The day of the long-awaited assassination had finally arrived.
My heart hammered against my ribs, perhaps more fiercely than I had anticipated. I tried to stay calm; it was only natural to feel this way. Today's operation served as the ultimate test of my intellect and strategic planning. More importantly, it was a golden opportunity to prove my worth to Mr. Karasuma.
My worth to Mr. Karasuma, huh? I wondered if I was starting to lean on him too much. Perhaps because my father and everyone else had never truly acknowledged me, while he always offered praise. Damn it, that's not good. I have to be careful.
Still, it is human nature to gravitate toward those who validate your existence rather than those who ignore it. It seemed I no longer viewed Mr. Karasuma as just a teacher. He was the first adult in my life to truly look at me—to see me for who I was.
No, I need to shift gears.
I had to focus on the hit.
Even so, it felt surreal for a middle school student to be obsessing over an assassination with such gravity. But let this "strange" student follow through with his "strange story." I would strike our teacher with everything I had.
I would kill Koro-sensei today.
I wasn't blind to his nature, nor could I claim his identity didn't matter to me. Koro-sensei was our teacher. At the same time, he was the monster destined to blow up the Earth.
Undoubtedly, he wore many masks. Perhaps he really was an alien invader, or maybe a member of his species was responsible for shattering the moon. He might have even been a human once, twisted into this monstrosity by some inhumane experiment.
However, if we failed to kill him, the Earth would end next year. Despite his claims that the planet might explode upon his natural death, I couldn't fully trust his words. More accurately, my mind couldn't quite grasp the scale of it.
There was no point in overthinking matters beyond my understanding; it was a waste of time. The only truth I grasped was that the world might end next year, and for now, that was enough. As for Koro-sensei's true identity, perhaps Mr. Karasuma would give me answers once the target was neutralized.
"Nozaki, here. This is the bomb."
"Are you serious? You actually got Terasaka to join us?"
"Yeah. I cut a deal with his group for 1.2 billion yen, plus an 'any-favor' coupon."
"No, I don't need that coupon."
"Really?! You don't want the 1.2 billion yen?"
"That's not what I meant!"
"I know. Just toss this low-yield bomb when I give the signal."
"Tch."
I gripped the knife, tucked the handgun into my pocket, hung the jump rope behind the curtain, and slipped Koro-sensei's molted skin into my jacket's breast pocket.
My preparations were complete.
All that remained was to wait for zero hour.
"Keiichi, are you ready?"
"Yeah, I'm ready."
●○●○●
"Nurufufufu, Nozaki-kun. It's time for Student Activity class."
Two shadows stood side by side at the teacher's platform.
The students—with a few exceptions—watched the scene with bated breath for several reasons. First, their target was their teacher, Koro-sensei. Second, the operation required perfect synchronization and a meticulously crafted plan. Third, the classmate facing Koro-sensei was Keiichi Nozaki.
The class's perception of Keiichi had been shifting. Everyone knew he had been dropped into Class 3-E because of failing grades and a history of aggression—hitting a teacher, brawling with other students, and rumors of extortion.
However, to those observing him lately, those rumors felt increasingly far-fetched. Watching him joke with Nagisa and Sugino, play with stray cats, enjoy Koro-sensei's cooking, or undergo one-on-one training with Karasuma after school made them realize that Keiichi—despite his eccentricities—was just a student like them.
And this same student had secretly engineered a flawless assassination plot. Everyone was eager to see the sharpness of the blade he had honed—his classmates, Koro-sensei himself, Karasuma who trained him, and even Irina, who had overheard the news by chance.
The operation that held everyone's gaze finally began.
"Well, Koro-sensei, we're starting now."
"By all means, attack whenever you're ready."
The moment he finished his sentence, Keiichi lunged forward with a direct, stabbing motion. The students gasped at the force of his charge, which made the platform rattle. However, Koro-sensei easily parried the strike with a white handkerchief, catching the blade's tip.
"Nurufufufu. A sharp and bold thrust, but it will never reach me."
"Heh, I expected as much."
Keiichi spoke calmly, then turned his back to the teacher and retreated toward the window. He pulled his handgun from his pocket, a confident smile playing on his lips as he addressed him mockingly.
Realizing Keiichi's focus had shifted, Koro-sensei placed the knife and the handkerchief on the desk and waited.
"You know, Koro-sensei? I've always thought Western movies were incredibly cool."
"Hoh? And what exactly do you like about them?"
"Those 'draw your weapon, let's see who's faster' scenes. Isn't it amazing to hit your opponent's forehead in that split second? I love those moments."
He pocketed the gun again and laughed.
"Before we start the group hit, let's have a private challenge. Who can pull the gun from my pocket faster?"
"Hoh? You're challenging a teacher who prides himself on speed to a quick-draw contest? You seem very sure of yourself. Fine, I accept."
"The loser does whatever the winner asks. If I win, I want one of your tentacles."
The classroom buzzed at Keiichi's demand. Even Terasaka held his breath, wondering if Nozaki truly believed he could beat a target moving at Mach 20.
