"Good evening, class!" the male enthusiastically chirped as he opened the door for the students to come into their supposed classroom. His handsome visage was painted with a broad grin that showed his pearly white teeth off as he gave each student a closed-eyes smile.

3-E warily looked at the cheerful blond male as they walked into the room. They didn't know what to make of his— noticeable entry just before their lunch break and in the middle of their P.E. class. They sized him up, trying to see what he was getting at. The blond with a pair of black-rimmed glasses now perched on his nose didn't seem bothered by their apparent scrutiny, merely grinning in return.

They noted that attached to his black leather belt was a holster with an anti-gun and that right next to the holster were two small rectangular shaped boxes, probably recharges. The blond donned a grey two-piece suit with silver linings. Underneath his blazer was a simple white dress-shirt, neatly buttoned up, and a royal blue scarf tied around his collar. There were no wrinkles on his shirt, surprisingly, and he overall seemed pretty clean and tidy.

Not that they could rely on his external appearance.

Koro watched 3-E progressively flood the classroom and taking their seats before closing the door. He gave Karasuma, who stood by his desk, a carefree smile and walked up to the raven head in the middle of the stage to overlook the classroom better. His gloveless hand grabbed a white chalk from the rugged wooden surface of his desk, and he began to spell out his name in cursive on the blackboard.

Sorrel Aarden

The students tilted their head slightly, having expected the new addition to be a foreigner already. Their eyes mostly flicked from the blond to their P.E. teacher until the said new recruit broke the silence.

"Bonjour!" he greeted once again with a tilt of his head. "I am professor Sorrel Aarden, a pleasure to meet you. I will be in charge of some of your history and geography classes. Let's spend a fulfilling year together, shall we?" he told them, tone still as hyper and enthusiastic as before. As if he genuinely couldn't wait to teach them. As if teaching was his calling and he hadn't been trying to kill their homeroom teacher a few hours prior.

Without surprise, the class's reaction was lukewarm. They didn't trust this Aarden's words, not before Bitch-sensei came in, but especially not now that she actually came.

Karasuma cleared his throat, his brows twitching in what the class guessed was annoyance before he came up to the center of the stage to take over the blond's introduction speech.

"Professor Aarden," he said as if to tell the blond to step aside. He controlled his voice so it wouldn't sound too rude and slid his eyes to look at the classroom. He could read the confusion in his students' eyes, they demanded answers, and he obviously was the only one able to provide them at the moment.

"As he introduced before, Professor Aarden here will be in charge of part of the history and geography teaching until the end of the year. That's all—"

"Isn't he a hitman as well?" Nakamura cut, somehow already expecting the raven head to leave them with this measly, useless information before taking his leaves.

Karasuma scowled, making the blond girl snicker and innocently smile at their teacher. The governmental official rubbed his sinuses, exasperated as always when he found himself dealing with the class. Although he had nothing against them, he couldn't deny that they knew how to get on his nerves sometimes. He sighed.

"Professor Aarden—"

"Actually!" the blond teacher cut, unmoved by Karasuma's annoyance as he wore his hyper and carefree skin without trouble. "I'm an assassin delegated by the mafia!" he clarified, the grin not falling nor twitching as the class visibly tensed at the mention of the mafia. Although they also seemed weirdly interested, as appalled as they could be.

"Oh! Like the Yakuza?" Fuwa asked, excitedly raising her hand as she leaned forward. Her eyes glinted with wonder like a child in front of a toy shop.

Koro chuckled. It did not surprise him to see the short-haired girl so eager. After all, Yuzuki Fuwa was the kind that loved stories and mysteries. Who never fantasized about the mafia or, in this case, the Yakuza once?

"Ah, no. I am affiliated with an Italian mafia," Koro corrected, the beam not fading. "A Famiglia if you'd prefer," he elaborated. "I am part of one of their assassination units and specialize in mass elimination," he continued, his voice never losing its mild quality as he explained bits of his job.

The mood in the classroom dropped at once, Fuwa's enthusiasm dwindled, and she fell back on her seat. A heavy silence descended as the blond's words slowly sank into them— mass elimination.

Karasuma's expression turned more severe. His eyes glared at the blond who seemed to cower under his gaze before looking at the wary class. "Like Irina, Professor Aarden will not teach all of your history and geography classes, but his outlook on them will surely be different from what you could find in history books, so try to make the most out of it," he said, attempting to divert the teens' attention.

He saw the students more or less nod, some fright still hiding in their eyes as they stole glances at the now petulant blond by his side. It seemed like the hitman was pouting because of his glare. Yet, 3-E couldn't bring themself to relax, already too disturbed by the man's occupation. They knew he was an assassin, that his job involved killing like Bitch-sensei's, but hearing that the man basically did mass genocide daily didn't do much to settle them.

Karasuma gave the class a worried look, probably because of their state of mind, before looking at the blond. "I'll have to leave now. There are other matters that I must attend," he told them as he walked to the door. He opened it, walked out, and did not close it behind him, leaving the students and their new teacher behind.

Koro clapped his hands, breaking the tension and bringing the attention back to his genial face. "Soo," he drawled, his sparkling green eyes going over the class as he slightly narrowed them, an invisible light of fondness shining in them. "Since today is my first day, I was thinking about getting to know each other?" he rhetorically stated with an exaggerated tilt of his head. "We could write an essay introducing ourselves, and you could talk about your favorite time period or place, or figure, or event, or—"

"How about we just ask you some questions, Aarden-sensei?" the passive voice of Karma interrupted. The redhead leaned into his seat, his chair balancing back and forth with his weight as he narrowed his mercury-colored eyes at the man. "I mean, an essay's pretty boring, ya know?"

