Akari

"School trip?"

"You didn't know, Aka-chan?" says Rio as she eyes me with suspicion. "I know you are an airhead but I never knew you can forget such important thing. Last week you were jumping around yelling 'oh my god! I'm going on a school trip!'"

"I did not," I glare at her for making that up. I admit I am quite busy these days, with homework to catch up and revision to do, plus some training with Karma. Yesterday, I manage to punch him in the face so hard he sworn revenge. Korosensei praised that I made some progress in studies and built up more confidence than I did on my first day. Sometimes I would ask Isogai about questions I don't understand and he would patiently explain them to me. Nagisa would ask me about English vocabulary and Kaede would keep stuffing me with puddings she created every day. I am blending into the class and occupied most of my free time to spend with them that I probably forgot about the class trip.

"Have you decided on your group yet?" Megu asks. She is writing down the names of each group on a list of paper.

I rub my chin. "I don't know. Maybe I can join Ri-cha-"

Someone grabs my collar and pulls me away from them. The prankish redhead, with devilish horns and tail reemerged drags me to Nagisa. "Put her in our group too, Nagisa."

"Hey!" I slaps his hand away. "What do you think you're-"

"Your training isn't over as far as I'm concerned. I believe our training venue can be extended to Kyoto too," Karma smirks, looking as devilish as usual. It's like he will die if he don't commit any mischiefs for a minute. "Am I correct, Akari-chan?" He provokes me.

"Looks like someone is trying to get back at me after I punched him in the face yesterday. If this is the extent of your revenge, I am pleased to tell you that you are far from succeeding it," I reply him sarcastically. He glare daggers at me.

"Nagisa, like I said, now with Akari joining us, I have feeling World War 3 is about to start. I don't want to be part of it," Sugino's face paled as he watches me and Karma intimidate each other.

Rio snickers as she stands next to Nagisa, assessing the situation with intrigue. "Aka-chan is very poisonous with words, now that her confidence is back. Karma, you may be good with pranks and ideas, but Aka-chan, with a vast vocabulary can easily pin you to death with mere words. Words are weapons to her. Sarcasm is her arsenal. Blackmailing is her specialty."

Karma smirks. He eyes me with a look of interest and intrigue. "Is that so? I like to see her try."

I stare at Rio. "You know you exaggerated, right?"

"Oh, please," Rio shrugs off my concern. "You are one of the best debaters this school has ever had. You participated in a lot of debate competitions and pinned your opponents to death until they ran home crying. You just lost your confidence in doing all the stuff you excel in-tae-kwondo, debating-because of that incident. Now that Karma seems to have solved the losing-confidence problem for you, resuming your debating career is no biggie. Though you are still an airhead."

"First of all, I am not airhead-"

"You fell three times in two days," Karma interrupts. "If you are not an airhead, I have no other word to describe you."

My fingers twitch involuntarily as they are itching to punch Karma in his face. "Secondly, I did not make any of my opponents cry because of my words."

"The facts that you used were so accurate your opponent can't retort and he cried instead because he knew the second he open his mouth your facts will bombard him. Poor guy," Rio adds.

"Wow. Maybe you can debate Korosensei to death," Karma chimes in. "Looks like I don't need to teach you how to verbally aggravate and intimidate people."

Damn the both of you. I curse as I imagine horns and a tail appear on Rio too.

*****

On the day of our school trip, we get onto the train's Second Class instead of joining the other classes in First Class. The biased education system of this school keep amuses me. Those classes think they were superior while we 3E are inferior scum. They are only good in studying. But we 3E are actually beating them at their own game with a monster octopus teaching us. Learning assassination skills while improving our physique are the benefits that come along. If the school holds a fighting competition, 3E would have won. Those so-called 'elite' students can't beat us.

The school trip, for us, is just an assassination opportunity in disguise. Thanks to Karma-damn him-I am in Nagisa's group, along with Sugino, Kanzaki, Kaede, Okuda and Karma. Days before the most anticipated trip, we have discussed on various plans to carry out the perfect assassination. Kyoto is a new place for us to learn-and to kill. I have been to the mesmerizing city before. It is a city full of history and ancient appeal that sometimes I wish I can live there for the rest of my life. But this time, going there with friends brings an excitement that I never felt before.

Nagisa has lent me his notebook so that I can read some of the weaknesses Korosensei has. For now, there are few but these weaknesses feel so humanly typical I begin to wonder: Korosensei is an indestructible yellow Mach-20 octopus yet he possesses such weaknesses but we still failed to kill him.

Because of this school's biased education system, 3E gets to have the worst accommodation possible-a traditional inn.

