Looking back upon your own memories with this spell was always an interesting experience, but when it came to happier memories, like the Kyoto trip Negi was showing the Heroes now, along with Fate whom he'd brought to hopefully try and improve relations with, it could be quite fun. Everything was just like he remembered it, of course. An almost clear blue sky, the sun warmly shining down on everyone, neither too hot nor too cold, it'd been the perfect weather for his class to go sightseeing.

"And this was one of our first stops at Kyoto." Negi commented, gesturing to the temple structure everyone stood on. The architecture was that of a classic Japanese design, the veranda covering the main hall opening up to a wooden balcony and safety railing that overlooked a small forest of trees, with an amazing view of the many buildings comprising the massive city known as Kyoto, just a little further out.

"T-This is the Kiyomizu-dera!" Sumi exclaimed, practically physically buzzing with excitement over her surrounding, her attention jumping all across the area from moment to moment. "It was founded in the Heian period and they didn't use a single nail in building it! This part was used for plays and where 'to jump off the stage at Kiyomizu' came from!"

"I've never seen Wasshi this excited~." Sonoko commented, a likewise wonder filled look on her face as she observed her first look at the outside world in 'person', though her reaction was far less over the top next to Sumi's.

"Try not to explode, Sumi." Gin added with a slight grin at the usually most reserved of the trio being so excitable. "This is really something else though, magic's amazing..."

So absorbed into the temple, Sumi didn't even notice her friend's comments. "Look! It's the Otowa waterfall!

"I remember hearing something like that, Yue-san mentioned it when we came here." Negi said, watching Sumi's energy with a smile. If she already loved the trip this much, maybe they would be able to end it on better terms than most of their previous interactions led to.

"Yue-san?" Sonoko asked with a curious look.

On cue, Negi pointed toward a short girl with long, purple hair going down to her waist and bound at the very end, with a juice box in hand. She wore the standard Mahora summertime uniform. A white, short sleeved shirt covered by a maroon blazer and similarly colored ribbon at the neck, completed with a red colored plaid skirt.

"Initially, this apparatus was built as a stage on which to perform Noh plays and dances for the temple's Kannon statue. And it has been designated as a national treasure." The girl spoke in a largely flat, matter-of-fact voice, before briefly repeating the information Sumi had just stated. ".. when there were in fact 234 recorded incidents of jumping off the stage. The survival rate was surprisingly high, 85%..."

"Uwah! There's a weirdo in our midst!" Another girl in the same uniform and possessing short black hair tied in a side ponytail, shouted with an aghast face.

"Yue is a shrine and temple enthusiast." Another girl commented casually with a grin, wearing glasses and with dark green hair of a similar length to Yue's, though flowing freely down her back.

"She sounds like Wasshi going on about history if she was bored~." Sonoko observed with an amused look. "Your class looks fun~."

"There was never a dull moment with them." Negi replied, wistfully staring at the scene. It was a fond memory, but Negi couldn't avoid another pang of worry and homesickness caused by starring at it. He and Fate had been gone around 2 weeks now, and people must've definitely started getting worried. Especially with The Lifemaker still an ever present danger, anyone vanishing would've set off alarm bells. The sooner he and Fate could return home and confirm everyone was okay, the better. Too much weight rested on his shoulders, and nothing would stop Negi from saving his father. The child had practically gone without rest since arriving in favor of making progress.

"Ooooooh, Mino-san, did you hear that? Something about love fortunes~." Sonoko playfully teased with an eager look toward Gin, the typical sparkle in her eyes indicating a new idea.

Oh, he must've gotten lost in thought for a moment too long. This was the part where Yue had mentioned the Jishu Shrine and love fortunes, which had made several people in his class descend on Negi like a pack of piranhas. If only he'd known everything he was in for at the time, he never was good at noticing those kind of hints, still wasn't despite getting somewhat better, embarrassing as it was.

"Wasshi! Tell us about the love shrine!" Sonoko expectantly asked Sumi, between a few flustered words of protest from Gin.

"Oh, um. If I remember right…" Sumi paused for a moment, either recalling the information or deciding if telling Sonoko would end badly. "In the Jishu Shrine, there's a set of stones apart from each other, and if you walk from one to the other while not looking, your dreams of love will come true."

"Come on! Let's go see it~." Sonoko said with a mischievous glint in her eyes, pulling Gin along in the same manner the visions of Negi's class were tugging his past self toward the next stop.

