Slow.

He never realized how slow the other's moves could be when faced with them.

Dull.

It seemed his thrusts weren't as sharp as he envisioned them to be.

Sluggish.

Compared to Mitsukuni's Martial Arts, Nagisa was lacking.

Karma evaded yet another blow, he readjusted his grip on his rubber dagger, flicking it downward before ducking down. He felt the wind pass above his head, fluttering his locks of fiery red, and could almost make out both Nagisa's slightly uneven breathing and the erratic beating of his heart.

His heart rate wasn't because the blue head thought he was at a disadvantage, only he lacked stamina, continuously attacking and dodging on uneven ground was bound to tire him out. With every passing second, every new strike and following dodges, Nagisa felt his strength slip out of his fingers.

On the other hand, Karma felt his senses get sharper as time passed. His breathing slowed down, and his heartbeat seemed to follow suit. Every time Nagisa moved, Karma almost made out the droplets of sweat that slid down his face.

His mercury-colored eyes narrowed. He executed a flawless backflip, something he picked up from his spars with Mitsukuni, and cleanly landed on his feet before he ducked down to dodge yet another blow. He swept his legs, trying to trip Nagisa in the process— make him lose his balance.

With one hand, he grabbed the shorter's shirt, pulling him down the moment his balance faltered, and with practiced ease— with the experience, he accumulated while sparing with Mitsukuni over the last few weeks, he unhesitantly stabbed Nagisa's chest. Forsaking everything for this decisive strike.

In this battle to know whether they would try to save Koro-sensei or not, Nagisa lost.

Karma won.

They would kill Koro-sensei.

There was no doubt about that.

::

"Mhm, sorry, Shu-chan," Mitsukuni said with a wry smile on his face as he squeezed Reiko tighter. He slowed his pace to walk next to his childhood friend as he peered up at him. "I already promised Ma-chan that I'd spend the evening with him," he explained with a grin.

"Oh."

Mitsukuni blinked, he hummed to himself for a second as he swept his gaze over the corridor before he looked back at the strawberry blond beside him. "Do you want to come too?" he proposed with a chirp.

Gakushu allowed his eyes to rest on Mitsukuni's head. They minutely narrowed as he brought his hand to pet the shorter's fluffy locks, and he silently nodded.

"Well, it's been a while since I last spent time with you and Karma outside of study sessions," the Student Council President admitted with a small genuine smile dangling at his lips.

Mitsukunu grinned, and his honey-brown eyes sparkled. "Right!" he beamed with an undeniable skip to his steps. He giggled, slightly nuzzling Sweets' head before glancing up at Gakushu. "I'm sure Ma-chan's gonna be super duper happy too!" he grinned.

That made Gakushu chuckle, allowing a slightly nefarious smirk to creep up his lips. "Oh the joy," he drawled. "I can already picture his face when you tell him," he joked with a shrug of his shoulder.

Somewhere, Karma sneezed.

"Actually, what are you guys planning to do?" Gakushu asked with a slight tilt of his head. He turned left and began to climb another flight of stairs to reach the third floor.

Mitsukuni gave a low hum as he followed closely behind his childhood friend. "Ma-chan wanted to meet some of my friends from outside," he cheerily told as they reached the third floor. He lowered his voice into something akin to a whisper as some faculty members were still working and continued. "He asked a while back but my friends couldn't meet up before."

Gakushu's steps minutely faltered on his way to the student council room at those words. He readjusted his grip on the files in his arms so they wouldn't fall and scatter, and gave Mitsukuni a sidelong glance full of complaints.

"Oh?" he vocalized, obviously unhappy— though he was careful not to be too loud. "How come I wasn't invited?" he complained with a raised eyebrow and pursed lips. Although he wouldn't elaborate, Gakushu felt a bit petulant at the idea of being left out. After all, the other two involved parties were his childhood friend, and the three of them had been a trio since long ago.

"Ehehe," Mitsukuni giggled while hitting his head with his fist in an exaggerated manner. "I forgot?" he dumbly sang as they reached the door to the student council room.

The shorter of the two twisted the doorknob with ease before pushing the door open. It wasn't locked as some student council members were already in the office.

"Yeah," Gakushu echoed in a drawl. "You 'forgot'," he uttered while stressing the latter part of his sentence. He rolled his eyes as he entered the room. Making his way to his desk, he gave the present students a slight nod of his head before putting the files down. "How very much like you," he admitted with a wry smile and a sigh.

Mitsukuni refrained himself from answering this statement, merely chuckling as he balanced his weight from one foot to the other. He nuzzled Sweets' neck, inhaling her perfume before he swirled to waltz away from the strawberry blond.

Gakushu spared his childhood friend a glance before heaving a defeated sigh. He made his way around the desk to take a seat and pulled out a pen and notepad as he began to review the batch of paper he brought back from the lower floors.

Mitsukuni made his way around the room, silent, he didn't utter a word of greeting, merely nodding his head in acknowledgment when he met someone's gaze.

He didn't have much to do and truthfully didn't have a reason for coming apart from accompanying Gakushu on his way.

He let his doe eyes sweep the place. He could brew some tea or coffee, although the quality of the leaves wasn't the best, and the beans weren't those he usually consumed, he knew how not to be picky. Commoner tea and commoner coffee were things Haruhi introduced to him once, and from time to time, he didn't dislike having them.

With these thoughts, Mitsukuni walked up to the couch in the corner of the room where he usually napped. He sat the black cat plushy, carefully placing her so she wouldn't fall over, and turned to the beverage corner.

