The bell rang for the morning at the Old Campus.
"Now the class..." Koro-sensei was moving at Mach 20, a blur of motion. "Shall we begin?"
"Begin what?"
The class stared at him dumbfounded.
"Midterm time has rolled around!"
Sora groaned in annoyance at that. There really wasn't a worse time of the year. Well except for finals, finals was always the worst day of the year.
"Yes, that's right!" Isogai exclaimed.
"Why are you always so happy?" Sora asked.
"And, that's why this period..." Koro-sensei sped up. "Will be spent in high-speed enhanced test studying!" The class gasped when he suddenly appeared at each one of their desks. "My doubles can work with you one-on-one to drill you on each of your worst subjects!"
Terasaka wasn't impressed. "Ridiculous. He even switches headbands for each subject," he grumbled. When Koro-sensei appeared in front of him the boy glowered, but then gasped when he saw the teacher had a Naruto headband on."Hey! Why do I get a Naruto headband?!"
"You just gotta 'Believe It!' Teraseka!" Yuki chirped. Sora turned to glance at her, he was happy she was doing better. After what happened on the day of The Assembly she had basically shut down. He really regretted not being there to back her up. But instead he was hiding their teachers porn stash from him.
She insisted to him that he didn't need to worry about it but- it still felt like he should have been there.
Suddenly a dent appeared in Koro-sensei's face, making Sora jump.
Karma had his knife raised, sticking out his tongue.
"No sneak assassinations now, Karma!" Koro-sensei scolded. "Dodging will disrupt my persistence of vision!"
"These doubles are so fine and delicate," Nagisa said. "But, do you have any strength left after making them?"
"Not to worry!" Koro-sensei looked at him. "I have a double resting outside."
Outside there was a double sunbathing near the window.
"How is that helping?" Nagisa yelled.
"So," Koro-sensei looked up from the textbook. "Do you understand so far, Sora?"
Sora looked up and shrugged. "For the most part."
Across the class, more and more students were cheering up while the doubles tutored them.
Sora smiled. Maybe things would go better this year?
____________________
The next day arrived and Sora stared in shock at his teacher. Just how many doubles was this now!?
"Good morning, class," Koro-sensei greeted them. He was going even faster than yesterday, making more doubles. "Today I've tried making even more of me!"
"Now, let's begin!" Koro-sensei was going too fast, the doubles were glitching which just made the students confused.
Sora was honestly worried. The poor bastard was working himself way too hard.
Kayano smiled warily. "What's wrong Koro-sensei? Isn't this a little too gung-ho?"
"Hmm? Not at all!" Koro-sensei replied.
By the time the bell rang Koro-sensei had collapsed from exhaustion.
"You know, he does look pretty beat," Hiroto commented while he and the rest of the class stared at their strained teacher.
Rio grinned wickedly and held up a knife. "Maybe now's our chance!"
"I doubt it. He can still move at Mach 20 even if he's tired." Sora pointed out with a yawn. Just looking at Koro-Sensei being this tired made him feel tired.
Or maybe that was just because he was tired. He really couldn't tell.
"Why's he teaching this hard, anyway?" Okajima said, arching an eyebrow.
Koro-sensei gave a husky laugh. "All to get your test scores up! If that happens..." His eyes sparkled.
Koro-sensei's face was bright pink, lost in his fantasy world. "...And with no fear of being killed. I'll be rolling in good fortune!"
The class stared at him blankly.
"Uh..."
They all shared unsure looks.
Mimura smiled apprehensively. "The whole studying part is fine and all..."
"But, if we assassinate him, we get 10 billion yen," Toka said, smiling.
Rio smirked, stretching. "And, with 10 billion yen, you don't need good grades to live a good life!"
Sora raised an eyebrow at that.
Koro-sensei was appalled. "I-is that what you think!?"
Okajima smiled stiffly. "We're in End Class, Koro-sensei."
"Assassination is way more accessible to us than any exam," Mimura said.
He should say something.
Koro-sensei stared at them with a blank grin. "Ah. I see how it is..." He lowered his head.
The class were taken aback. "How what is?" Mimura asked, frowning.
But he didn't.
Koro-sensei rose up off from the floor, his face clouded by dark shadows. "You still don't have what it takes to be assassins." His face was a dark purple with a large X on it. "Out into the schoolyard, all of you!"
Later on, the whole class was stood on the steps overlooking the playing field.
"What's the big idea, sendin' us all out into the yard like this?" Hiroto complained.
"Who knows? A bad mood came over him all of a sudden," Fuwa whispered.
Koro-sensei stood in the centre of the field.
"One good thing about the E Class system is it's built-in a remedial process," Koro-sensei addressed them all sombrely.
