I do not own Negima or Kamen Rider Wizard. They belong to their respective creators and not me. I am only writing this for fun and not for any kind of profit. if you like the story, then that's okay. If you don't like it then sorry if you feel that way, but I can't please everyone. For those of you who remain, please enjoy.

Mahou Ridaa Negima

By Ten-Faced Paladin

Chapter 10: Normalcy

The days after the high school exams flew by, being only a short break from all of the studying and stress over the exams. Of course, plenty of ruckus was kicked up by the members of 2-A who wanted to party the hardest out of all of the classes since not only did they get the top spot out of all of their year, but they also got to keep their good-looking foreign male teacher for the coming year as well. A lot of people were pretty sure that some records were broken in terms of noise level, mess made, or all around chaos kicked up on account of the party and people being caught up in the middle of it.

Negi wasn't exactly sure when the partying started and he wasn't exactly sure what he did during some of it but he woke up with a throbbing headache the next day and several of his students complementing his singing voice. Negi just hoped that he sang something tasteful but the giggles he got from his students when he asked made him believe he had sung something that perhaps he normally wouldn't. The funny thing was that he was positive there was no alcohol during the party so how was it that he woke up with a hangover anyway?

Still, time went on and the new semester was set to begin. Negi was looking forward to it not only since he had come to enjoy his position, but it was also because he had gotten a permanent position. Receiving a certificate to his employment written by the headmaster and it being announced by the man during the third semester commencement ceremony just made it all the more real. He, a teenage boy of only fifteen, had become an official teacher at Mahora Academy. Once the Headmaster said as much during the opening ceremony, Negi could have burst with pride and he only wished that Nekane had been there to see it.

So he did the next best thing and sent a letter. He was hoping to hear a reply from her pretty soon. He knew she worried about him and not just because of his duties as a teacher but as Wizard. Fighting Phantoms all his life wasn't what she wanted for him but he felt responsible as a survivor of that day. He had gotten stronger too, thanks to the new magic stone and Dragon's 'cooperation'. Negi wasn't naive about his Phantom's help though. His inner Phantom simply didn't want to die. Granting Negi power was just an act of self-preservation. If Negi had died without falling into despair then Dragon would have perished as well.

Speaking of a new magic stone, after he had officially been made a teacher of Mahora, he had received a new magic stone, courtesy of the White Wizard as a token of congratulations. It was waiting for him in a white box the day after the exams were held, giving off a faint green glow from even inside its packaging. Negi barely managed to hide it before Konoka followed him and Asuna into the room where she would have been able to see it.

Would he forge a new magic ring like Flame Dragon? Was another of his Styles due for an upgrade too? Negi anticipated creating the ring and using it in his arsenal, hoping that it would be just as powerful as his Flame Dragon abilities. So once he had the time, he immediately stole away to Mana's workshop where she permitted him to get to work on his newest piece of stone. Unfortunately, she insisted on seeing him in action 'to make sure nothing unlawful happened.'

"A green one?" Mana observed, leaning over Negi's shoulder as he chipped away at the extremities of the stone. "I assume it's an Air Element stone then?"

"Yes," Negi nodded, concentrating on his work. "I need to be careful with this one too. It has a dual core in it just like the last one. The trickiest part is going to be separating the two so I can make the rings."

"Two cores? That's rare," Mana pondered. "That means anything made from this stone will likely be better off paired together, won't it?"

"Again, yes," Negi nodded, taking a moment to rub his eyes. "If I'm right, these rings will be an upgrade to my Hurricane Style and a special spell which that form can use."

Mana nodded, standing up straight, "An addition to any arsenal is a good thing, especially with your battles Sensei. Just try to keep track of time. We're due to get to class very soon."

"Really?" Negi blinked and looked at his watch. "Bollocks. You're right. And I just started too," packing up his tools, Negi gingerly set the green Magic Stone into its package before sweeping up the green shards he had accumulated into the tupperware container where he kept the other shards. "With the new semester starting off, we had better get there early."

"Good luck with the kind of foot traffic we see around here," Mana smirked. As they headed for the exit, a thought occurred to her, "By the way Sensei, I'll add the use of my workshop for these new rings to your tab."

"HUH?!"

Mahora Academy - Class 2-A

When one saw Chisame Hasegawa, they wouldn't really think twice about her. She had orange hair, but kept it tied into a simple ponytail without even attempting to style it. She also wore large glasses which brought attention away from her face, making her look like the stereotypical nerd. She didn't really speak to anyone all that much and she tended to avoid social gatherings whenever she could. If one really had to say anything about her, it was that she was pretty much an ordinary girl who didn't have anything troubling her be it good or bad. Placed in a class like 2-A, she was practically invisible sometimes.

