Summary: Nagisa has something to show the class.
Karma doesn't know how to react.
__
Or, in which Nagisa has tentacles, and Karma is being a teenager.
Slithery Revelation
Posted: 01/07/2022
Status: Completed
Author's note: here take this slew of word vomit i took the day to write
(you know the drill by now : not betaed, english is not my first language, written just for fun, etc)
Those past few weeks had certainly been a ride. Between Kayano’s reveal, then Koro-sensei’s, then a class civil war that ended up sending him and Karma to space…a lot had happened. Nagisa felt a bit guilty for what he was about to do, and almost decided against it, but then he remembered Itona, so overcome by his own power that he had no free will of his own. He remembered Kaede, so desperate for death, either Koro-sensei’s or her own, her body cold as a corpse’s.
Nagisa didn’t want to end up like this. Most importantly, he didn’t want his friends, his family, to see him in such a state after having to see it twice already. He knew, from personal experience, how painful it was to see your loved ones in agony; he didn’t want to inflict it once more on anyone.
Nagisa brought a trembling fist up to the staff room door. Trying to steady his erratic breathing, he inhaled slowly, counted to five, and exhaled just as slow. Hesitantly, but with surprising force, he knocked at the door and let himself in at Koro-sensei’s joyful “Enter!”.
Nagisa quietly entered the staff room, sliding shut the door behind him. With a quick glance around the small room, he could see that Karasuma-sensei and Bitch-sensei were present as well, the former was looking over some official-looking documents, while the latter was enjoying what looked like a high fashion magazine. At the main desk, Koro-sensei was grading tests at mach speed, the same usual unreadable smile present on his face.
“Ah, Nagisa-kun. What owes me the pleasure of your little visit? Trying out a new assassination method?” Koro-sensei’s tone was light-hearted, and Nagisa smiled at the suggestion. The class had already decided to save Koro-sensei, and while they still regularly made assassination attempts, it had become more of a bonding exercise for the class and their teachers than a true attempt on the yellow not-octopus’ life.
“Sorry to disappoint, but no, not this time.” Nagisa chuckled, his nerves settling a bit thanks to the light-hearted atmosphere, although he was still quite anxious. “I was actually hoping to, huh, speak to you…about something.”
Irina quirked an eyebrow at the vagueness of Nagisa’s words, some concern could be seen in her eyes. Tadaomi’s expression was expectedly unchanged, but even so, he spoke up.
“Would you prefer us to leave you two alone?” He asked Nagisa. The boy clearly had some trouble speaking up, perhaps feeling intimidated by having two other adults hear his conversation. Nagisa seemed to be considering the offer, but ended up shaking his head.
“No, I…I think it’d be better if all teachers know about this, after all.” He was looking down, wringing his hands together in front of his chest, but his voice was clear despite the hesitant pacing of his words. He wanted to talk, he had to.
“Well then, please sit down first.” Koro-sensei invited him, pulling out an unused chair in invitation. Nagisa sat down without complaining, and blinked at the cup of tea that had suddenly appeared in his hands. Green tea, no sugar, simple and just how he liked it. “Normally I’d offer hot chocolate, but I know you’re not a big fan of sweets.”
Even now, Koro-sensei was taking care of him and paying attention to him enough to know his tastes. Nagisa might just cry at the gentle attention.
(His mother could certainly learn a thing or two about childcare from him.)
“… Thank you.” Nagisa took a polite sip, noticing that the tea was hot, but not burning. He felt his throat then chest warm up comfortably thanks to the drink, which relaxed him a little. He held the teacup in his lap and looked back up to Koro-sensei. “After everything that went down, I’d like your advice on something but…well, maybe it’d be easier to show you.”
Nagisa placed the teacup on the table, then quietly reached up to his head, undoing his signature pigtails, while all three teachers looked at him quizzically. He placed his hands, holding the elastic bands, back in his lap, closed his eyes…and let go.
Nagisa felt his hair lengthen, strands clumping together to become one. As he heard a gasp and the sound of paper crumbling in a tentacled hand, he could feel the normally dormant nerves wake up, feeling the air, somehow both seeing and tasting his environment with the new appendages. Yes, even if he became blind, he would surely be able to easily navigate the world with those.
