An Assassin's Respite

The Beach Episode

The next day, Matt wakes up with a little more enthusiasm than the previous days.

“What are you so excited about?” Kazuna asks.

“You’ll see.” He says with a bright smile.

Kazuna just sighs in response. Whatever Matt had planned couldn't be good. He and Matt head to the entrance hall to meet with the rest of their class as usual.

“You seem to have a lot of energy,” Kagura notes.

“You’ll find out why soon enough.” He says with a smile.

“That can’t be good,” Kagura mumbles as she distances herself from him.

Once everyone gathered in the entrance hall, Ms. Saugoma quieted them all so she could speak.

“You all have done spectacularly in your first couple of days of training and have proceeded faster than we expected. The plan was to continue your training for the day, but due to one of your classmates convincing me, we’re going to allow you all to enjoy the beach.” She says with a smile.

The statement garners cheers from everyone as a beach day was more than welcome, especially after their training.

“Is that why you’re so energetic?” Kazuna asks.

Matt gives him a thumbs up and a smile.

“I would commend you, but I know that there is a secondary goal behind this.” Kazuna thinks to himself.

“So, why don’t you all get changed for a beach day!” Ms. Saugoma exclaims.

The students hurry to their rooms to grab their swimsuits and beach apparel before heading out. There was a changing area on the beach so they were gathered there changing. Matt was the first out wearing a simple pair of black swim trunks followed by Shiba who had on yellow trunks.

“I can't believe we’re on a beach on an exotic island,” Shiba says enthusiastically.

“I know right. But here comes the best part of the beach.” Matt says with stars in his eyes.

As he says this, the girls begin to finish changing. Akeno was sporting a simple black bikini, Yua’s was red and white striped, Chiyo had a sea blue one and Haruna had an icy blue one. Emiko had a gray bikini with frills around the edges. Ayame simply had on the school-administered swimsuit. Kagura finally came out, shyly sporting her white bikini and there was a cloth hanging from the side.

She was covering her body a bit with her arms from embarrassment.

“Why are you acting so shy, come on,” Yua says while pulling her along by her arm.

“B-But.” She tries to say, but Yua was ignoring her.

“You’ve got a nice body, there’s nothing for you to be shy about,” Yua says as she pulls her to the water.

“But, I’ve never really worn bikinis,” Kagura says.

“There's nothing to be shy about. As you can see, we’re all wearing bikinis just like you.” Yua says in an attempt to encourage her.

The statement helped her relax a little.

“Speaking of not needing to be shy, where’s Ria and Kazuna?” Akeno wonders.

They look over to the changing rooms and see the pair finally walk out. It was the first time they had seen him with his shirt off now that they thought about it.

As Kagura looked at them, the extreme nature of their past really seemed to dawn on her. Ria had a few scars scattered across her body, but what really caught her eye was Kazuna. The scar that they had known about on his face was just a tiny piece of the giant one that spread across his chest. There were even a few scars scattered across his arms, chest, and back. But it wasn't just his scars that garnered her awe, but the toned muscles on his body. He looked as if he was sculpted from marble. Every muscle popped and was well defined. She began to blush as she looked at him until Matt snapped her out of her daze.

“Man, how can you steal the show even when there are so many beautiful girls in bikinis?” Matt whines.

Kagura glares at him as he just spills his ulterior motive she knew he had, but since he didn’t seem to notice she decided to plan a little surprise for him later.

“I knew you had some selfish plan behind this beach day,” Kazuna says with a sigh.

“You know me so well,” Matt says with a smile.

“I don’t know if you should be smiling,” Kazuna says under his breath.

“Do those scars not hurt anymore?” Yua asks.

“Physically, not at all. Mentally, it’s a little different.” He answers.

She tries to think of something to say, but Kazuna picks up on this.

“You don’t have to say anything to try and make me feel better. you all have helped ease the pain.” He says.

The words made her feel a little better.

“So, you’re saying that my radiating aura helped you?” She questions while puffing out her chest.

