Standard disclaimer: Assassination Classroom isn't mine, after all I am not Japanese nor do I live in Japan and I am not Yuusei Matsui so even if the first two were changed, the last one never will be.
For the record this chapter was supposed to be done a lot earlier, like last week. No real reason other than laziness and forgetfulness, but now that it's out I am already working on the next one so it shouldn't be such a gap between the next chapter.
The story takes place after the serious part of the vacation island arc and during the test of courage chapter right after (there are spoilers so tread carefully if you haven't finished the arc). The characters might be a bit out of character since but hopefully you can look past that. I also realize that there is no actual evidence of these two being paired in the actual manga but they aren't shown with anyone else so I took some artist license. Also one last thing, the whole princess carry thing for Kataoka is actually a real thing, it is shown in her character profile. That being said without further ado, please read and I hope you enjoy, if you do please write a review and thank you to those who have read and reviewed.
Kataoka cursed out loud as she clutched her ankle. The female class rep was pissed, after all, she was going through all this pain because of a stupid cliché. After the ordeal with their sadistic ex-P.E. teacher Takaoka Class E had spent the day asleep, some recovering from sickness while the rest regained the energy spent on the mission to save their comrades. They had only woken up a few hours ago to see Karasuma-Sensei's latest failed attempted to kill their homeroom teacher while Koro-Sensei couldn't move. None of them, not even Karasuma-Sensei, actually believed that Koro-Sensei would be killed by the attempt, but Class-E never did anything without taking a chance.
When their octopus teacher/target returned to his normal state he congratulated them on accomplishing their mission. But then he reminded them that this was still their hard won vacation that they wrestled away from the elites of Class-A. 'Let us put aside all that nastiness from last night. After all you don't get a vacation on a tropical island like this every summer. Let's shake out our tentacles and have some fun,' Koro-Sensei said as he explained their activity for the night, 'The Assassination Test of Courage'. They were to go down, through one of the island's caves in boy-girl partnerships where they were to try and make it through without getting frightened. However like all things Class-E related there was a twist to this relatively normal game. Koro-Sensei would play the roles of the monsters all by himself and try to scare them, while giving the students a chance to try and kill him.
It was a rather cliché attempt to get his students to perform some lovey-dovey acts or something, it was pretty obvious now that Kataoka looked back on it. At the time she didn't really understand the need for boy-girl partners, some made sense like Chiba and Hayami who were practically partners in every assassination attempt they made since their failure to kill Koro-Sensei. Others didn't quite made as much sense like Sugino and Kanzaki. Sure they got along with each other, but their skills weren't in sync enough for them to be paired together on a mission like this.
Kataoka cursed herself for not seeing it sooner. Back when the pairings were being doled out she was more concerned with not getting one of the three boys she didn't want to be paired with. Her last choice would have been Okajima, the class pervert who she knew no girl wanted to be paired with. Luckily for Kataoka, but unfortunately for Kurahashi, the pervert was paired with the class nature lover. It wasn't like Okajima would have done anything bad of course, he was a pervert, not a monster, but that didn't mean any girl in the class wanted to be with him walking through a dark cave.
Kataoka's second to last choice was Takebayashi, the smartest boy in their class, other than perhaps Karma. He was nice enough if a bit awkward to talk to, but he was also the weakest boy in the class physically, he wouldn't have been much help in the challenge. She didn't see who Takebayashi was paired with since she was paired with her third worst candidate to go through the caves with, Isogai, her fellow class rep.
Isogai was one of the best students in the class both physically and mentally, and he happened to also be incredibly nice. Not to mention he was an utter dream boat, most girls in the school would have given their left arm to be the one to go on a walk of courage with Isogai. To be fair though most of those same girls would have probably given their left arms to go on a walk of courage with her also, so that might say more about the quality of boys to date at Kunugigaoka than either of their attractiveness, but Kataoka stands by her opinion. Isogai was practically perfect with his physical abilities, his brains, his perfect looks, and most of all his kindness. If he turned out to be a Mary Sue character insert character in someone's fantasy world Kataoka would hardly be surprised. Even the antenna that stuck out of his head should have been annoying to see on anyone else. Yet on Isogai they looked adorable, girls and sometimes grown women swoon whenever he looked at them. Kataoka was no different, no stranger to the Ikemen's charm or good looks, which is why after Okajima and Takebayashi, Isogai would have been her last choice on the stupid Assassination of Courage.
