Kyandi: Hello, my lovelies!
Takina: She's fighting not to laugh right now.
Kyandi: I included a little scene in this chapter that should have all of you laughing with me.
Takina: I'm not laughing.
Kyandi: Of course you're not. But that's alright.
Takina: For whom!?
Kyandi: Me! Anyway, I'm ready to see reactions, so where going to jump right into it.
Takina: You're too eager.
Kyandi: I know. Everyone, please enjoy and review! Let me know if you figured out what Karma was going to do before he did it.
Takina: Kyandi-sama does not own Assassination Classroom.
Chapter 26 Underwear Thief
Later that night, Takina met up with her friends, all of them dressed in black. Fuwa then led them to a building where she was sure the imposter would strike next. Using the free-running skills Karasuma had taught them, they easily scaled the wall surrounding the building.
"Fufufu. Nearly adult in mind and body, the great detective is here!" Fuwa said.
"All we did was us free-running to break into a residence." Nagisa replied.
"Not really what I would consider something to be proud of." Takina agreed.
Fuwa ignored them, refusing to let them ruin her mood.
"So, Fuwa. What makes you think the real culprit's gonna hit this building next?" Terasaka asked.
"This is a training facility for a certain performance pros. During these two weeks, I heard an idol group full of huge breasts is practicing their dance for a new song. That training camp will be over tomorrow. There's no way the real culprit would let the ultimate laundry slip away." Fuwa explained, leading them around to where the laundry was hung out to dry. There, they caught sight of Korosensei hiding in the bushes.
"What the...was Korosensei thinking the same thing?" Fuwa demanded.
"No...no matter how you look at it, it looks like he's gonna steal something." Terasaka replied. "Look! He's more excited looking at the underwear than being mad at the real culprit! I can't help but see him as the real culprit!"
"I don't know about that. In the States, they had this thing, "Innocent until proven guilty". Let's not jump to conclusions until we see him take something." Takina told him.
Willing to agree with Takina for the time being, Terasaka merely muttered to himself and fell silent. It was then that Karma noticed something.
"Hey, the wall over there." he said, pointing.
Takina, who was crouched in front of him, shifted onto her her hands and knees, peering through the bushes towards the wall where someone was climbing over the wall. The man, who was wearing a bright yellow helmet with a Korosensei grin drawn on it, dropped to the ground and darted towards the underwear. Takina shifted even further forward, interested in the way the man moved, so focused on that, she didn't pay attention to the pose she was currently in, her back side higher up than her front.
With the man's movements, Takina was sure that he couldn't possibly be just some ordinary man. He had to have some kind of training. As he reached for the underwear, Korosensei jumped him, tackling the man to the ground.
"It kind of looks like he's doing something more dangerous than the underwear thief." Nagisa remarked.
"And his laugh matches the reports, too." Karma agreed, though, he was a little distracted by something else.
So distracted that when Korosensei pulled the impostor's helmet off to reveal that the man below was one of Karasuma's subordinates, it was Kayano that placed his name first, and not Karma. Korosensei might have seen the incoming trap before it was dropped in place, if it wasn't for what Karma did next.
Korosensei was distracted, his attention rising from the imposter to Takina as, with a sudden and loud gasp and "epp", Takina shot out of the bushes, hands plastered over her backside. Her cheeks now turning a bright shade of red, Takina whipped around to glare at a smirking Karma, who couldn't look more pleased with himself.
"Akabane!" she snapped.
"What? You had it right in front of my face." Karma replied, as if that would excuse the fact that he had just laid his hands on the curve of her butt.
The whole thing was distraction enough that when walls suddenly sprang up around Korosensei, he was completely taken off guard, leaving the imposter the chance to slip under the cloth walls and out of the narrow, enclosed space.
"Why are you doing this?" Korosensei called out to his imposter.
The last person Takina really wanted to see at that moment, showed up then, approaching the trap.
Shiro.
"He had a debt to his country, so I borrowed Karasuma-sensei's subordinate. I had him lure you into this cage of anti-sensei sheets. It's the method your students used on the southern isle. Before hitting you, we surround you. Though, the added distraction was a pleasant surprise." Shiro remarked, making Takina shoot a glare at Karma. "Now, Korosensei, shall we begin the final death match?"
As Itona appeared at the only opening in the anti-sensei material and begin his attack, Takina turned on Karma as he and the others came out of the bushes. Karma blocked his face as Takina proceeded to smack him. Though, he couldn't tell if she was more angry about him unconsciously helping to distract Korosensei, or him grabbing her butt.
