Aguri was on the phone with Akari to see if she had anything to add. She just hung up. "He made a broadcast, most likely from Sanctuary. Akari said he never showed a human appearance. It was you with some other octopus in their original appearance. No humans but one, and he took Korosensei for the name. They are demanding parts and precision help to escape Earth within one year, or you'll blow it up, like you did the moon. He didn't show a lot of octopus with him, but he said there were over 5,000 of them."
Korosensei's name. Korosensei's appearance. Korosensei's whole past with Class 3E. The press were showing off his costumes, how he hid his tentacles, everything. "It's that wonderful human spirit that comes together to try and save the world again." Except, there was no saving the world. Yanagisawa was making it up and putting Sanctuary in danger, in his name.
This would get Sanctuary killed, not in the name of God of Death . . . but in the name of Korosensei. "Just couldn't get a powerful enough student. Decided to find some other way to make me pay." He lied down on the couch.
"Yukimura Aguri is next to him, according to Akari. The only human shown in the whole thing," she told him. "I am guessing that is Chou Chou."
Yeah, he was seeing her face popping up on channels. Yukimura Aguri, presumed dead but now accused of being alive and helping Korosensei. Some of his former class 3E students were being harrassed about their time again by the press, but none of them believed it was him, or ignoring interviews. It was a hoax to each one, their old teacher had been killed. Each of them believed that.
After all, they killed him.
Good students. Unfortunately, Akari was getting the brunt of it right now having not only been a secretly discovered student of Korosensei, but the sister to Yukimura Aguri too.
"Korosenpai?" Aguri asked delicately. "This isn't like before with you, is it?"
"I made my intentions clear with the government. Yanagisawa took all of the materials straight to the presses themselves." He made this so it couldn't be covered up. "We are probably everywhere. Innocent Sanctuarians are going to start getting killed. I can't come out like this safely. You can't come out safely."
"Akari said he never showed your human form, or used the words God of Death, just Korosensei." Aguri didn't seem to know what to do with herself.
Yeah. "Yanagisawa isn't bothering with my human form anymore, that was merely filling in until he figured out how to make cephalopod shells." No wonder he attacked as himself. It wouldn't be long before people at the hotel recognized them as they were. There was only one way out. "I have to get out and get some dye and different clothes for you, Aguri." He pulled out the shells. "And I'm going to have to trust in Chou Chou's pills."
"When you do that, get a coloring book or something for a kid to do please," Emiko said to him.
Right. Okay? "You might have missed this?" She didn't. "We are in immense danger," he pointed out to Emiko. "Aguri and I could be randomly killed right now because of everything in the press, and you wouldn't care. Yet," he said. She had shown some sign of caring with Lola when her tentacle was squeezed. Others she didn't know were not going to make a blip yet.
"You want something to help distract you?" Aguri asked her. "Is a coloring book enough, or do you need a story? I'm pretty good at telling stories."
"I like videos," Emiko said going over toward Aguri. She didn't care about what he said at all. "I like coloring books, toys, and the few videos I was allowed to watch. No one tells stories."
"Well, I do. I used to tell them to your Aunt Akari when she was growing up," Aguri said to her. "If we get a book, what kind of book do you like? Fantasy? Comedy?"
"Um? I don't know. A good story. With good pictures!" she insisted. "Big, pretty pictures."
Just like that, he could see a difference in Emiko's expression again. Aguri tended to make the impossible happen. She was the only one who ever cracked him. Seeing that expression on Emiko, I just keep seeing my human face. My human self. He had to remember what Aguri said. Emiko's face was Emiko's, not his. She wasn't him, and she was even there with them now. Be better. Treat her like a student if you have to, but you've got to distance yourself from that look.
She wasn't an assassin. Her biggest goal was a coloring book.
Speaking of the human face he once had, he took out a shell and popped it in his mouth.
Emiko came over to him. "What are you lying down for, Luna? You look terrible. If you're sick, you should go to another room so you don't get others sick." Emiko didn't mince words.
Student. See her as someone you are trying to reach. "Your thinking is correct, but your words could use more work. Compassion is the word of the day," he said to her. "No, I'm not sick. I'm waiting to turn into a human."
"Why are you waiting? Do you suck at changing into a human?" Emiko asked.
"Only patterned octopi, like you and Aguri, can turn back into a human," he said. "Have you met any others like us besides Lola?" She just shook her head but pointed at him. "Yeah, I changed I bet?" He got up and looked at his hands. Easily human hands. Those human hands that assassinated countless numbers. "I'll be back."
"Wait." Aguri moved toward him. She looked uneasy. "Take Emiko?"
Take her? "With everyone looking for us right now, her?" What?
"Korosenpai." She touched his hand affectionately. "The stakes against us have been raised. We can't assume whenever we split up, we'll be fine again. Something could happen to you out there, or a discovery of me in here. When we have to split, we should split 50/50."
