Mahou Sensei Negima! Fan Fiction ❯ Life In A Bottle ❯ Sale On Average, Aisle 3 ( Chapter 5 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Serac 
Dealing with the stuck ups never was easy.....
Anime/Manga: Mahou Sensei Negima! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama / Comedy | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 11.19.2006 | Pages: 4 | Words: 6.0K | Visits: 235 | Status: Work In Progress
Dealing with the stuck ups never was easy.....
Anime/Manga: Mahou Sensei Negima! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama / Comedy | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 11.19.2006 | Pages: 4 | Words: 6.0K | Visits: 235 | Status: Work In Progress
-----Author’s note: I do not own Negima!, but any other characters (Save for Masayoshi Hitodama) and ideas are my own. Enjoy.....-----
The warmth surrounding her, the soft strength of his arms around her waist, the steady pressure of his chest against her back as he was breathing. It was so satisfying to know that he was lying beside her, and that she was caught up in not only his grasp, but in the moment that lasted all night long.
Ku Fei had been awake for the last hour or so, but she didn’t want to move and spoil the perfection that was being held by one of the strongest men she knew. School wouldn’t start for another two hours or so, so there was no need to hurry, anyway. She remembered, once upon a time, thinking that she wouldn’t ever find a strong enough man to consider as a possible suitor. Sure, there was always Negi, but he had more girls chasing him than a dog had fleas. Connor, meanwhile, only had two or three people interested, which was much more manageable than the twenty or so that wanted the boy teacher. But that wasn’t the only thing she saw in her favorite teacher’s aid. If it were, she would be alright with the idea of getting out of bed.
Unknown to Ku Fei, Connor had been awake for quite awhile. He, too, wasn’t quite ready for the night to end. He figured that as long as he was deathly quiet and still, Ku Fei would stay asleep and he could hold her for a little longer. He had no idea what Fate had in store for him, but all of that seemed so far away, just then. His problems melted away as he lay there with her, as though they had never even existed. What was it he had to do today, again?
Kaede, with a light yawn, sat up on the edge of her bed before her mouth twitched a little. At first, she instinctively went for the kunai she kept tucked beneath her pillow, but she caught herself beforehand and went for the rope she kept under the bed. Moving so fast that her shadow had a hard time keeping up, the kunoichi had snatched Ku Fei out of the bed and had tied Connor’s hands and feet to each bedpost, leaving him sprawled out on the bed in confusion.
“What are you doing?” Kaede barked, her tone of voice one that neither was all that familiar with.
Connor looked at each of his limbs in wonder, then at the two girls who were looking back at him. Ku Fei had a big grin on, but Kaede was close to snarling. Both were a little red. “I don’t know where we’re going with the ropes, but.....I think I might like it.”
-
Asuna felt her head droop a little, but with a pinch to her side, she quickly refocused. Chachamaru was ‘sleeping’ in Konoka’s old bed, and Negi was sleeping in his bed. Asuna had gotten a coworker to cover her paper route for the day, so she had been able to stand guard all night to make sure that nothing happened between the android and her young roommate. Scattered all around her were various snacks, most of which were heavy with sugar and caffeine. Currently, she was plagued with one of the most horrific headaches in Mahora history.
A loud crash shook Negi out of his sleep, along with Chachamaru. Asuna, though, didn’t move. She simply continued to gaze at the boy with dull eyes, hardly awake at all.
“Asuna-san! What was that noise?” Negi asked, hopping down from his loft and nearly falling down onto the floor. Having just woken up, he was still a little groggy.
Asuna’s eyes never left him, and they followed the boy as he warily made his way over to his pigtailed friend.
“A-Asuna-san? Are.....are you ok?” He asked softly, reaching out a hand to touch her forehead.
The closer his hand drew, the further back she leaned, keeping about an inch away from contact with the boy. Chachamaru watched as Asuna slipped out of her chair, and paced a sort of circle around the room, with Negi after her, trying to get his hand on her forehead.
“Asuna-san, what’s wrong? Ch-Chachamaru-san, please help me catch her!”
“Yes, Negi-sensei,” The android complied willingly, joining the hunt for baka red around the tiny dorm room.
Asuna, not willing to touch either one at the moment, tried to move for the door. Chachamaru stepped in the way, wagging a finger at her as though she had done something wrong. Negi dove at his friend from behind, but baka red was a step ahead of him. She spun out of the way, which gave Negi all the space he needed to fly straight into Chachamaru, forcing her up against the door and into what looked a lot like a passionate embrace. It didn’t help matters at all when the android wrapped her arms around the boy and locked him into an equally passionate looking kiss.
-
“I was only.....k-kidding.....half kidding.....” Connor, who still had ropes dangling off of his ankles and wrists, turned his blurry gaze down the hall as a bone shattering slap resounded throughout the dorms. Negi’s door exploded off of its hinges, much as his own had just a moment ago. The boy teacher flew out into the hall with the door, smacking his head against the opposite wall before he slid down to the floor in a sore heap. Connor would have laughed if he wasn’t afraid for his safety, at the time. Negi was in a similar position. Back to the ground, legs up against the wall as though they were sitting on it.
Asuna stepped out into the hall, holding what looked to be a giant paper fan. She pointed it at Negi, and said what Connor believed to be ‘technosexual’, before dragging Chachamaru away. Negi groaned in reply, but otherwise made no indication he had even heard the girl.
He turned to look down the other end of the hall, the direction that Kaede and Ku Fei had marched off down. In the little bit of time where he had gotten to see Kaede’s face before Ku Fei had untied him, and before the kunoichi had slapped him into and through their door, he would have sworn that the look in her eyes was more jealousy than anything else. .....For that matter, it looked like the red idiot was a little jealous, too. Or maybe he was just imagining things.....
He grinned a little as the library trio left their room to see what was going on, and how they practically killed themselves in dashing to their teacher’s side. All Negi needed now was for them to ask.....
“Where does it hurt, Connor-sensei?” Someone asked, which confused the hell out of him, “Tell me so I can kiss it and make it better!”
He redirected his eyes a little to the right to find the manga girl beside him. He wished he could remember her name, right then. While he didn’t want to admit he was a little hurt, he couldn’t pass up the opportunity, “I-It hurts all over.....”
Yue and Nodoka, once they were sure that Negi was alright, had to drag Haruna away from their other teacher. Whatever he had said had been like flicking on her switch, or something. They would have to have a talk about her behavior, later.
-
School was out for the day, and Yue, Nodoka, and Haruna were sitting at a round table in one of the deeper rooms of Library Island, doing their homework. Sort of. At any rate, two of the three had some qualms about being where they were, even though they considered it as a home away from home.
