March 16

A single white car rushed down the streets along the edge of Kunugigaoka town. It would start and stop jerkily at each light and sign, but its driver, ever tapping on the wheel impatiently and glaring at the road ahead, was scrupulously following traffic rules to the letter. The young detective, with a sharp, narrow face and a deeply furrowed brow under a spiky starburst of red hair wished he had a siren to use, but this wasn't a department car, and he wasn't exactly on an official dispatch.

"What are we doing out here, kid?" Came the baritone voice of his partner, a much older, much rounder man with a gray suit, gray eyes, receding gray hairline and, if you asked the younger one, a gray personality too. And not in the morally ambiguous sense. He was leaning on his elbow, looking out the window at the passing forest behind the buildings on that side of the road.

The younger man's fists tightened. Earlier that day, Kunugigaoka Academy had reported a bomb threat at their satellite campus, right before there was an explosion that could be seen and heard throughout the town at the top of the mountain behind the school. Inexplicably, the local precinct had been handed orders from above to stay well away from the area and wait for a Special Assault Team to be deployed from Tokyo central. Which had taken over an hour, and longer for them to arrive. It was ridiculous. But there was more. "There's something going on at that school. This entire year, we've had to get special permission to conduct any kind of investigation in the outskirts. Not only that, you remember a few months ago, when there was that suicide coverup, after we suddenly got a huge donation from somewhere. What kind of school has the budget to throw around that kind of money? We've been hearing all kinds of rumors for months, and now this happens?" Whether it was simple corruption or something worse from the realm of conspiracy theories, the young man hated to have something so suspicious happening in his town.

The other sighed. "There's much more than just rumors about that place."

Green eyes turned towards the more experienced partner. "You know something?" And he hadn't told his partner. This was hardly the first time the now annoyed younger detective had brought the school up.

Slowly, the old man met his glare. "Nothing we have a law for." He sighed again when his fiery coworker just redirected his ire to the road. "You tire me ou- Woah!" He flailed as his elbow slipped when the car suddenly took a sharp turn into Kunugigaoka Academy's rear parking lot, behind the soccer field and next to the assembly hall.

Four black hummers and two armored vans were already there, surrounded by a couple dozen men in dark blue and black urban combat armor. The young man pulled into a parking space not far from them, stepping out of the car almost before the engine stopped. Five of the SAT members were already moving to intercept him.

"Hey, you can't be here! This is a controlled zone!" The first one raised his hand to halt him.

But the young detective wasn't intimidated, even by the face-obscuring helmet or their superior numbers. He already had his badge out. "Yamato Tsugaki, Kunugigaoka police department, detective squad. My partner, Ryuuhei Oosuga." He looked over his shoulder, and twitched angrily. The old man was still in the car. He steeled himself for having no help and pressed on. "What exactly is going on here? This is our jurisdiction, and we're not just going to ignore this." Even without any real authorization, he hoped that invoking the word jurisdiction, the trigger of all interdepartmental squabbles, would make them give some kind of explanation for this level of force being deployed.

Towering over Tsugaki, the SAT man wasn't having any of it. "Listen, kid, our orders came from the Commissioner-General of the NPA himself. We're going to arrest and detail every single person we find up there, no matter who it is. You step one foot on that mountain, and you won't have a job by the time you step off. Now clear out."

Tsugaki glared for a few seconds, but a rebuke like that was stronger than he thought it would be. It was a big surprise to hear just how far up this went. All the way up to the highest ranking police officer in the country. Immediately, he knew he'd have to take a different tack. He was stubborn, but not stupid enough to try his luck there. So he turned back to his car, where his partner, Oosuga, was finally pulling himself out.

Jabbing his thumb in the direction of the SAT member who had stopped him, Tsugaki growled. "That guy... Do I really look that much like a kid?" He was twenty-seven.

Oosuga raised an eyebrow at him. Now that they were both standing, the old man was literally head and shoulders taller than his partner. "I told you not to bother. This whole situation has had 'above our pay grade' written all over it from the beginning."

"Be quiet." Tsugaki suddenly said, holding up a finger. Oosuga started to open his mouth to lecture him on his manners, but was stopped. "Shh. Look." He jerked his head slightly in the direction he had his ear cocked towards.

Two columns of SAT troops had started to make their way from the command post set up in the parking lot, up to a dirt path that led to the top of the mountain, only to be stopped by the appearance of a single man in a black suit and tie, with sharp eyes and hair parted down the middle. He wasn't all that tall, yet he cast a shadow over all of them. Despite the guns being trained on him, forget not being intimidated, he barely even reacted to their demands to identify himself. "Captain Ken'ichi Ukai, of the department of intelligence, currently attached to the third platoon of the Special Forces Group."

Tsugaki was almost staggered. The Special Assault Teams were highly trained and well equipped police units meant to handle dangerous situations that street officers couldn't, the SWAT team of Japan. The Special Forces Group? They were the same thing, but for the military. Only recently established, and taken from the best of the elite 1st Airborne Brigade, and trained under a regimen modeled after the United States' Delta Force for counter-terrorism and anti-guerrilla warfare. Some people, like Tsugaki himself, thought they were symbolic of Japan moving away from pacifism as a nation.

