Negima FanFiction Discussion

[Finalage]

"...They will stun his emotional growth! It'll be a tragedy if such a brilliant mind is damaged in his formative stages!"

That's the only mistake I saw, a small thing really, unless you meant to say stun instead of stunt..."Haruna! That's gross even for you!" I'd agree with Yue there, although, is she missing a comma? You don't really need it though. Late hours are making me picky.

Otherwise, brilliant. I need to speed it up.

[OverMaster]

Originally Posted by Finalage

That's the only mistake I saw, a small thing really, unless you meant to say stun instead of stunt..."Haruna! That's gross even for you!" I'd agree with Yue there, although, is she missing a comma? You don't really need it though. Late hours are making me picky.

Otherwise, brilliant. I need to speed it up.

Yeah, I meant 'stun'. It's all okay, don't worry. Thanks for the observations.

Part 3 of Chapter 2. The guest star here will pop up from time to time to make small cameos, but this won't be a fully fledged crossover. Sorry for those who don't know Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, but in any case, it's a great series and you should give it a try.

Spoiler for ZETSUBOUSHITTA!!:

The keys turned around inside of the doorlock, and the door was pushed open, Chisame walking in quietly with Negi following closely behind.

"I'll be spending some time alone at my room" she announced, heading straight for the bedroom without looking back. "In the meanwhile, you can watch TV, or do whatever you want as long as you don't peek or walk in on me for the next two hours. Otherwise, you'll regret it" she said, very seriously.

"Oh?" he blinked while taking his coat off, hanging it up next to that strange and long wooden staff he carried around for some reason Chisame prefered not to think about. Then he stiffened up, struck by concern. "Hasegawa-san! Don't tell me you... you... you hide in there to smoke!".

She stopped abruptly, then gave him a killer back glare. "Do you think I'm some kind of delinquent?!".

"... To drink, then? That'd be even worse" he warned.

"I'M NOT AN ALCOHOLIC, EITHER!".

"Then why is that?" he asked, genuinely confused.

"Th-That's a private thing all of us girls need! Private time! Yes, that's it!" she rushed the words out.

Negi stared at her with wide, surprised eyes. His sister often needed 'private time', too, but never lasting as much as two hours. Perhaps Japanese girls were different in that regard; he'd have to ask Takamichi as politely as he could about it, to avoid further blunders in the future.

"Got it, then? Two hours!" the girl repeated. "See you then!". Without waiting for his confirmation, she closed the door behind herself.

Negi cringed, now alone at the living room, wishing at least Hakase could be in there with him. But she had a club meeting, didn't she? She wouldn't be back before Hasegawa-san finished.

The boy pulled his class roster booklet out. He took a look at Chisame's profile. Under her unsmiling, almost frowning face, it was written, "Student Number 25-Hasegawa Chisame. No Club Activities. Good with Computers".

Computers, huh? Negi didn't know anything about computers, other than the basics. But he still could say the two of those he had seen at the girls' bedroom were very expensive and most likely very powerful as well.

It sounded like Hasegawa-san was pulling something out of her closet in there. He heard the sounds of large objects being dragged around, as well as the rustling of clothes. Odd, what did that have to do with using a computer? Curious like any boy of his age, he approached the door with as much stealth as he could and put an ear on it; she never had said anything about not listening.

Then, just as soon, he pulled his head back, doubting. Wasn't that just as bad? A gentleman shouldn't do that; what would his sister think? And even so, didn't a teacher need to know everything about his students, to help them with their problems? What if Hasegawa-san was doing something bad in there? What if...

He shook his head. No, he shouldn't distrust her! She was his student, his roommate, and even his new tutor figure, in a way! She deserved his trust!

Walking away from the door, he moaned, sitting before the TV, turning it on only to get quickly bored. He didn't have much of an use for TV either. He barely ever watched it at all at the village. He always would prefer to practice, or to play around outside, with Anya...

Anya...

He looked out through the window, and he almost could see Anya running across the wide Mahora campus, laughing happily to herself. He missed her already, her confident laughter, her energetic attitude. Anya, always so full of life.

He took another quick glare towards the door to the bedroom. Anya and Hasegawa-san were similar in temper and their no-nonsense mindsets, but where Anya was quick to voice her mind, Hasegawa-san seemed so distant, always hiding something. Why didn't she belong to any clubs? Judging from what he had seen of her at school, she didn't have any friends but maybe Hakase-san. He shuddered at the idea of such a lonely life.

Yet, what could he do about it? He had to do something, but what?

He remembered Takamichi. He had been her homeroom teacher last year, so he would know her well enough. Maybe his advice would be just the thing he needed!

Brightening up, the boy took his coat and staff back and walked outside, closing the dorm's room before lively stepping towards... huh... well, he'd go back to Shizuna-sensei's office first. She'd point him to Takamichi's office, no doubt.

Almost all students were at their clubs at that hour. The main building was eerily quiet and silent as he approached it. No one in sight, but that pale girl hiding behind a column, looking at him with docile, yet bright reddish eyes. How strange, was she white haired?

He felt an icy shiver running up his spine. That girl...

He looked again into the girl's direction, only to find she was gone all of a sudden.

With a hunch, a premonition of something being wrong, he searched the area, until he caught another glimpse of the girl in the distance. Her body looked like a mirage, half translucid, even as she ran away from him, leading him towards a nearby small forest area.

"Wait!" without thinking it much, he ran after her, giving chase. "Who are you?".

Then he grinded his feet into a sudden halt. He looked up, gasping loudly. The girl was nowhere in sight, but instead, he had just found a tall, thin and pale man in a traditional hakama ensemble hanging by the neck from the branch of a large cherry tree. His wild black hair fell all over his face, barely allowing to see he wore glasses. He wore a wooden sandal in a foot; the other sandal laid under his inanimate body.

The soft breeze blew pink petals all around them.

A young teacher full of hope for the future...

A young teacher full of despair over the past....

A meeting that never should have happened....

[OverMaster]

Part 4 of Chapter 2.

Spoiler for Man to Man Talk!:

Negi remained frozen on his tracks for a moment, fully unsure of what to do upon finding a hanging body on Academy grounds. After that initial shock, he pulled a small rulebook out and began flipping through its pages. Running away to find Takamichi seemed a good option to take, but he wanted to be fully sure first.

Then the corpse opened his haunted eyes and asked him in a conversational, yet deeply disturbing (by the mere fact of the words coming from a hanged man's mouth) tone, "So. I assume you are Negi Springfield?".

"GAH!" Acting by instinct, the boy jumped back, aimed a hand up at the freakish stranger, and shouted, "Rastel Maskir Magister! Unus Fulgor Concidens Noctem, in Mea Manu Ens Inimicum Edat! Fulguratio Albicans!"

"No, wait! I'm not a—" the tall thin man asked seconds before being blasted up by several bolts of lightning that shook him like a ragdoll, snapping his rope and making him to fall facefirst into the dirt like a dead weight.

Negi breathed in and out, nearly panting, carefully looking down at the fallen, motionless and slightly smoking body. Until it seemed to regain life, jumping to its feet and yelling angrily while rubbing its throat with a bony hand.

"WHAT IF I HAD DIED?!?".

"GYAAHHH!" Negi backed away. "A zombie!!".

"Zombie?" the man dusted himself off. "That's a new one. Out of all the insults I have ever received, I had never been identified as a Haitian undead before. Rest assured, however, I have not died yet, much to my regret. May I inquire why are you at my secret place of courtship with death?".

"Wh-Who are you?!" the child blabbered instead of answering at all.

"Hmph" the man shook his head while putting his discarded sandal back on. "Cowardly. Lacking selfcontrol. And on top of it all, rude enough to not answer to an adult's query. No, you possibly couldn't be the boy Takamichi told me about".

Negi stopped being freaked out so much for a moment. "Do you know Takahata Takamichi?".

"I should, since we are colleagues" the man with the hakama nodded sparsely. "I am Itoshiki Nozomu, homeroom teacher of Mahora Academy's Class 2-F, sadly for me! I am also the most unfortunate man on Earth! Even more so now you have foiled my latest attempt when I almost was seeing the Pearly Gates!".

"Are you... another teacher at Mahora?" Negi blinked, disbelieving. Then he quickly bowed to him. "Pleased to meet you, Itoshiki-sensei! I'm Negi Springfield, the new homeroom teacher for Class 2-A! Sorry about attacking you, but you scared me! I thought you were going to die!".

"I was going to die! That's exactly the point!" Itoshiki sighed with a long suffering expression, then passed a hand through his own hair. "I was sure I'd get it right this time!".

Negi stared blankly at him, until another ill feeling ran through him. He had just noticed something almost as strange as Itoshiki-sensei's behavior. It was a huge and black magical aura all around him, surrounding his whole body in a way only a mage could feel and understand. It was a terrifying, overwhelming grim power swirling around the man almost hungrily, poking at his body and mind without ever stopping.

"You are... a dark mage!" the young boy gasped aloud.

"Not so loud!!" Itoshiki opened his eyes as much as he could, covering Negi's mouth with a hand. "What if someone would happen to hear you?! The last thing my miserable life needs is my transformation into an ermine!".

Negi nodded, and he lowered his voice as the man let his mouth go. "But... But... what is a dark mage doing teaching at Mahora? Konoemon-sensei would never—".

Itoshiki looked at him in a distraught way. "Please don't say it! You're going to say I'm a horrible person, a devil worshipper and an ill example to my pupils just because I'm a dark magic user, aren't you? That's so typical of today's youth! Judging the book by its cover! Taking things for granted just because of what they just watched on TV, or in the latest Harry Potter movie! But if you were as smart as Takamichi said, you would know Dark Is Not Evil! At least not always! Although I admit I'm a completely failure at life, but because of reasons completely unrelated to that!".

He finished his rant by looking at one side, then at the other, and then yelling as loud as he could, raising his hands in a melodramatic manner.

"I'M IN DESPAIR!! PEOPLE WHO JUDGES OTHERS BASED ON PRIOR ILL-CONCEIVED CONCEPTS HAVE LEFT ME IN DESPAIR!!".

"............. I'm sorry if I have misjudged you" Negi said meekly.

"No. It's okay" the man waved a hand, more calmed all of a sudden, sinking his head down. "I'm a horrible person anyway. That's why I wanted to finish my life here".

"B-But why?!" Negi exclaimed. "You never should forfeit your life, no matter what! That's what my sister always told me! As long as there's life, there's hope!".

His older colleague gave him a tired look. "You are too young to understand. Once you grow older and the realities of life sink in, you will see how right I am".

He started to walk towards the Academy, gesturing for Negi to follow him. "I was born from one of Japan's richest and most prestigious families. Secretly, my family is also one of experts at magic. My brother Mikoto specializes in healing magic, for instance. Even so, he and our two older brothers were seen as unfit for the title of heirs to the Itoshiki prestigy by the time I was born. My birth was a problematic one. I was marked by misfortune even back then! I was born, technically, dead. But my father would not accept that. No, he would have his proper heir no matter what!".

"So, what did he do?" Negi asked sheepishly.

"With no time to ponder other courses of action, he broke one of magic's oldest taboos! He used a forbidden spell on me... the Curse of the Unending Despair! It blew life back into me, but at a terrible cost. I would live, forever escaping the icy touch of death until old age claimed me... but never allowing me to be happy! That was the curse's price! I cannot die no matter what, but it will not allow me to ever reach happiness!".

The child made a terrified sound. "That's horrible! What kind of father would do that to a son?".

"The despairing kind, of course" Itoshiki stated. "Father just couldn't watch me to die. To this day, I still don't know how much of that was pure love and how much was selfish desire to continue his lineage, but I also proved being unfitting his expectations anyway. That's why my younger sister is the current heiress to the family's glory".

"Isn't there any way to break that curse?" Negi asked.

Itoshiki seemed about to say something, but finally reconsidered it and shook his head. "Not any feasible one".

"How awful... Wait a moment. If you know you couldn't die no matter what, why were you hanging yourself?" the younger one asked.

Itoshiki-sensei almost laughed, somewhat embarassed. "Well... I suppose even I can be an optimist to some degree. Hope is truly the last thing to perish...".

Negi was stunned out of his mind. "You put all of your hopes on killing yourself?".

"Yes" he replied simply.

"But that's just... wrong".

"For you, maybe". He quickly changed the subject. "Didn't Takamichi ever tell you about me?".

"... I can't say he ever did, no" Negi had to admit it.

Itoshiki didn't seem offended. "I don't blame him. I would do the same thing if our roles were reversed. But he has told me a lot about you. He has you in quite the high esteem".

Negi fidgeted around. "Heh heh, really...? He shouldn't have. I'm nothing but a novice...".

For a moment, Itoshiki's gaze softened up as he looked down at the small child. Didn't he even suspect his true legacy? No, he possibly couldn't. Well, he wouldn't be the one to tell him, then. He already had enough problem with his insane class as it was.

They stopped before the Academy's main building. The adult put a hand on one of the boy's shoulders, and after realizing there still was not anyone in listening range, he told him, "Negi-sensei. Listen. There are some things you must know about this Campus. First, not all our colleagues are versed into the secrets of magic".

"I know. Takamichi and the Headmaster warned me about it".

"Good. As you know, Takamichi and Shizuna-sensei are no mages, but they know all there is to know about magic. So do Sugiura-sensei, Akashi-sensei and Arai-sensei, the psychological councelor. Arai-sensei, however, is quite a terrifying woman if you ever invoke her anger. So do not ever cross her. On the other hand, Nitta-sensei, Kuroi-sensei, Jinroku-sensei, Kurosawa-sensei and Yukari-sensei know nothing on the matter, and they should be kept in the dark at any and all costs".

"Roger!" the boy nodded, doing his best to memorize the names.

"Another thing to know if you are teaching 2-A is... beware Evangeline Mc Dowell" he warned in a fearful whisper.

Negi blinked.

"Sooner or later, she will go after you" Itoshiki kept his voice as low as he could. "Never tell her I told you this; I shouldn't even be doing it. But she will do it. And she is the most fearsome person to inhabit these grounds. Watch your back, Negi Springfield. Although I doubt it would do you any good".

He turned around and began to walk away, quickly.

"Wait!" Negi called out. "Why would she do that?! And why should I fear her?!".

Itoshiki Nozomu said nothing else, until he disappeared into the distance. No doubt gone looking for more rope.

Negi stood alone, feeling even more confused than he had been before.

[Kurush]

PotM: Protoge's Honeymoon is up now. I hope you guys will read it. Now, I gotta plan a raid on the Ilithids.

No spoilers this time.

[OverMaster]

An omake piece for Unequally Rational and Emotional: FIGHT, BAAAAAKA RANGERS! Part 1.

Spoiler for BAAAAAKA RANGERS!!!:

We may be out of continuity,

But we won't show fragility.

We may be nothing but a joke segment.

But our buttkicking is simply excellent.

GO! GO! BAKA RANGERS! Struggling hard with homework!

Don't ever blame us, the writer is a dork!.

GO! GO! BAKA RANGERS! Chiu and the Prof took over the plot!.

But who cares? We got a giant robot!.

GO! GO! BAKA RANGERS! No matter who loses or wins

At least we're not the Narutaki twins!

GO! GO! BAKA RANGERS! PUTTING ALL EVILDOERS TO REST!!.

GO! GO! BAKA RANGERS! SAVING THE WORLD, BUT FAILING THE TEST!

Kagurazaka Asuna raced through the conveniently lonely streets and to the frontlines as her wristwatch intercom filled her with the details.

"Asuna-kun!" it was saying. "Terrible news! The newest monster from the Chiu Empire, Rakanator 3000, is harassing all girls at Mahora City and stealing their panties! Police Are Useless! Only you, the Baka Rangers, can stop him!".

"Roger, Professor Akamatsu!" Asuna nodded energetically. "We won't let you down! Team!" she called out to the four other girls just arriving the scene. "It's morphing time!".

"Yeah!" Kaede, Yue and Ku Fei all agreed.

Asuna thrusted her hands forward. "By the Power of Tsundere Twin Tails! A champion of heterochromia! BAAAAAKA RED!!!".

The athletic redhead, Kagurazaka Asuna, stood there in her skintight red costume!

Kaede thrusted her hands forward. "By the power of Uzumaki Naruto! A champion of all busty ninja! BAAAAKA BLUE!!!".

The tall and cool older sister figure, Nagase Kaede, stood there in her skintight blue costume!

