Lesson Learned

She's clearly doing something wrong

Their mom gave a deep sigh, looking irritated. "Can you all go one breakfast without being hostile?"

The Principal sipped his coffee. "It's just friendly banter, dear."

Gakushuu and Mitsuko didn't look like they agreed.

Mrs Asano scowled, shaking her head. "Just hurry up, or you'll be late."

"Doubtful..." Mitsuko muttered, poking at her breakfast with her fork.

***

Even if it wasn't technically real, the gun still felt heavy in her hand.

Mitsuko's brow creased as she stared at it, alone in the trees and out of sight from her classmates.

She pointed the gun at the tree and emptied three rounds into the trunk. The pellets bounced off like rubber.

Mitsuko narrowed her gaze and fired again, trying to hit the same exact spot three times at once.

The pellets never hit the same spot twice.

She gritted her teeth and lowered the gun.

"Not a bad shot."

She whipped around with her gun raised.

The yellow mutated octopus who called himself their teacher was leaning against a tree.

Her gaze narrowed. "Oh, it's you." She lowered her gun.

"Oh, aren't you even going to try to shoot me!" He whined, bouncing over to her side.

She regarded him coldly. "You can move at Mach 20 speed, so what's the point?"

He paused, eyeing her with interest. "Well, now that doesn't mean you shouldn't try." He heaved a deep sigh. "Come on, I'll even give you a few free hits!" He started bopping around her teasingly. "Come on, give me your best shot!"

Mitsuko's fingers twitched towards the trigger. "I..." She gritted her teeth. "I can't!" she snapped, making the target freeze. "I'm not good enough yet." She examined her gun methodically. "I'll just miss if I shoot you now."

He hummed, stopping in front of her. "Oh. So you're a patient lying in wake kinda killer, huh?" He grinned, waving his tentacles around. "A good strategy than any, but...." He pointed at her. "Whether you miss or not is unimportant, what's important is that you understand why you missed and then learn from it."

Mitsuko crossed her arms. "Why would I needlessly humiliate myself?" She frowned up at him. "A better strategy would be to study how the others have failed so that I can develop a perfect strategy." She turned away from him and looked over at the Old Campus.

He slipped in front of her again. "You'd have better luck if you worked with your classmates." He crossed his tentacles. "Remember, this mission is a team effort."

Her brow furrowed. "With all due respect, sir, I doubt they'd help me," she replied stiffly, folding her arms. "And, I don't need their help anyway."

"Hm, oh, really?" Her teacher rubbed his round chin. "And you're going to execute this hypothetical master plan all on your own?"

She paused, chewing her tongue. "I guess...I will need help."

"Bingo!" He waved colourful flags in the air. "And I'm sure the others could use your help for any assassinations they have planned."

"I doubt they'd help..." she replied, frowning.

"Have you asked?"

She blushed faintly, looking down. "No..."