Mahou Sensei Negima! is the creation and intellectual property of Akamatsu Ken and Kodansha.

Unequally Rational and Emotional Mahorafest Special.

Cosplay and Consequences.

"Ah, Chisame, there you are!" Negi said happily, appearing right behind her and Matoi, startling them both. "I was looking for you!"

"Gaahhhh!" Matoi cried, spinning around along the main target of her affection, so they could face him and a curiously blinking Murakami. "Negi-sama! You were here?!"

"Yes, alw- No, sorry, we just arrived," Negi said, laughing a bit, lamely. "Reception seems to be somewhat difficult today across the campus, so I couldn't call you even though I tried..."

"How, how did you find us then?!" Chisame said.

"Well, Hakase-san said we could find you here," Natsumi said. "I never figured you'd have this kind of interests, Chisame-san!" she added, taking another pointed look at the crowd of costumed youngsters gathered all around the gates of the small building decorated with all manners of colorful banners. "Cosplaying, really?"

"I'm not into cosplay, this is Senpai's idea!" Chisame said, throwing the sighing Tsunetsuki under the train. "What, what are you doing with Sensei anyway?! Don't you have a theater play to stage?!"

"That's tomorrow, Chisame-san," Natsumi said, frowning.

"Ah," Chisame blinked. "But even so, what-"

"Is it a date?" Matoi asked, so Chisame would not need to do it herself.

Natsumi's cute frown grew. "What if it is?"

Negi began coughing.

"Uhhh... Nothing, naturally..." Chisame said, unsure of how to react. "But Iinchou might take it personally, and since you're friends with her..."

Natsumi waved a hand. "Iinchou approved this! Not that she would need to, we aren't in the classroom and she isn't Sensei's mother. We both had some spare time and decided to spend it together, that's all."

Chisame was even more confused now. What had Murakami eaten for breakfast today, nails? Then a shadow of suspicion grew into her mind, and she narrowed her eyes at Negi.

The boy shrank a bit, with a nervous smile.

"So, a cosplay contest, then," Natsumi hummed, opening her purse and pulling her credit card out of it. "And they're renting costumes over there... I think I'll give it a try! You'll be coming along, won't you, Sensei?"

"You, seriously?" Matoi asked.

"Sure, why not?" Natsumi glared quietly at her. "This is part of acting as well. Taking the appearance of someone else is the first part of assuming another identity, and I have experience at that. I want to show Sensei before the play."

"Oh ho ho, that's interesting!" Matoi laughed, with a hand and its sleeve covering her mouth briefly. "Chisame-sama will be competing as well!"

Negi blinked. "Oh, so you are entering as well? I thought that you'd said-"

"I'm not! I'm not!" Chisame said. "Senpai is just making crazy talk again!"

"You're in costume, though," Natsumi said calmly, pointing at her classmate's fancy clothes.

"I told you already, this wasn't my idea!" Chisame said, blushing.

"Chisame-sama, may I have some crazy talk in private with you, please?" Matoi asked, grabbing Chisame by an arm and then pulling her towards the bathrooms.

"What? No! I don't want to!" Chisame protested as she was pulled away. "Sensei! Say something...!"

Negi sighed and waved half-heartedly. "I'm sorry, Chisame, but I think you need to discuss this quickly, whatever it is about." As Matoi pulled his roommate into one of the toilet stands, he glared back at Natsumi, rather blandly. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Maybe just a bit," Natsumi admitted with an impish smile. "Come on! After buying my ticket, you'll help me pick a costume, won't you, Sensei?"

Matoi put her hands on the wall of the stand, one at each side of the cringing Chisame. All the better to prevent the younger girl from escaping.

"You're entering this contest, Chisame-sama," she told her.

"No, I don't want to! This isn't like online cosplaying!" Chisame whined. "I freeze in the place of actual people!"

"What kind of excuse is that? You never have any problems speaking you mind! You are just yourself in front of Ayaka, Kagurazaka, Kotaro, Emiya-kun, Saber-sama, or even Evangeline-sama!"

"That's the thing! I'm being myself there!" Chisame said. "I'm not Chiu there! I can't be Chiu in front of that many living and breathing people! The screen is my friend! The screen protects me!"

"Just imagine they're all naked!"

"I'm not Haruna, that would only make it worse! Dummy!"

Matoi sighed. "Chisame-sama, you must be brave! It's for Negi-sama's sake! You aren't going to lose to that mouse girl with bad hair, are you?"

Chisame blinked. "Mouse?"

"Chisame-sama, you saw her! She just gained that much of a spine, off a stage, and she's taking Negi-sama on a date! You saw his guilty expression!" Matoi wringed her hands. "She just learned our secret!"

There were a few bangs on the door. "Excuse me, but can you keep carrying on with your secret somewhere else? I need to use the can!" came a loud female voice from outside.

Matoi hissed. "There are some bushes out there! Leave us alone or I cut you up!"

"Bitch, I'd like to see you try!" the voice said while Chisame moaned her angst.

"I'm from Class 3-F!" Matoi roared.

There was a moment of stunned silence. Then the sound of loud steps running away. And then silence again.

Matoi looked back at Chisame, who was doing an extremely mortified expression. "If you give her a finger she'll grab the whole arm!" the older girl said. "We already have too much competition!"

"I don't know what this 'We' business is, and I don't want to do this regardless!" Chisame finally shoved her back. "Let Murakami have her fun, what do I care?! It's not like I am interested on-"

"Chisame-saaaan!" Natsumi's voice called from outside. "Since you were going to register anyway, we took the liberty of entering you while I registered! I hope you don't mind! Now, can you please step out already? There's a long line waiting for their turn, and they are impatient...!"

Chisame clenched her teeth while a vein bulged on her head. "I'm so going to crush this little slut," she murmured.

Matoi smiled beautifully and nodded. "That's the spirit, my precious!"

"Okay, okay, so let's see what you are wearing!" Chisame growled, stomping as she rejoined Negi and Natsumi outside. "It can't be anything too flashy, that's not your- Aahhhh," she trailed off, coming to a brisk halt.

Natsumi made a coquettish smile, and then hid the lower half of her face behind a large fan with Japan's flag on it. She was wearing an elaborate, exquisitely ornate geisha costume, similar to the one Ayaka had worn in Cinema Town but even more ornate. Her face was delicately powdered white, and her unruly short brown hair was hidden under a convincing silky black wig, nestling around her exposed shoulders. The lower kimono showed some leg to her advantage, but not enough to reveal how actually skinny the leg underneath was.

"Do you like it?" Natsumi asked. "Sensei helped me pick it. It was the most expensive one available, but he insisted on paying for it himself."

"It's... cute," Chisame managed to find her voice, the wind briefly blown out of her. "It... It plays to your strengths."

Then she tensed, distracted by some annoying sound coming from all too close. She looked aside, frowned, and slapped the back of Matoi's head, interrupting her Jiiiiiiiiiiii in process. "Hey!" Chisame said.

Matoi blushed, and blinked several times. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" she said. She sounded a lot like Ai. "I don't know what came over to me!"

Natsumi spun around with a charmed smile. Negi couldn't help looking after her, in silence. "Thank you so very much, Sensei! I'll pay you with the prize money!"

"There's... no need for that, really!" Negi gulped. "Consider it my treat... I've barely ever done anything for you, after all..."

Chisame looked helplessly at the black Biblio Roulin Rouge costume she'd picked. She'd figured out that a simple but effective costume based on a cult figure striking the exact balance between not being in vogue enough to avoid copycats and remaining popular enough to stay in everyone's minds would give her an edge, should she decide to actually enter, but after this...

When did this little nobody get so pretty?! Chisame thought frantically. Was she hiding her power level all this time?! Did she look ugly only by standing between Iinchou and Naba?!

