Summary: Yanagisawa Kotarou is assassinated, along with it—the classified files of the antimatter cells were taken. The suspects: Horibe Itona and Kayano Kaede. Class-E never thought that they would be dragged in another mission and this time, the enemy is but a shadow of the past. Post Epilogue.
PROLOGUE
Leaning against the locked door, Itona lifted his gaze from the ceiling towards the deactivated hidden cameras situated inside the hospital room.
Wondering when will she finished the work already, he knew that she would want it as slow as possible but they can't satisfy her sadism now.
They are on a limited time frame.
The sudden grunting and rustling made him snapped back to attention, his eyes shifted towards the silhouette of the woman a few feet away from him.
He stared unperbuted as she took the pillow the man was lying on and used it to forcefully cover his face, strangling him.
Ignoring that, he mused whether or not he could walk away for a few minutes then come back an hour after but crossed it out of his thought as soon as he watched her toss her natural black hair aside to craned her neck to held his gaze.
"Had she done what we asked her to do?" She asked, her voice coming off as nothing more than a whisper.
There was no light in the room, the lamp was off and the curtains covered the moon that should illuminate the place but even though it is too dark even for a highly trained hitman to feel around with, they can perfectly see each other like it is daytime.
A side effect that proven to be more useful than naught in every other situation they could think of.
Itona nodded as his eyes turned towards the man, it doesn't seemed like he was breathing anymore. There isn't the rise and fall of his chest and the various medical equipments attached to him were personally turned off by him, there might be an alarm that could alert the nurses of the assassination.
Good.
Effecient as always, that is how they worked.
"Is he dead?" Nonetheless, it helped to make sure that he had truly passed away.
Annoyed at that, she glared at him from the corner of her eyes before she fully turned towards him and started walking in the direction of the door. "Our kinetic vision never lies, remember that."
He shrugged and muttered a 'whatever' under his breath. It is useless to argue with her, after all.
"Would anyone care if your brother-in-law died, Kayano?" He asked, not really caring either way.
The man can die for all he can, it doesn't change his opinion of him now, of what he did to the both of them, especially their deceased teacher.
She stuck her tongue at him. Like someone would miss him, in her mindset, it's better he died.
The secret would be better kept within them than another ambigious one.
ACT 1
SUSPICION AND CONVICTION
Chapter I: A Time for Conversation
He snickered rather loudly, one hand propped on his oak desk, supporting his chin. Karma let himself smirked at the thought of the envelope delivered to him just now.
How nice of her to remember him by when she needed something. His eyes never quite left the piece of paper dangling loosely on his other hand, he licked the bottom of his lips.
Finally, his day just got interesting.
"Akabane-san," the stern voice of his secretary made him looked up and raised an eyebrow at the woman walking towards his direction.
He stood up from the chair, gave the visitor a mock bow and then gestured towards his office. "What can I do for you, Bitch-san?"
"What do you mean, Bitch-san!? Oi, kid, it's been years! When will you stop calling me by that name?!" Irina was quick to try and shut him up, pointing her index finger at his direction while growling at him.
Honestly, she can't quite believe he still had the gall to call her by that name even though he is now regarded as a highly respected citizen.
Karma held up the envelope in his hand and watched his former teacher's eyes widened before she shrugged. "Ah, and I care about that, why?"
Seeing as she didn't react to his expectations, he ignored her in favor of folding the letter and returning it back to the envelope before opening the cabinet on the second row from his desk, shoving it there.
"So, what is this all about?" He inquired, not really paying attention as he closed the cabinet before sitting down on his desk chair.
Irina sat down on the provided sofa in the far corner of the wall and glanced at the retreating secretary as the woman shut the door leaving the two alone. "So, had the news reached your ears yet?" Crossing her legs, she leaned back on the sofa with a hand draped on the arm rest.
Contrary to what she always wore, this one is a simple black knee length dress with a cream colored jacket hiding her exposed bare arms from view. Living with your husband who chided you from being too exposed can lead to these kind of outfits.
