Chapter Text
Typically, whenever Kunugigaoka had an event or something of the like, Class E was usually left out, or some "accident" befell the situation that prevented them from participating. But it went the other way. Being isolated from the rest of the school gave the class plenty of fun without the rest of the school. Not all of their activities had to be secret or training regimes. And of course no one would want to participate because, well, it's class E. They could, in theory, have a super cool and fun event, that technically the whole school would be invited to, and they would have so much fun, and they could actually share that fun!
Kurahashi slapped her hands on the mess of papers taped to the blackboard. "And that sir, is why we should get to have a lock in! Just for 3-E!"
Karasuma-sensei raised an eyebrow. "Wasn't part of your selling point that the entire school would be invited. If you think about it logically, there's bout to be at least a few who decide to come anyway, for good or malicious reasons."
Kayano spoke up from where she stood slightly off to the side. "I thought of that! That's why we'd make it look lame! A lock in in the crusty dusty old campus where all of E will be staying, and we won't add any extra incentives to come, like, oh, a bouncy house?"
"No."
"Yup! Just a single boring night in the run-down campus with the losers of the school! If that doesn't deter everyone, I don't know what will!"
"I don't know. I'd have to-"
That's when the whole class got involved.
"Please, Karasume-sensei?" "Please" "I'll give you this cool rock I found!"
Karasuma felt his confidence waver.
"Please, Professor?" Ritsu called. Her screen showed the most cutesy anime face with puppy eyes that anyone could possibly dream up.
Karasuma sighed. "I'll file a request."
The class erupted into cheers.
Nagisa was pulled from his phone when all-too-familiar voice spoke the words "Class 3-E"
"Yeah," a scoff "like hell I'd ever go to that."
"Stuck for a whole night with those freaks? And to top it off, it's a school event, so there's gonna be teachers there! No fun."
Nagisa smirked. And ran into a man.
"S-sorry." He froze.
Even as the man walked away, there was something... terrifyingly familiar about him. His face was covered by a surgical mask, and the coat and baggy pants he wore due to the chilly air concealed his body. Nagisa didn't even so much as get a glance at his face, as by the time he looked up to apologize, he was already walking away.
But he just couldn't shake the feeling that whoever that was, was not someone Nagisa wanted to be around.
So that's how they ended up in this situation. The girls huddling together and whispering with Professor Bitch in their normal classroom, and the boys being stopped by Karasuma from building a fort out of desks.
"Man, if only Korosensei were here," Okajima whined. He'd let us build a fort!"
"I'm not stopping you from building a fort, just from using the desks. And if you want him here, I can just call him-"
He was met with a few uneasy chuckles, hums and a single response of "maybe not."
Isogai spoke up. "I like sensei and all but-"
"He'd totally turn this into a lesson," Karma finished.
The boys nodded solemnly.
That's when the lights turned off.
The boys heard a few screeches and squeals from the girl's side of the hallway.
...
The door to the girl's room slid open, and the boys stood there, ready to fight something if need be. They looked just as confused as the girl's did.
"What happened to the lights?" Okuda asked.
Karasuma pulled out his phone. "I'll get this figured out."
The sun had already set for the night, so it was too dark for anyone to function safely. Multiple kids pulled out their phone flashlights.
Nagisa was blinded by a light to the face.
"Nagisa. You good?" Nagisa would recognize Karma's voice anywhere. He shielded his eyes from the light. "Sorry."
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"
Karma shrugged. "you just... Look a bit pale."
"Must be the lighting."
Karma looked like he was about to retort when-
"What the hell?" Karasuma was pressing buttons on his phone like crazy. "Whatever knocked out power must have knocked out service as well. I can't get through to anyone."
Gasps and concerned noises made it's way over the class. Nagisa pulled out his own phone and attempted to call Karma. No luck.
"That's weird," Karma commented, looking down at his unsent texts to Nagisa.
The window exploded.
The kids screamed as 2 dark figures burst into the room.
The door to the hallway remained open and unobstructed, Karasuma noted with relief.
"EVERYONE OUT NOW!"
The students flooded out of the room. Nagisa lingered, alongside a couple of their classmates, until Karma grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the room.
...
Upon reaching the track, Nagisa whipped around to make sure that the rest of his friends followed, but none else did. And he was certain there were still people in there when he left. The only person who walked out of the building after him was one of the people who busted in. Or not? This one was slightly taller than the other two.
He, like the other 2, was dressed in all black. Baggy pants, tight, short sleeved shirt, gear strapped to body with black straps, and his face was covered by a white mask with three black dots in a line down the center.
It struck Nagisa that aside from their builds, that was the only variation between the three. One of the guys had two dots, and the other had four. Was there a number One?
Three (Nagisa decided to name him that right then) walked forward. Slow. Determined. Sure.
"Stop right there!" Fuwa demanded. "Tell us who you are! What do you want?"
