Oh.
Oh.
This was it. This was definitely why Aguri wanted to destroy this place. Koro gazed through the glass window. Children. Not even teenagers, children. Ten. Eight. Some looked like they could barely walk around.
All of the horror he went through with the testing, was being done on . . . children. Don't blow. Keep it cool. There will come a time.
"Here they are, Lord, the Itty Bitties." Lola opened the door toward them. They all stared at her. "Greetings."
"Can we go home now?" one of them asked. "I miss my parents and my sister."
Stolen. Not even from the streets, from their own homes. He smiled and waved to them. "Hello. My name is Korosensei."
"Hello, Korosensei."
Obedient and sweet, the usual answer the young gave when they heard sensei. Well, not his former class, but kids in general. Especially the young ones. "What's your names?"
"Stand up and bow to God of Death," Lola instructed them. "Then announce your name."
"Emily," one said.
"Gary."
"Michael."
"Hermano."
"Inke."
The accents and the names were from all over the place. The facility had nabbed children from all around the world? "Pleased to meet you, Kids. How many of you can understand me, raise your hand." Everyone raised their hand.
"Each of them has been here long enough for the treatment to take care of that pesky language barrier," Lola told him. "It's such a wonderful world when we can all speak each other's language."
"Can I go home yet, Teacher Koro? I mean Koro the Teacher?" Emily raised her hand. "If we are good students, can we go home?"
"This is your home, Emily," Lola insisted. "It'll feel better later. Especially as you learn Sanctuary teachings."
Koro watched as some of the younger children cried. One of them came up to him and hugged his knees. Probably too young to talk.
"Let's not hug the All Mighty One, we are not worthy." Lola started to gently grab him but Koro stopped her.
"That's not true. Every student is worth a hug from a teacher." Koro reached down with his arms and hands, picking the young boy up. "Everyone here is worthy of touching and talking to everyone."
Unalarmed. Not scared. Small tendrils of tentacles coming from the fingers. It said something in Spanish he understood.
Help.
All of these kids needed help. He wanted to get through there, learn about Aguri, and get out.
But he found a greater calling. To destroy Sanctuary as a whole would eliminate all these Innocents too.
He had to change it to destroy it.
Koro glanced behind him, sensing Hyouga at the door. He placed the young crying boy back on the ground. He spoke back to him in Spanish. "Run along. Play with your friends." He didn't move toward Hyouga, making him move toward him.
"Lola? Why did you bring God of Death here?" Hyouga asked her. "That isn't what I meant by show him."
"This is the closest I have permission right now. The elders have to grant permission," Lola said.
"What?" Hyouga scoffed. "You are the messenger of the mighty god. The one who is to save us from this planet and bring our species to a new world should not have to wait for some stupid meeting."
"Right. Right, you are right," Lola decided. "Yes, I will bring him from the Itty Bitties to The Miracles."
"Hang on." He wasn't getting dragged away yet. "Who is teaching them?"
"The messenger of god of course." She gestured to herself.
"I am taking over," Koro insisted. "I prefer teaching future sanctuarians over humans," he lied.
"Oh." Lola looked nonplussed. "Of course."
"I will get to know them better soon." Koro waved at them. "First, what are The Miracles?"
"This way, Lord." Lola left the room and marched onward. She arrived at a sealed off door. She placed part of two tentacles on the side and then dialed some numbers. The door opened.
Koro looked in again and his heart couldn't have sank more.
Babies. Babies were being experimented on too.
He approached them. Some slept while some were slightly fussing. There were two people there that were caretakers.
How? How could they even want to do experiments on things so young? Why even, for what purpose?
Lola went over and picked one up. It fussed a little and she bowed slightly toward him, holding it out towards him.
Koro took it. "Preschoolers are just too old for certain experiments, huh?"
Lola just laughed at the insensitive joke. "Benjamin!" She waved to one of the caretakers. "I will remove the shell from one. Can you replace it soon?"
One of the attendees nodded toward her.
Shell? Koro watched as Lola gave it a small injection in the shoulder.
Then? There was a small antimatter octopus resting in his arms. It moved it's tentacles with a smile on its face.
"Ah, they always feel better after coming out." Lola touched his tentacle. "So cute, aren't they? Our little octopus babies."
"Are they easier to turn as babies?" What was the reason for starting so young?
"No, no. There's been no experimentation with them after birth. They were born that way."
Born that way? Born that . . . way? Wait. Koro lifted the baby octopus up to look at it. This was . . . "Impossible?"
"It took multiple trials to ensure it was right," Lola informed him. "Everyone has to be in a certain degree of changing for it to occur. So far, we haven't been able to get Sanctuarist to match with Sanctuarist. It just takes time though, after all, we are a new species. Everything takes time."
