Nagisa II
That Karasuma man was utterly serious. He honestly expected a bunch of high school students to kill that… octopus? Humanoid emoticon? Whatever it was, it easily dodged every strike and thrust of Karasuma's knife with a goofy grin on its face and even spared the time to touch up his eyebrows. If Karasuma was to be believed, it moved at Mach 20. How the hell could any of us totally average teenagers even touch it?
It was obvious to see that all of us were having doubts. Exchanged worried glances, cold sweats, panicked whispering, all signs of confusion and fear. We'd all expected to begin a hellish year of school, not... not an assassination!
Even if that octopus supposedly was going to destroy the world, it all just seemed too surreal.
"Is there no way you won't destroy the Earth?" called out one of my classmates. A redhead, Emiya. "I just… I don't see why anyone would want to do that in the first place."
"Ah, I'm afraid planetary annihilation is inevitable, if you don't kill me that is," the octopus replied jovially. That last part sounded almost teasing. "As for whether I want to destroy the world or not, it's ultimately irrelevant. Just know that I will."
"Of course, you'll be appropriately compensated for your heroic actions," Karasuma interjected, cutting off Emiya's reply. "Ten billion yen will be your reward, should you successfully assassinate him."
The room froze. You could've heard a pin drop.
… Did… Did I hear him right?
Then, pandemonium.
"Ehhhhhhh?!"
"Wait, what?!"
"Ten billion?! Fuck yeah!"
"With that money, I could-"
"Nico can't even count that high!"
"This is absurd!"
And those were only the responses I could make out. Some students, like Sunakawa, Maki, and Iki simply went wide-eyed and silent, their faces caught in slack shock. Most, though, were… vocal. It wasn't hard to pick out Tenga's rough voice among the din, along with Aisaka's and Echizen's. Too many different people with too many different reactions almost overwhelmed me, so much so that I almost forgot how I felt about recent developments.
To be honest, I wasn't even sure how I felt. I was supposed to be upset with killing someone, right? But… Ten billion yen, to save the world?
That didn't sound so bad, all things considered.
"Now, now, I know the money could make focusing solely on killing me a tempting prospect," the octopus said as things slowly calmed down. "But that doesn't excuse any of you from slacking on your studies!" He jabbed a tentacle at us. "Sensei expects each and every one of you to live up to your full potential as assassins and as students!"
"Pfft, with ten billion yen I don't see much reason to bother with school," sneered Matou, leaning back into his seat with a cocky grin.
"Nuruhuhuhuhu!" the octopus giggled. For some reason, green lines appeared to go horizontally across his face all of a sudden. "You may think so now, Matou-san, but you'll find killing me to be a more difficult task than you expect! Besides, if you all do well on your exams, I may be willing to allow for handicaps and other incentives. But that's only if you meet my standards!"
"But your standards would hardly match up to our standards," pointed out one of the girls. Her large, spiky black ponytail made her already tall figure seem to loom above those around her. "So you could just be setting up an unreachable goal so we never get a chance."
"Indeed, you would be correct, Yaoyorozu-san," Sensei conceded, nodding as the green lines faded away. "But worry not; Sensei is a harsh but fair Sensei! My standards are those of Kunugigaoka High, so your curriculum will be similar in difficulty to those of your main campus peers."
"I see." Yaoyorozu nodded seriously, accepting his answer easily. "Then I have no issues with that." That was hardly surprising; she was an honors student, last year. So then why was she here with us?
"Oi, I got a question," piped in Tenga. Unlike Emiya, he tended to live up more to the stereotypes of redheads. "Didn't Karasuma say you can't be killed by normal weapons? Then how the hell are we supposed to kill ya?"
"Your government has developed anti-me weapons that have proven to be quite effective!" If Sensei seemed at all bothered with that, he hid it remarkably well. As he spoke, one of Karasuma's men wheeled in a large metal crate. "Oh goody, and here they are!"
We were all handed a knife and a gun, which was either an assault rifle or a pistol. All of the weapons were painted dark green, and the knives flopped around as if they were made of rubber. The ammo for the guns were simple pink B.B.'s that had Sensei's face stenciled on them. Honestly, it felt like we were just given a bunch of toys, instead of actual weapons intended for killing.
It felt odd, holding the pistol in my hands. I'd never touched a gun before, and it wasn't like they were a common sight in everyday life. But now that I thought about it, none of that really bothered me. The fact that I could hurt someone, even if there was only one person in the world who it could hurt, wasn't all that upsetting t to me. I just… accepted it.
It belatedly occurred to me that the idea of killing anyone should have immediately repulsed me. It certainly bothered others in the class. Emiya, certainly, and it looked like Kaname was torn as well. Some seemed excited, others determined.
As for myself…. I'd be lying if I didn't feel a little thrill at the turn of events. What had at first appeared to be a dismal year of climbing out of the gutters now promised to be something a bit more exciting.
My hand tightened around the pistol, letting my thumb roll over the little bumps that ran along the grip. I looked up at our Sensei, the creature who was our teacher and our target. Then I smiled. Sensei smiled back.
It was the beginning of our year in this assassination classroom. The longest, happiest, saddest, most chaotic year of our lives.