I wake up as usual, expectin' to have Hae Eun's warmth in the form 'a her small body to be layin' in my arms, but it's absent, so I open my eyes, thinkin' she's rolled outta my arms or somethin'. Instead, I don't find anythin' there - only some folds 'a bedsheet and pillow. I get up, wonderin' where she's gone off to durin' the night, maybe gone off to fight a witch or somethin' because she didn't want me to go off wastin' my magical energy, but as soon as I rub my eyes and blink a couple times to get my groggy vision back, the first thing I see is Hae Eun lyin' on the floor of our hotel room, seemingly knocked out and on her side.

"H-Hae Eun! ! !"

I immediately throw aside the covers and swing my legs outta bed, shoutin' her name, and I run over to her and lift her up. My heart's poundin' like a fuckin' freak as I gently shake her. Her laptop's still on on the desk, and that small black box I found for her's open, empty 'n all. The flash drive, I notice, is plugged in, and a notepad file with some phone numbers on it's up on the screen.

"Hae Eun, wake up! Are you okay? What's going on?!" I beseech, as though Hae Eun's gonna wake up from the sound of my voice alone like some sorta Snow White story. I shake her for a few moments, and eventually, much to my giant relief, Hae Eun opens her eyes sleepily.

"Oh my God, Hae Eun...!" I feel tears welling up in the back of my eyes but manage to hold them back. "Hae Eun, what - what happened? What did you do last night?"

Hae Eun blinks slowly, as if she's some amnesia patient who doesn't have any idea where she is or what she's been up to. Her eyes, wanderin' around a bit, finally focuses on me after a few seconds, and I can see her pupils expand.

"Sheesh..." I mutter, leaning over and picking up Hae Eun's monocle that's fallen off her right eye and putting it back over her right eye, where Hae Eun's magic energy holds it in place over her eye for her. "Why didja stay up all night...makin' me worry my ass off, y'know..."

Hae Eun mumbles something that I can't quite pick up, so I ask, "What? I couldn't hear that..."

I look at Hae Eun's face, and she whispers,

"Appa...?"

I can't help but pull an embarrassed smile. "Hae Eun...Hae Eun, baby, I ain't'cho dad."

But Hae Eun seems outta it for some reason. She jus' looks at me again, all sleepy, and repeats herself.

"Appa..."

"Hae Eun, that's cute 'n all, but c'mon, if ya wanna sleep some more, come onto the bed and - "

Suddenly, Hae Eun's arms reach up and slap tightly against the back of my neck and head. Before I know it, and before I can realize what's going on so that I can do something about it, Hae Eun drags me down and pulls my face into hers, and my lips land on hers.

"Hae - mmmpppph!"

And yeah...I don't need ta tell ya what's going on,

but we kiss.

But it ain't like the kisses me 'n Hae Eun's got had before. Before, when we've kissed for longer than a second, we've had ones that we both enjoy each other's love, like...well, er...lovers. But this one's different. I think they call this kind the French kiss, 'cause Hae Eun's puttin' her tongue into my mouth.

"Ha - nnnnnnmmmmm...!"

I try to break away to talk, but every time I do so, Hae Eun jus' forces my head closer to hers and keeps kissin' me. I keep forgetin' that Hae Eun's really fuckin' strong herself. I don't know what's goin' on or what's happenin' to me or what Hae Eun's doin' to me, but my mind's goin' fuzzy real bad, real quick, like Hae Eun's floodin' me with her own magical energy somehow, however that works. I ain't even gonna lie, it feels ecstatic, and a part 'a me doesn't wanna stop either. But if I don't do somethin' to get Hae Eun to stop, I dunno where this'll go...

So I finally muster up the strength to rip my face off hers, and it feels like havin' ta get outta bed on a really cold winter mornin' 'cause I have to go to school or somethin'. And before she can put in the strength to pull my face down to her again, I give Hae Eun a mighty ol' slap across the face.

