A/n
Hello, and thanks for 1.3k+ reads and 110+ votes! Sorry, this chapter might be really boring since it's pretty much just Karma and Nagisa fighting, but oh well. Here's today's chapter :)
Karma stands up, flipping his knife while staring down Nagisa. From up here I can tell what Nagisa did. He hid behind Mr.Karasuma the whole time, using his camouflage to blend in with Karasuma's while also maintaining a great sniper spot.
"So it comes down to Nagisa versus Karma." Maehara remarks. We might as well have let them fight it out earlier.
"Ballsy tactic. The kid essentially used Karasuma as his own personal blind." Irina says with a light smirk.
"The referee goes largely unnoticed on the playing field. Nagisa honed in on that fact and made himself invisible. Brilliant. He waited for the perfect moment to reveal himself. His instincts are that of a natural born killer. It's not wise to underestimate Karma though. Comparing these two on he basis of academic performance, he soundly beats Nagisa in every area of study. That said, the fact must've dawned on him. When it comes to matters of assassination, Nagisa is without question, Karma's greatest adversary." Korosensei says as Karma casually walks towards where Nagisa was been before he had disappeared once again. Karma stops and looks around, trying to locate Nagisa's position.
"Nagisa! Put down the gun and come on out! We'll settle this with blades." Karma announces.
"No way! Don't be an idiot! Take him out while you've got the shot!" Sugino calls to Nagisa.
"I... don't think he's gonna fire." Kayano says while Sugino turns to her, looking surprised. A moment later, Nagisa steps out of the bushes and reveals himself to Karma.
"Seriously?" Nakamura hums in surprise.
"No, they're Mano a Mano?" Sugino sighs disappointedly.
"It makes sense. Nagisa respects Karma in a big way and he needs him to understand where he's coming from." Kayano reasons as we all hover at the edge of the platform, our eyes glued to the pair below us.
"Let's move in for a better view." Okajima says before half of our classmates do just that, though some of us hang behind.
"Not gonna lie, I'm still for not killing Korosensei but, seeing Karma just put himself out there like that... when I tagged Rinka, I felt the same way. Supposing we wind up having to kill him. What would that feel like?" Yada asks.
"And now we watch the flip floppers crawl out of the woodwork. Must be some correlation between strong opinions and working camouflage, huh?" Hazama remarks.
"A class like this pulls unexpected things out of everybody. You, Kayano, Mimura, and Kanzaki for example. Some go berserk. Some get all fired up to do better next time, some we assume are slackers turn out to actually have a plan. Some who pass themselves off as jokers turn out to be dead serious." Terasaka says, aiming the last comment at Nakamura with a glance.
"Oh, shut up." She mutters.
"And weirdest of all, not only does the runt of the litter turn out to be a genius assassin, the guy we all thought this all came easiest to has got to work his ass off. So, whoever wins this has my respect. But with the crazy skill sets we have as a group, something tells me we can handle any challenge that comes our way." Terasaka finishes as we make our way down where Karma and Nagisa prepare for their fight. Nagisa stretches and Karma takes off the overcoat to our assassin uniforms so that he is now in a long sleeved black shirt instead, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. That was surprisingly inspirational, especially coming from Terasaka. I guess you could say he's a great example of that too. Someone with the reputation of being a bully when in reality he actually does care about our class. Korosensei lets out a small chuckle as the two step forward and face each other, shadows over their eyes before they simultaneously look up and make eye contact.
"You are so going down." They say in unison, dangerous expressions on their faces.
"Nagisa..." Kayano mumbles worriedly as they get into fighting positions.
"A desire to win. To conquer. The all-consuming competitive streak of youth. You must forget about me in this moment. Clear your minds, it's about what's in front of you." Korosensei says. Then they both rush forward, their knives colliding once they're within range of one another.
"We kill!" Karma yells.
"We save!" Nagisa argues. They continue exchanging blows before Karma gets the upper hand and attempts to throw Nagisa over his back, but Nagisa lands smoothly and rushes straight for Karma. Karma turns around just in time to meet him head on, overpowering the smaller boy and sending him flying backwards with a powerful kick to the stomach.
