Kyandi: Hey, guys!
Takina: Kyandi-sama won't let me know what's about to happen in this chapter.
Kyandi: For a very good reason.
Takina: You know, I'm not a flight risk.
Kyandi: You would be for this, and that's all I'm saying.
Takina: Now I'm concerned.
Kyandi: You'll see. I have a feeling we're going to have a few squealing readers.
Takina: Now I'm really concerned.
Kyandi: Don't worry about it. Let's just jump on in. Everyone, please enjoy and review.
Takina: I'm really worried, but...Kyandi-sama does not own Assassination Classroom.
Chapter 30 Gauntlet Thrown
"Everyone! Our principal has been injured and will be unable to work for a while. In his place, these onii-chans say they'll do anything for us!"
Takina wasn't sure how she had ended up in this, but, currently, she found herself standing in worse-for-wear pre-school, surrounded by little children vying for her attention. After an incident in which a little over half of the class had been involved in accident that ended with the elderly principal of the pre-school getting injured and being put on bed rest for a while, the whole of Class E, even those not involved in the incident, had been forced to work for the pre-school and forbidden from studying for their up coming mid terms.
Takina, unsure of how to handle the situation, since she had never really been around kids, looked down as a little boy, probably about two or three years old, pulled on her leg, smiling up at her with a wide and happy smile. Heaving a silent sigh, Takina bent and picked the boy up, since that was obviously what he wanted. Almost as soon as he was safely in her arms, he draped himself forward, laying his little head on her shoulder.
Takina fought with a mixtures of feelings, part of her wanting to melt at the way the little boy instantly took to her, the other half wondering what the hell she was suppose to do now.
"Really, why do the uninvolved students have to take responsibility too?" Hazama demanded as a couple of kids crowded around her, calling her a witch.
"This is sad. And I'm seriously getting bitten here." Terasaka complained as a little boy bit him.
"We all got a sticky slap too. He said it would be unfair unless everyone was treated equally." Hara said, Takina scoffing at the "stick slap" part.
Some of those involved, apologized.
"Don't worry about it. We should've considered the possibility of someone getting hurt." Kanzaki remarked.
"You're right. I guess I'm responsible as a supervisor, too. As the trainer for this fun circus group." Hazama remarked, glancing over at Yoshida, Muramatsu, and Itona as children climbed all over them.
"I don't think it's too bad." The others turned to look at Takina who had, in a short time, managed to softly rock the little boy in her arms to sleep. The child was smiling in his sleep, a fist full of Takina's snowy hair. It made some of the girls go "Aww!" lowly under their breaths. "I'd be more worried about the no studying part. Midterms are coming up quick."
"True, but we can just study secretly at our homes." Takebayashi pointed out. "So this will be two weeks of hard labor in order to protect our class secret. If you think of it as a cost towards the bounty, it's a small price to pay."
Takina turned to look at Takebayashi and heaved a sigh, pressing a hand to her face when she found that two of the children had yanked his pants down around his ankles.
"What he said would've been cool if it weren't for the pants." Maehara said.
"Looks like there are plenty of mischievous kids, huh?" Okano added.
Takina had to agree. The children had a lot of energy to them, but that was to be expected with so many children and limited staff.
"So, what brings you people here?" Takina and the others turned, finding one girl, an older girl that should have been in grade school already, standing there. "Barging in here with your large group, you guys can work off the oxygen you're taking up at least, right?"
"Oh no...Sakura-nee-san is in a bad mood." one little boy said.
"Yeah." another agreed.
"These nii-sans are gonna die." the first added.
"Here for five years, she's the oldest. She's actually continued to reject the school's control for two years." the second boy said.
"Sakura-nee-san, the Elite Neet." the boys said together.
Elite Neet...Takina wasn't sure that was a title she would really want to have, herself. Then the girl, Sakura, grabbed a broom and charged the middle schoolers.
"First, whether or not you have the guts to work, let's test it out, ehh?" Sakura called.
Nagisa tried to stop Sakura, to warn her, but it was too late. With a yell, Sakura fell through the floor.
"So dangerous, especially with children running around." Takina remarked.
"She's right." Isogai remarked, looking around. "Do you not do repairs? Because this building is pretty worn down."
"We don't have the money." the teacher replied. "Because our principal charges very little to take in any wait list or truant child, he can't even hire the workers he needs, so he does most of the work himself."
"The principal's always moving around." one child added.
Hearing this, Takina and her classmates started thinking.
"Twenty-nine people for two weeks, huh? Don't you think we can get a lot done?" Maehara remarked.
