Disclaimer: I do not own Negima. I do own a beautiful flower though.
Chapter Four: I Ain't Afraid of No Darkness!
***N***E***F***
The door opened wide now, revealing the gloved hand's owner.
"You two are really immature." The intimidating voice said, as the figure looked up and smirked.
"Y-you are…" Asuna and Negi said in unison and surprise.
***N***E***F***
"Tatsumiya-san!"
"It's been a while since we last talked, eh, 'Sensei'?" The gunslinger's cold voice pierced the room. She looked around and saw Asuna. "No need for that weapon, I'm not a magical being."
"Eh …?" Asuna said dumbfounded. She looked around as well, and didn't know what to make of the situation. Unlike a certain someone …"
"Tatsumiya-san! W-why are you here?" Negi called out. He wondered if this had something to do with the darkness thing, but one could only hope there was no trouble already.
"I'm here because…" The tanned girl stopped for dramatic effect, before holding her gun in her hand.
"There is something going on."
Negi fell over, it was exactly what he was hoping would not happen. 'Boy, luck really isn't on my side today, is it?'
"B-but what do you mean 'there is something going on'?"
"Dear me, Negi-sensei. One would expect you to be intelligent enough to take the initiative." She replied, holding the gun in her right hand now. Apparently, the window was open, since both of the girls' hair was swaying to the side. It did add atmosphere to the situation.
"Awa… wha?" Apparently, Asuna had still not caught on yet. She looked around the room once again, then to Negi, and Mana, then Negi again.
"W-what do you …" Negi made an expression, much like one he made when he was disgusted by something, implying that he finally understood. "You don't mean… the darkness?!"
A simple nod from his student was enough to tell him he was right.
"Hrm? Wait. What 'darkness'?" Then something peculiar happened. The fiery haired girl made the same expression as Negi did a moment ago.
"Is that a thinking face?" Mana joked. "It seems you and Negi-sensei possess the same thinking face."
"Ah!" A sudden outburst from Asuna got Negi's attention. "Are you two talking about 'the mysterious happenings?!"
The three of them looked out the window, and saw the clouds cover each other, and turn dark. It didn't look like a storm would brew in the next few minutes, but it was certainly strange.
"Anyway, I was talking to Takamichi, and he said he spotted something over at the World Tree earlier." Mana informed Negi.
"The World Tree area, huh?" Negi cupped his chin and stroked it. "To think of it … Asuna-san, you said you saw something strange there earlier as well, didn't you?"
Asuna, who was suddenly involved in the conversation said, "Uh. Yeah."
"We better get going th--" A scream interrupted the child teacher's voice. It was a girl's scream, and it sounded like it was coming from the room next to them.
"What was that?!" Asuna suddenly jumped up and walked out of the room, causing her to get a little dizzy.
"A scream, I presume." Negi answered, then ran out of the room, skidding into the the door. "I've really got to stop doing that…" He muttered, before opening the door and running in.
Ayase Yue, also known as 'Baka Black', was hanging with her legs on the bed, and her head on the floor. It seemed she was dizzy, as the colour and radiance seemed to dim. Her eyes were also going around in swirls, and she had a plaster on her head.
Miyazaki Nodoka on the other hand, was sprawled across the floor, and she appeared to be gripping the carpet. You could clearly see the radiance in her skin, and her eyes were wide open. She appeared to be afraid of something.
"What happened?!" The child mage extraordinaire held his staff in both his hands, about to do magic. "What's wrong?! D-did something happen?!"
Nodoka was the first one to talk saying, "N-not really…" She then got up slowly, and looked around the room.
"D-did you see anything strange?" Negi persisted; keen to get the answer out of her. So keen, in fact, he even leaned closer to her face.
"K-kyah?! E-err… t-there was a dark blob thing-- I don't know-- in this room…" This was all the evidence Negi needed as he progressed to the window and stood on the window ledge.
"N-Negi~~! I-I don't think it's safe~!" Asuna shouted, and then when she realized the boy had already jumped, she sighed. "Honestly… do I have to go after him all the time?"
The chibi-librarian looked completely dumfounded, as she finally got her head back, and managed to stand up. This, however, was completely ruined by the fiery haired girl jumping out of the window as well.
"W-wha… that should be impossible for human beings…"
Outside of the dorms
The red haired, chibi-like teacher was the first to land on the ground-- well, not really, since apparently he had got onto his staff while in the air. He steadied himself, then looked around for any signs of dark blob things.
