Mahou Sensei Negima! Fan Fiction ❯ The Dreamer ❯ Two For Two ( Chapter 11 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

-----Author’s note: I do not own Negima!, but any other characters and ideas are my own. Enjoy.....-----

The group of six made their way through the halls, led on by the apparently fearless class rep, Ayaka. Connor was everything but fearless, right now. His eyes were darting around in anticipation, his ears strained to catch any noise that might give away the creature’s approach. He was getting frustrated at his company for walking so loud, but he was glad they were with him, nonetheless.

“Rep, what’s up with the ‘having a dead girl in your house’ thing? You’d think we’d have at least heard something about it before now,” Asakura asked, moving in stride with the blonde, pen and pad in hand.

“Well.....it’s not really something I’m proud of, so I don’t normally say anything about it. I mean, would you?” The rep retorted with a frown.

“Really, what’s going on?” Kaede cut in, interested to hear for herself.

With a sigh, Ayaka began, “Um.....a long time ago, before I lived here, this place used to be a-“

“Indian burial ground?” Connor cut in.

“A what? Th-That’s.....not Japanese, no. It was a-“

“Hospital?”

“No, not a hospital, Connor-sensei. It was a-“

“Daycare that burned down?” He popped a third question, adding under his breath not to call him sensei.

Ku Fei nudged his arm, “Hey, she never gonna tell us you keep stopping her!”

“A-Actually, the third one was right,” The rep admitted, the shadows of the night hiding the look of surprise on her face, “How did you guess?”

“I’ve seen enough movies to be able to guess, for this kind of thing, honey. Plus, dealing with all things ma-“

Yue reached up and clapped a hand over his mouth, while Asukara quickly spoke, “So the girl is someone who died in the fire? But.....why didn’t she stay dead?”

The rep shivered, rubbing her shoulders as she continued to lead the group down through the halls to the East wing. “I’m not really sure. But seeing it was enough to make a believer out of me. I’ve tried exorcisms, and even seals to try and stop the thing, but she won’t go away. Normally she stays in the East wing, where her body was found, but on bad nights, she’ll go anywhere on the grounds.....”

Yue found this particular subject to be insane, but with her being exposed to magic, was it totally unbelievable? Evangeline was supposedly some sort of vampire, Chachamaru was a robot, and Kaede, the very girl beside her, was very likely a ninja. She’d recently seen a dragon, for God’s sake. Living dead really wasn’t all that hard to stomach, an oxymoron though it may be. “How can you stand being here with the thought that it could come for you whenever there’s a storm? Wouldn’t it be easier to just move?”

“That would be the intelligent thing to do, now wouldn’t it?” Ayaka asked with a forced grin.

Connor, along with the other four girls, nodded.

“But.....this is my home. This is where I grew up, ghost-girl and all. If I can’t make her leave, I’ll be damned if she can make me! Besides, she’s afraid of fire, so as long as I keep the fireplace in my room going, she won’t come in.”

Kaede let out a sigh of relief. The room containing all of the girls was lit up with candles, so they’d probably be safe from any ghostly visits. All the same, she had left Mana and Setsuna there, as well. There was nothing to worry about.....

“Scared of fire, huh? ‘Cause she burned to death? How pleasant,” The teacher muttered, wishing he could use magic safely. Hell, forget it, if that thing showed up he’d probably set the room on fire. The rep would find out about magic, and he might burn the house down in his excitement, but that thing wasn’t going to come near him.

“I glad I have candle,” Ku Fei admitted, the talking slowing to a stop.

Asakura was busy writing on her little pad, squinting in the poor light as she did so. She let her steps slow so that she fell just a step behind the group. She was trying to look busy with her journalism but, rather, it was the little ermine hiding in her shirt that had her full attention.

“Must have been one monster of a daycare,” Connor commented quietly, still keeping his eyes moving.

“Actually, the East wing was the daycare, the rest was added on after the damages from the fire had been repaired. Honestly, the old daycare was supposed to be at the center of the mansion, but due to several.....accidents.....during the construction, they decided to continue with the process as far away from the East wing as possible. My great grandfather thought they were being superstitious, but.....well, some accidents aren’t always accidents, I suppose,” The rep replied calmly, as though she were talking about what they would be having for lunch tomorrow.

