The train departs from the station. All of the students and the teachers are on board. Kayano sits beside Manami. She holds a deck of cards and shuffles. "Guys, let's play a game".
"Perfect. We can play Hearts", Karma chimes in. He sits by the window on Manami's right.
"H-hearts?" Manami follows his words. She never plays any card games.
"Okuda-san, you will learn a whole new world through this game", Kayano said. Her voice boomed through the karaoke mic. She fixes her flashy sunglasses. Her school blazer switched into a red sparkling suit. The name tag on her left side reads Show Master. Kayano's profile appears; Pro-player, apparently she plays it often in her last school. She places a card in front of Nagisa and gives him a name tag. She does it to everyone else as well. On the count of eight, spare cards return into the box.
"Hearts is a game you could play with six people. Like us", Sugino draws a circle with his hands. His name tag reads the Social Player. His profile pops up; Intermediate, he will be your ally even if he is the enemy. He holds up three fingers. "First, there's three cards you need to get rid of. In this case, it's usually the high ranking cards".
Manami looks at her hand. That will be the 10 of Spades, the 9 of Clubs and the 8 of Diamonds.
"But the card order doesn't stop at 2 to 10", Karma said. His name tag reads Crimson. His profile pops up; Ace, his specialty is patience. He lists the card with his index finger. "You have a card labelled King, Queen, Joker and Ace. That means the order goes from 2 to 10, then Joker, Queen, King, and finally, Ace".
For her hand, that would be the Queen of Spades, King of Hearts, Joker of Hearts and Ace of Clubs.
"S-so I-I should get rid of this one?" Manami pulled her Ace of Clubs.
"Thank you. Now I know when to pull my Ace in the hole", Karma chuckles. Manami shrieks. Her name tag reads Doesn't Know. Her profile reads; New Player, she needs guidance.
"I've played Hearts before but I don't know how to count the scores", Nagisa sighed. He looks at his cards. "I lost the game before I knew what was lost".
Nagisa's name tag reads Better Luck Next Time. His profile pops up; Novice, he gets confused with gameplay.
"Don't worry, Nagisa-kun. In this game, the score doesn't go up until the third turn", Kanzaki said. Her name tag reads Natural Beauty. Her profile pops up; Intermediate, she calms down people with her presence. "When someone pulls a Heart card in the third round of the game, the person who pulls the highest card of the trick will earn 1 point".
"Alright, let's play", Kayano said. "First, get rid of your three worst cards".
Manami taps on the Ace of Clubs. Karma's devil horns are at full display. If she gets rid of them, she wouldn't be able to play three rounds of Clubs. If she doesn't get rid of them, Karma already knows and he will get her in the third turn with a Heart.
Manami closes her eyes. She picks three cards.
"Then give your three cards to the person on your left", Kayano said. She gives her cards to Nagisa.
Manami pales. She's giving her worst cards to the first friend she ever made. She couldn't do that. Kayano stretched her hand. "Okuda-san. Your cards, please". She smiles at her. "It's alright. It's just a game".
"A-alright", Manami said. She gives her cards without looking at her. "He-here you go".
"Okuda-san", Karma chimes. He holds his card up his face. "Here's your cards".
He smiles at her. Manami closes her eyes. She holds the three heavy cards in her right hand. "Th-Thank you".
"Okay", he chimed. She opens her eyes. There are no high tier cards in her hands. The highest level card she got is 7 of Diamonds. "I give you these cards so you will always get zero".
She gulped. Riddles are always such confusing devices.
"Now we will take turns from going right to left", Kayano said. "Karma-kun, you're up first".
"Okay", he smiles. He takes out the 2 of Clubs.
"For the first three rounds, you should pull out Clubs if you have some", Kayano said. She took out the spare card. "If you don't have a Club, you can pull a Diamond or a Spade. You can't pull a Heart or a Queen of Spades".
"Why not the Queen of Spades?" Nagisa said.
"It's like if you pull a Heart", Kayano said. She pulls out a score tab and draws the numbers. "You can pull it on the third turn. For a Heart, your opponent gets 1 point. But for the Queen of Spades, your opponent will get 13 points".
"Like this?" Manami pulls out. She flips a perfectly inverted Queen with mirror spades.
Kayano shrieks. "Don't pull it out now".
Manami fumbles with her cards.
"Didn't think Okuda would have the strongest card", Sugino chuckles.
"Looks like Okuda-san has the upper hand", Kanzaki looks at Sugino. He blushed. He averts his gaze.
"Okuda-san, it's your turn", Nagisa said.
