Mahou Sensei Negima! Fan Fiction ❯ When Light Descends to Madness ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

When Light Descends to Madness

Chapter 2

The following morning had Negi and Ako walking into the hollow halls of Library Island. Since their previous adventures there, a good majority of the island had become less of ghost-like and had gained more human activity. The first floor had even been reduced to allow for non-adventurous types to walk about safely.

The sight brought back memories to Negi and Ako, who had been busy with their own teaching and studies to visit the building much in the past few years. However, today's visit was not for sight-seeing.

Discreetly, Negi and Ako descended down a nigh hidden spiral staircase. The din (for a library anyway) quieted down to a level that was closer to the past.

Ako grabbed Negi's hand as the shadows began to overpower the light. When Negi gave her a reassuring smile, she blushed but kept her grip on his hands tight. Soon, they reached the second basement level.

Strangely enough, the light was still fairly strong here. As the two looked around for the source of the light, a familiar sound reached their ears, a soft tap, tap that was more suited to some far-away and isolated mountains. It sounded like rappelling, if rappelling had a distinct sound to it.

Negi smiled and looked up identify the source: one Yue Ayase. The girl had changed little physically in three years, making it easy for Negi to recognize her. Yue was one of his former students that he had been touch with in the past few years, though meetings were uncommon and scarce in between.

“Yue-san,” Negi greeted cheerfully as they rounded the corner.

“N-Negi-sen...” stammered the girl as her feet touched the floor. Her hair was matted from her exertion and her face was flushed. Then, she visibly recovered from her shock. “I mean, Negi-san?”

Ako popped out from behind and waved.

“Ako-san too,” she greeted with a more normal tone. She looked around uneasily. “What brings you two here?” She was obviously still surprised at their visit, but her question sounded too uncomfortable to be mere surprise.

“What do you mean?” Negi asked, smile fading. “Is... something going on?”

Yue paused for a second before replying, “No, nothing,” in her usual flat tone. “Welcome back to Library Island,” she added dryly, “How may I help you?”

Negi and Ako looked at each other.

“A moment of your time?” Ako asked.

The librarian gave them a little look over and crossed her arms. “Hmm, I think that's impossible. I'm busy…”

The flat denial took Negi aback, but then Yue gave them a small smile and said, “…but of course you can.”

A voice interrupted Negi and Ako's shock. “Oh? Yue-san gained a sense of humor?” A familiar face pressed down between them, resting on their shoulders. The boy whirled around as Asuna Kagurazaka stepped back.

“I've always had one, thank you very much,” Yue replied, irritated.

“Asuna-san!” Negi exclaimed, incredulous. “What are you doing here?”

“Not telling,” she winked. Then, she gave him a self-confident grin and ruffled his hair. “Wow, you've grown again since last year.”

“She came for presumably the same reason as you,” Yue sighed. “Come on, we're keeping Nodoka waiting.”

“Honya-chan?” Asuna beamed, “Man, this feels like a school reunion.”

Casually, as if three years hadn't gone by, Asuna walked up to Negi, slung and arm around his neck and gave his hair another good ruffle. Though he had grown taller, Asuna still had a height advantage. Ako giggled as Negi protested valiantly against the rough treatment.

“Asuna-san, really now,” Negi gasped, panting for breath. “Please don't do that. I'm not a kid anymore.”

She just grinned back in her usual way, not the least out of breath. “Are you still washing your hair every day, Negi?”

“How old do you think I am?” Negi shot back, ignoring Asuna's amused look. “...Besides, you check up on me every month already. Do you need to bring this up EVERY time you call?”

“Now, now, Negi-kun, Asuna-san is only showing she cares,” Ako tried to placate Negi's indignant rage.

“Can we get going now? It's not a good idea staying in one place for such a long time,” Yue called, several feet to the front. She sounded worried.

“Why, what's around that we can't take care of?” Asuna asked all bravado.

“Did you forget that this is Library Island?” Yue replied, and before anyone could get a word in edgewise, she added, “Now let's go, before we find trouble, or trouble finds us.”

“A bit cautious there,” Asuna grumbled, but followed nevertheless.

Negi and Ako stepped in line beside her, content to follow a professional member of the Library Exploration Club through the depths of the maze of bookcases. Despite Yue's warning, they hardly encountered any trouble and only the sounds of their trek accompanied them as they moved deeper into the library.

