I wake up the next morning in class. WarWolf and Teacher come around twenty minutes after my arrival, bringing with them cucumber sandwiches for all the students. I tell BunBun that she was being too forward with teacher and that catching him in her web of love would need a more gradual approach. We learn about different weapons that day, and although BladEagle demonstrates the history of each weapon, it is Goopy that discusses strategies for each weapon’s use. This of course makes BladEagle jealous and I end being the one who steps in, getting punched in the process. Teacher slices one of the bully’s fingers off as punishment and class ends soon after that. In the end I decide that knives were the only weapons I liked. Everything else was either too flashy or too impersonal for me. WarWolf pulls me into her portal. I cook with her at home, managing the simple cutting of vegetables. I zone out a bit and cut my hand so she takes over from there. I sleep on the floor that night and then the next day we went to class again.

Teacher refuses to let BladEagle teach today after his recent bullying and taught us about the religion of assassins. We were all chosen by the ancestor of all angels, known as Archai Prima. We were gifted with special insight and the fortitude to act upon the truth. Death is the end and only darkness awaits. When teacher tells us this, BunBun starts crying and grabs onto him. Teacher reassured her that master assassins can transcend death itself. We close the class off with a prayer, thanking Archai Prima for blessing us with her eyes. We follow up the prayer with an hour of total darkness. Teacher tells us that we will experience death each day so that we no longer fear it. He gestured to the marks on my hands, reminding me that I’ve died many times before. I tell WarWolf that I’ll talk to my dad and she reluctantly agrees to follow me home. While she cooks, I meet with father one on one. He tells me he was indeed Lunar Moth but that he was no traitor. He assures me he will give his life for the guild. WarWolf and I share what we learned in class that day. Our family prays together. Mom teaches WarWolf how to apply her poisons to different weapon and father passes on his quick draw technique to me. “A murderer kills for joy, an assassin kills for duty,” he tells me. “If someone feels your killer intent, then you’ve already lost.” His hand moves like a moth with an enchanting beauty. A single slice appears on my throat. I stay up all night trying to learn the new technique.

I zone out in class again, thinking about that technique and how WarWolf will reward me for mastering it. BunBun makes a deal with teacher that if she’s at the top of the class in terms of grades, then he must date her. Teacher swirls out of existence to escape the dilemma. BladEagle calls Teacher a coward and agrees to tutor her if she teaches her special technique to him. She laughs saying she has no technique and then the two of them whisper to each other until Teacher returns. He gives us a pop quiz that BunBun and I both fail. Teacher pats her head and says he agrees to her conditions. StarBorne asks to close the class with poetry. She performs a short poem for each of us, comparing us to our animal namesakes. After class I go with WarWolf to her home. She shows father what my mother taught her about applying poison to weapons and I decide to talk to her mother. The mother is jittery but allows me to sit, as long as its on the opposite side of the room. I ask her about my father and she freezes up in terror. The father senses this and comes to her aid. All the worry about my father keeps me unable to sleep that night.

Sensei comes again the next morning and the three of us cook together. We spend the entire class practicing jabbing motions while being taught about the perks and risks of daggers.

Days become weeks and weeks become months. It’s almost 6 months later that my darling WarWolf walks on her own. She comes to me, going from a walk into a sprint and kisses me.

“You’ve been there for me. I couldn’t have healed without you,” she says, nuzzling my cheeks.

I gulp and take out my father’s specialty knife. “I want you to have it.”

WarWolf freezes up. She cries. “That’s the weapon that killed my aunt.”

“I…I didn’t know.”

She cups my hands. “You should have it. Clear her innocent blood off by washing it with the blood of the wicked.”

I hug her. “I’ll get you a different gift.”

She kisses my lips and then nibbles on my neck. “Every day you’ve supported me, brought my family closer to me…that’s been the greatest gift I could ask for.”

“But that’s all going to end now. Your father only agreed to let me stay until you were fully healed.” I rest my forehead against hers.

“You’re right. But it’s not his decision. It’s mine. I’ll show him I’m stronger than he is. Let’s take him down together.” She pours her paralyzing potion into the open tips of her throwing knives before sealing them.

“How are we going to get the jump on him?” I ask her, grabbing her hand.

“That knife you have…it will lower his guard if he sees it. Only reveal it when the time is right.”

