AUTHOR'S NOTE: This fic takes place after the Mahorafest, as you may have already deducted, but since I haven't finished that arc yet I'm not sure if I got some of the details correct. I consider it a divergence after the Mahorafest, with Chachamaru still in her original body design. Please, if you have any corrections for me or observations don't hesitate to let me know.

The Visitor

By

Wraith Fox

It's Coming

"Good morning, class." Negi greeted his class in English as he stepped into homeroom 3-A. Three girls quickly slip into the room behind him: his roommates Asuna and Konoka and the latter's omnipresent bodyguard Setsuna. Conversations ended in a rush of hurried murmurs and whispers as his students made their way to their assigned seats. Once everyone was in place they bowed and answered, "Good morning, Negi-sensei." The chorus of voices responded in English as well, some with more confidence and less accent than others.

Negi counted off the seconds in his mind between his arrival and the girls taking their seats and greeting him in turn. Only ten seconds? This is turning out to be one of the more orderly days. His smile broadened when he reached his desk and took in his students with his gaze. Briefly his eyes rested on one empty seat and his thoughts turned to now absent student, and descendant, Chao Ling-Shen. He forced his mind away from her and the events over Mahorafest, turning his eyes over the rest of the class to finish taking attendance.

Asuna-san. Konoka-san. Ku-roshi... er Ku-san. Hakase-

He blinks once as he notes the empty seat beside Ku Fei. "Hakase-san is absent?" He mused aloud. Ayaka raised her hand and he turned to the class representative nodding, "Yes, Iincho-san?"

Standing she nods her head towards the desk, "Hai, Negi-sensei. Shizuna-sensei came and left a note for you just before you arrived. She said something about Hakase-san calling in sick this morning." Negi frowned and looked down at his desk, lifting his books to find the note just as Ayaka said. "Oh!" He laughed quietly in embarrassment and turned his attention back to Ayaka. "Thank you, Iincho-san."

"The pleasure is all mine, Negi-sensei." She replied a broad and warm smile on her features as she retakes her seat. A brief snicker from a seat a few rows back wipes the expression from the girl's face and she casts a brief glance over her shoulder in search of the source of the sound before turning her eyes back forward, hands folded neatly on the desktop and her back straight. Somewhere, Asuna smirked.

Negi chuckled quietly to himself though he hoped the two of them would keep things down to occasional remarks and snide looks today and not break out into full-scale battle. Pushing those worries to the wayside, he finished taking attendance and nodded once when he found all the other students present. "Well class today we're going to watch a video to help you better distinguish between regional and slang terms used in English." He turned to Kazumi. "Asakura-san they should have brought the player and television up by now. Could you go out into the hallway and bring it in please?"

"Hai!" The redheaded paparazzi grinned and stood up from her seat and marched past him into the hallway. The seat beside Kazumi was empty as well, at least on first glance, but the barest glimpse of a pale and feminine figure floating at the girl's shoulder revealed that desk's otherworldly occupant Sayo Aisaka. Moments later the pair had returned, rolling a television and player into the classroom and stopping it next to Negi's desk. He thanked her and the girl and her phantom companion returned to their seats.

He moved to turn off the classroom lights while Natsumi and Mana drew the blinds on the windows, the strong streams of morning sunlight reduced to small but bright glows around the edges of the curtains. "I shouldn't have to say this but everyone please be quiet while we watch the video and pay attention. There may be a quiz on the terms we see here." He heard a smattering of groans, some feigned though there was nothing that could mimic the hard glare he felt from the red Baka Ranger: Asuna.

Sorry Asuna-san…, he thought to himself as he started up the video and took a seat at his desk to go over the assignments later in the period. He listened as the opening music begins and a Japanese voice explained some of the nuances and double meaning that comes with the more casual use of English. Despite his best efforts, he found himself watching the video after a few moments, turning in his seat to better watch.

There were establishing shots of New York City at night, the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty leaving little doubt as to which city this was. The narrator continued his explanation as the camera moved down the street and eventually came to a stop, focusing on a street vendor and a Japanese tourist approaching him.

"Excuse me, sir? May I ask what you are selling here?" The tourist began.

