Puella Magi American Sensei

08

"What am I looking at here?"

"Our new home away from home, sensei!"

Friday night, my fifth night in this world (to my knowledge), and the day after Homura and Suzune had dealt with the Hohzuki situation saw us gathered in the downtown area, along the riverfront. What I saw was a three story office building that looked more in keeping with the design of Homura's residence (that old English look) than the surrounding hyper-modern buildings. The general area was clean and the building looked recently closed—like it had only just gone out of business, or the owner couldn't afford the rent any more. It was bordered on three sides by a lot of green space—all grass and trees that even now looked well taken care of—with a small employee parking lot in the front. In the rear, the building was separated from the embankment to the river by about an acre strip of grass that ran all the way down to the water and a little area with benches right up against the water.

It was about as pretty as we were going to get in a city, even a city as nice as Mitakihara. Honestly, I liked it for the look alone. But the location was almost perfect. I could see both the school and Mami's high rise apartment complex to the east across the river from here, while Madoka's and Homura's homes weren't too far away to the west. It was also only about two miles off of the freeway that cut through the middle of town and a mile from the road I usually drove to get back and forth to school.

Central location, sturdy construction, good lines of sight from inside, poor visibility looking in due to walls around the exterior so we'll have some privacy… It's perfect.

"It's great. Good job finding it. What next?"

Kyoko walked up to the chained up gate's bars, created a spear, and cut through the chain before pushing the gate open. "Let's get inside."

I drove the car in and parked it in front of the building. Kyoko closed the gate up and Mami left a ribbon wrapped around the bars to seal it behind us for now. Homura handed me her soul gem, hopped out, and walked straight to the front of the building while I got out of the car and leaned against the hood, Suzune joining me at my side in silence for now.

After that, it was a lot of standing around and waiting. Occasionally, I felt something brush over my skin—like the wind right before a storm, heavy with humidity, ozone, and the feel of static. Homura's soul gem was warm in my hand and I could feel a trickle of something from it—less than the absolute torrent I had gotten from either Kyoko's or Tsubaki's grief seeds, but way more magic than the normally burned. It took long enough that Mami and Kyoko left, got some takeout for everyone, and came back. We had to feed it to Homura since she was doing something with her hands and a glowing purple bundle of magic between them, but that didn't stop her from eating.

Finally, just after ten, Homura heaved a sigh and a final wave of magic washed out around us. "There. The entire property is warded, from the walls down to the river. I've changed and expanded the interior, but it's pretty bare."

"Let's head inside!" Mami grinned, opening the door and bending low at the waist, ushering us inside.

We headed in and whistled at the sight before us. Homura had taken her small apartment and expanded it to a size that roughly encompassed the entire building it was inside of. Here, it seemed like the interior was several times larger than the exterior. Even just the first room was huge. Although, as she said, it was mostly blank. "Entry room," Homura said as we walked through, looking at the black and white chessboard patterned marble floor, broken up only occasionally by rows of columns. Chandeliers above us provided magical illumination, lighting the room in a riot of colors—and a look up showed a black ceiling filled with pinpricks of lights.

It looks like the stuff in her soul gem lately, when she actually lets it build up.

She led us through halls, showing off a kitchen, bathrooms, empty rooms that would be bedrooms. We went up and down stairs in a way that felt eerily similar to being in an Escher painting. Finally, we came to the central-most room after what felt like walking a mile or more—or at least, what Homura claimed was the center. Inside, we found a clock mechanism identical to the one in her home. Except here, instead of a table and couches beneath it in the shape of a clock, there was only a pedestal with a floating, ticking, crystalline thing upon it.

"This is the control center," Homura explained, moving up to the crystal. "Sensei, are you wearing Suzune's soul gem?" I nodded and Homura gestured for Suzune to approach. "Alright, come here. I've never done this before, so we're going to have to experiment a bit. I left the structure unfinished, so it could be added to later. It should accept new magic and ideas, but… Suzune, your magic lets you take and use the magic of other magical girls, or witches, correct?"