"Hoy~~y! Negi~!" A loud, angry voiced Asuna came running towards Negi. "Don't do that ever again, okay?!"
"B-but Asuna…"
"Hey, are you guys going to continue blabbing or what?" The tanned, tall and must I say quite beautiful, Mana interrupted.
Both bowed in apology. "Gomenasai…" It was then Asuna spotted something unusual, saying, "Hey! There's something over there!"
Both turned around, and were quick to act. Mana started running, whereas Negi jumped onto his staff.
"H-hey guys! Wait for me! And you know Negi, if you use that for everything instead of running, you'll get fat!" Asuna helplessly flailed her arms, then ran in attempt to catch up.
The World Tree now, was no regular tree. It was a probably one of the largest tree's in Japan, and one of the most beautiful. There was a terrace beside it as well, where couples or friends often met up. Though, that wasn't even the least of it. Every twenty two years, the World Tree glows, literally lighting up.
There's a rumour as well. Confess to the person you like near the World Tree during the school festival, and the person you like will fall in love with you.
"Wah~~h!" Negi yelped, when he didn't realise how far down he was flying, and the branches were prickling his legs.
Soon, the three of them were at the bottom steps of the enormous tree. It really was a tremendous sight, but they shook their heads and ran.
"Where is it?!" Negi furiously ran around in circles looking for it.
"Like I'd know." Was Asuna's answer, but it was shortly followed by, "It's over there! Near the top!"
Mana simply zoomed in with her gun. "No… this is…"
"Hey~y! Darkness thing stuff! Come and ge--woah!" It wasn't a very intelligent thing to do, since the 'blobs of darkness-- at least they looked like that, were now caving in on her.
The child mage was having troubles of his own, though. At the moment, he was trying to fend off lots of the dark blob things. Some scratches here and there, and his shoe off, but it wasn't too bad.
Though, that is to say, if he tried to get over to Asuna, it would be an abomination.
"Bah! H-hey! What are you doing?! H-hey, don't take off my shoes and socks!" The Magic Canceller was in a tight spot. But hold on. If she could cancel magic, then shouldn't those things back off?
"Ah well… I don't even know about this sort of ability-- never mind how to control it."
"Zanmaken…" A familiar voice, and one Asuna was very happy to hear could be heard reciting a sword technique. "… Ougi!" A shining figure with glimmering white wings appeared out of no-where. Her hair was a little wet, implying she had just gotten out of the showers, and the only thing she was wearing was a pair of black, tight shorts underneath a black nightdress-- though it wasn't technically a nightdress, it was a long top, but hey.
The figure was gleaming under the evening sun, casting a warm orange glow unto her.
There, standing in all her glory, was Sakurazaki Setsuna.
None of the others could mutter a sound, and Mana was no-where to be seen, and most likely they didn't even want to know.
Seeing this, Setsuna gave Asuna a hand, to make sure she was steady. "Well… I thought a felt a dark presence here, so I ran out of the showers…"
Asuna and Negi were struck by invisible arrows on their forehead, pushing them back. It seemed like a rather tense situation, but before either of them could even mutter, the gleaming girl continued speaking. "I'm just happy I made it in time to save you, Asuna."
The young child teacher cleared his throat. So I don't exist anymore?
"Sarcasm kills, Negi-sensei."
"Ah…. sorry."
"Anyways," Asuna, who had finally regained her balance thanks to Setsuna's help, cut in. "What were those things? They creeped me out."
"Who's to say they're not there anymore?" A voice came from above, a very misty voice, which left Negi bewildered.
"Why you--!" Asuna shouted, and that was the last of what could be heard.
An hour later…
There was a knock at the door. It was unusually cold around the area, that is to say, the hallway of the Headmaster's office. Usually it would be equally warm, but there was a different type of coldness in the air. Not one that made you physically cold; a coldness that made your brain cold, causing an unintentional and completely irrational brain freeze.
Putting all that aside, a voice, not to loud, or to quiet, and held an air of wisdom, said, "Come in."
Apparently, he was delighted to see it was the young magister. A smile spread across the old man's lips, and he laughed. "Ohoho, so Negi-kun, you are here to see Takamichi, correct?"
"H-hai, H-Headmaster!" The tense child mage responded, his voice sounding strained. He remembered what Takamichi said to him earlier. Something about… it was extremely important… and to see him in an hour… yeah, Takamichi said that.
