Negima Remix
Chapter 2: First Day; Cover Blown
Head Master's Office
A few moments later, they arrived at the door to the headmaster's office and were quickly ushered inside by his secretary. The headmaster, who was an elderly gentleman with an unusually peanut shaped head and white gray hair, seemed to be already aware of the trio's arrival and as they walked in, he directed for the three boys to come and stand in front of his desk, Asuna and Konoka standing a little bit behind the three, on either side.
"It is good to see you arrived here safely Negi, Seiji, and you as well Lazarus. Did you experience any problems on the way?", the Headmaster asked the newest members of his staff.
For a moment Negi's mind flicked back to various incidents on the journey, most of all, the almost brief kiss with Asuna. Negi shook his head as he answered, "No sir, it was relatively uneventful." Seiji thought back for a moment for any problems, aside from the fact that his mother wouldn't stop hugging him, Negi, and Laz goodbye. He shrugged, "Nope, can't think of a bad moment at all." Laz simply replied, "It was…enjoyable."
The Head Master simply smiled, "That's good to hear, now as to your duties…" Of course Asuna chose this moment to cut in once again.
"Headmaster please, tells me this is a mistake or a joke.", she asked the Head Master with a pleading look on her face. The headmaster turned his attention away from the three new arrivals for a moment, seemingly unfazed by her outburst. Seiji was right as he thought; her actions were in direct contradiction to what he or Negi had learned about Japanese society, yet it seemed that she was treated as a special case. Perhaps that is something the two of them would find out in more detail later…
The Head Master merely shrugged, "If you wish, but it would be lying." He then turned to Negi and asked, "So 'Professor', your teaching post should be quite a challenge in your training, eh?" Negi was very conscious of the double meaning of his statement, of the impact that this assignment would have both on his career as a teacher and as a future Magi.
Negi bowed and replied seriously, "Yes sir, I'll do my best." The Elder's face hardened slightly at the young mage's words, his eyes fixing on the boy with a firm gaze.
"Do better than that."
"Yes sir.", Negi said when he stood up like a soldier.
He then shoveled some papers as he announced, "You'll student teach until March, after that we will review your performance, understood?" The young man nodded in response, "Yes sir." The Head Master smiled as he decided to mess with the boys for a moment, "Good. Now, if you two are in need of a girlfriend during your time here my granddaughter is currently single."
Konoka was flushed with embarrassment as she playfully bonked her grandfather on the head, "Grandfather!"
"Headmaster!", Asuna shouted in a mad tone. Brushing off the tone, the Head Master decided not to play around for the moment and stated seriously, "Now, Negi, aside from Seiji, you understand that if you fail, there'll be no second chances. Understand?"
Negi knew all to well the reality of the threat behind his words, "inescapably, sir. If I fail…except I won't. That's all. I won't fail." Seiji smiled at his friend's determination at this and knew that Negi always kept his word. The Head Master's expression softened slightly as the boys saw a sparkle of amusement in his eyes. He chuckled at this as he stated, "Just what I expected to hear. We'll start you off today; your advisor will be Shizuna-sensei. Shizuna, you may come in now."
From the door to my left a woman's voice emerged. "Yes sir."
The three boys turned their heads to get a look at the person who would be Negi's advisor during his time as a teacher. She was a woman around her twenties, with long flowing ice blue hair, wearing a turtleneck shirt, brown skirt, and at once, the two noticed her rather large 'assets'. Of course, being the gentleman they were, the two immediately raised their gaze to meet hers, an action that earner the two a small glimmer of respect in the woman's eyes.
"Hello, you must be the famed Negi.", Shizuna spoke to him with a smile. She then looked to Seiji and Laz and spoke out with another smile, "and you must be Seiji Crevantes, the newly assigned Assistant Librarian. You must also be Lazarus Crevantes, the younger brother." Seiji nearly went into tears of joy the moment someone got the age of the brothers right.
"Shizuna is the head school nurse of Mahora Academy. As of late, she has been kept abreast of the situation.", the Head Master quipped. Negi and company couldn't help but grimace slightly at the headmaster's attempted humor.
"So, any questions?", she asked with a wink that made Negi faltered for a moment. He shook his head in a negative, "N-no Shizuna-sensei." Seiji however, joked by asking, "Can I have a cookie, though? I'm famished after the flight." Negi nearly scolded his best buddy, only to have a lot of laughter until it halted as they had
She nodded at him in approval and he turned to leave when the headmaster then called out for Seiji. "Oh Seiji, I almost forgot…beginning your duties as Assistant Librarian, you and Laz wont be alone on this job.", he stated giving Seiji a reason for his eyebrow to go up, "Miss Myazaki is also one of the main Librarians of the Library club. She's been in the library and Library Island for so long, she knows where everything is." Seiji went squinty eyed there for a minute as he thought, 'Sounds like a regular nerd if you ask me. I wonder if she looks the part.'
The Head Master then stated, "Well, that should be it….oh also, if you're looking for lodging…" Seiji interrupted him, "Thanks, but me and Laz have found somewhere in the forest district of the school." The head master was a little surprised at this but shook his head in approval as Seiji left the room, accompanied by Laz as they began their duties for the library.
"Oh, there is one more thing I forgot to inform you of." The Head Master stated catching the other's attention, "Konoka, Asuna-chan, as we are presently very short on space, Negi will be rooming with the two of you. A spare futon will be delivered tomorrow, for now I suggest you provide space for him on your couch." Konoka seemed to be okay with it, but Negi and Asuna went wide eyed as Asuna got even angrier than before.