Yue thrusted her hands forward. "By the power of Underachieving Slacking! A champion of expresionless deadpanning! BAAAAKA BLACK!!!".

The short and cute librarian, Ayase Yue, stood there in her skintight black costume!

Ku Fei thrusted her hands forward. "By the power of the Great Wall! A champion of kenpo! BAAAAAKA YELLOW-ARU!!!".

The perky and happy go lucky martial artist, Ku Fei, stood there in her skintight yellow costume!

However, Sakaki Makie didn't move at all then.

Asuna looked at her. "What's wrong, Makie-chan? Strike your pose and say your piece! It's your turn!".

"Oh, no, no, no no!" the young gymnast shook her head wildly. "I've just finished watching the second anime series! I know not only I won't be able to complete my intro, but something horrible will happen to me after that! I don't want to do this!".

"What are you talking about?" Asuna complained, cocking her head aside. "Don't be silly! Transform now so we can go kick that monster's butt!".

"I said I don't want to, and you can't force me!" Makie insisted.

"Don't ever say that, Makie-dono" Kaede asked her softly. "You're a key part of this team. Without you, we just couldn't work at all-de gozaru".

"Kaede's right" Yue nodded. "As long as we are all together, there's nothing to fear. We won't allow anyone to cut your speech short".

"And if someone threats you, we all would gladly risk our lives for you!" Ku Fei stated with extreme sincerity.

"Girls..." Makie's eyes watered. "THANK YOU! You're the best friends I could ask for! I'm sorry I was dumb enough to doubt you!".

Asuna grinned and gave her a thumbs up. "Once a Baka, always a Baka! Now transform and shine, okay?!".

"Y-Yes!" the gymnast gulped. "I'm going to do my best!".

Makie thrusted her hands forward. "By the power of Nadia Comaneci! A champion of ribbons and cute things! BAAAAAKA PINK!!!".

The charming and petite pink haired girl, Sakaki Makie, stood there in her skintight pink costume!

"BAAAAKA RANGERS!!" all five of them struck a dynamic pose together. "VANQUISHING EVIL AT ALL TIMES IT CAN EXCUSE US OUT OF CLASS!".

Then Kaede opened a normally always closed eye as if some rather bad sensation had just struck her. "By the way... don't you feel some kind of draft right now, de gozaru?".

She, Asuna, Yue and Makie all looked down at their lower bodies, only to see, much to their shock, their pants and underwear had just been taken away.

"......... Damn" even Asuna was too impressed to feel anger for the moment. "That Rakanator guy's good".

Ku Fei made a small, catlike grin. She giggled with a slight blush on her face. "Yes. Very, very, very good, aruuuuu...".

All the other four Rangers simply gave her a stunned stare.

[OverMaster]

Chapter 2, Continuation:

Spoiler for Chiu!:

"THIS ISN'T RIGHT!" she shouted, slamming both hands on her personal desk, right before both computers. "NORMAL SCHOOLS AREN'T LIKE THIS!".

Of course, it was something most often left unsaid at all. But the last two days had been so frustrating she had to let it out now she was alone at last. Chisame now huffed and puffed at her heart's content, uncorking the bottle of her pented up rage.

She paced around the bedroom at a fast pace, ranting to herself, putting her glasses aside. "All I've ever asked for is a quiet place to belong to! A stable place with sane people, not an asylum! When half your class looks like they should be at elementary school, and the other half acts like it instead, then you know the teachers should do something to solve it, not to worsen it!".

At that point, she really didn't care if he listened or not. The teenager was too angry to think about the likely implications of him ratting her out to the Dean, assuming he had the guts for it.

She needed to tell someone, anyone, about it all. Luckily, she always had such a public at hand.

"I'll tell everyone about him" her private closet's doors flew open as she frantically rumamged inside, pulling the makeup kit out, then starting to expertly apply the lipstick on her mouth, barely needing to look at the mirror to do it. She hardly could see anything but the prospects of dragging his name through the mud anyway. "Does he think everyone loves him? We'll see about that" she promised while finishing the lips, and beginning to pass the eyeliner with precise strokes.

It wasn't fair such a stupid runt could just endear himself to everyone just by walking into a room while she had to work so hard for it. Not like she cared about the classroom's admiration or love (Far from it! No matter what those random dreams said!), but she simply knew it was unfair, and that was all. What was so cute about him? Nothing but a little stinky nerd, that was what he was. If the bimbos had bothered to take a good sniff at him yesterday, and if she hadn't made them the favor of cleaning him up for them in the morning, perhaps they would be singing a different tune.

"I'll show that squirt what's true love all about" she mumbled while buttoning her fanciest summer dress up, then carefully putting a matching hat on the top of her head. She smiled at her mirror image, thinking there was nothing prettier than it. The small ugly geeky caterpillar was gone. In her place, the gorgeous butterfly known as Chiu had spreaded her wings again.

"Another day of Chiu being lovely" she told herself, growing satisfied.

Gleefully excited, she sat down before the larger computer, turning it on. There was no better sound than that of the Windows theme.

And then her webpage, the paradisiac gate to her personal Heaven, welcomed her back. The Queen quickly strolled through its entrance halls to greet her loyal subjects at the Message Board. As usual, the warm welcomes and words of admiration, and of hopes for the upcoming update, had made her to feel all warm and loved inside. Now those guys, they understood. She didn't even know their true faces (doubting even those who sent or published their photos. Most of them looked too handsome to be real), but she wasn't going to question them over that, and she still felt she knew them better than everyone physically around herself.

She kindly returned the loving words, then stopped upon realizing she had not thought how to actually voice her complains. Saying her teacher had moved in with her would raise an unwanted ruckus; some of the more militant fans would rage and claim betrayal. At the same time, admitting he was a kid would make her to look ridiculous.

I'm saddened over our new teacher for this term, she had started. He's a very annoying person! Today, he was looking at Chiu in a very perverted way!.

Shampoo in his eyes, right.

That's horrible! What's the problem with him! the first outraged commentary had come mere moments afterwards.

I know his kind. I've had several teachers who are like that.

I'd like to beat that creep up!.

Ooohhh, she knew there was a reason why she liked user Passerby B despite how many flamewars he caused.

The fans had continued raging for several minutes after that, until user Iceworld, always so politically correct, had written,

But I totally get why he did it. It's because you're so pretty!.

Absolutely! No one can resist Chiu-sama's charms. No one!.

Exactly. That's why she is the most prettiest of all internet idols.

Chiu bit her lower lip, her cheeks actually glowing bright red. "Oh, come on...!" she giggled, delighted. "You don't mean it...!".

Oh yes they did. That was the most wonderful part!

Again, her fingers gracefully danced over the keyboard, throwing the reward to the hungry, devoted masses.

Thank you so very much! As a showing of Chiu's gratitude, Chiu will now add three new galleries for you sweeties!.

She set the camera up before changing into her new nurse outfit, looking at the mirror for a moment, pleased with the vision of such an angel of medical mercy. The rite of self photography started again, flash after flash going on inside the room, each one taking a different angle, a different perfect smile. The key was always smiling. And Photoshop.

The French maid outfit had come next; it had costed her a fortune, actually, but it had been worth every cent. The fans had asked for it for too long; it would drive them crazy. Still, now she had an idea why only people like Iincho could allow themselves to buy that for their slaves. Dad had popped a vein over the phone at seeing the month's expenses; she had just lied something about an accident and paying for a broken Chinese jar.

And finally, for the coup de grace, the Playboy bunny outfit. Complete with bust enhancing filling; post-photo retouches would do the rest. Damn, but she was sexy, she thought while admiring the pictures. But sadly, not nearly sexy enough...

Not as much as Iincho or Chizuru, or even Asakura or Haruna...

For a moment, her spirits sunk down at the sight of the reality iceberg before refloating thanks to the wonders of modern science.

Once the photos were filed, making a few improvements over them was a child's play. She was so good at it even veterans of everything from nude filters to conspiracy alterations were fooled like babies. The zits and pimples vanished from her face just as quickly as they appeared in real life. The breasts and the hips grew up, but not enough to look out of place on her frame. Even the teeth were made even whiter. The butterfly had grown beyond the earthly limits to become an ethereal fairy.

Chisame was happy.

She also was blissfully unaware of how long she had spent doing that by now.

Negi was tired. As he walked back to the dorm, after a long while of fruitlessly looking for Shizuna, Takamichi and the ghostly girl, he had decided to return home (it still was very strange calling it like that) upon noticing it was getting darker and colder outside. The sky was growing busier with storm clouds.

He glanced at his wristwatch. Had it been three hours now? Surely Hasegawa-san already was finished with her private time.

He walked in to see Hakase back from her Club, hunchbacked over the dinner table drawing something on a large spread sheet, barely noticing his presence. The whole table was full with tools, drawing utensils and several pieces of machinery.

"Good evening, Hakase-san" he said. "How was your meeting today?".

"Hm. Very fruitful. Lots of new interesting theories" she repled, absently, never taking her eyes apart from her work.

"I see... That's good to hear. Umm, not to sound rude, but, about dinner..." he couldn't help but rubbing his growling stomach with a hand.

"Ask Chisame. Busy here. Not hungry yet" the scientist droned like an answering machine, automatically gesturing with a shoulder towards the bedroom.

"Okay..." he nodded, walking towards the door and knocking on it. There was no reply.

"Maybe she fell asleep again" Satomi noted. "Often does that after a very long session".

The boy blinked. "A session of what?" he asked, looking back at his student without noticing he had applied more pressure and more of his weight to the door's frame than he had intended. The door opened itself towards the inside, and, taken by surprise, he tumbled into the room.

Chiu smirked seeing her ratings going up. Her closest competitor, Kotokon's homepage, couldn't even compare! Now let's see if the brat could ever compare to that. How could having around twenty airheads (giving the benefit of doubt to some classmates) pining after your underage body ever compare to THIS? Hah! Her underage body knew of no contest, no rivals!

Now, she almost wished he could see it himself.

She tensed, hearing something stumbling into her room.

"HAKASE!" she turned her head around. "What have you broken— This—".

Her eyes went round and large as plates as she found herself staring into some just as huge, perplexed dark brown eyes.

She was wearing a Playboy bunny suit, updating a page with suggestive photos of herself, in front of her ten years old teacher. Her mouth became quickly as dry as the Sahara.

How did she hate reality's cruel pranks.

[OverMaster]

Continuation:

Spoiler for Now what?:

"Wh-Wh-What are you doing here?!" Chisame demanded, backpedalling on her chair until her back touched Satomi's lower bed bunk, quickly grabbing a bedsheet to cover herself. Her cheeks were flushed as red as apples, almost as red as his.

"I-I-I'm sorry!" he looked away, searching for something else to put his eyes on. "I had been knocking at the door, but it was half open, and—".

"Ah, yes, that'd be me, now I remember" Hakase's voice calmly came from the living room. "When I arrived, I peeked in to see if you were here. I saw you updating, so I decided not to disrupt you".

Once more, Chisame felt a burning need to strangle a certain pencil necked idiot savant.

But there was something far more pressing at mind now. The child's gaze had fully met her precious webpage. Even he would make the connection with that much proof before him. In any moment, he would say—

"Uwaaaa! That's you, Hasegawa-san?!" he marveled, standing up and walking to the street, looking at it with wide eyes and a wider smile. "You look amazing here! The designs all around you are great, too!".

"Th-Thanks" she managed to blurt out instinctively. Then she grimaced. Wait a moment, had that innocuous silly smile just caught her off guard, too? Surely it had just been the tension of the moment. Granted, it was a cute smile, but...

"All those clothes are very pretty" he went on, looking up and down at the featured pics, although thankfully he didn't even seem to be willing to touch the keyboard. The last thing she wanted was the hick figuring out how to access her swimsuit galleries. "Are they all yours?".

She bit her lower bit, feeling a sudden sting on a sensitive point. Chisame was not rich as Iincho, or even higher middle class like Chizuru, nor had a thriving business like Chao. She spent almost half of her savings in cosplay clothes, but even so, she often had to cut corners. Sewing add-ons on some costumes often made them to look completely different, for example. Other times she rented them, always wary of being spotted by the shopping-happy cheerleader trio. Finally, some other times, Photoshopping the clothings themselves was a last resource, although those were trickier to get right, and thus a decidedly final option.

In any case, she disliked being reminded of it. She hated being reminded of her life as a pedestrian peasant feigning being a graceful Queen.

"Get out of the room" she said. "Please".

He looked dumbly at her. "Huh? Oh, I'm sorry. Was this the private thing you didn't want me to see? If so, I apolo—".

"STOP APOLOGIZING OVER EVERYTHING AND JUST GET OUT!" she yelled. "FORGET YOU EVER SAW THIS! OKAY?!".

Anew, he shrunk down before her dominating presence. "B-But why? I don't think this is a bad or shameful thing... It's always good to have a hobby!".

That was the problem! It was more than just a hobby; it was pathetic and immature and as retarded as anything Makie and Misora and the twins ever did, but she didn't want to be reminded of that, even indirectly!

Chisame breathed in deeply, counting in her mind to ten to keep her control, clenching her eyes shut before looking down at his face again. He was smiling again, the same cute smile. She wanted him to stop smiling, to stop making her feel bad and stupid, to just leave her alone to her own devices.

"You shouldn't feel ashamed of being pretty" he said then.

The girl recoiled back even more, sitting on the bed's edge. He was looking at her own face now, right? Not at the pictures. At her actual face, with the zits still visible even under the makeup, with the small breasts failing to properly fill her bunny suit, with the not-fully-perfect teeth and everything. Why was he calling her pretty?

"You retouch those photos, right?" he guessed. "But I think you're prettier as you normally are" Negi said, as if he was just commenting on the weather. "You don't need to hide behind a fake identity. My sister always says—".

"S-STOP IT!!" she angrily shrieked, standing up, so angry she had let the bedsheet to fall off herself. "YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT WOMEN IN GENERAL, EITHER! AND STOP COMPARING ME TO YOUR SISTER!".

He had to be mocking her, or he really was that stupid. Either way, he was the most annoying person she'd ever meet. She just wanted him out, away, as soon as possible.

"But— but—" he blinked cluelessly.

"Haven't you heard me?!" she grabbed him by the shoulders. "Listen to your seniors for once and JUST GET OUT!". She shook him around, also waving her long loose hair to wave all around, several strands of it brushing over his face.

The boy shuddered all of a sudden at the forceful tickling of hairs on his nose. To his credit, he tried hard to hold himself on, but she kept shaking him, and he couldn't turn around in time, and...

"Ah... Ahhhh...".

"Ah what?" she asked, stopping her shaking. Maybe he'd listen now.

"A-CHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!".

The ensuing ear piercing scream of her roommate finally was enough to get Hakase to get up and waddle, mumbling to herself, all the way to the bedroom. Honestly, how did they expect for science to advance if mundanity kept on blaring war horns into its ears.

"Ne, Chisame..." she said while walking in. "I would appreciate if you bothered to keep your trivial recriminations in a lower tone of—".

She blinked, looking at the scene of a bright red, petrified Negi-sensei standing right before a just as shocked and immobile, fully naked save for some bunny ears on her head and rags of shredded cloth wrapped lingeringly over her most private areas, Hasegawa Chisame. The floor all around her was littered with tiny pieces of clothing... that almost looked like flower petals. Perhaps a better research on it in the close future would be required.

"Oh dear, Chisame" Satomi made a kind of face she very rarely ever made. "I must express my discomfort over this morally reprobable situation. I was of the belief you weren't approving of Iincho-san's patterns of moral debauchery concerning figures of—".

A pillow tossed at her face silenced the poor scientist.

"GET OUT MY ROOM! GET OUT OF MY APARTMENT! GET OUT OF MY LIFE!" Hasegawa turned her attentions back to the boy, wrapping herself within the bedsheet and stomping her way towards the quickly retreating pint sized threat to her sanity.

"B-B-B-But it's not such a big deal, right?" he blabbered, trying hard to remember the exact moral customs of Japan in that area involving persons of their respective ages, although for some reason his mind just kept going back to the brief image of Chisame's breasts. "I-I mean, you saw me naked early today... and technically, you weren't even left fully naked... you still had those bits over your—".

"GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT AND GET LOST!!" she repeated.