Because, sprouting from his head were, undeniably, tentacles.
Nagisa could already tell what kind of expressions his teachers were making thanks to the strange new senses that surfaced with his extra appendages, but even so he opened his eyes and stared right at Koro-sensei’s face with a sheepish expression. His normally yellow skin had taken a paler, almost gray color. He was very obviously rattled, but even so he kept his tone even, perhaps in an effort to prevent his student from panicking.
“How…are you feeling right now, Nagisa-kun?”
“Fine. I don’t feel like I’m losing control or anything.” Nagisa reassured. “But well, after what happened with Itona-kun and Kayano…I got a bit anxious.”
“Do you hurt anywhere?” This time, the question came from Irina. After all, they all knew that, without regular maintenance, tentacles caused excruciating pain, along with a variety of other symptoms, some of which could quickly become lethal.
“Not really, no. They’ve never hurt. I’ve never heard them speak to me like Itona-kun and Kayano said they did either. They feel like extra hands, and that’s about it.”
“That’s good, then, I suppose. We might be able to easily remove them.” Tadaomi piped up, although he looked at the tentacles calmly swaying in place with a curious expression, his hand brought to his chin in thought.
“Would you mind if I inspected your neck, Nagisa-kun?” Koro-sensei asked, having composed himself. He still sounded worried, but not as panicked, and his skin had gone back to its usual bright yellow color.
“Ah, sure, go ahead.” Nagisa stood straight in his chair, feeling a sudden wind around him as Koro-sensei practically teleported behind him. He felt a tentacle gently lift up an appendage that was covering the nape of his neck, then felt a round pad touch the skin there. The squishy feeling he had every time Koro-sensei poked him was weird, but not unwelcome. It felt sort of like a stress ball, except more rubbery. It was oddly relaxing, all things considered. Koro-sensei hummed in thought, but didn’t voice any of his thoughts.
“Would you mind if I inspected the rest of your back as well?” He asked, and Nagisa shook his head. The padded tentacle travelled down his shirt from his collar and gently poked along his spine, shoulders, and even lower back, then finally retreated altogether.
“What did you find?” Tadaomi questioned the octopus.
“Hmm, well, it’s a bit strange.” Koro-sensei started after reappearing in his own chair. “Normally, tentacles are injected in the neck, and take root there, but Nagisa-kun here has no ‘roots’ to speak of. The tentacles come directly from his head…or his hair, rather. Not only that,” he says as he brings one padded finger up, “but the skin on his back is surprisingly thick, and the texture is scaly.”
Nagisa blinked in confusion.
“So…what does this mean about my situation?”
“It might mean that what you have aren’t tentacles…or at least not the same kind we’ve seen before. Am I right to assume this, octopus?” Tadaomi gave a brief glance to Koro-sensei.
“That’s very possible.” Koro-sensei said, then went to address the boy directly. “You don’t have the typical symptoms of a human who’s been injected with tentacle cells. Your body temperature is slightly lower than average, but still at a healthy level. You said you’re not in pain either, and you’re in total control of your actions. Plus, the shape and texture of your tentacles are completely different. Adding to that your eyes—”
“My eyes?”
Irina took out a pocket mirror from her bag, opening it and showing Nagisa his own reflection. Nagisa’s eyes widened in surprise. There, in the reflection of the mirror, his eyes looked sharper, his pupils having become slits and the iris having become yellow, not unlike a snake’s.
He’d never noticed. After all, his mother had told him it was ugly, and that he should never show these to anyone. Although he often disobeyed and let out his tentacles in the privacy of his own room, he had never dared look at himself in the mirror during, afraid of what he’d see if he did.
“Nagisa-kun.” Koro-sensei’s voice was firm, but kind. “How long have you had those?”
Nagisa blinked, and answered truthfully. “As long as I can remember.”
Koro-sensei’s tentacled arms crossed together in a comical, much floppier imitation of a regular human crossing their arms, and nodded to himself.
