3) For Whom the Haunted Bell Tolls

Part 6

That night, Matt, with Satsuki, Chao, Satomi, Chisame, Evangeline, and Chachamaru, are waiting for Negi and the other girls to show up here at the clock tower. Matt taps his right foot as he was growing a little impatiently, wondering where the rest of the gang is.

Chisame looks at her watch. "It's 23:38, where are they?" she replied so impatiently.

"I don't know," Chao replied, "But if they don't show up soon, our chance to catch this crook will be over."

Just then, Matt heard a voice from a distance. He turned to the direction where it came from. Coming into Matt's direction is Asuna and Negi waving their hands with Konoka and Setsuna following up in the rear. "There they are, and just on time," said Matt. The last members of the team made it and are breathing in and out.

"Sorry we're late," said Asuna catching her breath. "We took a quick nap, but Negi almost slept in for the night."

"I'm sorry about that," Negi replied in crybaby response.

"Jeez boya," Evangeline sighed, "You really are such a kid."

"No worries," said Matt. "You guys arrived right in the nick of time. Now that we're all here let's get this operation started."

Minutes have passed, and everyone is hiding in the bushes, just right in front of the clock tower. Matt turns to Setsuna and points to her giving the signal to say, "Go." She nodded and pulled out a paper golem. She gave it to Konoka which she wrote her name on the golem. The golem lit up, and after a short burst of puffy clouds, a Konoka doppelganger appeared before her. Konoka told her copy to stand in front of the tower's front doors and wait there. The doppelganger walked toward its position and waited.

Matt turns to Chao which she's looking at her watch. He makes a question, "Alright, how much longer?"

She stills looks at her watch and replies to Matt, "Only six minutes left."

"Perfect, everything's going according to plan." Matt crouches down and looks at the doppelganger.

"Konoka!" someone shouted. Everyone in the bushes jerked and wondering where did that voice come from. To their surprise and bad timing, it was the librarians walking up toward the Konoka doppelganger. Everyone made shocking expressions on their faces as the librarians got closer to fake Konoka.

"Konoka, what are you doing here?" Nodoka questioned. "Where's everyone else?" The doppelganger didn't say anything but just tilted her head.

"Konoka, is something wrong?" Yue asked. The doppelganger didn't reply back. In fact she is tilting her head back and forth blankly. The three girls stared at her awkwardly until Haruna walks up to her.

"Hey, what's a matter with you!?" Haruna yelled at fake Konoka trying to get her attention. "Hey! Snap out of it!" Haruna slapped hard on the doppelganger's cheek until all of a sudden… Poof! It turned back into a paper golem. The librarians were shocked.

Negi and Asuna popped out from the bushes and ran up to the librarians. "Nodoka, Haruna, Yue!" Negi shouted, "What are you doing here!?"

"Negi!?" the librarians shouted and spotted the boy professor and the bell girl.

"What are you guys doing here?" Asuna asked to them.

"We heard that you guys and this Matt fellow were going to this clock tower," Yue replied. "So, we decided to come along and check it out as well."

"But why did you have a paper golem duplicated as Konoka out here?" Haruna asked.

"It was supposed to be our bait for our trap." Asuna moaned.

"Bait?" Nodoka asked.

"Trap?" Yue wondered.

Matt, hiding in the bushes, slowly starts to stand up and is about to grab Negi, Asuna, and the librarians. "I got to hurry and get them out of there." Matt quietly shouted.

"Oh no!" said Chao in surprise.

"What? What happened?" Satomi asked.

On Chao's watch, it stated 23:59, just five seconds left 'til midnight.

Everyone in the bushes is very scared. "Uh, Oh!" Satomi said in fright.

The moment Chao's watch says 00:00 (midnight), Matt looks at the tower's clock as its big hand turned toward straight up to 12 on its face. Then the bells at the top of the tower started to ring. Negi, Asuna, and the librarians heard the chimes as they watch the bells ring back and forth.

Matt popped out from the bushes and gave them a shout, "Negi! Girls! Get out of there! Hurry!"

Before Negi and the girls could move, the doors to the tower's front entrance started to swing open quickly making a huge breeze flying towards Negi and the girls. After the breeze, they looked to see what was inside the room. There appearing before them are two glowing white balls floating in the darkness of the room. Everyone started to shake in fright and stepped back a little. However, something kept Nodoka from moving back with the group. As she kept staring at the balls, they flashed quickly and Nodoka's eyes began to fall into a trance. Nodoka then slowly walked toward inside the tower and towards the glowing balls.

