32. Incurable

32. Incurable

"Man, where have you been this whole day, Kuma-sensei?" Okano whined, setting her hands on the teacher's shoulders.

Nao chuckled, "sorry," he said, "I fell asleep in my room and I just woke up."

"Seriously? But it's summer vacation!" Kurahashi said, like it was some sort of crime.

"It's because it's summer vacation," Nao corrected her, "when else will I get undisturbed rest for four hours straight?"

"At night sir, on a bed, preferably at least six to eight," Yada responded in a monotone.

Nao swirled his drink in his glass for a moment before taking a contemplative sip. "I'd usually agree, but the comment sections of some previous chapters apparently beg to differ. Haven't you heard, insomnia is in right now."

"You don't get to talk about what's 'in' when you're wearing that bandanna on your head, sir," Maehara walked over, having heard the tail end of the conversation. "Why is it bear-themed?"

Nao hummed. His tank top and unbuttoned hoodie combination was decent enough, but the brown bear-patterned headband was just culture shock for everyone.

"I was too lazy to gel my hair, and I needed to be attentive so I couldn't leave my bangs down," was his explanation. "So the headband."

"But why a bear?!"

Isogai chuckled dryly, "Kuma-sensei, everything you own has a bear on it, huh."

He cast Terasaka's gang a look-- and sure enough, their phones still had the pink teddy bear keychain on them.

Nao smiled at that. "Nah, those are different-- I bought them as a joke," he shrugged, "everything I own that has a bear on it," he pointed at the headband, "I got them for Teacher's Appreciation Day, so I had to use them somehow."

"Wow, you're popular."

"Don't teachers usually get stationery or flowers?"

"Sometimes I wish I did," Nao admitted, folding his hand under his chin as he reminisced miserably, "I can only handle so many stuffed bears and love confessions a year before PTA lodges complaints against me."

"The terrifying Kuma-sensei strikes again."

"The ikemen wars continue..."

"I kinda feel sorry for the Board Chairman and I didn't think that was ever possible."

Dinner was luxurious and served atop a cruise. The sun had set when Nao finally woke up, leaving him nothing but unexpected wakenness and an empty feeling inside his chest from wasting a good chunk of such a beautiful day just sleeping.

Same old, same old.

In the corner, Korosensei shed his charred-black skin, and the class simultaneously contemplated his inherent stupidity.

"We're gonna kill him after dinner," Karma provided a splendid conversation starter. "Are you gonna come watch too, Kuma-sensei?"

"That's right," Nakamura said, "we're definitely succeeding this time-- so you really gotta watch. You won't wanna miss it."

Nao faltered for a second before he smiled. "Of course. I'm looking forward to it."

His hesitation was not lost on a single one of the people looking at him-- and he hated that this assassination classroom sharpened their senses for these things.

"What, Kuma-sensei?" Kurahashi pouts, clinging a little closer than naturally comfortable, but that was her love language so Nao let it slide, "you don't believe we can do it? I even talked to the dolphins for this!" she whispered the last line in the best whisper she could manage, tip-toeing to barely reach his ears.

As if she was grasping on a chance, Yada grabbed his other arm.

"We really worked hard on this one, Kuma-sensei!" she said, in a tone that was begging for his positive validation. Nao honestly likened this to moments before his wallet gets stolen, but he'll give them the benefit of doubt.

"This is unhealthy behaviour, girls," he said, calmly. "Please try not to follow Irina-sensei's examples to too much of a T, alright?"

And they whined in unison. "We almost got you, right?"

"Not at all."

"Boo."

They laughed it off, but he couldn't shake the feeling of disappointment he felt from them. To the, he didn't believe they could do it-- and that hurt them.

Nao felt horrible for it, but he didn't know how to fix that.

"Just do your best, all of you," he says, knowing the words were drier than dust. He hoped that his smile, at least, was genuine enough to ease it. "I know you're all doing your best, and I'm always proud of you guys."

