Anything That Burns

by Darkenning

In a very damaged world, a very different Negi Springfield comes to a very different Mahora Girls Middle School ... where girls start throwing themselves at him. Sometimes, the greatest difference is no difference at all. AU, Multiple Crossovers, Lemon, Massive Harem. Inspired by "Anything That Moves" by OverMaster.

8. Chapter 6

The sun had probably risen, but the gray clouds were covering enough of the reddened sky to completely obscure it, and a fall of red rain had also begun. Over the last decade, there had been a handful of cases each year of someone developing an allergic reaction - usually non-fatal - after exposure to the rain, but it was never possible to prove that the true cause wasn't some pollutant spewed into the damaged atmosphere. Despite the rarity of cases, almost non-existent compared to the cases of illness resulting from exposure to ocean waters, most people stayed indoors when it rained.

Saionji Kyoichi did not view himself as most people. Neither, he supposed, did the young woman standing just a few feet away from him on the hill of the World Tree, though unlike Saionji, she stayed beneath an umbrella held up for her by her blond gorilla-like associate. The third person on the hillside, standing in the distance from both of them, was getting even wetter than either of them.

"An unpleasant day for a duel," Saionji said, keeping his eyes on his best student.

"And yet an appropriate one, as well," replied Kiryuuin Satsuki.

"... have we satisfied the requirements of civil discourse?" asked Saionji.

"I believe so," the wretched girl answered.

"Good," Saionji said, and spoke no more. He did not, however, cease to quietly observe her. He was aware that he had something of a reputation for rigid thinking, and would perhaps not deny the charge. Yet he was not without some ability to observe, and his present observations told him that the Kiryuuin girl was wearing something slightly different than her normal school uniform. There were those among his associates who would find that noteworthy. He would have to pass on the message when this farcical duel was -

"Excuse me," said a girl's voice. Every eye on the hill promptly turned in the newcomer's direction, to see a rain-soaked, red-haired girl of perhaps fifteen or sixteen years, dressed in a red shirt and black Chinese pants, approaching. "Ah, I have a message for Kuno Tatewaki-senpai from Saotome Ranma. Is he here?" She looked around as one bewildered ... or perhaps as one seeking to seem bewildered.

"I am he," declared Saionji's student. "Kuno Tatewaki am I. Fair maid, speak your message, if you would."

She muttered something that Saionji couldn't quite make out, then spoke to carry. "Kuno-senpai, Saotome Ranma bids me to ask whether you are familiar with the tradition that one cannot challenge a master of the Chinese martial arts without first defeating some of his disciples?"

"I am passingly familiar with that custom," the boy answered. "What of it?"

"He then bids me say, you haven't challenged any of his disciples yet. Sorry, I just carry the messages," she said into the silence that followed.

---

Mahou Sensei Negima Alter:
Anything That Burns

Inspired by OverMaster's Anything That Moves

Chapter Six: Makie

---

"The arrogance!" roared Kuno. "For a beardless boy to declare himself a master, even of a false and inadequate tradition such as Chinese martial arts, and then send an innocent girl to deliver such a message! This Ranma is no man! No man, I say!"

"Well, I can't really argue with that," said the girl, looking down and rubbing one foot against the other.

"Why did you accept such a charge from such as him, sweet summer child?" Kuno demanded of her.

She sighed. "I really have no choice in the matter. I must do as Saotome Ranma bids me do." With that declaration, she looked away, then again muttered something that Saionji couldn't quite make out. Perhaps the word, 'technically' was uttered.

Kuno let out a horrified gasp. "Can it be? Can it truly be that Saotome Ranma is some manner of tyrant, binding women to his will through the use of - dear girl, has he assaulted you?"

The girl looked startled for a moment, then brought her hands up to her face. "Woe is me!" she cried. "My shame is known to all!"

"This shall not stand!" Kuno declared, a battle aura blazing into sight around himself and his goku. "No duel shall I fight with Saotome Ranma. He shall simply receive a thrashing when next we meet, the caitiff rogue and varlet! Fear not, oh pigtailed girl! Never again shall he dare to touch you!"

"Oh, Kuno-senpai," the girl cried out, starry eyed, as she rushed forward to press herself against him. "You must please permit me to speak to you of my former master's weaknesses, that you might more efficiently thrash him when you meet. Come, let us move to a more private environs to speak of such matters, one to the other."

"Verily!" he pronounced, and took her in his arms as they began walking down towards the plaza below, leaving their watchers behind them.

"... well, that was extraordinarily anti-climactic," said Satsuki, sounding rather disgusted.

Saionji had closed his eyes when the pigtailed girl had started in with the 'you must please permit me' business. "I suspect that your choice of words is about to become very ironic," he said.

"What do you -" she began to ask.

"Ah, ah, ah, pigtailed girl -" came a breathless sounding voice from further down the hill.

"Ku-kuno-samaaaaaaa," replied another breathless voice.

"Oh," said Satsuki. "I see." Saionji was rather startled to detect a fair amount of prudery in her tone. Without saying anything further, however, the master of Honnoji turned and walked away from the sounds, followed unhesitatingly by Gamagori.

"Ahhhh!" Kuno's voice cried out.

"... you've got to be kidding me," came the girl's voice.

Saionji frowned. Before he could do anything, though, there came a noise he vaguely recognized as that typical of a bokken hitting someone's head, repeatedly, followed by someone whistling for a moment, before that faded from hearing.

By the time he reached the plaza, Saionji was no longer surprised to find his best student collapsed in a heap and his bokken in pieces beside him. The words 'this jerk is a quick shooter', written in Kuno's blood on the wall behind him, were a bit surprising, though.

---

Later that day - quite a bit later, in fact - Negi was quietly reviewing his lesson plan at his desk in the teacher's office, when he sensed a presence behind him a moment before Shanna spoke his name.

"Yes, Shanna?" he asked, turning to face her.

"Didn't jump," she said, in a faintly approving tone. "But I was there for a while and you didn't know. Here," she concluded, handing him a folded paper that Negi recognized as stationery from the Headmaster.

He unfolded it and read it silently. "I see," he said, after a moment. He turned to Shanna and smiled at her. "Please tell Konoemon-sensei that I have complete confidence that my class will be able to accomplish what he requests."

She stared at him. "You want me to lie." Her voice, when she finally spoke, was very flat.

He sighed, and nodded to acknowledge the point. "You're right. I apologize. Just tell him that I got the message."

"Good," she said, then turned to go, yet paused after her first silent step. "I am also watching you," she told him with a brief backwards glance.

---

Shortly afterwards, while he was supposed to be teaching 2-A, Negi sat consumed by troubling thoughts, as his favorite batch of students loudly played something called Baseball Janken, which apparently had little to do with baseball and everything to do with answering random questions and losing articles of clothing when failing to answer correctly.

The six Baka Rangers had, of course, already been reduced to their underwear, revealing that Chizuru wore some rather scandalous negligee beneath her school uniform. Meanwhile, Chisame was sitting at the back of the class after refusing to take part in any of this, her face all but buried into a laptop she wasn't supposed to bring along to classes. Evangeline napped on her seat, arms folded, Karin sat beside her with her eyes firmly shut, and Zazie sat on the window's frame silently feeding some birds. (Rei was participating but had answered every question posed to her her correctly.)

In the middle of the noisy havoc Yuna came to the realization that Negi wasn't taking discreet leering glares at the female flesh on display. Granted, after the previous night, he'd seen more than his fair share of such matters, but Yuna'd long since realized that the little perv was more or less insatiable. Therefore, she slid to his side while Ayaka tried in vain to stop the circus. "Hey," she asked him, in a low, concerned tone. "You feeling okay there?"

"No," Negi sighed, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes. "No, I'm not." He gestured for her to come closer, which she did, and then he whispered into her ear, telling her what had been in the note

She grimaced as she listened. The whole class had to pass these end-of-term exams or he was out of a job? "Ohhhh boy," she said. "That's bad."

Negi only nodded. He couldn't fail and leave Mahora now, not when he had only just begun. He couldn't go back to his family a walking shame, a failure of a mage, not while the world around them crumbled with no saviors, no one to map the future and pick up the pieces. He couldn't turn away from the promise Zazie had made to him, and everything that would come after it. And most of all, he refused to even consider leaving the members of the collective, who couldn't possibly just abandon their lives to follow after him, and the children of his they would bear. No matter what, no matter how much it took from him, he couldn't fail. They couldn't fail.

Yuna looked back at where the Narutaki twins were trying to pull a struggling and kicking Asuna's bra off after the redhead had failed yet another question. "It ain't gonna be easy at all," the basketball player opined.

"Well," her teacher and sorta-boyfriend sighed. "It wouldn't be much of a worthy test if it was easy, would it?"

At least he could take small comfort in the notion that this had always been on the agenda, and he wasn't being targeted by the Headmaster for his mistakes. Konoemon would hardly do that after he'd agreed to become one of the campus guardians. This was something he had always been going to have to face, and he and they would just have to overcome this challenge. Somehow.

Yuuna hummed, supporting her weight on her elbows and her elbows on Negi's desk. "Let me talk with the Baka Rangers. If they pass, we should be able to do it. The rest of us doesn't fare that badly. Hell, Hakase, Iincho and Hino are some of the top scorers in the whole school. I'll take care of it, maybe get Haruna involved, too."

Negi looked up at her, starry eyed. "Would you do that for me, really?"

"Well, I kinda have to, don't I?" she grumbled, subtly putting a hand to her stomach.

Rei chose that moment to turn away from the sight of Asuna wearing a handbra and being asked to spell Mississippi, giving the two of them a glance. They promptly stepped away from each other and did their best to look innocent.

Interesting, the Guardian thought.

---

He was genuinely happy that Yuna was going to try to persuade the Baka Rangers to give it their all in the upcoming exams. And yet there was still a sense of dissatisfaction underneath that happiness. After all, this was an elevator school, and the girls' tests would just determine which classes they were put in when they went on to high school, not whether they were accepted or not. The test for him, on the other hand, meant something concrete, and he wasn't sure that he'd given his efforts in the area all that he could.

"Well," Negi mused to himself as he stood outside the classroom, considering all this, "I could use that one spell I read about, the one that gives those on whom it is cast a boost in intelligence for three days, in exchange for being knocked unconscious for three weeks after the spell wears off. Admittedly, I'm not sure how it goes, but if I remember how to cast it correctly -"

"Hold it," shouted Asuna from behind him.

