Lesson Learned

Being Afraid

A/N Things are going to be busy this next month so I wanted to fit in a quick update for this story.

***

Mitsuko felt like she'd crack her jaw from how much she was gritting her teeth as she marched home.

The street lamps were slowly turning on as it got darker, while she was walked down an empty side street in-between some houses.

"Mitsuko..." a voice whispered as a breeze bristled her skin.

She froze. "What the...?"

"Mitsuko..."

She frowned and looked over her shoulder where Koro-sensei was hiding behind a street lamp pole while wearing a ninja costume.

....WHAT?

"Uh?" Mitsuko raised an eyebrow. "Sir...?"

"Ah!" Koro-sensei yelled. "I've been discovered!"

She sighed in exasperation. "What are you doing?"

Koro-sensei tiptoed over on his tentacles. "I was practising my stealth skills!"

"...Of course," she replied dryly. "Now, why are you really here?"

Koro-sensei hummed. "A simple check-up. You did leave quite suddenly."

Mitsuko grimaced. "It wasn't exactly planned."

"Not from your end, I'm sure." His was cold around the edges. "Are you all right?"

"Yes," she replied quickly and then cringed, not even convinced herself. "...Or not, I guess. I don't know."

Koro-sensei nodded patiently, sitting down on a patch of grass near a fence. "Tell me."

Mitsuko hesitated, rubbing her arm. It's not like she could trust him completely but...he had kept all the secrets she'd told him, and at least he was a good listener."...Information for information?"

He chuckled, nodding. "A fair deal." He wagged a tentacle. "I won't have any secrets at this rate, so remember our terms."

"That's kind of the idea." A small smirk crept onto her face as she sat down next to him. "I want to know why you chose to teach E Class."

Koro-sensei sighed. "Yes, I expected this would crop up eventually." He rubbed his chin with a tentacle. "I suppose the simplest answer is that I made a promise to someone very important."

Mitsuko stared at him questionably for a while. "What kind of promise?"

"Ah, only one question at a time," he reminded her. "Now, tell me how you're really feeling."

She stayed silent for a moment, before sighing quietly, looking away. "Well, I don't know because sometimes I'm sad but then sometimes I'm happy and it's like everything I want is finally in front of me, but it's not what I thought it would be..." Her brow furrowed, looking over at Koro-sensei. "Does that makes sense?"

He nodded. "Yes, to me it does."

Mitsuko sighed, leaning her head against the fence. "Did you ever feel the same way?"

He chuckled softly. "Yes, quite a number of times." He looked up at the crescent moon. "It's often been the case that I what I thought I wanted wasn't actually what I wanted while the things I didn't think I needed ended up becoming exactly what I needed."

"That...sounds confusing," Mitsuko commented, sighing tiredly. "I don't know. I guess a part of me wants to go back to E Class but at the same time...I don't want to go back to just being..." she trailed off, finding it hard to pinpoint the right word. "Not seen, especially by her."