It was strange to see everything from above. Nonetheless, Nagisa loved the new perspective; all those people seemed to be so small and even the slight fear of heights she had was currently drowned out by the joy of sailing through the sky, although they were not actually flying. Yuri held on to her legs and Candel went to nestle to the girl's back; the doll clung to them both with her arms, which felt quite a bit like a seatbelt right now. At the same time however, she also felt the strange energy course through both of them; right in front of her and right behind were beings that were not normal... but the girl already knew that about Candel anyway.
She was still curious what the Witch meant with training; would they go to some secret place where all the new Magical Girls could test their abilities? What magic did she even have?
Those were all question Nagisa would love to get an answer to, but they were rapidly going from roof to roof... and their surroundings started to look older, less well-tended to. There were large cranes closeby as well.
Mitakihara was glistening in the afternoon sun, but this part of the city looked more dull; The light was not reflected very often and many buildings appeared to be on the verge of collapsing.
When they landed on yet another roof, the girl decided to ask the question that bothered her the most right now: "Um... Yuri-san? Where are we?"
And why would a secret training area be here?
Her carrier cast a glance backwards, although she could not tell what kind of look it was she was getting; Yuri's head was not turned far enough for that. She kept quiet for a few seconds and seemed to take in her surroundings. Then she spoke: "You can let go, Candel."
Following that, the yellow ribbons slowly unwound and those firm hands let go of her legs as well. Nagisa took it as a cue to slide down and stand on her own feet while Yuri turned around to meet her gaze properly. Following that, she motioned for their surroundings. "This is Mitakihara's construction site. All those buildings will be demolished over the year to make room for newer, more modern places. For now however, nothing will happen; they won't start before May."
So this whole place would be gone in a few months? Most of it looked as if it could still be used, though... Nagisa did not really understand the reason for that. Still, she nodded in understanding and looked around herself. "And what are we doing here?"
"Training, obviously", the response came in an instant and had her hopes deflate. When her face fell, the older girl raised an eyebrow; so she noticed. "What exactly were you expecting? An old castle underground where every new Magical Girl is given time to train properly?"
It sounded mocking, but this was exactly what she imagined. That was not wrong, was it? Still, Nagisa lowered her head a bit and averted her gaze. "Mayyybe?"
She did not get an answer for a while. Yuri just stared at her with this unreadable gaze, which made her feel incredibly uncomfortable. Candel on her part was standing aside and watched the conversation. Then, suddenly, the raven-haired girl turned away with a sigh. "You watched too much Anime. The world you entered is a harsh one and there is no going back. If you want to see the next month, you should learn to fight really quick... fortunately though, you have a way better start than any other newcomer."
Nagisa was scared for a moment there, but the last words made her shock dissipate quickly; Yuri seemed to know a lot, so everything should be fine if she said it was. However, she was also not done speaking, apparently: "As of right now, there are three veteran Magical Girls in this town; all of them are part of the same group, just as I and Candel are. This means that you can accompany them on a hunt."
"But Kyoko won't like it at all..."
That was the little doll speaking, who looked uncomfortable for some reason. So this Kyoko-person was one of the other girls? Nagisa already wondered what kind of people they might be. Surely they were all nice and strong big sisters. Yes, this had to be it.
. . .
While her current protege drifted off once again, Lilly smirked down at her companion. Of course Sakura Kyoko would complain over having to babysit -again-, but she already knew the solution. Thus, the eldritch being was not fazed in the slightest. "I don't think so, Candel. I already know how to get her to accept... after all", Mortal World's Witch turned back to the elementary schooler, "you made a wish to heal someone, right?"
This made her snap to attention, although it took a few seconds to process the question. Nagisa nodded at last, which made Lilly snicker internally. "So your main ability in terms of magic should also be healing... which we should put to the test."
"Huh? But... Lilly, no one is injured..."
Candel was correct so far. However, the older Witch just smiled and pulled a small knife out of her pocket; she kept it there just in case it was needed for something. The sight had Nagisa's eyes widen in surprise, but she remained where she was. Lilly came to a halt but two steps in front of the girl and motioned with the blade, although that was just because it was in her right hand. "Please transform."
The problem with that became apparent a moment later, when Nagisa just cast a confused stare back at her. Right, new girl. The eldritch being resisted the urge to roll her eyes and motioned once more, this time for the child's right hand. "Just focus on your Soul Gem, the rest should come to you."