Isogai would have been the perfect partner for an assassination mission, and on the occasion the two of them weren't leading two separate groups of the class they usually were. But those times were all different, they had always been in a group or with the whole class, not alone together. Given their jobs as class reps and being some of the more competent members of the class they spent a lot of time together and had grown to be friends, but the idea of walking through dark caves alone with only him at her side terrified Kataoka.
The female class rep of Class-E had been so worried on their travel through the maze of caves about tripping or stumbling or anything cliché like that in front of her crush that she did just that. At the beginning, despite Kataoka's fears the conversation between the two had been comfortable even though they were on guard, everything she did with Isogai had always felt comfortable. But in the light of their single flashlight and the few torches Koro-Sensei had put up for ambiance, Kataoka's tough exterior seemed to melt away and turned her into a clumsy girl from a shoujo manga. It started when she tripped over a rock and felt back onto her partner. Of course he caught her since that's what bishonen boys like Isogai did when they saw a girl fall in front of them.
For a moment she stayed quite, even though Isogai, true to his nature, asked if she was okay at least twice before she answered. "Y-yes," Kataoka managed to uncharacteristically squeak out, "I'm fine. Thank you," she said pushing away from him. For once she was happy that they were in a dark cave since she knew her face was bright red.
There was an awkward silence growing between the two of them, but luckily their super-fast sensei interrupted them. "Nurufufufu," an all too familiar laugh rang through the cavern, "there was once a beautiful octomaid who fell in love with what could be considered the perfect man. He was handsome, smart, strong, and above all kind," the voice said. "So kind in fact that when the octomaid asked him to follow her into the depths forever he agreed, not having the heart to turn her down. And so he drown, due to his love and the poor octomaid died of grief, knowing he had died by following her," Koro-Sensei said in a somber voice. He floated in front of the two class leaders, not dressed in his normal attire, no, he was dressed in an incredibly fake beard and a toga, as if he was a story teller from ancient Rome. It didn't quite fit the atmosphere of the dark cave, but Koro-Sensei wasn't known for his authenticity. "Their souls are trapped in here forever, unless they see some lovey dovey spooning," he said finally his tone never changing from the serious and raspy whisper of the character he was trying to play.
Isogai and Kataoka's eyes went white as their faces went blank, if Koro-Sensei had been trying to scare them, he hadn't done a good job. In fact his half assed retelling of the little mermaid and attire that didn't match the story or the setting dispelled a lot of the caves creepiness. Instead of making the two of them frightened enough to obey the rules of his stupid story, it only led to Kataoka getting angry.
"Sensei," Kataoka shouted as she forced herself away from Isogai, and took out the special anti-Sensei air-pistol that they were all given when he first started working at the school. No one in the class other than Ritsu had managed to even graze with one of the bullets that would destroy his cells, but it was usually enough to chase him away. His intent was clear enough now, "this is supposed to be a horror walk, not a dating sim," she shouted opening fire.
"According to the manga I borrowed from Fuwa this isn't supposed to be how it goes," Koro-Sensei said dodging the bb pellets and 'running' away. He slipped down the corner in front of Kataoka and Isogai leading to Kataoka giving chase. She knew it was stupid to run after him in this dark cave, especially when she was concentrating on shooting instead of watching where she was going, but she was so angry at their teacher. Kataoka knew she had a bit of a temper, usually it sprung up when others were treated unfairly or when people acted perverted, but other times it just came out like when she was embarrassed like this.
