Ladies' Bath Hall, Monday Night
"Does the water seem a bit cold to you?"
Konoka turned around, to find Yue and Nodoka at the bath's edge; Nodoka had stuck a toe in the water, to test the temperature, and found it a bit cold. Yue, on the other hand, had hung back, apparently waiting for Nodoka's judgment.
"Oh, sorry," said Konoka, "were you talking to me?"
"Yeah," replied Nodoka. "Does the water seem a bit cold to you? Or did it at first?"
"No, not really… I've been in here for awhile now, so I guess I've just gotten used to the temperature."
Nodoka still looked unsure, like she didn't know whether she was going in or not. That didn't matter for long, though, as Yue ran up to her from behind and shoved her into the water. They were near the deep end, so luckily, she wasn't hurt- just surprised.
"What was that for?!" Nodoka asked when she broke the surface. She didn't get an answer from either Yue or Konoka, though, as both were laughing hysterically.
"It wasn't that funny…" Nodoka muttered.
After a minute, they finally calmed down. "I've got some homework to finish up, for Negi-kun's class; otherwise, I'd stay. See you guys later." Konoka got out of the bathing area and, wrapping a towel around her, exited the room.
Yue turned to Nodoka. "Sorry if I scared you, pushing you in like that. It was just too good to pass up."
"Come here," said Nodoka. Yue walked over to the edge and took hold of Nodoka's outstretched hand; both of them smiled, as their faces turned red.
"I forgive you," said Nodoka. Yue smiled in relief, just in time for Nodoka to say, "Now it's your turn!" Nodoka gave a sharp tug, and Yue toppled over into the water. When Yue surfaced, she looked a bit shocked. "I… I thought you said you forgave me," Yue sputtered.
Nodoka smiled. "I did. But that didn't mean I wasn't going to have a bit of fun of my own…"
Yue feigned hurt. "Alright, you've done it now!" Yue lunged for Nodoka, but Nodoka side-stepped and dodged the attack; Yue was smart, though, and as she passed Nodoka, she stuck her arm out, bringing the pair down into the water. After a bit of rough-housing underwater, the two emerged
"Oh, it's on now!" said Nodoka, splashing at Yue and sending a sizeable wave of water her way. The water crashed down, and Yue went under. When she came up, she splashed at Nodoka back, and in a few moments, water was flying everywhere. After a few minutes of rapid splashing, Yue tiredly swam over to the side of the bath and leaned up against the edge; Nodoka joined her in a matter of seconds.
"That… was fun…" panted Yue.
Nodoka laughed. "With… everything that's gone on… we haven't had much time to do anything together…"
"So true…" said Yue. She reached over and took Nodoka's hand. "How 'bout this: you wanna go grab dinner out tonight? Just you and me?"
Nodoka looked up, surprised; she and Yue hadn't been out on a date in ages. "I'd love to, but… why tonight?"
This time, it was Yue who started laughing. "It's just that… well… I've been thinking about this myself, lately, and… I wanted to do something for you…"
Nodoka pushed herself up out of the pool, but not before leaning over and giving Yue a quick kiss. "We'll get dressed, then head out." Standing up, Nodoka took a step forward- and stopped dead in her tracks.
"What's up?" asked Yue, noticing the sudden way that Nodoka had stopped.
"Do you see that?" asked Nodoka, pointing over towards the bath entrance/exit.
Yue looked over to where Nodoka was pointing. "Yeah… I see the door."
"No, not that… that black, shadowy thing in front of the door."
Yue squinted, but still couldn't see anything. "Erm, Nodoka… there's nothing over-"
Nodoka held a finger to her lips, and motioned for Yue to be quiet; as soon as Yue fell silent, Nodoka reached into her bathrobe and pulled out her pactio card. "Adeat," she whispered, and her artifact came forth.
Nodoka opened the Diarium Ejus and said, "What is it that you want?"