Nagisa rolls backwards before stopping and finally getting back up. They pause for a moment, still in fighting forms but breathing heavily.
"I'm surprised a tackle that well timed didn't bring him down." Sugaya remarks.
"There's a pretty big difference in strength between the two of them." Chiba says.
"Indeed. If one knife connects, it's a win. Karma won't hesitate to use the brief window of time to his advantage. Ah, but observe Nagisa closely. He's carrying a second blade." Korosensei says.
"You think he'll try the clap stunner?" Kayano asks.
"Unlikely. Karma will have noticed the hilt on his leg, the second blade won't come as a surprise. 2 assassins, their weapons and methods worlds apart. How will this contest be settled?" Korosensei asks ominously. Suddenly, Karma sprints at Nagisa, slashing at him with the knife, Nagisa narrowly avoiding contact with the rubber blade before sending back a few blows of his own.
During the exchange, Karma manages to lock his grip on Nagisa's arm and throw him to the ground, though Nagisa kicks upwards, sending Karma flying over him and landing a few feet away before hurriedly standing back up and jumping on Karma, attempting to stab him with the knife. Karma grabs Nagisa's wrists, flipping the blue haired boy off and away from him. Nagisa runs at him again, though after a few kicks from Karma he lands face first on the ground. Karma tries to stab Nagisa, but Nagisa knocks him off balance and seizes the opportunity to knock the knife out of Karma's grasp, sending it flying a few feet away. Nagisa turns to Karma once again, only to be head butted straight in the forehead and also loosing the grip on his knife.
"Both their knives are out of reach." Sugino comments. Really? I couldn't tell.
"Wait, look. Not the one on his leg." Kayano says, referring to the second one strapped onto Nagisa. Nagisa puts a hand to his face, using his other hand to reach for the second knife, but Karma takes that moment to knock into him and distract him. Nagisa coughs and hunches over a bit.
"Don't even bother. The second you go for that blade, the fight belongs to me." Karma says in between breaths before grabbing Nagisa and repeatedly kneeing him in the stomach. "I'll knock you on your ass and take my sweet time with the final blow." Karma says, pulling Nagisa up by his hair before releasing him when Nagisa throws a punch directly in his face, though Karma only stands there barely reacting.
"Oh, that's all you've got?" The redhead asks before returning Nagisa's punch to the face, making him fall flat on his back.
"Holy crap. He's taking Nagisa's attacks on purpose." Hara observes.
"His hits have got to be having some kind of effect, right? I mean, he's been upping his game for a whole year now." Sugaya adds. Karma's fighting style has a lot of obvious flaws, and no matter how weak Nagisa's punches may be, after all these hits he should have some kind of reaction.
"Karma is first and foremost a combat assassin. He relishes process. The bargaining, the strategy. Only when he's gone through the moves will he deal the decisive blow. Nagisa on the other hand, is a pure assassin. Single mindedly searching for the one strike that will secure victory. Karma has trained himself to take a beating. Hit after hit he'll stand his ground and give as good as he gets. Should he hold out indefinitely, Nagisa will have no honorable choice but to accept defeat." Korosensei says as the pair throw punches at each other. Karma gets in a strong punch, Nagisa falling down and hunching over on the ground. Karma then kicks him right over the back and Nagisa sprawls our on the ground. Karma looks down at Nagisa.
"That was an axe kick! Bring one of those to the table and the other guy doesn't have a chance in hell." Terasaka exclaims. Karma walks and grabs his knife which sits a few feet away on the ground before turning and looking back at Nagisa and then glancing at Korosensei before returning his attention back to Nagisa, walking back towards him. Karma lunges and prepares to deal the final blow, but Nagisa suddenly sits up, using the stunner clap right in Karma's face.
Karma is knocked back, dropping his weapon again and when he looks back up he has a thin trail of blood streaming from the corner of his mouth. Woah...
