A supernatural spirits (Youkai) AU.
Nao is the spirit of the E-class building, though Asano didn't know that when he hired him as a teacher. When a pointedly human alien creature comes and settles on the hill, there's nothing he can do but go with the flow. There are other youkai in the class as well, but basically they're all pretending to be human.
This is sad, I'm sorry.
In this AU, Nao does not have family, thus Kazane and Kazumasa do not exist. This means no Reaper influence for this side story, sorry.
"Are you sick, Kuma-sensei?" Kurahashi asks, "geez, who was on cleaning duty?"
Nao holds back another cough, turning away to open the window. "No, it's—" a cough, "fine, it's not the dust, it's just the usual."
"They're not mutually exclusive, Kuma-sensei," Kurahashi says.
"Even if you say that..."
Class 3-E is a phenomenon that is unusual in the human world, but not completely unseen before. Discrimination happened all around, there just happened to be an ecosystem in this school and a player of god willing to manipulate natural odds.
Perhaps, that is why the world of the supernatural took an interest in it. They loved unique things, and Class E was a rather unique community, each generation.
Kunomasu Naomasa did not start off as 'Kunomasu Naomasa'.
But to tell you that story... perhaps, we'll need to look a little further back, to perhaps decades ago, when cram school first began.
-
This satellite campus was always a place for learning.
So long ago in the era of wars, it was an orphanage, when times were tough, and a hideout, when things settled down again.
There had been a signplate, at its founding. The Righteous Children's Home.
It was cheesy and rather a mouthful, but at first, it was a place full of noise and fanfare. The children bizarrely pointed out the lopsided calligraphy of the kanji for "Firm" and ''Righteous', also for sincerity, honesty, truth, justice and so much more—
—and endearingly decided it was much too straight-laced for the lives they lived.
"Cool, so you can read '正直 (Shojiki)' as 'Masa-Nao' as well? That's like, a completely different word! It doesn't even share any sounds, that's so weird!!"
They found every reading they could. They were hardworking little children, learning their mother tongue under bomb raids. Japanese was a fascinating language with so many layers around it. Some may find it too tenuous to understand, but they were passionate about their country at this time.
"I like 'Nao'. It's a cute name if you write it in hiragana. I hate kanji."
"I like the kanji here, though. It's super simple."
"I don't like it, it's blocky and uninteresting."
"Ehhh, no it isn't!"
The words written on the ground in the sand, penned down by just a branch from a loose oak tree— they were the culmination of the children's hard work, smiling in the sunset each day.
"So, something like this?"
The spirit of the house had roamed the perimeters for years before then— but it was the first time he had ever received such affections. And thus, even long after the children had left, their belongings in the wind and the building burning behind them, he remembered it.
'Nao' continued to live in the burned remnants of the former school, until a kind soul found solace in it on a rainy day, and another home began to foster.
Life repeats.
Spirits endure.
(Nao is the manifestation of this location— he will live, as long as the school persists. He will fade, once its purpose is gone and the world begins to forget him. It's been centuries, perhaps, so all those who lived in his walls have now passed on, as humans do.)
(He struggles each day, lethargically hanging on. He would be sad if his life ended like this, but there was nothing he could do. Just as humans only live for a single stretch of life, spirits die of loneliness and nothing can quite stop nature from happening.)
It wasn't until the twentieth century came by and Asano Gakuho chanced upon the building as a wanderer— that he invested millions of yen to bring this building back up to its former glory.
Nao lived on, miraculously.
Spirits are commonly perceived as immortal, but in truth, they only live long if they are fortunate enough to be prominent in the world. Most spirits fade after a number of years, to be replaced by others that may do their job better.
Some spirits live much shorter than humans, too.
-
"You're making a school?"
Asano Gakuho is surprised to be addressed. He just dismissed the construction workers after a job well done, and behind him—
—honestly, he couldn't tell if the man was old or young, or about the same age as himself.
His clothes are baggy and worn out, speckled in mud in some spots and peppered with tears near the sleeves that ate into his palms. He wears no shoes, his hair isn't done, and his collar that hangs out over the loose top is covered in scars that look akin to burns or bolts.
Asano doesn't stare for long.
"Yes," he says, simply. "Would that be a problem?"
Not that Asano would accept any criticism. He checked the ownership of the land and secured the deed legally.
The man shakes his head.
"It's best," he says. "Best as a school. This has always been a place for learning."
When he looks around, it's with an air of melancholy. His eyes are green— green as the shine of the hills, emerald as the deepest ends of this jungle. His brown hair was overgrown, but Asano knew this was a man that would look decent if he only cleaned up.
Just like this very building.
"You seem to know much about this building," Asano says.
The man nods. "It's been through quite a bit in the past. I'm interested to see how it'll develop from now on, under your care."
Asano smiles. "I am, too."
Nao found employment when Asano continued to use the school.
It devolves into the accursed E Class, but ironically enough, people remembered negative things far better than positives, and with the people in main campus vividly aware of the horrors of Class E, Nao had a few years bursting with vitality.
Maybe that's why people become evil spirits. It was just so much more survival-efficient to be a horror story than a shrine.
-
Spirits are attracted to unnatural things.
Sometimes, that unnatural thing may just be another spirit in the wild.
