Of Magic and Alchemy

A/n

An idea that I had last year, but didn't come fast. However, the subject of other 'unusual abilities' or fictional skills verses magic, has always fascinated me! Hence, this story is specifically, Magic verses Alchemy, not in opposition, but more a contest of sorts. This is a crossover between Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood and Negima Magister Negi Magi. I'm using my character Matthew from Full Metal Alchemist and putting him into a different world than his own. Anyways, enough from me, let the story begin!

Chapter 1: Arrival on the Job

There are many people who believe that magic is a myth or a fairy tale, such would be wrong. 'Magic' does exist, but is kept hidden from those who can't use it or know about it. This is a story about a young user of magic and his journey to become a great wizard, like his father. Along with an unusual friend to help him and watch out for our young magician, a friend who is a stranger to the world of technology and magic. Yet this person has his wits and skills unlike any other, what could happen to our pair? We find our two protagonists riding a 747 jet on its way to the country of Japan. Their names are Negi Springfield and Matthew Selvess.

Negi Springfield was almost ten years old and had a height of 4'7". The boy had shoulder length red-orange hair tied in a tail at the back of his head, which accented his brown eyes. He was currently wearing a suit, despite his childlike appearance ruining any attempt at a professional air. To top off his looks, Negi had a small pair of glasses sitting on his nose. Negi was sitting in his seat on the plane with an expression of deep thought and nervousness. Most of those thoughts were on his assignment he had gotten upon graduation from the magic academy.

Our other protagonist, Matthew Selvess, appeared to be in his early to mid-twenties with a height of 5'11". His hair is tan in color and in the back and on the sides has the length down to his mid upper back. And as he normally did, had it tied in tight pony tail like style, but the knot was tied at the top of his neck rather than the back of the head as the pony tail is traditionally done. Matthew's eyes are an orchid color, which tend to get noticed by others as the color isn't one you see often. He was wearing a grey long sleeve collared shirt and black pants. Yet the pieces of clothing that people would wonder about, were the white gloves he wore that went a little beyond his wrists and the silver overcoat that he liked to have on.

Matthew was dozing as the flight went on, ignoring those around Negi and himself staring at the odd pair that easily stuck out. He was used to stares as such happened often enough with the good looks he had, one could easily call him handsome or a pretty boy.

-Matthew's pov-

I jerked awake as this craft shook as it moved through the air towards the country known as Japan. I'm amazed by this marvel of engineering this… 'airplane' others here call it, really is. Back in Amestris, we didn't have anything like this, travel was done by train mostly, but to have large metal construction be able to carry people vast distances… it's incredible! Yet everyone here in this world takes it for granted, as nothing out of the ordinary. This plane, is only one of the many things here that have fascinated me and amazed me in ways, only studies of alchemy have been able to do. The world I was currently in was so different from the one I called home… how might you ask did I get here to this strange world where science has been able to accomplish such feats? Well… it's all the fault of one that I detest, because whenever 'Truth' is involved with something I do, it turns out to be long and doesn't go the way I wish it to! Hence, the cause to why I'm stuck here in a world I'm still learning about, even after being here for a good amount of time. There is more to the story of what went on between the being known simply as 'Truth' and myself, but it's something I don't like to get into. Much like the rest of what has gone on between Truth and myself.

So, I'm flying on this plane with my current traveling companion, the boy Negi Springfield. He's a good kid, talented in the art he practices, to the point that he can be considered a prodigy… kind of reminds me of myself and Maria when we were younger. Negi had graduated from the school he had gone to and now was doing a kind of apprenticeship. I looked over at him and noted he was looking pretty nervous, "Hey Negi, you okay? I mean, you're looking really stressed and we're not even to this country, Japan yet." I inquired of the boy.

Negi's head snapped over to look at me, "Oh Matthew, you're awake… Why would you think I'm nervous? I'm just fine." he answered me, his native homeland's accent audible.

Kept staring at Negi for a full ten seconds, "You really think you can get me to wave off this? You'll have to do a far cry better than this to convince me Negi. Lest you forget, I've had years to learn the subtle signs that body language gives from most people. You're nervous Negi, it's clear to me and I'm telling you, there's no need to be stressing like you are." I iterated.

Negi lowered his head and didn't say anything in reply. I patted the nine-year-old on the shoulder in an effort to ease the nervousness of the boy. Yet, I don't think my gesture helped much as he still appeared nervous. Having done what I could, I returned to my napping, as I felt that once Negi and I arrived in Japan and at the school that Negi was going to be a teacher at, we would be busy and have little time to rest or sleep. And I do pride myself in being able to sleep anywhere…

-Scene Change-

"Attention all passengers, this is your captain speaking. We're beginning final approach into Tokyo international Airport and will be landing in approximately ten minutes. Local time is 8 AM, the weather is clear skies and sunny. On behalf of our flight crew and myself, we're glad you chose to fly with us and hope you'll do so in future." Came the voice of the pilot over the speaker system.

The announcement snapped me out of the nap I had been having. Blinking a little, before I straightened up in my seat, stretching a bit to work out the tiredness that the nap hadn't rid me of. I looked over to Negi and saw that excitement had taken hold and was helping the boy control his apprehension.

Once the airplane landed and we got off, it took us around a half an hour to collect our luggage that we didn't carry on to the craft itself. We stuck together and that seemed to help both of us get through… Oh what do people call them? Security check points I think… Where we were asked a list of questions about ourselves and what we had in our things. Reminds me of my early days in the state military. Anyways, when that was done, we came out of the airport into the capitol of this country and… Well, I was impressed to say the least. It brought to mind some of the time I spent in Xing, Amestris's eastern neighbor, and that had been interesting.

