I planned to spend most of the rest of the 5th wandering around town.

I needed a way to distract myself from the anxiety over Mami's choice and kill time until school let out, so I figured that going on a walk was probably the most efficient way to do that. And if I happened to run into a few nasties along the way, well… more experience points and extra valuable items was never a bad thing, if you know what I mean.

While I was doing that, I reviewed current events in an attempt to discern my next move, assuming that I wouldn't be wiped off the face of the multiverse within the next few days.

Okay, so if memory serves… Saya's supposed to contract today, which allows her to go and beat the TV witch into the ground, saving Mado and Hito in the process. That also means that Kyoko's gonna arrive before tomorrow. That is, if she decides to come here in the first place, considering Mami didn't end up biting it this time. Then again, Different Story had her return to Mitakihara despite Mami surviving in that timeline… was that ever explained?

I grabbed my head with both hands and groaned in frustration.

This is why I hate having such a crappy memory. What the hell do I even pay you incompetent brain cells for?! Because it's pretty damn clear that it's not to do your fuckin' job right!

I stopped myself when my mind drifted back to the subject of Sayaka's wish.

Wait… let me reconsider that. You did manage to do one assignment correctly.

I called up the one memory that my brain had decided not to mess with, for good reason…

June 2nd. Three days earlier. We'd just finished off a stray familiar that had somehow escaped the results of Mami and I's first joint venture, and were heading home.

(If I'd looked closer, I may have noticed a large, suspiciously-shaped dent on the minion's chest, but that's not important.)

"Have either of you decided what to wish for yet?"

Mami got two negative indications in response. "I can't say I'm surprised. I also don't doubt that the pressure may be making it difficult for you to choose."

Madoka thought for a moment, then turned to the blonde. "Maybe it would help if you told us what you wished for?"

The girl in question stopped all of a sudden, her smile failing to reach her eyes. The rest of the party halted along with her, with Madoka attempting to hit the 'undo' key. "O-oh, I didn't mean to be so nosy! If you don't want to say, that's totally fine!"

Mami briefly glanced at her, then quietly let out a resigned but fond sigh. She tilted her head up slightly, and answered "for me, it was different." Her eyes closed, and the smile faded completely. "I didn't have the luxury of thinking about it first." She paused, presumably reminiscing. "Don't misunderstand, however - I don't regret my decision. After all, I'm still alive because of it. And in my opinion, the life I have right now is preferable to being dead."

Another pause. "But, if you have the chance to step back, consider all your options, and really think about what you want… then feel free to take as much time as you need." She began walking again, causing us to follow once more. "I may not have gotten that opportunity myself, but if I can offer it to others, I can feel better about their odds of success."

"Hrmph." I folded my arms. "I probably should've found a way to meet up with you sooner, then. If I had, then maybe I wouldn't have been forced to rush my wish to save myself from my own stupid mistake."

"That's right," she remembered. "You did say that you were trapped in a labyrinth. My apologies for not being able to assist you."

I waved it off. "Ahh, it's fine. You had no way of knowing. Besides, the whole mess was entirely my fault." I sighed, looking off the bridge we were crossing. "Sadly, there's no cure for impulse-driven idiocy, but at least now I have a way to defend myself from any disproportionate consequences my actions might cause." My hands came up in a shrug. "Silver lining, I guess."

"Hey, um... Mami?" Sayaka had been thinking for the majority of the conversation, and at last decided to say her piece, causing everyone to stop again. "I was wondering… if you make a wish, does it have to be for yourself?"

I'd had a nagging feeling for the past few minutes, and those words revealed why.

Wait a second… I remember this conversation!

With that in mind, I focused entirely on the upcoming exchange when Mami urged her to elaborate.

"Let's say that - and this is just an example, okay?" Sayaka briefly averted her gaze, before going back with a slight, but noticeable blush. "Say that there was someone who was way worse off than I was. Would it be a bad thing if I used my wish on them?"

Madoka, having known her best friend for a long time, quickly picked out the question she was trying to mask. "Are you talking about Kyosuke?"

The red on the bat-carrier's face quickly spread and intensified as she turned to the speaker. "Didn't I just say that it was only an example?! I'm not 'talking' about anyone!"

Kyubey, being itself, disregarded the digression. "You can wish for whatever you want. There's no rule stating that you have to be the one who reaps the benefits. It certainly wouldn't be the first time I've seen it happen."

Now!

