Kyandi: Hello, my lovelies!

Takina: Wow, this makes the fifth day in a row that you've updated.

Kyandi: I know! I haven't don't this since I wrote Flip Side.

Takina: It's more impressive now, though, because the chapters are longer and of better quality.

Kyandi: At least, we think so. Oh! And to those of you who had been so sweet as to leave me reviews and express concern for my well being, you are all so sweet and I thank you so much!

Takina: We promise, she's getting rest. It actually doesn't take her that long to write a chapter if she's got high muse and no distractions.

Kyandi: Which I don't get a lot of if my family is home, but lately, they've been leaving me alone.

Takina: She's finally got peace and quiet.

Kyandi: Yep. So, let's use that to our advantage and get on with this. Everyone, enjoy and review!

Takina: Kyandi-sama does not own Assassination Classroom.

Chapter 19 Climatic Battle

As they moved on past the stage, Karasuma finally regained another control of his body to move to a certain degree. He was even able to snatch a man and put him in a sleeper's hold. Everyone stared as Karasuma quickly rendered the man unconscious.

"I can finally move my body to a certain extent. I've only recovered about half way, though." Karasuma remarked, moving past the unconscious man to peer around the corner.

"Even only at half strength, he's still so much stronger than us." Kimura remarked.

"Maybe it would've been better for him to break in here on his own." Kataoka agreed.

"He has been training longer and harder than us." Takina told them.

"Us?! You've been trained in fighting since you could walk!" Sugaya hissed.

"It's only been since I was four." Takina corrected.

"That still proves my point!" Sugaya retorted.

Takina rolled her eyes, waving a dismissive hand. She turned towards Karasuma who was still surveying the hall beyond their point.

"Everyone, I hacked into the personal computer's camera on the top floor." Ritsu called suddenly, making everyone look down at their phones. "We can observe the situation above. The entire floor has been reserved. As far as I can tell, the only one remaining, is this man here."

Takina looked down at her phone screen. The screen showed the shadowy back of a man, smoking while he watched the computer screen in front of him.

"This is the man trying to pull our strings?" Takina asked.

"Isn't that everyone infected by the virus on the TV? So they're being recorded?" Yoshida snapped.

"He's been watching us from the beginning." Takina muttered, the fact putting a foul taste in her mouth.

"I can tell he's getting off by watching them. That damn psycho." Terasaka snapped.

"Regarding that boss, I've figured something out." Korosensei said, drawing all attention to him. "That master mind is not an assassin. He hasn't put the hitmen to proper use. Originally, those hitmen were hired to assassinate me. However, I have entered this form. Because the need to be on alert lessened, he probably spread out his watchmen and guards. But that wasn't the original assignment for the hitmen. Had they displayed their skills to their fullest extent, it would have been a fearful situation. Indeed, we won the previous firefight through tactics, but...that man didn't miss his target by even a single centimetre. Karma's situation as well. Had the enemy not been guarding the hallway, and had instead snuck up behind us like he normally does, you would have most likely been killed instantly from the power of his grip."

"I wonder." Karma retorted, his tone cocky.

A grunt left the boy as Takina hauled off and backhanded him in the gut. She shot him a sharp look that had him grinning back at her. Takina turned her face away from him, crossing her arms over her chest. They weren't exactly back on their previous terms, but the others were just glad to see that Takina wasn't going out of her to ignore Karma anymore.

Instead, Takina's eyes locked in on Karasuma, who was crouched next to the man he had just knocked out. He was staring rather fiercely at the man, as if something had clicked in his mind. Stepping up to his side, Takina looked down at the man on the floor and then back to Karasuma.

"Karasuma-sensei?" she called.

Karasuma didn't look at her, merely got to his feet.

"No. Now, we're running out of time. This guy's assuming we're coming up from the elevator, but if there's no activity until the time limit for negotiations, then he'll probably remain on high alert. Before I give each of you individual instructions..."

Karasuma's voice trailed off in Takina's ears as she noticed Terasaka was struggling to keep from shaking. Both she, and Nagisa, took him off guard as both reached out to touch his face and neck.

