Something was weird with the atmosphere of the class. Y/N knew that she wasn't exactly normal, she hadn't been since she was a small child, and even then her parents kept her and her brother sheltered from the world, scared of "regular" people tarnishing their genius children, their tools for survival. Of course, in the end it hadn't saved them. The L/Ns perished, and their children taken in by a psychopath. Sometimes Y/N thought about her parents, what would they think if they saw her now- would they be proud of how their daughter had survived? Or would they think she was better off dead, like others.
"Can someone help me with this paperwork?" Karasuma looked like he was ready to drop, with mountains of paperwork in his arms. No wonder, with the reports from the summer break, not to mention having to keep accounts of all the new lessons he had added to the curriculum, Parkour being the most troublesome seeing as the only one besides him capable of teaching it was Y/N, and for some reason that counted as child labour, and not the "employing her to kill Koro-Sensei" thing.
"Karasuma Jr can help you!" Nakamura giggled, pushing Y/N in his general direction
"... what did you just call me?" looking around the class it seemed like most of them were in on it, either unsuccessfully trying to hide their smirks, or not even trying in the first place like Nakamura. shrugging it off, the H/C girl took half of Karasuma's papers and helped him carry them to the teachers office.
"What was that all about?" Karasuma seemed as bewildered as her, Y/N wondered, it was true that the agent and herself did have many similarities when it came to their skills, but aside from that there was nothing,
"I'm assuming it has something to do with our skillsets, or maybe the training we've received"
"That makes sense, I mean I know I'm out of touch with kids, but this is the second time they've seemed to randomly do things, there's this, and when they kicked both me and Irina out, but let all the others stay in the restaurant for some reason."
racking her brains, Y/N remembered the small children back at the Union, who seemed to be so against adults that unless someone under 18 told them to do something, they would obstinately refuse, "Well they say that at this point kids go through a rebellious phase, maybe just you and Goldilocks went through it because the Octopus looks so inhuman it's easy to not think of him like an adult?"
"that's true." he mused, "Oh, and in phys ed today we'll be doing cops and robbers, I'm going to have to ask you to man the jail since the two of us on the field would likely be too hard for them for now."
"got it."
Timeskip
since Kayano's pudding bomb assassination attempt hadn't been fully cleared up yet, the exercise took place in the forest, unfortunately for E class, despite one of them being bound to the jail, Karasuma and Y/N combined still proved to be impossible to beat,
"Y/N, four more coming your way, have any escaped?"
"we had one attempted rescue but I caught it in time, there's about five left free, and we have eleven minutes left, be careful." Y/N was annoyingly good at guarding, she had a sharp eye and fast reflexes that meant no-one could slip past her, not to mention the fact that no-one could bribe her, she already had millions from assassination, and no-one had food on them, which she had already stated was the only bribe she'd accept. all hope had been lost when her phone rang, she sighed before picking it up,
"Alright, someone had better be dying- stop crying, I can't understand what you're trying to say!" her expression suddenly changed, "oh my god, I'll be right there."
She gestured to Koro-Sensei, who had been sulking in the sandpit from being excluded, "I have to go, you take over guarding them." he perked up at this, and opened his mouth to speak before she cut him off, "I don't know what you're going to say, but save it. the only reason I'm telling you to do this is because a job went wrong and I have to bail the others out quickly before they get themselves killed, which may seem like a foreign concept to you, but there are actually benefits to saving people weaker than you." whatever she was referencing shut him up pretty quickly,
"Did something happen between Y/N and Koro-Sensei? "
"I don't know, stuff seems to have happened between Y/N and everybody, I've given up trying to keep track"
After she ran off, the game really started. Through numerous bribes and sob stories, over the next ten minutes, the number of people in jail declined, until the only one left was the golden-haired assassin who had been caught at the beginning of the game.
"Woah, Karasuma's really digging into the Octopus there, observed Sugino, he looks like he's about to pop a vein"
"Everyone shut up and look at this!" Fuwa seemed to be showing a Livestream of some fight downtown, but looking into it more closely, they recognised one of the people being shown,
"Is that Y/N? "
Meanwhile
Y/N wasn't sure how many of them there were, but they seemed to be multiplying, she cut down one, two more sprang up, it was like trying to fight a fucking hydra if the hydra in question was made up of angry men who had never heard of deodorant. She was aware of people filming, there were way too many cameras to take them all out, she pulled up her hood, hoping that would be enough to hide her face. She wouldn't be that affected if it got around, seeing as it was unlikely she would ever try to be a lawyer or a senator after this, but a viral video of the union could compromise the identities of several assassins. She was lucky enough to be wearing nondescript clothes, and enough makeup that she looked nothing like her normal self, but she was probably the only one, the others hadn't come prepared for a public fight, they didn't know that their target would call for backup and if any videos were spread around of this undercover work could become a nightmare for them. An assassin's face was one of their greatest weaknesses, she was beginning to see why her brother chose to cut his off entirely.