Koro didn't say anything as he watched the baby octopus just wiggle.
"We don't want to call them fry, it denotes just a regular octopi. Though we look similar, that is also why we don't go with just octopus, we've chosen to-"
"Messenger of god can shut up a moment." Koro glanced toward Hyouga. He didn't bat an eye.
Koro handed the fry back to Lola and said only one thing. "Aguri."
"Lord Reaper, there is still so much-"
"Understood." Koro wasn't an idiot, he understood. Sanctuary thought he would die, so they wanted to make a new god. Not Aguri, but from inside Aguri.
"Lady Aguri must have her shell fixed. She won't birth the same way as a human or an octopus," Lola warned him. "Take her too soon, and she might break all together."
"The audacity." Koro turned to Hyouga. He knew. He wanted to lay into him, choke him and rant at him, but he knew it wasn't the time for that yet. It was close but not yet. "How successful is the chance Aguri will be okay?"
"Lord Reaper, you are the All Mighty, of course you-"
"Quiet." He was losing it. "Forget all the mumbo jumbo god stuff or miracles, Hyouga, what are the chances she'll be okay?"
"50/50," Hyouga revealed. "Too much worry or stress on her will make her miscarry. She is a mix of human and antimatter, and the combination isn't easy to hold. That is why she needs to be in the shell until it's ready to be born. Just in case the worse thing happens."
"It's unstable." Just like he had been. "She could destroy the world."
"Without the shell," Hyouga answered. "None of them have gone without the shell. I've . . . tried to protect her, to keep her relaxed and happy. She was even going to get a teaching job. The happier, the better."
Koro glanced back. "So, messenger? Anything to add?"
Lola cleared her throat. "Some mothers don't make it, and some babies don't make it, and sometimes neither make it. Lady Aguri is strong, I am sure she will be fine. However, she must come back monthly to fix her shell, or the creator of it will have to fix it."
"Let me guess." Koro glared at Hyouga like he was absolute dirt. "You."
"As the creator of the shell, I can give her the best odds of success along with the fry."
Koro's cool felt destroyed. He had to keep it to learn everything he could, and he was once known for being so good for it.
But? Being Korosensei for a year just made things too unpalatable to take any longer.
Aguri's life was still in danger.
Aguri was pregnant with his kid (since they wanted a new god)
That kid's life was in danger since this was extremely experimental.
To top it all off, he had to let Hyouga back into their lives or deliver her to that place once a month to fix her shell.
Add in the fact that he couldn't strangle everyone with his tentacles right now because he didn't have them or any of his antimatter powers in a shell?
Yeah. He lost his cool.
"It is not a fry, Hyouga, we do not call our young that name." She bowed toward Koro. "We have saved that honor for you. We have been called Sanctuarists because we all hide together in our Sanctuary. Some refer to us as octopi since we do have tentacles. Our young have no real name but we tend to call them Our Miracles. What would you like for them to be called?"
"Koro's little bitches and bastards!" Koro said enthusiastically. "In fact, that's just a start. Your Lord would like Sanctuarist turned into Assholes, and the planet that I will take you all to will be called My Shitlist. That way the Assholes and all the bitches and bastards can be on My Shitlist."
Lola shut up again. Maybe she was starting to see he wasn't so holier than thou.
"I want out of this shell," Koro told Hyouga. "Now!"
"You are an upstanding individual, right?" Hyouga asked him. "The shell is best for walking around humans."
"I walk around them just fine like myself. Turn a skin color, a little wig, and I'm done." He was missing his tentacles, which he'd love to wrap around several people and octopi right now.
"People don't look at you so easily as being normal," Hyouga warned him.
"It doesn't matter, it's who I am. I already got a job with that awesome face anyway." He was just spitting out things now.
"You like your new teaching job?" Hyouga asked. "Aguri was excited to start teaching again."
Koro barely started. He was just learning and researching about his students. He didn't gain the full access to study privileges like last year. Most of the information came from the town itself. So far, the students were mostly good kids on a decent path. Nothing as special as class 3-E but they were his students.
"I can take care of her and give the best results, and you can go back to the teaching job you enjoy." Hyouga had the audacity to offer it.
Koro wasn't done though yet. "There's no way these shells are going to keep someone like me in forever."
"Continually fighting it, probably not," Hyouga suggested. "I already know it's a losing game to go against you. I just want to make a deal. If Aguri ends up okay, you won't come after my brother."
