Chapter 9

Following the previous assassin, a second assassin transfer student to arrived at Class 3-E named Itona Horibe. He was apparently Koro's brother and here to kill him. A match took place and Koro kind of won. That wasn't so weird though. The weird thing was that the guy had tentacles coming out from his head - tentacles like Koro did. Koro's win angered Itona, causing his tentacles to turn black and he began to attack only to be stopped by Shiro, who shot him with a tranquilizer dart. He picked him up and left stating that Itona will be allowed to return to school soon enough.

They had a whole different problem now. The next day, Koro got a notice from school.

"Aha! A friendly class versus class baseball tournament, eh? A healthy body promotes a healthy mind. Approved!" Koro said but then his tone changed a bit hesitant, "Except....I don't think E class is included in the tournament bracket."

"They leave us out to keep things out and even. It's hard to have a tournament with odd number of teams. We get to play the exhibition game in the end though," Mimura said.

Some students, specifically Terasaka and his friends left after saying, "If you tweebs wanna be a laughing stock then fine. Me and the boys got too much self respect. We're out."

"We should ask Sugino for some pointers. He's the baseball guy," Maehara said turning to him, "What do you say man? Any tips?"

Sugino frowned and looked down. He said, "Not to be negative but we're screwed, like royally. The Kanugigaoka team has Shindo as their captain. He's good and colleges are already scouting him. It's not even fair! Not gonna lie though, I'd give anything to beat him. And not just to put up a good fight, but to beat that arrogant in his own game."

This was the start of their baseball practice and Koro taught them every method he knew. Well, the students couldn't keep up but tried their best. He treated the practice like an assassination lesson. While the boys were busy training with Koro, the girls also tried their best. But from the looks of it, many of them lacked in strength and the bat was heavy for some. It was a very busy week.

And it helped Y/N to think about Karma and what she was going to tell him. The day before the exhibition game, she watched the boys take their turns and train with Koro.

"Hey your practice is over?" Sugino asked, and she snapped out of the daze.

"Oh, when did you get here?" Y/N asked as he started drinking some water.

"Just now...you didn't see me?"

Y/N blushed and said, "Uh no. It's just that I've been thinking a lot."

"About Karma?"

"HOW DO ALL OF YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS?"

"Don't be mad but...you're kinda transparent when it comes to him. And we've all seen how you've become different. I mean, you don't exactly avoid him but it feels like you're pushing him away and maintaining some distance."

"Well.." Y/N sighed and said, "Can you blame me? I know he finds it funny to tease me."

"But you like him, don't you?"

"Yeah, I think so? I don't know. He's good at what he does and I guess his 'flirting' worked on me."

"I mean, don't be so sure about him. He can surprise people too."

"Ofcourse, you guys would know about it. Okuda, right?"

"I didn't mean it that way. When I said he's surprising as in...we actually never saw him this restless before."

"...huh?"

"Just talk to him. Besides, he didn't actually mean Okuda, I'm sure. With her chemistry knowledge, it would be a match made in heaven according to him." Sugino sat down beside her and wiped his sweat, "It's purely based on his ideas of evil pranks and tricks."

Y/N stared at him and blushed, "What?"

"Hey, I entered with him that day in the room. I know."

She cleared her throat and looked down at her fingers, "Um, thank you Sugino."

"Trust me, it's just so weird to see him restless around you when he's calm in most dangerous situations. He's clearly bothered by it."

"I didn't avoid him though. I mean...he shouldn't be bothered."

"Yeah, but you're not talking to him like you used to. You're kind of faking your conversations." Sugino got up and fixed his gloves, "Talk to him today cause we have a match tomorrow. Do it for all of us."

"Okay," Y/N said as Sugino ran towards the field, "Best of luck for tomorrow!"

Karma wasn't blind. He saw the smile on Y/N's face as soon as Sugino left. It wasn't that he was jealous. Ofcourse, he wasn't. He knew she was only interested in him. But what actually made him a bit mad was that in this whole time, she didn't smile like that once in front of him. Usually he was the reason for her laughter, most of the time, accompanied with a flushed face as a reward. All he received this whole time was a fake smile.

But Karma got his grin back on his face soon. At the end of the day, Y/N was waiting near the gates. For him, obviously.

"Hello cherry," he put his hands in his pockets and titled his head, "waiting for me?"

"Oh, uh yeah-" Y/N blushed and stuttered, "I- uh, I think I owe you an explanation."

"Damn right, you do. I expect it with interest, though."

"With interest?"

"Economics? An extra something for being late."

"Then I'll deduct some for hurting me," Y/N pouted, muttering.

"Louder cherry," he said staring at her face, "I like it loud."

"Shut up!" Y/N blushed harder, "Anyways, I just....I thought..." She found it difficult to say it. It would be like a confession too right? She couldn't just say 'hey i was mad that you didn't return my feelings'.

"Ahem," she cleared her throat and continued, "Sorry. It's just that I heard you say during the field trip that you...liked Okuda. I mean, it isn't that I'm not fine with it. I'm absolutely okay with it, but I just-"

"-felt jealous?" Karma asked.

Y/N frowned and stuttered, "A-As if! Shut up! We're friends and I felt someone was taking something away!"

"Woah cherry," Karma leaned closer to her, "You are good in finding excuses."

"I'm not-"

"It's fine," he smiled, "You're cute."

Y/N stared at him doe-eyed and blushed, a small smile forming on her face. Karma leant closer to her face, their noses touching. He whispered, "But I've still got to get the interest from you." She closed her eyes and her hands formed into a fists.

Karma chuckled and moved away. He got the reaction he wanted. Well, this time he got more. He also got to see how Y/N was when she felt jealous. It was...cute. The way she fumbled while speaking, trying to maintain the eye contact. She's way too irresistible. How can someone not just tease her after they get to see all these parts of her?

"Okay so, let's go to the movies tomorrow after the match."