Chapter 3 - Analyze Time

To Ryuunosuke Chiba, aim a person with a shotgun was an action as natural as eating the breakfast in the morning. During his professional life, he never failed one target. Never.

So he doesn't understand actions like feeling proud to make a headshot in a videogame or pump a friend in a paintball game. Properly shoot a gun was a ruthless art for which it is required calm mind and cold blood. And talent. Tons of talent.

When he was studying in Koro-sensei's class, his classmates asked him things like "How can you hit the center of the target?" or "How can you see with that hair covering your eyes?" These were stupid questions to him. He was able to hit the target because it can't move to Mach 20 like his teacher. And obviously, the fringe was blocking his visual capacity. But he doesn't need to see.

Since Chiba was only a child, he was forced to hide his eyes behind his hair. His kindergarten classmates and his relatives always felt fear in those eyes. When they believed he wasn't hearing, his parents talked about his cold look. They say he had the eyes of a murder, and even then he was too young to understand, now he begin to perceive it.

Why?

Because in the deepest of his classmates' eyes he could feel the same terrifying aura from which all the people accused him in his childhood. Under their moral shields and happiness' masks, inside them was boiling a bloodthirst which only the most expert assassins trained with monsters, as they were, could have.

But the bloodthirst of 3-E wasn't simple and crude, like as psychopaths or serial assassins. Theirs was controlled: they could use it to frighten anybody who stood in their way, and hide it to avoid being detected while an assassination. It was this ability that marked them as killing professionals.

And they could never get rid of that mark.

"You seem meditative, Chiba-kun. Something happened?" asked his eternal companion, Rinka Hayami, whom he had never separated, not even after they left Kunugigaoka. "You must keep your mind active, the target is about to come."

As said by the red-haired girl, their training target appeared soon. Ryouma Terasaka was big when he was 15, but now, at 22, he became a titan. The disproportionate agglomeration of muscles that was making his body, synchronized with his bicolor hair and his tanned skin, made him look like the leader of a New York gang. His little green eyes scoured every corner of the forest in search of anything or anyone who could be a menace. Feeling free of danger, the green-eyed young man relaxed his body and sat down, leaning in a rock.

"Damn…" he muttered to himself. "What's the meaning of fight between us right now? We don't need this training."

"Now is our choice" whispered Rinka, next to Chiba.

"Wrong" said a mumbling voice, coming from his mobile phone. The Autonomous Thinking Fixed Artillery, better known as Ritsu, was barely changed his look in the last years, due to she was a digital image in a screen. Even so, the pink-haired girl had changed her figure so it was not so different from their classmates. Now he has a young woman about twenty years old, with pink hair and blue eyes filling the screen of the mobile phone. If he were Takebayashi, sure he'll be excited to have "Ritsu 2.0" in his smartphone. But the otaku was in the opposite team during the training.

"What should we do, Ritsu?" asked Hayami, also whispering.

"Well, if you move thirty degrees in opposite directions without make any noise, the chances of Terasaka realizing your presence will be lowered in 87%. Actually is your best option you have if you want to hit the target" explained the IA. "¡Good luck!"

Ritsu vanished from the screen, and the sniper stucked it in his pocket. Both youngsters looked at each other, and in a silent agreement, they moved like shadows until being located in their assigned places. Rinka had become an authentic stealth machine. The girl who had the best aim in 3-E became someone able to hide anywhere and shoot from any location. Because of that she was called "The Bat".

But not only his skills were higher, she also had grown, both physically and mentally. Before serious and introverted tsundere, she became a professional beautiful assassin. She used to wear dark or camouflage clothes that emphasized her slim figure. Or maybe it was what Chiba thought, accustomed as he was to see her that way. And he also changed. He wasn't ashamed to show his eyes as he did when he was young, so he had altered his fringe so one of them was visible; a sharp brown eye which had gained the respect of all hitmen, men or women, that he had crossed in his assassin career. "When he put the eye, he put the bullet" they used to say about him. For that and many other reasons, the nickname "Death God's Eye" was given to him.

The Bat and the Death God's Eye, always working together, to the point to gain the nickname of "Couple of Hawks". Since his stay in Class E, they were always together, in study, in work, in love… always together. So there were a perfect team. So there were unbeatable.

And now was the time to show it to the rest of the class.

Grabbing his loyal gun, a Dragunov sniper rifle, he layed down on the grass, aiming his ex-classmate. Terasaka seemed relaxed; he didn't realized their movements. He glanced at Rinka. She was in position too, and was looking at him, waiting for his signal.

And so they did.

The anti-Korosensei bullets, ineffective against humans, flew out perfectly synchronized. They were to hit the target with no doubt.

At least, that was what Chiba thought.

"Nice try" Terasaka scoffed, who had used two stones to protect himself to be shooted. "Do you think you are the only ones who have improved your skills? Don't make me laugh."

The black-haired stood up.

"The bullets we used agains the octopus make more noise than normal bullets. I only had to sit down and hear" he explained. "Do you think I am the same idiot that seven years ago, right? You are mistaken. See you, fools. "

After saying that, Terasaka got his hands into his pockets and began to walk up to the hill. That confused both gunners.

"Why he…?" asked Chiba, but he received the answer before he hoped. A noise similar to a vehicle moving over the leaves, alerted him. There was something behind him.

