"Is he still alive?"
The question lingers in the air for a lot longer than the assassin feels comfortable with. Of course, he knew what kind of person he was getting involved with when he accepted the job and while he's had his fair share of vengeful clients, none as psychotic as to beat middle school children to death.
Takaoka on the other hand couldn't care less. He rolls his eyes at being stopped mid-kick as if it personally offends him. He shakes the assassin's hand off his shoulder and crouches down to the limp body, feeling for a pulse.
It's there. Probably.
"Should be," Takaoka grunts.
That isn't the most reassuring thing. The assassin frowns: "I know you hired me to get that thing no matter what and I'm fine with being a bit rough or whatnot. But I ain't killing kids. My job is to take down the bad guys, not innocent students."
"So what?" the former teacher grunts.
"You beat that boy to unconsciousness. He wasn't even a threat," the latter points out.
"But he's not dead, so what's your problem?"
Takaoka's grin itself is the problem. His unhinged arguments are the problem. The assassin signed up for big money, yes, but certain people just weren't worth the ick.
Looking at the brat on the ground only proves that. There's blood on his face, bright red smeared all the way to his chin. The small body curled on itself, his muddy uniform hardly enough protection from the onslaught of violence that Takaoka inflicted.
Yes, the assassin felt frustrated by the stunt they pulled, but even he in his rage wouldn't go as far as to abuse his power. He still had some clarity and conscience left to understand this kid was just trying to save its neck running away, even if it was by fighting them, like a kitten scratching with its small claws to survive.
"Let's focus on our objective," the assassin says firmly, changing the topic. There's no reasoning with this psycho anyway. "How do we get that thing?"
"Don't worry. The other two will be here in no time. I made sure to leave them some traces which would lead them here. Until then, make sure this one doesn't run away," Takaoka nods towards the strawberry blonde, his face twisting in satisfaction.
He is so looking forward to playing with the E-class students. With a certain blue-haired little shit to be particular. He can't help but smile at the thought of having Shiota Nagisa pathetically beg for his measly life, head bowed down deep in the dirt, the simple thought of kicking him, punching, breaking every one of his bones.
That would make for a magnificent sound.
While Takaoka busies himself coming up with sufferings he can put Nagisa through, the assassin for once doesn't snarl at the order and takes charge of the boy. He doesn't see any point in tying him up since the strawberry blond looks way too injured to even move, let alone run away.
Now that he gets a proper glance, he finds out that the copious amount of blood comes from his forehead and nose. It's not a nice look, especially when he knows that it's probably accompanied by countless cuts and bruises elsewhere. The boy's breathes come slow and ragged and the man wonders whether he should be worried about a punctured lung.
At the very least, he can sit the boy up and lean him on the tree to ease some discomfort. And to make sure Takaoka doesn't complain, the assassin binds Asano Gakushuu's hands together loosely, mostly for show than anything else.
Which Gakushuu truly appreciates.
He's not dead, by the way. And neither is he unconscious. Though he kind of hopes he was because his body really fucking hurts.
Thankfully, the wounds aren't as bad as they seem.
Gakushuu possesses a few more brain cells than his brute of an assailant and this isn't his first fight either. He learned long ago how to protect himself if he was getting beaten up (which never really happened but well, always good to know). So when Takaoka decided to release his bottled-up frustration on Gakushuu, he made sure to protect his major spots, moved away from the blows ever so slightly so that it wouldn't be noticeable and of course, pretended to faint at the right moment. Obviously, he then had no other option than to stay limp for a while and take the hits directly until his attacker noticed the change and stopped.
However, for once, luck smiled on Gakushuu and he didn't have to endure it for long since it turned out that the knife guy did have some heart in him.
So no, no broken bones, no punctured lung or concussion.
He still hurts though.
There's a hand lifting his chin followed by the sensation of cloth rubbing his face. Much to Gakushuu's surprise, it seems that the unknown attacker is now cleaning up his bloody face and applying pressure to the cut on his head to stop the bleeding.
Takaoka notices and snarls immediately: "What the hell are you doing?"
"I said I don't want dead kids on my neck. It's not like he's gonna wake up any time soon anyway," the man in front of Gakushuu cuts him off.