The familiar taps of rappelling broke the silence of the group, although the sound came at a far slower pace than earlier. The group came to a stop as Yue called out, “Nodoka.”

The sound stopped. “Yue-Yue,” Nodoka Miyazaki's voice called down, and the girl eased herself down to the group. In three years, Nodoka had a growth spurt, and no longer had a flat chest, though she was not as well-endowed as her bigger classmates. Upon landing, however, the girl froze, startled at the sight of, “N-Negi-sensei!”

“Nodoka-san. It's been a while,” Negi said demurely, bowing slightly.

“Likewise...” Nodoka said and bowed quickly. Then, she saw Ako, who stood faithfully by Negi's side. There was a certain stiffness as she bowed to her as well. “Hello, Ako-san.”

A more nervous stiffness was returned to her. “H-Hello, Nodoka-san.”

On the other hand, Asuna's greeting was much brasher. She slung her free hand around the girl, dragging Negi along for the ride. “Yo, Honya-chan! How's it going?”

“Asuna-san. Long time, no see...” Nodoka greeted. Negi shared a Asuna's-the-same-as-always glance with her before she added, “It's nice for us to be together again.”

Negi beamed at his friends. The atmosphere had warmed up a bit, and it seemed to get even warmer when the group entered a small room off to the side. Nonetheless, it was still filled with books, but with some quick repositioning, they converted Nodoka and Yue's base for their massive collection of books into its original form of a small table.

Yue took a slight furtive look around before settling down to business. With her eyes as serious as ever, Yue began, “You have likely been suspicious on why we have been so heavily cautious so far.”

“That would help,” Asuna said, her voice bordering dangerously on sardonic.

The purple-haired girl took this in stride and continued on without missing a beat. “There has been an increase in security around Library Island, almost to the point of draconian, and worse yet, it's only started a few days ago.”

“Draconian?” Ako asked. She wasn't familiar with the term.

“Dragons are very protective creatures,” Negi explained like a proper gentleman would. “I've heard that encounters with mothering dragons don't go well.” He shuddered. “They say the survivors are worse off than the victims.”

“No more details, please,” pleaded Ako, covering her mouth. Negi quickly clamped shut his own.

“We've been scrutinized more closely as well,” Nodoka somberly added. “And getting below this floor is difficult, if not impossible.”

“Why?” Asuna asked simply.

Yue and Nodoka exchanged looks briefly before turning back to her. “Rumor has it all of this is under the directive of the Konoe estate.” Yue answered, her voice slightly hushed. “Negi-san, do you know if anything is going on down there?”

“I do,” the boy answered gravely. “Konoka-san has returned. She's assumed all control of both magic associations in Japan.”

“Konoka-san came back?” Yue asked. “I heard that too from the rumors, but...” Nodoka nodded with a frown.

“Konoka?!” Asuna's eyes widened with undisguised pleasure. “She really came back?”

“I saw her myself yesterday and I wouldn't have believed her responsible for the sudden fanaticism and security either, but I encountered that on the way up there. She and Setsuna-san...” Negi's voice dropped. “Something's changed about them.”

Asuna's exuberance died down a little. “What do you mean, changed?”

Yue handed her a nearby newspaper. Negi noticed that it was the day's edition, but it didn't look that new. The edges were torn and the paper crumpled and frayed. He wondered about that, but Asuna took his full attention when she crumpled it up into a ball and launched it into a stack of books. Despite the newspaper being just that, paper, the stack collapsed with a cloud of dust that made Ako sneeze.

“You're joking,” Asuna stood up, knocking over her chair in the process. A mixture of disbelief and anger flashed across her face. “I may not understand too much of magic politics, but you're telling me Konoka came back as a dictator? And Setsuna-san too?” She grabbed Negi by the collar and hauled him up. Before, he would have been lifted off the ground, but now, he stood nearly at the same height. Somehow, that fact only saddened him more.

“I only wish I was kidding,” Negi answered somberly. “When I went to see them, it was like talking to somebody who went to hell and made it back, but lost a part of their soul in the process.”

Asuna sank back to her seat, anger abating. “What happened to them?”

“That would be my question,” Negi sighed heavily. “I want to go investigate what happened to them. We do know that the death of the dean and her father didn't go over so well for her...”

“After all, she did run away,” Yue added sagely.

“The question would be 'where to?'” he continued. “The only hint she gave me when I spoke to her was something about a 'three year honeymoon at the Hakurei Shrine'. It would be a big tip if it weren't for the fact that I've never heard of such a place before.”

