An Assassin's Respite

The Student Council President Reveals Her Hand

Kazuna and Kagura walk into the student council room and see Ayanami standing by the door that was on the left-hand side of the room.

"You two are right on time. The other members just finished getting here not too long ago and are waiting in the conference room. Let's go." She states while opening the door. 

The three of them enter the conference room. It was a fairly large room with most of its space being occupied by a large round oval-shaped table in the middle of the room. The right and back walls each had long windows spanning them. 

"Kazuna, you can go ahead and take the seat next to Kagura since it's usually empty." She says. Kazuna nods and takes his seat next to Kagura.

Ayanami takes her seat at the head of the table and clears her throat. "Alright, thank you all for meeting on such short notice but I thought it would be better to meet now rather than later. Ok, the first order of business is the introduction of our newest member Kazuna. Can you introduce yourself?" She says.

Kazuna nods as he stands. "My name is Kazuna Katsuchi. I'm a second year in class 1-A. I transferred to this school from America just a couple of weeks ago. It's nice to make your acquaintance." He says with a bow.

"Alright, now that you've introduced yourself, I'll quickly run through the other members here. I guess I'll just move down the table by rows. To my right is the vice president Kai Tatsumi. Then, Sana Tanaka, she's the secretary.  You already know Kagura, she deals with student affairs. Across from her is Chaz Yamamoto, he's the second in command for the disciplinary committee. Next to him is the first in command Akihiro Nakamura. Last is Aki Watanabe at the end of the table, the treasurer." Ayanami lets out a deep breath as she finally finishes introductions. 

"Ok now that we're through introductions let's get to the main topic of discussion. The Coalition Festival or, more specifically, my plan for us to bring home the trophy." She states. 

"So, what is this plan?" Kai asks. 

"It's nothing grand really. Since we know that the third years for all the schools are pretty even in terms of skill and that the first years are usually a wild card. I thought that it would be best to focus on the second years. More specifically, on beating Winter Academy." She clarifies.

"So you're saying that you have a way to stop Usagi, right?" Kagura asks.

"It's not a guarantee so much as it is the best course of action. Recently a person of interest has sparked this idea." She says while resting her gaze on Kazuna. The other members follow suit and soon enough, everyone in the room was looking at Kazuna. 

Kazuna lets out a sigh. "And I'm that person of interest, right?" He asks.

"I really wish you weren't so perceptive Kazuna. I don't get any good reactions from you. Well, in any case, you're right. Based on what happened last year, and what I've seen from you so far, I can say pretty confidently that you are in all likelihood the only person that can take down Usagi." Ayanami says.

Chaz, the guy sitting across from Kagura, stands abruptly. "What do you mean he's the only person that can take down Usagi. What about me?" He exclaims while slapping his hand to his chest.

"Although I'm happy to see you so energetic, let's not forget that Usagi beat you pretty handily last year Chaz." Ayanami notes.

"Tch... Things will be different this year." He growls. However, Ayanami just shakes her head.

"You say that, but you haven't shown nearly enough improvement for me to believe that." She says a bit coldly. Chaz grumbles and tightens his fist as he sits back down in defeat. 

"Now, does anyone else have any questions before we move on?" Ayanami asks. Kagura lifts her hand. "Go ahead." Ayanami says, urging Kagura to speak.

"I understand that Kazuna is strong. But are you sure he can really stop Usagi? I mean, he's only taken part in one fight and has only done simple training exercises since he's been here. Also, how can we be certain that he'll even take the fight seriously." Kagura notes. 

"I understand your concern. But, I feel as if that one fight was enough evidence to show just how powerful Kazuna is. We can agree that Kazuna won that fight handily right?" She asks. Everyone nods in agreement. "Good, now take into account that Kazuna won that fight handily without even using his power. I think it's safe to assume that the strength Kazuna has shown so far is far from what he is really capable of. Right?" She says while turning her gaze back to Kazuna.

"You're one terrifying lady Ayanami. But, you are right. I don't like being the center of attention so I would have rather gotten away with not showing any of my strength at all, but the fight against Katsugaya really put a dent into that plan didn't it?" Kazuna says.

Ayanami laughs. "Someone as extraordinary as you will always have a hard time avoiding the limelight. And as for him taking the fight seriously, there's no need to worry about that. Kazuna may put on a lazy facade, but I get the feeling that he is a person that tries his best and has too much pride, he won't just sit back and let himself be defeated." She says with a smile.

Kagura looks at Kazuna to see if he was going to say something to refute this but he only sat there with an annoyed look on his face, basically confirming what Ayanami said. "Fine, I guess I don't have any complaints then." Kagura says.