Or so she hoped, seeing that this was the only explanation she could give. Transforming was something Lilly herself was not capable of... or was she? She actually never thought about it. On the other hand, what kind of transformation would that even be?
Maybe... if this worked, I could have my hat...
This... was worth a few more thoughts. She could not have her barrier, she could not have her own body... so the least she could have was her hat, right? However, the universe screwed with her quite a lot so far; it was unlikely that this would work. Still, she would think about it more sometime else... and even if it was just to have this hat appear. Even if it was just that, it would be a major improvement.
And while she was at it, Lilly figured that she really should look up on how to use a knife properly, if just to be able to use it if necessary. Her abilities were not made for close combat to begin with, but she still had enough strength to take on an ordinary human being. Still, most people, especially adults, would not take a girl her appearance and size seriously... so holding a knife seemed like a good idea to scare them off.
Once this thought was about finished, the Witch returned her attention to the situation at hand, only to find Nagisa staring intently at the white trinket in her palm; still clad in her school uniform. This might take a while...
"Just take your time, we have a lot at hand."
With those words, she went to sit down at the edge of this roof they stood on. At least she had something to do now; Candel on her part continued to watch how her newest friend was doing. Thus, it was alright to let her thoughts wander some more.
.
. . .
.
When the two Magical Girls returned to Mami's flat, the blonde found that Homura was back already. The time traveler had set up rice and seemed to be working on some Mabo Tofu at the time; or rather she started the preparations, seeing that those took most of the time because most of the ingredients had to be peeled and cut into small pieces beforehand. Personally, she was not a fan of this particular dish, seeing that it was really spicy...
Oh well, this will be nice for a change of pace. Besides, I do remember Kyoko liking spicy food.
She cast a glance in the redhead's direction, who was eyeing the raven-haired girl; Homura worked in complete silence and without acknowledging their presence at all. Still, Mami went to take a look at her work so far and nodded approvingly. "This looks good... although, by any chance, could we use a bit less chili than the recipe says?"
"Of course", the other girl replied without a hint of emotion. This was normal for her, but she still managed to make a shiver run down the blonde's spine at times. Mami slowly went to sort in what they bought in terms of food; fresh ingredients went into the fridge, ice cream into the freezer and spices into their rack. Kyoko for her part had wandered off to -going by the sound- set down the bags she had to carry and flop down on the couch. However, a surprised whistle from the living room had the other veterans turn their heads; the redhead did not return to the kitchen, but her voice easily made its way to them: "What's with that dress?"
Dress? What dress? Mami bought no sundresses today, seeing that she had enough of those anyway and her old friend would not wear them. The answer to this question was provided by the youngest of the three, though. Homura paused from cutting onions and replied with her voice raised enough to be heard in the other room: "This is for Lilly, so please leave it be."
Her voice did not really hold any emotion now, either. This was most likely also because of these months of repeated struggle; it made Mami cringe.
"Sure thing!", the other veteran's voice replied after but a split-second. The blonde on her part sighed over all of this. It should be so surreal, but she found that simply accepting and believing the situation was the best course of action. Still, some things made her heart throb; such as realising that what this quiet girl next to her had become was to a good part her fault. She could argue that it was not her in particular, but other Mami's that did the deed... yet in her understanding, this was the same altogether.
"I... must have brought you a lot of trouble in the past..."
The chopping was interrupted once again, although Homura did not look up. It did not matter, seeing that her expression would not change anyway. "You just did what you thought was right. Had it not been for Lilly's schemes, I would have never believed to be able to get to a situation like this."
Yes, Yuri was truly her saviour... but still, it felt not right to hear the other girl defend her actions; Mami gently shook her head while fishing a frying pan and a pot out of the cupboard. "I... do not think you should brush it off like this. You have every right to be angry at me."
As the chopping did not continue for a while, the blonde turned her head at last... and found the younger... older girl looking her way. Cold purple met sorrowful yellow and the third-year averted her eyes after a few seconds. She could not bear this gaze right now.
"And what good would come from that? Of course I could be angry that you fell for Kyubey's words, but so did I in the beginning. There is nothing I could accuse you of that I haven't long since accepted as a part of your nature. Normally I would just try to move around you without you noticing and get everything on track, maybe even manage to keep you alive until Walpurgis... which rarely worked."
