The next day, the nursery students gathered for class again.
They were already talking about it as if they were waiting for the boogeyman.
"Is the handsome onii-san going to teach again?"
"Is it really that bad? I started sleeping immediately."
"His stories are scary. What do you think, Sakura-nee? Is what he said true?"
Sakura didn't even look up.
"Of course it's not true. Little Red Riding Hood is not dead. Everyone knows that story."
The door opened.
Erika came in alone with a smile she was desperately trying to hold back.
"Oh! The pretty onee-san is here!"
"But where is that onii-san?"
"Is he not here today?"
Erika coughed once.
"So. Is everyone ready for class today?"
One kid raised a hand.
"Onee-san, is that onii-san not here today?"
Erika smiled.
"Well, today we thought we'd mix things up. You have a new teacher. Now, let's welcome… Pan-chan-sensei."
A giant mass of black-and-white fluff filled the doorway.
Akira stood there in the giant Pan-chan suit, a black academic coat pulled over it like Koro-sensei's.
His voice came out muffled and far too proud.
"Nuruhuhuhuhu. Good morning, students. I am Pan-chan-sensei. Are you ready to enjoy the joy of… eh… studying?"
The room exploded.
"Yeahhh! A giant panda teacher!"
"It's so cool!"
"I want to hug him!"
Nagisa, standing with the rest of Class E in the back, leaned toward Erika.
"Erika-san… what is this?"
Erika watched the suit take a careful step forward.
"Well, since yesterday was a failure, today he decided to follow Koro-sensei's footsteps. He decided he would be a mascot teacher."
Nagisa stared.
"That's what he got from him?"
Akira opened his book.
"Now, students, how about we start with the true story of Cinderella, and how her stepsisters got their toes cut off—"
The entire Class E collectively sighed.
Yeah. So it's only a cosmetic change.
They never finished the thought.
One kid hug-tackled the panda.
"Whoa, he's so soft and fluffy!"
"Really? Let me try too!"
Another slammed into him.
Then another.
Then more.
Akira staggered.
"Wait… let's talk about this… there are too many of them… ahhhh—!"
Erika started forward.
"Seems like I have to save him again."
Then she saw the size of the pile.
There were more kids than yesterday.
Isogai looked at the situation and stepped in.
"Alright, everyone, it seems like we have to rescue Akira now. Onwards!"
Class E had to wade in just to make a hole. It was only enough for Akira to tear free and run.
The children ran after him.
Selena's voice slipped into his head, delighted.
"Congratulations, brother. You are officially following Koro-sensei's path. The students are even chasing you, just like Koro-sensei."
Akira rounded a corner in a panic of fur and academic sleeves.
"I did not expect following Koro-sensei to mean I would become an assassination target too! And I don't even have super speed! Help me, sister!"
Selena giggled.
"Well. Good luck then, brother. I will be watching."
Akira screamed in his mind.
"Sister—noooooo!"
That was how class turned into hide-and-seek. Or rather, a group of children trying to find a giant panda.
And no lesson in sight.
---
Erika walked across the yard.
Class E was already deep into the renovation. They had meant to pull people off the work to watch the kids, but the kids were busy hunting a completely unwilling panda, so the plan changed. Leave Erika and a few students on watch. Put everyone else on renovating the building.
Most of the children were still searching, loud and excited.
Akira was doing his best to stay hidden.
Erika knew exactly where he was.
Their connection told her exactly which corner of the storage shed he was folded into, giant suit and all.
But she did not go there.
She had something more important to do first.
She stopped in front of a bush that was doing a very poor job of being a bush.
"Koro-sensei. Can I ask you a question?"
The leaves answered.
"Sensei is not here."
Erika crossed her arms.
"Koro-sensei, everyone can see you are hiding here. We are just leaving you to it."
The bush rustled. Koro-sensei stood up, cloak and all.
"I was just worried about my students, all right? So I was just keeping watch." He brushed a twig off his head. "So, Erika-san. What do you want to talk about?"
Erika looked serious.
"I just want to know why you asked Akira to become a teacher here. That feels like it came out of nowhere."
Koro-sensei went silent for a while and sighed.
"Erika-san. What do you think about Akira-kun?"
Erika blinked, looking a little flustered.
"Eh… I mean, he is Akira, right? He is smart… he is cute, he can do almost anything, and he—"
"Wait, wait." Koro-sensei waved a tentacle. "That's not what I meant. I mean, what do you think about Akira as a person?"
Erika went silent.
She thought about it longer than the question should have needed.
"…Hmm. I mean, he is Akira. I don't understand what exactly you mean here."
Koro-sensei sighed again and made the question smaller.