Yeah, it wasn't something he liked. She was stating facts though. It was risky either way. One person visiting the room. One person spotting him as his original self out there. Even taking Egg into public and her changing randomly. Luckily, not many people personally knew what the original God of Death looked like in human form. "You be careful, and don't look out of this room."
"You be careful too," she insisted.
He nodded and called for Emiko. "Let's go."
"Are we getting a picture story book too?" she asked.
"We'll get what we need, and last I heard, it's on the list." He tried to take her hand. He kept his hand held out for her to grab. "I know it's a different face. I'm still Luna."
"I don't care about faces," she said. "I was taught not to mess with stranger's hands unless I had to."
"A smart lesson to learn, but this hand is going to hold onto yours, so you stay safer," he insisted to her. "It's not going to bother you anywhere else."
She poked her small finger in the middle of his palm. "It's bigger than my Aunts or Aguri's."
"Guys tend to have bigger hands. I won't squish yours." She would have to hold it and feel comfortable if they were going shopping. I really hate this. Aguri's right, if something happens to either one, we can either save Egg or Emiko if we split up. It was terrible to think about, but it wasn't just them anymore. Not even just them with Egg riding around on him or hanging onto Aguri. Even Egg was finally too big for that.
Emiko finally took his hand.
It was different. She had a much smaller hand than anyone in Class 3E, and he never held the hands of any of the children in Sanctuary. At most, he had hugged when he needed to. But, it was a different feeling, hand to hand too. Different than tentacles. A firm reminder of who he'd been again.
A nameless person who had assassinated so many with an unchanging expression. "Don't let go of this hand, or I have to grab you and return you quickly back here. No yelling out, and no talking unless I ask you something." He knew he needed to be nicer, but Emiko was not exactly used to public, and this was a dangerous time to have her mess up. "I won't always be this strict. We'll be able to go for walks, drink fun soda, and hear stories before you know it. This situation is important though."
"As long as I get my books, I will keep my end of the deal." Not your typical six year old. Hopefully, she was telling the truth. It was always hard to read behind that smile. "You look funny in your school clothes now."
Oh yeah. "Aguri, do you have anything more . . .?" She gave him some clothes. Not the best, at all. Definitely not his flavor at all, but it was better than wearing his teacher clothes out there.
"We'll be back." He said it more firmly. He wouldn't be gone long, and he'd get them out of there.
Store
Dye. It was tricky, Aguri looked her best in her color now, but he grabbed several different shades of blonde and red, even pink. He also picked up some sunglasses, always a good cover.
"Under cover." Emiko grabbed sunglasses and looked at him. "Can you see me?"
Under cover wasn't words he wanted to hear and she was already breaking rules. Of course she is, didn't my students always do that? He grabbed the glasses and shoved them in the cart. "Come on."
Emiko started to skip while they walked. Was that normal for her? Was she planning something? How often did kids just randomly start to skip?
"Can we get candy, Luna?" she asked as she stopped skipping.
"Not on this trip." He watched her wave at a stranger who waved at her. "Don't do that please."
"She started it," Emiko said. "Wouldn't it be more mean not to wave back, Luna?"
Who knew the Luna name actually worked really well now? She wouldn't accidentally call him Korosensei, Koro, God of Death, or Lord Reaper because of that silly name.
"People randomly wave to me in public. I'm pretty cute," she said. "My Aunts hated that so I never went out in it."
He felt her start to jump around on different tiles. He glanced at the floor. It was checkerboard in black and white, she was jumping on the black tiles. "Making it kind of hard to walk and hold on."
"My Aunts did it, you can do it, Luna, I believe in you," she said, right before she tumbled to the ground. However, she was still holding onto him, so she just slid more than tumbled. She seemed pretty used to it.
"Oh, are you okay?" Another stranger just had to interact.
"I'm okay." She dusted off her butt with her free hand and continued walking. Nope, back to skipping. "Book yet?"
"No, some scissors." He didn't know everything Aguri would want to try. He better give her some options. He threw in a curler and a straightener too along with some hairspray. Egg should probably get something more than a washcloth but she wasn't big enough for much yet. Multiple washcloths, different colors? Then again, Akari said Emiko grew really fast. New washcloths, towels, and a couple preemie oufits.
There. Now, he couldn't forget a book for Emiko. That sounded important to Aguri, and even though she couldn't keep her promise not to speak unless he asked her something, she had held his hand the entire time.
She was chewing on her finger while she looked at the books.
He sighed and tried to get her finger. "You don't want to touch the books with a wet finger, okay?" He tried to use Aguri's shirt he was wearing, remembering that he was going to have to get his own clothes too. Ugh. One outfit. For now. Dangit. Emiko will need clothes. Aguri will need hiding clothes. Clothes section.