"The matter in question on this mountain is our concern." Ukai said with absolute formality and certainty. "If you attempt to interfere, I will personally remove every single one of you."

If this guy was the one the SFG was using to represent themselves, then he alone could probably do exactly that. But what could a unit like that possibly be doing here? And why was there a schism between the police and the military? Tsugaki's eyes narrowed. There was something much bigger going on here, and whatever it was, there was no way it was aboveboard.

"Look!" The situation between the SAT and that one man was tense, but a second later one of the officers called out and pointed at something far into the mountain. Tsugaki glanced up from his careful eavesdropping as well, to see a bright red flare shooting up out of the forest.

Ukai's hand went up to his ear. "Who sent that up?" He demanded quickly. To Tsugaki's eyes, he seemed surprised by the answer. "Investigate, but be careful. Expect an ambush at any moment. And if you see them, don't shoot first!" He turned on his heel and started up the path, until he seemed to almost disappear into thin air.

"Get in the car." Tsugaki told his partner, power walking to do just that himself. Behind the wheel, his hands were almost quivering, but he somehow managed to drive off sedately, without looking like he was in any kind of hurry, until he rounded a corner and was out of sight of the school.

"This isn't the way back to the station." Oosuga noted, with a tone of resignation.

No, it wasn't. Tsugaki was going to head further west, around to the side of that mountain, and climb up from a direction that wouldn't be watched.

...He frowned when something tickled his memory. He had been in a hurry to get away from that school, so he didn't stop to take a second look, but for a second he could have sworn he'd seen a ninja peeking out of the tree branches.

By the time the police and military had arrived at Kunugigaoka Academy, most of the students of class E had already long since changed back into their regular uniforms and stuffed the special ones into their bookbags. They easily escaped with their freerunning skills in the numerous places where they could jump from ledges on the mountain to the roofs of the city. Only Megu Kataoka, Hinata Okano and Hiroto Maehara were left behind, as the most mobile of the students, aside from Kimura. Once well away from the forest, they dropped into alleys in groups and split up as planned, heading by various routes into a pricey residential area, following Ritsu's directions.

Fortunately, it was still mid-afternoon, and very few people would be around. They were able to move without attracting attention. The building they were directed to was an ornate two-story place, decorated in the style of a temple from the statues on the roof to the wooden doors on the ground level, built unusually heavy for a house. It was surrounded on all sides by open space and walls, with silently bubbling fountains and rock gardens landscaped into delicate ripples. But no trees, or any other cover whatsoever. The area between the walls and the house would be extremely difficult to cross if the people inside did not want you to.

But the students didn't have it in them to appreciate all that right then. They just wandered in their groups, one after another, up the front stone path and set about the getting settled in and planning their next move. There was enough room inside that they would all be able to fit without things getting too crowded. But then it would be a matter of avoiding cabin fever. Every single one of them wanted to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.

To that end, Karasuma decided that he had to call in to his superior, the director of intelligence, Gouki Onaga, to try to get any kind of information about the situation. There was very little risk involved. When Ritsu had installed her mobile app on all their cell phones, she had completely replaced their communication protocols. She had also hacked into various cell towers around the city to facilitate her own needs, as transmitting back and forth between her core and her mobile apps took quite a bit of bandwidth. With this system, if someone tried to trace their cell phones' location, she could make them appear to be anywhere or nowhere, as well as block any attempt to remotely activate their microphones or cameras. And they really needed all the information they could get. So Karasuma stepped out the front door into the garden where nobody's voice would be accidentally overheard and made the call.

"Karasuma! What the hell is going on out there!" Came a shrill voice as soon as the call connected. For such an old, large man, Gouki Onaga could really hit some high notes when he was mad.

"I was hoping you could tell me, sir. We were attacked by soldiers from the 1st Airborne." Karasuma said, doing his best to keep his own voice even. It wasn't clear if he was still speaking to an ally, so he didn't want to give anything away unnecessarily.

"What!? I haven't heard anything about that! Argh, the whole government has been in chaos for weeks! We can only keep all those deaths under wraps for so long. Even though we're gradually reporting that they all died at different times of different causes, it all looks too suspicious. If only that thing hadn't found out about that. You still don't know how he learned of it?"

It was typical of his superior to focus only on his own troubles. The 'that' which he was referring to was the plan to use a small nuclear device to kill the monster that threatened the world. But the plot was discovered and leaked before it could be carried out, and in retribution nearly the entire leadership of the world council created to deal with the situation was murdered. Only afterward had Karasuma officially been told of the plan, and he was ordered to find the source of the leak. Except he knew the source. It was himself, after a coworker had warned him about it in advance. But so long as his students still needed him, he had no intention of revealing the truth. Anyway, he needed to get things back on track.

"Now that he's dead, it's unlikely we'll ever know the truth. We have more immediate problems to deal with."

