Kyandi: Pft!
Takina: You can't even hold it together long enough to greet your readers?
Kyandi: I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I'm trying...pft...! Hey there, everyone!
Takina: If you can't tell, she's over here about to die of laughter.
Kyandi: It's just too funny! I laughed for about twenty minutes after writing it!
Takina: Yes, I know. Your sister had to come and make sure you weren't dying, and why was that?
Kyandi: I couldn't breathe!
Takina: And that's because...?
Kyandi: I was laughing too hard! And if I don't get laughs from this chapter, then I'm not doing this humor thing right.
Takina: I'm sure someone shares your sense of humor.
Kyandi: I hope so! With that, everyone, please enjoy and review. Just a warning...don't drink anything while reading this.
Takina: Kyandi-sama does not own Assassination Classroom...but please take her warning.
Chapter 27 Code Names
"He doesn't look good."
Takina made the remark as she crouched next to Itona. To her, he looked like he was already well on his way to the afterlife. Takina had heard the phrase, "One foot in the grave", well, as far as she was concerned, Itona looked like he was dangling in the grave, holding on only by a vice grip on the edge.
"Tentacles are things you move from the strength of your will. As long as Itona has his abnormal tenacity for power and victory, the tentacle cells will cling strongly to him and not leave. In the meantime, the body will continue to receive a huge burden and become weaker. In the end, he will evaporate along with the tentacles and die." Korosensei told them.
"That's...that's just so sad." Mimura said lowly.
"It's something he acquired unnaturally through a transplant, right? Isn't there a way to detach it?" Kataoka questioned.
"Not unless we can get rid of his tenacity for power. In order to do that, we need to better understand the reason he became that way." Korosensei replied.
"But you know, this kid's closed his heart off." Nakamura told Korosensei, making Takina look up from the boy.
"I can't imagine that he'd honestly tell us about his past." Maehara agreed.
If so, Takina knew how he felt. There were a lot of things she didn't want to share with her classmates. She could understand not wanting dig up past pains.
"About that," Fuwa said suddenly, looking down at her phone. "It was bothering me. Why was Itona attacking cell phone shops? So, until now, I've been going back and forth with Ritsu. Phone models, family registry, I had her investigate anything connected to him."
"What did you get?" Takina asked.
"We learned that "Horibe Itona" was this company president's child." Fuwa said as Ritsu sent the article to everyone's phone. Takina pulled up her own, looking at it. "It was a factory that supplied smartphone parts globally. But two years ago, it seems they were in debt and went bankrupt. The president and wife left their son and disappeared."
In other words, Itona wanted power because he felt like if he had it, then he could actually protect what was closest to him.
"Keh. Lame. That means he just strayed down the wrong path." Terasaka said, sounding bored. "Everyone has their burdens. Some might be heavier or lighter than others, but those burdens and hardships, somehow, they end up not being such a big deal. Let us take care of this guy at our place, and if he dies, I guess that's as far as he goes."
While Takina was sure how the whole thing would play out, it was about the only idea anyone had, so they let Terasaka and his group take Itona, after fashioning a bandanna out of the anti-sensei net to put around the boy's head.
Takina and the others followed the group as they attempted to relax Itona. Their first stop was the ramen restaurant that Muramatsu's family owned and ran. After feeding the boy a bowl of ramen that he criticized relentlessly, they moved on the track and bike shop that Yoshida's family ran. By the time Yoshida sent Itona flying into the bushes off the back of the bike, Takina was sure they were just going to send the boy into another rampage.
"It doesn't look like they planned anything at all." Nakamura remarked from where they watched at the fence line.
"Yeah. It feels like they're just messing around." Yada agreed.
"Well, fundamentally, they're idiots, so there's no helping that." Karma told them.
"Ah, but, when it comes to Hazama, she's pretty smart, so..."
"I wouldn't hold my breath, Manami." Takina told Okuda as she trailed off. "Kirara is smart, but her sense of what's relaxing is...troubling, to say the least."
