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 Ten: After-School Club

"So tell me, girl." Evangeline smirked. "You cannot tell a lie. Is that correct?"

"Not exactly," said Skuld. She glanced around the vampire’s bedroom nervously. Unlike the Grecian finery of the Resort, Evangeline’s cabin was of rough-hewn logs, but she’d made it up quite nicely. The bedroom was almost as comfortable and cheerful as her bedchamber within the Resort. "I am not permitted to tell a lie, and if I do, I risk being punished."

"And who decides that punishment?"

"The Council, or Kami-sama."

"So a person, or a group of people. And people can make judgement calls." Evangeline considered this. "So if you tell a lie for a good reason—"

"I might still be punished," said Skuld. "Because I’m only Second Class, I can get away with the occasional lie, but I never know how much I can get away with, nor how I might be punished if I do lie."

"I see." Evangeline considered again. "So if I asked you to, say, never reveal my nature to any person..."

"That would be an omission, not a lie," said Skuld.

"Let us pretend, for a moment, that I asked you never to reveal my nature, and that you had agreed. What if a person asked you directly? How would you answer?"

"I would tell them that I had promised not to say," said Skuld.

"No lie there," mused the Vampire. "What if I asked you to tell people I was only human?"

"I would refuse."

"Indeed?" Evangeline raised an eyebrow. "Even though my word is law?"

"I would have to refuse," said Skuld. "It would mean that I could no longer train in the Resort, and Negi may also break off training with you."

"So if I put you in an impossible situation," observed Evangeline, "you will take the only route out of it." She sighed. "Well. Enough of hypothetical situations. It’s time for your donation to your educational fund."

Skuld winced, and held out her arm.

- - - - -

"Oh, GOD—!"

Ten girls and two boys—and one ermine—looked up at the yell.

"What the heck is going on in there?" asked Chisame.

"Skuld’s blood is a bit rich for our resident vampire," said Yue dryly.

The door opened, and Evangeline stumbled out of the cottage.

"Chachamaru. Ice cream for the Norn." She wiped her brow. "Then everyone go to the plaza of the World Tree."

"How did I get roped into this madhouse?" muttered Chisame.

Nodoka scratched the back of her head. "You came here to learn magic—"

"Don’t include me in your fantasies, Honya," she snapped. "Negi-sensei dragged me here, and you might believe in magic, but I prefer more realistic explanations."

Evangeline glared at Chisame. "Magic is very real, girl. Something you might do well to remember." She glanced over at the ermine. "Chamo. Gimme a cigarette."

- - - - -

Once Evangeline and Skuld had fully recovered, the two joined the rest of the group in the plaza.

"All right. Your Club Negima has been officially recognized by the school," said Evangeline. "Are you brats happy now?"

"Yeah!" The yell came from most of the party. Chisame looked disgusted with the entire proceedings. Skuld merely looked confused.

The gathering broke up into smaller groups, the students chattering among themselves. Skuld glanced over at Nodoka and Yue. "So what’s the purpose of this club? Just to practice magic and fighting?"

"Not quite," said Yue. "You see, Sensei’s father’s been missing for a long time. Most people think he’s dead, but Sensei doesn’t. He wants to go look for him, and this club is dedicated to helping him do so."

"Ah." Skuld nodded. "And since Negi’s from Wales, that’s where we’d be going to look for him?"

"Wales, and the Magical World."

Skuld paused. "Magical World?"

"Yes, it’s an alternate—"

"I know what it is. Excuse me a moment." Skuld turned and ran for Negi.

"—such a hard and optimistic effort," Negi was saying to Evangeline.

"When will you depart?" asked the Vampire.

"The plan is to leave August twelfth."

"Negi-sensei," said Skuld. "There is a problem."

"Oh?"

"I cannot go to the Magical World."

Negi nodded. "It’s outside your travel radius, isn’t it?"

"No, it’s not that." Skuld shook her head. "Yggdrasil doesn’t reach that far. I would have no power."

"Oh." Negi considered that. "Well, that is an issue, but I hope you will at least accompany us as far as Wales."

"That I can do," said Skuld.

"And your inability to travel to the Magical World will not stop you from practicing magic," pointed out Evangeline. "Which is, of course, why you are here."

"I’d like to help with the search for Negi’s father," admitted Skuld. "I hope we find him in Wales."

"Well, Negi-boy isn’t leaving for two weeks," said Evangeline. "So we can squeeze in three, maybe even four, months of training here."

"Still so much?" Negi looked a bit nervous.