"Nodoka! What are you doing!?" Haruna shouted.

"Nodoka, get back here! Stop!" Yue yelled.

Nodoka couldn't control herself, and she kept walking towards the balls.

"Nodoka, stop!" cried Negi as he reaches her hand.

But as Negi grabbed Nodoka's hand, she stopped, and the glowing balls made a flash. Another gust of wind came and pushed Negi back to Asuna and the other librarians. Nodoka continued to walk still in her deep trance. She entered the tower and the doors started to slowly close.

"No! Nodoka!" Yue shouted.

Yue, along with Negi, Asuna, and Haruna, rushed to the doors to see if they could get inside. But they're too late, the doors were closed and were sealed tight. The four tried to open the doors, but they were sealed like placing superglue between the cracks of the doors. The four felt discouraged to lose Nodoka. Matt and the others showed up next to them.

"Don't worry you guys, we'll think of something to get your friend back," Matt said as he tries to cheer them up. Negi and the girls turned to Matt Oda. Matt swings his right arm to his chest with great confidence and courage. "I swear as a gentleman and mystery-solver, I will rescue your friend no matter how small or tough the situation is." Yue and Haruna stared at Matt and walked closely to him. Matt started to shake due to his phobia, but he tries to endure it.

"So you're the Matt Oda we heard so much about," said Haruna as she put hands on her hips. "Wow, you sure look ordinary, just like what Nodoka expected."

"We never expected this kind of young man to be this regular," Yue grinned. "I agree with Haruna, you do look like an average guy."

"Um, th-th-th-th-thanks… girls," Matt said timidly. "But n-n-n-now our plan is ruined when you guys accidentally showed up."

"We didn't mean to ruin your plan," Haruna replied in a depressed mood. "We heard you guys were going to the clock tower, so we thought we can along."

"But, I guess now we messed up for our unexpected show-up," Yue said.

"It's not your fault, girls," Matt replies back. "We just never expected you to appear. But how did you know about all us that we were investigating the tower tonight."

Yue answered back to Matt. "We, Nodoka, Haruna, and I, were walking toward your club this afternoon so we can meet and greet you, but you guys left the club and stated you were going on an investigation at the tower."

"I see," said Matt as he put his thumb and index finger on his chin, "Well…, if we're going to get Nodoka and the other victims back, I'm going to need a lot of help, which means I need you girls."

"You can count on us Matt," Haruna replied.

"I'm in too," Yue followed.

"By the way," Matt asked, "Are you familiar with Negi Springfield?"

"Yes… why?" Haruna answered.

"Negi seems to know you girls so well, including Asuna and the rest of the girls here. You must be in Negi's class, not mention his magical partners."

"Yeah Matt," said Yue in a surprise. "But how did you know about that? That's a secret."

"Oh, an accident happened." Matt then puts his hands on his hips. "But right now, let's save Nodoka and the others. And the only way how is to rampage inside." Matt examines the front doors of the tower and analyzes them. "The doors look well plated, but the wood around it is old. Negi, can you do a spell to break through the doors, I'm sure one big pack of a punch just might breakthrough."

"Yes I can," Negi replied to Matt. "Stand back, everyone." Everybody did as Negi's mana power increased within his body. A bright flash appears all over on his body almost causing Matt's eyes to go blind. He sends his mana into his right-hand fist and pulls it back. "Fuka Hoken!" he yelled. With a quick swing, he sends his fist to land on the doors. After making contact, a huge gust wind from Negi's fist pushes the doors. It broke through and the doors were pushed all the way into the back of the room. Negi's mana decreased and took a deep breath. After exhaling, he turns to Matt. "Alright, Matthew we're in… Matt?"

Matt posed a stance in a shocking astonishment. He had his right hand close to his chest, his mouth was open a little, and he had his right eyebrow raised and the other lowered. "Wow…" Matt said in shock.

Negi giggled and put his right on his head. "Well, I said I am a powerful and high ranked magister magorum."

"Yeah…, but I never expected to be this good."

"Well, that's the beauty and power of magic, 'ey Matthew," said Eva staring at him. She has one eye open, and with her arms crossed together.

"Eh…, yeah." Matt giggled and then coughed to clear his throat. "Anyway, the doors are open. Let's move!"

And everyone did as they all rushed inside the tower's room. Inside the team encountered the stairs leading up to the top of the tower. Everyone started climbing as they race towards the top.

While they were climbing, a stern thought came into Yue's mind. "Hold on Nodoka, we're coming."