The pudding fiasco had left Amaya not only feeling a little sour, but perturbed by the possibility that her trust issues were still very prominent, and in excess.

Nobody else seemed to have found anything odd or peculiar about Kayano's declaration that even one's closest friends don't know where one hides their hidden blades, and yet Amaya could honestly say she found that declaration to feel entirely wrong.

To announce it with such blinding conviction, all it did was have Amaya feel like there was something the greenette was hiding.

And her paranoia over such things was one to grow and creep incessantly in the back of her mind.

It was worse that she was the only one that seemed to find anything wrong with it.

Just like with Itona, and Takebayashi's circumstances for leaving 3-E, Amaya felt like there was something there that nobody was seeing.

Being a part of the class assigned to assassinate a Mach-Speed creature of sulphur-yellow colouration was probably a large cause of her paranoia.

And yet, even knowing that, Amaya couldn't bring herself to trust Kayano's demeanor of being entirely innocent anymore.

She would greet the girl when spoken to, but beyond that, she maintained her distance as much as respectably possible.

Class came and went, their PE lesson dabbling on the beginnings of free-running as a major core of their second-term assassination skills beyond explosives use.

A demonstration came from Karasuma, who, after being given an estimation of a minute to cross from the top of a sizable cliff to a tree up on another by Mimura, made a point of reaching that very same place in no more than ten seconds.

With the class' interest piqued and secured, the lesson began with the basics.

Everyone was talked through how to do this in small steps, except for Amaya.

In fact, Karasuma didn't bother following his inquiring question.

'Katsuragi-san, I believe your guardian would have already started teaching you the basics. Is this correct?' He'd questioned, just after he had instructed everyone on how they were to throw themselves into perfectly-coordinated tumbles over an obstacle.

He asked with no shadow of doubt in him – He was matter of fact and knowing.

And there was honestly nothing much Amaya could say.

Nothing other than the meek 'Yes,' that escaped her, none the less.

In truth, that was one of the first things Shigure's rather Spartan-like teaching methods had basically ground into her – Her rebounding back onto her feet from any angle was sign enough.

His way of hurling her across the Tatami Room all that time practically forced her to learn quickly.

So, after a quick demonstration of three attempts falling well beyond acceptable, she was given instruction to go practice getting from ground level up to the top of the cliff with the tree with haste.

Needless to say, it was a very boring task, though the odd spectator here or there found it interesting enough to watch between barrel-rolls over small thickets of grown grass. Though eventually, she would get so bored just on her own that she'd take the next opportunity to disappear into the woods, which would then lead to her practicing other things that Shigure had been getting her to learn that last training session before Okinawa.

This was repetitive for the majority of the week, stepping up until Karasuma had decided everyone had progressed enough to begin proper free-running attempts.

Which, unfortunately lead to a rather Octopus-influenced incident.

It was Friday morning when Amaya had dragged herself out of bed, made her siblings lunches, and gathered her own belongings to head out to class, with a painful thorn in her side once again remarking how she really should upgrade the couch to something better.

She was free from the bandages she'd been plagued with over her hands and around her head, though the rope-burns were still an unsightly marring of reddish scabbing and bruising.

The walk up to the classroom was rather normal, for the most part.

Like usual, they were in the last stragglers of class, though not beyond the warning bell when they arrived at the classroom.

It was as she'd just finished uttering out the all-too-repetitive rebuke about her in fact not being a cat that the sudden presence of an Octopus caught in the throws of one of his rather eccentric ideas came to her notice.

'Karma-kun, Amaya-san.' Koro-sensei barked out with a heavily accented tone, earning a startled squeak from the unsuspecting girl. 'Your arrival has been noted to be particularly late and suspicious! If neither of you provide a suitable alibi, Sensei will have no choice but to take you both under arrest!'

Dressed in a Variety of police uniform more common to America, with dark aviator sunglasses and tapping a baton repetitively into one tentacle, Koro-sensei stood taller than he usually would.

And unfortunately, Amaya was too distracted by the bizarre revelation to mind her words like she usually would.

'Egh, you look creepy again, Sensei.' She practically deadpanned.

A rather horrified look touched his sulphur-yellow expression, however Koro-sensei quickly recovered himself, just as the start of class Bell rung through the PA box.

'Insulting an officer of the law is not--'

'I think Reiko-chan's name for him suits him perfectly, Amay~' Karma spoke up over the octopus, drawing Amaya's attention with little effort. 'Creepy-sensei, wasn't it?'

'Hmmm, it's not fitting enough...' Amaya muttered as she crossed her arms, her brow furrowed as she thought. 'It barely conveys anything.'

'C-Conveys what?!' Koro-sensei demanded as he cracked away from his cowboy cop character he'd constructed for himself.

'Your stalking tendencies, your weakness to bribery, your perchance for breaking into someone's residence without permission,' Amaya listed off without even having to think about it. 'Oh yeah, and then there's that one instance that borderlines blackmail the first day of term just now.'

