Title: Revenge is sweet
Fandom: Assassination Classroom
Rating: K+
Pairing/s: Karasuma x Irina
Summary: Plagued by boredom Irina thinks about a plan for revenge. How could Karasuma dare to force her to change into other - not provocative - clothes? [Karasuma x Irina; Set during the school trip to Kyoto, around chapter 18]
Notes: I use the word 'schadenfreude' once in this story. It is an German expression with no translation in English. I decided to keep the orignal word in this translation, but I don't know if everyone will know the meaning. So here a short description: It is a noun that means that you gloat over somebodys misfortune.
Bored the blond assassin looked around the clothing shop. Not one of the articles caught her eyes. Secretly Irina had higher hopes for the shops in Kyoto, but her hopes weren't fulfilled.
Only one thing made the whole situation worse: The blonde was still wearing her track suit that she originally planned to wear for sleeping. How Karasuma could dare to forbid her to wear her normal clothes was one thing she couldn't understand. Particularly because at the moment she wasn't performing her role as a teacher, she only went shopping.
Finally she abandoned her hope to find new clothes and set off to return to the hotel. Each of her determined strides carried her closer to her destination yet her thoughts still lingered around Karasuma. Her bewilderment yielded to a deep grudge. In the end the assassin was certain in one thing: She wouldn't let Karasuma get away with it.
A smile manifested on the blonde's lips while she entered the hotel. "Revenge is sweet. You will learn that soon enough."
Like Irina anticipated Karasuma was still located in the otherwise empty sitting room of the small hotel. There he sat on one of the tables and appeared to write one of his countless reports. During such moments the blonde was glad that she didn't works for the government. Those perpetual reports would make her insane, especially if you could use the time much better – for example to take a cozy bath or to rehearse new tactics of seduction.
With a light sigh she dropped on the chair opposite of Karasuma. "Karasuma~ I am bored", the blonde tried to get the attention of Karasuma with a feigned childish intonation. Without lifting his gaze from the monitor for one second his finger continued to type in the same rhythm.
Being ignored never pleased the assassin. Briefly she thought about another strategy. Promptly an option came into her mind how she could gain his attention and for that she didn't even needed her female charms. "Was there already a feedback from the students?" During this question Irina tried to use a casual tone and to her own amazement Karasuma paused und looked up from his laptop. "Just now the first group called. The plan failed." After a short break and the restart of his typing he added, "Though since when are you interested in the attempts of the students?"
The blonde couldn't suppress a brief outraged snort. "I am always interested in the progress of the students. Maybe I can get a good opportunity to kill the octopus due to the weaknesses the students discover." Once again Irina received no reaction to her words.
With crossed arms she leaned back into her chair and observed Karasuma. On the way back to the hotel and during their conversation no idea for revenge came to her mind. Since she accepted the contract to assassinate the octopus she didn't noticed even one weakness on Karasuma. Indeed she tried a few times to start a conversation with Karasuma but usually his answers were short and he stays distant.
How should she try to take revenge?
A lack of time was not really a problem. Until the groups of students would came back to the hotel it will take until the evening. The octopus won't come back to the hotel between his stops by the different groups of student with a high probability, too.
The factor space was in her favor as well. The small hotel was entirely reserved for the students of class E – A precautionary measure from the government so that the existence of the octopus won't get public.
The only missing thing was a good plan and it seemed to be an unsolvable problem. Up to now the blonde always had a clear goal – to get close enough to her prey until she had the chance to kill it – and her only concern was the execution. But this time, with such an open goal like revenge, she had problems to construct a precise plan.
The steady tapping of fingers on a keyboard slowly brought Irina back from her thoughts. Even after this short amount of time, which she had spent on this contract, the faint but steady tapping was annoying her from day to day more. Couldn't take Karasuma a break from his work for once? But apparent he was one of these persons who can't get enough from their work.
Just when the assassin rose to leave for her room – before she starts to change her plan for revenge into an assassination on Karasuma's laptop – an idea came up in her mind. Karasuma didn't permit her to wear the clothes she wanted. Why not prevent him to pursue his work?
Slowly but steady the plan took shape in her mind and during her walk to her room, to gather the needed equipment, anticipation sprouted inside of her.
Around noon the planning phase and the biggest part of her preparation were completed.
