Puella Magi American Sensei

09

"This is so… emasculating."

"Hehehe~. What's wrong sensei, don't like it when someone carries you?"

"No. Not at all," I grumbled in the grip of Mami's ribbons as we ascended the building. "And I hate heights."

Homura sighed from where she was likewise being carried. "It can't be helped."

"I don't like it either," Haruka agreed.

"It's not so bad," Chisato shrugged.

In the end, a witch had shown up in Mitakihara, setting off the girls' soul gems. So, we had split the group into a team to take on the witch consisting of Kyoko, Suzune, Arisa, and Matsuri (with Kyoko in charge as the one with the most experience and the second in command behind Mami for the Mitakihara girls) and a group to go to Asunaro to meet with the Pleiades, consisting of myself plus the four girls with me. Homura, as my big red panic button/ace in the hole. Mami, because she was just so damn personable and well-known as a magical girl. Haruka, because she was brilliant and the leader of the Hohzuki group. And Chisato, because she was mature and cool under pressure, and Haruka's first pick.

There was just one problem, one that Homura had mentioned quietly as she pulled me aside for a moment, before we left. "It's too early."

"What do you mean?"

"It doesn't track to any of the witches I'm aware of. The next should be the dessert witch that typically gets Mami, and she hatches in the middle of the day."

"…Enemy action?"

"Potentially," she nodded.

Well, there wasn't much we could do about it that we weren't already doing, and we had bigger fish to fry at the moment. We'd have to ask the others what happened when we got back so Homura could adjust what she knew for this, but it had to go on the back burner for now.

We had taken my car and driven the hour or so up to Asunaro, to the meeting spot proposed by the Pleiades. And of course, because magical girls, that meeting spot was at the top of the highest building they could find.

We crested the roof of the building to find seven magical girls waiting for us, lined up side by side. Just looking at them, you could tell they practiced it… but to be honest, it looked kind of cool. Much cooler than a teacher being carried by his student and nearly busting his ass on the landing. Especially given the way they tittered at that.

From left to right, there was a short girl with light green hair and blue eyes, dressed in what looked like a green paratrooper suit, complete with flight cap and goggles. She looked… sleepy. Like the lazy type who hates to work, but once they're forced to will do everything as fast as possible, just to get back to lazing around. She carried a wand shaped like, of all things, a crowbar.

Second was a slightly taller girl with brown hair and eyes, wearing a white and black, fluffy dress and with oversized cat ears on her head. She held a wand with the tip shaped like a cat's head.

Third was a girl with pink eyes and hair (in the large drill curls style), in a pink dress that looked a bit like pajamas. This one carried a staff with a heart shaped end.

In the middle was a tall girl with silver hair and pinkish red eyes, wearing a maroon uniform jacket, beret, and riding boots. Her weapon appeared to be a riding crop.

Fifth was a blue haired and blue eyed girl wearing what looked kind of like a nun's habit in white and gold, carrying a book. Her entire look screamed 'caster' even moreso than most of the girls there, with one exception.

Sixth was a girl with orange hair and eyes, wearing a one piece orange and white outfit with a hood up on it. She carried no weapon, but there was a holster on her right thigh.

Finally, the other girl falling into the 'obvious caster' category. She had short black hair and red eyes. Her black and white outfit was the most stereotypical 'witch' themed outfit I had seen to date, with the flowing cape and witch's hat, but… it had to be the most stripperiffic witch ever, outside of Halloween parties. She carried a long staff with a cross shaped end.

Glancing between the Mitakihara girls, the Hohzuki girls, and the Asunaro girls I noticed some… thematic differences, shall we say.

…Okay, look. My girls were all dressed like little ladies, but some of the Asunaro girls looked like their costume designer was a pervert. Half of their outfits were either skin tight, showed off a ridiculous amount of skin, or both in the case of number seven there. The old man in me kind of wanted to tell them to go home and put on clothes for fuck sake.

