魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 21 Chapter 192

Summary: Chisame, now wearing one of her pactio outfits, is stunned to learn that they traveled some 10,000KM (~6214 miles). The impossibility of finding the 11+ people that traveled to the gate with the remaining 15-days of summer vacation they have comes to roost. She recalls the giant land octopus and demands to know how Negi will take responsibility for everything. Chachamaru assures Chisame her life was never in danger as the Cerberus Cloth Eater only consumes clothing, after licking the victims completely naked. Chisame finds that just as bad and returns to rant on Negi, only to find him looking ill as he concedes his role in this mess. This takes the wind out of her rant as Negi worries about the girls who snuck along for the ride.

Negi passes out and Chachamaru places her head against his to discover his fever is at 104ºF. This puzzles Chachamaru who acknowledges Negi is getting worse considering Negi had been completely healed by Konoka. Chachamaru has Chisame go fetch water, who upon returning is shocked to see Chachamaru undressing Negi to dry him off and change him. Chisame has to remind herself that Negi is only 10 to calm down. Seeing Chachamaru take off Negi’s pants, Chisame warns that is dangerous. Chachamaru thanks Chisame who seems to get fixated as Chachamaru dries Negi’s mid-section, leading her mice to say that Chisame needs to be careful as well.

Night falls and Negi is still out, with Chachamaru depressed at not knowing what is causing Negi’s ailment. Chisame tries to cheer Chachamaru up before going to tend Negi again as another person arrives to address “Chachamaru-neechan.” Negi wakes up, still in bad shape and apologizes to Chisame. Chisame also apologizes for her rant and acknowledges she agreed to the potential risks of the trip. Negi is frustrated that despite all his training, he was unable to protect everyone and got stomped by Fate. He feels that Eva or his father would have succeeded but Negi couldn’t even sense Fates first attack. As such, he wants more and more power.

Meanwhile, the person, Kotaro, has been briefed and presents himself to Negi. He power-punches Negi and starts going off on him for worrying. He taunts Negi, saying that even if Negi had more power, he’d never match the Thousand Master, much less Asuna. He launches his Shikuukokurouga attack on Negi (with all the wolves) . Negi counters but Kotaro tells him he better do more. In fact, should Negi defeat Kotaro, he’ll let Negi know what Asuna has that Negi doesn’t which makes her better in combat.

The fight rages for 15 minutes, mainly with power punches as Chisame and Chachamaru watch in resignation. The fight over, Kotaro and Negi argue over who won before Kotaro notes that Negi’s mood has improved and that his fever has broken. Negi is stunned that this is true, so Kotaro explains that Konoka’s healing power placed so much magic into Negi that the power went wild, causing his illness. As such, it needed to be expelled, which is what the fight produced. Negi wants to be told what Kotaro was referring to regarding Asuna. Kotaro initially refuses but after Negi insists he won their match, Kotaro states that the one thing Asuna has is idiocy. This confuses Negi but Kotaro will say no more on the subject. The four decide to head to town before proceeding with trying to find more people.

Thoughts: Hmmmm, so Negi had too much magical energies inside him which needed to be expelled. And Kotaro was the next person to be found. Well, that gives them three major fighters with Chisame’s mice that can scout the area. Then again, now that Chachamaru is there and Negi can keep her powered, the mice can stay powered and as they did when Chisame was alone, they can navigate a route that would avoid all conflict. I’m not sure which way Akamatsu-sensei will go, but we’ll see.