An Assassin's Respite

Arriving at the Island

The day the second-year students were to go to GA’s island for training was finally upon them. They gathered at school on a Sunday to leave for the island. They were going to be taking buses to the port and then transferring over to ships to head to the island and everyone was loading their things onto their bus. Kazuna was talking with Kari at the entrance to the parking lot.

“Now I’ll be gone for two weeks, think you’ll be alright?” He asks.

“I’ll be fine, I’m a big girl now.” She says while puffing out her chest.

“Oh, I see. Well, try not to cause too much trouble for Yuu while I'm gone.” He says.

He reaches into his bag and grabs her phone.

"Here, a present." He says while handing it to her.

"Is this a phone?" She asks.

He knew she was going to protest to him getting her it so he quickly talked before she could.

"I got it so that we could stay in touch while I'm on the island. I already put Rimi's number in there so that you can message her as well." He says. 

Kari nods and throws her arms around him.

“I’ll miss you Mr. Kazuna.” She whispers.

He could hear a bit of a sad tone in her voice, but he decided to ignore it since she was trying so hard to be strong.

“I’ll miss you too.” He says as he hugs her back.

Yuu shows up to take Kari and they wave goodbye before the pair leaves. Kazuna watches the exit to the parking lot for a little while before walking over to Matt.

“Hey Matt, can I talk to you for a second?” He asks.

“Yea, sure,” Matt says.

Kazuna pulls him over to the side of the bus and shows him his phone.

“Uhm, what are you doing?” Matt asks.

“Read what’s on the screen.” He says.

Matt quickly reads it and a look of shock passes over his face.

“Are… Are you serious?” He asks with wide eyes.

“Yes. After hearing about your mom the other day, I thought about how I could help. I came up with various things, but I thought that this was a good first step and wasn’t me overstepping any boundaries.” He answers.

“I… I don’t even know what to say. I… I can’t accept this, this is too much.” Matt stutters.

“Please, accept it. You have done more for me than you realize. I truly see you as a friend and if you idiots have taught me anything, it’s that you help your friends out as much as you can.” Kazuna replies.

Matt silently stared at Kazuna’s phone screen for another minute or two before smiling.

“Thank you Kazuna, really.” He says.

“Don’t mention it. And if there’s anything else that I can do for you, don’t think twice about asking.” He adds.

Matt nods with a wide grin on his face before the pair get back onto the bus. Once they reached the port, the students' jaws dropped at the site of the huge cruise ship they were taking to the island.

Kagura was the first one that gathered herself enough to speak.

“That boat is…”

“Humongously huge!” Emiko yells, interrupting Kagura.

“You could say that again,” Shiba says in agreement.

“Look at all the water!” Chiyo shouts as she gleams at the horizon.

“Across that stretch of ocean is the oh-so-wonderful beach,” Matt notes with stars in his eyes.

“Knowing the intentions behind that statement makes that comment lose any sentimentality,” Akeno says.

Everyone moves their things from the buses onto the ship and into their cabins.

“This seems a bit excessive since we’re only using it to get to the island,” Ria states while sitting on the deck.

“They always like to show off,” Yua says.

“How humble.” Ria scoffs.

“It’s a free cruise. I’ll take that any day.” Matt says as he lounges on a chair.

“Although I can agree with that, it is pretty annoying having to move everything over and over.” Akeno says.

“I agree,” Ayame says with an annoyed tone. 

“You have to enjoy the little things,” Matt says.

“You do realize the little things would be us moving our things. The cruise is definitely not a little thing.” Kagura points out.

“Potato potato, tomato tomato,” Matt says.

After a couple of hours of smooth sailing, the island started to come into view.

“Look, there it is!” Emiko exclaims as she leaned over the railing.

“Be careful Emiko,” Kagura says with a worried look.

But her focus quickly changed to the island once they got close enough for her to make out more of it. She could see beautiful trees and an exquisite beach. There was a large building that she could only assume was where they were going to be staying. The building was 50 stories tall and had a beautiful marble design. There were various other buildings all of which had designs that were gorgeous in their own unique ways.

They were told what the island would look like, but seeing it in person blew their expectations out of the water. The trees were lush, beautiful, and very well taken care of. The beach was clean as a whistle and the sand shone like pearls. And despite the buildings being man-made they didn’t look out of place but instead look like part of nature's natural state.

The students were silent until the ship docked at the port and the students snapped out of their daze to grab their things and make their way to their lodgings. They took everything in as they walked. The fresh air, the gentle breeze, the soft grass, the sound of the animals and insects. It was like they had entered a sacred garden.

“This place is unreal,” Matt says while gawking at his surroundings.

“You can say that again,” Shiba says.

“This place is unreal,” Matt repeats.

Kazuna surveys his surroundings and can notice people standing off in the distance. He gathered that they were the special agents that were going to be guarding the island. 

“It seems that the special agents were sent ahead of time.” He notes as he enters their hotel.

The hotel looked like it was for the richest of the rich. The carpet was velvet red. There was a mosaic rug, laced with a golden yellow edge, stretching from the entrance towards a grand staircase. There was a crystal clear chandelier hanging over them and the furniture looked like it belonged in a castle.

“It feels like I’m breaking some type of law just by walking in here,” Matt notes.

“I prefer the subtlety of our mansion.” Ria scoffs.

“You did not just use the word subtle to describe a mansion,” Matt says.

