"Why does school have to be so hard..." Gin muttered with an exasperated sign, only to get a light tap on the head with a floating book.
"Gin, your studying is important." Sumi, the one controlling a few of the floating books with magic, scolded sternly. "Summer vacation is over half over and if we don't work on it now, then we'll just have even less time to get through your work."
"I think Wasshi's just jealous that Spring-san was going to help Mino-san personally~." Sonoko teased with a shameless look, eyeing Sumi with a grin. "You were preeeeeeeetty insistent on coming over to help Mino-san as well when you heard about this~."
"I-I am not!" Sumi stammered in protest, a hint of red spreading to her cheeks, one of the books falling from the air and hitting the ground with a dull thud from her concentration breaking. "But I don't trust a boy like him coming to Gin's house alone late like this!"
"Hey, he apologized for what happened after Ines and it was an accident..." Gin stated with a sigh. Lightened up around him though she may have, the girl still seemed quite reluctant to completely trust the other or act with the same casualness Sumi displayed around herself and Sonoko.
"Hrm, when you put it that way, you have a point~." Sonoko responded, an all too dangerously familiar shine within her eyes. "That could make a good setup for a story… A boy comes over to a girls house in the evening to help her with some personal one on one time, but as the night goes on, it becomes harder to focus on work, each one slowly growing more distracted by the o-"
"Stoooooooop." Gin protested furiously before Sonoko could finish her sentence, shielding her currently burning face with the folds of her book. Sonoko had been the one to encourage this in the first place! Wait, of course she had. For whatever reason, her friend seemed to have grown extra aggressively lately with making Gin the subject of her antics.
"Aw, but Spring-san should be here soon, right?" Sonoko responded with a smile, earning a narrowed, disapproving gaze from Sumi.
Was it that time already? True to his word, the mage had tried talking with her about a time to come help her study, and though Gin had a feeling it was going to get embarrassing for her like this, though she had expected her parents to give some light teasing over her having a boy outside her family over at her house for the first time, Gin had had trouble turning Negi down. It wasn't just because she wanted to avoid being rude or Negi had been insistent on helping, she weirdly didn't seem to be against it as much as she would've normally expected, even despite everything. Getting to talk in a more casual setting seemed like something nice, even with the circumstances. The hell was up with her lately…
"Gin." Her mother, Kogane's, voice drew Gin's attention, before the door to her room opened up to her form. The woman's face held a strong resemblance toward Gin herself, a notable except in her dark brown and past the shoulder free flowing hair, compared to Gin's shorter and more pale color. Her attire was a pale orange, short sleeved button up shirt, with a plain pair of light green pants. However, she wasn't alone. Beside her, and with a friendly smile, was Negi. "Your friend is here for you."
"Hello, it's nice to see you all again." Negi greeted warmly. Gin likewise gave a small wave, if a little weaker than her normal energy from how the situation messed with her, alongside Sonoko. While Sumi's expression turned into a forced politeness, unable to keep most of her cold glare from Negi. "I see you've already started. I hope it's going well, Minowa-san."
"It's kinda funny how Mino-san's usually casual and prefers to go by first names, but Spring-san's at her house and still not using her first name, huh~." Throwing fuel onto the fire once again, Sonoko teasingly commented.
Arg, of course Sonoko had to do this!
"I'll leave you four to work. Thanks for helping Gin with her summer work. She takes care of everyone else so much, sometimes she has trouble looking after herself." Thankfully, Kogane's quick comment seemed to shift the topic, though she still held a rather amused looking smile.
Gin let out a small, embarrassed whine at her mother's comments, not helped by Sonoko's previous one. She wasn't wrong, but it was still hard to hear your own parents say such stuff in front of your friends! Never before had she looked forward to getting back to her school work! "Y-yeah. We, uh, have a lot of work to do!" The flustered girl stammered, turning her face away to hide the growing blush on it.
