#In fact there's prolly hard copies for that express purpose since they know the kids wanted to save him.

[phantoms-lair]

Koro-Sensei’s Awakening

What do you want to be?

The question was the first thing that pierced the darkness his mind was wrapped in. He’d been asked that before, and he’d remembered his answer then. “Weak” He’d wanted to shed his identity of The Reaper. To live in the world Aguri had lived in .

The tentacles had complied, not with his word but his intention. The ‘Super Being’ was certainly not weak. But he’d been able to connect to people, to experience their sorrows and triumphs. He only had one year to live after that day, but a better final year he couldn’t ask for.

And, as it turned out, it was only a year due to his own foolishness. He approached his goal - teaching Aguri’s class, as he would have something from his old life. Something that must be done from a position of strength. He set himself up as the monster, bringing catastrophe if they didn’t give in to his one odd demand of being a teacher.

And in the end, that was what killed him. He’d built himself up as a threat too big to ignore, ensuring he’d never find peace. It hadn’t seemed to matter that much when he was going to die soon. He’d never expected to be saved, to find out he had been saved months ago. But by then it was too late. What do you want to be?

 He knew he didn’t want to be The Reaper. Did he want to be Koro-Sensei? Yes and no. While he liked both his speed and his tentacles, he didn’t want to be the world-threatening super being again. He just wanted to exist, to learn, to teach.

What do you want to be?

“I want to be me!” he yelled into nothingness. The voice fell silent, and darkness took him once more.

~

His next bout of awareness was slow and sluggish. There was an oxygen mask on his face and he was connected to various equipment. With what little strength he had he tore them out and tried to flop out of bed. But his tentacles weren’t moving right, he had to escape!

“Easy Koro-Sensei.” The voice was comforting, familiar. It was someone he could trust. He felt himself relax. 

“Don’t want to get hooked up again.” he muttered.

“Now that you’ve awoken, you don’t have to.” The voice reassured.

“Good.” was the last thing he murmured as he fell asleep again.

~

The next time he awoke he was more cognizant, but wasn’t sure what to make of his situation. He was on a bed in what looked like a hidden room. There was medical equipment, but as promised it wasn’t hooked up to him.

But what was really perplexing him was the fact that he had legs and feet. In addition to four tentacle arms. Judging by feel his face was human and his hair...well he wasn’t sure what was going on there. 

It was tentacles, he could tell that much, but thinner strands, like the monofilament ones he’d used for the surgery that saved Kaede’s life. Yet at the same time he could feel them merging into thicker tentacle strands, which then dissolved back into thin ones.

“I have brought you breakfast,” The door opened and Koro-Sensei wondered if it was a dream. “You seemed to enjoy sweets, so I’opted for french toast, with a side of fruit.”

“Ritsu? How are you here?” He stared as what seemed to be an older version of his student, or at least the image his student projected.

“A robotic body I inhabit.” The Autonomously Intelligent Fixed Artillery (though she seemed to have abandoned the last two parts) answered, putting the tray in front of him. “And after breakfast we can work on your cover.”

“My cover?” He asked, as his stomach gurgled, enticed by the food. “I do not know why you regenerated with a more human appearance, but it is to our benefit. Though the ‘Assassination Classroom’ incident has been marked resolved with your death, it would be troublesome if someone connected your appearance and realized you were still alive.”

Point. It had probably been years after his not-as-deadly-as-he-thought death, judging by her appearance, but no need to stir the pot. Still... “Don’t you think these might give me away?” he asked, waving his tentacles.

Ritsu merely smiled. “While you eat, let me tell you about a new phenomenon called ‘Quirks’.”