"Yes," Suzune nodded. "But only one at a time—"

"That's fine," Homura waved her off. "Just put your hand on this, reach inside yourself, and try to push out magic with that idea behind it—the idea of accepting and using other magic. I want to see if I can make it easier for us to work together on this. If so, we can all add elements to our home—or at least with more ease than I believe it would normally have."

Suzune looked to me briefly and I nodded. She moved up and held out her hand over the ticking crystal contraption. It stopped, freezing in place as her hand came near it, allowing her to lay her hand upon it. Suzune closed her eyes and I felt a faint tickle from her soul gem around my neck. She wore a look of concentration as she worked, but beyond that, there was nothing really interesting going on. To the point that Kyoko just pulled out her phone and started playing a game, while Mami connected some ribbons to the ceiling and made herself a swing, which she sat on and pushed herself back and forth.

"What are you thinking?" I asked Homura quietly as she walked over to stand beside me while Suzune worked.

"I think I'm figuring out this 'space' thing. I think that I can fold the interior of this place up into that," she nodded towards the crystal, "put it behind my shield, and carry it with me between loops. I'm also thinking that it doesn't necessarily have to be put down here. This is basically just a barrier—the difference is, I'm directing it instead of it being under the control of a witch gone mad. So, I don't see why I couldn't move it wherever we wanted to put it. The location is good though. If this works, I'll do the same with my own home, so I don't have to recreate it every time. So many good ideas this loop," she sent me a smile. "What changed?"

"When you started laying out what we had tried before, I decided to just start trying everything."

"I see," Homura murmured. "Well, it's working. Keep it up, sensei. This may be the one. I don't want to get my hopes up, but… I do have hope again."

Reaching out, I pulled her into a hug against my side. When I leaned down, she tilted her head up, and our lips met in a brief kiss. Homura pulled away with a small smile, laying her head against my side as we watched Suzune. Until eventually, with a sigh, Suzune took her hand off the control mechanism and pulled away. "It won't let me put in any more."

"Let me see." Homura moved over and examined it, and a grin formed on her face. As she did, Suzune took over my left side. "Excellent. I think that did it. Let me just…"

Homura spent only a few minutes doing something to it, before turning to Mami and gesturing her over. Mami hopped out of her swing, letting the ribbons dissolve. "What do I do, Homura-chan?"

"Put your hand on here, push your magic in, and…" she shrugged. "Play with it."

Mami sent her a skeptical look before a smile pulled at her lips. "Okay. I'll play with it, Homura-chan."

"Ugh. Knock off the innuendo already," Kyoko grumbled quietly. "Homu, snack!"

Homura sent Kyoko an amused look before pulling a box of pocky out of her shield and flinging it at Kyoko. The redhead caught it and glared back. "Don't waste food!"

"It's in the box. It's not wasted."

"Pocky is supposed to be in sticks, not in crumbs! If you break it, you defeat the purpose of the pocky! It's wasted!"

Homura shrugged and returned to her position at my side, and it was back to more waiting, the quiet broken only by the sound of Kyoko's game. That is, until Mami spoke. "Ooh! I think I get it!"

Even Kyoko paused her game and looked up at Mami's tone. A moment later, the bare marble floor was covered in a golden rug, stretching out nearly to the walls. Ribbons dripped from the ceiling, becoming curtains against the walls. "Homura-chan, come here, come here! Come help! This is a barrier we can control from here, right?! So physical space doesn't matter. That means you could have every wall become a window to the outside!"

