Negi paused for a moment before saying, very seriously, "With all due respect, Sir, I'm afraid I'll have to question you on the reasoning behind that decision. Surely you always could come up with a believable excuse."
"I suppose I could," the old man said, "but that would make liars out of us, wouldn't it?"
"Sir, a certain degree of truth bending is often necessary to preserve the secrets," Negi reminded him. "I don't like it any better than you, but... I'll be honest, even if brutally so, now," he resolved, sighing and running a hand down his face.
Konoemon nodded with interest. "If you please, Negi-sensei."
"Since my arrival to Mahora," Negi said after breathing in, "I have pulled too many people into our world, when I should have remained completely undetected until now. I am not going to deny my fault in those incidents, and I'm infinitely thankful to you for not firing me yet. All the same, I already have too many... what should I call them...?"
"Followers?" Konoemon said innocently.
Negi let out a small frown. "That's... not the kind of word I'd have selected, but I defer to your wisdom, Sir. One way or another, I already have many more followers than I feel comfortable with, and I'm not sure I can or ever should take any more under my direct tutelage, on top of my primary responsibilities as a teacher."
"Ho-ho," Konoemon quietly said. "I hope Konoka-chan doesn't fall in the 'excess' range of those followers then."
Negi blushed and waved a hand quickly. "S-Sir! I didn't phrase that well! Of course I'm thankful for everyone in the team I am tutoring with Master Evangeline's help! I have no real complaints about any of them individually, it's just that, well, I shouldn't even have placed myself in this position to begin with, and you know that!"
Konoemon nodded slowly, folding his hands together. "Yes. I understand perfectly. And... I apologize for placing even more weight on your young shoulders."
He stood from his chair, folded his arms behind himself, and walked to a window, looking at the sunny campus suffering the first strokes of the sweltering incoming summer. "The truth is, Negi-kun, you just happened to be born in turbulent times. That's not your fault. Since the Second Impact, and then the Fourth Grail War, the world of magic speeds towards a future where we won't be able to keep the lid on anymore. I won't lie to you either; that greatly concerns me and, yes, to a degree, it scares me as well. I guess that you could say I, too, am a part of that past that doesn't know yet how to adapt."
"Oh, no, Sir, my ineptitude at keeping my secrets can't be excused by that! Takamichi and the others can keep doing it! Even Itoshiki-sensei has had his own secrets revealed only because of me! But I swear that from now on, I'll change, I'll be much better at it! I only ask you not to place me in more situations with students before I can learn how to act more discreetly!"
Konoemon raised a hand to impose silence gently. "Negi-sensei. If not for you, my granddaughter would probably be dead now."
Negi lowered his head. "She wouldn't have been put in risk to begin with if I hadn't insisted on going to Kyoto."
"It was only a matter of time. We cannot hide from what we are forever," the Headmaster reflected. "Sensei, smart as you are, I'm not sure you have understood this yet. The timing of this year's Festival couldn't possibly be any worse, since it came to be right at the middle of a Heaven's Feel that shouldn't even be taking place here."
"You are still in time to cancel it, aren't you?"
"That would only call further public attention on what's going on here, even with the best of fabrications," Konoemon said sadly. "I'd like to, but it also would be interpreted as a show of weakness by Honnouji."
"Let them think what they want," Negi suggested. "We know we are better than that."
"Negi, Negi, Negi," Konoe shook his head. "You don't know half about Honnouji, and what they are capable of, either."
Negi waited for an elaboration on this, but it didn't come, with the Headmaster returning to the original topic instead. "Other than Takamichi, who cannot be everywhere at once, you've already proved yourself as the best staffer I have to keep students safe and sound in the face of overwhelming odds. To keep these children safe, I'd rather risk letting them learn about us... even if I do hope you'll truly try to live up to that promise you've just made, concerning the improvement of your secrecy."
"But... What about Touko-sensei? Gandolfini-sensei? Mitsuru-sensei?"
"Have they fought Evangeline and Graff Wilhelm and survived it? Do they have the Sailor Senshi a quick call away?" Konoemon asked back. "Learning to place trust in yourself, and backing that up with your skills without succumbing to overconfidence, is one of the most important parts of becoming a Magister Mage, lad," he lectured the boy. "And as always, you won't be alone."
He pressed a button of the caller on his desk. "Shizuna-kun?" he asked. "Bring them in."
"Yes, Sensei," said a sweet feminine voice, and a moment later, the door of the office was opened and Minamoto Shizuna walked in, ushering two of the girls from Class 3-A in.
Negi recoiled mildly in surprise. He had been expecting Evangeline and Iinchou, perhaps even Chisame. Instead, he was now facing an unusually tense Chao Lingshen and a confused Murakami Natsumi.
"Chao-kun, Murakami-kun," Konoemon said. "Thanks for coming. I know you both had previous plans for the Festival, but I'm afraid we'll need your assistance with a few tasks during it, in tandem with Negi-sensei here..."
Clever old owl, Chao thought, now realizing it all and struggling not to smirk. As clever as you can be with the information you have, at least. But you might have just handed me right what I need to win...
