Target Acquired - VOLUME 1

CHAPTER 7 - "Midterms Time, Part One"

"Let's begin, shall we?" Korosensei asks with a hell of a lot of anticipation. He's rapidly switching between six or so places in the front of the classroom, which I guess I haven't gotten used to... yet.

"...begin what exactly...?" my class and I question suspiciously. You can't really blame us - our teacher is literally wearing a Naruto headband unironically.

"Studying for midterms, of course!" Korosensei answers back. His determination is unmatched. One of his copies echoes, "Dun, dun, dun!" I usually don't get very worked up about tests, so this is making me nervous. Another copy yells, "Whoa, look out!" as a bullet flies past it. We all turn to see Terasaka cursing quietly as Karma mocks him.

"I'll be making this period a high speed enhancement term study hall!" Korosensei continues. He then splits into even more copies. Maybe twenty or so? I can't tell!

Korosensei's copies teleport from one desk to another, efficiently helping each student individually with their worst subjects. There's no delays either - we can all have an individual conversation with Korosensei without any awkward pauses! Damn, that's cool!

"So, Megumi, what subjects seem to be bothering you?" Korosensei asks me. I can feel everyone else in the room fade away as I respond to him with, "Math and Japanese."

"Hmm, Japanese?" he thinks aloud. "I'm surprised. That isn't one that most kids have trouble with."

"Oh," I chuckle. "Well, when Asano and I were younger, Mr. Asano refused to talk to us if we spoke to him in Japanese. He wanted us to 'extend our knowledge'."

"That checks out with him being... KARMA! No assassination attempts in study hall, young man... an educator."

"Yeah. Anyways, I've just been having some trouble with when to drop pronouns."

"In order to drop a pronoun, Megumi, there must be enough context for your listener to deduct what the pronoun is referring to. Does that make sense?

I process what he's said for a moment and nod.

"Excellent, now, what seems to be the trouble with math?"

"It's these stupid geometry problems," I explain, pointing at my worksheet. Korosensei observes it and begins to tell me the steps to solve them. It takes a few minutes, but I'm finally able to get them right. As I work on my final question, I remember something that I've been meaning to tell him this morning.

"Korosensei?"

"Yes, Megumi?"

"I think the principal is planning something for midterms."

"What do you mean?"

"Yesterday, I overheard him during one of his meetings discussing how he wanted a handful of questions to be above the standards."

"Well, then. I'll have to look into some harder curriculum to prepare you and your classmates for his tricks. Let's not tell him about this when he comes here this afternoon, alright?"

"Of course, sir. I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"My speech at the opening ceremony. It was out of line and has affected you and the others."

"Megumi, listen. You need to stop worrying about others. I know it's in your blood, but, please, you're only a teenager. You should be having fun, not constantly worrying."

"I'll try my hardest, sir."

"Thank you, Miss Yanagisa, and you don't need to call me 'sir'."

"Okay, sir... I mean Korosensei."