Carefully, in order to avoid making any noise, Irina closed the door of her victim's room. Quickly she verified that the door was locked. She didn't want to commit an error by which Karasuma could notice her entry into his room prematurely.
Hurried Irina sneaked down the hall and the stairs which lead down into the basement. There were several storage rooms. Without hesitation she stepped to one room and with a picklock – which she already used to open the door of Karasuma's room – she started to work. Picking simple locks was one of her well trained routines.
Inside the storage room she briefly looked around and decided to hide her stolen goods on one of the high shelf boards. Pleased she looked onto the surprisingly tall stack of papers. She didn't expect that Karasuma would carry that much printed information with him to Kyoto.
The first stage of her plan was done. With a quiet impact her bag with equipment hit the floor and she began to search the required materials.
Once her preparations were complete she made her way back. The toughest part of her plan still awaited her: The abduction of a certain laptop.
Seemingly bored the blonde assassin was laying on one of the couches inside the sitting room and was flicking through a fashion magazine. Her eyes roamed briefly onto the clock on the wall. Every moment the second group of students will give their report about their assassination and this will be the moment of the abduction.
When the moment finally came Irina jumped a little while loud ringing filled the room. Her gaze wandered to Karasuma who stopped writing his report and answered the call. "Karasuma…one moment the reception is bad…" With an annoyed hum he left the room to search for a better signal.
His steps were barely out of reach when the blonde jumped up from her couch. While she walked to Karasuma's laptop – that was of course looked, but this didn't have the slightest impact on her plan – she reached for the small gadget inside the pocket of her track suit. Briefly she controlled the settings of the mobile phone jammer and scaled the radius up. During previous missions the gadget, which she got from her master, proved useful and fortunately she decided to bring it on this trip.
After the assassin put the gadget back into her pocket she seized the laptop and went to the prepared storage room. She carefully opened the door a crack and squeezed through it to not accidently activating her own trap. With the help of a small stool, which she already used the first time, she put the laptop aside on the highest shelf board.
The blond deactivate the jammer with a smug smile and stepped down from the stool. So far her revenge plan was working without difficulties. Leaving the room, without activating her trap, and giving Karasuma the information about the whereabouts of his work material, more wasn't needed to be done. Once she lured Karasuma into her trap and he was imprisoned, she would let him rot there for some hours. Until she decides it is enough. More likely until the students and the octopus came back.
However fate had another scenario planned.
Startled the blonde turned around as the door behind her opened. "What…?" Her bewildered shout stopped as soon as she started it. Under the door frame stood no one else than Karasuma. He entered the room further and looked confused at the assassin. Just when he opened his mouth in order to say something, the door slapped close with a loud bang.
With increasing confusion he grabbed the doorknob and tried to open the door, but the door didn't budged one millimeter. After some rough tugs on the knob Karasuma turned around and looked at the blonde assassin. This person seemed to have turned into a pillar of salt, a mixture of wonder and terror in her eyes. "Could you explain to me, what this is all about?" These words tore her back to reality.
"It wasn't planned like this. Why are you already down here?" The beginning of rage resonated in Irina's voice.
"Straight after I came back inside after the call I saw how you vanished behind a door with the inscription 'Staff only'. Of course I followed you…but what do you mean by 'it wasn't planned like this?" Towards the end a threatening overtone was attached to his words. Irina already had heard this kind of overtone during her missions. Karasuma will not be content without an answer.
There could only help one thing: Grit your teeth and get to it. "I wanted to take revenge…" the blonde whispered with a barely noticeable voice.
"You wanted what?" Karasuma asked.
"I wanted to take revenge!" returned she in noticeably louder voice. Defensively she crossed her arms but still she looked directly into Karasuma's eyes. She wouldn't give in easily.
"You wanted to take revenge…for what?" Wonder was written all over Karasuma's face.
"…for forcing me to change"
Slowly Karasuma got a more detailed picture of the situation. Yet apparently one question remained unsettled. "And because of that you wanted to imprison me inside a storage room?"
A slight blush sneaked onto the blondes cheeks. In the meantime she appeared to realize that her plan wasn't outstanding. "Exactly and in order to lure you into the room like planned I would use you laptop and papers," she confessed with nod towards mentioned objects.
A gaze full of lack of understanding met the assassin. "I will put aside my question how a professional assassin can think about such an idea. How can we leave this room?"