"Sensei, I need to tell you something in private for a sec, okay?!" Chisame said, then grabbed Negi by an arm and began pulling him away. "Senpai, stay here with Murakami so nobody harasses her, alright?!"

"'Kay," Matoi said, standing fixed where she was and staring oddly at Natsumi. Jiiiiiiiiiiii...

Natsumi winced.

Negi was taken by Chisame behind the building, to a relatively isolated spot. "I can't believe you'd do this to me!" she said, trying to keep her voice down. "Are you setting me up for a fall?!"

Negi blinked. "Ah? No! I'd never do that to you!"

"Murakami's a real doll when she pretties up!" Hasegawa hissed, pointing around the building. "Not as pretty as Chiu, but Chiu's got extra resources and you know it! I don't have those advantages here!"

"It's just like I've always told you," Negi said evenly. "You are much prettier than Chiu..."

She covered his lips with a hand. "Shut up, you little Casanova, I'm not going to buy your snake oil! We're canceling that inscription right now!"

"But I really want to see you shine on the stage...!" Negi pleaded from between her fingers. "It's just a contest anyway, winning isn't everything!"

"These things aren't done for fun! You don't understand anything!" Chisame rolled her eyes. "You know who's going to judge that contest? Shirogane Tsumugi, the top cosplayer in all of Japan! I can't lose face before a person that important!"

"Chisame, calm down," he tried to negotiate. "You won't be humiliated, your natural beauty will shine through, but even so, it's not like Chisame cares about those things, right? For all everyone knows, Chiu won't be on that stage at any moment, so she won't lose anything!"

Chisame recoiled at this point. She gritted her teeth. "That... That may be right, nobody would expect anything from me... But it's embarrassing all the same!" In the heat of the moment, she failed to notice she was raising her voice more and more by the moment. "Shirogane Tsumugi is a TV and YouTube celebrity, cameras will be recording the whole event! This isn't the tournament after all! I won't be humbled by Murakami of all people in live, whether as Chisame or as Chiu!"

Then a quiet voice hummed, sending chills up the spines of the boy and girl alike.

"Hmmmm... It seems too good to be true. Just running into the famous Chiu, here of all places...?"

They both snapped their heads aside to glare at a small and flat girl standing there, holding her thumbs and pointers up to frame Chisame's face, and squinting her reddish eyes at it. She had very fair skin and very long ebony hair, and wore an all black cat uniform, with a frilly short skirt, false ears, and a long perky tail. Under an eye, she had a small beauty mark. She seemed around the same height as Makie, but her shoes had very thick and tall soles so in reality she was probably closer to Yue's height.

"Yet the face is basically the same," the girl observed with cold and analytical aloofness. "So is the build. The acne can be easily edited out with Photoshock. Who'd have thought it, Kirino was correct for once. Then again, of course her treacherous eyes could capture deception easily..."

"D-Deception?!" Chisame gasped, horrified.

"This isn't what it looks, young lady," Negi said, recomposing himself. "We are just... practicing for Chisame's sketch on stage!"

The short girl chuckled, closing her eyes and shaking her head. "No, no, this one isn't fooled as easily! I shall introduce myself."

She swept a hand up in a grandiose, flourishing gesture. "I am CLAMP Campus' own angel of darkness! Kuroneko, three years champion of the CLAMP cosplay circuit! No doubt you have heard about my exploits!"

"Uh... I only arrived in this country last year, I'm afraid..." Negi said.

"I haven't ever heard about you," Chisame answered truthfully, right before moving into murkier waters by adding, "Why should I? After all, I'm just a normal girl with no knowledge whatsoever of that nerdy world...!"

This 'Kuroneko' jabbed a finger in the air towards her. "I knew it! The voice is the same as well! You change your tone, naturally, but I can tell! Finally! A worthy opponent! Our battle will be legendary!"

Chisame growled, lunged ahead, and tightened her hands around the outsider's mouth so nobody else would listen. "Let's... Let's go discuss this somewhere else, all right?!"

"Murakami, we're back!" Chisame said as she and Negi walked back to Natsumi, with a mildly curious Kuroneko in tow. "Sorry we took so long."

"Ah, ah, no prob, Senpai was... keeping me company!" Natsumi gulped, twitching under Matoi's glare. But then, much to the actress' relief, the stalker's head snapped back, alerted by her DEEP LOVING senses, so the fixed stare fell directly on Kuroneko.

JIIIIIIIIIIII?!

Kuroneko recoiled, hiding her face behind a sleeve. "Ugh! What is this sensation of evil?!"

"3-F student," Chisame said. "You'd understand if you studied here. Murakami, Senpai, this is Gokou Ruri from CLAMP, and she's going to take part in the contest."

"You are to call me Kuroneko, the angel of-"

"Whatever," Chisame said. Before Negi could chastise her, she went on. "These are my classmate Murakami Natsumi, and Tsunetsuki Matoi, my, ah, admirer."

Matoi seemed to loom over the shorter newcomer, making her shudder and back away. "So you are a rival to Chisame-sama *and* Natsumi-sama, hmmmmm?!"

"When, when did I become 'Natsumi-sama'?!" Natsumi protested.

Soon enough, Negi had herded them towards a table by a nearby small cafe, apart enough from the other customers. This last part was accomplished by virtue of Matoi being from 3-F, and locals whispering warnings to outsiders who tried to sit close.

"My friends will be here shortly," Kuroneko said plainly as she put her phone down on the table, by her drink. "Well, my friends and the sister of one of my friends. They have been sightseeing, and that takes a while when you have someone as mule-headed as Kirino in your group."

"I understand," Chisame said. "We have a fair share of mule-heads of our own in our group, too."

"Not nice, Chisame," Negi sighed.

"Then you are the famous child teacher of Mahora," Kuroneko said in a bored tone, resting a cheek on her fist. "Yes, yes, I believe I remember now. Saori-san once mentioned something about you. You are some kind of campus celebrity?"

Negi laughed that off, blushing. "Far from it! It's just the novelty factor of having someone of my age teaching, but that's died down gradually. As you'll see, we aren't being surrounded by fans or anything."

Matoi took advantage of his distraction to stare venomous daggers at several girls hiding behind nearby bushes, spying on them. Akatsutsumi Momoko, Gotokuji Miyako, Matsubara Kaoru, Tomoe Mami and Miki Sayaka all gasped and ducked together, under the line of sight.

Kuroneko raised an eyebrow, having caught a glimpse as this happened behind Negi's back. Chisame groaned. "I see..." the black haired girl said.

Natsumi puffed under her breath while downing her second glass of ice cold lemonade. Now that she thought about it, choosing this kind of costume on such a hot day had been a mistake, perhaps...

Kuroneko chuckled, shaking her own glass in lazy circles. "Never mind, even if you and your lot are popular here, that isn't going to earn you points with the judges, much less with Shirogane-sama. I have previous credentials, unlike both of you, but since you were kind enough to extend this invitation for a drink to me, I shall cast a good luck spell on you, so you win the second and third places!"

"Oh, thank you very much," Chisame said dryly.

Negi looked quietly at Kuroneko. He couldn't feel any magical aptitude in her, so he guessed she had to be what Fujimura-sensei and Itoshiki-sensei called a 'chuuni', pretending to have powers out of a sense of delusion and self importance. Mages were instructed to leave chuunis alone with those pretenses since they made mundanes more eager to reject the reality of magic as a whole.

"Ah, those are my friends and the other person," Kuroneko said coolly, pointing down the street. Negi, Matoi, Chisame and Natsumi followed the finger she was used to point casually, and saw a tall black haired young man, a much shorter girl with long and very light brown hair, and a gangly girl who was easily as tall as Mana or Mana, wearing thick opaque glasses, denim pants, and a green, long sleeved shirt that couldn't be that comfortable in this dark and humid weather. "Over here! There are seats left for three, but Kirino can stand for long periods, so..."

