A/n
Hello, and thank you for 1.4k+ reads and 60+ votes! Also, a special thanks to pimpomie for commenting, gr00vymc for voting, and Caimohe for voting and following! This chapter is the start of my favorite arc in the series... Though I will admit that it is kinda inconvenient for a Maehara X Reader. Well, here's today's update :)
Partway into our summer vacation, I'm enjoying a late morning. I stretch, rolling to my other side and not wanting to get up yet and instead piece together what had happened in my dream. What was that dream about, anyways? I know Hiroto was there, but besides that... Maybe if I fall back asleep I'll remember. However, I never get to follow through with my plans as my door is forcefully thrown open.
"(Y/n)! Your boyfriend is at the door and he won't go away!" (S/n) complains. She has been at home for a couple of days, spending her summer holiday with us.
"For one, he is not my boyfriend!" I insist, grabbing my phone. "And for two, it's my summer break too, and it's only 9:30!" I punctuate my sentence by throwing my extra pillow at (S/n) who dodges and runs out of my room, leaving the door open. I sigh, placing an arm over my eyes. I swear, she acts even younger than me!
"Oh, Hiroto, dear! Come in!" The muffled voice of my mother flows down the hallway from the front door.
"Thanks, Mrs.(L/n)." A familiar voice says.
"I'm so sorry about (S/n). She really shouldn't be so rude to you. (Y/n)'s in her bedroom." My mom says.
"Oh, no it's fine! And thanks." Maehara says, his footsteps getting closer to my door. I pull my blanket over my head. His footsteps stop by my bed and Maehara unceremoniously rips my blanket off me. "Get up, we're going bug hunting!" He announces.
"Wha..?" I murmur. "Do you even know how to catch bugs? You do realize you have to set traps and stuff, right?"
"Yeah, well it'll also give us tons of money." Maehara reasons.
"Only if we happen to get certain ones. There's no guarantee. Now give me my blanket back." I say, sitting up sleepily and reaching for his hand and tugging it towards me so I can remove it from my blanket.
"That desperate to get me in bed?" He asks with a smirk.
"Gross! We're literally still in junior high!" I say, punching his arm.
"I know, I know! I'm just joking!" He says, dropping my blanket and heading to my door. "Get ready, we're going to meet up with Nagisa and Sugino." He says, shutting the door behind him.
"Whoa, just look at 'em all!" Sugino exclaims an hour later. Yes, I had finally gotten ready. As slowly as possible to spite Maehara for waking me up so early, but that's besides the point.
"Why are we here at school?" Nagisa asks, holding a container.
"Well... I don't want people to see me out catching bugs at my age." Sugino says, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "But I've always wanted to do this, and I never got a chance in the city." He says, holding up a beetle. "Plus, Karma happened to point me to a tree with some good bugs on it. Though I didn't expect you to come, Maehara. And you dragged (Y/n) here with you, too."
"Our next assassination's at that island resort, right? Wouldn't you say we're missing a little something?" Maehara says.
"Like what?" Sugino asks.
"Money!" Maehara exclaims, his eyes practically glowing. "You need buying power of you're gonna snag yourself a swimsuited babe!" He says before pointing to the beetle in Sugino's hand. "That runt won't do the trick, but a giant stag beetle! Those babies'll net you tens of thousands of yen! Auction 'em off online for major cashola, and we'll make at least enough to cover a fancy dinner and a place to chill out!" Maehara says before running off.
"Or you could just ditch that plan, be a good person, and find someone who doesn't want to exploit your money before ditching you after a few hours." I say, frowning.
"I think he's forgotten what this trip's all about." Sugino says.
"Yeah. That wasn't your average fifteen-year-old's vacation plans." Nagisa agrees.
"That won't work!" A feminine voice suddenly pipes up, catching Maehara's attention. The blond looks up at the tree right next to him. "Giant stag beetles're old and busted."
"Kurahashi!" Maehara says.
"Morning! You're here to scrape up some spending money too, huh?" She says with a smile.
"Hey, what do you mean, stag beetles are old and busted?" Sugino asks as he, along with Nagisa and I catch up to the two. Kurahashi climbs down from her tree.
