Disclaimer: I do not own Magister Magi Negima! or any other variant of the name.

Katarina watched the chaos unfold, dumbfounded, yet finding it strangely familiar. Starting from the duster trap, that almost seemed like it took just a little too long to fall on top of the child's head, to said child tripping over the rope, rolling over into a chair with his behind in the air that was promptly hit by a few suction-cup headed arrows.

Then they found out that this child was Negi Springfield, their new homeroom teacher, and it seemed the entire class, well, most of it, was extremely taken with him to the point that it creeped her out a bit.

Sure, the kid was cute, radiated a sort of British gentlemanly charm, and she felt as if he would be quite the looker once he grew up, but all she could feel was a profound sense of pity that she could neither place nor explain, and it confused her to no end.

What was it about this young child that would evoke pity? Merely looking at him revealed no reason, so either she was imagining things, or she was feeling far too much pity over how he was practically being assaulted by a bunch of teenage girls.

Or, perhaps, some part of her knew something about the boy, and despite the fact that she wasn't consciously aware of it, she still felt pity over that something… She shook her head to get rid of the line of thought.

Glancing over at her 'sister', she found that Eva had a very intense stare, one with not a sliver of affection, but one of distaste and perhaps just a hint of a plot brewing behind it.

She found it rather odd, what reason would Eva have to direct a gaze like that at such a young child? For some reason, the idea that it was related to the boy's family popped up in her head, but she really didn't understand why. It didn't really make all that much sense, so she pushed the notion away and turned her attention back towards the chaos.

She sighed as she watched Her Imperial Highness roughly pick up the child teacher and start shouting about- 'Her Imperial Highness'? Where did that come from? What part of Kagurazaka Asuna would make her an Imperial Highness? There's nothing princess-like about her… Well, there have probably been a few princesses around with similar personalities in reality but… that's a tangent, what was she thinking about?

Taking a few moments to try and dredge the reason out of her memory, she failed to come up with anything concrete or realistic, and returned to reality in time to see Class Rep provide Negi with a stool, drawing a small chuckle from her, and amusing the rest of the class.

Katarina had hoped things would settle down once class started, but instead found that Asuna started launching pieces of erasers at Negi, then when Class Rep started whispering to Negi a box containing school-supplies came flying into her head, causing, unsurprisingly, a fight to break out between Class Rep and Asuna.

The child-teacher was powerless to stop the struggle, but it was thankfully interrupted by the end of class, although Negi didn't seem overly happy about how things had gone, understandably so, as his lesson had been interrupted and he had been unable to stop it.

-Break—

Chao smiled with amusement as her grandfather fell into the trap, then once again when the class became taken with him.

Still, she was far more interested in little Katarina's reaction and- is that pity?

Why? Or maybe more importantly, for what? Certainly, it could be as simple as pity over his current position and treatment, but… That girl is an irregularity. She didn't show up in any records over the members of class 2-A when Negi Springfield began teaching it.

There were also a few little hints here and there that the girl knew certain things, things that no one in this time should know.

Like for example when Chao accidentally brought up the likeness between the clothes Katarina were wearing and Illiyasviel von Einzbern's winter coat, and instead of being confused, the younger girl actually mimicked some of the character's mannerisms.

That of course brought up the question whatever or not Katarina was aware of her own situation, there were after all also several hints that her memory wasn't working right. Not in the sense that she was losing them, she was perfectly fine there, could remember the names of her classmates perfectly fine.

Just that at some point recently the girl might have lost parts of her memory, mainly relating to her identity.

Oh well, back on track, there were several reasons why Chao might feel pity towards her grandfather. So, it all came down to whatever or not Katarina knew about the trials and tribulations Negi Springfield would face in the near future.

Still, it was amusing to see that the Springfield charm didn't immediately take hold of her. Of course, it didn't exactly immediately take hold of Hasegawa Chisame immediately either so… Who knows?

Chao would definitely keep an eye on the girl though. There were many things about her that was interesting, especially that part where she didn't get completely lost just because she started talking about gravity and space-time.

She wasn't quite Hakase, but unlike the mad scientist Katarina could discuss a much wider variety of things. Just because Chao was a genius scientist didn't mean she didn't enjoy a bit of philosophy or fiction every now and then.

Which reminded her, she needed to go abduct the young enigma a little bit, there was a few little details about Latin she wanted to discuss. While she wasn't an expert, she had some knowledge, and it was proper classical Latin the girl knew.

Which did lead to potentially amusing situations like when the girl used the classical pronunciation of 'Caesar' when ordering a salad. The confusion of the girl taking the order was quite amusing, but the real amusement came from the fact that it took Katarina several tries before she realised what she was doing.

With that in mind the moment class let out Chao immediately picked Katarina up, gave Eva a quick wink and disappeared, literally carrying the younger girl in her arms.

-Break—

Katarina sighed softly as Chao set her down. "Do you have to do that Chao-san? I have enough of a headache with rumours lumping me with you in terms of intelligence, the last thing I need are rumours about a more intimate relationship between us."

