//------------------------------// // Arc 2: Chapter 7 // Story: Student 32: Sunset Shimmer // by Show Stopper //------------------------------// (Wednesday afternoon, two hours after the gathering at the World Tree Plaza) Setsuna Sakurazaki sighed in annoyance as she walked towards classroom 3-A, dressed in her gi and with her sword slung over her shoulder. The black-haired girl had been running through forms in the dojo where the Kendo Club met when her phone had come alive with an “urgent message” from the Class Representative announcing an emergency class meeting. Considering the new student, Nichibotsu Hikaru, wasn't on the text list, she could guess what the meeting would be about. “Yo, Sakurazaki-san.” Setsuna looked over her shoulder, nodding to the tall, dark-skinned girl with long black hair. Despite being in the same year as her, she looked more like a university student than a middle-schooler. “Tatsumiya-san. You received the Class Rep’s text?” Mana Tatsumiya nodded. “You think it's about the new girl?” Setsuna shrugged. “Most likely. I think it's time to settle the bet we made.” Mana nodded and smiled. “Probably. I look forward to your pessimism failing you.” Setsuna grunted in response. They had both noticed Nichibotsu’s less than stellar attitude the first few days and had agreed that she would prove the ultimate test for their class’ seemingly endless cheerfulness and acceptance. Mana had proposed a bet, knowing that Nichibotsu would do something in the first few months to antagonize the class, and had goaded Setsuna into accepting. They'd bet on opposite extremes, Setsuna that the class, with the possible exception of the Library Exploitation Club, wouldn’t forgive whatever she did while Mana bet that, with the possible exceptions of Ayaka and a couple of others, they would. The stakes were high, neither of them enjoying the prospect of defeat and its humiliating consequences. They soon arrived at the classroom, finding that they were the last to arrive (with the exception of a certain spectacled shut-in who no-one actually expected to come). Ayaka, Asuna, and Konoka were absent as well, the Class Rep having explained in her text that they were all at her villa. As such, Asakura stood at the front of the room to conduct the meeting, an unusually grim look on her face. “Thank you all for coming,” she said once Setsuna and Mana had taken their seats. “As many of you know, and the rest of you probably suspect, this emergency meeting is about our newest student, Hikaru Nichibotsu. Two hours ago, she called all of our classmates who had given her tours of Mahora so far to the World Tree Plaza. I noticed their gathering and, on a hunch, followed them and recorded what transpired. I warn you,” she took out her camcorder, hooking it up to a projector that sat on the desk, “this won't be pleasant to see.” Those who had been the targets of Nichibotsu’s diatribe winced as each of their parts came up, the rest of the class staring in shock and slowly growing anger. Setsuna sighed and shook her head, glancing at Mana who was looking increasingly worried. I think I might be winning this bet after all. The classroom was silent for a moment after the video ended. The quiet was broken by a frustrated sigh from Haruna. “Damn it,” she said. “I should have known not to bet against Yue.” Yue nodded, taking the 500 yen that her friend offered. “I knew something like this would happen as soon as the Class Rep came up with the plan,” she explained to the class. “Haruna thought she would blow up at everyone. I figured she would take a more… calculated approach.” “Calculated?” Misa glowered at Yue. “Is that what you call it? Not cruel. Not out of line? Calculated?!” Yue shrugged in response. “I did warn all of you. Nichi-chan doesn’t like having her studies interrupted. She was only planning to hole herself up for a day or two before enjoying the rest of the break with us. I warned the Class Rep that something like this would happen if she didn’t wait, but she brushed me off.” “Well it’s a good thing she did!” Fuka jumped onto her desk, glaring at Yue and pointing at the chalkboard where the projector had shown Sunset’s onslaught. “At least now we know what a stupid bully she is! I guess we don’t have to play nice with her anymore, huh?!” “O-onee-chan!” Fumika said, pulling on her sister’s arm. “Get off the table!” Setsuna sighed as the twins started to bicker, much of the class soon joining in on bashing Nichibotsu. The only ones who seemed to be refraining were the Library Exploration Club and the usually quiet ones like her and Mana. On a second glance, however, she noticed one more girl who wasn’t joining in on the slowly-forming mob. Natsumi Murakami had made her way over to the camcorder and was watching the video again, a frown of concentration on her face. “Um, Asakura-chan,” she said, catching the reporter’s attention and pointing to the video, “can you zoom in on this?” Did she