Izumi glanced out the window, curiously looking on as Korosensei frantically tried to plant the new flower bulbs. Due to another one of his moments, 3-E was now one flower bed short of flowers and he was now desperately trying to make up for that unprecedented turnout.

Beside him, Kataoka and Himura were not-so-subtly edging him on, reminding the octopus ever so often to handle each bulb carefully. It seemed as if they were actually enjoying the prospect of getting to order around the creature that threatened to start the genocide of humankind.

Others weren't nearly as enthusiastic about it. Maehara started, "Hey… I hear he's gonna destroy the Earth, but…"

"Y-Yeah…" Isogai agreed. "It is kinda weird for him to be planting tulips." After all, they themselves couldn't possibly survive with their planet gone, what more the fragile flowers.

"Done!" Korosensei announced as he stood up, brushing dirt and grass off his robes. "In no time at all, the class will have prettier flowers than before. Now if you excuse me, I'll have to drop by the North Pole again for more ice."

"How can that honestly be enough?" Izumi mused amidst the students protests that Korosensei would be leaving again this quickly.

Kataoka frowned. "What do you mean by that, Takihara-san?"

Heavens. She wasn't intending to be heard at all, but by some miracle her words were made out clearly. "It took nearly a month for those tulips sensei uprooted to grow," Izumi surmised, quickly accepting the fact that she had been heard. "And since he just planted the bulbs, we still have to wait at least another month before the new ones bloom."

Slowly but surely, Maehara's features morphed into a look of realization. "So your point is…"

Izumi stood up from the windowsill she had been leaning on, easily giving herself an air of surety. "Korosensei has to do more things to fully make it up to the class, yes."

Isogai tapped his finger on his chin, pondering the proposal thoughtfully. "I guess Takihara-san is somewhat right about that. It did take a lot of effort to grow them."

Grinning as per usual, Korosensei nodded. "I see your point, Takihara-san. You want me to apologize to everyone."

Izumi shook her head. "Not really. Call it a stab in the dark, but I think what everyone wants is a chance to challenge you, sensei."

Green stripes streaked brightly across his face, marking his amusement. "Oh?"

Without missing a beat, the brunette smoothly continued, "Which means if you want to fully apologize, you will let us assassinate you."

"Nurufufufu... It's not like the class isn't already doing that everyday."

Izumi tilted her head to the right, everyone could've sworn they saw a lilting smirk there for a split second. "That's where you're mistaken, sensei. What I'm suggesting is indeed a typical assassination rally—but with a handicap."

His interest was piqued as he started to fall for it, hook, line and sinker. "A handicap, you say?"

Nodding, Izumi pointed at Korosensei. "You will remain immobile let the class freely attack you as much as they want for the entire period, and you are not allowed to use Mach 20 to flee."

Korosensei paused, clearly considering the offer. "Sensei, are you actually thinking it over?" Izumi swiftly interrupted his thoughts. Oh no, he will not have the chance to determine the pros and cons. "As you said, isn't this already what the class does everyday? It's not like this is your first rodeo, am I right, Korosensei? I mean, Kayano-san gave you that name for a reason."

"I—"

Izumi sighed, shaking her head amicably. "Man, I do wish we had more training, though. As amateurs, I fear we have little to no chances of succeeding, with or without the handicap. But it's worth a shot for the 10 billion, I guess."

The students present watched in awe as the psychological manipulation continued. She was proceeding with such ease and silent confidence, subtly pushing him on to accept the offer presented to him.

"Very well," Korosensei submitted at last. "I accept your suggestion. I think I saw some rope in the shed somewhere…"

As he zoomed away, Sugino whirled to face Izumi, eyes shining with excitement. "Takihara-san, that was amazing!" he exclaimed. "Now, we truly have a shot at killing him for real. The way you convinced him, it was like hypnosis or something!"

Izumi shrugged off his words. "Frankly, I don't think you all can actually pull it off. But if you really want to, you should tell the rest of the class to get ready with their weapons."

