Asuna climbed down the bunk ladder and walked over to Negi. She didn't want to wake him up because then he could be late for class and she could sit through one less boring lecture and just have a substitute, but she decided to anyway. After all, having Negi-sensei not show up to class would probably cause problems between her and Ayaka again, and she didn't want that.
Asuna tapped on Negi's shoulder and leaned down next to his face so that she could speak in his ear and get his attention better. "Negi, it's time to wake up."
Negi-sensei turned his head slowly and looked at Asuna dizzily. He had a huge red mark on his head from sleeping in such a precarious position and as soon as she saw, Asuna laughed at him.
"Wha… What are you laughing at, Asuna-san?" Negi asked. His eyes were dazed and his glasses were all crooked.
Asuna pointed over to a mirror that was on the desk and kept laughing.
Negi looked at himself in the mirror and noticed the mark. He rubbed at it, but he knew it wouldn't go away for a while.
Asuna soon stopped laughing and put her hands on her hips. "Anyway, we have to get going. It's almost 7:30."
Negi sat up. "Didn't you do your paper duty?"
Asuna shook her head slowly. "No, I don't have to do it today. Starts again for me tomorrow."
Negi-sensei nodded and got up. He organized his things and then grabbed his bag. Chamo woke up and jumped up on Negi's shoulder, tired, but ready to go to school with him. How could he miss out on a few hours with nearly 30 beautiful young women? Even if the Ermine was deathly sick, he'd still go.
Asuna went over to Konoka's bed and changed while Negi and Chamo faced the door. Chamo always peeked a little when he felt like the time was all right, but Negi-sensei remained diligent. After all, he didn't really feel like getting smacked after he just woke up.
After Asuna was finished getting ready, the two left and made their way off to school, pacing quickly and then jogging like usual.
For once, before the bell rang, both Negi-sensei and Asuna were already in the classroom. Negi-sensei sat at his desk with Chamo and held his hands together while he waited for class to start. Some of the girls in the classroom noticed and laughed at the red mark on his forehead, since even though it had diminished since earlier, it was still quite visible. Asuna looked around for Ayaka and saw her sitting in her desk, writing something in a sort of journal or planner.
As soon as Ayaka saw that Negi-sensei and Asuna were in the classroom, she blushed and then closed whatever book she was writing in, shoving it in her book bag that sat under her desk.
Asuna looked at Ayaka questioningly because of her awkward behavior, but then just sighed and got her books out. She looked at Ayaka again after she had pulled her books out, only to meet eyes with Ayaka again. Ayaka blushed and smiled at Asuna, but then turned away and looked to Negi-sensei.
Asuna smiled at Ayaka back too, but turned away before Ayaka could see the response. Asuna then pondered upon what Ayaka was writing in that book. She wanted to ask her about it because she was very curious, but she figured that now wouldn't be the best time since class was about to start.
"Okay, class. Today we will finish tense and then we will go on to learning more advanced punctuation skills, like semicolon and colon usage." Negi-sensei said as he wrote the date and lesson plan on the board.
"Ohhh…fun." A lot of the girls said to each other sarcastically after Negi-sensei addressed them.
Negi-sensei smiled and nodded. "I know, isn't it exciting?"
After teasing around about learning, the girls got out their books and took notes during the lecture. Most of them didn't really pay attention to what they were writing down, but rather multitasked by just jotting the notes down while thinking about something totally different. Madoka usually thought about her upcoming cheerleading competitions, while Ako thought about her experience with Nagi and her bass, while Kazumi thought about her next big press expedition and Chisame thought about how bogus her experience with Chachamaru, Negi-sensei, and Kotaro-kun were and her website.
Ayaka usually thought about what she would do if Negi-sensei and her were all alone in her house and Asuna usually thought about Takahata-sensei. However, today was different. Asuna thought about Ayaka and what she was writing in that book, while Ayaka was thinking about Asuna. With how much they had associated with each other over the past couple days, they couldn't take their minds off of each other. Especially since it wasn't very often that such associations and opportunities occurred.
Asuna wrote down what Negi-sensei was writing on the board for a little while, but about half way into his lecture, she began to zone out, thinking about Ayaka. Ugh… Why do I keep thinking about her? Asuna thought. In a way she wished that there was some sort of spell that could cause her not to think of something, but she knew that even if there was such a spell, she wouldn't really want to ask Negi to do it for her. Furthermore, she sort of liked her current state of mind, aside from its obsession and, therefore, slight inconvenience.
Soon, class was over and it was time for Asuna to go on to the next one. Before doing so, however, she wanted to ask Ayaka if she wanted to come in after school to study with Takahata-sensei again. After all, Asuna definitely needed extra study time with all of the distractions that she faced.
As Ayaka began to walk out the door, Asuna slowly followed after her. Once they were out in the hall, Asuna caught up to Ayaka and got her attention by tugging on the side of her sleeve. "Ayaka, I have a question." Asuna said, looking at Ayaka in a slightly embarrassed manner.
Ayaka blushed at Asuna and then moved to the side of the hallway and leaned against one of the lockers. Asuna did the same.
"What?" Ayaka asked.
"Want to meet after school again to study in Takahata-sensei's room?" Asuna asked. She was rubbing her foot against the back of her leg nervously as she asked Ayaka.
Ayaka blinked at Asuna. "Well, I need to be back at my dorm right after school because Chizuru has an astronomy club meeting and Natsumi has to take a math test." She responded slightly solemnly.
Asuna shrugged her shoulders and then smiled at Ayaka. "Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow then." Asuna said as she turned away from Ayaka and began to walk towards her next class.
"Wait!" Ayaka walked quickly and got in front of Asuna so that she could look at her. "We can study at my dorm if you really want to." Ayaka said with a smile on her face. Deep down inside, she was slightly angered at Asuna's rudeness, but she couldn't think about that now. After all, she was trying to be nicer to Asuna, for a change.
Asuna blushed at Ayaka's suggestion slightly and then nodded. "S-sure, I guess. I'll be over there after school." Asuna then waved to Ayaka and paced off.
As she walked to her next class, Asuna was thinking about how weird it was for Ayaka to ask her over to her place. She had been over there a couple of times with Negi-sensei, but she never went over there to spend time with Ayaka. Asuna was astounded by Ayaka's gratitude, but she definitely appreciated it at the same time. Perhaps we can really be friends and no longer enemies from now on… Asuna thought with a smile on her face.
Ayaka walked in the opposite direction to her next class. She was happy that she would be spending time with Asuna this afternoon because she could show off to Asuna how clean and beautiful her dormitory was compared to hers. She was also happy because she wanted to spend time with her friend and also because perhaps the two could talk about Negi-sensei together.
For the rest of the school day, the two girls continued to think about each other and the study session they would be having that afternoon. Both of them were excited about it, since they really hadn't done anything like that together before. Over the years, they had never really had the chance to act like the friends that they were and always fought instead. They represented the main rivalry of 3-A and that's all that everyone really knew them for. However, even the most tainted and accentuated reputation could not be overridden by the blossoming feelings of compassion that were between Ayaka and Asuna now.