Disclaimer: I do not own Assassination Classroom or anything associated with it. I only own the OC Hiyashi Mizuki and her siblings. All rights go to Yusei Matsui.


Chapter 25

"Chiba-kun!" Mizuki cried out.

Said boy was currently in a daze after being half drowned when the bridge broke as they were crossing the river. Mimura held onto him while trying to shake him awake. Mizuki swam over to help him. As she did, a flailing body floated past her before she could react.

"Okajima-San!" She and Miamura cried out together.

His cries of panic faded into the distance. Hoping he wouldn't die, Mizuki just turned to the other two boys with her. Grabbing Chiba's other side, she helped Mimura swim him across the river.

They landed on the bank gasping for air. Looking at each other, they grimaced. It was only the beginning.

Time skip

Mizuki shuddered as another blast of air conditioning hit her. Her clothes were still damp from the river and from the sweat she generated going down the mountain at record speed with her classmates. She wasn't paying attention to the speaker on stage. She knew it was all just a show to make the rest of the school see what it would be like if they ended up in E class. Instead, she watched the other students.

As she expected, many were staring and pointing at her. It seemed most of them were other girls. Some were indifferent. Some were giving pitying glances. The majority were simply acting the way they would to any other student in class E.

When she had been a part of the student council, she had held an indifferent stance towards them. When the others tried to play tricks on the End Class, she had only stopped it when it interfered with their ability to participate in the school activities. Being on the receiving end, she realized how her indifference meant little to the ones being ridiculed. While she may not have added fuel to the fire, she certainly didn't help against those who incited it.

Akabane was smart to ditch this. It's absolutely pointless. Mizuki begrudgingly agreed with her classmate's decision. She turned her attention back to the stage as the dean stepped down. Her mood immediately soured at the sight of Teppei Araki standing at the podium. He was always one of the more annoying ones in terms of harassing other students.

Catching the glimpse of white from the corner of her eyes, Mizuki noticed the other students passing sheets of papers down the rows. Seeing the smirk on Teppei's face, she had a sense of what was coming.

"Excuse me! Our class did not get any handouts!" Their class president Isogai called out.

With an extremely fake expression of shock, Teppei replied, "Oh? I guess we forgot about class E. I guess you will have to memorize the schedule. It'll help you improve your memory skills anyway."

The hall was filled with snickers. Mizuk gritted her teeth. This was the kind of thing she hated when she was with them. Before she could say something, however, a familiar flash and voice called out to them, "There doesn't seem to be any problem. There are enough handwritten copies for everyone."

Sure enough, a piece of paper floated into her hands with the full student council schedule written in neat writing. Mizuki couldn't help but smirk at the flustered student body when they realized their ploy to humiliate their class had failed. They simply couldn't compete against their favorite assassination target…

"Did you see their faces?" Mizuki giggled to her friend as they walked out.

Chiba let out a small chuckle of his own, "It was funny to see them so confused and embarrassed."

It felt good to have the upper hand against the rest of the student body.

"You think that you're so special, don't you bitch?" A sneering voice called out from behind them. A red faced Teppei was storming up to her, but his path was intercepted by Chiba. While he didn't say anything, the anger radiating off him was felt by everyone in the area.

Teppei scoffed, "What do you think you're doing, bangs boy? This is none of your business."

Mizuki stepped forward to fight back, but someone else stepped in first.

"Teppei, not now." Ren warned his friend. Perhaps this was his way of looking out for her due to their past relationship, or perhaps he was just scared of acting against her without Asano's orders.

Teppei glared at his friend but complied and stepped back. His scowling face then turned into a smirk, "You're right. We'll just see who's superior come midterm time."

Chiba tensed at his comment. They weren't wrong. Class E was always the worst in grades and it was a point of shame for many of them, including himself. Just as the feelings of inferiority were taking over, Chiba felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning, he saw a pair of hazel eyes looking at him reassuringly.

"Sure." She replied, not even looking at them. She kept her eyes on her friend hoping to get her message across to him. "We'll see who's better then."

