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Magic? Student Katarina!
By Eldenwind
Rated: T
Description: A mystery amnesiac girl suddenly arrives in Mahora, just in time to encounter Negi Springfield, a boy with a ridiculous destiny. Can she evade getting caught up in the coming events? Who is she even? Questions, but no clear answers in sight. Wonderful.
Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Description: A mystery amnesiac girl suddenly arrives in Mahora, just in time to encounter Negi Springfield, a boy with a ridiculous destiny. Can she evade getting caught up in the coming events? Who is she even? Questions, but no clear answers in sight. Wonderful.
Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Chapter 5
"Well then, Eva-kun. What is your impression of 'Katarina'-kun?" Takamichi said as he, Evangeline and the headmaster gathered in the headmaster's office.
"Hmm…" The little vampire pondered for a few moments. "While there are several points that are slightly concerning, she is mostly harmless."
"Mostly?" Konoe asked.
"She isn't evil, but she isn't good either. From what I can tell her morality is normal, assuming of course, reasonably, that she isn't an actress good enough to fool centuries of experience."
"I thought you were a loner?" Takamichi interjected with a small smirk.
"I've dealt with plenty of would-be heroes and villains in my time!" The loli retorted. "I might have preferred to stay away from people for prolonged periods of time, but even so I have seen some of the best and worst amongst all beings." Eva retorted with a huff.
"Jack still fooled you." The teacher responded.
"His idiot act is beyond flawless! And he's a massive exception to every rule!" She exclaimed.
The other two chuckled in agreement.
"True." Takamichi said with a wry smile. "And? What are the uncertainties about Katarina?" He then continued, returning to the previous serious state.
"Her amnesia for one. While I truly do believe that she has it, or that at the very least is under some memory loss effect, it seems to me steadily that she is remembering things, or realises that she knows things, without ever telling us about them." Eva began.
"For example?" The headmaster queried.
"You were there Takamichi, you heard her. 'There's no girl clad in an outdated school uniform sitting there'. Either she actually saw Sayo, knows of her existence, or she is at the very least familiar with her appearance." She answered.
"Well, we did show her the class roster…" Takamichi said, thinking.
"But even then, there is the fact that she called her uniform outdated…" The headmaster added.
"The problem is, she's not stupid, and I have noticed that she is quite observant." Eva interjected. "It might have been pure conjecture, and that her intent was merely mischief. She certainly has the personality to support it."
"It would be a good idea to consider that angle, I agree." Konoe said, nodding sagely. "Then how about her age comment?"
"I asked her about it, and she said that I didn't really act the age I looked, as well as that when I demanded to be the elder sibling no one thought it was a bad idea…" She explained. "I feel like she might know something, but I think she is truly unaware just how accurate that statement was in regards to me."
At the last part Eva sulked just a little bit.
"Well, her academics are certainly not on a middle-schooler's level." Takamichi interjected. "She was quite familiar with physics and mathematics, even the random high-school level ones we threw in… And she actually didn't do terrible on the Latin test we gave her, even showing minor traces of knowledge of Ancient Greek. On the other hand, it seemed to mostly be academic knowledge with no relation to the magical."
Evangeline fell into thought, pondering whatever to mention the girls blood, but ultimately decided that it might be better to keep it to herself, if only so they didn't know she was sucking people's blood.
"So, she might indeed not be the age she appears… but I'm certain she is human…" She instead mused out loud.
"Perhaps she really is ahead of her age, combined with a slow growth. It's not impossible." Takamichi added.
"We can't tell at this stage." Konoe interjected. "And unfortunately our search for records of her has yet to yield results."
"Did you take Chachamaru's report into consideration?" Eva asked.
"Sweden? We did put some focus into it, but she's not among their missing people, and we have yet to find any matches in their other records." The headmaster replied.
"It's difficult to find people without good information on them, and we have had to pull in a few favours here and there. It's possible we haven't checked all their records yet, if Chachamaru's guess that she might have been from the more central parts, based on what little of her dialect she picked up, was even correct in the first place."
"Should I tell Chachamaru to get Katarina to speak Swedish?" Eva queried.
"I don't think you have to, but maybe you should anyway. Otherwise just keep keeping an eye on her. While I accept your judgement on her, you never know." Konoe answered.
"Speaking of Katarina-kun, do you think she needs some clothes? I really doubt Evangeline have suitable casual clothes she can borrow." Takamichi suddenly said.
