ôOneechan? WhatÆs Father like?ö
ôYour father?ö Nekane smiled as she composed her thoughts, swinging NegiÆs hand in hers as she led him back to her uncleÆs house. SheÆd been expecting the question for a while now, but she hadnÆt expected him to blurt it out, completely without any preamble, on their way home from the market. She managed to keep from sighing, wishing that, for his own sake, Negi wasnÆt as smart as he was.
As Nagi SpringfieldÆs son, Negi had been blessed with a wide array of gifts, one of which was an exceptionally keen mind. Negi was already much smarter than any of the other children in his age group, and picked up on even very conceptual things with an astonishing speed.
ôWellàhe was a hero, and famous tooàö she began, faltering slightly as she tried to figure out what to say, not wanting to explain that his father was dead. While she knew it was natural for him to learn about the world as he grew up, she just couldnÆt bear to introduce him to that awful truth. He was too young, too innocent, to learn about something as awful as that.
Although he was only four years old, Negi had already entered kindergarten, due to how smart he was. Unfortunately, at that stage of life, being a year younger than everyone else meant that he was noticeably smaller than them. That, combined with the equally-noticeable difference in intelligence meant that he didnÆt have many friends. Only Anya, an adorable little tomboy in his class, seemed to be completely unconcerned with NegiÆs size or smarts.
It was therefore perhaps inevitable that, lacking parents or friends, Negi and Nekane had developed a much deeper bond than even most real siblings had. Although Nekane was only ten years older than her cousin, her love for him was more akin to what a mother would feel for her child. It was that, more than anything else, that made her struggle with NegiÆs seemingly-innocent question, trying to keep the unpleasant facts of life away from him for just a little while longer.
ôI guess he was likeàlike, a superhero.ö She finished, silently praying that Negi would be satisfied with that answer. She knew she hadnÆt really told him anything substantive, but as he opened his mouth again, her insides twisted in knots at the thought of him asking the obvious follow-up question of why he wasnÆt here with them now.
What Negi was going to ask next would never be known, though, as a gruff voice intruded on their conversation. ôBut he still wound up dead, didnÆt he? Some superhero, abandoning his boy like that because he overdid it.ö
Frowning, Nekane squeezed NegiÆs hand tighter as she glared at the voiceÆs owner. ôStan-san, please, not in front of Negi.ö She managed to keep her voice civil, despite the rising anger she felt towards the older man. The local curmudgeon, Stan never missed an opportunity to bad-mouth Nagi to anyone whoÆd listen, which was precisely the reason Nekane didnÆt like the old man very much. She usually just left without a word when Stan started his Nagi-bashing, but she couldnÆt bring herself to ignore it when he was talking down about Nagi to the manÆs own son!
ôHmph,ö glancing from the upset Nekane to the curious-looking Negi and back again, Stan seemed to take the unspoken message to heart, walking past them with a shrug, as if to show that he didnÆt care enough to argue the point. Not wanting Negi to be around him any longer than was necessary, Nekane pulled Negi along as she started walking briskly, as though trying to leave the memory of the unpleasant encounter behind.
ôOneechan? WhatÆs that mean?ö Came NegiÆs guileless voice.
ôWhat does what mean, Negi?ö Still upset from what had just happened, Nekane wasnÆt paying attention as she spoke.
ôæDead.Æö Spoke Negi, repeating the word he hadnÆt understood.
Nekane stopped immediately at that, and Negi looked up at her, blinking curiously as he noticed how his oneechan seemed to be upset by that weird word. Had he said something bad?
ôItàit meansàö Nekane tried to think of a way to sugarcoat it, a way to tell him without really telling him, but nothing came to mind.
The silence from his pseudo-mother making him feel uncomfortable for some reason, Negi tugged on her hand. ôOneechan?ö
Forcing a smile onto her face, Nekane knelt down at NegiÆs level, her free hand coming up to tousle his hair. ôIÆll tell you what it means when youÆre older, okay Negi?ö
ôMouàö the look of disappointment on his face was so cute that Nekane couldnÆt help but feel some of her trepidation ease.
ôCome on, IÆll give you a piggyback ride back to the house, okay?ö
ôOkay!ö Negi grinned, as his oneechan hoisted him onto her back, his question apparently forgotten, much to NekaneÆs relief.
But Negi hadnÆt forgottenà
* * * * *
It was late, almost midnight, when Negi crept downstairs from his room. Gulping at how the house seemed so much scarier in the dark, he clung tightly to his training wand, the end of it aflame thanks to his Practu Bigi Naru incantation.
