September. 22. 2023.
"Stand up for myself?" You repeated, as Karma suggested the idea to you in the car, on your way to his home. You were kind of in disbelief at his suggestion. What was this junior high? Were you standing up to the students on the main campus or something? "What're you talking about?"
"Oh come on," Karma rolled his eyes, looking over at you as he stopped the car for a red light. In the dark, the only thing that illuminated your faces were the lights you passed by. It made a shadow cast over his face, and it almost felt like you were one of the delinquents Karma had a habit of running into. "Don't act like you can't do it."
"They're not bullying me"-
"They're making you do all their bottom of the barrel work, Y/N," Karma said firmly, glaring at you. "They're taking away your time and opportunities you could be having if you only focused on your work, rather than helping them with the petty shit that basic artificial intelligence, nowhere near Ritsu, could get done. You have to stand up for yourself."
"I'm new to the job, Karma, I mean you understand that," you tried to defend yourself, but obviously it would never work.
"No, I don't," Karma cut you down. "But you know what I do know?" He leaned in, taking up your personal space as he looked into your eyes.
June. 26. 2015.
"Oh, sexy guy," Professor Bitch read aloud. "'It's a miracle!' See? Simple. Icebreakers like this guarantee a good first impression. Now, I'm sure we all know someone who's absolute crap with small talk," she chuckled lightly. "Maybe we are that person. The trick is to put yourself in the shoes of your target. Kimura, throw me an icebreaker, quick!"
Kimura stuttered before getting out a, "Hey there."
Professor Bitch crossed her fingers. "No, no! Your shifting the burden of conversation! If you want a meaningful response, the other person has to feel you're pulling your own weight. Try coming at them guns blazing with an interesting observation," she suggested.
Kimura nodded, hesitant still. You were understanding what she meant though. You were well versed in English. It was definitely one of your best subjects, along with Japanese. Really, you excelled at any language once you put the thought and time into studying them. As a child, you were always told you excelled at it, that you had a natural gift for the art of language. And you did, it came to you naturally. But once you started doing poorly in math and science, you started to shift your focus there, and your hang on even languages began to slip.
"Conversation is a challenge for the best of us, and that's okay!" Professor Bitch reassured. "Don't think in terms of finding the right words, let them come find you. Just let the conversation flow. Finesse it like a full tongued kiss."
As the class continued, Professor Bitch had the class start at least ten conversations for the rest of the class, and she assessed as the class went on. The class needed someone to start and get them going. Realizing this, Professor Bitch called on you.
"Y/N, you're not the top scorer in English in this class," Professor Bitch called out, immediately making your confidence falter. She was a good conversationalist sure, but good teacher, not completely yet.
She was right though. When it came to exam time or just generally on tests, Nakamura and Karma always had you beat. But they were geniuses; could you really compare to them?
"But from what I've seen, I think you have a fair grasp at the art of conversation," she analyzed. "How would you start a conversation, with let's say Karma. Or, if you can't think of that make up an icebreaker."
You looked over at Karma, doing a quick lookover of how he looked, before looking straight at his eyes. "You have beautiful eyes," you said, tilting your head, as you spoke in perfect English. "What are they, a golden colour?"
Professor Bitch interjected. "And Karma, how would you reply?"
He seemed to mull it over for a moment before replying. "Why, thank you, I got them from my father. As for the colour, why don't you come closer, decide for yourself?"
Your eyes widened as you bit the inside of your cheek, trying to fight the heat that was rushing to your face.
"Perfect!" Professor Bitch clapped her hands, and then quickly waved them, getting the class to start after their example.
"Bold move Karma!" Nakamura called out to him, before starting a conversation with Nagisa, another student in the class who did well in English. Even he had a little tint of pink dusting his cheeks. For some of the class, the line had flown over their heads, so the people near them translated quickly, earning Karma further praise.
"You couldn't think of anything else?" You asked him, narrowing your eyes.
He shrugged, walking past you and to Okuda, who looked through her English dictionary frantically. "Hey Okuda, have I ever told you how pretty your hair is? How does it look out?"
Huffing, you walked over to Terasaka. "Oh my god, Terasaka, you're so muscular, what do you do to have a body that's so fit?"
"You sound like you're from some American porno," Terasaka grumbled as he crossed his arms, not answering you back in English.
This would take a while.
June. 27. 2015.
