The next morning was a bit different than the one before. For one, they awoke to the beeping of Mami's alarm, which told her to get up and ready for school. Homura still had a week before transfering in, so both her and Lilly would remain at the blonde's flat for now. Nonetheless, they decided to have breakfast with her because they were awake anyway.
"What are your plans for today?", the older Magical Girl wanted to know after taking a sip of her tea. The time traveler tilted her head slightly and replied only after her eldritch sister noted that she would go to establish contact with Kyoko: "I have a few more errands to run, so I will be out the whole day."
Not to mention that she only managed to get ten out of thirteen eliminated the day before. Then there was the military base close to Tokyo which she wanted to pay a visit to. Maybe she would try and take a tank with her this time.
Anyway, Homura figured that the situation could be far worse than it was. They could proceed far earlier than usual.
"I see. Are you really sure I should not try to talk to Kaname-san? Maybe I could..." "No."
Her voice was cold, but it had to be. Homura would not push her friend into this world and she would definitely not allow someone else to do it. Mami lowered her head apologeptically and kept quiet... but looked up again when Lilly spoke: "Actually... that might be a good idea."
Did she hear that right?
What... what is going on in your head, Lilly?
She really wondered about that at times. The human-shaped Witch came up with strange thoughts and ideas rather regularly, as could be seen with their current situation. On the other hand though, it did work rather well so far... except for a certain few details.
"What would you mean with that, Yuri-san?"
The blonde seemed as surprised as Homura was herself. Lilly sighed and leaned back a bit before taking another bite out of her toast. She chewed properly and swallowed it, then responded to the question: "I thought about it. We'd need to keep her under surveillance constantly and that just does not work. If you just tell her to stay away from unusual occurences, she will become curious and investigate. If you don't tell her that, she will fall for Kyubey's schemes even faster. I guess we have no choice in that matter... but if Mami tells her about it without pushing her towards becoming a Magical Girl", where the blonde was given an indicative stare that had her lower her head again, "and emphases on the dangers that come with forming the contract, we might have a good chance. You two are strong, so she will not get under the impression that you're just playing tough."
She had been talking rather calmly, but now Lilly's expression changed into a deep frown and she added something as an afterthought: "Just one thing... if you bring them here, tell me beforehand so that I can be somewhere else. I doubt that I can stand Miki right now... or ever again."
So she was still sore about that... in all honesty, Homura could understand it. Not that the time traveler had a particular dislike for Miki Sayaka besides the fact that she tended to be far more trouble than she was worth... but she could guess how her sister felt at this point after receiving a cutlass through her chest.
"I see... I will try to remember that. Well... do you really hold that deep a grudge against her?"
The question was rather naive, though it might be that the blonde was trying to get Lilly to forgive what had been done to her... but the Witch only raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Since you might not be aware of it, I don't have any pain reduction like you Magical Girls. You can't even imagine how much it hurts to get stabbed like this and I will certainly not be able to forget about it anytime soon. Just keep her away from me for as long as possible and hope for the best."
Then the eldritch being marked the end of this topic by stuffing more toast into her mouth. Homura suppressed a sigh and took another sip of her tea; at the same time, Mami nodded slightly and did sigh. "I guess I can not really relate to that. Very well, I will make sure to keep you informed... although I wonder at which time I should talk to her."
"She will be on the roof at lunchbreak and in the mall after school."
The words already left her mouth before Homura even realised. She went through so many loops filled with observations that she could effortlessly predict Madoka's actions to the most part. Mami cast a surprised stare her way while Lilly smirked and downed her tea; then the Witch pointed at the clock on the wall. "Shouldn't you be going? We can clean that up, seeing that you took the effort of making breakfast."
That had a surprised gaze wander and upon seeing how late it already was herself, Mami quickly rose to her feet with an apologeptic bow. "My, I did not even notice. Thank you for reminding me, Yuri-san. Well... I am off, then."
Both raven-haired girls responded with an almost automatic "Take care" that had become second nature to each of them. Homura was a bit surprised about herself, though; Lilly might have started this more as a joke and now they were both serious about seeing each other off. She was not sure what to make of this, but it did not feel particularly wrong and would definitely not become a problem to their task. So why not keep it?