“Yes, it did.” He replies with a slight chuckle.

Yua begins to blush but she doesn't let it show through her prideful smile.

“So those are the scars you got from the mission I dragged you on.” He thinks to himself with a pained expression as he looks at Ria.

Kazuna wipes the look from his face and walks over to Matt. 

“Well, since you’re the one that got us this beach day, I'm assuming you had some things planned for us to do,” Kazuna notes.

“Of course, the first thing on the table is beach volleyball.” He answers while seemingly pulling a volleyball from out of nowhere.

“Where did you,” He goes to question but Matt had already headed to a volleyball net.

“When did you,” He started to question again but just decided to leave it alone and follow him.

“Alright, I’ll quickly explain the rules for the ones that don’t know how to play, and don't worry we won't follow all the rules, just the important ones. There are two teams of at least two people. Since there are so many of us there’ll be 4 teams of 4.” he announces.

Ayame goes to say something but Matt holds up his hand.

“Everyone will participate, and to ensure that everyone does, I had Ms. Saugoma prepare a prize for the team that wins,” Matt says with a smile.

“What kind of prize?” Juro asks.

“That’s a secret,” Matt says.

“Keeping it a secret so people won’t be as likely to give it up since they don’t know what it is.” Akeno mumbles.

“You give him too much credit,” Ria says.

Matt, who didn’t hear them, continued his explanation.

“There will be two people that will play close to the net and two who are farther away. One person on the team will serve and this person will change each game. If the ball hits the ground on your side, your opponent scores. If your serve goes out of bounds, you have to serve again. Each score is worth one point and the first team to 3 points wins, got it?” He finishes.

“Can we use our powers?” Katsuro asks.

“Yes, but you can’t use them freely on the ball. But you can use your power to make your serves or spikes faster like Chiyo blasting water from her hand briefly, or to move around the field faster.” Matt explains.

“That makes sense. It would be pretty dumb if Katsuro could just guide the ball to the ground.” Shiba notes.

“But could that ball take a full-powered slap from Kazuna?” Kagura asks.

“Actually, yes. I had Yua make this so it feels just like a normal volleyball, but it’s much more durable.” Matt says with a smile.

“Who is this guy?” Kagura asks.

“That hurts more than you realize,” Matt says with a sad expression.

“But anyway, let’s draw straws for teams.” He says.

Everyone grabs a straw that had a number on it representing what team they were on. Team 1 was Yua, Ria, Kagura, and Matt. Team 2 was Akeno, Katsuro, Juro, and Emiko. Team 3 was Shiba, Chiyo, Haruka, and Natsuki. And team 4 was Kazuna, Ayame, Masahiro, and Haruna and Ms. Saugoma was acting as referee. The first match was team 1 against team 3.

Kagura and Matt were upfront with Yua and Ria in the back against Natsuki and Chiyo upfront and Shiba and Haruka behind them. Kagura’s team was serving and once Ms. Saugoma signaled for them to start, Yua sent the ball flying. 

Yua’s serve was pretty good and went straight towards Shiba who wasted no time in getting powers involved as he used his speed to launch the ball up. As it started to fall, Natsuki flew upward and spiked the ball towards the ground. Matt increases the size of his arm and slaps the ball back. Kagura jumps up and spikes the ball with her wind, giving it enough speed to blow by both Chiyo and Natsuki. 

“That’s one point for team 1!” Ms. Saugoma shouts.

“Chiyo, switch me spots. We’ll lose some power, but at least we’ll have a better chance at stopping their serves.” Shiba shouts.

Chiyo nods as the two quickly change spots. Yua served the ball again. She sends the ball towards the back of the field once again. Chiyo intercepts and sends the ball flying back with a water-powered serve. The ball headed straight for Ria who threw her hands together and knocked it back. Matt jumps up and slams the ball towards the ground. Shiba manages to stop the ball from hitting the ground and Natsuki spikes the ball back. Kagura stops the ball from hitting the ground but wasn’t able to send it straight up and instead sent it right into Matt’s face. Natsuki and Shiba laugh at the interaction, allowing for the ball to freely float over the net and score on them.

