The next day began Sunset’s training regimen.
At four thirty in the morning, Sunset shut off her alarm and left her dorm room, doing her best not to wake Nodoka or Yue. She hopped on the train and rode up to Mahora, studying from a couple of spellbooks. Upon arrival at the academy, she headed straight for the forest to Evangeline’s cabin. Chachamaru greated her at the door and showed her downstairs to Evangeline’s villa. Sunset stood in the circle inscribed on the ground in front of the miniature structure in a bottle and let the magic whisk her away inside.
Evangeline was already waiting for her inside. After a hearty breakfast, they set immediately to academia, Evangeline lecturing on different points of magic, combat, and spellcraft while giving demonstrations and helping Sunset master the fundamentals and applications of each technique. A light lunch was then followed by six hours of combat training and sparring, where Evangeline tested Sunset on what she’d been taught that morning, along with how well she could keep her ki suppressed in the heat of battle.
She’d been impressed that Sunset had only lost control of her ki three times. Sunset had been disappointed at one.
After a good night’s sleep and another breakfast, Sunset left the villa and headed for the kendo club’s dojo. Setsuna was already there when she arrived at six’o’clock, and invited Sunset to join her for a half-hour of meditation. Following that, Sunset explained and demonstrated everything that Evangeline had taught her about ki control. Setsuna expanded on those lessons and followed up with some light sparring where she taught Sunset how to use her fists against an armed opponent.
The school day began shortly thereafter, giving Sunset barely enough time to shower and change before she had to be in her seat. Classes progressed as usual, including a massive freak-out when, at the end of English, Negi asked Ku Fei to meet him at the World Tree Plaza. Sunset happily ignored the resulting drama and resolved, once again, to stay out of it.
After school, she met up with Takamichi in the woods, away from prying eyes. Though there was a palpable tension between the two of them, they both conducted themselves like professionals. A few minutes of basic instruction revealed to Takamichi what Negi and the rest of class 3-A had learned months ago: Sunset’s learning speed was insane. She grasped the theories and difficulties behind working ki and magic together quickly enough to blow through in one afternoon what Takamichi had assumed would take three days to teach her. The only sticking point came when he brought up the ultimate ki-magic combination technique.
“Kanka?” Sunset asked.
Takamich nodded. “It’s a fusion of magic and ki. The combined energy is called ‘kanka.’ It significantly enhances speed, strength, endurance, all physical attributes.” He held up his hands, both of which began to gather energy. “Ki in the right hand, magic in the left, and…” He slowly brought his hands together, and Sunset could feel the energies fusing seamlessly into each other. Even at the relatively low yield of the demonstration, Takamichi’s hands began to glow and radiate power. Sunset actually took a step back, amazed at the increase in power output that had come from the powers combining.
“Amazing,” she muttered. She brought her own hands up and focussed on pulling as little power as possible into her right hand. “Ki in the right hand…” Once she had it stabilized, she quickly brought her other hand to the same level of power output. “Magic in the left, and…” She slowly moved her hands together, only to be bemused as they repelled each other. “They’re like magnets. Like two norths.”
Takamichi nodded, extinguishing his own power. “This is a practical demonstration of what I was telling you about earlier. Magic and ki don’t mix well. They naturally tend to repel each other. You’re going to find, going forward, that you have a distinct advantage over most other mages who rely on either magic or ki. When you defend with the opposite, a certain amount of your opponent’s attack will be repelled or diverted simply by the nature of your defence. You then attack with the same, and your spell or punch won’t suffer the same dampening effect. Kanka, meanwhile, is not repelled by either magic or ki. While this means that your defences won’t have a deflecting effect, kanka more than makes up for it with raw power.”
“Yeah, I get it,” Sunset said, scowling at her hands as she slowly brought them closer to each other, fighting against the push-back. “Come on. Come on…”
“The important thing is getting them to fuse,” Takamichi lectured. “If you just try to force them together, the energies are likely to-”
*BOOM*
The blast knocked Sunset off her feet, sending her flying backwards onto the rough ground. Takamichi chuckled. “Likely to do that.”
“Oh, ha ha ha.” Sunset pulled herself to her feet, dusting off her uniform before glaring at Takamichi. “And how exactly am I supposed to get two opposing forces to combine?”