"What did I do?" Satomi honestly wondered, pulling the pillow off her face just in time to see Negi's eyes watering up suddenly, like those of a puppy who has just been kicked off a table and into the floor. Without saying a single word more, the child grabbed his staff and bolted out of the front door, into the rainstorm now raging outside. "Ah, Sensei, no! You mustn't! It's raining now, and—".

She tried to follow him out, but desisted when she saw him pointing a hand towards his feet, whispering something, and then running away far faster than she ever could hope to run. In a couple of seconds, he was impossible to see in the distance.

"Magic!" Satomi whispered to herself, low enough for Chisame not to hear. Chao would be interested to listen about that, yes, she would.

The sounds of loud sobbing from the bedroom made her to walk back there, to find Chisame made a wreck, but still at her computer, typing madder than ever.

"If he happens to contract a cold while outside, we surely will be severely punished over it" Hakase pointed out rationally. "After all, we were appointed his caretakers".

"As if I care" the virtual idol fiercely tried to suck her tears back. Never looking at her.

"He is still just a child, Chisame...".

"Let him go to Iincho. If she wants him so much, she can have him!".

Satomi sighed, waving her hands around while returning to her designs. "If something happens to him, I'll take no responsibility on it".

"I'll take all the blame!" Chisame growled. Moronic selfish egghead.

"Yes, I'll make sure of it" Satomi huffed, slumping back on her spot. Cretinuous intellectual pygmy. She had just witnessed something beyond the scope of modern day science, and she only was concerned about her self-pleasuring webpage?

She was a bit puzzled over that last point, herself. Finally, her scientific curiosity won over her pride and she asked, "What did happen to your clothes, then?".

"I don't know" Chisame sizzled. "I don't want to know. I won't think about it".

She was trembling even as she tried to continue the update.

"Maybe I should give Chachamaru a call" Hakase suggested. "And tell her to search the Mahora perimeter for him".

"Are you concerned about another human being now?" Chisame scoffed. "Never pegged you as that type. You never seemed to care until now".

Satomi scowled. She was unused to get angry at others, but she was starting to now. "Pot, kettle, black" she bitterly remembered a saying she had heard once, back when she cared about other things but mechanics.

Chisame said nothing. Neither did she.

Outside, the storm grew even bigger for the following minutes. Until the minutes passed by and passed on, becoming almost a hour, and Satomi caught her roommate giving brief, concerned peeks at the window at random intervals whose frequency grew faster and faster as the time went on.

The stranger fact about it was she couldn't quite concentrate on her designs now, either.

"He mentioned he was hungry" Hakase remembered quietly.

"Hmmm" Chisame muttered, seeming rather antsy.

"Alone and hungry, at a strange environment, under a strong rainstorm" Satomi mused. "Chachamaru could run a good scan of the area from above, even under the current weather conditions. You wouldn't have to—".

"Forget Chachamaru" Chisame sighed with exasperation, standing up to reach for a trenchcoat. "I don't want your stinking robot to get involved into this, too".

"Oh?" Hakase arched an eyebrow quizzically. "Is this another emotional outburst, this time one born out of primal guilt? Do you feel you need to prove yourself, or to pay penitence, by finding the child you offended, with your own eyes and hands?".

"Shut up, Hakase" Chisame mumbled, putting on her thickest boots. "It's just, if I'm going to do this, I want to do it like normal people does".

She walked to the front door while opening her umbrella, pausing for only a moment while looking back at her classmate. "Are you coming too, or not?".

Satomi smiled. "I'll go fetch something that might be helpful" she offered.

[Kurush]

Some more focus on the OCs, with Asuna showing up too.

Spoiler for Ch 40, part 1:

Again, the soldiers holding the battering ram slammed the great log with metal plating onto the great door. The Illithids may be clever at hiding the sites of their communities and cults, but once you find those sites, that's where they get real sloppy.

The Human village of Boa was more than generous to provide the Archmage, and Symon and Jashol with an army on behalf of the village's own cleric and priestess to the gods, Rad'na. Rad'na herself was a Githyanki, and more to the point, she knew Ashracai quite well from her days as a soldier and telepathic squad leader centuries ago. A level 10 telepath, she commanded the village soldiers in battle and healed them easily. Even so, these numbers would not be enough to storm the Mind Flayer lair.

“The Illithids are cunning.” She told the Archmage, standing next to her. “Maybe you shouldn't have told them of what's to come.”

“You don't know them the way I do, Rad'na.” Ashracai replied. “You can't sneak up on them. There's only one way to attack them: Straight forward.”

“I see.” Rad'na replied. “Ie.” She called to a young woman who had accompanied them to the mountain cave entrance. “Do you reckon we have a chance of surviving the full brunt of the Illithid counterattack?”

“No, Mistress.” Ie replied with a bow. “I have doubts myself that we even get into the lair.”

“I anticipated this much.” Ashracai spoke up again, looking out the great view. “Illithids are many things bad, but stupid doesn't count among them. They realized when they came here that an attack would come sooner or later. That's why they used vanadium as material for the door.”

“Vanadium?” Symon asked.

“There are more metals than copper, tin, iron, etc. in this universe, Symon.” Ashracai explained to him. “We Githyanki travel the stars constantly and find various new materials to work with. We basically use what we got. Though I am quite surprised how it comes that you have two arming swords made out of Mithril, yourself.”

“Huh? These? Oh, that's a long story, but we got no time for that, right?” The ranger said, hoping to get back on topic.

“Ah yes. Speaking of the Illithid situation, I did take the opportunity to call for reinforcements. Heavy reinforcements.” He said, returning to Rad'na.

“Heavy, as in?” The cleric asked before a bright flash of light appeared a small distance from them.

“Finally found you guys.” The familiar tone of High Queen Efromm's voice cut into their ears, revealing the blonde Githyanki monarch in plate armor and carrying a greatsword on her back. It was longer than her, and its specifics were uncertain. Next to her, stood another familiar face. The alliance and friendship between Druustya and Zuriith was no surprise, as High King Rufus, the only remaining human magic user native to Tu'narath and the most powerful lich as well, stood next to the Golden-Haired, in his own full plate armor, and wore a helmet that seemed almost skeletal in design and covered his normally rotten, dehydrated face. At least his blue eyes, or where it glowed most of all, could be seen. “Rufus had to come pick me up when Rad'na called me in telepathy that her band of soldiers found the Illithids.”

“Not to mention that she had to put on her armor first and get the smallest sword she could get for this endeavour.” Rufus added as well, much to Efromm's chagrin.

“Hey, I picked this one out of heavy consideration.” She protested against the lich's statement.

“And I suppose that you couldn't have asked one of your knights who use, I don't know, arming swords, to give to you instead of picking a two-handed weapon, which is not really suited for close formations and tight spaces.”

“Shut up, you stupid pile of walking bones.” The Golden-Haired threw a minor tantrum. “Besides, this one at least is the one I got for when I face heavily armored opponents, remember?”

“Oh, right.” Rufus said, dragging it out. “That explains why you took care with polishing the guard of it, doesn't it?”

“Damn straight.” said a slightly mad Queen. “Still got that weapon of yours?”

“A-hem.” The Archmage caught their attention. “Can we focus on what's to come, here?”

“Yes, yes, we'll be coming, Lord Ashracai.” Efromm responded to him. “Are these everyone?”

“No. There will be more to come.” Ashracai said. He was right in that more were coming to join them. He was just surprised to see the first of them to come. This one was a young girl, riding on a horse-sized red dragon. She herself wore black power armor and wore a shotgun over her shoulder. A helmet was with her, hanging on the side as well. And most wondrously, he knew who she was. “...Ah, I didn't expect to see you here on Tu'narath, little girl.” He greeted her in a gentle tone.

“Then you could at least say my name, Ashracai-san.” She replied, getting off her dragon mount. “We picked up a telepathic call for a fighter gathering and I was sent out to answer.”

“Just you?”

“Just me.” Asuna answered him. “We didn't get any details about this, so what's going on?”

“That, Asuna, is a long story. And I'm afraid there is no time to waste.” Ashracai told her. “Put short though, we're on the hunt for Illithids. Mind Flayers. You'll know them when you see them.”

“...Right.” Asuna said, before getting a couple of handshakes from the blond Githyanki and the heavily armored old human, followed by two humans who accompanied .

“Ah, the Emperor.” Rad'na spoke up, looking somewhere else from them. “The Emperor has arrived.”

“What?” Ashracai said, turning around. He was shocked to see the Emperor Himself appear. Clad in heavy power armor, much similar in design to the powerful Astartes they've fought before, he wore a great chain-mail tunic lined with golden edges and a hood, magically enhanced to hide his identity. Such cloaks were common on the planet, but not one made of chain-mail. He also had His powerful sword, a hand cannon holstered and an assault rifle with him. He was escorted by two of the Sword Stalkers. “...I'm surprised, old friend.” Ashracai said, approaching the Master of the Imperium. “I didn't reckon you had the time to be here.”

“The first Illithid hunt since the Imperium was ever founded, and I don't get to join in on the fun?” The Emperor said in a tone that would make anybody laugh whilst taking Ashracai's hand in return. “You know me better than that, Ashracai. I must be here. The fiends have been hiding here under our very nostrils and hide like Ankhegs, and we've let them. I will not tolerate their presence here.”

That's the Emperor of the Githyanki? Asuna thought, seeing the mighty fighter armed to the teeth. I'd better not screw up here. I'm an enemy of these guys to begin with, so if I make one wrong move, and I'll definitely find out if this thing around my neck really works...

The Emperor sensed her thoughts and chuckled lightly. “Don't worry, Asuna Kagurazaka. You may be a foe of ours, but we're all allies in the fight against the sadistic Mind Flayers. You're welcome in our warband more than ever now.”

“Geh-!” The redhead jumped at the notion that he was a mind reader. “Er... thanks. I guess...”

“Can we storm the Illithids now?” Efromm asked, whining a little. “I'm eager to fight these guys.”

“Not yet.” The Archmage replied to her. “There is one last group to join us.”

“One last group?” Jashol exclaimed, gaining their attention. “Pardon me, but the more time we waste up here, the lesser our chances of succeeding will be.”

“And if we attacked now, then we wouldn't stand a chance at all.” The Archmage replied to him. “Don't underestimate an Illithid. And wear that helmet I gave you.”

“Fine, if that makes you happy.” Jashol replied and put on his newly given helmet that covered almost the whole of his head..

“It will save your life.” Ashracai responded with a hiss. “Ah, there they are.” He said at last, as a band of about twenty four warriors approaching them slowly up the mountain. They all wore hoods and cloaks, but the newcomer Asuna could see several distinguishing features. They looked very much like Githyanki, but they had more cat like eyes instead of the red bloodshot or black beaded eyes of the Yanki. They also looked more leaner and graceful on their feet, whereas the Yanki looked more clumsy with their own big feet. These guys had more smaller ones. None of these had any weapons out, save for a few staffs, and there was only one of them who openly revealed he had a dagger. One stood out. He had gray skin, no mouth, glowing eyes and dreadlocks. He also was armored the most, in heavy apparent power armor underneath the hood and a pair of armguards that would probably double as his weapons. It was most likely energy weapons, but she herself couldn't figure what they would form. “Oh, boy, another dimension crossed case...” She heard the Archmage mutter before he stepped forward to greet these newcomers. He addressed the armored figure first. “En Taro Adun, good Protoss fighter. I have not seen your kind here for many years.”

“En Taro Tassadar, it is now.” The armored figure replied in kindness first, but a harsh tone. “We come here seeking foes to fight, say my comrades here.”

“As I suspected.” Ashracai said, turning now to the monk like figures, all who stood still. “You taking in outsiders now, Githzerai? Not like you zealous baldheads.” He had a much different tone to them.

“At least this one was willing to learn from us, not like you simpleminded thugs who like swords.” One stepped forward, as a couple of soldiers approached the leaders of the growing warband.

“Oh?” Ashracai said. “We prefer at least peaceful, stable planes for our homes, not chaotic, constantly moving grounds shifting beneath our feet. How's that working for you? Must be hard to get food, I hear.”

“This coming from a parasite moving from one corpse to another just because the last one had a fingernail out of order. What was it this time, your favorite one to chew on?”

“Oh, now you monks start talking dirty. I thought you guys had some sort of taboo of talking like that?”

“Not when it comes to addressing dumbfounded knuckleheads.”

“Bald, atheistic fools.” Ashracai snapped at her, as they gathered a crowd to themselves.

“Religious rotten morons.” She snapped back.

“Tranquility hippies.”

“Battle hungry buffoons!”

“Buddha enthusiasts!”

“Slave to a dead whore!” She yelled at him, getting a couple of daggers out of her hood.

“Traitors to your own kind!” He yelled back, starting to glow violently red, his eyes flaring up.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Asuna tried to break the tension between the two different races, but to no avail. “We're all here to fight a common enemy here, not each other! Have you both forgotten that!?”

Both of them paid her no heed, as the hatred burning between them was too strong. Eventually, the Archmage's glow faded off. “...Here to hunt Illithids?”

“This is our Rrakkma, in case you haven't noticed.” She replied at least, sheathing her daggers. “We hunt the Old Foes as well.”

“Ui?” The redhead noticed the sudden change of tone toward each other.

“Well then, I wish you good fighting on your part and good luck.” Ashracai said, taking a bow to her, and she returned it.

“Race you to the Elder Brain, freak.” She told him as her warrior along with the 'Protoss' prepared themselves for battle.

“See you there then, baldie.” He returned the insult with a smile on his face, walking back to the Emperor's side.

“...Weren't you guys at each others' throats, just then?” Symon asked completely confused about the whole conversation, Asuna standing next to him at the time.

“Nah, that's just our way of saying 'Hello' to each other.” The Emperor answered him.

Again, no notes.

[OverMaster]

Continuation:

Spoiler for The Secret's Out?:

The boy sat on the narrow seat at the bus stop, hugging his knees against himself in an attempt to stay fully under the (even narrower) small ceiling hanging over his head, supported by twin thin pillars of steel.

It was not helping a lot anyway. The weather was so windy it just ended blowing water into his face and clothes in any case.

But he knew standing back up and walking back to the dorm wouldn't help either. First, he had not paid any attention to his way on his escape, so he couldn't go back so easily even if he wanted to. Flying would make it easier, but it was a huge no-no in public, and harder to manage under a storm. Then, there was the fact it was so dark outside he most likely would get lost even if he knew the way he should be taking.

But mostly, he didn't want to go back.

He looked for the booklet tucked into his shirt and fished it out alongside a pen. Scowling almost cutely, he went straight to the picture of Student Number 25 and wrote 'A TRULY HORRIBLE PERSON' under it.

He closed the booklet and sighed. How childish of him. He should know better.

Negi had come to the bus stop by simply running into it accidentally, but now he was asking himself if he should take that as a sign from above and leave. No, he told himself, shaking the fleeting idea out of his skull. Perish the thought. He couldn't ever find his father if tiny stumbling blocks like that deviated him from his path. And what would his Sister, Anya and the Principal say?

He would just wait for the storm to pass, go back and apologize to Miss Hasegawa.

Even if she was such a horrible person.

So pretty, yet so horrible.

He sneezed loudly, shuddering due to the cold. Luckily there was no one else around.

Meanwhile, that horrible person shrieked in utter fear for her life, wrapping an arm around a laughing Hakase's midsection as the mad scientist piloted the... weird thing they both were standing on. Her other arm was desperately clinging to her umbrella, trying to keep it over her own head despite the wind's strong attempts to yank it away.

Satomi, on the other hand, didn't seem to be bothered by the rain as she drove her small self-customized motorized vehicle through the deserted campus. The huge hat secured to her head shielded her surprisingly well from the hammering drops of icy water, and the goggles strapped on to her face protected her eyes.

"ARE YOU SURE WE WON'T GET INTO A JAM OVER THIS?!" Chisame yelled to make herself heard over the storm.

"I HAVE A PILOTING LICENSE, I TOLD YOU!" Hakase cackled madly in turn, making Chisame to wonder exactly who had seen fit to issue her such a license in the first place. "ALTHOUGH YOU COULD GET INTO SOME DIFFICULTIES IF YOU'RE SPOTTED!".

"WHAT?!? WHY ME?!?".

"I DON'T HAVE A LICENSE TO CARRY PASSENGERS, SO YOU'RE COMMITING AN INFRACTION!".

"THE HELL—?! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THAT BEFORE?! AND YOU'RE THE ONE BREAKING THE RULES THEN!!".

