Ah! Megami-Sama was created by Fujishima Kosuke, and while I might wish I owned the series, I don’t.

I wouldn’t mind owning Negima, either, but I don’t. It belongs to Akamitsu Ken.

Exchange Student

Lesson Eight: Pop Quiz

It had been an eventful couple of weeks. Of course, by the calendar, only one week had gone by.

Negi had been thoughtful enough to leave her out of the end-of-term tests, though she still had to sit through the classes. Math, science and English were easy enough for her, but the geography and history classes had mostly confused her. Without the start-of-term foundation, she found herself in over her head.

And after the tests, about a third of the class had left for the Resort, for a week of intensive training.

Skuld dropped her hammer and collapsed to hands and knees, gasping for breath. Asuna took a step back, laying the harisen on her shoulder.

"Giving up already?"

Skuld shook her head, and stood up. Her balance was still wobbly, but she glared at the redhead. "Not yet. I can still move."

"Good!" Asuna indicated the mallet. "You dropped your weapon."

"Don’t need it."

"Getting kinda cocky, aren’t ya?"

Skuld leaped forward, and Asuna swung the fan. Skuld ducked underneath the blow, but Asuna reversed it and smacked the smaller girl across the back of the head.

"Idiot! You’re supposed to be keeping away from me!"

She leaped over a clumsy footsweep, and knocked Skuld back to the ground. Skuld rolled back to her feet.

"What if I don’t have time to prepare a spell?" Skuld grinned.

"Then you run and hide," snapped Asuna. "You charge in like that, and you’re gonna get yourself killed. You have neither the mass nor the skill to survive at close range!"

"Run? Hide? That’s kind of defeatist, isn’t it?"

"No," said Negi. "It’s the right choice." He stood up and walked towards the girls. "Okay, Skuld. Tomorrow, you get to fight Setsuna."

"I was expecting it all this week," grumbled Skuld. "How will I know where I am against her, if I never spar with her?"

"Simple," said Negi. "You find out tomorrow. I don’t want you to get used to Setsuna’s moves; it’d be an unfair test."

"Okay, okay."

"Now then," said Negi. "You’re dripping with sweat, and within an hour, you’re going to be stiff as a board. Better go take a bath."

"Coming from you, that’s rich," snickered Asuna.

"Asuna, you want to join me?" asked Skuld.

Asuna shrugged. "Why not?"

- - - - -

"So what spells can you cast?"

Asuna frowned. "None, really."

"I heard you tell Evangeline that some guy named Takahata taught you magic."

"Well, he did, but what he taught me was how to use my magic to boost my physical capabilities."

"I thought that was called ki," said Skuld.

"No, ki is different," said Asuna. "What I use is a combination of both magic and ki."

Skuld considered this, then said, "According to Negi, you can have one or the other, but not both."

"No, what he said was, most people can use one or the other, but not both," corrected Asuna. "I’m one of those who can use both, as is Takahata-sensei. But when such people exist, they can almost never use spells."

"Almost never?"

"Takahata-sensei is the exception to that rule. I am not." Asuna pouted playfully. "All I can do with my magic is to cancel out opposing magic."

"I’ve managed that once or twice—"

Asuna shook her head. "I’ve seen you do that, but mine is a little better. I can go straight through a magical barrier without slowing down; you’re still deflected, but you can at least bring down the barrier. I’m mostly immune to magic; you can cancel an effect, but if you fail to do so, you’re still affected by it."

"At least I’ve got one more magical ability now," said Skuld.

"I think you always had it," said Asuna, "but now you can direct it."

- - - - -

"How’s she progressing, boy?"

Negi sighed. "She’s trying too damn hard. Even for a Goddess, there are limits."

"I asked you how she was progressing." Evangeline scowled. "I don’t care about how much effort she’s putting into it."

"She’s getting better at blocks, parries and evasion," said Negi. "Plus, she’s learned how to cancel out magical effects."

"She could do that before," growled Evangeline. "She used it to mallet me."

"Now, she can do it more reliably," Negi clarified. "I think that she’s almost ready for proper magical training."

Evangeline nodded. "We’ll find out for sure tomorrow."

- - - - -

Skuld stared at the ceiling.

The one serious down side of training at the resort—well, there were several, but this was, in Skuld’s opinion, the worst of the lot—was the enforced downtime. These poor Humans spent one hour of every three asleep, compared to her own one of every four, and they refused to consider sleeping in shifts. Plus, Evangeline had barred her from the most interesting parts of the Resort—the robotics lab, the library and the kitchens—so there was no way for her to entertain herself during the down time.

So she lay on her futon, staring at the ceiling, and wishing that something—anything—would happen to break the boredom.

She should have remembered that Goddesses need to be careful when phrasing a wish.

There was a mumbling sound from the left, and Skuld glanced over to see Negi standing up. He rubbed his eyes, and staggered off towards the bathrooms.