She doesn't even say ow or anything. She jus' stares up at me after I slap her, blinkin' again. Her eyes shake a bit, then go back to focus, and she looks around.

"...Antonia...?" she mumbles up at me, like she doesn't even know what she just did to me. "...what...what are we doing on the...floor...?"

I start to laugh weakly. "Are you fackin' kiddin' me...?" I groan. "You don't know what'cha jus' did...?"

Hae Eun shakes her head, so I have to explain it to her what she's done.

"Y-You..." I begin, "you kissed me. And it wasn't any normal kiss we've had." I feel my cheeks turnin' super red, super fast.

Hae Eun seems a bit confused, so I go further.

"You - put - your - fucking - tongue - in - my - mouth." I enunciate each word like I'm teachin' an English enunciation class to foreign students.

That gets Hae Eun goin'. Her eyes pop open in surprise, and like me, she blushes real hard as well, and she sits up real quick.

"U-Um..." Hae Eun whispers in shock, "I-I did...that...?"

"Yes!"

"Y-You are...you're not trolling me...?"

"No! Why would I troll you about this?"

Hae Eun bows her head. "I...I do not remember...I can't recall anything until you woke me up...I'm so sorry..."

"Well, no, you - you don't have to apologize..." I say sheepishly. "Just...it was...it was good, but...it was so sudden that I didn't know how to react..."

We keep sitting on the floor, not lookin' at each other. God, this got awkward real fast.

"A-Anyway!" I blurt out, unable to bear the awkward silence any longer. "What were you doin' last night? Why didn't'cha come to bed with me?"

Hae Eun looks up at me, as if she, too, is relieved that she's got an excuse to talk to me again.

"This...I had decided to listen to the file on that flash drive that was inside the black box we recovered yesterday," Hae Eun explains, and she spends about five or so minutes givin' me a rundown of what she learned.

"So afterwards," Hae Eun concludes, "I decided to put on Appa's wedding ring, and that is the last thing I can remember," Hae Eun says, a bit uncertainly. "There was supposed to be another ring inside the box, but...this was the only one."

"One 'a the rings's missin'?" I repeat.

"Yes..."

"So are ya gonna make me use my sixth sense to find it?"

Hae Eun shakes her head. "I cannot ask of you for too much. You have already done me such a huge favor by finding that box that I do not know how to return it..."

"Aw, it wasn't a favor or anything, I'm jus' tryin'a help out a bestie here..." I scootch over to Hae Eun and lean on her shoulder.

"No, I - "

"Oh, c'mon, I can at least try, can't I? If it can work once, it can work again, can't it?"

Hae Eun, almost unwillingy, takes off the ring and hands it to me in the hopes that the same trick can indeed work twice. I hold it in front of me, concentrating on it to see if my sixth sense will prock. I try holding it at different angles, and I even put it on my own ring finger at one point (though doing that felt really wrong), but nothing happened.

"Nah," I shake my head regrettably, "I didn't get jack."

"I see..." Hae Eun, like I expected, seems down from my failure. "But it is no matter. I may not know what possessing both of my parents' wedding rings will do, but I am grateful to have one of them at the very least."

"Hey, Hae Eun," I say without really thinking it through, "what if we do find that ring? Do you want me to wear it too? Just kidding..."

I chuckle awkwardly at my joke, but Hae Eun doesn't take it as a joke. Instead, she gazes at me with strange eyes that I can't quite put my finger on what they're supposed to mean.

"You know, funny thing is," Hae Eun says in a small voice, "I would not mind that at all."

I don't know what to say to that, so I keep my mouth shut and let another awkward silence strangle our vocal cords.

"A-Anyway...!" I burst out again. I really hate these awkward silences that ensue between us - makes me feel like we're lovers, when we're in reality only just really, really, really close friends who could...y'know, take it a bit past the whole boundary of...well, you know what I mean. But if I put it that way, it makes me feel like I'm jus' friendzoning Hae Eun, and that's not my intention. You know what, fuck this, I'm jus' gonna take my mind off this subject...

