Chapter 2

The next day

Negi sat at the kitchen table and looked at the clock. It showed six in the morning… He fiddled with a pen and tried to calm down. Today was Friday… Kotaro had said he'd be over at six with the shit he was supposed to sell. Asuna was still asleep though. She started school at ten today and Kotaro would be the one to bring her there. Negi would be the one heading over to Mahora to sell drugs to kids.

He felt the disgust bubbling up in him again. However this time it didn't affect his determination. He knew that his course was set but he couldn't help but wonder. Why had Fate, mr big bad Drug Lord, been so fucking insistent that it had to be him? It didn't make any sense. He knew enough to know that normally they would have found someone else.

But Fate had gone after him again, offered him a deal thousands would kill for and even insisted that it was he that should take it. Why? The albino was a man of honor, in his own twisted way, he was known to reward good work and never used any more force that the situation needed, but that still didn't make if logical that Negi was such a hot target.

A knock on the door broke him out of his reverie and he walked to let Kotaro inside.

"Hey man." His friend grinned. "Welcome to the drug-club." He said as he handed Negi a plastic bag with the goods. Negi hushed furiously and waved his hands in front of him. Kotaro noticed this and kept quiet. They both walked into the kitchen and Kotaro took out the drugs. Negi didn't know what he had expected but what he saw wasn't this. A series of small clear plastic bags fell out on the table.

"Here you go." Kotaro said dryly, "A hundred bags of the best weed on this side of whatever shithouse you can say. An ounce each, and each bag should net you about ten grand."

"That's…." Negi stared at the bags… "That's like a million here." He whispered in awe. Kotaro looked at him.

"You see?" the raven-haired young man said, every hint of joviality gone, "This is what I mean. We're talkin' more money than anythin' else. You ain't havin' no need for doin' overtime on that shit job no more. You're gonna make it big time here man." He put a hand on Negi's shoulder. "Time t' get hime a good life." He said softly. Negi nodded slowly and Kotaro put the drugs in the bag again. He handed them to Negi with a trusting smile. With it, he also gave him a brand new cell phone.

"Th' boss said he's given th' dickwad a call 'bout how he treats you." He said as Negi put on his shoes. Here's your phone. People'll text this number, tellin' ya what they want, you tell 'em a place, a time, an' a price an' they'll show there an' then with th' cash. Remember t' look normal at all times an' if th' cops come near, for fuck's sake' keep it cool. You're on your own on this one but if you ever get into shit with th' others I'm th' guy t' call 'bout markin' people. Clear?"

"Clear." Negi said and walked out of the door, Kotaro's casual attitude scared him, now more than ever, but he refused to let it show, "Make sure Asuna gets to school on time and try to not feed her burgers afterwards. If the teachers ask tell them I can't get off work for a parental meeting. When you take her home, check if there are any notes she has to bring home, Clear?"

"Clear." Kotaro grinned, "Now work well sweetheart an' I'll have dinner on th' table when you get off work." He added in a high-pitched tone. Negi groaned at him and gave him a shove before closing the door and leaving for work.

The commuter train rolled away from the station and Negi sat quietly, fiddling with the bag. An entire million Yen in drugs… and it was all just weed. It was weird to think of. He took a look on the note Kotaro had given him, on it was a series of names, places and times. He recognized some of the names and his eyes grew wide. Quickly pocketing the note he swallowed as the nervousness came back in full force.

He couldn't do this, he would fuck up, what the fuck was he thinking? Negi gripped the bag tightly and was almost about to throw it away when he suddenly saw Asuna's face in front if him. He took a deep breath as he loosened the grip on the bag. Fate was right, either this, or he would go back to doing that crap job fifteen hours a day and eventually get fired for stealing. He had to do it, for Asuna.

He looked down in the bag and saw the plastic bags, neatly rolled together. His thoughts went back to the phone currently resting in his pocket He still couldn't see how this would work. He saw himself standing in the alley behind the café in a long coat, whispering "Hey, you wanna fly?"to people as they passed by. The image made him laugh quietly. Yeah sure. That was bound to work well. Normal at all times Kotaro had said and that was how he'd do it.

The sun was slowly rising in the east as the train sped across the city. At every stop more and more people got aboard the train and Negi clenched the bag between his legs. All he needed now was some fucker trying to steal it. He hated the Japanese commuter trains. They were so fucking overcrowded at all times that it was ridiculous. Couldn't they come up with any better way of ferrying people around?

His thoughts were interrupted when the loudspeakers came alive and yelled that they were approaching Mahora central. He pushed his way up to the doors and got out through them just in time. Looking at the watch he felt his heart grow cold as he realized that he was late. Work had begun five minutes ago. Breaking into a run he darted through the streets and managed to get to the café in just five minutes, a new record. However he was in no capability of realizing this as he flew in through the employees' exit and came face to face with the boss.