"Child," the man said in a low and even tone, without breaking stride, "does that ever work?"
A scream from the back of the group turned everyone's head. Two had Okuda in a head lock with one arm and held one of her wrists in the other.
"Release her!" someone demanded. At this point, everyone had a weapon out. Unfortunately, they were all anti-Koro, so it wasn't like any of them could do damage.
Two chuckled evilly. "Try to keep up!" With that, he ran off, Okuda firmly captive in his grip. Nagisa bolted after him, as did half of the remainder of the class. There were about 8 of them chasing Okuda if his quick count was accurate.
Yada ran beside Nagisa. "We agree that this is a trap right?"
"Nothing else it could be," Nagisa replied.
It wasn't long before the group lost Okuda and Two.
"Guys, stop!" Meg commanded. The 7 stopped. They were somewhere out in the middle of the woods, with no visible landmarks. The only light they had was the full moon above. "We lost him. Any further and we risk leaving behind traces, it's too dark to risk that."
"Right!" Fuwa planted her fist in her palm. We should split up, right? One group track them and the other group keep going in the general direction he went. That way, we'll have an accuracy team and a speed team."
"Actually, I didn't think of that. That seems like it would be more successful than what I had."
Okajima leapt onto a rock and looked in the general direction that Two had run off. "Well, there's a trail of trampled grass. That's gotta be a clue, right? I mean, none of us ever come out this way."
"Nagisa." Nagisa turned at his name. Meg was looking around their group. "Nagisa, Okajima, Sugaya, and I will run after that guy and Okuda. Everyone else, find every clue you can about which direction they went." Nagisa and the boys nodded. "Let's go."
Their small group was only running for a short time before they heard a yell. It was faint, and definitely not the direction they were going. Nagisa froze. Seeing that, so did Meg.
"Is everything okay?" The other two stopped as well.
Nagisa held up his finger to his lips. It was silent. Aside from the wildlife of course. Then it came again.
"Was that Okuda?" Sugaya asked.
"It came from this way," Okajima said, turning slightly off their course.
...
Sure enough, not that much farther away, Okuda sat tied to a tree with a piece of duck tape over her mouth.
"Okuda!"Okajima was about to run to her when Meg stopped him. "What gives?"
"Okuda," Meg said, "is it a trap?"
Okuda shrugged and nodded her head to the side.
"Like we have much of a choice?" Nagisa asked, edging forward, stealing wary glances all around.
"Hang on, take this," Sugaya told him, handing him a people knife. Or- yeah.
Nagisa thanked him and crept forward. All eyes darted around, and Nagisa held the knife, ready to open a person.
The only warning Nagisa got was a muffled yell from Okuda before a stinging pain blossomed on the left side of his neck. The other four jumped into action on his left. Meanwhile, Nagisa brought his hand up to his neck, and winced when the needle from the dark shifted. He pulled it out and examined it. A blow dart. He probably didn't have much time before he passed out.
He ran to Okuda and cut the rope. When her arms were free, she removed the tape.
"Nagisa, are you okay?"
Nagisa, fully prepared to at least be out of it by this point was confused. He'd braced himself to feel woozy, light, to just black out even, but nothing happened.
"I- yeah. I'm fine."
"No, you're not, you just got hit by a blow dart!"
"That's what's weird about it, I'm telling you the truth!" Nagisa argued, standing full upright. And without a problem as well. Not even so much as spots on his vision.
"If you're fine, what was that dart for?" Sugaya asked and Nagisa pulled Okuda up. The other three returned. "He got away."
"It's fine. We got what's important," Meg replied.
"Bet you this whole ploy was to get us to split up," Okajima commented. "Think about it." The attackers first came, and we lost a third of the class, I assume they're still in the classroom. Then we split up again when Okuda was kidnapped. And again after we lost him."
Okuda asked "Do you think they wanted us separated because they wanted to dart one of us?"
Nagisa shook his head. "Something like that could be done when we were in the field or even in the room. No we were being pulled away from something."
"Well then, what the hell was with the dart?" Sugaya asked, picking it up off the ground. The small glass canister was empty. Nagisa rubbed the puncture mark in unease.
"I... don't have a clue."
"The best thing we can do for now..." Meg mused, "Is to backtrack to where we left our friends. Whatever reason they wanted us separated will be nullified if we're together. Besides, safety in numbers and all." The group agreed.
As they started walking Nagisa fell towards the back. That foreboding feeling he got was back. Almost identical to when he was at the station. But now stronger.
A chord flew in front of Nagisa and whipped around his neck. Before he knew what was happening, the chord tightened, cutting off air flow.
Frantically, Nagisa tried to call out, but without air to his vocal chords, nothing more than a tiny squeak escaped his mouth. He reached forward, desperately grabbing for Okajima, who he was tailing but the chord kept him in place.
Nagisa looked up with watering eyes, at the malicious face of Takaoka.
