Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Nurufufufufu! Good morning and happy Monday, class!”

“Good morning, Koro Sensei,” we replied. It was a nice day outside, and some of us (Terasaka’s gang) were obviously not listening to a word he said. Hazama had her nose in a book as usual, Terasaka was talking to Muramatsu about something or other, and Yoshida was staring out the window. They weren’t the only ones, though. I could also see Sugaya doodling, and Karma had skipped class yet again. Only Isogai and Kataoka, our class representatives, were truly paying attention. I felt myself losing interest as well, but when Koro Sensei announced the lesson, we all snapped to attention.

“Class, you are in your last year of junior high, and sooner or later you will be leaving your family’s home. To prepare you for this, our next project will focus on living independently. You will split up into groups that I will assign, and, with parental consent, live by yourselves for the next two weeks. Nurufufufufu!” Koro Sensei’s face was its typical bright yellow as he watched us process the news, and our reactions did not disappoint.

“By ourselves?!” Yada exclaimed. “Shouldn’t we have supervision?” I agreed with her. Karma, unsupervised, with our classmates 24-7? If you asked me, it sounded like a recipe for disaster.

“D-do we have any say in our groups?” Okuda asked, probably scared of ending up with Nakamura, Hayami, or Hazama.

“I’ll make the groups, but you can request people in these forms you’ll be filling out,” answered our tentacled teacher. “And, Yada, I trust you all. There’ll be ways to get in touch instantly, if you really need help.”

“Oh, okay,” replied Yada. Okuda nodded, still looking nervous.

Okajima raised his hand. “Can boys be in groups with girls?” Kataoka looked disgusted at the question, while Hayami pulled two pistols from her desk and glared at the class pervert.

“Hayami, guns away please. There will be three people in a group, separated by gender.” Still glaring, Hayami put the pistols back unhappily.

“Since I’m not technically living, I won’t be joining you in this project,” our resident purple-haired AI added. “But Mobile Ritsu will still be available!”

We nodded, then sat back as Koro Sensei explained the full project to us. We would first fill out forms to determine our groups, then go on a short trip to our temporary apartments. Our groups would be announced on Wednesday, and we would move in a week. Every day, we’d write a short report, and there would be an essay due at end of two weeks. It was definitely an interesting assignment, but I guess that’s what happens in an interesting class like ours.

Chapter Text

“So, now what?” Hayami was generally not the first to speak up, but the silence between her and Hazama was getting awkward- even her two gray cats couldn’t provide enough distraction. Kurahashi, the only talker in their group, had run off to find a place where her frog and button quail could enjoy their temporary home. She was followed by a sweet orange kitten that looked like the cat-bus from My Neighbor Totoro, and a small cage holding a hamster was sitting on the counter next to Hazama’s tarantula.

“We unpack, I guess,” replied Hazama, with the same level of enthusiasm, “though I may just read for awhile. Maybe I should curse Koro Sensei.” Hayami nodded in agreement as Kurahashi returned, smiling happily.

“Follow me!” she said. “I found something great!” She led the other two girls to the smallest of the apartment’s three bedrooms, then jumped to grab at the metal ring hanging from the ceiling. “I got it last time…” she groaned after missing it by an inch. Hayami, being the tallest of the three, leapt up and caught it easily. The ring turned out to be attached to a trapdoor, and they could all see the bright blue sky above their heads. Kurahashi was the first up the ladder that tumbled down; the others weren’t as quick.

Hazama poked her head up and was amazed at what she saw. “Roof access,” she commented. “Not bad, Kurahashi.”

“It’s nice, isn’t it?” Kurahashi replied. “I like having some kind of outdoor space close by. Oh, and you don’t need to be so formal, since we’re going to live together for a few weeks. You can call me Hinano. Or Hina!”

Hayami looked up from the cans she was aiming at. “Okay. You can call me Rinka, if you want.” She returned to shooting, knocking both cans onto the ground with one bullet.

Hazama wasn’t sure how she felt about being on a first-name basis. She wouldn’t mind calling the others Hinano (or Hina) and Rinka, but she didn’t like the idea of being ‘sparkly’ for two weeks. “Call me Kirara and I’ll curse you,” she said.

“Mhm,” replied Rinka. Hinano gave Hazama a thumbs-up.

“Let’s go back down,” Hinano said after a while. “Koro Sensei said we should be settled in by tomorrow, and we still have to write the reports.” The girls climbed back down the ladder, and Rinka pushed the trapdoor into place. The rest of the afternoon was spent deciding who got the room with roof access (Hinano), where they should put all of Hazama’s books (in her and Rinka’s unused closet space), and who would make dinner each night (they’d take turns). Hazama then retreated to her room to read, while Rinka and Hinano checked if their cats would get along.

They did, and the two girls spent the better part of an hour watching their adorable antics. Hinano had never seen this side of her usually quiet classmate: the side of her that squealed -yes, squealed- as the three felines jumped around the tiny living room. Rinka seemed genuinely happy; the polar opposite of her stoic, professional, personality she showed at school. The owners of the furballs soon learned that watching cats is an easy way to lose track of time, and were shocked when they discovered 45 minutes had passed.

“Hey, Rinka, what are your cats’ names?” It was Hinano’s turn to cook tonight. Rinka was still in the living room with the cats, but the apartment was so small they could easily talk.

“This is Kiki, and the other one’s Lala. I named them after the Little Twin Stars. What about yours?”

“Her name is… well, it’s a little weird, but no joke, her name is Kirara.” Hinano giggled as Rinka’s eyes widened in shock. “She actually fits the name, though. Look at her!”

The sniper began to laugh as well. “Kirara, huh? How are you going to tell Hazama?” Rinka did agree, though, that the little kitten fit her sparkly name. She was sweet, friendly, and energetic, not unlike her owner.

