The Rat's Gambit

The elevator rattled to a stop, and Kyoko and Charlotte stepped out of the cage. Kyoko placed the case she was carrying down, looked around at the dock, and whistled her appreciation.

"Well, I gotta admit," she said. "For being in the middle of nowhere, you've got a pretty nice setup here."

"We like it," Charlotte agreed, though there was a note of defensiveness in her voice. Kyoko smirked. Yup, the pink-haired witch didn't much like her. Which was fine. Kyoko was used to people not liking her.

"Hey, I ain't being sarcastic or anything." Kyoko walked to the edge of the dock, turned around, and looked the entire platform up and down. "I mean it, this is pretty cool. Couldn't have been cheap though. Hey, do people still use money here?"

"Yes," Charlotte said. "But fortunately, we didn't have to use it. We sort of inherited this place."

"Really?" Kyoko stuck her hands into her pockets. "How's that work? I mean, if everyone's dead already."

"We used to work for its former owners," Mami said. The blonde girl was already in the largest of the boats, securing a bunch of plastic boxes, identical to the one Kyoko had been carrying. "Natsuru Senou and Shizuku Sango. But they left a few years ago and let us keep the place."

Kyoko blinked. If she had a sweet house on the ocean, she sure wouldn't be so quick to give it up. "Why?"

Mami straightened up and brushed her hands on her jeans. "Some friends of theirs showed up in Pinespire, up north, and they decided to go live with them. I guess the Nautilus Platform was too small for their friends to come here."

Huh, that was interesting. Kyoko thought of the two girls she had seen in the bathroom photos. "Was one of the 'bout yea tall," she said, holding her hand almost a meter above her own head, "with long black hair, and the other around the same size with blue hair?" She cupped her hands in front of her chest. "And both of them with really big boobs?"

Mami rolled her eyes.

"Wait, huh?" Charlotte's face screwed up in confusion. "How…"

Kyoko shrugged. "Saw some pics in the bathroom. Was wondering who they were."

"Oh. Well, yes. That's them. We still keep in touch, and visit them every Christmas."

"Huh." Kyoko looked the platform over again. "Hell of an inheritance. I mean, most people just get a few bucks, some cheapass jewelry, the family dog, maybe a car. Hey, do we still have dogs here?"

"Again, yes," Charlotte said. "Most animal species are accounted for, plus a few new ones."

From her perch across Charlotte's shoulders, Sayaka shifted around to look at her fellow witch and said, "So wait, does that mean animals have souls too? But why'd they come here then?"

"No one knows for sure. We try not to question it."

Kyoko eyed the pink-haired witch. "You know, I'm starting to get the feeling that there's a lot you people don't know about this place."

"Oh, be nice," Sayaka admonished. She wagged her finger reprovingly at the redhead. "It's not like there's a lot we knew about the land of the living either."

"How would you know, you don't even remember it!" Kyoko countered.

"Can you guys wait until I'm not carrying one of you before you start arguing?" Charlotte said. "Because this is kind of awkward."

"Sorry," Sayaka said.

"Hey, if it's that much of a problem, then give her here," Kyoko said, holding out her hand. "It's not like I haven't been carrying her ass around everywhere anyway."

Glowering, Sayaka pushed herself up with her hands on Charlotte's left shoulder. "And every time you did you just complained the whole time. Besides, if I let you do the carrying, you'll just drop me on my butt!"

"I might not," Kyoko said.

"Yes, you will! You always do!"

"I might not."

Charlotte, who was already staggering in her attempts to keep Sayaka's body balanced, said, "Okay, okay! Let's stop rocking the Charlotte or you're gonna fall overboard!"

"Whoops, sorry Charlotte," Sayaka said sheepishly. She settled back down.

Snickering, Kyoko picked the box back up and hopped aboard. She handed it to Mami and watched her tie it to the others.

"Hey, what the hell are in those things anyway?" she asked.

"Mermaid eggs," Mami answered promptly, giving the cord a final tug.

Kyoko stared, unsure if she had just heard what she thought she had heard. "Wait, what? Say that again?"

"Mermaid eggs," Mami said again, just as matter-a-fact as before. She stood up and headed for the front of the boat. "We sell them. It's how we make our living."

"Mermaid eggs…You, uh, you're fucking with me right?" She turned to Charlotte, who was helping Sayaka into her seat. "Charly, she's fucking with me, right?"

"Nope," Charlotte said. She finished strapping Sayaka in and walked off to join Mami. "Those really are boxes of mermaid eggs over there."

Kyoko shook her head. She could accept a lot of things, but this was too much. "Come on Sayaka, are they fucking with me?" she asked Sayaka, her voice almost pleading. "I mean, you don't really…"

"Well, you know how it is," Sayaka said primly as she ran her fingers through her short blue hair, straightening it out. "Mermaids lay a fresh clutch every morning, and it would be a shame to let it all go to waste."

"I…ah…"

"Actually, it all works out," she continued. "Before, they had to harvest wild mermaid eggs, and that's just dangerous, given that mermaids are really protective of their nests. But with me around, that's a third of their daily quota, right there before they even begin." She shrugged. "We even tried having me try to communicate with the wild mermaids and see if they can't domesticate a couple more, but one of them started doing this really funky jiggle thing. I figured it was their weird way of saying 'hi,' so I started copying her."

Kyoko had no idea what to say to something like that. "Oh, uh, did you?"

"Uh-huh. Turns out it was a courtship dance." Sayaka grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, things got a little awkward after that. I may or may not be married now, but she still keeps showing up at the platform like every night, trying to make me come with her. Just can't get it through her head that it was all a big ugly misunderstanding." She shrugged again. "Love, y'know? What'cha gonna do?"

"I…I…" Kyoko quickly knelt down and put her head between her legs. She clutched at her skull, trying to fight off what surely had to be a developing aneurysm.

That was when everyone starting laughing, Sayaka especially. If it weren't for the harness she was wearing, she would have been doubling over in hysterics.

As for herself, Kyoko was just growing more and more confused, not to mention frustrated. "What?" she said, looking from one to the other. "What? Come on! What am I missing?"

In answer, Mami walked over to one of the boxes and loosened the straps. She opened it up, revealing a number of frozen pale yellow spheres, each about the size of a baseball. She picked one up. For a brief moment her hand glowed, and the ice thawed. Then she handed it to Kyoko, who gingerly took it. It was made of some kind of firm jelly-like stuff, and while it didn't smell bad, per se, it sure as hell smelled a lot.

"The kelp around here use these as floaters," Mami said, her eyes twinkling with amusement. "We harvest them and sell them to be made into things like makeup, perfume, food flavoring, that sort of thing. They've been nicknamed mermaid eggs long before we got here, so any relation to Oktavia here is purely coincidental."

"Still was freaking funny when I found out," Sayaka said, still chuckling. "Seriously, I couldn't stop laughing for like ten minutes!"

Kyoko looked at her. "So, you really don't lay eggs?"

"No, Kyoko," Sayaka said slowly as if she were speaking to a small child. "I don't lay eggs. And as far as I know, I'm the only mermaid here."

Kyoko glowered. "Dumbass, don't freak me out like that!" She tossed the sphere back to Mami. "People really use this in perfume? Smells like a Christmas tree soaked in pickle juice." She sat down next to Sayaka and sulkily folded her arms.

"That's what you get for calling me Sayaka," the blunette mermaid said, flicking Kyoko in the ear. Kyoko blinked. Right, she had forgotten about that name thing. She shot the mermaid a look, but fortunately Sayaka was still smiling mischievously. Good. Apparently she still had a long way to go before she started going insane. Plenty of time for Kyoko to work out how she was going to fix her, as there was no way she was going to start using the name "Oktavia."

Still, while she was woman enough to admit when she had been taken by a good zinger, Kyoko couldn't let it pass without some form of retaliation. So she leaned over and asked, "By the way, maybe you don't lay fishy eggs, but, uh, do you still do…other stuff?"

Sayaka frowned at her. "Like what?"

Kyoko gestured down at the multicolored tail. "Well, you still poop, right? And if so, how?"

There was a snort of laughter from the front of the boat. Charlotte had apparently been listening in on their conversation, and was trying to hide it with her hand. Sayaka, however, wasn't so amused. "Wow, really?" she said, giving Kyoko a look.

"What, I'm just askin'." Kyoko examined the tail with a critical eye. "I mean, do you do it like a human and still use your ass, or is it like a fish where it all comes out the front there?"

"Oh, my God," Sayaka said as she pressed her hand against her forehead. "Really, Kyoko? Really?"

"And can you still use the toilet, or do they gotta go dump you in the ocean? Heh, come to think of it, that would be pretty neat. Just dick around, doing your business, trying to hit any fish that swims under you. And hey, is it the long stringy kind, or the-"

The rest of her line of questioning was cut off when Sayaka shoved a hand over Kyoko's mouth. "All right, that's enough of that," she said. "We're even now, okay? And by the way, you're freaking disgusting."

Grinning, Kyoko pushed Sayaka's arm away and leaned back with her arms folded behind her head. "Can't blame me for being curious. I mean, the whole mermaid thing never made sense to begin with, so I can't let this opportunity just slide by. You know, for science!"

Sayaka muttered something about jerks and finding a way to get revenge in the future.

Then Charlotte's voice called from the front. "By the way, if you want to know, she totally does it fish-style."

"Holy crap,Charlotte!" Sayaka shouted, mortified. "I swear to God I'm going to find a way to drown you!"

Kyoko burst out laughing. Up front, Mami had grabbed Charlotte in a headlock and was reprimanding her for embarrassing Sayaka, who in turn was now bright scarlet. Kyoko smirked at her, licked a finger, and drew an imaginary "1" in the air. Maybe she had started out behind, but in the end, that round had gone to her.