"I'm terribly sorry sir." He begun to grovel, "I didn't mean to be late, it won't happen again I…"

"It's okay…" The old man said hoarsely. Negi stopped and suddenly saw the old man's face. Written all over the old coot was something he'd never seen there before. Fear. The old man looked positively terrified. His hands shook and his eyes were darting to the sides. Negi suddenly remembered how Kotaro had said that Fate had had a "chat" with his boss. Some part of him wondered what exactly had been said but, knowing Fate, it was probably nothing he wanted to know.

Instead, Negi went to his locker and opened the door. He put the bag inside and changed quickly. The young man noted, with a triumphant smirk on his face, that the old man said nothing about washing up. He clenched his fist in joy, hardly daring to think it was true. But apparently it was. For the first time ever, Negi walked out to the register with something else than anger in his heart.

Negi stood in a corner of the world tree stairs as school was coming to an end for the students. Someone had texted him about getting weed and this was where he wanted to meet up. Apparently this was the major hot spot for selling it. Negi could buy that. Just three feet away the place was swarming with people. He leaned against the stairwell and swallowed. It felt like he was getting stage-fever. At any minute now some fucker would waltz up and ask him for drugs. Said stuff was filling his pockets at the moment. He felt really, fucking, sick.

It was then that someone behind him whispered.

"H-hey? Y-you got the stuff?" Negi turned around and saw a young guy, perhaps fifteen. The guy was a real runt, with a scrawny body and thick glasses, who looked like he was about to faint any second. Negi blinked as he realized something. That guy had to be ten times as nervous as him.

"Depends…" He said for some reason. The youngster looked even more nervous and looked around. "What did you want?" Negi continued, desperately trying to not scare him off. This was worse than he had thought. He could swear that everyone was staring at him.

"M-marihuana?" the guy asked and Negi nearly laughed out loud. Who the fuck called it that outside health class? However he forced the laughter down and swallowed.

"You know the price." He said, suddenly feeling unnaturally calm. It was as if all the nervousness had just run off him "Not gonna haggle."

"Yeah, fine." The young man took out his wallet and fiddled through it. Negi panicked, acted immediately and shook him.

"What'chu doing huh?" He yelled with a jovial tone, "Just 'cause you're gay doesn't make me that! Copy man?" The people around them looked at them for a second before returning to whatever they were doing before Negi's yell. He pulled the kid close and hissed. "You don't take out a fucking wallet here! Do you want to get me arrested?" The adrenaline pumped in his veins, that kid just had scared the shit out of him.

"Sorry!" The young man croaked, "Sorry!" He got a pair of bills out of the wallet and Negi snatched them before dumping a bag in his hand.

"Now get lost." Negi snapped as he pushed him away, desperately wanting to her rid of the idiot. The young man looked at the bag.

"B-but I paid for two." He said.

"The second is stupidity fine! Get lost!" Negi hissed and the young man fled. He looked after the young man a few seconds before he stated to tremble so badly that his feet didn't support him. He had to lean against the wall to stay up and felt like he'd throw up. After a minute his stomach calmed down and he could get up. He did it… he really did it! Taking a deep, shaking breath he left the place, deciding to take a walk while waiting for the next customer.

When Negi sat on the train home he was numb. His head felt like a sponge and he was exhausted. He had remained at the spot for four hours. The four longest in his life. After the little geek more students had texted him. One after one the bags had disappeared out of his pockets. He had, in the end, been able to sell about ten bags of it. One hundred thousand Yen now burned in his pockets. A hundred ten thousand, he corrected himself. That first guy had scared the shit out of him. What kind of fucking idiot started fiddling around with a wallet like that?

He shook his head and tried to clear it. The day had gone off without a single hitch after that; the following customers hadn't been fucking idiots. Quickly handing over the bill and then get what they wanted. Some guy had asked for heavier stuff but Negi had told him he didn't have any. Still… he had managed to pawn off a bag to him.

One question still burned in his head though. What the fuck was he going to do with the remaining ninety bags? The answer was pretty fucking obvious though. He'd just have to go back there tomorrow. He felt the exhaustion return and was almost about to cry at the thought, he couldn't fucking do that again, he had been so god damn afraid he was about to puke. After trembling like a leaf for a few minutes he tried to calm down again.

"It went well, didn't it?" he thought to himself as the train rolled in on his station. I did it and I can do it again." got up from the seat and left the train in a daze. Night had fallen a long time ago and the only light available was the few streetlights not broken. It was that that made him miss the guy following him until it was too late. Before he knew it he was suddenly hit in the back by a strong hand. The air was thrown out of his lungs and Negi was thrown to the ground. He quickly rolled around and kicked in the rough direction of the attacker. When he got on his back he saw who it was.