As the blond Magical Girl left the room with all due haste, the Akemis started to pick up the plates and cups before carrying them to the kitchen. Once they heard the front door close, Lilly sighed. "I'm still not sure about this whole 'living together'-thing... but whatever. I will keep an eye open for Chitose Yuma when I'm going to Kazamino. You go ahead as well, I can do the dishes by myself. Good luck on the hunt."
This was about the most sudden dismissal she ever got from her sister. Was everything alright with her?
Or maybe she just thinks that I need as much time as possible...
Which made sense, considering that Homura had to get a train to Tokyo and back. That would take some time, not to forget the act of actually breaking into the base and getting all the supplies she needed.
Besides that, there were also another three people she had to take care of. It would take some time until either of the bodies was found due to none of the girls having any close family, but she made sure to leave no traces anyway. Those that contracted before being killed by her would not even look as if they had been murdered, seeing that the shards of the shattered Soul Gems would have dissipated by then.
Homura nodded slightly and went to leave as well. Before she walked out of the room though, she cast another curious gaze at Lilly. "Be careful. You're still low on energy, right?"
The eldritch being tilted her head sideways to look her way and smirked. "I got a decent meal yesterday and maybe I can get my hands on another one on my way to Kazamino. I'm no match for Kyoko in a fair fight anyway, no matter how much energy I have... and it doesn't matter in an unfair fight. I can just stop time for a moment and crush her Soul Gem... not that I expect that to happen, but you never know."
That was true. It might be rare, but there were timelines where the redhead would not work with her in any way. The time traveler just hoped that this was not one of them.
"I agree."
. . .
When Homura finally left the room, Mortal World's Witch sighed almost inaudibly and turned on the water to get the dishes done. She just wanted some time to herself, not particularly to think but to just be alone. How ironic that she even had to bring herself to leave her alone. Nonetheless, she did not want either of them to notice just how much of a loss Homulilly was at. Bringing in Kyoko, having Madoka informed, preparing... but not much else came to mind. What could she do to kill time this month? There were only so many Witches and Familiars and she had to be careful not to be seen by Kyubey.
Not that Lilly was concerned about the Incubator, but she preferred its scheming to not include her as a variable. This time however, she really needed to keep herself together when confronted with Miki Sayaka... but she doubted that she could.
Whatever... I just do something else whenever she's around. Once Candel is back, we can work on improving her fighting capabilities.
Right, the Dress-Up Witch was there as well. Lilly wondered whether this little doll would be as valuable an asset as she thought she would be. Maybe so, but it was not completely sure. Whatever the case though, it would take at least two or three more days before her fellow Witch returned, seeing that it would take about this amount of time for Homura and Mami to build up enough taint to reactivate the Grief Seed.
Plate after plate was done and Mortal World's Witch decided to stop thinking about that for a while. For now, she should think about how to get Kyoko involved.
The same way as last time? Without the bumping into each other, of course...
It did work rather well, so maybe... she would see what to do once she reached Kazamino and found the redhead. That would be the most difficult problem anyway. Besides, mentioning Mami first would be a really bad move, seeing what kind of history those two had. Lilly had to be careful on that topic and was glad that it was only that one and the veteran's past. Sakura Kyoko was easier to deal with than Tomoe Mami, that did not change. However, getting her to join them might take some time.
Now the question is whether I should leave Candel with Homura and Mami... maybe I shouldn't.
It was unlikely that Homura's Soul Gem could differ between one Witch and another, which meant that her capabilities in tracing one of the regular eldritch beings would be severely weakened. Her partner could make up for the difference, but Lilly doubted that they could deal with the doll properly. Not even she could do that yet.
On the other hand... she is Mami's counterpart.
In fact, she was willing to give the blonde the benefit of the doubt this time around.
.
. . .
.
She was still wondering when classes were about to start. Was it really the right thing to approach them like this? Would it work just like Yuri said?
Maybe I should trust her a bit more... she was competent up until now.
Besides the fact that she managed to get Candeloro killed. The thought brought Mami back to the silent Grief Seed in her bag, pushed as deep down as was possible. Before her mind could enter a state of pondering again though, the Magical Girls slightly shook her head and directed her gaze to the front of the room. She was in class right now and could not afford to slack off... although this start of the lesson sounded so familiar...
Oh...