“H-Haruna.....Are you sure it’s safe here?” Nodoka asked, looking around as if she expected the structure to collapse around her.
“Of course it is!” The manga artist exclaimed, pumping a fist into the air, “Would I lead you astray?”
“You’d lead us into a sex scandal,” Yue muttered dryly, clapping her notebook shut. There was no way in hell any studying was going to get done, and she knew it. Not when there was plenty of.....not studying, to do.
“Sure I’d lead you through the depths of a sex scandal! You know what else? You’d love every minute of it, even if you won’t admit it. Besides, this is, like, our home! We can’t just-”
Haruna was cut off when the ground beneath them shook violently, and books rattled off of their shelves. The people up above were working on the repairs to the library, even as they spoke. “Damn that robotics club for using the campus as their testing ground for new toys.....” Haruna sighed, letting her head smack down onto the table before her.
“Y-Yeah.....damn them.....” Yue tried to sound sure of her reply, but it didn’t quite come out sounding that way. She knew all too well that it wasn’t the robotics club’s fault that Library Island was a mangled shell of itself. It was the site of Ku Fei, Negi, and Connor’s fight with the now dead copycat. The headmaster had done an admirable job of covering it up, though, and the robotics club was kind enough to accept compensation to go along with it. It was tough for her to be the only one of the library trio to know the truth, but it wasn’t so tough that she was going to tell them the truth.
“That didn’t sound like you.....” Haruna stated, lifting her face up from the table to show the gleam in her eyes, “You wouldn’t be holding anything out on me, now would you?”
Nodoka began to tremble as she saw that look. Yue’s eyes widened a little, but other than that she managed to maintain her somber demeanor, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I think we should, however, discuss your advance on Connor-sensei, this morning,” She tried to shy away from the topic of her knowing something that the big gossip didn’t.
“Oh no, no, no.....no changing the subject, Yuetchi.....what exactly is it that you know?” Haruna slowly rose from her seat, the air around the room darkening a little to accentuate her eyes shimmering a bright red.
“H-Haruna, I d-don’t think that.....” Nodoka quickly shut up when her friend shot her an equally frightening look.
The manga artist scanned her shy friend for a few seconds, then seemed content with the knowledge that Nodoka knew nothing about what was going on. “Nodoka, I think you should leave us alone, for a while.”
“B-B-But.....” Another look shot her way, and Nodoka was out the door and down the hall before either one realized it.
“Now.....” Haruna chuckled a little, holding a folded whip up in front of her and pulling at either end to make a satisfying snapping noise, “We’re going to have a heart-to-heart, Yuetchi.....because real friends don’t keep secrets.....”
“Wh-Where did that whip come from?” Yue stuttered, backing away from her terrifying friend. No matter what, though, she wasn’t going to saya thing.
“This? Oh, it’s for when Connor-sensei and I.....well, that’s a tale for another time. Sing for me, my friend.....”
Nodoka sighed, making her way back through Library Island the way they had come in. She didn’t want to run into any construction workers, or anything, so she made sure to keep quiet and stay away from all noises. But when all noise in general seemed to die off, she began to get nervous. The rumbling of construction equipment was gone, and she couldn’t even make out the sound of her own breathing. The lights faded, and the temperature began to drop.
Nodoka fell to her knees, pressed to the ground either by terror, or by the sudden increase in gravity. She pulled out her pactio card and cell phone at the same time, but dropped the phone, unable to grasp it in her trembling hand. It fell to the ground, and vanished in the overbearing shadows that had sucked up all visibility. She tried to summon her artifact, but her voice caught in her throat. Her shaky breaths were coming out in puffs of steam, and she could feel tears start to form. Something was coming, and it was the scariest something she had ever felt.
“Nodoka Miyazaki,” A chilling voice reverberated through the shadows, “There is something we need to discuss, so you will be coming with me.”
-
Masayoshi looked from side to side, making sure no one was watching him. Oh, great, look suspicious, nice. He was currently tailing Keiko Izanami, the girl who had been chosen for the lead female role in Vamp Show. She was on her way to the store, it appeared. Luckily enough for Masayoshi, that was a great place for an ‘accident’ to happen. Lots of things high up. Never know when something might just.....sort of.....tip over onto someone.
He had to make sure that Natsumi got that role. Plain and simple. His relationship with her was depending on it, and he needed the trust that the relationship would bring so he could carry out his mission. The mission was of the utmost importance, or his secret would be revealed to the world. A secret that he couldn’t let ANYONE ever find out, no matter what he had to do to keep it safe. He wouldn’t kill Keiko, but he’d make sure she wasn’t in the play.
He grinned a little as she knelt down to grab a can of soup, or something, he wasn’t really paying attention, “Sorry for this, but you’ve gotta take one for team Masayoshi, this time.”
In his black book, Masayoshi quickly scribbled a magical design within a circle, and was set to launch his attack. Before he could, however, the man in black with the tampons from the other day showed up beside Keiko, with Natsumi at his side.
“Hey. You’re that Izanami girl, right?” Connor asked bluntly, looking the girl up and down. Still looked like she hadn’t ever heard what a cheeseburger was.
“Um, yes. Can I help you? Oh, hi Natsumi-chan,” The tall girl replied, trying to sound bored. Natsumi wasn’t an idiot, however, and could practically taste the disdain from the girl as she heard her name.
“Yeah, actually you can. You should step down from the lead role.”
Masayoshi slapped himself in the forehead, cursing at the fool for being so direct. He apparently didn’t know how to handle Keiko at all.
“Excuse me? You’re out of your mind if you think I’m just going to back out.”
“I’ll sleep with you if you do,” Connor stated, folding his arms. He didn’t like this girl, but if that’s what it was going to take.
“Wh-What?” Natsumi shouted, jumping back from her friend as Keiko punched him in the arm.
“What’s the big deal? I slept with Sunshine last night to get my way. It’s really not a problem.”
Keiko watched as a nice section of the aisle got a blood shower, courtesy of Natsumi’s nose. Masayoshi, himself, was now not trying to hide himself. He was standing up at the end of the aisle, arms out to his sides as if to ask ‘what the hell’s your problem?’.
“As.....intriguing an offer as that is, I’m going to say no. There’s another reason I want the lead role, and it starts with an ‘M’.”
“B-But Masayoshi doesn’t.....” Natsumi tried to think of something to dissuade the girl, but she couldn’t come up with a single thing.
“Masa-kun is such a catch, I can’t believe he’s single,” Keiko said softly, a little sparkle starting to show in her eyes.
