It was a quiet afternoon in classroom 3-E, and most of the students had filtered out for the evening. There were only 2 people in the classroom as the sun started to hang a little lower in the sky - well, 3, if you counted artificial classmates. Manami had offered to stay late after class and help Nagisa with his science studying, which he had gratefully accepted, since she was a natural. They were just starting to wrap up when Ritsu powered on with a rather interesting proposition.

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Nagisa rubbed the back of his head with one hand, intrigued. “So you’re telling me that it’s a perfect replica of the whole town surrounding Kunugigaoka?” He asked, with a bit of curiosity creeping into his voice. “That’s incredible, Ritsu!” Manami gushed, clearly already excited at the prospects.

“That is correct. I think would be the optimal method to train in assassination tehcniques without risking any real phyiscal harm.” Ritsu replied, her purple hair swaying on the display screen of the AI unit. Nagisa nods enthusiastically. “That’s a perfect idea, Ritsu! Is it ready to test?” He says, eyes widening with excitement at the prospect.

“I am still working out some bugs, but - you two can be the first to try it, if you like.” Ritsu says, and with a hiss, a  pair of futuristic looking headsets dispenses from the side of her cabinet - not all that different from a regular VR visor - but looking quite a bit more high tech, a bit bulky with hardware and cables that trailed into the main unit.

Manami jumps at the chance, and it doesn't take him long before the two of them set up the headsets, headset, electrodes attached to their temples as they sit down in the desk chairs next to Ritsu.

The classroom lights flicker slightly, and Ritsu’s screen displays a loading graphic - and soon, the real world is left behind. Nagisa, to the outside observer, seems totally unaffected, sitting on the desk chair as if the blue-haired boy were simply sleeping soundly. However, inside the helmet was an entirely new world - a flash of bright light nearly blinded Nagisa as he was drawn into a whirling mass of ones and zeroes, sucked into a vortex of light until -

> Loading complete <

Ritsu’s voice rings out from the sky, the boy deposited on his feet in his school uniform on the streets of the city - or, more accurately- several streets of the city. Nagisa’s well-worn, brown school shoes were currently stretching across several blocks - standing atop the rubble of a dozen or more crushed buildings -  Manami was similarly positioned, her black loafers currently poking curiously at the base of a skyscraper that came up to her chest.

Ritsu materializes in the virtual world soon after, standing on a bridge nearby - cars start to swerve left and right, several crashing into the heel of her school shoes, a handful even driving off the bridge into the water below with small splashes.

Ritsu frowns. “It appears I still have some work to do regarding the sizing..” She says, mechanically.

Nagisa gasps, horrified! He takes a panicked step back, tripping over a high-rise and nearly falling flat on his rear, stumbling to get his balance - in so doing, he scrapes a large portion of a city block under the heel of his shoe, to the tune of several dozen car alarms and screaming citizens.

“Oh my goodness- this is terrible!” He says, clapping his hands to his head.

“Oh, don’t worry, Nagisa!” Manami says, comfortingly, speaking up from nearby - she was tentatively poking a finger through the window of a skyscraper, probing around inside with a scientific curiosity. “They’re not real people - just ones and zeroes, like a video game!” She reassures him with a shy smile. “Right, Ritsu?”

Ristu nods. “Correct! This entire world is merely a simulation - however, It is very accurate!” She says, patting herself on the back. “Except for the size issue, of course.”

Nagisa tugs at his collar. “Well - I guess if it’s just like a video game, I don’t need to feel bad -” he pauses, looking at the tiny people running around on the ground. “Still, they really are realistic, huh?” He says, leaning down to get a closer look.

The city block below was soon eclipsed in shadow by the looming face of the feminine middle schooler, the whole sky blotted out by a pair of curious blue eyes. The streets were heavy with the scent of the leather from his school shoes, a noticeable scent flooding the streets from several yards away - he had been wearing them all day, after all. A few stragglers stopped to stare, dumbfounded, as he tentatively took a cautious step forwards - the sole of his school shoe looming above them like a meteor.

B O O M

The entire street was flattened under the boy’s loafer, worn thin from heavy use - cars crinkling like old tin cans underneath the titanic assassin in training, a handful of people reduced to nothing more than a fine red dot on the dirty underside of his shoe, screaming suddenly stopping as he steps.

