Yellow Experience
Well well well, I'm back with a new chapter. The bad news this time was, although exam season finally ended, there were construction works next to my house for 2 weeks, with obscenely loud machinery. Because of that noise, I couldn't concentrate well so I had to write a little slower. On top of that, I went on holiday for half a week to a place without internet. Really sorry about that. But progress is progress, and I hope you'll enjoy this chapter.
Again, don't forget that you have every right to vote who is to become Giorno's main girl. Even 'Guest' users have a vote, so please leave a comment. But please, do it as soon as you can, because there isn't much time anymore. Depending on how fast the story moves, I might close the window soon.
I do not own JoJo's Bizarre Adventure or Assassination Classroom.
Chapter 23: Schemers
After Gakushuu returned home, he immediately contacted his partner in crime.
Asano had a lot to say to him, heatedly at that. This included ideas of expanding their alliance against Class 3-E and involving new allies. All this because Haruno had severely mocked him and his friends earlier that day.
[Hey florist, I have a new idea]
He was typing aggressively.
[What kind of idea?]
[I'm thinking of introducing 4 friends of mine to you so they can get their own Stands. That bastard Shiobana really pissed us off today, so I'm certain they'd be in on our plan. Trust me, they're really out to get that stupid asshole]
Inside his head, violent fantasies were playing.
[I don't think that's a good idea, friend]
[Huh? Why?]
Not understanding why he'd not welcome this idea, the orange-haired's intense eyes widened slightly.
[More people involved means more variables. I usually work alone and carefully plan everything. Even including you means I have to calculate a lot more things]
[I don't get you, man. If they're also involved, that means we'll have more ease in beating that Shiobana, and you can concentrate more easily on that monster. Them joining actually makes things easier for us!]
Gakushuu quickly tried to rationalize his idea and convince his partner that this would be beneficial.
[I knew you'd say that, but I'll still say no. Before you ask, I'll just tell you that an operation of this scale requires a lot more concise planning than you think. But that's pointless to talk about in a chat, so come to my place in person if you want a clear explanation]
[Oh come on! Just let me handle Shiobana, I'll show them the ropes]
While Asano was disappointed at the florist's response, he still wouldn't give up that easily. The orange-haired was stubborn about this.
[Like I said, come to my place so I can carefully explain to you why your idea would complicate things. But that aside, I have another reason as to why this is not a good idea]
'Another reason…?' Gakushuu curiously wondered, surprised.
[What other reason?]
[Did you forget that obtaining a Stand isn't something anyone can do? It's a matter of life and death, and you yourself could've died. You only survived because you have a strong spirit. Are you sure your friends also have a strong spirit like you? Because if they die after getting shot by the arrow, you'll carry that guilt until your death]
"…!"
Just this one argument forcefully cleared up his head and made him calm down. After reading and carefully thinking about his partner's sentences, his eyes widened and sweat began to build up on his face.
"No… They can't! They shouldn't…!"
Asano had been thinking too aggressively, and his judgement regarding the value of life and death had been clouded. He couldn't say anything to refute that argument after realizing the heaviness of his partner's message, so he hesitated in replying.
[Take it easy, just leave the important planning to me if you want to succeed. Trust me, you'll have your enemy all for yourself, and even then you have the potential to beat him]
Before the orange-haired wrote a reply, the florist had sent a second one.
[OK]
Gakushuu's thoughts though, they were a lot more complicated than his response.
His heart beating quickly, his skin sweating fast, a lot of thoughts were swirling around inside his head. For starters, he was already unhappy about the unequal partnership with the florist. Yes, the actual assassin had much more experience and knowledge, but Asano felt like he was only a helper to the mastermind and had not enough say in their matters. He felt that his words didn't count nearly as much as the florist's.
However on the other hand, with his partner refusing to let his friends join in, it seemed to him that his importance had grown. He'd have to defeat Haruno all by himself, a much more difficult task than together with his 4 friends as Stand users. And if he did that, the florist would give him more recognition and realize his worth. Plus, the orange-haired was actually grateful that his short-sighted idea wouldn't potentially cause some, if not all of his friends' death.
At that moment, with those conflicting thoughts and feelings, Gakushuu was experiencing high levels of stress. He had to calm down right now.
'Damn it… How can I calm down now?'
For a brief time, thinking hard only caused him to experience more stress. Though before his brain overheated, he came up with a brutally simple but effective solution:
Blaming Shiobana Haruno
Refraining himself from clenching his teeth, he let out a frustrated huff releasing his stress.
'Shiobana, you vermin, you absolute scum… I have EVERYTHING to gain by removing you, and NOTHING to lose… For causing me so many troubles, one after another, I will exterminate you PAINFULLY…'
No, Asano wasn't going insane. Currently, he was overly emotional about it, but he didn't lose his ability to think and act rationally. He was actually very devoted to his and his partner's cause, willing to utilize more mental resources once fully regaining his composure.
The orange-haired simply embraced his devils, his inner darkness and warmly welcomed and accepted cruel sadism. This point in time marked his deep descent.
Would anyone be able to pull him back?
XXXXXXXXXX
Later that day, as agreed with the florist, Gakushuu visited their common base, the flower shop. When he arrived there, he'd calmed down and was back to his usual self. Though his base state of mind darkened, which the legendary assassin noticed.
"Hello friend, good to see you." the silver-haired greeted with a friendly tone. "But what's that, you seem a bit different today."
"Eh, that's nothing to fret about." Asano casually remarked, seeing nothing wrong with that shift in his personality. He'd proudly accepted that.
"Well, if you say so…" The florist had nothing to complain about. On the contrary, this was a positive development for him.
"So, shall we talk here, or shall we go to the basement again?" the orange-haired then asked, getting to business immediately.
"The basement's better, I suppose." the silver-haired quickly answered.
"Okay."
With that, the two descended down the stairs, intending to talk out things and progress their planning.
"My friend, did you come here to hear out my explanation as to why-" the florist started anew their conversation, but was interrupted rather early on.
"Nah, no need for that." Gakushuu shook his head. "I became clear to me that in hindsight, my idea was extremely shortsighted and thought out at a very amateurish level compared to yours. Your arguments made me think more clearly, and told me that I should leave the planning to you. After all, you obviously have much more experienced and knowledge, and know what you're talking about."
"Ahahah, that's good to hear."
Just for being interrupted, the assassin could've killed the boy on a whim. However, he took that little statement as a message that Asano was knowing his place, so he decided to forgive him for that.
"I'm actually here to hear about the plans you put together so I can properly prepare myself." the orange-haired stated, showing interest and commitment.
"Even better to hear."
The silver-haired smiled genuinely, surprised at how committed his partner was to their cause. That huge motivation really bettered his assessment of Gakushuu's usefulness.
"Forgive me for the delay, but I have to praise your attitude here, friend."
"Haha, thanks."
Asano lifted the corners of his mouth, showing a tiny semblance of a smile. Of course this was utterly insignificant progress, but the road of getting the florist to recognize him and becoming a more equal partner was rocky to the core.
They were both misunderstanding each other's intentions, and came to completely different conclusions.
"Yeah, about my plans…" the pro assassin got back to the main topic, "I advise you to pay very close attention, because the explanation of them will be far longer and more detailed than you're expecting."
"Okay, got that." the orange-haired noted, nodding. He took out an actual notebook and an actual pen, already imagining that it'd be futile to try to remember everything later just by listening.