He picked the kettle and filled it with some filtered tap-water before pressing the button. The water began to slowly boil. In the meantime, Mitsukuni pulled a teapot from the cabinet, as well as one of the tea leaves pots.

He took three out, opening the lids to take a whiff of them before settling on the second brew, a very ordinary herbal tea: thyme. He had hesitated with some Assam black tea, something he once brought over to the Student Council room but decided against it when he took note of the time.

Black tea had theine, and although the members wouldn't leave for another hour or so, pouring them some black tea now wouldn't be for the best.

He heard the sound of the kettle whistling and turned it off. It was the type that didn't turn off on its own when the water was ready, so Mitsukuni was especially careful not to overboil the water. After all, the water could boil to the point of overflowing from the kettle, and at this point, a fire wouldn't be far fetched.

Mitsukuni metally noted that it wouldn't be a bad idea to buy another kettle for the Student Council, one that turned off on its own. He poured the water over the thyme, filling the teapot with ease, and silently put a lid on it.

It would take a few minutes for the tea to infuse, he didn't want to drink hot colored water. Mitsukuni left the herbal tea to infuse as he sat on the sofa with Reiko by his side. He picked one of the magazines from the low table— a fashion magazine, probably one left by a first-year.

Mitsukuni was no fashion victim but he didn't dislike the industry. With underclassmen like Hikaru and Kaoru, and as the former president of a grand conglomerate, mingling with the industry was inevitable. He flipped the pages and soon stumbled upon familiar faces.

With some interest, he focused on the interview, leaving the thyme to infuse. He wasn't worried about the herbal tea infusing for too long. Unlike black tea, herbal tea didn't turn bitter if you left it to infuse for too long. At most, the fragrance would completely permeate your mouth and you'd feel like you just drank a bottle of herbal essence.

...

Yeah, that didn't sound tasty at all.

Mitsukuni went over the article. It was more of gossip than information, but from it, Mitsukuni gathered a few facts on his former underclassmen. Hikaru and Kaoru, now dubbed Hikari and Kaori Seki were the heirs to a fashion-related conglomerate.

Nothing too different from their past lives. This time again, Hikaru was the older twin, and Kaoru the more mature one. From the article, Mitsukuni gathered that Hikari was the proud owner of her very own famous Youtube channel. From what the paper said, it mainly featured their travels, food expenditures, but most of all, their multitude of pranks— their targets ranging from unknown passersby to well-known personalities.

That made Mitsukuni snort. How very Hikaru, he mused. Although Hikari was the channel's owner, Kaori was a frequent guest, and at this point, saying that she co-owned it wouldn't be farfetched.

On the other hand, Kaori owned a fashion blog where she displayed both the company's latest collection, but also her very own creations— that sometimes featured her twin. The blog had no makeup-related tips, but everything ranging from clothing to accessories had a page.

Once again, Mitsukuni wasn't surprised. In his former life, until his untimely death, even after reaching old age, Kaoru remained a powerful figure in the fashion industry, known worldwide for his designs and fashion sense.

Mitsukuni reckons that Kaoru's latest creation wasn't achieved before his death and that Hikaru was the one to add the last touches. It was the centerpiece of the Hitachiin fashion show that year, and as he stood in his brother's place, Hikaru's face pearled with tears, disregarding cameras and ethics in favor of his raw feelings and crippling sadness.

He slightly grimaced at the memory. That was by the end of his life, the memory of Hikaru's suicide a few nights later remained vivid in Mitsukuni's mind and he decided against lingering on the memory any longer.

Instead, he brought his attention to the twins' picture in the background, and his eyes rested on their matching rose bag. One blue, one orange— their Host color.

Mitsukuni wondered if they would make something with a pink rose for him if he was to ask. He smiled.

Soon enough, he reached the end of the article. He put the magazine aside and stood up to pick the teapot, carefully, he filled the cups and put them on a tray. He picked the tray up, and like he once did for the Host Club, he went around to give each member a cup of freshly brewed herbal tea.

::

Elsewhere.

There was an eery silence in the room. It had nothing to do with dim lighting, or some creepy background noise, only the essence of the room gave off a disturbing aura.

Maybe because of the number of corpses that at some point littered the tiled flooring or the blood that undoubtedly painted the white tiles in red once— either way, the sense of incoming death and danger couldn't be omitted.

In this room, laboratory to be precise, only a man stood. Tall and unperturbed, perfectly merging with the overall aura of the place, creating no discrepancies and instead a morbid sense of belonging, Kyoya stared through the lenses of his glasses at the essay tube in his hand.

He hummed to himself, placing the tube on the bench before leaning down to look into the microscope. He saw the way the microorganism struggled for life before being completely obliterated by the added substances.

He blinked, unbothered by the results as he walked to his computer to input the new data and his observation. Perhaps, the ratio was off.

He already possessed the most potent of poisons.

Now, he only needed its perfect counterpart.

The antidote.

He couldn't help the smile dawning on his lips. Although he held no feelings for that yellow Damocles Sword, he couldn't deny that he made for a perfect test subject.

He licked his upper lip. His dirty-blue eyes rolled to look at the sealed liquid in the fridge. Three tubes, one transparent, another blackish-blue one, and an empty tube were lined together.

The drug to become a monster.

The poison to kill the monster.

The antidote to revert back.

He felt like he had never been closer to the answer.

There was a bit less than two months remaining before the target imploded, Kyoya was confident in his ability to create the perfect antidote before then.

Give him three weeks at most, the cure would be in his hands.

The students won't try to save Koro, but Kyoya almost has an antidote—

oh well 🤷‍♀️