A/N :
🥰 first published in 2024 🥰
happy late new year 🎊!!

i was about to update yesterday but my dumbass forgot 🤦
so , sorry about that-

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐈𝐍 𝐂𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐔𝐒 𝐁𝐔𝐈𝐋𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐖𝐍. '𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐎 the surging wave of our end-of-term final exams receded at last.' it narrated.

on the old campus, it was the day of results. "now then, class, i'll be returning your compiled exam papers," koro-sensei addressed them at the front. "did your second blades manage to pierce their intended targets? i wonder..." the whole class was completely silent as they waited. "no grumbling over a point or two, understood?"

koro-sensei sped up and delivered everyone's test papers. "the only thing we're concerned with right now is whether these scores secure a place for you to get you into the top 50, unless i'm mistaken." he held up a poster with the results. "the main campus ought to be posting the overall ranks right about now as we speak, so let's start with ranks here in class E, too."

everyone held their breath as the poster was spread out, standing up and walking to the front.

"i-i-" terasaka gawked. "you're kidding me. i'm forty-six??!" his name was shown ranked 46, while sugaya was ranked 44.

"isn't terasaka always dead last, even in here though ?" meahara said.

nagisa stared at the results in shock. "if terasaka-kun came in forty-six..."

"is this for real?"

"...then that must mean..."

"WE DID IT!!!" they all yelled, throwing their papers in the air.

the rankings were shown. "and we pulled down the big 5 in the battle for the top spots, too- practically a perfect win!"

final exam scores
akabane karma 500
gakushu asano 497
rio nakamura 461
ren sakakibara 452

karma's name was shown as coming in first with 500 points, while gakushu came in second with 497.

a flashback revealed that after karma solved the question, the text on his exam showed 'final problem. akabane karma: 20/20 points.'

"and first place is karma for once!"

karma was shocked, while koro-sensei came around. "how does it feel, karuma-kun? earning the highest rank on such an unforgiving-level battlefield...and win!"

"um," karma blushed. "whatever. i guess so. yeah...."

"aw!" rio teased. "is that little blush i see there?" she smirked devilishly while poking his red cheek. "how cute ~"

karma's blush turned a deep pink, making his classmates laugh. "oh, shut up," he glared and playfully put her in headlock.

"oi! oi! i give up." she started to cry for help, hitting karma's arm and failing to sprung for freedom. "NAGISA-CHAN, SUGAYA, ANYONE HELP ME ! I CAN'T BREATHE !" she shrieked.

some of them let out an exasperated sigh, while the class just laughed.

karma finally freed the poor rio, who waddled towards sugaya, falling into his arm and murmuring in a dazed voice. "never again." sugaya just patted her head.

"well done, karma-kun. it appears your battle against the perfectionist-boasting asano-kun," korosensei said as the redhead turned to him. "came to a head on that final and, i must say, particularly thorny math problem."

flashed back :

gakushu gritted his teeth and was writing down as the bell rang.

"pencils down!" the moderator yelled, causing him to freeze. "time's up, son. the test is over..."

gakushu clenched his teeth. "..just one more line...damn it!" he snapped the pencil in his hand. "i knew the answer!"

end of flashed back

karma smiled faintly. "yeah, about that....not sure i could say exactly why, but i don't think i could've solved it if i hadn't spent the past year with you guys." he looked at his classmates, who were chatting excitedly. "that's the kind of problem it was..."

meahara sighed. "it sure was a slog getting to this point, though, huh?"

"yeah, our most fervent wish-after a successful assassination, anyway!" okano exclaimed.

"and we all wanted this so badly!" toka said.

okano smiled. "and we actually beat class A. it almost sounds too good to be true."

"we can get back on track to our top-tier schools!" mimura looked excited.

okajima cheered. "the ladies will be throwing themselves at our feet!"

meahara grinned. "way to go us, right?"

"yeah. SEX EVERYWHERE !" okajima yelled.

the girls in class gave him an unamused look.

fuwa sighed contently. "ah, feels like a final episode to me."

hara baulked. "CHOTTO ( hold up ), IT CAN'T END YET!"

okajima laughed. "man, those class-A twerps. what i wouldn't give to see the looks on their faces; they must be white as sheets right about now."

karma's ears perked at this.

"bet you anything; they never thought in a million years they'd lose to us !" meahara said.

"now, to be fair, on their part, class A performed quite well in the first half of the exams," koro-sensei reasoned. "but as the questions grew increasingly difficult on the second half, it seems more and more students found themselves running out of steam."

rio smiled. "yeah, well. that's what they get. whoever you are, nobody can keep their bloodlust holds out for that long. even with daily assassination training," she explained. "it's next to impossible to stay in that frame of mind for an entire day."

'good, this is all i need,' karma smirked as he stood up from his chair.

"hm ?" nagisa looked up curiously when he saw the redhead begin to walk towards the classroom door. "karuma-kun, where are you going?"

"well, since the finals are over," karma slid the wooden door open, smirking. "it would be more fun to enjoy the look on class-A faces in person, wouldn't it ?"

nagisa looked amused. "i bet they are annoyed."

"YOU'RE ALREADY LEAVING ?! but we're just getting started on celebrating how far we have come !" korosensei said, watching him go.

karma smiled disarmingly. "don't worry, teach, i'll be back; besides, i have an important bet to hold on to."

the blue-haired boy looked curious but didn't push it. "oh, okay." he smiled. "i guess we'll see you in a bit."

"wait-karma-kun, don't leave!" korosensei cried, bursting out tears like an uncontrollable faucet and spraying them everywhere. "this is not considered a full celebration if one of the students is missing!"

the class sweat-dropped, amused by his antics, as they watched their teacher continue rambling on.

"ano....korosensei. aren't you being a little overly dramatic?" hara sweat-dropped.

fuwa sighed, crossing her arms with a smile. "of course he is, or else he wouldn't be korosensei."

"also talk about dramatic...." the camera zoomed out a little to show korosensei sobbing in a waterfall amount. by this point, his tears had spread into a pool-like state that was trapping class E in place.

"whoa ! his tears are literally overflowing!" kimura cried out while the rest of the class stood on top of their tables and chairs as the classroom was completely flooded.

"i just can't believe you've all grown up so fast," korosensei sniffed, wiping away his tears with his white handkerchief. "don't worry karma-kun, sensei shall wait for your return !" he cried dramatically.

then hinato snapped in the direction of her teacher. "first of all, stop crying, you dumb yellow alien tentacle squid !" she shouted. "or else this place and everyone else is gonna get drown by your tears !"

the scene changed. inside the main building, the principal was sitting in his office with gakushu's final result in his hands. a dark look cast over his face as the clock ticked, he stood up from his chair, and the screen abruptly cut to black.

a/n : sorry for the late update , i wasn't in the best state of mind. i was torn between which chapter to go first or after.

so i've been doing a lot of editing and rewriting behind the scenes for months now. now i'm not sure if i'm taking a break or if i'm feeling......bored or just bored of writing. maybe the reason for being "bored" is that i've been stressing about perfection in every single character, plot, and writing of this book. it has been running in my mind 24/7 for almost a year now, and I just realised i haven't really taken a break—a proper break at all—since this book started, even before the rewrite.
the "break" i took back then, even after 6 months of putting time off, is just me having "analysis paralysis."

btw I just realized this book has been hit with 900+ votes and we're getting so close to 1k votes !!
so thank you guys so much for the votes and support. i can't express how much i truly appreciate it , you guys are just amazing !😭🌟

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