The next day, all four groups begin to set their plans to motion. My group is the last and only due to late afternoon so we decide to walk around to kill time and enjoy the view.

"We're here in Kyoto and I want to try the food here!" Kaede cries. "I want those green tea dumplings!"

"Count me in," I say as I loved the green tea taste in any kind of food. "There's no way we're going home without tasting any local delicacies!" I pump my fist in the air and Kaede follows my act.

"Don't get too fired up," says Karma. "You're still under training."

"Training has nothing to do with eating."

"But if you get too plump I'll excommunicate you. Being too plump slows down movement and then you will lose all chances at killing Korosensei," he smirks. I want to punch his jaw.

After a while, we make it to the route that Kanzaki has plotted for the assassination. It is a quiet alley. We are the only ones here. Kanzaki says that it is a perfect place because rarely anyone would wander around there, plus it has a nice unobstructed view for the sniper to carry out his job.

"That's our Kanzaki!" praises Kaede cheerfully. "We can kill Korosensei here!"

I look around. This place is indeed a quiet yet perfect place. The alley is narrow so that the sniper can hit his target easily. And no one else will be here to interrupt us. I am so absorbed in thinking how great the plan was I don't realize there are footsteps behind us. Before I can register what is going on, a few people obstruct our way. Behind us, more people surround us.

Ruffians? Nope. They are larger and taller than us, but they wear similar dark grey-coloured uniforms which meant they are probably high-schoolers. Judging from the nasty and mean looks they are not here to say 'hi'.

"Hey, Akari," Karma speaks up, his eyes glue to the nasty-looking people. "I'm giving you an assignment. Beat the crap out of these assholes."

"Eh?" Nagisa and the others look at Karma with bewilderment. Then they look at me. Well, they are right to doubt him. The high-schoolers outnumber us by 2 to 1. It seems impossible to 'beat the crap out of these assholes'.

Maybe I can reason with them so that they will leave us alone. Then I doubt myself. Do these people even have the intelligence to listen to me reasoning things out? Why do I have the feeling they won't?

"Don't worry, Akari-chan," Karma adds. "I'll help you out. Take this as a practical way to show off the training we had with each other."

One of the high-schoolers loses his patience and yelled. "What the hell are you-" he couldn't finish his sentence because Karma grabs his face and throws him to the ground. The others, taking this as a sign, begin to lurch forward to tackle him.

I take a deep breath. Somehow Karma is right. It's about time for me to show the results of my training. I got my confidence back; my skills has been honed, what's to be afraid of? I can't back out now. I am ready!

But a strong grip grab me by my wrists and pulls me backwards. A mean high-schooler has me held tight so that I won't squirm to escape. Even Kaede and Kanzaki are caught. They struggle to break free but against these muscled men their efforts are futile.

Shit. There is no way I am going to let these people do what they want to us. I can't depend on Karma to save me anymore. Pissed off, I use all my strength and kick the one who grabbed me in his loins. He release his pincer grip on me, screaming in pain. I take the liberty to punch him in the face. There is a tiny crack sound so I am pretty sure I broke his nose. While he is busy cradling his fragile nose, I turn my target to the one that held Kaede in capture. I spin my body to gain momentum and then kick him in the face after Kaede ducks just in time. The man stumbles sideways and falls onto one of his companions. Some of the men finally realize that I am not as fragile as they think I am and lurch for me. One aims to punch me in the face. I dodge and give him a taste of hell in his gut. He doesn't fall to the ground as I planned it would be but another man is thrown right into him and they both have their faces planted to the ground. I acknowledge that as Karma's way of helping out.

"Shit! Get the girl into the car!" their boss, a man with slicked black hair and a scar over the left side of his face gives out the command.

"Kanzaki-san!" I hear Sugino yell.

Crap!

I put all my strength in my legs and sprint forward. I get a hold of the man who grabbed her by his hair and pull it hard until I get a few strands-scratch that, a clump of hair. He screams in pain as he lets go of Kanzaki and I immediately pull her behind me for safety. Then I punch him in the jaw and he yelp, feeling pain from all over his skull. I glance behind me. Karma is having fun doing what he liked best. Sugino and Nagisa are having trouble as numbers are at their disadvantage. Kaede is stomping hard on a man who is already lying on the ground. I can't see where Okuda is but she is probably hiding in safety. Then I quickly assess the situation and force my brain into high speed thinking. Some of the men have fallen but there are some who are as healthy as ever. They begin to show off their arsenal of weapons: daggers. One of them has an iron pipe. My hands yell pain in my skull. At this rate, there is a huge possibility we would be the ones defeated. And I do not dare to imagine what they would do to us girls.

