You did well on your midterms, and now it was a few days before Professor Bitch's birthday, and you all planned to give her a happy birthday present, and maybe even pair her up with your uncle.
You did not like the idea of her getting with your uncle, but you had no choice to obey.
You also chipped in 500 yen (5 USD), hoping that would be enough for you.
It was the end of the day on Professor Bitch's birthday, and as soon as you started packing up, Kayano came up to your desk.
"(Y/N)! Come, we have something to do." She dragged you out the classroom and out the campus, and Nagisa, Okuda, Sugino, Kanzaki, and Karma also followed.
"Wait, where are we going?" You asked.
"We're just gonna go out and see if we can find something for her. We're not sure where we're headed exactly at the moment, but we'll try to find something." She told you.
You continued to follow the group, and you guys briefly stopped when Sugino got a phone call from Maehara, and he told you guys that Professor Bitch and your uncle has been separated.
"Professor Bitch probably already got just about every gift there is." Sugino put his phone back in his pocket.
"It's a tough one." Kayano rubbed her chin.
"She practically owns everything, too." You added.
"The class pitched in 5,607 (56.07 USD) yen." Nagisa said as he held the brown envelope that held the money in his hands. "Will that even get us a present for a grown woman?"
"Hey, you guys!" You heard a man's voice and looked up to see the same guy who called an ambulance from the day when the elderly man got hurt. "Did everything turn out okay? You know, with the old guy's leg?"
"Thanks so much for your help. He managed to forgive us." Nagisa thanked him.
"Ah, I'm glad it wasn't anything serious." The guy said. "And now you'd like to find a gift, something for a grown-up?"
"Oh, yes." Kanzaki said.
"How about something like this?" He handed a red rose for Kanzaki to look at.
"I get it: a bouquet!" Kayano said.
"In an age where we have our pic of presents, why do you think flowers are still a popular go-to gifts?" The flower guy questioned, and you all tilted your head. "It's not just about heart. Their color, shape, fragrance-- and their impermanence makes them a perfect match for the human instinct."
"Wow, that's a pretty persuasive!" Okuda put her hands together.
"A very fine speech indeed..." Karma agreed. "If only you weren't holding a calculator." He smirked.
"Well, uh, it is a business..." He scratched the back of his head. "So, what'll it be? It's flowery fate! I'll even cut you a deal." You all looked at each other in agreement, and nodded.
You all headed back to the campus with a bouquet of roses, and went inside of the staff's room, and saw your uncle at his desk.
"Uh, Mr. Karasuma? Can you give this to Professor Bitch? It's a bouquet, and it's her birthday." Nagisa said.
"A bouquet for Irina's birthday? Why me? She'd be happier to get it from you." He said.
That was probably not true, since she was always trying to get his attention, and she'd be a lot happier if your uncle gave it to her instead.
Oh my goodness... He is so dense...
"Mr. Karasuma, if you consider that bitch a vital asset, wouldn't winning your colleague over be a big part of your job?" Karma asked. "Oh, and let's not tell her who got the bouquet."
"You do have a point." He agreed. "Alright, I'll do it. Thank you for your concern." He took the bouquet of flowers, and agreed to do it.
Karma gave you a hand for a high five, knowing damn well you didn't want your uncle and Professor Bitch getting together. But you didn't want to be rude, so you just gave him a weak high five.
You all then headed outside, and stood next to a window that was in the staff's room. Sugino gave a text to Maehara, saying everything's in place. A few minutes later, they all arrived next to you guys.
You guys stood there for a few minutes before you saw Professor Bitch walk into the room. Your uncle then handed him the bouquet of flowers as few words were exchanged.
You couldn't hear it, because you were a little too far from the window. But you didn't want to hear it, anyways.
Her cheeks lit up with bright red, and she seemed pretty flustered and surprised that a man that never gives her any attention gave her roses as her birthday present.
She took the bouquet and held it tight in her arms, and she seemed really happy about it.
But then when your uncle said a few more words, the blush on her face came off, and instead had a furious look on her face. You don't know what he said, but he screwed up.
She started walking towards the window and you all started to panic. She opened it and didn't know what to say or do.
"Uh-oh..."
"You caught us."
"I figured it was something like this... No way would that square think to give me flowers for my birthday." Professor Bitch said, and her mood seemed to drop a little." She then shot up to the sky with her gun, and a familiar voice fell.
"Ahh!" It screamed, and it was Professor Koro dressed up as some movie director.
"Did you enjoy yourself? Stringing along a pro assassin, watching her get her hopes up?"