"Oh, you're dressed," he said, turning to look at her.

"'Oh, you're dressed'," she repeated, shaking a fist at him. "That's your reaction to someone catching you contemplating using magic to help us cheat on tests?"

"It wouldn't be cheating," Negi said, affronted. "You wouldn't be given the answers, you'd just be better able to remember them."

"Oh, so it'd be doping, instead," Asuna growled. "Much better. Did you use that spell on yourself to take your tests at college?" she asked pointedly.

"Well, no, I didn't have to," he replied. "But father said that I definitely should, if it became necessary."

"Dammit, Nagi-san, what're you teaching this kid!" she almost wailed at the ceiling. "Look, we are all going to try our best at these tests, and the best thing you can do as our teacher is have faith in our ability to do that. Using magic to help us doesn't show that kind of faith, or any kind of belief in us, at all. Okay?"

"Okay," he said faintly.

"And incidentally, Em-Eye-Ess-Ess-Eye-Ess-Ess-Eye-Pee-Pee-Eye," Asuna said rather proudly.

"Very good. And how long is that river?"

"... oh get bent."

---

Considering that, it was with some surprise that Negi found himself, later that evening (and well-past curfew) marching next to Yuna at the back of a small group composed of the Baka Rangers, Nodoka, Haruna, Konoka, and a trembling, eerily shy and silent sempai named Shiomiya Shiori, moving through passages beneath Library Island.

"So how did this happen again?" he whispered to Yuna.

"Well, I went to the girls while they were in the bath, and just as I was about to make my pitch, Haruna came in with this rumor that people who failed this exam would be sent back to kindergarten to start over. And then Ayase started talking about these rumors she'd heard about this book that could magically enhance your intelligence in the basement of the library ... and it sort of blossomed from there." She shrugged, helplessly.

"How did they manage to talk Asuna into this?" he wondered.

"... it was actually her idea."

Negi's eyes grew wide and he almost missed a step. Raising his voice, he coughed politely. "Oh, Asuna? Dear sister? Greatest of all sisters? Without whom I'd never survive? Could I please, oh please, have a word in private?" He watched her flinch repeatedly without much in the way of pity for her.

"Wow, I'm so jealous," Makie said. "My little brother never talks about me like that."

"Okay, okay, okay," Asuna said once she'd broken out of the march and came back to talk with him and Yuna. "I know what I said, but this is different. If it's about getting sent back to the kindergarten -"

"Do you actually think a private school like this could function if they tried to tell parents who have paid for nine years of education that they'd have to pay for another nine?" Negi whispered furiously. "Can you imagine our parents' reaction to that?"

"I don't want to imagine that, that's why I'm doing this!" she told him. "Look, I don't know whether any of this is crazy or not, but if someone as hard-headed as Yue is willing to give it a try, then why not? Just tell me you didn't seal away your magic or something because of what I said."

"Who'd hamstring themselves like that?" Negi asked, genuinely bewildered. "Oh, fine, let's catch up."

"Well, here we are," Yue dryly said, stopping before the large closed door at the end of the half flooded underground passage. "This is the forbidden entrance to the taboo depths of Library Island. You still can head back if you act right now; otherwise, consider your souls as offerings to the Great Quest for Forbidden Lore."

"Yue," Haruna said. "I'm the Large Ham here, remember?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Yue kept hamming it up with full deadpan gusto. "Negi-sensei, we have brought you to witness our hunt for a tome of legend that is said to exist under this island, in chambers long untouched by human hands. A book that will greatly increase the intelligence of anyone who touches it!"

Negi nodded politely. "I see. I have to ask, though, wouldn't it be far easier to just study for the test?"

"No," Ku Fei said.

"No," Kaede said.

"No," Yue said.

"No," Chizuru said.

"Hell, no!" Asuna cringed.

"This water's too cold!" Makie whined, pulling a foot up and out of the clear waters they had been treading through.

Yue produced a key out of a breast pocket, using it to open the door. "When the Library Exploration Club found this passageway, we never found the key to this lock. But we were able to make a copy by studying the lock."

"All done by Shiomiya-sempai with nothing but a book on locksmithing and a box of scraps! In this cave!" Haruna proudly said, patting the older yet smaller girl's back. "Isn't that right, Sempai?"

"Ah-ah, ah-hah," she weakly said, blushing and avoiding eye contact with Negi.

"Well, that's very impressive," the boy said, following the girls into the first dusty chamber of the secret area, as each Library Girl pulled a small but powerful lantern out to light their way. "But, won't we get into trouble if we're caught here?"

"Not even the Student Executive ever come down here," Haruna shrugged, leading the way fearlessly. "I'm not sure if they know this place exists, but even if they do, odds are they'll be afraid of the traps."

"Traps?!" Makie and Asuna cried.

"Relax, the first three chambers are as trap-free as the public areas above us," Haruna assured them.

"Only because we have taken our time defusing them all," Yue pointed out. "From the fourth chamber and beyond, we'll have to watch our steps very carefully. Down there, anything can happen. That's why Haruna, Nodoka, and Shiomiya-sempai will stay at the third chamber, acting as mission control. Should -"

"Actually, I'm coming down too," Haruna interjected.

Yue paused, then coughed politely. "According to the regulations of the Library Exploration Club, two members of the Club must remain at base camp at all times. Shiomiya-sempai, while an associate of the Club, is not a member. Someone has to stay."

"But -" Haruna started to object, casting a discreet look in Negi's direction.

He quickly shook his head. He wasn't about to take more than one member of his collective into danger like this, under the circumstances.

Haruna visibly pouted. "Oh, fine," she said.

Yue looked a bit surprised that she hadn't gotten more of an argument on the subject. "Very well, then. If our communications with them are broken, they'll call for help."

"Y-Y-Y-Yes, y-y-y-yes, w-w-w-w-we wi-wi-wi-will!" Shiori managed to stutter.

"... well, Nodo-chan and I will call for help, that is," Haruna amended before Yue elbowed her in the stomach.

Negi nodded once again. "Very well then. But I feel obligated to point out that studying together in a warm and safe session with tea and pleasant music in the room of our choice would be a generally safer and dare I say saner course of action."

"'Twould, but for that cursed word 'studying'," Kaede said, with a shrug and a smile.

"I think I'll take my chances with the traps," Makie said, with a nod.

"Ditto!" Asuna agreed.

---

Makie honestly wasn't sure what kind of person thought it would be a good idea to put traps in a library. It wasn't like libraries needed traps to keep people away. Later, she would be told about how valuable and dangerous certain books could be, and how they needed to be kept under strict security. She would regard these claims with unexpected skepticism, particularly after she'd spent some time in palaces and found that they didn't have nearly as many traps as this.

So far, they had encountered pit traps, traps that shot spears out the walls, traps triggered when an awestruck Negi pulled a book out of its shelf and an arrow was shot towards his head only to be caught by badass Kaede at the last moment, traps that made spikes fall from the ceiling, traps that sent rolling boulders after them, traps of quicksand, traps that almost caught them into coffins, traps that consisted of green devil mouths that supposedly contained tiny black holes, traps that were made of slicing ribbons, traps that flooded the room they were in, and traps that sent the walls against each other. And they only were at the ninth level of this horrible, horrible book-filled hell.

Makie shuddered as her friends pulled her out of the pit into which she might have fallen had she not been fast enough to latch onto Kaede's arm with her gymnastic ribbon. (Never leave home without it!) The same ribbon she had used at the start of their ordeal to pull Negi out of the spikes' way, so it was a safe bet she would treasure it for the rest of her life. Which wouldn't be terribly long, if the building kept getting worse.

"That, that was seriously scary!" the petite pink haired gymnast whined. "I th-thought I'd die!"

"Ah ha ha, that nothing!" Fei laughed. "This good training course! Never thought library could be fun! I join Exploration Club soon, yes?"

"YOU AREN'T HUMAN!" Makie and Asuna screamed at her in synch.

"Well, let's look at the bright side," Chizuru suggested. "There are at least no guardian or wandering monsters."

In the distance could be heard a faint roaring noise.

"Oh, perhaps I should not have said that," Chizuru mused as everyone else (with the exception of Fei, who began laughing still more gleefully) stared balefully at her.

And then, after too many travails down their peril-filled path into the endless abyss of forbidden, hidden culture, the weathered Virgils and Dantes of this sordid tale arrived at a gigantic Twister board sculpted in rock, guarded by two humongous armored statues, one holding a massive spear and the other a vast warhammer.

"Well, this is certainly unexpected," Chizuru said.

"I think I just wet myself," Makie shared, standing well behind the unfazed Kaede and grinning Ku.

"GREETINGS, HUNTERS FOR FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE," one of the statues spoke, with a voice that boomed through the whole chamber. "COME FORTH, IF YOU DARE, AND FACE THE CHALLENGE TO OBTAIN ULTIMATE WISDOM ... OR GO BACK THE WAY YOU CAME, NEVER TO RETURN!" It was, Negi noted, holding a book with Greek characters on its cover … characters that he recognized, and that made his heart race a bit.

Konoka blinked, then narrowed her eyes. "Grandpa? Is that you?" she asked.

The statue fell silent for a moment before answering, "NO. WHAT MOVES YOU TO ASK SUCH A RIDICULOUS QUESTION?"

"You kinda sound like my grandpa, talking through some heavy voice filter," Konoka observed.

"Really?" Asuna asked. "They don't sound alike at all to me."

"... I AM NOT ANYONE'S GRANDFATHER. I AM, UM, AN AUDIOANIMATRONIC."

"Then how are you answering our questions?" asked Yue. "Audioanimatronics can only follow previous programming. And why did you hesitate while making that statement?"

"I AM A VERY SOPHISTICATED AUDIOANIMATRONIC. REGARDLESS, ANSWER MY QUERIES OR YOU SHALL NEVER BE GRANTED ACCESS TO WHAT YOU SEEK.."

Asuna smiled and brought her fists together. "Okay, big guy, do your worst, then. We can take anything you send our way!"

"You of all people being confident about an intellectual match? Really?" said Yuna with a side-glance at her.

"If we could do that, we wouldn't need to be here to begin with!" Makie cried.

"VERY WELL," the statue said, clearly responding to Asuna rather than Yuna or Makie. "HEED MY WORDS AND PAY FULL ATTENTION, FOR I SHAN'T REPEAT MYSELF. AHEM. WHAT WALKS ON FOUR LEGS IN THE MORNING, TWO LEGS IN THE AFTERNOON, THREE LEGS IN THE EVENING, AND NO LEGS AT NIGHT?"

