The Assassin Within

Part 32~Kuro ōkami

Itona plunged his tentacles into Koro-sensei’s body, holding himself up from the ground.

“Whoa!”

“Did he do it?!”

“No,” Terasaka interrupted the class mumblings. “Look up.”

Koro-sensei clung to the ceiling, refusing to let go. His moulted kin was left under Itona and he was breathing heavily.

“Molting… I forgot he could do that,” Shiro grumbled with a tinge of agitation.

Nagisa’s eyes narrowed. Koro-sensei was on his last leg. Itona had surely improved form when he was under Bones’s control and the lacklustre restraint meant he could go all out without a problem. But of course, he still held the same weakness and if Nagisa could see it, Koro-sensei would be able to.

“But, Koro-sensei, shedding your skin comes with a price, doesn’t it?” Shiro sounded smug as Itona sent his tentacles at Koro-sensei. The octopus jumped to the side, barely dodging the attack. “The moulting process uses a lot more energy than you’d suppose. So you can’t move as fast as usual directly after.”

“You’re still unbelievably fast by human standards but fatally slow against tentacles. Plus you regenerated your arm after Itona cut it off. Which also requires a lot of energy. Thus your physical abilities have been weakened by two levels. According to my calculations, that places you and Itona on an equal footing.”

“In addition, you lose control of your tentacles when you get flustered. That tentacles attack threw you and you don't have the time or space to calm down and pull yourself together. I’m sure it’s crystal clear to your students who has the upper hand now.”

Itona continued his attack, throwing Koro-sensei around the space. The teacher was barely keeping alive let alone being able to fire back. He might actually die if he doesn’t get it together soon.

“Wow. Looks like he’s actually gonna assassinate him,” Maehara stated in shock.

“And let’s not overlook the dedicated support of Itona’s guardian.” Shiro sent the laser to Koro-sensei, freezing him in place. Itona jumped up, almost forming a tornado of tentacles to attack Koro-sensei. Two more of Koro-sensei’s legs were destroyed but he got away.

Shiro was laughing. “Now you have to regenerate your leg tentacles too. You’ll lose more energy and that makes things even easier for me.”

“Perfect,” Itona whispered creepily. “Big brother. I’m stronger than you.”

Koro-sensei was cornered. He had nowhere to go. No matter how close the rest of this class came, they will never be able to finish the mission. Nagisa felt an acid boil in his stomach. Pulling out the knife he had been given, he remembered everything. Everything he had been doing. Had he been trying? Nagisa knew he could have tried harder but he didn’t want to reveal himself. This was all a mistake.

He should be the one to kiss Koro-sensei.

“You’re the same,” he whispered, hoping that Koro-sensei understood. “You are both the same.”

Koro-sensei’s tentacles regrew.

“I see you’ve finished regenerating your legs. Well then, let’s see if you can withstand this next attack,” Shiro teased, smirking to himself.

“I’ve never been cornered before. What look liked a spur-of0the-moment assassination was actually carefully thought out beforehand,” Koro-sensei analysed. “I have a ton of questions to ask you but it looks like you won’t talk until I defeat you.”