A/N: It's been a few years now, hasn't it? Sorry about that, life really got in the way and truth be told I have other fanfics that I write in my spare time so this one got pushed on the backburner due to lack of interest. But I've recently become reinvested in the series so I thought I'd give it another shot. The first episode came out pretty well if I do say so myself, but I'll let you guys be the judges. I'm not entirely sure when I'll post another one and I don't want to get anyone's hopes up but hopefully there will be at least one more before the end of the year. The first episode is about our main protagonist Kaito Takahashi and will shed more light on his circumstances as well as his role to play in the events that will come. Hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Assassination Classroom.

Episode 1: Kaito Time!

Inside an old school, inside its single old building, inside a single old classroom sat a class of twenty-eight (well twenty-seven today) problem students. And of course, I was one of them. That's me back there. Sitting in the very back of the classroom, next to the last window, looking out at the sky with a disinterested expression. But I was the only problem student whose mind was currently somewhere else. All my other classmates were on the edge of their seats, eyes glued to the front door of the classroom, heartrates and breathing slowed down to miniscule movements, and fingers on the triggers of the guns hidden below their desks.

No, you didn't hear me wrong. All my classmates were hiding firearms beneath their desks and were itching to fire them at their target. Not a sound could be heard from the entire classroom, save for the monotonous tick of the wall clock at the front of the classroom. It was just one minute until 8:00, when Homeroom would officially begin.

Everyone jerked up immediately at the sound of the door opening and someone entering the room. The person in question was a handsome man with unruly white hair and dazzling blue eyes dressed in a neat two piece gray suit, with a black tie and matching black shoes. This was our Homeroom teacher, as well as our only teacher for the rest of our high school lives, Mokushi-sensei. Mokushi as in apocalypse. This was the name he insisted that we call him when he became our Homeroom teacher nearly a week ago. My classmates's eyes immediately followed our teacher as he entered the room and stopped at his desk. Then he picked up a black binder that was on the desk and turned to his selected page. My classmates's eyes were still entirely glued on him, and I myself started to look in his direction out of the corner of my eye.

The clock struck 8:00, and the school bell began to chime, signaling the beginning of Homeroom. "Now then, let us begin, shall we?" said Mokushi-sensei.

Our class rep, Erina Shitto, stood up and then directed us to do the same. "Rise!" The rest of us stood up. "Bow!" Then we all bowed to Mokushi-sensei. And a few moments later we stood back up and Shitto uttered her final commands. "Aim!" Then Shitto and my other classmates aimed their guns at Mokushi-sensei.

"Good morning Mokushi-sensei…now die!" we all exclaimed, though I said it very lazily.

"Fire!" Shitto shouted. Then a flurry of small yellow balls erupted from each of the guns and fired at Mokushi-sensei. The balls moved at incredible speed, looking like they would easily hit Mokushi-sensei. But not a single one did. He appeared to move at the speed of light, leaving full afterimages in his wake. And as he dodged each ball projectile, Mokushi-sensei went on with Homeroom and began checking attendance. "Let's proceed with today's attendance check. Akiyama-san?"

A female student shouted over the gunfire, "Here!"

"Boushoku-san?"

"I'm here!"

"Funme-san?"

"Here, dammit! Now just die already!"

"Gouman-san?"

"Here, you vile beast from beyond the stars!"

"Gouyoku-san?"

"Here, Sensei."

"Gunzure-san?"

"Here, Sensei~!"

"Hoshiko-san?"

"Here! And don't you think we're having quite a ball today, Sensei?! Heh, get it?! Ball?!"

"Haha, yes. I get it, good one, Hoshiko-san. Now then, Katohito-san?"

"Yo!"

"Makasuka-san?"

"Here!"

"Mizushima-san?"

"Here!"

"Miyakawa-san?"

"…" There was no reply.

"Miyakawa-san?" Mokushi-sensei called out again.

"…" Still no reply.

Then Mokushi-sensei looked over to Miyakawa's seat, only to see it empty. "Hmm, absent again. I haven't seen him once in my time here, I'm going to need to track him down and see what the truancy problem is all about," Mokushi-sensei muttered to himself as he continued to dodge the ball projectiles.

"Momota-san?"

"Here!"

"Moritaka-san?"

"Here!"

"Nyima-san?"

"Here!"

"Osamu-san?"

"Here!"

"You didn't forget anything today, did you?" Mokushi-sensei asked.

"No, Mokushi-sensei! At least I don't think I did!" Osamu replied.

"Good lad. Next, Sakurai-san?"

"H-H-Here."

"Shikiyoku-san?"

"Here, Teach!"

"Shitto-san?"

"Right here!"

"Song-san?"

"Umm…umm…h-here!"

"Suzuki-san?"

"Here!"

"Taida-san?"

"Here…*yawn* so sleepy."

"Takahashi-san?"

"Present!" I shouted before sitting back down and looking out the window again.

"Takahiro-san and Takahiro-san?"

"We're both here!"

"Tomita-san?"

"Here!"

"Ueda-san?"

"Here!"

"Watanabe-san?"

"Here, and let me reiterate again today that I will be the one to kill you, Sensei!"

"Looking forward to it. And last but not least, Yushihara-san?"

"…" Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a girl hold up a sketch pad with the word Here! written on it, while she slowly fired her gun.