Amidst the shock, Keiichi plucked a button from his sleeve and held it between his forefinger and thumb.
"The moment this button hits the floor, the contest begins."
"Understood."
Having secured the consent of Koro-sensei, whose face rippled with green stripes of mockery, Keiichi flicked the button into the air. Everyone watched it fall. How many times had they held their breath today?
Click—the sound of the button hitting the floor echoed.
In that exact instant, the sound of an explosion followed as Koro-sensei's tentacle burst with a distinct tearing noise!
"Now! Everyone, fire!"
"Nyuaaaa?!"
The operation began the moment the tentacle was destroyed. Those words, etched into the students' minds, moved their bodies instinctively before their brains could even process the event.
The students were stunned. The shock that Keiichi had actually succeeded in destroying a tentacle nearly paralyzed them, but their bodies followed their assigned tasks with precision.
"You're serious! Keiichi actually did it!"
"Doesn't matter! Just fire!"
As Isogai shouted in disbelief, Keiichi barked orders. His gaze was sharp as he reached behind the curtain, shouting toward his large classmate in the back row.
"Terasaka! Throw it now!"
"Don't you dare forget the reward!"
In a second blow to the already disoriented Koro-sensei, Terasaka hurled a grenade.
"What?!"
Koro-sensei grabbed the incoming grenade in a panic before the handle could fly off. Amidst the hail of Anti-Teacher BB pellets, a distinct, sharp whistling sound cut through the air.
Swish!—the jump rope lashed out. It sliced through the tentacle holding the grenade as easily as a knife through cake.
Koro-sensei tried to catch the falling grenade, but he was a fraction of a second too late. The handle popped off. Damn it! he thought, glaring at Keiichi and Terasaka as he realized he had been played.
The grenade didn't explode.
Terasaka's involvement—the same boy who had previously used a high-explosive bomb—had forced Koro-sensei to overreact. Would he repeat such an atrocity despite my warning? That momentary shock and caution toward Terasaka's movement was the opening Keiichi needed to take a second tentacle.
The moment Terasaka threw the dummy, Keiichi pulled the jump rope hidden behind the curtain, destroyed the second tentacle, and kept the rope moving in a series of fluid strikes. The rope, moving like a living thing and coated in Anti-Teacher material, became a lethal whip.
"Kunuuuu...!"
Koro-sensei began to feel real pressure.
A storm of bullets targeted him, another volley cut off his retreat, and a whip attacked from the flank. Bullets from the front, a whip from the side, and the chalkboard behind him. He had nowhere to go except the hallway or through the rain of lead toward the back of the room.
Sensing Karasuma and Irina behind the door, he instinctively decided his only exit was the rear of the classroom.
But Keiichi was a step ahead.
"Now! Build the wall!"
Responding to Keiichi's battle cry, the students in the front rows pulled flat containers from under their desks and hurled the BB pellets inside with a powerful, sweeping motion. These airborne pellets were slower than those fired from guns, but the sheer physical density of this frontal wave formed a literal wall of lead.
Koro-sensei was cornered.
He looked involuntarily toward the only remaining exit—the door. In that exact moment, the door swung open.
"Impossible!"
Behind the open door stood Karasuma and Irina, aiming a shotgun and an assault rifle.
Will they fire? Really? With Nozaki-kun standing right behind me? When Koro-sensei instinctively traced their line of fire, he saw that Keiichi had already taken cover under the molted skin along with Maehara and Kataoka, who had been in the danger zone. They were huddled tightly together.
── I see. They've got me.
●○●○●
The moment that thought crossed his mind, thousands of rounds erupted from Karasuma and Irina's weapons.
The roar of gunfire finally ceased.
Maehara, who had been sheltering under the skin with Keiichi and Kataoka, spoke hesitantly.
"Did... did we get him...?"
The three crawled out from under the molted skin. The stunned students stared at Koro-sensei's clothes, which lay discarded under the teacher's platform. Smoke rose from the fabric, surrounded by several severed, twitching tentacles, while yellow fluid pooled like a lake of blood.
Maehara's words, which might have sounded like a jinx in any other situation, made perfect sense given the scene. Everyone's mind was a blur; their ears rang.
Had they actually killed him?
They began searching for a body with caution. But a thought crossed my mind: Does Koro-sensei even leave a corpse? His tentacles evaporate quickly, so perhaps his body does too?
Damn it, even now, my thoughts are racing. The only thing that mattered was knowing if he was dead.
"No sign... of a body."
Mr. Karasuma stepped through the yellow fluid without hesitation, lifting the clothes with the muzzle of his rifle. There was indeed no corpse.
Where did he go?
As I looked around, a silver liquid began to drip from the ceiling.
── Liquefaction.
This was the ability he had acquired a few days ago while training Ms. Okuda. I remembered him saying it was the result of activating his cells to increase their fluidity. I hadn't expected him to use it here; it had slipped my mind entirely. Information on this phase was virtually non-existent.
How long did the transformation take? Could he be harmed in this state?
"That... was close."