Evangeline was a tiny bit miffed by his comment, but decided to let it slide. It wasn't untrue after all.
"It might be a good idea. While I have a few things she seemed to have taken a liking to, letting her buy some clothes for herself might be useful. It might even make her happy." Eva responded after a short while of consideration.
-Break--
"You want me to go shopping for clothes?" Slightly surprisingly, Katarina was not all that overjoyed at the prospect of shopping. "Hmm… I guess Eva-chan's clothes, while cute, might be a bit odd at times… and I can't be borrowing all my clothes from her… Ugh, I'll go buy some nice, 'normal' clothing I can wear casually."
While Evangeline was a bit surprised at the lack of enthusiasm, she had to admit it was a pleasant surprise.
"Good! Chachamaru will accompany you, and make sure you use the money for clothes, and nothing else." She said, then turned towards the gynoid in question. "Do you understand?"
"Yes mistress, as you wish." Chachamaru responded.
And so, after a surprisingly, for Katarina, lengthy trip into the shopping district, the petite blonde and the stoic gynoid found themselves standing within one of several clothing stores Mahora had to offer.
While the amount of money they had available for this outing wasn't negligible, it wasn't enormous either, and Katarina found herself considering exactly how much to spend on what.
Surprisingly, even to herself, despite her early reluctance, now that she was here she was actually considering rather carefully what she would like to wear or not. She also found herself drawn more towards the darker spectrum of colours, something that was quickly noted by the gynoid and presumably saved away in some data folder.
She had felt strangely flustered while looking at underwear, something she was actually in dire need of, but since she was unable to dredge up a satisfying answer from her mind, she simply dismissed it.
She also noticed that while looking for clothes she preferred those without patterns or other decorations. Ultimately she bought a few t-shirts and blouses, a nice pair of black jeans, some cute skirts, one dark-red and one black, and a good supply of various types of underwear.
Chachamaru was the one who was actually holding the money, so she was the one who paid for everything.
Interestingly she noted that the cashier didn't react to Chachamaru's robotic traits at all, but she was also surprised to find that she wasn't surprised about this fact.
But then something very odd happened as they were moving on. A bit in the distance she spotted a group of what seemed to be teenagers, loitering about, being a bit loud and annoying… and then there was the thing that really stuck in her mind. They were smoking.
She narrowed her eyes in disgust. "Humans." She said without thinking. Her companion picked up on the choice of word immediately, noting the tone, and what it was she was looking at when she said it.
Honestly, even Katarina herself found her choice of word odd, but she couldn't quite pinpoint one exact reason as to why she would use it rather than something else. She was quite certain she was human herself… maybe she was using it because she found humans to be hopeless, and those youths to be examples of that?
Considering that that felt rather right, and that she even considered such a specific reason, that was what she chose to assume for now.
"Is there some reason for your distaste?" Chachamaru asked.
Katarina considered the question for a bit before answering.
"I think it has to do with how they're wasting their time, but another large part of it seems to be directed towards the smoking…" She said.
"The smoking? Do you have any-?" The gynoid started, but she was interrupted when they passed a smoking man, and Katarina breathed in some of it.
She immediately started exhaling hard, the first even being a small cough. The gynoid's sensors told her that the action probably wasn't entirely voluntary.
"Ugh. I think we found that answer rather quickly." The petite girl said once she settled down again.
"Let us make an effort of avoiding those in the future." The gynoid replied.
"Yes please. I guess I'll have to avoid Takahata-sensei when he's smoking then." The petite blonde sighed.
"Certainly."
They continued on in silence, Chachamaru lacking a subject to broach, while Katarina found herself unwilling to attempt small-talk. Not that she could figure out how to in the first place.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on your point of view, she was saved from the developing awkwardness by an unexpected interruption.
"Ah! It's Chachamaru! And… Katarina-chan!" A cheery voice called out to them, a slight accent betraying her not to be of full Japanese origin.
Turning to observe the newcomer, Katarina realised it was one of her new class-mates, Chao Lingshen. If her memory served from what she knew, the girl was a Chinese transfer-student and a genius of unprecedented level.
Wait… when had she heard that Chao's genius was unprecedented?
Well, there was a lot of talking, it probably came up at some point.
"Good evening Chao-san." Chachamaru responded with a small bow.
"Ah, good evening Lingshen-san." Katarina followed suit, albeit with a bit more formality.
She didn't really know this person yet, so she wanted to play it a bit safe.
Even if the other party had already called her in a highly informal manner.
