Colors in bloom

Special class

“Everyone was taking bets to see how long he would last on the straight and narrow.” Kayano said as I watched Karma walk away. He had a gleam in his eye like he was going to enjoy whatever he was planning. I winced as I lifted the bag up. I emptied it into my locker. Selecting a notepad and pen, I turned to follow Kayano.
She lead me out of the building. We walked along a dirt path up into the woods. It was beautiful scenery. My mind drifted as I looked around. She caught my arm when I almost walked off a cliff.
“Come now, Nagisa. If I let you get hurt, Karma would kill me.” She flashed a wonderful smile at me that crinkled her eyes.
“We wouldn’t want that.” I chuckled taking her hand. We walked to the top of a large hill. There an old building sat. It stretched out in one long single story structure. Several kids were milling around. A few looked like they were about to pass out from the walk up here. It really wasn’t that bad.
Kayano took me inside. It was a little cooler here. She walked down the far row pointing to a desk she told me I could sit there as she set her stuff on the desk beside me. I sat down. Looking around the room it was like time had frozen.
There was only one classroom. We had walked by a small kitchen/ cafeteria combination room. I had seen a sign for the teachers lounge and one that said gym. That was basically it. This room actually still had a green chalkboard. There wasn't even a computer around. Although directly outside was a tower, so at least my phone had Wi-Fi. There were posters older than us hanging up. Actual books lined the shelves underneath. This place was worse than anything I could think of. I was in hell.
Yet I did recognize most of the people that came in. Thanks to Karma. They were his friends from the sleep over. Ryoma was talking with a guy sitting down who had glasses on. His dark hair was short and he looked bored with what ever it was the other was telling him. At one point he just shook his head putting a hand on Ryoma's chest and pushing him back. The taller guy fell into a chair behind him where he swung around to face the front of the room.
Itona was sitting a few rows away. He was bent over something on his desk. His pen moved furiously across the paper. I couldn't tell if he was writing or drawing. Whatever he was doing it was taking up a lot of his attention. He worked frantically like he didn’t have enough time to finish.
I let my gaze wander some more. To my surprise I saw Isogai enter talking to a girl with long black wavy hair. He didn't have his trademark smile plastered to his face. He looked more serious and thoughtful. She was talking about something that obviously required his concentration. I grinned at that.
Tomohito was sitting on the windowsill looking out wistfully, toward where the main school was. It was silent for just a moment. I heard the crack of a bat. I saw him straighten twisting his neck around like he was trying to see where the ball went. I knew there was no way he could see the baseball diamond from here. He slouched back down to stare mournfully into empty space.
“Good morning class.” A deep voice drew our attention to the front of the room. Everyone rushed to find places to sit. The tall man stood there patiently with his hands behind his back. He waited until everyone was settled.
He read of the roll call sheet to ensure everyone was present. His eyes fell to me. “Nagisa is a new student. Today is his first day so let’s welcome him warmly.” He clapped. Slowly a few of the others did as well.  Mostly the ones that had met me through Karma.
“Very well, let’s move along. Koro-Sensei is off  this morning, for testing. I would like for you all to change into your track gear. We will be playing capture the flag today.” The others cheered.
Itona came up to me. “I will show you where the locker rooms are.” He said. I thanked him and he lead me away. Near the extremely small gym were two doors. One for the girls and one for boys. Inside was the locker rooms and the only bathroom I had seen in the place.
Mr. K, our gym teacher, apparently, handed me a dark blue track suit. I went to the lockers. Finding one available I took my clothing off and stored it inside. I quickly put the suit on but not before everyone saw the tight bandage I was wearing.
“Nagisa, I know you have a doctors note for gym class. I want you to stay with me. I will get you up to speed on what we do here.” Mr. K told me. I thanked him.
Once we were all dressed we went outside to where the girls we already lined up. They were doing stretches and warm up exercises. The rest of the boys joined them. It didn’t look like anyone was leading them, more like this was just a routine thing they did.
When I had gone to join, Mr. K had pulled me back. “Nagisa. This is a very special classroom.” He told me in a low tone as he watched those around me. “These children have been entrusted, since the beginning of the school year, to kill their teacher.” I gasped.
“What!?” I cried out.
“Don’t worry they have the full backing of the government. You see Koro-Sensei is a war risk. He needs to be killed. He has asked that only the children in this classroom kill him. So we are training you to be able to do just that.” My mouth hung open as I looked at him.
Was he serious? We were tasked with killing our teacher?
