Student 32: Sunset Shimmer

by Show Stopper

Arc 4: Chapter 20

Negi hadn’t said a word as they’d taken him back to the hotel, staring off into space with a dumbfounded expression. However, Sunset had figured that the others were more than up to the task of aiding in his recovery and had left to search for Nodoka. She quickly found her in group 3’s room, eating a small lunch by herself. Sunset invited herself in, closing the door behind her and sitting down across the table from her friend.

“So,” she said, leaning casually on the table as she watched Nodoka’s face. “That happened. How’re you feeling?”

Nodoka blushed a bit and looked away, but Sunset caught the faint smile on her face. “Um, I’m fine, I think. It… it could have gone a lot worse.”

Sunset nodded, drumming her fingers on the table. “So, what now? You know how I feel about this, but it’s really up to you.”

Nodoka was silent as she thought. She finished up her lunch and began sipping from a juice box. “How did Negi-sensei react?” she eventually asked.

“He fainted.” Sunset chuckled at Nodoka’s shocked expression. “Granted, he’s got a lot on his plate right now, but yeah, he definitely isn’t ready for anything like that.”

Nodoka nodded and sighed, and Sunset was surprised to hear a note of relief in it. “I guess I kind of expected that. To be honest, I-I was really nervous when you mentioned a d-da-da…”

Sunset chuckled again as Nodoka disappeared beneath her blush. “Yeah, you aren’t ready either.” She reached across the table and ruffled Nodoka’s hair. “Just keep going slowly. Build up a strong friendship with him, and wait for both of you to grow up a bit. And if he isn’t interested down the road, then he’s an idiot and not worth your time anyway.”

Nodoka’s blush deepened and she ducked out from beneath Sunset’s hand. “I-I-I don’t know about that,” she stuttered. “I-I mean, he c-could just find someone b-better.”

“Impossible.” Sunset’s confident tone left no room for argument. “There is no girl that I know who is sweeter, kinder, or cuter than you. Anyone would be insane to reject you.”

“Aw, now I wish I’d caught that.” Sunset’s head whipped around, a blush covering her face as Asakura walked into the room, grinning like Hearth’s Warming had come early. “A heartwarming confession from 3-A’s resident hard-ass, Hikaru Nichibotsu. Got to say, this one will be hard to sell without evidence.”

Sunset leapt to her feet and grabbed Asakura by her collar. “If you tell anyone what you think you saw here,” she hissed, “then I swear that they will never find your body!”

Asakura just laughed and waved Sunset off. “Don’t worry, I know better than to invoke your wrath. I’m actually here to talk with Honya.”

Sunset narrowed her eyes in suspicion but nodded and set Asakura down. The reporter dodged around Sunset, taking out a small recorder and sitting down across from Nodoka. “Sorry to bother you, Honya. I’ve just got one thing to ask about.”

“O-Okay,” Nodoka said, raising her juice box to her lips to hide her embarrassment. “Wh-what did you need to talk about?”

“Is it true that you slept with Negi-sensei?”

Between Nodoka’s spit-take and Sunset’s punch to the back of the head, Asakura found herself wondering if the joke had been worth it. “Hahaha, I’m just kidding,” she said, wiping juice from her face as she looked over her shoulder, waving off a glaring Sunset. “Kidding. You confessed to him, right? How did it go?”

“H-h-how did it go?” Nodoka stammered, her blush close to becoming a permanent feature. “I-I was able to tell him how I feel, that’s all. I didn’t expect a response from the start, so…”

“Eh?” Asakura seemed surprised. “Then you don’t care what Negi-sensei thinks?”

Nodoka’s blush deepened as she nervously tapped her pointer fingers together. “N-no, I just…” Her voice grew quieter and Asakura and Sunset leaned forward to hear her better. “We’re both really young still… and we have plenty of time… and I-I’m kind of afraid to hear his response so…”

Sunset and Asakura couldn’t help but chuckle. “You’re right, Nichi-chan,” Asakura said, standing up and grinning. “It’s really hard to get cuter than Honya.”

Sunset nodded before raising an eyebrow at the class reporter. “I don’t think I need to tell you that this shouldn’t be spread to the rest of the class. It could create problems for Springfield if it got out, and I’d rather Honya not have to deal with the rest of the class breathing down her neck. Haruna is bad enough.”

Asakura waved her off, rewinding her recording and deleting it. “Yeah, yeah. I got it.” She grinned down at Nodoka, giving her a thumbs-up. “Good luck, Honya! I’ll support you!”

“What’s this about supporting Nodoka?” Yue and Haruna appeared in the doorway, peaking in and raising identical eyebrows at Asakura’s presence. The Mahora Paparazzi waved them off, laughing as she stepped past them.

“Nothing, nothing. Just gathering some intel for my own sake. I’ll see you all later!”