Hunching just outside the radius of light given by the streetlight was Kotaro. He had the biggest, shit-eating grin imaginable on his face and was holding a beer bottle in his hand.

"For he's a drug-dealin' fella, for he's a drug-dealin' fella, for he's a drug-dealin' fella! Which nob'dy can deny!" The black haired young man sung as he looked at Negi. As his friend got up from the street he handed the bottle to him. "Time t' tell Kotaro-niisan all about it." He said as he grabbed the remarkably less enthusiastic Negi. "Let's dump th' stuff at home an' we'll go out for a beer you an' I."

"Let me go!" Negi tore away from him and looked at his friend with a furious look on his face. "You think I like this shit?" He yelled, "You know how fuckin' terrified I was today? He saw red as he grabbed Kotaro. "I spent four hours selling that shit! At every second I was sure I saw the fuckin' cops! " Negi shook his friend, seemingly trying to strangle him. "I can't fucking do this!" He screamed, "I can't be that afraid every fucking second!" Everything he had kept in came pouring out together with tears as he broke down and begun to cry. He shoved Kotaro again, but this time it was without any real strength and he only stumbled into his friend.

Kotaro then grabbed Negi and hugged him tightly as his old friend cried like a baby. He chose to shut up that moment and let his friend get it all out. Even iron-Negi had broken down after the first time. Kotaro smiled to himself despite the situation. That meant Negi was serious. That he wasn't any idiot who thought he was god. He didn't expect him to be it but still… After a while Negi's sobs stopped and Kotaro led him to a bench nearby. They both sat down on it and Kotaro threw Negi a napkin he had had lying around in his pocket.

"You getting' cold feet?" Kotaro asked after a while. Negi just shook his head at this.

"That's a sure-fire way to getting a one roomer at hotel six feet under." He said, as he blew his nose and threw the napkin away. "It's just…. I was so fucking terrified today. I'd only been there for a fucking minute when some idiot wants to buy some and takes out his fucking wallet in front of everyone!"

Kotaro listened patiently as Negi told his friend of how the first sale had gone. Kotaro listened quietly to the story but when Negi told him about the "stupidity fine" his friend begun to laugh like a maniac. Negi stopped telling the story to watch his friend who laughed so hard that he fell off the bench. It took nearly ten minutes for Kotaro to stop laughing and when he had done so he reached for his bag and took out two of the beer cans in it. Cracking them both open and giving one to Negi he held up his bottle.

"To the stupidity fine!" He said and got another attack of hysterical laughter. However he recovered much quicker from this one and took a deep swig from it. "That was awesome Negi." He said eventually as he stopped another chuckle. "Damn I wish I had been there."

"Wanna trade places?" Negi asked sourly. Kotaro looked at him and smiled.

"Seriously Negi." He said still with a smile on his lips but with a serious tone in his voice, "That was the best fucking idea I've ever heard of. That guy's never gonna mess up again. You handled it like a pro."

"You think?" Negi wasn't expecting that from him.

"Yeah…" Kotaro looked out across the street. "You're in it now Negi. This is th 'real deal. From now on it's just upwards. Twenty percent is yours. How much did you make?" Negi took out the bills. His friend whistled as he saw it.

"One hundred grand." Negi said, "Not counting the "stupidity fine." As he looked at the bills he realized how much money it was.

"An' twenty grand is yours." Kotaro said with a dead serious face as he looked at his friend. "When it's all sold you'll have a hundred right off. If you can sell two shipments every month you'll make two hundred grand a month. Compare that to the pay at the café."

"Yeah… yeah…" Negi said, his doubts about the job weakening in front of him at the prospect of those amounts of money. Asuna would get new clothes, real food, real Christmas presents. He could give her a decent life now.

"Hey Negi." He was broken out of his reverie when Kotaro spoke up. "You saw this?" He held up a poster. Negi looked at it and saw that it was about a large dance party that was going to be held at Mahora. It clicked for him in a second.

"You want me to go?" He asked Kotaro.

"It's gonna be a goldmine you know." His friend said with a calculating look on his face, "I'm goin' an' I'm gonna bring some heavier stuff. Speed an' E sells like shit there. I'm prepared t' split the money with you if we team up." Kotaro took another sip. "You take th' weed an' the other lightweights, I'm on heavy artillery. Deal?"

"What about Asuna?" Negi asked suddenly, he didn't want her to be alone at night, especially not around here. Kotaro shrugged.

"We'll find a babysitter for her. I know some pretty decent chicks that'd gladly make some money. Clean an' reliable"

"I don't want to dump her with just anyone." Negi shook his head. "I don't trust people around these parts."

"Well then who do you suggest?" Kotaro asked. Negi thought for a moment, absently taking a sip from his beer as he thought. Suddenly a face appeared in front if his inner eye.

"Takamichi." He said.

"Who?" Kotaro had never met the man in question.

