An Assassin's Respite

Under watch

Kazuna and Kagura were sitting in the student council meeting room, along with the other members. Kazuna had Ria go ahead so she could pick Kari up from school and take her home. The atmosphere in the room was so tense that Kazuna could practically feel it. Whatever they were about to talk about was not going to be something simple. Ayanami walks in and takes her seat at the head of the table. She looks at all the members to make sure she had their undivided attention before taking a deep breath.

"Thank you all for gathering with such short notice. I apologize for not being able to set up a proper meeting, but I was told that I had to hold this meeting immediately," She starts.

"It must be pretty important then," Vice president Kai notes.

"Yes, although I find the subject matter unnecessary and insensitive," She states.

"So, what is it?" The disciplinary committee head Akihiro asks.

Ayanami pauses for a moment before speaking.

"It's about Kazuna, specifically the recent events surrounding him," She says.

"I see," Kazuna thinks to himself.

"The thing is, the teachers and special agents couldn't help but notice that there seems to be a constant ring of danger surrounding you," Ayanami says while looking at Kazuna.

"A ring of danger?" Kagura asks.

"Yes, Kazuna has been at the center of the school invasion, the reason that students infiltrated a wanted criminals base, and recently he and a couple of other students fought against an underground group that was k********g children without going to special agents for help," Ayanami lists.

"That's not a fair assessment. Sure, it may be true that the school was invaded because he was here, but we went to rescue him of our own accord and forced Kazuna to take me with him when we raided the warehouse," Kagura says in an attempt to defend him.

"Even so, they cannot ignore his involvement," Ayanami responds.

"But," Kagura squeaks, ready to defend Kazuna once more, but he raises his hand to silence her.

"So, what's their plan for me?" He asks.

"Well, at first, they wanted to expel you from the school, but Ms. Asuka vehemently rejected this proposal. It also helped that Yuu vouched for you. So their compromise was that a special agent would be tasked with watching you," She answers.

"I see. Although I don't like the idea of being watched, at least it's better than getting expelled," Kazuna states.

"Yes, but that's not all. The student council is also supposed to escort you when you're on school grounds. I'm sorry," She adds.

Kazuna sighs.

"No, don't apologize. I'm responsible for the circumstance that I have found myself in. So, I can assume that there are penalties for dodging my escort or getting into trouble," He replies.

"Yes. If you avoid us or the special agent assigned to you, they'll equip a tracking device to you. If you get into trouble, depending on what kind of trouble you get into, your punishments could range from expulsion to being detained," She states.

"Detained!" Kagura exclaims while slamming her hands on the table.

Kagura realizes the rudeness of her outburst, sits down in embarrassment, and clears her throat.

"But, don't you think that's a little extreme?" Kagura asks.

"No, if anything, it's pretty lenient," Kazuna says.

"But how?" Kagura asks.

"Don't forget, before coming to GA, I wasn't exactly a model citizen. Besides, I can guess that Yuu had some involvement with these talks if being detained is as bad as it gets," Kazuna answers.

Kagura grumbles in defeat. She had almost forgotten that Kazuna used to be an assassin.

"Do you have any questions?" Ayanami asks.

"Truthfully, I do, but they're questions that I should probably ask the principal or one of the special agents that are going to be watching me," Kazuna replies.

"I see, well, in any case, I'm sorry for springing this on you out of nowhere," She reiterates.

"Once again, there is no need for you to apologize," He says once again.

"But there must have been something I could have done as the student council president," She replies.

"Ms. President," Kazuna says.

She looks him in the eyes. His face was painted with his usual calm, intense expression. Typically, she was good at knowing what people were thinking, but Kazuna was still a mystery to her. She had no idea what he was thinking, but that's what she was so intrigued by with him. She could tell what most people were thinking through their expressions, how they spoke, or even by how they were standing, but even now, when all the cards were stacked against him, she had no idea if he was calm, upset, annoyed, or angry. Then, when she felt that he couldn't have done anything to surprise her, he smiled.

"You may not have been able to do anything as the student council president, but you did plenty as a friend," He states.

Ayanami looks at him in surprise before returning his smile.

"Thank you, Kazuna," She replies.

“But, with that piece of bad news out the way, there’s something else I would like to talk about since we’re already gathered.” She says while handing out some papers.

“Pretty soon now we will have students from BA coming to GA in order to see how we do things and to help them figure out what course they want to follow or if they want to attend our school or a different one. As the student council president and vice president, Kai and I will be tasked with showing them around. Akihiro, we’ll go to you to talk about the rules and regulations of students here around 1pm. The rest of you just need to go about your days as normal. Any questions?” She says.

She waits for a minute before continuing.

"Well, that's it for this meeting. I guess as a parting word, Kazuna; you're going to have to be a part of more student council matters. Hopefully, that can ease the tension between the school, the parents, and you," She suggests.

"Understood," He says while getting up.

"Are you going to go home?" Ayanami asks.

"No, I want to talk with Ms. Asuka before I do," He replies.

"Then let me go with you, maybe I can do something by appealing to her," Ayanami says.

"No, you've done plenty already. I can tell by the look on your face that the only thing you haven't tried is begging, and I refuse to watch you prostrate yourself to help me—Kagura, that goes for you as well," Kazuna states.

Ayanami, although reluctantly, backs down. Kagura looked like she was going to protest, but Kazuna gave her a look that made it clear that he wasn't going to change his mind. Kazuna leaves the student council room alone and heads for Ms. Asuka's office.

"This doesn't add up. I understand them being cautious of me, but as far as I know, none of the parents were told that the school was attacked because of me or that some of my classmates went on a mission to rescue me. I know most of the parents are or were special agents, but Yuu kept what happened under wraps. Was I found out, or are they just suspicious? There's also a possibility that they're doing this so that they can get a lead on Zer," He theorizes.

He knocks on Ms. Asuka's door, and she calls him in. Once he walked in, Ms. Asuka already knew what he was there for.

"I'm sorry, Kazuna, but there isn't anything I can do about your circumstances," She says.

"I know, but that's not what I'm here for," He responds.

"Really? Then what do you need?" She asks.

"What's the real purpose of me being watched? As far as I know, Yuu is the only person outside of my class that knows about me, so why the extreme consequences? Something else must be happening, or is about to happen," He states.

Ms. Asuka sighs.

"Honestly, why did we bother trying to keep this a secret from you," She says.

"So my guess was right," He notes.

"Yes, although the detaining part is more of a technicality than a consequence, that's all I'll say. I think it'll be more fun for you to figure everything out on your own," She says with a smile.

"If you say so. But since I can't get the reason out of you, can you tell me who's going to be watching me?" He asks.

Ms. Asuka thinks for a moment before answering.

"No," She replies.

"Is there a reason?" Kazuna asks.

"Giving you their names would allow you to use databases to figure out their powers, strengths, and weaknesses," Ms. Asuka states.

"Fair enough," Kazuna replies.

"Is that all?" Ms. Asuka asks.

"Yes, thank you for the information," He says while reaching for the door.

"I'm sorry I haven't done more to protect you," She says.

"Ah, what's with everyone apologizing to me? Just a few months ago, the only person I could rely on was myself, and now I have people that are doing everything they can to help me. Really, I should be the one thanking all of you for doing so much for a guy like me," He replies before closing the door behind him.

"Your son has grown into quite the young man Ms. Katsuchi," She says to herself.

As Kazuna was walking home he could feel someone watching him.

"They could have at least picked someone that was better at hiding their presence." He says under his breath.