3rd Person:

Small rays of sunshine dripped through the curtain cracks, and the light reflected off the marble in the kitchen. The glare from the counter shone on the petite figure on the lavender couch, causing it to stir.

"What on earth-" Manami groaned, annoyed at the brightness shining into her eyes.

'Why did that old man think marble in the living room was a good idea?!'

Reluctantly pulling herself off the couch, Manami made her way to the bathroom to freshen up. Luckily there was a walk-in closet there for extra clothes.

She couldn't remember much from last night, apart from slitting a man's throat open and drinking something given to her by Akari. Everything after that was a blur.

Looking in the mirror, Manami was surprised to see black hair resting on her shoulders instead of the usual dark purple she always saw.

'When did this happen?' She thought in bewilderment.

Manami flinched when a searing pain shot through her head. She instinctively lifted a hand to her forehead, grimacing at the sensation.

'Ah, I remember now.' She mentally cursed Akari.

Flashback Starts

A small green-haired girl had just finished styling her newly dyed hair. Akari looked into the full-sized mirror and nodded at the sight of cat-ear-like pigtails on top of her head.

'This is the perfect hairstyle for Kaede Kayano.' She thought.

Akari then noticed the other few dye bottles sitting on the table and remembered the conversation she had with Manami in the morning about those same coloured liquids.

Then she looked at Manami, sitting on the dining table with a thoughtful look on her face. She also seemed annoyed, judging by her furrowed eyebrows.

"Girl, you good?" Akari asked Manami, sitting down next to her.

Manami grimaced, remembering her conversation with the younger Asano. Well, it was more like him being a whiny bitc-

"Manami!"

The mentioned girl jumped in her spot. It was unlike her to get lost in her thoughts, so Akari was worried.

"Are you...okay?" She asked with furrowed brows. Manami nodded quickly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit peeved over what Gakush-" She paused. "...Asano-San said earlier."

Akari realised what she was talking about and felt a spark of malice towards the younger boy.

'I get he's jealous, but undermining someone's achievements is not the way to go!' She fumed in her head. 'Forget that. I need to do something to get her mind off it.'

She had an idea.

"Hey, I'm going to get something to drink. Do you want anything?" Akari stood up, pretending to brush some dust off her leggings.

Manami looked up at her and shrugged. "Maybe some warm milk? I'm planning on going to sleep in a bit."

Playfully, Akari saluted. She made her way to the kitchen, which wasn't far as the living room and kitchen were conjoined.

Taking her pomegranate crush smoothie from the fridge, she poured it into a tall glass with a golden rim. In the corner of her eye, she saw a few strangely coloured liquids lined up on top of a shelf, and she immediately knew what they were.

After reading the labels, she picked up the container with a milky white hue and poured it into a black mug before putting it back on the shelf.

The label on the now empty container read: 'Inebriation.

Akari picked up both of the cups and walked back to the laid back figure on the couch. She was honoured by how much trust the girl showed towards her. She was also remorseful as she was about to break that trust.

"Here, your milk. You never really specified if it was supposed to be warm or not, so I decided not to. Is that okay?" Akari smiled.

'Yeah, because it's not milk. I didn't know if it was safe to warm it up or not.' She internally scowled.

Manami returned the gesture as she took the mug. "It's okay. I don't like warm milk that much you should know that." She sipped the drink.

'God, I feel terrible.' Akari could feel her conscious poking at her. 'Oh well. Drugging her will take it off her mind. It'll take everything off her mind.'

It's not like she could get her drunk with actual alcohol. For an unknown reason, Manami was immune to it. Also, she wanted to dye her friend's hair. No way Manami would allow it when she's sober.

She'll deal with the consequences in the morning. Or more like she won't, since tomorrow will be her first day of school and Manami's first day in E-Class.

"Akari-Chan...this doesn't taste like milk."

Akari broke out of her mental world when she heard the soft voice of her friend that had an undertone of confusion and wariness. She looked at Manami's accusing face, then at the nearly empty mug in her hands and gave an innocent smile.

"It had to be done."

Her blunt confirmation paired with her innocent face caused a shot of burning rage to flit across Manami's features. She scowled at the smiling idiot in front of her.

"When I'm sober again, I swear I will kill you." Manami gritted out, feeling herself lose her grip on reality. Slowly but surely.

Akari nervously chuckled at the statement, feeling a bit of fear in her system, seeing the deadly glare directed at her. Though, her worries instantly nullified when she saw a bright red blush start creeping up onto her face and replaced by mild amusement.

'She looks like an angry kitten now.' Akari mused, trying to bite back a coo.

Manami's cheeks puffed out, and she pulled down her lips in a frowny pout. Her eyebrows furrowed, her eyes were droopy, and there was a deep flush across her face that signalled her intoxication.

"You're so cute!" Akari squealed, unable to contain herself any longer. Manami adopted a dazed expression, and Akari let out another screech, grabbing her phone to take a few pictures.

