Negima 3: The Most Magical Christmas
Chapter 11: Julie's Beliefs - Part 2
Soon, within the hour, Julie was all alone on the streets of Wales. She had earlier fled from the shopping center after failing to meet Santa, whom she had trouble believing in. She finally stopped to catch her breath, leaning against a wall.
"What...What am I going to do? I want to believe my sister. But...oh. I don't know what to do." Julie thought. Surprisingly, she was resting in the alley that Chachamaru found Jennifer in.
"Jennifer must hate me right now. I was so upset that I didn't get to see him that I ran away." Julie thought. As she stood there, everyone else around her passed by, not noticing her at all. Back at the center, Jennifer groaned.
"Oh man. I can't believe Julie just ran away like that. As if waiting for that long was bad enough." Jennifer said. The clerk deeply apologized for upsetting Julie.
"It's not your fault. But thank you anyway. Come on Jennifer. We better find her." Negi said. Jennifer nodded and joined Negi in tailing after her sister. Back at the orphanage, Evangeline and Asuna were busy putting the food away.
"There we go. That's everything." Asuna said, setting the milk in the fridge.
"Thank you girls. You're welcome to a break now if you'd like." Catherine said. The girls thanked her and took a seat at the table.
"Finally. I keep thinking our break time would never come." Evangeline sighed. Asuna smirked.
"You just aren't used to this kind of work yet." Asuna said. Evangeline groaned.
"Better watch it Kagurazaka. Or I'll just stand up and leave." Evangeline said. Asuna huffed, suddenly hearing her cell phone ring.
"What the? Who'd be calling...Negi?" Asuna asked, seeing "Negi" on her phone's screen.
"Hello? What? She did what?" Asuna exclaimed. Negi was on the other end, explaining everything that happened earlier.
"What is it now? Is your professor losing his wits again?" Evangeline asked. Asuna focused on speaking with Negi, ignoring Evangeline. When she hung up, she turned to Evangeline.
"We've got problems. Julie ran away. Something happened at the center and..." Asuna said. Evangeline gasped.
"Wait. Isn't Julie one of the girls that was from here? And isn't she Jennifer's sister?" Evangeline asked. Asuna nodded.
"Come on! We've got to find her!" Asuna shouted, grabbing and dragging Evangeline along. In town, Julie was slowly walking along the sidewalk. She looked in the store windows, seeing displays of Santa galore. She also saw more people dressed as Santa.
"What? But how...?" Julie thought. She figured the Santa she saw with Negi wasn't the real one. She sighed.
"Great. Now I just realized I was going to miss seing a fake Santa. Was Nekane teasing me?" Julie thought. She contined to walk on, not wanting to look at anymore Santa Claus fakes. But as she walked on, Negi and Jennifer were searching frantically for her.
"Julie! Julie!" Negi called.
"Julie! Come on! If you can hear me, say something!" Jennifer exclaimed. But they heard nothing but a gentle wind gust. Jennifer sighed.
"It's all my fault Negi. I tried to get Julie to believe in Santa. But I feel like I was failing at that." Jennifer said, starting to sniffle "Some big sister I am." But as Jennifer started to cry, Negi patted her back.
"Don't give up Jennifer. We'll find her. I promise." Negi said. Jennifer sniffled.
"I hope so Negi. I can't imagine what she's doing right now. Being all alone in the cold...just like I was." Jennifer thought. Jennifer continued to call out for Julie as Julie was walking close to the town hall. She looked up at the wreath on the door.
"If Santa doesn't exist, then...what IS Christmas anyway?" Julie asked herself. As she continued to look up, she heard someone approaching from behind. The snow crunching sounded like a person walking through the snow.
"Julie?" a voice asked. Julie turned around to see Nagi Springfield, wearing his jacket over his shoulders.
"Why are you here all by yourself? I heard from Nekane that you went with Negi and your sister to..." Nagi said, cut off by Julie suddenly hugging him. Nagi looked down at Julie and bent down to her eye level, patting the young girl's head.
"Come on. You can tell me. Did something happen?" Nagi asked. Julie continued to sniffle.
"Nagi? Please. Help me. I...I need your help." Julie said. Nagi smiled.
"Well, just tell me what's wrong." Nagi said. The two walked over to a bench and sat down. Julie began telling Nagi about what happened back at the center.
"Ah. I see. That probably was something you didn't need to see, especially at a young age." Nagi said. Julie sniffled.
"Now...I don't know what to do. I mean, does Santa exist or not? It's driving me nuts." Julie said. Nagi patted Julie's head.