…The dirty old man in me kept the rest of me silent, however. I'm going to the special hell.

"Who's the old guy?" the one with the orange hair asked.

"Found their Kyoko," Mami giggled, to which Haruka snorted softly.

"Or their Arisa," she added.

The pair of blondes stepped forward a bit, to the middle of the distance between us, while Homura, Chisato, and I hung back a few paces. From their side, the ones with silver, blue, orange, and black hair stepped up. The black haired one skipped Mami and Haruka entirely and walked around them, before walking straight up to me and leaning back to grin up at me. I sent her a smile in return and she offered her hand.

"Hi! I'm Kazumi! What's your name?"

I took her hand and her eyes lit up as my skin tingled where our hands met, Kazumi sucking in a quiet breath as she looked down at our joined hands and back up at me. "John White. I teach English at the middle school in Mitakihara. I'm those two's sensei," I said, gesturing to Homura at my side and Mami, quietly speaking with other members of the Pleiades.

With a sigh of long suffering, the bluenette moved around Haruka and Mami and joined her friend. "Sorry about her. I'm Umika." Turning to Kazumi, she said, "Kazumi! You were supposed to wait!"

"It's fine, it's fine~. Sensei doesn't look like a bad guy. And look! It's all tingly and makes my heart go all doki-doki when he holds my hand!" The silver haired one talking to Mami twitched and looked up, eyeing me warily. "See for yourself!"

And then Kazumi took my hand and Umika's and forced them together. The bluenette shivered from head to toe, her eyes fluttering slightly. "Oh my. What in the world?"

I sent a look at Homura, raising an eyebrow before asking, "What do you think, Homura? Do we have enough?"

"…Perhaps," she agreed, hesitantly. "But I would rather not risk it."

I smiled down at Umika. "It's why we got ahold of you for a meeting. Do you have somewhere secure we can move this to, where we won't be interrupted, or overheard? Either by other magical girls or Incubators."

Umika frowned. "Why not Incubators?"

"They don't like me," I shrugged.

"We'll explain when it's safe to do so, but suffice it to say, they are not our friends," Chisato said, looking around the roof warily, keeping an eye on our surroundings.

Umika hesitated, shooting a look at Kazumi for some reason, before asking, "Do you know the truth about magical girls?"

"Yes," Homura answered simply. "That is why we're here. If you already know, then that saves us an explanation and we can move on to the solution."

Umika's blue eyes cut between the three of us and she cautiously asked, "And what do you believe is the solution?"

I squeezed Umika's hand, where she had yet to release mine. The girl blinked, before looking down at our joined hands, then back up to me. "It's something that should be said in private, I think."

Umika's eyes went wide and she carefully extracted her hand from mine. Holding her hand up, she opened and closed it a few times, before hurrying over to the others. "Everyone!" she called, drawing the attention of the other Pleiades, who suddenly shifted and looked much less laid back than they had a moment before. "We have to go!"

"What's the problem?" the orange haired girl asked, eyeing us suspiciously—me in particular.

"Not them, they're coming with us. We need to get to Angelica Bears, now." There were some noises of question, complaint, and suspicion before Umika whistled sharply. "Now!"

"You heard her!" Kazumi cheered. "Let's go!" Turning to me, she asked, "Can you keep up?"

"We came by car. Think one of you can direct me where to go? I'm… not entirely for swinging around a whole damn city being carried like a sack of potatoes."

That got a few chuckles out of the Pleiades as they were reminded of our less than dignified entry. Finally, Umika herself volunteered. "I'll go. Everyone else, go on ahead of us."

The orange haired girl grabbed Umika by the arm and dragged her and Kazumi away into a huddle with the rest of their group. There was a quiet but heated argument, before finally, Umika walked back over to us. "They uh, want to trade. One of yours for me."

"This isn't a hostage situation," I sent her an incredulous look.

"I know," she grumbled. "But considering everything, well… do you mind?"