Yue frowned a little as Asakura ran off. “Is she up to something?”

“Nah,” Sunset replied, sitting down next to Honya as Yue and Haruna took seats across from them. “Just trying to get details on Honya’s confession. She’s going to keep a lid on it, though.”

“Good!” Haruna shouted, grinning eagerly at Nodoka. “We can’t have the competition sniffing out how far Nodoka has gotten!”

A round of confused and sceptical looks greeted her exclamation. “Competition?” Yue asked. “What competition?”

Haruna slammed her palm down on the table, lifting herself up to grin down at everyone else. “Why, the competition for Negi-sensei’s heart, of course! Out of our entire class, do you think that our little Nodoka’s the only one who’s fallen for Negi-sensei?! The Class Rep is the obvious competitor, of course, but a few of the others seem suspicious! Makie-chan seems strangely interested in romance and in Negi-sensei lately, and Asuna-chan has been suspicious from the start! I heard that they even sleep together!”

“Much to Asuna’s annoyance,” Sunset immediately clarified. “Springfield crawls half-asleep into her bed sometimes, a habit picked up from living with his older sister, apparently. Asuna complained about it several times during our study sessions. As for Makie,” Sunset rolled her eyes, “she’s too simple to be subtle. Trust me, if she was interested, we’d know. Any interest from her is either purely platonic or wrapped up in our class’s usual fantastic delusions.”

“And the Class Rep is an idiot,” Yue added calmly. “Her pronouncements of love are so overblown that they’re more likely to drive Negi-sensei away than to attract him. I doubt we have anything to fear from her.”

“And none of the rest of the class have expressed particular romantic interest,” Sunset said, smirking as Haruna slowly lowered herself, her grin slipping little by little. “In fact, a number of potential rivals have already pledged themselves to supporting Honya from the sidelines, Konoka and Asakura included. Face it, Haruna, your harem fantasy is going to remain just that, a fantasy.”

“Maybe for now,” Haruna growled, glaring from Sunset to Yue, “but do you really think that no-one else will start to see Negi-sensei in that light? Our class is too friendly for its own good sometimes, and we already make a habit of harassing him. What if, one of these days, one of them is alone with Negi-sensei and takes the teasing too far?” Her glare morphed into a slightly lecherous grin. “After all, a young man like Negi-sensei is very innocent and impressionable. If one of us mature onee-chans really tried, we could-”

“You’re being an idiot,” Sunset deadpanned. “First, no-one in our class but the Class Rep is that forward, and she isn’t subtle enough to go for ‘alone time.’ Second, stop complaining about how much you all harass Springfield; that’s my thing. Third, I see exactly where this is going and no, Honya doesn’t need to ‘stake her claim to Springfield before someone else tries for him.’ A confession is already far ahead of what anyone else in the class has going for them, and if anyone else tries it, I guarantee that Springfield will be just as flabbergasted as he was today, which will give us plenty of time to either support Honya’s next step or sabotage the competition.”

“Um, do I get a say in this?” Nodoka asked meekly.

Sunset huffed and crossed her arms. “As soon as Haruna stops trying to push you further than you need to go.”

“And as soon as Nichi-chan stops being naively optimistic!” Haruna accused.

“And as soon as both of them stop being stubborn idiots,” Yue drawled.

Sunset and Haruna’s retorts were cut off by a loud screeching noise. Everyone’s heads darted to the side, staring off towards the front of the hotel. Sunset narrowed her eyes. “What the-”

A loud crash cut her off and Sunset leapt to her feet, her hand instantly going to the pocket where she kept her wand. “Stay here,” she snapped before darting out of the room. She ran to the front of the hotel where she found Asakura standing by the entrance, hiding behind the doorway as she stared up into the sky, a wide-eyed grin on her face. “Oy! Paparazzi! What just happened?”

Asakura blinked and turned around, staring at Sunset with a questioning expression. Her eyes darted from Sunset to the sky, to the road, and back to Sunset. “Ahahaha.” Her laugh was as unconvincing as her strained smile as she waved Sunset off. “Nothing, nothing. Just a driver being a little reckless on the road. Nothing for you to be concerned over!” She hurried past Sunset, smiling as innocently as a filly who’d just put the cookie jar back and was trying to pretend there weren’t crumbs on her face. “Well, I’ve got some stuff to take care of! See you around, Nichi-chan!”

Sunset glared after Asakura as she ran off, her suspicion growing as she stepped outside and looked around. A cursory examination revealed nothing strange, but Sunset had the distinct feeling that something significant had just happened.

I’ve got a very bad feeling about this.

*****

“...The War of Lips?”

“Yup!” Makie chirped, an innocent grin on her face. “That's what Asakura-chan is calling it. Yuna-chan and I are going to represent Group 4!”