"H-hey! Why do we have to stop there? There's a whole city to see!" Gin complained as the three followed the memory toward Sonoko's destination.

Fate took a few steps beside Negi, keeping pace with the child while they moved, eyeing the entire scene with a disinterested look. "Do you intend on sharing your entire trip?"

"Perhaps not the entire trip, but I can at least show most of the first day or two." Negi commented. Some parts of the trip got a little graphic or serious, and this was mainly for fun and to give the girls a chance to look at the outside world. Furthermore, this had been where he and Fate first met, yet on far from good terms. The relationship between Fate and the Heroes wasn't exactly the most friendly, so the child didn't think it would be a good idea to share the first time Fate almost killed him, even if it was accidentally. Some rather personal moments involving his class happened as well during this trip, and to Negi, it'd have been rude to share those so casually without the other person's approval.

"Come on, let's catch up." Negi said, walking quicker. He was starting to fall behind his eager group, just like the first time through Kyoto.

A minute later, the group had worked their way up the shrines steps and toward the pair of stones, Sonoko had been so keen on seeing. There was quite a large number of people either wandering around the area, checking out the various landmarks as Sumi was, or simply watching others take the challenge of walking between the rocks.

"Hey, Mino-san. Why don't you try taking the walk and make your dream come true~?" Sonoko playfully suggested with an eager look toward Gin.

"Dream?" Negi asked with a curious look.

"Nothing!" Gin quickly interjected, her face positively crimson. "B-Besides, it's just a memory and not the real thing, right? Probably wouldn't work anyway..." Gin added, calming down somewhat. Though, the girl couldn't help herself stealing a curious glance toward the rocks.

"Ah, it's okay if you don't want to talk about it." Negi reassured. He could get pretty embarrassed when it came to anything romance related to and understood if the girl had trouble speaking of it. She was even the same age as he was. "Someone had trapped the walkway anyway."

"Trapped…?" Sumi asked with a raised eyebrow, briefly brought out of her mania.

"AAH!" Screamed two of Negi's class, as the ground beneath them suddenly collapsed into a pitfall almost as deep as they were tall.

"Wh-What?! More frogs?!" One of them screamed in horror as tons of identical frogs lurked at the bottom of the pit, several leaping out amidst the confusion.

"What happened?"

"Who would dig a pitfall here!?"

"A-Are you two alright?"

Negi and several of his class quickly rushed over to the trap and started helping the two girls out of the pit.

"What were you doing, class rep? I bet the gods punished you for cheating." An orange haired girl with twintails that stretched down to her knees, tied up by twin bells, scolded with a sarcastic voice and exasperated expression.

"What?! I was not cheating!" The class rep, possessing bright blonde hair done up in a long ponytail, immediately fired back with an accused look.

"Maybe it's cause I had my eyes half open." Another girl, this one with short pink hair and two black ties on both sides of her head, stated with a guilty look, nervously rubbing the back of her head.

Negi sighed with relief at none of his students being harmed. But out of the corner of their eye, he noticed a girl standing off to the side, away from the crowd. With short black hair, done in a side ponytail, she carried a large thin case, like one used to transport a large instrument, silently observing the chaos with a neutral face.

The child's expression quickly turned into a worried one.

"What… Kind of a trap is that?" Sumi asked with a blank look.

"I think the frogs are cute~." Sonoko bent down to poke one that was leaping towards her, only for the frog to pass straight through her. "Aww..."

"Chigusa always did have an odd taste in traps..." Fate commented with a weary look.

"Wait, you knew who did this?" Sumi questioned, turning a curious look toward Fate.

"Oh, did that mean you were on the other side during this? Spring-san said one of the reasons the trip was made, was to deliver a message to make peace between two sides, right~?" Sonoko mused aloud.

"Perceptive." Fate commented with a slight nod toward Sonoko. "As you can piece together, not everyone on both factions wanted hostilities to end. One particular sect in the Kansai Magic Association being among them. They tried to delay the negotiations and accomplish their own plans during Negi-kun's trip. Former… associates of mine caught wind of this plan and sought to help it. So, I was sent to provide assistance."

"You were helping the bad guys?" Gin skeptically commented.

