Mahou Sensei Negima! is the creation and registed property of Akamatsu Ken and Kodansha.
Any resemblance between the events, locations and characters of this story and any events, locations or individuals from real life is nothing but a mere, incredible coincidence.
WARNING: The following story is basically about a little boy who kisses a lot of girls. If you don't like that kind of thing, please don't read this, and also, what are you doing in the Negima section in the first place?
This first chapter and the following Dramatis Personae chapter are basically just recap stuff for those who haven't read Unequally Rational and Emotional, Magic is what you want it to be, Fate: Unequally Blade Works and Sisters.
Life's a Festival.
By OverMaster and Shadow Crystal Mage.
Prologue:
Last Time, in the Unequally Rational and Emotional Saga...
That evening, the ceremony proved to be just as majestic and awe-inspiring as Nekane remembered hers being, if not moreso. The country had recovered remarkably well during Negi and Anya's formative years, once Emperor Charles took over the government. Nekane didn't consider herself a politically inclined person, but she was fairly satisfied with the current state of social affairs. At least in her homeland. She was given to understand the situation was considerably more turbulent overseas, but Nekane had not been fond of reading about that, since she had taken on her surrogate mother duties.
The five honor graduates for that year stood before the Magus of Merdiana, while a choir chanted constantly in subdued yet omnipresent tones, adding to the solemn atmosphere of the procedures. Nekane barely knew the other three, but she had met them once during one of Negi's all too rare vacation breaks, and none of them had left a bad impression on her. They did seem an eccentric bunch, all things considered, but couldn't that be said of most if not all geniuses?
"Rani Eight!" the old man in dark robes with the very long white beard called out, in a booming and strong voice fitting a much younger person, and a frail looking dark-skinned young girl with long, silky purplish hair and glasses stepped ahead to receive her diploma. Nekane had occasionally wondered what kind of family name 'Eight' was, but she'd come to the conclusion that foreign mages often had names that sounded very strange for the locals. So she didn't think much of it.
"Klarion Bleak!" the Magus called next. A soft but ominous 'BUM BUM BUM' sounded as the pale, black haired boy in question marched towards the man, politely accepting his title while his black cat pet purred and rubbed herself against his legs.
"Bridget Evans!" To this call of the Headmaster, a truly sorry-looking, petite girl with blond hair and blue eyes dragged her nervous steps over, to be handed her certificate of graduation, constantly throwing terrified looks towards the smirking Klarion and impassive Rani.
Nekane smiled fondly at the three, oblivious to how very few in the audience shared those feelings at all. Yes, she thought, those had to have been three very good friends for Negi and Anya! She was sure of it!
"Anya Cocolova!" the Headmaster said next, as Anya marched to meet her, her chest swelling up with pride and still managing to remain flat. The red-haired girl bowed graciously for the Magus, then twirled around on one feet and walked back. She and Klarion exchanged a discreet sticking out of the tongue at each other, as the boy's cat hissed at her.
Nekane felt herself soar with pride. Her child, her precious baby, had earned a title with honors. If only her father could see her now! And adding to that happiness, now it was the turn for -
"Negi Springfield!" the Magus commanded, and the youngest of the graduates came along, hurrying up the aisle with a bright smile.
"Yes, Sir!" The boy was so eager he had forgotten you were supposed to march in silence, not that anyone would hold that against him. Nekane's happiness was complete as he took his diploma, bathed by the silver moonlight coming down through the skylights of the Academy. Then everyone in the audience stood up and clapped for the graduates, who all bowed as one for their public. The ceremony had been flawless; no attacks of dementors, demons, trolls, hobgoblins, gremlins, leprechauns, goblins, witches, mutants, time travelers, Knightmare Frames, terrorists, the Juggernaut, slimes, vampires or werewolves for once. The random mummy assassin during the buffet had been dispatched easily with no losses. It should have clued Nekane in that the night wasn't going to end smoothly.
Anya received her assignment first, when the three of them had retired to enjoy some peace and quietness at a balcony. She gushed as the words appeared on her scroll, in elegant black Gothic letters. "A fortune teller at London!" she cried in glee. "This is great! Everyone makes it big in London! Oh God, I might even meet Vincent van Ghoul! Negiiii?" She smirked his way, sure there was no way he could have gotten anything nearly as cool and incredible as the job the forces of Destiny had intended for her. "What did you get?"
Nekane had been pleased for that twist as well. London was a bit further than she'd have liked, but she still could visit Anya a few times a year, until she met the conditions to become a Magistra Magi. Now, if only Negi got a similarly nice and easy job of his own.
"I think it's coming out now," the boy hummed as he intently looked at his scroll, where the letters were coming out slowly, one by one. "Let's see ... this is..." he began reading aloud, "Become... a... teacher..."
"A teacher!" Anya laughed. "I guess there's some truth to that old saying! Those who can't, teach!"
Negi, meanwhile, had paled while reading the final few words on the scroll. "... in... Japan..."
Anya's laughter died in her suddenly dry throat.
Nekane made a short choked sound, assimilated the full meaning of what she had just heard, and then made another sound of a non-human nature before falling unconscious on her back.
"AHHH! SISTER!" a shocked Negi cried out. That was the last thing Nekane could hear before falling into a very bizarre dream, which we won't bother to describe here. Or will we?
The old Headmaster sat alone in his impossibly huge office, pleasantly humming to himself after scurrying away from the frankly boring socializing that dominated the end of the graduation party. It was not like he disliked being in the company of youngsters, like most old wizards, mages and sorcerers after a few decades of cultivating a long beard and amassing a hefty collection of arcane tomes, but after dozens of graduation ceremonies, you had pretty much seen it all before and grown bored of it. Besides, there always was someone who was displeased with their choice of assignments, and discussing such things in public was so much of a faux pas. It was better to wait there, in private, until that person or persons (if it was a particularly bad year) stormed in there after a brief consultation with Donet, as was no doubt about to happen right -
"MAGUS!" Anya Cocolova stormed in, followed by a mortified Negi who supported a dizzy and weeping Nekane. "Sir, we need a recount! I mean, a second opinion! What about a consultation with the spirits, Sir? That can be done, cannot it?"
The old man looked up calmly from the documents he had been analyzing to kill time while waiting. What a surprise, even if he didn't show it. He had been expecting Klarion -
'BUM BUM BUM'
How did the boy do that, anyway? Even the Magus was stumped.
Negi blinked. "Were you thinking about Klarion, Professor?" he asked, over the distant 'BUM BUM BUM' in the background.
Gently ignoring that question, the Magus addressed Anya instead. "Ah, Miss Cocolova. Sorry to cause you any further annoyance, but not only can I not do anything about the choice of the spirits of magic, but I would have expected for you to know that already."
"I'm not talking about mine, mine is awesome and incredible!" the pint sized redhead cried, pointing at Negi. "But his! Somehow, the spirits thought it would be a good idea to send Negi - Negi of all people - to teach in Area Eleven!"
"The correct term is 'Japan'," the old master calmly corrected, before gesturing towards the boy. "Might I see it, regardless, dear lad?"
"Of course, Professor!" he quickly complied, as Nekane sobbed.
The old man examined the scroll, nodded twice, then showed the words to Anya. "See? It says it so right here. Japan. Not Area Eleven. I think you'll agree the spirits know better than politics, won't you?"
"Th-That isn't the point!" Anya was boiling up now. "The point is, the Elevens, sorry, Japanese will eat Negi out! He's a doormat, a poor sap, a hapless wimp, a -"
"A-hem," Nekane managed to cough, displaying some disagreement even through her tears.
Anya flinched for a moment. "Well ... he's Negi! He isn't fit for that kind of task!"
"He is, otherwise it wouldn't have been assigned to him," the man replied as he gave Negi his diploma back.
"But -!" Anya protested.
"He's only a child!" Nekane said.
"As the Eleve- Japanese would say, it can't be helped," the Magus shrugged. "The spirits' decisions are final, and mere mortals such as we cannot contradict or disobey them. It hasn't been done during the entire history of this educational system, and I see no reason for it to happen now either."
"That is cruel!" Nekane complained. "To send him alone, across the ocean, to a foreign country with a different language and customs!"
"Doesn't he already know Japanese, not to mention another half a dozen foreign tongues?" the Dean curiously inquired.
"I do," Negi nodded.
"Can you eat raw fish with chopsticks while sleeping on the floor, huh huh?" Anya asked him. "Moron, you aren't fit to live there!"
"At least tell me I can go with him! He will need protection!" Nekane said, slamming both hands on the desk, leaning forward, and desperately pleading.
Unfortunately, her conservative black dress showed no cleavage, so the Magus was unfazed by her posture. "Sorry, but the customs are the Magister-to-be cannot be aided by anyone or anything but a familiar, and any Ministra they can recruit during their mission..."
"MINISTRA!" Anya's pigtails stood up. "Don't make it any worse, Sir!"
"Let him grow, please. He won't be a strong man as if his father if you keep doubting his capacities," the Magus requested, and that made Negi's eyebrows go up. "At his age, Nagi already was an accomplished fighter and -"
"And look where that lead him!" Nekane dared to interrupt him, at her wit's end. For him to end up like Uncle, that was the last thing she wished for him.
The Magus looked somewhat surprised, but not offended, she had actually dared to cut him short. That was so very unlike Nekane, but then again, a lioness looking after her cubs, and all of that. He sighed. "My apologies, but nothing can be done about it. If that's the suggested path, it is because it is the one that will work out the best for him. But I understand your concerns, so I will arrange for a friend of mine at Mahora Academy to arrange a safe position for Negi in his staff. Just the other day, we were chatting and he mentioned needing a good English teacher. That sounds right up your alley, Negi!"
The boy gulped, but then nodded firmly. "If it's what I need to do to follow Father's path, I'll gladly do it, Professor."
"Neeeeegiiiiii!" Anya gritted her teeth.