"Well..." She starts. "I guess they were super valuable right around when we were born, but today's artificial breeding methods have saturated the market, bringing their prices way down."
"You mean the beetle bubble burst?!" Maehara asks in disbelief. "I figured one beetle would make around enough to cover one babe..."
"No way." Kurahashi says, waving a hand. "These days, babes are way more expensive."
"Agreed." I say, giving Maehara a glare. He cowers like a scolded child. He hasn't talked about that kind of thing in a while. And here I was thinking he was snapping out of it and finding someone he actually does like, even if it isn't me...
"You sure know a lot about this, Kurahashi. Are you into bugs?" Sugino questions, shaking me out of my sour thoughts. Instead of glaring at my friend, I opt for a nearby tree instead. I'm sorry tree, you've done nothing wrong. Well, that I'm aware of, anyways.
"Yep! Along with every other living thing!" She responds. "Hey, since we're all here... Let's all go bug-hunting!" Kurahashi exclaims excitedly, pumping a fist in the air. "We're bound to find tons if we all try!"
"Ok. It would be nice to learn more from someone so experienced." I say. Moments later, we arrive at a trap Kurahashi had set earlier.
"Mmm. Pretty nice haul." Kurahashi hums.
"Whoa! Did you set this?" Sugino asks, eyes widened in amazement.
"Its a home-made trap of mine. I put it out last night. There are about twenty more of them out there, so that's about eight-hundred yen for each of us if we're lucky!" Kurahashi explains.
"Not too shabby for a side job!" Sugino says appreciatively.
"I hope we caught the one I was looking for!" Kurahashi says, taking a step forward to start off towards the next trap.
"What an inefficient trap." Another voice interrupts. "And you call yourselves the E Class?"
"Okajima!" We exclaim, spotting our classmates perched in a tree and staring down at us.
"Pulling in a measly eight-hundred yen at a time? Yeah, right. My trap'll bring in a cool ten billion!" He scoffs, leaping down in front of us.
"Ten billion... You don't mean—" Nagisa starts.
"Oh, but I do." Okajima says. "If we're planning an assassination on this tropical isle, that octopus is bound to let his guard down in the meantime." He says, leading us deeper into the woods. I hate to admit it, but he's got a point there. "And that's what I'm after!" He growls, stopping and peeking through some bushes. Is that... Korosensei? A bright pink Korosensei in a beetle costume sits on top of a pile of porn magazines in the middle of the woods, reading one of them. What even is this image?!
"All right! Here we go!" Okajima whisper yells. "He went right for my porno trap!"
"Wow. When do you see the speedy Korosensei too absorbed in reading to make the slightest movement?" Sugino says.
"That one must be right up his alley." Maehara comments.
"Also, what's with the stag beetle getup?" I question.
"Is he trying to blend in? That's just sad." Maehara says.
"Every mountain has one: the smut stash." Okajima says. "The kids who find their dreams there grow old enough to buy their own porn mags and then leave behind dreams for someone else to find. It's a place filled with neverending dreams. I'm glad you're here! Lend me a hand! We'll use our porn power to give him a dream he'll never wake up from!" When none of us say anything, Okajima looks down at something.
"I did some major research into his top turn-ons, y'know. Can't buy the stuff myself, but I found a few." Okajima says.
"Wouldn't he like anything with big boobs?" Nagisa points out.
"In real life, sure. But dirty magazines are dreams. Everyone looks for their ideal in those pages. For photos and manga alike, the tiniest difference gets a whole 'nother response." Okajima says, showing pictures of Korosensei's reactions his phone as examples, the object he had been looking down at.
"That's amazing, Okajima. So for the last month, you've been placing different kinds of porn and carefully observing his reactions?" Nagisa says.
"What kind of grown-up would spend a whole month picking up abandoned porn mags?" Sugino sweat drops. "That's just sad."
"It's just like your traps, Kurahashi. You need to work out ways to attract your prey for long periods of time, right?" Okajima prompts.
"Yeah." Kurahashi says.
"I've got a dirty mind. If you wanna hate me for it, go on ahead." Okajima says. "But it's only because I'm a super-lech that I know:" He pauses slightly to pull a pornography magazine from the bushes, an anti-sensei knife concealed in it. "Pornography can save the world." How did he make that sound so cool?!