Nao picks up a wild crow with an injured wing. It's an apprentice Tengu, he knows, so he allows it in his building and rests it by his side, nursing him until he awakes. He feeds it, cakes and pastries, and sees it off warmly when it's well enough to go.
And then, it comes back, with a gift. And then it continues to come. Sometimes they're balls of foil, or coins, or jewellery that humans have lost.
"Chiba. For a thousand leaves?" he asks it one day, when he feeds the child persimmons that have born fruit in his forest.
The crow nods.
Chiba is a Dodomeki- Karasu halfling, with far too many eyes around every opening of its skin. It can close and hide them, but it cannot stop seeing the world in far too much detail than a child can handle.
That is why it is in training— the Karasu-Tengu of town is supposed to have eyes everywhere, though not usually as literal. He is most suited to be the next head of Kunugigaoka spiritual patrol.
But Chiba hated stifling events and social interaction, so here it is, escaping from its heirship duties.
(The Daitengu comes by eventually, scolding it for shirking duties to slack off, and Chiba only hides behind Nao as they try to calm the furious man down.)
-
Nao's home gets lively once more with each year's Class E students.
Yukimura Aguri is a dear human coworker, and she asks no questions when Nao gets strange visitors. He appreciates that very much.
"Kuma-sensei~ I picked up a lot of chestnuts. Roast them for me!"
Kurahashi, a Kodama (tree spirit) from the forest, enters the building with a woven basket full of chestnuts. She looks only about eleven years old right now, in physical appearance.
Yukimura reacts first, brightening up immediately. "My, how wonderful!" she says. "Let's go to the Home Ec classroom, dear. We can share them out with some of the students that are still here."
"Sure! But I get the most, okay?"
Nao sighs.
Kurahashi pesters him very often, because she's a child of the forest and he is one of the oldest things in this place, also linked to the forest. She is probably his child, in some sense of the meaning that she was born because he continued to live.
There are many more spirits in Kunugigaoka. But it isn't until the moon explodes and Yukimura disappears that they become more active.
-
It begins, of course, with the Daitengu calling for a general meeting.
The word spread fast with the crows, of the events of the moon explosion and how that will affect the world hence. Apparently, the culprit was not the supernatural, but humanity.
Humanity had an addiction. An unhealthy obsession in trying to create life.
They already had that power— to make the supernatural live, just by believing— and yet, they never noticed it. They do not understand natural conception, and they cannot perceive eternal life or resurrection— and thus, they strive to build life with their own hands. If not with ritualistic sacrifice, it was with robotic technology with the current near-lifelike Artificial Intelligence.
That brings them to the Unidentified Slimy Octopus, whose cells are manipulated so far by experimentation he was neither human nor supernatural. He was just a tragedy.
"Which, of course, is why I need more of you with me to do manual surveillance until his allocated death date next year,," Daitengu says. "He travels at Mach 20— I will handle monitoring him at all times, but I will need assistance from Gozu and Mezu, 4,242,564th generation. Assume forms that are the appropriate age and infiltrate Class E by April."
"Yeah, sure. We're supposed to escort him to hell right away?"
"Ooh, long term business vacation in the human world, cool!"
Gozu and Mezu, the ox and horse heads, the guards of the gate to hell— there are a ton of them and their titular names are inherited as is the norm for spirits.
"Gozu, you're already in the school, right?" Mezu grins, peeling off the horse skull helmet, "what was your human name again—"
"Isogai. Isogai Yuuma," Gozu says. "But I wanted to study... to get to the E-class from here, I'll have to break school rules somehow..."
"Your name doesn't sound nice at all!" Mezu whines. "I wanted to copy yours but it's so lame!"
"I don't care, Mezu. Hurry up and pick something, you're definitely going to make me do the paperwork, so if we want to make it in time—"
Daitengu clears his throat so the room may remember his announcements are not over yet.
"Land deity, do you have any concerns about the octopus using your domain as its main base of operations?" he asks. "Though, it's not like we'll be able to change it. The government's not really in a place to have debates with him."
"I have no problems," Nao says, "I can't really give much of a welcome, but I hope whoever comes by will enjoy the stay."
-
Class E gets a lot of last minute entrants. Some of them have been able to assimilate, their nature as spirits allowing them to seamlessly enter a classroom and be perceived as a long-time classmate instead of a newcomer.
Yada Touka, for instance, is superb at this deception business.
She is a Kitsune, and she is here because things looked fun. By nature and lore, she deceives to cause chaos, suck away life from unsuspecting victims, and be a general menace to society.
Which is why it surprises no one when Irina Jelavic (human, by the way,) immediately imprints on her, snatches her up as her 'star student', and proceeds to teach her the ways of the Honeypot. The very impressionable Kurahashi and playboy Maehara also gets in on the fun.
Karasuma Tadaomi, Daitengu of Kunugigaoka, is not amused.
"We can't just let her build up a legion of supernaturals," he hisses. "She doesn't even know that she's doing it. It's dangerous."
Technically, it is the job of the Daitengu to prevent this sort of crowding. It only breeds bad luck when unlikely supernaturals collide. But Karasuma was the one that gathered them to begin with, so he had no right to complain.
He wasn't expecting a Kitsune (Yada), a Kodama (Kurahashi), and the horse guard of the gates of hell (Maehara), of all people to unite in the name of seduction. What even the hell was this situation?
At the very least, Chiba and Isogai were well-behaved.
