It was late as Ranma walked home from her final spring break lesson with Konoemon. She never thought she'd be glad school was starting up again, but at least there she'd be safe from the dean's clutches. Of course it wouldn't all be fun and games, as there were other issues she'd been putting off. Hopefully spring break had been enough for the class's attention span to turn away from her supposed cosplaying, because Ranma did not want to ever be mobbed like that again.
On the other hand, she did need to deal with Negi being a mage and what he was trying to do when he'd dispelled the illusion. The child teacher had kept his word about leaving her alone during break, and Ranma hadn't gone to him, but she still wanted to address them sooner or later.
That said, she'd be waiting at least one more day to find any of that out. First day of the school year was always the health exams, so Ranma would be skipping. Not just to avoid a reminder of how girly her body was becoming either. Even if that were her motivation, it'd be pretty pointless. The ever-growing discomfort of her chest bindings made that nearly impossible to forget. No, it was a simple matter of keeping her disguise, which was why she never got in trouble for skipping out on this particular day.
It was a lot more difficult to hide a tail when you were bunched in tightly with other girls while they measured and prodded you. And there was the clothing issue too. Even if she did like gym, rushing off first and speed changing, there'd be no locker to safely stuff her clothes in. This was important because once they were off her, the illusion would no longer keep anyone from noticing the hole she threaded her tail through.
Long story short, it was a big enough risk she was actually able to get Takahata and Konoemon to let her skip it whenever it came up. And since she still had no school tomorrow, there wasn't any pressing need to head home just yet. Ranma could get some exercise after all the magic related bookwork. Ranma was thinking over what to start with when she heard a scream not that far off. Checking that out would be as good a place to start as any, she supposed.
Hurrying to the source of the sound, she saw a cloaked figure kneeling over a Makie. Her classmate wasn't moving, but he was close enough to hear two sets of breathing, and both of them sounded fine. The cloaked figure then turned to him, revealing that she too was a classmate.
"Looks like I get dessert too," Evangeline told her standing up and running toward Ranma.
Ranma was a little confused about what was going on, but she could see some rather sharp fangs on the girl that were still dripping what looked like it might be blood. Not about to just let Evangeline do whatever she wanted to do, but not wanting to seriously hurt her until he knew just what this was, she simply dodged out of the way and gave her a simple shove, watching her stumble past.
"A little help here," Evangeline called out, as Ranma heard someone land behind her, turning to see Chachamaru. The robot. No wonder she hadn't realized anyone else was around. No breathing to give herself away.
Her mechanical classmate was now reaching out to restrain Ranma, who was starting to get more than a little annoyed by whatever they were trying to do. Ducking under the grasping arms, Ranma swept the legs out from under her before dancing away, only to have to jump away from giant icicles heading straight for her. It was magic, Ranma realized as she tensed up. This had suddenly gotten a whole lot more serious.
"I had a feeling you weren't normal," Evangeline told him. "I suppose they sent you to keep an eye on me."
Keep an eye on her? And who were 'they' supposed to be? Whatever Evangeline thought was going on, she and her robot weren't happy about it, as she was attacked by the mechanical student again, with Chachamaru trying to do more than simply restrain her this time. Chachamaru was fast too. A lot faster than she expected from a machine. Still, whoever had programmed her needed to put a little more time into martial arts if they wanted Chachamaru to be a threat to Ranma.
Evangeline was her bigger concern, so when she managed to catch Chachamaru, she tossed her to the side and sprinted toward Evangeline rather than press her assault and try to disable the robot. Dodging another set of icicles, Ranma quickly got into Evangeline's face and grabbed her arm, stopping her from throwing a potion of some sort. So far Evangeline hadn't shown any serious magic, but it still made Ranma nervous not knowing what would come next.
"Why don't you give up and tell me what this is all about?" Ranma demanded, now that she was in a position to stop her from casting any more spells.
"I'll pass on that," Evangeline answered, as she dropped the potion Ranma had just prevented her from throwing.
Ranma had release her and used instant movement to get out of there as quickly as she could before she even thought of how she could have just caught it before it hit the ground. Probably better like this anyway. Without knowing what that was, Ranma wanted nothing to do with it. Seeing it smash into the ground, a large cloud of smoke burst up from it completely hiding Evangeline from him. When it cleared, she saw Chachamaru carrying Evangeline off in the distance.
"Go crawl back to Takahata and Konoemon," she said spitefully. "Tell them I'm through playing along. I won't be trapped here any longer."
Ranma let them go, deciding she'd better make sure Makie was okay. Heading back to where she was still laying. Ranma didn't find anything wrong with her beyond a pair of puncture marks on her neck. Was Evangeline supposed to be some kind of vampire or something? Whatever she was, Ranma wasn't able to shake Makie awake, so he guessed there was nothing to do but take her to the nurse's office.
Lifting her into her arms, Ranma set off for the school building, while thinking on what had just happened. What did Takahata and the dean have to do with Evangeline? And what was that about her being trapped. Ranma supposed she should tell them what had happened. They could deal with the problem, and probably had the answers to all this. Arriving at the school, she got her chance earlier than she expected, as Takahata-sensei spotted her carrying Makie through the halls.
"What happened?" he asked.
Planning to explain everything, Ranma paused for a second first. Should she do that after all? From the way Evangeline talked, it sounded like he and the dean both knew all about Evangeline to begin with, and neither had said a word. If she let on, they may take care of whatever was happening, but what's to stop them from shoving her aside and keeping her in the dark? Like it or not, Ranma was involved now, and it would really bug her if she never knew just what it was she was involved with.
"I found Makie here collapsed outside," Ranma answered. "I was taking her to the nurse's office to make sure she was okay."
"Alright, get her to a bed," Takahata ordered her. "I'll make sure she gets medical attention."
Oh, right. This late there might not be anyone there. Well, Takahata-sensei could take care of that at least. Sure enough, the nurse's office was empty when she arrived, but Ranma left her in one the beds confident she'd get care soon enough. For now, she needed to decide what her next move was. She was new to this detective thing, but she'd think of something.
Negi had been looking forward to resuming teaching the students that now made up class 3-A. So he was a little surprised when taking roll to see four faces missing. None of Ranma, Makie, Evangeline, or Chachamaru were present.
"Does anyone know why the missing students are absent?" Negi asked, concerned there were so many gone the first day of class.
"They're all fairly flat," Fuka called out. "Maybe they're skipping because it's health exam day."
That wouldn't be so bad if that's all it was.
"Actually, I stopped by the nurse's office this morning, and Makie was resting there," Ako, the health assistant announced. "Supposedly Ranma found her collapsed in Sakura Lane last night and carried her here. The nurse said she was just anemic and she'll be fine."
"Oh, Ranma really is a nice person, after all, isn't she?" Konoka announced at that, while the rest of the class seemed to latch more onto the other news.