"You have a high fever, Terasaka." Nagisa remarked.

"Really high. Are you infected by-"

Takina was cut off as Terasaka snapped a hand over her and Nagisa's mouths. Takina had a brief, but strong, urge to bit his hand for such a thing, but if he was infected, she didn't want to catch it.

"Shut it." Terasaka hissed at the two. "Physical strength is all I got. I'll get better eventually."

Takina pulled his hand away from her mouth, tempted to twist the wrist in her grasp, but just let go of it instead.

"But that's so reckless." Nagisa said.

"Almost more so than Akabane." Takina agreed.

"The reason that damn Karasuma-sensei got hit by that paralysis gas was because I jumped out ahead. And before that, there was a time when the class was about to be killed because of me, too." Terasaka argued. "I can't let this take me out and drag you guys down anymore."

As noble as the notion was...

"Hey!"

Terasaka snapped the word, his hands flying to his head as Takina whacked him upside the head. He rounded on her, but Takina met his glare with one of her own, her hands going to her hips.

"Did you stop to think that if this sickness suddenly takes a turn for the worse, that you'll bring us down more then, than if you had just remained behind with the others?" she demanded. Terasaka stiffened, gritting his teeth as he saw her point. "Kill yourself, if that's what you really want, but the moment I think it's getting worse, I'll yank you out myself. And I won't be gentle about it."

Terasaka's face went a little pale as Takina turned on her heel and walked away. He didn't want to think about how she would go about it, but, for the time being, as long as she didn't say anything, he would be good.

After getting their orders from Karasuma, they climbed their last set of stairs to the tenth floor. The room where their evil master mind was holed up, was wide and there were plenty of places to take cover if they needed to. While that made the others a little less uneasy, Takina didn't like it. It did, in fact, give them more places to hide, to take cover, but all she saw was more chances of someone bumping into something, tripping over something, and then the whole thing would go up in smoke.

That being said, she tried to keep her thoughts positive. Moving quietly and using a method of walking called Nanba, which cut down on wasted movement and noise, they moved into the room, heading for the man sitting with his back towards passed Takina as they moved through the room, pressing one of the two stun guns into her hand. He gave her a pointed look that she nodded back to, the two splitting up to approach from opposite sides while Karasuma, one of the guns in hand, moved directly through the center of the room, the others fanning out between the three.

The closer she got to the man, the more Takina scanned him. He had a suitcase, rigged with explosives, sitting at his side. That had to be the antidote. The remote to the explosives, sat on the desk just to the man's right. Karasuma fixed in on the suitcase and remote, too. Turning to the students, he gave them a series of hand signals telling them that they would move in as close as they could. If the man noticed them too early, Karasuma would shoot him, slowing him down and giving them a chance to snag the remote and take the man down.

Just as Karasuma was about to give them the signal to attack, the man spoke.

"Itchy. Thinking about it makes me itchy." the man complained, mercilessly scratching at his face. "But, I wonder if that's why. Because my wounds are always exposed to the air, my senses have become sharp."

Even Takina stared in wide eyed horror as the man suddenly picked up two fists full of remotes just like the one for the explosives, and threw them over his shoulder, the remotes raining down onto the floor.

"I told you, I originally came prepared to kill a mach twenty monster. I made spare remotes so that it wouldn't be stolen. Enough so that I can still press it, even if I am carelessly defeated." the man added.

By that point, Takina had recognized the voice, her spine and shoulders going stiff. She had thought she had seen the last of this man, but apparently no god in the known universe, was going to be that kind to her.

"Other than the three hitmen, there were others also closely involved. The reason we couldn't contact you...the Ministry of Defense's secret funds, the money meant to be used for assassinations, were completely withdrawn, and a colleague disappeared." Karasuma said, anger and weariness sounding in his tone. "What's the meaning of this, Takaoka?"

Takaoka spun the chair around then, revealing his scratch covered face and crazed eyes.

