Author's Notes

And slight delay for chapter 6, but it's here! I, unfortunately, have some possible bad news about future updates. Might be getting some new work soon that's going to keep me pretty busy, so I might not be able to update as consistently for a bit. Chapter 7 might still come out around the regular schedule, depending on a few things. I say MIGHT, since things are a little up in the air. However, on the chance they do go through, I wouldn't want to keep people waiting an eternity for an update or make a small one and then disappoint people when it's not a chapter, but just a notice saying what I am now. I don't like it when that happens, and I don't think most people do either. As always, any feedback appreciated.

Dark gray clouds blanketed the skies over Sakaide, casting a dull atmosphere across the landscape. The forecasted rain had yet to begin falling, but a torrent seemed ready to start spraying the house walls any minute now.

Negi sighed to himself. Yesterday could've gone better, that's for certain. He didn't think, aside from what happened at the end, things were that out of question for what some upper level mages could do in terms of showiness, some mobile and silent casting aside. That kind of fighting was more or less what Negi had become accustomed to since he was far weaker than he'd been now, and it'd been the kind of training he'd come to expect at mid-level and up. Besides, it was easier to impress with the more flashy spells than all the focused ones if you couldn't sense magic. From the kind of energy he sensed from the three Heroes, they felt decently strong, nowhere near the same level as he and Fate, but still above your average high class mage. On the other hand, the fact his teachers had mainly been Evangeline and Jack Rakan, along with the sheer pace he advanced at and situations he'd been thrown into before even reaching double digit age, meant that perhaps his idea of normal practice had become a bit ruined…

At least the Taisha hadn't kicked them out of their lodgings yet. Though, perhaps that was because they were too scared to try anything or were planning something, as there'd been no attempts to contact him or Fate since yesterday. He would've liked to believe it was just having a lot to discuss, but if they didn't do anything soon, he'd have to try reaching out to the group and clear the air a bit. However, he didn't exactly have anything to contact them with aside from barging up to their door, something that likely wasn't the best idea. Best give them a little time anyway. Besides, there was a matter that needed to be taken care of first, one that the child had been too busy to manage between setting everything up for the last two days.

It was time to do some shopping. Negi only carried so many spare ingredients for tea on his person at once, and those were about to run out, plus it wouldn't hurt to pick up a couple additional things if they were going to be staying here for any length of time. Spending money wasn't going to be much of an issue, given he carried a sizable amount of cash on him, as he was the CEO for the company behind the Blue Mars Project. It'd be enough for now and until the current situation with the Taisha could be resolved hopefully. There was the fact this place, while still using Yen, had changed the appearance of it, but it was nothing he couldn't fix with a little magic. The bills he carried were also still real Yen, so using magic to change their looks wasn't technically going to be counterfeiting, and he only planned on purchasing a few inexpensive things for now, so it wouldn't cause any problems on an economic level, right? Regardless, even with his self-assurances, this didn't feel exactly right to Negi. It wasn't like he had too much of a choice, though. This was a matter that was supposed to be discussed in more depth after the magical demonstration with the Taisha, but that subject was going nowhere fast.

"Fate, I'll be heading out to pick up a few things, anything you want?" Negi, standing near the room's exit, asked, glancing toward the Averruncus currently seated and looking through more information on a phone with one hand, a glass cup forged with magic and filled with coffee in the other.

"Coffee. You should know exactly the kind I want." Fate replied, setting down his cup to pull out some money, tossing it through the air toward Negi, not looking up from his research the entire time. "Here, so I know you won't buy something bland with your own money."

"Thanks…."The child dryly remarked. Though, Negi wasn't going to complain that much. Buying the muddy water for Fate, with his own money, would've made the mage feel unclean.

"In the meantime, I'll begin experimenting on methods to return and see about handling the financial situation. Someone should be willing to pay a decent amount of this land's currency for Christian Era money."

