Hi there! This is a one-shot about a "what if" situation that could have happened in AnR. The premise: What if Haru and Tokaku arrived sooner to retrieve Haru's script in chapter 23 of the manga?

Warning: spoiler for the original story.

"What...what's going on?" Haru asked.

Since she had forgot her script near the auditorium, Haru, followed by Tokaku, went there to retrieve it, even if it was late. The play was tomorrow and Haru wanted to be sure to know her dialogues perfectly. But when she arrived, she had heard some noises coming from the dressing room that sounded like voices. Curious, Haru had went inside the room, and discovered Shiena and Hitsugi that seemed to be talking, or rather, arguing.

"I-Ichinose..." the brunette mumbled nervously.

Shiena had one of her hand behind her back, like she was hiding something. Hitsugi had her back to them, so Haru couldn't see her face, but she could see that she was holding her usual pink teddy bear. There was some kind of gloomy vibe coming from the little one. After few seconds, Hitsugi finally turned back, showing a childish and innocent smile to Haru and Tokaku.

"Ichinose-san, Azuma-san, good evening. What are you doing here?" Kirigaya asked.

"Haru...had forgot her script."

"Oh, I see. I guess you wanted to study your text tonight to be ready tomorrow. What a diligent girl you are. Kenmochi-san, you must be proud, you who take the play so seriously."

"Uh...yes...that's good..."

"You still haven't answered Ichinose's question. What are you doing here?" Tokaku asked.

"You seem suspicious of us. Don't worry, we were just talking about the play, since I'm one of the lead role. Isn't that right, Kenmochi-san?"

"Y-Yes, I...I was talking with Kirigaya, to be sure she was ready." Shiena confirmed.

Haru felt that something was odd, but she didn't insist. Hitsugi seemed like her usual self, but for some reason, Shiena appeared to be tense. Haru finally concluded that she must be nervous about the play.

"Well, I'll go to sleep. It's pretty late and Chitaru-san must be worried about me. Good night!" Hitsugi said cheerfully, before she left the room.

"I...I'll go too. Study your text well Ichinose, you too Azuma." Shiena said with a gloomy expression.

Haru saw the brunette shove something in her pocket quickly, before exiting the room, leaving Haru in doubt.

Haru went inside the dressing room. Her character in the play, Mercutio, had just been killed by Tybalt, played by Tokaku. It was ironic that it was Tokaku who played the one who killed Haru's character. The latter wondered if it had been done on purpose as a dark joke. For the moment, Chitaru, or rather, Romeo, was chasing down Tybalt to avenge Mercutio's murder. They had started to fight near Mercutio's corpse, but for some reason, maybe an artistic one, Tybalt had run away and the fight continued somewhere else, which required for Haru to leave the stage. Shiena had asked her to go search the fake knife for the final scene in the dressing room.

While she was searching for the knife, Haru noticed a familiar object. It was one of the phone-strap she had made for her classmates.

"What it's doing here?" she thought.

As she approached the strap, Haru suddenly felt goosebumps when she discovered on what the strap was. Under it was an advance notice with her name written on it, laying on a script of the play.

"W-What...no..." she mumbled with despair.

Haru suddenly heard the door being closed, followed by a click noise, like a lock. Feeling her heart racing in fear, Haru turned back to see who it was.

Shiena remained near the door. She had been careful to lock it so no one from outside could interrupt them. She just had to make sure Haru couldn't be close enough to escape. She had made sure that Tokaku would be stuck on scene while Haru would be in the dressing room. It seemed that her plan worked perfectly.

"S-Shiena-chan...hi...uh...Haru didn't find the fake knife yet."

The brunette pull out a knife from under her jacket, much to Haru's worries.

"Ah, you...you found the fake knife...?"

"No. This one is a real." Shiena replied.

Haru remained quiet for a moment, with an obvious afraid expression.

"The advance notice...no, it can't be...it was you!? Why...Shiena-chan, Haru thought...that we were friends."

It hurt for Shiena to hear those words, but she had convinced herself that she had to do it.

"I'm truly sorry, Ichinose. I'm sure that under other circumstances, we could indeed have been friends. But right now...we can't be. You're my target, and I need to kill you, for the sake of my group!"

As soon as Shiena said the word "kill", Haru's expression change, and even her body language. Her face was now stoic and her eyes cold, and she got herself into a defensive posture. Shiena began to wonder if she had made a mistake, that maybe Haru was a strong opponent.

"No, Ichinose isn't strong. My analyse can't be wrong. Azuma was the only obstacle between me and my target. I can kill her."

But then, another thought came into her mind: could she really kill Haru? Or rather, could Shiena kill? She knew killing was wrong, and Haru was far from being a bad person. Would it be right to assassin such an innocent girl?