Though there was much more life in the classroom after Korosensei's arrival, Nao continued to grow weaker instead. They didn't quite understand why that was happening, and Karasuma couldn't help but think this was a bad sign for the future of the world.
(Alas, it was not that he was weakening because the world would end.)
(He was weakening because, whether the world ended in March or not, Class E will end, and so will the purpose of this building.)
(There are two ways land deities and house spirits can pass on— being forgotten, or fulfilling his purpose in nurturing something else.)
-
Surprisingly, it is Nagisa that is the best contribution to surveillance on Korosensei.
It's easier to just ask him where Korosensei might be at any time of the day than have Chiba try to catch sight of an octopus that can move faster than light.
"Hey, Kuma-sensei, do you often stay overnight in school?" Nagisa asks. "You always come earlier than anyone and leave later than the others, but you do live at Sakurai Florist's, right?"
"Well, every once in a while," Nao says. He settled down there after the kind lady took him in one day. He can't go down the mountain for long, though, it's just not his place to be. "I like staying up here. It's more convenient."
Nagisa gives him a skeptical look.
"Isn't it... cold, up here at night?"
Nao blinks in surprise.
"Cold... well," Nao thinks of fire, fire that once stained the ground pitch black. He thinks of snow, that once piled up so far his children died of frostbite and their bodies refused to decompose among the snow. He remembers being able to do nothing but watch it all happen, because he had yet to grow into a being that was physical or tangible. "It's cold. But all extremities always suck. I'm sturdy, so it's okay."
"That's not good, that's why you're so sick!" Nagisa scolds. "Come on, let's ask the others. They might have stuff they can give you. We can work on one of the unused rooms to make it liveable."
Nao gets a makeover again.
He remembers makeovers very well— children would gather around, helping each other. They dread the spring cleaning they need to do, but they'll get it done systematically either way. Someone would yell orders across the room, others would scamper about with things in their hands. Doors and windows are thrown open to get the dust out, and there's always a big party of food at the end.
Even when it was just Asano and a group of contractor construction workers, they had a meal of rice balls at the end, to rest on each new day. Today, too, E-class commemorates their long day with riceballs made by Korosensei, uniquely filled with different ingredients for each student, to their preferences.
Nao likes his onigiri seasoned simply with salt. It's a staple from ages ago, when salt dried from the sea was all they could afford.
It was the first food Nao was able to eat, when the children offered it up to the building and made him a minor deity by bestowing him with his name.
Nao tries to remember a lot.
-
"You've always been fond of the classroom on the mountain," Asano says. "I understand it's sentimental to you. I understand you think I ruined the rich history it brought. Do you spite me for this, Kunomasu?"
Nao doesn't. He truly doesn't.
His hair is styled up with gel, and his clothes fit him well. He doesn't wear his tie, but he wears layers, buttons his shirt up neatly, and has a coat and scarf on chilly days. His shoes clod against wooden floors, and he loves the clear sound of his own footsteps.
"I do not spite you for anything," he says. "The classroom is just a location. It cannot defy the route it is led onto. If it'll become a place that people look down on, so be it. I do not care for such things."
Asano frowns, a hand slamming down on the table.
Nao sits on the couch of the E-class staffroom, nursing a mug of coffee, and he does not react at all.
"Then why do you keep defying me?" Asano demands. "You are weak, and you cannot do anything but linger strangely. You cannot raise the students' levels of education like Korosensei can, and you cannot physically oppose me like the students and my son has done. So why exactly are you here? What are you trying to do?"
Even back then during cramschool, Nao appeared only to observe. Even before Korosensei, Nao only taught as much as he was paid to, and did nothing more.
And yet, he will never directly support Asano's concept of the E class.
He is here, as a teacher, and only a teacher.
"I'm not trying to do anything," Nao says. "Is it not enough that I am alive to watch this all happen? I am just observing the world that goes around me, knowing that I can do nothing but exist. I do nothing, because the only purpose I serve is to exist. It is up to the people around me to find my purpose and make use of me."
Just like you did back then.
Asano clicks his tongue. "You're unbelievable," he says, sighing deeply.
But it is not enraged, it is simply resignation.
"Then, I shall take you up on that," Asano says. "If you must remain on Class E, but you will not help enforce my education principles up there... you must be my eyes and ears, and tell me all that goes on. I do not believe you will be useful in doing anything else, so I will react on my own. Do not interfere with me— that is all I need from you."
Nao smiles.
"I will do so, then."
-
The class is strange to begin with, with an octopus for a teacher and a permanent crescent in the sky, but everyone figures out very quickly that there is more beneath the surface.
And by 'figure it out', they mean that it's so blatant, they're trying their best to ignore it, because common sense dictates that if you see something problematic, you mind your own damn business and pretend not to see it. They have their hands full with the octopus terrorist they're trying to kill, thank you very much.
First case in point: Yada Touka does not show up in pictures.
She's not invisible, no, she's there. Just— she's unrecognizable.
It doesn't matter if it's a candid shot, or a posed photograph, she is blurred in all of them. Her passport photo, school ID, yearbook, everything— Nakamura got frustrated one day and had Kanzaki and Okuda hold her by the elbow to make sure she was as still as a statue, but alas, it turned out blurry too.
