41. Windy

"No, we can't tell Kuma-sensei!" Sugino said, "yes he'll give good advice, but Irina would definitely notice we got it from him."

"They're not best friends for nothing," Kanzaki chuckled.

"Wait, they're best friends?" Nagisa questioned, "when did that happen?"

"Of course they are."

"Obviously."

"Unlike sir Da Densest, our precious Teddy Daddy brought Bitch-sensei out for a coffee date, complete with the corsage around her wrist and the walking her home after," Kayano swooned at the sheer romantic energy of that entire statement, "man, I'm so jealous!"

"He did what? He played Sugar Daddy for a day?" Karma asked, "and no one told me?"

"I want to tell you not to say that, but that's exactly what he did."

"Don't worry, I have photos," Kanzaki assured, and automatically, she was declared Karma's best buddy in the art of blackmail material.

They gathered five thousand yen from the whole class, but when it came to buying presents, they were rather lost.

"Well, maybe Kuma-sensei had the right idea about flowers, but would it be cheating if we got it from someone other than Ms Sakurai?"

They catch the eye of a florist in a van.

-

-

-

The kids have made some terrible, terrible, mistake, and now, no one can find Irina.

Nao subtly deleted the fifth 'pls strangle Karasuma-sensei for us' message he'd gotten from the class. 'He's right but he's being a dick so pls strangle him for us', there came another one. Seriously, can they just get along?

After a stressful day, Nao returned home near midnight to a little gift box at his window. It's a small parcel, much unlike his usual care packages-- and it was evidently hand-delivered.

He stopped at the entrance of his room and took a slow breath.

It's suspicious. Very suspicious. It screams all sorts of bad event flags especially in the current situation and he wasn't looking forward to finding stuff like glitter or sleep gas bombs or whatever when he opens it. Let's just hope it's not a time bomb, though.

"I'm not opening it," he declared to the room.

And then he closed the door, not even going in. He'll sleep on the goddamn couch, in his suit and everything. Fuck you, creepy motherhecker, whoever you are.

He stomps down the stairs in a hurry. Maybe he should barricade that damn door. Maybe he should run to Ms Sakurai for protection. Is he too old to go to his mom when he's accidentally in a horror movie situation? Maybe Ms Sakurai can bribe his stalkers with flowers and tea. Flower tea.

Flower tea sounds nice right now.

"You should just open it and save me the trouble."

He froze in his spot. Behind him, the woman sighs, her brown hair spilled over her shoulders, her arms on her hips. She's pouting slightly, looking disapprovingly at him.

Nao found himself surprised at the fact that they were the same height.

(Wait, focus.)

"Well, I can't blame you," she held up the box, crushing it in her hand along with the flower inside. "You've got my instincts, I guess. We've all got it in us, y'know-- that super hitman quality. Though you're not using much of it."

"Kaz--"

A hand was shoved into his face.

And then everything went black.

-

When Nao woke up, he was in a dark room.

His arms weren't bound, and he was actually laying on a tea table, his arms as pillows. He lifts his head, groaning at the ache in his neck, and finds a lovely lady drinking tea before him.

It was the accursed lady that shared his face, makeup done as prominently as Irina's, but her hair a cut shorter and her posture a little less extravagant. She was dressed in a full, agent-looking coat, though Nao could see the edges of a dress under it.

Kunomasu Kazane-- or not, since she legally didn't go by that name anymore-- was clearly his estranged older sister. The resemblance still existed.

"You couldn't just talk?" he grumbled, burying his face back into his arms, "I would've followed you obediently if you just asked." It wasn't like he stood any fighting chance. He'd rather get kidnapped peacefully.

"Oh really? Last time I asked Kazu to nicely be my hostage, he threatened malpractice on me," Kazane said. She lifted her teacup and took a careful sip.

"That's because he's an asshole, like you," Nao responded sharply.

Kazane poured him a cup of tea. Chamomile, he recognized the smell. Probably no real reason for it, though.

Nao sighs, massaging his temple with a dry cough. "So what do you want from me?"

"Nothing," Kazane had the fucking gall to immediately answer, sipping her own tea carefully. Before Nao could throw flower liquid at her though, she continued, "I'm just after a target, and the target was stalking you."

"The only one stalking me here is you," Nao cut right in. "Stop sending me care packages already, I'm a grown man."

"That's my husband," her who-- How is she answering so quickly? Is expert conversational ability part of her array of insane skills or something? "And yes you are getting stalked by my target. So I just grabbed you instead. It'll be annoying if he uses you as leverage once I corner him."

"Don't be ridiculous."

"I just want you out of my way."

"You don't even care about me."

"Which is why I want you out of my way."

"Seriously, fuck you."

Kazane's expressions didn't change throughout the whole conversation.

Her gaze was fixed forward, her shoulders remained at ease, and she only turned away briefly to give some attention to her cup.

Nao hadn't touched his tea yet. But he didn't stand up and try to leave, either. He didn't know where he was-- or where the exit was. The room was only illuminated by a single lamp between them.

(How long has it been since they last met?)