Negi started opening his mouth, but Fate raised a hand to silence him, this time turning to look at the red-haired child before speaking in a matter-of-fact manner. "I would rather not give the Taisha any leverage over us if possible. Secondly, in the event complications in our stay do come up after yesterday, we best be prepared on all our bases, and I know you would have less moral objections to this, than shifting everything into this world's currency."

Negi closed his mouth, sighing. Fate had a point there. They were actually from 2004, compared to the almost 300 years later of this time, so it wasn't like it would be conning anyone. "Alright, just don't ask for too much."

Fate nodded, shifting his attention back toward research.

Current matters concluded, Negi materialized an umbrella using illusion magic, heading outside. This way, if a downpour started, he'd avoid some odd stares wondering how a child stayed dry or was even walking out in the rain without some kind of conventional protection. The mage briefly considered using the age deceiving pills to look older and avoid any odd looks of why a kid his age was out during school hours all together, but decided against it. Those were in very limited supply and he was used to managing topics like that by this point. Besides, this would be a short outing and he'd hopefully be home before it started.

Today was off to a bad start for Gin Minowa. Firstly, she'd forgotten about the fact it was going to rain today, and left the house without an umbrella, before it'd started. Of course, given her luck, the rain begun when she'd gotten just far enough from her house that going back would've certainly made her late to class. Sure, that was almost normal by now, but it wasn't for lack of trying, dammit! Thankfully, the downpour was somewhat light, but still, she was starting to get a bit wet and would probably be fairly drenched by the time she arrived at school.

Secondly, she'd tried rushing to her school in order to avoid being soaked, but that'd just ended in a fall that'd just gotten her clothes even more water logged and a scrape on her knee. That left walking the only option, which just further upped the odds of being late.

And now, she'd come across a knocked over bicycle at a bike rake. The sight raised the question of 'who rides a bike in weather like this?' in her mind, but she couldn't just ignore it. Walking over to the downed transportation, Gin crouched down, picking up the bike and setting it back standing up.

Oddly, she felt the rain pouring on her suddenly stop, making the girl glance up and see that some invisible force appeared to be deflecting away the drops of water, inches from her head.

"Hello, Minowa-san."

Turning around, Gin saw Negi, holding a black umbrella and dressed in the same outfit as always, approaching her. "Oh, hey Negi-san!" She greeted warmly with a smile. "Thanks for stopping the rain, that was you, right?"

"Correct. What are you doing out in this weather without an umbrella or raincoat anyway?" Negi asked, looking over her with a concerned voice and expression.

"Wait." The child suddenly interjected, cutting off Gin's attempts at replying. "Before that, could you hold out your leg for a moment. I'll take care of that."

Gin raised an eyebrow, briefly perplexed over the request, until she glanced down at the limb in question and remembered about the scrape from her earlier. It was such a minor thing compared to the kind of injuries she'd taken before, even discounting the boosted pain tolerance transforming provided, Gin barely acknowledged it. "Oh, uh, sure. Thanks." Slightly extending her leg, Gin said. She really had to learn magic sometime and stop making Negi do this.

Walking up to Gin till his umbrella covered the air above both of them, Negi crouched down, holding it over the injury. Not even a second later, the wound knitted itself together, looking good as new. "There. Now, about my earlier question…." Standing back up, the child looked toward Gin expectantly.

"I, er, forgot to bring something." This earned a questioning look from Negi. "It wasn't raining when I left!" Gin quickly added in her defense.

"If that's the case, how about I walk the rest of the way with you to school then?" Negi casually suggested. "That's where you were headed, right? I could probably do something about your clothes on the way." The child finished, gesturing to Gin's currently damp school uniform.

"It's fine. You've probably got your own stuff to worry about." Gin replied dismissively, shaking her head. It was one thing to just take a second to fix a small scratch, it was another to ask the mage to go with her all the way to school. It might've been a bit weird, given how much she tried to help people and didn't ask for anything, but Gin was bad about just accepting free help for herself. She didn't like imposing on other to help her so much without paying them back somehow.

