Secret Santa for Aki-chan
“Sensei!”
A chorus of voices suddenly stopped him from his tracks and slowly turned around to see a small flock of junior high school students. Every one of them were holding a piece of rolled paper which was a sign that they were able to successfully finish the curriculum needed for middle school. A small smile gradually formed on his lips as he gazed at each happy faces he had come to know better for the entire year he was with them. Each was a happy moment engraved in his heart and he would treasure them for as long as he could.
“Sensei!” cried a young girl’s voice.
“Nagisa-sensei!” called another. “Please wait!”
Nagisa Shiota, currently aged 28, waited patiently for his students to catch their breathing as it seemed they had ran a long way in order to catch up to him. The school’s auditorium was a little bit far off from the main entrance which was about a 20-minute walk. Today was a very special day for everyone especially to the group of students currently in front of him. Because, today was their graduation day. And he was very happy for them.
However, it was ironic that the homeroom class he was assigned to, had the same class number he had once during his younger school days. The only major differences were: 1) these students were not considered a complete outcast in this school. Even if some of them were a little bit hard to handle because of their uniqueness, they were still in a better position compared to him back when he was still in that rotten old school building on top of a mountain behind Kunugigaoka Junior High’s main building. And 2) they were not assigned a top secret mission to assassinate a super being that possessed Mach 20 speed.
They were ordinary students, with ordinary lives, and ordinary problems. But, nonetheless, they were his students.
“Yes?” he answered. Nagisa patiently waited for the young girl with honey-colored hair to even her breathing. “What’s the matter, Sakamoto-san?”
“Sensei, where are you going?” she asked. “Are you leaving already?”
“Ah, yes, I am,” he replied, a little bit surprised by the question. “Why do you suddenly ask?”
This time, a girl with long brown tresses answered his question shyly, “Well, we just wanted to invite you to our graduation after party, Sensei. The whole class had organized a small party a-and we were hoping that you can come.”
He silently watched as a blush crept up the girl’s cheeks after answering his question. Tomori Chiharu had always been a quiet and timid type of girl since the very beginning; but during the time Nagisa had been with them, he had tried his best to let the girl express herself better – both in speech and action. And he was proud that the girl had huge improvements since then.
However, smiling apologetically, he had to decline the offer of the students he had gotten closer with. It was obvious in their dejected expressions that they were hoping he could come to their party.
“I’m really sorry,” Nagisa apologized sincerely. “I couldn’t come to your graduation party because I’ve already had a previous engagement for today. And this was already set a long time ago.”
Both students gave him puzzling looks. But before they could ask him more questions about it, he had already turned his back on them and walked purposely towards the black sedan car that had been waiting for him a while.
Yes, Nagisa wouldn’t have a chance to join his own students for celebration. Because on this day 14 years ago, was the day that person gave him and the whole Class 3-E passing colorful octopus marks as their graduation gift.
Had it really been 14 years since that faithful day? Since that day the world government had decided to take action into their own hands and tried to assassinate Korosensei once and for all? Despite the passing of the years, he could still vividly remember the troubled feelings boiling inside him, as all of Class E tried to run as fast as their feet could carry them to the old school building’s location.
Both Karasuma-sensei and Bitch-sensei had given them all the information and gadgets they needed to gain entry to the school grounds. Trying to beat each member of the Wolf Pack lead by the infamous mercenary Houjou was no walk in the park. At lot of them got heavily injured, and luckily, no one lost their lives. All of them were able to meet up with Korosensei one last time. Their strong feelings for each other became a tool to defeat all of their enemies in sight.
And Korosensei said he was proud of them.
A familiar tune snapped him out of his quiet reverie and took out his smartphone from the right breast pocket of his suit. Nagisa silently stared the unfamiliar caller’s ID before answering it.
“Hello?” he asked tentatively.
“Yoh! Nagisa-kun~” replied a cheeky voice from the other line.
Surprised, Nagisa stared at the caller ID again before placing it back on his ear once more. “Karma-kun? Is this you?”
He heard the man chuckle from the other side. “Of course, it’s me. Who do you think it is?”
“Ah, sorry, you’re number wasn’t registered so I was a little bit surprised.”
“Hmm~ Well, I changed phone numbers. Someone was able to get access to my personal phone number for some reason and threatened me. Though, I was able to easily track the person so everything’s fine and dandy now,” Karma happily explained.