"I'll get him, all right! Under all that porn is a net strung with anti-teacher BB pellets! He's buried in that mag right now. We can nab him for sure! Someone cut this rope and trigger the trap." Okajima says, pointing us to the contraption. "I'll jump in there and finish him off!" Nagisa positions himself by the rope, scissors from Okajima in hand as the latter lies in wait for the perfect opportunity. Suddenly, Korosensei looks up from his magazine.
"Bwoop!" He hums, his eyes extending out of his head to something in front of him as he returns to his usual yellow coloring.
"Wh-What the..." Sugino trails off.
"His eyes just went all 'bwoop'!" Maehara imitates him.
"Well yeah, but why?" I say.
"I don't have any data on that face!" Okajima panics. "What kind of porn does that signify?!" Then Korosensei laughs.
"There you are!" He exclaims, a tentacle zipping out in front of him at a tree and snatching something before retracting it like one of those jelly slapped hands. "A Miyama stag beetle. And look at that eye color!" Kurahashi's eyes widen and she steps out from behind the bushes.
"Are they white, Korosensei!?" She asks, running over to him.
"Ah, Kurahashi!" Korosensei says, holding it out for her to see. "Indeed they are!"
"Wow! Just what I've been looking for!" Kurahashi says, looking ecstatic.
"Yes, right here on this mountain!" Korosensei says.
"Oh, man! And we were so close!" Okajima cries while Kurahashi and Korosensei jump up and down on the pile of porn.
"Miyama stag! Miyama stag! Yay!" They cheer.
"I don't know what they're so happy about, but a giant stag beetle and a junior-high girl jumping around on all that porn? That's one hell of a sight." Maehara says. Just then, Korosensei stops with a small exclamation, looking down around him in horror. He falls to his knees and covers his face, crying.
"Mortifying! How super-duper mortifying!" He sobs as the rest of us detangle ourselves from the bushes and stand in a semi-circle around him in the small clear-cut. "I'm so ashamed. Such behavior is unbecoming of an educator. I knew there was a trap under all this porn, but with each magazine more to my taste than the last, I couldn't resist!"
"He saw right through it." Okajima mumbles, slack-jawed.
"So what's the big deal, Kurahashi?" Sugino asks, examining the beetle crawling on Korosensei's head. "That's a Miyama stag beetle, right? In games and stuff, they sell for way less than a giant stag."
"Miyamas've been selling for more lately. They're still hard to breed." She explains. "One this size could fetch twenty thousand."
"Twenty thousand?!" Sugino exclaims.
"Plus, take a good look at his eyes." Korosensei says. "They're usually black, but these are white. I taught you about albinism in biology class, right?"
"Oh, yeah... Like the super-rare creatures born pure white?" Maehara says.
"Yes, and albino stag beetles are only white in the eyes." Korosensei informs us. "A natural-born Miyama white-eye, as they're known, is extremely rare. Why, this even has academic value. You could sell this for hundreds of thousands of yen, easy." He says, handing the bug to Kurahashi.
"Hundreds?!" The rest of us yell.
"I told Korosensei I was hopping I could see one someday, and he said he'd use his zoom eyes to find one for me!" Kurahashi says happily before turning to us. "Okay, you lowlifes: whoever wants this baby, raise your hand!"
"Me!" All the boys say, their hands shooting up.
"I want to go back to bed..." I grumble.
"What to do, what to do..." Kurahashi ponders before running away with the beetle.
"I was the one who caught it!" Korosensei says in dismay as Maehara and Sugino chase after her, Nagisa, Okajima, and I following after more slowly. Okajima missteps and falls into the stream. I laugh out loud. One more week until our tropical island assassination...
Later that day the whole class meets up at the school building to train in preparation for our assassination plan. All of us wear our P.E. clothes, a huge contrast from Ms.Bitch's short peach-colored sundress.
"Well, well! I see you little brats are working up a good sweat, summer vacation notwithstanding." She drawls, leaning back in her lounge chair, a tropical drink in one hand.
"You should train too, Ms.Bitch." Mimura says. "Your gun and knife skills aren't that much better than ours."