The next leg of our trip, required us to catch a train, and one that was different than the locomotives I have seen. It only used one single rail and ran off of electricity, not steam or heat like what I've traveled on back home. Negi and I rode the train for an hour to the town of Mahora, where the school we would be teaching at was.

Both Negi and I stepped off the train from Tokyo and walked a short distance to a platform for the trolley system there is here in this town that surrounds the academy. We got off at the entrance of the school with our things, Negi with his large knapsack and me with my rolling truck, standing before the gate. I glanced down at Negi who was on my left, "Negi, take deep breaths, you'll do just fine and remember, I'm here if you need help or advice." I said to help comfort the boy that had become my friend over the years that I had known him.

I had known Negi for the majority of his life, even if I only look like I'm in my early to mid-twenties, I'm actually quite an amount older than I appear. It's not my fault I don't look my true age, I blame it on the actions of the one I loathe, 'Truth'.

"Negi my man, he's right, you need to calm down and relax." Said a white ermine that popped out of Negi's large knapsack and moved to stand on Negi's right shoulder.

Negi turned his head to look at the ermine, "Ch-Ch-Chamo!" stuttered Negi.

The 'ermine's' name, was Albert Chamomile or Chamo for short, an annoyance I have learned to tolerate only when I had to. Chamo claims to have been a human, a wizard sometime in the past that was turned into an ermine for a punishment, though I have my doubts if that's true. By what Nekane Springfield, Negi's cousin that he sees and treats like an older sister said, Chamo was Negi's familiar which is far more believable to me. I myself, don't get along with the white ermine as he gets on my nerves, fairly rare as it is for me to meet someone that does irk me. It's due to the major issue I have with him, he's an outright pervert and I detest perverts with fervor! Poor Negi is so naïve, that he doesn't understand what Chamo's drive is, but I can see it clear as day. Have seen many a perverts' drive, far too often in my lifetime, to mistake the signs that are put off, they're similar to one another.

"You are freaking out bro! Women can see and sense fear and nervousness! You can't show them any of that! Do you want these Japanese school girls to walk all over you?! Take a breath and man up, cause it's your time to shine!" Continued Chamomile.

Negi wasn't looking any better after the 'pep talk'; I let out a sigh, "Why Nekane didn't stop you from tagging along with us Chamomile, I'll never know. Negi, the first piece of friendly advice to you as you set out in this journey of yours from someone who has your best interests in mind, don't listen to him!" I said jabbing a finger at Chamomile, "This white rat will cause you trouble and lead you down paths you'll regret for much of your life my friend!"

Chamomile bristled at my remark, "I told you not to call me white rat! I'm an ermine, an ermine fairy!" he shot back.

Ah… this brings back memories of how I use to tease Edward Elric about his height… it's the only reason I tolerate this rat… good times, good times. I smirked in response to the retort, "You can say that as many times as you want, but you're still white, look like a rat and act dirty like one; hence, the reason I call you a white rat, or I can go with dirty white rat like I do sometimes. As for the 'fairy' bit, that doesn't make a lick of difference, so doesn't go into your name." I stated with a bit of mirth.

"Come on you two," interjected Negi, trying to dispel the tension between Chamo and myself.

My attention shifted when I heard the bell of a trolley from behind us followed by a commotion. When I looked back, I noted the large crowd of girls about to exit the trolley car and looking at the numbers of girls, the car is packed full. … I've a really BAD feeling about where we're standing right now, time to move! I followed my instincts, that have yet, to lead me wrong by the end of any given situation. So, I stepped out and away of the main walkway to the academy campus entrance. The girls flooded out of the trolley in droves, Negi spun around at hearing the commotion from behind and squealed in fright as the wave of high school and middle school girls rushed at him. Thanks to my height, which was taller than most of the girls, I stopped where I was, turned and waded back into the crowd and managed to get closer to where Negi was crouching down, reached in, grabbed and pulled up. In my hand, was Negi as I had him by the knapsack he had been carrying; the kid was curled up into a near ball and was shaking. Girls kept rushing past the two of us, not even giving us a glance as they entered the school grounds.

"Negi, you can open your eyes now, you're safe as I've got you and won't let you go." I said in a gentle tone of voice.

Negi cracked his eyes open and looked around, seeing that I had him in a safe position, he turned his head to face me. "Thank you Matthew, I didn't know what I was going to do." He commented.

I smiled, "Sure Negi, your welcome; you're still a kid and have much to learn, but with the heart and mind you have, don't doubt you could do whatever you wish to." I replied.

Negi… Being around him, I feel close to how I did when I traveled with my younger sister Maria. So, I fall into old habits of mine and looked after Negi much like I would for Maria… before she got trapped in a suit of armor. Thing is, Negi doesn't seem to mind my actions of treating him almost like a younger sibling. By this time, the flood of female students had passed and now the area in front of the entrance of the academy was clear. Negi suddenly became worried and started looking around, searching for something. "Where's Chamo?" He asked.

Oh yeah… Lost sight of the white rat, don't really care much about what happens to him most of the time. I glanced around searching for the color white as that would be the best way to spot the pervert. Caught sight of Chamomile and I couldn't help but snicker at his condition, "Negi, look to your left a little, about ten feet away." I said, managing to not laugh out loud, but it was hard.