"We sure can." Hara agreed.
"Alright, guys, we'll split up and take care of things for that man. First, we'll hold a strategy meeting." Isogai said, before turning to Takina. "Takina, can we count on you to handle expanses?"
"I'm already on it." Takina replied, phone in hand. "I can have all the materials we need by tomorrow."
"Oh, I can't possibly ask you to spend your money on us!" the teacher insisted.
"Don't worry about it, ma'am. I have more money than I know what to do with. If I can use it to help you, these children, and this school, well, then by all means." Takina told her, assuring her that all would be alright before handing over the child she was holding. "I'll need to get a list of materials we'll need, and we'll need to make an estimate of how much."
Takina walked off with Isogai, the others already chiming in with ideas on how to improve the school. They held the meeting, as Isogai suggested and, since she was the one with the funds they would be using for this project, Takina was put in charge of managing cost and materials. True to her word, she had the material they would need delivered to the building first thing the next day.
While Kayano, Karma, Terasaka, and Okuda put on a little play for the children, the others worked on getting the materials unloaded and Takina made a walk through of the building to see what needed to repaired or improved upon. She was passing through the area where the play was going on as Karma, dressed as a knight, was beating up on Terasaka who was dressed as a monster.
In her honest opinion...the roles should have been reversed.
"Akabane, don't beat up on him too much. He needs all the functioning brain cells he can get." Takina called out as she passed through the room.
After she finished her walk through, Takina would meet up with one of Karasuma's subordinates who was a licensed architect. He would be giving her and a some of the others some advice on how best to modify the building. On top of modifying the building, several of them even worked with the older children on their studies. When she wasn't checking how they were fairing on supplies as they started building, Takina was playing with the younger children.
It was a little surprising to her classmates, to see how well Takina got along with the younger children. She almost always seemed to have one of them in her arms, a few more trailing behind like ducklings as she walked around the building, doing her work. Then again, after seeing how Takina had taken to the "big sister" role with Itona, and how motherly she could sound in general, it wasn't all that surprising. Takina even managed to get along with the ever crabby Sakura, helping the girl with her math since she was better at it than Nagisa.
Karma, though, found it amusing. Sitting back and watching as Takina made her round, clipboard in one hand, a child wrapped in the other and about five other children right on her heels, he could almost see Takina as a mother herself. Though, he was pretty sure that any children of hers would be holy terrors.
Or maybe he was thinking of his own children.
But who knew, maybe one day...they would be one and the same.
Picturing Takina as a mother, wearing a frilly apron as she worked in a kitchen, put a huge smirk on Karma's face. Which, in turn, got a shoe thrown at him by Takina who claimed, "That smirk never means anything good!". But the end of their first week there, Karma got her back by bribing a four year old to go up behind Takina and flip her skirt up.
Everyone, both inside the building and out, could hear Takina scream, "Akabane! Don't teach a four year that kind of thing!".
If she had known that Karma had snagged a picture right as the kid flipped her skirt, he highly doubted it would have ended at her screaming.
All the while, they studied at home, trying to put as much work they could into their studies with midterms right around the corner. Takina even held a few study sessions at her apartment, hoping it might help those who had a hard time studying alone. Between that and their work at pre-school, the two weeks flew by.
On the day that Matsukata, the elderly principal of the pre-school, was released from the hospital, Korosensei brought him to the building, the old man's jaw dropping when he saw that his little bungalow of a building, had been transformed an extended, two story building. Taking him inside, they showed him what they had managed to do in the two weeks.
"My word...in a mere two weeks." Matsukata muttered, looking around.
"These children looked just like scaffold constructors. There cleverly jumped around without rest." the teacher told him.
"This is excessively spacious." Matsukata remarked as they showed him the second floor which had been split into a library and an indoor playground.
"We were limited on time, though Itamatsu supplied us with all the materials we could need, so we went with a simple construction." Chiba told him.
"We went around the neighborhood and collected children's books that no one read anymore." Yada added.
"I even went ahead and ordered some grade school level textbooks that you can use to start teaching the older children." Takina told him as they moved towards the indoor playground, where some of the children were currently playing. "For the indoor playground, we carefully laid out nets and mats to insure safety, and since it's indoor, it's sheltered from the elements and won't be worn down and corroded."
"Remember that roundabout." Yoshida told Matsukata, gesturing to the rotating jungle gym the kids were playing on as they moved on.
"Now. Next is the staff room/garage." Isogai said, leading the way down the stairs.
"Garage?" Matsukata asked.
"Yes. We're particularly proud of this part of the reconstruction." Takina told him.