"Grownups are sneaky." She says simply. "I'll just hitch a ride on your strategy and take the best parts for myself."
"Assuming we'll let you." I say just as an intimidating presence makes itself known.
"You think you're a big shot, huh, Irina?" A deep voice says. Ms.Bitch shoots out of her chair.
"M-Mr.Lovro!" She shrieks.
"He's here as a special instructor for the summer." Karasuma explains. "He'll give us tips on our strategy from a pro's perspective."
"Spend one day resting, and your fingers and arms forget about killing." Lovro says darkly. "If you don't want to flunk out, hurry and get changed!" He barks at his protégé.
"Yes, sir!" She answers, bolting away.
"Even Ms.Bitch can't say no to him." Sugaya observes.
"Yeah, well, he's one scary dude." Maehara says turning away.
"Thank you for your assistance." Karasuma says.
"To make matters worse, I lost contact with the assassins who'd shown the most promise." Lovro says, his arms crossed against his chest. "We're they scared off, knowing that even the pros had failed? Perhaps. Now all we can do is leave it up to them." Lovro says. Irina returns, now wearing a black sports outfit and pouting. "In any case, am I correct in understanding that he is absent today?"
"Yes. He'd had a trip to Everest planned, so he's there now, beating the heat." Karasuma answers. Lucky. It's so muggy here. From then I block out their conversation and focus more on my shooting. I do fine when I'm not standing because I'm more stable, but I'm still shaky when I just throw a gun up. I can't get better if I don't practice though, no matter how much I hate it. After a bit more training, Lovro calls most of us over to look at our assassination plan, leaving a few others to continue practicing.
"I see. First, we destroy the seven promised tentacles, then the entire class immediately jumps in to finish him off. So far, so good... But what's this very first step: 'psychological warfare'?" Lovro asks, holding up the booklet we had made documenting our plan.
"First we throw him off, blunting his moves." Nagisa says.
"Korosensei was scavenging for dirty magazines earlier." Maehara says. Ah yes, and then he tried to bribe us with popsicles so we wouldn't tell the rest of the class. "So he paid each of us with an ice pop. As if that'd be enough to keep our mouths shut in this day and age!" Maehara grins evilly.
"The entire class will be hanging up and picking on him!" Terasaka, Muramatsu, Yoshida, and Hazama say in unison.
"First we'll corner him with that blackmail material... and more." Nagisa summarizes.
"A brutal assassination method indeed." Lovro sweat drops. "But the key is that final, killing blow. Pinpoint timing and accurate aim will be crucial."
"Are you worried about this class' firepower?" Karasuma asks.
"Quite the opposite. Those two in particular are outstanding." Lovro says, eyeing Chiba and Hayami and mumbling to himself about their individual strengths. "I would even take them for my own students." He finishes. "The others are at a respectable level as well. Good job identifying and nurturing their talents in such a short time. I see plenty of potential here."
After that, Lovro walks around, giving each of us advice suited to help us improve. For me, it's to widen my stance so I'm more balanced. Also to not wait so long to take a shot if I have the opportunity sooner.
One week later, we're all on a boat with Korosensei, speeding across the water to Okinawa. Korosensei slumps on the guardrail, looking dizzy.
"Not a boat... Anything but a boat!" He groans. "Everything in my head is going to spill right out!"
"Why not just meet us there? You can fly at Mach 20." I say.
"It's student-teacher bonding time. If I leave now I might loose your admiration!" Korosensei cries.
"Oh! Get up, Korosensei, get up! You can see it now!" Kurahashi calls from the head of the boat.
"Six hours from Tokyo!" Sugino says.
"The place where we'll kill Korosensei!" Maehara adds.
"The island!" We all cheer.
"Welcome to the Fukuma Resort Hotel! Please enjoy this tropical juice with our compliments." A waiter says, placing drinks on the table some of my classmates hover around.
"Man, this is the life!" Mimura sighs happily.
"Everything's just so bright and vibrant!" Kimura says, looking around at everything.
"We can go directly to the beach from the hotel. Looks like they have plenty of leisure activities available, too." Korosensei says, lounging in the sun.
"We'll save the you-know-what till after dinner." Muramatsu says. "First, let's have some fun, Korosensei!"
