Chapter 4 – Getting to Know Your Class

The next morning, Reinforce woke up to find a weight on her chest. Looking down, she saw that it was just Negi using her chest as a pillow. Normally, one would blush and be embarrassed at having their chest being used as a soft pillow, but Reinforce knew about Negi's sleeping habits; she and Nekane took turns sleeping with Negi back in Wales after all. Reinforce gave a light sigh as she nudged Negi awake, "Negi, it's time to get up."

"S-Sis…is that you?" Negi managed to wake up, though a part of his brain was still half asleep.

"No Negi, it's just me…" Reinforce couldn't help but wonder how Negi could mistake her for Nekane, but let it slide for now.

"A-ah? Oh, good morning Reinforce…" Negi was now awake, and rolled off Reinforce as he stretched and yawned, giving Reinforce some relief as she got up.

Konoka was somehow roused by the light noise, and she gave a yawn as she rubbed her eyes, "Awa… Ah, Negi-kun, Yagami-sensei, good morning!"

"Good morning Konoka-san." Negi and Reinforce said at the same time without realizing it. Konoka blinked at that before she giggled, seeing that the two of them really didn't notice. They saw that Asuna was already gone and Konoka sighed, "Asuna's gone already; better prepare breakfast now before she gets back."

Both Negi and Reinforce looked at the clock and saw that it was just past six, and Negi commented, "Wow, Asuna-san sure is devoted to her job."

"It's become a routine by now, and it does keep Asuna in shape," Konoka said as she made her way to the kitchen, "Though I still remember she had trouble with it when she first started."

Negi and Reinforce found that little tidbit interesting as Reinforce put the futon away, while Negi offered to help Konoka with breakfast. Soon, they started eating, just as Asuna came back in looking exhausted, "Man, those bags were heavy… Oooh, breakfast! Just let me take a quick shower first!"

Asuna strolled off to the bathroom when Reinforce noticed Negi starting to get up and grabbed him by the shoulder, "And where do you think you're going?"

"Um, to help Asuna-san?" Negi whispered weakly.

"Asuna-san can take care of herself Negi, just finish eating first." Reinforce whispered back, before initiating a telepathic connection, 'What exactly what do you mean by help?'

'Um, I was going to use my magic to help speed up cleaning her?'

'Oooh, someone's trying to get in on some action, bow chika bow wow!'

Reinforce winced at the return of pervy-Hayate while Negi was surprised by the new voice, 'E-eh? W-who is that?'

'Sorry Negi, I need to take care of this,' Reinforce cut the connection before turning in on pervy-Hayate, 'You, back where you came from, now!'

'Aw, it's not my fault that Negi wants to check out Asuna-san. I know I would!'

'Back. Now.'

'Alright, alright, but I'll be back, teehee!'

Reinforce inwardly sighed as pervy-Hayate's voice disappeared back into the depths of her mind, 'Ugh, Hayate does not sound like a pervert, Hayate does not sound like a pervert, Hayate does not sound like a pervert…'

Konoka watched the exchange between the two, though she couldn't hear what they were saying and was oblivious to the inner dialogue, "Aww, you two look like brother and sister when we're together like this."

Negi flushed in embarrassment, while hearing Konoka's comment brought back some memories Reinforce had of her, Negi, Nekane, and Anya eating together. Finishing up her meal, Reinforce got up with her plate, "Why don't I take care of the dishes Konoka-san, so you can get ready?"

"Oh, thank you so much Yagami-sensei!" Konoka clapped her hands together in thanks before she went off to get herself ready for school. Negi looked at her and a look from Reinforce told him to do the same, so she did.

By the time Asuna was done with her shower, everyone was already ready, and Asuna's breakfast was the only thing left on the table, "Wow, you guys done already? That's early…"

"Well, it doesn't hurt to be early," Negi supplied, "Maybe we can get ahead of the rush to school…"

"Maybe, but for now, you need to wait outside Negi," Reinforce just finished washing the dishes and was already on her way to the clothes pile, "We need to get changed, alright?"