"I'll bring some snacks for everyone in a bit." Turning away from the room, the woman headed toward the kitchen, but not until she gave the room one more quick glance, in particular seeming to direct it toward Negi. It was only a moment and nothing was said, but Gin saw a deep appreciation and happiness in her mother's eyes. It made Gin briefly flashback to when she realized everything would be okay after near-certain death. Kogane had always kept a much closer eye on her since then and Gin could only imagine her mom's relief.
With Gin's mom gone, Negi closed the entrance to Gin's room, leaving the four with a conflicting atmosphere and bringing the room's owner back to the present. Negi and Sonoko seeming cheerful and casual, Sumi eyeing Negi pensively, and Gin herself feeling like her face would catch fire if it started heating up again. At least it was hopefully over, for now…
"So, what have you covered so far?" Taking a seat next to Gin, that the girl was now realizing Sonoko had intentionally left open, Negi curiously asked, glancing between some of the books. "Saving table space by keeping the books floating and opened to certain pages, I see. Good idea."
"We've been covering math mainly." Sumi answered, motioning to one of the books in front of Gin.
"There's not any kind of magic to make you super smart and get this stuff done quickly, is there?" Gin commented, sarcastically with a joking tone more than seriously wondering, but with everything else she'd seen magic do, the girl was interested for curiosity's sake. It helped distract her mind from the situation a bit.
"Magic can't fix everything, Minowa-san." Negi replied, taking a look over the material in Gin's book. "It's important to learn how to do some work yourself."
"See, I told you there aren't any shortcuts and studying is important Gin." Sumi chided, looking at Gin dismissively.
Gin responded with a defeated sigh, before her expression took an upturn back toward a good-natured smile, letting out a small chuckle. "Ah, well. Can't blame me for asking. You and Sonoko always make this stuff look so easy compared to me."
"Oh, right." Negi spoke up, raising his hand lightly to draw everyone's attention. "Speaking of magic, before we begin, I almost forgot. There was something I wanted to give the three of you. Washio-san, you can put down the books for a minute."
At this, all three of the girls had their attention focused toward Negi, Sumi commanding the books she was levitating to rest back on the ground, still open to the pages she had them at.
"Whatcha got, Negi-san?"
"Well," Negi began, reaching into his green colored coat. "Sometimes, a mage will have an additional magical focus, in addition to their weapon, if they have one, which acts as the primary one to help channel magic and the like. Given your unique circumstances, already having weapons, and how well you managed to adjust while not transformed, it didn't occur to me you might need one. Especially with how quickly you've learned, Washio-san's even levitating a few objects without any sign of her practice wand, that's great progress."
"Of course, I've been practicing whenever I've had time." Though managing not to seem too flustered by the praise, especially given her relationship with who it was coming from, the girl's composure still softened a touch, a dash of red on her cheeks.
"However, while all the practicing did certain help you use magic more efficiently while transformed, I noticed that some usage of magic seems to be more draining than I'd expect. So, Fate and I made each of you something." Pulling their hand out, Negi revealed a small, silver colored metallic bracelet. The bracelet was largely plain and simple save a purple rose in the center and a small clip at the bottom to secure it only a small clip at the base to secure it.
"It won't replace a wand, but you can't exactly use something like that with your current fighting styles while transformed. So, we made a magical focus for each of you, something that shouldn't get in the way while you're fighting Vertex and also is easy to wear even during everyday life." Negi explained, turning his head toward Sonoko and holding the bracelet out toward them. "Nogi-san, this one is for you."
"Ooooh, pretty~." Sonoko commented, gently taking the object, sliding it onto her wrist and looking over it with a pleased look in her eyes. "How do I use it?"
"Think of it a bit similarly as you might with your wand." Negi answered softly. "It shouldn't take much thought, given how you're already doing, but I'm hoping it should help you while transformed mainly."
Sonoko gave an understanding nod, looking at Negi with an appreciative smile. "Thanks, Spring-san~."
"Next, is Washio-san." Negi started, directing the room's attention toward Sumi. "I thought it'd be good to give you each something unique and distinct from each other." Producing a necklace, the child finished, extending it to the girl. The necklace was likewise fairly simplistic, with the notable part of it being a small pendent at the bottom engraved with a Chrysanthemum flower.
