Academy Blues

By: Daishi Prime

- Chapter 14 – Fun and Games -

Luke could not help flinching when two open hands smacked down on the table next to him, causing the heavy piece of furniture to leap slightly, sending piled books slithering into lower heaps. The motion, the loud noise, the fear of who it had to be... he felt perfectly justified in flinching, no matter how un-manly it was. Looking up the arms ramrod straight over the table, he took note of who it was, closed his eyes, and whispered a brief prayer to Saint Sebastian, patron of soldiers and the dying, that this would not be as bad as it could be.

"G'day, Laura," he managed after a moment, "What can I do for you?"

"I haven't pranked anyone in weeks," she replied with a grin, "You're gonna help me."

"Oh, God no, not me," he crossed his arms in an 'X' between them, "I'm not gonna be one of your fall-guys."

Laura huffed, then replied in a highly insulted tone, "I don't have fall-guys. I have cats-paws, and you sure as heck are gonna help me."

Luke shook his head again at that. He did not know of anyone else helping Laura with one of her pranks, but he had no doubt that being her assistant would be just as bad as being one of her targets. Personally, he preferred being a target. At least that way he would not be one of those getting in trouble. "Nope, not in this lifetime."

"Yes you are," she insisted, "'cause I'll get you something you want rather badly."

"There's nothing I want badly enough to risk my hide on one of your pranks, Laura."

"What about Noriko's time and attention?"

Luke's brain stumbled at that for a second, then he glared at Laura. "That's not funny, sheila."

She grinned back, and giggled back, "Yeah it is. But I'm serious. You don't even have to do anything dangerous, and you can spend an hour or two all alone with the pretty princess. Heck, that's all I want you to do. I'd ask Yu-chan, but he'd want to know why."

"I want to know why," Luke interrupted.

Laura shrugged, "payback. It's been a few weeks, so she's letting her guard down. Now's the perfect time to get some of my own back for Kiyomizu-dera."

Luke looked at her quizzically for a moment, then remembered, "the love-stones, she tricked you and now you're going to make her suffer as well."

"Not suffer," Laura protested intensely. "Well, not much anyway. I'm just going to let her know that I don't appreciate a month worth of jokes about me and rich-boy."

"Then stop disappearing with him. I thought she was your friend."

Laura blinked at him, then frowned in confusion. "What's that got to do with it?"

"You're not supposed to rip on your friends, Laura," he explained.

"Whatever. You gonna help me, or should I start insisting?"

He thought for a minute about telling her no. Interested though he was in getting to know Noriko better, he was still less than interested in being part of one of Laura's plots. On the other hand, he had figured out a lot faster than Yussef that, appearances aside, Laura was no flighty airhead. She was just as stubborn and strong-willed as any of them, and with a much more devious turn of mind. If he said 'no', she would find some way to drag him in anyhow, possibly without his even being aware of it. Then he realized exactly how he could get out of this unscathed, and possibly even ahead of the game, so he sighed slightly, and nodded, "All right, I'm in. What's the plan?"

"Sweet! I knew I liked you for a reason!" Laura punched his shoulder lightly, then dropped into a chair, bouncing to the edge. She leaned over the table and started whispering, "I need you to keep her busy outside the dorms for at least half an hour or so after class one of the days this week, preferably tomorrow. Anything beyond that's gravy, but I need at least thirty minutes. Can ya handle that, cowboy?"

"I'm not a cowboy, but yeah, I got it. Half an hour'll be easy."

"You're not from the Old West, but you're a cowboy anyways." Then she swatted his arm again, harder, "And don't interrupt me! It's rude. That's all you've got to do, just keep her busy and out of the dorms for half an hour plus. Ask her to help you review whatever Hayate-sensei teaches in class tomorrow. Today's lessons were nothing much, but tomorrow's might be. You may wind up with a bigger audience, but you'll have Riko-chan's attention. Just keep her busy for me."

