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Unequally Rational and Emotional	By : OverMaster Category: +M to R > Mahou Sensei Negima/Magister Negi Magi Views: 8848 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: Mahou Sensei Negima, all other works of fiction featured here, and related characters, don't belong to me. Neither do I make any money out of this.

Chapter List
- 16
- 17
- 18
Mahou Sensei Negima and all related elements and characters are the property and creation of Ken Akamatsu, and the author of this humble piece has made no material profit from it, and never will do.

Sailor Moon and all its characters belong to Takeuchi Naoko.

Neon Genesis Evangelion and all its characters belong to Studio GAINAX .

Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei and all its characters belong to Kumeta Koji.

Doctor Strange and all related characters and elements belong to Marvel Comics.

All other characters mentioned also belong to their respective copyright holders.

Any similarity between the characters and events of this story and anyone or anything ever actually seen in real life is a pure coincidence. Don't sue. Please.

A huge, huge new thank you to Shadow Crystal Mage, for helping to correct this chapter, as well as adding more lines and jokes. Again, you'll recognize them because they are the good ones.

UNEQUALLY RATIONAL AND EMOTIONAL-CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

Act One:

177A Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village.

Stephen Strange stood calmly perusing through the ancient tomes of his library. Book after book, for the last few hours, without ever saying a single word.

Wong's figure stood at the doorway then, with his arms crossed behind his back.

"Master," the Tibetan man announced, "As much as I hate to interrupt your stimulating research binges, I must bring you news of a visit."

"Tell the Guardian to come in, Wong," Strange absently nodded, closing a thick manuscript down. "I knew it would come to this eventually."

"Very well, Sir," the manservant respectfully bowed before leaving. "Ring the bell if you need tea, snacks, your lawyer's number, or... private protection."

The taller man sighed. Had Wong ever been that... special... in past iterations? The way he waggled his eyebrows was truly disturbing.

Regardless, there was no time for such trivial considerations. Not when the woman carrying the long, thin Key of Time itself calmly strode into the room, with the aplomb and subtle majesty befitting her role.

She had short blond hair and a black mole under her left eye. Cold green eyes, and a svelte, appealing body, still youthful and healthy, showcased by her short skirted outfit, with tall and shiny black boots, a large bow over her chest, and a golden tiara on her forehead.

He coldly focused his eyes on hers. "Doctor Akagi."

"Stephen," she greeted back. "It's been a while."

"If you say so," With a polite gesture, he invited her to sit down, a chair moving itself near her. She accepted it gracefully, never letting her staff aside, always keeping it firmly gripped.

"Thank you," the woman said. "No doubt, you already know why am I here."

"Mahora," Strange spoke.

"Mahora," she confirmed. "I'm going to keep a close eye this time."

"I can't say I approve," he dryly said, pulling a chair of his own and sitting down as well. "You, more than anyone else, should be aware of the need of not interfering."

"I know the world of mages is strictly under your supervision, but this situation in particular has spilled over well into our domain by now," the woman countered. "This can't keep itself for long, and you know it. I'm sorry."

He slowly shook his head, his chin vaguely resting on the back of a hand. His eyes were quiet but deeply cynical, like those of someone who has seen too much. "No, you aren't. And you probably shouldn't be. Maybe, after all, I'm the one who is in the wrong here."

He breathed deeply. "I won't attempt to stop you. You have your ways, different from those of Meioh Setsuna. It doesn't mean I agree with them, but I can respect them. And place a vote of trust upon you."

"I wouldn't have accepted this role if I hadn't fully believed I could live up to her legacy. That's' exactly why do I have do this. Rest assured, the Gate of Time will be safe during my absence."

He nodded. "I know. That isn't what concerns me."

"Then exactly what?"

"The same thing that concerns you. This time, we cannot predict the outcome. This time, the outline is all but impossible to follow."

"I'll follow it personally, then," she promised. "And I'll stop them if I need to."

Stephen Strange hummed thoughtfully. "Just pray your protector planet that doesn't just open the door... for something much worse, Sailor Pluto. Killing off those sparkly vampires once was more than enough…"

Act Two:

Next Saturday Night:

As much as Chamo had insisted on the need of training in the use of Artifacts, especially together, it had been truly difficult, borderlining the nearly impossible, to pull that off. They simply had nowhere to do that. Misora's club had meeting every other day, and finding a large empty lot away from curious eyes at an overpopulated campus had proved to be a task beyond any of the team members' capacities.

The team, Chisame thought as she lazily tapped on her keyboard. It was so weird to think of them as that. Maybe 'Desperate Temporal Alliance to Survive' would be more accurate, although Sensei and the other idiots seemed to be almost warming up to the notion of becoming a group now. Although they all had agreed on drawing a line at wearing uniforms, much to Chamo's disappointment. He had placed such high hopes on his miniskirted designs…

Regardless, she, at the very least, had found a good use for her own Artifact. With the mice's help, she had boosted her webpage's popularity to astonishing levels; from getting links all across the Web to improve her layout and image quality to degrees she never had thought possible. Kotokon's page had been left behind in the dust.

Chamo, of course, had been angry about her wasting time on that instead of using her Artifact for offense and defense practices, but she had silenced him out with a few fine cosplay pics.

Satomi had tested her Artifact with the Robotics Club a few times, passing it off as a design of her own creation. The results, she had said, were nothing short of amazing; she could benchpress nearly a ton or something like that, not to mention punching holes through walls, blah, blah, blah. That was the scary part. The scarier part was she was talking about improving upon it herself. The scariest part was Chisame was sure she could do it.

Misora had a harder time with hers, since it was a pain to find a place where to run faster than the Road Runner without bumping into something or, worse, someone. Unless she ran on the lake, but that had its own problems. But at least, she had said, it had secretly made finishing her chores at the church a lot faster and easier. Much more time to waste around doing nothing with Cocone afterward. Whoever 'Cocone' was. Sensei had said something about her being a friend of Misora.

Still, they should have a few more days left to find a practice place until the next full moon. With any luck, Eva wouldn't attack her even during that first full moon. Maybe she only was boasting, even! Yeah, fat chance.

Chisame sighed while she turned her computer off. The fruits of the Internet victory were highly sweet to munch onto, but after enjoying them, she actually felt somewhat empty. It had been too easy. It robbed her from a lot of the thrill, of the challenge.

Her gaze wandered over to Hakase, sleeping on the lower bed without any care in the world, drooling out of a corner of her mouth. As usual, the brat had sleepwalked over to lie at her side, right where he slept now clutching Satomi's blue pajama-clad body like a koala hugging its tree.

Hasegawa breathed out, undoing her ponytail so her long hair flowed down. For a moment she only stood there, relatively fresh off the shower, wearing only her panties and a very long white shirt, the top two buttons off revealing some developing cleavage, which covered past down her crotch and until the middle of her thighs. If the brat could see her then, she would have freaked out, almost as much as him, but as it was now, she actually could bear it.

The ermine slept heavily in his pilfered underwear drawer. Good thing, too. That at least kept him out of hers.

Chisame paused before going up to her bunk, watching at both of her placidly sleeping human roommates.

Sensei had not slept with her in days. Was it a result of Hakase's bed simply being more at hand, or did he, for some reason, just prefer her nightly company?

Eh. As if Chisame cared.

Still, she didn't move yet.

She hugged her upper body. The night was cold.

For a moment, she wondered how would it feel... to...

The teenager debated what to do with herself for a few moments, and in a full state of good mind, her rational part would have won fair and square. But she was sleepy and feeling cold, and for some stupid reason, snuggling over with them looked like a good idea. Only for a few brief moments, yeah. No more.

Just to know how would it feel like. For that only time, and nothing more.

Quietly, in a perfect silence, she wobbled ahead working herself into the bed. Awkwardly, she maneuvered her body behind Sensei's, lying down touching his back with her chest, very slightly. He squirmed a bit, made an incoherent sound, but never opened his eyes. Half-satisfied with the result, she passed an arm over him, then to lazily envelope it over Hakase's petite frame as well.

And it felt good.

Really good.

It was so freaking wrong.

She was holding them both close to her, and it was disgusting and stupid and bothersome, but at the same time, it just felt too warm and comforting to describe it with words.

She closed her eyes, muttering to herself. She only would enjoy a hour or two of that, then go back to her own bunk and forget all that ever happened. Yes, now that was a good plan! A really great one, yessir.

She slowly fell asleep with her chin coming to rest upon Negi's right shoulder.

In his dreams, Chamo shuddered, and he wondered why he could want to wake up from a dream of being declared Overlord of Panties…

Act Three:

Sunday Morning.

Negi woke up spurred the soft chuckles coming from near the bed. He lifted his eyelids vaguely thinking they seemed to weigh a ton now.

Then he found himself sandwiched between a sleeping Hakase before him, and a sleeping Chisame from behind. His first reaction was to panic, but his survival instincts told him to ease down immediately.

How do I get in these situations?, he despaired to a level that would have made Itoshiki-sensei proud. Since I arrived to Mahora, it's been a succession of events like this. Things of this caliber never happened at Merdiana..

No, wait, it happened there too, he told himself, remembering the incident with Anya, the dishwasher and the garden hose. Not to mention the infamous event involving him, Anya, Nekane, that toaster and a huge jar of butter. It had taken them one week to explain it to everyone, and three more to get Chamo stop laughing.

Chamo. Chamo was chuckling at them right now, too, with a paw over his mouth, watching from his bed at the drawer. Why wasn't Chamo helping him? Why did he choose just to chuckle? And why did he, Negi himself, remotely feel like killing him now?

So busy he was dwelling on it, he failed at first to notice Chisame was beginning to stir up. When he did notice, it only paralyzed him with further fear, so he could do nothing but look at her with gigantic round eyes and a face frozen in a rictus forced grin when she lazily opened her eyes up.

"G-G-Good m-morning..." he stammered.

The girl yelped as she recoiled away from him, but after that, against his expectations, she did not punch him or cover his face with a pillow. She only looked back at him with an equally terrified expression before attempting to assume a calmed and indifferent stance.

"G-Good morning," she dryly nodded, sitting up. Then she realized the upper two buttons of her shirt were undone, and she buttoned them back quickly, turning her back on him. For a moment she only remained still, sitting at the bed's edge with her bare feet hanging down.

She couldn't show any sort of lack of self-control now, or he could take it the wrong away. Better to act as if nothing had happened at all. Yes, she decided, that was the best course of action. Even explaining herself would be mostly pointless.

"I'll fix breakfast up," she tried to sound normal, standing up and stiffly heading for the kitchen. "R-Remember, we have promised to meet up with Kagurazaka, Konoe and Shiina in a few hours."

She was so stunned she even failed to notice Chamo's presence, leering at her as she passed by.

"Ah... Yes. Thanks," her teacher said in the same tone, counting himself lucky she couldn't look at his face now. He had been given a brief glimpse of her panties as she stood up.

Again, what have I done to get myself in these situations?, he ruefully wondered.

Right then, however, his silent musings were interrupted as Hakase put a hand on his left shoulder and pulled him towards herself.

"Kazuya-semmmpai..." she muttered in dreams. "I'm so mmmglad you're mbmack... There's smmmthing I culdnt tll ou bak thennn..."

He couldn't help but shrieking at that new twist of things.

Act Four:

At the very least, it was a pretty sunny day, Chisame thought as they stepped out into the open.

Granted, she disliked having the sun casted so strongly upon her. Perhaps she indeed was a bit of a hikkikomori after all. But still, it was... pretty, yeah. Negi sure seemed to think so, as he inhaled deeply, with a large smile on his face and Chamo perched on his right shoulder.

"Ahhhh!" the boy said. "Now this is enough to lift anyone's spirits up... Are you all sure we shouldn't call Misora-san and ask her to come with us?"

"She said she needed to spend more time with her friend, remember?" Chisame threw her hands up. "And frankly, I think we deserve a break from her. It's bad enough we'll have to endure the cheerleaders all day long."

"That's no way to talk about a teammate, Chiu-chi," Chamo told her, wagging his tail around. "I'm going to tell Miso-chi!"

"My world crumbles," Hasegawa grunted.

"Perhaps we should reconsider our attendance there, as well," Hakase pondered as she walked on, with her head hanging a bit down. She had to wear a dress again, and she hated it. And even sandals, too. Ugh. Why had Chisame picked that for her? It wasn't like it would make her any prettier after all, not like it mattered either.

Of course, she could have picked her clothes herself, but years of depending upon others for it had left her a total failure on the matter. And any attempt to just pick her own style for the event, if you could call it so, was met with a vehement 'You won't embarrass us in public!' from Chisame.