"About how Akira treats others. Do you think he treats everyone equally? Does he see the people he cares about and everyone else the same way?"
Erika's first instinct was to defend him.
"Akira does take care of the ones he cares about more and mostly ignores others. But isn't that normal for everyone?"
"It is normal," Koro-sensei said. "But I am not talking about treating. I am talking about seeing."
Erika frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"His gaze." Koro-sensei looked toward the shed, where a patch of black-and-white fluff had just vanished behind a crate. "When he looks at you, you can see his love from his eyes alone. When he looks at his classmates, you can see interest and a bit of closeness. When he looks at his enemies, you can see challenge, excitement, and arrogance."
He paused.
"But when he looks at everyone else… all I can see is nothing."
Erika looked confused.
"Nothing?"
Koro-sensei shook his head and did not push that word any further.
"I just want Akira-kun to learn more about getting along with people other than our class. And the best way to do that is to become a teacher."
Erika watched him.
"How?"
"Trust me. It is a tried-and-tested method." Koro-sensei's voice softened. "If Akira-kun spends time listening to them, understanding what they want, and helping them, he will naturally start paying more attention to people outside his usual circle. It might not be much in just two weeks, but I think there will be progress."
Erika's eyes narrowed.
"Did you just come up with this plan?"
"I always wanted to help Akira-kun with this," Koro-sensei said. "And when our class became reckless with their new strength, I thought it was the best way to kill two birds with one stone."
Erika did not answer at first.
What he said was true. She liked Akira as he was. She also knew it would be better if he got good with children. It would help him grow.
And it would reduce a lot of her future headaches.
She sighed.
"Okay. It is worth a shot. Even if it doesn't work, it's fine. But… be careful, okay? I don't want him traumatizing the kids too much. Yesterday was already enough. If he starts going on about some grim fairy-tale origins, I am stopping him."
She turned and walked back toward the yard.
Koro-sensei smiled after her.
"Don't worry, Erika-san. This method has a 100% success rate."
He glanced at the shed again. A panda suddenly jumped out and disappeared into the trees, only to immediately retreat from a pack of searching children.
"…Well. There is always a chance Akira will make it 50%. But Sensei is optimistic. He had better help than in the previous case, anyway."
---
Akira sat in a tree, still inside the Pan-chan suit, hidden from the children below.
He sighed.
Being a teacher was tougher than he thought.
"Maybe I should create a robot or something to teach in my place."
Selena's voice slipped into his head at once.
"Then you will fail Koro-sensei's test, right?"
Akira's shoulders dropped.
"That's true. But what else am I supposed to do?"
Selena thought for a while.
"You need to make your lessons interesting for the students."
Akira complained.
"I did make them interesting. I mean, aren't the creepy origins of fairy tales more interesting?"
Selena deadpanned.
"I am talking about them, you idiot. Why are you making things interesting for you?"
Akira stared at the leaves.
"Then what else should I do?"
Selena smiled.
"Didn't Koro-sensei give you a book about teaching a long time ago? Why not try following it?"
He thought about that.
Then he remembered.
"Oh. That. I almost forgot about it."
A thick book appeared in his paws.
How to Be a Great Teacher for Dummies.
"Yeah," he muttered. "This might work."
He started flipping through it again.
After a while, he closed it.
"Yeah. I have no idea what to do here."
Selena asked,
"What do you mean?"
Akira grumbled telepathically.
"It said to listen to your students with patience and give them advice so they can choose their path and achieve their goals. But don't do everything for them. Make them walk their own path while you guide them." He tapped the cover. "I mean, it sounds great and all, but… how do you do that? I'm not good at any of this."
Selena sighed.
'You just never tried before. How about you find a kid and teach them a life lesson? It is worth a try."
Akira nodded inside the hood.
"Alright. But where am I supposed to find a kid who needs guidance?"
Selena immediately said,
"How about the girl sitting alone below the tree? She seems like a perfect target."
Akira looked down.
Sakura was there, her back against the trunk, away from the hunt.
"Oh. That's the kid. Sakura… alright. Prepare to be guided."
He jumped.
Sakura screamed.
"Ahhhh!"
The giant panda hit the ground in front of her and immediately waved both paws.
"Please don't scream. Please don't scream. You will attract the mob."
Sakura saw the costume, then the eyes inside it, and sighed.
"Oh. It's you. You're that Akira, right? Why are you in a panda costume today?"
"I tried to break the ice by wearing something like this. But it became too popular." He glanced toward the yard. "Are you not going to chase after me?"
Sakura said stubbornly.
"No. I am not a kid."
She still looked at the suit like she wanted to hug it.
Akira pointed at her.
"But you are a kid."
Sakura snapped.
"I am not. I am older."
