The Knight of Mahora Academy

Period 33: Day 1 - First Time Around, Again

[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]

("Ladies and gentlemen! Boys and girls of all ages! Students of Mahora Academy and all those who have come to visit us for the next few days! Welcome everyone to the 78th annual Mahora Festival!")

"Man, we must be early. It's still so bright, and loud. Geez, Negi, what else was there to do today that you had to start from the beginning?"

Negi, Setsuna, and Chamo didn't answer Naruto as they followed behind him walking through the festival. As the opening show flew overhead and the announcements welcomed people to the Mahora Festival again, they tried to comprehend and rationalize what was happening. Negi blubbered out some incoherent sounds before rushing to the blond teen's side, "Nii-San, is this the beginning of the Mahora Festival?"

"Yep."

"B-But that was this morning!"

"Yep."

Setsuna stepped up as Negi could only make sounds in response to Naruto's dismissive answers, "Naruto-sensei, how can we be back to this morning? It's impossible!"

Naruto sighed and looked back at her, "Seriously, Setsuna, I know you were struggling with it but did you have to give up on the name thing in under a day?"

"What?"

"Aniue, you ain't even giving us an answer! Did you mean it when you said this was time travel?"

"Why are you guys even asking?"

"Because there's no way time travel is real!"

"Oho, that's rich. Considering you've been jumping around all day and you were the ones who told me…" The grumpy Naruto stopped talking and paused before looking at them. He noticed the genuinely perplexed looks on Negi and Setsuna's faces as Chamo looked desperate to figure it out. He blinked, "Negi, how many times have you used the watch?"

"H-How exactly do I use it?"

"Oh…" Realization hit, "Oh…"

"Bye!"

He disappeared with a burst of Shundō and left them behind.

"He ran?!" Chamo yelled in shock, "He just ditched us!"

"The way he talked…" Negi looked down at the watch that was the center of all this confusion, "Has he already used this watch before?"

Setsuna stepped up to his side and stared at the strange contraption in disbelief, "What is going on here?"

[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]

"Alright, I'm gonna go ahead to my club's exhibit." Asuna stepped aside and looked back at them, "If we don't meet back up later, I'll see you both at the 3-A closing party."

"Don't think you're getting off easy, young lady! We'll come and see your exhibit later!"

"Put on your best dress and a big smile for the camera!"

Asuna grimaced at Naruto and Konoka's smiles, "Ew, guys, I appreciate the support but can you not act like creepy parents checking up on their kid? It's weird!"

"We love you, baby girl!"

"Break a leg!"

"Stop it!" Asuna cried as she ran away while covering her ears. Naruto and Konoka laughed and pointed at her back before she finally vanished from sight.

As they got out the last of their giggles, Konoka smiled up at her roommate, "So you're going to meet Sayo-chan now, right? And you're sure you aren't going to have a repeat of the situation from before?"

"No worries," Naruto pounded his chest with a confident grin, "Sayo-chan and I worked out the whole thing. There's no way that is going to happen again. I learned my less-"

"Naruto-sensei?"

"KYAAA - oh, Sayo-chan, you snuck up on me." Naruto blushed and ignored the strange looks he was getting from people passing by, "Are you ready to experience the Mahora Festival for the first time in decades?"

"I am!" The cute specter nodded as Naruto grinned and offered his body. Konoka watched as the ghost slid into Naruto's body and caused a visceral reaction through his entire form before his expression suddenly lightened and his voice was unmistakably higher, "Oh yes! It worked!"

Konoka giggled, enjoying the surreal experience of seeing a dead girl seem so lively and joyfully in the borrowed body of her roommate, "Congratulations, Sayo-chan. Naruto-kun's told me you've been looking forward to this chance for a while now."

