Mahou Sensei Negima! 260

Guidelines For Using My Translations

[TN: After returning from Japan, completing a hellish assignment (including losing about two hundred words in a crash and having to retype them from scratch), taking a breather and getting somewhat addicted to Tales of VS, I'm finally back and getting down to work on my backlog! Installment 1: two chapters of Negima.]

1
Period 260: Ultimate Battle & Ultimate Ball♡
[Insert text: The girls transform and power up, but Rakan's still the one in control. And now, he closes in on the secret of this "third" Fate?!!]
Rakan: Why do you obey the likes of Fate? // I mean... the guy's trying to destroy the world, you know? / Don't ya think that's a pretty crappy thing for girls like yourselves to be fighting for?
Homura: Ngh... / What could a man like you... // ...possibly understand?!!!
Rakan: Heh...

2
Mahou Sensei Negima!
[Insert text: Rakan VS Fate's army of cuties! Interesting results are sure to be in store!♡]
Rakan: Oopsie-daisy... // A high-level wood spirit this time, is it? // You girls are pretty hot stuff. / [aside]time, space, sound, flame, and now wood... that's quite something.[/aside]

3
Koyomi: Horaria Porticus...
[TN: Time Hallway]
Koyomi: Self-Acceleration!!
Shirabe: N...gh... // Wood Spirit Possession, Maximum Manifestation: // Kiryuu Shourai!!
[TN: "Tree-Dragon Summoning". And for the record, I don't even know how I'm deciding what to translate and what to leave any more >_<]
Tamaki: Dragon Transformation!!
Rakan: Hahahah...

4
Rakan: I see, I see... I guess I'll have to take this a little more seriously, huh? // Well, if the lovely ladies are giving me all they've got... / ...I guess I don't mind going that far... // Here goes! // Bring it on!
[Text: Five minutes later]

5
Homura: Ugh...! // (Im...possible... This strength... it's just plain inhuman... // He's a monster...!)
Rakan: So yeah... // Why is it that you girls are helping out with a stupid plot like this?
Homura: ...! // Wh... / What could the likes of you...!

6
Flashback!Homura: Fa...ther... // Mother... // ...?
Flashback!Fate: It would seem that the only survivor of this village... // ...is this girl here. ...You must be quite the lucky one. / ...Or perhaps that should be "unlucky"...? // ...Do you wish to come with us?
Flashback!Homura: ...
Flashback!Fate: I don't mind... / ...if you want to bury your parents before you give me your answer. // I will lend you my aid.
Flashback!Homura: ...

7
Rakan: I see, I see... a war orphan, eh? // [aside]well, I figured it'd be something like that...[/aside]
Homura: Don't read people's minds...!!
Rakan: [aside]Nothing's impossible for me.[/aside] // So you're from the Syrtis subcontinent, around Parthia... well, that area was caught up in conflict even after the war, after all. // Guess you've been through quite a lot. / And I guess the other girls have similar stories.
Homura: ...! // A man like you...! / Hero to the world... blessed by the heavens with outrageous success... with that monstrous strength... // Don't you dare talk like you understand anything!! / How could you possibly comprehend the pain we -
Fate: Are you quite finished, Homura? / I will handle the rest, so please, step back. // Oh, and I should probably mention... this man, too, worked his way up from the lowly position of a war-slave.
Homura: Fate-sama...
Rakan: ...I've got one question for ya. Was it you who raised these girls to be warriors?

8
Fate: No... that was all their own doing. // There were fifty-seven others whom I found and sent to school in the same way. / [aside]call it a hobby of mine...[/aside]
Rakan: Seriously? Whoa, whoa... / But that makes you sound like a total good guy! Jeez, I dunno... / [aside]who'da thunk it?[/aside]
Fate: Oh, no... I assure you I am a "bad guy". // After all, I am but a tool, tasked with granting the twisted dream of the evil organisation's leader.
Rakan: Well, this sure is one big mess... / Girlie, back off. You'll die otherwise.
Homura: Wha -
Rakan: ...Compared to the two who came before you... // ...you really are a hell of a lot more human!! // Well, doesn't that just make things a huge pain in the ass!♪

9
Fate: Really? // You seem awfully cheerful, considering.
Rakan: Heh... 'Course I am, dumbass. // If it's a human I'm fighting, that makes things so much more fun!
Fate: I see... / Well, that suits me. // I have always wanted to have a little "fun" fighting with you.

10
Kotarou: Is something wrong, Negi?
Negi: N - No... I was just thinking Rakan-san certainly is taking a long time in the bathroom...
Kotarou: [aside]ya think he's just constipated~?[/aside] // (But forget that, could ya give me a little help here? / [aside]I can't talk to these people...[/aside])
Negi: Ahh...
People: I would love to hear your stories in detail... / If you don't mind, I'm from the Imperial Gladiatorial Association... // I'd like to make a request for an exclusive...
Kotarou: (I can't handle these rich types... / [aside]I don't get a word they're saying...[/aside])
Negi: (Yes... at this rate, we'll never find Yue-san... // Governor Kurt Gödel has yet to show himself, as well... // Still, even if he is plotting to spring some kind of trap, the target can only be either me... // ...or Asuna-san, the Twilight Imperial Princess... // And I have both Setsuna-san... // ...and Kaede-san guarding Asuna-san, so no worries there... // According to Rakan-san, the elite guards he's hired should be around here somewhere as well, so...