Right, they jumped back in time. She already heard that lesson before. Nonetheless, Mami tried to listen properly and take notes.
Sometimes though, her mind wandered back to her Witch. What would happen when Candel emerged again? Would she still be sane? Would she be angry about what happened?
.
.
.
Everything went rather well until lunchbreak. At least she thought that it did.
"Tomoe-san?"
The sound of her name being spoken by the girl sitting to her right had Mami turn her head in surprise. They rarely spoke to each other after she turned them down so often the year before... maybe she should not have done that, but friends were a luxury she did not have the time for as a Magical Girl.
Back came a concerned gaze from light green eyes. "Are you alright? I got the feeling that you were completely out of it today."
Huh?
Was this girl really concerned about her? That never happened before...
The surprise had her pause for a moment, though that seemed to send the wrong signal; the other third-year quickly raised her hands defensively. "Ah, sorry. That was too direct, I just thought..."
"It is fine, Tachibana-san", the blonde quickly reassured her classmate with a polite smile. "I am fine, but I really appreciate your concern. There has just been a lot happening over the weekend."
Which was not even a lie. Not that anyone would believe her even if she tried to tell them what kind of events took place.
"Oh... I see. That's reassuring. Um..."
Now she was reluctant all of a sudden, although Mami did not mind being patient. She wondered what else there might be. The other girl kept quiet for a moment before asking a question she had not heard for quite some time: "By any chance... would you mind having lunch with us?"
To be asked that again... it stunned her for a moment and before she could recover from the surprise, Mami's tongue decided in her stead: "Not at all."
What? Wait... I...
"Really?!"
The surprised yet happy tone had her surrender. Her classmates seemed to still care about her despite everything, so it would be wrong to turn them down again. The blonde picked up her own lunch with a slight smile. "Yes, really."
Even though this meant that she had to shift talking to Kaname and Miki into the afternoon.
I guess... this is alright...
They would be fine by themselves for a while... she hoped.
. . .
One would be surprised by just how many eldritch beings were living in this city. Now that she had enough time to actually walk through quite a bit of Kazamino, Lilly was almost sick of them. She wanted to get to work and burn them all to ash... but on the other hand, that would only mean that a worse stench could reign supreme again.
I've been here for hours and still no sign of her... where the hell are you?!
Sakura Kyoko did not leave her hometown. She had to be somewhere around here, but none of the Witches around suddenly disappeared. Did the redhead take a day off or something like that?
Whatever the reason was, Mortal World's Witch slowly became annoyed by it. She jumped down from the lower roof she had been scouting the nearby alleyways from and continued to walk on the ground. Those small usages of magic would not be noticed and even if, she barely cared about that right now. Lilly was not yet angry, but she surely was getting there.
The human-shaped Witch barely rounded one corner when annoyances continued to add up. "Hey Missy, get lost!"
The voice was male, but accompanied by some giggling that was definitely from a girl. Lilly stopped and turned her head to look, only to find one man of maybe twenty years with a noticeably younger girl on each arm... middle-schoolers, to be exact.
Compensated Dating so early in the... wait, we already have noon... anyway...
The stench those three produced was utterly disgusting and that did not help her in keeping her rising anger under control. Nonetheless, will prevailed over emotion and the Witch just snorted before turning around and walking away. A comment from one of the girls had her stop, though: "Oh, don't be like that. Come on over, sweety. I'm sure no one minds if you join us."
To which Lilly finally noticed the stench they were giving off. All three of them were drunk... just what kind of people were they? Two... maybe fifteen-year-olds and one guy barely able to buy alcohol? And they were wasted at noon already?
It was not that she particularly cared what those idiots did with their free time. She was barely even interested... However...
"Unfortunately", her cold voice initiated the statement while the human-shaped Witch turned her head wide enough to glare at the small group, "I prefer company with some class. You're just annoying and besides..."
A gaze went over the guy, took note of height, figure, facial features and so on. She even went so far as to compare to the one person she would be interested in. "I would rather stab my own eyes with needles than being touched by that guy. The same goes for you girls. Don't you realise how disgusting you all are?"
At the surprised faces, Lilly shook her head and continued to walk off. "Probably not. Go and have fun or whatever, but leave me alone."