"Negi," Nekane sighed, in a deflated, defeated way. She could sway him far from anything, but from that self-destructive race along Nagi's path. Which was exactly what Nekane wanted to steer him away from the most. She had to think of something, and quickly, but what?
The old man and the boy were shaking hands now. "That's the spirit, my lad. You will like Konoe Konoemon. He was an old acquaintance of your father."
"Seriously?!" he said, even more excited now.
It was getting worse and worse, Nekane decided, stifling her tears. She had to do anything, no matter how drastic it seemed, to save her Negi from becoming another globe trotting vagabond running after insane adventures that would get him -
"Professor!" Another boy was storming in now, his face constricted in anger. "I demand that you to do something about this 'Librarian in Gotham City' nonsense!"
"Ah, Klarion," the Magus said. ('BUM BUM BUM.') "Please come closer and take a seat. The Springfields and Miss Cocolova were just leaving."
Blah blah blah, fateful and fated meeting of adorable boy mage and abrasive cosplaying hacker girl.
Blah blah blah, girl learns the boy's secret of being a mage. Blah blah blah, allegedly nobody can know that or he'll be turned into an ermine.
Blah blah blah, immortal Loli vampire witch attacks, is briefly driven back.
"Ah... Good morning!" Negi-sensei, wearing his usual formal suit ensemble, and as always carrying his bandaged staff around, bashfully greeted Ayaka, standing at her butler Sebastian's right. Behind them, Hasegawa Chisame, in a plain white shirt and blue pants, merely nodded her head once in the rich girl's direction. Hakase Satomi stood nearby, not looking at the hostess at all, clad in shorts and a black shirt, taking some samples of wood from a tree and carefully placing them inside of a small metallic container.
"Good morning, Iinchou-chan!" Shiina Sakurako, in a very short and tight skirt and sleeveless orange top, smiled at her, a red cap perched on the top of her head.
"Hello! You look very good today!" Konoe Konoka chirped, happy as a free bird, at Sakurako's left and sporting a pretty summer dress with sandals.
"You're looking a bit too fancy for a simple short visit, though..." Finally, the bane of Ayaka's existence, Kagurazaka Asuna, completed the group, crossing her arms and looking rather nonchalant in a simple but elegant ensemble of a light red blouse and a matching skirt.
"Wha-What are you all doing here?" a livid Ayaka aimed an accusing finger at her five classmates.
"He's still new here. He doesn't know the local bus routes yet," Chisame dryly answered.
"And besides, I heard it's dangerous to allow children to wander alone here," Asuna made the vaguest hint of a smirk.
"No, but it's dangerous to allow Kagurazaka Asunas to stalk around these premises!" Ayaka said with a dangerous glint in her eyes. "The guard dogs might eat them!"
"Come on, calm down, calm down," Konoka easily asked. "We're all friends here, aren't we?"
"Most of us, yes!" Ayaka kept her angry glare fixed on her rival.
"No discussion there," Asuna nodded. "Let's see, one, two, three, four, five, and six," she counted herself, Konoka, Sakurako, Negi, Chisame and Satomi. "Yep, a clear majority!"
Hakase finally looked at Ayaka when the sounds of heavy fighting had started. "Oh, hello, Iinchou-san! You do have some rather scarce species around here. I even collected some samples of the nearly extinct hunchbacked rhinoceros beetle of striped wings. Iinchou-san? Why are you fighting Asuna-san?"
"IF YOU AREN'T MY FRIEND, I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING HERE!" the heiress said as she attempted her best to land a kick on Asuna.
"BELIEVE ME, NEITHER DO I!" Asuna kept on dodging her, similarly failing at landing a punch on her face.
"Stop it, you two, please!" Negi flailed his arms around, trying to keep them apart from each other.
"Asuna! Asuna! Remember your promise!" Konoka also tried to interfere.
"I have the feeling this is going to end up becoming a live action game of Clue," Chisame moaned.
"Colonel Mustard, with the knife, at the library!" Sakurako giggled. "I bet you forty on that!"
"Should I bring the crowbar to pry them apart?" the tallest of the maids who stood behind Ayaka asked, in an extremely dry tone.
"Cisneros-san, you know that's the absolute last resource!" Fubuki-san scolded her. "Go get the bucket of cold water first."
"Ho ho ho ho!" an eerily identical facsimile of Ayaka's Ojou laugh, but much higher pitched and childlike in tone, rang from the top of the mansion's entrance ramp. Negi followed the source of the sound with his gaze to find himself looking at a girl around his own age, who struck a remarkably similar appearance to Ayaka, only much smaller, and with her blond hair made into long twintails at each side. She wore elegant sandals with lovely small pink bows, plus a light white summer dress that perhaps showed off more of her legs than it should have. Evangeline would not have objected to wearing it, however. "So this is the boy, Negi Springfield? I will personally evaluate him! To see if he is worthy of being my husband!"
"H-Husband?!-?!" Negi yelled abruptly, almost leaping back while Chisame's eyes widened hideously behind her glasses.
Ayaka quickly pushed the still struggling Asuna away from herself and pulled back, assuming a stiff standing position and angrily glaring at the little girl over her shoulder. "Mizore!" she hissed. "That's no way to greet Negi-sensei into our humble abode! Look, you've just startled him with your tasteless jokes!"
Fubuki gestured towards the little lady, with the same utmost respect she showed for Ayaka. "For all those not in the know, you stand in the presence of Yukihiro Mizore-sama, second heiress of the Yukihiro fortune and honorable sister to Ayaka Ojou-sama."
Mizore shrugged carelessly at her big sister, haughtily marching down the front steps and ignoring the maid squad bowing for her. "Fine, fine then. I will personally evaluate him to see if he is worthy of being your husband. Isn't that much better, Onee-sama?"
"N-No, it isn't!" a crimson-faced Ayaka growled, tightening her fists as the short girl stopped right before the blinking, voiceless, now very pale Negi. "Show some manners, this is my teacher we are talking about, and more importantly, addressing, here!"
"He should address us back then," Mizora observed with a slight disapproving frown. "I thought he was perfectly fluent in Japanese? Then why hasn't he—"
"Oh! Ah, sorry, how could I forget! Yukihiro Mizore-sama! It's a real honor!" Negi fell to a knee before the little girl as she gracefully extended a hand towards him, one that he tentatively grabbed to place a soft, fleeting kiss on its perfumed back.
"You're overdoing it a bit, brat," Asuna muttered to him under her breath.
"Yes, for once I can agree with Asuna-san, offensive crass appellation aside. Please stand up, Sensei," Ayaka gently allowed as she stepped right behind him, helping him back up. "No teacher of mine should ever kneel before any of us."
Mizore smiled smugly. "Well, not that I would care if he did. At least he seems to know his place!"
"... wait!" a blank-eyed Chisame asked, holding her hand up. Then she looked at Ayaka in a highly confused and nearly helpless way. "You never mentioned you had a sister!"
"Didn't she?" Satomi blinked. "I'm quite sure she did, at the very least once."
"No, I'm pretty sure she didn't!" Chisame protested.
"I'm sure that's just you, because you're, well, Chisame," Asuna piped in, in that innocently insensitive way of hers. "I mean, if you weren't an only child and had a sister, I'm sure you wouldn't have told us about her either."
"I *do* have a sister!" Chisame protested.
"See?" Asuna said. "I'm proved right again!"
"You hadn't told your other classmates about me?" Mizore frowned cutely at Ayaka. "What, are you ashamed of me or anything?"
"Well—" Ayaka began, feeling rather tempted to be completely honest if not because of Negi's presence.
"I'm sure Chisame was the only one who didn't know about you yet, Mizore-chan," Sakurako reassured her. "Don't worry too much about it!"
"You even knew each other?!" Chisame gasped at them.
Sakurako nodded, blinking. "Why shouldn't we? This isn't exactly my first time here..."
Mizore chuckled, leaning slightly towards Chisame. "I take it, then, you are the boy's guardian? The one Onee-sama's always jealous about? I would suggest you to keep him away from her! Onee-sama is dangerous!"
"... yeah, well, I'm well aware of that already..." Chisame confessed, sounding somewhat deflated and quite not sure what to make of the situation.
"Mizore-sama, please!" Negi objected. "That, that's no way for a younger sibling to speak of an older sister!"
Mizore turned back to him, laughing on his face. "Ah ha ha ha! How long have you been teaching her? She's a menace! A formidable predator sinking her venomous fangs on every cute boy who crosses her path! She truly is an enemy to all boykind!"
"Yeah, that's our Iinchou alright," Asuna sagely nodded seconds right before Ayaka, for once, ignored her to instead leap past the stunned and rattled Chisame and Negi, angrily pouncing on her little sister and taking firm, cruel hold of her cheeks. "Ah, why couldn't Mizore-chan have been the older sister and our classmate?"
"T-Take that back! Take that slander back, you little, ungrateful, Asuna-esque... ruffian! I will have to teach you a lesson!" Ayaka protested to her sister unit.
"Eeeee!" Mizore screeched, shaking her head to free it from the cheek-pulling grip of her sister, then spinning around to wrap her legs around hers in a tight lock, sending her down to the ground with her. "Not if I can help it, Onee-sama! Bad Onee-sama! You're just upset you lost to a pasty, pockmarked nerd and want to vent it out on meeeee!"
"Ch-Chisame-san is not pasty!" Negi cried, rushing past the twitching Chisame and to the sisters who now rolled across the grass in a madly agitating Big Ball of Tumbling Violence. "And please don't fight! Don't fight!"
"This is our house and we'll fight if we want to!" Mizore growled at him before having one of her wrists grabbed by Ayaka, who promptly held her back in a tight backbreaker from behind, straining herself to keep the shorter girl contained without pulling the wrestling move all the way out and really hurting her. "Ow, ow, not fair, he distracted me! Don't tell me he's in on it this time! Gigolo, you got yourself a gigolo!"