Emiko got a big storybook while he went over and grabbed his sizes, her sizes, and probably Emiko's size. She was octopus and good at changing shape, she could fit into it if it wasn't perfect. Actually? Once Aguri was able to come out safely, they could shop easier.
"Can we get a coloring book, Luna?" Emiko asked.
"That's all the way on the other side of the store." The toys section was far from clothing. She'll need something to distract her. She's a kid. Kids . . . play. They should play. They shouldn't be roaming the streets without a name, using their talent to find their own way to live on. He walked over to the coloring books. He picked up a book and a box of crayons. Simple things any kid would have. Should have.
He shoved them at her, without even thinking what he was doing. She had kept her hand in his, as promised, so the crayons dropped. He heard them shatter, half in and half out of the box. "Oh, just what we need." He let go of Emiko's hand and picked them up. He put them back inside before anyone around saw him break them. He'd just pay for them and not say anything.
"Those are broken," Emiko pointed out. "You pushed them at me."
"I'm just trying to get done and get out," he insisted. "Broken still work."
"Broken crayons get all over the place," she complained.
At least she gets crayons. "Let's go, don't complain."
"I thought Aunt Akari was the worst with me in public," Emiko said as he grabbed her hand. "I haven't even done anything bad yet and you are a grumpy monster. What did I do?"
"Nothing." Yet, that wasn't true, and he wasn't being fair at all. He was usually good with kids. Young kids and older kids. But? "I'm not happy in this form. I don't like it," he said. "It doesn't leave me in a good place. I remember the past more."
"Bad past?"
"Very bad," he admitted.
"Did you not get crayons?"
Smart little observer. "It wasn't good. You got a storybook, a coloring book, and some crayons. Can you please stop talking and playing around so we can get home faster?"
"Because Aguri and the tiny baby are alone at home."
He paused. No one picked up Aguri's name alone. "Yes and no, but we are headed back now. Just, pick up the pace, be good, and I'll get you some candy."
"Do I get to eat it when we get back?" she asked eagerly.
"You'll get it when you earned it," he said.
Just like that, she was quiet, stopped skipping or playing or noticing strangers, and didn't bother anyone in line. She did get a friendly greeting, but ignored it. It looked like she didn't get candy nearly that often.
Hotel
When he headed upstairs, he heard someone banging on their hotel door incessantly while jiggling keys in the doorknob. Damn, it was the person who checked them in! "What's wrong here?" he said, trying to stall him.
"I want to meet everyone in that hotel room. There's been some suspicions lately. I'd like to meet who is refusing to open the room." He sounded firm and angry as he pulled the keys back out. "I want her name."
"Mommy is in the shower!" Emiko let go of his hand and went over toward the stranger. "She said 'Emiko, it's super stress time and you are making super stress more, go with daddy to store'." She put her hands behind her. "So momma relaxed and took a bath while we went to the store- I got a coloring book, wanna see?" She went over to him and snagged it. "See? It's butterflies. I got a book too, mommy's going to read to me, hey, do you want to see a puking wizard? You have puking wizards in your wood over here!" She tugged on his sleeve.
No touching strangers unless she had to. She needs to pull and touch to build a connection with him, to make him believe that story. He followed her around the corner as she gestured around the wall.
"See, this is the wizard's hat, and this is his beard," she said tracing the grains of wood. "And right here is the vomit, see?"
The check in just looked over at him and he smiled. "I see, your wife needed a break, huh? That's why she's not answering?"
Oh good, he was falling for it.
"Okay, Honey," the check in said to Emiko. "Don't give your mom much trouble, it's a pretty difficult time around here for adults right now. You better color in your coloring book and read a story with your dad." The check in then looked toward him as he put his keys away. "I would be careful with your wife, she looks like someone from tv."
"Yeah, in the middle of our family vacation too." He couldn't deny it, that would look suspicious. "Thanks for the warning. Come on, Emiko, back inside." She waved and then went inside as he opened the door. The man walked off.
Korosensei put the bags on the ground next to the endtable Egg was on.
And Egg wasn't fitting in a washcloth anymore. Neither was she looking human. "Blanket, I should have got a blanket." His mind just wasn't on task right now. "At least I remembered these." Hopefully they worked.
"Yeah, she's just getting bigger and bigger," Aguri said a little worried. "Preemie onesies. Good idea."
"Alright, you, you need to get into that human shape form again," he tried to say playfully to Egg.
"That's easy." Emiko came over with her candybar sticking out of her hand. "If she's like me then it's right, hot, and left, monster."
Right hot and left monster? He watched her turn Egg and saw it for himself. Is that how Aguri changed? He grabbed one of the preemie outfits and put it over Egg. Maybe she'd be more inclined to stay in that shape? He covered her back up with a towel too. She was growing but didn't quite fit the outfit yet.