"What naughty children, you come to see your respected instructor, and you come through the back entrance. Papa would never had instructed such children. Guess I have no choice. I'll give you guys supplementary lessons for your summer vacation." Takaoka told them.

Takina had the instant urge to plant her foot in a disease-crazed face.

Being the one closest to Takaoka, when he stood, Takina stiffened even more, remembering, for a brief moment, the heaviness of his hit and the pain she had felt in her cheek afterward.

"Shall we go to the roof? I've prepared a reception for my dear students. You'll come along, right? Because your classmates are only alive thanks to my benevolence." Takaoka told them.

Benevolence, he said.

Someone needed to buy Takaoka a dictionary.

Unwilling to risk the antidote, they followed Takaoka up to the roof. There, Takaoka stopped in front of stairs that led up to a heliport.

"Did you have a change of heart, Takaoka? You hired hitmen with money stolen from the Ministry of Defense, and you violently threatened students with a virus!" Karasuma called to Takaoka.

"Hey, hey, I'm extremely upright!" Takaoka replied. "This was a plan to save the world. If you had let those two obediently bring me the bounty, my assassination plan would've gone smoothly. In my plan, that girl, Kayano or whatever, I was originally suppose to use her. I completely filled the bathtub in the room with anti-sensei material. And then, Id' have her go in while holding the bounty. Then, I'd bury them alive in cement. In order to return to his original form without touching the anti-sensei material, he would have to set off an explosion, which would affect the students and all. But Korosensei is so considerate of his students. He wouldn't do such a horrible thing, right? I thought he would just quietly dissolve."

Takina frowned, her hands balling into fists as Kayano stepped even closer to her, gripping her arm. Takina would have called him a demon...if she hadn't seen people do worse. Reaching up, Takina laid a hand on one of Kayano's as the other girl gripped her arm, silently assuring Kayano that she would be fine.

"The moment I realized you had all snuck in here, I was shaking in my boots, but my goal is still pretty much the same. Because my mood will determine how many of you live." Takaoka added.

"Do you think you'll get away with an act like this?" Korosensei asked.

"This is still a humane method. Compared to what you guys did, compared to that inhumane treatment." Takina wasn't the only one fighting back bile as Takaoka started clawing at his own face. "The humiliating gazes, and that knife from the sneak attack...they all feel so itchy whenever they cross my mind. I can't even sleep at night! I'll respond to my lowered reputation with results. I'll return the humiliation I received with even more humiliation. Especially you, Shiota Nagisa. I'll never forgive you for tainting my future!"

Takina's eyes turned to Nagisa, who stood close to her, as Takaoka pointed to him. So that was what this all chalked up to in the end. Takaoka was holding a grudge against Nagisa for his defeat at the boy's hands.

"The fact that he wanted the short students...so he was aiming for Nagisa." Chiba remarked.

"This grudge is totally unfair!" Yoshida added.

"Life is unfair, and crazy people do crazy things." Takina replied, already inching in front of Nagisa and Kayano both.

It only that simple little shift in stance for all of the others to know that, once again, Takina would step in the way of harm on behalf of her classmates. If Takaoka tried to go after Nagisa or Kayano, Takina wouldn't hesitate to retaliate, and now her classmates knew she carried a real knife on her. Instead of leaving her to get herself in trouble, because he was sure she would, Karma stepped up in front of her, hands braced on his hips. Takina blinked in surprise as he planted himself firmly in front of her.

"Heh. So that means you called Nagisa over to clear your resentment. Would you really be happy from going all out on this little guy? I might be able to provide you with a little more entertainment, though." Karma told Takaoka.

"You're going senile. You just lost to Nagisa with the rules you set yourself." Terasaka snapped.

"Like I said back then," Takina said, Takaoka setting his eyes on her. "Whether you had won or lost then, we still would have hated you and would have wanted you gone."

"I never asked you rug rats for your opinions! Don't forget that I can get rid of half you damn rug rats with the tip of my finger!" Takaoka yelled before turning to start up the stairs to the heliport. "Hey, shrimp, come up here alone. All the way to the top of this heliport."

