Pani Poni Dash! Fan Fiction / Mai-HiME Fan Fiction / Mahou Sensei Negima! Fan Fiction ❯ Vegrandis Magister Ferociter ❯ 02 - Sweet Revenge ( Chapter 2 )

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

“Welcome to Fuuka, I hope you will enjoy your stay here,” the uniformed girl greeted Rebecca and her traveling companions as they alighted from the cruise. She had been easy to spot since she held a gigantic sign that welcomes those who came to attend the Annual Teacher's Convention. Other participants have already gathered and are directed by the students of Fuuka Academy to the pre-arranged living quarters.

It was the next day after the incident and Rebecca was still plotting her revenge on that boy. The chances might be low, considering that she had alight the cruise but there was always luck. For now, she had no choice but to look forward to the Teacher's Convention.

“My name is Aoi and I will be your guide to Fuuka Academy,” the pleasant girl continued her greeting. She knelt down to Rebecca's face level. “My, my, what a cute little girl. Are you this gentleman's daughter?” Aoi referred to Saotome.

“No, lower life-form. I am a teacher attending the convention,” Rebecca replied without much of a thought.

Aoi looked visually surprised and taken aback by the revelation and the apparent rudeness. For a while, the temperature felt like it went down a couple of degrees. Sensing the brewing trouble, Saotome quickly moved to defuse the situation.

“Aoi-chan, why don't you lead us to the living quarters?” Saotome asked while he flashed a glare at the sulking Rebecca.

Aoi regained her composure and waved her hand in a direction. “Your living quarters will be in a hostel located within the Academy. Please proceed this way.” Then, she walked in that direction, followed closely by Rebecca, Igarashi and Saotome who had been made to carry everyone's luggage.

Along the way, Aoi introduced the locale to the teachers, including the uninterested Rebecca. Currently she was telling the older teachers about the discoveries during a recent archeological dig around the region. Rebecca was lost in her own thought when she heard Aoi mentioned the discoveries of an old prophecy scripture.

“What does it say?”, Rebecca asked curiously. Since her previous professor was an avid archeologist, she had also learned to appreciate archeology somewhat.

“It claimed that for every generation of mankind, seven guardians will descend to bless mankind with hope and create miracles. But then again, this is only a legend from the past and the professors have said not to take them seriously like what they did with that myth of the twelve princesses.” Aoi replied, “Here we are.”

Before them was a hostel, not a bad looking one but not exactly the five-star hotel that Rebecca had in mind.

“Wah… what happened to the hotel?” The spoilt brat whined.

“Did I ever mention `hotel'?” Aoi answered coldly. Then she switched back to her warm, welcoming voice to address the two older teachers, “I'm sorry but this hostel is the best Fuuka Academy has to accommodate the hundreds of participants arriving for the convention. Facilities such as bars or gyms can be found in the nearby town.”

She turned to Saotome and said, “Due to rules and regulations, males have a separate living arrangement, sorry for the inconvenience caused and please follow me.” She gave Igarashi a key with a number tag, bided farewell and led Saotome away.

It took Rebecca and Igarashi quite some time to move their luggage to their designated room. The room had all the basic facilities necessaries. Bathroom; kitchen; living room that also doubles as a bedroom.

“It's pretty homely. Cheer up, Miyamoto-chan. With room service, this would have been a hotel,” Igarashi patted Rebecca at the back. “Come on. The convention will start this evening, then with that away, we got a one whole week paid holiday!” She then went on to search the directory provided for the bars in the region, leaving Rebecca alone to ponder about her next step of action.

Soon evening came and it was time to attend the Convention. “Hurry up, Miyamoto-san! The convention starts in twenty minutes time!” Rebecca heard Saotome shout from downstairs.

“Coming!” Rebecca shouted back impatiently. Lost in her thoughts, she had totally forgotten to dress up and is now trying to put on the evening dress her sister had chosen for her as quickly as possible. She looked in the mirror and quickly tied her hair into a ponytail and then she left, locking the door behind her.

“Did you bring everything?” Saotome asked as Rebecca descended from the stairs. He was for once not in the gym attire but in an evening suit, looking very uncomfortable.

“Yeah, Igarashi already took the keys before she left.” Rebecca replied as they walked briskly to the Fuuka Convention Hall.

Once inside, they saw Igarashi waving at them from their designated seats. She too was dressed in an evening suit. They quickly pushed their way through the thronging crowd to their seats. It felt like the entire population of teachers from Japan had come, the noise of discussion was everywhere, from comparing of students to complaining of daily issues. “The girl challenged everything! She even sent our history teacher screaming away, he resigned the next day! No one dared to teach that class!” “Yukari-chan, that is the last time I let you drive.” “…devoted my thirty-five years of life to education, never had a boyfriend…”

After a while, the lights dimmed and the conversions soften along with it. The spotlight focused onto the stand as a girl with long black hair and a boy with orange, barely combed hair came onto the stage.

“Good evening, teachers from all around Japan. My name is Natsuki,” The girl announced through the microphone.

“And my name is Tate,” The boy added. “We are the student executive body of Fuuka Academy and we are honored to welcome all of you to our humble school for the Annual Teachers' Convention.”

Rebecca hardly paid attention; the only reason for her attendance was for the `Rising Talent Award' and everything else did not matter so much.