"He bit his tongue to keep from dropping!" Korosensei exclaims in shock. Nagisa staggers up, finally unsheathing the blade that's strapped to his leg and running at Karma. Nagisa looks as if he is going to jab the knife at Karma before he lets go of it mid-stab. The knife flies towards Karma who is caught off guard and Nagisa takes that brief moment of distraction to grab onto Karma and slam his back into the ground, keeping a grip around his neck and arm.
"A triangle choke!" Terasaka says in awe.
"With his blood flow cinched, it's only a matter of time before he passes out. Nagisa's choke hold is even more effective than it was earlier." Karasuma says. Karma strains against the hold, pulling at Nagisa's to try and get him off. How the hell is he doing that?
"You are going to hear me out!" Nagisa shouts.
"Look at him! How the hell is he pinning him down like that in the first place?" Yoshida asks in disbelief, his words mirroring my thoughts.
"The element of surprise. Nagisa sacrificed his greatest skill to create a red herring, opting to finish with a martial arts move, all to make a simple point. Karma's own specialty has, in the end, been turned against him." Korosensei explains as Karma struggles in Nagisa's grip, his face slowly turning red. He reaches out in an attempt to grab his knife, succeeding and holding above Nagisa's back.
"He's got a knife!" Kimura exclaims.
"Oh no..." Kayano murmurs. Karma slowly moves the knife down towards Nagisa before he suddenly stops and relaxes, stabbing the knife into the Earth beside him.
"I give up. Uncle, uncle. You win Nagisa. Good job." Karma says, tapping out on Nagisa's back. Nagisa tightens his grip even more. What is he doing? "Are you listening to me?" Karma asks, his voice strained.
"That's enough! Red team has surrendered, game over! Blue team is the winner." Karasuma announces and Nagisa finally releases Karma. All of my classmates who were on the blue team start cheering.
"Okay, cool. You worked hard for that win Nagisa." Nakamura says reluctantly. Nagisa flops onto the ground beside Karma, both of them looking like they could pass out at any moment.
"I actually won? I beat Karma?" Nagisa mutters as Karma slowly sits up.
"Before you start doing a little victory dance, let's make one thing perfectly clear. You left your back wide open to attack, I just couldn't bring myself to stab you. Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place. No one would've been satisfied with me winning that way. I can't believe you managed to get the drop on me with martial arts. Seriously dude, who'd had ever thought I'd be beaten at my own game like that?" Karma says, flopping back onto his back with a sigh. "You killed me. Alright, you want to save Korosensei. Talk, I'm listening." Karma says as Nagisa sits up.
"Are you really? No joke?" Nagisa asks.
"Quit staring at me like that, you look like mousetrap cheese. I've seen fewer bruises on a week-old peach." Karma complains.
"Wow. Even in defeat you can't bear to waste a single insult, huh? Good old Karma." Nagisa says, frowning before Karma jumps back onto his feet.
"Please. Look, why don't we drop all the back and forth. I'm really not feeling it after that fight." Karma says, stretching his limbs.
"So what, we talk to each other like human beings? Feels kinda weird after all this time." Nagisa says, looking away. Karma reaches down and offers him a hand.
"Fine. I'll start us off. Give me your hand, old friend." Karma says.
"Thanks Karma." Nagisa says, looking at him with a slight smile and accepting his offer. "Old friend." All of my classmates smile at the sight before breaking off into groups and laughing together. Maybe the awkward distance between the two of them will finally be gone. It's around sunset when Mr.Karasuma addresses us.
"I'm sure you all have your own thoughts on the matter. I for one have no objections to the course this class has chosen. That said, I can only allow you to try save him on one condition. You have until the end of the month to figure out a way. You might be taking a break From assassination, but others involved aren't. Their efforts are in full swing. If it turns out he needs to be killed, I believe you should be the ones who do it. Make me a promise. However January plays out, February onward you'll focus on the original objective. Whether you save or kill, give it all you've got." He says. We all glance at each other with smiles.
"Yes sir!" We answer.