"I have! I haven't gotten a chance to play around in the Mahora Festival in decades!" Sayo said, fondly looking out at all the attractions and festivities going about close to them, "I always felt guilty floating around, never going to any of the shows or exhibits because it felt wrong to look in on them when I didn't pay or help in any way. B-But this year I got to help around! And with a body to enjoy everything in," Sayo smiled brightly, "I want to get the most out of this festival!"

"Kyaa! You're so cute, Sayo-chan!" Konoka couldn't help but gush over the ghost's pure-hearted excitement. She wrapped her arms around Sayo's and pulled her along, "C'mon, let's walk around together and see some of the sights! I wanna try a bunch of fun stuff with you!"

Sayo nearly burst with excitement, "Okay!"

And so the two girls ran and nearly skipped with joy as they giggled to their hearts' content.

One couple walking by saw the little witch pull the giggling blond boy around. The woman sighed, "See? They're having so much fun. This is why I should have brought my gay friend along instead."

"W-What?!" Her date looked insulted as he pointed at himself, "I'm just as much fun as your friend! Why shouldn't we be doing this stuff together?!"

"Well for one thing I know he wouldn't be doing all this just to get in my pants."

"I-I would never-"

He hung his head in shame, "I'm sorry."

[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]

Negi, Setsuna, and Chamo sat in contemplative silence as they pondered about the watch in Negi's possession and the ability it had to somehow send them back through time. They had to seriously sit down and consider the ramifications of such a powerful device in their hands.

"Mommy, look at the bunnies!"

"Yes, they're so cute, aren't they?"

Setsuna blushed as she tried to hide her face while noticing some looks sent her way. To try and not get noticed by others while their past selves were walking around, Negi and Setsuna opted to dress up and hide. Negi was in a full-body rabbit suit and Setsuna was wearing a scantily-clad bunny outfit.

After walking around for a bit, enjoying the festival activities they came across, and getting a quick bite to eat, they now found themselves staring down at the watch in bewildered disbelief.

"It doesn't look like a time machine." Negi said, picking the watch up by the chain and examining it from all sides, "I mean compared to all the others that were giant amalgamations of engineering and cogs, or haphazard fusions of futuristic science and household appliances…it seems impossible for such a tiny, compact thing to be able to travel through time."

"Whether it is a large or small machine, the idea of time-traveling is unbelievable." Setsuna stated, "Over the years I've asked others in my field if something like that is even possible, and each one has said no. To disturb something as unchangeable and foundational as the timeline is not something mortals could ever hope to achieve."

"Which is all well and good, and yesterday I would've agreed, but we're on the other side of things now." Chamo argued while his paw tapped the glass of the watch, "We're here now. We're nearly half a day back in time and we have even seen earlier versions of ourselves! Which means there's no debating it now; this is a time machine and we traveled through time!"

"I wanna go back to the age of dinosaurs!" Negi suddenly blurted out, earning curious looks from Chamo and Setsuna in turn. He blushed before resolutely nodding his head, "I must see them."

"Aniki, we probably shouldn't be jumping millions of years into the past until we can figure out more about how this thing works," Chamo warned as the young Mage pouted and slumped in his seat. The ermine looked at the watch and sighed, "But other than testing it out, I'm not sure how-"

"Naruto-sensei!" They flinched at Setsuna's sudden exclamation as she pointed to the side, "There he is! Maybe he can explain something about the watch? He knew about it when he brought us back here in the first place!"

"O-Oh, that's a good point!" Negi snatched up the watch and let Chamo run up his arm before they followed after the whiskered blond, "Nii-San! Nii-San, wait! We have to talk to you!"

"Hmm?" Naruto turned back, cheeks filled with food and a wide, curious look in his eyes. He noticed their approach and quickly chewed his food before greeting them with a peppy voice, "Negi-sensei! Setsuna-San! Chamo-San! You all look so cute today!"