The two hosts engaged in small talk, invited a pink-haired female, their Headmaster to present a speech, even more small talk, then they begun presenting the awards.

Finally the moment came.

“Thank you, Onizuka-sensei for that … uhm … interesting speech. Please give another round of applause for our `Most Inspiring Teacher' recipient.” Natsuki said as applause erupted for the punk of a teacher as he walked off stage.

“In the field of education, we are always looking out for new dedicated teachers to take over the mantle of the previous generation,” Tate spoke to the audience. “That is why we have this particular award.”

“This award honors the newly recruited teachers for their hard work, dedication and potential,” Natsuki continued, “Let us view the nominees for the `Rising Talent Award'”

On the television screen, the gigantic words `Rising Talent' appeared followed by video of the nominees and their names. Rebecca looked disinterestedly as faces of teachers she did not know or care for flashed across the screen to the announcement of the hosts.

“Sora Hitomi from Kashima High School, teaches Life Science. Uhm… Great Teacher Largo from Shiritsu Daitou High School, teaches English,” Natsuki read from the nominee list.

“And two surprise entries,” Tate continued, “Our last two nominees are both very young, in fact they are not even in their teens,”

“Younger than us?,” Natsuki asked in false surprise.

They probably scripted this part, Rebecca thought boredly. She knew they were referring to her.

“Yes,” Tate laughed, “Looks like we'll have to study harder now. And our last two nominees are Negi Springfield from Mahora Academy, teaches English and Rebecca Miyamoto from Momotsuki Academy, teaches Mathematics!”

Their pictures appeared on the screen followed by video filming of parts of their lessons.

Rebecca took a casual glance at the screen before she let out a loud exclamation of surprise. “What?!” she shouted as she recognized that bespectacled youth on the screen. It was that boy that took advantage of her.

Somewhere else, she also heard another shout of “What?!” that she recognized as the voice of the boy.

The Convention Hall became silent as all the heads turned towards the two who shouted. Rebecca started to feel pressured by the thousand pairs of eyes looking in her direction.

After a moment of silence, the quick thinking Tate took the microphone and said, “And there they are, our younger-than-life teachers. Please stand up and take a bow.”

Rebecca slowly stood up and bowed stiffly. Then she turned her head to see the offending figure. Negi Springfield had also stood up. He noticed her look and tried to wave back.

Rebecca glared back at him and Negi's hand stopped in mid-wave. Then she sat down with a huff.

“This is my chance,” Rebecca's brain was going into overdrive. “If I win, I will use the chance to expose that little hentai to the rest of the teaching community. Ruin his career! Yes!”

“But that would mean telling everyone that he… touched me…” Rebecca now found herself in a dilemma. That incident was nothing something she was proud of. “Should I do it?”

“And now let us announce the results. The `Rising Talent Award' goes to….” Natsuki spoke.

Both hosts looked at the little card they had.

“Great Teacher Largo from Shiritsu Daitou High School!” They announced at the same time.

As a foreign red-haired guy went up the stage, Rebecca was secretly glad about it. She did not know if she should be disappointed of losing the chance or relieved that she did not need to make the decision. At least she now knew something about her revenge target.

Shouts of `KNOWL3DG3 IS POW3R!' could be heard from the stage. “It's okay,” Rebecca heard Igarashi.

She turned to the elder teacher as Igarashi continued, “You may be disappointed but there is always next time.”

“I am not disappointed,” Rebecca whined. Then she felt a hand on her head.

It was Saotome. “The chance will come again. Perhaps you can aim for something even better. But to us, you are our Rising Talent.”

“Take your hands off,” Rebecca said coldly. But deep inside her, she was kind of glad that the two elder teachers had tried to consoled and encouraged her. Now that she knew that this Negi Springfield would also be around Fuuka, her plan for revenge had a point to start from. She felt better already.

“That's our Miyamoto,” Saotome laughed as he removed his hand.

After that, the Convention soon came to a close.

“And we have come to an end of the Convention. To cater to our infamously alcoholic teachers, the after-convention party will be held at Club Congabongo located a couple of blocks away from the school. While having a good time, please remember not to get too drunk,” Natsuki reminded the anticipating audience.

“We have had arranged a tour of our Fuuka Academy tomorrow for all. Those who wish to participate, please turn up at the pavilion in the flower garden at ten AM. And we wish you all a pleasant night. Good bye,” Tate concluded the event and both hosts waved the audience farewell before retreating backstage.

“Let's go!” Igarashi cheered enthusiastically and got ready to leave for Club Congabongo.

Everyone else around them also started rising from their seats and to leave the hall. Under the urging of Igarashi, the Momotsuki representatives were ushered quickly out of the hall and after walking some distance to Igarashi's cheerful singing, they reached Club Congabongo.

At the entrance, Igarashi was admitted into the night club. Followed by Saotome. When it was Rebecca's turn, the bouncer stopped her.

“Can I see your age proof?!” The bouncer who sports an eerily similar look as the lifeguard at the cruise pool bellowed.

Before Rebecca could response, the bouncer had shoved her gently aside. “Underage minors not allowed in the bar?!” he grunted before he continued to serve the others in the growing queue.

