36. Lovro Brofski: Recruitment Policy (72/22)

August 1, during Lovro's summer training sessions

We break for lunch, and I sit down on the steps behind the old schoolhouse with a sigh as the pressure comes off my knee. It isn't hurting, I haven't had to run, but it gets a little uncomfortable from moving around so much. Instructing a whole class like this is quite a bit of work. But they're improving rapidly. That Karasuma has taught them well, but he hasn't learned tricks from around the world as I have, nor is he as familiar with the differences between an adult and a child when it comes to firing a gun.

This plan of theirs, I don't know how much faith I have in it. It's not a strategy I would use. It's remarkably vicious, but my instincts tell me that it is much too complex. Too big. But, then, this situation is rather unique. An enormously powerful target that won't fight back, but who learns from every attempt. It is possible that because of the weight of my experience I cannot imagine the kind of radical new approaches necessary to collect his bounty.

How lucky of these children to have such a safe way to try things out and learn what is effective and what is not. They're so different from the children I'm used to working with in many ways, but surprisingly similar in others. When I recruit a child for training, usually they have already killed at least once, and all have families that are broken or gone. They are victims, who want to learn how not to be victims any longer. Some come to me angry at the world. I have no interest in them. Such people cannot be molded into true professionals. For those who meet my standards, I give them purpose, direction, and a means to make a living in the harsh world they live in. Winning their trust and respect often requires harsh treatment, speaking to that animal part of their brains that feels safe in the presence of uncompromising strength. They can hardly be called children when I take them under my wing. They cannot be called children at all when I'm done.

But this class 3-E is different. Just not as much as I expected. They have experienced loss, but do not know what it means to irrevocably lose everything. They know cruelty, but have barely scratched the surface of man's inhumanity to man. They still have so much hope, and so far that they can fall. Yet these children are not like those I remember from my own childhood. Just like their counterparts in the war torn places in the world, and despite the fact that they still have families to go home to, they have that same desperate longing in their eyes for an authority figure they can trust for support in their efforts and praise for their accomplishments. It makes them eager students.

They stand at the very edge of our world, looking in when all others look away. Any one of them could end up joining us. I have been more moderate with them than my usually teaching methods to avoid putting them off the idea, but I haven't slowed the pace of my instruction. They're quite a bit more brilliant than the usual child assassins as well.

I look up from my lunchbox – these Japanese bentou are enjoyably quaint – as one particular student approaches me. He should really do something about that girlish blue hair. He's good at avoiding notice. I didn't really detect his talent until he was directly in front of me. But those features stand out a bit too much when you do see him. There's always room for improvement. Nagisa, his name was. I've heard some interesting things about him in Irina's reports.

"Lovro-san, may I join you?" He asks with a polite bow.

I wave to the spot next to me. "Please do." He hardly takes up any room at all. "Have you been practicing the technique I showed you?"

He nods and sits up straight. He claps his hands just like I showed him. "I can do it every time now, but the power…" He trails off unsure.

"Is still a bit low." I confirm. "You certainly wouldn't go wrong with a bit more upper body strength, and don't forget to practice doing it while also dropping something from one of your hands. The whole motion must be absolutely natural. But don't neglect your marksmanship either. That is the focus of our current training. I understand you hold a good rank among your classmates."

He lowers his head. "I'm just seventh out of twenty-six."

I frown. I don't like that kind of attitude, and my tone reflects this. "When I pay you a compliment, I expect you to accept it. Modesty may be valued in your culture, but you will not be doing yourself any favors by thinking lowly of yourself. You must have a reasonable assessment of your own abilities to know what you are capable of while on a job. The best path is always the most efficient one. If you are arrogant, you will overreach what your skills can do. If you are timid, you will waste opportunities you might have seized. Too much caution is bad, for every added second is time for something you cannot predict to go wrong. Do you understand?"

He nods and actually giggles at me a bit. I raise an eyebrow and give him a questioning grunt. "I just thought that you're another really good teacher. It'd be nice to have you around more often."

