The announcement of their school trip to Kyoto was revealed a few days after midterms, sending a wave of contagious excitement amongst the students of Class 3-E at the thought of doing something fun. The fact that their ongoing assassination would be included in the itinerary only added to their high spirits. Apparently, the Ministry of Defense had contracted a third-party hitman to raise their chances in succeeding during the trip. Hajime grew particularly interested in the topic when it was disclosed to the class that the government hired a professional sniper. The location was ideal for long-ranged assassinations and raised opportunities for them to attack Korosensei on unfamiliar grounds.
Which meant the time left for grouping up and planning was crucial if they actually wanted to get something done.
Hajime tapped his fingers against the surface of the desk and stared down at the four group activities, or pre-determined assassinations routes, listed down on the sheet. He had once again taken the seat behind Chiba with Akabane seemingly allowing it, though not without an eerie smile that left Hajime on edge. One of these days, the redhead was going to pull some mischievous act on him. That was the sole reason Akabane was being so lenient, Hajime just knew it. He could feel it in his bones.
Chiba turned around in his seat, not even questioning Hajime and his frequent seat displacement. "Takano-san, have you joined a group yet?"
"No," Hajime said, "How about you?"
"I think the Movie Land Samurai Show looks interesting." The black haired male admitted, "The performance should be distracting enough that Korosensei would notice anything suspicious in the background. Okajima-kun and Hayami-san offered to form a group." There was an invitation there that remained unspoken and Hajime couldn't help the quirk of his lip at the notice of it.
The brown haired male hummed, nodding in acknowledgement. He looked at the time allotted for the aforementioned route and grimaced. It was scheduled to happen right before noon. The thought of standing underneath the high-rise sun for an extended period of time, and in a crowded area no less, had Hajime frowning. Honestly, that sounded like the last thing he wanted to do during the trip, assassination or not.
"I think I'll join another route. The heat and I don't get along well."
It was more about the crowded area that bothered Hajime, but he didn't want to explain that outright. Chiba must have understood to some level from the silence that followed his unconvincing excuse, not that Hajime could tell by the long bangs that hid his eyes. The brown haired male sighed and leaned his head against an open palm, lightening his tone, "I'll join another group. Don't mind me, Chiba-san."
"Are you sure. . ?" The male muttered.
Hajime gave a closed-eye smile. "Yeah, I'm certain one of the afternoon route groups still needs members. You can just tell me what happens during the show instead, or maybe record it for me." Chiba hesitated, but in the end nodded and turned around. Hajime watched as the black haired male entered a conversation with Hayami and Okajima, who both sat in front of Chiba. It was just like the quiet male to favor classmates that were familiar to him.
Hajime lightly traced his finger on the page. Honestly, his mind had been elsewhere since the end of the exams. There was something weird in the air, a residual paranoia that had him double checking his belongings and peeking over his shoulder at random intervals on the way home. Hajime wasn't certain what kickstarted this sudden apprehension, but it was derailing him from his usual routine. Normally, Hajime would have already researched the details behind the location they'd be heading to. He was quite behind on the preparations needed for the field trip as Hajime couldn't get over the sense that something was about to happen.
A hand clamped down on his shoulder, making the male startle so hard his knees banged on the underside of the desk. Hajime, wincing at the jolt of pain, glanced at the owner of the hand and couldn't help the way his expression instinctively twisted. Akabane smiled light-heartedly at him, goldish eyes twinkling in amusement. "I happened to overhear that you don't have a group yet. Means you're free to join me then, right?"
"No thank you." Hajime declined, before he was yanked out of the chair by a strong grip on both his shoulders. "Karma-kun! What are you–!"
"You owe me~" Akabane chimed in a sing-song, pulling the brown haired male against his side with an arm around his shoulder. The action oddly reminded Hajime of Atsushi, and his eyes widened in faint horror at the thought of the two of them meeting one another.
The redhead dragged them toward the center of the classroom and neared the seats aligned next to the windows. Hajime had an inkling of what Akabane was planning and sighed in resignation, relenting to the manhandling. Of course, Akabane would do this. The two approached Nagisa, who looked up from the route sheet to blink in surprise at the odd duo of students. It must have looked weird, seeing Akabane and Hajime acting familiar despite not being seen interacting much in the classroom.
Though, a few students had already noticed that the two seemed to be growing closer since the beginning of midterms.