She looked around the office, the place was quite simple given that he just started being employed here for about eight months, it has plain white paint on the wall while the floor was covered in red carpet, various paintings decorated the room to probably give life to the room and the desk is stacked with paperworks. Though everything looked quite new.
Karma offered her a smug look, "Who do you think I am? Of course I know what happens to everyone I deemed a threat from the secret." He boasted. "Is this about Dr. Byouki? I heard he was suffering from an unknown substance, probably poison."
To Karma, it is a game. In addition to his job being too much fun to be bored with (who wouldn't be delighted if you could manipulate the strings of the people around you and influence their decision), he had a past time where he himself would investigate the ones who were either involve with Shiro in the past or the ones trying to dig deep within the mystery of the monster that appeared in the school grounds of Kunugigaoka Junior High.
It is fun, to say the least.
Though he does wonder, one by one, since the past four months—all those persons are being killed by an unknown assassin—two of them had already died, the other two are in a coma.
He snickered once more at the thought, oh, how utterly entertaining.
However Irina just stared at him like he was an idiot. Offended at that, Karma raised an eyebrow at her, daring to question him. Nothing hurt one's ego like people staring at you like you're the dumbest person they met.
"Yanagisawa Kotarou, better known to you guys as Shiro is dead." She bluntly informed him. Karma didn't say anything, he just stared at her for a second and then he couldn't help but chuckled at her.
So, the bastard finally died? Who cares, definitely not him.
Still, it was better for the man to live and suffer the consequences of his actions by living the everyday of his life, just staring at the window, regreting his plans or whatnot until the day he died.
Death was probably mercy for the man who made their former teacher's life a living hell then again, if it weren't for him, they wouldn't had met Korosensei.
And until now, he doesn't know if it's a bad thing or a good thing because there may be loses but there are so much more they had been gifted with.
But that isn't the problem besides it isn't his place to say anything. Death or not, the hopeless scientist just died and that itself is a problem: Who finally snapped and killed him? A member of Class-E? A former lackey? An employer? Or a hired hitman? Then again, maybe it is just her... he mentally smirked at that thought before slightly shooking his head.
It isn't the government because he knew that Irina wouldn't act like it is troublesome, just by the way she looked at him with those questioning eyes, he knew they are asking for his help.
"Sorry, I don't want to partake in any of these." He briefly glanced at the sliding glass window that was a bit large in length and height, giving him some view of the capital with the tall skyscrapers since the navy blue curtains were not shielding the room from the light of the sun.
It was still early in the morning, no doubt the assassination took place at midnight.
Irina was taken aback by this, she stood up and glared at him. "What? Why?" She complained, honestly, the brat should be interested enough in the case to know what is going on.
Karma shrugged, shifting his gaze towards her. "If you can see, I have work and it isn't a good image for someone like me to be up to this task, I'm a busy man." He grinned at her, he knew from experience that he had already won.
She groaned, "But my husband wanted you personally! You're our top unit, we can't exactly deploy assassins who doesn't know the whole story—"
Karma hummed, leaning his back on his chair, he asked her simply. "What about the other Class-E members? There's Isogai, Okajima, Okano and Okuda. Don't they also have high grades?"
Irina sighed at this, she crossed her arms under her well-endowed bossom. Tapping her white high heels on the floor, she met his eyes. "I don't know." Truthfully, she doesn't really know why she hadn't considered them before.
"I guess, you're too well-rounded and already have informations that we also have—" She paused for a second at that. "—if only Ritsu is willing, she hadn't accepted the offer and Kaede..." Cutting herself off, she waved this notion away and coughed. "A—anyway, I'll just let the higher ups decide this, maybe asking master for help too." She hoped he didn't notice her faltering.
He did, it was too obvious even to the deaf. Tilting his head to the side, he asked. "What about Kaede-chan? Why don't you ask her?" He chuckled. "Isn't she the best possible candidate?"
