CHAPTER 2 - Memorable May (1)
[PULL THE STRESS TRIGGER]
The lesson taught by Korosensei to polish their second blade was all for naught when they came across the unfamiliar questions added in the midterm exam. At that moment, they all knew that they were not going to make it to the top 50.
Since they failed to meet his demand – to reach the top 50 scores in the exam – they feared that their target would leave Class 3-E. But thanks to Karma Akabane's taunting, who also managed to rank 4th despite the unfavorable change on the exam questions, Korosensei took back his threat.
With this, everyone has a newly formed bloodlust to make their comeback in the finals. Needless to say, Hayami was still feeling perturbed at her exam results which would certainly incur her mother's wrath were she to see this.
She felt like doing something to relieve her anxiety. For some reason, the first person she thought of approaching was Chiba.
After hiding her test papers inside her bag, she walked over to his seat. "Do you want to have a go?" she asked.
A smile formed on the corners of his mouth. He was thinking the same thing before she came. "Sure."
As they made their way out of the room, a few pairs of eyes trailed on them curiously.
"They sure are getting close recently," Yada pointed out.
Hands slammed on his forehead as he jerked back, Okajima fussed, "Damn Chiba, so lucky! I also want to become close with a girl!"
Yada gave him a look of disdain. "Well, that's not going to happen to you."
In front of Okajima and beside Yada, Koki Mimura turned around from his seat. "I can see why. They are both our top snipers and they have the same quiet personality," he said.
His left seatmate, Nakamura, crossed her arm across her chest, the other one standing with her index finger up. "What if they are dating? It could explain why they are always together," she said when her aqua blue eyes had glinted with mischief as she grinned.
She, then, stood up abruptly. "Let's go follow them," she declared before pulling Yada by her wrist.
Okajima let out a protest, "Hey, let me come with you!" Then he rushed after them.
Mimura sighed. He would rather not join their sleaziness and interfere with another's personal and private business. Although he wanted to stop them, he knew that it would take more than words to do that.
'Poor Chiba and Hayami,' he thought.
***
Sharing this silence with him brought enough comfort for her as they walked on the forest path. Warm sun rays spiked through the rustling leaves as the birds chirped and the wind blew her legs gently.
There was no need to talk about their failure. There was no need to shout out their frustrations. There was no need to cheer each other up.
Just this was enough.
They decided to go around the mountain and shoot the hidden targets that Korosensei had set up for them. Chiba was carrying a duffel bag containing anti-sensei pellets while holding a rifle. A gun holster girdled Hayami's right thigh with a telescope in her hands.
"There." She pointed to the far northwest as she raised the telescope towards him. Chiba leaned closer and took a peek through its lens. Using the rifle, he aimed for the target, which was almost hidden by the leaves while hanging on the branch.
They continued to trike up, shooting targets on the way until they reached higher ground. On a huge boulder, Chiba set down the bag as Hayami searched for the other targets with the telescope. When she had seen one a few meters away from their position, swinging from a tree, she extended her hand.
After passing her the rifle, Chiba looked through the telescope to see her hitting the target but missing the bullseye. She let out a disappointed huff before aiming again. He put down the telescope and hunched down beside her.
"Adjust the barrel to the line of sight." He inched closer and their arms touched. He tilted the gun downwards. "Like this. Then align your target to the center." Slowly, his hand traveled down the barrel to steady it until it made contact with her hand that was holding the trigger.
"Now after you lock onto the target, take a deep breath, and pull the trigger upon exhaling," he said. Then he leaned back to glance at her solemn and focused expression.
A serene smile hovered the edge of his mouth as he reveled in her beauty, one that Okajima would declare about whenever she entered his field of vision.
After releasing a breath, Hayami pulled the trigger. "Hit," she proclaimed with a satisfied look as shown through the glint in her eyes.
"Nice."
Behind the bushes down below, three pairs of prying eyes were gawking at the two snipers. Yada had released a gasp upon seeing the proximity between the pair with their hands by the trigger overlapping.
Okajima had grumbled incoherent words, filled with envy, while gnawing on his handkerchief.
"Ho ho ho... Now this is getting interesting," said Nakamura who had taken out her phone and had snapped some shots. "I'll definitely send this to Karma."
"But they didn't look flustered or seemed affected," Yada pointed out, a finger tapped on her chin.
Nakamura shoved her phone into her pocket. "Well, they are professional. If they are dating, they are good at hiding it."
Upon glancing over his right to where Yada was crouching, an idea sparked inside Okajima's mind. "Yada, let me hold your hand too," he begged with a lewd sneer.
Before Yada could react, something heavy had crashed to the ground near them. She jumped with a yelp which did not go unnoticed by their stalking victims.
"Korosensei?" Nakamura blurted out, her eyebrow raised.
