Magister Negi Magi is owned by Ken Akamatsu and Kodansha Ltd. Tokyo in Japan, and by Funimation and Ballantine - DelRey in the United States, NOT by me.
AU ALERT! Depending on how you want to look at it, this story occurs before chapter one of the 'Magister Negi Magi' manga, or one-hundred YEARS after it ends.
(-)
"If they weren't already dead, I would have killed them over how close I was to my real goal for two and a half years."
-Chao Lingshen. "My Journey."
(-)
Chao Lingshen. 'Coming Home.'
Part 06: A Lost Love.
(-)
Century Corporation. Late December, 2097.
"What happened?"
"We were successful."
"Then why didn't the subject return?"
"As far as we can tell, the subject came out in a severe thunderstorm, and was killed when the retrieval device was struck by lightning. An unexpected complication. We'll have to take better account of the weather when we send the actual operative. Also, there were issues with the barrier around Mahora, it caused a partial arrival location variance. We'll have to take that into account as well. Still, as I said, the experiment was a success."
"Very well. That subject was just part of the plan to obtain our 'real' operative anyway. There's no great loss in it's destruction."
(-)
Mountain forest preserve area, far side of Mahora Lake from Mahora Academy. Late December, 1997.
Silent and cautious, a ninja moved through the woods above Mahora Lake.
("I am Kaede Nagase. Koga Ninja. I move through the woods silent like a breeze!")
"CRACK!"
Wincing, Kaede Nagase lifted her Tabi-booted foot and looked down at the stick she'd just stepped on.
("Silly girl! Her cousin was better than that at her age! Still, Master Masuda will be happy to hear the plan to see if Kaede had the courage to come out here on her own was successful!") Shaking it's head, the watcher sent by Kaede's cousin decided to dish out some of his own brand of motivation.
"Caw!" In a nearby tree a crow, who always seemed to be around when she made mistakes while practicing her ninja techniques, began to scold Kaede for disturbing it's rest. "Caw!" ("You are Kaede Nagase! Clumsy Oaf! You move through the woods like a herd of elephants!") "Caw-ack!" Jumping from it's branch, the crow dodged several 'Bo' throwing spikes, loosing a bit of one feather before getting away, still scolding her as it escaped.
Looking back at a newly shortened tail-feather, Kaede's watcher gave a mental sweatdrop and flew off to find another tree to perch in. ("Ouch! Little Kaede's getting better at using those! I'd best be more careful!")
"Darn it! Missed again!" Sighing in frustration, Kaede pulled climbing claws out of a storage pocket in her clothing, and prepared to go retrieve the Bo spikes she'd just thrown at the recurringly annoying crow.
Later that night, Kaede returned to the camp site her cousin Chiho Masuda had helped set up for her in the forested area across the lake from Mahora Academy. Normally Chiho came every other weekend to visit, help her train as a Koga Ninja, and evaluate her worthiness to continue. However, this weekend Chiho had called to say she was busy, and told Kaede not to worry about training. Kaede nearly cried after hanging up the phone. Two weeks earlier she'd been abysmally unsuccessful at everything she'd been instructed to try. Now, the unexpected, casual dismissal of their training made her afraid Chiho thought she was a failure. Determined to prove otherwise, she conspired with her roommates Fuka and Fumika Narutaki to mislead their dorm-mother, then snuck out to go train on her own.
Dinner was a cheating meal consisting of food Kaede had brought from the dorm cafeteria, since she still wasn't very good at finding sustenance in the woods. After finishing her chocolate-chip granola bar dessert, she retreated to her tent, foregoing the usual barrel bath in favor of shelter when lightning began to flash, and the first fat raindrops of a coming storm began to fall. Sealing herself inside, she sat cross-legged on her sleeping bag and placed both hands palm-down on splayed knees. Closing her eyes, she tried, despite the distraction of the growing storm, to copy the calm, meditative trance displayed during their training by Chiho. While the wind blew and rain pelted the tent's weather-cover, she thought about the various other lessons taught by her cousin, and tried to meditate on the reasons for her recent failures.
Outside the tent, the rain, wind, lightning and thunder began to increase in intensity, indicating the main part of the storm was rapidly approaching. Unexpectedly, a flash of lightning suddenly lit-up her tent like the noon-time sun on a clear day, Instantly there followed a ground shaking, deafening peal of thunder indicating the lightning strike had been uncomfortably close.
Sweating bullets, trying desperately not to jump up, tear her way out of the tent and run screaming in panic back down the mountain, Kaede told herself she was actually maintaining her meditative state while listening with relief as the storm finally began moving away.
"...help..."
Kaede opened her eyes at the sound of an unexpected, nearby voice.
"...please...it hurts..."
Quickly unsealing her tent, Kaede beheld in the brief illumination of a flash of lightning a thin, wild-haired young girl, standing near the completely rain-filled bath barrel in the shreadded remains of whatever clothing she'd been wearing.