“I see I see. Then we won’t need to remove those at all. To tell you the truth, I don’t think it’d be possible without injuring you permanently. For you see,” he brought a padded tentacle and gently poked Nagisa’s forehead with it, “when you were born, tentacle cells hadn’t been created yet.”
Nagisa looked down in confusion.
“But then…what are those, if they’re not tentacles?”
“Well, I don’t know that, your dearest sensei is knowledgeable in many things, but alas, this specific part of life is a bit of a mystery to me.”
“This part?” Nagisa parroted.
“Why, the supernatural, of course!” Koro-sensei beamed, immediately breaking any tension that remained in the room.
Three pairs of eyes looked at him blankly, then…
Irina shot up from her chair. “Are you shitting us right now, octopus?! This is a serious discussion!”
__
As it turned out, Nagisa maybe wasn’t as human as he originally thought. Koro-sensei, after successfully thwarting an enraged murder attempt from Irina, had explained that Nagisa’s “something” reminded him a lot about a certain Greek legend : the Medusa.
“The myths typically depict the Medusa as having snake heads for hair, and your tentacles remind me a lot of snake tails. The part of the snake is different, but the placement is identical. Your appearance while your tentacles are out is also quite reptilian in nature, with your yellow eyes and the scaly skin on your back.” He had said. Although he had little to no knowledge about the supernatural itself, he knew quite a bit about mythology. “The Medusa could turn people into stone if they looked into either her eyes or her snakes’. Obviously you can’t do that, but the way your bloodlust manifests has a similar effect on people.”
Tadaomi agreed. “A couple of your classmates have mentioned sometimes finding themselves unable to move during sparring sessions with you. I’ve also seen others freeze up when you let your bloodlust out.” He said, remembering that time after one assembly, when Nagisa had been able to make two boys from 3-D freeze in place just by looking at them. Back then, he had assumed this was caused by fear. But if they really were going down the ‘Medusa’ route…this could certainly explain some things.
“Still, the supernatural? Really? I find that hard to believe.” Irina, now back at her desk, had her legs crossed and a foot bouncing in irritation.
“Is it any stranger than a human-turned-yellow-octopus who can move at Mach 20, and yet decided to teach a class of middle-schoolers considered rejects by their school, while encouraging them to kill him?” Tadaomi asked, tone blank as his face.
“W-well, when you say it like that…” Irina mumbled, an embarrassed blush on her face.
And that was it, really. The teachers collectively decided to keep an eye on Nagisa just in case, but ultimately his case was deemed too different to be a “typical tentacle issue”. It was reassuring, in a way. Nagisa had been afraid he’d end up lashing out like his two classmates and potentially hurt people, but now it seemed that, aside from his already existing bloodlust and its already known effects…he was unlikely to cause anyone harm.
(Unless he actively wished for it of course, but Nagisa didn’t consider himself a violent person, this was more Karma’s specialty).
(…Speaking of Karma.)
“Should I…tell the others?” Nagisa asked, a tad anxious.
“That’s entirely up to you.” Koro-sensei said kindly, and Nagisa took a moment to think.
He remembered what Karma had confessed to him after their fight, as they were tending to the various wounds they had inflicted on each other.
“This is the only place where your feelings can be out in the open.” He had said, a wry smile on his face.
“I think I’ll tell them.” He concluded, newfound confidence in his eyes.
“Then we’ll support you all the way.” Koro-sensei’s expression softened, and he pet the boy’s head with a tentacle.
They already knew about his complicated family situation. What was one more secret? After all, this was this kind of classroom, where your feelings could be out in the open.
__
Things had gone…better than expected, all things considered. It had probably helped that, with his authorization, Koro-sensei had first warned the class that, whatever Nagisa was going to show them, all three of the teachers had deemed it safe, and it wouldn’t harm anyone in that room, especially not Nagisa himself. The vague warning had of course raised some concerns, but it had also prevented complete panic from taking over the classroom when, standing in front of the blackboard, Nagisa removed his hair ties and let go.
There had been many questions, not all of which Nagisa knew how to answer. All the while, Koro-sensei had taken care of the more technical explanations, mainly their Medusa theory.
“Do they hurt at all?” “Ah, no, I’m fine.”
