Shock, horror and fear were the emotions that ricochet through the Satellite campus following the stranger's declaration. Nobody spoke a word as the man with the silver hair and kindly smile straightened up at the front of the classroom without a care in the world.

They were shocked at the man's sudden appearance.

They were horrified at his self-proclaimed title of "God of Death".

And they were fearing what this dangerous man had even come here for.

Everyone except for Amaya, who was already reeling at the presence of a man who could wander in here without Koro-sensei seeing him on his way out of the classroom just two minutes earlier.

Amaya stood rooted to the spot at her desk as she stared the man down with her left hand clutching desperately at her other arm to keep herself completely still. Her mind was screaming just one single thought at her. One declaration that she couldn't deny no matter how much she really wanted to.

And that was the fact that no matter how angry or riled up she was getting, she knew she wouldn't be able to react fast enough to intercept anything this dangerous man would throw at somebody.

'Through their beauty, flowers can drown out a person's cautiousness. It opens up a person's heart.' The "God of Death" began on a seemingly random tangent as he flipped out a red orchid from the inside of his sleeve.

The mere sight of it made Amaya want to shove the colourful cutting right down the man's throat.

'Nagisa-kun, it's exactly like in the way I explained to you guys. But, the original purpose for which the flower evolved beautifully and fragrantly ... Ritsu-san, display the image I sent you.' The God of Death seemed to cut himself off in a nonsensical manner as he turned his gaze towards the back corner of the classroom where Ritsu's terminal stood, before his smile broadened ever so slightly. 'Is to lure Insects.'

And then a second later, Amaya heard horrified gasps and cries from various classmates.

'Bi-BITCH-SENSEI!' Rung through the classroom, forcing Amaya to rip her gaze away from the God of Death for just a second.

There, plastered right across the display of Ritsu's terminal was an image of Irina bound and gagged as she lay unconscious in what looked to be a lone steel crate.

Amaya's gaze promptly tore away from the screen to latch back upon the God of Death casually lifting a piece of chalk as be began to draw quickly on the blackboard without even looking at it.

'I'll make it short. If you would like to protect her life, by no means inform your teachers and come to the location I direct you to. Each and every one of you.' He remarked as his chalk-lines quickly sketched up a neat image of Irina's figure up on the blackboard, earning the distraught attention of the overall class as he then began to draw lines right through the image once he was done. 'If you don't want to come, you don't have to. In that event I will send her to you guys. After I divide her up to send her to you all equally, of course.'

Terrified gasps rung through the classroom, all the while Amaya grit her teeth so hard she was inwardly surprised they hadn't cracked from the force.

'And the next flower will probably be one of you guys.' The God of Death declared as he carelessly ran the blackboard eraser through the image in a rather flamboyant manner.

'Oi oi, Nii-chan. You've been blabbing on about some self-serving crap, but we don't really have any obligation to go save that tyrannical bitch.' Terasaka spoke up dangerously as he lifted himself right out of his seat, along with Yoshida and Muramatsu to approach the God of Death smiling confidently from the front of the classroom. 'And you're even threatening to hurt us, but if you tried it, that teacher, Karasuma and that Octopus wouldn't let that slide. And most importantly... didn't you think you might be beaten up to a pulp by us here, Mr Kidnapper?'

'You're incorrect, Terasaka-kun. All of that is wrong.' The God of Death remarked as he lowered his head with an unnerving grin. 'You guys like her more than you think. Even if you talked it out, you probably couldn't even think of abandoning her. And besides, it's impossible for humans to reap the God of Death!'

And with a sudden shower of the flowers he'd brought into the classroom in the beginning, the self-proclaimed God of Death was gone in a flurry of petals before anyone could so much as see him leave.

All that was left in his wake was petals and a lone square of map falling to the classroom floor.

The tense silence that had engulfed the room was so thick it felt like the air was being squeezed right out of Amaya's lungs. Nobody moved or spoke a word as the threat the God of Death issued them sunk in well.

Nothing needed to be said, after all while Amaya willingly admitted it, everyone else couldn't deny the truth in the hitman's declaration.

They couldn't abandon Irina just like that.