'E-EEEH!?'

But then, there was the sudden echo of a voice that snapped up Koro-sensei's attention almost instantly.

'Sorry I'm late!' Fuwa called out as she slid the front door of the classroom open with a small sigh. 'Everyone was sold out of Jump. I really had to look for it...'

And then SNAP!

'We're late, aren't we?' Koro-sensei remarked as he appeared right in front of a stunned Fuwa. 'You're under arrest.'

And, much to Amaya's exasperation, she noticed that the anime-loving girl had handcuffs secured around her wrists.

'I'm over dealing with this...' Amaya muttered as she wandered over to her desk, much to a snickering Karma's amusement.

It looked like this was going to be horribly painful, all day.

She might have to just go home to try and escape how painful Koro-sensei's new idea was.

'What's with that Dirty Cop look so early in the morning, Koro-sensei?' A perturbed Kimura questioned from his seat right in front of the display.

In response, Koro-sensei just chuckled as he freed Fuwa from her shackles.

'It seems you've all been doing some freerunning as of late.' Koro-sensei explained, twirling the handcuffs around with one finger. 'Since you've gone through all that trouble, would you like to try playing a game which uses that skill?'

'A game? Keh.' Terasaka remarked disdainfully as he leaned back in his chair, with a finger jammed into his ear. 'It's probably just some lame..'

'IT'S COPS AND ROBBERS!!!' Koro-sensei shouted at the top of his lungs, just as he'd tied a scarf over Terasaka's head. 'A 3D GAME OF TAG USING THE ENTIRE BACK MOUNTAIN!!!'

Amaya let out a sigh as she slumped over her desk.

She had no real recollection of such a game, though she did have some idea of what Tag was.

And yet, everyone else seemed to be a little stunned, although they did know what the game was from the looks across their faces.

'I will have you all take the role of the robbers. Using the techniques you've learned, please escape throughout the mountain and hide.' Koro-sensei proceeded to explain, just as Karasuma had walked through the door. 'The Role of the Cops on the chase will be Karasuma-sensei and myself.'

A shocked look flashed across the ever-serious man, and he fixed the octopus with a rather angered look.

'WHAT...?!' Karasuma demanded.

'In the instance that we cannot tag everyone within the first hour, I will use Karasuma-sensei's wallet to buy everyone cake.' Koro-sensei added with a pleasant wave.

'HEY!!!'

'On the other hand,' Koro-sensei continued as he raised an arm-tentacle. 'If everyone is caught, your homework will be doubled!!'

And immediately, the bulk of the classroom was engulfed in outrage as the bulk of the students from the front four rows rose to their feet to reprimand the Octopus.

'HOLD ON A SEC!!! YOU EXPECT US TO RUN FROM YOU FOR AN HOUR?!!' Various people shouted, though most particularly, Amaya heard Maehara's voice louder than most.

'No need to worry about that.' Koro-sensei responded easily. 'At first, Karasuma-sensei will be the only one on the chase. Sensei will be on standby in the jail space on the schoolyard. I will move out in the last minute.'

That still didn't sound like fun.

Karasuma was still utterly terrifying – Amaya had sat through enough of his lectures to know that.

And he was the guy sent in by the government to keep an eye on Koro-sensei while training them how to kill him better.

'...I see.' Yada in the front spoke softly, a pensive look across her face. 'Then maybe we can pull it off somehow...'

'Alright, let's give it a go, you guys!' Isogai announced brightly, earning a cheer of agreement from the bulk of the class.

And all the while, all Amaya could do was let her head drop to her desk with a dull thud.

This wasn't going to go well...

Nobody could see it, probably because excluding Karma, they'd never met Shigure.

But Amaya got the same level of apprehension from Karasuma as she did from her uncle whenever those special training sessions came around.

And, their teaching styles were very similar when one revoked the one difference that Shigure had in his terrifying training sessions.

She couldn't escape Shigure on a stormy evening, even in spite of the fact that he may actually be half-deaf.

And Karasuma with perfect hearing would be far worse to escape.

In spite of all the eager grins and remarks from her classmates, Amaya just couldn't bring herself to look forward to this game.

She didn't even know the damn rules.

'I don't want to deal with this now...' She mumbled into her desk, despondent in every meaning of the word.

'Heh~ Then how about a bit of a wager, Amay?' Karma offered up from right next to her, bringing her to turn her head to fix him with a frown.

'No way.'

Undeterred by her immediate decline, Karma smiled innocently as he lifted up a hand.

'Winner gets to make the loser do any one thing they want, without question~'

She stared him down suspiciously, all the while the bulk of their classmates began to file out of the room to go change into their PE clothes.

'Yeah, no.' She responded with a sigh a she lifted herself to her feet. 'I'm going home.'

'That's no fun, Amay.' Karma drawled out as he watched her grab her bag and head for the door. 'You do know I don't back down even if it looks like I'm going to lose.'

