Chapter 3 - Sayaka Miki just wants a quiet life

The Mermaid Witch

It is her nature to fall in love

Looking for the feeling that moved her so long ago,

she moves with the entire concert hall.

Her only fortune turns under the weight of memories and no longer moves towards the future.

「Nothing will reach her any longer」

She will come to know nothing more

She simply allows no one to disturb her minions' playing.

It was a ordinary morning on an ordinary day in Mitakihara town.

But Sayaka Miki felt anything but ordinary. This past day have been nothing but confusion. First, she found herself in a random hotel room with no idea how she got there. Second, she found her soul gem completely fixed and healed right next to her despite what has happened to her at the train station. And third, ever since the incident, she has been the talk of the town and the subject of numerous rumors, with the most popular being that she was abducted by an alien UFO. Her parents were worried sick when she got home, but now as everything seems to have calmed down a little, she was on her way to school as if nothing big happened. As Sayaka was walking, she looked up and saw her two friends, Hitomi and Madoka waiting for her.

"MIKI-SAN!"

Madoka ran towards Sayaka and gave her a hug with such force, that the two girls almost toppled over.

"We were worried so much about you! " said Hitomi.

"I told Mami you were fine! She was so relieved!" added Madoka.

Sayaka glanced at Hitomi. She remembers that they got into an argument, concerning a boy named Kyousuke Kamijou. Sayaka loved the boy and even became a magical girl for him, wishing for his injury to be healed so he can play the violin again. And the wish was granted, but Hitomi also had a crush on the same boy and took the chance to court him just as he got out of the hospital. This resulted in nothing but bad memories for Sayaka. But for some strange reason she could not feel a single shred of animosity towards Hitomi, nor can she feel any despair over the events that led her to turning into a witch. Ever since coming back from the hotel room, Sayaka Miki felt refreshed and unburdened. She felt like a person who was given a second chance in life, and she was not going to let old conflicts get in the way of her new-found peace of mind.

"Hey...Miki-san...about Kamijou-san…" Hitomi said.

"Eh don't worry about it. Our friendship is more important," Sayaka replied with a smile. "It's all water under the bridge."

Suddenly her stomach began to rumble. She remembered she left home in a hurry to avoid the swarm of reporters that were at her doorstep, and forgot to eat breakfast as a result.

"Hey you guys go on without me, I'm gonna go grab a quick bite to eat."

"You can eat at school." Madoka suggested.

"No way! They always put that strange stuff in their miso soup. And their meat is always too thick. I think I'll just grab something from a vending machine. I'll catch up with you guys later."

"Well you better hurry," Hitomi said. "Apparently there's a famous marine biologist coming to give a lecture in our class."

With that Hitomi and Madoka went on their way to school, while Sayaka went off to search for a vending machine.

Luckily there was one selling chocolate bars just around the corner. As she neared the machine, something in the reflective glass of the machine caught her eye. It was a faint image of what looked like a humanoid creature, covered head to toe in a bluish medieval-esque armor. On its helmet were three round spirals and on the top of its head sat five structures that resembled swords intertwined with feathers.

Sayaka quickly turned around. There was no one there. And as she turned back to the vending machine the reflection was gone. That was when she could have sworn she heard a small whisper in her ear.

"...「Blue Oyster Cult」…"

Sayaka shuddered. She looked down at her hand and there was already a candy bar there, and she did not even take out her money yet. She could not shake the eerie feeling that 「something」reached through the machine and grabbed the candy for her. Panicked, she quickly put it in her pack and ran off to school, with only one thought on her mind.

What the hell happened to me in that hotel?

Distracted by her thoughts, Sayaka did not see where she was going. She suddenly found herself not on the path to school but in a deserted street.

And that was the moment a witch's barrier sprang up around her.

MORIOH - 11:30 AM

"So this is Morioh," Kyubey said to himself. "Looks like a regular human town."