Every night we’ve been here, and he’s gotten up after a few hours and wandered off...and half the time, when he comes back, it’s to crawl into Asuna’s futon. Why do Nodoka and Yue think they have any chance? He never crawls in with them.

She glanced at the clock—two thirty—sighed, rolled her eyes, then stared back at the ceiling. Her mind wandered, as usual, going over schematics and design tolerances for Banpei-kun and Sigel. If I increase Banpei-kun’s myomer frequencies by fifty percent, it should boost his physical strength by twelve percent—call it an additional sixteen kilos of lifting capacity—without badly impacting his mean time between failures. Of course, I’ll need to upgrade his power supply systems—or go back to the extension cord when he’s at home. But maybe—

The distant sound of the toilet flushing brought her back to the here and now, and she glanced over to see Negi staggering back from the bathroom. He was clearly still more than half asleep. She looked back up once more, and sighed.

Maybe some sort of boosting capacitor, to give him the ability to draw on the increased strength only on demand. Capacitors aren’t as dense as the batteries, though, relative to the amount of power they can store—

She froze as Negi dropped onto her futon.

Oh, you have got to be kidding me...

"Nee-chan..." mumbled Negi. He rolled over, throwing an arm over top of her.

"Negi-sensei!" she hissed. "Back to your own futon."

"Don’t wanna, Sis..." He was speaking English, but of course Skuld had no difficulties understanding him.

"Dammit, Sensei, this is my futon! I don’t want some guy sleeping with me!"

"Sis..."

He’s convinced that I’m his sister! Maybe if I wake him up—no, Asuna says he can’t really be woken up in the middle of the night.

But I don’t want a boy sleeping in my bed!

"Negi-sensei—" She sighed. Asuna had told her that there was no sense in trying to dislodge him; he couldn’t be reasoned with when mostly asleep. She tried to ignore his presence, and continued to stare at the ceiling.

It’s not like he’s pawing at me or anything...he just misses his sister...he doesn’t do it that often...and he’s just a kid...

Her mind was running in small chaotic circles now. And it didn’t help that Negi was a somewhat restless sleeper; every time she managed to shoehorn her thoughts back onto a more productive track, he shifted, and she lost her train of thought again. And now he was shivering! She didn’t bother with the blanket—it was warmer in the Resort than it was in the Tairiki Hongan—but she was wearing her flannel pajamas, and Negi’s pajamas were thin cotton.

She sighed. "No cure for it...Negi-sensei, roll over."

He mumbled incoherently. Skuld frowned, then decided to change her approach.

"Under the blanket, Nii-chan."

He mumbled again, but rolled onto his back, freeing enough of the blanket for Skuld to pull it from under him. She lay down next to him, throwing the blanket over both of them, and he rolled back. She muttered to herself, adjusting the blanket so that it covered both of them comfortably. Their new position put his back against her chest, and she put an arm around him.

This isn’t so bad...she managed to think before finally falling asleep.

- - - - -

"He got you, did he?"

Skuld opened one bleary eye, but all she could see was a mass of red hair. She looked up, and saw Asuna standing over her futon.

"What time—?"

"Six in the morning."

"Oh." Skuld carefully untangled herself from her teacher, and sat up. "Yeah, when he got up last night, he came back to my futon, instead of yours."

Asuna nodded. "Well, I figured I’d wake you up before Yue or Nodoka catch you like this."

"They—"

"They’re not the most rational when it comes to Negi," said Asuna. She grinned impishly. "I thought Yue was going to take my head off the first time she found out about it." She held down a hand. "C’mon. Bath time, kid."

"Don’t call me kid."

- - - - -

By the time they’d returned, the rest of the crew was up, and most of them were gone. Yue and Setsuna were still rolling up their futons. Yue looked up.

"Morning, Skuld. Ready for breakfast?"

"I could eat a horse," said Skuld.

"Don’t eat too much," warned Setsuna. "We’re going to have a bit of a sparring session after breakfast, remember?"

Skuld paused, then said, "How about we eat after the match? It might be better to fight on an empty stomach."

"You should have some juice, at least," said Yue.

"Okay!" Skuld grinned. "A cup of juice, and a cup of tea, and then we can spar."

Yue eyed her oddly. "You seem awfully chipper today."

"I slept more than I usually do," admitted Skuld. "Almost four hours."

Yue cocked an eyebrow. "Looks like it was high-quality sleep, too."

"Nothing happened!" yelled Skuld, waving her hands in the air. "He didn’t do...anything..." she trailed off.

Asuna dropped her face into her palm.

Yue smirked. "Negi wandered into bed with you last night."

"I’m sorry..." muttered Skuld. "I tried to stop him, but—"

"It didn’t look like you were trying to stop him," observed Yue. "I got up at around four, and you were spooning him."

