Yosh! Today, we are finally going to jump to Mahorafest prep. There is something bothering me though. I've been re-reading through the scanlations and somehow I noticed that Yue said something about Negi seemingly losing control of the class compared to his behavior 3 days ago. 3 days? If her statement is true, then there should be only three days in between the Wilhelm fight and Negi finding out about Mahorafest. This means, I somehow extended the timeline a bit. Oh well, I guess doing crossover, I suppose you can allow some timeline edits. I just hope I don't miss anything like this in the future...

I do not own Negima nor Ragnarok Online.

Thoughts in italics.

The Coming of the Festival

Gamiya walked on nonchalantly as everyone else ran past him. He never really saw the necessity of running. If you're late, then you're late, just as long as you get there it should be all right. Although, there seemed to be more people running around than usual, including robots and those in costumes. He even saw a huge lizard run past him.

"What the hell is going on today? This is a whole new level of mad here," the high priest wondered as he continued on his way past a giant arc being built. It had a huge banner draped on the side reading '78th Mahora Festival' and 'Number of days till festival begins: 15 days'.

"Kid, what's going on outside?" Gamiya asked Negi as they walked to class.

"Oh, the Mahora Festival? It's kind of like an after exams thing," explained the kid teacher, "From what I heard from Chizuru-san, preparations start after middle school and high school exams end. Also, all clubs and societies in the schools will take part and raise club money by holding events and shows or selling goods."

"Well, sounds exciting," commented the high priest, "Though I'm not exactly the kind of guy who hangs around noisy places a lot. Maybe I'll show up at the quieter events."

"Ah, hello, Iroi Sir," greeted Chamo, who suddenly appeared over the kid's shoulder. "You should be excited about this since your school didn't have such events, right?" the ermine asked Negi, "By the way, what is your class doing for the festival?"

"Oh, it should be something simple," said Negi, "Like, a play, a haunted house or a tea house of sorts."

"I see," said the ermine, somewhat thoughtfully.

Then as Negi opened the door, the males came to face five milk maids; Misa, Madoka, Sakurako, Kazumi and Ayaka.

"Welcome to 3A's Maid Café Ensemble!" they greeted.

Gamiya then turned to Negi and said, "Good luck kid, I'm outta here."

Before the kid teacher could say anything else, the high priest shoved him inside and closed the door.

Safe to say, Gamiya slept in the infirmary for the whole day again. This time, when he got up, Lingshen was waiting for him.

"Good evening, Iroi-sensei," she greeted, "Just want to let you know that I received your delivery and am now upgrading as we speak."

"Well, I guess I ought to give you my thanks then," he said as he covered a yawn.

"It's all right, sensei. This is a new type of challenge for me, one that I will take up gladly," she said with a smile on her face.

"Right, with this and festival preparation, are you sure it won't be a bother," he asked as he got off the bed.

"Not a problem. Everything is on schedule so I can definitely make do with this," she assured him.

"If you say so," he then said as he made his way to the door.

"Zai jian ler, Chao."

"Zai jian, lao shi."

The next day started pretty normal for Gamiya. The only exception was that instead of just him and a small crowd at Chao Bao Zi, there was a huge crowd in place.

"You have got to be kidding," he thought annoyedly, "I barely woke up and there is a crowd here? What the hell…"

Then, he found Negi, Asuna, Konoka and Setsuna seated at one of the tables.

"Good morning, people," he greeted as he took a seat without waiting for anyone to stand up.

"Ah, good morning sensei!" greeted the Dean's granddaughter, her ever present smile on her face.

"Good morning sensei," said swordswoman, a slight smile marring her usual stoic face.

"Who said you could sit here?" muttered the bell girl, apparently thinking the high priest to be rude somehow.

The kid was busy drinking his soup. Suddenly, he looked up and declared, "All right! We haven't decided what to do for our class yet! Let's start working hard from the morning class meeting then!"

"Ah? So fast?" asked a shocked Asuna. Setsuna looked as shock as she was.