"Nagisa, you can't go." Kayano protested.

"I don't want to, but...I'll go." Nagisa replied, handing Korosensei over to Kayano.

"Nagisa, I don't think this is a good idea." Takina insisted.

"If he's that agitated, who knows what he'll do." Nagisa argued.

"My point exactly." Takina replied.

Nagisa gave her a smile as he half turned to follow Takaoka.

"I'll try to talk to him and calm him down, and I'll try to get him to hand over the antidote without destroying it." Nagisa insisted, turning to follow Takaoka up the stairs.

Takina didn't have a good feeling about this. The moment Nagisa was up on the heliport with him, Takaoka grabbed the stairs and yanked them free of their spot, dropping them into the gap between the roof and heliport, so that no one else could follow them over.

"Now, no one else can climb up here." Takaoka said, grinning. Takina had some bad news for him. If she got a running start, she could clear that gap in one jump. "You can tell what I want from that knife by your feet, right? It's a return match from last time."

Nagisa looked down at his feet where a knife lay on the ground.

"Please, wait a minute, Takaoka-sensei. I didn't come here to fight." Nagisa protested.

"I'll bet. The same sneak act won't work on me twice. I can picture you being done in by me in an instant." Takaoka replied.

Takina slipped up next to Karasuma, her eyes still on the heliport in front of them.

"Give me the go ahead, Karasuma-sensei, and I can clear that gap in one jump." Takina told him lowly.

As much as Karasuma hated the idea of Nagisa being up there with Takaoka, alone, he hated the idea of adding Takina to that mix, even more. Takina had a bad habit of taking hits meant for others. Not to mention, she had proven already to have a good handling with a normal knife and no problems using one on a man.

No, adding her to the situation didn't sound like a good idea to him.

"No, just remain on stand by." he told her.

Takina's glance in his direction told him, loud and clear, that she didn't like that, but she kept her mouth close and returned her attention to the heliport.

"But, you know, if I end it in an instant, I wouldn't feel any better. That's why, before we fight...I need you to do something for me." Takaoka was saying before he pointed to the ground. "Apologize. Prostrate yourself. For using a cowardly surprise attack because you have no skills, I want you to sincerely apologize."

Takina's frown tugged down even further as Nagisa, throwing all since of pride to the wind, got down on his knees.

"You call that prostrating yourself!? You stupid brat! Scrape your head on the ground and apologize!" Takaoka shouted.

Nagisa did as told, pressing his forehead to the ground as far as it would go.

"I, for using a cowardly surprise attack because I have no skills...I apologize." Nagisa said.

"Oh, and after that, you got on your high horse and said something cheeky, right? Something like, "Leave:." Takaoka added. Takina was pretty sure the one that had told him to leave, had been her, not Nagisa. To add insult to injury, Takaoka braced a booted foot on Nagisa's head. "For a brat like you to talk to an adult like that...For a student to talk to their instructor like that...!"

"For a brat like me, for a student like me, I spoke in a conceited manner to my teacher. I apologize. I truly apologize." Nagisa told him.

It was only after Nagisa said this, that Takaoka removed his foot and let Nagisa sit up.

"Alright. You finally expressed your true feelings. Papa is happy. As a reward, I'll tell you something." Takaoka said, turning to pick up the suitcase with the antidote in it. "For the aftermath of those that die from the virus, Smog showed me a video of what happens. It was pretty funny. The entire body is covered with tumors, and the face swells up like a bunch of grapes. You want to see, right? Nagisa."

Takina had a bad feeling long before Takaoka threw the suitcase into the air, and hit the remote button. Horror filled the class as the suitcase exploded. Karma had to jump forward and grab Takina as she started towards the heliport, ready to jump the gap and beat the crap out of Takaoka. He wrapped an arm around Takina's waist, pulling her back and holding her in place. Karma couldn't feel any blood lust coming from Takina, but that made him more nervous than if he had.

It meant she was really angry.

Karma kept a tight hold on Takina as Takaoka laughed at the horrified looks on all of their faces.