"First, change the field dramatically, then attack. It's easier to enclose, rather that to hit. I took the liberty of using your strategy." Shiro said, turning to look at Takina and her friends.
"Shiro! Was this all your doing?!" Terasaka demanded.
"That's right. The multiple underwear thefts in town, and planting the underwear and other items around Korosensei, was all my doing." Shiro confirmed.
"Creepy old man." Takina muttered
Shiro continued as if he hadn't heard her.
"Don't blame this man. For this place, the last part of my plan, I needed a substitute for the role of the underwear thief." Shiro continued, gesturing to the man who had played the part of imposter.
"Sorry. It was orders from someone higher up than Karasuma. I didn't want to do it, but I couldn't refuse." he told told them.
"If that monster lost the trust of his students, his movements would be flustered. And so, the false information about the large-breasted idol training camp. He was a fool to jump in, even when it was somewhat unusual.." Shiro told them.
"Damn it...he's our prey." Terasaka growled.
"You always come up with these shady plans!" Fuwa snapped.
"That's what you call an adult. That's right! You're feeling uneasy because you can't see what's going on inside, right? Allow me to explain my tactics in detail. Look at the sheets. He's enclosed in a reinforced cloth made of anti-sensei fibers. It's extremely sturdy and it wouldn't break even against a charge from a tank. And I covered its unique smell with the scent of laundry detergent. Equipped on Itona's tentacles are gloves with blades made of anti-sensei material. Because there's material mixed in for resistance in a high speed battle, compared to the knives you guys use, it's not as effective. But, when the two sets of tentacles clash against each other, one side will slowly receive damage." Shiro explained. "And there's Itona's positioning, he continuously attacks from above without letting the target escape. With this, it doesn't look like he can be stopped."
"You're an idiot if you think that's all it'll take." Shiro turned his eyes to Takina, who, despite having just been groped, seemed calm. "If it was that simple to kill him, we would have already done so."
She sounded so confident in her claim, the girl sure that Korosensei would find a way out of this mess. Shiro opened his mouth, to demand to know how she could be so confident, when he heard Korosensei's laughter from within the trap.
"Yes. Well done, Itona. If it were Sense from the first semester, I might've been dead right now. But, your attack pattern is simple. No matter how fast, no matter how powerful, no matter how many strategies your guardian comes up with, no matter how temperamental Sensei may be, by the third time, I can quickly adapt to and see through you." Korosensei declared.
"Ridiculous. There's no way." Itona insisted.
"Itona, even Sensei learns. Without growing each day, how would I be able to teach my students? Now then, shall we get rid of this pesky cage of cloth? Through my experience from the ultimate defensive form during summer vacation, Sensei has also learned a technique. Rather than my entire body, I compress just a part of my tentacles. It's a method to produce energy." Outside the cage, Takina and her friends raised hands to shield their eyes from the light that began to glow brightly from within. "Remember this, Itona. For Sensei, assassination is education. The sensei of the assassination classroom becomes stronger as he teaches."
The resulting energy that flew free of the cage, sent Itona flying and had everyone else bracing themselves. The outward explosion of wind nearly knocked Takina off her feet. It actually might have if it wasn't for Karma. The boy wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her close to him to shield her, bracing his feet apart to keep both of them on their feet. Even the windows of the building were shattered by the force.
As the wind died out, Itona came crashing back down to earth, Korosensei catching him and sitting him gently on the ground before he could hit it. Takina looked up from where she was half shielded by Karma's body, saying the first thing that popped into her head.
Much to Shiro's annoyance.
"I told you so."
Shiro looked back at Takina, but do to the thing on his head and face, she couldn't tell if he was glaring at her. Not that she cared. People needed to learn to listen to her. It wasn't like she talked just to hear herself speak.
"There you have it, Shiro. This sort of surprise attack won't work on me anymore." Korosensei told Shiro. "Leave him with Class E and quietly step away. Also, please spread the correct information that I am not the underwear thief."
"And my chest is actually a "B", "B"!" Kayano added in the background.
"I think we have bigger issues, right now. Look at him." Takina said, gesturing to Itona.
The boy was basically foaming at the mouth, gripping his head in pain.
"It...it hurts...my head hurts. My brain's gonna tear open!" Itona complained.
