Mahou Sensei Negima! 245

1
Mahou Sensei Negima!
Period 245: Even So, I Still Believe In Negi!
[Insert text: What will Ako do with her wholehearted feelings...?]
Ako: (Nagi-san... // That time...)
Flashback!Ako: Ah...
Ako: (And that time... // And even that time... // It was all just an illusion...? // I just...) // ... // (No!!)

2
Akira: You mustn't, Ako! // Have you forgotten?! As long as we're wearing these collars, we can't turn against these people!
Ako: I know that!! // Akira... I guess in the end, I'm just some side character, aren't I...
Akira: Huh...?
Ako: I'm weak... a crybaby... I can't be strong and kind like you always are...
Akira: Wh... What are you talking about, Ako?
Ako: I can't be bright and cheery like Makie and Yuuna... / And I can't be strong and cool like Negi is, either... // I'm... just not an incredible person like all the rest of you...

3
Ako: (But still... // Even a useless person like me... // ...must be able to do something, right...? // ...Nagi-san! // Nagi... // ...san...)
Akira: A - Are you all right, Ako?!
Ako: Yep, I'm just fine now!♪ / I'm great! Never been better!
Akira: ...Look, you're really not fooling anyone with that act, so...
Ako: Excuse me!

4
Tosaka: Hmm?
Ako: ...*gulp*
Dude1: What're you doing in a place like this, little lady?
Ako: I have a request to make!! // T... Tosaka-san... I'm begging you...! / Leave Nagi-san alone from now on!
Dude2: Hm...?
Dude1: Whoa, whoa... what's all this about? You hit your head or something, girlie?
Tosaka: And why the hell should I listen to the request of a slave like you?
Ako: I'm willing to make a deal!

5
Ako: I will take his place!! // Instead of Nagi-san... / You can do whatever you wish with me!!
Akira: Ako... // What are you saying?!
Dude1: Is this for real?!
Dude3: Whoooooo!!
Dude2: ...Little lady... // Do you understand what it is you are saying? I daresay you are aware of this, but official slaves such as yourself are, under the terms of the Nyandoma Treaty, accorded certain protections against excessive mistreatment or violence from your masters. // Any transgressions against that treaty on the part of the slavemaster will be automatically reported through the monitoring functions integrated into the collars you wear. // Odd though it may seem, at the same time as that collar restricts your freedom... / ...it also provides you with a certain measure of protection. However... // ...Should the slave herself willingly subject herself to such treatment... then this protection will not be afforded. / Do you understand what this means?
Dude1: Oh, I sure know what that means... eheheheheh!
Dude3: Did she just... Yeah... She did say we could do anything, right...?! // [aside]this is our lucky day![/aside]
Dude2: Are you sure? [aside]you heard them...[/aside]
Ako: ......

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Dude1: Well, then, let's start off by having ourselves a little strip show, shall we~~~~~~~?!!
[Label: Strip Show (Fantasy)]
Dude3: Whoo-hooooooooo!! / [aside]I like it![/aside]
Dude1: Come on, now, girlie!
Dude3: Take it off! Take it all off!
Akira: Give it up already, you brutes!
Ako: Akira...
Dude1: What's this? You want to take her place now, or something?! // What's the deal, huh? Is one of you gonna strip, or not? // Ah, you know what, why don't we just have both of 'em strip?
Dude3: [aside]Ohh, that sounds good! Real good![/aside]
Dude1: Shall we give you a hand there, girlies~~~?
Akira: A - All right... But then that's the end of it, all right?
Ako: No - Akira - !
Dude1: Ohhhh yeah~~~! Well then, allow us...!
Dude3: Flans Exarmati -
Tosaka: KNOCK IT OFF ALREADY, WOULD YA?!

7
Dude1: Ehm... Ahh...
Dude3: Wh... What is it, Tosaka-aniki...?
Tosaka: Here. Take the evidence.
Ako: Eh - ?
Dude1: Then... you are accepting the deal?
Dude3: We can have her? / We can have her, right~~~~?!♪
Tosaka: Sure, like we'd be interested in doing anything with a brat like you.
Dude1: [aside]whaaa~~?![/aside]
Dude3: [aside]you're only into older women~?![/aside]
Akira: Th... Then why?
Tosaka: ...Huh. // No reason... // I just got bored, that's all...

8
Tosaka: Ahhh, I'm beat...
Ako: E - Excuse me... Tosaka-san...
Tosaka: You again? What is it now?
Ako: Why did you just decide to give up like that? All of a sudden...
Tosaka: Ehh? I told you, didn't I? I got bored, that's all.
Ako: B - But to just give in like that, without even any kind of conditions... // I just thought, there had to be more to it than...
Tosaka: You're overthinkin' this, dumbass. // Tch...

9
Tosaka: I'm the one who should be asking you idiots what the hell you were thinking back there!
Ako: Wha...?
Tosaka: You went and said the one thing that no slave in this world should ever say, even if their freakin' lives are on the line! // Once a slave says a thing like that, they could get killed and nobody would even be able to complain! / [aside]A guy could even cut the corpse into pieces and sell 'em off...![/aside] / And that ain't even the worst that could happen...! // No matter what kind of threats you're faced with, no matter what anyone does to you, that's the one thing you never say! What the hell were you thinking, runnin' your mouth off like that?! Do you have no brains in that head of yours at all?!
Ako: Well, I... // I heard about you from the Chief.
Tosaka: What? / [aside]Mama?[/aside]
Ako: How twenty years ago, when Ostia collapsed, the three of you ended up as slaves... // ...How Balgas-san and the Chief became gladiators to earn money, and how they freed you first of all... // How even though you had become free, and you could have gone anywhere you wanted...