`Denied again,' Rebecca thought annoyed. Then she went across the road and found a kerb to sit down. Since the key to the hostel room was with Igarashi, she could not do anything but wait for Igarashi to come out. She got no choice but to wait and look sulking as people after people were allowed entry into the bar.

“Errr…. May I sit here?” She heard someone asked. Looking up, she realized to her surprise that the one asking was that Negi Springfield. She found herself at a loss of words.

Seeing that there was no response, that Negi sat down anyway. “I got rejected by the bouncer too…” he laughed, “and since neither of us got the `Rising Talent Award', it seemed that we have the same fate…” His tone sounded like he was nervous enough to attempt such a bad joke.

`Here is the chance. It is payback time,' Rebecca was thinking as she stare at the nervous yet innocent face of Negi, `What do you want him to do?'

“Uhm… You know… about that incident in the cruise…” Negi finally went into the topic both of them had been pondering about, “I… am terribly sorry about… that.” He blushed.

`Yeah,' Rebecca thought, `and what will you do now?'

“I am willing to do anything to make up for my misdeed,” Negi continued, “Please forgive me!” he clapped his hands together before his face and bowed.

“Anything?” Rebecca heard herself say, a devious grin, like that of the Cheshire Cat appearing on her face. She had just thought of a plan.

“As long as… it won't hurt anyone…” Negi said slowly, looking at that growing grin with dread in his eyes.

“Be my personal slave,” Rebecca said.

“Wha..” Negi tried to react.

“Do whatever I command,” Rebecca continued, cutting off what Negi had wanted to say.

Negi still looked somewhat unsure. Rebecca decided to try the heavy artillery, she let the eyes start to water and a single tear flowed elegantly down to her cheek. Then she looked at Negi with those tears-brimmed eyes.

A look of guilt washed over the face of Negi. Without hesitation, he answered, “Yes, Miyamoto-sama.”

Mission accomplished, Rebecca wiped off the tears and pointed to Club Congabongo in triumphant.

“Let us enter where no child has entered before!” She announced haughtily.

They went into the back alley under the cover of the new moon. Crossing dustbins, black cats, graffiti-filled brick walls, they finally reached the back of the club. Rebecca was brimming with excitement while Negi was filled with nervousness.

“Will you stop looking so nervous? You will give the game away once we entered,” Rebecca scolded her obedient slave. “Remember, I am posing as that famous midget teacher, Mika Suzuki. You…“ She paused to think of a midget male teacher, “will have to think of your own excuse.” She gave up.

“There could have been robbers here, you know. It is very reckless of us to just walk around the back,” Negi said while still keeping a wary eye of the surroundings.

“Relax, slave. I'm sure they will do us no harm,” Rebecca dismissed the threat confidently. `After all, I have been known to insult armed robbers to tears before,' she reasoned with herself.

Then, they grandly enter the club via the back door, like they had all the right to do so.

The sight inside was new to them. The dance floor was crowded with people dancing as wild carnival of lights moved everywhere around the dimly lit room. There was a bar counter at the corner of the place with a bartender who swung the various alcohol bottles around with dexterity of an acrobat, ever entertaining and polite as he greets the new customer to give them a drink. Cheers and laughter filled the air.

“Wow.” Negi exclaimed in awe. But Rebecca had no time for sight-seeing. Scanning the surrounding carefully, she sighted Saotome trying to control Igarashi at a far end of the bar. A group of other alcoholic female teachers were also there cheering Igarashi on as she downed another jug of beer. Rebecca made a mental note to avoid that side of the bar.

“No one seemed to have noticed us yet,” Rebecca said to Negi, “Let's try out some of the drinks.” She pulled the passive Negi along to a vacant table. She was enjoying her act of rebellion, everything here was new to her and she wanted to try as much as possible.

“Slave! Go and get us some drinks! I want something fruity!” she ordered Negi.

“Miyamoto-sama, aren't we too young to drink?” Negi asked.

“No questions, just go!” Rebecca repeated her orders.

“Yes, Miyamoto-sama!” Negi quickly ran towards the bar counter.

`This is fun,' Rebecca thought as she waited for Negi to return. `What else should I ask him to do?”

After some time, noticing that Negi had yet to return, Rebecca decided to take things to her own hand. Striding towards the bar counter, she saw Negi with his hand stretched out towards the surprised looking bartender.

`Great, he thinks he is a Jedi,' Rebecca fumed as she approaches Negi.

“What took you so long!” she scolded Negi and turned towards the bartender.

Using her best adult voice, she said, “I am Mika-sensei. I want two… er…” she quickly took a quick look on the menu, “two fruit punch delight!”

The bartender turned his attention to Rebecca and raised an eyebrow. “I thought I just served a Mika-sensei just moment ago. You looked a bit too young to be here…”

Rebecca quickly replied with hurt in her voice, “Are you being sizest? I cannot help if I am born small. That bouncer-san let us in after all.”

The bartender looked at her suspiciously but decided to just serve her anyway. “Two fruit punch delight, `Mika-sensei'” as he gave her two dainty wine glasses with fizzy green liquid in it.

“Thank you, young man,” Rebecca took the drinks and went back to the seats with Negi.

“Come, a toast to our success.” Rebecca flaunted the newly-acquired drinks at Negi. Negi sat down and asked critically, “Are you sure you want to drink?” He lowered his voice, “We're both underaged.”

“Who cares,” Rebecca dismissed it. “I'm older than you too.” She added.