"Ojou-sama, please don't use that kind of dirty language, what would your parents say?" Siesta the maid softly chided her from the sidelines.
Roberta clapped twice, stoically. "However, I must congratulate you on your use of the Shundo and Kuzushi. You have made outstanding progresses lately..."
"She's still a hundred years too early to defeat me!" Ayaka huffed, pressing her already panting, flushed sister on her stomach against the grass, and standing up from her defeated form while straightening her own dress down with as much dignity as she could gather back. "Hopefully, that will remind you to never disrespect your family again just so you can look better!"
"Well, I wouldn't know about that," Asuna cynically observed. "In any fight between a girl of fourteen and a girl of nine, no way the latter won't end up looking better than the other..."
Ayaka blushed, angrily at first and then in actual shame as she looked at Negi's wide eyed, disappointed looking expression. She half muttered an incoherent, ashamed apology before quickly kneeling by Mizore's side and helping her back up. "Come on, come on, I didn't punish you that sternly. What will Negi-sensei think, if you—"
Mizore answered with a low grunt and a fist directly into Ayaka's face as she went back up to her feet.
Asuna nodded. "Yeah, having Mizore-chan as a classmate would have been the best."
"YAHOO!" Asuna laughed as she threw her blouse, the final piece left remaining of her outer clothes, aside and took a very high jump up into the mansion's gigantic pool with a splash, now reduced to a bright pink one piece.
"Here we go!" Konoka followed suit seconds afterward, now clad in nothing but a dark blue school swimsuit.
"It's party time!" Sakurako joined in, wearing a rather skimpy orange bikini with polka dot dark red spots.
The three girls began to swim around and playfully splash each other as Chisame calmly removed her pants and stood in a simple dark purple one piece, shaking her head. "Honestly, you guys... The nerve of you..."
"Oh, come on, Chisame-chan!" Sakurako splashed in her direction. "As if you're any better! You brought a swimsuit, too!"
"You all but forced us to!" the hacker snapped back.
"Asuna-chan, Konoka-san, Shiina-san, wait for meeeee!" Mizore ran out of the manor and towards the edge of the pool, clad in nothing but a highly inappropriate black bikini that was clearly too skimpy for someone of her age.
A few weeks before:
Mizore looked towards the set of older girls who were trying swimsuits of their own a short distance away from them.
"I'm not trying to hide anything!" protested the one with long black hair in a white bikini, its lower half covered by a white and light green sarong. "It's just, it's just—!"
"Sorry for the wait!" interrupted a much older woman's voice, as a young lady who was much shorter than the other gathered girls stepped out of one of the dressing rooms. The girl's extremely youthful appearance and her quirky, somewhat strange voice did not exactly match at all, but what impressed Mizore the most was the girl's choice of swimwear. Clad in nothing but the flimsiest of tiny black bikinis, she was confidently stepping out, tossing her light brown twintails around with a sensual motion of her head.
"Oh wow," Mizore whispered to herself.
Oblivious to the elementary student looking at them, the almost naked girl told her friends in much more conservative swimsuits, "I was a bit disappointed they only have reserved designs, but I guess this is all you can expect from ready made clothes."
"How, how should I put it..." began the girl in the white bikini, unable of quite completing the sentence.
"As expected from Shirai-san..." sighed the girl with short black hair and a crown of flowers (?) on it.
"Individuality is important!" smiled the beautiful girl with wavy brown hair in a green bikini, bringing her hands together.
"Y-Yeah..." agreed the dark haired girl in the light blue one piece by her side, a bit more hesitant.
The girl in the dark blue one piece at the head of the group cringed as this 'Shirai-san' approached her enticingly, placing a hand behind her own neck and twisting her hips towards her suggestively. "This probably won't fulfill your desires, but please bear with it, Onee-sama!"
"N-No, I don't want any more anyway," mumbled the visibly disgusted target of her affections as the bold girl kept on turning around in place, wiggling her ass at her.
Mizore gulped, looked back at the stunned saleswoman who stood before her, and matter-of-factly requested, "I want one of those in my size!"
Laughing and being greeted with more laughs by the older girls, Mizore audaciously leapt into the water, joining Asuna, Konoka and Sakurako, and especially swimming quickly into Asuna's arms, to share a quick but strong sisterly hug with her, both young ladies giggling as one.
Satomi, on the other hand, was now in a light blue two piece made of short shorts and a brief sleeveless top which showed her navel area. She sat down next to the pool, barely dipping her feet in. Slowly, the genius sighed, feeling terribly bored already. After the discoveries at the front yard, the rest of the manor offered no excitement to her. She started to envy Chachamaru, who had gotten to stay at home under the pretenses of cleaning the apartment and then looking after the cats.
Then the scientist felt someone's gaze sharply fixed on her. She looked up to see Sakurako floating right before her, eyeing her like a mischievously crocodile stalking a prey.
"Is-Is there something wrong?" Hakase couldn't help but feeling slightly wary for some reason.
"Of course there is!" the cheerleader protested. "You aren't in here with us, silly!"
"I'm... not a good swimmer," Satomi averted her glare. "You know I have to struggle with it at classes."
"All the more reason for you to practice now, then!" Konoka pointed out.
"Yeah, Prof," Asuna nodded. "Loose down just for once. It'll do you good!"
"I'm not sure..."
"Oh, for the love of—!" Sakurako grabbed her by an ankle and pulled her into the water with herself, gaining a brief shriek from Hakase. "You gotta stop overthinking everything!"
"Kya! No!" Hakase waved her hands around, struggling to break free and return to dry land, but the (even if only marginally) stronger cheerleader wouldn't have anything of it.
Mizore paused in her horseplay with Asuna and Konoka, blinking at the sight of the two girls' shared moment. "Wow," she quietly mouthed out. "Is she like Shirai-san, then?"
Asuna paused as well, mildly perplexed. "Who?"
Mizore blushed, then quickly waved a hand around. "N-Nobody, don't mind, Asuna-san! I was just thinking of someone I met recently, that's all..."
Negi, in the meantime, was walking out of the dressing room for men clad in sandals and boxers, shirtless, and smiled warmly at seeing his students playing amongst themselves. However, he still remained as quiet as he could before any of them thought about dragging him into the... water...
Then he felt the door of the other dressing room behind him being opened, and he looked back with a gentle grin. "Ah, Iinchou-san! Thank you very much for... for..."
Wearing an elegant but pretty revealing white biniki, her pale feet bare, her gold hair waving loose behind her at each step, the Class Rep looked down at the suddenly silent boy. "Yes, Sensei?" she sweetly asked.
"No, nothing!" he hurried to complete the sentence, wondering what had just happened to himself. "Just wanted to give you our thanks for your hospitality!"
"Oh, it's my pleasure!" the vision of beauty laughed it off. "It's the least I can do for you!"
"Hey, Iinchou!" Asuna called out from the water. "Wanna go for a race?"
"No, thanks!" the heiress huffed. "There's no way I ever could beat a kappa monster in its element!"
Asuna seemed offended for a moment, but she let it to slide.
Mizore stuck her tongue out at her sister. "Blah! You're only all too aware Asuna-san will win every time because you're a slowpoke! Why don't you race against me, then?"
"Whatever gave you the impression I was talking about Asuna-san when I mentioned the kappa, Mizore-chan? Come on, let's leave the children to their games, Sensei," Ayaka said as she lured Negi away from the fuming Mizore, until they both took chairs around a large beach table with a colorful umbrella on top. "Truly, they're are so immature for their ages... while you are so mature for yours," she lovingly sighed.
"Oh, no, not at all," he denied.
"And so modest, as well!" she cooed. "Do you want more cookies?" she grabbed a bowl of them that was at the other side of the table and offered it to him. "I made them myself!"
"No, you didn't!" Mizore said from the pool. "Give Siesta-san her credit! Relationships built on lies won't last!" Mizore chided loudly, holding a pointer finger up in faux-sagedom.
Ayaka blushed intensely. "What, what in the world are you trying to say with that?! What are you implying?!"
"She knows you far too well..." Asuna snarked with a sly grin.
"Please, let's just enjoy this afternoon in peace, okay?!" Negi requested, his voice pitched up in what almost was a tired whine.
At the mansion's kitchen, meanwhile, Siesta sneezed loudly all of a sudden.
The black haired maid rubbed her nose with a tissue. "Ojou-sama must be taking credit for the cookies again..." she guessed.
Blah blah blah, immortal Loli vampire witch attacks again, harder and more cruelly than before.
Blah blah blah, adorable boy mage kisses abrasive cosplaying hacker girl, mad scientist roommate girl, cowardly sprint runner nun girl, and cheerleader with loose morals girl to give them magical powers so they can help him against immortal Loli vampire witch, just like you would.
"MEA VIRGA!" Evangeline heard, rising above the concerned shouts of her classmates.
And she felt herself grabbed by a wrist and pulled up, quickly gaining height as she opened her eyes again. She looked into the boy's bright eyes, and felt her heart skipping a bit. "What...?"
"Evangeline-san!" he said. "Are you okay?"
Her mouth moved angrily. "Wh-Why have you saved me!? I could have killed you! What kind of imbecile are you!?" She tightened her hands against her bare chest.
"You're my student, Evangeline-san," he warmly said, pulling the still wet magical staff further down towards the bridge. "I don't need any other reason."
She bit her lower lip, turning her head aside. "What a cretin."
As they landed, he softly put her down, while Itoshiki offered her his hakama shirt to cover herself up. She accepted it with a grunt, hastily pulling it around her torso. Chisame ran to Negi's side, eyes welled up in tears, hitting his head with a fist. "You stupid idiot!" Then she hugged him, pressing him against herself. "What if you had died?! We'd have been in despair! Your death would have left us in despair!"
"And those are my catchphrases," Nozomu humbly said, being as ignored as usual.