Takamichi shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Sunset quirked an eyebrow. “Say what?”
“I don’t know,” Takamichi repeated. “Or at least, I don’t know how to put it into words.” He thought for a bit before nodding. “You mentioned that it’s like trying to force two north magnets together. You’re essentially correct. The thing about magic and ki is, they’re the same energy, just applied differently. The trick is to somehow remind the two energies that they are, in essence, the same, and they should work together. Or perhaps it’s more like having the magical process and the ki process cancel each other out, like inverse equations. Either way, you could say that kanka is mana in its purest and least restricted form.”
Sunset thought on that for a moment. “That… makes sense, I guess. It also explains why all it does is give physical enhancements.”
Takamichi blinked and his smile grew a touch more genuine. “Oh? You noticed that, did you?”
Sunset nodded, looking down at her hands. “You didn’t say anything about kanka being used to cast spells or work ki-based techniques. Because you’ve ‘inversed’ the spellcasting ‘equations.’” She looked up at Takamichi. “That’s the drawback, isn’t it? A technique this powerful doesn’t come without a downside of some sort.”
“That’s right.”
“What about that ‘right hand, left hand’ thing?” Sunset asked. “I can’t imagine you clap your hands every time you want to fight.”
Takamichi shook his head. “Well, it’s like you said yesterday.” He put his hands in his pockets and, all at once, his power flared. Sunset flinched, but managed not to take a step back this time. Takamichi chuckled again. “I’m seasoned. I’m able to combine the two powers within my body, bypassing the need to do it without.”
“I see,” Sunset said. “And how long did it take you to work out how to do that?”
“Decades.” The smallest of smirks flashed across Takamichi’s face. “One advantage of sitting in a room for hours grading papers: I’ve had a lot of time to practice.”
Sunset rolled her eyes before bringing up her hands again. “Ki in the right hand… magic in the left…” she brought the two opposing forces up again and slowly began pushing them together. She stopped with her hands an inch apart, trembling slightly as she tried to feel out anything that would let the powers get along. “Come on… come on…”
“Don’t be upset if it takes you a while,” Takamichi said. “It took me most of a year to get it to work, and another beyond that before I could rely on it in combat.”
Sunset grit her teeth but, reluctantly, let her power disperse as she lowered her hands. “In other words, keep working at it in my spare time. Got it.” She looked up again. “What next.”
“Next,” Takamichi said, pulling out a lighter and a pack of cigarettes, “we break for the day.”
“Excuse me?”
“We’re done.” Takamichi lit a cigarette and took a deep pull. He blew out a stream of smoke before smiling at Sunset. “Honestly, you’ve blown through everything I was planning to teach you over the next few days. We’ll skip tomorrow so you can study what you’ve learned so far and I can prepare what to teach you next. We’ll begin sparring on Wednesday.”
Sunset looked up at the sky and scoffed. “Great. It’s barely mid-afternoon. I was planning on this taking until evening.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a cell phone. “Wonder what Honya’s doing right now?”
Takamichi raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t know that the principal gave you a cell phone.”
“He didn’t,” Sunset replied, flipping it open and scrolling through messages. “This is Yuuna’s. I borrow one from someone in the class every day.”
Takamichi’s expression turned deadpan. “And is Akashi-chan aware that you ‘borrowed’ her phone?”
“I really don’t see how that’s important.” Sunset scrolled through a few messages from Yuuna’s father before finding a group message. “Here we go. Bowling. Eh, might be fun.” She pocketed the phone and turned to go.
“Nichibotsu.” Sunset stopped and looked over her shoulder at Takamichi. He took another draw of his cigarette before giving her a genuine smile. “I’m glad you’re getting along with the rest of the girls.”
Sunset turned and stormed off, determined to hide the blush on her face. Definitely stopping by the bowling alley she thought irritably. Gotta “accidentally” drop some bowling balls on some feet just to keep up my image. Ayaka needs to hurry up and invite me to her house.
*****
Fortunately for her classmates’ feet, they’d finished up bowling by the time Sunset arrived. At Konoka’s invitation, she joined her, Setsuna, Asuna, Negi, and, to her surprise, Ku Fei for karaoke.