One thing that people didn't know about Chisame was that she took pride in being one of the normal students in Class 2-A. She saw herself as a well-adjusted girl who had her head on straight and her goals clearly in mind, unlike a lot of the ADHD afflicted students in her class. Along that vein, she despised anything weird and strange interrupting her normal life, throwing everything into a chaotic spiral. Her patience for such things was strained at best, what with so many weird transfer students showing up in her class and doing weird things.

Negi-sensei was just the straw that broke the camel's back.

Sure, having a hot foreign guy that was her age teaching a class might seem to be something out of a naughty daydream but Chisame kept her thoughts grounded in reality. How could the faculty hire a teenage guy to teach an all-girls class? Werent there labour laws against such a thing? It was a scandal waiting to happen what with raging teenage hormones! Were she the betting type, she would have placed good money on her teacher ending up in some kind of illicit affair with one of his students! She was positive that having a guy their age in their classroom was a bad idea!

The door to the classroom opened and Chisame had to frown as Negi walked in talking to Mana about something. The students quickly took their seats and he went to the podium. After the traditional 'stand, bow, sit' from the Rep, the day began.

"Well girls, it seems that we're going to be seeing more of each other when you all head up to become class 3-A," Negi smiled. "Let's all work hard in the coming semester, shall we?"

The resulting cheer made Chisame want to roll her eyes in disgust. Did her class have to freak out at everything?

"Negi-sensei, they delivered the trophy today!" Makie announced, leaping from her seat while holding the 1st place trophy for the top grade of the year.

"And we owe it all to Negi-kun!" Yuna added.

"Yeah! With him, we're locked to take the top next year!" Fuka grinned.

"Ah, ha, ha, ha," Negi chuckled. "That's quite the optimistic view, but if you all work hard then I will too and we'll take the trophy again."

"Rightly so Negi-sensei," Ayaka spoke, standing up. "When you took control of our class we went from the bottom straight to the top. As the Class Representative, I just want to say thank you for all of your hard work and support," She then promptly stood directly in front of Negi and bowed demurely like a lady of standing should. "Please continue to watch over us in the future."

"A little much Rep!" Asuna snapped.

"Um...of course," Negi sweatdropped, unsure if he warranted such formal thanks.

'He'd better watch out for me is all I have to say!' Chisame hissed in her thoughts. 'All he did was slack off during his lessons, reading from the textbook and quizzing us like little kids!' It conveniently slipped from her mind that with 2-A's previous standing, the majority of the class save for a select few needed a slower hand at learning English. The Baka Rangers alone needed closer observation, much less a good chunk of the rest of the class.

"Sensei, Sensei!" Fuka raised her hand, bringing attention to herself while she stood up. "Well, everyone's been talking about how we've got a teenage boy teaching us and all that."

Chisame perked up at the small girl's words. So she wasn't the only one who thought that thought her classroom situation was just not normal or right? She silently urged the girl on with her thoughts, wanting someone to actually voice out how wrong the whole scenario was. Teenage guys didn't belong in an all-girls school, much less teaching a class! 'Go on, go on! Expose the weirdness and get someone to do something about it!'

"So anyway," Fuka continued. "Me and Fumika just wanted to say how proud we were by holding a 'congrats to the top class' party!"

"Everyone who's free come to the dormitory lawn!" Fuka's identical sister added, eliciting cheers from the majority of the classroom.

*THUNK!*

Chisame wasn't one of those students. Instead, she facefaulted while sitting down, smacking her face into her desk. She was fortunate that the sheer force of her facefault didn't end up breaking her desk, much less her face. As it was, her forehead was steaming from the force of the impact it had just suffered, 'Jeeze! So close yet so far! I can't go around partying with these happy idiots! They'd make my head explode!'

In the midst of his revelling students, Negi noticed Chisame's hunched over and trembling form. Concerned, he slipped through the rows of desks to get a better look at her. Her face was flushed and her shoulders were indeed trembling. Frowning slightly, he asked, "Chisame-san? Are you alright? You're trembling rather fiercely."

"Ugh!" Chisame suddenly gasped. She had been so into her personal rant she hadn't realised that the source of said rant had gotten in close with her. Scolding herself for being so inattentive, she plastered a smile on her face with grit teeth in what she thought was a disarming smile. With her hunched over, flushed, and trembling in rage though it just made her look like she was about to go psycho on everyone in the room.

"I'm...fine," Chisame grit out, trying to play nice as she always did with the weirdos in the class. Obviously no one believed her and she could tell. Rather than hear Negi go on a speal of trying to convince her to go to the nurse's office or have Ako look over her, she gave up the ghost for a golden opportunity to leave, "Actually, no. I'm not feeling good. I'd better leave."

Standing up and not waiting for an answer, Chisame grabbed her bookbag and left the room. She stormed with purpose, not acknowledging anyone else she saw in the halls. She went straight out the front doors and decided to use the train ride towards the dorms to help her temper cool down. Fortunately, the train was empty and the walk back to the dorm would be quiet enough for her to soothe her temper.