In contrast, Chisame was wearing jeans and a plain white T-shirt. Why the double standards?, Hakase wondered vaguely. Then it hit her that, unlike herself, Chisame did look good even when wearing that.

How (almost, if she had cared) depressing.

"You don't want to go? Why?" Negi sounded disappointed.

"I'd have preferred to perform investigations and updates upon my Artifact," Satomi replied matter-of-factly. "I see no actual point on wasting our time in such frivolous enterprises."

"You're just afraid to meet Shiina up close and personal again," Chisame snarked.

"That... That isn't true!" the junior scientist claimed.

"Ah?" Negi blinked. "What are you talking about?"

Ignoring him, Chisame poked Hakase's large forehead with a finger. "I've seen you avoiding her at classes."

"And... And you avoid everyone at classes, but that doesn't mean anything either!" the other girl protested.

Negi looked back and forth at them, utterly confused. "Did... Shiina-san do anything bad to you, Satomi-san?" he asked.

"No!" the black haired girl said.

Chamo chuckled cagily, then, knowingly, decided to change the matter back. "Sato-chi, if we start cancelling all social compromises, people could start suspecting the Bro hides a secret! And besides, spending all time training and no time at all enjoying ourselves dulls our senses out and tires us down, making us easy preys!"

"You only want to meet more girls," Hakase mumbled under her breath.

"Now that's something we can agree on," Chisame nodded.

The three of them marched on, with Negi now more puzzled than ever. Soon they reached the bus stop, and in a matter of mere minutes they were at the meeting point in the Mahora Comercial District.

They found Kagurazaka Asuna, clad in a black skirt with gray T-shirt and matching shoes, waiting for them alone at a corner, keeping her arms crossed.

"Kagurazaka-san!" Negi ran up to her. "Good morning! You look good today!" He looked around. "Huh? But where's Konoe-san...?"

"Oh. Good morning, brat," she said, snapping out of her thoughtful silence. "Hello to you too, Prof and Chisame."

"Hi," Chisame neutrally replied.

"Has something happened to Konoka-san?" Hakase asked the redhead.

Asuna denied with her head. "Nah, nothing serious. She only had... a few last minute things she had to do. She asked me to tell you she's sorry."

"That's a pity," the boy sadly commented.

"And where are the Three Stooges?" Chisame questioned the taller girl.

"They always are late, everywhere," Asuna put the fingers of her right hand on her own forehead. "It takes them hours to stop powdering their noses before going anywhere." Then she scowled, seeing Chamo happily wagging his tail in circles while looking at her. "Ugh, why did you bring that rat? They won't let us walk into any decent restaurant carrying that!"

"That's what I was telling Sensei," Chisame sighed, defeated. "But he can be so stubborn at times..."

Negi gave her a wounded look. "I promise he won't be a bother. Last time, he felt so alone at home..."

Asuna, meanwhile, pointed a finger at the staff hanging from Negi's back. "Hey, brat. By the way, do you ALWAYS carry that stick around?"

"Yes, he does," Hasegawa replied for him once more.

"It's a precious family heirloom, Kagurazaka-san," the child answered very politely.

"I see..." Asuna said with some vague and lingering melancholy suddenly sweeping into her voice.

"Something wrong?" Chisame asked.

"No, no, nothing!" the Baka Red laughed it off, slapping herself on the back of the neck two times. "Never mind."

Hakase, meanwhile, seemed to be breathing easier. Honestly, she had been dreading the perspectives of close contact with Shiina ever since the confusing small incident at Iincho's pool. She couldn't tell exactly why, and certainly didn't want to at all, but still, the feeling was there. Now that was an area it was better left unexplored and undiscovered.

So naturally, the universe made itself sure to bring Shiina in roughly two seconds afterward.

"HELLOOOOO, EVERYONEEEEEEE!"

Satomi stiffened at the three chorusing voices coming from behind her. Chisame only groaned, while Asuna waved a hand at the newcomers, and Negi smiled at them with a hearty greeting. Chamo was doing his best to keep on acting as a simple normal pet, but his joy at meeting the cheering trio was still evident.

"Prof-chan! You came, after all!" Sakurako hugged her before anyone else, giggling and apparently not noticing her subtle discomfort at all.

"Urk," Hakase only could make a tiny awkward sound. Thankfully, Shiina let her go immediately to go hug Chisame and finally Negi. "Oh, and you too, Chisame-chan! And Negi-kun! Oh, I'm so happy!"

"You... You are welcome..." Negi eeped as Sakurako pressed her chest against his throat before dropping him down.

"Hey, Asuna!" Madoka gave the redhead five. "Where's Konoka?"

"Family matters," Asuna surmised with a shrug of her shoulders. "Nothing she could do about it. Sorry."

"Well, there's always a next week," Misa commented before patting Negi on the head. "Why, hello there, Negi-kun! Ready to have the day of your life at the city?"

"Yes!" he nodded firmly.

"Well, then, where do you want to go first?" the purple haired cheerleader... leader... asked him. "Shopping?"

"Karaoke?" Sakurako asked with a hopeful tone.

"The fair?" Madoka added in.

"I don't know..." he blinked. He had not planned that far; he had just assumed the girls would lead there. The boy turned his gaze towards Chisame for help, but she only waved her hands in front of herself and said,

"Anything's fine with me! Really!"

"Yeah, same thing here..." Satomi nodded softly.

Misa sighed and shook her head while closing her eyes. "What we have here is a serious case of people who doesn't know how to have fun."

"What do you suggest, Doctor Kakizaki?" Madoka asked her with a chuckle.

Misa grinned, lifting an index finger up. "Glad you asked, Nurse Kugimiya. My diagnose is a full day therapy of rest and relaxation! Starting with an overdose of window shopping, and buying this poor kid something decent to wear beyond those horribly boring formal suits!"

"There... there is no need for that!" Negi nervously chuckled.

"Oh, but we insist!" Misa cooed. "It's the least we can do for our dear teacher!"

Chisame could say from that point Misa only wanted an excuse to undress and dress him up.

Less than ten minutes later, Chisame had been proved to be right on her suspicions.

"Uwaa! No, Kakizaki-san, no! I can do that by myself!" his voice yelled from behind the curtains of the dressing stand at the store.

"Don't be so shy, Negi-kun!" Misa's voice musically laughed in a crystalline way from behind the same curtains. "Men always need help to dress up properly; otherwise you just make a mess out of yourselves. Now unfasten that buckle! The pants are next!"

The graying saleswoman waiting outside next to the other girls chuckled with a hand over her mouth. "He's a very respectful boy. That's strange to see in these times. Which one of you is his sister?"

"None of us," Satomi plainly said. "He's our homeroom teacher."

The woman was left speechless. "... Oh."

Negi re-emerged into sight wearing more casual pants and a solid black T-shirt with the stylized design of a white wing on his chest. "I think... I think I'll pick this one," he said.

"I told him to choose another thing," Misa bemoaned, "But he can be very stubborn. I can't believe he wants to wear that ugly black thing when he can wear something much cuter and more modern like... this!"

She held another T-shirt, this one displaying a colorful and extravagant rainbow design, up, for the others to see.

Chisame, Satomi, Asuna and Madoka all made disgusted faces.

"Actually, I can't blame him!" Asuna admitted.

"Seriously?" Sakurako pointed at the piece of clothing Misa favored. "I think this one's much better, too."

"They have no taste, Sakurako-chan. Let them be," Kakizaki feigned an offended humph.

"I'm sorry...!" Negi laughed weakly. "But for some reason, I really like this one," he looked down at the wing drawing. "It's... cool looking."

"Yeah," Asuna smiled. "Yeah, it is."

Then there was the briefest silence until Misa turned to the saleswoman. "So, how much is it?"

"Kakizaki-san, no!" Negi started. "I insist on paying for it!"

"Hush, hush," the violet haired girl silenced him. "I said it'd be on me, and I'll be offended if you contradict me."

Now that had managed to close his mouth down. "...Okay, sorry."

Chisame sighed to herself again. Honestly, he was just too easy to manipulate.

Act Five:

"YAHOOO! What a great weather!" Sakurako stretched her arms up as they all walked out into the street.

"You're so right!" Misa beamed, keeping Negi grabbed by an arm as he carried the bag with the folded suit he had taken off in his other hand. "Okay, let's buy some clothes for us now!"

"Ehhhh?" Sakurako blinked. "I thought we'd go to the karaoke after that!"

"That sounds good too," Misa agreed. "Fine, let's do it!"

"That can wait!" Madoka pointed at the other side of the avenue. "Look, the matinee session is about to start!"

They all looked to the movie theater heavily featured in the mall the black haired cheerleader pointed at. The large posters on its walls showed image after image of a tall, tough looking guy with huge sideburns and an even bigger brown Afro, holding a large gun in each hand.

"NABESHIN: THE MOVIE?" Negi said.

"I love American-style action movies!" Madoka gushed. "And remember, we have a blackout tonight, so we can't catch the evening show! We always can do the karaoke after we finish here!"

"Alright, it doesn't look that bad..." Asuna nodded thoughtfully. "I kinda liked the TV show, so the movie shouldn't be that bad..."

"The TV show was the best!" Madoka slammed her right fist against the open palm of her left hand. "It was amazing! I have all the DVDs!"

"Ahhh... Seriously?" Negi brightened up. "Sounds great...! We never had that show at Wales, but I'd like to see it!"

"Then let's go!" Misa began to pull him towards the mall. "You too, sleepyheads! Or we'll lose the best seats!"

"Come on, Prof-chan!" Predictably, Sakurako grabbed Hakase and similarly pulled her away with herself. Madoka simply strode right behind them, humming happily.

Chisame and Asuna dragged behind.

"I think it's a stupid show," Hasegawa confided in a low voice.

Asuna shrugged. "Not bad to kill some time off. If it makes them happy..."

Misa pampered on Negi again, buying him the tallest order of soda, popcorn and candy available. The teacher had thanked her with truly childlike enthusiasm, and silently, Chisame decided to let Kakizaki have her way with him for now. After all, he finally was behaving his age. That had to be a good thing. She firmly pushed aside the little voice in her head reminding her that was how child-molesters acted toward their marks…

They sat in the closest row to the screen they could find, although the theater was mostly full by then. Madoka first, then Asuna next to hers, then Chisame, with Hakase at her side. Sakurako and Satomi's other side, and Negi between her and Misa. Chamo chose to cuddle down into Misa's lap, rubbing himself too closely against her crotch for her comfort, although she still allowed him to stay there.

The 'NABESHIN' logo appeared on the giant screen as the classic music from the TV show started to play. Madoka swooned.

"His name is Watanabe Shinichi!" the narrator's voice began to boom through the theater. "A man with no past, a living legend traveling the world in a never ending journey for revenge... and justice!"

Two loud gunshots were heard, making Negi jump in place.

"It's all part of the classic opening!" Misa eased him down with a laugh. "Nothing else, Negi-kun!"

"Eh, heh heh, yes, sorry..." he quickly nodded.

"Along with his loyal allies, Antonio, Tetsuko the Mysterious Lady, and the Space Butler, Nabeshin fights the evil forces of the sinister Syndicate while looking for his wife and daughter!" the narrator continued.

"I heard he finally finds them in this movie," Madoka whispered to Asuna.

"Then the story ends here?" Asuna whispered back, disbelieving. "No way!"

"It doesn't," Chisame mumbled, annoyed, just to get them to shut up. "And if you don't keep quiet, I'll tell you all the spoilers I learned from the Internet."

"I thought you didn't like the show enough to-" Asuna started.

"Space Butler dies at mid-movie!" Chisame shot back without giving her any time to finish.

"AHH! STOP TALKING, YOU SPOILING FIEND! I'LL SHUT UP!" Madoka covered her ears with her hands just as the public behind her angrily hushed her.

"... Space Butler?" Negi babbled.

"It's... that kind of show..." Misa laughed weakly.

Act Six Point One:

The group watched how the Hero's car spun around in the air, then crashed back against the ground, giving several turns before stopping, with the cars of the bad guys gathering around it. As the Hero crawled out and began shooting his enemies dead, Asuna commented, "You know, I've always wondered why no one in those cars breaks his neck when that happens."

"That's very morbid, Asuna, " Madoka replied.

"But the car spins around, crashing against the ground several times, hard enough to end up a mess! I mean, I haven't ever been in one of those myself, but I figure there's a good chance of snapping your neck there."