“So, I get the rest of them,” Sunset said to Setsuna as they walked through town, “but isn’t Ku Fei a little out of place in this group?”
“She was with Negi when Asuna invited him,” Setsuna explained. “It would have been rude not to bring him along.”
“Oh yeah,” Sunset muttered. “That’s what today’s 3-A freakout was about. He wanted to confess his undying love or tell her he was pregnant with her kid or something, right?”
Setsuna chuckled. “I’d accuse you of exaggerating the rumors but, well…”
“Yeah. So, what did he have to see her about, anyway?”
“Negi-sensei wanted her to train him in martial arts,” Setsuna said. “Apparently, he saw her demonstration this morning and was impressed.”
“Demonstration?”
“Ku Fei-san won Mahora’s Martial Arts Contest at last year’s Mahorafest,” Setsuna explained. “She faces off against a crowd of challengers most mornings. It’s rare for her to even break a sweat. From what I hear from Mana, she handled herself extremely well against the demons that she fought in Kyoto.”
“Huh.” Sunset shrugged. “Well, good for him, I guess. But why would he need to…” Sunset grimaced. “Oh.”
Setsuna nodded. “He’s frustrated by how helpless he was against Fate Averruncus.” Seeing Sunset’s confused expression, she clarified. “The white-haired boy you fought. The Chief told us that that’s what he’s calling himself.”
“Fate, huh?” Sunset scoffed and shook her head. “Couldn’t come up with a more obvious and pretentious pseudonym if you tried.” She looked forward at Negi, who was deep in conversation with Ku Fei. “I’m not sure martial arts is going to be enough, though. He overwhelmed us so easily. The only reason Springfield was even able to land a solid blow was because Asuna knocked out his shields for a second.” Still not sure how she’s able to do that. “Even with you, Evangeline, and Takamichi teaching me, I don’t really see the path ahead that leads to beating him. Unless I somehow figure out how to cast spells like I used to, he’s beyond our reach.”
“I can’t be sure, not having fought him myself,” Setsuna said. “However, I think you underestimate both Negi-sensei and yourself. Negi-sensei is a genius who learned Japanese in two months and is already poised to graduate as a magister magi, a full-fledged mage. You yourself are working to master both magic and ki and are doing so at a rate I never would have believed possible before now.”
“Yeah, we’re good,” Sunset said without a hint of pride. “Exceptional. Literally geniuses.” She turned a serious expression to Setsuna, looking her dead in the eye. “And I still don’t see how we catch up to him, even if we dropped school and trained for a year straight. He’s beyond us. Beyond even our ability to measure right now.” She sighed and looked forward again. “I can only hope that we don’t run into him again for a really, really long time.”
*****
Another day, another wake-up before dawn. Damn, I miss working in R&D. Sunset shut off her alarm, pulled herself out of bed, and once again set off for a day of training. After boarding the train and checking to make sure she was alone, she stared down at her hands and began running through the exercises Takamichi had recommended two days before.
“Magic is mana pulled from the surrounding environment,” she recalled him explaining, “channeled through the body to a focus, and expelled in the form of spells. When mages talk about how much magic someone has, they’re actually referring to how much they can pull in at once before they run out of magical endurance. Ki, on the other hand, comes from a pool of mana that rests within your body and recovers as you eat and rest. This is channeled out to the body as a whole. Since both are mana, they flow through the same channels in the body. Magical veins, you might say. However, unlike blood which has separate tracks for moving away from the heart and towards the heart, magic and ki move along the same paths, but in opposite directions. Channeling either ki or magic doesn’t put significant strain on the body, but switching rapidly from one to the other forces those paths to suddenly switch their direction of flow.”
Sunset reached within herself. She found her wellspring of mana and released it a little, allowing it to flood her body. As it reached her skin, she felt it change slightly, naturally imbuing her muscles with power and forming a thin shield of energy which toughened and reinforced her skin. She concentrated on her ki, specifically on where it began to transform from raw mana. Eventually, she sealed up her wellspring and began to reach outward.
The mana in the air around her, the energy of every living thing which surrounded her, responded to her pull. It flowed into her body, entering those same channels, and Sunset immediately felt a slight itch throughout her body as her magic circuits were made to channel mana in the opposite direction from how they had just seconds ago. Nevertheless, channel they did, the energy pouring into her right hand, as if she’d been holding a wand. Even without a focus, Sunset felt the energy begin to shift, deconstructing and organizing itself so as to be easily pliable to her whims.