Karasuma explained the situation he was in, between Professor Bitch and her mentor, Lovro. "So, there it is. Expect a few disruptions today and hopefully it won't interfere with your studies, too much. Just carry on as normal, alright?"
The class looked at him with pity- the poor guy could never catch a break.
Professor Bitch calling him out and running over to Karasuma caught everyone's attention next. "Excellent work today! I bet you worked up quite a thirst! Have an iced cold beverage!"
The class grumbled, along with Karasuma. Everyone here knew her tactics well; she didn't really have the advantage over Karasuma when it came to surprise, like Lovro did. Even the class knew she drugged it, how did she expect Karasuma to fall for it?
"Probably some sort of muscle relaxant," Karasuma called her out. "Immobilize and stab, oldest trick in the book." Karasuma sighed, cleary sick of this shit. "What do you take me for? No man in his right mind would let you close enough to give him a drink."
Professor Bitch put the drink down and pretended to fall down, putting on an entire show. Yet again, the class looked down on her as she acted like a child in order to get him. Isogai and Mimura helped her up.
"You okay, Professor Bitch?"
"Hey, no offense, but that little ploy wouldn't have fooled anyone."
Professor Bitch turned to yell at Mimura. "My options are limited okay?! I can't seduce someone who knows my MO! Chalk it down to occupational hazard! It's like a paid escort trying to put the moves on her old man. He knows her too well for her charms to land their mark."
The class yelled at her for the example. As the class entered next period, taking their seats as Korosensei would be entering the class any minute to continue with a math lesson, you caught your class' attention.
"Hey guys?" The class turned their heads to you, not really enamoured in chatter to be unable to hear you. Tilting your head, you asked, "Do you think a woman can ever beat a man? One on one?"
By the time you had said the question, Korosensei walked in. "Interesting question, Y/N! Why don't you stay up here, and start that discussion with the class. We can always switch around your language arts and math classes. This is an interesting topic of discussion after all. Why don't we vote on it before we start the discussion?"
Korosensei quickly had small sheets of paper on everyone's desks. Up on his desk at the front, you wrote down what you believed. Just as quick as he'd handed it out, Korosensei had collected and went over the results.
"Seems like the majority of the class agrees that a man would beat a woman." Korosensei turned to you. "Why don't you start this discussion, Y/N?" He sped over to your desk, taking a seat where you would usually sit. "I'll be the student for this class."
You hesitated for a second, before standing up straight, behind the desk that Korosensei would usually teach behind. "Well," you started. "The question was, can a woman ever beat a man? I meant it in a more literal fighting sense, as in a battle of strength, not wits. When it comes to intelligence, I think it's fair to say that the battlefield is fairly equal. But physically, biologically, women are bound to be at a disadvantage. Sure, trickery would work, as it has proved Professor Bitch successful plenty of times. But in a situation like the one she is in right now, where she can't use her usual tricks, her fight against Mr.Karasuma is going to come down to who's stronger right? Professor Bitch is bound to lose. And that's the case if an average female had to fight an average male as well."
Megu raised her hand, interjecting. "See, this is where I think there's an argument to be made. Sure, women are technically at a disadvantage against average males because of biology, but there's still a chance for smaller girls to beat bigger guys, if they know how to fight right. It could even work against guys who know how to fight."
"Yeah," Nakamura agreed. "I mean, Okano could probably kick the asses of half the guys in the class."
"Oh, that's interesting!" Yada said. "We should make her try to do that!"
An idea popped up in your head. "What if we tested this out then?" The class looked at you curiously, and Korosensei giggled, understanding what you were suggesting.
"I think that's a wonderful idea Y/N." The bell rang, indicating that lunch had begun. "Why don't you set this up? We'll figure out the brackets after lunch!"
You nodded, and quickly turned to the rest of the class as Korosensei hurried out for lunch.
"Let's test our theories out then! With a girls versus guys showdown!"
The class chatted a lot during lunch, discussing the challenge you proposed. The boys cockiness about winning over the girls was definitely getting to the girls' heads. Even the ones who'd voted that a man would technically win, were getting overconfident about how they'd win.
You were talking it over with Kayano. "I mean, do you think you can beat someone in this class? One of the guys?"
Kayano shook her head. "I'm the shortest girl in the class," she answered. "I think it would be pretty easy for anyone to beat me."
"Hey, maybe you'll end up lucky and go against Nagisa," Nakamura joined in. "Although, this is a random system, so if you're up against, like, Terasaka, or something, you're screwed."