“Do they come from your brain?” “No, it’s more like…my hair changes forms and kinda…transforms into them? Sorry, it’s a bit weird.”
“No way, that’s kinda cool, actually! Do you feel stuff with those?” “Yes, actually, but only when they’re out. It’s normal hair otherwise.”
“How fast can you move them?” “About as fast as my hands and feet, I think, maybe slightly faster. Definitely not Mach 20.”
“Do your eyes see differently?” “I think I see movement a bit better like this? Colors and details are the same, though.”
“And you’re sure this is safe, Koro-sensei?” Meg had aimed that question at their main teacher. “We can…leave them in? They won’t harm him or take control of him?”
“Indeed, Kataoka-san! I inspected them myself. They’re not the same kind of tentacles as mine, and are entirely safe for both Nagisa-kun and the people around him. I don’t think we’d be able to remove them anyway, they’re part of his body as they are.”
Among the chaos of the classroom, Nagisa had noticed three of his peers acting a bit differently. Itona and Kaede weren’t surprising; it made sense that they went to inspect one of his tentacles in much more detail than the others, considering their own respective experiences with tentacles.
“The texture’s completely different.” Itona noted, squeezing the tentacle he was holding, which earned him a small yelp from Nagisa. “Sorry.”
“They kinda look like snake tails, don’t they?” Kaede said, lightly brushing her finger against the scaly skin. Nagisa tried his best not to laugh at the ticklish sensation. “It’s kinda fitting for you, Nagisa-kun.” She said with a smile, and others agreed with her statement. He’d been compared to a snake before but…he couldn’t really see it. Well, unlike that one teacher that went mad and developed a personal vendetta against him, he knew that the way they compared him to the reptile wasn’t meant to be negative, so he left it at that.
It was the third person, though, who made him nervous. Standing to the side of the group, Karma’s gaze on Nagisa was intense, and he had to fight every instinct not to squirm from nerves (or at least, he tried to convince himself that what he felt as Karma inspected his entire body, not just the tentacles, was nervousness). The redhead had yet to say anything, nor had he tried to touch the tentacles. Even more reserved students like Rinka and Ryunosuke had given them a poke after getting his consent, yet Karma, who he’d considered his best friend, had barely reacted. Nagisa didn’t know how to read his expression.
The excitement eventually settled down, Nagisa retracted his tentacles and tied his hair back up, and they proceeded to go through the last period for the day, though some students were a bit distracted, glancing his way every now and then.
He could feel an intense gaze pierce through his back, and knew exactly who it belonged to.
__
He was once more bombarded with questions once class was over, but thankfully was able to free himself from everyone’s curiosity and walk down the mountain to the train station, though not before receiving a few pats on the shoulders and various thanks for trusting them with his secret. And of course he would. 3-E was more of a family to him than his actual blood family (which…wasn’t too hard to believe when looking at his mom; meanwhile, his father was nice enough, but they didn’t see each other enough for Nagisa to feel like he could depend on him).
Nagisa was accompanied by Tomohito, Manami, Kaede, and Karma. Manami and Kaede left the group once they reached a certain crossroad, while Tomohito left them at the train station. Finally, Nagisa was left alone with Karma, who had kept silent the entire time.
“Sorry.” Nagisa apologized. Karma seemed to snap out of his thoughts and just looked confused.
“What for?”
“For not telling you earlier.” Nagisa scratched the back of his neck nervously. The skin was completely smooth, but he now knew that it would be covered with flesh-colored scales the next time he let his not-tentacles-not-snakes out.
“Oh, that? No need to apologize.” Karma said lightly, waving a hand. “That’s not the kind of thing you just tell people.” And it was unsaid, but the implied ‘it was already hard enough for you to open up about your family life’ was certainly heard by both parties.
“Then, you’re not mad?”
“Why would I be?” Karma honestly looked like he had no idea what Nagisa was speaking about. For someone who was usually ten steps ahead of everyone, it was quite a funny sight.
“Well, you’ve just been really quiet since…you know.”
“Ah.” Karma finally realized. “Nah, I was just thinking about stuff. Nothing to worry your pretty little head about.” He grinned and fluffed up Nagisa’s pigtails.