"Anyway, Hae Eun, where're we goin' today? Are we goin' back today like we did yesterday, or do you have somethin' else in mind?" I ask Hae Eun, who also composes herself from our little embarrassing discourse. She clears her throat a bit before talking.

"I do wish to speak to you about some of these things that Appa left behind for me in that audio file," she says. "I suppose we could go to a cafe or coffee shop or restaurant somewhere to speak about it..."

"Yeah, that sounds good. Do ya know where we can go?"

"We could decide after we get dressed and get ready."

"Yeah..."

We stand up from the floor. I help Hae Eun up, and she thanks me with that small smile that I like seein' her make. But as she stands up, I hold her firm so that she can't all walk away real quick.

"Hae Eun," I say firmly practically right up in 'er face, "you sure yer okay?"

Hae Eun blinks at me. "Of...of course, Antonia. I appear to be fine, do I not?"

"Yeah, but I just want'cha to double-check yerself that there really ain't nothin' wrong wit'cha. You got knocked out last night because 'a that ring, after all. I dunno what it does or what it did to you, but I don't trust it."

Hae Eun glances at her father's wedding ring, which is on her own ring finger. "As of now, I do not feel any mental, physical, or physiological change that has occurred to me," Hae Eun says, shaking her head. "Perhaps you may continue to monitor me for any difference in my behavior or appearance, but I do not think it will do anything malicious to me. Though, your sixth sense may have a differing opinion on it..."

"Oh yeah, right, then at least lemme scan the ring with my sixth sense jus' ta make sure."

"Please."

I take a minute or so to stare at Hae Eun's new ring, but my sixth sense doesn't perk up or tell me anything. Maybe it really ain't anything bad or evil, but a part 'a me still ain't gonna trust it. I mean, if you wore somethin' that you know knocked ya out, how the hell can't it be somethin' suspicious?

But I shake my head and relent. "I can't get anythin'," I tell Hae Eun, lettin' go 'a her hand, "but I'm jus' lettin' ya know right now that I don't like it."

Hae Eun closes her eyes for a bit, nodding. "I understand your suspicion, Antonia. I am aware that you only wish to look after my safety, but this ring is - was - my father's. Even if it has become corrupted or something of the sort, it is not something I shall simply discard."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. Let's get ready ta head out."

We spend another half hour or so gettin' dressed 'n such to go spend our last day on vacation.

Around lunchtime, we sit down at a small table in the outdoors patio area of a Starbucks in the middle 'a Seoul somewhere. We just came here from eatin' lunch at a Korean-style Kentucky Fried Chicken's, and damn, they had shit that American KFC's never have. It was insane - I completely pigged out on sour cream 'n onion chicken, and Hae Eun watched me eat it all like a dotin' mother watchin' her kids eat the meals she set out for 'em.

"So what'cha wanted ta talk about, Hae Eun?" I ask, grinnin' a bit in small satisfaction as I sip from a straw in my cinnamon dolce light frappucino. God, I've fallen in love with this drink already the moment I took a sip of it as it was handed to me from the counter lady. I personally really, really love cinnamon. I don't know why. I just love it.

Hae Eun takes a long sip of her own drink, a double chocolaty chip creme frappucino. She sure loves her chocolate, even though I'm not quite the choco connoisseur myself. Smacking her lips and enjoying the sweet aftertaste that even I can almost taste for myself jus' by watchin' her drink, she puts down her cup.

"You remember what I talked to you about earlier this morning in regards to what I heard in that audio file?" she asks, and I nod.

"Yeah...well, I know the generals, you'd hafta fill in the details whenever I need 'em..."

"That I shall do. The first matter of business I wanted to discuss was the topic of our powers, Antonia."

I lazily continue to sip on my straw, not sure of what exactly she's talkin' about.

"...our powers?" I repeat. "What 'bout 'em?"

"Not our powers in particular. Perhaps I was not specific enough - what I meant to ask you was, how powerful do you think a Magical Girl's powers can become?"

