"Whoa, just look at 'em all!" Sugino exclaimed.
"Ah, summer vacation—and the freedom of being out of school!" Nagisa said ironically, sighing. "Or so you'd think." He looked at Sugino pointedly as the boy carefully picked up one of the beetles. "Why are we here at school?"
Sugino smiled sheepishly. "Well...I don't want everyone to see me out catching bugs at my age."
"If you wanna avoid getting picked on you probably shouldn't have invited me." Sora pointed out, his hands in his pockets as he leaned against one of the trees.
"Better to get picked on by one of my friends than someone that doesn't like me." Sugino pointed out, turning back toward Sora. "Besides, we haven't had a chance to hang out like this since The Baseball Game."
Sora sighed, he had to admit that it was true. With everything that had been going on, Finals and The Festival, E-Class hadn't really had any time to just sit back and relax.
He held up the bug. "Anyway, I grew up in the city, I've never really had a chance to do this. And Karma happened to point me to a tree with some good bugs on it."
He turned around where Maehara was leaning against a tree. "I didn't expect you to come, Maehara. Never pegged you as an insect fan."
Maehara smiled and turned around."Our next assassination will be at that island resort, right?" He smirked. "Wouldn't you say we're missing a little something?"
"Like what?" Sugino replied.
"MONEY!" Maehara's eyes shone with Yen signs.
"Isn't almost everything paid for by the school?" Sora muttered.
"Hey! You need buying power if you're gonna snag yourself a swimsuit babe!" Maehara countered, leaving Sora to wonder what kind of 'Swimsuit Babe' would risk going out with a Middle Schooler.
That just sounded like a lawsuit waiting to happen.
"That runt won't do the trick...but a giant stag beetle?" He grinned. "Those island babes net you ten of thousands of yen!" His friends looked at him warily. "Auction 'em off online for major cash! We'll make at least enough to cover a fancy dinner and a place to chill out!" Then he sped off, leaving the other two confused.
"I think he's forgotten what this trip's all about," Sugino said.
Nagisa smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, not exactly a fifteen-year-old's vacation plans."
"That won't work," The boys heard, leading to them looking up at the voice. Hinano Kurahashi sat above them with a smirk on her face.
Maehara stopped running, surprised. "Huh?" He looked up.
Kurahashi smiled. "Giant stag beetles? Those are old news."
"Kurahashi?" Sugino replied.
"Morning!" Her smile brightened. "You're all here to scrape up some spending money too, huh?"
Sugino and Nagisa wandered over. "Hey, what do you mean stag beetles are old news?" Sugino asked.
"Well..." Kurahashi climbed down the tree. "I guess they were super pricey right around when we were born."
She smiled
"But today's artificial breeding have saturated the market, bringing their prices way down."
"The Great Stag Beetle Crash!" Maehara looked horrified, while Kurahashi smiled. "I thought one beetle would about pay for one babe."
"No way. These days babes are way more expensive," Kurahashi replied flippantly.
"You sure know a lot about this, Kurahashi," Sugino said, stretching. "Are you into bugs?"
"What on earth could have given you that idea?" Sora muttered.
"Yep!" Kurahashi looked over her shoulder. "Along with every other living thing!" Her smile brightened with excitement. "Hey, since we're all here..." She turned back to the rest of them. "Let's all go bug hunting!" She announced, skipping. "We're bound to find tons if we all try!"
Nagisa smiled fondly.
____________________
Later on, she and the boys were busy searching for more insects in the woods and had caught a bag full of colourful beetles.
"Mmm, pretty nice haul," Kurahashi said.
"Whoa! Did you set this?" Sugino asked in amazement.
"My own homemade trap. I put it out last night." She replied. "There are about twenty more of them out here," she told the boys, as she read a map. "So that's about a thousand yen per piece if we're lucky."
Sora listened in mild interest. He didn't care much for the idea of bug hunting. But it was hard not to get invested in something when someone else was so passionate about it. Her infectious energy was rubbing off on him the same way Sugino's or Yuki's did while talking about Baseball or Music.
"Not too shabby for a side hustle!" Sugino commented.
Kurahashi rolled up the map. "I hope we caught the one I was looking for!"