"Calm down Julie. You don't need to worry about that. What has Jennifer and the others told you?" Nagi asked. Julie sighed, mentioning again about the stories the others told her about meeting Santa.
"Well, do you believe your friends?" Nagi asked.
"Of course I do. But...it seems ridiculous with what Santa has been capable of. I just wish I could get this worry out of me." Julie said. Nagi chuckled.
"I think I have an idea about how we could help. Have you visited Wales' library before?" Nagi asked. Julie looked up at Nagi.
"Only a few times." Julie said. Nagi figured that the library would be a good place to just unwind and relax. So he brought Julie to the library and showed her the many Christmas story books they had. Many featured Santa Claus, but some others showed Julie about what the real meaning of Christmas was.
"These books are nice. I used to do this with Jennifer when we were at the orphanage." Julie said. She then saw a artist picture of Santa and his reindeer flying across a moonlit sky.
"Santa..." she muttered. She continued to stare at the picture, having flashbacks of when she and Jennifer were orphans still. Each Christmas, Catherine would always tell them that Santa came and left everyone presents. While Jennifer was happy, Julie felt different.
"I know it's hard to grow up and forget about Santa. But...believe me when I say that the jolly old man does exist. I've met him before and so has my son. I know the girls would never lie to you." Nagi said. Julie looked away.
"I bet now...Jennifer's mad at me." Julie said. Nagi looked down and asked how she could think that.
"Is it because you ran away when all your hard fought waiting didn't work out?" Nagi asked. Julie nodded.
"I'm sure Jennifer is out there right now, looking for you. She cares about you and is probably worried sick. You can't feel guilty over things like that. You just needed time to yourself." Nagi said. He then looked out the window behind him and smirked.
"In fact, look behind you." Nagi said. Julie closed the book and looked out the window, seeing a worried Jennifer walking around with Negi.
"Jennifer? Please, I need to rest. Can we stop?" Negi asked. Jennifer looked back.
"All right. You can rest. But...I'm going to keep going. Julie's my little sister and...I..." Jennifer said. Julie continued to watch and saw tears building up in Jennifer's eyes.
"I feel so sorry that Julie wasn't there...with me. If she was with me...last Christmas, I bet I could help her believe in Santa like I do. I...feel so stupid right now. I'm a horrible older sister." Jennifer said. She began to cry, making Julie feel like crying too.
"Come on. She needs you." Nagi said. Julie thanked Nagi and rushed outside. She found Jennifer and hurried over.
"Jennifer!" Julie cried. Jennifer gasped.
"Julie!" she exclaimed. The two girls met in a hug and hugged each other as tight as they could.
"Oh Julie! I'm so happy you're all right! You had me so worried!" Jennifer cried. Julie shed tears just as much as her sister.
"I'm sorry Jennifer! I'm...I'm so sorry!" Julie cried. Just behind Negi, Asuna and Evangeline arrived.
"Negi? Hey, have you...? Julie! She's all right!" Asuna shouted. But as she was ready to rush over, Evangeline stopped her.
"Let them be Asuna. This is a sister thing." Evangeline said. Asuna nodded and stood there with Negi and Evangeline, watching the two girls crying, happy to have found one another. After that, Julie and her friends were on their way back home. Nagi followed along with the others.
"Thank you for taking care of Julie for us father. We're so happy that she's not hurt." Negi said. Nagi chuckled and said it was no problem. But just then, up ahead of them, they saw something shocking. It was Nagi again!
"Oh. Hello there Negi. How are you all?" Nagi asked. Negi and Asuna were speechless. They quickly looked back where Nagi was behind them, but he was gone!
"Whoa! What the? Was...Was that a fraud?" Evangeline exclaimed. Nagi raised an eyebrow.
"What are you all going on about? Who's a fraud?" Nagi asked. Everyone frantically looked around until Julie saw the Nagi imposter.
"Wait! There he...huh?" Julie shouted. But before she could finish, she saw the fake Nagi transform into an old man in red. He gave a wink and then left, leaving a strange trail of glittering lights behind. Julie gasped.
"Was...Was that Santa?" Julie muttered. The others glanced at Julie.
"Julie? Is everything all right?" Jennifer asked. Julie turned to her sister.
"Yeah. It's all right." Julie said. The others continued to wonder why there was a fake Nagi with them, but Julie felt happy. She was happy that the "Nagi" she met had to be the one and only Santa Claus.
END OF CHAPTER
