Pani Poni Dash! Fan Fiction / Mahou Sensei Negima! Fan Fiction ❯ Act II: Nightmare!? ❯ Episode 2: "Those Who Hunt the Night Don't Get Any Sleep!" by Asuna ( Chapter 2 )

Nightmare?!

Episode 2: “Those That Hunt The Night Don't Get Any Sleep!” by Asuna

Negi clenched his teeth. As he thought... darkness was here.

As he thought, the fat boy was the source of the magic illusion he and his new students now found themselves in. So soon after arriving here... had the darkness already caught on to his presence? This couldn't be right at all...

“This is a bit different, big bro,” Chamo whispered. “It looks more like the darkness has made some sort of contract.”

“You're Yankee, right?” Kurumi ventured, still shivering from fear. “Why are you attacking us?”

“I haven't started yet!” The huge boy known as Yankee answered, somewhat confused. “And as I said before, if I attack you, I become more awesome dot com! Now...” The boy rose and lumbered down until he was level with Negi and the others. With one well placed swat, he sent a rail from the jungle gym sailing from his end to Negi's. The stray bar nearly impaled him and Rei, had they not panicked and sidestepped the sudden attack.

“Dah!” Rei flinched in horror.

“He's serious!” Miyako interjected.

“No choice now,” Negi said, preparing his staff.

“Are you prepared yet dot com?” Yankee, despite being possessed by the darkness, was rather patient outside of his initial strike.

“Wait a minute... Where's Ichijou?!” Rei looked around, rather confused by her absence.

A chime of bells. “I'm right here,” Ichijou popped out of a hole in the tree, holding a cellphone to her ear. “I'm on the phone right now though, I'm trying to get a pactio.”

“The hell are you talking about? You don't have a pacti—” Rei started, but before she could finish, Ichijou poofed in a cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared, Ichijou was no longer Ichijou, but an alien jellyfish with threatening pincers and Ichijou's head. “...oh.”

“Wow, I got a failure,” Suka Ichijou pointed with little to no emotion. “Now I'm hungry for energy...” She glanced over in Miyako's direction for no apparent reason.

“What?” Miyako noted with irritation and a bit of fear. Her forehead gleamed.

Ichijou was tempted.

Miyako was confused.

Ichijou was still tempted.

Miyako looked at her wearily.

Ichijou attacked Miyako, leeching chaos-knows-what from the red-head's hair, while the latter screamed like a chaotic chicken. “GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFFFFF!” Miyako continued to screech as she ran around helplessly.

“That looks omega bad,” Himeko pointed out, but everyone else ignored her.

Yankee continued staring impassively, though he bore what might of resembled a fighting stance.

“Somebody... lend me your power!” Negi cried.

There were a few exchanged looks between the girls, but at last, Kurumi, still shaking, swallowed her fear and stepped forward. “Please count on me. I know I'm scared right now, but I'll lend you my power!”

Negi simply nodded. Holding his staff out, he began to chant. “Partner: Kurumi Momose, show me the power within you...” It had been a while since Negi last used the contract, so the white orb appearing nearly surprised him. However, he remained undaunted as he reached in. “Contract... activate!” Kurumi felt a pin prick deep within her heart as Negi grabbed something within the orb and pulled out a card. At once, the girl shined with powerful energy.

At last, the light died down. Kurumi found herself in a black and red body suit. Her shoes had been replaced by roller skates. Something about her getup seemed quite familiar... “This power... it feels familiar to me...” Her gaze fell on her shadow. Yeah... that Shadow... the one who possessed and guided her to Negi's fold. No wonder! “Oh, I remember! Shadow the Hedgehog!”

“Cosplay card...” Chamo rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Not bad!”

Negi giggled nervously a bit, the name being familiar, but not quite within his memory.

Rei, however, had some more witty lines for that. “Hey Kurumi, know where that damn fourth chaos emerald is?”

“You shut up!” Kurumi retorted hotly.

“Watch it, Kurumi-ane-san! He's coming!” Chamo blurted. Negi gripped his staff tightly.

Yankee rose, lumbering towards them. There was a pause before he wound up a punch and smashed the ground where Kurumi stood...