Irina didn't respond, she just stared at him quietly, assessing her words properly before turning around. She lazily raised up a hand, strutting outside the room. "Ta-ta, Karma! Maybe I'll tell you next time when I have a free time besides," She stopped walking, glancing at him from the corner of her eyes. "If you're as smart as we all believe you to be, you should know the answer the second I paused when I said her name."
He just smiled at her before his gaze slide towards the current paper on his desk. He took a pen and started working like he was supposed to do before he was interrupted.
Irina had already twist the knob of the door when he said something that caught her off-guard.
"Try Nagisa, his faith in Kaede-chan might blind him a bit but I doubt it would compromise the whole operation."
Kurahashi was humming a happy tune as she let the kids explore the outside of the building in every inch and corner. She knew they should be in the forest right now but they had to know of the place were she had the best class of her life first.
She eyed her surroundings, it was the same as the days in her junior high, nothing really changed—she suddenly paused. Her eyes widened and gleefully waved her hands at the gates of the Class-E building. "Kaede! Kaede!"
Kurahashi watched the action star turned towards her and smiled brightly, waving a hand while walking towards her.
Gee, she's so glad she managed to see Kayano, it was quite a while since she hadn't come with the last 'clean up the building' because of reasons that isn't important right now.
"Hinano!" Kayano greeted her with a tight hug as Kurahashi noticed she was wearing a deep blue jacket partnered with yellow knee length dress.
She immediately connect the dots before gasping out loud. "You just got back from the set of Dragonfly!?" She broke the hug to stare at her face and noticed it is in braided pigtails.
Kayano laughed and shooked her head. "I am going to the set, it's just 7:00 in the morning, the schedule is still in two hours." Her face had a cheerful expression on it, she guessed it must had been because the weather was great, it is neither too sunny nor too dark.
Kurahashi nodded and returned her smile with a grin. "Soooo, what brings you here? I'm bringing kids here in a trip for a quick cash!"
Kayano clasped her hands above her chest and gave her a melachonic smile. "I'm here to pay respects to Korosensei and give him some company until I need to go to work."
Kurahashi suddenly sniffed. "That's so honorable, waaaaah!" She circled her hands around her friend and hugged her more tightly than before if it was even possible. "You're so kind, Kaede."
She heard Kayano laughed it off, trying to break free from the hug as gently as possible. Kurahashi let her.
"I'll left you alone for now since I need to see the kids but we should catch up again sometime with the other girls!" Kurahashi suggested, maybe they could set up a date for that.
Kayano seconded. "Yeah, definitely! We'll think of something!" Kurahashi grinned once more and waved her hand as she started walking away to find the kids. "Yeah, we should let them know!"
Once her friend left, the beaming smile on her face disappeared, Kayano turned around and started walking to the grave they set up for their teacher.
She clasped both of her hands above her chest and smiled sweetly at the grave in front of her. Her eyes were closed as she murmured a quick prayer.
"I will make things, right, Korosensei..." She murmured between prayers. "...soon, everyone in the know will cease to exist." Though not far into praying, her stomach suddenly lurched in turn.
Eyes widening, she bit her lower lip to prevent the bile in her throat. Putting one hand on her mouth, she struggled to maintain control.
She stayed like that for a minute before she can't take it anymore and run to the nearest tree trunk, dumping all the contents of her breakfast to the ground.
She shuddered once she finished, her eyes had a tint of sorrow to them, one hand on her stomach, she glared at the patch of grass. And keep repeating a mantra that only she can hear.
This is for the best but even now, she can still hear the ringing shots of bullets being fired. Even if they are trained assassins, they never had resorted to killing someone before.
She isn't supposed to feel like this, it is supposed to be quick and easy. But killing someone in cold blood... she wondered if this is the reason she kept vomitting whenever her thoughts strayed to the ones they killed.
She once asked Irina if the first time you killed, is it normal to feel so horrible about it but their teacher just said to her it is necessary, even if it felt unjustified, feeling remorseful for the deaths of individual caused by you meant that you still felt humility.