Maehara was one of the first to break out of his frozen state as he seemed to come to a sudden thought. He dashed right out of the classroom and soon returned with what looked to be the bouquet they'd given Irina, with a particularly vicious look written across his face as he pulled out some kind of electronic form within the base.

'Guess what? The bouquet from three days ago... He had a bug in it!' Maehara seethed as practically threw the bouquet and electronic onto the teachers desk. 'That bastard knew Koro-sensei was leaving for Brazil and Karasuma-sensei left for work!'

'But, you know... I didn't think of him as a bad enough guy to be called "The God of Death"...' Kurahashi spoke up hesitantly. 'Do you think he could end up being a nice guy?'

'The fact that he makes you think like that is amazing.' Karma remarked with a rather grim smile across his face. 'Before him, everyone probably thinks that way. Until the moment just before he kills you, that is.'

Amaya's hand around her other arm tightened painfully at that remark.

Her own father probably had that same talent when it came to winning over Yukariko, and all those other wives he ended up destroying in the end.

An angered Kimura was the first to reach for the piece of mapping right there on the floor, and with a worsening look across his face, he flipped it over to read the writing on the back.

'By 6pm tonight, please have all the class members come to this map location.' Kimura read out for everyone to hear, silencing the bulk of the movement in the room. 'Your teachers and Parents are a given, but the moment you notify any outsiders your Bitch-sensei's life will be gone.'

Amaya's gaze was very quick to shift to the clock, where a sigh escaped her as she found it was just after 3.30pm.

'So it's the same as those times with Takaoka and Shiro. His goal is probably to use us as hostages and lure Koro-sensei out.' Chiba surmised.

'DAMN IT!' Sugino shouted as he slammed a hand against the wall at his side. 'All the troublesome guys always come after us first!'

'What can you say? We're in the best position to earn a lot of money.' Hazama deadpanned. 'It's obvious we'd be targeted, and it makes sense for the worlds greatest hitman or whatever to do just that.'

But was it, really?

Koro-sensei arrived just in time to drag her out of Berlin when she was already transferred out of the Assassination Program entirely. She was outside of his contract to maintain her well-being, and yet he came to save her. To Amaya, that was not obligatory. That was something else, something very similar to how she looked at the three within her circle of care.

He was attached to them, and while she hated admitting it, it was easy to use attachment against someone. To assassinate a mach-speed creature such as Koro-sensei, you needed to take every advantage of that.

'Are we using it? This?' Terasaka asked as he tossed down a wad of material onto the teachers desk.

'The super-gym clothes, huh?' Nakamura said with a chuckle as she tugged the tie around her neck loose. 'Didn't we decide to use these to protect someone? If we don't wear them now, then what?'

'Well ... even if it's that bitch, we do owe for a bunch of stuff.' Okajima sighed.

Wait-- were they going to leave right this second?!

Amaya's gaze shifted back to the clock as she frantically tried to figure out what to do. She couldn't just leave without checking up on her siblings! While they were mostly better, she couldn't leave them without dinner!

'Maya-chan,' Maehara's voice rung out over the classroom, causing Amaya to look at him. He was standing next to Isogai, though he was wearing a rather understanding look. 'You've gotta go check on your siblings, don't you?'

Amaya said nothing, though she did give him a curt nod in response.

'That's fine, Amaya-san.' Kataoka called out easily, earning startled looks from some of the girls in the room. 'Go do what you need to do.'

'But what about Bitch-sensei?!' Kurahashi squeaked out in shock.

'The bitch obviously isn't going anywhere in a hurry.' Terasaka grunted dismissively.

'Terasaka-kun!'

'We should come up with an excuse to give our parents before we leave anyway, and we need to gather supplies to begin with.' Isogai decided to intervene before the discussion could turn into an argument, just as he looked up at Amaya from the map Kimura had handed him. 'Can you make it back here by five?'

'What?! Make it four!' Yada practically cried out.

'That's unreasonable, Yada.' Hara spoke up in disagreement. 'You're only giving Amaya-san fifteen minutes.'

'It's unreasonable to wait when we have to be there by six! Her siblings can just wait for their parents to--'

'We will wait.' Isogai cut in with a snap, silencing Yada's words before Amaya could have even reacted. 'Either here or at the location, whichever is easiest for Amaya-san.'