He hears the former teacher draw a sharp breath, probably to retort something nasty back. But right at that moment, yells coming from not that far off interrupt him.
"ASANO-KUN!" the voices call. "WHERE ARE YOU?!"
They belong to Karma and Shiota.
And with that, Gakushuu's plan washes down the drain.
Contrary to how it may appear now, he didn't intend to rely on anyone's assistance (even though he is in serious trouble). Gakushuu went through the trouble of tricking his attackers just so that he could get a moment when they let down their guard and he could escape.
Alone. He was supposed to do that alone. Without involving the other two boys.
Karma is in no condition to fight. Even if he were, Gakushuu wouldn't risk putting him in the vicinity of two armed men, no matter how much his cocky little brother would claim he'd win. Sure, Karma grew up brawling till black and blue, but he grew up brawling with other kids, stupid bullies who could only talk big. Unlike Gakushuu, he had never received any formal training.
Other than that, he highly doubts Shiota Nagisa can be of any use at all.
"Lookie who came to rescue their friend," Takaoka sings, his voice back to sweet poison. "Time for revenge."
There's a clang of metal hitting against itself, more weapons Gakushuu assumes. The prospect of how those may be used sends a shiver down his spine but acting up now would only get him killed. He needs to wait until the two completely forget about him and focus on the calls - then he'll bolt out of there.
The calls do not cease. They still don't sound close enough though.
Which is why Gakushuu does not anticipate someone sneaking up from behind him.
Barely stopping himself from jerking at the touch on his wrist, he realizes the person is trying to undo the ropes. The fingers are small and cold, not the same rough palms that bonded Gakushuu's hands together in the first place.
It's Shiota. Upon realizing that, Gakushuu cracks his eyes open and moves his head ever so slightly to get the E-class student's attention. The smaller boy is kneeling on the ground behind the tree, out of the men's view. Once Shiota notices that his rescuee is in fact still conscious, his gaze widens in surprise, followed by a sigh of relief. With his thumb, Shiota repeatedly points behind himself, signalling that they're making a run for it.
Thankfully, the knife guy truly did go easy on Gakushuu with the ropes and they easily shake them off, already sneaking away.
The plan isn't that far off from Gakushuu's. Karma distracts the adults by making a ruckus from afar while Shiota with his zero presence stealthily slithers in and rescues Gakushuu. It's not bad, saves them the confrontation really, but one thing bugs him still.
If those two devised a strategy, then that means they knew this was a trap. They must have probably deduced what happened, maybe even heard or seen some of the violent displays from Takaoka. And if that truly is the case, then Gakushuu doubts Karma will limit himself only to the rescue plan. Worst case, the idiot actually shows his face to set things straight with fists. Hopefully, his younger brother isn't that stupid though.
Whatever the case, Gakushuu and Shiota need to escape first and worry about that later.
Unfortunately, even though they stay quiet, the assassin's gut feeling wins in this one.
The man remains razor sharp focused on the scene before him, prepared for the attack. The calls don't stop but neither do they seem to get much closer despite the fact that it's been a few minutes. It's then that he turns around to check on their hostage that he sees the two students crawling away.
He immediately alerts Takaoka, making the man's head snap in their direction faster than should be humanly possible. He recognizes the blue hair and his grin turns ten times more wicked, hungry for blood.
Before the former teacher manages to chase after them, there's a knife flying at his head. He notices it in time though and the knife only nicks him on the cheek. He along with the assassin stops in his tracks, now confronted with another person.
Karma wastes no time and attempts to kick his head off. It's clumsy however and Takaoka dodges, falling back with a nimble ease. From his side, the assassin joins the fight and goes for the redhead's neck, except Karma with his crazy reflexes manages to counter it, although the blow makes him wince in pain.
The adrenaline rush keeps him alert and alleviates the pain pulsing through his body, but it's not nearly effective enough for him to actually fight those two men. Frankly, even taking Takaoka on alone would prove to be a challenge in Karma's current state.
He knows he has little chance of winning. Nagisa-kun knew too and that's why he made Karma promise to stick to the plan, to play the recordings from afar and not engage in combat no matter what. Despite wishing nothing but to make Takaoka pay for hurting Gakushuu, Karma begrudgingly agreed, prioritizing escape.