My find my eyes rolling slowly upwards so that my face says by itself "Uh...what?"

"Allow me to articulate," Hae Eun says, reading the expression that I've got on. "In the audio file, Appa said that he researched briefly on the extent on the powers of Magical Girls in the desire to see how powerful they could become. He mentioned that he heard of one such Magical Girl was so powerful that she was able to break people's necks without touching them or looking at them. I want to get your opinion on this, Antonia. How strong do you think we Magical Girls can truly become?"

I nod, understanding her question now that she's put some context behind it.

"I mean, we dunno, do we? Becomin' Magical Girls 'n gettin' our powers, it's kinda like how humans're born, right? Everyone turns out ta be different, right? So in the same way, everyone's got different powers, and some girls like us jus' turn out to be stronger than others. 'Cause 'a that, I don't think we can accurately gauge how strong any one 'a us can really become, can we?"

"But if you had to venture a guess as to what the strongest Magical Girl's powers would be like, what would you say?"

I shrug. "I dunno, I mean...look at ourselves, we've got some pretty ridiculous powers, don't we? I got an Alien-lookin' demon sidekick motherfucker that I can summon whenever the hell I want and it'll wreck people for us, and you've got the power to literally change reality. I don't think there's much that really comes close to that, right? Well, I take that back, that bitch from two nights ago with 'er whole time freezing thing seemed pretty fuckin' OP, don'tcha think..."

"But we must remember that in life, there is always someone somewhere in the world who is better than you at something," Hae Eun points out. "So going by that logic, we can only assume that there is indeed another Magical Girl who is stronger than us. Stronger than me, with an even more fantastical power."

"Man, I'd really like ta come ta know a Magical Girl who's got a power that's crazier than warpin' reality," I scoff. "I mean, that time freezing thing's comin' close, but still."

"Of course, given how powerful we ourselves are, it is unlikely for us to meet other Magical Girls who are theoretically and conceptually stronger than us, but the occasion may still occur."

"That'd be like unboxin' a Stattrak Huntsman Knife on your first try," I laugh. I know Hae Eun's done that before for Counterstrike. "What was that, a 0.83% of that shit actually happening, and it actually did happen?"

"Perhaps the numerical statistic is tweaked for our purposes, but yes, perhaps," Hae Eun gives a small, amused smile as she recalls that moment for herself, sipping on her frappucino. The sun's shinin' down on us both, all warm and cozy for a late fall early afternoon out on the Starbucks patio. "The important thing to remember is that the chance of us coming across another Magical Girl who is stronger than either of us is low, yet possible."

"But then why talk 'bout it?" I ask back. "What's the point 'a us discussin' these whole...how should I put it, power levels of other Magical Girls? Or just Magical Girls as a whole? I don't mean ta put it in a mean way, but what's the point when we're damn near at the top 'a the Magical Girl power level hierarchy and we don't even know who's above us, if any at all? Like, I jus' wanna know if there's a bigger point to this other 'n jus' as a gossip topic..."

Hae Eun sets down her frappucino cup again.

"I will explain my purpose in due time. But basically, you are saying that we do not know, and there is no way for us to know how strong Magical Girls can truly become, correct?"

I nod slowly. "Yeah...tha's right..."

"I see. Then next, I know this topic seems very random from what what we were just talking about, but do you think Magical Girls are involved with religion in any way?"

I narrow my eyes at Hae Eun in downright confusion. I'm really taken back by this wild twist in question matter.

"Huh? Wait, religion? As in, God, Christianity, that sorta stuff?"

"Yes."

I twist my lips. "Gawd-dang it, Hae Eun, I ain't as devout a Christian as you are. Aren't you a better answer for this than me?"

"But you had Catholic parents and a bit of a Catholic background, if I recall. Surely you know enough to make an opinion on this."

"Yeah, but..." I sigh lightly. "My parents've been dead for over two years or so. On top 'a which, they weren't like serious serious Catholics, they just went to Mass on whatever Sunday they could. It wasn't like they were hardcore Jesuits or somethin'."

