Student 32: Sunset Shimmer

by Show Stopper


Arc 4: Chapter 22

“What are you going to do about this, Negi? How do you intend to take responsibility for making this card?”

“Sheesh. She says it like it was his fault,” Sunset muttered. It was the morning after the War of Lips fiasco, and everyone was getting ready for day three of the trip. Sunset and Nodoka had happened across Asuna talking with Negi, Chamo, Asakura, and Setsuna and were spying on them from around the corner.

“Honya-chan is just a normal girl,” Asuna continued lecturing, glaring down at Negi. "We can’t get her involved in something as complicated as this.”

“It may be too late for that, Asuna-san,” Setsuna interrupted. “Nichibotsu told me last night that she already knows about magic. Nichibotsu decided to explain it to her after Evangeline attacked her. Yue-san knows as well.”

“Eh?!” Asakura’s jaw dropped. “They knew? And they competed anyway?”

“Ohoho,” Chamo chuckled, pulling out a card and examining it. “It looks like the girl wants to be involved after all. Guess you made the contract with the right one, Aniki!”

“I-it was just an accident,” Negi said, waving his arms frantically. “I had no idea that Nodoka-san knew about any of this! Although,” he paused, calming down as he thought about something, “she did say she needed to talk with me about something important last night. Maybe it was about this?”

Setsuna nodded. “Most likely. From what Nichibotsu told me, she knows what she’s getting into and wants to be of help to you.”

“J-just hold on a second!” Asuna shouted, looking frantically from Negi to Setsuna. “We aren’t really thinking about roping Honya-chan into this craziness, are we?”

Sunset decided it was finally time to quit stalking and join in the conversation. “I don’t think that’s up to you, Asuna.” She stepped out from around the corner, smirking as everyone but Setsuna jumped in surprise. “Honya’s made her choice. Besides, now that she’s taken a single step in, it’d be better to indoctrinate her fully so she can be ready for what lies ahead.”

Chamo glared at Sunset, crossing his arms. “Please don’t make magic sound like some sort of creepy cult.”

“Can it, pervert. The grown ups are talking.” Turning her attention back to Asuna, she continued. “Look, Evangeline, Library Island, and the monkey girl trying to kidnap Konoka already prove that a lot of magical stuff is going to keep happening around our class. The more Honya knows, the better prepared she’ll be.”

“S-she’s right, Asuna-san.” Nodoka stepped around the corner, moving to stand beside Sunset and looking straight at Negi. “I, I want to help Negi-sensei. I want to understand what’s going on a-and get to know this side of Negi-sensei as well.”

“Like it or not, Asuna, she’s already involved.” Sunset shrugged. “Might as well go all the way.”

Asuna looked desperately from Negi to Setsuna, silently begging one of them to intervene. Seeing that they weren’t objecting, she sighed, her shoulders slumping in a defeated posture. “We’re going to infect the whole class at this rate.”

“Magic isn’t a disease!” Chamo cleared his throat before grinning over at Nodoka. “Anyhow, welcome aboard! I heard that Asakura nee-san gave you your copy card already, right?”

Nodoka stared blankly at Chamo for a moment before Sunset elbowed her in the side. “O-oh! Um, yes. She did.” Nodoka pulled her card from her pocket, an exact copy of the pactio card that had appeared the previous night. Asakura had given it to her earlier that morning as her “fabulous prize” for winning the War of Lips.

“Perfect!” Chamo reached behind his back and pulled out another card, this one depicting Asuna weilding a sword that was almost as tall as she was. “Then I’ll give Ane-san her copy card too.”

“Eh? What would I want with this?” Asuna asked taking the card and examining it. “All you can do with it is communicate, right?”

“Wrong!” Chamo shouted. “You can also use your artifact even when Aniki isn’t around! It will definitely come in handy!”

“Artifact?” Nodoka asked.

“Like my gauntlets,” Sunset explained, pulling out her own card. “To bring it out, just hold the card and say Adeat.” A flash of light vanished the card and replaced it with Sunset’s boots, gauntlets, and jacket.

“Wow,” Nodoka cooed. “Nichi-chan, you look so cool with those!”

Sunset looked away, grinning sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her neck and tried to fight the heat rising in her face. “Eh, it’s not much. I’m sure yours is pretty awesome, too.”

“Well, no better way than to see,” Chamo chimed in excitedly. “Go on! Activate it!”

“U-um, okay.” Nodoka pulled her card from her pocket and took a deep breath. “A-Adeat.

The card vanished, replaced by a thick tome titled “Diarium Ejus.” Its front and back held a design reminiscent of a crown on a pedestal.

“Wow. It’s so pretty!” Nodoka began flipping through the pages, each one split into two sections. The top half held a blank white box while the bottom half contained lines for writing text.

“A picture diary?” Sunset asked, looking over her shoulder. “I wonder what it does?”

“I’m not sure,” Nodoka replied, flipping to the back page. “Oh! There’s instructions in the- huh?”

“Eh? What is it?” Asuna asked, coming around to pear over Nodoka’s other shoulder. Setsuna and Negi crowded around to, with Chamo climbing up onto Asuna’s shoulder. A picture and text began to fill the page. Curious, everyone began to read.

24th of April, Thursday.
I kissed my beloved Negi-sensei yesterday.
Kya! It was only by accident. One day, I would
love to do it in a more romantic way.

Six sets of eyes darted up to the picture, which looked hand-drawn. It featured Nodoka and Negi kissing tenderly, surrounded by sparkles and smiling flowers.

“KYAAAAAA!!!” Nodoka slammed the book against her chest, face a furious red with Negi’s quickly matching. “Wh-wh-wh-wh-what was that?!”