"Negi-kun is burning!" said Konoka excitedly.

"Iroi-sensei, here is your usual," said Chachamaru, suddenly appearing by his side. She had a paper bag full of fresh nikuman.

"Thanks, Cat," thanked the calm looking high priest as he took the bag off her. He then got up and left without a word.

"How rude," commented Asuna, who was the first to recover from her shock.

"Aww, I guess he is still not used to being here," said Konoka.

"Does he always come here, Chachamaru?" asked Setsuna. She was wondering how familiar the teacher was with Chachamaru to call her by a nick name.

"Every morning around this time," stated the android, "He picks up a bag of five, freshly made nikumans."

"Like clockwork?" pressed the swordswoman.

"Like clockwork," agreed the gynoid.

"Now everyone," said Negi in front of the class, "What should we do for the school festival?"

Gamiya looked on disinterestedly at the back of the class. The moment the class started to explode with suggestions he looked at Sayo, who looked longingly at her classmates.

"Poor kid. Hope someone else notices her soon," he thought as he stifled a yawn.

"And to think Negi-kun wanted wanted to work hard," said Konoka.

"I can't believe that's the same person who was fighting so fiercely the other day," commented Yue in disbelief.

"To try to control our class is an extreme job," reasoned Setsuna.

"Will you lot keep quiet!" the high priest suddenly roared. The moment he heard someone suggest dressing Negi in women's undergarments, he felt that it was going to cross the line. So the moment he started shouting, the girls that were going to undress Negi paused and everyone froze in their spots.

"If you all aren't going to give any age suitable suggestions, then I think it's better that you don't do anything for the festival!" he continued to say loudly as he got up and made for the door. He proceeded to open it.

Before he left though, he turned and said with an evil grin, "If I am able to hear the class from the infirmary, I'll send Nita here." He turned and left, closing the door to a silent class.

"Well, looks like the Sleeping Buddha has shown his power," said Kazumi, attempting to lighten the mood.

"I can't believe he's just the assistant," muttered a grumbling Chisame.

"Well, I didn't know he had it in him," commented Evangeline, somewhat surprised that he would actually threaten the class; even if the threat was stupid, a threat's a threat. She continued, "Back to our seats, Chachamaru."

"Yes, Master."

"Another day, another battle," muttered Gamiya, "Battle with stupidity that is…"

It was the following day, and he was bored. Already. He couldn't fathom why half the class had such a fascination with the kid. All he had figured out so far was that there was a cuteness factor. But why all the weird suggestions yesterday? At least today, there wasn't any over the top, adult oriented suggestions. There were seven choices listed on the board and everyone had voted. The first five each had six votes, the sixth choice had one vote and the last choice didn't get any.

"Since it's a tie for all the possible choices for the festival," announced Negi, "I hope that 3A would do a 'haunted house'. Well, how do you all feel about this?"

A moment of silence went by before everyone exclaimed their support. At least, the noisier ones did. With that he got up, glad that the issue was finally over and snuck out of the class while they were still discussing what to do in the haunted house.

"Darn, Shizuna forbid me from using the infirmary for my nap time," thought the high priest, "Maybe I'll just walk around the school for the time being."

After an hour of patrolling, he went and took a nap on one of the World Tree's branches. As usual, it lasted all the way into the evening. Far from the usual evening he would normally have, just as he landed on the ground, he was met with Sayo's happy face.

"Sensei! Sensei! Negi-sensei can sense me!" she exclaimed as she twirled around in place.

"Eh, so the kid finally noticed you? That's good then," said the high priest, happy for the ghost.

"Er, he could sense me but he couldn't see me," corrected the ghost, "But tomorrow, some of the class will be staying back late for the haunted house preparations. I will try and get them to notice me then."

"Well, don't scare them too much, okay?" he advised, "Other than that, good luck, Aisaka."

"Thank you sensei!" she said with a beaming smile.

"What the hell is this?" Gamiya asked in disbelief. He was looking at a pinned up newspaper report posted at one of the bulletin boards in the hallway. It depicted a blurry looking Sayo trying to wave at a few 3A students.

