Guys are scary. I got that feeling for the first time I was hit on. With a sword. On my breasts. By a thirteen year old boy. Negi's blade dug into my chest, sideways. My breasts gratefully received the sword strike. My freshly minted magic clothes weren't cut through. Cloth armor wins against metal. Looking down, I saw and felt the sword deform my breasts inwards. A sense of springiness. An expectation of recoil. Then, the sword bounced off, shooting off into the air.

Anime Girl Physics applies to breasts too, it seems. And, I'm not dead. Congratulations, me. Negi stopped mid-fight, staring at me slack jawed when he saw it. I could tell his thirteen year old mind was thinking, "do breasts really work this way?"

This time, for this existence I am right now, an Anime Girl: Yes, Negi. Yes they do. I used the ample gap opened in his attacks to stab him in the shoulder with my fire sword. He dodged. Drat.

I really, really, feel like a side character or stock villain fighting the main character of an anime, here. Negi summoned ice and blocked, right as my fire sword torched away his shoulders clothing. I swear, he has like a little red burn so he could go brag to his harem-class, "Look, I got into a real fight! I need a healing spell!" No you don't. It's barely first degree. Ah. My head. I feel like I'm swimming.

Negi slid back. The first exchange of attacks was my loss. Negi closed the distance and overwhelmed me with two swords. It was my first sword fight. I don't know what I was expecting. Oh, yeah. I expected to win easily against a thirteen year old. I forgot the part where he's a Wilder who grew up in the sewers, and an apprentice of Kirei. This is what someone serious about survival fights like in real life.

Mostly, the 'sword fight' was me flailing trying to bat away his dual sharp metal sticks as they tried to cut me, keeping my arms guarding my head. When Negi's sword hit my chest, I thought, "oh, I'm dead again?" I spaced. But then, the clothes didn't rip against the metal. The sword pressed in. The bounciness of my breasts repelled his blade from his hand off into the air. And now, here we are, me versus Negi, my fire sword versus his remaining sword.

He backed off, firing slabs of ice. I dodged away, my A.T. Field activating as I did, blocking incoming ice. I'm too slow. Ducking behind a tree, I moved back as a massive chunk of ice cracked the trunk. My A.T. Field protected the tree. I peeked out from behind the tree at Negi's stern face.

Our eyes locked for one glance. He looked away first. "Nice breasts." He said. I saw him blush. Then he fired more ice slabs.

"I don't think this is what they mean by "hitting on girls," Negi!"

Why did I bother saying that? Oh, I'm stressed, that's right. He won't understand, but it made me feel better to say it. The onslaught of ice poured onto my A.T. Field. The blue shield staying steady in front of me, cracks ran through it. Like a pane of glass, it snapped, and so did the tree I hid behind.

I ran for it. I glanced back to fire off a shot, only to see Negi had closed the distance between us when I was looking away. He's right here. With a sword. Guys are scary.

I turned to meet him with my fire sword. A brief exchange between his sword and mine confirmed my skill level. It hurts to admit a thirteen year old is better. His single blade scraped against my clothes several times, one hit seeking towards my head blocked by my elbow improvised as defense. Cloth armor is nice. But, doesn't cover my head. My head hurt already, I didn't need a sword in there, too.

I sprang towards the nearest tree trunk. My instinctive climbing took hold, skittering me up through the branches and foliage and away from Negi below. Alright, let's be serious. He's going to kill me. I am going to die. If I didn't have these durable magic clothes or an agile Anime Girl body, I'd be a corpse right now. Take this more seriously. Besides, he's strong, I'm sure this won't kill him. Right? I'm tired. If he dies, it's because he was trying to kill me, okay?

Firing a "Kamehameha" beam into Negi, he returned my fire with a tornado. Rushing water. Hot steam choked my face, blocking my vision as out from the mist jabbed towards my eyes a swordpoint appeared. Twisting my body mid-air to kick him away, the swordpoint scraped past my cheek. Negi said something damning.

"Nice. I can see it."

"[Ecchi!]"

My kick landed with the force of justice behind it. Anime Girl Logic offended or not, Negi persisted. He caught the fierce kick with his arms, water swirled around them and froze just in time forming a bulwark. Great. The kick landed, my toes sheathed in pantyhose scrunching as it did, mouth puffing air, leg twitching as I fell earthwards.

Looking up, I saw Negi dismiss his ice shield. My head hit. Dirt mouth. Bleh. My head already hurts from the clothing spell.

I rolled miserably across the ground, hands flaking dirt out from my hair and eyes as I felt my body constrict. Looking down at my skirt, water covered my knees and legs. Swirling under me and around me, ice cold trapping my limbs against the ground. Water from below crawled up my chest, then neck, then swallowed up my mouth and eyes.

Looking out from underwater I saw Negi land in front of me. My vision turned from dark blue to pitch black. Sight replaced by cold and stiffness pressing against my chest. Ice completely covered me, encasing my legs arms and head entirely.

[Idanai desu.]

Anime Girl's counterspell shattered the ice encasement. Slivers of ice splashed out in a sphere away from me. I saw the whites of Negi's eyes. Not waiting for him to recover, I charged a tentacle beam, gripping my arm to aim, I fired. Fear pulsed through me as the spell hit.