"He's a teacher at Mahora, we kinda go back," Negi explained, "He's always wondering how thing are and shit. He's pretty cool if not for the "I wanna help you" thing. He'd gladly look after her"

"That's awesome!" Kotaro grinned," We dump her there an' then we can crash there too later on. Let's do it"

"Hey I never said I'd go." Negi protested but Kotaro just rolled his eyes.

"You really gonna pass up on this shit?" He asked his friend, "Ninety bags t' go man. You ain't in no position t' pass on these opportunities. 'Sides, its still th' Mahora cunts you're sellin' to, who cares about them?"

"True…" Negi admitted. He didn't make it any secret what he thought about the Mahora students. "Let's do it."

Six months later

Negi carefully, carefully moved his hands as he slowly tightened the knot. He had to be really careful here, if he made any sound it was over. The first one got fixed without any problem and he begun to do the other. His hands damn near trembled and he realized how nervous he was. Moving his hands he managed to tighten the last knot and stepped away to admire his masterpiece.

"Now you can look." He said to Asuna, who had been standing still as a statue. His sister opened her eyes and looked around. She couldn't see anything but she could suddenly hear a tinkling sound behind her. She looked back to see what it was but yet again the tinkling moved. Now Negi had to hide his mouth behind his hand in order to not start laughing and Kotaro's shoulder were shaking. She was just so cute! Asuna got more and more confused by the tinkling and eventually she was getting dizzy from trying to see what it was.

Now neither Negi nor Kotaro could stop it. They laughed so they had to support themselves against the wall. Negi however took pity on his little sister's confused look and held out a small mirror towards her. Asuna took it and with its help she could see what had made that noise.

In each of her two long braids a pair of golden bells now sat at the top, tinkling as she moved.

Today was Asuna's birthday and after giving her breakfast at the bed and sung to her (though Kotaro more yelled than sung) Negi had taken her downtown to the Harajuku district. He had claimed that Asuna's present was waiting there. In all honesty the trip had been more than enough judging from how Asuna had looked when they traveled the streets. She had been enchanted at first look by the vibrant shopping district.

Negi had then showed their destination, a small jewelry store at one of the side streets. The old man that ran the place had been delighted when he saw them both. Asuna had been told to stand still in the middle of the shop with her eyes closed while they got her present and she had eagerly complied, even though Kotaro had had to keep a look on her eyes. The old man had received the order from Negi three weeks ago and had put all his soul into making the bells than now adorned the little girl's head.

Asuna looked at the bells with a surprisingly serious look on her face, she kept the look long enough to make Negi extremely nervous but suddenly she smiled and hugged him.

"Thank you niisan." She said, "I love them!" Her smile lit up the room and Negi felt warm inside at that moment. Negi returned the hug and smiled, smiled because his life had gotten so much better, because he now could afford these things. Asuna got real presents, had new clothes and didn't have to go hungry the week before a paycheck. Life was so fucking good right now. For the first time in his life, he wanted this moment to last forever.

The happiness Negi had felt in that moment lasted in his heart for a long time. Even the next day, when he had to go to Mahora again, he still had a small smile on his lips as he got on the commuter train. As he sat in his seat and watched the cityscape run by outside he thought about how things had improved for him and Asuna these last months. Only three months ago he had been so deep down in poverty that it felt unreal as he looked back upon it. But now everything was, like Kotaro had said that winter evening, just upwards.

He looked down at the arm of his new jacket, an expensive black thing he had bought in Harajuku three weeks ago. He had finally gotten rid of that old coat that made him look like a bum and bought new clothes for himself too. Negi had felt like a girl that day when he and Kotaro had raided the stores of Harajuku to, as he friend said, "Pimp my pal." But in the end nearly all his wardrobe had been upgraded. Something that, a few months ago, would have been a dream.

He adjusted the strap on his shoulder-bag as he heard that they were approaching Mahora. Within that bag was that which had saved both him and his little sister from that shitty life and now allowed him to give her the life she deserved. The work hours were pretty annoying but he wouldn't trade it for anything. As he left the train he suddenly bumped into Takamichi, the grizzled teacher was running in the same direction as him and smiled when he saw him.

"Hey, Negi-kun!" He said briskly and he jogged towards the train station exit, "I hardly recognized you!" He nodded against Negi's new clothes and Negi quickly started thinking about what lies to pull.

"I got a raise at the café!" He said cheerily and grinned, "The old man finally found his heart!" He played the role of overjoyed café-worker flawlessly.

"Really?" Takamichi smiled at him, "That really good to hear, I must confess…!" the teacher grabbed hold of one of the cable cars and jumped aboard it, dragging Negi along, "…that I got really worried for a while."

"Really?" Negi asked as he leaped aboard too, "Hey there was no need for that, I've always managed nicely, as I said, and its just that recently I've had some money over."