'Making such ambiguous wagers with you usually leads to endless hell for me.'

'If you beat me at something, you wouldn't have to deal with endless hell, would you?'

'The answer is still no!'

'I-if Amaya-san were to win... and told you never to call her a cat again?' Okuda spoke up meekly, surprising Amaya with little effort. 'Would you do it?'

Hang on, that was actually a really good idea...

Karma seemed to smirk at the question, lifting a hand to wave lazily.

'It would ruin my fun, but if that's what she wants, I'd do as she says~' Karma responded with a small, dramatic edge. 'Of course, that's assuming she even has the ability to win over me at anything.'

That remark tugged at her frustration, though Amaya turned her head to look at Karma.

'Thats...' Okuda appeared uncertain about the declaration. 'That sounded rather harsh...'

Amaya was shocked at first that the meek girl appeared to be on her side, considering that throughout the year, it always looked like she was more friendly with Karma.

Though Amaya's thoughts were quickly rerouted to Karma's remark.

'I've done better than you at something before.' She responded carefully.

'Heh? Like what?'

'...I can't remember. But I know I have!'

'Math, you dolt!' Terasaka muttered from his seat just next to the door Amaya was still standing at, earning a surprised yelp from the girl in mention just as he rose to his feet to leave the room. 'The damn Octopus made such a fuss about it.'

'Th-that's right!' Okuda agreed with a rather meek smile. 'Amaya-san, you scored highest in the class last exam, right?'

At those words, Amaya found herself standing there trying to even recall last exams at all.

And yet, a rather sour look had appeared across Karma's face instead.

Undoubtedly, he didn't like the reminder, and it had in fact brought Amaya to stand there thoughtfully.

'I guess that answers that, then.' She eventually remarked as she slid the door open. 'Anyways, I'm going--'

'You're not even going to hear me out on this?'

'Nope.'

'Scaredy-cat~' Karma taunted her.

And within a second, Amaya turned on her heel to hurl her bag at his head.

Her bag was caught with no trouble, and in spite of the startled squeak that escaped Okuda sitting at her desk, Karma snickered all the same.

'Only saying the truth, Amay~'

'You're going to be an utter jerk until I agree, aren't you?' She questioned with a scowl.

'Who knows?' He remarked casually as he threw her bag back at her. 'It's not as much fun when you expect it.'

But more torture when one's expecting hell, and it never comes.

It was probably going to be paranoia that ends her sanity.

She'd caught the bag without a sound, her brow furrowing as she found herself contemplating whether it was worth avoiding him from now on.

Though the victorious grin that soon spread across the redhead's face said it all as he lifted himself to his feet.

'Whoever does better during this game will be called the victor. Even if I get tagged out first, if I perform better than you overall, I win, and vice versa. Not that I'll lose easily. We'll have either Karasuma-sensei or Ritsu-chan decide the victor.' He remarked as he walked past Amaya's rather motionless form in the doorway, waving a hand over his shoulder as he disappeared down the corridor. 'You better be prepared to do something truly embarrassing when you lose, Amay~'

She glared at his disappearing form, her frustration taking root.

He was already so sure of himself... that smug bastard!

'A-Amaya-san,' Okuda spoke up meekly all of a sudden, ripping Amaya's attention from the evil incarnate and his infuriating declaration.

The bespectacled girl was standing right next to her, a meek, but rather kind smile written across her face.

'Good luck. I hope you win...' She spoke, before she stepped around Amaya to head towards the girls changeroom.

And all Amaya could do was sigh as she realized this really was set in stone.

If she backed out now, Karma was probably going to torment her for weeks over being a coward.

And she did not want that.

So with a grudging sigh, Amaya wandered to get changed into her gym clothes.

Out in the schoolyard, a kind of jail zone had been outlined in the centre of the field. One of the soccer nets had been dragged over to the centre, and a large semi-circle had been drawn over the ground to extend the zone outwards. By the time Amaya had reached out there, Karasuma was standing there looking quite irritated, while Koro-sensei stood in his Policeman's costume, blowing bubblegum and tapping his baton into his other arm-tentacle.

And nearly everyone else was already standing there, waiting to go.

Her agitation had barely dulled by this point, and all she could honestly do was go stand next to Isogai and Maehara standing at the left of the class. The Ikemen had cast her a kindly smile, while Maehara grinned broadly as he slung an arm around her shoulders and tugged her close.

'So, I hear you and Karma-kun have some kind of bet going on, Maya-chan.' The playboy whispered cheekily, causing Amaya's scowl to strengthen. 'I know you didn't challenge him to this. You're always holding back in class. Soooo... think you'll beat him at his own game?'

'Shut up...' Amaya muttered grudgingly as she stared forward at the obnoxiously-posed octopus who was supposed to be their teacher. 'It's not like I even want to participate...'

'Oh, trying for a Tsundere mood, huh?'