"Regardless, I would like to hear your opinion on this matter."

"Well...fine, okay, but...but what exactly am I supposed to give my opinion about?"

"Whether you think Magical Girls like us have some sort of connection to religion. For example, Appa informed me that he spoke with a Magical Girl who happened to be Muslim, and according to that particular Magical Girl, the Quran, which is the holy text in Islam, contains explicit mentions of Magical Girls. Whether this is true, I cannot immediately confirm because obviously neither of us are Muslim. But there are clues in the Bible that I remember reading for myself that would suggest that Magical Girls have some ties to religious canon. I want to know if you believe in the integrity of that argument or not."

I shrug again. "Hey, I never bothered readin' the Bible seriously, so you know way more on this than I do. And personally, even if there were a religious basis for Magical Girls, it'd still seem really far-fetched, mainly 'cause Kyuubey doesn't fit in the picture. Like, where the fuck does Kyuubey come in when ya throw in religion into the cookin' pot, eh? That's what I'm wonderin'."

"Then judging by your response, you are skeptical about the possibility that the existence of Magical Girls has a religious connotation to it."

"Yeah. Like, sorry if I'm disagreein' with you here, Hae Eun, but personally, I can't see it. Maybe it's 'cause we've already seen so much shit 'n so much death ever since we became Magical Girls, you 'n I both, but I jus' can't see Magical Girls bein' little angels or somethin'. There's just...there jus' ain't no way."

Hae Eun nods like a sage. "I understand."

"Though..." I hold up my hand as if to control the pace 'a the conversation myself, "though, I did sometimes think 'bout why it's only Magical Girls, y'know? Why aren't there any Magical Boys? Kinda weird, don't'cha think? Like, how'd that happen?"

"I think that is because us teenage girls are more prone to more extreme emotions that Kyuubey and his kind harvest. Boys tend to keep their emotions in check better than girls can."

I scoff. "Yeah, right, I call fucking bullshit on that. Tell that shit to Samson, see how we like that."

Hae Eun shrugs slightly. "There are exceptions, of course, but I doubt Kyuubey has the time to take into consideration exceptions such as him."

"Yeah, well, maybe they should. That fatass furball's supposed to be this super-smart fuckin' extraterrestrial life form, right? With the whole hive-mind thing? They're smart enough ta handle exceptions in this messed up equation they're runnin'. Fuckin' fucks."

We stay quiet for a bit as we drink some more out of our frappucinos.

"Then lastly," Hae Eun says quietly, "Antonia, if we were to grow up and marry and have children, do you personally believe that our powers are able to be passed down, like genetics or a special bloodline within the family?"

I can't help but smirk a bit. "I think we'd be really fuckin' lucky to even get to that age, Hae Eun."

"Indeed we would be, given what befalls most other Magical Girls, but let us simply assume that we do make it that far into the future. Do you think your children would have powers like yours, or simply possess their own powers?"

"Like genetics, huh..." I lean back a bit in my chair, runnin' my fingers through my dyed hair which probably needs another dying soon, I've noticed the roots 'a my hair goin' back to its ol' brunette colors that're natural to me. "Honestly, I can't say. It'd be an easy answer jus' ta go 'head 'n assume that yeah, it is genetic 'n all, 'cause, y'know, your mum was a Magical Girl herself too, right? So yeah, I'll go ahead 'n say that it can be passed down, but I won't be surprised if it doesn't work that way."

Hae Eun nods. She puts her hands together and closes her eyes.

"The reason why I asked these things is because I had been contemplating what Appa told me in that audio file, and I came to the hypothetical conclusion of the possibility of there existing a Magical Girl so strong that she surpasses human comprehension. In other words, a Magical Girl who might achieve the status of a god."

I nearly drop my goddamn frappucino.

"You can't be fucking serious."