"I'll go with them," Chisato volunteered herself. Giving us a little smile and wave, she walked over and joined the Pleiades, who jumped off the roof, presumably to take the high road to our destination.

We made our way over to the roof edge and Mami looped me up in her ribbons again. Pulling the curvy blonde over, I whispered into her ear, "If you go faster than an elevator, I'm not doing any of the naughty things you like for a week."

"Eep! Sensei, I wouldn't! I'm not trying to scare you, I promise!"

"Uh huh. Down we go," I muttered, closing my eyes and allowing myself to be carried off the edge—pucker factor of about seven all the way.

Behind me, I heard Homura say, "I'll go last."

And then, there were yells and shrieks of excitement as Haruka and Umika jumped off the roof. Finally, when my feet touched solid ground a minute or so later, I let out a sigh and opened my eyes as my ass stopped trying to eat my boxers. Mami smiled up at me and I gave her ass a pat as we headed towards the car—where Homura simply appeared sitting in the back seat. Umika got to ride shotgun as the others filed in and I drove off, following her directions.

As we drove, she turned on the radio. Speaking quietly, she asked, "Is this really real, sensei?"

"Is what real?"

"What I think you implied."

"A solution for the witch problem?" When she nodded, I said, "Yeah. You felt it yourself."

"I don't know what I felt," Umika shook her head.

"What you felt was corruption leaving your body," Haruka spoke up. "We've been through this once today. I was right where you are now, less than twelve hours ago. My team is from Hohzuki, and we formally joined sensei and the Mitakihara team today, after an explanation of the facts."

"Hohzuki?" Umika murmured, turning slightly in her seat. "Haven't there been a bunch of disappearances and murders in the area recently? Young girls…"

"We suspect they were magical girls, yes. Due to the actions of a rogue magical girl dubbed the Ripper. The… twin sister of one of my teammates, who is in Mitakihara tonight. She apparently learned the truth and decided that the only solution was to kill magical girls to prevent them from becoming witches."

Umika winced. "That's… cold. A lot colder than… than what we decided on."

"What did you decide on, Umika? Can I call you Umika?"

The girl smiled my way. "You could call me sensei, then we can both be 'sensei,' sensei." When I sent her a confused look, her smile widened. "I'm an author. I'm somewhat famous—"

Mami and Haruka fought to join us in the front seat as they leaned forward. ""You're Misaki Umika?!""

"He he! That's right~."

"Sorry, never heard of you," I said, and the girl winced.

"Geh!" she put a hand to her chest as if I'd shot her.

"Don't feel bad, I'm fairly new to town. Japan as a whole, really," I shrugged. "Do you want me to call you sensei? It'd confuse everyone else, but it could be fun."

"Mm… maybe once, when everyone's gathered together. Not tonight. I don't think anyone will be in the mood for it. Umika is fine, Mr. White."

"John, if you're going with English. Or, sensei—everyone else seems to have settled on it. Whatever works for you."

"Okay. Well, as for our solution…" She winced. "It would be best to show you. If you can really do what you're implying you can, then maybe… maybe we can be forgiven. You just might be our Prince Charming after all."

"That's ominous," Homura muttered from directly behind me. Not in her seat, no, leaned up with her lips almost against my left ear. "Stay alert. Something doesn't feel right."

I nodded and went quiet, listening to Umika talk with Mami and Haruka about her book series, preening under the attention. Finally, I pulled into a parking lot in front of a large brick building that looked like a museum. And, in fact, it was—Angelica Bears Teddy Bear Museum, according to the signage. The others were waiting for us when we arrived and the one with her hair up in the big drills opened the doors and led us inside.

"This should be good enough," Umika said, bringing us to a halt in the middle of the room.

"Ehh," I hemmed, looking around the room. "Homura, can you give us a temporary barrier?"

The time traveler looked around before nodding. "Give me a minute," she said, before moving to the center of the room and cupping her hands, where purple light flared.

