It wasn't hard to notice him gone.
Nearly two minutes into Korosensei's unnecessary duplication techniques, Kanzaki Yukiko found the lack of a teacher unnerving.
"Is... Kuma-sensei off work today?" she asked, raising her hand hesitantly.
Despite his poor health, Kanzaki fails to remember a day in the main building where Kunomasu Naomasa missed a day of work. Not even for a sick leave... or perhaps it was just her that didn't notice. The teacher never missed classes much.
"About that, I'm not so sure," Korosensei turned, all of his heads turning in the direction of the girl, erecting a few squeaks, "there's been no contact from him."
"Did he run?" Maehara jokingly suggested.
"Playing truant?" Nakamura chuckled, "well, he seems the type!"
"Or maybe he got tired of us fools," Terasaka groaned.
"Hey, hey, Kuma-sensei isn't that kind of person!" Sugino responded, almost offended. "He's a nice person."
Muramatsu scoffed, "nice person, but still a member of the faculty under that principal."
"C'mon, guys, he's probably just stuck halfway up the mountain again," Kimura sighed, resigned at the passive argument going on behind him.
"Or a family emergency?" Yada suggested, "or maybe those checkups he's always complaining about."
"He would've contacted Karasuma-sensei for that, right?" Nagisa was beginning to doubt, too, "maybe he got caught up somewhere again..."
"What if his heart acted up again?" Isogai sounded concerned, "that'd be disastrous--"
"Now, now!" Korosensei raised his voice a little above the commotion, all doubles raising a finger to shush the students, "I'm sure he's alright. I've had Karasuma-san locate him for the moment, so let's get back to our cram session, shall we?"
Unease was still settled around-- it was strange without him around. He left early from classes plenty of times, or showed up late, but none of the students really thought much about it, knowing the teacher had a health issue to be concerned for.
Kanzaki Yukiko fingered the cover of a book under her desk, a little forlorn. Well, she guessed the story she wanted to share with him would have to wait.
ー
It wasn't until later, when their principal (making an unexpected visit to see Mr billion bounty octopus) told them about Kuma-sensei's hospitalisation, that they found out the reason behind his absence.
It was easy to forget that Naomasa was a crippled man. That he couldn't do many things an average adult man could do. Karasuma may have given them a false hope of normalcy, but the truth lay in the fact the man was a prime military agent.
Naomasa, too, was past the point of normalcy in his own way.
"Is he gonna die?" when Okajima voiced the thought, everyone snapped at him for saying such remorseful words.
"He's better off not coming by too often, anyways," Yoshida sighed, "y'know, his reputation as an elite teacher and all that."
"Aren't we over this, guys?" Kataoka groaned, "Kuma-sensei isn't like the rest of the teachers in main campus, and we know that firsthand."
"They're not wrong about it being better with him not coming, though," Isogai stated meaningfully, "people with heart diseases are told to exercise regularly-- but to Kuma-sensei, I feel like it just has the opposite effect."
It wasn't hard to forget that Naomasa had a heart impairment.
He acted normal, common, and perhaps, what a modern day student would call a 'typical' teacher. Sometimes, he'd just be on the verge of death, or other times, he seemed to be going for more checkups than his smiles said he needed.
"It's like the more he exercises the more he looked like he's going to kick the bucket?" Maehara laughed, agreeing.
"That's because he doesn't know how to regulate his exercise," Kayano giggled.
Naomasa was a figure that melded into the background for them. It seemed like nothing would change if he were here-- but if he weren't, something was just missing.
Whether the missing bit was a good or bad one, it probably differed from each person's perspective of him.
In this idiosyncratic classroom, plagued by paranormal episodes, Naomasa was a figure that reminded them that they were students. In this accursed school, ruled by the reprehensible principal and chained by the shackles trashed standards.
Some wanted to forget. To spend this last year up here, having their kind of fun. Stay in the dumps, and think about going, or not going, to high school when they get there.
But Naomasa's presence forced them to remember.
Even though they were the vermin of the school-- this teacher was trying to yank their grades up, like Korosensei himself. Unlike Irina, though, Naomasa taught purely academic-related stuff. He went off the rails a few times, but nothing was going to be as 'useful' as Bitch-sensei's fluency speech lessons.
Even though they were the E class, y'know?
ー
"Did you hear? There's a huge tornado up on the mountain adjacent to Kunugigaoka Junior High!" the nurse told me almost excitedly, "it's crazy!"
Naomasa nearly spat out his tea in surprise.
"What?!"
Looking out the window, Nao sucked in a sob. Oh, he was missing out! He wanted to watch this-- no, he didn't. He's more than glad to be away from up there-- ugh, he needed to decide.
A single flap of a butterfly wing can cause a typhoon in the next continent.
Nao originally didn't want to go up there in fear of this-- the butterfly effect. What would change if Nao interfered? Would someone's grades slip from the top fifty? Would someone decide to leave or stay after achieving something better? Would they alter their career paths due to his influence?
It would be ideal if it was something as trivial as that.
Nao feared to think what would happen if he altered the events of the Death God's arrival-- or even, Korosensei's death itself.
Thus far, his presence itself hadn't caused any alterations-- if the tornado was happening, that was a relief. It meant that the world was not shattering apart from its borders. It meant things were still going as they should be.
Nao gripped the sheets of his hospital bed-- realizing just how much he'd hate to see Korosensei die again. But he couldn't say that he wanted to see him live, either.
If Korosensei had survived that day-- nothing would be the same. Sure, he would be there, but no one could say if this was a good or bad choice. Would Nagisa's parents have bonded together? Would the E class students have received their needed 'liberation' from the press? Would the government have left the target be?
Even if Nao thought about it, he didn't know a way to truly get Korosensei away from school alive. He didn't know a way that would give them the happily ever after Kayano deserved.
A tornado spun in the air, brewed by righteous anger, fueled by a fatherly love for his students.
As Nao gazed upon it, he almost wished he were there, standing beside them, listening to those words again. Perhaps not as a teacher-- but as a student.
If Nao had gotten a teacher like him in his youth-- perhaps he would have turned out a little different from himself now. Perhaps he would have had a different outlook on life.
Or perhaps, he would be a changed person at the end of the story.
Chuckling, Naomasa could only imagine.
I'll be back there in a week, he assured himself.
I can wait that long.