"Not at all"
"What?" For the first time a hint of anger was shown in Karasuma's voice.
"The trap is constructed so that you can only open the door from the outside" grumbled Irina while starting to regret not including a possibility to escape from the inside. Once Karasuma started to get out his phone Irina started to shake her head. "I checked during preparation if you can get reception. Down here you don't have signal. You can't kick in the door because it is a fire door. Our greatest hope to get out of here is when the third group of students wants to make their report and they can't reach you. Then they will inform the octopus and he will come to check on us…" The blond could have done without a rescue through the octopus, but in her opinion there wasn't another solution to this problem.
A motion snapped her out of her thoughts. "What are you doing?" she asked Karasuma who walked past her.
"Because we inevitably have to spend our time here, I can at least make use of it and continue on my report" replied he while using the stool, which was still placed next to the shelf, to reach for his laptop.
"Don't you dare…!" the assassin shouted as her hand took hold of Karasuma. If they were looked up here for some hours and she had to endure the tapping of the keyboard, she would get mad.
In retrospect she should have known that it was no good idea to grab someone who was standing on a stool.
A short feeling of falling and a not particularly soft impact were to consequences of her action. A lot more pleasant wasn't the fact that Karasuma came down upon the blonde.
For one moment there was silence which was broken by Irina.
"Ka…Karasuma…I can't breathe!" the blonde croaked. Her fellow prisoner, who was lying with his back on her, was encouraged to roll down from her.
"What was this supposed to be" muttered Karasuma and he lifted his head as far as his eyes needed to focus on the blond assassin. For a split second a hint of worry sneaked onto his face. "Irina…is everything all right?"
The person addressed was lying on the floor and breathing heavily, her eyes seemed to don't have any focus. Some seconds went by before Karasuma, meanwhile noticeably more worried, got an answer. "Do you have an idea how painful it is when someone with your weight falls on you?" Irina tried to use her normal outraged tone of voice – with which she complained to Karasuma about the students all too often – however her voice missed a lot off strength to sound convincingly.
As the blonde heaved herself up a quiet clacking sounded. A brief glance showed the jammer, which dropped out of her pocket. Annoyed she grabbed for the gadget, hopefully it hasn't taken any damage. Interest on a lecture from her master, that she should handle her working materials with more care, was one thing she didn't have.
Just as she wanted to draw back her hand with the jammer another hand seized her hand. Bewildered the assassin looked up.
„What is this gadget?" Karasuma asked without hesitation and with a frowning voice.
The blonde only shrugged. "A mobile phone jammer"
"Why would you bring a jammer on a class trip?"
"You never know if you could use something like this. Better safe than sorry. Besides it was useful for this plan." With a slight pull she freed her hand and looked at the gadget, but her technical knowledge wasn't sufficient to decide of the gadget actually took damage. She was only sure about the fact that the plastic cover was beyond saving, even with the use of a lot duct tape.
"Because of that I had bad reception just now"
"Somehow I had to get you away from you laptop. When you aren't training the students you only spent your time in front of it. One could think that your only interest is work." Abandoning a potential repair of the jammer the blonde put it back into her pocket.
"In this field of work one should display a certain degree of professionalism. After all private matters aren't a part of it."
After such a comment the assassin's curiosity was awakened. "Oh, someone like you has a private life?" she asked with an ironical overtone, yet inwardly she was delighted about the opportunity of gaining knowledge about her co-worker – as long as he will not simply ignore her question or block for the sake of his 'professionalism'.
"Of course I have a private life."
The blonde couldn't suppress a brief smile. "Such an answer doesn't convince me at all. Name some concrete examples for your so-called 'private life'." With a challenging glow in her eyes Irina fixed them on Karasuma.
"I am training…"
"Training of any kind I will not accept as private life because it helps you with your work", Irina interrupted him after the first words, "likewise house chores like cleaning or shopping are not private life because they have to be done."
Some time passes.
"Karasuma?"
"I am still thinking."
Once more the brief laugh of the assassin filled the room, but this time tautness resonated within it. "You really don't have a private life. Who would have thought of that?" She still tried to use a relaxed and a bit mocking tone of voice, however in this case it was hard for her. She had anticipated that Karasuma will not talk about his private life. But that it does actually not exist was giving her a slight shock.
"You don't have friends with whom you don't only talk about work?" The Blonde inquired.