"The moon was pretty full last night, wasn't it?" Kakizaki Misa asked. "Do you think it was the rumored vampire that got her?"
Vampire? Negi barely heard the rest of the conversation that was going on as his mind whirled on that thought. What if there was a vampire attacking his students? Makie might be fine, but could Ranma have been attacked too after bringing her in? Had something happened to Evangeline or Chachamaru? Negi needed to find out if something was actually going on.
"Why doesn't everyone head off for the exams now?" Negi asked, deciding that would be a good chance for him to investigate.
Leaving them to that, Negi rushed off to the nurse's office to check on Makie. The girl was sleeping soundly, but Negi did sense a weak magic from her when he checked. Even worse, there were actually two puncture marks on the neck. It looked like the rumor was true. There was a vampire around. That just made him all the more worried about the three students still unaccounted for.
Running out of the school building, Negi hopped on his staff, risking a quick flight to Sakura Lane where Makie was found. Maybe there'd be some sign of what happened. Getting off his staff, Negi ran around searching the area. He wasn't even sure what he was looking for, and was starting to think he should at least check the dorms, when he spotted a figure stepping out from behind a tree.
"Over here, Negi-sensei," Evangeline called out.
"I'm so glad you're alright," Negi told the small girl as he ran over. "I was worried about you."
"You were worried about me?" she asked in confusion.
"Well, I heard about um …" he began trailing off when he realized it might be better not to talk about this.
"About the vampire?" she finished for him.
"Yeah, you know about that?" he asked in surprise.
"A lot more than you do, apparently. I can tell you more, but not here. Meet me on the other side of school tonight and I'll explain everything."
"Wait," Negi called as she started to walk off. "Do you know where Ranma or Chachamaru are?"
"They're both fine," she assured him. "Just show up tonight if you want to know the rest."
Negi was glad to hear that, but even with her assurances, he just couldn't stop worrying about his students. So he continued to search until the sun set, checking the dorms and asking around. None of his efforts paid off, and as night approached, Negi still hadn't located either of them. So he went to the meeting place instead to wait for Evangeline. He was standing there for about half an hour, beginning to worry something had happened to her too when she finally showed up.
He almost didn't realize it was her when she first approached him, as Evangeline had changed into a long black cloak and a pointy hat. With those clothes, was she a mage too?
"You actually showed up alone," she told him as she walked up. "And no sign of any activity all day. I can't imagine why, but it doesn't look like Ranma said anything."
"How is Ranma involved in this?" Negi asked. "You promised me answers."
"I did, but what answers do you want?" she asked with a smirk. "Answers about the vampire, or about your father, the Thousand Master?"
"You know about my father?!" Negi cried out in shock.
"Of course; he's the one who sealed most of my power and trapped me here. But now the blood of his son is going to let me break the curse."
"My blood?" Negi asked, putting the pieces together. "You're the vampire, aren't you?"
"Finally figured it out?" she said with a frightening smile that showed off her fangs. "I'm afraid you won't survive the loss of all the blood I'll be taking."
Negi gulped but didn't back down. He'd planned to confront the vampire to begin with, and if she knew anything about his father, then he definitely couldn't let her go without finding out more. Student or not, he was stopping Evangeline here.
The only thing Ranma had really been able to come up with for trying to figure out more was to have another run in with Evangeline. That was proving difficult, as he hadn't spotted her heading for school, and there was no sign of her during the day. Now that it was night again, Ranma figured maybe she'd catch her trying to attack another student. But even with as juicy a target as Honya made walking alone down Sakura Lane, nothing happened. Was it too much to ask that she just made herself easier to find?
Almost as soon as she thought that, Ranma saw weird lights coming from the other end of the school. Could it really be that simple? Well, it's not like she had any better leads. Maybe Evangeline was going to fulfill her request after all. So Ranma raced off in that direction, occasionally getting another bit of light to guide her. Reaching the edge of the school's roof, she saw Evangeline and Chachamaru fighting with Negi-sensei on a nearby roof. Although as she got closer, it was clear that it wasn't much of fight.
Chachamaru wasn't letting Negi get any spells off. She wasn't exactly hurting him with her interruptions, but Ranma probably would have needed to step in pretty quickly anyway if Asuna hadn't somehow found her way to fight as well and knocked both Chachamaru and Evangeline to the ground with a single kick. Well, Ranma didn't much feel like staying on the sidelines and watching, so she jumped between the two parties herself while Asuna was still yelling at the recently assaulted pair for picking on Negi.
"So what exactly is all of this about?" Ranma asked loudly, not really caring who answered her. "A vampire student fighting with a mage teacher? And what was that about being trapped that you mentioned last night?"
"So you're in the dark, huh?" Evangeline asked. "That explains why you haven't said anything. I suggest everyone here stays just as quiet if you don't want anyone else getting hurt. Now as much as I'd love pay back a pair of meddlers, I'll finish this another time. As long as Negi doesn't have a partner, it's only a matter of time until I get what I want."
Chachamaru had already picked Evangeline up and started running with the girl, but Ranma wasn't about to let them get away this time, giving quick pursuit.
"Wait!" Negi called out to her, making her stop in her tracks.
"What?" Ranma asked, worried there was some kind of magical trap or something she'd almost walked into.
"Evangeline is a vampire, and really dangerous," he told her. "You shouldn't go after her."
"A vampire?" Asuna asked. "You mean that was real?"
"I already knew that," Ranma said a little crossly, running over to the edge of the roof the pair had just jumped off but not spotting them. "Great, now I lost them."
"No, you really shouldn't chase after them," Negi insisted. "We'll figure something out, but it's good that they got away for now."
"Vampire or not, neither of them were that tough," Ranma answered, still annoyed at having been stopped for nothing. "I chased them off just fine last night, and I was going to get some answers out of them this time."
"You really took them both on?" Negi asked, a look of awe on his face. "But they were so strong."
"I'm pretty tough myself," she told him. "Now you better have some answers after making me lose them like that."
"Hey, there's no need to talk to him like that," Asuna complained. "He was just looking out for your safety. Because unlike you, he actually cares about someone other than himself."
"That's not fair," Negi quickly told Asuna. "Ranma carried Makie back to the nurse's office. And it sounds like he even fought Evangeline to protect her. Oh, and I'd like to thank you for that, Ranma. I'm sure Makie will thank you too when she gets a chance."
"It's no big deal," Ranma said a bit embarrassed at the praise. "Just because I avoid my classmates doesn't mean I want to see any of them hurt."
Asuna's anger seemed to fade at that. "Look, I'm sorry I said that. I'm just used to thinking that about you, so I snapped out of reflex. I know it must be tough on you, hiding the fact that you're not human."
"Meh," Ranma said dismissively. "I snapped at the kid, you snapped at me. Seems like a fair response to me."