11
Makie: Aahhhh~! It really is a proper ball! I feel like I'm in a movie~~!♪
Yuuna: We do have stuff like this back at Mahora around Christmas and stuff... / ...but I've never actually gone to one...
Chisame: I think the men are supposed to ask the ladies to dance at functions like this, you know? // [aside]take a look behind you.[/aside]
Negi: Eh?
Girls: [aside]Kojirou-sama!♡[/aside]
Kotarou: Gah...
Negi: (Ahh...)
Girls: [aside]Nagi-sama!♡ // Nagi-sama!♡[/aside]

12
Girls: [aside]Nagi-sama!♡[/aside]
Chisame: With this many of them vying for your attention, I think you want to be careful who you choose first...
Girls: [aside]Nagi-sama!♡[/aside]
Chamo: [aside]It'd be a real breach of manners not to ask anyone, ya know, Aniki![/aside]
Girls: [aside]Nagi-sama!♡ // Nagi-sama!♡[/aside]
Negi: (Aaahhh...)
Haruna: He sure is popular...
Nodoka: That's the Nagi-Koji duo for you...
Negi: Haha... Ahahaha...
Kotarou: Gahhh...
Negi: Ah...
Shiori!Asuna: ?
Negi: Asuna-san!
Shiori!Asuna: Wh... What...?
Negi: Would you like... / ...to join me in a dance?
Asuna: Wha -
Kotarou: Ahhhh, Natsumi-chan! Could ya help me out here?!
Natsumi: Wha - ?!

13
Shiori!Asuna: D - Don't be stupid! I can't - why does it have to be me?!
Negi: W... Well...
Konoka: Oh, just go on~~~!
Natsumi: W - Wait a minute! In front of all these people?! I don't have a clue about dancing or any of that...
Kotarou: Ah, don't worry! We can just wing it!

14
Asuna: D - Do you have to try and act all cool like that?!
Negi: I - I wasn't aware I was doing anything of the...
Natsumi: I - I really don't know about this... I feel so out of place with all these rich people everywhere...
Kotarou: Ah, don't be so silly. // You look plenty beautiful, Natsumi-neechan.
Natsumi: Wha - ?!

15
Chamo: I see, I see... / The Prince and the Princess... he couldn't've made a better choice.
Chisame: ... // Say, Chamo... when you say "Princess"... / Would you be referring to Kagurazaka?
Chamo: Wh - Wh - Why would you think - ?!
Chisame: Fate was saying something about it. I think it's time I heard an explanation.
Chamo: Whaaah - ?!
Natsumi: K... Kotarou-kun... // W... Was that just now, ah...
Kotarou: Hey, Kaede-neechan! Care for the next dance?
Kaede: [aside]hmm?[/aside]
Natsumi: [aside]oh, forget it![/aside]
Nodoka: They really do look like a Prince and a Princess~~~!♡
Haruna: Well, if we put all the facts together, strictly speaking Negi-kun should be a Prince, after all... // [aside]also, shouldn't you be a little more worried about this development?[/aside]
Craig: Young lady... // Should it so please you, would you care to join me in a dance?
Nodoka: Ehhhh?!
Craig: Hey.
Nodoka: Craig-san!!

16
Nodoka: Aisha-san!! / [aside]everyone....![/aside]
Craig: [aside]sorry 'bout that... someone was bugging me like crazy, you see...[/aside]
Aisha: [aside]oh, be honest with yourself! / you know you wanted to...[/aside]
Lyn: [aside]I'm here... // ...for the free food![/aside]
Kris: Just happened to get our hands on some invitations, you see... / Sorry to show up like this after those touching goodbyes and all!♪
Yuuna: Aahhhh...?! Nodoka's got a guy over there asking her to dance! // [aside]Lucky! // He's pretty hot, too![/aside]
Makie: [aside]mmmmnhh...[/aside] // I'm jealous, but Asuna sure does look pretty great out there...
Ako: You're right... there's something beyond just style between the two of them...
Makie: [aside]hmmmmmm...[/aside]
Tosaka: (Gah...)
Furry: Not going to ask her, then?
Tosaka: Like hell I would! // (Honestly... just when we'd said goodbye and everything, I go and get myself drafted onto the staff for the damn ball... // Well, just as long as I don't run into him...

17
OsiokeL [aside]free food~!♡ // ...♡[/aside]
Gödel: Haha... // And thus, the stage is set...
[Side text: The curtain finally rises on this all-star stage!!!]
[Bottom text: Next issue, Negima will be taking a break so that the author can collect data. See you again in Shonen Magazine Issue 38 (on sale 19th August)!♡]