... does she? Because when she killed him, she felt something. Absolute happiness. There is only a bit of regret to the death of Yanagisawa and that is because she preferred he just basked in his lost fame, fortune and the ability to move until he died.
She was scared at her thoughts at that time but then when Itona had made a mistake about those two that had gotten into coma, they knew nothing. They got the wrong information, what if that happened again. She tried hard not to think about that.
She felt regret with those two, that is why they spared them.
"Kaede?" She was caught off guard at the sound of her friend's voice. No one is supposed to see her, she mentally cursed herself for being careless as she turned around to face the woman and saw her with some kids.
"Hey, is that Mase Haruna!?"
"Wow, my mother and sister always watch your show every morning!"
"Can I have your autograph, Mase-san?!"
Plastering a look of embarassment, Kayano grinned at them and tried to entertain the kids even if she wanted nothing more than to go home and rest for a while.
She saw Kurahashi glancing at her once in a while and knew that the woman must be wondering why she saw her vomitting just now.
Kayano ignored that though because her health isn't something she prioritized over the fate of others. She will continue with the plan, this is only a minor setback.
Nagisa sighed in exasparation, this is the second time he explained the theorem and they still don't get it. He wondered how Korosensei handled this kind of problem.
It is vexing but he needed to be strong, teaching students is what he wanted. And nothing is easy in their world. Leaning his back on the side of his desk, he silently watched his students work on their seatwork.
Majority of them looked like they wanted to murder him by the way of their glancing from time to time on his face, he laughed nervously at that. If he were some kid who hadn't faced death itself, he would probably be scared.
What he is feeling is akin to wondering just how a private senior high managed to make their classroom looked like an area for the gangs and thugs who vandalized walls with spray paints.
He had them cleaned it out every time they failed a test, naturally, the room was spotless clean within a month. But lately, it started to have some speck of dusts again which is a good thing since that meant no one had failed for quite a while.
The sudden vibration of his phone brought him out of stupor, he blinked as his hand dug out the phone from his pocket. Glancing at the caller, he raised an eyebrow.
Karasuma Tadaomi
They never called him at all, atleast the last time he had a conversation with his teacher was a year ago. And that is because the man is inquiring about some information about Shiro they might had missed.
Karasuma also meant the government. What can they want from him, he wondered.
Stealing a glance at his students who were obediently solving the problem, he walked out of the door as sneaky as he could. His students will get distracted if he said something out loud.
"Good morning, Karasuma-san, how can I help you?" He asked once he had found himself on the rooftop of the school where it is currently isolated.
Nagisa was confused when the man asked him a question. "What would you prioritize first, friend or work?"
Though answered the obvious. "Friend, sir." What could he be going on about now?
He heard him hummed in response to his answer, Nagisa quickly asked him what this is all about but Karasuma ignored his question.
"Nagisa, I'm not gonna be specific on the topic but keep an eye out for Kayano and her actions, that is all." The line went dead.
He stared incredulously at his phone by the end of it, what can they want from Kayano? Why observe her movements? There is nothing wrong with her as far as he can tell.
Sighing, he guessed there is no harm done if he watched out for her movements, not that he understand what that is all about.
He stared at his phone before he used speed dial. Maybe he could find out what the government is being paranoid about.
No doubt Karma got him involved with all of this, it's not enough when they meet, he would return home drunk because his friend is having some problems about who knows what, he can't remember—something about Okuda, he guessed.
"Yo," He could practically hear the barely concealed snicker and Nagisa had to stop himself from outright complaining.
"Let me guess, Karma, you dragged me into this?" He deadpanned, already knew the answer.
"I will not say dragged per say, more like, volunteered you to do this besides it's either you or me who will investigate about the deaths of—"
His eyes widened at the words and immediately cut his friend off. "Wait, wait, deaths? Why deaths? And if it is about that, why didn't you go instead?" Honestly, this is Karma's expertise and favorite past time, as far as he knew.
"What did they tell you, anyway?" Karma asked from the other side of the phone.