"If you wished to grossly oversimplify things." Fate responded. "One of the reasons for the divide, was the belief by the Kansai Magic Association, that the Kanto mages had neglected tradition and given themselves over to western magic, in favor of more traditional eastern styles. "

"Wait..." Sumi asked with a confused look, the gears in hear slowly starting to turn at the implication of Fate's words. "What do you mean more traditional eastern styles?" Sumi continued with a dark expression toward Negi. Behind her, a worried look started growing on Gin's face.

"Well, while there's many different types of magic, the biggest particular divide is between east and west styles." Negi began, slipping into his teaching voice. "The most fundamental difference is eastern styles are based on the idea of ki, and projecting one's internal strength and energy outward, into various forms. Where's the style Fate and I use, instead draws energy from ar-"

"Does… This mean what you've been teaching us is western based?" Sumi cutoff Negi, her features and tone some horrible mixture of shock, anger, and horror.

"That's correct." Negi, brought out of his lecture by the interruption, confirmed with a casual nod.

Sumi glared at Negi once again with restrained contempt, speaking with a similar tone after a moment. "...I would like to learn an eastern style instead."

"Wasshi doesn't like western stuff that much~." Sonoko commented in a tone unfit for the tense atmosphere that had overtaken the group.

"Ah, about that." Negi started cautiously, feeling a little off put by the intensity in Sumi's face. Hopefully, they could work past this eventually. "While I know a decent amount about how eastern styles works, my expertise in western magic is far better. I don't think I could teach you enough about it that would make it useful against enemies like the Vertex. However, Fate might know enough." Academically, he knew much about the various theories on eastern styles and ki, he'd done much reading on it when preparing to fight Jack Rakan, the strongest ki user he'd ever met, but he had little experience trying to practically use ki or teach it on a level even 1/10th of what he could do with western magic and mana. Fate, on the other hand, while using the same style, had some unique circumstances that could've made them much more knowledgeable on teaching and using it.

"Denied." Fate immediately answered before Sumi could so much as open her mouth, not even glancing in her direction.

"W-why not?" Sumi asked with a perplexed face, some of her negative feeling briefly subdued by the blunt and quick rejection.

"Beyond the fact Negi-kun will be primarily handling your training in magic, it is because, fundamentally, ki and magic is incompatible except in rare cases. And based on circumstances, I believe focusing on magic to be the better alternative." Fate continued, turning to look at her.

"To explain it in a bit more detail, as I was saying before, ki is an internal force projected outward, while our styles are about external forces gathered inward and shaped how we want. For one person to actively use both at the same time, would be somewhat like trying to pour water down a hose, while ejecting water out of it at the same time. I've only known 2, maybe 3 people who could use both at the same time, and it's a special art." He technically only knew Asuna and Takahata could perform Kanka for sure, but Jack Rakan was also primarily a ki user and it wouldn't have surprised the child in the slightest for the walking cheat to be capable of it.

"But you said our circumstances are unique, so couldn't it work for us?" Sumi replied with a mix of annoyance and indignation.

"That is a possibility." Fate cut in before Negi could answer. "However, your attempts at spell casting responded heavily towards the more western styles. Coupled with the basis of your circumstances stemming from being empowered by the Shinju and using their energy, the principle also aligns with more western styles. We don't know how long Negi-kun and I will be here and able to monitor your progress. As such, you should focus on what we know works and have the most knowledge in. You don't want another disaster like before to happen after we leave, do you?" Fate bluntly finished.

A shadow immediately fell over the atmosphere of the group.

"However." Fate continued, his voice softening almost imperceptibly so. "If you wish to pursue your own interests, then perhaps we can leave notes for you before we depart. But only after you have a proper foundation on your magic skills and can ensure your own safety. The priority is the short term."

The words seemed to somewhat placate Sumi, though her expression still looked disheartened and a touch frustrated.

"Hey! So, uh, what happened next with this rivalry stuff. You guys saw more of Kyoto, right?" Gin interjected, trying to lift the sour mood that'd gripped the group.

"Oh, right! Nothing too much happened with that until later that night, while I was out patrolling for any trouble." Negi added, jumping on the chance to try and improve things. Fate meant well and cared in his own way, but they were often blunt as a hammer. "I stopped at another landmark I think you might like while checking the area, and I can show you I was being honest about what I meant at our first training session."

Sumi starred intensely at Negi, certainly still not over the previous revelation and exchange, but her desire to see more of Kyoto apparently won out, as she relented with a sigh after a few moments, though clearly not fully satisfied "Fine..."