“Only by half a year,” Negi retorted in a boyish concern about age seniority. He took a glass of the fruit punch delight and took a sniff.

Rebecca took a closer look at her `fruit punch delight'. She had chosen it because it had sounded the least alcoholic of all the drinks. Having seen the drunken Igarashi so many times, she had no wish to be in that stage but she had wanted to try it out at least once. She figured that one gulp probably would not cause her to become drunk.

“To health,” she said as she raised the dainty cup to her lips like in the movies. She could see Negi's eyes grew wider as he tried to say something. Then, someone knocked at her from behind. What was meant to be a little sip became much larger as the entire content of the cup flowed into Rebecca's mouth.

“Sorry,” she heard a voice said automatically as she tried to cough out as much of the foul-tasting liquid as possible. The fruit punch delight did had a bit of a fruity taste to it but most of it taste of alcohol that Rebecca learned instantly that she hated. It was too late as most of the liquid had gone down her throat.

She started to feel a bit hot and slightly light-headed. `Is this why Igarashi liked drinks? Because of this weird feeling?' Rebecca thought as she vaguely remembered Negi approached her.

There was some shouting, some movement, some… something. She remembered Negi lifting her, herself saying something… something…. Some…

~ End Chapter One Point Five ~

Negi looked at the rabbit; at least `rabbit' seemed to be the most fitting species for this animal before him. He was on his way back to the cabin after the incident when passing by the kitchen; he noticed the kitchen staff holding it up.

Chamo had urged him with unusual seriousness to rescue the rabbit. It seemed that they had found him unconscious in the boiler room and was discussing how to best cook it. After some negotiations, Negi was allowed to bring the rabbit back to his cabin.

The rabbit only came back to conscious the next day, finding itself surrounded by Negi, Takahata and Chamo. Since it woke up till when they alighted from the cruise, it had been talking to Chamo in a trembling voice. Chamo seemed to be quite happy with meeting the rabbit.

Negi had also confined with Takahata about the incident on the cruise and asked for his advice. Takahata had laughed and then told Negi to `be a man and follow his heart'. While Negi personally felt that was not much an advice, he had felt slightly better in confining with someone.

They had been led to their male hostel by a student representative of Fuuka who had along the way told them about the legends and the locale of Fuuka. Apparently, there was a recent archaeological excavation that revealed some old scriptures about an old local prophecy. Negi mentally made a note to visit the excavation site later after the convention.

The student had gushed over Negi, calling him a polite gentleman, quite unlike the bratty kid she had to put up with previously before leaving them to their own.

Finally after they settled down in the hostel, Negi released the rabbit and Chamo from their hiding place in his duffel bag. Mesousa, Chamo had called the rabbit. `Sobbing Rabbit,' Negi mentally translated in his head, `quite appropriate for him.'

Mesousa, Chamo had told Negi, went way back with him. They were buddies, partners in the past before they went separate ways due to ideological differences. One wonders what these two of so different personalities could have done in the past. The perverted, amoral Chamo and Mesousa, so timid that that he had only dared to say a single `Thank you' to Negi in that trembling voice.

Putting that aside, Negi was still occupied with coming up a solution to make up for his misdeed to Miyamoto. The panties Chamo had stolen from her was sealed in a paper bag and still laid buried deep inside his bag. He had not told Takahata about the panties yet, it was too embarrassing.

It was almost time for the start of the Convention. Negi wore his robe and waited patiently for Takahata to get ready. Stepping out of the door, he saw another man with spiky, black hair stepped out of the opposite room. He was visibly uncomfortable with the evening suit he was wearing.

The man noticed Negi and came forward. Kneeling down, he asked, “Hey. You are also attending the Teacher's Convention?” Negi nodded.

“Ha!” The man laughed, “I also had a colleague about your age. She is running for the `Rising Talent Award', perhaps you two young teachers will meet and get along just fine.”

Negi had been surprised that this man had not exhibit any form of surprise when he knew that he was also a teacher. That explained it; the man was used to very young teachers.

“I am also running for `Rising Talent Award'. Perhaps we might meet up later,” Negi replied.

“What a small world it is,” the man exclaimed, “Maybe you can meet my colleague later. I am Saotome from Momotsuki Academy, Gym teacher and you are?” He extends his hand.

“Negi Springfield, English teacher, Mahora Academy.” Negi took Saotome's hand and shaked warmly.

“I got to go get my little colleague now. See you later.” Saotome stood up and patted Negi's head before leaving in a jog.

Takahata came out of the room smelling faintly of the aroma of cigarettes.

“Let's go, Negi.” He said.

Negi bidded Chamo and Mesousa one last good-bye and closed the door behind him.

Together, they left the hostel and took a walk to Fuuka Convention Hall. The hall was already packed with people. Teachers from various schools all around Japan had made their way here and bits and pieces of their conversations could be heard as Negi and Takahata made their way to their designated seats. “Have you heard of that girl, Yukari Hirai?” “Then my colleague went and ate the cookies that she gave me!” “Bloomers should be tucked in!”

After Negi and Takahata took their seats, soon the lights dimmed and the hall came to a silence. Two students came on stage and introduced themselves as Natsuki and Tate of the student executive body of Fuuka Academy. They were the hosts for the ceremony.