Despite the situation, the word 'honeymoon' brought a flush to Ako's cheeks. Her attempt to hide this, however, failed miserably. Asuna noticed it right off the bat. She flashed a strained smile and said, “Hey Negi, watch what you say. Your girlfriend's got ideas.”

“Asuna-san!” Negi reprimanded, but alas, his cheeks were threatening to flush as well. “This is serious!”

“Serious Business, am I right?” Asuna jibed, but a stern look from the boy cut the joke short. However, a bigger factor that made her stop was the sudden uncomfortable look on Nodoka's face. Her smile disappeared as if it hadn't even been there.

“Yue-san, Nodoka-san, have you heard of this... Hakurei Shrine? Anything on it exist at all?” Negi turned his question back to the two librarians.

Nodoka shook her head and Yue said, “No, but we can look. We'll probably have to go to the lower levels of the dungeons though; that's where all the magical stuff is located.”

“But as we said earlier, security has tightened beyond this floor, and they've sealed the elevator for any place below this floor.” Nodoka added. “We don't know how to sneak by them, or if it's a good idea to do that today.”

Negi furrowed his brows in deep consternation, trying to figure out a solution. He was just about to suggest something when a new voice cut him off. “If you're planning on going down there, now would be the best time.”

Everyone recognized that voice, considering it hadn't changed in the years gone by. However, it was Negi who spoke first. “Eva-san?”

The imperious vampire girl stepped down towards the small group. While her physical appearance hadn't changed in three years, she wore rather casual clothes. Her faithful partner Chachamaru stood by her side as well, face blank as usual. “Welcome back, bouya,” Evangeline said with a toothy grin.

"Chibi-brat," Asuna snarled. "Still hanging around here?"

"What do you mean by still? I can do whatever I want now that I'm free, right Chachamaru?" The android nodded in agreement. "But that's of no consequence. In the end, I found that Mahora really is the best place to be."

"Oh really... Now why is that?" Asuna interjected, narrowing her eyes.

"Nowhere in all the world is there such sweet blood to be found."

She stared hungrily at Negi who deadpanned, "No, my blood is not for sale."

“Whoever said `for sale'?” she asked. “Welcome back, beautiful blood,” she exclaimed and sank her teeth into Negi's forearm. It happened so fast that no one had any time to do anything but blink.

“Chibi-brat…”Asuna growled.

“What?” Eva inquired innocently, a few drops of blood trickling out of her mouth. She spotted them quickly and licked them up. “Woops, missed a spot there.”

Ako swooned from the sight of the red droplets and leaned on Negi, but she didn't faint. She had gained a stronger constitution over the years and now all she needed to do was close her eyes while imagining happy thoughts and she'd be fine. Happy thoughts… right.

Asuna shook with indignant rage on Negi's behalf but he had grown more than used to the rough treatment of the vampire. Instead of complaining or protesting - which would most probably be in vain - another thought went through his mind.

Obviously, Yue had the same idea because she asked, “What did you mean by now being the best time to go down into the dungeons?”

Eva rolled her eyes at them as if the reason should have been obvious. "The reason now is the best time to go is because of a certain princess's self-crowning which threw the magic world into chaos. As people are panicking now, no one will question the presence of four mages, one magic canceller, and one permanent partner going down to retrieve certain artifacts."

Negi gasped, "You know about the perma-pact?"

“Considering how much it sickens me,” Evangeline muttered, a look of disgust on her face, “Yes, I see the little winged hearts fluttering about you two.” She glanced at Ako, who looked down shyly. “Hmph. Izumi, is it? You look a bit mentally tougher than when I saw you last. Then again, I guess my vampiric powers and charm did rub off on you.”

Ako took a moment to put two and two together, but the resulting four nearly blew her mind. “...Wait. That means you were responsible for the vampire attacks we had three years ago?! And you bit me?!”

“Mmm... by proxy,” Evangeline casually answered, as if she were discussing the weather. "But enough about that, we should get ready to burst downstairs. It's been a while since I've been able to terrorize some lesser mortals,” she winded her arms to stretch them much like a baseball pitcher would while grinning evilly.

A slightly fearful Ako leaned over to Negi and whispered, “Was she always like this?”

Apparently Yue, Asuna and Nodoka also heard, since they chorused with Negi, “Don't ask.”