The blond blinked, his green eyes wide with realization as a blush seemed to overcome him, coating his face in crimson color. "Oh!" he gasped, bringing his hands to cover his cheeks and hide his mouth, embarrassed. "I am so sorry! I didn't think that you guys didn't like essays!" he exclaimed, his eyes sweeping over the students as if ashamed of his claim.

To say 3-E was put off would be an understatement.

"It's okay," Karma said, watching as the light came to their teacher's eyes. "We forgive you," he magnanimously added, a large smirk overtaking his lips as his mercury-colored eyes twinkled with mischief and curiosity. There was a guarded edge to his gaze, but he hid it well for a student.

As quickly as the blush came to the blond's cheeks, it faded. He breathed a relieved sigh, his broad grin back on his face. "Then, what would you like to know?" he chirped, back to his carefree mood— as if nothing previously happened.

There was a moment of silence, uncertainty dawning on the class as they wondered what to say.

"Uhm," a timid hand raised itself, bringing attention to the bluehead who was its owner. "Have you been to Japan before? Your Japanese is really good," he asked, trying to remember where he saw the man before as he discreetly sized him up.

Their teacher grinned. "Yes! I have family in Japan! In fact, I spent a lot of time here last year!" he told them. It seemed like he didn't care for divulging information on himself as he answered Nagisa's question with no hesitation.

"Sensei~" Nakamura drawled from her desk. She swung her legs underneath it as she lazily leaned atop of it, her head resting on her crossed arms. "Are you from France? You spoke French just now," she reminded.

"Why yes! Sorrel Aarden is indeed from France," he answered. The class raised an eyebrow at how he spoke of himself in the third person but didn't comment on it. The man was already classified as a weirdo. "I also have to go to France for work from time to time, and speaking a multitude of languages is a prerequisite where I work," he elaborated, adding information nobody asked for.

The Q&A session lasted until the end of the class, making the male's dramatic entrance almost anti-climatic, but no one complained about it. Although 3-E was now a bit more relaxed around their new teacher, they couldn't help but still feel warry of him. They did not know the extent of the blond's capacity. There was no revealed complicity or connection created either.

The blond teacher packed his briefcase. There wasn't much to pack as he didn't take a lot out before he grinned at the class and bade them farewell. "Oh yes, you have the student assembly on Friday, don't you?" he rhetorically asked, earning a few nods here and there.

The mention of the student assembly dampened the mood in the class. It occurred every month, usually by its end, and it was synonymous with a public exhibition for 3-E. The conference master jeering at them was a common occurrence, as were the student body's remarks.

Karma sighed. "Guess I'll have to skip Friday," he said with a shrug, not very disappointed.

"I suppose I'll see you all on Monday then!" Koro chirped before making his escape. "Oh right! If you meet Ran, be nice, okay?" he told them, and then he was gone.

There were a few raised eyebrows at the mention of this 'Ran,' they didn't know if it was a girl, a boy, or even a dog— probably a student, though. They didn't understand why the blond asked them to play nice with this person when obviously, they'd be the ones discriminated against, but they didn't utter anything. Their new history teacher already too far to even hear them.

"My instincts are tingling!" Fuwa declared as she stood from her seat, hands to her waist and a determined look on her face. "Aarden-sensei lied to us!" she confidently stated, nose raised high as her eyes narrowed in quest of answer and adventure.

Sugino, who sat next to her, gave an amused smile. "I mean, what were you expecting, Fuwa?" he asked her as he began to play with one of his baseballs. "The moment Aarden-sensei said his name wasn't his, it pretty much gave it away," he drawled, his lips tugging into a wry expression as he sighed, lightly shrugging his shoulders.

"I think, Karasuma-sensei might know more," she told her deskmate in a hushed tone.

Kayano, sitting in front of the black-haired girl, laughed. "Do you plan on sneaking into the teacher lounge, Fuwa?" she questioned, a lilt to her voice as amusement and curiosity danced in her eyes. "I don't think it's gonna be easy," she stated, still chuckling at the notion.

Fuwa pursed her lips, pouting at her classmates' lack of enthusiasm. "Aww, come on, Hara, you understand me, right?" she pleaded, turning around to look at the girl sat behind her as she dove right into the said girl's arms.

Hara merely laughed, patting the girl's head before pulling a metallic box with homemade cookies in it. "Have some, Fuwa," she told her, gently opening the lid that hid the chocolate-chipped treats.

"Aww, no jelly rolls?" Fuwa whispered as she accepted the cookies and began to nip at them like a hamster.

Hara shook her head, proposing some cookies to her surrounding classmates before taking one for herself and putting the box away. "Not today, no," she denied, referring to her signature jelly rolls— also her personal favorite.

Kayano laughed before heaving a sigh. "The only thing I'm looking forward to is the class trip after the assembly," she muttered with a pout before pursing her lips even more and slumping on her desk. "But then we'll have midterms!" she whined.

"That's like a month away, Kayano, chill~" Sugino reminded, trying to ease the girl's tension. "We still have time, plus, it's not like we could go any lower," he laughed.

No one pointed it out, but it was a bitter laugh that each one of them shared.

Σ(ノ°▽°)ノ

Not me looking at the classroom layout on the wiki thinking that everyone must surely know their exact seat number—