There were too many cameras around, she could only guess how many people were watching on the other end, not to mention the fact that she was already bleeding out so much that she probably couldn't end the fight quickly, even if she didn't have witnesses. All of a sudden, pain ripped through her side, looking down she could see the blood spreading. The bullet had just grazed her, but it was still painful enough that she just wanted to curl up. Too late she realised her mistake as three pairs of arms grabbed her, forcing her to her knees as her knife was ripped from her hands.
"Scythe, I presume, seeing how your pathetic little friends assumed they were saved as soon as you showed your... average-looking face." Y/N forced herself to stay still. She could make that bastard suffer for every comment later. The bastard in question grabbed her chin roughly, forcing her to meet his eyes, "now, oh great assassin, what on Earth made you think that you could take out the son of a major mob boss so easily? "
She grinned, "good question, but I've got a better one," she shook off the men holding her down with ease, they collapsed to the floor, seemingly asleep. It was almost pathetic how easy they succumbed to the poison on her blade, but it was worth it to see that panic on the targets face, "what on Earth made you think I only had one knife on me?"
It was a shame, the fight was over almost too quickly, the people filming were easily scared off once it started raining bullets and the only thing left to do was patch those involved up. Y/N felt as though she was ready to collapse, but seeing the state the others were in she soon realised she was one of the lucky ones.
"We've taken down all of the videos of the fights, and our... connections are going to take care of any copies that might be spread around." Corey looked beaten up too, his hair was stained slightly pink from unsuccessful attempts to wash the blood out, "also you got a call from E-class, they said it had something to do with the yellow... Octopus... thing." he handed her the phone and wheeled away. Her adrenaline from the fight was all gone, and the pain had returned tenfold. The last thing she wanted to do was go back to E class,
"Ok the octopus better be in deep shit or I swear to god I- give me two hours." she sighed, hung up the phone and stared up at the wall, "I think I need to be banned permanently from saying what should be happening when I answer the phone."
"Mood"
"Same"
"Me"
Timeskip
Walking into E class, Y/N could instantly tell that they had seen the video. Good. it was better they knew what actual assassination entailed before they started getting an idealised version where all targets are happy to be killed and clients help along the way. For example, the Unions client on this occasion was being incredibly difficult
"I don't care what the original amount we agreed on was, YOU agreed you were going to give accurate information, AND that it was a simple job," she was ready to kill this man, but she kept her cool... barely. she was talking to him over the phone through gritted teeth while the rest of E class waited for the call to finish, she still had blood on her clothes, they weren't going to get in her way,
"You really think because you didn't give your name we don't know who you are? How fucking stupid are you?" she had dropped the civil tone now, "alright. Your name is Mr Naoko Hewitt Cross. You live at 737 Kagaminakajō, Minami-Alps, Yamanashi 400-0332, Japan. You have two children. One is currently studying at a boarding school. His dorm number is 4677, would you like to see a picture? Here, I'll be really generous- you can have pictures of before and after we're done with him! Now, if you don't want that, then give us the fucking money." A pause, the person on the other end seemed to be crying, and then: "Good. You have three hours."
A/N, this is a real address, but its a random one I picked off google maps, just thought I should mention that
She hung up and finally turned to the others, "ok now what's this about?" for several minutes no-one spoke, it was as if they were ready for her to begin killing everyone in sight, Karasuma broke the silence, although not to answer her question,
"The government didn't approve that job."
"The government weren't involved in that job." something seemed different, her personality seemed similar to how it had been before they had gotten close to her, all business.
"Y/N need I remind you the only reason the government allow you to get away with these jobs is provided you dont take private clients and work exclusively-"
"And what are you gonna do about it, Agent? In case you hadn't noticed, you cant exactly arrest us, can you?"
Karasuma stiffened, "What makes you think that? We don't keep records of when we hire assassins-"
"Take a look at this, Agent Karasuma, and look carefully." she held up an image on her phone, "this is a list, of every job the government has paid us to do, every payment, and every target. Try to take us down and we drag you down with us, got it?"
"That's blackmail-"
"Its insurance. We're criminals, when you hire people from the underworld to do your dirty work, don't expect us to turn into law-abiding citizens. We do what you ask, and we do it well enough that no-one thinks you have a hand in it, but don't think that were stupid. This is your first time actually managing assassins, isnt it? Well, heres some advice: we work for the highest bidder, keep in mind that it wont always be you. And when that happens, we need a way to make sure you don't try to cross us, now is someone going to tell me why you called me here or should I just go."
"Koro-sensei's been stealing underwear!" Fuwa blurted out, "and he kept a record of our cup sizes next to the register!"
Y/N walked around to the teachers podium and inspected the register, "That makes no sense, why do it next to the register? Why not just make a list of only the girls names and then keep it away from where we could find it?"
"So, you don't even see anything wrong with him being a perv? Just with how he did it?" Terasuka snarled, Y/N had thought that he'd be over his dislike of her after she helped him during the trip, but clearly not.