"What's she doing?" the girl who had opened up the museum asked.

"Homura can secure any space against intrusion and eavesdropping, either permanently or temporarily. It's kind of like a witch's barrier," I explained briefly, skimping on the details.

Before anyone could complain, Umika cut in. "I agree. Go ahead and lock it down. This isn't something we want getting out."

"You're really going to have to tell us what this is about, Umika-chan," the brunette pouted.

"Before we do that, how about introductions? I'll go first! My name is Tomoe Mami and I'm a third year at Mitakihara Middle School. I'm the leader of our Mitakihara squad."

"Kanade Haruka. Third year at Hohzuki Middle School. I'm the leader of our Hohzuki squad."

"Akemi Homura. Second year, Mitakihara."

The girls made their introductions and I learned the names of the other Pleiades: Kanna Niko in the paratrooper outfit, Usagi Satomi the brunette, Wakaba Mirai the owner of Angelica Bears, Asami Saki the silver haired tall girl, Maki Kaoru their Kyoko and the ginger of the team, plus Umika and Kazumi who had already introduced themselves.

Finally, a wave of magic washed over us and the girls all looked at Homura, who breathed a sigh and nodded. "We're secure. There's nothing else in the room."

"Good work, Homura. Come here," I waved her over. The girl nodded and moved over to my side, standing much closer than was proper but not hanging off of me as she sometimes did when she wanted attention. "How's your soul gem look?"

"A little cloudy, sensei," she said. I held out my hand and she materialized her gem.

"What are you doing?" Saki asked, looking confused.

I paused, not accepting the gem yet. "Actually, everyone, come look at Homura's gem. I want you to look at it and verify its state for yourselves."

The Saints crowded in, even Umika who at least suspected what was about to happen. The bluenette looked it over before nodding. "Looks about a tenth of the way full, maybe," she assessed.

"Why's her black stuff full of stars?" Kazumi flat out asked.

"I've never seen grief that isn't solid black," Kaoru mused quietly.

Homura chuckled quietly but didn't answer as she cast a glance at me. "That's a Homura thing, unique to her. And we call it corruption. Because any strong emotion can corrupt a soul gem, not just negative emotions."

"…Is that why it's not black? Those aren't negative emotions, are they, sensei?" Umika asked, looking between Homura and myself.

"Ms. Smartypants earns a cookie," I chuckled at her, causing the girl to blush at the compliment. "Alright, watch this."

I held out my hand and Homura dropped her soul gem into it—her only reaction to the contact a slow inhale through her nostrils as she controlled her reaction with a will of steel. The Pleiades all watched as the starry void in the middle of Homura's gem shifted, moving to the side where my skin was touching, before draining away. The moment it disappeared entirely, they erupted into sound.

"What the hell?!"/"How did you—"/"Did he just—?!"

Homura reclaimed her gem in silence. Mami simply laughed quietly. Finally, Haruka whistled sharply, using her power and getting everyone attention. "Quiet down!" The room fell silent and the blonde nodded. "Alright. As I told Umika on the ride over, Chisato and I, and the rest of our team, were in your position just this morning. So, to summarize—"

"Sensei can drain the corruption from soul gems," Chisato said with a smile, earning an annoyed look from Haruka as she stole the blonde's thunder. "He has no limit to how much he can purify, unlike a grief seed, and he's faster."

There was another outburst, which was immediately silenced by Haruka. "Listen!"

"How about another demonstration?" Mami asked, looking over the group. "Would one of you like to volunteer?"

Umika stepped forward, summoning her soul gem without hesitation. Before the others could even try to stop her, she stepped in front of me and placed herself in my hand—her blue eyes staring up at me with a desperate need for this to be real. I smiled down at her for just a moment, before nearly fumbling her soul gem at the ridiculous amount of corruption flooding out of it. We both looked down, to find the gem—which had been nearly clean just a moment ago—more than halfway black.