"Well I'm selling hot dogs and elephant ears. What can I get you?" The vendor replied with a wide grin.

As the tourist begins to respond, the camera began to drift. It was subtle at first but slowly the tourist and vendor began to disappear off one side of the frame as the camera turned away from them and began to move forward past the actors. Their voices were audible for a moment more before they faded into the ambience of traffic on the street and pedestrians making their way down the sidewalk.

Negi felt some puzzlement at this. Was it going to move to another demonstration? If so, why didn't the video show the lesson at the end of the previous one? Apparently, he was not the only one who thought this was strange, a glance towards his students showed some confusion among them as well.

The camera moved alongside a wrought iron fence with bushes and trees growing thickly just beyond it. The camera turned suddenly, slipped between the bars of the fence, and began to glide through the dense flora, the plants growing so closely together that the night sky and the towering buildings on all sides had departed leaving only branches and leaves filling the lens.

"Is this a safari special now?" Haruna called out and there was a scattering of laughter among the students. Negi found himself laughing too despite the strange sense of unease that had begun to creep in on the edges of his awareness.

As if on cue, the camera broke free from the bushes and was wound its way along a pedestrian walk path, short iron rods with chains strung between them lined either side of the path and the darkness of night still filled the sky. There was no sound at all on the video now, the only sounds heard being the breathing of his students and the occasional shifting of a chair across the classroom floor. The camera panned up to take in the destination of the path and a small murmur rippled through the room as a tall building came into view.

It was the Mahora Science Dept.

The camera continued its journey up the path and towards the building the motion smooth as if it were gliding on a dolly. The door to the lobby opened on its own, swinging inwards to allow the camera a smooth and uninterrupted journey into the building. It moved down an adjoining hall and the stairway door opened just as easily as the lobby door. The camera was moving a little faster now, gliding up stairs in the same smooth and gliding motion it had exhibited all this time. A dolly was definitely out of the question.

"Negi-sensei...?" One of his students, Ako he thought, but her voice seemed far away as he felt all his attention drawn towards the television and the camera's strange journey.

The camera swung suddenly, the door leading out onto one of the floors of the building opened wide and it was through and down the hall. There were not many lights on in the building at this late hour and it almost gave him the impression that he was pushing, or drawn, through a shadowy realm. Light was visible beneath a door on the left side of the hallway, the camera quickly coming alongside it and stopping. It swiveled towards the door as it began to open and the camera glided slowly into the room.

It appeared to be a lab of some sort, computer workstations lining one wall while a table with various electronic tools dangling from articulated arms attached the ceiling overhead. A small figure donned in a large white lab coat hunched over the table with their back turned to the camera. Two tightly braided dark pigtails draped down its back left no mystery as to who the figure was however.

"Hakase-san," Negi murmured as he pushed himself to his feet, moving from his desk to look more closely at the television and the image displayed. The urge to scream a warning to his student suddenly filled him but there was no way she could hear him.

Satomi continued her work for several moments but the soft motion of her hands ceased and her posture straightened as if suddenly becoming aware that someone was watching her. Slowly the girl turned to look over her shoulder, eyes wide and curious behind her glasses. The screen started to get brighter, finer details washed out by a white sheen. Satomi's glasses seemed to catch and reflect the glow, giving her eyes an unearthly appearance.

When the brightness began to fade, Satomi and the lab were gone. The camera had resumed its movement but this time down a hallway, that was unfamiliar. Sliding doors lined either side of the hall and despite the absence of any visible lights; the entire scene seemed too suffused with a dim whitish glow. A door stood at the very end of the hallway, the camera continuing its tireless trek towards it. Suddenly the picture vanished, replaced with a black title card upon which only two words written in white capital letters in English.

IT'S COMING

The title card disappeared and the strange hallway had returned. The camera was much closer to the door at the end now. Negi felt a wave of irrational fear wash over him. He did not want that door to open, even as he saw it swing slowly outwards upon its hinges revealing what appeared to be a Western-style living room beyond. Two armchairs and a couch placed in a neat semi-circle around a low coffee table and a television set against the wall.