It was obvious that the white rat had been trampled by the crowd of girls and it was amusing to see the results. Why… Because, if I'm not mistaken, some of the girls had been wearing heels, the marks don't lie. I set Negi down on the ground and he rushed over to the rat, "Chamo, are you alright?!" Negi asked worriedly.

Chamomile sat up, "I saw my life flash before my eyes, no joke bro!" He said.

I laughed, "Oh my Chamomile, having girls rushing at you… Would've thought you would be happy to have that occurring to you." I remarked as I walked over to the two, I leaned down to the rat and whispered in Chamomile's ears, "Isn't that every pervert's dream and wish, ya dirty white rat?"

That last line silenced Chamomile, and once we gathered ourselves together, the three of us began heading towards the Dean's office of this school. Technically, neither of us knew exactly where the dean's office was, but I expect that we would bump into one of the staff here and they will be able to point us in the right direction. We had entered one of the larger structures and we wondering down a corridor and found at the other end a white blonde haired man. The guy was close to six foot in height, was wearing a white suit with black dress shirt with red tie. He had glasses on, and there was scruff along his chin and as I looked over at Negi, the board smile at seeing the guy, he clearly knew him. "Takamichi!" Negi called.

After a short introduction and catch up session for Negi, Takamichi guided us to our destination, saving us the time we would have been looking around for the office. Both Negi and I entered the office, which was large and at the end was an older gentleman sitting at a wood desk. The man was bald except for the single white braid of hair that came out of the back of his head and went down his back. His eyebrows were bushy and long, which fit with his long mustache and beard. He was wearing clothing style similar to the neighbor of Amestris, Xing. Negi bow to Dean Konoe, "Negi Springfield, reporting for duty as a teacher here sir." He greeted.

I nodded my head in greeting, "My name is Matthew Selvess, here to fill a teaching position along with Negi here." I said introduced myself.

"Welcome to you both, I look forward to seeing how you two perform as teachers here." Replied Dean Konoe.

So, Negi would be teaching English to second class A as well as being that class's homeroom teacher. Kind of Surprised though, for a near ten-year-old to be put in charge of a class of around thirty fourteen to fifteen-year-old girls, makes me wonder whose bright idea that was. Then for me, I would actually be teaching two different classes and for two different age groups. The first would be Pre-Algebra for the second year middle school, maybe even for the same class Negi is teaching, don't know yet. And the other class I would be responsible for was high school level Chemistry, which I was looking forward to doing.

After the Dean gave us the basic run down of the rules and regulations of the academy, Takamichi escorted Negi and myself to my young friend's first class. I was going to be observing, or really, my feeling is there with Takamichi to perform crowd control as needed. We'll see how things go in this I guess…

We walked for less than ten minutes, when my ears caught the sounds of girls laughing about whatever they were. Once we reached the door to the classroom that had a brass plate that had "2-A" printed on it, Negi opened it and Takamichi and I followed him into the room. Directly forward of the door I saw a group of girls who had looked to the door and at seeing Takamichi, one of them fell backward.

The girl that fell backward was different than pretty much any female that I've seen in my lifetime. She was 163 centimeters in height or there abouts, was developing into a woman but wasn't finished doing so. Her hair screamed odd, and I've seen some odd colors, but never have I seen orange like this girl had. The glimpse I had gotten of her eyes had shown me that her eyes were different colors, a rare thing, yet not unheard of. The left eye was a neutral blue color and the right was a light green shade. Negi, bless his heart, went over to the girl that had 'fainted' and was looking her over, "Excuse me, are you alright?" Asked Negi.

I strode into the room and came to stand next to Takamichi, looking around the room and my worries for Negi grew as I did so. Yes, I knew from the moment I got to read Negi's assignment that this would be difficult, but with all these girls here… I don't think Negi or I really understood the scope of this when we started out on this journey. Things got worse when the girls noticed my presence; Negi coming in had put them into an uproar, whereas I caused silence to fall over the room… what a pair we are, aren't we?

Takamichi stepped forward, "Good morning ladies, if you could please take your seats." He said calmly.

I had to give high marks to Takamichi Takahata, he had a knack of getting cooperation from these girls. One of the girls in the middle row of seating raised her had, "Professor Takahata, who are these two and why are they here?" She asked with a tone of confusion.

"A very good question Haruna," responded Takamichi and pointed to Negi, "This here is Professor Negi Springfield, he will be your homeroom teacher as well as your English teacher."

"No way!" Shouted the orange haired girl that had 'fainted' before.

Then Takamichi gestured to me, "And he is Professor Matthew Selvess, another new teacher here at Mahora along with Negi here. Please be nice and welcome them." He said.

I glanced over at Negi and saw the signs that he was stressing and beginning to panic with the current situation. The poor kid's standing worsened when almost all the girls in the room began to talk over one another and so it turned into chaotic noise. Was about to step forward and get this lot of females to quiet down, when a golden blonde haired girl in the front stood up and shouted for them to simmer down. The rest in the room did exactly what the blonde said and Takamichi smiled, "Why thank you so much Ayaka." He said.

The girl was named Ayaka, by what the muttering from the others here said and she was the class representative, or the 'leader' of this group. That's nice to know for future reference if things go an unexpected way. Anyways, Negi got a hold of himself and began the class by taking attendance, which during, I noted that two students were absent. As Negi continued, I felt a tap on my right shoulder, and upon turning, I saw that it was Takamichi motioning to me to follow him. When I did so, we slipped out of the classroom without drawing attention to ourselves. Once out of the room, Takamichi told me that the Dean wanted to ask me something while Negi was busy teaching.