"You don't need to be like that," Negi said quickly, after seeing her shove aside Asuna's apology. "At least not with us. We know you're a demi-human, and we're okay with that. We won't tell anyone, and we don't think any less of you. I'll even be your friend, if you'd like. Everyone should have at least one friend."
"I've got a suggestion too, how instead of talking about this, we worry about that vampire that's still on the lose?"
Genius or not, Negi could still lay on thick and say the sort of embarrassing things only kids could bring themselves to say. So her ten-year-old teacher thought he could be her first friend? Assuming she didn't have any and all just because she didn't want to be friends with her classmates. Well, Ranma didn't want any right now. Kaoru and the other martial artists were the closest thing she had right now and even they were barely more than acquaintances.
"She says she's been trapped here with her powers sealed for the last fifteen years," Negi explained. "She needs my blood to break free. Enough of it to kill me."
She planned to kill him? Sending people for an unwanted nap wasn't exactly good behavior, but planning to murder someone sent you way into villain territory.
"Why does she need your blood, anyway?" Asuna asked.
"Because my father is the one who sealed her here," he answered.
"So, your dad trapped her in middle school for the last 15 years?" Ranma asked. "No wonder she's pissed. Still, she may have said not to talk, but if she's just looking for a way to catch you alone and kill you, we probably shouldn't listen to her. Maybe you can call up your old man and get him to finish what he started."
She saw a pained look on Negi's face and wondered if she'd said something wrong, but he didn't mope for long, as he looked as if he'd decided something just now.
"No, we can't tell anyone," he insisted. "We can't risk that she'll follow through on her threat and get someone else involved. Besides, my father isn't an option. He's missing. But Evangeline might know something about where he is. Most people think my father is dead, but I know he isn't. So asking her about it is another reason I have to do this myself."
Poor kid. She didn't realize his father was missing too. Ranma knew exactly how it felt having to deal with something like that so young, and it was the sort of thing no one should have to go through.
"Hey kid," she told him, trying to sound a bit friendly for once. "I don't know about being friends, but I'll certainly do what I can to help you find your dad. If that means beating up a vampire until she's ready to talk, well, that's right up my alley anyway."
"I'll help too," Asuna promised. "Don't worry Negi. We won't let her win."
Ranma kind of hoped the help did end up violent again. Evangeline may not have stolen her own father away from her, but having a murderous mage to beat on would be good practice.
Asuna had never thought she'd see that side of Ranma. The girl who couldn't be bothered to do anything with anyone had actually volunteered to help Negi out. She understood why Ranma might be so cold to everyone, but it wasn't until she'd seen her make that offer to help that she could really say she'd adjusted her opinion of her classmate by much. The next morning, she'd even greeted Ranma warmly when she arrived in class, but the cold silence she got back made it clear that nothing had changed as far as her public behavior.
Ranma may have a good reason for pushing people away, but she was gratingly good at it. Asuna had needed to talk a deep breath just to keep from snapping at her. Well, Ranma could be like that all she wanted as long as she helped out with the Evangeline thing. Asuna certainly hoped she did, because Negi was starting to look like he might not be much use himself.
First she'd practically had to drag him to school he'd been so worried about what Evangeline would do, and now that she wasn't even here, he was just moping in front of the class, hardly even teaching a proper lesson.
Some elite group of vampire hunters they were. Ranma was convinced she could handle the issue herself and there was nothing to worry about. Negi was on the other end of the spectrum worried about how everything could go wrong. For her part, Asuna didn't know much about vampires, mages, or magic and was only now realizing that they hadn't even bothered to come up with any sort plan beyond Ranma's "make her talk" idea. Maybe 'Baka Red' really did fit her after all.
Ah well, it probably wasn't important anyway. Asuna pretty much agreed with Ranma. Evangeline and Chachamaru didn't seem too dangerous. As long as she stuck with Negi, it should work out. She could just drive them off again if they tried anything. When school finished for the day, she was working on convincing Negi of just that so he didn't worry so much when she turned around to find him missing.
He wouldn't have just run off, would he? Not when he was that frightened of Evangeline. Not to mention that Asuna was carrying his staff for him. Could Evangeline actually have kidnapped him right out from underneath her? Negi might be in trouble after all. She had to do something! Running back the way she came, she rounded a corner, spotting Ranma.
"Ranma, Negi disappeared on me," she told the redhead. "I think Evangeline might have done something."
"Crap," Ranma spat. "I didn't think she'd try something in broad daylight. Quick, where did you last see him?"
"Right around the corner over here," Asuna answered, leading her to where it happened.
"So, he just disappeared?" Ranma asked looking around once they arrived.
"One second I was chatting with him, and when I turned around, there was no one there."
"Hmm, I'm going to try to sense for anything magical in the area," Ranma told her.
"You can do that?" Asuna asked. "Are you a mage too?"
"I'm no mage," Ranma said quickly. "And I don't much like using magic, but I can do a little with it when I have to."
Ranma then took a deep breath and appeared to be concentrating on something. After almost half a minute of this, Asuna got impatient. "Do you sense anything?"
"That staff," she answered. "I almost think there may be something else too. It's faint, but … wait, yes it's over there!"
Seeing nothing by the shelves Ranma had pointed at, Asuna didn't know what to expect, so she gasped when she saw movement, only to let out a sigh when she saw it was just a small furry animal running from them. Probably just got spooked by their voices. But Ranma wasn't leaving it at that, dashing forward and grabbing the white-furred creature before it could make its escape.
"Are you working with Evangeline?" she demanded of the animal, the threat of violence if she didn't like the answer obvious in her voice.
"Ranma, that's just some kind of ferret or something," Asuna said soothingly, not wanting to set her off any further. "I don't think it's working for anyone."
"Yeah, I'm not working for anyone," the creature yelled in fright. "And I've never even heard of an Evangeline. I'm just looking for Aniki!"
"It can talk?!" Asuna asked in surprise, wondering a moment later why such things even surprised her anymore.
"Yes, I can talk," he said. "And I'm an ermine, by the way. Now please tell this scary nee-san to let me go!"
"I'll let you go when you finish explaining why you're here," Ranma told him, but not nearly so harshly as when she last spoke to him. "Who is this aniki of yours?"
"Negi Springfield," he answered. "I just came to find him and help him out. That's all."
"Wait, you're looking for Negi too?" Asuna asked. "We were trying to find him because he just went missing, and we were afraid something had happened to him."
"Well then, you can leave that to me," he told them. "Albert Chamomile, at your service. My nose will find him in no time. I was here in the first place because I'd caught his scent."
"Perfect," Ranma said, dropping the ermine to the floor. "Lead the way."
The two of them ran after the small animal, who led them to the dorms without any hesitation. Asuna was still wondering why Evangeline would have taken Negi there of all places when they burst into the building's shared bath.
"Asuna, Ranma, you came too!" Negi greeted them from where he was surrounded by most of the rest of their class, all dressed in their bathing suits.