The camera went straight ahead, stopped suddenly and began to slowly pan towards the left. There was hint of movement at the edge of the frame, frantic and feverish before another black title card appeared on the screen. Two more words were written upon the card in white capital letters.

THE FEAST

A long dinner table now took up the bulk of the frame, chairs lining both sides and a white tablecloth draped neatly over its length. The chairs were empty except for the ones at either end of the table, occupied by a man and a woman. At least that is how they were dressed, one in a neat tuxedo and the other in a dinner gown, but their faces were obscured, a blurring effect used on their entire heads.

Despite the fine dishes and silverware set out, decanters of wine placed within easy reach of anyone who were to sit at the table, the furious motions of the diners' arms seemed to make a mockery of the formality of the setting. They reached out towards a pale, broken object centered on the table and ripped gobbets of flesh from the mass, speckles, and droplets of scarlet dribbled and spattered against the stark white cloth and stained the unused dishes.

Torn stumps marked the position of the things legs, its ribs torn up and outward revealing a deep cavity that shined with a moistness that reflected the light. A blurring effect similar to that used to hide the features of the diners hid one end of it from view. The object shook and shuddered with the ferocity of the diners' actions, their hands almost in constant motion, the handfuls of flesh disappearing almost as soon as it reached the their mouths before reaching out for even more of the pale meat. The continuing silence of the video made the audible gasps and murmurs from his students seem all that much louder.

Through his growing dread Negi was struck by a thought about the shape of the heads obscured by the blurs. They were far too big. In addition, something was wrong with their hands but he could not quite tell what it was.

There was a jump cut, the macabre dinner scene had vanished, and they appeared to be looking into a small storage room of some kind. A bare bulb dangled from wire overhead, nearly empty shelves lined the back wall, plastic cleaning bottles, and empty boxes strewn across the floor.

The camera was still and suddenly someone walked into frame from the foreground. White lab coat. Twin black braids. Satomi stood in the center of the frame and waved one hand, a grin plastered on her features, her other hand clutching the coat shut in front of her.

Negi let out a breath he was not aware he had been holding, a heavy sigh that echoed throughout the classroom followed quickly by a few nervous giggles.

"Mou, Satomi-san…" Madoka murmured.

Then Satomi opened up her lab coat, revealing her nude form beneath and a sudden embarrassed silence filled the classroom. Negi felt his cheeks burn with surprise and shock, paralyzed for a moment before he began to move to turn off the video when things suddenly got worse.

Satomi placed both of her hands on her bare stomach and dug her fingers deep into the flesh; crimson welled around her digits and began to dribble down her skin. The muscles in her arms flexed and her flesh pulled apart, ropes of intestine uncoiling from the widening gash. Satomi kept grinning.

The horror had frozen him again but the screams of some of his students snapped him back into the moment. He furiously jammed the stop button and the image vanished from the screen, revealing only the deep blue screen as the television waited for input once again.

He looked back over the classroom, the dimness of the room suddenly seemed threatening to him and he moved to turn the lights back on. Fuka sat hunched forward in her seat, tiny hands clasped over her eyes. Further back in the room her twin, Fumika, was in the same position, Akira leaning down to whisper in the girl's ear, one hand soothingly patting along her trembling back.

The light seemed to break some kind of spell and all of the girls began talking at once. Some of their voices were high and frightened while others seemed gruff and angry.

"What the hell was that?" Asuna called out from her seat arms crossing over her front, her features scrunching into an expression of extreme disgust. "Satomi-san's got a whole lot of nerve to do something like that! No wonder she called in sick. She didn't want all of us to kick her butt!"

There were murmurs of agreement from some of her classmates, quiet at first but growing in confidence as the seconds passed. Ayaka still seemed to be in shock from what she had just seen but she gave a firm nod at Asuna's words. It was strange to see Ayaka not upbraid Asuna for an outburst.

"But, Asuna-chan," Konoka spoke up, her features were pale and her eyes still wide. "Do you really think Hakase-chan would do something like this?"

"Of course she would! She's got friends in the Engineering Club, right? They can do amazing things with special effects you know." She grinned but Negi could see doubt dancing behind her heterochromatic eyes belying the confidence in her voice and expression. He felt some himself but if she had called in sick this morning then this truly must be a prank of some kind.