notice it too? Setsuna thought, exchanging glances with Mana. I might end up losing this bet after all! “Aha! I thought so!” Natsumi’s exclamation caught the attention of several nearby students, much to her chagrin. “Um, I think maybe Nichibotsu might not be as bad as we think.” “Not as- are you crazy?!” Madoka glared across the room at Natsumi. “Did you see the same video we saw? And we told you what she said to us that first day! How can you say she’s not that bad?” “No,” Kazumi said, leaning down and taking a closer look at thee video. “Natsumi might be on to something.” She quickly hooked the camcorder back up to the projector, rewinding to the moment that Nichibotsu had entered, passing by her hiding spot with her clipboard carried under one arm. Kazumi zoomed in on the clipboard, which happened to have the paper side facing out towards the camera. Neatly written lines of text filled the paper. “So what?” Arika asked. “We already figured out that she had notes on us to help her through her insults. We don’t need to see exactly what she wrote.” “It isn’t about what she wrote,” Natsumi explained. “It’s about how she wrote it.” She pointed to the tops of each paragraph. “Doesn’t that look more like a script than a bunch of notes? I know I don’t take notes that neatly.” A few of the girls leaned forward, examining the writing. “Hey, you’re right,” Yuna said, pointing at one of the lines of text. “Look! She even has Misa-san’s line right here!” “It goes deeper than that,” Satomi added, adjusting her glasses as she examined the screen. “Look at the bottoms of our responses. She has notes on which page to turn to if other people talked instead. Look! She thought that Akashi-chan was going to answer her first instead of me!” The girls examined the script for a few moments, even the usually reclusive Evangeline A. K. MacDowell stepping forward to take a look. “Okay,” Ako eventually said, “but what does this mean?” “It means,” a grin slowly grew on Makie’s face, “that Nichi-chan didn’t actually mean all of that! She was just putting on a show!” “A show?” Sakurako asked. “You mean, she was faking it?” “Not entirely,” Chao said, playing the video in slow-motion and trying to count how many pages were held on the clipboard. “Like I said before, everything she said was technically true, or at least an understandable opinion,” she ignored the glares from her classmates and continued, “but thinking about it, there’s a lot more she could have said if she wanted to really hurt us. I’d say she wanted to hurt us just enough to make us leave her alone.” “That’s why she started with Yuna-chan,” Natsumi explained. “If you think about it, what she said wasn’t really an insult. Tactless, but not insulting. But by the time she was done insulting everyone else, Yuna-chan felt that she’s been insulted too.” Yuna thought on that for a moment before nodding. “That… makes sense. I mean, when she said that to me, I was more surprised than anything else. I was actually thinking about what to do about my chest before Hakase-san got her going again.” “So… you’re saying she doesn’t actually hate all of us?” Sakurako asked. “Oh give me a break!” The class turned to see Madoka glaring at all of them. “Are you seriously going to fall for this? Just because it could have been worse means she isn’t actually bad? She still drew us out there just to insult and belittle us! Not to mention how she’s been treating us all week!” “Yeah!” Fuka added. “Just because she held back a bit doesn’t mean she’s not a bully!” “I disagree,” Kazumi said, watching through the video again. “Bullies take on their targets from a position of strength and love to kick them when they’re down. Nichibotsu-chan let herself be severely outnumbered and walked away afterwards, and she doesn’t strike me as the type to hunt us down one by one. I… think she’s really done if we leave her alone.” “Eh! But we can’t leave her alone!” Makie’s shout drew everyone’s attention and more than a few looks of surprise. “If we leave her alone, then she won’t like being in class and we’ll have another Hasegawa-san on out hands! Besides, if we leave her alone, doesn’t that mean that she wins?” Crap! Setsuna sighed as the air in the classroom changed, half of the class shifting from their position on the fence and leaping wholeheartedly to one side. Three. Two. One. “No way!” “We can’t let that happen!” “We’re going to make Hikaru-chan our friend if it kills us!” “YEAH!!!” Setsuna sighed again, looking around to gauge her fellow side-liners’ reactions. Evangeline and Chachamaru were already on their way out the door, Zazie Rainyday and Satsuki Yotsuba watching the proceedings with amusement. Mana, however, seemed slightly worried as she scanned the class. Setsuna turned her eyes back to the cheering and plotting mass and quickly found what Mana had noticed. Two groups of students had withdrawn to the outskirts of the mob, two groups that seemed less than content. Misa