AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Hello everyone. I apologize for the delay after I promised some more regular updates. The reason for that, as I edited in last chapter, is my old beta reader, unfortunately, became too busy to continue doing this story. Hence the long delay on putting the revised chapter and chapter 16 up. Though it took a little time to sort it all, I have managed to find a new one and regular progress should resume. Chapter 15's final version has also gone up here.
9/8/2019 UPDATE:
A buddy of mine did a wonderful little comic of a bit from this chapter and posted it over on pixiv. Unfortunately, Fanfiction eats links as always, so just ad the below to the URL from the pixiv homepage. Or, you can search their pixiv ID of 8613103 and view the "seaside melacholy" submission. No major spoilers, but I do advise you to look at it after reading this chapter.
/member_ ?mode=medium&illust_id=76682166
"… So, what is it exactly you were just attempting?" Standing in the same clearing the mages had been using for most of their tests, Wakaba asked with a furrowed brow.
"Now that we're done, I can explain." Negi began, turning his head slightly to put Wakaba within his vision. True to his word about talking with Wakaba more, the mage had invited her along to talk during demonstrations like this. "Considering we're dealing with different universes and very different timelines, Fate and I need to make sure we get back to ours. I've had some experience with using something to go back in time, but even going back just a week nearly broke it, and since we might need to go across universe and timelines, we have to be absolutely certain here." The child explained, speaking in his teaching voice. "So, we're sending something that'll record a bit of the surrounding and then come back to us, letting us know if we've sent it to the right place or not. Assuming that works, then we can see about going ourselves. It took some time to get enough magic together and infusing enough into it for a round trip. So, now we just wait for it to come back."
"I see, that makes sense..." Wakaba murmured in response. She seemed to grasp the basic ideas, like ensuring they got the right location, but some of the specifics on how it all worked felt like it went a bit over her head when talking about their plan. Not that Negi would've blamed her, matters like this seemed to give a lot of people headaches, something Negi was going to feel if this latest plan didn't pan out, as this plan was starting to get tiring.
It'd taken them over a week to get enough magical energy for this and set up the delayed spell on the device to return without their input. He and Fate had sent it off moments ago, so now all that remained was for everyone to wait and hope for a sign it would return. With their set up, it hopefully wouldn't be more than a few minutes, if everything went right.
Promisingly, there was a small flash of light ahead of where Negi stood. However, any hopeful feelings soon vanished when he saw the state their camera was in. There were some cracks spread across the device, even some of the inner machinery was visible, a troubling sign for sure. They had tried to set it up to record any magical signatures, the World Tree at Mahora Academy was a good reference to use for determining if they had the right place, as pure audio or video wouldn't have been definitive proof, so even if the normal recordings were damaged, perhaps they could still use that.
"Wait, Negi-kun. Let me do it." Fate interjected before Negi could make a motion to pull the camera toward him, reaching out with his own hand instead to telekinetically move it toward his hands, carefully grasping the camera once it was close.
"How does it look, Fate?" Negi questioned, a pensive frown on his face. It didn't look the best, but he wasn't going to lose hope till it was confirmed. Though, he couldn't help but wonder about the sudden insistence Fate had on inspecting it himself.
Fate stared at the camera, carefully inspect the more damaged sections, before trying a few buttons, to no reaction. "Unfortunately, it looks damaged beyond functionality. And I can't immediately tell if it managed to successfully feed off any of the World Tree's magic. The attempted trip doesn't seem like it was entirely stable and that's likely where the problem lies. If we studied this for a bit, maybe we can see if it managed that much, but even if it arrived at the last place, I think we still need further testing to ensure it's stable. A small camera is hardly comparable to two people."
Negi nodded in agreement. Even if both of them were immortal, Fate's wasn't as strong as his was, more the ability to reattach part of themselves and not being bothered by getting cut in half, compared to his level, which rendered having much of his being blown to pieces, a minor annoyance. It was not good to take any chances when it came to matters of time and space.
"Umm..." Wakaba muttered before Negi could verbally respond, drawing both mage's attention to the curious looking spirit. "You mentioned that you were working on time travel."