Homura blinked, before a smile crossed her lips. She hurried over to Mami's side and laid her hands on the control crystal as well. Together, they worked, and the room around us changed. The bare, gray stone walls all changed, becoming covered in floor to ceiling arched windows—each one showing a different view of the outside, where the windows on the outside should be. The room itself changed shape, going from square to having rounded walls. The windows shrank and changed, rearranging themselves as more appeared, becoming columns of windows, until they stopped showing views from the real windows and instead just showed a continuous 360 degree view of the exterior, from every position, as though there were nothing between us and the outside.

The golden curtains that had only just draped the walls for a moment shifted and changed, until they flowed around every window, giving them all a golden border. The rug below our feet changed, showing an artistic rendering of the building and the property around it. Above us, the ceiling and chandeliers disappeared entirely. It changed shape, looking like the inside of a dome, like one would find in a cathedral—in fact, it greatly resembled one I felt like I should recognize.

Except, instead of religious figures, there were artistic renditions of the five of us. There were places for more people, but those were blank at the moment.

"Shrink the rug," Homura directed and Mami nodded. Beneath our feet, the rug shrank down, keeping its detail, but it stopped when it took up only the space directly below the dome.

"Do we have to be here to make changes?" the blonde asked.

Homura considered it for a moment before slowly shaking her head. "I'm not certain. Let's find out."

So, the two of them carried the crystal out of the room, changes following them as they went. "Hey, wait up!" Kyoko called after them, nearly dropping the stick of pocky in her mouth as she took off running. "If we're doing our own designs, I want some input!"

Suzune turned to me, sending me a questioning look. I grinned at her and took off her soul gem, holding it out to her. "Go have fun. I'm going to head home for the night. I'll come look at it when you're all finished."

"Okay. Do you want me to go with you…?"

"I'll be fine, Suzune. It's a short drive," I assured her, before reaching out and petting her head. Turning her around, I gave her a smack on the ass and pushed her towards where the others had disappeared to. "Get."

With that, I headed for the exit, to go get some shuteye.

"You've outdone yourselves," I complimented, looking upon the greatly changed and improved interior of what the others had started calling the castle.

Although, driving in, I noticed even the exterior had changed a bit. For instance, the brick walls had acquired a tasteful row of metal spikes on the top that reminded me somewhat of Kyoko's spears, and the gates appeared to have layers of chains through the bars. Also, there were statues all over the grounds that I know for a fact moved when I wasn't looking—I had a feeling they were actually familiars, or if not, something very close to them—all of which were armed. There was even a metal portcullis in front of the doors and mounted over every window, that looked to be made of chains and spears. Kyoko definitely had a hand in designing the defenses.

The entry room was much smaller and looked like they had taken a page from the central chamber, with the windows around the outsides. The rows of columns remained, but beside each was a statue that looked like one of the girls—more familiars. Anyone who breaks in is in for a bad time. If they even manage to get through Homura's wards.

Every hall was tastefully decorated with more statuary, carpets, paintings on the walls that looked like copies of famous paintings, and lots of windows. The kitchen looked like a copy of Homura's own, so I had no complaints there. The many guest bedrooms all came with furniture that I assume Homura and Mami created somehow—the same way Homura created all of the things in her apartment, I imagine; this was a barrier after all. The master bedroom, aka Homura's bedroom, was just a scaled up version of the one in her apartment—with a much larger bed, along with windows and skylights, and an attached bathroom.

The main meeting room looked very similar to Homura's white room, save that it had more furniture and now, details of other things were beginning to appear on the walls in addition to those about Walpurgis. In the center was obviously the biggest concern—the theater witch. But one entire wall was covered in screens dedicated to Homura's various loops, showing a complete timeline of events, divided by day of the month and important events. Another wall was dedicated to what Homura explained was future planning—that is, planning future loops and theorizing how to end the cycle entirely. A third wall showed everything the girls knew about the Hohzuki event, minus the parts Homura and Suzune wanted to keep to themselves—mainly, details on the Hohzuki magical girls along with Kagari. There was also a board set up near the middle with everything Kyoko knew of the Asunaro group, the Pleiades Saints—which wasn't nearly as much as Homura had found out about the Hohzuki girls, but at least she had pictures.