No no, she really wasn't – Amazingly enough she actually understood that term without needing to think about it.

It was just ...

She legitimately didn't want to participate in this stupid wager Karma had basically forced her into.

'I was kidding, you know.' Maehara chuckled lightly in good humor, though he didn't remove his arm from around her shoulders. 'So, what are the terms? First one to get tagged by Karasuma-sensei loses?'

'No, its overall who outdoes the other that wins.' Amaya huffed slightly.

'Oh, that's more cautious of him than I expected.' Maehara spoke thoughtfully as he straightened up on his feet. 'Or were you just hard to manipulate into it?'

No ... she didn't think it was Karma being cautious.

He was probably wording it that way just to mess with her.

'Probably the latter...' Amaya hedged as she turned her head further away. 'I kept saying no, but he wouldn't drop it.'

'Persistent.' Maehara hummed as he cast a smug look towards the other side of their class. 'He must really want something from you.'

'Yeah, my humiliation.' She scoffed as she shoved his arm away.

'And Pessimist-Cat Myaya-chan's made her shocking retur--OOF!' Maehara's bright hum was disrupted by a sharp elbow from Isogai. 'What was that for?!'

'You're getting carried away again.' Isogai responded with a strained look of patience across his face.

'According to you, I always get carried away!' Maehara quipped with a grin. 'And yet you still put up with me~'

Amaya rolled her eyes as she edged away from Maehara to head towards Nakamura several meters away.

Though, she still heard Maehara's sudden exclamation a good ten seconds later of 'Myaya-chan! DON'T ABANDON MEEEEE!'

Nakamura snickered slightly as she tugged Amaya to stand between herself and Kataoka, earning a small sigh from the snowy-featured girl.

'Is everyone ready?' Koro-sensei suddenly called out, startling Amaya out of her wits as she looked up at the cringe-worthy Octopus. 'Then ready! Set!--'

Wait! Were they starting now?!

'GO!' Koro-sensei finished with the sudden flailing of tentacles in the air.

And immediately, all her classmates took off running for the trees, leaving a bewildered Amaya standing there at a loss of what was going on.

'Run Amaya-san! You have exactly eighty-four seconds head-start before Karasuma-sensei chases after everyone!' Koro-sensei called out.

'GOD DAMN IT!' Amaya practically yelped as she tore off running after everyone else.

The few seconds head-start everyone had on her showed well, right from the get-go.

In spite of Amaya's decent click in running capability, there was no sight of anybody as soon as she'd broken through the trees.

No fading glimpses of blue gym clothes, no momentary slivers of coloured hair through the foliage.

Amaya cursed as she threw herself off in a dash downhill as she realized she was losing time, fast.

She had no idea where she was even going to hide, with no true comprehension of what was going on, no thanks to Maehara's chattering.

She couldn't hide up in just any tree.

Not only would Karasuma expect that a student would do that, but her hair was white.

She would stick out like a sore thumb if she so much as tried hiding in a tree.

But then again ... staying on the ground felt like a very bad idea.

Shigure had once told her something that stuck in her mind, back when he'd wanted to take her training sessions out onto the mountain that one time, but everyone was already here training for the Okinawa plan.

Any aspect of ones surroundings was both an asset, and a weakness – Anything can be used as a weapon or a shield, depending on what you did with it.

And right now, the ground felt like a weakness.

So, with that in mind, Amaya threw herself into a quick dash up into the nearest tree.

She couldn't lose that stupid bet right away.

She wasn't going to underestimate just how terrifying Karasuma could be and get herself caught before anyone else.

Clambering right up to the top branches of the deceptively large tree, Amaya found herself seeing a great many different trees in the nature surrounding the Satellite classroom.

Far more than she ever thought there to be here.

And, as she observed, she found herself noticing a particularly large, and fluffy looking tree, with ... white?

White blossoms?

Wasn't flowers a spring thing?

Regardless, Amaya found herself deciding that the new tree she'd spotted as a better hiding place.

And thankfully, the trees between where she was currently perched and the white-blossoming tree were rather close together.

She could leap from tree to tree without coming close to the ground.

It was a better idea than trying to find a new place to hide by traversing the ground.

Amaya let out a breath as she carefully tugged her gym shoes and socks off her feet, tying the laces together so the shoes hung from around her neck, and her socks were tucked away inside. Leaping from tree to tree in bare feet would probably be a little more painful than with her shoes on, but she felt her feet slip here and there just climbing up the tree.

And it would be quieter.

However, just as Amaya had straightened up on her feet to begin her treetop relocation, her phone suddenly vibrated from within her pocket.

Startled, but otherwise curious, she pulled her phone from her pocket to look down at the screen.

Present was Ritsu smiling brightly without a word, dressed in a policewoman's outfit as she waved a hand towards four little squares depicting four classmates with a bright red cross across each icon.