"That's correct. Was there something you wanted to ask about it?" Negi asked inquisitively, calling on her in a similar manner to how he sometimes addressed his students when they had a question.
"Is… It possible to change the past with this?" Wakaba asked, leaning toward Negi with a restrained intensity in her eyes, an undercurrent of hopefulness creeping into her words.
Negi could only frown sympathetically in response to the question. Already knew where this question was going to be headed. "Well… That's a bit of a complicated question. It's technically possible, but not in the way you're thinking of it."
He saw the spirit's features shift to confusion, a perplexed eyebrow raised.
"How to explain it..." Negi began, pausing for a moment to consider the best and simplest approach. It was a little harder for him to think today for whatever reason.
"Let's say you time travel to the past and changed a significant event in the past. That would instead likely create an alternate timeline to this one, branching off from it. So, while the new timeline would proceed with whatever changes you caused, nothing would happen to this one. So, if you tried to return to where you came from expecting to find a changed world, that, unfortunately, wouldn't be the case." Negi added with an apologetic tone. He knew this wasn't the answer Wakaba had been hoping for.
Indeed, Wakaba's hint of hopefulness soon faded back toward a more neutral face, mulling the options over. "You said likely though, are you certain that's what would happen?"
"Well, I'm not entirely sure how it works, I just have my own personal experience to draw from. I just know that, when I used something to travel back a short time, I ended up meeting myself a few times, so we were both clearly traveling to the same timeline. However, I didn't change anything world altering during that time and it wasn't even a 24 hours difference. But, when I had a descendant of mine come from 100 years in the future to try and change a past tragedy, it influenced many later events and her timeline still remained unchanged, despite the event she came back to stop, being prevented." All the while Negi spoke, Wakaba's face took on a pensiveness toward it, intently listening to each word he said, a twinge of disappointment barely visible past her mask, though it did briefly crack into disbelieving confusion when he mentioned Chao's trip through time.
"So, my assumption is that if there are only minor changes that wouldn't massively change the world or cause a time paradox with something like removing the reason for you traveling back, so, therefore, you would've never traveled back in the first place, despite doing so, it'll stay within the same timeline. But, if something like that does happen, then it creates an alternate timeline, avoiding time paradoxes. Or, maybe it has something to do with the method one uses to travel back... It's hard to say for certain, the matter is very complicated, really." Negi finished, looking towards Wakaba with apologetic eyes. "I'm sorry that wasn't the answer you were looking for, Nogi-san..."
"So, then there isn't a way to change the past here it sounds like..." Wakaba let out a small sigh, before composing her features back toward a disappointed smile. It was only for a moment, but the girl looked positively disheartened before she managed to level her features. "It's alright. Thank you for still telling me."
"Who knows, there's likely more about this than I know. If I ever see my more experienced descendant again, I can ask her more about this." The child reassured, bringing a slightly more genuine smile to Wakaba's face.
"I appreciate the thoughtfulness, Negi-san. But, what kind of a world do you live in where you become a teacher so young and have a future descendant come to your time…?" Wakaba murmured her second sentence flatly, looking a hint exasperated.
"If you wish to keep talking, then I'll be taking my leave." Fate abruptly interrupted.
"Ah, sorry, Nogi-san. But that's something we can save for another time. I should get to helping Fate look over everything and see where we can improve." Negi said.
"No, Negi-kun. I'll look over this myself today." To Negi's surprise, the construct corrected, still eyeing their test device. "You should rest for today."
This immediately caught Negi's attention, making the child spin toward Fate with a questioning frown. "Fate? What do you mean? This isn't usually like you." Fate had almost never encouraged him to take any time away from working, always stressing focusing on the task at hand, so to have him say something the complete opposite? What possibly occurred?
"Ever since we got here, you haven't rested a single day, and we've been here for some time now. I can see it's starting to wear on you." Fate stated, turning his focus to meet Negi's eyes.
Negi crossed his arms indignantly at the remark. "You haven't exactly taken any days off either, Fate."