"Ah, my bad. We're kind of hard to perceive, that's... a bit of the point," Yada says. "And kind of the law, too. Last time my mommy was the model of a painting, she got put in an art museum and had to change her identity because people kept recognizing her. It's pretty tough on us too, you know! It took us so long before I could walk around in public with this face again."
She says it like it's nothing.
Maybe she just literally wasn't aware of how obnoxiously boastful that sounded, with her good assets and beauty and all. The class dismissed it with mild jealousy, and likened the story to some Hollywood drama before moving on.
(Okajima will later find an ancient portrait of a woman that looks very much like Yada.)
(The haunting Gumiho stands in the snow in the form of a gorgeous, pale-skinned woman, looking back with bright scarlet eyes. Nine tails swish against the blizzard, and the creature's long kimono trails heavily against the snow, her eight-inch heels leaving blood-soaked footprints in her wake.)
(It was painted in the 1600s.)
-
Second case in point, Karasuma.
He seems like he'd have his head screwed on better than anyone else, but alas, he's probably the worst of them.
He's always everywhere, like he's working five jobs at once, handling paperwork, making it to meetings, keeping track of Korosensei's activity and spending— etc. His most common mode of rushing out to his next destination involves ducking behind the first reasonably large tree or wall he finds, and then he disappears. He always leaves a single black feather behind.
Also, his favoured mode of communication was 'yell loudly into the sky'.
"HEY, I WON'T MAKE IT BACK ON TIME! TELL THE APPRENTICE TO CLOSE UP THE SHRINE TODAY!" he hollers into the sky, to no one in particular, before returning to his very urgent phone calls. "Yes. The target is currently in Malaysia. He won't be back until after the Badminton game tonight..."
Meanwhile, Kayano, who had been in very dangerous shouting distance away, had her ears covered by Chiba. She had to take a moment to savour the fact that she could go home without ruptured eardrums today.
"Thanks, Chiba-kun." she says, still very much in shock. There were a lot of people blatantly staring at the teacher, who didn't even know he'd done something odd.
No one notices any reaction from the shadows. Those orders weren't meant for his subordinates in the government (yes, Kayano asked,) so no one knew who exactly he was commandeering.
(But whoever headed to the local shrine after this would find that the workers have, in fact, closed the shrine today. They said something about it being unsafe at night without the guardian at watch.)
"He's got an insanely loud commanding voice. Do they teach that in the military?" Sugino wonders.
"I think they do," Kimura says. "I remember shouting lessons when I was in boys scouts. Gotta know how to be loud without ruining your throat."
"I wish he'd stop that yakking birdcall sometimes, freaks me out when it comes out of nowhere," Irina sighs. "Humans have a perfectly functioning mode of conversation called 'speaking in a reasonable volume', so what's up with that doof?"
"Birdcall..." Chiba murmurs thoughtfully.
"Birdcall?" Kayano echoes, looking upward. "Huh, now that I think about it... it's not migrating season, so why are there so many birds flying around today? It's giving doomsday vibes."
-
Third case in point, the mystery of Kurahashi Hinano.
She can be found in summer, barefoot and scampering about just literally anywhere around town, usually near grass or plants.
Today, Okajima and Sugino find her in the mountain's forest while they're catching beetles. She's on a branch, leisurely humming to herself.
"I know a good place to find more valuable beetles," she says. "Come on! I'll show you."
And she leads them in further, traversing the jungle with footsteps as light as an animal, stepping on rocks and leaves without any worry for her bare feet. She's graceful, like a fairy, and yet...
...and yet, something was just strange.
"We're so deep into the forest," Sugino says, amazed, "don't think I've ever seen this area before. I can't even see the trail anymore."
Kurahashi nods. "I bet you haven't! But that's why this is the best spot to hunt cool beetles! And don't worry, just stick with me and we'll get out later."
"Some of these vantage points would be good for traps," Okajima says, "Or hiding a porn stash. You think it'd be possible to combine them both on an assassination plan?"
"Seriously, Okajima?"
They both speak comfortably among themselves, but their eyes are firm with anxiety. Clearly, they've both sensed that something was wrong.
(Were Kurahashi's eyes always so... glassy?)
And her smile, it haunts them, soft and gentle, yet, different from her usually cheerful, sweet smiles. Something is odd about her, in the same way she bounces off the ground like a fairy, and leads them through the foliage into a place neither of them can truly believe is part of Kunugigaoka Mountain.
They catch stag beetles, hercules beetles, they have a lot of fun.
"Don't look back, alright?" Kurahashi warns them as they head home. "Just follow me down this way, and we'll get back to the main trail."
Sugino and Okajima make sure to follow those instructions to the letter.
(They come back to check out the area during field practice, but neither of them ever manage to make it back to Beetle Wonderland again. They can't for the life of them remember the landmarks on the way in or out, and somehow, even every warning Kurahashi said while they were there felt like a blur to them.)
(A fever dream, that's what it felt like.)
(It all felt like one long, hazy, summertime daydream.)
-
Chiba does surprisingly well during the trip to Okinawa.
"[There is a hotel on the peak of the island, bring your shortest students, one male and female, up there with the target.]"
Chiba instantly locates it, informing everyone that it's rather high-security.
He had been faster than even Ritsu.
"You don't have to memorize the map— we've got Chiba," Karasuma says. He doesn't even bother explaining it, like it's supposed to be common sense. "Though, it doesn't hurt to be too careful."
