The Assassin Within

Part 43~Upside Down

"A brutal assassination method indeed," Lovro grumbled. "But the key is that final, killing blow. Pinpoint timing and accurate aim will be crucial."

"Are you worried about this class' firepower?" Karasuma asked as Lovro scratched his chin.

"Quite the opposite. Those two in particular are outstanding. Chiba Ryuunosuke. He excels at spatial calculations. As a long-distance sniper, he's second to none. Hayami Rinka has a nice balance of dexterous fingers and kinetic visual acuity. She's a soldier who's well equipped to take down a moving target. Neither is very assertive. They're the professional type, so their results do the talking. I would even take them for my own students. The others are at a respectable level as well. Good job identifying and nurturing their talents in such a short time. I see plenty of potential here."

Fuwa shot a Koro-sensei doll off the pole it was hanging from as the group shot down a paper face.

"See how your aim has stabilized? Some shoot better cross-legged than with one knee up."

"Yes, sir!"

"You seem to be having trouble keeping pace with others. Don't force yourself. Instead, go for a firing style that suits you," Lovro told Takebayashi.

"Hey, Nagisa, I was wondering," Kayano stated as Nagisa turned to her. "You said Zen was a sniper right? Well, what's his shooting style."

Nagisa hummed as he thought. "Well, Zen has a variety of styles depending on the place he's shooting from but I guess his most common style is hanging upside down."

"Wait! Really? That's how he shoots!"

"Well yeah. Zen mainly works in back streets and busy cities. That means there isn't a great amount of room to set up a sniper rifle, so to solve it, he started hanging upside down. It was actually pretty logical because Zen had an obsession with climbing when we were younger and he was always dangling from one tree or another. He just learnt to add a gun to the equation." Nagisa scratched the back of his neck as he explained. Everyone in Kuro ōkami had developed one strange technique or another and so it never seemed weird. It was weirder when Zen wasn't dangling from the ceiling.

"Did he ever teach you?" Kayano was now interested as Nagisa blushed slightly.

"Yeah. He did but I don't do it very often. It tends to mess up my hair if I'm dangling upside down for too long." Nagisa laughed as Okabe chuckled.

"That's Nagisa talk for 'I'm good at it but I don't want to admit it,'" he claimed as Nagisa growled. Nagisa swiped out his foot, sending Okabe to the ground.

"Oops, sorry. I don't do that a lot either," Nagisa mimicked with a dark glare.

"Nagisa! You have to show us," Kayano shouted, ignoring the small fight.

Nagisa knew he wasn't getting out of this as he moved the equipment around. Everyone was now looking at Nagisa as he got his gun ready. He turned away from the target as he sat down. Nagisa sighed as he pushed himself back. The class barely had time to watch as Nagisa shot the six targets and swung back up. He didn't even stop to aim.

The class gasped as Nagisa jumped down. Lovro couldn't help but watch Nagisa in confusion. He had noticed Nagisa when he was here the first time and has been watching him since. Nagisa wasn't normal. Not only was Nagisa extremely talented and trained. He hung around the other assassins as if it was no big deal. And there always seemed to be this little secret between him, Okabe and Karma.

"Nagisa," Lovro called out, causing Nagisa to freeze. "I shall teach you a deadly technique," he claimed, making Nagisa gulp.

"Deadly?" Nagisa didn't really mind but in this setting that was not a great idea.

"Yes: a move guaranteed to kill, from this pro assassin to you."

Nagisa sunk into his seat the second he got back. 17:53. Karma's mission should be starting in exactly seven minutes. Let's hope everything goes well.

Karma took a deep breath as he twisted the knife in his hand.

"Relax. If something goes wrong, I'll take over. The worst thing that could happen is that you go to the hospital and miss Okabe beating the living shit out of me," Zen joked, hitting Karma's back. "17:59, one minute to go. You remember the plan?"

"Yeah."

"Good, 'cause it's time to start." Zen swung over, dangling from his legs as the target walked out. He easily shot down the four bodyguards leaving Karma's target out in the open.

Karma jumped down as he walked towards the target.

"N-no! You can't kill me! I'll pay you, I'll give you money! I'll double whatever you're being hired for. I'll triple it," the target grovelled pathetically as Karma chuckled.

"Like your tainted money is worth anything." He threw his first knife, hitting the target's shoulder as he ran forward, dashing behind the target and pulling the target's head back.

"W-who are you?"

"I'm Karma. Time to atone for your sins." Karma thrust down with the knife, slicing through the target's thick skull.

"18:02. No bad," Zen muttered as he pulled Karma onto the building and they ran away leaving only the bodies behind the symbol on the wall.