"Okay, I see you still won't be letting us hear your lovely voice today. No problem, we'll just try again tomorrow," Mokushi-sensei replied. And as soon as he said that, the flurry of balls ended as all the guns were completely emptied of their ammo. The classroom was now littered with yellow balls, a few of them had even managed to break some of the windows. But not one of the balls had even remotely hit Mokushi-sensei. He looked around at the state of the classroom. "You may be seated." Everyone else sat down in their desks. My, my, my. It seems most of you are really taking our little class project seriously. And to think just a few days ago, you all thought I was completely mad by suggesting you try your hands at killing me."

This might seem a little strange if you're just starting from this point, so allow me to explain how we got here. It all goes back to this past Monday, when our high school lives changed forever. As you'll recall, I, Kaito Takahashi, attend Class 2-A of Angel's Prayer Academy along with twenty-seven other problem students. We are the only class of this school, which was reopened purely to use as a dumping ground for problem students from this prefecture. In other words, no other schools within the entire prefecture wanted to deal with us so we all got stuck here. Now some of you might think that it's kind of cool that we all get our own school. Like we can do whatever we want here with no consequences. Well you'd be wrong. I can't truly speak for the others, but I know this for a fact because it was already made very clear to me when I was forced to enroll here. There was no future in graduating from this school. College wasn't an option anymore, neither was getting any kind of good job. I was basically permanently blacklisted from succeeding at all in the future the moment I got my transfer papers to this school. The reason being, this school wasn't really considered a school at all. A diploma from this place wasn't worth the paper it was printed on. So even if I graduated from here, it would be like not graduating at all. I didn't have a remotely acceptable future in our society's eyes. Which is just one of the many reasons why I have stopped caring about everything.

Anyway, we're getting a little off topic here. The point is, every student in Class 2-A is essentially screwed. Our destinies of poverty and mediocrity were already set in stone. Which is why none of us expected that Monday, a few months after the moon was completely destroyed, that we would obtain a life line in the form of a tentacle monster passing himself off as our new Homeroom teacher.

Flashback:

After Mokushi-sensei's horrifying introduction about how he destroyed the moon and his declaration to destroy the Earth as well in one year's time, nobody could expect what happened next. Mokushi-sensei proceeded to teach our class. We covered our entire daily planned curriculum: History, Japanese, English, Mathematics, and Science. It was just like an average school day at any normal school, only our teacher was an actual monster. And furthermore, he was actually a very good teacher. He knew each subject so well that he rarely had to consult a guide and he explained everything so easily that you would think he had been teaching for decades. He kept everyone engaged and interested, and we all ended up asking at least one question each. Even Maki Taida managed to stay awake the whole day and follow along with the class, which was a miracle in and of itself. I probably learned more in that one day than I had my entire academic career. The day ended up flying by, and we were all completely astounded when the afternoon dismissal bell began to chime.

At the end of the day, Mokushi-sensei simply said, "Well today was really fun, wasn't it? Let's all do our best again tomorrow, shall we? Class dismissed."

Honestly, I think that was the first time I had smiled in years. And I could tell from looking at the others that they felt the same way. That was probably the best school day that any of us had ever had. By the end of the day, the fact that our teacher was a monster was the furthest thing from our minds.

But the next day, that reality sunk in again when our morning Homeroom was interrupted by the appearance of two visitors dressed in black. They appeared to be government agents of some kind, real men in black like the kind you would think of in sci-fi movies or novels. Only these men in black were comprised of a man and a woman, and the woman appeared to be the one in charge. She had silky black hair that was tied back into a ponytail and piercing yellowish eyes which reminded me of some deadly bird of prey. "Greetings, Class 2-A. My name is Tsukino Kurosaki. I am affiliated with the Japanese government, and that is all you need to know. The man standing next to me is my partner, Rintaro Shirobane. He is one rank below me but we work for the same people, and that is all you need to know about him," she said in a serious tone.

"…" The man named Shirobane silently bowed. He had neatly combed sandy brown hair and soft brown eyes that were hidden behind a pair of black, broad-framed glasses. He also wore an intimidating-looking pair of black gloves.

"We have come here today to inform you that everything this monster has proclaimed is entirely true. He did in fact destroy the moon and our researchers have proven that he does have the capability to destroy the Earth as well. He presented himself to the world leaders one month ago and we have since struck an accord with him. This agreement has two main points. Number one: The monster in question known as Mokushi will not destroy the planet until the agreed upon date, one year from today, May 28th. Until that day comes, he has encouraged us to do anything and everything in our power to stop him, including killing him. However, as you can see…"

As if on cue, Shirobane pulled out a large military knife and then proceeded to stab at Mokushi relentlessly. Shirobane was incredibly fast and precise in his movements, but Mokushi-sensei was faster. In fact, he appeared to be toying with Shirobane as he dodged his attacks with ease. "…he is much too fast to kill with conventional methods. Our researchers have also determined that he can move faster than the speed of light, which in itself should be impossible, but…"

As if on cue, Mokushi-sensei started fighting back against Shirobane with his tentacles, and ended up knocking the knife out of his hand. The knife fell to the floor and the next moment, Kurosaki reached down to pick it up. "…as we can all plainly see, we've already reached the realm of impossibility. It would be in your best interest to take everything this monster says as the truth, even if he is an insufferable abomination."

"Ouch, I have feelings too you know," Mokushi-sensei replied in a joking tone.