"I mean, not to say Terasaka is a saint or anything," Megu added, turning around in her chair to face the three of you. "But, wouldn't anyone hesitate before hitting a person that's weaker than them? It kind of gives the smaller and weaker person the advantage at first, right?"
"That's true, but it depends on the person," you said, nodding, as you looked back at the class. "I mean, Terasaka is definitely the type to hesitate, I think. He has a tough guy image, but he's not a complete asshole. And I think some of the guys would just opt not to hit a girl at all; they would probably try to continually dodge our attacks and get us down somehow."
You scanned the class. "I can't imagine anyone here would actually feel alright hitting a girl."
Nakamura grinned. "So we do have the advantage."
"Yo, have a look at this man, it's Mr.K." You all turned your heads to where Karma was looking out the window. He was right, Mr.Karasuma was eating his lunch by a tree.
"Oh yeah," Kayano nodded. "He's been eating his lunch out there a lot recently, for some reason."
"While he's smacking on the sandwich, the spider moves in for the kill." Out of curiosity, more of the class began to look out the window. Karma was right. "Looks like Professor Bitch is going to go for it."
Professor Bitch seemed to chat for a second, before starting to use her typical tactics. She took off her jacket. "What, is she just trying to use her usual seductive techniques?" Maehara asked.
"It's gotta be more than that," Yada analyzed, stroking her chin, as she narrowed her eyes on Professor Bitch. The class watched intently, as she hurried around the tree, smiling. As she ran around, her jacket shot up, grabbing Karasuma's leg and throwing him down.
"Holy shit!" Okajima yelled, as Professor Bitch jumped ontop of Mr.Karasuma, pinning him down. "Man this is hot!"
"Yeah! Who's the bitch now?!"
She brought her knife down, but Karasuma, of course, had a physical advantage over her. "See, this is where the issue comes," you started, but, stopped when Karasuma let go, seemingly giving up, and Professor Bitch's knife hit him.
"You go girl!" Okajima cheered.
"She did it!" Kimura grinned. "She won!"
"Calling it," Maehara said. "Professor Bitch was the first one to hit him!"
The class clapped and cheered as she stood up again, proud of seeing Professor Bitch succeed.
Now it was your turn.
When Korosensei resumed class after lunch, he grinned, bringing two boxes into class- one labelled girls, the other guys. "Alright class, remember? This is a fun experiment that will help you with your training. Don't take it too seriously, but give it your all! The first boy is... Yoshida!"
Yoshida groaned, leaning back in his chair. "Do you really expect us to hit girls, sir? Even Mr.Karasuma couldn't do it!"
"What are you, scared?" Kirara turned, asking him. "It's just bringing the opponent to the ground. Professor Bitch knocked Mr.Karasuma down, who's to say you can't be just as easily?"
Yoshida grumbled, but he agreed. Korosensei pulled out Yoshida's opponent's name. "Fuwa!"
The class muttered to each other. There was definitely a large height difference between the two, with Yoshida being over 10cm taller than Fuwa. When it came to overall strength, Yoshida was definitely stronger as well. But Fuwa wasn't weak either. She was more suited to far range assassination strategies, but that didn't mean she couldn't take on another assassin with the same average skills, even if they were technically bigger.
"Next is Kimura!" Kimura was much smaller, one of the smallest boys in the class. But most of the girls were under 160cm, and probability wise, he was more likely to fight against a girl near his size. Even if he fought someone taller than him, through training, everyone had learned that Kimura was surprisingly strong and fast. It probably helped that both of his parents were officers. "Against Kurahashi!"
Some people gasped at that. Kimura seemed a bit hesitant as well. Kurahashi was one of the smallest people in the class, and definitely not as strong or fast as Kimura. She was extremely agile, but in a one on one fight, she was bound to lose.
"Takebayashi!" Takebayashi stiffened. He wasn't the best with the assassination training or physical activity portion of your class. In all likelihood, even Kayano could have a chance at beating him. "Versus Kirara!"
That started up some more talking. This could be a fairly even match; unless Kirara used some underhanded scaring techniques, that could get her the win.
"Chiba! Versus Hayami!" That would definitely be an interesting match. The two were similar, but Hayami was probably more agile than Chiba, since she could use her smaller stature to her advantage.
"Maehara!"
Maehara groaned. "I can't hit a girl!"
"Versus Okano!"