"Oh, yes," smirked the Vampire. "Aside from the little matter of Skuld’s training, I’m assuming that you’ll be visiting the capital of the Magical World."

"Megalosembria, yes."

"Well, it’s a well-policed area...you should be safe enough. But the extra training is always good, especially if things don’t go according to plan." She glanced over to Skuld. "But you’re willing to assist him as much as you can?"

Skuld nodded.

"Then here." Evangeline passed Skuld a small pin. "Put this on."

Skuld took it, and looked at it. "A white wing—?"

"That pin is proof of your membership in this club," said Evangeline. "If you lose it, you’re out of the club, and won’t be able to help Negi."

Negi frowned. "Why is this the first I’ve heard of this?"

"I’m making up the rules as I go along," said Evangeline. "You don’t like it? Find a different advisor. I’m giving more pins to the rest of the club."

"But why a white wing?" asked Negi. "If Setsuna feels it’s a jab at her—"

"Or me," said Skuld crossly.

"Negi’s father had a...well, let’s call them a gang," said Evangeline with a smirk. "They called themselves Ala Rubra, the Red Wing. ’Club Negima’ is too unwieldy a name. Plus, I hate it. Henceforth, this club will be called Ala Alba, the White Wing."

- - - - -

"I see that you already have your badge," said Chachamaru.

"Hm?" Skuld blinked. "Yes, Evangeline gave it to me several hours ago."

"Badge?" Yue glanced at Skuld, and noted the small white wing at her throat. "Oh. I didn’t notice that before."

"Why did Evangeline give that to you?" asked Nodoka.

"She said it was proof of my membership in the club," said Skuld. One finger toyed with the badge. "She also said that if I lose it, I’m out of the club."

"Indeed," said Chachamaru. She held out her hand, two more badges in her palm. "Here are badges for you, Yue, and for you, Nodoka."

The two Mortal girls took their badges. Yue put hers at her throat, much as Skuld did, while Nodoka’s went further down on her kimono.

"Aside from proof of membership, your badges also contain a homing device," said Chachamaru. "I can track your position within five hundred kilometers by means of this."

"So it’s also a way to keep tabs on us," observed Yue.

"I’m betting that it’s more than that," said Skuld. She glanced at Nodoka. "Got your book?"

"Yes," said Nodoka. "Adeat!" The Diarus Ejus appeared, floating in front of her, and she pointed a finger at Chachamaru. "Is there anything about these badges that you’re not telling us?"

"I have been instructed not to tell you," said Chachamaru. She glanced at the book meaningfully. "Though I am pleased that you found a way to circumvent this."

She bowed to the threesome, turned, and walked off.

Skuld glanced over at Nodoka. "Will that thing work on a robot?"

"Yes, it seems it does." Nodoka scanned the pages, then gasped. "Evangeline has told others of the badges. Several people who are not part of the club. She’s told them that if they get one of the badges, they are part of the club and can go to England!"

"What?" Skuld scowled. "That dirty—" She cut herself off. "Okay. Who else knows?"

"It doesn’t say here."

"Then we’ll just have to be on our toes," said Yue. "I expect that this is some sort of test on Evangeline’s part. If that’s the case, we shouldn’t be afraid to use our magic to defeat any attackers."

"Those of us who have any," grumbled Skuld.

"Remember what your sister said," advised Yue. "You have more magic than you realize. Don’t be afraid to use it."

- - - - -

It didn’t take long for it to start.

"Yo, ladies. Nice badges you have there. If you don’t want to get hurt, just pass them over."

The figure in front of them was dressed in a woman’s kimono, and wore a mask. She also had a pigtail that looked somehow familiar to Skuld.

Yue obviously recognized it as well.

"What are you doing, Yuuna?"

The girl seemed taken aback. "How could you tell it was me?"

Obviously, she was a classmate that Skuld wasn’t completely familiar with. Well, she only really knew about dozen of them, and for a class of thirty, that left many unknowns.

Before Yue could say anything more, however, two more of their classmates slammed into Yuuna, knocking her down.

"Sorry about that, girls."

Skuld grinned. She recognized Ako, who sat right in front of her, and thought the other girl was named Makie. A third girl was helping Yuuna to her feet, and Skuld didn’t recognize her at all.

"Forget about her," said Ako. "Hey, those are cute badges! Where did you get them?"

"These were given to us by Evangeline," said Nodoka. She opened her mouth to say more, but Makie squealed.

"They’re so cute! Can I borrow one?"

Yue glanced over at Skuld. "I wonder how many people Evangeline sent after us?"

"We’d better get lost," agreed Skuld.

"Seize them!" yelled Yuuna.

