When Monday came, and Koro went back to 3-E's building, driving his blue car to the bottom of the hill by his lonesome, he didn't expect to be greeted by Karasuma's prominent glare upon entering the teacher lounge.

The way the raven-haired male glared into the back of his head, his pitch-black eyes digging into his skull, made the fake blond feel slightly offended. Like— he hadn't done anything apart from telling the students of his occupation on Wednesday, why was he receiving such a treatment?

The world was truly unfair. Koro felt like shedding an imaginary tear as he brought his leather briefcase on the chipped wooden table and opened it to take out some documents to review. Taking a seat at the edge of the table with the window to his right, he didn't forget his thermos with his freshly brewed americano. With a probing sip and a pen in hand, he silently went over the lesson material for today, trying his best to ignore Karasuma's gaze as he twirled the fountain pen between his fingers.

"Professor Aarden," Karasuma broke the silence, walking closer to the blond and pulling the chair on the other side of the table to take a seat. "There is something I would like to discuss with you," he called, not beating around the bush.

Koro lifted his pair of now-green eyes, the lenses of his spectacles slightly glinting under the artificial lighting as he hummed. His head gently tilted to the side, an oblivious look painted on his face, Koro gave the agent a welcoming smile, silently urging him to go on as his eyes flicked from his paper to the raven head. Half of his attention was on his work and the other half on the agent.

"Your younger cousin," the raven began, stressing the word in an almost seething and suspicious way. "Is he a threat to the operation?" he asked as if stating facts.

Koro blinked, his eyes leaving his paper to focus on Karasuma as he gently knitted his brows, lips pursed downwards. "Ran-chan? Please do not be rude, Agent Karasuma. Ran-chan wouldn't even hurt a fly," he denied offended, his voice raised by the end of his sentence as if he couldn't believe the question.

Koro cleverly ignored the fact that once, in a parallel dimension, he worked under his brother's orders and eliminated all of the Arcobanelos to secure a peaceful reign over the world. He also overlooked how Byakuran and himself killed off most of the Vongola and their allies in this same dimension, or how during the Arcobanelo Tournament, Byakuran was part of the main attack force— basically the most dangerous of Tsunayoshi's allies. Details, details.

Karasuma's scowl deepened at the blond's reaction. He was no fool. The mafia man in front of him was either blind or too dotting. "Your cousin," he stressed, "assaulted two students from the main building and would have attacked Nagisa if not for my intervention," he explained, watching as the blond's expression remained unchanged— simply outraged by the revolting statements it seemed.

Inside, Koro was perplexed. He did not remember Ran telling him about this incident at all. While he was thinking that he'd need to ask Ran for clarifications, Koro continued to deny the facts and claim that his brother wouldn't cause harm to the world even if it killed him.

Ha, what a joke.

The two males stared at one another in a tense silence before the door slid open, revealing Irina's inviting figure and her dubious expression. She gave them both a quizzical glance, raised eyebrow hovering her limpid, blue eyes before she shrugged them off and went to make herself a cup of tea.

Koro took this as his cue to stand up. He brought his documents back in his briefcase, eyes flicking to his wristwatch before flashing both teachers a grin. "Well, it was a pleasure talking with you, Agent Karasuma," he said, voice sounding bitter and hurt, as if the raven unjustly accused him seconds before. Karasuma's eyebrow twitched, he hummed. Koro's green eyes flickered to look at Irina before looking away not even a second later, a deep crimson blush dusting his cheeks as he coughed in his fist. "Miss Jelavich," he acknowledged, his voice squeaky and shy as he nodded her way— eyes still on the floor. Irina smiled, finding amusement in his reaction as she waved from her tea mug.

Koro's blush seemed to intensify. He did not dare to look at her for even a second longer before he scurried away, briefcase in hand, as he hurried to the classroom.

Getting closer to the class, Koro felt the bile in his throat finally settle as he swallowed it back. He refrained a disgusted look from overtaking his features, the taste being all too unpalatable, as he opened the door to the empty room. Cold sweat drenched his body from merely looking at the blond teacher, goosebumps littering his covered skin at the mere thought of her figure.

Yes, Koro's body was insanely revulsed by well-endowed women. The mere view of them made him sick in his stomach, disgust seemingly overwhelming his being as his body shivered in restrained fear. It was abnormal and significantly compromising for someone in his line of work. To this day, the only people aware of his situation were his brother and perhaps a few Varia members within the top echelons.

He inhaled and exhaled in silence, regulating the fast pace of his heart rate and calming the artificial blush that painted his cheeks. In less than a second, he was back to normal. He'd play his inability to look at the blond as Irina being his type. Not that she wasn't, only his body did not comply.

The bell rang, a shrilling cry going around the prefabricated and the outside grounds to announce that there were five minutes left before the beginning of the class. Koro saw some students slowly flooding into the class. He flashed them a welcoming and excited grin, the same one he previously gave them on Wednesday and began to unpack the study material for today's lesson.

::

"Assassination," Koro began as he wrote the term down on the blackboard, white chalk in hand. His writing, a beautiful cursive, did not lose its allure from the gorry words that slowly filled up the board. In fact, it seemed to suck the students in. That was another way for assassins to proceed, beauty was a deadly trap, as Irina previously demonstrated, and caligraphy was just another form of beauty.

Koro twirled to look at the class, a bright grin painting his visage as he continued. "Today's lesson will focus on the history of assassination!" he told them in a sing-song voice, his green eyes sparkling with glee and excitement at the prospect of such a lesson.

The class seemed perplexed and put off by the subject, primarily by how delighted their teacher appeared to be at the thought of introducing it. They did not comment on it, though, both intrigued by the subject and unsurprised by the development. Their teacher was a hitman.