Okajima, Chiba, Fuwa and Hayami, and they were already tagged out.

Amaya bit her lip as she carefully pocketed her phone again, her gaze shifting to the grounds below her current tree.

This wasn't good.

Honestly, she had expected her luck to have Karasuma stumble upon her first of all, and she certainly had expected that earlier.

But four at once...

Was the bulk of class staying grouped together?

She didn't know why, but that felt like a very dangerous thing to do.

But if they were, then Amaya had an idea who was grouping with who.

And Karma would be grouped with Nagisa, Kayano and Sugino, plus a few others.

But that didn't matter right now.

With one last careful scan of her surroundings, Amaya threw herself into a running leap into the branches of the next tree, commencing her relocation process.

She wondered where everyone else had wandered off to.

And more importantly, how far away were Okajima and his group when Karasuma had tagged them?

She hoped they were quite far away.

But ... as she hopped into the white-blossoming tree with a gentle spring leap, she found that there was one of her classmates very close by.

Amaya slid to a quiet halt at the trunk of the tree as she found that Sugaya was standing beneath one of the large pine-trees a good ten meters away, though it almost looked like he was right below her just by how high off the ground she was. He had his back towards the tree he was standing beneath, and he looked to be preoccupied.

In fact, Amaya could hear him talking.

She stared down at his motionless form for several long seconds, horror gradually taking root as she found herself realizing what he was doing.

He was talking on the damn phone!

'Come on, Okajima. How could you not notice him until you were tagged? This isn't some battle manga.' Amaya faintly heard Sugaya say, a wry smile plastered across his face as he remained completely engulfed on his phone.

It was here that Amaya noticed movement in the tree right behind the silver-haired boy.

And the horrific sight that she saw was enough to have her almost slip right out of her current tree.

Hanging upside down from one of the higher branches, Karasuma lowered himself down right behind Sugaya with the most terrifying look across his face.

And then, Karasuma grabbed the artistic boy suddenly around the head, ripping a terrified shriek from him with little effort.

The shrill cry rung with reverberating echoes throughout the woods, with enough volume to alert any students currently within a square mile of them.

And in a twisted sense, Amaya wouldn't be surprised if someone from the main campus heard the harrowing sound.

A mere second after Sugaya had let out that shriek, Amaya felt her phone vibrate once again, undoubtedly the notification from Ritsu about the new elimination she had the horror of witnessing.

She'd expected the ever-serious man would not go easy on them, but that didn't make seeing this happen any less intimidating.

It was stupid to chatter so much on the phone when one was supposed to be keeping stable distance away from Karasuma to try and win the game for everyone.

The guy was terrifying on a good day when one wasn't already having to run away from him.

Amaya watched silently as the ever-serious man left a sulking Sugaya to head back to the schoolyard. While he himself took off quickly north-bound, towards some of the rocky cliffs.

She was surprised that Karasuma hadn't noticed her. But, she guessed it was a bonus that she was just nestled up in the tree, neither moving nor speaking. Props to her for picking one of the only white-blossoming trees in the area.

But, did that mean she was going to lose points for being stationary for more than a minute at a time?

Wait, were there even points in Cops and Robbers to begin with?

She seriously needed someone to explain the rules to her properly.

Her gaze traced back and forth, trying desperately to depict whether it was safe to move on or not. She had to think carefully, since Karasuma was still nearby.

But then, her phone vibrated once again, shocking Amaya even more as she hesitantly pulled her phone from her pocket.

Along with Sugaya's icon added to the list, Irina's had just appeared with "NEW!" written above it.

Amaya had no idea the honey-pot assassin was even out here!

Since when had the woman ever wanted to play a game like this?!

And then, within thirty seconds of Amaya's inner terror taking place, her phone vibrated in her hand once more.

Takebayashi, Hara, Muramatsu, Terasaka, Hazama and then Yoshida were now out.

This was the most one-sided game of tag Amaya had ever heard of.

How were they supposed to outsmart Karasuma of all people, who apparently fought off both Irina and another big-shot assassin from tagging him back in first term?!

Amaya grit her teeth as she scaled a little higher up the white-blossoming tree, trying her best to maintain as close to silence as she could.

Everyone else was getting tagged, except for Karma's circle.

At this rate, everyone else would be tagged except for Karma.

Another notification from Ritsu came to Amaya's notice, however this time she found herself staring down at a different notification.

This time, Ritsu looked rather beat up with disheveled clothes as she announced that all six of the prisoners in jail had escaped, including Irina.

She had no idea they could even be tagged back out of prison.

How did that happen when Koro-sensei was supposed to be there guarding?!

He didn't end up getting bought off with cake, did he?

Amaya nestled herself safely into the tree, hoping more than anything that she could stay out of sight for the duration of the game of Cops and Robbers.

Yada, Kimura and Mimura were next caught, and within the lesser portion of ten minutes, Amaya looked at her phone to find that all remaining prisoners had escaped again.