Akabane raised an innocent eyebrow as he locked eyes with Nagisa, while Hajime attempted to straighten his features into something less annoyed.
"Karma-kun, Takano-san, want to be in the same group?" Nagisa offered, pointing to the last assassination route scheduled during the afternoon. It was a good choice. Everyone would be tired and subdued from the previous activities by then which set up the perfect chance to go for the kill.
Akabane hummed, "Hm, ok~"
Hajime stood to his full height, standing shoulder to shoulder with the redhead and shrugged off the arm wrapped around him. Akabane raised his hands in a mockery of surrender when Hajime shot him a glare, looking entertained at the reaction he garnered from the usually amicable and gentle-hearted male.
Nagisa scratched his cheek with a hesitant smile. "How about you, Takano-san?"
The brown haired male turned away from Akabane. His expression faltered and softened upon meeting azure eyes, before a reluctant sigh escaped him. Being in the same group as Akabane was most likely going to be bad for his blood pressure and sanity, but the level headed and kind Nagisa would be there to balance it out. If worse came to, Hajime would just use the blue haired male as a barricade. The thought had him nodding, "Sure, if you don't mind."
Nagisa smiled a bit wider at his response, "Not at all!"
Sugino approached the trio from behind with a nervous expression as he took in the two new group members. His dark blue eyes landed on Akabane. "Ehh? Are you going to be alright, Karma-kun? While we're traveling, it will be problematic if you pick fights, won't it?" He was clearly aware of the reputation Akabane managed to reap. Hajime snorted, but covered it with a cough as he turned his head to the side.
"It'll be fine~" Akabane drawled, holding up a photograph. His face suddenly morphed into something devious, a devilish smile curling his lips as Hajime took the photograph from him. Sugino and Nagisa crowded near him and the three of them peered down at what appeared to be photographic blackmail. "I make sure to prevent eye-witnesses from talking, so it won't become public knowledge."
In the picture, Akabane stood with his arms over two students wearing defeated expressions. The male student with an old-fashioned hairstyle in particular looked bruised and battered, sporting a swollen cheek and blackened eye. Hajime blinked at the ID cards students were holding and smiled in amusement. It appeared he wasn't the only one that held leverage over his victims to keep things quiet. At his side, Sugino leaned toward Nagisa and whispered loudly,
"Oi–! Like I thought, let's not ask him to join our group!!"
Hajime nodded, "I second the motion."
Akabane planted his hand on Hajime's shoulder, "Now, Hajime-kun. Don't be like that~ It's not like you don't do something simi–" The brown haired male jabbed his elbow into Akabane's side, cutting the redhead off. Sugino and Nagisa blinked at the sudden action and stared oddly at the two.
"What was–"
"What was what?" Hajime replied, tilting his head innocently.
Nagisa looked toward Akabane. "Nothing. . ."
"So, who else is in our group?" Hajime questioned. He side-glanced the redhead, who looked content to leave their classmates confused. An absolute menace, Akabane was. "There's Karma-kun, Nagisa-kun, Sugino-san, Kayano-san, and. . ." Hajime trailed off as Kayano Kaede approached with Okuda in tow.
"I invited Okuda-san to join us, too!" Kayano piped up.
The dark haired female peered bashfully at the other group members and waved. Hajime smiled at the familiar face and nodded to both female students in greeting, his shoulders relaxing.
Sugino seemed to take that as his cue and turned to the side, "There are six to seven people per group, so we need one more girl, right? Ehehehe~" The dark haired male brushed at his nose and gestured for one of their classmates to come forward, a pinkness to his cheeks. "Don't underestimate me. I invited someone a while ago just for this occasion."
A black haired female wearing a gentle smile approached the group, making Hajime widen his eyes. He was weak against pretty faces, sue him. Sugino grinned with excitement as he gestured to his recruit. "How about the class madonna, Kanzaki-san?!" The notably classical beauty tipped her head in greeting.
Kayano cheered in amazement, "Oooh! No objections here!"
"Please take care of me, Nagisa-kun, everyone." Kanzaki Yukiko had an aura of elegance and feminine grace that had everyone unable to disagree with her. Not that Hajime wanted to.
