"—For this reason, most of the ruthless image belonging to Vongola is shouldered by the Varia, their Elite Assassination Unit," Koro explained as he sat atop of his desk, right leg crossed over the other and green eyes surveying the classroom.

"Sensei, aren't you part of this entity as well?" Kayano asked with a raised hand, her cat ear-styled pigtails bobbing with the tilt of her head.

Koro grinned. It wasn't the artificial and cheery grin he'd give them when he first arrived. It was an almost genuine smile paired with indulgent eyes. "Yes, the Varia itself is divided into seven units. I am part of one of them," he explained.

Ritsu's screen glitched as information streamed through her eyes before suddenly halting. Koro did not doubt that the A.I. just managed to delve a bit deeper into his record— the one passed around by information dealers, and found out his position. As if to confirm his thoughts, light blue eyes widened, looking at him with newfound curiosity and guard.

"Nyurufufu," Koro laughed under his breath, making it impossible for his students to hear him as he covered the lower part of his face. "Anyway, that's all for today's lesson," he called out, clapping his hand to announce the end of it. "Since we still have some time left, don't hesitate to ask questions!"

A moment of silence before some hands shot up. After Koro's "reveal" on Monday, 3-E had yet to broach the subject of their blond teacher's identity. For some reason, they thought the male was more approachable and had more chances of answering their questions without evading them or giving elusive answers.

Koro's eyes swept the class. "Yes, Nakamura?" ever since Koro dropped his cheery act, the '-kun' at the end of his students' names dropped.

The blond lowered her hand before grinning, a mischievous glint in her eyes. She felt much more comfortable around this version of their teacher, having her guard drop without noticing. "Is this how you really look? I mean, cuz Sorrel Aarden is basically a fake identity, sooo?"

Koro chuckled. "No, I actually dyed my hair, and those are contacts," he divulgated. "Very basic makeover, but it does the trick well enough, fufu~" the blond admitted as he pulled on a strand of his hair. Koro was no Mist user. He also wasn't willing to peel off his skin to better his disguises so this would have to do.

Of course, he could always use Mist pills to compensate, but he wasn't willing to overdose on them or become too dependent. Sun pills were already enough of a weakness.

Nagisa perked up, so it really wasn't his actual appearance. His eyes went to his notebook, carefully recording the fact and analyzing the fake blond's personality.

"How did you become a hitman, Sensei?" Fuwa excitedly asked; a notebook pulled out as she readied herself to take notes. "We already know Bitch-sensei's story. You have to tell us!" she encouraged, eager light shining in her eyes.

"Uhm," Koro mused to himself, pointer finger to his chin as he lightly tilted his head in thoughts. "It was the easiest way to make money, I guess?" he stated, unsure of his reasoning as he began to narrow his eyes. How did Yucca become an assassin? He pondered, trying to remember the information. "One of my family members introduced me to the Underworld. Since I dropped out after middle school, I didn't have much of an education, so hitman was the easiest path," he explained, piecing his body's past together. "Well, I did continue my studies by getting tutoring at some points, and I'd follow my college courses online as I was already too deep in to get out— there weren't any other ways to make money at this point, and there were a few people holding grudges," he almost listed, still deep in thoughts.

This was the situation Yucca was in when Koro arrived in his body. The man was an average assassin, one that collected some grudge, and because he wasn't strong enough to fend for himself, he'd fallen to them.

Koro paused, his eyes staring into nothing for a slipt second before he flashed the class a grin. "Afterwards, I decided to become stronger and be part of the predators of the Underworld," he continued, his tone lighter and more assured. This was what he'd done upon arrival: building a fearsome reputation. "The advantage of being strong is not only the high paying commission, but it's also the fear you incite in others. It acts as a defense mechanism. Yes, people coming after you are significantly deadlier, but there are not as many deadly hitmen as you might think."

3-E did not know if he was boasting.

"Then I began to work for the Varia, after they noticed my skills," or kill list, but skill sounded more kid-friendly. "After a period of trial—" wherein the Varia tried to assassinate him as he was an obvious mole, "I became an official member," he smiled.

Koro silently omitted that by "official member," he meant betraying his client, Vongola Nono, to help Varia in their attempt at a coup. Fun times, fun times~

Fuwa nodded, her pen flying across her notebook as she wrote every piece of information down. She doubted that the fake blond gave her the whole truth, but it was enough to satiate her curiosity and need for drama. It sounded almost straight out of a shonen manga, the situation they were in. She had to make the most of it.