"We did it...?" Misora was groggily saying, coming back to her feet aided by Cocone and approaching them. "Wait. We really are alive? We did it for real? Hell, yeah! We beat the Dark Evangel! We're The Man! We're The Man!"
"Baka," Cocone whispered.
Chachamaru was coming back online as Hakase finished pulling pieces of needles out of her eyes. "Master... Sorry. I..." her voice faltered. "Failed you again..."
"Hush. Hush, please," Satomi told her maternally. "Nothing of this is your fault..."
"You did great, Negi-kun," Misa rubbed his hair and winked an eye at him.
"Indeed," Itoshiki pushed his glasses up his nose before pulling his wooden ruler out again. "Highly courageous. However," he aimed the ruler at the girls, "You have broken one of magic's main taboos! I'm sorry, but I'll have to erase your memories before we all are sentenced to an eternity of erminedom!"
Despite her blurred vision and her current damaged mobility, Chachamaru still managed to be before him in a flash, to grab his thin wrist very strongly. "Don't you dare."
"Sensei!" a tiny voice came from the other side of the bridge, panting and wheezing. "If you want to punish someone, punish me, please! It's all my fault, after all!"
They all looked at the newcomer; Kaga Ai stood with her hands on her knees, hunched over and with her tongue almost hanging out. "Sorry I failed both you, Sensei, and you, Eva-sama! I deserve anything you can do to me!"
"What the blazes?" Evangeline said. "You managed to break through my spell, and keeping your memories of it? How?"
"I'm sorry, but I can't say!" Ai wailed. "I-I just know I couldn't keep doing any harm to Sensei, so I broke down like the useless thing I am! Then I saw the lights at the distance, and I guessed you'd be here, so I came to apologize!"
"Where are your classmates, Kaga-san?" Itoshiki asked her.
"Ummm... Like you said, I left them at a safe place... One where no one will think of looking for them to hurt them..."
Cocone approached her, touched her, and blinked. "You left them at a trash dump."
Ai cried again. "They were too heavy for me to drag them all the way up! It's the dump right outside our dorm!"
Nozomu sighed. "It's good you're here, in any case. So I can erase your memory too..."
Negi stepped between him and the girls, extending his arms and shielding them all. "You'll have to erase my memory first!"
"Negi-kun...!" Misa breathed.
Itoshiki glared at him. "Is this a conscious challenge to the Academy's regulations, Negi-sensei? This could have quite serious consequences for you..."
Without saying a single word, the boy still stood against him, glaring back with intensity.
Feeling not only his eyes, but those of all the girls, from Evangeline's sharp and cold ones to Kaga's confused and fearful ones, so squarely fixed on him, the older teacher finally sighed and pocketed his ruler back. "I know I'll regret this."
"I can sympathize," Chisame honestly offered.
"Thank you for your undeserved vote of confidence!" Ai fell to her knees before them all. "I swear on my life I won't ever reveal your dark, horrible secret to the unaware masses you no doubt are preparing to sacrifice to the foul beasts of the pit in a naked orgy of lewd and immoral acts!"
Misa perked up. "Lewd and immoral acts, huh? Do we really do those things at this business?"
"What's the deal with her?" Chisame asked.
"Long story. I'll tell you later," the cheerleader promised.
"Hm, hm, hm. Dolts, all of you," Evangeline said, finally regaining her habitual aloofness. "Chachamaru! As for you, to make up for your unforgivable new failure, you'll have to repay me with decades, no, centuries of the most abject servitude!"
"So no change then?" Nozomu asked.
Chachamaru looked hopeful. "Does that mean you aren't going to dismiss me, Master?"
"Dismiss you? HAH! That'd be too merciful to you! Your ass is mine, Chachamaru!" The undead mage closed a fist up. "And I'm going to make sure you work the hell out of it! Your ass is going to be so sore you'll never be able to sit down again!"
"Can't you pronounce two sentences without saying anything that won't be grounds for a sexual harassment lawsuit?" Misa wondered.
"Thank you so very much, Master," the robot softly smiled.
Negi, meanwhile, was chuckling softly, pulling his roster-book out and writing 'WE BEAT HER!' under Eva's picture. "Anyway, Evangeline-san, now you'll stop attacking people at night, won't you? And you won't skip any more classes, either... You'll study hard so you can graduate along with everyone else!"
Evangeline's dangerous smirk returned. "We'll see about that. But remember this, and remember it well, Boya. Watch your back. Because I'm far from being the only powerful enemy your father made, and they'll be gunning for you right like I was. You might not be so lucky next time." She turned to his Ministra. "As for the lot of you, I'd suggest pondering your future choices while you still have them. Tonight, you put on a pathetic, sad showing of poor, uncoordinated skills. If you really want to be Ministra Magi, you'll have to try better than that. If not, just quit right now. You've been warned. That's something the Mistress of Darkness does for almost no one." Her fierce green eyes sparkled threateningly.
Chisame looked stunned for a few moments at such grim words, until she noticed Negi staring up at her. "Talking about that, Chisame-san, whatever happened to your mouth?" He worriedly reached up, putting a hand on a cheek of his first Ministra. "Does it hurt?"
"Oh, this? It's nothing, really!" Chisame said while crouching down to give him a better view of her gums. "Chachamaru only grazed me with a fist. It doesn't even hurt anymore!"
"Are you sure about that, Hasegawa Chisame?" Evangeline chuckled callously, then grabbed Negi and Chisame's heads and pushed them against each other, making their lips to crash in a rough kiss. "Let's see about that!"
Negi's eyes widened just as Chisame's ones watered up with sudden tears of sharp pain.
At that moment, Chamo finally arrived the scene, bathed in sweat and dragging himself on. "Path too long... Legs too short..." Then he brightened. "Oh, Bro! I see you all decided to skip the pointless fight and just start a wild party! Way to go! I'll get the video camera, whipped cream and lubricant"
"KYAAAAA!" Chisame jerked her head back. "THAT HURT!"
As Misora and Misa began to tease her mercilessly, Negi seemed vacant and mesmerized for a moment, while absently swallowing the few drops of the blood from Chisame's gums, rolling them into his tongue, finding its taste so wonderfully sweet. If he had been more aware of himself, he'd have noticed, at the same time, a brief tingle at the spot of his neck where Eva had bitten him. But the strange sensation went as quick as it had come, and he paid it no actual attention.
"Oneesama, for the last time, please, before you do anything you'll regret! Are you sure about this?"
"The new Grail War is all upon us. The end times are coming, Sakura," the pigtailed young woman in the short black skirt and the tight red sweater spoke sternly, her green eyes shining sharply. "The omens are clear! Twilight had a movie run! Simon Cowell really left American Idol! They finally released that movie based on the fourth Light Novel in that series by Tanigawa Nagaru! There is no escape. When the World of Magic comes crashing down, it'll drag its mortal sibling with itself. The only thing any of us can do is to stand and fight. And for that, I'll need a strong Servant, the best of them all. Only through our victory and mastery over the Holy Grail, will we manage to turn the tides in time."
The younger, bustier girl behind her sighed with resignation. "Whatever you say, Onee-sama. Though…"
"What now?"
"Do we have to do this in the living room? We might break the TV!"
"Oh, for pity's sake…!"
The next several minutes were spent constructively moving the TV a safe distance away. Their dormitory consisted of a single small building only for the two of them. Such were the advantages of coming from such a prestigious, powerful family. No one would disturb the ritual. Tohsaka Rin took her place in the center of the large circle drawn on the floor and closed her eyes, extending a fist up and holding an open book at her other hand, despite the fact she recited the lines from memory.
"Let thy body rest under my dominion, let my Fate rest in thy blade. If thou submittest to the call of the Holy Grail and if thou wilt obey this mind, this reason, then thou shalt respond.""
Sakura stared, aghast and yet prey to a morbid, wide-eyed fascination, at how the marks appeared on the back of her older sister's closed right fist. Rin's skirt fluttered up as the air around them grew heavier, smelling slightly of gas, and the circle beneath her began to faintly glow in scarlet. She actually was doing it!
"I make my oath here. I am that person who is to become the virtue of all Heavens. I am that person who is covered with the evil of all Hades. Thou seven heavens, clad in a trinity of words, come past thy restraining rings, and be thou the hands that protect the balance-!"
The red haze grew almost blinding as Rin tightened the fist up and squeezing the sharp gem in her palm, a single drop of blood falling from her hand, touching the circle and making it burn to life, its blinding light engulfing Rin for a second, forcing Sakura to step back.
And then their roof exploded with an earth shaking boom.
A few blocks away, Negi woke up, blinked groggily, and looked through the nearest window. "Izzat a sudden magic outburst...?" he mumbled.
Chisame grumbled and pulled him back into the bed. "Shaddap an' sleep. We've a long day ahead tomorrow..."
As Sakura regained her sight, she saw her sister sitting flat on her butt, her hair a mess, a few steps away, staring at the column of dark purple smoke right under the hole at their roof, and the small yet bulky figure standing on the middle of said smoke.
"I am the terror that hunts in the night..." a voice called to her.
Cold, merciless eyes framed within a dark mask.
"An Avenger!" Rin guessed with a panicked, yes, panicked gulp the likes of which Sakura had never heard from her. "An Avenger of all classes, blast my luck! But... But I wanted a Saber!"
"I am the jackal that gnaws at your bones..." the voice added, as the figure took a bold step towards the girls.
Massive shoulderblades armed with tall, sharp spikes. A wide hat obscuring most of its features in a grim, unnerving way. A long black cape trailing behind it.
"Avengers aren't good for anything but unbalancing the system and messing things up! Why, why, why!" Rin ranted as if Sakura didn't know any of that already, although it didn't sound like she was exactly talking to her either. If anything, it sounded more like desperate sheer venting out. "And this one's too small!"
"… It's a duck," Sakura incredulously stated.