With that, the group was basically complete. Hajime glanced around at the classmates he would be joining for the field trip and nodded in satisfaction. It was a good mixture of students that he was familiar with and some that he wasn't. The overall atmosphere didn't seem too bad either. He found none of their personalities particularly clashing to deal with off the bat, other than the redhead deviant, so things were looking good. Nagisa also seemed to be the unofficial group leader, which was a nice change of pace. Hajime might actually enjoy his time in Kyoto.
"Shall we start planning?" The brown haired male offered.
The night before the field trip, Hajime stood in front of the bathroom sink with a toothbrush lodged in his mouth. He stared at his reflection in the mirror while brushing his teeth, eyeing the dark half-moons underneath his tired mahogany colored eyes in discontent. The male had spent the last remaining days preparing for the trip, foregoing sleep in order to research some things. Hajime might have been overdoing it by reading through the entirety of the thick encyclopedia-sized travel guide that Korosensei gave them. Nevertheless, the brown haired male found some chapters within the guide informative.
Hajime spat into the sink and rinsed his mouth, cleaning his toothbrush then placing it back into the cabinet behind the mirror. He proceeded with his skincare routine, rubbing a cleanser into his skin with a deep sigh. The coolness of the product had his shoulders slumping in the familiar sensation. Hajime glanced at himself in the mirror once more before leaving the bathroom, hands massaging circular motions onto his face as he sauntered down the hallway. The male paced back and forth out of habit, only returning to the sink to wash off the product and began the next step of his skincare.
He was in the middle of placing an aloe-like moisturizer onto his forehead and cheeks when he noted the lack of light underneath his parents' bedroom door. Hajime found it a bit too early for his mother to go to bed, eyebrows furrowing in an anxious confusion. Hajime headed for the other closed door in the hall, awkwardly turning the door knob with his wrist since his hands had product on them, and kicked it open with his foot.
The door opened to reveal a bedroom with beige walls covered in posters with popular idols and a cluster of aesthetic photographs tapped to the walls. There was a bed pushed to the farthest corner of the room; on the bed laid a brown haired female that looked a few years younger than Hajime. She had her nose buried in a comic, covering most of her face. The female flinched at the sudden opening of her door and lowered the comic, squinting at the doorway of her room.
"Uh – Knock first?!" Takano Miho stated incredulously.
Hajime stood at the threshold of the bedroom door, hands returning to pressing the moisturizer onto his face as he stared at his younger sister. He didn't enter the room, standing just outside the hall. "Where's Oka-san?" He questioned, ignoring her groan of annoyance.
Miho looked almost identical to Hajime with light brown hair and the same shade of dark mahogany colored eyes. If not for their age difference and gender, they could have been considered as twins. She sat up from her bed and reached out for her phone placed on the bedside table, squinting down at the screen. It was nearing ten at night. Miho sighed, "Oka-san is probably in Korea right now."
Hajime frowned, "Why?"
The female narrowed her eyes at him. "Nii-san, are you alright in the head? Oka-san told us she was leaving during dinner."
The brown haired male leaned against the door frame and looked around as if that would help him recall the past few hours. Clearly, his lack of sleep was affecting his memory because Hajime couldn't remember his mother telling them anything of the sort. Hajime was certain he ate dinner with them because the katsudon was delicious and still lingered in his mouth even after brushing his teeth. He hummed in acknowledgement and nodded. "When is she coming back though?"
Miho grunted and sat up on her bed, setting aside the comic book to rub at her face. "Do you really not remember? She said around next week along with Otou-san. Honestly, Nii-san. Can you go away now? Maybe go to sleep since you're clearly out of it."
Hajime blinked. His hands stopped moving, simply cradling his cheeks as he stared blankly at his younger sister. "Next week? But I have a school trip tomorrow."
"I know." Miho frowned. "You told me that already."
The two siblings stared at one another in confusion. Hajime's eyes slowly widened in realization. He straightened up as clarity came to him. If his mother was in another country right now and wouldn't be home until next week, then that meant the Takano siblings were left to their own devices. Not exactly something new to them, but Hajime had plans. It seems he wasn't the only one forgetting things lately. There really was something in the air.
"Fuck – Okay wait." Hajime said and stalked down the hall back to the bathroom, finishing his routine as his mind raced.
He returned back to his sister's bedroom, placing a hand on the door frame in slight panic. Things weren't going as planned, but he could work with this. His face was relatively dry and hair messily combed as Hajime looked at his sister. "I have a three-day and two-night trip starting tomorrow, which means there will be no one else other than you in the house until I get back home. Do you have any classmates that you can stay with 'till then, Miho-chan?" Hajime watched as understanding dawned on his sister's features before she pursed her lips in concern.