Time skip (Open POV)

"Ne, Chiba-nii," Ren whispered, "Why does Nee-chan look like that?"

Chiba stayed silent. The three of them were watching Mizuki frantically mumbling to herself as her eyes skimmed the textbook in front of her. Her hair was wildly sticking out. In short, she looked like an escapee from a mental hospital.

"Hiyashi-chan," Chiba said cautiously, "Why don't you take a break?"

Hazel eyes snapped up to look at him. "I can't. We only have a few days until midterms."

"You're not even studying material that's supposed to be on the exam!"

"Nee-chan you need to calm down." Reo told her with a worried look on his face. His hand was clamped tightly around his twin's as it usually was when he got stressed.

Ren's hand was wrapped just as tightly as she, too, called out to her sister, "You haven't slept more than 20 minutes at once since the assembly, and it's been a week now!"

"Polyphasic sleep. Da Vinci used it, so can I." She muttered back. The dark circles under her eyes, however, spoke a different story.

Chiba and the twins exchanged befuddled looks. Silently, the three agreed this needed to end. Walking up to Mizuki, Chiba slowly knelt down to her eye level. He pushed the papers she was scanning down to the desk, forcing her to look at him.

Close up, she looked even worse than before. It was clear that she was under a lot of stress on top of her lack of sleep. "Why are you pushing yourself so hard?" He asked her.

"I-," she paused, considering her answer. "I need to beat them."

She didn't have to clarify. "I know, but this isn't going to help. You need to sleep. Your health is more important than proving a point."

"But this is about more than just me this time!"

"How so?"

"They won't be able to look down on any of you if I beat their precious student council. And if I lose they might look down on you guys even more! I hate it! I hate it so much!"

In a quieter voice, she whispered, "You guys are amazing people. You all have more talent, passion, and personality than anyone in the main building. They're all like robots up there. No one cares about anything but scores and power, and they're willing to step on others to win." She paused for a brief second, her voice breaking as she continued, "And I was one of them."

Mizuki felt an arm wrap around her shoulder and instinctively relaxed into the comforting embrace. She felt Chiba's head rest on her shoulder as he spoke, "I seem to remember a different Mizuki than you."

She gave him a questioning look.

"The Mizuki I remember protected a pathetic boy from Class E despite the fact that all her classmates expected her to act otherwise. The Mizuki I remember loved her fiction books more than the placement she got during exam week. The Mizuki got flustered with a simple thank you and a smile, which was really cute by the way."

Mizuki couldn't bring herself to lift her head, afraid he'd see her blush. Instead of addressing the sweet words he spoke of her, she instead said, "And they said you don't talk much."

He shoved her off him playfully, "I take back everything I just said. She's just a jerk."

They both collapsed in a fit of giggles.

After calming down, Mizuki turned to him and brushed his bangs out of his face. She stared into his maroon eyes and smiled, "Thanks Ryunosuke."

"D-Did you just call me by my first name?"

She flushed, "You called me by mine first! I thought it was fine!"

"It is!" He stopped her from continuing. "I just wasn't expecting it, but I like it. Can I keep calling you by your first name?"

"Hmph." She pouted. "Do as you please."

He grinned widely. "Fine. I will. Mi~ Zu~ Ki~. Ack!" He cried as she tackled him.

"Look! Chiba-sensei is getting attacked by Mizuki-sensei! Get her!" Ren's devilish voice cried from the doorway.

Suddenly a flood of children came rushing in, joining the pile of bodies growing on the floor. By the end of it, they all ended up in a laughing mess. Mizuki looked up at the sound of a camera click and smiled at Hana standing in the doorway with a polaroid in hand. The older woman put her fingers to her lips as she pointed to some of the children who had fallen asleep on the floor.

She glanced over at Chiba and shrugged. Her eyes started feeling heavy from her long bout of lack of sleep along with the bout with the rambunctious children. The last thing she remembered was the feeling of a warm hand in hers before the darkness took her.

Chapter 25 End


Ship Poll

Ryuunosuke Chiba: 17

Akabane Karma: 13

Asano Gakushu: 10

No ship: 3