"I guess the tentacles have begun to eat away at your mind from the shock of your constant losses. So this is this child's limit. It seems he can't even carry out my strategies of this level. Itona, maintaining you tentacles in sound health for one month requires the energy of three thermal power plants. If you can't produce better results, the organization will stop paying. It's not that I don't have any feelings towards you, but, in order to make use of the next model...I have to give up on you at some point. This is goodbye, Itona. You're on your own now." Shiro told Itona, walking away from the boy.
"Wait! And you call yourself a guardian?!" Korosensei called.
"Quit playing educator, monster. All you're capable of doing is destroying everything. I won't forgive you. Your very existence. It doesn't matter the sacrifice. All I want is a result with your death." Shiro told him. "More importantly, is it alright? You left your precious students alone."
In the next moment, Karma was yanking Takina out of the way by the arm he still had around her waist, pulling her into his chest, as he turned to shield her with his own body. Takina only saw the flash of a white tentacle over Karma's shoulder, one rocketing towards them and the other towards Terasaka who stood near them, before Korosensei jumped in the way to knock the tentacle aside.
All of them watched as, crazed with pain, Itona took off, his tentacles going berserk. Takina felt a little bad for Itona, given his current state. To be left in such pain, with no help from the one person he had relied on...she could only imagine the pain the tentacles were putting him through.
That being said, Takina had another issue on hand.
In his rush to pull her to him and shield her, one of Karma's hands had, once again, found its way to her backside.
"Akabane..."
"Yeah?"
"...Get your hand off my ass!"
Nagisa and the others flinched, wincing as Takina slapped Karma across the face hard enough for the boy to stagger back, trip, and land on his butt. Her cheeks starting to turn a little red, Takina turned on her heel and walked away, hands twisting into fists. Nagisa looked down at Karma, who, despite the red mark on his cheek, was grinning.
"You just can't leave her alone for a minute, can you?" Nagisa asked.
"What fun would that be? Now that I know what buttons to push, it more fun than ever." Karma replied.
"One of these days, she's gonna murder you in your sleep." Terasaka told Karma.
"She can try. I'll be waiting." Karma retorted, getting to his feet.
He really looked forward to the day that Takina actually, honestly challenged him. It would give him all the excuse he needed to touch her and watch her face light up with a blush.
Korosensei cut the conversation off there, and ushered them after Takina.
The next day, at school, Nagisa, Kayano and Takina watched as the man who had played the Korosensei imposter, Tsuruta, left the teacher lounge with a huge bump on his head.
"What's wrong with Tsuruta?" Nagisa asked.
"I heard he was reprimanded by Karasuma-sensei for rashly cooperating with Shiro." Kayano replied.
Karasuma's other assistant joined them then, watching as her co-worker walked away.
"Karasuma's assassin fist. It blows away a four centimetre diameter of your hair, and your scalp swells up two centimetres from internal bleeding. It's a fearful technique." she told them.
Takina would say so.
Inside the classroom, the others were trying to make it up to Korosensei for accusing him of being the underwear thief. Takina, on the other hand, was ignoring Karma, who could only grin at how well he was getting under her skin. The whole thing had kind of put the girl in a little bit of a sour mood, and she wasn't afraid to let it known.
"Don't bother worrying about Sensei. I'm just a disgusting life form in both body and mind anyway." Korosensei said, obviously pouting.
"You're the one that said it. Don't complain if we take your word for it."
"Takina!"
The others stared at Takina in shock while Korosensei deflated at her words. It wasn't like Takina to take things out on other people. It certainly wasn't like her to be so openly in a bad mood.
"Oh she's just bitchy because Karma grabbed her ass twice last night." Terasaka said gruffly.
Takina shot Terasaka a sharp look while everyone else turned to look at a grinning Karma.
"Are you trying to get yourself killed, man?!" Maehara demanded.
Karma's grin only grew while Korosensei was making a note to get more juicy details on the budding relationship between Karma and Takina later. For now, he had another student that required more attention than those two.
"I'm actually more worried about Itona, who's disappeared. These cells are too dangerous to be planted into and used by humans. Now that he's been abandoned by Shiro...who knows what reckless action he'll take." Korosensei said, drawing them back to the original subject.
"We're classmates in name, but we don't know a thing about him, do we?" Sugino asked.
"Sounds like we better start learning if we plan on trying to help him." Takina remarked.
The question was...could they help him?