Still, for a prank it seemed especially grotesque and mean-spirited. Negi turned his eyes towards the back of his classroom to seek out Chachamaru and Evangeline. The former was joint creation of Hakase and Chao, the latter was the Magi that Chachamaru served.

The two were seated, the gynoid at the desk in front of the wizardess', and Chachamaru's expression was hard to read, though her furrowed brow made her seem more confused than concerned or disgusted. Evangeline was even harder to read, the vampiress leaning back in her seat with her arms folded on the desktop, eyes still focused on the screen of the television.

Negi stood before his class and bowed towards them, eyes closed tight. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, everyone! I had no idea. Please forgive me!" He bowed again. He heard the chattering and clamor stop and he looked up to see his students watching him.

"Negi-sensei, nobody is blaming you." The voice was soft but still strong enough to be heard by everyone in the room. Nodoka looked out at him from her purple bangs. She smiled at him, but the pale color of her cheeks and the light sheen of sweat on her brow revealed just how troubled she was.

Beside Nodoka, Ako swayed in her seat, her features more green than pale. Negi suddenly remembered her phobia of blood and his heart went out to her as the purple haired librarian reached out to steady her classmate.

"Yeah, Negi-sensei." Fuka was wiping at her cheeks with the heels of her hands, the hint of tears still clung to the edges of her eyes but the elder Narutaki twin smiled at him. "We know you wouldn't do anything as mean as this."

"Of course he wouldn't!" Ayaka go to her feet, slapping her hand down on her desktop. "Negi-sensei is pure and chivalrous! He'd never be party to such a cruel joke."

"Watch out, Negi! The shotacon is ready to pounce at any second it looks like."

"What'd you say, grandpa lover!"

"You heard me!"

The next thing Negi knew Asuna and Ayaka were in each other's faces, shoving and slinging insults at one another in between their attacks. Most of the other girls stood up in their seats and started to cheer, placing bets on Baka Red or the Class Rep. Negi sighed and put his hand to his head. So went his dreams of having an orderly day today. Still this made it seem like things were almost back to normal.

The sheen of normalcy ended when Ako raised her hand, her other cupped to her mouth. Considering how strongly she reacted to even a little bit of blood, Negi was surprised that she was able to contain herself at all.

"Yes, Izumi-san you're excused." He smiled sympathetically when he saw relief flood her eyes and she got up from her desk and nearly ran out of the classroom. Fuka looked after her and then raised her own hand, her young features twisted with fright.

"Fuka-san?"

"May I go to the nurse's office, Negi-sensei? I'm not feeling well."

A few more hands went up around the room: Fumika, Makie and Nodoka.

He nodded once and offered them an apologetic smile. "Yes. You may all go. Please, take care and get some rest." The girls got to their feet, Fuka waiting for her twin to meet her at the door before shuffling out, Makie and Nodoka just behind them, murmuring soft words of comfort to the younger girls as they left.

The small procession of girls leaving the room seemed to take all the life that had came back into it with Asuna and Ayaka's sparring. The two girls seemed to look almost embarrassed for a moment before disengaging from each other and returning to their seats. Zazie, without any prompting, began to open the curtains. The sunlight that streamed in seemed much more wholesome and comforting than the electrical lights overhead and a little more of the tension in the room withered away.

Negi prompted his students to get out their textbooks and began to go over the lessons he had planned for the day. He seemed to be going through the motions however; the images from the video kept springing to the forefront of his mind. And try as he might he could not banish them completely. Looking into the wide and wondering eyes of his students, he saw that they could not either.

Nodoka lay on one of the beds in the nurse's office looking up at the ceiling with wide eyes hidden by her bangs. The soft breathing of Makie in the bed on her left side moved in counterpoint to the breathing of the Narutaki twins on her right side. The room was quiet and cool and should have done much to soothe her nerves and those of her classmates.

However, it could not.

The images kept circling in her mind: the table with its strange and voracious diners and their grotesque meal, Satomi grinning at the camera as she tore her own abdomen open. A soft whimper from one of the twins reached her ears, as if she and the younger girl had visited that particular sight at the same time. She turned her head to look at the girls, lying side by side in the bed, clasping hands between them. She caught Fumika's eye and tried to offer her a reassuring smile the effort sabotaged by the fact that she did not feel sure herself at the moment.