Aguri bent down to look into the bag. "My hair is already short. I guess short short then now?" She grabbed the other things. "I liked my hair like it had been."
"Can't you change your hair?" Emiko asked her. "I thought you could."
"I've never wanted to try," Aguri told her. "I liked me the way I had been. I didn't want to mess it up."
Hmmm. "Why don't you try?" He held up a pink container of dye. "This is your octopus color."
Aguri touched her hair with her hands. She concentrated on the pink dye. "Did that work?"
"Well?" Her skin had turned pink while her hair turned into her shibori color, along with it's pattern in pink. "At least we know it's possible. Try again."
Aguri looked at her skin. She changed it back to her usual flesh tone. The hair reversed in it's shibori colors and pattern. Now it was mostly pink with dark pink sections.
"That's like mine," Emiko said as she looked at Aguri's hair. She reached in the bag and gave her sunglasses. "These are for under cover."
Aguri tried them on. With the shades of pink and the sunglasses? He gave some to Emiko. They were big on her, but she took them on to try. Now they look like mother and daughter. They did, for the small amount of time Emiko kept them on. They were just too big to stay on for long. "Great, skip the dye and scissors. You look fine. We just need to change your name, so no one accidentally recognizes it if anyone overhears us."
"What about your name?" Aguri asked.
"Luna seems to work," he said.
Aguri smirked at him. Okay, so it wasn't the most common name for a guy. At least he didn't have to give himself his old name again. It didn't really fit in being called out in a store anyway.
"Artemis," Emiko said, "and Egg can be Diana."
"Okay . . ." Yeah, that was fine for him, but he couldn't dictate that for anyone else. "Names like that all around would probably look suspicious. We need to do better."
Emiko leaned so far over she lifted her right leg as she stared at him. "You named your little girl, Egg. I think it's an improvement."
"Touche." He'd give that to her. "Maybe we should . . . ?"
"Yeah, we need to give her a real name," Aguri agreed.
Let's see. Maybe something like Emiko . . . "Etsuko?"
"Etsuko." Aguri seemed happy with it. "Etsuko."
"I like Etsuko," Emiko agreed as she came closer to Etsuko. "Hello, Etsuko." She waved at her. "You can thank me when you grow up for getting your name changed from Egg of all things."
"It worked at the time," Koro defended them. But, what about Aguri? What name could possibly fit her? Aguri was already perfectly . . . perfect. Her smile. Her easy attitude. Her grace. When he looked at her, there was only one thing he ever saw. Something that couldn't, or shouldn't, or wouldn't ever be. Especially considering their past and their death. "Mirai?"
She glanced at him for a few seconds, and then more toward Etsuko. She didn't seem to like that one?
"Just a suggestion," he said. "There are millions of names to pick from out there, from Japanese to every country."
"I don't mind it," she said to him. "It all just . . . jumped really fast, didn't it?"
Yeah. They were cool as cucumbers, dealing with Egg as she aged slowly, dealing with Sanctuary day by day, even changing it from the inside and then . . . Yanagisawa changed everything when he froze them.
Wake up years later, Egg started growing, Yanagisawa was scaring the world, hurting his student, hurting Sanctuary, destroying his identity as Korosensei so he had to come out as his old self, destroying Aguri's reputation so she had to change, and even gave them a missing egg they didn't know about, now six years old.
Yeah. Yeah it all jumped real fast. He watched as Emiko grabbed her coloring book and crayons, and tattled on him breaking her crayons.
"It was a stressful time," Aguri said for him.
"He didn't get crayons when he was little." Simple phrase. Kids did that. Emiko looked toward him. "I bet you at least got some air."
Air? "I got air?"
"Yeah, I got stuck with a crazy Aunt and a celebrity Aunt. I was never allowed to go outside," Emiko said.
"All I had was outside!" That kid knew nothing. "I had nothing, it wasn't about crayons!" He looked at his hands again.
Emiko didn't look phased at all. An unemotional statue.
And he hated that.
"Korosenpai," Aguri said, dismissing the identity name all together. "She's six."
Right. He was doing it again. She had so much of his old self, staring right back at him. "Sorry for yelling," he apologized.
"No, you aren't. You're saying sorry so that Aguri sees you as a better person," she said calmly. No anger. No sadness. Nothing. "I know, I do it all the time with my Aunts." She looked toward Aguri. "Are you going to read a story soon?"
"I think soon. Um? Could you be a big girl and color in your coloring book for a little while? I'm going to talk to 'Luna' in the bathroom for a little while, okay?" Aguri stood up and headed to the bathroom.
Emiko did just that, crouching to the ground right where she'd been at and started looking at her coloring book.
"Korosenpai?" Aguri beckoned toward the bathroom. "Meet me privately in the bathroom? Please? I don't have to beg, do I?"