A/n
Hello and thank you for 8.5k+ reads! Sorry about this chapter, nothing really happens with Karma. We are about to get into the serious stuff so thank you to everyone who has supported me this long, here's today's chapter :)
Korosensei stares at Principal Asano, yellow goo dripping down from his face. I stare at him with my arms crossed, gripping onto the fabric of my shirt. Korosensei finally lifts his tentacle and places it on the cover of the next textbook. Within a second, he had calmly flipped it open and solved the problem before the grenade went off. The smug expression on Principal Asano's face quickly morphs to one of surprise, his eyes widening slightly.
"Alrighty then! Open, solved, and closed." Korosensei says, looking at the Principal and I loosen the grip on my shirt. "Fortunately, I just so happened to remember, more or less, which questions are on what page in this particular series of books. Math was the only troublesome spot. That one has been loaned out to a student for so long I forgot." Korosensei explains while a majority look over to Yada who looks a bit guilty. She shouldn't feel too bad, there's no way she could've known.
"You know these books backwards and forwards? A rather remarkable coincidence." Principal Asano says, maintaining his calm facade.
"Oh, not just these. I've committed all of Japan's test material to memory. You say no moving out of the blast radius until the problem is solved? Very well. That little caveat is nothing to a passionate educator. I'm sorry sir, you sincerely thought you had gotten the better of me, huh? My my. A class' crushing defeats must have you in a tizzy. I'm afraid this one dimensional stratagem may wind up getting the better of you." Korosensei says, all the while effortlessly solving the rest of the textbook problems set for him. The chance of that one book he didn't memorize being used was so small, it's and incredible coincidence. "There we have it, the last book. Your turn, I believe. What does it feel like? Staring your own demise in the face. They say ones life flashes before ones eyes. What do you see Principal? What do you see flickering by in that exemplary brain?" Korosensei asks while Principal Asano blankly stares ahead, his eyes gleaming. He stands there for a few moments in silence, perhaps in deep thought, before Korosensei speaks up, finally not dripping with yellow goo anymore.
"What will it be, Principal? Will you open the last book or fold? You may be an exceptional human being, sir, but taking a grenade blast won't end well for you."
"This was your idea, in case you forgot. But hey, it's no big deal, just gracefully admit defeat." Yoshida taunts, leaning in through one of the windows and Principal Asano aims a menacing glare in his direction. Yoshida immediately cowers away, grabbing onto Kataoka who shoves him away.
"And just so your aware, fire Korosensei all you want, it doesn't make any difference to us." Kataoka says.
"Don't get us wrong, it'll be sad to leave this place behind, but whatever comes, we're going right along with him." Kanzaki says with her usual kind smile and Korosensei starts crying.
"That's right. Even if we run away from home or hole up in a cave, we'll keep this class going. It's not over until March." Isogai says defiantly and Principal Asano's eyes grow dark, narrowing even more as he looks over all of us as we stand in agreement with our classmates.
"Korosensei. You may well destroy the Earth, even so, as far as my educational philosophy, it would make absolutely no difference whatsoever." Principal Asano says darkly, his eyes bloodshot as he flips open his textbook and we all gasp in shock. He's actually going to let himself die? Within the second, an explosion sounds out and there's a giant, blinding flash of light. I crouch down, covering my ears and closing my eyes, barely having any time to react. Once the ringing in my ears stops I hesitantly open my eyes to see dust flying around everywhere.
"Somebody forgot about my molt!" I hear Korosensei say from inside the building before I stand up and look in to see Principal Asano covered in Korosensei's shedded skin.
"Hmm. Your once a month trick. And why, precisely, did you not choose to use it on yourself?" Principal Asano asks emotionlessly as Korosensei pulls the molt off of him and folding it like a blanket.
"Because I was saving it for you, silly man. I suspected if I won, odds were fairly good you'd think nothing of blowing yourself to bits." Korosensei says, hanging his shedded skin over a tentacle as the Principal shakily stands up.
"B-but how could you be so sure of what I'd do?" Principal Asano asks.
"Because we have a lot in common. We're both stubborn, education fiends. We're willing to forfeit our lives for the privilege of molding young minds. I hope you won't mind, but I took the liberty of speaking to your old cram school students. I wanted to get their impressions of you as a teacher. Imagine my surprise upon learning that the idea of teaching you exemplified 12 years ago, is identical to mine. Though as far as students are concerned, I've been lucky. E class is a marvelous proving ground. There are a fair number of students, you see, and they all share the same predicament. These boys and girls work as a team. Unafraid to ask for help or to hold each other up. And if I may point out, credit for conceiving of and implementing this class goes, first and foremost, to you. There you have it. Don't you see, sir? You've been abiding by the same vision you began with all along." Korosensei says, pulling out an anti-sensei knife, holding it with a tissue. Cram school? He really took that job in a different direction. "Incidentally, I am the only thing this knife can kill. The taking of human life plays no part in our approach. You and I are one in the same Principal. We don't teach killing, we teach life, so why not stay true to ourselves and continue down this road?"