Rushing out into the still falling rain, Kaede gently held up her unexpected guest up as the young girl began to shake uncontrolablly. Another flash of lightning revealed someone, seemingly no older than herself, who had been badly burned somehow. Her cousin had yet to teach her anything significant about first-aid, but something instinctive told her the girl would die if she didn't get help fast. Going back down the mountain normally to the train station outside the forest preserve would take an hour or more. However, if she went down the cliff-face trail and used her cousin's 'Light-Step' technique to cross Mahora Lake, she might reach the academy and help in less than half-an-hour. Looking down at the girl's black rimmed eyes, filled with pain and desperate hope, Kaede felt her conviction falter. She had never succeeded at the "Light-Step' before even on calm waters. How, with Mahora Lake settling but still covered by wind-driven waves, could she possibly do so now?
"Caw! Because you must, 'Sessho.' Caw!"
Kaede looked up at the bothersome crow, who stared unblinkingly back at her with an oddly calming gaze. Weather she believed a crow could actually speak or not, there was no one else around to help this girl except her. Nodding firmly, she took a deep breath to steel herself, reached down to pick the shivering girl up in her arms, then headed down the trail to Mahora Lake.
Smiling inwardly in satisfaction, Kaede's watcher dropped from his perch and flew off to report what he'd seen. ("Yes indeed. I'm quite sure Master Masuda will be most pleased!")
(-)
Takamichi Takahata stood under an umbrella near the shore of Mahora Lake. Having drawn the short straw this time, he watched from a discrete distance as Professor Hakase, Mahora Academy's wild-haired chief of Quantum Mechanics Research, performed Benjamin Franklin 'kite and key' conductivity experiments in the middle of the waning thunderstorm. The eccentric old man had never been hurt by his wild hobbies and other activities before, but Dean Konoe had decreed he be watched, 'Just in case,' and it was Takamichi's turn, so he watched.
"(-)sor Takahata!"
Squinting, Takamichi turned towards the sound of the unexpected voice and saw someone 'running across the surface of Mahora Lake!' Professor Hakase noticed the runner as well, and dropped his kite-string in stunned shock. However, when the person neared shore, seemed to 'trip' on a wavelet and fell into the water, Hakase instantly jumped into the lake and waded out to help. Collapsing his umbrella, Takamichi ran to assist as well.
Holding the shocky, burned girl, who had thrown her arms around him and now clung desperately to his neck in one arm, Professor Hakase helped a nearly hyperventilating Mahora Academy Elementary Division science class student he knew by her reputation for bad grades out of the lake with his other. Just as he reached the shoreline, Dean Konoe's assigned watchdog came running up. "Takahata! Call the hospital! This girl's been struck by lightning! Miss Nagase's been running in this rain, and she'll likely get sick as well!"
Pulling out his cell phone, Takamichi speed-dialed the Mahora emergency response number. While waiting for the summoned help, he took Kaede from Professor Hakase, then opened his umbrella and used it to shelter the four of them as best he could from the still falling rain. He didn't recognize the burned girl, but Kaede Nagase was a student in his art class. Slowly catching her breath, the completely soaked girl finally relaxed, and looked up at him with squinted eyes and a most serene smile.
"I... I did it Professor Takahata... I ran across the lake like a real ninja..."
Takamichi thought about the times he'd worked with Kaede's cousin Chiho Masuda and smiled. Professor Hakase was busy tending to the burned girl, and thankfully hadn't heard Kaede's whispered, feverish words. "Yes you did. I'm sure your cousin would be proud!"
Kaede turned in Professor Takahata's arms at the sound of emergency sirens. Seeing the flashing lights, she let out a sigh of satisfaction, then passed out. Coughing, softly, she fell into fevered dreams where she was a grown, skilled ninja, fighting dragons and rescuing hard-luck princesses.
(-)
Takamichi Takahata stood next dean Konoe's desk along with Shizuna Minamoto as Professor Hakase and the mysterious girl he had adopted bowed together, then left the room. After only two months, the girl was recovered enough to go to school, and Hakase had brought her in to thank Dean Konoe for the unexpected acceptance in Mahora Academy. Now he would deliver his adoptive granddaughter to the elementary school's Class 3A, then go on to his own duties. "What a bright, intelligent girl." Takamichi smiled. That was nearly an huge understatement. The strange girl Kaede Nagase had rescued had finally been driven from the hospital because she was starting to take apart the equipment in her room... as well as putting it back together again. "I wish she hadn't lost so much of her memory in that lightning strike." Takamichi shook his head, thinking about the complete failure to identify the girl by any means. "Maybe then she could tell us why her very existence is an impossibility."
