Briefing
"Karma!" She squealed, running up to him. He opened his arms to her, smiling broadly and she jumped into them. Reaching her arms around his neck, she brought her knife point to the top of his spine. She felt him snickering as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
"Where'd you hide it this time, my dear?"
She pulled back, grinning at him. "In the strap of my halter dress. There's a small hole in the seam that I made just for my knife." She showed him where it was as she put her blade back where it belonged.
"Still living up to your old name, I take it? I'm impressed. But surely that's not the only one you have on you?"
"Not even close," she said, giggling. She proceeded to hug her best friend tightly again. "I've missed you so much!"
"Easy there, Plain Sight. I've missed you too. I want to hear everything you've been up to. Especially about this Host Club of yours. And what the hell happened to your hair?"
"Uhm." The two teens broke apart as their companion was noticed for the first time by Haruhi. The tall man with dark, spikey hair narrowed his eyes at them, but they shone with thinly veiled happiness at seeing two of his best students again.
"Karasama-sensei!" She turned to hug her former teacher as well. Still unused to the affection his kids showed him, he simply responded by patting her head, gently.
"You know, it's been a long time since I was your sensei. Do you think you can drop the title any time soon?" She shifted her right leg just enough so that her knee was pressing the hilt of another hidden knife pointing into his upper calf. "Not bad. Certainly not a kill shot, but it would incapacitate me enough to strike the final blow if you're as quick as you used to be."
"I most positively am. Just yesterday I had the opportunity to practice some of the things you taught us. And don't even think of me not calling you sensei. Remember, once a teacher, always a teacher!"
She and Karma laughed and she stepped back to get a good look at them both. A flash of blue caught her peripheral and she immediately brought her hands up to frame her face. Just in time to feel two hands on the outside of hers and shocked, piercing blue eyes gazing into her brown ones. She smirked.
"Nice try, Nagisa. I know all your tricks and I'm always ready for you to spring out of nowhere." He hopped off his perch, landing gracefully in front of her, smiling peacefully. He raised his arms and came in for a hug, himself. At the last second, she dropped low and attempted to trip him, which he easily dodged. She smirked at her friend again, standing straight. "Really, you should work on some new moves. Your deceptive ruses are a bit old hat."
He grinned, sheepishly. "Nah, you're the only one who can see it coming. You read right through me every time. Glad to see it hasn't changed! How've you been?"
"Perhaps we can continue this little reunion later?" Karasama interrupted, "For not, let's focus on the matter at hand. You three, and Ritsu are being called in again to take care of a new problem. This new target knows every one of our military operations and has an uncanny knowledge of every pro in the business. Not only does he know them, he's used them. Red Eye, Irina, Lovro, Grip, Smog, he's worked with all of the known assassins and knows all their faces. He doesn't know yours or anyone in class 3-E. You're the ones we need to take him out."
They all sat around a table, the teens wondering just who this target was and how he knew so much. They also pondered something else. It was Karma who gave voice to it.
"What happened to us being done with assassination after we graduated? I thought it was a one-time deal. We take care of Koro-sensei and we're done, right? Why are you coming back to us? And what did this guy do to deserve being assassinated anyway? It can't be any worse than Koro-sensei's threat to blow up the earth, right?"
"Here, read over the information before deciding to take up your blades. I won't force you if it's not something you want to do. Taking a human life is going to be very different from anything you have done before and to my knowledge, only Nagisa here has actually struck the killing blow." He handed them a manila folder that he pulled from his jacket and her two former classmates started pouring over it when Haruhi spoke up.
"Mr. Karasama, I, uh, I've actually taken a human life in the last year. Three in fact. Just yesterday. I told you I'd had a recent opportunity to practice the skills you gave us. I was being harassed yesterday by three drunks. One thing led to another and they all ended up going off the cliff."
Her friends stared at her dumbfounded. Karasama was even stunned by her declaration. Their sweet friend had actually done what they'd all trained for. And she didn't seem to feel anything at all about doing so. Her face was entirely clear of any guilt or remorse.
"And you're fine with that?"
"Well, yeah. After everything that happened with Koro-sensei, there's nothing that could ever make me feel as bad as that. I was just too close to him. It was like losing my mother all over again. No one else will ever compare. So there's no remorse."
Her three companions stared at her with a newfound respect and appreciation. Each knew how hard it was on themselves to cope with their assassination of Koro-sensei but none of them even considered the petit female in front of them. But now that they considered how much their teacher and colleague did for all of them and how that might have taken the place of a lost parent, especially when the one she had was often out working.
She couldn't take the heat of their stares. Looking down at the target profile for the first time, she blanched. A sharp gasp left her lips and all blood drained from her face. She laughed humorlessly at the papers in front of her. What are the odds. Perusing through the list of accusations, she saw a lot, and serious, and she knew what he was like personally, but there was nothing that would put him on the radar for assassination by the government.
"I see why you wanted me in on this one, Karasama," she said drily. "Two questions: what did he do to deserve the hit, and do you think this may be a conflict of interest?"
"I don't know what you're talking about, Haruhi. You're the best infiltrator we've got, professional or otherwise. You have an uncanny knack for charming both men and women and bringing them to their knees and with your hair like that, you can pass as either too. Karma is the best fighter in the class hands down. He's also the best at strategy. I've seen teams of twenty take two weeks to come up with what he does by himself in two hours. Nagisa is a natural-born assassin, no question. His instinct is always spot on. His approach is impeccable. His record is undeniable. Ritsu is the best hacker I've ever seen, again, professionally or not. All of you together are the most dangerous combination on earth and undoubtedly capable of taking care of this business."