There were lots of other rooms, including a huge library, but what caught my attention was the rec room. I laughed as I looked over it. "What'd you do, raid a mall or something?"

"Pretty much," Kyoko shrugged.

The floor here was bare marble, for obvious reasons—namely, ease of cleaning, given that there was food in the room. Junk food. I spied a movie theater popcorn machine, not just a soda fountain (of which there were three normal ones) but also one of those digital 'mix your own drink' kinds, entire shelves of junk food that looked like they had been taken straight from a convenience store, what looked like the entire contents of several dedicated candy stores… And if that weren't enough, there was a small kitchen and refrigerator/freezer stocked up with ingredients in case someone wanted to actually cook something instead of just eating junk.

As for entertainment, the room contained an entire arcade's worth of video game machines—apparently all rigged to just play instead of demanding money. Several top of the line computer setups, consoles, and even VR. Air hockey, table tennis, foosball, pool, snooker, a couple of felt topped card tables with packs of unopened cards and chips of all kinds from your standard 52 card poker set to other game cards. If you could play it, it was here.

"Okay. This is… very cool, but kind of over the top, don't you think?"

"That's what I said," Suzune nodded her agreement.

"I think it's nice," Mami countered.

Kyoko nodded. "Agreed. It's a one-stop shop. Just put my bedroom next door and call it done. I'm not leaving unless I'm needed."

"I told you, we're not doing that," Homura denied immediately. "Unless you want to become a hikkineet."

"…I could live with that. I mean," Kyoko gestured down at her body, "sexy magical girl. No one's going to complain if I spend my free time just getting lost in games for a few months."

"We don't have a few months," I gently reminded and she opened and closed her mouth, before sighing. "This was all a great effort, but… yeah. We don't have time for all of this."

Homura turned and sent me a look. "I wanted to make Madoka feel at home. Also, we agreed that it would be nice to have things other magical girls would enjoy when they came over. Besides, getting it all now means I won't have to collect it in a future loop. The interior is under frozen time when we're not inside, so nothing will go bad."

I couldn't really fault that logic. So, I moved on to the next subject. "When will the Hohzuki girls be here?"

"This afternoon," Suzune supplied.

"Well then, who wants lunch?" Mami asked and started towards the doors heading out into the rest of the base. "I'll make us something nice."

Suzune's phone chimed and she looked at the screen. "They're here."

"Let's go greet them," I stood from my seat at the kitchen table.

"Should we really just come out and introduce him like this?" Kyoko asked, her voice sounding skeptical as she followed along. "I mean, magical girls aren't really used to adults knowing about this stuff, you know?"

"I think it'll be fine," Mami dismissed as we walked through the halls. "Besides, it's better to be up front about these things, isn't it?"

"She's right," I agreed. "They can't claim we tried to deceive them later."

"Should we do this 'in uniform' or…?" The redhead asked.

"Street clothes," Homura suggested. "To make them more comfortable."

And then we were on the entry hall and passing through the doors to the outside. We walked along the stone walkway down to the gate, where we found a team of four magical girls waiting on the other side. All four of them eyed me skeptically.

"Who's the old guy?" The one I recognized as Arisa blurted out, drawing winces from the rest of her team.

"John White. I teach English at the school here in Mitakihara. Thank you so for coming. Come on in and we can make ourselves comfortable and talk."

Arisa opened her mouth but Haruka cut her off with a raised hand. Turning to Homura, she asked, "He speaks for you?"

There was a quiet shifting in the group of girls around me. It was Kyoko who responded, sounding surprisingly defensive of me. "He's our sensei. We're not gonna cut him out of this. Get used to it or fuck off."

The Mitakihara girls sighed. "Kyoko-chan," (cue Kyoko complaining), "be nice, please. We asked them here to talk, not to fight."