"What! I…he…you…", Asuna shouted as she tried to make sense of tis situation. She already didn't like this guy, now he was going to bunk with her and Konoka? There was no telling what he'd do in there, all alone in their rooms. It was completely unacceptable for her. Negi didn't dare face Asuna; he could already feel the force of her gaze boring into the back of his head. Before she could compose herself sufficiently to launch into the verbal tirade, he knew was coming, Konoka spoke up, "Ok." "Good, then it's settled.", the Head Master said with a smile on his bearded face. The three left the office in silence as Shizuna-sensei led the way to the classroom, 3-A, Asuna and Konoka trailing behind.
As they walked Konoka had moved forward to speak with Shizuna-sensei, leaving him standing beside Asuna. She was poignantly ignoring Negi, turning her head away from him as we walked. Suddenly, he felt her gaze on him and turned to find each other eye-to-eye. Obviously unsettled by our close proximity she stepped back, her face-hardened slightly before she shouted at me.
She growled at Negi almost as if she was some kind of animal, "If I so much as catch you looking at me when I'm in bed, in the shower, or even getting dressed or undressed, I'll send you and your friends flying back to Wales…without a plane or parachutes."
She stormed off, Konoka trailing behind trying in vain to appease her wrath. For a moment Negi just stood there, forcing himself to be calm; he was sure that before this is over he and Asuna were going to butt heads more times than before. He resumed walking, along side Shizuna-sensei once again. She took notice of the look on his face and simply stated, "Don't worry, Negi…you'll get used to her. We all did as time went by." Negi grimaced, almost as if he had a stomach ache, "I certainly hope so…I hope I live long enough for that to happen."
Room 3-A
They walked perhaps another thirty yards or so before stopping outside a classroom. Above the door was a sign reading 3-A. Shizuna then stated happily, "This is your classroom Negi; your students should all be inside." She pulled a small book from under her arm and handed it to him, "This is your student list; Takahata-sensei asked me to pass it on to you." Negi took it with no hesitation, "Thank you…if I might ask something?"
"Yes?", Shizuna asked with curiosity as he whispered, "Are they all like Asuna?" She smiled and giggled at his question as she stated while she chuckled, "A few of them are but they are the exceptions rather than the rule; I'm sure you'll be fine." Negi took a big gulp as he looked in the classroom window and saw thirty girls of all shapes and sizes. To him they were all pretty and beautiful for girls their age. Different hair color, and skin color, and different ages as he saw three little ones who looked around ten years old, one silver haired pale skinned girl with eerie green eyes. And two pink haired twins who almost looked the same except for the different hair styles.
Negi gulped, 'Well, Negi Springfield…here goes nothing.'
Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and stepped inside…only to have an eraser fall on his head. Or it would have if it hadn't been for his magic kicking in by instinct and causing it to float for a moment before he caught it in my hand. The girls stared in awe at the boy's presence, but it was Asuna, who stared in shock as she saw the eraser floating for only a moment. Not because of who it was, but because of what he did. 'That eraser…floated…only for a moment.' she stated in her mind in disbelief.
Negi was about to move forward when he noticed at the last second, something pressing against his leg as he walked forward. I looked down to find a trip wire there. Unfortunately, he didn't respond to his instincts quickly enough as he was sent stumbling across the floor with two suction cup darts shot into his butt and a bucket lodged onto his head as he came stumbling and crashing into his desk. As he slowly got up, he noted the looks of surprise on the faces of the majority of his students.
"Good morning class.", he simply stated as he brushed himself off, got the darts and bucket off him, and stood up straight and smiled in front of them. At first, there was no reaction, just silent stares of confusion. Then, as everything came to focus, poor Negi was mobbed by half of the class as they squealed and giggled. They complimented him on saying he was so cute and such.
"Geez, I though our new teacher was supposed to be arriving today?", a beautiful blonde girl, around Negi's age and had beautiful green eyes asked as she kneeled down and helped him up. Negi looked to Shizuna-sensei for support, not knowing what to do in the face of this verbal assault.
She waved in defense and to lead the girls back to their desks, "Girls, please calm down." She then placed a reassuring hand on Negi's shoulder and she smiled, "This is Negi-sensei; he will be your teacher for the next semester. Please take your seats while he introduces himself." The girls looked surprised as they all sat down and heard this piece of information. She turned to him, giving Negi a 'go ahead' look. Still feeling a little nervous, he cleared his throat before introducing himself.
"My name is Negi Springfield.", he stated with a welcoming smile, "As Shizuna-sensei explained, I will be your English professor for the third semester. And I…uh…look forwards to teaching you all I can." When he finished his introduction, there was a deep an abiding silence for a moment. After that, the girls ran up to him, and the questions erupted forth once again.
"Hey! You got a girlfriend?", a redhead girl with a ponytail that stuck up like pineapple leaves asked with a microphone. Negi recognized her as Asakura Kazumi, reporter for the School Newspaper. He had learned the students' names from the voucher that Takamichi had given him when he first came in.
"Well, no.", Negi replied.
"How old are you?", a girl with short pink hair with two tiny ponytails on top her head. Negi deduced she was Makie Sasaki, gymnastic in the gymnastic club.
"Fifteen…and a half.", he simply stated to her.
"Where are you from?", she asked again with the other girls nodding for an answer.
"Wales.", he stated, feeling a little uncomfortable with all the girls nearly closing in on him for a hug.