"Yeah, that's great and all but that still doesn't answer my two questions. Nothing in here gives any indication that he's worth the hit. All this tells us is that he's a ruthless businessman with rather questionable tactics. It's definitely not 'blow-up-the-world-in-a-year' status. And again, this may present a conflict of interest for me. This target is the father of one of my best friends. He knows my face as much as he knows everybody else." That caught their attention. It was clear on Karasama's face that he, in fact, didn't know about her connection.
"If you don't want to take on the assignment for that reason, I understand. However, perhaps you should hear me out before declining. The reason nothing on his profile seems out of the ordinary for any businessman is because this is not the entirety of the file we have on him. It would be unwise to carry around a physical copy of everything we have on the most powerful and influential man in Japan. All of this is readily available for public record.
"The real dossier is being uploaded to your phones as we speak. Believe me, it is more than enough to warrant death or worse. We've been waiting a long time to bag this one. Recently, the balance of power has shifted from his corner to that of his son. This leaves him more vulnerable than he's ever been before. It allows us a small window of opportunity to strike. We need to strike hard and we need to strike fast.
"Now, Haruhi, you said he knows your face. You've been passing as a boy at your high school for the better part of a year. Does he know your face as a boy or as a girl?"
"He knows my face as a boy. But he knows I'm a girl. He knows about the Host Club and my connection to it. He probably knows everything there is allowed to be known about me. If Ritsu let him anywhere near it, he'd even have my phone records by now," she said, distractedly.
As soon as Karasama had told them the dossier was uploaded, all three teens had been riveted to their phones. She was becoming increasingly more horrified the further she read. Money laundering from charities, 'mysterious' disappearances of his competitors, the numerous underage sex slaves, the torture rooms he kept his victims in, she had no idea the man she met was involved in so many things. How had he kept all this under wraps? Did his son know any of this? And the government wanted her to help take him out? Wait…her mind zeroed in on one crime in particular. She suddenly understood why they wanted her. It seemed the other two did as well. Karma's eyes had gone red with rage. Nagisa paled. Her own anger was running wild.
"You want Haruhi to do what?!" Karma was seething, struggling to keep his voice low enough to not attract attention. It was a near thing.
"If it were that easy, why do we need to be here?" Nagisa asked, shakily. It was clear the thought of her anywhere near this monster was abhorrent to him as well but he was more rational than his two fellows for now.
"You're there in case something goes wrong. Yes, she will be our spearhead for this operation but do not sell yourselves short as backups. No doubt her newfound ability to kill without regret will come in handy if she chooses to accept the job. Of course, all of your compensations will be more than substantial upon completion." He turned to the girl he'd come to respect so much.
"Haruhi, if you're as quick as you used to be, you won't have to let it get to that point. After you get him relaxed enough, any moment before that would be preferable. I don't want you to have to go through…that…either. Believe it or not, I care for you kids and I don't like putting you in danger like this. Be that as it may, considering his violent history, I would entrust this mission to no other female in your class. You are the only one who has both the skill to get in and the stamina to fight long-term if need be. If it gets to the point of no return, you are the only one I believe has a chance of coping with it, psychologically."
"Well, guess what?" She said, venom oozing off every word, "If it comes to that, surprise, I'm not exactly ready for it. Believe it or not, not every female is as experienced as Professor Bitch by the time she's sixteen." She glanced at her watch. 1:45. The Host Club would be meeting up soon. She huffed and glared at her former teacher. "I'm going to need time to think about this."
"There's no thinking about it. There's no way I'm letting you do this."
"Karma, do not pretend you have any authority to tell me what I can and cannot do. Don't forget, I can still go head to head with you. I'm not going to make a decision like this on the spot. There's a lot more than just my virginity riding on this one and even that's bad enough. I don't think you, Mr. Karasama, expected me to decide here and now, either. How long do I have?"
"I can give you a week, tops. Then I will have to go with my next best option. Kayano is second best at infiltration, only to you. But she does not have your stamina or your fighting abilities." At the mention of her name, Nagisa started shivering. So he still had a thing for her, did he?
"Fine. A week it is. Now I need to go or my Host Club friends will start hunting me down any minute. Karma? Nagisa? Do you two want to come with me and mess with them a little bit?" She grinned sadistically. "Could be fun and I definitely need to take my mind off this case."
"Nah, I gotta get home to mom. The only reason I came out today was because I wanted to see you again. Still can't believe you chopped off your long hair. But you pull off the androgynous thing better than I ever have. Hopefully I see you sooner than a year next time, though."
"I'm down for that. I'll never pass up a chance to mess with some clueless rich boys." With that, Karasama and Nagisa both stood and left. Karma took her hand, causing Haruhi's cheeks to flush lightly, and they both made off to find the Host Club.
Every once in a while, his hand would tighten around hers and she would look at him. His eyes were fading back into their beautiful golden color, but she knew he was still livid at what the government wanted of her. She pulled out her phone again and looked at the target name. Who would have thought the father of one of her most trusted friends might be the next person she killed mercilessly? She closed out of the document and put her phone away, sighing heavily, all thoughts turned to one Ootori Yoshio.