"In groups, like we did on our school trip!" Yoshida suggests.
"I'm all for it. Play hard, kill hard!" Korosensei says.
"(Y/n), aren't you going to have any?" Isogai asks.
"Eh, as nice as the service is, I'm not a big fan of tropical flavored stuff. Plus, it's not like you're having one either." I say pointedly.
"I'm not thirsty. I had a bunch of water on the way here." Isogai says.
"Yeah, you looked almost as bad as Korosensei." Kataoka says, referring to his boat-sickness on the way here. Isogai flushes and rubs his neck.
"I'm glad you didn't hurl." Okano says. "I totally would've lost my appetite."
"Heh, yeah. I just prefer solid ground." Isogai says. "And I was getting better towards the end. I'm just not very used to boats."
"You guys are missing out, this is great." Maehara says, taking a long sip and leaning back in his chair.
"Sure. You're just the weird one who enjoys the taste of orange. Not the fruit, the color." I say. Anything that bright cannot be healthy.
"Suit yourself." Maehara says with a shrug. Once we're through with the refreshments, we set out on our tasks, ours being distracting Korosensei with hang gliders. This also happens to be a mini assassination attempt. It proves to have not been a good idea with Korosensei using his abilities to make his glider go much faster than ours.
"No fair, Korosensei!" Kimura says, directing a glider while Yada shoots out of it.
"The power difference here is just way too great!" Yada agrees.
"Maximum instantaneous velocity measured at 150 kilometers per hour." Ritsu reports. Korosensei continues upwards with a laugh.
"With a fighter jet, it all comes down to the engine." Korosensei says, flying alongside me and Maehara's glider. I fly while Maehara shoots. There's no way I'm trusting anyone else but a professional, or myself, to fly one of these things. Well, I'd probably trust Isogai to... No offense, Hiroto.
"Who's that supposed to be?" I ask in reference to Korosensei's outfit.
"Horikoshi Jirou." Korosensei replies.
"No, that's the guy who voiced him!" Maehara says.
"That's too hard!" I complain.
"Besides, he didn't fly 'em, he just built 'em!" Maehara protests.
"It's just all wrong!" I add. Korosensei just laughs and flies off, evading our attacks until our turn is over and he heads off to go dolphin watching with group 4. Once we're back on the ground I sigh in relief.
"Thank goodness for the ground." I say, stretching.
"Hey guys, look over there." Okano says, pointing down the beach at two figures.
"Is that... Mr.Karasuma and Ms.Bitch?" Yada asks.
"Yeah, Ms.Bitch is all over him." Kimura says.
"I'm surprised he hasn't shoved her away yet." I say. Just then, Karasuma whirls around and picks Irina up bridal-style.
"I didn't know they were like that." Maehara says with a smirk. Then Karasuma throws her in the water.
"That makes more sense." Kataoka comments; the rest of us murmur in agreement. With our part done, we are able to relax for a little bit before the assassination.
"We should go swimming. There's still a while left until you-know-what." Okano says.
"Sure, why not" Kataoka says calmly, but we all know she's in her element when she's swimming.
"I'm kind of tired. I think I'll go back to the hotel." I say.
"You sure?" Yada asks.
"Yeah. Traveling makes me sleepy. You guys have fun though." I say. With that, I head back to my shared hotel room, curling up in my bed. The room is otherwise empty since Kataoka and Okano are still out there. I get comfortable and it doesn't take long for sleep to come for me.
A knocking on the door stirs me from my sleep. Hmm? I look at one of the standard clocks on the bedside table. It's only been an hour and a half. I should still have a while. Plus, Kataoka and Okano have keys, they wouldn't have to knock. I drowsily walk over to the door, opening it a crack to see Maehara standing there. I open it fully.
"Did you guys need me for something?" I ask, rubbing my eyes.
"No, I just wanted to keep you company." He says.
"What, not enough 'babes' on the beach?" I say teasingly, knowing that we were the only ones there besides the staff since we had rented the place out for a few days because of our trip.
"Very funny. And no, I just didn't feel like hanging out on the beach anymore." Maehara says. Weirdo...