"Yes! That's the face I wanted to see! Why don't you write about this in your summer vacation journal? About your friends faces changing into bunches of grapes! Don't worry. You were the only one who wasn't served the virus. Because from here on, you-"

Takaoka trailed off as, his breathing heavy, Nagisa grabbed the knife laying on the ground. There was no hiding how Nagisa felt, what his intentions were as he got to his feet, raising the knife in a two-handed grip, declaring that he was going to kill Takaoka.

"That's it. That's how it should be. That's the spirit! Come and kill me, Nagisa!" Takaoka goaded.

"Nagisa...he lost it." Kataoka exclaimed.

"We wanna kill that piece of trash too, but, is Nagisa seriously gonna do it?!" Yoshida asked.

"If he doesn't, Itamatsu will." Isogai remarked lowly, drawing attention to Takina.

Karma was keeping the girl rooted on the spot, but the look in her ice blue eyes, hid nothing about the urge to kill she felt. Her eyes were fixated on Takaoka, and to show how fixed she was...she didn't hear a word they said about her. Her attention only wavered when Terasaka took the stun gun in his hand...and threw it at Nagisa, hitting the boy in the back of the head and snapping him out of it.

"Don't get carried away, Nagisa!" Terasaka yelled before whipping around to point a finger at Takina, who blinked back at him in confusion. "And you! Lettin' the blood rush to your head?! That ain't you, so snap out of it!"

Takina could even begin to describe how it felt to be scolded by Terasaka of all people. She only knew that...it didn't feel good. Terasaka turned back to look up at Nagisa.

"When he blew up the antidote, you were looking at me with pity in your eyes, weren't you? You should worry more about yourself, you bean sprout bastard! All I need to do is sleep this virus off!" Terasaka yelled.

"Terasaka...you!"

Terasaka waved Isogai off, not really in the mood to listen to someone scold him at the moment.

"Even if it's trash like him, if you take his life, you'll be charged with murder. Are you gonna let go of a chance to get ten billion yen, just because you couldn't keep your cool?" Terasaka demanded of Nagisa.

"It is as Terasaka says, Nagisa. There is no merit in killing that man. If you become frantic, it will only put you at a disadvantage. Besides, he doesn't have any knowledge regarding the antidote. Let us question the poison-user below. Simply stunning this man should be enough." Korosensei pointed out.

"Hey, hey, stop trying to put out the fire. This'll all be meaningless if he doesn't seriously come at me for the kill." Takaoka snapped. "I'll destroy this kid's earnest intent to kill in a humiliating way, and then, for the first time ever, I'll be able to erase my shame."

"Nagisa. Pick up Terasaka's stun gun. That man's life and sensei's life. That man's words, and Terasaka's words. You need to decide which of these carry more worth." Korosensei added.

Nagisa only turned, looking over his shoulder when Terasaka collapsed, Yoshida and Kimura hurrying to his side.

"Shut up," Terasaka told the two, fixing his attention on Nagisa once more. "If you wanna see something look over there. Do it, Nagisa. Beat his ass just shy of killing him."

Knowing that he had to do as Terasaka and Korosensei said, Nagisa bent to pick up the stun gun, sticking it in his belt as he shed his over shirt. Shifting the knife into right hand, Nagisa faced Takaoka, who merely laughed as he shed his own jacket.

"Oh-oh, you look pretty cool. So you're all fired up to use the knife, huh? That makes me feel better. Did you pick up the stun gun because you felt a sense of duty towards your friend? Let me just get this out there. I have about three doses of the antidote prepared here." Takaoka said, showing them the three doses he had kept on himself. "If Nagisa doesn't seriously try to kill me, or you guys below try to get in my way somehow, I'll destroy these too. Apparently, these take about a month to make. It's not enough for everyone, but it's your last bit of hope."

Karma tightened his grip on Takina, pulling her back against his chest as she stiffened, like she was ready to jump the distance to go after Takaoka.

"Karasuma-sensei, for the most part, you are able to make precise shots, correct?" Korosensei asked Karasuma lowly. "If you sense any danger to Nagisa's life, please do not hesitate to shoot Takaoka-sensei."