"R-right", Manami is pulled from her reverie. She puts down the 5 of Clubs. Karma nods at that. Kayano bites her lips. She puts down the 6 of Clubs. Nagisa sighs. He puts down the 9 of Clubs. Kanzaki puts down the 7 of Clubs. Sugino bites his lips. He puts down the King of Clubs and gets the cards.
"The cards we take are placed downwards and we don't use them in the next turn", Kayano talks through the mic. "Now it's Sugino's turn to lead the deck".
"Alright", he said. He puts down the 8 of Clubs. "Bring it on".
Karma puts down the 9 of Spades. "Hoho, you can't judge me by my cards".
Manami puts down the Joker of Clubs. "I-I hope I'm not last".
"No, you're not", Kayano sighed. She places the Ace of Clubs. A pang of guilt sits in Manami's heart.
Nagisa also sighed. He puts down the 10 of Clubs. "There goes my luck".
Kanzaki puts down the Queen of Clubs. "I think that's all for Clubs".
"Yeah", Kayano said. She picks up her cards.
"I'm sorry, Kayano-san", Manami said.
"No, it's alright. It's just a game. Now I get to lead in this turn", Kayano said. She fixed her glasses. Her hand stretched outwards. "Let's continue. Here's my Diamonds".
She puts down 5 of Diamonds. Nagisa puts down the Joker of Diamonds. Kanzaki puts down 6 of Diamonds. Sugino puts down 10 of Diamonds. Karma puts down 4 of Diamonds. Manami puts down 7 of Diamonds.
"It's my turn", Nagisa said. Kayano has prepared a card that says each of their turns. He sighed. He puts down the King of Diamonds.
"Nagisa-kun's cards are no good", Kanzaki said. She giggles behind her fan-made cards. She puts down the Queen of Diamonds. Sugino puts down 9 of Diamonds. Karma's face is indifferent. He puts the Ace of Diamonds.
"Karma-kun just placed a very dangerous card", Kayano grips her mic tight. All of them gasped. "Unless Okuda-san has another Diamond card, Karma-kun will lose".
"K-karma-kun, th-that's dangerous", Manami screamed. It is the fourth round. Only the Queen of Spades will make her advance in the game. "P-Please think it through".
"I live for danger", he chuckled. "Don't you know, Okuda-san?"
His demon horns in full view. Smoky black aura surrounds him. He fans himself with the cards. In front of him, she is a small twin braided girl who is afraid to face him.
Manami bites her lips. It's easy for him to see her cards. For one, he's taller than her. He could see it from her shoulders; the Queen of Spades she could save for later and another Spade card. No Diamond cards in her hand. It's a zero to thirteen battle.
If she places the Queen of Spades, she could give the impression she didn't like him. She thinks the worst of him. She's worried about him being in the group and getting into trouble. She might have considered changing seats with Nagisa a few times.
If she places another Spade card, she could give the impression that she is taking sides. If it were Kayano, Kanzaki, Sugino or Nagisa in the same situation, she doesn't know if she would be as apprehensive and as ready to give them the pass. She only has a limited amount of Spade cards to use.
"So what will it be, Okuda-san?" Karma grinned. He is not someone who will stay your friend in a one-on-one battle. Right now, he is not even a friend. He is a target worthy of assassination. An all or nothing option is not the way. Manami breathes. She puts down 6 of Hearts, one of the cards he gave her earlier.
"A heartbreak", Kayano screams into her mic. "Okuda-san is the first one to perform a heartbreak".
Kanzaki pulls out the score tab from Kayano. She shows it to everyone. One score point has been landed on Karma the Crimson.
"I didn't- I didn't do it to hurt Karma-kun's heart", Manami blushes. She waves her hand in front of her two friends.
Karma laughs. "No, you just scored a hit".
"W-what?" her glasses fog up. Her braids are a mess. She sat frozen.
"No one's heart breaks, Okuda. His point increase", Sugino said. "That means he's closer to losing the game".
Manami nods.
Sugino sighed. "After all that ruckus, he still only has one point".
"It's not only one point, Sugino. In Hearts, every point counts", Karma said. For a split second, he smiles. Manami blushed. She has scored her first point in her first card game.
Kayano sighs. She puts her hand in her heart. She places 8 of Diamonds. "Okay. Let's see how everyone will perform a Heartbreak later on".
The cue card reads Karma's turn. Karma places 10 of Spades. Manami places 5 of Spades, another card she got from him. "Koro-sensei".
A male voice rang from a couple seats in the front. "Here, I've modified your nose to fit your round personality better".
Sugaya gives him the nose. Koro-sensei thanks him. Kayano giggles. She places an 8 of Spades. "You see new sides to people while traveling together".
"Yeah, who knows what true colours will unveil on this trip", Nagisa nods. He places 5 of Hearts.