"Whales? You mean your mom's a whale?", a girl with light orange hair tied up in two ponytails on her head and two small braided pigtails. He deduced on this girl was Sakurako Shiina, one of the three girls to the Mahora Cheerleader squad.
"Yes, that's…no!", he stated as he was caught off guard by that question in particular. One of them walked over to Shizuna-sensei before asking calmly. Her name was Chisame Hasegawa; she had long light brown hair tied in a ponytail and had bottle glasses on, "This is a joke, right?" "No.", Shizuna answered as she nodded.
"He's really our teacher? But he's our age?", asked another girl with short ice blue hair and light brown eyes. Her name was Ako Izumi, member of the Soccer team, and an assistant nurse.
"He must be really intelligent.", Sakurako said in amazement. "Say something intelligent, cutie."
Blushing like a tomato it was hard enough control his embarrassment. The girls he was supposed to teach were hitting on him from left to right. Thankfully Shizuna-sensei came to my rescue once again, "That's enough ladies. He's you teacher, he should be respected not pawed. Now please settle down."
"Yes ma'am.", they all said in unison as they went to their respective seats. Of course Negi's relief was only temporary as he was suddenly grabbed by his collar and yanked face to face with Asuna. She gave him a hard stare as she stated and asked, "That eraser floated before you caught it, what 'weird' thing did you do to it?"
Negi paled as he realized that Asuna had seen him perform his little spell to stop the eraser. H decided to play dumb before she got any further, "Moi?" "Save your fancy Greek words!", she yelled as she shook him to try to force the truth out of him. There were various cries of protest from other girls in the class, not that Asuna was listening to any of them.
"Whoa! Everybody just whoa! Now rein it in before you bust our little bronco.", a voice was heard from around the class.
It was the same blonde girl with the green eyes. Negi spotted her and finally deduced that she was Ayaka Yukihiro, 2-A's class representative. She turned to Asuna next, fixing her with a cool gaze, "Put him down Asuna, I don't really care if you want to make a fool of yourself but I won't let you bring down the rest of the class along with you." It was kind of weird, but Negi almost noticed a background of flowers spring up from behind her.
Asuna turned to look at the girl with an angry glare, "Back off Ayaka."
Ayaka just smirked as she flipped her hair, "I hear Negi-sensei is an Oxford educated genius, which makes him more qualified than anyone here, especially you.", she finished with a smirk to Asuna.
Asuna grind her teeth as she heard that last part, "What did you say?" She released her grip on Negi to go head to head with Ayaka. "You heard me you baka.", Ayaka shot back. "Goody goody!", Asuna replied as she and Ayaka grabbed each others collars. "Is that your best comeback? Humph, I shouldn't have expected much from someone who's into senior citizens.", Ayaka shot back, using Asuna's only weakness. A vein popped on to Asuna's head as she yelled, "What! You shut up about him!"
"Well Takahata-sensei is around thirty after all.", Ayaka merely shrugged in response, not being phased one bit.
As the girls continued fighting, Negi found himself growing increasingly worried. Shizuna-sensei was right there watching this fight, if he doesn't do something soon he'd get written up. But also at the same time, his own temper flared up as a vein popped onto Negi's forehead.
"STOP THIS NOW, BOTH OF YOU!", he shouted, causing a tiny gust to unknowingly blew in the room.
At once, both girls stopped fighting to look at Negi, identical expressions of surprise on their faces. Without further incident they returned to their seats, Asuna still fuming visibly but at least now she was doing it silently. he received an appreciative look from Shizuna-sensei before she bid the young man farewell, leaving the class in his capable hands.
The lesson started off well, Negi began writing the day's lesson on the board. Asuna wasn't giving up; she was definitely sure that Negi had done something to that eraser. So she would prove it again by flinging little bits of her eraser at an amazing speed and aim. All of a sudden, Negi sensed danger and quickly ducked to the side. A small rock bounced off the board where I had been standing before dropping onto the floor. Thinking nothing of it, he decided not to arouse suspicion and allowed the rocks to hit him. He continued to write only to get decked a number of other times as subsequent rocks pinged off the blackboard. By the time the lesson was over there was quite a pile at the foot of the blackboard; someone really had been determined to hit him more than once.
Ayaka got up form her desk and asked with concern, "Negi-sensei, are you alright?" Negi turned around while rubbing the back of his head, "I think there are some rock hard mosquitoes around here." Ayaka got up and walked to Negi, and whispered in his ear that it was Asuna. She went on and on about her being as violent during her time growing up here in the school. Negi listened but saw Asuna overhear all this as she fumed and burned with rage at Ayaka. He could tell she was trying to hold back her temper as much as she didn't want to.
When finally turned round to dismiss the class, he noticed that Asuna was fuming even more than before; most likely she had been the one throwing them at me. Another trial to my patience but one I will accept gladly. The class filed out and I started to leave only to be intercepted by Takamichi. He asked, "How'd the class go?" Negi was about to reply when Asuna tackled him from behind.
"Negi-sensei, thanks again for teaching us. I love this guy, Takahata-sensei.", she said with a fake smile, fooling Takamichi in the process. He smiled in response. "It's nice to know your supporting him, Asuna, I appreciate it. It's good to know that Negi has found a nice responsible girlfriend."
Although Takahata seemed to not care to notice, but neither guy didn't have to see it to know her jaw dropped at that last statement. Negi was sure that she would have been vehemently denying it had it not been for the fact she was currently going into shock.
