Red Assassination

Chapter 7 ~ Second blade

"Let's begin, shall we?" Dozens of Koro-senseis said as our teacher multiplied himself to tutor all of us at once for midterms.

"Why are you wearing a Naruto headband?!" I exasperated. This monster really is crazy... Not that long ago he was doing good to split himself up into a few.

"I see that tutoring session yesterday paid off." Koro-sensei said as he handed me my math homework from last night.

"I got an A!" I exclaimed.

"You're welcome." Karma smirked beside me.

""Yeah, thank you." I smiled at him. He seemed a little surprised at my genuine response, and averted his gaze with a tiny pink tint on his cheeks. "Aw, who's flustered now~?" I teased him like he teased me yesterday.

"Whatever." He pouted.

"How are they're even more?!" Maehara exclaimed. By the minute, Koro-sensei kept multiplying himself. His copies were honestly starting to get sloppy.

"Won't this wear you out?" Kaede asked. Sis, he's a superhuman monster. As if this would ever- Finally the bell rang for the next period and Koro-sensei collapsed at his desk.

"Let's try our luck!" Nakamura smiled and grabbed her knife.

"Not that I don't appreciate it, but why are you helping us so much?" Okajima asked.

"To get those test scores up, of course." Koro-sensei answered. "If I do that, I'll never have to worry about you all trying to kill me again!"

"That's nice and all, but the reward money is way better." Yada said.

"Yeah, who needs to ace a midterm when you have that kind of cash?" Nakamura said.

"Money isn't everything, people!" Koro-sensei objected.

"But we're the end class." Okajima said. "We can try at assassination, but why even bother at academics?"

"I see..." Koro-sensei's face suddenly went dark. "I don't think you all appreciate what it means to be an assassin. School yard, now!"

~~~~~

What's his deal? We all stood outside confused as Koro-sensei stood in the middle of the school yard alone. "You must always be prepared. Plan A almost never works out. Those who don't carry a second blade are not qualified to be assassins!" Koro-sensei began to spin himself around so quickly he created a whirlwind. No doubt the main campus could see it. Finally he stopped and the the clouds parted for the sun to shine through. "There, that should do it." He said as the school yard was now much more leveled and clean.

"Um, so what's the point of this, sir?" I asked.

"Anyone without a backup plan, the crucial second blade, is not worthy of killing me." Koro-sensei answered.

"So, how long do we have?" Nagisa asked.

"Until the end of tomorrow." Koro-sensei said. "The midterms are upon us. I expect you all to place in the top 50. Wield those second blades with confidence!"

~~~~~

Needless to say, midterms didn't go quite well. At first it was easy, but at the end it was definitely rigged, and not in our favor. "Do you really think he's going to leave?" I asked Kaede as we waited for class to start. Koro-sensei had threatened to leave if we didn't all place in the top 50. Obviously, we didn't.

"I don't know." She glared out the window where Mr. Karasuma was trying to communicate with the main campus about how unfair the midterm was.

"Seats please." Koro-sensei said calmly as he finally arrived. He was obviously upset and stood with his back to us in silence for a while. "I take full responsibility." He finally said. "I underestimated the school's dedication to the status quo."

To be honest, I was a little upset, too. I may not be here for actual education reasons, but I still don't appreciate being looked down on and laughed at.

I was brought out of my thoughts as Karma suddenly threw a knife at the back of Koro-sensei's head. "Have it your way." He smirked. "Keep your back turned to us if you want. It just makes it easier to sneak up on you."

"I am in no mood, Karma!" Koro-sensei's face turned red. "This situation has me very-" He was cut off as Karma held up his test scores. They were all high A's. My mouth hung open as I stared at them in disbelief. He definitely made it in the top 50. Maybe even the top 10.

"So what, they added a few questions." Karma shrugged. "Your method worked like a charm. In the end, it really mattered. Even with new questions, I was ready. So don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. Normal classes don't have anything on assassination. This is where I belong." At those words, I smiled to myself the most genuinely I have in a long time.

"So where do you belong?" Karma asked. "Are you really going to leave? I think you're just scared one of us will actually kill you."

"You could have just been honest with us." Maehara smirked.

"Yeah, you were just gonna run away." Nakamura laughed.

"No one is running away!" Koro-sensei's face went deep red. If this were an anime, there'd be a dozen angry tick marks on him. "We'll get our revenge during finals!"

"Now that's a good one!" Isogai said as the whole class burst out laughing. If we couldn't succeed in midterms, how can we succeed in finals?!

"Did you really mean what you said?" I asked Karma. "This is where you belong?"

"Yeah, it is." He smiled. "What about you?" I looked around at the faces of my laughing classmates and embarrassed teacher. Kaede was laughing, too. Genuinely, for the first time in a long time, just like me.

"Yeah." I nodded and smiled at Karma. "This is where I belong."