Luke watched her stalk off a moment later, debating furiously in the privacy of his own mind. Sure, he was more than willing to have any excuse to spend time with Noriko. She was smart, pretty, nice, and nowhere near as scary as Laura or Natalia. Even better, none of the other guys would give him any grief for it, since most of them would agree with him. But... was it worth being part of a plot to prank her? He doubted Noriko would do anything to him, even if she did figure out he had a hand in Laura's plans, but he would know. If he followed through on his idea, however, and Laura found out, it could be worse. Finally, he decided on the risk that let his conscience rest, and carefully structured the communications spell they had all been refining. "Noriko-san? Got a minute?"

"Certainly, Luke," her voice came back a moment later, seemingly from the center of his head. It was a trick to the spell, putting the caster's voice in both of the recipient's ears at the same time, that required the sort of fine-tuned control he wished he had. "And I told you all, just Noriko is fine."

"You say so. Listen, Laura's planning something to get back at you, a prank of some sort. Thought you otta know."

"Again?" She hardly sounded surprised, more resigned. "I suppose I should take Vita-sensei's advice and let her catch me, this time."

Luke was surprised at that, "You mean she's tried before?"

Noriko laughed softly, "Yes, she has tried several times since Kyoto, even before we left Kiyomizu-dera. She hasn't succeeded yet, because I do not care to be one of her victims. I think I will, this time, just because I'm getting tired of it, and she should stop once she thinks the scales are even. How did you find out?"

"She asked me to help." He figured she would be asking that, but it was still embarrassing to admit.

"Oh?" The mild curiosity in her voice just made it more embarrassing. "What was your part going to be?"

"I'm supposed to keep you out of the dorms for half an hour or so tomorrow."

"So she's planning on doing something to my room? Oh, joy. Well, sooner begun, sooner finished. Tomorrow afternoon in the Library, after Lotte-sensei's class? I will bring Cidela and Megan, we can work on the statistics proofs for Signum-sensei."

"Sounds good," he replied, both happy that she was not angry with him, and unhappy that tomorrow would be group study. The connection faded, and he turned most of his attention back to the studying Laura had interrupted.

-----------------------------

Noriko leaned back from the terminal in front of her, letting her head hang over the chair-back, her eyes drop closed, and just relaxed for a minute. From somewhere up on the second level came a soft waterfall of sound, guitar strings flowing under Mariachi's fingers. It was a technical violation of the Library's rules, but not even Natalia had ever bothered telling him to stop. For one thing, Mariachi never played anything inappropriate in here. It was always soft, smooth background music, nothing disruptive or distracting. For another, Mariachi was the only person on campus who had any musical talent at all, and everyone except Laura claimed it helped them study. Laura, predictably, preferred American rock and roll, but even she could be talked into admitting Mariachi was good.

At the moment, however, none of those points were on her mind. She merely leaned back and relaxed, letting the rippling melody of the music fill her mind. She needed that feeling of relaxation, the brief period of doing nothing. There were any number of things over the past few weeks she could point to that were all adding together to leave her feeling stressed out and pressured. She had dealt with similar issues before, in smaller ways and separately, but never all at once, and she just knew things were going to get worse before they got better.

Part of it was simply school work, the pressure of trying to do well with a course load that would have made most kids her age blanch, even here in Japan. Multiple languages, multiple histories, math that was rapidly leaving algebra behind, and that was just the 'normal' classes. She remembered her mother expressing some concern that Hayate-sensei did not have any sort of 'cram school' arrangements, but when Noriko told them what the actual course load was like, her mother's complaints had vanished. Combined with the magical classes, it would have been enough to stress out any student, but Noriko felt that she and her classmates were handling the work rather well. None of them were failing, at least.

Another part of her rising stress levels was the device project. Construction of hers was coming along nicely, even if she was a little behind Yussef and Laura. But it was still complicated and delicate work requiring concentration, steady hands, and ridiculous attention to detail. Then there was trying to keep it secret from the teachers, and the other students. Their desire for secrecy required that they move their half-finished devices every day, to keep anyone from getting suspicious about a permanently locked workroom, which was more than a little difficult, given that they could not create the dimensional pocket until the devices were mostly complete. While not approaching the mass Laura claimed for Signum-sensei's Levantine, their half-finished devices were still bulky and difficult to hide.