"Sayo-San? Oh, you're in the middle of enjoying the festival, aren't you?" Negi suddenly wilted back at the idea of interrupting the spectral girl's enjoyment just to ask a question, "Uh, we needed to speak with Nii-San about something. Can you tell him to reach out to us when the time-"

"Oh, you don't have to wait. You can do it now." Sayo quickly eased their concerns as she closed her eyes and focused. The glow around them intensified for a moment before Sayo's ghostly visage started to rise and float out of Naruto, "Here you go. You can ask Naruto-sensei anything you want."

Naruto shuddered and blinked a few times as his consciousness and autonomy suddenly came back in full force. A small burp slipped out of his mouth as he patted his stomach, "Damn, you didn't wait at all, did you Sayo-chan?" After a moment to collect himself, Naruto looked up and noticed their company, "Oh, hey Neg-"

The bunny-clad Negi and Setsuna stared at him with slightly pink cheeks.

They frowned after he took a quick picture of them on his phone, "What's up?"

"Nii-San, we need your help." Negi pulled out the watch and held it out for the blond to see, "How in the world did you know about the watch?"

"The watch?" He looked down at it with a quirked brow, "What about the watch?"

"Well, how did you know how it worked? How did you know it was a time machine?"

There was a sudden silence as they waited for the whiskered blond to give his answer. But instead, he only gave a dry chuckle and shook his head, "Negi, there's no such thing as time travel."

They stared at him flabbergasted, "What?"

"I mean it's impossible to travel through time." He reiterated, "There's no spell or magic capable of something impossible like that. No special technique that lets you jump through time and space. No DeLorean. No hot tub. No time bubble that makes you naked when you arrive."

"B-But you…" Negi shared a looked of bewilderment with Setsuna and Chamo at his blatant lie, "We saw you-"

"Naruto-sensei," Sayo floated down to his side, a giddy smile on her face after leaving for a moment to give them some privacy. She pointed to the side, "I think there is a fun game center over there where you can win prizes. Can we go give that a look?"

"Totally!" He grinned at Negi and Setsuna, "I'll see you two later! And Negi, make sure you get some more rest if you start feeling tired again, alright?"

He ran off with Sayo to see the sights and left the two and their ermine companion to stare in absolute shock at the way he blatantly dismissed the idea of time travel…after helping them do it in the first place?!

"What the hell was that?!" Chamo cried out, "The big jerk helped us get back here in the first place! And then we ask him for an explanation, but he stonewalls us like that?! The nerve!"

"H-Hold on." Setsuna quickly tried to ease Chamo's fury with raised hands, "We shouldn't jump to conclusions. Maybe there's a reason he couldn't tell us?" Although for the life of her, Setsuna couldn't comprehend why he wasn't being straight with them. Especially when Negi came right out and asked him about it. This was the man who told Konoka her lineage for her safety, but this was worth keeping quiet about. Setsuna wracked her brain, "Maybe he couldn't say something in public like this?"

"Or he didn't know what we were talking about." They heard Negi mumble as he rubbed his chin, "I had just woken up, and I was still panicking from the fact we missed the day, but Nii-San…was wearing something different when we were in the infirmary, wasn't he? And he was talking about stuff I couldn't follow."

Chamo and Setsuna looked at each other, "So what does that mean?"

"I think…" Negi hesitated, trying to rationalize his thought process now that he knew time travel was a factor in everything, "That Nii-San we met earlier-"

"Was a later iteration of Naruto-sensei that already traveled through time once and used that experience to help you three travel back for the first time! Ah, I just love time shenanigans like that!"

"GAH!" The trio jumped and screamed in fright before looking back at the sudden addition that appeared out of nowhere, "C-Chao-San?!"

"Don't you just love wild time travel antics?" The genius girl asked with a giggle, "I mean I know some people don't like thinking too hard about time travel plots because they're confusing, but I think that if you give it a little thought then they become very entertaining!"

"Chao-San, what are you doing here?"

"Well, Negi-Bōzū, I thought I should come to find you to help clear up some questions about the Cassiopeia."

"C-Cassiopeia?" Negi looked down at the watch, "Is that what it is called?"