"I shouldn't think that way! Of course I can kill her. It's not that hard...I just have to stab her in the heart. She may be innocent, but her death will be a sacrifice to make the world a better place. I need the wish, my group will use it to help bullied victims, so her death won't be in vain...I'm doing the right thing."

Shiena managed to regain some determination. Holding tightly the knife, Shiena pointed it at Haru, ready to strike.

"Shiena-chan...Haru is warning you. Haru won't let herself get kill easily. Haru doesn't have the intention to die."

The brunette's hand began to shake. Her resolve began to drop. Haru did seem threatening right now with her confidence. Shiena was really afraid that she might had been wrong in her analyse. But still, she considered that it was too late to go back and that she had take the risk.

Shiena began to approach the girl she viewed as her target. But as soon as she began to do few step, Haru rushed towards the door. The latter managed to get around Shiena and was closed to reach the handle. The brunette reacted quickly and grabbed Haru by behind and threw her on the ground. Still holding the knife, Shiena straddle Haru and raised her weapon, ready to stab her. But Haru was struggling too much for Shiena to be able to aim at her heart.

"Stay still! Otherwise you'll suffer unnecessarily."

"No! Please, stop! Killing is wrong, not matter the reason. Haru knows you're a good person, so please, don't do something you might regret! Killing is a mistake you can't fix."

Shiena froze when she heard that. Deep down, she knew Haru was right. It also caused her to experience a flashback of her past. The situation reminded her the bullying she had undergone. It happened once that one of her bullies tacked her on the ground and no matter how many time she begged them to stop, they continued to mercifully bully her. To feel in a similar position then a bully made Shiena nauseous and distracted her from her task.

She realized too late that Haru had grabbed her armed hand. Her target strengthen up quickly and gave her a hard headbutt. The hit was enough strong to slightly stun Shiena. Surprisingly, Haru wasn't stun at all. The latter rose up easily and was about to run away. Shiena managed to grab her ankle and made her fall. When Haru was once again on the floor, Shiena tried to go on top of her. But she suddenly felt a sharp pain on her stomach. She had been kicked on her belly.

Shiena fell on her back and let go of the knife, and her head hit the ground. She remained on the floor with her eyes closed, once again stunned. When she regained enough consciousness to move, she realized that the knife wasn't there anymore. Worried, Shiena sat back and discovered with fear that Haru was standing in front of her, holding the knife.

"Shiena-chan...please, give up. Haru doesn't want you to be hurt, and if you continued, Tokaku-san will attack you. Haru really don't want you to get into trouble."

The brunette was surprised, and even confused. Haru didn't seem mad at all, in fact she looked like she sincerely cared about Shiena. Despite the fact she had tried to kill her, Haru was showing her concern. Shiena felt terribly bad. How can someone be so kind and innocent? And more importantly, how could she had tried to murder such a nice girl? It was just plainly wrong and against all the values she was defending. Shiena felt that she worth even less then a bully right now. Why would someone like Haru be targeted by so many assassins anyway? What a sick game! And is was even more sickening that Shiena agreed to participate.

Shiena curled up and grabbed her head, feeling tormented by the situation and her actions. She regretted to have get herself involved in Class Black, and she felt bad for what Haru went through. But she knew she needed to repay her group, that she had to do it. But she couldn't, not anymore.

Suddenly, she felt a hand that gently laid on her shoulder. Shiena raised her head and discovered that Haru was smiling softly at her.

"Ichinose..."

"It's ok, Shiena-chan. Haru understands that you must have your reasons. But killing is wrong. There's always other way to do things then killing. If you kill, you'll regret it forever, because Haru is sure you're a good person."

Shiena felt her eyes becoming wet, but she managed to not cry. She really felt terrible right now. Haru was holding no grudge against her, while in her case, she was obsessed with the idea of vengeance. People died because of her desire of getting revenge. Sure, it was her bullies who died, but was it really a good thing?

"I was...terribly bullied before," Shiena began to confess. "I then met someone on the internet that offer me to avenge me if I join her group, in exchange of avenging someone else. I was so desperate that I accepted without fully knowing in what I got myself into. Few days latter, all my bullies...had been murdered. Then I understood the meaning of revenge...and what I'll had to do. But...the person I was supposed to avenge...was killed. So I couldn't repay my group...this is why I went to Class Black, to repay them with the wish. They helped me, I owe them something, even if...people died in order for me to be avenge. But if I accept what you're telling me as the truth, then it means...I'm wrong, that my group is wrong..."