"Ah, y-yes, of course!" Negi blushed red before he quickly walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"Aw, he's such a little gentleman!" Konoka commented as she started getting changed. Asuna and Reinforce looked at each other before they too got changed, Asuna devouring her breakfast in the process.

In the staff room at lunch, Negi was busy with paperwork with Reinforce helping him, "Whew, who knew that paperwork could be so difficult."

"It's one of those necessary evils Negi," Reinforce sighed as she put away another stack of marked papers, "It's hard work, but it needs to be done. Whoever actually likes doing this kind of work must be a very special person…"

Not really understanding that last part, Negi just clenched his fist in confidence as he looked up, "Still, I've got to do my best!"

A number of the other teachers giggled at Negi's enthusiasm, all of them females when a voice behind him and Reinforce called out, "That's the spirit Negi-sensei!"

Both Negi and Reinforce jumped at the sound of Shizuna's voice and they whipped around, though Negi still had those deer caught in the headlights look as he greeted her, "Ah, hello Shizuna-sensei! What brings you here?"

"H-Hello Shizuna-sensei." Reinforce did a light bow as she paced herself to calm down.

"Hello to you too Yagami-sensei, uhuhu… I have the '2-A after-class list' from Takahata-sensei here for the two of you."

"After-class list?" Both Negi and Reinforce said at the same time in confusion, earning another giggle from Shizuna as she took out a paper.

"Yes, Takahata-sensei used to give out minor tests, and afterwards, he would give an after-class lesson to the students who scored low marks," Shizuna turned over the paper so the front was facing the two teachers, "Here are the faces of the 'members'."

Both Negi and Reinforce wondered who these members were until they took a good look at the list, which had Yue, Asuna, Ku Fei, Makie Sasaki, and Kaede Nagase's names on it. Reinforce raised an eyebrow when she saw that Negi had suppressed a laugh looking at Asuna's name as he commented, "I see, Asuna-san is poor when it comes to English!"

Reinforce gently took the paper from Negi to take a closer look at it as Shizuna told them, "It seems like she actually enjoys these after-class lessons though, from what I've seen. It's already the third semester, so those who get low marks now may be in trouble for the end of year exams…"

As Negi thought it over in his head, Reinforce gave the paper a wave asking, "Does this only apply to English, or to every other subject too?"

"Unfortunately, for this particular group, this problem applies to every subject, but they do try their best despite that."

"I see…" Reinforce was busy trying to think up of a plan based on what she knew about the five students when Negi surprised her with a sudden statement.

"I understand, Reinforce and I will teach the after-class lesson!"

"I see, I'll got tell Takahata-sensei the good news then!" Shizuna gave a smile before walking away from them, leaving Reinforce and Negi alone.

"Reinforce, could you help me prepare some material before classes start again?"

"Uh, sure, okay…" Reinforce was thrown off a bit by the sudden turn of events, but managed to catch her bearings as she helped Negi prepare some tests.

When it was time for the actual after-class lesson, Reinforce had to gather everyone up first, which took a while before the five were brought together, along with two extras, Nodoka and Haruna. However what happened next would confuse Reinforce for quite awhile, which was the way they introduced themselves…

"And so…2-A's Baka Rangers have assembled!" Yue was the one who introduced them like that, with Kaede and Ku Fei doing a goofy pose, while Makie just looked slightly embarrassed in front of her teachers.

"Who's a Baka Ranger?" Obviously, Asuna was less than amused, being introduced as Baka Red. Negi looked amused by all the enthusiasm, not really taking note that they were just making fun of themselves, while Reinforce was still confused by the whole thing, since it was all new to her.

"Um, Ayase-san, why do you exactly call yourselves 'Baka Rangers' for anyway?"

Everyone except Negi looked at her oddly, even Asuna, who was in the middle of a rant as Yue frowned slightly, "Um, it's because we're like a Sentai group, with the five of us being the exact number of members necessary for one."