On the urge side of the barrier, Matsuri quietly commented, "We've found their Arisa already."

"Hey! I'm nothing like her," Arisa grumbled.

"Enough." Homura's voice cut through the chatter. With a wave of her hand, the gate slid open. "You'll understand soon. There's a lot to talk about and not a lot of time. Let's not waste it standing around out here where the Incubators can see."

Just what don't you want us seeing, Akemi Homura? the little rat stepped out from behind a tree behind the Hohzuki girls.

The other team is magical girls all responded by hurrying through the barrier, which Kyoko closed behind them with a wave of her own hand. "We're committed now," Chisato murmured.

"We were committed before. We need to know," Haruka quietly answered her.

The alien walked right up to the gate before tapping it with a paw. Hmm. A barrier, but it doesn't feel like a witch. Too tightly controlled and no sense of malice. Large and powerful. You would need either multiple magical girls working in concert to make this, or someone with a magic that allows them to spawn barriers. And it wouldn't be cheap on magic, either. You would need many grief seeds in order to build it.

"Inside," Suzune murmured, turning her back to the alien and hurrying for the portcullis. The others began following. All except Homura and myself.

The rat studied me for a moment before it nodded. The oddities began when Tomoe Mami had a home visit. You're this 'White-sensei?'

"That's me," I agreed.

We're usually very thorough about removing and altering the memories of bystanders, witnesses, and family members. How was it that we missed you?

"Just lucky, I guess. So, quick question. Just to clarify a couple of points, if you don't mind. You're a hivemind, correct? How's that work? One distinct consciousness or a collection of connected consciousnesses?"

Oh? You're interested in learning about us?

"Absolutely. You're an alien species that has been secretly guiding human development since, what, the Stone Age? Of course I'm interested."

Since before humanity in its current form, actually. We directed the breeding of homo sapiens from the various hominid races.

"In order to make a race that would more easily produce the energy you needed."

Correct. You don't sound angry or distraught. Normally, the revelation that your species was engineered causes great distress and existential crisis among those who learn it.

"There's no point in being angry. It would be like being mad at your parents for being born. I'd rather thank you for making sure we were around. For giving us the universe."

…What do you mean?

"Well, isn't it obvious? The purpose of reproduction is to be replaced by your successor. You may not have directly biologically birthed us, but you've been a parent to humanity. Obviously, we're going to take your place one day and do what all children do with parents they can't get along with—put them in a nursing home. Stick them in a corner, make them someone else's problem, occasionally visit, and pass the time until you die quietly in the night."

Threats will get you nowhere.

"Threat? No. A promise. A statement of fact. Humanity has been clawing our way up out of the muck from the very beginning. We'd have done it eventually, with or without your help. We've learned how to handle fire, how to break and domesticate other species to our purposes and make them love us for it. We split the atom and put men on the moon. How long do you really think it's going to take us to come for you once we really start figuring out magic? Start applying the scientific method to it."

I moved right up to the gate and grinned down at the creature. "You've made a terrible mistake. Humans aren't slaves. We aren't animals to be domesticated. We aren't fuel sources to be exploited. We're a race of warrior poets, explorers and conquerors in the same breath. An entire race of madmen, barely leashed by our own restraint and morals, bloodlust barely held at bay by apathy, frivolity, laziness, lust, and other distractions. A fire just waiting for a spark to spread and consume everything in its path.

"We routinely go to war and kill our own people over resources, land, money, morals, ideas. We once got so angry at ourselves, so offended, were filled with such righteous fury that we split the atom and burned an entire city in nuclear hellfire… and then did it again the next day just to make a point. What do you think is going to happen when you give us an enemy to unite against? A singular rallying cry, a call to arms, an excuse to throw off the facade and become the monsters we are in a way that all of humanity will agree that we can find morally acceptable?"

…I think we're done here.