Yada looked positively floored by the Ikemen's sudden change of mood, though the disapproving look combined with the sharp shake of Kataoka's head silenced all complaint the girl would have given.

However Amaya didn't speak as she stepped right past the bulk of the class to lift the map from Isogai's extended hand. Her gaze scanned the page for several long seconds, before a grimace spread across her face.

'Do you know where this is, Amaya-san?' Isogai asked.

Oh yes, she really did know where this was ... and she never wanted to be anywhere near that place again.

But right now, she didn't really have much of a choice.

'I'll meet you there.' Was all she offered as she dashed out of the classroom, snatching her bag up as she detoured past her desk.

The afternoon light cast a gold hue across the city as Amaya sprinted down the mountain trail as fast as her legs would take her. Birds chattered, insects chirped and the city continued along at its ever-normal pace. It was so normal that nobody would even realize there was something as wrong as a group of students being blackmailed by an assassin happening in this very city right now.

Nobody took notice of the teenager sprinting through the crowding streets as rush hour began to click over, not even those she sidestepped to narrowly avoid collecting in her haste. And Amaya was comfortable with that. Dinner was collected as fast as physically possible without having Koro-sensei's assistance, and again Amaya was tearing through the streets. Somewhere she dashed past a familiar boy of strawberry-blond locks and academic prestige and his cohort of obnoxious, academically-minded lackeys, and past a group of familiar friends belonging to both Yuta and Reiko.

And by the time Amaya had managed to get through the door of the house, her eyes had immediately shifted to the clock on the wall as she fought to catch her breath.

3.55pm. It looked like she might be able to get to the location at relatively the same time as everyone else, or sooner. Wouldn't that be a shock to find she was there before everyone else.

'Amaya?' Came Yuta's rather surprised voice from half way up the stairs, catching Amaya's attention right away. 'What's going on? You didn't run all the way here, did you?'

Well, she did, but that wasn't the important thing.

'Get Reiko down here and leave Samuel upstairs, please.' Amaya spoke as she deposited the stir-fry boxes she'd bought onto the dining table. 'I have some instructions I need to give the both of you.'

'But she's slee--'

'Now, Yuta.'

Yuta's expression turned a little grim at Amaya's command, and he turned on his heel to do exactly as he had been told.

Amaya let out a weary breath as she began to unload the two shopping bags of their contents, her gaze shifting from item to item as she sorted them, though her attention was quickly snatched up by the sight of blood smearing the ends of her fingers, and caked beneath her nails.

She swore as she glanced at her other arm to find that the right sleeve of her jumper was blotted with many patches of damp red, and she realized as soon as she'd pulled her sleeve up that she had managed to inflict these upon herself. Undoubtedly trying to stop herself from moving a muscle while that psychopath was parading at the front of the classroom.

Great, just what she needed.

The sounds of footsteps coming down the stairs met Amaya's ears as she discarded her jumper and ran her punctured arm beneath the flow of the kitchen tap. The water came back moderately clear as soon as she'd cleaned up all the smeared blood covering her forearm, and relief washed over Amaya as she found that the punctures had at least sealed up with clotted blood. She could leave them to air out and do their own thing.

'Amay, what's going on...?' Came Reiko's sleep-worn voice as the twins approached Amaya's form in the kitchen. 'You look angry...'

Amaya ignored the question as she switched the tap off and turned to face her siblings.

'I have brought dinner home for the three of you, however you and Samuel have the chicken ones. If I hear you've done a swapper on Yuta to get his dinner, there will be hell to pay.' Amaya instructed seriously as she tore a wad of paper towel off the roll and padded her arm dry, all the while the twins nodded once in understanding. 'Nobody leaves this house until I get back, and this will be unusual, but under no circumstances are you to answer any emails or calls from anybody, not your friends, not even if you think it might be me. Turn them off, if need be.'

'Don't even answer--?!' Reiko practically exclaimed, though she cut herself off quickly at the look written across Amaya's face.

'What's going on?!' Yuta demanded.

And at that moment, Amaya found herself hesitating when she tried to just explain what was actually going on.

Why? Why had that man specifically said that he would kill Irina the moment they spoke a word to anyone from outside the classroom's range of students? And how would he know so soon when he wasn't even in the room to begin with?