"Well, I'm afraid…" The old, wise man, with the back of his head so large shifted his eyes to the paperwork on his desk. Negi tensed even more as the man started speaking again, "He has gone to a certain someone's house." The someone who always manages to beat me at 'Go!'…
And be you knew knew it, there was a mighty force of air, and the child mage was no-where to be found.
The certain 'someone's' house
The tense and anxious young mage walked up to the beautiful cottage basking in the evening glow. It was magnificent, a wonder to see, and yet, Negi still couldn't believe that one of his student's was living here. Well, it's not like she had a choice, really.
His movements seemed strained. He had tried to avoid going to her log cabin, because he would usually start stammering, and become unsure of what he wanted to say. Asuna and Konoka just laughed when I told them this… Negi puffed his cheeks, then bravely knocked on the cabin door.
"Negi-sensei?" There was an immediate response, as the door opened and he stood face to face with Chachamaru.
"Hawa! And Rakamitchi awa and told here!" He flailed his arms around in the air, trying to say comprehensible words, but couldn't, much to the boy's dismay.
After a moment, which Chachamaru had comprehended-- at least enough to understand the basic gist.
"Understood. Please come in, Negi-sensei."
There was a man's deep voice coming from the kitchen, which Negi identified as Takamichi, and another voice, much like a girl's, except not as deep and strong. The voice of his 'Master'.
The words seemed almost incomprehensible at first, but as they got closer to the living room, he could make out a few words.
"Takamichi, why exactly are you here anyway?" Came the curious voice of the 'Dark Evangel'.
"I came here to tell you about the darkness. Since you yourself are the 'queen of darkness', 'disciple of dark tones', 'apost--"
"Alright, alright. I get what's going on. And, by the way Takamichi, not that I care, but didn't you say you had to meet the boy earlier?"
The talking continued, until they were both in the living room. The older man face faulted, and turned to look at the door. Though, instead of the beautifully glossed wooden door, he found said person.
"Eh?"
"Err…" Negi seemed a little put off by the way he was welcomed. "Takamichi…? The headmaster said you'd be here. So what was this 'incredibly important thing' about?"
"Well, you see…" The nervous teacher scratched his stubble, trying to find suitable words.
"He wants you to tell him about what happened with the 'darkness blob' incident today." Evangeline answered for him.
"Ah. I see." It finally made sense in the young boy's mind, before turning to face Takamichi. "So you came here because Master is the 'Queen of Darkness', 'Disc--" He stopped talking suddenly when the vampiress held malicious intent in her eyes.
"I sad the same thing earlier too, Negi-kun." The older teacher decided to speak up, then added, "Great minds think alike."
"Really…? Are you serious, even after all I've endured?" Evangeline asked, looking up the heavens. Apparently, fate didn't like her much. It never did, never will.
Around a few minutes later, after a few jabs in the stomach, there was a fairly intelligible conversation going on.
"So Negi-kun, what exactly did you see?" Takamichi began asking Negi.
Somehow… I imagined Master saying that… There was around thirty seconds of silence, before Negi snapped back to Earth. "Huh? Err? What? Ah~h… well, there wasn't really that much to see. Besides, Asuna-san just told me what she saw."
"Okay then…" Takamichi took the young boy's comment into consideration before asking, "So what did Asuna tell you she saw?"
"Well, there were just these dark blobs, and it was just like… blobs of darkness. They were covering the World Tree Plaza, and were fairly strong. Once they got next to you--…"
"Yes, Negi-kun? What did they do?"
"Asuna-san didn't tell me anymore than that, she blushed a little then called be a brat." A short 'hmph' came from a certain petite vampiress, as she understood what had happened, and admittedly it was rather funny.
"Well, as I was saying," Negi regained speaking. "Asuna said she saw something like a black figure, and there was a voice that said, 'who's to say they're not there anymore'. That's the last of what I remember."
There was a minute of silence, as only the scribble of pencil could be heard.
"Aha. I see. Interesting…" The older, sophisticated teacher mused.
"You totally didn't get that." Evangeline pointed out, a smirk gracing her lovely lips.
"Sure I did."
"No you didn't."
"Yes, I did Eva, thank you very much."
"Uh… guys?" The fiery haired, child sensei interrupted their little argument. "We're kind of supposed to be talking about this darkness thing…"
Evangeline continued to look at Takamichi, with little malicious intent in them. Really, she wasn't agitated or anything.
"Aha. I guess so, Negi-kun." Takahata Takamichi turned around and walked past Negi-kun, whispering in his ear, "She's a real piece of work, that one. Make sure to keep her happy." And guess what happened? Negi freaked out, causing an amused but confused Evangeline, a blushing and freaking out Negi, and a smug Takamichi.
