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.

SPOILER ALERT! Do not read this story if you are not familiar with chapters 189 and up from the raws or scanslated manga!

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"That whole trip was the best practice for controlling my emotions on-stage I could have ever asked for."
-Natsumi Murakami. "One Million Steps : A Journey to Megalo-Mesembria and the World Beyond." by Kazumi Asakura.

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Ala Alba in the World of Magic: Tales From the Fireside.

Chapter Seven: An Actress.

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Hello.

My name is Natsumi Murakami. Mahora Academy, Girl's Junior High, Class 3A, Seat Twenty-eight. I'm a completely average girl in a room full of girls with exceptional figures, minds, or amounts of weirdness. I am a respectably decent actress, thank-you very much, I have a complex about my freckles, and lately, a penchant for getting involved in strange events.

The first time, well, several times really, but anyway; the first bit of strangeness involved a young boy named Kotaro Inugami. My roommate Chizuru Naba and I rescued an injured dog off the street while walking home from school one day. Once we reached our room, Chizuru was drying herself off, and asked me to clean the dog up. When I turned around to do so, there was a NAKED BOY lying on our room's floor! Not only that, after a few more seconds, the boy grew a tail and ears! Very, very strange!

Quite a bit of roughness came around as a result of rescuing a dog from the street. Kotaro somehow managed to become my brother, insulted our other roommate Ayaka Yukihiro, got in a fight with some strange German guy who broke into our room, and ran off with our class teacher Negi Springfield like they'd known each other for years!

Curiouser and curiouser.

Well, lots of other strange things happened after that, but the strangest of all happened when I followed Kotaro to Wales , England when he went on a club trip with Negi Springfield.

Not being invited along irritated Ayaka Yukihiro immensely, with her crush on our teacher and all, so she organized a trip to Wales via private jet, and I decided to tag along.

Now, truth be told, the strangeness I became involved in this time was my fault, Kotaro did warn me to stay away, but I just couldn't do so. Chizuru has feelings for Kotaro, but I do as well, and not just as my brother! Worry filled my heart, and when disaster happened and my classmate Yuuna Akashi told everyone to run away, I ran forward!

Kotaro is younger than me. Chizuru is older. She has a motherly love about her, and a motherly figure to go with it. I don't know how Kotaro could ever like me over her, but I didn't care, I had to make sure he was all right.

They say love makes you crazy. I wonder if it can also give you nightmares?

If what's happening isn't a dream, how could I believe in the reality of the crazy things I saw in the equally strange place I found myself in after following Kotaro into that flash of light? How could I remain sane after watching Negi Springfield being wounded and nearly bleeding to death? If it isn't a dream, how could I survive after winding up alone in a desert?

Sigh... I wonder if dreams come with twenty-four hour convenience stores?

All I had with me was a half-bottle of water, a silly little first-aid kit, and some chewing gum.

Dream or not, I burned my hand on a rock I climbed to see if there was anything nearby! I suppose the pain was worth it, since there seemed to be a splash of color near the eastern horizon. With no other way to choose where to go, I climbed down and stated heading east.

Trudging along in serious but not unbearable heat, I turned my thoughts back to Kotaro.

All of ten-years old, Kotaro acted tough, but he was a sweet kid at heart. He complained about the chores Chizuru gave him, he fretted over his perceived weakness when any of the 3A girls showed him affection, like any small boy might, but still paid proper attention when Ayaka, Chizuru or I tutored him.

Kotaro hated bathing, apparently for different reasons than my teacher Negi Springfield, but if whispers by Konoka Konoe and Kazumi Asakura about 3A's teacher are true, he and Negi both like to crawl in bed with their roommates!

Chizuru holds Kotaro's attention the most. Ayaka Yukihiro even has a soft spot for him. What fascinates me though are his tail and ears. He likes to think he keeps them hidden, but they come out when he gets angry or excited. Now, I've only seen them outside the dorm once, when Kotaro fought in the Mahora Fest Martial Arts Tournament. Inside the dorm is another matter. Kotaro doesn't seem to realize it, but his tail and ears also come out when he sleeps.