"It's those night-shifts you pull isn't it?" Takamichi said, "I'm glad to hear that they need people on the dance parties too." Negi bit his tongue to remain impassive, what Takamichi didn't know what that those "night shifts" where when he hawked drugs to party goers on the spot. He had chosen to leave Asuna with Takamichi more times and now it was nearly once a week. "It's just that…" Takamichi faltered, "Watch out when you work there," He eventually continued, "There's apparently a lot of drug-use going on there." Now Negi had to bite down on his tongue even harder, oh the irony! If he only knew!

"Don't sweat it man." Negi said, "I'm not gonna start popping pills, too much hangs on me." He looked outside and noticed that he was near the café. "This is my exit," He said, "See ya!" He leaped off the cable-car before Takamichi could ask any more questions.

Dealing with drugs was, Negi had discovered, a really delicate business, especially when you tried to get new customers. Getting people hooked on drugs was something that took immense persuasion at times. At the moment he was dealing with an especially tough nut. Some idiot had pointed the girl, one of the girls from the idiot-class in fact, in his direction and said that "She'd get the kick of her life there."

However the girl in question was not the type of girl to start smoking weed just like that. In face she was a first-rate health freak. Negi had realized after only a few seconds that he was in deep shit. She wasn't the type who would just let him be if he failed with her, he'd have the cops all over his ass within a second.

"It's easy." Negi told her, "Just light it up, sip it, and relax," he showed the joint to the young girl,

"Okay…" the girl was not convinced; it was obvious from the suspicious look on her face. Negi cursed inwardly and wondered who the hell had given her the tip to go here. What was he; a trial version?

"You're doing a smart move you know." He told her, "Weed is clean stuff, just a way to chill. Unlike crap like LSD and all that. You know that shit?"

"Yeah, I heard of some guy at the university who though he could fly. They found LSD in his bathroom." She said

"That's what that crap does to you." He said with a serious look on his face. "It's so strong that you can put a single drop pure LSD in a tub full of water and then a drop of that water is enough to make you think it's growing trees outta your ears. Pure shit."

"And that isn't?" She asked, nodding her head in the direction of the weed he was holding, "it is drugs."

"So is alcohol," Negi shrugged, "and nicotine, and caffeine, even sugar can be a drug. It's good that you're not leaping head-first into anything here." He said, "Really, you are a smart girl. But it's just bull that weed's dangerous. There isn't one single study that can say it's really dangerous. I know hundreds who smoke all time and they aren't addicted at all. Why is it okay to gulp down gallons of poison, get crazy and puke all over the place, but not okay to light one up and chill?"

"Well…" She was faltering. He went for the killing blow.

"Tell you what?" He said with a kind smile, "I'll let you try the first one for free. Here." He put the joint in her hand, "If you don't like it, cool, I can respect that. Though you can't really say anything before you've tried, right?" He put a hand on her shoulder, "So come on, you're a tough girl, right? You're not gonna wind up like those crack-midgets who sit like Buddhas outside the nightclubs going all puff, puff, puff. Everyone drinks beer, but it's only those who can't handle it that becomes alcoholics."

The girl had a nervous look on her face. He could understand her; the first steps were always a real shaker. However he kept quiet now, best to not overdo it. After a few seconds she sighed.

"Eh, what the hell." She grabbed the joint, "You're right, I might as well try. It's free after all. But you are sure I'm not going to get addicted that easily?"

"That's the spirit missy." Negi grinned, "And yeah, I'm totally certain, it never happens. Just take some sips and see what you think, if you don't like it, throw it away and we'll forget about it all. If you do like it, you know where to find me."

"Sure." The girl grinned at him, her previous nervousness gone "And by the way," She said as she backed away from him, "The name's Yuuna, not missy."

"As you wish, Yuuna-sama." Negi bowed to her and the girl chuckled as she turned around and walked out of the alley. When she had disappeared Negi let out a breath he wasn't aware he was holding. It worked, she had bought it. All that was left now was dealing with the idiot that had told her about him. Fortunately he had managed to get the name out of her; all he had to do was waiting until said idiot rolled in.

It was then that a familiar face came wandering down the street. Negi recognized the guy that had fucked up so badly that first day. However he had, as Kotaro said, kept it up after that. Negi met his eyes as he walked past the alley and the guy didn't even slow down as he entered it, arrifing just on time.

"Morning." Negi said, "The usual?" the guy in front of him, Nakagawa Yuusuke, was one of the worst smokers Negi knew. Every time Negi met him, which was about once a week, the guy bought two bags of him, two ounces every week, eight in a month. From what he had understood from their short chats the guy was your average "pushed by the parents to study like hell" guy so it wasn't too surprising that he smoked weed like a bitch to be able to get some peace. However Yuusuke just shook his head.