Masayoshi ducked back out of sight at the end of the aisle, straining his ears to listen.
“But I.....l-like.....” Natsumi trailed off, wondering how on earth it was fair for such a pretty girl like Keiko to be going after the same person she wanted. Being as gloriously average as she was, she knew she didn’t have any chance against the beauty before her in getting Masayoshi.
“I don’t care what you ‘like’, Natsumi-chan. This isn’t about you and your creepy fascination with MY Masa-kun, it’s about me and my ‘love’. Yes, I love Masayoshi Hitodama, and I won’t give up my chance to get closer to him, especially not to you.”
“Love? How can you say that? He’s, like, two years younger than you, for one. Two, he’s not even that good looking. I mean, come on, you’re turning down a night in my arms for that guy?” Connor looked from one girl to the next, wondering what the hell was so special about this other guy that people would actually fight over him.
Masayoshi shrugged off Connor’s statement. He knew he was pretty good looking, but he knew there were shinier gems out there, too. Besides, he had two girls arguing for him, and only had a guy arguing against him. He was feeling pretty good about himself, right then.
“Because he’s the perfect man. He’s not an idiot, but he’s not so smart that he can’t be controlled. He’s not unattractive, but he’s not so good looking that I’d ever have to worry about him going astray. Not to mention he’s an all around nice person, who I hear has plenty of money stored away, somewhere. He’s the perfect man.....” Keiko said all of this with a happy little smile, but then her expression turned bitter and she turned an angry look to Natsumi, “Besides, I hear that I’m just his type. Long, shimmering black hair, beautiful slender figure, flawless skin without even a hint of a mole, pimple, scar, birthmark, or even freckles,” She said the last part in a highly discernable tone, as if to say ‘which means you have no chance’.
‘Actually, that’s not true. I kind of like ‘em a little on the short side, and I like lightly colored hair better. Maybe it’s weird, but I’ve sort of had a thing for pink, lately.....if she had a sister.....ah, yeah.’ But that was crazy thinking, and Masayoshi knew it. There was nobody with pink hair, and a little on the short side, and with a sister? That was crazy.
The man in black caught the hurt look on Natsumi’s face, who had apparently heard similar things, “Really? Oh, you forgot pompous anorexic gold-digging super-bitch. That’s always the turn on,” Connor snarled, motioning for Natsumi to leave, with instructions to get more of that sinful ice cream. She sullenly made her way to the frozen food aisle.
“Say what you will, but I always get the man I want,” Keiko grinned, flipping her long hair over her shoulder.
“I’ll bet you’ve had plenty of men, you skank. You’re, what, seventeen? Eighteen? That’s great how you can still get your jollies by picking on a fourteen-year-old. I’ll bet if your ‘perfect man’ could hear you now, he’d be disgusted.”
“Masa-kun would understand that sometimes you have to do mean things to get what you want. It’d be better for Natsumi-chan if she just quit now and saved herself the effort.”
“What’s wrong with you? She’s already insecure enough as it is! Have you seen the people in the class she’s in? She’s got an inferiority complex the size of your ego, and you’re just throwing wood on the fire by taking the one guy she’s interested in! Don’t you remember what it was like to be her age?”
“I remember having to have teachers break up fights over me, when I was fourteen. Still happens, now, actually.....” Keiko turned a little grin up to the angry face of the man before her, “But enough about me. Why are YOU trying to help Natsumi-chan?”
He had a few answers for this question. 1. Because I think it’s fate for Natsumi and Masayoshi to get together. 2. You’re a nasty girl, and I don’t want to see you get your way. But he decided to go with three, which is as follows, “Because she’s my student, and I want to see her happy.” He was a little sickened with himself for sounding like Negi, right then, but he was feeling.....protective of Natsumi, at the moment. It would pass. He really hoped it would pass.
“How chivalrous of you. Tell Natsumi-chan that I’m sorry for her hopeless infatuation, but I will not give her a chance to get closer to Masa-kun,” Keiko turned to leave, but Connor reached out and grabbed her wrist.
“I can land you a date with him, and I can get it for tonight.”
This seemed to spark the girl’s interest, and she turned to look him back in the eye, “Can you, now? What kind of date?”
“The kind that lasts into the wee hours of the morning, girly. Surely you could use that time to try and bring Masayoshi over to your corner, right? You drop out of the play, I’ll see to it that you get to have your time with him, tonight,” As Connor was saying this, he was praying that no one could hear him.
Masayoshi’s mouth was hanging open as he listened. Was the guy in the coat trying to get him in bed with this girl?
“Ok, if you can make it happen, I’ll drop out. That’s a big ‘if’ though,” Keiko smirked at Connor as he let go of her wrist and began to walk away.
She resumed her hunt for the right soup can, oblivious to Connor as he slapped a hand against the aisle long shelves, sending off a pulse of magic into the frame. The magic shot through the cans and into the ones in front of Keiko, which burst open, soaking her in various soups. “Cleanup in aisle three!” He called out, meeting up with Natsumi at the checkout counter.
“That was magic.....so he’s a mage, huh? He can make that promise because he’s planning on using a glamour to impersonate me for the date. I see.....” Masayoshi muttered, quietly slipping out of the store. This might complicate things, in the end.
Connor and Natsumi quickly left the store, Connor practically jogging to get away before someone suspected he had done something. Once the two were a safe distance away from the store, the teacher’s assistant looked down at the quiet girl beside him and asked, “What’s an eighteen-year-old doing in the same drama club as you?”
“The drama club is for the highschool kids, too, not just the middle school. It’s her last year, which means she’s had a lot of practice and is really good. That’s why she got the lead role,” Natsumi replied sadly, trying not to look too dejected.
“So that’s why, huh? Well, I wasn’t all that awake during the club meeting I went to, but I thought you were pretty damn convincing, Freckles.”
“It’s ok, you don’t have to try and make me feel better. You stood up for me while we were in the store, and that meant a lot. Just.....d-don’t do it again, ok?”
She took a few more steps before coming to a stop, waiting for Connor to keep moving. She raised a sleeve to wipe the tears away before they could fall from her eyes. The two stood there for several seconds, people passing them by as though they weren’t there at all.
“Why would you ask me to not stand up for you?” He asked from behind her, and she didn’t turn when she answered.
“I don’t want to be.....someone that people have to save, and that they pity.....I hardly matter to anyone, anyway, b-but I don’t want to be a burden.....I’d rather just.....” She tried to say what she was feeling, but she started to get choked up and stopped talking.
Connor closed the gap between them, and laid his hands on her shoulders from behind, turning her around. She was crying, but he didn’t need to look at her face to tell. She was shaking a little from keeping it all bottled up and quiet. He set himself on his knees and pulled her into a hug. The people that had been ignoring them, before, now looked at the two as they passed by.