Except, that was possible if they were all under surveillance. But how could he accomplish that without having some opportunity to access their belongings? How could that happen?

Unless ... something on all of their phones had been compromised to turn the phones into surveillance devices?

She couldn't ignore that fact, and scrambled for any excuse she could bring up.

'I've just got some problems with more assholes picking fights with me.' Amaya offered up as an excuse, earning a rather serious look from Yuta as Reiko stared wordlessly up at Amaya. 'There's a lot of them, so I can't guarantee they might make off with my phone.'

'But what about if Karma-san calls?' Reiko asked.

'I banned him from the house and annoying me for this week.' Amaya answered with a sigh. 'So he won't. I made him swear on it.'

'Oh.'

Well, technically she didn't, but it was the wager she won from the bet, so it was to the same effect.

'Is this serious?' Yuta asked, seriously.

'About as serious as the last time, I guess.' Amaya shrugged slightly. 'So? You understand what my instructions are?'

'Do not leave the house, do not let anyone inside except for you, and do not respond to any emails or calls we get under any circumstances.' Reiko repeated seriously. 'We will turn our phones off, too, Amay.'

'Good.' She responded as she tugged off the keys around her neck to drop them onto the counter, set her bag on the floor and made a move for the door. 'I'll knock the usual code at Samuel's window when I want to be let in.'

Reiko and Yuta both nodded in understanding, and with that organized, Amaya snatched up her sparring gloves from the kitchen table and took off out of the house.

She took a different route, propelling herself over fences and vaulting barriers to cut the distance as she headed straight for the industrial parts of the city. Towards one of the old, unused railway systems that cut right through the industrial zone that had once been ripe with delinquents wielding faulty moral-compasses.

Skyscrapers cast sweeping shadows across the cityscape as Amaya ran along the old railway line towards where the square of map had depicted their destination. Even at just after 4.30pm all signs of life within this part of the city were absent, casting an eerie feel over the darkening area. At the sweeping bend the railway line made on that map, Amaya took the second left, vaulting herself over ring-lock fences with ease as she traced the streets down to reach the depicted location on the map.

And she found it after the fifth turnoff to the right, though not without her almost overlooking it and running past.

A single, two-level warehouse of small design stood in a moderately empty lot of land with trees rimming the edge of the lot of land like a makeshift fence. Its concrete was cracked with overgrown grasses and weeds, and the various windows of the warehouse were dark, a sign that no lights were on inside.

It almost looked like nobody was here.

But of course, the chill in the air and Amaya's ever-present trust issues and paranoia told her that her presence here had likely already been noticed. She shivered as she struggled to regulate her breathing after all that running, scanning her gaze over the area as she tried to take in more of her surroundings.

The rest of the class wasn't here yet. Even in spite of all Yada's complaining that she was going to cost them time, here Amaya was well ahead of them. So after catching her breath, Amaya scaled the largest tree along the perimeter of the property and set herself up to while away the time.

She was kept waiting long enough to start wondering if everyone else got lost, and definitely long enough to regret the fact that she forgot to pull her jumper back on after she'd checked her arm at the house.

The so called God of Death had already made his movements known to Amaya before the rest of the class had, and it was with a great amount of confidence that he did so as well.

His florist-clad form wandered right through the property at a casual stroll just as the sun had begun to set, entirely at ease with the situation at hand. Amaya had contemplated at the time whether she should take the initiative and try to jump the guy, but almost as if hearing her very thoughts, the God of Death casually turned his head to look right at her and cast her a beaming smile before he disappeared into the darkened warehouse.

That alone was sign enough to Amaya that they really were under surveillance through their phones. They were playing right into his hands, and there was nothing Amaya could do but obediently let it happen.

The arrival of her classmates came shortly after, though dusk had fallen by the time Amaya could pinpoint exactly where they were. Their footsteps halted within a handful of meters, and before Amaya had even made a move to drop herself out of the tree she was residing within, Amaya saw what looked like a remote-control helicopter suddenly take to the skies to scan the perimeter. A calculated scan of the grounds had Amaya soon locate Maehara's particular mop of orange-hued hair a good seven meters away.

'So it's that building, huh?' Maehara's whispered voice came to Amaya's faint notice as she gingerly climbed out of the tree. 'It looks smaller than I expected...'