"Fuma, Maehara, Yada, Hazama!" The four looked up when Meg called their names. They had met up with a few others from their class.
"You found her!" Fuma exclaimed, running to hug Okuda.
"Ooh, more people," Hara said happily. They can't keep us split up forever! Alongside her were Karma, Sugino, Kanzaki, Kurahashi, Terasaka, and Kayano.
"Wait," Maehara murmured. "There's four of you."
Terasaka raised an eyebrow. "Yeah and?"
Sugaya whipped around. "Where's Nagisa?!"
Nagisa reluctantly kept walking. He didn't want to, after all, wherever Takaoka led him was probably bad new for him. But his hand was gripping his shoulder so hard, any tighter and he'd break it. That and Nagisa's knife was poking him in the back. All the while, Takaoka rambled on and on.
"You know, brat, I've only been beaten twice in my entire life, TWICE!" he laughed. "And did you know that both times, there was exactly one common denominator?"
"You mean me?"
Takaoka laughed and stuck the knife a little further into Nagisa's back, drawing blood. "Exactly! And this time, I'm learning from my mistakes! This time, you'll be out of the equation!"
Nagisa let out a pained oof as he was pushed to the ground. Takaoka's right boot landed on his right wrist and his left knee kept his back down, and left hand pinned his left wrist. Takaoka leaned down so close that Nagisa could feel the wet condensation of his breathing on his ear.
"You know I came to realize something, last we met," he growled. Nagisa struggled in vain to wiggle his way away. "My favorite part last time, was seeing the despair when you thought you'd lost your classmates. So I'm gonna kill two birds with one stone."
He leaned away. I get rid of you, and your friends give me that fearful look again, that despair! That delicious look of hopelessness!"
He cackled like a madman. Well, he was a madman.
"From the way I see it," Nagisa choked out, "you're scared of me."
Takaoka's laughter cut off. "The fuck you just say?" He used his free right hand to lift Nagisa's head and slam it into the ground again. Nagisa fought back the dots gathering at the edge of his sight.
"You heard me," he forced out. "I mean, why else would you try to off me? You said it yourself, you're getting rid of the problem. That's fear if you-" his words were cut off when a scream ripped it's way from his throat.
Takaoka released his boot from his wrist with a satisfied smirk. "That will have alerted them. I was gonna kill you slowly and painfully, but maybe quickly will do the job. As long as it's also painful. After all, all I need out of it is your classmates' faces."
Nagisa wanted to retort, sass, something that would piss this dickwad off more, but his throat wouldn't work. So he just closed his eyes and waited for the cut to the neck that he knew was inevitable.
But it... wasn't a cut to the neck. It was a poke. He squirmed as he felt the fluid get pushed into his neck.
"What? Not what you were expecting? I got a buddy who gave this to me. Said it was some cool lab snake venom. Should kill you in about a minute or so. Never been tested, so I offered to test if for him."
Nagisa felt the pressure on his body release, and he immediately pushed himself to his feet. Which took a bit more energy than he was used to. And concentration on balance. Shit. The stuff did work fast.
He turned and faced Takaoka. If he was going to die, he'd do so facing the enemy. He sure as hell didn't want to. He wanted to cradle his broken wrist, wanted to cry, wanted to curl into a corner as far away from this homicidal freak as possible, wanted to get away.
"Awe, who's afraid of who now?" Takaoka cooed. "Look at you, trembling like a leaf. You aren't fooling anyone, I see that look in you're eye.
When Nagisa spoke, it was quiet, strained. If felt like he was trying to talk with a wad of cloth in his mouth. "Anyone who's exclusively feared deserves nothing else."
Takaoka raised an eyebrow. "The hell's that supposed to mean?"
Nagisa took a shaky step forward, even with the narrowing of his vision, and the world tilted a bit, but he managed to right himself in time. Barely. "No love." He took another shaky step. "No honor." Another step. "No- no job." Another. "No... respect."
Takaoka seized Nagisa by the neck. "Think you're so clever huh?"
Nagisa tried to respond, but his voice was gone. speaking was harder than walking at that point. Glaring at Takaoka probably wasn't doing much. It's not like he could see him all that well.
"Shame. I bet everything's getting real hard, right about now."
Nagisa hated it, but he was right. Everything was hard. Even breathing. Even feeling. He could barely feel Takaoka's hand around his neck. Even the pain radiating from his wrist was nothing more than a thought. Not to mention sight. Even as he spoke, his field of vision got smaller and smaller.
"It won't... now... ge... s..."
Takaoka's words faded out of coherency until Nagisa couldn't tell was was muffled noises or just the thoughts running around his head.
Hang on. His thoughts. His coherent thoughts.
Everything was gone now. He couldn't see, couldn't feel, hear, smell, move, speak. Yet he didn't feel asleep. Unless this was one hell of a lucid dream.
Am I dead?