Yet when that failed, he wasn't going to watch his brother and kinda-best-friend get pulverized either. Three is better than two, no matter the state he is in, no matter how many times his stomach turns at any sudden movement. And at least he managed to win Gakushuu enough time to get away from any more danger.
Nagisa supports the strawberry blond by his shoulders and helps him out of there while Karma keeps their attackers occupied.
"Asano-kun, I know this all is crazy and scary, but please just keep calm and run away, alright?" He stammers, putting the A-class student down. God knows where he takes all the power to actually drag Gakushuu all this way so fast, but he seems to have enough energy left to head back to the scene.
Before Gakushuu gets the chance to even object, he's already being left behind. He tries to chase after the latter but staggers and has to lean on a tree to regain balance. Despite receiving no fatal injuries, the beating didn't leave him that unscathed.
Meanwhile, Nagisa hurries back to Karma's side in panic.
Takaoka has returned. The revelation left them both stunned, sure, but it was only when they caught bits of his monologues while beating the A-class student that the true horror set in. It's not just Koro-sensei that he wants. He has his eyes on Nagisa and yearns for revenge for ruining his career. The prospect of appearing in the vicinity of such a madman doesn't appeal to him in the slightest, but Nagisa has no other choice anyway.
"Nagisa-kun, you all need to fall back. There's no chance for you two!" Koro-sensei cries out from his pocket.
"I know, sensei. But we can't do that right now. They would get us in no time. The only possible option is to fight!" he counters despite being well aware that the odds stand vastly against them.
Finally, he arrives at the scene.
"Takaoka-sensei!" Nagisa screams so loudly it makes all three of them stop.
At that, the man in question smirks and turns towards the student: "So the shrimpy finally shows himself!"
Nagisa glances around to analyze the situation. Karma has found relative safety by jumping up a higher tree branch but he's flushed and breathing heavily. However, it's not that clear who's even winning as both the assassin and Takaoka look equally exhausted. Karma holds the upper hand in agility it seems, nimbly alternating between offensive and retreating to the tree that neither of the men could reach or climb. Moreover, the redhead's eyes now gleam with something more than mere fury - they're once again sharp and vigilant.
Good. They still have some chance.
Maybe.
"Let's settle this calmly. We will give you Koro-sensei, but you have to guarantee that you won't harm any of us," Nagisa tries his best to sound confident.
Giving Koro-sensei didn't seem like an option yesterday, but at this moment, it appears to be the most rational thing to do. Even though Karma disapproves of it, not even he can argue against it.
Takaoka however rejects it.
"Hah! You wish! I don't care about that octopus. What I want is your head."
And not sparing even one second, he charges at the teen. Nagisa's taken aback, not expecting such an abrupt attack and he gets punched in the stomach in full force.
"Nagisa-kun!" Karma shouts out, a string of curses following.
He descents from the tree, rolls away and tries to run to his friend's aid only to be stopped by the assassin. Karma glares at him, seething ferociously and it sends shivers down the man's spine.
The assasin may not be up to hurting or killing minors, but this one sure does not feel like a normal, harmless student. This demon has been inflicting more damage than should have even been possible in his state, all the while cleverly using everything at his disposal to fight. The assassin has never seen anyone use stones, moss and branches in such a creative yet deadly way. There were no wasted movements, only calculated attacks.
One thing was clear. The redhead was a real fighter, unlike him. The assassin's forte was sneaking in and out, pulling the trigger or slashing the throat once. Effective, fast and mostly non-confrontative. For that very reason, this game of tag seemed to be favouring the E-class student.
The moment he hears Nagisa gagging after being hit, however, Karma's focus shatters. He feels blood boiling inside his veins. How dare that asshole hurt not only his brother but also his friend?! Against better judgment, he looks over in worry and takes his eyes off his opponent.
That proves to be a mistake, the man taking advantage of this momentary hesitance and knocking Karma off his feet with a kick. This sends Karma on a trip to the Dizzyland featuring concussion, nausea and momentary blackout.
Nagisa isn't doing any better.
"I'm going to chop off every one of your fingers," Takaoka strikes the boy viciously, "cut up every part of your body," punches him again, sending the boy to the ground, "and I will keep them as a trophy!"
