Go go Baka Rangers!
Go go Baka Rangers!
Go go Baka Rangers!
You magical baka force!
They’re loud, they’re late, they flunk the test,
But somehow still ace the magic quest!
With pactio cards and a talking ermine,
They’ll save the school, just not on time!
Why are we starting with that? The answer is quite simply. Asuna had written it out rather than study. You see, she had this really bright idea, right? If she used this gizmo, this magical device that Negi had given out, one to each member of class, then she could surely boost her ability to study, right? She could ditch being part of the baka rangers!
It was a perfect move with just one problem: It meant she'd have to actually study. With this gizmo, you could get stronger at a skill by actually doing it, at a rate much higher than normal - but to her mind that defeated the point because you see -
"Level 5, really? I'm that low?!"
She'd sulked, she'd pouted, then she wrote a song parody which, she only realised half way through writing it, was actually making fun of herself. So she stopped that right now, and resumed pouting. What good was this stupid thing then?
"Level 5..." she grumbled. "That's barely above spelling your own name on the test right."
Oh, but you know what? You know what? There were other members of her class, weren't there? A grin crossed Asuna's face as a truly wicked, sneaky idea came over her, a wondrous epiphany that would let her catch up in no time flat. So, this was set to Level 5, right? Hehehehe! Maybe... Just maybe... She would be able to get some experience by going for a funny little swap.
=====
Nodoka was staring at her own Level Upper and blushing like mad. It was the only thing she could think of. Make Negi Happy. A skill tailored to making their teacher happy. Oh! How embarrassing! She felt like she might die if someone found out about this! She might well roll over on the spot and die right there!
How should she start on this? Say hello? Get him a gift? Ohhhhh! She had no idea what to do! This was agony, it was torture, it was torment! It was the absolute and total worst!
That's the trouble, isn't it? The device requires you to actually start doing the thing to get good at it, and she was already having trouble starting to get good at it as it was, so how could she start now? She didn't really know. She hadn't looked at her skill level for it yet.
Ah, but then, there was a knock at the door. Nodoka trudged along towards it, pulled it open a crack and peeked outside, seeing Asuna's smiling face out there.
"Hi Nodoka~" Asuna said. "Say, you like to study, right?"
"Um, the last time we tried to study, you wound up trying to teach me how to spin plates," Nodoka said. "Is it important...?"
"Sure is!" Asuna said. "I have a plan. Kukuku! I have a cunning plan! Cunning like a fox that graduated from cunning university with full honours!"
"Ooooh, that's pretty cunning!" Nodoka gasped. She pulled the door open wider to let Asuna inside. "S-So, how can I help?"
She entered the room and leaned back against the door, still smiling widely. "Okay, hear me out. You take my gizmo, study like you always do, and I’ll take yours and... do whatever it is you wanna do."
Nodoka was a nervous girl at the best of times. She gulped, nervously of course. Ah, she didn't want to do that! If she did that, then it would mean Asuna would find out what skill she'd set!
"Are you sure that would work?" she asked. "I mean, that feels like it would be, um, cheating?"
"Nonsense!" Asuna said. "Hehehe, how about we try it out, right now? You do some studying, and we see if it even works?"
Oh dear. Nodoka didn't really know how to say no to people, so... when Asuna offered her level upper, she simply took it, wandered over to her desk, picked out a book, read over some mathematics problems -
And then heard three dings in a row. Huh? Level 8? From just looking it over...? She handed it back to Asuna, who looked it over, and then... She smirked to herself.
"Perfect," Asuna said. "So, how about it? You give me yours, I give you mine, and then we go from there."
Ah. Ah. Ah! Oh no! She really was pushing for this wasn't she? Nodoka blushed and stammered, and felt her brain trying to overheat as she tried, oh how she tried, to figure out a way to get out of this without going along with what Asuna was doing, but - But! But!
=====
Asuna felt really pleased with herself for pushing through there. Nodoka was really cute sometimes, tee hee! She clearly wasn't sure this would work properly, and now she was strolling out the room, bouncing Nodoka's Level Upper in her palm, smirking from ear to ear. Whatever Nodoka was having trouble with, she was confident in her ability to get it done! It was probably something like charisma, or maybe something about keeping fit, or making friends, or something lame like -
'Make Negi Happy'.
You know that thing you see sometimes in anime where a character turns into a statue, which then cracks and crumbles to pieces? It's not a literal thing that's happening to them, but rather a metaphor. A representation of their state of mind. That's what was happening with Asuna right at that very moment!
In a more literal sense, she stopped mid-step, then managed to pivot her body around using just one leg, which is a pretty impressive feat it must be said, and then she quickly opened up the door to Nodoka's dorm, which had not been locked, and poked her head inside.
"Nodoka, about this skill - " she began, and within the room she was watching intensely as Nodoka sat at her desk, flipping through a book while her other hand was writing furiously upon sheaths of paper. Yes, sheaths. Not the singular form. The plural.
She was, in point of fact, writing so fast that she was causing the paper to flip up away from her desk. It was sort of like - Imagine that moment in a comedy action series where someone from outside the normal combat stuff got to see for the very first time how absurdly strong the weakest fighters were compared to normal people.
That's what it felt like to Asuna, right at that moment. It felt like she'd peeked into another world, another realm, where it was a shonen series about the best student. The best at finishing their homework, or something like that? Could you make a shounen series out of that?
Oh, who are we kidding - with the right mindset you can make a shounen series out of anything!
"Yes, Asuna?" Nodoka asked without looking up from her desk. Asuna swallowed nervously. This is the part where a giant weight labelled 'guilt' landed on top of her head.
"Never mind!" Asuna said. Then she pulled her head back outside again, and twitched nervously. Nodoka was already putting in that much effort. If she put her ear to the door, she could hear a continuous 'ding', 'ding', 'ding', which was getting a little less regular with each passing one.
As such, she gulped and rose to her feet, staggering off back to her dorm. Fine. Alright then. Alright! Then she'd have to find a way to make Negi happy! She owed Nodoka that much!
And who was to blame for it? Need you even ask?
"Go, go, baka rangers..." Asuna sang to herself. "You stupid, thoughtless baka range~ers..."
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