"Are you ready?"
"I am."
"Good. Now, listen up…"
With that, the silver-haired started describing, explaining and elaborating his different plans in full detail, for quite some time.
XXXXXXXXXX
"…and that concludes everything for my last alternate plan. Any questions?"
After listening to the complete lecture of all possible plans, Gakushuu was left totally bewildered, his mouth gaping.
He hadn't expected his partner to have explicit, minute plans with a count exceeding that of the letters in the alphabet. By the end of it, his pen had run out of ink.
"None… I have none."
Previously, Asano thought he was good at planning and organizing things, but that was only compared to normal people. With this guy, he had no doubt about leaving things to the professional.
Obviously, he had lots of questions to ask for clarification, but answering all these questions would take up roughly the same amount of time. And the entire explanation went on longer than a double university lecture.
Seeing through that, florist simply patted the orange-haired on the shoulder.
"Don't worry, friend, no need to rush things. Your role is comparably small, so take your time, and use this as a lesson for the future. This level takes many, many years of experience to get used to anyway."
The silver-haired, a grand master in interpersonal communication, prevented Gakushuu from becoming discouraged in a very well manner.
"Yeah, I'll do that…"
"Seriously, prepare yourself at your pace. You only have one job, and I'll tell you when you need to act. Until that, leave everything to me."
"Yes, I will…"
Asano was calming down and easing up, just like the florist manipulated him to.
'Heh… One of the simplest ways to get obedience is to overwhelm an amateur with difficult tasks at hand, but only leaving him a handful to do. Way to go, boy, thanks for making it so easy for me.'
"That said, it's quite late now." he then informed, changing the topic and his voice into a casual one. "You should head home."
This prompted the orange-haired to check out the time on his phone display, which then made him widen his eyes and become shocked at the rapid passage of time.
"Oh crap, you're right!"
Standing up in a hurry, Gakushuu made moves to get out very soon.
"Thanks for the explanations today, but I gotta go. Keep me updated, okay?" Asano acted hastily, asking the silver-haired to write to him per chat when needed.
"That's a given, my friend." he reassured the orange-haired with a thin but polite smile.
"Alright then, bye!" Gakushuu politely said goodbye, waving his hand and keeping eye contact until his partner reciprocated the gesture.
"Bye, get home safely."
With that, Asano quickly made his way home, ending the day. This was one day before concrete things went into motion.
XXXXXXXXXX
One day later, there was a romantic plot going on among the students of Class 3-E. The students, especially the female ones, who'd shipped Karasuma and Bitch-sensei before, were trying their hardest to get them together.
Why this particular day? Because it was her birthday. And they wanted her to receive a romantic birthday present from Tadaomi.
So they set up two teams, one that'd distract Irina and keep her busy, and one that'd go and search for a present.
Meanwhile, Haruno was part of neither of those teams. He wanted nothing to do with that and kept his distance as far as possible. Because with him in the picture, the girls would also think of forcibly playing romantic games with him. In his mind, the blond actually expected them to be already thinking about that, knowing that they'd inevitably make another move on him. Though as long as he properly kept his distance, he'd delay that event because the focus wouldn't be on him.
Nevertheless, he still observed the situation, although alone and far away from everyone else. Standing behind a tree, he watched the blonde enter the school bungalow, where the government agent was inside. From his position, he saw all his nosy classmates, especially girls, hiding below the window frame and listening in on the two.
Soon after, the foreign language teacher suddenly opened the window and started mouthing off at his classmates, with an infuriated, salty look on her face.
'Oh, so that was a failure.' the delinquent deduced, continuing to monitor the situation.
After some more angry moments, he simply watched Bitch-sensei walk away, her back turned against the school and class.
Haruno had no idea why the matchup failed, and what they argued about. Though frankly, he didn't want to know. He actually welcomed this, since the girls would refrain from approaching him romantically for a while.
'Well, I hope it's nothing too serious tho, hope she comes back soon.'
At that moment, he didn't know how wrong he was about his thoughts.
XXXXXXXXXX
Another day later, the florist called over Gakushuu to his shop. He'd messaged the boy to get there repeatedly over the day, urging him to meet a key person involved in their plan.
Since the silver-haired had already filled him in on his grand plan, Asano knew who that person was. But he was still very curious to meet that person and have a conversation with that person.
*Knock Knock*
The orange-haired knocked the door leading to the florist's basement.
"Hello my friend, you've just arrived at the perfect time." the legendary assassin greeted, opening the door and welcoming him inside.
"Hello." Gakushuu greeted back. "Perfect time? Because she's here and conscious right now?"
"Exactly. Come inside, it's about time you properly meet and have a conversation."
"If you insist." Asano shrugged, very gladly entering the basement. He'd been waiting to have this conversation, since there was a great amount of questions he could ask her.
Stepping inside, he made eye contact with her and sat down right across her. She was totally surprised to see him.
Acting as the host, the silver-haired took the initiative to introduce them to each other.
"My friend, you already heard from me about Irina, but Irina doesn't know about your involvement yet. Would you be so kind and tell her about it?"
Upon having this requested, the orange-haired adjusted his voice. "Hi. It's unexpected, I know, but we'll be working together. I'm looking forward to a positive relationship."
He spoke in a way that made him sound somewhat cool, but also preserved some politeness.
"A… Aren't you from the main building?" the perplexed blonde asked, then turning her head to the florist. "What's this kid doing here?"
"My friend, you explain." the silver-haired said, immediately turning his head towards Gakushuu, passively telling him what to do.
"This is a rather long story, so I politely ask you to listen to it." Asano requested, looking at the female assassin in a neutral manner.
"Sure…" She still didn't get over the initial surprise.
"Well then, let's get to it."
From there on, the orange-haired told about how him and the florist met.
"For a long time, I had been suspicious of the rumors surrounding Class E. That there was a yellow octopus-like creature affiliated with them. Talks came from all over town, and various urban legends formed. My father, the board chairman, tried his hardest to quell the rumors and make it seem that nothing was unnormal. I knew he was hiding something, so I took it upon myself to uncover the truth." he spoke, telling about his background story.
"One day I took a camera and spied on that shitty little shack you call a classroom, taking photos and videos of that creature. I still remember vividly how shocked I was when I learned about its existence." Gakushuu recited, getting to the turning point of his story.
"Then I met by chance, this florist here who was also spying on that same day, and got into a conversation with him. Talking with him, I found out that I'd been greatly underinformed about the whole topic, and learned about that monster's true nature. After learning this I couldn't just let that be, and decided that I too, must take action against that abomination. Thankfully the florist, as helpful as he is, offered me Stand power and even provided some physical assassination training to me."
"He really did all that for you?" Irina questioned, stunned by his crazy story.
"Yes, he did. And I'm very thankful for that." Asano confirmed. "More importantly, since we had very similar goals, we agreed to work together and formed a partnership against Class 3-E and their monster teacher. For quite some time we've been scheming. But mostly my partner, most credit goes to him."
Crossing his arms, the silver-haired faked a humble smile. "My, thanks for the compliment, you didn't have to."
Having listened to the story, the blonde let out some words of reaction.
"Okay, I get your story, but…" She then, again, turned her head to the florist. "Do you really think he'll be that useful? He's just another kid, and not a professional assassin."