Mami started the boat, and soon they were heading out. Kyoko watched as the Nautilus Platform grew smaller and smaller behind them. For all her reservations about the afterlife, Mami and Charlotte did have an awesome house.

The mainland wasn't far, and before too long Kyoko could see it approaching on the horizon. And soon she got her first glimpse of Freehaven.

She had to admit, it wasn't exactly what she had pictured. Given how much Mami had talked up the place, she had pictured a sprawling futuristic metropolis at least the size of Genocide City, the capital city of a Puella Magi nation. But while Freehaven was of a decent size, it wasn't that big. And it was much too…pretty.

It sat on the side of a gently sloping hill, starting from its peak and reaching all the way to the sea. White buildings with flat, red-tiled roofs seemed to be the norm; with arching doorways and windows rimmed with mosaic tiles; and green, springy plants with small, curling vines hung everywhere. At the bottom, there were two notable dock areas, the borders of which were marked by long wall of rocks and separated by a long stretch of beach, which already had a good number of people wandering its sands, despite the early hour. Moored on the right-side docks were a number of pleasure craft, while the ones on the left were more of a commercial persuasion.

It was toward the latter that they were heading. Mami brought the boat up to one of the docks and slowed it to a stop. Waiting for them was a bespectacled girl with olive skin and dark, curling hair that reaching just past her ears. She wore a pair of overalls over a blue tee-shirt and was checking things off on a clipboard. But the most eye-catching was the pair of thin, delicate horns that sprouted out of her forehead and curved up and over her head. Kyoko blinked, and then nodded. Another former witch. Interesting.

The girl glanced up as they approached and smirked. She put the clipboard under her shoulder and walked over to greet them. "Well, well, well," she said as Charlotte and Mami started tying the boat to the dock. "About time. I was getting worried we'd never hear from you two again." She looked over the boxes of mermaid eggs and clicked her tongue. "Hmmm, kind of a small haul, too."

"Sorry about that," Mami said cheerfully. She finished her knot and went over to give the girl a friendly side-hug. "Had something come up." She nodded toward Kyoko and Sayaka, who were staring openly.

"So I heard," the girl said. "They're the ones, huh?"

Mami nodded.

"I see." The girl shrugged, hopped onto the boat, and stuck her hand toward Kyoko. "So, you're the girls everyone's been talking about. Howdy, and welcome to Freehaven. I'm Victoria, the dockmaster. But you can call me Vickie. Everyone does."

"Uh, hey," Kyoko said, cautiously taking the offered and giving it a limp shake. She wondered if she disliked this girl or not and decided that it was still too early to tell. "Kyoko. Kyoko Sakura."

"And I'm Oktavia von Seckendorff," Sayaka said, leaning over and shaking Vickie's hand with more enthusiasm than Kyoko had shown. "Pleased to meet you!"

"The same." Vickie put her hand on her hip and looked them both over. "So, word down the grapevine has it that a certain lying asshole and her pet slimeball went and put a hit on you two, that right?"

Kyoko immediately tensed up. "Yeah?" she said. "What of it?"

But to her surprise, Vickie just grinned and gave her a thumb's-up. "Good job!"

Kyoko blinked. "Huh?"

"Hey, I have no idea what you did to make Oblivion so mad, but anyone that gets that bitch's gourd is okay in my book. You two'll fit in just fine." Vickie turned toward the dock and hollered, "Hey! Get your lazy asses over here and get this smelly shit stored away! Come on, what do I pay you guys for?"

Kyoko stared as a bunch of girls of various nationalities descended upon the boat and starting hauling the boxes away. "Huh. Well, I guess they do like us here," she said, sitting back down next to Sayaka. Vickie had hopped back onto the dock and started talking to Mami.

"Looks like," Sayaka agreed. "Well, that'll make things easier."

"Vickie's an ex-Void Walker," Charlotte said, coming over to join the pair. "That would probably explain why she likes you."

Kyoko and Sayaka both jerked their heads toward her in surprise. "Wait, wha-" Kyoko gaped. "You mean, she's…"

"Yup," Charlotte nodded. The pink-haired witch leaned back against the boat's side. "Left them oh, about forty or so years ago. They put a hit on her too, until she went and signed the Free Life Compact and moved here. Brought a ton of information with her too. We weren't there of course, but from what we've heard, the rat was furious."

"He was," Vickie called cheerfully down to them. "Kept trying to bully Corrie into sending me back. She told him to go to hell."

"Which, from his perspective, he's already at," said one of the dockworkers, a burly girl with a box under each arm. That got a laugh and a round of agreement from her coworkers.

As for Kyoko, she found she couldn't tear her eyes away from the dockmaster. "But…" she said, trying to put her thoughts in order. "She's…all tanned!"

This was greeted by another bout of laughter. "What, you didn't think all that whitewashing was permanent, did you?" Charlotte snickered. "Once you leave that gang, you leave for good."

…

In many ways, the great auditorium was the beating heart of Palace Omega and, by extension, the entirety of the Withering Lands. For one, it sat in the castle's center, with its high, glass domed ceiling being the most prominent feature of the roof. For another, it was here that the Void Walkers that had been deemed worthy of moving were released by Oblivion's own hand. And, though it was only known to Reibey himself, the auditorium also served as the focal point of Reibey's pet project.

The room itself was immense, taking up the entirely of Palace Omega's ground floor. In its center, directly beneath the dome, was a short ziggurat of black stone. At the end of every year, all the Void Walkers of sufficient rank and standing would fill the room, and watch enviously as those among their number that had served Oblivion the most faithfully had their bodies permanently destroyed and their soul essences cast into their master's namesake. What happened to them then, whether it be reincarnation, another afterlife, or nothingness, was anyone's guess, but everyone agreed that it had to be better than the prison that they currently inhabited. That, coupled with the fact that the actual criteria for faithful service was very vague, served as ample motivation for all of Oblivion's subjects to try their hardest to win her favor.

However, today Reibey was not in the auditorium to oversee the release of a soul; quite the opposite, actually. Annabelle Lee's most recent kidnapping attempt may have been an unsurprising failure, but she did bring back the news that Kyoko Sakura had awoken from her slumber and was seeking for that praying witch he had stored away. And given how that bald bitch from Freehaven had been pestering him every day for the last week, it stood to reason that he would soon be talking to Kyoko herself. It was time to gather some information.

He padded across the large, empty room, his black body blending in almost perfectly with the featureless obsidian floor, and hopped his way up to the top of the ziggurat. Once there, he sat down and pawed at the ground.

"All right," he said. "Cough them up."

Though he was the only one in the room, and though no one spoke in response, there still must have been an answer, as he then said, "You know damned well which ones. Stop being disingenuous and let's see them."

The top of the ziggurat glowed red, and suddenly what appeared to be a whirlwind of swirling black smoke and red lights exploded out. It soared up and twisted several times around the auditorium ceiling, like some sort of demonic serpent bursting out of Hell. The sound it made was simply unearthly: a long, continuous wail, though disjointed, as if a chorus of voices were crying out in agony from the other end of a poorly tuned radio.

The smoke swirled around the room once, twice, and three times before looping up and around to descend back onto the ziggurat's peak. But instead of being absorbed back into the stone, it washed over the small pyramid and swept down across the floor. The smoke broke apart and separated into clumps, forming several dozen black shades that huddled along the ziggurat's tiers and around its base. They were all identical, each taking the shape of a thin girl with long hair tied into a single ponytail. Further, they all had a pair of glowing crimson eyes, similar to Reibey's but more hazy. And each and every pair was focused upon the rogue Incubator with a look of naked loathing.

As for Reibey, he was not at all perturbed by the hatred being sent in his direction. His gaze swept over the shades, locking eyes with a small handful for no other reason than to make them even more uncomfortable. Then he said, "Good morning, ladies! Or should that be lady, in the singular? Sorry to have woken you up like this, but I find myself in need of information of the sort only you can provide."

He stood up and walked along the platform's perimeter, enjoying the way the shades flinched when he stared at them for too long. "So now," he purred. "Why don't you all tell me about yourself?"

…

Up on the docks, Mami was finalizing things with Vickie.

"Really hope you can get the next shipment to me quicker," Vickie said as she marked things off on her clipboard. "I mean, I know you had important things come up and all, but you guys are still the best supplier of these things around, and I've had everyone from the bakery to the beauty salon breathing down my neck."

"Sorry," Mami said. "The next one will be faster, I promise."

"Hey, no need to apologize. Some things are more important than smelly balls of jelly, you know?" Vickie quickly scribbled out a check and handed it to Mami. "Here."

"Thanks." Mami looked at the check and frowned. "Ah, Victoria? This is our usual rate."

"So it is. Why's that a problem?"

Mami was confused. "But we haven't been able to harvest much. We couldn't have brought more than two-thirds of what we usually do."

Vickie put her clipboard under her arm. "Like I said: why's that a problem?"

Mami blinked. Then she understood and smiled. "Thanks, Vick," she said, leaning over to kiss Vickie on the cheek.

"Hey, easy there," Vickie said with a smirk. "You'll make Charlotte jealous." Then her brow rose and she slapped her forehead. "Oh, hold up, almost forgot. You know that special item you asked me about?"

Mami's face brightened. "You got it?"

In answer, Vickie walked over to a large, open crate and reached inside. From within, she withdrew a contraption made from steel, felt, and plastic.

"A wheelchair!" Everyone turned to Oktavia, who was practically squealing with delight. "Oh God, thank you! I thought I was going to have to be carried everywhere!"