So, I went with Takamichi, back to the Dean's office to meet with the older man for whatever he wanted to talk to me about that he didn't when Negi and I had been in his office before. Once in the room, I focused my attention on Dean Konoe, "Ah, thank you for coming back to my office to meet with me. I have a request for you Mr. Selvess, if you would listen." Began Dean Konoe.

"Sure, what is it that you have, which you believe I can help with?" I asked, rather curious as to what the head of this academy would ask me to do.

"As I'm sure you know, this academy teaches students of the ages that start at kindergarten and go into university level of education. Elementary aged students live around with their families, but starting with the second year of middle school and going up from there, students are required to live on campus in dormitories." Explained the Dean.

I was nodding in understanding to what the man was saying, I had done research into this school. This world that is similar to the one I know and come from but there are also differences. For instance, there is this thing they call the 'inter-net' a name I don't get at all, but the internet is like a near endless library that one can dive into. Have spent many a night searching it, or as many say 'surfing' it; I have no idea why they call the activity that, but not the point. With it, I had looked into this academy once Nekane had asked me to go with Negi and I agreed to do so. I'd already known about the system for seeing to the wellbeing of the students and don't disagree with it, even if I began traveling at around the age of the students that Negi is teaching now. So then, what is it that this old guy is asking me to do, I'm having trouble figuring out what the point of this. Wish he would just tell me outright and get this done so that I can move on to other things.

"And so, as you are known by others as an extremely responsible adult, I was hoping you could take on the job of one of the second year dorm manager while you teach here for the year." Finished Dean Konoe.

I blinked at hearing what the man was asking me to do, for I hadn't expected anything like it. I found use of my voice after a minute and a half, "I beg your pardon, did you just ask me to be the manager of a dorm for second year middle schoolers?" I asked in mild disbelief, thinking that I had heard wrong.

The Dean nodded and when I glanced back at Takamichi, the expression on his face said that this 'request' was no joke being made. Turning back to face the dean, I felt like I needed to confirm if all of us in this room understood what was being asked, and its implications. "So, let me see if I'm hearing you right Dean Konoe, just to confirm I comprehend this correctly. You want me, a young guy who is in the early stages of his prime years, to look after a group of thirty to forty girls who are fourteen to fifteen years in age and are in the middle of going through puberty. Or put simply and bluntly, you want me to be a long term baby sitter for the group of girls, is that what you're saying?" I asked.

"It can be seen that way, yes." Replied the Dean.

I paused for a moment, thinking about how to reply, but as the two men kept staring at me expectantly, I sighed, "Could you give me a few moments to think about this request?" I inquired.

"But of course, I would wonder if you didn't take some time to think about this." Remarked Dean Konoe kindly.

Thankful that the older man was willing to give me some time to consider the job he wanted to me, I set down to it and began to pace the length of the room. So, as I see it, there are a few issues with this post. The first, I'm a young looking man with what many females judge to be handsome in appearance. An idea I have had to experience quite a number of times during my travels with Maria, and though I have no real problem with it, I can't say that I like being fawned over by lots of girls. That said, I can't see a large gaggle of fourteen to fifteen year olds, with the hormones that would be running rampant in them, allow them to ignore a guy like myself easily. The second potential problem, I'm not what people might call sympathetic to the issues of others… especially teenagers' problems. The way other complain about what is going wrong in their lives, I find fairly annoying. To me, the problems of others aren't that bad, but then, I've had a life that I would wish on none other with the pain I've had to endure. The distant third point that might become problematic, would be if any of the girls were to find out about my… artificial limbs… that could bring up questions that I don't answer. Female teens, or at least those I've come across, don't understand and won't accept no for an answer.

Yet, if things could be arranged and some ground rules made, then maybe this wouldn't be all that bad of an experience. Big point would be having a space, preferably a room for me to live in and not be accessible to girls without permission. If I can get that at the very least, I could do this job and who knows, it might make things a little entertaining… never have been one for the dull and quiet life myself. The time traveling with Maria has made sure that I'm used to an active life. I focused my gaze back on the Dean, "Okay, I'll accept the job, BUT, on a few conditions." I said.

"And those conditions are?" posed the Dean.

"Well, the first would be that I get a room or living space that girls can't come in without permission and that I can change as I see need to. It would help all those concerned if there were spaces that can be considered private areas. Plus, I have some particular preferences that tend to not already exist in a regular room and so, I make sure they're met myself. And the other condition, I can institute rules as I see the need to on top of the dorm rules that are already in place. Not to say that I intend to do anything improper or wrong, mostly for fine tuning the existing rules and keep problems from coming up with sharing living space." I said listing my conditions, then a thought popped into my mind, "Oh… And before I forget, I was wondering where and whom Negi will be staying with."

The Dean laughed, "Don't ask for much do you? As to your first two conditions, they are perfectly acceptable. For the question about your colleague Negi, I have asked my granddaughter to provide a place and she has agreed to do so on behalf of her roommate and herself, at least until we can make other arrangements. They both live in the very dorm you will be managing in fact, should you accept." He answered me.

I exhaled in acceptance, "Fine, I'll do the job." I relented.

So now, I get to be a baby sitter for a large group of girls… while looking after a kid that thinks that he can do anything he believes he can. Oh well, this can't be much harder than the early days with Maria on our journey to fix the mistake that we made of trying to bring dad back. Since I had no classes to teach today, unlike Negi; I used the remainder of the day to customize my living space. Yet, Takamichi did hand over two folders that contained the rolls for both classes that I would be teaching.