"Ok, I have some other things to take care off. Be good you two.", with that he departed leaving a still shocked Asuna wrapped around Negi's shoulders. She finally recovered enough to move round so she was standing in front of him and proceeded to grab me by the collar once again.
"You…you…why didn't you tell him?", she growled as she tried to get a response out of him. "Tell him what?", Negi asked completely clueless. She bellowed as she yelled at him, "That we are most definitely not a couple! I would never date someone like you!"
"And why not?", Negi asked slightly confused at this.
Asuna was a little taken back by that as she tried to come up with a reason for it. "Because…", she tried to answer, but Negi simply replied, "Because? You're into older men rather than guys your own age?" She was caught off guard form that, "Yes! No! Damn you!", she stated, now getting fed up with this conversation as she let him go before she nearly threw him into a wall.
She ran off, leaving him standing in the hall, feeling a little guilty about what he had done. In truth she had it coming but still he felt he had been rather cruel of to act like that. When he had the time, he'd have to try and make it up to her later.
Mahora Library
The halls, walls, and shelves in the library were filled with books and books that went on for what felt like miles. Swamps, cascades, gardens of books; it would be a librarians' paradise. This was what Seiji had felt he had been in once he entered the building for his first day as Assistant Librarian. Almost immediately at this time, he was sitting on one of the high stepping ladders, alphabetizing the History section.
Meanwhile, one of the girls from Negi's class was coming down for their usual drop off from their checkouts. She was a girl around fifteen, dressed in the school's uniform, wearing a dark brown coat with a blue scarf, due to the weather. She had short bluish purple hair with two bangs on the sides, but it covered her eyes, and had a small curly antenna on top. This girl was Nodoka Myazaki, member of the Library Club, committee, and Librarian. She had just finished putting her books in the return desk and went to find some more. It was then that she was greeted by a girl with long flowing dark hair that almost shimmered green, with two little antenna on top, and wore glasses. Her name was Haruna Saotome, Member of the Library Exploration club, Manga Club, and one of Nodoka's friends.
She greeted her friend with one of her traditional back whacks, "Hey, Nodoka! How's it hanging?" Nodoka slightly recovered from her back assault and smiled nervously, "Um, it's great so far." They had walked into the library halls to look for a few books that Nodoka was interested in finding out on. They had already found five of the fifteen that Nodoka needed and were on the search for the other ten. That's when Haruna asked, "So have you heard? We've got a new assistant librarian, and boy, like our teacher, he's a hottie." Nodoka froze up as she asked, "H-H-H-He?"
Haruna, completely oblivious to her friend's startled nature, nodded and went on as they walked down. "Yeah, he's around the same age as Negi-sensei. He's got dark skin and blonde hair like Ku Fei. And he has the most gorgeous green eye's you've ever seen. I think he might be emancipated seeing as how he and a relative of his is living on campus." Nodoka was getting nervous just thinking about a boy working in the one place she found sanctuary from boys. It was then that the two of them bumped into a big obstacle in their path, nearly causing them to drop their books.
They looked up and saw a big fellow wearing black dress pants, a black vest, white shirt with a turtleneck collar, and black shoes and gloves. His skin was dark tanned and had short red spiky hair with a few bangs dangling on the front, and two Light Blue eyes. He was tall and muscular as he looked down on the two girls with a dead pan look on his face, much like their classmate, Chachamaru. Nodoka was in a nervous state as Haruna just smiled, "Hey! You must be Seiji Crevantes, the new Assistant Librarian." She then shook the slightly confused fellow's hand as she went on, "I know we haven't met before but we're with the Library club, so we'll be seeing much of each other." But before he could say anything, she then introduced herself and her friend, "I'm Haruna Saotome, head of the Manga Club. And the shy girl over here's my buddy, Nodoka Myazaki, Librarian and Member of the Library club." Nodoka merely and shyly waved to Laz, "uh…hi."
It was then that Laz spoke out to correct this mistake, "I'm sorry…but I'm not Seiji Crevantes. I'm Laz Crevantes, the younger brother." Haruna quest only gazed and asked, "But how can you be the youngest if you look around seventeen?" Nodoka then had enough courage to ask, "Um, so if you're his brother….do you know where the real Seiji Crevantes is?" He nodded as another figure popped up from behind Laz, "Hey, did someone ask for me?" Haruna and Nodoka saw a boy that matched Haruna's description of Seiji and there he was. Haruna smiled with joy knowing they had the real Seiji in sight, while Nodoka shyly stepped back.
Seiji smiled as he walked up to them and said hi to the two girls, as Haruna made her introductions again. It was then that when she said their names, Seiji was surprised at this turn of events. 'That girl with the bangs over her eyes is Nodoka Myazaki?', he thought as he looked at her, which caused her to shyly look away in worry, 'she's not anything I pictured; she's really cute.' He smiled as he walked up to Nodoka, extending his hand for a handshake, "I guess you and I will be working together, Nodoka-chan."
Nodoka blushed from embarrassment as he called her 'chan', and in fear as he was close to her. Letting her fear get the better of her, she ran away with her books in hand for the nearest exit out of there. Seiji and Laz questionably stared at the turn of events as she disappeared as Haruna went to go find her. But before she did, she turned to Seiji and replied, "Don't worry about that, for Nodoka it's normal to do that. You see she has a fear of men." With that said, she left the two there as Seiji asked himself, "She's afraid of guys?" He sighed as he said to Laz, "I guess working here is going to be tougher than I thought if I need to ask her for advice."