"I figure there's a good chance of the audience snapping our necks if you don't keep it quiet, " Chisame hushed them.

Several murmurs of approval could be heard from the back rows.

Madoka whistled sinking into her seat. "I always wished to live dangerously."

"I see why you enrolled into Mahora, then," Chisame answered.

Act Six Point Two:

Negi really wanted to move his right arm.

The only problem being Misa wasn't letting it go.

"Kakizaki-san..." he whispered.

"Just call me Misa. What is it?"

"My arm is kind of numb..."

"Oh, dear! Never worry, I'll massage it so it feels better!"

"No, no! I only need—" He shuddered while her soft petite hands started to rub up and down his arm. "I-I only need—"

"Does it feel good, Negi-kun?" she playfully purred.

The responsible citizen part of Chisame that heard this pointed out Misa seemed to be trying to follow the plot of a hentai doujin. She told it to sit down and shut up.

"... Yes. That's exactly the problem," he squirmed.

"You need to relax. Let me work on that," she started massaging his shoulders now.

Yup, definitely the plot of a hentai doujin.

He gasped. "I-I-I think I need to use the restroom!"

"Oh! I can help you with—"

"NO, PLEASE!"

"— I only wanted to show you the way..."

At that point, Asuna felt compelled to ask, "Why would you know the way to the men's toilets?"

Someone must have finally gotten sick with the noise, because at that exact same moment, a discarded Pepsi can bounced on her head from behind.

Act Six Point Three:

With a sigh, Negi finally returned from the bathroom just in time to see his students watching at the screen with huge and paralyzed eyes.

"Girls? What's wro—" Then he looked at the screen again and understood. His jaw hung open at the sight of the current scene.

"Kumi-Kumi-san..." Nabeshin was lustily panting.

"Oh, Nabeshin..." the woman under him sighed.

Chisame rushed over to Negi and blocked his eyes with her hands. "Wh-Who the Hell decided this movie was PG?"

"Well..." Sakurako blinked, scratching her right cheek. "The shadows make a good job of hiding the worst parts, I think..."

Misa looked down at her own lap with disgust. "Negi-kun! Your ermine has—he has—!"

"Huh. That'll leave a stain," Hakase took a good look at it. "You should see how many of Chisame's panties he has—"

Chisame just grabbed the Pepsi can Asuna had crushed down and tossed it into Satomi's head before she could finish the sentence.

Act Six Point Four:

Misa returned wiping her hands clean and helplessly looking down at her skirt. "I'll need to buy a new one after we're out."

"I'm so deeply sorry, Kakizaki-san, " Negi apologized again, keeping Chamo now firmly seated on his knees.

Misa just gave him a casual hug. "Don't be. It's not your fault. So, what did I miss?"

"They have just revealed Tetsuko was really a man, and they tossed another two cans on Asuna's head, " Madoka whispered.

The redhead was rubbing her aching head. "Why do I have to be the target when you guys make noise?"

"The bells make you the most visible target in the dark?" Satomi postulated.

"Hush, hush!" Madoka said. "Look! Space Butler is about to—!"

"Adios... Amigos..." the man with the colorful hair had just pressed a button and blown himself to pieces along with his enemies.

"SPACE BUTLERRRRRR!" Nabeshin cried out. "NOOOOOOOOOO!"

"I still don't understand who was that man supposed to be, " Negi confessed softly.

"I'll lend you my DVD collection, " Madoka promised.

Negi still was puzzled. "Shouldn't they have made the movie more accessible for those who didn't watch the series?" he wondered.

"Yeah, like we did with the Ala Alba OVA?" Hakase dryly asked.

Everyone else just gave her a blunt and sudden 'Don't touch that topic' stare.

"... Sorry," she quickly fell back in character.

Act Six Point Five:

The climax was a really intense and frightening one, with all the aliens and ghosts and the hook-handed murderer and everything else. Intense enough to make Negi cling to Misa for emotional support, being harshfully reminded of a traumatic event in his past as soon as the snow began to fall around the combatants and the demons started to join the melee. Misa just smiled and cradled him against herself, under her arm.

Sakurako was doing the same thing with Hakase, much to the latter's awkward annoyance.

"Sakurako-san..." she whispered.

"Wh-What, Prof-chan...?"

"You don't need to grab me so strongly..."

"Sorry..." the cheerleader looked at her with huge pleading puppy eyes. "It's just this part is really, really scary..."

Satomi softened down a bit. "Very well, then... I guess..."

Then a guy was abruptly cut by half, and both Negi and Sakurako yelped, hugging their respective supporters even more tightly.

Misa and Satomi all but melted down.

"Man, this is lame," Asuna grunted. "The series was much better. It's as if they're throwing everything and the kitchen sink in, and it just isn't working at all. Don't you think the same, Chisame?"

No reply.

Asuna looked aside to see Hasegawa was just too busy drawing on a small notebook to notice her. The redhead saw she was scrawling sketches of the heroine's dress up.

"... Why are you doing that?"

"I DON'T DO COSPLAY!" Chisame shouted without looking at her.

"... Ah."

Another can landed on Asuna's head. She only sighed by this point.

Act Six Point Six:

"DIRECTOR-SAAAAAAAN!" the little girl wailed as she ran into her father's waiting arms.

"POEMI-CHANNNN!" Nabeshin caught her into a strong loving hug.

"Why does she call him 'Director'?" Negi asked in the lowest possible tone.

"I'll explain you later," Misa promised, with a finger over her lips.

Madoka sobbed, running a tissue over her wet eyes. "... Beautiful. The moment we waited for through six full seasons...!"

Then a gunshot was heard from nowhere, and the little girl fell down against her father's body.

"POEMI-CHANNNNNN!" Nabeshin cried. "NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The series' end theme began to sound as the words 'TO BE CONTINUED...' appeared in giant letters over the screen.

"...!" Madoka had her mouth fully open.

"So, the spoilers were right," Chisame huffed.

Yet another can landed on Asuna's head. The Baka Red had enough now; she sprang to her feet and tried to find her attacker in the darkness. "OKAY, THAT'S ENOUGH! WHO'S THE WISEGUY! WHO?"

A young couple carrying their four years old son was already scurrying through the back door.

"Honestly, Shin-chan!" the young mother was sweating cold. "We can't bring you anywhere!"

"Gimme a break, Misae!" the child giggled despite the large fresh bump on his head. "I couldn't resist the sound of those bells!"

Act Seven:

"'Explosions fix everything'", Misa laughed as they walked out of the theater, mimicking Nabeshin's voice, "Indeed! Well, that was fun! Now let's hit the shops again!"

"I dunno," Madoka looked at her wristwatch. "It's getting kinda late, and the blackout will start in a few hours. You sure we'll have enough time to do everything?"

"Yeah, I still want to hit the karaoke," Sakurako pouted.

"But I need to buy myself a new skirt now," Misa pointed down at the stain on her lap. "I'm not walking all the way back home with this!"

"It's just a simple stain..." Satomi said. "I get much worse ones on my clothes all the time, and yet I don't just throw them away..."

Misa gave her a brief condescending look. "No offense, Prof, but... some of us do have a social life to keep."

Hakase merely shrugged it off. "To each one with their priorities."

"Right," Misa said in the same tone.

Madoka rasped to break the sudden ice. "I have an idea...! Since we're so short in time, why don't we split in groups and have fun our own separate ways before going back home? We always can spend more time all together next week!"

"We can?" Chisame scowled.

"Ah, ha ha ha, of course we can..." Negi laughed stiffly to try and soften the blow of her bluntness. "Since we're on a short schedule, it's the best thing we can do..."

"Cool!" Misa grabbed him by an arm again. "Then you and me will go shopping for the rest of the afternoon!"

"N-Naturally, Kakizaki-san..." he agreed, still feeling guilty about Chamo's faux pas.

"Well, well!" Madoka said perhaps a bit too loud. "Then what if you come to the fair with me, Asuna-chan, Chisame-chan?"

"Us?" Chisame blinked.

"Why exactly us?" Asuna asked.

Kugimiya forced a wide grin as she wrapped an arm around each one's shoulders, nearly tugging them along with herself. "Because why not, dummies?" she chuckled. "C'mon, c'mon, don't tell me you're afraid of rollercoasters!"

Asuna brightened up. "I love rollercoasters! Have they added one to the local fair?"

"Last month, " the black haired cheerleader nodded.

"Then let's go!" Kagurazaka enthused.

"I don't like fairs that much..." Chisame began to protest.

"All the more reason for us to change your mind," Madoka insisted, now giving her a discreet 'Just play along, you idiot!' glare. "Come on, you won't regret it!"

"But... But where does that leave us?" Hakase doubted.

"You can go with Sakurako to the karaoke if you want," Misa proposed.

"But I've never been at a karaoke bar," Satomi lamely offered.

"There always must be a first time for everything," Misa pressed on.

Sakurako had her eyes very open, and a small trickle of sweat ran down her forehead. "R-Really, if Prof-chan doesn't want to go—"

Satomi paused at that, looking at the normally bubbly girl and feeling a tingle of something strange and unusual inside of herself. To determine exactly what it was, she attempted to compare it to other feelings she had gone through in the past, finally settling with a comparison with what she felt the time she blew the laboratory's roof off with an experimental rocket launcher.

Ah. Guilt.

"It's... It's not like I don't want to go with you..." she fumbled to find the right words. "It's just I... don't feel comfortable singing and doing such things..."

"D-Don't be silly!" Sakurako tried to laugh. "You have a very cute voice! It sounds like Kadowaki Mai's!"

"Who is that?" Hakase asked.

Misa chuckled while pulling Negi and Chamo along. "Well, it's better if we don't waste more time! We'll meet back at the Academy! And don't worry, Chisame-chan, I'll deliver Negi-kun right back at your door!"

"You'd better," Chisame mumbled under her breath.

"See you later, girls!" Negi waved a hand at them. "Please, return home early, okay?"

"The earlier we go, the earlier we'll finish, right?" Madoka chuckled, nearly dragging Asuna and Chisame along with herself in the opposite direction before pausing to give Hakase a wink. "Take good care of our Sakurako-chan, Prof!"

Satomi pointed at herself with a finger, incredulously. "Me?"

Next to her, Sakurako had fallen into a rather unusual for her silence, crossing her arms behind her back. As Madoka pulled the other two teens down the street despite Chisame's protests, she warily tilted her eyes towards Hakase. "So, um... You really sure you want to do this?"

Satomi sighed and wiped her glasses with a tissue. "Apparently I don't have an option, do I?"

Sakurako lowered her head a bit. "We can do anything else you want..."

Hakase pondered the offer, but then she caught glimpse of Shiina's oddly subdued expression, and for some reason, she felt buying spare parts was not that monumentally important for the time being. "I... I want to go to the karaoke, " she forced herself to say.

Apparently Sakurako bought it, judging from the return of her standard huge smile. "You do? Oh, that's just wonderful!"

Happily, she grabbed her by a hand and guided her down another boulevard. "The best karaoke bar I know is this way! I'm sure you'll love it!"

"Ah-hah," the teen genius said with resignation.

Vaguely, she wondered if the cheerleaders knew any way of leading people around that didn't involve dragging them off.

Act Eight:

"I feel ill," Chisame lamented as she stepped down and away from the rollercoaster, rubbing over her stomach with a hand.

"Tsk, you have no guts!" Asuna, fresh like a rose, shook her head disapprovingly.

"No, I think I lost them at that highest turn up there," the girl with glasses sat down to rest on a bench. The annoying music blaring all around them bothered her, not knowing where Misa would drag Sensei bothered her, but above it all, her revolting stomach bothered her. All that junk food she had devoured at the theater was taking its revanche.

Madoka sat down next to her, fanning her with a magazine she had bought before entering the fair. "Geez, Chisame, it wasn't that bad. Since when hadn't you rode a rollercoaster?"

The bespectacled girl sighed. Not since that time with Sora, when they were children...

"It's been a while," she simply said.

"I can say," Asuna sat down at her other side, extending her legs ahead in a careless way. She looked up at the sky, her hair bells softly tingling in the breeze. After a brief silence, she said, "How long before the blackout?"

Madoka looked at her wristwatch. "Lemme see. It starts at eight, right? Three hours from now on."

"Then maybe we should get back already," Asuna mused.

"I agree," Chisame nodded, feeling somewhat better now, at least physically. "I've had enough 'fun' for a day; I only want to tuck myself in bed and sleep for hours."

"Ditto here," Asuna added. "I have newspaper duty early tomorrow."

"Newspaper duty?" her brown haired classmate asked.

