Zero no Tsukaima is the property of Noboru Yamaguchi
Medaka Box is the property of Nisio Isin
None of these characters belong to me.
Minus Zero
Chapter 1: I Am Not Your Superior From Middle School
An explosion followed by a large cloud of smoke covered the field. As the cloud lazily begins to dissipate, a person with their face planted into the ground becomes visible.
「I thought it was cool so I touched it,」 it says while shifting into a less awkward looking position, 「but where am I?」 asks the now visible figure, a boy dressed in a black uniform. Getting off the ground, he pats himself off, and finally takes notice of the audience observing him. 「Hiya.」
Is that supposed to be a familiar? Upon this unusual summons, the nearby audience of children whisper to one another. "It looks like the Zero just summoned a commoner." The summoner herself can't help but wonder alongside the rest of the audience, before turning to her superior.
"Mr. Colbert... Please let me try summoning another familiar." A petite pink haired girl standing closest to the boy pleads to a balding man.
"I'm afraid that isn't allowed Miss Vallière." Mr. Colbert continues to explain the matter, something concerning the traditions and sacred rites of their school which prevent another summoning. The boy starts to speak again as Mr. Colbert tells Louise to finish the contract with her new familiar.
「Oh? Sounds like I've been summoned as a familiar into some sort of school in a magical world? This is just like the Shonen Ju-」
"My name is Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière. Pentagon of the Five Elemental Powers; bless this humble being, and make him my familiar." Cutting him off, the pink haired girl Louise plants a quick kiss on the strange boy's lips before pulling back, leaving him to stare at the blushing girl.
「Uwah, suddenly kissing a beautiful girl, getting summoned to a magical world, did I just become a Shonen Ju- Ow. What is this?」 Once again cut off mid speech, the boy looks at the back of his left hand.
Leaning closer to observe, the balding professor moves towards the boy. "These are very unusual ru-"
「Uwah! Some sort of weird tatoo showed up on my hand... Oh! This must have something to do with my power as a new Shonen Jump Main Character right? So if I kiss you again...!」
Entertained by this nonsensical boy, the crowd starts to laugh right before Louise points her wand towards the strange boy. An explosion rings throughout the yard as she shouted, "Commoner, know your place!"
The unexpectedly violent action left a deepening silence. Louise starts to sweat as she wonders, did I just kill my familiar?
Breaking it, one student suddenly speaks. "...Mr. Colbert, I think Louise just killed the commoner. Does that mean she gets to summon another familiar now?"
Emerging from a cloud, a voice rings out. 「This commoner has a name you know.」 Amazed that the boy was still alive, the crowd turned to face him.
「It's...」 the boy stands up patting himself off again, 「Huh. Looks like I forgot… …I think it was Minus or something?」 as Louise's face turned about an expression of bewilderment, shock and anger, the crowd began to laugh and shout.
"Wow, not only did she summon a commoner, she also broke him!" "Hahahaha, Louise the Zero summoned something even lower than Zero!" Trying to ignore the mocking jeers, Louise angrily begins to question her new familiar. "Who are you? Where are you from? Are you really just a commoner?" and in her head, Did I really just break him?
「I told you already, didn't I? It looks like I can't remember who I am. I'm probably not your superior from middle school. 」
「Well, since I'm the Main Character now, guess I should find out about my new Setting. Time to explore! Goodbye, Tsundere! Goodbye, baldy! Goodbye, the rest of you minor characters!」 The self proclaimed Minus walks off into the background waving, ignoring the rest of her questions as everyone else stands momentarily shocked by his strange actions. Said minor characters begin raising hell at the realization they were just insulted, and Louise goes off to chase her strange familiar.
Mr. Colbert felt slightly disturbed by Minus. True, he didn't radiate a sense of danger, but he didn't radiate a sense of anything at all. Even after being thrust into a strange environment, even after being attacked, the boy simply kept a smile on his face the entire time. Trying not to focus on the strange feeling, Mr. Colbert tried to put his mind elsewhere.
I'm not bald just yet. Flustered at being called baldy, Mr. Colbert moves to touch his remaining hair. But on the search for hair on his head, his hands unexpectedly found nothing.
In the end, an exasperated and tired Louise gave up on chasing her familiar. Her shorter stride left her unable to catch up with her familiar Minus, and she was already late for her next class.
If only I could use my magic to fly, such usual bitter thoughts ran through her head.
The headstrong Louise would have continued chasing until she caught up with him, but every time she had to stop to catch her breath her head cooled down and some rational thoughts now ran through it. My familiar's just a commoner… sigh. But that means he can't get very far with just his legs. Even so, that commoner can get tired and hungry too. If he doesn't want to starve, he'll come begging to find me like the dog he is.