"Good. Now for the most important question. Kazuna, do you think you can beat him?" Ayanami asks. 

"Is this Coalition Festival really that important?" Kazuna asks.

"Yes. Not only is the festival a good way for students to show agencies what they've got, but agencies also tend to show more attention to the school that wins. So, I'll ask once more, can you beat him?" She asks.

"I've never been one go into a fight expecting victory, so I can't guarantee anything. But I will say that I have never lost a fight," He answers.

"Well that's good enough for now then I guess. However, I do expect you to keep an eye on him throughout the competition to learn as much as you can about him. Understood?" She says.

"Yeah, yeah." Kazuna replies.

Ayanami smiles at his response and continues the meeting by addressing a few minor matters.

"That's all I have for today's meeting. There wasn't really any official business that needed to be attended to I just felt that this meeting had to happen. Kazuna, why don't you and Akihiro talk to each other so you can get a better understanding of what you'll be doing as a member of the disciplinary committee." She advises.   

"Understood." Kazuna says. 

"You're all dismissed." She finishes and leaves the room followed by the vice president and the secretary.

Akihiro walks over to Kazuna. "Kazuna, why don't we go ahead and leave as well. We can talk as we walk." She says.

"Sure." Kazuna says. Akihiro was a girl with short black hair and an athletic body type.

"Do you mind if I tag along?" Kagura asks. 

"That's fine." Akihiro replies.

Kagura, Kazuna, and Akihiro leave the room together.

"So Kazuna, about our responsibilities as members of the disciplinary committee. They're not complicated at all, basically, we just keep students in check. Most of our members focus on correcting dress code or students skipping classes, you know, small things like that. However, members such as yourself and Chaz are special members whose main purpose is to handle more extreme cases such as conflicts between students or emergencies such as evacuations. You don't have to focus on upholding all of the schools' rules, just on those special circumstances." She explains.

"Hm. That sounds a lot less annoying than I thought that it would be. I'm not one to really nitpick or follow rules to the tea but, I can definitely handle what you expect of me." Kazuna says.

"That's good to hear, although that's about what I expected to hear. You won't have to wear a special uniform and you don't have to patrol around every day but you will have to wear an armband and go on patrol during school events, times when the school's threat level is raised, and a few other rare occasions." She adds. 

"I'm ok with that. Anything else?" Kazuna asks.

"No, that's about it really. I would like to get to know you better personally but that can wait for another day. But, until then I'll catch you later. It's nice to have a member as promising as you," She says as they walk out of the front doors of the school. Kazuna nods as she waves and walks away.

"That was an interesting meeting." Kagura notes.

"You can say that again." Kazuna says in agreement.

They head out the front gate and are greeted by a few of their classmates.

"What are you all doing here?" Kagura asks. 

"We were waiting for your meeting to end we wanted to ask Kazuna something." Shiba replies.

"Me?" Kazuna says in surprise.

"Yeah! We want you to help us train for the Coalition festival." Emiko exclaims.

"Me? Help you all train? But why?" Kazuna asks once again.

"Ugh… Do we have to spell it out? You are easily the strongest guy in our class so it makes sense for us to come to you in order to help us train." Matt adds. Everyone else nods in agreement as Kazuna looks at them in disbelief. Although his classmates couldn't see it, he was smiling on the inside.

"When you all come at me like that I can't really say no can I." Kazuna says.

Everyone lets out a cheer and Kazuna looks at Kagura.

"So, will you be joining them in my training sessions? I must warn you, I'm a strict trainer." He warns.

"Well when you come at me like that then I can't really say no can I." She answers with a smile and starts to make their way home with a much larger group than normal.

Later Kazuna enters his room. Laying on his bed is the dragon he sent to deliver his letter. Once Kazuna enters, Karma awakens. 

“Welcome back master.” Karma says. 

Kazuna sits next to Karma. “Were you followed?” He asks as he begins to pet the dragon.

 “Of course not.” Karma replies.

 “Good. How were they?” He asks. 

“Your mother seemed a little stressed, but was visibly happy when she received your letter.” Karma answers.

 “I really do feel bad for leaving her with my responsibility.” He says while resting his head against the wall.

 “Your mother wanted me to tell you that she’s glad you’re happy and that you don’t have to feel bad about leaving. That amount of responsibility should never be placed onto the shoulders of a child.” Karma explains.

 Kazuna shrugs off the dragon's sentimentality and turns Karma into a sword before placing him back into his scabbard.