"I gotta cut down." He said hoarsely, "If I don't pass the exams mom and dad will have my head. I gotta start focusing on the studies." Negi looked at him.

"Then perhaps it's time you stop fogging the head and clear it up." He said. Yuusuke looked at him with a wide-eyed expression. Negi chuckled inwardly, the guy probably though he suggested stop smoking. "Get it so clear that whatever you do its gonna be crystal clear." he continued.

"What do you mean?" Yuusuke said, his eyes betraying his agitation by their rapid blinking. If Negi didn't calm him down the poor guy would flee.

"Ritalin and Adderall." Negi said, holding up two fingers "instead of fogging things up, you become clear as its name. Everything becomes clear, you can study for hours and get everything straight, , the works. Study aid number one." Negi gave him a crooked grin. "With this, you'll ace the exams." He took out a small bag from his shoulder bag. It was different from the usual bags with brown contents. This one had pills in it.

"You really think so?" Yuusuke looked pathetic in that moment. His eyes were filled with naked hope and Negi couldn't help but feeling his contempt for everyone here flare up.

"I don't think," he said with his trademark calming and kind voice, "I know. This stuff is used by thousands for this very purpose. Just pop them, give it a minute and then you're Mr. Study buddy." He held out the bag. "Twenty grand and you're good to go."

"Wh-twenty!" Yuusuke stared at him. "For one bag?"

"Yeah, this ain't like weed, that you're using it to relax." Negi said, "This is a bit more, use it when it's the real deal."

"Okay." Yuusuke was, as usual, pathetically easy to convince. He gave Negi the bills and Negi handed him the pills. As Yuusuke left the area Negi wondered if the little twerp would be able to handle it.

He doubted it. But then again he didn't really care; if anything it made for more money for him.

That was a pretty funny part after all. In the beginning he had refused to sell anything else than weed. Any suggestions that he'd move on to more profitable stuff was blindly refuted. That stance on the matter had lasted a month. Negi had been asked repeatedly by one of the buyers at Mahora to get hold of Ecstasy for him. It was after the fourth demand that Negi had brought it up with Kotaro.

His friend had, in very clear words, told him that if he didn't get what the customers wanted he'd lose them. Mahora was a goldmine for drug-dealers and Negi would do a big mistake if he thought he was the only one around. If he got a reputation as someone who couldn't deliver it was bye-bye to the buyers. Negi had – grudgingly – gotten hold of the pills the guy wanted and suddenly realized how much more it would pay to sell E too when he saw the money he got for it.

However he had then realized how stupid he was. Why was he taking one step at a time? He was already well entrenched in everything, Fate could, and would, give him whatever he though he could sell at Mahora, his customer circle would expand and he would make a shit-load of more money.

That decided it. He had one day asked for more than just weed and from that day onward he had been dealing in damn near everything. Only the weed had given him enough to give Asuna a decent life. With the money from the other stuff she would have an even better life. Hell; there was even plenty left to buy him new stuff too.

Any moral qualms he had held about it was crushed by the fact that it was to the Mahora cunts he was selling it. This campus and everyone on it was the epitome of everything he hated and had been that for years. It was a filthy lie from beginning to end, a playground for the "perfect" people where they could drop off their inbred brats and have them raised to become just as "perfect" as the rest of their "perfect" families. If anything he was doing them a service, showing them the real world.

Asuna was waiting for him when he got home from Mahora. He gave her a hug and ruffled her hair; she only seemed to get cuter with every passing day. Especially now that she was wearing real clothes instead of the old stuff he had been forced to scrounge up for her before.

"How was your day hime?" He asked her and was bombarded with a swarm of information about what the day had contained for the girl that meant the world to him. Apparently the day had been really exciting to Asuna from what he could pick up from her quick talking. The words got mixed together and in the end Negi had to stop her.

"Wait, wait," He said with a laugh, "Did you just say that Sanji-kun climbed up the flagpole and saw a pink cat under the bushes and eat it as fruit-salad?" He couldn't make heads or tails of what she said.

"No!" Asuna yelled, still all fired up, she begun telling him everything again but this time he was at least somewhat able to understand her. When she had told him everything he hugged her and told her to go watch some TV and that dinner would soon be ready. Asuna obliged happily and ran off.

Kotaro had picked Asuna up from the school where she went to first grade. Since the guy worked night shift he usually got up just in time to fetch her. He was currently sitting by the table in the kitchen with a magazine in his hands. When Negi saw what it was he tore it away from him.

"Didn't I tell you to stop reading this shit in front if her?" He said and, without waiting for an answer, threw it into the garbage bin. "There we go." Kotaro got up from the table with a look of horror on his face.

"Th' fuck are you doin'?" He yelled shrilly, "That's a limited edition thing!" Kotaro threw himself at the garbage bin and fished it from the old food it was lying on. Negi couldn't help but roll his eyes at his friend who was currently trying to clean it with a rag and some water.