The living space that I was given, was basically the same area that of a dorm room for two people that the girls were assigned to, though I think the room was more used for storage. But now, I was going to make it a place for me to live in for the next six months, if not longer. In the room, someone had gone to the effort of making sure there were some of the basic amenities; a bed, the setup of a kitchen and simple furniture. After taking in what I had to start with, I set out rent a truck and began gathering materials and supplies.

The nice thing for me when it comes to supplies, it doesn't matter what shape it's in or how many pieces it might be in. I can use Alchemy to change the raw material into whatever I want shape and structure wise. It was mid-afternoon by the time I had everything at the room I would need. Took off my silver overcoat that I still wore as a memento to the work I have done during the time I had traveled with my younger sister, as those times were some of the best in my life thus far. I moved the materials to where they would become whatever piece of furniture I would turn them into. Once I had the pile of materials in the places that I planned them to be, I began using my abilities in alchemy to transmute the raw material. The room was bathed in blue light and arced with what appeared to be blue lightning was running over the floor, walls, ceilings and the stuff I brought in. When I was finished, the room looked a great deal different and I stared on with a bit of pride at my work.

The space was still made up of two rooms, one bigger than the other. The larger room consisted of a sitting area and kitchen section. The kitchen is directly on the right of the door entering the room, a ten-foot-long and five-foot-wide space had counters along the wall forward from the door and had a bar like setup for two thirds of the counter. The refrigerator was in the corner, next to the end of the counter space. Down the short 'hall that the kitchen makes from the door, opens onto a sitting room, which has a table with four chairs. There is also a sofa that is opposite of a whiteboard that I could work with in whatever I needed. On the side of the sofa that was closest to the door, was a doorway that led to the bedroom. In the bedroom, the queen sized bed was along the wall opposite of the entryway with space on either side. To the left of the doorway, was a heavy duty desk and a place for me to tune up and doing repairs on my artificial limbs. There was also a small alcove on the right side of the doorway, which contained a toilet and sink.

I smiled at the sight my work, taking pride in what I had accomplished with my use of alchemy, an exact and predictable science. Negi may have his skills in 'magic', I still see what he does being elemental manipulation and not magic. But then, I don't believe in magic; it doesn't exist and is just a glorified word used to explain what another doesn't understand or doesn't know the words to do so. And with some of the weird crap and unbelievable thing I've seen and gone through, me saying I don't believe magic exists, when most would consider what I've seen crazy beyond recognition… just saying.

Looking down at my watch and seeing that it was 4:30 pm, I decided to go and see how Negi was doing after his first day as a teacher for girls that are a couple of years older than him. Smart as Negi is, he is a near ten-year-old boy, that isn't something you can deny emotionally speaking, he is ten as his physically appearance suggests, just far smarter than average for his age group. Managed to find my young friend sitting by the fountain that was on the way to the island that I'm told and found out through my research, housed the library of the Mahora Academy. Haven't had a chance to go there, but I'm looking forward to doing so, taking into account my love affair and addiction with books, not surprising I think.

So, from the small talk with Negi that I had, his day hadn't been easy, not that I had expected it to be for him. However, he had made it through both the homeroom portion and the English class that he will teach and that's what's important. I faced Negi, "So then Negi, what do you think about dinner?" I asked him.

"That sound good." Negi answered my question.

We both rose, hadn't a clue what we would have for dinner, but it would give the two of us an excuse to explore the town here. However, before Negi and I could head out, a girl long black hair that went to a little over a half a foot below her hips. She had a height of 152 cm, and I would estimate by my observation, her three sizes are around 73cm for her bust, 54cm on her waist and about 76cm around her hips. Her eyes were brown and appeared kind. … I think I've seen her face before, perhaps in one of my roll books? I've always been horrible with putting names to their corresponding face and appearance, Maria always had a better memory for that kind of thing than I do.

"Hello Professor Springfield, I'm Konoka Konoe." The black haired girl greeted us.

I was taken aback at hearing Negi being addressed as not just 'professor', but by his last name… it doesn't fit Negi. And this girl's last name as she said was Konoe, related to the Dean maybe? Negi bowed to her, "It's nice to meet you Miss Konoka." Greeted Negi.

I inclined my head to the young lady when Negi finished his greeting, "Indeed, nice to meet you Miss Konoe, name's Matthew Selvess if you have forgotten, colleague of Negi here as I'm a fellow teacher here at this academy." I said curtly.

Konoka bowed to me and then she guided both of us back to the dorm. I followed the two as the girl showed Negi to the room that he would be staying in. Once I knew which room he would be in, I whispered to him, "Negi, so that you know, if you need time away from the girls that live in this dorm, then my room is down at the end of the hall on the left. Plus, if you're still interested in dinner, then drop by."

Negi stared at me, "You're staying in this dorm Matthew?" He asked.

I nodded, "You're looking at the newly instated manager of this second year dorm." I replied, ruffling Negi's hair gently.

Leaving Negi with Konoka Konoe, I headed back to my room and made myself some dinner and began preparing for the lessons I would teach tomorrow. In the morning, I would be teaching pre-algebra to 2nd year middle school and after looking at the roll book, from just seeing a couple of the students, I could see that I would be teaching class 2-A, the one that Negi is the homeroom teacher of. In the afternoon, I had the high school chemistry course; the subject of chemistry was easy to me, its subject matter was based by what I've understood, in an area of Alchemy, one that I'm an expert in. When I was done eating, I cleaned up and finished readying my lessons, before Entering my bedroom to prepare to retire for the night.