...well at least, where Kurumi stood a second ago. The girl almost flashed back into existence as she twirled in midair and smashed into Yankee's head with her right foot. He visibly flinched, if only briefly. “Not bad, but...” He grabbed Kurumi's leg. “Not good enough dot com!” He slung her away with frightening ease.

“Gyyaa!” Kurumi sailed from the playground and crashed into the grass. However, the girl immediately flipped up and landed back on her feet. “Not good enough for you either!”

Yankee only answered by lumbering in her direction and aiming a hand, letting a massive chop just drop to the ground. Kurumi easily evaded but even she could see the ground shake from his impact. About this time though, Negi sailed in, spell at the ready. “AMORIS!” A blast of flames shot at the boy, licking him for a bit of damage. “Eh, not good enough with fire spells...” Negi hissed to himself.

Kurumi leapt forward into what looked like a hand spring, only to press down and extend her legs. Swirling like a spinning top, the blades on her skates became a whirling, deadly frenzy, slicing into Yankee with more ease than either of their previous attacks did.

While effective, though, the boy merely absorbed the attack. He only answered with one word: “Nice.” There was an unsettling sound as the boy opened his mouth wide. That literal snake tongue slithered out... extending its length and growing larger as it struck Kurumi like a scorpion's tail. The girl stumbled a bit, but warped back on her feet again.

Still, as Negi swooped in for another attack, He saw that Kurumi was struggling slightly to stand. She couldn't keep this up for much longer. He curled his fist before firing a volley of light arrows in Yankee's direction. Of course, the huge boy swatted them away with ease.

“Oi!” Rei shouted from the sidelines. “You won't get anywhere just throwing crap at him! Hit his face harder!”

“Go Negi! Negi-sensei! Go Negi! Negi-sensei!” Himeko put on a cheerleader routine, pom-poms included. Rokugou shyly assisted her, although her cheers were hard to hear over Himeko's. “Go Kurumi!”

“Hey, how come you two didn't join the cheerleader club?” Rei noted that the two of them were strangely adept at this.

Miyako continued to scream bloody murder as Ichijou the Metroid continued to seep her energy. Nobody cared. How tragic.

Negi and Kurumi smiled. Chamo skittered onto Kurumi's shoulder. “Hey girlie, I have an idea!” He whispered something or other into the girl's ear. She balked in surprise, but nodded anyway. “Big bro, keep back until she calls you!” The ermine instructed.

“Okay.” Negi turned back and hovered out of sight from the huge Yankee.

Kurumi then skated forward, still weary and fearful as the boy towered over her. Swallowing that fear as Yankee looked down at her, she then flickered out of sight before reappearing, swinging another kick at his legs. Somewhat effective, but not enough for any lasting damage.

Yankee answered by swiping his hand down on her, narrowly missing. Kurumi continued to wordlessly dance about his feet, trying to trip him up. It wasn't working... the boy's handwork proved to be adequate enough to keep up with her kicks and swift movement.

Yankee grinned. “Smooth, but effectively useless. I will now crush you dot com!” He opened his mouth wide, and that snake came out, slithering until it crashed into Kurumi. The girl grunted in pain as the snake sent her crashing into the ground.

“Kurumi!” Himeko flinched in revulsion.

Yankee didn't bother gloating over his victory. He kept his eyes open for Negi Springfield, looking around the landscape. He tried to retract his tongue—wait a damn second. Urk! He looked down.

Kurumi was there, holding the snake with both hands. “Looks like you just got served dot com,” She grinned weakly. “Negi! NOW!”

“Uwwaaahh!” Yankee nearly gagged on his own tongue to try and prepare for another assault and get his tongue back.

Negi sailed into view. With nightmarish speed, he tore towards the boy. By the time Yankee realized his head was far too vulnerable, Negi had already collided with it at 200 miles per hour. Needless to say, Yankee didn't stand a chance.

The sheer force of the blow actually sent Negi skyward, but the boy didn't even miss a beat. Focusing his magic, he chanted once more. “Weighted light, drag out the darkness. Answer my plea and return this soul to it's normal form!” He aimed a finger directly at the fallen Yankee. “TEL MA... AMORIS!” His wand shined with light, and at once, a swirl of chaotic darkness exploded from the boy, screeching as it swirled to a small ball before exploding and ceasing to exist. Upon that, Negi fell to the ground, and Yankee disappeared.