Natsumi tried to pull out of the hug, “Wh-What are you d-doing? Stop it!” She squeaked, finding it harder and harder to keep her tears at bay. Connor felt her strength leaving her as she started to cry on his shoulder. She dropped the bag containing the ice cream, “E-Everyone’s looking.....please, st-stop.....”
“It was killing me to hold Sunshine’s hand in public. As embarrassed as you may be, try and understand that it’s a lot harder for me to do this than it is for you.”
“Th-Then why are you? Just let me go.....”
“Because I think you need this. Right here, in front of all of these people. You want to be the center of attention on stage, but don’t even want to be a topic off of it. It’s easier to be on a stage when you’re someone else, right? Someone who’s special, who has some sort of ability or defect, or has interesting things happen to them. But you don’t need anything like that to deserve having someone stand up for you, especially not me. Regardless of what you think about yourself, I know that the real you is better than any character,” He squeezed a little harder to accentuate the last part.
She closed her eyes, putting her arms around him, too. She was embarrassed as all hell that people were stopping to stare at a crying schoolgirl being hugged by a man in a black trench coat that had ‘the way of God’ emblazoned across the back, but what he said made her feel so good she didn’t care. She soaked in the embrace for the while it lasted, the tears slowly drying up. “Do you mean that?” She asked quietly, coming out of the hug as Connor rose to his feet.
“Let me prove it to you, Freckles.” He pulled off his coat, and ran over to a streetlight. He jumped up four or so feet, gripping the pole with one hand and swinging around it with his boot pushed against it to hold himself in place. With his free arm he swung his coat around over his head, “Hey!” He shouted to get the attention of everyone who wasn’t already staring, “Natsumi Murakami, that fine piece of woman down there,” He made a big deal of pointing her out to everyone, “Is one of the sweetest, funniest, most drop-dead gorgeous ladies I have ever met, and if she were of legal age, I would bag her in a heartbeat! If you don’t feel the same way, my fellow men, than I can say without a doubt that you are a homosexual!”
A couple of people cheered for him as Natsumi pulled him down, redder than the blood she had left on aisle three of the store, “Oh my God, what was that?”
Connor slung his coat back on, tilting down to give his student a kiss on the cheek, “That was the truth. Don’t worry about being a problem to anyone. I’d kill to have problems as sweet as you, Freckles.”
Unknown to the two of them, a rather displeased man had just watched the entire spectacle, and was making a phone call before the two had even reached the end of the street.
-
“You want me to what?”
“You want him to what?”
“I do not approve of this course of action.”
“Look, it’ll be fun. Hopefully not too fun, because I hate this girl with a passion, but hey, it’s for Freckles, so time to take one for the team.”
Negi, Asuna, and Chachamaru each stared into the eyes of the assistant teacher, who had just asked Negi to pose as Masayoshi on a date with a snob they had never even met. Both girls, though, found themselves loathing this Keiko for the date with Negi. Uh, Masayoshi, they found themselves loathing this Keiko for the date with Masayoshi.
“Well.....I did ask you to help Natsumi-san. What kind of teacher would I be if I wasn’t willing to do my best, either? I’ll do it,” Negi agreed to the plan, which was a weight off of Connor’s chest. He might kill that girl if he had to be the one to date her.
“Phew, great. Are you gonna be able to keep the glamour up for.....four or five hours, though?”
“I’ll have to take little breaks, but I should be able to pull it off. Besides.....” Negi motioned to Asuna and Chachamaru, “I’m sure I’ll have some backup if I should need a distraction.” Both girls nodded, knocking fists.
“Alright, cool. I pinched this picture from Freckles, use it to get this guys looks down,” Connor handed Negi the picture he had taken from Natsumi during their hug on the sidewalk. He felt guilty, but he was just doing what needed to be done. He’d make sure she got it back.
“Well, what’s he sound like?”
“Uh, you mean that doesn’t just come naturally once you get the image down? Dammit, just fake it. Keep changing it up until you get one that sticks. Even if it’s wrong, you can probably convince her that you’ve just got a little cold, or something,” Connor opened the door to Negi’s dorm, and left before anymore complaints or questions arose. He bumped by Haruna and Yue as he made a beeline for his own room.
Negi was preparing himself for a verbal beating by an angry looking Asuna and a weepy looking Chachamaru (The emotions she was storing were starting to worry him), when his door popped open again and two of the library trio entered.
“Huh, I thought for sure she’d be in here,” Haruna commented, looking specifically up at Negi’s loft.
“What’s going on?” The boy teacher asked, glad at the interruption which had saved him an awkward position.
“We can’t find Nodoka, Negi-sensei. We’ve tried her cell, but she’s not picking up,” Yue answered with a slight bow.
“Is that so? Maybe I should-”
Asuna smacked him on the head with her fist, “Hey, don’t get off the subject! I’m sure Bookstore’s fine. Tell them about your date tonight!”
Negi now had an angry Asuna, a weepy Chachamaru, a blushing Yue, and an intrigued Haruna on his hands. It was five in the afternoon, and the rest of his night promised to be an interesting one.
-
“You want me to what?”
“I’m not going to repeat myself. He’s a threat to my entire plan, and I will not tolerate his interference!”
Masayoshi shook his head a little, wondering why he kept coming back to the dingy basement with the cold coffee, to continually deal with this incompetent. “I’m not going to kill him. That’s crazy. He’s a decent guy, from what I saw, and he’s just trying to help out his student.”
“You WILL kill him, or else. You know what I’ll do.....” The throaty voice replied.
“Alright, look. I won’t kill the guy, but I can still beat the crap out of him and get him out of Mahora. Once he’s out of commission, you guys can send him to some other country, or something, I don’t care. No killing.”
“That’s a better tune, Masayoshi. If you can do that, we will remove him from Mahora without killing him. That’s fair enough.”
“Alright, now I just need to set everything up so I can-”
“It’s already been done. You will do this, tonight.”
-
“Sunshine, you here?” Connor looked around his room, finding that it was pretty empty. He decided to switch pillows with Ku Fei for that fresh Sunshine scent he loved, but froze up when he found a letter on his bed. Humming to himself, he picked up the letter and unfolded it to read.
-----Author’s other note: Recap of what’s going on:
1. Nodoka is missing, and only I know where she is. Well, some readers might, too, but no one else does.
2. Negi has to go out on a date with Keiko Izanami, now, with Asuna, Haruna, Chachamaru, and Yue tagging along. My head’s hurting just thinking about it.
