Exams passed, the weather turned colder. Days trickled and within 3-E, Pandora's Box was open, the mask fell— she decided to act.

Winter was definitely harsh weather, but it wasn't the one Mitsukuni disliked most. In fact, he reckoned that the Host Club quite enjoyed it, the number of Winter only theme they could take on was simply immeasurable. There was never a moment of boredom, from organizing a Christmas ball to spoiling themselves with "Yule log" cakes, Mitsukuni loved the season.

And in his memory, while Takashi didn't love it, he didn't hate it either. But now, he seemed a bit twitchy. The two former Hosts were at Tokyo Airport, waiting for the raven-haired surgeon to land. The male came straight from Las Vegas, and although they doubted his laboratory was located there, it was his last stop before Japan.

"I didn't know Kyoya was coming back so early," Mitsukuni chirped from beside Takashi as he gave Sweets a little squeeze. He balanced his weight from feet to feet, childishly tilting his head to look up at the stoic adult beside him.

Takashi merely hummed, he narrowed his icy-blue eyes, letting a flicker of unhidden worry to flash through them before he graced Mitsukuni with a slight smile. "It was urgent," he squarely explained, not delving into details. While Mitsukuni already knew a lot about the mission, Takashi didn't feel good about telling him more.

It was a bit cowardly. He refused to open his mouth, but wouldn't stop others from telling the blond more even if it broke secrecy. He gently patted the shorter's curly locks of strawberry blond hair, diverting his attention away from the student of his class. Although he knew his mission wasn't an easy one, he hadn't expected one of the students he nurtured to be a ticking bomb.

Mitsukuni noticed the waring state of Takashi's mind. After all, the eyes were the window to the soul. He slightly pursed his lips, lowering his lashes and shading his irises. He felt helpless when he looked at him. He knew that Takashi's troubles weren't things he could solve. Nor were they things he could help with, and it made him slightly depressed.

Soon enough, the varnished shoes of their friend came to a halt in front of them. Kyoya hadn't changed since they last saw him. His hair was perfectly trimmed and pulled back, his black-rimmed glasses were neatly perched atop his nose, highlighting the stillness of his dirty-blue eyes.

"Mori-senpai, Honey-senpai," he greeted with a nod. In his gloved hands was his customary metallic suitcase. He had no other piece of luggage, probably most of his necessities were left behind last time.

Takashi politely returned the greeting before he led the way to the car. A sleek black car lent by the government to every official working on the case— or not, since Mitsukuni was with them, Takashi drove an inconspicuous grey car that he borrowed from his older sister.

Kyoya didn't slump in his seat, he had too much grace and etiquette carved in his bones for that, but he leaned in the material. "I didn't expect to receive a call so soon after going back," he admitted as he pulled his glasses off to rub the bridge of his nose.

Takashi gave the male a grave nod. "I'm sorry," he articulated as he kept his focus on the road ahead.

Kyoya hummed, merely waving his hand in dismissal before he put his glasses back. "It doesn't matter," he pacified. "I needed to test it anyway, I'll use this as an opportunity."

The agent's eyes sharpened at those words and his grip of the steering wheel tightened. "Test?" he managed to echo with some reluctance.

The surgeon hummed.

Mitsukuni stayed silent through the drive. Although Takashi didn't refuse him, he couldn't put his input in their talk as he didn't know a thing. He felt slightly curious but decided against exploiting his curiosity when he saw how severe Takashi's face got.

"Ne, Kyoya," he sang, somehow breaking the tense atmosphere. "Will you be staying through Christmas?" he asked with an eager grin painted his lips. Now that he thought about it, this year would be the first, since his former life, that he could spend with the Host Club.

The raven head hummed. "I don't think so, Honey-senpai," he admitted with a wry smile as he remembered the work that pilled up while he was away. "I'll see what I can do," he added though, making the despondent Mitsukuni brighten at once.

::

"The same as— him?" Kyoya echoed with a frown as his eyes darted from the blond to look at the yellow target outside. Koro-sensei and the students were talking, probably about Kayano, and Irina was filling Kyoya on the latest events.

As for Takashi, after dropping Kyoya off, and driving Mitsuuni home, he sped away to the Ministry of Defence where Karasuma was waiting for him. Class E was in effervescence, the fact that Kayano Kaede— correction Yukimura Akari, was their former homeroom's sister, and possessed tentacles came out as a major shock to the students.

Most were in denial and couldn't understand her decision, finding it hard and troubling that she tricked them for a whole year. They could only wonder, was there a moment where she was true with them? Did she ever let go of her mask?

Irina nodded at the question, a tight frown on her pretty face. As a pro, what's more, one that specialized in honey-trapping, she felt ashamed and embarrassed for not seeing through the young actress. But as a teacher, she felt helpless and powerless— she felt as if she failed her duties, and until it happened, she didn't know how much it would hurt. Until now, she hadn't realized just how much 3-E counted in her eyes.

"I see," Kyoya mused. He pulled his suitcase on the table and began to unlock it. He didn't need keen eyes to notice the mass of yellow that suddenly appeared by his sides. He had yet to open the case, he felt a tentacle rest on his shoulder, and from the voice of the yellow being, he knew its face was crimson red or coal-black.