Twenty minutes or so later…
"I see… so that's what happened?" The petite, golden haired vampiress mused. She apparently had taken interest in the subject easily, Negi suspected something, but he figured out she must have been curious.
"Yes, Master. Because there was a shadow, and I didn't know what-- and Setsuna-san was there as well!" He seemed quite excited to tell the story again, because, although it was scary earlier, the thrill he got fighting those monsters and the adrenaline never seemed to have went away.
"Sakurazaki-san? The half-breed?" Although his Master's voice held nothing but curiosity, he felt a slight sting when she said 'half breed'. He just nodded in response, leaving both of them to wonder what had happened.
It wasn't until a few minutes later until suddenly something flashed in Evangeline's head. She sat up with such a start, Negi got scared because he thought she was going to hit him, or do something worse. Though, she ignored the boy's sudden fear and mused, "I remember something… in class I was looking out the window, and I saw something like the thing you were just describing. It was a black figure jumping from branch to branch."
The boy's heart skipped a beat.
"From the untrained eye, they wouldn't have seen anything except the leafs rustling, so there's not any point in asking the other normal brats in the class." She continued speaking, stressing the word 'normal'. To be honest, she didn't even think most of the people in the class were sane.
Negi covered his face with his hand, not saying anything, but his vermillion hair was covering his eyes.
"And…" She paused for dramatic effect. Negi braced himself, until he nearly done a back flip when she said, simply, "This tea is exquisite, you know?"
A loud 'thump' was heard, and the chibi-vampiress turned around to see what it was. She sighed. "Honestly, boy, do you always jump off other people's furniture?"
Negi immediately lifted himself from the floor, and responded, "No, Master. Actually… I was just wondering something."
"Well isn't that a surprise…"
"Master, really. You're a girl, right?"
"Really?" If Negi was sitting next to her, the sarcasm would of dripped so much it would of made a puddle on his trouser's.
"Master… please. I just want to ask you something." The child teacher moaned a little, but kept his voice serious.
The petite, blonde, chibi-vampiress turned around when she heard the serious tone in his voice. She had only heard that same tone once. His eyes were stern, and he showed no sign of giving up. Just determination. She noticed this and decided to respond to him seriously as well.
"What is it, boy?"
"Well… you see…" Negi twiddled his fingers, and blushed a little. "Have you ever kissed someone before?"
Evangeline's colour drained a little from her face, and the only colour was pink from blushing; furiously, may I add. "W-what?! W-what are you asking, b-boy?!"
"I just wondered since you're stuck in an eternally ten year old body…" Was the simple response from the boy.
Suddenly, something clicked inside Evangeline's head. Does boya… want to kiss me? I mean, why would he? A pactio?
"Evangeline, I--" The child teacher's voice was steady, until he was interrupted by a certain someone kicking the door open. This led to a very confused Asuna, and Setsuna, an angry Evangeline-- which, by the way, was not a good thing in many ways-- and a blushing Negi.
"Err… did we come at the wrong time?" Came the voice of Setsuna, sweat dropping. Her grip loosened on her nodachi.
The child mage extraordinaire, and the 'Dark Evangel' exchanged glances, and noticed the awkward situation.
The tension raised, but it was the moment it appeared.
"There's no time for that!" Asuna burst out saying. She seemed to be frantic about something. "T-the darkness blob thingies!"
Negi shouted, "What?! What was that, Asuna-san?!" Now, this being one of the first time's the child teacher has actually shouted, the three of them were actually taken aback. Yes, including Evangeline.
"N-Negi? I said there are darkness thingies back at the World Tree Plaza again, and they've got Honya!"
Negi face faulted, all the colour paling from his face. He started shaking, as many thoughts ran through his head. His fiery red hair had lost its radiance as well, as it covered his pale face.
"W-wha…"
"N-Negi-sensei?" The swordswoman, Setsuna, voiced her concern. It may of just been her, but it looked the child was about to spontaneously combust. As for herself, she was just swaying from side to side.
"The darkness has got Nodo…" The child's voice died off in mid sentence.
"Err… boy?" Evangeline interrupted, looking at her disciple. Centuries of living and a normal person could never put on a fake smile. "If you're my disciple, then get up and get that darkness!"
"Eva-san/chan…" Asuna and Setsuna muttered, but the sudden whoosh of the air nearly swept them off their feet, as they turned around to see what the heck that was.