She heard the door to the office open on the other side of the curtain surrounding their beds. There was a murmured conversation and soon after she saw her classmate Ako duck around the side of the curtain and offer a small, if queasy, smile before sitting herself on the edge of the twins' bed. The girls slowly sat up and Nodoka could hear Makie shifting in her bed as well.

"Ako-san," Nodoka began. "We thought you would already be in here after…" She blushed and just left it at that, hands wringing together over her stomach.

The pale-haired girl laughed a little but it sounded forced. "I went back to the classroom afterwards but Negi-sensei took one look at me and told that since all of you had come here that I should too, since I'm the nurse's assistant." She blushed just a little and looked over Nodoka and the rest. "So here I am. Helping."

Nodoka smiled the thought of Negi's kindness doing much to lighten her spirits. "Arigato, Ako-san." Nodoka murmured, the words echoed by the other girls in the beds around her. All the expressions of gratitude made Ako duck her head, her blush deepening a shade.

"Ano…" Makie was sitting up in her bed now as well. "Why would, Satomi-chan pull such a mean and, well, gross prank?" Her nose wrinkled a little at the memory and Ako seemed grow green once more at the mere mention of what they had witnessed but she managed to suppress her nausea.

"Yeah," Fumika murmured. She leaned against her elder twin and Fuka circled a comforting arm around her sister. "That did seem really mean for, Satomi-chan." Fuka continued her sister's train of thought. "Do you think she's mad because Chao-chan's gone away? She was the only girl that she ever really seemed close to."

"Satomi-san always seemed a little, well, different." Ako murmured as she looked down at her lap, feet lightly tapping together. "But this…" She gave a brief shudder. "She could get into big trouble."

Nodoka nodded as she listened to her classmates try to rationalize what they had seen. She hoped they were right and this was just a prank, but she felt a tickling in the back of her mind that this was something else. She had no good reason to think such a thing. Everything Asuna had said back in the classroom was true. Satomi did have friends in the Engineering Club and her own technical skills were quite amazing. Pulling off something like that video should be child's play for someone like Satomi.

"…Don't you, Honya-chan?"

Nodoka blinked once and her back straightened. "Eh?" She looked around to see that all her classmates were looking at her expectantly.

"You think it was a prank don't you, Honya-chan?" Makie repeated her question a small smile upon her features. Her expression seemed fragile somehow to Nodoka and as she looked from her to the rest of her friends, she saw it mirrored on all of their faces. They were looking to her to confirm their idea and put their fears to rest.

"Oh. O-Of course I do. She called in sick this morning right? And that video showed her at night so…" She gave a little shrug and offered her classmates a smile. Her answer seemed to be the one they were hoping for and she felt a small twinge of guilt at the light that came into their eyes as they nodded in agreement.

She hoped that she was right.

Negi stepped out of the faculty room his young face a map of thoughtfulness as he reflected on his talk with Takahata.

After class he had collected the video and sought out his friend and fellow teacher to report on what he had seen and what Takahata thought it might mean. He had found him in the faculty room just as he expected, poring over a small stack of worksheets on the desk before him.

"Negi-kun!" The older man smiled at Negi for a moment but it faded when he read the concern on his face. "What is it?" He was all seriousness now, turning in his seat to face the younger teacher more fully, leaning forward to meet his eyes.

Negi explained what happened in class: Satomi calling in sick that morning and then the bizarre and disturbing images on the video tape. He handed it over to Takahata, the man looking at it closely for a moment as if trying to find something in its appearance to hint at what Negi said it contained before setting it aside on his desk.

"Well," Takahata began. "It's hard to believe that Satomi-chan would pull a prank along these lines, Negi-kun. I mean, she's always been a little strange but…" He gives a little shake of his head, "But I can't think of any other explanation. I was here when Shizuna-san took the call and she didn't seem to notice anything unusual."

Negi nodded and cast another look towards the video resting on the desk. Takahata followed his gaze. "If she did do this as a prank, Negi-kun, she could be in really big trouble. Vandalizing school property and upsetting her classmates like that isn't something that can be overlooked."

