Time to Show Off a Hidden Talent

Akira Takaoka jeers at Tadaomi Karasuma for putting forward Nagisa Shiota, the shortest boy in Class E, as his champion for the duel. Karasuma pays the taunts no mind and instead feeds Nagisa a few last pointers on how to strike an opponent properly. In his own head, Takaoka has already written the boy off as beyond question the feeblest of the male students, judging his physical gifts unremarkable and his build and strength closer to a girl's. Knowing the match requires a real knife, and confident a novice will freeze at the sight of it, he decides this is a bout he could take without even opening his eyes.

Nagisa hesitates at first over how to handle a live blade, then steadies himself by recalling Karasuma's guidance. He tells himself that beating the man is beside the point, that the only thing that counts is killing him. Wearing a calm smile, he strolls up to Takaoka, halts, pauses for a beat, then drives his knife straight at the instructor's throat without a flicker of doubt. The sudden certainty of death throws Takaoka off balance. Nagisa seizes the opening, grips his teacher's clothing from behind and yanks downward, dropping the larger man to the ground. Slipping in behind him, he wraps himself around Takaoka and lays the blade to his neck, sealing the win.

The victory lands almost before anyone can react, yet Nagisa's composure cracks the instant it is over. Still holding his defeated teacher, he grows visibly uneasy and asks whether he was right to strike with the dull back edge of the knife. The chapter, whose Japanese title reads Saino no Jikan, was published on April 27, 2013 across issues 22 and 23, ran nineteen pages, and was adapted in the anime within Episode 13, Talent Time.