‘She seems.....pretty collected. I’m about to piss myself, but she’s rolling with things nice and smooth. She might make a good partner, after all. Plus, there’s the money.....’ Connor pondered the possibility of choosing her as his partner. If he married her, after, he’d be set as far as money went. She didn’t have Kaede’s quiet charm, but she wasn’t someone to stick your nose up to, either.

“Crap, she’s a pedophile, though, isn’t she?” Connor muttered, his eyes widening as he realized he had said that out loud.

“What you say?” Ku Fei asked, glancing at Connor questioningly. She had heard him quite well, but she was wondering why he had been thinking about Ayaka. She wasn’t really expecting a good answer, but at least trying seemed to be the thing to do.

“Nothing you need to worry your pretty head over, Sunshine,” Connor replied sweetly, patting her on the head.

Ku Fei forced a smile, letting the comment slide out of focus. Well, at least she tried to. Did he like the rep? Maybe that was the kind of girl he liked.....well-spoken, elegant, rich, tall. She also had something that Ku Fei couldn’t ever have; fair skin. If that was a selling point for Connor, she had no chance in the looks department. That thought alone was enough to upset her.

But she shouldn’t get upset, she knew that. He had told her, on more than one occasion, that she was his favorite. So.....that meant that she had the best chance of a relationship with him, too, right? He had to know how she felt about him.....that night under the World Tree, she had done everything but say ‘I love you’. She might have done it, too, had things not ended so horribly wrong. Even though they both stayed in the same room, neither had mentioned that night since. He knew.....right?

Connor rubbed the back of his head, the warmth from the friction easing the icy chill which had taken hold of the air. He had goose bumps all over. ‘There’s always Sunshine to think about, too. I can’t exactly remember everything that was said before I was shot, but I’m pretty sure it was getting deep. I already know she’s strong, so that’s a plus. As far as looks go.....well, I’m sure she’ll get taller, plus the incredible cuteness will eventually blossom into hotness.....People say that if you like a person’s smell, you’ll like them, right? It’s something like that.....I’ll definitely have to think about her.....’

Asakura inhaled sharply, causing everyone to whip around in fear. The tension that exploded into the air in that second was so dense that everyone felt nearly twice their weight. Connor nearly fell down, he spun so fast. The paparazzi girl looked at them in surprise, a little embarrassed, “Sorry, just a hiccup.....” She lied feebly.

The group moaned, continuing onwards.

The real cause of Asakura’s sharp breath was not some light form of indigestion, but rather what a certain cigarette-loving animal had whispered to her. So Connor was looking for a partner.....and he was going to pick from one of the five girls present? If he really didn’t care who he got, like Chamo said, that gave her a twenty percent chance straight out of the gate. If she let him know she wanted to be his partner.....would that make a difference, to him? Would he reject her because she wanted to be his partner? He didn’t seem like the type to care for any sort of commitment, and she didn’t want to come off as being one, if that’s not what he wanted.

.....Wait, why did she give a damn about him if he was like that? If he could pick any girl out there and be fine with it, why should she even consider wanting to be that girl? He was willing to settle for just any girl.....well, she wasn’t just any girl. She knew for a fact that she deserved better than what he had to offer her, namely, nothing. He didn’t even care enough about her to talk to her about it.

But he had promised to protect her, right? He said that he’d protect her from the darkness, and those words were burned as much into her mind as they were her heart. He had let her sleep against his shoulder, she would have sworn that he had kissed her.....or maybe that was just the nice kind of dream that had recently been replaced with the frightening one, making its last stand for her. She had woken up in the headmaster’s office, later that day. Maybe the entire thing had been a dream. Connor hadn’t mentioned it since then, and she didn’t have the courage to talk to him about it, herself.

“Big sis?” Chamo whispered, now perched up on Asakura’s shoulder, “Did you hear me?”

Asakura snapped out of her thoughts and stole a quick look over at the little ermine, “N-No, sorry. What did you say?”

“I said.....I told Emo, over there, that I’d cut his share for back-sassing me. If you get the pactio with him, I’ll give you that chunk of the cut his attitude lost him,” Chamo offered his favorite redhead a little incentive to pursue some lip-locking with the partner-less teacher.

“So.....he’s only doing it for the money? He really doesn’t have anybody that he wants.....” She wanted to say ‘by his side’, but that would be weird to say out loud. It felt weird to think it.