I nod.

We step out of her bedroom. The entire living room has been booby trapped.

“How did he know?” I ask, turning to her.

“He was paying more attention to my healing than I had thought. Must have been the tempo of my walking that gave it away. But he should know I’m too smart to fall for these. How many locations could he be hiding behind?”

“Well, there are two couches and maybe that chair.” I look up at the ceiling which has small cannisters attached to strings.

“We have to limit his potential hiding spots,” says WarWolf, taking a potion off her belt. She takes aim and then tosses it behind the first couch. “Not there.”

When she grabs the next potion grenade, something slams into me from behind.

I tumble forward, my mind trying to make sense of what happened. My arm hits the first trip wire. I brace for an explosion but instead hear a small ringing.

He set up the wires not as traps but as a way of pinpointing our locations.

WarWolf wrestles with the person behind the door, dodging the sword strikes while pushing the door back.

A small knife pierces my side.

Wait, there’s a string attached to it.

I follow the string with my eyes, realizing it’s coming from the kitchen.

My body suddenly surges with electricity.

“They know our location. We have to retreat for now,” says WarWolf, using a rag to wrestle the sword out from the hands of her unseen attacker.

I tear the knife out. “I’m not running.”

Suddenly the canisters from the ceiling drop down.

“Hold your breath!” yells WarWolf, kicking open the door to her bedroom.

Smoke rushes out from the spinning canisters, completely masking the floor.

He’s leveling the playing field by blinding me. I’m in a real battle! This is incredible!

A small needle attaches to my legs and I’m suddenly pulled to the kitchen. Knives come out from the fog and hit my body. I shield my face and chest as best I can.

He’s controlling my movements. I have to throw him off. But how?

Before I realize it, I’m running toward the kitchen, the knives stop coming and he pokes his head out to see what’s wrong.

I slam my knee into his face, getting pierced by more tiny knives in the process.

“A RiftRipper would see your actions as careless, but I see the cleverness behind them.” He ducks under my kick and pushes aside my knife strike. “A split second decision cannot have hesitation, but a true killer discerns during that split second.” He steps on a trigger on the floor, sending electricity through the knives.

“How?”

“Remote activated. When I started classes I was called Psyren Frog because I’d always repeat what others said, but after my first graduation, I had earned myself a new name.” He steps on the trigger again, frying me. “SparkuPine.”

Now’s my only chance.

“You took up your sister’s name after my father killed her.” I grab onto the moth dagger and press it to his cheek.

SparkuPine shivers and falls to his knees.

“Goopy helped me uncover the truth. You’re the traitor, aren’t you?” I look down at him.

“You’re ruthless.” SparkuPine grabs my arms and squeezes till I release the knife. “But as long as you ruthlessly stand by my daughter…you can stay. You have beaten me. Don’t get cocky. You’ve bested a rusty knife. That’s all.”

I rush to WarWolf’s side, she must be fighting the mother.

They roll out of the bedroom, clawing at each other.

“Don’t interfere!” yells WarWolf, slamming her head against her mother’s.

A bell is heard from the kitchen.

SparkuPine peeks out. “Dinner is served. I cooked it myself.”

WarWolf and her mother stop clawing at one another.

I walk to my beloved and smile as she gets back to her feet.

The mother whimpers. “War, please help your mother up. My adrenaline is gone so your toxins have paralyzed me.”

WarWolf smiles and helps her mother back to her feet. She nearly topples over before I offer her support.

SparkuPine comes out, holding a deadly sharp kitchen knife. “We really look like a family now. Don’t we?”

That night we all sat down and ate together. Any ill intent between us had been carved out with my father’s weapon. I stay behind to help clean the dinner table while WarWolf tends to her mother’s wounds and her own.

Sparkupine twirls the plates as he pours water on them. “You can come and visit whenever you like, but you must leave that knife behind. It brings back things I could have forgotten.”

I nod. “SparkuPine, I don’t care if you were a traitor. You’re helping the girl I love become the greatest assassin.”

The father scrubs the dish in my hand with a sponge, using way too much soap. “My father would beat me when I was growing up. It was just me and him. He had such high expectations and my rank as second best in the class was never enough.”

“Assassins are tools. We shouldn’t give rank that much thought.”