"What's going on here?" Asuna demanded to know. "I thought you'd been kidnapped or something."
"I sort of was kidnapped, but it was just to get me here," he explained.
"We put this together to cheer Negi-sensei up," Ayaka added.
"Well, I've wasted enough of my time," Ranma muttered. "I'm out of here."
Asuna was relieved that Negi was safe, but wasn't at all happy about what her classmates had just pulled. She was ready to tell them off when she realized she was forgetting something. The ermine they'd brought along had been looking for Negi too, but why? And did he actually know enough not to talk in front of anyone else? Looking to see where he'd went, she didn't spot him anywhere, only to be to be interrupted by a screech from one of the girls. This was soon followed by a second and then a third, as Asuna saw that those that cried out where now missing parts of their bathing suits. It was only when a flash of white shot toward her still carrying a bikini top that Asuna realized what was going on.
Sending a fist smashing into his head, she knocked him away, both to defend herself and to punish the little pervert. She was no longer sure she even wanted to know why he was here.
Negi was thrilled to actually have Chamo here. Now he had a friend he knew from back in Wales to talk to. But they needed to hurry back to their room so they could talk before Konoka returned. Not that Chamo was waiting until they were there, but with no one else around, that was probably fine.
"I thought you were the nice one," Chamo told Asuna, "but you're pretty scary too."
"Don't be such a pervert and there won't be a need for that."
At that point, they'd just about reached their room, but there was one surprising roadblock to getting inside, as Ranma was standing by their door.
"Ranma, were you waiting for us?" Negi asked, excited to see that she really was getting involved.
"Yeah, just something I wanted to ask you," Ranma answered. "You're a teacher, so do you know where Evangeline lives?"
"Evangeline is the girl from before, the one you were afraid had kidnapped Aniki, right?" Chamo asked, as Asuna ushered them inside, closing the door behind them.
"That's right," Asuna told him once it was shut.
"I see how it is then," Chamo said turning his attention directly to Ranma. "You got all worried about Aniki's safety, and even if Evangeline wasn't involved, you just can't rest until you've taken care of the problem. Such devotion to your teacher! I'm really moved!"
Negi was a little embarrassed by this, feeling a bit sorry for having worried Ranma and Asuna so much, but Ranma actually looked to be taking it even worse.
"Yeah, I decided to take care of the problem before something actually happened. So what?" Ranma declared.
"I want to do something about Evangeline too," Negi chimed in, "but I still have no idea how I'm going to find my destined partner."
"When then you're lucky I'm here," Chamo announced. "Because you have it all wrong. You're still a kid, so you can stick to provisional contracts. No need to worry about finding the perfect partner. You can try as many as you like and see how they work out."
"What? That's great news!" Negi declared, excited by possibility. If there was an option like that, it'd be easy to get a partner to help against Evangeline. "In that case, do you want form a provisional contract, Ranma? You're already strong, so we'd be able to beat her for sure if we worked together."
"Yeah, I'll be passing on that," Ranma answered, crashing down a lot of the excitement Negi had just built.
"Come on, you already promised to help him," Asuna said. "He's been worrying himself sick over this thing? If it's just provisional or whatever, then why not just do it until Evangeline is dealt with?"
"I said I'd help, and I will," Ranma answered firmly. "But I never agreed to sign any magical contract, even if it is provisional."
"Aw, come on," Chamo said, hopping up on Ranma's shoulder. "It's not bad at all. Just one little kiss and the contract is done, making you even stronger with the magical boost."
"Is that all? In that case …" Ranma began really sweetly before her face suddenly turned frighteningly dark. "… not if my life depended on it."
"So cold," Chamo complained, "but maybe we should take another angle."
"What do you mean?" Negi asked, a little shocked by the strength of Ranma's refusal, but hoping Chamo might still have a good idea.
"It might be best to pick someone that really likes you as your first partner, and I'm afraid Nee-san here isn't that high on the list yet," Chamo explained. "But when I was scouting in the bath, I found one girl that really made my sensor go ding."
Which girl that was would have to wait as Konoka had just gotten back from the bath. "Ah, Ranma you're here again?" she asked, before turning her attention to the Chamo. "Oh cute! A pure-white ermine. Is he Negi-sensei's pet?"
Soon she was calling out for everyone to come see, and Negi found himself surrounded again as everyone was fawning over Chamo. By the time Konoka had ran off to get permission for him to keep Chamo and everyone else had dispersed, Negi noticed that Ranma had disappeared at some point in the confusion. Well, now that they were alone in their room again he could find out who Chamo had been talking about. So he pulled out is class list and let him look over it.
"That's the one," he said, pointing at Miyazaki Nodoka. "You even wrote that she's cute."
"Yeah, but will she even be willing to form a contract?" Negi asked, getting a bit depressed again. "You saw how strongly Ranma was against it. I mean maybe it is too much to ask for even a temporary partnership when I'm only ten."
"Don't be so hard on yourself," Asuna told him. "Ranma was probably just worried about her first kiss. That's very important to a girl, and you know she's not very tactful at the best of times."
"Besides, this girl is currently the highest on the list of those who like Aniki," Chamo added. "If it's her, there's no way she'll turn down a kiss. You just leave it to me, Aniki. I'll take care of everything."
"Thanks Chamo!" Negi agreed, glad he had such a trustworthy friend here.
Chamo knew he had to hurry since he'd intercepted that letter last night that would have revealed everything. Still, his plan was rock-solid and there was no way he could fail. First he'd get Aniki to form a pactio with this Nodoka girl, and then his second letter should be a little bonus. After all, Aniki had seemed so down about Ranma's rejection that he felt it was his duty to step in and do something about that.
So, telling a little white lie to get Aniki to the meeting place, he had everything in place and it was going perfectly. Their lips were just about to meet when something pressed him down into the ground, hard, disrupting his control of the magic circle. With the magic dissipating, he saw Nodoka faint.
"What do you think you're trying to pull, you perverted ermine?" Asuna demanded of him, holding out the crumpled out remains of the letter. "This says that you weren't sent here at all. In fact you're wanted for 2,000 counts of stealing underwear."
"There's a perfectly good explanation for that," he said quickly, scurrying away when she let him up. He was just trying to think up a good story when he realized he had more immediate problems.
"But first you need to get out of here!" Chamo said urgently. "Go! Hide! I'll explain it all later!"
"Why does she need to hide?" Negi asked, as he walked over, but before Chamo could say anything about that he was scooped up and held painfully tight.
"Because he doesn't want me to see her. Isn't that right Chamo?" Ranma announced frostily.
"Can't … breathe," Chamo managed to squeak out as Ranma handed a different letter to Asuna for her to read.
This was one Chamo had written himself and he knew very well what it said.
"Oh, and just when exactly was I kidnapped by Evangeline?" Asuna asked, sounding even more angry as he was now looked down on by two faces that would be extremely cute if they didn't look as if they suddenly wanted a new ermine fur coat.
