AN: Okay so I'm getting questions and confusions, so here's a rare note! If it's too long, just read the bold text haha.
1. is this a KHR (Katekyo Hitman Reborn) crossover? NOT REALLY. I've already alluded to a shared universe in a previous chapter, but this is ultimately NOT a crossover fanfiction. Much like how Nao primarily interacts with the AC side, Kazane interacts with the KHR side. But we are reading Nao's story, not Kazane's. Thus, we don't need to learn more. As Kazane says in this chapter-- it's magic. That's all we need to know.
2. any more KHR elements coming? NO. I'm not giving anyone in the AC world the flames, and I'm sure as hell not going to introduce any of the other characters from the KHR universe. AC already has a lot of characters.
3. This story is meant to be read as an Assassination Classroom fanfic, so it is meant to be read fine even if you know absolutely nothing about KHR. This is because not everyone knows KHR-- I don't want to chase my readers away by suddenly shoving this new fandom in their face! Please understand :(
4. Regarding MiSSiON. Be reminded that it is NOT canon to this fic's universe. That book is just written for fun. For reference, Rei is currently much younger (about 5-7 ish) than he is in mission (around 16-18), thus that fic is a complete AU and should not be a reference to how much KHR we're going to see.
That is all I have to say! Hope you enjoy this new chapter to wrap up the Reaper arc. ❤
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42. Orchids
Nao hummed, fiddling with the phone.
He rested a hand at his neck, and he wondered how hard it was to get dried blood off of a dress shirt. Cotton he'd know, but getting it off this fabric would be kinda rough.... Is this what bleach was invented for?
"What the-- Kuma-sensei?"
Ah, he's here.
Turning into the room, he waved at the kids, including Korosensei, who all looked incredibly horrified to see him there.
"Hey, kids! Having fun in there?" he greeted, ignoring the flabbergasted looks that went from his hand to his neck, then back to his bloody hand.
Nao turned toward the distance, where he could distinctly make out Karasuma and the Reaper fighting. Huh, he won already? They had been celebrating Karasuma's victory up until the very minute they all noticed Nao.
The kids were all crowded at the bars now, a few making a real effort to try and burn a hole in him with their eyes and the other half either looking mortified or making an effort to try and fuse through the bars of the cell.
"So yeah, I got a hold of the thing to open this cage," Nao turned back to his phone. "Don't ask me how. I want to forget."
"Kuma-sensei?!? SIR PLEASE??"
"The blood? The BLOOD??"
"Why are you here, even? How did you find us?"
"We don't care about the switch, okay WHAT IS THAT BLOOD?!"
"Hey c'mon now," Nao tried to coax them to back up a little, taking a moment to hide his bloodier hand, "if you make so much noise, you're going to distract Mister Karasuma. That's dangerous."
"Kuma-sensei, all due respect," Terasaka approached the bars with a look of death in his eyes, "just answer the question."
"Ah right. Sorry," nice bloodlust.
Korosensei's face was a heavy black, but his smile was firm, his eyes furrowed just so slightly. "Did that assassin over there do that to you?"
"I'm unharmed!" Nao said first. "As for why I'm here, I was having tea with an old acquaintance. Nearby. Then would you believe me if I say I stumbled across this place accidentally?"
"Not at all," came the unanimous answer.
"Yep, figured," Nao sighed, opening the cage doors and immediately getting drowned by a whole pool of worried junior high children.
And while the group of children fervently searched him for injuries, Karasuma made his way over in a panic, leaving the Reaper's body in the water. Irina was behind him as well, similarly flustered.
"What on earth, Kunomasu!" he raised his voice.
"Hi, fellow man who almost died," Nao greeted dryly, "I do not want to be here either. And before you ask, no, I'm not completely suicidal yet."
"Yet?"
"...I just want you to know, Kunomasu, that sometimes the only thing between your skull and my knee is my rational thinking," Karasuma said, and it was the most genuine promise of violence Nao had ever heard directly to his face.
"That makes me feel very secure," Nao spent the rest of the time hiding behind Kanzaki.
"There really isn't a wound," Okuda inspected the wound. Cleaning it with a wet rag only revealed a gentle scar that would only be visible in certain angles. "But this blood is yours, isn't it?"
"Does it make sense that it healed so quickly?"
"Absolutely not."
"Were you hiding that wound, then?" someone accused, "we're really mad, Kuma-sensei. What the hell were you thinking, coming here?"
"No, it's definitely not an old wound or anything," another argued, "it wasn't there before. So spill, Kuma-sensei, what did you do? What secret magic did you tap into?"
"Is this a 'transported to the other world for a fight and then when you get back you're about half healed' sort of anime situation?"