The most unique issue she found was dealing with her classmates. Apparently her ability to retain her temper and sanity while remaining in close and repeated contact with both Yussef and Laura simultaneously had convinced the rest of her classmates that Noriko was the best person to bring their own disputes to if they did not want to involve one of the teachers, which happened with surprising frequency. Despite how much they all liked their teachers, involving them was a last-resort sort of thing that all of them were loathe to do. Also, despite how small the class was, they had their fair share of fights and personal conflicts. While none of the issues were as volatile as Laura and Yussef, Noriko was still finding herself caught between her classmates on a regular basis, and it was getting rather wearing. Not that she would complain, since someone had to do it, but there had been a couple of times recently when she had caught herself so frustrated she was on the verge of screaming at people, even the calmly peaceful Cidela. The prospect of being subjected to one of Laura's pranks this afternoon was not helping much, either.

But the worst source of stress, she thought, was the continuing attempts to penetrate the school's defenses. It had been two weeks, now, since Captain Gelcide returned from whence he came, and Hayate-sensei had quietly let everyone know that he would not be causing the school any problems. In that time, Noriko's sensitivity to magic, the entire classes', had done nothing but grow. Two days after Gelcide left, in the middle of Lotte-sensei's class on personal shields, they had all felt a huge disturbance, one strong enough and strange enough to leave them all shaken, and Laura, Cidela and Noah had required Shamal's attention and been unsteady for the remainder of the day.

That incident had triggered an expansion in all the students' sensitivity to magic. Noriko had been experimenting with hers a few days later, seeing if she could sense the school's wards from her dorm room, and how much detail she could develop on them without setting one off. She had been working on one of the more obvious ones, detailing as much as could about it, when someone tried to get through the wards from outside. Her first inkling had been when her wide-open senses detected a ward being deactivated. Then something else had triggered, something she had not detected until it activated, but later realized was a Deva ward. It sent a coruscating wave of power back down the path of the probe in an obvious counter-attack. Even though she had not been its target, and all its energies had been directed away from her, it had been like standing next to a lightning strike, a massive flash of unbearable light, terrible sound and power. She had come to in Shamal's medical room, and even now, a week and a half later, the vaguely scorched and unsteady feeling was only fading slowly.

Since then, she and several of the others had sensed two more attempts to circumvent the wards surrounding the campus. Everyone had noticed when all three were violently repulsed, though Noriko was the only one who had been unfortunate enough to have a front-row seat for one of the 'events'. Hayate-sensei had told them all some of what was going on, that an unknown organization was attempting to gather information on the campus without going through channels. She had tried to be as calm and reassuring about it as possible, especially since she had already figured out what was happening, but the idea was fundamentally frightening, though less so for her and Yussef than the rest of her classmates. However much or little her family had tried to protect her from political realities, she had at least been exposed to the idea that there were crackpots, crazies and hostile nations who would like to either harm or use her. Even more worrisome, immediately after each event two of their teachers had disappeared, and upon their return, had been rather unhappy, indicating that whoever was doing this was good enough to avoid their teachers.

Which was worrisome enough in itself, but had also worried her classmates enough that they were looking to her for reassurances. Keeping their spirits up was not helping her keep her own up, since she was acutely aware of just how little she actually knew about what was going on, or even what she was doing. So, all in all, she was perfectly willing to take advantage of any moment of peaceful relaxation that even looked to be coming her way, such as sitting in the library after class, taking a break from studying to listen to Mariachi play.

The piece he was currently playing was very rhythmic, fluctuating between high rapid cascades of notes that were almost enough to dance to, and slower, more contemplative sweeps that almost sounded like no song at all, just him playing. She listened for several minutes, just enjoying and relaxing. But as the piece wound down, she allowed her curiosity to get the better of her, and shaped a simple spell, sending her voice out of range of her sight, "Mariachi? What song is that?"

There was a momentary delay, though the music never stopped, then he replied, "something new I found. It's called Arabia. Jerry Garcia and some other guitarist I hadn't heard of before. Like it?"

"It's beautiful, Mariachi, very relaxing. Is it in the archives?"

"That's where I found it. There's a big music library, I'll send you the location."

"Thank you, I'd appreciate that."

"Noriko-chan? Are you okay?"

She twitched, surprised at the voice that wasn't Mariachi's, and rolled her head upright, blinking as she finally opened her eyes again. "Ah, I'm fine, Luke," she replied after a moment, reaching up to scrub her eyes gently. "Just enjoying the music."

