Red Assassination

Chapter 32 ~ Flowers

Even though the two weeks at the children's school was beneficial to both the children and us, it did put a handicap on our midterm grades. Karma was the only one who managed to snag a top spot, coming in second place.

But with it being second term now, the government made us all new training outfits specifically for assassination. They could practically camouflage us anywhere and protect us from anything.

But today was October 14, and we all totally forgot that four days ago was Ms. Jelavić'a birthday. So while a couple girls distracted her, a group of us went downtown to look for Ms. Jelavić a birthday present. But what exactly are you supposed to get someone who already had two of everything?

"Everybody pitched in money, but it's not a lot." Nagisa said.

"Hey! Did everything end up okay with that old man?" Someone suddenly asked. We turned to see the silver-haired flower guy from a couple weeks before.

"He managed to forgive us." I said. "Thanks for helping us out."

"No sweat." He smiled. "But I couldn't help but overhear you're looking for a grownup gift? So what about a bouquet? In today's time we can have everything we want, but flowers are still a go-to gift. I'll cut you a deal, so how about it?"

And so we ended up buying Ms. Jelavić a bouquet of beautiful red roses. However, they weren't going to be from us. We were going to have Mr. Karasuma give them to her.

"That's very nice, but they'd mean so much more coming from you guys." Mr. Karasuma said. How can he be so clueless?

"Winning over your colleague can help the mission." Karma said. "Just let her think they're from you."

And that's what he did. Ms. Jelavić was obviously flattered and blushing at Mr. Karasuma's gesture. We all quietly sat outside watching them. "Thank you so much." She smiled. "I thought you forgot my birthday. Is this real or do you have something up your sleeve?"

"Well this is the first and last of your birthdays we'll celebrate together, so I wanted to mark the occassion." Mr. Karasuma said. "Either the mission will end, or the world will." At his bluntness, Ms. Jelavić frowned and walked over to the window, probably about to throw the flowers out, but she saw us and got even angrier.

"I figured you were behind this." She glared at us. "As if he would think of giving someone flowers." She shot her gun in the air, knocking Koro-sensei off the roof where he too was eavesdropping. "So you enjoy messing with an assassin and getting her hopes up?"

"The children's intentions were pure-" Koro-sensei tried to say.

"Shut it!" Ms. Jelavić grumbled. She then proceeded to walk out of the schoolhouse, shoving the flowers back to Mr. Karasuma on the way.

"That was kinda cold of you, Mr. Karasuma." Maehara said.

"Don't tell me you still haven't noticed how she feels!" Okano said.

"I'm not that oblivious." Mr. Karasuma replied. "Emotions can't get in the way of what needs to be done. We're professionals. If her feelings for me dull her blade, then she's not qualified to be an assassin."

~~~~~

After that, Ms. Jelavić basically disappeared. She hasn't been to school in three days. We really messed up this time. "My GPS keeps coming up negative." Ritsu said.

"But would she actually leave over something like this?" Chiba said.

"I'm sure that's not the case." The flower guy suddenly walked in. "After all, there's still something important you need her to do."

"We need her, and she knows we like having her around." Okano said.

"Yes, you children have bonded nicely with her." The man walked to the front of the room. "Your connection gives me something very handy to exploit."

We were all confused at first, but then it all hit us at once. It was so casual. He walked in like he owned the place. "Hello, I'm the assassin known as 'The Reaper'." He confirmed. "People are rarely immune to the charm of flowers. There's a reason flowers evolved into such lovely, fragrant varieties. Ritsu, pull up the picture I sent." On Ritsu's screen was a picture of an unconscious Ms. Jelavić tied up. "Their purpose is to draw insects. So if you want her to live, show up when and where I tell you. And don't mention anything to your teachers."

"So what's gonna stop us from beating you up here and now?" Terasaka sneered.

"The woman means more to you than you know." The reaper replied. "If you let her die, you'd be beside yourselves. Plus, no one is capable of taking down the reaper." He threw some flower petals into the air and disappeared, leaving a map on the ground. We were to be at the specified location at 6pm tonight. He probably wants to take us hostage with Koro-sensei as the bait.

And so we dressed in our new training gear and went to the location. It was a steel building that seemed to go underground. We told Ritsu that if we don't all make it back by midnight, to tell Koro-sensei what's happening.

So we carefully went through the only entrance to find ourself in a spacey steel room. "Is that all of you?" The reaper's voice came over a speaker. "Good, watch the door." The door firmly shut and locked.

"We came here like you said so give us Ms. Jelavić and let us go on with our lives!" I said. Suddenly the room started moving downwards and a wall was replaced with bars. The reaper was on the other side with the unconscious Ms. Jelavić laying behind him.

We searched around the room and finally found a hollow spot. Okuda threw a couple smoke screen capsules and blew it up, revealing a large metal tunnel that we had no choice but to walk through. "I'm happy you escaped." The reaper said over a speaker. "It'll be a nice warmup for the real game." This is all a game to him.

We found a place to attack him while we still outnumbered him. Ritsu had also been hacked. Eventually we heard footsteps from one end of the tunnel. It was the reaper, but his body looked like it was vanishing. Yoshida and Muramatsu charged at him, but he easily made them collide and collapse to the ground.

"If you want to be a killer, you have to know hand-to-hand combat." The reaper said. "It was the first tactic I learned, so you can imagine I'm good at it." He continued taking some of us down until I could feel the same feeling I felt with Takaoka. Bloodlust.

I slowly walked towards him, but he did the stunner clap in my face, making me freeze up. He then attacked more of my classmates. "Sure you'll be startled, but the nervous system will be temporarily paralyzed." He said as I fell to my knees. "I seem to be short a few of you." And he was right. Terasaka, Kataoka and Yada stayed behind and broke into the room where Ms. Jelavić was. However, she seemed less than happy to receive our help. She went with the reaper as we were now trapped like before.

"I don't know what your plan is to kill Koro-sensei, but I wouldn't count on it going so smoothly." Karma said to the assassin.

"I'm a gifted improviser. It's my job." The reaper replied.

"Karasuma?" Ms. Jelavić suddenly asked.

We looked to the reaper's outside camera on his phone to see Mr. Karasuma with Koro-sensei dressed as a dog. Koro-sensei once said that if there was ever a wall we couldn't get over, he'd take over from there.

We were going to be okay.