Later On
The day plodded on after that and when it finally ended Negi and Seiji were finally but rather glad. The two of them headed outside, meeting at the water fountain in the center of the Academy's plaza. They sat down as they both went on and on about what happened today for their first time at work. Negi had told him about the events in his classroom and Seiji answered, "Man, I'm glad you held back. If that Demon, Asuna, found out about what you were, you'd be an ermine headed for home."
Negi sighed as he stated, "yeah tell me about it.", then he asked, "So you met with Nodoka, didn't you?" Seiji nodded as Negi concluded, "And she's afraid of boys? You sure are in a sticky wicket, aren't you?" Seiji nodded in disgust with himself; he was in a predicament if the girl he was told who could help him with his job was also afraid of him. He stopped worrying as Negi asked, "by the way, where's Laz?" Seiji answered as he saw Negi take out his voucher, "He's finding the material needed to build our house, Negi. By the way, are you okay with the fact that you have to bunk with Asuna?"
He didn't get an answer but looked over Negi's shoulder and saw that he drew on Asuna's picture. He drew devil horns on his head as he spoke out loud, "Let's call this payback." Seiji then replied, "If she finds that when you have it open, it'll be the devil to pay." Negi turned and smirked, "And pray that she doesn't." as they were about to head towards where they would meet Laz, Seiji spotted the one girl that he would have trouble getting along with in the future. Nodoka Myazaki.
Negi stopped and saw what Seiji was looking at, and noticed Nodoka. She was walking down the stairs in front of the school carrying a pile of books. Negi was the one to point out, "that load looks a little too much for her." Seiji nodded in agreement, "Yeah, if she loses her balance…" as luck would have it after he said that, she toppled only for a moment later.
Knowing that neither boy couldn't make it in time, Seiji ran forward in an attempt to try and help her anyway. However, they had something planned as Negi summoned his staff, but Asuna was walking around nearby as she stopped and saw the whole thing. 'What are those idiots doing?', she looked and saw Nodoka, or Bookworm falling and screaming in fear. She was about to rush in but she saw Seiji rush towards her, and saw Negi do something.
Using a small amount of wind magic, Negi was able to cause Seiji to accelerate towards the stair wall. As Seiji got close to it, he jumped at it but not before he clapped his hands together. Back flipping towards it, he landed near the stairwell, and placed his hands on the wall. Electric bolts shot out of where his hands were and traveled along and into the wall. Suddenly, as Nodoka came down, the wall suddenly bulged forward, creating a makeshift slide. Nodoka slid down the makeshift slide as Seiji ran towards the end of it and caught her in his arms. He skidded a little before he caught his balance as Negi ran towards them as Seiji laid Nodoka down to give her some air. He asked her even though she was slightly unconscious but mostly out of concern for her, "Are you alight?"
Before she could stir awake to give her a respond, an all too familiar voice cut in to catch the boys' attention.
"You…you're…"
The two turned around and looked up to see Asuna standing there; no doubt she had seen it all. Before anyone of them could say a word, after Nodoka slowly opened her eyes to see that she was being held by Seiji. She whispered, 'Seiji?' Suddenly, Asuna ran up grabbed hold of both of their hands and pulled the two away from Nodoka as she woke up and saw the three, off into the trees. Once they were out of sight, she grabbed them both by the collar for the umpteenth time today and shouted in their faces.
"You made him speed across the ground and then fly off it! I saw it!", she then turned to Seiji as she yelled out, "And you!...you did something to the stair walls! You made it into some kind of slide"
The two boys paled at this, but tried to cover it up as Negi tried to cover up, "That's ridic-" She cut him off before he or Seiji could finish, "You guys did that to soften her fall so Tan-boy here could catch her! How?"
"I…um…", Seiji tried to answer but couldn't come up with an answer as Asuna went on. "Admit it! You guys are some kind of psychics, aliens, or some kind of evil mutants! Aren't you?"
"No, that's just ridiculous, I'm a wizard, okay?", Negi replied. Seiji sighed in defeat as he spilled the beans as well, "And before you say anything, I'm not a wizard. I'm an Alchemist."
"Either way you're both weird.", Asuna stated absorbing this information. It was at that time she paused for a moment, seemingly lost in thought. For some reason the two had a bad feeling about it…
"Hey! You're the reason my dress blew off this morning! You pervert!", she screamed pointing at Negi with her free arms now that she let them both go. Negi waved in defense in order to calm her down, "It was an accident! Please don't tell anyone!" Asuna was fed up with this, "Like hell! I'm going to tell everyone!" But before she could get away, she heard that same clapping sound again and saw Seiji place his hands on the ground. The same energy surged on the ground and near her feet. Then suddenly, the ground underneath her feet liquefied long enough for her feet to sink in and solidify. She tried to budge her feet out but to no avail at it.
She shouted at them, "JUST WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TWO DOING?" The two boys looked calmly as Negi replied, holding his staff in front, "Seeing as how you've threatened to reveal our secret… I have no choice…but to erase your memory."
"What?", Asuna shouted in fear; she tried to break free but still to no avail. She tried to plea them to stop but they weren't listening. Negi began the incantation, summoning the spirits to erase her memory. Unfortunately, after he finished, it didn't go exactly as planned…
"Oh great Magic Spirits, hear me clear, make this girls memory…Disappear!"
