Everyone stared at the floating transparent sphere with Koro-sensei's head inside. The same thought ran through the entire class.
What the hell is that?
As if reading their minds, Koro-sensei laughed.
"Nuruhuhuhuhu! This is Sensei's trump card of all trump cards — my Absolute Defense form!"
The class collectively thought,
Absolute Defense form?!
Koro-sensei continued proudly.
"The exterior is crystallized high-density condensed energy. The energy left over upon shrinking my body down hardens into a shell around it. In this form, Sensei is absolutely invincible!"
Yada's voice trembled.
"No… so if you always stay in that form, we can never kill you!"
Koro-sensei shook his head inside the sphere.
"If only that were the case. This energy crystal will decay in about a day, and the moment it does, my body will re-inflate, absorbing energy and returning to its usual form. On the other hand, for the approximately one day until this crystal decays, Sensei can't move an inch. This brings with it certain risks. What I'm most afraid of is being placed into a high-speed rocket during that time and discarded in the far reaches of outer space… but I've thoroughly studied that eventuality. Nowhere in the world is there a rocket capable of making that flight within 24 hours… wait."
Sweat appeared on his head as he suddenly remembered the Moon Infiltrator. His eyes darted toward Akira, who was already walking closer.
Akira spoke casually, as if reading his thoughts.
"It's still out of order."
Koro-sensei let out a long sigh of relief.
"…That's good. But still, I win again."
All the students looked downcast. Even after everything they had planned and executed, they had still lost. It was a complete failure.
Akira turned to Terasaka.
"Terasaka, can you pass that ball?"
Terasaka silently picked up the sphere and tossed it over. Akira caught it easily.
Koro-sensei's face turned green with rings.
"Akira-kun, no matter what you do it's no use. Even a nuclear bomb wouldn't leave a scratch."
Akira smiled faintly.
"Invincible doesn't mean I can't do anything to you sensei."
As if on cue, Karma pulled out his phone and held it in front of the sphere. On the screen was a clear photo of Koro-sensei reading adult magazines.
Koro-sensei let out a high-pitched scream.
"Yeehaaa! No! Stop! I can't cover my face without any hands!"
Akira calmly picked up a sea slug from the rocks and stuck it onto the transparent surface right over Koro-sensei's face.
"Let's stick this sea slug on you."
Karma added with a grin,
"Someone go find me a filthy old guy so I can jam this thing down his shorts."
Akira shook his head.
"Too much trouble. Let's just feed him to a shark."
Koro-sensei wailed inside the ball.
"No! Help me!"
Kayano watched with a small smile.
"In some ways, we can do whatever we want with him."
Nagisa nodded.
"Yep. I kinda feel bad for him now."
Karasuma stepped forward and took the sphere from Akira.
"We'll disperse for now, students. The top brass and I will discuss how to deal with this one."
Koro-sensei quickly recovered his usual tone.
"Nuruhuhuhuhu! Going to throw me in a pool full of anti-me material? It won't work. A portion of my energy would explode like before — the blast would send everything nearby flying."
Karasuma frowned but said nothing.
Koro-sensei continued more gently.
"But you should be proud. Even the armies of the world couldn't get this far with me. It all comes down to the magnificence of your plan."
His words did nothing to lift the mood. The class remained quiet and downcast as they began walking back toward the hotel.
Only Akira moved differently. The moment he saw Erika approaching from her position, he immediately jumped onto her and wrapped his arms around her tightly.
"Erika, I missed you. It's been thirty minutes."
Erika sighed, though she didn't push him away.
"…Why are you like this?"
The rest of the class watched the scene and shared the same thought.
Are you sure he isn't a golden retriever?
---
Back at the hotel, the atmosphere was heavy. The failed assassination weighed on everyone, and the usual chatter had died down into quiet, tired silence.
Chiba sat on one of the couches and took out his phone.
"Ritsu?"
Her face appeared on the screen.
"Yes?"
He asked seriously.
"You recorded that, right?"
Ristu nodded.
"Yes. All of the assassination, with a high-speed camera whenever possible."
Chiba stared at the floor for a moment.
"…I knew the second I fired that I'd missed. That my bullet couldn't kill him."
Ritsu ran a quick analysis.
"I can't say for sure. The exact time it took him to move into that form is unclear. However, if your shot had been 0.5 seconds faster, or if Hayami's had been 30 centimeters closer, you would have had a 50 percent chance of killing him before he noticed."
Akira, who had been leaning against the wall nearby, spoke up quietly.
"Not really. At that time, my ricochet bullet reached him even before your attack. Koro-sensei's Absolute Defense form took only 0.01 seconds to start. So even with Ritsu's instructions, the success rate is actually lower than you think."