Nagisa sweat-dropped at the same old happy-go-lucky friend of his. The two of them had mostly kept in touch with each other, however with Karma’s position as one of Japan’s elite bureaucrats, even trying to call him without prior appointments was an arduous task. That’s why, the Chuunihan of Class 3E kept a different phone line for personal use.
“I see,” Nagisa replied with a sigh, albeit smiling. “I guess, you never do change Karma-kun.”
Karma chuckled. “People don’t change that much, Nagisa.”
“I guess that’s true,” he replied solemnly. He was about to say something more when a sudden voice from the intercom suddenly filled the other line. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We will shortly land on Narita Airport. Please fasten your seatbelt and enjoy the view.”
“Karma-kun, are you onboard a plane right now?” Nagisa inquired.
“Yep. And it looks like I’ll be landing in Japan soon.”
“Great. Then I’ll see you soon then. I’ve already received information from Ritsu and she said they’re all set up in the venue.”
“Hmmn.. Then I can’t wait to see everyone’s faces,” the redhead cackled with glee. “Maybe I should do a prank to Terasaka again.”
Nagisa merely laughed and shook his head. There really are things which don’t change in people. Although, time had certainly gave them more maturity and even position in society, but somethings were still the same. And despite feeling the loneliness that always crept up to his heart whenever this time of the year comes, he always looked forward to it all the time.
o-o
Meanwhile back onboard the plane, Karma Akabane stared aimlessly at the mediocre view beyond his window’s seat. He’d been away from Japan for quite some time and had only decided to come back because of the special commemoration they’ve planned a long time ago. After that incident, the class had decided to meet up with everyone around this time so that they won’t forget. Although, if he were to be asked, he didn’t think anyone could easily forget such an experience in their lives.
Bored with the outside scenery, he closed his eyes and sighed. It was going to get a bit dramatic again, he guessed. After a while, a shuffling sound beside him caught his attention.
“I’m s-sorry it took so long,” said a shy feminine voice. His own pair of amber-colored eyes locked gazed with a pair of lavender orbs. “There was a b-bit of a queue in the restroom.”
“That’s alright,” Karma grinned at the woman sitting next to him. “I was just looking at the view outside to keep the boredom away.”
Manami Okuda rolled her eyes at him. A long time ago, she had sported an image of a timid and introverted junior high school girl, wearing glasses and a pair of twin tailed braids. Now, looking at her, other people would only probably see a confident young woman. Gone were the braids and glasses. Her dark locks flowed beautifully behind her back while contact lenses helped her see what’s in front of her clearly.
However to Karma, Manami was still the same science geek she was before which he always made a point to tease her with, much to her annoyance.
“Was that Nagisa-kun on the phone just now?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Karma replied. “He also said that he already got the information details Ritsu disseminated to everyone.”
“That’s great then! I can’t wait to meet everyone again.”
He chuckled at her. “I’m sure you are.”
“Will we head immediately to the location? Or do you want to drop by the hotel first?” Manami casually asked while fastening her seatbelt securely since the plane was now slowly making its decent to the airport grounds. Karma placed his hand on top of hers and slowly entwined them.
“Hotel first,” he answered without second thoughts. “We won’t get enough time alone once we reached it, so I’d like to spend a little bit more time with you.”
Karma grinned at Manami devilishly which made the latter blush profusely. Even after all the years she had spent together with the redhead, she still gets caught off guard with his plans.
Nagisa arrived two hours earlier than the expected time for the meet up and had decided to spend the next hours leisurely visiting some familiar places in his hometown. After Korosensei’s death, each one of them pursued their own career paths and his was in a university in Central Tokyo after graduating high school which was a little bit far from Kunugigaoka City. One day, he’d like to come back to his this place and teach, just like he did when they were young.
He was busy remembering some of the things their former octopus teacher had taught them when another black sedan car pulled over just right next to his. And from the car’s driver seat came out a very familiar and famous face, but right now, the disguise she was wearing was the same one she had used back when they were still junior high school students.
“Nagisa? Is that you?” Akari Yukimura asked tentatively. She slowly took off her sunglasses to have a good look at the man in front of her. It had been a while since she last saw him because of her busy shooting schedules and modeling photoshoots. And with Nagisa’s hair currently tied in a long ponytail instead of the twin tails he had before, Akari thought he really looked cool and handsome.