Carefully, Sumi took the object, scanning her eyes over it, not with the same satisfied look Sonoko had, but with a more discerning scrutiny, fingers carefully being traced over the metal, rolling it around her hand. "And this will really help with using magic?" The girl, still keeping her eyes on the necklace, curiously asked, pensiveness finding its way into her words.
"It will." The mage answered with an affirmative nod. "I used one myself for a while. I can't say exactly how much it should work, there's not much precedent for situations like you three, but I think it should be quite helpful. Try levitating the books again with it, I think you'll find it even a little easier."
Sumi pursed her lips, looking at the trinket with a contemplative face for another second, before letting out a small sigh. "Alright, I'll give it a try then..." Though she didn't exactly sound enthusiastic, the girl nonetheless slipped the jewelry around her neck. Doing as suggested, the dropped books started levitating once again, with Sumi's features turning curious.
"Well, how does it feel?" Expectantly, Negi asked with a smile, leaning closer toward Sumi.
"It… does seem to help a little..." Sumi admitted, sounding pleasantly surprised. "If you think it should help more while transformed, then, thank you, Negi-san." Speaking formally, the girl finished, not looking at the other child with a smile, but some of the earlier annoyance in her gaze having vanished at least.
"Good, I'm glad to hear that." Negi replied, looking pleased himself. "Now, that brings me to Minowa-san's." Once more, the mage reached into their pockets.
Gin eagerly watched and waited, wondering just what kind of gift she was going to get. Sonoko and Sumi each got something distinct, so what was there left for her to get? Part of her couldn't help feeling particularly curious, because this was the first real personalized gift that Negi had given her, something that felt special compared to the standard magic practice stuff, even if they were all getting one, each was unique from the other.
"Here, this one is yours." After what felt like a long wait for Gin, but could've have been more than a second, Negi finally held out his hand toward her. Between his fingers, was a small silver colored ring, the image of a Moutan Peony engraved onto it. In the corner of her vision, Gin saw Sonoko lean further onto the table at the sight.
Gingerly, Gin took the object, carefully looking it over. Expectantly, it felt cool and metallic to the touch, perfectly smooth as well, save the parts which had the flower engraving on it of course.
"Thanks, Negi-san. Should be easy to wear." Gin said appreciatively, slipping the band onto her right index finger, moving it a few times to test the feeling, to which she found it fit perfectly, not too firm or loose, just right. Gin herself never cared much for jewelry, she thought it'd generally get in the way of her more physical activities, but this looked fine. It felt sold and sturdy between her fingers, without anything fragile like a jewel on it that could break during any sports or if she fell down, never mind how she could fell the magic in it, something that likely made it extra durable. She wasn't sure if Negi had intentionally taken all that into account or not, but it was a pretty thoughtful and useful gift if he had. Looking at it, she felt a weird lightness taking hold of her chest. Maybe she would try to get him a personal gift like this sometime, it only felt right to return the favor.
"Everything alright with it, Minowa-san? If it doesn't feel comfortable or right, I can try again another time." Negi asked, drawing the girl out of her daze, making her blink a few times and look up at the mage.
Give up the ring? "No, no, it's fine!" The girl quickly said, the idea of giving up the gift making her feel defensive, more warmth over taking her cheeks upon realizing what she'd been caught doing and the quick reaction. That was an embarrassing thing to get caught doing, something that seemed to happen a lot with the mage.
"Mino-san looked pretty happy with her gift~." Sonoko teased with a smile, elbows resting on the table, hands pressed against her chin and holding their head up. "You know, giving jewelry like this can sometimes me-"
A book lightly tapped Sonoko on the forehead.
"Sonocchi, we need to get back to studying." Sumi, who's necklace appeared to of vanished beneath her shirt, scolded with an edge to her words, starring disapprovingly at Sonoko and throwing a side glance toward Negi. "There's a lot still to cover."
Sonoko rubbed the spot she'd been struck with one of her hands, slightly exaggerated in her motions. "Owowo."