"Don't you start!" warned the shorter of the two incoming girls, getting ahead of the others, and then frowning at Negi and the others. "Um, ah, good afternoon! How do you do, I'm Kosaka Kirino, and these are Saori-chan and my Aniki Kyosuke..."

Natsumi blinked. "Saori?"

The very tall girl seemed to blink as well, stopping by the table and looking down- way down- at Natsumi. For a moment, they just stared at each other, unable to recognize each other.

"Um... Saori-san?" the tall boy rasped after a fair bit of this. "Do you know-"

The mountain of a girl leaned down and pulled her swirly glasses up, blinking at Natsumi. "Is that really you, Natsumi-san?!"

"Makishima Ojou-sama?!" Natsumi gasped back. "Why, why are you dressed like that...?!"

The beautiful, just revealed grayish orbs of the other girl blinked again, this time with some apprehension. "Ah, well, you will see... This, this is my hobby!" she said, pulling up the bags full of otaku goods she'd been carrying, so they'd be squeezed against her generous bosom. The young man, who was carrying even more bags on him, sighed. The Kirino girl, who was carrying no bags at all, hummed to herself, intrigued. "No, not my hobby! My passion! My life! But please don't spread the word around! My parents don't approve of this!"

Matoi, who was sympathetic enough to the plights of strangers who weren't standing in her way yet, remarked this for the bushes with a subtle motion of a knife slicing her own neck. The bushes shook roughly.

Natsumi nodded absently, and then broke into a shaky, nervous smile. "Ahh... Sensei, Chisame-san, Senpai, this is Makis-"

"Pleassse!" Saori said, pressing a hand on Natsumi's mouth. "My name is Saori Bajeena!"

"Bajeena?" Chisame repeated.

"I... I have known Natsumi-chan for a while, since my family is close friends with those of Ayaka and Chizuru!" Saori Bajeena explained in a kind of rush. "And you must be Negi-sensei, Ayaka is always talking about you..."

"No way!" Kirino said, leaning down in a snap to get a closer, very intrusive look at Negi before he could say anything. Natsumi and Chisame winced in disgust, being instantly reminded of Suzumiya Haruhi. Matoi began grinding her teeth. "This is THE Negi Springfield from Mahora, the Maker of a Thousand Shotacons?!"

"Yes, indeed," Kuroneko nodded stoically.

Kirino grinned at her. "And Neko-chan already fell for him! Having cold tea with him and everything! See, Kyosuke, I always told you that- YEOWCH!" she finished as Kuroneko, still as coolly as ever, poked two fingers into her eyes. "Still the same crazy cat as ever, clawing for the eyes!"

Kyosuke and Negi shared a first mutual glance of quiet, subdued and resigned grief.

"Oh, then you are classmates with Paru as well, aren't you? I love Paru!" Kirino said, now sitting at the table as well, along Saori. There was no room for Kyosuke so he stood aside stoically, now holding Kirino's bags and Saori's. "Do you think you could call her here?"

"You know Haruna. Of course you would know Haruna," Chisame deadpanned.

"Everyone in the fandom knows Paru-chan!" Saori said happily after giving the nerdiest laugh imaginable. Natsumi looked at her in shock, still unwilling to believe completely that this was the same perfect Ojou who would drink perfumed tea with Chizu-nee and Iinchou. "She's friends with everybody , goes to all cons, and draws for all major series, and several obscure ones as well!"

"Oh, it's wonderful, I had no idea Haruna was so beloved out of 3-A!" Negi said, genuinely glad.

"Yeah," Matoi said. "Even in our circle of close acquaintances, opinions about her can be... mixed."

"What kind of stick in the mud without a heart could dislike Paru?" Kirino asked. "Ah, and you must be that Deep Love girl Harumi mentioned, then!"

"You know Harumi as well?" Matoi asked.

"Wherever Paru goes, Harumi isn't far behind! They're in the same circle, after all!" Saori said. "That, and she and Kirino-chan have been working together on some secret projects of late..."

Kirino rasped, somewhat uneasily, and strangely tapping on her throat for a moment, because of some reason or another. "That... That's nothing. I write here and there on the side to earn some extra money, but I don't draw..."

Negi thought about this, reflecting on how little he actually knew about Haruna, despite spending so much time with her, and despite how open she was. Come to think about it, he'd had pretty much no contact with the artistic side of her life, and that was so important for her, that he couldn't help but worry that he was distracting her from her true calling...

"Why is he spacing out now?" Kyosuke asked, looking at Negi's concentrated expression.

Chisame sighed. "That's his guilty face. He's blaming himself over some imaginary slight to someone else. He's probably beating himself up over ignoring so much about Haruna's friends outside our classroom."

Negi blinked, snapping back to reality. "Ah? Sorry, I got distracted for a second. Were you saying anything?"

Kuroneko chuckled cagily, leaning back on her chair. "I was about to mention that you also know the famous Chiu..."

"Eeeehhhh?!" Kirino said. "You, you mean that Chiu-sama actually studies in Mahora?!"

Kuroneko nodded. "I have to admit you were right, this once. It turns out that-"

"PAY!" Kirino said, extending a vehement hand towards Kuroneko.

Ruri hissed like a cat and slapped the hand aside. "Away with you! Do you only think about one-upping me?!"

"We made an honest bet! Not my fault you were dumb enough to think Chiu-sama studied in Ohtori!" Kirino growled. "You gonna try and weasel out of our agreement?!"

"Who is Chiu?" Natsumi and Kyosuke asked at the same time.

Kirino gave her brother an irritated back glare. "How can you hang around us this long without learning anything?! Chiu-sama is the biggest cosplay star who hasn't sold herself to companies! The brightest and most beautiful of all Internet idols!" She utterly failed to realize how Chisame's face was heating up at these comments. Kuroneko smirked. "I'd love to shake her hand, so much...!" she cooed, with a large barrage of pink hearts flying out of her. Then she looked at Negi, Chisame and Natsumi again. "Tell me where she is!"

"Um, I'm afraid we don't have her permission to do that," Negi gulped. "Chiu values her privacy too much..."

"Paru-chan doesn't know about her, does she?" Saori asked. "Paru-chan would never hide that from us!"

"No, Chiu-sama's secret identity is only known to herself, Negi-sama, Chisame-sama, me, and three others," Matoi said with a smug smile, while a thought balloon with the faces of Misora, Hakase and Cocone appeared over her. Then a smaller thought balloon appeared at the lower right corner of the big one, with the face of a crying Chamo saying 'I don't count?!' "She has made us swear under our honor, and we will not betray her trust!"

"Oh... Oh, I can get that," Kirino said, deflating. "Right, if everyone knew Chiu-sama's identity, the magic would be lost..."

"Quite! Quite rightly!" Chisame nodded rapidly. Kuroneko snickered to herself.

"But you'll get a good word on us to Chiu-sama, won't you?" Saori asked with childlike enthusiasm.

"We will," Negi promised.

"And you'll get us autographs?" Kirino asked very eagerly.

"I don't think she'll refuse to please her devoted fans, right, Chisame?" Negi asked.

"Why, why are you asking me about that, you know I'm the one of us who sees Chiu the least!" Chisame sputtered.

"That, I can believe," Kyosuke deadpanned, and Natsumi nodded.

"Well. It's been a very entertaining conversation," Kuroneko said, looking at her wristwatch with a goth design, "but it's almost time for the contest. We'll better head back so you can witness my triumph, Kyosuke, Kirino, Saori-san."