"You saw that?" gasped Skuld.

"Negi isn’t the only one who has to get up in the middle of the night to visit the bathroom." Yue smirked. "You two looked so cute cuddled up together under that blanket."

"I—"

"It’s all right, Skuld." Yue waved it off. "It’s not like you invited him to share your futon."

"I’d never do something like that!"

"Unless it was Sentaro." Yue jerked a thumb towards the kitchen before Skuld could start sputtering. "Come on. Breakfast."

- - - - -

"Are you prepared, girl?"

Skuld nodded to Evangeline. "I am."

"Excellent." Evangeline stepped outside of the duelling circle. "The match will be for sixty seconds, or until Setsuna gets a hit on you. Any hit, no matter how light."

"What about parries?" asked Skuld.

"Parries aren’t hits," said Evangeline. "But to make it clear, a hit will only count if you take a head or body blow, or if you are knocked down."

Skuld nodded, then glanced over at the small crowd. The other ten members of their little sparring group were watching from the sidelines. Most had toast or fruit in hand, munching as they watched. Chiisame had ice cream—

"You have ice cream here?"

Evangeline grinned. "Yes."

"You told me you had none when I asked last week."

"Last week, I didn’t have any."

Skuld scowled, then turned back to Setsuna. "Whenever you’re ready."

"Begin."

Setsuna lunged forward, the push-broom at full extension, but Skuld brushed it aside effortlessly. Amazing how easy that is now! She danced inward, her leg sweeping forward to knock down the Hanyu, but Setsuna side-stepped the attack. Skuld took another step past her, then turned, raising her hands in a defensive stance. The completed maneuver put Setsuna half a meter further away from her than when they’d begun.

Setsuna turned, and grinned. "Nice."

"Five hundred yen on Setsuna," she heard Konoka say.

Skuld held silent, and Setsuna dashed forwards again, this time swinging the broom in a wide arc. Skuld ducked underneath it, shuffling backwards to re-open the range. Setsuna swung again, this time a falling arc, and Skuld dropped back another meter to avoid the attack altogether.

I’m getting too close to the edge...

Setsuna lunged again, and Skuld moved sideways this time, to avoid leaving the circle. Unfortunately, this shortened the range, and Setsuna swung again. This time, Skuld was forced to parry. She kicked out in passing, catching the Hanyu in the ribs, and used the second’s advantage to move back to the center of the ring.

Can’t let her close up...

"Double," said Kotaro. "She’s giving up her best advantages against Skuld."

"You’re on," said Konoka.

Setsuna dashed forwards again, this time going for a cross-check. Skuld grabbed the broom, fell back, and planted a boot in Setsuna’s gut. The Hanyu flew across the circle, flaring her wings to bring her to a halt before crossing the edge.

There’s an idea...

Setsuna charged again, and Skuld stepped into it, ducking down. Her elbow caught Setsuna in the gut, and her hand wrapped around the girl’s calf. Skuld straightened, bringing the arm up and over her head. Setsuna flipped end-for-end in mid-air, crashing down to the ground, and Skuld stepped back again.

It brought her right up against the edge of the ring.

Setsuna had rolled back to her feet, and she grinned. She leaped forward again, the broom slashing up and across.

Skuld parried the broom, and both hands locked onto the shaft. She turned, bringing her back against Setsuna’s chest, then swept her hands up and over her head. The broom, all of its momentum translated as Skuld desired, followed her hands, completing a circle.

Setsuna was tossed clear out of the duelling circle. The push-broom remained in Skuld’s hands. She flipped it up onto her shoulder, and glanced over at Evangeline.

"Was that sixty seconds?"

"Close enough," said Evangeline. "You pass."

Skuld grinned. "That was easier than I thought."

"Don’t get cocky, girl," warned Evangeline. "Setsuna was not fighting at full strength."

"Didn’t feel like a lack of strength," smirked Skuld. "Felt more like a lack of skill—"

Negi winced.

Setsuna charged back into the ring. Her hand grabbed the head of the push-broom, and Skuld found herself suddenly disarmed.

"Lack of skill, eh?" Setsuna smirked. "Want to try it again?"

"You’re on—"

Setsuna was moving again before Skuld could even finish the line. The broom swept through another rising snap, much faster this time—far faster than Skuld could even see it move—and caught her under the chin, knocking her straight into the air.

Ten feet into the air.

Oh, the impact is gonna hurt—

It didn’t hurt. But only because it never arrived. She was three feet from the deck when the push-broom slammed into her side, knocking her across the room. She slammed into the far wall, and dropped to the stone floor.

Setsuna walked over to her, and offered a hand. "Yield?"

"Owwie—"

"I was limiting myself to Human speeds and basic forms," said Setsuna with a grin.

Skuld took the proffered hand. "Remind me to never lip you off again."