Although Negi was unaware of it, the fact that he was so easily able to use magic was another of the gifts heÆd inherited from his father. HeÆd used his first spell, the same Practu Bigi Naru incantation he was using now, when he had been only two years old. He hadnÆt known what magic was then, of course. All heÆd known was that the woods were big and scary at night, and heÆd instinctively made a flame appear at the end of the stick heÆd grabbed. Luckily, that light in the darkness had led Nekane to him, frantic with worry over his having snuck away while her back had been turned.
Once sheÆd brought him back and calmed down, Nekane had realized what it meant that Negi had managed to cast a spell untrained and without a proper wand. Being a responsible young lady, sheÆd made sure to inform her father, who was very pleased with NegiÆs burgeoning potential. A nice man, heÆd hired a series of private teachers to start teaching Negi not only proper magic, but also how to read and write in both English and Latin, since the latter language was how traditional spells were cast.
Negi, for his part, soaked up all the knowledge that was presented with like a sponge. Learning new things was fun and exciting, and he had continually peppered his teachers with questions, which for the most part they answered. Still, there were some that they had gently deflected, saying that there were some lessons heÆd have to wait until he was older to learn, the same way Nekane-oneechan had earlier this afternoon.
But Negi didnÆt want to wait until he was older. He wanted to know now! That was why he was creeping downstairs in the middle of the night, heading for the dictionary in the house library. While he couldnÆt get at any of OneechanÆs or his uncleÆs advanced spellbooks yet, he could at least look up the words he didnÆt know.
Making it to the library, Negi set his want on the large desk there, making sure to keep the flaming end jutting over the edge so he didnÆt start a fire. Dragging a chair over to one of the shelves, he stood on it and strained, just barely managing to reach the large, heavy dictionary and pull it down. Moving so he was sitting near his wand, Negi slowly paged through it, finally coming to the proper entry.
Dead.
Eyes widening as he read through the long and complex entry, Negi nevertheless soon grasped what it meant. His father wasàdead? Blinking watery eyes, not understanding the unpleasant feeling of loss that fell over him, Negi read through the entry again. Surely there had to be some way to...to make someone not-dead again!
Growing unsatisfied with the dictionaryÆs simple definitions, Negi noted the synonyms listed at the bottom of the entry. Slowly, he went through each of them, trying to find any useful information for what to do about someone making someone who was dead become not dead, or ôalive,ö again. He couldnÆt help but shake as he read the further entries, thoughà
Death. Kill. Murder.
It was almost an hour later when Negi finally closed the dictionary. Angry and frustrated with how it hadnÆt had any useful information, Negi managed to keep quiet as he replaced it on the shelf and moved the chair back. Taking his wand in hand and slowly skulking back to his room, Negi silently decided that heÆd work on the problem himself if he couldnÆt get the stuff he needed from a book.
* * * * *
Negi hummed to himself as he strode through the woods behind his uncleÆs house. It had taken some pleading, but Nekane-oneechan had agreed to let him play out back by himself, though heÆd had to promise heÆd go no further than the woods that bordered the backyard. That was okay though, he didnÆt need to go any further.
Pausing as he judged heÆd gone far enough, he looked around at the trees above him. It took only a minute to find a squirrel sitting on a bough, enjoying an acorn. Giggling to himself at the sight of the little animal, Negi picked up a nearby rock before he intoned a spell. ôFlans exclamatio!ö
The winds that the spell conjured up werenÆt very strong, but they were enough to shake the surprised squirrel off the branch, sending it tumbling to the forest floor. Stunned from the landing, the little creature was momentarily unable to move, which proved to be its undoing as Negi, his face screwed up in a look of concentration, leapt over to it and began to bash it with his rock.
He had to hit the squirrel several times before it stopped moving. Wanting to make absolutely certain it was dead though, he kept crunching the hard stone against the unmoving animal a few more times, just to be sure. Finally, panting from the exertion, Negi sat down, tossing the rock away as he looked at the squirrel heÆd just killed. He felt bad about hurting it, but it was going to be okay, since he was going to make it not-dead now.
Taking a deep breath, Negi stood back up, pointing his wand at the corpse. He didnÆt know a spell to chant, so he instead closed his eyes and concentrated, the way heÆd used to before his teachers had given him books and taught him incantations. Be alive again, he thought at the squirrel, get up and move around.
Cracking his eyes open, Negi looked at the dead animal. It remained unmoving, its crushed body lying on the bloodied ground where heÆd left it.