"Ahaha! There's no need to be so stiff Katarina-chan, just call me Chao." The genius said.
"Okay, Chao-san. What brings you here?" The blonde replied, still using polite form.
The other girl maintained her cheery manner, although she pretended to become upset.
"Mu, Katarina-chan, I told you not to be so stiff!" She said.
Katarina sighed. "Sorry. So, what are you doing here Chao-san?" She once again asked, this time dropping the politeness.
"I'm just on a little errand! What are you two doing here?" Chao said.
"Just shopping for some clothes." The petite girl replied and lifted the bags. "We're already on our way back."
"Mind if I accompany you? I just finished my own errand and was about to head back as well." The genius asked. "Our paths should intertwine for at least a bit of the road."
Katarina looked to her companion with a questioning glance, trying to convey that it was her decision without saying anything.
"That is fine." To her mild surprise Chachamaru agreed, even seeming just a tad hint deferential to the other girl.
"Yay!" Chao seemed to realise that Katarina had passed the decision to the gynoid, and she quickly fell in step next to the petite blonde. "So… you're Evangeline's little sister?" She then asked.
"Hmm? Yes, that's right." Katarina responded. "Why?"
"Nothing, I was just under the impression that she was an… only child." Chao responded.
Chachamaru kept oddly quiet, allowing the questioning.
"Can't blame you. I doubt she talks much about her family. Or much to her class-mates at all for that matter." The blonde replied.
"True, she can be rather distant." The Chinese genius seemed to consider something, regarding the petite blonde in front of her. "Hmm… Well! That's fine! This'll be interesting, so I'll let it slide." She then said mysteriously.
Did this girl know? It wasn't impossible, and it seemed Chachamaru wasn't going to assist in this matter… Actually… wasn't Chao part of the robotics club? Could she have been part of Chachamaru's creation?
As a matter of fact, there was something… off, about the girl in front of her. Her proximity caused an odd feeling that Katarina couldn't quite place.
Not to mention that a certain part of her mind seemed to insist that this girl was of note.
"So… where are you from Chao-san?" She asked.
She had expected something about China. That was not what she was given.
"I'm a Martian from Mars!" The genius exclaimed, a certain glimmer of deviousness in her eye.
Katarina looked at her for a bit with a sort of 'really?' expression.
But even so, that weird part of her that she usually couldn't remember what it was saying, seemed to say… 'Technically she isn't lying.'
"That's an… interesting thing to say Chao-san." She managed to get out, even as a small headache started up.
A slightly surprised expression passed over Chao's features, before that glimmer of deviousness returned with renewed intensity.
"Hmm…" The little vampire pondered for a few moments. "While there are several points that are slightly concerning, she is mostly harmless."
"Mostly?" Konoe asked.
"She isn't evil, but she isn't good either. From what I can tell her morality is normal, assuming of course, reasonably, that she isn't an actress good enough to fool centuries of experience."
"I thought you were a loner?" Takamichi interjected with a small smirk.
"I've dealt with plenty of would-be heroes and villains in my time!" The loli retorted. "I might have preferred to stay away from people for prolonged periods of time, but even so I have seen some of the best and worst amongst all beings." Eva retorted with a huff.
"Jack still fooled you." The teacher responded.
"His idiot act is beyond flawless! And he's a massive exception to every rule!" She exclaimed.
The other two chuckled in agreement.
"True." Takamichi said with a wry smile. "And? What are the uncertainties about Katarina?" He then continued, returning to the previous serious state.
"Her amnesia for one. While I truly do believe that she has it, or that at the very least is under some memory loss effect, it seems to me steadily that she is remembering things, or realises that she knows things, without ever telling us about them." Eva began.
"For example?" The headmaster queried.
"You were there Takamichi, you heard her. 'There's no girl clad in an outdated school uniform sitting there'. Either she actually saw Sayo, knows of her existence, or she is at the very least familiar with her appearance." She answered.
"Well, we did show her the class roster…" Takamichi said, thinking.
"But even then, there is the fact that she called her uniform outdated…" The headmaster added.
"The problem is, she's not stupid, and I have noticed that she is quite observant." Eva interjected. "It might have been pure conjecture, and that her intent was merely mischief. She certainly has the personality to support it."
"It would be a good idea to consider that angle, I agree." Konoe said, nodding sagely. "Then how about her age comment?"