Koro answered some more questions about the functioning of a Mafia or his experience as an assassin. His green eyes flicked to his wristwatch, noticing that there wasn't much time left before he looked at the redhead in the back.

Slouched over his chair, a hand lazily raised, Karma looked at the man as he waited for his turn.

"Yes, Karma?"

"Ne, Sensei," the male drawled in his usual careless tone. "What was that pill you fed me during our first torture class?" he quizzed, mercury-colored eyes narrowing as if to see through him. On the row right in front of him, to his right, he saw how the silent Okuda suddenly perked up, which made him raised a contemplative eyebrow, but he shrugged it off, more interested in the man's answer.

"Oh, yes!" Koro exclaimed, bending to pick his wallet before pulling a white tablet of multicolored pills. "Those are special medication. The yellow pill basically stimulates your cells and immune system, provoking a boost in your healing properties," Koro lectured. He saw the look of interest in some of his students' eyes because let's say it, they all noticed how fast the bruises on Karma and Okajima faded after they ate the medicine. "I wouldn't recommend taking them unsupervised or in important quantity. As efficient as they are, they are also extremely dangerous," Koro reminded as if reading their mind and hearing the voice telling them to steal a few for the heck of it.

Karma hummed, eyes thinning as he reclined in his seat.

He did not miss how the blond said "yellow pills," omitting the other colors in his explanation. He felt like there was more to it than meet eyes and told himself that he might sneak a few pills from the teacher if he had time and remembered.

'Don't eat them unsupervised,' if it was one at a time with gaps between each, it should be okay, no? The man did feed him one, and he hadn't died.

::

Less than a week after Koro's return to Tokyo, Kunugigaoka Junior High hosted their yearly sports tournament on the following Saturday.

It was an exciting event, where males faced off in stimulating baseball matches and females in thrilling basketball plays! Or so Kunugigaoka painted the event. It was all fun and game to the main building, with 3-A coming out on top, of course.

For 3-E, it was akin to public execution, again. They would be up against the baseball club and basketball club, and each year was a more crushing defeat than the previous one.

Although this year would be different, 3-E wasn't going to come with a defeated mindset. They were coming as challengers, ready to show their fangs and usurp the baseball club's throne. It wasn't because they wished to overthrow the system. Merely they felt they had an honor to defend now and wouldn't accept being looked down upon without fighting back anymore.

Leaning over the fence, his arms crossed and purple eyes silently narrowed, Koro observed the ongoing game— or the end of it. Today, he wasn't wearing his contact lenses, being off-duty, and sported something similar to his usual Varia attire instead. Given the color of his hair, a light blond, almost white shade, and the air he exuded, it was hard to link his cover and identity without prior notice.

Add to that the Mist pill that he took in the morning, now only people notified and flame users could recognize him.

Byakuran stood next to his brother's. A distasteful frown etched on his face. The more he stared at 3-E, the more annoyed he got. His dislike came from his first impression of the class and his growing bias against them— a consequence of his brother's prolonged interest in the teenagers.

Take today's event as an example. Not only did his brother ditch him right after the end of his game, but he did it to go and cheer for some girls playing basketball? He ditched him for his students.

Byakuran grounded his teeth together. Seeing as the gap between 3-E and the baseball club got smaller, he couldn't help his purple eyes from gaining a foreign tint. Damn, why was the baseball club so lousy? Couldn't they win already?

"Mmm? You okay there, Ran-chan?" Koro's voice snapped the younger out of his thoughts as he felt a hand come to ruffle his white locks of hair. "Don't bite your nails," the older sermoned, his tone dotting and smile fond as he took Byakuran's hand away from his mouth.

Byakuran blinked, his clouded expression turning sunny in a split second as he flashed his brother a grin. "Tehe~ Sorry, sorry, Yucca-nii!" he endearingly apologized, leaning his back against his brother's torso and pushing him off the fence.

Koro chuckled, bringing Byakuran's now chipped nail between his gloved hands as he gently infused Cloud flames. The propagation property of the purple flame allowed the cells to multiply quickly and, per extension, provoked Byakuran's nails' growth. In less than a second, the teen's hand was back to its previous state.

"Is something troubling you, Ran-chan? Are you feeling sick? Do you want to go inside?" he shot, worry bubbling in the pit of his stomach.

Byakuran chuckled, reveling in being his brother's sole focus. "I wanna go home~" he whined, tone spoiled as he pursed his lips into a pout. His purple eyes were upturned, and as if to add some effect to his first-class puppy eyes, Byakuran created the illusion of both tail and ears with the Mist flames he previously summoned.