"I haven't been spreading myself as thin as you have. You've been using magic far more regularly than I have, from using more High-Ancient spells overall, to teaching the girls and preparing all the material for it. We both can go for incredibly long times without rest, but I've been able to maintain my magic usage at a level where it doesn't wear on me. I saw it back when we dealt with the Vertex, you seemed more exhausted than you should have been, a trend which has only continued to grow worse you doing things like trying to make additional magical focuses for the Heroes." Fate continued without a single pause. "If you're not at your best, then that means you can't give you full attention and power to accomplishing this task. We can't afford any mistakes that would've been easily avoided if you were alert."
"Have… Neither of you slept since you first got here?" Wakaba interjected with subdued surprise, her expression quickly turning into one of concern for the two mages.
Negi turned toward Wakaba with a guilty expression. "Well… Not exactly, no."
"That's can't possibly be safe." Wakaba scolded, her voice turning firmer, though a dash of concern laced within the words.
"I'm managing alright. A little sleep is less important than us getting home." Negi tried to deflect, though Wakaba didn't look convinced.
"While true, that doesn't matter if the lack of rest is causing issues accomplishing that goal." Fate quickly rebuked.
"After what happened with here, we can't afford to take a break yet. We need to look through everything and see what went wrong here. If we can get this problem solved, then we might have the last piece done before we can think about sending ourselves." The child protested. He was beginning to feel some deja vu over the situation. Someone in his class, Asuna generally, would give him a similar scolding whenever he took his 'workaholic' tendencies too far, just like Fate thought he was doing now.
"You both should rest for a bit." Wakaba continued her lecturing, a stern stare on her face. "Even if you can stay up for weeks on end, everyone has a limit somewhere. If it's hurting your performance, then you need to take a break."
"I don't need it." Fate bluntly rejected. "But, Negi-kun should rest."
"Why shouldn't you?"
"Because I'm managing and he is not."
"Fate, I appreciate you're concerned for me, but I'm alright." Negi quickly cut in, before Wakaba could respond. Honestly, he did feel not quite 100% and Fate did have a point, but this was too important. He could rest after they finished this step of the project.
"Denied, Negi-kun." Fate answered without an ounce of hesitation. "I'll continue working on this so that our progress doesn't slow down too much. Besides, The Heroes invited you to something today. You need to go deal with that anyway. The longer you stay, the less work I'll get done."
Oh, Negi knew Fate was using this as an excuse to get him to relax. If this were any other time, then he knew the mage would've protested going to such an event and insisted on working with their project. He could be annoyingly crafty when the situation called for it, but unfortunately, he was right about that. There was still some time before it, but he still did plan on going, so it wouldn't make too much of a difference if he left early, especially if they were going to argue like this.
"Nogi-san invited you as well, Fate. But, I guess you'll be busy with this then." Negi said, earning a confused, tilted head from Wakaba. "Sorry, your descendant. Different Nogi-san." Quickly correcting himself, the mage added.
"That is correct." Fate nodded.
"Fine." Negi answered, sighing in defeat. "Good luck with the work then, Fate. I'll see you later, let me know if anything urgent comes up."
Preparing his teleportation spell, Negi starting walking away from the scene, hearing Wakaba trying to persuade Fate into getting some sleep himself as he left.
It was something Gin had been waiting to do for most of the summer season so far, but her team had finally arranged for a beach visit. Sonoko, with her family's seemingly endless amounts of money, had reserved a beach side resort for everyone to enjoy on one of their off days, some adults in her family's employment supervising. The place even had a small indoor water park, though she was more excited about the beach, as they had already visited one of those before summer. Still, Gin had been expecting a more public trip when thinking of going to the beach. Not that it wasn't fun to just have some time with her best friends, but Gin was more of a social person.
Or, at least she normally was.
After arriving at the resort and changing into their swimsuits, Gin had realized just how exposed her choice, a red and white striped two-piece, made her. More specifically, how much it exposed the enormous scar now over the left side of her abdomen.