This was an unexpected flow of words and each sentence jammed another needle in Mami's chest. It hurt even more to hear it in this cold, analytic tone Homura always had; however, the blonde was not sure if it was because of how cold she sounded or because she was right.
"So if you want someone to be angry at you, scream at you or tell you how bad a person you are, you should ask Lilly to do that. I'm sure she would love to comply."
With that, the raven-haired girl returned to chopping onions.
. . .
Apparently, neither of the two had noticed Kyoko leaning right on the other side of the wall. The redhead had been listening to their conversation once she noticed them talking. Although it did not make much sense to her, she could get at least something out of it.
So Mami had beef with Homura... and it sounds like a lot... how'd those two end up working together?
Most likely because of Yuri; this Witch was crafty.
Still, despite what she actually wanted to do, Kyoko kept quiet. She figured that it was better to leave those two alone for now. Besides, she got the feeling that Homura, despite being younger than Mami and her, was dealing with a lot of baggage. Not that the redhead could even make a guess, but from how Mami made it sound... she wondered if she even wanted to know.
So this fiery Magical Girl went to return to the living room as quietly as she could, intent on not disturbing the current peace. At least not until after dinner.
. . .
The feeling of magic surging in right in front of her made Lilly look up. There the girl stood, finally transformed... and the first thing the Witch noticed was this cap on her head; it was deep brown, almost black, looked a bit as if Nagisa had cat-ears and had two pom-poms connected to it on long threads, one on each side of her head.
From there, curious purple continued to scan the girl, took note of the large piece of orange cloth draped over her shoulders -it even had a few buttons, so it might be her version of a cape- and stopped at the pants. Balloon pants they were, billowed out and reaching little further than her thighs; there they ended in some frills and revealed black thights with greyish white polka dots. They were held in place by suspenders, whose straps went over the child's shoulders and also kept the cape in place... although it was not just a cape, seeing that it fell far enough to the sides to allow those little arms to be hidden behind it. Now that she paid more attention to that, Lilly noticed that it had a seamline in pure white.
All in all, this did not look bad... although Nagisa might get really embarassed about running around with her belly exposed if she managed to grow a bit older. The girl was looking herself over as well, apparently happy with what she saw; Candel had jumped up and waved her ribbons. "You look cute, Nagisa! So fluffy!"
Lilly just rolled her eyes while no one paid attention to her, although she got to her feet as well. She did not leave time for the two children to start babbling, they could do that later. "Good. Now we can return to what I was trying to find out."
In synch with her words, she raised the knife again; then however, the eldritch being paused. Who would be cut? Candel was out of the question, seeing that the suspected healing magic might not work properly or could have weird effects on her. Following that, even when Lilly knew that she would not even feel more than a little sting, hurting Nagisa would be told to a certain blonde, which would result in a certain blonde trying to take her work away once again; just as she did with Candeloro's Grief Seed.
I hate my life.
So, with two curious gazes on her, Homulilly rolled back her sleeve and steeled her resolve. It would hurt a lot, she knew that. Still, she could keep the fear under control because it was her who would inflict the injury. So she let Nagisa's gaze turn horrified when the small blad sunk into her flesh and a sharp pain started to convulse through her whole arm. Lilly knew she had to cut deep to find out what she wanted, so she pressed the blade further inside. Even then, it was hard to suppress the scream; she groaned quietly while liquid welled up from the wound, although not much leaked out so far. A few droplets of blood fell already, tainting the area around her feet.
"Lilly?! What are you doing?!"
Candel was by her side in an instant and the moment she pulled the weapon out of her arm, it was pulled out of her shaky grasp. Waves of pain rolled through her whole body, originating from this comparably small cut. Now however, it started to bleed stronger and she kept standing steady. Nagisa's eyes were glued to the blood that covered the wound by now, discolouring her whole lower arm.
"You made a wish to heal, so your main magic should be healing. See if you can get this treated."
For a moment, the Witch wondered if she should at least stop the bleeding; on the other hand, using so much magic now was out of the question; she would restore her bloodlevel in a more regular way later. This throbbing pain made it hard to think, though; it was nothing compared to what Miki Sayaka did to her before, but still on a level that drained Lilly's willpower. She could barely stop herself from shaking.
