28. Unwind

"Please don't ever fucking come back again."

Kazu was heading back to wherever the hell he was going-- and Ms Sakurai had dragged Nao up at the break of dawn to see him off. The woman herself was somewhere else, doing an early delivery.

It's nostalgic. That day so many years ago and today as well, his siblings always leave at the crack of daylight and never seem to come back again.

In the few days Kazu had stayed, he'd gone over to Matsukawa, traded hospital records, and had some descriptive talk about Nao's physical state or something. They may or may not have had an extensive debate about future treatment and life expectancy, but Nao didn't bother listening to a word of it.

He was just glad Kazu was finally gonna leave, because if their predictions are right, this will most probably be the last time they ever meet again. That's the best news he's ever heard.

"Sure, sure," Kazu sighed, looking over his shoulder. "You know, Nao... I'm glad you grew up well."

Nao reached for the gardening scissors.

"Scary one, aren't you?" Kazu said heatlessly, picking up his suitcase. "Wonder who you got that from."

"Just hurry up and leave," Nao groaned, ready to shut the door and forget all this seeing-him-off business. He had a report to submit in the morning and this isn't doing him any favours at all.

For a moment, Kazu seemed intent on talking more, just to annoy his younger brother-- but he relented, nodded, and turned away. But he didn't stay completely silent for long. 

"You have a nephew, you know."

Nao froze. "What?"

Kazu began walking. "Kazane left a kid," he said, in a frustratingly nonchalant manner, "feisty one. He's just like you."

Nao did not like the implications of that. "I'm not a kid anymore, Kazu," he hissed, "stop treating me like one."

He didn't listen. "You'll always be our little brother, even if you hate us," he said-- and the soft look in his eyes just made his blood boil. "I'm watching him now."

Naomasa scoffed at that. So Kazu was taking care of Kazane's kid? That sounds awfully familiar. Must be tough being the twin of an absolute good-for-nothing.

"And where's Madonna herself?" he asked, sarcastic. 

Of course they don't know where she is. She could go burn in the fire like her birth papers, and Nao would skim the news over like he does the weather reports.

Kazumasa turned back one last time, giving his brother a meaningful glance. "Tell me if you ever want to meet him. I can make arrangements."

"Don't bother," Nao's words were like poison. "We're not family."

And then he shut the door.

-

The summer heat is cruel to Naomasa.

His brother's absolute whirlwind of a visit left him a mental wreck. Add that on to the stress of the approaching final examinations, the increasing workload from his homeroom duties, and the death climb up the damn mountain.

To make matters worse, whatever it is that's bleeding decided to bleed today, too. His handkerchief was a nasty shade of red halfway up the mountain. His throat hurt.

He just wanted out.

It's the middle of the day, which means he's late as hell-- ugh, how could a teacher possibly be late to school? He's gonna get a lecture after this that he's not in the mood to listen to.

"This sucks," he muttered, taking out his phone and dialing a number he knows won't be troubled to pick up at this hour. "Hello, Karasuma-san. I'm dying, so can I go home?"

There's silence on the other end.

Then from the top of the mountain, a loud screaming noise. Kimura Masayoshi is yelling something that sounds distinctly like his name, charging down at a speed that can't be healthy in this heat.

"Ah, there's my ride."

-

Dipping his feet in the stream, Nao sighed in relief.

"Bless the swimming pool," he muttered, sitting down on a cool rock.

"Are you alright, Kuma-sensei?" Sugino asked, laughter in his voice. Nao's 'do I LOOK okay' went unheard as he turned to Kimura, who was clinging onto Isogai as a lifebuoy. "Man, you sure work hard."

Kimura raised a shaky thumbs up.

"Kuma-sensei's physical condition seems to be deteriorating," Ritsu's voice came up on Nao's phone, "shall I retrieve your medical records to update the Kuma-sensei care procedures?"

"No no no," Nao picked up his phone, "please do not mind me."

Ritsu had better not go within eight feet of those medical records. He didn't want anyone connecting the dots on his due date just yet-- Korosensei was doing a splendid job of distracting everyone from it, after all.

"So, the pool, huh?" he said, looking over at Korosensei on the lifeguard post. "How long have we had a pool again?"

Nagisa chuckled, "twenty four hours, apparently."

"Ah."

Come to think of it, it's about time for Itona's second appearance. Nao made a pretty irritable first impression, so he's not sure if he's looking forward to this one. Maybe he should stay in the classroom and wait it out.

Yeah, that sounded nice.

Don't need to bother with the assassination craziness. No one is expecting Nao to change the future or anything, after all.

(But if they are, then oh well. Guess they'll be disappointed.)

-

"What are you doing, Terasaka-kun?"

Terasaka jumped.

He'd charged out of the classroom and proceeded to crash his heel right into the nearest tree out of sight, roaring something about octopi and suck-ups and good-for-nothing wusses. Profanity redacted, of course.