"Hadn't I ever told you? I have a job as a papergirl. It helps me to pay my studies," the redhead answered.

Chisame now remembered Asuna was an orphan, or at least she thought she was. Where had she heard it? Well, that didn't matter; what mattered was, should she say something now? Asuna was smiling in a distant, nearly nostalgic and resignated way, looking past the park's crowd and into the distance.

"Someday, I'll repay the Dean all he's done for me," she said. "I don't even know why has he bothered to help me, but he has given me pretty much everything. From paying my tuitions to letting me live with Konoka. So I'm saving as much as I can to make up for it."

The other two girls just watched her without finding the right words, until Asuna finally sighed.

"Sorry. I didn't want to bother you with my life story!"

"It's no bother, Asuna-chan!" Madoka tried to laugh, patting her on a shoulder. She tood up right afterwards. "Then let's get back home! Everyone else will find their own way back!"

"I wouldn't be so sure in Sensei and Hakase's cases," Chisame exhaled while following the two more outgoing teenagers. "She gets lost anywhere but at a lab, and he's as scatterbrained as they come."

"C'mon, c'mon!" Kugimiya chided her. "Don'tcha trust Misa and Sakurako?"

Chisame gave her a glare. "You live with them. Honestly, do you?"

Madoka blinked before laughing again. "You got me there! But really, inane as they are, they still are good and reliable people."

"Hmmmm," Chisame looked aside.

They kept on walking, now in silence, since Madoka's mood seemed to have sunk down a little after that. Until she finally said quietly, "I guess you deserve to know."

"To know what?" Asuna asked.

"No, not you, her," the cheerleader pointed to Hasegawa. "Look, Chisame, you do care about Hakase, right?"

Chisame grimaced. "What do you mean with that?"

"I mean, you live together; you are always helping her with her clothes. No doubt you must cook for her too, seeing how bad she's at Home Economics. It's like taking care of a child, right?" Madoka questioned.

"Now that you mention it, yes, my life's like a daycare center lately," Hasegawa had to admit. "Your point?"

"Well, not anyone would put up with that. Hell, I wouldn't do it, and I have no shortage of headaches looking after Sakurako and Misa, either," she conceded. "So I know you really must care about her. Other people may say you're stuck-up and arrogant, but I can respect you for what you are..."

Chisame narrowed her eyes. "WHO does say that?"

Madoka chuckled nervously. "W-Well, that's not to be discussed either now or here...!" she said, while behind Chisame, Asuna rolled her mismatched eyes around. The cheerleader grew serious. "What matters is, from one long suffering babysitter to another, I can understand your feelings. And I don't think you deserve being left in the dark about this."

"About what?" Hasegawa pressed on.

Madoka sighed. "Isn't it obvious? You must have seen how Sakurako was about going to the karaoke with Hakase. And you must have seen how she has been looking at her at classes, too! Chisame, Sakurako is a simple person, but she can be very hard to understand at times. I have no idea why does she feels that way, but-"

"Wait a moment," Chisame interrupted her.

Even Asuna was catching on. "You don't mean-!"

Madoka nodded reluctantly. "Yeah. That's why Misa and me set her up to go with her. We are pretty sure she likes Hakase."

Act Nine:

Negi patiently waited standing next to the dressing room, without making a single sound. He just kept his eyes fixed in a straight line ahead, without looking at anything in particular as he kept on waiting for Misa to finish trying the large amount of clothes she had picked up.

He was not really used to women who took so long with their dressing. Nekane had always been quick at everything she did, and Anya favored the fast and functional over the flashy and elaborate. Chisame never took long to dress up unless she was in her Internet hobby (which rarely happened when he was around), and Satomi... well, Satomi was happy putting on the closest thing at hand and calling it a done job.

Misa, he noticed, was very different, taking a long time, the rustling of cloth coming from inside again and again as she sweetly hummed a happy tune to herself. He remembered she was supposed to be at the school choir, and she truly had a beautiful voice.

A voice that now had just called on, "Negi-kun? Can you come in just a moment? Don't worry, I'm not naked," she lowered her tone a bit at that last part, although not enough to Negi's comfort.

"Oh, okay!" he walked in just to recoil with his face going crimson. Kakizaki had set her shoes aside, but also her skirt and blouse, standing with her back to him in nothing but stockings, bra and panties. All of them black, a far cry from her roommates' preference for white. He turned around just as quickly. "K-Kuh-Kakizaki-san! You said-!"

"I'm not naked," she calmly replied, cutting him off. "It's not worse than being in a bikini, really. And I need help with a zipper. I tried to put this on," she slipped into a red dress, which had its back fully unzipped, "But I can't reach all the way back. Normally, I'd ask Sakurako or Madoka for help, but..." She looked over her shoulder. "NEGI-KUN! You can look now!"

"Uh, s-sorry!" he tilted back... to face her back. Well, it at least was partially covered now. That was a start. "So..." he carefully grabbed the zipper up, "... Up all the way, right?"

"Right. But not too fast or hard, please. You might break it. It's very delicate. Take it slowly… yes, ease it like that… hmm, yesss…"

A woman who was passing by next to the dressing room blinked at hearing that coming from the inside, then sped away shaking her head to herself.

He zipped the dress up as best as he could. "It's ready, I think."

She turned aside to look at herself in the full body mirror, twisting around so she could see her own back, and then smiled widely. "It's perfect."

And she hugged Negi against herself without giving him a chance to escape, laughing melodically as she did so. "Thank you very much! You're a real sweetie!"

"Kuh-Kuhzzaki-samm, pleez!" his voice came muffled from where his face was buried between her modest, but decent sized and well rounded breasts. "Thss ss mmproper! Lemme go!"

She slapped his right shoulder playfully while allowing him to go and regain his erratic breath. "Oh, Negi-kun, everything's improper to you! But that's okay; it only makes you so much cuter!"

He sulked, pushing his glasses up his nose. "I'm your teacher; I'm not supposed to be cute..."

"Too bad you are," she grinned before walking out. "I'll take this one. As a reminder of the first time you saw me in my-"

"KAKIZAKI-SAN!"

"Just kidding, just kidding!"

From the corner of the dressing room he had been at, Chamo still was drooling all over the floor. He had seen such wonderful things for the last half hour... Being a small innocent looking animal was a true blessing sometimes.

Misa still was wearing the new red dress as the three walked back into the street, Negi now carrying two bags full with her latest buying. "Kakizaki-san, it's getting late..." he looked at the now reddish sky. "If we're late at the campus, the blackout will catch us outside..."

"Well, I'm counting on you to protect me," she winked an eye at him. Then the girl noticed he seemed truly worried and decided to humor him. "Oh, fine, you win. We'll go back home now. Happy?"

"Thank you. Sorry if I sound like a spoilsport," he apologized.

"You said it yourself, you're a teacher. You have to be a spoilsport," she joked. "But it's alright. Next Sunday, you can stop being a teacher for the day and just be my shopping spree pal again, can you?" the cheerleader asked.

He nodded. "Count on it!"

Chamo rejoiced as he followed them down the street.

Soon, however, Misa stopped abruptly. "Sensei! Look, over there!" she pointed at the other end of the avenue, with a repressed urgence in her voice. Negi followed her cue only to gasp at what his eyes wandered into.

Konoe Konoka, in a lovely fashionable yet sober and elegant white and red dress, sat at a restaurant, next to a large window, eating and cheerfully chatting with a young man seemingly in his early college years. He was very tall and handsome, with short black hair, and he wore a black suit with a white bowtie.

"Konoe-san...!" the child whispered.

Act Ten:

"What are they doing there?" Misa wondered as she took a strategic position behind a lamppost.

"Huh? Isn't it obvious?" Negi blinked. "They are eating and talking..."

The girl groaned. "I don't mean that, Negi-kun. I mean, why are they doing it? I never pegged Konoka as the type who would date older men behind her grandpa's back. Asuna, definitely, but not Konoka…"

"How do you know it's behind the Headmas-" he began, only to be silenced by a gesture of Misa.

"Because no grandpa would ever approve of that! Heck, mine spat fire when I started dating a boy my age..." she explained.

"Maybe he's only a relative..." the boy hazarded a guess.

"Only one way to know," Misa scowled, pulling her cellphone out. "I'm gonna call Asuna."

Negi sweated as the girl quickly pressed the phone's keys, then eagerly asked, "Hello? Asuna?"

Kagurazaka Asuna had already split from Chisame and Madoka, reaching the gates of the campus when she received the call. "Yeah, it's me. Misa? You still with the brat? You'd better return soon; Chisame may deny it, but I think she's very possessive about him..."

"Forget that!" Misa told her. "Do you know if Konoka has an older brother? Cousin? Tall, a hunk, black hair, perfect smile?"

"Huh...?" the redhead paused. "No, she's an only child, with no cousins I know of... Wait, why are you asking that?"

"Hold there a moment!" the cheerleader begged before taking a photo of the couple and sending it to Asuna through picture mail. Kagurazaka made a face when she saw her roommate's happy expression while Misa needled her on, "It's terrible! Her grandpa's going to disinherit her, I'm sure! What are we gonna do?"

Asuna's annoyed groan was loud enough for Negi to hear it. "Ah, that. Look, Misa, just don't get involved into it, okay? I'll explain it tomorrow. Just bring the twerp already and don't worry about Konoka, will you?"

"But, Asuna!" Misa all but yelled. "They might expel her from school! She might get pregnant, then forced into a loveless marriage! Or they could make her to abort, and she could die in the process, and-!""

"STOP JUMPING TO SUCH STUPID CONCLUSIONS AND JUST COME HERE WITH THE BRAT!" Asuna barked, then abruptly cut the call off. "Geez, those idiots!"

"Asuna?" Back at the shopping district, Misa blinked. "ASUNA! I can't believe it!" she madly fumed. "She dared to hang on me! The nerve of that idiot! She's Konoka's procuress, no doubt!"

"What's a procuress?" Negi questioned.

"Never mind that now," Misa moaned. "We have to get to the bottom of this! I can't believe that innocent looking girlie would get herself such a man before I did! Compared to that guy, my ex-boyfriend is a joke..."

Negi, with far less selfish purposes in mind, gave the unsuspecting couple a concerned look. "Then, do you think we should step in? If that man is taking advantage of Konoe-san, it's my duty to-"

Misa held him back grabbing him by an arm. "No, no!" She quickly waved for him to keep a low voice. "I want- I mean, we must learn more first. We won't get anything from confronting them. We should follow them around instead, to see who's leading who."

"That's indecent stalking and eavesdropping!" Negi was scandalized.

"We call it 'strategic compilation of key information' at Japan," Misa stated. "Now hide behind me, they're coming out..."

Indeed, the couple was leaving the restaurant now, happily walking down the street.

"Shouldn't you be going back home now, Konoka-chan?" he was asking her.

"I still have time, Mamo-chan!" she laughed. "You promised to help me with the suit first!"

"Suit?" Misa mumbled under her breath.

"Your guess is as good as mine..." Negi shrugged. He awkwardly followed Misa's lead down the street, with Chamo sticking to his heels.

Then he stopped briefly, looking back. Misa noticed, stopping as well to grab him again.

"Why are you doing that? If we aren't fast, we'll lose them!" she reminded him.

"Oh? Sorry! I just had a hunch someone was watching us..."

"You're just paranoid about Chisame's tyranny. C'mon! Hurry up!" she dragged him back to the chase.

Luckily, Konoka and the stranger had stopped as well, looking at the window shops of a large store of men's clothing. She was happily pointing at a formal tuxedo. "I love that one! Don't you think it's lovely, too?"

The young man laughed uneasily. "I guess I do! But I've never been big on tuxedos out of... special occasions! And even then, I prefer full evening wear..".

Konoka grabbed him by a hand and pulled him inside of the store. "Let's ask how much does it cost, Mamo-chan!"

"Sure, sure!" he easily agreed as they disappeared into the business.

From her hiding place behind what surely was the last mailbox at the 21th century's Mahora City, Misa's left eyebrow twitched insanely. "They're going... to marry!"

"SAY WHAT?" Negi's heart jumped up.

"It happens all the time! A rich young heiress is embezzled by a smarmy suitor who drains all her bank acounts and founds dead!" the cheerleader lectured. "Then she dies alone and forgotten, pregnant and barefoot at a seedy apartment, leaving two underfed children behind..."

Negi had started to sob. "Poor, poor Konoe-san...!"

A beat.

"Wait," the teacher sobered up. "Are you really sure that's a tuxedo for their wedding?"