“H-hey!” Nagisa protested with a small blush. For some reason, Karma’s teasing always had a different effect on him than others’. With the main campus students, it annoyed him, sometimes even made him angry. When it came from his classmates, particularly Rio, he would laugh with them and even tease back sometimes.
But with Karma, for some reason, it made him feel incredibly flustered, and he had no idea why.
(That was a lie. He definitely had an inkling. He just wasn’t sure he was ready to accept it yet.)
(A certain someone might not leave him much of a choice, though.)
“Say, how about hanging out at mine’s for a while? Folks aren’t home, you know the drill.” Karma had an easygoing smile, having seemingly forgotten whatever it was that had him looking so intense earlier. Maybe he’d just needed time to process Nagisa’s earlier revelation? Karma didn’t always deal nicely when something happened without him being able to at least somewhat predict it. He seemed fine now, though, so Nagisa just nodded and followed his friend home.
__
They ended up in Karma’s bedroom, Nagisa lying on his stomach on his friend’s bed, reading through the newest Sonic Ninja issue (although home was now safer since Koro-sensei’s talk with his mother, he still kept his comics and other merch at Karma’s, knowing it was unlikely to mysteriously disappear there), while Karma was on the floor, sitting against the bed, playing some fighting game on his portable console. Sometimes, Nagisa would look over his shoulder discreetly so as not to break his concentration. Nagisa really enjoyed spending time with Karma, they could enjoy each other’s presences without the need for words, and conversations were easy, whether it be about school or their current shared interests. It was nice, it was cozy.
It was intimate.
Nagisa’s shoulders tensed at the thought, pink dusting his cheeks.
No, no, no. We are not thinking about that today! Enough emotions for one day, thank you very much!
Of course, it seemed someone else had a different idea.
“Hey, Nagisa…” Karma trailed off, sounding surprisingly…shy? “Could I…see them again?”
Them? Nagisa thought confusedly. Ah. Them.
“Of course.” He gave Karma a smile and sat up in the bed. For the third time that day, he undid his hair, letting shoulder-length locks softly fall down to cover his neck, then slowly letting them change forms. In front of the teachers, it had felt terrifying, like he was admitting to having committed some sort of crime. Later, in front of the class, it had felt like a weight being lifted off his shoulders. Now, though, with only Karma for a witness and the timid way he had asked to see them, it felt…different.
It felt…more private. Honestly, he kinda felt like he was getting naked in front of Karma, even though all his clothes were still on.
(He was surprisingly okay with the mental image. Damn you, teenage hormones.)
Nagisa saw the way mercury eyes observed the transformation with rapt attention, seemingly fascinated by the process. Maybe that was what had happened back in the classroom, too. He just had been too distracted by the others to realize. Honestly, Nagisa still wasn’t sure what was going through his friend’s head right now.
Karma stood and climbed on the bed to sit in front of Nagisa. The tentacles were now fully-formed, light blue scales having replaced most of his usually soft-looking hair. They moved slowly, swaying like tails, and were about as long as Nagisa was tall. He knew from experience that they were pretty strong, too, being able to lift up to his own weight as well, even though his arms definitely couldn’t. Karma was mesmerized.
“I like them.” Karma said, his voice soft as if he had realized it the moment the words left his mouth.
“R-really? I’m glad.” Nagisa felt bashful, yet strangely happy about it. His mother had hated that part of him and forced him to hide it, yet Karma had looked at it once (twice now) and not only accepted it as a part of him, but also appreciated said part. “I wasn’t too sure what to think of them before today. I mean, they’re not exactly…normal.”
Karma let out a small, breathless laugh at that.
“When have we ever been normal? I mean, we have a Mach 20 yellow octopus as our teacher. I’d say that’s pretty abnormal.”
Nagisa laughed because, yeah, if any of them had ever been normal before, they’d all definitely stopped being so when the school year had started.
“Heh, I guess so.”
“Can I touch them?” Karma’s voice was soft as he asked. The whole situation felt so much more…intimate than it had been in class, Nagisa wasn’t sure how to deal with it.