He did not expect to hear Nao's voice interrupt his rant.

Terasaka looked around-- and finally found the teacher lying supine on the branch.

His jaw promptly dropped open. "Hell are you doing up there, Kuma-sensei?!"

Nao hummed, removing the book from his face. "I was trying to copy edgy anime boys, you see, I thought it'd be cool or something," he admitted. "But this is very uncomfortable. And I can't get down."

"What are you, a kitten?!" Terasaka snapped back immediately, "how did you even get up there?"

"I tried my best."

"At being a moron!"

Nao had to admit, he deserved that. Still he sat up, closing the novel. "I finally had a breaktime, so I wanted to be somewhere away from Doc Ock," he said, mirthfully. "I now see my actions are dumb. I deeply apologize for the trouble."

Spoken with a bachelor's degree in sarcasm.

Terasaka groaned, turning around, "jump onto my back. You can do that much without dying, right?" he said, though it sounded more like a threat.

"What a gentleman," Nao teased. He dropped down, landing with his arms easily around the bulky boy's shoulders. Terasaka took over easily from there, holding onto the teacher like an expert before carefully settling him back down.

Nao's weight was almost nothing to him, which was quite impressive. Guess bulky delinquent brutes have their uses after all.

"So?" Nao said, dusting himself off before sitting down by the tree, "what were you so irritated about, Terasaka-kun?"

He scoffed, turning away, "it's none of your business."

Nao smiled at him, definitely knowing better. "Alright then," he won't chase for it. "This is a nice spot, so I'll be here if you wanna talk."

"I won't!" Terasaka groaned. "You're annoying. I'm going home."

Nao chuckled.

-

To: Asano-san

From: Me

Image22.jpg
(ﾉ^ヮ^)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧

To: Me

From: Asano-san

...
What is that?

To: Asano-san

From: Me

Aliens I guessヽ(。_°)ノ

Also he's our transfer student who
Finally showed up after skipping
For a couple of weeks, but details.

-

Karasuma looked over. "What are you doing?"

Nao leaned over the windowsill, typing away at his phone. "Texting the board chairman."

Karasuma gave him a look. Nao glanced back in a way that challenged him to say something incredulous about it again-- but Karasuma wisely turned away.

"Tone it down around the students," was his only warning.

Nao took a moment to register that, but he swirled around, and his face scrunched up unpleasantly, "what was that supposed to mean?"

Karasuma didn't elaborate.

Anyways.

"Are you sure you don't wanna interfere with that?" Nao said, "our students are kinda flying over there, y'know."

Karasuma blinked. Then, "what?"

Unlike Nao who had been sitting here in feigned calmness for the past hour, Karasuma had only just arrived. He'd been busy with government work until now, so all he knew of the moment was that the kids were at the pool again.

Nao showed him the picture of Itona and Korosensei's battle. He'd snapped a picture of it and came right back, not wanting any part in the madness.

Karasuma promptly burst a vein, "what is going on?!"

Nao hummed amusedly, scrolling through the rest of his pictures, "that's cool. The Board Chairman kinda asked me the same thing."

"Why are you so calm?!"

"Stress isn't good for my heart."

Karasuma cursed, picking up his gun and knife before rushing out. "I'm heading over! You stay here and--" he swore again, stopping at the door to snap at the other teacher, "agh! Just stay there!"

Nao waved at him nonchalantly, "okay, have fun."

Maybe he should steal some snacks from Korosensei's stash while he waits.

-

Later that day, Nao opened a pack of pocky under the tree.

"Want one?" he asked.

Terasaka spotted him and clicked his tongue. "Well. At least you're not on the tree this time..."

Nao pouted, "I'm never gonna live that down, am I?"

Instead of walking away however, he sat down beside Nao with an annoyed look, taking the pocky from the teacher's hands and munching angrily on it. He was still drenched and covered in mud from all their splashing around, but that didn't matter now.

"So, Terasaka-kun, you look like you're in a great mood," Nao teased.

Terasaka snatched the entire box of pocky, ignoring the protesting whine from Nao. 

"Shut up!" he snapped, and the teacher pouted. "Absolutely nothing has been going right for me this past damn year! Ah fuck. This entire school ain't right, my life's gone to shit since first year!"

Nao hummed, "oh really?" he asked, promptingly.

"Yeah," Terasaka grunted. Throwing his free arm exasperatedly into the air, he began to rant. "To begin with, it's all the fault of this school's ridiculous class system! Back in the main campus there was this absolute dick--"

He began to go on a tangent, complaining about every and anything he could possibly think of. Nao let him go on, humming in acknowledgement at some points and responding in others.

The pocky lay finished between them, but that didn't stop the conversation at all. Terasaka ranted on and on until the sun set, but Nao honestly didn't mind.

Everyone needed a way to unwind after a stressful situation. 

Listening to other people's problems just happened to be Nao's.