Karasuma didn't need Korosensei to tell him that. He already knew that the situation was bad. All of them hissed when Takaoka went on the attack first, slamming a foot into Nagisa's gut. Karma's grip tightened further as Takina pulled against his hold. She had already shown that she was over protective, willing to step in when anyone honestly threatened the boy, regardless of whether or not Nagisa needed the help. Now was no different. Karma knew that if she got out of his hold, she would be up on the heliport before any of them could stop her.

As Takaoka continued to beat on Nagisa, Takina fought to get free of Karma and cursed herself that she still didn't have the physical strength to pry herself free. In the moment, she completely forgot that she still had one of Terasaka's stun guns. When Takaoka pulled a knife of his own, intending to use it on Nagisa, Takina doubled her efforts to get free, Karma letting out a grunt as one of her elbows caught him in the ribs.

Takina knew that Nagisa was more dangerous than he seemed. She knew he was capable of more than anyone gave him credit for. It was because of that knowledge that she knew, if Takaoka pushed him too far, he could kill the man. Nagisa wasn't a killer, no matter the fact that he had the skills and talent to become one. Even if Nagisa controlled his urge to kill the man, if Takaoka won, Takina had no doubt that he wouldn't make it easy on Nagisa. Either way, she didn't like the possibilities.

"Karasuma-sensei! Please, shoot him already! Nagisa's going to die!" Kayano hissed.

"Hold it...stay out of it." Terasaka told her.

"You still want us to leave him alone, Terasaka? I'm about ready to let her go and join the fight too." Karma remarked, jerking his head towards Takina.

"Karma, you always skipped out on practice so you wouldn't know. Nagisa, that bastard...it looks like he's still hiding something up his sleeve." Terasaka replied.

Takina stiffening, drew Karma's attention from Terasaka to the heliport once more. Takina watched as Nagisa got to his feet, steadying himself as he approached Takaoka once more. Something in the way Nagisa moved, had Takina's muscles relaxing. She could no longer feel Nagisa's blood lust, his need to kill Takaoka, but something about the set line of his spine, spoke of confidence in his next move. As a laugh spilled from Nagisa's lips,

Whatever it was, Nagisa had a plan and he was sure it was going to work.

Karma looked down at the back of Takina's head as she relaxed. Whatever she saw in Nagisa, it drained the fight from Takina. Karma turned his eyes back to the heliport, still not letting up his grip on Takina, just in case. All of them watched as calmly, coolly, Nagisa approached Takaoka. Just as he reached grabbing reach of Takaoka, he dropped his knife. Takaoka's eyes followed the knife, so he didn't see it coming when Nagisa's hands came out. With a resounding crack, Nagisa clapped his hands right in Takaoka's face, the resulting sound blanking the man's mind.

Takina recognized the move as a Nekodamashi. It was some times used in sumo wrestling, the move acting as an explosion of sound that blanked the receiving party's consciousness just long enough to form an opening. The move, however, required the brain to be in a state of agitation, hyper awareness. The more tense and worked up the opponent, the more effective it became.

In Nagisa's case, it gave him the opening he needed to grab the stun gun and tag Takaoka just under his right arm. Takaoka collapsed to his knees, slumping down as his muscles spasmed and gave out. Using the stun gun to tilt Takaoka's head back, Nagisa forced him to look up at him. Giving Takaoka the smile he said had haunted his nightmares, Nagisa thanked Takaoka before giving him one more good shock directly to the neck.

As the others cheered at Nagisa's victory, rushing towards the heliport in order to fish up the stairs and get up to the top, Takina let out a long, silent sigh. It was only as all of the tension completely drained from her body that she finally realized something.

She was still standing in Karma's arms.

"Akabane." she called.

"Yeah?" he replied, his voice sounding right in her ear.

"Let go."

She felt, as well as heard, Karma chuckle. His arm around her waist tightened even more, pressing her firm against his chest. With no one looking their way, he had no problems with teasing her a little with how close he was to her person.