“Well, I guess it’s not that bad - it’s kind of fun to feel tall for once!” He says with a playful grin, as Manami pokes and prods around the skyscraper.

“It’s absolutely fascinating!” She beams, as she grabs a tiny man from the office building and pulls him screaming out the window, dangling him by a single leg in front of her glasses. He can see his struggling form reflected in the round-rimmed frames, a perfect simulation of a terrified tiny man.

She leans in a little closer, and presses her fingers down a little around the man, who squirms - she slowly ups the pressure, as if experimenting with a test subject until - p o p - nothing is left but a tiny, sticky red stain between her fingers. “Oh, my! It looks like I pressed a little too hard… But, Nagisa - remember that the cornerstone of science is repeatability!” She adds, turning this into an opportunity for more tutoring. “You never know a result is sound until you’ve done multiple tests!” She says matter of factly, and scoops up a handful of people from the street, cupping them in one palm as she picks out one by one -

Pop

Squish

SPlrt

One by one she plucks them up, holds them screaming in front of her glasses, and squashes them into paste before her eyes, curiously seeming to enjoy it. “Ritsu, this is incredible! You’ve managed to make your simulated world so realistic!” She effuses.

Ritsu flushes red in the cheeks. “Well, I am learning more every day.” She says, hopping off the bridge onto the bank of the city. “I will see if I can fix the size issue by tomorrow.” She adds. “In the meantime - it is invaluable assassination practice to learn to maneuver in unfamiliar environments, is it not?” She says, and displays a mask of Koro-sensei over her face with a smug grin, making Nagisa laugh.

“Wow, you sound just like him!” The blue haired boy giggles, smiling back at Ritsu. “And you’re right - especially since emotions aren’t supposed to get in the way of completing a job - if this had been a real assasination, my hesitation could have cost me pretty badly.” He said, gloomily.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Nagisa!” Manami pipes up a little shyly, sitting up from her cross legged position in the middle of a highway. “Y-You're practically top of the class in assassination!”

“Well, I’m still not very good at science - but Ritsu is right! Practicing can only help!” Nagisa says, offering Manami His hand to help her up - his school shoe crashing through an overpass and spraying the tiny citizens with chunks of concrete. “Oh, whoops!” He says, flashing a sheepish grin. “I guess I’m not really used to the whole giant thing, yet!”

Ritsu stomps over to the two of them, holding out a pair of armbands - both blue. “For this training, you’ll be on the same team, hunting two targets!” Ritsu sits on top of a parking garage, nearly collapsing it. A large red circle appears around them, stretching out around a small area of the city.  “Your target will be somewhere inside these boundaries! I will be the judge.” Ritsu says with a wink. “Your target will be trying to blend in among the normal citizens - and it will be up to you two to find and eliminate him within the time period!”

Nagisa can’t suppress a smirk as she displays a picture of the target in front of them - it was none other than principal Akano! Ritsu giggles a little. “Well, I thought we could have a little fun, while we train!”

“No, it’s perfect, Ritsu!” Nagisa laughs. “You really are getting more and more human every day!” He says, and hands Manami her armband. “Are you ready?” He asks, to which she replies with a serious nod, tying on the blue band.

“You will have 20 minutes to locate and find your target - starting … now!” Ritsu claps her hands, and a timer counts down on the side of a nearby skyscraper. Nagisa instantly seems to snap into action, getting serious as he calls out. “I’ll look around the outside and circle in - Minami, you start from the inside and look outwards!” She nods, and he quickly runs over to the outskirts of the circle.

Below, the terrified tiny people were suddenly treated to an instant flattening under the treads of a smelly school loafer as it crushed dozens of buildings in a hurried stride, sliding to a stop on the outskirts of the circle. Nagisa’s sharp eyes spotted a brownish suit, giant fingers snapping out to grab the man. “Gotcha!” He said, but frowned as he held up a look-alike instead. Pouting, Nagisa watched the figure squirming in his fingers, kicking tiny legs and screaming something in a squeaky little voice.