Negi's body smashed into a tree. Tentacles held him against the bark, flowing out from a white spell array near my palm. Under the writhing mass, I saw the grey tentacles freeze, then snap off in chunks as Negi ripped himself out from under them.

I'll use fire this time. I blasted him. Using a small image of a stock repeating fireball hoping to wear him down from afar, I was rewarded with another return of ice shards pouring back. Damn. I'm not serious about killing, he is. There's a skill gap in melee and magic. I should be dead many times over. I made a mistake prolonging this. I'm naive.

I've got to end it. My head wasn't in good shape. He's too fierce. Don't say [Hayai!] Anime Girl, it's cliche.

Negi charged again, this time I expected him to close distance and prepped a Tentacle Beam. I'll go all out, this time. I have plenty of mana. I was the one who thought this fight was something I could get out of without killing. Another Tentacle Beam skyscraper will be erected, should have shot it sooner. It's just, I'm not used to someone serious about killing me. I didn't learn from what I should have from my fight with Ouji. This is the common sense of this world! Rest in peace, Ne-

「Firing solution complete。Execute?」

Stehy cut in. My mind screamed yes yes please release me from any and all responsibility I'm tired okay this is manslaughter at best. I felt Stehy frown, considerably. Her voice, if there was a loli Jean-Luc Picard, would this be it?

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「Assuming Direct Control。」

The ball joint near my toes on my right foot flexed. Whipping my left leg, I kicked my left loafer with a sharp snap straight into Negi's face. I watched the shoe cover his stupid face with glee, then pondered what Stehy aimed to accomplish. A flash of brown light, and she arrived.

A loosely leather robe bound loli with brown hair appeared. Brown ribbons holding her hair in hovering small twintails caught within a larger dull brown lump of straight hair. Gave me the sense of rust. The smell of leather permeated the area. Though it mildly bothered me that I enjoyed the scent, I ignored it, because I am an adult if you look only at my age. A tiny gavel pounded into Negi's head.

Held in Stehy's hands, the small dark wood grain circle peeled off from Negi's head. He stumbled back, then dropped his sword. He stared at Stehy in bemusement. He's not attacking, his confused face flicked his eyes from Stehy to my chest. He can't meet my eyes.

I understand. It's hard, isn't it? I used to have trouble at thirteen, but then, I learned eye contact. It didn't help me much because I didn't talk to people much— but it bothers me. I'll admit it! Being looked at hungrily by a thirteen year old boy at my chest bothers me. I grunted in vexation. Stehy took the hint, pointing her gavel at Negi.

「The accused is found guilty of assault and attempted murder。」

It's amusing when a loli says it. Negi took his charge seriously. He can't take his eyes off Stehy. What is this, Judgement Magic?

"Can I get back to fighting? I was going to win." He pleaded to Stehy. Whiner. He's right though. Sadly.

「An esteemed member of our society, with your position, abusing your power like this? Do you believe this to be proper behavior?」

Stehy's got Negi trapped in some sort of altered perception. Negi's staring down at Stehy, his voice wavering.

"It's a homunculi. See the eyes? And, look how pretty it is. The looks make it dangerous enough. This is my responsibility. All homunculi must die. No one else would live if they took on a homunculi who cast a huge spell like that. You, understand, right? I'm being a good person. This is what must be done."

Stehy squinted up at him. Brown eyes, too, though she has irises with a fiery glint, instead of dull silver blanks like mine.

「Ignorance of the law is no excuse。」

I like how Stehy's spell keeps him from killing me. That's great. Negi grew up in the sewers according to Kirei's book, before he became his apprentice. I can feel the resemblance in how he had no mercy in his attacks. My fighting time is over right. That, that, is great. Now, now, my knees sunk down to the ground. Stehy interrogated.

「By whose order did you attack this girl under, again, Mr. Negi?」Stehy has Negi now. Whoo. Go. Justice Loli. Let me, just die here on the ground for the rest of my life.

"Order? I saw a laughing grey cloud. I saw the tentacles disappearing from over here. I came here to rid our forest of anything unsightly. Prince Ouji knows nothing."

Is Ouji actually a... prince? Dear god. This world. Maybe the real reason Anime Girl called him Ouji was he introduced himself as a prince. I thought it was his looks. It appears I am mistaken.

「And you then inferred since the homunculi was present she was the caster。Is this correct?」

Negi quivered. "Yes. That's right."

A business smile spread across Stehy's face.

「Seems like you've made a mistake。There is no logical necessity the girl and the spell are related。 」

"But the tentacles are gone. There's no other homunculi here. Kirei must have taught it how to use his spell. He's waiting back at Nephilz. He's got his cozy lab in the university tower and everything. He's right near here. It must have been another magic egg nest of his. He's always making those damn things. This being must be one of his homunculi!"

Oh, poor Negi. He's trying to make sense.

「The tentacles disappeared。Then, you saw this girl。 In the case she did cast a spell at this location, why does this deserve a death sentence? Where is your evidence?」

Negi's done. It wasn't long ago I felt like I would die, but now, I pity this boy. I, too, was young once. And well, I am around his age now, again. Thirteen to seventeen is standard for Anime Girl, so I'm going to say I'm at least a little older looking than him, I sure am taller.