Nagisa answered with a little bit hesitation. "They wanted me to watch Akari, that's all."
"Huh, I guess they don't want you involve at all, say, just stick to watching her actions, it's not anything grand or something but if you really wanted to know why, ask Karasuma-san or Bitch-san." Nagisa didn't hear anymore as Karma had dropped the call without saying goodbye.
What is that all about now, Nagisa had to keep himself from having a headache about this. What do they want with Kayano anyway?
He could ask her himself but then that would make her suspicious of him, if anything, Kayano is a very wary and catious person, she doesn't really trust anyone.
All of this problems and it is just nine o'clock in the morning, how could he possibly concentrate now?
Sugino almost choked on his soda when he witnessed an unusual sight; his black sunglasses almost falling off the bridge of his nose.
Kanzaki stopped walking to glance at the direction he is looking at, hands interwined with him. They were initially going to a laser tagging a few blocks away to have some fun after only having stress from work.
She openly stared, surprised at the news being informed to them through a television encased in a window shop.
"—director of the highly-acclaimed Dragonfly morning drama was found dead a few hours ago by being shot in head with a 7.62x51—"
She met his eyes as they both glanced at each other. "I should call Kaede-chan, she might—" Was the first thing she uttered. They needed to ensure the safety of their friend, on a side note, why would someone assassinate the director with a sniper.
Either way, she just needed to ensure her safety. Taking the phone inside her bag, she dialed a number and waited for Kayano to pick the call.
She exchanged glances every so often with Sugino who tried to assure her that there were no casualties other than the deceased director.
Still, it is better to be safe than sorry.
The call was picked up after the third ring and she was glad it is the voice of her friend that she heard. "Kaede-san..."
"Yukiko-san, don't worry, I'm safe!" She heard her and Kanzaki just remained silent. "I was very lucky to be late from work when that happened but it was really terrible..."
Kanzaki sighed in relief and said to Kayano. "I'm glad you're all right but please don't take the situation like it is nothing." She can feel just by the tone of her friend that the actress doesn't care either way about the shooting of the director.
She was always one of the students who had a little just a tiny bit suspicion on Kayano before the reveal of her true self, Kanzaki prided herself for knowing what her friend might be feeling right now.
And needless to say, Kayano seemed apathetic to the fact her director just passed away. It makes her wonder what happened, her friend usually is one for a quick emotional outburst when it comes to the ones close to her.
She hummed thoughtfully as Kayano started telling her that her manager is calling her and that she needed to go.
Kanzaki raised an eyebrow at this, Kayano is usually a natural actress when it comes to all things and adapted in the environment she is in record's time. Is what she is showing part of acting? Or is there some grain of truth to it.
Either way, Kanzaki knows something is amiss.
Itona carefully put down the voltage probe in his grasp on the desk to sneak a glance at the news on the television. Naturally, his eyes fell down towards the Blaser R93 Tactical on the far corner of his wall.
It is possibly a problem, he meant to use another type of sniper but this is the only one available at the moment. He really need to purchase a new one.
They had just disposed of the director, that much is a given. Yawning in boredom, he stood up from his chair and started walking towards the kitchen.
He had a day off and this is what he got, not really a rest day. Instead of spending the day spoiling himself with sweets, building phones for fun and reading ero magazines, he is spending his time killing someone.
He opened the fridge and took the pudding from the freezer. It was left by Kayano yesterday, the woman kept puking in his bathroom, he had unceremoniously pushed her out of his apartment. Literally.
She is either still disgusted about actually killing someone or she ate some expired food, he is leaning more towards the former.
The sudden vibration of his phone in his jeans' pockets made him stopped on walking across the room. Raising an eyebrow, he checked the receiver before accepting the call, his phone pressed against his left ear.
"What do you want?" He bluntly asked.
"Yo, Itona! Do you want to catch up some lunch with us in Muramatsu's ramen shop?" Terasaka's voice resounated from the other side of the call as he considered the option.
