Specimen T-04

Part 28~New Student

Nagisa kept his eyes closed as Keiji touched his forehead. Keiji moved through Nagisa's memories, watching the film he had watched. The second he removed his hand, he almost collapsed, causing Nagisa to catch him.

Nagisa helped him into a chair before he smiled. "When did you learn to do that?"

Keiji smiled weakly. "Esumi's been teaching me. There is a lot I had no idea I could do."

Nagisa pushed the bowl of food in front of Keiji. "Just don't forget to actually write the essay."

Keiji sighed tiredly. "I don't think I can write it. Can't you? Pretty please."

Nagisa hummed, about to turn him down, when Keiji gave him his signature puppy dog eyes, and Nagisa sighed. "Very well. It'll transcribe. I won't just write your essay for you."

Keiji cheered. "You're the best boyfriend ever!" His casual announcement was too much for Nagisa as he collapsed in on himself, hitting his head against the counter. "Just tell me what you want to write."

Esumi laughed as she walked in. "Looks like you two are having fun."

Nagisa gave her a strained look as he sat up. "You have no idea. How are the others."

"Erika is progressing. I think she's doing better, and we've enrolled her into an American school."

Nagisa frowned. "You're leaving?"

Esumi smiled sadly. "I've managed to contact my family. They're helping me go home, and my friends will join me. It'll be good for them. Koko can finally get her therapy, and Erika can make friends with people her age and Jin... Jin can start a new life. It was always the plan." Esumi paused, smiling as she saw the look on Nagisa's face. "Do not worry; we'll make sure that we've gotten those tentacles out of your friend, and we'll keep doing research in America. We'll send you all our theories and findings."

Nagisa nodded stiffly. "Thank you. For everything."

"Not at all. You're the reason we can go home. Oh, and don't forget that Clan Instinct is coming this weekend. We'll be there when they arrive, but after we leave, they're your problem."

Nagisa chuckled softly. "What a thrill."

Keiji nodded. "It'll be quiet without you."

"I'm sure Viola can make up for that."

Keiji snorted as he laughed freely. Nagisa leaned into his side as Esumi left them, greeting Erika in the main hall.

"It's going to be weird without them," Keiji muttered.

"At least we have each other."

"Always." Keiji kissed Nagisa's forehead as he sighed softly. They were moving on, and he and Nagisa were stuck here, still cleaning up the lab's mess.

~~~

"Good morning, students. I'm sure you've heard from Mr Karasuma that another transfer student will be joining us today." Koro-sensei grinned as he walked in.

Maehara snorted, leaning against his palm. "Yeah. I bet it's going to be another assassin."

"The last time, I underestimated Ritsu and got myself in trouble. This time, I won't let my guard down. At any rate, I'm sure you'll enjoy having a new friend."

Hara turned to look at Ritsu. "Hey, Ritsu, anything you can tell us? Didn't you two train together?"

"Yes. At first," she answered with what looked like a sad expression. "Originally, we were going to transfer to this class together. I specialise in long-range attack, and he specialises in close-range combat. We were to cooperate to kill Koro-sensei. But that plan was cancelled for two reasons. First, because it took much longer than expected to tune him up, and second, I just wasn't as good an assassin."

The class went silent, a nervous energy in the air.

"My skills weren't strong enough to support him, so they decided to deploy us consecutively. I suppose they sent me in first as a kind of test." Ritsu hung her head as the class waited, a terrified feeling in their guts at how dangerous this assassin was.

Nagisa had a bad feeling that was only made worse by Keiji's voice in his head. "It's that person again. The one I sensed!"

Before Nagisa could respond, the door was flung open. A man dressed in white walked in and pointed his arm in. In a flash, a bird appeared on his hand. "Sorry to startle you, I'm not the transfer student. I'm his guardian, the White Magician. You may call me Shiro."

Nagisa froze, a pit forming in his stomach.

"Is that?" Keiji couldn't finish his sentence, barely whispering into Nagisa's head.

It was. That was Kotaro Yanagisawa, the man responsible for the experiments they were put under. "Shit," was the only response Nagisa managed. His mind was too focused on planning all the ways he could kill the man.

Koro-sensei wasn't doing much better, hiding in his liquid form in the corner of the room. When he calmed and returned to the floor, he showed no comprehension of who that man was.

It made sense. None of the experiments ever met the guy... well, none of the new experiments. Nagisa was old enough to know a time when he visited, back when Asaji and Hibiki were alive.

"Nice to meet you, Shiro. Now, where is the little darling?" Koro-sensei reformed in his robe as 'Shiro' pulled out a pack of red bean jelly.

"Nice to meet you, Koro-sensei. My ward has some problems dealing with social situations. He can be a bit difficult, especially at first, so I thought I'd introduce him to you myself." Shiro glanced around the classroom, meeting Nagisa and Keiji's gaze.

For a second, he seemed surprised, and then he moved on.

"Well, they look like nice students. I'm sure he'll fit right into this classroom. Is that his seat, Koro-sensei?"

"It is?"

"Wonderful. I'll introduce him to you now, then. Itona! You can come in!"

A silence fell for a second before there was a loud crash behind them, and a boy with completely white hair walked in. "I've won. I've proven that I am stronger than the classroom wall. That's all that counts." He began muttering to himself, lowering his head.

The class didn't know what to do.

"Allow me to introduce Itona Horibe. Oh, and if you don't mind, as his guardian, I'd like to keep an eye on him for a while." Shiro glanced at Koro-sensei as Karma leaned back.

"Hey Itona. Can I ask you something? You just came in through the door, literally, without an umbrella or anything, but it's pouring outside. So how come you're not the slightest bit wet?"

Itona paused before he stood up and walked to Karma. "You are probably the strongest student in this class. But don't worry. You're weaker than me, so I won't kill you. The only people I want to kill are those who are stronger than me. And in this classroom, that's just you, Koro-sensei."

"Stronger? Weaker? Them's fighting words, Itona. And I don't think you're ready to take me on just yet."

"Sure I am." Itona pulled out red bean jelly, looking up at Koro-sensei. "Because we are siblings."

There was a long pause as the students processed this. "Siblings?!"

"The one who loses dies, big brother."

Nagisa whispered in Keiji's head softly. "Did you know about this?"

"Nope."