'This bitch…' While maintaining a friendly expression, the orange-haired was mad at her for just passing him off as a usual kid, which he was not. He was a Stand user, and therefore very very special.
"He absolutely is." the florist defended him, informing her about his skills. "This boy here is a genius. Although compared to the students of that class, he only received a fraction of training, he should be physically stronger and more able a fighter than the absolute majority of the students in that class. Top 5 at the very minimum, most probably Top 3."
'Top 1 if I had a fighting type of Stand…' Gakushuu imagined, pissed that his partner indirectly said that Haruno was stronger, even though that was the truth.
"Not to mention his smarts, he's above almost everyone in that class for that matter." the silver-haired added, only unconsciously pissing off Asano even more.
'Above EVERYONE once Shiobana gets removed from the equation…'
Knowing what kind of a legend the florist was, Irina decided to trust his judgement.
"Well, if you say so, it must be true."
"Don't just trust my word, though, find out by yourself. I'll leave you two down here for a while so you can talk and get to know each other, while I will continue selling flowers above." he then said, announcing his intention.
"Okay, got it." the blonde nodded.
'Good, that's superb.' the orange-haired silently nodded.
"Then, I'm off." the silver-haired spoke one last time with a smile before turning around and heading away.
"Bye."
"Later."
Thus, the two partners of the legendary assassin were left alone.
Following this, a smirk formed on Gakushuu's face. He could finally initiate the conversation he's been longing for.
"Hey, is it alright if I just call you Irina, or do you prefer Irina-san?"
"Irina-san for a kid your age."
"Fine then, Irina-san. I just have sooooooooooooooo many damn questions to ask. Would you be interested in answering them?"
"What kind of questions?"
"Many. From the current internal situation of Class E and the relations between the individuals, the individuals themselves, to tips on training how to polish your skills and abilities as an assassin." Asano let her know. "I want to know Class E, especially that monster octopus and Shiobana Haruno from inside out."
"Sure I can, but I also have questions for you to answer."
"Of course, questioning goes both ways." the orange-haired agreed to her condition.
"Just don't take too long with your questions."
"Why not? Didn't you stop going to work? Don't you have free all day now?"
"…You have a wise attitude." she remarked, not liking the way he spoke. "Fine, it's not like I have anything else to do for now."
"Thank you." the orange-haired smiled. He'd get the knowledge he wanted.
With that, the blonde disclosed all there was to know about Class 3-E and its students. That info was very important for the boy. Oh, she didn't know just how important.
XXXXXXXXXX
Preparations were almost complete. Just one step left until the execution of the grand plan. And the final piece of preparation was undertaken by the legend, the mastermind himself.
Inside the classroom on the school mountain, the students were seriously wondering what happened with their Bitch-sensei. She hasn't attended class for 3 days.
Coincidentally, on the 3rd day, Korosensei was temporarily leaving to see a football match in Brazil. But that was only a coincidence.
Right?
Meanwhile, even Haruno couldn't hold back his curiosity anymore, so he decided to voice it out.
"Okay, this isn't normal anymore! How come Bitch-sensei hasn't come back after 3 days! What on earth happened between her and Karasuma-sensei?"
"A terrible misunderstanding of love, from Irina's perspective." someone answered. When the blond turned his head to identify who spoke, he saw a young, gentle-looking silver-haired man holding a bouquet of flowers. "That misunderstanding flipped her emotions upside down, a full 180 degrees."
"Is that so?" the delinquent asked, scratching the side of his head. "Sounds very upsetting, for her. Damn, now I really wonder if she'll ever return."
"Yes, she definitely will. She still has things to do here." the man confirmed with a friendly nod.
"Well, that's relieving."
Despite their very… dynamic relationship, Haruno didn't feel any kind of ill will anymore, that was ages ago. On the contrary, he wanted her to stay.
"You all have built quite the bond with her. I determined that from an initial investigation." he stated, his tone calm and neutral. "All I need to do is take advantage of that."
Then suddenly, when the man said that, the blond's facial expression immediately stiffened. He finally noticed the elephant in the room.
"Wait a moment… What the fuck are you doing here?!"
And as soon as the delinquent called out the extra presence, everyone else reacted as well, widening their eyes in alarm. Most had their mouth also wide open.
"!?"
Everyone was shocked at how well that person blended in with the classroom. It really spoke volumes about his skill, the students not noticing him immediately.
That was a professional professional assassin, the cream of the crop. Within the timeframe they failed to notice him, he could've killed them all.
"I… am the hitman known as 'God of Death'." the silver-haired introduced himself with a calming voice, a serene and warm aura surrounding him as he smiled peacefully. "Starting now, I would like to give you all a lesson."
In the following seconds, they started sweating intensely, retreating a few steps in overwhelming fear.
"Through their beauty, flowers can draw out a person's attention. It opens up a person's heart." he narrated, pulling out a nice little flower. But that was not the lesson.
Next, he addressed Nagisa, who met the man an additional time when buying flowers a few days ago. "Nagisa-kun, like the way I explained to you guys."
Suddenly, a mail icon popped up on Ritsu's display. This'd tie to the moment a few instances later.
"But, the original purpose for which the flower evolved beautifully and fragrantly" the legendary assassin went on, just about to get to the point. But before that…
"Ritsu-san, display the image I sent you."
"…"
The AI girl obeyed the command with no hesitation, sharing the image with her classmates. She didn't follow the order because she was scared, but had seen the image beforehand while scanning the content of the mail, finding out that this was something that had to be shared urgently.
"…is to lure insects."
That was the lesson. A really terrifying lesson, which the pupils realized after laying their eyes on said photo.
"Bi…"
"Bitch-sensei?!"
By far the most shocking thing the God of Death showed them, surpassing even his introduction.
Ritsu's monitor displayed an image of their female, blonde foreign language teacher half naked and tied up with ropes, placed inside a wooden box. Her arms, legs and body were angled tightly together, barely fitting inside the box. She was wearing only a torn black rag of a dress and had seemed to have lost her consciousness.
No one was left unfazed, not even the most stoic ones.
"I'll make it short. If you'd like to protect her life, by no means informing your teachers, all of you will come to the location I direct you to." the silver-haired then spoke, starting to draw on the blackboard. "If you don't want to come, you don't have to. In that event, I'll send her to you guys after I divide her up to spread her out equally to all of you."
By the time he finished his little doodle, the students felt a shiver run down their spines. He'd just drawn a female body, with horizontal and vertical lines dividing that body into as many pieces as there were pupils in Class E.
"And the next 'flower', will probably be one of you guys."
He said that, while smiling like he'd just made a harmless little joke.
It was at this point, that everyone was convinced that this man was the God of Death. They knew he wasn't lying, and yet… And yet they still felt an odd sense of ease that shouldn't be there.
Somehow they couldn't put up their guards. To them, somehow not being afraid like they logically should be, was downright terrifying.
"Hey, nii-chan…"
Very unexpectedly, Terasaka and his 3 friends walked up to the God of Death. Visibly nervous, anxious and scared, but still getting closer.
"You've been blabbing on about some self-serving crap, but we don't even really have any obligation to help that tyrannical bitch."
'Are you out of your minds?!' Haruno shouted inwardly, in disbelief at the dangerous, irrational behavior of them. In this case, their action wasn't brave, but dangerously foolish.