"Why was I mad again?" Manami asked.

"No reason. Now stay here while I go get something, okay?" Akari softly replied like she was talking to a baby.

The mild-mannered girl nodded her head, still disoriented.

With thousands of scheming thoughts in her mind, Akari walked to the bathroom and retrieved two dye bottles. She walked back to the living room and was pleased to see the drunk girl exactly where she left her.

'She listens to everything I say! I can have some fun with this...'

Akari looked at the two dye bottles in her hand and held them in front of Manami's face. She remembered that her best friend mentioned that she wouldn't like to attract much attention, so a hair colour like black or brown would do well with that. While she was thinking, Manami looked at the bottles curiously with her wide, doe eyes.

After painting mental pictures of what Manami would look like in each colour, Akari has settled with the black hair dye.

Akari knocked her fist softly against Manami's head to get her attention, as the girl had seemed entranced by the two bottles she was holding.

~~~An hour or so later~~~

Manami and Akari stared blankly at their reflections in the mirror. Akari was surprised that the drug had lasted long enough for her to go through the entire dyeing and drying process without interruptions. They didn't have to bleach it since they were dyeing it a darker colour.

"Hey, you look pretty good!" Akari exclaimed, satisfied with the outcome.

Manami gave a soft smile.

"Yay." She spoke, her voice sounding faint and melodious. It was a nice contrast to her usual one, which was always stern and sharp.

"Great so- Hey, Manami?" Akari paused when she noticed Manami's head go limp.

"Oh, she's asleep. That's sad. I wanted to paint her nails." She huffed, realising that her friend had fainted.

Flashback Ends

Manami gritted her teeth as her grip on the hairbrush tightened. She needed to hide her chemicals better so something like this wouldn't occur a second time.

She would attack Akari now, but school was in 20 minutes. For now, she would have to focus on appearing as small and unnoticeable as possible. She was careful not to overdo it since that would end up bringing her more attention instead. That was the opposite of what she wanted.

'A nerdy look would do. Maybe two braids.' Manami thought.

She usually wore glasses anyways, so that was something she didn't have to change.

After donning her school uniform, Manami decided to test out some expressions she could use as her resting face. A face that gave the shy and nervous impression she wanted to show everyone.

"I should also practice a soft and quiet voice, with a few pitch changes to make it seem like I'm constantly anxious." She told herself out loud.

Akari popped her head in through the bathroom door and tried not to snort.

"What are you doing?" She asked, amusement lacing her smirk.

Manami spun around, startled. When she saw the wide smirk on her friend's face, she scowled.

"Don't think I forgot what you did to me yesterday." She snarled and felt a prick of triumph when she saw Akari's face drain of colour.

"Also, Kaede, we need to go to school at different times. You're going to leave first." Manami announced, turning back to the mirror and checking if there were any hairs out of place.

"What, no! I don't know the way there. I'll get lost~" Akari whined, pouting childishly. Manami rolled her eyes.

"Shut up, liar. You stalk me to the building all the time, go up the mountain next to it."

Akari's face turned into a faint tone of red.

'Crap. Manami saw me!'

"Fine. I'll go by myself." Akari huffed and rushed out of the bathroom.

Manami softly smiled.

Later, At School:

The classroom had a depressing atmosphere, and it was suffocating her. All the students occupying the seats had their heads down with disheartened looks on their faces.

Only one of the desks in the classroom was noticeably empty, but nobody paid attention to it since it was in the back.

Everyone immediately stiffened at the sound of footsteps, as well as the additional sloshing of God knows what.

'Ah. Here it comes.' Manami thought, bracing herself for the shock.

A yellow creature resembling an octopus walked through the door, wearing a traditional but slightly theatrical teaching robe with a tiny hat on its massive, round head. Its face set in a wide smiley-faced grin with two beady eyes.

"How do you do?" It spoke. Manami could feel her soul leave her body.

"I'm the one who tore that chunk out of your moon." To her, it sounded like a man.

The students' faces turned into those of horror and shock.

The octopus flashed his tentacles, standing in-between three government agents dressed in black.

"I plan to do the same to Earth next year. But until then, I'll be your teacher. Nice to meet you!"

'Oh shit.'

A/N The reason this took longer than any of them was that I wanted to make sure it was good. As in, not rushed and descriptive. I wanted to show the closeness and intimacy between Akari and Manami. I wanted to give you all something a bit longer. But still, sorry for taking so long. You all don't deserve that :(

Also, I'll be referring to Kaede as Akari in 3rd person, and Kaede in Manami's POV. If we do get any of the other characters' POVs, then they'll be referring to her as Kayano. Hope that clears anything up!

Please check the 71st (Manami's Mansion) and 72nd (Manami's Mansion #2) chapters of one of my books 'Assassination Classroom Rants' for the rough visual of Manami's mansion.

Next Update ➡ 'Side Story - First Meeting' will be uploaded (hopefully) sometime before August!

~yeetmeetfeetdelete