One Choice

Chapter 5

Even if she had the outward appearance of a child, she was still a professional assassin and as an assassin, the only thing she had were her skills. Moreover, she couldn't overlook his remark. Even if he rebuked her, she wouldn't mind it but if he went so far as to call them cowards after having protected her, then she wouldn't stand for it. Her eyes glinted with an eerie madness and Karma widened his eyes as he immediately picked up his sword for self-dense. But, in her eyes, his attempts were futile.

"Akabane Karma," she took a step forward. "What do you think assassins are?"

A bead of sweat rolled down his face.

"Even if it's the perfect striking distance, even if our enemy is right in front of us, we don't do anything. To call us cowards when you don't understand our reasons for doing so," she appeared behind him in a split second and held up her hand, her sleeve billowing as she hit him hard on the neck. "What right do you have to say that about us professionals?"

What?!

She looked at him from the corner of her eye and not knowing what had happened, he immediately fell down to the floor, unconscious. Lucy turned and looked at him. The difference in their strength was apparent yet he still decided to anger her. Honestly, she didn't know why they were like this. Calming down, she bent down and poked at him.

Are all men hot-blooded like those in Fairy Tail? she wondered.

As she sat there, staring at him, a soft but sure smile spread on her face as she looked at Karma with nostalgic melancholy. She remembered all the silly fights they had back at their base and the way they would get riled up over something meaningless like a dropped piece of meat. Remembering those times, she chuckled to herself before furrowing her eyebrows as she gave a sad smile.

I miss them, she said, her finger no longer poking him anymore as tears welled up in her eyes.

"Karma-kun!" Nagisa ran up over to him. "Are you oka-?!"

Lucy lifted her face up and the two stared at each other. A tear rolled down her face as she blinked back the rest of her tears and Nagisa widened his eyes as he saw her saddened expression — an expression that contrasted greatly to the stoic expression that she wore when she first entered the classroom. Realizing he saw her tears, she immediately placed her sleeves at her eyes and covered her face. Turning around, she crouched even lower and desperately wiped away her tears. Nagisa softened his expression and he bent down as he reached out a hand to her.

"Hey, you..." he said with genuine worry in his eyes.

Lucy stood up, surprising him as he fell back onto his behind. Looking down at him with slightly red eyes, she gave a slight bow before dashing off back to the classroom. He watched her leave with a blank face, still caught by the expression she had shown earlier.

"Lucy...Heartfilia," he mouthed her name.

He had thought that she would be like all the assassins sent at first with their focus being Korosensei and no one else but from the way she acted on the first day, it was nothing like that. She might have the air of an assassin but she was just like them; she, too, was just a regular girl who had emotions. It was just that the one thing that stopped her from expressing such things was her profession and remembering the tears in her eyes, he gazed down at the ground with a pondering look. However, upon seeing Karma down on the ground, he immediately widened his eyes and turned him around, sighing.

"Karma-kun, just what did you say to her?" he placed his arm around his neck and helped him to his feet. "I doubt she would attack you without a reason."