"Now you get to be pushed everywhere." Vickie shook her head. "But I suppose that would be a major step up. Anyway, you four better be off. Corrie's been calling me every fifteen minutes, asking if you'd arrived yet, and it's really getting on my nerves."

"Us too," Mami said. "She started around four in the morning. We ended up turning our phone off."

…

Sometime later, Kyoko had learned another important fact about the afterlife, or at least about Freehaven. While it still had boats and telephones which operated more-or-less as they had back in the world of the living, cars had yet to make the transition.

"Well, it's not like they're needed," Charlotte said as the four of them made their way up Freehaven's cobbled streets. "For one, these roads were built before cars were even invented, and they're way too narrow. For another, Freehaven's small enough that anywhere is within walking distance. And if we need to get somewhere in a hurry, well…"

She pointed up. There, Kyoko could see a couple of Puella Magi leaping from rooftop to rooftop, making their way down toward the sea.

"Yeah?" Kyoko shrugged. "Well, whoop-de-doo for them. Doesn't do us any good."

Then she jumped, as Sayaka had just jabbed a finger into her side. "Oh, whine, whine, whine," she said. "Come on! A little walk never hurt anyone."

"Says the girl who gets to sit down the whole way," Kyoko snapped back. "Why don't you get up and let someone else have a turn?"

"Sure thing," Sayaka drawled, reaching over to poke Kyoko again. "Let me borrow your legs and we'll switch."

Kyoko slapped her hand away. "Poke me again and lose a finger. And you don't need my legs. Just get Mami here to carry you around so Charlotte can push me around for a change."

From her place behind the wheelchair (Sayaka had adamantly refused to let Kyoko anywhere near the handles, claiming that she would be pushed down a flight of stairs at the earliest opportunity), Charlotte rolled her eyes and turned to Mami. "Are they going to be like this the whole way?"

"Oh, most likely," Mami said with a happy smile. Unlike the pink-haired witch, she didn't seem bothered by the younger girls' near-constant bickering. Recent reunions and reconciliations had done much to increase her tolerance.

As they rounded a corner, Kyoko felt someone approach from behind, and a strange voice like crystal wind chimes said, "Pardon us, but we're new here and seemed to have gotten a bit turned around. Can you tell us how to get to the library from here?"

"Sorry," Kyoko said, turning around. "My first time too. These two might be able to…"

The rest of her sentence was immediately forgotten when she saw who, or to be precise, what had addressed her. Two glittering bubbles hovered in the air before her, one about four times the size of her head, the other two-thirds the size of the other. The larger of the two was yellow, though its shade was constantly changing. The smaller was pink, and like its companion it also kept pulsing from bright to dark. Both of the bubbles had several tiny, multicolored lights swimming through their bodies.

Though she had seen many strange things since she had first made a contract, they had at least kept to certain themes. This was unexpected enough that Kyoko couldn't do anything except stand and stare, her jaw hanging wide open. Sayaka was likewise struck dumb, and had twisted her upper body around to peek over the wheelchair's back.

Mami and Charlotte, however, weren't in the least bit surprised. "Oh sure," Mami said, stepping toward the two bubbles. "It's actually not that far." She toward a gap between buildings, beyond which two white towers could be seen. "See those towers there? It's right across the street from them. The way there from here gets a little confusing, so you're probably better off just floating over the rooftops to get there."

The bubbles moved to look. "Oh, I see!" said the large, yellow one, its glittering lights swirling in time with its words. "Thank you."

"Not at all," Mami said with a polite bow of her head. She moved to let the bubbles through. "A pleasure to meet you."

"Have a good day!" Charlotte added with a cheerful wave."

The bubbles bobbed in what honestly appeared to be a nod, and as they floated away Kyoko heard the smaller one said in a more high-pitched voice, "See? I told you it wasn't far!"

Still dumbstruck, Kyoko turned to stare at Mami and Charlotte, who seemed to be amused by her confusion. "Uh, witches?" she said. It was the only explanation she could think of.

"Nope," Charlotte said, grinning. "Well, maybe, but not necessarily. It's kinda hard to tell with them, to be honest."

Now that didn't make a lick of sense. "Okay…Familiars then?"

"Wrong again. Can't make them anymore, not without turning all the way back into witches."

"They're called Calliopes," Mami told Kyoko. Then she frowned. "Well, actually their real name is unpronounceable, but that's the name they adopted for us to use."

Kyoko's brow scrunched up. "Wow, way to not make a lick of sense. You wanna try again?"

"They're from another planet, Kyoko," Charlotte said.

Kyoko's body froze in place, her eyes going very, very wide. Down in the wheelchair, Sayaka made a sound not unlike a hiccup.

"Humans aren't the only species the Incubators have been working with," Mami explained. "We're just the one they've had the most success with, so we form the majority here. The Calliopes are actually comparatively new, from what I hear. There's still a fair amount, but you'll mostly find them up in Cloudbreak or Pinespire. They prefer high altitudes and low temperatures, so you don't see them often here in Freehaven, but occasionally we get tourists visiting friends."

Kyoko's look of complete shock slowly morphed into a grin of absolute delight. "Hold up, are you telling me that I just met a freaking alien?"

"Well," Charlotte said hesitantly. "Not exactly alien to here. I mean, it's the afterlife for everyone the Incubators have made contracts with. But yeah, back in the world of the living they'd be alien to humans."

"Hot damn!" Kyoko turned to Sayaka. "You hear that, Fish Filet? First mermaids, and now aliens! If we meet talking dragons I swear I'll take back every bad thing I've said about this place."

"Why would you want to?" Sayaka asked in bafflement. "I mean, aren't they kind of…" She paused and looked thoughtful. "Okay, I admit it: dragons would be pretty cool."

"Uh, Kyoko?"

Kyoko looked back to Charlotte. "Yeah?"

The pink-haired girl looked a little uncomfortable. "Not to break your high, but you've already met an alien. Remember Kyubey the Incubator?"

There was a long pause, and then Kyoko said, "Wow. Way to be a buzzkill, Charly."

Charlotte winced. "Sorry." At her side, Mami pursed her lips, sighed, and shook her head, evidently not approving of how Charlotte had brought Kyoko's spirits down.

They walked on for a while in silence, and then Kyoko asked, "So, how many kinds of aliens you've got here anyway?"

Looking relieved that the awkward moment had passed, Mami said, "Including ourselves, there's about twelve species officially documented. At least I'm sure it's twelve, I haven't really checked recently." She looked at Charlotte. "It's twelve, right?"

"Thirteen," Charlotte said. "We had our first couple of Savians show up three months ago."

Mami nodded. "Right, it was all over the news. Poor things. They were scared out of their wits."

"Huh." Kyoko mused on that for a while. "And they've got the same deal as us? Make a wish, get super-powers, fight witches before you get turned into one yourself?"

"More-or-less. You have to understand that it's not like it is in the TV shows. Most other species aren't like humans with different ears or forehead. Well, those Savians came pretty close, but many of them, such as the Calliopes, aren't humanlike at all, and as such have developed completely different cultures and ways of seeing things, so the Incubators use different strategies with them, depending on the species. But the same basic framework remains, yes."

"Go with what works I guess," Kyoko said, her tone contemplative. "And is it the same as with us? I mean, where they only go after girls?"

"Mostly," Mami said. They came to a four-way junction and turned left. This led them up a slope with rougher cobblestones. "Not all of them reproduce the same way we do, so there's no need for gender."

"L-l-like th-the C-c-cal-l-lio-o-o-p-pes?" Sayaka guessed, her voice rattling along with the wheelchair as it bumped along.

"Exactly," Mami nodded. "But for the ones that do have genders, they do stick with young females, yes."

"A-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a," Sayaka said, for no other reason than she enjoyed the distortion effect.

Kyoko scowled. "You know, I never thought about it before, but what's up with that, anyway? I mean, after this twit here," she rustled Sayaka's hair, earning her a sharp flick, "got herself turned into a musical fish stick, Homura Akemi gave me something of a crash course on how the rats run their con game. And she said that they only go after young girls about our age, like in their early teens, you know? Something about needing emotional energy to fight off autopsies or some nonsense like that."

"Autopsies?" Charlotte repeated, sounding bewildered.

"I think she means entropy," Mami said.

"Eh-eh-eh-en-troh-oh-oh-oh-pe-e-e-e-e," Sayaka put in.

"Right, that," Kyoko said. "Only not retarded how she made it sound. But anyway, the Terminator girl told me that they go for girls because girls are supposed to be all emotional, especially during puberty. But I can't count the number of guys I've met who were total whiny bitches. And plenty of them were old and married. So, what's with that? I mean, that's a shitload of untapped potential there!"

The ground leveled out and became smoother, and Sayaka thankfully stopped playing with her voice. Mami shrugged helplessly. "Unfortunately, I never had the chance to speak to Kyubey once I had been made wise to the full scope of their operations, so I really couldn't tell you."

"Well, they are aliens," Charlotte pointed out as she moved aside a low-hanging vine. "Maybe they did some basic research, chose a demographic, and stuck with it."

"Or maybe they're just a bunch of sexist assholes who really need to have their skulls kicked in on a regular basis," Kyoko put in to answer her own question. That got a snort out of Charlotte.

Mami pursed her lips. "Well, it's probably not as simple as that, but I doubt you'll find anyone here that disagrees."

"Or maybe it's because boys don't look nearly as good in those frilly dresses," Sayaka suggested.

That brought the whole group to a stop. Mami, Charlotte, and Kyoko looked first at each other, and then down at the wheelchair-bound mermaid.

"What?" she said, putting on a show of innocence. "I read that book you guys have. The one that lists all those different Puella Magi uniforms? And despite what you might think, I do remember what men look like. Come on, admit it: those outfits looked way better on us."

