Akira slowly lowered his phone. A small grin spread across his face.
"Sure. Let's see who comes out on top."
Immediately afterward, Erika smacked him on the head.
"You idiot!"
Akira held his head.
"Why? What did I do wrong?"
Erika glared at him.
"Why did you go and provoke that guy? What if he destroys the antidote?"
Akira rubbed the sore spot.
"I just wanted to make him a bit scared, okay? Now he'll think twice before he decides to do anything stupid. He'll know I'll hunt him down."
Erika sighed.
"…Why are you like this?"
Karasuma stepped closer.
"Akira. Did you know it was Takaoka? Did you actually guess it?"
Akira shook his head.
"No. I said it to piss him off. I already hacked into that hotel's cameras and other systems and traced everything back to him. Apparently he stole military funds, escaped with some of his old units, and even hired a few assassins. So yeah… he has a small army up there."
Karasuma's expression darkened.
"So he was the one who stole it…"
Kayano asked,
"So what are we going to do? Call the police? Or go ask the hotel?"
Karasuma shook his head.
"Not going to work. That mountain hotel is a noted site for illegal negotiations."
Irina added with a dry smile,
"A remote island in the southern sea? Couldn't ask for a better location."
Karasuma continued,
"They have connections with some government higher-ups. Even the police are hands-off."
Karma muttered,
"So they won't cooperate with us."
Yoshida's voice cracked with panic.
"Then what are we gonna do?! At this rate a lot of us will die! We came here to kill, not to be killed!"
Akira struck a cool pose.
"The only ones who should kill are those prepared to be killed."
Erika immediately bonked him again.
"Now is not the time to act cool! Think of a way to deal with this situation. We can't just do what he says."
Terasaka pointed at Nagisa and Kayano.
"Yeah, it's too dicey. Send our two runtiest students? These two squirts?! We'd just be handin' him hostages! I say we ignore his demands! Let's get everyone to a Tokyo hospital!"
Takebayashi adjusted his glasses.
"I'm opposed. If it's really an unknown artificial virus, even the biggest hospital won't have the antivirals to stop it. The time wasted in transporting the sick could hurt them more."
Terasaka turned to him.
"Then what should we do?"
Akira raised a hand.
"Well… I might have a proposal."
Everyone turned to look at him.
Karasuma asked,
"What is it?"
Akira smiled.
"I'll make the antidote myself. Right here."
Takebayashi frowned.
"Is that even possible? We have nothing here."
Okuda nodded in agreement.
"Yeah. We have no equipment."
Akira laughed.
"Hahaha. Who said I don't?"
He took out his briefcase, set it on the table, and pressed a button. The briefcase unfolded and transformed into a compact portable workstation complete with analysis tools and a small synthesis module.
"Tada. Now we have one. My portable lab."
Everyone stared — half shocked, half not shocked at all.
Takebayashi still looked doubtful.
"Even with this, I don't think we have enough to make the antidote this soon."
Akira tapped his own chest.
"There is. Don't forget I was infected too. My body is special. I'm sure my immune system already destroyed the virus, so I should have the antibodies. Making the antidote isn't impossible."
Okuda asked carefully,
"How can you be so sure your body will deal with it that easily?"
Akira's eyes drifted slightly, as if about to fall into a memory.
"When I was little, my mother teste—"
Erika immediately cut him off.
"Don't go on a flashback now. Just tell me — can you make the antidote?"
Akira blinked and returned to the present.
"…It's possible. But I can't be completely sure I'll be able to finish it soon. Without directly testing the virus… viruses are unpredictable. Mutations and all that."
Karma crossed his arms.
"Then betting it all on you isn't the best choice. We need another solution."
From inside the transparent sphere, Koro-sensei's voice floated out.
"About that… there is a way."
As everyone wondered what Koro-sensei was planning, Ritsu's face appeared on several phones at once.
"Koro-sensei, it's all set."
Koro-sensei's voice came from inside the transparent sphere.
"It looks like Ritsu-san has completed the prep work I asked her to do. I need the healthy students to come here. We are going on a field trip."
Akira raised an eyebrow.
"Let me guess. An infiltration mission?"
"Yes," Koro-sensei replied. "If you don't want the enemy to get his way… there's just one thing to do. Not counting the ten patients, Akira-kun, Erika-san, and the others who will stay to take care of them and work on the antidote — the rest of the students must sneak into the hotel, get the jump on those guys, and steal the remedy!"
Ritsu projected a detailed schematic into the air.
"I infiltrated the hotel's computers and got the full interior layout… complete with guard locations. I also found the perfect place to infiltrate from. Though it is a steep cliff."
The image of a sheer rock face appeared.
Karasuma's expression hardened immediately.
"No. It's too dangerous. Those guys are real professionals… and that place is too risky."
Koro-sensei floated slightly inside his sphere.
"Yes. Perhaps it would be wisest to simply hand me over… so what do all of you think?"
Akira shook his head.