"What? Are you embarrassed? Is it your first time being this close to a guy?" he teased.

"Need I remind you...I still have one of Terasaka's stun guns and your crotch is in perfect striking range." Takina retorted in a bored tone, holding up the stun gun she just remembered was in her grasp.

Karma quickly removed his hands from her person, letting her walk right out of his arms. Takina brushed out her clothes as she walked away from him and towards Nagisa as the boy approached them, wiping blood from his mouth. Takina fished a handkerchief from her pocket to present to him. Nagisa thanked her as he took it.

"You did well, Nagisa. This was the one time I wasn't sure what would happen. I'm glad to see that you only seem slightly hurt." Korosensei said in relief.

"Yeah. I'm fine, but..but...what do we do? Everyone's antidote...the amount I took from Takaoka-sensei is nowhere near enough." Nagisa replied.

The others shared looks, all of them feeling dread crash back in on them. Nagisa was alright, but now they had to face the fact that they had screwed up on getting the antidote.

"At any rate, we need to escape this place. I called for a helicopter, so you guys are on standby. I'll go bring the poison-user." Karasuma told them.

"Hmp, you guys don't need no antidote."

Everyone whipped around, finding Gastro and his two fellow assassins standing at the door to the roof. It was just one thing after another and Takina didn't know if she could go for the whole tension rollar-coaster again.

"Brats, did you guys think that you'd all leave here alive?" Gastro asked.

"You've got to be kidding." Takina retorted, making Gastro look at her. "Your employer is down for the count with a brain made of scrambled eggs, right now. There should be no other reason for you to continue to fight us."

"I've recovered for the most part, and my students here are pretty strong." Karasuma added. "Why don't we end this here and prevent any more casualties?"

"Mm...sure."

Wait...

What!?

Takina and the others exchanged looks, all of them wondering if this was some kind of trick to lull them all into a false sense of security.

"'Revenge for the boss", wasn't included in our contract. Besides, didn't I already tell that kid over there? You guys don't need any antidote in the first place." Gastro told them.

"What I served you guys, is this." Smog said, holding up a fat, but short bottle. "It's an improved version of the food poison bacteria. It'll stay active for about another three hours, but after that, it'll quickly become inactive and become innocuous. And the one the boss told us to use, is this one. If I used this one, you guys would've been in some serious trouble."

Smog pulled out a long and thin vial that was currently corked tight.

"Right before using it, the three of us had a discussion, nu. The time limit the boss set for negotiations was one hour. Which meant, even if we didn't use the deadly virus, we could still accomplish the trade off." Clip added.

"I have a large variety of poisons to meet all sorts of negotiation conditions. But it was enough for you guys to fear for your lives, right?" Smog questioned.

"But, that means, you guys went against that guy's order, right?" Okano asked. "Is it okay for you to do that when you're receiving payment?"

"You idiot, if you think a pro will do anything for money, you've got another thing coming. Of course, we do our best to act in accordance with the will of our client, but the boss was never planning on giving up the antidote to begin with. Either we become the perpetrators of a mass murder of some upstart middle school students, or we get caught for going against our orders and our reputations as pros drop. Which of these carry a higher risk for us after all of this is over? All we did was calmly weight these on a scale." Gastro replied.

"Well, because of that, I'm sad to say, none of you are going to die." Smog said, tossing a bottle of pills towards them. Takina, as the one closest to him, caught the bottle. "Have the patients take those nutrients and put them to sleep. They'll work so well you'll want to send letters to thank me and say, "We're even healthier than before we were sick."."

"I'll decide whether or not I can trust you guys after I see the students recover." Karasuma said, as Takina looked over the pills she now held. "I want to question you guys for some information as well, so I'll have to restrain you three for a bit."

"Well, guess there's no choice. I have another job coming in next week, so only for within that time period." Gastro replied.

With that, Takaoka and his bodyguards were loaded up on the helicopter as it landed on the roof. As one solider walked Clip by, Karma couldn't help but to poke the bear a little.