"I am... Servant Avenger!" the Servant announced, pulling out a gigantic missile launcher. "So, which one of you's supposed to be my Master...?"
The sisters remained perfectly still and silent for a few minutes, until Sakura slowly pointed at Rin, then warily asked her, "By the way, Onee-sama... When it's time to recharge his Mana...?"
Rin paled a few shades down, then fainted on place like a choked Victorian damsel.
The mysterious masked figure looked down at her. "... Are you sure she's up to the task?"
Sakura inhaled as deeply as she could and forced herself to remember things could be worse.
She could have been sent to live with the Matous, after all. Or heaven forbid, the Itoshikis!
And at least they moved the TV…
Blah blah blah, depressed suicidal teacher kisses pathologic Guilt Complex girl.
Blah blah blah, adorable boy mage kisses hotheaded Baka newspaper delivering girl and happy go lucky lesbian cheerleader girl.
Blah blah blah, older and stronger doppelgangers from an alternate and better written dimension show up.
Negi sat behind his desk, waiting patiently for the next parent who would give their authorization for the Kyoto trip. So far, he had talked with Professor Akashi, who naturally posed no obstacles for Yuuna's attendance, and Ako's uncle and tutor, writer Izumi Soujirou, a rather unkempt but affable and agreeable man. He looked at his schedule; next on list was Haruna's mother, and then Zazie's. Frankly, he was curious about what kind of women they would be.
Someone knocked at the door, and he fixed his tie for the umpteenth time. "C-come in, please!" he said.
The orange-haired head of a teenage boy peeked in. "Excuse me... N-Negi-sensei, right? I'm Yuuki Rito from High School Class... uhh, well, actually, I don't know what class they'll assign me to now, but—"
Negi blinked. "Oh, pleased to meet you, Yuuki-san. However, not to be rude, but I happen to have a meeting right now with—"
"S-Saotome Haruna-san's mother?" the boy meeped.
"Yes. How did you—" Negi started.
"Actually, Haruna-san... told me to come here," the boy fidgeted while blushing deeply.
"Why?" the teacher asked.
"Ah... You see, I... I don't know for sure," he admitted. "But I think it's because she wants me to meet her mother, too..."
"And why would that be?" Negi wondered innocently.
"B-B-Because we... we kinda are..."
"RIIIIIITO-KUUUUUN!" Haruna sprang in from the outside, latching onto the teen's back with a loud, manic giggle. "Oh, so you came after all! I'm so happy!"
"Gah-Gah-Good morning, Haruna-chan!" Rito puked the words out, too overcome by the feeling of her large breasts rubbing up and down his back.
Negi stared on blankly. "Saotome-san?"
"Hey, Negi-kun!" she lifted a hand up. "Sorry to keep you waiting! Mom wouldn't find a cab cheap enough for her, so it took her a while to get here!"
"Taxis around here are far too expensive, I believe. I'd rather walk, that's good for your health," a shapely and attractive woman in her mid to late thirties huffed softly, walking into sight with perfect elegance and aplomb, wearing an old fashioned, discret dark blue kimono, plus wooden sandals and white socks. Her hair was short and dark brown, rather curly in a way that framed her fair, slightly round face quite nicely. She looked at the boy sitting before of a pile of books behind the desk and bowed to him formally. "So very pleased to meet you, Springfield-sensei. I'm Saotome Nodoka. Haruna's mother."
"Mom!" Haruna grabbed Rito by the shoulders, almost pushing him into her mother. "This is Yuuki Rito-kun, my first boyfriend!"
"B-Boyfriend?-!" Negi's eyes widened behind his glasses.
"Huh-Huh-Hello!" Rito held up a stiff hand, barely registering anything but the fact Haruna seemed to have inherited her bust size from her mother. "Ch-Cha-Charmed to meet you, Ma'am!"
The woman looked up and down at him in a strangely composed way, then told her daughter, "He seems normal."
Somewhere Hito Nami cried "Don't call me normal!" then blinked when she realized no one was to say she was normal. "ARGH! I do something really abnormal for once and no one is around to notice! I'm in despair! My normalcy has left me in despair!"
"Of course he is!" Haruna protested.
"You're too young to—" Negi began, but his voice trailed off when he remembered maybe he was not in the best position to talk.
Mrs. Saotome apparently paid him no attention, choosing to ask the older boy instead a polite but blunt, "How much do you know about my daughter, young man?"
"Well, we've just started... dating, but—"
"Has she told you about her 'Yamada-san' plan?" the woman asked.
"Y-Yes!"
"About her... bilateral inclinations?"
"First thing she told me about," he gulped.
"How typical of her," the mother sighed. "Her plans for world conquest?"
"She... She has appointed me 'Future Regent of the Netherlands, Emperor of New Zealand, First Consort Prince of the Crown, and Secretary of Global Gardening'!" the young man blurted out.
Nodoka hummed thoughtfully, then shot her daughter a chiding glare. "I was promised the Netherlands."
"I'll give you Belgium and Belarus instead!" Haruna offered.
"Not enough to compensate for the disappointment of a broken promise, I'm afraid."
"Fine! You win, I'll give you both Koreas too! I know you've always wanted them!"
"Those conditions are acceptable. Not that I expect you to ever deliver on your delusions, Haruna-chan, but it's still the principle of the given word." Nodoka-san smirked affably before returning to a somewhat less surrealist venue of conversation. "Regardless, what is your CURRENT financial status, Yuuki-kun? We expect for our daughter's suitors to be able to satisfy her monetary needs… among other things"
Rito opened his mouth.
Haruna beat him to the punch. "His father is a superstar mangaka, and his mother is a top fashion designer!"
Nodoka blinked in mild awe at that revelation. Briefly, the faint sound of a cash register at work was heard coming out of her head. And then she smiled slowly, rubbing Rito's shoulders in a not-too-motherly way. "That is quite the interesting background, indeed. Tell me, are your interests only aimed at girls slightly under your own age?"
"MOM!" Haruna protested.
"What? I only was joking!"
"Yeah, sure. I know you..." her daughter scoffed.
"Well, he IS kinda cute, and your father isn't exactly the most reliable of suppliers..." Nodoka shrugged, and Rito's face took the shape of a distressed abstract portrait. Negi just sat there, once again lost as hell. You'd have thought he was part-Hibiki.
Haruna crossed her arms. "If you want to go there... you know you'll have to go all the way..."
Nodoka sighed and shook her head. "I've told you... I cannot possibly ever partake in such deviancies, sorry."
"I'd throw... let's say Italy into your share, too."
"I'm your mother."
"And Ranma's as well! Your point?"
Nodoka blushed intensely. "Th-That's different! And an unfair accusation, as well! Not only... you've clearly misunderstood things between us, but it's hardly my fault Ranma's got such a manly appeal to surpass any other male's..."
At that point, Rito had just melted down and tried to ooze for the door. Negi's instincts had told him to block everything out for the sake of his own sanity, and started to check the schedule of the next few parents' arrivals instead.
A few more unheard negotiations later, Mrs. Saotome sat down in front of him with a small smile. "So sorry for keeping you waiting!"
"Huh? Oh, don't worry," he said, putting the papers aside. "So very pleased to meet you, ma'm."
"Likewise. Please forgive my foolish husband's absence. My daughter-in-law was kidnapped by a foreign prince week and a half ago, and he, our son, and some... friends... are tracking them down to an island in the South Pacific."
"Good to know she hasn't lost her touch yet," Haruna mused from where she sat fanning Rito back to consciousness.
"I... understand..." Negi forced himself to nod.
"You do?" Mrs. Saotome questioned.
"No. Not really," he had to admit with shame.
"Don't worry. No one ever does," the woman kindly petted his head. "You know, you're even cuter than Yuuki-kun. Haruna-chan, is he in your... ah... range of admired people as well?"
"OF COURSE!" Haruna did her best M. Bison impression.
Negi smiled again. "Well, I'm honored to know you admire me, Haruna-san. All teachers should strive to be admired by their students, but... Ahhhh, Saotome-san, you... can stop stroking my hair now..."
Nabiki half-purred happily. "So, where should I sign to go on that trip with you, too?"
"MOM!" Haruna repeated.
"What? You always are telling me we should spend more... time together! And it IS a free trip, after all!"
No doubt they were related. Yup, no doubt at all…
After that… rather rocky and shaky start, the talk with Mrs. Saotome turned out fairly smooth. Her main concern seemed to be the Academy covering all the expenses of Haruna's trip, and once that was guaranteed, she had no problems with signing the documents. Then she and her daughter gave him their goodbyes, Haruna surprising him by pecking his forehead before walking out with her mother and a still mostly-paralyzed Rito.
Negi sat alone and flushed, pondering if wiping his forehead off would be decent or rude. He looked into the pocket mirror Nekane had given him after saying a gentleman should always mind his appearance, She had left no lipstick marks there, so he figured there was no actual point in wiping it off. It was nothing but an innocent token of affection, after all, he told himself.
Then someone knocked at the door, and he remembered Rainyday-san's mother was next. He pocketed the mirror and straightened his tie yet again. "C-Come in, if you please!"
A tall, buxom blond woman with narrow, bitter eyes and long wavy hair walked in, saluting him with a mere nod of her head. Negi blinked in confusion. Not exactly the mental image he had about Rainyday-san's mother. For starters, she was dressed all in black, in a way that reminded him of a chauffeur or elite bodyguard. Then there were those strange red facial markings she had...
He opened his mouth to speak, but before the first word could be uttered, the woman opened the door even more, bowing as she made way for someone else to enter. "Hild-sama, Zazie Ojou-sama, it is safe."
"Thank you, Mara-chan," a purring, deeply sexy female voice spoke, its slow and alluring cadence almost inebriating, somehow making Negi to feel uneasy all of a sudden. Very briefly, the back of his neck itched. A lot.