"That's right!" She grinned widely and cheered, "The time machine that works off magic power and only works during the Mahora Festival! Negi-Bōzū, for all the help you've given me, I want you to have this to ease your scheduling conflicts!"

[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]

"Whew!" Naruto moaned in relief as he patted his belly, feeling like he had put on half a dozen pounds since that morning, "I feel heavy all of a sudden." He looked at the little bit of chocolate banana that was left in his hand before smirking up at his ghost friend, "So~?"

"I had so much fun!" Sayo gleefully said with a smile. She floated down to Naruto's side, "You have to go on a patrol now, right?"

"Yeah, about that time." Taking note of the clock, he knew it was coming up on the designated meetup for his patrol, "I don't want to keep them waiting when I need to be covering some of Negi's patrol time."

"Sensei, will you be able to enjoy the festival too? I hate to think I took up some of the time you could be using to relax."

"Nah," He smiled and shrugged, "I have plenty of time to enjoy stuff over the next few days. No worries. I'll see you later, Sayo-chan!"

He made his way down the street while waving to his ghost friend. It was a little strange to think that he considered a ghost to be a friend when the idea still made him a little uncomfortable, but there was no way he could say no to Sayo.

Negi would be starting his date with Nodoka soon, and after that, they would meet up at the tournament to qualify for their fights. He hoped the poor kid got enough rest before all his appointments. He seemed to wake up not too long after they left him in the infirmary to ask that weird question about time travel.

Feeling a tug from his consciousness, he knew his fox demon comrade was somewhere nearby. He looked around and spotted Kyūbi seated atop a table with all sorts of snacks and offerings given to him by people he met during the festival. Naruto walked over, "Man, you weren't kidding about getting people to give you stuff."

"Of course not." Kyūbi arrogantly said, "I know how susceptible you fools are to adorable creatures."

"Still feels gross hearing you call yourself adorable." Naruto groused before chuckling, "Hey, so get this. Negi brought this watch to me before and told me it was-"

"Ugh! Time travel! I know! I don't fucking care!" Kyūbi took a sharp bite of his food and jumped off the table to shuffle away, "You're ruining my meal!"

The whiskered blond boy stared at his fox partner as he angrily trotted away. Had…had he somehow relayed that through their connection earlier? Naruto scratched his head trying to figure it out but shrugged and continued to make his way to his destination.

As he walked along and saw all the other attractions along the way, he saw a group of magic-aware students and faculty gathered to begin their rounds. He quickly picked up the pace to join them-

Something snagged the back of his collar and yanked him into an alley.

Naruto's eyes widened in sudden shock and he immediately reacted by knocking the hand away from his collar. His other hand snapped out to knock the assailant away.

But his wrist was immediately grabbed and turned upside-down, trying to lock his arm in place so that he couldn't move it.

Naruto quickly ducked down and pulled his arm out of his attacker's grip before trying to knock them aside.

The stranger in the black coat and animal mask matched his rapid strikes and movements with ones of his own. And even when Naruto started to move faster his assailant just did the same. A short but wildly intense exchange of grabs and palm strikes ensued that was powerful enough to shake the air in the alleyway.

Naruto started to freak out, trying to discern who this masked attacker could be and how they were so skilled. If someone this powerful had slipped into Mahora they should have been made aware of that. And if they were attacking the magically aware then it could-

The masked man's hand shot out and grabbed Naruto's collar while he was busy thinking. He slammed the whiskered boy into the wall and Naruto immediately lashed out to strike again.

Only to freeze when his masked assailant reached up and removed his mask in the heat of the moment. Naruto's face was blank with shock as he stared in disbelief, "W-What? How-"

"Should be obvious. Negi said it earlier." The other Naruto said as he let go of his past self's collar and stepped back, "Time travel is real. I'm proof. And you don't have time to waste walking around on patrols. Negi's about to be in trouble and you need to help him."

[[[[[[[[Knight]]]]]]]]

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