They soon realize that Chiba's vision isn't just good— it's terrifyingly acute, to the point where he has no blind spots even in a maze full of high walls, and night vision is child's play for him.
"With your bangs like that, too?" Fuwa says, rather appalled. "I thought that was just the character design variety! You were giving us all a handicap??"
"I can pull my bangs up if you want?" Chiba says, almost a question.
But Karasuma stops him. Kurahashi had been mid-jump to stop him as well, and they're both relieved when Chiba catches himself, before nodding in understanding.
"Ah... right," he says. "No, I can't."
Fuwa stares at them so skeptically she could have grabbed someone by the shoulder and started spouting off conspiracy theories, honestly. What on earth is hidden under those bangs? Gorgeous eyes? A third eye? A scar? Another set of bangs??
(The answer is, in fact, all of the above, but Fuwa does not need to know that. Maehara had nightmares looking at it once and it doesn't need to happen again.)
-
Isogai and Maehara are the two best in knifework and close combat in class. (Not counting Karma or Nagisa's raw talents, of course.) Karasuma singles them out very quickly in PE class from the start, and Karma finds it strange as he observes them, day in and out.
Because while the rest of the students try their best to hit Karasuma at least once, Isogai and Maehara always look as if ten punches wouldn't be enough.
Much more, Isogai and Maehara move abnormally in sync. They always take one after another, cover each other's backs when necessary, and move in anticipation of each others' third step.
Usually, no one would pin that kind of similarity on them. They couldn't be more different in terms of personality and appearance— womanizer to the gentleman, strawberry blonde to Japanese black— and yet, they fight as if they've been working together for ages.
There are many times they unintentionally mirror each other, too. A leg in a different direction, a turn in opposing sides to see as much as they can at once. They surveil their surroundings very quickly, and report systematically. They don't waste any movement.They're two halves of a single role, and they very much act like it if you know where to look.
Sometimes, Maehara passes something to Isogai without a word or a glance, just a casual toss over the shoulder that Isogai nonchalantly snatches up before leaving. Other times Isogai would place his half-finished drink near Maehara as he leaves, and Maehara would take it like it goes without saying he's meant to finish it.
Maehara takes two of everything when he's given it. One for Isogai, of course.
They'd be offended if you called them lovers or brothers.
"I guess... we were born with a single mission, and we were born to do it together," Isogai explains, not too sure how to describe it. "We're partners, and that's not something that can be changed."
It didn't matter if their personalities fit together all wrong— they were stuck with each other, and thus, they just lived with it.
(Karma's a little envious.)
(It's as if they're soulmates— not in the romantic way, but in the way that there will always be someone by their side, no matter how far they sink or how high they go. They will always be there for each other.)
(Karma longs for someone like that in his life. But he doesn't know if his heart can accept it, not after that teacher betrayed him in the main campus.)
(But well, it's nice.)
-
They were sharing horror stories.
"The woman pounded against the door, over and over, loudly screaming to be let in," Maehara says, hauntingly, low and ominous. "But no one opened the door for her. She was a member of the living, and thus, she was not qualified to open the gates of hell."
He holds the candle in front of him, looking down in deep thought.
"In the end, she was forced to return without achieving anything in the end..."
He blows out the light.
The room is silent.
"MAEHARA that wasn't scary, that was just SAD!" half of the class yells immediately.
"It was fucking terrifying for me, okay?" Maehara yells back, arms up in frustration. "She was gonna kick down the damn gate to hell! Who DOES that?!"
"Oh, I remember that day..." Isogai also looks incredibly pale, "I thought I'd have a heart attack. We were all panicking, no one knew what to do."
"Wait, why are you talking like it's a true story?" Kataoka asks.
"But that's so romantic..." Fuwa says, "Occultic horror... it's a tragedy genre!"
"That's just depressing," Hayami says, curt. "Her lover died, and she couldn't even meet him in the afterlife. It's just depressing. I did not come here to hear something so upsetting today."
"It's okay, she just has to wait until she dies a natural death to get her reunion the right way," Isogai says.
"Yeah, it's not like it'll be that long," Maehara says, "she's got, like, what? Thirty years left on a natural lifespan? If it's that little time, why don't you just wait?"
"Maehara, you scumbag, have some sympathy for a woman who's lost her lover!"
"What is wrong with your perception of time, dude?"
"...Thirty years is almost twice the amount of time we've lived, Maehara-kun."
"Wait, what?" Maehara asks.
"What?" Sugino echoes.
The conversation comes to a startling dead end as Maehara genuinely looks confused by the revelation that everyone in class is only about fifteen years old.
"Anyways!" Kataoka cuts in to salvage the situation, "whose turn is it to tell a story next?"
-
Nao is, all things considered, the most inconspicuous of the lot.
He was the weirdest, aside from Korosensei, simply because he was the E Class teacher that had always been up on the mountain as long as they've known him, and he barely gave a crap about the fact that Korosensei was an octopus.
He accepted it all, entirely leisurely.
Everyone knew something was up with this teacher, but unlike with Korosensei, they just had no idea what was wrong with him at all.
He never left the satellite campus, and even if he did, he didn't go far. He''s always a fun teacher and everyone loved him and all, but no one quite understood him.
Then after the finals where Class E wholly won against Class A, the Board Chairman attempts to tear down the building with a crane right through the wall.
And Nao doubles over and pukes up blood.