"Kanzaki-san," I whisper. "Go find some place to hide and call Korosensei." Kanzaki nods and slowly backs away.

I need to buy her some time. I show off my meanest glare at the larger men in front of me. "Bring it. I'll beat the crap out of you assholes."

Their boss laughs. "Please. You may have taken down a few of us, but we now have weapons. Aren't you afraid that I'll scratch that pretty face of yours?"

"A knife?" I grin as wide and as evil as I can, like how Karma taught me to intimidate opponents. He says instilling fear into my opponents can lower their guard for a bit. But my grin wouldn't be as evil as his anyway. "You need more than that to bring me down. After all, you people never really killed a person before, didn't you? I did. With a knife. You wanna try that out, eh?"

Some of them are unconsciously backing away. My plan worked. Though I never thought of killing them actually. It pains me to use my past as a weapon but I have no choice. It's the only thing that I can think of now to intimidate them.

Maybe Rio's right about me being poisonous with words.

The boss is probably the only one who isn't intimidated. He lurch forward with his knife and I dodge. Before I can kick him in his abdomen, something hard hit me in the back of my skull. I hear ringing in my ears as I kneel on the ground. My head hurts so much I can barely dodge when a punch connects my abdomen. I scream in pain as the boss grabs me by my hair and lifts me up.

His breath stinks as it tickles my ear when he speaks. "Looks like someone lost her bravado, huh?" He flashes his knife at my face. "Tell your friends to surrender or else you'll suffer the consequences."

I laugh. "That's the cheesiest bad guy pick-up line I've ever heard. Maybe you should brush up your vocabulary. Go buy yourself a dictionary." Kanzaki-san, hurry.

His face twists in anger. The bloodthirsty knife is a few inches from my cheek. "You're gonna regret this, bitc--" before he can finish someone punches him in the face. He lets go his grip on me and I fall on my butt. I look up as the redhead stand in front of me. I can tell from his back that he is seething with anger. The entire situation makes me felt nostalgic, like the second time he saved me. Karma's fists ball up in anger.

"Hands off my disciple."

The boss rubs his swollen jaw. He glares daggers at Karma and takes the iron pipe from his friend. "You think you can fight us all off, huh? You are a bunch of mid-schoolers. We outnumber you. Surrender and give us the women or else face our wra-"

"Wow," Karma interrupts nonchalantly. "Akari's right. You really have some cheesy pick-up line."

"BRAT!"

"STOP!"

I turn around. Kanzaki steps out from hiding and glares at the high-schoolers. She looks determined and brave. "Stop fighting! Leave us alone! If you leave right now, we can pretend none of this ever happened!"

The high-schoolers laugh. "Leave?" The boss says, glaring at her and playing with the iron pipe in his hand. "You're kidding, right? You are the reason we're here."

Our eyes widen in surprise as he pulls out a photo of a brunette. At first, I couldn't recognize her because the hair colour and the outfit are different. But under further scrutiny, the girl has the same look as Kanzaki. The Kanzaki I know is a delicate, beautiful and quiet Madonna, but the one in the picture is the complete opposite.

"We are here to find you, since we saw you in a Tokyo arcade last summer. I couldn't recognize you but now I do," the boss continues. "I know, elites like you brats need to find a place to ruin themselves. Don't worry, come to us. We will teach you how." They snicker maliciously, like a bunch of perverts. I itch to beat them up now.

"Kanzaki-san!" Sugino yells. He is on the ground, catching his breath. "Run away!"

Kanzaki has her head lowered. I can't read her face. She is trembling like a leaf. But she doesn't move. She doesn't falter. "Yes, that's me," she says gently like a whisper.

I realize she has a sad story in a past, not as tragic as mine, but it is something she didn't want anyone to know. A hidden part of her personality. She probably hates herself for this. Maybe she ended up in 3E because of this. Even the earnest yet diligent Madonna has gone through a phase.

Suddenly she holds her head up high, fearless, dauntless. "Like I just said, leave. Or else, face our wrath." Her eyes are fixed on the high-schoolers-no, on something behind them. It is a huge round object, taller than them, yet more horrifying. It isn't there before.

I sigh. Took him long enough to get here.

"Correction," Kanzaki adds with a smile. It is not just any smile. It is a smile that signifies our victory. "Face our sensei's wrath."

"Nurufufufu" is the only sound Korosensei makes when he begins his 'delicate grooming' on the high-schoolers. It happens so fast my eyes can't catch it. I watch as their heads twist in an awkward way and one by one slumps down to the ground. It is an easy victory for him anyway.