In my bedroom, there was one point that I made sure to put in that most wouldn't understand the purpose of. That being a sturdy handrail going from the desk to the bed, it was for me to use when I took off my artificial limbs. So, to waste no more time I stripped down to my underwear and walked over to the desk.

Now, I didn't have my automail attached to the ports built into my left shoulder and right thigh. Would love to use them still, but they're bulky and I get strange looks when people notice. Plus, with those 'security check points' they have what they call metal detectors, which set off an alarm when I used my automail. My current artificial limbs are made of what is called plastic, a material that isn't made up of a metallic alloy, yet had great strength and durability. Quite amazing stuff, been looking into see if I can work with the material with alchemy, but don't have much results yet.

The left arm was molded into the shape of a human are like automail was. The plastic was grey and did have metal bolts to hold the arm together and had aluminum layer encasing the outside, which didn't register as metal in this world, or at least didn't set off those alarms for those who travel. The machine had four major joints other than those in the hand. The shoulder was pretty much built to act as a ball and socket joint does. Then two thirds of the way down the upper arm section, there was a rotation joint that allowed me to twist the rest of my arm in a circular arc. The elbow work exactly like the real deal would with a person's arm, so that wasn't very different than what my automail had. The final joint before the hand part, was halfway in between the elbow and the hand, and like the upper arm rotating joint could spin my left hand around.

The hand section of this mechanical arm, was the closest attempt of making a machine that can replace a hand that has been lost. I'm not say that Cadence isn't outright amazing at the designing that she does in automail, but even she hasn't gotten this close yet! The biggest difference came with the fine motor control, I've not experienced this good of fine motor control since I had lost my left arm, it was that good! The other odd thing, was the skin like material that covered the fingers, I believe the man that had built this arm for me call the stuff 'silicon'. The material was amazing stuff, unlike alloy I've seen or worked with in my research in alchemy.

My right leg was also not automail, but a slightly denser plastic than my left arm is made up of. It was molded in the shape of a human leg much like my left arm is shaped as a human arm. There were two major joints in this leg, other than those in the foot; those being at the knee and the other at the ankle. The lower part of the upper leg as this artificial limb connects at my mid-thigh, to the same port that I have for my automail. On the outer casing of the mechanical pieces, there are two-inch-wide black bands with one intersecting band in front. The knee joint was similar to an enclosed 'U-joint' and so had a very nice range of movement and had the shape of a V with a bit of space for joint movement. The ankle had very much the same type of joint and shape as the knee and so felt right to have the movement that it does. The foot… Well, my automail could beat it in full range of movement, but I didn't lose as much as I was led to believe. It pretty much had one joint in the middle for the walking motion. There were no toes in this foot, no, it was one molded piece for the front and one for the back.

I was looking over my limbs to see if they needed some tuning up… Learned that keeping up on this prevents problems later. However, my head snapped up at hearing a scream from outside of the dorm. Was up from the chair next moment, within a little over a minute had my clothes back on along with my artificial limbs, put on my belt with Mythril rods and my chemical mixture vials I still have from traveling days and shot out the door. Raced down the hallway, not worrying about the other inhabitance of the dorm, and burst out of one of the side doors of the building. I was heading towards the front of the building, but I came to a sliding halt when someone appeared in my path.

Quickly took in the characteristic of the one in my path and was somewhat surprised and kind of confused at what I saw. In front of me was a 'girl', clearly shown by her chest, waist and hips; which makes me believe she's a second year middle schooler if I were to guess. Her height was shorter than mine, but only by around six centimeters putting it at around 174 centimeters. Even with the light from the full moon that was hanging in the sky, it took a moment to see the long hip length green hair this girl had. Along with framing her blue eyes that somehow… seemed to be glowing a bit, but it could've been a trick of the light. She was wearing, of all things she could be, a uniform that was for a house worker or as it's called here, a maid.

My right hand shifted down to grab one of my Mythril rods, still focusing on this young woman. "You're out rather late young lady, what's the occasion Miss?" I asked casually.

The girl tilted her head to the side slightly, which revealed some kind of 'fins' on either side of her head… can't even begin to guess what fashion or purpose they serve. "Who might you be, I have not seen you around her before." She inquired.

I inclined my head in greeting, "I'm Matthew Selvess, a new teacher here at Mahora Academy and now, the dorm manager for this particular dorm. And your name would be Miss?" I introduced myself to her, also asking her for her name.

The girl in front of me bowed, "My name is Chachamaru Karakuri Professor Selvess," she returned.

Suddenly, the teen rushed forward, I managed to move in time to evade the strike that came in the form of a chop with the girl's right arm. Somethings became clear in that one attack, this female teen wasn't normal, made plain by the speed and strength of her attack, which had gone through a lamppost without stopping and cleanly! It felt similar to the times that I went against some of the original sin named homunculi, and those skirmishes had really put me to a wall. That first attack wasn't the only one to come, but the teen paused and stared at me, "Unexpected, yet fascinating; for you to be able to avoid my swing Professor." She said in an interested tone.