“OWWWW!” Matt exclaims while rubbing his face.

“Sorry, but at least we scored from it,” Kagura says.

“Sorry.” Shiba and Natsuki apologize to their team.

“It’s okay, the same thing probably would have happened if I were up there, so let's just focus on making a comeback,” Chiyo assures them.

“Right.” Shiba and Natuski reply in unison.

Yua serves the ball again. This time, Haruka was the one to intercept. She knocks it towards Chiyo who blasts the ball towards Yua. Yua knocks the ball towards Kagura who slams it towards Natsuki. Natsuki manages to stop the ball somewhat, but Shiba has to knock it back towards Haruka who then sends it back towards them. Chiyo uses her power to send Shiba up to meet the ball at the apex and he spikes it with as much speed as he could muster. 

Shiba sent the ball towards Ria. Ria sets her feet and slams her fists into the ball. She managed to send it back and was knocked off her feet in the process. Kagura and Matt then spike the ball together and it lands in the middle of Shiba’s team. 

“Team 1 wins.” Ms. Saugoma states.

They all cheer ecstatically at their victory, well, except for Ria who simply walks off the field.

 The next match was team 2 against team 4. Akeno was serving with Emiko in the back with her. And on the other side, Ayame was serving with Masahiro in the back with her.

“Alright, let the next match start!” Ms. Saugoma exclaims.

Ayame used her power to send the perfect serve that was headed for the center of the field. Emiko’s naturally good athleticism allowed her to easily send it back. Kazuna intercepts it and sends it to where Emiko was originally stationed before she moved to stop Ayame’s serve. 

“That’s 1 point for Kazuna’s team.” Ms. Saugoma states.

“Emiko, don't send those back, instead send them towards either Juro or Katsuro.” Akeno orders.

Emiko nods as Ayame prepares another serve. She sends this one to Akeno.

“Katsuro,” Akeno shouts as she sends the ball to her.

Katsuro flys up and spikes it towards Ayame. Ayame stalls it and Masahiro jumps from her shadow and knocks it towards Haruna. Haruna creates an ice pillar beneath her and spikes the ball at its apex. The ball heads straight for Akeno who braces herself and manages to bounce it back a little. Juro creates a barrier on his hand so he can reach the ball and sets up Katsuro who spikes the ball onto the ground on Haruna’s side who was still lowering her ice pillar.

“1 point for Akeno’s team. The score is 1-1.” Ms. Saugoma says.

Akeno serves the ball and Ayame knocks it up. Kazuna spikes the ball towards Akeno who wasn’t able to properly deflect it and sends it out of bounds.

“Kazuna’s team scores again. The score is 2-1, match point.” Ms. Saugoma notes.

“Kazuna, let’s end it with this next serve,” Ayame says.

Kazuna nods as he waits for her. She knocks the ball towards Kazuna. Kazuna leaps up and surrounds his body with lightning as he spikes the ball towards Akeno. Akeno simply steps to the side and allows the ball to hit the ground beside her.

“Although I’m intrigued by the reward, I would like to keep my arms,” Akeno says as a bead of sweat rolls down the side of her face.

“I don’t blame you,” Katsuro says to Akeno.

The last match was Kazuna’s team against Kagura’s team.

Since Kagura’s team won without allowing their opponents to score a single point, they were allowed to serve first. 

Yua serves straight for Ayame. Ayame glares at the ball and times a perfect return. Kazuna intercepts it and sends it towards Ria. She clenches her fists together and blocks it back. Kagura sets Matt up for a spike, but she sends the ball a little too far forward allowing Kazuna to go for a spike as well. Both he and Matt hit the ball at the same time, but Kazuna overpowered Matt, scoring a point for his team.

“Kazuna’s team takes the lead with 1 point.” Ms. Saugoma shouts.

Ayame prepares a serve and aims for the middle of Kagura’s team.