That just made Reinforce tilt her head to the side as her confusion increased, "What's a Sentai group?"

If everyone didn't think how cute Reinforce looked just now, they would've all dropped their jaws in shock as Haruna stood up and asked, "Yagami-sensei, haven't you ever heard of the Power Rangers at the very least?"

When Reinforce shook her head, everyone decided to fill her, and Negi by auxiliary, all about the Power Rangers and Sentai shows that were quite known in Japan. Reinforce eventually understood what she was being told somewhat and when that was done, the lessons could finally begin with Negi stating, "Okay, first we'll be having a little test composed of ten marks. You can't leave until you score at least six, okay?"

When everyone nodded, Negi turned to Reinforce, "Reinforce, I'll leave the marking to you, okay?"

Reinforce nodded, and Negi told everyone to begin. It wasn't even two minutes when Yue got up saying, "I'm done…"

Both teachers were surprised by how fast Yue had finished, and Negi handed her paper over to Reinforce. The boy mage raised an eyebrow when a look of puzzlement crossed his partner's face, and when the paper was handed back to him, he could understand why, "Wah, Ayase-san scores nine marks! You pass!"

Negi handed the paper back to Reinforce as he went on, "See? You can do it after all"

"…It's because I hate studying…" Yue told him before she went off with Nodoka and Haruna. At the same time, Makie, Ku Fei, and Kaede had finished and went up to Reinforce saying that they were done.

After the Unison Device marked them, she handed them over to Negi, who gave a light sigh as the three in question scratched the back of their heads. Asuna had a look that shifted between irritation and embarrassment that made Reinforce turn to her, "Asuna-san?"

Hearing her name being called out, Asuna stiffly stood up and went over to Reinforce to hand her paper in while giving a sheepish look, "Here Yagami-sensei…"

Reinforce went to work, and she had to bite her lip in order to keep a neutral face as she handed the paper over to Negi. Seeing the two on it, the lowest score, Negi had the same look on his face as Asuna looked away in embarrassment before Negi coughed up, "O-okay then. I'll discuss each of the points now… Once I'm done we'll try the test again."

"Okay!"

As Negi, went on to explain every point, Reinforce stuck to the desk, observing each of the girls as her own opinion formed in the back of her head, 'Let's see, from what I've seen, Ayase-san seems to suffer from a lack of interest for some reason. Nagase-san seems to fall in that category too somewhat, but she does look like she's trying her hardest; I'll need to look into that. Ku Fei-san seems to have a foreigner's block; I'll discuss things with Negi before making a move. Sasaki-san looks like she's really struggling; maybe some private lessons are in order. Asuna-san…I have a feeling that she's in the same category, but why do I have a gut feeling that there's something else going on here?'

Reinforce was so deep in her thoughts, that she didn't notice Kaede and Ku Fei walking up to her, and only a poke in the arm snapped her out of it, "Yagami-sensei, we done aru!"

"Oh, I'm sorry about that," Reinforce took their papers, as she saw that Negi was giving extra attention to Asuna and Makie before she started marking. When she was done, she held them out to them, "Here we go, both of you scored eight out of ten, so you two are free to go."

"Ah, that's good to hear Reinforce," Negi said looking up, "Congrats on passing with good marks you two."

"Ah, I currently learning Japanese too, so I gotta do my best aru!" Ku Fei informed them. Kaede just laughed sheepishly before waving good bye as Reinforce tucked that little note away for now.

Next up was Makie, who walked up to Reinforce with her paper in hand, "Yagami-sensei, I'm done!"

After Reinforce marked this paper, she handed it to Negi, who saw the mark and congratulated Makie, "Ah, Seat sixteen's Sasaki-san! You've got six out of ten! You just made it!"

"Ehehe…sorry for being so dumb Negi-sensei, Yagami-sensei." Makie apologized as she gave Negi a light head rub before she too left the classroom.