The high priest sighed; he already told her not to scare them too much but it was wrong to assume that 3A wouldn't be terrified that easily. This was his mistake. He then scanned the crowd for someone and found her. He quickly pulled her aside.

"Hey, Misora, will you be helping later tonight?" he asked the mage in training.

"If you mean with the haunted house, yes. I'm also interested in seeing the ghost," she replied.

"Right. Say the ghost makes its presence felt there, you don't mind calling me would you?" he asked.

"Er, sure. I'll definitely call you, Father Iroi," she promised, though she looked a little unsure.

"Thanks, now to find that sensei of yours," he said as he left her. He found Negi and friends quite easily.

"For a long time, I've been curious about the list Shizuna-sensei gave me," the kid said to the girls around him as he opened the class roster.

"That photo of that ghost… isn't it this student?" asked Negi as he pointed to Sayo's picture. The five girls were shocked.

"She's harmless," Gamiya suddenly said as he stood behind Asuna, frightening an already frightened girl.

"Will you stop doing that, sensei?" she pleaded.

"Why do you say that sensei?" asked Kazumi curiously.

"Well, how about you do a little homework first before you jump to conclusions?" asked the high priest, "Besides, if she was a malevolent spirit, I would have taken care of her already."

"Maybe we can be friends with her!" Konoka suggested.

"Eh? But how do we befriend a ghost?" asked a confused kid teacher.

The high priest ruffled the boy's head and said, "This one you also have to figure it out yourself." Then, looking at the rest of the girls, he said, "Good luck with the ghost. I'm going hiking."

Before anyone could ask why, he ran off.

Of course, Gamiya lied. The only hiking he'd done was walk around the school once or twice before ending up sleeping on the World Tree's branches again. Though, this time he felt kind of sore, as if he'd slept on the wrong branch or something. Then, his phone started ringing.

He opened it and said, "Yes?"

"Er, Father Iroi… this is getting weird here," said Misora, "First Kazumi said that Honya-chan was a medium or something and she was using a book of some sort to communicate with the ghost. The message was really creepy and everyone's panicking right now."

The mage-in-training then paused. The high priest assumed it was to take stock of the current situation. Then her voice sounded again, at the same time people started shouting in the back ground.

"Fathere, you wouldn't believe this," she started franticly, "Tables and chairs started levitating and there's something been written in blood. God help us, Yuna is being possessed! Father, you need to get here… oh, they shot at her with Hakase's ghost busting guns. Oh wow, Setsuna and Mana just showed up in cool outfits. It seems like they are going to exorcise the ghost."

"What… that's… a bit extreme," said the high priest in disbelief.

"Still, those two are serious in this… I think I better put a stop to this nonsense," he thought as he said good bye and cut off Misora.

One teleport later, he was at the roof top. He quickly ran down the stairs, trying to keep an ear out for any commotion. In this case, it didn't take long.

"Iyaaa! No, please don't!" Sayo shouted and pleaded as she flew as fast as she could to run away from her pursuers. Mana and Setsuna were behind her, one peppered her with shots while the other was using her sword skills to try and corral her. However, the two were suddenly picked up by the waist and were slowly walked away into the opposite direction.

"Eh? Sensei?" the swordswoman asked in surprise when she turned to look up and recognized the assistant teacher.

"Sensei? Will you please let us down? We have a job to do," requested Mana, sounding quite serious and cold.

"Sorry," he said nonchalantly, "Classmates shouldn't try and kill each other you know." He took a few more steps before saying, "Although, I could let you down." Before they could reply, he unceremoniously dumped them on the floor. Ignoring their protests, he turned around and walked up to the ghost, who seemed teary eyed but looking grateful.

"You all right there, Aisaka?" he asked as he put his hand on her shoulder.

"Yes, sensei," she said demurely. By then, Setsuna and Mana had picked themselves up and were walking towards them. Two other visitors appeared too.

"Ah, Iroi-sensei. You're here too?" asked Negi as he and Kazumi flew up to them on a staff.