"WHY? I'M NOT THE PASSENGER!" Hakase blinked.

Chisame sighed and went back to looking all around. They had been roaming through the whole area for more than half a hour now; Hakase's speedster had allowed them to cover a surprisingly large sector, and yet, there was no Negi in sight anywhere. Hasegawa was starting to get truly concerned.

Until, by a sudden stroke of luck, she saw him near the school's limits, at one of the older and smaller bus stops. "HAKASE!" she called out, pointing with the umbrella in his direction. "DOWN THERE!".

"Huh?" the genius peered curiously. "Oh yes, I would say that is him, indeed". Making an U-turn, she speeded towards the still unaware wet boy. The bus stop was at a lower level, and to get exactly there, you would have to go down a long and narrow set of steps the vehicle was not designed to cover. Satomi screeched it to a half before the upper steps, then smiled briefly at her roommate. "You go bring him".

Chisame found herself nodding. "Okay". She jumped off the blasted thing and began to run down. "SENSEI! SENSEI, IT'S ME!".

She saw him finally noticing her, lifting his small head up to give her a nearly haunted look. Honestly, children. No matter how many diplomas he could have had, he no doubt was still just a brat.

Then she felt herself slipping into a large puddle of water when she still hadn't covered half of the steps down. With a yelp, she lost balance and slided forward, her feet losing contact with the solid ground. She fell down as she barely noticed Hakase's gulp of surprise from above.

What she managed to see well was Negi's sudden panicked face from below. As she got closer in her freefall, she saw him aiming the staff up at her with an amazing speed of reflexes. He shouted something that the rain's roaring covered.

And then her fall was stopped by an invisible force.

Chisame's heart jumped up while she felt herself being slowly lowered down, like a weightless feather, to safely land into an expecting Negi's open arms. He caught her with barely some effort, oddly enough for someone of his size, although the brunt of the catch still put him down on his knees.

Hakase watched from above, fascinated, her suspicions confirmed.

Chisame merely looked at his face with huge, terrified eyes. He smiled awkwardly, his hair a sopping mess, his glasses as fogged up as hers.

"Are... Are you okay, Hasegawa-san?" her teacher asked tentatively.

Chisame only could nod wordlessly, thankfully unable to notice the deep blush running over her own cheeks.

She was too stunned to do anything else.

[Finalage]

Just got back from...putting my computer back in to rights. Talk about a way to slow down someone's writing. I'm behind schedule now...anywho, I saw something in "Now What."



"Shut up, Hakase" Chisame mumbled, putting on her thickest boots. "It's just, if I'm going to do this, I want to do it like normal people does".


Sentence bugs me on the last bit, grammatically...do you mean: "like a normal person does." or "like normal people do."?


Only thing I saw. I'm a bit tired. Although, I do have this to show for the time I've been inactive...

Spoiler for Some work, Cursing Aparent, Alternate Blossoms.:

Negi allowed a half smile to lift his lips as he looked upon his card. It was a completely see through thing, its triple gold lining and picture the only parts that obscured the perfect looking glass. Still, even as it had pictures on both sides, oriented as they should be…looking through one side, you couldn’t see the other. It didn’t block your view.

That simple, impossible fact, one that an ordinary mind wouldn’t immediately recognize, made the boy smile. Physically impossible? Not where magic was concerned. He laughed when he saw the look on John’s face as he inspected the card sidelong. Negi held it out to him, bidding him to take a look for himself. Nervously, the other did as he was bid.

Negi leaned back in the chair he sat on, looking around himself in the outdoors; this restaurant had been Tsukuyomi’s idea, a kind of catch up chat, as well as some half hearted thanks. He grabbed his simple soup bowl to take a sip of its broth while she watched the other man inspect his pactio.

Mid build, a bit of muscle, average height, brown hair and surprisingly green eyes, John was a simple man, but he wasn’t unattractive, contrary in fact, just not quite as exotic; as Negi might be called. He had a good personality once you got past his walls, one of which Negi knew to be the cursing sailor…he smiled as John returned the card to him.

[i]“Never seen one like that before…completely clear, almost futuristic like that, must be rare.”[i/]
“It is the rarest kind you can find, an Alpha class pactio. I can almost…no; I think I can guarantee that you’ll never see another one of these.”
“Is it a Probationary Contract?”
“Nope, it’s one hundred percent, a permanent binding, and I’m the minister.”
“You’re the minister? You mean there’s a mage out there that more powerful than you?”
“I told you…I’m not a god. As long as there is magic in this world, as long as there are people…there will always be someone better than you, no matter who you are. Being the best is so…consuming. Do you know what I mean?”

Negi sighed when he saw the other didn’t. He looked off into the distance, spotting Meredith rolling their way. She had opted to keep sitting in that thing for today, until they could get somewhere far. Negi had given her the ability to walk, but he had also opened a fire in her heart. He was going to find Asakura, the one student whom he knew to be in China…and the one expert he could bank on knowing where his other students might be…

Meredith knew she had seen her around, but instead of telling him where, she wanted to come with him. By now…she couldn’t just walk from her job, but the fact she could walk put her in an odd position, a sudden, miraculously cured person didn’t cut it when it came to paperwork…besides…

Traveling around as part of a party was way more fun…and Negi didn’t raise any protest.

“Being the best means that every second, of every day, you must strive to protect that title. You must be able to be the best, all the time. If anyone else rose above you and became the best…you would have lost everything. The best is the best, unconditionally. I don’t want to be like that... It eats you alive, destroys you. Do you understand now? I simply want to be me.”

Finally, Meredith arrived, and John, who had opened his mouth, promptly shut it, making Negi shake his head. The woman looked from one to the other before Negi explained.

“Does John always clam up when other people arrive at a table? Makes people think you were talking about them, doesn’t it? We were discussing my pactio item and why I would never want to be the best mage ever known. Are you finished?”
“Of course, I only went to the bathroom…”
“Okay…now, according to what you’ve told me, Asakura’s a freelance, correct?”
“Correct, Famous in some ways even....”
“...And, even though you don’t know exactly where she currently located, you claim to have an idea…but first…”
“...I do want to test if I can be of any use to you, yes. I need to see how far I’ve fallen, battle skill wise. I know you raised no protest, but still, I feel the need to show my worth. If we run into difficulties finding Asakura, or in the time afterwards...I'm not saying you cannot handle yourself, but if something is too small for you to be bothered with, or if there is some kind of trap...”
“Fair enough…where?”
“I know somewhere…perfect… for this.”

"... ... ..."

Negi allowed his grin to be feral now as he fell into a familiar pose. This would be a test for him too…ever since being brought back, he had only focused on catching his bearings, and he hadn’t done any physical battle. John didn’t look to happy as he watched Meredith, standing awkwardly opposite Negi. She had been shaky on her feet, but the tremor was gone now…it didn’t stop her awkward placement however.

“We start slow. Otherwise your friend won’t be able to see anything.”
“…That’s just fine.”
“On my count then…One…Two…Three, go.”

Negi wasn’t one for waiting, his style was for attacking. The very moment he said go, just lunged forward, covering the distance faster than he expected to, reaching the other so quickly, he only barely had time to jump over her, just as she took a quick sidestep. His eyes were wide as he flew; her kick only barely dodged by him.

Shit! I don’t know my own speed!

He faced her; his hair made the smile the only visible thing. He leapt off one foot, drawing his hands back, she slipped away and he landed on the other foot, launching off to slam his elbow into her, but her own elbow blocked him, her free hand coming out for his eyes, a crane of his neck took care of that attempt.

His control is off, but so is mine, my legs feel like jelly...

Breaking off from her in a spin, he came back with a tackle, stopping short when she dodged, trying to ram his back into her, but again, she slipped away, trying to trip him up, he jumped over the attempt, aiming a foot for her head, he almost stomped her to the ground, but she dropped and rolled.

Again! I don’t even know my fucking reach! I could have knocked her head clean off!

Meredith however, didn’t seem to mind as she spun back to her own feet, only to nearly lose her balance…nearly. She kept it with a crouch, accepting Negi as he came in with a charge, leaping over as he came and spinning, aiming for his back, but Negi was the one to avoid now, turning his charge into a flip, making his opponent jump back, or get a shoe in her face.

Small tricks and orientation can only help so much.

John looked on…in awe. He wasn’t a fighter, so all the awkwardness the two combatants felt was lost upon him. He only saw the grace, the speed, and the pure strength. Meredith rushed Negi, but the boy sidestepped, and finally caught Tsukuyomi around the middle, turning her momentum into a toss.

She met him as he came, landing on her feet just in time to leap forward and roll away from his charge. She spun to face him, meeting fist with fist before swinging out her leg, only to have Negi duck and catch her, throwing her away over him. He turned and met her again, for she had landed quickly, and lumped at him. His elbow blasted her backwards though, making her skid, almost falling. She laughed then, just laughed.

“Both of us are awkward, aren’t we? I saw how you nearly cut me in half with your first charge... Can we go faster now? You’re teasing me like this…I haven’t done this in nearly a decade…”
“You sure you can handle it? Those feet of yours are unsteady as all hell.”

She did a pirouette for him, just for the kicks. In her work uniform, it was a laughable stunt to do, but she made a point to do it perfectly.

“Unsteady enough to tip you on your ass. Hmmm~?”
“Oh, please don’t start talking like you used to, please. I might have to kill you.”

A single laugh, and she was upon him, but the laugh was innocent, truly innocent.

Negi moved aside quickly and brought his fist into her middle, throwing her back, damn, he was stronger than before too. Not as strong as he was while a vampire, but stronger than his ten year old self, of course. He began a flurry of shots, punches he forced Meredith to either dodge or block, his feet entering into the fray occasionally in a steadily increasing rhythm as he began to get a better idea of his reach. She wanted him to move faster? Fine!

When she caught his leg and tried to break his pattern, he shot in with an elbow to her face, making her let loose before dropping; swinging out his leg to trip her up and send her on her behind before he dropped to one knee, freezing his punch a centimeter from her face, his other arm already behind her back.

‘This would be about the time your neck would go snap and I would win. Don’t you think?”
“Not at all Cipher Mage, not at all; I’m far from done, you should know better.”

Her feet shot up, but he jumped over her head, his hands feathers on her shoulders, his grip held tight on her neck as she was throw to the ground. She curled up now, her feet still shooting for her head. Negi let loose her neck, but his own middle exploded upwards as he came right back over her head again, like some kind of demented snake launching itself into the air. He caught her whole body now in that ball shape, keeping her pinned as he put pressure.

Only just enough to avoid pain; that’s what it was…now, now was the time for him to laugh.

“Okay then, so now is the time to say I win. Happy?”
“Perhaps…”

It took a solid week of long searching to find her.

In three days, they had found the place she had last worked, but, of course, while she still did indeed put her hat down there, this wasn’t her residence, and it wouldn’t be anything for her much longer.

Negi and his party had barely missed her, somewhat. Tsukuyomi had located her, and Negi provided the case, following her home. Of course, once he sighted the place she called home, he pulled back, but he kept his ears and eyes trained. He knew she’d be back out. Indeed, she was.

It wasn’t easy to follow Asakura anywhere. Her expertise in espionage made her a difficult target, Negi knew…he knew so well, he had stayed outside, out of sight, just to see her emerge, hours later, with those same bags she had left her office with, and more. She tossed them in a car, looking about before getting in.

He was stalking a former student…

Still, he knew he needed information, and Asakura was difficult to approach otherwise...in an upfront manner. She loved to wheedle, to worm and pry, and like it or not, he was full of fodder for her to feast upon, if he ever dared try to go in deep.

This was the best way to approach her; by surprise. He kicked off the side of the building next to him, grabbing unto the fire escape as he lost her from his view in an alley, and quickly got to the roof.

A black Volvo…that’s what she had…and it was right… there. He ran along the flat rooftops, trying to keep pace with the meandering car. He paused when it did, he teleported when it turned. No need to go “roof jumping”, like he had when he was younger. Chamo, tight on his shoulder, looked green.

I have more than that, but this is what I'm certain won't be changing.

[OverMaster]

Thanks for the correction. I'll take it in account.

Spoiler for Continuation:

However, the confusion quickly was followed by fear, as the girl jumped up from Negi's arms and backed away stuttering.

"W-w-What was that?!" she yelled. "That definitely wasn't a normal fall! What did you do to me?!".

The boy trembled, and not only due to the cold, firmly clutching his staff between his shaking hands. "Well, you see... ahh...".

"Don't tell me you're some sort of alien!" Chisame gulped hard.

"Erm, no, not exactly...".

"You're an ES Per, then!" she aimed a finger at him.

"No, not at all!" he protested.

"Or a time traveller!" the virtual idol despaired. "No, wait, you're just a bad dream! I accidentally ate something Hakase cooked and I'm in a delirious comma state! Luckily, in any moment now I'll either wake up or die!".

"He's a mage" Satomi calmly pointed out from above.

"A mage? That's ridiculous" Chisame blinked several times. "And scientifically impossible. For you of all people to say that...".

"Um, actually, she's right" Negi meekly conceded. "I'm a wizard, or mage. Both definitions are technically correct".

Chisame gave him a blank and huge shocked stare. "No. For real" she eeped out.

"I'm telling you the truth" their teacher insisted. "That thing yesterday with the eraser? I did it. It was a lesser version of the spell I just used on you".

Chisame just kept looking at him, unable to speak.

"However" he pointed out, gulping while spinning his staff around, "I'm afraid I can't let you to keep that knowledge. As a mage, I've sworn to keep my powers as a secret, forever hidden from the mundanes. Any magic user who fails at keeping that promise can be punished strictly, even being transformed into some species of animal, like an ermine, a Peruvian chicken, a lizard or a dung beetle. So I have no choice but to erase your memories of this experience!".

"Okay!" Chisame quickly nodded.

Negi paused, surprised. "Okay?".

"Of course it's okay!" she said. "As if I wanted to remember anything of this! Look, I want nothing more than having a normal life, and that certainly doesn't include anything related to magic of any sorts! So I'll be much happier if I forget everything about this horrible incident!". She spreaded her arms eagerly. "Zap me up with any mumbo-jumbo you have to make me normal again!".

The boy looked at her with wide, incredulous eyes, before smiling again and nodding. "Very well! I'm so glad you are so understanding, Hasegawa-san! Normally, people always panics and tries to run away when I have to do this...".

Chisame arched her eyebrows. "How many times have you had to do this before?".

He laughed awkwardly. "Heh, heh, heh... Let's just say I'm still a begineer... I'm not that well used to hide my secret yet...".

The child started to spin his staff around once more. "For that very same reason, I must warn you maybe I'll botch this spell up and erase a little more than you probably expect me to...".
Chisame grew worried. "Exactly how much more?".

"Well, the most I've messed up in the past is causing total amnesia, but I'm sure I can fix the worst of it later..." he began to chant a spell under his breath.

"WAIT! NO! NO! NO!" the girl had quickly changed her mind after hearing that. "STOP IT! YOU DON'T NEED TO! DON'T YOU DARE, YOU MINDRAPING WEIRDO!!".

"You heard her, Sensei" Hakase's voice rang from above again, quietly, but with a strange new edge to it. Negi stopped his incantation, and he and Chisame looked up to see the genius holding a cellphone in a hand, recording the whole event.

"Hakase-san?" The young teacher had a bad feeling.

"Stop your attempts to disrupt my roommate's memories or I will press this button and send this recording to Chao-san and everyone else at my Club" Satomi warned, not exactly hostile, but neither softly at all. "I disapprove of mages pulling such abusive actions upon those you consider 'mere mortals'. Yes, Sensei, I do know about magic. I have, for rather a long time now".

"You do?" Chisame didn't give credit to her own ears. "But how—?".

"Please, Chisame!" Satomi said. "Even with my highly advanced expertise, you didn't think I was able to develop Chachamaru only through the conventional scientific means, or did you? I only was able to give her life by combining the power of the so-called 'magic' with that of traditional energy sources inside of her robotic body!".

"UWAAA!!" Negi screamed, scared out of his mind. "Karakuri Chachamaru-san?! Student Number Ten?! SHE'S A ROBOT?!".

Chisame looked down at him again. "Don't tell me you hadn't noticed it yet!".

"In any case, Negi-sensei, your secret is safe with us" Satomi solemnly promised. "Chisame has absolutely no friends at all to share it with—".

"Thanks for making such a good case for me!" Hasegawa exclaimed.