Setsuna cleared her throat, taking a step back and attempting to ignore her own blush. “I-it would seem that this diary is capable of reading and projecting your thoughts.”

“Very nice,” Chamo said, his eyes lit up as he grinned at Nodoka. “But not really ‘artifact’ material. I wonder if it does anything else?”

“As much as I hate to say this, I agree with the pervert.” Sunset wrapped an arm around Nodoka, her grin matching Chamo’s. “After all, it’s not like it said anything we didn’t already know, right Honya?”

“N-N-Nichi-chan!” Nodoka’s head ducked lower as she pulled the book back to sneak another peek at the picture. “Y-you’re- eh?”

“Hm?” Sunset peared down at the book as well, her eyes going wide as the picture and text changed. The picture was now of a blushing Nodoka, waving her arms around wildly and surrounded by little hearts while Sunset giggled. As for the text:

24th of April, Thursday. Nichibotsu.
Oh, this thing is so worth the fiasco of last night!
Honya is just so cute when she gets all flustered
like this. I wonder how much I can poke fun at her
until it crosses into “bullying” territory? Going to
have to measure this carefully. Eh, not like that’s
different from any other- wait. THIS IS MY MIND!!!

Sunset slammed the book shut, her own face lighting up as she avoided Nodoka’s gaze. “So!” she said, a little too loudly. “It looks like it’s not just Honya. This thing reads other people’s minds too. Probably when Honya says their name.”

“Eh? Really?” It was Asakura’s turn to adopt a cheshire grin. “And what exactly did you see in there, Nichibotsu? Some embarrassing little secret?” She began reaching for the book. “Maybe I should just take a peek.”

Fire blazed metaphorically in Sunset’s eyes and literally in her hands and feet. “You take that book, and I’ll burn it out of your hands,” she hissed. “And I won’t be too careful with my aim.”

Asakura quickly pulled her hands back, holding them up and laughing nervously. Sunset couldn’t tell if the sweat that covered her forehead was from the heat of the fire or from nervousness. “Hey, hey, I get it! Hands off the mind-reading book! Nodoka’s eyes only.”

“Still, this could be a very useful ability,” Chamo said, “Imagine being able to learn an enemy’s plans just by asking him about them!”

“I don’t know if it would be that simple,” Setsuna countered. “Many people are able to discipline their minds to avoid thinking about certain things, and most magic users are able to create some sort of mental barrier.”

“That won’t be an issue,” Sunset muttered, glaring angrily at the book. “Trust me, my passive mental barriers have been tested by some of the best mages in…” Sunset blinked away her glare and pointed at the book. “Hey, Honya, could I borrow that for a second?” At Honya’s nod, she took the tome and opened it up, bringing to mind a series of proper nouns. “Canterlot.” “Siren.” “Wendigo.” Weird, it seems to be using Western characters for the translations. I guess that’ll help when using them for spellcraft. She handed the book back to Honya before rolling the new word around in her mind for a bit. “Can-ter-lot,” she finally sounded out. “That’s the translation this book gives for my home city. Canterlot.” She shrugged. “Anyway, my mental barriers are strong. But this book pierced through to my mind like they weren’t even there. I didn’t even feel an intrusion.”

“Then this book is as amazing as I thought!” Chamo cheared. “Just what you’d expect from the one who has the second best relationship with Aniki!”

Sunset rolled her eyes. “And let me guess, the number one spot goes to you.”

“Please, girl,” Chamo scoffed. “I’m so far out of your leagues, the rest of you don’t even register compared to me. No, I’m just talking about his students. And amongst them, the number one closest relationship with Aniki belongs to none other than Asuna anesan!”

“Wh-wh-what?! Me?” Asuna gaped, dumbfounded. “Th-that’s ridiculous!”

“The ermine doesn’t lie!” Chamo replied, taking a scroll out from behind his back and unfurling it. “Ermines like me are able to sense the relationship strength between people based on several different factors, and trust me, you’re topping the list! Though Nodoka ane-san is starting to catch up to you.”

Sunset leaned over to take a peek at the list and winced when she saw her own score. Geeze. No wonder Ignis Erix is so weak. I really need to work on that. As for Asuna… She noted the numbers quickly and smirked. Knew it! “He’s right, Asuna. It’s not romance or infatuation like what Honya has,” she snuck a quick smirk to Nodoka’s still-red face before continuing, “but that’s definitely a pretty strong relationship.” She glanced up at Asuna. “It goes back to that thing we talked about earlier.”

“E-eh? What thing?” Negi asked, looking from Chamo to Asuna in confusion. “What’s she talking about, Asuna-san?”

Asuna blushed as her mind went back to her and Sunset’s conversation in the woods, though not as much as Sunset would have expected. “N-nothing!” She turned around, her nose in the air. “I have no idea what they’re talking about!”

Sunset chuckled as Chamo rolled up and put away the scroll. “Well, not that this hasn’t been fun, but we really should be getting ready for the day. Abeat.” Her artifact vanished and she put her card back in her pocket. Her eyes caught on Setsuna and an idea sprouted in her mind. “Actually, Honya, one more thing quickly.” She snagged the tome from Nodoka’s hands and turned to Setsuna. “Sakurazaki Setsuna,” she said, a shark-like grin splitting her face, “what do you really think of Konoka?”

*****

“I had no idea Nichibotsu could run so fast.”

“Setsuna-san, too. I wonder if the track club has scouted them?”

“I don’t think the track club lets you swing swords around while you run. And did you see how red Setsuna-san’s face was? She looked really mad.”

“Yeah! I thought Setsuna-san was going to kill her!”

“Nah, didn’t you see how much Nichi-chan was laughing? They were just playing. Setsuna-chan’s face was only like that because they were running so much.”

“If you say so.”