Frowning, Negi tried again, getting a similar lack of reaction. Frustrated, he tried a third time, and a fourth, and a fifth, with each time turning out the same. Finally, with tears pooling at the corner of his eyes, Negi squeezed them shut, holding his wand in both hands as he concentrated hard. ôMove!ö he yelled it aloud this time. ôMove! Move! Move! Move! Move!ö He let his last cry trail off as he kept concentrating.
Finally, after several seconds of silence, Negi again opened his eyes just slightly, and then widely as he beheld what heÆd done: The squirrel had moved. It was now sitting up on its hind legs, regarding him silently.
ôIàI did it!ö yelled Negi in happiness, jumping up and down. HeÆd done it! HeÆd succeeded! HeÆd made the squirrel not be dead! Now he could find his father and make him not be dead too!
Finally ceasing his celebrations, Negi regarded the squirrel again, and felt his enthusiasm begin to diminish as he noticed some things that seemedàwrong. For one thing, while the squirrel had obviously moved before, it was incredibly still now, just sitting there staring at him. Also, it didnÆt look exactly like it did before heÆd crushed it. Its tail was still all bent, and one forepaw was all broken and mangled, and the blood was still covering its fur.
Worried that maybe something was wrong, Negi flicked at the thing with his wand in a shooing gesture. ôGo on! Go run around or something!ö
Taking the command literally, the squirrel fell to all fours, though its broken forepaw didnÆt support it very well, and began to slowly walk in a circle. Though its heavy, shuffling movement was a stark contrast to how most squirrels skittered and jumped around, it was enough to restore the joyous smile to NegiÆs face. Snatching the creature up by the tail, Negi didnÆt notice how its paws kept mindlessly moving, trying to walk in a circle even as Negi hurriedly rushed back to the house.
Nekane had just stepped outside to look for Negi when he came running up, his face alight with a grin. Just seeing it made Nekane smile back, her cousinÆs youthful enthusiasm rubbing off on her the way it always did. As he ran towards her, she kneeled down so sheÆd be at eye-level with him.
ôOneechan! Oneechan!ö Negi panted as he ran up to her, his features still awash with joy. ôLook what I did!ö He gave Nekane no time to react as he thrust his hand up, putting the squirrel, its broken corpse still moving as its paws worked back and forth uselessly, mere inches from her face.
NekaneÆs horror at the sight was total, and her scream was long and loud.
ôYour father?ö Nekane smiled as she composed her thoughts, swinging NegiÆs hand in hers as she led him back to her uncleÆs house. SheÆd been expecting the question for a while now, but she hadnÆt expected him to blurt it out, completely without any preamble, on their way home from the market. She managed to keep from sighing, wishing that, for his own sake, Negi wasnÆt as smart as he was.
As Nagi SpringfieldÆs son, Negi had been blessed with a wide array of gifts, one of which was an exceptionally keen mind. Negi was already much smarter than any of the other children in his age group, and picked up on even very conceptual things with an astonishing speed.
ôWellàhe was a hero, and famous tooàö she began, faltering slightly as she tried to figure out what to say, not wanting to explain that his father was dead. While she knew it was natural for him to learn about the world as he grew up, she just couldnÆt bear to introduce him to that awful truth. He was too young, too innocent, to learn about something as awful as that.
Although he was only four years old, Negi had already entered kindergarten, due to how smart he was. Unfortunately, at that stage of life, being a year younger than everyone else meant that he was noticeably smaller than them. That, combined with the equally-noticeable difference in intelligence meant that he didnÆt have many friends. Only Anya, an adorable little tomboy in his class, seemed to be completely unconcerned with NegiÆs size or smarts.
It was therefore perhaps inevitable that, lacking parents or friends, Negi and Nekane had developed a much deeper bond than even most real siblings had. Although Nekane was only ten years older than her cousin, her love for him was more akin to what a mother would feel for her child. It was that, more than anything else, that made her struggle with NegiÆs seemingly-innocent question, trying to keep the unpleasant facts of life away from him for just a little while longer.
ôI guess he was likeàlike, a superhero.ö She finished, silently praying that Negi would be satisfied with that answer. She knew she hadnÆt really told him anything substantive, but as he opened his mouth again, her insides twisted in knots at the thought of him asking the obvious follow-up question of why he wasnÆt here with them now.