Right then, Konoka walked out of the store humming happily while her companion carried a large package up. She turned to him smiling brightly. "Well, that's done! Now all I've left to do is to tell Grandpa! In the meanwhile, please keep the suit well hidden, will you, Mamo-chan? I don't want to spoil the surprise!"

"Oh, it's going to be a surprise, all right..." Misa whispered bitterly while Negi went pale. Chamo only chuckled perversely.

"Whatever you say, Konoka-chan," the tall man was saying. "Are you sure you don't want me to-"

"No, you don't need to, silly!" she laughed. "The girls will get ideas if they see you with me. I'll be okay, really. I know my way back perfectly."

He caved in. "As you wish. Take care."

"You too, Mamo-chan," She rose up to give him a chaste kiss on a cheek. "Goodbye."

Now that blew Misa and Negi's minds up.

They still were stunned when they noticed Konoka starting to walk away alone, heading back to the Academy, as happy as she ever could be.

"A-After her!" Misa urged.

"Y-Yessir!" Mr. Springfield followed her as quickly as he could. Still, they had to keep a distance, and some traffic lights on their way made them to lose track of Konoka for a few moments. When they finally caught back to her after turning a corner, they learned they all had taken a wrong turn leading to a very narrow street where two tall and punkish looking boys were harassing Konoka. One of them had a bandaged hand, as if it had been broken recently.

"-all we sayin' is you shouldn't be walking all alone, Imouto-chan..." the taller one lasciviously crooned.

"Yeah, what if we protect you all the way to your home..." the other one offered.

"No, thanks," Konoka cutely pouted, standing her ground unafraid. "I can take care of myself. Please let me go."

"Don't be sto stuffy, Imouto-chan..." the taller one chuckled. "We ain't goin' to hurt you..."

"Konoe-san!" Without thinking about it, and paying no attention to Misa's attempt to hold him back, Negi stepped ahead in Konoka's defense...

... only to find out someone had just beaten him to it.

"I'm sure you won't," a calm, yet icy and stern female voice had just spoken, as a small, thin figure stepped in a flash, seemingly out of nowhere, between Konoka and the thugs.

Negi gasped in recognition. Student Number Fifteen of 2-A.

The Konoe girl inhaled deeply. "Setchan...!"

Interlude:

Chiba Mamoru sighed to himself while walking back towards his apartment building. Spending a day with Konoka-chan was enough to drain anyone's energy off. Worse than any 'Orphan', in a way.

He smiled with absent fondness. The girl, despite being too much for him to cope with, was still someone you couldn't help but being fond about. Even if only as a little sister of sorts.

He still was lost in those thoughts when he found two other girls standing on his way, before a large videogame shop. One of them had long, very long, golden blond hair, blue eyes and a red bow on the top of her head. Her companion was a bit shorter and thinner, with very short hair that was black in a nearly blueish tone, and while the blonde had a hyper, nervous expression on her face, this one had a very subdued and graceful semblance to her. Both wore casual clothes fitting girls of their age, and a small white cat sat next to the blond one's feet.

The girl with the bow angrily sipped on a can of Pepsi through a straw, while keeping her eyes fixed on the publicities displayed at the store. Walking closer, Mamoru could see they were announcements for the upcoming Sailor V videogame.

"I can't believe it..." the blonde muttered to herself, unaware of his proximity. "It's not fair... I'll never see a dime of royalties..."

Her friend laughed shakily. "Why would you see royalties out of it, Minako-chan...? For that matter, how would they know where to send it?"

The taller girl snorted in a highly unladylike fashion. "It's the principle of the thing!"

She sighed and finished her can, then carelessly threw it behind, over her shoulder. "I'm busted now, Ami-chan. Let's just head back home before the Old Man turns the lights off."

Unfortunately, the can had flown to crash against the face of a now rather annoyed young man who tapped on her shoulder from behind. Instinctively, the girl jerked back and away from him, assuming an oddly experienced fighting stance. "Hey you, pal! What's the big idea? Keep those hands off us!"

"Keep YOUR cans out of my face then, Missy!" he angrily replied, pushing the Pepsi down into her hands. Then he looked at both girls' awkwardly blushing faces and realized he hadn't chosen exactly the best words. "I, I mean, just look where do you toss things, will you? Careless kid... that's littering, that's what it is…"

"Well, forgive my hideous crime, will you?" the blond teen fumed. "I didn't mean to hit your supermodel face, but I'll still pay for the operations!"

He huffed, passing by along. "Save them for yourself!"

She tightened her fists and stuck her tongue out to him. "Idiot!"

But then she paused for a second, as she looked at his profile just as it turned away from him. "Hey, wait there a moment. Haven't I seen you somewhere before?"

He never stopped walking. "I'm sure I'd remember such an ugly and rude girl if I ever met you before."

"RUDE?" she exploded, making a myriad of obscene gestures at him. "You prissy nancy-boy, to find a rude person, just look into a mirror! Slimeball!"

"Minako-chan, please..." her calmer friend objected softly. "There's no need for scenes..."

"You're right!" she grumbled, spinning around to walk in the exact opposite direction to his, and towards the Academy. "Let's go, Ami-chan, Artemis! There's no point on wasting saliva on him!"

The shorter girl and the cat sighed in powerless frustration while following her away.

That made Mamoru to stop for only a second, mildly intrigued, before keeping on walking his way as well.

Funny. He never had heard a cat sigh before.

Act Eleven:

For some ubiquitously obvious, yet also impossible to precise reason that fully befuddled Hakase, she was feeling even worse and more at unease than she had expected.

She sat in perfect silence staring at the completely happy looking and peppy Sakurako, who had taken over the small stage with her usual energy, the words musically flowing out of her in an almost supernatural way.

And Hakase didn't have the slightest idea about if she should feel impressed, embarrassed, or simply bored. Whatever the case was, she was idly regretting not taking on the offer to do something else and going to buy the spare parts now.

She didn't want to be there, no matter how beautiful and energetic Shiina's voice was.

"Ponpon futte futte furimakutte

saigo mo kihon mune no mae de kurosu!

L · O · V · E raburii honjitsu mo owari ne

ponpon areba nani mo nozomanai wa!"

"Dakedo tama ni namida ga dechau no yo

onna no ko desu mono!"

As the final chords of the music died down, the cheerleader, breathing heavier and with a wonderful smile, turned around to face the nearly expresionless scientist again. "Did you like it, Prof-chan?" she eagerly asked.

"Um, why, yes, it was... harmonically well constructed, and fitting all the esthetic properties of popularly accepted musical parameters I am familiar with..." Satomi nodded with slowness, more or less sure of having chosen the right words.

Sakurako blinked cluelessly before melodically giggling once more. "Oh, Prof-chan! The good thing about your flattery is knowing how much effort you put into wording it!"

Hakase nodded firmly and held her chin high. "I've always been a big believer of the need to express your ideas precisely through a rich vocabulary."

"Good!" Sakurako nodded back like a puppy on sugar, handing her the microphone. "Then put that vocabulary to good musical use! Sing a song for me, please?"

Satomi's hands fidgeted clumsily around the mike. "I don't know..."

"Only one song!" Sakurako asked, putting her hands together. "Then we'll go back home! But I really, really want to hear you singing! It's not fair I got to sing three times and you never did it!"

"But music isn't my field of expertise at all..." she attempted to protest.

"Well, you gotta start at some point, don't you? Don't worry, I'll pick the right song for you..." the cheerleader hummed spinning back and beginning to search through the selection of available themes. "Hmm, there's gotta be something here that suits you..."

Hakase cutely groaned to herself, closing her eyes. Even looking at Sakurako was awkward now, as the bubbly girl waved her hips and backside almost as if in purpose, in a way that was proving to be disturbingly stirring for the black haired teen. Strange, non-scientific and purely hormonal thoughts nibbled treacherously at the edges of her mind…

Slowly, Satomi half-opened her eyes back. Yes, Sakurako was, sure enough, still moving her perky posterior around to left and right, and if the innocent look on the cheerleader's face had not been combined with the inventor's utter ignorance on the matters of feminine seduction, the latter would have started suspecting of a deliberate ploy to entice her. Or not. It was, after all, still Hakase we're talking about.

Still, as it was, it was enough to make her close her eyes again, with a pale shade of pink appearing over her upper cheeks and the bridge of her nose.

Act Twelve:

Negi stood paralyzed by uncertainty as Sakurazaki Setsuna calmly finished stepping in between Konoka and her two harassers.

Konoka had just seen him, too, staring at him with wide, shocked eyes. "Negi-kun...? What are you doing here? And you too, Misa-chan?"

Before he could reply, the large bully with the bandaged hand angrily stepped forward until he almost was grabbing the unfazed Setsuna. "Hey, you her sister?" he asked. "I don't like the way you're looking at us. We only were being nice to her, that's all. If anything, you should be thankful..."

"She asked you to let her go her way," Sakurazaki countered coldly. "If you had truly tried to be helpful to her, you'd have honored her wishes."

"You little stuck up witch..." the large boy growled into her face. "Don't try telling us what to do..."

"Leave that girl alone!" Negi was now firmly advancing towards the older boys, holding his staff between his hands, despite Misa's panicked stare and Konoka's attempt to hold him by a sleeve.

The bigger ruffian scoffed at him. "Dammit, is everyone a white knight now? Stay outta this, brat, or I'll push that stick out your-

Then his friend nervously tugged on his shirt several times, pointing at something over Setsuna's shoulder . "D-Dude! Look at that! The chick's carrying a s-sword!"

The lead bully looked as well, only then noticing the long sheath the petite girl was carrying around. That stunned him for a moment, but as he saw the others' eyes fixed on him, he decided to gather his courage up. "S-So what? No scrawny chick with a training sword's going to scare me! I've been in many actual fights, and that beats that stupid staged Dojo crap!"

"Buh-buh-but!" His pal had gone ghastly pale, "Remember the maid chick the other night! She was tiny and skinny, too!"

"Lightning never hits the same spot twice!" Enraged, the huge boy grabbed a long and rusty discarded steel pipe from a nearby trash can and held a fighting stance against Setsuna. "If you wanna problems, kiddo, I'm your man! Don't think I'll go easy on you just because you're a skirt!"

"Okay, that's enough!" Negi stomped ahead. "I'm going to discipline you severely, then to denounce you to the Headmaster!"

However, Setsuna stopped him on his tracks with a gesture of a hand, her left arm blocking his way. "Negi-sensei. Please leave this to me."

"You don't know who are you messin' with, Imouto-chan!" the thug mocked, ignoring the screaming pain in his messed up hand as it gripped the pipe. "Just give it up now while you still have that pretty face!"

Setsuna merely looked up and down at him as if measuring him up before deadpanning, "I don't need to offend my sword by using it against you."

"WHAT?" he shouted. "Miserable moron, you-"

Then all of a sudden he had a small but steely fist smashed up against his chin. He felt his jaw cracking, and a piercing pain to make its way very quickly up to his brain, and then his limbs fell like jelly. The pipe fell from his fingers as his eyes went blank, and right after it, his body plummeted down on his back, unconscious.

Misa and Negi stared with widely open mouths.

"One punch..." Konoka whispered with awe, "... ONE PUNCH! WAIIIII! SET-CHAN, YOU'RE SOOO COOL!"

With an uncomfortable red shade very briefly covering her features, the swordsgirl got over it by shooting the remaining delinquent a blunt glare. "Will you let us pass now?"

"Y-Y-You're welcome!" the smaller thug bowed very fast, stepping aside so much his back nearly drilled through a wall.

"Thank you," Setsuna politely bowed back before grabbing the delighted Konoka by a hand and walking away with her. Misa followed them very quickly, making sure to walk a few steps over the fallen delinquent's body, then shooting the other one a mocking gaze, a hand perched on a hip.

Finally, Negi gave the KOed guy a concerned, analytical look before deciding he should be okay. The child looked at the terrified thinner punk and asked him, "Please start being gentlemen to girls, okay?"

"O-O-Okay with me!"

"Good!" he smiled, not really noticing Chamo was peeing on the sleeping boy's face before skipping after him.

Once the hapless ruffian was left alone with his buddy, he looked down at him and muttered, "I really gotta stop hangin' around with you... maybe I should start spending this time with my little sister… "

And thus he would go to walk into one of those kinds of manga.

Act Thirteen:

"Tarinai mono wa tetsubun? Mineraru?

Ikura tottemo ohada ga arechau.

Koi no menseki, yuuki kakeru yume, purasu shokuyoku kakeru san ten ichi yon..."