"You were really pushing yourself, weren't you?"

Umika panted quietly, squirming in place as she bit her lip. Her skin flushed and she looked up at me in a new light as she realized what was happening, before sending Homura a brief incredulous look at her complete lack of reaction. Before she could say anything, Haruka quietly interrupted, wearing a mild blush herself. "That's normal. The purification process feels… very good, but you get used to it. Eventually. The Mitakihara squad appear to have adjusted."

"Wait, hang on," Niko murmured, moving closer and taking out her phone, a small magic circle that looked vaguely like a CD floating over the screen. "Why is Umika's gem so dark? We just got them cleaned today, just in case… Did you do something to it? It's more than half full."

"He didn't," Umika shook her head. "It just… welled up from inside."

Homura looked at the green haired girl and asked, "Cleaned?"

"We had Bey-chan clean them before we came," Mirai clarified.

Moving closer, Chisato eyed the gem skeptically. "You used a grief seed and it's still this corrupt?"

"No. Juubey can cleanse gems similarly to White-sensei," Satomi explained.

Haruka frowned at that. "What's a Juubey?"

"Sounds like an Incubator by the naming scheme," I shrugged. "Maybe we should sit down. This feels like it could take a few minutes. I can do more than one at a time if anyone else wants to give it a try. We can verify the corruption level thing while we're at it."

Niko summoned her soul gem and scanned it with her phone. "Corruption level shows 5%." Then, she handed it to me. Immediately, it went black and a second torrent of tainted magic flooded up my arm. Scanning it again, she frowned. "New reading shows 85% corruption." Bringing up her phone, she tapped something and gestured, and a hologram appeared in the air over the phone. On it was displayed her soul gem from the view of the phone. The gem appeared clear, then, in slow motion, it darkened from the inside out—somewhat unevenly as the darkness sought out my hand.

"It looks like the corruption was already inside it, just… below the surface?" Kaoru muttered, looking at the replay and the gem.

"I couldn't say. All I can say is that it felt like it was just about full," I shrugged. "Is it even possible to only clean part of a soul gem?"

"Apparently," Haruka muttered, biting her lip as she pondered this development.

Homura shook her head. "Incubators lie. We know their goal is to produce more witches for the purpose of harvesting energy. I wouldn't doubt for a moment that if they had a method of tricking a magical girl into thinking her soul gem was clean when it wasn't and causing a 'surprise' transformation into a witch when they least expected it, they would use it. Think of the effects it would have on the morale of a team, to believe that your soul gem, no matter how clean it appeared, could suddenly break seemingly out of nowhere."

"Wait. Magical girls… become witches?" Kazumi asked, and all of the Pleiades turned their gazes on her. "Why, why didn't anyone tell me…?!"

"I'm sorry," Kaoru said, turning a sad look on the girl. "We wanted to tell you, but we thought it was too soon—"

"You shouldn't keep things like this from me! We're friends! I can't, I can't let you carry the weight of things like this all on your own. You shouldn't have to protect me," the dark haired girl protested.

Umika sighed at that, before turning to the other Pleiades. "This is obviously working, so we have confirmation that White-sensei can purify soul gems. I think we've found our Prince Charming. So, group vote. Do we deal with the rest now? It's the best time for it, and it would mean…" she trailed off and nodded at Kazumi.

Kaoru bit her lip before nodding. "Do it."

Nico hummed quietly before nodding. "I agree with Umika. This works. I'm estimating a little more than half an hour to fully clean my soul gem."

Saki worried the nail of her thumb between her teeth before shaking her head. "It's too soon. Kazumi isn't ready."

"Agreed on the second part, but… maybe we could let him in?" Satomi suggested.

"I… I'm not sure. It seems too good to be true," Mirai shook her head.

The group was split down the middle. At least, until Kazumi spoke up. "Whatever it is, I want to know! I can handle it! Don't, don't hide things from me, please."