What Negi was going to ask next would never be known, though, as a gruff voice intruded on their conversation. ôBut he still wound up dead, didnÆt he? Some superhero, abandoning his boy like that because he overdid it.ö
Frowning, Nekane squeezed NegiÆs hand tighter as she glared at the voiceÆs owner. ôStan-san, please, not in front of Negi.ö She managed to keep her voice civil, despite the rising anger she felt towards the older man. The local curmudgeon, Stan never missed an opportunity to bad-mouth Nagi to anyone whoÆd listen, which was precisely the reason Nekane didnÆt like the old man very much. She usually just left without a word when Stan started his Nagi-bashing, but she couldnÆt bring herself to ignore it when he was talking down about Nagi to the manÆs own son!
ôHmph,ö glancing from the upset Nekane to the curious-looking Negi and back again, Stan seemed to take the unspoken message to heart, walking past them with a shrug, as if to show that he didnÆt care enough to argue the point. Not wanting Negi to be around him any longer than was necessary, Nekane pulled Negi along as she started walking briskly, as though trying to leave the memory of the unpleasant encounter behind.
ôOneechan? WhatÆs that mean?ö Came NegiÆs guileless voice.
ôWhat does what mean, Negi?ö Still upset from what had just happened, Nekane wasnÆt paying attention as she spoke.
ôæDead.Æö Spoke Negi, repeating the word he hadnÆt understood.
Nekane stopped immediately at that, and Negi looked up at her, blinking curiously as he noticed how his oneechan seemed to be upset by that weird word. Had he said something bad?
ôItàit meansàö Nekane tried to think of a way to sugarcoat it, a way to tell him without really telling him, but nothing came to mind.
The silence from his pseudo-mother making him feel uncomfortable for some reason, Negi tugged on her hand. ôOneechan?ö
Forcing a smile onto her face, Nekane knelt down at NegiÆs level, her free hand coming up to tousle his hair. ôIÆll tell you what it means when youÆre older, okay Negi?ö
ôMouàö the look of disappointment on his face was so cute that Nekane couldnÆt help but feel some of her trepidation ease.
ôCome on, IÆll give you a piggyback ride back to the house, okay?ö
ôOkay!ö Negi grinned, as his oneechan hoisted him onto her back, his question apparently forgotten, much to NekaneÆs relief.
But Negi hadnÆt forgottenà
* * * * *
It was late, almost midnight, when Negi crept downstairs from his room. Gulping at how the house seemed so much scarier in the dark, he clung tightly to his training wand, the end of it aflame thanks to his Practu Bigi Naru incantation.
Although Negi was unaware of it, the fact that he was so easily able to use magic was another of the gifts heÆd inherited from his father. HeÆd used his first spell, the same Practu Bigi Naru incantation he was using now, when he had been only two years old. He hadnÆt known what magic was then, of course. All heÆd known was that the woods were big and scary at night, and heÆd instinctively made a flame appear at the end of the stick heÆd grabbed. Luckily, that light in the darkness had led Nekane to him, frantic with worry over his having snuck away while her back had been turned.
Once sheÆd brought him back and calmed down, Nekane had realized what it meant that Negi had managed to cast a spell untrained and without a proper wand. Being a responsible young lady, sheÆd made sure to inform her father, who was very pleased with NegiÆs burgeoning potential. A nice man, heÆd hired a series of private teachers to start teaching Negi not only proper magic, but also how to read and write in both English and Latin, since the latter language was how traditional spells were cast.
Negi, for his part, soaked up all the knowledge that was presented with like a sponge. Learning new things was fun and exciting, and he had continually peppered his teachers with questions, which for the most part they answered. Still, there were some that they had gently deflected, saying that there were some lessons heÆd have to wait until he was older to learn, the same way Nekane-oneechan had earlier this afternoon.
But Negi didnÆt want to wait until he was older. He wanted to know now! That was why he was creeping downstairs in the middle of the night, heading for the dictionary in the house library. While he couldnÆt get at any of OneechanÆs or his uncleÆs advanced spellbooks yet, he could at least look up the words he didnÆt know.
Making it to the library, Negi set his want on the large desk there, making sure to keep the flaming end jutting over the edge so he didnÆt start a fire. Dragging a chair over to one of the shelves, he stood on it and strained, just barely managing to reach the large, heavy dictionary and pull it down. Moving so he was sitting near his wand, Negi slowly paged through it, finally coming to the proper entry.
Dead.
Eyes widening as he read through the long and complex entry, Negi nevertheless soon grasped what it meant. His father wasàdead? Blinking watery eyes, not understanding the unpleasant feeling of loss that fell over him, Negi read through the entry again. Surely there had to be some way to...to make someone not-dead again!
