—
RIKU COULDN'T FEEL HERSELF BREATHING. Not with how her chest forbade her to do so as it was clumped up with harsh waves of being deceived, her eyes becoming an open window for everyone to look into to see just how betrayed she was.
"Once I put my mind to something, I just keep on rolling!"
So much has already happened. Why is there always more?
How strange.
The voice was Kayano's. The words were said by Kayano. The face and body are Kayano's too, and yet...Riku couldn't sense any familiarity with her green-haired classmate who has now become an entirely different person in our gamer's eyes.
The heat of the circle of fire Kayano made barely fazed the lavender head who only stood behind everyone, watching everything be brought upon chaos.
Who knew, that out of everyone, Kayano would have been the one to surprise them the most?
A friendly face that Riku grew fond of and looked forward to seeing every class was now wiped away. And the Kayano that stood before her, before everyone, was a stranger.
A stranger who held a grudge.
"She's only been fighting like this for ten or fifteen seconds," Amongst the panic, Itona's voice stood out, but that did not erase the terror in his eyes. "But the tentacles are already starting to take over her mind."
The Kayano who was lunging towards Koro-sensei with green tentacles of her own was not the same person whom she accepted as her friend throughout the semesters (though, Riku would prefer it if this was kept secret).
"If they've already taken that much control, it's too late." Riku's head snapped towards where Itona stood. "Whether or not she gets her revenge, she'll only last a few more minutes after that."
How...
"Then I think she'll die."
How could it have come to this?
What Riku thought would be an average normal school day for the assassins-in-training students of Class E, turned into one that made Riku question everything she has learned up to that point.
They already finished exams, they managed to escape death at the hands of the Grim Reaper...their School Festival restaurant was a success, too.
Riku and the rest of Class E thought that they could now focus on the assassination and the assassination alone, that, and alongside their future colleges and aspiring careers. But they didn't think it would have come to this...
"Die die die die die die!" Kayano's attacks didn't let up. She just kept on attacking, and Koro-sensei just kept on blocking. The teacher made no move to go on the offensive. "Die die die die die die!"
Maehara looked down. "Looks more like she's gonna die...any minute now."
Riku's heart churned at that.
And Riku grew very aware of what her heart wanted. She has learned to listen to it every now and then ever since her heart-to-heart talk with Karma.
And as of now, her heart is telling her not to build another wall to protect it anymore. It is telling her not to lock its doors or barricade its windows. To let people in if they wish it, to let people stay if they wish it, and to let them leave. If they wish it. Just like what happened with Karma.
Riku learned that sometimes her heart and mind can work together in the strangest of manners, but now it is not time for her to make any complaints.
Right now, her heart is telling her to not just stand there.
It's telling her to move.
"Can't we do anything?" Sugino cried out.
It's telling her to think.
It's telling her mind to throw away all the questions for now
"Well, for one," Everyone's heads followed Riku's figure as she walked down closer to the battle, standing right beside Nagisa as she began to speak. "We can't sit her down and have a one-on-one talk as we did with Itona-kun."
Terasaka's eyebrow twitched, slightly mocking Riku by saying, "Well, certainly! She's 20 ft. up in the air too busy trying to kill our homeroom teacher and herself if you have yet to notice!"
"Her tentacles are attached to her nervous system, you idiot. It matches whatever her brain is thinking, and right now, it is thinking nothing but murder." Riku snapped, glaring in Terasaka's direction, who gulped and secretly took a step back. "We obviously can't calm her down from where we are at, and we can't certainly make a civil conversation with her just like how your friend group adopted Itona-kun."
"Adopted?!"
"We have to make her forget her damn bloodlust. Even for a few seconds." Riku crossed her arms. "But in order for that to happen, we need her to make her think that she has achieved her goal."
Riku's eyes never left the fighting scene that took place in front of her.
"That means..." Sugino mumbled, unable to finish his sentence. Everyone got the gist of what Riku was pertaining to, anyways
Everyone gasped when Koro-sensei's face was suddenly in front of them.
"Akiyama-san is right! We have to remove her tentacles ASAP!"
"Koro-sensei?!" Nagisa exclaimed. And as much was Riku was a fan of small chit-chat and to ask the amazing details of Koro-sensei's many skills, there was no time to waste.
"Don't die, sensei." Riku assured the octopus, putting a hand up to stop any upcoming questions from her classmates. "Just do what you need to do."
Koro-sensei only stayed for another millisecond before fully focusing his attention on the raging Kayano. The sight was enough for Riku to put both her hands on Nagisa's shoulders and have him face her.
"Riku?" Kanzaki muttered, eyes staring at the duo in confusion.
"Koro-sensei will have Kayano hit the spot under his tie, near his heart." Everyone's eyes widened at that. "It's close enough to let her guard down and think she has done him in, it will relax her nerves."
Riku decided to leave out the fact that Koro-sensei has to remove Kayano's tentacles with him still pierced, making his chances of surviving 50-50. Which, by the way, is the closest the Class E students have ever gotten to killing him if Riku were to be completely honest.