-0-0-0-0-
The next morning, Ritsu showed them a TV report about a string of cell phone stores that had been attacked and destroyed. Just seeing the damage done to the stores, it was easy for Takina and her teammates to tell who had been responsible for the attacks.
"This is obviously Horibe's handiwork." Takina remarked.
"Yes, I agree. Because Sensei is accustomed to using them, he knows. This destruction would hardly be possible without tentacles." Korosensei agreed.
"Why only cell phone shops?" Fuwa asked.
"It has to have something to do with why he agreed to help Shiro in the first place. For him to continue to attack just one kind of store...it can't be a coincidence." Takina remarked.
The others couldn't disagree with her, but then the question was, what had happened to make Itona hate cell phone stores so much and how Shiro tied in with it.
"As his homeroom teacher, I will take responsibility and stop him. I must find him and protect him." Korosensei said.
"Do you really have an obligation to help him, Korosensei?" Okajima asked.
"Until just the other day, he was like your cut throat rival or something." Kimura added.
"You're only his homeroom teacher in name." Nakamura added.
"Personally, I can understand their unease, Korosensei." Takina said, making Korosensei look at her. "For the most part, I understand Shiro's type more than I care to. He's the type that, for him, everyone else is just a pawn for him to move across a chess board. It's difficult to tell what kind of battle strategy he will use next. For all we know, him letting Horibe go, like that, is just another trap to lure you in. He's already showed that he's more than happy to use us, your students, to get to you."
Korosensei could see her point. Takina was smart, and she had a mind made for picking apart battle strategies, as he had seen through training. If she was honestly concerned that it was another trap, than she was probably right. Then again, Korosensei had also noticed a level of paranoia in the girl. She always seemed to be suspicious of those around her, always looking over her shoulder. Something, do doubt, that her father had beaten into her. Either way, he knew there was a high chance that she was correct.
"Even so, I am his homeroom teacher. "No matter what, I will not let got of my students.". When Sensei became a teacher, he swore this." Korosensei replied.
"If you're sure." Takina remarked.
She just hoped she was being paranoid and it wasn't another trap.
She was getting awfully tired of trying to protect her prey from others.
-0-0-0-0-
That night, they all went out with Korosensei to catch Itona in the midst of destroying another cell phone store. The expression on Itona's face was probably the most human she had seen in the few times she had come face to face with the boy. Korosensei obviously thought so, too.
"Finally. I get to see a human-like face, Itona." Korosensei said, drawing Itona's glare to him.
"Brother." Itona greeted, his face covered in sweat.
"Please, call me Korosensei. I am your homeroom teacher." Korosensei insisted.
"Don't go rampaging just because you're sulking, Itona." Terasaka said bluntly. "You've put us through all sorts of stuff, but we'll consider it water under the bridge, so be quiet and come with us."
"Shut up...Let's fight...this time...I'll win." Itona insisted.
"Of course. I don't mind fighting, but we're both bodies of a national secret. Why don't we do this in a vacant area somewhere?" Korosensei suggested. "When that's done, we'll have a barbecue in that vacant area. While we all study a way to kill sensei."
"That octopus is persistent, you know. Once he becomes your homeroom teacher, he'd go to the ends of hell to teach you." Karma remarked.
"It's just easier to let him and be done with it." Takina agreed.
"Of course. Because when a student stands before you, it is a teacher's instinct to wish to teach them." Korosensei confirmed.
For a moment, it looked like they were getting through to Itona, like he was about to agree. Then something out of the corner of her eyes, had Takina turning towards the broken windows of the store as two hand grenades were thrown into the store.
"Take cover!" she yelled in warning.
It was only a brief warning, giving them only a second before the grenades went off, filling the air with a white smoke that had all of the students coughing, while it melted Korosensei's tentacles. That meant that it had to be comprised of anti-sensei powder. Takina was yanked to the side by Karma, pulled out of the way as men in the back of a truck, popped up to rain anti-sensei bullets on the store.
"This is the second arrow." came Shiro's voice over the gun fire. "Putting Itona off balance was also part of the plan."
With a push of a button, Shiro shot a net at Itona, wrapping the boy up in anti-sensei fibers to drag him along after the truck.
"Now, Itona, this is your final service. You're coming after us, right? Mr. Homeroom teacher." Shiro called.