Negi watched the ceremony proceedings with interest. He had never seen so many teachers of different methods and styles but of a common goal together before. He hoped he would have the chance to have a talk with them later.

Finally, it was the moment he was waiting for. The hosts had just presented the award for `Most Inspiring Teacher' and would be presenting the `Rising Talent Award'.

“This award honors the newly recruited teachers for their hard work, dedication and potential,” Natsuki continued, “Let us view the nominees for the `Rising Talent Award'”

On the television screen, the gigantic words `Rising Talent' appeared followed by video of the nominees and their names. Negi clapped in appreciation as the names and photos of his fellow competitors flashed across the screen.

“Sora Hitomi from Kashima High School, teaches Life Science. Uhm… Great Teacher Largo from Shiritsu Daitou High School, teaches English,” Natsuki read from the nominee list.

“And two surprise entries,” Tate continued, “Our last two nominees are both very young, in fact they are not even in their teens,”

“Younger than us?,” Natsuki asked in surprise.

Negi knew that they were referring to him and the young colleague of Saotome. He looked at the giant screen with excitement.

Their pictures appeared on the screen followed by video filming of parts of their lessons.

Negi looked in appreciation to the video filming of his lessons, the girls waving cheerfully in the background as he tries to rein them in for his English lesson. Then the significance of the other video dawned to him. He looked on, stunned as he recognized the pinkish-blond girl on the video trying to calm her much-older student to stop crying over a dead chick. She was Miyamoto, the unfortunate girl on the cruise.

“What?!”, He exclaimed in surprise. He also heard another “What?!” came from another corner of the hall. He knew it belonged to Miyamoto.

Silence fell onto the hall as all the eyes looked towards the two exclaimers.

Takahata pointed to the girl on the screen and gave Negi a quizzical look. Negi knew that Takahata had figured out the reason for Negi's surprise.

Negi simply nodded sheepishly to confirm Takahata's suspicion. Takahata just smiled and patted his back, as if to congratulate Negi's conquest.

“And there they are, our younger-than-life teachers. Please stand up and take a bow,” Negi heard Tate announced through the microphone.

Negi quickly stood up and bowed to the audience. Then he looked towards Miyamoto. She too had stood up and was staring at him. In a friendly gesture, he tried to wave to her.

Miyamoto returned with a fierce glare that stopped Negi's hand in mid-wave. Then she sat down with a huff.

Negi sat down unhappily. Making up for the incident would be harder than he thought. Miyamoto obviously had not forgotten the incident, let alone forgive him.

`Perhaps if I win the `Rising Talent Award', I will apologize to her onstage. Maybe doing so would moved her.' Negi thought as he clenched his fist before him in determination.

He felt Takahata placed a hand on his shoulder.

“I know what you are thinking. Don't do it,” Takahata said to Negi softly.

“But…” Negi tried to argue back.

“It would make things worse for her,” Takahata said, “I'll explain to you later. They are about to announce the winner now.”

“And now let us announce the results. The `Rising Talent Award' goes to….” The voice of Natsuki echoed from the stage. The Mahora teachers brought their vision back to the stage.

Both hosts looked at the little card they had. Negi felt a tingle of anticipation run down his spine.

“Great Teacher Largo from Shiritsu Daitou High School!” They announced at the same time.

As a foreign red-haired guy went up the stage, Negi helved a sign of disappointment. Not so much that he had lost the award, but rather the lost of a chance, even if it was a chance that Takahata had discouraged, to apologize to Miyamoto.

Shouts of `KNOWL3DG3 IS POW3R!' could be heard.

Beside Negi, Takahata started to talk. “You see, Negi, girls are quite a strange species. No amount of exposure will ever truly prepare you for them, even a constant daily exposure to thirty-one of them in class.”

Negi looked to Takahata. Takahata had paused for a while to organize his thoughts.

“It may seem logical to us to apologize in a big bang fashion,” he continued, “But you will never know how she would react. If you are lucky, she may think it rather romantic…” He smiled to himself at the reddening face of Negi. He had successfully guessed Negi's feeling.

“Chances are she herself will be very embarrassed by that incident. To announce it on stage, would be to tell everyone in this hall, more than half of the education field, the incident between the two of you, something that she might not want others to know of,” he said.

“It could make things worse,” he concluded.

Negi nodded in acknowledgement. He understood what Takahata was trying to tell him. He would have to try to get to Miyamoto in private. Perhaps he should get Saotome to arrange it for him.

Negi sat in silence for the rest of the evening, contemplating his next move.

Soon, the Convention came to a close.

Negi and Takahata waited for the hall to slowly empty before they too stood up.

“Come on,” Takahata said, “Let's go to the after-convention party. Perhaps you might be able to find your chance there.”

They walked in silence for quite some time before they reached the bar. They got into the queue and waited for their turn to enter. After a while, it was Negi's turn to enter.

The bouncer at the door stopped him. “How many times must I stop you minors from entering the bar?!” he grumbled as he blocked Negi with a bulking arm.

Negi looked up at the imposing figure, the bouncer had an eerie resemblance to the lifeguard at the cruise pool.

“Nevermind,” Takahata placed a hand on Negi's shoulder and whispered into his ears, “Look over there.”

Negi looked across the street to where Takahata was referring to. A young girl was sulking on a kerb there. She was Miyamoto.