Negi felt his chest tighten at the prospect. He had avoided any serious discipline issues with his students so far (grudge-holding vampires and wayward future descendant's aside) and the possibility of having to put up Satomi for suspension or worse was upsetting but part of his responsibilities as her teacher.

"Well I'm going to see if I can get a hold of her now." Negi murmured and moved around to the other side of the table, seating himself in his own cubicle and getting out the list of his students' contact numbers. Takahata watched him for a moment more before going back to grading the papers before him.

Satomi had two numbers listed: one for the lab in which she mostly stayed and another for her cell. Negi picked up his phone and dialed the cell number first. He leaned back into his chair and reached up to toy absently with his tie as listened to the ringing tone.

Two. Three. Four. Five. Six.

He hung up the receiver and took a small breath before picking it up again and dialing the number of the lab. The dull ringing tone droned in his ear and he looked around the room, around his desk, trying to find something to focus on and drive his growing worry from his mind. After the seventh ring Negi sighed and hung up the receiver again.

"Nothing?" Negi looked up quickly. Takahata was still looking over the papers on his desk but he knew his question had been directed at him.

Negi gave a small shake of his head and sighed. "I'm going to the Science Building to see if I can find her. Sometimes she turns her phones off when she's conducting some experiments." Takahata nodded but he didn't look wholly convinced.

Negi sighed as he looked up and down the hallway outside the faculty room, his wand strapped across his back and bobbing slightly as he shouldered into his coat. Takahata hadn't seemed too convinced about the possibility of a prank and that had bothered him.

What if it wasn't a prank? What if what they had seen was real?

He gave a firm shake of his head. He won't find anything out just standing around and worrying. He made his way down the hallway towards the entrance when he heard a familiar voice call to him from behind.

"Negi!" Asuna was running down the hall towards him, Konoka and Setsuna following quickly behind her. She drew to a stop before him and looked down into his face, arms crossing over her chest. "Where do you think you're going, huh?"

He blinked up at her once before simply stating, "I was going to the Science Building to look for Satomi-san. I couldn't reach her by phone."

Asuna frowned, "Really? Well we're going to tag along with you. Satomi's got a lot to answer for!" She shifted from foot to foot, "I don't think she's had the pleasure of experiencing the Asuna Kick." She held up a hand to forestall any protest from Negi. "She's getting off light, Negi-bozu. She deserves a good kick to the behind for what she did to us."

"But Asuna-chan…" Konoka spoke up. "If Hakase-chan really did do this then there must be some explanation. I didn't like it any more than anyone else but maybe she's going through a really hard time right now." Setsuna remained quiet, her nodachi, Yuunagi, strapped to her back, but the flinty look in her eyes showed her reasons were more aligned to Asuna's than Konoka's.

"Hard time or not she has some explaining to do." Asuna sniffed and then fixed Negi with her blue and green eyes. "Don't you think it's best if some of her classmates talked to her as well instead of just her teacher? She needs to hear how much she upset everybody from us directly."

He thought about it for a moment before he nodded, "I think you have a point, Asuna-san." He looked over his students and gave a little smile, "Let's go see if we can talk some sense into her."

"Or clobber some." Asuna murmured but her grin was playful as she looked back at him.

The group made its way out of the school and into the warm afternoon sunlight; the rays were caught and reflected by the school's many windows giving the building the appearance of being studded with many diamonds along its face. They were making their way down the steps when Konoka spied two more of their classmates walking ahead of them.

"Eva-chan! Chachamaru-chan!"

The blonde girl froze her frame tensing visibly before she relaxed and turned to face the approaching group. The tall gynoid at her side stopped and turned with her in perfect synchronization. "Well well, if it isn't the Negi Squad. Where's the small and shy one?" She smirked slightly. Chachamaru remained silent, inclining her head in a barely perceptible nod to them.

"Honya-chan wasn't feeling well after…" Konoka didn't finish. Evangeline's smirk faded and she put her hands on her hips, head tilting to one side as she looked more closely at them. Konoka spoke again, quickly changing the subject. "Don't you and Chachamaru-chan have Tea Ceremony Club today? You look like you two are heading home already."