There was silence.

Makie scratched her head. "Gee, that's a tough one."

"Are you freakin' kidding us?!" Asuna yelled. "Even I know that one! It's all over all TV shows, cartoons and movies, like, since forever! I can't believe it! What a fraud! What a joke! The answer is 'A man'! Everyone knows that, except Makie!"

"Well, I don't like my cartoons too deep," Makie said in an unapologetic tone.

There was more silence.

"SORRY," the golem said. "BUT YOU HAD TO ANSWER USING THE TWISTER BOARD WITHIN AN UNDEFINED TIME LIMIT. YOU HAVE FAILED," it said, and swung its hammer down, shattering the section of stone floor the group had been standing on, sending them all plummeting into the cold darkness below.

"That isn't faaaaaaaaaaaaaaairrrrrrrrrr!" Negi complained as he fell.

"Waaaaaaa!" shrieked Makie.

"You only wanted to see us twisting and showing our panties, you jerrrrrrrrrrrrk!" Asuna howled, shaking a fist up at the creature as she, well, twisted and showed the statue her panties.

"Asuna, this is all your fauuuuuuuuult!" Yuna cried.

"Oh myyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!" exclaimed Chizuru as she plunged to certain doom.

"Grandpa, how could youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!" was Konoka's parting shot.

"I TOLD YOU, I AM NOT YOUR GRANDPA," said the statue as it leaned over the pit, surely to direct its voice so as to be clearly heard, and definitely not so as to get a better view of the girls as they twisted and showed their panties. "I AM A –" It paused then, to hear the faint noise of the floor on which it stood continuing to crumble a bit. "OH, FEATHERS," it said, and then pitched into the darkness after them as the floor gave way completely.

---

"What do you mean, we lost the signal?" Haruna demanded.

"We lost the signal," Nodoka told her, in a slightly higher and more panicked tone than she'd used before.

"Okay, that's repetition, not explanation," the mangaka reminded her teammate.

"We lost the signal!" Nodoka repeated, now on the verge of hysterics.

"Hoboy," Haruna sighed, then turned to look at Shiori, expecting her to be in the same panicked state.

To her surprise, now that there were no disturbingly attractive members of the opposite sex present, the older girl seemed to have come somewhat out of her shell, and was busily paging through journals of previous incarnations of the Library Exploration Club. "Okay ... okay ... ah, if they went d-down that way and avoided all the traps, wh-which we know they did, then they would end up ... ohhhhhh dearrrrrr."

"What, what?" Haruna and Nodoka chorused.

Shiori swallowed. "Th-th-they'd end up in the ch-challenge room, one of the rooms with b-b-breakaway flooring above a v-v-vertical shaft to level twelve ... and if th-they're at that level, r-radio signals w-w-won't r-r-reach!"

"Level twelve?" Haruna squawked. "I thought it only went down to eleven!"

"No, no, it goes to thirteen, one for every two letters of the English alphabet, but thirteen is flooded," Nodoka recited in a dream-like state.

"Okay, okay," Haruna said, holding back panic somehow. "So what's on level twelve? What did the team that found this challenge room discover?"

"Th-th-thhhhhey didn't!" Shiori stammered. "Th-they w-won th-their ch-challenge, c-c-came b-back to the surface with the b-b-book, and only found out about the b-b-b-breakaway flooring when th-th-they r-r-r-reflected on observations about the sound of th-their footsteps!"

"So, basically we have no idea what they might find down there," Haruna said, still managing to hold it back.

"Yue-yue!" Nodoka babbled. "Asuna-san! Negi-sensei!"

Shiori had set down the journals and begun desperately flipping through book after book. "I'm sure, I'm sure th-there must be something on rescues from the forbidden unknown areas somewhere around here!" she cried out, then slammed the last book shut and ran for the door. "I'll go get the rest of the manuals from the public area!" Shiori called behind her as she passed from view.

"What're we going to do?" Nodoka wimpered. "Even if we find the right procedure, everyone else is asleep. What're we going to do? They'll be down there until morning at least! What're we going to do do? Paruuuuu?"

Haruna slammed her hands down on Nodoka's shoulders. "We're gonna not panic," she told Nodoka firmly. "Because Negi's down there, and two of the most capable people we know are down there with him, and Asuna's there too, and Yuna's there. So it's going to be okay."

Nodoka blinked. "Why do you trust Yuna so much? And why are you being so informal about sensei? And why -"

And Haruna told her everything. (Well, everything about Negi, not the parts about Haruna's recently extended family.) Nodoka's eyes went through a number of changes, from tiny black dots, to large circles, to bright red blanks that matched the rest of her face, and eventually back to what passed for normal, once the full account had been given.

"And that's why," Haruna concluded, with a firm nod of her head. "Heck, I bet he'll come out of this with a bunch of new Negettes."

"Negettes?" Nodoka said in a voice almost too high to hear.

"That's the name I'm using for members of his 'collective'," she said, with air quotes in the appropriate location.

"Hah," the girl with bangs replied, nodding.

"You don't understand at all, do you?" Haruna asked.

"Hah," the girl with bangs replied, shaking her head side to side.

"Okay, telling hasn't worked, so I'm gonna show you," said Haruna, resting both of her hands on both of Nodoka's hips. "Just say so if you don't like what I'm doing."

"Wha-" Nodoka said, then found it hard to talk on account of being kissed.

Several moments later, Shiori returned, walking much more slowly than she'd departed, mostly because she was carrying a rather large stack of books with her, comparable to that which Nodoka had been carrying on a rather windy day recently. "Okay, I th-think I found them all this time," she announced.

Then she stared at the sight of Haruna, her blazer undone, shirt pulled up and bra hanging around her waist, rocking back and forth against Nodoka's body as the smaller girl lay flat on her back, blazer also undone, shirt also pulled up, bra nowhere to be seen. Their crotches were plainly grinding against each other, and Nodoka seemed to be muttering gibberish as her eyes rolled back in her head. They did pause to turn and look in Shiori's direction as she arrived.

"But, you know, I could be wrong about that, I think I will go back and check," Shiori announced as she set the books down, turned on her heel, and ran as fast as she could out of the library and this story.

After a moment, Haruna shrugged and resumed tribbing.

"Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod," the more-or-less agnostic Nodoka panted as she lay in a soggy heap a little while later.

"Okay, that actually helped me really calm down," Haruna mused as she sat basically naked beside Nodoka. She felt a vague urge to smoke, but, lacking any cigarettes, was unable to do so. "I know what I've got to do now, and who can help us out the most. Fret not, dear Nodochin," she declared grandly. "Negi-sensei will indeed be in class tomorrow!"

"But wha'bout ever'body else?" Nodoka managed to mumble.

"You can't expect me to think of everything, you know."

---

Makie kept yelling all the way down, clinging to Yuna and closing her eyes, until she heard Negi's voice, loud and clear, rising above her cries with a few strange but strong words. "Ras Tel Ma Skel Magister!" She had no idea what that was supposed to mean, and might have thought it was a really weird choice for some last words. However, moments afterwards, they did not strike the ground with great force, and instead floated down gently the rest of the freefall, until they safely reached a large, crystal clear water of quiet waters, into which they fell with barely as much as a splash.

The girls, except Yuna, who had hidden her face between her hands, looked as one at the bashful-looking Negi, who held that long bandaged wooden staff he was always carrying around between his hands, looking guilty as all hell.

At last, Chizuru spoke for all of them. "Excuse me, Negi-sensei, but I hope I will not offend you in any way if I chance to inquire as to whether or not you are some manner of wizard."

"... we don't use that word," Negi said very quietly.

The silence which fell was broken by the sound of Asuna making a disgusted noise.

Oh dear, now you've done it, you're screwing this over past any repair, aren't you? Yuna thought, overwrought with quiet, trembling despair.

All right, I can work with this, they'd learn sooner or later anyway, maybe I can even turn this to our favor, Negi thought at the same time. Aloud, he said "It's a very long story, and I'm not sure this is the time or place to address it. However, you should probably be aware that if it becomes known that a large number of people are aware of my situation, or if it becomes any more public, my superiors will -" He broke off, glanced in Makie's direction, and coughed uncomfortably. "- turn me into an ermine." Lies to children were part of a healthy education, after all.

"... what's an ermine?" Makie squeaked, her mind still rather fractured.

"I can't believe you are seriously just going to go on -" Asuna started to say. Well, more accurately rant.

"Asuna!" Konoka interrupted sharply. "You realize your little brother just saved our lives, don't you? And besides, we can't possibly harm someone with such a COOL secret!" she added, clasping her hands together and squealing her pure delight. "This is the best! First I learn that magic is real, and even better, my best friend's brother, who is also our cute teacher, knows how to do magic! I don't think I've been this happy since I left Kyoto! Hey, hey, Negi-kun, where did you learn magic? Can I learn, too?"

"Well, I suppose I could teach you a few things," Negi said, with obviously feigned reluctance.

"Ah-ah-hem," Asuna said, and gave him a death glare.

"This ... makes sense. Actually, this makes a lot of sense," Yue said, voice growing louder as she continued to speak. "All the strangeness that I've observed over the last two years, about this academy and the others, these things can all be explained if one thing is taken into account - that magic is real, and there are those who can use it. And maybe it explains so many other mysteries of our world - sensei, did magic really have something to do with the assassination of U.S. President Sheridan, under the so-called 'magic bullet theory'?" she demanded.

"That was well before my time, Yue-san, so I really couldn't say," he told her, a bit frightened by her intensity.

"Oh-ho. Truly, one surprise development after another," Kaede said, seeming quite calm as she rubbed her chin. "Even for one who lives in the shadow, born from the shadow, and cannot experience shock in life or death."

Ku looked sideways at Yuna. "You no look shocked at all. I expect that from Baka Blue, but you?"

"I already knew," Yuna grumbled.

The other girls were staring at her now.

"What? He lives with me!" she snapped.

"But you didn't tell me anything?! And I'm your best friend!" cried Makie.

"Maki-chan, you mean the world to me, but Akira is my best friend."

"Well, I know you didn't tell her, either, because Akira would have told me what you told her, since she is really my best friend," Makie said, sounding hurt.

"Ummm, well," Yuna replied uncomfortably. To get out of the situation, she pointed at a certain girl who had not been staring at her. "Asuna knew, too, y'know!"

The eyes of the crowd now focused on Asuna.