Then Kurosaki tried her hand at stabbing Mokushi-sensei herself, but just like Shirobane, she was completely outmatched in speed. After a few moments of reeling from her attack and panting heavily, Kurosaki returned to her serious nature and began speaking to us again. "Now as for point two. Until the agreed upon deadline, the monster in question has promised that he will not hide his whereabouts from us at all. In fact, his main wish was simply this: until I destroy the world, I want to continue doing what I love the most, teaching."

"…!" We were all shocked. I mean, it is kind of strange when you think about it. This monster was really a teacher? And furthermore, he wanted to be our teacher?

"He brought your little school to our attention right away. It's honestly quite despicable what your prefecture has done to you all. Sentenced you to this third-rate school, if you can even call it that anymore, so no other school would have to deal with you. You all have my sympathy, but I'm afraid that we must add to your problems. We need you all to let this thing teach you until the deadline. I doubt you'll learn that much but it's a good bet that if he spends all his time here teaching your class, we will always know where he is and we can come up with new strategies to eliminate him. Which brings us to our next topic. Since the target will spend most of his time with your class, we would like to ask that you all also try to kill him," Kurosaki said with no hesitation.

"…!" Everyone was silent for a few moments, before Shitto spoke up for the class.

"Y-You want us to try and kill Mokushi-sensei?" Shitto replied in a confused tone.

"As his one and only class, you will spend a good portion of each week with him here at your school. And since you're the only class in this school, you have a great deal of leeway and access to areas that would normally be prohibited to you. Why if you wanted to, you could try to kill him as many times as you wish inside the school grounds and no one would be ever the wiser. I realize this request is highly unorthodox, but I assure you, it is in all our interests that this monster be destroyed before May 28th of next year. And considering the circumstances, we are also prepared to hand out a generous incentive that may appeal to anyone who is reluctant," Kurosaki replied.

"An incentive? What kind of incentive?" Gouyoku asked.

"Well reward actually might be a better word. The world is at stake here, so the Japanese government as well as the other countries of the world are ready to pay whatever it takes to advert this global catastrophe. In accordance with this wish, I have been given the authority to offer you all the following award. 10,000,000 yen deposited in each of your respective bank accounts annually for the foreseeable future for at least trying to kill the monster," Kurosaki explained.

"…!" The entire class erupted into excited murmurs and whispers.

"10,000,000 yen!? We get 10,000,000 yen for just trying to kill Teach!?" Shikiyoku exclaimed.

"10,000,000 yen annually, yes. For the rest of your lives. However, this is a reward extended only to your class as you will be able to spend the most amount of time with the target in question," Kurosaki clarified. "But if you so wish, you can go for the grand prize instead."

"Grand prize!?" Funme exclaimed.

Kurosaki nodded. "Yes, the grand prize extended to all participants throughout the whole world, awarded to the person who actually manages to kill the monster before the deadline. 100,000,000,000,000 yen."

"…!" The class became even more restless than before. It was an unreal situation. We would each get 10,000,000 a year just for attempting to kill Mokushi-sensei. But if someone actually managed to do it, they would get 100,000,000,000,000 yen. An absurd amount of money that none of us would likely never see in our lifetime. No, even a person with a good education and an amazing career would never see that kind of money. It was completely absurd, and yet that is what these men in black were offering us for successfully killing our new Homeroom teacher. So as you can imagine, it didn't take long at all for the class to get on board.

Kurosaki and Shirobane supplied us with special weapons designed solely for killing Mokushi-sensei and that was the end of it. The killing contest had begun. Since then three days had passed and it was now Friday, and so far, nobody had been successful in killing Mokushi-sensei.

Now back to the present, after the class's latest attempt at killing Mokushi-sensei. "Well to be honest, Sensei. The reward you and the government promised the winner of our little contest pretty much sealed the deal," Shitto replied.

"For 100,000,000,000,000 yen I would murder scores of people, but to get all of that for whacking off some insufferable monster like you. It's a no brainer," Funme added.

Mokushi-sensei wagged his finger. "Now, now Funme-san. You're only allowed to murder me. That was the deal. Hurt anyone else, including your classmates, and you're automatically disqualified." Then he lightly chuckled. "But let's be honest. There's absolutely zero chance of you winning."

Funme growled. "Smug bastard."

"Teach, I still don't understand," Shikiyoku interjected. She picked up one of the balls off the ground. "These are just little rubber balls. I mean sure they would hurt you if they were fired from a gun, but I don't think they would kill you. So why do you insist that we shoot these at you every morning?"

Mokushi-sensei sighed. "I'm pretty sure we covered this at the beginning, but I'll explain again. Remember, I am not human. I may look human, I may act human. But I am not human."

Shikiyoku sweatdropped. "Umm, none of us were thinking that. Trust me, we know you're not human."

"Oh well then, surely you can understand that my body is different from your bodies. What seems harmless to you is actually…" a yellow ball flew through the air and hit Mokushi-sensei and his right hand exploded. "…very deadly to me. Thank you for helping me prove my point, Watanabe-san. Now please sit down."

"Tsk," Watanabe clicked her tongue and did as she was told. Apparently she had one ball left in her gun's chamber and was saving it for a surprise attack, which completely failed.