But even with that knowledge in mind, Riku was not the least bit worried. She knew Koro-sensei would survive this.
She is confident that he will.
Thus, she kept quiet.
Nagisa wasn't even able to speak. Not when Riku cut him off. "And when that happens, I want you not only to distract her. But to do something that will completely shock her out of her bloodlust."
Nagisa's eyes would have fallen out of their sockets with how wide they got. "Wait--Wait a minute--But why me?!"
"Why not you?"
That question that left Riku's mouth was enough to silence the blue-haired boy who could only look at his lavender-haired friend in astonishment.
Riku raised an eyebrow.
"You have a knack for surprise attacks, don't you know?" The tone that Riku used, although it sounded all-knowing and final to those around her--somehow sounded a little different to a certain redhead who stood not far away from the two.
Karma's eyes studied Riku's face, her violet-blue gem eyes glistening but reflecting the dangerous flames of the fire. Karma knew Riku long enough to know that her tone did not match her intentions.
As much as Riku tried to hide it with bluntness and smartass remarks, Karma understood her body language in ways no other person on this planet could.
And he knew for a fact, that Riku has a secret hypothesis made in honor of their blue-haired Nagisa. And that she has some sort of hidden agenda that she wished to accomplish and a question that she wished to solve.
Karma had a feeling her thoughts on Nagisa and his were the same.
"Don't you want to help Kaede?"
Riku's voice grew soft--as if the fire in front of them wasn't spreading, as if Koro-sensei wasn't struggling, as if Kayano didn't just reveal her entire backstory with her older sister, as if Riku herself wasn't full of questions for their mutual green-haired friend.
Their mutual green-haired friend who they were still worried for.
It wasn't that he did not want to save his friend. God knows how much he wants to do everything in his power to rescue Kayano who clearly wanted to be rescued. Because no matter how much she was raging...it does not change the fact that Kayano was still hurting.
Riku, like Nagisa and everyone else, wants to save Kayano the best that they can. And if Riku thinks that he is the best to carry out Koro-sensei's plan, then so be it. He had faith in Riku and trusts that this is the best way to go.
Plus she was right. Nagisa turned to the flames, eyes filled with new-found concentration. He had something up his sleeve. Something that might--will work.
"I know what to do." Nagisa said.
And that was all it took to get Riku to nod, lifting her head up to Kayano. "Then do it."
"Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!" Kayano was close. She could feel her nerves twitching all over.
Whether it be from pain or from excitement, Kayano could no longer tell. All she feels now...is her deep need to kill the man who took her older sister from her.
"Die!"
She felt a thick coat of liquid surrounding her tentacles, and when Kayano looked up, she could feel her heart pumping in accomplishment when she saw her tentacles deep in Koro-sensei's heart. His weakest spot. She has struck Koro-sensei! And everyone in Class E is a witness to the revenge she was able to fulfill after a long wait.
I got him!
But just before she could smile, Koro-sensei was quick to move, immediately wrapping his tentacles around her mid-section like vines, keeping her in place.
Koro-sensei pulled her down to him, using his extra tentacles to hold her shoulders while she struggled pointlessly, grunting as she tried to free herself from his vice-like grip.
"I swore to your sister..." No.
"Let me go!" I won't hear any of it! Not from you! I lost her because of you! I lost her to you!
"...that I wouldn't give up on any of you."
Riku and everyone else watched as Nagisa quietly made his way toward Kayano, who looked up at him in surprise.
"Riku, you good?" Isogai asked the young Akiyama who was silently watching the whole scene. She didn't reply even after she miraculously pulled a fire extinguisher out of thin air and scared the living shit out of everyone for the umpteenth time that year. Isogai set his lips into a straight line. Something was strange, and he couldn't be able to pinpoint what exactly it was, much more explain it properly, but-- Isogai continued to stare at Riku with furrowed eyebrows.
But it was as if Riku was watching Nagisa rather than the whole thing.
What are you going to do... Riku's eyes narrowed, almost into cat-like slits. Nagisa?
However, she was only like everybody else with their jaws dropping to the floor and eyes coming out of their sockets when Nagisa pulled Kayano by the nape of her neck and started making out with her.
Riku couldn't even be bothered with how Karma and Rio pulled out their phones to document the whole thing--hell--she couldn't be bothered to do it herself--Not when two of her classmates were kissing right in front of her eyes!
Not that it was something she considered demonic or something. Go be happy couples and all that, Riku supports it just as much as she supports being single.
She was expecting Nagisa to do something, yes. Just not that.
Not french kissing Kayano full on the lips for a whole 15 hits (Riku does not have the deets, but she heard Irina-sensei saying this from the back) until the green-haired girl passed out of shock, her eyes basically in the shape of swirls, Nagisa and Koro-sensei holding onto her tight.
The two laid the unconscious girl on the grass, Nagisa kneeling beside Kayano as he turned to Koro-sensei with wide innocent eyes. "Koro-sensei, is this enough?"