3. The people blackmailing Masayoshi have now set him out to take care of Connor, who they believe to be getting too close to Natsumi, who is their goal. For those who are wondering, we are NOT supposed to know what exactly Masayoshi is being blackmailed with, at the moment.
Masayoshi is the mental property of Master Masa Random, and I make no claims to him. Keep writing, my brother!
Thanks for reading.....-----
The warmth surrounding her, the soft strength of his arms around her waist, the steady pressure of his chest against her back as he was breathing. It was so satisfying to know that he was lying beside her, and that she was caught up in not only his grasp, but in the moment that lasted all night long.
Ku Fei had been awake for the last hour or so, but she didn’t want to move and spoil the perfection that was being held by one of the strongest men she knew. School wouldn’t start for another two hours or so, so there was no need to hurry, anyway. She remembered, once upon a time, thinking that she wouldn’t ever find a strong enough man to consider as a possible suitor. Sure, there was always Negi, but he had more girls chasing him than a dog had fleas. Connor, meanwhile, only had two or three people interested, which was much more manageable than the twenty or so that wanted the boy teacher. But that wasn’t the only thing she saw in her favorite teacher’s aid. If it were, she would be alright with the idea of getting out of bed.
Unknown to Ku Fei, Connor had been awake for quite awhile. He, too, wasn’t quite ready for the night to end. He figured that as long as he was deathly quiet and still, Ku Fei would stay asleep and he could hold her for a little longer. He had no idea what Fate had in store for him, but all of that seemed so far away, just then. His problems melted away as he lay there with her, as though they had never even existed. What was it he had to do today, again?
Kaede, with a light yawn, sat up on the edge of her bed before her mouth twitched a little. At first, she instinctively went for the kunai she kept tucked beneath her pillow, but she caught herself beforehand and went for the rope she kept under the bed. Moving so fast that her shadow had a hard time keeping up, the kunoichi had snatched Ku Fei out of the bed and had tied Connor’s hands and feet to each bedpost, leaving him sprawled out on the bed in confusion.
“What are you doing?” Kaede barked, her tone of voice one that neither was all that familiar with.
Connor looked at each of his limbs in wonder, then at the two girls who were looking back at him. Ku Fei had a big grin on, but Kaede was close to snarling. Both were a little red. “I don’t know where we’re going with the ropes, but.....I think I might like it.”
-
Asuna felt her head droop a little, but with a pinch to her side, she quickly refocused. Chachamaru was ‘sleeping’ in Konoka’s old bed, and Negi was sleeping in his bed. Asuna had gotten a coworker to cover her paper route for the day, so she had been able to stand guard all night to make sure that nothing happened between the android and her young roommate. Scattered all around her were various snacks, most of which were heavy with sugar and caffeine. Currently, she was plagued with one of the most horrific headaches in Mahora history.
A loud crash shook Negi out of his sleep, along with Chachamaru. Asuna, though, didn’t move. She simply continued to gaze at the boy with dull eyes, hardly awake at all.
“Asuna-san! What was that noise?” Negi asked, hopping down from his loft and nearly falling down onto the floor. Having just woken up, he was still a little groggy.
Asuna’s eyes never left him, and they followed the boy as he warily made his way over to his pigtailed friend.
“A-Asuna-san? Are.....are you ok?” He asked softly, reaching out a hand to touch her forehead.
The closer his hand drew, the further back she leaned, keeping about an inch away from contact with the boy. Chachamaru watched as Asuna slipped out of her chair, and paced a sort of circle around the room, with Negi after her, trying to get his hand on her forehead.
“Asuna-san, what’s wrong? Ch-Chachamaru-san, please help me catch her!”
“Yes, Negi-sensei,” The android complied willingly, joining the hunt for baka red around the tiny dorm room.
Asuna, not willing to touch either one at the moment, tried to move for the door. Chachamaru stepped in the way, wagging a finger at her as though she had done something wrong. Negi dove at his friend from behind, but baka red was a step ahead of him. She spun out of the way, which gave Negi all the space he needed to fly straight into Chachamaru, forcing her up against the door and into what looked a lot like a passionate embrace. It didn’t help matters at all when the android wrapped her arms around the boy and locked him into an equally passionate looking kiss.
-
“I was only.....k-kidding.....half kidding.....” Connor, who still had ropes dangling off of his ankles and wrists, turned his blurry gaze down the hall as a bone shattering slap resounded throughout the dorms. Negi’s door exploded off of its hinges, much as his own had just a moment ago. The boy teacher flew out into the hall with the door, smacking his head against the opposite wall before he slid down to the floor in a sore heap. Connor would have laughed if he wasn’t afraid for his safety, at the time. Negi was in a similar position. Back to the ground, legs up against the wall as though they were sitting on it.
Asuna stepped out into the hall, holding what looked to be a giant paper fan. She pointed it at Negi, and said what Connor believed to be ‘technosexual’, before dragging Chachamaru away. Negi groaned in reply, but otherwise made no indication he had even heard the girl.
He turned to look down the other end of the hall, the direction that Kaede and Ku Fei had marched off down. In the little bit of time where he had gotten to see Kaede’s face before Ku Fei had untied him, and before the kunoichi had slapped him into and through their door, he would have sworn that the look in her eyes was more jealousy than anything else. .....For that matter, it looked like the red idiot was a little jealous, too. Or maybe he was just imagining things.....
He grinned a little as the library trio left their room to see what was going on, and how they practically killed themselves in dashing to their teacher’s side. All Negi needed now was for them to ask.....
“Where does it hurt, Connor-sensei?” Someone asked, which confused the hell out of him, “Tell me so I can kiss it and make it better!”
He redirected his eyes a little to the right to find the manga girl beside him. He wished he could remember her name, right then. While he didn’t want to admit he was a little hurt, he couldn’t pass up the opportunity, “I-It hurts all over.....”
Yue and Nodoka, once they were sure that Negi was alright, had to drag Haruna away from their other teacher. Whatever he had said had been like flicking on her switch, or something. They would have to have a talk about her behavior, later.
-
School was out for the day, and Yue, Nodoka, and Haruna were sitting at a round table in one of the deeper rooms of Library Island, doing their homework. Sort of. At any rate, two of the three had some qualms about being where they were, even though they considered it as a home away from home.
“H-Haruna.....Are you sure it’s safe here?” Nodoka asked, looking around as if she expected the structure to collapse around her.
“Of course it is!” The manga artist exclaimed, pumping a fist into the air, “Would I lead you astray?”
“You’d lead us into a sex scandal,” Yue muttered dryly, clapping her notebook shut. There was no way in hell any studying was going to get done, and she knew it. Not when there was plenty of.....not studying, to do.
