The sticky rainy season ended and the season changed.

Summer arrived, with harsh sunlight beating down on everything.

In the middle of that, Koro-sensei leads us up to the back mountain.

“Nuru-fufufu, now then, we’ve arrived! Behold!”

“Woooah!”

Spread out before us is a Class E-only pool Koro-sensei built.

Apparently Class E’s pool classes are normally held at the main school building, but in this heat, going down the mountain is honestly a pain, so maybe that’s why nobody even does warm-ups, everyone just dives right in.

As for me, I’m floating lazily in the corner of the pool when Hayami calls out to me.

“Hey, did you ever do any sports or anything?”

“No, unfortunately I’m not good at exercise. You’ve seen my training all the time, right?”

“But even so, you feel weirdly muscular…”

“I guess I was born with a body blessed by my parents. Anyway, are you a muscle freak or something?”

“W-what are you talking about?!”

“No, you were staring at my body pretty hard. I figured that had to be it…”

As I say that, I let my gaze slide over Hayami’s body.

Hayami’s cheeks suddenly turn red and she splashes water straight at my face.

“…Pervert.”

“It’s a misunderstanding. I didn’t have any dirty thoughts.”

“Hmph, sure.”

As we keep going back and forth like that, a vicious chill runs down my spine.

I whip around and Kanzaki is standing there.

“You look like you’re having a lot of fun, Kiyotaka-kun♪”

Her face has the same smile as always, but her eyes aren’t smiling at all.

“K-Kiyotaka?! What kind of relationship do you have with Yukiko?”

“Nothing special, she’s just a normal friend, why are you so shaken up?”

“I’m not flustered at all! And Yukiko! You have terrible luck with guys, so don’t let some expressionless, tone-deaf jerk like this get close to you!”

Hey. That last part is just straight-up trash talk.

Why do I have to get insulted like this?

“If you’re saying that, isn’t Rinka-chan the same? And I want to get along with Kiyotaka-kun because I chose to, myself♪”

Am I the only one who can see sparks flying between Kanzaki and Hayami?

I look around for Chiba, praying for a savior.

But cruelly, the one I lock eyes with isn’t Chiba, it’s a devil wearing an annoying grin.

Yeah, there probably isn’t any god in this world.

Karma notices what’s going on and I think I’m doomed, but maybe god hasn’t abandoned me after all.

Beep, beep, beeep!

“Kimura-kun! You must not run on the poolside! If you slip, it’s dangerous!”

Beep!

“Hara-san and Nakamura-san, keep the underwater games to a minimum! If you stay under too long, people will worry that you drowned!”

“Ayanokōji-kun and the others too, stop just talking and swim, since you’re at the pool!”

After that, Koro-sensei keeps blowing the whistle and repeatedly nitpicking everyone.

Normally I’d find it annoying, but right now I’m extremely grateful.

This lets me blur things out with Kanzaki and the others.

With that decided, I ignore the two of them and swim toward where everyone else is gathered.

“You know, there are people who get all kingly as soon as it’s their own custom-made field.”

“Yeah. Even when it’s helpful, it starts to feel less appreciated.”

“Nuru-fufufu, a meticulous design that makes use of nature, from the choice of scenery to the layout! I must have you all play in an orderly fashion!”

“Don’t be so stiff, sensei, come play too♪”

Saying that, Kurahashi splashes Koro-sensei with water.

Koro-sensei lets out a girly “Kyaa!” and flinches for an instant.

He’s not sweet enough to let that opening go to waste and he shakes the chair Koro-sensei is sitting on until it wobbles.

“Karma-kun! Don’t shake it! I’ll fall, I’m going to fall, please, I’m begging you!”

Just from how panicked he is, it’s basically confirmed.

He can’t swim.

And while everyone is buzzing over the discovery of a new weakness, one student quietly disappears into the forest.

* * *

Terasaka POV

“What’d you say? It’s good that your grades went up? Muramatsu, say that again.”

“N-no, I’m ranked the highest I’ve ever been. And it’s all thanks to that octopus’s after-school slime-slime intensive study…”

“You took that after-school slime-slime thing? Slime-slime? Skip that crap and get lost!”

“But there’s a huge difference between slime-slime and not slime-slime…”

“Shut up with the slime-slime!”

I say that and shove Muramatsu back into the tree behind him.

“Tch, you’re chickening out for grades, you traitor.”

I can’t stand it.

Every last one of them is getting swallowed up by that octopus, it’s suffocating.

Unable to hold back my irritation, I head toward the classroom and I can hear my classmates’ lively voices.