"My philosophy has always been right on the nose. Students have to be strong, my successes over the past 12 years prove this. And I suppose, so long as you acknowledge it's proper function, I see no reason why you and E class can't remain here as you are." Principal Asano says finally, accepting the anti-sensei knife. Korosensei starts laughing.
"Still too proud to admit defeat, I see." Korosensei chuckles.
"Oh and, do you mind if I pop by and try my hand at killing you once in a while?" Principal Asano asks, holding up the knife.
"Be my guest. Always happy to oblige a worthy rival." Korosensei answers, his smile a bit wobbly, much like his head which isn't quite circular yet. After that, the Principal leaves.
"So yeah, about that reward...." Kurahashi starts once we all get back in the classroom.
"Oh yes. In return for ranking in the top 50, I promised to share a critical weakness." Korosensei says, all of us staring at him in anticipation. "Well children... I have, in fact, very little power. I'm designed for speed. When at a perfect standing still, one of my tentacles can be held down, even by a single person." Korosensei explains.
"Hey wait, if 8 of us teamed up on you all at once..." Hara starts.
"You're saying we could essentially paralyzed you, right?" Nakamura asks.
"Man, if we'd have known that earlier this would've been easy as pie!" Okajima explains as the classroom is quickly filled with commotion as the closest students quickly surround him, Okano latching herself onto a tentacle.
"Hey! You only told us because you knew it would be impossible!" Muramatsu accuses as Korosensei hovers above us, turning a white color.
"Hmm, not having any luck? The trick is to pretend your hand fishing for slimy eels." Korosensei advises. And exactly how does that help us? The next day, we arrive at school, the partially destroyed part being covered with tarps from the outside.
"A drama festival?" We all exclaim after hearing Korosensei's announcement.
"But were about to take high school entrance exams!" Maehara protests.
"I know, I know. I did complain to be student council. Asano fired back though." Isogai says, proceeding to tell us that Asano has said we only had to memorize some lines so it shouldn't be a big deal and that it would be a good mental exercise for us. And also that we always come up with something anyways.
"At least he gave us respect." Nakamura remarks, lazily resting her head on her palm.
"You could be the leading lady Nagisa. Just, you know, throwing it out there." Karma teases the blue haired boy, holding up an edited poster with Nagisa dressed as a girl on it.
"Why do I get a bad feeling about this?" Nagisa groans.
"What about Kayano?" I suggest.
"Yeah, the preschoolers adored you. You had them on the edge of their seats." Kanzaki adds on.
"Um... I don't think that-" Kayano starts before she's cut off by Terasaka.
"That ain't gonna play in Junior High. People need to identify with the main character and you're too short." Terasaka says before bursting out in laughter.
"Shut up!" Kayano yells, chucking her schoolbag at Terasaka's face, knocking him backwards and out of his chair. "I'd rather be in charge of handling props anyways."
"Right. So then for our main crew Mimura will direct and Hazama will write, naturally. Thoughts on our leads?" Isogai asks.
"Y'know, I am available." Korosensei appears out of no where. Some of my classmates stand up and start shootings at him while yelling.
"You're supposed to be a state secret!"
"This is our play! No adults allowed!"
"B-but I would make a phenomenal lead! What if this is my one and only shot? You can't deny me the limelight!" Korosensei protests, dodging all the bullets.
"Alright then. I have a play." Hazama says, stopping everyone in their tracks. "One where you can be the lead without upstaging, everybody's happy."
"Great. Sounds like a plan." Isogai confirms.
"Let's put on a show the likes of which those main campus chumps have never seen!" Mimura exclaims. The time leading up to our performance passes in the blink of an eye, and before we knew it, it was show time. I had spent the duration of our preparation helping out with props and other random chores. Now, I'm with the rest of my class backstage right before the performance. The lights shut off and a spotlight appears on where Korosensei is in the middle of the stage, his head disguised as a peach. Then our eccentric play commences and by the end of it, the audience looks completely baffled before they start booing and throwing their food at the stage. I can't blame them, I found it odd when I first read the script too. I'm glad I wasn't on stage though, I could never keep a straight face while acting out something like that. When the lights shut off once more, Korosensei runs off stage to where the rest of us stand, smiling at the crowds reactions. That was amazing.