"I was just trying to help Aniki!" Chamo pleaded after wriggling into a position where he could at least talk. "I thought Ranma here might form a pactio if she thought it was needed to rescue you."
Chamo then continued to weave a sob-story about his sister and stealing the underwear for warmth, and just needing the protection of being Aniki's familiar. The two girls didn't seem to be buying it, but thankfully, Aniki had a heart of gold and forgave him completely. So that had worked out at least. He'd still needed to start getting his Aniki some provisional contracts, but it might be best take the rest of the day off on that and let tempers cool. At least there'd already been a start on the cooling, with Asuna having turned her attention away from him and toward Ranma.
"Just out of curiosity," Asuna said to Ranma, "would you have actually gone through with the pactio to rescue me?"
"Of course not," she answered quickly. "I'm plenty strong enough to handle our little problem child. I don't need any magical help."
"But you still came to rescue her, right?" Negi said happily.
"I already told you, I don't want to see anyone hurt," Ranma replied. "Now stop making such a big deal over every little thing I do."
She was a strange and sometimes scary girl. She even smelled a little funny come to think of it, but Chamo was really starting to feel she'd be a good one to keep around. That settled it. She might be a tough nut to crack, but even if he had to settle in for the long haul, Chamo would get his aniki that pactio.
If it hadn't been for Chamo the other day, Ranma might have already taken care of the Evangeline issue. Good thing for the stupid ermine that the vampire hadn't tried anything in that time, because now she'd be able to act. Evangeline may be skipping Negi's class, but she was still showing up to school, so it was a simple matter to follow her and Chachamaru discreetly once class got out. Even once she had the pair alone, she continued to stay hidden.
Ranma wanted to make sure she knew where they were heading in case they gave her the slip again. So she continued to trail them until they came to a rustic looking log cabin of some sort. Not at all the kind of place she would have expected, but there was no reason to stay hidden anymore.
"So this is where you live?" Ranma asked, revealing herself as they turned to face her. "I hope you won't mind, but I've got a few questions I want answered about Negi's father. Then I'm going to make sure you're fully convinced to leave the kid alone."
"Well, this is a surprise," Evangeline said, looking a bit too pleased by that for her tastes. "I was thinking I would need to deal with you sooner or later, and then you're kind enough to show up yourself."
"I don't know how you planned to deal with me," Ranma fired back. "I've already proven I can take the two of you on."
"Oh, of course I didn't want another fight," Evangeline, still smiling sweetly. "After all, I'm just an ordinary human until the next full moon. I just wanted to sit down and talk with you. And to think, I didn't know how I'd convince you to come here."
This wasn't at all what Ranma expected, so how was she supposed to react? It wouldn't feel right to start attacking her if she just wanted to talk. Still, she doubted it'd go so smoothly that she'd just answer her questions and agree to her terms, so Ranma would probably get some exercise before this was all over.
"As long as you'll answer my questions, we can keep it to talking for now," Ranma agreed.
"Of course, just come inside and I'll be happy to tell you everything."
Following her inside she saw the room was full of all sorts of dolls, stuffed animals, and other fancy girly stuff. It was a nightmare room if she ever saw one. This was exactly the sort of reason she didn't get involved with her classmates, and it seemed that even if Evangeline was a vampire, she was still a girl.
"Just take a seat over there and I'll begin," she told Ranma, directing her to a table that was also littered with more of the girly knickknacks.
She reluctantly sat down, when she noticed the floor underneath her glowing.
"Crap!" she said, just realizing she'd fallen for a trap when everything went white.
Her vision cleared a moment later and she saw herself standing on a standing on a tall pillar surrounded by water. There was a bridge leading across to a larger structure a short distance away. So it had been some kind of teleportation spell? But why send her here? Did Evangeline just want her out of the way until she'd dealt with Negi? Only the girl in question popped into existence next to her a moment later.
"Where did you take us?" Ranma asked warily. If Evangeline was here too, the trap might not be over.
"We haven't even left my room." she told him, which didn't make much sense to her unless it was some kind of illusion. "Think of it as being shrunk down into this magical room in a bottle."
Actually, Ranma preferred to think on that as little as possible.
"So what, you came to gloat about trapping me before you pop back out?" Ranma asked.
"No, I want to solve the problem, not just put it off," Evangeline answered.
"If it's a fight you want, then I'm happy to give you one," Ranma declared getting into a stance. "If I win, will you let me out of this place?"
She might have more traps lying around, but if Ranma was careful, she still thought she could come out ahead with this. Chachamaru hadn't followed them in yet, and that might make up for whatever home field advantage she had.
"Ha! You actually think you have the slightest chance at all?" Evangeline mocked. "In here, my powers aren't limited at all. Allow me to show you the terror of facing me at my full strength."
Even if it was mostly hot air, Ranma was a bit unnerved by this and decided not to let Evangeline get the first move. Only she'd hardly taken one step when she found the vampire in her face, bringing her to a quick halt.
"Boo," Evangeline declared before a wave of magical energy slammed into her, sending her careening straight across the narrow bridge, the force continuing to shove her until it finally let her come to a stop on the other side. Evangeline flew after, hovering in the air a short distance away. That had been a neat trick, but not a terribly damaging one. Ranma's confidence was wavering, but she wasn't about to give up yet.
Trying again to go on the offensive, Ranma lashed out at the floating girl, only to have her dance away out of range. As the process repeated itself several times, it was clear that Evangeline was only toying with her. Still, if she didn't want to take Ranma seriously, then that could be her own downfall. Not even waiting for Evangeline to lower herself close to ground level after she flew away from one attack, Ranma used the sharpest instant movement she could muster to get behind Evangeline before jumping up in the air to attack her.
Evangeline may have thought she was out of range, but you should never underestimate a Saotome's ability to take the fight to the air. Evangeline was only just turning to face her when Ranma's foot made contact. Only that contact was with an invisible barrier and did nothing to affect the now smirking Evangeline. Ranma was really beginning to panic as she fell back to the ground. This was a seriously powerful mage with barriers and everything.
Ranma just didn't know what she could do. Even her own father hadn't been able to break through a barrier like that, and he had been an amazing martial artist. How was she supposed to do anything? Ranma couldn't win this fight. Her only hope was escape. Maybe if she went back to where she'd appeared in this place, she'd find some way out. Evangeline was already chanting a spell as Ranma fell, so the moment she landed, Ranma leaped out the way, hoping to avoid whatever was being cast.
Or she tried to leap out the way anyway, instead she just sort of fell forward with her feet not budging at all. Scrambling to figure out what happened, Ranma saw ice had surrounded her feet and was even now growing up her legs. Trying to pull free had no effect, and even pounding away at the stuff with her hands didn't so much as chip it. Soon enough the ice had grown all the way up her torso and was extending down her arms.