Amaya had to spring backwards a few paces as that helicopter she'd seen take to the skies practically skimmed right in front of her face to fly right towards who was undoubtedly Itona in with the group. If it weren't for the low-hanging branches of the trees, Amaya would have believed that was done on purpose.

'I made a round from the sky, but I didn't see any signs of people in the area or on the roof.' Itona's voice spoke up a few seconds later. Amaya let out a faint breath as she wandered over to stand just at the back of the group, who appeared to not even notice her, yet.

'With a building that size, even if he had underlings, there would only be a few, right?' Hayami spoke up seriously.

'Also, the fact that there was a need to put a bug in the bouquet, conversely thinking, that means there's a good chance that he didn't know about us in detail before that.' Fuwa added.

Except the guy still had bugs on all of them, somehow.

There wasn't much point in saying anything when she knew they wouldn't believe her in the least.

'So Amaya-san isn't even here, yet?' Kurahashi asked frantically. 'It's nearly six, already! She said she'd meet us here, didn't she?!'

'You don't think she bailed, do you?' Okano questioned.

'She'll be here.' Maehara dismissed.

'She already is.' Itona responded.

'What?! I don't see her anywhere!' Yada gasped out.

'It's amazing how you bimbo's place far more faith in a psychotic hitman than me.' Amaya decided to speak with a scowl from the back of the group, earning startled gasps from Okano and Kurahashi, who were right in front of her. 'I've been here for so long, I was wondering if you lot got lost.'

'Of course.' Maehara remarked with a wry chuckle.

The weary smile Isogai cast her at that moment didn't go unnoticed.

'Have you seen any movement, Amaya-san?' A nearby Chiba questioned.

Amaya let out a breath as she reluctantly waved off her discomfort for all the phones that were in everyone's possession at that very second.

'Yeah, and he knows we're here.' Amaya eventually spoke, casting a glance to Chiba before she looked towards Isogai. 'He came walking right through here nearly an hour ago, and he even had the gall to gloat at me as he shut the damn door. Beyond that, nothing.'

'Were you standing right out in the open?!' Yada questioned shrilly.

If looks could kill, the disgusted sneer Amaya threw at the busty girl would have frozen her solid. Amaya was getting so sick of this act the majority of the girls seemed to have with hanging their own blame and frustration on her, as if she were their own personal scapegoat. As it stood, Amaya wasn't even sure she wanted to save the bulk of these thoughtless idiots from trouble anymore, let alone injuries.

'Don't be insulting.' Amaya spoke with a scarcely pleasant tone in spite of the look written across her face. 'Hasn't it even crossed your mind that since he bugged the flowers, he'd obviously have camera's set up so he can see that we've arrived at exactly the time he instructed?'

While it did nothing to please Amaya, a rather embarrassed look crossed Yada's face as she turned her head away, and nobody spoke a word to argue against Amaya's rather valid point.

Thankfully, a nearby Okuda tugged a wad of material from within the bag she'd brought, and passed them straight to her, providing excuse enough for Amaya to tear herself from willing a rock to hit the back of Yada's head.

She was the only one currently not wearing the special PE gear Karasuma had arranged for them, after all.

'We're running out of time, so listen up, guys.' Isogai began with a sigh as Amaya wandered a little away from the group to tug the clothes right over the top of her rather bloodied uniform. 'These super gym clothes, and your individual weapons which you've developed in order to kill Koro-sensei. No matter how well-informed the enemy is, it's impossible that he knows everything about us. That's our advantage.'

Amaya winced at that remark, though she focused more in tugging all the clothes on as fast as she could.

'We'll act like we obediently came to be caught. Then, we'll look for an opening to find and rescue Bitch-sensei. We'll all escape together!'

'Ritsu-chan, if we're not back by twelve, tell Koro-sensei about the situation.' Hara spoke as she pulled out her phone.

'Understood.' Ritsu responded somberly. 'Everyone, please be careful.'

And at that second, Amaya froze in her motions of tugging her gym boots on.

Wait a second ... Ritsu was on everyone's phones, including Reiko and Yuta's even though they didn't even know about it.

What if Ritsu was the--'

'Maya-chan! We're going!' Maehara called as the sounds of boot-clad footsteps peppered the silent air.