Who sighed, and said, "Yeah, yeah, he's my step-brother, I knew about all this crap."

Konoka broke the silence that had just fallen, speaking rather icily. "I think you and I may need to have a little chat about the responsibilities of being someone's best friend, Asuna-san. Yuna-san can listen in."

"Aw, Konoka, don't be like that," Asuna groaned.

"Like Benjamin Franklin said, 'Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead'," Yue observed. "Our numbers are well past that level. However, I don't think it matters that much, anyway," she said, looking all around herself. "It seems we have fallen into some sort of strange underworld where we'll probably perish unless Negi-sensei has some sort of teleporting magic."

"I don't," Negi quickly replied. "But I could fly us all out of here, one at a time, using my staff as a broomstick -"

"Except me," Asuna noted quietly.

"Huh?" asked Makie.

Negi made a face. "Yes, unfortunately, that's true, I've never been able to fly with Asuna as a passenger, owing to certain ... talents that she possesses."

"Well, I guess you will just have to live here, Asuna-san," Chizuru said, not nearly as sadly as you'd think.

"It completely okay with me," Fei nodded.

"This one sees no reasons to argue," Kaede said as she relaxed, back against a tree.

"Your bravery shall never be forgotten, Asuna-san," Konoka solemnly promised.

"Every year, we'll drink with Iinchou to your memory!" Makie sniffed.

"And let's not forget whose fault all this is in the first place," Yuna observed pointedly.

Asuna's right eyebrow twitched. "Swell."

In the end, after Negi took Kaede up with him, they found the entrance to the upper chambers had been completely blocked by wreckage - too much rubble for any of them to move.

"So we're screwed, right?" Asuna, all somber and moody now, asked as they all sat around a small campfire on one of the bizarre underground's tiny islands. Yuna, Makie, Chizuru, Konoka, Kaede and Fei all nodded in silence. Yue was far too busy reading to care.

"Come on, girls!" Negi said, standing up with a clenched fist. "Let's trust our comrades! Right now, I'm sure they are mounting a daring rescue effort to retrieve us! Until they arrive here, we will take advantage of the surrounding collection of books to prepare for the test and show the world you have no need for magic to let your natural talents shine!"

Asuna threw a book at him. "We're actually going to end up studying, after all this crap?"

---

And, indeed, study they did. Negi was not cruel enough to force them to study at all hours, but, during the time when they would have been in classes, he made sure that they still had classes. And he also spent time discussing the problems that each of them had encountered on the mock tests in private, offering encouragement and praise when appropriate. He also searched the shelves for books that might offer better insight into the material than the current texts did.

It was while doing so that he found something interesting - a rather thick tome, with covers made of black leather, that was surrounded by a set of chains connected to a padlock. There was no title on the cover, so he wasn't sure what to make of it, but Negi found himself strangely fascinated nonetheless. He popped it into the same magical pocket he used to store his staff at times when he shouldn't have such things with him, for future reference, then resumed his search ...

... only to be distracted by the sounds of nearby splashing.

---

Yue and Konoka were a few miniature islands away, relaxing while reading to their hearts' content, and Asuna had excused herself away to go use the girls' nature restroom, so Yuna, Chizuru, Kaede, Fei and Makie now sat alone in a small lagoon, bathing in the nude after hours of review and revision.

"So, Yuna," Makie asked out of the blue, although everyone had been expecting it anyway. "What is it like to live with Negi-kun?"

Yuna shrugged. "It's okay, I guess. He washes and presses his own clothes, and he's better at keeping his things neat and organized than Dad. Doesn't snore much, either. Yeah, I'd say it's a cool experience, for the most part."

"Uwaaaaaaa!" Makie said, small fists tightened under her own chin. "I'm so envious! Can't you lend him to Ako and me for a week, at least?"

"That depends, are we best friends again?" Yuna asked just a bit snidely.

"Ohhh, yes, of course we are," Makie replied in a frustrated tone.

"And you like me better than Akira?"

Dead silence ensued as Makie looked away uncomfortably.

"Yeahhhh, that's what I thought," Yuna said with a sly smirk. "Anyway. Negi's not a toy, Makie. I don't think you're ready to look after him."

"But have you not proclaimed to all of us that he, in fact, is one who sees to his own welfare, Yuna-dono?" asked Kaede.

"That's how it sounded to me, too," Chizuru pointed out.

"It's more complex than that, sheesh!" Yuna said. "He's very mature for a boy, yeah, but he's still got special needs not anyone can- why are all y'all looking at me like that now?"

"Ho-ho-ho!" Fei chuckled, stroking beneath her nose as though she had a moustache. "Negi-bozu has complex manly needs, yes?"

Makie giggled, playfully splashing the water. "Yuuu-na! I'd have expected that from Iinchou, but you?"

Yuna flushed. "That is not what I meant!"

"This one assumes, from one's limited understanding of such matters, that Yuna-domo referred to the need for support and relief a user of magic needs in this mundane world," Kaede said.

"Uh ... yeah, that's the ticket, of course!" Yuna said.

Ku and Makie descended into more giggling, supporting themselves on each other. "Relief!" they chorused. Chizuru permitted herself a mild chuckle as well.

Yuna grew upset. "Hey, seriously, cut it out already."

"Yuna-dono, who is well-known as one who dissembles not at all, has offered no particular rebuttal to their points," the tallest of the girls said with a small smile.

"Um ... bwah? What are you implying there?" asked Yuna.

"She said you're not a liar, so why aren't you just saying that they're wrong," Chizuru explained, regarding Yuna a bit curiously.

"Verily." Kaede folded her arms behind her own neck, in a way that would have emphasized her boobage to anyone who happened to be viewing them. "At this juncture, 'tis obvious to even the feeblest of minds that Negi-bozu has been forced to grow swiftly, far more swiftly than one of his age should. This one, who knew a similar situation in one's own youth, recognizes another such, and recalls well that such pressures give rise to the need to vent them. A need which as ill-matches the expectations of society as do the challenges Negi-bozu shall surely face."

Ku and Makie now stared at her with stupefied expressions.

"... aru?" the Chinese girl said.

"You lost me," Makie confessed.

They both looked at Chizuru, who only shrugged. "I didn't follow that one either," she admitted.

Kaede rose from the water in all of her wet, leggy glory. "In simpler terms, one declares that Yuna-dono or Negi-bozu should not fear to ask for guidance or support if they are going through troubling experiences that confuse or upset them. That's why we are here, as their friends and comrades."

"I thought we were here because of a book?" asked Makie.

Kaede patted Makie's head and continued. "This one won't rush to judge Negi-bozu's needs or curiosity -" And then she spun around and tossed a pebble towards the shore. "- so there's no need to keep them secret!"

"Ow!" Negi yelled, falling from his hiding and peeping place between some large rocks at the coastline, dropping on his face into the water, as naked as the girls and with a hand still gripping his negi.

Once more, Yuna facepalmed. She was starting to understand why Chisame resorted to it so often. It was a good coping mechanism.

Kaede calmly treaded water towards the sputtering, coughing, blushing Negi, who was settling himself on his knees into the shallow water. With her hands on her wide hips and no attempt to cover herself, she said, "Enjoying the sights of paradise, Negi-bozu?"

"Aaaaaahhhhhhh," Negi babbled, as his current position meant his face was almost directly on the same level as Kaede's vagina.

Makie and Fei gasped, stopping shortly behind Kaede. "Negi-kuuuun!" Makie said, with a fist on her own mouth and her other hand on her crotch. "You ecchi!"

"Oh my, do the people of Albion grow so swiftly?" Chizuru inquired mischievously as she too drew near. "Or is it that users of magic go through puberty much earlier?"

"N-No, I swear I'm only ten! Ten!" he made clear, since they might be less prone to kill him that way. "As for this, um, well, you see-"

"Negi-bozu," Kaede said, smiling to try and set him at ease, and failing. "This one was quite serious when talking about one's willingness to help you through difficult stages of your development. Your sister might, okay, certainly would just punch you did she know what you were doing, so it is well that she is not here."

"He doesn't need your help!" Yuna protested, finally catching up to the others. "He already has me for that!"

It was her turn, again, to have the girls' stares turned on her.

Yuna's head grew several drops of sweat, before they abruptly burst from the heat of her frustration. "Fine, fine, you were all right, all right? Yes, we're having sex, wild monkey sex, all the time, and not just me but Haruna and Misora and a bunch of high school girls and a screwy doctor and the idea is to have his kids and ah, hell, this whole situation was only ever going to end one way, wasn't it?"

And it was Negi's turn to slam the palm of his hand on his face.

Finally, Fei spoke up, rubbing her head and looking as though she was in geat pain. "Oh, would be so nice to be surprise that Haruna involve somehow. Alas. Alack."

"I really, really, really can't believe it!" Makie said, sounding strangled. You were doing, actually have been doing, probably plan to be doing, ecchi things with Negi-kun! I thought I was your best friend, Yuna!"

"Shhhhhh!" Yuna clamped her hands on Makie's mouth.

"Yes, it would be very bad if Asuna-san learned of this," Chizuru spoke quietly, hand over her mouth.

"Actually, my sister is aware of it. She doesn't approve, exactly, but has said she won't denounce me, either," Negi supplied.

"I'm more freaked out about Konoka learning about it, and going to her grandfather with the news!" Yuna agreed, nodding vigorously and accidentally making Makie nod vigorously as well.

"Negi-bozu would be expelled from the school, which would be quite the inconvenience, for him as well as for ourselves," Kaede grimly pondered.

"We get Death Glasses back!" Ku gasped.

"Who?" asked Yuna, and so did Makie even if her voice came out muffled.

Kaede looked at Ku. "I thought you liked Takahata-sensei."

"Is that what people call the poor man?" asked Chizuru, a bit appalled.

"I do like him," Baka Yellow said. "But as sparring partner, no as teacher!"

The five of them then looked back at Negi, who sat on the water, with his legs spread and his hands supported on the rocky bottom. "I have my reasons. Good, valid reasons that I have been explaining a lot recently," Negi explained, sounding a bit weary. "As I said not too long ago, you could have me fired, but what would you get out of it? I won't ever make anyone do anything they don't want to, and-"

"Like you didn't make us study today?" Makie asked skeptically.

"That's what teachers are supposed to do!" Negi had to remind her.

"Yes," Kaede nodded. "What teachers aren't supposed to do is have sexual relationships with their students."