"Nodoka…" whispered Yue, "what in the name of Shiisa do you think you're doing?" Yue looked at the Diarium and saw words begin to appear. That can't be right, thought Yue. Usually, that only happens when Nodoka's trying to read someone's mind… Yue laughed out loud. Oh, now I get what she's doing… she's reading her own mind and making it look like something's there. She looked at the book again, but when she looked above the words, she saw a different picture there- one that looked nothing like Nodoka.
If only I could get a better view of that picture… thought Yue, I might just be able to figure out what the hell is going on here… Yue shifted over to the left a bit, and got a better view of the picture; her jaw dropped. "There's no way…" she said aloud. "That… that's-"
Suddenly, the picture and words vanished, and Yue heard Nodoka say, "It's gone…"
"What the hell was that thing?" asked Yue.
Nodoka looked at Yue, a scared look on her face. "He was about to tell me… when he just disappeared."
"He looked… familiar."
Nodoka looked up at Yue, a bit surprised. "You said… you said you couldn't see it, though…"
"I got a glimpse of it by looking at the picture in your artifact," responded Yue. "I was just about to figure out who or what that thing was, when the picture disappeared."
"That must have been when it went away." Nodoka's voice sounded dejected. "I wonder if we'll ever see it again…"
"Do you think it has anything to do with Negi-sensei?" asked Yue.
"Why would you ask that?" asked Nodoka.
Yue noticed she was blushing furiously; she laughed. "So you do still like Negi-sensei… well, no worries. Anyways, I was wondering if this was something magical, something that Negi-sensei might know something about."
"Could be," replied Nodoka. "You want to go ask him?"
"Maybe later," said Yue. "I heard him mention something to Setsuna-san about going to Eva-chan's place."
"Wonder what he's doing over there?"
"Couldn't tell you," replied Yue, motioning for Nodoka to follow her. The two began to walk towards the door, though neither of them were walking on steady legs.
Mahora Academy, Drama Club Room, Earlier that Afternoon
She sat all alone in the room, practicing her lines. Most people would have found it repetitious, but for Natsumi, it was necessary- the big Mahora Academy play was in a week, and she needed to do some major studying of her lines, if she was going to be ready. She heard a scrape behind her, like someone had run into a chair; when she turned around, though, no one was there. I'm hearing things… she thought as she turned around- and let out a sharp squeak.
"Kotaro!" she said. "What'd you do that for?"
Kotaro didn't exactly hear this, because he had fallen on the ground laughing. "Oh, come on, Natsumi-chan…" he finally managed to say after a minute, "it was funny. You should have seen the look on your face…" He couldn't say any more, but simply fell on the ground again, laughing.
Natsumi looked at Kotaro, a look of annoyance on her face. "Listen, Kotaro, I have to get these lines memorized for the play…"
Kotaro stopped laughing and got up, leaning against the wall. "To be honest, Natsumi, I completely forgot you were in the play…" (I'm not surprised one bit… thought Natsumi) "What are you guys doing again?"
"We're doing a dramatic interpretation of the tale of Taro Urashima."
"Taro Urashima, eh? Sounds fun. When is it?"
Natsumi looked at him, even more annoyed than before. "I just told you this morning, Kotaro! It's next Friday!"
Kotaro backed away. "Hey, I'm sorry, okay? I'll just leave you alone, let you study…" Kotaro moved in a bit and gave Natsumi one last kiss, before he walked around her and out the door.
I know this is important to her, Kotaro thought as he walked along the hallway, but I think she really needs to lighten up a bit… She's taking this drama thing way too seriously…
As he exited the building and walked out onto the grass, he began to feel that something just… wasn't right. A chill ran down his spine, and he shivered, trying to get the feeling of dread out of his mind. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't help but think that something was about to happen- not to him, but to someone he was very close to. And even that thought was too vague for Kotaro's liking: he wasn't sure if it was Negi, or Natsumi-chan, or who it was.
As Kotaro took a few steps away from the building, another chill hit him; this one, though, was so strong, it knocked him to his knees.
What the hell is going on?! he asked himself as he struggled to catch his breath. This has most definitely never happened to me before... why does it seem like Death itself is here? Slowly, achingly, Kotaro got to his feet. He looked up, to see where he was going, when he saw it.