"Assassination is, following the dictionary: murder by a sudden or secret attack, often for political reasons," Koro recited, his white chalk gliding over the board as he underlined the said definition. "It can also be defined as the 'treacherous destruction of a person's reputation,'" he finished before crossing the second sentence out and circling the first one. "In today's lesson, we will focus on its first meaning."

His green eyes surveyed the room. He noted that only very few students moved their pens to take notes and tilted his head. His bright grin morphed into a closed-eyes-smile. "You may take notes," he reminded, a sudden wave of controlled killing intent washing over the room and focusing on each teen that wasn't taking note of his words. "This will be on your exam."

With satisfaction, Koro observed as 3-E begrudgingly began to take notes. "As you may know, Assassination is one of the oldest tools of power struggles. It can also be the expression of certain psychopathic disorders—" he chuckled, remembering Belphegor, and the students shivered. "—Assassination is an ancestral practice that dates back to the earliest government and tribal structure in the world," he finished introducing, setting his chalk in the chalk box before leaning on his desk.

Koro leaned down to pick up a book from his briefcase. The calligraphy was nothing like what the students saw before. It was not Katakana, Hiragana, or Kanji, nor was it the Roman alphabet. In fact, it was Sanskrit. Koro cleared his throat, gently thumbing through his obviously old and tattered book as he searched for one specific page.

"Have any of you heard of 'the science of wealth,' by Chanakya?" he asked them with a lilt, placing a bookmark before looking up to stare at the class. Seeing as no one answered positively, as he expected, his grin broadened. "The science of wealth, otherwise called Arthashastra, is a book written by an Indian philosopher during the third century Before Common Era," he explained, turning to the board to write the book title, both original and translated, as well as the author's name. "Although it is believed that Arthashastra is the cumulated work of authors, let's leave it at Chanakya."

"The Arthashastra is divided into fifteen volumes and aims to raise Kings while guiding them on how to govern the country," he explained, his voice smooth and pleasant and never leaving its joyous undertone.

"Is it perhaps similar to Machiavelli's The Prince?" Kanzaki, the class' Yamato Nadeshiko, asked with a raised hand.

Koro grinned, bobbing his head as his blond locks moved back and forth. "Pertinent comparison, Kanzaki-kun," he agreed as he added the book's name and author to the board, next to the other book. "While it is true one would find some similarities between both pieces, Arthashastra advocates the need to empower the weak and poor of one's kingdom, something that is not taken into consideration throughout The Prince," he explained. Koro took a few more minutes to compare both treatises, stating that both were worth the read and fervently recommending them to the class before concluding on how the book was actually quite a realistic depiction of how to rule a state.

"If any of you plan on furthering their education in politics, reading this book would only be a bonus!" he chirped.

For some reason, while still guarded around the blond teacher, 3-E felt mixed feelings at the notion of higher education. With their situation, they did not believe they would be able to enter a renowned high school. As a matter of fact, some were thinking about perhaps dropping out once graduating from middle school. What fate was there for the End class anyway?

In this fashion, with 3-E left slightly baffled, Koro continued with his class. After giving them a broad overview of what the collection had to offer, he focused on the four volumes that dealt with war and precisely the one detailing assassination and its use. With passion, the students did not think one could invest in such a topic, Koro raved on and on.

The entirety of the class held the book Arthashastra as its foundation, and by the end of the class, Koro had given them some examples of applications that emanated from the said book.

"—It is probably due to this book and his teacher's influence that Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the Maurya Empire of India, made use of assassination against his political enemies," he explained, writing the late Emperor's name down. "Those would include two of Alexander the Great's generals: Nicanor and Philip," he finished before putting his chalk down.

Koro's green eyes swept over the class, noting the varying amount of notes each student took before he went back to his seat behind his desk. A seat he hadn't occupied throughout the whole lesson, too preoccupied with the course he was giving. His gaze flitted to his wristwatch, noting that the two hours of class were almost over before he pulled a notebook out.

"Akabane Karma, Isogai Yuma, Okajima Taiga, Okano Hinata, Okuda Manami," he listed, going through the five first person of the class roster. "For next week, Monday, I would like an essay on Emperor Chandragupta Maurya depicting one of his actions that Arthashastra influenced," he told them, writing the homework down in his notebook as a memo. He ignored the groans and snickers coming from the class and went on. "There is no minimum number of characters, so long as your essay makes sense and answers my demand," he added, closing his notebook and sliding it in his briefcase. "Of course, each essay will be graded. Those that do not give their papers back in time will receive an 0 and serve as my assistant for the next lesson," he grinned.

Before anyone could protest, Koro went on. "Do not worry, class, your homework will be based on the following lessons~" he brightly chirped.

"Excuse-me, Aarden-sensei," a voice called, stopping Koro in his motion as he packed his material back in his briefcase. "Karma isn't here today," Isogai, the class representative, told with a sheepish smile as he looked at the back of the class where Karma's empty seat was.

Koro blinked before flashing them a smile. "It's okay. I believe that you'll be able to reach out to him and notify him, no?" he rhetorically asked with an exaggerated tilt of his head. His green eyes flickered to look at the empty desk. "I'll also remind him tomorrow if he comes," he added as he stood up and picked his briefcase. He made his way to the exit, ignoring the students before halting. "Oh! While I remember, since next week will be reviewing for the midterms, we'll have more practical classes~" he excitedly told them.

"The subject will be torture!" he sang before escaping the class.

Σ(ノ°▽°)ノ

Did I use a Wikipedia page to write this chapter? No, never...

Also, I never read the Prince or  Arthashastra so if there are some inaccuracies, I apologize