This was met with a collective sigh, and the caravan started moving again. "My outfit wasn't frilly," Kyoko muttered, mostly to herself. "And it was more like a battle-tunic than a dress."

"Neither was mine," Mami said. "Mine was more like-"

"Mami, I don't even know how to begin to describe that thing you wore. Like someone crossed a sailor-schoolgirl uniform with a cowgirl suit."

Mami cleared her throat and shot a sharp look to Charlotte and Sayaka, who were both trying to hide their snickers. "Kyoko, that is probably the worst description I have ever heard."

"I don't even remember mine," Charlotte said. "So it could have been frilly. Who knows?"

"Me neither," Sayaka said glumly. "I hope mine wasn't. I'd look awful in frills."

"Actually, Kyoko here could probably tell you," Mami said. She touched Kyoko's shoulder. "What did her uniform look like?"

Kyoko thought about the question for a while before shrugging and answering with, "Eh, cleavage."

Again, the party was brought to a stop. Charlotte slowly turned her head toward Mami and mouthed, "Cleavage?"

Her mouth moving wordlessly, Mami shook her head and spread her hands.

"Cleavage?" Sayaka repeated, again with the same expression she had worn when Kyoko had questioned her as to her bathroom habits. "Cleavage?"

"Yeah. Cleavage. You had it." When Sayaka continued to stare, Kyoko added, "Hey, I didn't pick the outfit."

Whistling, she stuck her hands into her pockets and continued on. Behind her, Sayaka started shouting, "Oh, come on! That can't be the only thing you remember. There's got to be more to it than that! What color was it? Did I have a skirt or pants? Did I at least fill it out okay? Did…Why are you two looking at me like that?"

Kyoko grinned. She licked her index finger and drew an imaginary "2" in the air.

…

Interrogating the shades took somewhat longer than Reibey had expected. Though they were all technically the same person, there were still numerous minute differences that needed to be weeded out before the common baseline between them was sufficiently established.

When he felt that he had gathered enough information from this particular group, Reibey said, "Well, I believe that's enough. Thank you, ladies. You may return. Tah-tah."

Though their actions were fully enslaved to his will, the shades' minds were still their own. And he knew full well that, were they to be given the chance, they would rip him to pieces. The knowledge of their helplessness was one of the few things that still warmed him inside. He watched as they rejoined back into a single mass that swept up and plunged back into the top of the ziggurat. It was a pity he couldn't just wrap one of them up for Oblivion to keep her happy, especially since, ironically enough, the one she knew was actually in his possession. Unfortunately, when reduced to such a state, it was impossible to put them back the way they were. Pity.

Reibey started to descend the ziggurat's steps but hesitated before reaching the bottom. Though he probably now had enough to work with, why not hedge his bets?

He raced back to the top again and said, "Okay, change of plans. They're a few more I need you to spew out for me. Shouldn't take long, but I'm expecting a call, so let's make this quick."

A silent question was asked, a name was provided, and the top of the ziggurat started to glow blue.

…

To Kyoko's complete lack of surprise, Corrie Linneman's home was at the top of the hill. Why the mayor hadn't come down to meet them, Kyoko couldn't wait to ask.

Insofar as houses went, it was certainly big: a three story building with the same white walls, flat red roof, and mosaic-surrounded arching windows as the rest of the town. Separating it from the street was the strangest looking lawn Kyoko had ever seen. Where most people decorated their lawns with flowers, trees, and hedges cut into the shapes of amusing animals, this one was decorated with itself. While most the grassy ground was flat, here and there it would rise up and form the sort of shapes usually taken by hedges, such as posing animals and people. Kyoko stared at these odd shapes, wondering if they were statues that had been persuaded to have grass grow all over them or if the lawn instead had been molded like clay. Given where she was and the sort of people that inhabited, she strongly leaned toward the latter theory.

The four of them crossed over a path made of the same cobblestones that constructed the streets and approached the door. But as Mami raised her fist to knock, it opened, revealing a tanned girl whose eyes and short hair were emerald green. She wore a smart pantsuit of the same color and couldn't have been over ten years old.

"Oh," Mami said, surprised. "Hello Nicole."

"Good day," the girl named Nicole said solemnly as she bowed politely at the waist. "The mayor is expecting you. This way, please."

She turned and reentered the house. The others followed. Frowning, Kyoko sidled up to Mami and whispered, "They've got a gradeschooler as a butler?"

"Even back in the world of the living we didn't age, remember?" Mami whispered back. "Nicole is older than all of us put together."

The interior of the house was elegant enough, though not overtly so, with a slight but noticeable Spanish flair. Immediately before them two staircases curved around an open door. Sayaka's face fell when she saw this, no doubt anticipating having to be carried up the steps.

She needn't have worried, as Nicole led them through the doorway instead. Beyond was a sitting room, with two pale red sofas sitting on either side of a low table and an archway set into both the right and left-hand walls. In one corner, a blue-and-yellow parrot was amusing itself in a playground of brass hoops. The far wall was one large window, displaying a marble deck with a swimming pool beyond. Kyoko didn't bother fighting the smirk she felt forming. Well, these people had money, that much was obvious; however, she vastly preferred the Nautilus Platform. As fancy as this place was, it wasn't on a sweet ocean platform, something that put it at a severe disadvantage.

Fidgeting in one of the sofas was an anxious looking girl in her late teens wearing a grey skirt and blouse. She was striking enough, with a handsome face with strong cheeks and eyes the color of storm clouds. However, her most noticeable feature was her silver hair, which was done up in four braids that hung from the four corners of her head. But instead of falling straight down like hair should, they curved up like an elephant's trunk, each one topped by a tiny yellow star. Furthermore, she was, if anything, more endowed than Mami, something that Kyoko wouldn't have thought possible without surgery.

As the others entered the room, Kyoko hung back and looked the girl up-and-down. So this was Freehaven's mayor. Kyoko couldn't say she was especially impressed, given how fretful the girl looked. Also, if her unusual hair was any indication, she was a witch. Kyoko wasn't sure if that actually meant anything, but it was worth noting.

Nicole paused at the room's entrance and cleared her throat. "Ma'am, they have arrived."

However, the girl had already heard them coming, and was rising from the couch. "Oh, thank God," she said, rushing forward to embrace Mami and Charlotte and kiss them both on the cheek. "You're here at last." Kyoko furrowed her brow and stepped back. These people were entirely too affectionate for her tastes.

Mami and Charlotte, however, didn't seem bothered. "Oh, come on Monica," Charlotte said. "It's barely seven in the morning!"

Wait, Monica? Kyoko frowned. She had thought the mayor's name was Corrie.

"I know," the girl said with a roll of her eyes. "But Corrie's been pacing around the place since three. You know how she gets when she's restless."

Ah, so this wasn't the mayor. And yet the butler was still treating her like the master of the house. Was this instead the home of one of someone else, perhaps one of the mayor's friends? Or perhaps this Monica was a close relation to the mayor, a sister or cousin or something similar. Or perhaps…

Kyoko's smirk started to grow. Ho boy, this was getting interesting.

Monica looked to Kyoko and Sayaka and her face brightened.

"And you must be Kyoko Sakura and Oktavia von Seckendorff! I've especially been wanting to meet you."

For one horrible moment, Kyoko was afraid that she was going to be hugged and kissed as well. Fortunately, Monica contented herself with an offered handshake, same as Victoria had.

"Hello, I'm Monica, Corrie's wife," she said, confirming Kyoko's suspicions. "I also run the local post office, library, and militia, but no one ever remembers that unless they've got a complaint. But enough about me. It's so wonderful to finally have you here! You had us all worried."

"Hey, it's great to be loved," Kyoko said, accepting the handshake with more enthusiasm she had Victoria's. "You have a lovely home."

Maybe she was acting too friendly, because Charlotte raised an eyebrow and stole a look at Mami, who was noisily clearing her throat. However, Monica didn't seem perturbed.

"Thanks!" she said. "You're Kyoko, right? I was so relieved to hear of your recovery!"

Kyoko shrugged. "Eh, if you say so," she said, her voice dripping with disappointment. "Personally, I'm not so happy about it."

To her satisfaction, Mami and Charlotte both stiffened. Sayaka was giving her a sidelong look, silently asking her what she thought she was doing. Monica frowned in confusion. "I-I'm sorry, did I say something wrong?"

Wearing her most disarming smile, the one that showed both fangs, Kyoko said, "Nah, it's just I was going for the record for the world's longest power nap! Three more days and I'd have had it in the bag."

Monica laughed appreciatively. As for Kyoko's companions, they didn't say anything, though it was clear that they were groaning internally. Mami closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. Kyoko smirked and shot her a wink, as if to say, "See? I can play nice too. Don't be so uptight all the time."

"And this must be Oktavia, right?" Monica bent over to shake Sayaka's hand. "I'm sorry you had to arrive in such a condition. Witch remnants are rarely so severe."

"Hey, hey, no worries," Sayaka said amicably. "It's got its perks. For one, I can breathe underwater and swim like a dolphin." Leaning forward, she cupped her mouth and said in a loud whisper, "For another, I've got these losers to push me around everywhere."

She started snickering, only to have Kyoko smack the back of her head. "Hey, don't get so cocky," the redhead said. "One flight of stairs and we're leaving your wise ass at the bottom."

Looking relieved that her guests at least seemed friendly, Monica turned to Nicole. "Speaking of stairs, you'd better go up and find Corrie. She's probably-"

"I'm here, I'm here," said a harried looking girl in a charcoal black suit as she bustled in through the archway on the left. Though she was of a similar age, she was different from Monica in almost every way. Tall and thin, she had chocolate skin and dark eyes. Also, save for her thin eyebrows, her head was completely hairless. Under her arm was a thick file.