Kanzaki stares long at her cards. Sugino looks at her. She places her cards downwards on the table. She looks up to everyone. Sugino averts his gaze.
"Is there anyone who would like to go out and buy some drinks?" she said. "If not, what would you like to have?"
"I-! do. I-I will come wi-with you", Manami said. She springs out of her seat. "Ka-karma-kun, what wou-would you like?"
"Surprise me", he grinned. An empty strawberry milk carton swaying in his hands.
"I will come too", Kayano said. She transforms back to her school uniform. Nagisa looks at her. He handed his orders and she gave him a thumbs up. Sugino also calls out for his orders.
The three girls walk out of their seat compartments. They talk about the places they wished to see in Kyoto. Kayano insists they should try both chocolate and rainbow puddings. Kanzaki wants to try out calligraphy. Manami wants to take pictures of displayed artefacts and asks about their origins. A male student bumped into Kanzaki.
"Sorry. Excuse me", she said. She kept her head down. She walks in front, leading the group. Manami and Kayano didn't even bump into him and they became silent. The girls walked closer to each other without looking back.
=itl=
The seller offers them a variety of drinks. Kayano wants all of them. Kanzaki and Manami stopped her from making that reckless decision. On their way back to their compartment, each girl carries a drink. Kanzaki sips on a blue can. Kayano carries four cans. Manami holds a strawberry and a vanilla milk carton. They talk about their plans when they see Koro-sensei by his seat.
"He's opening the window", Kanzaki said. "I hope he doesn't stick out his head".
"He's leaning his head on the couch but he looks paler than before", Kayano said. She's talking about when Sugaya gives him the carved nose. He had just gone on board in the last station after he hung onto the rear of the train.
Manami takes some steps to his seat. "Koro-sensei".
The octopus looks at her. "Okuda-san. Is something wrong?"
"I-I have something to give you", she said. Even if her teacher blew up the moon, he shouldn't suffer on the ride. She reached into her blazer pockets. "Here".
Koro-sensei's tentacle palm received two unopened packs of white caplets. "I-It's for motion sickness. I-I keep it as a backup, even though I-I don't feel sick at the moment. I-I hope this helps".
He closes his eyes. His smiling mouth expands. "Thank you".
=itl=
Manami consumed her caplet. Compared to the smooth train ride, the bus ride was a lot bumpier. The inn they are approaching is two stars down from the luxury hotel Class A-D managed to book themselves in. She looks at the less visually pleasing wooden establishment. She sticks out the back of her palm.
Junior high school students shouldn't make bets after all. They never knew what they had lost. Manami, Nagisa, Sugino, Kanzaki and Kayano hunch their shoulders as they walk side by side. A score of 26 pops up on their heads. Karma crosses his arms behind his head. His pop up shows the number zero. He whistles.
"This guy annoys me", Sugino seethed. He grips his can. "Crying over a Queen of Spades? Yeah, right. More like using the scores to his advantage".
At the last turn of the first round, Manami managed to use her Queen of Spades. Karma was the highest card stacker. He was drinking some of his milk when tears rolled down his face. He had a straight face and talked about not wanting to live in a cruel world.
"At least you're not the ones getting punished", Nagisa sighed. Sugino chuckles as he rubs the back of his neck.
In the fourth round, Karma had the highest points. "Karma lost the game", Kayano screamed. Sugino puts his chin up. His index finger horizontal to his nose. He chuckles.
"Looks like we get to draw on your hands", he said. "I think we could draw something funny. Like the poop emoji or-"
"Shooting the moon", the red head said. His bangs highlight his prominent chin and cheekbones. His golden orbs mirths in darkness. His eyebrows shot downwards. His shoulders are asymmetrical but they rise up. The night sky adorns his background. A mist of clouds moves before the crescent moon.
The experienced players gasped. Kayano fumbles with her cards as she explains the situation. Karma has acquired their doom cards and is returning those points back. Everyone pales. Sugino retaliates. He couldn't believe a rare occurrence had happened. Kayano pulls out the score tab. "Whoever has the highest score between the five of us has to carry out the punishment". She taps the board with a marker. That person just happens to be tied; Nagisa and Manami.
Nagisa shudders. Karma's mischievous face which twins Koro-sensei's picked up the pen. Nagisa shows Sugino and Manami his right hand; an octopus with the writing I love my teacher. "It was either this or the Give me a maid costume sign".
Manami sighs. She nods, looking at her own hand. "H-He saw right through me". She shows Sugino and Nagisa her right hand; a cylindrical flask with a cross and the writing Don't talk about science. She cried. "H-He even tells me to show it when people talk about science". Nagisa nods fervently. He bites into the edge of his napkin.
