Okuda scribbled out a list of names on the blackboard.

"Alright. We'll need enough tentacle stem cells for these people, along with a few for experimentation. Ritsu, do you know where we can find them?"

"All tentacle stem cells were confiscated by the Ministry of Defense after Koro Sensei's death. I'll hack into their mainframe to figure out where they're being stored, though it may take a while."

"Alright. While Ritsu works on that, we'll select teams for infiltration of the exotic matter lab and Ministry of Defense building. Show of hands, who kept up their assassination training?"

Nagisa, Hazama, Kayano, Kataoka, Kimura, Hayami, Fuwa, Okano, Isogai, Maehara, Kanzaki, and Yada all raised their hands.

"Okay, that makes twelve of us. You guys should all train together up here until the date of the infiltration. We'll be up against real people, so real knives and guns. No killing of course. Just minor injuries to keep people off our tail if needed."

Okuda spun around. "Sugaya!"

"Yes?"

"You mind taking point on disguises?"

"Shouldn't be a problem. I can get them done today if need be."

"Don't rush yourself. We have time. Takebayashi-"

"Yeah?"

"If you wouldn't mind sharing the location of the exotic matter lab, it'd be quite helpful."

"Oh! Here..."

Takebayashi wrote the address in a corner of the blackboard.

"Ritsu- how's it coming with the Ministry of Defense mainframe?"

"I have managed to locate the tentacle cells. They are being stored in an underground bunker about sixty miles away from Tokyo."

"Address?"

Ritsu dictated while Okajima wrote the address on the board.

Kayano leaned over to Nagisa and whispered.

"Okuda's grown a lot over the past eight years. I never would've imagined her taking control like this in middle school!"

"Everybody has grown in one way or another. Just like Koro Sensei taught us..."

Nagisa's voice dropped off at the thought of his teacher. Kayano put her arm on his shoulder.

"We'll get him back soon enough."

Nagisa nodded and redirected his attention towards Okuda.

"Before we continue, I'd like to point out a few more complications in our plan. First, while we did manage to deduce that Koro Sensei's likelihood of blowing up is less than 1%, extra precautions would be wise both for him and for the tentacle being sent back to rescue him. Second, in order to rescue him without causing any paradoxes, we have to replace him with an indistinguishable duplicate right before he dies, meaning we need to create a non-sentient mass of yellow tentacles, and we need a way to get tentacle beings through the Shield of Earth. And finally, whomever goes back in time has to return the old-fashioned way: at a rate of one hour per hour."

The atmosphere in the classroom became tense and sober. Whomever went back in time would lose nine years of their life for their middle school homeroom teacher. Not to mention risk their life going through the Shield of Earth, hiding from the Ministry of Defense, and travelling through the wormhole.

"I'm still in."

The desperation Nagisa had harbored throughout his third year was back and stronger than ever.

Okuda nodded, unsurprised at Nagisa's willingness to sacrifice himself. Some things will never change...

"Anybody else still in, or just Nagisa?"

Silence.