“What are you doing, Yoshida?”

“Oh, Terasaka! I was just talking about bikes with this guy the other day. Nobody at this school’s into this stuff, you know?”

“Sensei is an adult and a real man. He’s dabbled in this kind of hobby too. And apparently this bike can hit a top speed of 300 km/h. Sensei, I’d really like to ride the real thing at least once.”

“Idiot! A guy who can move at Mach 20, what are you even saying, hahaha!”

That cheerful laughter grates on my nerves.

Why? This wasn’t supposed to be a place overflowing with smiles.

Where did my place go?

Before I realize it, I’m kicking his bike.

“Nyuyaa!”

“What the hell, Terasaka?!”

“Apologize, will you! Koro-sensei, the adult and a real man, the man among men, is crying!”

“Yeah! Yeah!”

It’s the same thing over and over, sensei, sensei and those words scrape at my nerves.

“You guys are buzzing like bugs, loud as hell. This great me is gonna exterminate you!”

I slam an insecticide can I got from someone onto the floor.

“Terasaka-kun! Even being a troublemaker has its limits…”

“Don’t touch me, monster. I’ll say it straight, you’re disgusting. You too and you guys playing buddy-buddy because you’re being controlled by him.”

I’m sick to my stomach.

I spit that out and walk out of the classroom.

In a few days, it’ll all go back to how it was before.

* * *

The crisis of Earth, polishing yourself for assassination, escaping being a failure, honestly I don’t care.

I just want to live easy, day to day, without thinking.

So I…

“Good work. Here, your reward, 100,000 yen. Thanks to you, I was able to prepare efficiently.”

…This feels more comfortable.

“That octopus has a good ‘nose,’ you know. That’s why I asked someone internal like you. I needed a stage to fully make use of Itōna’s performance.”

Saying that, Shiro looks at me with a smile.

Creepy.

I can’t read what this guy’s thinking either, but this time our interests align.

“You’re weaker than that red-haired guy in your class. Even though you’ve got more horsepower and a bigger build than him, do you know why? Because your eyes don’t have vision. Not the will to win, not the means, not the passion.”

“What the hell did you say?!”

“Easy, easy, calm down.”

“Tch, fine, so let go… what’s wrong?”

Shiro wasn’t looking at me. He was looking behind me.

“No, it was probably just an animal or something. Don’t worry about it. More importantly, tomorrow is the day. I’m counting on you.”

* * *

The day after Terasaka went wild in the classroom, something was already starting to feel off.

“What’s wrong, Koro-sensei? You’ve been crying for a while now.”

“No, those are my nose, so it’s not tears, it’s nasal discharge. Somehow, my body’s been feeling a little strange since yesterday.”

“Oh, Terasaka-kun! I was worried you wouldn’t come to school today!”

“Shut up. I’m gonna seriously kill you soon. After school, come to the pool. Water’s your weakness, right? You guys too, all of you help out. I’m gonna knock this bastard down!”

“Terasaka, you haven’t been helping with everyone’s assassination at all, right? You think if you suddenly start ordering people around, everyone will just cooperate?”

“Fine, don’t come then. If you don’t, I get the 10 billion bounty all to myself!”

Leaving that behind, Terasaka leaves the classroom.

“What the hell is with him…”

“Yeah, honestly I can’t keep up anymore.”

Looks like Yoshida and Muramatsu still don’t know what Terasaka’s trying to do.

“I’m not going!”

“Same!”

Most of the class is already leaning toward not going.

If this keeps up, my plan could fall apart.

“I think it’s fine to go. I’m honestly curious about what Terasaka’s planning.”

“You’re on the ‘go’ side? Still, it’s rare for you to give an opinion, Ayanokōji.”

“…Hmm, what should we do?”

Yeah, with just me, it’s hard to get everyone to switch to going.

I give Kanzaki a look.

“I agree with Ayanokōji-kun too. I don’t want Terasaka-kun and everyone to drift further apart like this.”

“Kanzaki-san too?!”

“If Kanzaki-san says so, I’ll go too!”

If Kanzaki persuades them, most students end up coming to our side.

And there are always guys who agree with Kanzaki no matter what.

“Everyone, just like Ayanokōji-kun and Kanzaki-san said, let’s do it. Since Terasaka-kun finally feels like assassinating me, let’s use this chance to make up together.”

With Koro-sensei and Kanzaki persuading everyone, we end up going to the pool after school.

* * *

“Alright, good. Spread out around the pool like that.”