With a few quick thoughts, the illusionary world twisted and changed around the group.

When the world returned to normal, Sumi saw that there setting had changed drastically. The bright blue sky had shifted into the darkness of late evening, stars dotting the sky and helping to illuminate the landscape. The old Kiyomizu-dera gave way to that of a hilly landscape surrounding them. A short distance away, Sumi could see several buildings and street light, typical residential looking houses. However, there was one notable fact which immediate drew Sumi's attention. The group stood at one end of a long bridge, low to the ground and no more than a few times a person's height, surrounded by a shallow looking river. She immediately knew this place.

"This is the Togetsukyo Bridge!" Sumi shouted, unable to contain her excitement once more. She'd read about this landmark before. Though it was quite simple in design, for someone that knew the historical background of the bridge, it was a great delight to see.

"That's correct." Negi commented with an approving smile. "We stayed in Arashiyama for the night, and this was one of the locations I stopped by while patrolling."

"Sooo…. What's special about the bridge?" Gin asked with cautious curiosity, looking around at the rather unassuming looking landmark, not terribly impressed.

"The bridge was first made almost 1,500 years ago." Sumi excitedly began, instantly jumping on the chance to share her history knowledge. Gin had asked after all. "But, it was remade a few times due to flooding destroying it. There's a tradition that, when someone reaches 13 years old, they have to walk from one side to the other without looking back, to get a blessing. Would you like to hear more?" Sumi eagerly asked, pushing herself in front of Gin's face.

"I-I think I'm good..." Gin replied, slightly taken aback by Sumi's enthusiasm. She really could act quite differently when history came up, but the girl couldn't help her love of the subject.

"...And that about covers it."

The sound of another voice, this one sounding somewhat like a guttural middle aged man, drew everyone's focus behind them and toward the left side of the bridge closest to the group.

Standing just off the side of the bridge's entrance, Sumi saw a small animal, thin with a white colored body and black tip at the end of its tail, currently talking with a younger looking Negi. The child was dressed in clothes that looked like they belonged to a typical Japanese inn, along with holding a card slightly bigger than his palm and curiously looking at the paper.

"So I can use this card to communicate telepathically with my partner, summon her from far away, activate my partner's powers and magic items, ect… That's incredible." Negi commented with a wonder filled face, thoroughly examining the card.

"Try using it now, aniki! That card is miraculously handy!" The animal boasted with a proud tone and grin.

"You have a talking ferret?" Sonoko eagerly asked with a sparkle in her eyes, moving closer to the animal for a better look. "He looks cute~."

"Ermine." Negi quickly corrected. "Chamo-kun's my familiar. He's helped me a lot with my magical affairs."

"What about that card? He mentioned something about a partner~?" Sonoko followed up with, the same kind of expression she took when thinking of novel ideas, clearly plastered onto her face.

"That's-" Negi began, slipping into his teaching voice.

"A topic better discussed later." Fate bluntly cut in. "Negi-kun and I have a busy schedule and there are still many events left to see, and much I'm sure you wish to explore. We can alter your perception of time to allow you three to see more, but we don't have infinite time."

To be honest, Sumi was somewhat glad for Fate's interjection. Part of her was still a bit curious about some of the concepts of Negi's world, but at the same time she would have rather spent more time seeing Kyoto. Even if they did somehow gain the ability to safely venture outside the barrier in her lifetime and she could see what remained of Kyoto herself, they'd have been ruins. She never imagined she would've been allowed to see the city in a fully functional state in person. Sumi didn't want to waste a second of this chance.

"Besides, you're missing what Negi-kun wanted to show you." Fate added, pointing back toward the still continuing scene and refocusing everyone's attention back toward it.

"Negi, I'm sorry! Konoka's been kidnapped! What do we do!?" Another panicked voice, sounding like it belonged to a teenage girl, yelled from the other end of the phone Negi was using.

"Ack! Aniki, what's that?!" Chamo shouted with worry, pointing skyward.

To Negi's surprise, what appeared to be a giant cartoonish monkey carrying a person, descended from the sky and harshly impacted the ground with enough force to spread cracks through it and kick up a small cloud of dust.

"A monkey!?" Negi exclaimed, wide eyed in disbelief and taking a step back from the shock.

"It's huge!" Chamo echoed.

