A few days into the year and everyone was slowly getting used to the teacher. He even had a name now - choose by Dream - and was called Koro-Sensei. All the students were slowly getting used to each other.

"Apparently we'll be getting a new P.E today," Reaper hummed. Cross had found him from the bus stop on his way to school and now they were walking together.

"Oh? Who told you that?" Cross raised a browbone. He hadn't heard anything.

"No one told me that. I found it out by myself," Reaper smirked, taking a sip from his coffee.

"Did you go eavesdropping on someone?" Cross asked, unimpressed, but curious.

"I stayed behind yesterday to see if I could find something interesting and heard the principal and Koro-Sensei speaking," the cloaked skeleton explained, grinning widely.

"What did you hear?" Ink asked, joining the conversation as Cross and Reaper passed by him.

"We're getting a new P.E teacher because apparently we need someone to teach us fighting," Reaper answered, now also getting the attention of Dust.

"Let's hope that it's better than Koro-Sensei's way too fast games," the hooded skeleton groaned, joining the other three as they walked inside.

"Good morning Koro-Sensei!" Reaper greeted before attempting to stab the teacher with his knife.

"Morning," Dust hummed as he pointed the gun at the teachers head. Koro-Sensei dodged both attacks and the knife flying from Cross direction.

"What a lovely start to my morning! Four of my students already trying to kill me!" Koro-Sensei chuckled as Ink too tried to hit him with his knife.

Cross made his way to his seat by the window. Dream was already sitting on the seat next to him. The class president smiled at him brightly.

"Morning Cross!" he greeted the monochrome skeleton.

"Morning," Cross hummed back before taking his seat.

Gunshots rang through the room as Killer and Dust tried to shoot Koro-Sensei before the class started. The teacher's face - which seemed to be able to change colour according to his mood - turned from the casual yellow to yellow and green stripes. From what Cross had learnt that meant that he was looking down on them.

Cross reached for his gun, but before he could pull it out a hand landed on his shoulder. "Good morning!" Lust cheerfully greeted him and Dream.

"Morning Lust!" Dream smiled back.

As the two others started speaking with each other Cross looked down. His breath hitched when he noticed what he'd reached for. His S.A.A.U.S.O (Special Arms Against Unidentified Slimy Octopus) pistol was on his left, not right. The pistol on his right contained bullets that when shot could cause literal hell to break out.

"Everyone take your seats!" Koro-Sensei said, starting the lesson.

-----

After another mad lesson of Koro-Sensei just speeding from student to another at the same time came a break. Cross basically collapsed on the desk.

"I can't tell if you're being over dramatic or if you're actually about to pass out," Chara mumbled to him.

"Everything alright dear?" Lust asked, making his way to Cross' desk. His eyelights landed on Chara for an unnoticeable second before moving back to Cross.

"I didn't sleep well," Cross lied. He knew that the other could see through it, but the others couldn't.

"That's unfortunate," Dream frowned. "Do you think you'll be able to participate in P.E?" he asked, a bit concerned.

"Yeah, I'm alright," Cross waved him off as he got up from the table.

"Hey! We're gonna go for an assassination attempt. Wanna join us?" Color called out from where he was standing with Outer.

"Sure! What's your plan?" Dream answered immediately, making his way to the two others. Lust and Cross followed right after him.

"He's going to eat his lunch outside. We thought that we could attack with knifes from behind," Outer explained, fiddling with his knife.

"That could work," Lust hummed, but still seemed a bit doubtful.

The five of them turned around to look at the other two skeletons who were still in the room. Error was sitting in the back row, trying to eat his lunch. In front of Error was sitting Horror, who was curiously watching him eat, perhaps hoping to get something as well. Error didn't seem really fond of this special attention.

"CaN yOu StOp StArInG aT mE?" Error snarled, furrowing his browbones.

"Can I have some?" Horror asked, gesturing towards the mandarin that Error was peeling. The glitching skeleton seemed a bit annoyed.

"nO! iT's MiNe!" he was quick to answer. "GeT yOuR oWn FoOd!" he screeched.

Horror just tipped his head, "But yours smells good. Can I have some?" he repeated his question.

"Error," Dream called out softly, "C'mon, we're all friends here! Why don't you go ahead and give him a piece? If you need more food, then come tell me. I always have snacks to share with others!"

Error glared at Dream before turning to look at Horror again. "F-fInE.." he mumbled before dropping a few pieces of his mandarin on Horror's offered hand, careful not to touch it.

Horror brightened up. The excited smile he gave Error made the other flush blue and hide in his scarf.

"Wonderful!" Dream sighed, smile spreading on his teeth. "Now we can go assassinate our teacher," he hummed.

-----

Koro-Sensei was having a picnic between the trees, head pink. It caused a few raised browbones. The five skeletons were hidden in the bushes around him.

They nodded to each other and Lust stood up. He headed towards the teacher. He froze midway, a surprised look on his face before it spread into a grin. Cross recognised that look, face immediately flushing purple. Lust had discovered what the teacher was reading. Dream, Outer and Color looked still confused.

"Ah, Koro-Sensei! I didn't know you were into porn!" Lust exclaimed loudly, making the teacher jump and immediately hide the dirty magazine behind his back - now unknowns to him completely visible to the four hiding in the bushes. They all immediately turned away from the picture of a human woman in a revealing swimsuit.

"Lust! What are you doing here?" Koro-Sensei immediately exclaimed.