Evangeline shook her head, running one hand through her blonde mane and giving it a little toss. "They left a message on the bulletin board saying that the meeting place had been changed. It's a little more out of the way than I'd like and I just don't feel like heading out there today." Her lips twisted into a near pout and for a moment, she seemed more like a petulant young girl than the centuries-old vampiress she was.

"Oh I know what you mean, Eva-chan. Last week my Fortune-Telling Club changed their meeting place too. It happens sometimes." Konoka beamed at the vampire.

"Not to me it doesn't." Evangeline groused. "I've been going to this school a lot longer than you have, girl and this is the first time the meeting place has ever been changed." She heaved a soft sigh before she fixed her gaze on Negi. "So where are you headed off to, bouya?"

"We were going to the Science Building to see if we could find, Satomi-san. I tried calling her at the school but couldn't reach her." Negi stood a little straighter. "We're worried about her. It's strange for her to do something like this."

"Everything that girl does is strange." The vampiress sniffed. If Chachamaru took any offense to Evangeline's statement she didn't show it. "If you do find her be sure to give her a slap from me. Not because of what she did but because of how unoriginal it was. If she's going to try and scare us she should stop relying on dime-a-dozen horror flicks for inspiration."

"Nobody's going to be slapping anyone, Master." Negi countered with a frown. "Speak for yourself." Asuna murmured but he ignored her. "This isn't the Budokai. I'm going to find Satomi-san, sit her down, and explain to her just how wrong her prank was. But I'm also going to listen to her if she needs someone to. That's my duty to her as her homeroom teacher."

Evangeline looked like she could barely keep from rolling her eyes. "Fine fine, bouya. But if you spare the rod you spoil the child. Remember that." She glanced up at the gynoid, "Chachamaru." She turned her back on them and continued down the steps, the robotic girl turning and following at her side with nary a backward glance or word of farewell.

"She can be such a brat sometimes, getting all bent out of shape because her club is being moved." Asuna grumbled.

"Vampires are creatures of habit." Setsuna remarked casually, looking after the pair as well before shrugging, the cloth-covered length of her blade rustling against her back. "Following the same routine for years and then suddenly having it disrupted would make anyone a little grouchy." She pursed her lips thoughtfully before she amended. "Grouchier."

Negi sighed. "Well let's get going. The faster we find Satomi-san and find out why she did this the better." He began moving down the steps again, turning the group towards the direction of the Science Building. He could hear Asuna and Konoka chattering behind him, Setsuna making the occasional comment or observation. Talk about classes, clubs, plans for the weekend.

He hoped Satomi could still talk about those things too.

"What a merry pack of fools."

Chachamaru continued looking ahead, listening to her master mutter to herself. Evangeline seemed to be in a particularly sour mood this afternoon, starting with the discovery of her Tea Ceremony's Club sudden move, but Chachamaru suspected that there was more to it than that though she had no logical reason to think so.

Therefore, she tried not to think it.

"Did you hear him, Chachamaru?" Evangeline did not look at her as she asked the question; instead, she had her eyes focused straight ahead down the walk path leading away from the school. The girl crossed her arms over her front and tilted her head back and murmured in a mocking tone, "'I'm going to sit her down and explain what she did and listen to her.' Who does he think he is, Dr. Phil?"

Chachamaru did not know who Dr. Phil was but she felt obligated to respond, "Yes, Mistress."

The vampiress gave a brief and quiet chuckle and then grew quiet. Chachamaru continued her journey in silence with her master. They rarely spoke, Evangeline of the mind that if you do not have anything interesting to say you should remain quiet, and the fact that Evangeline had been speaking as much as she had during their walk troubled the gynoid.

Many things today were troubling Chachamaru. Not the least of them was watching Satomi on that video, the images almost seemed too unreal to be real and she had felt more confusion than the horror or disgust of most of her classmates. Trying to reconcile the image of Satomi on the video, happily disemboweling herself, with the image she knew from school and the lab was nearly impossible for the algorithms and programs that powered her sentience.