A second later, a white tentacle popped out of Mokushi-sensei's empty right sleeve, and then the tentacle turned into a human hand. Mokushi-sensei had anticipated Watanabe's sneak attack and covered his heart with his right hand to shield himself. He could have easily dodged it, but instead he chose to take the hit to show us how dangerous these yellow balls were to him. "So then, it's as you can see. These yellow balls are special Anti-Mokushi-sensei balls. They are made out of a secret compound that is so deadly to me that I will literally rupture if I come into direct contact with it. There's other ways I can be killed sure, but this compound is probably your safest and easiest bet. And as you'll recall from Kurosaki and Shirobane's explanation, this compound is very malleable. You can take these little balls and make any weapon imaginable out of them by simply reshaping them, or you can even turn it into a liquid and make poison out of it. Honestly, I'm surprised you guys have kept up with the whole shooting routine for three days now. I thought for sure by now that I would be dodging knives and shuriken stars as well. And furthermore, not one of you has tried to make a solo attempt on my life."

He crossed his arms and looked at us with a stern manner. "Frankly, I'm a little disappointed at the lack of imagination you all seem to have. Don't any of you watch crime shows? Haven't you seen any good murder methods you want to try out? Come on, give me your best shot."

"Sensei, with all due respect, none of us have ever taken a life before…at least not that I know of," Gouyoku replied. "Even with such a hefty reward on the line, we're not really sure what to do as far as take your life."

"That's the beauty of murder, Gouyoku-san. There are as many different methods to kill a person as there are people on the planet. Shooting, stabbing, poison, strangulation, suffocation, bludgeoning, burning, exsanguination, electrocution. Why the possibilities are endless. Call me insane if you must, but if I am going to die, I want a death that's inspired. So everyone, I implore you. Please kill me before I destroy your pitiful world," Mokushi-sensei replied with a twisted smile. Then he turned his back on us and sighed. "But I guess I can't fault you all for trying at least. No wait, yes I can, because some of you aren't trying at all."

"S-Sensei, I'm sorry but I…" Nyima started to apologize but was cut off by Mokushi-sensei.

"I'm not talking about you, Nyima-san. Despite your pacifist ways, you still aimed your gun at me. Even though you didn't fire, you still get an A for effort. No, I'm talking about the person who didn't even bother bringing his gun or ammo to school with him today. Kaito Takahashi-san."

I turned my head around when Mokushi-sensei called my name. Mokushi-sensei turned around and walked to the back of the classroom. When he was a few feet away from me, he spoke again. "Tell me Takahashi-san. Why don't you want to kill me?"

His question took me off guard. Who on Earth would ever ask such an absurd question? Why didn't I want to kill him? Who in their right mind wants people to kill them? And yet, truth be told, I didn't know how to answer that question. So I just said the first thing that came to my mind. "I just don't want to kill you, Sensei."

"Hmm? And why is that? I destroyed the moon you know? And I'm going to destroy your planet soon. Plus, there's the big cash reward. Tell me honestly. With all that, are you sure you don't want to kill me?" Mokushi-sensei replied.

I nodded. "I don't really have a reason why per se. I just know that none of those things really interest me. Not the money, not this planet, not this life I'm currently living. So with nothing really on the line for me, I just don't see the point in trying to kill you." My classmates all looked at me like I was crazy, but that was honestly how I felt. Nothing ever really felt important to me. So what does it matter to me if the world ends or if someone else gets that absurd cash prize? I didn't care at all. I don't know why exactly. I've just always been like this. I don't care about anything.

"I see," Mokushi-sensei simply said with a smile. "Well you're free to participate or not. That is entirely up to you. But I'm quite surprised. I thought out of all the students here, you'd be the most active competitor in our little class project." He showed me a twisted smile. "After all, didn't you try to kill a teacher at your old school?"

"…!" Red immediately clouded my vision and I abruptly stood up out of my seat. I grabbed ahold of Mokushi-sensei's lapel and brought his face closer to mine. I stared at him with eyes full of hatred, and he simply stared back at me with an excited glint in his eyes.

"Oh, didn't want your classmates to know that, huh? Well don't get me wrong, I read your file thoroughly, and I did my own investigation into the incident. If you ask me, he deserved it. He deserved to suffer. It is a grave injustice of the world that you ended up here, while that bastard gets to destroy more promising young lives like nothing ever happened," said Mokushi-sensei.

"…!" My eyes widened and I let go of Mokushi-sensei. I stared at him in confusion for a few moments and then I ran out of the classroom. I felt all of my classmates's eyes on me, but I ignored them and simply ran away.

Before we get into any more of the story, let me get one thing straight right off the bat. I'm not ready to reveal why I was forced to come to Angel's Prayer. I don't think I ever will be. It makes my blood boil every single time I think about it. I've never felt such pure hatred before in my life, and I never want to feel that way again. If I only have a choice between feeling hatred and nothing at all, then I choose to feel nothing. So just drop it right now, okay?

I went to the empty rooftop of the school building and spent the rest of the day there. I didn't come back for other classes or even lunch, and nobody came looking for me either. Finally when the afternoon dismissal bell began to chime, and the sun began to set, I decided to go back to the classroom to collect my things and then go home. On my way back to the classroom, I ran into a few of my classmates. A few of them stared at me, but no one dared talk to me. And I certainly wasn't in the mood to start any conversations. I ignored the prying eyes and simply made my way to classroom 2-A. By the time I had arrived, the classroom was completely empty. Everybody else had already gone home for the day. I went to my desk to collect my things and was then interrupted by the appearance of an unwanted individual. "Welcome back, Takahashi-san. I'm glad that you had time to cool down, but I'm afraid classes are over for the day." Mokushi-sensei had somehow appeared behind me. Then he handed me some sheets of paper. "Here, I took the liberty of making some printouts of today's lessons for you so you won't fall behind."