"Something wrong, Nogi-san?" Head tilted in curiosity, Negi asked toward the blonde, an innocent, slightly confused expression on his face.
"Uh, we really gotta get this stuff done!" Gin interjected this time, quickly and with her words holding a touch of nervousness. "I wanna get enough of this done to take a break already, Sumi's been working us hard..." Though, that wasn't entirely her reason for preventing Sonoko from speaking more. The girl had a habit of looking at gestures certain ways, certain ways that made Gin's mind start spinning to think of, her thoughts growing frazzled. It wasn't actually something like what her friend sometimes brought up, was it? Nah, there was no way…
Even still, the thought made her start feeling anxious about her gift, fingers briefly fidgeting with it. Just what she needed while trying to focus on school work.
"We've gotta be close, right…?" Gin wearily questioned, resting a hand against her cheek while looking at her textbook. Gin wasn't sure how long they had been busy working in total, even before Negi had arrived, but they must have been due for a break soon. It wasn't like they had to finish it all in one night! At least her mom had brought the group some food and drinks to make studying more bearable.
"You were a teacher and gave out homework before, so we've done enough to take a break, right?" Gin started, looking toward Negi hopefully, expecting them to be easier to reason with than Sumi. Oddly though, the child didn't immediately respond, staring at his own book for a moment.
"Earth to Spring-san~." Sonoko commented, playfully waving at the boy to grab their attention.
"Huh?" The mage finally responded, briefly glancing around in confusion. "Ah, sorry about that." Negi stated with a touch of apologetic embarrassment, rubbing the back of his head. "What did you need?"
"Well, I was saying maybe we've worked enough for a break, but are you sure you're okay? You seem a bit out of it." Gin asked, concern within her voice. The other kid seemed a little worn down during their studying session, tired. It wasn't like people didn't have off days and maybe Negi just had a long one, but with how superhuman they were and everything magic did, seeing them actually looking less than fine stirred worry in her heart. Negi had already gone out of his way to help her a few times and he seemed a bit like her in that they always tried to help out, even putting other's priorities above their own. If the boy wasn't feeling up to this, she would've hated to impose on him like this.
"No, no, I'm fine, really." Negi answered with a dismissive smile and wave of his hand. "I appreciate the concern, Minowa-san. I've just been busy thinking a lot over and working with my own projects. It's a long process, but nothing I can't handle on top of this."
"Alright… Just make sure you're taking care of yourself. I've seen Sumi do some crazy stuff when she's put her mind to it, and you seem like the kinda person to do that too."
"Wasshi's done a few all-nighters before~." Sonoko interjected with a carefree and amused smile. "Like when she made the guide books for our field trip and when she wrote a nov-"
"S-Sonocchi! I s-said not to talk about that!" Sumi quickly stammered, facing rapidly turning red and waving her hands in protest. Gin had never read her friend's attempts at writing, but given her personality and reaction every time it came up, she had a feeling perhaps it was better that way.
Negi uttered a small chuckle at the antics, speaking casually. "Well, I've done that before too, but don't worry, really I'm fine. I've managed this before."
Something about the way he'd responded made Gin wonder just what he meant by that. Given they were so dedicated and some of the other ridiculous things the child had done with magic, the question of their current weariness was actually from staying up rose in her head, and if so, just how long did someone with magic need to stay up? "Hey, Negi-san… How long have you been up for anyway?" It was probably nothing, but she had to be certain if the other was going to help out like this.
"Hm? Let's see..."
Wait, why was he stopping to think?
"We got here on the 10th of July-"
Gin's arms went slack, slamming onto the table with a dull thud. It was so much worse than she imagined. They were in August now! "H-have you been up since you got here?!" The girl practically shouted, unable to restrain her disbelief.
"H-how are you still alive!?" Sumi stuttered, aghast over what she was hearing. Besides her, even Sonoko's eyes had gone wide with concern. "That's almost a month!"