"He's dead?" Onaga's voice was strung out with disbelief. "The plan worked? You're absolutely certain?"

"...Yes, sir." But despite what he expected, Karasuma did not feel triumphant. There was just a cold sense of satisfaction, of being just flat out done with a troublesome situation. Even if he wasn't focused on the new problems facing him and his students, he didn't think he'd be happy with the outcome.

Onaga was silent for a long moment. Finally, Karasuma heard a heavy, exhausted sigh and the creaking of a chair. "...At last... Right after we noticed the radio blackout over the mountain, I sent in Tsuruta, Ukai, and a team from the SFG to find out what happened. Last I heard, they were searching for the source of a flare that someone sent up."

"That was us." Karasuma explained. "We left some people behind to lead whoever came investigating to our attackers."

"Left some people behind? Well, where are the rest of you?" Frustration was starting to show in the director's voice.

"Safe. The students wouldn't want me to reveal our location. They're feeling paranoid about what may happen next." Karasuma spoke neutrally, not wanting to let his boss know how strongly he was on their side, or how much they suspected. "I'm going to stay with them to make sure they keep out of trouble. But it would be very helpful for regaining their trust if you could call the Minister of Finance and tell him to confirm the completion of the contract so their pay can be released from escrow."

"That... That's going to be a problem." Karasuma felt a sudden tension in his shoulders and brow. Was Fuwa's deduction about to be confirmed? "We had him here in the building with us in anticipation of your victory, but he seems to have... left." So then, that was it. With this, the identity of their opponent was all but confirmed. Good. "Karasuma, you have to convince them to come in. We can't have a bunch of your trained killers running around wild at a time like this."

That was not so good. Gouki Onaga was well liked among his subordinates in a certain particular way. He often used too many ambiguous pronouns and didn't give specific instructions or take firm stands. It was confusing, but it also gave them a lot of leeway to choose how they handled their work. They could make the right choices he didn't have the courage to make. But when he got specific, that's when things became difficult. If he ever made up his mind, trying to change it was often futile.

Karasuma had to try, though. "I'll do what I can, but I doubt they'll listen. And any attempt to take them by force will end up as a very public debacle. Rest assured, I will keep them in check, but to do that I need to maintain their trust in me."

That was when Karasuma noticed three hooded figures peeking in through the front gate. Kataoka, Maehara and Okano. He waved his last three returning students towards him, but also held a finger up to his lips, instructing them to be silent.

"Not good enough. I've had the new Chief of the Joint Staff and the Prime Minister breathing down my neck for weeks to make sure this all gets wrapped up quickly, cleanly and quietly... There's a lot of powerful people who have been frightened of the future for the past year, and they're looking for a way to feel powerful again. You don't want their attention falling on you."

The question was if Onaga was one of those people. Asano had really put class E into a bind by publicly blaming the old school building's destruction on them. With that, it would be all too easy to declare them all dead. It would be huge news, but it would effectively cover up every other secret they wanted to keep. All they had to do was get their hands on the students.

"As I said, sir, I'll do my best."

"...I suppose your best will have to do. I won't order you to give up their location now. I'm sure they're listening in. But if you can't get them to see reason, you know what you have to do. Either way, I'll expect another call soon. In the meantime, we'll see if we can't reign in that damn Chairman from revealing any more information about classified operations. But he could reveal everything to the public if he wanted to, so our hands may be tied. The last thing any of us needs is for public panic to get any worse. And Karasuma, don't end up in a gutter somewhere."

And that was all he managed to get. Karasuma stared at his phone in stoically contained exasperation.

Maehara cleared his throat. "Sooooo... Good news or bad news?"

The fact that the director of intelligence sent in an SFG team separately from their other attackers meant he was almost certainly not their enemy. For the moment, anyway. But with pressure being put on him from above, that could change at any time. Especially considering that he was clearly afraid of the class. And he was expecting an update from Karasuma with a few days at the most. As much as he wanted to put it off, Karasuma did not have long before he'd have no choice but to burn his bridges with the government he'd sworn loyalty to. "Bad." Karasuma finally said, turning on his heel to go inside.

Inside the house, past the multiple rows of discarded shoes in the entryway, was a sitting room. The walls were undecorated, but there were several vertical slat windows. A wooden coffee table was surrounded by a pair of thick, comfortable couches and one quilted leather armchair, with a large plasma screen TV off to one side. In a corner, Ritsu's computer core had been stashed, without her screen or other equipment. Just a rectangular metal frame mounting a series of circuit boards and fans, plugged into a wall socket. The three students paused in surprise at who was in the room. Irina and Isogai were each in the middle of one of the couches, with a third unexpected person folding his hands in the single chair.

"Lovro-sensei." Kataoka greeted, moving to take a seat next to Isogai. Okano sat on his other side, while Maehara leaned over his friend from behind. "What are you doing here?"

The Russian's deeply lined face looked up from their discussion. "This is my house. Recently purchased. Nobody in your government knows about it." He said, discounting Karasuma, who had chosen to sit on the far side from him next to Irina. "Mr. Isogai was just telling me about some of the troubles you've been having."