What disappeared was not her memory but rather her clothes, except her jacket, socks and shoes, all the way down to her underwear as it too disappeared. Seiji, being completely caught off guard, he grabbed Negi in a chokehold as he yelled, "You idiot! You were supposed to erase her memory, not her clothes and underwear!" Negi apologized as he explained, "I'm sorry; I thought I spoke the spell out correctly." For a brief moment, before the two could turn away, Asuna shouted on the top of her lungs, while trying to cover herself with her arms and hands. "You…you…look what you did to my clothes! That's two uniforms you've ruined! I swear you better replace them or else!"
Thankfully she seems to be more upset about the loss of her clothing rather than the fact they both saw her naked. If they were very lucky, the two of them might actually get to walk away from this encounter nothing more than a little out of pocket…or they would have until Takamichi arrived on the scene. "Hey Negi…Seiji…I'm glad I found you guys. I was looking all over for you..." He took one look at them, and then one at the almost naked Asuna with her feet still stuck on the ground and trying to cover herself.
"Oh, sorry if I was interrupting…excuse me.", he said as he slightly sweat dropped, turned around, and walked away. For a moment there was nothing but silence…before a sorrowful cry erupted from in front of the two boys.
"NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Five Minutes Later
Asuna had managed to calm down as she saw Seiji step almost a few inches from her, knelt down and began to draw something on the solidified ground. She asked out of frustration due to the fact that he was close to her while she was naked, "What the hell are you doing?" Seiji didn't look up as he answered, "Be quiet! I have to concentrate while doing this…otherwise I might accidentally turn you into a Chimera…or worse." Asuna looked a little confused at this and turned to Negi, "He's drawing a Transmutation Circle, Miss Asuna."
"Transmute-what?", she asked. However, she then heard the clapping sound again and looked down. The circle Seiji had drawn was finished and glowing. Then suddenly, the materials that used to be Asuna's clothes and undergarments suddenly lit up and flew back on her body. And finally, a puff of smoke appeared, and as it cleared up, Asuna had seen that her clothes had been restored, as well as her feet been freed.
She was surprised at this as she asked, "Uh…how…how did you do that." Seiji simply replied, completely forgetting what had happened, "its Alchemy. Or in some cases, it's the Magic of Science. You see with magic there are no rules which bind them; though there are the spells and curses one must never perform. But in Alchemy, you must give something of equal value in order to obtain something else." He explained the basic law of Equivalent Exchange; in order to transmutation, the ability to change one thing into another, the output had to be equal to the input of the object. For instance, Asuna's school uniform, he could make it bigger, smaller, or make it into a ball gown.
It was then that after he mentioned the dress, she cried out, "OH NO, I JUST REMEMBERED THAT TAKAHATA-SENSEI SAW ME IN MY BIRTHDAY SUIT! I DOUBT EVEN YOUR MAGIC AND SO CALLED ALCHEMY COULD ERASE THAT!" Before the boys could try to help her out she yelled out, "Just what are you doing here anyway? Are you trying to ruin my life?"
Negi waved in defense, "I…I'm trying to be a…a Magister Magi." Asuna looked confused at this, but Negi explained that a Magister Magi was a sorcerer of higher level, that would go around helping people. They were considered like Guardian Angels. These days now they had to conceal their actions due to the world not believing in magic's existence being nothing more than a fairytale.
She looked to Seiji, but before she asked, he simply stated, "I'm here because I was assigned to by State Central." She looked confused, "State Central?" "Yeah,", Seiji said as he pointed to himself with his thumb, "Ya see…I'm a State Alchemist. The Full-Metal Alchemist." She raised an eyebrow, "Full-Metal?" He explained that was a nickname State Central, State Alchemist headquarters, were given due to what they were good at transmutating. He explained that the State Alchemists were a group of alchemists employed by the State Military. To be certified as a State Alchemist, they required a written test, verbal examination by three State Alchemists, and finally a demonstration of skill or presentation of research to a select group of high-ranking officers who judge the alchemist based on several criteria.
The competition is fierce, and only one or two alchemists are accepted each examination cycle. In addition to their rank and state titles, certified State Alchemists gain access to information on alchemy in the National Library at State Central (Wales' Capital), and gain access to state funding for experiments and research into alchemy. Some state alchemists are researchers; others have a more military role. Those involved purely in research do not necessarily wear military uniforms. The lowest rank giving to a State Alchemist after certification is the rank of "Major" or the equivalent of the rank, depending on the person's career.
Once they are accepted into the military, State Alchemists can be called on for several types of duty. Since State Alchemists have advanced knowledge in minerals and elements, they conduct inspections of land territories to determine whether or not the area has any valuable minerals. They also experiment with alchemic modifications and enhancements, which are usually utilized on the battlefield in times of war. But State Alchemists could be best thought of as an equivalent to the modern day Special Forces unit: an elite group deployed in combat with the express purpose of rapidly suppressing enemy uprisings to end or avoid a war.
Seiji then shrugged, "We're also assigned into key areas around the world to keep an eye on things in the world of magic. Seeing that war is no longer around anymore, we're basically Magic Police officers." Asuna was somewhat absorbing all of this, but still asked, "So why are you here?" Seiji rubbed the back of his head, "Well, out of sheer coincidence, I was assigned here at the State Alchemist station here in Tokyo. Imagine my surprise my cover for Assistant Librarian was to be here in the same school that Negi was teaching in."
