15. Exchange

"Kuma-sensei!"

Kurahashi Hinano was the first to notice the yukata-clad teacher walk over to the common area, arms crossed, tucked inside his yukata instead of the sleeves they belonged in.

It left his chest partially bare, but he wasn't particularly bothered by it.

"Oh, hi guys," the teacher waved with a smile

"Don't 'hi guys!' me!" Maehara retorted on reflex, looking ready to bust a vein, "do you have any idea how worried we were? The hospital called and--"

"Oh, Kanzaki, you're awesome at that game!" Naomasa went right past the over-endearing student, inching over to where the black-haired girl was fiddling away expertly at the arcade cabinet.

Upon noticing the teacher, she flinched and was petrified, which resulted in her instant death, but that wasn't on her mind at all.

"Kuma-sensei!" she called out worriedly, "are you okay?

"Am I?" Naomasa asked back with  confused expression, faking a thinker's pose, "or am I actually a zombie and I don't notice it?"

"Don't joke about that!" Yada snapped.

"You guys aren't any fun at all," Naomasa pouted, "what's a little blood spurting every now and then? Some old guy does that on a daily basis and he's still the Number One Hero--"

"We were worried sick, Kuma-sensei," Kataoka Megu sighed, "you really should tell us when you're not feeling well, y'know?"

"That's right!" Okano Hinata agreed, raising a fist as Sugino nodded, "we couldn't relax after that! Did you hear, Kayano's group had a run in with--"

"That was scary," Okuda piped in, nervous, "some older, high school boys just came out of nowhere and..."

"Kanzaki-san is super pretty, so I was worried," Kayano wrapped herself around Kanzaki's arm, "but don't worry, they didn't do anything to us!"

"Don't worry, we all clobbered them good!" Karma assured.

"Those super-thick guidebooks did come in handy, after all," Nagisa looked so defeated, "though, for more reasons than its content."

"Sounds like a lot happened while I was gone," Nao mused, "I have a lot to catch up on!"

Then they spent the next good while talking about things that happened on their day. 

About how Korosensei caught a bullet with yatsuhashi; how his mucus could stop a bullet; even things like the dumb scenarios in the guidebooks; how they tried to peek into Korosensei's bthing time, to no avail; or how Mimura managed to bonk Takebayashi in the head with a ping pong ball just now.

"Are you really alright now, Kuma-sensei?" asked Isogai, his concern was evident on his face.

Everyone's faces went sullen, and honest gazes were curved to him. There was no room for lies, no leeway to escape from a proper answer.

The mood was dim, and Naomasa was compelled to smile against it.

"At least for now," Nao assured them the best he could, "I'm fine."

  ー  

"Do you have a guy you like?" Nakamura Rio began gossiping excitedly, nearly the second after they settled into their bedroom.

"Oh, love story time?" Irina teased, settling down by the crowd of snacks, popping open a beer.

"Don't you think Karasuma-sensei is super cool?" Kurahashi chimed in eagerly, "like, he's so fatherly and stuff."

"In looks alone, Maehara's got him beat, though!" Okano supplied.

"Karasuma-sensei's got that professional air about him," Fuwa Yuzuki agreed with Kurahashi.

"Isogai's a natural playboy, too," Kataoka offered.

"Chiba's got that cool and quiet persona of his, too!" Kayano suggested. 

"What about Kuma-sensei?" Yada nominated, "I think I like him."

"Uhn," Kanzaki agreed, "Kuma-sensei is really mature, but quite childlike, too. Isn't it quite cute?"

"Kuma-sensei wears his yukata weirdly," someone joked.  

"His jokes make no sense, though," Hazama muttered. Considering she was the queen of dark humour, that spoke volumes.

"Honestly," Nakamura admitted with a dry laugh, "I'd take him, but without the anxiety he causes."

"That's right, too!"

"Hehh, well, nice to be young and have puppy crushes on teachers," Irina mused, taking a sip out of her beer, "it's adorable."

"Boo, Bitch-sensei, you're too old to understand a young maiden's heart!" someone teased.

"Who're you calling old?!" she snapped, "I'll have you know I'm still twenty!"

"You're TWENTY??"

  ー  

"Kuma-sensei, coffee again?" Karma almost sighed, defeated, "you know that's why you're stunted."

At the coincidental meeting, the teacher picked up a can from the vending machine, sending a raised-eyebrow look at his student. 

"How rude," Naomasa groaned, popping the can open, "that's what you should be saying to the author of this story. I'm plenty tall, thank you."

"Tall, but you're still shorter than Karasuma-sensei," Karma waved his teacher off, sipping on his own can of juice.

They began walking in the direction of their rooms, with a rather comfortable and friendly air filling the atmosphere around them. 

"Why don't you do something about your strawberry milk addiction? Diabetes," Nao hissed.

"At least I drinking something that aids my growth," Karma retorted. "And this is orange juice," he raised his can, "you should try something healthier for once, y'know."

"Oh, you're the last person that gets to lecture me, Mr Delinquent," Naomasa joshed.

  ー  

Naomasa munched on a rabbit-shaped steamed bun, tapping away at the keyboard of his laptop.

"Kunomasu-sensei, shouldn't you be resting?"

Nao shrieked a disgracefully "Gya!!!" and nearly jumped to the ceiling, bolting away from his spot as the octopus gusted right in and beside him.

Nao didn't miss Karasuma's flinch on the other end of the room.

"D-Don't, Don't surprise me like that," Naomasa felt his heart pace rapidly.