"It never ends. Ever since first year that class has been filling up with nothing but weirdos!" Chisame growled to herself, actually separating herself from the ones she felt were so weird. "All of those transfer students coming in, looking like they should be in preschool, or the high school, or just plain weird!" She of course was thinking of the Narutaki twins who were oddly underdeveloped for their age, or looked too old for their class like Mana or Kaede, or stood out like sore thumbs like Evangeline, Chao, or Ku did. Chisame didn't have anything against foreigners, but she did have something against people who didn't even try to fit in and make spectacles of themselves all the time. Ku would kick up near riots with her martial arts hoopla, Chao would make some weird machine which was just plain weird, and Evangeline would be some aloof bitch who never once tried to blend in like everyone was below her.

"And we even have a freaking robot in our class! Why hasn't anyone even said anything! It's so obvious it's painful!" Chisame continued to rant. Recalling Chachamaru. Her odd earpieces could be considered a hair decoration, but all of her joints were obviously robotic since they looked like machines with a bad attempt to look human. Chisame even saw her with wind-up key sticking out of her head at one point! "She's gotta be a robot! What are we, some kind of social engineering experiment?!"

Chisame was in full rant mode, finally able to express herself where no one could hear and think she was weird like her classmates, "But having a teenage guy being our teacher?! That's the last straw! It's sexual harassment and inappropriate conduct just waiting to happen! One of us will get pregnant by the end of the year! I'm sure of it!" she looked up to the heavens as if looking for an answer. "WHY CAN'T I HAVE A NORMAL SCHOOL LIFE?! DON'T I DESERVE IT?!"

"Did the weirdos piss you off again?"

The voice snapped Chisame out of her rant and she blushed, mortified that someone had caught her. Turning around, she saw someone leaning on a building. She wore the uniform of St. Ursula's meaning she was a high school girl but the shirt had been made shorter and the sleeves were rolled up. Her hair was black and hung limply to her shoulders. Most of her face was hidden by a medical mask, the kind people wore when they had a cold and didn't want to spread it. She looked every bit the typical yankee, but one look at her eyes showed that she wasn't Japanese, but Caucasian. Despite the mascara she wore, her eyes weren't the almond shape like the typical Japanese woman, but the wider shape of someone from Europe or North America.

"Oh, hey Arisu," Chisame sighed in relief.

"It's Alice," the girl sighed, rolling her eyes. She spoke in a whisper, but somehow it was easy to tell what she was saying. "But anyway,did the weirdos piss you off again?"

"A new weirdo this time," Chisame grumbled as Alice walked up to walk beside her. "Remember when I told you that we got a new teacher? He's a teenage boy our age."

"You're joking," Alice raised an eyebrow. Chisame shook her head, making the quiet girl laugh. "Oh jeez. You really do get the weird events. Still, is the guy good-looking or can he do the job?"

"Oh, he's hot," Chisame admitted reluctantly. Any girl would have to play for the other team to say the opposite. "And I guess he can do the job since he got us out of last place but he goes like we're little kids. Everyone's hormones mixing together is going to cause trouble though. Mark my words."

"Maybe if you're lucky it'll be you," Alice teased.

"Ph! As if!" Chisame huffed, but her blush showed she wasn't as opposed to the idea as she would have liked to portray. "Anyway, are you skipping too?"

"Nothing I don't already know," Arisu shrugged. "So since you skipped, what are you going to do now?"

Chisame took a moment to think about it, "Work on my home page I guess. I'll take this issue to the world if I have to. Not everyone will be crazy. Someone normal will have to be willing to see something done about this powder keg waiting to go off."

"Oooh, such a harsh opinion," Alice chuckled. "Now come on, this guy is a piece of nice eye candy and he can do his job. I'd sure appreciate having something like that waiting for me in class every day. I'd actually attend class if I had a teacher like him."

"Don't you start," Chisame growled threateningly.

"Fine, fine," Alice waved off the threat. As they approached the dorms, the foreign girl let out a sigh, "Well, I have delinquency to get up to. I'll see you around."

"Sure," Chisame agreed, waving as Alice turned and headed down another street. She liked Alice, despite the girl being what many teachers would call a delinquent. She skipped class, sometimes caused trouble, and could really raise a ruckus but she did it all normally. It was what regular teenage girls were expected to do in certain circumstances. Maybe not the kind of regular that was approved of, but it was refreshingly normal for a girl who was constantly surrounded by weird people who didn't seem to follow the laws of normal limits.

Chisame entered the dorms and went to her room, a single occupancy space which she had specifically asked for when she filled out the paperwork for residence in the dorms. Slipping through the door, she dropped her bookbag to the side. Heaving a sigh, she looked to an expensive looking computer and modem set up like an expert's. Seeing it just made her grin as she undid her hair and threw her jacket to the side.