“Well - if they’re not really real…” Nagisa thinks to himself, before pinching the man’s tiny legs in his other hand and slowly moving them down - pulling him apart like taffy to satisfy his curiosity, the man’s squeaky screams getting more fevered and then - stopping with a small snap. A strange little shiver ran down the boy’s spine at the sensation of having such power.

“W-wow… that was really easy, wasn’t it?” Nagisa says, visibly a little pink in the cheeks as he wipes his fingers off on his school slacks. “R-right, the training!” He said, shaking his blue hair from side to side. He quickly snapped back to a serious expression, shoes crushing a few more buildings as he searched for the target.

Meanwhile, Manami was taking a very scientific approach, looking outwards in a loop to be sure she didn’t miss anything. “Ritsu, the assasination rules don’t specify anything about damage or penalties for the wrong target, right?” She says, thoughtfully, to the purple-haired girl sitting nearby.

“Hm - I suppose that’s correct, Manami!” Ritsu says. “Very good observation!”

Manami nods. “In that case - the best strategy is to detain or incapacitate anyone matching the description of the target!” She says, excitedly, and kneels down on the street, setting off a dozen car alarms as she starts crawling around on all fours, crushing cars and people under her hands and knees. “Let’s see…” She says, snatching up a man in a brown suit and tossing him into an intersection. “And now to keep you there for now..” She taps her chin thoughtfully, before tugging off her school shoe with a sharp tug, revealing a slight damp-looking gray sock. “Oh, gosh - I guess it has been a long day, aha - it’s a good thing they’re all virtual!” She blushes, and sets her huge shoe down on its side, blocking off one of the only exits from the intersection - the other soon follows, and a wave of steamy air gusts out of the humid opening of her shoe, the poor captive tiny trapped in a city block of pure middle-schooler foot funk!

“There we go! Suspect secured!” Manami says, and starts looking around for more tinies that might be the target, tossing them into the tiny pen she had made without much care, roughly dumping them into the cheesy-scented town block prison, as the timer hits 2 minutes.

As she herded them all up, Nagisa drew close, having finished his circuit. He was breathing a little heavy, and put his hands on his knees, leaning against a skyscraper that almost creaked and groaned, threatening to break. “I haven’t seen him - any luck, Manami?” He looks down at the few dozen brown-suited men all coughing and wheezing in the tiny pen of foot-funk, and giggles. “Oh, that’s a great idea!” He says, laughing. “No wonder I couldn’t find the target!” He says, wiping a little tear from his eye as Manami beams proudly. “It was simple! Just a good scientific approach~” She says with a playful wink, her confidence feeling quite boosted by being a hundred stories tall.

“You have 1  minute remaining!” Ritsu says, robotically.

“Oh no! We’re running out of time!” Nagisa says, worriedly.

Manani thinks quickly. “Well- all we have to do is eliminate the target!” She says, and stands up quickly, offering Nagisa her hand. “It’s simple!” She says, raising her sweaty socked foot over the gaggle of terrified tinies.

“Oh, I see - you’re right! There’s no rules on the exercise about collateral damage!” Nagisa says, smiling. “And.. they’re not really real, even though they feel like it - “ He says, flushing a little - and he raises his dirty shoe sole above the crowd as well.

The panicked square was totally covered in the shadows of the two student’s soles, the smell getting stronger as the two blocked out the sun.

“Ready? 3-” Manami counts down -

“2” - Nagisa says.

“1!” They say in unison, and bring the soles down with a messy, devastating SPLAT.

Manami flushes a little red at the sensation of bodies breaking under her socked foot, and the timer stops.

< MISSION SUCCESS! > Displays in the sky, and Ritsu claps. “Well done, you two! Excellent assassination work.” She says, getting up with the crumbling of the parking garage. “And a wonderful first test of the VR immersion! I hope to have the size bug fixed tomorrow - but I’ll also have more headsets made, if you want to try a team exercise with more classmates!” She beams.

The two students smile at each other, and nod. “That sounds like a lot of fun!” Nagisa grins - and the world starts to melt away into ones and zeroes, bringing the two back to the real world.

Manami’s cheeks were still flushed pink - remembering how fun it was to feel so powerful;  and both of them could hardly wait until tomorrow - their heads full of new ideas for entirely unique kinds of training.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Ritsu!” Nagisa chimes, walking out with an extra spring in his step.