"Yes, I am serious." Hae Eun opens her eyes back up and looks at me intently from jus' across our little circular table. Even though we're sittin' right next to each other, the look in Hae Eun's eyes give the illusion that we're sittin' on opposite ends of a really long table but yet still makin' it feel like we're sittin' right next to each other, like...as in real life. If that makes sense at all.

"I am serious about this, Antonia," my friend repeats. "Appa thought of some ridiculous theories about Magical Girls, so I decided to make my own."

"But...but that's jus' insane!" I breathe. "A Magical Girl who's a god? There's no way! She wouldn't even be a Magical Girl anymore, would she? I mean, she'd no longer be human, that's for sure!"

"But the same can be said of us," Hae Eun points out. "Upon contracting with Kyuubey, we Magical Girls all have virtually ceased to continue being human, have we not? We are nothing more than liches, living with our souls physically removed from our bodies. By definition, we, too, are no longer humans. If such is the case, then the process of becoming gods from our position has, at the very least, become possible. Normal humans do not possess this same opportunity that we do."

"But we can still die, right? So if we can die, how can ya say we can still become divine? Aren't gods supposed to like, y'know, live forever? What's with that? Explain that shit for me!"

"I cannot," Hae Eun shakes her head briefly, "for that would depend on what kind of definition of 'god' we are dealing with here."

I still got my confused look on. "Er...yeah, well, explain that part for me," I say, shakin' my own head. "Like, whaddya mean, what definition of 'god'..."

"Divinity and the state of being a god or 'God' can be interpreted in multiple ways. Are we talking about God in a Christian context, in which God is omniscient, omnipotent, and exists outside the third dimension in a sort of fourth dimension, unaffected by the concept of time? Or are we instead talking about a state of divinity in which a 'god' is a physical being who is simply immune to death and old age altogether, like the gods and goddesses of Greek and Roman and Norse mythologies?"

"But whichever the case, like, Magical Girls still can't become gods 'cause we can still die. The Greek gods, or God, or whoever God is, it's not like they can die, right?"

Hae Eun shrugs. "You even said it yourself that we never know what our powers are like before we receive them upon making the contract with Kyuubey. Perhaps there could exist Magical Girl with powers so strong that she is elevated to the status of a god. That could be entirely possible."

I continue shakin' my head. "Yeah...well...you know how fuckin' hilariously unlikely that is?"

"Yes, I am very aware of that. However, the possibility must be considered at the very least."

"Eeehhhh...I beg to differ," I disagree, "I really don't think somethin' like that needs to be considered if it's that unlikely to happen, y'know?"

Hae Eun picks up her frappucino cup. "Perhaps," she says simply as she takes a sip.

I drink out of my own frappucino too, but Hae Eun's words are stuck like superglue on my mind. A Magical Girl who achieves the status of a god through her own powers...goddamn, that's so ridiculous to think...like, if that kinda Magical Girl actually existed, what kinda powers would she even have...? I'm startin' ta scare the shit outta myself as my brain churns out possibilities of a divine Magical Girl's powers.

"And ya mentioned the whole thing about our powers bein' genetic too, right?" I also mention. "Were ya 'bout ta ask me that if a divine Magical Girl actually existed, would she be able to pass on her powers onto her own children?"

Hae Eun nods, meaning I hit the jackpot.

"Well, like, think back ta what'cha said earlier. You said that there's two kinds of 'God' that we know of, right? The whole omniscient, omnipotent Christian God or whatever and the physical state 'a being God like the Greek gods or whatever. I'd imagine you'd hafta be a physical god to get to marry 'n have kids, right? If you were God who exists on another plane 'a reality, then how the fuck would'ja have kids in the first place? Imagine 'em to be born?"

Hae Eun and I chuckle at that little joke.

"But seriously, real talk," I mutter after ceasing my gigglin', "a God-tier Magical Girl? That's fuckin' scary, Hae Eun. How the hell did'ja even get ta think 'bout that?"