"No." The answer was without a bit of hesitation.
"No girlfriend, affair or something like this?"
"No. Except it would go after the will of my neighbor…"
"What does your neighbor got to do with it?" An amused smile sneaked on the face of the assassin. "Got an admirer?"
"Yes…a pushy admirer."
This statement aroused Irina's interest. "And you don't succeed to chase her away with your charming nature?"
Karasuma regarded the blonde with a stare that would let normal people – and most probably his neighbor could be considered under this category – take flight. More than a playful innocent smile Karasuma didn't earned from the assassin. Instead of dwelling on her prior statement she continued the conversation. "Ever thought of asking one of your female colleagues for the favor of playing your girlfriend? No matter how stubborn your neighbor is, if you are taken she would probably submit."
"To burden his co-workers with personal matters is not professional", retorted Karasuma with a serious expression and received an annoyed rolling of her eyes from the assassin.
"How stubborn one can persist on professionalism?" Before Karasuma could give an answer the blond got a new idea. "How about I play your girlfriend? Since we only work together until the death of the octopus we aren't real colleagues."
Karasuma seemed to think about this offer for a short while, before realizing the true foundation of this offer. "You only want to get to know more about me in order to obtain a possible advantage."
"I would never –", one stare from Karasuma was enough to interrupt Irina. "Okay, okay. Yes, I want take advantage of the situation. Yes, I want to try finding one of you weaknesses, which I could use. But isn't this a natural desire for someone like me? Since years I search the weaknesses of my fellow man…but I can't find a single one on you. This is a scratch on my pride."
With crossed arms and a pout on her face the blonde evaded every eye contact with Karasuma. Because of that she didn't noticed the surprised – almost shocked – expression on Karasuma's face. He expected much, but not such an honest answer.
"Okay, we have a deal."
Utterly put off her stride the assassin stared at Karasuma. "What deal?" she asked, once Karasuma made no move to explain his statement more fully.
"You will play my girlfriend and thus help me to get rid of my neighbor. In return you may examine my flat for weaknesses."
"So what's the catch? It is to imagine that you will let me search through your flat just like that?" Irina asked warily. All of her for years trained instincts warned her that this could only be some kind of trap.
Now, finally, realizing the blondes disquiet, Karasuma offered an explanation. "Even when one can sometimes doubt your competence as an assassin…"
"Do you want to insult me or explain something to me?" interrupted a blonde with pricked pride, however this didn't prevented Karasuma to continue his explanation unwavering.
"Even when one can doubt them one can't deny your results. If there is a person who can discern my weaknesses from my flat, then you are one of the probable candidates. If it is not possible for you to find my weaknesses, then it is not very probable that another person can find them."
"This means…you draw a profit from my curiosity?" Even if the blonde found it hard to admit, Karasuma's perspective on the situation was remarkable. Involuntary she remembered some of the trials her master arranged for her to test her strong and weak points. She never toke a liking to them and would never – like Karasuma in this case – take up such a trial voluntarily.
Further she couldn't pursue her thoughts because her attention was demanded by the opening of the storage room door. The confused hotel owner looked back and forth between Irina and Karasuma. "So I was not deluded when I thought I am hearing voices out of this storage room. "
The E class students slowly got off the train. They cheerfully chattered while carrying their suitcases and bags over threshold of the train door. Some students were greeted merrily by their parents whereas others were standing in groups to wait for the arrival of their pick up squad. Waving the ones said goodbye who will use public transport to go home.
The assassin was standing offside to the group and was watching the bustling activity. Her suitcase was standing next to her; of course she got the boys of the class to carry it out of the train. After all her suitcase was the heaviest one from the whole group – if you excluded the luggage of the octopus.
Right when the blonde planned to encourage some students that were standing around uselessly to carry her suitcase to the taxi station in front of the train station, the suitcase besides her was lifted from the ground. Surprised she looked around for the culprit, who turned out to be Karasuma. This one headed into the direction of the exit without an explanation.
After hesitating shortly Irina followed her kidnaped suitcase with a fast pace. When she finally closed the gap and was walking next to Karasuma, she couldn't suppress asking a question. "What is the meaning behind this?"
"As long as not every student got home we don't have to worry about our target. A better opportunity to approach the problem about my neighbor, without him noticing it, will not appear quickly again."