“Go, take your chance,” Takahata said and gave Negi a little shove out of the queue.

Negi looked back as Takahata waved him off.

“All the best,” he said as he entered the bar.

Negi looked to the bouncer who returned the look with a stare, then walked off hurriedly to Miyamoto.

As he walked, Negi mentally rehearsed all the possible words he could say to her. `Sorry for the inconvenience caused?' Negi thought, `No… Pleased to meet you? Arrgh…' No perfect word seemed to come to mind.

Before he knew it, he was before Miyamoto, feeling guilty like a boy caught cheating. He felt his legs tremble in nervousness. Miyamoto had not seemed to notice his presence yet. `This is it. Just do it!' Negi urged himself.

Negi gathered his courage and asked, “Errr…. May I sit here?”

Miyamoto looked up in surprise and did not say anything.

Negi thought for a while and decided to sit down beside her. He tried to find something to talk about. Miyamoto's cold stare was unnerving him. “I got rejected by the bouncer too…” he tried to laughed, “and since neither of us got the `Rising Talent Award', it seemed that we have the same fate…”

He looked at Miyamoto. There was no response as she just stared at him.

“Uhm… You know… about that incident in the cruise…” Negi decided to go straight into the subject, “I… am terribly sorry about… that.” He blushed as he recalled the feel on his hands.

There was no answer, just a cold, hard stare. As if Miyamoto was trying to read his mind.

“I am willing to do anything to make up for my misdeed,” Negi ventured on, “Please forgive me!” he clapped his hands together before his face and bowed.

“Anything?” he heard Miyamoto said with a tinge of malice in her voice.

“As long as… it won't hurt anyone…” Negi said slowly, looking up at the growing grin on her face with dread in his eyes. He was getting Evangeline-sensei vibes from her. Evangeline always had a similar smile when she was going to do something potentially nasty to him.

“Be my personal slave,” Miyamoto said.

“Wha..” Negi tried to react. He sense that this might be leading to something bad to him.

“Do whatever I command,” Miyamoto continued, cutting off what Negi had wanted to say.

Negi considered the order. Something still seemed wrong about this. Then he noticed Miyamoto's facial expression.

Her eyes watered and a single tear ran down her cheek. Her lips twitched as she gazed forlornly at Negi.

Negi was reminded of the aftermath of the incident. That was the face she had at that time too. Negi felt guilt overcoming whatever common sense he had.

“Yes, Miyamoto-sama.”, he acknowledged her victory in her emotional blackmail.

Miyamoto wiped off the tears and pointed to Club Congabongo in triumphant.

“Let us enter where no child has entered before!” She announced haughtily.

They went into the back alley under the cover of the new moon. Crossing dustbins, black cats, graffiti-filled brick walls, they finally reached the back of the club. Miyamoto was brimming with excitement while Negi was filled with nervousness.

He had never liked going against rules and regulations. He had vaguely considered using the growth pills he had kept for emergencies, that way they could have just walked in from the front door. Then he remembered that he was not to reveal to others, those that did not already knew, of the presence of magic. The usage of magic was solely if there were no other choices.

“Will you stop looking so nervous? You will give the game away once we entered,” Miyamoto scolded him. “Remember, I am posing as that famous midget teacher, Mika Suzuki. You…“ She paused, “will have to think of your own excuse.”

“There could have been robbers here, you know. It is very reckless of us to just walk around the back,” Negi said while still keeping a wary eye of the surroundings. He was ready to fight any dangers back, if necessary, with magic.

“Relax, slave. I'm sure they will do us no harm,” Miyamoto dismissed the threat with confidence in her voice.

Then, they grandly enter the club via the back door, like they had all the right to do so.

“Wow.” Negi exclaimed in awe. This was the first time he had entered a real night club.

“No one seemed to have noticed us yet,” Miyamoto said to Negi, “Let's try out some of the drinks.” She pulled the passive Negi along to a vacant table.

“Slave! Go and get us some drinks! I want something fruity!” she ordered Negi.

“Miyamoto-sama, aren't we too young to drink?” Negi asked, hoping to appeal to her common sense.

“No questions, just go!” Miyamoto repeated her orders.

“Yes, Miyamoto-sama!” Negi quickly ran towards the bar counter. Negi just could not find himself arguing back to her.

Reaching the bar counter, Negi tried to put on his most mature look.

“Good evening… I would like two glasses of ….” Negi stole a glance to the menu on top of the counter, “fruit punch delight!”

The bartender looked at Negi with suspicion. “You are underage, aren't you? That darn bouncer had let kids slipped past again.”

With that, he turned around to use the telephone.

Negi knew he had been found out. There was no other choice. He would have to resort to magic.

He took a quick look around for anyone who might suspect his actions. Satisfied that no one would be paying attention to him, he shouted to the bartender, “No! Look at me!”

The bartender looked back at him with annoyance and saw Negi with a palm stretched out to him.

“Quinque Minutes Memoria Makeover.” Negi murmured as he concentrated on the bartender. That should make the bartender think that he was serving the Mika-sensei instead, at least it should last for a while. Memory makeover was considered taboo within the magical society, to be used only for emergencies.

“Look, child. Jedi mind trick does… not work…” The bartender started to look unsure with himself as new temporary memories entered his mind.