It was gliding towards him, almost like… it knew him, somehow. The closer it got, the colder Kotaro felt inside.
"Well," he said out loud, to no one in particular, "now we know where those chills came from. But… how long has that thing been watching me, stalking me?" He simply stood there for a minute or two, hoping that… whatever it was would stop and turn around. But it didn't; it just kept advancing, and the cold inside Kotaro grew steadily worse.
Finally, Kotaro could take it no more. "You want some?" he yelled. "Come get some!!!" At this, he unleashed his Inugami swarm, directing them at the creature. He thought that, at the very least, this would scare it off, but it didn't even do that. As the shadow-dogs neared the beast, a hole opened up in the center of its cloaked body, if you could bear to call it that; the hole swallowed up the Inugami and shut itself.
I can't even affect it with my Inugami?! Kotaro thought. What can beat this thing? He looked closer at it, realizing in horror that, not only had the Inugami not hurt it, they'd actually caused it to grow bigger (and more powerful... he thought wryly).
As it continued to advance, Kotaro felt his knees grow weak; they finally gave, when it was about twenty yards away from him, and he fell to the ground. He felt the pain, as his knees hit a patch of sharp rocks, just barely sticking up out of the ground.
Finally, he managed to look at it again; rage blazed in his eyes. "I WILL NOT LET YOU BEAT ME!!!" he screamed, as he flung himself at the beast. This proved to be fruitless, though, as he merely passed through his cloak and out to the other side. Kotaro skidded to a halt; without a glance, he fired off more of his Inugami behind him, hoping against hope that this batch would hit him.
When he heard nothing, Kotaro slowly turned around to face his ethereal attacker. He was gone.
"I scared him off…" he thought aloud. "Not sure how, but… I guess I did."
Just then, a thought crossed his mind. "Dammit!" he said, running towards the school. What if he went after Natsumi-chan? It'd be my fault… Running faster than he ever had before, he raced towards the drama room, praying with all his might that Natsumi was okay.
Evangeline's House, Monday Evening
It was nearly dusk, when Negi finally walked over the last small hill. The view of Evangeline's house broke over the road, and Negi smiled. Even though there was a vampire that lived in that house, one that had tried (and succeeded) on multiple occasions to drain Negi of his blood (for "payments" or otherwise), he always liked coming here. Whether for vigorous training or just passing by on one of his weekend hikes, he thought it was the best-kept house he'd ever seen.
But, he thought, today's not for pleasure. He took a deep breath and crossed the rest of the way to the front porch. He had only raised his hand to knock when the door opened. Negi looked up in surprise; his shock was only elevated when he saw who it was who had opened it.
"Master?" he asked in surprise. "Doesn't Chachamaru usually take care of reception duties?"
Evangeline smiled. "Chachamaru is away; Hakase is taking a look at some of her hard-drives. In the meantime… what the hell are you doing here?"
"Well, I need your help-"
"Obviously," interjected Eva, still grinning evilly. "So what can I do for my disciple today?"
Negi braced himself. "I need your help… help me to look into the future."
Eva's smile faded from her face. "Why would you want to find out what happens in the future? Unless… is this about her?"
"About who?" Negi asked, though he thought he knew whom it was that Evangeline was referring to.
"About Lingshen Chao, of course. Remember: I was there when she told everyone she was from the future."
"Er, right…" replied Negi, now feeling a bit foolish. "So… can you?"
"The question isn't 'can I?" It's 'will I?'"
"Will you?" asked Negi.
Eva's grin returned. "What can you do for me? You know, in return for letting me use my devices."
Negi thought for a minute. "I can find out something that you've been wanting to know."
Evangeline laughed. "If that's all I wanted, don't you think I could have done that on my own?"
"I don't know… maybe what you've been wanting to find out, you can't for some reason. You can't see it, because it's going to happen to you…"
In his thought, Negi didn't notice that Evangeline had gotten oddly quiet when he said that, for that was exactly Eva's dilemma.
"Okay, fine…" Eva said, "but this one time only." She motioned for Negi to come inside; when both were in the doorway, the door shut, leaving the outside world as quiet as it had been, the day it was born.