Then suddenly there was a rumble of laughter.
"What an ineffective trap." Okajima's voice rang out. "And you call yourself the E Class."
"Okajima?"
Okajima was casually sitting on a tree branch reading a magazine. Sora didn't need to see the cover to know what kind of magazine it was.
This was Okajima they were talking about.
Pulling in a measly thousand yen at a time? Yeah, right," he said smugly. "My trap will bring in a cool ten billion!" He snapped the magazine shut and jumped down from the tree.
Nagisa raised an eyebrow at that. "Ten billion...you don't mean...?"
"Oh, but I do," Okajima replied confidently, looking over his shoulder. "If we're planning an assassination on this southern isle, that octopus'll be letting his guard down in the meantime." He started to walk through the woods as the others followed. "And that's what I'm after."
Sora raised an eyebrow at that. That wasn't actually a bad idea. It was always best to pull a job when people weren't expecting you to act. So Assassination would benefit from the very same concept.
He was impressed, he never thought Okajima of all people would have such a thought process.
The group knelt down as Okajima gestured for them to look. Sora's eyes went wide and then half-lidded in a matter of seconds. Koro-sensei was bright pink, and dressed as a beetle, sitting in the middle of the forest reading a pile of dirty adult magazines.
He had to resist the urge to facepalm.
Okajima giggled while the others groaned.
"Oh yeah, here we go!" he said excitedly. "He went right for my dirty-book trap!"
"Wow, when do you see the speedy Koro-sensei moving that slowly?" Sugino watched sheepishly. "That one must be right up his alley."
"And what's up with the stag beetle dress-up?" Sora muttered, looking more confused. "Is he trying to blend in? That's just sad."
Okajima smirked. "Every mountain has one: the porn repository."
"A what now?" Nagisa stared.
"The kids who find their dreams there grow old enough to buy their own dirty magazines. Then leave behind dreams for someone else to find. It's a place of never-ending dreams." Okajima turned to Nagisa and Kurahashi. Meanwhile, Sora stared at him, wondering how he allowed himself to hear the Okajima Backstory before the Koro-sensei Backstory. "I'm glad you're here! Lend me a hand. Our porn power will give him a dream he'll never wake up from!"
Nagisa sighed in exasperation.
Okajima looked back at Koro-sensei. "I did some major research into his top turn-ons, y'know," he explained. "Can't buy the stuff myself, but I found a few."
Nagisa frowned. "Wouldn't he like anything with big boobs?"
Okajima showed him his phone. "As it turns out, yeah." Koro-sensei was shown pink-faced as he read a dirty magazine. "Dirty magazines are dreams. Everyone looks for his ideal in their pages. Photo's and Manga too, the tiniest difference gets a whole other response."
"You should feel blessed that Kurahashi is the only girl here," Sora muttered. "Okano or Hayami would kill us all if they could see this."
Maehara shuddered.
"That's amazing, Okajima!" Nagisa exclaimed, looking at the photos. "So for the last month, you've been swapping out porn and carefully observing his reactions?"
Sugino groaned. "No grown-ups ought to be picking up a month's worth of porn mags!" He sighed. "That's just sad."
"It's just like your traps, Kurahashi," Okajima smirked, glancing over his shoulder. "You absorbed in studying your prey for a long time too right?"
"Uh, yeah." She nodded.
Okajima looked focused. "I've got a dirty mind. If you wanna hate me for it, go on ahead," he said bluntly. "But it's only because I'm a super-lech that I know..." He picked up his anti-sensei knife. "In the end. Pornography will save the world," Okajima said confidently as he unsheathed his blade.
The others were mortified. Seriously! Nobody had any right to sound this cool while talking about porn!
"Check it out. Under that glorious stack of filth as a net strung with anti-sensei BBs. And he's so distracted he has no clue. When I give the word one of you cut the rope I'll jump in and finish him off," Okajima explained.
But the confidence slipped away when Okajima gaped.
Koro-sensei suddenly perked up like he'd heard or seen something: His eyes suddenly extended outwards.
"What's he doing?" Sugino whispered.
"Why did his eyes go out like that?" Maehara said.
Okajima looked unnerved. "Yeah. I don't have any data on that face. What kind of porn does that signify?"