Isogai nodded grimly and turned to Karasuma. "So, what did you find out?"

Karasuma quickly explained their status with the department of intelligence, and how the Minister of Finance had vanished from under their noses, along with any chance of retrieving the payment for the class's contract. It didn't take long for the grim mood to spread to the other students.

"So, we'll have to use that money after all." Kataoka said into her fist, looking down at the table.

"That money?" Okano asked, before realization dawned on her face and she shot to her feet. "You can't! We swore we wouldn't touch it!"

Kataoka slapped her uniformed thigh loudly and glared up at her classmate. "I don't like it any more than you do! But we don't have a choice right now. Those are the only funds we have access to!"

Okano made a disgusted noise, vaulted over the couch and stormed out of the room. Kataoka slumped back on the couch with a heavy sigh, looking terribly melancholy.

Lovro raised a curious eyebrow. "Might I ask what the meaning of that was?"

"I was going to mention it in a minute." Isogai said, looking at his fellow representative sympathetically.

"No, I'll explain." Kataoka said, sitting back and letting the soft cushions partially absorb her. "You know our classmate, Itona, who used to have tentacles, but had to have them removed after a while. A couple days ago, he came to me with a plan to get revenge on the person who gave him those tentacles, Shiro. The others overheard us and became suspicious. Why did he think he'd be able to pull off a mission like that with only two people for help? It didn't take long for Ritsu's sensors to confirm that he somehow regrew them, and this time he even had an antimatter heart. The orders came down immediately. We had to destroy those cells, no matter what. We couldn't let any trace of that power continue to exist.

"We wanted to just talk to him about it, but we didn't know how he'd react. The risk was too great. So we let him think that we didn't know, and waited for him to come to us. But he never did. So our plan was to let him carry out his mission against Shiro, who we expected to have some kind of defense against tentacles. He always did. Itona would be weakened, and then Karma would stab him to destroy the antimatter heart. With all his special cells connected to it for energy, that would mean they'd all die in a chain reaction, for good this time, but Itona would survive.

"But there was a complication. Shiro had transformed himself into a tentacle creature as well. Karma decided on the spot that if Itona wasn't allowed to have that power, then Shiro wasn't either. And Shiro could have been very dangerous to our own assassination as well. So he let the two of them fight until Shiro was dead. And then he stabbed Itona in the back. We got him out of there, and took him to the hospital. He should be okay. He just won't ever trust us again." And for that they were paid 750 million yen. Less than pocket change for betraying one of their own. Especially for one that Megu thought of like a little brother.

All eyes suddenly shot to the ceiling as a loud thumping came from above, and then down the stairs towards them. Isogai sighed heavily as Terasaka ran into the room and knocked Maehara out of the way, almost spitting fire. "What the fuck! Stabbing him in the back wasn't enough, you gotta go back on your word not to spend that blood money too!? And have you even thought about warning him what's going on!?"

Megu's eyes fell. Yes, Terasaka was close to Itona too. Having two people who argued for what she felt inside, to not use that reward, made all the justifications seem meaningless. She was just so tired.

A beeping from Terasaka's pocket led him to take out his cell phone. Mobile Ritsu was displayed on the screen. "Terasaka-kun, I have been monitoring Itona-kun's situation. He has been checked in to the hospital under an assumed name, and his cell phone is propped up on a table so I can view him through the camera. His condition is stable, and there is little chance of him being discovered, as Kataoka-san and Karma-kun were quite careful to not leave evidence."

Isogai slowly got to his feet and stared Terasaka down with the couch between them. "Yes. We're using it." He declared. "Keeping ourselves armed and supplied is not going to be cheap, now that the government isn't funding us. We're getting our reward. I'll do whatever it takes to make sure of that."

"Whatever it takes?" Lovro interjected, his hands clasped on his lap. "You should be careful, young man. A resolution like that can run away on you."

Maehara, after throwing a little angry glance at Terasaka, waved a hand dismissively. "It'll be fine if we wrap things up quick. Everyone's underestimated us this whole time. They don't even know about our secret weapon." He said smugly.

Lovro sat up a little straighter. "And what is this secret weapon?"

"It's a secret." Isogai responded firmly, just as Kayano entered the room with a cheerfully normal smile, carrying a tray with a black teapot painted with colorful flowers and several matching cups. Takebayashi came in with her.

"Still, the master is right." Irina said, leaning forward. "Sometimes you just don't get paid, and there's nothing you can do about it unless you're willing to go after your employers. That's very difficult when your employer is a first-world government."

Karasuma picked up from there, not wanting his students to get ideas. "And you have to plan your moves carefully. If you do something that can't be covered up, a normal life will be barred to you forever. When it comes to situations like this, even the government will act with disregard for the law, but you can't take that as a license to do whatever you please. You can't overthrow the entire government. There may be a point when you just have to give up."