"W-well, I'm immortal, so it's not like it's dangerous for me and magic keeps my stamina up..." Negi protested, taken aback by the intense reactions from the girls, acting like the whole thing was no big deal
"Not if you're spacing out like that!" Gin scolded, worry in her voice over any anger. She'd dealt with one of her brother's sometimes having issues sleeping and had definitely stayed up late once herself, bu t something like this was completely different! Immortal or not, it didn't make them immune to anything negative, since the mage was acting like any tired person!
The door to Gin's room was suddenly opened, her mother standing, the woman looking at the mage with a face that was between intense worry and bewildered. Gin should've expected she would've been drawn by the shouting. "Gin told me that you're not exactly a typical child… But, is that true you haven't been taking care of yourself?"
"Er, I haven't been sleeping, but it's nothing I can't handle." Negi answered, recomposing himself. "I can use magic to keep myself going." The child quickly added, seeming to realize how unbelievable and extra concerning such a situation could seem to someone without context.
Kogane frowned at the child, not because they were upset or anything, but simply because they were worried. Gin knew her mom well. "Superhuman or not, you need to look after yourself. It's getting late, so why don't you rest the night here? I should be able to get a room ready for you. You could all stay over, if Gin doesn't mind and your parents are fine with it."
Gin felt all her thoughts grind to a painfully silent halt as she processed Kogane's words. Did she just invite everyone to stay the night? Did she just invite Negi to stay the night, in her house? A boy her age, staying over at her HOUSE?
"Eh!?" Gin and Sumi's voiced shouted in unison.
"That's very kind of you, but really, you don't need to go to those lengths..." Negi, seemingly unphased by the situation outside of feeling guilty over imposing upon the household, calmly stated.
Kogane's expression lightened into a soft, motherly smile toward the boy. "I know you don't want to be any trouble, but don't worry about it. You and, Fate-kun was it, are here by yourselves, aren't you?"
Negi nodded.
"I don't know what your situation back at your home is, but I'm sure your family must be worried about you." Kogane gently stated, a calming tone within her words. "If Gin was somewhere far from here and I had no way to know how she was doing, I would want her to be safe and taken care of above all else. I'm sure they're no different and want you to be okay, no matter how far apart you are."
Negi put a hand to his chin, thinking the words over for a moment, his eyes giving a brief glimpse into the deep thought he found himself in, still looking unsure on the offer. "You're… Right about that, but I have my own lodgings provided by the Taisha I can go back to."
Kogane shook her head, not losing her soft tone or smile. "I know you got here by yourself, but I bet however you got here would take more energy out of you to get back. If your family can't look out for you, then I'll do it for them. It's the least I can do, with how much you've helped our family and my own kid. We all need someone to look after us sometimes."
Gin felt like her face was going to explode. She had a point, and Gin was honestly worried about the other while wanting to pay them back for all the help, but this was still so embarrassing and she hadn't expected it to be this way.
Seeing the woman wasn't going to give up, Negi let out a defeated sigh. "Well, if Minowa-san doesn't mind it then..." The mage said, glancing toward Gin.
Now, all eyes in the room were on Gin, and the girl felt herself freeze under the gazes. The situation was a lot for her to process and she felt like her brain would overheat from the fact a boy outside her family was going to stay the night at her house, but she was concerned for Negi and it sounded like the mage needed someone to tie them down in order to get them to rest.
"Er, well… I guess I don't mind..." Gin muttered, barely able to raise her voice above a whisper. She felt ready for her face to catch on fire at the idea of 'inviting' a boy to stay the night, but if it was Negi, then she didn't mind so much with how much he'd helped her...
She knew Sonoko was still never going to let her live this down.
"Yaaaaay~." The blonde in question cheered, a pleased smile on her face, anything mischievous comments thankfully withheld. "We haven't had a sleepover in a while, and we've never stayed over at Mino-san's place before."
"Great, I'll go set something up for you." Smiling brightly, Gin's mother said, exiting the room and heading off into the depths of the household.
"..." Sumi glared at Negi for a few seconds. "… We're staying in separate rooms."
Gin suppressed a groan, looking down at her book like it was suddenly the most interesting object in the world. This night would be a long one.