"I do believe that the first set of rumours aren't entirely unfounded." A sly smile crept unto the genius' features. "Still, are you that against the idea presented by the latter?" She said and leaned in closely with a saddened look.

"Geh-" The bespectacled girl felt her cheeks heat up, and she looked away indignantly. "T-that's… Damnit, you're just messing with me!"

Chao giggled lightly and resumed a normal posture. "Perhaps…"

"Perhaps not." Katarina sighed. "I do at the very least understand that I can't tell with you."

The genius simply smiled. "That might be more than most people."

"Who knows?" The younger girl shrugged. "And? What is it this time?"

"I've been looking at some classical Latin texts, but I just can't wrap my head around the word order."

"Um, yeah, about that… There is none. If my memory serves, I've seen a sentence, that was split in half by maybe, three by-sentences, or however you're supposed to say it…"

"I think I understand." Chao nodded.

"Okay, and in that main sentence, there was a noun and adjective pair that lay in each half."

"Wait seriously?"

"Yes, I'm serious. How anyone managed to understand anything is… Well, I suppose as long as you get used to it…"

"By the way Katarina-chan, how would you translate 'magi'?" The eccentric girl seemed very interested in hearing her response.

"Hmm? 'Magi'? Some people might say 'mage', but it's actually a form of 'magus', which comes from the Greek 'μάγος (mágos)' meaning 'wise man'…" Katarina scratched her cheek. "At least I think that's what it is. The word 'mage' merely derives from it. Oh, and then there's the fact that the Greek word seems to come from some Ancient Persian, although I don't know the word usually considered."

Chao seemed rather surprised at the answer, then shook her head and sighed. "When you're able to give an answer like that, is it any surprise people think you might be a genius? It's not exactly something the average person your age would know."

"But ultimately, it's not that hard to find out, you just need to look for it. I don't feel like I'm surprised people call me a genius, I just don't think I deserve it…"

The self-proclaimed Martian laughed heartily. "True, anyone could find that knowledge. But to remember it and be able to give such a nice answer on the fly, and on top of that, you have such a breadth of other knowledge Katarina-chan. Whatever else it is, it's also impressive."

Katarina smiled wryly. "I suppose I can't deny that."

Chao leaned in. "Although, I think the main reason might be because you skipped ahead a few grades." She then whispered.

"Oh yeah… that… is probably a pretty good reason, now that I think about it."

For some reason Katarina had never really considered that.

"Hmm… Katarina-chan?"

"Yes Chao-san?"

"If you posit that holds true in any right triangle, then would for hold true for any n greater than 2?"

"Chao. The proof for that thing is, if I don't remember incorrectly, over a thousand pages long. I'm not even going to entertain that."

The genius looked at her for a few moments. "Hmm… Well, you're clearly familiar with the theorem, which is good enough. The answer is 'no' though."

"I guess it might have been. Still, that's a bit off topic, don't you think?"

"I was just curious to see if your knowledge stretched over there as well. See it as a part of our discussion on your rumoured genius."

"I see. That makes sense. Quite the rarity with you Chao."

For some reason Chao had a really happy look on her face.

"What?" Katarina couldn't help but ask.

"That's twice you didn't use honorifics. Maybe there's some truth to the other rumour as well." Once again a sly grin crept onto the Chinese girl's features.

"Ah." The bespectacled girl flushed with embarrassment. "I just forgot, that's all! And even then, can't it just be a sign of close friendship?! Nothing more?!"

Chao merely laughed mirthfully.

Katarina sighed. "Give me a break…"

After a good few minutes of silence the eccentric seemed to become lost in thought, seeming hesitant about something. "Are you familiar with the meaning of the words 'Κιλιαπή Άστραπή (kiliape astrape)'?"

"Κιλιαπή… Άστραπή? Hmm… I think it means 'thousand thunderbolts'…" The younger girl felt as if there was something about these words. "It's Greek, but where did I learn…" When she tried to dig for the information in her memory, a headache started progressively getting worse, until she was forced to stop.

"Are you all right?" Chao asked, noticing the discomfort that showed through.

Katarina shook her head. "I'm fine. Just a bit of a headache is all."

The genius didn't seem fully convinced, but relented nonetheless. "Well, if you say so. But you need only ask, and I'll help you."

"Thanks Chao-san."

"Aww… you resumed using the honorifics…"

"Humph, of course I did, after you messed with me like that."

"You know, I guess you do have a few things in common with Evangeline-san after all."

"Well, we are supposed to be sisters, it'd be kind of odd if we didn't have something in common. Although I'm not sure what exactly you are talking about."

"Just like your sister."

"Wait, what's that supposed to mean?"

Chao simply giggled. "Come on! Or we'll miss the welcoming party for Negi-sensei!"

"Eh? Oh, that. Right, let's go."

Author's notes: Well, I can't say I expected this little Negi out of this chapter, but that's just how it turned out. Instead, we got a conversation between Katarina and Chao. I don't even know what to say. Please point out any mistakes you see, and if you have any thoughts or inputs feel free to share them.

I hope you enjoyed and that you have a nice day.