"Hmph…"
Outside… somewhere in the Middle school part of campus…
Surprisingly, the sky was only just beginning to darken, as the night closed in. The sunset was almost over until the next day, the orange, soft light fading, and casting a mild, dark light.
The stones crunched under her feet. Unlike Setsuna, she didn't have wings, and she didn't have a staff like her teacher either, but on the bright side, she could run very, very fast.
"Hoy~~~y! Negi! Don't just go barging in!"
"I concur." Came the sort of deep voice from Setsuna, her white wings shining likes angel's in the faded sunset, casting a frail reflection.
"No response…" Asuna sighed, as she continued running through the tall, looming forest.
World Tree Plaza
"What are… your intentions?!" Was the first the three heard, and face faulted.
How is asking dark blob things their intentions going to work…? Really… The fiery red haired pushed Negi out of the way, getting a "What was that for?" Out of the young mage. Of course, the older girl said nothing and walked forward, adeating her pactio
"Honya! Geez, I thought the dark blob thingies had caught you!" She then took a second look and found that they were surrounding her. "Oh…"
"T-there's no 'oh' about it! W-what are these things?!" The bluish-purple haired girl tried to respond, some of her letters getting muffled by the darkness.
"Er… well…" Asuna began to say/
"'Er' what?"
"You see… I have no clue either, and Negi doesn--… ah crap." She stopped herself and swore when she realised what she had done. Now, she had make Negi hidden for a very good reason… and well, that reason was… "Ah crap… now she'll start stammering, run about the place and get consumed."
The Shimeryuu (A/N: I actually spelled that right first try… go me!) swordswoman was, what you'd call… laughing, but annoyed at the same time. Well, there isn't really an expression for that.
Listening to her friend's stupidity-- well, she had to agree it was pretty good, but she had to laugh at how her friend knew her classmate so well.
"Asuna-san! Now is seriously not the time for that!"
"Hmph… well I was only making the truth apparent…"
"Awawa! H-help please! Gah~~~! D-don't take off my shirt!" A startled, confused and-- well, plain distressed Nodoka shouted/
"Ah gosh… why is it only me…?" Negi muttered to himself, before jumping out of a bush nearby. "Nodoka-san! E-er…" His voice trailed off when the others were laughing at him, getting a confused "What?" Out of the boy, before realizing he still had some branches and leafs on him.
"Everyone run! It's the leaf monster!" The magic canceller couldn't help cracking a joke, while getting a hysteric Nodoka, a bemused Western mage and Shimeryuu swordswoman.
"What…? I thought it was funny."
Silence. Apart from the apparent shouts of help from Nodoka.
"I guess not…" Asuna puffed her cheeks.
Silence again. And silence followed…
"Could I get a little help here?!" The mind-reader was now talking, and her voice sounding huskier than normal.
It took a few minutes for the three of them to return to reality, and when they did, all of them said in unison; "Gah!"
A few minutes later…
Some of the dark blobs were getting their ass kicked by a certain Magic Canceller, and her… harisen?
Most of them went flying all over the place. A kick followed by a swing of her harisen, then four punches, and hitting them again.
"Yep… this is really what I wanted to do when I had a free evening."
As for the Shimeryuu swordswoman, she was killing the blobs like there was no tomorrow. Performing most of her sword techniques, the blobs fell into what looked like watery jelly on the ground. There was also a pattern in her moves; ki punches, sword move, kick, sword move, ki punches, and so on.
Quite a distance from them was the western mage. The 'Son of the Thousand Master' as some may call him. And since he is after all his son, he is extremely powerful. Shooting thirty to fifty arrows of lightning, followed by a kendo punch/ Not to say the latter had no effect on the dark blobs; the punches didn't really seem to get rid of the darkness. This all resulting in a shoes being taken off by the darkness.
"Why is it always the shoes…?" He asked the darkness, then answered his question. "They're obviously not going to answer me because they can't talk."
However, a certain bluish, dark purple haired librarian was still in the clutches of the darkness. By now, they had managed to take off her socks and shoes. (A/N: Sorry if any of you Nodoka lovers aren't liking this, but hey. It's part of the plan.)
"Er… seriously?" She sighed, before conveniently reaching into her blazer pocket and finding something… rather unexpected. A wand. There was a wand in her blazer. All this time, she could of just attacked with a simple magic spell. Yet, she didn't feel that angry… so she muttered a single spell, "Practe bigi naru… ardescato!" This conjured a little flame.