"What is that, Fuwa?"
"Uh. Dream-Eater Merry, among other things."
"That anime's ancient."
"No it isn't. It came out in 2011."
"That was like, ten years ago."
"No. This sentence is being written in 2021, but our manga ended in 2015, and now we're talking about 2011. Time doesn't exist, and neither do we. We're in a fanfic."
"What the-- stop that."
"Let's just go back to the conspiracy theories we have regarding Kuma-sensei's mysterious wounds. Please."
"So is Dream-Eater Merry just Wonder Egg Priority but you get healing as a free bonus?"
"No what the heck? No! Wonder Egg Priority is the thief! Like, people call its concept some work of genius, but aren't they just shoving Madoka, Yuki Yuna, Dream-eater Merry, and Precure and I don't know, Selector Wixoss? Into one thing and calling it a day?"
"That sounds amazing."
"No."
"Yes. You just don't understand the show. I don't blame you, Terasaka."
"Excuse you?!"
"Also I was gonna ask 'why precure' but now that I think about it I don't see much difference in conceptual theming between the Despairborgs and Wonder Killers."
"Stop it. Stop it before we get roasted to bits in the comments section. Please!"
"Kuma-sensei, hurry up and answer before the nerds launch into an anime debate," Sugino whirled over to hurriedly usher the conversation forward.
Nagisa looked upon the chaos in wonder. "Takebayashi and Fuwa I'll understand, why is Terasaka fighting about the originality of magical girl anime?"
And then all at once, all three of them whirl around to yell, "Wonder Egg isn't a magical girl anime!" and Fuwa hurriedly adds, "and neither is Dream-eater!"
"Right. Right! I'm sorry!"
Deciding to take pity on the absolutely horrendous flow of conversation (Nao sent a wordless apology to the eyes in the sky,) Nao spun the conversation back to him.
"Oh uh, hey, I got kidnapped, okay," Nao defended himself. "And by the way guys, do you have dangerous relatives? Take Kuma-sensei's word for it and just cut them out of your life. Like, do it at all costs, as soon as possible, right away. I give wise advice. Very wise advice."
"What are you talking about?"
"Kidnapped?"
"Kidnapped but by who? The Reaper? But they didn't use you as a hostage."
"No, not the Reaper," Nao looked worriedly toward Korosensei and Karasuma and even Irina, trying to ask for help-- but none of them were going to help him. They wanted the explanation just as much as everyone else. "Someone else."
"Who?"
"Stop being cryptid, Kuma-sensei!"
"Yeah, answer us already! Or we'll hate you!"
"Yeah, I'll drop you down from my favourite to second favourite!"
With the mess of the people hounding him for answers, Nao laughs, insisting it was a secret he wasn't allowed to tell. Irina eventually joins in the hounding, and there's a hug at the end, where she sighs and whines about her broken arm and how Nao was the only man that cared about her.
(Then Karasuma showed up with a rose and a bitter word of what might have been an awkward confession of fondness, and she was so happy she could fuel a power plant for days on excitement alone.)
No one notices the Reaper's body disappear until it's too late.
(Did he escape? No. Nao knew he didn't. They didn't see who did it, when, and where-- but she left no traces and was gone immediately.)
(And Nao knew he would never see her again.)
The government comes in to clean up the situation. The perpetrator was gone, which would eventually be deemed a cold case and the government will wash their hands out of the situation soon-- at least, according to Karasuma.
The students reconcile (very loudly) with Irina, and Korosensei presents an ultimatum for the sake of the students' safety.
"Let's go home," Nao rested a hand on Kanzaki and Nagisa's shoulders. "I'm sure you kids are all exhausted today. You did great."
"Were you watching?" Kurahashi asked.
Nao shook his head. "But we're all alive, aren't we? That's enough."
And really-- it was such a relief that they could all go home together today as well. People don't value that sometimes.
-
-
-
Nao refilled the coffee machine in the staffroom, fixing up a cup for himself. The students were busy with career counselling-- it was probably the thing that was most obviously meant for Nao, but Korosensei had insisted on taking it himself.
Karasuma had gone to the government to get some papers sorted, and Irina had excused herself for a late autumn shopping spree.
So now, Nao was alone.
He sat at the sofa by the window, watching the white orchids on his table. Some were slightly wilted, others drooped. It was about time to change them again.
"What flowers should I put in them next?" he wondered to himself.
"Will you be changing them? I'm sorry, I only brought orchids again."
Nao choked on his coffee.
It erupted into an actual coughing fit, and by the time he'd realized he'd gotten a stain on his sleeve, he was looking up to see the Reaper with a smile on his face, holding onto Nao's coffee for him.
