Negima: 25 Days of Christmas
Chapter 6: The Snowball Fight
Later that night, Negi and his class were gathered around the fireplace with Nekane and Anya. Kaede held a pot with a long handle over the fire and inside were popcorn kernels.
"This is fun. I don't think we ever had popcorn like this." Kaede said. Nekane and Negi smiled.
"Well, this is how we used to do it in the old days." Nekane said "And Negi just loved doing it as a child." Negi looked at Nekane and blushed.
"Please sister! You're making me blush!" Negi said. Asuna chuckled softly and Evangeline grinned. Just then, Kaede heared popping coming from the pot. Inside the kernels were starting to pop and they were popping fast!
"Whoa! Listen to them! It sounds like they're on fire!" Fumika said.
"Wow. You're right!" Makie said. When the sound stopped, Kaede took the pot off the fire. Nekane gave Kaede a oven mitt and she took the top off the lid. The popcorn inside was all popped and everyone could smell it.
"It's good to smell that smell again." Negi said. Nekane smiled. Anya looked at Negi and smiled. Kaede tilted the pot and the popcorn poured into a nearby bowl that Chachamaru held in her lap.
"Hey. Do we have any chestnuts? I don't think we ever had those before." Fuka said.
"I did once. They're very good." Akira said. Anya said that there should be some and she went to look. Konoka went with her to help look.
"This is probably one of the best things that ever happened before in our class Negi." Kakizaki said. Negi smiled.
"Thank you. I'm glad you are all enjoying yourselves." Negi said. Just then, the phone rang. Asuna answered it and called to Konoka that it was her grandfather. Konoka and Anya came back with a bag of chestnuts and they gave them to Chao to hold onto.
"Thanks Asuna." Konoka said. Asuna nodded and joined the girls by the fire. Kaede filled the pot with some and put it back over the fire. When Konoka was done, she joined them. Konoka said that her grandfather just wanted to know how things were and told Konoka that he thought of her everyday.
"Hey! Is the tree ready to be decorated yet?" Sakurako said. Nekane looked at it and then at Sakurako.
"Not yet. But after tomorrow, it should be." Nekane said. Sakurako groaned. While Kaede was working with the pot, the other girls enjoyed the popcorn from earlier. When Ayaka was supposed to pass it to Asuna, she skipped her and handed it to Madoka. However, Madoka didn't like Ayaka skipping her and she gave it back to Asuna.
"Nice try Ayaka. Maybe next time." Asuna said before sticking her tongue out. Later on, everyone went to bed and they all awoke the next morning. Asuna got right to work on her new job at 5 a.m. and made it back before it was seven. That morning, the girls had their class and then had their free time to do anything. The girls decided to spend sometime outside in the snow. Negi and Anya joined them outside. Some of the girls went skating on the ice covered pond and some threw snowballs at each other.
"What a bunch of fools." Evangeline said. Chachamaru stood besides her in the snow.
"Don't you want to join them master?" Chachamaru said.
"No. I don't feel like it." Evangeline said. Suddenly, she got hit in the back of the head by a snowball! Evangeline looked back and saw Fuka threw it at her!
"All right! Right off the head!" Fuka said. Fumika was with her behind a wall of snow and they high fived each other. But when they looked at Evangeline again, she was right in front of them with fire burning in her eyes.
"Uh-oh! Run!" Fumika said. The twins started running off and Evangeline chased them. Meanwhile, Asuna was working on making a snowman. She put a scarf around it's neck and she grabbed two fallen branches by a tree and stuck them in for arms.
"All right. Now all I need is something for a face." Asuna said. She dug in the snow and found some little rocks that she made a face on the snowman with a smile on it's face. Just then, a snowball nailed Asuna in the head and she fell onto her snowman. The head didn't break but it landed on Asuna's head! Asuna broke the head open and looked back. She saw Ayaka looking away from her. She thought that Ayaka threw it and she growled. She made a snowball and threw it at Ayaka. It hit her on the side of her head and she fell over.
"Hey! Who threw that?!" Ayaka shouted. She looked and saw Asuna angry at her.