"…" I said nothing and simply took the printouts.

"I was worried about you, you know. I thought about going up there several times to check on you, but I figured you needed your space," said Mokushi-sensei.

"…" I didn't reply.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry that I told everyone about your past. It wasn't my story to tell, but you should know, you're not the only one in this class who's ever tried to kill anyone," Mokushi-sensei added.

"…!" I was surprised to hear that.

"Yes, it's true." Mokushi-sensei walked over to the window and stared out at the school grounds. I followed his gaze and saw some of my classmates exiting the building and heading home. "You see, Class 2-A is indeed made up of the most undesirable students within the entire prefecture. No school wanted anything to do with them after their various indiscretions. According to each of their respective schools, they're horrible eyesores that do nothing but bring shame to their so-called great institutions. Some of them even said that they should be locked up and forgotten about." Mokushi-sensei scoffed. "I'll be honest. Hearing all that, made my blood boil."

I was completely astounded. Never once had anyone ever spoken to me with such passion. I could feel Mokushi-sensei's feelings behind each word. He really was enraged over the way our old schools treated us. But I still didn't understand it. "Why?" I simply replied.

"Why?" Mokushi-sensei replied in a confused tone.

"Why do you care? Why do you care about me? Why do you care about them? You're planning to destroy our world, aren't you? So why do this charade at all? Why do you want to be our teacher?" I asked.

Mokushi-sensei looked back at me and gently smiled. "Why not?"

"…!" Once again, his answer floored me.

"Believe it or not, I've been in your position before. I've felt the way you felt. I've lived the way you lived. Detached from everything, afraid to truly live, always worried that people will let you down. I agree with you completely Takahashi-san. This world is too cruel. Anybody who doesn't fit in with society's perfect view is discarded as trash. You and your classmates were all bright and shining youths at one point, and this world broke you. You shouldn't be blamed for the world's actions. So as you can understand, the reason I want to destroy the world is because I hate what it does to people like you and the others." Mokushi-sensei walked up to me and placed his hands on my shoulders. "A teacher's job is to always support their students. Through their education and their growth. A teacher should never give up on them. I'm so sorry that they gave up on you. But I promise, I will never give up on you. And that goes for the others as well. It's only been a few days since I met you all, but I already think of all of you as my precious pupils. We may only be together for a year, but I intend to make this the best school year of your lives. I'm going to show you all just how truly wonderful you are. So will you please cooperate with me?"

I looked down at the floor. "I…I've never been happy. Even as a child, I hardly ever smiled, I hardly ever laughed. Nobody seemed to understand me, nobody ever even tried to understand me. I've never really felt connected to the world. I still don't actually. It's like the world just occurs around me, and I'm not a part of it."

"In that case, your answer from this morning only makes more sense." Mokushi-sensei stroked his chin as he thought things over. "You're a natural born observer. You learn things by watching others do them beforehand. You don't act before anyone else. You like to blend in with the crowd. You never stand out."

"My old school's guidance counselor diagnosed with ASPD. They even had my parents send me to several psychiatrists and they all said the same thing. I'm a sociopath, an outlier in humanity. I don't understand real emotions. I don't understand what it means to live. And for that matter, I don't really want to understand," I explained.

"I see." Then Mokushi-sensei chuckled. "Basically those idiots didn't understand you or your gifted mind, and instead labeled you with a personality disorder in order to justify their obsession with groupings and social order. You know what I see though? A young boy who's so brilliant that he doesn't need to be a part of social norms."

"Brilliant? Hardly. I've always had average grades," I replied.

"I'm not a fool. I knew from day one that you pretend to be dumber than you actually are," Mokushi-sensei replied. "You don't like drawing attention to yourself so you choose not to stand out in any way, shape, or form. But I want to assure you, Takahashi-san. You don't have to be afraid to show your true genius to me. You're free to continue being an outlier if you so wish, but speaking as your teacher, it would make me very happy to see you truly succeed in life."

"…" I didn't know what to say.

"Let me make myself clear. I will never judge you or belittle you for the things you choose to do. I will only support and encourage you in your endeavors." He flashed a warm and gentle smile at me. "To me, that's what being a teacher is all about."

It was amazing. There really was no other word to describe it. This man…no, this monster had known me for less than a week and in that time he had learned more about me than anyone I had ever known. I had told him more about myself than I've ever told anyone. He read me like an open book. What was this feeling I felt towards him? Happiness? Gratitude? Trust? Something even more powerful? I didn't really know. I couldn't understand my own emotions. But before I knew it, I started crying. Me, crying? I could hardly believe it. I could count off one hand the amount of times that I've ever shed a tear, and now here I was crying my eyes out. I broke down right in front of Mokushi-sensei. I cried for what felt like an eternity, and Mokushi-sensei just stood there beside me the whole time, watching over me with that gentle smile on his face.