"Are you alright, Naomasa-san?"
First name basis, huh.
"I thought K-- I mean, Windy, took you in," Nao said, taking the coffee once again.
"She did," the Reaper said, gesturing toward something that looked like a shackle on his left wrist. "I've got about ten minutes before zombies in chains come to grab me. It's better than being stuck in government custody."
Nao blinked at that. Well, he won't question that. It's probably something in relation to Kazane, and he'd already decided he wasn't getting involved.
What's supposed to happen from here?
(The Reaper is supposed to be restrained and kept in government custody-- and then Shiro comes by to kidnap him and turn him into a monster for the final confrontation.)
(But Kazane's an outlier. If she gets involved-- canonical events will change.)
(So if she takes the Reaper into prison now... will the final confrontation still occur? Probably not. Is that alright? He isn't sure.)
There's no way this greatest Assassin is going to let himself be captured... right?
"So when are you going to escape?" Nao asked, wincing through his hurting throat to take another sip of coffee.
"Ah, I suppose you wouldn't know," Reaper smiles, "I'm going to the world's most secure prison, so secure that even speaking of its existence is illegal. There's no escape from there. I've given up."
(Then why did you just tell me?!?)
"Huh? Wait, why?" Nao had to put the cup down. No, did this guy, the final goddamn villain, just say he was going to retire or something? Nao must be hearing things.
The Reaper simply smiles.
This is making less and less sense.
Well, to be fair, that mafia justice system must be on a whole other tier of power levels... but really.
"You wanted to do something, didn't you? Wanted to prove a point? You're just going to give up after everything, after doing nothing?" Nao should not know anything about the Reaper. But he asked it anyway, as someone that knew it all. "Aren't you frustrated?"
The reaper's only wish in life was to be seen by the man he respected. He was Korosensei's first mistake, and a mistake Korosensei will take with him to the grave.
"Frustration is a feeling that's foreign to me," the Reaper simply picks up the flowers on the table, changing the water and setting in the fresh, colourful orchids.
"That's a lie."
"I kill anyone that gets in my way. I simply wanted to continue doing it beautifully, that was it," he said. "I adore beautiful, fragile things. I like to prune them, and watch them bloom, even for a short while."
"And I like watching the flowers you tender," Nao said.
The Reaper smiled. "You're not so bad at conversation yourself."
"Don't change the subject," Nao returned immediately.
This made the conversation stilt immediately. The reaper's smile faded, just so slightly, and the sunset shone through the window, just so auburn in the evening time.
"Why did you look at me that day?"
The question wasn't a surprise.
If Nao didn't stop in the middle of the road-- didn't strike up a conversation-- he would have never caught the reaper's attention.
"I was surprised," Nao admitted. "I recognized you."
The reaper hummed at that. Saying that he recognized this man that peeled off his face to be the Master of Disguise was very baffling, but he didn't question it.
"Is that so? Who exactly did you recognize?"
A murderer. An assassin. Someone who would kill at a wrong word choice.
"I'm still trying to figure that out," Nao said. "I knew who you were, but I'd never seen you before. You're not exactly helpful in that department."
After all, the reaper only ever showed up when he wanted to.
"People don't tend to want to see me," the reaper said, "I'm a murderer after all. The only people that see me are my victims."
Nao smiled. "And yet, here I am."
The reaper turned away at that.
"And that's not true," Nao added, taking a sip of his coffee. He looked toward the vase, "I see you on my table every morning."
The reaper blinked at that.
"I am not the flowers," he said, confused.
"But it is your heart, and your sincerity," Nao insisted.
"I don't believe I have any of that in me," he argued.
Nao stood up. He lifted just one stalk of orchid in his hands, holding it out toward the sun rays, watching the light slither around each curve of its pure white petals.
"Then you have spent too long looking out, that you've forgotten how to look inward," Nao said, reaching forward to cradle a petal. "You've spent so long alone. Has no one been around to remind you how to breathe?"
The reaper fell silent.
When Nao turned to face him, the reaper looked away.
"Well," the reaper let out something of a very tight breath, his shoulders sagging as he turned away. "Wow."
Nao folded his arms before him, eyes narrowing. "What?"
"Nothing."
Nao huffed at that, dropping the orchid back into the vase. "So, you're just going to be stuck in jail for the rest of your life?" he asked.
"Until they feel like letting me out," the reaper answered, "I've killed many mafiosi and I'm hated virtually across the board. I suppose jail would be a nice place to live in comparison."
Nao picked up his coffee again, taking a considerate sip. "That sucks."
The reaper beamed. "It does!"