But wait—what was this? The words coming from Koro-sensei's mouth expressed genuine panic. He described the situation simply as "close." Had I really cornered him that much?
Even in his liquid state, he looked as if he were breaking a sweat.
"Sorry, everyone. The mission failed."
Koro-sensei appeared perfectly intact. I announced the failure of the mission concisely. Upon hearing the announcement, Koro-sensei descended from the ceiling and slipped back into his clothes, returning to his natural form.
However, he looked slightly smaller than his usual size.
"Excuse me, Koro-sensei, but do you look smaller?"
When I asked, Koro-sensei scratched his cheek with a tentacle and slowly opened his crescent-moon mouth.
"That is proof of how successful your plan—or rather, everyone's plan—was."
Koro-sensei admitted it. He acknowledged the success of our strategy.
"That gun and jump rope... they're either made of the same material as the Anti-Teacher knives or coated with it, aren't they? I was truly surprised."
"Koro-sensei, you always confiscate our weapons to neutralize our attempts. I thought: what if those weapons were coated in Anti-Teacher material? Wouldn't it destroy your tentacles the moment you touched them?"
"I see. That was a blind spot for me. My focus was entirely on your knives. Does this mean your first knife attack was just a ruse to make me pull out the handkerchief?"
"Yes. That's why I started with the stab. I knew you'd either dodge or confiscate it to stop the assassination. Even if you dodged several times, I expected you to seize it eventually."
"A wise decision. You've been observing your teacher well. So, the Western movie story was part of the plan too?"
"Yes. Usually, the winner is whoever draws and hits first, but Koro-sensei can't hurt us. So, I figured you'd be drawn to the 'whoever draws first wins' rule."
"It seems you understand me better than I expected. Honestly, it makes me happy. And your directions to Terasaka-kun were brilliant."
"Terasaka made a huge mistake before. It might have been better to have Sugino throw the bomb for control, but I thought Terasaka doing it would make you overly cautious."
"Indeed, I fell for it completely. Because of that plan, I lost two full tentacles to direct attacks. It was a lapse on my part. The distribution of fire and the commands were also amazing. This isn't just the fruit of your leadership; it's the result of everyone's daily training."
"I designed the plan based on the estimate that you couldn't use Mach 20 speed inside the classroom."
Koro-sensei praised our entire plan, then looked at all of us, then at Mr. Karasuma and Professor Bitch.
"You two were wonderful as well. Ms. Irina distributed the firing range brilliantly, providing cover on her own, and Mr. Karasuma fired at the perfect time. Because of those final rounds, I lost several more tentacles and had to use my trump card, liquefaction."
But we failed.
Koro-sensei continued to laud our strategy. Satisfaction was written on everyone's faces, but I felt a lingering bitterness. Even if I hadn't expected to kill him, a part of me had hoped. Seeing his clothes scattered made me think for a moment that we had done it.
"Nozaki-kun. You are truly impressive; your plan was comprehensive. Your skill in convincing Terasaka-kun and his group to join you was also remarkable."
Koro-sensei was praising me.
I wondered which "me" he meant.
Was he praising the "son" of Shinichi Nozaki? Or—
"Nozaki-kun. Look into your teacher's eyes."
I looked at him as he asked. Our eyes met.
"You are an exceptional student. You possess great focus and analytical skills, and you are naturally intelligent. I look forward to what you will achieve in the future."
Ah.
Why?
I felt as though Koro-sensei's words had settled quietly into the depths of my chest. No, I understood why.
Because our eyes had met.
It was the same reason I felt Mr. Karasuma was different from other adults—because he looked into our eyes.
"Please continue the assassination attempts in cooperation with your classmates. Use your abilities for the benefit of everyone. Your focus and intelligence are essential."
Ah, and I understood something else.
Koro-sensei was praising me now, as an individual.
Not "Keiichi Nozaki, son of Shinichi Nozaki."
He was praising "Keiichi Nozaki," the student of Class 3-E.
The proof was that his words lacked the phrase that had haunted me like a curse or an imposed label: "Professor Nozaki's son."
That was why.
Even though I had received countless compliments from teachers before, Koro-sensei's praise settled into its rightful place in my heart with perfect naturalness.
"Nozaki-kun. The speed challenge earlier was won by the teacher, wasn't it?"
"Yes. You can order me to do whatever you wish."
"Then, I have one command: from now on, when you speak to me, look me directly in the eye. I will never look away from you."
"... Understood."
He would never look away from me.
That declaration echoed deep within me. While no one but Mr. Karasuma had dared to look me in the eye, this teacher announced that he would never avert his gaze. It made me truly happy.
I feel I now understand a little why Karma's feelings toward Koro-sensei softened, despite his hatred for teachers. At least this person sees me as an independent individual.
I don't know how to describe the feeling; despite the bitterness of failing the assassination, a great weight has been lifted from my shoulders, and I feel a strange refreshment in my chest.
●○●○●
Since that day, Keiichi Nozaki began to slowly regain the enthusiasm he had lost two years ago.
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