Quiet. The God of Death was quiet as they drove back home. He was never quiet. "Are you going to tell me what you found out? You said you would at Sanctuary."
"Mm." That wasn't a good answer.
She waited for when they got home. Immediately, Koro wanted to sit down and watch movies and eat popcorn. Later things they usually did.
"That's always a good show, or that one, or that one, or maybe we should start that one series?" Koro was mostly sorting things out in his own head.
"Korosenpai, don't hold secrets from me," she stressed. "If there's something happening, I want to know. I already know I'm probably going to die. I just want to know the details."
"Have you heard of our miracles?" Koro asked her.
"What miracles are ours?" What a strange phrase.
"Yeah. I didn't think so. I could see the Itty Bitties, but even my messenger didn't have permission to tell me." He stared ahead. "What if I told you, that you have a better chance of living, if you didn't know everything that was happening?"
"Ignorance would save my life?" Really? "I'd say you sound like Hyouga."
That phrase irritated him. "I was always really good at keeping secrets. I don't want to start with you. It's going to bring your chances down, but then again, the stress of not knowing would be gone too."
What was it?
"On the other hand, I could deal with you being annoyed and frustrated at me, if it helped to save you. So, I'll share part of it, Aguri."
Ugh. "Fine, tell me what you can tell me."
"You are unstable right now, Aguri," Koro said. "The shell thing you wear over yourself is protecting you, not just the world."
Okay. "The shell is protecting me too?" That was new. "Anything else?"
"Don't pursue or worry about anything," Koro told her. "Someone else is in danger if you know."
Someone else? "What do you mean, am I pregnant?" Yep, he completely looked shooken up now. "Sanctuary and their experiments." She shook her head. "That's weird."
"You read minds!" Koro accused her. "I give you one tiny hint and you just have to say it so casually." He crossed his front tentacles. "I wouldn't put much stock into it."
"Of course not, we were designed without even knowing we could blow up the Earth," she reminded him. "They're insane." It wouldn't survive. "Sorry? You wanted to use the 'someone would die' as an excuse to keep me from asking questions, didn't you?"
Koro turned on the TV. "Yeah, my worshippers thought I was dead and wanted to create a new one."
That was dumb. It was probably already dead, there's no way it could survive. "Hyouga could have told me that." Still, Koro didn't completely look defeated. Was he still hiding something? "What else?"
"That's it. Or, that's all you get." He started to go off about shows to watch and details in each. He still had that feel like he was rushing to enjoy all the good things in life.
Considering the length of holding a fetus, that must have something to do with it. Nine months inside. Subtract the time she was taken. He had a better idea of how long she actually had. "Any one of them, Korosenpai, they all sound good. I'll go get some popcorn."
She got off the couch and headed to the kitchen. Whenever their attempt at creating life for something bound for death fell through, it would probably be the end of her. "Ooh, extra butter." A little sad. She had gotten used to knowing that she would die one day, but knowing their experimentation also killed something else? Something that never had a chance to live in such a condition?
Even her sister Akari, she was lucky to lose her tentacles. They would have killed her. The tentacles were doomed to kill. They weren't some alien species like Sanctuary kept claiming, they were mutations of antimatter.
Koro poked his head through the door. "How long does it take to make popcorn?"
Koro was giving her the best chance though. Hyouga too. The shells apparently helped her chances. She doubted it would save her, but if there was a chance, they were both willing to try. Once a month, a visit, so neither one would feel regret. That and, God of Death was going to follow along when she went. He made that clear.
He probably also wanted to stop Sanctuary as bad as her. They both needed to live long enough to make that happen. She grabbed a bowl and grabbed the popcorn she got from the microwave. "Not long, of course," she smiled at him. "Did you pick which one we are watching?"
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Sanctuary Itty Bitties Room Next Day
"Korosensei," he said as he wrote on the chalkboard.
"Hello, Korosensei," most of the children said. Some of them said it a little off rhythm.
A five-year-old shot her hand up. "Can we go home soon, Korosensei?"
"I'm working on stuff." He couldn't say much more than that yet. He may be considered a real god to a lot of the Sanctuarists, but not everyone would easily cower down and listen to his words. He had to start in fresh with them. "We'll all have fun learning this week." He glanced at everyone, getting a good view of his students.
A third of his class were toddlers. Pictures and drawings would work best to help them. The other third of the class could probably write and read. The oldest there was about 10 or 11. Most were around 5 or 8. He'd really have to vary his lessons but teaching them basic math and reading wasn't exactly his goal.
These kids had families, and he had to locate who they each belonged to. "Just for fun, how many can read my name on the board?"
A variety of hands were raised. Some of them he had placed in the too young group had also said it.
"Great to see." These weren't kids from just around a block, Aguri did say they changed really smart people. Koro handed out paper. "Today, let's get to know each other. Here's some paper. If you can, write down your family names. Last name preferably. If you can't write, then just draw your family and share about them out loud when we share."
"We aren't supposed to think about our family," one of them corrected him. "It's against the rules."
"It's my classroom now, and I'm the God of Death." He patted the boy on his head. "Just do your assignment." He gave them each a little while, and he could tell he was getting some good responses. Some of them were even starting to cry.
He could see some of their tentacles getting harder to control as they did the assignment too. Koro sat down behind his desk and did his own drawing. He wanted to share a little about himself too, so they would trust him better.
After a good twenty minutes, most of them looked like they were done. He got up and looked at some of the papers. Obviously, some of them shouldn't be shared. Like the eight-year-old that wrote the last name of a mayor who claimed his child disappeared two months ago without a trace.