Actually, she really hoped that either of them tried to attack her. That was the excuse she needed to just blow off some steam... not that she wanted to kill anyone; just break a few bones.
The day had been really annoying so far, so... it would stay that way because no one followed her when she vanished around the next corner, although Lilly could hear one of the girls asking the others about "what's wrong with her?".
Wrong with me? What's wrong with you to sell yourself to others?
She was born with her free will. She was born with purpose. Homulilly valued her freedom of choice, which she had. She was bound to no one and by no one. Although the scent suddenly...
"Nice one."
The familiar voice had her stop abruptly. Lilly turned her head at the teenager that leaned on a wall out of the field of vision of anyone rounding that corner. Was she ambushing people that passed by?
At least that would explain why I couldn't find her before...
"But you've really wasted your air on them, y'know? Chicks like those are everywhere."
So at least she did not try to rob her. If she did, that might have gotten a bit... strange. Lilly eyed the redhead for a moment longer; then she proceeded to lean on the other side of the wall with her arms crossed in front of her chest. There was a pipe running down the bricks right next to her, but that was ignored just as easily as the footsteps of the three fools. Apparently, they decided to walk in another direction than the weird girl. Too bad.
"I know."
Could it be that she brought herself to a good start this time around?
"But those people are pathetic and at times, I just have to say that to their faces. On that note", she added with a glance at the redhead as if just noticing how she was dressed, "what are you doing here? Looks like you're trying to ambush someone."
Now the other girl raised an eyebrow and a dangerous spark could be seen in her eyes. Why would something like that suddenly make her angry?
"None of your business. Haven't heard what you're doing here so far, either."
Oh. Right, I forgot that she doesn't know me for a moment there...
Lilly just shrugged and had her gaze wander over the concrete. It was rather clean around here, so this was not one of the shabbiest alleyways... one that people might use as a shortcut. The Witch was rather sure that she was correct.
"Whatever, I wouldn't really care either way. Your life is yours and I won't tell you what to do."
That was about the truth. Not that she did not want to tell Kyoko what to do, but that was something the redhead did not need to know. "Besides, there is not much more to do for me. I came out here to have a chat with you, Sakura Kyoko-san."
When she said the Magical Girl's name, her eyes narrowed and the dangerous spark returned as fast as it vanished before. She was surprised, that much was for sure. However, Lilly saw her hand already start to prepare the summoning of her Soul Gem if necessary, so the Witch raised her hands with her fingers spread. "No need to, I'm not one of you and I have not come to pick a fight with you. Although I like this town a little more than Mitakihara, I have to admit."
This one was on purpose. She wanted to see how dropping the name of Mami's territory would influence the conversation... however, it did nothing. At least Kyoko was not as hostile anymore after the short explanation, although she did not seem to be happy at all. The redhead almost snarled at her: "I don't care who you are, what you want or where you're from. Get lost before I change my mind and beat you up."
Really...
. . .
As if she would tell this chick that she was hiding out here for a while. Being strong was one thing, but knowing when to retreat was just as important to a life like she lived it.
Kyoko easily saw that those clothes this girl wore were almost brand new. Her hair was done properly and her skin of a pale white. Those were obvious signs of some stupid rich girl, however she knew her name. Maybe out for a thrill looking for someone from the streets. Well, she would not...
"Are you really, absolutely sure about that?"
...suddenly lean next to her and emit a malevolent aura... wait...
"The hell?!"
The surprise actually had Kyoko take a few steps back and have her Soul Gem appear. She did not transform yet, even when this was unmistakably the aura of a Witch... but still, she never saw one in human form.
The redhead was not stupid. She was impetuous, yes, but not stupid. The facts connected quick enough so that she could prevent a maybe unnecessary fight; this Witch came looking for her and moved way faster than Kyoko could. She must know that the redhead was a veteran, so this was either stupidity or...
The knowing smirk she was given convinced the Magical Girl that it was certainty instead. This Witch knew very well what she was doing, which in turn prompted her not to transform. There had been no attack so far, so maybe her claim was true.
Not that the word of an eldritch being could be trusted.
"Surprised?"
What was that for a question? Of course she was! In about two years of fighting those beasts, she never even once found one that could be mistaken for a human being. Kyoko always thought that she saw it all, from malformed jellyfishes over trees towards giant heaps of metal things. This was new, though. Her eyes narrowed slightly and she continued to measure that person in front of her. What were her abilities and...