"I asked her about it, and she said that I didn't really act the age I looked, as well as that when I demanded to be the elder sibling no one thought it was a bad idea…" She explained. "I feel like she might know something, but I think she is truly unaware just how accurate that statement was in regards to me."
At the last part Eva sulked just a little bit.
"Well, her academics are certainly not on a middle-schooler's level." Takamichi interjected. "She was quite familiar with physics and mathematics, even the random high-school level ones we threw in… And she actually didn't do terrible on the Latin test we gave her, even showing minor traces of knowledge of Ancient Greek. On the other hand, it seemed to mostly be academic knowledge with no relation to the magical."
Evangeline fell into thought, pondering whatever to mention the girls blood, but ultimately decided that it might be better to keep it to herself, if only so they didn't know she was sucking people's blood.
"So, she might indeed not be the age she appears… but I'm certain she is human…" She instead mused out loud.
"Perhaps she really is ahead of her age, combined with a slow growth. It's not impossible." Takamichi added.
"We can't tell at this stage." Konoe interjected. "And unfortunately our search for records of her has yet to yield results."
"Did you take Chachamaru's report into consideration?" Eva asked.
"Sweden? We did put some focus into it, but she's not among their missing people, and we have yet to find any matches in their other records." The headmaster replied.
"It's difficult to find people without good information on them, and we have had to pull in a few favours here and there. It's possible we haven't checked all their records yet, if Chachamaru's guess that she might have been from the more central parts, based on what little of her dialect she picked up, was even correct in the first place."
"Should I tell Chachamaru to get Katarina to speak Swedish?" Eva queried.
"I don't think you have to, but maybe you should anyway. Otherwise just keep keeping an eye on her. While I accept your judgement on her, you never know." Konoe answered.
"Speaking of Katarina-kun, do you think she needs some clothes? I really doubt Evangeline have suitable casual clothes she can borrow." Takamichi suddenly said.
Evangeline was a tiny bit miffed by his comment, but decided to let it slide. It wasn't untrue after all.
"It might be a good idea. While I have a few things she seemed to have taken a liking to, letting her buy some clothes for herself might be useful. It might even make her happy." Eva responded after a short while of consideration.
-Break--
"You want me to go shopping for clothes?" Slightly surprisingly, Katarina was not all that overjoyed at the prospect of shopping. "Hmm… I guess Eva-chan's clothes, while cute, might be a bit odd at times… and I can't be borrowing all my clothes from her… Ugh, I'll go buy some nice, 'normal' clothing I can wear casually."
While Evangeline was a bit surprised at the lack of enthusiasm, she had to admit it was a pleasant surprise.
"Good! Chachamaru will accompany you, and make sure you use the money for clothes, and nothing else." She said, then turned towards the gynoid in question. "Do you understand?"
"Yes mistress, as you wish." Chachamaru responded.
And so, after a surprisingly, for Katarina, lengthy trip into the shopping district, the petite blonde and the stoic gynoid found themselves standing within one of several clothing stores Mahora had to offer.
While the amount of money they had available for this outing wasn't negligible, it wasn't enormous either, and Katarina found herself considering exactly how much to spend on what.
Surprisingly, even to herself, despite her early reluctance, now that she was here she was actually considering rather carefully what she would like to wear or not. She also found herself drawn more towards the darker spectrum of colours, something that was quickly noted by the gynoid and presumably saved away in some data folder.
She had felt strangely flustered while looking at underwear, something she was actually in dire need of, but since she was unable to dredge up a satisfying answer from her mind, she simply dismissed it.
She also noticed that while looking for clothes she preferred those without patterns or other decorations. Ultimately she bought a few t-shirts and blouses, a nice pair of black jeans, some cute skirts, one dark-red and one black, and a good supply of various types of underwear.
Chachamaru was the one who was actually holding the money, so she was the one who paid for everything.
Interestingly she noted that the cashier didn't react to Chachamaru's robotic traits at all, but she was also surprised to find that she wasn't surprised about this fact.
But then something very odd happened as they were moving on. A bit in the distance she spotted a group of what seemed to be teenagers, loitering about, being a bit loud and annoying… and then there was the thing that really stuck in her mind. They were smoking.
She narrowed her eyes in disgust. "Humans." She said without thinking. Her companion picked up on the choice of word immediately, noting the tone, and what it was she was looking at when she said it.
Honestly, even Katarina herself found her choice of word odd, but she couldn't quite pinpoint one exact reason as to why she would use it rather than something else. She was quite certain she was human herself… maybe she was using it because she found humans to be hopeless, and those youths to be examples of that?
