Riku sat in class but the atmosphere felt a little off. The other students seemed to be gossiping, something was buzzing around the school.

Riku who for the most part spent his days staring out the window turned to try and overhear what was happening.

“Did you guys hear?”

“You mean about the students that went missing during the missions?”

The circle of students talking were three girls. Riku had always noticed them in his class but this was the first time they actually spoke about something that could peak a guy's interest.

“What’s so special about that,

students go missing all the time.

We just hunt them down like always”

Riku’s hair stood on end realizing that even if he had thought about it, just running away from the school wasn’t an option.

One of the girls in glasses that had a romantic book in hand closed it and interrupted

“They aren’t missing. They are all dead.”

The other girls gasp in shock before one of them decided to challenge her,

“And how the heck would you know that?”

They girl in glasses bit her lip a little reserved then continued

“Because one of them was my foster brother.”

“Yeah right like just anyone can kill so many students while they are on a mission and get away with it!”

Another girl mockingly countered.

“Exactly haven’t you heard about the shadow?

They would never let them get away with that.”

The glasses girl clenched her book tighter

“You’re right he wouldn't, that's why he is dead too.”

The group of girls fell silent as though some spirit had passed by.

[SLAM!]

Riku’s chair fell over with him breaking the silence. Riku seemed to have over extended himself while eavesdropping on their conversation.

The group of girls looked at him in disgust and pity as he tried to get himself up.

“.. Sorry ladies, you know these tiny chairs tend to be very unstable.”

Riku tried to brush off the awkwardness of the situation before asking,

“But since you girls are talking about it, why would anyone want to kill Assassin Academy students?

Don’t we like, not exist to the outside world?”

The girls shook their heads remembering that he was just a new student and missed the first semester.

The first semester was the introductory semester and would teach the students all about the underworld structure.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Sure, to a normal civilian Assassin Academy is just another boarding school but to the underworld it is one of the most vital cogs in the machine that protects the world from destruction.

One of the girls, one with a few butterfly hair clips in her flowing hair decided to speak first,

“We know you’re new here and missed a few classes but you really should try and catch up.

I’ll give you a small breakdown.”

“That’s our class rep for you, always ready to guide these young youths.”

The rest of the girls nodded and looked in aspiration.

“Assassin Academy is actually very popular and in fact even famous.

Sure the normal civilians and everyday Joe see us as just students but world governments, terrorist groups and even organized criminal organizations see us as major military assets.”

“Don’t forget the random millionaires too.”

Another girl interrupted nodding her head with eyes filled with dollar signs.

The class rep ignored her and gave her a slight look of contempt,

“Because of this some organizations will even be a patron for some talented students before they even graduate.”

“Oh, so basically pre owning them then.”

“Exactly!”

The class rep was a little surprised by the choice of words from Riku. It sounded more along the lines of night workers so she was left a bit uncomfortable before continuing,

“But the rift starts when one organization realizes that another ‘Pre-owns’ too many potential assets.”

Riku’s eyes opened wide in realization

“So you’re saying these killings could have been caused by competing organizations trying to get rid of potential competition?”

The class rep nodded realizing that this new student may not have been the brick wall she thought he was.

“Exactly, well that’s my hypothesis at least.”

Another student rebutted with,

“But class rep, not all of the students that went miss-”

Her sentence was cut short by the glare of the girl in glasses and she adjusted her statement.

“-that died had patrons.

What about them?”

The class rep paused for a second before speaking,

“Well sure, they might not have official patrons on paper but that’s normal too.

Some organizations will recruit students off the book to mask their potential assets for these same reasons.

But that doesn’t mean that another organization couldn’t find out.”

The girl that asked the question, eyes opened wide in realization.

“Then that means!-”

“This could all be some leakage or espionage of information from these organizations!”

Riku was the one that interrupted and finished the girls theory.

The class rep nodded like a teacher who was proud to have taught her class something new.

The glasses girl had a eureka moment as she spoke

“So if we find out which organization the students were being backed by and find their biggest rivals then we could find out who is behind all the killings.”

“But that’s not exactly straight forward. They could have more than one rival.

Or the leak could have been from multiple governments or organizations.

Even worse, what if the leak was from the school itself.”

Riku was the one speaking but even his own analysis left a bitter taste in his mouth.

After All this would mean that either a traitor was in the school or the school was just that easy to breach.

Either way it spelt that the walls of Assassin Academy weren't safe for anyone.

The other girls grew gloomy as they realized the same problem.

This issue was a big problem not just due to safety but the issue of trust it could cause.

“I think we should keep this to ourselves.”

The class rep was the one who stuttered and suggested first.

The other girls and Riku looked around and nodded.

Afterall it wouldn’t take a genius to realize that a group of first years like themselves going around and talking about a possible traitor would spell death.

The problem was this group wasn’t the only group with half a brain.

In fact the smarter and more involved set of students have figured all of this out a few days ago.

Quite a few groups had already landed on this conclusion and also decided not to speak out.

This air of fear, of a traitor, was stifling the atmosphere at the school.

Students could be seen with a look of apprehension as they went about their business and interacted with each other.

Everyone looked at each other with a look of suspicion. While conversations seemed to become more private.