Still in the changing rooms, Gin moved her hand down to the fist sized, circle shaped scar, briefly touching it. The damage had been a leftover remnant from arguably the worst injury she had sustained when battling the three Vertex alone when one of Sagittarius arrows had pierced straight through her. The skin had already long since healed over, thanks for the timely healing from the two mages, but the severity had clearly left it's mark. The skin was off colored and rougher feeling, patchy even, around the center, slowing growing smoother and less obvious the further out from the center her hand went. It normally didn't bother her much, but her casual wear always covered it or was in the privacy of her own home, such as taking a bath. In her normal swimwear and about to be around other people, she hadn't realized just how noticeable it would be until now. She had some smaller scars from training and battle, sure, and those never felt like a problem, but this one really stood out. Maybe it was a good thing they were in a more private place this time...
"Mino-saaaan~, are you coming~? Let's go hit the beach while it's nice and warm!" Sonoko's voice drew the girl back into the present.
Oh, well. Huge as the scar was, she was still only around her friends, so she wasn't going to let this stop her from having fun. She was perfectly comfortable around Sonoko and Sumi, trusting them enough to share anything. "Yeah, sorry! Be right there!"
"Hey, sorry about the wait!" Gin quickly apologized, rushing up to her friends. Sonoko was in her usual white one piece with pink highlights around the edges and tiny skirt, while Sumi was currently doing a few warm up stretches in a new swimsuit, a one piece with dark and light purple colored stripes across, complemented by a more normal sized, ruffled black skirt around her waist.
"It's f-" Sonoko started, only for her voice to pause, her eyes quickly darting to the large scare on Gin's stomach. Though trying to keep his faced composed, Gin could see her features fell, trying to hide a guilty frown at the sight.
"Hey, don't worry about it." Before Sonoko could utter any expected apologies, Gin quickly interjected, a casual smile on her face. She knew Sonoko had some regrets over what had happened, even if they had talked about and made her feel better at the hospital, most people didn't get over stuff in a day. "I'll just need to go buy a new swimsuit next time we're out."
By now, Sumi's attention had also been drawn to the sight, bringing a small frown to the girl, though it lessened after Gin's casual affirmation. "Well, it's just the three of us today, it should be alright. But, we're scheduling a shopping trip once this is over."
"Hey, wait a second. I can buy a swimsuit on my own..." Gin sighed nervously, already envisioning all the frilly and cute girly outfits Sonoko and Sumi were going to put her in if they tagged along on any shopping trips.
"Besides." Gin said, a smirk making it's way onto her face, eyes glancing over toward Sumi and shifting her gaze downward. "Looks like you already got a new swimsuit yourself. It looks a lot bouncier than the old one too from those stretches."
Her friend's face quickly turned red, crossing their hands defensively over her chest and taking a step back.
"Weeeeeell, about that..." Sonoko started before Sumi could respond, face still looking guilty, though now more along the lines of a child who just got caught sneaking snacks.
This immediately drew both Gin and Sumi's attention, a slowly sinking feeling growing in Gin's stomach. If it wasn't just them, Sonoko didn't actually do what Gin thought, did she?
"Spring-san and Fei-kun always seem like they're busy working or trying to help us-"
Oh, no.
"Sooooo, I thought they could use a break and invite them along~." Letting out a nervous chuckle, Sonoko continued with an equally uncharacteristically shy look. "They were going to meet us at the beach."
She had.
The reason for Sumi's red face quickly turned from embarrassment to frustration. "S-Sonocchi!? You invited two boys for this and didn't tell us?!"
"I forgot~." Sonoko innocently said, though Gin held her doubts about just how true that statement was. "It's not like there wouldn't be boys as a beach normally though~."
"But, I thought this was private!" Sumi protested, crossing their arms over her chest with a huff.
"Well, if Mino-san's not comfortable with it, then I can call and ask them not to come. I didn't know about the scar..." Her voice taking on a sincerity to it, Sonoko focused his attention back toward Gin, expectantly waiting for an answer, something Sumi mirrored.
"Err, I mean-" Gin avoided eye contact with the two, looking off to the side while trying to think. She felt her heart start nervously beating faster at the idea in time with her cheeks heating up. Yes, it was true they would be plenty of boys around at a public beach, but random people were different than another boy she knew well! And then there was the large, highly visible scar on her stomach. Something about the idea of Negi seeing that, couldn't help stir a pang of self-conscious worry. Dammit, why couldn't she stop getting flustered over this?!