Ahead of them and atop the boulder, Chiba clicked his tongue. "Missed," he muttered as he propped the rifle against his shoulder, aiming again at the yellow octopus, while Hayami raised her pistol.
Korosensei hastily got up in a panic with sweat forming on his head. "I guess I have been caught. Oh well. I already got some good stuff, might as well..." He let out a shriek when bullets started hailing down his direction. He evaded them simultaneously using his Mach 20 speed.
"To think that Korosensei also thought of following them," said Nakamura as she got up on her feet. "So he's the type who loves gossip."
Korosensei continued to dodge their shots with his green-striped condescending face. "Nurufufufu. I must admit that you two have gotten better but you are still miles away from landing a –" As he was about to finish, one bullet hit his hat, which fell down from his head.
Hayami, who had made the shot, was now skidding down the rocks with a gun and a knife. Chiba remained in his position and continued raining bullets to their target.
Korosensei swiftly caught his hat mid-air as he said, "Oops. I remember that there is a sale today in the supermarket. Sadly, I have to go. Bye!" Just as he had appeared, he vanished in a blink of an eye.
"Almost had it," Hayami stated when her eyes flickered to the spectating trio. "What are you doing here, Nakamura?" she asked.
The three flinched. Turning their heads from where Korosensei was, they gave Hayami, who was staring at them with a serious gaze, uneasy smiles.
"Hi, Hayami. Chiba-san. We are just passing by. Fancy running into you here," Yada reasoned.
"That's right!" interjected Nakamura. "Now we'll be on our way. Have fun, you two lovebirds!" She dragged Yada with her as she bolted away.
Okajima gave Chiba a thumbs-up before catching up to the two girls.
'They are acting weird,' Hayami thought.
When she had climbed back up on the boulder, Chiba was already packing up the rifle and pellet container. "Why do you think they were here?" she asked him.
He slung the duffel bag over his shoulder and handed her a water bottle. "I don't have a clue," he replied. Then he tilted his head, mulling over it when something dawned on him.
"They might be thinking that we are dating," he said right after.
Hayami had just taken a swig from the bottle when she said, "Don't they have better things to do?"
He shrugged.
She sighed and, as they made their way down, a small smirk landed on her lips. "Don't forget to buy me coffee later when we get to the main building," she said.
"Our scores are tied."
"You're wrong. Including Korosensei's hat, I got eleven out of ten."
His mouth slightly gaped. "That's unfair."
"It's not. He is our 'target', so that counts."
He leered over her eyes, which resembled the leaves enshrouding their surroundings. Similar to this forest, being with her made him feel at ease. And beneath her cold exterior, he found her kind-hearted and easy to work with.
"Alright. But that's only because I was actually impressed by your hit earlier," he said.
***
---
𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐍𝐚𝐦𝐞: Nagisa-chan Fan Club
𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬:
Rio Nakamura
Karma Akabane
Nagisa Shiota
𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞: 7:20 PM
---
||
RIO NAKAMURA
Hey, Karma. I've found some juicy scoop today.
||
KARMA AKABANE
Eh ~ what is it??
||
NAGISA SHIOTA
What is it this time? It better be not about me.
||
RIO NAKAMURA
Why not? It's fun to tease you >:)
Btw, here's the pic.
(っ◔◡◔)っ ♥ (insert photo of Hayami and Chiba from the last scene) ♥
||
NAGISA SHIOTA
Did you just spy on them? 0_0
||
RIO NAKAMURA
It's called Intelligence Gathering. Because of that, we are able
to discover another one of Korosensei's weaknesses.
He was spying on them too. That means he likes gossip about
his students.
||
NAGISA SHIOTA
You know you just admitted that you were actually spying on them.
||
RIO NAKAMURA
My bad :p
||
KARMA AKABANE
This is good material. Thanks, Nakamura.
||
RIO NAKAMURA
No problem ;)
||
Also, they shot his hat when they caught him. Pretty
impressive for an impromptu assassination.
||
KARMA AKABANE
Waah scary...
||
RIO NAKAMURA
Do you think that they're dating?
||
NAGISA SHIOTA
Isn't it too soon to assume that? They probably just started to get to know each other.
||
KARMA AKABANE
Nagisa-kun is right. I bet they only became close right now because of the assassination.
||
RIO NAKAMURA
Point taken. But it won't hurt to tease them.
||
KARMA AKABANE
You read my mind :))))
||
NAGISA SHIOTA
Maybe it's better if you leave them alone.
||
KARMA AKABANE
What is this, Nagisa-kun? Do you want us to tease you instead?
||
RIO NAKAMURA
Don't worry, we will still have our fun ;)
||
NAGISA SHIOTA
Just leave me alone TT_TT