"And I have sworn secrecy on the whole affairs of the world of magic before" the scientist continued, very seriously. "Mind, I am against the whole notion of magic being kept hidden from mankind" she explained, in a cold, stern tone Hasegawa didn't remember ever hearing from her before. "I believe mankind shouldn't be kept in the dark by an elite. As a scientist, I long for the day when all advancements reached upon every field of human development can be shared with people all across the globe. But in the meanwhile, as a favor for a most dear friend, I have promised to keep my silence on it. And I'm willing to extend that to you. But you have to promise to respect my mind, and Chisame's, and place as much trust on us as we'll put on you. That is, after all, a teacher's duty".

Impressed, Negi lowered his staff, looking humble and ashamed of himself. "I'm sorry, Hakase-san. You're right. I apologize over my actions, Hasegawa-san".

Now Chisame breathed easier, even as her heart kept on beating fast. Her mind was still in turmoil, trying to assimilate everything she had just learned.

Satomi smiled, gesturing with her head for them to come back up, with herself. "Now that's better. However, you two should get back home and change your clothings before you adquire a common cold. Possibly, a hot bath would be advised as well...".

Negi cringed. "No way! I already bathed once today!".

"...You little magical pig!" Chisame grabbed him by an ear and began dragging him up the steps with herself. "What kind of upbringing did they give you?! If you really hope to be a Gentleman, you shouldn't be a filthy hippy!".

"Whaaa! Let my ear go!! If I can't see you naked, then you shouldn't see me naked either!!".

"I told you, those are two totally different things! You are nothing but a crybaby, but I'm already pretty much a woman!".

"Look at the positive side" Hakase smiled while her roommates went up onto the vehicle with her. "At least he didn't sneeze on you before the rest of the class".

"I'd have killed him in that case" Chisame deapaned, firmly grabbing Hakase's waist as she motioned for Negi to do the same. "Sensei, if you value your life, then hold on tightly".

"Huh?" he blinked, puzzled. "But wh-YYYYYYYYYYY!!!!".

He had his answer when Satomi suddenly stepped into the accelerator.

[OverMaster]

Spoiler for Conclusion of the Chapter:

Four hours later:

Chisame sneezed loudly once again before wrapping her blanket even tighter around herself. She had her bare feet stuck inside of a bucket full with hot water, and a most bitter expression etched onto her face.

"I can't believe you mages don't have a cure for the freaking common cold yet, other than these old wives' myths" she mumbled after rubbing her now runny nose.

Negi laughed apologetically from his futon. "Eh he he... Actually, magic hasn't proved to be that effective against diseases, although we do have some pills and potions going beyond the scope of your medicine... But even our healers mostly specialize on healing wounds and the like...".

He quickly turned his head around before sneezing into the other direction, with a nearly thundering sound and blowing several parts of the carpet.

"Watch out where do you aim that nose" Chisame warned from where she sat, as Satomi returned to the room in her pajamas, yawning without a care in the world. "You're so lucky, Hakase. Why haven't I ever seen you getting sick?".

"I'm well used to falling asleep on a laboratory's cold floor" the scientist replied lazily, laying down onto her bed with her back turned to them. "And besides, you two were the ones who endured the most of the rain".

Hasegawa grumbled while shaking her head. "You can't go to teach tomorrow" she told Negi. "Not sneezing around like that. In five minutes flat, you'll turn 2-A into a forsaken nudist camp".

"Ehhh?" Negi moaned. "B-But it' just my third day at the job... I can't fail you girls like that!".

"I'll chain you down if I need to, but I won't allow you to go there until you have healed" his taller roommate stated decisively.

Negi pouted, but he said nothing else on the subject. Instead, he turned his eyes to Satomi's almost lethargical figure now. "Hakase-san...?" he asked.

"Mmmmm?" she hummed without stirring.

"You said Chao-san was your colleague, and you two created Karakuri-san together, using both magic and technology, right?".

"Right" Satomi dryly said.

"Since you aren't a magic user yourself, that means Chao-san is the mage your secret you're protecting, in that case. Am I right?" he deduced.

There was a long, silent and tense pause right after that question was made.

"You know, I'm kind of curious about that, too" Chisame finally added, lifting her head just a bit into Hakase's direction.

"Sensei" the eccentric genius spoke again at last, in a small, dozed down voice, "If I'm going to keep your secret, the least I can do is to keep my friend's secret too, isn't that correct?".

Negi gulped, with a blush and a quick nod. "Correct! Sorry for being so indiscreet!".

"You just replied his question anyway!" Chisame sputtered. Then, tentatively, she reached out and touched the laying boy's forehead with a soft hand, checking his body temperature.

"You can go sleep now, Hasegawa-san" he said. "I'll be okay".

She negated with her head. "I'm not sleepy yet".

"Well, you can finish your update then..." he offered.

"I'm not in the mood right now".

"I see..." his voice trailed off.

Tiredly, they looked at each other's eyes for some moments.

Finally, he tilted his head around to sneeze again.

"By the way, thank you" she commented. "For saving me back there".

"Ah, it was nothing" he passed a tissue over his nose. "It was my duty as your teacher. And besides, it was my fault you were there in the first place".

"No, it was my fault you went there in the first place" she reluctantly admitted.

The boy smiled up at her. "It's okay. I overreacted. I shouldn't act like a spoiled child".

Chisame sighed. "That isn't something anyone of your age should be saying. You are really strange. You should change that".

He reached up with a small hand, grabbing hers, taking her by surprise. "I'm sorry" Negi whispered, stopping just long enough to blow his nose off. "Sorry. Really. But I can't. At least, not to change that way. I made a promise...".

"Again with the promises" Chisame scolded him to keep herself from looking uneasy. "What, if you don't fulfill that one, they'll turn you into a buzzard?".

"No. It's a personal promise this time" he distantly reminisced. "A promise... to my father".

Hasegawa opened her mouth to speak again, but seeing the look on his face, she prefered to leave the matter for later.

"Just sleep already, will you?" she commanded quietly. "The more you rest, the sooner you can go back to 2-A for Iincho to lick your feet".

He nodded, closing his eyes and rather quickly being taken away by sleep.

He woke up a mere hours later, feeling a headache and itching to sneeze again. He took care to do it into a direction where it couldn't cause any damage, then stumbled his sleepy way to the toilet.

It was only when he came back to his futon when he noticed Chisame still on her chair, asleep and with her glasses on, with her nose leaking. Still at the futon's side.

Smiling, he carefully accommodated the blankets over her in a more comfortable way, took her glasses off and placed them over the desk, near her computers. As he laid back on the futon, the young wizard took the booklet back from under his pillow and revisited Student Number Twenty Five's entry.

'A TRULY HORRIBLE PERSON'.

Biting his tongue, he crossed with his pen all over the words, and then wrote something else right beneath it.

'DESERVING OF HAPPINESS'.

He closed it back while nodding to himself.

Somehow, he would find out how to do it.

[Finalage]

Very good, I'm glad I wrestled with my internet to see that conclusion, I am. Oh! I am not being left behind, no I'm not. I updated Alternate Blossoms with it's third chapter. Alternate Blossoms.

As for Resistance Hertz, I'm looking for inspiration, and trying to gather some kind of force. It'll come, eventually. Mainly, I'm trying to find a way to bring the characters home after a final bid of insanity in the labs...but I haven't gotten much father than describing Satomi's crash.

[OverMaster]

A new chapter starts!

Spoiler for Spotlight on...:

Four Weeks Ago:

"What do you mean with 'No'?".

Sister Shakti had given her a rather peeved stare after hearing that question.

"What do you think I meant?" the tanned, tall Sister asked, her voice tense and imposing.

Misora's eyes had become huge fully black circles, and she had squeaked out a deflated, "... No?".

"Exactly" Sister Shakti stated, then began to walk away.

"But why?!" the girl had whined, running after her, despite the woman's sudden attempt to leave her behind by quickening her pace as much as she could without breaking into a sprint of her own. "I think I'm worthy by this point! I have studied and practiced for months and months! I have mastered the spells you requested me to learn, and—".

"You have only bothered to learn the most elemmental basics!" her superior cut her off without looking back at her. "That isn't enough for you to earn a Pactio!".

"Come on! Many Ministra have started without a single spell under their arm!" the young girl pleaded, grabbing for one of Shakti's sleeves before she could step out of the otherwise empty church. "Just give me a chance, please! Cocone is willing to become my Magister, and—".

"Kasuga Misora" the woman barely turned her eyes towards her, with a sharp warning glare. "Unhand me, please".

The use of her full name snapped Misora into an abrupt jolt of fear, making her to quickly release the sleeve as if it was coated in poison. "S-Sorry! I guess I got carried away!".

"Yes, you did. That is the problem with you" the woman now faced her, looking down at her with a stern glare that could break rocks. "You lack selfcontrol, both over your emotions and over your abilities. You still are taking this all as a game. You don't even start to see the true meaning of our mission. You only think of the accolades, failing to see our lives are intended to be full of sacrifices and hard work".

"I already work very hard, Sister!" Misora protested. "Every day I scrub the floors after getting back from school, and—".

"Misora, I am not talking about a janitor's work!".

"Sorry, sorry!" she laughed it off nervously. "It's just, um, I really think I'll have more to work with once I have a Pactio! Then I'll be able to actually pull my weight around! Yeah, then I won't be afraid of anything!". She smirked, clenching a fist up and pumping it in a way you definitely shouldn't expect from a nun, even one in training. "Just give me a Pactio and I'll be besting everyone, I'm sure of it!".

Sister Shakti gave her another critical stare. "Young lady, courage isn't something earned from power. A coward with power will be nothing but a coward hiding behind that power. True fighters, true mages, will not ever rely only upon their magic; it is their hearts that make them great. You still lack that, plus the discipline and the responsability, needed for us to grant you a Pactio. I'm sorry" she stated categorically.

"Are you telling me I am... a coward?" Misora squeeked out, her eyes becoming funny abstractions once again.

"You have failed at every test we have given you, even when facing minor threats" Shakti reminded her.

"Give me a break! That goblin could have killed me!".

"It barely was bigger than a bunny!".

"But it had those huge teeth, no doubt poisonous!".

"No, they weren't".

"I had no way to know that!".

"You would have, if you had studied you grimoire of beasts properly!" the woman retorted.

Misora was giving her the best puppy face she could make now. "Sister Shakti... Do you hate me so much?".

The older nun's face twitched. "What?".

"For years, I have looked up at you!" the teenager sobbed theatrically. "I took my votes at this Order hoping to fight alongside you, to some day be as great as you! Because I always admired you more than anyone else!".

"Are you trying to trick me with adulations?" Shakti asked retorically.

"But now, your cold rejection hurts my heart to its core!" Misora all but bawled. "You have called me lazy and cowardly, a failure at life, a shame to our organization!".

"Wait a moment, I have not gone that far".

"Then you will give me another chance?" she asked hopefully.

"As long as you don't become a diligent, brave and responsible apprentice... no" her superior replied without a shadow of a doubt. "You only wish to reap the results without earning them. Child, what will you do once you have a Pactio? You won't be able to use it to fight for those you hold dear until your heart has matured. Power without the moral strenght to wield it is a completely useless thing".

Misora groaned, looking aside.

"Look at me" Sister Shakti commanded, grabbing her by the cheeks and forcing her face to turn towards her own. The woman smiled, for once. Misora didn't remember watching her smiling ever since... huh... never, really. Maybe when she had introduced Cocone to her. "Child, it is my hope that, someday, you will find the thing you need to realize your true potential. Your heart needs that spark to ignite your soul, to give you the wings you need to fly. Until then, don't give up. Try to find your own path, not walking behind us, but striving to walk alongside us. Don't ever be satisfied with picking the results of others' hard work. Do that hard work yourself, and in the end, your reward will be that much greater. Have you understood that?".

Misora just nodded silently, simply hoping for her to release her already.

Shakti's usual expression returned. "Good. In the meanwhile, the windows still need cleaning".

"Y-Yes, Sister!".

Now:

Misora yawned and stretched lazily on her bed before sitting up, scratching herself on the ribs. Her gaze wandered slowly across her room, finding Cocone's bed to be empty. The warm smell of onigiri coming from the kitchen told her of her roommate's current situation, plus making her mouth to water up.

The young girl with the short and messy hair smiled to herself. She was feeling ready to eat a whole horse if needed! She would need the energy for the day's challenges!

From now on, she had decided, she wouldn't be a loser anymore! She would teach Sister Shakti one thing or two! 'Make your own path', huh? Well, she would use her own words against her!

The girl jumped down from the bed, grinning while looking through the window and towards the school. The events from the day before yesterday had changed the whole situation in a very interesting way!

If Sister Shakti didn't want to allow her a Pactio, she would get her Pactio elsewhere, then impress everyone so much with her mastery over it, even the Sister herself would be clapping.

Hopefully, it would be something useful enough to oneshot everyone before she had to fight, too. Eh, it was worth a try anyway.

By now, she knew a mage when she saw one in action. That stunt with the eraser could have fooled her classmates, but not her! A young plump chicken had just arrived the farm, ready for the plucking! The only thing she had to do was to get him before someone else could, but that was no problem, right? As if anyone had both the knowledge *and* the interest needed for it. Iincho was as clueless about the magic world as they came, and the rest of the class wasn't much better.

Kasuga Misora looked into her mirror, giving her image a smirk and a wink.

She was able to make sacrifices for her goals, too.

[Finalage]

Current work on Alternate Blossoms, yes I'm continuing that one again... although, I really do warn you...if you have any qualms on gore or general, maniacal insane violence, don't read.

If there is a time to be afraid, it just might be...now.

Spoiler for Enjoyment of the manic, the slaughter of a Magus:

By now, we should all know... the depth of night...is never a safe place to hide. In the night, the shadows do ride, and as the night rolls on by, we race the moon in an effort to outstrip the fight, that drunken pace it doles out as we race on by...the sneaky bastard almost always catches up. In the depth of night, a great and powerful mage makes his way into his car.

The most powerful figure in America, magically speaking, would be brought to his knees soon enough, in his trip to the U.K, the stars sparkled, innocent, deceiving. He drove himself, which was the final nail in his coffin, the cloudless night pacing him as he drove.

A shadow, simple clouds, flitted over the suddenly turbulent sky. The air outside began to grow cold, frighteningly so. Upon that vehicle, ice began to form on the roof, and yet, it drove on, unaware. Magical concentration, so thick, the air became difficult to breathe. It followed him to his hotel before striking down, hard, fast.

The Magus stepped out of his vehicle...and ducked off to he side, his robes half caught in the last of ice that consumed that Lincoln. A smile, feral and brilliant, played cross the bare face of a mage in front of him, and he found his eyes locked upon his form...terrifying, dark form.

Blood red hair, streaked with black, almost a dirty, filthy apparition, as if the very blood the rest of his head showed had run over and dried, yet it was too raven...to stark. His eyes were burning red, circles of death resting upon an obsidian surface...like an animal. All along his face, his bared hands...lines, runes, symbols, deep purple tattoos, swirled. His smile was deadly. He himself...young.

Beige, tattered robes, a popular style today, that was...but these gave way to pitch black pants and shirt...martial arts form, a red belt graced the waist, showing through the open robes...

Dark. Skin a deep red, a demon, eyesore, abomination, whatever hell hole words the mage could think of to describe something vile, he would thoughtlessly toss upon this... thing. His wand came, bidden by him, quick, practiced movements, soothing movements in the heart of fire, this thing practically exuded hate...despair. It said one sentence, one single thing, it's eyes widening in anger, the spit flying.

"You're...NOT...HIM!"
"Sagitta Magica, Centum Spiritus Fulgurans!"

The spell, grand in it's power... simply...disappeared into the other. Eyes wide, his hair stood up straight, flying in his rage, power exploding from him as the skin tinged into complete darkness. The tattoos stood livid, glowing blue as additional lines ran, red, along him. It was...Magica Erebia. Impossibly fast, the other struck out, a claw coursing with lightning...the Magus's own lightning.

The blow sent him reeling, and he fell to the ground, rolling. Old...much to old. Weak...too much so. He still snapped out his wand as his opponent lunged, erecting a powerful Deflexio. He could swear...the other smiled as his body smashed through it, claws digging deep into him, raking against his ribs.