Konoemon Konoe, Dean of Mahora Academy, nodded in response. Professor Hakase becoming the girl's guurdian had effectively been inevitable. Resisting sedation so she could be treated for her electrical burns, the young girl had screamed piteously, upset at being separated from her 'grandfather.' Professor Hakase finally came into the room after being examined because of his own dip in Mahora Lake and the girl finally calmed down. Tears in his eyes as she begged him not to leave again, he held her hand until the sedation finally took hold and the emergency room staff could begin treating her. During recovery, the girl would become more animated when Hakase would visit, calling him her grandfather, and for all intents treating him as such. Obviously such behavior was a clue to her origin, but the girl couldn't remember anything about her grandfather beyond that she loved him. "She probably won't look like she did before, but thanks to Miss Minamoto's healing magic, at least she won't be scarred permanently."
Shizuna Minamoto turned to lock her eyes with Dean Konoe's. "I have to say I've noticed some very peculiar traits while treating her. Have you sensed..."
Konoe nodded. "She's of the Springfield blood. There's no mistaking it."
Takamichi looked down at a crumpled piece of paper sitting on Konoe's desk. Not much on the single sheet of copy paper the girl had been clutching survived the rain and immersion in the lake except a date; sometime in December, 2097. Almost exactly one-hundred years in the future. "If this paper isn't some kind of hoax, do you think she's through Nekane? Or Negi?"
Konoemon reached up to rub at his beard. "Negi I should think. Quite close generationally as well, which is a surprise if the date on this paper is correct." Takamichi and Shizuna's eyes both went wide and Konoemon held them both with a firm gaze. "Tell NO ONE. This is a completely separate issue from anything involving Nagi Springfield. Because of the obvious sensitivity of this innocent girl's origins, we must be extremely cautious. For the moment, we'll just have to wait and see and deal with any problems when they arise."
Takamichi and Shizuna watched after the departed young girl and Professor Hakase, then answered Dean Konoe in unison. "Yes sir. We understand."
(-)
"Grandfather. I'll be joining this class in the middle of the semester... The other girls won't make fun of me, will they?"
Professor Hakase gave his adoptive granddaughter's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "Not at all. According to Dean Konoe, the girls in Class 3A may be a little eccentric, but they're all very friendly. I'm sure they'll welcome you with open arms!"
Nervously reaching up to adjust her glasses, Hakase's granddaughter looked up as a smiling teacher with dark brown hair stepped out of a classroom with '3A' hanging from a placard above it's door.
Professor Hakase handed his adopted daughter over to Professor Akashi, so that lady could take the girl in and introduce her to the rest of the elementary level Japanese Language, Class 3A homeroom she taught. Having suffered both the loss of his wife and son, the little girl he had named after his wife's hoped-for daughter was like a beacon of light in what had become an otherwise dull life. Now he had a reason for living again beyond simple existence. Even knowing she may have fixated on him as a substitute grandfather didn't matter. Her affection after two months was quite genuine, and that was good enough for him.
Looking out the door at her adopted grandfather, Hakase's granddaughter watched him worriedly for a moment, then turned to introduce herself to the room full of smiling girls when Professor Akashi prompted her to do so. Stepping forward, she waved at her friend Kaede Nagase, gave a bow, then straightened back up. "Hello! My name is Satomi Hakase! I hope to get to know everyone better really soon!"
Professor Hakase smiled at Satomi, who waved, then turned away to go to her seat. He returned the wave, then departed for his own class.
tsuzuku...tabun
(-)
Author's Notes:
Satomi Hakase as Chao Lingshen's twin sister? Within 'Coming Home?' Certainly. Consider their similar intelligence, their ability to work together, (Identical twins 'linking,') and that Satomi 'has the ability necessary' for the performance of complex magic. (Her 'Springfield' blood.)
Why might Chao not notice? Because it would never occur to her. She believes her sister is still in the future. She would only think that she and Satomi are amazingly like minded and compatible.
Satomi has no idea because of the trauma of her memory loss. Again, Chao is simply someone who she works together with very well.
As for the differences in height? Blame it on the lightning, and that the Magical Circuitry Glyphs weren't the only body modifications Century Corporation made to Chao.
As for how it will be resolved? I'll not tell here, Suffice to say, it will be resolved. Consider 'Ala Alba in the World of Magic,' Chapter one: 'A Fan Dancer,' to be a clue as to when.
About Kaede and Chisame's reference to her in c012. Kaede Nagase and the Narutaki's join Mahora Academy earlier in this AU.
Look for 'Professor Hakase' in c132 when Chao goes to say good-bye to the people in the University Quantum Mechanics Research club. He's the one with the glasses and the wild hair.
Chiho Masuda is a Ninja from the 'Battling Waitresses' game Variable Geo.
This is it for the moment. Various possibilities have arisen since I started writing 'Chao Lingshen: Coming Home,' and there MAY be more chapters in the future. For now though, I must return to 'Ala Alba in the World of Magic,' which has only seen one chapter in the last two months!
Thanks again for reading 'Chao Lingshen: Coming Home!'