“Kayano?” Nagisa asked back. “I-I mean Akari! Sorry, I guess I’m still kinda used calling you Kayano.”
Akari giggled at Nagisa’s blushing face while awkwardly scratching his head. Yeah, she guessed it had been a while since she was called “Kayano” again. It felt good yet at the same time… depressing. “It’s okay,” she said smiling.
“Ah, b-but…”
“Really, its fine, you know,” Akari casually waved it off. “Calling me Kayano would be good for my disguise since no one would know who I really am.” She winked.
Turning a brighter shade of red, Nagisa casually surveyed her from top to bottom and immediately thought that Akari had really changed since the last time he saw her which was a few years ago when that happened. Although, he did manage to catch a few short glimpses of her in TV ads and movie trailers, but seeing her in person; it was something else. The confidence she exuded was shown in the way she walked and carried herself, not to mention she was wearing a pair of high-heeled boots that added a few more inches to her height.
He was impressed and was even proud of her. Though, when his gazed landed on her chest, he had to mentally slap himself. Nagisa personally knew that Kayano, he meant Akari, had personal issues about her bust size when they were still students. So seeing her wear clothes that closely fit her body’s figure especially around the chest area, he had an intense urge to suddenly cover her his suit.
It’s not that there was something wrong with Akari’s body a little bit exposed like it. It just didn’t bode well with Nagisa, that’s all.
“Nagisa?” Akari called his attention. “Is something with my shoes?”
She had been trying to catch his attention again and it also felt weird that he was glaring at her boots. Not to mention, she tried to hide the blush that slowly crept up her cheeks when Nagisa slowly scanned his eyes all over her body. Akari was already used to such kind of gaze before, but this was the first time he had done that to her. It sent shivers down her spine.
“A-ah… N-no, there’s n-nothing wrong about it. In fact, they look great!” Nagisa laughed forcefully. Both looked away to hide their blushing faces.
This was the awkward scene Sugino saw when he arrived and wondered what happened when he saw two of his former classmates blushing furiously. Curious, he called out to them jovially.
“Nagisa! Akari! Long time no see you guys!” Sugino called, smiling. “How’ve you guys been?”
Both Nagisa and Akari turned around to see a smiling Sugino who was waving his hand happily at them. They smiled back at their former 3-E classmate whose happy-go-lucky attitude never seemed to have changed.
“Sugino! Long time no see!” Nagisa replied. He bumped fist with the pro-baseball player whom he considered as one of his best friends. “I’m good and I saw your recent baseball match. You were really awesome!”
Sugino responded shyly. “Thanks, man. That was a very difficult match though. We were only able to beat the other team by 2 points. They were really good.”
“It was still an awesome game. And congratulations for being this year’s champion again,” Nagisa said and shook hands with him.
“Thanks! And by the way, Akari, you’re look great! I almost didn’t recognize you because of your disguise,” Sugino chuckled. “I also almost called you Kayano by mistake too.”
Akari grinned and posed a little for the baseball player. “I have to look good all the time, you know. It’s part of the job. And it’s okay if you guys call me Kayano. I’ve grown fond of that name and besides I am on a disguise now.”
“Great! I’ve already received a text that we’re the only ones left. Everyone’s already waiting at the old school building, so shall we head out?”
Nagisa and Akari both nodded in agreement. The three set off towards their target destination – Kunugigaoka’s old school building at the top of the mountain; the place where they had received harsh yet fun assassination trainings from the super being with Mach 20 speed.
o-o
The moment three of them set foot on their previous school’s grounds, everyone felt a sense of melancholic happiness. It wasn’t the first time they had returned here, but each time they did, each one of them still had a lingering longing for their perverted octopus teacher. The first person to have looked at them with respect, and not as if they were mere outcasts of society, because their inability to meet the standards established. Korosensei had never once looked down upon them, instead he had praised each individual for their own uniqueness, and encouraged them to strengthen whatever second blade they currently possessed.
And now, all of them were able to sharpen that blade and used their hidden bloodlust to establish their own positions and statuses in society. All of Class 3-E were able to hit their targets with exact precision only a world class hitman could do. Whether it was in the area of politics, medicine, sports, showbiz, technology, and personal homes, they never forgot to constantly sharpen the skills they had painfully cultivated during their younger years.