"Cid-chan was worrying," he replied, nodding in the other girl's direction, "you didn't respond."

"I'm sorry," Cidela replied turning back to her array of books, "I was just worried, you didn't move for so long."

"Nothing wrong with worrying," Noriko replied tapping the other girl's hand to get her to look up. "Don't be so worried about asking after people, Cid-chan. It's in your nature, and a good habit to be in."

"All the better that you ask," Hayate-sensei added, "for some won't even think to ask for help when they need it, ne, Riko-chan?"

Noriko sighed, "Please don't call me that, sensei. It's bad enough Laura can't manage to get my name right."

Hayate-sensei smiled, resting a hand on her shoulder, "I'm just teasing you, Noriko. You've been getting too serious lately. But you do realize what is common between those she gives pet-names to, don't you?"

Noriko nodded, smiling slightly. She had figured it out shortly after they began working on the devices, "She uses them for people she's impressed by, but not in awe of. People she can learn from that aren't teachers."

"Actually, I think it's anyone she can learn from," Hayate countered. "I'm fairly certain she has nicknames for Signum and I, but she's too savvy to use them. Cidela, Luke, Megan, would you mind if I stole your study partner for a few minutes? I need to talk to her privately."

Cidela nodded quickly, "Certainly, sensei, just let us get..."

"No, Cidela, all of you, stay," Hayate's gesture stopped the other three's efforts to pack up the small mountain of books, "you need this space more than we do. Noriko? Shall we walk?" Noriko contented herself with a nod and stood, leaving her own books. No one would disturb them, even if she wound up leaving them overnight as Allina and Niranjana often did.

Hayate-sensei was silent while they were in the building, and Noriko found herself wondering what this was about. Off the top of her head, she could only think of one thing the Headmistress might want to talk to her about privately – her device. Deva magic was unlikely, her questions had all been either answered or skillfully evaded in class, and Hayate-sensei had been excruciatingly clear that she would not teach any of them anything about Deva magic until several years in the future. She did not have any special projects for Hayate's class at the moment, her only official projects were research on the Meiji Restoration for Vita's history class and one on enlarging her energy discs for Lotte-sensei, both of which were progressing fine well ahead of their deadlines. She had already been exhaustively questioned on the incident with the ward. So the only thing she thought Hayate-sensei would want to talk to her about was the incomplete device.

The two of them walked down the Libary's steps still in silence, and Hayate-sensei turned towards the edge of the quad, waving Noriko to walk beside her instead of a step behind. They were moving at a slow stroll, and Noriko started to feel a rare urge to fidget under the silence.

"I didn't ask you out here to chastise you, Noriko," Hayate-sensei said after a few minutes, "just to discuss. I've noticed something recently, and thought you might want to talk to someone."

Noriko studied her profile out of the side of her eyes, but only saw a gentle smile and slowly wandering gaze. Hayate-sensei appeared to be studying the trees around them, rather than looking at Noriko, but she had the feeling that the Headmistress was fully focused on her. "I'm not certain what you mean, sensei."

Hayate's smile grew slightly, "I knew as soon as I met you that you would be one of the dominant personalities in the class. You have proven to be just as much a leader as I expected, and more of one than Yussef or Laura, your two nearest competitors for 'class boss'. Oh, Yussef has a better rapport with the boys, but I've noticed that even he tends to bring his troubles to you. Believe me, I understand just how difficult a position that can be to maintain, and I know for a fact that it always helps to have someone else to talk to, someone who is not necessarily part of same circles. My Knights have been together for centuries, but even they have their differences, and the crews we worked with certainly did. There were times when I was very glad to have Nanoha-chan to talk to about them. She knew enough to help, but was not so caught up in relationships as to be part of the problems. Even if she was involved, there was Chrono-kun or Lindy-san.

"So, I know this is a difficult time, with the intruders attempting to breach our defenses, on top of your normal school work and... extracurriculars. I wanted to see how you are standing up under the strain, and see if there was anything you needed help with. Not so much as your headmistress, but as someone who's been where you are – the person to whom others look for guidance."