“What took you so long!” Negi heard from his behind, breaking his concentration.

Miyamoto then approached the bartender and used her best adult voice.

“I am Mika-sensei. I want two… er…” she quickly took a quick look on the menu, “two fruit punch delight!”

The bartender turned his attention to Miyamoto and raised an eyebrow. “I thought I just served a Mika-sensei just moment ago. You looked a bit too young to be here…”

Miyamoto quickly replied with hurt in her voice, “Are you being sizest? I cannot help if I am born small. That bouncer-san let us in after all.”

The bartender looked at her suspiciously but decided to just serve her anyway. “Two fruit punch delight, `Mika-sensei'” as he gave her two dainty wine glasses with fizzy green liquid in it.

Negi was impressed. Miyamoto had managed to acquire the drinks without magic but using wits and craft. He would not have been able to do that.

“Thank you, young man,” Miyamoto took the drinks and went back to the seats with Negi.

“Come, a toast to our success.” Miyamoto flaunted the newly-acquired drinks at Negi.

Negi sat down and asked critically, “Are you sure you want to drink?” He lowered his voice, “We're both underaged.”

“Who cares,” Miyamoto dismissed it. “I'm older than you too.” She added.

“Only by half a year,” Negi retorted in a boyish concern about age seniority. He took a glass of the fruit punch delight and took a sniff. He did not like the smell of the alcohol.

“To health,” Miyamoto said as she raised the dainty cup to her lips like in the movies.

Negi noticed a stumbling man staggering from behind Miyamoto. His eyes grew wider as he realized that the drunkard would soon knock into her.

He tried to say something but it was too late. The man knocked into Miyamoto. Miyamoto got pushed forward and jerked back in reaction. She accidentally drank all of the fruit punch delight.

“Sorry,” The drunkard said and staggered off.

Miyamoto was trying to cough out the drink; her face, a picture of agony. It was too late as most of the liquid had gone down her throat. Her look of distaste slowly vanished, replaced with one of bliss.

Negi looked on with horror as she giggled happily. He went forward to support Miyamoto who was swinging gently.

“Miyamoto-sama?” he asked as he shook her to help her get a grip.

It was no use. She was drunk.

“Slave... Is it a bit hot in here…” Miyamoto said as she started to unzip the zipper at her back.

“No!” Negi quickly shouted back. “No! In fact you are feeling cold. You want my robe.” Negi tried to convince her as he took off his robe to cover her.

“Oh… maybe *hic* I do feel cold…” Miyamoto accepted the robe and took a couple of staggering steps.

“You are tired. Let me bring you home.” Negi bent down as Miyamoto leaned onto his back instinctively. Negi could feel her warmth at his back and her gentle breathing.

“Let's go.” He said softly to the dazed Miyamoto and slowly stood up.

`She's lighter than I thought.' Negi thought to himself as he made his way to the front entrance of the club.

“Underaged minor…” The bouncer tried to stop them.

“We're leaving, not entering,” Negi snared back at the bouncer before continuing towards the female hostel.

“Rei… Ichigo… Himeko… Ku..ku..whatever… I miss you *hic* so…” Negi heard Miyamoto say. They must be her students.

“I understand how you feel. I miss my students too.” Negi replied, despite knowing that Miyamoto was too drunk to answer.

“You are cute, slave…*hic*” Miyamoto murmured.

Negi blushed at that statement and answered, “Uhmm… thank you. You're also very cute.”

He meant it.

“But you are *hic* also a pervert,” Miyamoto giggled.

“I'm sorry for what happened. I did not mean for it to happen.” Negi replied, hurt by the comment.

“To think *hic* I… was about to *hic* invite… you… like… you…” Miyamoto said.

Negi had no answer to that. He felt quite embarrassed and intrusive with what Miyamoto was saying without a thought. Then he heard the gentle snoring from behind.

He turned around to see the angelic face of Miyamoto, sleeping without a concern in the world.

He merely smiled and pressed on.

When they finally reached her hostel, Negi discovered a problem. He had no access to her room.

He laid Miyamoto gently on the ground and took a step back. He checked the surroundings for potential witnesses, and then he said, “Sagita Magica Una Fulguralis!”

A single energy ball shot out of his hand and destroyed the door knob to the door, leaving a gapping hole in the door.

Negi pushed the door opened and lifted Miyamoto onto one of the two the beds in the room. Miyamoto rolled over gently and hugged a pillow.

Negi looked at the surroundings and realized a new problem.

Now that the knob was destroyed, the door could no longer be locked. The room and Miyamoto were sitting ducks to criminals.

Negi yawned in tiredness. He would have to stay in order to guard the place, at least until Miyamoto had awakened.

He knew he cannot stay in the room. Giving his bad sleeping posture, he might end up hugging Miyamoto in the middle of the night and causing an even worse misunderstanding than before.

He walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. Then he sat down on the floor, leaning against the door.

`Looks like I would have to stay on guard outside for today,' Negi thought as the sweet scent of sleep slowly took over him.

Soon gentle snoring could be heard as the children slept; not knowing what awaits them in the near future.

~ End Chapter Two ~

“Are…are…you sure you know what you are doing?” Mesousa asked Chamo as they walked along the dimly-lit pathway of the park.