Now it was only Reinforce, Negi, and Asuna in the room as Asuna handed in her paper with a cringing look. Handing the paper over to Reinforce, Negi watched as she marked it, and they both saw the one out of ten when Reinforce underlined it. There was a moment of silence before Negi tried to assure her, "I-it's okay! Once I've tutored you, you'll make eight out of ten in no time! It took me three weeks to master Japanese, you know!"

Reinforce couldn't help but slapped her head while looking away as she muttered, "That's not really the thing to say, especially since magic was involved that time…"

Negi coughed hearing that, but didn't let it deter him, "I'll try to be more thorough, so let's do our best!"

The time passed, and Reinforce marked a number of papers, all of them under five points, though Reinforce found it odd that her marks fluctuated like a mountain range, especially since they were all the same test. Reinforce wondered what the problem was as Negi tried to cheer up a depressed Asuna, when Takamichi's voice called out to them, "Hey! How's it going in there Negi-kun, Rein-kun?"

"Takamichi?" Reinforce muttered, surprised by the man's sudden appearance as she gathered the papers together.

"Oh, Asuna-kun's here as usual I see…" Takamichi looked a bit amused seeing Asuna there, "Don't give your senseis too much trouble, okay?"

Asuna was left speechless by Takamichi's sudden appearance that she had trouble string a sentence together, stuttering through her words. That's when Takamichi gave a wave and said, "Well then, the three of you do you best now, okay?"

The encounter left Asuna trembling and Negi looked scared, afraid that Asuna was going to burst out in anger again, "U-um, Asuna-san… Um, please don't take any notice of him…"

All of a sudden, Asuna grabbed the papers Reinforce put together, which also included unwritten tests and ran out of the room in tears, the humiliation too much. Negi looked at Reinforce for help and she just nodded outwards, "Go and catch her Negi, I'll clean things up here and head back to the dorms."

Reinforce went over to the corner where Negi's staff was leaning against the wall and threw it in his direction. The boy mage caught and ran out the door saying, "Thanks Reinforce, see you back at the dorms!"

Being the only one left in the classroom, Reinforce gathered what's left and was about to leave when she suddenly felt a chill down her back and whipped around in alarm. Not seeing anything Reinforce tilted her head in confusion as she whispered, "Hmm, maybe I imagined it…"

With the Unison Device leaving, the resident ghost Sayo was the only one left in the room as she thought, 'Oops, I accidentally got too close to Yagami-sensei! But for some reason, she feels warm…'

Walking down the street, Reinforce was heading back to the dorms, with her idle thoughts thinking about Hayate. She gave a sigh and whispered, "I wonder what Hayate and the others are doing right now…"

That's when a note suddenly floated down from above and landed on Reinforce's face. She quickly pulled it off and on the paper it said, "Do you really want to see how Hayate's doing? Being."

Blinking to see if she was seeing things, more writing suddenly appeared which said, "If you really want to know, head into a deserted area to see. Gotta keep this magic stuff a secret and all…"

Taking chances with this note, Reinforce headed towards a clump of trees that would hide her from mundane eyes, wondering what Being was up to this time. When she was deep enough, the note glowed, and soon a picture of Hayate and the Wolkenritter showed up, and it had Reinforce Zwei in the picture, something Reinforce noticed. That's when more writing showed up on the bottom of the picture, "I'm sure you've noticed Reinforce Zwei by now. She's the creation from the remains of your Linker Core and data that I purposely left behind, as well as a part of Hayate's, something to remember you by. In essence, I guess Reinforce Zwei could be your daughter, and she did inherit the title The Blessed Wind as you requested. All in all, they're doing well, and I'm sure that it'll be a surprise when they see you again. Hayate does miss you deep down, so I'm sure that reunion will be quite exciting. That's all I have for now, so I'll contact you some other time Reinforce Yagami."

The writing vanished, though the picture remained as Reinforce smiled, a tear falling down her face, "Thank you Being, I'm glad for this piece of information."

