48. Save

"Were you already aware of what I was?"

When Korosensei asked him that, he wasn't quite sure how to answer. Nao didn't look surprised when he was told about the experimentation and the history, so he figured Korosensei picked up the pieces and tried to put them together.

Nao really looked suspicious, didn't he? He doesn't want to cause any misunderstandings, so he should deny it here and dismiss it as him being too tired to be surprised.

"Yes, I knew from the start."

Oops.

There was a purple tinge to Korosensei's face as he asked his next question. "And how did you know?" it was a little less of a threat and more of a very restrained warning.

There were some perks to being too weak to be worth attacking, Nao surmised.

"No one told me, nor was I ever directly involved," Nao assured, sipping on his coffee. "I was just born into this world with that knowledge. I know a lot of things."

"...And you've never made use of this knowledge because?"

Nao frowned. "What makes you think I never did?"

Korosensei fell silent.

"You're the same," Nao says. "You knew most of this was going to happen, you already knew from the start that your death was inevitable. You've accepted it, but it's not like you're not trying anyways."

Korosensei has always tried his best to improve himself, physically. He devised countermeasures, if he were to ever come near death. His molting, liquefaction, and absolute defense forms were just some of those.

But what was the point? He was going to die, either way, and yet, it seems like Korosensei wasn't quite ready to accept it either.

"It doesn't matter what we do or try, destiny will still run its course," Nao told him. "So what if a few people have noticed the invisible hand of fate? It's not going to divert its course just to keep us surprised."

Nao knew everything from the start. But he didn't desire for the world to change around him, and thus, he left things be.

"Ultimately, my story is not about what I can do and how big of a ripple I can cause," Nao said. "It's about what it will mean for the people I interact with, for this world we'll leave behind, and for myself."

-

Winter break ends, and the students come together, armed with knives and guns in red and blue, on two sides of a partitioned force of will.

"I want to save Korosensei," Nagisa said.

Karma scoffed. "So you're just going to discard the bloodlust we've built up all this while for that pansy ideal? You want to reduce everything Korosensei's done for us to nothing?"

Karasuma spotted the scuffle just as Korosensei does, and Nao looks over, alarmed. Korosensei headed out to stop them before Karma and Nagisa started to really hurt each other. Irina and Nao brought up the rear, overlooking the situation warily.

"I knew it'd get bad, but I didn't think..." Karasuma sighed. "What is that stupid octopus doing? He's exacerbating it."

"It's fine," Nao said. "Let the kids fight it out. They say people only quarrel once they're close enough to bicker, you know? I say we've come a long way since the deserted depression wasteland at the start of the school year."

Irina groaned. "Love your spirit, Naomasa, but this isn't just a normal scuffle, you know? This could ruin their friendships forever."

"If it ruins everything, then that's what it'll be," Nao said. "But it won't happen."

Nothing in this class was meant to last. The moon crisis will officially end come March, and so will their years as students, the teachers they love, and this classroom.

But the bonds they've built, the memories ingrained in them— the love that Korosensei gave them to fill in that hole in their hearts— that will last forever.

That, Nao's very sure of.

-

"Everyone does this because they love Korosensei," Ritsu said. "But I don't understand, Kuma-sensei. I understand many things... but love is one that will always escape me. At times it's wonderful, and other times, it brings us to conclusions that only conclude with grief. Kayano's assassination that day... It was love as well, wasn't it? Warped as it was, evil as it felt... it was love, for all she wanted to protect."

Nao didn't think he could ever give her a proper answer.

They sat upon the safe zone, overlooking the fields as the two groups parted and prepared for the beginning of the long battle.

"Love is infinite, and it's a spectrum," he said. "Love, you see, is like literature. You can study it for the rest of your life, and still, there will never be a one true answer to the question. Everyone interprets it differently, everyone experiences it in their own ways, and none of those definitions are ever wrong."

Ritsu was silent for a long moment.