So that’s the difference, Sunset thought, letting the magic dissipate and wincing as she switched back to ki. Ki shapes itself, acting to adapt itself to the body through which it flows. Magic breaks itself down, allowing itself to be acted upon by the body that uses it. She shifted back to magic, letting out a small gasp as the itch turned into a stinging sensation. One energy that acts, one that wants to be acted upon. No wonder they oppose each other so much; they aren’t just different applications, they’re different on an innate, philosophical level. And since mana is the power of living beings, it isn’t unreasonable to think, as most researchers back home believe, that it has some form of consciousness all its own. Sunset switched again, gritting her teeth against the pain.
So the forces are literally fighting each other. Battling each other for dominance in the philosophical battle between them. One seeks to give its wielder every possible option, while the other seeks to optimize itself so its wielder doesn’t have to bother. Hence why ki is more overtly powerful, but magic is more adaptable and varied. Sunset tried switching back to magic, but lost her grip on it as a sharp, jagged pain lanced through her core. She doubled over, gripping her stomach as she gasped for breath.
In other words, she thought, pulling herself together and standing up just as the train came to a stop, in order to use kanka, I have to somehow play mediator between two fundamentally opposed philosophical points of view and get them to work together. She groaned as she stepped off the train and began making her way up to the academy. Ugh. I hate playing mediator.
“Eh? Nichi-chan?”
Sunset blinked in surprise. Makie stood on the street just outside the station, dressed in sweats and panting slightly. “Makie?” Sunset raised an eyebrow. “What on Earth is Baka Pink doing out here this early in the morning?”
“Oh! Um…” Makie looked down, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly. “Just some self-training, I guess. Working some things out while I jog.”
Sunset smirked, walking down the station steps towards her. “Really? If jogging is how you ‘work things out,’ then maybe that’s why you do so poorly on your tests.”
Makie laughed, brightening up at the remark. “Hey, yeah! Maybe I should ask our teachers if I can take my tests standing up and jogging in place!”
Sunset’s smirk dropped. Either she has the best insult-deflection technique I’ve ever seen, or she’s actually so dense that she doesn’t know when she’s being insulted in the first place. Which… in itself isn’t a bad insult-deflection technique.
“What about you?” Makie asked. “What are you doing here so early?”
Sunset shrugged and began walking up towards the academy. “Self-training, I guess. I’m actually working with Evangeline on a few things.”
“Oh?” Makie asked, falling in beside her. “I thought I saw you and Eva-chan getting along these past few days. That’s great!” She smiled gleefully at Sunset. “At this rate, you’ll be friends with the whole class in no time!”
By the will of Tirek. “Not likely,” Sunset answered. “After all, I didn’t insult Evangeline up at the World Tree Plaza. The child twins and the cheerleaders don’t seem especially quick to forgive.”
Makie winced. “Madoka-chan and Misa-chan will come around… eventually. Fuka-chan will be fine once Fumika-chan calms her down, especially now that you have Ku-chan on your side.”
“...what?”
“Well, she is a little childish. It’s actually rare for her to hold a grudge for so-”
“Not that,” Sunset snapped. “Ku Fei. She hates me as much as the others.”
Makie giggled. “No she doesn’t. At least, not since the school trip. She told me she gained a lot of respect for you in Kyoto. She also texted around the other night about how good you were at karaoke.”
Yeah, well, humans have disgustingly low standards for music. “She… told you about Kyoto?”
“Well, not exactly.” Makie looked up, rubbing the back of her head. “She was really secretive about it. Said she promised not to talk about it too much.” She lowered her hand and smiled at Sunset. “But she said she saw a side of you that she’d never seen before, and everyone was impressed with how you stood up to her during the War of Lips game.”
Sunset let out a long sigh and massaged the bridge of her nose. “Great. Just great. First Kaede, now Ku Fie. If you’re right about the kids, then that really only leaves the cheerleaders against me. I need to put some serious work in now if I’m going to salvage my reputation.”