"Oh." The 'monkey' began in a distinctly feminine voice, turning toward mage and familiar, revealing the face of a glasses wearing, middle aged woman in the 'mouth' of the costume. Upon seeing the mage, their expression curved into a devilish grin and voice immediately twisted into smug mockery. "Thanks for all your help. My cute little wizard."

"K-Konoka-san!" Negi shouted in shock at seeing the person the other was carrying, readying a practice wand to attack.

"Bye now!" The other smugly said before leaping away, several miniature versions of the costume, roughly the size of Chamo, appearing from under the bridge.

"Hold it right there, monkey-san! Ras Tel Ma Scir-" Negi defiantly said as they began to chant while aiming toward the fleeing monkey, only for the smaller copies to descend upon the child. One covered his mouth, muffling any further attempts at chanting, while the rest prodded his face or pulled at his clothes to further prevent concentrating on spells.

Sumi starred at the scene with a blank expression, trying to process what she was seeing. Negi looked younger in this memory, but even still he looked no more than a year or two younger than the one standing beside her right now. The same Negi who, along with Fate, had wrecked a mountain by accident in a practice fight, been able to soundly defeat 3 Vertex at once, and possessed an incredible variety of powers none of the Heroes did. But, here she was, watching an image of this same child rendered helpless by a couple of monkeys that didn't even come up to his knees in height. She could not believe this kid had changed and gotten so strong in the span of time his appearances suggested and how long it evidently took to learn magic. Not unless he had unique circumstances like her friends.

"Hehe~." Sonoko giggled a bit at the scene, an amused smile on her face. "Guess you weren't that good at magic then~."

"I told you, I was being honest." Negi admitted with a nervous chuckle, face touched with a hint of red from embarrassment. "I really wasn't that great with parts of magic for a while."

"… I cannot believe you managed to strike me, when even this simple trick stopped you dead." Fate deadpanned, looking at Negi with a thoroughly disappointed look.

"She took me by surprise!" Negi shot back with an offended face. "And I still managed to catch you in a spell, didn't I?" A brief spark of competitiveness flared up in Negi's eyes to punctuate his words. "Doesn't that look bad on you then?"

"When… Did you say this happened?" Sumi slowly said in a level voice, finally finding her words and still watching the scene. It'd now progressed to Setsuna and another girl, possessing long orange hair done up in twintails with bells at the ties, arriving and freeing Negi from the harassment of the monkeys.

"Huh?" Negi said, briefly dragged away from arguing with Fate as he took a moment to think. "This trip was a little over a year ago for me."

Sumi blinked.

A year.

A year.

One. Year.

What had the other possibly done in that timeframe which could've caused this? The Heroes got their powers from the Shinju and were far more than any normal human could be for it, did Negi have something like that happen to him?

"This was only a year ago?" Gin asked, both shock and curiosity equally present in her voice and expression, eyebrows raised. "How'd you get so strong?"

"Oooh, maybe Spring-san's some kind of immortal who's really hundreds of years old and only looks 11~." Sonoko mused, voicing her idea in a manner that Sumi couldn't tell if it was a serious thought or Sonoko being Sonoko.

"No, I'm nothing like that! Not yet." Negi quickly dismissed with a wave of his hand and relaxed voice. "I'm really just 11 years old and mostly trained really hard."

"Then… What made you train so hard and try to get that strong?" Sumi automatically asked, curiosity in her voice and pursed expression on her face while ideas bounced around her mind at the possibilities.

Wait, did she really hear him say 'not yet' about Sonoko's theory?

"It's a long story, but my father is a big reason why." Negi calmly answered with a smile, cutting off Sumi's thought before she could properly explore it. "But, first let's pause this for now."

With a though, the world around everyone froze. Much like when time stopped before a Vertex attack, the water beneath the bridge stopped dead in its tracks, the wind that gently blew the grass back and forth ceased, the images of the people within the memory froze like statues. The entire world turned to stillness.

"My father was the strongest mage ever, people called him 'The Thousand Master', but nobody is sure how the name cropped up. Some said because he knew 1000 spells or had the strength of a 1000 mages." Negi began with gradually growing excitement, reminding Sumi somewhat of how she could get whenever history came up. "He helped a lot of people all over the magical community, even saving the world before. He was a great hero and I heard a lot about them while growing up. I wanted to be just like him." Negi continued, a cheerful smile on his face while recounting the apparent happy memories.

Well, if his father was so powerful, perhaps that explained some of Negi's strength, Sumi pondered. Maybe something like that was genetic?

