Blind Batter
An Ansatsu Kyoushitsu fanfiction
"It's not time yet."
"Not time yet."
"Sssh, they're watching!"
"Why don't we just kill them off and get it over with?"
"You do that and we're dead too!"
"I can hear you from the other side of town." Another voice says, its dry tone almost lost in the static, "And so will they if you all don't shut up already."
"Well, your volume's kinda high too, Itona-kun." The boy carrying the radio points out.
"You've been holding that radio for awhile, Sugino-kun. Let me."
"T-thanks, Kanzaki-san!"
"Sssh! They'll hear us!" Yada hisses.
"We should be safe for a few more hours." Nagisa says. He still has his hand on the pack of cards, expression sour, "Then they'll eventually leave the entrance and we can gain access to the catacombs again."
"Ugh, they're riled up too. I think that assassin must've stirred them up." Rinka says grumpily, "They'll be more aggressive than usual."
"That why we have the White Orchid ruling, Nagisa?" Isogai asks. The boy doesn't answer, opts to stare out in the distance.
"...What did the White Whatever thing mean again?"
"You should really pay attention when we discuss this sort of thing, Terasaka." Megu says with a sigh, "...If Nagisa predicts an attack of this magnitude, Nakamura-san passes White Orchids around."
"Huh?"
"You still don't get it, Terasaka?" Nakamura pipes up with a grin, "It's Nagisa-chan's way of telling us to be prepared."
She's already got her bat out, ready and hefted on her shoulders. A shiny bat, red as blood and covered in paper charms and hasty ink scribbles.
"Because right now, we gotta kill or be killed."
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Everywhere Karma looks, there are eyes upon him.
Photos pinned up on the corkboard. All of the town's residents.
He twirls the pen in his hand absentmindedly, looking through the notes he'd pinned up underneath the photos.
The people here freely share all the information they know, he muses, almost too freely. That's to be expected of a small town, I suppose.
But of course, it was never that easy.
For every rumour he'd heard about his client, there was bound to be two or more revolving around him. He was something of a novelty now; a young man, heretofore unknown, who'd moved into the residence of the infamous town paranoiac? Kind of hard not to talk about that.
It isn't really my thing to work under attention...so the sooner I get this done, the better.
Unfortunately, now his target knows he's being chased.
Karma eyes the man bleeding out on his carpet. One of the many deterrents that had been sent his way. Though, it's still fairly easy to finish his job.
So what was keeping him here?
There's one photo in the far left corner that always catches Karma's attention.
A boy that always kept to himself, yet mingled with a rather odd group of people. A boy that everyone seemed to think as quiet and withdrawn, yet simultaneously seemed to hold in high regard.
A boy that had nothing to do with his target...and yet, frequented the same area as him. On multiple occasions, even at the same time as him.
And as for the location itself...it was noteworthy in its own right.
A set of underground tunnels...huh.
Karma smirks.
Places like that were extremely unsafe.
It would be a shame if something bad were to happen there, wouldn't it?
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"Maehara, to your left!"
"Got it!" The boy jumps out of reach just as a pole smashes into the ground.
"Itona-kun, how many even are there?!"
"There's an influx right next to the entrance." Itona says sharply, "I could only guarantee you a surprise attack, nothing more."
"We can handle it! Surprise attacks are the bread n' butter of shounen manga!" Fuwa says cheerfully. Even as she slashes her knife at a monster's throat.
"Yeah but unlike shounen manga," Okajima mutters, "we're killed of for real if they so much as breathe on us."
"Another wave from the right!" Chiba barks into the comm line, "We need more Practitioners to seal the corpses away, stat!"
"Copy that. Nakamura, Kanzaki, Kurahashi, take over. Okuda, we're gonna need another of your chef's specials." Itona says, "We're going to need a purification circle around the area."
"We're gonna need a bunch of slashers too." Rinka interjects, "Snipers alone aren't gonna cut it."
"No way! We're stretched thin as it is!"
"Nakamura, how're you holding up?"
"The charms work but they need to be plastered into their skulls before I can even try sealing 'em away!" Nakamura says. She's already short of breath, "The slashers work quicker."
"But we can't seal them away at the same time.." Isogai mutters, "We need to find a middle ground and soon before we-woah!"
"Come on, class rep. Focus or we're all monster food." Says the waxy, ghost-like face peering over his shoulder.
"H-Hazama-san..."
"Move."
She whipped out something from her pocket and plastered it on the monster's face, pulling Isogai out of the way when it screeched and collapsed, rays of light boring through its body into the outside world.
"Just cover me and we'll call it even."
"R-right. Itona, how are we doing on that bomb?"
"Wait a sec." The clacking of keys and Itona swears, "Okuda's in a panic. Nagisa's apparently disappeared."
"...What? What do you mean 'disappeared'?"
"The human victim's been compromised and Nagisa's using one of the charmed baseball bats to stop him. Said something about the assassin being in danger."
"Wait, so that means...!"
"He's here. He's in the forest."
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Fear.
Something that Karma hadn't felt much before.
He remembered the sensation though. Ice flooding his body, his heart a heavy weight in his chest, heavy breathing.
Nothing to cloud his mind though. He wouldn't allow it.
The monster roars at him again. It still has some shreds of a human shirt and jeans on him.
His target's clothes.
Monsters didn't exist in real life.
Then what was this?
A trick, a distraction.
Steady your hand. You can't fire like this.
Take a deep breath.
Shots to the chest didn't work. Aim for the legs to slow it down.
Karma ducks out of the way as the monster swings at him again.
The neck, next.
But he can't hold out like this. If he takes another hit then...
...So he was gonna die. Just like this huh? At the hands of some no-name, in the middle of nowhere.
He smirks.
No way.
He raises his gun again.
"Stop!"
Running. The sound of running feet.
How did he not hear it before?
Something flies past him and he sees a flash of red.
The sickening sound of metal hitting skin.
A boy standing before him with bare arms splattered with black.
"Shiota Nagisa...huh."
"Sorry."
The boy says this apologetically and he's looking right in Karma's direction. Bat over his shoulder, splattered with black, just like he was.
Also the colour of blood and covered in paper charms, letters scribbled on with blotched words of prayer.
"I'm sorry for dragging you into this." Nagisa repeats, "But you're in too deep now, Karma-kun."
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...im cutting off there because i need more juice in the next story
don't look at me like that
im terrible i know
in any case there will be more of this don't worry!
yeah this series is a bit of a slow burn with these two but itll be worth it i promise
and thanks for reading btw!
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