"You never did answer my question Incubator. So let me ask it another way. When we start killing your kind off, what will it be like? Will it be like someone clipping off insignificant pieces, toenails basically? Will it be like slowly losing tiny parts of yourself? Or will it be like losing unique, identifiable, irreplaceable, individual parts of the whole?"

The Incubator walked just a little faster. "Remember, we're coming for you. Can you feel fear? Trepidation? If not, don't worry, we'll figure out how to make that a reality. We'll make sure to return all the pain and suffering you've caused us over the millenia."

The thing finally disappeared and Homura waved her hand at the gate again, and for a moment things outside became blurry. Then she turned and looked at me. A fire burned in her eyes with an intensity that bordered on madness. She disappeared, only to reappear in front of me in mid-leap, my pants somehow already down to my ankles.

Homura collided with me, and while her lighter weight wouldn't have normally mattered, she was stronger than me when she was all magic'd up, and she easily bore me to the ground. Her cunt was hot and wet, already naked, as she ground her crotch against mine and my body quickly responded. Homura attacked my mouth, drawing me into a savage, needy kiss as her hands fisted in my shirt.

When I was hard, she shifted her hips and hilted me inside her without using her hands, sighing into my mouth as she began to frantically fuck herself up and down, back and forth in my lap. Breaking our kiss, she rested her forehead against my own and stared hungrily into my eyes.

"I love it when you talk like that, sensei. It always flips my switch when you talk about getting revenge on the Incubators."

"Oh, you like that, huh?" I asked, and she nodded. Wrapping my arms around her, I pulled her in closer and licked her ear as I began whispering into it. "Just think, what if they could be made to feel an ounce of what humans feel? They would down in all of the misery they've caused."

Homura shuddered in my lap, her pussy clenching around my cock. She panted in my ear as she rode me harder. "Tell me more~"

"Hmm… we'll gather up an army of magical girls. Find a way to subvert the Incubators' system and start making our own. Like Prometheus, we'll steal fire from the 'gods' and give it to man. We'll use magic to advance humanity to the point that we're zipping around space faster than light in magical space ships. Track down where the Incubators come from and launch an all out campaign of genocide against them. Piles, literal mountains, of bodies that stretch to the sky as far as the eye can see—"

"Sensei~! Hnng!"

Homura came in my arms and a moment later, I came with her, filling her tight little cunt up with a grunt as I buried my face in her neck and bit her shoulder hard enough to draw blood. That only made her tighten up around me even more and return the favor with a bite of her own and her short nails trying to claw my shirt apart.

We panted, holding each other as we recovered from our quickie. After a few moments, Homura began to laugh quietly, rubbing her face against my neck. "Ahh, you always know just what to say."

Stroking her back, I made my cock jump inside her, drawing a moan from her lips. "Come on, we should get up and go join the others. They're probably starting to wonder where we are by now."

Homura sighed and nodded. She eased herself off of me and there was a muted flash of purple light under her skirt, likely her panties returning. Getting down on her knees, she took my cock into her mouth and cleaned my length off, leaving me ready to go again in the process. Then, the little tease tucked me back into my pants and patted my crotch. "We'll have to continue this later. We have a whole castle to break in, sensei."

I sighed, watching her ass sway enticingly as we walked inside. "Going to be the death of me."

We sat in Homura's presentation/meeting/war room. On one side were the Mitakihara girls plus new additions: Homura, Mami, Kyoko, and Suzune. On the other side of the table were the Hohzuki girls: Haruka, Chisato, Arisa, and Matsuri. I sat off to the side, equidistant between the two groups.

In my hands were four new soul gems and the Hohzuki girls were beginning to squirm somewhat uncomfortably in their seats while the Mitakihara girls watched on with knowing, smug, or amused looks. Suzune held my phone up, recording the proceedings.