(I just don't particularly care if you manage to kill Korosensei or not.)

(Because more so than your success, I just want these days to keep going.)

It was a cruel thing to think, when most of what they've got recently are achievements on the assassination scale.

They were looking at different futures. It made sense they wouldn't understand his thought process.

It still hurt though-- more so in their direction than his.

-

The assassination ended in a short, breathtaking minute.

Or at least, Nao wasn't sure if he took a breath between it. He was lost in the details-- from the elaborate set up, to the various sequences that came fluidly, one after another-- so quickly you'd miss one if you blinked.

Karasuma and Irina have their guns out-- they were ready to strike, in case the most crucial moment failed and a new opening was created.

Nao watched from another two paces away, in awe.

It was one thing to know about it, another to see it, and yet another to experience it personally.

The wind sprayed cold and salty against his face. The shrill whistle of dolphins melded chaotically within the neverending churn of water from the geysers, and the irritable clicks and pops of the BB guns never sounded too far away.

Then the bright flash of light burst into the sky, and an explosion greater than anything engulfed the skyline.

If his breath didn't stop before, it definitely did right there.

Surging forth like a spill of great beams, Korosense's body was encrusted in a golden light, rising up into the sky for just a split second as multiple lengths of lightning.

And then, a shuddering boom.

His blood immediately ran cold-- and the succeeding gale from the eruption blew right through him, nearly taking him off his feet.

"D-Did we get him?!"

The world seemed to blot out then.

All he could think about was a flash of white hot pain across his body-- but there was no such agony. But he was petrified tere, unable to move, unable to think, unable to confirm if he was breathing.

"Don't let your guard down, he has regenerative powers!"

His legs could move, though. Though his head was full of haze, he realized he was around, like the dark sky and the building as they returned were such fascinating sights to see.

E clenched around his shirt, going over his heart and reaching for just anywhere he knew his scars (birthmarks) were, and he didn't do anything.

He didn't think anything.

He just didn't know anything for those ten minutes until they got back into the Hotel.

-

The nausea from his pills combined with the sharp tangs of wet coughing eventually dragged him out of his dissociative stupor.

He finds himself in his room, seated by a couch near the window with his pills and a glass of water before him. He doesn't know if he made it here, or if Karasuma deposited him here-- but it doesn't matter, does it?

He stood up and made his way back outside.

The students were gathered in the cafe area, around the tables and the walls, miserable.

"Something's weird."

Karasuma looks over. "Like the fact you forgot to take your medicine?"

Nao chuckled dryly, "other than that," he said. Is that what just now seemed like to them?

He noticed his hand was clenched too tightly over his shirt-- and he let go, stepping forward to the nearest table, where Maehara and Mimura were seated.

He set a hand on the boy's shoulder-- "hey, Maehara..."

And he paused. The boy's head was being propped up by his shaking arm against the table. He looked over briefly at the call, but didn't muster a response.

So Nao pulled his shoulders back-- he actually grunted at the force, thrown back easily against the back of the chair-- and when Nao laid a hand on the boy's forehead, he frowned deeply.

Nao reached over, and found a similar temperature on Mimura's forehead.

"Fevers," he told Karasuma, who jolted to attention. Korosensei-- Nao belatedly noticed the glass ball in the plastic bag, wondering how he forgot about that thing for a while. "Both of them. Karasuma-san, we need to-- Nakamura!"

He lunged over just in time to catch the girl before she'd fallen.

"Huh...?" she lay, arms limp, face flushed and scrunched up in pain. "That's strange... I can't... get up-- Kuma-sensei?"

Then Okajima threw up blood, and all hell went loose.

When Karasuma asked, they learned there was no doctor on the island.

Nao swore under his breath.

"Everyone that doesn't feel well, stay where you are!" Nao raised his voice, "Isogai, Kataoka, if you're able, take roll!"

They were. "Y- Yessir!"

This was no time to panic.