Maybe if Isogai wasn't there she could have at least pretended to be calmer, but he was there and he heard Sensei's plan to get the two of them together. Kataoka chased after Koro-Sensei until he floated around the corner and used his full Mach 20 speed to run away. Unfortunately it seems neither realized that as the path continued it sloped down and became steeper. It was no problem for Koro-Sensei due to his ability to fly and with his speed he was out of their sight in an instant, for Kataoka though it was another story. No matter how skilled of an athlete you are, running downhill at full speed in a damp dark cave as you turn a sharp corner while chasing your super octopus of a sensei doesn't work out well.
Thanks to her assassin training Kataoka wasn't terribly hurt, but she landed wrong as she reached the bottom of the incline. Which brings her back to the beginning; she was hunched over at the bottom of the slope with the most clichéd pain of all inflicted upon her outside of soap opera disease, a twisted ankle. If she was lucky Isogai would come a second later and give her a piggy back ride or something, 'not that I would mind,' Kataoka mused, 'Isogai does have a pretty comfortable looking back. No, stop it,' she mentally slapped herself she didn't care about the situation, Isogai giving her a piggy back was not acceptable.
"Kataoka," a voice shouted from behind her, it sounded like Isogai was running to check on her.
"Be careful it's slippery," Kataoka shouted back to warn him. She knew that she could survive the embarrassment of having him help her, but she would never forgive herself if he hurt himself because of her stupidity.
She could hear his footsteps slowing down, but not enough that she didn't worry that he was still rushing because of her. "Are you alright," Isogai asked in his typical nice guy tone, worried but filled with kindness. He knelt down next to her and examined her leg, "I don't think it's broken," he told her. He was so gentle that she barely even noticed until he touched the ankle itself and she let out a wince. "Sorry," he said looking into her eyes when he noticed her discomfort, "I'm not the best at first aid unfortunately, it looks like I have to work on my bedside manner," he gave her a comforting smile.
"Well you know me," Kataoka said shakily trying to keep how much her ankle hurt a secret from her crush, "I love to help. Don't worry, just give me your shoulder I think I'll be able to limp to the exit," she said grabbing his shoulder and trying to force herself up. She knew it wouldn't work, but she wanted to at least pretend like it would.
"Yeah I know Kataoka, your desire to help is something that I-everyone loves about you," Isogai said stumbling over his words a bit as he stopped her from rising and lowered her back to the ground. "But sometimes you need to let other people help you," he said making sure that she looked into his eyes to get the message. "Your leg shouldn't take any unnecessary weight if we can help it or it could get worse. Let me carry you to the exit, it shouldn't be far and you aren't heavy so it would be a benefit to both of us and we will get out of here quicker," he said never taking his entirely sincere eyes away from her own.
For a moment all they did was look silently into each other's eyes before Kataoka turned away with a huff, "fine," she conceded. "Turn around and I'll get on your back," she tried to say it before Isogai scooped her up into his arms as if she was a princess. "What are you doing," she practically shrieked.
"What," Isogai answered more than asked, "this is the best way to carry you while keeping your ankle elevated. Is there something wrong?"
Her face burned but Kataoka managed to answer, "n-no, no you're right," she conceded seeing the logic of his answer. "It's just that most girls aren't used to being swept up like that, least of all me," she mumbled the last part. Truthfully she had always wanted to be carried like a princess, but when anyone learned that they assumed that she wanted to do the carrying. That was how she got stuck lifting every girl in Class E into her arms one day during the semester when Kayano found out. She did it of course, each girl was gracefully lifted up into the arms of Ikemegu like a princess and she let them stay for about a minute before gently placing them back to their feet and moved on to the next one. Still, she didn't mind getting carried by Isogai, though she never thought it would have happened. 'Maybe I won't kill Sensei over his cliché ridden dating scenario,' Kataoka thought as she snuggled deeper into his embrace. Since she was finally getting what she wanted with the boy of her dreams she figured she could just sit back and enjoy it for as long as it lasted to hell with how red her face turned.
As the two of them continued on their journey, Kataoka was happy to be in the arms of her crush. Isogai on the other hand was just happy that he managed to get Nakamura to spill Kataoka's secret desire.