"It's not a girl! Look at it's eyes! Don't let those breasts fool you!"

「This is an Anime Girl。Her existence is separate from what you term a homunculi。」

Negi's looking at Stehy like he got caught red handed. How did the 'Judgement Magic' work? Did Stehy's gavel flip Negi's view of her? Does she read as 'Authority Figure X' to his eyes?

「It's embarrassing, making mistakes。 Taking the third degree from such a beauty like me must be demeaning。Seems like you're having a hard time, is that right?」

Negi's face looked like a folded envelope. Rest in peace, common sense. "...yes."

「Let's handle this logically。If we go to this 'Prince Ouji,' he should be able to settle the matter, correct?」

"But!"

「You are rushing the matter。Is there need for violence here? The Anime Girl you mistook as a homunculi hasn't attacked or ran this whole time。She's willing to come along and explain herself, isn't she?」

What is this sudden pressure? Stehy turned her face to me. I felt stress lines wave in the air. The air is vibrating! It's vibrating! She isn't asking. Is she.

"Yep. I will go. To wherever." I mumbled out. The damage must be worse than I thought if my voice is coming out like this... Stehy, what are you doing?! I punched Ouji! Not that I believe that will have any impact on his treatment of me at all, but that's instinct! That isn't the reality! He's a real human with real feelings, those are hard to deal with! He'll want petty vengeance any way he can get it! And my body!

Stehy propped herself up on one outstretched foot, patting Negi on his shoulder. She barely made it past his collarbone. It counts.

「We'll have this handled soon。I'll see to it you won't serve any jail time。」

"Jail time?" Negi said. Stehy ignored him, rounding on me. Somehow, I feel like I'm in a worse situation than before. She's not smiling, but, she doesn't look happy either. What did I do? She stopped near my side, bending to my ear to whisper.

「Let Anime Girl handle movement。Anime Girl, don't forget to pick up Yarko and Niji。If I fail, we will need them。」

Ah. Stehy knows I'm not all there. Yeah. Anime Girl, you up to handle this? I sure don't feel like it.

[Hai. Oyasumi nasai, Wizard.]

I thought of last directions to give her to hopefully navigate through uncharted waters of whatever was going to happen next. Last time Anime Girl was awake and I wasn't I was sleep-battling against Ouji. I'll be up sleep-walking and sleep-talking. Can I really trust Anime Girl and Stehy to handle this for me?

Stehy walked off with Negi following like a convict. She turned near the edge of the forest. She's waiting on me to hand over control to Anime Girl. I'm scared. My stomach fell through the ground.

Doubts or not, I was done. Not much choice with my head like this. I didn't like this. I lost to Negi. Swordmanship? I had none. I mean, he actually probably, no definitely, had to fight to the death with a sword before, but still, I wanted to win!

I wanted to beat him. Even though I'm a pretty Anime Girl, even though I have magic, I'm still afraid. Even though I was blessed with power, even though I'm creative and have great knowledge, I'm awkward, hopelessly moralistic, greedy, and give up easily at the first sign of trouble. I want to beat Negi. The hungry, violent wretch who crawled from the sewers and though he was doing the right thing for the sake of other people. I want to beat him with a sword when I haven't fought to the death even once with a sword.

It was the same in my last life. I wanted to beat the people who work hard when I hated working hard. I want to win against the winners. I want to show happy people life sucks when I'm miserable. I want to tell everyone they are wrong, no matter how right I believe they are. Even if I'm alone, even if I avoid everyone, even if I'm selfish trash, I want to prove that I'm better than the responsible, the socially competent, the hard workers, the challengers, those admirable heroes of justice!

I rose. I don't have anything left in me. My spirit felt shredded. I don't know what I broke when I cast the clothing spell. My soul? My mana? I can't tell. I've lost. This greed. This greed will get me nowhere. I know that. What am I trying to prove? I know this is stupid. I've always known it's foolish. Why fight against those you admire? Why not just give in and play the games they play? Why not accept others? Why not be the first one to act? Was all that time I spent learning on the internet just a mirage, chasing ghosts, entertaining myself that I really was on the way to something greater? On to what? To where? For who? And why?

[Wizard. Damare, baka.] (Wizard. Shut up, idiot.)

And with that— I saw an image of a head chop hit my forehead. I felt the hit. My face deformed, I watched as red sprayed from my nose. Anime Girl's edged hand sunk into my face. Searching my folded face with my fingers, I confirmed it. There was no hand that hit my face, but the karate chop still hit. Impossible! I fell to the ground like a puppet with it's strings cut.

I heard Stehy saying my name. This voice, is the voice of someone who cares. Not like me. I'm not someone who can care. Not like others care.

Is that Stehy's fault, for caring about someone she barely knows? How unfair of me to use magic to summon clothing, then be upset it saved me. How unreasonable. Is she really the one I should resent? Or myself? Or, none. Either way, I like her voice. What a wonderful justice loli. I'm proud to have been served by you, Stehy.