With that, Louise left the search for her familiar, and went to attend the rest of her classes.
Night fell, and still her familiar had not returned. Feeling annoyed, Louise went out on a walk to chance upon her familiar. She didn't go very far before she found the boy in the black uniform.
「Huh. I didn't notice it earlier, but there are two moons instead of one up there aren't there?」 Having said that, he suddenly turns towards Louise.
「Hello, my tsundere. I'm thankful that you didn't decide to fly up and chase me down, and let me explore the setting.」 These words from Minus, combined with the usual stressful day, led to Louise pointing her wand at him, about to blow him up again. Blinking, she found herself too tired to try anything. Causing an explosion this late would only invite another world of trouble.
"Familiar, just follow me to my room. I have things to confirm with you." Luckily for her, as she turned back and walked, Minus followed.
"So who are you?" Louise asked once they had arrived in her room.
「Didn't we go over this already? I can't remember. It seems that getting hit by that first explosion caused my head to get a bit screwy.」
Louise slumped her shoulders at hearing that. ...I really need to have more self control. Putting her dejected feelings aside for he moment, she asks another question.
"Earlier you mentioned something about there being only one moon? What do you mean?"
「Well, it looks like I come from another world. Where I'm from, we only have one moon.」
Narrowing her eyes, Louise accused him, "I thought you forgot everything?"
「Huh? Now that you mention it, it looks like I only forgot about things related to myself. Either way, I'm probably from another world.」
Another world? Is he telling the truth? Or maybe that explosion did more than mess with his memory. Maybe he's just crazy. "Do you have any proof about this, 'other world'?"
「I have nothing to prove it but my memory.」 He says while shrugging his shoulders.
"...Then it can't be helped. Well, let's assume that you're from another world. I thought you were a commoner, but maybe that's how nobles in your world dress. Can you use magic?"
「Magic, huh? You mean like magic on your world? From what I've seen, the answer is no. Because on my world, we don't have real magic. Sure, we have magicians in our world, but all they do are tricks, sleight of hand, illusions to entertain. My world isn't like Shounen Jump.」 He puts his hands on his hips as though expressing displeasure.
「And since you seem to ignore what I've been saying, let me remind you that I can't recall and have forgotten myself, remember? Then again, I'm not dressed like any magician that I can remember, so I probably wouldn't be able to entertain you by making things appear from nowhere or make things disappear into nothing.」
No magic? A world without nobles? Rather than inquiring on the society and politics of a world that may or may not exist, she asked, "What's this Shounen Jump you keep referring to? And why do you keep calling me 'tsundere'?"
「Shounen Jump? A weekly magazine of stories.」 ...That's it? I was expecting something like a holy book with the way you kept talking about it...
「Tsundere, huh? Your world doesn't have that word? It's a term that refers a young girl who holds a superior position, and is small, young, and flatchested-dwAH!」
...so much for self control. Thought Louise, after causing an explosion in the end. Shaking her head at how the conversation had ended up, Louise suddenly yawned.
"This has been quite a tiresome day. You can sleep on the floor." she said and began to undress and promptly fell asleep. Minus didn't seem to register a thing, apparently out cold before she was.
Notes: This large inflation was going to be chapter 2. But since this scene was part of chapter 1 in the novel, I decided to put it in here instead.
Below are some dropped bits of chapter 1/2.
「Nobles? Oh, I see. In your world, those who can use magic are nobles? That's so unfair. What about those who can't use magic? Really, you should just do away with all the nobles and make a nice peaceful world where everyone is equal.」 He shakes his head as though disapproving at such an unfair world.
"Do away with nobles? What do you mean? About 10% of the population is made of nobles, besides, not all mages are nobles." she angrily asks forgetting her original questionning.
「Eehhhhhhhh? Really, isn't it obvious? You just have to kill them all.」
Mouth agape at such a ridiculous statement, Louise was stunned by what her familiar just said. 「You should close your mouth, or the flies will get in.」 Everything Minus said, it was said with a smile.
Even if that was a joke, that's just too far. Perhaps what unnerved her most was the sudden realization that, He never stops smiling. Even when I blew him up, even when he just suggested genocide, he doesn't stop smiling. I've just summoned a commoner, but he may be a dangerous and insane commoner and may or may not be from this world.
...
"This Shounen Jump you keep referring to, is it some sort of holy book in your world?"
「...Yeah, that's right. According to Shounen Jump, we used to have three moons on our world, before Master Roshi blew one up, and the Demon King Piccolo blew up the other.」
...They WHAT?