"You wish," Kirino sneered. "I bet Natsumi-san and Chisame-san will kick your butt!"

"Actually, about that," Chisame said, taking a hand to her stomach. "Maybe I won't be able to after all.. My stomach hurts a bit..."

"Oh, come on!" Natsumi frowned. "Sensei paid good money for your inscription!"

Kirino laughed and slapped Chisame's shoulder in a way neither Chisame herself nor Matoi appreciated particularly. "C'mon, you don't need to make excuses! It's perfectly normal to feel stage fright! Just imagine that all of us are naked...!"

Kyosuke's eyes snapped hideously wide.

"No, really..." Chisame grinded her teeth. "The stomach ache is genuine..."

Negi looked at her in concern while everyone else just stared blankly at her.

"..." Chisame said. "Fine, what the heck. The sooner I'm done with this the better..."

"Shirogane-sama is really beautiful, isn't she?" Kirino asked, with small stars in her eyes.

They were behind the stage now, waiting for their turns. Negi, Kyosuke, Saori, Kirino and Matoi had been allowed to stay there as the assistants of the three cosplayers, and because Saori had money to slip discreetly. They watched the bespectacled, light-blue haired, and frankly pretty cosplay superstar smiling and waving at the audience from her spot at the top of the jury. Around her, there were four other jury members, who were generic enough that you are advised to imagine them as faceless NPCs.

Chisame bit on her thumb, also looking at Shirogane from afar. Negi and Kyosuke were just doing small talk, while Natsumi fanned herself bravely trying to endure through the heat. Damn, she is actually pretty without the need for Photoshock! Chisame thought. No wonder they call her the Ultimate Cosplayer...

"Our first contestant! Kitagawa Marin from CLAMP Gakuen, dressed as Shizuku from Slippery Girls 2!"

Hot damn! Chisame bit harder on the thumb, almost making it bleed. Her eyes widened at the sight of a gorgeous girl in lascivious black making her way into the scene confidently and waving happily at the crowd. Talk about starting with the wrong foot! How can I compete with that?!

"Wooooa! Whoooaaaa!" Kirino pumped a fist up and down, blowing steam off her nose. "You already lost, Kuroneko! Just look at that fine piece of-!"

"There's a child present, you philistine!" Kuroneko scoffed, backhanding Kirino's mouth close casually. "Domain of the scene is based on more than mere physical appeal! I have vanquished better looking foes before!"

This midget is too confident, but then again, she's won several contests, so she must know what she's saying, Chisame reflected, shifting over to bite on a pointer finger. Natsumi and Negi had started looking at her with concern. Small flat types always have an audience too, after all! Aaarrrghhh, why did I get a turn so late?! I'm going to look worse the more people come before me!

"Next, Kinomoto Sakura-chan from Mahora!" the announcer said while Marin left the scene, bathed by thunderous applause and cheers. A lovely little girl in Card Captor cosplay entered the stage, smiling nervously and holding a long staff in her hands. "As you can see, she has modeled her appearance after the mysterious Card Captor Magical Girl protecting our city!"

"UUUUOOOOHHH! UOOOOHHHHHH!" several creepy young and old men in the audience chanted.

"SAKURA-CHAN, YOU ALREADY WOOOOON!" shouted a little black haired girl in the front rows of the audience, pumping her fist up while, around her, a few tall women in black suits raised signs reading APPLAUSE OR ELSE for the audience's benefit. Predictably, applauses abounded.

"Rrrghhhh!" Chisame said, pulling a handkerchief out and starting to pull on it with her teeth. Kyosuke joined Natsumi and Negi's silent chorus of worried looks. I, I am too outclassed! I'm five years too old to match this kawaii overload! She looks better than Honya at being Honya!

"Our third charming contestant is Hoshakuji Renge from Ohtori!" the announcer said. Sakura was leaving the scene, laughing nervously as Tomoyo threw kisses her way, and a rather cute blonde in an aristocratic white dress strode in with a poise to match Iinchou's. That's it! Chisame decided. I can't do this, I can't! I'll feign fainting, surely not even the trained actress will notice-

"Ah ha ha ha, we've got some rough competition, don't we, guys?" asked a familiar voice. They turned around and blinked, seeing two girls, one dressed as Sailor V and the other as one of her sidekicks, standing there, also waiting for their turns.

Except because Negi and Chisame knew better. These WERE Sailor Venus and Sailor Mars.

"What, what are you doing here?!" Chisame screamed. "Are you insane?!"

Natsumi blinked. "Chisame? Do you know these people?"

"Oh, we've met occasionally!" Sailor Venus grinned, slapping the shoulder of a groaning Sailor Mars. "I'm Mina Carol from England," she said, keeping a very passable English accent, "and this is my little friend, Chiyo Huit! We studied under Negi-kun back in the Isles, and now we study in, huh, CLAMP!"

"Seriously?" Saori blinked behind the thick glasses. "We're from CLAMP, and I've never seen you in any of our local events..."

"Ah ha ha ha ha, we usually keep out of contests, but we decided to give it a try this time!" said who very obviously, to anyone in the know for both of her appearances, was Aino Minako, faking a careless laugh. "Of course, we had to choose our favorite heroines, the wonderful Sailor V and her loyal sidekick Sailor Mars!"

"I thought Sailor Mars was the tall one with black hair?" Kyosuke said blandly. "Um, sorry, I'm Kosaka Kyosuke, this is my sister Kirino, and these are-"

"Woooww, really high production values for these costumes!" Kirino gushed, pushing him aside and tugging on the edge of Minako's skirt. "You two really nailed the look! You might even have a shot at beating that Kitagawa girl!"

"A chance? We have this in the bag!" Minako said proudly. "But thanks for the praise! It took us a lot of time and effort to get the costumes just right, but knowing that it'll pay off makes all the sweat worthwhile..."

Negi frowned, not amused at all. "Carol-san... I take it you didn't bring your other friend here? The one who could play a convincing Sailor Mercury...?"

"God, no," Shiho groaned bitterly. "She would kill us if she knew we're here."

"Of course she would," Negi said sternly. "Can we please discuss this aside for a moment, please? It's about how... you know that your family would disapprove of this, as well," he added, narrowing his eyes at the duo. "Why, I'm sure even your housecat would be mad at you..."

"Ah ha ha ha, Sensei, as if the cat had any saying on- Hey!" Minako gasped as Negi grabbed her by a wrist and began pulling her away. Shiho sighed and followed them. "Okay, but make it quick! Our turn's almost on! Why, you never were this forceful before, Negi-kun!"

Chisame breathed in and out. Then she started going after them. "Tsunetsuki, keep on looking at Murakami!"

"Yes! Chisame-sama, as you wish!" the stalker nodded, and then went back to staring at Natsumi. Jiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

Natsumi flinched. "Why me?!"

Kuroneko blinked. "Now what was that about?"

Kirino shrugged. "He's probably just worried that some supervillain with revenge in mind will crash the event, thinking that's the real Sailor V. Those things happen!"

"I really think we should leave," Kyosuke opined. "We can always watch the rest of the contest online..."

"NO!" Kuroneko and Kirino said as one.

"What are you thinking?!" Negi demanded angrily, and Chisame had to admit being somewhat impressed by his tone. She hadn't ever seen him this furious outside of battle. But he wasn't mad enough to start demanding answers without casting a cone of silence around them first, and that only after moving as far from everyone else as possible. "You are endangering not only yourselves, but everyone around us!"

"Don't take it out on me, this wasn't my idea!" Shiho said. "I just need the money to buy Oniichan an anniversary gift!"

"You're still going along with it!" Negi said. "And you, Aino-san! As the most veteran of the Senshi, I expected much better from you!"