Once again the assassin got aware how much Karasuma thought ahead. She herself hadn't thought about the extremely curious octopus, while offering her help.
"Where are we going?" asked a bewildered blonde when Karasuma turned around another corner then she had expected.
"This station offers long-term parking; therefore I drove here by car."
A ride with Karasuma's car – she will use this to begin her search for weaknesses early. Beforehand there was another problem which she should take care of. Fortunately the perfect solution presented itself right in front of her eyes.
"Karasuma, we, more precisely I, have to make a halt in between."
Without further explanation the blonde seized her suitcase and set off for the station toilet. Doing this wasn't indeed the best solution – the smell let her wrinkle her nose – but sometimes you couldn't be picky.
A few minutes later she emerged out of the toilet in a new outfit. The assassin questioned if Karasuma's neighbor would be sufficiently intimidated when she showed up wearing her track suit. Therefore she decided for a graceful dress, which accented her figure splendidly without being too provocative. She pined up her hair and chose a simple Make-Up. Decent and professional – she almost felt like a female version of Karasuma.
Obviously pleased with the result the assassin approached – how much she missed the clicking of heels during the class trip – Karasuma. Together they resumed on their way to the parking lot. Naturally Irina passed her suit case immediately into the hand of her accompaniment.
Interested Irina looked out of the car window. Since the beginning of the drive she speculated in what kind of neighborhood Karasuma is living. She herself rented an apartment in a better neighborhood for the span of this job. Actually she viewed an even better apartment, but her master forbade it because of the high rent.
It was no surprise for the blonde that in the meantime they arrived in a rather normal residential area. Karasuma didn't occur like the type human who would unnecessarily invest money on housing.
Due to this she wondered in the beginning why Karasuma owned a brand new car. Yet barely after entering it she realized that the car was with a high probability provided by his employer. Her experienced eyes perceived fast that inside this vehicle she wouldn't find any weaknesses of its driver, not even the radio was switched on.
Startled Irina snapped out of her thoughts as the warm daylight was replaced with the artificial illumination of an underground car park. Briefly she counted the parking slots. If every flat had one parking lot the building would consist of 12 flats.
Karasuma barely parked the vehicle as the blonde opened the door to get out. Without hesitation she followed Karasuma to the stairs, she couldn't spot an elevator. Fortunately Karasuma still proved to be a gentleman and carried her suit case. Irina could tell certainly that she wouldn't have survived the ascent to the topmost floor if she had to carry it by herself.
After a few steps down the corridor to the entrance door of Karasuma's flat the assassin got to know the neighbor she only had known through words until now. This neighbor was leaving her flat at the moment, shopping bag in hand. A more noticeable "coincidental" meeting would have been impossible to plan, in that the blonde was sure.
It's time to start the play.
With some quick light as a feather strides Irina lessened the distance to Karasuma and grabbed his free hand. Of course he showed confusion for a brief moment but with this she reckoned. The only thing that relieved her was that his trained combat reflexes weren't activated.
"I would like to eat something and then spent the rest of the day sleeping. The beds in the hotel were so uncomfortable that I couldn't sleep one bit" the blonde said to Karasuma with a feigned yawn. In order to support her last statement she kneaded her neck with her free hand.
"For now this will be the last business trip. Should I order food or should I cook something small?" she was asked by Karasuma. Apparently he recovered himself fast and was trying to act his part in this play. Before the blonde could think about an answer Karasuma pretended to notice his neighbor. "Good afternoon, Satou-san."
Irina had to suppress a smirk. The neighbors gaze changed from confusion to realization within a short amount of time. But this was not the only reason for the initiating smirk on the assassin's face. No. The emotion that came after realization was the reason for that. Clearly one could see a mixture of anger, jealousy and disappointment. Her defeat was writ large in the neighbor's face.
With a nearly inaudible voice she returned the greeting and hurriedly started down the stairs.
Only when the entrance door of the flat was closed behind her, the blonde allowed herself to enjoy her victory to the fullest. A smug sparkle was in her eyes and the corners of her mouth were pulled up into a cheerful smile. "For the start your neighbor should hold herself back." Jauntily she put down her shoes at the entrance and began her search through the flat without any delay.
From the corner of her eye the assassin noticed how Karasuma parked her suit case in the middle of the living room and walked to an adjoining room with a thoughtful expression. "The question is how long this "for the start" will last."