"Is that why you study literature, Kuma-sensei?" she asked, "did you pursue it because you, too, wanted to understand love?"

Nao chuckled at that. "I guess you could say that."

Nao didn't understand love. Not familial, not romantic, and barely platonically as well. He's starting to grasp the concept, but love wasn't something you could find by stubbornly grasping at straws until it made sense.

Love was something that came to you one day, and you just understood it.

"Then, Kuma-sensei," Ritsu said, twiddling her thumbs, "would you say that love, for me... is this classroom? Does that make sense?"

Robots and artificial intelligence didn't quite understand love, either.

"Yes," Nao told her, without a doubt. "That's love."

Ritsu brightens, her cheeks pink. "Then, Kuma-sensei, I must say again that I love you too! And of course, Korosensei, and Karasuma-sensei, and Bitch-sensei, too. And everyone in class as well. I hope we make up soon. It's sad to see them fight."

Nao nods. "One day, you'll find so many things to love, you'll lose count."

"Don't worry!" Ritsu says, pumping her fists enthusiastically. "I always keep my most important data securely listed in my core memory in alphabetical order. I'll never let it be erased, ever!"

Nao couldn't help but laugh at that, endeared.

"That's assuring!"

-

Chiba sighed, coming up to the audience stands with Okajima. "It's pretty devastating to be taken out so early."

"I didn't get to take anyone out!" Okajima whined.

"Oh, shush, you two," Kataoka groaned. "You took us out in a second! Talk about overkill!"

"Badass as fuck, though," Takebayashi contributed, to which Kataoka hissed out a language at him. "Honestly I'm upset I didn't predict the move. If you have the best snipers on your team, why wouldn't you lay an ambush at the starting buzzer?"

"Exactly. People always let their guards down before the bell rings to begin. You were especially obvious with your gunpowder rig when you tried to set it up," Chiba said, very dryly. "Wish I got more than one hit, though."

"If we're talking badass-mother-fuckers of the day, dude you should have seen Kanzaki!" Okajima threw his hands into the air in equal parts awe and speechlessnes. "Just—" he had to take a moment to press his hands into his face. "Grandmaster Kanzaki. Grandmaster, I need to be her disciple, holy shit."

"Uhhh," Kanzaki started awkwardly from the step-ladder. "Thank you, I'm very flattered?"

All four eliminated yelp in surprise. "Grandmaster Kanzaki!" they yelled at once. And then, quieter, "take me in as your disciple, please."

"Now now, everyone, I think we should calm down..."

"No, don't calm down," Sugaya said, climbing up after Kanzaki. He's covered in globs of too much blue paint everywhere. "Did you have to shoot me seven times? Kanzaki, I know you usually game on auto-reload arcade shooting games, but I just want you to know that your ammo usage is so wasteful I am genuinely feeling sorry for the paint balls in your possession!"

Kanzaki recoils, flustered. "I wasn't being wasteful!"

"Yes you were," came five different voices. Kataoka made the point of gesturing at the blue-splattered group compared to her own and Takebayashi, who were killed in one shot each. "They took a bath!"

Kanzaki shrank down, cheeks tinted red. "I... am so sorry..."

Barely five minutes into the battle and there are already a handful of people eliminated. It was honestly impressive, and it spoke volumes of how far the class had come as a team, and as soldiers.

Nao watched as they bickered on the audience stand, their previous animosity completely derailed in the midst of complimenting or criticizing each others' skills.

"See?" he whispered to Ritsu and Irina. "Love."

"Ah, Kuma-sensei!" Kataoka hurried over, dragging Chiba by the elbow. "Help us out here! Chiba's being self-depreciative again!"

"I mean... I definitely underperformed today..."

"But you got the coolest damn kill! You took out Ikemegu!" Okajima insisted, "don't give me that humble bullcrap, be overjoyed dammit, she's one of their control towers!"