It seemed that whatever the blobs of darkness were, they didn't like fire.
"Awesome, Honya-chan!" Asuna called out, managing to narrow down her share of the blobs, only to have them regenerate. She kicked them, only this was a stupid thing to do… as it started pulling her leg. Yes, this was indeed baka red for you.
Suddenly, a cold, water like substance wrapped around just below her elbow. Turning to see what it was, she stepped back a little, trying to balance. She swore quietly, "Damn."
Now we'll take a surprise trip… to the past
It was early evening, as there was a knock on her door. As usual, the android with mint green hair answered the door in her formal way.
"Ah… thanks, Chachamaru-kun." The man who seemed no older than forty, had a stubble, and wore glasses redirected his eyes to see where a certain girl was. "Er, Chachamaru-kun? Where's Ev--"
"Hey Chachamaru," A voice called out, not very high pitched, but definitely not low pitched, and strong voice echoed from the kitchen, walking through into the living room. "I told you, I don't li--… woah?! Takamichi? What're you doing here?!"
"Takahata-sensei--" Chachamaru began to say, but was cut off by Takamichi.
"Ah… Eva, there you are. I wanted to talk to you about what happened at the World Tee Plaza earlier."
The golden, petite vampiress, making herself comfortable on the couch asked, "What about it? Wasn't Ne-" She corrected herself quickly, "-The boy and the others up there?"
"Yes. And Eva, why did you just say 'Ne'-?" The older sensei asked, and seeing a light blush appear on the vampiress's face joked, "I see… well, I didn't expect this. But I'll just tell you this; just because you couldn't get Nagi doesn't mean you have to get his son."
There was silence, until four pillows simultaneously hit Takamichi on the head with such force, he got a bruise on his head.
"Takamichi… tsch. What do you want me to do about it?" Evangeline asked, drinking some tea that Chachamaru had apparently just made. How the older sensei didn't see it was a mystery.
"Well, Eva, you should--…."
And~~! We're back to the normal timeline!
"N-Negi-sensei!" Setsuna called out, her wings disappeared-- well, not really, it was where the swordswoman had managed to keep her wings concealed for years.
"Ah! I-I'm coming, Sakurzaki-saAANNN?!" He was picked up by a piece of darkness when he mused, "Aha. So these things are solid." The things shaked him around a little more.
The 'Mind Reader', Nodoka, muttered, "Heck no. Like I'm going to be stuck like that again for another half an hour." The wand still alight, she walked around with it, and the darkness seemed to disintegrate, some melting into a sort of blackcurrant jelly. The librarian let out a mutter of disgust.
"H-Honya!" Asuna called out, as she was not consumed as much as the others, and thankfully she could still move. "G-get some help!"
It was now Negi's turn to speak, now he was turned upright, but the blob was holding onto his feet. Not a very comfortable position.
"N-Nodoka-san! P-please… get Takamichi! In the meantime, I'll tr--YAH~~~!" He had been rotated towards the ground again. "-And us out of here…"
"H-hai!" The azure haired librarian said, before running quite fast, since she had not always been the best in physical education; though she wasn't the worst either.
Behind her she could see the quiet mutterings of her friends, and she ran faster, saying, "Negi-sensei is depending on me."
She actually got quite far, near the school in fact. Until she was stopped by a mysterious… shadow?
Slowing down to running when she saw a shadow ahead, she caught her breath, then stopped dead in her tracks around twelve feet away.
"I can't have you getting help now…" Came the voice from the mysterious shadow.
Nodoka's face was drained of her colour, as she slowly looked up and seemed as though she was petrified.
The scaly, inhuman hand-- which looked more like a claw, reached out to her. The librarian gulped.
Now back to Negi and co.
"If I can just reach a little more…" The fiery haired 'Magic Canceller' was still attempting to reach her artifact.
"Asuna-san~~!" Negi and Setsuna both cried out, getting aggravated.
"What?" She looked up, picking up the harisen, only to have it slide out of her hand further away.
Who is this mysterious figure standing before Nodoka?! Alone, with none of her friends in sight, what will happen to her?!
Kukuku~! Cliff-hangers are the best! Anyway, this chapter isn't that good seeing as this is only my second try at writing a chapter of this length… err… ten pages. So now that this chapter's finished, and my mind is not computing right now. So expect the next chapter… in May sometime. Speaking of which, if you read my profile it has updates on it!
So keep-keep reading and reviewing, folks!