"Just passing by," Lust hummed, resting a hand on his hips. He had an amused look on his face. "But seriously, what's with that magazine?" he asked, smirk spreading.

"What magazine?" Koro-Sensei asked before rushing past Lust and returning the same second.

"This magazine," Lust smirked, raising his hand.

The silence was loud. Even Dream, Outer and Color were stunned. Cross took advantage of Koro-Sensei's shock and jumped out of the bushes, the other three following right after him.

But despite being shocked by Lust, Koro-Sensei didn't let a single knife hit him and instead replaced all the knives with golden flowers.

"Nuruhuhu, aren't these flowers just way more nicer than your knives?" Koro-Sensei chuckled as the four students stared at the flowers dumbfounded.

"Wait!" Dream exclaimed. "These are our flowers! We planted these and grew them with love! How dare you!" he cried out, eyeslights wide.

"What.?" Koro-Sensei turned to look towards the flowerbeds next to the school building.

"Ooh, that's really upsetting," Lust played along. Koro-Sensei was starting to panic.

"Yeah! Especially Ccino and Ink will be really upset to hear that you ruined them.." Outer mumbled, looking upset as well.

"Eh?" Now Koro-Sensei was really panicking. "Hold on! I'll go get new flowers and plant them for you!" he offered before flying off.

"Well, it didn't work as we wanted to, but hey, at least we got him to replace the flowers," Dream sighed.

"Lust, how did you get the magazine from him?" Color turned to ask.

"Oh, I didn't!" Lust smirked. "I found it from his office yesterday and hid it in my jacket, waiting for the perfect opportunity to use it against him!" he explained, winking.

"That's a lie," Chara mumbled. Lust let out a chuckle.

-----

The P.E class finally came and everyone lined up outside. Finally they would get a skeleton P.E teacher who wouldn't make all the games impossible with Mach 20 speed.

The new teacher had a white hoodie with blue circles and fur. He had a pokerface, not showing much emotion as he scanned through the students.

"My name's 404 and I was assigned to be your P.E teacher to help you kill this creature," he spoke up. "We will go through the basics of using knives and guns. We will also be using the forest surrounding us to practice."

Koro-Sensei was sitting in the sandbox, weeping about how this new teacher was "stealing his popularity" because he learned that the students actually preferred 404 as a P.E teacher rather than him.

"I want everyone to grab a knife and do what I do. We will go through some basic motions." 404 went straight to the point.

Cross grabbed his knife and watched the others do the same. There were people such as Killer and Dust who held their knives confidently, clearly knowing how to use them. Then there were many others who weren't scared of the knives, but didn't just have the right experience. And of course there were people who were still a bit hesitant about wielding a knife.

-----

The P.E class ended and everyone headed back to the classroom. On his way inside Cross noticed that Geno was writing something on a notepad.

"What's that?" he had to ask the other. Geno jumped a bit, startled, before turning to look at Cross.

"O-oh, I'm just taking notes about Koro-Sensei. It's a bit dumb, but maybe there's something that will help us," he answered, blushing bring red and hiding his face in the scarf. That reminded Cross of Error, but he had learnt that Geno, Error and Fresh were siblings, so that made sense.

"Can I see it?" Cross asked, tipping his skull.

"S-sure.." Geno mumbled and handed the notepad to the monochrome skeleton who started immediately flipping through it.

"What's goin' on?" Dust inquired, looking at the notepad from over Geno's shoulder. Geno jumped at the sudden contact as Dust leaned against him.

"Geno's been taking notes of Koro-Sensei," Cross hummed. Geno went even brighter red, embarrassed by the attention his dumb little idea was getting.

"It's not even that useful.." he tried to protest. Dust raised a browbone and slipped his hand towards Cross, asking to get the notepad.

"It's really useful," Cross insisted as he gave it to Dust, who proceeded to put his arms over Geno's shoulders to be able to hold the notepad.

"What are you doing?" the pained skeleton hissed, carefully trying to push the other away from his back.

"Stay still, I'm trying to read," Dust huffed as he eyed through the notepad. "Yeah, it's pretty useful," he agreed before handing the notepad back to Geno and walking away with his hands in his pockets, as if he hadn't just been wrapped around him.

Geno held the notepad against his chest. His cheekbones were still bright red. "I guess I could keep writing it then.." he mumbled, hiding behind his scarf.

"Please do that. If we can write up his weaknesses, it'll be really helpful for us," Cross hummed, patting him on the shoulder.

"Alright.." Geno mumbled before rushing off to the class.

As soon as Cross was alone in the hallway he leaned against the wall. Chara glanced at him with a bit of worry in their eyes.

"You're sick.." they pointed out. Cross shook his skull.

He closed his eye sockets and took a deep breath before pushing himself away from the wall. He took one careful step to see if his legs would carry him. He didn't collapse so he took that as a sign that he could continue walking.

He wouldn't let his weak SOUL stop him.

Words: 1987

[2.1.2023]

Time for two fun facts!

1. Most of the ships are rare pairs. They've actually been chosen by a random name picker. I'm a multishipper who loves rarer ships.

2. Assassination Classroom isn't the only anime/manga that this is inspired by. There's also another one that I won't reveal yet, but I can tell you that Cross' locket is related to it. In the actual series there's no locket, but instead some kind of clock.

Feel free to guess what it is. There will be multiple references to it in the story though, or rather items and actions that refer to it.