The way his brother minutely hesitated did not go past the former Don.

"Pretty please? With a cherry on top?" he added, his voice begging as he batted his eyelashes at the older male.

Koro wanted to stay to watch his students' game. It was an important event to them. This game was their first real step in changing people's view of 3-E.

Byakuran's eyes darkened. He flitted his gaze to the baseball ground, noticing that Shindo, the club's ace was up at the bat. The only problem was how close two 3-E students' were to him. It made the male restless and brought his abilities down because of fear.

He silently clicked his tongue. With an eye on his brother to check that he wasn't looking, Byakuran began to summon some more Mist flames. "Yucca-nii-chan?" he called, momentarily taking his brother's focus from the field— this moment was all it took for him to change Shindo's perception. With a twitch of his fingers, the baseball player did not see the 3-E students so close to him. It felt like he had more than enough space to swing his bat to his heart content. "Are we going?" he whined, tugging at his brother's sleeve with his free hand.

" As expected of Shindo, the baseball club's rising star! " the MC screeched through the microphone as a wave of deafening cheers rose through the stadium. " Even with 3-E's cowardly schemes, he scores a perfect homerun! With his formidable play and game instinct, Shindo secures yet another victory for the baseball club! "

Koro's eyes snapped to the baseball field, eyes wide in disbelief before zeroing on Shindo, who stood in mild disbelief before sprinting around the bases.

It wasn't supposed to end with a homerun.

Something was wrong. Shindo should have been too scared, his brain disoriented by Karma's provocation and the fear of breaking Karma or Isogai's skulls. Something changed, but what, the game was going according to what he recalled—

"Ah! The baseball club won!" Byakuran cheered from next to him, a bright grin on his face. "Does it mean we can go home now?" he chirped with a tilt of his head.

His purple eyes snapped to look at his brother.

"Ran," he called, the endearing '-chan' dropping without him noticing. "Did you do something?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

Byakuran pursed his lips, a frown marring his face. "I just helped them finish the game quickly," he mumbled poutily. There was no remorse on his face, not that it surprised Koro.

"Ran," he began, bringing his gloved fingers to rub at his temples as he exhaled an admonishing sigh. It sent Byakuran's system haywire, making the whitehead almost bare his teeth as a violent shade of orange danced through his eyes. Byakuran did not like the tone his brother was using, nor did he like his brother dropping the '-chan.'

"You can't just meddle into the game because you wanted to go home," he sermoned, restraining his temper as he observed his brother's hands grip into tight fists. "Do you realize how important this game was for my students—"

Something in Byakuran seemed to snap.

My students. My students! My students!

"Who cares about them!" he harshly whispered back, loud enough for Koro to hear and stop in his track. "It's not like one game would change their life! There's a reason why they stand at the bottom. I don't understand why you're so invested in them when they obviously have no chance of getting out of their situation!" he began to argue, his voice rising with every statement as his bottled frustration erupted.

"Watch your words, Byakuran!"

The teen bit his next words, snarling before scoffing. "Hah! And you'd chose them over me!" he taunted, an expression of incredulity painting his face.

Undoubtedly because of the volume of their conversation, despite the Mist that misdirected people's focus, the duo began to gain attention from the nearby people: namely, the despondent 3-E that just exited the fields and some passing by students.

Koro scrunched his nose at those words, a look of minute hurt going over his face. It was gone much too quickly for anyone to see it. "This is not what I meant, and you know it," he rectified, trying to placate the younger and calm his anger.

"Of course," Byakuran scoffed, rolling his purple eyes before allowing a malicious smirk to dawn on his lips. A smirk that Koro saw all too often in his visions of the Future. "I find it hard to believe, Ko-ro-chan," he drawled, his emotion overwhelming his better judgment as he articulated each syllable of the name.

Koro's face paled, his lips tugging down in a grimace.

Byakuran observed his brother's silence. He sneered before turning on his heels. "I'll be going ahead," he stated before walking away. Passing by the bewildered and confused 3-E, he flashed them a smile, leaking and dripping with fakeness and malevolent intent.

Koro sighed. He brought a hand to his face, controlled his breathing, and allowed his emotion to get back in place. Gracing the spectating teens and teachers with a smile, he nodded. "Good game out there," he praised.

They could only wryly smile in answer.

Only the most attentive noted how the younger called the fake blond and the reaction it provoked.

Σ(ノ°▽°)ノ

They weren't supposed to argue this early in the game but— oh well!