"Alright, I have a question for all of you, since you all seem to be so disgusted by the fact that I kill people despite that literally being the definition of an assassin, so I have to ask: what did you think was going to happen after all those assassination attempts? You've all swung knives, fired guns, and set off bombs even, did you never think about what you were doing?"
"...He begged you not to kill him, Y/N" Nagisa finally spoke, not even meeting her eyes
"Then answer this." although none of them met her gaze, they could feel it piercing through them, "If Koro-Sensei wanted to die, don't you think he would have let you kill him by now? In real life, targets don't pat you on the back and tell you how to improve after you try to kill them, they either fire back or run away. What do you want me to do? Tell you that he was a bad man that killed people, that tortured and threatened innocent people? That implies that my reason for taking the job was for the greater good, it wasn't. If I only killed bad people, I'd be a vigilante, an assassin isn't a good person, even if killing the Octopus saves the world, you'll still walk away murderers, just rich ones. Assassins kill people, Lovro has killed people, Jelavich has killed people, Grip, Red-Eye, Smog? They've all killed people. Even your precious Koro-Sensei has before he became what he is today, but back then, and even now, this isn't something hed do."
"Tch, why are you defending him, I thought you hated him?"
"I do, but I hate him for what he did as an assassin, and this is worlds away from that. someone's trying to set him up, they're good too, but look at the facts. first of all, this is an ex-assassin, he knows how to hide stuff, he's also been confirmed to have super intelligence and can travel anywhere in the world at Mach 20, but where does he hide everything? Right where a bunch of 14-15-year-olds can find it. Second, this is all too convenient, he's gone ages without incident and then all of a sudden a shit-ton of incriminating evidence. And third, whoever did this clearly set it up to lead slowly up to the worst parts so that you wouldnt notice how out of character it is, he, despite everything, loves being a teacher, and he loves teaching you, why would he throw it all away just to keep a record of cup sizes? I've carried the register around loads of times and I've never seen those labels, but all of a sudden they show up at a time when any normal person would be more interested in the supermodels they'd supposedly been stalking. If he's really been stealing underwear why would he choose this time to spy on kids? The whole thing's too convenient."
"She's right you know." Karma appeared, leaning on the doorway, he tossed a basketball to Nagisa, "I found this in the P.E cupboard, Koro-sensei's no fool, he knows he'd be dead to us if we found this out, and besides, between losing our respect, and getting assassinated, we know which one he'd be more desperate to avoid."
"I have to agree with you there" Nagisa nodded,
"But then who's the sicko doing all this stuff?" Kayano interjected,
"An imposter." Fuwa looked intensely at them, it was clear that she had given this a lot of thought, "That colour, that laugh, were dealing with an archetype. A FAKE SENSEI! THE DEVIL! THE DOPPELGANGER! OLDEST SUPERVILLAIN TROPE IN THE BOOK!"
Ok so maybe she hadn't given it the most thought but it was better than blindly going along with what whatever the fake wanted them to believe,
"So, we find the fake, prove its not the Octopus, and then everything's fine, right? We won't have to worry about it anymore" Karma grinned. Bit by bit the others left until only he and Y/N remained,
"Aren't you gonna say something?" she asked, expecting another lecture about morals,
"Should I? I mean you were right, it's your job, and honestly, they had it coming" he dug around a cupboard a bit, and brought out disinfectant and bandages, "it looks like the bandages you have on are a bit too blood-soaked, I'm used to getting into fights, so I'll help ya out "
"Y/N wasn't entirely sure what 'helping her out' meant until she felt him wrap his arms around the back of her thighs lifting her onto the nearest desk, "sorry, didn't want to risk getting too near the injury." he explained with that illegal smirk of his,
"It's fine." she looked away, trying her best to sound nonchalant, but her ears had turned bright red.
"The others will come around, ya know, they just need time for it to sink in, it's hard for them to see past the whole 'you're saving the world' speech that Karasuma gave them when he first asked us to help them."
"It's always hard for it to sink in, but if it doesn't sink in before they kill him it'll sink in later when they can't take it back like it did for me. I've seen so many assassins realise what they've done, months, maybe even years after their first kill, I know they probably hate me now but... it's better they hate me than themselves. " she thought she was over the divide between herself and normal people, it had never bothered her before, but now there was an uncomfortable pit in her stomach and a lump in her throat.
Karma forced himself to focus on cleaning the wound, and wrapping it up tight, not on the fact that the wound was on her stomach, and the fact that her shirt had been pulled up enough that he could see the under bit of her bra, and definitely not on the fact that he could feel her breath on the left side of his face, and not of the fact that they were as close now as they were at the festival when he kissed her, and absolutely, totally, definitely not on the fact that it would be so, so easy to do it again
It would be so easy to do it again
It would be so nice to do it again
He wanted to do it again
He wanted to kiss Y/N L/N
Again.