"Have you noticed that you're not using an old-fashioned dialect at the moment?" Chizuru asked her abruptly.

"Have you noticed that you are no longer acting like a daffy aristocrat?" Kaede replied with a sideways glance in her direction.

"Fair enough," Chizuru said with a shrug.

"So, what are you going to do, then?" Yuna, faintly dreading the answer.

Kaede smirked slyly. She was about to say something, but then Makie walked past her, stomping and splashing water as she went straight to Negi. "Ohhhhhh, never mind that! If Yuna does it, I want it too! Teachers shouldn't play favorites!"

"... bwaahhh?!" asked Yuna.

Makie looked back over her shoulder and stuck her tongue out at her. "Nyah! You should remember, out of all four of us, I'm the most likely to do things on a whim! You won't take that away from me, and even if you're Golden Medal here, I'll get my Silver Medal!"

"That would be Haruna, actually," Yuna said, faintly amazed by what Makie's assertiveness.

"Don't be silly, Yuna, Haruna-san doesn't compete in sports!" the pink-haired girl said without a backward glance at Yuna, as she crouched over Negi's hips.

"When Baka Pink right, she right," Fei said a bit dazedly.

Negi blinked, although his hands already were on Makie's slim and smooth flanks, feeling the slight yet firm muscle under her skin. "Makie-san, are you fully sure you want to do -"

"No, of course not! That's why I said I act on a whim, isn't it! Geez, Negi-kun, you're starting to make me wonder whether you pay any attention to the words that are coming out of my mouth!" Makie said, lowering herself down on Negi's small stiff penis, just like she had seen when spying on her parents and various other people, carefully maneuvering until he was in, and he gave a small grunt.

Makie blinked.

Fei, Kaede and Yuna approached the two of them, Chizuru hanging back. "It no hurt?" a bewildered Fei asked.

"Uhhhhh ... no?" asked Makie with a nervous giggle. "It feels like sticking a finger in, but harder!"

Yuna sighed. "You broke your hymen doing splits three years ago, remember, Maki-chan?"

"Ohh, is that what that was?" Makie said, as Negi began guiding her hips up and down to show her how to bounce on his lap, as he kissed and licked her tiny teats, paying special attention to her pink nipples. "What, what does that have to do with - tee heee heeee, that tickles. It feels funny, but the right kind of funny... naaanhhhh..." she moaned as Negi increased his pace just a little.

Ku ran a hand down her own face, the other placed on her own hip. "I no can believe this. Too many things in one week to take in."

"She seems to be taking it in well," Yuna mildly joked, keeping her sight on Makie's back and small perky butt as she finally learned something quick and began bouncing like a playful ball on the boy fucking her. Her fantasies about other girls had never included Makie, for some reason, but having this in front of her was doing a great deal to put them there. Of course, with the way things had been going, Makie would be utterly completely straight, and whap her with her baton if she ever dared to -

And then Kaede's arms were wrapped around her from behind, her hands fondling Yuna's breasts. "And does Yuna-dono like what she's seeing?" Kaede's words breezed into Yuna's ear. "Because now she seems even more interested in looking at Makie-dono than at Negi-bozu."

Yuna closed her eyes. "Nagase, if this is just teasing, you ought to know that if I keep getting teased like this, I think I'm gonna kill mumph," she said as Kaede whirled her around and began kissing her mouth, having received as much of a confirmation as she had expected.

Ku looked back and forth between all of them, including Chizuru, who had started unashamedly masturbating, and let out a low whistle. "Haruna, you sure miss out," she said. It should be understood that Fei was a virgin, and almost never entertained any thoughts of a sexual nature, except when depraved perverts told dirty stories in front of her, or she was forced from her home and found herself reflecting on what was probably going on there.

So it wasn't exactly due to curiosity that she hung around at that point, sitting against a semi-submerged boulder as she watched the goings on. There was more of a sense that if she retreated now, as she'd retreated before, she would be suffering a defeat, as she hadn't then.

Kaede had leaned Yuna back onto the pebble beach, ignoring Yuna's vague protests of physical discomfort, as the much taller young woman held the basketball player's legs open and dove her head in between them, to lick and nibble at her core, which made Yuna arch her back and scream Kaede's name. Meanwhile, Negi had also placed himself on top of Makie, on the edge of the water, so Makie's face was safely above the drowning level. Her pink hair, however, mostly remained underwater, as he ran a hand through it, the other steadily gripping the girl's hip.

The young teacher kept ramming into his student, repeating her name under his breath constantly, and Makie responded with whimpers of eager pleasure and folding her strong legs around his hips. She had never imagined that ecchi could feel so good. No wonder the other girls of her team talked about it so much. Of course, the temptation to brag about how much she had liked it with Negi-kun and how now she was a big girl too was nearly overpowering.

Negi-kun was saying something strange now, something that sounded like a funny foreign language. And then his hips were slamming harder on hers, and he held himself still for a moment, and then she felt like he was peeing into her, only not as much as you'd expect someone to pee, not even a little boy. Then he caugh one of her nipples into his mouth and toyed with it, and that final push was all Makie's sensitive body needed to reach at last her sheer, raw explosion of a pleasure that felt like eating a bucketful of chocolate pudding all at once.

"Negi-kun," she hissed, clumsily kissing his cute face, which was salty with his ... tears? No, it couldn't be, no. "I, I liked that a lot, Negi-kun."

"Me too," he sighed hoarsely, hugging her tightly before finally letting her tired form go. "And I'm sure to like this as well."

For now Kaede was approaching them again, a statuesque naked beauty of pure lean muscle and a classic kitsune smile. Behind her, Yuna had curled up in a ball, shaken by the aftereffects of a few orgasms. Kaede had said something about her just experiencing the barest basics of the Miroku Clan's teachings, so what were the higher levels like? The mind, and Yuna's privates, boggled.

"Only if this one permits it, Negi-bozu," the girl told him, with a touch of warning in her voice. "And why should that be the case?"

"You promised you'd help me," he reminded her, rising to her challenge.

"So I did. But I remain unconvinced this is the kind of help you need, even if you want it."

"It is, and I do," he said. "Of course, if it's you who doesn't want it -"

"This one never dreamed of saying such a thing as that," she said, reaching down with a hand to boldly massage his genitals. An eyebrow was raised, and an eye was finally opened. "Great recovery times, I see."

"This one was trained to enhance his stamina and endurance as much as he could," Negi smiled.

Kaede smiled back, just a little menacingly. "Good thing, then, because so was this one. And please do not imitate." And with that she knelt down, opened her mouth, and sucked his member into it.

Yuna pushed herself back up, witnessing how Kaede knelt before Negi, fellating him with what, even for a novice like Yuna, looked like considerable, noteworthy skill, lightly playing with his ballsack in a hand as the other caressed his tight buttocks. Negi had his hands on her hair, whispering her name while pumping his hips onto her mouth. However, she was soon distracted by the now familiar sensation of a warm tongue on her own privates.

She looked down, blinking in shock. "Makie? What are you doing?"

Makie lifted her head from Yuna's crotch. "Um ... pleasuring you? Am I not doing it right?" she asked, sounding uncertain.

"Uh, well, I mean - I - I thought you'd hit me over the head with your baton first," Yuna half-stammered.

Makie regarded her, curiously. "Would you like me to hit you over the head with my baton? I could go it if you really want."

"No, no, I mean - you said you liked Akira better than me!" she finally managed to protest.

"Well, yeah, but Akira isn't here right now," Makie reminded her, since her best friend had clearly lost track of that fact. "Really, you say very strange things sometimes, Yuna-chan." She shook her head in abject confusion, smiled broadly, and reached up to give Yuna a kiss on the belly button, before resuming her kisses on Yuna's petals.

At that point Yuna more or less gave up.

Kaede pulled back, wiping her mouth with the back of a hand, and smiled, settling herself on the shore, arms and legs open. "Negi-bozu," she said. "Before you rush towards any course of action, heed these words. This one is a shinobi, a relic of eras long gone in a changing world. One of the last shinobi my village has raised. Once, one would have easily found service with, or be pushed into servitude by, a worthy master, but those times are naught but gray memories now, and yet my family's traditions state one must find a lord or lady before one is-"

"Sure, I'll do it," Negi agreed.

Kaede frowned slightly, which marked the very first time Negi (or anyone else present) had ever seen her actually upset (even if not that much). "What part of 'before you rush' was not clear, pray tell?"

"When we don't have a lot of time, that's the only thing we can do," argued Negi. "But if you don't mind, I think I'd prefer not being called 'Master'. I came here to find partners, not subordinates. I - oh," he said in a moment of realization, then spoke more or less to himself. "Is that what she was trying to teach me, then?"

Wondering what he was talking about, Kaede nonetheless continued to speak. "It remains to be seen how you shall prove yourself, through our union, and become this one's lesser, master or equal."

"I want to prove myself as Negi Springfield, that's all," he told her. "Help me at it, please."

Kaede paused. "Very well," she finally said, "This one does want to believe in you. Or else, this one wouldn't even be doing this."

"And I greatly appreciate your trust," Negi sincerely said. "It means a lot to me."

Kaede nodded. "This one is not truly aware yet of her own worth either, which is why -"

"Uuffffff!" Yuuna grunted as Makie continued to eat her out. "Are you two gonna fuck or not?"

They both looked at her, flatly said, "Yes," and then Negi began moving over Kaede, lowering himself on her body, stretching his arms up to take hold of her hands.

"Ready?" he asked, with a gulp.

She nodded. "One who is born to die at any moment, flowing from the shadows, is always ready."

"I'll take your word on that," he said, aligning himself with her vaginal entrance and pushing in. She voiced no pain or anything else for that matter, save a little grunt.

Their lovemaking was long-drawn but not excessively spectacular, comprised of precise, constant thrusts and pulls, accompanied by short, soft moans and sighs from both. Kaede's large round breasts bounced again and again on her chest, but his scarce height (and her considerably greater height) meant he couldn't reach them with his mouth in that position, so he didn't even try. Instead, he kissed her taut stomach and bellybutton, while their hands tightened on each other.

Kaede was obviously a skilled, experienced lover, Negi reflected as they moved in tandem. Her skill seemed comparable to that of his mothers, which was impressive for someone so young. Still, while he could say she could have given him a mindblowing session going all out, he also knew she was holding back, unwilling to overwhelm him. For all of his recent experiences, he was still a novice, far beneath her level. Well. He would have to catch up quickly, then. No doubt he wouldn't tap that meaty, firm, juicy ass for all it was worth before the year was over.