It felt like it was more than big brother syndrome. "Deal," Koro promised. "Shake on it." He grabbed Hyouga's hand and shook it. "If Aguri ends up okay, I won't come after your brother. If Aguri doesn't, then you'll bring him to me."
Oh. It looked like Hyouga didn't like the way he phrased it. "I didn't mean to put his life on the line."
"Well, you did, so you better do your best so I don't have to kill your little brother." Koro didn't mention the baby or fry in the deal. Those kinds of things were going to be risky at best. "Don't hang around her school, and don't come around our apartment for kicks. I'll be teaching here, so I'll keep in contact through Sanctuary."
Koro cooled back down. He had to deal with this game.
"Lola, give me all the details on the planet projects you have." Koro added his best smile. "Sorry. It was overwhelming. This god is full of wrath when he's angry. Of course Lady Aguri will be fine, I'll wish for it to be so." Yep, she was falling for it. "I'm going to stay undercover with Lady Aguri and our future little . . ." I have no idea what to call it. Conceived between human and antimatter states. "No one but Hyouga should bother us. I don't want unworthy Sanctuarians to view Lady Aguri."
"Of course, Lord God of Death." She bowed. "You shall be given excess shells to research the human world to your hearts content. Hyouga has already arranged them to be delivered."
Hyouga held one out to him. "There are green and red. Green solidifies the shell around you. It's quick setting like cement, but it's not within seconds. The red allows the power within you to step back in control. When you feel your tentacles, you can bust from the shell."
"Lola, I have news about-?" Someone came in and looked at Koro. He bent down. "I'm not worthy!"
"Nope, you're not," Koro agreed.
"Praise be to he who-"
Koro couldn't anymore. "Skip it."
"Lola." A fleet of octopi in business suits came toward them as one of them called out for her.
Lola bowed, but they weren't impressed.
"God of Death," one of them addressed him, but not with reverence. "We are the second part of Sanctuary."
Koro watched as some of them brought out devices he'd never seen before.
"Come with us, and then we'll take you to Yukimura."
——————————
Meeting Room
No more reverence, that was nice. Still? Koro didn't like the looks they were giving him.
"Lola has been dismissed," the closest one to him said. "We know you aren't a god."
Koro shrugged.
"How did you come back to life?" they asked him. "You were nothing but particles."
"We have been trying to stir the other side of Sanctuary to believe less of you as a god," another one complained, "but this just makes it more difficult."
"Reincarnation does that," Koro teased.
"Do you have any theories on how you survived?" The first one near him asked again. "What brought you back?"
"This place should have nametags." Did he really want to help at all?
"Was it excited particles?" another one asked. "Hyouga said that you remembered something before you came back."
"Which means you were never really gone," another one remarked. "You survived in a state of particles."
Koro just threw them another shrug. "I guess. I remember nothing except a few words beforehand. That's all."
"You were the first successful experiment of Yanagisawa. Did he do anything different with you that he didn't with others?"
Curious scientists. He just gave them another shrug. "Aguri Yukimura."
"Not our fault," one of them said. "The religion is what brought Sanctuary together as a group, no one is going to go over the elders. Yukimura will be fine, as long as her shell is kept intact. She has about an 85% chance of surviving pregnancy just fine if the shell is fine. The fry as well."
Those were better odds than Hyouga seemed to give.
Koro also didn't know these scientist octopi people any better either. "I have no way of knowing those percentages." He watched as paper was scooted toward him, along with a tablet. He took them.
Fifty women were the guinea pigs at first. Five of them survived and two babies. Fifteen women were tried after that, all but six survived. Five babies survived. Ten women after that, and none had died so far. The data showed the changes in the creations of the shells, and showing when they needed to enlarge them or boost them to be stronger. "I should be going over morning spellings right now." Koro sat it back down. "What do you want from me?"
"To study you more," one of them suggested. "You might be the answer to eternal life."
Ugh. "I'm not," Koro told them. "I can feel that." How to explain it? "Aguri is the glue. I just know when she's gone, I'm gonna go this time." For good.
"The mere act of wanting to survive for her is keeping you alive?" one of them asked. "Hard to accept."
They gained another shrug from him. They could believe what they wanted.
"Hyouga is the creator of the shells, but he likes Aguri Yukimura." Someone revealed the obvious. "Sanctuary already has his technology. He is going to use the shells for you and Yukimura for his own needs. He has no sort of vision for a real future. He won't help us reach another planet to populate safely. He only cares about his brother, and her. He doesn't care about the fry or anything else. You should be aware of that."
"If I learn the shells, then I don't have to worry about sabotage later on." He would just need to get access to whatever ingredients he needed for them. Even this band of octopus business men were warning him.
