Chapter 5: Assassination Classroom

Contrast to how it looked, the insides of the dilapidated building were much more durable and strong. Even the wooden flooring felt so tough.

It looked like that the inners of the building were being renovated every now and then.

Roaming through the corridor, Cale searched for his room. Kaeda Ayano had already disappeared, so he didn't have any guide.

Fortunately, there were plastic signs strapped above each room's sliding door. After wandering for a while, Cale finally found what he was looking for.

'Class 3-E'

His steps stopped as he stood in front of the sliding door.

Just by standing behind the door, Cale could hear the commotions coming from the room. The people inside seemed to be lively.

Cale ignored the ruckus as his head was crammed with another more important matter.

'When did I learn how to speak in Nihongo and read Japanese letters?'

He was too engrossed earlier that he forgot the language he was using.

He recalled that he watched anime for years and most of the time, he would watch them with subtitles. However, hearing the same words over and over again made him quite familiar with them and what they literally meant.

He learned several Japanese words such as 'Yamete' 'Hentai', and many more. But it's not to the point of being able to speak the language fluently and understand it effortlessly.

But now, It seemed to be so natural for him to understand and speak the language as if he had used it in his entire life

'One of the quirks of mine, maybe.' Putting the issue in the back of his head, Cale raised his hand. He was about to knock on the door but abruptly stopped himself.

'The Japanese culture is quite different compared to my country's, so knocking itself might appear rude or something bad to them.'

Cale never bothered to research Japan's culture since it didn't frankly matter to him. After all, he only liked watching anime and reading manga. Nothing more and nothing less.

'Should I say my arrival, then?' After pondering for a while, Cale decided against it.

Although his Nihongo, which was the term of the Japanese's language, he had no idea what their culture was.

'Whatever, I'll just open it.' Gulping his saliva, Cale put his right hand on the handle of the sliding door, with a 'truuud' sound, the sliding door gradually opened.

The commotions inside suddenly stopped and Cale could see teenagers, who were both either standing on the ground or sitting in their seats, abruptly turning their heads in his direction.

"Who's this guy?"

"Beats me, a transfer student, maybe?"

Silence dawned upon them, followed soon by an awkward atmosphere.

Truthfully, Cale was feeling a little bit uncomfortable by the intense and sharp stares he was experiencing.

It felt like he was being secretly yet openly evaluated by each student.

"A transfer student?" A blue-haired student mumbled.

Earlier, He was doing his regular analysis on their assassination target and didn't have the leisure to spare the commotion any mind.

However, as the door suddenly opened, the lively commotions abruptly ceased. It indicated that all of his classmates' attention was turned to the newcomer.

Curiosity took over him as he lifted his head and looked into the room's door location.

Standing outside of the opened door was a young man, looking around his age and was wearing their school uniform.

This was the first time Nagisa saw the newcomer and by how the newcomer looked, he had already speculated that he was a transfer student.

Moments passed by and Nagisa and his other classmates remained silent as they all peered at the newcomer.

"He looks...like an emotionless robot."

Nagisa was feeling quite astounded by the newcomer's lack of response.

Typically, people would show reactions after being stared at by many people for several moments. The reactions would differ from each people, depending on their personalities.

A timid person would show shyness. An arrogant person would raise their head while looking down on them. A fierce person would shout at them, or at least, look at them aggressively.

However, as if he was an emotionless robot, the transfer student didn't even exhibit any fluctuations on his face.

"Ayanokoji-kun! You're here!" The silence was suddenly shattered by a loud and familiar voice.

Hurried footsteps echoed, and soon a figure arrive near the transfer student whose name was Ayanokoji.

"Ayano?"

Seeing the familiar figure, Nagisa marveled.

'Ayano called him his name rather in a familiar way. Are their friends?' However, Nagisa recalled that all in their time together, Kaeda had never told him about someone called Ayanokoji.

Both he and Kaeda shared deep friendships at least that's what he thought. It was deep that both of them shared some of their secrets with each other.