"If you already invited them..." Gin weakly muttered the answer. If they had already been invited along, she didn't want to be rude, and Sonoko was right that the mages seemed to largely be working or giving any help they could to the Heroes. Gin had only really been in a more casual situation with either of them a few times, but all but the first time Negi helped her get to school had been specifically because he'd come to help her.
Sumi's reaction was a perplexed recoil at Gin's answer.
"You're sure Mino-san?" Sonoko asked once more.
"Y-Yeah, don't worry about me. Be kinda lonely on a whole beach with just 3 people, anyway" Gin tried to brush off the concerns with a small laugh, though she wasn't terribly convincing toward even herself. "You already invited them, so I'll manage. It'd be rude to tell them to leave, especially if they already got here..."
"Okay, if you're sure then~." Sonoko said, some relief seeping into her tone and smile. "And Wasshi?"
Sumi answered with an annoyed groan, before letting out a defeated sigh. "Fine, Gin is right. But no more surprises like this again, Sonocchi..."
"Promise~." With an innocent, yet shameless smile, Sonoko replied back. "Come on, let's go then~."
This day was not at all going to go how Gin expected, she was sure of it.
After heading outside, bringing a few things with them to make their time on the beach more fun, the girls had expectantly run into someone waiting for them outside, but they had only met Negi, wearing a simple pair of white swim trunks with a tet of thin black lines going down both sides of it, instead of both the mages. Fate had apparently decided he wasn't interested in the offer and preferred to experiment more, given their latest attempt wasn't terribly successful.
Still, after some short introductions and less than warm attitude from Sumi, everyone had gotten busy at the beach. Sumi had started building a what was shaping up to be an enormous looking sand castle, while Sonoko had grown enamored with some objects washed up on the beach, such as pretty shells, while Negi seemed to hover around the water. Though, there was one thing in common between all of them. Each sometimes spared a bit of a worried glance toward Gin's general direction.
Gin herself was finding it a bit difficult to get involved in the fun as much as everyone else. Because every time she thought about doing something, she had an uncharacteristic shyness overtake her when remembering her scar and somewhat exposed attire, made worse by any times Negi looked in her direction and made her try to keep the scar covered. What was she getting so worked up for about this, dammit! She had been a bit nervous before, yes, but it was so much worse in the actual situation! It was just a scar! But, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't shake the feelings gripping her heart.
Some footsteps drew Gin's attention to her side, where she saw Sumi approaching her, some concern on her face. "Gin, are you okay? You're not acting too much like your usual self..." The girl gently asked with a frown.
Was she that obvious?
"I'm… Doing okay. Just relaxing in the sun a bit." Gin tried to brush off the concerns, not wanting to worry her friend. Even if she was having a complicated time, she didn't want to drag down anyone else's enjoyment due to being worried over her, even if this had been getting to her far more than initially expected.
Sumi didn't look convinced, her frown remaining firmly plastered on her face. "You seemed quite eager to visit the beach, so I thought you would've jumped right into the water already." With a brief pause, Sumi's expression and tone darkened considerably, as if she were about to invoke a curse with her next words. "Is it because of him?"
"Wh- No, it's not, I mean-" Gin sputtered, slightly taken aback by the accusation, but also the sheer intensity from Sumi over the matter. She wasn't technically wrong, some concern over the other was part of what had stopped her from jumping into the water, but it wasn't because she didn't like him or anything. If anything it was the opposite, they were kind and easy to get along. It was probably just some normal nerves about being around a boy she knew like this, maybe in part because she felt she was physically lacking next to her friends. Even Sonoko wasn't a completely level plane, let alone comparing herself to Sumi.
"I knew it! That western pervert shouldn't have been invited." Sumi, taking the even slightly off guard hesitation as confirmation, declared dramatically, standing up straight.
"H-hey, come on. It's not that, it was an accident..." Gin, finding her voice again, protested with a weary voice, face slumping down a touch. Embarrassing as that had been, was Sumi still really on that, or was it just the circumstances that brought it bubbling back up? She sometimes had her moments like this with getting caught up in something. "It's not anything to do with Negi-san." That, at least, Gin thought was true. "You've done this a few times..."