"What? So you don't want a revenge match, old man, nu. Don't you hate me enough to wanna kill me?" Karma asked, holding the tubes of mustard and wasabi up, a grin on his face.

"I can't explain how much I want to kill you, but I've never killed a person for a personal grudge, nu. I'll wait until the day someone sends a request to kill you." Clip said, patting Karma's head as he passed him. "So you need to become a person worth targeting, nu."

Takina rolled her eyes at the whole thing. It was a weird way to encourage someone, but, then again, it was coming from an assassin, so she guessed it was fitting.

"Hey, girl," Takina turned as Gastro directed that at her. Looking up at him, he fixed her with a firm stare as Smog and Clip joined him. "That was some knife throwing skill you had. You practice at that?"

"Not really. Just a hobby." Takina replied back, her expression blank and her tone indifferent.

"Some hobby. Another few centimetres and that thing would have been buried in my eye-socket." Gastro retorted, grinning.

"I know."

Gastro's grin faltered, the three assassins tensing when they met the stern, no-nonsense stare of Takina's own gaze. There was nothing in her expression or her eyes to suggest she was kidding in anyway. Instead, she half turned away from them, jamming her hands into her pockets.

"What's the point of training to be an assassin if you aren't willing to make every move with the intent to kill? That being said, I wasn't aiming to kill..." Takina said, turning away from them. "That time."

The three watched her as she walked away, rolling her head on her shoulders until there was a loud pop, causing her to reach up and rub at her neck. Takina joined her friends as the three hitmen were loaded up on the helicopter, leaving them with a promise to show them a hitman's true worth if they someday became someone worth killing.

"How should I put this?" Hayami started. "Even though we beat those three, it doesn't feel like we won, does it?"

"That was a sneaky way of saying it. You guys ended it by making us feel like we were the ones being comforted, damn it." Karma muttered, smoothing his hair down.

"No matter how they put, I'm sure he never saw you and your mustard and wasabi coming, though." Takina muttered as she passed Karma.

Karma looked over his shoulder at her. He opened his mouth to say something, but the second helicopter arrived then, and the students were loaded up on it and flown to the beach just outside their hotel. They were able to give their classmates good new, Takina going around with the pill bottle to hand out the pills. With that done and the adrenaline from the evening finally wearing off, Takina felt her exhaustion hit her like a ton of bricks and she dropped where she stood.

To her classmates' surprise, she was out like a light almost before she slumped against the wall. All of them couldn't help but smile or laugh at her sleeping face.

"It's almost like she hasn't slept in days." Kayano remarked.

"Whether you boy and girls noticed it or not, Takina was actually the most tense out of all of you." Korosensei remarked from where he had been sat on a table. "Her guard didn't slip, even once, during the whole thing. Keeping that level of tension and concentration for that long...it's no wonder she's this exhausted. All of you deserve a good night's sleep now. If one of you would carry her to her bed."

With Isogai's help, Karma loaded Takina up on his back, the girl slumping over his shoulders to breathe low and slow in his ear. Chuckling to himself, because there were a vast number of pranks he could pull on her when she was that sound asleep, Karma carried her to her bed.

He would reframe from the pranks...this time, and he would apologize to her for being a jerk. But, for now, he would let her sleep. He, himself, was tired and ready for a good night's sleep.

They deserved that much, at least.

END

Kyandi: You know Karma likes you when he actually decides not to pull a prank on you.

Takina: You made me sound like you, falling asleep anywhere, at any time.

Kyandi: I have a sleeping disorder, thank you very much!

Takina: You still fall asleep, anywhere, at any time, in any position. You sleep sitting cross legged and leaning over your lap, for crying out loud!

Kyandi: Lots of people do that.

Takina: Yeah...toddlers.

Kyandi: Oh, hush. Anyway, I have many more plans, so I want to get started with the next chapter.

Takina: Sure, sure.

Kyandi: Everyone, enjoy and review!

Takina: We'll return as soon as possible, though, if she keeps up this pace, that'll be tomorrow.

Kyandi: Bye-bye!