“Indeed. The competition serves only to better us as assassins. It’s a philosophy we have to abandon once we evolve.” He holds my moth knife out and examines it.

When did he swipe it from me? I wanna learn that!

“Weech, you’re not your father and his actions aren’t yours to amend.”

“I won’t make the same mistakes he did. I promise.”

“It wasn’t a mistake. Traitors are killed. We knew what we were getting into. Don’t bring WarWolf down the same path I went. Listen to your father. Be obedient and resourceful.”

I hug him.

Tears slip down his cheeks and he drops the dishes. They shatter against the ground but he doesn’t flinch. “Why…are you hugging me?”

“My body just acts on its own. But now that it has. I won’t let go. Thank you for sharing your wisdom with me.”

He suddenly grabs my head. “Are you willing to give up your life for my precious little monster?”

I take a deep breath. “If I am, then I won’t be strong enough to protect her. I’ll gladly gamble my life, but I won’t surrender it. Surrendering is a hero’s way of life. Not an assassin’s.”

“All those story books have made you wise.” He looks at the knife in his hand. “If you don’t mind staying up a few hours later, I can teach you a technique I call the Spark.”

I release him from my loving embrace. “I’d be honored.”

I of course wasn’t able to learn it in one night, but I gained something more. A bond with SparkuPine.

WarWolf gave me a kiss on the lips that night before drifting to sleep.

The next morning came and I was ready to prove my love to her.

Teacher brought us his freshly baked raisin bread and explained why today’s class was in a different area.

This room was much wider and had an entire obstacle course.

Teacher shoots confetti from his sleeves. “Six months have passed since we first became a class. You’ve all grown in knowledge but now it’s time to give that knowledge practical value.”

BladEagle looks out at the field. “What happens if we fail the obstacle course?”

“This is the first day so you’re all bound to fail. I failed several times myself when I was your size.”

BunBun pats her cheeks. “If I win, you have to kiss me,” she says, grabbing onto Teacher’s tentacle.

I grab her hand. “Come on, ease up on him a bit. You’re scaring him.”

“Pah. Those are shivers of arousal,” she says with a cheeky grin.

Sensei hands everyone a slice of the warm dough. “Finish your bread and then jump into the obstacle course. First one to finish will get to talk with one of our school’s talent scouts.”

StarBorne refuses the bread. “I’ve been letting my own skill keep me from blossoming into a true leader. I’ll make sure I don’t let any of you down again.” She rushes ahead and gracefully vaults over the barricades, WarWolf quickly rushes to catch up.

Goopy sits down and pays close attention.

BunBun climbs onto Teacher’s shoulders so she can get a better view.

I watch from behind teacher.

Gotta find some sort of way to sneak past.

I make it to the left corner of the room. I close my eyes and take one careful step after another.

My mother used to sneak up on her enemies by walking toward them. If she can do it; then so can I. I’m gonna succeed and then I’ll officially ask her to be my girlfriend.

I keep walking in silence. I think of nothing but my goal and steady my breath.

StarBorne’s radiance is keeping the classes eyes focused on him or her. Not sure which is surfaced at this moment.

I bump into the backwall. I open my eyes and gauge the distance to the finish line.

56 steps…I think.

I end up overstepping it, but I still arrive before StarBorne does.

I stand entirely still, a mere meter in front of the finish line.

StarBorne will have to get past me to reach the end.

I feel my father’s knife in my grip.

StarBorne comes running toward me.

I can do this. I will prove myself here and now.

StarBorne doesn’t feel anything from me. “Come to greet me at the finish line. I’m moved.” She bows.

Her eyes are down. Its time. Kill!

I rush in and pierce my dagger all the way into her chest.

StarBorne gasps and looks at me with a sad look.

I don’t like that look.

My left hand grips the knife and starts stabbing the class’ shining star.

I’m suddenly tackled and fall to the ground. I slice my attacker until they retreat.

WarWolf, her body with scars that I gave her, looks down at me. “What were you thinking?”

I drop the knife. “I did it. I killed StarBorne. You’re the best assassin in the class now.”

Teacher pops up behind me, tears leaking from his body. “No. No. No. You’re the best.” His voice cracks. “Congratulations, Weech. You’ve become a cold killer.”

I did it, Father! I've proven myself worthy of being an assassin.