"Don't worry about it, it's really no trouble." Negi replied, not skipping a single beat or his usual smile fading in the slightest. "I can't, in good conscious, just leave you here in the rain like this. Besides, I was planning to look around the place and get to know the area better anyway."

"Hmmm…" Gin frowned, crossing her arms and closing her eyes to think. She hadn't even gotten a chance to do something to show thanks for saving her life a few days ago, and now he was offering help once again, which just made her feel worse. Still, not having to deal with wet clothes also sounded nice…

A thought suddenly stuck Gin. Negi said he was planning to look around anyway, maybe she could show him around town a bit? Once the weather was better, of course. That felt like a decent way to start repaying him. Yeah, that could work and make her worry a bit less about getting walked to school. "Alright, come on." Gin relented, turning and taking a few steps back onto her school path, Negi following her. Immediately, she felt the chill of the outside air, being replaced by a gentle and warm breeze, her clothes and hair slowly starting to dry in response. If she closed her eyes, Gin could've almost forgotten she was outside and not in a heated room.

"Better?" Negi questioned, looking over at her.

"Yeah, thanks." Grinning, Gin replied back. "Wait." Her expression slowly shifted toward a curious one, eying Negi up and down, taking note of the lack of a school uniform. "Don't you have school to do or something too?" She'd have assumed the Taisha would've set them up somewhere, considering the boy looked around the same age at her.

"I said I was already a teacher, remember?" The child replied in a tone that made the idea of a pre-teen teacher sound like a completely mundane occurrence.

"Oh, right!" Gin said, eyes growing wide when she remembered the fact. They'd barely had any time to process it before switching subjects a few days ago, she'd forgotten between everything else. She hadn't really gotten a chance to talk with Negi and really get to know them on account of how eventful it'd been, but now seemed like a good time to talk a little. "You said you'd tell me about that later, right? Come on, how did that happen?"

"Well, after someone finishes their magical schooling, they're given an assignment to complete. Think of it somewhat like a final exam for seeing how you'll manage in the mundane world. A friend of mine had their's be becoming a fortune teller. While mine was to become a teacher. I taught middle school." Negi said, smiling at the memories of the past evoked by the discussion. "Oh, and don't worry about discussing this, nobody will hear us with a little magic I applied."

"Huh… Being a teacher sounds hard, but when you put it like that..." Gin wasn't exactly sure what she was expecting in terms of answers, but she hadn't thought that the reason would sound so mundane, just being compared to an exam, considering how fantastic almost all the other displays of magic had been. The Hero attempted to imagine herself teaching a class filled with people older than she was and immediately felt some creeping doubts, considering the scolding her, Sumi, and Sonoko had gotten over the Kokubo Kamen incident, and that'd been with students quite a bit younger than her! She was used to managing little kids, given her brothers, but older ones were a whole different matter.

"What kind of stuff do they teach at a magic school anyway?" Gin asked, an eager and excited smile on her face, eyes filled with curiosity, maybe it'd be a more interesting subject. After everything she'd seen Negi and Fate do, especially after yesterday, her expectations were sky high.

"If you're curious about yesterday, they actually don't teach too much combat magic as a standard. Most of what I learned in terms of fighting was after I left."

Gin looked at Negi and blinked, again given pause by an unexpected answer. Though, thinking on it, she guessed it made sense. Maybe Negi was just one of those prodigies and messed a bit with her first impression on magic? If they ended up managing to be a teacher, then it made sense they'd pick up magic quickly.

"Most of what a mage learns is meant to help with general, everyday life and others. Magic is important to be kept secret, but a mage should still try to help whoever they can." Negi finished.

Before Gin could think any further on the subject matter, a loud thud and several smaller noises assaulted her ears.

"…. Like the person who just fell."