There was a swirl of orange energy from nowhere, gathering above Negi and Kurumi... perhaps as proof of their victory over Yankee. As soon as it completely formed into an orange-red orb, it fell towards the earth.

The weakened Kurumi, out of curiosity, touched it, and it disappeared. Moments later, she felt herself rapidly healing.

The doors unlocked and opened. The battle was over.

“Ha, knew it!” Chamo crowed.

“Yaay!” The Peach Moon girls cheered. This even included Miyako, who was pretty much a shriveled woman from all of Ichijou's madness. Negi smiled as he and the girls left the illusionary world.

xx

Evening was still quietly leaving as Negi found the Peach Moon girls beginning to head in separate directions. “We have to head home sometime, ya know.” Rei said to the tiny teacher. “Since you're here, though, I'll let Chao know.”

“Thank you...” Negi said. “...but where do I stay?”

“There are some cheap hotels nearby that'll help,” Rei waved off his concern. “But I'll leave that to you.” And with that, she walked off into the sunset.

“Hey wait, don't go, ladies!” Chamo cried out, but it was futile. Sulking, he went back to his hiding place.

“Back to the normal world!” Himeko cheered as she frolicked amongst the sidewalk back to her home. “See ya later, Negi-kun!” And she too, was gone.

“I've got to get home,” Rokugou shyly added. “Mother will get worried if I stay out too late...” She was a bit faster than the others scrambling off out of sight.

“Thank you, Negi-sensei,” Both Miyako and Kurumi said, before going off in their own directions. Negi could only stare blankly as he found he was now completely alone... save for Ichijou. The girl merely stared at him mutely, soft eyes interlocking with her own.

“Ermm... Ichijou-san?” Negi blinked, happy, oblivious face turn up to the max.

“I know of a good place where you can rest,” Ichijou said.

xx

“Oh god, we're finally... somewhere close!” Asuna sighed happily, glad that the obnoxiously long train ride was over. The six of them had finally reached the other side of Tokyo, but thanks to obnoxious club delays and Negi's test, they only now made the time to come here. The sky's twilight was fast fading, and the night was coming soon. They had been wandering for roughly an hour; if they didn't want to get lost, or even worse, picked up by some weirdos, they needed to find a place to stay... and quick!

“Muu... how inconvenient for my batteries to die,” Konoka lamented. “If we could find where Negi was, we won't have to waste time wandering around, but my cellphone's not working.”

“Mine is, and I can't reach him,” Asuna muttered. She turned to the rest of the group. “Are you guys all right?”

“I'm good,” Nodoka smiled.

“Same here,” Akira said, her expression calm as usual.

“I'm just fine, ojou-sama,” Setsuna said as per usual, to which Konoka replied, “Call me Kono-chan!” Of course, Setsuna gibbered something about it “not being proper” and being unworthy, which Konoka ignored.

“Ah!” Makie seemed to be taken up by something.

“Huh?”

“What's that?”

“Look!” Makie pointed.

The girls' attention was now focused on a building sitting in front of a woodsy area. The place definitely had a Japanese feel to it, judging by its modest height and the trees around it, and yet... The sign up front read, “Crystal Teardrops Hotel.” Yeah, definitely not Japanese.

“Looks emo,” Asuna said.

“Looks cool,” Akira said.

“Negi-kun might be inside though,” Konoka said. “It's the closest hotel to Peach Moon. Let's go in!”

“Alright!” Most everyone else cheered.

“Suspicious...” Asuna hissed, but went alongside her friends anyway.

Upon entering the foyer, however, the girls nearly had to stop. The place had a regal, yet homely feel to it, much like a more rural hotel nearby the lake would have. Makie giggled. “This place is actually kinda cool!” She turned to Akira, who had the appearance of a kid at Christmas. “I take it you like it, too?”

“Uh huh...” Akira said softly.

“Welcome!” The receptionist appeared! Strangely enough, he only looked older than they were by about two years, if that. His smile seemed both genuine and yet fake at the same time, almost like that one guy who was never trustworthy but always good to have around anyway. His dark hair was mostly shoulder length, except for a single ponytail that hung past his left shoulder. “Judging by the blinding shoujo sparkles from that girl, I'd say you're quite interested in staying here, correct?”

