Negi led Natalie down the hallway to the classroom. “So what brings you to Mahora Academy?” Negi asked her.
Natalie chuckled. “The Headmaster didn’t tell you anything about Ed and I?”
He shook his head. “Not really, he only told me that you knew about my magic and that it was alright because you and your friend had talents of your own. He also asked me to have you us in my classroom as a teaching assistant but he didn’t say why.”
“He’s doing a favor for us and this is the least we can do for him in return for that favor.”
“The artifact that he gave to your friend?”
“His name is Edward, and yes,” she replied with a smile. “We came looking for that, but I also thought it might be fun to be here for the festival too.”
Negi chuckled. “I have heard it’s quite a sight to see. I’m looking forward to it myself. Actually you came at a good time. The girls are preparing for it as we speak,” he said as he stopped in front of a door. The plague that hung next to it read 3-A. “Here we are,” he said smiling at her and opened the door.
Inside there were props in pieces and girls talking and painting and hammering. “Girls! Girls! Can I have your attention please?” They didn’t seem to have heard him. “GIRLS!”
Natalie put her hand on his shoulder. “Let me give it a try,” she said with a smile. “Hello!” she said sounding bright and cheerful. The sound of a voice they didn’t recognize got them to stop. “There you go Negi.”
“Ah, thank you very much Natalie. Girls, can I have your attention please? I have someone for you to meet.” The girls of 3-A gathered in front of the props so they could get a good look. “This is Ms. Natalie Simon; she’s going to be spending some time with us as my teaching assistant.”
Natalie smiled and lightly bowed, “It’s a pleasure to meet you all.”
A tall blonde girl came up to Natalie and looked her over closely. She looked like she didn’t trust her, actually it was more like she saw Natalie as a threat. Natalie felt a bit uncomfortable being scrutinized like this, but she expected it. She already knew that this girl was very obsessive and protective of Negi and here she was, another girl, which would be working closely with her precious Negi.
“Come on Class Rep, back off,” said another girl as she came up and put her hand on the first’s shoulder pulling her hard away from Natalie pretty much throwing the other girl to the floor. As she moved, there was a jingle from the bells she wore in her ponytails.
Natalie couldn’t help but to laugh. Seeing Asuna and Class Rep in person acting like this was even funnier than reading about it.
“Sorry about that Simon-sensei, Class Rep is just a crazy, jealous, cradle robber, don’t mind her,” Asuna said chuckling.
“Who are you calling a cradle robber?! I can’t help it if you prefer geriatric men. You’re such a barbarian Asuna,” Class Rep said standing up and dusting herself off.
Negi stood between them. “Now, now, enough of that. We don’t want any of the hard work you’ve all done to get ruined do we?”
Natalie bit her lower lip trying not to laugh at the idea of a short, little ten tear old standing between two towering 14 year old girls and expecting to keep them apart if they really wanted to go at it. Thankfully neither one did.
“Oh, you’re right as always Negi-sensi,” Class Rep said to Negi with a smile. She then turned back to the rest of her classmates, “Alright ladies! Let’s get back to work! We only have the rest of today to get this finished!”
Natalie went over to Asuna. “Is there anything I can help you guys out with?”
Thinking for a moment she replied, “Actually you can come help Konoka, Setsuna and I paint if you want.”
Painting, she could do that. “Sure. What are you painting?”
“Just some black inner walls for our class haunted house. It shouldn’t be anything too bad but we just need a lot of them. So basically they’re making them,” she said pointing to another group of girls on the other side of the room. “And when they’re done they bring the panels over here and we paint them black. Pretty straight forward right?”
“Yeah, doesn’t sound too hard,” Natalie replied with a laugh.
“Konoka, Setsuna, Simon-sensei is going to help us out,” Asunsa said as she approached her classmates. Konoka was a very petite and pretty girl and Setsuna was very clearly the protective type. When Natalie came over, Setsuna gave her a funny look. Considering that Setsuna was a student of the Shinmei School of martial arts, it wasn’t a surprise to Natalie that she could probably sense who she was. Thankfully, she wouldn’t say anything about it until later though because it would be stupid to make a scene here in the classroom. Natalie knew that many of them knew Negi’s secret and about the existence of magic but many of them didn’t too.
“You guys can call me Natalie-sempai if you want. I’m not exactly a teacher, heck, I’m not much older than you guys. To be honest I just graduated from high school. I’m just here to give Negi a hand and be more of a tutor for you guys if you need it.”
Konoka looked at her with a smile and handed her a paint brush. “So what brought you here? You’re foreign right? Are you from England like Negi?”
Natalie took the brush and sat down with them. “I’m foreign yes, not from England though. I’m from America. I actually came here with a friend, but he’s still in with the Headmaster. You’ll probably get to meet him later; he is supposed to be helping out too.”
“Oh, Grandpa took an interest in him? He must be something special too, just like you and Negi,” Konoka said.
“Special?” Natalie asked, sounding confused.
Konoka just laughed. “Never mind Natalie-sempai, it’s not really important.”
Setsuna still looked at Natalie with mistrust. Asuna saw it and poked her. “What’s your problem?” she whispered to Setsuna.
“She has a strange energy about her Asuna and I can’t tell if she’s friend or foe,” she whispered back.
Asuna shook her head. “I don’t think the Headmaster would have let her in here if she was going to be a threat to us. Relax a little OK?”
“Maybe…” Setsuna said but she wasn’t sure. Natalie could see the look in her eyes. Blending in might not be so easy after all.
As they were all working, there was a knock on the door. It was Takamichi Takahata, the previous teacher for 3-A before Negi had taken over. He spoke with Negi for a minute then left. Negi came over to the group of girls. “Ladies, would you all come with me to the Headmaster’s office? You too please Natalie.”
They all nodded putting their brushes down and following Negi out of the room. “I wonder what this is all about?” Konoka asked Asuna.
“Who knows, we’ll find out when we get there.”
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