Yuki stared at the empty desk in front of her yet again. For the 5th day in a row, Sora was nowhere to be seen. Ever since her failed confession, she hadn't seen him even once. The most she knew about the situation was a message he sent to Karasuma-sensei. Hence why he wasn't being marked down as absent. She knew that he had a reason.
But what was that reason? He had been acting strange ever since they got back from Okinawa. And even before they arrived back home there had been something off about him. Almost like he had been nervous, or afraid.
She had wanted to help him. But how could she help when she didn't know anything? It was so frustrating.
"You seem out of it." Itona pointed out, walking past her desk. The white-haired girl turned, looking up at him with a small smile.
"Oh? Hey Itona." She greeted, as Itona glanced over at Sora's desk.
"Is Sora absent again?"
"Yup! Really living up to that slacker label of his huh?" Yuki forced a laugh. This in turn earned a confused look from Itona.
"Is that really something to laugh about?" He asked.
"Eh, he missed class all the time at the start of the year. I'm sure he has a reason." Yuki explained, looking down at her desk. Of course, she was lying, this was abnormal, even for Sora.
On one hand, he was rather thankful that she wouldn't have to confront him again just yet. The two hadn't even spoken since the festival.
She was too awkward for that. She was terrified that she had ruined their friendship because of her actions. And as for Sora, she just didn't know. He had been so distant.
It was so...unsettling...watching him just go through the motions. And even more worrying when he suddenly disappeared.
In all the time she'd known him, he'd never allowed himself to go so despondent. Not during any failed assassination, not even when E-Class was mocked by everyone else.
It was almost like he didn't have any sense of shame. Or perhaps, he just had a way of looking past those short-term setbacks.
So then why was he so affected by something now? She wished he was here so she could just sit down and talk to him for once. But instead, he had just vanished into thin air, and only Karasuma-sensei knew where he was!
Maybe he would tell her if she asked nicely? She doubted it, but it was worth a shot.
"Huh? So he's gone again huh?" Karma spoke, loudly gaining the classes attention.
"Yep, I'm almost starting to worry about the guy." Sugaya agreed.
"He hasn't missed class this often ever since Koro-sensei arrived." Maehara added, also glancing toward his desk. A confused expression on his face.
"Do you know anything, Yuki?" Nagisa inquired, looking over at her. "You're even closer with him than Itona. Have you heard anything?"
Yuki was silent for a moment, before she let out a sigh, shaking her head. "No, absolutely nothing."
That again, gained some murmurs from the class.
"Has anyone tried calling him? Honestly, I'm starting to get a little worried." Isogai asked.
"On it!" Kayano agreed, dialing the number into her phone. But her eyes widened slightly as she saw the response. "He has me blocked!?"
"Seriously?" Maehara muttered. "The hell is going on with him."
"If he blocked Kayano completely unprompted, it could stand to reason that he may also have blocked everyone else." Itona pointed out.
"Yes. I can confirm." Ritsu added, her screen popping to life. "Even I am unable to get a hold of him."
"Seriously? What the hell is this crap!? If he was gonna go AWOL he could have at least told us." Teraseka grumbled.
Yuki was sure the discussion would have carried on all day. If not for the sudden inclusion of a new voice.
"Sora is fine." Karasuma stated, entering the room with a hardened expression. This earned everyone's attention. Koro-sensei standing in the doorway behind him. "He said he has some personal issue that he needed to take care of. And that once he does he'll be back."
"Oh? Well that's a relief-"
"He also said that, for the time being, he doesn't want to associate with anyone here." Karasuma further explained. "Before I could ask what he meant he hung up and blocked me and Ms. Irina."
"What!?"
"Hmm..." Karma mused. "There's something I just recalled. Back when half the class got poisoned..."
His gaze shifted to Teraseka.
"You and him talked about something right? Trying to figure out who the culprit was at the time." He challenged, and immediately, Teraseka began to sweat, as the entire class turned their gazes toward him.
"Ah- uh..." Teraseka stammered out. "I- uh..."
"Teraseka...please tell us what you know." Yuki begged, giving him her best puppy dog eyes. At this point Teraseka grumbled.
"Chill with the manipulation tactics I was already gonna tell you!"