"Okay world, time for you to bask in my glory and show me some love!" she grinned, turning on her computer. "You think you've got a bunch of fans Sensei? You have got nothing on Chiu-sama!"

As the computer booted up, Chisame stripped out of her clothes and quickly dressed in a pink and white cosplay outfit with the speed of a professional. She wore a European summer dress with the summer hat to hide her delicate features from the sun while a basket of (fake) daisies were on her arm. She even spent a shocking amount of time in front of her vanity mirror, adorning her face in designer cosmetics. She swapped out her glasses and bushed any frizz out of her hair. Once she was finished, none of her classmates would have recognized her, and that was just the way she liked it. With a final check in the mirror, she began to grin, "Okay! Another day of Chiu being beautiful!"

Grinning, she hopped to her computer and opened up a link to the internet which instantly opened up to the homepage of a Japanese idol, one of the fads which people went for online. The page Chisame opened up to was in fact one about her, using the name Chiu and held links to a photo album, a diary, chat links, and other things which fans loved their idols to share with them.

"Hell~o everyone!" Chisame beamed, looking much different from the cynical schoolgirl she was during the day. She opened up the chat and began typing. "How is everyone? Something just awful happened today!"

Chiu-Fan237 writes: What? What happened Chiu-sama?

Tamago-222 writes: Tell us Chiu-sama! It's better to share your troubles!

Sammy9 writes: Don't keep it inside!

Chisame smiled as she continued to type, hamming up her 'despair' even though no one could hear her. "The teacher of my class is a complete pervert. He made eyes at Chiu today!"

Chiu-Fan237 writes: That bastard! I'm going to kick his ass!

Kappaman 23 writes: I want to beat him up!

Knight89: I get why he did it. Chiu is just so pretty.

Chiu-Fan237 writes: Yeah! She's the prettiest out of all the net idols!

"Awww, go on!" Chisame laughed. "You guys are just too sweet! I'm just going to have to break out a new costume for you guys if you keep this up!"

Still grinning, she opened up her Chiu email account which was of course filled with messages from admiring fans. She deleted the ones which had the word marriage in the subject line. She didn't want to let the psychos think they had a chance and try to stalk her. Some were obviously junk mail or spam and she deleted those too. Then she removed the emails from noted people who hated her and sent her hate mail. Idols couldn't be loved by everyone after all. What remained were the emails from her true fans. Scanning through the names, she found several she knew and would reply to soon.

You have received a message from RubyWizard014

"Ah!" Chisame gasped in delight. "He finally wrote back!"

Almost like a kid on Christmas, Chisame opened the email and began to write.

Dear Chiu-san

Well, it's been a while since I wrote my last email. Real life being so demanding of my attention lately. I finally graduated from school and got assigned my job. Imagine my surprise when of all things I got assigned to Japan of all places. It sure came to me as a surprise. Good thing I'm so good with languages or else I would be so lost it wouldn't be funny. Of course, you're probably under even more pressure with all of your adoring fans asking for your attention. I can't help but wonder if you're as famous in Japan as we in England think you are. Maybe now I can win that bet with my dorm mates. Although my fanboy side hopes to see you somewhere, I know that likely isn't going to happen but a fan's hope springs eternal doesn't it?

Fondest regards.

"He's here?!" Chisame gaped, sheer delight in her eyes. "He's here in Japan?!"

RubyWizard was a fan all the way from the UK which boosted Chiu's fanbase to an international scene, much to her delight. He emailed her and like a good idol she replied with her usual cute answers and thanks for his support. She even tried sounding shy, wondering if she was good enough to be an international idol. He was quick to reassure her of course and praise her like any good fan would. What got Chisame's attention was that he was so mature about it. He didn't go on like a nerdy hacker would. From the way he talked, he sounded like a guy who was in college or university. It really made Chisame consider meeting him if he did well enough. She was a sucker for a well-established, regular man.

"Maybe I can convince him to meet up," Chisame pondered to herself, trying to think of a means of getting a university guy's attention even if she was in junior high. A girl had to keep her eyes on the long term after all.

Mahora Academy - Rooftop

"Never pegged you to be a fan of a web idol," Asuna commented, reading over Negi's shoulder as he surfed the net. Konoka had insisted that Negi share lunch with them since he had been going off doing who knew what during the lunch hours. Truthfully, Negi wanted to keep working on his Green Magic Stone, but Konoka was insistent he eat outside with them instead of staying cooped up inside. He did bring his laptop to catch up on some internet things he had a passing interest in. He at least felt like he accomplished something even if it was frivolous. However, Asuna proved to be nosey and caught him looking up his web idol's site.

"Well I'm still a guy," admitted Negi bashfully. "I am capable of noticing a pretty girl when she shows up."

