Target Acquired - VOLUME 1

CHAPTER 15 - "Finals Time, Part One"

"A tentacle for each top position?" I ask, surprised.

"I know, right! He'll be in the negatives because of you two!" Nakamura excitably tells Shinobu and I. We glance at each other and grin. I pump an arm into the air and yell, "Let's take down that son of a bitch!"

"Megumi," a voice starts from behind me. It sounds angry. I whip my head around to see Korosensei staring down at me with a red face. Yeah, definitely angry!

"Ah!" I exclaim, stumbling back a bit.

"What did I say about cursing this close to the main building?" Korosensei scolds. Ugh, not this lecture again!

"That I shouldn't speak such profanities because if the principal hears me, you'll get fired, and that's somehow a bad thing even though you'd make more money flipping burgers at McDonald's!" I repeat for the third time this week.

"Well, I don't remember telling you all of that," Korosensei says quietly. His face says something different - it's orange with a red circle, indicating a correct answer. He stops walking to collect himself, and I take the chance to get away. I run up ahead to Nakamura, Shinobu, and Karma.

"The impulsive thoughts in me want to say the most offensive things known to mankind," Shinobu thinks aloud. "But my brain is telling me not to."

"Do it," Karma encourages him, grinning. "I always listen to my impulsive thoughts, and look at me!"

"Yeah, you're such an example," I tease, entering their weird conversation. Note to self: never leave these three alone together. They'll probably cause a mass extinction. "Shinobu, don't say any of those things."

"Aw, come on," Karma groans, throwing his hands up in exasperation. "You've got to loosen up a bit, Megumi."

"As if!" I cry, facing him. He chuckles and says, "See?" I start to yell at him but lose my balance and trip on the sidewalk.

I fall and catch myself on the ground with the palms of my hands. They skid a few inches, which hurts. My knees skid a bit too. I hold up my hands to check for any damage and notice dozens of little cuts dotted around on them.

"Are you alright, miss?" someone asks me. It's a male's voice but a very squeaky one. I look up to see a cocoa brown-haired boy wearing the school uniform. He's probably a first-year judged on how young he seems.

"Huh? Oh, yeah," I reply, trying to stand back up. He offers a hand to help me, and I take it. As I hold it, I feel something press against my cuts. When I let go, I see that he has a large, fresh cut on the hand he offered. Poor thing.

I wave him goodbye and continue walking towards the main building. My legs are so sore; thank god I'm almost there. Unfortunately, that means I'm getting closer to taking my finals.

~

First up is math or as I like to call it, hell on earth. I mean, it's no wonder the only two people in this arena that are fighting the problems for sport are Asano and Karma - two monsters. Not to mention, Karma's not even trying from what I've heard! What the hell?!

I glance down at my feet to find a silver pistol. Perfect. I like to change my weapons up for each different subject since I have to approach them all different. A pistol is good for me because I can just shoot the shit out of those problems and pray that I'm hitting their core.

A loud growl that shakes the ground beneath my feet echos in the arena. Let's get this over with. I load the pistol and sprint out towards the monster who owns the sound. It's a large, dragon-like beast with spikes lined up on its spine. I recognize the problem as the Pythagorean Theorem. Oh, I remember this one because Shinobu misheard Korosensei and thought he had said something else!