‘We’re back, Korosensei,’ Nagisa thought in solemn greeting. He also knew that everyone was also thinking the same thing as well.
“Well, the place still looks a little bit rundown like it used to years ago. But they’ve really put up a good range of decorations here and there.” Sugino whistled in awe. His eyes scanned the whole area and found a few Christmas, Valentines, and all kinds of other kinds of holiday decorations available. “America’s 4th of July celebration? Seriously?”
“They did, didn’t they?” Akari agreed and laughed. “I wonder whose idea it is this time.”
“I don’t know. But didn’t they went a little bit overboard?” spoke a laughing Nagisa.
A sudden blast sound immediately caught their attention, and using the speed of an assassin, they rushed at the area where the blast came from - behind the school building. Sugino was the first to arrive and was shocked to see the sight in front of him.
Terasaka was currently struggling for freedom in some kind of gooey pink substance while the rest of his gang, namely Muramatsu, Yoshida and Kirara was laughing loudly at him. A grinning Karma was holding some kind of chemical substance inside a beaker while Itona was operating a video recorder on both hands. While the rest of Class 3-E merely shook their heads at the unsightly display of childishness which normally happens when they do these kinds of get together.
“What the hell?” Sugino voiced.
“What’s going on?” Nagisa and Akari asked simultaneously.
“That happened,” he pointed out. “Looks like Terasaka’s became Karma’s prey again.”
“Some things never do change, huh?” came a voice from behind them. All three of them turned around to see their previous class representative, Yuuma Isogai carrying plastic bags on both hands, and behind him was Maehara who also carried the same. “Hey guys! Glad you’re here already!”
“Yoh!” Maehara greeted as well. Then his gaze landed on Akari and added, “Ohhh.. Akari, you’re looking amazingly sexy today! I’ve seen that new movie you did and I must say I-“
Before the resident 3-E playboy could even finish his statement, a strong jab landed on the side of his body and made him writhe in pain. Everyone who saw it was left in mute disbelief and fear at the wrath of Hinata Okano, who was now currently married to the man crying and bawling over in agony.
“Tch. You never do learn, don’t you? That disgusting attitude of yours still continues to persist even when you’re already married,” Okano glared at her husband.
‘Scary,’ everyone thought at the same time.
It was still a befuddling mystery to all the other students of Class 3F on how Maehara was able to ask for Hinata’s hand in marriage. Of course, everyone knew as plain as day that both held certain feelings for each other but still it was quite a surprise to suddenly receive a wedding invitation one day.
What was even more surprising was, they were the very first couple to finally tie the knot in their group. Their action must had released some kind of wedding chain reactions because the following year after Maehara and Okano’s wedding, Hayami Rinka and Chiba Ryuunosuke were the next pair to spread the good news. Then followed by Taisei Yoshida and Sumire Hara, which shocked Terasaka the most because he didn’t realize that there were something going on between the two. In which Itona casually remarked about Terasaka’s stupidity about childhood relationships.
Nagisa silently pondered in amusement. Everyone were already making future family plans and he was very happy for his former classmates. They’ve grown up as proper adults that would certainly make Korosensei very proud of them. Silently, his gaze fell on a certain green-haired woman who was chatting excitedly to a blushing Okuda, who was now surrounded by almost all the women of Class 3-E. Nagisa wondered if it was also time for him to settle down as well.
“Stop staring too hard, Nagisa. You’ll look like a pervert,” Karma said jokingly.
Nagisa choked and flushed at the redhead’s comment. “I-I-I’m not!”
“Oh really~?” the bureaucrat grinned. “From my point of view, that’s not the case though. You look like you’re ready to attack the moment you find a given opening.”
“W-what are you talking about? I’m not attacking anyone.”
“Yeah, right. So anyway, have you finally talked it out with Kayano?”
Nagisa sighed. “No, not since it happened. I mean, we never really got to talk about it. She sort of got busy with all her work projects and whenever the class got together… she doesn’t really stay too long together with me. To be honest, it’s kinda getting frustrating.”
Karma barked with laughter then smirked. “Use your second blade then. You’re the class’ best assassin. I’m sure you’ll kill the target in no time.”
Before Nagisa could reply to him, Isogai had already called everyone’s attention to come inside the classroom for they would shortly begin. Everyone followed suit and took each one of the seats they previously owned back when they were still junior high school students.