At the bottom of the stairs, they entered the garage where they found the bike that Yoshida and Itona had rebuilt. It was now a three wheeled, electrical bike built for heavy loads.
"The roundabout from the above room is connected to the battery charger. It is calculated that if you turn the roundabout, it will take care of most of your pedaling." Ritsu explained.
"In other words, the more the children play, the more it'll help you out, sir." Takina added.
"This it too well done!" Matsukata exclaimed. "You all preformed so well, that it's actually kind of disgusting!"
"Then you really won't like that the boys thought of using your old dentures to remake the bell on your bike." Takina told him.
"I don't need you to come up with ideas like that!" Matsukata exclaimed. "First of all, the most important work here isn't construction. It's to connect the hearts of the children. No matter how much you improve material things, if you guys didn't approach the hearts of the children, I won't acknowledge your work for these two weeks."
There was a loud call of Nagisa's name then, Sakura rushing towards them, waving a test paper over her head.
"Tada! I was number two in the class!" Sakura exclaimed, showing Nagisa the paper.
"Oh, that's great! You really worked hard!" Nagisa praised.
"Look, look, Takina!" Sakura insisted as Takina neared.
Takina took the paper from her, looking over the problems and answers, a ninety-five circled at the top. Reaching out, Takina laid a hand on Sakura's head, giving it a pat.
"A ninety-five, that's amazing, Sakura. You did a excellent job." Takina praised, her eyes still scanning the paper. "You even remembered the short-cut formals I taught you, good girl."
Sakura beamed, turning to look up at Nagisa.
"I did what you told me to. I launched a surprise attack and showed up just for the arithmetic test. After I finished solving everything, I made a quick break home." Sakura said.
"The bullies were busy with the test and couldn't do anything, right?" Nagisa asked.
"Yeah. And, other than the teacher, I didn't tell anyone I was going. Actually, I heard their test scores were bad this time. Maybe they weren't able to concentrate because it bothered them that I showed up so suddenly." Sakura replied.
"I wouldn't doubt it." Takina remarked. "As long as you don't let that go to your head and you remember to focus on your studies, then, even if they're concentrating with all they have, you should be able to keep up good scores like this."
"Your one best specialty attack, hit your opponent with it before they're ready." Nagisa told Sakura. "This is our way of fighting, Sakura. We were only able to teach you arithmetic this time around, but continue this same hit and run tactic and increase your arsenal for battles at school."
"Th-then, come teach me again once in a while. Both of you." Sakura told them.
Nagisa was surprised, sharing a shocked look with Takina, but then both of them smiled.
"Of course!" Nagisa agreed.
"I'll even help you get a head start on English. It can be a little tricky learning a second language, but I can show you a few tricks of my own that I use when picking up a new language." Takina promised Sakura.
With a bright smile and a cheer, Sakura threw her arms around Takina's waist. Takina gave her a few pats on the head before Sakura turned to show Matsukata her test.
"You shitty brats. I can't come up with a single complaint." Matsukata said as he ruffled Sakura's hair. "I had no interest in your secret from the start. Because my mind is full with my own work. Why don't you all hurry and return to your school too? You have important work to do, right?"
"Yes!" Takina's classmates agreed.
"Before we go, sir, there's one more thing." Everyone turned to Takina as she pulled something out of the pocket of her skirt. "If you will let me, I would like to become a benefactor for this pre-school. As a trust fund kid with more money than she's ever going to have a use for, I would like to invest some of it here. This here is the first donation."
Takina handed the folded envelope in her hands to Matsukata. Looking from the girl's face to envelope, he took it from her, unfolding it and opening it to pull out a check. Reading the number scrawled on the paper, the old man's jaw dropped.
"By the gods! What kind of trick is this?!" he demanded.
"I assure you, sir, the check will cash." Takina assured him. "If you prefer, though, I can bring it in cash next time."
"Th-that's not what I meant! Are you sure you want to give this kind of money to us?" Matsukata asked.
"Of course. Like I said, I have more money than I will ever use on my own. I enjoyed these last two weeks with the children, and seeing this place...you and the children can use the money more than me. Besides," Takina looked down as one of the younger children toddled up to her leg and started pulling at her stocking. Reaching down, Takina picked up the child, letting him drape himself over her. "It'll give me another excuse to visit as often as I can. Maybe, with this, you can afford to hire more staff and take in even more children like those here. If I can be of help with that...well, then it's money more than well spent."
Matsukata couldn't help the smile on his face as more children clamored for Takina's attention.
"Alright, but you have to visit, at least, one a week." Matsukata told her.