“I’ve got it!” Kagura notes.

Once her hand makes contact with the ball, she blasts it upwards with her wind so she would have time to get back to her spot. Kazuna looks over to Haruna and she nods. She runs to him and jumps. He creates a foothold with his hands and once she lands on them, he launches her upwards.

“What kind of anime teamwork is this?!” Matt exclaims.

Haruna reaches the ball and propels her hand forward with ice and spikes it for Matt. Matt knocks the ball back. Kagura follows up and spikes the ball to the ground where Haruna was.

“The score is tied at 1 apiece.” Ms. Saugoma shouts.

Yua goes for a different strategy this time around and serves the ball towards Matt who spikes it towards Haruna. Haruna surrounds her hands with ice and returns it towards Ria. Ria sends it back at the last possible seconds and Kagura spikes it towards the very corner of the field.

“Kagura’s team takes the lead with a score of 2-1!” Ms. Saugoma shouts.

“Nice!” Kagura exclaims as she high fives Yua.

Yua serves it towards Masahiro who knocks it back towards the center of the field. Kagura knocks it towards Matt who spikes it towards Ayame. Masahiro appears from her shadow and helps her return his spike. Kazuna and Haruna similarly team up and spike the ball with too much speed and power for anyone to return it.

“The score is 2-2, this is match point.” Ms. Saugoma shouts as she sits on the edge of her seat.

After a brief pause, Ayame serves the ball slightly behind Matt. Matt knocks it back to her and Ayame sets up Kazuna. Kagura, expecting a strong spike, braces herself, but she’s surprised when Masahiro appears and knocks the ball towards Matt’s side. Matt, caught off guard by the move, was barely able to stop it from hitting the ground. The ball was now hovering just above the net and both Kagura and Kazuna had the same idea as they both jumped, activated their powers, and spiked the ball. They were stuck in a stalemate. Kagura increased the strength of her wind while Kazuna increased his lightning. After a few seconds of the ball remaining unmoved, it finally burst.

“Uhhh.” Matt whimpers.

“I worked so hard on creating that.” Yua whines.

“I guess we have no choice, it’s a draw.” Ms. Saugoma concludes.

“Huh?!” Everyone exclaims in unison.

“There can’t be a tie!” Matt shouts.

“Well, there just was.” Ms. Saugoma shrugs.

“What about the reward?” Yua asks.

“I guess both the winning teams can have it.” Ms. Saugoma answers.

“So what is the reward anyway?” Kagura asks.

“You can ask me or Kazuna one thing and neither of us can deny your request. Of course, your request has to be within reason.” Ms. Saugoma states.

A chill goes down Kazuna’s spine as he feels 3 glares aimed at him.

“Can my request be not to be a part of this?” He asks.

“That wouldn’t be any fun now would it?” Ms. Saugoma says with a smile.

Kazuna sighs as he prepares to relent to whatever demands he may face.

“Can you keep me out of pointless things like this,” Masahiro says as he walks towards the hotel.

“If that’s your one request.” Ms. Saugoma replies.

“Kazuna, can I have the blueprints to your mansion?” Ayame asks.

“Huh? Well, yeah, but why?” He asks.

“Your clan is thousands of years old right? I would love to get my hands on architecture that old.” She answers.

“Makes sense. I’ll get them for you once we return from the training camp.” He says.

“Do I ask Kazuna for a favor or Ms. Saugoma? Decisions, decisions.” Matt mumbles to himself.

“Do you think you could give my sister a little tutoring between classes?” Haruna asks.

“Sure, but you don’t have to use your reward to ask. I would have tutored her if you asked any other time.” Ms. Saugoma notes.

“I didn’t really have anything else I wanted to ask for, plus this way you have to tutor her yourself and you can’t put it onto someone else.” Haruna states.

“I don’t know how to feel about the lack of faith you have in me,” Ms. Saugoma says with a somewhat hurt expression.

Yua walks towards Kazuna and extends her arm.

“You will go on a date with me after our training on the island is done.” Yua proclaims.