Plus what's with the veil on his face?

"Korosensei, what's with the veil on your face?" Nagisa voices out my question.

"Sensei is afraid that my face would be associated with any act of violence."

As a Mach-20 octopus, he sure worries about his appearances.

Korosensei's face turns pitch black as anger overwhelms him. "Don't you dare lay your filthy hands on my students."

I look at the high-schoolers. Their faces pale and ashen, legs feeble to carry their torso. The boss's face distorts in a mixture of anger and pain. He glares at Korosensei with much hatred in his eyes. "You're looking down on us because you are a bunch of elites? Damn you!"

Korosensei's face returns to his usual yellow colour. "We're not elites. We maybe come from a prestigious school, but these students are considered as outcasts by rest of the school. Their class, 3E, is the subject of discrimination. And yet, that does not hinder their progress in moving forward. All of them carry on their lives with positive attitudes and make the fullest out of their daily life. They won't drag others down into the muddy water, not like you. It has nothing to do with titles or what school they came from. Be they in a clear stream or a muddy river, the fish who swim forward turn out the finest."

With the morale in the high-schoolers fading, Karma helps me up to my feet and Kanzaki helps Sugino to his. Okuda reemerges safe, apologizing for not helping out just now. Kaede glares at the man who grabbed her before and Nagisa has to hold her back before she stomps the man again. Korosensei leads us back to the inn while making sure the high-schoolers don't try to take revenge or anything.

"Are you ok?" Karma murmurs as he helps me to walk back. My right arm is dangling lifelessly over his shoulder while he holds my waist to support me. "You look like crap."

"I'll be fine if I get something to eat." My stomach growls silently in agreement. I remember that Karma has yet again saved my life. If he asks for compensation, I probably have to be his personal maid for an entire year. The very thought give me shivers. I glance over my shoulder to see Kanzaki. She has lost the gloominess she had when her past was revealed. Somehow I feel that she cleared her mind of any doubts because of what Korosensei has said.

Be they in a clear stream or a muddy river, the fish who swim forward turn out the finest.

Korosensei surely is a fine teacher.

"So, how did I fare well in my assignment?" I say. Karma looks blank, like he has completely forgotten about the thing due to previous adrenaline.

"Oh," he replies softly. His eyebrows crease in contemplation. He is actually serious about this. The new emotion on his face amuses me. I try to stifle a giggle. "I give you an A-."

"Eh? But I did beat the crap out of them, like you said so."

"Just don't get yourself caught next time. I can't come to your rescue every time, you know."

I smile. "Thanks for saving me--your disciple."

He grins. "You're welcome."

*****

Back in the inn, Megu and Rio are quite worried about me. They yell and reprimand and chide me for being completely reckless. They said I'm starting to become like Karma-who fights without any hesitation.

"You are not leaving this room until you rested up well!" Megu chides.

"Yes Ma'am."

"The next time if you get in a fight, let the boys do the heavy work. You should just stay in the sidelines and support whenever possible!" Rio adds.

"Yes Ma'am."

They stop their blustering and stare at me with disbelief. "You're being awfully obedient."

"I'm just exhausted, that's all." I want to divert their attention from me. "So, Ri-chan, how's the peeking going? Any good stuff?" Rio and Fuwa went to peek at Korosensei bathing just now, to get more info on the mysterious octopus.

Rio sighs. "We found nothing except a jellied broth."

"A what?" Megu asks, with confusion.

"Never mind." Rio's face suddenly brightens up in excitement. She gestures the other girls to gather around. "Let's talk about our romantic interests. 3E boys that we like." She snickers maliciously.

Hinano, who is always cheerful, raises her hand. "Karasuma-sensei!"

"I said 3E boys. Everyone likes Karasuma-sensei." Hinano looks disappointed. Rio continues. "According to my observations, Isogai and Maehara probably take the lead. But Maehara is a player, so doesn't it make Isogai the most ideal one in our class?"

I picture Isogai in my mind. Isogai is the male class rep along with Megu. He is a nice guy, smart and good-looking. Like Rio just said, maybe he is the most ideal one. But I have never thought of him like that besides being a good friend to me. He is always helpful whenever anyone needed help.

"Karma can also win with his good looks though," says Yada. "If he behaved better." Everyone agree unanimously.

Karma? "Actually..." I speak up and everyone immediately focus on me. "I think Karma isn't really as bad as everyone thinks. He maybe mischievous, but it's how he expresses himself. He's actually a nice guy." I wait someone to comment but silence replyme instead.