Sora gulped, he's mad.
"By scoring in the top 50 of 186 students on periodic exams and receiving permissions from their former teacher to return. They can leave this outcast E Class." Koro-Sensei started. "However, It's too difficult to meet these conditions given their poor grades in this inferior academic environment. Most E Class students, being made to feel remediation is too far out of reach."
Koro-sensei pushed a table onto the field. "Being made to face intense discrimination."
Bitch-sensei came out with Kataoka at her heel. "What do you mean, hurry up?" she whined.
"Koro-sensei asked us to bring you," Kataoka replied, hurrying over to her classmates.
Koro-sensei didn't lift his eyes from the table he was pushing. "Ms Irina, let me ask you something as a professional assassin."
"Huh?" She raised an eyebrow. "What is all of this?"
Koro-sensei didn't look up. "When you're on a job, do you have one single plan prepared?"
"Hm? No," she replied. "It's not often that my main plan goes as expected. Making more detailed backup plans in preparation for any contingencies is assassination 101."
"And you, Mr Karasuma?" Koro-sensei asked.
"Hm?" Karasuma looked away from Bitch-sensei and over at Koro-sensei.
"When you teach knife skills, is the first strike the only important one?" Koro-sensei walked back to the centre of the field.
Karasuma scrutinised him. "The first strike is of the course the most important, but your next move matters too," he replied. "Against a powerful foe, your first blow is likely to be dodged. So the precision with which you can land your second and third blows can decide the fight."
"And you Sora!" Koro-Sensei shouted.
"Huh- me!?" Sora stammered.
"In your old work, did you ever just have one plan ready to go?" Koro-Sensei asked.
Sora's eyes widened. How did he know about that? His mind moved at a mile a minute, but he figured just answering his question would do wonders.
"N-No, of course not. Not even once." Sora explained. "Most times we had a dozen or so backup plans to be activated at any given point."
Most of the class soon realised what Koro-sensei was trying to get across.
"Look, what are you getting at?" Maehara asked nervously.
Except for him.
Koro-sensei swirled around, his robes billowing behind him. "As your teachers have said..." He started spinning around fast. "Having a trustee second step is what makes for a confident assassin." He got faster and faster. "But what about you?" The class were stunned into silence. "We've got assassination, and that's enough, you think," he quoted back to them. "...and down go your academic goals!"
He turned into a hurricane. "You're just trying not to face the reason for your inferiority complex!"
"AH!"
A giant cloud of dust blinded the students.
"What if I got away from this classroom?" he yelled over the massive wind. "If another killer managed to do me in?!" The wind grew fiercer. "Without the assassination you rely on, all you're left with is good ol' E Class inferiority!" He was a blur of motion.
"A word of advice from me to you, as you walk that fine line: Those who can't wield the second blade aren't qualified to be assassins!"
The force of Koro-sensei's hurricane ripped the leaves from the trees and rocks from the ground.
Finally the wind started to calm as the sun peaked out from the clouds. When the sun hit the students' faces, they cautiously look up when the dust had settled.
"The yard was very uneven and full of weeds. I tidied it up," Koro-sensei said lightly.
The yard was now a fully paved sports area with a lane for running and a soccer goal.
"I am a super creature capable of wiping out the Earth." Koro-sensei's eyes glowed red. "Flattening out the area here is a piece of cake." The students just looked on in awe. "If you can't show me that trusty second blade..." At the back, Karma was scratching his head. "...I'll know there's no assassin in this classroom worth taking you on." The other teachers watched on. "And, I'll flatten this entire campus before I go."
"A second blade? When?" Nagisa exclaimed.
"Tomorrow of course."
"HUH?"
The students reeled back in surprise.
Koro-sensei pointed at them. "I want all of you in the top 50 after tomorrow's midterms!" The number 50 appeared on his forehead.
"What!?" Yuki shouted in shock.
Koro-sensei raised his arms. "I've already been developing your second blades," he told them proudly. "I don't use the doltish teaching methods they do at the Main Campus." He pointed at them again. "Wield those blades with all confidence!"
He had the students under his full attention. "Succeed in your mission and hold your heads up high, smiling, and unashamed! You are proud assassins—and proud members of the E Class."
"Um..."
The whole class looked unsure.
And Sora only had one thought. They were sooooooo screwed.
____________________
Kensaku was overseeing the exam, while he smugly tapped his finger against the desk.
The whole of E Class was biting their pencils anxiously while they tried to get through the exam. It was first period Math.
The tapping seemed to get louder.
If it were Koro-Sensei, Sora would have already shot him a few times.
Sora looked down at the blank test, not a single answer filled in. And in an instant, the test abruptly transformed into a violent monster.