Hae Eun just shrugs, like she thinks 'bout crazy shit all the time. "It was the logical conclusion that I could deduce from what Appa talked about in that audio file," she says. "Now that I have processed his words, it certainly seems that he was trying to imply the existence, or the possibility of the existence, of some sort of divine Magical Girl."

"Well, I think I've had enough Magical Girl talk for today," I groan, settin' my head on the table. "So much heavy shit for me ta think 'bout. I ain't that smart, Hae Eun, 'n you know that. Don't do this to meeeee..."

Hae Eun chuckles and pats my head. "I'm sure you are more intelligent than you claim to be," she says reassuringly, though her words don't exactly sound reassuring. As I lift my head to take another sip outta my drink, I let my eyes wander a bit around the outdoor patio at all the Korean people around us. I'm the only one noticeably white and non-Korean in the patio area, so I suddenly feel slightly awkward for bein' the odd one out, but I don't pay it any more heed.

The door that leads out to the patio area opens up, and I casually glance over at the door to see who is coming out. That sure is a familiar face, where've I seen -

It's that same fuckin' Magical Girl from two nights ago who stole our motherfuckin' Grief Seed.

I quickly dart my face away so that she won't catch me lookin' at her. I put my hand over Hae Eun's and hiss under my breath,

"Hae Eun, it's her."

Hae Eun looks surprised and confused for a second but narrows her eyes once she realizes who I'm talkin' about.

"Where?" she whispers.

I quickly glance with my eyes to see if I can still see that girl, and sure enough, she's strollin' over to a solo table 'bout three tables away behind Hae Eun. She's got normal clothes on and her back facin' us, which's good 'cause it means there's less of a chance of her noticin' we're watchin' her. I know she was holdin' a cup 'a coffee too, so maybe she's jus' here to relax like us, but still.

"She's behind you. Three tables back."

"Is she facing us?"

"No, she's sittin' with her back to us."

Hae Eun quickly steals a glance at that girl.

"Indeed, that is the girl," Hae Eun nods gravely.

"What'cha wanna do? I wanna call 'er out 'n beat the shit outta her for stealin' our Grief Seed the other night," I hiss. The anger that I felt back then that night's creepin' up into my throat.

"No, calm down, Antonia. We mustn't make a commotion out here in public," Hae Eun warns. "For now, let us track her. We may not know who this particular Magical Girl is, but I am interested in knowing who she is and what her power is."

We continue to watch her for like, fifteen minutes or twenty or so, but she doesn't really do anything particularly interesting.

"Perhaps...perhaps I should go up to her and attempt to converse with her?" Hae Eun wonders aloud, almost makin' my eyes pop outta my head.

"W-Wha - ?! N-No, fuck that!" I hiss loudly. "She ain't our friend, she's an enemy! No Magical Girl jus' swoops in on someone else's witch fight 'n jus' jacks their Grief Seed that they earned, not her! She ain't someone we can jus' roll up on 'n expect to have a pleasant afternoon chat in some random fuckin' Starbucks patio!"

"Yes, but attempting to engage her in combat is risky as well, now that we have an idea of what she is capable of. In this scenario, I would prefer to gather information about her by simply trying to speak with her," Hae Eun replies, but I shake my head frantically.

"No, no no no no. Plan rejected. Besides, what I wanna know's what the hell she's doing here. It can't be a random fuckin' coincidence that we're in the same goddamn city, in the same goddamn Starbucks patio. There's gotta be a reason behind this."

"Well...if you put it that way..." Hae Eun muses, "if it is no coincidence, perhaps she knows that we are here and that we are keeping an eye on her?"

I shudder at the thought. "Please don't freak me the fuck out, Hae Eun, this bitch's sketch already with her time freezin' shit..."

"Just keep your signature hidden and continue to observe her for me."

I do as Hae Eun says and keep an eye on that girl. Her long sweepin' black hair's gettin' in the way so that I can't kinda nudge around 'n see what she looks like from the side. I betcha that's the kinda hair Hae Eun wishes she had, though. But five minutes later, she stands up from her small table, drains the rest of her drink, and starts to exit the patio area.