"And you're even threating to hurt us, but if you tried it, that teacher Karasuma and that octopus wouldn't let that slide." Ryouma continued, surrounding him. "And most importantly, don't you think you might be beaten to a pulp by us here, Mr. Kidnapper?"
"…"
The blond didn't known if Terasaka was bluffing to try to scare the assassin back, or just plain ignorant of the danger.
His time to respond, the silver-haired looked downwards, showing a condescending, unintimidated smirk. "You're incorrect, Terasaka-kun. All of that is wrong."
"…?!"
"You guys like her more than you think. Even if you talked it out, you couldn't even think of abandoning her."
A good assassin was supposed to be adept at reading people, though figuring this out wasn't rocket science.
"And," the God of Death finished, rapidly scattering the flowers he carried with him while his eyes were shadowed by his cap, "it's impossible for humans to reap the God of Death."
"Do not fear, there is only the God of Death reaping man."
When a myriad of petals was flying around, it was briefly hard to see. Within that brief, tiny interval, the silver-haired had escaped from an open window near him. Only when the petals began settling on the floor and the sight became clearer, did they realize.
Two of them, the Stand users of the class, actually followed the master assassin's escape. And even they had to admit, for a human, he was ridiculously fast.
All in all, until the very last petal landed on the floor, they were just standing there with wide eyes and or mouths. Total silence from the students. So mortifying, they needed a decent amount of time to recover.
"What…"
Even when comparably calmed down, their hearts were still beating fast.
"Everyone… We can't do anything right now, not in this state." the delinquent assessed, sweating himself. "Let's take a fresh breather outside… Or else we won't get far."
"…"
Nodding in agreement, everybody just wanted to process the happenings properly and calm down significantly. As of that moment, they were too agitated to effectively react to the silver-haired's doings.
"Let's just… go outside for a while."
"Yes…"
With that, the boys and girls of Class 3-E rested for some time, intending to mentally prepare themselves.
XXXXXXXXXX
After they had relaxed psychically, the students of Class E started working on finding countermeasures against the God of Death, researching and looking for clues.
One object of investigation was the bouquet they got from him for Irina, back when they believed he was merely a florist.
"The bouquet from 3 days ago… so he had a bug in it!"
Afraid of having their conversations secretly listened to any further, they crushed the device with a broomstick.
"He used this to spy on our situation, and aimed for Bitch-sensei to act alone." Maehara figured, ashamed of having been so unaware of being under heavy surveillance. "He knew that Korosensei was going to Brazil, and that Karasuma-sensei left for work… So he fearlessly barged in here alone."
"But you know, I didn't think of him as a bad enough guy to be called the 'God of Death'." Hinano said, still in disbelief to a degree. "Do you think he could end up being a nice guy?"
"A nice guy? Him? After it's been established that he kidnapped Bitch-sensei?" Haruno questioned, reminding everyone what he did to clear up any misconceptions and false assumptions. "He just makes people THINK that way. And they won't find out until that moment where he kills them."
"Right… I forgot that he kidnapped Bitch-sensei." she murmured with a low gaze, admitting to briefly forgetting reality.
Meanwhile, Kimura had picked up something the fake florist left other than petals. It was a piece of paper with a map on one side and a message on the other side.
By 6PM tonight, please have all the class members come to this map location. Your teachers and parents are a given, but the moment you notify any outsiders, your Bitch-sensei's life will be gone.
As he read that out loud, everyone could feel the danger looming.
"So it's the same as those times with Takaoka and Shiro." Chiba mumbled, holding his chin. "His goal is to probably hold us as hostages and lure Korosensei out."
"Damn it!" Sugino called in frustration, banging on the wall. "All the troublesome guys always come after us first!"
He was sick of it. And not only him.
"What can you say? We're in the best position to earn a lot of money." Kirara pointed out stoically, folding her arms. "It's obvious we'd be targeted. And it makes sense for the world's greatest hitman of whatever to just do that."
Though as sick of it as they were, they didn't have the collective power to stop these things from happening.
Ryouma then checked the time. His eyes were narrow from anger.
"Are we using these, then?" he asked, referring to their new P.E. clothes. One pair was placed on top of a desk.
"…The super gym clothes, huh?"
"Didn't we decide to use these to protect someone?" Rio remembered the purpose of these clothes, when they received them from Karasuma's ministry after their time tutoring the children in old man Matsukata's facility was over. "If we don't wear them now, then when?"
"Good idea." the blond spoke, picking up the uniform and looking at it. It wasn't his, but he'd take out his own soon enough to put on. He thought he could switch outfits for a change. Him and his class certainly had a reason.
"Well, even if it's for that bitch, I guess we owe her some."
"I don't know if he's the best hitman or whatever, but we're not letting him get his way that easily." Terasaka decided with gritted teeth, taking out his personal gym uniform.
"Yeah!"
Afraid of him or not, that didn't matter anymore. They had to go either way, as there was only one choice. Therefore, they all agreed on putting up some resistance to the so-called 'God of Death'.
XXXXXXXXXX
It was almost time. Time for the teens of Class 3-E to come to the location as agreed. In that location was a small to medium-size building that looked like a warehouse.
"So it's that building, huh?"
Itona brought a toy recon helicopter with him, scouting the area.
"I made a round from the sky, but I didn't see any signs of people in the area or the roof." the white-haired confirmed after thoroughly observing the vicinity.
"With a building that size, even if he had underlings, there'd only be a few, right?" Rinka spoke, also watching with binoculars.
"Also, the fact that there was a need to put a bug in the bouquet, conversely thinking, implies that he didn't know about us in detail before." Yuzuki figured.
"That's our advantage." the delinquent stated with a nod, reacting to what Fuwa pointed out. "No matter how well-informed the enemy is, it's impossible that he knows everything about us."
In a meeting before, they'd unanimously picked Haruno as the leader of this rescue mission. And right now, the leader was giving his motivational speech before going in.
"This is the best weapon we have, far better than these super gym clothes or the individual skills we've developed to assassinate Korosensei. We'll go in acting obediently, then look for an opening to find and rescue Bitch-sensei, and then we all escape together!"
Hearing him talk, everyone built up the courage to walk in bravely. But nevertheless, precautions have had to be made.
"Ritsu, if we're not back by 12, tell Korosensei about the situation." Sumire requested from the digital girl.
"Understood. Everyone, please be careful."
Looking at the clock, it became clear their time to talk this through had ended. Not that they needed to anymore, though, all that needed to be said had been said already. Everybody knew what they had to do.
"…Let's go."
That said, they approached the building, getting ready to enter.
And once the gates opened, they got to see the interior. It was a wide and empty space, so the boys and girls spread out nicely to avoid getting caught all at once if something happened.
"You're all here, right? Then, I'll close the door."
A voice came from a surveillance camera with a speaker attached to it, no doubt belonging to the God of Death.
Karma decided to be funny and look straight into the camera, taunting the enemy.
"Hmm, so you're aware of our movements after all. You're more of a peeping tom than a God of Death, aren't you?"
Meanwhile, inside the room where the silver-haired was watching them, Gakushuu who was with him silently scoffed at the redhead.
'Heh, bold words for a little rat caught right in the trap.'
Funnily enough, the assassin went along with it. "I see everyone's here and wearing cool clothes, huh? Are you planning to go around if there's an opportunity?"
Not in the mood for joking around, the blond directly called out to the God of Death. "Oi, God of Death! We kept our promise to all come here. Return Bitch-sensei and we can end this!"