Hyouga was probably gonna attempt to poison him with a shell, so he could have Aguri and save his brother.
"We have screened the first batch of shells," one of them informed him. They even handed it over. "You can investigate yourself."
Heh. Koro took the box and took the red pill, but he wasn't messing with any other shells unless it was utterly important. He didn't care what people thought when they saw him masquerading as human. Maybe they did see someone with some kind of condition. He was strange looking no matter what he did, but it didn't matter. He passed.
If he passed in the world as a human, then he didn't care about passing as some perfectly sculpted human. Never know the future though. It could be good for a disguise among humans who only knew one look or the other. It was best to hold onto them for now.
"If you connect to Sanctuary via the device we just gave you, and collaborate with us to find a way off this planet that is safe and effective, then we'll take care of the burden of Hyouga," one of them offered. "Nothing major, we'll watch your back. If he oversteps his boundaries, you may do as you see fit."
"I want to teach the newcomers to Sanctuary, and I want Aguri Yukimura out of here and safely teaching back at her school." Hers. He couldn't have it both ways, and these people needed guidance.
"Hyouga always said it was best not to tell her, however he also took her away from Sanctuary. We aren't fond of him, but he was one of the best scientists we had," one of them announced. "Therefore, reveal whatever you think is best."
———————
Koro headed out with them, heading back to Aguri's area. Of course, Hyouga was there. He glanced toward him.
"The shell is being fixed. She'll be fine temporarily in the other form." Hyouga sighed. "I didn't have a choice. How long would it have been before you started to experiment with ways to save her?"
Koro didn't answer. He reached the window and glanced in. Out of her shell? Aguri. He could finally see what they had really done.
No more shell covered her. She was a pink antimatter octopus, but not just that? "She's so cute."
"She's patterned with dark and lighter pinks," one of the business octopus said. "The patterned ones tend to have the best naturally shifting shape abilities. It makes it easier to base shells around them. All mothers who made it were patterned."
"She'll make it," Hyouga said. "I won't let anything happen to her. I hate this part though." He touched the glass. "That's not her. This process won't last long."
"It is her," Koro corrected him. "It's what you are trying to hide."
"It never should have happened. None of this to anyone. She should be human, not this . . ." Hyouga watched his mouth.
Oh? Well, Koro did catch something new this time. Hyouga resented the octopi itself. Not just the Sanctuarists, he resented them all. The change into Korosensei did him good, but it apparently hadn't been the same from Hyouga. "Where are your tentacles?"
"I am not that far," Hyouga insisted. "I don't indulge in using what tentacles I have. It's wrong." He tapped the glass. "The shells are getting better and better. They started for months, but the more concentration I have on creation, the longer they work. After pregnancy, I will give her a one-year shell."
To hide what you don't want to see. Koro didn't answer again.
"I can give you a longer lasting shell too. The custom ones take time by my hands, but I can do that for you. One day, I might even be able to stretch it normally to years," Hyouga insisted.
"No thanks, I like my powers." Koro already took the pill to get rid of it for a reason. Koro saw her starting to wake up. He opened the door and went inside to greet her.
Aw. She looked like him and the other octopi, except for her eyes. Her eyes still spoke volumes of Aguri. Her personality, her light, everything was still in those eyes.
"Don't tell her anything," Hyouga warned him.
Koro didn't answer him. "Aguri. When did you play in shibori tie-dye you naughty girl?" Aguri looked toward him. Yeah, her eyes. Also, her boobs to a degree. Probably her body filling out naturally in places since she was unconscious, but who cares if they had a use? "Don't you fill out nicely as an octopi."
"God of Death?"
Koro patted his chest. "Shell. Thing. Don't like it much." He smiled at her. "We are going home soon, no worries. We just had to stop for a little patch job. Also, an asshole pick up." He gestured to Hyouga. "I hope someone good writes the doctor note for why we missed school today."
Aguri just looked toward Hyouga for a second, then back at Koro. "Will we really be able to leave?"
"Only if you call me Korosenpai," he teased her.
"This won't take long Aguri, and then you'll be back to normal," Hyouga told her. "I'll try not to interrupt much. I'm sorry I had to involve Sanctuary, but you didn't understand the danger you were in. You two could have done something serious."
"How could we?" she asked. "When you hold all the secrets."
"We'll go over that later," Koro said to her. "I got the grand tour of this place, so just relax. Let your tentacles drop down. Rest your head."
Good. Just like on Lola, when his shell broke, it was more of a wave like water. It felt better again. He reached his tentacles towards her.
Oh. Yeah, Hyouga did have tentacles alright. Koro watched as his black tentacles blocked him from touching Aguri.