"Limited edition my ass. I can't believe you read that shit in the first place," "That shit," was a hentai doujin from Kotaro's favorite doujin circle. Said doujin was damn near illegal due to the explicit and sadistic rape and snuff scenes that filled it. Just the name, "Guro Revolution" said too much in the first place. Negi concluded that his friend was really fucked up.

"It is art damn it!" Kotaro defended his precious hobby.

"Art, my ass!"

Three weeks later

Weekends were by far the best time to sell the stuff. As the students ended school and got two whole days to spend as they saw fit even an idiot could see that those who smoked weed or took pills or whatever their stuff of choice was would choose this time to stock up. And if the school would host a "disco", or whatever ancient term from the age of dinosaurs they used, the demands for party stuff spiked. Some dealers only worked then, churning out E and speed for idiotic prices.

Negi had little respect for said part-timers. All too often they were students who needed quick cash for their own drugging. They made him sick; they already had plenty of cash and started to sell it to finance their uncontrolled need for kicks. And as the same time, they destroyed the marked for people like him, who really needed the money. A large part of him wanted to give Kotaro a call and have him beat them all up. He wasn't stupid though there were dozens of students who did that and he wasn't in the mood for becoming known as the "Mahora Mutilator".

He had plenty of buyers anyway. Many of the new ones later had apparently been told that he was a "safe" guy who handled "clean" stuff. The revelation that the weed buyers said that made him damn near laugh. Those naive fuckers though that smoking some pot made them bad-ass junkies. He was half in mind to spice the weed up with some bad shit just to give them some bad trips and a lesson about what they were allowed to think of themselves.

But for the moment he was satisfied with standing in his corner of the plaza and sell his stuff. Especially now, as Saturday night and the "disco" was approaching, he'd sell like hell. E, speed, GHB, the list of what the party-people wanted made Mahora like a smorgasbord to him. He smiled to himself as he thought of how many customers he might get. They almost formed a line into his corner.

That was why he got so agitated when he saw that someone was already there. Some fucker was sitting in the corner he had texted his customer about! Taking up his space! He marched into the alley, seeing red, when he suddenly stopped. In the alley a young girl, pale-skinned and pale blue haired, was sitting with her legs pulled up to her chest, her arms resting on her knees and her face buried in said arms. Choked sobs were escaping her. Great... just what he needed. Some crybaby had run into his corner and would take up the space, he needed to get rid of her fast, the buyers would be here soon and he DIDN'T need her as background decoration.

"What are you doing?" He asked her before stopping as he realized how that sounded, real smooth Negi, real smooth. The girl looked up at him through tear-filled eyes and suddenly she, to Negi's immense surprise, jumped at him and buried her face in his jacket. Negi stood like fallen from the skies and wondered what the HELL this was about. The girl was shaking like a leaf as she was wracked by sobs; Negi thought fast as he grabbed her shoulders and gently pushed her away. Looking at her face he remembered her from somewhere. After a second he remembered her as that quiet friend of Makie, that pinky that terrorized him at the cafe. "What's the matter?" He asked her again.

The girl looked away, seemingly trying to hide that her eyes were red from crying and spoke with a hoarse voice.

"I messed up," she sobbed; "I had the most important thing ever and I messed up." she was now crying openly. Negi rolled his eyes mentally, great... a sob story. He needed to end this fast. "Why did it have to go this way?" She cried, "I wanted to do it so much..." Negi gently put his hand over her mouth and silenced her

"Let me tell you something." He said, "I don't know what happened but know this. Shit happens, it's cruel but true. Life isn't kind to people, it's sadistic. You messed up and it will happen again, over and over, you can't escape it. And crying won't help it, it just makes it worse." The girl looked at him with wide eyes; she apparently wasn't expecting that from him. He tried to figure out some way to make her leave without wailing like a baby. It was a spur of the moment thing that made him pick up the small bag with the joints. He took out one of them and gave it to her. "But here." He said, forcing his face into the calming visage he used when selling, "This will make it all better. Life is a bitch but with these things it'll get all better, one of these and you'll laugh it all away. That's all you can do, laugh, and these babies will help you."

"I..Is that..." She looked terrified; she probably had understood what it was. However Negi smiled at her.

"It's all right, they won't kill you. It's not like cocaine; it's like a beer, a way to chill. You look like you need some help to forget everything and these guys are here to help." He pressed them into her hands, "Take them, they are free. Take them and forget the world. Just live for the moment and let the moment be beautiful. Okay?"

He smiled again and the girl's eyes were wide as she looked at him, Negi noticed how the blush spread across her face and rolled his eyes mentally again. She looked at him with what he only could compare to the adoring eyes of a puppy. But in the end she looked down at the joints and Negi gently pushed her out of the corner.