Ritsu sounded slightly offended.
"How are you calculating faster than me? I can't figure it out."
Akira gave a small shrug.
"I'm just built different."
Chiba clenched his fists.
"But I still messed up. I was so confident… In rehearsal, we practiced firing from even less stable spots and I didn't miss. But when the time came, my fingers stiffened and my vision narrowed."
Hayami nodded beside him, her voice low.
"Same here. The pressure to absolutely not miss… it's so different from practice."
Akira tried to lighten the mood.
"Well, it happens all the time. Erika had some problems with stuff like that back then too, right, Erika?"
Erika, who was sitting next to him, immediately knew where this was going. She panicked and cut him off.
"Stop playing around. Look at everyone. They all look way more exhausted than normal."
Akira glanced around the room and his expression shifted.
"…Yep. Look, Okajima is having a nosebleed. And I think this time it's the normal dangerous kind."
Erika frowned.
"What the hell is 'normal dangerous'…? Stop joking around and see what happened."
Hearing that, the remaining students who still felt relatively fine also started looking at the others with growing concern.
Just then, Nakamura swayed and collapsed. Nagisa caught her before she hit the floor.
"Nakamura-san?!"
Nakamura's voice was weak.
"I want to get back to the room and change… but my body doesn't seem to move at all."
Nagisa pressed a hand to her forehead and his eyes widened.
"You're burning up."
At the same time, Okajima's nosebleed grew heavier.
Karasuma came running into the lobby and took in the scene at a glance. His expression hardened.
"This is…"
He turned sharply to a nearby staff member.
"Hey! Where's the hospital on this island?"
The staff member hesitated.
"Uh… well, it's such a small island…"
Before Karasuma could press further, his phone rang. The number was unknown.
He answered it.
A distorted voice came through the speaker.
"Hey, teach. Your precious students seem to be in a real bad way."
Karasuma narrowed his eyes.
"Who is this?"
The distorted voice replied coldly.
"Who I am doesn't matter. Those brats aren't the only ones going after the bounty."
Karasuma's voice hardened.
"You mean you did this?"
The man laughed.
"Hahaha. How observant. It's an artificial virus. Once you're infected, it's all over."
Everyone in the lobby listened in silence. Ritsu was already broadcasting the call to every student's phone. Beside her, Akira had his own phone out, fingers moving rapidly across the screen.
The man continued,
"The incubation period and the initial symptoms vary, but after a week, the body's cells will be shredded, ending in death."
Karasuma's gaze turned sharp.
"There's only one remedy — likewise an original concoction. Unfortunately, I'm the only one who has it. It's too much of a bother to give it to you, so you'd better come get it directly."
By this time Ritsu had already begun tracking the origin of the call.
The man kept speaking.
"There's a hotel atop this island's mountain. Bring me the one with the bounty. Come up to the top floor within the next hour. But teach… you seem pretty tough. Dangerous, even. So send your two shortest students still standing — one boy, one girl. We'll talk from the desk there. Follow the rules and we'll swap the target for the remedy, and that'll be that. Remember: those two superhumans must remain there. If you contact any outside help, or if you're even a little late, the remedy will be destroyed."
Everyone's expression changed.
The man laughed again.
"I've got to thank you for immobilizing him like that. Looks like the gods are on our side."
Akira's voice suddenly cut into the call, calm and clear.
"God may not be by your side… but I will definitely be by your side soon enough. Though I'm not sure you'll still be lucky by then."
There was a short silence on the other end.
Then the man spoke again, slower this time.
"…Hoshino Akira, right? I'll tell you this — if you even think of reaching the hotel, I will destroy the antidote immediately and leave. All your friends will die."
Akira's tone remained light.
"Don't get too cocky… Takaoka."
The entire class froze.
Karasuma's eyes widened.
"It can't be…?"
Nagisa whispered,
"It's him…?"
On the other end of the line, Takaoka's voice turned sharp.
"How did you know?"
Akira answered with exaggerated surprise.
"Oh, it was you? I was just shooting in the dark. Never thought I actually guessed right."
Everyone stared at him in disbelief.
**"Whatttt?!"**
Takaoka's voice trembled with anger.
"You…!"
Akira continued, still calm.
"So now that we know who you are, do you really think you can escape? I'll hunt you down no matter where you run."
Takaoka took a deep breath. When he spoke again, his voice was tightly controlled.
"Doesn't matter. Do as I said… or else your friends will die."
The call cut off.
Akira slowly lowered his phone. A small grin spread across his face.
"Sure. Let's see who comes out on top."
---