They all watched as Hazama dumped a pile of books on the ground in front of Itona, each of the books centered around dark emotions and the need for revenge. As Terasaka and the others argued over the best way to help Itona, Itona stared to shake, his tentacles convulsing and going on a rampage, ripping through the bandanna.
"These four are going to get themselves hurt."
The others turned to Takina as she started scaling the fence, easily dropping to the other side.
"Takina! What are you doing!?" Kurahashi called in concern as Takina headed towards Itona and Terasaka.
"Helping." was all Takina said as she approached Terasaka and Itona.
"I'm different from you guys, who don't do things the proper way. Right now, kill him. Victory!" Itona rambled, half crazed.
"Yeah, Itona. I thought that way, too. That I wanted to kill that octopus this very day. But, you know, it's impossible for you to kill him right now. Just throw that impossible vision away. You'll feel better." Terasaka told him.
"Shut up!"
Itona attacked Terasaka with his half withered tentacles, but Terasaka caught the hit as it slammed into his gut, latching onto the tentacle.
Itona pulled back another tentacle to hit him again, but he was so focused on Terasaka, that he didn't see the incoming blow until Takina slammed a fist into his head, knocking him for a loop.
"Why don't you shut up and listen!" Itona and Terasaka both looked back at Takina, Itona clutching his head, as the girl braced her hands on her hips. "Go on, Terasaka."
Terasaka grinned, chuckling at how well Takina could man handle someone into listening to her.
"This is the second time, and you've weakened, so it's easy to catch. Even though it hurts like a bitch, and I feel like puking. Speaking puking, that reminds me of Muramatsu's ramen." Terasaka said, Takina rolling her eyes and giving him a pointed look that clearly said, "Get to the point". "That guy. He was recommended by that octopus to study management. He said, it's okay if the ramen's bad right now. If a time comes when he takes over the restaurant, he can make the place prosper with a new flavor, and management skills. Yoshida was told the same thing. That these skills might be useful some day. Hey, Itona. Don't stray from your path just because you lost once or twice. All you have to do is win some day."
Terasaka, copying what Takina had done earlier, hit Itona over the head.
"Same goes for killing the octopus. It's fine if you can't kill him now. It's fine if you fail one hundred times. Until March, if we kill him just once, just with that, it's our win. And with the bounty, you can just buy back your dad's factory, and everything'll be settled. Then, your dad'll come back, too." Terasaka added.
"I can't stand it. Until I can come up with my next vision for victory, how do I spend my time?" Itona asked.
"Haa? Just spend it doing stupid things, like you did today. That's what we're here for." Terasaka replied.
Itona stared at Terasaka in surprise, his words actually hitting home. His eyes, though, shifted from Terasaka to Takina as she stepped up to look at him.
"Listen to me, alright. Terasaka's got a point. It doesn't matter when we achieve the goal, as long as we do it before the deadline. Don't feel the need to rush to the point it drives you insane." Takina told him. "And take it from me...gaining strength after the fact, doesn't help you. It won't change or erase what happened. It's just like hind sight. Yeah, it helps in the future, should anything happen again, but it will never help with what's already happened. Forcing strength, prizing power over everything else...it's not going to help you. As long as you keep dwelling in the past and don't move forward, it doesn't matter how much strength you gain. You'll always lose because it'll constantly be engraved in your head that you've lost before you begun. Take it from someone who knows...stop beating yourself up over what you couldn't do then, and focus on what you can do in the future."
Itona stared at Takina, meeting her eyes. In his opinion, she looked almost...sad. But the expression was gone almost as soon as he placed a name to it. That being said, he could see her's and Terasaka's points. His whole body relaxed, his eyes shifting to the ground.
"Was I...rushing?" he asked.
"Yeah, that's what I think. Itamatsu?" Terasaka asked.
"Sounds like it. Just a bit." Takina replied.
"The color of tenacity has disappeared from your eyes, Itona." Korosensei said, approaching them. "Now, I can remove the tentacle cells that are causing you pain. In return for losing one enormous power, you will receive many companions. You will come to kill me, won't you? Beginning tomorrow?"
Itona's eyes shifted from Korosensei to Takina and Terasaka, and then to the others. Finally heaving a sigh, he agreed.