Sumi, her momentum paused before she got too wrapped up, look back at Gin with a questioning face, before finally admitting defeat with a sign. "Fine, I apologize for assuming, Gin. How about we have another race in the water then, like last time?" Trying to improve her friend's mood, Sumi suggested, her colder features taking on a more warm and friendly smile with the idea.
Normally, that would've been something Gin would've jumped on, but her earlier concerns flashed once more.
"Hey, Wasshi, Mino-san! Look what I put on the sand castle!" Sonoko's voice called out, making both girls look in the direction of it. What they saw was that Sumi's half finished sand castle, which was at least the same height as Sonoko, decorated with various objects the eccentric had collected on the beach, namely a lot of shells.
"Sumi… Where did you learn how to make a sand castle like that?" Gin flatly commented. She certainly never did anything halfway…
However, Gin's comment seemed to go unheard, with Sumi instead growing wide eyed at seeing Sonoko about to place a larger shell on one point. "Sonocchi, wait! That part is-"
Sumi's warning came too late and the extra weight of the shells caused the impressive structure to collapse, and with Sonoko leaned in to place a shell, directly onto her face, dragging her down to the ground with it and nearly burying the girl's entire upper body in sand.
"S-Sonocchi!?" Sumi called out in shock. "Gin, we can talk more after I deal with this." Without another word, the Hero quickly raced off to help and then likely give a stern scolding toward the buried blonde.
Gin let out an amused sigh at the events, a small smile working its way onto her face. Her friends were sure something special. It was probably good if she went over to help though.
"Hey, are you doing alright, Minowa-san?"
And just like that, Gin felt her amusement being replaced by panic.
"Huh?" Gin muttered at the sound of Negi's voice coming from beside her, drawing the girl's attention toward him.
"I saw Washio-san come over to check on you, but then she got busy helping Nogi-san. So, I thought I'd see if you're doing alright. You've been keeping to yourself quite a bit." Friendly as ever smile, the child continued.
"Oh, uh-" Reflexively, she started moving one of her hands to cover the near palm sized scar on the left side of her waist, before catching herself mid motion and easing her arm up to just cover it with her forearm. She didn't want him to see that mark on her body… But if she made a show of trying to cover it, that'd just be even more suspicious and attention grabbing. At the same time, her choice of a two piece swimsuit made an injury of that size difficult to hide even covertly.
"Hey Negi-san, what's, uh, I'm doing fine!" Gin tried to dismissively answer, only for the nerves creeping into her voice not able to fool even herself.
Negi's expression fell to a frown, eyes flashing with concern toward the girl. "Do you mind if I sit next to you?" His voice was soft and gentle, not at all forceful to push the idea on Gin if she wasn't comfortable about it.
"Er..." Gin hesitated for just a moment. Negi was a kind person and always tried to help where he could, he was like her in that respect and it was something Gin liked about him, but this entire trip, it was really starting to erode at some of Gin's confidence. She didn't have anywhere near the kind of body Sumi did, Gin thought even Sonoko could be called more attractive next to her, as Gin, annoyed as she was to admit it, was certainly a washing board. And then just furthering that, was the nasty and eyecatching scar she now sported. Normally, she wouldn't be bothered, but being around just girls, her best friends no less, in a swimsuit was one matter. It was different when boys were thrown into the mix, she felt… Exposed. Especially now that the boy next to her was also in nothing but swim shorts. And no shirt on.
Immediately, Gin felt her face starting to heat up as the thought went through her mind. She'd never seen Negi without a shirt, actually. She hadn't ever thought about what such a thing would look like, but she wasn't sure what she had been expecting. The boy definitely had some just visible muscles, even if they weren't anything major due to his age, kind of like her team had themselves from training actually, but to a bit higher degree from being a boy. Of course, it made sense, given the kind of training they must've done, but they-
"Minowa-san?"