Isogai's leg shot out and banged into the coffee table just as Kayano was putting down the tea tray, making it rattle loudly. Everyone startled. An outburst like that was unheard of from him. "No." He walked away to one of the slat windows, leaning his hand against the wall. There was a placid fountain outside. It didn't calm him at all. He swung around, eyes blazing and voice frigid. "We were thrown into the mud. Told we were failures who had no future. Made targets of scorn and hatred. Everyone turned their backs on us, from school to friends to family. And then he appeared. He was our target, but even though we literally tried to kill him every single day, he loved us. Taught us how to hope again, how to be strong. Gave us knowledge and made us proud to be assassins. Thanks to him, we can all become whatever we want to be, or so we believed. But now the same people who told us to kill the greatest person any of us will ever know say we're too dangerous to walk free? That all the hope he gave us is going to be undone? Never. If we have to dig up enough dirt to ruin the entire Japanese government, then that's what we'll do. If we have to kill everyone last person who would come after us, we'll do that too."

The speech was greeted with awed silence. Karasuma had more than a twinge of concern, especially since the other students were all hanging on Isogai's every word. Even Terasaka looked impressed.

But Lovro simply picked up a cup of tea and saucer, and took a refined sip. "Even after everything you've been through, you have no idea how far a person can fall."

Isogai clenched his fists and returned to his seat. However, Lovro wasn't done.

"Very well. I will cover your expenses."

Everyone reacted with surprise. Irina most of all. "That's... extremely generous, master."

But Lovro waved her off. "I'm certain you'll be able to pay it back some day. And you did save the world. I, at least, know how to show my appreciation for that kind of act."

Isogai gave him a suspicious glance, but everyone else seemed pleased enough with this solution to the conflict. Except for Kayano.

"Well, that's wonderful." She said. "But we have problems other than money. Like, this house has plenty of food. Lovro-san's prepared for the end of the world (so to speak). But it only has four bathrooms. I don't think that's going to be enough for all us, especially after a mission when we need to clean up."

Kataoka nodded wearily. "Right. Uh... If people just need to wash their faces, they can use the sink in the kitchen. But we'll still have to set time limits."

"...Also, I've assigned rooms for everyone. Kataoka-san, you're with Kanzaki and Fuwa in the third room on the left upstairs. And I think you should probably go get some rest."

Kataoka blinked rapidly. "You do? Why?" It was only about three in the afternoon.

"Well... You haven't gotten much sleep these last two nights, have you?"

"I..." She trailed off. It was true she had stayed up late preparing for and then executing Itona's mission. And then there was the guilt. She had probably only slept four hours in the last two days. It was amazing that she was still up and running. With a sigh, she slowly stood. "You're right. I'll just change out of my special uniform and wash up a bit before sleeping for a while."

"We'll be sure to wake you before our mission to that hidden facility." Isogai assured. "Oh, and if you see Chiba and Mimura, send them down. We need them to scout for us."

Irina called after her too. "And don't worry about clothes. I already got a whole wardrobe for all of you!"

Kataoka paused with a wince, wondering exactly how that would turn out, before leaving. Terasaka wandered off too. Kayano cleared her throat.

"Sugaya-kun asked for help moving his disguise equipment from his house to here. He said he'd need at least three people to carry it all. Chiba-kun also wants to visit his own house to pick up his other rifle."

Isogai nodded. "He can swing by his house on his way to scout that location. Sugaya can take Muramatsu and Maehara tonight." He looked over his shoulder at his friend, who nodded back in agreement. He was perfectly okay with not having to deal with a situation that dangerous.

"Are we supposed to avoid our parents?" Maehara asked, wondering how secretive they were going to have to be on that little trip.

Sighing, Isogai leaned back on the couch. "That would probably be for the best. We'll worry them, but it would be too easy to track us through them." Plus, more than a few of them just flat out would not help the class at all. "Unfortunately, we're likely to need outside help at some point, and we're not exactly overflowing with allies."

Lovro put his cup down. "I'm afraid even I won't be much help there. Your government is now familiar with most of my hitmen. But if you need unknown allies, surely there must be some people you've met over the past year who you can turn to."

Drumming his fingers on his knees, Isogai wondered if what he was about to ask was wise. He didn't want to offend or otherwise annoy their host. Still, better to find out now than have to deal with a worse situation later. "Lovro-san, your help is very much appreciated... and I can't help wondering if you're still interested in recruiting us as your students and underlings." He phrased as unaccusingly as possible.

Lovro chuckled, seeing right through to his real concern. "For your information, my 'underlings' are simply subcontractors who I organize jobs for. It's not like I can force them to do anything they don't want to. But rest assured, I have no interest in that any longer. In fact..." He rubbed his chest gingerly. "The truth is, I may have survived my encounter with the God of Death, but my health will never be quite the same. Traveling around the world is too stressful for me now, so I won't be able to fulfill my role as the Hitman Dealer for much longer. As soon as I can arrange for a replacement, I will be taking the considerable fortune I've built up over the years and retiring under the best false identity money can buy."