Both of them seemed taken aback, but they looked at each other. Okano grinned. "I'm so gonna kick your womanizing ass!"
Maehara sighed, grinning back. "You're on!"
The two were good friends, and this would probably continue a healthy rivalry between them; Okano often hit people around, and Maehara was usually on the receiving end of her kicks when she gets mad at him; the more serious battle would definitely be an interesting one.
"Sugaya! Versus Okuda!"
Sugaya looked to his right, apologetically, to Okuda. "Hey, no hard feelings, right?"
Okuda shook her head, but was clearly freaked out. There was little chance that she'd win this, especially being the second smallest girl in the class, going up against the tallest boy. "Hey, better than Terasaka, right?" You muttered to her. She nodded, still timid as she thought about her upcoming battle.
"Terasaka!" Now, everyone was interested to hear this one. Well, the girls were mostly hoping to avoid it. Everyone assumed Terasaka was the strongest; he was the brute of the class after all. "Versus Hara!"
"Hara, you poor thing!" Fuwa cried, reaching out to hold her hand.
Hara chuckled lightly, before grinning over at Terasaka. "Oh, I could beat him."
"Huh?" Terasaka leaned back in his chair, grinning back. "Yeah, I'd like to see you try."
"Mimura! Versus Nakamura!" That could be a close one. Nakamura wasn't much shorter, and their physical aptitude was similar. Mimura was also clearly pretty nervous to go up against Nakamura, a girl known for her confidence and her sneakiness.
"Nagisa! Versus Kayano!"
Kayano and Nagisa smiled at each other; another friendly battle, of course.
"That's sweet!" Terasaka chuckled. "The two runts against each other. Nagisa has a fair shot."
"Isogai! Versus Megu!"
"A battle of the class reps!" Fuwa squealed. "This is gonna be interesting!"
"Sugino! Versus Kanzaki!"
Sugino looked like someone had already beaten him up. The class chuckled, knowing of his very apparent crush on Kanzaki. Well, really, no one wanted to lay a hand on Kanzaki, so most of the guys let out a breath of air.
Sugino would probably lose that one.
"Okajima versus!" You held your breath. The only girls left were you and Yada.
Nakamura turned to you. "Maybe take the bullet and offer yourself up," she said, grimly. "I mean, imagine what it would be like to be Yada."
"Hey-!"
"Yada!" Korosensei announced, before looking at Okajima seriously. "No funny business, alright, Okajima?" He grumbled, agreeing. "Alright now! There are technically two girls and two guys left, but because Ritsu is unable to join this, one of the boys will not have to fight Y/N. Or at all."
Korosensei took your name out of the box. The last girl. And you could only go up against one of the two names in the box; Muramatsu or Karma.
You prayed that it would be the former.
"Alright, everyone, drum roll, please!"
The class did as Korosensei said, but all you could do was bite your nail in horror, as you watched Korosensei pull out the final name. His grin grew as he called out who you were up against.
"Muramatsu!"
You sighed in relief.
"Just kidding! Karma Akabane vs Y/N L/N!"
You let your head drop onto your desk. "I think you gave her a heart attack sir!" Kayano yelled.
You were done for.
"Hey, you're the one who suggested it," Nakamura reasoned as the girls changed in the girls bathroom. "I think it's only fair that you go up against Karma, if anyone in this class has to."
Kayano nodded, sighing. "We're lucky we didn't get him. How do you think you're going to go about it?"
"I don't know," you sighed. "Staying on the defence is the only thing I can think of right now."
"Karma's really only beat up guys, from what I've heard," Yada joined in. "Do you think he's the type of guy to give it his all against a girl?"
"He doesn't give it his all against anyone," you countered. "He's probably going to try and get under my skin first."
"So don't give him the time to do that," Megu said, patting your back.
"Also," Okuda added. "I think he hasn't really ever hurt a girl... do you think you could use that to your advantage?"
You grinned, grabbing Okuda's hands in excitement. "You're a genius Okuda!"
Here it was. The final battle.
"Alright! Here are the scores right now!" Korosensei announced.
"Nagisa versus Kayano! Boys!" Nagisa and Kayano were close, but Nagisa had a sneak attack he used against Kayano. She had shivered as she walked back to you, shaking her head as you reassured her.
"Yoshida versus Fuwa! Girls!" Fuwa had used Yoshida's hesitancy to hit a girl to her advantage, knocking him down by getting him out of balance.