"You better go now." he said, "Evening is coming soon and it's not a good idea to be outside at night nowadays." The girl looked at him one last time before she nodded and ran away. Negi took a deep breath. He did it, the little bitch was gone. Now he could get on with the real business. His first real customer today was someone he recognized well, a university student named Serizawa. He was one of the few people around here that was the real deal when it came to using drugs, something that was funny seeing as how he was the leader of the student union and the captain of the biathlon team. He was the one who had gotten Negi to step up to the other stuff too thanks to his insistent requesting. Negi was really grateful he had stepped up before Serizawa dug up some other dealer. This guy was a gold mine in himself.

"Party time?" He asked and Serizawa fired off one of those conceited smirks, which he probably though was a cool smile, of his. Negi hated that smile.

"You know it." He said with a pathetic attempt to sound like Negi's street language. His upper-class voice mangled it all and made it sound like shit. Negi hated that voice too. "Not too hot stuff but I'm not gonna let the party down." And yeah, he had megalomania too, thought he was God's gift to the girls.

"Can I take your order?" Negi asked and Serizawa got a pondering look on his face, oh great, now he would get snooty and start to talk about vintage and shit. The moron thought that buying drugs was like buying wine.

"Hm... let's begin with the Three-S... three bags like those you gave me before." Negi had, when realizing that this guy was a snob that only bought the best available, pulled several lies out of his ass about the stuff he sold. He gave the idiot the same stuff as everyone else but made him pay double for it after giving the drugs some fancy names. Speed was Three-S, E was EHG-45, GHB was Atlantis, weed Twister ect. ect. However he just nodded to the guy in front of him. "Two bags of EGH-45... and ten Twisters." Negi started to dig through his bag.

"No trips to the sunken city?" He asked with a little surprise in his voice, the creep in front of him always used the GHB for his date-rapes. The guy was a sex fiend of rarely seen dimensions. Serizawa chuckled derogatorily.

"Like I would need that stuff for something as small as this." He said arrogantly, "Do you use grenades when hunting rats?"

Negi gritted his teeth and wondered how this fucker could push all his buttons so easily. Was he really this stuck up by nature? He suddenly lost a large part of his remaining faith in the world. But business was business.

"I wouldn't know," he shrugged, "But it's always best to be safe isn't it? You never know when some bitch that doesn't understand how things are pops up. You know; thinks that she has the right to say no, doesn't get who you are, that stuff. Thing is that those frigid bitches need some dick. They need someone to bang them so they can relax. And who would be better for that job than you, the big bad Mahora Mack Daddy?" Negi doubted that Serizawa even knew what Mack Daddy meant but the blond student still puffed up his chest like a rooster at this.

"Good point," Serizawa failed spectacularly in trying to be modest. "Let's take three Atlantis too." Negi wondered if he was planning on a zombie foursome but obliged and took out the goods.

"For you. I'll make it all a package-price of five-hundred grand." Negi said after he made some rough estimates, and added the fancy-fee of course. Serizawa was nothing if not loaded with cash and gave him the money in a heartbeat. The way he handled the money, acting as if he didn't give a shit about it, made Negi hate him even more. But as usual he smiled and took it. It was way easier to do that when you made five hundred grand and kept twenty percent of it than when you made five hundred and got about one half percent. Negi still worked at the cafe, he had to keep up appearances and, since the boss had stopped to terrorize him out of fear for Fate's threats, he had discovered that he actually liked cooking.

As the Friday ticked on more and more customers came rolling in and Negi would have cackled madly if he was disposed to such things. It all sold like crazy, Next evening would become a real blast it seemed. If he counted correctly half the students would be high on something. As night fell he decided to give up for today and haul ass out of there. There wasn't too much left to sell anyway. When the day had ended he had made nearly two million Yen. And twenty percent was his. Four hundred grand. That was almost half of what the entire first shipment had contained. God he loved this job, he didn't like the drugs but he'd be a fucking whore if it paid this well.

In his happiness he didn't see the two men coming up behind him before it was too late. Before he knew what was happening a baseball bat collided with the back of his head. Seeing stars in front of his eyes he was thrown to the ground, he tried to get up again, his instinct telling him what was going on, but before he could got up again the bat collided with his back.

The world exploded in pain and he kicked to the side, feeling his legs hit something that fell on top of him he immediately grabbed hold of it and bit the first part he could get hold of. The taste of blood filled his mouth and he could vaguely hear a scream. Then his left chin suddenly burned as something cut into it and he let go. The guy on top of him got off and then the kicks started. The air was forced out of him as kick after kick hit him. His last thought before everything went black was. "Asuna!"

A/N: The massively positive response I got on my first chapter here really amazed me. I'm happy to see that it's going so well and I hope you'll keep following me through this descent into darkness. As I've said before and I'll say again: this story doesn't end its descent any time soon, squeamish people beware.