Eventually, the sun set and another moonless night began. Concerned for my well-being, Mokushi-sensei escorted me home. He volunteered to fly me but I just asked him if we could walk instead. We walked to my house in complete silence. Neither of us said a word, not even a goodbye when we reached our destination. But I have to say, him being by my side made me feel good inside. I couldn't explain it, but I knew that I didn't want that feeling to go away.

The next day, our class settled into our morning routine once again. Mokushi-sensei took attendance again while dodging more ball projectiles fired from the class's guns. But no one had honored his wishes and threw anything new at him. I didn't participate again, but this time Mokushi-sensei didn't call me out on it. One change though was that we had our first solo murder attempt that day, committed by none other than our perfect class rep, Erina Shitto. During third period, when Mokushi-sensei wasn't looking, she had laced some of the pages of his book with the substance that made up our yellow ball gun ammo. Her plan was to use the tainted book pages to disintegrate Mokushi-sensei's hands and then fire another round at his head with her gun when his guard was down. Unfortunately, Mokushi-sensei saw through the rouse immediately and made Shitto read the rest of the chapter aloud out of her own book for the class to follow. He did compliment her on trying though, and awarded her a gold star which he forced her to wear on her forehead for the rest of the day. We couldn't really tell if he meant it as a sign of respect or a sign of humiliation.

Aside from that, nothing else really major happened until lunch time. Since we were the only class at Angel's Prayer, we could essentially eat lunch wherever we wanted. So the classroom would almost always be completely empty during that time, and of course for that reason, I would always choose to eat lunch there. Only today, there was someone else in the classroom with me. A male classmate of mine who sat in the front row (I couldn't recall his name). Out of the blue, he suddenly asked me: "Hey, I brought lunch from home today too. Do you mind if I join you?"

I was very surprised at this development. It's not like this had never happened to me before, because I have had "friends" all my life. But this was the first time since coming to Angel's Prayer that one of my classmates had taken an interest in me. I just prayed that this would not be some kind of cliché meet and greet. The boy in question had pale skin, long white hair which he had tied back into a ponytail, dark green eyes, and some freckles that lightly dotted his nose.

"No, it's fine, I guess," I replied in a lazy tone.

"Cool, don't mind if I do," the boy replied. Then he pulled up the desk in front of me and turned it around to face me, before pulling out his bento box and starting to eat. A few moments later he tried to strike up a conversation. "I've actually been wanting to talk with you a while, Takahashi-kun. But I figured with what happened at our old school you didn't really want to talk with anyone for a while. I'm sorry that Mokushi-sensei called you out like that in front of everyone."

"…" The boy's words confused me. "Hang on. You went to my school?"

The boy seemed surprised. "Umm, Takahashi-kun. We've been in the same class since primary school, remember? It's me, Ari Makasuka."

"…!" The name did sound familiar, but I couldn't really place the face. "Oh, umm…sorry I…"

Makasuka sighed. "It's fine. We've never really talked before. It's just some weird twist of fate that we always end up in the same class. I got expelled about a month after you did. I guess they figured since they sent you here and nobody complained, they could send me too."

"I see," I replied. "Well then you already know why I'm here. How about you?" I asked, at least trying to continue the conversation.

"Officially drugs, unofficially I got screwed over by some pompous punk with connected parents and they made up some bullshit excuse to get rid of me. You know how horrible the teachers are at that place, they believed it instantly. But what happened to me is nothing compared to what they did to you. I'm so sorry."

I sighed. "It is what it is. Let's just drop it, please?"

"You got it," Makasuka replied. Then he tried to change the topic. "So what do you think about this whole killing contest thing with Mokushi-sensei. It's bizarre, right?"

"I could think of a few better words for it, that's for sure. But it looks like you and the rest of the class are already into it," I replied.

"Well for one thing, if something isn't done by next year's deadline, the world's pretty much over. So it's pretty much a duty to the world to participate. Plus, it's a lot of money they're offering. And considering that our lives within society are pretty much over now, any little bit helps." Then he chuckled. "But could you imagine winning that grand prize. That's an insane amount of money."

"I'm pretty sure the others already have some ideas about how they'll spend it if they win. I heard one of them saying they're planning to buy a huge amount of unclaimed land and establish their own country," I replied.

"Hmm, I could definitely see myself doing something like that too if I won. That would be after I went on a huge spending spree and bought every single video game in existence though. I'd probably buy my own game studio too so I can make my own," Makasuka replied.

"Didn't know you were so into video games," I replied.

"Oh big time. You?" Makasuka replied.

"I play a little here and there, I guess," I replied.

"Oh yeah? Which ones?" Makasuka replied.

And it just kept going back and forth like that for a while. We talked about general things and about personal thoughts and opinions. I honestly think that's the first legitimate conversation I've had with a classmate in a long time. And it turns out I've known him for almost my whole life. Ari Makasuka, the classmate who probably knows more about me than anyone else, and yet I never even knew he was in my class until that day.

Not much else happened for the remainder of the day, besides a few more attempts on Mokushi-sensei's life. Apparently, Shitto got the ball rolling and inspired others to try out their own solo murders. Of course, none of them came even remotely close to killing Mokushi-sensei. He saw through each one of them and easily managed to avoid them. Then he properly shamed his would-be murderers, humiliating them in front of the whole class. Soon, the afternoon dismissal bell rang again. Today was Saturday, so we got out a little earlier than usual.