'Not fucking likely, Shiobana.' Asano thought, making some shoulder relaxation movements and cracking his knuckles.
This time though, the silver-haired had no intention of answering back. He merely murmured to himself, pressing a button on a tablet.
"Mm hmm, mm hmm… They're spread all over the room with no openings. Well done."
After pressing the button, the room in which Class 3-E was standing, descended like an elevator, greatly catching them off-guard.
"WHA- WHAT?!"
"The.. The whole room is… lowering?!" the bluenette exclaimed in disbelief, eyes widening.
'Impossible!' Even the delinquent hadn't expected this in the slightest, causing him to slightly press his teeth together while bearing a tensed expression.
Like with an elevator, the little trip downwards came to an end. And when it came to an end, they found themselves literally behind bars. Trapped in a cage.
"Capture complete."
The God of Death was one of three people on the other side of the prison bars, and the first one the students noticed.
"The entire room is an elevator-style prison." he went on to calmly explain. "It's something I made just for you guys. There are unexpected risks in capturing you one by one. Capturing you all at once like this is the quickest way."
Now that they'd been caught, some became frantic and started hectically looking around for an escape path.
"The God of Death!" Touka loudly let out, reacting to the sight of their captor. But that wasn't all.
"A- and Bitch-sensei!"
Irina was sitting unconsciously with her back against the wall, her hands bound above her head with a rope hanging from the ceiling.
It didn't end there yet.
"And… ASANO FROM CLASS A?!"
Their biggest shock yet. The orange-haired was standing in mid distance to the other two, bearing a wide and confident grin on his face. He was wearing greyish-brown pants, a cream-colored unbuttoned suit jacket, a plain white shirt and a loose red tie.
"Bad day to you you worthless pukebags."
Gakushuu had been the last person they'd expected there, with the God of Death of all people! Never did they imagine that the two had a connection.
"Oi Asano… What the hell are you doing here?!" Haruno shouted, demanding answers.
"Nothing, just being his accomplice." Asano mockingly answered, maintaining his grin.
"What?!"
Nobody understood the reason. Everybody made confused faces.
"I guess it's time for a little background story then." the orange-haired said, focusing mainly on the blond. He'd keep his eyes mostly on him.
"…"
The fellows of Class 3-E were in a really bad situation, and yet they wanted to still their curiosity and learn about Gakushuu's connection to that legendary assassin.
"Shiobana, ever since you made a mockery out of me in the Boutaoshi tournament, I've gone on a quest to find new strength and take revenge. The first thing I did was to spy on your classroom and gather evidence of the existence of that yellow octopus monster supposedly your teacher."
'Ah, so he knows…'
"While spying, I met the God of Death here, who was also spying on the same day. We got into a conversation, and he told me a lot of things I wasn't aware of. Like the government's involvement, and how that abomination blew up the goddamn moon!"
'Uh oh, so he knows that as well…'
"After learning about this, I couldn't just let that thing's existence slide. In my city on top of that!" Asano really didn't make a secret of his negative feelings for Korosensei. "So I talked with the God of Death about this topic a bit more, and we learned that our goals aligned. That's why we chose to form an alliance against you shits and worked together to get where we are today, right here."
"…"
Class E just couldn't believe it. Their school enemy which they thought was an ordinary but arrogant teenager was the partner in crime of the same assassin that terrorized them.
"Asano, you're insane! You're not right in the head!"
"Silence, Shiobana!" The orange-haired's expression rapidly shifted into one of fury. "I'll take care of you soon enough! My job here is to deal with you explicitly, you heard that?"
[Death Note] had already been activated.
You heard that?
Question number one, intended to steal the delinquent's sense of taste. This was a rhetoric question, so Haruno wouldn't give an answer to this. In a few seconds, that sense would be in the hands of Gakushuu.
"You're horrible!"
"You're the worst!"
"You're the lowest of the low!"
Really getting angry with Asano, the other students of started insulting him. Though the blond himself kept his composition to a degree.
"Asano! Do you even know what the God of Death has done?!"
"Of course I know! Even though I didn't amount to much at all, I planned this very operation today WITH him." the orange-haired disclosed, really putting the boys and girls of Class E at a loss for words.
"…"
Class 3-E from there on collectively thought that this boy was EVIL. Not mean, callous or condescending, but EVIL.
But that wasn't quite the end yet.
"By the way, Shiobana, did you know that it was me who took that photo of your precious Bitch-sensei?"
Did you know that it was me who took that photo of your precious Bitch-sensei?
Question number two, intended to steal the delinquent's sense of smell. This was a provocative question, so Haruno wouldn't give an answer to this. In a few seconds, that sense would be in the hands of Gakushuu.
"…!"
Now that they were aware of this fact, their hatred for Asano intensified. Glowing in sheer anger, they all clenched their teeth while glaring at the orange-haired, who was grinning like a champion.
"You're scum!"
"You're trash, Asano! You're garbage!"
"You'll pay the price for this, Asano!"
"Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!"
Gakushuu, aware of their feelings, laughed as hard as he could to pour oil into the flames. Seeing them bitter with fury provided him great joy and entertainment.
"Grrrr… Okay people, that's enough!" the blond suddenly bellowed, making everyone shut up.
Within a second, all eyes were locked onto the delinquent whose face was sweaty in anger, veins bulging thickly. His posture was tense and ready to fight due to the unforgivable provocations, but he couldn't explode right there, as his duty was to ensure the safety of his friends and classmates, first and foremost.
"I know you're all enraged and furious, but this isn't the time for that! Everyone, try to find an escape route. Getting out of here is our priority." he commanded, reining in his immense anger.
Angrily shaking, the others of Class E were forced to agree, as even in that emotional state, they understood that this was the most rational thing to do. Shooting one last glare of deep scorn towards Asano, they started banging on the wall afterwards, trying to find a hollow spot.
Meanwhile, Haruno manifested his [Ougon no tomodachi], attempting to break the prison bars.
Though unfortunately for him, the God of Death stopped him from doing so, summoning his own Stand.
"Tsk tsk tsk, can't do that, boy." the silver-haired calmly warned with closed eyes, wiggling his finger.
The florist's Stand slowly appeared in front of the blond, coming into his vision bit by bit. It was a humanoid Stand, like [Ougon no tomodachi], but just because it was humanoid, didn't mean it was human-like. That Stand's appearance and especially its aura had no trace of humanity at all. It was dark brown in color, and its appearance was very peculiar, as that humanoid figure both seemed to have a 'natural' exoskeleton like most Stands, but also seemed to wear full-body armor. One couldn't tell which one was the case. Additionally, its face was visible, but its eyes weren't. A deep shadow hid the eyes of the Stand, making it impossible to look in its eyes. And yet, that figure seemed to be constantly staring deep into the soul of the other party.
"O- Oi… What is that thing?" Even the mostly fearless delinquent was intimidated.
Nagisa, the other Stand user of Class E, saw the manifestation of the God of Death's Stand in the corner of his eye. And as soon as he could, he saw away, acting like all other students. It'd be bad if he'd be noticed and exposed as another Stand user, so the bluenette tried to ignore the enemy Stand as best as he could.
Actually, the orange-haired of the other side did the same. Even though that Stand was on his side, he was still scared of it.
"[Apocalypse Horseman]… is what I've named it."
Very terrific and fitting.
"…Tch!"