The freezing cold prison was just loose enough to allow her to breathe, but that wouldn't matter once her head was covered in ice. Was this how she was going to go? Suffocating in a block of ice? Only the ice stopped at her shoulders, not even climbing her neck.
"All that exercise made me a bit thirsty," Evangeline then declared. "So if you would just hold still."
Ranma tried hard to do anything but that as the vampire flew closer, drawing up on her neck, but all she could manage was to thrash her head around a bit. And that little bit of rebellion wasn't enough to stop Evangeline, as she soon felt twin pricks against her neck. Ranma wished she knew more about vampires. What exactly happened to you when they bit you? Evangeline then pulled away a second later.
"Woah, spicy," she said. "That almost felt like … oh, so that's how they do it. I had wondered."
"What are you talking about?" Ranma asked weakly, curiosity overcoming her fear for a moment.
"If you're playing dumb, I already know," she answered, "and if you're really in the dark, then I'm under no obligation to tell you."
Was she talking about the curse? Did she know something about Jusenkyo?
"Oh, and you're resisting the vampirism as well," she added. "I've never seen that before. Kind of makes me want to see if I can force it past your resistance."
"Wait, you can do that?" Ranma suddenly asked, practically forgetting her current situation in her excitement. Even the dean couldn't get the slightest bit of transformation magic through the curse.
"Probably, if I really wanted to," she answered. "But there's a good chance it would break you in the process, and that would be a shame when you just became so much more interesting. No, there are other ways I can deal with you. So why don't you look into my eyes?"
"What? Ranma asked, doing just that for a moment before realizing she probably shouldn't be going along with what Evangeline said. Only now, she couldn't actually bring herself to look away.
"Good, it seems your resistance doesn't extend to hypnotism. Let's begin then."
Ranma's mind started to fade out as Evangeline continued to speak. She didn't know how long this continued. Suddenly, she woke with a start, wondering what had just happened. She was sitting at a table across from Evangeline. That's right. She'd come to visit her, but she'd really spaced out there for a moment. She needed to pay more attention to her surroundings.
"As I was saying," Evangeline droned on. "I'm a normal human until the next full moon, so I wouldn't be doing anything until then. Now if that's all you wanted to talk about, I have other things to do."
Ranma was glad to hear there wasn't much the girl could do for a while, but she was sure there'd been something else she'd come here for. Still, it just felt like a very bad idea to press the issue any further, so Ranma got up and left her home, heading back for the dorms. She could always deal with Evangeline some other time. The girl was clearly no threat to her.
"This is bad, no matter how you look at it," Chamo insisted to their small group, with Ranma and Asuna having gathered in Negi's room as well to discuss the Evangeline situation. "You shouldn't have shown mercy on that robot yesterday. Now Evangeline is going to find out you have a partner and is sure to do something."
Negi understood what he was trying to say, but there was just no way he could have brought himself to actually hurt Chachamaru. Not only was she his student, but she'd seemed so nice too.
"I wouldn't worry too much about it," Ranma said. "While you were off with Chachamaru, I had a little chat with our vampire, and she's nothing but a normal human until the next full moon. That's plenty of time to worry over what to do."
"You went to visit Evangeline on your own?" Negi asked. "That's too dangerous. Promise me you won't do anything like that again."
"Don't worry so much. I handled her once, and I can do it again." Ranma insisted.
"No, Aniki is right," Chamo argued. "I did some research last night and 15 years ago, Evangeline had a 60 million bounty on her head in the Magic World. She's a seriously dangerous big-time criminal. There's no telling what she could do. We need every advantage we can get to deal with her. You'll have to form a pactio too."
"How many times do I have to tell you no, you stupid ermine?" Ranma asked.
"This is no time to be shy, our lives are on the line!" Chamo argued. "Not just ours, but every student in this dorm could be caught up in it if Evangeline goes after Aniki right now."
This really was terrible. Ranma was risking her life for his sake and now just being here was a danger to his students. Someone was going to end up hurt because of him, and he just couldn't stand the thought of it. He had to get out of here. Grabbing his staff, Negi ran to the window and flew off. They'd all be safer without him.
The last few days had been very frustrating for Asuna. It had been great when Negi had come back in a much better mood than when he'd left, but ever since he'd returned, he seemed to be trying to exclude her from the whole Evangeline thing as much as possible. He'd even run off to take care of an apparently sick Evangeline one day as if she wasn't his enemy and somehow convinced her to start attending classes again, all of this with hardly a word to Asuna about any of it.
And Ranma was nearly as bad. She kept insisting everything was fine, and she could handle it herself, but never wanted to actually do anything about it. She just went on about how they had until the next full moon and they could handle it later. The whole thing left her with very little to do, so without better options, she ended up turning in early during the scheduled blackout. As she lay there in her bed, she was still thinking over how much she couldn't stand things.
It was sad to say, but the Chamo, the perverted little ermine, was probably the least headache inducing member of their little group at the moment. That didn't make her any happier to see him when he woke her up a short while later, but she forgot all about that annoyance as he explained himself.
"Evangeline somehow got her powers back early and she's attacking Aniki," he told her.
This was bad. Asuna needed to hurry. No matter how much Negi had been trying to keep her out of this, she wasn't going to let him face this alone.
Negi had just finished making sure Makie and Yuna were alright after knocking them out. That was all four of the girls Evangeline had taken control of that were now out cold. All that was left was Chachamaru and Evangeline herself. Still, that was no simple prospect, as Evangeline clearly had more of her power than the last time they'd fought. He had to get them to the trap he'd set on the bridge.
"That was an amusing show," Evangeline called out to him. "But I'm afraid this will go even more poorly than the last time you tried to take us on alone."
"Who says he's alone?" a new voice called out, as Negi saw Ranma standing on the other end of the roof he was currently on. Negi had mixed feelings about seeing her. He wanted to make sure no one else was hurt because of him, but Ranma was really strong, so it might work out for the best overall.
"I'm surprised you actually showed up," Evangeline said. "Even the thought of interfering should have twisted your guts into a knot."
"So you were behind that?" Ranma asked. "I should have known it was just a stupid bit of magic. Well I promised I'd help Negi, and I wasn't going to break my word because I was little bit uneasy."
"While I commend you for your impressive willpower, showing up was probably the worst thing you could do for Negi."
Negi didn't like the sound of Evangeline's words. Was she going to try to use Ranma as a hostage or something? Instead, she simply pointed at Negi.
"If you don't believe me, why don't you take a good look at Negi and see if he reminds you of anyone," Evangeline continued.
Ranma did just that, looking at him briefly in confusion before her face changed over to one of surprise, and then quickly rage. "You! What are you doing here?" she yelled at him.
"What are you talking about?" Negi asked. "It's me, Negi."