Karasuma's eyebrow twitched at this flagrantly open admission of criminal intent.

Accepting Lovro's explanation, because he really didn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth too much, Isogai turned to Maehara. "Didn't you have a girlfriend from another school who does urban exploration?"

Maehara blinked in confusion. "Who, Chiho?"

"No, the other one."

"Oh, Hoemi!" Maehara grinned... and then frowned. "Yeah, we didn't really part on good terms." But then the grin came back. "What about Nagisa's 'boyfriend.' Yuuji Norita. He's the son of a big TV moderator, right? I heard he's pretty savvy, so maybe he could help us."

Isogai and Kayano both grimaced. "Well... It's not like we need that kind of help right this moment. If it turns out we do, Karma can ask. It won't be awkward for him."

"Speaking of whom..." Takebayashi spoke up at last, have been waiting silently for several minutes. He had removed his jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt. One could see that even he had gained a little definition in his arms over the year, and yet he still stood as straight, thin and rigid as a stick planted in the ground. "I've checked him and the others over as well as I could. Kimura and Nagisa are both a bit bruised, but they should be fine, as far as I can tell. However, Karma's right wrist is definitely broken. We used Ritsu-san's 3D printer to make a plastic cast for him. It's only an incomplete fracture with no displacement of the bone, so he shouldn't need a trip to a hospital, but it will still take at least ten weeks to heal fully. Even with his fighting ability, that's going to be a major impairment."

That was bad news. Karma had already pushed himself earlier that day, but if he kept doing that he could permanently damage his arm. He would still be useful with his planning skills, but they'd have to keep him out of the action as much as possible.

Takebayashi tapped his glasses up. He had more to say, on the previous subject. "...Although, if you're looking for allies, I'd think there's one who would be obvious. Gakushuu Asano."

Isogai stared at him wide-eyed. Maehara laughed nervously. "Ahaha. You're serious?"

Takebayashi just met Isogai's eyes, his glasses less reflective than usual. "You and I both know him well enough to understand that there is nobody who has more reason to hate the Chairman. The military is not our only enemy. We also have to deal with him. Even killing him won't work. We need to undermine and expose him in order to overturn his lies about our cheating. For that, we need access to his personal and official files, and who would be more able to get them?"

"And the fact that you actually did blow up the old school building?" Irina pointed out.

A trollish smirk twisted half of Takebayashi's face. "The formula I used was an extremely complex, dangerous, unstable one. It would be unreasonable to assert that a middle schooler created it."

And if a grudge against class E could be proven, that would make Chairman Asano the only likely suspect. But was it really that easy? Or could it be that he still had more moves to play? Isogai tried to think. If he expected them to make that move, what would he do next? Well, in order to prove they cheated, he'd need to show them nosing around in the school's offices. Which they had never done. There should have been no solid proof at all for cheating. So only the charge of destroying the satellite campus would hold up. But by sneaking into the school's files and records, they might end up providing that evidence. Time stamps on surveillance footage could be falsified by simply changing the system clock.

So it would seem they definitely needed help from someone who wouldn't be out of place, like the president of the student council. Knowing Gakushuu, he'd know exactly where to get what they needed, so he could be in and out quickly and not seem like he was scouring the place. But on the other hand, it was Gakushuu Asano. He was vicious, crafty, ruthless, manipulative, and power hungry. Not to the same extent as his father, but he aspired. Class E had dealt with some dangerous things. Gakushuu would have tried to take those same things and exploit them, which would have been dangerous for the whole world. And Isogai did not think that any of them or all of them would be able to stop him or convince him not to one hundred percent of the time. Dealing with him was like dealing with Karma on a bad day, except Karma had more of a moral code. He only went after people he thought deserved it. Gakushuu would act against anyone if doing so gave him an advantage.

But they really needed those files.

"...I'll make a decision with Megu tomorrow, once we know a little more about what solving all this is going to take." He finally said.

The leaders of the class weren't the only ones feeling conflicted. In the kitchen on the first floor, Hara and Muramatsu were flitting around, trying to make enough food for everyone, since none of them had anything other than a few snacks since breakfast, if they even managed to eat that. The two of them were still exchanging their usual barbs, but the sting just wasn't in them. A few others were watching them, but most were chatting quietly in the adjacent dining room. Nakamura was the most active of them, running around and brightly trying to keep everyone in good spirits (so she could keep her own up). She may have been overdoing it, though, since one particularly strong clap on the back made Kimura actually stumble.

In a corner, Chiba and Hayami were sitting on the floor together. They didn't say anything, but it wasn't necessary. Chiba had almost killed two people, and come within a fraction of a second of probably dying himself. He didn't have the words for what he was feeling. He couldn't tell anyone else that he had been afraid for hours. That his finger felt the ghost of a trigger, and it burned him. But the shaking of his hand when Hayami laced her fingers in between his said it all. They stayed that way silently for quite some time, until Terasaka dropped by and told them Isogai needed Chiba. The long-banged boy paused for barely a second before rising to his feet to see what his class needed him to do.