"However..." Negi positive expression dropped into a more somber one as he talked more. "He went missing around the time I was born. People thought he was dead, but an… incident happened at my village when I was four, and he appeared to stop it."

A small circle appeared beside Negi, ejecting a long wooden staff taller than he was, with bandages wrapped around the front end of it. "He gave me this staff, his staff," Negi continued, delicately holding the staff within his hands and looking at it with tender eyes, like it was some fragile treasure. "Before he left. And that was the last I saw of him for several years."

"That's a bit heavier than I was expecting..." Gin murmured with a sympathetic expression. "But… wait." Gin's face shifted toward a confused one. "Why'd he just show up and leave like that?"

"I didn't know it at the time, but he had a very good reason." Negi answered. "My father's situation is a bit of a long and complicated story to get into now… But, it's something I'm working on and one reason I need to get home as soon as possible. I'll fix it someday." The child finished confidently, gripping the staff tighter and with a determined face.

Sumi wasn't sure what she expected to hear when it came to Negi's reasons, but she wasn't expecting something like this. Whatever happened with his father sounded pretty somber for someone as young as four years old to deal with. Sumi did have the Vertex, but at least she had her friends to help soldier through it and most of her issues were typical for her age aside from them.

"Well… I don't know what's going on with your family, but I'm sure you'll figure something out." Gin reassured with a confident smile, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

"Thanks, Minowa-san." Negi replied with an appreciative grin, expression already softening more toward his usual one, instead of the heavier one from earlier. "But, what about you three?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Sumi spoke up with a raised eyebrow.

"Since it's topical, would you mind telling me a bit about yourselves, even if just a little given the circumstances? If you don't mind me asking, of course. My history has come up several times, but Fate and I haven't gotten to hear much about you all personally and I'd like to get to know you better." Negi asked with a curious voice and friendly smile. "But, we can talk later, if you'd prefer to see more of Kyoto first."

Truthfully, Sumi did want to see more of Kyoto first, but at the same time. Negi was right in that none of the girls had told them all that much about themselves. Especially given he shared something personal about his father's circumstances, Sumi supposed she at least owed him a little about herself.

"Sure, I'll go first!" Gin eagerly spoke up with a proud grin, almost always not one to mind being the center of attention. "My household has my parents and two brothers. They're the best siblings in the whole world! My parents are usually pretty busy, so I help a lot around the house, but it's not big like Sumi and Sonoko's. Tetsuo's five years old, while Kintarou is still a baby. They can be a handful sometimes, Tetsuo likes to interrupt me a lot when I try to do homework, but it's always fun to play with em."

"Sounds like you really love your family." Negi commented.

"Most important thing to me with my friends." Gin replied, face touched a little red, but none the less a wide and cheerful grin on her features.

"My turn~! I don't have any siblings, like Mino-san, but my house is busy with all the staff in it~." Sonoko commented, taking her turn to discuss herself. "I like to write in my spare time and I even post some of my stories online. It's fun, so I'd like to become a novelist someday. but I'm fine as long as I can stay with Mino-san and Wasshi~."

Between both the comments from her friends, Sumi felt her face heating up slightly. It wasn't that she disagreed, no she wanted to stay friends with Gin and Sonoko forever, but there was no way she could ever be so easily open about it with people she didn't know so well like this.

"Oh? You'll have to show me them sometime. I love a good book." Negi curiously said. "Reminds me of one of my students. She like to draw manga and I believe she was interested in doing it professionally."

"Sure~. Learning about magic and everything it can do gave me a lot of ideas for my stories. You'll have to tell me more about what it can do sometime~." Sonoko nodded in agreement with a playful glint in her eyes and enthusiastic grin on her face.

Sumi felt a sinking feeling in her stomach at just what kind of 'ideas' Sonoko was getting from magic, after what had happened after visiting Ines…

"What about you, Washio-san?"

"Eh?" Sumi snapped out of her daze from Negi's words. "Oh, uh, um..." Put on the spot, she felt her mind suddenly go blank and an increasing sense of nervousness, looking around to avert eye contact while thinking. What to share about herself? What about her was particularly interesting and wouldn't seem boring next to her friends? Sumi herself still wasn't exactly the best about the whole 'making friends', even after spending some hours searching the internet for help pages on doing exactly that. Negi wasn't a stranger to her by now, but he still wasn't someone she was close with, not like Sonoko or Gin and Sumi didn't do well in casual conversations under pressure like this!