"You're...too weak. Nothing...NOTHING, you are NOTHING compared to ME! I am...I am...heheheh, hi, hi, hi, hi...I AM YOUR OMEGA!"
"Y-guh...y-youuu..."
"Hi, hi! Yes, YES! ME! ME, ME, ME! I AM THE ONE, THE SOLE POWER...THE CHAOS MAGE, BITCH!"

Tossing the body aside, one hand shot forwards, magic condensing quickly, impossibly fast it seemed, forming a sphere, encompassing the others vision in an instant. Somehow, the mage rolled away as the vehicle was consumed in flame. Screams issued as the awning behind it caught fire, melting the poles, burning away the fabric...laughter as shrubs caught fire...abomination, it spoke again!

"You...are not worthy to stand against me. You, YOU! Your power...not worthy, no! You...I should have it...me...GIVE IT TO ME!"

Hand out, he pulled...upon something, deep inside, reaching for the Magus, coming closer and yet staying one place, he consumed the others vision as his hands extended, literally extending, dark tendrils wrapping around the Magus as a glowing weapon appeared in his hands...It looked so much like AltraCrolacri...but when the beast blunt sided the older man, all he felt was pain. So...lonely. Weak...his power...where...?

"What...what kind of trickery...is...this?"

Him. His hands holding out, sucking in, his magic, channeling from one to the other, the form growing more sinister still, glowing red...grinning.

"No trickery...just POWER...power old fool...power that is mine, should be mine! All mine, mine...to take and destroy, you, all who stand in my way, fall, burn, burn...die! Drown, burn, fall, destroy, wreck, die, die...all of them! I will rule!"
"You...you're insane!"

Poor American Magus...I think that fact has already been well established...

"Hehehe....hihihi...bwa, ha...HA! Insane....yes! Insane, powerful, unpredictable, deadly! In the night, a lone flower holds tight upon the knife that will cut down the giants in the sky, the planes that fly overhead, spitting fire from their blood, will die nameless from a single flowers knife! High! On high! You... shall DIE!"

He shot at the other, so fast, he couldn't move..tired...energy less, he could only watch as the boy picked him up. He was shorter, but that was just what made him so disturbing. He crooned, actually singing, a love song of all things as he lifted the Magus high, yet he edited it, applying it to what he was doing...

"Hold you tonight...like an angel in the sky! So tight...In these arms, you'll feel so high...I'll break your heart, right from the start, I'll never let it go~! I nee~ed you! Tonight, you'll be longing to close your eyes...to kiss your life, so tender, one day you'll understand why, you won't go on...goodbye, I'll never let you go...hold me...I'll play with you...Oh fuck it. DIE."


His strike shot right through the Magus's middle, making him gag, eyes wide as his own blood splashed against the boy's robes.

He went down in a spurt of blood as the monster...continued it's assault, ripping through the body, throwing limbs astray, covering itself almost ritualistically in the others blood as it flowed, slowing, coagulating...it cared not, rubbing it all over itself and those tattered, stained robes of beige. Biting at it's neck, it sucked at nothing, having already ripped the heart from the open cavity it had created, crushing it in hand.

He grinned, delighted as he sat up, reaching with both hands at the head and tugging with all his might, as if he wanted to rip the head from it's body...but no, he paused, preferring to just play with it like a cat would, sickly batting the head back and forth, listening for cracks.

Slowly, it stood, heaving. Not him, not him. Not him...WEAK! WEAKWEAKWEAK...it seemed to converse with itself as it simply walked a distance away, looking back only to stare, ice, lightning...both shooting from it's finger tips to freeze and break apart the shards of what it had left behind. Laughter, cruel, gleeful laughter...echoed in the night.

Power, power, POWER is mine to control! I am you, the mirror, sundered whole! Negi...NEGI SPRINGFIELD...Your other half, your omega...shall soon come to destroy you...

[OverMaster]

Continuation.

Spoiler for A new day...:

Hakase found a lot more eyes fixed on her when she walked into the classroom that morning than usual.

It was enough to make even her, a student who never was selfaware about her physical appearance at all, to pause and take note, feeling her skirt and shirt all over, awkwardly.

"What?" she asked. "I don't believe there is anything wrong with it. Chisame helped me with it, and—".

"Your clothes are alright!" Fumika chirped on.

"That isn't the issue right now!" Fuuka added.

"We heard Negi-sensei is living with you two!" Sakurako bluntly put it out from her seat.

"Ah. That" Satomi said, unconcerned. "Yes, neither he nor Chisame will be coming today, I'm afraid. They are suffering from the effects of a sudden illness—".

"Sensei is ill?!" Ayaka jumped up from her chair.

"Nothing too critical, I should hope" Hakase's voice remained fully the same, somewhat spaced out as usual, as she sat down next to Chachamaru to run her routine checkup. "I believe a single day of rest should allow them to recover enough to come tomorrow".

"But then it's true!" Misa pointed out. "You're living together after all!".

"I always knew Hasegawa was a magnet for the bad luck" Asuna mumbled from where she sat with her face half buried between her arms, which were crossed over her desk.

"What did you do for it?" Chizuru asked.

"Huh? Why, nothing. Shizuna-sensei told us they were orders from the Dean, but they never specified the reasons behind that decision" Hakase was finding hard to move around with so many girls gathered around her. "Could you please allow me some more room? I need freedom of movement for this task. You never had seemed that eager to socialize with me before...".

Ignoring her, Asakura Kazumi whipped her microphone out again. "Hey, Hakase-chan! Where's Sensei sleeping?".

"Hadn't I made it clear by now?" Satomi asked, slightly annoyed while trying to apply some oil on the left elbow of the always stoical robot. "He is staying at our dorm, right at the B-wing of the—".

"I don't mean that!" the redhead exclaimed. "I mean at which part of your home is he sleeping!".

"Oh, you should have started by saying that" Hakase shook her head. "Well, we only have one bedroom, so he has been forced to share it with us...".

A collective squeal was heard through the whole classroom, making Yue, Evangeline, Mana, Asuna and Setsuna to cringe.

"You're sleeping in the same room! How daring!" Yuuna chuckled.

"H-How improper, you mean!" Ayaka fumed at the verge of a stroke.

"I never expected it from you guys" Misa grinned evilly.

"Well, you know what they say about the quiet ones" Haruna shared, making Yue to scowl and Nodoka to blush and make a fearful face.

"It isn't that bad. Sensei has a futon of his own" Hakase, always nearly oblivious, continued her sacred task, undaunted.

"How close to your beds?" Yuuna wiggled her eyebrows and nudged Hakase's ribs with a playful elbow.

"At the opposite side of the room, actually" Hakase replied absently. "For some reason, thought, that didn't stop him from sleepwalking to Chisame's bed last night...".

She finally turned to look back at the others after she heard a collective, nearly deafening, shriek of fawning coming out from most of her classmates. "... What? What did I say??".

"You guys are sickos!" Asuna commented with evident disgust.

"Chisame-chan's got a whole lap edge on this race already!!" Fuuka laughed.

"A race for what?" Hakase blinked.

"And here I thought she'd be the last one to get a boyfriend!" Madoka shared.

"A boyfriend?" Satomi was puzzled.

"C'mon, Professor!" Misa stared straight into her eyes. "Not even you can be that absent-minded!".

The class waited for a few minutes while Satomi just stared back, silently analyzing their words until inspiration finally struck.

"He is still rather extremely young to be considered as an object of romantical affection, or to be interested on such pursuits himself" the scientist finally stated, flat and coldly.

"What has she just said?" Asuna asked Yue.

"She said he's only a child, and they are pedos" Yue surmissed.

"Oh. I thought so, but I wanted to be sure" Asuna nodded. "Yeah, for once I agree with Miss Smartypants".

Chao patted her science friend on a shoulder almost maternally. "Satomi, Satomi, Satomi. Keeping an analytic, rational mind is okay, of course, but every once in a while, you have to look past that, neh?".

"She's right" Misa nodded emphatically. "God, you're such a cold fish!".

Ayaka finally regained enough sense from her shock to bring some semblance of order back, slamming a hand several times down against the teacher's desk. "Regardless!! Until this whole ugly affair is sorted out, Negi-sensei's health must be our main concern! As the Class President, I say we should enlist a commission headed by me to visit him today after classes! The poor child must be suffering all alone—".

"He's with Chisame" Hakase reminded her.

"—all alone..." Ayaka repeated herself. "That, I cannot allow to continue! As a matter of fact, perhaps we should go right now!".

Satomi remembered Chisame's warnings to not allow anyone at all to go visit them. Both to protect Chiu's secret, and to protect anyone else from suffering the effects of the dreaded Stripping Sneeze.

The threat of a fist being held against her nose so closely had been enough to firmly mark itself into her normally vacant and forgetful mind.

"Um, actually, we are under technical quarantine" Satomi quickly said. "Their illness, while not harmful, is highly contagious, and, um, the Headmaster prohibited anyone but medically trained help from entering our rooms!".

"Really?" Konoka blinked. "Ne, Asuna! Maybe if I talk with him, he would allow us to—".

"Y-You shouldn't!" Hakase's eyes widened.

"Yeah, you shouldn't, Konoka" Asuna groaned. "It isn't worth risking your health".

From her seat, Setsuna nodded more eagerly than she would have liked to, without really noticing it.

"Um, if that's the case, maybe I could go?" Izumi Ako shyly pointed out. "As a school nurse, I believe it's my duty. I could bring them some medicine...".

"Your health's too frail, Ako" Akira reminded her gently. "You shouldn't overexpose yourself".

A laugh came from another seat, making Ayaka to give its occupant a killer icy glare. "What is so funny, Kasuga-san?".

Misora grinned at her. "If that's the case, I'll be the one to go! I have an iron health, and my Order's vows include caring over the sick! I don't have anything better to do today, so I'll be glad to help!".

The Class Rep doubted. "You...? That's very unlike you. Since when are you that eager to help?".

"C'mon, Iincho!" the shorter girl requested. "Cut me some slack, okay? I'm not that bad a person. What, are you afraid I could try something indecent with him? You know I couldn't possibly do that!".

Ayaka hesitated, unwilling to grant Misora's permission but also unable to shoot her points down in public. With all eyes fixed on her now, she had no choice but relenting.

"Very well. However, Kasuga-san, rest assured, if I ever learned someone attempted to pull ANY sort of ill-spirited prank or practical gag on Negi-sensei AGAIN—".

She towered over Misora, giving her a psychotic stare that reminded Kasuga too much of Sister Shakti for her liking.

"—that person would regret it very dearly afterwards, don't you agree?".

Misora nodded with a gulp. "Oh, yes, you are so right!".

The beautiful heiress broke into a cheerful and pure smile then. "In that case, it's decided! You will act as our class ambassador of good will today and deliver Izumi-san's medicine to our beloved Sensei! We are all counting on you!".

Hakase was about to protest clumsily, but then the classroom's door was opened from the outside, and in walked the tall and handsome figure of Professor Takahata Takamichi.

"Good morning, class" the man greeted politely. "Today, Negi-sensei will be unable to teach his classes, so Headmaster Konoe asked me to cover for him by moving my Arts lessons—". He paused. "Asuna-chan? Asuna-chan, are you feeling okay?".

The Baka Red nodded quickly, sucking her tears of happiness back. She only hoped that sound of glee she had just made had not been too dirty sounding at all.

Although the way the other girls were looking at her now wasn't too promising in that regard.

[OverMaster]

Continuation. Again.

Spoiler for Misora!:

"Here you have" Chisame said as she placed the bowl of soup on the small table, right before him. "Eat it while it's still hot" she added, evenly, sitting down to serve herself her own bowl.

"Thank you" Negi nodded humbly, then put his hands together and muttered a brief prayer in English, keeping his eyes closed. Chisame watched him with distant curiosity as he did that, then to start eating in a way very unlike that of a normal child. It was elegant and polite, without being too refinated or prissy.

"Do you like it?" the older girl asked, mainly because of sheer formality.

"It is very good, yes" he smiled, nodding at her before rubbing his reddened nose with a napkin. Now that had been a gesture more fitting a child. Satisfied with that last relative bit of normalcy, Chisame began eating her soup as well.

It was average, all things considered, the boy thought as he continued his dinner, but it was the thought that mattered. No one could ever cook like Nekane, but Miss Hasegawa had tried, and she had done it for him, right? That was more than enough for him.

"Um... Forgive my question, Hasegawa-san..." he hesitated between sips.

"Yeah?".

"N-Nothing. Forget it".

She gave him a sharp glare. "No. What is it?".

"It's nothing, really...".

"Good. Then share it" she dryly demanded. "It won't hurt, right?".

"Well, I was just asking myself a few things... About this Academy, for instance. I had heard it was a mixed one, but most of the students almost everywhere seem to be girls. Some classes, like our own, are made of nothing but girls...".

"Takahata-sensei didn't tell you? Well, I guess it's been a short time since you arrived" she took a small bite of her bread. "Mahora used to be a fully feminine academy. It only was relatively few years ago that changed. Male students are still somewhat of a minority".

"Ah".

"Which other things were in your mind, Sensei?" she didn't relent, fixing her eyes on him again.

"Nah, nothing else" he fidgeted again. "That was all".

The girl scowled. "Has anyone ever told you you're horrible at lying? No wonder they uncover your secret all the time".

"Okay, okay!" he submitted. "I, um, just was wondering about your family".

"My family?".

"Well, yes... You see, err, a teacher is supposed to have some grasp of his students' background, to—".

"Even at that, you're weird" Chisame poked the air with her spoon in his direction. "Any normal teacher would just wait until the parents' meeting. But fine, I'll tell you. I have both parents alive, although I rarely see them anymore" she said indifferently. "I also have an older sister, studying at Tokyo's Nekomi Tech Institute, but again, she's mostly a non issue. How about you? You mentioned a promise to your father yesterday. Was he the one who sent you here?".

Negi looked down, struck back by the question, although not much since he was mostly expecting it after asking her about her relatives. Still, it pained him. Why had he asked her in the first place?, he wondered. The Magus was right, he still had a lot to learn.

"Ah, not exactly..." he denied with his head.

She narrowed his eyes, trying to read his fumbling expressions. Had she just touched a sensitive nerve? Was she supposed to feel bad about it? Before anything else could be said or thought, however, Hakase had arrived, without announcing herself, as usual.

"Ah, Hakase-san!" Negi had quickly latched on the chance to change the subject. "Welcome home—".

His jaw, as well as Chisame's, fell as they saw someone else walking in right behind Satomi, grinning mischievously at them. It was a young woman in a nun's habit, carrying a large basket covered with a blanket in a hand.

"We aren't bad enough to need last rites!" Chisame raised her voice while standing up.

"Waiiiii!" Satomi cringed back. "I'm sorry! Iincho-san insisted on her coming with me!".

Chisame's annoyed glare now fell fully on the nun. "And why? Who are you?".

"Hasegawa-san, please, those aren't—" Negi began to intervene before scratching his nose wildly, in a frantic attempt to calm the itching before it forced him to sneeze.

The nun simply stared widely at Chisame. "......... You don't recognize me?".

The girl with the large glasses scowled. The voice seemed familiar to some degree, but... "Should I?".

"It's me! Misora! Kasuga Misora!" the young nun protested, pulling her veil down to reveal a head full of short, spiky and rebellious brown hair.

"Kasuga?" Chisame blinked several times. "Why are you disguised like that?".

"THIS ISN'T A DISGUISE! I HAVE TAKEN PRELIMINARY VOWS AT THE LOCAL CHURCH! Sheesh, if you didn't spend all your time locked down here, you might know that!". With her humor spoiled, Misora plopped herself down at the other side of the table, rather nonchalantly.

"If this is any sort of setup for a prank..." Chisame began, but Negi cut her words short, bowing to the visitor.

"Student Number Nine of the list, right?" he said. "It's a honor to have you here, but, umm, we are somewhat sick in here, and—".

Misora smirked at him. "Relax, Negi-sensei! That's exactly why I'm here! I brought you some medicaments from Izumi Ako, plus some old remedies of our order! With them, I guarantee you'll be like new in no time at all!".

"That's very kind from you! Thanks a lot!" Negi beamed happily.

"Yes, yes, it is" Chisame softly tapped a foot on the floor. "Thanks, but I think you'd better get going now. For your own good. Believe me, you don't want Sensei sneezing on you...".

Misora laughed waving her concerns away. "I think I can survive a little meager cold!".