(He's surprised he even remembered her face. Hard to prevent that, since they had the same face, same eyes, and same hair colour. She had a tauter gaze, a sharper jaw, thinner fingers-- but those were the only things that made them different.)

(Nao looked so much more like her than her twin, and he hated it so, so much.)

"The Reaper, right?" he said, finally lifting the tea to his lips. It would explain why the reaper gave him some attention last time.

Kazane fiddled with a phone in her free hand. "Yes, that's the one."

(She's not even going to pretend to be surprised that I know the Reaper?)

Nao looked around. They were in some dilapidated building-- was Kazane going to keep him in here until the situation was over, or...? Where even are they, anyway?

And why was she after the Reaper? They're both in the same field, so maybe a difference in opinions?

"You most likely caught his eye because you look like me," Kazane said. "I apologize."

Nao paused. That was the first time Kazane had initiated conversation, rather than answer a question. And it was an apology?

"Why are you apologizing?" he accidentally sounded more offended than he intended.

If she didn't value their relationship, she would've changed her face. If she didn't care about Nao-- she wouldn't be doing this. She would instead be using him as bait, and using him as a stepping stone to get her target.

She was a shitty liar and she damn fucking well knew that much.

Kazane didn't answer. Didn't humour him with a response.

Instead, she set her phone down, showing a display of the students-- and they were in a prison cell. All of them, including the very octopus himself.

Karasuma was on the other side of the prison, with Irina and the Reaper himself-- confrontational, minutes away from a punch.

"It's downstairs from here," she said.

The Reaper fucking Arc is literally happening a couple floors below? Is that what she's saying? They're in the same goddamn building? What in the suicidal everloving maniacal master plan of actual bullshit--

"They haven't noticed us yet, so don't start yelling," she added.

What in the actual fuck.

"How?" Nao immediately asked, and he dreaded the answer. There's no way the World's Greatest damn Assassin hasn't noticed he's been tailed this closely. Right?

Kazane tilted her head aside, squinting an eye in exasperation, like the answer was obvious.

"He's been obsessed with you," Kazane said, sounding mildly disgusted. "Changed your table flowers. Stood on the road you passed by in school so he could wave at you, and murdered people who tried to pickpocket you. He had your routine down and everything. He made sure the coffee maker was always loaded and refilled for you."

Nao blinked. He... honestly hadn't noticed any of that.

Then his face burned bright red, because the only way Kazane would even know that much detail would be if she was watching all of it.

"He's really good at getting exactly one step ahead of me, but with you around, I finally got the chance to get one step ahead of him," Kazane massaged her temples in frustration. "Seriously, is attracting dangerous individuals a genetic thing?"

(Nao is not going to ask about that.)

Nao groaned into his palm. "But doesn't that just mean he won't harm me?" He's not going to think about what any of his actions mean. "I'll be fine, right?"

Kazane finally cracked out a laugh. "Okay, then, I'll leave you alone."

"Wait, no. I'm scared."

Nao froze immediately after he said that, burying his face in his hands.

"But if you got me all the way here, that must mean you wanted my help, didn't you?" Nao challenged again. "This situation will settle even without you or me doing anything. So if you just wait--"

"No, I can't let the government get their hands on the Reaper," Kazane said. "Definitely not that white-hooded bastard. I have to take him in on our side."

The emphasis on our, not in the both of them, but in her, and whoever is behind and beyond her.

The underground.

(Oh, Omerta, Nao realized. The code of silence.)

(The Mafia community want to capture the Reaper on their own terms, without bringing any attention of this to the general public.)

"And you need my help because of that?" Nao asked.

Kazane smiled. "Can you do it, baby brother?"

Nao gained nothing from this. This isn't a negotiation, isn't even a coercion. She's asking a favour, from one old friend to another. It wasn't hitman-like at all.

Nao couldn't read her at all. Couldn't understand a single thing she was saying.

(Why was she pretending to care?)

"Just this once," he relented. "Promise you'll never contact me again."

Kazane's lips lift into a smirk. "Of course. What use do I have for you after this?"

(Nao pretends not to notice the microexpressions, the way her eyes fell for just a second, her lips sank for just a moment, and her fingers hesitated with a sadness that didn't exist in her cold words.)

-

-

-

The explosions take out the ceiling, and Karasuma is left at a pause when Irina gets crushed under the debris.

"The Reaper is headed for the control room, but he's not going to flood the lower room," Nao folded up the sleeves of his suit, "the kids are going to disappear from their cell, and he'll double back to the hallway where he'll fight Karasuma again."

Kazane stared at him. "And you know this, how?"

Nao didn't answer her. "Do you want the information or not?"

Kazane hummed. With a wave, she left the room, and Nao followed behind her. "I'm not complaining. Keep going."

-

Nao never felt quite at ease around the man known as the Reaper. But he knew that the Reaper was kind, at least to the flowers and what the flowers stood for.

The Reaper entered the control room-- and stopped right there.

Nao didn't quite know what to expect. It was the same face-- the man who gave him white orchids on his way to school, the gentle person that smiled at him as they spoke.

It was the same face right now too-- but somehow, the man who handled flowers with such care was nowhere to be found.

At least, until his eyes fell on Nao.

