Specimen T-04

Part 15~Backup Plan

Koro-sensei messed around with the courtyard as the students gathered outside.

"What are you gonna do, Koro-sensei? Why are you moving the soccer goal?"

Koro-sensei ignored Mimura's questions, turning his attention to Ms Vitch. "Miss Irina, as a professional assassin, when preparing your hit, do you formulate just one plan?"

Jelavich paused, considering for a moment. "No, it's actually rare for the main plan to go off without a hitch. So, an assassin must always have a detailed backup plan, or more, just in case. Of course, all the backup plans I had for you didn't work, but you just wait! I'll get you next time!"

Koro-sensei laughed. "You're so adorable. Mr Karasuma, when you train the students in knife techniques, is the first attack the only important attack?"

Karasuma didn't answer straight away. "The first attack is important, of course, but every subsequent move is equally as important. Formidable opponents will most likely dodge your first attack. Whether you are victorious and survive depends on your follow-up attacks."

Maehara had enough of the question-and-answer game, shouting at Koro-sensei. "What are you getting at?!"

"Like they said, assassins always have a backup plan. What about you? You aren't taking your studies seriously; you're banking on getting that ten billion yen for killing me, but you're really just refusing to face your problems. What if I get bored and leave? What if someone else kills me first? Then you're stuck with no way out of class E. Let me put it another way: those without a backup plan don't have the right to call themselves assassins!"

Koro-sensei spun around, creating a tornado and cleaning the courtyard. "The schoolyard was covered in weeds, so I cleaned it up for you. I am capable of disintegrating this planet. Weeding this was nothing to me. Show me that you have some sort of backup plan. Show me that I'm not wasting my time, or I'll flatten this school building and leave."

Keiji shifted his gaze to Nagisa, a worried look in his eyes. Nagisa's mind was doing that thing again. "A backup plan by when?"

"No hurry. You have till tomorrow. I want every one of you to score in the top fifty for tomorrow's midterm. You're closer than you think. You already have everything you need for your backup plan, thanks to your fabulous teacher. Go into that exam with confidence, give it your best and raise your head with a smile on your face. Take pride in the fact that you are assassins and the students of class E."

~~~

Keiji nudged Karma as he stepped up to Nagisa, tapping his shoulder. "Hey, I was wondering," he paused, shuffling his feet. "One last study session before the exam?"

Nagisa smiled softly, following Karma and Keiji back to Karma's house.

~~~

Keiji screamed, hitting his head against the desk. "I'm going to fail."

Karma laughed, putting his book down as he took Keiji's. "From the looks of it, yeah."

"I have all the answers. It's just up here and not down there." Keiji huffed, tapping his brain in annoyance.

"Unfortunately, the test is down there." Karma gave Keiji his book back before turning to Nagisa. "You okay? You're been staring at that page for the last half an hour."

Nagisa snapped out of his daze, grumbling as he lowered his head.

"And that is the cue for a break." Karma stood up. "I'll get you guys something to eat." Karma ruffled the other's hair before he walked out.

Keiji lifted his head, watching Nagisa. The guy's head was screaming way too fast for Keiji's broken brain. "Hey, what's gotten to you this time?"

"What do we do?"

"Study?"

"No." Nagisa huffed, lifting himself up. "No, I mean after this year. I live to protect Koro-sensei and you and Karma and my friends. What do I do when I don't need to anymore."

Keiji sighed softly, walking around the table to wrap his arms around Nagisa. "You get to do what you want."

"But I don't want anything."

"You'll find something. I'm sure you will. If not, we can always follow Esumi. Go to America, live a life."

"That's not the life I want."

"Good. Part of deciding this stuff is getting a list and removing everything you don't like until you find the thing you haven't crossed off."

"Do you know what you want?" Keiji smiled, nodding. "What?"

"It's a secret." Keiji placed a kiss on Nagisa's head as Karma walked back in. He raised an eyebrow, not verbally questioning, as he sat beside the others, gently feeding them the biscuits he had raided. "I guess we're doing no more studying."

"No," Nagisa and Keiji said together as Karma chuckled.

~~~

The exams were over, and the class gathered, the low mood being almost unbearable. The headmaster had put on questions they couldn't hope to answer, destroying the chance class E had at finishing their exam in a respectable placement.

"What's the meaning of this? It's extremely unfair." Karasuma glared at the wall as he listened to the teacher.

"Strange. I thought we told everyone. You must have forgotten to pass on the information. After all, you hardly ever come down to the main building." The jerk laughed.

"I didn't forget a thing, and it's clearly not appropriate or fair to change what the students are being tested on two days before the exam."

"You don't understand. Do you, Mr Karasuma? We're a preparatory school. Forcing students to deal with last-minute changes is one of our methods. And down here in the main building, the principal himself taught the new material. Spectacularly so, if I may say." The phone hung up as Karasuma put his phone down, turning to Koro-sensei.

"This is my fault. I've let you down. I don't know how to face you." Koro-sensei stared at the board, barely avoiding the knife thrown at his head.

"Fine by me," Karma sang, walking to the front. "It's easier to attack you when your back is turned."

"Karma! It's just depressing!" Koro-sensei growled as Karma threw down his test results.

"It doesn't matter to me if they change the questions or not. 'Cuzza you, I've done better than I ever have before. So I don't want to leave class E. I enjoy this assassination class a lot more than my old one."

"Same goes here." Nagisa held up his almost-perfect scores. "Guess there's a benefit of studying with a genius. Even Keiji managed to get into the top fifty." Nagisa paused, whispering into Keiji's mind. "Even if you cheated to do it."

Keiji gulped. "I didn't cheat. I just copied the symbols people wrote when I knew they were writing the correct answer."

"Cheating."

Their mental conversation wasn't heard by the class as Karma continued his jeering. "Well, what are you gonna do, huh? Are you gonna make a run for it like you said because we didn't get in the top fifty. I think you're just scared of us killing you."

The class switched frequency, grinning as they joked around. Koro-sensei grew red, his voice picking up. "I am not running away! I'm going to get them back during the final exams!"

The class laughed, the air much lighter than before.

~~~

The principal glared as he looked over the results. Karma he expected, Nagisa he didn't. That guy shouldn't have been at the top.

Leaning over his desk, he pulled out his phone dialling the familiar number. "Ms Shiota, I have some news regarding your missing child."