And upstairs, in a room full of racks covered with white tarps, some of which had to be moved to make room for the three futons rolled out side by side in the middle, Sugino was helping a shirtless Nagisa get cleaned up. The exoskeleton he had worn earlier that day had been removed and laid in a corner, just a dozen or so strips of metal connected by disc-shaped joints. It had been a very tight fit, giving its wearer red marks and bruises all over his torso and right arm, along with black smudges of graphite lubricant that Sugino gingerly wiped off with a wet cloth while muttering quietly.

"Just what the hell is up with all this? Do these people literally not know the meaning of the world gratitude? We should be heroes." Nagisa didn't join in on his friend's ranting. It was enough that he wasn't getting rough with that cloth in his anger. "Forcing us into the assassination, blowing us up, poisoning us, trying to drown us, and whatever else I'm forgetting. They must think of normal people as toys." The fact that nearly all of the people responsible for that were dead wasn't making any of them feel better. There was apparently an endless supply of people in power who thought the same way. "Could they possibly be more unfair? Stringing us along with a reward like that, and then pulling it away at the last second. Do you think they ever intended to give it to us? It just makes me want to..." Sugino trailed off.

The door slid open, and a red head leaned in with a mocking grin. "To what? Kill them? Like you could."

Sugino stopped and scowled. "Karma. How long have you been there?"

But it was Nagisa who spoke, quietly and tiredly. "A while. Were you hoping to be asked in when I noticed?" He asked, looking out of the corner of his eye.

Karma frowned, but it quickly gave way to a smile and a laugh. "Man, you're gonna need another rag. That one's turning his skin gray."

He invited himself in while Sugino looked at Nagisa's back. It was true, his cloth was getting pretty dirty, and starting to spread the graphite more than picking it up. Karma's head was swiveling back and forth, taking in the room. Peeking under one of the white tarps, he saw a rack full of what looked like AK-47s. Real ones. He grinned giddily at the thought of them, but then he remembers his broken wrist. He wouldn't be able to aim very well with only his left arm.

Nagisa was watching him more intently now, his brow furrowed in confusion. "Karma-kun, are you high?" He hadn't seen his friend like this in... a year and a half, at least.

Karma shrugged and pulled up his right sleeve, showing the white plastic webbing holding his arm rigid. "Takebayoshi gave me something for this. It's pretty good stuff. You downers look like you could use some."

Nagisa frowned and was about to remind the other how he felt about abusing drugs, especially at a time like this, but Sugino's quiet voice interrupted him. "I could do it." Both others looked at him in confusion, having forgotten what he was talking about. Sugino was looking down at his hands intensely. "I could kill. I told Chiba to shoot those helicopters down. I... don't think he would have done it if I hadn't said to..."

"Pfft, is that all?" Karma laughed.

"I'm being serious here!" Sugino shouted angrily.

"No you're not. Wait until you've actually killed someone, then you can get all emo about it."

"It's not like you've killed anyone either! All you're good for is stabbing friends in the back!"

Karma grabbed Sugino by the shirt, but couldn't lift him much with only his left hand. "Maybe I am. Guess you'd better watch yours."

He may have been threatening Sugino, but a quaver in Karma's voice gave him away. Nagisa understood. Even Karma was feeling the pressure. Having little to do until their mission that night was giving everyone too much time to think. He came to them because he wanted to be with friends, despite the tension between himself and Nagisa. He and Sugino had never gotten along that well. They both had reasons to be mad at him, but as much as possible Nagisa wanted to put those aside. He had a lot weighing on him too.

"Stop it, you two. Please."

They both looked at him, and for a second he thought Karma might refuse just to be dickish. But he finally let go with a shrug. "Well, if you want to come to his rescue, I guess I can't fend you both off with one hand." He said, wandering off to look out the window.

Sugino at least was a little more aware of where Nagisa was coming from. "Sorry. You're right. It's my fault." Because expecting Karma not to mess with people was a laughable proposition, so everyone else had to be more mature on his behalf.

Nagisa tried to smile, but it didn't really work. "No... If anyone's to blame for all this, it's probably me." He surprised his friends by saying. Scooting around to face them, Nagisa leaned his head back against the wall, looked at the ceiling, and wondered if it was a good idea to voice the thoughts he'd been having. "I think... it was the first time I killed someone that things started to go wrong. Maybe if I hadn't done that, or killed Takaoka, things could have been different. I feel like that's when things started to go downhill along this path. Maybe we could have had a fun, carefree school life with him instead of... what we got."

Karma frowned silently, but Sugino leaned forward. "No way, man. No way could we have let Takaoka go after what he tried to do to us. Besides, it was heading in that direction before that. Remember Shiro and the pool?"