"Well class, this brings our first week together to a close. I hope you enjoy your day off tomorrow and are equally bright-eyed and bushy-tailed on Monday," said Mokushi-sensei. Next came the daily class farewell and thank you to the teacher, which like morning attendance ended with the class relentlessly trying to shoot Mokushi-sensei. Once again, I didn't participate. When the rest of the class was all out of ammo, Mokushi-sensei simply said, "Better luck next time. Class dismissed." Then the class collected their things and left the room in a huff. I collected my things and prepared to leave the classroom as well when Mokushi-sensei suddenly stopped me. "Takahashi-san, do you mind coming with me to the faculty office before you head home? There's something I want to discuss with you."

Mokushi-sensei led me to the faculty office, or to be more accurate his personal office since he was the only teacher at the school. Then we sat down on two separate sofas that faced each other. Mokushi-sensei used his tentacles to grab a tea cup, a small jug which he filled with hot water, and a tea bag. Then he brought all the ingredients over to the small coffee table that was between the sofas and prepared to make himself some tea. "I think I'll have a nice cup of Darjeeling today. How about you, Takahashi-san? Would you like a cup?"

"No thank you," I replied.

"Very well," Mokushi-sensei replied and continued to make his tea. "So then, let's get straight to business. The reason I called you in here today is because I wanted to finish our conversation from yesterday." He looked back up at me. "I've been thinking about it and I've decided to give you a special project."

"A special project, Sensei?" I replied in confusion.

"You've already made it clear that you do not care about our class project, and because I told you yesterday that I want you to be free to discover your true self, I have decided to let you out of participating. You will be free to rejoin at any time you wish, but for now, you don't have to try and kill me anymore. You're exempt from the class project," Mokushi-sensei replied.

"I see. So then this special project is sort of a makeup assignment?" I replied.

"Exactly. Since you won't be participating in the class project, I wanted you to try your hand at something that I think will benefit you in the long run." Mokushi-sensei stirred his tea and then brought it up to his eye level. He blew on it and then took a sip. Then he spoke again. "I want you to get to know your classmates better."

"Pardon?" I replied.

He stirred his tea some more before continuing to speak. "You know, it's a popular misconception that people who suffer from ASPD can't process normal human feelings. Most people think sociopaths are the same as psychopaths, they're just two words that mean the same thing. But they are mistaken. Psychopaths are incapable of feeling true human emotions so they are forced to fake it to blend in with society. Sociopaths on the other hand are a bit more complicated." He looked up at me again. "You can feel emotions but are unable to truly understand them. You remain detached from each of your actions, as if they are not your own. Which is why when the situation suits it, your mind acts for you, exhibiting the emotion that you should feel at that moment. Most sociopaths are so quick to rage because of this."

"Yeah, the psychiatrists my parents sent me to all told me the same thing. That's nothing I haven't heard before. They also told me that sociopaths have the annoying tendency to see what they're doing as always right and go out of their way to make sure people know that they don't care about other people or their problems. Sociopaths are self-centered," I replied.

Mokushi-sensei took another sip of his tea before replying. "And did your psychiatrists also tell you that it is completely possible for sociopaths to create real connections with people."

"…?!" I was surprised by that statement.

"Yes it's true, with time and proper encouragement, sociopaths can learn to understand others and form emotional attachments to people. It's very difficult to do, mind you. But it is possible." He flashed another gentle smile at me. "You are not normal Takahashi-san. Your mind works differently than those of other people, including your classmates. But all that means is that you're very special."

"Special?" I repeated in confusion.

"Your mind isn't something that you should be ashamed of, or concerned about. You can do things most people couldn't even dream of if you set your mind to it, so I want you to try and work on the areas where you're currently the weakest. Understanding human emotions and the people around you. Which brings us back to the special project," Mokushi-sensei replied.

I thought it over for a moment. "I think I get it now. You want me to learn how to understand my classmates better so I can become a more well-rounded person and deepen my understanding of emotional attachments so I can one day form them naturally."

Mokushi-sensei used two of his tentacles to create an X and made a sound like a buzzer. "Bzzzt. Nope, not even close. Sure, helping you form emotional attachments naturally for future endeavors is certainly an admirable goal. But you should think of that as just an effect of the project. Your true goal is simply this…" His smile deepened. "…make friends with everyone in your class!"

"Make friends?" I was completely confused.

"You are easily one of the most gifted students in the entire class. There is no doubt about that. However, your lack of interest in the world around you, concerns me. I want to see all my students succeed in the areas they struggle with. For you that would mean learning to enjoy everything life has to offer. And in my personal opinion, friends define a person. So I want you to become a more complete person by making friends with your classmates," Mokushi-sensei explained.

"Even if you say that, making friends? I've never had any real friends. I mean sure, there were some people before my time here who thought of me like that, but I'd never thought of our relationships being reversed. Like lots of things, I've never really understood what a friend is. How does someone normally define friends?" I asked.

"If you ask me, a friend isn't something that can really be defined. A friend is just something that someone becomes when you get to know them better. When they show you a side of themselves that they don't show the outside world, that's when you know that they have become your friend. It's really just as simple as that. And from my point of view, you all need friends in your lives." He put his tea cup down on the coffee table and continued. "The circumstances surrounding your transfers here are all very different, but one thing remains the same. You were all cast out of the places that you belonged. It's cruel and unfair, but that's life. I am also aware of what you've been told about this school before your transfers. This school is a dead end. There is no satisfying future awaiting you in graduating this place. But I say…so what?"