Following Negi's gaze, Gin saw someone had indeed slipped and fallen, dropping a few small bags that likely came from a nearby store. Well, if she was going to have the bad luck of running into this stuff often, at least it put her into a position to help people, so it wasn't so bad.

"…. This really happens that often?" Negi curiously asked, starring at Gin with a sympathetic and slightly worried look.

"Yep. Just can't help running into trouble and bad luck." Gin casually replied with a soft sigh. She wasn't terribly bothered by it. She'd mostly been able to come to terms with the kind of luck she had, but didn't make the fact it was a contributor to her being late for stuff so often, any less annoying. At least her clothes were dry now.

After she and Negi had helped the person they'd run across, the two had run into a few more incidents, such as someone's umbrella getting blown away and intercepting it before it flew into the street, and a car nearly splashing a ton of water onto them. Between the incidents, they'd only had a little bit of time to talk, before Negi commented on the string of incidents.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say someone cursed you."

"Sure doesn't help getting to class on time," Gin sighed. The words sent a suddenly jolt up a spine when remembering that she'd forgotten to check the time lately. She usually checked it now and again as an additional reminder to hurry, as she usually ended up being late to things, but between talking with Negi, she'd gotten a bit side tracked.

"How many times have you been late this school year…?" Concerned expression intensifying, Negi asked.

"Er…." Gin, reaching for her phone, trailed off and paused mid motion, trying to recount exactly how many times they'd been late. She'd honestly stopped counting at some point.

Negi deeply sighed. "Minowa-san…."

"It's not for lack of trying, alright!" Gin shot back defensively. "Things just kinda… Happen!" The girl briefly turned her attention away from Negi to check her phone and what she saw made her heart sink into her stomach and stop dead in her tracks, face turning to panic. School was going to be starting soon and if she ran as fast as she could, maybe, just maybe, she'd be able to make it on time. But, with the rain out, running could've easily made her trip and fall again. But, at this rate, Gin was possibly going to be later than she'd ever been if she just walked there.

"Are you alright?" Noticing the shift in expression, Negi asked, leaning toward her.

"Crap! I'm going to be late!" Desperate to make it to class, Gin started running off like a rocket.

"Wait."

But, she only got as far as a single step, before Negi grabbed onto her wrist, nearly making her fall over from the sudden, immovable weight that'd attached itself to her limb. Damn, he was strong.

"Ah, sorry about that." Negi apologetically added, releasing his grip on Gin's wrist, now that she'd stopped. "But let me help."

Quickly turning to face Negi, Gin starred at him with worried expression. "I-it's fine! My clothes are dry now, so it won't be too bad even if I run and fall again!" Almost on reflex, Gin replied to avoid imposing on Negi yet again.

The mage shook his head. "As a teacher who's had their own class, I can't just sit by and let someone be late for their own education. Besides, this won't take more than a minute."

Gin let out a soft whine, but otherwise forced down any further arguments. She didn't really have much time to protest at this rate and Negi seemed insistent on continuing to get her out of the current mess, and if she refused it again, he'd probably just end up worrying about her. She didn't like making other's worry about her either, so the best option seemed to be going with it. "Alright, fine. If it's really not gonna be any trouble…"

"Follow me, I have an idea, but we'll have to go somewhere a little more discreet." Negi continued, glancing around pointedly, before he started walking, expecting Gin to follow.

Not having any other options and the possibility of being on time hanging in front of her, Gin followed after the mage. She could fully dispel her nerves about being late, but after everything she'd seen Negi do, ensuring she'd make it to class seemed like a trivial matter. The thought helped calm her a touch.

Quickly, Negi led Gin to an isolated spot, situated between two buildings and away from any prying eyes roaming the streets.

"Right, so, what's the plan?" Gin asked, attempting to keep her voice in line with her usual tone, but she couldn't fully keep out the undercut of concern in it. She'd definitely get scolded if she was as late as she'd be without Negi to work some magic.