“Sure I’d lead you through the depths of a sex scandal! You know what else? You’d love every minute of it, even if you won’t admit it. Besides, this is, like, our home! We can’t just-”
Haruna was cut off when the ground beneath them shook violently, and books rattled off of their shelves. The people up above were working on the repairs to the library, even as they spoke. “Damn that robotics club for using the campus as their testing ground for new toys.....” Haruna sighed, letting her head smack down onto the table before her.
“Y-Yeah.....damn them.....” Yue tried to sound sure of her reply, but it didn’t quite come out sounding that way. She knew all too well that it wasn’t the robotics club’s fault that Library Island was a mangled shell of itself. It was the site of Ku Fei, Negi, and Connor’s fight with the now dead copycat. The headmaster had done an admirable job of covering it up, though, and the robotics club was kind enough to accept compensation to go along with it. It was tough for her to be the only one of the library trio to know the truth, but it wasn’t so tough that she was going to tell them the truth.
“That didn’t sound like you.....” Haruna stated, lifting her face up from the table to show the gleam in her eyes, “You wouldn’t be holding anything out on me, now would you?”
Nodoka began to tremble as she saw that look. Yue’s eyes widened a little, but other than that she managed to maintain her somber demeanor, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I think we should, however, discuss your advance on Connor-sensei, this morning,” She tried to shy away from the topic of her knowing something that the big gossip didn’t.
“Oh no, no, no.....no changing the subject, Yuetchi.....what exactly is it that you know?” Haruna slowly rose from her seat, the air around the room darkening a little to accentuate her eyes shimmering a bright red.
“H-Haruna, I d-don’t think that.....” Nodoka quickly shut up when her friend shot her an equally frightening look.
The manga artist scanned her shy friend for a few seconds, then seemed content with the knowledge that Nodoka knew nothing about what was going on. “Nodoka, I think you should leave us alone, for a while.”
“B-B-But.....” Another look shot her way, and Nodoka was out the door and down the hall before either one realized it.
“Now.....” Haruna chuckled a little, holding a folded whip up in front of her and pulling at either end to make a satisfying snapping noise, “We’re going to have a heart-to-heart, Yuetchi.....because real friends don’t keep secrets.....”
“Wh-Where did that whip come from?” Yue stuttered, backing away from her terrifying friend. No matter what, though, she wasn’t going to saya thing.
“This? Oh, it’s for when Connor-sensei and I.....well, that’s a tale for another time. Sing for me, my friend.....”
Nodoka sighed, making her way back through Library Island the way they had come in. She didn’t want to run into any construction workers, or anything, so she made sure to keep quiet and stay away from all noises. But when all noise in general seemed to die off, she began to get nervous. The rumbling of construction equipment was gone, and she couldn’t even make out the sound of her own breathing. The lights faded, and the temperature began to drop.
Nodoka fell to her knees, pressed to the ground either by terror, or by the sudden increase in gravity. She pulled out her pactio card and cell phone at the same time, but dropped the phone, unable to grasp it in her trembling hand. It fell to the ground, and vanished in the overbearing shadows that had sucked up all visibility. She tried to summon her artifact, but her voice caught in her throat. Her shaky breaths were coming out in puffs of steam, and she could feel tears start to form. Something was coming, and it was the scariest something she had ever felt.
“Nodoka Miyazaki,” A chilling voice reverberated through the shadows, “There is something we need to discuss, so you will be coming with me.”
-
Masayoshi looked from side to side, making sure no one was watching him. Oh, great, look suspicious, nice. He was currently tailing Keiko Izanami, the girl who had been chosen for the lead female role in Vamp Show. She was on her way to the store, it appeared. Luckily enough for Masayoshi, that was a great place for an ‘accident’ to happen. Lots of things high up. Never know when something might just.....sort of.....tip over onto someone.
He had to make sure that Natsumi got that role. Plain and simple. His relationship with her was depending on it, and he needed the trust that the relationship would bring so he could carry out his mission. The mission was of the utmost importance, or his secret would be revealed to the world. A secret that he couldn’t let ANYONE ever find out, no matter what he had to do to keep it safe. He wouldn’t kill Keiko, but he’d make sure she wasn’t in the play.
He grinned a little as she knelt down to grab a can of soup, or something, he wasn’t really paying attention, “Sorry for this, but you’ve gotta take one for team Masayoshi, this time.”
In his black book, Masayoshi quickly scribbled a magical design within a circle, and was set to launch his attack. Before he could, however, the man in black with the tampons from the other day showed up beside Keiko, with Natsumi at his side.
“Hey. You’re that Izanami girl, right?” Connor asked bluntly, looking the girl up and down. Still looked like she hadn’t ever heard what a cheeseburger was.
“Um, yes. Can I help you? Oh, hi Natsumi-chan,” The tall girl replied, trying to sound bored. Natsumi wasn’t an idiot, however, and could practically taste the disdain from the girl as she heard her name.
“Yeah, actually you can. You should step down from the lead role.”
Masayoshi slapped himself in the forehead, cursing at the fool for being so direct. He apparently didn’t know how to handle Keiko at all.
“Excuse me? You’re out of your mind if you think I’m just going to back out.”
“I’ll sleep with you if you do,” Connor stated, folding his arms. He didn’t like this girl, but if that’s what it was going to take.
“Wh-What?” Natsumi shouted, jumping back from her friend as Keiko punched him in the arm.
“What’s the big deal? I slept with Sunshine last night to get my way. It’s really not a problem.”
Keiko watched as a nice section of the aisle got a blood shower, courtesy of Natsumi’s nose. Masayoshi, himself, was now not trying to hide himself. He was standing up at the end of the aisle, arms out to his sides as if to ask ‘what the hell’s your problem?’.
“As.....intriguing an offer as that is, I’m going to say no. There’s another reason I want the lead role, and it starts with an ‘M’.”
“B-But Masayoshi doesn’t.....” Natsumi tried to think of something to dissuade the girl, but she couldn’t come up with a single thing.
“Masa-kun is such a catch, I can’t believe he’s single,” Keiko said softly, a little sparkle starting to show in her eyes.
Masayoshi ducked back out of sight at the end of the aisle, straining his ears to listen.
“But I.....l-like.....” Natsumi trailed off, wondering how on earth it was fair for such a pretty girl like Keiko to be going after the same person she wanted. Being as gloriously average as she was, she knew she didn’t have any chance against the beauty before her in getting Masayoshi.