"Mimura versus Nakamura! Girls!" Nakamura was faster, getting behind Mimura and tackling him down.
"Maehara versus Okano! Boys!" Okano grit her teeth in anger. She had used her signature high kicks, and Maehara took in every blow, but caught her off guard at the end when he grabbed her leg and flipped her down. She'd blushed intensely, being pinned down by Maehara, which definitely had Korosensei scribbling in his little journal.
"Terasaka versus Hara! Boys!" Hara sighed. It was fairly close, because Terasaka hesitated to hit her as well. He teased her for her weight which got her mad and throwing punches, so he retaliated, picking her up and bringing her down with ease.
"Chiba versus Hayami! Girls!" Hayami also used her smaller stature and agility to knock Chiba down. She got up in his face out of nowhere, and pulled her down, before quickly rolling out of the way. Both were stoic, but Hayami was more so than Chiba, and she definitely used that to her advantage.
"Takebayashi versus Kirara! Girls!" Kirara was a frightening girl.
"Sugino versus Kanzaki! Girls!" Kanzaki didn't really do anything. Sugino tried to push her down, but the minute he made eye contact with her, she was able to gently push him to the ground.
"Sugaya versus Okuda! Boys!" Sugaya really just had to grab her arms and push her down lightly. She struggled but it didn't really help.
"Justice versus Kurahashi! Boys!" Justice was fast and he used that to his advantage. He quickly appeared behind her and brought her hands behind her back, knocking her to her knees.
"Okajima versus Yada! Girls!" He got distracted by her big boobs.
"Isogai versus Megu! Boys!" It was a close match, after all Megu had tried to use his carefulness to her advantage, but she'd mistaken it as hesitancy. He respected the girls, and especially Megu, which meant he didn't underestimate her.
"And now, the nail biting tie breaker! Karma versus Y/N!"
"You're more excited about this than we are, sir," Isogai huffed. "Good luck Y/N!"
The class cheered you on, but that made you more nervous. It was clear that everyone thought that Karma had this in the bag. After all, it was Karma.
"3, 2, 1... START!"
You ran at him first, attempting to knock him down right away by tackling him. Karma quickly dodged, grabbing your arm and twisting it. Your back was pressed to his front, so you elbowed his stomach, causing him to let go of you. Quickly, you span around, trying to bring him down from behind, but he turned, throwing punches at you. You dodged each one to the best of your ability but one landed in your face. Karma's eyes widened.
You doubled over- not on the ground, but crouching down as you grabbed your face in pain.
"Come on, Karma, that was dirty!" Maehara yelled, as his other classmates yelled with him in unison.
Karma had thought you would dodge that, he didn't even know how his fist had reached your face-
Your turn.
Karma grabbed his face in shock at the stinging feeling on his cheek.
You went around, hooking up your arm around his neck to pull him down, but you underestimated his strength. Karma closed his hands around your arm, lifting you by the arm and over his head as he flipped you to the ground.
The wind was practically knocked out of you as you landed on your back with a thump.
All you could hear was both of your laboured breathing before Karma gave his hand out to you. "Good game," he grinned. "You put up quite the fight."
As you gave him your hand, letting him help pull you up, Korosensei announced the winner. "Karma versus Y/N! Boys win!"
It really didn't just feel like that though. The class ran over to both of you, cheering about how cool the fight was, and congratulating you on how well you held up against Karma.
"Okuda gave me the idea earlier," you explained, chuckling. "Karma was caught off guard by those thugs back in Kyoto when we got kidnapped, that's how they beat him. So I thought, if I seemed to be fairly hurt, he would pause for a second and that would be my chance! Otherwise, I knew he wouldn't hesitate."
"My, what a strategy Y/N," Korosensei praised, as he walked over to the class. "But I think this entire demonstration proved the harsh reality. Sometimes strength is all that's needed to beat an opponent, even if you're the smarter one. That is why strength should be used for good; such as, saving your classmates when they are in need, something I know that all of you in this class would never hesitate to do."
"Man, I don't think even I could put up a fight like that against Karma," Maehara sighed, next to you.
"Remind me not to ever give you shit, yeah?" Isogai teased you, making the entire class laugh.
You had just landed a solid hit on Karma Akabane. And it felt really damn good.
September. 22. 2023.
"You've never taken shit from people, not even me. So you can shove your coworkers' right back up their asses."
You smiled, nodding. "Yeah, alright."