Just after the green haired teen had said the line, her left leg swung up at me. My reflexes were still as sharply responsive as ever, so I leaned back and watched as the leg went past me. I countered by kicking this girl with my right leg, which she dodged, but I used the time I gained from my action to change the current standing. I still had a mythril rod in my right hand and so when I brought my hands together, I transmuted the rod into a straight bladed sword which I held in my right hand. Miss Karakuri was coming at me again, however, I was ready for it this time, swung my blade upward, forcing her to move out of the way. The teen stood and brought up her left hand and a thin blade shot out… much like the Mini Midget or I used to transmute our automail arm's top layer into a blade.

Well, Miss Chachamaru, didn't waste time, but rushed forward and engaged me in a sword battle and from my point of view, she wasn't half bad at all! Our fight didn't last all that long, as the sound of Negi's voice shouting and another more feminine voice replying was heard.

Miss Krarkuri and I broke up of standoff, and ran in the same direction, which was the front of the dorm building itself. The second I turned the corner to the front side of the dorm and took in the circumstances that were going down. Negi was standing over one of the girls from his class and the girl… Miss Konoe, was leaning up against the steps by the entrance to the dorm. My young friend had his wooden staff in his hands and it was pointed at… what appeared to be a young woman. The woman looked to be 150 cm in height, with blue eyes. Her figure was a tad fuller than average and was wearing tattered clothing, that would fit for a character in a fantasy novel. She had long blonde hair, along with an air of arrogance. Said female was somehow floating in the air, can't say how though.

It was plain and obvious to me that this girl, whoever she was threatening Negi, and I won't just stand by and watch. Chachamaru rush forward towards Negi and the woman, I wasn't far behind her. As I was running towards Negi, I looked around for the means that I could reach this 'woman' that was attacking my young friend, as she was in the air. My sight caught onto a bench, moved in a line that had objects that got higher and the street light would put me at a level that I could reach this troublemaker. Stored my sword which had been in my right hand, into the loop on the belt that laid on my right hip. Then I broke into a sprint, jumped onto the bench, ran along it and leapt up and caught a tree branch. Swung on the tree branch, used the momentum of that swing to fly up to the street lamp and latched onto the pole. Once on the pole, I scrambled up to the top of it and balanced on the top of the lamppost. Just when I got to the top, the lady shot of a spell in Negi's direction, I watched as the black element was about to hit the kid. Negi, being the smart kid that he is, dodged the spell and had the energy loop around him and slingshot right back at the flying lady.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Chachamaru leap up from below and… had rockets ignite that were in her back allowing her to fly upward! Okay, since when can teenaged girls do things like that?! Well, the green haired girl took the spell that Negi returned to sender, hard in her back, which left her clothes torn and did what appeared to be damage of some sort to the girl herself. The older looking woman caught Chachamaru before she fell, then she glared at Negi, "Well, you really are his son… such shocking powers and yet only ten years old, truly the child of Thousand Master." She stated.

… Ah, this woman knows Nagi… that explains quite a bit, the man has a knack of pissing some off without much effort. Nagi's sense of humor has always been a dangerous thing in my view… funny true, but dangerous with certain kinds of people. Probably did something that ticked her off in some way… such a bad habit Nagi has of doing so to some he came across. Nagi Springfield, Negi's dad, is seen as a powerful and great wizard, but honestly, I say he's downright lucky and crosses lines blatantly and idiotically, can somehow get out of facing the consequences seven times out of ten, seen the idea in motion. The man isn't a bad person… per say, yet he's definitely someone that you have to take time to adjust to being around. Negi is much better behavior than his father, vast improvement if you ask me.

I focused on my target, bent down and then, leapt as high as I could, drawing my sword as I went upward. The woman caught sight of me just before I brought my sword down, and so she managed to dodge my swing. I landed on the ground with my right leg first as the prosthetic limb would take the impact better than my own leg would. The blonde woman glared at me, before she flew off to wherever she went. I stood up and closed the rest of the distance separating Negi and I, transmuting my sword back to a rod as I went and placed a comforting hand on Negi's shoulder. Negi turned to me and smiled in gratitude at seeing me there.

"Wow, that scared me to death." Said Chamomile.

"You're not the only one, that this event took by surprise ya white rat. Honestly, Negi's lucky he didn't have an aud-i-ence… oh crap!" I muttered turning around to look behind Negi… to see Asuna Kagurazaka.

"Oh well, that is a relief." Replied Negi, clearly not hearing what I had muttered.

I cleared my throat and squeezed Negi's shoulder lightly. When both Negi and the white rat glanced over at me, I gestured for them to turn around and they did so, freezing to the spot where they stood on. Miss Kagurazaka gained a creepy smile as she stared at the three of us, "I totally saw everything…" Negi and Chamomile's faces faulted while the girl continued, "Negi the wizard."

Negi began to panic, which didn't help the current predicament. We just need to convince this teenager to wave this off as a trick or something from her imagination and we'll be fine. Have gotten people to wave off much weirder things than this before now, so it shouldn't be that hard of a thing to do. I was trying to come up with a viable way to get this orange haired middle schooler to ignore and not believe what she saw… when things went over a preverbal cliff! "Oh dude, this blows!" exclaimed the dirty white rat.

… Did I not say that Chamomile would screw Negi and me over?! And might I point out, do so along with his own sorry a**, gosh dang it! "No way! Your little rat spoke!" Miss Kagurazaka cried in surprise.

"I'm not a rat you idiot, I'm an ermine!" Chamomile shot back.

My left arm shot out and grabbed the white rat and I brought him to be in front of my face, "Would you shut your freaking pie hole ya dirty white rat! You've screwed us enough already, so stop doing so further!" I growled at the one I knew would cause Negi trouble.