With the lyrics displayed in front of her finished, Hakase allowed herself to breathe again at last, slumping her shoulders down and closing her eyes. She felt so stupid, standing there in a dress (a dress!) with a microphone in hand, Shiina Sakurako clapping and clapping at the fruits of her public embarrassment. She only counted herself fortunate Chisame was not there to see her.

"You did very well, Prof-chan!" Sakurako remarked, pointing at her electronic scoreboard. "Look! You got a 68%!"

"Sixty Eight?" Satomi looked at it in panic. "It can't be! I'm not used to get anything below 98% in tests! It must be broken! I shall repair it!" She feverishly pulled a few tools out of her dress and marched towards the scoreboard.

"No, Prof-chan, no!" Shiina had to step in between them before Hakase could rebuild the karaoke bar's pride into some sort of deadly engine of mass destruction. Or maybe a toaster. Or a toaster of mass destruction. "It's not a standard test system! It just measures your singing!"

That only made her to blink. "... Is my voice THAT unpleasant?"

"No, no!" Sakurako shook her head vigorously. "It's just they have very high standards, and you still lack experience! I told you, your voice is very cute!"

"Oh..." the mad scientist paused uncomfortably. "Oh. I understand. Yes, I have never devoted too much time to my vocalization, I'm afraid, other than my attempts at improving my intonation for the University lectures. Yes. Well, leaving that aside, can we depart now?" She looked up at the wall's clock. "I, um, have important matters to attend to..."

For a moment, the cheerleader's eternally cheerful attitude dropped down as her cutesy face betrayed a quick pang of disappointment. But she lifted her spirits back up just as soon. "Sure! Negi-kun and the others must be waiting for us, after all!"

As they left the place and walked down the boulevard, Sakurako, against her customs, kept her gaze low and humble. "Prof-chan...?" she asked at last.

"Yes?"

"Did you have fun today?"

"Huh?" She doubted. "Oh, yes, I suppose I did. It was interesting to analyze all the displays of special effects in the movie. I could see some seriously advanced displays of computer imagery there, although I am of the opinion more could be done by developing the fields of animatronics, currently mostly displaced by the usage of CGI. We are attempting some interesting applications of mechanics in the making of filmography at the Club at this very moment. Suzumiya-san from High School Class 1-E is interested on hiring our services for some sci-fi motion picture she intends to create..."

"Ah," Sakurako crossed her arms behind her back, kicking a random pebble. "And... what about the time we two spent... alone? At the karaoke?"

Satomi chuckled bashfully. "Like I said, I'm not a good singer. I'm sorry to have punished your sense of hearing with my voice..."

Shiina gave her a half-hearted punch in an arm. "And I told you your voice is way cute! Don't be so harsh on yourself!"

"No. Your voice is pleasing. Mine never could possibly match it," the genius declared.

Sakurako blushed a bit. "Thanks."

"For what?"

"For telling me you like my voice. Also, for spending some time with me. To be honest, I was... afraid you wouldn't want to."

"Well, it's true we have very different interests..."

"I guess we do," Shiina softly said. "Still, Pro-Satomi-chan, do you think two people... with very different interests... can be, errr, really, really good friends...?"

"Gee, I... I dunno," Hakase cluelessly scratched her chin. "Maybe you shouldn't be asking me. I have very few friends. The best one wa- is Chao, and we do have many common hobbies and preferences..."

"But you have Chisame-chan too," the other girl argued.

"Well, Chisame's case is... special. We are roommates, so of course we must spend a lot of time together."

"But she's still a very close friend to you, isn't she?"

Hakase paused, deeply reviewing her thoughts concerning Chisame at the best of her rather stiff and slightly dusty emotional capacities. How did she feel about Chisame, anyway? She was not a friend in the sense Chao was. With Chao, she could sit down and chat on the things they both were passionate about. With Chisame, however, it was more of an unspoken relationship between them. They clicked to some level, true, but it always was more due to a wordless agreement of sorts; Chisame led, Satomi followed. It was the most comfortable arrangement for both of them.

"I suppose it's like it must feel to have an older sister," she guessed aloud. Still, some remote part of her asked herself if there wasn't something else to it. Some other reason why she had always followed Chisame's cues. Some other explanation for the vague but warm fondness she, all things considered, felt towards her.

"You don't have siblings of your own, Satomi-chan?" Shiina asked.

"No. Father and Mother never saw the need for it."

"Mom couldn't ever get pregnant again after I was born," Sakurako mused, then giggled, "She always tells me that's why they spoiled me. I'm their eternal baby."

Hakase actually smiled at that. "But you got two sisters of your own here."

"Yeah!" Sakurako smiled back. "Misa and Madoka are like the sisters I never had. I'd be lost without them. Lost in... everything..."

She stopped abruptly, placing a hand over her own chest.

"Shiina-san?" Satomi also stopped, looking at her. "Are you feeling okay?"

"No... I don't think so..."

Hakase grabbed her cheeks, checking her temperature. "Your body heat seems to be somewhat above the average, and your skin presents a sudden spike in pigmentation. Perhaps you have suffered sunstroke? Weird, since the sun's almost gone down now. Wait a second, I'm nearly sure I brought a rectal thermometer just in case. I must have it somewhere in this stupid dress..."

Sakurako stopped her, grabbing her hands urgently. "No. It isn't that. It's... Please, listen to me. Please. I don't know why do I... why do I feel this, but I have to tell you. Yes, we have nothing in common. Yes, maybe this is stupid... and maybe I'm destroying any chance we have to build a true friendship, but I can't take it anymore! Misa and Madoka told me I had to be honest with my feelings, and now I see they're right!"

Hakase arched her eyebrows. "Shiina-san, are you sure you aren't experiencing signs of mental distress? Slight hallucinations, perhaps? Intense aches in your skull and distancing with reality?"

"I beg you, listen to me!" Sakurako grabbed her by the shoulders. "Saying this is already too hard... the hardest thing I've ever done... Don't make it any harder, please..."

Hakase cringed, somewhat unnerved at that point. "What is it?"

"I- I-"

"What is it?"

"I- I-!"

"What?"

"I can't say it, I just-!"

"What do you mean with 'I can't say it'? What could possibly be complicated enough between us for you to be unable to convey it with words? What?" Hakase had grown frankly impatient now, only wanting to return to Negi and Chisame's side.

For a moment, Sakurako shrunk under her stare with watery eyes, a far image from her habitual happy go lucky self. She shivered fearfully, but when Satomi grew annoyed and began to turn around to leave, a newfound resolve seemed to suddenly grip the cheerleader. She breathed very deeply and sprang forward, with the expression of someone who has nothing to lose left.

And caught Satomi's lips with her own in a mouth to mouth kiss.

Act Fourteen:

"Ah, ha ha ha ha ha!" Misa laughed loudly as she walked next to Konoka. "Setsuna, now that was something to see! You were awesome! How could you do that? I mean, a single punch! Don't tell me you lift weights, because you sure don't have a bodybuilder's arms!"

Sakurazaki looked aside uncomfortably. She marched ahead of the group, with Negi walking right behind her, looking up at her in awe.

"It... was nothing," the pale skinned girl finally spoke reluctantly. "The practice of the sword demands for your body to be as finely honed as possible. As sharp as your blade is."

"Setchan has been very into swordplay since she was little," Konoka helpfully explained.

Misa blinked. "Oh? Have you two known each other since then?"

"Yeah!" the Konoe heiress nodded very happily.

"Only for a short time," Setsuna managed to say between clenched teeth before changing the subject. Negi idly wondered why had her cheeks flushed so red for a moment. "In any instance, why were the two of you wandering across this area, Negi-sensei, Kakizaki-san?"

"We were on a date!" Misa beamed without hesitation.

Negi choked on his own saliva. "K-KAKIZAKI-SAN!"

"Bwa ha ha ha! I was just joking!" she said. "No, actually, we were hanging out with Madoka-chan, Sakurako-chan, Asuna, Chisame and the Prof, but we had to split so we all could finish our own things in time. That's all. We were just passing by. Yeah. Not like we were following you at all because we were concerned you might be making a mistake and potentially ruining your future, Konoka-chan. We'd never do that, no."

"Yes, I'm sorry I couldn't go with you!" Konoka nodded. "Grandpa had forgotten to tell me I had to go out in an omiai."

"What's an omiai?" Negi asked.

"It's basically an arranged date with a candidate for future marriage..." Konoka began to explain, but then Negi gasped aloud for air.

"ARE YOU GOING TO MARRY?"

"Well, no, not yet!" the rich girl laughed easily. "Grandpa sets me up in those all the time. Sometimes I think it's some kind of hobby for him," she joked.

Setsuna mumbled, her head hanging down. "Please don't say that. Konoemon-sama only has your best interests and your family's in mind."

"Ha ha, I know, Setchan," she waved her concern away. "It's just he can get very insistent about it at times. Would you believe he used to have four security guards going with us at first? Luckily, he dropped that out for the most recent omiais. God knows it was embarrassing..."

The secret reason why Konoemon had stopped using his guards to follow his granddaughter around rasped uneasily.

"You mean he sets you up in dates with rich hot guys all the time?" Misa's eyes had grown impossibly wide. "I'd kill for a grandpa like that!"

"Well, not all of them are that cute," Konoka pouted. "And most of them are very boring. And besides..." she briefly closed her eyes and smiled, "My tastes lean in another direction."

" ... Okay," Misa said. "How about you, 'Set-chan'? What were you doing around here?"

The swordgirl's left eyebrow twitched very briefly. "Please don't call me like that. And I was, um, only passing by. Just like you. Yes, only that."

"My, my!" Konoka giggled. "It's a small world, after all!"

It hadn't been that small, however, since it had taken them all the time used in that conversation to reach the bus stop to Mahora. As they stood there to wait for the vehicle, Misa turned again towards the heiress to ask, "By the way, who were you forced to date today?"

"Oh, the son of some old friends of our family. Chiba Mamoru-kun, currently a junior Medicine student at college. He lost his parents at a very early age, so he grew up mostly alone," her voice became slightly sad. "He always puts a content facade, but you can tell he's missing a lot in his life."

Then she sighed. "We've known each other a long time. I worry about him. He doesn't seem to get out a lot, doesn't really have any hobbies, no home-life to speak of… all he has is his school work and an empty house"

Setsuna briefly looked aside again, and Negi lowered his head thoughtfully.

Misa looked at them all with some puzzlement, even ignoring the way Chamo had placed himself under her skirt to look up it, but before she could ask them what there was in their minds now, the bus arrived to the station.

Act Fifteen:

Meanwhile, At The Hall of Justice… Err, I mean, at the other side of the Shopping District:

It certainly was very, very different from kissing Negi.

Sensei's lips were like sweetened butter, very soft and tender, passive and malleable against her mouth. In contrast, Sakurako's lips were spicier, with a slight added tingle of cinnamon. Not coarse or hard at all, but nowhere as soft as Negi's. And much more active.

Hakase kept her eyes wide open in shock as the other girl kept hers very firmly closed. Sakurako's face was bright crimson, and her heartbeat was loud and strong enough to be noticeable through their clothing as their chests came closer together, both girls clumsily struggling to keep their footing for a few moments, until Sakurako finally pulled her face back, breathing in a ragged, desperate fashion.

"Shi-Shiina-san..." Satomi stammered, not really remembering they were at a public place and a few bystanders had briefly stopped to gape at them (and of course take pictures) in astounded silence.

"I'm so sorry!" Sakurako made a few tiny sobs, lowering her head as much as she could. "I know you'll hate me now! I shouldn't have done that, and I know I'm an idiot..."

"Why, Shiina-san?" Even now, Satomi's curiosity was everpresent. "Why have you done this?"

"I don't know..." the cheerleader lamented, pinching the bridge of her nose in defeat. "It... It started very slowly. I would see you day after day at classes, always working on something. It took me a whole year to notice I liked you. And I still can't say why. I just... do. I thought you were so smart, so capable, so cool..."

"Me? 'Cool'?" Satomi wrinkled her nose. "Excuse me, I don't quite believe that term and me belong to the same sentence, unless its meaning has changed since the last time I heard it. Which might be true, since I last heard it when I was..." she tried to remember, "Ah. Nine."

Sakurako almost chuckled, shakily. "See, I like that about you, too! You're just so honest, so true to yourself. You don't care about the opinions of others, you just make your own way. I think that's the coolest thing ever."

"Stop it, please," Satomi asked, holding her hands up.