Kagura stares at Yua, shocked by her abruptness and Ria glares at her for her audacity.

“Cool guys have it too easy,” Matt growls between clenched teeth.

“Okay, but you have to decide on a date and what we’re doing.” Kazuna shrugs.

“Fine by me,” Yua says with a bright smile.

“Kagura, Ria, do you have any requests?” Ms. Saugoma asks.

“Uh-Uhmm, I think I’ll need a little time to think of one.” Kagura stammers.

“Kachi already knows what my request is,” Ria says.

“Well take your time, as long as you’re a student of GA, you can request anything of me.” Ms. Saugoma states.

“Oh really? Well, then I guess there’s no need to think so hard about it right now then. So why don’t we continue with our beach activities? Next up is a sandcastle building competition! Well, really sand sculpting.” Matt exclaims.

“Are there any rewards for this as well?” Akeno asks.

“Nope, it’s just for fun!” Matt says with a smile.

With there being no incentive, not everyone participated in Matt’s event, but there still were some that played along for fun. Matt’s creation was a poor excuse for a sandcastle. Yua created a perfect sculpture of herself. Kagura created a sloppy medieval castle. Ayame made a miniature taj mahal. Emiko made a sandman. Chiyo and Haruna teamed up to create a water/ice palace. While Kazuna built a dragon.

“That was more fun than I was expecting,” Kagura notes.

“Yeah, it’s always nice to let your creative side take over,” Yua adds.

“What’s next?” Kagura asks.

“Next, we set out for the ocean,” Matt says while pointing towards the water.

Emiko leads the charge as she plunges straight into the water. Chiyo soon follows suit as she rockets out using her power. Haruna creates a small ice platform that she lounges on. Kagura and Yua chat as they calmly walk into the water. As Kazuna was about to head in, he noticed that Ria hadn’t moved.

“Are you coming?” He asks.

Ria was silent as her face began to slightly blush.

“Don’t tell me.” He mumbles.

“I never learned okay.” She exclaims as her face was now beet red.

Kazuna shows a soft smile as he extends an arm.

“Come on, I’ll teach you.” He says.

Ria gingerly takes his hand as he leads her into the water.

“I'll take it slowly, okay.” He says.

Ria nods as the bottom half of her body is submerged.

“Alright, now lean forward and relax your legs.” He says.

She follows and is now being pulled along by him.

“Now kick your feet. Just a little, not too much.” He instructs.

She nods as she begins to paddle.

“The key is to stay calm. Panicking won’t do anything but make you sink. Take steady breathes and keep your movements fluid.” He states.

“Mhmm.” She says with a nod.

He lets her continue for a little longer before speaking again.

“Good. You’re getting the hang of this quickly. Now, I'm going to move to the middle part of your body so that you can use your arms okay.” He says.

She nods as he moves and places his hands on her stomach. She squeaks a little but Kazuna misinterprets this as her being scared.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let you drown.” He assures her.

She blushes from embarrassment but she quickly gets over it thanks to his misunderstanding.

“Now, throw your arms out and act as if you’re pulling yourself forward.” He says.

“Like this?” She asks as she follows his instructions.

“Keep a small bend in your arms and keep your fingers together. Make sure you have more of a rotation to your movement.” He adds.

She complied and seemed to have a pretty good form so Kazuna eased up on the hold he had on her. She sinks a little faster than she was expecting and begins to panic a little but Kazuna quickly lifts her up.

“Remember what I said, I’m not going to let you drown.” He reassures her.

“Mhmm.” She mumbles as she looks aways to hide her blushing face.

Kagura and Yua watch them as they continue to practice.

“I’ve never once wished that I was unable to swim until today,” Yua says.

Kagura was silent as she was marveling at how much Ria trusted him. She didn’t hesitate to follow his instructions and she wasn’t panicking because she knew that Kazuna wouldn’t let her drown. 

“I wonder if Kazuna would have held me like that if he were to teach me how to swim?” Kagura thinks to herself.

