Lesson Learned

You've learned so much

They settled into another silence as the blatant truth grew more blaring each second that passed.

"Koro-sensei," Hayami murmured, keeping her gaze low. "Were you expecting...something like this to happen?"

Mitsuko's stomach twisted.

Of course, he did.

She felt colder while he spoke about how it was always going to end this way, which was true. He'd been living on borrowed time, living each day like it was his last.

Mitsuko closed her eyes tight as her eyes stung.

He was going to leave, and he wouldn't be back. That was death, and anything that was left behind was a memory.

Her stomach hurt when her eyes watered more, burying her face in her teacher's robes so the others wouldn't see.

"...The fact that the entire world combined their intelligence and worked together to create an assassination that could exceed my own abilities." Koro-sensei gently rested a tentacle on her shoulder. "I cannot help but see it as the ultimate sign of respect that they would and could go this far. And, that I was the target of their immaculate and well thought out efforts is an incredible honour."

Mitsuko swallowed and tried to keep calm.

The last thing they need is me crying.

"But then..." Yada looked upset "Does that mean our efforts were in vain?"

"There is no such thing as a wasted effort, Miss Yada." He patted her on the head. "You all travelled all the way out to space in order to confirm that the possibility of my self-destruction was less than 1%."

Mitsuko grimaced. "But it wasn't enough to save you!" She looked up fiercely. "We should have done more!"

A number of her classmates nodded, with some looking close to tears.

"You did more than enough, more than I could have ever expected how hoped for," Koro-sensei said gently. "Thanks to that discover, Class E regained its livelihood, and the month that followed, while short, was truly filled with fun." Her classmates still looked subdued. "That process...and that feeling...is what's most important."

"But you'll still be gone," Mitsuko muttered, growing sick. Her teacher's soft reassurance doing little to make her feel better.

"IT'S JUST A MERE 1%!" Terasaka shouted. "WE'RE ALL READY TO FACE A RISK THAT SMALL!"

But the rest of the world isn't, she thought while Terasaka ranted.

They were tiny fish in an ocean and the world wasn't going to accept their version of the truth, not a large majority anyway.

Her classmates wouldn't accept this, continuing t rant about speaking up and how things weren't happening how they wanted.

"Please don't die," she whispered, finding it hard to speak. "Don't leave."

"I have to." His voice was gentle and patient, bending down slightly.

"I'll never see you again," she mumbled, digging her fingers into his robes.

"What's on the other side or not doesn't matter," he told her quietly. "What matters is our memories and everything you've learnt." He looked at her warmly. "You've already learned so much, and I'm so proud of you."

Her eyes stung worse, ducking her head so he wouldn't see. "Sir..."

"All of you," Koro-sensei spoke. "How about I give you some words of wisdom?"