Negi flipped through his personal notebook, going over the notes he had on him about finding a way home once more. He knew he should've been trying to sleep, he really should have, especially given how Fate, Gin's mother, and the Heroes had all expressed their concern for him over his work habits. But though he knew they were right, sleep refused to come easy for him, too many worries bouncing around his head. How was everyone back home doing? What if The Lifemaker had tried something or the Blue Mars Project suffered a major setback? And if he was going to lie in bed unable to sleep, then surely it was better to be doing something with that time, rather than waste it getting nothing done, wasn't it? Even still, he couldn't deny that, physically, it was starting to take a toll on him, especially with the feeling of a nice bed under him now, but mentally, the child was too wired for rest.
The Minowas had been kind enough to give him a simple, but comfortable room for his stay. The guest room of the house was mostly plain in furnishings, aside from the bed with a night stand, a single chair by a small desk, and a few shelves to hold things. There were also two lights, one on the desk and another on the ceiling, but they went unused as to not disturb anyone this late. His enhanced eyesight and supernatural senses weren't bothered by the dark anyway.
A familiar presence brought Negi's attention to the door of his provided room. He felt Gin standing in front of it, the darkness doing little to hinder his enhanced perceptions, but the girl simply stood there for a few moments, not entering like he expected. Was something the matter?
Standing up from the bed, Negi made his way over to the door, sliding it open quietly to see the girl standing there dressed in her sleepwear of a plain white t-shirt and gray shorts. He knew she wasn't going to be happy he was still up, but he didn't want to lie and trying to pretend he was sleeping. "Minowa-san? Is there something you needed? You were standing at the door for a bit without doing anything."
And, just as he expected, the girl did not look pleased. "… Why the hell are you still up..." Gin flatly muttered, starring with wide eyed exasperation.
"Er, well, I couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd go over a few theories while I was waiting, to see about working out some problems Fate and I have been having with our experiments. Since I'm here instead of with them." Negi explained, though he still had a small trace of guilt on his face. It was the truth, but it didn't mean he wasn't feeling bad about being unable to follow through, even after the earlier blow up.
"And I thought Sumi was bad…" Gin responded with a soft groan. "Can't you, I dunno, use some magic spell to knock yourself out?"
"Unfortunately, I think that wouldn't work." Negi said with a shake of his head. "I've always had high magical resistance like this and it just got worse after becoming immortal. Something helpful, like healing magic, works fine, but something negative like that would be far less effective on me, especially by myself." If he really wanted to knock himself out, maybe he could have, at least before. Even magically induced negative status effects that could impact him, he recovered from abnormally fast.
Gin sighed in frustration, before recomposing herself and looking directly into Negi's eyes. "Alright, move over… I'll stay with you till you're asleep." Her cheeks faintly turning red, Gin stated.
She was going to do what? No, he couldn't ask her to do that. Negi had already failed at trying to sleep, and he didn't want to end up with them both not sleeping the entire night. She'd already offered him somewhere to stay.
"Uh-uh." Gin shook a hand dismissively, just as Negi started to open his mouth. "You remember what my okaa-san said. 'We all need someone to look after us sometimes', right? And leaving you by yourself didn't work, so I'll stay here and make sure you get some rest. You've looked out for me a lot, between when we first met, helping me with and getting to school, at the beach… I haven't gotten to do much for you, outside of one tour of Ines, so… Lemme look out for you this time." The girl finished, her voice trailing off toward an odd shyness, yet holding a sincerity and softness within each word.
Negi paused. After that, he couldn't so simply brush her off. The girl was like him in that they were persistent when it came to helping others and their concern. Not only that, this situation was stirring up a nostalgic feeling in the child. He'd had some of his students, particularly Asuna, try to force him to take care of himself whenever he went too far. Without someone like that around, he was starting to slip into some bad habits again, wasn't he? He appeared to need someone like this more than he liked… "Alright… Thank you, Minowa-san, come in then." The mage retreated back into the room, heading over to take a seat on the bed again, beckoning Gin inside.