"Do whatever you want. I'm sick of this power, and our sibling setting now." he replied.
With that, Korosensei removed the tentacles and Class E gained yet another student.
Incidentally, Itona chose Terasaka's group as his social circle.
Takina wasn't sure how smart of a choice that was.
"That was something very wise you said to Itona, Takina." Takina looked up as Korosensei stepped up to her side. "You said it from experience, no?"
"I did."
"Would you like to talk to Sensei? It might help you." Korosensei offered.
"No thanks. I've already said it once, Korosensei, but...I don't need or want to change. Besides, the circumstances are different with me from Horibe. My messed up parts doesn't destroy stores and potentially harm others."
Takina gave Korosensei a pat on the back before she moved to join her classmates. Her attempt at humor aside, it was yet another unsettling thing about Takina, but, like with Itona, they couldn't force her to tell them what made her the way she was. Korosensei just hoped it didn't harm the one person in her life that really mattered.
Herself.
-0-0-0-0-
Over the next few days, Itona found his place in the class and, it turned out, the boy was far smarter than some of them gave him credit for. While he was still behind, from not attending school, he wasn't as far behind as Korosensei feared he might be. When he wasn't hanging out with Terasaka and his group, he was following Takina around.
Not that she really seemed to mind.
In fact, her classmates were amused to find that Takina, despite being the same age, took over almost as an older sister figure for Itona. Most of the time, that included tutoring him and buying him meals, but Takina never seemed to have an issue with Itona just suddenly deciding to follow her home.
It turned out, her cat, Sergio, actually liked Itona.
One day, not long after Itona joined the class, Takina came into class early. She walked into the classroom to find all the boys already there, and just in time to hear something about a remote controlled car the boys were modifying with an unusual amount of enthusiasm. When Takina walked into the classroom, all of the boys froze, turning to look at her. Takina's eyes scanned them, the girl happy to see that the only boy not present, was Karma.
She had a feeling the rest of the boys were up to no good, especially with the way they froze just at the sight of her. Her eyes then shifted to the toy car, the obvious camera lens attached to it, and one side of her mouth twisted down. Then her eyes raised to the boys who were sweating buckets.
"I don't want to know what this is about, but I'm telling you now...if that thing ends up under my skirt, I'm castrating each and every one of you." Takina told them simply, turning on her heel to leave the classroom once more.
Silence stretched through the boys as they all silently agreed that they were not going anywhere near Takina with the toy car.
Hoping that Takina didn't feel the need to tell the other girls, the boys went back to their work. Unfortunately for them, Takina wasn't one to see perverted actions against her female classmates and not report it.
"Alright! We'll use this thing to scout under all the girls' skirts by March!" Okajima was saying as the girls walked into the room.
"So Takina was telling the truth!"
A
ll of the boys turned, finding a group of angry girls behind them, Takina standing at the door, arms crossed over her chest.
"You told them!?" Okajima said, turning on Takina as the girls started scolding them, getting up in the boys' faces.
"Of course I did. I'm a girl, aren't I? I'm not going to see suspicious actions like yours and not warn the others." Takina replied, looking down as Itona walked up to her, whistling innocently.
"Hey, I want to skip lessons today. Where's Karma?" he asked Takina.
"Probably in his usual spot on the back mountain. I'll show you." Takina offered, turning to leave her male classmates to defend themselves against the girls.
When she arrived in the class the next morning, she was glad to see that none of the girls had killed their male classmates. She was sad, though, to see they hadn't at least roughed the boys up. Shrugging her shoulders, though, she retreated back to her desk, sitting her bag on the desk as a conversation reached her ears.
"Ju-Justice?! I totally thought it was Masayoshi." came Kayano's voice.
The girl was talking to Kimura and, somehow, the conversation had gotten onto the topic of names and their meanings.
"Everyone reads it as Masayoshi out of warrior's compassion. I even asked Korosensei to call me that, too." Kimura replied.
"He got scared when he heard his name during the first opening ceremony, huh." Sugaya remarked.