“I heard that!” Evangeline snapped. But she did not harass them any longer. After all, there were some lesser mortals to terrorize. With that, the small group mentally readied themselves as they headed to the lower end of the stairs.

xxxx

Misty-grey smoke ringlets floated up into the air and were lost to the depths of the darkness above. Usually, the shadows crawling on the ceiling of a building wouldn't be described as “deep.” That was a word usually reserved for the black abysses told of in fairy tales or in really bad fiction, but considering the fact that no one had ever seen the unfathomably high ceiling of Library Island's fifth level, deep was adequate.

In such a dark place, the red glow of a cigarette butt was clear and even gave off light, small though it was. With a satisfied sigh, Mook One leaned back in his chair, let out a particular large smoke ring, and asked, “Hey, you want one?”

Mook Two rolled his eyes and blatantly refused, saying, “You know I don't smoke.”

Mook One rolled his eyes back at Mook two and said, “Suit yourself.”

The two mooks sat there in a relaxed quiet for a moment.

“Hey…”

“Yeah?”

“Uh…”

“…yeah?”

“Where's everyone else? Didn't they say they'd be back with lunch in a few minutes?”

“Hmm… good point.”

“Hmm…”

“Water…”

“Yeah… wait, what?”

All of a sudden, the two mooks found themselves plunged into water. To be more accurate, bubbles of water suddenly appeared around them. They struggled in the watery prison but their fates had been already been sealed. Mook Two dropped first, but Mook One held onto consciousness enough to give his cigarette one last puff before falling into the depths of unconsciousness as well. It occurred to neither of them, unconscious as they were, that the cigarette was still burning lively when the water bubbles suddenly popped and released their contents onto the floor. In a most definitely unnatural manner, the water burst into steam and then disappeared.

“Wow, Honya-chan! That was pretty cool!” Asuna beamed as the culprits of the utter domination appeared from the shadows. “But really, why'd you have to take them out so quickly? I wanted some action too…” She gave her sword a few enthusiastic swings overhead. Negi ducked hastily when the large blade nearly gave him a new hairstyle.

Eva laughed and said, “Don't sulk. You got your fill of the fun two levels ago.” As she spoke, her laugh echoed eerily and gave her voice a rather creepy edge when she added, “It's my turn next.”

Negi, Nodoka, and Yue quickly shouted, “No!” Ako only looked on confused by their vehement reaction.

Similarly, yet dissimilarly confused, Eva asked angrily, “Why not?”

Chachamaru quickly diffused the situation by stating bluntly, “Deaths would leave behind more aggravating evidence, and anger the enemy more. And also, Negi-sensei… Negi-san, does not wish for any blood to be shed.”

“Hmph, bouya's still too soft,” Evangeline harrumphed. However, she suddenly raised an eyebrow. Negi could have sworn her ears twitched like a bat's before she said, “We've got even more company.”

A crowd of mooks, led by Mook Three, stopped to see the small group gathered at the top of the stairs. “What the hell? Who are these kids, and what are they doing down here, making all of this noise anyway?!” Mook Three and about half of them aimed their staffs at the approaching group.

“Leave this to me, then,” Yue stepped in, wielding her own small staff. She aimed it at the advancing crowd before waving her staff like a conductor's baton. With one final swish a single, powerful thunderbolt rained down on the crowd and shocked the charging group into unconsciousness.

“Whoa... you've definitely improved, Yue-san,” Negi stared appreciatively at the results of her single spell.

“She's just lucky nobody had a Franklin Badge on,” Evangeline quipped and failed to bite back the urge to smirk. Safe to say she only got confused looks from the rest of Negi's group. “Otherwise she'd be eating her own lightning attack.”

At those words, Yue spotted a few remaining mooks cast simple reflection spells before continuing their charge. “You just had to give them ideas...”

Evangeline shrugged. “I'm a genius, aren't I?

“It's my turn then,” Negi said, taking a fighting stance. “Master, I'll show you how I've improved,” Focusing, he continued. “I'll handle them without permanent damage to a soul.”

The vampire girl raised her eyebrow at both her former title and his declaration.

“Negi-san, I will provide support as well,” Chachamaru spoke up.

Eva leaned in close to Negi. “You've got my attention,” she whispered into his ear and drew away as he shuddered. “Maybe I'll back you up,” she twirled her fingers, as if reeling in the string from a kite.

“Master, please don't kill anybody!” Negi shouted as he lunged for an attack against an armed guard, expertly smashing him away with an elbow. The man was sent careening into two of his fellow mooks. Negi quickly and carefully slammed another man into the ground, bringing the man's spell to a grinding halt.