"Well I was taking a nap, so I don't think I'll be much more entertaining." I say, moving and letting him in, closing the door once he moved past me.
"I was actually considering a nap too." Maehara says, flopping onto the nearest bed.
"A, that's Okano's," I say, causing the blond to scramble off the bed. "And B, why didn't you just go to your room?"
"I tried and I couldn't." He sighs.
"So you came to bother me instead?" I say skeptically, crawling back under the covers on my bed.
"Mhm." He hums, sitting next to me on my bed. "I think it's because of the assassination later."
"Yeah, probably. We can't do anything about it yet, though." I say. "Why don't we talk about something different, then?" I suggest. After that, we spend the rest of the afternoon talking about everything and anything but the assassination, and I never get to finish my nap. Eventually, Isogai calls us out to join the rest of the class.
"Phew! What fun that was! No wonder I'm so tanned!" Korosensei sighs, sitting on a chair looking out over the water. He looks like a piece of charcoal...
"That's beyond tanned!" We all say.
"Even your teeth are tanned." Kimura says.
"So much for picking up on your expressions." Okano huffs.
"All right, Korosensei, after dinner comes the assassination." Isogai says.
"Yes, yes. First, the shipboard restaurant!" Korosensei exclaims, getting up and slithering away.
"Hasn't the octopus had enough fun for one day?" Muramatsu questions.
"Meanwhile, we got to pretend to have fun while we got everythin' ready!" Terasaka mumbles grumpily.
"Well, if we kill him today, we can just enjoy ourselves tomorrow." Yoshida reasons.
"I guess. Let's put in some effort and finish the job!" Muramatsu says. Moments later we're all on another boat, this time with food.
"Here we are, at the shipboard restaurant we've rented out." Isogai says, holding a platter with a single drink. He's doing much better this time. Probably because it isn't moving. "Let's slowly savor our meal as we take in the night sea."
"I get it." Korosensei says. "First you'll get me good and seasick to weaken my capabilities, eh?"
"Of course. That's Assassination 101." Isogai replies.
"You're so right. But will it really work that well?" Korosensei asks smugly, accepting the glass from Isogai and swirling the liquid around in the cup. Well, it doesn't hurt to try. "Seasickness is no match for a teacher who's all pumped up and anticipating an assassination—"
"You're too dark!" Me, Kataoka, and Okano say, interrupting him. On second thought, that sounds kinda offensive. But if it works, we could eat another leg up in the assassination...
(I'm sorry about this part, but it was in the sub :( )
"Am I really that dark?" Korosensei asks.
"Forget you're expression, we can't even tell front from back!" Nakamura says.
"It's too confusing. Do something about it, would you?" Kataoka says.
"Have you forgotten, students? I can molt—and in so doing, shed this dark skin!" Korosensei claims, the first layer of skin cracking at the top of his head and sliding off, our teacher returning to his usual yellowness. "There! Back to normal." I can't believe you didn't realize what we were trying to do.
"That's your once-a-month molt!" Fuwa exclaims as Korosensei holds up the shed skin.
"Just another of its uses." Korosensei says. "I tend to save it for particularly sticky situations, but..." Korosensei trails off, pausing as he realizes our ploy. He begins to sweat nervously and lets out a scream. "That's right: just once a month." He murmurs dejectedly, burying his face ashamedly in his tentacles.
"What an idiot, hobbling himself before and assassination!" Sugaya says while we all stare at our teacher's depressing actions.
"How have we not been able to kill this screw-up yet?" Nagisa asks.
"Honestly, not a clue." I say, returning to my meal. By the time we're all finished half an hour later, it's dark outside, stars dotting the sky. We walk out onto the dock, Korosensei leaning up against a stick for balance as we lead him across the beach to another wooden pathway on the water.
"All right, Korosensei. Dinner's over." Maehara says.
"Here's where we're meeting." Sugaya says, gesturing to the structure in front of us. "A floating chapel, away from the hotel." A majority of my classmates gather inside, but there's some of us that have other things we need to do. While Korosensei is watching the lengthy video of blackmail Okajima and Mimura had put together. Karma, Hara, Kayano, and Takebayashi head to the speedboats while a few of us sneak out to prepare the flyboards. We're going to use every weakness we can.