"She's leavin', she's leavin'!" I whisper urgently as she starts to head towards the door that leads back inside the Starbucks shop. "Wanna follow? If we wanna follow, we gotta go now!"

Hae Eun, too, stands up and beckons towards the door. We both finish whatever's left in our drinks and toss the empty plastic cups into the recycling bins near the door to follow that Magical Girl outside.

"Don't lose sight 'a her!" I whisper fiercely to Hae Eun as we push past some customers near the entrance door of the coffee shop, pursuing that Magical Girl. We spy her walkin' down the street to the left and follow her closely but far away enough so that she won't know we're stalkin' her. We track her down to the lobby of this big skyscraper building that's got a big logo on the side that says "HAMSOA" in English letters, and we see her steppin' into one of the elevators in the elevator lobby. We dash over to the elevators and I hit the button to call one of the elevators down, and one of them immediately dings open for us.

"Which floor?" Hae Eun asks me hurriedly as we enter before other people can come and get in our way.

I look at the buttons for the floors on the elevator control panel, my sixth sense racing to find an answer outta nowhere.

"Uhhhh...um..." Sweat's poppin' in my brow. I don't wanna lose sight 'a that girl, she's got hell ta pay. "The roof! That's where she's headed!"

"But there's no roof floor - "

I jab the highest floor that the elevator can take us to. "This's jus' as good!"

The elevator jerks to life and sweeps us up the skyscraper, and I watch nervously as the lights along the top of the elevator doors indicating which floor we're passing flicker in increasing numerals. Hae Eun taps me on the arm to get my attention.

"Antonia, prepare for the worst. Get changed."

I nod and summon my Magical Girl uniform, but I keep my halberd stowed away for now in case we run into a couple civilians along the way. Hae Eun does the same, and when I glance over at her, she's got her eyes prepped and ready to go.

"Your eyes...ya think they'll work against her power or whatever?" I ask Hae Eun. "I mean, we know it nullifies other Magical Girls' powers, but do you think it can negate someone stoppin' time?"

Hae Eun shakes her head. I can sense a bit of apprehension in her too.

"I have no idea. We will have to find out now..."

Finally, after what seems like an eternity, the elevator doors ding and pull open for us, and we exit it and look around for some sort of roof access.

"This way!" I lead Hae Eun down the empty corridor and find the door to the stairs that lead up to the skyscraper roof. It was meant to be locked, but someone's already broken her way through, and the door's already open for us. We dart up the stairs and emerge out onto the skyscraper.

The Magical Girl is there, already dressed in her Magical Girl uniform that we saw her in the other night. She's got her back to us, like she was back at the Starbucks where we first saw her.

"Hey! Hey you, turn around!" I yell out in a demandin' voice, forgettin' that this girl probably doesn't understand English, so Hae Eun puts out her arm to stop me. She taps my forehead with her fingers, and I feel a weird and slight jarrin' sensation, like she's just given my brain a small push with her fingers, and when I hear Hae Eun start talkin' in Korean, I can understand what she's saying.

"We meet again. I think you owe us at least a greeting from that courteous introduction you left us with two nights ago, am I wrong?" Hae Eun asks in a loud voice over the high altitude winds blowing past us up on the skyscraper rooftop. It ain't the tallest building in the city, but it's still pretty tall. The girl does turn around, surprisingly, to face us. She starts speaking - not Korean, but I've heard enough 'a the language to know that she's speakin' Japanese. I quickly glance at Hae Eun, who also seems surprised that the girl in front 'a us isn't Korean but instead Japanese and starts exchanging a few words with the girl in front of us in Japanese. But my sixth sense's on hyperdrive, and it's tellin' me that the situation's gettin' more 'n more outta control. I keep my eyes on the girl in front of us in case she does anything hostile.

Sure enough, they barely talk for a minute when the enemy Magical Girl raises her arm that's got the weird lil' mini-shield clasped on the wrist or something. It rotates in place like a mechanical gear, and -