Noriko turned to stare at her in surprise. Despite her own awareness of the situation, she had not really thought of her position in the class as 'leading'. Sure, she gave advice, she even gave orders, though she liked to think she was not 'bossy' like Natalia was in the library. Sure she listened, and she tried to keep everyone getting along, but everyone was doing that. Sure she knew she had been raised to lead, but it would be years before she actually did. The plan to hamstring Gelcide's investigations had not even been her idea, really. They had all thought of the same thing, she had just made sure everyone was working together, instead of at cross-purposes. Even if she had wanted that sort of position, the class was far too small for any sort of 'class president', and even then there were always the teachers, they had the responsibility and the authority, not her.

But the more she thought about it, especially trying to look at it from Hayate-sensei's point of view, the more she realized she did have the authority, the responsibility, in the eyes of her classmates if no one else. If they had not thought she had it, they would not have approached her. For a moment she was sorely tempted to ask the Headmistress' advice on how to handle or help anyone and everyone. There were plenty of things she had said over the past few months she was uncertain of, problems not really resolved. Surely Hayate-sensei would know more about them than she did. But... that would be betraying their trust. If any of those who had asked her for help had wanted the teachers to know, they would have gone to the teachers, not to her.

"Ano, thank you for the offer, sensei, but... I'm not sure I should talk about it. If they wanted you to know..." she trailed off, uncertain of how to explain without being offensive.

Hayate-sensei merely nodded, "That's a good reaction. If someone comes to you in confidence, you are supposed to keep it. But I was not planning to speak about that. I was thinking in more... general terms. No one gets along with everyone all the time, not even I do. But everyone needs someone to talk to, someone to listen to their problems, even if they can't offer solutions, someone to offer advice when they can. After your demonstration with Captain Gelcide, it was rather obvious that you need such a confidant, but it is equally obvious, given who your usual compatriots are, that you are not going to find such a person amongst your classmates, since they all seem determined to use your shoulder to cry on. Your father would do well, but he is not actually here. So..." she turned to face Noriko finally, trailing off for a moment, and shrugged, "... I thought you might want to talk."

The explanation, clear as it was, very nearly floored Noriko. Not so much for what her teacher said, as the fact that she had never even considered that before. Years later, she would claim that it was in that precise moment that she came to truly understand what it was to lead, all its costs and ramifications, the necessities and responsibilities, everything necessary to claim to be a leader. But at the time, all she realized was that, while she had come to be so busy 'being there' for those around her, being the trusted voice of steady reason they relied on, she had no one to fill that role for her.

"I... I think I'd like that... nee-san."

It helped, even the short conversation they had then before returning to dinner. Even without using names or specifics, she managed to get some advice on helping her classmates, and even on helping herself. Just the realization that she could go to Hayate-sensei without having to go to the Headmistress, that there was someone she could bring problems and complaints to, was surprisingly reassuring.

Unfortunately, it was also distracting, so she was halfway across the dining hall before she realized that, not only was everyone staring at her, but Yussef, standing next to the buffet table, was positively glaring as his gaze shifted to her right. She looked around for a second, trying to figure out why she was the center of attention, and why Hayate-sensei was no longer walking with her, then a shift of her head brought her long hair into the corner of her vision. She reached up slowly to pull it forward over her shoulder, dawning comprehension followed by rather surprising amount of rage as she stared at the one thing she would admit to being vain about, her long smooth black hair. The strands in her hand were still smooth as silk, straight and fine, but... florescent green.

"Hah, Riko-chan, now I know you're a Japanese school-girl!" Laura's voice sang out, and Noriko snapped around to find her friend grinning widely at her. As soon as she managed eye-contact, however, Laura burst out laughing, flying over the tables to half-tackle her, caroling, "Ah, the look on your face!" Noriko just took the impact, trying to figure out what to say, how to say anything without snapping, when Laura whispered, "Relax, Noriko, it'll fade in a day or two. Unlike the jokes."

"It's my hair, Laura."

"And it'll be back to normal in a couple days. 'Course, I'm gonna have everyone calling you 'anime-girl' by then, but fair's fair. Everyone's still joking about me and Yu-chan."