She could only sigh as she shifted slightly on her branch, her brow furrowing slightly as her phone vibrated again with another notification. All she saw was the glimpse of Nagisa's name across the front of her phone's display for a second, before she attempted to unlock it.

And then, within a matter of seconds, a terrifying voice boomed from right beneath Amaya's current tree, startling her out of her wits.

'THAT'S MY LINE YOU MONKEY COP!!'

And then, in the fright that had engulfed Amaya, her phone slipped from between her fingers.

The horror that filled her as she watched her phone falling towards the ground was nothing in comparison to terror she felt from the form she saw suddenly appear running towards her tree.

It only grew far more profound as she saw that the form was Karasuma himself, and he slowed to a halt as he caught her fallen phone.

Time seemed to grind to a halt as the terrifying teacher looked down at her phone curiously, before he lifted his head to look straight up at her.

The exact same chill she always got at the start of every training session with Shigure struck her hard.

Right then, she knew she was doomed.

Frantically and with a terrified yelp, Amaya threw herself into a dash along the largest tree branch within her immediate reach, her shoes knocking hard against her shoulders as she threw herself into a leap across into the next tree. Her feet slammed hard against the tree branch as she landed, and she dared a glance down at the ground.

There was no Karasuma down there anymore.

She hurled herself from the second tree, falling three meters into the branches of the next, just as she heard the branch she'd just left creek with a frightful sign.

She didn't need to look back to know who was right behind her.

Frantically, Amaya threw herself out of the tree, just narrowly avoiding a swipe at her arm by the attacking teacher – She had felt the harsh lashing of wind against her exposed arm just a hairs-breath away.

But unfortunately, he was a lot faster than she had even expected.

He'd already leapt across to the tree she'd tried to retreat to, and was in the process of dropping down to catch her mid-drop.

She swore beneath her breath, twisting herself mid-air so she could propel herself to the ground quickly by kicking off against the underside of a branch.

She did not want to get tagged out before Karma did.

His stupid, smug look earlier just niggled at her frustration.

And worst of all, she did not want to face whatever he had in store for her by losing that stupid bet!

'Maya-chan!' Came Maehara's voice all of a sudden, just as Amaya neared the ground.

A glimpse of earthen orange was all Amaya caught as a hand latched around her own, dragging her around into a swing towards a set of large boulders just a few meters away.

Just in time – She felt the slashing of air that gave away Karasuma's attempted tag to the top of her head, just where she had been a fraction of a second earlier.

Her feet slapped hard against the stone boulder as she stumbled into a rough landing, and a mere second later, Maehara's familiar form landed just next to her.

'Where the hell did you come from?!' Amaya gasped out as she managed to stable herself on her feet.

'That's what I was going to ask you. I was hiding in that tree when you fell right in front of me.'

'I didn't fall!'

The playboy chuckled as he saw Karasuma straighten up at the base of the tree they'd just escaped. 'Got any clever ideas?'

'Not in the least...' Amaya hedged.

Her shoes had fallen somewhere in her retreat, and her phone was likely still in Karasuma's possession.

Both were inconsequential when the terrifying teacher was clearly making plans on how he was going to efficiently tag the two who'd managed to escape his previous attempts.

'Oi, Karasuma-sensei! How about a truce?' Maehara called out, startling Amaya with little effort. 'Maya-chan's got a bet she needs to win!'

'Shut up, moron!' Amaya couldn't help but snap.

'You fail to understand this exercise, Maehara-kun.' Karasuma responded seriously. 'I will not be going easy on anyone, regardless of any circumstances.'

'Seriously?' Maehara huffed slightly with a wry smile. 'You're as cold as ever, Sensei.'

She knew that wasn't going to work – How Maehara believed that was going to work was beyond Amaya.

'On three, we'll go in opposite directions back to the classroom...' Maehara murmured as quietly as he could, casting a cautious glance at Amaya. She didn't nod or give any indication of agreement, though she sucked in a deep breath as she shifted her weight on her back foot. 'One--'

'Two--' Amaya responded.

'THREE!'

And with perfect timing, Amaya and Maehara threw themselves in a dash away, Maehara to the left and Amaya to the right, just as Karasuma had lunged forward to tag them both in one swift motion.

The sliding of boots against the ground echoed for just a second, long enough for Amaya to know that their separation plan had worked.

However, it was a split second later that she'd heard resumed footsteps chasing right after her.

Branches lashed at her arms as she dashed as fast as she could, while those footsteps closed in on her with every passing second.

Then, just as Amaya felt that lashing of air that should seal her fate as loser, in both this game of tag and the bet with Karma, her right hand was snatched up, and she was dragged harshly to the side.

Again she was saved by an opportunistic playboy, who grinned cockily as he dragged her along after him.

How he kept doing that was beyond her, but right now she wasn't in any position to argue or complain.