"Hi, sorry I wasn't down at the docks to meet you," Corrie said, quickly shaking hands all around. "But the phone's been ringing off the hook since I got back. As soon as word got out that Kyoko here was awake, I've had everyone from all over the Alliance calling for updates."

"Damn, I am popular," Kyoko said, raising an eyebrow.

"In a matter of speaking," Corrie said, her tone curt. In contrast to her more easy-going wife, she struck Kyoko as someone who had recently been put under more pressure than she was used to, and wasn't adjusting well. "But we'll get to that in a moment. But for now, we-"

She was interrupted by the sound of a ringing phone, coming from a different room.

"-can't seem to go five minutes without that damned thing squealing its head off!" Corrie said loudly. "I swear to God, why can't they-"

"I got it, I got it," Monica said, moving to the next room. "Nicole, you better take position at one of the upstairs phones." She winked at Corrie. "Don't worry, we'll hold off the horde."

"Appreciated," Corrie sighed. "Just tell them the situation's a work in progress and we'll let them know the moment's there's anything worth calling them about."

Once Monica and Nicole had left, the rest of them settle in the two couches, with Mami pushing Sayaka's wheelchair to the head of the low table.

"All right, let's dive right into things," Corrie said once everyone was sitting. She looked first to Sayaka and then to Kyoko. "I assume you two have already been brought up to speed on, well, everything…"

"Eh, mostly," Kyoko said. She slouched back, throwing her right arm over the couch's back and crossing her legs. She noted with displeasure that no one had offered refreshments, a major strike against the household. "And can I just say that for an afterlife, this place has some amazingly stupid rules?"

"Yes, it does," Corrie said. "But let's concentrate on the ongoing Oblivion crisis." She set the folder down and opened it up. "Now Kyoko, I'm glad you're awake. I've already spoken to Oktavia here a couple of times over the phone, and have been checking with just about everyone across the Alliance, trying to figure out what Oblivion wants with you. But so far, we've come up with zilch, save that she is after you." She looked up. "So please, please, please tell me there's something you can tell me to make sense of this."

Kyoko felt a little uncomfortable. Though it wasn't her fault, Corrie looked so desperate that she found herself wishing she had something to give. "Sorry," she said, shrugging. "Never even heard of this place until after I kicked it. And those assholes she sent after me wouldn't tell me squat, neither."

The corner of Corrie's eye twitched, and she slumped over the table with a heavy sigh. "I expected as much," she muttered. "Of course it wouldn't be that easy." She shook her head. "Okay, maybe they need you for something. Is there anything…special about you two, anything that sets you apart from the rest of us?"

"Heck if I know," Sayaka said, shrugging. "I mean, I'm kind of a fish, but I really don't think that's what they're after."

"You mean besides the undeniable awesomeness that is being me?" Kyoko said. "Yeah, I got nothing."

"And that's strike two," Corrie groaned, holding up two fingers. "All right, moving on." She rubbed her smooth forehead as she thought. At last she said, "Kyoko, from what Mami told me, Oktavia here was a rookie when she witched out, only been a Puella Magi for a few days, right?"

Kyoko quirked an eyebrow. She shot a brief glance at Mami, who was looking progressively more and more uncomfortable. "Yeah," she said in a guarded tone.

"But you on the other had been operating for a while, in a number of different areas," Corrie continued.

"I've been around, sure," Kyoko said.

"Long enough to have made some enemies, right?"

Kyoko let out a dismissive snort. "Oh, so that's what you're getting at." Chuckling, she ran her fingers through her hair and said, "Sure, I've messed up a few faces here and there, and there were plenty with reason to want to see mine get smashed. But they were all nobodies, just a bunch of punks I squabbled with over witch hunting. Happens all the time. Trust me, there was nothing special about any of them."

"Are you sure?" Corrie pressed. "It's possible that one of them might have died or witched out before you did, and took advantage of the time difference…you know about that, right?" When Kyoko rolled her eyes and nodded, Corrie continued, "Right. Given how much quicker things move here, she might have risen through the Void Walkers' ranks, earned Oblivion's favor, and is now taking advantage of that to get revenge."

Kyoko let out a bark of laughter. "Seriously? Okay, yeah, that's what might have happened, just like Oblivion might be after me because there's some ancient prophecy that says that I'll one day drop through her roof on a giant firebreathing dragon, shooting lightning bolts from my most wonderful ass while shredding a face-melting guitar solo, and then drive my spear so far down her throat that it shoots out the other end!"

A long pause greeted her theory, and then Corrie cleared her throat. "Uh, wow. Okay. You know, a simple 'No, there's nobody' would have worked just as well."

"Yeah, but I told you that already."

"So you did," Corrie said, shaking her head. "Okay, last idea. I'm sorry I had to bring this up, but it's possible that it has something to do with the wishes you two made when you contracted."

Mami immediately looked stricken. "Corrie, we already talked about this!" she pleaded. "They both wished to help people they cared about, none of which had anything further to do with the Incubators!"

"I know, I know, but it's something we need to at least consider!" Corrie said. "I mean, it's entirely possible that a member of Kyoko's father's congregation made a contract, and later became a Void Walker! Kyoko, do you remember anyone who might have…" She looked up at Kyoko, and suddenly seemed to forget what she was saying. "…ah…"

Kyoko wasn't saying anything. In fact, she had barely moved at all. But the stony look she was sending Corrie wasn't at all friendly. Her right index finger was slowly scratching the top of the back cushion. Mami moved to say something to her, but Charlotte grabbed her by the arm and shook her head.

The room's mood, already uncomfortable, had gone completely stiff. Nothing moved save for Kyoko's finger and the parrot in the corner, which continued doing its acrobatics through the brass hoops, blissfully unaware of how chilly the nearby humans had gotten towards each other. Somewhere, in another room, the phone rang, only to have Monica or Nicole answer it on the first ring.

Then there was a sudden ripping sound, not loud of but sudden and unexpected. Everyone save for Kyoko herself jerked up in surprise. The source turned out to be Kyoko's finger, which had torn right through the cushion's fabric.

Kyoko's eyes widened slightly. She glanced at the tear she had made, shrugged, and used her fingernail to widen it a bit before saying, "Why no. To my knowledge there was no one from my father's church who had any direct interaction with an Incubator. Save, of course, for myself."

"Right," Corrie said after a few heartbeats had gone by. "Okay."

Kyoko withdrew her hand from the tear. "Sorry about your couch," she said, not sounding sorry in the slightest.

Corrie took a deep breath. "Don't worry about it."

Another long pause went by. Mami refused to meet Kyoko's eyes, which were glowering menacingly at her. Charlotte watched Kyoko warily, looking ready to leap to Mami's defense should violence erupt.

Then Sayaka said, "Well, don't look at me either. Because the cranky redhead tells me that I just wished to fix the hand of this guy I had a crush on, and he just ended up going out with my best friend instead. I guess that's gratitude for you, huh?"

The tension seemed to diffuse a bit. Kyoko at least stopped glaring at Mami, instead redirecting her gaze to the ceiling. Corrie shook her head and muttered, "All right then. Let's move on."

"Well, hey, what about the local rat?" Kyoko said, still staring upward. "I mean, you've apparently been talking to this Reibey, right? There's gotta be something he's let out."

"Rat bastard!" the parrot suddenly exclaimed. Everyone turned to stare at it.

"We've, uh, kind of got it trained to do that whenever someone says his name," Corrie said, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment. "It's sort of a call-and-response thing. It…gets kind of annoying, to be honest."

"I dunno, I think it's fitting," Kyoko said in approval. "But yeah, he let anything on?"

"Oh, if only," Corrie said. She straightened up. "And yes, it's true that I've, ahem, 'spoken' to him every day, it's the same message every time." Her voice became high and squeaky, in what Kyoko suspected was an imitation of Reibey. "'Let me talk to Kyoko Sakura. I'll say nothing except to Kyoko Sakura." She shook her head. "Christ, he's insufferable enough even when I don't have to talk to him."

"Well, then let me," Kyoko said with a touch of irritation. "Come on, ring him up and I'll get him to tell me. Problem solved, right?"

"It's not that simple, Kyoko," Mami said.

"Why not?" Sayaka asked before Kyoko could. She looked from one face to the next. "I mean, we want to know why Oblivion and Reibey-"

"Rat bastard!"

"-are after us, Rei…the Incubator won't tell anyone except for Kyoko, and Kyoko's right here, so why shouldn't it be simple?"

Again, the phone rang in another room. Everyone in the meeting ignored it.

"Because for one, we still don't know the full extent of Oblivion's power," Corrie answered. She reached into the open folder and extracted a piece of paper. "She's got literally thousands of followers, all with their own set of special abilities, carried over from life. And I don't want to risk having any sort of contact between Kyoko here and that scum without putting certain protections in place."

"Yeah?" Kyoko finally turned her attention away back from the ceiling. "Like what?"

"Like this," Corrie said, pushing the paper toward her.

On it was a large amount of legal text, with a line to be signed at the bottom. The title at the top read "THE FREE LIFE COMPACT."

…

Reibey watched with smug satisfaction as a cyclone of yellow lights was swallowed up by the ziggurat. That had been the fourth group of shades he needed to talk to, and the last; and as such, he now had ample information to work with.

Though he hated music, he felt a strange urge to start humming. He was simply in a rare good mood, so that there was a noticeable spring to his step as he descended the steps.