"That settles it," Umika nodded. "But before we do that, we should go ahead and purify our soul gems. We're no good to anyone if we're about to witch out. Sensei, how many can you do at once?"

I shrugged. "As many as I can physically touch. I only have two hands though."

Mami hummed quietly to herself before holding out her hands. A length of ribbon appeared and she used it to wrap up her own soul gem, before tying the ribbon to my arm. I felt it immediately when the connection settled into place and I began pulling down corruption—as did Mami. "Ah ha! It worked! Everyone, take out your soul gems!"

Haruka and Chisato shrugged, each holding theirs out. More ribbon snatched them up, ribbon pooling on the ground into a stand made of ribbon, that opened up at the top into a basket with a pillow in the bottom. Mami's, Haruka's, and Chisato's soul gems were deposited into the basket, where they began draining. I placed Nico's and Umika's gems inside and a moment later, the other Pleiades summoned their gems and dropped them in—all of them going dark and starting to drain away. More ribbon spun out, creating comfortable looking couches and chairs around the pedestal.

"Much better!" Mami dropped into one and patted the spot beside her, looking at me expectantly. Shrugging, I sat down beside her. Homura took the other side, while Chisato and Haruka joined us a moment later. The Pleiades began taking seats as well.

"If we can do it this way, that'll speed things up a lot back home," I said, taking in the others. "So. This solution?"

The Pleiades exchanged uneasy looks before, after a few moments, Umika was silently and unilaterally voted the one to tell it. The bluenette rolled her eyes and looked at us. "We've been aware of the Incubators' system that uses magical girls as fuel for some time now, and we reject this system in its entirety."

"As anyone with a conscience would," Haruka nodded.

On the other end of our couch, Chisato added, "It's inhumane."

"No," I corrected gently, "It's inhuman. Alien. Remember, the Incubators aren't human. We can't expect them to think like us. They're creatures of cold logic. The needs of the many—"

"Outweigh the needs of the few," Homura finished.

"Or the one," Mami murmured quietly, leaning into my side. "I'm sorry I doubted you, sensei."

I pulled the blonde into a hug. "You don't have to apologize. Kyubey spent years manipulating you. I'm surprised you accepted the truth so quickly, honestly."

"It's hard to argue against the mountain of evidence," she admitted.

From her own seat, Umika sent us a nod. "Maybe. Our only interactions with them have been with Juubey, and clearly there are some differences. Just as clearly however, he's been lying to us."

Satomi's fists clenched in her lap. "Why? Why would Bey-chan lie to us…?"

"To make us witches, apparently," Mirai answered quietly, patting the other girl on the thigh. "Don't let it get you down. We'll catch him and beat the answers out of him later."

"Don't bother. They lie and they've got basically unlimited bodies. You can't beat answers out of them because they don't care if that body is harmed or dies. They're a hivemind and the loss of a single body is probably like clipping a toenail to us," I shook my head. "It's easier to just ignore them and kill them if they start causing problems."

"Continuing on," Umika said, drawing our attention back to her. "You know the truth about soul gems too, I take it?" My girls all nodded. "And what happens if you separate a gem from a body?" Another mutual nod. "If a gem is separated, eventually—even if it doesn't come into contact with the magical girl's human body—it will reconnect with the body, so long as it's in range. Grief, or corruption rather, continues to accumulate even if they're completely separated, showing that while a magical girl may not technically be conscious or thinking in her disconnected state, she is aware enough to slowly become corrupted."

"Err… Homura, things in your storage…?"

"Don't worry, sensei. We're fine," she shook her head.

Ignoring the byplay, Umika continued, "We found a way to put magical girls to sleep, once their gems have been separated from their bodies. A gem that is asleep no longer accumulates grief."