"Easy, we'll teleport there." Negi answered in the same matter he'd describe the weather, as if it were nothing special. "However, I'm not the most experienced with this, so I can't just send people where I want, I still need physical contact and to bring them with me." The child reached out his hand expectantly. "Here, take my hand and think about your school, what the outside looks like."

Oh, teleporting certain made sense. If they could just go from here to her school, not only was she going to be on time, Gin would actually be early. She almost couldn't wrap her head around it, as she had difficulties arriving on time, let alone before class started. Hope renewed, Gin took Negi's hand with her own, starting to think of her school building.

She hadn't really been expecting anything when she took his hand, but the feeling of it drew Gin's attention. This didn't feel like what she thought a boy's hand would, especially one who apparently knew how to fight as well as Negi did. It was a grip gentle, but firm enough to get a good feeling of every inch. Gin would've expected more rough and hard skin, considering that even her hands and those of her fellow Heroes were a bit calloused in places, given all their training and battles. Instead, Negi's skin held an odd smoothness to it, as if it were a complete and total stranger to any rigorous tasks that might stress it. Did he use more magic to get this or something? Actually, come to think of it, Gin hadn't held a boy's hand like this before outside of her own family and the occasional lost child more than half her age.

"Minowa-san."

Negi's voice immediately snapped Gin out of her thoughts and back to reality, turning her attention back to the other's face.

"There's a story to that, but I need you to be thinking of your school and not what my hand feels like." Negi said with an awkward tone and uncomfortable smile.

"Er, I-" Gin stuttered out, feeling her face immediately start heating up and cheeks flushing with embarrassment. The hell had she been doing? And he'd caught her getting distracted like that too! This was humiliating.

"S-sorry. It's, uh, Shinju-kan!" Gin managed out, trying to focus her thoughts back the school and prevent herself from getting too flustered. At least nobody else was around to see this, that helped matters somewhat, but she was starting to feel a bit self-conscious about this situation now. She couldn't think about that, though, she had to focus on her school, just the building, nothing else.

"Hmmm…" Negi closed his eyes in thought, near silence briefly descending upon the area, broken only by the soft impact of the rain on the landscape.

"Alright, I think I've got it." Face shifting into a genuine smile, Negi spoke up after a few seconds. A small orb of light materialized into existence an instant later, casting a shadow onto the building's wall. "It's going to be a bit different from Fate's, so trust me, alright?" Delaying no further, Negi took his umbrella back in hand and started walking straight toward the shadow, his arm seeming to just sink right into the wall.

She certainly hadn't been expecting this, but after everything with the Vertex and the magic she'd seen the last few days, it wasn't as shocking as it could've been. Following along, Gin stepped into the shadow.

Blinking a few times to make sure she wasn't seeing things, Gin observed that she'd indeed ended up just outside the entrance to her school. The dull gray and large, steel fence and gate behind them and serving as the school's entrance, opening up to a thin and short road which lead to the building they were currently in front of, the path flanked on both sides by various trees and bushes, with the building itself matching the color of the fence and standing an imposing many stories high in a rectangle shape, it's design and that of the surrounding area's giving the whole place an upper-class feeling.

Turning around, the Hero starred intensely at the wall she and Negi had apparently just used to appear outside her school, looking completely and utterly normal by all standards. Curious, Gin reached up her hand and pressed it against the wall, half expecting to fall through it again, but no, it refused to budge an inch.

"Seriously, you have to show me how to do that." Gin spoke up, looking at the building side like it was one of the most interesting objects in the world, taking nearly all her focus. If she learned how to teleport, then she wouldn't ever have to worry about being late to anything again, and Gin could stop stressing Sumi so much over it.

"Maybe someday, but teleportation takes a while to learn how to do." Negi's voice came from behind Gin.