When he reached the bottom, he sent off a mental command to his most trusted inferior. The answer was immediate, and the Matriarch ascended from the floor to stand before him.

She bowed low. "My lord."

"Hey there," he said. "Looks like I'm all done here. Have the dead primates made their daily call?"

"No, lord Reibey."

"No? They're late then." He shrugged his small shoulders. "Well, they'll be ringing for me sooner or later."

He leapt into the Matriarch's arms. "Take me to my private sanctum," he said. "Don't want to keep them waiting, after all."

The Matriarch bowed her head. She sank back into the floor, taking her master with her.

The ziggurat now stood alone in the empty auditorium.

…

"The Compact?" Mami said in surprise. "Corrie, isn't this a bit fast? I mean, are you sure this is necessary?"

"I'm sure I don't want to take chances," Corrie said grimly. "Anything to discourage Oblivion and Reibey-"

"Rat bastard!"

"I knew teaching her to do that was a mistake," Corrie muttered. "But anything that discourages those two from trying anything falls in the good idea category as far as I'm concerned." She pushed one copy to Kyoko and handed another to Sayaka. "Now, I'm sure Mami and Charlotte already told you what this is all about, but even so, the gist of it is-"

"We know what this is," Kyoko said as she picked up the paper and briefly glanced it over without actually reading anything. She let her eyes linger on the page for a long moment before lowering it just enough to glower at Corrie over the top. "And wow, really?"

"Look, I understand that you probably have reservations," Corrie said. She was starting to sound exasperated, a common enough condition in people who tried to persuade Kyoko to do anything she didn't want to. "But given the circumstances-"

"Yeah, about that," Kyoko drawled. "See, the last time I let sucky circumstances drive me to sign up for something I didn't really understand, it went a little sour."

"This isn't an Incubator contract," Corrie said, her dark eyes flashing. "The opposite, in fact. It's a declaration of opposition to everything they've done and a-"

"Oh, for Chrissakes, spare me the infomercial!" Kyoko groaned as she rolled her eyes upward. "Look, if being a part of an official Incubator hateclub makes you feel better about yourself, more power to you. But don't expect me to start attending the group therapy meetings just because you hate the same bunch of pricks that I do."

Sayaka cleared her throat. "Uh, not to derail your anti-establishment rant, but maybe you better think this over before you reject it out of hand?" she said. "I mean, it's obvious that these people are on our side. And if signing the Compact can keep Oblivion from attacking us again, wouldn't it make sense to go for it?"

"Exactly, thank you!" Corrie said. She waved her arm at the mermaid. "See, she agrees with me! Please, listen to her if you won't listen to me."

"Hey, you can do whatever you want," Kyoko said, pointing at Sayaka. "If you wanna sign up and move in, go right ahead. But I got this thing about people pushing me into doing anything. It kinda sets my teeth on edge, you know?"

"No one's pushing you to do anything," Charlotte said. Like Corrie, she sounded like she was starting to lose her patience with the redhead.

Kyoko glanced at her. "Yeah, they kinda are."

"They're…Okay, maybe a little," Charlotte admitted. "But if you ask me-"

"Which I'm not," Kyoko said.

"Okay, but if somebody did, I'd say that refusing just to make a 'nobody tells me what to do' statement is, well, kind of dumb."

"Charlotte," Mami said in warning.

"Well, it is!

"But that's no excuse to-"

They were interrupted by the sound of paper crumpling loudly as Kyoko crushed her copy of the Free Life Compact into a ball and tossed it behind the sofa.

"Maybe you dumbasses weren't paying attention," she said flatly to her staring audience. "But I didn't come here to join a club, I came here because some bitch I've never even heard about until a week ago made me a wanted girl, and I want to know why. Plus, her pet rat took a friend of mine, which is something he and I need to have words about." She locked eyes with Corrie, and the corner of her lip curled enough, just enough to show her fang. "That's it. Save the recruitment speech for someone who gives a damn. You got a problem with that? Tough."

Nobody said anything, but judging by the sparks in Corrie's eyes and the way her fingers were curling it was clear that she was seriously contemplating violence. Sayaka had her face buried in her hands, no doubt out of embarrassment for her friend's behavior. Charlotte looked downright incensed, and from the look of things was fully prepare to back Corrie up should things come to blows. And as for Mami…

The blonde cleared her throat, summoning everyone's attention. "Kyoko? A word, please?"

"Go ahead," Kyoko said. "I ain't stopping yah."

"In private?"

Kyoko snickered. "Again? Jesus Mami, you gotta stop dragging me off for these private chats. People are gonna start talking and-" Mami was already on her feet and marching toward the door. She grabbed Kyoko by the shoulder and pulled her along with her. "Hey! I didn't mean literally drag! Lemme go!"

Mami ignored her, just as she ignored the questioning looks from those still sitting. She kept hauling Kyoko along until they were in Corrie's kitchen.

"I said let go!" Kyoko said, finally managing to free her sleeve from Mami's grip. "Jesus, what crawled up your butt and…uh…"

Her rant died with her indignation when she saw the expression on Mami's face. It was the twin of the look she herself had worn when Corrie had brought up Kyoko's family, which in turn bore a skin-crawling resemblance to the look Mami used to wear whenever Kyoko annoyed her with her goofing off. Back when they had been partnered together, Kyoko had quickly learned that whenever Mami just stared at her without speaking or smiling, it was time to knock it off. Though they had both come a long way since then, some lessons remained entrenched.

The two girls held each other's gaze without speaking. An itch developed on Kyoko's nose, but she didn't dare scratch it. She didn't think Mami would actually attack her, but her former mentor didn't need the threat of violence to be intimidating.

Then, once again, the silence was broken by a ringing phone, which again was quickly answered. Mami sighed.

"Listen," she said, her voice calm but with an undercurrent of steel. "I know you're going through some heavy things right now, and I don't blame you for not wanting to sign the Compact, nor do I think it should be forced on you. But don't take your anger out on Corrie like that. She's spent the last week doing everything in her power to procure information for you, not to mention the fact that she's being trying to negotiate for Elsa Maria's release every day. Disagree with her if you wish, but at least try to cooperate with her."

Kyoko scowled. Now that the spell Mami's stare had put her under had passed, it didn't take long for her to work up her familiar anger. She shoved her hands into her pockets and said, "Yeah? Chick wants my cooperation, maybe she shouldn't do things like bring up my freaking dad. Told her about that, did you?"

A brief look of shame passed over Mami's face, but her tone remained resolute. "I did, and I'm sorry, but she needed to eliminate that as a possibility for Oblivion's interest in you."

"Could've just told her that it ain't one, and she should just mind her own business," Kyoko said, scratching her nose.

"Kyoko, this is her business," Mami said. "Literally. The Alliance essentially made her your official liaison and told her to get to the bottom of this. And believe me, she's been doing her best. Yes I agree bringing up your father's church was tactless, but she does have the best intentions."

"Yeah, wasn't there some sort of proverb about good intentions, and the road to Hell and all that?" Kyoko said. She glanced around. "Oh wait."

Mami's face went cold again.

"All right, all right," Kyoko said hastily as she put up her hands. "Sorry, sorry, but that one just wrote itself."

"Kyoko…"

Kyoko winced. Now Mami looked disappointed, which was worse than her icy glare. "Okay. I get it. I'll say I'm sorry and cut her some slack. Just so long as she don't bring up my dad again or make me sign anything I don't want to. That sound fair?"

Mami held her gaze for a moment longer before letting herself relax. "Fair enough," she said, nodding. Then one of her small half-smiles appeared. "Just behave yourself. I don't want to have to ground you."

"Ha!" Kyoko punched her in the arm as she walked past her. "Try it. I fucking dare you."

"Keep that up, and I just might," Mami said, returning the punch. "I might just send you to bed without supper as well."

That sobered Kyoko right up. "Okay, now that?" she said, rubbing the spot where Mami had punched her. "That's just cold."

…

In his private sanctum, a place that no one save for himself and the Matriarch had access to, a place none of the Oblivions had ever been made aware of, Reibey paced impatiently back at forth. He would start from one end of the room, march all the way to the other, and turn around to go back again, his tail constantly twisting itself into knots the whole way. Off to one side, the Matriarch stood in silent stillness, no more intrusive than an article of furniture.

Finally, Reibey stopped his pacing long enough to spit out, "Damn them all to a Hell lower than this one, what is taking them so long?"

"My lord?"

He looked to the Matriarch. Though she had little in the way of a will of her own, she was trained to act as a sounding board should he require one. Ranting to an unresponsive statue wasn't any fun. "They should have contacted me by now! I thought they were all so desperate for me to spill the beans. So why are they dawdling now?"

"I do not know, my lord. Perhaps you should contact them."

He snorted in derision. "I'm not about to give them the pleasure. No, they'll be calling my name sooner or later."

The Matriarch hesitated before inquiring, "My lord, forgive me, but if I am to understand what you've told me, you do not plan to actually lay the bait during this conversation, correct?"

"Of course not. That bitch Corrie will be there, picking through every word I say."

"Then why are you so anxious to begin this particular meeting?"

"Because I don't like to be kept waiting," he said. "Besides, I still need to keep Kyoko Sakura from signing the Compact in the meantime. That shouldn't take much, I think."

There was another moment of hesitation, and then the Matriarch said, "But, my lord, what if she has already?"

If it were anyone else questioning him, they would find themselves writhing on the floor in pain. But as it was, Reibey just laughed. "Oh, I'm not afraid of that. I have every reason to believe tradition will hold."

"Tradition?"

"Tradition. You see, my dear marionette, this isn't the first time this sequence of events has happened. And as I just learned, in each and every reiteration, Kyoko Sakura and her mermaid companion have always refused the Compact."

