"Nagisa!"

The sound of Kayano's voice and the boat engine caused Nagisa to snap out of his blank shock, just a little. He knew he'd been thrown back by the explosion, right into the water, but Nagisa wasn't hurt. Maybe the adrenaline was to blame for that. Something felt different about this. It was so unlike the other attempts, Nagisa felt like it just might have worked.

"Stay alert! He can regenerate!" Karasuma ran down the jetty, followed by Bitch sensei."Isogai kun, Kataoka san: change of plans. Watch the water!"

"Yes sir!"

Korosensei had nowhere to run, even if he had survived the shot!

"Over there!" Kayano pointed.

In the sea, bubbles were staring to form. Nagisa was no science genius, but it was surely possible that there was something in Korosensei's DNA that could react with the water in such a way. Then, a tiny ball floated the surface, inside it containing what looked like Korosensei's gloating face. What the hell was that?

It laughed. "My trump card of all trump cards: My Absolute Defence Form! The exterior is crystallised high-density condensed energy. The energy left over upon shrinking my body down hardens in a shell around it. In this form, I'm absolutely invincible! "

Nagisa's heart dropped. That was Korosensei's voice. He was completely alive and well, by the looks of it, unharmed. All their greatest efforts, and they'd completely failed.

"No… So if you always stay in that form, we can never kill you!" Yada realised

"If only that were the case," he said. "The energy crystal will decay in about one day. And the moment it does, my body will re-inflate, absorbing energy and returning to its usual form. On the other hand, for the approximately one day until this crystal decays, I can't move an inch. This brings with it certain risks. What I'm most afraid of is being placed into a high speed rocket during that time and discarded in the far reaches of outer space… But I've thoroughly studied that eventuality. Nowhere in the world is there a rocket capable of making that flight within twenty four hours."

It almost seemed unfair. After all that, he'd had yet another trick up his sleeve. Even taking all his weak points into account, it was an utter failure. Killing him seemed definitely impossible.

Terasaka picked him up. "Invincible, my ass. Something like this has got to be breakable somehow!"

"It's no use! Even a nuclear bomb wouldn't leave a scratch."

"Oh I get it," Karma, said casually, from the shore. "No weaknesses means we're out of options." He signalled Terasaka, who threw Korosensei over, and then showed him something on his phone.

"No! Stop! I can't cover my face without any hands!" Korosensei complained.

"Sorry, sorry, then I'll just… stick this sea slug on you." Karma continued, as if embarrassing him to death was an option. "Someone go find me a filthy old guy so I can jam this thing down his shorts!"

"No! Help!" Korosenseu tried.

"In some ways we can do whatever we want with him," Kayano said, though she sounded miserable.

"Yep." Nagisa agreed. "And Karma's positively gifted at times like this."

"We'll disperse for now, students." Karasuma sighed. "The top brass and I will discuss how to deal with this one."

"Going to throw me in a pool of anti-me material? It won't work. A portion of my energy would explode; like before, the blast would send everything nearby flying. But you should be proud. Even the armies of the world couldn't get this far with me. It all comes down to the magnificence of your plan."

He could speak their praises all he liked, but it wouldn't change anything. He was still alive. Korosensei continued to praise their assassination like he always did, but it was their biggest disappointment yet. They'd been so sure, it was more of a shock that their full throttle attack had missed the mark than being knocked back into the water had been. Nagisa just felt so exhausted.

With nothing more to gain, everyone quietly made their way back to the hotel. Nagisa gathered that the rest of the group shared his sentiment of just wanting to curl up and go to bed, but it still felt as though they were waiting for some news, like some validation that they weren't all massive failures. They sat around downstairs, almost in complete silence.

"I'm just so exhausted!" Maehara finally said.

"Let's head back to our room and rest." Mimura agreed. "I don't feel like doing anything."

Terasaka stood up. "What, one lousy miss and you lose all your oomph? We did what we were supposed to do, so tomorrow we can just enjoy ourselves!"

"Ooh, yeah!" Okajima announced. "Tomorrow I get to take in some swimsuited beauties for sure! No matter how tired I may be, I'm not too tired for a nosebleed!"

"Man, I just don't have the energy," Maehara groaned, and collapsed against the table.