"Sure, you are older than the other kids here, but you are a kid." He sat down beside her, the costume rustling. "Well. You're supposed to be in school, right? Why did you stop going?"
Sakura looked irritated.
"Bullying. Of course, bullying. The typical stupid kind. I don't get people. Kids that age should be innocent and sweet. But once they get a little bigger and stronger, I guess they use that strength to hurt people."
She looked at him.
"You're thinking it too, aren't you? 'Don't run away.' 'If you don't like it, go back to school and get stronger yourself.' Just like Mom and Dad say."
She let out a breath.
"Well. You look strong, so you probably don't understand it anyway."
Akira was quiet for a second.
Then he said,
"Not exactly. Just so you know, I was probably bullied too."
Sakura turned.
"You too? Wait. What do you mean, probably?"
Akira explained.
"Well. It was when I was small. Before I met anyone I call my friends. I was in a place where kids my age did some things that might be counted as bullying."
Sakura looked confused.
"What does that mean?"
Akira thought about it.
"I mean… I don't know. I didn't feel bullied. And they were the ones who lost in the end anyway. I just counted it as a game."
Sakura frowned.
"Why did they bully you anyway?"
Akira sighed.
"Because I am strong, handsome, and a lot of other great things they couldn't even compete with. So, to make themselves feel better, they isolated me and sabotaged me a lot of times. But even with all that, they still lost."
Sakura stared at him.
"So you just won because you are stronger?"
"Yes. At least for me, it was like that." Akira shook his head. "But I don't think you can do it the way I did. You are weaker than me anyway."
Sakura's mouth flattened.
"I know I'm weak, all right."
Akira leaned forward a little.
"You are weak, but there is no rule that says the weak can't beat the strong. In video games, sometimes the hero is way weaker than the bosses they fight. So how do they beat them?"
Sakura thought.
"…By a powerful weapon?"
"No. Planning. You make consumables. You upgrade and repair your gear. You learn the boss pattern. When you learn all that, and the rules of the game, you can use it to plan a win." He tapped the dirt with one paw. "If you know the enemy's weakness, your own strength, the rules, and the win condition, you can defeat them."
Sakura stared at him.
"Is it about beating them up?"
Akira tilted his head.
"Depends. What is your win condition? What do you want to do?"
She was quiet longer this time.
"I wanted them to leave me alone. But if it's possible, I don't mind some payback either. I just don't know…"
Akira nodded.
"Don't worry. I have a few reborn-to-get-revenge-against-my-bullies novels and stories. Let's watch them as a reference. With those, you'll get an idea of what to do, and then you can decide on the plan of attack."
Sakura didn't know what to say.
She glanced at the trees, then at him, then made her choice.
"…Fine. I'll give it a chance."
But suddenly, from across the yard, a child shouted,
"The panda went this way!"
"Let's get him!"
Akira froze.
He smiled and said, "Maybe after I survive this, we can get into it."
And before the children could reach him, he ran away.
Sakura sighed.
What the hell even is this.
---
Two weeks passed just like that.
Koro-sensei walked the discharged old principal back toward the nursery.
"Thank you so much for hearing us out."
The old principal snorted.
"Hmph. When you said it was to make your students more well-rounded, well, as a fellow educator, I couldn't say no. I hope that wooden ranch hasn't collapsed under the weight of those brats."
Then he saw the nursery.
"Hmm? Oh!"
What had been a one-story old building was now a two-story structure built on top of it.
The old principal's voice jumped.
"What's the meaning of this?!"
Koro-sensei spread his tentacles, delighted.
"A house built with trees culled from E Class's mountain and discarded lumber. What was once a cramped and humble preschool building is now a roomy and substantial multipurpose space!"
They took him inside.
The principal stopped in the doorway.
"Oh, my… in only two weeks?"
Koro-sensei kept going as the students showed him through.
"Computerized calculations mean it's perfectly sturdy. New pillars now shore up the entire near-crumbling main building."
Ritsu's voice came from a phone.
"Our calculations were drawn from architecture all over the world!"
"The second floor is divided into two rooms," Koro-sensei said. "One is a library where students can read. We even managed to get a lot of donated books. The other is an indoor playground. Careful placement of netting and mats ensures safety, and since it's out of the rain, the equipment won't grow brittle from corrosion or rust."
Toys filled the space. There was even a rotating playscape.
The old principal stared.
"These kids…"
Isogai pointed ahead.
"Next is the garage."
The old principal looked even more shocked.
"Garage? Whose?!"
It was only the space under the stairs.
A red tricycle with two front wheels sat there anyway.
Koro-sensei clasped his tentacles.