Before he ever came to school, he had already started to comb through anyone missing from families who were wealthy, in politics, or experts in something. When he took down Sanctuary, these kids wouldn't be anywhere near the devastation.
He saw one of them raise their hands. "Yes?"
"What chooses smile?" she asked. "You always smile. Messenger of God smirks. Disciplinarian always angry. Many just straight mouths."
"Wow, that's a good question." Koro approached her. "I have no idea. Did you know up until yesterday, I didn't even know there were others like me? It's a good question. I guess it's the expression you choose to show the world." When the last change occurs.
"I want my tongue to stick out," she said to him. "When I change, I stick my tongue out?"
"I don't want to change," another one started to cry, "I want to go home!"
"I'm being realistic," the girl told him. "If I have to stay, then I want to stick my tongue out at everyone. They took me for serious reasons. If I look goofy forever, maybe they won't think I'm useful anymore. Last resort."
Last resort indeed. This one spoke her mind, even to someone called God of Death. Koro looked at her paper. "ChouChou?" Smart girl, she refused to write her name on anything for them. The more info the wrong people had, the more she was in trouble. Even though he was the right person, she was still being careful. She drew pictures of pies and no one else's name. There was no way of telling if she was an only child, an orphan, if her family worked in a bakery, or she was just clowning around.
Most likely the last one. But? He needed her to trust him if he was going to get her out.
By the time the project finished, he already had pegged the identities of six of them. Three he had clues to look up for, and the last two he had no ideas about at all. One was too young, the one that held onto his leg when it first met him. The other was 'ChouChou'. The only thing he got from her was she was European.
Having the info he needed, he tried to give them more individualized lessons for their level. He had the older students write sentences in their own languages, and the younger ones practicing to write characters from their original language. The really young ones, he just gave them paper to draw whatever they wanted, that reminded them of home.
The more he kept them thinking of where they were from, the more it hurt, but the less they could get manipulated into Sanctuary's web.
"Korosensei?" ChouChou called him over. "Are you really supposed to be a god?"
"It's in my name," he answered. "Partly. Sort of. Don't suppose I could get your real name?"
"You don't act like a god, you're too silly," she said. "No one would take you seriously. Is it true you really fight and killed thousands of people?"
Oh, ChouChou had studied him. All the kids probably did, but she was the one brave enough to bring it up. "A hundred points to you ChouChou. That was the past though, and you know gods, they don't get rid of good people. Be good and none of you have anything to fear." Okay, not true. Bad or good, he just got rid of people. He didn't want his students to be scared of him though.
"Are you going to put your kid through the same grueling thing?" ChouChou asked him. "Do they have to be good not to die?"
These kids knew that part too. "I didn't mean to put it that way. I'm not going to kill kids," he backtracked. "I'm benevolent. Why don't you try working on your assignment for a little while?"
Koro went behind his desk again and tried to look up other information to see what he could find. It didn't take very long before there was another interruption.
Another toddler. Koro went over to them to try and help with the assignment. "You could try drawing what your family liked to eat at home?" This toddler was already younger, and he had no idea when it was taken from her home. But? "What's your name?"
"Win," he answered.
Win. Probably a nickname. Winifred? Winnie? Koro patted Win's head. Her probably wasn't thinking of how sad home was right now, it was that she was starting to forget. "What color was your mommy's hair?"
The toddler just looked at him. No conception of home. Sanctuary hadn't just stolen her, it took her so young, that she couldn't remember much past Sanctuary. It stole her home. "Right down anything you remember from him. What's your favorite thing to eat? A pet, do you remember a pet? Anything lick you in the face every day enthusiastically? A song your mom sang?"
She started to cry and held onto Koro. Koro held her back. He would have to get into Sanctuary's back records to find where she belonged. "You'll get back there."
"As long as you obey the word of the god," ChouChou interrupted.
In a way, ChouChou was already his favorite student. She was a lot more like his old students. The ones that challenged him, and finally proudly killed him. On the other hand, getting brave in front of a kid dealing with the fact they couldn't remember home, wasn't the time to pull shenanigans. "ChouCho. Be nice or you are getting a time out."
"Yeah, Choucho," one of the other kids called her out. "Be good or shoo. Shoo out of the classroom."
Oh, not that. "Let's not make fun of each other's names?" Korosensei warned them. "Look? I know that none of you want to be here. I know that some of you are looking for a way to get kicked out. I know that home is far away, and you've been stuck for varying times dealing with this place. It'll get better. Just, follow your teaching lessons, and we'll get through this together."
ChouChou and the other kid that called her out clapped slowly and ironically.
Korosensei ignored them as best he could. He couldn't entice them too much to kill him, and hanging out with his students usually caused that kind of thing. The only one who could take him for long was Aguri.
He sat back down at his desk and got to work looking at old connections between Sanctuary, between the missings kids, between . . . I didn't visit there yesterday. I certainly didn't kill anyone with the name God of Death. Yet, he found an article, a recent article, about a massacre. He found his picture in it, the one before he changed into his octopi forms.
He didn't want to put too much stock into it. Copycats would want to be him, it happened before, even before he was caught. People imitated greatness, and assassins wanted to imitate him.
Besides, he couldn't do anything about it. It just meant the shells he didn't want to use, he really didn't want to use now. Pretty good timing. It'd be a nice way to bump me out of the way for Hyouga. Maybe.
He'd watch for his old name in the news now in connection to a new copycat. In the meantime? It was time to find a way to kill the rest of Sanctuary.