"Good morning, Sensei," Zazie said, walking in quietly, followed by a much taller, much, much more voluptuous woman in a slinky red dress, more befitting a scandalous cocktail party than an Academy for teenagers. Her long hair was white as snow, with bewitching silvery tones. Her skin was as dark as Zazie's, and she had a few facial markings as well, oddly star shaped, but not big enough to be distracting. Probably the fact her chest was so big and her cleavage was so wide was distracting enough by itself to ensure most people didn't even notice the markings for their first several encounters.
Negi fought a blush as he tried to keep looking at the woman's eyes. For some reason, it was hard. Very hard. No dirty pun intended. Well, maybe just a little. "H-How do you do... I mean..."
The impossibly sexy woman smirked sultrily at him.
And then she was right before him, glomping him in a suffocating hug against her round chest, cooing as Zazie sat down with no expression and Marller made a silent, long suffering face. "Ohhhh, so you're Negi-kun! You're so horribly cute...!"
Negi's arms and legs flailed around wildly.
"Mother," Zazie said.
"Aren't you the loveliest little thing ever?" her mother seemed oblivious to her. "No wonder Zazie talks so much about you! How old are you, cutie? Nine? Ten? Eleven?"
"Mother, I think he's having problems breathing," Zazie remarked, and Negi nodded as best as he could with his head trapped between those two huge mounds.
"Oh. Sorry." She assumed a dignified stance while putting Negi back down on his seat. The boy panted for air, his eyes almost dropping out of their sockets. "It's a real pleasure to meet you, Sensei. I am Hildegarde Rainyday, but you can call me... Hild. And this is my faithful assistant, Mara-chan."
The blond woman only bowed to Negi, as stiffly as possible.
"Mother is in the business of... engineered social beneficence," Zazie explained calmly.
"Ah?" Negi asked, not very eloquently, but it was understandable considering the fact he had never heard Zazie saying more than three words in a row before.
"Basically, you could say... I make people's wishes and desires into realities," Hild smiled in a rather placid, and yet unnerving, fashion. "For a reasonable price, of course. I'd give you our phone number, but you're still too young for our services. Once you are the legal age, however, rest assured I'll make sure Zazie-chan gets to contact you about it..."
"Th-Thanks..." Negi muttered, not finding anything else to say.
During Negi's brief but rather informative conversation with Mrs. Rainyday, Zazie did not say a single word, as usual, making him wonder if her three lines had been a hallucination bought on by oxygen deprivation. But her mother talked more than enough for both of them; it amazed Negi to see how such a talkative person could be so closely related to someone as secretive as Zazie.
And yet, as he'd only notice after she was gone, for all Hild-san talked and talked, all the information she gave him was very superficial. She'd talk about things like how much Zazie loved circuses, or the time when she took her first steps, but not a single thing about her father, or about the reasons behind her silence. Had they been alone, Negi would have asked on the latter, but he knew it was in bad taste to ask it before his student herself, and in a meeting scheduled for other reasons. He made a mental note to ask Hild-san about it sometime later. All in all, he would enjoy another chat with her. Her company felt oddly... nice.
She once mentioned Zazie having sisters when talking about their first visit to a circus, but the mere mention of the word 'sisters' made Zazie wince for the only time in the whole talk, so her mother simply skipped past it very quickly.
Mara-san stood at the door similarly still and silent the whole time, although the frustrated expression on her face told of very different causes for her silence.
Finally, Hild signed the papers, making a passing joke about how people usually signed contracts with her. Negi didn't understand it very well, but laughed along anyway.
As the three of them walked out, they happened to coincide with Chisame's sister Sora, who was coming in with Takahata and a short, black-haired young man Negi had never seen before. The young man stopped for a moment as soon as he saw Zazie's mother, his attention caught by something other than her physical attributes. Well, by her physical attributes AND something else, in any case.
She smiled at him in a vaguely mysterious, almost knowing fashion. "Good morning, young sir. Can I do something for you?"
"Huh? Oh, sorry!" he excused himself quickly. "It's just I felt a weird sense of déjà vu... Forgive me for asking this, but have we met somewhere else before?"
The tall woman put a finger on her lips, thought, then asked with a wry smile, "Would you happen to live in the Nekomi area? Near the Tariki-hoganji temple?"
"Oh, do you mean... that old temple near the hills? Yes! Exactly around there!" He brightened up. "Then we HAVE met!"
Hild laughed good naturedly, even as Marller scowled sourly in the background. "Yes, I remember seeing you... twice or thrice! My eldest daughter used to... live there as well. A long, long time ago..." she reminisced. A very short sigh escaped her lips, and she turned around to walk away. "I'd love to stay and chat, but I'm afraid I'm in a tight schedule. Maybe another time, Dear. Zazie-chan, before I go, why don't you show us that fantastic restaurant you mention so often...?"
The young man watched her go in stupefied silence, and only Sora's brief rasping brought him back to reality. "Ahem."
"Oh? Oh, sorry, everyone. I was trying to remember anything about that daughter of hers. Maybe she was someone I studied with..."
"Sure, Sempai," Sora said with only the slightest hint of jealousy before smiling at Negi. "Hello again, Negi-sensei. It's wonderful to see you again. This is one of my sempais at the Motor Club, Morisato Keiichi-san..."
"Charmed," Negi saluted, the older boy half-bowing, half-nodding back, rather clumsily. "Takamichi?" Negi turned to his colleague. "Shouldn't you be with—"
"Shizuna is handling my interviews for now," Takahata replied with a vague smile. "But I was asked by the Dean to show them their way here. The Parents' Association asked to have a representative in the trip, and since Hasegawa-san is an expert driver, the Dean thought of having her and one of her colleagues as the drivers for the trip's duration..."
"Could you do that, Hasegawa-san?" Negi asked her. "If you're busy with your own studies..."
"It's okay! We finished our final tests for this semester last week," she told him. "And really, anything for Chisame-chan. Like I promised last time I was here, I'm going to be a much better sister from now on!"
Negi's smile widened wonderfully. "That's wonderful! I'm sure she'll be so pleased when she learns about this...!"
Elsewhere, while updating her page yet again, Chisame felt an icy shiver running up her spine. Odd; the dress she was wearing wasn't THAT revealing, and there were no open windows in the room…
"Tsunetsuki, are you behind me?" she said.
"Of course," came the reply.
Chisame was getting good at kicking people out of the room. A pity she hadn't learned the skill sooner…
He was a tall, ancient-seeming man with bone white hair with a distinctive forelock, and a pair of mismatched eyes. Behind him stood a familiar face, wearing a bright pink sun dress and white heels.
"Oh, Mizore-chan!" Negi smiled from behind the desk, pleasantly surprised. "How nice seeing you again, it's been a while!"
Yukihiro Mizore rasped uneasily. "Thank you, that's... very kind from you. Negi-sensei, this is Yukihiro Genjuro, our honorable grandfather. Grandfather, meet Negi Springfield-sensei, Oneesama's new homeroom teacher!"
"Indeed," the old man said, looking long at the boy teacher. "He's just as I imagined him to be, from your descriptions of him." The man contentedly reached over to shake Negi's small hand. "I should have known! Ayaka-chan and Mizore-chan have told me so much about you, Professor!"
Mizore blushed brightly and looked aside with a small frown. "That was all from Oneesama, Grandfather. Are you sure your memory isn't failing you again?"
"It's a honor, Sir!" Negi nodded rapidly. "Ayaka-san is an excellent student, always aiming high in her education! You have fine, great granddaughters, Sir!"
"Yes, I do," the older man, who had all the signs of someone who has lived it all and done it all with style, nodded, with a proud, strange light in the eyes behind the glasses. "She has never failed in making me proud."
Negi decided he really liked him. He felt like the grandfather Negi always wished he could have had, but never could, with the Magus always being so busy, and Stan so abrasive.
No thunder cracked ominously then, but it might have been just because the gods were not looking after their creation at that exact moment.
Blah blah blah, the cast goes to Kyoto.
Blah blah blah, adorable boy mage is tricked into kissing stubborn Student Council Vicepresident girl and hyperactive martial artist bisexual mangaka who already has a boyfriend girl.
Blah blah blah, shy librarian girl gets magical book with a lot of kooky cards in it.
Kyoto.
Before Eishun could start talking, one of his servants approached him, a very young looking and short blue-haired boy with a bright and earnest smile. "Konoe-sama, Kouko-sama says she is able to attend after all."
The master of the house nodded. "Of course. Thank you, Hayate-kun. Negi-sensei, everyone," he told the others, "Meet my wife and Konoka's mother, Kouko..." Here he stopped to gasp, then to add, as if slightly uncomfortable, "And our daughter, Konoka's sister Honoka."
Setsuna made a mild double take as, next to her, Yuu-chan lowered her head so much it looked like it wanted to jump off her neck and roll across the floor. Asuna and Twilight Red looked quite intrigued, while Sora nervously checked her clothes again. Natsuki made a tiny scowl, and Chao hummed to herself analytically. Everyone was evenly politely curious, except for Chisame, who was just gawking, open-mouthed, at a single particular of the newcomers into the chambers.
A very beautiful woman who looked like Konoka on age augmenting pills walked in followed by two maids, in a subdued white and gray kimono. Actually, she only looked in her late twenties, definitely much younger than her husband. But while her appearance was so similar to Konoka's, her expression was a different matter: her face was cold and distant, very unlike that of the person who was happily skipping by her side. This was the person Chisame was gawking in confusion at.
If the mother looked an aged up Konoka, the little girl was like a miniature Konoka, or a clone, some sort of incredibly cute Mini-Me with a mischievous skip to her steps that instantly reminded Sakurako, Asuna and Ayaka of Konoka when they first had met her. Although she also wore a formal kimono much like her mother's, she gave a vague impression of being much less comfortable with hers, as she kept on absently tugging on her sleeves while walking, each step almost threatening to trip over only to then gracefully subvert the expectations, small feet in white socks softly patting against the planks of the floor.