Growing unsatisfied with the dictionaryÆs simple definitions, Negi noted the synonyms listed at the bottom of the entry. Slowly, he went through each of them, trying to find any useful information for what to do about someone making someone who was dead become not dead, or ôalive,ö again. He couldnÆt help but shake as he read the further entries, thoughà
Death. Kill. Murder.
It was almost an hour later when Negi finally closed the dictionary. Angry and frustrated with how it hadnÆt had any useful information, Negi managed to keep quiet as he replaced it on the shelf and moved the chair back. Taking his wand in hand and slowly skulking back to his room, Negi silently decided that heÆd work on the problem himself if he couldnÆt get the stuff he needed from a book.
* * * * *
Negi hummed to himself as he strode through the woods behind his uncleÆs house. It had taken some pleading, but Nekane-oneechan had agreed to let him play out back by himself, though heÆd had to promise heÆd go no further than the woods that bordered the backyard. That was okay though, he didnÆt need to go any further.
Pausing as he judged heÆd gone far enough, he looked around at the trees above him. It took only a minute to find a squirrel sitting on a bough, enjoying an acorn. Giggling to himself at the sight of the little animal, Negi picked up a nearby rock before he intoned a spell. ôFlans exclamatio!ö
The winds that the spell conjured up werenÆt very strong, but they were enough to shake the surprised squirrel off the branch, sending it tumbling to the forest floor. Stunned from the landing, the little creature was momentarily unable to move, which proved to be its undoing as Negi, his face screwed up in a look of concentration, leapt over to it and began to bash it with his rock.
He had to hit the squirrel several times before it stopped moving. Wanting to make absolutely certain it was dead though, he kept crunching the hard stone against the unmoving animal a few more times, just to be sure. Finally, panting from the exertion, Negi sat down, tossing the rock away as he looked at the squirrel heÆd just killed. He felt bad about hurting it, but it was going to be okay, since he was going to make it not-dead now.
Taking a deep breath, Negi stood back up, pointing his wand at the corpse. He didnÆt know a spell to chant, so he instead closed his eyes and concentrated, the way heÆd used to before his teachers had given him books and taught him incantations. Be alive again, he thought at the squirrel, get up and move around.
Cracking his eyes open, Negi looked at the dead animal. It remained unmoving, its crushed body lying on the bloodied ground where heÆd left it.
Frowning, Negi tried again, getting a similar lack of reaction. Frustrated, he tried a third time, and a fourth, and a fifth, with each time turning out the same. Finally, with tears pooling at the corner of his eyes, Negi squeezed them shut, holding his wand in both hands as he concentrated hard. ôMove!ö he yelled it aloud this time. ôMove! Move! Move! Move! Move!ö He let his last cry trail off as he kept concentrating.
Finally, after several seconds of silence, Negi again opened his eyes just slightly, and then widely as he beheld what heÆd done: The squirrel had moved. It was now sitting up on its hind legs, regarding him silently.
ôIàI did it!ö yelled Negi in happiness, jumping up and down. HeÆd done it! HeÆd succeeded! HeÆd made the squirrel not be dead! Now he could find his father and make him not be dead too!
Finally ceasing his celebrations, Negi regarded the squirrel again, and felt his enthusiasm begin to diminish as he noticed some things that seemedàwrong. For one thing, while the squirrel had obviously moved before, it was incredibly still now, just sitting there staring at him. Also, it didnÆt look exactly like it did before heÆd crushed it. Its tail was still all bent, and one forepaw was all broken and mangled, and the blood was still covering its fur.
Worried that maybe something was wrong, Negi flicked at the thing with his wand in a shooing gesture. ôGo on! Go run around or something!ö
Taking the command literally, the squirrel fell to all fours, though its broken forepaw didnÆt support it very well, and began to slowly walk in a circle. Though its heavy, shuffling movement was a stark contrast to how most squirrels skittered and jumped around, it was enough to restore the joyous smile to NegiÆs face. Snatching the creature up by the tail, Negi didnÆt notice how its paws kept mindlessly moving, trying to walk in a circle even as Negi hurriedly rushed back to the house.
Nekane had just stepped outside to look for Negi when he came running up, his face alight with a grin. Just seeing it made Nekane smile back, her cousinÆs youthful enthusiasm rubbing off on her the way it always did. As he ran towards her, she kneeled down so sheÆd be at eye-level with him.
ôOneechan! Oneechan!ö Negi panted as he ran up to her, his features still awash with joy. ôLook what I did!ö He gave Nekane no time to react as he thrust his hand up, putting the squirrel, its broken corpse still moving as its paws worked back and forth uselessly, mere inches from her face.
NekaneÆs horror at the sight was total, and her scream was long and loud.