With that, he lifts and violently throws the student even further away. The maniac laughter rings in Nagisa's ears, driving him crazy to the point his whole mind fills with bloodlust. It's at that moment when his senses sharpen tenfold and only one thing enters his mind.
Assassination.
As he slowly sits up, he catches a glimpse of Karma getting lifted by his collar, completely limp.
Kill.
He'll kill them.
Takaoka notices the change. It takes him back to when those cold blue eyes pierced through him the first time, at the E-class campus and it stirs an ugly sensation in his chest. He's being watched by them again.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, HUH?!" Takaoka's voice gains new heights, boisterous in compensation for the apprehension clawing at him.
Nagisa remains quiet.
He doesn't have two weapons, but he'll have to manage. At this moment, it's the only thing he can do.
The technique Lovro taught him.
He straightens up and confidently walks towards the man, revealing the single blade which Karma threw before. Nagisa managed to get ahold of it while Takaoka was busy throwing him around. If Takaoka ever noticed, he surely must have underestimated Nagisa, thinking that the weapon was useless in his hands anyway when it came to combat - after all, no matter how many times the student tried, he couldn't even get close to the man, let alone land a blow.
Jokes on him, the purpose of this weapon isn't to cut and slash right now, no. It's a decoy.
Nagisa's steps are loud and rhythmic, almost meditative. Takaoka's focus is fully on him and he's eyeing the knife, ready to retaliate.
Except Nagisa never uses the knife.
Once he's close enough, he drops it. And with it, Takaoka's attention follows.
Clap
The man's focus shatters, his heart skipping a beat and he staggers with no awareness of what just occurred.
However, the absence of the second weapon cannot be ignored. During this small window of complete vulnerability, Nagisa kicks Takaoka on his temple and the man loses balance, helplessly falling to the ground.
Nagisa doesn't waste a second after that and pivots to help Karma but to his surprise, the redhead is now standing (half leaning on a tree) quite fine (almost). The assassin on the other hand lies sprawled on the ground, unconscious.
"How...?" he gapes, disbelief evident in his voice. He's pretty the one he saw unconscious a while ago was Karma, not the other way around.
"A bit of acting and choosing the right moment. But that's what I should be asking! What did you- how did you even do that?!" Karma grins proudly. Whatever he just witnessed was pretty damn awesome.
He intends to say that out loud too but gets promptly cut off when he notices movement behind Nagisa.
It seems Nagisa's hit didn't pack enough strength to immobilize Takaoka. The madman is sloppily standing up with fury painted all over his face, holding the knife he got fooled by a while ago.
"NAGISA-KUN, LOOK OUT!" Karma screams out in panic. Unfortunately, he stands too far away and his body is too sluggish to even try and counter the attack.
However, as fast as the ex-teacher rises, he suddenly slumps down with a groan.
And behind him stands none other than Gakushuu.
"Ga- Asano-kun?!" Karma yelps in surprise.
Nagisa turns around only then and realizes what happened. The fact that Takaoka somehow still had it in him to fight sends shivers down his spine, but that horror is soon replaced by relief when he sees the man lying on the ground, rendered useless. Asano-kun's hit was effective enough to incapacitate him, eyes wide in pain and spit dripping from his mouth. He still seems to be conscious though and muttering curses under his breath.
"Thank you, Asano-kun." Nagisa looks at the A-class student.
The strawberry blond nods, but immediately his gaze wanders elsewhere, suddenly very sceptical.
"Akabane, what are you d-"
"Pitiful, aren't you?" the redhead makes his way to the former teacher, his chin high and eyes dangerously cold.
Gakushuu berates himself for forgetting his brother's temperament. "Akabane, don't-"
"Getting beaten up by a middle schooler not only once, but twice..." Karma shakes his head in a disapproving way, the words pouring out of his mouth like poison. "It must hurt a lot. Doesn't it?"
He stands right above where Takaoka lies, nudging the man's face upwards with his foot. The man still exudes wrath but now stares at the teen like a wild animal that's been cornered.
Rightfully so.
Karma ignores his own injuries and kicks into the ex-teacher's stomach with full force. It doesn't even hurt the redhead anymore, none of his wounds do actually - instead, he feels elated at the yelp Takaoka lets out.