"I think I can manage that." Takina said with a smile.
Matsukata turned to go put away the check, Karma stepping up beside Takina as she gave each child some attention.
"You're making it a habit of helping those down on their luck." Karma remarked.
"What? Jealous that I'm paying more attention to them than you?" Takina asked.
"A little, yeah." Takina looked up at him, Karma watching her out of the side of his eyes as a smirk curled his lips. "But I don't need a "mom" and that's exactly what you look like with those kids hanging off you."
Takina heaved a silent sigh as she stood up straight, her expression going blank.
"If I didn't have a child in my arms, I would tell you exactly what I think of you, Akabane." Takina retorted.
"Oh? Is this something that needs to be said behind closed doors?" Karma asked, his smirk widening.
"You wish." Takina sat down the child she was holding, shooing the children off after their teacher. Only when they were gone did she turn to Karma. "Are you going to turn out to be one of those boys that talk big until a girl gets him behind closed doors and then he fails to preform?"
"Want to find out?" Karma asked, thinking he might get another blushed out of her.
Takina, though, had seen that one coming. She merely braced her hands on her hips, the corners of her mouth curling up as she shot back with a retort that actually made Karma pause to process it.
"Maybe one of these days."
As Karma paused to process that reply, Takina turned to walk away from him. As much fun as it was to turn Karma's own teasing tactics on him, now that the two weeks at the pre-school were over, she had other concerns.
Midterms.
The following day was midterms. Without a lesson in two weeks, going into midterms was like going into battle naked. Takina was confident in herself, and even in Karma, who wouldn't let the results from last semester's finals, repeat itself.
But the rest of her classmates?
Takina had a feeling it wasn't going to be pretty.
-0-0-0-0-
Takina turned out to be right.
When the results from midterms came back, most of Class E had been forced out of the top fifty spots. It had a depressed mood settling over the class because they just knew that Asano and his classmates were going to rub it in their faces.
And that was exactly what happened the first time a few of them ran into the Elite Five.
Asano and his four classmates came across Okajima, Nagisa, and Sugino, and just couldn't keep from rubbing it in their faces.
"That was a bummer, huh? I knew it, that last time was a fluke." Araki called out as they approached the members of Class E after school, Asano in the lead.
"There was no need to crush them in the Boutaoshi." Seo added.
"Speechless, eh? Well, obviously." Koyama sneered.
"Grades are everything at this school. Those below have no right to speak to those on top." Sakakibara added.
"He-h. Then, that means you guys can't say anything to us, right." The Elite Five turned as Karma's voice joined the conversation and found Karma and Takina standing behind them. When the results had come out for midterms, Karma and Takina had tied for second with a composite score of four hundred and ninety-two points. Just one point below Asano. "Well, either way, our homeroom teacher, he'll probably spew out something like, "You weren't first place, so that won't do."."
"At least your rank improved. I've been stuck in second all year." Takina retorted.
Karma shrugged his shoulders. At least she had remained steady in her scores, where he had messed up the last time around. Leading the way forward, Takina right behind him, Karma walked past the Elite Five.
"Don't you get it? We were the only ones that were serious this time around. Everyone else in Class E held back for you guys. They said you guys would lose face if you lost all the time." Karma told them.
"What did you say?" Seo demanded.
"But, we're going all out next time. When the third semester comes around, our lessons will change, since we have to take high school entrance exams, and you guys are in the escalator system. The next exams will be the last time we're under the same conditions." Karma said, him and Takina turning to look at the Elite Five as they joined their classmates. "The second semester finals in two months, let's settle everything there."
"Tch. Sounds good." Seo retorted, Asano meeting Karma's glare.
Karma's grin grew into a smirk as he met Asano's glare. The challenge and tension between the two was thick, hanging in the air. Everyone around them could feel it.
"Then we'll see who comes out on top at finals." Takina said, turning to leave.
Karma's eyes flickered from Asano to Takina and back, his smirk growing to devilish levels as an idea came to his devious mind.
"Oh, one more thing, Asano." Karma said then, making the other boy raise an eyebrow in questioning as Karma turned to Takina. "Takina."
"Yeah?"
Takina turned towards Karma, to see what he wanted, raising an eyebrow as Karma reached out to grab her wrist. She opened her mouth to ask him what he wanted, but was cut off as Karma gave a sharp yank on her arm, tugging her directly into his arms. A shocked protest only got half way out of her mouth before Karma gripped the back of her head...and kissed her.