Once more, Negi's voice brought Gin back to the present. What the hell had she been doing? What the hell had she been thinking? Averting her eyes, the heat in her face quickly skyrocketed till she felt like her head would burst into flames at any moment.
"Are you sure you're alright? Is the heat getting to you? Your face is really red..." Negi voiced with concern, inching his face closer toward her, too close for comfort!
"R-Really! I'm f-fine!" Gin stuttered, backing up to put some distance between the two, trying to take a breath to calm herself.
"If you're certain..." Negi responded unsurely, standing back up straight. "Is now a bad time then?"
"Huh? No, it's fine!" Gin's mouth answered before her brain could properly think, making the girl want to mentally slap herself. Yes, the situation was more than just a little embarrassing, but Negi was just trying to be nice and Gin didn't want to be rude. Besides, brushing him off with a reaction like that surely would've just made him even more concerned, and the Hero didn't want that. "You can sit here if you like..."
Negi's expression shifted into a pleased smile, before taking a seat next to Gin on the warm sand of the beach, noticeably taking several extra steps to rest on the side where Gin's scar lied. Had he already figured her out from the earlier reaction?
Turning his head to look Gin directly in the eyes, Negi spoke gently, a sympathetic touch to his voice even. "Minowa-san, about that scar..."
He had.
Gin felt the corners of her lips curve into a slight frown at the comment, her earlier fears bubbling back up. She opened her mouth and started forming a reply.
"There's nothing to be ashamed about. I think it's something special."
Gin's face froze. Did she hear that right? Had he really called the scar on her abdomen something special? Gin tried to form some kind of response, but only one sound came out of her confused mouth. "Huh..?
"It's something you got when fighting those three Vertex by yourself, right? You were defending your friends and everyone the Shinju-sama protected. I only saw a little bit of your fight, but the way you were able to fight so strongly, even with such heavy injuries, that was amazing. I'm not sure I could've fought that well in such a state before I was immortal."
Gin felt her cheeks start to flush again at the sudden influx of praise coming toward her from Negi, her heart starting to beat quicker and quicker in her chest. He sure wasn't reserved when it came to praise, but... What did that have to do with her scar?
"And a scar like that, it's proof of the battle you fought. I used to have a scar I thought like that about, actually." Negi continued casually before Gin could further question it.
For the moment, Gin's train of thought was directed to Negi's last comment. He'd had a major scar too? Quickly looking over his body, while trying to fight a deeper blush on her face and avoid starring at anything again, Gin raised a curious eyebrow. She didn't see a single sign of any damage on Negi's body. If anything, it looked unnaturally perfect, not a sign of rough skin anywhere, completely unlike what she'd expect from someone with his build and fighting prowess.
"It was right here." Negi motioned with a finger toward his left cheek, the one closest to Gin, tracing an invisible line across it and ending an inch from his ear. "I got it fighting someone I respected deeply in a tournament. It was a real difficult battle, probably the hardest I'd ever had up to that point. After I won, I could've had that scar healed if I wanted, but I didn't."
Gin tilted her head a few degrees in curiosity, intently listening to Negi's story. "And you didn't get it healed, because you thought it was a battle scar proving you won that tough fight, right?" Gin questioned slowly. Something didn't add up here.
"Correct." Negi said with a nostalgic grin and small nod toward Gin. His eyes had a melancholic heaviness to them, but at the same time, they were undercut with a clear sense of fondness for the memories.
"But, if that's the case..." Gin began, brow furrowing as she focused intently on the spot Negi had indicated earlier. She didn't want to be rude, since whatever this scar had been clearly held a sense of sentimental value for Negi, but at the same time she couldn't help her curiosity and if he was telling her this story, then he surely was going somewhere with it. "What happened to it?"
At this, Negi's expression fell a hair, not quite a frown, but neither the usual optimistic smile he carried. "You remember how I mentioned becoming immortal, right?"
Gin nodded.
"Well, it was when that happened." Negi began, a twinge of bitterness within his words. "That healed my body from any major damage or marks, along with meaning any future such damage would instantly regenerate as soon as it happened. And, because of that, it 'healed' the scar I had. I still miss it." The child finished with a small sigh.