Haruno gritted his teeth. It was more than obvious to him that this enemy Stand was beyond deadly. As long as he didn't know what its ability was, he wouldn't dare do anything.
"Boy, you're the leader, aren't you? Tell your friends to stop whatever they're doing. If you stay quiet, and that octopus comes without making a fuss, I won't kill anyone." the God of Death advised the blond, more like commanding. "Of course, I won't kill your Bitch-sensei either."
Too late for that.
"Hey, Takebayashi! I found a hollow spot!" Mimura informed, hitting that spot with a wrench to prove it.
Takebayashi, who'd brought an explosive device with him, let it detonate at that spot. Okuda simultaneously threw a smoke bomb on the ground, filling their prison with smoke.
"…!"
Neither Gakushuu nor the God of Death had expected this. They actually had to step back and cover their faces, as the explosion was quite noisy and powerful.
About 10 seconds later, when it became easier to see again, they saw a large hole in the wall, with the pupils of Class 3-E missing.
'Dammit!' Asano thought, narrowing his eyes in annoyance at the setback.
"Nice. Now we're talking!"
'What the?!'
Suddenly, the orange-haired jerked backwards in reaction to the reaction of his partner. He saw the vision of a skeleton on the silver-haired's face, who was smiling in excitement about this development.
His eyes wide again, Gakushuu instinctively leaned backwards to keep a distance between them.
'This guy… he has to be the devil himself!'
"Friend."
"Yes!?" Asano rapidly answered to the call of his partner, whose voice was frighteningly calm.
"I'm going to go and have some fun. Make sure to hold up your end of the deal and separate the blond kid." The florist smiled with a façade of innocence.
"I will!" he quickly responded to the order, standing stiffly like a foot soldier in front of a Great General.
'Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck! One wrong word when he's like this and I'm dead meat!' the orange-haired feared for his life, giving a respectful nod as a sign that he understood the order.
"Well then, let's meet again when we're both done."
"Yes, let's!"
They were about to split temporarily, and Gakushuu couldn't be happier about it. To get away from his partner.
'Calm down, calm down… I'm going to do my thing, he's going to do his thing, and we'll never see each other again. Yes… that's how it should go.'
With that, the two conspirators went on separate hunts for the boys and girls of Class 3-E.
XXXXXXXXXX
The collective Class E just barely got out of their prison, but they were far from safe. They were locked inside a deep underground complex with many paths like a maze. And they couldn't properly navigate either, while their enemies had dozens of cameras to know their location.
"Can you hear me, everyone of Class E?"
Through one of dozens of speakers, the God of Death reached them with his voice.
"You all are in a closed underground space. All exits connecting to the outside are electronically locked. The only key to unlock them is an iris recognition with my eyes. In other words, in order for you guys to leave this place, your only option is to defeat me and make me open the doors."
"Shit…"
This option was hardly viable.
"The truth is, I was happy that you guys escaped using Takebayashi-kun's explosive."
"!?"
Koutarou himself was the most surprised.
"Taking on this many trained assassins at once… You don't get a chance like this often. It's a waste to simply use you all as hostages. This will be a warm-up before the big fish. All of you will be my opponents to boost my skill. Well, except Shiobana-kun, who'll be fighting with my dear friend Asano-kun."
'Haruno-kun, please give that asshole a beating like you gave Takaoka.' all others thought.
Haruno himself narrowed his eyes, promising to use violence against said boy.
"I have high hopes. Come kill me however you'd like."
That said, the silver-haired stopped broadcasting his voice.
"So it's like a game…"
The class didn't like it. Of course they didn't like it. This idea of a game from the legendary assassin was a really sick one. Though with their life on the line, they couldn't really refuse.
"Grr…" Feeling great fury against both their enemies, the blond pressed his teeth together. Even a patient person like him had to release stress and vent for a few times.
"Okay guys, listen…" he then started talking, wanting to do nothing but get them safely out of there. "The best we can do now is to build teams depending on given roles. We can't move well together within this small area, so we can divide ourselves into a battle team, a rescue team for Bitch-sensei, and an intel-collection team. What's important here is to have balanced teams regarding strength, so that we can still fight back if needed."
Understanding that point, everyone nodded.
"Personally, I will lead the battle team, but anyone can volunteer to lead the other teams." the delinquent decided, balancing assertion and liberty.
Looking at some of his closest friends first, Haruno then picked his team members.
"Nagisa, Karma, Kayano-san, Sugino, as well as Terasaka and the boys as backup if I have to leave to fight Asano, are you interested in joining my team?"
"Yes."
"Yeah."
Nodding with a prepared expression on their faces, they all walked over to his side. The green-haired would serve as the communication link.
"As for everyone else, divide yourselves however you please. But please, remember to divide evenly in strength. That's the only thing I ask of you."
"…"
Everybody nodded with straight faces, stoic due to the situation, but inwardly really thankful at how much the blond cared for all of them.
"Understand."
"That's reasonable."
Eventually, the other two teams were formed. The rescue team consisted of Isogai, Maehara, Okajima, Hinata, Meg, Hinano, Rio, Yukiko and Touka. The intel-collection team consisted of Kimura, Mimura, Sugaya, Takebayashi, Chiba, Rinka, Yuzuki, Sumire and Manami.
As Ryouma and his friends were only backup for the battle team, they'd stick with the other teams until needed, providing extra security. Terasaka, Itona and Kirara with the latter team, Yoshida and Muramatsu with the former team.
Meanwhile, Ritsu had been hacked, so she unfortunately couldn't be of any use to any team.
"Everyone… take good care of yourselves!"
"Take care, stay alert!"
"Good luck, everyone!"
So with that setup, the teams dispersed.
XXXXXXXXXX
The battle team was walking peacefully. Weirdly enough, despite their team name, they didn't get to participate in any battles.
Things were calm… too calm. And they sure were getting suspicious.
"I don't like this…" the delinquent said, narrowing his eyes. "Let's check up on the other teams, something ain't right."
"You're right." the red-haired delinquent agreed with him. "Either the God of Death or Asano have to be up to something."
"But if there was trouble, wouldn't they have contacted us already?" Tomohito didn't want to assume the worst immediately. "Kayano-san, you haven't received any distress message, have you?"
She shook her head in response. "No, but that doesn't have to mean everything is all right."
Then, out of the blue, an enemy announcement came from the speakers.
"Hey Shiobana, I have a message for you."
"Ah, it's Asano-kun." the petite boy spoke, looking at his other best friend. "Karma-kun, I think you were right."
"Well, let's listen to what this asshole has to say."
"I have taken two of your precious sweethearts, Rio-chan and Yukiko-chan hostage. Follow my directions if you want to save them."
"WHAT?!"
This came as a big shock to them. Not because they didn't think he'd be evil enough to do that, but because he actually managed to pull that off.
"In the rescue team, there was a whole bunch of your female friends, or shall I say girlfriends, harem members?"
"Stop joking around, Asano!" Haruno roared, finally on the verge of losing his composition for good. His eyes were bloodshot, as the orange-haired touched what he wasn't allowed to touch. "Speak, what did you do to them?!"
'Haruno-kun…' His friends beside him really felt for him, able to imagine how tough it must be to have their close ones touched. Nagisa, his best and closest friend, realized that deep down in his heart, even if he acted like it wasn't true, the blond actually loved them. If Gakushuu would have done that to Kaede…
"Anyways, to lure you out, I approached them with the intention of taking hostages. The reason why you didn't know anything about this until now, is because they only noticed me after I took out their communication man Okajima after a surprise attack."