"So, to summarize," Haruka began, standing up and starting to pace back and forth on their side of the table, "key facts. The Incubators created the magical girl system. Magical girls are created by pulling our souls out and putting them in gems. If our gems are separated from our human bodies, those bodies go limp. If our gem is destroyed, we die. Magical girls burn magic and their soul gems become corrupt, or emotionally tainted," she nodded at me to indicate my word choice.

"The more magic a magical girl uses, the more her soul gem darkens. Also, the more strong negative emotions she feels, her darker her gems get. Under normal circumstances, a magical girl can use a grief seed to purify her soul gem. Grief seeds come from witches when their bodies are destroyed.

"Except, magical girls are the adolescent form of what we've been turned into and Incubators incubate us into our adult forms by feeding us negative emotions. That adult form is what we know as witches, and grief seeds are actually just soul gems that have matured. When a witch is born, her soul gem breaks and her human body collapses."

As she spoke, the white board/screen taking up the fourth position around the table made bullet points of everything she was saying.

Turning, Haruka gestured at me. "White-sensei is capable of purifying soul gems on contact, either skin contact with a magical girl or with her soul gem. He drains them relatively quickly, faster than a grief seed even. He appears to have no limit to how much he can drain either at one time or over a prolonged period. His only limitation seems to be how many soul gems he can touch at one time, for the most efficient transfer rate. Additionally, he can turn grief seeds back into soul gems."

She looked at the board for a moment before continuing on. Turning to Homura, she said, "Your wish gave you the ability to manipulate time. You can stop time entirely for yourself and anyone you're touching. Additionally, the wording of your wish seems to have caused you to become stuck in a time loop, living out the same month over and over. We are at the end of the first week of that month, meaning we have roughly three weeks left until time resets and everyone but yourself will effectively forget everything that's happened, from your perspective.

"On the last day of that month, the most powerful, most infamous witch in history, the wandering theater witch Walpurgisnacht, will attack Mitakihara. You've fought it countless times and even with sensei's help, giving you effectively unlimited magic and chronoprohibiris, you've only been able to stall it. At which point, one of a few lose conditions come to pass and you're forced to reset. You've tried it alone and with help from all the magical girls in Mitakihara, but this is the first time you've sought help outside of Mitakihara—"

"No." Haruka paused and gestured for Homura to continue. "I've tried before. This is the first time the situation hasn't fallen apart. Before, after being attacked by an assassin from Hohzuki, I sought to learn everything I could about her and scout for other magical girls to recruit for aid. I was never able to track them down, track you down. Or there would be a string of murders and all of the magical girls in Hohzuki would wind up dead. We now know this to be due to interference from the Ripper, Hinata Kagari. It seems that if we make contact at the earliest possible time, within the first week, it's possible to defeat her and rescue you all."

"Okay. And you're also trying to recruit a group out of [saints location]?"

Homura nodded. "Correct. I've never made contact with them before."

Haruka nodded. "And you're proposing an alliance between our groups. The terms of which are as follows:

"Hohzuki and Mitakihara agree to join forces, effectively becoming one group. This combined group will act in both Mitakihara and Hohzuki. The group as a whole, or however many as can be spared, will act as reinforcements to whichever city is in need in the event of a witch.

"We agree to a full muster to fight Walpurgis, now and in all future loops. In exchange, you Homura, personally agree to continue taking care of the Ripper in future loops.

"On the matter of territory and leadership, it is generally agreed that each original group will retain jurisdiction and leadership in their original territory. In Hohzuki, leadership falls to myself. In Mitakihara, leadership falls to Akemi—"

"Tomoe Mami," Homura countered.

"Homura-chan," Mami murmured.

"I thought you would want it for yourself?" Haruka asked, looking puzzled.

Homura shook her head. "I have a more important job. I can't lead this group effectively and chair combined meetings and safeguard Madoka from Kyubey and constantly protect sensei. Even with unlimited time stop, I can't be everywhere at once. Mami is the best choice. Sensei is to be kept neutral in disputes between our parties—"

"Still don't see how that's possible. He's sleeping with three of them—" Arisa muttered, only to be cut off by Chisato.