"Give it to me," she suddenly told him, reading his body language. "Never be afraid. Give me all of you that you can give."

He turned his eyes up towards her face. "Are you sure?"

"Would it stop you if this one told you 'No'?" she asked.

"Yes, I would!" he protested, yet never stopped ramming.

"How convenient, then, that no one ever has told you that," Kaede held him closer. "You said you wanted to be tested as a man, even if it was before your time. So do it! Give it to me!" she commanded.

He panted, then began pounding her as hard as he could, with all the force that he could summon up from strengthening magic, all the passion he possessed, before exploding into her, spraying his whiteness into her squeezing passages, which moved hungrily, as if to milk him for all his worth. It was fucking incredible.

Finally, her vaginal muscles relaxed enough to let him go, and he fell back, rasping for air. He tried to speak, and found no words. So Kaede spoke for him, slowly sitting up and looking towards the waters. "I believe that it is someone else's turn, now," she said gently.

Fei pulled her eyes away from Kaede's vagina and the sticky liquid it seeped out, and waved her arms around with a full body blush. "What? Oh, no no no! You may declare allegiance that way, but good Chinese girl only can take husband if he defeat her in combat first!" Oh no, she thought, am I turning into a Joketsuzoku after all?

"I meant Chizuru-dono, actually."

"Oh."

Chizuru, who had brought herself to several quiet orgasms watching all this, took a deep breath as she walked - no, sauntered, really - over to where Negi was gasping in the sand. "Sensei," she asked quietly. "Do you want me?"

"Yes," he said, managing to rise above his exhaustion.

"Hm," she said. "That's very flattering. I think I would enjoy that ... except for one small problem." She shook her head. "No, a rather large one, actually."

"What ... might that be?" Negi asked.

"Ayaka," she said, making the word a little prayer. "She loves you, very much, even though you've just met. She will be very upset at all of these girls you've claimed as your own, but I think as long as you give her some of your time and love, she will forgive them. But I - I am, as much as anyone can be, her friend. If she learned that I had been with you before she could, she would never really forgive me for that betrayal. And I think she would be right if she never did. So I must deny myself this joy, for now."

Before another word could be spoken, she reached out, stroked Negi's hard member once, gathering up the secretions on it in the process, and brought them to her mouth. She shuddered a little as she tasted them. "Please do seduce Ayaka soon, Negi-kun," she said in a blissed out tone.

"Which one's Ayaka again?" he asked in a tiny voice.

"Iinchou," every girl on the beach told him, with varying levels of annoyance.

"Well, if all of you keep calling her that, it's somewhat hard to remember the dear girl's name," he told them, a bit affronted.

"In any event," said Chizuru, giving Negi a look that was markedly less fond than those she'd given him to this point, "I believe that it is Ku's turn now." She turned to look in the Chinese girl's direction. "Were you serious about him fighting you for the privilege?" she asked, a bit hopefully.

"Oh, um, no, no, that was, ah, that thing, you know, where you say thing you not really thinking but on mind for some strange reason?" Fei replied, blushing a bit. Since no one around her was any more informed than she was - even Negi had managed to avoid any psychology classes, somehow - the words 'Freudian slip' were never uttered.

"Well, good." Kaede nodded, undaunted. "Then don't take him as your master and husband, since he is already mine. Take him as your student instead."

"Eh?" Yuna blinked. "Husband?! I don't think you ever mentioned that!"

"Say what again?" Fei was even more bewildered.

Kaede wagged a finger. "A shinobi's master must be well versed in the arts of war himself. Since it would be counter-productive for this one to teach him whom one would call lord, Ku-dono is the ideal, honest, brave, and cute person to do so instead."

Negi sighed, still flat on his back. "I told you, I don't want to be treated as a lord or master. I'm only proving myself, what right do I have to place myself above others?"

"But in order to prove yourself, you'll need to become a master, not only of academics and magic, but of battle," Kaede reasoned.

"Well, yes" Negi admitted.

Fei interrupted, quietly. "So, you asking me to not take Negi-bozu as man to be won by, but as man to form?"

Kaede nodded. "That's pretty much the idea."

The deeply tanned blonde hummed. "And once that done, and he at end of road, he man enough to take Ku as his woman instead. So this only investment so in long term pride is properly reached."

"Ummmm... sure thing," Kaede said, believing she had gotten the basics of that strange justification.

"About this husband thing, though -" Yuna started to interject once for.

"Fret not, Yuna-dono. My great-grandfather reputedly had dozens of wives. One of them, according to many of the tales, was his own mother. Such is the way of the ninja harem lead, dattebane," Kaede assured her.

"That's ... cool if a little sick and wrong," the basketball player replied, eyes gone all circly. "What the heck does that last word mean?"

Ku rubbed her legs together and chewed on her lower lip. She knew she shouldn't be doing it this way, it wasn't the correct path, this the sort of thing Haruna would do, indeed had done, and yet, and yet ... quickly moving to stand over him, looking down at the boy, she declared, "You better no fail me later."

He stared back up at her athletic, wet nudity, and then beckoned her to go down, to get closer.

She did as requested. Ku Fei sat slowly on Negi's lap, seeing his unit's tip lightly brushing against the entrance to her most private part. "Ah," she awkwardly said, "Keep in mind, this big, big sacrifice I make for you. So you repay by become good student for me."

"I will," he replied without hesitation.

"You sure?" she asked. "You bookworm mage! You no look athletic enough," she pondered, running a hand over his chest, which to be fair was far better toned than those of most boys his age.

He flexed his arms, which also had somewhat more muscle than those of the average. "You should know good muscle is spread without ostentation. I have trained to be a combat mage. And lover. You have to be in good shape for that," he explained, grabbing her hips and slowly pulling her towards his pulsing dick.

"Wait, wait, I change my mind," she suddenly panicked, "Heart no ready yet, and you still too- gggrrhhhh!" Her shoulders rattled as he penetrated her. It wasn't that it hurt, but the mere awareness of what they were doing was enough in itself to shake her. And then it grew even worse or better, as Negi wasted no time in starting to pump into her. After two sexual encounters in a row, his dick felt somewhat funny and spent, but he was determined to give Fei as good as he could.

"Excuse me," Negi asked, shifting one of his hands to one of her legs, lifting it to get a better leverage. "Were you saying something?"

"Keep, keep it going," Ku said, her hands clawing at the dirt as she rode him, and then Kaede and Yuna slid behind her after Kaede whispered something to the basketball player. After some hesitation, Yuna took one of Fei's dark nipples into her mouth, and then Kaede did the same with the other one. Nagase's right hand then traveled down to tease Ku's asscrack, pulling a finger in just enough to caress the anal ring without penetrating it. That made Ku break into a high pitched squeal, and Negi to hasten his efforts, his small testicles quickly slapping Fei's flesh.

Makie, meanwhile, was practicing her cunnilingus technique on Chizuru, who was actually offering the pink-haired girl some feedback between the gasps and moans that were being provoked.

"I'm coming, Fei-san. I'm coming!" he shouted after a few minutes of that, and she shook as he impregnated her.

"Ah, ah. Ah, ah, ah," Ku Fei panted, hands on his abdomen, green eyes fully open, still crouching on top of her like a tigress, tongue hanging out.

All of them slowly collapsed together, lying on the beach and resting for a while ... which while was promptly interrupted by a shrill scream in Asuna's voice. "AAAAIIIIIEEEEEE! THIS THING'S GOT ME!"

"Asuna!" Negi gasped. then reached around, recalling the discarded towel he had left behind the rocks to his hand, and the staff to the other one.

"Asuna-dono, indeed," Kaede grimly nodded.

"What the-" Yuna babbled, as they saw the titanic figure of one of the armored golems rising from between the trees, firmly gripping a nude, kicking and screaming Asuna in one of its oversized hands.

Negi huffed, stomping a foot down. "I can't believe this. Hasn't it done enough?!"

Ku readied her fists. "Let Asuna-san go, you!"

Yue and Konoka were approaching as well, clad in nothing but their skirts and bras, and rejoining the main group. "Asuna!" Konoka cried. "Grandpa, what are you doing! Let Asuna-chan go! This isn't funny!"

"I HAVE TOLD YOU REPEATEDLY THAT I AM NOT YOUR GRANDFATHER, WHY DO YOU PERSIST IN ADDRESSING ME IN THAT MANNER?" The statue made a rumbling noise that might have been a sigh. "REGARDLESS OF SUCH MATTERS, YOU SHOULD ALL JUST SURRENDER IMMEDIATELY, AS IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR ANY OF YOU TO TRAVERSE THE EXIT PATH FROM THIS LEVEL IN LESS THAN THREE -"

"Then there is a way out!" Negi exclaimed.

"WHY IS IT THAT WHEN I INSIST THAT I AM NOT ANYONE'S GRANDFATHER, MY WORDS ARE IGNORED, AND YET YOU SEIZE UPON THE SUBTLE IMPLICATIONS OF CERTAIN OTHER STATEMENTS THAT I MAKE?"

"And, look, there on the statue's neck!" Yue said in a slightly louder version of her usual monotone, pointing as she did so. She was pointing at a certain book.

Those of the Baka Rangers who were not presently being held by the monster exchanged a glance, then nodded as one. They would escape, all of them, and they would get that damned book. Without further ado, Fei let out a roar of "Mati Bung Chuen!" and slammed a punch into the statue's legs, knocking it off balance.

"Fastball Special!" cried Makie, and was immediately tossed into the air above the statue's head with a jolt of Kaede's arms. Makie's ribbon lashed out as she began her descent on the other side, wrapping around the book and yanking it away from the statue. Before it could react to that, however, Ku Fei had spun up into a kick to its arm, jolting it into letting Asuna free. The twin-tailed girl proceeded to deliver a neck-high kick of her own to the statue's hip as soon as her feet graced the cavern floor, accompanied by a sharp kiai, that further knocked it back a step.

"Everybody, run!" Negi shouted. He was tempted to use his magic directly, since there was no longer any secret to be kept, here, but now that Asuna was free and moving, the statue wasn't actually directly endangering the lives of his students. And besides, it might actually be Konoka's grandfather, after all.

They turned to start fleeing further into the cavern, towards the source of its strange light, but Makie lagged behind thanks to the way her tumble had taken her to the rear of the statue. With a roar of purest fury, it lunged toward her, intent on taking at least one of the trespassers captive.