The girl Skuld didn’t recognize—the one with long black hair—grabbed Nodoka, and Ako grabbed Yue. Makie pulled a gymnastics ribbon from her kimono, and snapped it towards Skuld.

Skuld grabbed the ribbon, and pulled. Much to her surprise—and to Makie’s—the gymnast suddenly became airborne. Skuld snapped the ribbon, sending Makie flying into Yuuna.

Yue, in the meantime, had gotten her hand on her wand. "Practe bigi nar Lux!"

A sudden flare of light dazzled all the girls. Skuld winced, her eyes watering, and felt a hand on her wrist.

"Run!" yelled Yue.

With Yue towing and herself blinded, Skuld had little choice but to run behind the smaller girl. When the spots faded from her eyes, she saw that they had retreated to the woods, and that Yue’s other hand was dragging Nodoka.

The woods was a small patch, left intact near the edge of the campus for the sake of having some green space, but at best, it was three hundred meters wide.

More flashes of light illuminated the woods ahead of them, though they were different in character from the burst that Yue had generated.

"They’ve still got those guns from the school festival," said Nodoka.

"Your school’s festival involved guns?"

"Long story," said Yue. "And Makie’s after us with that damned ribbon of hers, too." She turned to face the pursuers.

"Elementia aerialia! Venti spirantes cito adeuntes, ab inimicus meis me defundant! Limes aeriales!"

"Latin?" muttered Skuld. "But why can’t I—"

There was no obvious effect to the spell, until Makie leaped into view and snapped her ribbon towards them again. This time, it bounced off an invisible barrier.

"Come on!" Yue grabbed their wrists again, and they hared off into the woods. "The wind barrier will slow them down, but it won’t stop them for long!"

They reached the other side of the woods, entering the campus proper, but Nodoka was badly out of breath. Yue stopped near a covered walkway, to let her recover.

"Amazing, Yue," said Nodoka. "But was it all right to use magic against Yuuna and the others?"

"They were using guns," pointed out Skuld.

"The guns they have are only dangerous to clothing," said Yue. "Getting hit by them would be embarrassing, but not lethal. Right now, they’re probably splitting up—my wall of air will force them to divert, so they’ll probably take advantage of that. Nodoka, can your artifact show us all four?"

Nodoka nodded. "I think so."

"Then it’s time for you to show off the results of your training."

Nodoka pulled her card from her obi. "Diarus Ejus minora quarta Adeat!"

Rather than a single book, four smaller books burst into existence in front of her.

"Again with the Latin!" snapped Skuld. "Why can’t I understand it?"

"Because you don’t speak Latin?" asked Nodoka.

"But I can understand any spoken language! It’s part of my channel and control program." She tapped the "tattoo" on her cheek. "But whenever you two say anything in Latin, I can’t understand it."

"Neither can we," observed Yue. "We’re just repeating what Negi says."

"Dum cogitationes vestigent te Sasaki Makie, Akashi Yuuna Ogouchi Akira, Izumi Ako." Nodoka grinned. "Now we can track all four of them in real time."

Yue grinned. "Good job, Nodoka. Let’s go, girls!"

- - - - -

It took two hours for their pursuers to finally give up on them. Evading them proved to be laughably easy, especially once Skuld levitated all three to the top of the World Tree.

"We make a pretty good team," said Yue.

"All I’ve got is that stupid levitation spell," groused Skuld.

"You lifted all three of us," pointed out Nodoka. "That’s more than I can do."

"Or me," said Yue. "I’ll admit I’m fairly good with magic, but I can’t do that."

"Come to think of it," said Skuld, "the most I’ve ever levitated before was a bolt. To lift all three of us at once...I didn’t think I could do that at all."

"So how did you manage it this time?"

"I didn’t think about what I could or could not do. All I was worried about was keeping you two away from those four."

Yue yawned, then said, "Well, if you can get us down from here, I think it’s time for bed."

Skuld frowned, and said, "I don’t think I can. We’re not being chased right now, so I...I think I’m thinking too much about it." She scowled. "And there’s no water up here, so I can’t even teleport us."

"No problem. Adeat!" Yue’s broomstick, book and hat appeared. She jammed the book into her obi, then grabbed the broom. "I can carry two, but I don’t think I can manage three at once. Nodoka, you first."

- - - - -

Half a city away, in the Narita airport terminal, a young auburn-haired girl stood up with a huff, and grabbed her suitcase.

"As usual, you can expect Negi to screw things up," muttered Anya. "He told me he’d be here to pick me up, and he didn’t show up at all!"