"Kid, didn't I tell you to do your homework first? I told you as well, Asakura," he said to the two newcomers. Turning to Sayo, he said, "You know, I think these two want to tell you something." He then stepped away to the side.

"Yes. Can we be your friend, Sayo-chan?" the kid and the reporter said in unison as they extended their hands towards the ghost. Sayo looked shocked and then disappeared.

Then, Asuna, Konoka and Chamo came up and the five of them looked into the distance, talking on how the ghost had somehow passed on. Gamiya had to stifle a laugh just to not try and spoil their mood, since the ghost really was behind the five. He waited until they walked off, or in Sayo's case floated off, before turning back to Mana and Setsuna.

"Well, I guess that's that then," said the high priest, satisfied that the debacle had a happy ending.

The gunslinger sighed and said, "I was hoping to get paid for this. Ever since you became famous or in your case sensei, infamous, I barely had any work coming my way."

He blinked at her in disbelief. "Actually, that was the first time we actually tried exorcising in the school before," commented the swordswoman.

"Really now," he said, still in disbelief. To Mana, he said, "I'm sorry for inconveniencing you Mana, but I have to do what I have to do to keep everyone in this school from dangerous elements." To Setsuna, he said, "Well, let's not do that again, shall we? Since now you both know Aisaka means no harm, right?"

They both nodded and then the gunslinger commented, "Well, I guess I'll have an excuse to raise my prices higher after this."

The following morning, once again Gamiya found himself in the company of Negi's breakfast group.

"Good morning, people. What's new today?" he asked as he took a seat.

"Ah, good morning, Iroi-sensei. Don't you think Chachamaru-san looks cute today?" asked the kid.

"Really?" wondered the high priest, "I haven't seen her yet."

"She does! She tied up here hair quite beautifully," said Konoka.

"Yeah. Like I told Hakase, even Chachamaru has to keep up with the trends now and then," added Asuna.

"But then, isn't it weird for her to do that, despite the risk of overheating?" asked Setsuna, "I mean, maybe her tripping was a side effect too. Hakase even said she will have to dismantle her for a system check."

"Oh really? This might be interesting to watch," the assistant teacher commented, "Maybe I'll turn up there later on."

"Good morning, Iroi-sensei," greeted Chachamaru, bringing him his daily bag of nikuman.

"Well, looking good today Cat," he praised. She had her hair tied up into a ponytail. The hairstyle kind of reminded him of Curina, especially if she added a big ribbon.

"Thank you, sensei," she replied as she gave him the paper bag.

"Right, I'll be off now, good bye people," he said as he walked off.

"Hmm, this is near where those two took me before," Gamiya muttered to himself. He was now standing in front of the Mahora Technical Department's white washed building.

"Well, if what Chao told me was correct, it should be near the top floor," he muttered again as he decided he couldn't wait for an elevator. He cast Agi Up when he was sure nobody was looking and proceeded to run up the stairs. Having reached Satomi's lab, however, he found the genius typing franticly on her computer, speaking of magic, science and feelings. Negi and Asuna were looking dumbfoundedly at the scientist while Konoka looked on with her ever present smile. Chachamaru sat there on the chair, her robotic body on display to the world. Setsuna just looked on, seemingly confused with what was happening. Gamiya was starting to feel the same way.

"Wow, a robot that is able to fall in love, isn't that so romantic?" asked Konoka suddenly.

"What? Cat's in love? With who?" asked the high priest. He was even more confused right now.

Satomi chuckled eerily and said, "So that's how it is. This might be love after all."

"Yeah!" agreed Konoka.

"All right! Let's begin the experiments! Leave the checking for next time!" announced Satomi.

"Wait a minute. How is this going to help us find out who she likes?" the high priest asked, his question falling onto deaf ears. Shaking his head, he followed the posse.