And all Amaya could do was swear as she frantically finished tying the knots and took off after the rest of the class.

Isogai up front opened the doors of the warehouse to reveal an entirely empty room inside as everyone filed in two at a time. The ground was spotless, the walls were entirely void of any feature beyond supporting beams for the upper floor, and as Amaya hesitated in the doorway, her gaze traced the entirety of the room as everyone else spread out within.

She saw that bastard walk right through this door, and now that she was looking, there was no second door. There was no ladder or stairwell, or anything anywhere. She couldn't have missed him walking out of this place!

'Where the hell did that bastard go?!' Amaya whispered frantically as she tried to peer around the open doors to get a better look of the room. 'I saw him walk in here, I know I did!'

[You're all here, right?] Came the sudden crackling of an overhead speaker right above Amaya's head, causing her to practically flinch from the fright. [Then I'll close the door.]

And before Amaya could even react, she saw the doors on either side of her suddenly swing shut with a violent enough force that they clipped her right arm and drew a flurry of colourful curses from her lips.

'Hmm, so you're aware of our movements after all.' Karma remarked from several meters away as he looked up at the speaker, which was fitted with a camera. 'Guess Amay was right, you're more of a peeping tom than a God of Death, huh?'

[Everyone's here and wearing cool clothes, huh?] The God of Death's voice responded brightly from the speaker. [Are you planning to go a round if there's an opportunity?]

Not if she could help it, she wasn't.

'We kept our promise to all come here, right?' Kataoka called out. 'If you just return Bitch-sensei, we can end this!'

But that's not what he wanted, and everyone knew that.

It was pointless to argue like that.

[Mm-hmm, They're all spread over the room with no openings.] Echoed over the speaker a few seconds later, which was followed by a sudden electronic beep. [Well done!]

From the ground sounded a sudden crunching of gears, with metal groaning against the effort of shifting at the whims of those in control. It was a chilling sound, one that terrified her to hear it. The blood-curdling familiarity forced all the air right out of Amaya's lungs the very instance she'd heard it, and her eyes widened as she found the memories of the Okinawan facilities rushing straight back to her head before she could even stop them.

It sounded exactly the same, that onslaught of sound that filled the chilling air of the cage that descended into the nightmares below. It was so close, it threatened to rip a terrified cry from her.

Her hands desperately clasped over her ears as she tried to block everything out, with no success. She wasn't there, that rational part of her knew that, but the memories blocked it out and flooded her with the terror of being back in that nightmare.

However, just as her knees were about to give out on her, somebody appeared right there in front of her. Hands gently closed around her arms just beneath her shoulders to steady her on her feet, though she couldn't tell who it was who'd appeared there. Her panic had too great a hold of her for lucid recollection to come to her immediate grasp.

'It's okay, you're fine.' She heard words whispered against the top of her head. 'You need to calm down, Amaya. We're nowhere near that place.'

Amaya struggled to force herself to nod in response, and she screwed her eyes shut as she tried to do as they said.

But it didn't take long for the elevator to come to a slow and terrifying halt, either. The sudden shudder that rocked through the maintenance elevator drew a trembling breath from Amaya as she struggled to force her eyes open again.

'Capture complete~!' Came the God of Death's voice from just outside of the room, drawing everyone's attention immediately. 'That was unexpected, right?'

The God of Death stood casually at what looked to be a wall of bars with a pleasant smile written across his face. He casually lowered a hand with an electronic keypad he had likely used to operate the elevator. Amaya could see nothing more past the familiar form in front of her holding her steady on her feet.

'The entire room is an elevator-style prison. It's something I made just for you guys.' The God of Death proceeded to explain to the stunned teenagers gaping at him from within the makeshift "prison". 'There are unexpected risks in capturing you one by one. Capturing you all at once like this is the quickest way.'

'The God of Death, a-and--' Yada's voice rung out from the front of the prison cell. 'BITCH-SENSEI!'

'I'm sure you've guessed it, but I'm going to have you all be hostages to lure that octopus.' The God of Death remarked as he wandered just out of Amaya's field of view. 'Don't worry, if he comes quietly, I won't kill anyone.'

'Damn it! LET US OUT!' Terasaka shouted as he and a few others pounded against the walls around the room.