"Wait," he said when she started walking back to the classroom. "Aren't you coming?"

"Pass. I'll just watch from inside."

Kataoka blinked in surprise. "But… you're the one who set this up. Don't you want to see it through?"

Izumi closed her eyes and turned away, continuing walking. "I meant what I said about not involving myself in any of the assassinations."

Himura clicked her tongue impatiently, obviously feeling fed up with this odd unreadable girl. "In that case, why did you even waste your energy to set this one all up?"

Her footsteps faltered just the slightest before coming to a standstill. A cold silence greeted them. Eventually, Izumi callously replied, "Because I was bored," and continued walking, but not before she coolly added, "Enjoy your little present."

It was also on that very day that they discovered that Korosensei's PE lessons would now be taken over by Karasuma, the government officer from the other day. Nobody admitted out loud that Izumi's prediction had come true, and since Izumi herself didn't bother to point it out, it was quickly forgotten somewhere in the middle of the bustling school day.


"Say…. What do you think about her?"

Nagisa looked up from his English essay in surprise. "Huh? Who are you talking about?"

Kayano shook her head, flipping to the next page of her cooking magazine. "Takihara Izumi. What do you think about her?"

Nagisa turned around to look behind him. He soon caught sight of the brunette, sleeping on her desk as usual. He hummed thoughtfully, "I guess she's… alright?"

To be honest, he didn't actually know what to feel about Izumi. Mainly because like the rest of the class, he too knew next to nothing about her. She was one of the quieter ones in class who didn't mingle around much. She would offer a comment once in a while, but they were more than often downright blunt and always ended up offending one or more party.

Kayano sighed as she shut her magazine and stuffed it under her desk. "Though, I don't think she's much of a bad person."

Nagisa pondered for a moment, "I guess you're right." Sharp as her tongue might be, Izumi didn't actually go out of her way to seek trouble. Sure, she did skip the majority of the PE lessons, but that was about it. Even with her bluntness, Izumi was usually courteous with everyone (except for certain times if she ended up being irritated by said person).

"Hey, hey!" Nagisa violently lurched forward as Maehara good-heartedly slapped him on the back—hard. "Which girl are you guys talking about? Is she a looker?"

Did we somehow summon him just because we were talking about a girl? "Ah, we were just discussing about Izumi-chan," Kayano answered.

"Oh, you mean the Empress?"

Nagisa spluttered, choking on air when he heard that. "You came up with a nickname for her?!" he asked Maehara.

Said boy merely shrugged. "It was the one with the most votes. Idea courtesy of yours truly, and you're welcome."

"That's kinda mean," Kayano commented. Though, it seemed entirely befitting in a strange way, especially after the way she handled Korosensei's punishment for wrecking the class' flower beds.

"She's right, Maehara." Isogai swatted his friend on the head. "That's not a very nice thing to do."

"What?" Maehara demanded. "It was meant as a compliment, okay? I would definitely go after her—Hey, don't hit me before I'm done talking!—but her hotness is cancelled out by her coldness."

"You make it sound like you're talking about credit card transactions."

Nagisa sighed and closed his book, realizing that he was probably not going to finish the essay before homeroom ended. Gossip wasn't usually his kind of thing, but it was somewhat interesting when it came to the so-called Empress because of all the wild assumptions and theories.

"There are some rumors that say that she's actually an member of the monarchy. Apparently there was a sordid love affair which they kept quiet about, and they are secretly plotting to put her on the throne one day as the queen."

Okay, scratch that, some of the theories were actually downright ridiculous.

Isogai sighed. "Maehara, Izumi can be many things, but I'm pretty sure she's not a princess. Also, there is no such thing as the queen of Japan."

"Hey, I did say they were rumors."

"At least listen to the more believable ones, for crying out loud. Let's go back and I'll help you with Social Studies."

Maehara grinned widely, slinging an arm around the class representative's shoulder. "Sounds like a plan to me! Hey, can I copy your answers?"

"No! I said I would help you with it, not make you eligible for copyright infringement!"