"Does this hurt too?" he smiles while digging his heel into the man's throat. "And this?" He pushes harder and then kicks again.
"What else did you do to Asano-kun and Nagisa-kun, huh? Let me think, maybe this-" he stomps at his hand so hard there's an audible crack of fingers accompanied by Takaoka's scream.
"Karma-kun, what are you doing?!" Nagisa shrieks, finally snapping out of the initial shock. He tries to get his friend's attention but gets ignored.
"Since you're so obsessed with your pride being hurt, what about I help you get over it by hurting something else, hm?" Karma gets to his victim's level, hand pulling him up by the hair. His golden eyes no longer glint with mischief, instead, they flare with flaming fire, itching to burn everything in its way. Like a blizzard that knows no limits, only the need to destroy.
Takaoka whines, all vengeance forgotten in the face of death. He truly believes this might be the end of him as the devil carves holes into his soul, so much more cruel and deadly than anything before.
Karma's hold of the black hair tightens and then he slams Takaoka's head down repeatedly, hitting the ground and stones.
"I'm going to make you regret ever coming back. Nagisa-kun's too kind to actually teach you a lesson. But I'm not. You're going to pay for hurting them."
Surely, Takaoka is howling and screeching in agony, but Karma cares for none of it. In fact, he doesn't even hear it - the only thing that replays in his mind is the sight of his older brother being assaulted by this very bastard and it fills him with enough rage to keep going for hours.
However, the other two students eventually break out of their trance. The display that Karma is putting on disturbs them to the point they're shaking and Nagisa has to bite himself in the cheeks to will his body to move.
Gakushuu is however very familiar with this particular lethal aura Karma has around him. The fear that he feels doesn't stem from the violence his younger brother is engaging in, but rather from the resemblance it bears to a certain person.
The chairman.
The same creepy smile, the same dangerous voice, the spitting image of a demon, a monster that lurks and waits for the right moment to torment and then kill.
Never in his wildest nightmares would Gakushuu expect to find his baby brother inheriting this horrifying trait.
"KARMA, STOP!" Gakushuu finally regains control over his legs and runs to the latter, forcing him away from Takaoka.
Nagisa follows him shortly, holding the redhead's hands. The knuckles are busted, almost bleeding and he wonders how Karma even manages to be standing, let alone hitting the man with so much force with the amount of injuries he suffered.
"Karma-kun, please calm down!"
Their calls don't work.
Until one loud smack.
And then, it's very quiet.
Gakushuu's hand still hovers in the air, stinging from the impact. The slap is harsh and Karma's cheek turns red immediately. However, it does the job.
His brother blinks a few times as if he just woke up from a dream. The fire in his eyes dies down a bit and he catches Gakushuu's stern gaze.
"I don't need you to go avenging me or anyone else for that matter. We're not dead. But you are if you don't fucking stop right now," Gakushuu says as authoritatively as he can, but frankly, he still feels jittery from the sight of Karma going berserk.
"We're fine, there's no need to...no need to do such a thing," Nagisa adds, letting go of Karma's hands.
"I-" Karma stutters, slowly realizing just how far he had gone. "Sorry, I- I don't know what got into me."
He truly doesn't. At some point, it didn't even feel like he was in control of his body anymore, just acting on autopilot.
"Back to earth?" Gakushuu asks.
"Yeah, sorry..." Karma trails off and his eyes suddenly roll backwards. Gakushuu notices fast enough and catches the boy before he hits the ground.
"Shit," he curses, already scanning and palpating the redhead for any fatal injuries that might have caused him to collapse. He finds none though and neither does Shiota, so they chalk it up to exhaustion and adrenaline crash.
Then, they hear echoes from afar.
Voices.
Familiar voices.
"Isn't that-" Nagisa's face lightens up in hope and he stands up, answering the calls.
Soon, they start to make out numerous figures running towards them.
"It was about time," Gakushuu sighs as he recognizes the teachers of class E and a few faces.
Writing dark Karma was both satisfying and terrifying, all the while I kept wondering if I should even include it. I think it kinda plays into his character though (or at least at this point it does, he's still a bit of a violent delinquent here).
Do tell me what you thought of it though, good or bad! Or the chapter overall!
See yaa~