Chamo caught the glint of sadness in her eyes as she said that, and had to fight hard to keep the perverted old man soul in him from breaking through to the surface and saying something that he might regret later. He could tell that she gave a damn about that idiot in the black coat. He could also tell that Ku Fei did, too, for reasons beyond his understanding. Connor actually tried to come off as a jerk when he first arrived, attempting to make a poor impression on the girls so that they would leave him alone. The ermine knew this. Maybe the girls did, too? Maybe they could see through the rough exterior as well as he could. Well, probably not, but everyone knows to a certain extent that everyone puts up a front for one reason or another.

“Sis, don’t let him grow too much on you. After this whole ‘voice’ issue is put to rest, you can bet your looks he’ll be out of here faster than a paid call-girl.” After he got a surprised look from Asakura, he added, “It’s a metaphor, I don’t really know how quick they leave!”

Connor, relieved that, apparently, Asakura had only made that noise to scare the crap out of him, turned full around, and continued to follow the blonde’s lead. ‘.....There’s always Blaze.’ He cast a quick look over his shoulder at her, passing it off as brushing something off his back, ‘I don’t know what it is but.....something about her is.....huh, I guess I can’t really call the rep a pedophile, can I? Takes one to know one, dammit. But.....Sunshine means a lot to me, too. How can I pick one, and not the other? Maybe.....I should cut my problems and take the easy way out.....’

Kaede caught Connor looking at her, and returned his thoughtful gaze with a little smile. He wasn’t scared, was he? No, that couldn’t be it.....

“Well, here we are,” Ayaka announced as the group stopped before two large doors, “On the other side is the East wing. I’ll just say now, that it hasn’t really been all that well maintained due to the.....trying circumstances, it’s under. Negi-sensei’s probably in here, so let’s get going!” She exclaimed, pushing the doors open.

-

“Hey, have you seen Negi-kun, lately? I haven’t seen him since he got away, earlier.....” Makie asked Yuna. The two, along with Akira and Ako, were sitting amongst the girls of 3A, waiting for the storm to let up. There was no way anyone would go to sleep of their own choosing, definitely not! Well, except, for some reason, Nodoka, Haruna, and Sakurako.

“Nah, I haven’t seen him, either. You think he’s ok?”

“Maybe he got lost?” Akira suggested, “It is a big place.”

“The rep wouldn’t let Negi-kun get lost in her house! She’d go on a mission to find him, and make a big deal about it, like always!” Makie stated loudly.

“Actually, I don’t see the rep, either. Connor-sensei is missing, too. Looks like we’re missing a few people.....” The swim-team prodigy said quietly, looking around for the missing people.

“You’re right.....that’s weird. You don’t think that maybe they’re.....you know.....” Yuna muttered, getting down low so no one would overheard her.

“‘You know’, what?” Ako asked seriously, a little grimace spreading across her face.

“Well, think about it! Negi-kun, and Connor-sensei are both missing, along with several of the girls. Among these girls is the rep, who we all know has a thing for Negi-kun, Asakura, who has, in fact, taken pictures of us in the bath! Who else isn’t here?” Yuna mumbled, looking up to see who else she couldn’t see. Her scan of the room was cut short, however, when Makie jumped across the two foot gap between them and tackled her to the ground.

“Negi-kun wouldn’t do that!” The gymnast squealed.

“You didn’t say anything about Connor-sensei, though!” The basketball player returned with a laugh.

Ako sighed deeply, lowering her forehead to an open hand, which attempted to rub a headache away. “Do you ever feel unimportant?” She asked Akira, who was quietly watching the two girls wrestle each other and argue about what their teachers would and wouldn’t do.

“How do you mean?”

“Like, if our class was the center of a story, or tv show, that you’d be one of those characters that had, like, three lines over the span of the entire thing? Or.....an easy transition from one part of a story to the next.....you know, background characters. You get what I’m saying?” Ako tried to get her meaning across.

“That sounds kind of sad. I think we’d make good characters,” Akira admitted quietly.

“I know, but don’t you ever feel like that?”

“All the time.”

-

“Emo! Keep it together!” Chamo commanded, smacking Connor in the face to keep his legs from shaking any harder.

“I-I know, I know. Look, I know. Really, this isn’t a problem.....I can pick up a fight thirty some on one and kill every last one of ‘em, something I’ve already done on campus, too,” The edgy teacher tried to reassure himself, “I’m a bad-ass, I’m a bad-ass, I’m a bad-ass,” He began to chant quietly to himself. A bang sounded throughout the massive room.