Terasaka has completely turned into a tyrant.

Watching from behind the bushes, it looks like the target has arrived.

“I see. So the plan is to knock sensei into the water and have everyone stab him. But how are you going to knock sensei down? A single pistol won’t move him even one step.”

“You’re a damn annoying guy. Ready yourself, monster.”

“Of course I am. My runny nose has stopped too.”

“I’ve always hated you. I wanted you gone so bad I couldn’t stand it.”

“Yes, I know♪ After the assassination, let’s talk properly, just the two of us.”

“Quit looking down on me. Come on, Itōna!”

Terasaka shouts and pulls the pistol’s trigger.

In that instant, the fence explodes and the pool water surges all at once toward the rocky area.

“Everyone?!”

To save the students being swept away, Koro-sensei doesn’t hesitate for a second, he sends his tentacles into the water.

Yeah. Not getting in the pool was the right call.

I time my entry around Karma and Terasaka’s argument.

“Karma… and Ayanokōji. Listen to me, I didn’t know about this plan. The reason everyone got swept away is all their fau—”

Before Terasaka can finish his excuse, Karma’s fist flies into Terasaka’s face.

“The one who got swept away isn’t ‘everyone,’ it’s you. If you’ve got time to blame others, why don’t you think with your own head about what you actually want? Let’s go, Kiyotaka-kun.”

Karma and I leave the stunned Terasaka behind and rush to check on Koro-sensei.

* * *

“Long time no see, Koro-sensei.”

“Shiro-san… and Itōna-kun…”

“By the way, what you inhaled wasn’t just water. There’s an ingredient in it that weakens your tentacle movement. With Terasaka-kun helping, it worked out perfectly.”

“Now then, big brother, this is revenge for last time. Let’s decide again which of us is stronger.”

“So fast! And heavy! Far more than before…”

“I reduced the number of tentacles and concentrated that power and speed instead. That way, it’s easier to control, even for a simple child.”

Koro-sensei is getting pushed back badly.

Probably because he’s fighting while protecting the students.

While I’m thinking that, Terasaka comes up from behind.

“Hey, Karma, you told me, right? Think with your own head. But a short-sighted guy like me can’t even come up with a plan. So you control me and make those guys eat dirt.”

“Fine, but can you actually do it? My plan… you might die, you know?”

“Terasaka, if you’re doing it, you should do it fast. Koro-sensei is in a pretty bad spot.”

“Hah, mind your own business, Ayanokōji. I’ll do it. I’m the executioner with a track record!”

Accepting Terasaka’s resolve, Karma starts explaining the plan.

If Karma hadn’t done anything, I was going to step in myself, but I guess Terasaka has grown too.

“Alright then, Itōna, time to finish this.”

“Hey, Shiro! You really screwed me over!”

“Don’t be so angry. We only dragged a few classmates into it. For you, who was isolated in class, it’s a trivial thing, isn’t it?”

“Shut up. You’re going to pay for using me. Hey, Itōna. Fight me one-on-one!”

“You say something interesting. Silence him without killing him, Itōna.”

At Shiro’s signal, Itōna’s tentacle shoots into Terasaka’s stomach.

Terasaka barely blocks it, but he looks like he can barely stay standing.

Still, this is basically game over.

If Terasaka stops their attacks even for a moment, Koro-sensei can rescue the students.

Once the students are saved, all that’s left is to overwhelm them with numbers and keep splashing water until Itōna’s tentacles absorb enough.

“You’ve absorbed a lot of water, huh. That cuts down your handicap. We don’t want the bounty stolen and everyone’s almost dying too. If you keep going, we’ll go all-out playing with water too, you know?”

“Yeah, you got us. Let’s withdraw for now. If we slaughter these kids, there’s no telling how the antimatter organ might go berserk.”

With that, Shiro and Itōna vanish into the depths of the forest.

* * *

After class ends, I enter the forest alone to accomplish my goal.

“Looks like you noticed my gaze.”

“From the way you didn’t enter the pool, that presence yesterday was you, Ayanokōji-kun.”

“I just followed Terasaka because he was suspicious.”

“More importantly, what did you want, stopping me like this?”

“I told you before, I have a ‘proposal.’”

“Oh? Let’s hear it.”

“In my view, Itōna can’t kill that target. Yesterday you lectured Terasaka about vision, but if you can’t even come up with a plan on your own, you won’t grow beyond that.”

“You’re surprisingly harsh. You’re saying you have that plan?”

“Yeah. That’s why it’s a proposal. Shiro, hand over ○○○○ to me.”