With that, they drove off, leaving Korosensei and the students in the destroyed store. Karma eased back from where he had pinned Takina between him and a wall, trying to keep the both of them from getting hit back anything. Takina waved the lingering smoke out of her face as Korosensei checked on them. When he was sure that they were all alright, he took off after Shiro in order to help Itona.
"He was worried about us and his evasion reaction was slow." Muramatsu remarked as everyone dusted themselves off.
Even the world's most dense person could feel the blood lust that filled the room then. Every last one of them were angry, even the usually cool-headed Takina was boiling over.
"Like I said...he completely using us like chess pieces. I don't know about the rest of you, but...I really hate being used." Takina remarked.
Grunts and murmurs of agreements sounded from her. None of them were too happy with how Shiro kept using them to get to Korosensei. Especially since Korosensei was their prey, and they weren't willing to share in the first place. Takina, personally, was ready to get a little payback.
"I got an idea." Takina said suddenly, drawing attention to her. "How willing are you guys to following my orders?"
Takina wasn't usually one to take charge, though she wasn't above inputting her opinion when she thought it would help. Knowing that about her, if she had an idea she was confident enough in to step up and take charge, then they were willing to listen to what she had to say.
"What's your idea?" Isogai asked.
A small grin curled Takina's lips as she rolled her head on her shoulders, popping her neck.
"Well, first...we're going to kick a little ass." she replied.
Grins spread across her classmates' faces. They had no problem with that.
With Takina in the lead, the girl explaining as they went, they hurried after Korosensei. What they found when they arrived, was Korosensei, cornered by pressurized lights, trying to dodge bullets while also trying to defend Itona.
If Takina was honest, it might have been a successful plan.
If it wasn't for her and her classmates, that was.
"Akabane, Maehara...take them down."
The two gunmen in the trees didn't see Karma and Maehara before the two swung in to kick them hard across the head. Several of the others were waiting below to safely catch the falling men in sheets and then roll them up and tape them up.
"Terasaka, Hinata, you're next. Oh, and Terasaka, do something about those lights." Takina called as she appeared from the trees to join Korosensei.
Terasaka and Okano swung in, taking down the last of the men. Terasaka then turned to the lights, breaking them. Takina faced Shiro, hands on her hips as her classmates surrounded him and his remaining men.
"I do believe another "I told you so" is in order here." Takina remarked.
"You guys...why?" Itona asked.
"Don't get the wrong idea. We were just pissed off at that Shiro guy. And if Korosensei didn't leave, we would've left you alone." Hayami told him.
"Also, we aren't too key up on sharing our target with a man like him." Takina added, her glare directed towards Shiro. "Not to mention that I really hate being used."
Shiro fixed his eyes in on Takina, who had obviously led the charge this time around.
"Are you sure it's okay to be looking this way, Shiro? Weren't you shooting at Korosensei to pin him down?" Karma asked from beside Takina. "If you stop shooting...the net will get taken from its base."
Shiro whipped around, finding Korosensei ripping up the canon that had shot the net at Itona.
"Leave, Shiro. We will be taking Itona. You always work out these meticulous plans, but if you involve these students, those plans will come to nothing. It would be better for you to quickly realize the obvious." Korosensei told Shiro.
"A class where house flies swarm around a monster, huh? How annoying." Shiro remarked.
"Did he just compare us to house flies?" Takina asked.
She wasn't sure whether to be annoyed that he had compared her to an insect, or amused that he found her and her classmates annoying.
"But, surely, I will admit that there is a need for me to redo the fundamentals of my plans. I'll let you have that kid. Either way, he only has two to three days left. Play nice with the others." Shiro said, climbing into the truck, which peeled away, leaving them behind.
They all stood there, watching as the truck vanished off down the road. Silence stretched over them, only disturbed when Takina suddenly spoke.
"It's official...I hate him."
A sentiment they could all agree on.
END
Kyandi: Hahahahahaha!
Takina: The fact that Akabane grabbed my butt, twice, is not funny!
Kyandi: Oh, yes it is! Especially since it's not going to be worst thing he does!
Takina: I'm done, I quit. I honestly don't want to know what you come up with next.
Kyandi: You'll be alright. It's nothing too bad. Just...embarrassing.
Takina: That's bad enough!
Kyandi: Sorry, but also...not sorry. Anyway, everyone enjoy and review.
Takina: Yeah, sure. Ignore my feelings.
Kyandi: Not your line.
Takina Ugh! We'll be back soon.
Kyandi: Bye-bye!