Connor spun around so fast it was as if he had never been facing the other way. He threw a hand up, letting loose a burst of fire, which lit up the whole room in a bright red light. A surge of pain shot down his spine as he temporarily released the magic from his bullet-wound, causing him to arch over backwards, and topple over onto the ground.

Ayaka’s eyes were wide as she stared at the huge red afterglow, which was quickly fading away. Thank God nothing had caught on fire..... “What the hell was that?” She nearly yelled.

Asakura dropped down to Connor’s side, putting a hand behind his head and gently lifting him to a sitting position. “Are you alright?” She asked, wondering what on earth had happened to cause him to fall down.

“Y-Yeah, I’m not supposed to use.....” He trailed off, his face going blank as he realized he’d just used magic in front of the rep. He spotted Ku Fei, who was sharing an equally stunned look on her face. Her hands were out in front of her, and a thick book she had apparently taken off of a little stand was on the ground below her. She grinned awkwardly, putting a hand up to the back of her neck, “I drop, I sorry!”

“That was the noise?” Connor asked, jumping up and pointing at the book as though it had done something wrong.

“Hey! Hey, don’t ignore me!” The rep demanded, looking at the people before her for an answer, “What was that just now?”

“Nice job, captain inconspicuous,” Yue grumbled.

Before anyone could attempt to lie the way out of the issue, a scream punctured the darkness.

“Negi-sensei!” Ayaka shouted, rushing off towards the noise, followed by the others. She tore through the halls at a speed hardly anyone could match. The boy’s shout had come from this way.....to the rep’s terror, she found the steps to the attic already lowered. She didn’t falter, however, and quickly dashed up them.

The rest of the group were up shortly after, looking frantically for the boy teacher. The yell had definitely come from up here, it must have! Kaede spun to watch the stairs to the attic slam shut behind them, the lock beneath the door clicking loudly.

It was so quiet.....like the sound at a funeral, as the coffin is carried to the grave. The only sound was their breathing, as they stood in the darkness, the candle’s light flickering only enough to show them the next two feet ahead of them.

“Kaede-san, Ku Fei-san, Yue-san, go that way. Connor-sensei and Asakura-san, come with me,” Ayaka commanded in a whisper, the two groups quickly marching off in opposite directions.

Connor wanted to say that he needed to stay with Ku Fei and Kaede, but the reason was because he knew they could handle themselves well in the face of danger. These two wouldn’t be much help fighting off a deranged dead girl. But.....no, the rep was counting on him to protect her and Asakura. It was a good choice, whether he liked it or not. It was time to stop being afraid, and time to be the bad-ass he loved claiming to be.

“Emo, hey, I’ve got an idea,” Chamo whispered, unwilling to come out of the teacher’s pocket. Connor hadn’t even noticed him get back in there.

“Wh-What?”

“Attempts at sealing usually fail because there isn’t enough ‘good’ magic to overcome the ‘bad’ magic in the body. Sure, the body is pretty old and dead, but if you can tear the spirit out and send it on its merry way, we’ll be able to save aniki easy!”

“Negi-sensei!” Ayaka whisper-yelled into the darkness, weaving her way in and out of the stacks of boxes and old family portraits.

“Two problems with that,” Connor replied quietly, “One, I can’t use magic right now. Worst case scenario I bust the wound open to hell and kill myself. Two, my magic.....isn’t exactly..... ‘good’. I’m more of the ‘use whatever’s convenient at the time’ kind of guy, so I’m more grey than I am black or white. I can’t rely on the pure white side of things because I use the black side, too.”

“Wh-What? What the hell kind of mage are you....? Ok, ok, I’ve got another plan. It follows the same road as the first, but we’ll need to find aniki for it to work,” Chamo paused as he heard a soft skittering noise flit across the ground to his right, “You might wanna make that a rush job, kid!”

“Negi! Negi, where the hell are you?” Connor asked, not even bothering to whisper. That thing could probably see them anyway.

“Negi-sensei! Where are you?” Asakura called, sticking close to Connor.

A soft whimper returned their calls, leading the three to find the boy huddled in a small spot in-between stacks of boxes. The frightened teacher found the will to look out at the three, his eyes overflowing with happiness as he jumped out of the little space, rushing the few feet of distance for a hug.

Ayaka threw her arms open, ready to embrace the boy and never let him go, but he jumped into Connor’s arms, instead.