Minako scowled. "Negi-kun. Youma don't attack in broad daylight unless they're really desperate, that just paints a huge bullseye on them so every superhero and Magical Girl anywhere near comes to pummel them! This is another form of combing the people from all of the schools for clues, since just waiting for the enemy to show their hand time and time again isn't really getting us anywhere. We need to be more proactive!"

"If you don't expect those... things to attack in the open, how will you even get clues on them?" Chisame asked.

Minako smiled and wagged a finger. "It's so simple, Chisame-chan! Anyone showing too much interest in Shiho will be suspicious and worth trailing later on!"

"Eh? Why only me and not you?" Sailor Mars questioned.

"Well, it's just natural that anyone in the audience would put a lot of attention on me..." Minako said, casually running a hand up one of her long and beautiful legs.

"I should have been a Symphogear," Shiho grumbled.

"I still don't know..." Negi mumbled.

"Oh, you aren't telling Saber and Rider that they can't walk around in public because they are Servants and they can draw enemies of their own, are you?" Shiho said. "It's the same principle!"

"Also, if we're attacked behind the scenes, then we've baited an enemy successfully, too," Minako smiled at an unconvinced Chisame and Negi, "but that, we can handle. We're ready for that kind of event!"

"And of course, the purse of the contest won't hurt you either," Chisame said.

Minako nodded. "You said it, Chisame-chan! Don't worry, I'm sure you'll net the third spot! That costume is very lovely..."

"Mina Carol and Chiyo Huit!" the announcer called. "Please come to the stage!"

"Oh, we'll have to continue arguing later, guys!" Minako laughed, grabbing Shiho and running with her to the stage. "Wish us luck, we'll do the same for you!"

Negi sighed. "If I ever have an idea as dumb as that of getting into a public contest under a transparent false name while every villain around is looking for me, then smack me across my big empty head, Chisame."

Chisame nodded and pulled her phone out, leaving a memo in it. "I'll be sure to cash on that when the time comes."

"Oh, your two friends are really good at this!" Kirino said when the two of them walked back with the others. She was clapping at the sight of both Sailor Senshi striding across the stage, posing and shouting heroic catchphrases. "Well the blonde one, mostly. Shorty-chan really sounds like she could use more practice."

"Mina-san has been a long time enthusiast of show business," Negi said with an air of resignation. "Chisame, is your stomach feeling better now?"

Chisame groaned. "Cut the gag, willya? It's my stage fright that isn't getting any better."

Matoi looked at her face for several moments, and then told her softly, "Chisame-sama... I'm sorry if you felt like I was pushing you..."

"I didn't feel it, you WERE doing it!" Chisame growled.

Matoi shrank on herself. "Please forgive me! I only wanted to see your beauty shine under the spotlight! But, if you don't want to do it, you should just walk away now...!"

"Yeah," Kyosuke opined. "Sorry to butt in, but if it's only making you feel bad, then there is no point, right?"

Chisame looked in silence at Minako and Shiho leaving the stage, waving at the crowd clapping and cheering them. "To be honest... I kinda would like to be able to... It's just that... It's too much, too fast..."

"Would you want to do it with me?" Natsumi offered.

"What?" Matoi asked.

"I mean, what if we perform together?!" Natsumi explained. "That way we can support each other! That can be done, right?"

"Yes, but you will have to split the prize money if you land any of the top positions," Kuroneko said.

"I wouldn't mind," Natsumi said. "This isn't about the money for me."

"Thank you, Murakami," Chisame said. "But I can't drag you down with me..."

"Oh, it won't be a problem!" Natsumi said. "I don't even have a script, I'm just going to walk across the scene and strike a few poses!"

"What's the point of having a geisha and a dark magical girl in the same stage at the same time?" Kyosuke asked. "What do those two costumes have to do with each other?"

Kirino hummed, rubbing her chin. "Wellll...! Biblion plots are often like that! Biblio Roulin Rouge will travel into the past to attack an ancient civilization and the Biblion Team will go after her, saving the local damsel in distress. But first, of course, Biblion will have to fight Roulin Rouge's Monster of the Week, which can be a cyclops... or a fishman..."

She grinned in a wicked way and narrowed her eyes at Kuroneko, "... or a monster cat..."

Kuroneko frowned. "I know that I'm not going to like this," she deadpanned. "But that's par for the course, with any of your ideas."

"Okay, if we're going to do this, we'll need a Biblion-chan!" Kirino had said, very fast and giving no time for anyone to protest. Chisame was reminded again of Suzumiya Haruhi. "Luckily for you, I can play the part in a pinch since I wrote episodes 157 and 173!"

"Wait. You did what?" Natsumi had asked.

"Kirino-chan has had a meteoric career from an amateur writer sending scripts to companies to an up and coming writer for several series, working under a pseudonym!" Saori had said with a smile.

Natsumi had the distinct impression that said 'meteoric rise' might have something to do with someone who was very wealthy and bribing those companies under the table, but she knew better than to mention that.

"Okay," Kuroneko had said, glancing at her Emily the Strange wristwatch. "But the tickets are sold out, so we'd need to convince someone to give up theirs through this lunch break."

They were, indeed, in borrowed time: the first round of contestants was finished and the second one would compete after the jury ate.

Saori had laughed goofily. "No need to worry, Kuro-chan! Just let me have a few minutes with the organizers!"

Now they waited, standing right outside the office of the organizers, who by the way, were not linked to Chao Lingshen. Just so that you know. I mean, how does a cosplay contest even help to break the masquerade? It's not like real magical girls are going to- Never mind... Not even Chao Linghsen can have her fingers stuck in absolutely everything, okay?

"Do you think she can do it?" Negi asked, mildly worried.

Kirino shrugged. "If anyone can, Saori-chan can! She has her wy to get things done!"

And then Saori stepped out, closing the door after her and dusting her hands off. "Okay! We've got permission to put an extra player on the stage!"

"You didn't bribe them, did you?" Kyosuke asked.

Saori feigned a scandalized gasp. "Kyosuke-kun! I'd never! A true ally of justice never resorts to underhanded, dishonest means!"

"You threatened them to send paid goons after them and break their legs?" Kirino asked.

"That's only for true emergencies, don't you remember, Kirino-chan?" Saori said. Now Chisame was thinking of a much taller and bustier Konoka for some reason. "In truth, I just waited for them to start doing illicit proposals and revealed that I had my phone recording, threatening to have them Me'Tooed!"

Negi began choking violently in his saliva.

"You... You didn't have to do that for me, really... uhhh..." Chisame said, with a large sweatdrop.

Saori laughed and patted Chisame's shoulder. "It's nothing, they had it coming anyway! Besides, you remind me of someone who is rather likable, even if I can't pin down exactly who... Are you sure you haven't done cosplay before? Modeling? Any seiyuu work?"

"What, what if those men later try to get revenge on you?!" Natsumi said, paling under her heavy makeup.

"Then I call on the armed goons, naturally," Saori said matter of factly. "C'mon, let's not keep waddling! We've got to rent a costume pronto!"

However...

"What?!" Kirino shouted. "You don't have a single left one?!"

"Nope, sorry," said the apathetic pimply faced young man with an American accent sitting at the costume rental. "Biblion is a popular choice and we ran out of them hours ago..."

"Bummer, then it was all for nothing!" Kirino said, folding her arms. "I'd grown used to the idea of upstaging Kuroneko before everyone, too!"

"My heart bleeds for you," Kuroneko offered, stoically.

Chisame bit on her lower lip. She had several Biblion spares at home, she could send Negi or Kasuga for one and they'd fetch it in no time. But then the others would ask what was she doing with a Biblion costume besides this one, and maybe the black cat girl would say-

"Actually, we've got a single one left," the pimply youngster said, holding a child sized Biblion costume in its perch. "But it won't fit any of you girls, not even Kitty here..."