So apparently, they've moved on from criticizing and onto forcing each other to accept compliments. Poor Chiba, he's the worst at this. He's going to die of embarrassment.

"Kuma-sensei, compliment Takebayashi too," Kanzaki pushed the explosives expert at the teacher, "if his device worked, we would've gotten a lot more kills. But he's all mopey because he didn't get to use it, so praise him for us."

"Let's not trouble Kuma-sensei..." Takebayashi was grinding his heels on the wood under him, trying to get back. But Sugaya was helping Kanzaki drag him forward.

"It's okay, Kuma-sensei's a teacher," Sugaya assured. "Teachers exist to be troubled. By their students specifically. It's his job."

Nao had to try very hard not to burst out laughing.

"I think you all did really well," he said, reaching over to pat them on the heads.

-

"Kuma-senseiiii!" Kurahashi wailed, running right up to him the moment she got back to base. "Listen! I lost the battle of the Hinas, so I'm now officially the inferior Hina... I'm upset! Comfort me!"

Nao sighed fondly, patting her on the head as she nuzzled into his stomach. "There there. It's okay if you're the..." he had to take the moment, "inferior Hina, or whatever. You're still the superior Kurahashi."

"I'm the only Kurahashi in this classroom!"

"Exactly."

She made whimpering noises into his shirt. Behind her, standing in line, is OKano, the superior Hina, waiting for her turn to get pampered.

"I want a hug, too! Do you know what that scumbag Maehara did to me?!"

Nao offered a hand. She accepted a head pat as she started ranting.

"He stabbed me! In the butt! Like a pervert! And then he called me a monkey!" she gestured incredulously. "Unbelievable! I want to step on his face, he is a cretin!"

Kayano chuckled meekly at that, patting Kimura on the shoulder as he, too, sulked about his frankly dumb misstep on the battlefield.

"Should've just listened to Karma and not tried to get ahead of myself," he mourned.

"There, there," Kayano said. "It happens to the best of us."

Nao couldn't help but notice that they were standing in a line expectantly. They should be sitting around, regrouping with their teams to review and recuperate, but apparently,the first thing they did was do the impromptu line up to debrief with Kuma-sensei? What's with that?

"Are you guys... waiting for my attention?" Nao asked.

They turned to him, fixing him with an incredulous duh look. Even Hazama was standing there, waiting uncharacteristically.

"I got used by that devil commander Karma, like a tool," she said. "I need someone to agree with me when I say he's an asshole."

Literally anyone else in the classroom would agree with her, though. There was no reason to wait for Nao specifically.

But alright, this was fine, too.

"Then, you're all limited to thirty seconds each," he said, relenting to their spoiled needs because he is an utter softie. "Kuma-sensei privileges are scarce, you know!"

Behind her, everyone cheers like they've won the lottery.

-

"What on earth is happening?" Isogai asked as he returned to base, finding a line of people. It was cluttering up the audience stands, and it was already narrow as it was.

"It's uh," Irina grimaced at the sight, "his official statement of popularity."

Maybe that explains why Korosensei looked so conflicted when he stared at them. He wasn't too sure how to feel about the fact that Nao was more popular than him when it came to students that wanted to be spoiled by their teachers.

Yada was lifted into a bridal carry and spun around. Yada is still twinkling with happiness when Hayami squeaked, shaking her head in denial for a long minute before Nao scooped her up into a bridal carry as well, twirling her around and into a ballroom spin before letting her go.

She flushed bright red, crouching down so she could peacefully just bask in elation.

Nao huffed, looking for the next request. Everyone is screaming me next, me next, and Korosensei is dying of jealousy.

Isogai gave Korosensei a skeptical glance.

Then he resigned himself to his desires.

"Kuma-sensei!" Isogai raised his hand, sounding as enthused as when he dug up expensive yams in the mountain, "please pick me up like a princess too!"

When things looked like this, it was hard to remember that around them, the war went on.