"I don't understand."

"Of course you don't. It isn't for you to understand." He shrugged. "Of course, this could all be a waste of time and things end up resetting, but one should always plan for any eventuality. We all have our parts to play, and sooner or later, the play is going to finally progress to the next act. When that happens, I don't plan on being caught with my pants down." He glanced briefly to his bare backside. "Metaphorically speaking of course."

The Matriarch said nothing, and Reibey didn't feel like continuing the conversation anyway. He continued his path from one end of the room to the next, waiting.

…

Kyoko and Mami returned to where the others were waiting. Everyone's head perked up as they reentered the room. Kyoko could practically see the question marks in their eyes.

She was about to retake her seat when Mami poked her in the side. When Kyoko looked at her in puzzlement, the older girl cleared her throat.

"What?" Kyoko said. Then she got it. "Oh, right. That."

Sighing, she turned to Corrie and mumbled, "Look, I was kind of a…Well, I was being a…Sorry." She sat down quickly.

Corrie looked surprised, but she nodded. "Ah. Well, all right then. No worries, I understand. And I apologize for bringing up certain past events."

"I'm still not signing your Compact thingamajig though."

Corrie and Charlotte both looked like they were going to start protesting again, but Kyoko cut them off. "Look, I already told you guys, I ain't gonna be pressured to join anything. Sure, I'll stick around for a while and check things out, and if I like what I see, I'll sign up. But not all rushed like this."

"You do realize that, as a neutral, that limits what we can do to protect you, right?" Corrie said slowly. "You're making yourself vulnerable to anything they want to do to you."

"Like what?" Kyoko said. "No, seriously. You think they're gonna mind control me through the phone? Doesn't that break your rules already? You know, seeing how I'm in your house as a guest or whatever."

"Perhaps, on a technicality," Corrie said. "But I am not interested in giving them any loopholes to abuse."

"Hmmm, okay," Kyoko said with a shrug. "Now, what about this: say I become an official Freehaven whatever, and we go and call up Reibey-"

"Rat bastard!"

"I have got to get me one of those," Kyoko said admiringly. "But yeah, say we call him up, and he finds out that he can't touch me anymore. He lost, I'm out of reach. Now, if I were him, I wouldn't feel like telling us shit. I'd tell us to piss off and hang up. It's like the one chick Vickie, down at the docks. He was after her too, but gave up after she joined up with you guys, right? If he can't get me and wrap me up with a pretty bow to give to his boss, why in the hell should he explain anything?"

Looking troubled, Corrie mused over this. "So, you believe that contacting him while remaining a free agent, he might be more inclined to reveal something important, on the grounds that he might still be able to, ah, manipulate you into coming out of our protection?"

"Z'xactly."

"I still don't like it," was the blunt response. "He is under no obligation to tell the truth, and he knows it. He can say whatever the hell if it'll mean luring you out."

"Plus, don't forget that you signing the Compact won't mean that you're completely out of reach," Charlotte put in. "I mean, he won't be able to mind control you anything, assuming he even can, but if he convinces you to emancipate yourself…"

Kyoko's head snapped up. "Wait, that can happen?"

"Just once," Mami said. "If you've been kicked out by the Free Life Alliance or the Void Walkers, you can be accepted back, if their leaders decide that you've somehow redeemed yourself. But if you leave of your own free will, that's it."

"It's like I said earlier, you leave that gang, you leave for good." Charlotte said. "It's to keep people from 'quitting,'" she made quote signs with her fingers, "just long enough to cause trouble."

Kyoko frowned. She obviously had not considered this, given that she hadn't known it. That was the most annoying part of this whole situation; there was just so much she didn't know. Hell, Sayaka probably knew more than she did, given that Mami and Charlotte had plenty of time to fill her in.

She stared at the ground, deep in thought. All around her, everyone watched her expectedly, waiting. She ignored them. Known as she might be for being reckless, acting now and worrying about the consequences later, this wasn't a decision she could rush into. That kind of behavior had already gotten her killed once.

Yet again, the phone rang, and Monica answered it. She spoke in a low tone for a few seconds, sighed, and then appeared in the doorway. She held an old-fashioned corded phone in her hand, her palm covering the receiver.

"I'm sorry, but it's Alex," she said wearily. "She won't take no for an answer, and keeps insisting that she needs to talk to Kyoko."

Corrie's nostrils flared. "I told her already, when we have something to tell her, we'll give her a call! If we haven't called, that means-"

Kyoko stood up and marched over to Monica.

"-uh, what are you doing?"

Without answering, Kyoko snatched the phone out of the surprised Monica's hands and held it to her ear.

"'Sup?" she said.

A husky voice said, "Yes! Corrie?"

"Nah. Who the hell are you?"

There was the sound of someone sputtering, and then the person on the other line said, "Wh-who is this?"

"Hey, I asked first."

"This is Alexandria Beltram, President of the Free Life Alliance! Who are you? Where is Corrie Linemann?"

"Over there," Kyoko said, vaguely waving her hand toward the dumbstruck mayor of Freehaven. "I'm Kyoko Sakura. You wanted to talk to me?"

"Wait, you mean you're…" Then the voice brightened. "Finally! Listen, I need you to tell me exactly why Oblivion is so interested-"

"Yeah, about that," Kyoko drawled, nonchalantly sticking her free hand into her jacket pocket. "Sorry, still working on that, don't have a fucking clue yet. Do you?"

"Wh-what? But you have to know something!"

"Do I?"

Kyoko tossed the phone back to Monica, who gave her a mortified look and immediately scampered from the room, frantically trying to mollify the angry voice on the other end.

"Kyoko," Corrie said as the redhead sat back down. "Tell me you didn't just hang up on the President."

"That was the President?" Mami gasped. Charlotte groaned and buried her face in her hands. As for Sayaka, she seemed to find it hilarious and was trying, with negligible success, to keep from giggling.

"Okay," Kyoko said. "I didn't just hang up on the President."

"Yes, you did," Charlotte said, not bothering to lift her face out of her hands.

"Did not. I just stopped talking to her. She's still on the line."

Pursing her lips, Corrie rose to her feet and quickly moved out of the room to take the phone from her wife.

When she was gone, Mami turned to Kyoko and pointed at her. "Hey. Play nice."

"I am!" Kyoko protested. That just made Sayaka laugh harder.

"I'm serious, Kyoko."

"So am I. She asked questions, I answered." Kyoko stretched her leg out to nudge Sayaka's head with the toe of her boot. "And knock that off before you give yourself cramps."

Corrie returned to the room, having already finished her conversation with the President of Happyland. However, she looked far from happy, and her right eye had developed a noticeable twitch.

"Okay," she said. "That was unpleasant."

"Was she angry?" Mami asked.

"She's always angry," Corrie said as she huffed back to her seat. "And not really discriminating about who she points it at."

"Sorry," Kyoko said.

"Sure you are." Corrie closed her eyes, appeared to count to ten under her breath, and opened them again. "So, there is pretty much nothing I can say or do to convince you to sign the Compact before you confront Reibey, right?"

"Rat bastard!"

"Right," Kyoko said.

"Didn't think so." Corrie turned to look at Sayaka. "What of you, Oktavia? When we spoke last, you did express interest."

Sayaka sobered right up. She frowned, looking her copy of the Free Life Compact over. Then she shook her head and put it back on the table.

"Huh?" Kyoko said, her head perking up. "Wait a minute, I thought you were all for this!"

"For once, I agree with her," Charlotte said. "Come on, Oktavia! You've got nothing to prove."

In response, Sayaka just folded her arms and shook her head again.

"Look, Chicken of the Sea, I don't care if you wanna sign anything," Kyoko told her. "Seriously, go ahead. I won't think less of you."

More stubborn silence. Another head shake.

"Out of all the-" Corrie cut herself off, took a deep breath, and said, "All right, may I ask why?"

"No," Sayaka said.

Corrie threw her hands in the air. "Well, great. That's just great. On top of everything, I'm supervising a kindergarten class. Fantastic." Then she focused on Kyoko. "All right, if you two want to be stubborn and stick it to the man, that's your business. But at least, at the very least let me put some failsafes in place before we call up Reibey."

"Rat bastard!"

"Failsafes?" Kyoko blinked. "Like what?"

"Well, as you may have noticed, we're all Puella Magi or witches here, and everyone has their own special talent. I'll call some people who are able to monitor the conversation and tell if he tries something sneaky."

Kyoko frowned. "Well, I guess that would be-"

"Come to think of it, why am I asking permission? This is my town, after all. Nicole!"

The young-looking girl in green appeared so quickly in the doorway that Kyoko wondered if she had teleported.

"Call up Tabitha and Celeste for me, yeah?" Corrie said, holding her fist near her ear with her thumb and pinky extended. "Tell them we have need of their talents and they should get their little keisters here ASAP."

"Yes, ma'am," Nicole said, bowing deeply. And just like that, she was gone.

"All right ladies, let us get this over with so I don't have to deal with it anymore," Corrie said, rising. "My hotline to the Withering Lands is upstairs, in my office. So let's-"

"Wait, it's upstairs?" Sayaka cut in.

"Yes."

Sayaka grimaced. "Is there any way to bring it down here?"

"No, it's kind of attached to my desk," Corrie said. "Why do you…Oh."

"Yeah," Sayaka said. She slapped her scaly thigh. "See, I kind of have this thing about stairs."

…

Tabitha and Celeste turned out to be a pair of girls who worked at the local library and were exceptionally in tune with the waves of energy that floated through the air and talented at detecting any sort of signal that passed through. When told that they were to stand watch for any sort of unwanted transmissions sent by Reibey, they had grown very apprehensive, even with Corrie's assurances that they were safe enough.