“I’m not so sure that the reputation you’re going for is one you should salvage.” Makie frowned. “What do you have against being friends with everyone, anyway?”
“I don’t need friends.” Sunset winced at the reflexive phrase. “Okay, maybe that’s a bit much. I’m fine with the friends I have now. I don’t see the need to be all chummy chummy with everyone I meet. Especially the girls in our class. With a few exceptions, they’re loud, dense, irritating child molesters who have no sense of tact or restraint. The quicker I can get them to dislike me, the quicker I can salvage a chance for some peace while I’m here at Mahora.”
“I’m sure if you just explained yourself, most of the girls would leave you alone,” Makie said.
Sunset scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Please. When I insulted a dozen of them up at the World Tree plaza, the whole class took it as a challenge. I could write out a ten-page essay in four languages and it wouldn’t get through their thick skulls.”
“Well, yeah. Most of us wouldn’t be able to pay attention through any ten-page essay you wrote.”
Sunset barely kept herself from stumbling. She spent the next minute trying to work out whether Makie had insulted her or their class, and whether it had been intentional either way. Makie, meanwhile, began humming to herself as they walked.
“Hey,” she said after a few minutes, “isn’t that Negi-kun?”
Sunset looked up from her musings and, sure enough, spotted Negi up on the street above the World Tree Plaza. He seemed to be working through something, moving through a series of simple strikes and blocks in a jarring and rhythmic pattern. “Looks like he’s practicing,” Sunset muttered.
“Practicing?” Makie’s face brightened in understanding. “Oh! You mean that Chinese martial arts thing he asked Ku-chan to teach him?”
“Yeah.” Sunset began making her way up to Negi, Makie right behind her. “Hey, Springfield!” she called once they got closer. “Ku Fei’s got you working forms already?”
Negi jumped in surprise before turning and smiling at them. “N-Nichibotsu-san! Makie-san! Good morning!”
“Good morning!” Makie called, jogging over. “Was that the Chinese martial arts thing you were talking about the other day?”
“Y-yes,” Negi answered, a little flustered at having been caught. “Ku Fei-san taught me the beginning kata the day before yesterday.”
“That’s so cool!” Makie gushed. “Hey, hey Negi-kun! Are you going to enter the Academy Martial Arts Tournament?”
“Down girl,” Sunset said, rolling her eyes. “The Tournament’s at the School Festival, right? I don’t think he has time to get up to standard before then.”
“I couldn’t agree more.”
Sunset winced. Oof. She does not sound happy. She looked down to the plaza and found Evangeline standing there with Chachamaru. Evangeline’s expression conveyed mild annoyance, but Sunset had spent enough time around Celestia to read an immortal’s eyes better than that.
Definitely irritated, Sunset thought. Not even a minute’s delay and she comes looking for me? How anal can you… Sunset’s eyes went wide as she noticed that Evangeline’s focus was on Negi rather than her. Wait, what?
“Are you going to start practicing kung fu, then?” Evangeline asked. “Maybe you should forget about becoming my apprentice.”
“W-w-w-what!” Negi began waving his arms frantically. “N-no! Evangeline-san! This is- I’m just researching ways to fight that boy, and-”
“Don’t worry about it,” Evangeline said, turning away. “I wasn’t planning on taking on any more apprentices in the first place. Let’s go, Nichibotsu.”
“Yeah, sure.” Sunset looked between Negi and Evangeline, a smirk beginning to creep onto her face. Oh, don’t tell me.,..
“Wait.” Makie looked around, confused. “What’s going on, Negi-kun?”
“W-well, um,” Negi looked frantically from Evangeline to Makie. “I wanted Evangeline-san to take me on as her apprentice, but-”
“Well, it’s only fitting that a child should be playing around at kung fu,” Evangeline said dismissively. “See you.”
“That’s strange,” Sunset said, making her way down to the plaza. “You don’t seem to have a problem with me doing boxing or training with Setsuna. Are you sure you aren’t just jealous of Ku Fei for nabbing him first?”
“Wh-what?!” Evangeline sputtered, glaring at Sunset. “NO!!!”
“Yeah, Eva-chan!” Makie chimed in. “Why are you picking on Negi-kun? Why not let him become your apprentice too?”
“It seems she is jealous,” Chachamaru said.