“Did I, Did I hear you right?” my brain stuttered as it tried to grasp this concept. He locked his hands behind his back.
“Yes. You and your fellow classmates must kill Koro- Sensei.” He informed me in a very matter of fact tone. He showed me the special weapons we would be trained to use. He told me I would have to catch up quickly to the others.
Strangely my only thought during all of this was how fitting this class would be for Karma. I missed him with his snide comments and smart mouth I was sure he would have found ways to get my mind into this ludicrous idea. Killing our teacher, for profit too. We would be set for life after this.
I moved in a daze along side Mr. K. The other kids in the class where taking this to heart. You could tell this wasn’t your normal game of capture the flag. When I started pointing out errors that some of the kids were making, either with their flag placement or security for it, Mr. K called a hault.
“It seems that our newest assassin is quite good at strategizing. I am going to send Nagisa to the blue team. I will head up the red team. Now due to his injury he is to not participate. Neither shall I. We will be available to our teams for advice only. Understand.?” They all shouted that they did.
Kayano appeared dressed in a blue mesh shirt over her track suit. “I am on your team. Come on I will show you where we are holed up.” She took me through the woods. It hurt my rib to get over some of the obstacles but the others gladly helped me. We were a team after all. I was told.
I didn’t know the full layout of the mountain. One of the others drew me a rough map. We put our heads together over our half. While I scanned it, they filled me in on the rules. No kids could get hurt, you had to defend your flag, you had to have someone looking for the other teams flag. The first team to bring the other teams flag back to school wins.
“That’s all?” I asked. They nodded. “ We don’t have to keep the flag stationary?” For a moment they all looked shocked by this.
“It was never brought up.” Isogai said. I laughed.
“And we don’t need just one person to defend?” They shook their heads. Ok.
“Here is what we are going to do:” I told them my plan. They laughed. I was given a walkie talkie and Kayano took me to the highest point on our side of the hill. From here I directed the movements of my team. I had ten others since I really wasn’t playing. Two teams of three were sent out to look for the opponent flag. They had a grid search technique that they would follow. Two others stayed near me to appear as if they were guarding our flag. The other two carried the flag.
They moved it around the mountain. I would direct them away from the other team. Since I was at the highest point in our half of the mountain,  I could see the maneuvers of our teams and those that came in from the other team. I just couldn’t see the other teams home base, flag or defending teams.
I did my best with what I saw to direct those working with me. We were able to keep the flag out of our enemies hands. When the cry came over the radio that Ryoma had the other teams flag and was heading to the school I order our teams to their secondary positions.
This resulted in the forward teams to converge on the person with the flag. They would work as defenders. The two people pretending to guard the flag below me went to the flag people. This built up the protection of the flag. It also threw off the teams coming for our flag. As what appeared as our flag guards just took off.
The teams stood unsure for a few precious moments. It was all the time we needed to hide the flag once more. From my advantage point I could see the school. I saw when Ryoma busted out of the woods to rush toward the circle where the end was. I cheered over the radios to let everyone know to come in. We had won.
I worked my way back down from my spot. It took me sometime to get down to the ground level. There I met some of my team. The flag defense team had come back to make sure I made it back to the school. They were all happy hugging and thanking me. It seemed I was fitting in well.
When we got back, Mr. K announced that we could go for lunch. This I found consisted of everyone bringing their lunches. We sat outside finding places we felt comfortable in. I found a place in the woods. It was secluded and peaceful. Kayano came to sit with me.
“How does the teacher, this Koro-sensei feel about us trying to kill him?” I asked her. Mr. K came out of no where. He gave me the details of how Koro sensei wasn’t human but some lab rat or alien thing. He explained how fast the teacher was and how dangerous he was.
Kayano told me how nice and what a wonderful teacher he was. I was stunned at the differences in their opinions of this being was. Mr. K quickly informed me that he did respect the creature as a teacher.
I finally met my new teacher as we came back from lunch. He was a large yellow octopus with a weird smiling face. He greeted me like an old friend. He told me he had read my file and couldn’t be happier to have me in his class.
“But we are to kill you?” I blurted. He had laughed.
“If you don't I will blow up over seventy percent of the Earth, you don’t want that.” He laughed in the face of his own death. I was still in shock when I walked back to the main school. I met Karma at his truck in the parking lot.
“How was your day?” he asked his smile firmly in place.
“Very strange.” I told him. He explained that he would be with me in the class the next day. I shook my head. “This class will be perfect for you! Can we go get pizza?” I asked. He laughed and agreed.