Momentary Irina suspended her flat raid and passed through the door where Karasuma had disappeared a moment before. "How long this "for the start" will last depends on how far you are willing to go."
With an appraising look she regarded the kitchen, before her gaze rested on Karasuma. Seemingly he was brewing tea. Alongside him on the counter lay some flyers for delivery services. In order to occupy her hands she flicked through the flyers and she only now realized how long her last meal dated back.
Just as the blonde intended to repeat her previous statement as a question, she received her answer. "What would be needed for a permanent solution?"
"For a permanent solution a single encounter will not be enough. We have to ensure that your neighbor will see us together a few times." In a casual motion she handed Karasuma on of the flyers and announced her order. "Of course the efficiency of the encounters depends on how our play will turn out."
Thankfully Irina accepted the cup of tea which Karasuma passed her. Since she wasn't expecting an answer, she continued her search for weaknesses.
"This can't possibly be true" the assassin muttered as she slumped down next to Karasuma on his couch. "Your flat could stand empty and one would probably find the same amount of information. Here are no objects which are giving hints on the owner. No pictures. No music or movie collection. Not even porn magazines!" Her eyes were flashing angrily at Karasuma. "Do you own another flat in this building where you are keeping you secrets? Or did you always hide them in time before my search?"
All of the blonde's remaining pride was crushed by the pleased grin of her opposite. Indignation showed on her face. She would never have assumed that Karasuma was one of these people who can feel schadenfreude.
Sulkily the assassin launched into a punch at Karasuma's spleen that was blocked by him without any problems. "Shouldn't you know through your training that such an action is pointless?"
Irina would have liked to punch this grin out of his face, but she couldn't deny his argument. She could only lose a fight with a stronger opponent. Her forte simply was to get close enough to her victim until the perfect opportunity exposed itself. Without the factor of surprise she couldn't work. As soon as her identity, her mission, was busted she had lost.
Her concentration turned back to Karasuma. How relaxed he was sitting on his couch, still a grin on his face. Even broader than before, presumably because of her dejected posture. He had noticed that she accepted her lack of opportunities. He didn't view her as a threat and didn't expect a renewed attack – and even if one happens, he wouldn't have a problem to parry it. This analysis if the situation scraped on her pride even more.
An idea emerged for the fraction of a second in her thoughts. What if...?
Hastily she re-examined the circumstances and her gaze got stuck in her right hand. This one was still raised, as well as Karasuma's block.
With a small twist of her wrist she could grab for Karasuma's forearm. Without giving him a chance to react to this, her hand closed around the forearm and she used this hold to pull herself closer to Karasuma. With her free hand she implied a hit into the direction of his face and as she had expected Karasuma deflected it.
However her objective was not to get her hit trough to Karasuma.
The remaining momentum, which she got by pulling close, she used to bring her plan to an end by closing the last distance between herself and Karasuma.
The horror and confusion in Karasuma's eyes gave Irina a triumphant feeling. Her body nearly trembled because of her joy of victory.
Before Karasuma seized the opportunity to lessen her victory the blonde detached her lips from his and leaned back with a sassy smirk.
"You should be able to see your face right at this moment" she remarked and then she couldn't avoided it any longer to laugh out loud. Too much she was enjoying Karasuma's flabbergasted expression.
Laughing the blonde dropped down on her back. Her abs started to ache after a short while and she tried to calm down, what, however, took up some time.
Once only a wide smirk was on her lips she brushed tears out of the corners of her eyes and tried to get up.
Tried.
Surprised she opened her eyes, which she closed during her laughing fit, and determined the obstacle that prevented her from taking a sitting position. Bewildered she spotted a figure bent over her. The figure of Karasuma.
"What…"
Barely Irina lifted her eyes, to establish eye connect with Karasuma, when she froze. One thing her years of work experience were telling her: With such a stare a predator fixed his prey.
Swallowing heavily the blonde collected her courage. "W…What is this supposed to be?" Inwardly she cursed herself for her shaking voice.
If someone asked her later for this answer she would have ended the conversation immediately. It wouldn't be possible for her to rudimentarily describe how frightening Karasuma's tone of voice was, albeit she would tend less to tone of voice but to the word growl. "This I could ask you, too. What were you thinking during your action right now?"
This question Irina was asking herself.
What got her to pursue this impulsively idea? Her injured pride.