"That's not it, Miss Irina." Professor Koro said in a deep voice. "The students acted out of pure affection to--"
"Save your lame arguments, octorazzil!" Professor Bitch cut him off from speaking.
She started walking out the staff room, giving back the flowers on her way out to your uncle. She then started walking out of campus.
"Mr. Karasuma, wasn't that a little cold?" Maehara told your uncle off.
"Don't tell us you still haven't noticed!"
"Do I really look that dense to you?" Your uncle questioned you all.
"Huh?"
You may think I'm heartless, but if she can't keep her cool, I'll hire another assassin." He put the bouquet on his desk. "She's not qualified to work here if her blade can be blunted by romance. That's all there is to it."
You were all silent. You didn't know what to say. Sure, she was trying to flirt with your uncle and not really take her job seriously, but it was her birthday. No one wants their birthday to be ruined.
~~Time skip~~
A few days passed, and she hasn't shown up to school since. She got mad about a lot of things, but this seemed to set her off more than usual.
"Day three, huh?"
"Maybe we went too far..."
You all started getting concerned. She didn't answer any phone calls or text messages.
"Call me if anything happens with Miss Irina." You heard Professor Koro say.
You looked up and saw that his head was in a soccer ball designed. You almost thought that there was an actual soccer ball instead of his head.
"I've got to get to Brazil to take in a soccer match! Samba-bye!" He then flew off to Brazil.
"That's right-- he'd had his mind set on attending this game for a while now."
"He's your typical once-every-four-years sudden fan."
Many things continued to roam your mind, but now Professor Bitch being gone for three days straight bothered you for some reason. You didn't hate her or anything, but you didn't necessarily like her, either.
"I wonder if Professor Bitch is okay." Kataoka said.
"No good. I can't get through." Yada tried calling her.
"There's no sign of her on GPS or public surveillance cameras." Ritsu said to you guys.
Now you started really getting worried. Even if she was mad, there is no way she would turn off her locations, or even turn off her phone. And the fact that she wasn't caught anywhere on any cameras was even stranger.
"She wouldn't leave over something like this, would she?" Chiba rubbed his chin.
"That's not it." You heard the same voice from the guy who worked at a flower house. You looked up and he started walking into the classroom.
"Wait... How did he..." You mumbled.
"There's still something you need her to do."
"Right? And besides, it's fun having her around." Okano said.
"Yes, you've bonded nicely, you and her. My preliminary research has already verified that much. All I'll do is exploit that."
He went silent, and your classmates started flinching and gasping. You didn't know what was going on, but you thought of what he just said, and you realized why your classmates reacted the way they did.
"I'm the assassin known as the Reaper." He officially introduced himself. "And now, I have a lesson for you all."
He gave you all a gentle smile, but it didn't feel gentle at all. The room's air felt tense.
"A flower's beauty negates human caution, and opens the heart. Just like I told you guys, Nagisa."
You couldn't believe you this guy talked to you guys so kindly when you went to go buy the flowers. You guys never suspected him in anything, but just some guy who sells flowers. You never really know who a stranger really is.
"But the original reason flowers evolved to be lovely and fragrant--" He continued his talking, until Ritsu got a message.
"Huh?"
"Ritsu, bring up the image I sent you."
She opened an image that was more than just disturbing. It was a picture of Professor Bitch half naked, and she was tied up with ropes.
"--was to attract insects." He continued his sentence which was cut off by the notification from Ritsu.
"Professor Bitch!"
"I'll cut to the chase:" He started drawing Professor Bitch on the blackboard. "If you want to keep her alive, you must all come to the location I specify-- and not a word to your teachers. You don't have to if you don't want to. I can send her to you... To each of you, equally in little pieces. And my next flower will likely be one of you."
You slightly gasped at how brutal and horrifying that was. You guys were getting threatened. You guys were silenced, and basically forced to go, or he'll hurt her and you all.
The room fell silent for a second, as your mind went completely white. Your head felt empty physically.
"Hey, now, buddy..." Terasaka went up to him with Yoshida and Muramatsu. "We have no real obligation to save that bossy bitch. Plus, did you think we wouldn't give you a beat-down right here, you kidnapper?"
You almost screamed at what he just said. He really didn't think of other people but himself and how he would handle things.
"That's incorrect, Terasaka. Wrong on all counts." Reaper said. "You all like her more than you think. And a human could never cut down the Reaper." He flew a bunch of flower petals into the air, and disappeared into thin air, but you still heard his voice coming from somewhere. "Fear not. The Reaper only cuts people down."