Less excited and paranoid than the others, Setsuna was the first to respond. “I suppose so...” She said, her hand touching her chin. “We can't move safely beyond this point.”

“Secchan is right! We might as well be comfortable!” Konoka added.

“That's good,” the teenager said. “The cleaning staff seems to have a late run around, so I'll let you pick your rooms, okay?”

“Okay!” The girls all said. All of them scrambled upstairs to pick some rooms. When all of them had disappeared, the elder boy picked up a cell phone and began to dial. Upon successfully hearing someone on the other end, he smiled. “Ah, they're all here... Yes, of course, he'll run into them soon. Oh, by the way, who knew that we'd be running into three of the Divine Bloodlines, hmmm?”

xx

Akira opened a door.

Unlike the other girls, she opted for the ground floor. The room she encountered was a lush and spacious room. She cared not for this, though it was a nice bonus.

No, it was connected to the swimming pool. Akira already loved this place.

Makie, cheery as usual, walked in. “Oh, nice room!” Upon noticing Akira already peeling down her clothes and getting into her swimsuit, however, she then said, “You made a beeline for this room, didn't you?”

“What can I say?” Akira shrugged as she dived into the inside section of the pool.

xx

Nodoka opened a door.

She came across an unusual sight—she saw Ichijou. While Ichijou is essentially a close encounter of the third kind, there was also a silver-haired boy the same age (or only slightly older) apparently kissing her. He noticed her and waved. “Hiii! Don't mind us!” Ichijou stared impassively, as usual.

Nodoka closed the door.

xx

Konoka did not open a door. Setsuna did, because she felt that's what she was here for.

“Konoka-ojou sama,” Setsuna bowed demurely, showing grace as usual. “You go first.”

“Aww, Secchan, you're going overboard again,” Konoka admonished gently. “You should re—ah.”

“Ojou-sama?” Setsuna noticed her charge stop. She looked into the room and saw a disturbing sight.

Their room was plush, filled to the brim with shiny sparkles just to prove how clean it was. Unfortunately, the room also included two sparkly men. In maid costumes.

One wasn't... that bad. His face was definitely a teenage masculine, with brown hair failing to cover a bandanna. He appeared glum, apparently because despite his face, he could still be mistaken for a woman.

The other... as much as it pains me to mention him, reeked of MANLINESS. There was none within a fifty mile radius as manly as he. He also wore a bandanna, but even that could not restrain the shock of blond hair, just like the maid dress failed to restrain anything resembling manliness from this person. “Oi,” he said, poking his smaller counterpart. “Why so glum, we're finally finished!”

“Did you not notice those people that just walked in here?” The dejected boy pointed in Konoka's direction. “Girls saw me in this thing!”

“Ku ku ku! That is why your manliness needs improvement!” The man boasted. “True men remain secure in their manliness no matter what they may find themselves wearing or doing! Connor, do you not remember the words of the great Maid Guy Kogarashi-sensei?!”

“Trust me, I tried,” this Connor guy responded sardonically. He turned to the ladies. “My apologies for making your eyes bleed, ladies. Unfortunately I can't pay your hospital bills, let Jack do it.”

“You might be paying me your hospital bills if you keep that up.”

“Strangely, he looks... moe,” Setsuna breathed, truly surprised at the situation and her own words. And suddenly, inspiration! “Ojou-sama! Permission to protect this man!” Her face was attempting to gather the manliness flooding the room, but somehow she still failed miserably.

“Hold it, Secchan,” Konoka wagged her finger. “We still have Negi-kun and Becky-chan to protect!” She walked to the boy, staring at him intently. Secchan has learned well from my art of stealth teasing, but let's take it up a notch, The Kansai mage thought.

“Errmm...” Connor looked quite confused at this development!

“Hey Connor-san, is it?” Konoka giggled. “Would you like to join in a love triangle between me and Secchan?”

Both Connor and Setsuna gave an instant spit-take.

Manly man Jack gave a hearty laugh. Looks like the little lady is more cunning than she looks.

xx

Asuna was about to open a door, but instead she noticed a seedy girl in a maid suit, sweeping the floor. She had black hair in very short pigtails, and her glasses ruined every ounce of moe in her body, but this brooding girl paid no mind to that or Asuna. Shrugging, Asuna went on with it.