That reminder managed to cool Noriko's temper, for the most part. In the privacy of her own mind, she could admit that her joke on Laura and Yussef had been a bit much, given how well the two of them got along. But it had been a spur of the moment thing, and she was just so tired of their constant bickering. "We'll talk about it again in a couple of days, when I have my hair back."

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"Thank you for agreeing to see us on such short notice, Mister Al Musab," the first man said, Arabic smooth but oddly accented. "I am afraid we have very little time in Egypt, and have a rather unique opportunity."

Adib waved that aside, "It was no bother. We Egyptians have a long history of welcoming traders, how could I turn down a request from such a valuable partner and stay true to that tradition? Please, have a seat. Tea?"

"Yes, please."

Drinks were poured, and pleasantries exchanged, for a few minutes more. Both sides of the discussion came from cultures where the polite dance of conversation was much appreciated, though it was in this case somewhat perfunctory. Both sides had other business to attend to, and limited time to attend to it. Finally, the Assistant Director for Trade settled his cup and asked, "So, what can I do for you gentlemen?"

"I'm afraid our business today is not so pleasant as trade. We have a common enemy, Hayate Yagami."

Adib visibly froze at that, but recovered well enough before replying, "I'm afraid I don't follow. I am not familiar with anyone by that name."

"Your niece attends her school in Japan."

The anger this time was unmistakable. "I have no niece!"

"Cidela Al Musab, officially disowned as of yesterday, I believe." He raised a hand to cut off Adib's vehement denial, "What would be better, Mister Al Musab, for your family, your honor, and your niece – to abandon her to her error, or to return her to the true path? We have another problem with the school, but would be willing to return your niece, in exchange for your assistance in solving our problem. My apologies for the rudeness of our approach, but I am afraid we are working in a restricted window of opportunity, and we cannot afford to waste time."

Adib was quiet, but he was too obviously thinking over the offer, such as it was. Despite convincing his brother to disown the wayward girl, Cidela's disobedience was still causing him some problems, unofficial but none the less real. The decision was easy enough to make, recovering her would do wonders for his reputation. "What did you have in mind?"

"We need to separate the faculty from the students, in order to preserve all of them, particularly the Yagami woman herself. We believe, given her penchant for interfering in the rest of the world, that we can lure her out, but she suspects us already and will not venture into our country. We would like to use part of the Libyan Desert in the southwest of your country, possibly over the border into Libya itself. What we would need from you sir, is simply a blind eye. We would need to bring in certain equipment, and set up the distraction. Once the Yagami woman is here, we can retrieve all the students, and she will have no choice but to accept the situation as given."

"You would need travel papers, entry visas, work permits...," Adib agreed, then nodded sharply, decision made, "A geological expedition, to study the underlying desert, looking for oil, or gas. Several other such expeditions have been made in the last few years, it should be easy enough to arrange through my office. Send me a list of the people you will need visas for, and I will make arrangements. It will have to be by the book, you understand, the usual fees will need to be paid, but no one will question you or your equipment."

"You agree with our operation? Forgive me, but you appear to be doing so rather easily."

Adib shrugged, "I, too, watch the news. The Yagami woman was on a few weeks ago, breaking laws or something in South Africa. And I cannot give up on my family so easily. What you ask is nothing, a trifle, if it has any chance of bringing my niece back to the fold."

Making arrangements for future contact took only a few more minutes, then the two visitors found themselves once again on Cairo's narrow overcrowded streets. Switching to a language both of them were more comfortable in, the younger, who had remained silent, asked cautiously, "Adept, was it wise to tell him we would return his niece to him? I thought we would take all the students, to correct their educations."

"Oh, I never promised to return her to Egypt," the Adept replied, "only to return her to the true path. Our path. If he misunderstood my meaning, that is his error. Remember, the most effective lie is often the truth, misheard. And barbarians such as these often mishear."

"I understand, my apologies for questioning you, Adept."

"That is why you are along, Journeyman, to learn, and you cannot do that if you do not question. But something else is bothering you. What is it?"

There were a few moments of silence, then, "I am uncertain about these students. The Traditions require that those with the gift be brought in as young children, before the second year, to be raised in the Circles. None of these children have ever been given even the least contact with the Circles, back several generations at best. Should we truly train them, offer them a place?"