"Oh, no, you don't!" yelled Chizuru, who'd waited for Makie. She reached up, stretching to her full height, grabbed hold of the statue's arm ... and pulled it forward, using its own mass against it, so that it lifted off its feet, and went flying deeper into the water.

Makie's eyes bulged.

"Yukihiro-style Aikijujutsu," Chizuru explained, grabbed Makie up and pulled her along with her as they ran to catch up to the others. For some reason, Makie's mind was filled with a drum sequence, a throbbing guitar rhythm, and someone shouting 'Woohoo' over and over again.

Yue's knowledge of the library's structure soon saved them once again when she pointed out a door hidden behind one of the waterfalls. In the distance they could hear the statue forcing itself back to its feet and beginning to lumber back to them. Konoka quickly answered the question on the door, rather than waiting for one of the Baka Rangers to puzzle it out, magic book or no magic book.

The door opened up onto a vast spiral staircase, interrupted by a series of doors enscribed with basic tests of English, history and mathematics. Whether due to all the studying they'd been doing, the influence of the magic book, or being not quite as dumb as they'd always thought they were, the girls made their way past the doors, having crossed the second before they heard the statue crash into the spiral staircase, and start climbing it far behind them.

"Ah!" cried Yue. "We're close enough to the surface that I'm getting cell phone reception! I'm calling Nodoka now!"

Before she could even do so, however, the racing Rangers came to the end of the staircase. "An elevator?" Asuna exclaimed. "Who the hell puts an elevator at the top of a staircase?! For pity's sake!"

"Don't argue with the insanity, just get in already!" Negi shouted.

They proceeded to pile in, and Kaede reached for the button marked "G" for ground floor ... only to hesitate as the elevator's buzzer began to sound.

"Elevator is. Over. Loaded," said a tinny-sounding voice.

"... you've got to be kidding me," said Makie.

"Okay! Okay!" Asuna shrieked. "This is not a problem! Everybody, get naked and that should -"

"Asuna, this isn't a fan-service scene in a manga!" Konoka shrieked right back. "And most of us aren't even wearing that much in the first place!"

Chizuru sighed, stood up from where she had been crouching at the back of the elevator. "I will remain behind," she said, very calmly. "I weigh the most, and after all, the Green Ranger is the one who acts alone, aren't they?" Before anyone could stop her, she walked out the elevator doors.

The buzzing stopped ... but just for a moment, and then it resumed. "Elevator is," it began to say again.

"Nin nin," said Kaede, and walked out to stand beside Chizuru.

"I CAN SEE YOU!" called the statue from below.

Again the buzzing stopped. Again it started ,,. again.

"All right," Negi said. "I won't abandon any of my students. Send help when you can!" And he darted out to accompany Chizuru and Kaede.

This time, when the buzzing stopped, there was a ding, and the elevator doors began to close.

"Negi!" Asuna shouted at the top of her lungs, and flung the book to him just before the doors sealed between them.

He caught it, and opened it quickly. His eyes went wide as he scanned the pages that lay open to him.

"Does it contain powerful magic that can resolve this situation, oh master?" Kaede asked. "Or will it enhance your own magic to godlike levels?"

"... I have no idea," he answered. "It's in Greek."

"What?" the girls chorused.

"Most of the oldest grimoires are in Greek," Negi explained as the sounds of the statue's climb drew even closer. "I've been taught enough to recognize titles, but not nearly enough to understand a book in that language. Even if this is the -"

"βιβλίο μελχισμένο," said Chizuru, looking at the cover.

"Yes, the Book of Melchizedek, I wouldn't what what what?" he asked, staring at her.

"I ... can read this," she said, looking haunted. "Why can I read this, and not my own name in the only language I can speak?"

"A question for another day, assuming we have one," Kaede declared, producing a rather large throwing star from nowhere in particular. "Fight bravely, my master. Fight bravely, daffy aristocrat."

"THERE YOU ARE!" called the statue as it came into view on the stairs below them.

From behind them, a ding.

"Turns out this is a really fast elevator," Asuna said conversationally, standing alone in the car. Then shrieked, "Get in, idiots!" at the top of her lungs.

---

Shinji's second day at his new school was also the first where he was assigned clean-up duty, and thus the first that he had an excuse to remain in the school building after hours. He helped out a bit, then begged off the rest by claiming that he had to visit the washroom. Rather than do so, of course, he headed to the public telephone on the building's shadowy first floor, and dialed the number he'd memorized.

"This line is not secure," said a scrambled sounding voice on the other end, followed by a click of disconnection and the hum of a dead line.

Dammit! he thought.

"But I can spoof the surveillance at this location for up to twenty minutes," said a quiet, familiar voice behind him.

Shinji whirled. "Zazie," he almost gasped, dropping the phone's handset.

"No hugs," she said warningly. "We discussed this. No hugs. And remember that we have twenty minutes, and that's an estimate, not a guarantee. So give me a report, and maybe we can have a chat if there's enough time."

He made a face, but nodded. "Okay. It all worked out pretty much like you said it would, except for the way some flying person showed up. I barely noticed him - I think it was a him - when I was in the field, but he was a help, I think."

Zazie nodded. "Right. That factor surprised my backers as well. Assuming it's the same individual, they haven't been seen in close to thirty years."

"So that was an actual superhero?" Shinji asked, amazed. "I almost didn't think they were real."

"They were, and are, and I'm going to try to get in touch with those who might help us coordinate our efforts. You don't need to worry about that, just yet."

"Okay," he said. "Um ..." Images of Ayanami in her bandages flashed before his eyes. "There was one other thing you didn't tell me about," he started to say. Then paused, and shook his head. "No, never mind, it's not important." If she had known about that, she would have told him, surely. Surely.

Her golden eyes gazed at him for a moment, then blinked. "All right then. Shinji, I have one important question that I need to ask you - did you tell anyone, anyone, the names of the other pilot candidates that I showed you?"

He froze. "Uhhh. Ohhhh ... I did tell Ayanami that. Was that bad?" Are you going to abandon me for that?

Zazie took a deep breath. "No. It could have been, if you'd passed that information to anyone else, but the situation is manageable." Ayanami would tell the elder Ikari, and he would look for leaks and close those that he found ... but some of those leaks were designed to be found, as they lead back to spies for third parties. "You did very well, Shinji. For someone with no experience, you did exceptionally well."

He let out a deep sigh of relief.

She looked away from him, both to give him a moment to compose himself and out of genuine curiosity about the environs. "So this is your school, then. It's very ... basic," she said.

This was chatting. They were chatting. It was wonderful. "Basic is a good word for it," Shinji agreed. "The teacher just rattles on about his experience of Second Impact, but from what you've told me about the real purposes of this place -"

"He is a caretaker, not an educator," Zazie confirmed. "If properly approached, he might be a genuinely useful source of intelligence about the outer workings of the plot against you, but it would take more time than you actually have to cultivate him as a resource. I may be able to look into arranging actual education for you and your class, but it will also take some doing."

He swallowed. "How much time do I have?" he asked. "Before the next one, I mean?

"A month at the outside," she told him flatly.

"That's ... honestly better than I was expecting," Shinji admitted. "I'll try to be ready."

"Just remember the basics of basics," Zazie said. "You are the unit's partner, not its master. But you are not part of the unit. If you ever find yourself thinking that you are, let me know and we will get you out of here. That's a sign that they're about to absorb you."

"They?" he asked.

"The unit doesn't have a gender as we understand the term." She shook her head. "I promised you chatting, and yet here we are discussing weighty matters. What do you think of your roommate?"

"I think she hates me and that she's the biggest slob in the world," he told her frankly. "And it's roommates, she lives with a talking duck."

Her eyes widened. "Really. So this is where he's been hiding. I wondered. Ah. As for Katsuragi-san hating you, I think her hatred is reserved for the Heralds. She will gradually warm up to you."

"Ritsuko-san said the same thing," Shinji agreed.

"Patience, one of the more difficult virtues, is recommended. And please remember -"

"Ikari-kun?" asked a voice from offside.

His head jerked in that direction, eyes going wide as he turned to see the class representative standing at the building's stairwell, looking at him oddly. "What are you doing down here?" Horaki asked, sounding more confused than suspicious.

"Ahhhh," Shinji said, turning to look at Zazie for support, and not receiving it, for she was nowhere to be seen at the moment. Okay, then, a stronger version of himself thought, and he turned back to Horaki. "I got lost," he said.

She stared at him. "You got lost?" she repeated.

He nodded.

"... well, it's only your second day, so I guess that could happen," she said, in a way that suggested that she really didn't think it could. "Come on, let's go finish up in our classroom."

"Yes, absolutely," he agreed. As he approached her, a thought occurred to him. "Iinchou, does the name Asagiri mean anything to you?" he asked.

"Hm, I think that was my mom's maiden name," she said. "Why?"

"You just remind me of someone I knew by that name," he lied easily to the girl whose photograph had been so identified.

---

When the elevator doors opened to release its second set of passengers onto the surface, just behind the main building of Library Island, the four of them found those who had preceded them talking animatedly with two of those who had remained at base camp. Well, Haruna was talking animatedly with everyone; Nodoka was standing like a statue, eyes covered by her bangs and yet somehow indicating that she was staring right at Yue. When Negi and the others emerged, she turned her head to stare at him instead for a moment, before looking at Yue once more. Back and forth she went, in eerie silence.

"Did grandpa hurt any of you?!" Konoka asked a bit frantically.

"No, the statue didn't get up to where we were standing until the elevator doors closed right in front of it," Negi explained. "We could hear it banging on them for a moment or so on the way up, though."

"There really was a statue that sounded like the Headmaster?" Haruna asked, eyes wide. "Some kind of audioanimatronic?"

"It can't have been an audioanimatronic," Yue replied, a bit irritatedly. "Audioanimatronics are by definition electronic, and would probably explode if they were as immersed in water as that thing was. It must have been -" She broke off, clearly biting her tongue to stop herself from declaring that it was part of the new world of magic she'd just discovered.

Nodoka kept staring.

"Where the book?" asked Fei. "After all that, book had better be pretty awesome."

Negi exchanged a glance with Kaede and Chizuru. "We decided to leave it behind," he said. The two tall girls looked off in different directions, artful innocence on their faces. Asuna was watching this with a decidedly skeptical expression.

"Say what?" Makie gasped. "Why -?"