He crawled into my bed a few nights after the weird German guy broke into the room. I woke up to find him clinging to me while his ears tickled my nose. He also seemed to be twitching like a puppy having a bad dream. When I raised the covers to re-settle them, his pajamas were down a little, and his tail was out! I tried to tell him it happened, Chizuru tried to tell him after he crawled into her bed, Kotaro never believed us until one night his 'puppy moving' partially pulled open Ayaka's nightshirt, and in her half-awake panic at finding someone in her bed, she yanked his tail! (I still have no idea why Mana Tatsumiya and Setsuna Sakurazaki were the first ones at our door after the racket Kotaro sent up. Their rooms are so far away!)

Thoughts and worry over Kotaro took me through the first day of what I still hoped was a dream. As the sun started to go down, I settled into a little hollow in a rock and tried to go to sleep. I hoped, If I fell asleep in this dream, I would wake up back in reality.

Morning sunshine brought unwelcome proof I was either still dreaming, or that I would have to start facing an unwelcome reality. I watched a large beetle run across my foot, then got up and started walking towards my spot on the horizon, thankfully much larger now.

Yesterday I thought about Kotaro. Today I decided to think about stage-plays based on Shakespeare's work that I wanted to be in.

King Lear. A story about family.

Romeo and Juliet. A romance.

Richard III. A tale of greed and lust.

Thinking about those three alone took me until the sun was directly overhead. I drank a sip of the water I had, and as I stared at what little I had left, decided all those plays were terrible choices. They were all tragedies. Too many people died in them.

I didn't want to think about dying, so I tried to come up with stage-plays with a more positive outcome.

Henry V came to mind. That was better, but only if I had an English part. If I had a French part, again with the thoughts of death!

Okay then. I was in a desert. What were positive 'anythings' involving a desert? I racked my brain for ideas as I walked until something I'd seen once came to me. Wasn't there some American movie about people in the desert and an airplane? I seemed to recall an older version of the movie staring James Stewart, but the version I'd seen, dancing on the edge of my memory, starred Dennis Quaid. After a few more moments, I finally remembered.

"The Flight of the Phoenix."

A Phoenix rising from the ash of destruction. Now that was a positive thought! A Mahora Playhouse Production starring the students of Class 3A!

Who could I get to play the different roles?

Obviously Negi Springfield would be the pilot. Asuna Kagurazaka his navigator. Satomi Hakase could be the model plane engineer. I wonder who I could get to play the others? There were so many parts to fill!

Stopping to take another sip of my dwindling water, I looked out across a nearby dune and saw something moving. Squinting at whatever it was, I could see a misshapen raincoat similar to my own. Putting my water away and moving closer, I finally recognized my classmate, Akira Okochi.

Misery loving company, I started calling out her name and running towards her. Akira seemed to be carrying someone, and ignored me until I placed my hand on her shoulder. She gave a start, then started begging me to help her with Ako Izumi.

Ako seemed to have a fever, so I gave her the two aspirin in my little first aid kit. Supporting Ako between us, Akira and I finally reached the small oasis we'd both been walking towards.

After we had a chance to rest, I asked Akira about what happened to Ako. Akira would only say that Ako had collapsed suddenly, and refused to provide any details. I kept badgering her, talking my stress away, until the sun finally went down.

Akira finally started talking to me after that. She still wouldn't talk in much detail about Ako, and I didn't press her. Instead, she talked in general terms about her father, about the uncountable stars filling the sky above us, and about a cell-phone strap she'd left behind at Mahora. Finally, after we lay down with Ako between us, covered by our raincoats, she talked about our situation and about a glow on the horizon she hoped was a city or a town.

The following day, when we tried to cross a river, some pervert ferryman wouldn't let us do so until after he touched Akira in a way that made my skin crawl. What we found in the town was even worse. We couldn't understand what anyone was saying. No one would help us. I even tried to talk to some teddy-bear looking person, but he stared at me with a look that sent me running for the alley Akira and Ako were hiding in. I tried to get some water from a fountain for Ako, but some shrimpy people who looked like a swarm of Vivi-ized rabbits chased me away. Finally, after a night and most of a day, I managed to trade my chewing-gum to what I think was a tavern owner for some water.