"How hard can it be? You make it look easy and we look about the same age." Gin shifted her gaze back toward Negi, expression changing into a confident grin. "I'm a Hero of the Shinju-sama, I'll pick it up in no time!" Expression softening slightly in a smile, the girl continued. "Anyway, thanks. I'll show you around a bit sometime. I know just the place to go."

The day had started out chaotic, but things improved pretty quickly, and she'd made it to school. On time no less! And still holding Negi's hand.

Gin's entire body stiffened. Wait a minute, she was standing in front of her school, her school where people were still arriving, with a boy her age, under the same umbrella in the rain, smiling and holding hands. If someone saw this, it was going to look really bad out of context!

"Hey, Mino-san~."

Gin instantly felt every bit of warmth in her body evaporate, turning her blood into ice. Perhaps the worst possible person had seen this.

Whipping her head around, the axe user saw the terrifying image of Sonoko, standing there with an umbrella and her phone raised in the perfect position to take a picture, a barely restrained smile visible on her face, behind the edges of the phone.

Sonoko leisurely started humming. "I didn't think Mino-san would fall for someone so suddenly like this…" the blonde trailed off, tilting her head to the side and expression shifting to a contemplative look. "Oh!" Her features suddenly lit up like a Christmas tree, radiating life. "Is this what they call a rescue romance~? This is nice too. I can use that, it explains everything~." Sonoko already seemed to be drifting into her own world. "This set up is a perfect too, standing out in the rain under the same umbrella, holding hands…. It's pretty romantic~."

Gin felt the blush on her face and urge to scream rapidly rising with every passing word her friend spoke. "S-S-Sonoko! What the hell!?" the Hero barely stuttered out. Just realizing the situation was more than enough to start flustering her, she didn't need Sonoko to start pointing it out and potentially using it as fuel for her novels. "I-it's nothing!" Frantically waving her hands in front of her like some kind of shield, Gin tried to defend herself.

"Er, um, Nogi-san." Negi said, also visibly becoming a bit embarrassed, though controlling it far better than Gin was, weakly raising a hand in protest, light blush appearing on his face. "There's a perfectly reasonable explanation for this…." He almost sounded resigned, somewhat used to this, even.

"Y-yeah. He was just coming with me to help get to school on time!" Only after these words escaped her mouth, did Gin realize they weren't going to help things when dealing with Sonoko.

"Oh, walking to school together, that's good too~." Sonoko starred at the pair intensely, the usual light shining in her eyes whenever she started formulating her novels idea not dulling for an instant. "Someone caring and able to help Mino-san's sense of time is a good match for her~."

Gin's entire face turned a color that perfectly matched that of a boiled lobster.

"L-let me explain," Negi stammered, Sonoko's comments finally starting to get to him. Taking a quick breath to regain his composure, Negi started to form a reply, only to stop and close his mouth a moment later. "Actually… I can sense there's some more students coming and I should leave before they start asking questions too. I'll have to let Minowa-san explain."

Gin looked toward Negi with an expression of pure horror. Was he actually going to leave her alone in this situation?! On the one hand, yes, it'd be a good thing if he left before anyone else saw them. Sonoko was bad enough, she really did not need any rumors starting up. On the other hand, this meant she was going to be left alone with Sonoko in full writer mode. She wasn't sure which was worse.

"Sorry, Minowa-san. If it's still raining after school, I'll check if you need anyone to walk you home. I'll also be available if you need any help arriving on time for the rest of the week." Negi shot Gin a sympathetic look, walking back toward the wall they'd entered the area from in the first place muttering a few words to use the spell.

Did Negi not know the can of worms he was unleashing by saying something like that in front of Sonoko? "W-wait a se-"

But, too late, Negi had vanished into the side of the building, leaving Gin standing there with an outstretched hand and the beast that was Sonoko in her current state.

"So~", Sonoko's casual and cheery voice, instead sounding like a terrifying monster against Gin's ears now, spoke up. "Tell me all about this~.