"Oh, goodness me! The tech squad entirely remodeled the principal's bicycle, whose front wheel was bent in the fall! Now it's an ultra-safe, high-load-bearing, electric-assisted three-wheeler!"
"The bike was designed to draw most of its power from the rotating playscape upstairs," Ritsu added.
Koro-sensei nodded.
"In other words… the more children use the playscape, the more they'll help out their principal!"
The principal made a strangled sound.
"This is all too perfect! You've done far too well… it's actually a little creepy!"
Akira muttered,
"I wanted to add a levitating mechanism to it…"
Erika elbowed him.
"Shut up."
Koro-sensei was not finished.
"The principal's nostalgic old dentures were reused in the trike's bell."
"No one needs that much attention to detail!" the principal shouted. "Besides… you can bring all these things up to scratch, but if you didn't get in close to these children's hearts…"
A voice cut across the yard.
"Hey, Nagisa! Ta-da! I came in second!"
Sakura ran in, waving a test paper.
Nagisa blinked, then smiled.
"Wow, that's great! Well done!"
Akira pointed at himself.
"Hey, kid. Wasn't I your teacher? Why did you show it to him first?"
Sakura didn't even hesitate.
"What teacher? The one who taught me is Nagisa. All you did was watch and read those ridiculous revenge stories with me."
Akira turned his head away.
"I was teaching you the ways of the world."
That wasn't entirely unfair.
He had tried to teach the nursery class properly. He had failed. In the end, Class E took turns with the actual lessons, and Akira had been given the job of full-time mascot teacher. He kept the children entertained. He also gave them advice.
Some of it was questionable.
All of it was, in its own way, valid.
Nagisa had even written in his notes:
"Akira is extremely bad at teaching children."
Akira looked back at Sakura.
"So. Did it work?"
"Yeah." She said excitedly, "I prepared bait, calculated the time when a lot of teachers and parents picking up students would be there, and, as we expected, they took the bait. All of them were exposed. The teachers had to punish them."
Akira smiled.
"That's it. Teachers and parents can't sweep it under the rug when it's exposed publicly. And the bullies will keep away from you too."
Sakura hesitated.
"Though I'm not sure I can just go to school normally this soon."
Akira reassured her.
"Don't worry. You can use the same hit-and-run tactics like this time and only appear during the exams and get good marks too. Everyone will be even more sympathetic toward you."
Sakura nodded thoughtfully.
"Yeah. Controlling public opinion is the best way to deal with bullies. Just like in the stories."
Akira nodded.
"Exactly."
The rest of Class E had the same thought at the same time.
What the hell is he teaching her?
Sakura turned back to Nagisa.
"In the future, I want to be a lawyer. So, Nagisa, can you teach me more?"
Akira pointed at himself again.
"Nagisa again?"
Sakura snapped,
"Because you suck at teaching."
Akira mumbled,
"I did my best."
He went to Erika.
She sighed and patted his head.
Nagisa smiled at Sakura.
"Of course."
Sakura smiled back.
The old principal watched the whole exchange and finally exhaled.
"You brats… I can't come up with a single complaint."
Sakura noticed him and ran over.
"Oh! Welcome back, Principal! Look at this."
She held up the paper, and he patted her head.
Then he looked at Class E.
"You all run back to school now. You have some important work to attend to, right?"
Class E answered together.
"Yes, sir!"
That was the end of the mission.
The nursery children gathered at the gate.
"See you later!"
A few of them added, quieter,
"Will Pan-chan-sensei come back?"
---
On the walk back, Koro-sensei walked up beside Akira at the rear of the group.
"Akira-kun. You have been a teacher for two weeks now. Did you enjoy it?"
Akira looked at him and said nothing.
Koro-sensei coughed.
"So tell me, Akira-kun. For you, what does it mean to be a teacher?"
Akira sighed.
"All I know is I suck at it. I tried my best, but… at least when it comes to academics, I can't make them understand. I even confuse them more. Maybe I should stick to teaching older students."
"Speaking of older students," Koro-sensei said, "you did teach someone, right? What do you think about that?"
Akira thought for a while.
"…Well. To be honest… it was fun. Teaching her about those stories. Making plans with her. Guiding her and seeing her use her plan to succeed. I think I felt happy. It was fun, in a way. Though I'm not sure if that's considered teaching."
Koro-sensei's eyes lit up as he smiled wider.
"Well. For now, that's enough, I guess."
Akira glanced over.
"So, did I pass?"
Koro-sensei looked away.
"I will treat it as barely passing."
Akira let out a long breath.
"Good. I will tell you my request someday." He started walking faster. "Seriously, I would have really cried if I failed after all that."
He went ahead toward Erika to recharge.
Koro-sensei stayed behind for a moment, watching him go with a smile.
He did not say anything else.