"Trust me, you would feel a lot of cold... I mean, that cold a lot" Chisame snarked.

Ignoring her, Misora simply looked all around the living room, until her eyes caught what she was looking for. A magical staff lying on the sofa.

"Say, Sensei!" she sprang back to her feet and walked to it, grabbing it to examine it carefully. "I've been meaning to ask... why do you carry this thing around? A souvenir from your homeland?".

Negi paled, feeling a sudden knot in his throat. All three girls noticed it easily, each one pausing in her own way to look at him. Misora panicked inside. Had she revealed her interest way too soon?

Then he breathed out aloud, seeming to relax again, somewhat resignated.

"From my Father, actually" he confessed. "The only thing I have been left from him".

"Oh?" Misora asked.

"It's... nothing at all" Negi attempted to wave it off. "Really. I... He just...".

Misora knelt down at his side, smiling kindly while caressing his right cheek with a hand. "I'm sorry. I didn't know. Are you an orphan? We never are fully orphaned as long as we stay under our heavenly Father's—".

"M-My father isn't dead!" Negi reacted rather abruptly.

Chisame blinked, showing slight facial signs of concern. "Sensei?".

"I haven't seen him in a long while, but... I know he's alive, somewhere out there" he said, firmly.

Misora's face was one of shock for a moment, but then she smiled again, deciding to file the matter away for now. "Of course he is" she replied, renewing her smile.

[Merctrin]

*pops head out*

I finally managed to write a new chapter of 'Taken Day by Day'. Happy day.

Prequel
Prologue
Day 1
Day 2
Day 6
Day 7
Day 11
Day 12

Uh... fair warning? I suck at writing action. Just.... really.

Spoiler for Day -17:

Tsukuyomi spun Fate’s head around on her finger.



She liked Fate-han. Really, she did. As far as employers went, he was the most agreeable one she’d had the pleasure of serving. She considered most of his plans far too complicated, but since her only concern was keeping the opposition from sabotaging his grand ideas, that was just fine. And the large scale meant that they had quite a bit of opposition.



If only he didn’t insist on keeping her restrained, this job would be a dream come true.



He did, though. More overly complicated reasoning she didn’t care for. As adorable as his little infatuation with dear Negi-kun was, it was probably a good thing he was only now starting to act truly human. Otherwise he would have been irresistible to her, and in general she disapproved of fighting with one’s employer.



In general. When one’s employer was insisting on ignoring his own humanity, the only proper thing to do was to chop some sense into him.



And hadn’t that worked so delightfully? Her hair might take a while to grow back, but at least now Fate-han couldn’t deny that he had a heart, and that heart was longing for Negi-kun’s blood.



Still…



This is boring.



Tsukuyomi tossed Fate’s head up in the air, catching it on the tip of her sword. She could feel the blood shooting through her veins, the adrenaline from her earlier skirmish buzzing under her skin. She did not want to be sitting at the bottom of some tower. She wanted to be outside spreading as much carnage as possible.



Unfortunately, that course of action had been ruled a poor use of her time. Instead, Fate wanted her to wait for their friends to show up. Because they would. That was how good little heroes were supposed to behave, wasn’t it? And of course, their opponents were nothing if not good.



Right now, that was an annoying trait. It guaranteed their presence here soon.



Fate-han was pleased with that. It allowed him to set things up to his liking.



Tsukuyomi was… not good at being patient. Following Setsuna—and the princess of course—for weeks without being able to touch her was by far the hardest thing she had ever done. Waiting in an empty chamber for her victims to arrive was not something she took any pleasure in.



But she did have some self-control. She could force herself to wait if that was what Fate asked of her. She was nothing if not a good, loyal employee. And unlike last time, she wasn’t being told to keep from touching the prize right in front of her eyes. This wasn’t nearly as difficult.



She flipped Fate’s head up in the air a few more times, doing a very good job of ignoring the quiet energy building up in her head and hands. She could feel herself wanting. She wanted to leave the quiet tower and find Negi and his companions. Negi-kun was off limits, but the others… their absence from the field of battle would only make Fate’s partners feel less important. That was hardly a concern.



She could kill them. Their delicate little bodies would fall the second she penetrated their smooth, unmarred flesh. They were all so weak—it would be so simple to run her blades over their bodies, stripping them of flesh and letting their blood run free.



It could even be counted as helping Fate-han; Negi-kun would react beautifully when he saw—



Only she was ignoring that. Because even though she undoubtedly knew how to handle Fate’s infatuation with Negi better than he did, he cared quite a bit about doing things in the most complicated way possible. It wouldn’t be very nice to keep him from dealing with Negi the way he wanted to.



After all, if someone tried to interfere with her relationship with her senpai, she wouldn’t be very happy at all. There were some things that simply weren’t done.



Oh, and Fate had problems with her killing real people. She couldn’t imagine why, but that probably meant that disobeying orders to go slaughter a bunch of silly teenage girls would not be met with much gratitude.



Leaving her stuck here.



Tsukuyomi moved Fate’s head down to her foot and kicked it a few times. Their guests were taking forever to arrive. This wasn’t any fun.



Then the front door exploded.



Ah! That’s more like it!

------

Setsuna thought she was prepared to meet their opponents in combat. Training had improved her skills enough that the odds of anything like her last disgraceful match happening were close to zero. She was strong, and more than willing to give it her all against Fate’s group. If anything, she was a little too willing.



Earlier, she had wondered a little if she should ask Negi to let her fight Tsukuyomi. He had his own grudge to settle with Fate, didn’t he? He should be able to understand how badly she wanted to have a proper duel with the girl. And… someone would have to fight Tsukuyomi. Putting in a request beforehand wasn’t such a big deal, right?



Only it was. She had to remember her place.



No matter how badly she wanted revenge (or just wanted to hurt the insufferable girl), she was first and foremost Konoka’s partner and a loyal member of the Ala Alba. All she should care about was getting everyone home safely. Next to that, fighting Tsukuyomi was supposed to be a low priority. It was only as important as defeating the rest of Fate’s group.



She could feel all that logic slipping away when they charged into the tower and saw Tsukuyomi waiting for them.



The girl had lost a lot of her hair since their last meeting. Setsuna wasn’t entirely sure how intentional that was—she saw scorch marks, but for all she knew, Tsukuyomi liked cutting her hair in the most dangerous way possible.



And—she looked excited. Her eyes were bright and happy as she took in the collection of fighters she was probably already considering her victims. A chaotic grin decorated her face, and the whites of her eyes were already going dark.



Then her gaze fell on Setsuna. The change in expression was small, but she still saw it. Tsukuyomi’s grin widened to one of true pleasure instead of just excitement, and Setsuna was sure the bloodlust wasn’t the only thing responsible for her darkening eyes anymore.



Setsuna felt every single reason she had against fighting Tsukuyomi alone fall to pieces in her mind. This was her enemy. Hers.



And more than anything, she wanted to fight her.

------

It wasn’t just Setsuna standing there; she knew that. She caught sight of the rest briefly. The rest of the fighters—and Konoka too, if her peripheral vision wasn’t failing her—were there, though they were currently frozen for some mysterious reason.



But Tsukuyomi’s eyes immediately found Setsuna’s. Her Senpai’s.



And then she simply couldn’t look away. She found her desire to rip Negi’s other companions to shred fading quickly into the back of her mind.



This was her. This was the one.



As long as she had this opponent, she didn’t care what anyone else did. Setsuna was the only one she wanted. And oh how she wanted her. Right now, she couldn’t even find it in her to care about her role in Fate’s plan.



Someone had fixed her Setsuna-senpai.



There was nothing of the hesitance Tsukuyomi had half-expected to have to slice out of Setsuna. There was only hardened determination and a hot rage that left Tsukuyomi breathless.



That clarity—that delicious expression of emotion—wasn’t something Setsuna would allow herself to feel unless someone went out of their way to fix her. Her senpai was so cautious—even when they first met, she was so controlled… But now…



Tsukuyomi felt a little lightheaded.



Of course, then someone just had to ruin the moment and remind her that they weren’t alone.

------

“Fate-sama!”



Setsuna jerked her head to look at Shiori, who was supposed to still be acting like Asuna. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Tsukuyomi react the same way. And Negi—Negi looked horrified.



For a second she didn’t know what the problem was. Then she caught the movement around Tsukuyomi’s foot and realized that Negi and Shiori had a very good reason to be upset.

------

“What did you do to Fate-sama?!”



Tsukuyomi blinked at the enraged girl. It seemed that the only thing keeping her from doing something foolish was the grip an annoyed-looking gunslinger had on her shoulders.



“Luna-chan, you’re not doing a very good job of keeping yourself a secret.” Not that anyone seemed especially surprised by her outburst, but that probably just meant that she did a really, really bad job of keeping herself a secret.



The girl shook her head, clearly wanting to say something, but Negi beat her to it.



“Tsukuyomi-san,” he said shakily, “I was under the impression that you and Fate were on the same side. Why—why did you—”



Tsukuyomi rolled her eyes and threw Fate’s head into the air, bisecting it on its way down. Shiori cried out and Negi’s face paled even further. Konoka also looked vaguely disturbed, but thankfully the ninja, gunslinger, and her senpai were reacting more sensibly.



In fact, Setsuna had the most interesting expression on her face.



“You don’t have to worry, Negi-kun. I only removed his arm, and that should be reattached by now. You two will get to have your fun.”



“Then—what exactly—”



“Negi-sensei.”

------

So that really was all there was to it. She just enjoyed fighting that much. There was no deeper meaning behind it; that was just the way she was.



If that was the case… Setsuna was almost relieved. No matter how disgusting her motives were, this really was the best place for her. This was where she could help her friends the most. The last thing they needed was a powerful, crazed swordswoman with no clear allegiance running around. Setsuna didn’t want to think about the trouble the other girl could cause if she decided things weren’t interesting enough for her here.



And… she wouldn’t use the Code of the Lifemaker this way. It wouldn’t be sporting.



“You need to be going to fight Fate and rescue Asuna-san now, Negi-sensei. You can’t afford to waste time here. I’ll take care of her.”



Negi turned abruptly to stare at Setsuna. “Are you sure, Setsuna-san?” he asked quietly, eyes drifting back to the perversely cheerful girl. “She’s—there’s something not right about her.” He sounded almost guilty saying it.



Setsuna smiled tightly. “It’s fine, Sensei. I’m the best match for her, so right now, I can help you most if I stay here and fight her. And besides…” She looked up at her enemy. Yes, Tsukuyomi’s eyes were glowing with anticipation. “She won’t cause any trouble as long as she has me here to satisfy her, isn’t that right Tsukuyomi?”

------

Tsukuyomi laughed—she couldn’t help it.



How wonderful.



Setsuna understood.



She brought her kodachi up to her mouth and ran her tongue over the edge. She could all but taste Setsuna’s blood on it. How delicious it would be. The raw heat that would come from that… “Of course, Setsuna-senpai. Since you’ve gotten over that adorable bout of childishness, you’re definitely the only one I want.”



How cute, Konoka seemed to react very poorly to that comment. And Setsuna wasn’t happy about it either. Her pactio card was already in her hand. Yūnagi had been out to begin with.



The fun gunslinger girl chuckled and tightened her arm around a very disgruntled Luna. “Well then, we should be moving on, shouldn’t we Sensei?”



With one last look at Setsuna, Negi nodded. Good. He wasn’t going to be unreasonable about things. Tsukuyomi would have hated to have to injure him before Fate had his way with the boy.



Now… now she could really have her fun. No one was going to interrupt them this time.



“Konoka-dono, you’re not coming?”

------

Konoka smiled back at Kaede and moved so that she was standing in front of Setsuna. “I think I should stay with Set-chan.”



Mana shook her head, shifting her gaze between Shiori and Tsukuyomi. “You sure about that, Konoe?”



Konoka nodded happily. “I’m here because all of you could get hurt, but I can’t help if I’m left defenseless. All of the people we’ll be fighting are a lot stronger than I am. Set-chan’s the only one who’s used to fighting and protecting me at the same time, and Negi-kun can summon me when I’m needed.”



Setsuna tore her eyes away from Tsukuyomi, cold, miserable dread building up in her stomach.



“Ojou-sama, no. It’s dangerous.”



If she’d had her way, Konoka would have stayed with their other companions; not entirely safe, but a great deal safer than she was now. Setsuna wasn’t about to put her in more danger by keeping her anywhere near Tsukuyomi. The girl was too dangerous for anyone to be safe around her. And Tsukuyomi already had too many reasons to pay Konoka extra attention.



Konoka smiled at her. “No it’s not. You promised to protect me, didn’t you?”



“Yes, but—”



“And besides that,” Konoka continued, “you aren’t just my bodyguard, Set-chan. You’re my partner. I should be with you when you’re in danger.”

------

Tsukuyomi thought she might be able to appreciate Fate’s problems a little more right now. His horribly complicated plans depended on a million different things going right, and could come undone if just one thing went wrong.



Meanwhile, her plans were simple little things—that could still go very, very wrong if the wrong thing happened at the wrong time.



And… and…



Partners? When did that happen?



Suddenly the world wasn’t so happy and bright. Konoka’s little revelation was accompanied by the painfully obvious melting of Setsuna’s resolve and—that just wasn’t fair. The stage was set, the pieces were in place, and then that girl just waltzed in and corrupted it all.



Did she even realize the magnitude of what she just destroyed?



Tsukuyomi could feel the little self-control she’d managed starting to die.



She thought she might like to murder the Konoe girl.

------

Setsuna barely managed to get in front of Konoka before Tsukuyomi attempted to slice off her partner’s head.



The blonde’s blades clashed against Yūnagi, pushing Setsuna several feet back and practically knocking Konoka over. Setsuna’s arms shook under the force Tsukuyomi put behind her swing.



Tsukuyomi wasn’t playing this time. She would have killed Konoka. Worse, it seemed like she wanted to.



Setsuna hadn’t had a chance to see Tsukuyomi angry before. And—she wasn’t—it wasn’t really anger. But there was something wrong with her expression. That level of irritation just didn’t fit on Tsukuyomi’s face.



This was bad.



“Ojou-sama,” Setsuna said softly, not daring to look away from Tsukuyomi, “stay if you have to.” She pretty much did, at this point. Their friends had already left, and Setsuna wasn’t about to let Konoka wander the tower alone. “But don’t interfere. I need you to promise that no matter what happens, you’ll let this be between me and her. You need to stay out of the way.”



“Set-chan—”



“Kono-chan, please.” Tsukuyomi’s sword was starting to slide down Yūnagi—if Setsuna had to stay here much longer, she’d lose a hand. She needed to be able to move.



“Okay,” Konoka whispered. Setsuna barely kept herself from letting her muscles slack in relief. Now, time to make Tsukuyomi remember that this duel only involved them.



She released Yūnagi from the hold Tsukuyomi’s blades had created and stepped to the side, ducking around the sudden flurry of steel aiming to remove one of her limbs and slipping her pactio card into her hand.



“Adeat! Takemikazuchi!”

------

It would have been nice to laugh at Setsuna’s chosen outfit. The second that glorious sword came into her hands, fabric Tsukuyomi recognized from her years at the Shinmeiryuu dojo materialized in place of Setsuna’s usual clothes.



She was so attached to that school. If Tsukuyomi had enjoyed her time at the place more, she might have appreciated it a little. It was cute that her senpai had such a sense of belonging to an organization that officially considered her a traitor. Or maybe if Setsuna just wasn’t using a card representing her—



No.



I don’t think I care to think about that anymore.



It was bad enough that she hadn’t held back her desire to murder Konoka at the start of the duel.



It isn’t going to ruin my fun. Not when Setsuna-senpai is so eager to play with me. Tsukuyomi glanced over at where Konoka had chosen to move for a second. Then she looked back at Setsuna, full of fire and already trying to land a decisive blow.



Yes… Definitely. She could manage it. It wasn’t even a matter of holding back; Setsuna was the only one she wanted. Next to her, murdering a slight annoyance was meaningless. Murder was such a distasteful pastime after all. …And Tsukuyomi couldn’t deny her senpai when she was making her intent so clear.



Besides, if she won, she could do whatever she wanted to the innocent Konoe heir.



Yes, that will do nicely. And until then—Tsukuyomi dodged the pretty new sword’s blade to avoid losing an ear and slashed her sword low, aiming for Setsuna’s legs—Until then, I will have Setsuna-senpai. All of her, if I care to.