Asuna opened a door.

Inside was Negi Springfield.

“Asuna-san!” Negi said, both surprised and happy to see her. “You made it all right?”

“Yeah, no thanks to you,” Within seconds, Asuna had the boy in a headlock, giving him a bone-crushing noogie. “If you gotta split like that, tell us the truth next time!”

“Augh, I'm sorry Asuna-saaan!” Negi yelled in pain. “But this was dangerous and I didn't want the whole class following!”

Asuna stopped the noogie but kept him in the headlock. “Well, at least say hi to the others.”

It was then Nodoka stepped in. “Negi-sensei,” she said softly and happily, rushing over and wrapping him with a hug. “We're glad you're all right!”

“Thank you, Nodoka-san,” Negi said, squeezed in her warm embrace.

“'Sup, ladies!” Chamo popped out again. “Nice for you to swing by. By the way, who else is here?”

Asuna thought for a moment, then counted off. “Konoka, Setsuna, Akira, and Makie. That's all actually. Chao said only the six of us could get away without tipping off the rest.”

“I see,” Negi said as Nodoka reluctantly ended her embrace. “So that means I have nine contracts here, plus Rei-san can lend a helping hand through Chao. I assume you know why I rushed here in the first place.”

“Miyamoto-sensei is missing,” Nodoka answered simply, her face grave.

“And earlier today I was attacked by the darkness... the same darkness that comes from the stolen Star Crystal,” Negi added, which issued some gasps.

Apparently, there were more than two, as that moment, Makie stormed in. “Negi-kun! Is that true?” Akira followed closely, with Setsuna and Konoka bringing up the rear. Negi noticed the latter two were holding hands. Their bond as partners has grown quite strong...

Makie continued, sitting down nearby. “That crazy darkness is back? Wait... what is that darkness, anyway?”

“Ah, Makie-san, Akira-san, you only joined us during Cygnus-san's attack,” Negi said. “To sum it up briefly, just this past term, someone stole something called the Star Crystal from my academy, and has been using its magic to target me for reasons I don't know.”

“Eh?!” Makie reeled back.

“Sounds pretty serious,” Akira added.

“The power from that thing is insane!” Asuna exclaimed, trying to keep her voice down. “It put us in illusions and it throws fairies at us which can hypnotize people!” She suddenly stopped and stared intently at Makie. The cheery girl leaned back instinctively. “Speaking of which, I think you were one of the victims one time.”

“Eeee?!” Makie pressed her hands to her face stereotypical of a horror movie victim. That day, back when Ayaka laid it thick that she was, in fact, a failure. Makie froze in shock from the mere memory of it. “Aaahh...”

“She doesn't have good memories, I take it,” Akira murmured. She whirled to Asuna and admonished her gently, “You should apologize.”

“Huh? But I...” Asuna started, but seeing Akira's stern face locked onto her, she sighed. “Okay, okay, Makie-san. Sorry.” Makie shook off her failure face and returned to normal.

“So Negi-kun,” Konoka blinked, bringing the topic back to where it was. “You mean it wasn't Cygnus-han?” Her voice dropped, slightly sullen. “Because I still feel him.”

“Oi, this can't be good on any count!” Chamo exclaimed, looking at Konoka. “You mean you feel that crazy swan?!”

The others stared at the girl expectantly, and Konoka slowly nodded. “Hmm...” Chamo said. “We'll have to keep out eyes out... for both forms of darkness then.”

“Oh my, I hope you are all okay then,” A pleasant voice added. “Sounds like you have a serious mission!”

“Of course we do!” Asuna bellowed. “We're always up to our neck in trouble!”

Wait a goddamn minute.

There was a sudden pause as the crowd found that they had an additional visitor. All mouths hung open in shock as a green-haired lass sat there evenly with them, as if she had been there all along. The pretty lady waved. “Hello there!”

“GAH! WE'VE BEEN EXPOSED!” Chamo screeched.

“Oh no,” Akira bit her lip nervously.

“You should not worry, I already know about magic,” The woman said. “Besides, those animals are not here with you... yet, anyway.” This was met with several exchanged looks from the girls.