Sunset sighed, and massaged the bridge of her nose. She’d spent the rest of the afternoon and evening hanging out with group five, catching Konoka up on Nodoka’s confession and talking about various meaningless things. Sunset had been relieved to be able to relax and forget about her foreboding feeling from earlier, more than happy to leave the partols and watch for Konoka’s would-be kidnappers to Negi, Asuna, and Setsuna. She’d stepped out to use the restroom and had been in there when Nitta-sensei, the Director of Academy External Activities, had come by and cracked down on all of the noise that 3-A was making. He’d issued an ultimatum: if any of the girls were found out of their rooms after 11, they would be forced to squat in the lobby of the hotel.

So of course Asakura had decided to organize a competition to see who could sneak a kiss from Negi without getting caught.

Is this what she calls “support?” Sunset thought. Did she and Haruna get together and plot this behind my back? Or… Sunset's irritated glare morphed into an angry one. Is the pervert somehow behind this? Either way, he's sure to try and take advantage of it. Which means if Nodoka does succeed… “Sounds interesting,” Sunset said, faking a confident grin. "Maybe group 6 should get in on it.”

“R-really?!” Makie seemed both happy and worried at the news. “I didn't think you or Setsuna-chan would be interested.”

“Oh, it's not for me,” Sunset clarified, hesitating before lowering her voice and leaning closer. “Look, keep this to yourself, but Honya confessed to Springfield today. I’m not going to let someone else take his first kiss from her.” And I'm not going to let her have it either unless I'm sure that that perverted ermine isn't involved. “Setsuna won't be interested, but I can probably convince Zazie to tag along.”

Makie let out a huge sigh of relief. “Thank goodness. Ku-chan and Kaede-chan are already competing. If someone as serious as Setsuna-chan were to join in, none of the rest of us would stand a chance.”

Trust me, Makie; you still won't. “I'll have to watch out for them, then. Now, what are the rules?”

It turned out to be a very simple game. Each room would have two representatives vying for Negi’s lips, trying to sneak past Nitta-sensei’s patrols and into Negi’s room. The teams were allowed to interfere with each other, but were only allowed to use pillows as weapons. Most of the groups had already formed up, group 1 sending the Narutaki twins while group 2 sent Ku Fei and Kaede. Ayaka had dragged Chisame out on her team, and group 4 had sent Makie and Yuna. With Yue supporting Nodoka and Zazie teaming up with Sunset, the six groups were formed and the game began.

Comments

[Vutava]

Sunset said, faking a confident grin. Maybe group 6 should get in on it.”

grin. "Maybe

[Seeking Dusk]

Yep. Nothing happened. Just a little... martial arts demo.

It's awesome reading this an knowing the canon story, all the things happening in the background.

[lord Martiya]

“Maybe for now,” Haruna growled, glaring from Sunset to Yue, “but do you really think that no-one else will start to see Negi-sensei in that light?

Should I do what Chao threatened and reveal the name of Negi's wife?

[Rhawkas]

It just now occurs to me that + = Nodoka.

[Show Stopper]

9233253
True, but she picks up several levels of before the end.

[MWKillKenny84]

Sunset narrowed her eyes in suspicion but nodded and set Asakura down. The reporter dodged around Sunset, taking out a small recorder and sitting down across from Nodoka. “Sorry to bother you, Honya. I’ve just got one thing to ask about.”

“O-Okay,” Nodoka said, raising her juice box to her lips to hide her embarrassment. “Wh-what did you need to talk about?”

“Is it true that you slept with Negi-sensei?”

Between Nodoka’s spit-take and Sunset’s punch to the back of the head, Asakura found herself wondering if the joke had been worth it. “Hahaha, I’m just kidding,” she said, wiping juice from her face as she looked over her shoulder, waving off a glaring Sunset. “Kidding. You confessed to him, right? How did it go?”

9233081 Lord, are we _sure_ that there is no connection between Asakura and that concentrate of insanity that was the staff of the Jodansha?

“And none of the rest of the class have expressed particular romantic interest,” Sunset said, smirking as Haruna slowly lowered herself, her grin slipping little by little. “In fact, a number of potential rivals have already pledged themselves to supporting Honya from the sidelines, Konoka and Asakura included. Face it, Haruna, your harem fantasy is going to remain just that, a fantasy.”

Sunset, Murphy is laughing again. Stop taunting him!

[Pinklestia]

9233081

Don't you mean wives?

[Aemon Targaryen]

“Aw, now I wish I’d caught that.” Sunset’s head whipped around, a blush covering her face as Asakura walked into the room, grinning like Hearth’s Warming had come early. “A heartwarming confession from 3-A’s resident hard-ass, Hikaru Nichibotsu. Got to say, this one will be hard to sell without evidence.”

This is the kind of phrases which make me want to see a anime or a fan comic of this fan fiction but from the same POV as in the manga.