"Sorry for the trouble, again. I guess I've been slipping into some bad habits without someone around. Fate told me to relax a bit on the day we went to the beach, but I guess it was hard to listen when we're working together on getting home. He didn't seem too pleased about the situation." He knew Fate meant well and had been somewhat forceful, but they had yet to go this far. Not that he could blame them, given how they were busy themselves with working.
"Hey, it's okay. Sounds like you had someone to pull you back from doing this stuff in your world." Gin said, taking a seat on the chair in the room, the back of it facing toward Negi and being used as a headrest for Gin's chin. "Go ahead and lie down first, you're supposed to be trying to sleep." The girl gestured to the arranged pillows on Negi's bed with a hand.
"A few people." Negi said, nostalgic memories coming back to him, leaning on his side as Gin had requested. From simple matters to overworking himself, to the more dangerous ones like when he was grappling with not losing control to Magia Erebea's corruptive influence, he'd often had people there to help get through it. "I was never quite this bad before, at least I think, though maybe that's because I had people who were watching out for me."
"I bet they had their hands full..." Gin muttered, a vaguely amused grin stretching across one side of her cheek. "Having trouble sleeping cause of that? Worried about everyone you know back home, I'm guessing."
Negi nodded, a small frown making its way onto his face. "That's a big part of it, yes. There's a lot going on in my world I and a lot of people close to me are involved in, just like how you and your friends are responsible for defending against the Vertex to keep the world safe."
Gin's expression lowered, a contemplative heaviness in her eyes, offering a sympathetic frown. "Ah, so you're busy with some big stuff back in your home. No wonder you're worried..."
"I'm not the only one directly dealing with it, unlike you three." Negi quickly corrected with a wave of his hand. "But Fate and I both have an important part in dealing with it all and us not being there could have a large impact." The finer details of everything were too much and too sensitive to go over. It wasn't that he didn't trust Gin, but the full scope of the hurdles he faced would've been difficult for many people to understand, on top of what secrets it held. But he didn't mind discussing being involved in something this important, especially with another person who could understand having so much riding on you.
"But, it's more than just that. I'm sure everyone's worried about us, even aside from those large problems. My class had just gone through graduation and was entering their first year of high school, a very busy time for many of them. But, not only do I not know if they're fine, they don't know how I'm doing. We're all important to each other, so I'm sure it must be causing them a lot of trouble." Frowning, the mage continued with a low tone. His class hadn't exactly ever been 'normal' and they all had plenty of worries, but many of them seemed to of become stable once the ordeal with Mundus Magicus had been resolved. With him gone and no way for anyone to know if he was safe, especially with the kind of enemies he had lurking out there, everyone must've been so worried.
"Hrm…." Gin hummed, closing her eyes to think, tapping the back of her chair with a finger rhythmically.
"You know..." The girl began slowly. "When I was fighting those three Vertex and things looked bad, I wondered a bit about how everyone would be if I… didn't make it back. Not that that's what I planned!" Gin quickly corrected, her voice rising briefly into a more light hearted, casual tone, before falling back toward the more serious one. "But, I mean, just in case... I thought about how my family was gonna manage, how Sumi and Sonoko would keep fighting the Vertex, if they were all going to be okay without me around..." The girl paused, looking down toward the floor in thought for a few seconds, letting her words hang over the air surrounding Negi and her.
"And wanting to protect everyone, not make em go through that, that stuff helped keep me going in that fight, but… I think they'd still be okay." Gin stated, refocusing her attention back toward Negi. "And that was for something you can't ever fix." Gin's voice rose toward a more optimistic tone. "You're not in any danger of dying and hey, things worked out fine in the end for me, didn't they? So, I'm sure everyone misses and is worried about you, but I bet they're managing just fine right now and you'll make it work out somehow." Flashing a wide, comforting smile, Gin reassuringly stated. However, there was an odd, almost unnoticeable hesitation in her smile, like something was holding it back from being as bright as it could be.
Negi couldn't help the small grin appearing on his face from the optimistic words, but, before he could respond, a small yawn escaped his mouth.