Why is she trying that desperately to attain a win against Karasuma? She wants to be taken serious.
Why did she try to win through a kiss? Because she didn't stand a cat's chance in hell in a fight against Karasuma. Moreover, didn't it fit to her working style? Seducing her victim and striking then?
But she never planned to strike. Not one moment was wasted for such thoughts. Probably she would have had enough time to grab her hidden knife and place it in position on the level of Karasuma's carotid artery. Such a method the assassin had to choose for a win.
Then why did she only executed the diversion?
"Irina?"
During this process of thoughts the blonde was absentmindedly gazing into space. Blinking she tried to focus her gaze on Karasuma once again, because his voice was hinting on a different emotion than moments before.
To her surprise the assassin had to realize that her assumption was spot on. It wasn't anger that was visible on his face, it was worry. An emotion that she had never saw on this face. An emotion that didn't fit into the professional image that Karasuma was portraying.
And she was responsible for it. Her actions got this emotion on Karasuma's face. Guilt seized the assassin, suffocating her for a moment.
"Stop looking at me like this. Such a look doesn't fit you at all!" the blonde tried to defuse the situation with a played unconcerned mien. Unfortunately she couldn't even convince herself with this acting performance. Therefore she decided to use another tactic. "Your tone of voice just startled me a bit. In addition I realized that that this action was not an outstanding idea. Like my revenge plan during the class trip."
"How do you manage to think up such plans?"
Irina was flooded with relief. Apparently Karasuma got involved in this conversation. "In my imagination the plans proceed noticeably better."
"Maybe you should think more realistic?"
Outraged the blonde snorted angrily. "One of the greatest weapons of an assassin is his or her imaginativeness. And THAT unrealistic aren't my thoughts."
The next question set the assassin thinking. "To prevent future actions of this kind: Why are you constructing such plans and more importantly why are they directed against me?"
Of course the blond could have reasoned with her injured pride or her desire to prove herself towards Karasuma. However she was once again bothered by the problem that she only executed the diversion and never planned to strike.
Why was the kiss the goal of this plan?
It felt for Irina like an electric shock was raging through every cell of her body. For an instant she recognized clearly the foundation of her objective. For an instant she was filled with only one thought.
For an instant – and then her thoughts began to race. Tried to deny, disown the discovery. Mocked them as a lie. As an imagination.
Because it couldn't be true.
Wasn't allowed to be true – under no circumstances.
Yet Irina couldn't deny it, couldn't disown her feelings.
One moment – didn't she forget something? Or rather: The presence of another person? The person that is responsible for the chaos of her thoughts? And didn't this person asked her a question?
"Um…" Desperately the blonde tried to get order into the chaos inside her head. About what were they talking? Her plans? Why they were directed against Karasuma?
Damn it, why was her heart racing all of a sudden? And why must Karasuma watching her like that? And why was he still bent over her and thus blocking every chance of escape?
Since when did she lose her cool because of such a situation? Just because she feared to lose the control? Because she wasn't ready to take a risk? Because she was afraid of being rejected?
Determined Irina gathered all her over the years collected courage. "You ask me why my plans are directed against you? I want to accomplish that you notice me as someone on par with you. That you take me seriously. That you are aware of me at all, noticing my existence."
"This are you reasons?"
Irina laid down her head on the side, severing eye contact with Karasuma. She should have guessed that Karasuma is not sensitive enough to understand the hidden message that resonated in her answer. Nevertheless, she could control her disappointment about how dense Karasuma is only badly.
In that case she had to be more direct…
"I want to archive these things because I started falling in love with you."
…or simply admitting her feelings.
No matter what kind of reaction the blonde anticipated, it totally didn't match the reaction she got.
"Because of that you think up such plans? Not an especially effective method.
The assassin doubted her perception. Was there actually resonating a mocking tone in Karasuma's voice?
Shocked she was staring at him. "I am confessing my feelings and you are making light of me?"
"Not over you, only about your manner to approach problems." Was she only imagining the provoking gleam in Karasuma's eyes? No. This was no imagination.
"Ignoring the fact that I only just realized the meaning of my feelings, with a direct approach I would have had the same success by a person like you."