-

"I don't see the charm," Itona said, mirthfully receiving a head pat like a disgruntled dog.

Nao hummed. "It's not for everyone. There you go then, it's better if you sit down and rest with the others— what?"

Itona had glared up at Nao when he removed his hand. "Hey," a warning growl, "it hasn't been thirty seconds yet. Who said you could stop?"

Chastised, Nao put his hand back on the boy's head.

-

Nagisa wins the war, and Class E gets a month's time to determine any possible methods to save Korosensei.

"Goodness, look at yourself," Nao chided them, making them sit on the chairs in the office while the rest of the class gather around the staffroom and outside of it, snickering at them.

It was hard to say who was more injured, Nagisa or Karma. The horrid bruising everywhere, so many scrapes— the uniform protected them, so of course they hit only the uncovered spots— and Karma took off his jacket, so his shoulders got a full brunt of a triangle choke hold and his arms were now numb.

"Your muscles are going to kill you tomorrow," Nao warned.

"...worth it," Nagisa said.

"And your face. That is not going to look pretty, and why did you bite your tongue? You want to suffer for your next meal, is that it?" Nao turned to Karma, who was pouting.

"It was tactical," Karma insisted.

Nao made them take off their shirts, so he and Karasuma could really asses the damage. Bone contusions on Nagisa's side... at least it's not broken. And Karma tore a muscle trying to get out of strangulation.

"If I have anything to say about this, it's that neither of you are getting training anytime soon," Nao declared, to which Nagisa and Karma made synchronous whines.

"We're fine! Super fine!"

"I can definitely still beat up Terasaka like this! That means I'm fine!"

Terasaka barked in the distance, "YOU WANNA GO, YOU SHITHEAD?"

Karasuma sighed. "I agree with him," he said, and the two sunk down in despair. "Listen to the only qualified medic on campus. Plus, it's your own fault for going overboard."

"Karma started it!"

"No, Nagisa, you did!"

They pulled at each others' cheeks, since they weren't allowed to throw punches anymore. They growled at each other, threatening to pull hair, and the class behind them giggled at the sight.

Nao felt warm.

"It'll just be for a week or two, if you behave," he said, reaching over to ruffle their hair, resting his hands on either of their cheeks. "You're going to find a way to save that Octopus, aren't you? Then, it should be fine for you to seal up your assassination techniques, just for a little bit."

They both fell silent. Just a little, Nagisa leaned into the touch, and Karma looked at the hand from the corner of his gaze.

"We decided to save him, but we're still going to try to kill him," Karma said. "We're not giving up on the assassination, either way. Our resolve doesn't end here."

Nagisa nodded. "But for now... just for a month, we'll focus on our other blades, instead. The blade that can save, instead of kill."

Nao smiled at that. Their eyes burned into him with determination. It's a far cry from the shy way Nagisa has always hesitated, the dismissive way Karma had never take things seriously before. Now, they knew what they wanted to do, and they were willing to tear past all the barriers in their way to achieve it.

"I know you guys can do it," he said. "But don't forget. Sometimes, it's better to just stop and take a breath. So you can pick yourself up stronger than before."

They nod at once. "We'd never forget that with you around, Kuma-sensei!"

Nao will never stop being proud of them all.

-

"You're good for them," Karasuma said.

Nao paused mid-sip of his coffee. "What brought that on?"

Karasuma looked outside the door, toward the hallways where the classroom was. Korosensei kicked them out to discuss some super secret plan, so they were here, dejectedly chatting while Irina tried to eavesdrop.

"The students," Karasuma said. "They need someone like you up here. Someone that's more than a teacher, someone that's a friend."

Friend. Friend, that was an inappropriate title for a teacher to take.

"That Octopus is perfect, in every way," Karasuma says. "He's a good teacher, he understands them all, better than anyone. But when it comes to them understanding him, it's difficult. Even our students can't possibly fully sympathize with such a tragic, multi-talented being whose existence is functionally designed for education."