"Tentacles are sensitive," Hyouga told him. "Sanctuarists don't hug or touch others like them. Your exact tentacles can touch others fine, but when it touches another tentacle of another, it's too tender."
"I will translate that for you, Lord!" Lola said as she ran in, having found him. "Hyouga said 'touching tentacles is naughty, only those you really care about are supposed to touch tentacles with each other." She giggled. "I love it, it's better than human sex in the right places! Especially from the back tentacles."
"To you," Hyouga said unimpressed. "That's weird."
"Touch the front tentacles of Lady Aguri and it won't be as sensitive," Lola told him. She glared at the others. "You didn't tell me where the God of Death had gone at all."
Front tentacle. He reached out to her tentacle that resembled a hand similar to his. Strange actually touching her like this. "There is a good chance we might be okay." He slithered slowly around her tentacle more, watching her.
"That's good, get on the shell," Hyouga instructed. "We'll leave now."
Koro let go of her tentacle. "I'll be back. I'll explain some things, Aguri."
"Did you see the Itty Bitties?" She had to ask it. "Their monsters, and I don't mean the kids."
Yeah. Sanctuary was the monsters. "I did. They're my future students," he revealed. "I'm going to work on changing it from the inside out. That means that I won't be able to teach my other class."
"I knew that would happen once you saw them," she revealed.
"I'll still be there for your nightly lessons. What kind of upper classmen would I be?" he teased.
"You'll still be my Korosenpai?"
"Absolutely."
"The shell, now," Hyouga insisted. "She's been that way too long. Come on." Hyouga left while others came in with a pill.
Aguri took it in her tentacle. "What is this?"
"This is why you looked human," Koro told her. "Hyouga was giving you a pill to keep your shape. We're going to need his help for a little while longer before you can break free from here. In the meantime, I'm going to help Sanctuary." He raised his tentacles high. "I'm going to help them shoot for the stars because I am the destined one to take them out to space."
Those that he couldn't change in Sanctuary, he'd take out to space.
To take them out, in space.
—————————————
Yanagisawa's Care Center
Yanagisawa no longer had any limbs to do anything. He was stuck and immovable, staring out the window. His days were meaningless with nothing. After having been thrown against that anti barrier, he was almost demolished. Only his human parts seemed to remain.
The only good thing is that the original Reaper was dead. He deserved that death for killing Aguri. It was all that Reaper's fault! His crazy cult thought they would be reunited in heaven, so they sent Aguri.
Reunited in heaven! He bitterly knew it was true to a degree, they were both dead. There was nothing to show for it, except lying in bed. That Korosensei didn't even die by his hands or his students. Nothing to satisfy the revenge, he just died peacefully.
"Yanagisawa."
A visitor? No one visited. He couldn't tell who it had been. He only felt someone jab something in his arm.
"Sanctuary's special."
Sanctuary? Yanagisawa felt himself regaining the tentacles back. Bigger. Longer. He could move again! He moved himself around with the tentacles to see who visited him. He didn't know the man, but he also had something else.
"These are Sanctuaries' too." He handed one to him. "It'll give you a human shape again, but you won't be able to use any tentacles or power with it. Just relax for a few minutes."
Human shape? He took the pill and listened to what else the man had to stay.
"My name is Tsuruga and my brother is an idiot," he explained. "He's making the deal with the Reaper to try and spare me. I think it's a better idea to find a good counter source."
A deal? Yanagisawa rubbed his chin. That didn't feel right. He looked at his legs and stood up. He could walk like normal again. "Fascinating, changing the tentacles into legs instead of relying on the meat of the human body." He moved toward a mirror to see how he looked.
He screamed. "What the hell?!" He touched his face all over.
He looked like God of Death.
"Korosensei is alive," Tsuruga revealed, "as well as Aguri Yukimura. Sanctuary took her to experiment with. She was considered part of their prophecy, so with the Reaper doomed to die, they wanted her to have his kid."
Yanagisawa kept touching his face. "His kid?" He patted it.
"Yeah, it would grow up and lead them to another planet in their mind," Tsuruga said.
"Aguri?" He wasn't lying? "Aguri is pregnant with-"
"Antimatter, yep. It's been done before, but the success without my brother isn't very high. He made a deal with Koro to help Aguri live if he doesn't come after me." He sighed. "They work off of old patterns in the DNA buried deeply and then it's turned into a pill and remodeled for a shell. I can't give you God of Death, Hyouga won't give me details, but with the Reapers shells, you are his human form. I'm sure you can find a way to make him come to you."
Aguri.
She was alive.
She was carrying . . . "I'll find a way to make him come to me."