Akira started talking about leaving to find another town as I gave Ako the water. My growling stomach wanted me to object, but someone walking into the alley interrupted me.

This cloaked stranger made some gestures over Akira, Ako, and myself, there was a flash of light, and suddenly we could understand what was being said around us. Some of it, from people looking into the alley, was rude, and not very flattering. The stranger said he could tell Ako was sick, and offered to give us medicine that could help her.

Akira seemed ready to jump up with Ako and run away. Taking my cue from her, I was about to help, when she bowed her head and held out her hand. The stranger gave her a vial, and told her to have Ako drink the contents.

After Ako stirred and woke up for the first time in two days, THEN the ax fell. The stranger told us we could either come work as his servants to pay for the medicine, or he would make sure Hecates (thanks to whatever the stranger did, I now knew that to be the name of the city,) worst thugs knew where we were. I didn't know what he meant, saying we would never survive without magic, but Akira seemed to.

I have never seen a look that could kill before what I now saw on Akira's face. She was so consumed by hate I had to take a step back. A coach pulled up at the end of the alley, and a door in it's side opened. I wasn't sure what Akira would do, but she finally bowed her head, picked Ako up by herself, and walked towards the coach.

Just as I was about to get in myself, I thought I noticed Kazumi Asakura. I started to turn to shout at her, but the stranger grabbed my arm a started pushing me into the coach. I started to protest, and my raincoat's hood fell back as I tried to look for Kazumi again. but all I could see was some black-haired Kit-Jin, (A Kit-Jin? How did I know that?) watching me from the entrance to another alley. The stranger forced me into the coach, and off we went to Granicus City.

I would finally see Kazumi Asakura again four days later, when she came dressed in a colorful cloak and carrying a sitar, to talk to Akira and I where we were working at the Granicus City Main Arena. We told her everything we could until our Ku-Jin boss Mama came over to chew us out for slacking off. Kazumi managed to mollify Mama, then turned to us and promised to be back with help as soon as she could.

Help came two days later in the form of Ako's crush Nagi Springfield, a VERY angry Kotaro Inugami, Kazumi Asakura, and two strange people I later realized were Chisame Hasegawa and Chachamaru Karakuri.

There was a little more trouble, shocking, I know, but Mama came out and settled things once again.

Afterwards, Kotaro chewed me out. He was right, I was wrong, but at the same time I was a little flustered. This Kotaro wasn't the bratty ten-year old boy I was used to, he was a teen-aged, VERY good looking Kotaro!

...And Chizuru Naba is nowhere to be found...

tsuzuku

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Author's Notes:

Different format this time. One I probably won't use much since I'm not used to it.

For Natsumi Murakami, it seemed like the way to go.

Negi's Team Quest report:

The following students had been found as of c200:

01) Sayo Aisaka.
03) Kazumi Asakura.
05) Ako Izumi.
08) Asuna Kagurazaka (Chapter 04: AAitWoM. Captured by Fate Averruncus)
06) Akira Okochi.
10) Chachamaru Karakuri.
15) Setsuna Sakurazaki.
25) Chisame Hasegawa.
28) Natsumi Murakami.

Also:

00a) Negi/Nagi Springfield.
00b) Kotaro Inugami.

The following have been shown in the manga:

00c) Takamichi T Takahata.
02) Yuuna Akashi.
16) Makie Sasaki.
18) Mana Tatsumiya.

The following are still missing:

04) Yue Ayase.
12) Fei Ku.
13) Konoka Konoe.
14) Haruna Saotome.
20) Kaede Nagase.
27) Nodoka Miyazaki

Also missing are:

00d) Anya Cocorowa.
00e) Albert Chamomile.
00f) Negi/Nagi's wand.

Chapter 08 will be a short chapter, character TBA.