The Satomi on the video shared no traits, besides appearance, with the Satomi of her daily life. Therefore, the Satomi on the video was a fake. Alternatively, that was what she hoped. Though she did not like it, there was the possibility that the video Satomi was indeed the one she knew. Anything was possible in the end, she realized, but her programming was to weigh things more by what was likely than what was possible.

"It's possible that you might be made Empress," Satomi once told her. 'But not very likely."

Reminiscing about her creator brought a sudden and unexpected wave of concern. Thinking back on their meeting with Negi she wished now that she had volunteered to join him in finding and confronting Satomi. Briefly she considered asking Evangeline if she may join them but they'd be at the Science Building by now. She found some comfort in the fact that Negi was seeking her creator out. If she were alright he'd talk to her and if she wasn't, he would do everything in his power to help her. She trusted his abilities.

When they passed by the edge of the campus town Chachamaru heard the ringing of a distant bell and she stopped. "Master, it's nearly time for me to feed my cats. May I do so?"

Evangeline paused, turning on her heel to face her Ministra Magi. She regarded her for a long time and Chachamaru was beginning to wonder if Evangeline was going to deny her when the vampiress finally answered. "Go ahead. But come home as soon as you're finished."

Chachamaru's brow furrowed curiously for a moment but she responded immediately. "Of course, Mistress." Evangeline nodded once and as she turned to continue her way home the gynoid looked after her departing master, wondering. She would have gone home immediately after she had finished, Evangeline should have known that. Why bring it up at all?

This routine helped put the automaton more at ease. There was the store she always picked her cat food up from. She paused to converse briefly with the clerk, another familiar face, and after making her farewells she was back outside and making her way down the sidewalk.

The sun was an orange-red ball hanging low in the blue sky but the rays were still strong, their heat radiating against her long green hair. She nodded to those she recognized as she walked down the path, offering small smiles to a few in particular. The gynoid was well known and well liked in this particular part of the campus, and the familiarity of the setting helped further put her mind at ease.

Somewhere up ahead there came a short high-pitched scream. The sound was so out of place and so sudden that Chachamaru drew to a halt, her battle systems switching to standby. Not far up the street a young boy came running out of an alley and onto the sidewalk.

His arms and legs were pumping furiously, a glimpse of his face as he ran past her showed a mask of stark terror writ upon the child's features. She half-turned to look after him, calling out once but he did not stop, did not even slow down. He never looked back as he ran down the sidewalk, other pedestrians pausing to watch him run past or quickly getting out of his way. Before long he had vanished from Chachamaru's sight entirely.

She looked ahead and towards the alley he had exited from and began to move towards it, her curiosity piqued. What had he seen that frightened him so much? She reached the mouth of the alley and looked into it from the sidewalk.

Nothing seemed amiss from what she could see. The alley was very ordinary as alleys go. There was a dumpster further down the way and a large cluster of garbage cans were huddled around the back door of a business past the dumpster. Nearer the entrance there was a large crate and a shattered bottle of Ramune soda on the ground beside it. The soda still glistened wetly on the asphalt, fresh. Nearby a manga lay on the ground, the pages folded beneath it as if it were simply tossed away.

She frowned curiously and peered further down the alley, trying to make out any lurking shadows or the hint of wild dog or other animal that may have frightened the child but she could see nothing. Yet…

There was something vaguely threatening about the alley despite its normal appearance. Chachamaru could not explain it but the shadows here seemed darker, the length of the alley seemed to stretch on further than it should have. She strained her hearing devices but she could hear nothing within. Nothing. There were no mice or rats scurrying in the garbage for morsels of food, no lazy yowls from the cats that would hunt them. Not even the buzz of insects was present.

It's coming.

The words from the video came to her unbidden and Chachamaru stepped away from the alley, suddenly not wanting to be anywhere near it. It was an irrational feeling and she felt embarrassed as soon as she had done it. A glance up and down the sidewalk showed everyone else going about their daily business, not showing any signs that they felt something was amiss.

Embarrassment still warming her features she turned away from the alley and continued on her way towards the courtyard where her cats made their home. The urge to peek over her shoulder towards the mouth of the alley was strong but she refused to indulge it. There was nothing there to be worried about.

She kept feeling the urge to look until she had turned the corner and it was out of sight.