"You're interested in history, correct? I remember you seemed quite curious at the Ines' bookstore." Negi casually prodded, offering Sumi a lifeline out of her current worry.

"Oh, yes!" Sumi quickly jumped at the opening Negi had thrown her, face brightening into a smile as she felt her nerves start calming down. She could go on for ages about this one subject if she wanted. "History is my favorite subject, with the Showa period being one of the periods I'm most interested in, naval history as well. I'd like to be a historian to study it more someday."

"I can definitely see you doing that." Negi agreed with an approving voice. "I'm decently familiar with most of Japan's history, but I don't know much about its naval history, past a basic general idea. You'll have to tell me about it sometime."

"You'd really like to hear more sometime?" Sumi nearly shouted with barely restrained excitement and glowing expression, before reigning herself in after a moment, redness tinting her cheeks from the outburst. It was true, she never got much of a chance to speak at length on this subject with someone who seemed very capable of having an extended dialog with her on it, even her own parents sometimes got lost, and Sonoko would mostly just let her talk. But, on the other hand, every time a moment like this came up where she felt more able to trust Negi, something always seemed to come up that took their relationship one step forward and two steps back. But, it turned out he was being quite honest about his magical skill in the past in relation to what'd happened after Ines, so perhaps she could finally start trusting him personally more? She did consider giving him a chance at the Ines' bookstore. Yes, he was still a foreigner, but at the same time he had given Sumi so many chances she didn't expect to ever get, especially with Kyoto. Why did this have to be so complicated...

"Of course, but it would be best to do so another time. We can't talk too much right now, since you wanted to see the rest of Kyoto, right?" Negi replied with an affirming nod.

"Awww, Wasshi and I shared our dreams, but Mino-san didn't tell Spring-san her's~." Sonoko teased with a mischievous smile and nudging Gin forward.

"H-Hey, we already went over this! It's embarrassing to talk about..." Gin trailed off weakly, a blush starting to appear on her face once more.

"Buuuuuut, there's still one person we haven't heard about~." Sonoko declared, moving on from flustering her friend without missing a single beat. Turning her eyes toward Fate, she extended her finger toward the other mage. "What's Fate-san's story?"

Everyone's eyes were immediately drawn toward the Averruncus. The white haired boy was presently leaning against the railing of the bridge, having evidently started silently observing the exchange with his typical dour expression after Negi was pulled away from arguing with him.

His gaze locked with Sonoko's, unblinking. "… And what do you wish to know about me?"

"Well~, Spring-san said their otou-san was the strongest mage ever, they're really smart, and trained hard to be like them. What about you?" Sonoko continued inquisitively, matching Fate's stare with a far more casual one.

"If you think to find some kind of secret to getting stronger, then you will be disappointed." Fate answered back flatly. "Negi-kun and I both have unique circumstances compared to most mages already, and you three each have your own."

"We just wanna know a little about you. You haven't talked much about yourself and maybe we can start here~." Sonoko responded dismissively toward Fate's accusation.

"I wanna hear it now too." Gin commented, undeterred by the cold shoulder response. "When you mentioned earlier about coming to Kyoto cause you were helping some people, it was the first thing you said about yourself since you got here."

Come to think of it, that was true. Negi had told Sumi that Fate had rescued people orphaned by a war when trying to convince her that the boy wasn't a bad person, despite their rocky first meeting. With that brought to the front of her mind and further confirmation Fate had unique circumstances compared to most mages, Sumi couldn't help her mind wander. Still, she couldn't avoid a small frown on her face, as she wanted to see more of Kyoto already, but her friends were equally curious and it seemed like they would finally get back on track after this last interruption, so no harm in satisfying their curiosity and then being able to continue without interruptions, right? "I'd like to hear a bit about Fate-san as well."

For several moments, Fate said nothing, wearing a perfect mask of a neutral expression that gave Sumi no clear indication of what ideas were bouncing around within the mage's head.

"Very well." Fate finally spoke, going from leaning on the railing to standing straight. "It's rare, but some people are naturally incredibly strong. I never had to train personally in order to get stronger, as I was naturally gifted with power that exceeded all but the strongest fighters in the Magical World."