"…"
Sugino looked away in shame as he'd been proven wrong.
"The boys of that team were the first to oppose me. I'm sure enough of my power that I know I'd have eventually defeated them all in hand-to-hand combat, but to not waste any time, I helped myself with a nice sharp knife."
"You better not have done anything too bad to them, Asano! They better not be in danger!"
Really fuming, the delinquent was on the edge of going mad. He could heal them later, but that wasn't the point. Korosensei's lecture that day stuck with him. The others too were more than appalled at the treatment of their classmates. Truly unforgivable.
"Of course, unable to leave the injured behind, the girls didn't run. That's why I was able to take them hostage this quickly."
Forced to listen to Asano's bragging, Haruno was burning in anger, filled to the brim with hatred.
"Whatever pain you inflicted on them, I'll pay you back a hundredfold!"
"Try it, Shiobana! Come and try it! I know where you are, I see you as we speak. Now obey me and follow my directions. I'll tell you my location, so come and fight me, or else…"
Trembling, shaking in unspeakable rage, the blond hid his clenched teeth behind his lips. His eyes were shadowed, hiding a look that could genocide.
Watching in worry at how badly their friend was suffering mentally, they couldn't help but strongly loathe the orange-haired.
"Ha… Haruno-kun, I'll contact Terasaka-kun right awa-" the green-haired offered, but was cut off by the delinquent, who calmed his voice just for her.
"No need… As you can see, the other teams needed more security anyway…"
Nodding in understanding, Kaede dropped that idea.
"Asano…" he then switched back to his emotional voice and attitude. "Fine, I'll come. Tell me where you are, I'll make you regret everything you've done!"
"I very much doubt that'll happen, but I'll tell you my location. As I said before, follow my directions and you'll meet me. First, walk until the end of your current path and then turn left. You'll hear from me again from that speaker placed there. Prepare yourself, Shiobana, prepare yourself."
After that, Gakushuu paused his broadcast.
"…"
Everybody present other than the main man himself was quite speechless, anxious about his next moves. They knew he'd go, but questioned if he'd really be fine, as there could be traps in the way.
Fists pressed together, and with an iron stare, Haruno prepared to part with his team for now.
"Nagisa…"
"Yes, Haruno-kun?" the bluenette replied, concerned about his best friend.
"I trust you to protect everyone in my absence."
He said that because bar Korosensei, the petite boy was the strongest person he knew.
"I promise you that I will." Nagisa nodded, understanding the heaviness and importance of his job.
"And Kayano-san…"
"Yes, Haruno-kun?"
"If it comes to the worst case… Just screw it and use them."
Everyone then turned their head towards the green-haired, surprised about the sudden revelation of a secret between them.
Kaede wasn't pleased about that early partial revelation, but could understand why the blond had said that.
"…Let's hope it doesn't come to that."
With that, after saying what he wanted to say, the delinquent left, walking away like he'd been instructed to.
"…"
His friends saw the back of Haruno, the distance between them growing. Not wanting to get in his way, they really didn't want to interrupt him, but…
"Haruno-kun!" they simultaneously yelled after him, catching his attention.
Already in the distance, the blond turned around one last time.
"Please, return safe and sound!"
That was the only thing they asked of him.
"I will." he promised from the bottom of his heart, showing a thumbs up from far away.
After easing the concerns of his friends, the delinquent continued on his way, dead set on rescuing his other dear friends.
XXXXXXXXXX
A few minutes later, Haruno found himself in front of a metal door. There was a speaker next to the frame.
"Good job following my directions so far, Shiobana."
"Open the damn door, Asano, or I'll kick it in myself!" the blond responded to the shameless provocation. The roles were reversed compared to the instance a few days ago, where he made fun of Gakushuu and his friends.
"No need to get hasty. You can open the door yourself, it's unlocked."
"…"
Without a word, the delinquent pushed down the handle, then pulled it towards him, opening the door.
Stepping inside, he got a glimpse on the room itself and who was inside. The room was rather long, about 10 meters in length compared to only 5 meters of width. There were some tables with equipment placed inside, and various rocks on the ground. On the other side of the room, his enemy was standing between his friends taken hostage, holding a knife each to both their throats.
"Haruno-kun!"
Rio and Yukiko were glad to see their saviour arrive, though couldn't move, shivering in cold terror. Too scared to even cry.
"There you are, Shiobana. I've been waiting."
"Asano…!" Haruno reacted to his cocky grin, coupled with the fact that his dear friends were in fear for their lives, with venom.
"Close the door behind you, and then we can proceed." Asano commanded.
In order to free the hostages, and only for that reason, the blond obeyed the orange-haired's orders.
"I did it. Now, free those two."
"Tch, you don't get to give me orders, Shiobana." Gakushuu snarled at him, briefly getting angry but returning to his calm composition without delay. "But yes, I'm a man of my word, so I'll let them go."
The next moment, he took the knife near the blonde's throat away.
"Rio-chan…"
He called her this way to provoke the delinquent even further.
"…Yes?"
"Take the key in my pocket, put it in the keyhole and turn it to the left."
Finally getting the chance to escape and be free, she followed his instructions. As she did so, the door opened.
Following that, the orange-haired also removed the other knife from the black-haired's throat.
"Escape through the door Rio-chan just opened, and then close it from behind. You're not permitted to do anything else. Don't you dare move towards Shiobana, or you'll regret it."
"Grrrr…" Haruno pressed his teeth together, as Gakushuu wouldn't stop threatening them even after releasing them.
"Haruno-kun, thanks for saving us! Come back later safely!"
"Please be careful, Haruno-kun! And thank you for saving us!"
"Stop your chit-chat, go away before I change my mind!" Asano shushed them with yet another threat, sending them away running.
"EEEEK!"
Running as fast as they could, the girls left behind the two hot-blooded males, about to have the fight of their lives.
After the door closed shut behind him, the orange-haired raised the knife in his right hand, pointing at his enemy with it like a gun.
"Now, before we get this party started, answer me one thing. Did you get your Stand thanks to the arrow, or were you born with it?"
"WHAT?!"
Within a split-second, the blond's eyes bulged out in disbelief. The revelation that his rival-turned-enemy was a Stand user shocked him to the core.
'I… Im… Impossible!'
Did you get your Stand thanks to the arrow, or were you born with it?
Question number three, intended to steal the delinquent's sense of touch. This was a shock question, so Haruno would be too preoccupied with incredulous surprise to give an answer to this. In a few seconds, that sense would be in the hands of Gakushuu.
'Asano really is a Stand user?! No way, no way!' the blond thought, sweat rolling down his face now that he'd have an ill-prepared Stand fight instead of an easy, brutal beatdown. He was in danger. 'Did he acquire it after meeting the God of De-'
"…!"
One second later, the delinquent's eyes bulged out a second time. More than only that, his movements and gestures changed in a flash, completely different than before.
Haruno raised his hands an placed his hands in front of his chest, his palms facing the chest side. He waved those hands around, tightened them into fists, but was shocked to find out that he didn't feel a thing.
'My body… has lost its sense of touch?!'
The blond could do those things because his brain was still able to give his muscles orders, his neurons were still working, but he couldn't feel anything, not even his feet on the ground. Essentially, it was just his consciousness hovering in the air.
