The Assassin in Our Midst

Chapter eleven

Mr. Aizawa and I sat in a clearing that Koro Sensei had found last year, the soft ground below us. In the distance, I could hear the familiar clashing of blades and fire of guns as the 3 E students and teachers advised the 1 A students. A part of me really wanted to be there with them, though I guess I would try to do anything to avoid this conversation.

"Problem Child..." the man sighed, "what's going on?" He looked tired, worn. The students had taken the news surprisingly easy when Mr. Karasuma explained the situation, but I know that Mr. Aizawa had to reassure them a lot last night that we were safe even though we were made to be trained killers. 

"Where do you want me to start?" I asked in turn. How much do you really want me to give up?

"The beginning would be nice."

I thought about it, before copying his sigh. "Growing up, my mother always wanted a girl..." I started, noticing the surprised look from Mr. Aizawa. This was not where he thought the conversation was going, but I couldn't help that. "She wanted a girl that could go to the college that she didn't get into and work at the firm that refused to hire her, she wanted a girl that she could dress up the way that her mother never let her and who she could groom to be her ideal."

I didn't look at Mr. Aizawa, but I guess that his gaze was one of pity. 

"She got me instead. She made me grow my hair out long like her mother never let her and made me go to a prestigious middle school, even though I didn't have the brains for it at the time. All the other students and teachers saw me as a freak. They would whisper and gossip about me, it didn't help adding the fact that I'm quirkless on-top of that."

"And you were eventually put into Class 3 E?" He asked, following the story. There was a strange note in his voice, like he felt sick. 

"Yeah. Professor Bitch was the first teacher to look at my analysis skills and think that they were worth something more than just being classified as a hero fanboy's obsession. Mr. Karasuma was the first person to give me a weapon, believing that I could be a threat. And Koro Sensei..." I smiled, tears welling up in my eyes at the memories, "he was the first teacher to treat us like we were worth something. To see us as deadly children instead of worthless annoyances that would be better off dead."

Mr. Aizawa looked at me with a sad gaze. "I'm sorry, Problem Child." His expression changed slightly, "you said, Koro Sensei. Wasn't that the name that you guys gave your target?"

I laughed, remembering us coming up with the name. "Yeah, it was. He was a next level villain that was released from the villain factory [1], but unlike the others, he was really dangerous. Faster than All Might with a more versatile power as well. The government wanted him dead. But at the end of the day... he was still our teacher and he cared about us more than any teacher we've had before that. We tried to kill him multiple times a day and he took each assassination attempt as an opportunity to teach us new lessons."

A small oh escaped Mr. Aizawa's lips. The reports must have painted him as a monster. "I checked the class roster before coming here, your name wasn't on it."

I laughed. "It was, just not my current name. I changed it after graduation."

"Why?"

"Koro Sensei met my mother... he worked with Mr. Karasuma before we killed him and set it up to where my mother's custody of me would be taken away. This didn't work, nor did I know about it, until after he died, but... they got me out of there."

I rembered Mr. Karasuma talking to me the morning after we killed Koro Sensei. He told me about their scheming. When I had fought back, saying that things were getting better he'd only asked me how much longer I thought that the change would last. 

"People can change, but it doesn't happen overnight. The chances of her reverting back to the way she was... it's higher than I'm comfortable leaving you with."

"The courts didn't want to give me to my dad, since they were getting back together and he knew, or at least had an idea of what was going on. So I moved in with my Aunt instead."

"And you changed your name to match her's?"

"Yeah. I wasn't planning on being a hero, not really. I wanted to be a teacher like Koro Sensei, but with my skill set... when I got accepted into the hero course, Mr. Karasuma and I talked to Nedzu. He helped me change my name and further the paper trail between me and the assassination classroom. It wouldn't look good if an aspiring hero had a kill count after all."

"How are things with your Aunt?" He asked. 

I kicked some of the leaves at my feet. "She took me in when I was little, during my parents' devorice. She was kind then, but now... I think she feels guilty over what her sister did, she became really distant once she found out everything that happened at home."

He sighed deeply looking at me with a calm face. "What's your name, Problem Child?"

The words stuck in my throat for a moment. "Nagisa Shiota." It was the first time anyone's said that name in months.

A sharp intake of breath could be heard. "You were the one that..."

"Yeah, I was the one that drove the knife through my teacher's heart." I said coldly. It wasn't something that I liked remembering. 

"Do you like living with your Aunt, Nagisa? Are you happy there?" He said, changing the subject.

"I'm alive. It's more than I could have said if I were to have stayed." I remembered how easily I agreed to wear a grenade around my neck at the start of last year, there was no promising that I would've made it long.

Seeming to read my thoughts, a sad expression appeared on my teacher's face. "Why... why don't you live with me?" His tone was suprised, like he didn't know the he was going to say that, but it was still sincere.

"Can I?" I asked in a small voice. Mr. Aizawa nodded. "Okay."

"Answer me one last thing," he said, "what's your relationship with Bakugo?"

Pro heroes really are perceptive.

"We met when I was living with my Aunt during the divorce. We were friends until his quirk came in and mine didn't..."

"He started bullying you, didn't he?"

"Yeah... he doesn't know it was me though. I had Kaede use her quirk and change my hair and eye color. Nedzu gave the okay on it."

We talked some more before walking back to the others. 

Professor Bitch walked up to me when Mr. Aizawa went to the other students. "You look happy kid."

I had friends from last year and friends from this year once they get over the shock. And I might finally have a real home...

I smiled, a genuine, real smile. "I think... I am."

She smiled, hugging me, which got a complaint from both Kaede and I about her boobs being in my face. Karma walked over, giving his group a break, we compared how many we each took out in the paint ball game. I just barely got more than him. I walked away, leaving the boy with a deep blush, and went to my friend group at the shooting range and helped them adjust their stance.

For once, I really was happy. Living instead of just surviving like I have been all these years before coming to 3 E and the months since leaving. 

Thank you, Koro Sensei... 

———

A/N

[1] that was a reference to the MHA Vigilantes Manga, a really good spin off that if you have t read it you should consider doing so.