"There's no way it would be that simple. That guy has a grudge against us — especially Nagisa. There's no way he'll just hand over the antidote cleanly."
Isogai stepped forward.
"Besides, I don't think this is that hard compared to our usual training."
Hayami nodded.
"Yeah. After training against Akira-kun, I'm sure we can take on normal humans reasonably well."
Karasuma looked at them in mild shock.
Isogai continued,
"But Karasuma-sensei, we haven't practiced fighting against an unknown foe in an unknown hotel. So… could you be our commander?"
Terasaka cracked his knuckles.
"We'll make that jerk pay for messing with us!"
The other healthy students voiced their agreement one after another.
Koro-sensei spoke gently to Karasuma.
"As you can see, they are not normal students. I don't think they will lose to a special forces unit. They are our students after all."
Karasuma remained silent for several seconds, clearly weighing the risks. Then he closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them again, his expression was firm.
"Attention, everyone."
The class straightened.
"This is a stealth mission. First — Akira, Erika, Takebayashi, Okuda. You four will stay here. Take care of the patients and try to prepare the antidote."
The four of them nodded.
"The rest of you: our objective is the top floor of the hotel at the summit. Once we are inside, the mission will shift from stealth infiltration to a surprise attack. We'll use the same hand signals and link-up methods from training. The only difference is the target."
He pointed at the projected map.
"You have three minutes to memorize this. We begin at 2150."
The healthy students answered in unison.
"Yes, sir!"
---
And so, aside from Akira, Erika, Okuda, and Takebayashi, all the remaining healthy students along with the teachers set out on the infiltration mission.
Akira immediately set to work on the antidote. Erika, Okuda, and Takebayashi supported him while also keeping an eye on the sick students.
Akira muttered as he worked on his portable lab,
"I want to go too… I want to go too… I really want to go too."
Erika glanced at him.
"Didn't you say you were going to work on the antidote?"
Akira whined.
"But it's an infiltration mission. I always wanted to go on one."
Erika raised an eyebrow.
"I'm sure you've already been on many infiltration missions before. I heard from Selena that some governments are after you."
Akira waved a hand.
"Well, I did infiltrate some of them… like Area 51. But still, I also want to go."
Takebayashi looked up from the notes he was taking.
"You infiltrated Area 51? Is that really an alien research base?"
Akira answered without looking up from his work.
"No. That place is a decoy. The real alien research base is inside Hoover Dam."
Okuda let out a nervous laugh.
"I feel like I just heard something I shouldn't have…"
Akira kept working.
"Anyway, I want to go too. Maybe I should finish the antidote and then go."
Erika sighed.
"Fine. Then finish the antidote first. You can go after that."
Akira nodded immediately.
"Yes, I will finish it now."
He started working even faster. Erika and Okuda exchanged a look and both sighed.
After testing his own blood and samples from the other infected students, Akira soon found clear results.
"Yeah… this is no virus."
Everyone turned to him.
"What?"
Akira continued calmly,
"This is just a toxin that will make them sick for a while and then wear off on its own. So the 'antidote' was never actually needed. This isn't lethal."
Takebayashi adjusted his glasses.
"So Takaoka lied to us?"
Akira shook his head.
"Not sure. But this is definitely not a virus. We can only know for certain after we catch him and beat some answers out of him."
Erika asked,
"So what do we do now?"
Akira was already preparing a compound.
"I can make a basic antidote for this. It'll still take about an hour for the symptoms to fully clear, and they'll be weak for a bit afterward… but other than that, there's actually no real problem here."
A few minutes later, the antidote was ready. They quickly administered it to the sick students.
No one quite knew what to say. The life-or-death medical crisis had ended that simply.
Akira closed the portable lab and stood up.
"Now our classmates are in danger. They're up against Takaoka and his men, with professional assassins in the mix too. I'm going to help them and end this threat once and for all."
Erika frowned.
"How are you going to infiltrate like them? The moment Takaoka sees you, he'll definitely run."
Akira grinned.
"That's why I'm going in a disguise."
Erika already felt a headache coming on.
"…What disguise?"
Akira disappeared into a side room. A moment later he came back wearing a full Batman outfit.
"I am Batman."
Erika, Okuda, Takebayashi, and even some of the recovering students stared at him in pure exasperation.
Erika asked flatly,
"Why?"
Akira explained.
"I mean… he's the best at infiltration, you know?"
Erika snapped.
"This is ridiculous. Change into something else."
Akira sighed and went back. When he returned, he was wearing a black wig, a long trench coat, and a fedora, looking like a character from an old detective movie.
"How about now?"
Erika rubbed her temples.
"Are you trying to be sneaky… or just look extremely suspicious?"
Akira spread his hands.
"I'm not good at fashion, alright? You help me then."
Erika stared at him for a long second. Then a slow grin spread across her face.
"Fine. I'll help you with it."
Akira took a step back.
"…Why do I have a bad feeling about this?"