Though no further pursuit came – As Maehara's phone rung out with Ritsu's vocal announcement that all prisoners have escaped the prison zone for the third time in twenty minutes, an exclamation of complete outrage.

'WHAT THE HELL?!' Karasuma roared angrily. 'THAT DAMN OCTOPUS!'

And as Amaya managed a glance back, she found that Karasuma was ignoring them entirely in order to march directly to the classroom building.

'Umm, what's going on...?' Amaya couldn't help but ask.

'Huh?' Maehara slowed in his movements to look as well, before he stopped entirely. 'Heheh, maybe Karasuma-sensei's off to murder Koro-sensei for us?'

'He looked mad...'

Maehara cast her a cheeky grin as he let go of her hand in order to ruffle her hair suddenly.

'Well, we should go while we have a chance.' Maehara remarked as he looked over towards the north. 'Nagisa-kun emailed everyone about a plan to beat Koro-sensei when he's up, so we'd better go meet up.'

Oh, that explained why this was news for her.

She'd dropped her phone before she could read it.

'Okay...' She eventually agreed as she batted his hand away from her head.

And so, with a grin Maehara lead the way onwards without a word.

There was no sign of Karasuma anywhere, though his angry shouts were easily heard across the mountain.

Exclamations of 'WHERE IS THAT STUPID OCTOPUS?!! GET OUT HERE!!' among many various strings of curses and issues of outrage were heard loud and clear, sign enough that Karasuma's patience was on the verge of boiling over.

And yet, all Amaya could honestly do was let out a small sigh.

The plan, as Amaya and Maehara were informed by Kataoka and Isogai standing behind a couple of sizable boulders half-way to the pool, was very simple.

One group of four acting as decoy had to lure Karasuma as far away from the pool as possible, while another group was apparently stationed at the pool in preparation for the last minute that Koro-sensei would be scooting around the whole mountain trying to tag everyone out.

It was simple to understand.

The decoy team meant to lead Karasuma as far away as possible would be made up of the top four students known for high mobility, which was Kataoka, Okano, Kimura and Maehara himself – Amaya apparently was a solid fifth, but no more were necessary for that part of the plan.

That, more or less left everyone else not involved with the pool to scatter away.

With nothing left to do, Amaya made the slow move towards the pool to spectate once the remaining time hit the ten minute mark, leaping from tree to tree in order to avoid being spotted from the ground.

Minutes ticked by as Karasuma resumed the task of tagging people out, one by one at a far slower pace than the start of the game.

It was as they hit two minutes remaining that Amaya actually reached the line of trees overlooking the pool itself.

And she found herself discovering what was actually going on here.

With a spectating Kayano standing a little away from the pool looking quite content, Nagisa, Sugino and Karma were present at the edge, armed with a single steel dagger, and one Anti-Tentacle blade each. They were in the process of tossing their gym shirts aside, almost as if they were about to leap into the pool.

And in fact, as Ritsu's voice rung out from various cellular phones in the area to announce that ninety seconds remained in the game, Amaya saw the three boys dive straight into the deepest part of the pool.

At eighty three seconds remaining, Ritsu announced the tagging of the decoy team in their entirety.

And all Amaya could do was watch as the odd air-bubble rose to the surface.

She couldn't see into the water – the light reflected over the surface, blocking all vision from her angle.

It was a reminder that she didn't want.

That this ... substance everyone loved and was utilizing to mess with Koro-sensei was a hurdle she couldn't get past.

Her siblings would throw themselves off of bridges to fish kittens out of the water, all of her classmates would participate in assassination attempts at the drop of a hat just to try and kill Koro-sensei with it.

And here she was, so terrified of it that she had to spend ten minutes every day just trying to will herself under the shower without succumbing to her memories.

And she hated it.

She hated it so much, she didn't know what to do.

Ritsu's voice rung out brightly as the remaining minute clicked over, and then her classmates began to drop like flies.

Kanzaki, Okuda, Isogai and Okajima were tagged out within the first few seconds, closely followed by Fuwa and Sugaya.

And then, just as a glimpse of blue and yellow lashed down to try and tag Kayano standing there on the edge of the pool, all Kayano did was cast a bright grin as she pointed into the pool.

And then, as Koro-sensei landed there on the edge of the pool curiously, undiluted shock flashed across his face as he actually looked inside.

He didn't go to try and tag the three boys still submerged within the pool, nor did he try to tag Kayano or Amaya, even though they were both within view and range of him.

He stood there at a loss of what to do, desperately trying to find some way to fish the three boys out of there so he could tag them.

But, the time Koro-sensei had to tag everyone trickled away to nothing.

'Times up!!' Ritsu's voice rung from multiple devices present within the clearing surrounding the pool. 'Complete capture unsuccessful. The robbers win!!'

It was here, as a sudden booming exclamation of cheer from multiple people rung out, that Amaya realized the bulk of their class had been making their way here ever since they got tagged, along with a wryly smiling Karasuma in the back.