Me, a school teacher? I may be mostly retired from the business of actual assassination, but the thought of me standing at a podium in front of a class of students teaching them their ABCs is laughable. Still, I look out over the field. Irina is chatting with a long-haired blonde girl in English… and then arguing loudly with her over some trivial insult. Karasuma meanwhile is sparing with the black haired boy with the hair antennae. The boy is caught by the wrist, but has redirected his own momentum into a sideways roll to escape being thrown. Lying on the ground, he almost catches his instructor with a knife slash to the Achilles tendon. Inventive technique, but dangerous to use against such a strong opponent.

I have a strangely nostalgic feeling, even though I've never been involved with something quite like this. It makes me think of my life before I became an assassin. It's so safe here. Like you could actually let your guard down. Here, they're learning and trying so many different things. This place is like an assassin's cradle and crucible both. However…

"Your words, you think you have your own little world here, don't you?" He looks up at me in surprise. "You feel like this will go on forever, just you and your friends playfully trying to murder your unkillable teacher. But as adults there's a whole world out there that demands our attention. That includes you. Someday, perhaps in the next few days, this assassination classroom of yours will end. Karasuma, Irina and myself will leave, and you will have to either return to your normal life, fabulously wealthy, or enter the adult world with your new skills. Are you ready for either outcome?"

His head has bowed in shame, but also thoughtfulness. It is good that he isn't jumping to an answer. "I'm not ready." He admits quietly. "I'm not ready for this to end. For the first time in my life, I feel like I'm actually growing. I'm just… not done yet."

Yes, I've seen this thinking in many others. I know what to do about it. "If you want to find out how much you've grown, the only way is to go out and apply yourself in the real world." I say.

He looks at me with wide eyes. "You mean, murder someone?"

"Heavens no. It'd be an assassination." I say, matter-of-factly.

He waves his hands. "I don't know if I'm ready for that… or if I should even consider it."

No, from what I've heard about his handling of that soldier, he's more ready than he thinks. I slide closer to him and put an arm around his shoulder. He makes a confused noise, but then I jab my thumb into his neck, right above the joining of his collarbones. He sucks in a breath. Striking this point with enough force will collapse the windpipe. You can kill someone this way with a single finger, and it seems he knows this. Good. "You can't properly grow if you refuse to take risks. In the real world, you can never be completely safe. Think about it."

I have some thinking of my own to do as I withdraw and go back to my lunch. I can drop some suggestions with my contact in the government, get them to offer to the class another assassination. But it would be best if nobody here finds out I'm behind it. Now, who in Japan would make a good target for this boy, so that he'd be the top pick to take it on…

"Lovro-sensei." I turn back to Nagisa, slightly annoyed, when I notice his foot is braced against the wallstring at the side of the stairs. I see a massive snake coiled around him, poised to strike. He pushes off, lunging for me. I reach for the knife in my coat, but my limbs barely respond. His knife strikes my leg. I look down, but… the rubbery blade has simply bounced off… Femoral artery incision. Fatal within three to five minutes.

Nagisa stands, his eyes like magnifying glasses before the sun, his hair lifting in the wind. "Don't do that again, unless you're going to be serious."

My hand grasps at my hammering heart. So, that was how he beat that soldier. Even though he didn't have a lethal weapon, the killing intent he managed to project was… unbelievable. He shook me. Me! Down to my core, with just his pose, his body language and his focus. I foolishly let my guard down, and paid the price. Because I wasn't expecting it, my body couldn't change gears fast enough, and I froze. That was magnificent. Yes, that is a talent that must not be wasted.

As it turned out, he must have heeded my words, because a few days later when his first personal assassination contract was begrudgingly offered to him by Karasuma, he took it without hesitation. I do enjoy it here in Japan. I'll have to try to come back here more often when things aren't quite so busy.

So, here's a bit more about the Hitman Dealer. When he trains class E, he definitely holds back. The way he interacts with Irina proves that. Whether that's because he doesn't want to scare them off, or he's trying to bring them under his influence, or he just doesn't think harsh methods are warranted, I'd say the answer is all of the above. He's too professional to go out of his way to be cruel, and he'll make moral decisions if those decisions don't set him back, and only then.

And Lovro arranged the assassination Nagisa performed on the crime lord, as described back in chapter 9. Because of course he did.