Rio's face immediately closes up to mine. "So you like him?"

"Well-"

Before I can continue, Rio interrupts. "Not as a good friend. As an ideal romantic partner. As your soul mate for the rest of your life. In short, as your boyfriend."

It takes me a while to comprehend what she is talking about. I am taken aback by her wild judgments. "No! Of course not!" I yell back. Heat is rushing up to my cheeks. I realize I am blushing. But I force myself to stare into her eyes so that she won't notice the redness of my cheeks.

"I KNEW IT!" Rio yells like she has just found a piece of invaluable treasure. "I knew you had a thing for him! Or else why would you even want to train with him instead of anyone else?!"

"I told you before. It was because he is the strongest-"

Then the blabbering begins. The girls keep asking me questions of 'why you like him' and 'what do you see in him' and 'when are you going to confess' and 'when are you going to date him' all sorts of stuff. I drown in their questions and wish that I kept my mouth shut.

*****

Nagisa

Nagisa feels awkward when the boys begin to ask each other which girl they are interested in. The instigator is none other than Maehara himself, who has countless of girls in his list.

For quite some time the boys took to list up the girls they are most interested in. Kanzaki is obviously in first place. Nagisa knows well that Kanzaki would have won their hearts with her great personality and cute looks. Sugino has fallen for her from the beginning. Yada takes second spot because of 'physique'. Kurahashi follows next with her charm. Kayano is fourth because she looks delicate. Kataoka comes in fifth because she is dependable.

"Hey Nagisa," Maehara says. "Who do you like?"

Nagisa is taken aback. "Well..." he has never thought of anything like that before. He considered every girl in his class his good friends. Never for once he thought of having any romantic relationship with anyone of them.

"Oh. Looks like you guys are doing something fun," Karma steps in with a drink in his hand.

"Karma, who do you like?" The boys divert their attention on him instead. Nagisa is relieved that he was spared. Good timing, Karma-kun.

Karma is deep in contemplation. "Okuda-san I guess."

"Eh? Why?" the boys are surprised. Even Nagisa too.

"Hmm... Okuda-san can conjure up so many chemicals like chloroform which can greatly expand my range of mischief." Karma smirks. So typical of him.

"That is some matchmaking we would not want it to happen."

"I thought you might be interested in Akari-san instead," says Sugino. "After all, you guys have been spending so much time together."

Maehara suddenly giggles. "That's a relief for a certain someone, eh?" he playfully nudges Isogai who is sitting beside him. Isogai glares at him to warn him to keep him mouth shut but it is too late. Everyone have noticed the pink blush on their male class rep's face.

And the teases begin. Isogai has a hard time to block himself from the attacks. The boys' constant blabbering is pinning the poor guy to death.

"You've been spending a lot of time with Akari too, haven't you, Isogai?"

"Yeah! You always took such a long time explaining to her yet you only briefly explained our questions to us."

"You just want to spend more time with her, is it?"

Nagisa sigh at their enthusiasm in digging out Isogai's secrets. He feels his phone in his pocket vibrated and finds out Nakamura has sent him a message. Feeling strange why she would message him in a time like this, he goes to a quieter spot in the room and reads the message with scrutiny.

It reads: Nagisa, I want you to use your superb observation skills to jot down something into your notebook. Please observe Karma and how he interacts with Akari. Write down anything that is suspicious and then report back to me. Thanks. From Nakamura.

Nagisa stares at the screen of his phone and sighs at Nakumura's shenanigans. What am I supposed to write down anyway? Should I write down that Isogai likes Akari and Karma likes Okuda-san instead?

He looks at the redhead who is enjoying his drink. The boy stands silently as he watches the others bombard Isogai with countless questions. He seems to care less about how Isogai felt about Akari, his disciple. But somehow, Nagisa's instincts tells him otherwise.

Karma-kun looks impassive. But he is emanating a kind of aura that I can't comprehend. I can't find the word for it. Hmm... Nagisa looks up from his notebook at Karma. But Karma suddenly leaves the room without notice. Nagisa immediately follows him and peeks out of the door. Karma is just standing by the dustbin, staring blankly at the emptied drink box in his hand. He seems to be fazed, disoriented, confused. The Karma Nagisa knows would never be fazed by anything. He is a quick-witted boy who outsmarts everyone in the class. He is by far the only one who has hurt Korosensei. He is stronger than anyone in terms of intelligence and physique. What could make Karma act like this?

Then the word comes to his mind. Immediately he writes down the word in his notebook.

Karma-kun is jealous.