Chachamaru had even more efficiency and less mercy than Negi, opting for a clean, powerful punch to the face of a mook trying to sneak up on the mage.

“Are you sure I'm the person you need to be concerned about killing anyone?” Eva called with a chuckle as she cast near-invisible strings onto a group of guards and entangled them into a tight mess. Negi and Chachamaru kept on knocking down mooks, not bothering to answer her.

“Geez, we need backup, these guys are impossible!” a mook shouted.

“Don't hold back anymore! We couldn't kill them even if we needed to!” another bellowed. Like flipping a kill-switch, the guards suddenly pressed their attacks and their rate of magic fire increased. Negi and the others backed up slightly, for once on the defense.

“Ah geez, we pissed them off,” Asuna pouted as she almost casually sucked another beam of magic into oblivion. But against a more ferocious spell, she had to keep her sword in front and steady. Unfortunately for her opponents, keeping it steady meant nothing more than holding the giant blade in one hand as she turned to look at Ako. Crushing their hopes as she did so, she showed them her back to ask, “Hey Ako-san, what can you do?”

Ako gave a heavy sigh before putting up a hesitant smile. Despite her insecurities however, she stood firm as she stated, “I sing.”

“Sing?” Asuna and Yue chorused, raising their eyebrows.

“And use medicine...” The pale haired girl added quickly before pulling out her permapact card. With a quiet whisper of “Adeat,” from Ako, her card lit up and took the form of a thin guitar, stylized much like a syringe. The beginnings of a smile formed on her face while she gazed at her artifact; she then straightened up and finished, “...but mostly sing.”

“What are you going to do?” Asuna asked sarcastically, “Sing them to sleep?

“I could do that... or I could sing and enhance our strength,” Ako answered, blushing just a tad.

Seeing the remaining guards finally pull together a combined attack, Eva shouted, “Then hurry up and sing before your boyfriend and I are forced to kill them all, you spoony bard!”

Ako's eyes watered at that random insult, but she cast that aside with a shake of the head and began to strum... before belting out a powerful rock melody. “Give me all you loooooooooove!”

Those words definitely invigorated Asuna. Fed up with merely holding the enemies at bay, she gave a battle-cry, sliced the beam of magic in half, dashed into the midst of mages, spun around 360 degrees, let her blade do the work of sending them flying, all before smashing a random mook with her sword and sending him careening into the air. He crashed into the ground, nearly leaving a perfect crater where he landed. “Whoa, I feel powerful!”

Evangeline, on the other hand, wasn't enjoying this. As the vampire girl was already strong, the amplified strength was forcing her to hold back even more, lest her foes be little more than flesh tissue against even her weakest attacks. “Rrrrgh! Look at me! I'm being forced to flick people unconscious just so I don't kill them! This is pissing me off!” The vampire girl began to grit her teeth and let go of her restraint ever so slightly.

Negi felt it. “Master, please don't!” Unfortunately, irony struck as Negi whipped around and smashed somebody's leg in. Realizing what he did, Negi immediately stopped attacking and apologized profusely to his victim, attempting to heal the fracture as well. Evangeline simply laughed at the irony.

Realizing that everything but Ako's singing had gone silent, Chachamaru did a quick assessment. “It appears that all resistance has been negated. The bottom floor to Colonel's villa is now accessible.” With that, Ako let her singing fade away slowly. Negi of course, beamed at her wonderful performance.

“Him...!” Evangeline snarled. Her memories of the playful and aggravating man had already swelled to a climax, and the last time she had seen him was three years ago! Even so, a visit to the crazy man would at least hasten their search for any clues on the Hakurei Shrine. “Eugh, enough about that, let's just get this over with.”

“We should hurry up before all these people come to,” Yue muttered. “I don't know how long that is and I don't feel like sticking around to find out.”

xxxx

The unusually bright underground greeted the group of seven as they marched towards the entryway of one Albiero Imma. Ako gaped in wonder at the beauty of the place. “Wow...”

“Been ages since I've been down here,” Asuna said.

“Hopefully it'll be the last time, too,” Evangeline groused.

Suddenly, a mighty and unsettling thumping came to life, and the earth shook from each thump. “Um, wh-what's that?!” Ako asked fearfully.