My girls all exchanged looks, some of worry, others of suspicion. I maintained eye contact with Umika, however. "That's… A stopgap at best, without a way to purify them. You'd have to hunt a lot of grief seeds, and in doing so, you'd just wind up burning yourselves out because the number of witches never rises to the point of being able to support a group much larger than five or so."

"You've mentioned that before. What do grief seeds have to do with anything, beyond feeding them to Juubey?" Saki piped up.

"You… you don't know how to use a grief seed?" Mami asked, incredulity in her tone.

The others shook their heads and Saki added, "Beyond feeding them to Juubey and having him clean our gems, no."

My girls all shared another look. "Wow, the Incubators really tried to screw these guys over," Chisato finally said what we were all thinking—and coming from Chisato, the calm and tactful one, that was saying something. Someone like Arisa would've been shouting by now.

"If you put a grief seed up against your soul gem, it drains away the corruption," Haruka explained. "But we don't use that system any more. There's no need," she said, gesturing to the egg basket containing all the girls' soul gems, minus Homura's.

"So Bey-ch… Juubey even lied about that. He, he really was just waiting for us to become witches," Satomi whispered, closing her eyes as she began to cry. Saki and Mirai pulled her into a hug from both sides.

"How many?" I asked of Umika.

The bluenette winced. "Two hundred and sixteen."

"W-what?!" Kazumi jumped up from her seat. "Am I missing something here? Are you saying that you… what, took over two hundred soul gems from magical girls to keep them from becoming witches?!"

"That's exactly what I'm saying, yes," Umika admitted. "The gems and their bodies are all in cold storage down below. The Freezer. It was always meant to be a temporary measure, until we found a way to save them. Until we found our Prince Charming, to come along and kiss them awake." Umika's eyes refocused on me. "You, sensei."

I sighed, reaching up and palming my face. "On the one hand, you've saved a bunch of people. Not just the magical girls who would've become witches, but all the people they would've killed. On the other hand, how many of them came along voluntarily?"

Umika hesitated before shaking her head. "None of them. We never gave them a choice, sensei. We know that what we've done is horrible, but… we were right, in the end. We'll apologize and do everything we can to make amends for attacking those girls, but in the end, their lives and the lives of those their witches would have killed outweigh any guilt we feel about having done it. Because once she become a witch, that's it. There's no bringing a magical girl back from that."

"Actually," I sent her a smile, "that's not necessarily true any more. With enough time, I can revert grief seeds into soul gems. So theoretically, if a magical girl became a witch and you saved her human body, put it in your Freezer for instance, I could put her soul gem back together and she might be able to reconnect with her body."

The Pleiades went dead silent at that before, almost as one, they stood up and walked to the back of the room, leaving Kazumi behind. Kazumi, who looked very confused. Standing up, the witch themed magical girl made to follow her friends, but the other Pleiades quickly hurried back over. "Uh, guys?" Kazumi asked, visibly confused.

"Do you have proof?" Umika asked, a desperate need in her voice, greater even than her need for this to all be real.

"I mean, the only really effective proof would be to hand me a grief seed and wait a while while I drained it. It's not instantaneous, it's not even fast really. It took something like… twelve hours to do one given to me by Homura. A little over that to do another given to me by Suzune."

"But you can do it!" Umika was almost shouting now, and I nodded. Turning to the others, she said, "Go get it."

Two of the girls, Saki and Mirai, got up and moved a bit deeper into the room. Coming to a sort of podium, magic flashed and they disappeared in a teleport. I sent Umika a raised eyebrow. "Handy. Let me guess, you've got a grief seed you want to repair?"

"Yes."

"Do you still have her body?"

Umika bit her lip, before glancing at Kazumi from the corner of her eye. I blinked as a thought occurred. Girl with amnesia that they're all super overprotective about. Girl they want to bring back from a witch. Did they… find a way to animate her human body somehow? What, give it a new soul?

"I think we should start discussing terms," Haruka spoke up, drawing the Pleiades attention to herself. "Homura, could you…?"