Negi, however, found something different. “Ah, you're that strange maid person that was in my class!” He pointed out. “Why are you here?” I couldn't even feel her enter here! He shouted mentally, as if making a shounen power-level declaration.

“I can't help but notice that you are interested in keeping an eye out for one Rebecca Miyamoto,” The charming lady smiled, though her voice sounded serious. “As one who was supposed to keep tabs on the young prodigy, I feel somewhat responsible for her disappearance. I wish to help.”

“Really?” Konoka asked. “What do you know about Becky-sensei?”

“And could you tell us more about what happened before she disappeared?” Nodoka added.

The woman thought for a moment. “She didn't say much of anything. All everyone else remembers was a strange form trying to assault Becky the other evening. While she made it out okay, Becky declared that she needed more research and hasn't been seen since.”

Negi frowned. From his memories of her after the Cygnus attack, she wasn't one to obsess over research... for something to have caused her to do so, perhaps he didn't know his fellow prodigy as well as he thought. And if what attacked me earlier was the same thing that tried to take her, she may have started looking into the Star Crystal incident... Negi sighed. Why didn't I tell her anything?! Now she and all of her students are involved...

Noticing Negi suddenly look glum, Nodoka looked in his direction. She leaned close. “Negi-sensei... what's wrong?”

The boy bit his lip. He'd rather not cry and be a weakling, but... “It could be all my fault she's gone...”

There was a grunt of irritation. Moments later, Nodoka flinched back as Asuna delivered a custom sucker punch to Negi's head. “Oi! Don't go taking this all up in yourself again! It's almost as bad as that feeling that dork Baron gives you!” Asuna recalled a time shortly before Becky's arrival that the mysterious baron showed up, taunting Negi by refusing to answer any questions, yet still holding the scent of his great father. And yet still, Negi felt guilty for failing to crack the mystery that the Baron posed, who had not been seen since. However, Asuna was having none of that. “Honya-chan, sometimes Negi needs a sucker punch or two so he'll get it together. We're there for him after all!”

Konoka and Setsuna merely exchanged looks. Makie and Akira looked on in awe.

Nodoka stared for a moment before nodding in agreement. “She's right, Negi-sensei, please don't be so hard on yourself!”

Negi looked at his students. Sometimes, it seemed like he was learning from THEM just as much as they learned from him. “Thanks.”

“You children are a wonderful team,” The woman smiled. “I don't doubt you will find Miss Miyamoto and stand up against whatever may be lurking in our school. But...” She rose. “You best prepare for tomorrow. From this point on, it won't be easy for you... for any of you. After all, the Peach Moon girls are a grade ahead of you.”

“EH!?” Asuna and Konoka flinched.

“Oh no...” Makie paled again.

“Bye bye now!” The maid woman happily crowed as she left the room, leaving Negi Springfield and his students to stew in their own worries.

Silence reigned again.

“She is correct, after all,” Setsuna said, lifting up a sleepy Konoka. “We must sleep well.”

“Get ready, boy and girls!” Chamo said, pumping a tiny fist. “Tomorrow we fight back.”

“What are you getting pumped for again?”

Chamo shrugged. “I dunno, just felt good to say.”

xx

Hovering just above the atmosphere, the mysterious spaceship was quietly monitoring things as normal.

The aliens were chatting amongst themselves, minus the captain, who was once again, fiddling with something or other. Cygnus was gazing at the monitors, every now and then flipping a switch and changing the view. Windia was giggling and messing with the aliens again, much to their annoyance.

Eventually, the dark-skinned swan man froze for a bit. Something on one of the alien's views caught his interest—the five individuals Negi and his team had met in the hotel were converging on the hotel floor. Staring intently, he saw them all gather, talking with each other and apparently looking badass enough to have a shounen villain gang them going on. The super thick muscle man of the group banged on a bell, only to suddenly crash into the ground as if gravity had quintupled in the last five seconds.

A man reading a book entered the view. Upon that man shutting the book close by merely bringing his hands together, Cygnus finally saw his pleasant face... and snarled. “That boy... I know him too.”

“You do, do you?” The alien captain raised an eyebrow.

“That boy inherited the art of that cursed key, so of course I can't forget him!” Cygnus whirled back to the captain, his eyes alight with fervor.

