighed, easing his adrenaline rush. "My muscles are all sore and painful from being forced on a bed all week. I deserve a little breather, don't I?" he chuckled, "the kids are facing hell down there in the building of suffocation, and I'm still on sick leave so I'm free!"

Nao stepped onto the grassy hill, skidding down to the valley and making his way toward the trees, deciding to take a little adventure in the woods while he could. 

He was sluggish and his steps ached, muscles struggling to cope with the lack of exercise, hurting from the weight of his own body. Maybe it was because he was never really a fit person-- a weak in bed gave him muscle sores. His legs were trying to remember how to work now.

"I'm not too clear on how a civilian human views bedrest, but I'm quite sure you're abnormal," Irina grumbled, throwing her voice as Nao wandered deeper into the forest, "do you want to land yourself right back in?"

Nao swung back, mortified. "Ugh, hell no," he was actually shrinking with cringe, "never again. I got blackmailed this time, y'know? I'm not going back there again if my life depends on it."

"Ungrateful spoiled brat," Irina seethed.

Karasuma had a feeling that Naomasa was serious, but the fact wasn't something the young teacher could choose. Nao would go back to the hospital soon, whether he liked it or not.

For Irina, who grew up in a harsh environment where medical needs were never tolerated-- she felt Nao was rather heedless and unappreciative of what he was given.

"Does your life really mean so little to you?" she asked, a little irked.

At that-- Nao seemed to stop his pace. His smile was gone when Karasuma saw him next-- and his tone was a mellow, empty tone neither of them had heard from the man before. 

"My bad," his voice was a little cold, "it's a little hard to try and live when everyone keeps telling you you're going to die soon."

Karasuma winced. Irina cringed.

"I strive for a short and sweet life!" Nao laughed, smile curling back on his face, "unhealthy habits are fun, y'know?"

"That's exactly why your doctor's hounding you!" Irina retorted.

Karasuma found himself empathizing with whoever was the doctor of this childish man. Naomasa had no concept of self-preservation at all.

The man's shoes crunched against the leaves as he ventured deeper into the forest, on some kind of research adventure. His sleeves were rolled up, his tie was never there. His hair, a shade of light brown that was hastily brushed back with a clumsy amount of gel. 

And the smile on his face.

Easygoing and seemingly without worries, Karasuma came to realize that this man was an eccentric one. Wearing unreadable intentions, and basking in the background scenery, Naomasa was part of nature. He did nothing new when he was there-- but while absent, something would feel missing.

Or maybe, he was just hard to forget. There were only a handful of teachers up on this hill, after all.

When Naomasa began to disappear into the woods, Karasuma found himself trailing after the man, deciding to be a chaperone in case he lost his way.

  ー  

Irina never liked Naomasa. From the start, he gave her the creeps. Wearing the face of a declawed cat, but acting like a fox. 

She branded him a weakling, and she really wasn't wrong. 

He was a mediocre teacher, a mediocre person. There was nothing that stood out of the man aside from his strange confidence against paranormal occurrences.

She didn't want to get too involved with that man-- after all, this was just a mission to assassinate the octopus, and after that, she'll just leave.

But she hasn't been able to do that-- and now, she's stuck with the flow of events that was pulling her into making themselves a relationship at least as colleagues.

There was nothing they had in common. At least with Karasuma, they had skills, experiences, and their professionalism to share. With Naomasa? Irina barely understood him! 

It was hard to respect him, yet, it was difficult to ignore him.

"It's a little hard to try and live when everyone keeps telling you you're going to die soon."  

That phrase hit home to her, and she felt it ache in her chest. It was a dog-eat-dog world she resided in-- she knew how it was to be helpless against the tides of fate.

But unlike him, Irina Jelavic didn't give up.

That was what she loathed about him.

Gripping the rubber anti-octopus knife, she let out a breath of grunted anger. She had some steam to let off now, and she was going to have that octopus be target practice for a bit.

  ー  

"Kunomasu-sensei, no ice cream for you!" Korosensei reprimanded, zapping the cup right out of Naomasa's hands, depositing the spoon in his own... nonexistent... mouth.

"Hey, I was half way through that!" Nao raised his voice, upset, "it's my first strawberry ice cream in a week, c'mon!"

"You have just been released from the hospital, young man," Korosensei began reprimanding the brunet, "the last thing anyone needs is your surgery to have complications because your blood sugar's spiked."