"Oooh, you're blushing," Asuna grinned. "Yet you don't act like that around us."

"That's different. You're my students," Negi frowned. "I have to remain professional at all times, even if certain events pop up which test that professionalism." The number of times he somehow ended up around his students less than clothed notwithstanding, Negi struggled to remain in his professional standard at all times.

"Wow. She's pretty," Konoka giggled as she spied the idol's picture. "Is she the kind of girl you go after Negi-sensei?"

Negi flushed, "Honestly, must you tease me about this? I just find her pretty and a chance to message her now and then is kind of interesting. She's obviously intelligent so I like swapping an email or two when I can."

"You know that may be just an image her manager cooked up," Asuna reasoned, biting into her lunch. Anyone in Japan could tell you that being an idol meant that image was everything. She had heard of some managers who faked a whole lot about their clients in order to boost sales of their image. Hell , she once heard a story of an idol who died in an accident and her manager had girls go under plastic surgery to look like her so he could continue endorsing her because she was so famous.

"I know, but it's fun to think it's true," Negi shrugged. He may have been inexperienced with plenty of things in life both from her hermit-like studying and his overprotective cousin but he wasn't that naive.

"How did you even hear about a Japanese web idol anyway Negi-sensei?" asked Konoka. "Do they have something like that in Britain?"

"Well, if you count calendar girls and pin-up girls," Negi shrugged. "Actually we had a Japanese magic student transfer to our school as part of an exchange program. He was a fan of Chiu and was looking her up one day when a bunch of us in the dorm spotted him. We all got interested and he managed to convert us."

"I heard western boys always go after eastern girls," Asuna grinned. "I guess you just couldn't resist with one right there, ready for her adoring public."

"Don't say it like that Asuna. It makes us sound like drooling fools," Negi slumped slightly. He may have argued more, but several of his schoolmates were drooling fanboys when it came to Chiu, loving some of her more...revealing, outfits.

"Well, we eastern girls like foreign boys too so it's nothing to be ashamed about," Konoka giggled, patting Negi's shoulder. "Still, that Chiu girl looks kind of familiar. Do you think we've seen her somewhere before?"

"Dunno," Asuna shrugged, not sparing the picture a passing glance. "Maybe she was in a pop up ad or magazine somewhere."

Phantom Bar

As the hubbub of the daily human life went on, the Phantoms kept to themselves in their world of darkness and despair. Inside the bar was no exception as Medusa and Phoenix amused themselves, waiting for their next minion to appear. Medusa was daintily drinking a martini she learned to make while reading a magazine she had stolen. Phoenix was just crushing walnuts with his bare hands, enjoying the return of his strength from when Wizard had destroyed him. Perhaps the pair could have been doing more for their operations, but part of what they had to do was lay low and that meant staying inside their safe houses. So amusement was paramount lest they start fighting each other.

"Oi, when is this chick supposed to get here?" asked Phoenix, crushing his seventh walnut before using his power to roast the contents and start crunching on them.

"Soon," Medusa replied. "She has always had a bit of whimsy but I made it a direct order for her to be here so if she knows what's good for her…"

A creaking door silenced the pair and they looked up. Entering was a delinquent girl, a concealing facemask and all as she walked down the steps. The low light revealed her to be the foreign delinquent girl Alice. As she walked into the bar proper, she bowed slightly to the pair, "Medusa, Phoenix."

"Right on time, Banshee," Medusa smirked. "We've got a new Gate to target and we felt that you were the one best suited for the job."

"What do you mean 'we'?" Phoenix muttered under his breath.

"Then I will complete it posthaste," Alice, or rather Banshee nodded. "So who is it that will soon be joining our ranks?"

"This one," Medusa flicked her wrist, producing a photograph of the intended target. Banshee approached and took it before examining the subject. Her eyes widened a fraction as she recognized the image, "Her? The web idol Chiu? That's a rather public target don't you think?"

"A risk, yes," Medusa nodded. "It could risk further exposure to the world at large if we don't do this properly. However, with the number of fans she has collected, a large number of them have to be Gates. A few well-placed comments and they will easily fall into heartbroken despair."

"Ah, now I see," Banshee nodded, getting the logic behind the move. "Well then I'll get started. She's all but posted her daily life anyway so figuring out who she might be will be easy."

"I expect results soon," Medusa nodded. "Now get to it."

Bowing to the duo, Banshee turned and left the bar. Satisfied Medusa returned to her drink while Phoenix just kept crushing and roasting his walnuts for the sheer hell of it. He was ready to laugh at Medusa if her plan failed though, which he always found to be a treat.

Mahora - Streets

Chisame grunted as she hefted her travel pack over her shoulder, walking through the streets. She never thought her choice of camera equipment and costumes could be so damn heavy until she had to transport them somewhere. She almost cursed her sense of style as she brought everything she would need in order to make a perfect photo shoot.