This didn't sound good. But then again, maybe it was for the better that the reaper doesn't show up to the final confrontation. It would be sad-- but he would live, even in hell.
Living, huh.
(Why are you going to hell? Because you have no choice?)
(I thought you wanted more than anything to be seen by the one you admired. Are you fine, not fulfilling that this time?)
Nao didn't voice those questions.
"Do you have regrets?" Nao asked.
The reaper smiled wryly at that. He leaned back against the cabinet, his eyes turning calmly back to Nao. "Just one."
(To be seen, right?)
"That's a shame," Nao said instead. But at least the reaper knew exactly what he wanted in life. Nao wasn't too sure about it.
"Indeed it is," the reaper looked away-- is that slight disappointment in his eyes?
Two minutes left.
"So... what's your name?" Nao finally questioned. "You had one, didn't you? Before you became... what you are today."
He lived a normal life before becoming an assassin, if Nao remembered correctly.
The reaper blinked at that. "Why do you want to know?"
Nao didn't quite understand why his face heated up at that. "What the-- obviously because you know mine!" he flustered, "you know all my basic information. My routine. What the hell. It's creepy!"
The reaper seemed baffled by that sudden outburst, but Nao continued.
"I just-- well," Nao groaned, "I want to know you too. Because it's embarrassing that you know so much about me and I don't know anything about you, personally."
(I want to know who you are, outside of your assassin persona.)
(Just like the flowers-- I want to see the person underneath it all.)
Just one thing would be fine. It would, after all-- be the last time they ever talk. There would be no more flowers for the road, no more orchids on the table, no more wry smiles and cryptid conversations.
The reaper's eyes softened at that.
In a genuine-- saddened way.
"I don't have a name I identify with anymore," he said. "How about you give me one?"
Huh?
"Don't put me on the spot like that," Nao said, irritated.
The reaper laughs at that. A short, bubbly series of chuckles, and his eyes squint just a little when his lips curl up and his cheeks fill the space between.
He looked happy, despite his last minute of freedom.
Nao didn't know how to feel about this. He never truly knew.
He was always the 'regret and melancholy' sort. He thought about things in depth after it happened, not while it went on. He's never the 'act now and be expressive' sort, and that's why he tended to do nothing.
"I like to watch the flowers," Nao admitted, turning toward the orchids. "I'll miss them when you're gone."
The reaper stepped forward, holding out a hand.
Nao's eyes lingered on the orchids for a moment, before he took the hand, and took in everything. In the bouquet of orchids-- they were colourful this time, not just white-- so there was a yellow-orange one between them as well.
The reaper's eyes were gentle and amber.
The same colour.
"Ran, for the orchids," Nao suggested. "How about that?"
His eyes widened a little in surprise-- but quickly filled over with sheer overwhelming sadness, and for a second, Nao thought he saw the traces of a tear that was quickly blinked away.
When the reaper spoke again, his voice was trembling.
"Thank you."
Immediately, he vanished, the wind taking him through the windows, the darkness forcing a blink from Nao and making him turn away-- just in time to see the last scatter of a petal in his wake.
He was gone.
-
Korosensei bursts into the room, doors slamming open and absolutely uncomposed, looking around frantically and taking Nao's hands checking for injuries of any sort.
"Kunomasu-sensei!" he yells, "what was that? There was something here-- someone! They're gone-- I don't believe it! Are you alright?"
Nao bursts into laughter at that, and his half-hearted attempts to assure Korosensei did little to ease the sheer panic that erupted in the classroom when Korosensei reported their unwanted visitor.
They ended up taking shifts standing guard, just in case he came back-- but Noa knew he wouldn't.
(The Reaper spent his life trying to prove himself to his mentor-- but he'd already surpassed Korosensei, long ago.)
(He never found acknowledgement, and Korosensei will never be able to stop regretting-- but he found himself, and that was something.)
"Hey, octopus," Nao turned to Korosensei, "wanna go for drinks tonight? My treat."
Korosensei calmed right down at that, face brimming to yellow and green stripes. "Oh? I'm immune to poisons, but you're suggesting we drink? That doesn't bode well for your wallet, does it?"
"Then, forget it."
"No no, no take backs!"
Nao was going to rant the everloving hell out of himself today. And Korosensei could do it too, if he wanted. They were going to talk the story of a sad man only they ever knew, and they were going to cry their hearts out.
And then they're going to move on, and then the world is going to continue spinning.
(Kazane always saw through Nao right away. Kazu did too.)
(Nao hated that he was being seen, in their eyes.)
(But if he lost that someday-- maybe it would hurt.)
Nao hoped that Ran would someday find people who could see him too.