'Have you calmed down, yet?' Who she eventually recognized to be Karma asked her, though he wasn't looking at her. His unwavering gaze was still fixed upon the God of Death, watching his every movement.

She didn't trust herself to speak at that second, so she gave the smallest hum of agreement in answer.

She had calmed down, yes, but it was still hard for her to regain her senses entirely.

The grip around her arms tightened just a little as one of the boys let out a sudden exclamation, just as the cell was engulfed in a cloud of rather unpleasant smelling smoke.

And then a second later, the whole room was rocked with the force of a sudden explosion, drawing a startled yelp from Amaya as she slapped her hands right back over her ears.

Or at least she'd tried to.

Before she knew it, she was being dragged through the haze of flying debris and smoke by her wrist, and out through a hole that had been blown in the wall.

The thudding of running footsteps echoed all around her as they ran through doorways and corridors to put as much distance between the God of Death and themselves. The smoke billowed through the corridor along with their running forms, making identifying who exactly was right there rather tedious.

She could see Karma just ahead of her as he pulled her along after him, Maehara a little further ahead, and Isogai at the front leading the group as well as he could given the dire change in the circumstances they were now involved in.

Seconds ticked towards a minute since they'd escaped the elevator cell, and yet Amaya could make no clear-cut guess as to where they had ended up in the least.

All the corridors looked exactly the same to her, right now.

But then there was an audible click from overhead as they passed beneath one of those many overhead speakers, and the God of Death's voice rung out through the entire corridor.

[Can you hear me, everyone of Class E?] That voice spoke pleasantly overhead, bringing the group of twenty eight to slow in their steps and look up at the speaker. [You all are in an enclosed underground space. All exits connecting to the outside world are electronically locked. The only key to unlock them is an iris recognition with my eyes. In other words, in order for you guys to leave this place... your only option is to defeat me and force me to open the doors.]

Amaya sucked in a deep breath as she inwardly cursed, unlike Terasaka a few feet away who literally cursed.

In truth, she wasn't too surprised after living half of her life with her tyrant of a father and his particular escapades, and that man was more than happy to prove to her that the merest attempt to use a removed eye on an iris lock was impossible.

[The truth is, I was happy that you guys escaped using Takebayashi-kun's explosive. Taking on this many trained hitmen at once, you don't get a chance like that too often. It's a waste to simply use you all as hostages. This will be a warm up before the unknown big fish.] The god of Death's voice continued the little monologue he was developing. [All of you will be my opponents to boost my skill. I have high hopes. Come kill me however you'd like. Bye.]

And with that, the click of the overhead speaker switching off echoed through the corridor, leaving the class in a grim state.

'It's like ... it's a game.' Hayami remarked.

A game, huh?

Amaya roughly ran a hand over her face as she tried to regain complete control of herself.

Undoubtedly to that psychopath of a man, this was a game.

Isogai seemed to let out a breath as he straightened up on his feet, his gaze still upon the overhead speaker as he thought carefully.

'Given the change in circumstances, we should make some changes, too.' Isogai eventually remarked as he turned towards the rest of the group standing there. 'We'll determine roles and divide into three groups. Even if we all stick together, we won't be able to move well within this small area.'

'Agreed.' A few others remarked, though Amaya hadn't caught who spoke.

'Team A is Battle, so aside from one communication link, which will be Kayano-san, everyone will be a battler.' Isogai assigned. 'So, Karma-kun, Nagisa-kun, Yoshida-kun, Muramatsu-kun, Kimura-kun, Maehara-kun, Okano-san, Chiba-kun, and myself. We'll aggressively search for them, and if we find them, we'll strike in one go. If Team B or C meet with the enemy, contact team A immediately. As we head over to help, we'll aim for a pincer attack.'

Huh?

Amaya was motionless as she thought on that for a few seconds.

Why wasn't she assigned to the battle group?

'Team B will be Rescue. I'm worried about Bitch-sensei being unconscious. I don't want the enemy to be able to use her as a hostage. This team will comprise of Mimura-kun, Hayami-san, Kanzaki-san, Nakamura-san, Yada-san, Kurahashi-san and Okajima-kun.' Isogai continued to allocate. 'I will be assigning Kataoka-san and Sugino-kun will defend as you guys go save her.'