Folding the picture and putting it into her pocket, Reinforce walked out of the trees as she wiped her face, heading back to the dorms.

After dinner, Reinforce noticed that Asuna had a renewed vigor in studying, something that Negi graciously helped her with as she did some more re-tests. Negi had given Reinforce the already completed ones, and she was now looking at the ones that Asuna had already completed earlier. Suddenly, Asuna stood up and held out a bunch of test papers she did saying, "Take a look at this! It's perfect I tell you! How about that?"

"O-okay! Reinforce, could you help me with some of them?" Negi asked.

"Sure thing Negi." Reinforce took half the papers and the two teachers started marking.

After they were done, Reinforce, Negi, and Konoka looked at them and saw that the marks haven't changed with Konoka commenting, "I guess Asuna's just not suited to studying…"

"Hmm, you know, something's been bothering me…" Reinforce suddenly spoke up.

"Huh? What do you mean Reinforce?" Negi wondered what his partner was thinking about as he saw her take out the tests Asuna did in class.

"Please take a look at these everyone," Reinforce put out the tests that Asuna did and put them in the order that Asuna did them, "These are all the same tests, but the marks keep going up and down for some reason."

The others took a look at them and Konoka pointed out, "Hey Asuna, look at this. On some tests, you got the question right, but on later ones, you got the same question wrong. Don't you find that weird?"

"Huh…honestly, I never noticed," Asuna admitted, "I kinda just wanted to get it over with…"

"Hmm, even so," Reinforce looked at Asuna in concern, "I must ask; do you have any memory problems Asuna-san?"

"What? No I don't. I actually remember what I had for breakfast yesterday at the very least." Asuna replied.

"Wow, even I can't remember what we had for breakfast yesterday." Negi commented, looking impressed.

"Hmm…" Reinforce looked at Asuna for a while until she stood up, "Asuna-san, it looks like you have something in your hair. Could you come with me to the bathroom so I could get it out?"

"Huh? Oh, um sure…" Asuna had no idea what Reinforce was talking about, but she followed her to the bathroom none the less. Konoka and Negi looked at each other as the boy mage just shrugged, not knowing what Reinforce was thinking.

Inside the bathroom, Reinforce faced Asuna as the girl asked, "Um, what's going on Yagami-sensei…?"

"Just stand still Asuna-san," Reinforce's hand started glowing, alarming Asuna, "Don't worry, I'm just going to scan your brain to see if there's anything wrong. Just to make sure you don't have any learning disabilities or something like that."

"Uh, okay…" Asuna closed her eyes as Reinforce pressed her hand against her forehead. Unlike the time with the memory spell, Reinforce's magic did work as she probed her mind for any abnormalities. However, for some reason she was getting interference, like her magic wasn't being as effective as it should be. But somehow, she did feel something was there, and it was magical in nature. When she tried to get closer to it, it attacked her, causing her to jump back like she was just shocked, causing Asuna to open her eyes, "Yagami-sensei, are you alright?"

"Ah, I'm fine Asuna-san," Reinforce canceled her magic as she shook off the shock, "I managed to find something in your mind Asuna, and I think it's having an effect on your learning abilities."

Asuna blinked in surprise as Reinforce went on, "I don't know what it is, but what I do know is that it's magical in nature…"

"Tch, that brat must have something to do with it!" Asuna hissed, quickly jumping to conclusions again.

"I don't think so," Reinforce countered, "Whatever attack me was there for a very long time. Do you remember getting into any, uh, odd accidents or something like that?"

"Hmm, not that I know of," Asuna thought for a moment, "Can you get rid of it Yagami-sensei?"

Reinforce shook her head in apology, "I'm sorry Asuna-san. I can't remove it as is for the moment. I can, but there's a very high chance that you'd turn into a vegetable if I did it right now."

Asuna didn't like the sound of that as Reinforce sighed, "I'll look into it as soon as I can Asuna-san, but for now, we'll just have to go back to the old study method. I'll help you along with Negi, okay?"