"…?" I silently listened to Mokushi-sensei's words.

"You should stop thinking of this as the end, and think of it as a new beginning. An exciting new beginning for you all. I mean, your class has a real-life monster as its Homeroom teacher, and you've been given the opportunity to kill said monster for an insane amount of money. What could be more exciting than that?" He smiled again. "I'll tell you what. Enjoying this exciting new life with true friends by your side. I want you to be able to experience that kind of excitement, that kind of joy, that kind of thrill. So please, take this project seriously and make friends with everyone in class."

I couldn't do it. Asking me to make friends with my classmates, knowing about my disability? Was he really serious? That was asking the impossible. "But I…"

"Don't be discouraged. You've actually already made one friend, you know. I may be your teacher, but I care about each and every one of you. To me, you're all irreplacable friends."

"…!" I was rendered speechless yet again. This monster had such a profound way with words. But at the same time, nothing he said made any sense. He cared about me? He cared about my classmates? He considered us his friends? Even though almost all his friends were trying to kill him? I didn't understand him at all. And yet, I wanted to understand. After a few moments of deep thought I nodded my head. "Okay, I'll give it a try." I looked up at him with a rare glint of hope in my eyes. "I'll try and make friends with the others."

"Oho?" Mokushi-sensei cooed.

I nodded again. "I'll talk to them more and go out of my way to get to know them. My goal is to make friends with all twenty-eight people in my class. You're my first target, Sensei, so that just leaves twenty-seven more to go."

"Target, huh? That's a good way to put it. Instead of targeting me for assassination, you will be targeting your fellow classmates for friendship," Mokushi-sensei replied. "Then let me do the honor as your teacher of making this an official assignment for you. You must become friends with all twenty-seven of your classmates before the end of summer break. Your deadline is September 1st, the day classes reconvene for the second trimester." Then he smirked mischievously and his glazed over red. His tentacles sprouted out from behind his back and moved around as if they had a life of their own. "And as an added incentive let's say that if you don't complete the assignment by the deadline that I will see to it that you are expelled from this school. If that happens your life really will be over, won't it?"

I smirked back. "I thought you were going to destroy the world in one year's time anyway. What does it matter now if I'm expelled from another school?"

He chuckled mischievously. "Touché, my cocky young student."

Cocky? Yeah, he was right. I was acting cocky. I don't think I've ever acted cocky before and yet here I was, proclaiming that I was going to complete this monster's absurd assignment of making friends with my classmates. Where was this all coming from? What was this feeling swelling up inside me all of a sudden? Confidence? Pride? No, this was something warmer, something gentler. If I had to define it, I think the closest thing would be happiness. Yes, that had to have been what it was. I was happy that Mokushi-sensei believed in me so much, that he cared about what happened to me, that he was angry on my behalf, and that he called me his friend. He was right, I didn't need to understand it. I felt it immediately. We were friends, and I didn't want to let my friend down.

So from that day forward, I truly embraced my life in this bizarre assassination classroom. Though I didn't any interest in killing Mokushi-sensei, whether it was to claim the prize or to save the world. I just wanted to make Mokushi-sensei proud and have a fun school life with true friends. That was my goal. I knew it would be hard to reach, especially with disability, but I vowed that I would not fail to meet the expectations that my first true friend had placed in me. I would become friends with everyone. I would reach that goal.

The only thing was, at that moment I didn't know that some of my classmates were even worse monsters than Mokushi-sensei. The sound of glass breaking grabbed our attention. Someone had thrown something through one of the windows. It appeared to be a metal canister of some sort. Then suddenly, a thick white smoke erupted from the canister and filled the room within seconds. I coughed and wheezed horribly, while trying to shield my eyes from the unbearable stinging. Then the sound of more glass shattering echoed through the room. And through my squinted eyes, I saw the silhouette of a person jump through the broken window. They appeared to be wearing a gas mask to cover their face from the fumes, but what grabbed my attention was the large serrated knife that they were holding in their hand.

"Wh-Who are you!?" I managed to choke out while inhaling the fumes.

"…" The person with the gas mask didn't respond and instead brandished their knife at me and Mokushi-sensei.

I felt something soft and squishy grab my shoulder and gently pull me back. I looked up and saw that it was one of Mokushi-sensei's tentacles. "Takahashi-san, run for the exit and don't stop until you're out of the building." I looked at Mokushi-sensei's face. He wore a very serious expression. It didn't feel right to question him so I obeyed his wishes and tried to feel my way through the smoke to find the door. "So you've finally decided to show your claws, huh? I was wondering what was taking so long. But you're going to have to try a lot harder than this if you want to beat me." His eyes glowed red and illuminated his face through the smoke. It was the face of an angry monster. A truly devilish grimace. "And just so we're clear, if you try to hurt any of my precious students, I'll kill you no matter who you are!"

"…" The person with the gas mask didn't respond and simply looked in my direction and then lunged at me. They prepared to strike with their knife and my life began to flash before my eyes. It turned out, I was yet another target in this bizarre assassination classroom.

A/N: Special thanks go to Cellenia2 for creating Ari Makasuka. Not sure if you're active anymore but thank you for giving me such an awesome character.