"It's a bird, it's a plane, wait what the hell, it's another outsider update. Is the author sick? Or is the school year finally over and she's been set free?"

- Nao, rather ironically.

31. Rest

They rented out a whole damn beach.

Seriously, how rich are we?

"To be precise, the school handled the hotel and travel fees. The government has the beach and the vicinity reserved for the rest of our trip."

"...Is this what our taxes are used for?"

"The world is going to be destroyed, Kunomasu. We can afford a beach for two days."

The kids were out playing, Korosensei was running around having fun-- Irina was sunbathing in her very skimpy bikini, and Nao was stuck with Karasuma, getting all the paperwork and procedures settled.

It's hard to be a teacher during summer vacation.

"If you're tired, go play with the kids," Karasuma jabbed a thumb in the general direction of the sea. "I can handle the paperwork on my own."

Nao stared for a moment. "Is that your way of telling me to go away?"

"You're a sharp individual," he replied, dry as dust. "If you understand that much, I would prefer you allow me to handle the rest."

Nao pouted. "Okay, mister responsible."

Karasuma looked ready to snap back with something along the lines of 'shut up and go play', so Nao wisely picked up his room key and made his way back.

If the spicy government agent wanted to do all the hassling paperwork and procedural overseeing-- those were things all the advising teachers usually do together but obviously now only two of four wanted to bother-- then he can do it.

Nao is more than glad to leave the independent masochist there to suffer alone.

Since they'd finally arrived and no longer needed to keep up appearances, he could finally be rid of the suit. Hallelujah.

He ran a hand through his hair, trying to rub out some of the gel as he plucked away his tie and unbuttoned his dress shirt. Professionalism be damned, seriously.

(Seriously, how does Karasuma live? Does he only have suits in his closet?)

He sighed, looking out the window. This trip was an A-class privilege unexpectedly handed down to E, so in this beautiful Fukumashima Resort Hotel, everyone had a room to themselves.

...Everyone except the teachers, that is. But it's still fine.

It's still a huge double suite that Nao has no idea what to do with.

It was meant to have only one female and two male teachers as advisors, so it was great they even managed to get a room for the extra teacher to begin with, even if it was just upgrading one room for it.

Irina had a private room for obvious reasons, so Nao had to share with Karasuma-- because neither of the human males wanted to share with Korosensei, even for professionalism's sake. 

It wasn't too bad.

There was a huge window, with a beautiful view and plenty of sunlight.

From here he could see the kids on shore and in the waters, each group on their own excursions and enjoying as much as they could. Korosensei zipped around, never staying in a place for too long.

Nao hummed. The sea breeze was cool and soothing against his bare skin-- he can't wait to get out there and dip his feet in the waters. He can't swim, obviously, but he could at least splash a little. And maybe...

The world spun.

...and maybe... huh? That's... weird.

He knew he was falling, but all he could do was brace against the window, holding onto the rails as his knees gave in.

He collapsed harshly against the banister, barely catching his head on the edge of his arm instead of the wood or the floor. He clung there, keeping himself as upright as he could manage-- waiting for the world to come back into focus.

His head thrummed painfully with each beat of his heart.

Each slow, alarmingly slow beat of his heart.

He gripped the windowsill harder, and it took him a little more brainpower than he'd like to command himself to take a deep breath.

One.

Two.

Three, and Four.

For a long, long while-- all he did there was breathe, listening to his own heart beat. Maybe it was slow, maybe it picked up after a while-- he wasn't too sure.

He just made sure it was beating, and kept making sure.

His hand clenched against the wood, his lips pulled tight. He still didn't have strength in his legs, and his head was empty. He pressed a free hand into his eyes, the pressure grounding him in place.

He swore under his breath, finally able to lift his head from the wall.

Suddenly the sun seemed much too bright., and the sea breeze felt sickeningly salty. But he can deal with that-- just, just give him another moment to breathe, and he'll be up soon. 

This dizziness will pass, and he'll be fine again.

Eventually, he managed to blink away the haziness. Looking around no longer came with a dull throb in his head. He set his hands against the railings and picked himself back up.

"S--" he coughed, hand reaching up to clutch his shirt at his chest. He groaned, frustrated. "Shi- it," he spat out the words, stuttering pathetically. "Shit. Gods. You've got to be-- fucking kidding me... shit."