"If we've learned anything from this experience, I hope it's that looking for quick and easy solutions to our problems just ends up creating more of them," Negi began to orate. "We didn't get out of this through magic books, but through our own talents and courage. That's more important than any magical book could possibly be." He smiled warmly at them.

They stared. Well, Nodoka was already staring, so they joined her in staring.

"What?" Negi asked.

"So ... the real treasure was our friendship?" asked Yue, somehow managing to sound even more monotone than she usually did.

"That's a good way of putting it - what?" Negi asked, genuinely bewildered as nearly all of them turned away and made retching noises.

"It's kind of a cliche, Negi," Asuna said, taking pity on him ... and coming close enough to whisper. "So why aren't we telling them that Chizuru has the book?" she asked quietly.

"Because that would mean telling them that she can read it, and until we know why, I won't do that. Any more than I'd go into detail about a certain person's Magic Cancel," he added.

"Good point," she said, backing away.

"Um, Nodoka-san?" Negi asked, then, having noticed that Nodoka had continued to divide her staring sessions between him and Yue. "Is something the matter?"

She shook her head in complete silence.

"Ahem, okay, uh, just so you know, some of you supposedly went to visit Chizuru-sama's mansion today, so you may get asked questions about that," said Haruna. She briefly looked at Makie. "Annnnd some of you may get asked other questions, instead. Uh, but, sensei, I should probably tell you something ... privately."

Mystified, Negi walked with Haruna a short distance away, and spoke quietly with her for a few moments. Then he shouted, "You did what?"

Haruna made quelling gestures. "It was the best idea I could come up with to calm her down!" she hissed. "And it worked, too! That should count for something! Um ... but there is a little itty bitty problem, still."

"Do tell," Negi drawled quietly, Welsh accent on full display.

"I might possibly have given her the impression that you were going to be doing it with everybody down there," Haruna admitted, in the manner of one having a tooth pulled. "Especially Yuetchi."

"Oh, wonderful," the boy teacher said with a shake of his head. "All right, I will clarify matters with Nodoka right now, and since everyone here already knows about magic, that will actually make things a little - where is she?" he asked suddenly, looking back at the rest of the girls.

"And where's Yuetchi?" asked Haruna, sounding strangled.

---

"Did it hurt?" Nodoka asked her dearest friend, having quickly led her around the perimeter of the Library building, in through the front door, and into a cloak room off the main entrance.

"Um ... no, the fall down the pit was surprisingly - there was this giant spider-web, you see, and it slowed us down so that no one was -" Yue started to invent.

"Not that," Nodoka interjected. "That."

"You're going to need to be a little more specific," said the tiny philosopher after a moment of bewilderment.

Nodoka took a deep breath. "Haruna told me everything," she said."

Now Yue blinked. "She knew?" Then she shook her head. "What am I saying, of course she knew. It's just a surprise that, if she knows, the whole school doesn't already know." Why would possess Negi-sensei to trust her with the secret of magic? she wondered.

"Yes. Now did it hurt?" Nodoka pressed.

Yue considered the question carefully. "Yes," she finally said. Having her previously skeptical worldview upended that way hadn't been painless, even if she'd been easily able to incorporate the new knowledge into a coherent understanding. Truthfully, it was an ongoing process, and -

"Oh, Yue-yue, I'm so sorry!" Nodoka cried, and hugged Yue tightly, pressing her lips to her roommates'.

"Huh?" said Yue, since - as has been repeatedly observed - it's hard to talk in an understandable way when someone else's tongue is in your mouth.

"I can't make it hurt any less, Yue," Nodoka told her tearfully when she pulled back. "But I can show you how Haruna made me feel good, so that maybe the pain will fade a little." She pulled aside Yue's skirt and slid the dazed girl's panties down her short legs. "I love you so much, Yue," she added, before starting to lick at the other girl's hairless mound.

"HuUUUUUUUHHHHHH?"

A few moments later, Konoka opened the door to the cloak room and peered in. "Nodoka? Are you in he-" The answer to her question was soon given to her as she stared at her two friends kissing frantically as they fingered each other on the floor.

"Ah," said Konoka. She then reached behind the door, found the placard, closed the door and hung the "Do Not Disturb" sign on its exterior face. That done, she stood a while in uffish thought, and then quietly collapsed to a crouched position, hands over her eyes in a desperate attempt to hold back the tears that were falling furiously from them.

She drew a deep breath. "Kaguya-chan," Konoka moaned.

---

Eventually, though, everyone made their way back to the dorms for some well-needed rest, followed by yet another day of intense study. (Makie found herself wondering why people kept looking at her as though they expected an outburst of terrible violence, except for Setsuna, who was just giving her the strangest look!) Which was followed in turn by the test. Negi watched his students march into the examination room, where the test was being proctored by Seruhiko-sensei, one of the magical teachers Negi had met during his tour of the Cathedral. All that was left for Negi to do, now, was to pray for his students' success - and, alas, he was an atheist.

A prayer could not have hurt, but it wouldn't have helped that much either. Not only did the entire class pass the test, they scored the second highest combined score of their entire year, earning a remarkable amount of meal tickets for Shiina Sakurako in the academy's betting pool. (As this was the second time this had happened, the organizers decided to ban her from participation in the next year's event.)

"Congratulations, Negi-kun," the Headmaster told the young teacher when they met in his office at the end of that day. "You have more than validated my faith in you, and I look forward to having you as a teacher again in the coming year."

"Thank you, sir," Negi said, beaming. "But, just out of curiosity, where did you get that golem suit?"

"I am sure that I have no idea what you are talking about, Negi-kun. That is all," he said, just a bit warningly, and Negi got the message and made his way out of the office.

"So you did it," said Asuna as she met him outside the administration building.

"Well, I've made a start on it, and I'll be allowed to continue it, at least," Negi agreed as they walked down the steps together. "But the job isn't even close to being done, yet. None of the jobs are."

"Yeah, that would be how you'd look at it, wouldn't you?" his sister said, smiling just a bit sadly. Then her face grew even more serious. "Actually, Negi, I've been thinking about it, and, well, maybe it wouldn't be so -"

"Excuse me," interrupted Shanna from right behind Asuna.

Asuna, who was now half-way up the statue in front of the administration building, looked down at her and peeped, "Yes?"

"I need to have a talk with Negi-sensei," she said, not bothering to look up at Asuna, eyes fixed on Negi.

"Of course!" Negi said quickly. While she hadn't said the matter was urgent, the way that she'd spoken clearly conveyed just that message. "Asuna, I'll see you later, all right?" he added with a wave to his sister.

"Right," said Asuna, watching them walk away, a little annoyed. But more with herself than anything else. "Why does my timing suck so badly?" she wondered aloud.

"So ... what is the matter?" Negi asked Shanna when they were far enough away from Asuna that he was fairly sure she wouldn't overhear. He knew, or was at least reasonably sure, that Shanna was aware of what he was doing, and wondered what she was going to do about the situation.

"When I asked you if you wanted to mate with me, and you said yes, what did I tell you?" she answered without glancing at him.

"You said 'not yet'," Negi reminded her.

Now she looked at him, like a wild lioness eying a particularly succulent zebra. "It's yet," she said.

"Oh," he said. "Um. There are some things I should probably tell you first."

"Don't care."

"Or you could not care, and, um, where are we going to do this?"

"My room."

"Of course we are."

---

Chizuru felt bad about hiding this from Natsumi and (especially) Ayaka, but both of them knew of her learning disability and would have been very confused at the sight of her pouring over a book, particularly one in a foreign language. So she reserved her studies of the Book for her times on the toilet. This was causing her roommates to wonder whether she might have some sort of indigestion, but that was acceptable.

Most of the book was on the subject of magic, and this was completely beyond Chizuru. It wasn't a guide to casting spells, but a tome on their theoretical underpinnings, and how those could be used for the Great Purpose. The book began with the assumption that the reader already knew what that Great Purpose was. Chizuru, of course, did not know, and the tone of those sections of the book did not actually fire her interest in the subject.

But there was more to it than that. It also consisted of an encyclopedia about various types of magical beings known to the author, and how they could be of use to a magus, either as an assistant or as - Chizuru flipped the page in mild horror as she realized that she was reading a page on how various elven organs could be used as ingredients for potions of longevity. When he'd given her the book, Negi had warned her that many mages were not very nice people. She was increasingly suspicious that he'd soft pedaled that statement.

And then her eyes lit on a passage about people with reading difficulties, and she zoomed in. 'They may be taken as fools or sages, depending on how well the Greek language is known among those who rear them. So too is it with their other instincts, which are those of one bred for battle. The talents they might possess are too manifold for this page to convey, and depend greatly upon which God begat the young demigod.'

Demigod.

Now she knew what she was.

"So whose child am I?" whispered Naba Chizuru, only daughter of the founder of Naba Heavy Industries.

---

"I'll get it," Yuna told Akira, in response to the frantic knocking on the door. She ambled over to the door, checked through the peephole, and then opened it without undoing the latch. "Yyyyyyyes?" she said cheerfully.

"Where's Negi?" Haruna whispered.

"Don't know," Yuna answered just as quietly. "Maybe he's off with that club he supervises. Or the older girls. Why?"

"You've got to help me!" Haruna's whisper grew into a near squeal. "I've got Yue, Nodoka and Fei in my room wanting to go at it, right the hell now, and I can't do it on my own! If Negi's not here, then you've got to -"

"Sorry, you're not my type," Yuna whispered cheerfully, and shut the door in Haruna's face. The sensation of victory put a spring in her step all the way back to the living room, where Akira regarded her curiously.

"So what was that about?" her room-mate asked.

"Uh, it was Haruna," Yuna answered, then fished for a reason that Haruna would come to her. "She wanted me to give her some descriptions of what Chizuru-san's house was like, so she can draw a big mansion in one of her mangas. I told her I'd help her out later, I don't really want to revisit that just now. You'd be surprised at how many traps rich people's houses have, though."

Akira stared. "Okay," she said.

"Um ... Akira ..." Yuna started to say.

"Yes?"

Coward, coward, coward, coward! roared her mind, as Yuna coughed. "Never mind," she said.

"All right," said Akira, who knew that her friend would say what she wanted to say when she wanted to say it.

---

"YES!" shrieked Shanna as her legs spasmed around Negi's hips and her hands clenched at his back, adding more red marks to those already there, as he spent into her yet again. "Ah. Ah. More."

"But, but we've already done it five times," Negi gasped up at her.

"MORE."

Mother had never told him there'd be days like this ...

NEXT: Evangeline