"Yeah, sure thing Yagami-sensei," Asuna was about to open the door when she whispered, "Thank you for trying to help Yagami-sensei."

"You should do that with Negi too, you know."

"I'll do that…"

Reinforce followed Asuna out of the bathroom as she thought, 'Just what was that anyway. If I had to take a wild guess, it was some kind of seal that reacts violently to intrusions… I'll need to look into it more later…"

Looking at Negi, he saw that he was trying to teach Asuna again, and she was trying earnestly to learn, that even Konoka was getting in on it. Reinforce cracked a smile before she went over to help them.

Note: I'm sorry for the starting chapters to be slow like this; honestly, the action won't start until chapter seven, with some previews in chapter 6. To make up for it, I added a little omake/one-shot at this end, which stars Hayate. I just hope I didn't make it too fluffy though…

Oh, and I do think that Asuna's learning problem stems from the fact that her memory was magically suppressed, albeit as a side effect, but that's just my opinion. I don't know if it's fact or not.

Omake: A Little Gift for Hayate

Thirteen year old Hayate Yagami was walking by herself after she had gotten some groceries for dinner. Being able to walk again felt so right to her, though thinking about it brought back memories of Reinforce, and what the corrupted Book of Darkness did to her legs in the first place. However, the brief memories of Reinforce nearly brought tears to her eyes as she tried to hold them back, whispering, "I miss you Reinforce…"

"Is something wrong miss?"

Giving a squeak of surprise, Hayate whipped around, only to find an elderly man tending to the front of his store, something that made Hayate confused, 'Odd, I don't remember there being a store here before…'

"Um, are you alright Miss?"

"Ah, um, I-I'm fine sir; just remembering something precious."

"Ah yes, memories are such a precious thing. I should know; this shop specializes in them in a way."

"Your shop sir?"

"Yes, in a nutshell, I make plush dolls for people in the form of their loved ones. People always comment on how cute they look when I'm done…" Hayate raised an eyebrow in surprise, and the man laughed, "You don't believe me? Come back tomorrow, and I'll show you."

With that, the man entered the shop, leaving Hayate by herself. Personally, she admitted that what the man said interested her when she remembered that she still had dinner in her hands, "Oh shoot, I better hurry. Everyone's going to be hungry if I'm late!"

The next day, Hayate found herself in front of the shop after school ended. She insisted on walking by herself, saying that she had an errand to run, and eventually managed to end up by herself. Finding herself being drawn to the shop, she went through the front door asking, "Hello? Is anyone here?"

"Ah, if it isn't the young miss from yesterday! Please come in!" The old man's voice shouted from the back as Hayate heard footsteps approaching.

When the old man actually appeared, Hayate noticed that he had a box in his hand as he went up to the counter. Hayate walked up to the counter too as she asked, "What's in the box Oji-san?"

"Go take a look, miss…"

"It's Yagami Hayate, Oji-san."

"Go right ahead and take a look Yagami-san. I'm sure it will surprise you."

Hayate opened the box, and what she found inside surprised her very much. Reaching in, she took out a plushie version of herself, complete with her school uniform, "Oh my gosh, this looks so cute! But how did you get this done so fast…?"

"This is nothing if a bit of magic is used Yagami-san. I'm sure that a mage like yourself would know something like that."

"W-what? How d-do you-?" Hayate nearly dropped the plushie in shock when she heard what the old man said.

"Don't worry, I'm one too," To prove it, the old man lit a fire in his hand after muttering a chant that Hayate couldn't hear, then he snuffed it out, "Though these days, I spend my time making plushies for those who need it."

"Um, were you with the TSAB then Oji-san?"

"TSAB? Never heard of them before," Hayate looked shocked hearing that as the old man waved his hand, "Earth doesn't have many magic users left, and magic texts are extremely hard to come by if you don't look in the right places, like Kyoto for instance. Anyway, enough about me, I want to hear your opinion on the plushie."