"Oh, it's you," he addresses, his posture immediately-- expertly-- moving into casualness, his eyes softening and his face muscles easing with his breaths. "What a coincidence, sir. What are you doing here?"

Nao would have laughed.

He ran a hand around the control room, finding curious purchase in the many buttons.

There was no security footage on the cameras-- it was all on the tablet the Reaper was holding-- but Nao gestured toward them anyways.

"I thought I'd be able to watch everything that was happening, but guess not," he chuckled. "Come to think of it, I've never told you my name, have I? I'm--"

"Kunomasu Naomasa, I know," the Reaper spoke over him.

He stepped forward, his smile growing into the confident, unapproachable one that made Nao tense right up.

"How curious. You're waltzing in, so confidently," he approached, "did you think you could stand up to me or something? Or that I would go easy on you simply because you're not a competent fighter like your students?"

(If you already know I'm an enemy, why are you acting friendly, you naive idiot?)

"Do you think--"

Nao briefly noticed a knife. Maybe he noticed the swing. Maybe he counted the two quicker steps the Reaper took. Maybe he felt the knife as it neared his neck, sinking into flesh.

And maybe he tensed up then, and did absolutely nothing.

The Reaper's knife stopped right there.

"--do you really think my little interest in you would stop me from killing you right here?" he asked, his voice confused, but very quiet.

Nao's breath still held.

"No," he admitted. He thought he was going to die. "You're a professional, after all."

"Then why aren't you dodging?"

Nao smiled. "I just like to watch the flowers."

"Then no hard feelings," the Reaper didn't look Nao in the eye. "You're in my way."

The knife sank deeper. 

Cut through flesh, drew blood-- but before the pain could hit, a chain shot out and snatched the Reaper's hand by the wrist, dragging it back.

Another chain whirled around the Reaper's neck, and though he grabbed it before it tightened too far around his neck, the chains spun and whirled him toward the perpetrator with a fierce glare.

"I said to be a distraction," Kazane said, her words biting in Nao's direction, "I didn't expect you to be that useless. Who told you to go get hurt?"

Nao scoffed, a hand pressed around his rapidly bleeding neck. It wasn't too deep, surprisingly enough. It's a flesh wound.

"Did you tell me to dodge?" he choked out with a laugh. "Must've missed the memo."

"Windy," the Reaper addressed. His expressions were still calm as his eyes lit up in feigned surprise. "So you two have made contact. This is unfortunate. It is out of my expectations and I'm not quite a fan. You do look quite alike. Is he your rumoured second wind?"

"No. Far from it. This is a civilian."

"Really? How unfortunate, then."

Something cracked under the Reaper's feet-- and an explosion broke the floor beneath him. In a yelp and a loss of footing, the chains loosened-- and with unimaginable force-- the Reaper broke them apart.

"Try to catch me some other time, enforcer. I've got no time for that now."

The dust cleared and the Reaper was gone, having escaped down the floor below. Kazane sighed, inspecting her own shattered weapon.

Nao slumped against the chair, still trying to staunch his own wound with annoyance. 

"You're not so competent yourself, milady," he slurred, sarcastic. "You got me all the way here, for about three seconds of capture? Tell me that was a wasted effort."

Kazane snorted at that.

"Don't be so cheeky. I marked him, so I can get him any time now," she justified, "do you know how big of a deal it is, catching the Reaper even for a second? He would have showed that vulnerability to no one else." 

Nao scoffed, disbelieving. 

"Don't be cheeky you say," Nao repeated, dumbfounded, "then you proceed to argue. Very mature."

"Hi there, kettle, do you want me to heal you or not?" Kazane threatens cheerfully. "Thanks for the distraction, you sucked at it."

"Fuck you. Did you really think I could do anything but immediately be killed? I'm facing a professional assassin!" Nao snapped. 

He pulled down his now stained shirt and watched as Kazane approached, glowing yellow in her palm. 

"What is that, magic?"

"Magic," she said, obviously a lie. "It's not anything you need to know."

"Mafia bullshit," Nao deemed.

"Mafia bullshit indeed," she said. She removed her hand-- and Nao took a moment to realize his wound was completely closed up. He didn't even feel too nauseated by the blood loss. What in the actual hell?

"Thanks for your cooperation," Kazane waved, leaving the room, this time with no intention to have Nao follow her. "I'm leaving, so go grab your students and get them out of here," she said.

And then, a smile on her way out.

"I'm just glad to see you're doing well."

Nao went out after her, but as he'd expected-- she was gone.

-

Nao scoffed, and waited in the control room until it was safe to go out.

If his siblings could just fuck out of his life and stop pretending they cared, he would have his happiest last days on earth, really.

He sighed. He really didn't expect to survive that, though.

He rested a hand on the wound area, where the blood was cold and sticky but still damp. He could still feel the blade of the knife sinking in.

He wouldn't have complained if he died right there. He knew his sister wouldn't let him die there, and it just wasn't that time yet. But he didn't expect the Reaper to stop it himself, either, in the pretense of a conversation.

(He's obsessed with you, Kazane had teased him.)

Nao groaned, burying his face in his elbow.

-

Chamomile.

(Energy in adversity.)