"Aw, come on. Be a sport! Also, isn't 'copyright infringement' is a bit exaggerated?"

As the two walked off with friendly bickering, Nagisa and Kayano were left to themselves again. The petite girl glanced back curiously at still-sleeping Izumi. "You know, Nagisa, I actually want to be friends with her. It's just… I don't actually know how to."

Nagisa nodded, ticking off the reasons on his fingers. "Well, she's not very approachable due to her personality, and from the looks of it, I don't think she's even trying to befriend anyone."

Kayano pursed his lips. "I have tried to talk to her a few times, but they always end up with a tense answer and then she just falls silent completely. Which might be expected, given our first conversation about Korosensei's assassination..."

Nagisa stared as Kayano shut her eyes and sighed. The school bell dimly rung in the distance. "No one in class likes her, but I think maybe it's because she doesn't give them the chance to know her. And to me, that's the worst thing anyone could do. Judge you without getting to know you."

They fell silent again as the earlier conversation lingered in their minds, and they were beginning to doubt whether they should be disliking her.


"—The situation is exactly as I just described. It goes without saying that revealing the secret behind Earth's crisis is strictly forbidden."

The boy cast a somewhat dubious downwards glance at the poster in his hand. The large spherical yellow head with the insufferable wide grin seemed too made up to be true, almost as believable as a five-year-old's imaginary friend. Though, if it was that case, wouldn't they have at least used a more convincing mug shot?

He could hear the female agent smoothly continue, "If you were to leak the information, you will have to undergo memory erasure treatment."

"…Without my parents' signed consent? Scaary!"

The two agents chose to completely ignore his well-aimed jibe, skillfully maintaining their serious faces. "All members of Class E have been provided with the same information. Everyone else is already involved in the mission."

The boy looked down again, this time at the green knife in his other hand. His fingers curled tightly around the hilt, taking note of the artificially smooth texture. His golden brown orbs then flickered to the glass coffee table, his gaze lingering on the sleek black pistol. Locked and loaded, "But not with real bullets," as they had needlessly assured him.

"If your suspension from school is lifted, you will also return to Class E. Therefore, I will entrust you with this assassination mission as well!"

Much to the agents' chagrin, the boy was completely unresponsive. It was as if they had been speaking to a brick wall or the couch the entire time. There was a glint in his eyes that unmistakably hinted he enjoyed riling people in whatever way possible. In this case, it was acting nonchalant in a matter involving the destruction of humanity.

The woman frowned. From what his file had stated, he possessed a particularly thick and messy track record. Skipping school, stealing, blackmail—what he had done would have led to an expulsion within the first semester, had they not been overlooked due to his grades. Even so, the incident that ultimately led to his suspension in the middle of his second year was an act of violence directed at his teacher.

How a troublemaker like this could be the among the highest scorers in the national mock examinations, she would never understand.

After a very tense moment of silence, the boy finally spoke up. "Hey, is this rubbery knife really gonna work?" he asked, easily bending the blade in his hand.

Inaudible sighs filled the room, relieved that he had finally spoken. "Yes. It is harmless to humans, but I guarantee it will be effective against him."

A grin stretched across his face, "Heeeh." The woman suppressed a shudder. It was excitement all right, but everything about it felt chillingly wrong. The boy leaned forward, poster and knife in hand. "Well, even if it won't work on humans, it doesn't really matter. I couldn't care less about that."

Everyone flinched when the abrupt sound of tearing rang out in the deathly quiet room. He then callously dropped the poster, everyone's eyes transfixed on the paper sailed down to the floor with a blade embedded smack in the center of the target's face.

His next words were even more chilling than his smile, "Just once, I've wanted to try killing the living being known as a sensei."


A/N: A thousand apologies if anyone has been waiting and entire month for this. It's hard to believe how busy the first month of the school year can be. I apologize too for the downright sloppiness of the chapter, I was fresh out of inspiration ;-; (Probs gonna edit this sometime later) As usual, leave a comment, and I'll try to work on it.