Over in the trees, there was something Koro-sensei seemed to spot. He chuckled. "You thought you could hide from me." His tentacle whipped out to grab a black stag beetle.
"A Miyama stag beetle with white eyes."
Sora's eyes widened. He didn't know a lot about bugs, but Kota mentioned that to him once.
Kurahashi's eyes widened. "Huh!" She jumped out of her hiding place. "Are you serious??!"
"Mission failed," Sora muttered.
"Ah, hello, Kurahashi," Koro-sensei greeted, turning around. "Impressive specimen, huh?"
She rushed over. "Wow! I've been looking for that for like...forever!"
"I know right? Imagine it being in our own backyard." Koro-sensei held up the bug.
"Come on!" Okajima was crying. "Another second and we would have had him!"
Koro-sensei and Kurahashi were jumping up and down excitedly. "I don't get what they're so excited about but a giant stag beetle in the junior high girl dancing on top of a pile of porn isn't something you see every day," Maeahara remarked casually.
"Ah!" Koro-sensei stopped when he realized this, and his face filled with shame. "How unbelievably embarrassing!" He hid his face, while he still sat on the stash of porn. "I'm mortified beyond belief. Shame!"
"Yeah. You should be." Sora stated.
"Shame on me. The molder of young minds ought to be above this sort of behavior. I knew there was a trap under all this porn." Koro-sensei cried, earning a sigh from Sora. He was so invested in porn that he was willing to die for it?
Okajima looked like he'd been caught red-handed.
"Yet each magazine was so much more tempting than the last that I had no presence of mind to refuse it!" Koro-sensei sobbed.
"Sir...you have an addiction." Sora pointed out.
Sugino frowned and examined the beetle crawling on stag horns on Koro-sensei's head. "So what's the big deal with this beetle? It's just a Miyama stag beetle right?" He rubbed his chin. "Didn't you say that artificial breeding made them all pretty much worthless?"
Kurahashi smiled. "Actually these go for a lot on account of being very hard to breed a mid-sized one is worth its weight in gold. What is big is this fella we're talking to small fortune?"
Sugino looked up in shock. "Shut up?!"
"Nah, she's for real." Sora chuckled. "I had a buddy who told me about them."
"Also, observe the color of its eyes," Koro-sensei said, as they examined the beetle's bright white eyes. "Usually, they're black. These however white as the driven snow we've discussed albinism before correct? So I assume you're familiar with the concept?"
"Yeah. It's like when an animal is born without pigment or whatever," Sugino replied.
"We also have a classmate with Albinism." Sora pointed out.
"With stag beetles, albinism is only possible with the eyes. A natural-born Miyama white high as they're called in literature is exceptionally rare. A valuable academic fine to be sure." Koro-sensei examined the beetle before he handed it over to Kurahashi. "This guy goes for hundreds of thousands of yen.
"Hundreds!" Maehara exclaimed in shock.
"I told Koro-sensei a while back I wanted to see one up close. He promised to use his eyes to mine them for me," she explained while Koro-sensei did the weird zoom-eye thing. "Alright, boys. Which one of you rejects want this baby?"
"ME!" They all raised their hands.
Kurahashi giggled. "You'll have to catch me first!" She ran off.
"I beg your pardon? I've already done my catching!" Koro-sensei yelled.
Sora laughed as he watched them run.
Okajima fell into the river yet again.
____________________
Later on, back at the Old Campus building, the students were gathered outside. on the playing field. They were all practicing shooting while Bitch-sensei lounged in a chair.
"Oh, you adorable brats." She had a drink in her hand as she watched them. "Go ahead spend summer vacation working up a sweat I'll be relaxing. Thank you very much."
Mimura frowned. "You need this too, Professor Bitch. In fact, I'd say everybody here you need to level up the most."
"Burn!" Sora shouted.
"Hm? Are you getting too hot?" Itona muttered.
"I love you."
"Huh?"
Bitch-sensei looked smug. "I'm an adult. We're sneaky. You'll go at him with your full strength and I'll piggyback on all that hardware to steal the show."
"Will you now?" Bitch-sensei stiffened at the voice. "Some things can be counted on to never change."
"Ah! Lovro. Sir!" She looked alert.