Asuna then asked, "So what happens if you two are found out?" Negi and Seiji both paled as Negi answered while they walked towards the school, "If I'm found out, my license for magic will be revoked, I'll be sent back to Wales, and the punishment will to have me be turned into an Ermine. Seiji's Alchemy license will be revoked and he'll be sent on the firing squad." Asuna stared in shock as she asked loudly, "YOU MEAN THEY'RE GONNA KILL HIM?" Seiji shook his head, "No. he's just getting carried away." She sighed in relief from that, "That's good."
"My mother will be the one to kill me."
Asuna, not paying attention from that last remark, crossed her arms and openly decided the boys' fates. She huffed, "Well, I suppose losing your privelages would be worse than what I went through." She half smiled at them as their faces lit up again, "I'll keep it a secret for you guys…but you have to help me with Takahata-sensei in my chances with him." The boys paled at this as Asuna stated that maybe a love potion might work. Seiji pushed that thought away, saying that only a coward would use a love potion. She nearly tore his head off after he stated that she was a coward. She then came up with the idea that maybe a money tree would work, seeing that maybe she could buy his love. Negi shook his head, saying there was no such spell or potion for that.
She glared at him, stating, "You're not much of a wizard." Negi replied, "My grades would agree with you on that. I'm still learning." It was then while going up the stairs that Seiji stated, "but he's almost good at reading minds." Asuna got into their faces nearly yelling with joy, "NOW YOU'RE TALKING! You can just read his mind, so that way I'll know how he feels about me, Negi." Negi nodded, thinking that might work.
She led the two back to the classroom, but before she opened the door, a thought struck her as she turned to Seiji, "Wait! If you're an Alchemist, does that mean your brother's…" he nodded, "Yeah, but he can only perform a little of it. He has a sort of limit to his kind of alchemy." After that was answered, she opened the door, only to be welcomed by a loud cry as the three teens walked through the door.
"Negi-sensei!", all the girls from 2-A shouted as confetti and streamers were thrown everywhere.
The whole class was waiting for the two guests of honor; it seems they had prepared a welcoming party. Almost immediately Negi and Seiji were pulled away and pushed into a chair in the centre of all the girls before they proceeded to stuff Negi with countless different types of food. For Seiji, the girls asked him questions on how old he was, where he came from, was he smart as Negi, and if he and his older brother were single.
Near the windows, Nodoka was standing there, looking shyly at Seiji in particular. After she had woken up slightly, she saw that it was Seiji who had caught her before she fell. She looked at him for a moment, until for some reason her face slightly felt hot and red. She thought as she remembered what had happened, 'I can still feel it.', she remembered the feeling of what it was like to be held like that by a boy. His arms were so strong as he caught her, how they were as strong as steel, and yet at the same time, so warm and gentle as he held her. She shivered as she held herself, 'I was touched by a boy….but I didn't hate it, nor was I scared.' She looked at Seiji, who seemed to try and want to get away from this. She thought as she blushed slightly, 'I wonder why?'
After a minute or two there was finally a break and Seiji was about to try and get away from this and back to his brother. When the girl, Nodoka Myazaki, from before approached him. He slightly raised his hand for a wave, "Uh, hi, Miss Myazaki." She twiddled her fingers in shyness as she spoke to him for what felt like the first time, "Um…Seiji…thank you for saving me earlier. I'd have broken my neck if it hadn't been for you. I wanted to thank you…"
Feeling slightly nervous and almost to the point of breaking, she pulled out what looked like a set of coupons.
"Here's some discount coupons from the school library. It's not much but…" with a little confusion, he took them gladly, offering her a broad smile. "Thank you.", he simply said as Nodoka bowed and shyly took off, leaving him a little confused about her behavior. Some of the girls whispered saying that Nodoka was finally getting over her fear of boys finally.
The class rep, Ayaka Yukihiro, followed in the welcome party by presenting Negi with a bust to commemorate the occasion. One that caused Asuna to make a comment about Ayaka trotting out her 'bust' as soon as she saw a guy, and once again their argument degenerated into a fight. To be honest, both Negi and Seiji was too tired to deal with it this time so the two nodded in agreement to simply leave them to duel it out. It was then that they happened to wander over to where Takamichi was sitting. Then suddenly, Asuna grabbed Negi and whispered, "Okay here's your chance to help me out. Start finding out if he has something about me in his head." After that she glared at the boy stating, "And if it's something I don't like…I'm spilling the secret."
Negi paled as he nodded in agreement and fear and walked over to Takamichi. He greeted him as he approached, grinning broadly. Takamichi waved, "Negi, so how was your first day?"
Negi shrugged and stated, "Not bad I guess." He completely left out the incident with Asuna in the forest far behind in his head. "I'm sorry for interrupting you and Asuna earlier," Takamichi said with a usual smile, "Though I didn't expect to see Seiji there as well." Negi shook his head as he just placed his hand on Takamichi's head and just simply asked, "I wanted to ask you, Takamichi; What do you think about Asuna?"
Takamichi sweat dropped as he answered, "well, she's a hardworking student…cheerful, energetic…has sort of a short temper…" Seiji shook his head in agreement, while Asuna seethed with anger as she crushed her plastic cup, 'THAT'S SUBTLE? THAT STUPID…!' her thoughts were interrupted as Negi walked up and whispered in her ears, 'he thinks you wear no panties.' She face vaulted but got back up, whispering, 'Find out something else!' he went back there for a moment, and the came back saying, 'He thinks you wear wool bear panties.' She face vaulted again. After she got up, she slightly sobbed a bit, and then she just stated in a cracking voice, "Forget it…it's not important anymore." After that, she fled the room. Knowing he could leave it like this, and that Seiji stated that he should go after her, he ran after her until they reached the mid stair cases.