and Madoka were muttering with the Narutaki twins, undoubtedly conspiring to ruin 3-A’s friendship efforts. Ku Fei and Kaede also stood to the side, both of them looking concerned and wary. Even within the mob of cheering 3-A girls, there were a couple who seemed more worried or subdued than cheerful. It seemed that only about half the class was really invested in befriending Nichibotsu. “I think we’ve both lost,” Mana muttered, rubbing the back of her neck. “Never thought our class could split like this.” Setsuna nodded, dreading the consequences of that statement. “Which means we both pay the price” The two girls cringed, thoughts of the first day of new term tormenting them. (Thursday morning) “And that’s how it stands,” Kazumi finished, reading off a sheet of paper from her bag. “Half of the class is determined to make you our friend, seven of them are uninterested or neutral, and the rest are either still angry at you or just want to avoid you.” She grinned up at Sunset, who had spent the last few minutes banging her head into her desk. “So really, it could have been worse.” “Half of the class” thud “is determined” thud “to befriend me” thud “if it kills them.” Sunset sighed and gave her forehead a rest, choosing instead to glare up at Natsumi. “You just had to tell them, didn’t you? Couldn’t let me have my victory?” “Oh, lighten up Nichi-chan!” Makie said. A huge smile split her face, though whether from innocence or amusement Sunset couldn’t tell. “After all, we did manage to talk them down to a less enthusiastic approach.” “And by ‘enthusiastic,’ you mean ‘overbearing, irritating, and endlessly cheerful?’” “Yup!” thud “Although,” Kazumi said, reaching down for one of Sunset’s books, “I am curious. What exactly has you so engrossed? Maybe we could help you study it.” “Latin,” Sunset muttered. “And unlike with English, I don’t have anyone to practice it with, so it’s going to take at least twice as long.” Kazumi raised an eyebrow. “You mean a full year to master instead of half of one?” More like two months, since the first five were spent learning Japanese, Sunset thought.”I also need to take it slow to make sure I’m getting it right. There’s no-one to correct me if I mess something up. So unless one of you speaks Latin, I’m fresh out of luck.” “Hm. I bet Negi-sensei does,” Makie said. “He’s really smart, and he seems like the type to know lots of languages.” If only you knew. “Yeah, maybe,” Sunset said, “but I’d rather not pull him away to focus so much time on me. The kid’s got enough on his plate as it is. Unseen by Sunset, the other three girls shared quick looks, a single thought passing between them. She’s not evil after all! “Well,” Natsumi said, emboldened by this revelation, “I bet there’s someone in the class who speaks it. Chao-san and Hakase-san are really smart, and someone else is bound to have learned it for one reason or another. I even know a few people in the Drama Club who might have learned it if no-one else has.” Sunset scoffed, ready to shoot down the notion. There were only about a hundred people in the world who spoke Latin with the fluency she needed if she was going to be inventing her own spells. There were probably a lot more amongst mages, but surely no-one in her class was… “You know what, okay.” Sunset sat up, giving Natsumi the friendliest smile she could. “If you can find someone else who knows Latin, I’d actually really appreciate it.” Natsumi returned her smile, happy to have begun a new friendship. “Of course!” ***** OPERATION NICHI-SUNSHINE TEXT LIST Asakura: Yo! We found something to help the class connect with her! Does anyone know Latin? Akashi: Eh! No way! That’s great! Kagurazaka: Leave it to the class reporter to figure it out! Yukihiro: Latin? Nichbotsu-san is learning Latin? Sasaki: Class Rep! Chao-san! Hakase-san! You’re all really smart. Do any of you know Latin? Yukihiro: I’m afraid not. Hakase: Only a few phrases. I can read and recite it well, but translation is beyond me. Chao: I’m afraid not. If she were learning ancient Greek, I’d be able to help. Sasaki: Aw, that’s no good. Anyone else? Akashi: Why does the Chinese Genius know Greek? Murakami: Chao-san, do you think you could help out the Drama Club sometime? We’re looking over a few scripts right now and we really like one of them, but no-one knows how to pronounce those Greek names. Chao: Sure. I’ll text you separately. Murakami: Thank you! MacDowell: I believe Tatsumiya and Sakurazaki know Latin. Sasaki: Really? Asakura: Do they really? Hasegawa: Why do the shrine maiden and the kendo girl know Latin?! That’s just about as traditionally Japanese as you can get! Akashi: Eh! Hasegawa-san chimed in! Sasaki: Yay! Hasegawa-san is here! Tatsumiya: I was taught Latin growing up, but I’m a little rusty. I believe the same goes for Sakurazaki-san. Sakurazaki: That’s correct. Saotome: Oho! The ever elusive Hasegawa-san appears! Murakami: Are you two available tomorrow? I don’t have