Everyone was flustered, of course, they thought his hidden illness had finally come up to signal a death flag to mark the climax of the story or something.
Alas, they were sure— but they remember addressing the Principal's business first.
Honestly, thinking back, Nagisa didn't understand why all of them didn't panic and send Nao to the hospital first— they had sat down and heard the Principal's story instead. That didn't sound right— they cared too much about Nao to do something like that.
"I don't really remember the sequence of events that day very well," Nagisa admits.
"Huh," Yada says, in a tone that anyone could guess was a knowing snark, "that's strange. Maybe you were just overwhelmed by everything that happened that day?"
But Nao was alright in the end. After his bout, he just needed some rest in the staffroom as everyone cleaned up the rubble, and soon, he was up and walking again, as if nothing had happened.
(Later, Nagisa would overhear a conversation between Nao and Karasuma in the staffroom. Nao lay on the couch, and Karasuma had crouched down, testing for a pulse.)
("It really is getting worse, huh," Karasuma sighs. "It's been nice knowing you all these years. There aren't many of us from the older generation left, so it's a shame.")
("Making way for the new generation is a privilege," Nao says. "I'm glad I lived long enough to see a new era... but hey, it's okay. You know how we are. We don't die easily. I'll just be a little harder to find and remember, that's all.")
(Nagisa doesn't understand what they're talking about.)
(He doesn't think he has a right to know.)
-
"Did you know something like this was going to happen?"
Asano doubts very much. He never fully trusts Nao, because Nao is eccentric, strange, and makes little sense against the borders of the logical world Asano lived in.
"Did you always know that someone like Korosensei was going to come by and destroy my philosophy?"
Nao sips on his coffee with a hum. "Of course not," he says. "I'm not omniscient, nor am I a seer. Korosensei is as much a surprise to me as he is to the entire universe. I did not know you would be overthrown like a villain, but I do know that this classroom is fated to come to an end in March."
"Korosensei's deadline?" Asano asks.
Nao nods. "You've kept this classroom alive for so long. So there's only one reason you would cease using this classroom as your school," he says. "It's if you required a fresh start, someplace else, with a new philosophy."
He says it so easily.
Asano's never personally considered it.
He's never had the intention to destroy the classroom until a moment of rage clouded his senses and he called construction to tear it apart.
But after this, once the next year comes... he realizes that he won't be able to hold onto this classroom, because it will be a symbol of his mistakes, and he will lose the right to handle it as a precious location of his own. It will be too sentimental to the members of Class E, and they would have more right than he to inherit the building.
He knows that he has no right to take it away from them.
But they are just students, and thus, this classroom will slowly wither away, into a quiet shed in the corner of the mountain, back to how Asano first found it so long ago.
"...then what are you?" Asano asks it with all apprehension, prepared for something that could explain anything, everything, and all. "If you insist you aren't omniscient, then what are you?"
"I suppose..." Nao considers his options. "I'm omnipresent?"
Omnipresent. That sounds just about right.
-
"This mission ends in March, huh..." Maehara sighs against the broom.
It's high school entrance exam time, and while Isogai is seriously thinking of advancing into another school, Maehara's truly realized he has no passion for studies. He's taking exams and career consultations to complete his quota, but it's only a backup plan.
"I'll miss all of you."
"You say it like you're going to die," Okano grimaces. "Geez, our high schools are far apart, but it's not like we can't have get-togethers, you know!"
Maehara smiles, though a little sadly.
"I guess you're right. If I'm patient, we'll meet again one day."
Something like sixty to seventy human years is a short time. He can wait.
(He's willing to wait as long as necessary, if it means he'll see her again.)
-
"Social studies is the most interesting to me," Isogai says. "I like to understand humanity as a whole, and it puts society into perspective for me. I don't get to truly meet and interact with people at home."
"Really? But you've got so many part-time jobs in the service industry and all..."
Kataoka raises a confused brow when Isogai simply chuckles.
"Here, yes, but back at my real home..." he trails off, looking to the ground, considering into himself. "Well, Maehara's always with me there, but it's a bit lonely sometimes."
He feels bad about it.
He treasures his partnership with Maehara and he'd exchange it for nothing else— but he's also bursting to escape from there, to somewhere further and actually see the world. He'd leave Maehara behind without hesitation if it meant he could see the sky.
(And Maehara doesn't fault him for it. He fully supports his passion, which makes Isogai all the more guilty about it.)
"But if I want to learn as much as I can, I might as well do it now," Isogai says. "I only have so little years to spare with all of you, after all. Might as well bide my time."
-
"Huh? I'm technically Christian, you know? I don't go to shrines," Irina says, a little confused.
Karasuma sighs. "Great. I'm going to retire from my night job, then, because I sure as hell can't continue to serve with a blasphemous life partner."
Irina's very confused.
But the confession registers in her head and she explodes in embarrassment.
Then Karasuma turns his head up and hollers, "I KNOW YOU'RE ALL LISTENING," he warns. "So go away RIGHT NOW or line up and I'll pluck your feathers out one by one!"
Irina gasps when dozens of crows caw and scatter in an instant, scuttering out from unseen platforms and telephone wires and the branches of the too-dark jungle.
Karasuma sighs longsufferingly.
"I'll be grateful for the newfound privacy, at the very damn least."
Irina has no idea what just happened, but she's very ready to text the girls and scream about her new conspiracy theory immediately.