The taste of the ramen got better since the recipe that Korosensei had given to Muramatsu from that seemingly endless book gifted to them. Thank the octopus for that, he still remembered the stale taste of that ramen.
"Sure, What time?" He asked.
Might as well hang out with his friends than stay at home doing nothing.
He sat down on the stool as he was greeted by a sheepish looking Muramatsu on the side of the counter, Terasaka is currently complaining about his boss who keeps working him to the bone while Hazama smiled creepily at his misery, Yoshida tried to ignore the noise.
They were all seated at the stool with him on the far left with Yoshida on his right and then the other two on his left.
"—nd I'm telling you, I'm gonna quit as soon as I can!" Terasaka finished off, crossing his arms above his chest and growled under his breath.
Itona glanced at him from the corner of his eyes and said. "Then why don't you?"
That seemed to set off his friend as the man tried to sputter a comeback before giving up after a few seconds. "Eh, forget about that. How have you been, Itona? Still working your ass off producing phones?" He asked.
Hazama chuckled darkly at that. "Did any of your employees get electrocued by the high voltage?" She hoped so, after all, it is funny to see people get shocked by the same technology they're using, bonus points if they started getting traumatized.
"We're fine, and if ever we got bankrupt again, these two will back-up us." He pointed at the aforementioned Muramatsu and Yoshida who shrugged it off. They will help their friends no matter what.
Itona was quick to pick up the ramen after it was distributed to them. When he had slurped down the noodles, he commented. "An improvement, compared to that last one which tasted like a cheap canned ramen stored for months, this one actually is acceptable."
Muramatsu sighed in relief, putting both of his hands behind his head, he said. "Finally, I've been telling my father about that for three weeks straight, he just won't believe me."
Yoshida snickered. "Probably because he's aging, old people lost their sense of taste after a period of time."
Hazama perked up at that, she added. "And then after the loss of taste, it'll be the sight, hearing and the ability to move, well, before you know it, they're dead," Her eyes glinted. "Old folks sure are entertaining."
Terasaka rolled his eyes at her. "Only you find entertainment with the old ones and their death,"
"Pot calling the kettle black, isn't your boss entertaining you with their old ways, Terasaka? His death also seemed fun to you." Itona deadpanned.
"Ugh, would you stop it? Though I must admit, his death sure is fun to envision with. Too bad, I'm not a hitman after his head." Terasaka responded, glancing at his friend. Just from the way he talks, Itona observed that his friend is only mildly annoyed, nothing else. It will probably be forgotten by the end of the day.
Itona remained silent at that, he looked down at his ramen and stared at the nori blankly. His next target is Terasaka's boss' wife.
He can't possibly commit it, it might affect his friend's possible job but how can he abandon the mission if he had already come that far away?
Okuda smiled warmly, staring at herself in the mirror inside the restroom of the facility she is working on. She practiced the lines inside her head and sighed when she drew up blank.
She can't concentrate, Takebayashi had warned her. A hunter is on the move and they're targeting the ones who intimately knows of the antimatter cells.
The ones who studied the complicated work of Yanagisawa Kotarou. She doesn't like this, it had already been gossiped about in the world of science about the deaths of three scientists, two of which are in a coma.
She suddenly flinched, the book Korosensei gave to her and Takebayashi is full of information about the matter at hand, it is almost impossible for them not to be targeted.
The one with the information, she hoped it is severely outdated.
A/N: Hello, welcome to Night of Fall. This story is centered around Class-E but Nagisa, Karma, Kayano and Itona are the prominent characters. This is set Post Epilogue and every members of the Class will be featured alot. I already have the plot written down and just writing to execute it better however I wanted to wait until an unofficial english translation of the Graduation Album Time be released since I wanted to be it as canon as possible and if ever it was fully revealed, I would probably changed the moments between characters a lot.
But I couldn't wait any longer to write this up so here it is? Tell me if I am doing something wrong with these characters and missing informations—also, english isn't my first language, please correct any mispellings I may have written.