The Assassin Within

Part 3~Baseball

Nagisa shook his head, sighing slightly. "At this point there is no benefit in hiding any details. Everything I have found I share. He dodged a bullet from Zen though, that hit his pride."

"Zen? That was the weird kid who spent most of his time leaning on you, right?"

"Yes. That is him. He may act you and stupid but he is our best sniper the society has."

"You sound close to him."

"I guess so. He found me when I was little and brought me to the society. I owe him my life."

"What happened to you?"

Nagisa never answered Karasuma's question, walking into the office readying himself for the lecture sure to come.

"I polished it and got the scuff marks off it, Sugino," Koro-sensei said while throwing the BB-covered baseball to the student.

"Koro-sensei? What are you eating?"

"A coconut I brought in Hawaii. Want a bite?"

"People usually drink the juice, you know..."

"That was a nice pitch yesterday when you tried to assassinate me," Koro-sensei commented while sitting down.

"Yeah right. The way you move I'd never have been able to hit you in the first place."

"Are you on the baseball team?"

"I used to be."

"Used to be?"

"If you end up in class E, you don't get to do sports or any extra-curricular activities anymore," Sugino explained sadly. "Since we're here because of our bad grades, we're supposed to focus on studying."

"You probably think that's unfair."

"Whatever. I don't care anymore. You saw me pitch yesterday... My pitches suck. They're too slow. 'Junk pitches.' Other teams couldn't mess 'em. So I got scratched from the starting lineup. Figures I suck at baseball, I suck at school and here I am in class E."

"Sugino, let me give you some advice."

Nagisa turned around, Karasuma kept him too long and now he was going to be late. He did have to deal with school as well as being an assassin. Now he needs to get the assignment in before class starts.

Freezing, Nagisa tilted his head. In the middle of the grass, Sugino was held up by Koro-sensei's tentacles.

"What are you doing to him?" Nagisa walked out, his hair coming unravelled and fell in front of his eyes, the usual 'creepy' appearance that Nagisa took when dealing with clients.

"Sugino... Your pitching form... You modelled it after Arita didn't you? The pitcher who went to the majors in New York. My tentacles know all and see all. Metaphorically speaking. The muscles in your shoulder aren't as defined as his. Even if you copied him exactly, you'd never be able to throw a fastball like he does," Koro-sensei reported bluntly.

"Well, that's rude. Even for you," Nagisa mumbled, retying his hair up.

"I checked him out yesterday. My tentacles know all and see all," Koro-sensei repeated, holding up the paper for the K.Y times. "And look," Koro-sensei held up a sign reading 'damn you tentacles! Arita.'

"You got his autograph, cool," Nagisa praised, looking over the sign.

"Great, I knew it. I've got nothing," Sugino muttered somberly.

"I wouldn't say that," Koro-sensei interrupted. "The flexibility of your elbow and wrist is remarkable. If you learn how to use that to your advantage eventually you'll be better than Arita!" Koro-sensei grabbed onto one of Sugino's wrist and pushed it about. "Trust me, my tentacles don't lie. There isn't just one way to have talent. You just need to find a method that suits your skill set."

"My elbow and wrist are better than his... 'talent'..."

"Koro-sensei! You went all the way to New York for Sugino," Nagisa asked, caughting up with his teacher.

"Of course. I'm his teacher."

"You remind me of someone. He used to do anything for us. He was the only person who truly cared for us and he made sure we were as happy as we could be. But he had his reasons to help us. Why would you when you plan on killing us anyway."

"Nagisa... I became your teacher because I made a promise to someone.... Oh, I'll still destroy the Earth, but I'm your teacher first and foremost." Koro-sensei whipped out his tentacles, taking the papers from Nagisa's hands. "And to help you confront your problems head-on, might be more important than destroying the Earth."

"Koro-sensei... It's great getting our assignments back so quickly, but what's with the weird extra credit questions?" Nagisa frowned slightly at the weird question on the back of his page.

"Huh?! I thought you'd like them!"

"It's more like a punishment."

"Well... I want you to find joy- as a student and a would-be assassin. Or... Something like that. You'll never kill me, but maybe that doesn't matter."

Yeah. Would-be assassin.