'Then, did they get to know each other this morning?' Nagisa nodded his head. Among his other speculations, this one had the highest percentage of being true.

As her friend, Nagisa assumed that he 'knew' Kaeda Ayano's behavior. Most of the time, she would act familiar or friendly with others.

But, Nagisa felt something was off with his friend today. However, he soon discarded that thought and instead put his attention on the transfer student.

After all, Kaeda was like this often.

'I want to talk to him.' Nagisa's clear-ocean pupils deeply peered into Cale's face.

---

Unable to bear the awkwardness anymore, Cale was about to open his mouth and introduce himself. However, abrupt footsteps coming from the side prevented him from doing so.

As the footsteps got closer, Cale could hear the haggard soft breathing coming from the runner. Giving a side glance, Cale saw Kaeda Ayano running towards him.

"Ayanokoji-kun, you're here!" Kaeda Ayano said while huffing for breath. She took a pink handkerchief and wiped off the sweat on her face.

"..." Seeing how exhausted the little antagonist was, and how it seemed to be related to him, caused him to have urges to scratch his head.

From their interactions earlier, he concluded that he, or at least, his body had no past ties with Kaeda Ayano

'So, why does she act like she's my lifelong friend? Is there something that forces her to do so? The personality she was putting on the surface was outgoing and lively, but it's too much.' Cale could see no reason why the little antagonist was acting this over-friendly to him.

"I was in a hurry to get into the bathroom, so...uhm. Sorry for leaving you alone there." Kaeda Ayano showed an apologetic expression before bowing her head. As if something was itchy, she raised her hand and scratched the back of her neck.

"No one is obligated to help anyone, so don't feel sorry for attending your own matters," Cale said as he discretely studied Kaeda Ayano's actions.

'So, that's how it was.' Through her simple words and actions, Cale quickly realized what's the reason behind her over-friendly actions.

Generally, when people said they went into the bathroom, one would quickly conclude that they were going to urinate or something like that. However, the little antagonist was different than most people.

Kaeda Ayano had transplanted tentacles behind her neck. And without taking the required medications or keeping them in sustenance, the individual with the untreated transplanted tentacles would feel excruciating pain.

She was experiencing the very pain right now.

Most likely, she had taken numbing pills in the bathroom, but evidently, it was not that effective.

'Generally, when a person is in pain that they couldn't bear, they usually tend to put all of their focus on one thing. It is a trick to make the brain subconsciously ignore the pain.'

Back in the past, when Cale was having a toothache or stomachache, he would play games on his phone. From doing it, Cale's brain would overlook the discomfort he was experiencing.

Cale's eyes flickered for a moment while eyeing Kaeda Ayano.

'Right now, Kaeda Ayano is trying to put her all attention on her masked personality to forget the pain.'

"No one has any obligations to help another? Your words are too cold!" The little antagonist said.

"Throughout history, mankind achieves many miracles through helping each other!" She put her hands on her waist, she looked like an elder scolding a child.

Kaeda Ayano was about to continue when the school bells rang.

"This is bad! Hurry and get in, Ayanokoji-kun! The octopus is coming!" Kaeda Ayano's expression changed. Hurriedly, she grabbed Cale's right hand and pulled him inside.

The students inside also hastily went over to their seats, as if something was about to come.

A sudden breeze entered the room through the open window, the breeze then brought wind.

Cale's and his classmates' hair became a mess and their clothes fluttered.

"Not so fast, Ayano-san, Ayanokoji -kun!" A monstrous tall creature that looked like an octopus suddenly appeared.

Its beady eyes stared right into Cale's eyes, its face painted a long stretched smile.

"Ha~Ha~Ha~, you seem to be surprised to see your homeroom teacher? What, you think I'm too handsome and manly? Well, you're right, Ayanokoji-kun!" The octopus-creature released a laugh.

"It's only your first day, but I've already taken a liking to you and your taste. Ha~Ha~Ha~!"