Nagisa closed his eyes slowly. Sugino wasn't following the lines of cause. "Before I assassinated Fukio Asada, they thought we were just kids playing at adult games. We could have run beneath their notice until we snuck in a victory. But after, they knew better. We were still children to them. Unpredictable, loyal only to ourselves. We've certainly never been the kind of selfless heroes you read about in stories. Still, they started paying attention. Taking us a little seriously. Maybe they worried about what we'd do with our skills after we were done. Maybe they felt we had to be controlled or even exploited. Maybe they wanted a return on the investments they made in us. We expected they'd at least put surveillance on us for a couple years. We must have underestimated how much our accomplishments scared them. How much I scared them. Just like we couldn't run the risk of letting Takaoka live, they can't run the risk of letting us go free when they don't know what we'll do."

Karma had gone very still. Sugino was sitting up straighter and had started biting his lip. "Come on... It's not that bad, is it?"

Eyes opening again, Nagisa's head lolled to look at his friend lopsidedly. He knew he should stop talking. They had come here for companionship, to be less afraid. But he couldn't now that he'd started. "What path is there to solving this situation? We're going to be doing illegal things. It's unavoidable. Breaking into government facilities. Committing acts of espionage. Probably killing quite a few people. That's a bare minimum. If we do all that to find out who's coming after us, and can't find any allies in a government that no longer needs us, who's going to cover up our crimes? What if we have to get help from people in the underworld? It's very likely. But that's yet another entanglement with dangerous people we'll have." By that point, Karma's fists had clenched until his hands almost bled, and Sugino was grasping at his knees, almost looking like he was about to cry.

"And then there's the Chairman, and our destroying the old school building. With that, anyone could get rid of us, and it would all be explained away that we just disappeared after the explosion. An urban myth, or some bizarre conspiracy theory would be all that's left of us. Easily swept under the rug and discounted. The Chairman revealing that publicly may have violated his contract, but whoever our other enemy is will back him up in the government. It was actually a really savvy move. And people usually assume that when you've been accused of something, you must be guilty, so if we take too long, whatever fix we try will not matter in the slightest. This will follow us for the rest of our lives."

"THAT'S NOT...!" Sugino jumped to his feet, shouting. But he couldn't think of anything to say.

The sliding door slammed open, and Kataoka ran into the room. Nagisa looked up at her in surprise, as he dropped to her knees in front of him, grabbed his shoulder, and slapped his cheek with a crack. Even sitting, he was unbalanced by the blow and reeled a bit, trying to get a hand on the floor, until she hugged him into her shoulder. "It's not your fault. None of this is." Her voice shook as she held him. "We'll find a way. There has to be one. Just... don't talk like that."

Nagisa's arms fell by his side and he let her try to comfort him. He wished he could believe what she said. He wished any of them could do more than lie to themselves.

It was a good thing detective Tsugaki was as fit as he was, or else he'd never have been able to get up that mountain the hard way. But he did. Snuck through the forest, up more than one small cliff face, and avoided being seen by any badass supersoldiers along the way. Though, that wasn't too difficult when he found them with their focus centered on what looked like some kind of drained artificial pond carved into the ground. He peeked around the tree his was hiding behind every so often, but mostly he only leaned out just enough for his keen ears to keep track of the scene.

And what a bizarre scene it was. A few of the dark-armored SFG soldiers had apparently jumped into the depression, and were lifting what looked like soldiers from the regular army out of it. Soldiers who had been bound hand and foot by someone. Tsugaki made sure to surreptitiously take a few photos with his smart phone.

The one man dressed like an office worker, Captain Ukai, was standing to the side, talking on his phone and apparently not concerned about anything. Even the other SFG members were keeping an eye on their surroundings like they expected an attack at any moment. It was a long distance away, but Tsugaki could just barely make out what the man was saying.

"Yes sir, that seems to be the case... No, they haven't told us anything yet... I don't think so. There are too few of them to take those guys on. If their mission was sanctioned, there would be a lot more of them..."

Who were 'those guys'? Everyone here was a soldier. So did that mean they were talking about the students? For them to take down fully grown soldiers... The implications were pretty serious.

"There's no sign of them now... Really? Then where did...? Sir, if they start acting on their own... I know... We'll try, but keeping people away from that schoolhouse without revealing more than we hide is going to be tricky... We kept the SAT out of this because they'd ask too many questions... Well, if we had the uniforms, we could pass as officers... Yes, sir..."

This was definitely a cover-up. And it didn't sound like a national security concern. More like some wildly illegal military project that would embarrass a lot of people. Well, there was a reason they should feel that way. Whatever they were doing had to be wrong, and whoever was behind it would face the consequences. Tsugaki almost thought that he'd heard enough, but then the real bombshell landed.

"Maybe we should put out a hit on the Chairman."

Tsugaki's breath froze. Damn, he wish he had recorded that. The suggestion had been made lightly, and judging by the fact that he could almost hear the response shouted from the other end of the line that time, his keenly honed detective's instinct told him that the other party was unhappy with it. But the fact that it had been made at all... felt like a huge clue.

There was a path from this pond that he'd bet led straight back to where the satellite campus used to be. Tsugaki resolved to sneak back along it from afar and check the area out himself, though he had no idea what he'd find. This was turning out to be bigger than he could have imagined.