After dinner, the three girls headed up to the roof again. Hinano and Hazama brought all their pets, but Kiki and Lala were inside cats. Hazama’s tarantula was squealed over by the bug lover, and Kirara spent most of her time in Rinka’s lap. Rinka had brought her pistol up to continue shooting, though Hinano’s frog Kero took a liking to it and enjoyed a twenty-minute nap on the trigger. The only danger came when Donut the inquisitive hamster accidently turned the pistol’s safety off. Hinano pulled the gun away in time, but it was a close call.

“Hey, Hina,” Hazama looked up from her tarantula-covered book at the animal enthusiast. “What did you say your cat’s name was?” The usually gloomy girl could not figure out why that simple question made the others laugh so hard.

“You’ll find out,” laughed Hinano. Rinka said nothing, but continued to chuckle. Later that night, Hazama found a drawing of a cat on her pillow. The picture had an interesting border- were those sparkles?

Chapter Text

  The apartment was far too small. Terasaka didn’t think he could live in this cramped unit for two weeks, not with that dang Sugino glaring daggers at him every few minutes. Nagisa was being nice, but that’s just him being Mr Blueberry Cinnamon Roll as usual. Sugino could stand to learn a few lessons from this guy.

     Nagisa was okay. Sure, Terasaka felt bad for the suicide bombing mission. He wasn’t heartless! But Nagisa was fine. He lived. Besides, that was at the start of the year, and Terasaka had come a long way. When was Sugino going to let things go?

     “Um, Terasaka?” Nagisa’s quiet voice snapped the bigger boy out of his inner rant. “Which bedroom do you want? There are only two, so I’m sharing with Sugino.” Sugino looked up at the sound of his name, then glared at Terasaka before returning his attention to the baseball game playing on the TV.

“God, not another death glare,” Terasaka muttered. “How much does this guy hate me, anyway?”

Nagisa overheard his quiet grumbles. “Well, on a scale from 1 to ‘you tried to blow up his best friend’…”

 Another wave of guilt hit the class delinquent. “Sorry ‘bout that,” he said.

“You almost killed him, and we found out about the molting. Plus, I’m fine. Sugino’s overreacting a bit.” Nagisa couldn’t help but feel bad for Terasaka. It was Nagisa’s choice to wear the grenade, a choice he had made. And he was okay- Koro Sensei had protected him. “So, about the rooms?”

   “Don’t care, you two take the big one. Well, the bigger one,” grunted Terasaka.

   Nagisa nodded, then picked up his suitcase and went off to investigate their new apartment. One of the rooms was obviously bigger than the other, so he put his bag on the floor and approached his friend.

   “Hey, Sugino, should we unpack now? Koro Sensei said we should be mostly settled in by tomorrow.”

    Sugino stood up and stretched. “Yeah, okay.” He grabbed his own bag before following Nagisa to the room.

 “Dang, it’s pretty small.” Sugino hadn’t been expecting a large bedroom, but this was tiny. While it would be alright for one person, two would be a squeeze.

  Next to him, Nagisa nodded. “It looked a lot bigger when I was inside alone. Terasaka’s is smaller, if that’s even possible.”

   “Don’t care. He can sleep in a rabbit hole, it’s all the same to me.” The usually friendly Sugino’s reply was abrupt and cold, causing the blue-haired boy to sigh.

    “Sugi… At least try to get along. We have to live with each other for two weeks, so no death threats, okay?”

      It was the baseball lover’s turn to sigh now. “He almost killed you! How are you so okay with that?”

     “Focus on the almost. Do I look killed to you? I’m okay, really.”

      “Fine…”

Meanwhile, Terasaka was still standing in the kitchen, eating chips and listening to every word the smaller boys said. He wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, but he had no choice. Sugino and Nagisa’s conversation would probably still be audible if he turned the TV on. He was just about to go to his room when his phone buzzed with a text from Hazama.

            THE DARKNESS: who am i throwing off this roof

            moron: wtf hazama

            THE DARKNESS: oh look, a volunteer

            Octoboy: nice knowing you. wait it wasn’t

            moron: rudr

            moron: throw sugino  

    When no reply came, Terasaka shut his phone off and shoved it in his pocket. He grasped the handle of the suitcase next to him, dragging it to his new tiny bedroom. After ‘unpacking’ (putting the open suitcase in the closet), he made his way to the living room with the intent to watch TV.

     As it turned out, Sugino and Nagisa had the same idea. All three boys stepped into the hallway at the same time and made their way towards the couch. Nagisa purposely positioned himself between Terasaka and Sugino, but that didn’t stop any discomfort between the two. They ended up choosing an older Sonic Ninja movie that was pretty interesting, and watched it until the end.

    “Hey, what are we eating for dinner?” It took effort, but Sugino kept his tone civil and maintained a neutral facial expression. “I’m not a great cook, but Koro Sensei might not approve of us eating takeout too often.”

    Terasaka grinned, and not just because Sugino was being nice. This was a problem he could easily solve. “I’ll cook. Muramatsu prepared for this.” He went to the freezer and took out some frozen katsu cutlets and sauce.

    “Need help?” asked Nagisa.

    “Sure, thanks.” Sugino also stood up and entered the kitchen. The three boys found a pot, which they filled with oil. Once it was bubbling, they added the cutlets while the sauce was microwaved. Thanks to Terasaka remembering to start the rice cooker earlier, the meal was finished in minutes.

   Sugino brought three bowls to the table. He reminded himself to thank Muramatsu for this later. Even though he couldn’t make ramen, according to Itona, the mini sauce katsu don looked and smelled fantastic. Though he couldn’t guarantee anything, he’d try to be nice to Terasaka these two weeks. Who knows, maybe he was okay…ish.