the chart with me. Yukihiro: I have the chart. It looks like you two are free all day tomorrow, right? Tatsumiya: I don’t have any plans. Sakurazaki: Nor do I. I’ll coordinate with you separately. Sasaki: This is it, everyone! Our last chance to keep Nichi-chan from becoming like Hasegawa-san! Let’s do it! Asakura: Yeah! Akashi: Yeah! Nodoka: Yo. Nichibotsu here. Did you know that Nodoka’s password is really easy to guess? Nodoka: Setsuna. Mana. See you tomorrow. *** For the first time all week, Sunset didn’t groan when she heard the knocking on her door. She adjusted the book that unlocked it and called out “It’s open.” She looked over her shoulder, watching the tall, dark-skinned girl and the shorter swordswoman enter. “Welcome to my home away from home.” The two girls looked around, Setsuna unphased and Mana impressed. “You’ve certainly made yourself at comfortable,” she said. Sunset shrugged, her own eyes roaming from her wardrobe to her sleeping bag. “Eh, no-one else seems to be interested in this area, not that I can blame them; I don’t see what anyone would want with ancient cookbooks.” “Which begs the question of why you set up shop here.” Mana walked over to one of the bookshelves, taking a book and skimming through it. “There are plenty of study areas around Mahora that aren’t surrounded by deathtraps.” She grimaced and replaced the book. “Also, those recipes look disgusting.” “I like my privacy,” Sunset said, tossing a book to Setsuna. “You know Latin, right? I translated this page earlier, but I want to make sure I got it right. Would you mind?” Setsuna caught the book with ease, opening to the bookmarked page and beginning to read without the slightest hesitation. “We then see that such acts, while reprehensible, are not sufficient to ban as a whole the use of similar methods. To condemn them would be to condemn the creation of fire, the greatest force ever to be bent to the use of man.” Her eyes narrowed before darting up to Mana. “You recognize this?” Mana nodded, taking the book and examining the cover. She hummed to herself, fixing Sunset with an appraising stare. “Nichibotsu-san, why do you have a book on magical ethics?” Her appraisal turned to confusion as she looked at the book again. “And… why an original Latin text?” “You can blame the kid for that.” Sunset rolled her eyes. “I don’t think he realized that half the books he gave me were antiques. Then again, he wasn’t in the best mental state at the time.” Mana pondered that for a moment. “He gave these to you when he thought we’d come in last,” she realized. Her eyes widened. “But that was just last week! You’ve learned enough Latin to translate this book in only a few days?” Sunset shook her head, picking up another book. “Nah. I’m good, but not that good. I’ve really only got the grammar down, not the vocabulary. This translation dictionary has been a lifesaver.” She set the book down. “Besides, I began studying Latin months ago, when I first learned that the kid was a mage. Caught him making a love potion and heard him chanting Latin while doing so. I figured that if magic was language based, I’d better get a head start.” “So, Negi-sensei is a mage?” Setsuna asked curiously. Both Mana and Sunset raised incredulous eyebrows. “You hadn’t noticed?” Mana asked. Setsuna gave another shrug. “I thought he might be, but hadn’t bothered to confirm it. It certainly explains why he’s here at Mahora.” Mana nodded before eyeing the text in her hand again. “I’m surprised you haven’t asked Sensei for help,” she said. “If he’s the one who gave you the books, I’m sure he would have no problem teaching you.” “And have him run out of stuff to teach me in the first month?” Sunset scoffed and rolled her eyes. “I’m better off learning from books than from a kid who’s barely mastered the basics.” Mana considered this before nodding. “Fair point. If you’d like, I can contact a few old friends. See if any of them have the time and inclination to teach you.” “Maybe further down the road,” Sunset replied, turning back to her desk. “I need to get the fundamentals down pat before I can start looking for a teacher. I don’t want to waste time.” “What’s the rush?” Setsuna walked over and examined the texts, picking one up and thumbing through it. “You sound like you’re on a time limit.” Sunset was quiet for a moment. She sighed. “For reasons I’d rather not disclose, I likely won’t be able to remain here for more than a year and a half. The… passage back to where I came from only opens every two-and-a-half years, and I’m fairly certain my old mentor will be coming through to take me back when that time comes.” Her fists clenched, her eyes narrowing dangerously. And I’m not going back until she gives me what’s rightfully mine. Setsuna and Mana shared a glance, the latter shaking her head slightly. Better not act on this until we know the whole story. “Well then,” Mana said, picking up a book and a few sheets of paper, “let’s get started.”