"He's been hired on as a special instructor for the break," Karasuma said. "We need all the pro tips we can get." Lovro looked unimpressed with her. "He seemed like the obvious choice."
"Relax for even one day and your killing muscles atrophy," Lovro said solemnly. Unless you want to fail wear something respectable!" he shouted.
Bitch-sensei jumped to attention and ran off to get changed. "Yes, sir!"
"What do you know, someone even Miss Bitch doesn't dare mouth off to," Sugaya commented.
Sora laughed. "Way to pull rank."
"Can't say I blame her, man." Maehara turned around. "He's as scary as they come."
"Thank you for your cooperation." Karasuma looked over at Lovro.
"Do not thank me yet, my friend. I am afraid I could not manage to establish the contacts you requested," Lovro replied.
"Perhaps your former students were put off by word of the target's difficulty," Karasuma suggested.
Sora stopped shooting, turning toward the conversation with a raised eyebrow.
"It is likely," Lovro replied while the students continued to practice shooting. "In any event, we must rely on what we have." Bitch-sensei looked subdued; she had changed into a dark hoodie and combat pants.
"Now. Just to be clear the target is not here?" Lovro asked quietly.
"That's correct. He's taken a sabbatical to Everest, he's not a big fan of the heat," Karasuma answered.
"If we are to have any chance at all. Secrecy is of utmost importance." Lovro held up a file.
"This is your plan." A diagram showed the seven tentacles being taken out. "You neutralize the seven promise tentacles and take advantage of his reduced speed. The entire class joins in and finishes him off. Not bad but I wondered if you would explain to me this business of psych attack?" He held up the diagram.
"Well, the idea is to throw him off guard and slow him down," Nagisa replied.
"Oh, he likes porn," Maehara smirked. "Makes no bones about where he gets it either. Figure we'll use that on him."
"He tried to buy our silence with a round of Popsicles." Sora grinned evilly.
Terasaka and his friends looked merciless. "Let's gang up and teach the perve a lesson he won't soon forget!"
"It would really get in his head if he threatened to blackmail me. He'll be so freaked out by what we've got," Nagisa said brightly.
"These children are brutal." Lovro sounded proud.
Sora smiled.
"That said...The key to assassination is a killing blow. The difference between success and failure is timing and aim."
"Be straight with me. Are you worried the class doesn't have what it takes?" Karasuma said.
"No worry," Lovro smirked. "Not at all. In fact, I am quite confident in them. I would love to have any of them as students of my own. I am amazed at where their talents have grown in so short a time." The class was hitting targets fast. "There is potential here. Much of it"
Fuwa shot down one of the targets. "She has learned to stabilize her. Some discover they should be best from cross-legged positions. Well done."
Fuwa smiled. "Oh, thanks! That means a lot."
"You there." He pointed at Takebayashi. "Mind how you breathe do not force it to find a shooting style that best suits you."
Sora sighed, naturally, a pro would have good advice to give.
Nagisa watched intently.
Lovro's eyes widened. He turned to him fully. "Young man?"
"I assume you know the best assassin in the world, right? But what are they like?" Nagisa asked.
Lovro chuckled, scrutinizing Nagisa.
"What a bizarre question. Why are you wanting to know, son?"
Nagisa looked sheepish. "It doesn't. I was just curious."
Bitch-sensei watched curiously. "Ah, well, in my considered opinion. There can be no question as to who holds the rank of World's Greatest."
Nagisa's eyes widened.
"Of course, professional killers are a secretive lot. They are rarely known by their given name. This one is no exception. He prefers to go by a very particular nickname The Reaper."
Sora listened intently.
"Mysterious, elusive, cold as ice trails of the dead in his wake. Death in God in it. An assassin from whom no doubt to get escapes. It is said if a killer cannot finish his job sooner or later the Reaper will step in to do it for them."
Nagisa looked down. "Sounds pretty intimidating. We'd better kill Koro-ensei before someone like him appears..."
"Pay attention, young man." Lovro pointed at him. "I will teach you a technique that works without fail."
Nagisa's eyes widened. "Works without fail?"
The wind ushered by. "Indeed a useful move for all occasions. A gift from an old pro."
Sora watched.