Before the great awakening, Mahora had been a place where gifted youngsters could learn a bit of western magic. The supernatural sections of the school stayed hidden in almost plain sight as the school itself continued to expand into a veritable institution.
After the awakening, the majority of the people on Earth found their selves listed among the supernatural. Magic came back and creatures from other worlds often visited. With dragons flying in the sky, keeping their own dragon in the lair of Library Island a secret was no longer such a concern. Sure, they liked to keep their secrets, but they could publicly become a center of learning for the supernatural.
Over the years the school evolved in that regard to be a famous center for teaching magic girls. This wasn't to say that boys didn't learn about magic in Japan, but due to natural inclinations, most boys learned such things at smaller 'fight' schools by brawling with classmates and rivals.
Being built along the lines of a college with students living on campus in dorms, the numbers of students in attendance were a bit skewed. The high school and junior high sections had the largest relative populations. College was second only because a fair number of the students training for some type of combat related field were already working in that field by that age. As such the college crowd tended to contain enchanters rather than battlemages. The grade school section was the smallest simply due to the living conditions. Most such students lived in some arrangement like the Tsukino household where the children of other families were hosted by a local family, sometimes for money.
Grade differences aside, the campus overall was split into two sides, an all female side, and a coed portion. The students tended to be arranged into small teams, with the coed teams going to the coed school and the all girl magic girl teams on the other side of campus. That was somewhat of a misnomer as some boys did attend the girl's school, the reason being quite simple. The most common coed teams tended to involve magister and ministra pairs, something that didn't work well with just girls. A boy like Ranma would be encouraged to attend because he could maintain dozens of ministras, giving a wide number of girl's that extra experience.
That all aside, there were some things to be expected of prospective magic girls. For one thing, enthusiastic and upbeat tended to be in the atmosphere as the majority of such girls were optimistic romantics at heart. This tended to bother Ranma, but part of being in that part of the school was an effort to acclimate him to such things since he'd likely end up with a lot of Ministra. The last young boy to show as much promise in that regard had been Nagi, except he'd essentially grown up a loner, disappointing many many girls. In a way they were hoping to change Ranma in that regard by giving the girls some tips on how to handle him.
In short, Ranma was there to boost school moral by being the girl's magic prince, complete with granting them artifacts and powers.
Ranma's father, Genma, opposed the entire idea on the basis that Ranma would end up coddled and weak. Ranma would disagree as he often scheduled training to take a break from all the coddling. On a normal day he'd have to deal with a lot of well meaning girls. After being on the losing end of a serious battle, he was facing a lot of potential 'cheer up' efforts.
Being bandaged and injured like he was, he'd have to be careful lest a gang of girls abduct him to be pampered and cared for with great embarrassment.
This was why Ranma was quite relieved to find out Takamichi was there to escort him to a meeting with the headmaster. This was mostly due to the simple fact that Takamichi was the one bearing the brunt of magical girl attacks of cuteness as he politely dissuaded the girls from following along.
Catching it himself from both Hikaru and Sakura, Ranma decided to make good on his chance at escape. Concentrating briefly he shifted into his blue Wisdom outfit after a somewhat subdued light show. Now floating instead of limping, he glided over to the teacher's side before turning to the girls with a quiet grin. "See, it's alright. Just don't worry, okay?"
Moving things along smoothly despite his laid back personality, Takamichi turned his attention to the irate blond hanging back from the proceedings. "Ah Eva-chan, your presence is requested as well for this meeting."
Most of the girls parted out of fearrespect for the little vampire as she made her way to the exit, with only certain girls like Hikaru standing their ground. Frowning intensely at the much taller man, the petite blond glared defiantly at him, hands on her little hips. "...and what's this about Takamichi?"
Leading the small group away, he replied evasively, not wanting to discuss anything sensitive in front of young girls and start rumors. "We're just going to have a little meeting with the headmaster is all. There are a few things to discuss after recent events."
The third little member of the group fumed as she followed the floating Ranma and the unfazeable Takamichi. Ranma would just have to show off his magic floating around like that while her magic was almost entirely bound and useless to her. Most grating was the fact that she was forced to attend class with the little brat, although the entire school situation grated on her nerves anyways.