Setsuna easily evaded the low swipe and matched it by bringing down Yūnagi hard against Tsukuyomi’s sword, driving the point into the stone floor. For a fraction of a second, it stayed stuck there. The slight halt in the flow of Tsukuyomi’s movements created a small opportunity for Setsuna to slice her artifact upward, aiming to slash through Tsukuyomi’s abdomen.



Simple simple simple—but she’s trying to kill me now. Good.



Takemikazuchi slammed into her kodachi.



But I wonder why



Something doesn’t feel quite right.



Is it not the same expression?



Yes… that hesitance is back.



She followed the quick flicker in Setsuna’s eyes and sighed in disappointment as she dodged the slow swipe meant to slash across her face.



Then she thought about it a little and grinned.



Motivation was not murder.

------

This fight felt so much different than their last one.



Just like before, Tsukuyomi was matching every strike she made, but the force behind the blows was so different. It was one thing to know that the blonde wasn’t playing around this time, but it was quite another to feel it. Tsukuyomi was aiming to kill this time.



Setsuna felt her eyes drift subconsciously over to where Konoka was before she dragged her attention back to the fight.



This wasn’t good. With Konoka here—



She’s safest here. She’s safest with me. But right now, I’m not safe with her.



The thought almost distracted her badly enough that she didn’t hear Tsukuyomi start to talk.



“I have to say, I’m happy that you got yourself fixed since last time.”



Setsuna gritted her teeth against the gentle teasing in Tsukuyomi’s tone. So maybe there was still some playfulness that it was impossible for the psychopath to control. She couldn’t say it was surprising, but if the girl could get any stronger—



“But still…” Tsukuyomi attempted to spin around so that she had a clear shot at Setsuna’s back, but Setsuna ducked and mimicked the spin so they were still facing each other properly. She didn’t like the carnal grin that lit up those eyes.



Tsukuyomi jerked forward, thrusting with her sword and moving to slash her kodachi across Setsuna’s legs. Setsuna blocked with some difficulty, but she still managed to keep from Tsukuyomi getting anywhere close to spilling her blood.



“It’s just not the same. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you didn’t want to fight me. That’s not the right attitude at all, Senpai. “



“I’m not like you, Tsukuyomi. Fighting like this isn’t something I enjoy.” It was something she wanted with a fervor that wasn’t anything approaching proper or healthy, but that didn’t mean she was enjoying it.



A small, happy smile spread across Tsukuyomi’s face and she spun around again, this time trying to shred through Setsuna’s torso with all the subtlety of a wrecking ball instead of attempting to get behind her.



“…Right,” she whispered. She didn’t let up on her attack for even an instant. “You just want to protect her. You’d fight until your last breath to protect her, wouldn’t you?”



“Of course!” That was never even a question.



“So. Protect her from me!”



Suddenly, Tsukuyomi wasn’t there anymore. Setsuna’s eyes widened and she automatically looked over at Konoka. Her body started moving before she even realized that Tsukuyomi was speeding towards her partner.



No!



“Zanmaken Ni no Tachi!”

------

Maybe it was a little unfair, using that technique. It pretty much guaranteed a hit of some sort. No matter what, Setsuna’s precious Ojou-sama would end up a bloody mess in one way or another. Setsuna could keep the girl alive if she really pushed herself, but not unharmed.



Tsukuyomi thought that she might not really mind if Setsuna didn’t manage to rescue the other girl, but she carefully didn’t dwell on that too much. The point here was to motivate Setsuna, not to kill the girl.



There just might be happy side effects that didn’t involve Setsuna abandoning her hesitance. That was all.



She slashed down with her sword, looking forward to the anguished cries that would exit Konoka’s delectable throat as her blood was scattered to the winds—but mostly awaiting how Setsuna’s fury would show itself. She would not enjoy seeing her precious partner wounded.



Tsukuyomi grinned, thinking only of the pleasure that awaited her—



When her blade hit flesh unexpectedly soon and the hottest, tastiest blood she had ever felt splashed across her face.



And…



Feathers?



Setsuna was standing before her, only inches in front of Konoka.



Tsukuyomi stared, nearly losing her grip on her sword.



Her sword that was gouged a good couple of inches into her Senpai’s left shoulder. The arm was hanging on by a thread.



But the blood—the blood—



Feathers were drifting slowly to the stone floor.



Setsuna’s left wing was sliced almost completely through.



How—that isn’t supposed to be possible. Blocking the Zanmaken Ni no Tachi…



Tsukuyomi felt dizzy. The heat of the blood—of Setsuna—was enveloping her.



Setsuna was looking straight at her, a good deal of blood splattered on her cheek. And—



That’s the expression.



That’s the Senpai I want.



Still… how?



“You said… as long as I’m human, I can’t beat you, right?” Setsuna was breathing evenly; it was almost like she hadn’t felt the sword cutting into her wing and flesh. “Well. I’m not. So even if it kills me, I will beat you.”



She’s not… is… could it really work like that?



Shivers of euphoria went up Tsukuyomi’s spine. The whites of Setsuna’s eyes were now pitch-black, and her irises were the deepest shade of gold Tsukuyomi had ever seen.



“And anyone who dares to harm my partner… I slice!”

------

She couldn’t feel her arm. Or her wing. Both were completely numb. Takemikazuchi felt soft in her hand.



With a violent jerk she moved the entire left side of her body so that her artifact crashed into Tsukuyomi’s kodachi, shattering it and the girl’s attempt at blocking in one blow. Her blood splashed across the stone floor.



Tsukuyomi was laughing. The damn girl was laughing.



“There we go. Now Senpai… Setsuna-senpai… shall you satisfy me properly?”



Setsuna felt her breathing get heavier. She put away her artifact—she could feel her wing a little now. She would lose too much blood if she kept on fighting with her left arm. And if she had to pick only one weapon, against Tsukuyomi, she needed to use the one she was most familiar with. She retracted her wings, barely noticing the shooting pain that went through her back.



“Set-chan! Are you—!?”



“I’m fine, Kono-chan.” Setsuna spared a second to look back at her partner. She tried to smile, but her facial muscles weren’t working properly. “Don’t worry. No matter what, I’ll protect you.”



She was sure Konoka said something in response to that, but she couldn’t hear it. In her eyes, her opponent was all that was visible. Tsukuyomi and the pure, focused rage she inspired were the only things Setsuna could be aware of.



It was starting up again. Tsukuyomi’s casual, vicious rhythm. Faster this time.



Something was boiling in her blood.



This girl used Shinmeiryuu techniques without a second thought. She never once stopped to consider that she might not have the right to use them. Someone like her…



Setsuna didn’t think much of herself. She was Eishun’s servant—Konoka’s bodyguard and partner. Only the last one implied any true worth.



But.



Without a doubt, she was better than Tsukuyomi.



“Shinmeiryuu Ougi: Zanmaken Ni no Tachi!”

------

Tsukuyomi felt the most delightful, burning agony tearing across her stomach, splitting her open.



Pain.



It had been too long since she’d felt it. Too many battles against opponents who didn’t know what they were doing. And in Fate’s case, he preferred not to harm his subordinates.



Blood—her somewhat chilly blood—was spread all across her abdomen.



I wonder if this was her first time doing that.



Tsukuyomi wanted, very badly, to laugh again, but if she did that, the wound would split open so badly that their fight would end prematurely.



This was definitely it.



This glorious rush that only Setsuna could truly inspire in her. She could feel heat all around her—begging for Setsuna’s speedy movements to hurry up and try to slice into her again.



I want her.



I’ll have every inch of her covered in blood before the end of this.



I will take all of her.



Setsuna’s sword met hers again and again, each time clashing hard enough to send sparks hopping across the floor.



More and more blood was spilling down Setsuna’s arm. Trails of it went all the way down to her fingertips, dripping on the floor.



Tsukuyomi’s eyes were starting to glaze over. Her head was going foggy with pleasure.



She was definitely going to win this.



She was going to win against her Senpai when Setsuna was at her best.



She would bathe in that hot blood.



Where next, where next?



Stomach’s good—keeping it even is good.



Setsuna was still thinking properly too. She still looked like she was ready to kill.



Excellent.



Tsukuyomi stepped forward—smiling, and ready to feel her Setsuna-senpai’s blood splashing over her once again.



Of course, for them, nothing could ever be that blissfully simple.

------

Setsuna really couldn’t say what happened. One second she was aiming to slice through Tsukuyomi’s chest, and the next she was collapsed on the cool floor, blood seeping into the cracks. And light was spilling into the chamber. Where did the light come from?



Her ears were ringing.



I can’t… feel… anything.



Were those… demons?

------

Tsukuyomi heard a very loud crack as her head smashed into the wall.



Who blew up the room?



She shook her head a few times and tried to stand up. Honestly. What idiot decided that it would be okay to interfere with her duel with Setsuna? She pressed a hand against the wall and pushed herself up.



An interruption.



Again.



She collapsed on the floor.



Tsukuyomi blinked and looked at her hand.



Blood.



Hers or Setsuna’s?



She blinked again. Her hand was moving around very oddly along with the room.



And it was cold. Odd. She was pretty sure she could feel blood dripping down her side and stomach. She shouldn’t be feeling any cold at all.



She tried to stand up again, but for some reason none of her muscles were working properly.



The room was still spinning, too.



She thought she heard someone shouting outside—oh dear. Was that Kurt? That was no good.



Oh… and her vision was starting to go black.



It was over then?



How was that fair?



Moving her head carefully to look around the swimming room, she looked for Setsuna.



Her senpai was trying to push herself off the floor. Her sweet blood was dripping down her forehead and chest. And her arm was still a mess.



Huh. So she got her hit in after all. Not anywhere close to where she was aiming, but a solid shot. Where did her sword go? It would have that delicious blood on it.



Wait… she got her hit in. So did that mean—?



Tsukuyomi looked down.



Yes, she was most definitely hurt. Besides the stomach wound, there seemed to be a very deep cut running from her shoulder down to her leg.



And Setsuna was standing up now. Still bleeding profusely (how lovely was that?), but standing. Alive and relatively well.



Well, that settled that.



I lose.



Some strange peaceful feeling was settling in her chest, but she ignored it. More black spots were showing up in her vision. And unless she was imagining things, things were exploding at the top of the tower now too.



Fate-han…



Konoka was running over to Setsuna now. Tsukuyomi pulled herself up unsteadily.



I think I might owe Fate-han. And Konoka-sama has interfered more than enough.

------

“Set-chan! It’s okay, I’ll heal you! You’ll be okay!”



Konoka ran over to Setsuna and caught her just before she fell over again. Setsuna blinked blearily at her partner, smiling as much as she could. Somehow the world seemed a lot lighter and cloudier. And just plain better since Tsukuyomi was crushed against a wall.



Though the ringing in her ears didn’t seem to be leaving. Her entire vision was red. Too much blood was running down her face. The only thing keeping her standing was probably Konoka.



Am I… dying?



And…



Explosions. She could hear explosions at the top of the tower.



I’m dead and people are still fighting. Negi-sensei… is stronger than I am. So…



Setsuna took a deep breath and pulled herself as far away from Konoka as her beaten body would allow. “Ojou-sama, don’t! I’m fine—you don’t need to waste your magic on me.”



Konoka’s eyes flashed dangerously. “Set-chan, you’re bleeding too much! I need to heal you before—”



“Kono-chan, please!” She didn’t have the energy to argue about this. “Negi-sensei is the one who needs you right now, not me, so—Tsukuyomi what the hell do you think you’re doing?”



Tsukuyomi had somehow managed to get behind Konoka and jab the hilt of her sword into Konoka’s neck. The healer’s eyes widened for an instant before she fell into Setsuna’s arms, unconscious.



Setsuna’s entire body came close to breaking down at the extra weight. As if she really needed another reason to want to kill Tsukuyomi. She glared up at the girl, dearly wishing that her sword was back in her hands. Tsukuyomi was swaying too badly to cause any serious damage, but…



She still hurt Kono-chan.



And I can’t do anything about it. There was no way. Her body was a wreck. Tsukuyomi enjoyed this type of thing—even if she was worse off than Setsuna, she was still better prepared for a fight. Damn it!

------

Tsukuyomi stuck out her tongue.



“Losing… I don’t think it was… part of my contract.” Actually, she didn’t have a contract. Fate had determined the terms of her service verbally. Huh. Too bad she was dying. She would have liked to ask Fate about that. But she was pretty sure he would have preferred her victory. “Even with Kurt-kun… I think I was supposed to win. So… I owe Fate-han. A… healed Negi-kun… since Fate-han… wants to fight him so badly… that would make us even.”



An apology of sorts. He deserved to have a chance to indulge his infatuation.



Setsuna’s glare lost some of its edge. “You didn’t have to be so rough.”



Tsukuyomi laughed, coughing up a great deal of blood. “It… won’t… even bruise.” Well it might. Maybe. She didn’t think she’d be around for Setsuna-senpai to yell at later, so it didn’t really matter.



Troublesome. She almost wished she could stay alive just so she could get her revenge on Kurt for not being a little more subtle about his own fights.



But… this wasn’t a bad ending.



She knelt down on the floor, too tired to keep standing. She looked up at her precious Senpai. A happy peacefulness washed over her.



“Senpai? Try… not to die. You’re… cuter… alive.”



She stayed conscious just long enough to see Setsuna’s eyes widen. Then she let herself fall fully onto the floor.



Yes. This certainly wasn’t a bad death.

------

Get her to Negi-sensei. Get her to Negi-sensei. Get her to Negi-sensei. I need to get her to Negi-sensei.



Setsuna ran up the tower with Konoka in her arms. Her breathing was uneven and she could feel the blood spilling out of her wounds. She’d tried to bandage them as best she could, but the slashes Tsukuyomi had torn into her body were too deep. She was only delaying the inevitable.



And the running—was not—helping.



Setsuna looked down at Konoka. Her eyes weren’t focusing properly, but she could still see her partner’s face.



Kono-chan… I’m sorry.

------

“Setsuna-kun!”



Setsuna felt someone wrap their arms around her, keeping her from breaking against the ground. She’d only had enough—only enough to hand Konoka off to Mana.



She was right—Negi was hurt. She’d made the right call. Konoka might be upset about it, but if Negi lost, they would all die. Setsuna wasn’t about to let her friends suffer just because she was too weak to handle Tsukuyomi without getting herself killed.



Tsukuyomi… huh.



She was probably close to death right about now.



That—that was—the point, wasn’t it?



Setsuna could still feel it. That all-consuming anger that wanted Tsukuyomi dead.



Was that really appropriate right now?



If Konoka hadn’t been knocked out, she definitely would have healed—



And now she’s bleeding to death at the bottom of a collapsing tower.



Setsuna opened her eyes and tried to focus on the face swimming above her.



It hurts. Lying on the floor and watching your blood fill the cracks…



“Setsuna-kun, you’re going to be all right, I promise.”



Eishun-sama? How is he here?



“I’ve got you, it’s okay.”



“Eishun-sama…” She shouldn’t be asking for favors from her boss. Especially something like this. But…



That girl… damn it.



“There’s a girl… a blonde girl with glasses… at the bottom of the tower… she needs healing… please help her. Please, Eishun-sama… Don’t let her die.”



She didn’t like it. It was different somehow. She didn’t mind killing the girl. But letting her bleed to death all alone… that was wrong.



She didn’t want Tsukuyomi to die like that.

Spoiler for Notes:

So Setsuna's current mess is all her fault, in case that wasn't clear already.

Sorry for how long this took. I've been sick. And like I said, I fail epically at action scenes. Unfortunately, this bit was somewhat necessary. Ah, and in case there was any confusion, this day is numbered minus 17. So... flashback without blocks of italics.

I'd also like to point out that this is Setsuna and Tsukuyomi's story. That being said, certain details of what other characters were doing were glossed over. Partly because my brain would explode if I had to deal with them, but mostly because while this story is AU in ways that don't deal with the two main characters, that isn't even close to being the focus. ...Yeah.

Ugh, this entire chapter is just full of things I'm not very good at. Sorry.

Thanks for reading.

[OverMaster]

It was actually rather good action.

I'm just eager to write my first action scene at my end, actually. Setup is fine to write, too, but I wait eagerly for a moment to try and cut loose.

[Finalage]

I feel like a word program, having only grammar or odd words to point out as feedback...I don't like that, my mind is being lazy...

"Here you have." The first sentence... It confuses me....