"Aw, it's okay. At least you're not the only ones with bad luck", Karma chimes. He points to Koro-sensei on the couch. The octopus teacher melts into the seat.
"Y-you didn't take the caplets?" Manami shrieked.
He waves his tentacles at her. "Okuda-san. I'm moved by your kindness but I can't. It tastes bitter". Nagisa writes it down. He shows his right hand; I love my teacher.
"I see, so you have motion sickness", an orange bowl cut boy said. Mimura stands beside Nagisa. Nagisa notes that down too.
A short haired girl points her knife at Koro-sensei. He dodges. "Maybe it's better if you lie down". Okano strikes her knife again.
"Perhaps", Koro-sensei said. He dodges. "But I'm popping off to Tokyo for a bit. I think I forgot my favourite pillow".
"After carrying that thing around and you still forgot something?" Mimura screamed. Koro-sensei's extra large adventure backpack is placed near the sofa. Nagisa writes it down. He shows his right hand; I love my teacher.
"Who wouldn't be concerned?" the girl class rep said. Kataoka shakes her head. She strikes her knife at Koro-sensei as well. The octopus dodged.
Rustling through her bag, Kanzaki sits on another sofa that is placed in front of Manami. Kayano sits beside her. On the bus trip, they have been searching for Kanzaki's blue book. "Did you find it?"
Kanzaki shakes her head. "I'm sure I have it with me this morning".
"Don't worry, Kanzaki-san", Koro-sensei said. "I admire your spirit in organising the class trip. But with my complete guide of Kyoto, you would have all you need". He holds a big red dictionary. Koro-sensei gave the book in class. Approximately, there are 1500 pages inside. "You could even assemble a paper model for Kinkakuji temple".
"Who would want to bring that around?" another orange haired boy screamed. Maehara holds a green book.
"It's better to carry our own books", a bald boy shouted. Okajima holds an orange book.
"Should you be holding it when you're sick?" the boy class rep sets his green knife down. Isogai pats Koro-sensei's back. He gives him a concerned smile.
"He's prince charming", everyone gasped. Nagisa shows his right hand; I love my teacher.
"I know I put it in my bag", Kanzaki frowned. "Did I lose it somewhere?"
Manami pulls out her book. "W-we can share our n-notes".
"Are you sure?" Kanzaki said. "Some of my notes may be different from yours".
"Yes, r-remember the group discussion? I-I wrote it down", Manami said. She shows a page. "I a-also wrote down everyone's main points".
"Wow", Kayano said. "You're well prepared, Okuda-san".
"Yes", Manami nods. She fixed her glasses. "To calculate the accurate wind speed of every possible assassination routes.."
She looks down. Her right hand reads; Don't talk about Science.
"Wow, Okuda has the same thing as Nagisa", Maehara exclaimed.
"Okuda-san's main attraction is her love of Science", Okajima said. He stands up in a dramatic pose. Small stream of river with bamboo aqueduct colours his background. "Without it, she isn't herself. Who is pulling the strings?"
Karma leans his body on a wall. His expression is unreadable. His right hand casually plays with his phone. He smirks.
"A-Anyways, I have it all memorised", Manami said.
Kanzaki smiled. "Thank you, Okuda-san".
Kanzaki flips through the pages. She talks to Kayano about the place she wants to go to.
Group 4 Card Character Profile:
Kayano Kaede
aka the Show Master
Status: Pro-player
Note: Apparently she plays it often in her last school
=o=
Sugino Tomohito
aka the Social Player
Status: Intermediate
Note: He will be your ally even if he is the enemy
=o=
Akabane Karma
aka Crimson
Status: Ace
Note: His specialty is patience
=o=
Okuda Manami
aka Doesn't Know
Status: New Player
Note: She needs guidance
=o=
Shiota Nagisa
aka Better Luck Next Time
Status: Novice
Note: He gets confused with gameplay
=o=
Kanzaki Yukiko
aka Natural Beauty
Status: Intermediate
Note: She calms down people with her presence
Extra Notes:
- Pro-player: someone who knows a lot about the game and often take turns to host it
- Ace: someone who knows a lot about the game but doesn't host it
- Intermediate: someone who knows the game but doesn't have the mastery of Pro-player and Ace
- Novice: someone who has played the game but often loses because they forgot the rules
- New Player: the literal meaning as in someone who has never played the game
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Assassination Classroom. Assassination Classroom is a series written by Yusei Matsui. The anime is produced by Lerche. This is a fanfiction to provide a character spotlight on Okuda Manami. Themes and characterisation may differ from the original series. Also uploaded on lavender1112 blogspot and AO3.