As the woman sat down next to her husband, her gaze went over all those gathered before them, and they all could feel an unsaid, but quietly blatant, sensation of disapproval, made especially evident when her eyes locked with those of a miserable but confused looking Setsuna. Still, when she spoke, her bow matched her words in perfect and serene elegant politeness, although still devoid of warmth or fondness. "Good afternoon to all of you. Welcome to the headquarters of the Kansai Magic Association. Negi Springfield?" Her gaze suddenly zeroed in on the boy.
"Negi Springfield!" the little girl chirped, slapping her hands together and staring at Negi with wide starry eyes, before her mother discreetly pulled her down to sit by her side. "Oi, what's wrong, Mommy? Why do you even have to ask, it's obvious that's him, isn't it?"
"Ah, yes, I am! Extremely pleased to meet you both, Kouko-sama, Honoka-san!" Negi bowed deeply. "I just wanted to tell you personally I'm sor—"
"Negi-san, would you happen to bring the letter my Father sent my honorable husband?" the woman asked.
"Oh, oh, yes, of c-course!" He walked forward and respectfully handed Eishun the missive. "From the Eastern Leader, Konoe Konoemon, please accept this message, Eishun-sama!"
"Oooh!" the little girl blinked. "What does it say, what, what?" Then she looked at Chisame, realized her dumbstruck expression, and directly asked her, "What?"
"Oh my God, there's another one," Chisame very quietly said. "Just like with Iinchou..."
Did all millionaires have cloned copies of their heiresses around just in case, or what?
Somewhere, Damian Wayne sneezed.
"And accepted it is," Eishun took the missive with another nod, opening the envelope to read its contents. Erebus, Deathnote, Psycho, Valkyrie and Twilight all noticed the letter he had pulled out was quite longer than the one their Konoemon had sent their Eishun, although Setsuna was still too troubled, and Chisame too perplexed, to catch on that detail. The letter had to be unfolded to be read, and for a few moments, there was absolutely no sound as Eishun read, his collected face occasionally cracking the tiniest bit upon hitting some lines. As he finished, he briefly looked in Natsuki's direction, then at Negi and Chisame, at Ayaka, and at Asuna, before finally speaking after gathering his breath, pocketing the letter into the wide folds of his sleeves.
"Thank you for this priceless service, Negi-sensei. However, there are even more pressing matters to discuss now," the Elder said.
"Which ones of you were with our daughter when she was taken?" Konoeko asked, her tone still basically the same.
"Taken?" Honoka wrinkled her tiny nose. "You mean she's finally going to marry one of those icky old guys? That means I won't have to do it later, right?"
"Honoka," her mother stiffly told her. "Your sister has been kidnapped, that is what I mean. Now, I assume I won't have to repeat my question..."
Hakase raised a hand, and after a moment of hesitation, so did Yuu. At this, Konoeko directed an even more disapproving, almost hostile look at Setsuna, but the Magical Girl was too depressed to notice.
"Kidnapped?" Honoka was muttering to herself in childlike confusion. "But, wasn't Setsuna-han supposed to-"
"Then please, tell us what happened," the woman asked this time.
"W-Well, you will see, Kouko-sama…" Yuu began in a timid voice, "It started when we…"
"So you let Onee-sama be kidnapped," Honoka pouted, folding her arms cutely and staring at Negi, who flinched deeply under her Uber Cute Stare of Disapproval. "And after she trusted you so much, too! She wouldn't stop talking in her e-mails and Facebook about you, and of course about-"
Here she paused, looked back over her shoulder, and frowned a little as she glanced at the quickly retreating heads of Yuu and Setsuna, which had been peeking around the room's door. "Can't you just come here and sit down with us instead of doing that? Honestly, you two are starting to worry me..."
"We are not worthy!" both Setsunas said at once, and Honoka sighed, rubbing her forehead.
"Asuna-han," she asked her sister's roommate, "are they always like this?"
"No, they've actually improved a lot. Well, Setsuna-san has, at least. I don't know too much about Yuu-semp-sorry-chan's, past to say for sure yet in her case," Asuna shrugged her shoulders.
Chisame gasped hard. "You know her too?! Just like with Iinchou's?!"
"Yeah, what's so fantastic about that?" asked Asuna. "We're Facebook friends, even if we hadn't ever met in person before this. Really, Chisame, I thought you were computer literate, to be outdone by a Baka..."
Chisame hissed in frustration. "It's not about being computer literate or not, it's just... who ever knew Konoe had a sister, for Pete's sake?!"
"I did!" said Ayaka, Makie, Sakurako, Misa, Nodoka and Misora said all at once, and so would have Haruna, had she not been in another room with Psycho Purple and Valkyrie Black at the time for Keiichi's questioning.
"Really, Chisame," Asuna said, "it's not our fault if you've never bothered to know about about us or our families. I bet you didn't even know I don't have one, for starters..."
"How could I know that, you, you..." Chisame began to mutter angrily, then to melt into a weary sigh. "Forget it, it's not worth the effort. So, um, Honoka-san, right? Why do you know about magic, but your older sister doesn't? That doesn't make a lot of sense to me."
"Oh, that," Honoka said. "Well, while it looks like I don't have half the magical potential Onee-sama has, the rest of the Directive Council of the Association thought we needed a heiress who actually could, you know, take care of magical stuff in the future. Since my power is smaller and doesn't lend itself to abuse as much as Onee-sama's, they chose to tell me."
"How did your father let that to happen?" Roberta asked. "From what I've gathered, he's been quite adamant about keeping Konoka-sama in the dark..."
"Yeah, that's why the Directive Council told me behind his back," Honoka matter-of-factly said. "Daddy was very upset, but the Council can do that with enough votes, you know. But don't get the wrong idea!" she proudly said, with a hand on her flat chest. "I may be no Onee-sama, but I'm very strong too!"
"S-Seriously? How much?" Negi blinked.
Honoka narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you doubting my word, Negi-sensei? For shame, for shame, insulting a lady in her own home..."
"I, I wasn't trying to insult you, sorry!" he said, blushing and waving his hands before him. "I only wanted to see, well, how impressive the power of the Kansai Association must be!"
"Ho ho ho, a flatterer too, how shameless..." Honoka playfully said, with two fingers on her tiny smug smirk, and Chisame decided she liked this little sister less than Iinchou's. From Ayaka's frown, she seemed to think likewise, too. "Well, I'd take you outside to show you, but right now Mom will have guards all around the house, so..."
"And," Ayaka tensely asked, "why can't you give us a sample in here, Honoka-chan?"
"Because I like this room and don't want to see it destroyed," Honoka said, "and because Onee-sama likes you, and she wouldn't want to see you destroyed by my incredible power, either. That's why, Iinchou-han."
"Uwaaaaa..." an already impressed Negi said, while Chisame, Misa and Ayaka failed to be that impressed themselves. No wonder this kid was just all mouth...
Erebus was nodding, however. "Yes, you wouldn't wan to burn down another building, would you. Even though the last time was totally not your fault."
Honoka blinked at him. "How do you know about that?" she said in surprise.
In another universe, Harry Dresden sneezed.
Blah blah blah, Loli techno goddess of the future girl shows up to save her long sister, kisses motor maniac downtrodded college boy as part of ellaborate gambit, is kissed by gun toting Baka super gymnast girl as well. Loli techno goddess of the future girl doesn't really like gun toting Baka super gymnast girl all that much.
Blah blah blah, adorable boy mage kisses gorgeous blond rich heiress girl, spunky and father-obsessed basketball player girl, freckled and bespectacled nervous college girl, kidnapped unknowing White Mage girl and obsessed super swordsmaster girl to defeat magical renegade kidnapper woman with unexplored tragic past and her giant badass demon, just like you would.
Blah blah blah, magical renegade kidnapper woman with unexplored tragic past and her giant badass demon are defeated.
Blah blah blah, older and stronger doppelgangers from an alternate and better written dimension go back home.
Tokyo.
She kept her hands together before the fire as she muttered the words with feverish urgency, her eyes closed. She was completely alone in the penthouse, standing in the middle of her small private shrine, the place where she practiced the arts her grandfather had secretly taught her, and more. Father would never understand or approve, but she felt it was something she had to do.
The wound in her forearm still ached, even as thin lines of dripping blood slowly flowed into the fire, offering the last thing needed for the ritual's completion. The young woman finished the invocation, and then the whole room exploded into a maelstrom of light, blowing the fire out in a second, even as the astrological sign of Mars briefly appeared in the middle of the dying flames.
The girl's heart jumped. She had done it. Her excitement only grew as she saw the human figure materializing before her where the fire had been moments before. It was short in stature, perhaps even slightly shorter than Rei herself, but body size often mattered little in the making of myths and legends. She paid no attention to the smoking hole in her roof; all of her attention was fixed on the shape she could now recognize as that of a woman, standing straight under the pale moonlight that shone through the roof's hole.
And then Hino Rei's resolve briefly faltered, suddenly attacked by confusion and uncertainty.
For before her stood no imposing, impossibly beautiful armed female warrior, but a dutiful looking girl with glasses and light short hair, which fell in bangs that hid most of her cute rather than gorgeous pale face. She wore a simply gray ensemble fitting the lowly intern of a large corporation, complete with a long skirt, a long open jacket over her blouse, and ugly black shoes.
Her voice was softer and quieter than what one would expect from a larger than life heroine as she finally spoke. "I-I am called Shielder. Please tell me, you who stand before me; would you happen to be my Master?"
"Yes," the shorter female answered after a short pause, her large violet eyes squinting under the accentuating curves of her slim eyebrows. "I have purposefully summoned you in this dark hour, to help me accomplish my goals and hold the Holy Grail in my hands. I'm Hino Rei. What is your true name?"
And she humbly bowed to Rei. "I'm sorry. I'm not sure this information will be useful at all for you, Master. My birth name is Mashu Kyrielight, but if you wish so, you can just call me Shielder from now on and to the end of this Holy Grail War."