It wasn't as if Korosensei was unrelatable, but there was a gap. A gap that didn't need to be bridged for love to occur, but a gap nonetheless. That gap exists with Karasuma and Irina too, simply because of differences in upbringing, tenure, and professional boundaries.

And that was exactly why Nao thrived up on this mountain, despite lacking the skills to stand up to any of them in their main motive, assassination.

Nao was a flawed man, but he held onto what little pride he had with all the vigor of a man in hell crawling up Buddha's Spider Thread.

"You're just like them," Karasuma says. "They understand you, maybe more than you'll ever understand them. And that's why they cling onto you. That's why they find comfort in you."

To them, Nao was synonymous to Class E itself. The hell it used to be, the little hopeless dungeon, brimming with just one shine of hope, slowly building up into a place they can always come home to.

Nao was flattered that Karasuma would say that about him. He was a tough, unemotional guy, but that's exactly why he's capable of being completely honest like this. He just didn't have a filter for cheesiness.

Nao turned away, leaning against the wall, trying hard to suppress the bashful smile rising on his face.

"I'm a little sad to watch them grow up," he admitted.

Nao turned toward the classroom, where Irina was pouting, because Korosensei had found her eavesdropping and placed a big 'no bitch allowed' partition door before the doors. She was too offended to take it aside.

Nao turned toward Karasuma, and found him smiling in fond resignation.

"So," Nao said. "Irina's also grown up, huh?"

Karsuma recomposed himself in time to briefly murmur a, "I guess? She's dressing with much more respect for herself now. It's a shame she'd have to go back to the underworld after this, where all this development could go anywhere from there."

Nao hummed. "Then, why don't you take her in?"

"And why would I do that? And why would she accept?"

"Well, obviously, because she likes you and you're starting to consider your own feelings for the first time in your life?"

Karasuma took a minute. It was like he needed a complete system reset before he realized what Nao's mischievous grin implied, and he ground his teeth, hissing sharply in denial.

"Absolutely not!"

"Absolutely not what? Also did you know your eyes roll to the back of your head when you try your hardest to lie to yourself?"

"Leave my sight, Kunomasu. Never appear before me again."

"Okay. Just saying, but me telling you to realize you're demiromantic is like, the first of at least two different horrifying realizations you'll need to face this month."

"...what? WHAT? KUNOMASU, what do you know?!"

-

So, two weeks later, Karasuma found out that the students hijacked a space station and stole experiment data. And then they happily sauntered home, like they've just been through a cheerful field trip.

"Kuma-sensei! Zero gravity was so fun!"

Nagisa and Karma were by his side immediately. "I could spin Nagisa around like he was a fidget spinner!"

"Yeah. Please tell him not to do that!" Nagisa whined. "I got dizzy! And he kept throwing loose things around. They were so hard to gather back into their pouches before we have to strap back in for landing!"

"Ritsu did all of the heavy work! She's amazing!"

Nao praised them, of course. It was the least he could do, and it's all they asked from him, so who was he to not deliver.

To them, Nao was an irreplaceable hallmark of home.

"So, Ritsu?" Nao turned to the little girl in the phone. "Did you have fun?"

Ritsu nodded enthusiastically. "I think I've come to understand a lot more of 'love', Kuma-sensei!" she reports. "And I realized! Love is right here, within me!"

Nao blinked in surprise at that.

Something that seemed to go without saying for humans was a magical revelation to her. But no... maybe it wasn't common sense, after all.

Ritsu was a robot. And she has proven that artificial intelligence was fully capable of love, and she was excited to share it to the world.

"I see," Nao said. "Love is there, too, huh? What a wonder!"

And when she smiled, it was like the universe was in her chest, filled with enough spare parts to share with every lost soul in the world.

Meanwhile, Karasuma groaned longsufferingly into his hand. "I can't imagine how many apologies the authorities will want from me," he said, utterly miserable.