"If sensei says he'll remain neutral in cases of disputes, we'll take his word until he gives us reason to doubt. The alternative is to either not agree, in which case it's back to being murdered and dealing with the 'witch bomb,' or to have three of our number climb into bed with him to keep the numbers even. You can still back out, Arisa. So either do so, climb into bed with him, or stop holding things up."

"Rr. Fine. But I'm agreeing under protest. The first time he rules against us in favor of one of them, I'm gone."

"You can't hold that over everyone's heads, Arisa," Matsuri sighed, reaching over and patting the girl on the thigh. "There will obviously be times when one of us is in the wrong and one of them is in the right. You can't just say that if you don't always get your way is unfair and you quit. And it shouldn't be us and them anymore, but all of us!"

Arisa crossed her arms under her breasts and turned her head away. When she remained silent, Haruka continued. "Very well. Leadership in Mitakihara defaults to Tomoe Mami. As for grief seeds, since we have no need for them and sensei can purify them, those all go to sensei. Next, sensei's role and allocation of time and resources and protection detail.

"Mitakihara and Hohzuki agree that John White is too valuable to let fall into enemy hands or to be allowed to be killed. Since sensei lives and works in Mitakihara, the Mitakihara group will take primary responsibility for his safety, while the Hohzuki group agrees that if there is a need, we will muster and come to Mitakihara to take up guard duty to ensure sensei's safety. In the event of a threat to sensei's safety, Hohzuki agrees to come immediately to render aid.

"Sensei agrees to purify our soul gems whenever his service is needed, within reasonable limits for school and sleep, but concedes that in the event of an emergency we can call upon him at any time. Under normal circumstances, sensei will remain in Mitakihara and Hohzuki will come here for his services, but in the event of an emergency, sensei agrees to come to Hohzuki to assist us."

Haruka paused to pick up her cup of tea from the table and wet her throat. Setting it down, she continued. "All matters will be brought before the group as a whole by the individual units' leaders, myself and Mami. All decisions must pass a vote by the group as a whole with a two-thirds majority. Any disputes between groups or individuals that one or both parties agree is serious enough will be brought before sensei for arbitration. Sensei's decision is final, unless new information comes to light that would otherwise change the outcome."

She took a breath and looked at her notes. "New members. New members shall be added by vote, with fifty percent or more approval. If you wish to sponsor a new member, they can be brought before the group and a decision made."

"Dunno why we're doing that part if this alliance isn't going to last a full month," Kyoko muttered loud enough to be heard.

"For future loops, Kyoko-chan."

"Don't call me -chan."

"And in case we ever manage to escape, we'll already have a framework to work from. Because we're recording, Homura-chan can just take the phone with her and show it to us so we know where everything stands."

"That reminds me," I sat up in my seat, "make recruitment videos. Specifically to yourselves. Use your phone to make a video to yourself. So if she has to reset, we can make this whole thing go smoother."

The girls gave their agreements all around at that. "We about done?"

"For now. I've covered all the main points. We can always update it later," Haruka confirmed.

"Excellent! I want to try that game room!" Arisa grinned.

"You're on. Let's go," Kyoko jumped to her feet and the pair quickly left.

"Before anyone else goes anywhere," I interrupted, before looking to Homura. "Bring out the crystal. We should get them allowed permanent entry and add their magic to it."

Homura nodded and summoned the ticking crystal to her hands. "Matsuri first. I think your detection magic could really help…"

I hopped out of my chair and headed to the game room as the girls began talking shop about changes they wanted to make, additions, customizations to their personal rooms, and so on. I found Kyoko and Arisa playing air hockey, so I left them to it. Instead, I began racking balls, then took up a pool cue.

And we've got our first meeting with the Pleiades Saints tonight, as a whole group. This should be fun.