-
Chiba is suddenly saddled with the title of the Daitengu and he hates it.
Chiba is an adult, by the standards of the spirit world. He is more than capable of taking over the role of the guardian of the town.
But he isn't ready to leave the familiarity of childhood that Nao, and his year at Kunugigaoka, has given him. He is afraid to lose it, but he knows he has to let them go.
He is a crow, and his precious, shiny object will now disappear because he didn't put it in a secure nest. He is ashamed to finally understand that one day, this comfortable place will fade, too. His friends will grow old and die, and he will have nothing to do but watch.
He is the guardian of the town now, and his job is to watch the humans live their short lives peacefully.
He dreads it.
He dreads his immortality.
"Have you ever stopped to think that one day, your parents are going to die before you?" Chiba wonders. "You can't do anything but pretend not to know it's going to happen. It'll happen one day, and the longer you live, the closer that day comes."
Chiba is afraid of death.
Not afraid of dying, but afraid that the people around him will eventually die and never come back again, because thus is the cycle of life.
Spirits always live with each other. They will always have each other, as long as the humans remember. But humans do not.
Chiba does not understand how humans cope with being left behind.
"I'm afraid, of course," Hayami says. "I'm afraid of my parents dying, I'm afraid of my cat dying before me, I'm afraid of Kuma-sensei dying any time soon now... and I think it'll hurt very much when Korosensei dies too, so I'm afraid of that, too."
Chiba doesn't understand how he'll be able to live in fear forever.
"I'm afraid, but that's why I'm living every day to the fullest," Hayami says. "I tell my parents I love them. I cuddle with my cat as much as I can, and I spend each day of my life with my friends and my teachers, so I can have as much time with them as possible."
Hayami turns around and smile.s
"Life is short, but that's why I have to make sure most of it is filled with happy things, right? So even when the people I love are gone, I can remember the happy things, rather than wallow in the sad ones."
Hayami turns away after saying that, a blush rising in her cheeks.
"...you know, that was actually super embarrassing to say out loud," she says, heating up, covering her face. "But you get it now, right?"
Chiba can't help but smile at that.
"Yes," he says, and it's full of sincerity. "Yes, Hayami. I understand now."
-
Spirits don't die.
They are simply forgotten.
That is why no message reaches Kunomasu Naomasa when the laser hits the mountaintop and the End Class encroaches its end.
"I didn't know you were here, Kunomasu-sensei," Korosensei says. "That was dangerous, but I'm grateful you're safe. Would you like to help me with the yearbook, sir?"
Nao smiles. He never leaves the classroom, since his form can no longer hold outside of the perimeters. He is always up here, and Korosensei also spends his nights here.
(And yet...)
He staggers to his feet, unable to walk for long, but he finds his way to the coffee machine. "No, I'll just watch. Want some coffee, sir?"
"Yes, please."
He does not fault him, though he is a little saddened.
It is simply the circle of life, so he is not upset. He's gone through this same sequence of being forgotten and moving on for his entire life— it's far too late to be upset about something that never changes.
"Korosensei," Nao calls to him.
"Ah... yes," Korosensei raises his head.
It is the first and only time Nao will call him by name, but that wouldn't mean anything to Korosensei now, would it?
Nao sets down the cup of coffee by the desk.
"I admire you, you know," Nao says. "You will live on in the students' hearts, forever. I know they will be able to live on, remembering all you've done for them."
Korosensei chuckles, warmly.
"I sure hope so as well, Kunomasu-sensei," he says.
Nao leaves the room, and he never returns.
Korosensei does not remember to call him, and neither do the students, when they arrive to sing his birthday song.
Nao sits on the couch of the staffroom, nursing a warm cup of coffee.
He coughs into his palm and doesn't understand how to breathe. Soon, he will cease being something that breathes and rests— he will become something that requires neither of those things, and whether that is a spirit or a ghost, it will still be in question.
Either way, he will cease being the great land deity that once resided and owned this land, because soon, the forest itself will grow strong enough to take over his role as the deity— and Nao will become a simple specter in an abandoned building.
-
No one remembers Nao, when the next morning comes.
The students come by to clean the classroom, and they do not see him, even when he continues to sit on the couch.
He feels healthy again— healthy may not be the right word. He feels present, spiritual, and he exists, at the very least. He is not strong enough to materialize in the eyes of humans, but he will be there, because the building stands.
The world proceeds around him, and he simply watches.
"Don't cry, Kurahashi," Nao says, when Kurahashi stands at the doorway of the staffroom and she can only sob into her hands.
Her classmates are trying to comfort her, but she's inconsolable. Okano wraps her in a warm, comforting hug, but she only wails louder, clinging desperately for a reason no one understands.
"I will still be here, nothing has changed," he says. "We're just going back to the days we began. To the days when it was just a building and a forest. Me and you."
It is nothing to be sad about. Spirits are prominent, and spirits fade— they've known this forever, that the humans cannot fully comprehend the world of the spirits.
That is why Kurahashi, and the other spirits in the room, are the only ones that can mourn how no one remembers that they ever had another teacher in their classroom.
Nao belongs with the spirits, and he will continue to belong to them.
He is just a little harder to see, that's all.
"You're the land deity from now on, Kurahashi," Nao says, "you shouldn't cry. You should celebrate, it's a high honour, you know?"