They were all on the opposite side of the pool, near Kayano.

And, as they began to celebrate over winning cake on their way back to the classroom, Sugino and Nagisa surfaced, followed a few seconds later by Karma.

But for Amaya, there wasn't really anything to celebrate.

She was sure she'd lost that stupid bet since all she managed was to evade capture with Maehara's help, while everyone else managed to outsmart two rather terrifying teachers to earn cake and avert the horror of double-homework.

So, she turned to head back into the woods and head towards home.

She would come back for her belongings tomorrow.

They weren't necessary.

'Amay? Where are you going?' She heard Karma call out just as she'd stepped onto the next branch, bringing her to slow to a halt and look back over her shoulder. 'Running away, already?'

He was still there in the pool, though he was on her side of it, unlike Sugino and Nagisa, who were in the process of dragging themselves out over on the other side.

She wrestled with the idea of just going regardless, though she decided against it.

There was nothing stopping him from leaping out of the pool to drag her back here, after all.

'I was just going to go find my shoes.' She responded as casually as she could manage, earning a mildly curious look. 'I lost them when Karasuma-sensei found me.'

'Heh~ Someone's been clumsy~' The redhead responded mockingly.

'Karma-kun! You coming?' Nagisa called out after a moment.

'Yeah, just go without me!' He called back without even looking.

It was almost ... dismissive?

'Okay!' Nagisa called back in response.

And then, she and Karma were the only two within immediate vicinity of the pool.

Which was making her attempt at leaving all the more awkward.

'Mind giving me a hand, Amay?' Karma asked as he cast her a smile, bringing a sigh to practically take hold of her.

'Are you serious?' She muttered as she dropped herself down from the tree.

'I can't be bothered swimming to the other side~'

Okay, that sounded somewhat plausible, though she was still a little suspicious.

'You'd better not splash me, you jerk...' Amaya huffed as she approached.

'Don't worry, I won't~' Was his simple response.

And, for some reason she didn't doubt that.

She stopped just at the edge in front of him, thinking nothing more beyond his declaration as she leaned over and held a hand out to him.

She ignored the chilling feel of ice-cold water contacting her tender rope-burns left open to air.

But then, instead of helping the redhead out of the pool, something else happened in its entirety.

The very second that he had proper hold of her hand, he dragged her forward with a small kick off the wall of the pool and enough strength to rip her right off her feet.

Her eyes widened in horror.

A terrified scream caught painfully in her throat as she found herself falling forwards into the water, faster than she could counter for, faster than her mind could possibly comprehend.

She was far too late to try and save herself.

Her conscious recognition of the redhead being there was long from absent inside her head - all she knew was there was water, and nothing else mattered.

Nothing else occurred to her in the least.

And then, just as she hit the water, she felt a pair of arms catch her around the middle to slow her fall.

The terror-inducing feel of water engulfing her form sent her into panic, bringing her to desperately try and claw her way back to dry land. Her entire state of self-control was ripped from her reach as water splashed over her head.

Her understanding of where she was and what had happened was completely lost.

Only the terror ripping her entirely apart remained.

'But then, a voice reached out through the terror, scarcely enough to catch her awareness.

'Amay, calm down. You're alright.' She heard, in spite of the screaming memories ricocheting through her head. 'I promise I won't let you drown.'

The words were gentle, calm in spite of the struggling and writhing girl, and the tightening of an arm around her midsection vaguely registered in her mind.

The water was cold, terrifying, but ... there was a warmth there with her trembling form.

It was enough to unhook that terrified panic from complete control.

In spite of the painful memories still in fresh, vivid life inside her head, she found herself noticing things about her surroundings.

She found herself pressed firmly with her back against the wall of the pool, practically sandwiched between it and who she subconsciously recalled to be Karma. She could feel that she was trembling violently with tears streaming down her face, and her breathing was so quick and shallow, she was on the verge of hyperventilating.

She could feel without a shadow of doubt that she was still in the water.

And he wasn't letting her out.

'L-let me out...' She whimpered, her voice scarcely louder than a whisper.

'Not yet.' He spoke as the grip he had of her tightened ever so slightly. 'It's taken me ten minutes just to get you to calm down this much.'

'K-Karma ... Please...?'

There was no response, only a gradual sigh that hinted at minor weariness.

She shut her eyes tight as she struggled not to reduce into a sobbing mess, though the tears worsened regardless.

'I'll let you out when you calm down a little more...' She heard him murmur into her ear, drawing the smallest shudder from her as she found herself on the verge of actually cracking. '...I'm not doing this to upset you, Amay.'

Then, why?

What was the point in this when he knew how much water legitimately terrified her?

'This is a cat-trait I don't want you keeping, Amaya.'

---=[Authors Note]=---

Sorry for the wait. Hope you enjoyed.

Hashiru - A verb, translating as Run, which is written as 走る in Japanese.

All the best~!

<3 Loki-Roki