“In any case this place is gorgeous.” Akeno states.

Everyone nods in agreement and makes their way towards their respective rooms. The students were split between two floors with the girls on the 15th floor and the boys on the 14th floor. The students were roomed with who they were partnered with from their respective class reps. Matt walks into the room, throws his things, and flops onto his bed. The room had two beds, a mini-fridge, two dressers, and a tv with lamps beside each bed. There was also a bathroom for their personal use.

“This bed feels like it was made for a king.” He says while his face was buried in a pillow.

“This room is very elegant.” Kazuna agrees.

“I wonder what our training’s going to be like,” Matt says.

“That’s a good question actually. What type of training are we going to  be doing here that we can’t do at GA?” He asks.

“It doesn’t really matter anyway as long as we get to stay at a place like this,” Matt says.

Matt rolls off the bed and starts unpacking his things and Kazuna follows suit. Once they finished unpacking they heard a knock on their door. Kazuna opens the door and is greeted by a special agent.

“Are you two Kazuna and Matt?” He asks.

“Yes.” They reply in unison.

“Good. My name is Micheal and I’ll be acting as your chaperone of sorts.” He says.

Micheal had long blonde hair and shining blue eyes and was wearing blue jeans and a tee-shirt. Matt looked over and could see wings sprouting from his back.

“Oh, are you that mutation or whatever that Ms. Saugoma was talking about?” He asks, oblivious of a thing called subtlety. 

A look of shock passes over his face as he looks between the two students.

“Yea, I had the same expression. I’m not sure as to why they decided to reveal the existence of mutations to a bunch of students, but it’s out there nonetheless.” Kazuna says.

“The way you put that makes it sound like you knew about mutations before your teacher told you,” Micheal notes.

“That’s a story that’ll take a little longer to explain.” He replies.

“I can understand that sentiment, so I’ll refrain from pressing any further.” Micheal sighs.

“Anyway, since I’m going to be keeping an eye over you two, could you tell me a little about your powers and combat proficiency?” He asks.

“Right. I can increase the size of my body. My strength and durability increase with it. I’m not that good in combat overall. I have some pretty standard hand to hand and I can’t do anything from a distance, but if you can get me close then I can really shine.” Matt answers while looking over towards Kazuna.

“My power allows me to control fire, lightning, and wind. I can create fire and lightning, but if there isn’t a lot of air around then I can’t use my wind power properly. In terms of combat proficiency, I’m the most advanced among my classmates, being able to attack and defend from both close and far distances.” He replies.

“I see,” Micheal mumbles while placing a hand on his chin.

“With Kazuna helping me out I can use my power to its fullest,” Matt says. 

“So Kazuna acts as the brains and uses his power to allow you to get close. Plus, due to Kazuna’s ability to fight at close range, Matt doesn’t have to worry about enemies going after the brains since he can easily defend himself. I can also see that the two of you are friends so there’s no need to worry about butting heads.” Micheal surmises.

“Exactly,” Matt says with a smile.

“You two are a very good pair. Whoever paired you up clearly knows what they’re doing.” He adds.

“That’s our class rep for you,” Matt exclaims.

“Well, now that I have a decent understanding of you and your abilities, I’ll explain my power. As you can see, these wings are my power. They allow me to fly at extreme speeds. I can also shoot my feathers as projectiles. They’re as sharp as steel and shoot out at extreme speeds. However, I can’t shoot them infinitely.” He states.

“I see, it seems to be very good at reconnaissance and supportive fire,” Kazuna notes.

“Yes, that’s typically what I do. I tend to garner a lot of attention so this whole bodyguarding thing is new to me.” He states.

“I thought that may have been the case. So that’s why I assigned you to watch over us.” Kazuna states.

“They left the assignment of special agents to a kid?” Micheal exclaims.

“There are various reasons for their decision, but once again it’s a long story. Anyway, I assigned you to watch over Matt and me because I am confident in my ability to keep the two of us safe. I would much rather you spent time keeping everyone else safe.” He replies.

“Are you saying that you don’t trust the other special agents on this island?” Micheal asks.

“No, that’s not what I’m saying at all. I just don’t know the full extent of their abilities, however, I do have a good understanding of the abilities of who we’re being protected from. I’d rather limit the number of unknowns.” He answers.

“That does make sense. But what am I supposed to do if the two of you are in trouble?” He asks.

“Don’t worry, if anything I can guarantee that Matt will be fine.” He says.

“But what about you?” Micheal asks.

Kazuna was silent until Matt slapped him on the back.

“Don’t worry, if anything I can guarantee that Kazuna will be fine.” He says with a smile.

Kazuna looks at Matt and gives him a smile.

“I see, it seems that I won’t have anything to worry about. But even so, I’ll still keep a close eye on you two and make sure you both return home safe, so you two have to make sure you stay safe.” He says.

Both Kazuna and Matt nod in response.

“Good. It was nice meeting you two and I hope that I get to learn more about you as our time goes by. Oh, and your teacher wanted me to tell you to be prepared for an early start to training tomorrow.” He says before leaving.

“That guy seemed pretty cool,” Matt notes as Kazuna closes the door.

“Yea.” He agrees.

“It’s hard to tell since it was our first meeting, but it seems like he can be trusted. If that’s the case, then there’s a possibility that he’s a target.” he thinks to himself.