"I hate the thought of being publicly executed during the graduation ceremony again." Kimura complained.
Apparently, the boy's parents were both police officers and they had been high off the sense of justice when he was born.
Takina actually felt a little bad for the boy.
"And they always smack me and say, "How dare you complain about the name we gave you?!". I bet they didn't even bother to think about how much their kid would be picked on at school." Kimura remarked.
"That's how parents are." Hazama told him. "They call me Kirara even with this face. Kirara! Do I look like a Kirara?"
"You really shouldn't ask others questions like that. You might not like the answer, one of these days." Takina told Hazama.
"I still have a point. Even though my mother's head is full of fairy tales, if she doesn't like something, she immediately gets hysterical, and has screaming fits. Growing up in a stressful house like that...there's no way I would grow up to be cute like my name." Hazama remarked.
"That must be rough guys, having such weird names." Karma suddenly butted in, making everyone stare at him.
"You aren't one to talk about weird names, Akabane." Takina told him.
"Me? I actually like my name. Sometimes, a parent's weird sense gets passed down to their kid, right?" Karma replied.
"In your case...completely." Takina retorted.
"What about you, Takina?" Nakamura asked.
"Me?" Takina looked up from where she was unpacking books from her bag. "Well, like I said, Takina is my middle name. My mother was Japanese, my father is Swiss. When I was born, they couldn't agree on whether to give me a Japanese name, or a Swiss name. So, my father picked my first name and my mother picked my middle name. If you look at the meanings of each, you can see how vastly different their expectations for me were."
"You write your name with the kanji for "I love you", right?" Okuda asked.
"Yeah, that's right. According to my father, my mother loved me to death."
The way Takina said that didn't sit right with a few of them. Her tone was just too...flat. They didn't ask though, because they knew she wouldn't talk. Not where her mother was concerned.
"And your first name? What is it?" Nakamura asked, all of them wondering if she would actually answer.
"Oh...it's Hillevi." Takina answered, looking down at her books.
"Hillevi?" Kayano repeated.
"Yeah. It actually has two meanings, but I'm pretty certain on which one my father intended." Takina told them, walking around her desk to lean against it. "It's means, "Happy in war". See what I meant by vastly different?"
"Hillevi, huh? I think it fits you." Karma remarked when the others fell silent.
"You would. But I don't like answering to that name, so I'm going to politely ask that none of you ever call me that. I have a lot of bad memories associated with that name. I prefer Takina."
"Sensei has grievance with his name as well."
Korosensei suddenly popped up in the conversation, making Takina heave a sigh.
"But you like yours, don't you, Korosensei? It's the name that Kayano gave you." Sugino said.
"As of yet, there are about two people that refuse to call me by that name." Korosensei complained, all eyes going to Karasuma and Irina. "When Karasuma-sensei calls me, it's "Hey" or "You". We're not some middle aged couple you know."
"But...for a proper adult to say Korosensei...honestly, it's embarrassing." Irina admitted.
"I don't see how. He calls you "Irina-sensei" and calls Karasuma-sensei the same way. If he can say that, can't you call him Korosensei?" Takina remarked.
The look that Irina and Karasuma shared, said it all.
They weren't going to call him that anytime soon.
"Then, hey! How about we call each other by code names instead?" Yada suggested.
"Code names?" Isogai asked.
"Yeah. We'll pick a new name for everyone. You know, the hitmen we met on the southern island, they didn't call each other by their real names either. Wouldn't it seem like we're hitmen, and be kinda cool?" Yada replied.
"I fear for what some of you would pick as a code name for me." Takina admitted, her eyes zeroing in on a grinning Karma.
That being said, Korosensei thought it was a good idea. Which gave Takina a bad feeling.
"I see. That sounds good. Even those two hard heads should be used to calling people by nicknames." Korosensei said, Irina and Karasuma frowning as that was directed at them. "Besides, everyone can train their naming sense for when they become a parent."
"Ew. Not an appealing thought." Takina remarked.
"What, you don't like the idea of kids of your own?" Nakamura asked her.
