"Patrol Club? What's that?" Negi felt his smile grow. It had been him and Setsuna who thought of this. More and more demons had been gathering near Mahora with the 80th annual Mahorafest coming in a few months and the World Tree's magic growing and it was too suspicious for such a big group of girls from his class, who normally wouldn't even speak to each other, to keep disappearing at strange times of the day to fight them. So Setsuna had pitched an idea to him and he had run it by the headmaster. It was immediately approved. To the rest of the school the Patrol Club was a group of students selected by the Dean to patrol the grounds for tourists at certain chosen times of the day and be their guides. Had to keep the school's image up, of course.
When, actually, it was a few magical teachers, Negi, and all the kids who knew about his magic, going out to fight demons who crossed the border.
Negi explained their made-up version of the club. He had already informed most in the group what it was really about.
"I shall be the sponsor. Every time a tourist or group of tourists enters the grounds a great bell will ring and the Patrol Club will go to take care of them. I'm going to call out the list of members."
The bell was actually a magic sensor that Negi, Evangeline, and Takahata had created. When a demon crossed the border it would ring. If the demon was a weaker one it would ring once and the stronger the demon the more times the bell would ring. Anything under five rings would be taken care of by the Patrol Club alone. Anything over five, and Takahata and the headmaster would join them.
"Hm… Me, of course, the sponsor. Then Takahata-sensei, Shizuna-sensei, and the headmaster. That's all the teachers. Now the students."
Only Ayaka didn't move. Out of all of their class only she, Evangeline, and Negi remembered what had happened two years before when they had saved Asuna from the devil. The headmaster had decided it would be best to leave her out of the club since she had no obvious magical powers. She closed her eyes, listening to Negi's voice. If only he would fall for her. He was just what she wanted. A boy who loved her not her money or her looks.
"Asuna Kagurazaka, Yue Ayase, Nodoka Miyazaki, Konoka Konoe, Evangeline A. K. McDowell, Chachamaru Karakuri, Kaede Nagase, Fei Ku, Mana Tatsumiya, Chisame Hasegawa, Kazumi Asakura, Sayo Aisaka, Chizuru Naba, Akira Okochi, Haruna Saotome, Kasuga Misora, and our Captain…" He saw Setsuna's eyes widen. "Setsuna Sakurazaki." Everyone cheered and clapped her on the back. Konoka gave her a big hug.
"Oh, we also have Kotaro Murakami from the boy's school and Carver Whit, the headmaster's new secretary." He cast an eye over Chizuru Naba and Akira Okochi. After saving Asuna two years ago he had locked away the contracts he had made with those who didn't know about him being a wizard and made sure all memories of the incident were erased. The headmaster, however, thought it would be prudent to pull these two back into the loop. Negi would have to meet with them later and reveal his secret again, hoping that they would be willing to keep it and help him.
He also had to make sure Asuna would have a good sixteenth birthday, see to his teacherly duties, and bail Chamo out of ermine jail. He was just as busy at twelve as he was at ten!