It didn't hurt that much.

It was just-- it was just... scary, that's it.

Maybe he was actually lucky he didn't faint fully-- he was even lucky enough that this happened when no one was around. It wasn't that bad. He expected this to happen-- Matsukawa warned him about these.

Just-- just give him a minute and he'll be fine again.

Just a minute.

-

All things considered, resting now was a better idea than going out to play, so Nao stayed in his room.

Dressed in comfortable clothing and drinking from a can of very sugary pop in his fridge, he opened his laptop and tried to get the colour back into his skin.

"School Trip arc the second," he lay on his bed, laptop beside him on a pillow. "Uh, what happened here again?"

His journal entry of 'stuff I remember from the show' was startlingly blank here, because selective memory and all that bull.

Ah, that's right, he reached over lazily, typing in the words Hotel Infiltration underneath the header. There was that time Nagisa crossdressed or something. 

They had to go into a hotel and fight a few assassins or...

...shit.

The students were poisoned, right?

They solved the problem at the end as some sort of fraud, so there was nothing to worry about other than the initial scare-- but that was exactly the problem.

(Did he literally let his students get knowingly poisoned? He has never felt more guilty in his damn life.)

Where the hell was he when it happened? It would've been messy to change the events of the future, yes-- but knowingly letting them be poisoned was just a terrible thing to do as a... as a, well, human being.

(Ah, he was working with Karasuma, so he didn't drink anything at the entrance. Hopefully those were the only drinks that were tampered with...)

He groaned, closing the laptop and leaning back, setting his hand over his eyes.

He was tired. Very tired.

The sugar was helping a little, but the exhaustion was set in his bones, like a long weight that came right back down, dragging his steps and sagging his shoulders through. He really needed to get a nap in.

It's summer, after all. The kids can handle a bit of alone time.

-

Karasuma knocked twice, then set his hand on the doorknob.

"That guy didn't even lock the door?" he said, incredulous. He made his way in, finally getting a look at their shared room.

It was split down the middle, a bed on each side. There was even a small kitchenette and a sofa. He sighed. He has about two hours to relax, then it'll be time to finish the rest of the preparations of the assassination.

So for now...

"He's sleeping?!" he snapped at the sight of the other teacher.

Nao was on the bed, curled deeply in a mess of pillows and blankets. His papers, his laptop, and even his phone was sprawled around him, but he was asleep with his hands on his stomach.

There was an unfinished can of carbonated orange juice on the nightstand.

Was this guy... working?

Karasuma sighed, reaching for the curtains and drawing them shut.

He's noticed many times over the year that this guy absolutely loved his afternoon naps, but he's never really noticed that he loved working just as much. Birds of a feather flock together, huh?

Nao wasn't the most silent person when he was awake, what with walking flat footed and always knocking into things and all-- but when asleep, he's jarringly silent. He didn't snore, didn't sleep talk-- even his breaths were muted.

Karasuma sighed, taking off his tie and making his way back to the other side of the room.

"I kinda wish he snored at least a little, so we at least know he's still alive when he's sleeping," he muttered half-heartedly.

Then he stopped walking.

Slowly, Karasuma looked back over his shoulder, keeping his eyes on the teacher.

In a muted panic, Karasuma stomped over to the bed. He snatched up Nao's wrist without thinking-- and stood in that position for a full three seconds.

Finally, he breathed out in relief.

"His heartbeat is normal..." he said to himself, as if that wasn't obvious and he really didn't need to check.

But he knew.

He was in the military, after all-- he's met people with weak hearts. Not in the army itself, but he's got experience dealing with people like this.

And he knew that one second they could be sleeping, and the next second they could be something else. It was always really hard to tell.

Karasuma sighed for the who-knows-how-many-times-now that day.

He let go of Nao's hand, reaching for the blanket and making sure the man was properly covered. Then he marched back to his own bed.

"Seriously, how deep of a sleeper is this guy?"

He didn't even rouse from that rough grabbing.

Karasuma massaged his temples, groaning through a headache. He looked at the clock-- right. A little under two hours to relax.

...god, why is this his life?

(If he spent the rest of his break occasionally checking up on the man's pulse, maybe no one needed to know that.)