Chamo rubbed his paws against each other, a wide grin on his face and a cigarette as long as his arms hanging from his lower lip. "Come on, Aniki, this is for the best!"

His 'aniki', being the ten year old child prodigy Negi Springfield, also known as many, many titles, but most famously 'The One Guy Who Could Teach 3-A Without Going Nuttier Than Squirrel Poop', scratched the back of his neck in a gesture common to most shounen heroes. "Are you sure? Iinchou-san said that this was her favorite..."

The ermine shook his phallic head. "Don't worry about Ayaka-nee, Aniki! I'm sure I can convince her to buy another one!"

Negi didn't seem convinced, but he still sighed. "O-Okay, then..." he finally conceded. He then blushed, bright as a lamp post, as he walked down the street. He knew exactly which apartment he was headed towards, and he knew exactly which button to press to ring the adequate bell.

Due to recent budget cuts in Mahora, his salary as a teacher had been decreased to the point that it was unreasonable to live only off it. Despite the fact that Ayaka had tried more than once to get Negi to move with her and make use of her infinite funds or that Chao Lingshen's Chao Bao Zi technically belonged to him (as she was his descendant), he was a very independant boy and had thus sought his own solution.

This being offering private classes of English. It just so happened to be that he found quite a few students both willing and able to hire his services. Most of which were girls he'd had to reject to protect his innocence. Well, ''he'' hadn't rejected them, he was too nice to say no. That was why he had Chisame on standby.

Luckily, he'd found a few within range of a quick flight (he could be anywhere in the world in five minutes, so location was not an issue) that had been approved by both Chisame and Asuna. And this one in particular was one of his, not to say he played favorites, but she was one of his preferred students.

The reason why?

She was dedicated, smart and most importantly, too young to have hormones affecting her.

The door was opened, and he met face to face with eyes a few shades darker than the red of his hair. "Hello, Harlaown-san, I hope I'm not intruding on anything!" he said, smiling widely at the sight of the girl already in her school uniform. Oh so dilligent, she was. He looked around, but saw no sight of his bane, that being adult women. The last time he'd come early in the morning to give her a list of the books she'd need to acquire, he had met her elder sister and had nearly been suffocated to death in her bosom.

The blonde girl merely shook her head. "Of course not, Sensei." She said, smiling kindly. "I was getting ready to go over to my friend's house so we could go to school together." she explained, knowing that one would be curious as to why she was ready so early in the morning.

"You'll be stopping at Midori-ya for breakfast, I take it." Negi said, smiling at the blonde girl who nodded and then gestured him to go further in. With simple gestures, he politely declined her offer, trying his best to appear as nonchalant as ever.

She then seemed to take notice of the packet he carried under his right arm and raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Um..."

Negi blinked and then offered her an embarrassed smile. "Ah, yes, I almost forgot." He said, his cheeks tinting red. "I couldn't help but notice your, ahem, friendship with Takamachi-san."

The girl winced rather noticeably. It couldn't really be ''that'' obvious, could it? She was certain of what she felt, but she had still done her best to bury those feelings for the moment, not knowing how to properly deal with them. She blushed so much that her face did an accurate imitation of a bright, ripe tomato. "Sense-"

"I'm supporting you." The boy said, nodding and offering her a supportive smile. "I haven't met her properly, but she does seem like a nice girl." he said, trying his hardest to not blush at what he was about to do. "And... In fact, I'm here because I think I know a way to help you be noticed by her, Harlaown-san."

"Please, sensei, call me Fate." She said, trying her hardest to restrain her blush.

Negi couldn't help laughing a little at the display. It reminded him too much of himself, trying to act the stoic when he wasn't. "Okay, Fate-san... I'm here to help you, because it's my duty as a teacher to help my students with their lives."

"But... she already notices me..." Fate said, feeling an uncontrollable urge to fidget right then and there.

"Ah, but she sees you as a friend, doesn't she?" Negi said, smiling. Then he blinked, seeing her blush and nod. "And you want to be seen as more than that."

She nodded again, this time blushing even harder.

The redhead allowed himself a wide smile. "I've got just the solution in this box here, and I've got a friend who is interested in seeing you achieve your greatest desires."

Nanoha grinned as she waved at Alyssa and Suzuka. It wasn't that she wanted to be away from her two oldest friends, no, it was because she hadn't been able to talk to Fate for an entire week and it was starting to grate on her nerves. Fate-chan hadn't ever been the clingy type, but she hadn't been so distant as to not speak at all, either.

The worst part was that she didn't even look at her! Every time she so much as caught sight of Fate's beautiful eyes, the girl quickly turned around and pointedly looked somewhere else.

Well, at least, Fate had finally decided to explain the reason for her long absence from Nanoha's daily life. She had invited Nanoha for a sleepover at her house, and although the rest of her family was out on TSAB business, something involving her status as an enforcer if she recalled correctly, there had been no objection on her part.

She was dying to spend some time with Fate, and she also longed to see Arf's ridiculously adorable puppy form.

"Fate-chan, I'm home!" She yelled as she wandered into her friend's appartment, flicking the lights on...

... Only to see the blond girl on a slightly oversized priestess outfit that lacked the pants that usually went with it and instead had the long shirt doubling as a dress. There was also a very fluffy tail waving behind her, lifting her 'skirt' enough for Nanoha to blush and force her gaze away. The fox ears atop her head were a nice accessory, but what completed the look was the very heavy blush on Fate's face, which made her look beyond adorable in that outfit.

"Welcome home, Nanoha-chan!" Fate quickly yelled, managing a cheerful wave and smile, along with a small hop that caused her shirt to reveal everything below her waist. "Ah! Nanoha-chan! Are you alright?" She said, seeing how her friend collapsed to the ground, a small trickle of blood flowing from her nose and a goofy, content expression on her face.

Chamo took a long drag of his cigarette and allowed himself a smirk. He rolled the scroll that he had been looking at and stored him in a pocket dimension for storage.

"... Thank you." A rather adult woman with wolf ears and tail spoke, taking out her wallet and removing a number of bills from it to hand to the small ermine.

"It's what I do, Nee-chan." The ermine said, pocketing the money in the dimension where he kept his stuff before darting into the night.