Considering that that felt rather right, and that she even considered such a specific reason, that was what she chose to assume for now.
"Is there some reason for your distaste?" Chachamaru asked.
Katarina considered the question for a bit before answering.
"I think it has to do with how they're wasting their time, but another large part of it seems to be directed towards the smoking…" She said.
"The smoking? Do you have any-?" The gynoid started, but she was interrupted when they passed a smoking man, and Katarina breathed in some of it.
She immediately started exhaling hard, the first even being a small cough. The gynoid's sensors told her that the action probably wasn't entirely voluntary.
"Ugh. I think we found that answer rather quickly." The petite girl said once she settled down again.
"Let us make an effort of avoiding those in the future." The gynoid replied.
"Yes please. I guess I'll have to avoid Takahata-sensei when he's smoking then." The petite blonde sighed.
"Certainly."
They continued on in silence, Chachamaru lacking a subject to broach, while Katarina found herself unwilling to attempt small-talk. Not that she could figure out how to in the first place.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on your point of view, she was saved from the developing awkwardness by an unexpected interruption.
"Ah! It's Chachamaru! And… Katarina-chan!" A cheery voice called out to them, a slight accent betraying her not to be of full Japanese origin.
Turning to observe the newcomer, Katarina realised it was one of her new class-mates, Chao Lingshen. If her memory served from what she knew, the girl was a Chinese transfer-student and a genius of unprecedented level.
Wait… when had she heard that Chao's genius was unprecedented?
Well, there was a lot of talking, it probably came up at some point.
"Good evening Chao-san." Chachamaru responded with a small bow.
"Ah, good evening Lingshen-san." Katarina followed suit, albeit with a bit more formality.
She didn't really know this person yet, so she wanted to play it a bit safe.
Even if the other party had already called her in a highly informal manner.
"Ahaha! There's no need to be so stiff Katarina-chan, just call me Chao." The genius said.
"Okay, Chao-san. What brings you here?" The blonde replied, still using polite form.
The other girl maintained her cheery manner, although she pretended to become upset.
"Mu, Katarina-chan, I told you not to be so stiff!" She said.
Katarina sighed. "Sorry. So, what are you doing here Chao-san?" She once again asked, this time dropping the politeness.
"I'm just on a little errand! What are you two doing here?" Chao said.
"Just shopping for some clothes." The petite girl replied and lifted the bags. "We're already on our way back."
"Mind if I accompany you? I just finished my own errand and was about to head back as well." The genius asked. "Our paths should intertwine for at least a bit of the road."
Katarina looked to her companion with a questioning glance, trying to convey that it was her decision without saying anything.
"That is fine." To her mild surprise Chachamaru agreed, even seeming just a tad hint deferential to the other girl.
"Yay!" Chao seemed to realise that Katarina had passed the decision to the gynoid, and she quickly fell in step next to the petite blonde. "So… you're Evangeline's little sister?" She then asked.
"Hmm? Yes, that's right." Katarina responded. "Why?"
"Nothing, I was just under the impression that she was an… only child." Chao responded.
Chachamaru kept oddly quiet, allowing the questioning.
"Can't blame you. I doubt she talks much about her family. Or much to her class-mates at all for that matter." The blonde replied.
"True, she can be rather distant." The Chinese genius seemed to consider something, regarding the petite blonde in front of her. "Hmm… Well! That's fine! This'll be interesting, so I'll let it slide." She then said mysteriously.
Did this girl know? It wasn't impossible, and it seemed Chachamaru wasn't going to assist in this matter… Actually… wasn't Chao part of the robotics club? Could she have been part of Chachamaru's creation?
As a matter of fact, there was something… off, about the girl in front of her. Her proximity caused an odd feeling that Katarina couldn't quite place.
Not to mention that a certain part of her mind seemed to insist that this girl was of note.
"So… where are you from Chao-san?" She asked.
She had expected something about China. That was not what she was given.
"I'm a Martian from Mars!" The genius exclaimed, a certain glimmer of deviousness in her eye.
Katarina looked at her for a bit with a sort of 'really?' expression.
But even so, that weird part of her that she usually couldn't remember what it was saying, seemed to say… 'Technically she isn't lying.'
"That's an… interesting thing to say Chao-san." She managed to get out, even as a small headache started up.
A slightly surprised expression passed over Chao's features, before that glimmer of deviousness returned with renewed intensity.