"Hehe." Gin chuckled at the sight, a cheeky grin on her face, the earlier hesitation apparently gone. "Thought talking about this stuff might help. See? You're looking tired now."
Well, he couldn't deny he did feel more run down and getting to air the concerns weighing on his chest, did feel better. The bed was feeling increasingly comfortable and inviting, his head had even slipped onto the pillows by now.
"Besides, I bet those people who did this stuff for you, would be real mad if they knew what you were doing now." Gin teased with a small giggle.
She had him there as well… Maybe it wouldn't hurt to at least try sleeping again. "Alright, fine..." Negi muttered with a defeated sigh. "But, thank you for the concern and talking with me, Minowa-san." He was lucky to have someone that went through this much trouble for his sake, even here. Gin certainly was a kind and thoughtful person.
"It's the least I can do with everything you've done for me. Now, get some sleep. I'm not leaving till you do." Negi heard Gin state as he closed his eyes, feeling darkness come toward him easier than before, even with some concerns still lingering.
Finally… She'd managed to get him to at least try to sleep. It'd been a little easier than she expected, admittedly, but with him already tired, that likely helped. Gin knew herself it got harder to stay awake if you were exhausted and had a bed under you. She would still have to stick around for a little and ensure they were actually asleep. Not that she expected him to fake her out, but someone like Negi appeared to need a person like her to look after them and she wanted it done right.
However, that left Gin alone with her thoughts, and without anyone else watching her, she felt a small frown take over her face because of it. There was still that odd weight in her chest that came up when talking about him returning home… It was normal to miss a friend if they were going to be gone for a while, wasn't it? But Negi's situation wasn't like say, moving to the other end of Shikoku. If someone did that, while she wouldn't be able to see them in person as much, at least it'd be possible to keep in contact over the internet or something. Here? That definitely wasn't an option, far as she saw. Once he was gone, she wasn't going to see him until they came back, as even if hypothetically there was a way for Gin to easily travel to his world, she couldn't because of her duty. The Vertex could come at any time and the three Heroes were normally the only defenses, the mages being a temporary thing. But he'd come back for sure, wouldn't he? While still quite busy from the sounds of it, their situation sounded a bit more stable, given his comment about there being more than him or Fate solely involved. Even with these assurances though, her heart still felt a pang of sadness at the idea of him eventually leaving that refused to go. Ugh, why was this so difficult for her? She was friends with plenty of the boys in her class and had no issues, but everything with Negi felt different. She wanted them to get home and take off this stress, but she couldn't deny how much she would miss him and wished things could be simpler.
Some rustling drew Gin's attention elsewhere, forcing her to bury such questions for now. In the bed, Negi had a troubled expression on his closed eyes, and shifted in the bed uncomfortably, hand tightly gripping the covers. Was he having a nightmare or something? Maybe the earlier talk didn't help quite as much as Gin hoped. What was she going to do about this now? Normally, she might've woken him up to get rid of the bad dream, but with how much work it'd taken to get him asleep in the first place, that didn't seem like a good idea.
Gin pursed her lips, a potential idea coming to her. She had been looking at a spell to see dreams. She'd originally taken an interest from some of the wild dreams Sonoko had told everyone about, wanting to see them for herself sometime if Sonoko didn't mind sharing their contents. But that was a different situation than this.
Seeing the mage turn again, Gin made up her mind. She wasn't sure if this would work, having not had much of a chance to use it in practice, but perhaps it was something she could at least try. Whatever it was seemed to be troubling Negi quite a bit and she wanted to help.
Slowly, Gin placed her hand on Negi's forehead, as she remembered from the spell instructions, and muttered a quick chant.
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
For the curious, Gin's mother's name, Kogane, has the meaning of "gold" in Japanese and was the reason I picked it.
Secondly, school begins in 3 weeks for me and it's looking to be an incredibly rough one. Unfortunately, that likely means updates will slow down significantly once it begins. However, 3 weeks is still quite a bit of time and I'm making decent progress, so I'm confident of getting 2, maybe even 3, chapters finished within that timeframe. Expect 18 in a week or two!