The time traveler nodded and waved a hand, causing a white board to simply appear off to the side—and apparently reminding the girls that they were inside what amounted to a witch's barrier, and illustrating the almost godlike control Homura had over this space now. Haruka stood, moving to the board as it began to fill itself out. "So, let's break this down into things we each have as a group and things we want…"

I yawned and Mami grabbed my shoulders, before pulling me over onto my side. With a bit of rearranging on her and Homura's part, I found myself staring up at the bottoms of Mami's large breasts from her lap, her bare legs warm against the back of my neck. "Tomorrow is a school day, sensei. Why don't you take a nap while we work this out?"

Yawning again, I nodded. "Alright. Let me know when we're ready to go. If there's a problem, let me know."

With that, I closed my eyes and enjoyed the lap pillow as Mami ran her fingers through my hair, eventually drifting off to the sounds of Haruka's voice and Mami's quiet humming.

"Before we continue, however," Haruka's voice penetrated my sleep fogged brain. "I propose we choose a name for our group, as a whole. Nothing unites a group more than a shared identity. We can't become part of the Pleiades Saints, obviously."

"And after everything we've done, it may be time to retire the name of the Pleiades Saints," Umika agreed, to sounds of agreement from the rest of the girls. "What did you have in mind?"

It was Chisato who spoke up and made the suggestion, "You know, I like old American television. There's this old show with a bunch of women who all work as spies, assassins, bodyguards—basically, they're awesome. They all work together for their boss, who sends them out on missions. A man named Charlie. I propose—"

"Don't you do it," I warned, cracking one eye open.

Chisato sent me an impish smile. "Sensei's Angels."

"I refuse. Wake me when the madness ends."

"So, never?" Mami giggled.

"I'm in favor of anything that causes sensei to make that face. Ufufu." Three guesses who would enjoy my suffering.

"I will have my revenge."

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK!"

She cursed, flinging things around her room as several truths were laid bare before her, and as the Pleiades joined forces with a combined group of magical girls from Mitakihara and Hohzuki.

"'Angels?' Don't make me laugh!"

Collapsing into her bed, she glared up at the ceiling. That lying little shit Juubey is going to get me turned into a witch! I want the humans to suffer and die, but I don't want to die myself. Sacrificing myself is one thing, but just turning into a witch one day because I used too much magic and that little shit lied to me? I refuse. So. It seems the only way to do that at the moment lies with the one human who can avert that fate. But they're never going to give him up. And even if I could accept them, if I could slip into their circle, it would mean giving up or changing my plans.

She closed her eyes and focused on her innate magic, listening as the Pleiades planned. And then there's Kazumi. What will become of Kazumi if they somehow manage to bring back Michiru? Surely they won't keep a clone around when they have the original back. If anything, they may just stick Michiru's soul gem into Kazumi, effectively overwriting the clone with her original. I can't let that happen. She deserves better than to just be tossed aside, discarded the moment she becomes inconvenient.

The problem was, there were a lot of them, now. Their group had effectively doubled in size overnight. And now, now they didn't have to worry about the same limits as other magical girls. About the need to clean their soul gems, about turning into witches if they pushed themselves too far.

I need… a distraction. A way to strike at the heart of their group, when and where they least expect. But I'll have to draw some of them off, first… Clamor in the east, attack in the west.

Nodding to herself, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number from her contacts. "It's me. We need to meet up. Some new information has come to light that you're going to want to hear…"

"So… I can wish for anything?"

[Almost! Obviously, the power of the wish is determined by the power of the magical girl. For you… what you want is within your power.]

"And you're sure Madoka is in danger? That someone threatened to kill her?"

[That's what she said. Obviously, we don't want to see Kaname Madoka dead, so we were forced to agree.]

"And then this 'Ripper' girl killed the other magical girl?"

[She eliminated another magical girl, yes. So tell me, Miki Sayaka. How would you like to make a contract and become a magical girl?]

"I'll do it."