The other was naturally this strong? She couldn't decide what was more surprising, maybe even concerning. The idea people could go from as weak as the Negi she saw in this memory to his strength in such a short time, or that people this young looking could be so strong for no real reason. Still, while curious, she wanted to see Kyoto more. But, before that, there was one fact Sumi wanted to know more of before they resumed. Fate didn't seem like the most eager to discuss themselves, so she wasn't sure when this chance would come up again and let her get an idea of if Fate was the kind of person Negi claimed. Besides, it'd probably be a quick as his last answer and then they could continue uninterrupted.

"Um.." Sumi softly spoke up, Fate's gaze instantly turning toward her in turn. "When we first met, Negi-san mentioned you helped a lot of people orphaned by a war..?"

Fate's expression dropped to something resembling exasperation, his eyes briefly flickering toward Negi, who responded with an apologetic smile and weak stare. "That is correct." The mage admitted, their voice, somewhat surprisingly, warming from the cold detached tone it usually carried. "I traveled around various parts of the world at one point and found many people who needed help, often those young and unable to fend for themselves in the aftermath of severe conflict, sometimes even younger than yourselves. So, I provided assistance toward those I found and was able to."

"Aw, I knew Fei-kun had a soft spot somewhere~." Sonoko commented with a playful smile, eyes closed contently.

"What did you just call me?" Fate's voice immediately dropped back to his customary deadpan.

"… How old are you again?" Gin asked with a perplexed voice and tone that nearly matched Fate's.

"… 12 years old." Fate answered after a slight delay from giving Sonoko a piercing stare.

"Your lives seem so much more eventful..." Sumi murmured with a sigh. Fate was the same age as her, while Negi was even younger, and while she barely knew their pasts, it sounded like the two had such incredibly eventful lives. One of the mages had been a teacher at age 9, and the other had already traveled the world helping people by 12. And, just from the glimpse of Kyoto, she doubted this was the end of their stories. Sumi couldn't help feeling a little inadequate next from it all. Gin and Sonoko were a stronger fighter and tactician respectively, now this.

"Don't talk like that." Negi gently reprimanded with a shake of his head. "I'm sure you have plenty of interesting events worth sharing too. Everyone's the main character of their own story, and I'd like to hear more of your's sometime." The child finished with a supportive grin.

"T-thanks." Sumi said with some heat flowing toward her cheeks. What a way to phrase a request like that...

"That's cheesy but cute. I'll have to remember that~." Sonoko mused with a familiar sparkle in her eyes.

"But, I think we've delayed long enough, sorry that turned into a longer discussion than expected, we can talk more later." Negi apologized with a mild sigh. "Let's continue with this, shall we?"

Sumi immediately felt her a smile creeping back onto her face at the statement. Finally, they were going to resume the memory and she could see more of Ky-

Sumi felt a tremor run through her body, one she knew all too well and sent a flash of anger and worry through her.

"What was that?" Negi asked cautiously, half dropping into a relaxed combat stance instinctively while looking around, eyes scanning everything around them for a possible source of the disturbance.

"The Vertex finally came back, huh?" Gin commented casually, not at all worried by the impending attack.

"Gin… Remember what happened last time and they said this wouldn't be like anything before." Sumi scolded sternly, glaring at Gin firmly, but her expression also marred with worry. She knew things would very likely be fine with the two mages around, but even still, she couldn't dispel her worry for the other hero. Not when they nearly lost their life before.

"Sorry about that, Sumi." Gin folded without complaint at her reprimand this time. "But, I'm sure we'll be fine. We got new tricks of our own."

"I suppose we'll have to continue this later, sorry about that, Washio-san." Negi added while putting his staff away to back where it came from.

Sumi nodded firmly, a frustrated frown on her face. Gin's concern had been the cause for her worry and some anger, but the other part of her rage had been that the Vertex had chosen now, of all possible times, to attack. Just when she was going to see such an important city for herself! They'd pay for that.

The last thing Sumi saw while reaching for her phone, was the world distorting and fading around them, replaced instead by the advancing wall of light of Forestization, just as it overtook everyone.

Author's Notes:

Hey everyone! Sorry about the delay. My beta reader had some life issues keeping them busy for a little longer than expected, but the chapter is here. I had some stuff happen right around the time I started updating again, so chapter 12 hopefully shouldn't be too long, I'd say probably within 2-3 weeks.

And I'm still taking suggestions for the activation keys of the WaSuYus if anyone feels like submitting them.