Target Tentacles - A Karmagisa Assassination

Chapter 11

Monday

Class continues the next day as normal. Nagisa feels a little tired and on edge, but other than that he's more or less ready for a normal school day. He arrives early and works with Koro-sensei-like speed to finish grading the student's assignments.

For a few precious moments the empty classroom is quiet except for the sounds of Nagisa's pen scratching on paper and the occasional rustle of homework. It's that kind of early morning quiet that early birds are so addicted to.

Before long though someone comes to break it. Nagisa looks up as the door to the classroom slides open. Yama steps through the door quietly, wearing a hoodie which casts his face in shadow. He's the first student to class, as usual. "Morning Nagisa-sensei."

"Good morning, Yama-kun." Nagisa smiles and waves Yama over to his desk. Yama crosses over and slumps in his seat. "How are you?"

Yama shrugs. "A little tired."

Nagisa nods. "Same, I stayed up late doing homework last night."

Nagisa can't see Yama's face too well, but he's pretty sure Yama cracks a smile. "I thought only students did that."

Nagisa chuckles sleepily. "Oh trust me, it's teachers too. There's only one of us and there's twenty of you! I don't know how my old teacher did it..." He trails off, thinking of how Koro-Sensei used to personally tutor them for tests at the same time. Now that Nagisa has to create his own lesson plans and tend to his own students, he can truly appreciate how incredible his teacher really was.

They fall into a comfortable silence after that. Maybe fifteen minutes later the other early birds start to show up. They all greet Nagisa, some with words and others with casually thrown knives, darts, and other instruments of death. Nagisa keeps careful track of these students as he has a rule that each person can only make one or two assassination attempts every day. Otherwise it would be utter chaos and get in the way of school.

By 8:15 (the start of class) most of the students are in their seats and Nagisa is feeling much more awake. He waits for another five minutes in case there are any stragglers, then he puts away the lesson plan he was working on and straightens his desk, preparing to begin the day. Just as he picks up his chart to begin roll call, Hide comes barreling through the door wearing an uncharacteristic skirt and blouse.

"Sorry I'm late. I had an argument with my mom."

Nagisa gives her a (hopefully) reassuring smile. "That's fine, Hide-chan. We haven't even started roll call yet."

Hide nods and takes her seat. Someone pokes her from behind and whispers, "What's with the outfit?"

Hide shrugs and Nagisa clears his throat to get their attention. After a moment all eyes are on him and he begins.

The rest of the morning goes pretty smoothly. At one point he has a breakthrough with a student who was having trouble with math, which makes his day to be honest.

Of course he hasn't won all of the students over yet. Some think he's just putting on an act, or they criticize his teaching style, or they don't even bother to show up to class. But he's patient. He's sure they'll come around eventually. And if they don't he can always track them down...

Before he knows it the bell's rung for lunch.

Since Class 3-F is the bottom of the barrel they're generally excluded from the cafeteria. Not that there's an official policy or anything, but the other students tend to avoid and look down on them. Nagisa had a hell of time even getting the students proper desks and textbooks (even the textbooks they use now are tattered fourth-hand books). But they make the best of it all the same.