He suddenly turned, only to find a small tank which was aiming him with its cannon. Chiba glanced at his companion, searching for help. But she was in the same situation.

"Thanks for distract them while I was sending my drones, Terasaka" said Itona through the walkie-talkie. "Karma has already take care of Sugaya and Mimura, and Megu has achieved to beat Isogai. Takebayashi's explosive trap caught Kayano defenceless, and she is K.O. Also, while you were with Chiba and Hayami, I've managed to deactivate Ritsu. I send Muramatsu to break his bracelet. If nothing happens to him, we can say the rival has lost seven people; half of them."

"And what about our side?" asked Terasaka. "How many losses we had?"

"Let me see… Megu was stabbed on back with Nakamura after the defeat of Isogai, and when Yada went to help her, Kanzaki has ambushed her and Yada was defeated. Also we lost Hazama, and Yoshida's speciality is chasing and high speed tracking, so it was logical for him to be defeated in a forest. In the other side, Okano caught Kimura while he was chasing Fuwa, so actually we have numerical superiority about nine against se-" Itona cut off his explain by a moment. He just received another call. "Forget what I said, someone took Muramatsu's bracelet before he could break Ritsu's. It's a tie, eight against eight.

"Who are our available combat force?"

"Besides you and me, we have Karma, Okajima, Okuda, Sugino, Takebayashi and Kurahashi. The enemy has Okano, Kanzaki, Nagisa, Nakamura, Hara, Fuwa, Maehara and Ritsu, but Ritsu can be easily removed because she is inactive."

"Well, what should I do?" asked Terasaka.

"Ritsu's state give us the advantage, and this can be decisive. We need to defeat her as fast as possible. Probably they've assigned someone strong to protect her until she wakes up, so we need your strength."

"Roger that" agreed the boy. "In the building, right?"

Ryoma went back to the classroom without any setback. In the last row of seats, Ritsu's main body was "sleeping" and her screen was off. The bracelet was tied up at one of the sides.

The game they were playing was easy. The class was divided in two teams, with fourteen members in each, randomly chosen. All of them had a bracelet made of easy-to-break materials. When the time runs out, the team which have more bracelets will be the winner.

Why have they to do that? He doesn't know.

After taking assistance, Lovro had given the bracelets to them and had divided the class in two groups. Then he had explained the rules and dropped them in the ground of Old Kunugigaoka to fight among them. They didn't explain any reason to do it. He had ordered them and they had obeyed, following his instinct.

An hour and a half was passed, and both teams were reduced in a half. Isogai was already out, so beating Ritsu, who was the main strategical mind in the rival team, was a priority for Terasaka's group. But for sure there were one or two people watching the cybernetic being, waiting to her wake up. But when Terasaka arrived to 3-E, the class was empty.

Permanently with his guard up, he slowly approached to the machine, ready for grab the bracelet. It seemed easy, but there was something that made the young hitman to hesitate. He felt that the classroom was surrounded by an incredibly intense bloodthirst a so huge killing intention that made this hair to crawl. Intensively shivering, Terasaka walked up to his goal. Being next to the Artillery Unit, he relaxed, and rose his hand to take the bracelet in the left corner. The boy sighed.

It was over. Now they would have the advantage. Or maybe not?

Before closing his fingers around the bracelet, Terasaka's instinct caused him to guard up. An intense shiver pierced his spine. That only mean one thing: DANGER!

A blue spot emerged with breakneck speed from behind the sleeping Ritsu. A knife quickly pounced on him, heading to his right arm. The feeling that Ryoma had in this moment was terrifying. He felt as a defenceless little animal, trapped in the body of a huge snake, about to be eaten. He only meet a few people who were being able to create that type of sensation. And only one of them had blue hair.

"Nagisa."

Being impossible to escape his attacker in less than a second, Terasaka closed his hand around the bracelet and dropped backwards, tearing up the bracelet from his hook. But the Black Snake's knife, hit his target. Terasaka's bracelet had shattered.

After that tense moment, a loud trumpet noise sounded in his headphone. Then the voice of Lovro said:

"Time is up, guys. The final result is a tie, seven to seven. Well done."

"So it's a tie, huh?" Terasaka smiled, but feeling a little disappointed. "I was excited about win…"

His complaints were interrupted by a little and soft hand. The ex-bully glanced up. Nagisa Shiota was giving him a hand, smiling. The black-haired sighed and stood up being helped by his friend.

"Guys, your results have been really outstanding. While the game, we have analyzed all of you and, valuing your individual abilities and your capacity of work in team, we concluded that you will be perfectly capable to take your assigned mission.

All the ex-students were hearing Lovro's words.

"If there was anyone who wants to give up, then is free to do it. But must be right now. Once the mission begin, there will be no regret."

Nobody said anything. The Russian smiled.

"As expected of you" he said. "Now let me introduce you the main investor of this operation, as well as the person who was the more interested in have you to join again, providing us with an operations infrastructure and livelihood."

Lovro looked at the door and rose his voice tone.

"Come in, please."

The door opened, and a man about 40 get into the classroom. His brown hair was perfectly combed, and his crimson eyes were looking the Team 3-E with a mesmerizing look. Dressed in a maroon suit, he walked with safe passage, almost dominant, and the hands behind his back. He seemed the personification of elegance and distinction.

But for all the people in the class, he was the personification of fear.

"Welcome back, Class E students "greeted Gakuho Asano. "Nice to meet you again."