Negi blinked, stared for several moments at the costume, and then sighed inwardly. The things we do for love...

"We'll take it, thank you very much," he said, and further startled everyone by pulling his wallet out.

It was the moment of truth, now. Their turn had come at last, and there was no turning back. That, Kosaka Kyosuke was learning, included him as well, for some reason.

"This is nuts, I don't even have a ticket!" the young man was telling his sister as she pushed him towards the stage, from behind the curtains. "I won't be even allowed in!"

"You're not making any cosplay, you're just introducing them!" Kirino said in angry hushing tones. "Stop being such a baby, it's only a few lines! Sensei has it much worse!"

"If it's so easy, why aren't you doing it?!" Kyosuke insisted. "You're pretty, they'll like you much better!"

Kirino paused, blushing brightly at the casual praise and proving that some things don't change no matter the universe, but then she seethed and kept on pushing him. "'Cause the Biblion narrator is male! You know the one! So you'd better make a good impression or else!"

He was shoved onto the stage, all spotlights falling on him, and the audience grew very still and silent suddenly, at this average looking boy in everyday clothing. Before the boos started, he rasped, pulling a note out of his breast pocket and began a strikingly good impression of Washimoto Nario's voice.

"Last week in Biblion, the roguish Roulin Rouge travelled to the past, deadest on taking over Princess Natsumi's kingdom!" he said, emotionally. "Biblion-chan has travelled through time alone, in a last desperate bid to stop her evil plans! However, Roulin Rouge has turned loyal retainer Riri into the twisted cat demon Kuroneko, emissary of perfidy! Can Biblion-chan prevail over the feline of doom?"

The audience pulled back in anticipation as Kyosuke left the stage.

"Woooow!" Saori gushed, glasses fogging up. "Kyosuke-kun has actual voice acting talent!"

Kirino, standing by her side, blushed again and rasped, folding her arms. "A-Aniki has a lot of surprises in him! A few of them are even good!"

Natsumi then entered the scene, staging a pose to better show her kimono off before falling to her knees in a classic tragic heroine in distress position. The crowd cheered wildly.

"Oh, woe is me!" she lamented, entering a cheesy hammy mood rather than the more serious and lifelike acting she preferred. She still excelled at it, judging from the audience's reactions. "All is lost! My country has fallen and I'm a prisoner! Yet… I shall never sign over the succession papers! I would rather perish!"

Kuroneko entered then, with a grand sweep of an arm and a loud malicious cackle. Once again, the crowd cheered among camera flashes and screams of 'Kawaiiii!' "We shall force you yet, O Fair Princess!" Kuroneko said shamelessly, standing over Natsumi. Our forces shall otherwise massacre your peasants with our advanced ships from the future, and your fiance's kingdom shall fall next!"

"No!" Natsumi brought her hands together in a gesture of imploring. "Riri-chan, remember! We are childhood friends! You cannot deliver us to this evil queen of darkness—"

Then she and Kuroneko waited for the arrival of someone who failed to show up.

"—this indecent sovereign of deceit—" Natsumi added, trying to stall for time.

Still nothing else from behind the curtains.

"—this unreliable and duplicitious two-timing harlot…!"

"Who, who are you calling a harlot?!" Chisame said, stomping onto the stage, and then freezing again at the sight of all those eyes on her. "I am not—I am—I mean-!"

She felt herself paling and sweating, terrified to the degree of nailing her soles to the floor. She hiccupped to herself, and felt like wishing for the earth to swallow her. This was even worse than she'd expected! And they'd loved Murakami and the catwoman too, but they were so silent now…!

"Mistress!" Kuroneko fell to a knee before her, lowering her head. "I humbly wait for your command on how to deal with this insolent wench who has insulted you!"

"I…" Chisame said. "I am going to…" She gulped. "You are going to…!"

Natsumi sighed inwardly. Well, like Chizu-nee had taught her so well, sometimes you have to be harsh with those you love… or tolerate, in this case…

Natsumi smiled and raised her voice. "Hah! Virtue once again prevails in the face of evil! My courage and resistance have left you without words, Roulin Rouge! This is why I'll ultimately defeat you! And the Prince will stop being under your thrall, and love me and only me, as Fate intended!

This was said with the kind of glint in the eye directly aimed at her rival's own eye that only two women competing in love can understand, even if one of them is in denial. Chisame seethed, outraged at Murakami's insolence, and raised her scepter at her.

"Foul lowlife!" Chisame shouted. "You dare talking to me like that, when you are so beneath my station?! I will now punish you as God intended! You… You will never take my Prince away from me!"

Seeing how this whole dialogue was taking much longer than they all had agreed for a mere snippet rather than an actual play, the final player in the little drama stepped out.

"Roulin Rouge-chan!" the newcomer said, while the spectators' bated breath turned into gasps and swoons. "Stop doing these evil things, now… You must come back with me, or else!"

Negi stood there, in a Biblion uniform making him look like the most adorable little girl in a wig and wielding a long wand ever imagined. Even Sakura and Tomoyo gasped, briefly overtaken. Kirino's nose exploded in a shower of blood. Saori began droopling quietly from a corner of her mouth, and Kyosuke looked away, abruptly terrified by troubling thoughts.

Chisame smirked and turned on towards him, skirt fluttering up flashing black panties. The crowd whooped and pictures were taken, but she didn't care anymore. "Or else what, you little brat?!" she challenged her teacher, with a strange feral sensuality to her roar.

"AUDIO AEROTICA…!" someone shouted in the audience. Matoi blinked, surprised at realizing that hadn't been her.

Negi made his best attempt at copying a pose he'd seen Sailor Venus doing. Minako herself had to admit it was rather good. Only Shiho looked mildly embarrassed over the whole affair. "Or else I will…" he said, with his best plucky little girl voice, pure Anya in tone and delivery, "… punish you in the name of Love!"

The crowd went truly and fully wild, and Chisame's heart beat savagely. Natsumi squeezed her legs together under the kimono, her eyes turning into small supernovas for a moment.

Kyosuke and Kirino excused themselves for the toilet, and bolted out in opposite directions.

Shirogane Tsumugi blinked, fascinated.

There was something about one of those girls. The one in the Roulin Rouge costume. Her face, the shape of her features, the general figure of her body. She recognized all of them from somewhere. Oh, the pimples and the smaller bust had thrown her off the scent for a moment, but then it dawned on her, part and parcel of cosplaying was altering your traits to a degree that would make you unrecognizable for most at plain sight. She was an old hat at it herself, after all.

And then the girl spoke, and she recognized the voice, as well. Once again, it was changed, but the villainous delivery was not enough to disguise its core nature. She had listened to that voice too many times to be wrong about it.

"Chiu..." she whispered to herself, starting to breathe slightly faster.

"Excuse me?" one of the secondary judges asked, since the other ones were too busy swooning after the lovable innocent loli who had just appeared onstage.

"N-Nothing!" the blue haired, bespectacled cosplay star said, checking on the list of contestants in her ipod. The loli was one Nelly Silverberg, and the one who had shaken Tsumugi so badly was listed as Hasegawa Chisame. The name, surely, was another clue? Tsumugi smiled nervously. "Oh my..."

Only three contestants came after them, closing the event.

There was a little girl named Utsugi Kotoko, singing nervously in Maizono Sayaka cosplay, eyeing her frowning mother in the crowd. Tsumugi barely paid her any attention. She had met far too many of these token child idols in her opinion, and was hardly impressed by them anymore.

Then there was someone calling himself Usui Kagero, who entered the stage wrapped in bandages and a long brown coat. He removed the bandages, and then... there was nobody there, anymore.