To celebrate her adoring fans, and maybe get RubyWizard to be more interested in meeting her, she decided to bring out a new costume. It was a dandy of one too. She would dress up as a sexy female mage like out of an anime and pose inside Library Island among the books and other scholarly things. She had already styled her hair and made up her face ahead of time so fortunately no one would recognize her if they passed her on the street. She would have to touch up her face though if she started to sweat over the exertion she was undertaking.

"This is one of the parts about being your own manager that sucks," Chisame huffed, trying to keep going at a good speed. She wanted to get to Library Island at a time no one would question her entering, but with enough privacy to do her shoot without anyone getting suspicious of her intentions. She didn't want any librarians storming her workspace in the middle of a shoot and blowing her identity. That would be mortifying and would drop her into the pool of crazies her class were so known for.

"It's already getting dark, dammit," Chisame grit her teeth as she saw the orange sky turning purple. "Gotta hoof it."

"Oh, why not take your time and enjoy the trip?" a voice asked from a side street. "After all, it's your last night to live so why not make the most of it?"

Chisame almost missed the comment and would have if she didn't notice how weird the voice saying it sounded. Coming to a stop, she turned back to see who had said it when she saw someone stepping out into the open. Once she got a good look of them, she flinched at the sight.

The figure was wearing a gray cloak over their shoulders, partially concealing a female body that looked like it had wisps of fog rising up from the shoulders and elbows, draping her form like tassels. More mist-like covering concealed her chest, making it look like she was either wearing a suit or a bikini with her gray body and white coverings. From the waist down, her body was concealed with a gray skirt, and covered with black celtic markings. On her waist was a gold emblem with a green stone inside of it. Her face looked feminine, but with gray hair curling away from it like the wind was blowing it back. Her eyes were black and beady like gems, partially hidden beneath her gray locks and black lines ran over her white lips, giving the illusion of them being stitched together.

"H-hey, nice costume but you're a little early for Halloween," Chisame gulped, something in her bones telling her the woman was trouble.

"A costume? Me? The Phantom Banshee? Oh I feel so insulted," the female creature pouted. "Well then, you wanna see something really scary?" Banshee pulled out some stones then tossed them up into the air. Chisame reflexively followed the stones as they were tossed up before they dropped onto the ground, one-by-one. The stones rolled to a stop before they began to tremble. They cracked and fell apart before growing and coming together, forming humanoid shaped creatures made of rock and armed with spears.

"Wha-wha-what-wha-WHAT?!" Chisame cried, stumbling back from the Phantom and its minions.

"Now, how about you sit still and let us drive you into a pit of delicious despair?" Banshee laughed as she and her Ghouls began to approach the idol.

Mahora Dorms - Konoe/Kagurazaka/Springfield Residence

Negi sighed, looking over some of the results from a pop quiz he held with one of his other classes. They did well, but there were a few notable exceptions. He would have to hold extra lessons if the trend continued. Putting the latest quiz aside, he was about to reach for another one when the crystal ball on his desk began to glow bright red. All thought of teaching left his mind as he pulled the crystal ball in front of him and focused on the image. The scene quickly came into focus, revealing a Mahora student he never seen before being cornered by a Phantom and its Ghouls.

Negi's features hardened before he got up and all but leaped from his loft and ran for the exit to the dorms. Reaching outside in record time, he lifted one of his rings and activated it.

"CONNECT, PLEASE!"

Negi's magic circle opened and the Machine Winger rode out, allowing Negi to mount it. Slipping on his helmet, he gunned the engine and roared off down the street. He knew where to go, recognizing the main street where the attack was happening. With the magic-fueled engine pushing him to higher speeds, he managed to quickly reach the street where the Phantom was going after the female student. Coming to a stop behind the action, Negi dismounted his machine and activate the Driver.

"DRIVER ON, PLEASE!"

He then shifted the Hand Author

"SHABADOOBIE TATCHI HENSHIN!"

Negi then adorned one of his Style Rings and slipped its visor on, "Henshin!"

"FLAME, PLEASE! HII, HII, HII HII HII!"

Negi dashed towards the Phantom, his magic circle passing over him and adorning him in his Flame Style armor. He dashed past the terrified girl, causing her to blink as Wizard began attacking the Ghouls, striking them with fists and his feet to knock them away. The Ghouls were as clumsy as ever, allowing Wizard to knock them away with some ease. Kicking one in the head, Wizard stepped back to slip on another Wizard Ring before he activated his belt to use it.

"CONNECT, PLEASE!"

A flash of red magic, and Wizard drew his WizarSwordGun. Using its gun form, he took aim and fired off several rounds of pure silver. The rounds of course hit true, flooring several of the Ghouls with smoking holes in their hides as they writhed on the ground.

"Oh, the Wizard decided to appear?" the Banshee Phantom huffed. "How inconvenient."

