Disclaimer- I don't own Negima.
After two whole reviews I decided to grace you with my presence once again...har har har...I don't know, what that a laugh?
Thank you Alexander (don't feel like you have to review XD) and Koyuki-san (you know how much I appreciate you!). you two are pretty much the reason I decided to post this today. Thanks!
Enjoy!
Konoka, Asuna, and Chisame practically ran into the room.
"Look what we found!" sang Konoka.
Al was mildly interested. "What is it?"
Konoka waved around an old, stained book with the excitement of a kindergartner.
"It's a yearbook." explained Chisame.
"From 1935!" added Asuna.
That year sounded familiar, but then again every year sounded familiar to Albireo.
Konoka excitedly opened to to a page and shoved it in front of Al's face. "Look, look!" she shouted.
He scanned the page and found that in the place were the teacher's photo should be there was a picture of him instead. He smiled.
"That's right, I'd almost forgotten that I'd taught at Mahora back in the day," Al may have looked young, but he had fully earned the right to use that phrase however often he wished. Hell, he'd invented it.
"I wanna know about your Mahora days!" whined Konoka.
"Did you go to school here?" asked Asuna.
They all looked at her.
"What! This school's old!"
"I was born in France," reminded Al gently.
"We have exchange students!"
"Asuna..." sighed Chisame. "That's not the problem here..."
"The answer to your question is no."
"Thank you, I don't understand why you're all looking at me like I'm stupid or just grew a second head or something..." she muttered.
"I'll tell you a Mahora story...give me a moment to collect my thoughts...sometimes its harder to remember recent events than old ones, ne?"
"That's what they say about Alzheimer's patients," smirked Chisame. Al pretended he didn't hear her.
"Ah! One of my students was a young man from a very affluent family, and I took him under my wing and taught him many things..."
They tried not to let their minds go in the gutter, but Albireo's mere presence made it difficult.
"He grew up to be a fine young man...his name was...ah, what was it..."
"Konoemon, Konoe?" Al looked up from his attendance sheet to see a young man timidly raise his hand. There were snickers around the room at the sound of the name that poor Konoemon had been blessed with.
He called off the rest of the attendance and seated himself. He'd been teaching at Mahora Academy for ten years now, and he rather liked it. He would much rather been teaching the girls' part of the academy, like he had years previous, but it seemed that the head of the school didn't approve of his methods. Albireo was fully aware that he was kept around for defense reasons- although the current headmaster was under the impression that Albireo was just a light-skinned Hellas man or something along those lines, the sort that aged at a slower rate. Al wasn't planning on enlightening him.
"Now, most teachers start their first day of school by talking about the course. I say we postpone it until tomorrow and play a little ice-breaking game. What do you say?"
Thirty eyes stared back at him, uncomprehending. This wouldn't involve homework, right?
Al clapped his hands. "Everyone, get in a circle."
No one made a move.
"Get in a circle or I'll give you detention." he ordered cheerily.
The room was filled with the sound of scraping chairs and muttering pre-teens. He plopped down daintily at one end of the circle, and the kids closest to him scooted away warily in case of being accused of being a teacher's pet.
"I'm going to say a category," he explained. "And you're going to say the first word that pops into your head. There can be no losers, but be honest. We'll go left. Understand?"
"Yes." chorused the slightly bewildered students. Was this teacher being...nice?
"The category is...lunch."
Albireo let his trademark smile grace his lips, but inside wished it was lunchtime. He was hungry! He'd missed breakfast, and had had little food the day before...or the day before that...he needed to take better care of himself, or else he'd- what? Die? He chuckled inside, them brought himself back to reality.
They went around in a circle, and Al listened to the responses closely.
"Bento."
"Banana."
"Mother."
"School."
"Bread."
"Rice."
"Plum."
"...Unicorn."
There was a pause as everyone turned to stared at the black-haired boy with a long face, who blushed. "I-It was the first thing that came to my mind." he stuttered.
Al smiled broadly. "That's fine, Konoemon-kun. Honesty is always best. My first thought when I heard the word lunch was the human eyeball."
All the students were suddenly scared for their academic future.