"Sorry," the more popular girl sniffed. "I didn't mean to embarrass you in public like this. Many times, I tried to leave a secret love letter at your locker, but it always had all those defense mechanisms..."

"Naturally. I keep important diagrams and schematics there. I cannot allow them to fall into rival hands..." Hakase paused. "Wait, so that's why I always found burnt envelopes around it! I believed someone was sending me anthrax..."

"The lasers always were very hard to escape from," Shiina nodded, biting her lower lip. "And the metallic arms. And the mini-cannons were even scarier. And the metal tentacles..."

"I'm amazed you managed to avoid them," the genius commented. "Perhaps this 'Power of Love' merits a closer examination as a source of energy..."

Sakurako dared to give her a hopeful look. "You mean...?"

For once, Satomi got the cue and blushed, madly waving her hands away. "Ah, ah, ah, sorry! I'm-I'm not sure I can return your feelings!"

Now that seemed to crush the other girl down, although she attempted to rebound back quickly. "... Oh. I see. I knew it. Yeah, it was obvious. I won't hold anything against you if you decide to hate me..."

Satomi grimaced, unsure of what to reply. Her lips moved, but she made no sound, too distracted by the sudden renewed flavor of Sakurako's mouth in her own as the saliva started to moisten it up again. It all would have been easier if her heart just stopped beating so fast. As it was, she couldn't even begin to think of a decent answer that didn't involve a 'Let's Never Talk About This Again' or a 'Let's Go to my Lab, I'd like to Run a Few Medical Tests on You' (though a part of her found the latter option very appealing…). Fortunately or not, Sakurako chose to simply ask her another question instead of waiting for her comeback until the next Ice Age.

"S-Satomi-chan, you... D-Do you like someone else?"

"I like... science," she lamely blabbered.

"I don't mean that. I mean, don't you love anyone?"

"I love... science," she lamely repeated.

"I'm talking about living human beings," Sakurako sighed.

For a moment, Satomi's brain froze once again, her whole brilliant mind suddenly displaying nothing but a portrait of Negi and Chisame standing together.

She quickly shook her head to dispel the mundane, yet utterly disturbing (maybe because, for some enigmatic reason, they both were in their underwear) image out of her brain. Shuddering a bit, she only could hum a vague, "Well... Actually..."

"You like Negi-kun, don't you?" Sakurako asked.

Hakase munched on her lower lip (which, damn it, still tasted so good! And why was the back of her mind starting to wonder how Sensei's lips mixed with Sakurako's taste like? Wait, and Chisame's too? What had happened to her? Food poisoning?) trying to make sense out of the whole situation. If only Shiina could stop talking for two years or so to give her time to regain her bearings and wits...

"N-Negi... kun...?" she repeated, her voice as stiff as a board.

Sakurako nodded, understanding. "It's okay. Everyone likes Negi-kun."

"I don't-" she started to protest, then closed her mouth and ran a hand over her face. "I don't feel too healthy. Please, let's just get back to the Academy."

Swiftly, she spun around on her heels and began marching away at a brisk place, pushing her way absently through the small crowd of gathered onlookers, a few of which were taking sketches muttering something about Yuri manga fodder. After a few moments of flushed hesitation, Sakurako raced after her.

Maybe someday. She trusted her luck.

Act Sixteen:

"This is Mahora Academy's Student Council President Fujino Shizuru, reminding all our students the scheduled blackout is about to begin, and it will last until midnight," a young woman's pleasant, sedated voice, with a thick yet easygoing Kyoto accent, sounded all across the campus carried out by nearly every public speaker at the grounds. "Starting now, all electric lights at Mahora will go out for the next four hours. New students are advised not to panic, since this is a perfectly normal occurrence. All students are ordered by Headmaster Konoe and the Student Council to stay at their residences under curfew until the blackout is over, for your own safety. Any abnormal incident should be immediately reported to our offices. Please be careful everyone, as we do not want a repeat of the Mass Spin The Bottle Incident of '99. Thank you all, and have a very good night."

Just as she finished relaying her message, the lights began to die all over the campus, from north to south, from east to west. Darkness blanketed the whole school and its surroundings, accompanied by a chilly wailing breeze from the hills.

The church's big clock rang eight times, its bells tolling in a nearly haunting fashion.

Nagase Kaede looked out her room's window with a smirk. "Well, well, it has started-de gozaru. We have to be careful now, girls. They say the specters of Mahora choose these moments to roam around looking for brides-de gozaru..."

Narutaki Fumika trembled, hiding under her bedsheets with only her face peeking out. "Aiiieee! Don't say that, Kaede-neechan!"

"Yeah, you'll invoke the ghosts if you mention them now," Fumika's twin sister nodded from where she sat next to the bed. "Dragging their chains along, with their long fangs dripping blood..."

"Oneechan!" Fumika whined, tossing a pillow at her head. "You're only making it worse!"

Kaede chuckled as the twins started a pillow fight in the room's darkness. The tall girl relaxed back and enjoyed a sniff of the cold air blowing from the mountains.

At High School Classroom 2-F, a vintage old school Mahora spirit was shivering fear of her own, cuddling for dear non-life against the pale, covered-by-thick-blankets, thin body of the classroom's shut-in. "Kiri-chan, I'm scared...!" the ghost whimpered, tightening her eyes closed. "I've heard too many horrible things about these blackouts! What if there are scary ghosts...?-!"

"Nothing will happen as long as we stay inside, Sayo-chan," Komori Kiri quietly, confidently stated, sipping from a small cup of green tea. "Here we are safe. Only the outside world can ever hurt you." She paused. "And why exactly are you scared of ghosts?"

"They're creepy!" Sayo said. "I once saw this movie about a ring and a well…!"

"But Sayo-chan, you're a ghost," Kiri said, pulling out a mirror so Sayo could see herself. Somehow. Despite being a ghost. We're as puzzled as you.

"AH!" Sayo wailed. "A GHOST! A SCARY GHOST! DANNY PHANTOM, HELP ME!"

Meanwhile, at yet another private room wrapped in shadows, three girls sat around a small table under the faint light of candles, all of them staring at the delicious looking cake placed between them.

Finally, the short haired Hitou Nami broke the tense silence with a nervous giggle. "It almost looks like we're about to celebrate someone's birthday here! Although the mood's not exactly the happiest one..."

"I'm sorry my presence has cast such a dark shadow upon all of you," the shy girl sitting at her right averted her glare, tightening her small fists on her own knees. "It's always like this, wherever I go... Maybe you should be better if I walked out to stay at the hall? Or is that still too close?"

"Nonsense, Kaga-san," the teenager with the long black hair scoffed matter-of-factly, her voice prim and proper to nearly parodical extremes. "You need to start valuing yourself more, or else you'll become a self-brought shame to our class."

"Sorry! I'm well aware of that!" Kaga Ai eeped helplessly. "It's just I can't help being that lowly, sorry! If I could, I'd leave the class so you could be better off, but I don't want to impose my presence upon anyone else! N-Not like I'm saying you deserve me more than any-"

"We get the idea, Ai-chan," Nami interuppted.

"... I'm sorry. Look, you don't have to share that delicious cake with me, okay? Kitsu-san's parents sent it to her as a gift over her good grades, it'd be unfitting for a mediocre student like me to enjoy it as well..."

"I couldn't be the first of the class without a lot of worse students for me to stand over, so I owe you that much," Kitsu Chiri reasoned (more or less) as she crossed her arms and softly tapped a foot on the floor. "Now, what is taking Kafuka-san so long? Honestly, I hope she doesn't mess it up and brings us a chainsaw instead, again..."

"Say what?" Nami blinked.

"Oh?" Chiri perked up. "Harumi-san and Abiru-san never told you about it? Last time they were here, I sent that dumb girl for a knife, just like now..."

Then Nami and Ai gasped as they saw a figure looming over Chiri, stalking her from behind with bright red evil eyes. A huge butcher's knife glinted in the newcomer's right hand, just as her apparent mark went on, unconcerned,

"... and she brought a very messy chainsaw, claiming she hadn't found any good knives but we could slice the cake with it. Can you believe it? Everyone knows such tasks demand for the elegant precision of a good knife. Ah, the small pleasures of delicately sinking the blade into the creamy outside, then slicing cleanly in a single precise swipe of your hand..."

Too scared to warn their friend, Ai and Nami only could hug each other and shriek in terror as the red eyed monster brought the knife down...

... Only to carefully place it, handle-first, upon the palm of Chiri's right hand.

"Here, Chiri-chan!" Fuura Kafuka, her eyes suddenly back to normal, innocently chirped, beaming a very pretty smile at her best friend. "It's the best one I could find with everything being so dark!"

"Ah, Theodore!" Chiri gave the knife an approving stare and a nod. "Good choice, Kafuka-san. Now sit down so we can start eating."

"You guys give names to your knives?" Nami exclaimed.

Chiri blinked, confused. "Doesn't everyone?"

Ai covered her own mouth with a hand. "Oh! I never knew that! I'm sorry, I have committed a grave mistake on home etiquette! From now on, I'll name all my sharp utensils, too!"

"You'd better," Chiri nodded, then pulled a ruler and a compass out and began to measure the cake's area very carefully. "Okay, now let's see. To better divide the cake into four exactly equal sections, we should start by-"

"Y-You really don't need to give me any cake, seriously!" Ai stammered. "I'm only intruding, after all! It's better if there's more for you all, don't you think? Cake would only be wasted on a person like me..."

"No!" Chiri growled. "If you don't accept your share, then you'll break the balance! And that's unforgivable! Look, there's four strawberries on the cake, so it needs to be split between four people! You can't share four strawberries between only three friends!"

"It's no big deal, Chiri-chan..." Nami complained. "It's only a simple splitting of cake!"

"No, no! It must be done perfectly!" the long haired girl shook her head stubbornly with a mad glint in her eyes. Since she had started to finger the knife so feverishly, Nami, very wisely, decided to humor her.

"You always can count on Chiri-chan to split anything very evenly!" Kafuka laughed merrily as her closest friend sliced the treat into four perfectly even big slices. "But wait, shouldn't we save a slice for Jun-chan? She loves cake a lot..."

"Yeah, fine with me, but in that case..." Nami doubted, giving the suddenly very still Chiri a wary look.

"Four strawberries... five people..." the extremely orderly girl shivered. "To divide them into perfectly equal rations... I should take the strawberries away..."

"Oh, oh! This isn't good..." Kafuka blinked cutely. "Chiri-chan's losing control again!"

"That much of a need for precision only can lead to disaster..." Nami dared to mumble.

But then the OCD-afflicted young woman calmed down abruptly, and with a few fast slashes, cut all the strawberries into thin slices.

"I see!" Kafuka looked at the end result. "Cutting all the strawberries into five slices, you can just give four slices to everyone! Oh! But wouldn't Meru-chan want some cake, too?"

At that very moment, Chiri's cellphone rang. The dominant girl picked it up only to see at the light of the tiny screen how someone had just sent her a brief text message.

You'd better not forget to bring me cake tomorrow, bitches.

"... Yes, she will want it," Chiri sighed rather deeply before madly running calculations through her head again. "Four strawberries... Six people... Cutting the cake in six parts..."

"She's getting worse!" Nami backed away against a wall.

Both she and Ai yelled in panic as Chiri raised the huge knife up with an unnatural sound coming from her throat... and further sliced the strawberries into even thinner figments.

"Y-You cut them into three pieces each..." Ai guessed, straining her eyes to look at the slashed fruits in the darkness.

"Yes," Chiri nodded, satisfied now. "Having sixty slices in total, I'll give ten of them to each one of us. Problem solved!"

"Hee hee hee!" Kafuka giggled. "They look like sliced carrots now! Ah, but aren't we forgetting Itoshiki-sensei?"

Chiri jerked up stiffly once more. "Itoshiki-sensei! Why, you're right! He deserves a much bigger share, too!"

"Wow, you really like Itoshiki-sensei, don't you, Chiri-chan?" Fuura playfully teased.

"O-Of course not!" the one with the blade denied. "It's just, as our homeroom teacher and guide figure, he needs our utmost respect! Now let me see... Four strawberries... between seven people... to divide the cake into six equal parts and a larger one... Each slice should have an arc of... 51.488571428..."

Then a loud crash of broken glass came from the back of the apartment.

Nami grew even tenser. "It sounded like the back window!"

The four of them quickly made their way there to notice a tall, busty blond female with a sultry smile standing at the kitchen, wearing black and surrounded by shards of shattered glass.