He went silent for a moment.
"I found out about it a little after Itona joined us. During my assassination attempt, Sora knew that Shiro and Itona were planning something. But before he could reveal that, Shiro mentioned something to him." Teraseka explained, this earned a hum of thought from Itona.
"Ren Izumi? Correct?" He asked, earning a slow nod from Teraseka.
"Naturally, I was curious why Sora was more scared if this guy than Shiro and Itona. So I asked him about it later." The tall boy continued. "Turns out, Ren Izumi is just some punk. Some delinquent with an axe to grind."
"Hold on, how does that correlate?" Nagisa asked.
"Hell if I know. Shiro threatened to release him from Juvy. So maybe that finally happened and Sora is trying to handle the problem on his own." Teraseka explained. "He told me at the time that he was stronger than the guy. And that was before I saw him take on a pro assassin."
"So essentially...he should be fine." Itona murmured.
"We should try to help him!" Yuki argued, standing up from her seat. "He...he helped me get over my fear of singing so- I wanna help him now!"
The room was silent before Karma laughed.
"Well that was a no-brainer."
"So, let's all brainstorm some ideas and talk this over tomorrow." Isogai suggested, earning nods from the entire room. Yuki smiled, and sat back down in relief.
With any luck, everything would be okay.
____________________
Yuki looked down at the darkened road as she walked. It wasn't a usual occurrence for her to be heading home so late. But Karasuma-sensei had seemed swamped with work. The least she could do was help him out with all that.
Her dull footsteps echoed across the ground as she let out a low breath. It was cold tonight. She hugged her jacket around herself, as if that would make any difference.
When suddenly her eyes went wide. She focused behind her, and heard footsteps from that direction. Two young men, no older than herself, making their way toward her. Their intent clear just based on how they walked.
Kidnappers...really? Talk about a bad cliché. Cornering a single girl in the dead of night. She rolled her eyes and slowed her pace, allowing them to catch up.
The second they got close, one of them lunged at her. But she side-stepped around him, getting behind, and kicking him right in between the legs. He fell to the ground with a girly squeal as Yuki turned to the other man, who had yet to even react. Chopping him in the throat, and using his own weight to slam him against the ground.
This assassin training was really paying off.
She didn't know who these two were. But her brain rationalized this as a random act. It wasn't too uncommon, in hindsight she should have asked Karasuma-sensei to walk home with her. Even if this had never happened to her specifically, she should have known better.
The girl stood, and let out a sigh. Maybe she should call the cops-
She was broken form her thoughts as a blunt force slammed into her beck. She grunted in pain, falling forward onto the ground. There was another one!? She tried to stand, but the wind had been knocked out of her. Just breathing at this point was a struggle.
"Well, I can't say I'm surprised." A cold voice growled. Looking up, she saw a black-haired man with blue eyes crouched down over her. "Shiro had told me about The Assassin training. Guess we should have all just jumped you from the start right?"
"W-Who..." Yuki gasped out.
"Oh right...of course he didn't tell you." The man cackled. "Ren Izumi...nice to meet ya, Yuki Shirakami."
Yuki's eyes went wide. Not at him knowing her name. But rather upon hearing his name. She tried to move, but another man held her down.
"Hey now...you do know who I am don't you?" He asked. "Did Sora tell you?"
He seemed to mull that thought over.
"Nah he's not like that. He likes to keep secrets after all. And then he stabs you in the back when you least expect it." Izumi drawled on. "He must have thought that as long as he didn't associate with you I would leave you alone right? He's such an idiot!"
The man howled with laughter.
"Why me?" Yuki asked, finally having regained her ability to speak.
"Because I want it to hurt," Izumi stated. "Who better to choose than the replacement then right?"
Yuki's eyes went wide. Replacement!? How much was she in the dark about here?
"You have no idea what I'm talking about do you?" Izumi asked, looking down at her again with an amused expression. "Maybe if he'd told you, you wouldn't be in this mess right?"
He shook his head, an annoyed look crossing his face.
"Bring the car around. We're taking her to the site. We'll call it in once we arrive."
Another man behind her raised something over his head. And slammed it against her.
And just like that...her world went dark.