"That is a question much debated by the Master Adepts. In the end, it was decided that the Yagami woman would have them for too long, teach them too much, before we could rescue them. They understand the basics of the Art now, and will continue to pursue it. Better to have them under our wing, where they can learn the true methods and may hue to the proper path, than loose in the world, where we would eventually have to neutralize them anyway. They are still young, they will adapt. For the moment, however, we need to focus on rescuing them from their current predicament. Did you arrange for the helicopter?"

"Yes, Adept. We will have it for two days, with crew, to scout locations. The criteria are rather loose, so we should have no trouble finding a suitable place, the only real question will be privacy, given the nomads in the region."

Their discussion continued to the technicalities of their current mission as they continued walking loosing themselves in the bustling crowds.

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"Hayate Yagami?"

"Speaking," She replied into the phone, more than a little curious that a voice she did not recognize had gotten a hold of the phone number, "Who is this?"

"Colonel Garreth Hughes, United States Army, DARPA. We have a bit of a situation here, and I was referred to you by certain allied parties. Specifically, the Japanese Self Defense Force command staff. Not sure how they got wind of you, but we're at our wits end, and you're the best lead we've been given."

That was a rather curious set of revelations. She had not even been aware that the JSDF was aware of her existence. The idea that they were giving her name out to a foreign military was also a surprise. "I am your best lead for what?"

"We have an anomaly at one of our proving grounds that refuses to resolve. It's been in place for several years now, and while it hasn't done anything drastic, it's growing slowly and none of our people can even tell what it is, let alone how to get rid of it. Since our usual scientific methods have failed, I managed to get some back-door permissions to try an esoteric approach, which eventually brought about this call. I was hoping you could come out here to the States and at least take a look at this thing, give us some pointers in containing it, and maybe tell us how to get rid of it."

"Ah, that is a rather surprising request, Colonel. Usually I only respond to immediate emergencies, what you are talking about seems rather more stable."

"Hence my calling you personally, ma'am. I'm afraid I can't give out much more information than I already have, it is a rather highly classified matter, but... like I said, it's still growing, and frankly, we're at our wits end trying to stop it. Another year or two and our current containment facility will no longer be large enough to hold it, which is worrisome, since we can't move it."

Hayate thought the matter over briefly, but there really was not much question. It might not have been an emergency situation, but it was still a problem, and if the JSDF sent someone to her, that meant it was probably a magic issue, which made it her domain. "I'll need a few days to arrange things here," she told him. "If this is as convoluted as you are making it sound, I may need to be on site for a few days. Today is Tuesday, shall we say, Friday?"

"Very good, ma'am, I can have quarters prepared for you and whoever else you bring. I'll have arrangements made for your flight..."

"Oh, that's alright, Colonel," she interrupted, "I'll make my own travel arrangements. Cheaper and faster for all concerned. What are the coordinates of the facility, the front gate, preferably."

There was a pause on the other end, then a slight chuckle, "I'm afraid that's classified, ma'am. But I'll compromise. There's an Air National Guard facility at the Seattle airport. Touch down there, I'll arrange transport to the facility for you. I'm sorry, but I really can't give you any more information than that. Regulations."

"I understand," Hayate replied with a grin of her own. "I'll be there, with one other. I take it this should be on the subtle side?"

"Ah, we would appreciate that, ma'am. South Africa was impressive, but..."

Hayate grimaced as he trailed off, "not the sort of thing I usually indulge in. Unfortunately, the incident was in a city, and rather attention-getting."

"Oh, I wasn't criticizing, ma'am. Just commenting. I'll see you Friday, then."

"Friday," she agreed, then the line went dead. She thought over the little bit of information, then asked, Shamal? Step into my office when you have a minute?

Yes, Mistress, Shamal replied immediately, but it may be a while. Whatever Laura did to Noriko's hair is proving rather persistent. I have not been able to clean it out. That girl is rather creative, I do not recall encountering such a specific color alteration spell before. She even demonstrated it on herself, but...