Waiting she looked up at Karasuma. Simultaneously she was crossing her arms; at least the distance between them was sufficient for this. Although her hand was grazing over Karasuma's T-Shirt during this action – when had he changed clothes anyway? Irina couldn't remember an exact time. Most probably while she was searching through the flat. And how could a person look that well in a T-Shirt and sweatpants? – What was totally not intended. As if you could plan such a 'random' contact. Impossible.
"A person like me?"
"You would never get into a relationship with a co-worker. This wouldn't be professional." In the voice of the blonde a hint of resignation was resonating. Realizing the own lack of opportunities was never a nice matter.
"As long as the relationship is not affecting the work it doesn't pose a problem." Karasuma returned with a tone of voice that one would use to talk about the weather. As if his attitude was the most normal thing in the world.
Hope started to bloom inside Irina. "And what does you attitude towards life mean towards my question?"
"What question?" He was playing with her that was clear for the assassin right away. Certainly she knew that her confession didn't contain a question how Karasuma's will answer toward it. But even Karasuma couldn't be that dense to not catching her innuendo.
"Usually one expects some kind of answer when you confess falling in love with another person."
She almost buying that Karasuma was thinking about an answer, if she hadn't saw this sparkling in his eyes. He already got an answer. Irina couldn't believe that Karasuma let her dangle.
Before her thoughts could begin to forge out a plan – Irina questioned her learning ability – she received her answer. But not in the form she was expecting.
Startled her brain tried to process all sensations that assailed her. During her life Irina had kissed many men, yet she couldn't compare her previous experiences with this one. She couldn't remember the last time when she was overwhelmed by a kiss like this. The last time she didn't had the control over a kiss.
- - - Epilogue - - -
"I hate that I have to climb this mountain every single day" muttered Irina as the school building finally came into sight. Slightly out of breath she entered the building and change from a pair of sneakers – after some days she was fed up with climbing the mountain with her pretty and only a bit impractical shoes – into her prepared pair of shoes.
Jauntily she walked to the classroom where the students, the octopus and Karasuma were waiting and talking merrily until the beginning of the first period. The main topic was, of course, the class trip to Kyoto.
Briefly her eyes fell on Karasuma. After their kiss he set up some rule so that their relationship will not influence their work inside the school. As if the assassin didn't know how to act professional.
Overall she got to know some of his principles about relationships. One of these principles was her eviction into Karasuma's guest room. Apparently he wanted to take their relationship slowly. After her complaint he explained something about a 3-dates-rule that he holds on to. There she had to design a plan so that Karasuma will forget about this regulation.
Seemingly she was absolutely not teachable when it concerns the construction of plans. In hindsight she thought her revenge plan during the class trip wasn't that bad – after all it started this chain of events.
"Good morning, Bitch-sensei." How much she wanted to thank Karma for this nickname, if you equate thank with kill. Unfortunately the octopus will never tolerate something like this.
Speaking of the octopus… "Koro-sensei why are you discoloring in pink?" asked Kayano the in this color discolored octopus. All students applied their attention to him and not a sound is to be heard inside the classroom.
The octopus, seemingly not too keen about the attention, evaded all eye contact. Whereby the students of course only got more curious and began interrogate him.
"Hey Nagisa, is a pink color standing for once again?" Nakamura called through the room, whereupon Nagisa started to search for the matching information inside his notepad.
"Pink indicates that he is embarrassed about something. Also he gets this coloring when he thinks about romantic relationships or when he tries to pair somebody up with someone.
Irina sensed how she grew stiff for one moment. She noticed how the octopus briefly looked back and forth between Karasuma and her, luckily without one of the students realizing it.
Irina couldn't believe what was looming here. Did the octopus check their flats yesterday after all the students were looked after? The thought about the octopus, how he watched, armed with binoculars, through one of the windows into Karasuma's flat and took notes about what he was seeing, was haunting through the assassins head. This gossipy octopus really appeared to don't know the meaning of the word privacy…
"Oh, I just can't get a saying out of my head since Kyoto" the octopus said with a large smirk "'Revenge is sweet'"
…and apparently he nurtured a death wish. Irina grabbed for her Anti-Sensei-Knife and started an attack on the octopus that dodged every stab with an even larger smirk. The students exchanged confused gazes until they started watching the fight with a shrug.
Nobody noticed how Karasuma left the room and pulled to plug of the fridge inside the staff room and opened the fridges' door. Until lunch break the ice cream, that Koro-sensei was storing there, will most likely be molten.