"Kaere-chan...?" Nami attempted to give her a better look. "Why are you here at this-"

"I'm not Kimura Kaere," the stranger hissed with an evil, needy voice, and then lunged ahead.

A few minutes later, Evangeline stepped out back into the night licking her blood stained fingers. "They'll recover in a few minutes," she instructed Chachamaru, who was standing next to the window's outer frame in her maid outfit. "When they do, dress them up and bring them to the arranged place. Speed is of the essence."

"Master," the gynoid stoically said. "Far from me to question your acts, but-"

"I promised you I'd stop attacking our classmates," Eva cut her off. "I never said anything at all about students from other classes."

"You haven't been the same ever since you drank from that lawyer, Master..."

Act Seventeen:

Chisame sat alone in the blackness of the room on her bed, hunchbacked over her laptop. Its screen gave the only faint light at the whole place.

Her fingers, somehow, weren't as fast as typing as they usually were, and it wasn't just because of the poor light conditions. Her mind just couldn't keep itself focused on her task. She ran a hand through her hair, making an angry throaty noise. Then she rocked back and forth on her butt, trying to calm her nerves down.

She jumped up a bit when she heard the room's door creaking open. Her eyes adjusted over to barely see Satomi's shape silently stumbling in, the scientist's small mouth apparently moving without forming any sounds, but looking as if it was pretending to mutter.

"Ah, Hakase," Hasegawa breathed out. "It's just you. Didn't hear you coming through the front door."

"Sorry," the mad professor said in a rather distant, almost subdued, tone, as she turned her back on her and began to undress clumsily. "Where's Sensei?"

"He... hasn't come yet," Chisame admitted reluctantly. "Honestly, what is taking him so long? I just can't understand it..."

"Well, the traffic has been very problematic. It took us nearly a hour to get here; we heard rumors about 'something' making another bus ahead of ours to crash..." Satomi said while stepping out of her dress.

Chisame tensed up against her own will. "A bus accident...?"

"Relax, please; it seemingly was a tourism bus from another city, so I highly doubt Sensei was there," Satomi was starting to put on her pajama pants now.

Chisame actually breathed easier. "Good."

"Yes. Good," Hakase said quietly as she pulled her pajama shirt on herself (not noticing it was backwards) and began to struggle with the buttons, wondering why she was having so many problems with them now. "I can't see anything," she complained. "Couldn't you have pulled some of my special lamps out for this occasion?"

"I couldn't find them in your mess," Chisame groaned.

"Doesn't matter," Satomi quit her futile fight with the heinous chore of dressing herself and plopped down on her face into her bed. "This was a truly atrocious day."

Chisame felt tempted to ask, "Was Sakurako more annoying than usual?"

"She kissed me," Satomi curtly stated.

The hacker jerked back, shocked. "O-Oh...!"

"She told me she finds me attractive," Hakase muttered, her fingers drawing her pillow under her chin. "I still am not sure if it is all an elaborate attempt to mock me or if she really means it, but... she kissed me. Why? I'm not the kind of person meant to be kissed. For fourteen years, it worked fine. And this week, first I kiss a ten year-old infant, and now another female. What has gone wrong? I want a simple rational life without any distractions! I only want to keep on working for the rest of my life, winning a few dozens of awards, building a few history making weapons of mass destruction, ushering on the new age of cybernetics, then to die being remembered as the Marie Curie of robotics! But single! Single! Is that asking for too much?"

"Ahhhh..." Chisame dumbly said. "Wasn't Marie Curie married and make most of her discoveries with her husband?"

Satomi's head slumped slightly at this reminder, then she looked up at the hacker. "Shouldn't you be starting one of your tirades on how weird and troubling our classmates are now? Because I feel inclined to agree at this point in time..."

Hasegawa scratched the back of her own neck. "I... I'll be honest to you. It didn't come as that much of a surprise to me. Kugimiya already had told me about Shiina's crush."

Hakase gasped aloud. "You knew...?"

"Hey, hey, relax! I only learned about it today! After we split up! And I never dreamed Shiina would have the courage to plant one on you!" She tried to ignore the weird stirring she felt at the sudden image of the two girls kissing…

"Well... she did it," Satomi sighed, pulling a small set of pieces from under her pillow and beginning to assemble them. "I still don't understand it. What could she see in someone like me?"

"Ummm... They do say opposites attract," Hasegawa attempted to offer, just to say something.

"I'm not attracted to her," Hakase reassured herself more than to Chisame.

"You told her that?"

"As best as I could, I imagine," Satomi shrugged, wondering why assembling small machinery seemed somewhat less exciting now.

"Shiina is rather dense. If you didn't make it very clear, she'll hold on to hope..." Chisame warned.

"Next time I see her, I'll sic Chachamaru on her, then-" she stopped herself in mid sentence. "Oh, wait. Can't do that anymore..."

"We are surrounded from all sides," Hasegawa mused.

There was a long silence after that.

"Chisame..."

"Mmmmm?"

"Do you consider me your friend?"

"Eh? Why do you ask that?"

"I think I have lost the only other person I could actually call a friend..." Satomi absently exhaled.

"Chachamaru?"

"I mean Chao."

"Again with that?" she sounded annoyed anew. "Haven't we agreed you'd at least talk it over with her before making that decision?"

"I'm not good at personal conversations."

"It shows."

"See? Even you notice it."

"What do you mean with 'even you'? I know I'm no social butterfly either, but-!"

Satomi had just climbed up the ladder to Chisame's upper bunk, to look straight into her eyes. "Do you believe yourself my friend, yes or not?"

"Wh-Why the sudden urge to ask that now? You never cared before! What, I'm nothing but a second place prize after Chao turns her back on you?"

Hakase paused, stunned. "I- I never meant that..."

Chisame reopened her mouth to berate her, but then she saw how huge and crystalline Satomi's bright confused eyes were, even in the middle of the shadows, and she felt herself unable to do so. Awkwardly, ignoring her Chisame-senses yelling at her about how would she regret encouraging this sort of thing later, she awkwardly wrapped her arms around the smaller girl's body and pulled her towards herself in an attempt of sisterly hug. She definitely did not wonder if a kiss would help…

"You can call me your friend if you want," Hasegawa whispered.

"Thanks," Hakase said in a tiny voice, and then eased herself against her chest. Feeling her warmth, truly sniffing her soft sweaty scent for the first time. No wonder Sensei liked it so much. Sensei... "I'm worried about Sensei..." she whispered back.

Chisame nodded. "Yeah. Me too."

Somewhere, Chamo jerked up. "I sense a disturbance in the Force," he lowly murmured to himself. "As if something really hot just happened and I wasn't there to see it…"

At some other room, Shiina Sakurako slept while Madoka lay sleepless on the bunk above hers.

It had taken her a long while to comfort Sakurako after her arrival, even longer to get her to sleep. Lucky at everything else, but unlucky at love, it seemed. Of course, it had been a safe bet it wouldn't work anyway. But looking at it from Madoka's perspective, it was better that way. Better to cut the crush off as soon as possible so her friend could get herself someone more suited to her.

Yeah, that was it.

And now, Misa was so late. Madoka's attempts to call her had only been met with brief, token 'On my way' text messages. Oh, Misa. What was she trying to pull off now? Oh, Kami, how did Madoka hope it wasn't something that would get Misa arrested and get Madoka herself accused of being an accessory to, say child-molestation…

The black haired girl groaned to herself. Being the only sane person in the apartment sucked so much.

Act Eighteen:

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow!" Konoka laughed as the five of them reached the gates of the campus, waving a hand up and heading towards her dorm building in the distance.

"W-Wait!" Setsuna said. Tentatively, she reached up with a hand, gesturing for her to stop. "The lights already went out. It might be dangerous, to wander alone in the darkness."

"I'll be okay, really!" the heiress smiled at her. "I know my way like the palm of my hand, Set-chan."

"Still..." the swordsgirl doubted, "I should... I mean, someone should..."

Misa smirked knowingly. "Why don't you go with her, 'Setchan'?"

"M-Me?-!" the pale young woman seemed flustered for once. "I couldn't- I mean, it'd be improper for me-"

Negi blinked. "Why should it be improper?"

"Yeah, why?" the cheerleader chuckled, eyeing Setsuna with a mischievous glint. "It's only a classmate escorting a friend to her room. Nothing wrong at all about that, right?"

"Of course not," Setsuna scowled, "But-"

Konoka's eyes lit up. "You wanna go with me, Set-chan? Oh, yes! You even can stay with Asuna and me tonight! After all, you shouldn't be walking out alone after curfew, either!"

"I couldn't impose myself upon you!" Sakurazaki quickly replied.

"I'm sure Asuna won't mind. And you aren't rooming with anyone right now, are you? It's not like you'll be better all alone in the dark..." Konoka pointed out.

Setsuna looked at Misa and Negi. "But... what will the two of you do?"

Misa giggled roguishly, hugging one of Negi's arms. "I don't have anything to fear as long as I'm with a brave man!"

"Well... yes..." Negi's head nodded erratically. "I'll escort Kakizaki-san all the way to her home, so you girls don't have to worry..."

"Are you sure?" Setsuna hesitated.

"Yeah!" the boy teacher answered confidently. "I have come to know my way around here!"

Setsuna was not as confident, but she still relented. "Okay. Please be very careful," she asked before turning back to Konoka. "When... Whenever you want!"

Konoka smiled again, offering her a hand. "With you? Anytime, Setchan."

Setsuna looked at the hand warily. "It isn't needed, to-"

Konoka simply grabbed her right hand regardless. "Don't be silly! It's better this way when it's so dark. Huh? Set-chan, why is your hand so cold and sweaty?"

The fighter's left eyebrow twitched. "W-what do you mean by that…?."

"Maybe you just need a hot bath!" Konoka started to pull her away merrily. "We have a nice furo at home! I'll show it to you! Yes, a long, hot, soapy bath…"

"F-F-Furo?-!-?" Setsuna all but shrieked, her eyes bugging out, as she was helplessly dragged away.

"Have a good night...!" Negi waved his goodbye.

Misa chuckled, with a finger on her forehead and her eyes closed. "I'm sure Konoka will, at least!"

Negi looked cluelessly at her. "What do you mean?"

"Nothing," she said, then pulled him after her as well, with the ermine hopping behind them. "We should get going, too. Hey, what if you spend the night with us, too? It's too late and dark for you to head back to Chisame's all alone."

"Oh, no, I couldn't," the boy protested. "Chisame-san and Satomi-san must be sick worried about me. I've been abusing too much of their patience as it is..."

"What a little cute henpecked husband you are, Negi-kun!" Misa teased him.

"D-Don't say that!" he flushed again. "Such things shouldn't even be joked about!"

"You're far too repressed," she admonished while they kept on walking, and Chamo nodded at that. "That may be cute for now, but you'll have to grow out of it. A man must learn how to be strong and driven, brave and charming, and charm involves sophistication and suaveness."

Negi stared blankly. "Suaveness?"

"Yeah! You have to be daring! Bold! Striking! In a single word, you have to be... sharp!"

Just as she said that, Negi tensed up, jumping to push her out of the way of an incoming flying blur. "KAKIZAKI-SAN! BEWARE!"

"Wha-?-!" she clung to him instinctively to keep her footing, and then she saw the knife flying right before her nose and above his head, missing them by inches, only to sink itself at the trunk of a nearby cherry tree. "NEGI-KUN! WHAT IN THE WORLD...?"

A soft deranged giggle came from the darkness. "Negi Springfield-kun..." a small voice sang.

Misa and Negi looked up in stunned silence to see a thin, waif-like girl a couple of years older than the cheerleader skipping out of the shadows, smiling widely (and very cutely) and holding several knives skillfully in each hand. Her hair was short and black, and she wore a French maid outfit very similar to Chachamaru's.

"Hey, I think I know you!" Misa exclaimed. "You're one of the nuts of 2-F! What's your big idea? You could've killed us!"

"Fuura Kafuka-san!" Negi gasped. "Why are you-"

"Negi Springfield-kun..." Kafuka chanted through a half-open mouth, her eyes wide and vacant. "Did you think the Master had forgotten her challenge? She demands to face you tonight..."

Negi froze as Misa frowned. "The what of who now?" she asked.

Like a disjointed marionette, Kafuka tilted her head aside, her smile becoming a wide open grin.

"Master Evangeline will drink your blood tonight, Negi-kun. We all would be thankful if you didn't make her to wait. Would you do that for us?"

Her now long and sharp set of white fangs glinted like gems at the pale moonlight.

NEXT: Goddamn Bats!
- 16
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Unequally Rational and Emotional