“I don’t care what you ‘like’, Natsumi-chan. This isn’t about you and your creepy fascination with MY Masa-kun, it’s about me and my ‘love’. Yes, I love Masayoshi Hitodama, and I won’t give up my chance to get closer to him, especially not to you.”
“Love? How can you say that? He’s, like, two years younger than you, for one. Two, he’s not even that good looking. I mean, come on, you’re turning down a night in my arms for that guy?” Connor looked from one girl to the next, wondering what the hell was so special about this other guy that people would actually fight over him.
Masayoshi shrugged off Connor’s statement. He knew he was pretty good looking, but he knew there were shinier gems out there, too. Besides, he had two girls arguing for him, and only had a guy arguing against him. He was feeling pretty good about himself, right then.
“Because he’s the perfect man. He’s not an idiot, but he’s not so smart that he can’t be controlled. He’s not unattractive, but he’s not so good looking that I’d ever have to worry about him going astray. Not to mention he’s an all around nice person, who I hear has plenty of money stored away, somewhere. He’s the perfect man.....” Keiko said all of this with a happy little smile, but then her expression turned bitter and she turned an angry look to Natsumi, “Besides, I hear that I’m just his type. Long, shimmering black hair, beautiful slender figure, flawless skin without even a hint of a mole, pimple, scar, birthmark, or even freckles,” She said the last part in a highly discernable tone, as if to say ‘which means you have no chance’.
‘Actually, that’s not true. I kind of like ‘em a little on the short side, and I like lightly colored hair better. Maybe it’s weird, but I’ve sort of had a thing for pink, lately.....if she had a sister.....ah, yeah.’ But that was crazy thinking, and Masayoshi knew it. There was nobody with pink hair, and a little on the short side, and with a sister? That was crazy.
The man in black caught the hurt look on Natsumi’s face, who had apparently heard similar things, “Really? Oh, you forgot pompous anorexic gold-digging super-bitch. That’s always the turn on,” Connor snarled, motioning for Natsumi to leave, with instructions to get more of that sinful ice cream. She sullenly made her way to the frozen food aisle.
“Say what you will, but I always get the man I want,” Keiko grinned, flipping her long hair over her shoulder.
“I’ll bet you’ve had plenty of men, you skank. You’re, what, seventeen? Eighteen? That’s great how you can still get your jollies by picking on a fourteen-year-old. I’ll bet if your ‘perfect man’ could hear you now, he’d be disgusted.”
“Masa-kun would understand that sometimes you have to do mean things to get what you want. It’d be better for Natsumi-chan if she just quit now and saved herself the effort.”
“What’s wrong with you? She’s already insecure enough as it is! Have you seen the people in the class she’s in? She’s got an inferiority complex the size of your ego, and you’re just throwing wood on the fire by taking the one guy she’s interested in! Don’t you remember what it was like to be her age?”
“I remember having to have teachers break up fights over me, when I was fourteen. Still happens, now, actually.....” Keiko turned a little grin up to the angry face of the man before her, “But enough about me. Why are YOU trying to help Natsumi-chan?”
He had a few answers for this question. 1. Because I think it’s fate for Natsumi and Masayoshi to get together. 2. You’re a nasty girl, and I don’t want to see you get your way. But he decided to go with three, which is as follows, “Because she’s my student, and I want to see her happy.” He was a little sickened with himself for sounding like Negi, right then, but he was feeling.....protective of Natsumi, at the moment. It would pass. He really hoped it would pass.
“How chivalrous of you. Tell Natsumi-chan that I’m sorry for her hopeless infatuation, but I will not give her a chance to get closer to Masa-kun,” Keiko turned to leave, but Connor reached out and grabbed her wrist.
“I can land you a date with him, and I can get it for tonight.”
This seemed to spark the girl’s interest, and she turned to look him back in the eye, “Can you, now? What kind of date?”
“The kind that lasts into the wee hours of the morning, girly. Surely you could use that time to try and bring Masayoshi over to your corner, right? You drop out of the play, I’ll see to it that you get to have your time with him, tonight,” As Connor was saying this, he was praying that no one could hear him.
Masayoshi’s mouth was hanging open as he listened. Was the guy in the coat trying to get him in bed with this girl?
“Ok, if you can make it happen, I’ll drop out. That’s a big ‘if’ though,” Keiko smirked at Connor as he let go of her wrist and began to walk away.
She resumed her hunt for the right soup can, oblivious to Connor as he slapped a hand against the aisle long shelves, sending off a pulse of magic into the frame. The magic shot through the cans and into the ones in front of Keiko, which burst open, soaking her in various soups. “Cleanup in aisle three!” He called out, meeting up with Natsumi at the checkout counter.
“That was magic.....so he’s a mage, huh? He can make that promise because he’s planning on using a glamour to impersonate me for the date. I see.....” Masayoshi muttered, quietly slipping out of the store. This might complicate things, in the end.
Connor and Natsumi quickly left the store, Connor practically jogging to get away before someone suspected he had done something. Once the two were a safe distance away from the store, the teacher’s assistant looked down at the quiet girl beside him and asked, “What’s an eighteen-year-old doing in the same drama club as you?”
“The drama club is for the highschool kids, too, not just the middle school. It’s her last year, which means she’s had a lot of practice and is really good. That’s why she got the lead role,” Natsumi replied sadly, trying not to look too dejected.
“So that’s why, huh? Well, I wasn’t all that awake during the club meeting I went to, but I thought you were pretty damn convincing, Freckles.”
“It’s ok, you don’t have to try and make me feel better. You stood up for me while we were in the store, and that meant a lot. Just.....d-don’t do it again, ok?”
She took a few more steps before coming to a stop, waiting for Connor to keep moving. She raised a sleeve to wipe the tears away before they could fall from her eyes. The two stood there for several seconds, people passing them by as though they weren’t there at all.
“Why would you ask me to not stand up for you?” He asked from behind her, and she didn’t turn when she answered.
“I don’t want to be.....someone that people have to save, and that they pity.....I hardly matter to anyone, anyway, b-but I don’t want to be a burden.....I’d rather just.....” She tried to say what she was feeling, but she started to get choked up and stopped talking.
Connor closed the gap between them, and laid his hands on her shoulders from behind, turning her around. She was crying, but he didn’t need to look at her face to tell. She was shaking a little from keeping it all bottled up and quiet. He set himself on his knees and pulled her into a hug. The people that had been ignoring them, before, now looked at the two as they passed by.
Natsumi tried to pull out of the hug, “Wh-What are you d-doing? Stop it!” She squeaked, finding it harder and harder to keep her tears at bay. Connor felt her strength leaving her as she started to cry on his shoulder. She dropped the bag containing the ice cream, “E-Everyone’s looking.....please, st-stop.....”