"You both already signed the Compact!" she had told them. "It's not like he can do anything to you!" But even so, Monica had to promise them both a month off with double pay before they agreed.

Fortunately, moving Sayaka to the second floor proved to be less difficult than expected. It helped that everyone present had some form of super-strength. When it was made clear that Sayaka wasn't keen on the idea of being thrown over someone's shoulders again, Mami had simply lifted her up, wheelchair and all, and carried her up the steps. Kyoko had to admit that she was impressed by the ease with which it was done. Mami had always been exceptionally strong, even for a Puella Magi, but it was clear that her active lifestyle had done her a great many favors.

As the party progressed up the stairs, Kyoko brought up the rear. Charlotte took the opportunity to sidle up to her and say in a low murmur, "It's because of you. You know that, right?"

"Huh?"

"Oktavia." Charlotte nodded toward Mami and the mermaid she was carrying. "She wants to sign the Compact, but won't unless you do too."

Kyoko gave her a sidelong scowl. "And that's my fault…how?"

Charlotte shrugged. "Just thought you should know."

"I ain't her mom," Kyoko hissed. "She can do whatever the hell she wants. Same with me. So save the guilt trip."

Charlotte's face turned frosty, but she didn't say anything. Kyoko, who was now fully convinced that Mami's so-called roommate didn't like her, thought back to the conversation the two of them had had the previous day about witch names. So, not only did she rub Charlotte the wrong way, but the pinkette also seemed to be kind of protective of their mutual mermaid friend, and probably saw Kyoko as a bad influence.

Well, she was right about that last part at least. Kyoko wondered if she should hide the grin she felt forming and decided that she really didn't want to.

Corrie led the six of them into her office, which was composed of an oak desk in front of a picture window and lots of bookcases and potted plants. The mayor of Freehaven pulled a small, steel key out of her pocket and stuck it into a keyhole situated at the desk's lower right-hand corner.

There was a click, and a rectangular panel in the center of the desktop slid open, and a featureless white pad about five centimeters high rose from the desk.

"Kyoko, over here," Corrie said. "Tabitha? Celeste? Take up position on either side of her, and keep your ears open."

"What about me?" Sayaka asked.

"You're fine over there."

When everyone was in position, Corrie took a deep breath and pressed her hand against the top of the pad.

…

"Finally!" Reibey snapped as a small rectangle in the middle of the floor started glowing. He walked over to it and touched it with one paw.

…

When Corrie withdrew her hand, it left a black handprint. There was a low hum, and the handprint dissolved into hundreds of tiny black dots that swirled in a thick cluster above the pad's surface.

"Wicked," Kyoko breathed. "You've got holograms."

"It's amazing what you can accomplish when science starts listening to you for a change," Corrie said, her eyes focused on the dots. "All right, here he comes…"

The dots gathered together and formed a distinct shape: a triangular black head with a rodentlike snout, and those same freaky ear-arms that Kyubey had, down to the little free-floating bracelets. Two beady red eyes opened, which immediately focused on Kyoko.

The two librarians visibly shuddered. Even Mami and Charlotte looked uncomfortable. Sayaka, however, leaned forward with interest. As for Kyoko, she took one look at the notorious Incubator's face and burst out laughing.

Everyone stared at her like she was crazy. Even Reibey looked taken back. It was clear that this wasn't the reception he had been expecting.

"I…ah…yes?" he said. His voice as high-pitched as Kyubey's had been, if a bit scratchier. "Is something funny?"

"Damn, I was not expecting that!" Kyoko laughed, holding onto Corrie's chair to keep her balance. "I thought they were being…Well, that's one thing you've got over Kyubey!"

At the name of his fellow Incubator, Reibey's eyes narrowed. While his kind weren't known for their wide range of facial expressions, Kyoko had feeling that she had offended him. Which was fine in her book. She had offended almost everyone else today. It wouldn't do to exclude the person most deserving.

"Really," he said. "And…how is that, if I may ask?"

Still snickering, Kyoko pointed at his floating head and said, "At least you don't pretend that you're not a rat!"

Corrie slumped back into her chair. "Don't start a war, don't start a war, don't start a war…"

Reibey stared icily at redhead. But then his eyes went neutral and he made a forced-sounding laugh. "Ah. Ha, ha, ha, yes. Very amusing. Would I be correct in presuming you to be the elusive Kyoko Sakura?"

"Sup, asshole?" Kyoko said, flipping off a lazy salute. "Word has it you're trying to bag my ass. Wanna explain why?"

Instead of answering, Reibey's head turned until he saw where Sayaka was sitting, with Mami and Charlotte standing to either side of her. Kyoko could swear she saw a flicker of triumph in those creepy eyes of his.

"What do you want?" Sayaka said, leaning back away from him.

Reibey didn't say anything. Though Kyoko couldn't see a mouth, there was something about the way he was tilting his head that suggested a smirk.

"Hey," she said, flicking her hand through his head, making it fuzz out for a second. "Leave them alone and talk to me. You still haven't answered my question."

"Yes, well, that." Reibey turned back to her. "Miss Sakura, I really must give you my most sincere apologies. This whole thing has been a frightful mess from beginning to end, all brought about by a horrible misunderstanding."

"Yeah. Your people keep attacking me."

"I realize that, and let me assure you-"

"The first time I got jumped in a grocery store, had my arm all slashed up, had my friend here threatened with a knife, and, just to really piss me off, they made me leave one of the best hauls I've ever seen behind!" A pained look passed over Kyoko's face as she remembered those bags of food, sitting abandoned back at that freaky city. "All the rest I can forgive, but that last one was just cruel."

"Well, you see-"

"After that, your goons shot me without warning, poisoned me, put me in a coma, beat up my other friend, kidnapped her, and burned down her lighthouse." Kyoko folded her arms. "Yeah, it's a frightful mess all right, though I dunno about the misunderstanding part. Because everything you assholes have done so far has been pretty easy to understand."

"I can see how you would come to believe that, but the truth of it-"

Now done with playing games, Kyoko thrust her finger to a point mere centimeters from Reibey's holographic face and demanded, "The fuck do you want me for, and the fuck did you do with Elsa Maria?"

"The praying witch? She's safe and unharmed. As for why my people have been searching for you, well, the truth of the matter is that it's not actually me that's interested in you."

"Oblivion, huh?" She noticed how almost everyone in the room grew dour at the mention of their arch-nemesis's name. "Fine, you or your sicko boss, it don't matter. Answer the question."

"Of course. You see, the thing is…"

He stopped talking. His head moved back and forth, as if searching for something glanced out of the corner of his eye. In fact, it looked like he was sniffing the air. It reminded Kyoko of a fox testing the air for the scent of a larger predator, though she had a feeling that she had the roles backward.

This was confirmed when his beady eyes focused on Corrie's failsafes, focusing first on Celeste and then on Celeste. They narrowed, and the two librarians cowered back.

"I see," he said. He let his gaze drift to Corrie, who, while not frightened, certainly did not appreciate the attention. "Corrie, what's with eavesdroppers? I am participating in this dialogue out of good faith!"

"Because we don't trust you," Corrie snapped. "I thought that was obvious by now."

Reibey shook his head. "Such a regrettable series of events. Kyoko Sakura, I once again extend my apologies, both on behalf of myself and my overzealous…employees."

"Save the sorries, and answer the fucking question!" Kyoko growled.

"I will, but not now, not here, not with so many prying eyes."

"What?" Corrie pushed Kyoko aside to address Reibey directly. "Wait, you said you would tell Kyoko here everything!"

Kyoko shoved her way back into Reibey's line of sight. "If you think I'm gonna let you weasel your way out of-"

"Everything in its proper time and place," came the curt reply. "Rest assured, everything will be made clear. In the meantime, I'd suggest that you do not put your name down on anything. I'll be very much less inclined to talk should that happen." He nodded at Kyoko. "Well, Miss Sakura, you'll be hearing from me again. Very soon."

With that, his face dissolved into swirling dots which were sucked into the pad and disappeared.

"No," Corrie said as she slapped her hand down on the pad. She lifted it up. There was no handprint. "No, no, no!" She slammed her fists onto the desk. "Damn it, you bastard! You said you would tell her!"

A long silence followed, during which Kyoko angrily stomped off to brood in the corner. She had been so certain that she would finally get some answers, and instead of making good on his promise, the rat had just left her with more questions. She was almost tempted to go downstairs, smooth out the Compact she had crumpled, and slash her signature on it just to spite him.

Then suddenly, Sayaka broke the quiet. "So," she said, looking from one despairing face to the next. "What do we do now?"

…

OC's, OC's everywhere! I have become everything I hated. My shame, it knows no bounds.

Anyways, more world-building, more Q and A sections, and more of Reibey being a creepy bastard. Sorry for the slow pace, but I've got a lot of world to build. Things will start moving quicker soon enough.

On to business: first of all, to the person responsible for the Oktavia "Bitches love mermaids" picture, you are officially the coolest person on the planet, and are thus awarded five free internets. Use them wisely.

Also, more good news: like it's older sibling Imperfect Metamorphosis, Resonance Days now has its own TV Tropes article, courtesy of K9Thefirst1! So if anyone has any time to spare in its raising, I would be most grateful.

Anyways, fun fact: this chapter was originally going to be a hell of a lot longer, extending all the way to the return to the Nautilus Platform, but the details proliferated in the execution, and I did promise to keep the chapter lengths down. Yes, this is me being restrained. Hey, progress is progress.

And yes, I know Sayaka's outfit didn't really have that much cleavage. But nobody save Kyoko knows that.

Until next time, everyone!