However, it was at that second that Isogai seemed to actually look at her, and he suddenly appeared rather apprehensive all of a sudden.

'Additionally, I'll have Amaya-san help defend the rescue team with Kataoka-san and Sugino-kun as well.' He amended with a small smile as he looked back at the group. 'Since Amaya-san wasn't present when we had Karasuma-sensei give the flowers to Bitch-sensei, it might work out better for Amaya-san to be there.'

Ah, right.

Because Amaya had adamantly refused to have anything to do with the belated birthday plan, Irina might respond better to her if she happened to wake up at any point before they got out of here. That made some sense, but to Amaya she didn't think it would really make any difference. She was still flagged with the unfortunate nature of joint liability merely because she was a member of the same class.

Amaya let out a breath as she lifted her arms above her head to stretch the kinks out of her back.

'Team C is Intel collection. Using Terasak-kun as a shield, each member will use their abilities to do recon and search for an escape route. This team will be made up of everyone else remaining.' Isogai finally finished, casting one last glance over the class standing in front of him. 'If you find a surveillance camera, destroy it immediately. And Ritsu-san, I'll trust you to ensure smooth communication between teams.'

However, in spite of the usual chirp of an affirmative response they all expected, a horribly bored and unpleasant form of Ritsu's voice rung from Isogai's phone.

'I don't feel like it. You can't go against the god of death a-nyway.' She grumbled in disinterest as a rather unkempt and unpleasant form of her avatar showed up across Isogai's screen as she picked her nose with a finger. 'My battery will drain if I work.'

And the whole class practically stared at Isogai's phone in disbelief as a few of the more vocal members screeched out 'She's been hacked!!'

'There's no reception in this building. It's probably easier to hack the Mobile Ritsu compared to her actual terminal...' Takebayashi surmised with a rather grave look across his face. 'But to hijack her in this short an amount of time!'

'Well, we can still communicate with the transceiver app.' Fuwa offered in bemusement. 'Let's just play it by ear.'

'Don't forget to stay alert! Disperse!' Isogai commanded sternly, sending everyone to divide into their allocated groups.

An assorted number of different acknowledgments echoed from the majority of the class as they did as instructed, whilst Amaya gingerly lifted the hood of her uniform over her head. The bulk of Team B were making their way down a sweeping corridor leading to the right, though Amaya blinked as she found herself wondering if someone was missing.

'Kataoka-chan, Amaya-san! Hurry up!' Nakamura's voice rung urgently through the area, almost as if answer to the question on Amaya's mind.

She looked over at where she had last seen Kataoka, to find that the class rep was still there.

However, Amaya found herself rather surprised to see Karma standing right there as well in what looked to be a short exchange of words with the class rep herself. Whatever was being said was lost on Amaya as Kataoka seemed to give a mere nod of the head as she turned to follow along with the rest of Team B, only that it appeared to be something urgent from the rather concerned look across Kataoka's face.

However the only glimpse Amaya caught before the class rep urged her along as well was that of a fleeting glance from Karma as he turned to head in the opposite direction.

He looked hesitant, as if he intended to say something to her, but recalled the space she had demanded earlier in the week.

All Amaya could do was file the glimpse she caught in the back of her mind as she left to do the task she was assigned.

---=[Authors Notes]=---

Hello everyone, good news, the Wattpad Status Feed has come back that the fault has been fixed, so we're looking good. You all should receive this basically as soon as I hit publish. Again, I'm not off hiatus, but I had some spare time between circumstances and work, and tidied up a chapter I had already outlined for this very arc at least a month ago.

Hope you all enjoy, and right now, I apologize for the influx of all the replies you're all going to get while I do some housekeeping on the previous few installments.

Chapter title,

Tokihanatsu - Translates roughly as unease, or anxiety, which I believe is written as 解き放つ in Japanese.

Thank you for all your kind words and support during this time I've been away, here but not here, and just all manners of frazzled and haywire. While I didn't read them all on the day you submitted the comments, I did receive them, and it means a lot to me that you all have wished my family well.

Thank you. I worked hard to get this chapter our for all of you in spite of my chaos in life, and I hope you all enjoy it.

All the best

<3 Loki-Roki