Inside the Reaper's hideout, Class E and Koro-sensei were locked in the anti-sensei cage.
Water had already spread across the floor. The drainage plan had started. It wasn't a flood yet, but there was enough water that every step outside the bars sounded wrong.
Farther down the hall, Karasuma and the Reaper were tearing through each other in close combat. Karasuma's shirt was gone. The Reaper's mask was gone too, leaving the peeled, raw face underneath.
The students couldn't see the details.
Nakamura pressed against the bars.
"Hey, what's going on?"
Koro-sensei used his zoom eyes to get a closer look and tried to commentate.
"Uh, er… the Reaper has a knife… no, a wire! He uses that on Karasuma-sensei, and… oh wow! He blocks with his elbow… no good. Eek! He's using his knife as a shield, and seeing that, he switched to a kick, but at the same time…! What a… what a great fight!"
Okano snapped.
"What the heck are you saying?!"
Koro-sensei startled.
"Nihuuu?!"
Maehara turned to him.
"Explain it so we understand!"
Down the corridor, the fight didn't care about the commentary.
Karasuma caught a kick on his forearm and felt the Reaper slip away again.
I don't know what he's hiding. I can't let this drag on.
They separated after the kick.
The Reaper smiled with no lips.
"I'll tell you the truth, Karasuma-sensei. I made up that part about growing up in tragic circumstances. That was social engineering, to pull the women in."
Karasuma frowned even deeper.
"Why, you…"
The Reaper watched him.
"An assassin killed my father. I wasn't particularly sad that he was dead. But the movements of the killer who cut him down before my eyes made me think. What beautiful skill!"
He dropped his knives.
A rose came out of his pocket.
"I was captivated. Assassination is an ensemble of beautiful skills!"
Karasuma tensed, waiting for the trick.
Then they all heard it.
Steps.
In the water.
Calm. Even. Completely unrelated to this place.
Karasuma turned.
The Reaper turned.
In the cage, Koro-sensei's zoomed eyes left the fight and found the corridor.
Akira was walking toward them.
No hurry. No expression.
Water broke around his shoes and settled again.
Karasuma found his voice first.
"Akira?"
Koro-sensei's face lit up.
"Oh! Akira-kun is here!"
Nakamura let out a breath.
"Oh. Is he finally here?"
Okajima grinned.
"Hey, we are saved."
Koro-sensei puffed up.
"Come on. I came to save you guys too."
Maehara pointed at the bars.
"You got locked in here with us."
The Reaper looked Akira over and laughed under his breath.
"Oh. You are here. I knew those things couldn't stop you. I was planning to assassinate you myself."
Akira smiled, but his eyes looked unusually calm.
"Oh, really? Then you'll be disappointed. Because you won't have a chance."
Karasuma started forward.
"Akira, you—"
"Karasuma-sensei." Akira turned to look at him, completely disregarding the Reaper. "Leave this to me. I just need to punch something really hard."
Karasuma froze. Akira looked normal, but for some reason, his eyes gave him an eerie feeling.
The Reaper lifted the rose.
"Then let me show you the essence of the skills I mastered."
He flicked the flower into the air.
His finger came up like a gun.
The shot made almost no sound.
A tiny bullet left his finger and hit Akira in the chest.
Blood ran down the front of his shirt.
Karasuma's eyes went wide.
In the cage, Koro-sensei's did too.
A tentacle snapped out on instinct—the same save he would have used on Karasuma—and stopped short. Akira was facing him. There was no angle.
The Reaper was still talking.
"The Reaper's hidden scythe. Just a 0.10 caliber. Its minute bullets pass—"
Akira's fist took care of the rest of the sentence.
The Reaper didn't see it. He only staggered, the rose still falling somewhere behind him.
Akira was already in front of him, his arm still extended from the punch.
"Nice handgun." His voice was flat. "But unfortunately for you, I don't have a heart."
The Reaper looked shocked.
"Wha—"
The second punch lifted him off the wet floor.
Before he could land, Akira was behind him.
A back-sweeping kick caught him in the air.
The Reaper hit the ground hard enough that water jumped.
The Reaper pushed himself up.
Akira stood over him.
"Is that all you got?"
The Reaper threw a punch.
Akira caught his hand and closed his own around it.
Bone and metal gave at the same time. The finger gun folded. Fingers went with it.
The Reaper screamed.
The scream was cover. His other hand came up with a hidden knife and drove it into Akira's side.
Akira didn't stop him.
The blade went in. Blood ran.
The Reaper laughed through his teeth.
"You're not bad. But that knife is covered in neurotoxin. You wi—"
Akira's other hand moved.
One strike.
The knife arm broke like a twig.
"My mother made sure I am highly resistant to most poison in this world," Akira said. "Even stronger ones. So something like this won't work."
He punched the Reaper in the chest and sent him sliding back across the wet stone.
The man tried to get up.
Akira punched him in the head.
The Reaper staggered.
Akira kicked his leg out from under him. Something in it gave.
A short combo to the face finished the standing. The Reaper went limp.
Akira looked down at him, still breathing a little too evenly.
"Oh, come on. Don't pass out this soon."
His hand started to rise again.
"Stop it, Akira." Karasuma's voice finally caught up. "That's enough."
Akira didn't look at him.
"I don't care. Erika is hurt. So he has to suffer."
Irina, watching from the rubble side of the corridor, froze.
In the cage, Koro-sensei was the only one who had seen every beat clearly.
The same thought hit all three teachers at once.
Something happened to Erika. That is why he is like this.
Just then, a figure dropped from the walkway above.