"Maybe for you, but for me I'm right on time," Wizard shrugged before swapping the WizarSwordGun into its sword form. "Now, it's showtime!"

As Wizard charged into the mob of Phantoms, Chisame could only watch in stunned...apprehension. Right before her eyes, she watched the proof of Haruna's rumormongering of the Gemstone Wizard was revealed to be true. In front of her, reality as she knew it was crumbling apart. Magic, monsters, and martial arts were flaunting in front of her like something out of a television show! Her absolute faith in reality was crumbling!

"This can't be real, this can't be real, this can't be real!" Chisame chanted over and over, trying to force the supernatural beings out of her sight by sheer force of will. When the images of non-reality refused to be erased, that was all she could take. Getting up, forgetting the weight of her equipment she had on her shoulder, she took off running in the direct opposite direction of all the action going on behind her. She had to get away from the unreality! She just couldn't take it! She needed reality stat!

Chisame's exit didn't go unnoticed by Banshee who grinned. Wizard was distracted with the Ghouls so the Phantom had an opportunity to give chase after her fleeing target, passing through the Ghouls which began protecting his flank as they continued to fight Wizard "And where do you think you're going?"

Wizard saw Banshee about to leave and after ducking a spear strike, he switched his rings and activated it. Turning to point his hand at the Phantom, he shouted out, "No you don't!"

"BIND, PLEASE!"

Chains shot out of magical circles around Banshee and bound her in place. The Phantom hissed in agitation before looking over her shoulder at her opponent. Wizard then returned his attention to the Ghouls and decided to finish them off in one blow.

"C'MON A SHOOTING, SHAKE HANDS! C'MON A SHOOTING SHAKE HANDS!"

"FLAME! SHOOTING STRIKE! HII, HII, HII! HII, HII, HII!"

Pulling the trigger and spinning on his heel, Wizard shot fireballs at the Ghouls and they exploded immediately. Once the smoke and magic circles faded, Wizard returned his attention to Banshee, only to find her gone. There were blackened craters where each of the Ghouls had exploded, but where the Banshee Phantom had been standing was still clean, relatively speaking. "Huh? Oh bollocks!"

He looked around for any sign of the Phantom, but there was none. She was long gone, just like the Gate.

Chisame sighed, walking out of a restroom, her face wet from washing the makeup off of her face and almost fogging up her glasses after she removed her contacts and retook her everyday image. She even had her hair out of the cute style it was before, back in her normal ponytail. She left her bag inside for a moment so she could get her stride back. With the unreality gone, she was feeling much better.

"Now I can get to work forgetting this night ever happened," Chisame sighed, using a handkerchief to get the extra water off of her face. With practiced ease from her times of watching Ku's martial arts, Chao's machines, or Chachamaru doing something robotic, she was off with repressing the abnormality. She could grab her back, go stop at a convenience store to grab dinner, then go back to her room and blog for a while to relieve her stress. Yes, a perfectly normal night for a perfectly normal girl like her.

"Found you-oh!"

"AHHHHH!" Chisame screamed as the voice appeared behind her. Whipping around, she saw the form of Alice looking at her with wide eyes. And was that a slight mist coming from her shoulders? No, Chisame chose to ignore it. "Dammit Alice! You scared the crap out of me!"

"S-sorry," the delinquent choked. "I...thought you were someone I was looking for."

"Well keep me out of your delinquent gang wars will you?" Chisame snapped. "Jeez, you can't go outside for a junk food run without somebody trying to jump you!"

"I said I was sorry," Alice slumped. "So...uh...you're heading for a snack?"

" An all nighter ahead of me," Chisame shrugged, lying her ass off about her reasons for being out and about. She didn't want anyone to discover her secret, not even her friends. "Another rumble in the alleyways for you?"

"Something like that," Alice shrugged. "Speaking of, I have to get going. One of those bitches did a runner and I've got to track her down."

"Happy hunting," Chisame shrugged, letting Alice leave with a nod down the street. Sighing, she shook her head and went back into the restroom to get her bag. She had a long walk back to the dorms and she wanted to just be back in the safe normalcy of her room sometime before midnight.

As Chisame went to get her things, neither she nor Alice had noticed that they were being watched. Sitting on a rooftop was the grinning man Sora who the other Phantoms referred to as Gremlin. He seemed to be taking great amusement in the interaction between Chisame and Alice.

"He, he, he, he, he!" he giggled, having to bite his thumb to keep from being too loud. "She had Chiu-chan right there in her hands and couldn't see it! I guess it takes a special eye to find the secret idols after all. Still, should I lend a hand or not I wonder?"

With another chuckle, Sora stood up and leaped from the rooftop. He landed without a care, as if he were as light as a feather. Twisting on the spot, he took off down the street in a blur, moving too fast for people to notice him.