"You threw one at me first Ayaka! Don't play dumb! My snowman turned to a pile of snow thanks to you!" Asuna said. Ayaka growled and got up.
"It wasn't me bells! I think your ears must've frozen from the cold!" Ayaka shouted. Negi saw Ayaka and Asuna growling at each other and he started freaking out.
"Oh! Not again! Please girls!" Negi shouted. Anya was sitting under a tree feeding a bird when she heard Negi. By coincidence, Chachamaru sat under a tree also feeding a group of passing birds with bits of bread she brought. Meanwhile, Evangeline was still chasing after Fuka.
"You know something?! You're the biggest suck up I ever met! And I'm sick of it!" Asuna said.
"Oh?! What you gonna do?!" Ayaka shouted. Just then, Yue broke them up and suggested a snowball fight. Both of them nodded and looked away. Asuna and Ayaka both gathered a group of girls for teams and each got ready to have a snowball fight. On Asuna's team was Konoka, Fuka, Chachamaru, Nodoka, Kaede, Makie, Sakurako and Ako while Ayaka's team had Haruna, Fumika, Evangeline, Kakizaki, Fei Kū, Akira, Chiziru and Chao. The other girls stayed out of the way with Negi and Anya.
"Let the snowball fight begin." Yue said. The girls started making snowballs and throwing them at each other. The rules were if you were hit by a snowball, then you were out and if the team leader was hit, the game was automatically over. Most of the girls avoided them and ducked back behind trees or made snow forts. Nodoka was the first one out due to her being afriad of throwing snowballs at each other. Negi could see Nodoka being afriad and he went to talk to her once she stood on the sidelines.
"Got ya know Kaede!" Fei Kū shouted. She threw a snowball but it missed! Kaede ducked behind a tree and threw one at her. It hit Fei Kū and she fell over playing dead.
"No! Not Fei Kū!" Ayaka shouted. Just then, Ayaka saw a snowball coming for her and ducked! Makie was throwing snowballs trying to hit Chao and Evangeline. The two of them launched snowballs at her and then ducked behind a tree. Makie saw them and she ducked behind her snow fort. They heard the snowballs hitting something and thought they got her. However, they only hit a tree and Chachamaru launched two surprise snowballs that hit them both in the face!
"Chachamaru!" Evangeline shouted. Chachamaru was shocked that she hit Evangeline and didn't move when Haruna got her with a snowball in the head. Fuka and Fumika were throwing snowballs at each other like crazy and they both hit each other on the nose! By the middle of the afternoon, Asuna and Ayaka were the only two left. Everyone else had gotten hit.
"Come...on...blondie. Aren't you...gonna take me...down?" Asuna said. Both of them were exhausted from all the ducking and dodging they did and faced each other with a snowball in their hands.
"You...you asked for it..." Ayaka said. The two of them got close to each other and they both had half open eyes. The girls hit each other with snowballs and they both fell over. Yue called it over saying the match was a tie. Just then, Konoka came to Asuna's side and helped her up.
"Asuna? Can I tell you something?" Konoka said. Asuna looked at her and nodded. Ayaka looked at her with snow still on her face.
"I...was playing with...Setsuna earlier and I kind of accidentally hit you with a snowball. And then you thought Ayaka threw it and this all happened." Konoka said. Asuna looked at her and then at Ayaka.
"So...it was a...misunderstanding?" Ayaka said. Konoka nodded.
"Well then girls, I think we can put all of this behind us now." Negi said with a smile. However, Negi looked at his classmates. They all had snow on them. Some of the other girls were hit by flying snowballs during the fight and they grinned at him.
"Get Negi!" Fuka shouted. The girls started making snowballs and Negi looked at them scared.
"Oh no! Girls! Wait!" Negi shouted. Anya watched as Negi went running away as the girls fired snowballs at him countless times. She smiled and ran to catch up to Negi.
"Nope. He hasn't changed a bit." Anya thought. Later that day, Nekane saw everyone had snow on them including Negi. They put on dry clothes while their old clothes were being washed. They spent the night together in peace. Negi was still cold from the snowballs he was hit with. But Nekane made sure to keep Negi right by her to keep him warm.
END OF CHAPTER