"E-eh? Oh, right…I admit that it's very cute, that even I can't look away at this plushie version of myself. Can you make even more?"

"Of course, all I need is a picture of the people in question, and I can make them overnight."

Hayate slumped a bit hearing that, "I'm sorry, I don't have any pictures on me at the moment…"

"That's not a problem," The old man held out his hand, "Just touch my hand, and I'll use magic to do a brief scan of your mind. It helps if you imagine them, as it brings the memory to the forefront."

There was a bit of silence before Hayate took the old man's hand, and started imagining each of her Knights and friends, while the old man used magic to get a glimpse of them. After a minute or so, the two broke apart with the old man commenting, "Wow, that's a lot of friends and family you have Yagami-san. So I take it you want all thirteen plushies made?"

Hayate gulped at the large number and reluctantly asked, "Um, how much is this going to cost me…?"

"Hmm, let's see…" The old man thought about it for a moment, which made Hayate very nervous, "For a cute girl like you, one thousand yen."

Hayate looked like she got hit in the head with a hammer as the old man laughed at her expression, "Don't worry about a thing Yagami-san, I'm pretty well off already, and I mainly opened this shop as a hobby and to help people."

Blinking, Hayate relaxed as she meekly said, "I-Is that so…?"

"Yes, so come back tomorrow around the same time. I should have them done by then."

As Hayate counted off the number of people in her head, she realized that she forgot one and quickly called out, "Wait, there's one more that I want you to make!"

The old man turned around and guessed what Hayate wanted, "Let's see, is it that one with the long silver hair and eyes?" When Hayate blinked, the old man nodded, "Don't worry, I've got that covered. Also, did you want anything else before I go to work?"

Putting a finger to her chin, Hayate thought about it before she replied, "Yes, if it's okay, could you put them into their Barrier Jackets and Knight Armours, including mine?" She held up the plushie version of herself to point out.

"Is that what those fancy costumes were called? Sure thing, just leave that plushie on the counter, I'll take it after I look for a few things. Oh, and please keep my identity as a mage a secret could you? I really don't any unnecessary attention at my age and all..."

"T-Thank you very much Oji-san, and I promise!" Hayate quickly turned around and left the shop, heading home with a happy expression on her face. When her Knights asked, all she said was that it was a secret, and they didn't inquire any further.

Hayate was back in the shop the next day, looking forward to seeing the new plush dolls. As expected, the old man came out from the back, this time with a large box in hand. Putting it down on the counter, the old man offered it to her, "Go on, take a look."

Opening the box, Hayate let out a squeal of delight as she saw the plushie forms of Nanoha, Fate, Yuuno, Chrono, Arf, Amy, Lindy, Signum, Vita, Shamal, Zafira, Suzuka, and Alisa inside, and it also included the animal forms of Arf and Zafira as additions. Everyone was wearing their Barrier Jackets and Knight Armors except for Lindy, Amy, Suzuka, and Alisa, with the first two wearing their TSAB uniforms and the last two wearing their school uniforms. However Hayate noticed two things were missing and asked, "Um, where are the other two?"

"I put them in this box here, since the big one was already full," The old man took another box that he had under the counter and put it on top, "I had these two done first, and put them away together before I worked on the rest."

Hayate opened the box next, and what she saw made her gasp. Inside was a plushie of herself, decked out in her Knight Armor, complete with the beret. Next to it was a plushie of Reinforce, also in her Knight Armor and with her little black wings to complete the image. Hayate picked up the Reinforce doll and gave it hug, tears falling down her face, "Oh, this is just amazing… Thank you so much Oji-san."

"No problem Yagami-san." The old man looked pleased that Hayate loved the plushies, "I hope that you won't have much of a problem bringing all of them home."

"Don't worry about it Oji-san, I'll be able to carry them," As Hayate put the plushie back in the box, she couldn't help but frown when she took out a thousand yen, "Oji-san, I just can't pay a thousand yen for all of them…"

"It's alright Yagami-san, as I said before; this is more of a hobby of mine than an actual shop. I spend more time helping people than making money anyway. Besides, this was my last job before I move on from here."