The said teacher pulled out his very much trusted clippers, and in her eyes, Riku watched as Koro-sensei's smile turned cheeky. "Full marks, Nagisa-kun!"
Riku looked up to the sky, the gears in her head churning once again with all that was revealed not only tonight...Yukimira-sensei...
Her violet-blue orbs glanced over to Irina who was standing beside Karasuma, the two already taking action to put the fire out quicker with the help of the other students while Koro-sensei proceeded with the removal of Kayano's tentacles.
Memories from a few weeks ago came back as the face of the man who everyone thought was to be a considerate flower boy only to be revealed as the world's most feared killer.
And although the term was basically almost over with the School festival and the final exams done as well, Riku's mind did not stop once during that time span. Not with the results of her college entrance exams and the assassination in mind.
Yukimira-sensei...Shiro...The Grim Reaper...
An unusual theory came up to Riku a few days ago...However she was rather hesitant about what she was supposed to do to get more information for the confirmation of this certain hypothesis. Not when it requires looking into the time in which Koro-sensei was yet to be Koro-sensei.
If it were a few months ago, Riku would have refused any information on Koro-sensei's past whatsoever. All that mattered to the gamer was who Koro-sensei was now as her homeroom teacher and target.
If it were a few months ago...
But now, Riku not only has her curiosity biting her in the back, but the grudges from significant people of Koro-sensei's life before were, too.
Too many people from Koro-sensei's mostly uncovered past have come for Koro-sensei's head. And if you were to ask Riku, she was getting rather annoyed by those people and their interruptions.
And if she wanted a clean kill that was only between that of Class E and Koro-sensei, if she wanted no one else to get hurt, Riku had to find answers and find answers fast. And she had an idea as to where to start.
Riku pulled out her phone and walked away from the scene, knowing that Kayano was now safe and in good hands. Listening to the ringtone as she places her phone to her ear, waiting patiently for the other line to pick up.
"Hey, dad," Riku clenched her fist, mentally apologizing to Koro-sensei and promising to treat him to a nice dinner in France sometime. "Can you look into someone for me? Yeah, I may be going to take up your and mom's offer for help after all."
—
A FEW WEEKS AGO.
Riku smiled faintly at the strawberry blonde in front of her who had his arms crossed just like hers. "Looks like we both lost, huh?"
Asano clicked his tongue, head ducked down as he stared at his shoes.
The two basked in the silence that the area offered. They were hiding behind school again, where they made their first academic bet which Riku won.
"I would not have made another idiotic gamble with you if you not had insisted." Asano rolled his eyes, trying as much to show as much of his annoyance at the girl as much as possible.
Riku raised an eyebrow. "This one is not that intense like the last one, though." She pointed it out, and it was true. She only called him yesterday afternoon, right before their exams took place to offer something that may have interested him.
"Why did you suddenly have the nerve to make such bets with me, anyway?" Asano scoffed.
"Why did you so easily agree?" Riku easily retorted back.
If Riku was being honest, a part of her might have done it so that Asano could have some other academic and mental motivation in aiming for number one aside from the fear he felt for his dad.
But, if Riku was being real, she had something to ask of him and her pride would not let her ask him politely like a normal human being with phenomenal human interaction skills.
"The one who gets the top spot gets to ask any favor from the other party without complaints." Asano sighed. "Top spot..."
Riku smiled to herself, raking a hand through her short hair as she nodded to Asano's words. Both of them lost because not one of the two managed to win the top spot in the school. That spot now belonged to Karma Akabane.
Riku won't lie to you and say that she had no chance to congratulate the redhead. She just thought that she did not have the right to, not even as a classmate.
1st. Akabane Karma
2nd. Akiyama Riku
3rd. Asano Gakushu
Despite not conversing with each other for weeks, Riku hoped that Karma still knew her well enough to know that she was proud of him.
"Ah, whatever," Asano pushed himself off the wall and stared at Riku dead in the eye. Riku smirked to herself, a little bemused. "I suppose the bet is off? Due to it being a draw?"
Riku hummed, putting her hands behind her back. "Draw? It was a clear loss, as you said so yourself, Asano-kun."
Asano stared at her a bit more before stating: "You can only ever verbally admit defeat when it comes to him, huh."
Riku only sent him a tight-lipped smile, her eyes clearly telling him not to push his boundaries, the action making Asano snort at the ridiculousness of it all.
"You two...should find a different way to make things work between you two," Asano said, already starting to walk away and head home for the day. "You may think that whatever your gimmick is now is what is best, but I think it's quite the opposite."
Before Riku could open her mouth and retort, Asano already left, leaving her alone once again.
"Eh~" Riku breathed out, shaking her head before looking down to where Asano was standing a few feet away from her just moments before. "There was really something I needed from him, damn it."
"You may think that whatever your gimmick is now is what is best, but I think it's quite the opposite."
Riku let out a chuckle, inhaling deeply before resting her head on the cemented wall.
"Trust me, Asano-san. This is the best he and I could do."
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