Your jaws were hanging low. What were you guys supposed to do? You guys are literally just some middle school students, and your only job was to take done Professor Koro-- not get into this mess of having to save Professor Bitch.
Isogai bent down to pick of something that Reaper had left behind; a map.
"'Come as a class to the location on the map before 6:00 tonight.'" He read out loud.
"Just like with Takaoka and Shiro." Chiba commented. "They must be looking to take us hostage and draw out Professor Koro."
"Dammit!" Sugino slammed a fist on his desk.
You leaned back in your chair with your hands on your face, stressed out both physically and mentally with everything that's been going on.
"We usin' these?" Terasaka asked, and you all looked up to see what he meant, and he held up training suits that you guys never really wore before.
"To protect someone... Right?" Nakamura started gathering up her courage.
"Greatest assassin or not, we won't let his plans go off without a hitch!"
~~Time skip~~
You all went home that day with heavy weights on your shoulders. Every step of the way back home felt heavy. To top it off, Karma still really made you carry his bag.
The sun soon went down and it was go time. You were all given the location and rushed on over. Luckily, your uncle wasn't home at that time, so you didn't have trouble sneaking out.
You guys all planned to meet at the location, but your feet felt heavy on the way there. Nothing was holding you back, but just some gut feeling was telling you something is gonna go wrong.
"Is that the way in?" Maehara was looking at a door that seemed to lead to a basement with binoculars.
"I did a loop-around from above. No sign of anyone in the area." Itona said, as he lowered a drone he brought with him.
"Pretty ominous..." Kanzaki said.
"Ritsu, if we're not back by midnight, tell Professor Koro what's going on." Hara told Ritsu on her phone.
"I will. Stay safe, everyone."
"Let's go!" Isogai said, and you all swiftly started running towards the doorway.
You all stayed low and all had your guards up, in case of some ambush. But thankfully, you all made it in without a scratch.
The basement inside was quite spacious and big. However, there was barely anything in it.
"Big space he's got in here." Sugaya commented.
"That's all of you?" You all heard a voice coming from some intercom. "Okay, then I'm closing it up." He closed the door you guys came from, which you guys left intentionally open in case of an emergency run away.
"Hmm. So you can tell what we're doing." Karma looked up at the intercom, and it had a camera next to it, recording everyone's every move. "'Reaper?' More like 'Peeper!'" He said.
"We kept our end of the bargain. Just give back Professor Bitch and it'll all be over!" Kataoka yelled.
As soon as she said that, the room shuddered and started lowering down. You let out a small scream and almost fell from the sudden movement.
"Wh-What the?!"
"The whole room... Is going down?"
When you guys were all leveled down, you saw Reaper in front of you guys, but iron bars were in the way of getting him right then and there.
"Trapping complete!" He said. "Doing it all at once like this keeps the risk to a minimum."
You guys took only a few seconds to realize who was behind him-- Professor Bitch, who was unconscious and still tied up.
"Professor Bitch!"
Some of the guys tried banging on the walls, hoping that some passerby would hear you guys and call the cops or something, but it was useless.
"It's alright. If he comes quietly, no one gets killed."
"If we go to the defiant route, you won't get mad enough to kill?" Okajima asked.
"Nope. You're a little too scared-- even for a kid." He said, and you just had to say something with that loud mouth of yours.
"Oh, yeah. We were totally gonna go 'this is fine' when we've clearly been kidnapped, too. No shit people are gonna react like this if they're trapped in a room with no escape." You said.
"You have a point, but there is no point in panicking right now. No one will hear you or come save you unless your teacher shows up."
"... Actually, I'm a little relieved." Okajima said, and you tilted your head in confusion. You just found it ironic how a guy like him could say that in this situation.
"Here! It sounds hollow here!" Mimura pointed to a spot he was banging on.
Takebayashi then planted a small bomb there, that was gonna explode in less than 10 seconds. And right before it blew up, Okuda took out a smoke bomb and released it, so Reaper couldn't see. As soon as the explosive blew up, you all took the split second to rush in to wherever the hollow area led you guys.
You guys ran until you guys were greeted with a huge hallway. This was when you guys decided to start walking slowly, hoping to maybe find something here.
But half of you guys decided to go in a different direction, and that was to free Professor Bitch, since he would most likely not expect you guys to go free her, since you guys went in a direction that did not lead to Professor Bitch. You guys didn't even know where you were supposed to go, but you were just hoping that it would be enough time for the other half of your classmates to find a way to her.