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Ako: ...You stayed right where you were, and took the place of the Chief after she retired, becoming a free gladiator... // ...How you spent ten long years earning the money to free Balgas-san and the Chief from their slavery... // And after hearing all that... I just thought... maybe you weren't that bad a person after all...
Akira: (Ako... // I thought she must have just gone crazy from the shock of having her feelings shattered, but this is just... / [aside]I had no idea she'd thought about it this much...[/aside] // I'm sorry, Ako... I was wrong about you. You aren't weak at all... You really are... strong!)
Tosaka: Eh. // So you thought I was some great guy, huh? / You really are the dumbest trusting little idiot I've ever met. // Listen, the only reason I stuck around was because fighting's all I was good for. I'm just a piece of trash who couldn't make a living any other way. // So you remember that, yeah? Once a piece of trash, always a piece of trash. And once a villain, always a villain. / It makes me sick just looking at an empty-headed gullible little dumbass like you.

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Tosaka: Same goes for that Nagi. I mean, for godssakes, the guy was playing you for a fool, all right?! Pretending to be some knight in shining armour!! // And even though you knew that, you were ready to chase after that illusion so far that you'd throw yourself out and take the fuckin' bullet in his place?! God, how big an idiot can you possibly be?!!
Ako: That's not... Negi-kun never meant to do anything like...
Tosaka: ...... / Tch. // ...I'm leaving, yeah? // I'll keep my nose out of your business. / That's what you want, right?
Akira: Wait - ! // Then... why did you do a thing like this in the first place?
Tosaka: That Nagi of yours... he's a monster. I mean, look at him... he's trying to free you guys from your slavery in just a month and a freakin' half. // A month and a half to do what took me and Aniki eighteen years of sweat, blood and tears to pull off. / You have any idea how that feels for a piece of trash like me...? ...I guess you don't. // Actually... maybe right now, you do have some idea. / Some idea how it feels to be the kind of guy who can't make it into the spotlight like that, no matter how hard he tries.

12
Akira: So... in the end, he was just jealous of Negi-kun all along? // What a miserable excuse for a man... // Ako... are you all right? // Ako...?
Ako: Yeah... I'm all right.
Announcer: And the third match, too, is an overwhelming victory for Nagi and Kojirou!! // Nagi and Kojirou are through to the final!! / The Nagi VS Rakan match has finally been confirmed!!
Tosaka: You bastard...! // You just try sayin' that one more time! // You don't... // ...know if you can... // ...beat Rakan...?!

13
Tosaka: THE FUCK IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!!
Negi: The more I find out about him... the less confident I feel... that I can win. I really may be... in over my head... // Rakan-san is... a monster... something far beyond you or I...
Tosaka: The hell is that?! You miserable little wretch!! // In a month... // ...an' a half, you've gone and done... // ...what took me eighteen long years...! // ...The BOTH of you are goddamn monsters! // So what's the big difference, huh?!!!
Negi: Ng... // ...ahh... // ...There's something more I need... something I just don't have... / ...to become like Rakan, and the other people on his level... // I just don't... have the ability... to become like them...

14
Negi: Ungh... // (The force behind those fists... was Tosaka-san always this strong...?)
Tosaka: You "don't know"? You "don't have the ability"? You need "something more"?! // Don't screw with me... // That's the one thing you don't have the right to say when you're standing right out there in the spotlight! // ...That slave-girl... Ako, she's called, right? // She asked me to drop everything I said yesterday, and I agreed. That's what I came here to tell you...

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Tosaka: But it looks like she needn't've bothered. / For all that power you've got, I guess on the inside, you're just a piece of trash like me. // You're not even worth it.
Ako: Um...
Negi: Ako-san...

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Negi: Ako-san, look... / I... // There's something that I really have to tell you...
Ako: Not now... just wait a little longer, okay?
Negi: Wha...? // Wha...

17
Negi: ......
Ako: Nagi-san... // I love you. // Or rather... // I loved you.

18
Negi: Ako... // ...san... // Um...
Ako: No, no, it's all right! You don't have to say anything! / I pretty much know what it is you're gonna say, anyway! // But instead... could you just promise me one thing?
Negi: ...Yes. What is it?
Ako: Ehehe... // To be honest, I considered asking for a nighttime air cruise...just one date under the moonlight... but in the end... // I just have one thing to ask. // Make sure you win... // ...your match against Rakan, okay?
[TN: You know, I've been half-expecting Negi to lose that match for a while now... but if Akamatsu makes him lose it at this point, he really is an absolute bastard >_<]
[Insert text: She isn't just some side character... her earnest nature, the strength that she holds more than anyone, is what is supporting Negi...]
[Bottom text: Next issue, Negima will be taking a break so that the author can collect data. See you again in Shonen Magazine Issue 18 (on sale 1st April)!♡]