"Please! Asuna! Wait!", Negi called for her in order for her to stop. She shouted back, "Leave me alone!" Negi stated, deciding it might help out, "Look, I'm sorry for what happened, but I lied before. There is a love potion I could make…" At once she stopped running, turning back to look at him with hope in her eyes, "Really?"
Negi then rubbed his neck in hoping that what he said next didn't upset her, "Well…it does take four months to make and the results aren't exactly guaranteed…" She threw her hands up in the air, her angry expression returned once again, "Then what the hell good is you magic anyway!" She then walked back down, "And I doubt Seiji's Alchemy could do a thing like that."
Negi nodded in response to that, but decided to give her a little advice that his grandfather gave him. "Well my grandfather said 'Our magic is not absolute, nor is Alchemy. True magic and change results from courage of the heart'." She paused for a moment, in some way or another, a thought popped into her head, 'You know, he may not be Takahata-sensei…in the right light he does look a little cute.' Realizing what she thought, she shook that thought away. Before turning and beginning to walk away once more she spoke out.
"Your grandfather was a dope."
Feeling defeated, he was about to walk away, but she stopped suddenly and turned around with a smile, "Okay…I'll be more courageous. But first I need to use you as my guinea pig."
"What?", Negi asked, not getting this in his head. She walked up to him and answered, "I'll pretend you're Takahata-sensei so I can practice."
Negi figured that out at least but wasn't too sure about it, "Uh…well…" but before he could reply with a solid answer, she was already pulling the ribbons from her hair causing it to fall it a red waterfall about her shoulders. Looking at her he realized for the first time just how beautiful she actually was.
"I love you."
Negi felt himself self stiffen automatically at those words as she went on, "I love you…teacher." Once again he couldn't do anything to prevent the increase in the beating of his heart or the sweat that began to form on my brow. She got closer as she looked in his eyes, "I've loved you for so long…I hope you're not offended."
"Uh. No…but…", Negi stuttered trying to think clearly from this event. She closed the gap between us, her face only inches away from my own as she took her hands and held his face close to hers.
"Teacher…I've waited so long for this…", she whispered to him as she got closer.
Without any meaning to it his eyes closed as Negi awaited the contact of our lips…that never came. 'Negi…you're a real dope.', Asuna thought as she looked at his face. Instead her hand came up to pinch his cheeks, pulling at his face.
"Ha! Like I would ever be caught dead kissing you!", she laughed at seeing his reaction. She teased him saying, "What? You want to kisss me? You wanna maaake out?" She just couldn't stop laughing at this scene, seeing his face flush up like that. Afterwards, Negi couldn't help but laugh at this, due to the tension and her laughter.
A flash from behind sent her off balance, stumbling forwards into him, then out of this by accident, their lips pressed together for the second time that day. When they pulled away they seemed to be in somewhat of a daze, looking up the stairs to my horror the two of them found almost the entire class staring at us, along with Seiji smirking at this turn of events. This was not their day…
Ayaka stuttered, not liking this scene, "W…W…Wha…WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH NEGI-SENSEI?"
Later
Konoka, Asuna, and Negi were headed for the dorms to which he would bunk with. Konoka was still giggling about the scene later on, while Asuna groaned. The events from their short kiss was bad when Ayaka was screaming at the top of her lungs, but what made it even worse was when Seiji was teasing them when they went their separate ways. Negi, feeling a little responsible, decided to try and make it up to her. He walked up to her and merely said, "I'm really sorry about what happened, Asuna."
She was still fuming, although she had calmed down a bit while wrapping a little of her hair around her fingers, "Yeah well, I still didn't like that kiss you gave me. Anyone ever tell you you're a terrible kisser?" Negi groaned at that; he would have to answer for that mistake kiss sometime.
It was then that Asuna ran up a little until she stopped and turned around, giving him a half smile, "by the way…I liked that you tried to help though." Negi was a little surprised, but not when she started to walk away, she spoke out again, "in the end….you might make a half-way decent teacher." Negi was surprised by this change of heart. As soon as Asuna had walked on ahead, Negi took out the student voucher, and erased what he did on Asuna's picture. 'I guess Asuna's not a bad person as I thought.'
"By the way, Negi…YOU'RE STILL SLEEPING ON THE COUCH!", Asuna shouted, to make sure her point was made on the sleeping arrangements.
Mahora Forest
In the smack dab in the middle near the school grounds, Laz had been in a huge rush. He had gathered materials everywhere from anywhere to make this transmutation work; lumber, steel, wires, brick, paint, etc. as soon as Seiji had come back, he had drawn a humongous Transmutation Circle around the mountain of supplies. Seiji smiled at this accomplishment, "Good work, Laz, now let's make our new home."
The two of them stood parallel from each other on different sides of the circle. They clapped their hands and placed them on the circle at once. A huge bolt of power shot out of the circle, the objects changed shape and structure as they merged together, fusing and taking shape. And when it was over, where once the pile of junk and supplies was laying, was a two story country house you'd find in Aspen, Colorado. Seiji smiled at their handiwork, "I think we did a pretty good job on this one, Laz." The brother nodded in agreement, "we sure did."
As they stepped inside, Seiji stopped for a moment, before he entered and looked at the sky. He thought about what had happened today, the events that occurred. But mostly, as he entered the house, he couldn't get the image of Nodoka out of his head….even in his dreams.
Next Chapter: Love Potion Madness