"Sorry to hear that..." Gin's face changed into a sympathetic frown. She was a sentimental person herself, and to lose something you valued with no ability to ever get it back, be if a photo, memento, or even just a gift from a friend? That would've been frustrating for anyone. At the same time, it explained a lot for Gin. Why Negi's hand had been so oddly smooth when he helped her to school, the weirdly free of even minor blemishes body, it all made sense now.
"So," Negi continued, shifting gears almost instantly, his words and demeanor taking on more of his usual positive energy. "A scar like that isn't anything to be ashamed of, it's a battle scar."
Gin moved her left hand over the wound, delicately tracing over it with a finger, feeling almost normally smooth outer edges, to the more rough and calloused center, just like she had before. It was certainly noticeable, but a battle scar huh…
Hold on, what the hell was she doing? She'd even called it exactly that to her friends when they'd expressed concern after her physical following the disastrous battle with the Vertex where the mages had first arrived. Of course it was fine! Why was she fussing so much over this then? She'd felt nervous and worried over Negi seeing such a mark on her body, when she already felt lacking next to her friends in this environment. But hearing this story and that he didn't seem to mind it, it brought a sense of relief to Gin she didn't know she needed. Why was she being so silly about this? It wasn't like her.
"Besides." Negi began once more, drawing Gin's attention out of her thoughts and toward the boy again. "I still think you look cute, scar and all."
Gin's heart skipped a beat, feeling a wave of heat instantly wash over her face to such a degree, she was convinced this must've felt what being on fire was like. Unable to keep looking Negi in the eyes after such a comment, Gin quickly turned her head away and glanced downward between her legs, wrapping her arms around her knees and pulling them closer to try and hide her expression. She could practically feel the steam coming out of her ears. "T-Thanks..." Was all the girl could mutter in response, unable to focus her mind on saying anything else. Why did he have to do this again? She'd already felt ready to explode the first time he'd called her cute. Cute wasn't her type! She was more the cool person. But… Even still, she couldn't say she disliked the compliment…
Still… She was being silly over this whole thing, wasn't she? But this conversation, she felt like a bit of a weight had been taken off her shoulders. The only people around were her fellow Heroes and Negi. She certainly had nothing to worry about with her friends, and this talk had eased much of her concerns being around the boy like this. Gin still might not have had a figure like Sumi, but she was still growing anyway and that wouldn't stop her from having fun now.
Taking a deep sigh to compose herself, Gin stood up, glancing toward Negi with a grin on her face. "Hey, thanks again, Negi-san."
"Feeling better?" Negi asked, rising to his feet and returning the friendly expression.
"Yeah, a lot." Gin replied with a confident nod. Moving one of her hands toward her hair, Gin carefully undid the clasp holding her signature flower patterned hairclip in place, holding it out toward Negi. "Here, hold onto this for me while we're here."
Negi raised an eyebrow in confusion, but before he could form a reply, Gin continued. "I don't wanna lose it while swimming. Sometimes take it off, but I uh.. Forgot this time." She clarified, a little warmth flowing to her cheeks once more in time with the mild embarrassment in her voice. Between the surprise Sonoko had dropped on her and Sumi and being reluctant to jump into the water, she'd left it on this whole time. Just saying 'thanks' wasn't quite good enough for Gin, she always wanted to try repaying any kindness she got and Negi had helped her quite a bit without much chance for her to do so, and this was what she had at the moment. Between all the personal stories they had shared, she trusted the other a lot by now, and wanted to do something to show it.
Negi's eyes glanced toward the flower clip, before returning directly to Gin's own, the usual tender smile she liked to see on his face. "I'll take good care of it then." He added with a confident voice, delicately taking the item from Gin's hand. "Ready to have fun then?"
Hands now free and no need to worry about losing her belongings, Gin turned her attention back toward her two friends before considering an aswer. As expected, Sumi had freed Sonoko from her sand prison, the girl throwing a friendly wave in their direction beneath what sand still covered her, while Sumi wore a disgruntled face, arms crossed and tapping one of them with her fingers. She hoped neither of them saw that exchange just now, or else explaining it was certainly going to be fun...