"You don't carry a shield," Hino dubiously replied, before kicking herself inside. It obviously had to be her Noble Phantasm summon, although that still wouldn't explain why she couldn't recognize that name. This Servant obviously had to be lying...
"Actually, Master, I do," Shielder grimly, but still softly, said, as she brought her hands ahead together, and then another incredibly intense burst of overwhelming light briefly blinded Rei again...
When Rei could look at Shielder again, while the girl's physical appearance remained the same, her attire had changed greatly. Her glasses were gone, and so were her baggy, unremarkable clothes, replaced by a form hugging black ensemble of body armor that actually showed off a lot of her curvaceous, surprisingly well-stacked physique, complete with tall boots. Oddly depressing for Rei, she now could see her Servant was actually far bustier than she was herself.
In her hand she now held a gigantic thick shield that looked like someone had taken a massive dark table apart and started carrying it around for protection. It was easily bigger than either young woman, and almost touched Rei's ceiling. That in itself was no shock, as most Servants were alleged to be superhumanly strong regardless of size.
"Well," Rei softly said, trying to keep her cool composure, "I am now fully convinced."
The Servant nodded sparsely. "That's good to hear, Master." Then she looked around for signs of anyone else. "Tell me, Master, is your lack of company a temporary matter, or should I expect company briefly?"
"I live alone here. Mother died long ago, and Father spends most of his time overseas," Rei began to explain. "He has many influences, so I have permission for that. However, shortly, we will be moving to Mahora, where the War will take place in this cycle according to the signs."
"Mahora Academy?" the Shielder asked in a short breath, as if recognizing the name.
"Do you know it?"
"Only by name. It was an... important site of supernatural activity in my time, but I never heard of it ever hosting a Grail War. Fuyuki City—"
"Fuyuki City is no more, don't concern yourself too much about it," Rei said, unsure of what to do next. The books weren't exactly clear on what to do between the summoning and the battles. And Western magecraft wasn't exactly her forte. "So, um, I took the liberty of preparing a bedroom for you. You must be tired, after all that effort to manifest yourself into this world..."
"Thanks, but I'm not tired, and even if I were, I would only need to rest in an incorporeal state."
"Right. Well, hungry, then? I'm not a great cook, but I have some leftovers from dinner..."
"I don't have need for physical meals anymore, but thank you for your hospitality either way, Master," the short haired girl bowed her head deeply. From her manners, it was clear she was well used to bowing to others. That was slightly stranger coming from someone supposed to hold great power but not exactly untold either, Rei thought.
"Oh, it's nothing..." the teenager said. "W-Well, do you prefer fish, or chicken...?"
Blah blah blah, badass old demon who destroyed adorable boy mage's hometown shows up to wreck shit up and kidnap lots of naked girls.
Blah blah blah, adorable boy mage kisses dark skinned taciturn Loli nun girl and serious cheerleader with crush on God girl to kick the ass of badass old demon who destroyed adorable boy mage's hometown, just like you would.
Blah blah blah, badass old demon who destroyed adorable boy mage's hometown gets his ass kicked.
Blah blah blah, bubbly Idiot Savant uber hot princess from outer space girl kisses boyfriend of hyperactive martial artist bisexual mangaka girl.
The man was truly gigantic, a mass of grotesque muscle wielding a massive slab of rock that was to the sword what the rock is to the bullet. It was easily twice as big as Illya herself. Chisame guessed that had to be her Servant, although he did not look at all like the Dark Knight Kuro had spoken about while mentioning her 'sister's' Servant. Still, he definitely gave a matching sense of threat and undiluted power, and even the often stupidly brave Negi could not blame Emiya-san for freezing in place where he stood, one of his hands tightly wrapped around one of Saber's wrists.
While Tohsaka cursed under her breath and swiftly shook some gems out of her sleeves, expertly rolling them between her fingers, the blond woman simply stood defiantly in an expert stance and as if holding some manner of invisible or imaginary weapon between her hands. With a mere shrug, she had allowed the long coat drop off herself, momentarily revealing to be a pair of skimpy shorts, a nigh-microscopic top, very high stockings and some shoes before there was a blaze of light, and when she was visible again she wore a long regal blue dress with armored plates all over it, plus heavy, thick gloves of matching armor.
Chisame was instantly jealous at how modest and lacking in nudity her transformation sequence was.
It hardly looked like the most comfortable outfit to fight in, Negi dimly thought before his full attention returned to Illyasviel, who had shifted around so she sat cross legged on a shoulder of the giant.
"Illya-san," the younger boy said. "Why are you here? It can't be to hurt me, since otherwise you'd have done it the first time we met..."
"Do you know her?" Saber coolly asked him, her eyes still fixed on the titan who fumed at her like a mad bull waiting to be released.
Negi had to nod slowly. "Not too much, but yes... We have crossed paths once before. And her Servants looks… vaguely familiar for some reason. But—"
"That's not all, I also happened to meet your little girlfriend back at London," Illya mischievously said, eyes narrowing and smirk growing. "Spirited young lady, I actually liked her a lot! Better make sure she won't ever become your grieving widow!"
"Girlfriend?" Ayaka coldly asked, her hand briefly stopping in the task of pulling her Pactio card out. "Widow?!"
"Anya?" Negi gasped, his hand reaching for his staff without even fully realizing it. "You... You didn't do anything to Anya, did you?"
"Why is she the first girl to come to your mind when someone talks about your girlfriend?" Misora asked pointedly.
"How many other people does he know who lives at London, dumbass?" Chisame sizzled at her. "Seriously, do you think this really is the moment to be thinking of that crap?!"
"I said I liked her, didn't I?" the tiny albino asked back, smirk dissolving. "As for you, I won't make such promises just yet. First I have to see if you're indeed a worthy brother of mine. I can tell, however, someone else isn't."
"Wow," Makie blinked. "So that's your little sis, Negi-kun? I like her, she's cute! The added edge only makes her cuter! So we've found one of the sisters your dad was talking about…"
"She is n—" Negi began, then bit his tongue as it clearly was unwise to provoke the obvious prodigy Magus with a Servant at her beck and call. "Illya-san, please listen, let's be reasonable here, I'm not sure what have you heard about us, but—"
Illya's gaze drifted towards Shirou, who was coming back to himself enough as to now try and pull Saber back with himself, and completely fail at doing so. "Although," the small girl added, completely ignoring Negi now, "I wasn't expecting for this boy to be able to summon a Servant himself, and of the Saber class, no less. I see Father might have been able to teach him something after all. Well," she said, leaping down to land on her booted feet on the sidewalk, scaring Misa further, and then pulling the edges of the skirt up a bit, enough as to properly accompany her subtle bowing in a cutesy curtsy, "now we'll see exactly how much! Berserker! Kill that ugly Servant!"
Then there was a roar, not unlike that of a huge beast from long gone eras, something that might have haunted the nightmares of the first men and women in a young world, something that chilled Negi, Keiichi, Rito and Shirou to their very cores, and made Madoka, Misora, Sora and Ai shriek while covering their ears. Itoshiki yawned and drew out his ruler.
And then, in a blink, before any of them could truly react past the primal dread or awe that roar elicited from them, the massive titan was charging at them with incredible speed, so fast as a matter of fact only one of them could react to it. That was Saber, who similarly charged forward, leaving Emiya's hand suddenly holding nothing but air, and ducking under the first mace swing of the colossus, striking with her invisible or imaginary (Negi dearly hoped for the former) weapon at the muscular midsection of the Berserker.
And Negi could literally feel the shockwaves of the clash making the ground rattle under his feet. He hadn't seen such display of power since Kyoto; even the mountain of a man known only as Walter who had fought Kotaro recently seemed to be nothing compared to the raw aura of power literally emanating from this behemoth, who didn't even flinch at the obviously also very powerful direct attack Saber had directed at his granitic body.
Instead of expressing any pain or being set back at all, the Berserker simply swatted Saber aside like a fly, sending her crashing against a wall. "SABER!" Shirou cried, trying to rush for her, before Negi, still mostly reacting instinctively, held him from behind, pulling him back before the taller young man could advance.
"Oh crap!" Rin backed away further on agile legs, readying her magic and commanding Avenger in a whisper to hold himself back just yet. She suspected his apparition in the middle of this particular situation could only cause more chaos and worsen things, rather than actually helping any. She could hear his faint growl of frustration, but he obviously didn't dare disobey her yet, since one moment later the puff of purple smoke still failed to manifest itself.
Negi steeled himself, breathing as deeply as he could. He could feel the nervous gazes of his team, all on him, as they tensely waited for his reaction, their cue of what to do. Well, all but Lala-san, who only stared in wide eyed fascination at Berserker's display of raw power, no doubt scheming to end up studying him under a microscope eventually. And maybe even literally to boot.
So. That was what leadership truly felt like. He wasn't all too sure he liked that feeling just yet. It was very different, despite the surface similarities, to what he felt in his comfortable role as a teacher.
For all he knew, he would be very outmatched here, in this conflict between legendary heroes whose recognition dwarfed even that of his father. In fact, he was practically sure of it. As for his team, they didn't have Setsuna, Asuna and Haruka, their strongest hitters, or Konoka, their healer, and they were too far to be summoned, not that he wanted to endanger them as well in the first place anyway.
Still, he couldn't just stand back and simply let that happen as he did nothing but watching.
"Rastel Ma Scir Magister..." he began to softly chant under his breath...
"Bure bure bure bure..." Itoshiki joined him, since after all he could recognize a golden chance to die whenever he saw it.
Blah blah blah, hero wannabe ginger boy kisses super mega hyper powerful King Arthur girl to win War between all of mankind's greatest heroes and villains and gain control over cursed cup overflowing with all of world's evils, just like you would.
And that's where our story starts now.
To be Continued.