"You," Koro-sensei growled, making Irina tense, and the students look at them in caution. "Are you the one who gave them to her?" he demanded, his tentacles tightening around the raven's shoulder. There was no strength in the limb but nobody doubted Koro's ability to send Kyoya's head flying in the next second.

The surgeon pulled his hands off the locks of his suitcase. He glanced up to look at the yellow thing that was once human, an unreadable light in his eyes before he lightly shook his head. "Of course not," he countered, unbothered by the pitch-black roundness in front of him, or the flying tentacles behind him.

"Oh? Is that so?" Koro's voice was unlike anything they had heard before, it dripped with venom, and the people around could guess anger bubbled, threatening to break out of his kettle like body.

Kyoya scoffed, making one of Koro's tentacle fly in the wall behind and creating a threatening hole. The raven seemed unbothered. "If it was me, I would make it so the after-effects were nullified," another hole, in another wall. "And I wouldn't let it out of my laboratory for a good year until it stabilized," Koro created a hole in the ground, right in between Kyoya and the table. It was dangerously close to his leg.

"Don't call my student 'it'," he hissed. "She isn't your rat!"

Kyoya decided against answering the former human. There was no use in rilling him up more than necessary. Instead, he turned back to the table where laid his closed but unlocked suitcase. "While I'm not the one who gave her the tentacles," he emphasized, making the yellow ticking bomb slightly calm down. "I do have some samples—" Koro's anger spiked up.

The students couldn't help the confusion. The way Koro-sensei and Oshiro-sensei interacted hinted at past conflicts, but they didn't think that Oshiro-sensei would be involved with Kayano's tentacles. They turned to look at Itona, the only one who once had tentacles as if he could answer their question. To their dismay, the white-haired teenager shook his head negatively.

"—And the beginning of an antidote," Koro's flying tentacles paused as if unbelieving. The target brought its face closer to Kyoya's, it beaded eyes searching for traces of lying on the raven's unperturbed face.

"An antidote?" Koro dumbly repeated, his face going back to yellow as he lost his coal-black color. He seemed to regain some sanity as well and got serious as he stood in front of the scientist.

Seeing as the target calmed down, Kyoya nodded. He put his hands on the suitcase and opened it, revealing a multitude of vials and three shots of something— something both Itona and Koro-sensei recognized with ease.

Before Koro could turn completely black, more accurately, before he let anger control him, Kyoya grabbed the shot and injected it in his nerves. Koro lapsed, and Itona was left agape. The others were more confused by the scene.

Not a second later, a pair of tentacles grew from Kyoya's nape. Unlike Kayano's, they weren't black, they weren't yellow like Koro's either. Instead, they were an immaculate white, similar to Itona's.

"I conducted a few tests already," Kyoya calmly explained, unbothered by the looks people gave him. The tentacles began to move, grabbing the test tubes and bringing them closer to his face for him to analyze. "But I don't doubt your mistrusts," he stated, sliding his gaze to a guarded Koro-sensei.

He stood up, storing the test tubes in his suitcase and leaving only one in his hand. From the suitcase, he pulled a syringe. "Until I show you results, I don't doubt that you won't let me near i— her," he asked with a raised eyebrow.

He opened the test tube with a tentacle and brought the syringe to fill it up with the liquid. "Although I doubt the dosing is enough for you, for uncomplete possession, this is more than sufficient," he casually explained, as if the one who grew a pair of tentacles wasn't him. Without hesitation, he injected the elixir into his vein.

He observed the empty syringe with boredom and pulled a plastic bag from his pocket. Stuffing the used good into it, he stored it into the suitcase and closed it. A minute or so later, the white and lively tentacle crackled, turning grey, then black before they simply wilted into dust.

There was nothing left. Kyoya brushed a finger against his nape, checking it for any residue before he locked his suitcase. "With this, I don't think you'll get in my way, will you?" he asked, leveling his eyes so they would directly stare into Koro's eyes.

There was a pause on Koro-sensei's side. The former human felt conflicted as he looked at the raven head in front of him. While he hadn't expected Kyoya to first pop as part of the hitmen team, he even less expected to see the man waltz in with some antidote to the tentacles eating him away.

He carefully nodded his head as the raven, attentively watching as he packed and stood up to leave the faculty room.

Koro's eyes strayed to the tentacles— what remained of them on the ground. The two white limbs were ground to dust, leaving nothing by a thin veil of ash behind. One of his tentacles extended to pick the dust up as if to analyze it.

In the meantime, his other tentacles hurried to patch the many holes he created in a fit of anger.

There truly is nothing left, he mused, his trademark smile on his round yellow face. He could understand what Kyoya meant when he told him the antidote wouldn't work on him. The thing literally killed the tentacles, leaving nothing behind.

And what was Koro? Koro was the tentacle. His level of assimilation easily was 100%. Such an "antidote" was more of a potent poison if aimed at him. The realization left him bemused. He didn't know how to feel about it. The fact that Kyoya created it, or that he hadn't reported his finding or tried to kill him with it yet.

Nevertheless, this antidote would without a doubt greatly enhanced their chances of getting Kayano back.

"Are you alright, Koro-sensei?"

Koro blinked, getting out of his musings, he met Nagisa and his students' worried gazes. His mood was lifted.

"Of course!"

Am I foreshadowing Koro's death or his possible salvation... No, not at all 👀