“It was killing me to hold Sunshine’s hand in public. As embarrassed as you may be, try and understand that it’s a lot harder for me to do this than it is for you.”
“Th-Then why are you? Just let me go.....”
“Because I think you need this. Right here, in front of all of these people. You want to be the center of attention on stage, but don’t even want to be a topic off of it. It’s easier to be on a stage when you’re someone else, right? Someone who’s special, who has some sort of ability or defect, or has interesting things happen to them. But you don’t need anything like that to deserve having someone stand up for you, especially not me. Regardless of what you think about yourself, I know that the real you is better than any character,” He squeezed a little harder to accentuate the last part.
She closed her eyes, putting her arms around him, too. She was embarrassed as all hell that people were stopping to stare at a crying schoolgirl being hugged by a man in a black trench coat that had ‘the way of God’ emblazoned across the back, but what he said made her feel so good she didn’t care. She soaked in the embrace for the while it lasted, the tears slowly drying up. “Do you mean that?” She asked quietly, coming out of the hug as Connor rose to his feet.
“Let me prove it to you, Freckles.” He pulled off his coat, and ran over to a streetlight. He jumped up four or so feet, gripping the pole with one hand and swinging around it with his boot pushed against it to hold himself in place. With his free arm he swung his coat around over his head, “Hey!” He shouted to get the attention of everyone who wasn’t already staring, “Natsumi Murakami, that fine piece of woman down there,” He made a big deal of pointing her out to everyone, “Is one of the sweetest, funniest, most drop-dead gorgeous ladies I have ever met, and if she were of legal age, I would bag her in a heartbeat! If you don’t feel the same way, my fellow men, than I can say without a doubt that you are a homosexual!”
A couple of people cheered for him as Natsumi pulled him down, redder than the blood she had left on aisle three of the store, “Oh my God, what was that?”
Connor slung his coat back on, tilting down to give his student a kiss on the cheek, “That was the truth. Don’t worry about being a problem to anyone. I’d kill to have problems as sweet as you, Freckles.”
Unknown to the two of them, a rather displeased man had just watched the entire spectacle, and was making a phone call before the two had even reached the end of the street.
-
“You want me to what?”
“You want him to what?”
“I do not approve of this course of action.”
“Look, it’ll be fun. Hopefully not too fun, because I hate this girl with a passion, but hey, it’s for Freckles, so time to take one for the team.”
Negi, Asuna, and Chachamaru each stared into the eyes of the assistant teacher, who had just asked Negi to pose as Masayoshi on a date with a snob they had never even met. Both girls, though, found themselves loathing this Keiko for the date with Negi. Uh, Masayoshi, they found themselves loathing this Keiko for the date with Masayoshi.
“Well.....I did ask you to help Natsumi-san. What kind of teacher would I be if I wasn’t willing to do my best, either? I’ll do it,” Negi agreed to the plan, which was a weight off of Connor’s chest. He might kill that girl if he had to be the one to date her.
“Phew, great. Are you gonna be able to keep the glamour up for.....four or five hours, though?”
“I’ll have to take little breaks, but I should be able to pull it off. Besides.....” Negi motioned to Asuna and Chachamaru, “I’m sure I’ll have some backup if I should need a distraction.” Both girls nodded, knocking fists.
“Alright, cool. I pinched this picture from Freckles, use it to get this guys looks down,” Connor handed Negi the picture he had taken from Natsumi during their hug on the sidewalk. He felt guilty, but he was just doing what needed to be done. He’d make sure she got it back.
“Well, what’s he sound like?”
“Uh, you mean that doesn’t just come naturally once you get the image down? Dammit, just fake it. Keep changing it up until you get one that sticks. Even if it’s wrong, you can probably convince her that you’ve just got a little cold, or something,” Connor opened the door to Negi’s dorm, and left before anymore complaints or questions arose. He bumped by Haruna and Yue as he made a beeline for his own room.
Negi was preparing himself for a verbal beating by an angry looking Asuna and a weepy looking Chachamaru (The emotions she was storing were starting to worry him), when his door popped open again and two of the library trio entered.
“Huh, I thought for sure she’d be in here,” Haruna commented, looking specifically up at Negi’s loft.
“What’s going on?” The boy teacher asked, glad at the interruption which had saved him an awkward position.
“We can’t find Nodoka, Negi-sensei. We’ve tried her cell, but she’s not picking up,” Yue answered with a slight bow.
“Is that so? Maybe I should-”
Asuna smacked him on the head with her fist, “Hey, don’t get off the subject! I’m sure Bookstore’s fine. Tell them about your date tonight!”
Negi now had an angry Asuna, a weepy Chachamaru, a blushing Yue, and an intrigued Haruna on his hands. It was five in the afternoon, and the rest of his night promised to be an interesting one.
-
“You want me to what?”
“I’m not going to repeat myself. He’s a threat to my entire plan, and I will not tolerate his interference!”
Masayoshi shook his head a little, wondering why he kept coming back to the dingy basement with the cold coffee, to continually deal with this incompetent. “I’m not going to kill him. That’s crazy. He’s a decent guy, from what I saw, and he’s just trying to help out his student.”
“You WILL kill him, or else. You know what I’ll do.....” The throaty voice replied.
“Alright, look. I won’t kill the guy, but I can still beat the crap out of him and get him out of Mahora. Once he’s out of commission, you guys can send him to some other country, or something, I don’t care. No killing.”
“That’s a better tune, Masayoshi. If you can do that, we will remove him from Mahora without killing him. That’s fair enough.”
“Alright, now I just need to set everything up so I can-”
“It’s already been done. You will do this, tonight.”
-
“Sunshine, you here?” Connor looked around his room, finding that it was pretty empty. He decided to switch pillows with Ku Fei for that fresh Sunshine scent he loved, but froze up when he found a letter on his bed. Humming to himself, he picked up the letter and unfolded it to read.
-----Author’s other note: Recap of what’s going on:
1. Nodoka is missing, and only I know where she is. Well, some readers might, too, but no one else does.
2. Negi has to go out on a date with Keiko Izanami, now, with Asuna, Haruna, Chachamaru, and Yue tagging along. My head’s hurting just thinking about it.
3. The people blackmailing Masayoshi have now set him out to take care of Connor, who they believe to be getting too close to Natsumi, who is their goal. For those who are wondering, we are NOT supposed to know what exactly Masayoshi is being blackmailed with, at the moment.
Masayoshi is the mental property of Master Masa Random, and I make no claims to him. Keep writing, my brother!
Thanks for reading.....-----