"No, it's not that. It's the thought of Akabane having kids. Now that's terrifying." Takina retorted.
"Only if their your's." Karma replied swiftly, grin on his face.
His grin grew to a smirk when Takina stiffened, the girl turning her head to hide her expression. He hadn't missed the twitching at the corner of one of her eyes though. Though he would like nothing else but to let the conversation carry on and see where it led, because he could smell some kind of scandal brewing, Korosensei decided it was best to carry on before, out of sheer embarrassment, Takina tried to kill Karma.
"Let's do this. Everyone will each write a code name suggestion for the whole group. From those, Sensei will pull one out at random, and that will be your code name for the day. This whole day, using your names is prohibited." Korosensei told them.
The class, as a whole, spent a little time thinking up names. Once they were all done, Korosensei drew the names. When it came to Takina, Korosensei had to trash the first one, Takina yelling, "There's no way in hell I'm going by that all day!" from the back of the room when Korosensei read the code name, "Karma's Baby Mama" out loud.
She was more than happy to accept the code name Ice Queen that was pulled next.
After that, for their practical training, Karasuma strapped targets to himself and gave the students the task to hunt and target him while working as a team using the code names they had been assigned.
Takina had a hard time choosing between laughing and face palming herself.
"Baseball Freak, Baseball Freak! Do you see any movement from the target?" came Sugaya's voice over the group call.
"Nothing yet, Artsy Bean Pole. Straight Lace is hiding near a lone pine tree. Poor Committee Member's team will close in on Straight Lace from behind through the marsh. Tsundere Sniper is prepared to snipe." Sugino replied.
"My god, this is so stupid." came Takina's mutter across the call.
"You're suppose to be sneaking around, Ice Queen. Be quiet." Sugino told her.
On her end, Takina rolled her eyes as she continued to travel through the bushes. She could tell, from where she was, that Isogai's team wasn't going to be able to trap Karasuma. Sure enough, Karasuma slipped right between Isogai and Maehara, turning to scold the two.
"Naive, you two! How are you going to let the target slip through your entrapment?! Especially you, Womanizing Bastard Guy! Always carry your gun at a height where you can shoot!" Karasuma yelled.
Takina was pretty sure it had been female member of the class that had picked that code name for Maehara.
"Shit, don't let him get away! Mushroom Director! Flouncy Stagbeetle! He went that way!" Maehara called out to Mimura and Kurahashi.
The two tried to catch Karasuma, but he suddenly changed directions, heading for Terasaka's group.
"Homebase, Loofah, Rolling Riser!" Mimura called in warning to Yoshida, Muramatsu and Itona.
The three popped out, drawing Karasuma's attention to them and away from the one who was really taking the shot. Up in the tree, Terasaka, or Pseudo-Takaoka as he was currently being called, took the shot. He managed to wing the edge of the target on Karasuma's back.
"But not good enough! If you only get one shot against me, you'll never hit that guy!" Karasuma called over his shoulder, facing forward where he caught sight of Okuda and Kayano in the bushes. "Poison Glasses! Forever 0! If I can see where you're shooting from, I can obviously dodge it!"
"Kuh...he noticed us! We're counting on you, Stern Lecture!" Kayano called to Kataoka.
"Let's go Gyaru English and Gender!" Kataoka called back to Nakamura and Nagisa.
Karasuma easily evaded their shots, ducking behind a boulder to avoid the incoming fire from Fuwa(This Manga Is Awesome) and Okajima(End of Perversion). Karma, going by the code name Half of Middle Two, had cut off the escape route, all of them closing in on Karasuma in order to give Chiba, or Adult Game Protagonist, the shot.
A shot that Karasuma blocked with a piece of bark.
"Adult Game Protagonist! Always assume that the target is vigilant of your shooting!" Karasuma called out to him.
Chiba merely smiled. That smile and the feeling like something was coiling around his sense of danger, squeezing it tightly, was the only warning Karasuma got before he felt the force of someone hitting his back.
"Take him down, Ice Queen!"