That creativity would be why she stands so high in the class, Hayate told her, smiling at the memory of Noriko's predicament. She knew she really should not be amused by one of her students playing pranks like that on a fellow, which was why Laura had gotten a rather sharp dressing down then and there, before the two were sent to Shamal to try and reverse the damage. But she could admit, in the privacy of her office, that since no real damage was done, it was rather amusing, and an impressively precise trap. No crisis, but we have an invitation to do some research in a few days, and I want to talk over with you, that's all. We may be gone for a couple days, but it does not sound dangerous.

I think I'll send the duo on their way then. Noriko will just have to get used to her new color. It's actually pretty, in a bright sort of way. Better than the red Laura used on her own hair. That girl.

Hayate just chuckled at the exasperated tone, and let the connection fade. Laura was proving, as both she and Yussef had predicted, to be an entertaining challenge. All of the kids were, really, Laura was just the most exuberant of them.

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Author's Note: the piece named by Mariachi, Arabia, does exist. I have a copy from a friend that was performed by Jerry Garcia & Al Dimeola, a fifteen minute guitar duet, with a very little bit of percussion in the back. Unfortunately, I do not know what album (if any) it is from, or where to find it.

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CrimsonDX: Laura & Lotte interacting is always fun, since they have such similar personalities. None of the members of the Circles will be famous, I'm afraid - their whole objective is to remain covert, after all. I'm kinda glad Gelcide became more popular, he was never really supposed to be an enemy, just someone doing their job.

Kell Shock: The Circles are a question, and they're supposed to be, I'm afraid. Was the Kyoto attempt a one-shot, or a test of future plans? Not sure myself, to be honest. I will say they are ruthless and dedicated to their cause. Most of their cellular structure and attitude comes from their outlook & plans – they aren't so much fighting a powerful enemy, as keeping a massive world-altering secret from 8 billion people. And 'mischief' happened above, I believe.

TheWhiteMonk: The Circles are rigid, but if that's what you're used to... still, I agree, not for me. I haven't thought much on their history, just their present and plans as they relate to this story. I'll agree that the magic-as-technology approach from the Nanoha series is one of my favorite aspects, though in all honesty, I'd have to say my favorite episode from A's is the one when Hayate awakens to her full power and recreates her Knights, though I forget what number it is. I've got a thing for that sort of moment-of-splendor scene. I hadn't thought of doing side-stories, thanks. I'll have to consider it (though I'd probably get lynched, since it would delay chapters of Academy Blues:).

Sheo Darren: see to your studying first. Trust me on that, I didn't one year & I've regretted it ever since. It's like planning – the more work you do now, the more playing you get to do later. Don't ask me where, but I've actually seen all three of those descriptions for methods of flight in several places each, from comics to RPGs to books, so I can't really claim credit. They make sense to me, though. Gelcide's proven to be the closest character to what I originally planned yet, mostly because his role's so short. He started out in an adversarial position, then discovered there was no reason for it, so became more relaxed and friendlier. As for the Circles, they have their reasons, views and limits - which have not all been detailed yet, so they could be worse than you think right now, they could be better.

Eni Li'Nave: Yup, life's a pain like that, but thank's for taking the time anyhow. Deva magic is difficult to understand, but the primary obstacle to studying it (and one of the facets the Bureau nerds never quite understood) is that it requires the different linker core, though even with that, Hayate is still learning the ins and outs of the type. It would make a good humbling exercise, but Hayate won't share the info with anyone but her Knights, because Noriko has enough info already she could probably figure out enough to be dangerous &/or in danger. I'm not sure yet if Takashi will actually go behind Hayate's back to make Noriko a Deva mage, it would be in his nature to create a challenge for his musume & insure his wife's legacy survives, but it would also be against his nature to interfere that blatantly with her students. A quandry:). I didn't think Laura's flying was so energetic, since she can't really manage more than a walking pace (she landed to go after Takashi), and her nicknames are kinda-sorta explained above. I'm afraid Gelcide was a pawn, just not a willing or knowing one, hence his altered reactions, and since he's from a different sector, he never really had the personal encounters with Akira to have the personal animus everyone near Terra does. The Circle's aren't supposed to be friendly or likable, I'm afraid. They've dedicated their lives to protecting the world from itself in spite of itself, so yeah, they're going to have quite the problem dealing with Hayate & her all her associates. As for your timing, it was impeccable. I finished the actual chapter the day after your review:). Thanks for still reading!