"Oh, my apologies," Korosensei snickered, "but not to worry, if by chance, your heart fails, I boast medical skills on par with futuristic technology, seeing as I have my speed and precision and--"

"You and your tentacles are NOT touching me!" Nao retorted on reflex, shrinking away.

"Denied?!" Korosensei was devastated.

Naomasa hissed at the octopus, acting like a cat ready to fight. However, in the next moment, a futon was laid out beside him, and Korosensei was at his back, tentacles at the man's shoulders.

"You should be resting, anyways!" he urged, "I let you take a dip at the hot springs and have a chat with the students, now sleep!"

Naomasa gritted his teeth with a murderous glare. "I'm fine," he seethed.

Korosensei actually shrieked and shrank back.

"Unlike you, I don't have Mach 20," Naomasa stretched his sore muscles, "and I'm not as capable as you in teaching. I can't plan my lessons as efficiently as you can, and worksheets I made are generalized for each student I have."

Naomasa settled back down before his laptop, readjusting the crooked screen.

"A lax overtime is equal to leisure for me," he assured, "so you don't need to worry about me. Thanks for the concern."

Korosensei sighed, seemingly resigned.

"Mr Karasuma is looking after me here," Naomasa pointed at the cranky handsome government agent, then made a 'shoo, shoo' motion at the octopus, "so you can go back to bothering your students and leave me alone."

"Am I a nuisance to you?" Korosensei sounded comically hurt, sobbing fake tears, or maybe there was mucus in there too, "is that all I am to you?"

"You will, if you keep acting like a baby," Naomasa groaned, poking the octopus on the forehead, and somehow the octopus was crouching down low enough to let him.

"Oh well," Korosensei sighed, stood up-- "I guess I'll drop by the girls' room, then..." he decided. In the next moment, he was out like a whirlwind.

"Hold up, you perverted octopus!" Naomasa yelled into the air, "where do you think you're going?"

  ー  

"CATCH HIM!!!"

"THERE HE IS!!!"

When Naomasa made his way around the hall, he'd realized he was too late. Well, not like he could catch up to a Mach 20 troublemaker in the first place, but now the entire class was doing a manhunt-- no, an octopushunt-- through the inn.

He yawned. It really was too late for this. I need to go lodge in an apology to the innkeeper...

"Huh, did the noise wake you, Kuma-sensei?" This was Kayano's voice. "You look sleepy."

Naomasa sighed with a dry chuckle, "well, I came to prevent the noise, but I was too late."

Stepping into the hall, Naomasa found Nagisa there too, gun in hand. greeting the teacher, the boy tucked the pistol into his sleeve and smiled.

"So, tomorrow's the last day, huh..." Kayano giggled, "this school trip was really fun! We got to see different sides of everyone, don't you think?"

Naomasa couldn't help but smile.

This was one of the many moments the students could really feel like children again-- it was a luxury away from the pressure of academics, and an enjoyment the higher-class students would never be able to fully entertain.

Naomasa really felt more comfortable within these bunch of students.

"Is something wrong, Nagisa?" Kayano spoke up, concerned for the boy's silence.

"Not really, I was just thinking..." Nagisa muttered. "This assassination lifestyle has only just begun-- and I don't know if this world will really end next year or not, but..."

They casually trotted over toward the window, overlooking the outside scenery.

"One thing we can say for sure is that our class will come to an end next march," Nagisa was almost confused about it-- as if he wasn't sure if he was to be sad or happy, or shocked, about it.

And Kayano was similarly unreadable. "That's true," she simply agreed.

Naomasa stood taller than the both of them, so he put his forearms over their heads, using them as an armrest. Tall people privileges.

"Hey!" Nagisa was first to complain.

"That's mean, Kuma-sensei!" Kayano was next.

Naomasa burst into a fit of laughter. "What's with the down looks, kids?" he grinned widely, "it's unfortunate that your school year will end-- but I'll promise you kids one thing--"

The two looked up, curiously, and almost expectantly.

He stood up straight, and raised a fist of assurance, "that octopus won't blow up the earth."

Kayano and Nagisa almost looked baffled, "and why are you so sure?"

Naomasa sighed, "because I can see the future!" he boasted, "and I know that the world will still exist a year, two, or even seven years into the future!"

There was a moment of silence-- then the two children busted into synchronous giggles.

"Kuma-sensei, you really make weird jokes," Nagisa wiped a tear out of his eye, "but you were trying to cheer us up, that really worked. Thank you."

"That's right," Kayano grinned at her teacher with confidence, "after all, I'm sure one of us will manage to kill Korosensei before March, right?"

And Naomasa smiled back at that.

"Of course, Kayano."

  ー  

"What even are you doing?" Naomasa raised an eyebrow at the octopus who was building a fortress of futon at the corner of the room.

Naomasa was tucking himself into the futon, dimming out the light in his corner of the room so Karasuma could work on the other side.

"I'm building my bed, of course!" Korosensei declared, matter-of-factly, "in fact, it turned out quite well, don't you think?"

And before him was a real canopy bed, full of pillows and laid over with mosquito nets. Twelve futons were stacked over each other--

"What are you, the princess and the pea??" Naomasa couldn't resist the retort.

Korosensei had the gall to blush.

Naomasa sighed, pulling the covers to his waist and looking in the teacher's direction with a forlorn consideration.

Korosensei, catching that gaze, looked right back with interest.

I don't want to live forever, some idiot once declared, I'm fine enough just living through today to the fullest, he was a man that grinned proudly, lived without regrets, and died too early in a war of the best. 

"Hey," Naomasa spoke up, pulling his knees to his chest. He smiled at Korosensei, "you and me, who do you think will die first?"