“Class E?” Hanako Sakuragi stared at Principal Asano. “Were my grades really that bad?” She tilted her head, ever the innocent-looking girl.

The principal smiled slightly. “Your grades are fine, Sakuragi. However, you have defended an E Class student named Nagisa Shiota multiple times against an A Class student, and this cannot be tolerated. Do you have any other questions?”

Sakuragi shook her head and smiled brightly. “No, sir!”

“Alright. Now go collect your belongings and head over to the E Class building. Your new classmates and teacher should already be there.”

Sakuragi stood up and grinned. “Yes, sir!” She skipped out of the room.

Principal Asano mused, “Hanako Sakuragi…..there’s something different about that girl.” She could be dangerous. I’ll have Kayano keep an eye on her.

… 

Sakuragi knocked on the door. A ‘come in’ resounded from the inside. Slowly, Sakuragi opened the door.

“Hello!” She smiled brightly. “I’m a new student here, and I hope we can all get along! My name’s Hanako Sakuragi!” Then she noticed this….yellow, octopus thing that looked like it was the teacher.

She sweatdropped. “Ummmm….what is that?”

“My name’s Koro-sensei, and I’m your teacher,” the octopus explained, green stripes appearing on his face. Sakuragi froze. She muttered something under her breath that made Koro-sensei flinch.

Then Sakuragi’s bright exterior returned, and she clapped her hands. “Could you explain what’s up with Sensei here, then we can continue with whatever lesson you all were doing, ‘kay? I mean, unless you were planning on explaining later?”

A blue-haired boy raised his hand. It was the boy Sakuragi defended, named Nagisa Shiota. “I can explain while you run class.”

Koro-sensei agreed. “Welcome to Class 3-E, Sakuragi! Karasuma and Irina will be joining us later.” Then, he continued the lesson.  Sakuragi sat down on an empty desk between Nagisa and a red haired boy.

“Karasuma and Irina?” Sakuragi questioned Nagisa.

The blue-haired boy responded. “Tadaomi Karasuma, our P.E. teacher from the Ministry of Defense, and Irina Jelavic, our English teacher who is an assassin.”

Sakuragi tilted her head. “Why do we need such important people? And why is there an octopus teaching us?”

Sweatdropping, Nagisa replied, “You know how the moon was blown up?”

Sakuragi nodded. “Wait...he did it?!” Sakuragi asked, pointing at the octopus in shock.

The red haired boy answered this time. “Yeah, doesn’t look capable of it, does he?”

“Who are you?” Sakuragi asked curiously.

“Karma Akabane, nice to meet you, blah, blah, blah.” The boy had a leer on his face, making Sakuragi scoot her desk away slightly. “It’s going to be so much fun having you around.”

“...Okay?” Sakuragi’s smile faltered.

“Karma, don’t scare her!” Nagisa said indignantly.

Sakuragi scratched her head. “It’s fine, Nagisa-kun. Could you continue with an explanation?”

“Koro-sensei blew up the moon, and for some reason he wanted to be 3-E’s homeroom teacher. So us students have to try and kill him before the end of the year so he doesn’t do the same to Earth. The reward is 10 billion yen.” Sakuragi’s eyes widened.

“Ummmm...do I have to try and kill him to stay in this school? I mean…..the money would be nice, but I don’t feel comfortable trying to kill someone.” Sakuragi fiddled with her pencil, looking worried.

Nagisa’s eyes softened. “I’m sure you’ll be fine. Plus, Karasuma-sensei is teaching us how to fight as well.”

“Thank you for your explanation, Nagisa-kun. I’m glad I’m in the same class as you.” Sakuragi’s smile was radiant.

Nagisa’s cheeks turned pink, and he mumbled, “No problem.” Sakuragi giggled then paid attention to the lesson.

…

The rest of the day passed normally without anything out of the ordinary happening. Sakuragi quickly became friends with much of the class.

While Karma was sitting on a desk drinking juice on the other side of the room from Sakuragi and some girls she was talking with, Nagisa came and stood next to Karma. “What do you think of her? She’s the one who defended me the previous times.”

“I don’t trust her.” Karma said bluntly.

“Why?”

“Her smile is fake, her whole personality really.” Karma frowned, but when Sakuragi saw him and waved, he forced a lazy smile and waved back. Sakuragi turned back to the other girls and continued talking animatedly.

“Don’t do anything crazy, okay?” Nagisa said. “Just because you want to know a truth that may or may not exist….”

“I won’t, I won’t.” Karma sighed, thinking I have a feeling the truth will reveal itself. He smirked. It really is going to be fun. I will find out what you’re hiding.

…

Hanako Sakuragi….who is she?

Koro-sensei sat at his desk, correcting papers, and making a lesson plan for the next day.

Koro-sensei wasn’t often surprised, although being surprised was slowly starting to become a regular thing since his students were starting to get better at assassination attempts. 

Sakuragi hadn’t made a single attempt all day, nor seemed like she was planning one either. She seemed like a bright, cheerful girl who always wanted to lend a helping hand.

But when she first entered, and Koro-sensei addressed her, she said a single word under her breath that made him flinch.

“Reaper?”

How did a student like her, a bright normal girl, know the assassin ‘The Reaper’? And it wasn’t as if he looked the same as before the antimatter experiment. She recognized his voice, so that meant they talked before. 

Koro-sensei let out a breath and laughed. “Aaah, it doesn’t look like she’s out to kill me, so it doesn’t really matter how she knows me! I’ll get her to open up eventually…”

“I am a teacher after all.”

…

Ring!

“Hello?” Sakuragi picked up the phone.

“You’ve gotten a new assignment.”

“Seriously, taking me out of retirement? This better be good, who is it?”

“You have to assassinate the creature known as Koro-sensei.”

Sakuragi laughed. “I’m already in the class the octopus teaches. But I won’t make a move yet. I need to make sure everyone trusts me.”

“Alright, just make sure you get the bounty. Anyways, why are you so cheerful?”

“It’s not always easy to switch between personalities, so I’m staying in ‘Bright, Cheerful Sakuragi’ mode as long as possible.”

“Ah. I should’ve known you of all people weren’t able to be outwardly happy for real.”

A dark look crossed Sakuragi’s face as she responded. “You know me too well. I don’t even remember the last time I smiled for real. Either way, take care of yourself.”

“You too.”

Click!