"Imma-sensei?"
Al looked up from the papers he was grading, his reading glasses slipping down his nose. "Yes?"
Konoemon shuffled his feet. "Do you think I could eat my lunch in the classroom today?"
"Is something wrong? It's a nice day out, isn't it?" He glanced out the window and confirmed that it was indeed bright and green outside.
"Um...yes, but the other kids are mean to me, so..." Konoemon stared at his lunch-box, his expression nervous.
"Of course you can stay," replied Al gently. "There's no problem. Do your parents know?"
"T-They would say it was weakness..."
"What do they do for a living?"
"My father is a high ranking samurai in Kyoto...and my mother is a teacher here..."
"Good connections, huh?"
Konoemon looked embarrassed as he sat in a desk and started eating. "I guess...but I don't think my parents like me much..."
Al raised his eyebrows. "Is that so?"
"Yes...they never praise me or are nice to me...they're always expecting things of me..."
Al reached over to Konoemon and patted his head. "I believe all parents care about their children, Konoemon-kun," Essentially a lie, but a little white lie wouldn't hurt this kid. "Your parents love you very much."
"How would you know?" This statement wasn't accusatory, but questioning. Konoemon really wanted to know. "Are you a parent?"
"Yes, but most of my children are dead," he sighed, a sad smile on his face. "It's something I've long learned to accept."
Konoemon's eyes widened dramatically. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't know!"
Al cursed inside. Should've known better to say something like that to a child. "No, No- I'm sorry for being so open. You can talk about your problems with me, that's what I'm here for. What I was trying to say was that I am a parent, Konoemon-kun, and therefore I know that your parents must love you a great deal."
"Oh...thank you."
Konoemon continued eating, and Al graded a few more papers.
"Why do the students bully you?" pried Al gently.
"Oh...because my face looks like an eggplant." admitted Konoemon shamefacedly.
"Really?" replied Al, delighted. "I get called ero-nasubi all the time! We're two of a kind!"
"I'm not a pervert." defended Konoemon.
"All men are perverts. Wait until you hit puberty."
"I won't be one." announced Konoemon haughtily.
"What makes you so special?"
"I don't want to be a lecher! They're gross!"
"Just like women, right?" teased Al.
"Yes! The both have cooties!" replied Konoemon without thinking. Realizing what he'd said, he blushed. "Sorry, I'm being silly."
"No," soothed Al. "You are not being silly. Hold on to your childhood as long as you can. Ease out of it gently, and treasure it while you still have it."
"What was your childhood like?"
"Full of questions, aren't you?"
"S-Sorry..."
"My childhood was normal. I was a farmer's child, nothing more." he answered vaguely, suppressing images of beatings and the feeling of being worthless. That was a very long time ago, and it didn't matter anymore. Abuse was the trend of that time, after all.
"Imma-sensei, I-"
They were interrupted by the sound of the bell, and Konoemon quickly stuttered, "T-Thanks."
Al winked. "Talk to me any time you need me."
For the rest of his school career, Konoemon did. He came to him for advice about schoolwork and his home-life and every problem he came across, placing his absolute trust in his teacher. When he was fifteen and met a cute little girl named Sayo, he confided in Al. When Sayo was killed he cried on Al's shoulder. Al was the teacher who presented their high school diplomas, and he couldn't of been prouder.
Years later, Konoemon would return the favor tenfold.
"Ooooh," squealed Konoka. "What did he do to return the favor?"
"I'll tell that story some other time," replied Al dismissively.
"Teaser," pouted Chisame angrily. "That's just mean."
Al shrugged delicately. "What can I say? I have to keep you coming back, after all. I have to keep you hooked."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever..." grumbled Chisame.
Asuna jumped up. "Crap, I have work tomorrow. Awesome story, though, I'll never look at Headmaster Konoe the same way again."
"Why?" asked Al. "He hasn't changed. Only your perception of him has."
"...Huh?"
"Never mind," sighed Al.
"Okay." finished Asuna obliviously.
"See you!" called Konoka.
Al raised his teacup in response, thumbing through the yearbook curiously. NOt even a hundred years ago, but it still felt like a long time.