Kyubey laid down on the low perimeter wall of the museum, basking in the sunlight. Though emotional sentiment was a trait harshly curtailed in its kind, there remained in all specimens a capacity for, and thus instinctive pursuit of, physical pleasure that had long proven unfeasible to entirely suppress. The goal then became for each agent to learn how to remain alert and ready for productivity even when indulging bodily impulses, a trait that had been stridently instilled in them all.

Even as Kyubey stretched out languidly, eyes closed and musing to itself, its senses stayed keyed to its surroundings. One never knew when a girl with Karmic Potential might cross paths with you, but if aeons of meddling with Magic and the Cosmos had instilled one lesson, it's that Fate had a tendency of coming to you if one ever stopped and-

There. Kyubey turned its head toward where it felt eyes focused on it, opening its own and pinning a young girl with a flat red gaze.

She was a lovely specimen... by most human standards. Flaxen hair styled into long, meticulously curled ringlets and bright golden eyes. She stood alone in front of an abstract statue, looking lost and staring at Kyubey in shock.

Kyubey in response simply picked itself up and jumped to the ground, trotting steadily up to the girl. She tracked its approach with wide eyes, saying nothing as it came close until-

"Mami, there you are!"

The girl, Mami, was shocked out of her stupor and whirled about to be met with the encircling arms of her mother. She stood flat-footed as her parents crowded her to make sure she was okay, apologizing numbly for wandering when scolded.

As her father picked her up and started walking away she twisted to see where the weird white creature was. But it was gone.

Kyubey looked on impassively from its new perch on the tip of the statue. Millennia of working in this planet had instilled in all units an understanding of the necessity of patience. It had found a new Magical Girl candidate, and her Potential was strong and steady. For now it could readily afford to observe her and wait for a more opportune time for formal contact.

That time came just weeks later.

Kyubey climbed the wreckage of the car, feeling nothing in response to the grisly accident but a detached urgency to locate the girl before she expired. A violent accident was an excellent opportunity to propose a Deal, yet equally horrible a setting to perform it: very few other scenarios offered a better environment of pressure on a girl to take the offer immediately or to maximize the payout of the shift in her Karma, but there was always the risk the given girl couldn't survive long enough to complete the transaction, or that she is too physically or mentally impaired in the fallout to effectively communicate.

Kyubey perched on the edge of the shattered window and peered in. The adults in front were dead, rib cages caved in from the impact, but the Girl was still breathing. Blood seeped from some wound on her sides, and she whimpered plaintively from where she laid curled on her side against the pavement. The setting sun shone down and cast the scene in a heavy orange glare.

She was still beautiful.

"Tomoe Mami."

The little girl whirled her head and opened her eyes to look at it. Good, she was responsive.

"I can save you. Or to be more precise, I can give you the power to save yourself."

"W-wha...?" The little girl managed through her gasps. This was worse than Kyubey had thought.

"I have been observing you for some time now. You have the potential to become a Magical Girl. Make a contract with me now, and I can give you the power to hold on to life."

"Ple...please..." she sniffled in pain, "save me."

"You must make a wish. Ask for anything."

"Save me!" The little girl wailed, "Don't let me die here!"

Kyubey knew it wasn't its place to second-guess a contractee. That it should just preserve her life and soul now and let the future decide itself. But that would not do, it had an obligation to these girls now.

"When you make the contract and become a Magical Girl, your injuries will be erased regardless of what you request. To spend your wish asking for salvation is a waste. Moreover, your parents are not so lucky."

"M-mama? Papa?"

"That is correct Tomoe Mami. I am looking at your parents right now, they are already dead. You can save them, that power is within you."

"Yes! Save them! Don't let my family die! Don't let this crash take anyone away! Please!"

Mollified, Kyubey jumped down and landed lightly in front of Mami's crumpled form.

"Stay strong little one." It intoned, stretching out its feelers as a light grew in Mami's chest. "Watch me bring your desires manifest."

The evening news that day was rife with reports off the fallout of that cataclysmic crash. Gridley scenes of crushed automobiles and spilled blood filled the screen. The only bright-spot was that somehow, no one was dead. It was a miracle of miracles.

That is not to say everyone walked away alright. Most involved where left in critical condition, and several were crippled for life. The only one not pulled out of the wreckage with scars was one blonde little girl, clutching a jeweled egg like a lifeline.

"Kyubey?"

"What is it Tomoe Mami?"

"Do you think if had phrased my wish better, Mama and Papa wouldn't be like this?"

Kyubey turned away from the window to look at Mami, seated in the corner of the hospital room. Her mother lay in a bed against the far wall between them, a host of machines beeping around her.

"I think that you where a frightened young girl in a traumatic situation that made the best call she could have been expected to make. That kind of magic is volatile Mami, focus on what good it did achieve."

Mami frowned and curled in on herself. There was little Kyubey could really do to allay her feelings of guilt. Irrationality may have been what made humans such an optimal font of Karma, but it also made dealing with them personally an exercise in futility.

Kyubey got up and jumped to the armrest of the little seat. After a second Mami clutched it and buried her face in its fur, crying into it. Kyubey allowed it. She needed to express and work through this grief before it was allowed to fester in her Soul Gem.

She would need all her strength when it introduced her to hunting.