“HEY!” Evangeline grabbed Chachamaru by her tie in a futile attempt to strangle the robot. “I’m telling you, that’s not true!”
“I had no idea you felt that way about him,” Sunset said, nodding sagely. “No wonder you looked so flustered when you came back that time.” Sensing her teacher’s rising anger and mindful of the possible retribution during training later, she decided to give Evangeline an out. “After all, why else would you train me and not him?”
Evangeline huffed, barely managing to bring her embarrassment under control. “I’m not interested in playing with children.” She shot a glare at Makie. “And I’m not interested in talking with childish people like you, Sasaki Makie.”
Brick wall there, Evangeline. Sunset rolled her eyes. Insults go right over her-
“What?!”
Sunset blinked. She turned back to find an irate Makie who was glaring down at Evangeline. “You’re pretty child-like yourself, Eva-chan! Besides, Negi-kun is already really strong! He’ll become a master without any help from you!”
“Is that so?”
Sunset sighed, resigning herself to an afternoon of being Evangeline’s punching bag.
“Fine.” Evangeline tossed her hair over her shoulder imperiously. “Then I’ll decide your apprenticeship test right now, boy!” She jerked her thumb at Chachamaru. “If you can hit her with your kung fu even once, then you’ll pass. But you’ll have to fight one on one.”
“All right!” Makie struck her fist to her chest, grinning confidently and looking like she’d just been challenged herself. “If that’s all, Negi-kun will win easily.”
Sunset’s eyes went wide. “Wait. Makie! I don’t think that’s such a-”
“Go for it, Chachamaru,” Evangeline ordered.
Chachamaru hesitated. “Ah, but…”
“Don’t worry. Just go.”
“..okay.” Chachamaru gave a small bow to Negi. “Please forgive me, Negi-sensei.”
Sunset was only able to trace her movement because she’d been watching for it. In an instant, Chachamaru was up in Negi’s face, aiming a chop at his neck. Negi managed to get a block up at the last minute, halting Chachamaru’s hand.
And completely missing her kick.
Negi was sent flying, slamming into a short wall that ran along the road. Makie cried out. Sunset winced. Negi lay dazed and groaning on the ground.
“And that’s that.” Evangeline chuckled as she turned away, Chachamaru walking back to her side. “If you can’t even hit Chachamaru once, then you’ll go no further. The place will be here. I’ll give you a break and make the time midnight on Sunday. Well, give it your best shot.” She began to walk away. “Chachamaru. Nichibotsu. Let’s go.”
Sunset shot Negi a sympathetic look before following. “A little harsh, isn’t it?” she asked. “Two days isn’t a lot of time to prepare.”
Evangeline waved her off, dismissively. “It’s for the best. I assume you think I’m doing this just to be cruel?”
“The thought had crossed my mind.” Sunset frowned. “But thinking about it, that’s not really your style. The way you were talking, you were already planning on testing him. On giving him a chance. Did something change, or is there a method to this madness?”
“Both.” Evangeline shrugged. “It’s true that I was going to give him a real chance, but his newfound interest in martial arts complicates matters. It’s incredibly difficult to master two different forms of combat at once.”
“I’m learning magic, ki, boxing, and possibly kanka.”
“You’re also a seasoned veteran of twenty years who spent her time hunting warlocks and trained under the Goddess of the Sun.” She smirked at Sunset’s dumbfounded expression. “I debriefed Asuna while you were smashing plates. My point is, you know your limits. If you think you can handle all of this, then I suppose I trust you not to run yourself into the ground.” Her smirk fell from her face as she looked ahead.
“I have no such reason to trust the boy. In fact, he seems like the type to throw himself wholeheartedly into a hundred things at once and get himself killed in the process. I’m not going to bother teaching someone who can’t tell when he needs to slow down.”
Sunset nodded. “I see. You also don’t want him slacking off in his magic studies. I assume that if he manages to hit Chachamaru and then fails to perform to standard in magic training, you’ll lecture him on that and tell him to either drop kung fu or lose his apprenticeship?”
“Precisely.” Evangeline grinned wickedly. “But that’s not your concern for a while yet. For now, all you have to worry about is surviving the next twenty-four hours.”
Sunset winced. “Joy.”