As he often did in that kind of situation, Nagisa laughed awkwardly. Something was wrong, he just knew it like an itch underneath the surface of his skin. Everybody was too exhausted. There was the fatigue that came with failure, but this felt like something else, something less psychological.

"Can I lean on you a second, Nagisa kun?" Nakamura asked, approaching him before her knees buckled. She fell to the ground before Nagisa could move to catch her.

She'd just confirmed his fears. Nagisa kneeled to her level. "Nakumra san!"

"I want to get back to the room and change, but my body can't seem to move at all," she said weakly

Nagisa put a hand on her forehead, immediately jerking it away. "You're burning up!"

"Just imagining those babes gave me a nosebleed!" Okajima said lightly, blood gushing out of him.

"Okajima kun!" Now Nagisa was seriously worried.

"I-is this-" Karasuma rushed in, but stopped dead before he could finish his announcement. A quick glance around told Nagisa that almost half of their class was suffering. "Hey! Where's the hospital on this island?" Karasuma asked one of the resort staff

"Uh… well, it's such a small island…"

Before he could argue with her, he got some kind of phone call. With the way his eyes widened after a few seconds, Nagisa could tell it wasn't good news.

"Who is this?!" Karusuma asked, displaying the alarm in his tone.

Kayano thought fast, opening her phone. "Hey Ritsu!" That was right, if Karasuma didn't know who he was talking to, there might be some way of Ritsu tracking it. As Karasuma continued to listen, Nagisa watched the phone, and location of the caller slowly get revealed.

Karasuma's brow creased. "You mean you did this?"

He gestured Nagisa and Kayano towards him. Quickly, Nagisa held up the phone, showing him where the call had originated from. Alarmingly, it looked like it was from the island itself. Karasuma hung up the phone, and slammed Korosensei down on the table with a rage Nagisa had never seen from him before.

Taking a deep breath, he looked over at them. "Class, I need to make a quick phone call. I'll explain everything after."

Nagisa and Kayano looked between each other. He didn't know what was happening, but it was definitely serious. They'd never witnessed Karasuma get so fired up like that before.

"Alright." He cleared his throat, finally. "This appears to be a hostage situation. Somebody has infected a good portion of this class with what he calls an 'artificial virus'. He claims that it is very deadly, and could kill the infected within a week. There is an antidote, but he wants us to exchange Korosensei, and specifically the two smallest students, for it at the reception of that other resort on the mountain." He paused. "Now, the best thing to do is to stay calm-"

Calm?! How were they meant to stay calm? He'd just said that half of their friends could be dead unless they met some stranger's crazy demands. The two smallest students undeniably referred to himself and Kayano. Were they about to become hostages? Nagisa would do it, if it would save everybody else.

"Mr Karasuma! As we'd expected, it's no use!" A woman who Nagisa vaguely felt like he'd seen before rushed in. Perhaps she worked with Karasuma. "Even when we play the government card, the hotel just responds with claims of privacy protection."

"It figures." He said, stormily.

"It does?"

Karasuma sighed. "That mountaintop hotel is a noted site for illegal negotiations."

"A remote island in the southern sea?" Bitch Sensei considered. "Couldn't ask for a better location."

"They have connections with some government higher ups." Karasuma announced. "Even the police are hands off"

Karma folded his arms. "Clearly they're not going to cooperate with us"

"What are we gonna do?" Yoshida finally verbalised. "At this rate, a lot of us will die! We didn't come here to be killed."

"Calm down, Yoshida kun." Hara reassured him, despite being one of the infected herself. "We won't die that easy. Just come up with a way to deal with this."

"Yeah… sorry, Hara," he bowed his head.

"It's too dicey to do what he says." Terasaka said, matter of factly. "Send your two runtiest students? These two squirts?!" To demonstrate, he gave Nagisa and Kayano a good whack on the head. "We'd just be handing him hostages! First off, I'm pissed at anyone who would even do this kind of thing. No one lays a finger on my cohorts! I say we ignore his demands! Let's get everyone to a Tokyo hospital!"

"I'm opposed." Takeybashi cut in. "If it really is an unknown, artificial virus, even the biggest hospitals won't have the antivirals to stop it. The time wasted in bringing in the sick could hurt them more."