"Oh!" Tsumugi blinked, growing mildly impressed. "What an incredible Invisible Man cosplay! We should grant him second place..."

"Eh?" another of her fellow judges said. "What are you talking about, Shirogane-sama?"

"Well, I mean that boy who was right there, of course..." she answered.

"I'm still here!" Usui shouted, while the crowd and the other contestants shared confused looks, wondering when the next participant would just come out already.

"Which boy?" another judge grumbled. "Ah, Shirogane-sama, such a big kidder! No, this Usui fellow has stood us up. Maybe he got cold feet and ran away..."

"Oh, screw you guys!" Kagero said furiously, throwing his hands up and stomping off the stage.

"Next!" the assembled non-descript chorused, while Tsumugi blinked in stupor.

Finally, a gorgeous, still young, Chinese woman in a red qipao strode confidently onto the stage. She smiled very proudly, whipping her loud purple hair around, and said, "Nihao! Now I will show you the ultimate disguise act!"

Everyone watched on expectantly, as this woman held a large bucket of water up... and then threw it on herself. Immediately, all of her clothes dropped to the floor, and a small cat landed on them, on all four legs. The cat lifted its two upper paws triumphantly and meowed "Ta-da-nyaaaaa!"

Tsumugi frowned and gave a thumbs up. "Disqualified!" she shouted.

The cat looked back at her, bewildered. "Nyaaaaa?!"

"Disqualified!" the other judges shouted too, copying Tsumugi's gesture to the letter.

"Whaaa nyaaaaa?!" Neko-ShanPu protested.

"This is a cosplay contest, not a stage magic contest!" Tsumugi said very seriously, while a stage hand came by, picked the stunned cat up, and carried it away. "ShanPu-san, wherever you are now, show up at the backstage after hours to collect your clothes and your pet! Thanks to the rest of all of you, and now we will vote and proclaim the three prize winners! Please wait just a few minutes, and in the meantime, enjoy a special music number by the fine rising stars of After School Tea Time!"

"Alright!" Tainaka Ritsu grinned as the five members of the all-girl band moved onto the stage, instruments at the ready. "This is our big moment! Our grand Unequally debut! Maybe one of us will get a Pactio and become one of Neg-"

Since fanfiction isn't a medium with sound and this is supposed to be a short chapter, we might as well cut the scene here before moving onto our heroes waiting for the ultimate resolution of the contest.

"Oh, screw you, dude, SERIOUSLY?!" Ritsu screamed.

After a remarkably short deliberation, the jury announced they were ready to announce the winners, right after After School Tea Time's second song and making Ritsu groan. Back in the crowd, Kirino gripped Kyosuke's hand tightly. "Cross all your fingers!" she told him.

"I can't cross all of them, you are clutching my hand," he said.

"Cross your toes to make up for it, then!" she said.

"Okay, and what do I wish for?" Kyosuke asked, all patience. "For your rival to lose, or for Negi-sensei and the others to win?"

"For Kuroneko to lose AND Nelly-chan and the others to win!" Kirino gulped.

"That's not possible, they are all contesting together!" her brother snapped.

Tsumugi smiled brightly, walking ahead to face the audience, with an envelope in her hands. Kirino and Saori sighed lovingly. "Thanks to everyone for waiting!" the cosplay superstar said, opening the envelope and pulling a piece of paper out. "We'll start by announcing the third place, which goes to Mina Carol-san and Chiyo Huit-san for their cosplay of Sailor V and Sailor Mars!"

Minako blinked wildly. "Third place?!"

Shiho shrugged. "We did better than I expected, actually."

"Third place?!" Minako insisted.

Shiho groaned and shoved her ahead, so they could step forward to receive the prize.

"I bet you that Akira-san would have landed second place," Matoi whispered, leaning onto Chisame's ear. Seeing how the younger girl was shivering and gritting her teeth, she went on to rub her shoulder. "But you're a lock for the first prize, Chisame-sama, there's no need to worry..."

"Akira?" Natsumi asked, managing to overhear that much.

"Whatever you're talking about, keep it quiet," Kuroneko said, waving a hand. "She'll announce the second place now."

"And now, for the winner of the second place prize..." Tsumugi was saying indeed, "we are proud to call Kitagawa Marin-san to receive it!"

Cheers and wolf whistles abounded as the sexy tall blonde came over to accept her envelope with cash, waving happily at everyone. "Thank you, thank you, everyone! You have been an awesome public! But my deepest thanks go to a very dear friend! Gojo-kun, this is your prize...!"

"Those are the eyes of a woman in love," Kuroneko sentenced.

"Pretty much..." Natsumi agreed.

"Are they?" Negi wondered aloud, but then he was distracted by a small and anguished hiccup coming from a few steps away. Looking in that direction, he saw Utsugi Kotoko, clearly afraid and trembling. Her gaze was fixed on a spot in the first rows of the audience, and by following it with his own sight, Negi saw a scowling woman staring back at her, in a cold and hostile silence.

Negi blinked. What in the world-

And then he felt Chisame's hand tightening around his arm. He looked back at her, and saw how pale her face was, as she stared, in a fixed way, at Tsumugi, who was about to announce the first place winner.

"Chisame-sama, I told you to calm down," Matoi said. "Your success is guaranteed. You don't need to-"

"No, you've jinxed it!" Chisame said. "Besides, I overacted too badly, and everyone could see my acne, and, and-!"

"The winners of the first place prize are the talented troupe of Hasegawa Chisame-san, Nelly Silverberg-chan, Murakami Natsumi-san, and 'Kuro Neko'-san!" Tsumugi said, rather happily.

"See?! See?!" Chisame said. "I told you that WHAAAAAT?!"

"O woman of little faith," Kuroneko smirked. "You won from the moment you threw your lot with me!"

"Alright! Alright!" Kirino tossed her arms up, hopping in place. "Nelly-chan won! Nelly-chan, be my imoutooooooo!"

Negi smiled as well, noticing the jarring change in Chisame's expression, from a disbelieving shock to a wide, shaky smile, complete with bright wet eyes stubbornly refusing to cry. His heart warmed up for her, and he gently caressed her hand, which earned him a strong, firm squeeze of his. This made him even happier for some reason, but then he heard quiet sobbing, and his head once again made a brisk turn.

Getting away from everyone, facing away from them and walking towards a corner of the backstage, Utsugi Kotoko was weeping, supporting herself against a wall, planting her hands on it. Negi instinctively looked towards the evil looking woman in the crowd, but she wasn't there anymore. He began making a sound, trying to reach back for the distressed and clearly scared girl, but then he was pulled along towards the stage by Natsumi, Chisame and Ruri.

"Come on, Sensei, they're calling us!" Natsumi said, contented and full of life as they dragged him along. "This is your moment too! Don't worry, nobody will recognize you!"

"N-No, that's not it, I, actually... uhhh..." Negi said helplessly, and then all of the spotlights were on them.

Well, he decided. He always could try to help that poor girl later. For now, he forced a smile and bowed with the others towards the clamoring public.

Kirino kissed a handkerchief and then threw it at him. It landed on his face.

"You did it! You did it! Despite Kuroneko, you did it!" Kirino said, throwing herself to hug Negi tightly as soon as he, Chisame, Natsumi and Ruri descended from the stage. With the event over, the crowd was scattering for the next few attractions, chatting contentedly. Kyosuke rolled his eyes back and groaned to himself. "What a wonderful Mahou Shoujo Imouto you were, Nelly-chan!"

Matoi frowned, grabbed Kirino by the back of her collar, and easily tugged her back from Negi. "Watch your hands, hussy!"

"Ah!" Saori here. "You still were here? I thought you'd wandered away!"

"I've been here the whole time," Matoi told her calmly, putting Kirino down.