“D-D-Did y-you get her? Is she s-still here?” The boy stammered, burying his face into Connor’s jacket.

“Actually, I’d like to get the hell out of here and not have to get anyone,” He admitted, picking Negi up and turning to leave.

“Hold it, Emo! We can solve all of our problems right here, right now!” Chamo shouted, jumping out of his hiding spot/pocket.

Ayaka gawked at the ermine as he busted out a stick of chalk and began to work his magic on the ground at the speed of sound. She was so stunned she couldn’t even register the sound of the girl approaching.

“Ok, you two!” Chamo pointed at Asakura and Connor, “Get in this circle and make like hormone-driven teens!”

“Shouldn’t be a problem,” Connor stated, grabbing Asakura’s shoulders and pulling her over the white circle below. There wasn’t a lot of time to go formal, like he would have preferred, but he knew how to listen when he needed to. If this was Chamo’s plan, there were definitely worse ways for it to start.

“You two!” The ermine now pointed at Ayaka and Negi, who both blushed furiously, “Time to indulge in a shotacon fantasy, sister! Kiss him over the circle, quick!”

“If I’m dreaming, I’m sure as hell going to make it count!” Ayaka shouted, grabbing Negi and standing him over the circle, lowering her face to meet his.

“Aniki, Emo! I need you both to release your magic restraints during the pactio! I can use the excess flow of magic to bind the girl! It’s our only shot!”

Negi heard his friend loud and clear. Everything had happened way too fast for his comfort, but his comfort was not a high priority at this moment. Saving his students.....even though he was terrified, himself.....this was the way to come through, and he would do it. He put a hand behind Ayaka’s head, gazing into her eager eyes.

Was she really about to....? She’d had the dream of kissing Negi innumerable times, but this one felt different. She could truly feel the warmth of his hands, one on her waist, the other behind her head. She could feel his breath on her chin as he slowly raised his lips to hers. So slowly.....too slowly.....She moved in to finish the kiss herself, unable to bear waiting a second longer.

Connor looked down into Asakura’s eyes, putting a hand under her chin to tip her face up to meet his.

‘I-It’s just like at the train.....’ She knew she was blushing. She knew he knew. It was a rough circle she was trapped in. She was embarrassed that she was about to kiss him, and she was even more embarrassed because he knew she was embarrassed.

His hand slowly slid up and over her cheek, his eyes tracing the curves of her lips. He wanted to say something perfect, something that would forever imprint the moment into both of their minds. He hated that he wanted to. How old was she? Fourteen, or fifteen in the best case scenario. Was.....was that really such a big difference that he should feel bad about what he was wanting to do, to say? Maybe.

“Asakura,” He whispered softly, wrapping his other arm around her and pulling her closer to him.

She gasped a little, but didn’t pull away. Her body seemed to have a will of its own. She found herself putting her arms around him, leaning into him. He had said her name again.....and it had sounded really, really good.

A purple light flashed into existence as Negi and Ayaka’s lips touched, the girl’s skin tingling with two kinds of magic; the kind you get from kissing the person you love, and the kind that supposedly only exists in fairy tales. The rush shooting through her body wasn’t make-believe, though. Their kiss lingered, Ayaka refusing to let it end, and Negi unsure of whether or not he wanted it to.

Chamo turned to look at the other two. As soon as they did it, he’d be able to garner the overflow of magic and use it to seal the girl away. The only x factor was how well the seal would actually work. Connor’s magic wasn’t purely on the white side of things, and that might muck up the design of the sealing technique.

“C-Connor.....I.....”

Before she could say what she wanted to say, Connor had brushed her hair back, and lowered his mouth to hers, easing into a soft kiss. Asakura closed her eyes tight, afraid to open them and see him. This was the most intimate thing she’d ever done, even if it was somewhat forced by circumstances.....but.....it was in this moment that she knew she really.....

With an inhuman shriek, the girl haunting the East wing leapt into the air over the stacks of boxes, her cracked face illuminated by the flickering candle Chamo was standing beside. The light from the two pactios burst through the darkness, momentarily blinding all of them.

The light from the magic faded away. Chamo hopped onto a spinning coin, laughing in triumph, “Sealed it in a coin, hot damn! You like that, ghost girl?” He asked, jumping up and down on the coin.