"It's useless to talk to her," Evangeline informed him. "She won't hear anything that's said to her. She sees you as the person she hates more than anyone else, and nothing you say can change that. Who knows, maybe she actually thinks you're me. Wouldn't that be an amusing twist?"
Whomever Ranma saw right now, it was clear she was about to get violent. This was bad. Taking on Evangeline and Chachamaru would be hard enough, but if Ranma was after him too, it got all the trickier. He needed to get away, try to get lead them all into his trap. Hopping onto his staff, he made a run for it but was blocked by Evangeline, who flew into his path. He tried another direction only to have Evangeline head him off again.
"Stop running and face me!" Ranma roared, leaping at him. The speed came as a shock to Negi, who despite having been already trying to fly off again, did little more than reduce the impact thanks to his efforts. It knocked him out of his flight as he rolled across the roof he'd been hovering over, managing to hold onto his staff through sheer force of will.
Maybe that magic canceling spell he'd tried on Ranma once before would undo whatever Evangeline had done to her. Beginning the incantation even as he was getting back on his feet, he had still hardly even started it before Ranma was again in his face, ripping the staff out of his hands and tossing it away.
"I won't let you!" Ranma shouted as Evangeline laughed from where she watching.
"Having a little trouble dealing with your student?" she asked. "You wanted to face off against me, but you can't even handle this much?"
Negi couldn't give up though, so he reached into his coat to pull out a wand that he'd brought as a backup, but this time he couldn't even start an incantation before his wrist was grabbed painfully and the wand too was ripped away from him and tossed to the side.
Negi then found himself thrown and was bracing himself for a painful impact when he realized he'd gone right over the edge. Worse yet, they were six stories up. Calling for his staff, he hoped it would get there in time, only to see Ranma intercept it before it could reach him. That was terrifying to watch, as without his staff to save him, he might not even survive the fall. He starting directing his magic to protect him as well as he could and hoping for the best when someone grabbed onto him, slowing him to a stop a few feet above the ground.
"Don't get the wrong idea," Evangeline told him from where she was carrying him. "I just have no intention of lapping your blood up off the ground."
Negi was just grateful that she had saved him, and it made him all the more convinced that she actually had some real good in her. But his attempt to thank her quickly changed when something caught his eye.
"Look out, Evangeline!" he cried out, right before Ranma came crashing down on top of her, having leaped after them.
"Get off you fool," Evangeline cried out, blasting her away with a bit of magic, seeming uninjured by the attack. Except even though they'd hardly moved when Ranma had landed on them, they suddenly fell to the ground in a heap. Negi didn't know what could have caused it until the lights started coming back on.
"That's not fair! The power wasn't supposed to come back on yet," Evangeline complained as the two of them stood back up only to see Ranma approaching them again. Evangeline stood in front of him and called out to the other girl. "It's over. I release you."
But Ranma only picked up speed, not even appearing to hear Evangeline. It looked like she planned to go right through the vampire in order to get to Negi, and if the seal was back up, then Evangeline would have no protection at all against the attack. Quickly, he shoved her out of the way, trying to shore up his own defenses only to explode in pain as a fist slammed into his chest and again sent him careening across the ground.
"Chachamaru, help us deal with this madwoman, before things get any further out of hand," Evangeline ordered. "Such a pain. I don't even have enough magic to cancel my own spell."
Chachamaru wasted little time in following orders, landing on the ground near him and tossing him his staff. Ignoring the pain in his ribs, Negi grabbed it, hoping it would be more use this time. It very well may be, as Chachamaru got behind the smaller Ranma, who was all but ignoring her, and restrained her as best as she could. That should buy him enough time. Negi quickly started to chant. This time he'd get Ranma back to normal.
Ranma's struggling seemed to increase the moment his chanting began, soon ripping free of Chachamaru through sheer strength before slamming her into the ground hard enough to crack the ground around her. Still, Chachamaru had done enough. He was on the final word of the spell and Ranma was too far away to do anything about it now. Only Ranma seemed to all but disappear a moment later, and before Negi could even finish the last word, he felt the staff again being ripped away from him.
A blinding pain followed a moment later, and he realized he'd just been smacked in the side of the head with his own staff. He struggled for a second to clear his head only to be hoisted into the air by his shirt.
"I am sorry," Chachamaru said from where she still lay. "I was damaged by the attack. Until I am repaired I am unable to use the lower half of my body. I'm afraid there is little I can do to help you Negi-sensei."
With that, the last of his hope faded. There was nothing he could do but take Ranma's attacks and hope she didn't hurt him too badly.
"What are you doing, Ranma? You're hurting him!" Asuna cried out, grabbing the arm holding Negi up and trying to force her to lower Negi back to the ground.
"You shouldn't be here," Negi told her, worried Ranma would do to the surprise arrival what he'd done to Chachamaru if she interfered.
"Take her out you fool," Evangeline then ordered. "She can't even hear anything you say."
"He deserves to be hurt!" Ranma then yelled out as if he had heard Asuna after all.
"Negi can't possibly deserve that," Asuna argued. "I don't know what happened, but he's just a kid."
"I keep telling you that's useless," Evangeline insisted. "That outburst was only a coincidence. The hypnosis won't let her hear what anyone is saying."
"This isn't Negi," Ranma then said, sounding as if she was struggling with something. "It can't be."
"What did you do?" Evangeline demanded of Asuna. "That shouldn't be possible."
"Evangeline messed with your head," Asuna said next. "This isn't real. You have to fight it!"
Ranma then dropped Negi, grabbing at her head with the hand that wasn't still holding his staff. "What did she do to me?"
Ranma then reached down to pick up a fist sized rock laying on the ground, and Negi shirked back, afraid that she'd fallen back under Evangeline's spell. But instead, she smashed it into the side of her own head, actually shattering the stone.
"Ow!" she complained.
"What are you doing?!" Negi cried out, worried now about his student.
"Trying to knock myself out," she answered. "I'm a danger to everyone right now."
"Well, stop it!" Negi insisted. "Just give me my staff back and I can take care of it."
"Oh, I guess I can do this," Ranma said, seeming to realize she was still holding the thing. But rather than hand it to Negi she began to chant herself, Negi realizing a moment later that it was a simple sleep spell. Casting it on herself, she then fell limply to the ground.
"If you can do that, how about thinking of it before you smash your head with a rock next time?" Asuna complained to the fallen girl.
"I realized she knew about magic, but I didn't think Ranma was actually a mage," Negi said in surprise as he gently took his staff back.
"She told me she wasn't," Asuna answered. "That she knew a bit of magic, but that was it."
Well, maybe she hadn't graduated from a school or anything, but it wasn't a trivial matter to get to where you could cast even low level spells like that. If she wasn't a mage, Ranma was at least at the point where she could become one pretty easily. For now though, he was more worried about what had been done to her.
"Can you remove the hypnosis?" Negi asked Evangeline. "I want her back to normal before she wakes up."