“Sure, go ahead.” He said, and extended one tentacle towards his friend. “Though, if you wanted to touch, you could have done so earlier. I thought you were mad, you know?”
“My bad.” Karma huffed a laugh. He gently took the tip of the tentacle in his hand, slowly caressing it with his thumb. It sent shivers down Nagisa’s spine. “It just felt…a bit awkward, you know?”
“How so? Everyone was fine with it, and I allowed it in the first place.”
“Well, the others might be fine with molesting you in a classroom, but I wasn’t.”
Nagisa gave Karma a blank stare.
“What.”
“Those two in particular were all up in your business. Honestly, personal space is a thing, you know.” Karma rambled, looking a tad frustrated as he observed the tame tentacle wrap around his hand. His cheeks were dusted with the slightest amount of red but, on his already pale skin, it was especially striking. As he observed his friend and looked back on his earlier attitude, Nagisa had an epiphany.
“Karma, you…” He started, his baffled expression morphing into a shit-eating grin that could almost rival Rio’s on a good day. “Were you…jealous?”
“H-hell no!” Karma straightened back up, back ramrod straight. He was still holding Nagisa’s tentacle in a soft grip, and his face had gone several shades redder, resembling his hair more and more. All that, combined with the stutter…
“Oh my god, you were.” Nagisa grinned.
“I was not.” Karma’s tone of voice was firm, but hard to take seriously with his currently frazzled appearance. Nagisa was internally rejoicing because, for once, Karma was the one being teased. Their roles had finally reversed, and he was going to take full advantage of it while he could. What he did next was bold, much bolder than what he’d ever allowed himself to do. He gave Karma a smile, the same smile that had caused Takaoka so much distress, the same smile that made Koro-sensei happy beyond understanding. He manifested just enough ‘bloodlust’ to make Karma freeze in place and leaned closer into his personal space; not enough to touch, but definitely close enough that they could feel each other’s breaths.
“You don’t need to worry, Karma.” Nagisa told him, voice soft yet lowered enough to make Karma visibly shudder. The tentacle that was previously lazily holding Karma’s hand snaked up his arm underneath his dress shirt, another lowered itself to lay down on his knee. “You can touch me whenever you want. Not just the tentacles.”
Karma’s breath hitched.
Nagisa had intended to make Karma combust from embarrassment right here and there, getting some flirting in while he was at it (because, honestly, there was no use denying it, he was whipped, and Karma clearly felt something as well).
He had forgotten to account for teenage hormones.
He really should have in hindsight, because as soon as he let up his ‘bloodlust’, Karma’s eyes narrowed and he threw himself at Nagisa, their mouths clashing together in a desperate kiss. Nagisa’s arms and tentacles alike flailed about at the sudden attack, but eventually settled on clinging to Karma like Nagisa’s life depended on it. Then tongues were introduced to the kiss, and all hell broke loose.
10 hits.
Holy hell, was Karma a good kisser. Where the hell had he learned that?
20 hits.
All of Nagisa’s limbs trembled as they held on for dear life.
30 hits.
Nagisa’s mind was beginning to fog, both from the intense kiss and lack of oxygen.
40 hits.
He felt his strength leave him for good as Karma kept him right there, pressed between the bed and his body.
50 hits.
Karma finally let their lips part for some sorely-needed oxygen. He sat up, still situated between Nagisa’s legs, and smirked at the scene before him. Nagisa was completely limp, even the tentacles that had previously been gently swaying around like a cat’s tail had flopped on the bed, a couple of them even falling down the side and touching the ground. His eyes were glazed over and his breathing erratic, and his cheeks were bright red. He looked positively ravaged.
Good, some possessive part of his brain said.
“That’ll teach you,” he said instead, a vicious, victorious smile adorning his face. “You’re ten years too early to even think about teasing me.”
Nagisa could only sputter in reaction. So much for turning the tables on Karma.
Tentacles or no tentacles.
Octopus or Medusa.
Assassin or student.
At this moment, neither of those things mattered to Nagisa.
Because he knew that there were two things he would never win against :
Teenage hormones.
And Akabane Karma.
Author's note: i really like AUs where nagisa has tentacles, i think they're neat
i might be writing more of this au later on, we'll see