Negi slowly backed away from the rep, whose eyes were still closed as she stood up to her full height. Her legs were shaking, as though they might give out, but she never fell. She opened her mouth to say something, but found she was unable to speak. Negi was feeling a little embarrassed himself. There was some tongue, with that one.

Asakura would never have let the kiss end if she had her way. Connor, at the moment, was feeling the same way, but the pain in his back was close to sending him to unconsciousness. Their lips parted as he slid down her, sinking to his knees, breathing hard. He could feel a light sweat forming on his face. Letting his magic go like that, when he was using it all to manage his injury.....was he trying to kill himself? He fell backwards, hitting his head on a box as he went.

He felt at peace while lying on the ground, in the dark. He could see Chamo jumping up and down on a coin, by the still lit candle. So he had sealed the girl in a coin.....how creative. He heard the faint sound of something scraping the ground, and turned his eyes to see what it was.

A flash of lightning lit up the attic through the large, round windows, revealing Ku Fei, Kaede, and Yue. “N-Negi-sensei.....” The librarian whispered, her eyes wide. She knew what had just happened, but seeing it happen hurt her. It felt like someone had taken her stomach in their fist and squeezed.

Ku Fei took a step back, her eyes watery.

“S-Sun.....shine.....wait.....” Connor said, feebly, reaching a hand out to her.

Ku Fei ducked down, throwing a fist through the floor to unlock the hatch. She kicked the stairs open and rushed down them. Yue turned and ran after her.

“Well.....this will make things a bit more complicated.....” Kaede whispered, moving to help Connor up. Asakura took his other arm, and the two hauled him up onto one of the nearby boxes.

He shrugged them off, stubbornly rising to his feet, “I-I need to.....talk to her.....” He muttered, making his way for the stairs.

Asakura watched him go, her heart heavy as he descended down the stairs. Did he care about her.....or Ku Fei?

“Hey.....I think I need some serious filling in,” Ayaka finally managed to speak, her face still an impressive shade of red.

Chamo scooped up the two pactio cards, a big grin on his face as he lit a cigarette, “Then listen up, sister, and listen well! Because you’re a part of the team, now!”

Negi hurried after Connor down the stairs, catching the back of his coat and spinning him around, “What are you going to do?” He asked quietly, his face a mixture of empathy and worry. Was.....was Yue upset with him, for doing the pactio with Ayaka?

“I’ll find out when I get there,” Connor replied, his strength returned enough that he could speak alright. Walking was still a little questionable, but he had done alright thus far.

“Do you want me to help you find them....?”

“No, I’ll be fine.”

Chamo jumped down the stairs, landing squarely on Connor’s shoulder, “Aniki, you need to make sure the two sisters up there get back to the others, ok? Plus, you’re gonna need to explain to the newbie what’s going on.....I’ll help Emo find those two, myself.”

Knowing he probably couldn’t find them by on his own, Connor didn’t object, “I’ll be back, kid. Come on, rat, let’s go.”

After Negi was out of earshot, Chamo spoke up, “They’re not in the mansion, anymore.”

“Yeah, I kind of figured they wouldn’t be. It’d be too simple that way.”

“You call what just happened simple? You’ve got two girls with broken hearts, Emo! One of them is your fault, too. But.....that’s not what I’m worried about. You’ve seen it, right? On Yuetchi? She has the aura, too.”

Connor stopped walking to look at the ermine, “What? No, I haven’t seen it! My magic’s been tapped out since last week! Why didn’t you say anything before?”

“I’ve been holed up in the dorm room on the magi-net, trying to find some kind of lead on the voice. This is the first time I’ve seen Yuetchi in a while. But.....I wonder why aniki didn’t notice it?”

“Great. We’ve got two upset targets running around at night, in a storm. We’d better find them quick.....”


-----Author’s other note: I guess I don’t really understand the concept of filler chapters, huh? Everything I write always turns into something serious.....Well, I thought it was a pretty good chapter. I at least know I enjoyed writing it, so I’m good. Kind of cliffhanger-ish, yeah, so the next chapter should be pretty fun, too. Well, not ‘fun’, fun, but.....interesting, I guess is a better word. Man, since chapter 6, the most hits a chapter has had is 3! I thought attendance would be up after the ‘shooting’ scene. Wow. But, of those 3, one of them is actually reviewing! That’s 33% of my readers, which I believe to be a lot, if you want to go by the numbers. Thanks, Tokunaga! Thanks to those reading, too!-----