Specimen T-04

Part 1~Double Faces

Floop. Floop. Floop.

The yellow being drew closer, opening the door and placing his notebook on the teacher's desk. "Let's get going! Everyone stands for the pledge!"

"Now!" As one, the class jumped up, pointing their guns at the octopus. "Get ready! Fire!" The class pulled their triggers, covering the back wall in pink BBs. The teacher sidestepped, avoiding them all.

"So I guess we're not doing the pledge then. Okay, you may keep shooting while I take attendance. Isogai." The being paused. "I'm sorry. I can't hear you over all these gunshots. Could you speak up, please?"

"Here!"

"Okano."

"Here."

"Kataoka."

"Here."

And so on the list went until the class was out of bullets.

"Everyone's here and on time! Wonderful, I'm so happy. You missed again. That's too bad." The being's face flashed red with a circle in the middle as the students hung their heads in annoyance, well, all but two.

Nagisa hid a smirk behind his hands. Pretending to have a bad aim was too easy. Keiji, on the other hand, was trying to hype the class up. "Don't worry, we'll get him next time." He was lying through his teeth.

"You're relying too much on the 'spray and pray' method. Consider your line of sight, where you're aiming, and your trigger finger. Your method is too predictable. You have to come up with a more original plan. I'm too quick for you. I can move at Mach 20, remember."

"Are you really dodging all those bullets?" Maehara held up a bullet, looking less and less convinced as he examined them. "Maybe we're hitting you, but you're just pretending we didn't!" As Maehara pointed at the teacher, the class rallied behind him.

The yellow one sighed, reaching out to take a gun. "Okay, someone, please hand me a gun that's loaded. Like I said, these bullets- BBs- are harmless to you-" he pulled the trigger.

His arm hit the ground, separated cleanly from the octopus's body. Nagisa shot up in his chair, his eyes wide as he shared a look with Keiji, who looked equally horrified. "Excuse me?" Nagisa blinked as Keiji spoke into his mind.

"That's not normal. I'm assuming you didn't know they actually worked."

Nagisa spoke back with trained skill, not opening his mouth, knowing Keiji was reading his thoughts. "Of course not. I haven't shot myself."

The teacher continued, unaware of his student's discourse. "But they were designed especially for me. They can cut through me like pudding." The being laughed as his arm recovered. "Oh, course, I can regenerate lost limbs and such in a few seconds. But I wouldn't want anybody to accidentally shoot their eye out with these. So please don't use the gun inside the classroom unless you are trying to kill me. I hope you can kill me before graduation." The normally yellow one grew green stripes as he grinned. "Now, please put away your guns, pick up all the bullets and let's get this room in order. It's time to start class."

~~~

As the bell rang, the being leaned out of the window. "Lunch time. I'm going to zip over to China for some mapo tofu. If anyone wants to try to assassinate me during our lunch break, feel free to give me a buzz on my cell phone." In a flash, the yellow one blasted out the window.

"Must be nice to be able to fly at Mach 20," Isoga muttered, his hands on his hips.

"At that speed, it's about a ten-minute flight to Sichuan province to get authentic Mapo tofu," Hara added, looking longingly out the window.

"No wonder they can't shoot him down with a missile," Meahara grumbled.

Keiji sighed, leaning against his desk. "Man, I fancy some Mapo tofu." He grinned, sliding closer to Nagisa. "Nagisa," he sang.

"No." Nagisa didn't look up before replying.

"But I didn't say anything."

"You didn't need to."

Keiji huffed, speaking under his breath. "Mind reading is my thing. Don't take it."

"I can still hear you." Nagisa smirked slightly as he pulled out a box, handing it to Keiji, who sighed heavily.

"Again?"

"Yes." Nagisa opened the box, taking out his thermos full of warm tomato soup.

Keiji huffed, sliding down in his chair. "Stupid evil kitchen workers. I don't even like tomatoes."

"Good thing it's tomato soup, then."

Keiji gave Nagisa a half-heated glare as Nagisa absentmindedly ate his nutritionally lacking lunch.

"Hey Nagisa," Terasaka stopped in front of Nagisa's desk, his lackeys behind him. "C'mere. Let's go over the plan."

Nagisa nodded, putting down his finished flask before following them as Keiji grumbled, sliding down further on his chair.

~~~

"You do your homework like I asked? You figure out what it means when his face changes colour?" Terasaka sat on the steps leading up to the class E building.

Nagisa nodded, pulling out his notebook. "When his face has green stripes, he's smug. He looks down on us and views us as bugs who could never reach his height. If you do something right or get the right answer, he goes bright red with a circle. Get it wrong, and it turns dark purple. Of course, he turns light pink after lunch-" Nagisa stopped as Terasaka growled and interrupted him.

"I don't need to know. You do. My plan is simple. You stab him when his guard is down."

Nagisa paused, raising his eyebrow. "I'm not doing that."

"Oh, come on, we're class E remember? The school's losers and rejects. The 'End class.' Stuck in some old classroom, you have to climb a mountain to get to and treated like crap by everyone- including the teachers!" Terasaka wrapped his arm around Nagisa's shoulders. "Even if we all started working right now and pooled our paychecks, we'd never see 10 billion bucks in our lifetimes! We are getting out of this dump any way we can." Terasaka reached into his pocket, pulling out the small pouch and forcing it into Nagisa's hand.

As a group, he and his croons walked away. Nagisa glanced at the pouch, a sad look behind his eyes.

Crash. The yellow one crashed to the ground, grinning as he looked at Nagisa.

"Welcome back," Nagisa paused. The being was holding a missile. "What's with the missile?"

"A souvenir. The navy was waiting for me in the sea of Japan."

"Of course." Nagisa chuckled, shaking his head. "Must be annoying with everyone trying to kill you."

"Nah. I look at it this way: being everyone's target proves how powerful I am." The teacher turned, walking back to the classroom as Nagisa chuckled to himself.

"Guess that's true. But even you need a helping tentacle every once and again." Reaching into the bag, Nagisa began tampering. "Even if you never learn of my help."