"There she is!"
Crap.
Of course that had to happen. The shock brought her to stand right in the middle of the alleyway, so she could be seen from the adjacent street.
The redhead's first impulse was to retreat when she saw a dozen people enter this place, but the Witch slowly shook her head and continued to lean at the wall.
Not that she minded or was not capable of beating up so many people, but that would raise suspicion. She had to be careful not to be noticed. Now they were about surrounded and half of those guys were holding baseball bats. Another two had metal bars in their hands and the one in the back that looked like their leader held a small knife in his hand; he was also the one the chick she gave a beating before clung to, holding onto the arm not holding the weapon. Kyoko rolled her eyes and mentally prepared for what was to come.
"Now what do we have here. Is that her, dear?"
That was the leader-guy speaking to his girl. He might be sixteen or seventeen and she was about a year younger. Most of his gang were of about the same age, so they were all high-schoolers. The chick nodded quickly and hid her bruised face; he just gave Kyoko an angry smirk. "So you did that to my girlfriend. Guess you didn't know what would happen to a rat like yourself."
Then he seemed to notice the Witch at the wall that calmly observed the situation for the first time... and quickly went to snap at her while Kyoko simply had an eyebrow raised. Those guys were all smirking as if she was just some little flower they could smash under their boots.
"Oh, is that your friend? Well, too bad for her. You won't get away with just a beating, you know?"
Now however, her eldritch acquaintance started to smirk as well, she even went to giggle for a moment. Not a nice sound to hear, more like something one would expect from some mad Yandere-girl... okay, she was a Witch, but still...
"How funny, I just thought the same thing."
She pushed herself off of the wall and loosened her arms before exchanging a glance with Kyoko, who was now curious what she meant. "What do you think, twelve against the two of us. Not really fair, now is it?"
The first one started to get uncomfortable, be it about the dark tone this girl had or because neither of them seemed to be the least bit afraid. One of the guys with the metal bars just raised his weapon. "Guess I'll show you what you get for bitching like that."
Than the metal bar went downwards with force... but the girl was no longer there. Instead, it hit the head of one of the bat-boys that suddenly took her place; he went to the ground with a wet sound while blood started running down his head. Kyoko raised an eyebrow over the sight that had the guy's friends recoil in utter terror. Did that other one really hit so hard?
A malicious chuckle from outside the ring of delinquents had them turn around after staring at the corpse in shock. Kyoko did so, too; but that was mostly out of surprise. Just what kind of magic was that?
"Now now, I know humans are despicable creatures that constantly kill each other... but was that really necessary?"
The guy with the bloody piece of metal in his hands was cowering in front of his friend and stammered something about this not being what he wanted to do. He was a mess and honestly, Kyoko did not care. She smirked at the Witch. "Don't know how you did that, but nice one. Let's mop up the rest."
Surprisingly, she was given a widening smirk and the eldritch being shook her head. "That's not necessary. It would be a real waste, you know?"
Then her eyes wandered over to the scared teenagers. "Get lost."
And they ran as if the Grim Reaper was personally chasing them. Considering what the Witch just did, Kyoko could at least understand that. The one guy that killed his friend was still there, not doing anything but whispering to himself. The redhead rolled her eyes and exchanged a glance with the other magical entity, who pointed upwards and jumped right after doing so. She understood what was meant and followed her onto the roof.
Once there, they walked a bit while her companion began to snicker. "Now that was a good way to blow off some steam. Thanks for holding still this entire time."
So she noticed that Kyoko tensed up at some point? Or was that just generally spoken?
Whatever the actual reason was, she did not really mind. The redhead raised her fist in an appreciative manner. "I still don't know what you want, but that was legendary."
The Witch bumped her own hand against it after a moment and she could feel the actual power coursing through this slender body when their skin connected. So she did not even use much of her magic before.
"You're right. But as I said, I mean no harm. Care to listen to what I have to say?"
In all honesty, this girl did not just solve her problem with those delinquents, she also solved it in a way that would make no one believe the truth. Attention was so expertly taken from them that listening to her was actually a really easy thing to do in return. Besides, if there was one thing Sakura Kyoko had a lot of, it was time to spare.
"Sure thing."