"U-Um... but Nagisa doesn't... uh..."
The girl continued to stutter while reluctantly putting her hands on the eldritch being's arm. Then however, her expression became a surprised one.
"Oh."
And magic started to surge forward from her palms, entering the injured arm and making it a bit numb. The pain was swiftly reduced to a far more comfortable level, but Lilly paid that no mind; she observed how the magic coursed through her arm and the rest of her body, practically stitching the ripped tissue back together. In a matter of less than a minute, the wound was closed and completely healed.
Candel had stopped to stare and so did Nagisa; the girl was eyeing her hands with confusion while her patient carefully moved the arm around. After a few seconds, the Witch nodded satisfied and started to lick the mostly still liquid blood from her skin; any other method would just make something dirty... and she already spilled enough of it on the ground for today... thankfully, there were only small pecks on her shoes from when the liquid hit the ground; she could take care of those later.
"So you heal others by placing your hands on them; I guess the method in itself is a rather efficient one, albeit with some drawbacks."
Not much magic was lost during transportation, seeing that there was a direct connection from user to target. On the other hand, there had to be physical contact to begin with. It was sufficient and practical, though; unexpectedly, a ten-year-old child had given birth to an ability much more useful than that of Miki Sayaka, who could barely heal a scratch on another person. However, there was one thing Lilly noticed so far: the healing magic coursed through her whole body for the whole process. Therefore, the Witch lowered her arm once it was clean of blood and spoke up once more. "The only thing you should try to practice is focussing your magic; there might be losses otherwise."
Although this implied that someone had to get hurt and needed to be healed, but neither of her companions seemed to realise that. It was fine anyway; Nagisa nodded slightly and looked down at the small puddle between her and the eldritch being, who just shook her head. "Ignore that for now. We are by far not done yet."
A wave of her hand told the girl to follow, which she did. Candel did the same, although still quiet; be that either because of what just happened or because she was thinking about something, Lilly did not know.
When they reached the edge, the Witch pointed at the next roof, which was of about the same height and a good five meters away from them. "Jump over there."
"Huh?! But... Nagisa can't do that!"
Of course she could. Purple eyes turned to meet yellowish red and Lilly scowled slightly; then however, she smiled and motioned for her protege. "Don't forget that you are a Magical Girl now. That distance means nothing and besides, we will catch you even if you don't make it for whatever reason."
She could stop time and Candel's ribbons were also very fast. This last part seemed to convince Nagisa after all, seeing that she was looking from one eldritch being to the other; thankfully, the girl was still too young to distrust her word... or too trusting. This would hopefully not become a problem in the future.
The Magical Girl bent her knees and propelled herself high into the air with a surprised yelp. Candel followed with a happy squeal and Lilly just rolled her eyes again. When the other two landed safely on the other side, Mortal World's Witch took a leap as well and once they stood together again, she smiled down on the child. "See? We're almost done with the basics, too. There is only offense left to wonder about, the rest will come if given enough time."
"Huh... okay."
At least Nagisa was willing to be guided
.
. . .
.
Everything went a lot better than she initially thought it might. Lilly did not scold her, Nagisa seemed to be surprisingly fine... Candeloro was really happy with how it turned out. They were even training her friend to be a proper Magical Girl; like this, she could work with all of them and they would have even more time to play!
However, this setup her fellow Witch built continued to make no sense to her. What exactly did Lilly want to achieve with these large, blue barrels she brought here? There were five of them with four arrayed in a square and the fifth one in said square's center.
"So, all set. Do you have your weapon?"
She told Nagisa to go and summon that beforehand, so now the grade-schooler could happily raise a trumpet instead of having to figure it out. When she saw that however, Candel understood why Lilly sometimes said she had a bad feeling. Now it was the doll who had this... and she wondered for the reason. Ths trumpet looked a bit strange, coloured in black and adorned with polka dots in all kinds of bright colours. Additionally, it was more like a horn than a trumpet, although it had a hilt and additional extensions... but obviously nothing to be pulled or pressed.
Her fellow Witch took the trumpet and examined it closely before handing it back. "I see... alright, try to hit one of these barrels over there, whichever you like."
Nagisa nodded while taking her 'weapon'... and the doll really wondered if it would be useful. It was cute, but would it help her friend in a fight?