She didn't hold much hope for this meeting simply because they were most likely to get on her case for not helping in the battle yesterday where that annoying valkyrie had died. There was a faint chance that they might chew out Ranma as well and force him to beg her for help. The more likely thing however was for them to place the blame on her for not making the stupid pactio work, then the older geezer would insinuate that she liked attending grade school and perhaps she wasn't particularly interested in being free.
Of course, Ranma didn't exactly help her situation with his attitude either. A little brat like him should have been easy to scare into line, but he'd been more annoyed with her attempts than anything else. Despite that he hadn't become angry with her or fallen into any other easily manipulated emotional state. All that came of it was the young boy being distrustful of her and mostly ignoring her. In fact, she was the girl with the least able to manipulate him as he just looked at her like she was an idiot when she stooped down to putting on the nice girl act.
Her, Evangeline, Dark Mistress of the Night, having a ten year old whelp for a Master? Oh, she didn't like that at all. Perhaps worse however was the unspoken knowledge between them that it was her that needed him.
The seal on her powers was the annoying type that required her to break it, and that was pretty much impossible while bound to one spot, under watch and without her powers. With the pactio she could have access to her powers and freedom to travel with Ranma at least, though she would likely be watched even more intently then.
There was a faint possibility of guilt-tripping him into unsealing her powers with the pactio, but even if she could it would likely be a one-shot deal.
Otherwise that left her with the unenviable options of either swallowing her pride and cooperating with the brat or sulking like a little girl, which she so definitely was not.
So far she had yet to cooperate with Ranma on the pactio, lacking even a basic artifact because of that.
Stepping into the headmaster's large office, Ranma immediately knew something was up. That he was being called there indicated there was an issue to be sure, but having so many people lining the walls and quietly waiting for him was a bit serious.
Seeing the number of people present, he was guessing that Evangeline's presence was likely not part of the main event.
He did however get a surprise as his mother of all people was there, the fact made obvious when she rushed over to hug him. As he was still floating to stay off of his bad leg, he was more helpless than usual in the Hug of Motherly Love. She was also no where near quiet during that time, almost crying in a torrent of emotions that coincidentally served to embarrass the young boy mortally. "Oh, Ranma-chan! My little man! Oh, how terrible!"
Wincing a bit at the pressure, the young boy spoke up even though it pained him to interrupt her. "Uhm, Mom. Some of my bones are still fractured."
It took a moment for that to penetrate with the red-headed woman hugging him for dear life, but once she realized speaking had literally pained him, she dropped him like a hot coal. To her relief he floated in place instead of hitting the ground, easing her concerns that she might have been too hasty in letting go of him. "I'm so sorry baby! I didn't mean to, but why aren't you resting in bed then? I was told you attended class today!"
Rubbing some feeling back into his injured arm, Ranma paused to wave her concerns away. Then, even though it was obvious he was painfully stiff, Ranma pulled himself into a meditative sitting position, floating in place as if he were sitting on the headmaster's desk instead of empty air. "It's not that bad. Besides if I stayed home a lot of the girls would have skipped school to take care of me."
Drifting a little to the side, Ranma caught sight of the odd looking old man that served as headmaster for Mahora. "So, what's this about old man?"
Laughing in amusement at the lad's friendly mode of address and direct manner, the old man decided now was as good as any time to proceed. "Oh ho ho ho, well, we have a lot to discuss my boy."
Taking a deep breath, the old man continued in a more somber tone, marking a change in mood for the room. "After the battle yesterday, there are quite a few issues with the aftermath. For one, your security was proven to be lacking. For another, you Usagi and the other girls Serena was acting as guardian for are now without a guardian. Further this might necessitate a change in housing for you."
Pausing and giving those present time to absorb that, the old man fixed Ranma with a more intent look that was uncharacteristic of his relaxed attitude. "...but before all of that, we must know what happened to Tsukino-san. At this point we're not entirely sure she's actually among the deceased. Divinations on the subject were somewhat mysterious."
Getting the point, Ranma quietly nodded, his floating position keeping him from making exaggerated movements. Since Usagi wasn't present he could tell them what he knew. It shouldn't be too tough to get their silence on the subject until he had something definitive to tell Usagi about it.
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(Posted Wed, 20 Sep 2006 10:06)
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