The thought makes her blush so she splashes her face with water to bring herself back to reality.

“Why don’t we set up some things that we can do with Ria despite her being unable to swim,” Kagura says to Yua.

“Just what I was thinking,” Yua says as she gives her a wink and a thumbs up.

As Kazuna continued to teach Ria, she couldn’t help but feel sentimental.

“It feels like the old times. You feel just as close as you used to. Maybe it’s my own doubts and insecurities that are creating this feeling of separation between us. Maybe it’s about time I stopped living in the past and followed in your footsteps.” Ria thinks to herself as she realizes that she had been swimming without Kazuna holding her up.

“How long have I?” She questions.

“Just a little while. You got the hang of it much quicker than I expected you to.” Kazuna answers.

Ria stands and blushes as Kagura and Yua walk towards them.

“Now that you can swim a little, why don’t we have some fun?” Yua says while holding up a beach ball.

“Why should I…” Ria begins to argue but Yua tosses the ball at her.

She smacks it back out of pure reaction.

“And you were about to protest about playing.” Yua teases.

“No, I,” She stutters.

“Ah, no arguments. You’ve already started so you might as well finish.” Yua interrupts.

Ria was about to argue anyway when Kazuna placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Why not indulge in their chaos just this once?” He suggests.

She stays silent and concedes defeat. The group began to toss the ball to one another until their group began to grow as more and more of their classmates began to join them. Soon, most of class 1-A was playing with them. The simple game turned chaotic once their powers got involved to keep the ball from touching the water and they quickly popped the ball soon after.

There was a brief silence before Kazuna let out a sigh at the unsurprising turn of events. Soon after, his classmates burst into laughter and even Ria could be seen chuckling a little. Matt quickly points this out, causing Ria to nearly drown him. Everyone’s laughter only became more boisterous as Ria was now blushing from embarrassment and Matt was gasping for air. Even Kazuna was laughing more than he had in a long time.

As Ria glared at them, she couldn’t help but feel all the thoughts that were weighing her down become less heavy.

“I finally see how they were able to free you from your shackles Kachi.” She notes to herself as her glare softens.

The sun had begun to set and everyone gazed at the horizon and the beautiful sunset. Time had flown by after the eventful day that they had. 

“Since night’s almost here, it’s time for the final act!” Matt exclaims as he quickly leaves the water.

He was gone for a few short minutes before returning with a box.

“What’s in it?” Kagura asks.

“See for yourself.” He says as he sets the box down for everyone to see.

Everyone gathers around the box and sees an assortment of fireworks.

“Did you make all of these Yua?” Kagura asks.

“Nope.” Yua answers.

“I had Ms. Saugoma bring some before we came to the island. I wanted it to be a surprise for everyone.” Matt says with a smile.

“I see, this day was already marked you talked to Ms. Saugoma yesterday to get it all set up?” Kazuna

surmises.

“Yep.” He answers with a proud smile.

“Not bad,” Yua says while nudging him causing him to blush.

“Now, why don’t we light these babies up!” He shouts.

His classmates cheer in response. Yua went and gathered the students from 1-B and they began lighting them up. As Kazuna watched, he could feel a smile beginning to form. Everyone was laughing, chatting, and watching the fireworks with stars in their eyes.

“This day seemed to help ease the tension around the circumstances of the island. Could it be?” He thinks to himself as Matt sits next to him.

“You did well,” Kazuna says.

“Huh?” Matt yawns in response.

“You had this day set up after seeing how the possibility of us being attacked had lowered everyone’s spirits a little,” Kazuna adds.

“Of course, you would notice. Everyone seemed so anxious after hearing that. I’m not smart like Akeno and I’m not calm, cool, and strong like you, but I wanted to do something to help everyone. They all probably think I just dragged them into my selfish desire, but that’s okay.” Matt replies. 

“I see,” Kazuna whispers as he calmly watches the fireworks and his classmates.

“You’re a good guy Matt. I’m glad I can call someone like you my friend.” Kazuna thinks to himself.