"We'll split the purse evenly between all four of us," Kuroneko said stoically. She pulled a large stack of yen bills from the envelope she'd been given, counted them quickly, and began distributing them between herself, Negi, Chisame and Natsumi. "It's a big prize so there should be enough for all of us to be satisfied, even after dividing the result."

"This never was about the money," Natsumi said, accepting her part regardless. "But thank you very much! I had a lot of fun, actually! Did you, Chisame?"

Chisame groaned. "It's not the kind of fun I want to repeat anytime soon."

Natsumi looked at Saori, Kyosuke and Kirino. "That means she indeed had fun. Otherwise, she'd be screaming at us."

"We have a friend who is just like that!" Saori nodded, as a thought balloon with the face of Kurusu Kanako in it.

"Smartass," Chisame murmured.

"Language, please," Negi said.

Kirino said, regarding him with longing again. "It's a huge pity that you weren't born a girl!" she moaned. "I always wanted to have a cute, smart and responsible Imouto like you! Little sisters are the best!"

"Sometimes, at least," Kyosuke grouched.

"What was that?!" Kirino growled at him.

"Nothing."

She huffed, and then went over to play with the wig of an annoyed Negi. "Do you have a sister anywhere, Sensei?"

"W-Well, as a matter of fact, I do..." he admitted.

Kirino's eyes shone. "OHHH! That's wonderful! Please introduce her to us sometime! I'll give you my phone number, and my e-mail address, and my Twitter, and, do you still use Facebook?"

"I never used one at all, in the first place," Negi had to confess.

"No way! They really raised you sheltered, huh?" Kirino blinked before grinning evilly. "And even so, you're bold! Look at this, you even put on panties for the sketch!" she chuckled, flipping the shrieking Negi's skirt up with a hand...

And then there was a female scream, coming from a side, and the loud sound of a body hitting the floor.

Chisame, Negi and Natsumi whipped their heads around in that direction, and saw a wide eyed Haruna, still in her haunted house cosplay, standing next to a collapsed Ayaka, also in her Morrigan Aensland outfit. Ayaka had blood all over her face, leaking profusely from the nose, and her limbs twitched randomly, in every direction.

"I-IINCHOU-SAN!" Negi panicked.

"Omigosh!" Saori gasped. "We've just killed Ayaka-san! We aren't even human!"

Haruna blinked, and then waved weakly at Kirino. "Hey there, Kiri-chan. Should've expected you to be here! How's life?"

"We just won the first prize here, Paru!" Kirino said proudly.

"You didn't do a single thing!" Kuroneko said while Negi and Natsumi helped a comatose Ayaka back up, the blonde hiccuping rapidly.

"Hey, that was MY script you were reciting up there!" Kirino reminded her.

"We won DESPITE of it, not BECAUSE of it!" Kuroneko said. "There's a reason why those two episodes are widely regarded as some of the worst in the series!"

"Says who, you and your small band of haters?" Kirino shot back. "Most critics are favorable! I've got a steady Fresh in the Tomatomer!"

"The Tomawhat?" Chisame asked.

Kyosuke sighed. "Don't think about it, Hasegawa-san. Just take your teacher and flee with him before it's too late. There's still time for both of you to escape this world..."

"Nope, I'm going to be with them forever!" Haruna said peppily.

"Then all is lost for you," Kyosuke told Chisame grimly. "My condolences..."

"Duly accepted. Thank you, you at least tried," Chisame answered.

"Panties with bulge!" Ayaka said spastically. "The most adorable little bulge ever! And frills...!"

They had parted ways with Kirino, Kuroneko, Kyosuke and Saori now. Negi, Chisame, Natsumi, Ayaka and Haruna sat under a tree, apart from the crowds.

Ayaka sighed, briefly closing her eyes. "Y-You keep pulling Negi-sensei into so many troublesome situations! Natsumi, I truly expected better from you...!"

Natsumi huffed, taking her wig off and shoving it down on her own lap. "Well, now that those people are gone, I can talk freely on this subject, Iinchou! Today's event was nothing, compared to all you've been pulling Sensei through over the last few months!"

"What do you mean?" Haruna asked.

Negi took a deep breath. "She knows, Haruna."

"What?!" Ayaka almost jumped out of her skin.

"Oh... Oh!" Haruna said. "How did you find out?" she asked the actress.

"I saw him jumping through time with... that thing," Natsumi grumbled, pointing at the Cassiopeia Negi was checking on, pulling it out of his breast pocket for a moment now that he was back in his regular clothes. "Then I made him tell me everything."

"So that's how it went," Chisame said. "It was obvious that you knew now, from the way you were acting."

"Natsumi..." Ayaka gulped. "S-Sorry over keeping you and Chizuru in the dark for so long. It's all for your own best interests, and also Sensei's..."

Natsumi frowned, avoiding eye contact with her. "Sure thing! I accept your word on it! What do I know about these subjects, after all?!"

"Hey," Paru grinned, "now that you know, you're welcome to join us too!"

"No, thanks," Natsumi frowned, hugging her legs against herself.

Chisame puffed out, stood up, and dusted herself off. "Sensei, why don't you just go visit Zazie now? It's clear that we've got to discuss a few things with Murakami here. It's a matter that must be settled between women."

"But-" Negi began objecting.

"You know what? Chi-chan's right, men are clueless when it comes to these things! Don't worry, it's not like we're gonna fight each other!" Haruna promised.

"Right, because how could I even start putting up a fight?" Natsumi asked.

"Oh, don't be so passive-agressive!" Haruna said, taking her by a hand and starting to lead her away, with Ayaka following them cautiously. "I mean, it's cute, but it's clearly making you suffer!"

"I'm not suffering at all, but you will be if you don't let go of my hand right now!" the uncharacteristically assertive Murakami said as she was led away.

"I'll catch up to you in a moment!" Chisame promised, staying behind with Negi. Then she looked back at him. "I need to thank you before I leave. What you just did, for my sake... nobody had ever done anything like that for me before. I know you didn't like it, and yet..."

"Think nothing about it," Negi shrugged. "You don't need to compensate me or anything."

"I don't feel well if I don't repay my debts," she said, crouching before him. She placed her hands on his shoulders, smiled a bit, rather awkwardly, and rasped. "It's just a matter of pride, you'll understand..."

He smiled back. She was so pretty when she smiled...

And then she placed a small, chaste kiss on his forehead.

Negi gasped, sputtered, choked mildly, and pulled back with a blush.

Chisame, blushed slightly herself, smiled again, half closing her eyes. "N-No... That won't do," she said. "Not after making a fool out of yourself just to bail me out..."

She slumped her shoulders, breathed in and out, and added, "What the heck, you're my Magister anyway."

"Eh?" he said, weakly.

And then she kissed his mouth. His eyes widened hugely. It was the first time she kissed him in the mouth since the excursion into Library Island, and overall the third one she'd done such a thing.

She didn't push her tongue in, but it was a deeper, longer kiss than any of their previous ones, although it also was relatively short and fast. She stood back from him, smiled a third time while unable to say something, and then just dashed after Natsumi, Haruna and Ayaka's trail, disappearing into the crowd.

Negi stared on after her, fascinated, just sitting there in complete silence.

Eventually, Chamo found him, still in the same spot. "Oh, Bro, there you are! I'd been looking for you everywhere! Haruna and Class Rep went out saying they'd go look for you hours ago, what have you been-"

"Life is wonderful," a mesmerized Negi said.

"Eh?" the ermine asked.

Negi jumped up to his feet and threw his arms up. "I can take on anything this world throws at me...!"

"Whoa!" Chamo recoiled in sudden fear. "Famous last words there...!"

Next: Zazie's Dead Moon Circus!