"Well, you're raising my blood pressure," Nao whined, "return it."

"I refuse!" Korosensei threw it, cup and all, into his mouth. "You seem to call for a lecture on healthy dietary habits! You are an adult, Kunomasu-sensei!"

That seemed to make Nao sigh in resignation, turning away from the octopus and his lost ice cream. He fixed his eyes on his laptop screen, to the blank worksheet he was working on.

Adult, huh, it made him think. It was nice to act spoiled and bratty, but the fact was that he was in his late twenties. He was a teacher, not a student. An adult, not a baby.

"So," Nao turned to the teacher, who was starting to rant off about the food pyramid and vitamins, "I heard you made a bet with the students."

He turned toward the window, to the new field outside, the aftermath of the tornado a few days back. A breeze blew in, and Nao stepped over to the windowsill, looking outside.

"If they don't place in the fifties, you'll leave?" he questioned the teacher.

"Indeed, that is what I have promised," Korosensei responded without missing a beat. "The students were missing something fundamental in themselves-- simply put, they lacked the confidence and the desire to go on to their futures."

Futures, Naomasa smiled, "the mentality of the E-as-in-End class brought them all down, eh?" he chuckled, "I admire that you are making something of it."

Korosensei went silent at that.

"Kunomasu-sensei," he spoke up carefully, "I have come to believe that you have sunk to the same state of mind as the students."

Naomasa's smile fell-- and he turned to face the teacher.

"You do not see your future," Korosensei stated his observation calmly, "and seem to dwell on the longing for thoughts like 'I hope this time would last forever', and 'it would be fine if things stayed as they were', down in the depths and without improvement."

Naomasa listened, an unreadable expression marring his features. He leaned back on the windowsill-- and kept his gaze on the teacher, who stared back with equally empty eyes.

"You do not hold any desire to participate in the assassination the class strive for--" Korosensei raised a tentacle finger, "my bounty-- and the Earth's destruction-- you hold no desire for money, and perhaps, you would have no wishes even if the world were to end tomorrow."

Korosensei was silent now, expecting Nao to talk.

And Naomasa did.

"You can't lecture me," Nao's voice was almost annoyed, satiric-- "you'd be a hypocrite."

Korosensei flinched, shrinking back as Nao raised his eyes in a wild glare.

"You came here, telling people to kill you, mocking the government and making yourself the martyr of the world," Naomasa put a hand at his own chest, "and without telling anyone why, you are a teacher, trying to lead a bunch of hopeless children to their potential."

Korosensei didn't look faltered-- but his expressions were always changeless.

"You don't think you'll die, so you embrace the people trying to kill you every day," Nao's voice was softening, emotions permeating in an outburst, "tell me-- if you end up getting killed tomorrow, would you have any last wishes?"

It was a rhetorical question-- because the answer was evidently a no.

"You and I... we're the same," Nao clenched his shirt, grasping at his heart from the outside, "we have nothing to lose and little to regret."

He bit his lip-- he was trying not to cry.

"You live and walk with death," Nao spoke, "so you're not scared of it. In fact, you're just sitting there, waiting for the day the actual god of death comes to take you. You'd gladly take the Earth with you, too. How is that anything different from what I, and what the students, are doing?" 

Naomasa sucked in a deep breath-- and forced a smile on his features. His hand clenched over his heart, he faced the Octopus-- an unhappy smile to an unhappy smile.

"I'm not the smartest, sir-- but if I know something," Nao told the teacher, "it's the fact that, if I die-- you and your explosion won't be the one to kill me."

Nao had to stop himself there, the voice hitching in his throat, the pain growing in his heart, and the burn in his eyes threatening to show those pathetic, pathetic tears. 

If he was going to hurt this much, he wouldn't have said this at all.

But he did, and now, he was going to forget it and pretend nothing happened. Things will go back to normal tomorrow-- and even if it wouldn't, Nao was going to pretend it was.

That was how life in this world worked for him.

Putting his hand down, Nao walked past Korosensei, and pushed the chair of his desk in. 

"We're not having classes today, so I guess it's about time I start heading home," Nao spoke almost too casually, smiling his usual joyful farce and packing his stuff. 

He threw his back over one shoulder, and turned back to the Octopus, brightly.

"See you tomorrow, sir!"

And he simply left.