Some Teacher

(3.5) Mountain time!

"Alright, class!" announced Nagisa, rising from his seat as the train pulled to a halt. "This is our stop! Collect you things and let's get going."

Class 3-5 disembarked onto the concrete platform. Nagisa led them out onto the sidewalk where he did another quick headcount to make sure no one was stuck in the crowd of the station.

It was a short walk, just a handful of blocks, to what looked like a school campus. There was a padlocked chainlink fence around it, and beyond that it looked to be in a state of mild disrepair. A few windows were broken, some had been boarded up, and it looked like it could use a new coat of paint, but it wasn't decrepit or falling apart or anything. It looked like it could've been a brand new facility ten years ago.

Standing in front of the chain link fence were two guys just chatting. One of them was Karma, the other was a guy a few centimeters shorter than him, with shaggy black hair and a pleasant smile. They were talking amiably.

"Hey Karma, hey Isogai-kun!" Nagisa greeted cheerfully. "Will you bee coming with us too?" He directed this question at Isogai.

"No, I'd love to, but I just came to drop off the keys," Isogai explained. "You guys have fun, I should probably get going."

"See ya later Isogai-kun!" Nagisa said with a wave. "Karma, you have the keys then?" Karma nodded. "Alright class, let's get started, shall we!"

Upon seeing Karma, the teens were almost immediately more excited about the trip. As far as they were concerned, he was practically a superhero. He had been kidnapped and escaped on his own. He'd helped rescue them when they were all kidnapped, then he led them in a second rescue attempt when the first didn't quite succeed. He was awesome.

"Karma-san?" Misono was the first to ask a question as the group started up the slope, trying their best to avoid tripping over tree roots or stumbling across poison ivy. "Are you gonna be with us the whole trip?"

"Basically," Karma said offhandedly. "Depending on when you leave the last day, I might have to go early. I only took so many vacation days."

"Why did you take time off work to chaperone a bunch of high-schoolers?" Fuyu asked, as he helped his sister up a particularly steep section where some of the soil must have eroded away.

"Nagisa needed a second chaperone, and he was too stubborn to just ask me, so I volunteered." Karma shrugged. "I kinda like you kids."

"I feel more flattered than I think I should be," Kirasaya said, then swatted at some unseen insect.

"Same," Kiya admitted, and Karma laughed a bit.

Until they were about halfway up the hill, the students all chattered, asking Karma questions like, 'so how did you escape that one time anyway?' and 'where did you learn to lead a rescue?'

By the time they'd reached about the halfway point, some of the students had forgone talking and were instead panting. Though they were used to Nagisa-sensei's sometimes rigorous PE classes, hiking wasn't something they did often. It's was a completely different beast than the usual exertions.

By the time they'd made their way past snakes and suspiciously unstable-looking bridges, among other things, and reached the very top, several students looked ready to collapse. Ken was holding his knees, white hair falling into his face as he panted and gasped for breath. Asui and Katsura has planted themselves on nearby boulders, and were in about the same condition.

Fukara was leaned up against a tree, trying to get the wind back into his burning chest. And Marihara had opted to just lay down on the ground instead of trying to remain upright, and announced her intention of never moving from that spot again.

"Drama queen," Hinata muttered, then reminded Marihara, "you're getting dirt in your hair!"

Marihara immediately shot up, unraveled her bun, and brushed as much dust out of her cranberry-auburn hair as she could with her fingers. She glared harshly at Hinata, before she redid her hairstyle. He just snickered in response.

While catching their breath, the students all looked around the mountain top. There was a wide clearing, and a small school building that looked to be even older than the one at the bottom of the hill, but in much better condition.

Unlike the modern, but neglected and corroding building from before, this looked like it was very well-kept, tidy, and maintained. The flower bed outside had only a few tiny weeds; the sandy clearing wasn't overgrown, or pitted. 

The building's paint wasn't peeling, the windows weren't cracked or broken, and the whole place looked like it had been given a thorough cleaning sometime in the last few months. No longer perfect, but clearly cared for.

"What is this place?" Misono asked.

"Welcome to the classroom and property of Kunugigaoka junior-high's class 3-E," Nagisa announced proudly, a smile spread across his face. "Feel free to look around, but I would like to warn you again against damaging anything. If you so much as scratch a desk, it could spell serious trouble for you."

"Yeah," Karma added, "imagine having twenty-eight assassins, all with a personal vendetta against you, then you might have an idea of the consequences."

Nagisa attempted to elbow Karma in the ribs, but the closest he could get was the red-head's waist. "Karma!" he scolded, frowning disapprovingly.

Karma gave him a signature smirk, amber eyes twinkling with mischief, and Nagisa knew immediately that he was going to regret letting his boyfriend come along. As long as he didn't leave Karma alone with his students, his reputation, which was already hanging by a thread, might survive. He let out a long-suffering sigh, before addressing his students.

"First thing's first, however," Nagisa announced. "Let's pitch the tents."

There were two large tents, and one much smaller one. The girls were in one of the large tents, and the boys in the other. Nagisa and Karma would share the smaller tent. It was undoubtedly going to be cramped for everyone, but they hadn't expected anything less.