Kurahashi nods.
She sobs, and nods, and brings a smile back onto her face.
-
Yada Touka graduates, as should a normal girl, and she aspires to become someone prominent. Irina keeps in contact, and Yada's skills are incredibly useful in undercover and investigations fields.
"You're really my proudest student, Touka!" Irina boasts.
Yada adores Irina very much.
She thinks it's adorable, that Irina considers herself the senior between them. Irina is but an innocent child, and she is the evil, horrible influence that Karasuma constantly tries to ward away form his spouse.
Yada respects that.
She is a spirit, after all.
She is a Nine-tailed fox, and she lives in mischief, to beguile. She does not hold a great compassion for anything except herself. Kitsune, as a species, are beings that live only to pursue the fun things in life, and Yada only hangs around events that interest her greatly.
And thus, one day, when she grows tired of Irina, she will find something else. And she will depart, when the world grows suspicious of her— and she will find someplace else to make her nest, to rest her feet and wave her tails.
She will find a new playground, and she will repeat the process, over and over. She can always pretend, but she knows she will never be one of humanity.
(Maybe in the end, the spirits wanted to be human.)
(Maybe that's what all of them wanted, and thus, they were upset at the end of this year, that they could not continue to pretend to be human.)
If there was anything Korosensei had taught them, it would be the fact that in the end, no matter what you looked like— a human heart shined brighter than anything else.
And it filled them with so much envy, so much envy.
-
Life repeats.
Spirits endure.
Nao continues to watch over Kunugigaoka from the roof of his own building. It gets worn out, of course, but the students make time to clean up every day.
Every once in a while, Kurahashi would come up with food. Chiba drops by to report and take a break. Yada comes by with souvenirs from her trips, sometimes. And Karasuma always appears when he wants to rant about family troubles. Isogai comes by for advice on classes. Maehara can't come by as frequently, but he always brings something new in town to try out, like beer or something once his appearance starts passing as adult.
Nao simply observes the world as it goes on around him.
One day, someone will use this classroom as a place of learning again, and he will find his meaning once more. He will regain his strength, and the cycle will repeat.
One day...
"...and so, I just wanted your advice on it. I've taught my classes for a while, but hosting a cram school completely feels like a much bigger task to take."
Nao lifts his head in surprise.
Nagisa is an adult now, twenty-two and not much taller, but clearly more mature.
Asano comes up beside him as they hike up the hill together, and make a beeline toward the building with minimal sightseeing. The key rattles against the worn-out door, and Asano hums.
"It looks like it's been cleaned recently."
"Yes, I think the class came by last week," Nagisa chuckles. "They were psyched when I told them I wanted to use it as a cram school."
Asano smiles. "I'm sure the building will be happy to be back at its roots again."
Nao blinks in surprise.
"The building?" Nagisa questions.
Asano chuckles. "I'm sorry, was that too childish a thought?" he asks. "I've always believed that spirits resided in old buildings... like Tuskumogami, but perhaps, more like Zashiki Warashi... something so loved and full of history must have seen so much more than us. I can't help but feel respect for them."
Nagisa chuckles.
"You have an unexpectedly unscientific side to you, Former Board Chairman."
"And you have grown a cheek, Nagisa-kun."
"What can I say, I've been infected by Karma quite a bit."
They toured the building, and Nao follows, intrigued. They're a pair that he last expects to interact with each other, and yet, here they are, putting their pasts aside to conquer Nagisa's new endeavour together.
Nao listens warmly as Asano walks Nagisa through the process of setting up a cram school, any legal duties he would need to settle, how to contact renovators, advertisers, and how to decide what subjects to teach and what would people desire to learn for what age group. It goes into detail, and Nagisa religiously takes notes.
It's sunset when they're finally done, and Nagisa locks up while they leave together to head down the mountain.
"Last but not least... I believe you will have to come up with a name for your cram school," Asano says. "It's important to have a brand, you know."
"A brand, huh..." Nagisa says, "come to think of it, Sugino's called 'Slithery Sugino' in his baseball matches. It's pretty funny."
Asano snorts. "That's a rather awkward name to utilize.
Nagisa chuckles. "I'm not too creative, but if I ask the class, I'll probably end up with something like that. Do you have a suggestion, sir?"
Asano hums. "As you might have noticed from 'Kunugigaoka Junior High', I'm not exactly creative, either."
Nagisa laughs at that.
"Then..." Asano crouches down. "Shall we brainstorm, a little? When I think of education, I do think it should have a serious name."
Asano writes down the word '正直 (Serious)' on the ground.
"I think it should have a fun one," Nagisa says. "Oh, but... not as weird and sporadic as Korosensei's 'Nuru-Nuru Cram Sessions', though. I think I agree it should have at least a proper name to feel professional."
Nagisa reaches down and scribbles with another branch.
"How about we use the alternative reading—"
"But then no one would read it right at first. Having Kanji is tricky if you're aiming for younger students."
"Then, flip it around?"
"What would that change? I suggest you spell it out in hiragana instead."
Nao can't help but laugh out loud at the sight.
They cannot hear him, but he laughs, and laughs, and laughs.
They continue to argue on the way down the mountain, and Nao hops down to the ground, looking at the messy scribbles on the ground and reminiscing.
('Nao' is written and circled twice among them all, and he reaches down to paw at it, feeling warm, loved, and remembered.)