“Of course, Mesousa. It will be just like old times, the two of us, exploring the unknown for truth, beauty, freedom and most of all, love. Think of the good, old Bohemian times we had!” Chamo exclaimed from the top of Mesousa's head as he directed Mesousa to continue.

The old times were just what Mesousa did not want to remember. Everyday was something unknown and usually bad or nasty. But there was just no arguing with Chamo.

Soon after Negi and Takahata left for the evening ceremony, Chamo had urged Mesousa to go out for a walk, to talk about old times. Mesousa would rather try and find Rebecca but he was too afraid to go off on his own.

He found himself wishing for a rabbit hutch to hide in.

“Look over there!” Chamo said with excitement in his voice.

Mesousa looked and saw a simple-looking church situated along a T-junction.

“Remember the last time we entered a church?” Chamo recalled with fondness in his voice.

Mesousa was not so happy with that memory. Nuns can get very vicious when they get angry. He still shudders whenever he sees a candle stand.

“Let's go in!” Chamo urged, “Maybe there will be some pretty sisters again.”

“Again?!”, Mesousa whined. He did not like where this was going but the alternative would be to be left alone in unfamiliar grounds. Chamo may be a hazardous companion but at least he was a companion.

Mesousa approached the church with caution. Opening the door carefully, he let himself and Chamo in.

The church was your standard church, plenty of benches and a stand in front for the pastor.

Mesousa walked forward slowly. The stained glass let in diffused moonlight, casting light onto the pathway to the altar. Everything else was shrouded in shadows.

Just then, voices and footsteps could be heard coming out from the back door. There were people coming. Mesousa frantically looked around for a hiding place.

“In here!” Chamo pointed out the nearby confessional.

Mesousa quickly entered the confessional and closed the door. “Please don't find me. I confess that I had never been brave or courageous,” Mesousa prayed to no one.

Voices can be heard from outside. “I'm going out. No pain, no gain,” Chamo said. Before Mesousa could stop him, Chamo had jumped off his head and scurried out of the confessional.

“Ahh… We got another lecture from Sister Yukariko,” a voice could be heard complaining to the others, “Reforming is harder than I thought.”

Mesousa ventured a peek outside. The voice had belonged to a red-haired girl in a habit. She was sitting on the back of a bench, swinging her legs care freely.

“That was because we scare away 82.75 percent of the church goers,” a pale-blue hair girl replied monotonously as she calmly combed the hair of a young, golden-hair girl.

“Your Alyssa scared most of them away with her brutal remarks. And I was giving them such good advice too,” the red-haired girl said.

“Do not speak bad of Alyssa Ojou-sama. This is your 2046th reminder,” the pale-blue hair girl answered back.

“Nao-sempai, your advices are not exactly ethical either. It would be better to tell them the truth,” the golden-haired little girl called Alyssa said.

“Yeah, yeah, my little devil,” the girl known as Nao said as she waved her hands as if to imply `whatever'.

“Nao-san. This is your 2047th reminder,” the pale-blue haired girl said.

“Yes, yes, Miyu-chan,” Nao replied sarcastically, then she turned serious, “How is the observing going?”

“There had been increased SEARRS communication recently. I fear that they are up to something,” Miyu said.

“This is strange. The Hime War had ended long ago,” Nao said as she gazed at her hands as if she was reminiscing something, “SEARRS should not have much to do now.”

“It is probably something to do with the Apostles Prophecy,” Alyssa said softly.

Both Miyu and Nao looked at Alyssa.

“You mean the one they recently found?” Nao asked.

“Seven will descend, seven will bless, seven will bring forth new light…” Alyssa recited, “SEARRS must be after these seven prophesied Apostles…. And I can sense that I am one of them.”

“Don't worry. We have nothing to do with SEARRS anymore. I will protect Alyssa Ojou-sama, no matter what.”

That said, Miyu bent down and with lightning speed, grabbed a struggling ermine that had been trying to look up her habit.

“There is another presence in the confessional. Come out now,” Miyu commanded.

Mesousa had been discovered. He was scared. He was scared. But Chamo's life was on the line. Gathering whatever little courage he had, Mesousa walked out of the confessional with his trembling arms in the air.

“I sense that these animals had an aura of magic around them. How do you want to deal with them, Ojou-sama?” Miyu asked Alyssa who was looking at the shaking Mesousa intensively.

“You know, we can skin them and sell the ermine and rabbit fur for some money,” Nao suggested gleefully.

At this comment, Mesousa felt faint. The end was near. Goodbye, cruel world. His adventures with Chamo had seldom come to a good ending.

“Let them go,” Alyssa said.

Mesousa looked at Alyssa with hope in his eyes. The moonlight was shining onto her. In this church of shadows, where both Nao and Miyu were mostly concealed in the dark, she stood in the light like an angel of hope.

“As you wish,” Miyu said as she let the struggling Chamo down on the floor.

Mesousa quickly ran forward, as fast as his shaking legs could take him. Chamo jumped on his head as he past by. Running past the unemotional Miyu, past the smirking Nao.

As he ran past the angel in his eyes, Alyssa who decided to spare their lives, Mesousa said, “Thank…thank you.”

“Sent my regards to the other two,” he heard Alyssa replied.

Then, Mesousa ran out of the church and did not stop until he made his way back to the empty hostel.

~ End Chapter Two Point One ~

~ To be continued ~