"Say what?!" Terasaka exclaimed.

Takebayashi knelt down next to the infected. "We'll work on treating the symptoms for now – you'd better hurry off to the trade spot."

"Takebayashi…"

He was right, though, Nagisa realised. Their hands were tied. If Korosensei could move, they might've stood a chance… It was almost funny. If their assassination attempt hadn't been so successful, they might've stood a chance.

"So he's the one they're after." Karasuma looked over at Korosensei.

Korosensei finally spoke up. "There is a way"

"Korosensei? All set." Ritsu announced. Had they secretly been working on something all this time?

"It looks like Ritsu's completed the prep work I asked her to." He announced. "I need the healthy students to come here. Wear something you can get dirty."

It really did seem like they were going to go through with it, when Korosensei instructed Karasuma to call for transport. Nobody bothered to change, and Korosensei didn't go any deeper into whatever he was planning, so they remained sitting there, waiting for the cars to arrive. When they did, Nagisa almost didn't want to leave. It was the only way to save their friends, though. At least, that's what he told himself for the silent drive up the mountain.

The cars finally came to a stop about three quarters of the way up the tall mountain. They could clearly see the hotel, which was shaped a lot like a cone, looming over them at the top. Blocking it was a sheer cliff face.

"It's so high…" Kimura said.

"I infiltrated the hotel's computers and got schematics of the interior – complete with guard locations." Ritsu announced. "A large number of guards are stationed at and around the main entrance. It's not possible to enter the hotel without going past the front desk. However, there is an entry way on this side, atop the ledge. The terrain is impassable, and there are no guards posted there."

So the plan was for them to climb that thing?!

Korosensei confirmed it. "If you don't want the enemy to get his way… there's just one thing to do! Not counting the ten patients and the two left behind to care for them, all capable students must sneak in from here, get the jump on the guys at the top, and steal that remedy!"

"It's too dangerous!" Karasuma immediately said. "The ease with which he threatened us indicates we're up against a real pro."

"Yes. Perhaps it would be wisest simply to hand me over. What do you think? It's up to all of you."

Bitch Sensei looked at the cliff face. "They'll plummet to their deaths before they reach the hotel."

Nagisa wasn't sure. It didn't look significantly harder than anything they'd done in training. Karasuma had made them climb the cliffs around school for hours on end. Nobody's technique was weak anymore. He was pretty sure he could climb that thing without falling at the very least.

"Nagisa kun, Kayano chan... I'm sorry, but-" Karasuma started.

The rest of their squad seemed to agree, Isogai taking the lead as he began to test out climbing the cliff face. When the ease of which he was doing so became clear, Nagisa was more than confident they could do it. He joined the rest of the class, taking a good hold of the rock.

"Well, I mean, if the ledge is a problem this part's a piece of cake, especially compared to our usual training." Isogai said. "Right? But we haven't practised fighting an unknown foe in an unknown hotel, so, Karasuma Sensei, it won't be easy, but could you be out commander?"

"We'll make that jerk pay for messing with us!" Terasaka called out.

Something went over Karasuma's face, before nodding. "Attention! Our objective is the top floor of the hotel at the summit! Our mission will shift from a stealth infiltration to a surprise attack! We'll use the same hand signals and link ups from training! The only difference is our target! You have three minutes to memorise the map. We begin at 21:50!"

"Right!" They all called.

Remembering his training on the mountain as best he could, Nagisa remembered his balance and hauled himself up as best he could. It was a little more difficult than he remembered, though the last time he'd done this, he probably weighed a little less. He was being more careful than he usually was too, perhaps out of some instinct. His arms were getting so tired.

"Karma kun! Wait!" Nagisa called out. It was what Karasuma had always instructed them to do during training, at least in first. They paired up, in case one was in trouble and needed to help the other. Of course Karma had ended up as Nagisa's partner, way back then.

"I'd like to," Karma turned, "but we're kind of on a schedule here."

"You're right," Nagisa said, continuing to climb. "Let's do this."

He was not going to fall into the trap of being some weak and useless omega who had to rely on an alpha for everything short of breathing. Nagisa was different from that, he had to be, no matter the circumstances. In this fight, he had something he was desperate to prove.