Erika landed in the water between Akira and what was left of the fight.
"Akira. That was just a scratch." She held up her hand. The mark was already gone. "And it already healed."
Koro-sensei, Karasuma, and Irina had the same second thought.
Wait. All this… for a scratch?
---
After the cage opened, everyone gathered on dry ground farther up the complex.
The Reaper was tied up. He looked less like a master assassin and more like something that had been dropped down a stairwell.
Nagisa stared at him.
"What happened to him? Why is he this beat up?"
The teachers didn't answer right away.
Everyone turned to Akira.
Erika had both arms locked around him from behind, holding him in place. Akira looked at the Reaper as if the man were a mildly interesting puddle.
"Oh, that? He just fell down from a high place and broke all his limbs. So sad for him."
The class had the same thought at the same time.
How?
They understood, without being told, that Akira had done it.
They still had no idea why.
Karasuma cleared his throat and looked at the tied man instead.
"He had marvelous skills, but put too much faith in them."
Koro-sensei's voice was more serious than usual.
"Whoever influenced him was a fool. He could have used those skills to follow a much straighter path."
Akira spoke from inside Erika's hold.
"Yeah. Whoever his teacher is must have been an idiot. Like, couldn't he have taught him basic manners? Yeah. He must have had a small nose and an ugly face and been completely unpopular."
The class looked at him.
Did he wake up and choose violence?
Koro-sensei snapped,
"No, he does not."
Every head turned.
Koro-sensei froze.
He had overreacted. And Akira had clearly figured out more than he should have.
To escape the stares, Koro-sensei spun toward the side passage.
"Oh! Irina-sensei! Where are you going?"
Irina was already trying to slip away.
The class moved as one.
"You bitch!"
"What's the big idea, trying to run away?!"
"Eeek!"
They caught her before she made the corner.
Irina threw her hands up.
"Argh! Just do whatever you want! The boys with their usual pent-up animal lust, the girls with their usual envy of my beauty, just let it all out in an explosion of sexual violence!"
Everyone collectively said,
"Her ideas are getting wild!"
Terasaka clicked his tongue.
"Look. Just come to school like always. No more shirkin' your duties for days on end."
Yada leaned in.
"I'm dying to know more about that story. Swindling Arabian royalty until you were on the brink of war!"
Kataoka held up a book like a hostage.
"If you don't come back, I'll just keep that French Boys Over Flowers manga you lent me!"
Irina looked up, completely bewildered.
"You know I was this close to killing you all."
Takebayashi adjusted his glasses.
"Is that a problem? Backstabbing, treachery… isn't that what makes you a bitch?"
Nakamura grinned.
"And if we can't even enjoy school with a bitch, what are we doing being junior high assassins, anyway?"
Karasuma nodded.
"That's right."
He held out the rose the Reaper had dropped.
"This flower wasn't borrowed from our students. It came from a defeated enemy. Is that good enough for your birthday?"
Irina's face went red.
"…Yes."
The class broke into noise at once.
Koro-sensei lifted a tentacle.
"Karasuma-sensei. A word before things take a turn for the racy?"
Karasuma snapped,
"It definitely won't. But out with it."
Koro-sensei's tone lost the joke.
"I don't want the students involved in this kind of danger again."
More tentacles unfolded. He set one on each nearby head, light as a hand.
"I must insist on an environment where we can safely kill and be killed."
Karasuma's mouth tightened.
"I know."
Akira spoke over Erika's shoulder.
"By the way, Koro-sensei. I am going to retaliate against them."
The class went silent. They looked at him again.
Only then did they remember they still didn't know what had made him late.
Karma tilted his head.
"Why were you late, anyway?"
"Our house was attacked by medium-sized Guntanks," Akira said. "Live rounds. They were very much prepared to kill us."
Silence hit the dry room.
Koro-sensei went black.
He turned on Karasuma.
"Is the government behind it?"
Karasuma didn't look away.
"I don't know either."
Akira's voice stayed level.
"That's why, Koro-sensei. I need to teach them a lesson they won't forget."
"Wait, Akira." Karasuma stepped forward. "Let me handle this."
"No, Karasuma-sensei. Some things I have to handle myself." Akira looked calm, but there was something in his eyes. "I'm still mad. I need something to let it out on."
The hidden outer wall tore.
Something invisible shoved through concrete and rebar, then settled in the wet air beyond the opening.
A hatch split open in empty space. Only the lit interior could be seen.
The class stared.
Is that an invisible jet?
Akira looked at Koro-sensei.
"This is my own decision. For my own future safety. So please don't interfere, okay?"
Koro-sensei opened his mouth.
Nothing useful came out.
Akira glanced down at the arms still locked around him.
"Eh. Erika. This is my time to leave in a cool way and wreak havoc. So can you let me go?"
Erika knew she couldn't hold him like this forever.
She loosened her grip.
"Fine. But remember. No life should be lost today. No excessive injuries either. You have to promise me."
Akira nodded once.
"Yeah. I promise."
He walked into the empty hatch alone.
The door sealed. The ship vanished with it.
Inside, Akira dropped into the pilot seat.
Ritsu's face filled the console.
"Akira-kun, without Koro-sensei to power it, the Moon Infiltrator won't be able to reach its full speed."
"No need to reach that much. The arc reactor in it is enough." He buckled in. "Did you mark all their locations?"
Ritsu displayed a map.
"Yes. I already did."
Akira looked at the map, his face still calm as he grabbed the hand controller.
"Then… let's rain down hellfire."
The invisible ship kicked off the broken wall and climbed.
For a lot of people, it was going to be a sleepless night.