Karasuma saved himself from a face plant with the ground, quickly finding arms wrapped around his neck, pulling tightly to yank his chin up and back. He caught a flash of white out of the side of his eyes as he fought not to fall over, the weight on his back pulling backwards to achieve just that.
Takina!
He hadn't even heard her approaching.
Then her foot was colliding, rather painfully, with the back of his knee. With a grunt, Karasuma went down on one knee. He reached back, aiming to grab the girl and flip her off his back, but Takina wasn't budging. With him now at her height, she planted her feet on the ground and locked him into a headlock, one arm around his windpipe, the other hand braced on the back of his head.
It had to be a move her father taught her, because Karasuma knew he hadn't taught it to her. He hadn't even used something like that around the students, so it wasn't like she could have learned it from watching him, like Karma had done with his defensive moves. Either way, it was a good and firm hold that he would have to hurt her to get free from.
"Now, Justice!" Takina called.
Karasuma's eyes widened as Kimura dropped from a tree, taking the shot that Takina had pinned Karasuma in order to make. Kimura took the shot, managing to hit the target due to surprise and Takina's hold. Only then did Takina release Karasuma. Karasuma rubbed at his neck as Takina moved past him, giving Kimura a high five.
She had moved like she had done that kind of thing before. It definitely had to be the result of her father's training. While he had a few issues about how she had gone about creating an opening, she had taken him by surprise, and he had to give her credit for that.
With that, the exercise was called to an end and the students changed and returned to class, all of them slumping over their desks.
"So, how was it? How did you feel spending your first hour with code names?" Korosensei asked.
"It was...really hurtful." came the reply from several students.
"Korosensei, why was I the only one to keep their real name?" Kimura asked.
"Because I knew the details of today's physical training. Because with your mobility, I thought you would play an active role. For a cool, decisive moment like before, even with the name Justice, it fits the situation perfectly, right?" Korosensei replied. "To make you feel better, I'll tell you this, Kimura, your name should be relatively easy to file for a name change. It's an extremely difficult name to read, and you're already using the regular, easy to read name. You've fulfilled most of the name change requirements."
"That's right." Kimura said, perking up.
"But you know, Kimura, if you were to kill me, I'm sure the word will interpret your name this way. "Justice Indeed". They'll say it's "A name befitting a hero that saved the world". Honestly, there isn't much meaning to the splendid names given to you by your parents. What does have meaning, is what the person behind that name does during their actual lifetime. The name doesn't make the person. The name simply remains gently within the footprint left on the path a person walks. Just a little while longer, that name...Why not carefully hold on to it? At least until the matter of the assassination is settled. Yes?" Korosensei suggested, holding up the target off Karasuma that showed Kimura's shots.
"I guess I could do that." Kimura agreed.
Leave it to Korosensei to turn a little suggestion like code names into a lesson on why they should be comfortable with their names.
"Not then, today was a day of using code names, correct?" Korosensei said, turning to face the chalkboard. "I will also introduce my code name, so...please call me by this name from hereon. The Imperial Prince of Fate of the Eternal Wind...okay?"
Takina released a long sigh as her classmate blew up, throwing erasers and shooting anti-sensei bullets at him. They yelled things like, "Why are you only giving yourself a high and mighty name?!" and "And what's with that self satisfied look on your face?!", as they raged.
In the end, they all agreed that, for the rest of the day, Korosensei was to be known as, Stupid Pervert Chicken Octopus.
Takina was more than happy with Ice Queen, though, she would love to know who had been the smart-ass who had thought up "Karma's Baby Mama".
She'd make them cry for their mama.
END
Kyandi: It even rhymed!
Takina: Yes, and that makes it funnier, doesn't it?
Kyandi: Yep!
Takina: You're not going to tell me who came up with that code name, are you?
Kyandi: Do you really want to know?
Takina: ...yes.
Kyandi: Half of your class. The other half wrote Ice Queen.
Takina: Wait...there were only two names in that whole box?!
Kyandi: Yep. Everyone, enjoy and review!
Takina: We aren't done here!
Kyandi: Yes, we are. Say your line.
Takina:...grrr...We'll be back as soon as possible.
Kyandi: Bye-bye!