Jaws dropped as Karma wrapped his free arm around Takina's waist, pulling her firmly against him. A muffled noise of protest left Takina as Karma tiled his head, his tongue running over the seam of her mouth before slipping past her lips, tangling with hers as he took the kiss deeper. The deeper the kiss went, the more his tongue tangled with hers, the more Takina's fingers started to flex. Karma pressed her even further into the line of his body and Takina started waving a hand at her classmates, as if begging one of them to have mercy on her and save her.
Every curl of his tongue around hers, every time he ran the tip of his tongue along the underside of hers, and the feeling of his fingers firmly cradling her head, had Takina fighting back a shiver. She now understood why Karma had gotten high praise from Irina for kissing technique. Normally, Takina could have processed this and thought of a way to, at least, fight back in the kiss, but with the knowledge that other boys were watching this with riveted fascination, Takina's brain was fried. She refused to admit that her brain had turned to mush because of Karma's kiss.
No one could move as they watched the scene, Asano's jaw clenching to painful extremes as Karma's eyes cut over towards him. Asano could see the smirk in Karma's eyes, the challenge and the claim that Karma was staking right there in front of his eyes. To say that Asano was furious, was an understatement, especially when Karma finally broke the kiss and, gasping for breath, her face blood red and her eyes slightly dazed, Takina had to grip the front of Karma's shirt to remain on her feet. Karma kept a tight grip around her waist to help her stay on her feet, but she was definitely dazed, her mind racing in an attempt to process what had just happened.
Karma turned a satisfied and cocky smirk on a livid Asano, the silent gauntlet thrown down between the two. The challenge Karma had just made was as obvious as sun in the sky to Asano. On top of the first place spot in finals, Karma was staking a claim to Takina and daring Asano to try to beat him. As thick as the tension between the two boys had been before, it was now thick enough to choke everyone else present.
"Fine." Asano said, accepting Karma's challenge before he turned on his heel and walked away.
Confused, and still a little stunned, Asano's classmates followed him. Completely satisfied with his work, Karma turned to Nagisa, Sugino, and Okajima as Nagisa tried to ask Takina if she was alright, but the girl didn't respond.
"Did you have to do that?" Nagisa asked. "I think you broke her."
"She'll be fine. Besides, I was able to get my payback for that kiss on the island, and I was able to challenge Asano. Two birds with one stone." Karma replied.
"'Two birds with one stone'? You...ass!"
Karma didn't see the slap coming until it snapped his head to the side. He was forced to release Takina as he staggered back and fell back on his butt, a hand pressed to his left cheek. Takina had regained her footing and was now standing there, fists clenched at her side and her face a bright red as she glared down at him. Her eyes had turned an embarrassed shade of aquamarine and she was trembling, though they couldn't tell if that was from embarrassment, anger, or Karma's kiss.
Nagisa had a feeling it was a mix of the three.
"How dare you! I was no where near that thorough when I did that to you!" she snapped at Karma.
Karma, unable to be anything but satisfied with himself, even after being hit across the face, simply smirked up at her and retorted with something that had Nagisa, Okajima and Sugino slapping hands to their faces. At this point, Karma was just soaking the fire in gasoline.
"What, want me to do it again?" Karma asked.
Takina puffed up, the red in her cheeks reaching all the way up to the tips of her ears. Karma was enjoying the contrast between her white hair and red face. It really made him want to kiss her again, just to see if he could make that blush spread even further. That urge and the urge to tease her further, only grew when Takina tried to say something, anything, and could only let out a frustrated, "Urgh!" before she turned on her heel and hurried away. The boys watched her until she vanished from sight, and then Nagisa turned to look down at Karma who already had a bruise forming on his cheek.
"You do realize that she's now really going to come up with something to make you wish you had never been born, right?" Nagisa asked.
"Oh, I'm counting on it."
Karma couldn't wait to see what kind of revenge Takina brought to the table.
For now...he was going to enjoy the reaction he had gotten.
END
Kyandi: Soooo...Takina is currently hiding under my blanket, so Nagisa has agreed to help me end the chapter!
Nagisa: Is she going to be alright?
Kyandi: Yeah. She bounces back quick. She just needs a little time.
Nagisa: Karma really didn't make it easy on her.
Kyandi: No he did not. But that's okay. I have already planned Takina's revenge and he's going to hate it.
Nagisa: I really fear for our class in your hands.
Kyandi: Yeah, I know. But don't worry too much. Things are just starting to get good.
Nagisa: That just makes me worry more.
Kyandi: That's okay. Everyone, please enjoy and review. Nagisa, read the line I gave you.
Nagisa: We'll be back tomorrow.
Kyandi: Bye-bye!