If not, I just have to look after her more. That's fine.
The thought made her relax, although the ear-shattering howl coming from the small girl made Candel jump in surprise with a startled "Wuah!".
Then she realised that it was the trumpet this sound had come from, accompanied by a wave of bubbles; the latter rolled towards the centered barrel in a good pace. Not as fast as her bullets would have, but quick enough... and when they hit, everything around this barrel exploded with another earth-shattering sound... as well as literally shattering the earth around: concrete came flying their way and the Witches did nothing even when a few pieces sailed right past them. Candel as well as Lilly stood dumbstruck while smoke and dust were still wafting around the place Nagisa's attack hit...
"You... didn't hold back, did you?"
"Umm... nooo?"
The Magical Girl did not even seem fazed by what just happened; did she know?
Whatever it was, Lilly just sighed and shook her head. "I see... this is at least reassuring. If you have this kind of strength, you should be good to go... and going we all should. I doubt this went unnoticed."
The older Witch pointed for one of the nearby roofs and then motioned for her to head over, so Candel dutifully jumped up to sit on Lilly's shoulder. Her range was significantly smaller than that of her human-shaped counterpart, so this was just fine; Nagisa already went ahead and they made their way over the roofs in no-time.
. . .
This was amazing!
Nagisa never knew that life could be so exciting; she made her mother better, became a Magical Girl and now she was rushing over rooftops like a real Anime-heroine! Yuri and Candel behind her had been in this kind of situation for far longer than she was, so they were her senpais... and there were even more girls like her around; there was nothing that could go wrong, she was sure of that!
For the first time in such a long while, Momoe Nagisa felt free and happy. She had been plagued by sorrow at the best of times, but all that was taken from her in these few moments rushing through the air. This was why Nagisa joined Candeloro's joyful squealing over the sensation.
Then a new thought emerged: she had to fight Witches. What were they and where could she find them? How did they look like? More like the little doll she was friends with or more like the beautiful girl tutoring her for now?
These questions had the Magical Girl come to a halt after her next jump, which in turn prompted the Witches to do the same. Her eyes met Yuri's quizzical purple orbs; it felt as if they were seeing right through her and knew everything already... so Nagisa just asked away: "Um... I was wondering, Yuri-san... I have to fight, right? But how do I find Witches?"
The older one nodded softly and smirked as before, although she did not understand the reason for that. The question was not stupid, was it?
"Normally, you sense their trails and hunt after them with your Soul Gem; that won't work because you're so close to the two of us, though. It's mostly us doing the searching when we're around, otherwise you can do that yourself. You got a strange feeling from Candel and me ever since, right?"
Yes, she completely forgot about that. Her Soul Gem was still shining brightly for some reason, too. Nagisa looked down at it, then up at Yuri. "So other Witches will give me the same feeling?"
To that, the raven-haired girl nodded again while the Magical Girl started to understand it a bit better; she was supposed to go around and see if there was something there. That was alright.
"This is exactly the same sensation other Witches will give you. Just make sure to check where you point your trumpet before blowing something up, would you?"
"Okay!"
She could do that.
"Besides", Yuri added after a moment of silent pondering, "show me your Soul Gem."
Nagisa merely tilted her head while taking the small trinket from her belt. What would her senpai need it for?
When the Witch held the white gem however, she looked down on it with a slightly raised eyebrow. "I guess I should do that now; we have the time."
And before the grade-schooler could even let out a quizzical noise, a second hand descended upon her Soul Gem and she felt weird. It was as if there was something in her head that should not be there... and the feeling of a Witch closeby became even stronger than before. At the same time, threads of black mist rolled out of the crystal in Yuri's hands; they wavered around this one finger pressed onto the surface and while the girl watched in awe, her trinket became brighter.
So this was how cleansing a Soul Gem looked like.
. . .
Once she was done, Lilly sighed and returned Nagisa's soul. There was not much taint inside to begin with, but she got it out at least partly. This time, there was even some childish innocence mixed into the swirl of feelings within the orb; it tasted wonderful.
Still, the question of what to do now remained. It was not even half past five, so they should still have some time; but on the other hand, this should do for today. So the Witch decided to just walk Nagisa home and continue the next day.
After all, there was a lot to do.