"Sounded like she broke free of it already," Evangeline answered. "It'd be pretty well shattered by now. Any traces of it should be gone by the time the sleep spell wears off."
That was great news. And looking around, Chachamaru was disabled and Evangeline had her powers sealed again. They were both unable to continue fighting.
"This is our victory!" he declared excitedly. "That means you have to stop doing bad things and keep showing up to my class."
"Fine," she agreed. "I suppose I can at least do that much after all this."
"Great, I'm going to write 'I won' in the class roster," he announced, pulling it out to do just that, and ignoring her protests. With how bad things had looked there for a while, it was amazing how well everything had turned out.
After waking up in Asuna's bed, Ranma was able to remember everything. The trap she'd fallen for in Evangeline's house, the haze that had surrounded her mind right before she thought she'd seen the mage that had taken her father, and even every blow she'd landed on the person that had turned out to be Negi. Sitting there as Asuna, Negi, and Chamo explained what happened after she'd sent herself to sleep, she almost wished she didn't remember. And their story added a second item that bothered her almost as much.
"You're just going to trust her that she'll behave?" Ranma asked, completely dumbfounded. "She's far too dangerous for that. She wanted to kill you and she almost got me to do it for her!"
"I don't think she's that bad," Negi answered. "She saved me during the fight, and I'm pretty sure she didn't expect you to go that far. She even tried to stop you when it got bad."
"It's still too risky," Ranma insisted, remember how overwhelmingly powerful she'd been in the space she'd trapped him in. "We need to tell Takahata and the dean everything that she did. Get them to make sure nothing like this can happen again."
Some giggling from Asuna caught her attention. "What are you laughing about?" Ranma asked with a scowl.
"Sorry, I couldn't help it," she said. "I just find it funny that just a few days ago Negi was the one terrified of Evangeline and you were trying to convince him there was nothing to worry about."
"That is kind of funny," Negi agreed, chuckling a bit himself before wincing and grabbing at his ribs.
It was painful for Ranma too, if in a different way, as she was reminded of what she'd done.
"Look," she told him. "I know I wasn't in my right mind and all, but I'm still really sorry about beating you up like that."
"There's nothing for you to be sorry for," Negi quickly insisted. "You didn't even realize what you were doing. Besides, I know some basic healing magic, so I'll be fine again in no time."
Ranma couldn't bring herself to just leave it at that though. "Still, she only managed to do that because I fell for her trap. If I'd been more careful, none of this would have happened. I don't know how yet, but I promise I'll make this up to you one way or another."
"Chance!" Chamo cried out excitedly. "Ask her to form a pactio! She can't turn you down now."
"Don't give him any stupid ideas!" Ranma said angrily, grabbing a nearby pillow and sending it flying into the white ermine."
"I don't want to force Ranma to do that if she doesn't want to," Negi then said, much to Ranma's relief. Not that she would have done it even if he'd asked, but she'd have felt even worse if she'd had to turn him down right after saying that.
"If you're determined to make it up to me, then could you forgive Evangeline for what she did?" Negi asked. "Don't tell Takahata-sensei or anyone about it. I don't want her to get in trouble for this."
Ranma hadn't been expecting that request. It wasn't particularly one she wanted to grant either. She was still worried that the vampire would try something else. But Ranma had been serious about making it up to him, and it was clear from the pleading in his eyes that Negi really wanted this. Well, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to ignore Evangeline and thus avoid antagonizing her.
"Fine, if that's really what you want, then as long as she doesn't try anything else, I'll leave her be," Ranma agreed.
"That's too easy!" Chamo protested. "You can get more than that out of her!"
"Give up on the stupid provisional contract already!" Ranma snapped, grabbing the pillow again and this time pressing it down onto Chamo as if to smother him.
"That's not even what I meant!" Chamo said after managing to wriggle his head free of the pillow. "Why you were so mad! We talked about it while you were asleep and Aniki wanted to know!"
"We were kind of curious," Negi admitted.
"Yeah," Asuna agreed. "Evangeline said you saw Negi as the person you hated most. So who was it that made you act like that?"
Ranma didn't exactly want to go spreading her life story around, but maybe telling part of it could be considered an extra bit of atonement for what she'd done under Evangeline's control. Besides, there was always the chance Negi actually knew something.
"Fine, let's just say you're not the only one whose father is missing," Ranma explained to Negi. "Only I know the guy responsible for my dad's disappearance."
"Who is he?" Negi asked, his full attention on Ranma.
"I don't have a name," Ranma admitted. "I just know that he's kind of thin, light-skinned mage with green spiky hair. I could draw you a picture sometime if you think you might know someone that would describe. He wanted me and my father for his experiments. Thanks to my dad, I managed to escape, but he wasn't so lucky. I don't even know if he's alive or not anymore. The guy had already killed at least one of his 'experiments.'"
Ranma had been looking away during her summary, but turning back to Negi she saw the kid was openly crying, much to Ranma's own embarrassment. "Hey, isn't that a bit much?"
"I'm sorry," Negi answered. "But it's just so sad. But I know your dad is alive somewhere too. We can work together and we'll definitely find both our dads."
"Yeah, yeah, you can't be any less useful than the dean has been in that regard," Ranma told the still crying kid. She really did appreciate the sentiment, but just didn't know what exactly he'd be able to do about it.
"You really have had it pretty rough, haven't you?" Asuna asked. "I'm sorry if I haven't made any of this any easier for you while we've been classmates."
"Hey don't get the wrong idea," she said quickly to Asuna, internal 'don't let yourself become girly' alarms going off at how friendly Asuna was acting. "I only opened up because I owed Negi. This doesn't mean I want to be friends. Nothing has changed."
"Don't be silly, we're all already friends, whether you realize it or not," Chamo declared, having pulled a cigarette out from somewhere and started smoking it. "After all we just went through the sort of harrowing experience that binds a group together for life."
Already friends huh? As strange as it was, it might not have been that terrible a group to make friends with. Chamo could grate on her more than a little, but none of them seemed too terrible, and Asuna hadn't even tried to drag her into doing anything too girly yet. Still, that might only make it worse. It was too easy already to grow complacent and just start thinking that life wasn't really that terrible, but she couldn't let herself do that.
Ranma had to hate to hate her life and believe it had been ruined. Had to hate the man who had done this. Anything less felt like a betrayal to her father. Could she risk even a small group of friends, or would it mean that one day if someone did what Evangeline had done, she'd see that mage from four years ago and just not care? It was something she'd have to think long and hard on.
Author's Notes
This chapter didn't turn out to be delayed as much as I expected. Sort of worked out the timeline pretty quickly. At least determined that it was just too soon to do any of the original subplots I have planned. Not enough character development all around yet. Actually, the hardest part of this chapter was just bringing myself to write dialogue as corny as some of what Negi says/thinks. I had to keep reminding myself that's completely in character for him and a few of the other characters to a lesser degree.