“Say hello to the guard dog..." Negi breathed as the footsteps came closer. The stomping revealed something with a wingspan, deadly claws and a powerful gait. “...or should I say, guard dragon...” The creature spotted the group and immediately began to snarl.

“Maybe you'll get to witness draconian protectiveness firsthand.”

“Ehehehe… no thanks.”

“Just how long were you eavesdropping, chibi-brat?”

“Unjust accusations fly everywhere today.”

“Careful, the dragon is coming.”

“Negi-san, I believe the correct term here is wyvern,” Yue corrected softly, but her voice rose in ferocity when she spoke to said wyvern. “I remember you, drooling on me as you please. I want a rematch!”

“Hey, maybe I don't have to hold back!” Evangeline smiled. The ground froze around her as magic power coursed through her body and into the air around her. From how her smile had widened, she was threatening to summon ice. “It'll be nice to see how long this will last!”

“Don't we have an invitation so we DON'T have to fight this thing?” Asuna raised an eyebrow, keeping her sword steady. “It'll be a pain in the butt if we waste any more strength!”

“We weren't necessarily invited,” Nodoka reminded her. “We might have to force our way through.”

The wyvern took that as a cue to let out a single, powerful roar.

“It seems to recognize us,” Chachamaru noted. “It's warning us not to come in uninvited.”

“We're sorry, Mr. Wyvern, but we really need to get through!” Nodoka pleaded to the creature in front of her. The wyvern answered this with a deep breath and belched powerful flames in the group's general direction. Without thinking, the girl called up a spell from memory before shooting her hand up. With it, a powerful wave of water appeared from her feet and enveloped the flames, dousing them.

“No choice, huh?” Asuna sighed. Her movements belied her outward reluctance. One second, she was standing, the next, she suddenly charged, sword at the ready. “ORYYAAAAAA!”

“Take this!” Yue bellowed, swishing around her wand once again to summon lightning. With that, everyone else lead a mighty assault. Even the hesitant Negi charged forward to battle with the dragon.

Everyone fought... that is, except for Ako.

She merely stared in amazement. With the exception of Eva and her servant, everyone else so easily swallowed their fears to fight a creature several times their size - she had never seen Eva scared before and Chachamaru showing expression, much less fear, was incomprehensible - but despite this, she knew that only the tiny Eva could walk away unscathed, so she finally decided to pitch in. Shaking with a combination of both fear and excitement, she hugged the edges of the fierce battle and snuck past, one step at a time...

Meanwhile, the battle was going full scale. Negi summoned an array of magic arrows around him as he leapt over a massive claw. The balls of green light darted forth at his command and elongated into chains which wrapped snugly around the wyvern. Unfortunately, Negi's effort to avoid dealing a fatal or crippling blow left his magic severely underpowered. With another roar, the creature shrugged off the chains and turned a baleful eye toward Negi.

A blast of water from the side turned its attention away from the mage. Nodoka summoned yet another blast of water to negate the mighty wyvern's retaliatory flame. The great beast then gave another roar that distracted Asuna long enough to catch her off guard, but instead of striking at the fallen girl, the creature suddenly perked up, and then fell out as if suffering a bout of narcolepsy. The fighting stopped as each fighter realized that the wyvern was no longer fighting them.

“Huh, how'd this happen?” Asuna stood up and blinked. The creature slumbered quietly for something its size. She glanced over to see Ako pulling her syringe out of the creature's tail. “Oh.”

“Well...” Ako began. “Seemed like a good idea to do.”

“Looks like something we should have done in the first place.” Yue deadpanned. “Then again, we did serve as ample distraction so she could pull it off.” A bubble of wet mucus suddenly hit her, dousing her in its contents as it popped. All was silent for a moment as Yue shuddered. Then, with a voice so loud from rage that it pierced the heavens, she yelled, “Again?”

"Thank you, Ako-chan!" Negi beamed, giving his significant other a thumbs-up. She merely smiled in return.

“Okay, enough congratulatory crap, can we get on with it?” Evangeline snarled. “Any minute now, I'm going to be hearing the cat calls of—”

“Why Kitty, I wasn't expecting you to stop by here for a while now...” The shadowy and playful Albiero Imma walked outside, his face plastered with a warm grin. “And you brought friends too...”

His smile broadened.

“Old friends I might add…”

xxxx

(Ansem: This ends our jolly romp through chapter 2, and now you know the rest of the gang who's standing up to Konoka's changed character. Stick around, we hope to keep up the awesome.)