Watching the delinquent behave like that, Asano narrowly grinned in victory. His plan worked, Haruno was getting weaker than ever, and would get even weaker after stealing another sense.
"Hey, Shiobana, what happened?"
No response from the blond. But for the orange-haired, that was no problem.
All according to keikaku.
"I'm talking to you, Shiobana. Something wrong with your body?"
Still no reply, but again, no problem. On the contrary, the silence was rather advantageous.
Something wrong with your body?
Question number four, intended to steal the delinquent's sense of sight. This was a rhetoric question WHILE Haruno was too preoccupied with the loss of arguably the most important sense of all, to give an answer to this. In a few seconds, that sense would be in the hands of Gakushuu.
"…HAAAAAAH?!"
'Yes, that's it!' Asano's eyes and grin widened in joy, feeling like he won the battle already. His face was looking extremely goofy. 'I did it, this shout of confusion means he just lost his eyesight!'
"'Haaaaaah'?" the orange-haired imitated the blond, mocking him with great glee. "More like, 'Hahahahahahahahahahahaha'!"
"…!"
'My eyesight… Asano did this! There can't be any other reason why he's laughing!' the delinquent realized, going to accuse Gakushuu of it.
"Asano… This was your work, wasn't it?! You took my senses away with your Stand, didn't you?!"
"Ahah… The cat's out of the bag now…" Asano admitted, his super wide grin returning to normal as he ceased laughing. "Yes… that's how it is. My Stand, [Death Note], can take the 5 senses of taste, smell, touch, sight and hearing from my target, should my target either fail to answer, answer incorrectly, or cheat in order to answer a question I ask my target. And after that, if my target fails again, my Stand will finally take my target's life."
'…Crap, he had me fooled all the way!' Haruno figured, hating to admit the bitter truth.
"Crafty bastard…" the blond spat with a low voice, cursing the orange-haired in his undertone. "Then I have a question for you, Asano, to mash things up a bit."
"Hm?"
"Why, before telling me your Stand ability, didn't you take away my sense of hearing? You can't sneak up on me and get cheap shots anymore, you know."
"Oh, about that…" The delinquent couldn't see it, but Gakushuu was smirking deviously. "As we are supposed to have a brutal, bloody fight, we are supposed to be hurting one another, like hell at that."
Asano paused from a moment, picking up a grapefruit-sized rock from the ground.
"And when something hurts like hell…"
The next moment, without expecting it in the slightest, Haruno felt a sharp, hellish pain near his brain.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
A large part of his body was hurting like never before in his life. He, who rarely ever got injured in his entire life, felt the most horrible pain, even worse than when he'd fought Ghiaccio the Italian assassin.
"…ONE LETS OUT A SCREAM OF AGONY!" the orange-haired announced his reason, raising his voice like he was a party DJ having the time of his life.
'OAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH… I can't focus, I'm in so much PAINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!' the blond thought, barely even able to overhear Gakushuu's words.
"MAGNIFICENT, SHIOBANA! WHAT A MARVELOUS SCREAM! YES, THE REASON WHY I DIDN'T TAKE AWAY YOUR SENSE OF HEARING IS BECAUSE I WANT YOU TO LISTEN TO YOUR OWN SCREAMS OF AGONY!"
'GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH… That bastard… That sadistic, cruel bastard…'
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Asano burst out in laughter, enjoying the delinquent's suffering to the fullest.
"…"
Haruno, with such an unbelievably great handicap, would have to endure this brutal cruelty and much more, until defeating the orange-haired and taking back his senses.
This would become the hardest, harshest fight of his life yet.
XXXXXXXXXX
Since the battle team's leader parted to partake in his own, personal conflict, the new leader was quite uneasy. Their by far biggest asset was gone, while 99% of the enemy strength was still loose and after them.
In the end, their expectations didn't betray them.
"Hyaha~, hello~~~"
"…!"
A frontal approach, starting with a long shadow on the ground. And as the God of Death inched closer, his real silhouette appeared, but was even darker than the shadow. An aura of death surrounded him, making him look as dark as the void.
"Oh no… He's… he's openly coming from the front!" Kaede stuttered in fear, seriously intimidated by that fearsome aura.
Humanoid but without humanity. These words best described the figure of the lethal foe.
Sugino goes without saying, but even Karma was intimidated, sweating and stepping back. Nagisa, despite being the leader, couldn't fare any better.
'He even manipulates the atmosphere freely!' he thought, feeling fear when observing the enemy getting closer.
With his aura, the master assassin subjugated the area, becoming the boss of it.
"Hello~, I don't come in peace."
Even when right in front of them, they couldn't see the silver-haired, the human. In their eyes, he was still a dark demonic figure from the abyss.
"Gh…" Despite being scared, the redhead dared to take a jab at the enemy with an overwhelming pressure. "Coming here to take us on when our strongest is absent… cowardly much?"
"You seem to be mistaken." the God of Death clarified, smiling demonically. "I'm not afraid of him. It's just that I can't be doing all the work. Can't allow my dear friend Gakushuu-chan to not put in any effort, he has to work his share too."
"Friend, you say?" the delinquent kept up the conversation, continuously backing away slowly. "Is that really what this piece of shit is to you?"
"Of course not." the monstrous assassin stated, badmouthing his own ally. "He's nothing but a one-time tool that I couldn't care less about. Once his little role is finished, I'll throw him away like used pocket tissue. You really think I'd befriend someone whose entire essence is shallow jealousy and envy?"
"…"
None of them had any sympathy for Gakushuu, so that announcement of betrayal didn't invoke any emotion. Though they did think that the roast of Asano was so accurate, it could very well be a neutral, objective description.
"Anyways, enough with the chit-chat… Let's dance!"
"EVERYONE!" the bluenette let out a shout, announcing his strategy as a leader. His fast and sudden yell saved Karma, who the God of Death was going to attack with a zoom attack, had he not postponed his attack. "I know it isn't really feasible, but try to dodge him as best as you can, and keep his attention away from me! That way, I can execute a surprise attack!"
After issuing the order, without giving the assassin an opportunity to comment, the petite boy bolted away at high speed, leaving behind his team. It went without saying that he'd come back and wasn't abandoning them, but that still wasn't very leader-like.
"…"
The remaining three of the battle team had an uneasy look on their faces. Naturally, they trusted Nagisa unconditionally and knew he wouldn't betray them, but this was the second time their leader and most powerful member separated from them, making it harder and harder against this deadly enemy.
"Ohoho~~, Sasuga Nagisa-kun, Sasuga~~~~" the God of Death laughed out with a creepy, perverted voice, immensely excited by this development. "I knew you'd make things fun, likely even more than this Haruno-kun… Don't disappoint me."
Done acting in this weird manner, he then turned his head to the remaining trio, becoming significantly more serious. "That goes for you too."
"Shit…"
Against that monster of an assassin, they had little to no chance, as the ground was as uneven as a pothole. Though despite that, they HAD to keep up and keep him busy as long as they needed, so that the bluenette could perform his surprise attack.
This battle would be of extreme difficulty at the bare minimum.
Time to wrap it up. A lot of time passed since the last chapter, but I hope with this long content, I can even things up.
Next chapter will be a fight chapter, and boy, I can't wait to get creative again! Until then, have a great time.
Feel free to rate and review if you like to