Satomi dressed Chachamaru up in an all black dress with long sleeves and a quarter-skirt, with thigh high black stockings and black booties. Everyone then ended up at the café, where they were surrounded by a crowd. Gamiya felt that it was prudent to be silent for now and decided to stare at the professor's laptop. As she rambled on about motor rotation counts, he looked up and noticed the the android glanced at Negi for a moment before looking back at the professor.

"Wow, there is some movement already!" exclaimed Satomi.

"Ah, no… that's…" Chachamaru tried to protest. The high priest however, wondered if there was a connection between that.

"This has to be a coincidence. All the normal girls seem to be after the kid and now Cat as well?" he mused as he watched Satomi and Konoka changed Chachamaru out of her clothes and into a new outfit; a sleeveless sailor uniform with frilly white stockings and brown shoes.

"Ah? My mechanical body doesn't look good in these clothes," she protested again, "The joints are too obvious."

"Nothing of that sort…" disagreed Konoka.

"Yeah, it's quite cute," complimented Negi.

"Wow! What an amazing rise of numbers! Keep it going! It's working well!" exclaimed an ecstatic Satomi, "This may be it!"

"Man, this is mind boggling. A robot falling in love… this is like some… weird story developing here," thought the high priest.

"But if it's really love, who's the other person then?" Konoka suddenly asked.

"My sentiments exactly Konoe," agreed the Hakase, "Then, let's try searching her memory database!"

As the other girls and Negi protested, Gamiya decided that while he wanted to know too, this was Chachamaru everyone was talking about. Chachamaru, who was partnered with Evangeline… definitely need some protection. He very quietly chanted his Kyrie Eleison in preparation as he stood behind the gathering crowd of girls. Just as Satomi opened the folder, his barrier resounded and he grinned as he saw the photos. He then looked to his left and saw the three girls and Chamo on the floor. He looked to his right and he saw Negi looking at the girls in shock.

"This is too amazing, Chachamaru. So this is true after all?" exclaimed the professor, "But I'm amazed, the person you actually love is… eh?"

Now, Gamiya looked up and to his amazement, Chachamaru was crying! A robot was crying! The high priest's jaw fell open.

"Negi-sensei, this isn't what it looks like," the gynoid said as she wiped her tears away.

"Hakase you baka!" she shouted as her fist extended at amazing speed and punched the professor off her feet.

"Cat, calm down, there's no need to over-react here!" the high priest said, finally able to collect himself.

"That's not… that's not what it looks like..." she continued muttering, her face going extremely red, presumably from overheating.

"Cat, calm down! Don't do something you might regret!" he said, a little louder than before.

"No… no, no, no, no, no," she said as steam started jetting out of her ears and below her skirt.

"Calm down!" he shouted as he punched her on the back of her head with his right fist. Apparently that did the trick, as the steam stopped jetting out and she turned her teary eyes towards him.

"Look," he just said as he walked over to the laptop and closed it. "There, nothing to it," he said with a grin as he took it and walked back to her. By that time, Satomi had gotten back to her feet and was racing towards Chachamaru.

"Wow, I can't believe how much you've grown, Chachamaru!" she exclaimed.

"Will you shut it for a minute, Hakase?" an annoyed high priest said as he knocked the back of her head with his left hand. "Look, Cat. It's mostly all right. No one else knows except me and Hakase here," he explained as he handed the laptop back to the young genius, "You don't have to worry about anyone else knowing about your little crush."

"I'm really sorry, Chachamaru," apologized the young genius, who seemed to have come out of her scientific high, "I think I really overdid it here. But don't worry! I won't tell anyone about N…" Gamiya immediately clamped his gloved hand over her mouth.

"Don't worry indeed. Someone is still here, Hakase," he deadpanned; turning his head slightly to make sure said person was not listening.

"Sorry. Right Chachamaru, let's keep it as our little secret, all right?" asked the genius after the high priest released his hand.

"Ah, alright, Hakase, Iroi-sensei," relented the android.

"Yes, that's the spirit, Chachamaru," exclaimed Satomi and she continued to ramble on about the upgrades she will make for her.

Gamiya sighed. The week isn't even over yet and so much has happened. Really now.