Episode 28

Before & After Time is the twenty-eighth episode of the Assassination Classroom anime and the sixth episode of Season 2. It first premiered in Japan on 11 February 2016.

Summary
With mid-terms two weeks away and only five months before Korosensei's deadline, some of the Class E students decide to study and train at the same time. But when their recklessness causes them to injure an old man, Korosensei forbids the class to study and help out at the nursery the old man was running.

Plot
Flushing with success from their victory against Class A in the pole-felling match, Class E begin studying intensively for the upcoming mid-term exams. However there is a growing restlessness amongst the students as the deadline to kill Korosensei before March is only five months away. To both study for the exams and hone their assassination skills at the same time, the majority of Class E start to parkour their way from the school to the town train station by leaping across the roofs, despite some hesitancy from Isogai and Kataoka. Nearly reaching their destination Okajima and Kimura jump down from a roof but accidentally surprise an old man riding his bicycle. The old man holds his led leg in pain and the bike is bent out of shape. A young man carrying a bouquet of flowers witnesses the incident and immediately called for an ambulance.

At the hospital Karasuma informs the group that the old man's leg is broken. Because the students are supposed to be a national secret, his subordinate is trying to bribe the man's silence. Korosensei then turns up looking extremely angry at the students. A few of them try to explain that they have known what they did was wrong but the pressure placed upon them to both study and save the world are too much to handle. Korosensei slaps everyone in the face with a tentacle arm in response. Although knowing that injuring the students is strictly forbidden, Karasuma decides to turn a blind eye just this once, as he too seems to feel responsible for subjecting the students to intensive training too early. When Karasuma returns to the old man's ward, the students feel deeply ashamed and Korosensei notes that the class's behaviour in excusing themselves and their rising successes because of their skills are no better than that of the main campus. He changes the subject and forbids everyone to study for the next two weeks. He states it is not a punishment, rather another lesson to teach them to aid those that are weaker than them. In the hospital ward, the old man stubbornly refuses Karasuma and his subordinate's offers and apology, but is later scared when Korosensei unexpectedly appears and humorously exclaims his apologies.

The next day the class has been tasked to help out at the nursery the old man runs while he recovers and look after the pre-school students. Hazama questions as to why those not involved are responsible as well, with Hara explaining that Korosensei has to treat everyone equally. Takebayashi also notes that two weeks of unpaid work to keep a national secret is a small price to pay for claiming the large bounty. The students assess most of the kids to be generally well-behaved, except for the oldest girl named Sakura in the nursery who does not take the class's presence too kindly. She challenges Nagisa with a broom but immediately falls through the floorboards. Isogai questions whether the building will be renovated but the assistant says that they do not have the funds to do so as the old man charges a very low rate to take in pre-schoolers. Hence why no staff is hired and he does most of the work.

The class soon decide to split up their duties. While some of the students fix up the building using wood from the mountain and basing their construction off a blueprint obtained by Ritsu, others look after the kids. For instance Kayano narrates a play to entertain the kids with Karma, Terasaka and Okuda's help, and a few others conduct tutelage roles. Meanwhile Nagisa sits with an impatient Sakura, noting how her high absenteeism from elementary school is severely affecting her academic results. When Nagisa asks why the young girl does not go to school she cites being bullied by her peers, despite constant encouragement by her parents. When the two hear Kurahashi calling for a kitten that climbed a tall tree to climb down, Sakura questions why people do not stay grounded knowing how dangerous it can be to climb. As Okajima and Kimura work to bring the cat down, Nagisa replies that learning from the ground will lead to people climbing upwards, occasionally falling down but along the way forget to fear the heights of climbing. Nagisa ends his "secret lesson" telling Sakura that she can go to school once she has a game plan.

Two weeks later the old man now recovered is accompanied by Korosensei. Arriving at the nursery the man is astounded to find the building being completely overhauled with renovations. A second floor has been added including a library, playroom and garage. The old man's bicycle has also been upgraded with his old dentures used as a bell. However the old principal stubbornly states that the primary role has been to win over the hearts of the children rather than renovating the building. At that moment Sakura calls out to Nagisa, happily exclaiming that she came second in her class's maths test. To prevent bullies from targeting her, she came only for the test and left immediately afterwards. Nagisa congratulates her, advising to continue using the same tactics and promises to come back to teach her, much to the terrified thoughts of his classmates. The old man hears all of this and cannot come up with a single fault. Having completed their special lesson Class 3-E returns to school.

Unfortunately the very next day happens to be the day of the mid-terms and the majority of the class dropped in ranking from the first semester finals. The Five Virtuosos regained their top ranking and all but Asano are very smug about it. Karma however gloats that he had risen to second spot overall just behind Asano, and covers Class E by stating that they did not want people to think that Class A's recent losses will ruin their reputation. Korosensei privately notes that he had noticed Karma's major prep work on the day of the summer festival, as Karma promises that Class E will not go easy on Class A next time. In the staff room the class again apologise to Karasuma who asks whether they have learned anything from the past fortnight. Nagisa answers that they can use their skills and abilities to assist others and not flaunt their own so carelessly. Outside Korosensei notes that failure and frustration are also sources of growth as he prepares for a grilled lunch for himself. Out of nowhere however Rio Nakamura jumps down from the cliff top and nearly spoiling his food, while others spring out of hiding. Every student was wearing new uniforms issued by the government and wanted Korosensei to see them, as they promise to use them to protect others. Korosensei affirms it, as he reminiscences how much the students have grown since he first joined their class.

Trivia

 * The manga had the students show off their gear in a number of different ways before Karasuma explained to Kurosensei what was going on.