"The hell?" He muttered, dodging the attack and rolling across the ground of the test world.
The rest of E Class screamed and ran as the purple monster rampaged through the world of numbers and calculations.
"One knife isn't enough to kill it! What's this question 4?!" Sugino shouted, holding his knife with a trembling hand.
The monster's mouth was like a crocodile, with giant teeth, ready to swallow them whole.
E Class ran for their lives.
"I'm sure I taught you this," Koro-sensei's voices sounded clear but at the same time far away. "That's no mystery monster." He pointed the knife at the beast.
Sora looked around for the source of the voice.
"Start by observing that fin carefully." The fin was shown with a number radiating from it. "See? On closer inspection, it's just a fin." The monster was shown calmer. "Look carefully at each part of the question one by one." A faded fish was shown beneath the monster. "Then string them all together to see the whole." The fish was shown docile and severed up on a chopping board. "See? What a trivial adversary!"
Sora's eyes widened, and he nodded.
"Now use your blade to cook it up!" Koro-sensei encouraged him.
Back in the real world, Kensaku's eyes widened when he noticed the sudden shift in the atmosphere. "Huh?"
The E Class students were less tense and were writing down the answers to the questions. The monster was finally defeated with all of E class standing on top triumphantly.
Yoshida sliced another monster's throat.
Rinka stabbed another question in the ribs.
Nagisa grinned with bright eyes.
And then-
They were suddenly struck from behind by a question they hadn't anticipated.
____________________
Out of the 186 students that took the exam, Sora scored 51. Looking over at Yuki he saw she was just as depressed, scoring 92 out of 186.
But still...51.
One away from the cut off point to make Koro-Sensei stay.
He wanted to curl up and die.
Everyone was silent, and the whole room was dim.
"I take all responsibility," Koro-sensei said, subdued. "I seem to have underestimated the system at this school," he continued, his voice strained. "I can't bear to face you..."
A knife nearly stabbed him in the back of the head.
"AH!" Koro-sensei barely dodged.
The knife hit the board and fell to the ground.
"You sure?" Karma spoke up cockily.
"Huh?" Koro-sensei looked over.
Karma walked towards him with the results of his test in hand. "If you can't face us, you can't see us coming to kill you." He smirked.
Koro-sensei was red-faced. "Karma! I'm very depressed right now, and—!"
Karma tossed his result on the desk, halting the teacher's outburst.
"Oh!" Koro-sensei nearly choked.
Sora watched in shock. There was no way. He ran to the front of the room to confirm what he already suspected.
Karma had gotten nearly 100% out of all of his tests.
'Ranked 4th in Year 3.'
"Changing the questions didn't matter to me," Karma said brightly.
"What?!"
The whole class gathered around to see the results.
"Whoa!" Sugino exclaimed.
"100 in math, no way!" Isogai gasped.
"With my grades, you taught more than you had to," Karma said, recalling Koro-sensei's frantic teaching. "So I could handle the questions even if they'd changed their scope." Karma smiled crookedly.
"...Still, I won't be leaving," Karma added shrugging.
"Like Kensaku would ever take you back." Sora laughed, Karma just ignore him however.
"Assassination is way more fun than going back to my old class." Koro-sensei stared down at the test results. "So what's the plan? You gonna use out not all making it into the top 50 as an excuse to turn tail and run?" Karma taunted, grinning as he held up a knife. "You're just afraid of being killed, that's all!"
A vein popped at the back of Koro-sensei's head.
"Huh?" Nagisa's eyes widened briefly, but then he smiled fondly.
The other students exchanged amused glances with each other, catching on to what Karma was doing.
"If you run away do I win our game of chicken?" Sora asked with a smug smile on his face.
Kataoka nudged Maehara who grinned. "Oh, is that it?" He stretched casually. "You were afraid?"
"You should have just told us!" Kataoka smiled.
"Right! Like 'I'm scared and want to run away!'" Sugino teased.
"We'll only judge you a little bit too!" Yuki added.
Another vein pulsed on Koro-sensei's face until his whole body was bright red.
"I am not running away!" he yelled, waving his tentacles.
"Oh? Then what?" Karma asked innocently.
Koro-sensei's anger faded as his smile returned back to normal. "We'll get revenge on them twofold at the end of term exams!"
The students burst out laughing.
"This is no laughing matter!" Koro-sensei shouted. "Honestly!"
Nagisa was laughing harder.
"Aren't you thoroughly disappointed?!" Koro-sensei exclaimed.
Karma turned around and stuck his tongue out at Bitch-sensei and Karasuma who were watching from the crack in the door.
"Ready, now, after me: fight!" Koro-sensei chanted.
"Fight!" the class chorused.