"Now for the moment of truth."
"Can you hear me, E Class?" You guys heard him again from an intercom. "The truth is, I'm very pleased you escaped. It'll be the warm-up before the unknown big game. I expect great things from you."
"It's like... A game..." Hayami commented.
Reaper was a lot smarter than you guys initially thought. He could see you guys everywhere through cameras and communicate with you guys. He could watch and hear you guys, which was disturbing, but you guys had no choice but to let him see and hear everything.
"Let's intercept him here. No matter which way he comes from, we'll have the upper hand if we outnumber him." Isogai said.
"Back us up, Ritsu." Hara said to Ritsu, but she seemed a little weird.
"Don't feel like it. Not like I'm gonna defy the Reaperman." She seemed like a slob, and on her face, there was a writing on a piece of paper that read "hacked."
You guys all looked at her in disbelief. Ritsu was always a cheerful and happy girl, but she looked like a complete slob when she was hacked.
"I'd sooner turn off than do any work." She was seen laying on her side watching TV, with trash and filth all around the room.
You looked down at her phone to see if you could see the exact same thing, and you sure did.
"She's been hacked!"
Now you guys no longer had Ritsu to help you guys. She was really helpful with technology, but without her, it's gonna be hard to get around.
With that dismay, you guys continued to walk down the long hallway, when you guys saw some black figure or some silhouette of a person was walking towards you guys, which had a pair of glowing white eyes. This was definitely Reaper-- his skills and tactics were nothing like some average assassin.
"That jerk!"
"He's just waltzin' right up!" Muramatsu and Yoshida yelled as they both ran to the figure.
They both tried punching it, but they were both no match against an assassin like him, and got knocked out completely.
"The first skill I honed upon becoming an assassin was head on combat." He started walking forward and kicked Kimura right in his face, making him unconscious as well. "It's 99 percent unnecessary for an assassin, but without it, the remaining one percent of targets would get away. If you're looking to be the world's best assassin, it's an indispensable skill."
He then ran so fast towards the back of your class group it looked like teleportation. He got a hold of Kayano, with her laying on her stomach on one of his knees, and pushing her down with his arms.
"Kaede!" You yelled out.
"Females are so very fragile. Can't be treating the rest of my hostages so carelessly." She was struggling and squealing in pain.
"Let her go!" You screamed, but Nagisa stepped in.
"Move aside, everyone. I'll take him." His eyes lit up, and those were the exact same eyes you saw when he was fighting Takaoka.
"Nagisa..." Both you and Karma said.
He slowly started approaching Reaper, and he slowly raised his hands to make a huge clap in front of his face, but Reaper was too fast for him and beat him to it. He stumbled back and started falling.
Everything went too fast, and as soon as he started falling, the silhouette disappeared and reappeared behind Karma, but he had fast enough reflexes to notice, but it wasn't fast enough to stop him. He got everyone and when he got to you, he lifted you up by your neck.
"Hey... Haven't I seen you somewhere, (L/N)?" He asked you, and you tried to respond, but your lips wouldn't move. Your mind was working perfectly fine, but your body wouldn't listen to you.
That was when you realized Kimura, Muramatsu, and Yoshida weren't only unconscious, but paralyzed.
He smirked and threw you to the ground. You weren't sure what his smirk or words meant, but he didn't say anything else to you, and started walking up to Nagisa.
"The clap stunner. Yours and Lovro's might just startle a cat. But this skill has yet another level. Human consciousness has a wavelength: the higher the peaks, the more sensitive one is to stimulation. So when your foe's consciousness is at its most sensitive peak, you strike with your most powerful sound wave. The impact won't just temporarily speak your opponent. It'll paralyze their nerves, immobilizing them for a while.
Dammit... Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit!
You continued to curse to yourself.
Now you were just hoping that the three that went to free Professor Bitch got their job done and come back to save you all or something.
You kept trying to move, but it was like the part of your brain that controls your body parts got all foggy and just won't work. All the things you wanted to scream and yell wouldn't come out. You tried so hard to break free, and so was everyone else, but it was no use.
"So that's it, eh?" He grinned. "Now then... I seem to be short some people..." You mentally gasped to yourself.
You prayed and prayed that they won't be caught. Those three were the only ones who could move at the moment.
You couldn't exactly look at everyone's faces, but the ones that were caught in your eye you could see their frozen faces. They only had one expression they were stuck with, but you could tell they were also cursing to themselves. You could just see it.