"Haru won't tell you if it was wrong or not, it's up to you to judge. But Haru will tell you one thing. Do you really want to be affiliate to a group that solves problem by killing? Maybe there was another solution then killing them..."

"There wasn't! Those guys...they were awful to me. They bullied me without any pity, they hurt me, they humiliated me, they made my life a living hell! They deserved to die, I'm glad they are, I hated them!"

Haru recoiled a little, showing a sadden expression.

"Shiena-chan...you don't actually believe that, right? Even if what they did to you was awful, it can't excuse murder. There's always other options then killing."

The brunette wanted to protest, but she knew Haru was right. She always knew that killing was going too far, but since it was too late for her bullies, she had tried to convince herself that it was okay, to not feel guilty. She still felt grateful towards Collective Dismissal and won't deny that her life was better since her bullies died, but she had to admit that it didn't make it right.

"I'm sorry, Ichinose. I won't try to kill you anymore. But...I'm still faithful to my group. Even if what they do is wrong, it's still for a good reason, to eradicate bullying. I don't care if it's wrong, the goal is good, and I'll help them. I'll find another way to repay them...like finding the person who killed the girl I was supposed to avenge. But I don't want it to be at the cost of innocent people such as you."

Suddenly someone knocked at the door with great strength and with quite knocks.

"Ichinose!? Are you alright? Why the door is locked!? Open the door!" Tokaku shouted.

Shiena understood that Tybalt must had been killed, explaining why the blue haired girl was now here. Haru took the advance notice and hid it on her with the knife, and let the strap where it was, before she went to open the door. Shiena quickly wiped her teary eyes.

Tokaku went inside the dressing room and looked around, with a worried expression. She then gazed at Shiena with hostility.

"Did she try to kill you?"

"No!" Haru replied. "Haru is only here to find the fake knife for the final scene, and Shiena-chan came to help me."

"The fake knife? You mean the one Namatame use for the last scene? But she already has it with her..." Tokaku replied suspiciously.

"Oh really? Well then...Shiena might have just forgotten that. Right?"

"Uh, yes, I was sure that..."

Shiena suddenly stopped talking when she noticed that the fake knife was indeed in the dressing room. She went to retrieve it and discovered that something had been added to it. There was an inscription on it.

"It's the fake knife..." Shiena mumbled.

"Why is there 'Love' written on the handle?" Tokaku asked.

"I don't know. It wasn't there before."

"But if the fake knife is here, then...what knife Namatame-san had?" Haru asked.

Before they could think about it more, someone suddenly rushed inside the dressing room, visibly panicked.

"It...It's terrible...!" Banba exclaimed. "They...they are..."

The silver haired girl didn't manage to finish her sentence, but it was enough to worry them. Sumireko then arrived, obviously more calm then Banba, but still somewhat shocked.

"The play is over...Namatame-san, she...she stabbed Kirigaya-san and then poisoned herself!" Sumireko revealed.

Haru glared at Shiena's empty desk with regret. Since she had sent her advance notice and renounced to kill Haru, Shiena had been expelled. She had forgive the brunette to have tried to kill her, and she was hoping that she won't kill anyone. Everyone seemed surprised to see Shiena being expelled, but Nio told them that she technically forfeit. Chitaru and Hitsugi also had left the class, due to severe injuries. The lost of three classmates had sadden their teacher Mizorogi. Haru was still confused about what happened between the two of them, but according to Tokaku, it was most likely because Hitsugi might be Angel Trumpet, the assassin Chitaru was after. Haru felt sad for them, since they seemed so close, and hoped that they will be ok and reconcile.

"The flower on Kenmochi-san's desk is a thistle. It symbolize revenge." Suzu suddenly said.

"Uh?"

"Oh, sorry, it's just that you were looking at Kenmochi-san's desk so I thought that you were curious about the flower."

"No, it's okay. Haru was just lost in her thought. Revenge uh...it does fit Shiena-chan, unfortunately. But Haru wants to hope that Shiena-chan won't let revenge take over her life. Haru wants her to find happiness in something more positive, and maybe if we saw each other in better circumstances...we could become friends for real."

I like to think that even if Shiena had the chance to do her assassination attempt, she wouldn't have kill Haru. If Koakuma no Riddle is canon, then Shiena is a normal girl, and have a pure heart. I can't view that type of person killing from cold-blood.

So yeah, if Haru and Tokaku arrived sooner, they might have without knowing stopped Hitsugi's attempt to poison Shiena. But I think that even without that, Chitaru would have discover Hitsugi's secret and things would have been pretty much the same as the original story. I'm sure that what Shiena had planned for her assassination attempt was related to the play. Let me know what you think of this story in a review and if you liked it, don't hesitate to follow or fav.