“Oh ho,” The alien captain casually thumbed through some sort of text. “He mentioned something about Divine Bloodlines earlier, too.”

“Divine... Bloodlines?” This even caught Windia's attention, so she echoed Cygnus's question. The swan boy continued. “What makes you think that's important?”

“According to the script, it's in capital letters, so it has to be important!”

Cygnus groaned. However, he got over it quickly. “Still, this merits an investigation of my own. If you want to continue keeping an eye on Becky, you'll need someone for a hands-on. And of course, that's where I come in. I'll be going down,” He rose, his savage grin returning.

“Don't leave me here!” Windia abandoned her pseudo-torment of the aliens and immediately zipped by Cygnus's side, feather sword ready. “I want to join too!”

“Not just yet...” Cygnus said, patting her head. “I'm just doing some personal stuff, that'll be boring for the likes of you. I'll come back when it's your turn, I promise!”

The pristine owl girl sat down, cheeks puffed and thoroughly defeated. “You better come back.”

Cygnus grinned and saluted, disappearing into a swirl of darkness as lively as his thoughts. You won't catch me, Albiero Imma!

“Wait!” The other aliens cried. “NOOO! Don't leave us with this girl! Come baaaaack!” But it was too late, Cygnus was gone.

“What are you spazzing about?” The captain asked, randomly playing a video game.

“If we're left with that girl, we'll all die of moebeetus!” The crazy aliens declared.

The captain stared as if they had all told very obscure jokes. “Oh come on! That disease as proven false years ago! ” His eyes caught Windia's. The girl was still in an expression of rather cute anger. “See, she can't possibly— HNHHNNGGG!” AND SUDDENLY HE COLLAPSED!

“Captain?! Captain?! CAPTAAAIIIINNNN!”

-X-X-X-

OMAKE!

“Mother! I'm home!” At school, she was known simply as Rokugou. The blue-haired girl easily shed her shoes before venturing further into the house. Speaking of said house, it was rather cozy, being custom built to house as many people in as little space as possible. And considering she had five older siblings who chose to stick around, it was no wonder. Its darker wall colors gave the house a far more earthen and western feel than most nearby houses.

“Sayaka,” Her mother greeted pleasantly, having just finished washing the dishes. “You're late.” The woman came to where her youngest daughter was. The family resemblance was certainly there—she resembled our blue-haired maiden if she were twice her age, though her eyes were so narrow as to appear closed, and her hair was far longer. “Your brothers and sisters have already gone off to their own activities. Have you been running around with that tiny teacher again?”

“No, mother,” the girl now known as Sayaka Suzuki. “A different tiny teacher showed up today... he's the one who Becky helped when she went across town for a month.”

“Ah...” The woman was not above preparing a meal for her girl despite her lateness, and in a matter of minutes the girl was eating a nice, warm dinner. As Sayaka ate, suddenly, her mother spoke again. “So how about this boy you've been seeing?”

“Eh?” Despite her best efforts, Sayaka's face grew beet red in seconds. “Th-th-there's no boy!”

“You're still a horrible liar, as always,” Ms. Suzuki just smiled pleasantly. She sniffed the air. “But it seems like this boy hasn't been around for a while. He hasn't done anything to you, has he?”

“No,” Sayaka said shamefacedly, but immediately seeing her mistake, added. “I mean I don't have a boyfriend! I j-just met this person, that's all!”

“Hmmm...” The woman kept her smile. “I suppose he knows better than to cross a Suzuki then, hmmm?” Somehow, that smile became a lot more menacing.

“Yes, mother,” It was then Sayaka decided that, unless Cygnus came back as a truly horrible monster, that he and her mother must never meet. As much as she loved her mother, that woman never ceased to be scary.

-X-X-

“Hey guys, I'm Makie Sasaki! I'm just an ordinary cheery girl of 14, walking with an awesome magic teacher! But now we're in an entirely new school, and meeting strange new people! But we still gotta find Becky-sensei! Next time: 'I Don't Wanna Join a Festival of Servants!' by Makie! ...what does that title mean, anyway?”

(Oi, yes I know I'm two days late with this. My apologies and all that. Don't be afraid to drop a review/concrit~)