Wizard leaped over the rooftops, looking for any sign of the Phantom but was quickly finding no indicator of where the monster had gone. He also couldn't find any sign of the Gate it had been after. It was like the both of them had just up and disappeared. Phantoms were good at hiding among the populace of course, but he hadn't ever lost a Gate some completely before. The girl was also rather attractive with a unique hairstyle, looking like something out of a manga if he had to compare. How could she just disappear like that?

"No helping it," he sighed, swapping out several rings.

"GARUDA, PLEASE!"

"KRAKEN, PLEASE!"

"UNICORN, PLEASE!"

The Plamonsters quickly manifested, allowing Wizard to bring them to life. Uttering quick orders for the trio, they took off into the night to try and find the unfortunate girl who was a Gate.

"Find something quickly," Wizard sighed into the night sky.

Mahora Dorms - Hasegawa Residence

Chisame cursed to herself as she finally got back to her dorm room. Dropping her bag to the side, she slumped in front of her computer, "So much for a freaking normal photo shoot! ARGH! More weirdness just keeps screwing me up!"

So off in her rant, Chisame was slamming her fists into her desk alongside her head. She continued for several moments before stopping, letting both her fists and her forehead smoke for a moment. "Some normalcy...that's all I want."

Sulking for only a moment, Chisame sat back up and looked at her computer which opened up to her search screen. She stared at a moment, her face not revealing any kind of thought. before she leaned over and began typing on the keyboard, filling the search box with what she wanted to know.

The Gemstone Wizard

"Gotta know what I'm getting sucked into," Chisame tried to convince herself by hitting the 'enter' button. The screen turned blank for a moment before a list of results all popped up, all listing blog entries and school paper articles about the rumors concerning Mahora's new urban legend. Scanning through the list, Chisame noted some links to the blogs and clicked on them. The screen changed once more, turning to a girls cutesy print blog which had images of the Gemstone Wizard posted on it. It made the secret idol want to gag at how girly it was, but she was on the hunt for information.

"Pictures, pictures, pictures," Chisame huffed, looking over bad cell-phone pictures of the gem-faced urban legend fighting the weird freaks that seemed to keep popping up. A red one, a black one, a blue one with some girl in a swimsuit, and a brown one in the middle of the night with some girl laying on the ground nearby glowing purple. All of them would definitely not be in newspapers, making Chisame snort at the poor photography. She could easily do better with her cell phone in a damn war zone much less hiding in the bush.

"Anything else?' the girl huffed, looking over the photos. Looking over the photos she noted a date stamp revealing when they were taken. It was a pretty handy thing to have in cell phone pictures. A few date stamps didn't mean anything to her. She remembered one of them was on the two days she couldn't remember all that clearly. She'd have to look into that later. Scoping out another date she recognized the numbers.

"So this guy showed up the same day the new semester started?" Chisame frowned. "Wonder why…" her eyes bulged. "Oh no...no, no no, no freaking way!" Going back to the search page, she retyped her search subject, but also put a restriction date to the search, the date the semester started. Once she was sure she had the date, she hit the 'enter' button and allowed the search engine do its thing. She prayed, fervently, desperately, and perhaps foolishly, hoping that her suspicion was just a load of crap. She couldn't be right! It was too much of a coincidence! He had to have been showing up earlier than that day! He had to have been doing something before the semester started! Someone had to have seen him before! She just couldn't be right!

*DING!*

"Oh internet, don't fail me!" Chisame groaned.

No results fit your parameters.

"DAMMIT!" Chisame snapped, her hope dwindling. Okay, that didn't work out. All she had to do was find one last avenue to disprove her haunting thought.

Gemstone Wizard, Wales.

"Let's see," Chisame growled, hitting 'enter' once again. Another moment which seemed to travel on forever and…

There are 572 article(s) which match your criteria.

Chisame flopped onto her desk again with a groan of utter defeat. Article after article listed of a gem-faced man fighting monsters in Wales stretching back years. For all intents and purposes the man had vanished...only to reappear in Japan, Mahora to be exact.

"Oh you bastard," Chisame growled. "You weirdo bastard!" Her reality...her precious reality was slipping further from her grasp .

"Negi-sensei...you're the Gemstone Wizard!"

Streets

Wizard sneezed, "Oh ew! Inside the helmet! Ew!"

Disgusting event aside, Why did he feel like someone was rolling over his grave and was currently trying to dig him up so they could get at him?

"That Phantom is probably cursing me," he reasoned. If that was true, it was business as usual for him. It didn't make him feel any better about it though, or cause the feeling to recede.

To Be Continued…

A/N: Well, another Phantom appears and this time they're after likely the one girl who would do everything in her power to not learn the secrets of magic. Both sides seem to be running blind, having no clue who she really is. Only Gremlin seems to have any idea, but he may just keep quiet so he can stir up his own personal brand of mischief.