"I– Uh, maybe. . ?" She stuttered, "This is a bit sudden, Nii-san, I don't think they'll agree."
Hajime sighed and smiled, partially hiding the frantic thudding of his heart against his chest. He knew it was rude to suddenly ask for an impromptu sleep over for a few days, but Hajime knew his sister would throw a fit if he offered to skip his field trip to stay at home with her. "I'll talk to their parents, don't worry about that. Do you have anyone in mind?"
Miho nibbled at her bottom lip and stared down at her open phone in consideration. She raised the device closer to her face. "There's Kanna-chan, but her family has money problems so I don't want to. . ." There was a slight waver to her voice that made Hajime step into the bedroom. He sat down on the edge of the bed. Miho snapped her head up at the approach and attempted to frown, "Don't come in, Stupid."
"Pick someone else then, Miho-chan." Hajime coaxed.
The female nodded, huffing slightly and pressing down on her contacts list. Mahogany eyes were wide as they scanned the list of nicknames and random euphemisms that Hajime saw but didn't understand. "Then Nao-chan, I guess. Should I. . . call her?"
Miho stared at him worriedly and doe-eyed. Hajime nodded, scooting closer to brush their shoulders together. He didn't like the expression on her face. She looked better when annoyed at him in that particular tween angst phase that all children at twelve seemed to go through. The odd furrow between her brows didn't fit right on her cherubic face. Hajime watched as she pressed the call button and stared at the phone in hesitation. He wasn't overly familiar with this Nao-chan so it was probably a recent friend. Miho had just started Junior High School, and if she was anything like him, friendships were complicated.
"What do I say?" Miho asked.
"Tell them that I want to speak to their parents. Nii-san will handle the rest. "
If there was one thing that Hajime prided himself in, it was wooing parents and the elderly. Hajime smiled courteously and bowed low to the mother of Fuwa Naoki, Miho's classmate and close friend. Thankfully, the woman understood when Hajime explained their dilemma over the phone last night and offered her home with open arms. It helped that Miho had already visited their home beforehand and was familiar with the rest of the Fuwa family to some degree. He stood and stared at the two younger female students standing to the side, dressed in the Kunugigaoka uniform and looking awkward.
"Thank you again for this, Fuwa-san." Hajime said to the mother standing at the doorway. Miho fidgeted on her feet by his side.
The older woman laughed heartily and waved, "No worries, Hajime-kun! Miho-chan is such a sweetheart, I don't mind having her around! Naoki is lucky to have such a friend."
Fuwa Naoki, a purple haired female with a smatter of freckles on her face, blushed a light pink and turned to the side. "Kaasan! We're going now or else we'll be late for class!" Naoki took Miho by the hand and darted down the street, huffing and muttering underneath her breath in embarrassment. Miho giggled at whatever she said and looked back, waving an arm over her head.
"Bye, Nii-san! Bye, Oba-san!" She called.
Hajime waved. The mother looked exasperatedly fond at her daughter and turned back to the house. Hajime had been informed that the Fuwa family had another daughter in his year that was also attending the school trip. He'd been more than willing to walk with her to the train station, it was the least he could do after troubling them with their problems. Thus, the brown haired male stood with his duffel bag slung around his shoulder.
"Yuzuki! Don't keep this handsome young man waiting!" The mother called out, turning to Hajime teasingly.
His ears burned at the stare and laughed. "I don't mind, Fuwa-san. There's still some time before the meet up time." Fuwa Yuzuki. The name sounded familiar as if Hajime had encountered it before. He stared down at his shoes in thought. Where had Hajime — ? Footsteps clamored from inside the house, approaching the door. Someone bounced down the steps leading to the front door.
"I'm ready!" The female yelled.
Hajime looked up and stared at a female student with dark purple hair styled in a recognizable bob cut and straight bangs. He blinked, staring at a familiar classmate from Class 3-E that he'd been in the same class with for the past months. He hadn't interacted with her much, but Hajime noticed her in the background often enough. Fuwa Yuzuki stared back at him in wonder, eyes wide and lit up with interest at his startled expression.
She stepped forward and pointed a finger at him, "Takano Hajime?!"