Kyubey recalled the conversation that took place between Kyoko and the human with the strange hair a day ago. He remembered the human mentioning he's from a town called Morioh, which was filled with 「stand users」 . Morioh was a town in S city, which was a long way from Mitakihara. However, thanks to his natural teleportation abilities, Kyubey was able to reach there in no time.

Kyubey came to the town in order to study the phenomenon known as「stands」, a phenomenon his race have never encountered before. But try as he might, he just could not find any users. Occasionally he glimpsed something strange, like a deformed man petting a potted-plant and a masked man living in an electrical tower, but for the most part Morioh was just another suburban community. Nevertheless, Kyubey continued to patrol the town and that was when he noticed something strange. The town did not have a single magical girl in it.

We incubators have contracted humans all over the planet, there should be magical girls everywhere, Kyubey thought to himself. So why doesn't this town have any?

As Kyubey glanced across the street, he suddenly stopped in his tracks. Between Olson Convenience Store and Kisaragi Drugstore sat an alleyway, which Kyubey did not notice before. The incubator looked up to study the town map that was beside him. To his curiosity, he noticed that the alleyway was nowhere marked on the map.

"Hmmm...this is interesting. I'm detecting a strange spatial distortion emanating from behind that alleyway." Kyubey said to himself as he crossed to street, entering the mysterious alleyway.

"Hey Kirika, you there?"

"Yes Oriko...what's up?"

"...We're going to need more stand users…"

"Relax Oriko, I just checked up on that Sayaka Miki chick. Her soul gem has been stabbed by the 「arrow」 before the hotel staff got to her and it's going to take a while for her 「stand」to 「gestate」. I gotta say Oriko, your 「stand」 works pretty fast…"

"...Kirika, was her soul gem left there by 「someone」?"

"...Huh? Umm...well now that you mention it, it was conveniently placed beside her bed, which is kind of strange. Didn't you tell me she's supposed to be a witch? Why does she have a soul gem?"

"...That's why I called. There's a new stand user in town and apparently he can revert witches back into humans…「restoring objects to previous states」...without the need of the 「arrow」. And they become magical girls again, unlike the witches we've converted."

"...Seriously? How do you know all this?"

"...My 「Electric Light Orchestra」 sees everything. It has no weaknesses…"

"...Oh yeah, right. So this new guy, is he a friend or foe?"

"...I don't know yet. But assuming he's an enemy, we must distract him from our mission at hand. Send one of the 「Witch Tarot」after him."

"...Which one? Gertrud's 「Iron Butterfly」is pretty strong. And so is Gisela's「Speed Demon」 . We can also send in Elsa Maria and her「Night Ranger」, but keep in mind her stand works well only during the night..."

"...Send in Nagisa Mamoe."

"...You mean Charlotte? Oriko, I don't think sending in that runt is a good idea. Her 「Ballroom Blitz」would level at least half of Mitakihara. Her stand is too violent! And it tried to eat my freakin' head!"

"Relax. I placed a「flesh bud」on her. She won't be...too destructive..."

"Alright...alright. I'll take your word for it. By the way, why do we need more stand users? Aren't the ones we have enough?"

"...Did you see the news? Two men disappeared next to the port. And they were hauling aboard their boat a certain... 「gear-shaped object」..."

"...「Gear-shaped object」? ...OH MY GOD….y-you mean she's…."

"Yes Kirika, she's back. The woman in the gear is back. And we're going to need all the help we can get in order to truly defeat her."

TO BE CONTINUED

Author's notes: Well, there we go, another chapter down. I have a week left before school starts so I'm going to try and write as much as possible before real life takes over.

So now Sayaka is revealed to have a stand. I gave a hint to it's abilities in the intro to this chapter and I'll do this for every Witch-User introduced.

And now to the subject of the Witch Tarot, which will be a huge plot point for the majority of this story.

They are stand users, but they refer to each other using witch names as code names. As for their abilities, I had a really fun time coming up with really over the top stuff. Their origins and how they became stand users will be revealed soon. Luckily though, none of their stands are named after Prince songs, so I'm safe from his lawyers for the time being.

As always, thanks for reading!