Kagurazaka didn't appear to hear what I growled at Camomile, "It's kind of impressive that you have such wicked magical skills that you can give your rat the ability to talk." Said this girl in front of us.

Chamomile, twisted around in the grip I had on him to face orange hair, "Hey you with the face! I've always been able to talk and for the second time, I'm not some stinking alley rat! I'm an ermine, an ermine (Gah)!" I silenced the loud mouth by squeezing him in a vice grip in my left hand.

"Enough you dumb idiot, you're only making things worse!" I hissed to Chamomile.

Negi pointed his staff at the newly found liability we had, Asuna Kagurazaka just stared at the thing with confusion. "Hmm, what are you doing?" she questioned.

"No one is supposed to see me practice magic." Stated Negi. "Asuna, I'm sorry, but I need to erase your memory and make you forget what you saw."

Asuna looked worried, "You're kidding, right?"

Negi shook his head, "No, I'm not." He replied.

Alarms were going off in my head at the developing situation… worry accompanied those alarms. Granted, Negi is good at manipulating elements… at least when it comes to wind, he isn't bad with the others… but, he ain't a master at them. If memory serves me correctly and it usually does, having been around wizards like I have, then memory modification is a spell based in the water element and is an upper mid-tier spell. Negi doesn't do well with water and so, is more than likely not going to be able to successfully do the mid-tier spells just yet. Now, normally, I'm a promoter of attempting things and either making mistakes or even failing spectacularly. Some of the best lessons learned come from instances that failure or mistakes occur, however… I feel in this particular case, Negi shouldn't do this.

You see, the times I have watched wizards, either using a spell with a different element than it's intended to work with or doing something that so blatantly incorrect against the way it happens without thinking about the results… ISN'T a good idea. Wouldn't be able to live with myself if I just stand by and watch. I tapped Negi on the shoulder with my right hand, to warn the boy about the potential mistake he was about to make, "Um Negi, isn't a memory spell meant to be done with the water element? You're no expert with that element at this point… you sure this is such a good idea for you to do this? Couldn't we just explain our predicament, would work out better for all in the end I think…" I asked warily.

"Don't worry Matthew, I'll just use wind magic and it will work." Replied Negi with confidence.

I shook my head, "Negi, I've observed this particular type of mistake that you're about to make done by other wizards and other kinds of people. And trust me, it doesn't work out the way you think it will. This is going to blow up in your face Negi if you go through with this. Please listen to me and try it my way…"

Negi didn't listen to me, just went forward and cast the spell. The effect… Well, it didn't blow up in his face… Yet, don't doubt it will soon. But, it was obvious that Negi's spell didn't do the intend memory modification… it did erase… Something. I turned away to be polite as Negi had just erased Miss Kagurazaka's… Um, underwear. Out of good manners, I took off my silver overcoat and held it out to the female teen, "Here, you can use this to make sure that your skirt won't flip up and… well, it will help and let's leave it at that." I said.

Felt my overcoat yanked from my hand, and when I turned and saw that Miss Asuna had wrapped the coat around herself. She muttered thanks to me, even though she didn't do so while facing me. "Now perhaps, we can try to settle this the way I suggested, through talking." I suggested, to which both agreed.

The three of us, walked a ways to a park with a playground, I didn't include the white rat in our group as I saw no reason to do so. For the next half an hour, Negi laid out our situation, I added bit here and there, to explain to Asuna Kagurazaka. Believed that we had her convinced to keep that Negi is a wizard a secret… what I can do wasn't mentioned and I preferred it that way. Everything was going wonderfully, that's until a certain filthy white rat decided to put in his two-cents, "Hey bro, how about you make a contract with this chick?" Said Chamomile.

Negi cringed at the suggestion, I was torn between annoyance and frustration, both with Chamomile. Then the white rat, since apparently he hadn't made himself look lowly and bad enough, he began to explain how a contract was made. With his tack, or rather the lack thereof, he barreled on without the thought that his audience was a nine-year-old and a fourteen to fifteen-year-old. Neither of which, by their growing blush, have real experience with romance or a semi-serious relationship. The contract that Chamomile was explaining, though probationary so that it's a trail-run to see how the wizard-partner relationship can work. However, to initiate said contract, the pair are required to kiss… which at Negi's and Asuna's ages, isn't an easy thing. I think it's a load of trouble that can or won't be worth it, depends who are involved and how they work together.

As Negi and Asuna were saying how they couldn't do the contract, I turned to the rat and gave him a stern glare, "You're such an idiot Chamomile, you're talking to a nine-year-old, a smart one yes, but still a kid emotionally. And the other, is a fourteen to fifteen-year-old, who clearly hasn't had a relationship with a boy, since she can't talk properly with Takamichi who she has an obvious crush on." I said to the rat, then I turned to the other two, "Listen Negi, Asuna, don't listen to the dirty white rat. He tends to stick his nose where it doesn't belong, best to ignore him."

We all went to the dorm, Negi and Asuna went to their room, the girl wasn't very please upon learning that Negi would be staying in her and Konoka. I returned to my room and got myself ready for bed as tomorrow would likely be a full busy day.

Chapter end

A/n

And that's where I'll leave chapter 1. Yes, Negi is a kid as the series would have him, compared to Matthew appearing in his early twenties. I'll explain later why Matthew is like that, but as stated, 'Truth' is responsible for it to a major degree. Please take the time and write a review about what you think about this idea I've written down.