"Move on? You're not staying?"

"Yup, travelling does wonders for one's mind, and I've been itching to explore places for awhile anyway," The old man took Hayate's money as he put the little box on top of the bigger one, "Anyways, it was nice meeting you Yagami-san."

"You too, um…"

"Ah, just call me old man Sakuragi."

"Right, it was nice meeting you too, Sakuragi-Oji-san."

When Hayate left, the old man transformed into Being, the old man look being a disguise, "Well now, better disappear before anything else happens."

At the Yagami residence, the Wolkenritter were surprised to see Hayate come home with two boxes in her hands. Signum was the first to speak up, "Welcome home Mistress, what's with the boxes?"

"Oh, I have a surprise for everyone to see! Come, I'll put them down on the table." Hayate said as she led everyone over to the nearby table.

The four knights were curious as to what their mistress had in those boxes when Hayate placed them on the table. Opening them up, the Wolkenritter looked inside, only to be surprised to see plushie versions of themselves and the others. Shamal picked up the plushie version of herself, looking at it with a bit of wonder, "Hayate-chan, where did you…?"

"Oh, an old man made these for me when I asked," Hayate took out the plushie version of herself, something that Vita started eyeing with interest, "From what I know, Sakuragi-Oji-san is an old mage living here on Earth, so he offered to make these when he made one of me as an example."

The Wolkenritter nodded in unison, assuming that Hayate was talking about a retired TSAB mage that she ran into. When Hayate took out the Reinforce plushie, Shamal and Vita let out a soft gasp, while Zafira and Signum looked at it with surprise. Vita asked, "H-Hayate, isn't that…?"

"Yes, Oji-san even made me a plushie of Reinforce!" Hayate hugged the plushie as she gave a bright smile, "If you would excuse me, I want to check up on something in my room!"

Hayate skipped towards her bedroom, leaving the Wolkenritter with the plushies. Zafira, who shifted to human form, took the plushie that looked like him and gave it a roundabout look, "You know, these are made pretty well."

"I know, even our Knight Armor is detailed that it's hard to tell the difference." Shamal noted, picking up the Signum plushie.

Vita went over to the Hayate plushie and picked it up before hugging it, "Oh, this feels nice…"

"Vita," The girl in question jumped when Signum called out her name, "Hand it over."

"W-what?"

"Hand the plushie over now Vita."

Signum's request confused the youngest looking knight, but she couldn't refuse as she sulkily handed the plushie over to Signum. A nod came from the pink-haired knight before she suddenly walked off to her room, making Shamal ask, "What's with her?"

"Who knows what the boob demon is thinking about?" Vita was a bit angry that Signum took the Hayate plushie away, so instead, she played with the Vita and Signum plushies, acting out something that, well, let's just say Vita was acting like a queen for some reason.

Shamal just gave a sigh before she picked up the Nanoha and Fate plushies, "Oh, this looks so cute! Zafira, help me get all of these out of the box."

"Sure…"

Afterwards, things calmed down a bit, until Nanoha, Fate, Alisa, and Suzuka came over and saw the plushies, where a lot of squealing occurred. At night, everyone went to sleep as usual, though Hayate was clutching the Reinforce plushie close to her, while Vita managed to get the Hayate plushie back from Signum, and was sleeping with it.

From his pocket dimension, Being watched the scene as he commented, "Well, that ended well enough, time to get back to my other priorities!"

"Producer-san, are you listening to me?"

"Oops, better get back to, uh, work!"

That's it for now, and see you next chapter (ugh, I'm starting to hate the dodgeball thing now for some reason). If there's something wrong, like if Reinforce is acting OOC (I'm already looking into one case a reviewer mentioned) or anything else is out of the ordinary, please don't hesitate to say something. I do like to be accurate when writing fanfiction and all.