I attempted to grab the inch I was given and extend it to a yard. "Buuut… there's also no rule that says that only one person can profit off a single wish." I thought for a second, then came up with a (hopefully) suitable piece of evidence. "Take me, for example. My wish gave me the power to see the future, which also lets me change it. Not just for myself, but for others, too. Like, if I see someone get killed by something, I have the chance to find them and prevent whatever kills them from doing the deed."

"Audrey is correct," he confirmed. "A lot of wishes focus on the greater good. I'm sure you've heard of a few sudden advances in specific technological fields, right? I don't doubt that at least a few of those were the result of a wish."

The two cadets put on their thinking caps, likely remembering when they had seen some of the news stories covering said advances.

But with that subject explored, I held up an informative pointer finger and diverted onto a different path. "Anyway, there's something else you should probably keep in mind. In the event that you do decide on a wish, stop for a moment and see if that wish is the best method you have of getting what you actually want." My mind incidentally drifted to the 'Not In My Contract' trope. "Horror stories about people who didn't word the terms of their agreements correctly and got screwed over as a result exist for a reason, after all."

Madoka actually seemed to catch my drift. "So what you're saying is… just deciding on what we want isn't enough, because once we do, we still have to find out how to make the most of the wish we use to get it?"

"Exactly." I snapped my fingers at her, seamlessly transitioning it into a finger gun pointing at the perceptive girl. "Simply wishing for what you want isn't enough. You've gotta think bigger - look at it from every angle, and see if there's anything else you can swing in your favor." A sly smile directed at Sayaka slipped onto my face. "Sometimes, you might even discover a completely different way to get what you're after, and find that way to be better than what you'd originally envisioned."

"You do make some good points," Mami admitted. "However, I will also say that using your own wish to grant someone else's may not be the best idea."

Sayaka most definitely took notice of how that sounded. "What do you mean…?"

The veteran pointedly stared at the potential rookie. "When becoming a Magical Girl, you have to carefully consider not only the wish you make itself, but your reasons behind it as well. If you do plan to use it purely for the benefit of someone else, then why? Is helping that person achieve their dream really so important that you would give up such a valuable opportunity for self-improvement?"

She briefly paused to give the following armor-piercing question even more weight. "Or... are you just hoping for their everlasting gratitude?"

When all she got was a vocalization of her name from Madoka, she pressed further. "And not only that - you also need to be absolutely, completely one-hundred-percent sure that what you're wishing for is exactly what that person wants." I thought I saw something flash behind her eyes for a moment. "Sometimes, if you rush ahead and give someone what you think they want before you truly understand what it is... they end up hating it because it wasn't what they really wanted. And by extension... they might even start hating you along with it. Then..." She trailed off, unable (or perhaps unwilling) to continue.

...she's referring to Kyoko, isn't she… oh, damn, that's right. I'm also gonna have to deal with her baggage, too. Great. Why couldn't I have been pulled into a universe like… I dunno, Cardcaptor Sakura or something a little more lighthearted and less high-stakes? Oh, yeah, because 'fuck you, Murphy's Law. And suffering. Lots of suffering.' Damned random omnipotent bastards…

Mami came back to reality, and shook her head. "In any case, I would argue that the motive behind your wish is its most important aspect. It doesn't make much sense to fight for something that you don't fully understand, does it?"

Sayaka could only drop her gaze to the floor, downcast. "...no, I guess it doesn't…"

The blonde put up an apologetic smile. "I am sorry for telling you like this, but I had to say it now, before it was too late. I'm only trying to help you avoid the major pitfalls that come with the territory of this kind of decision. One of them being that if you're not entirely certain of why you're making your wish, you'll likely end up regretting it later, and that's the last thing you want as a Magical Girl."

The girl in question was silent for a brief moment, before looking up again with a sheepish grin. "...yeah, you're right. Sorry… I probably sounded pretty naïve there, didn't I?"

"Don't worry about it, you're cool." I leaned down slightly and laid a hand on her shoulder. "We don't want to make you feel like it's something you have to do, anyways. Mami's been handling herself for years now, and what with me being here, I don't think we have a whole lot to worry about in terms of serious threats." That was a bit of a painful lie to tell, but I had to keep my cards close to my chest, otherwise we could have problems. "If you did decide to contract, that might just be a little overkill. So feel free to take your time - it's not like any of us will be going anywhere, after all." This one, though… I sincerely hoped I was telling the truth.

Kyubey obviously thought otherwise. "As far as I'm concerned, the sooner you choose what you want to do, the better."

"Oh, please." Mami good-naturedly rolled her eyes. "Haven't you heard? Girls don't like pushy boys!" That kicked off a round of laughter from her and Sayaka, and a snort from me despite myself as we began moving again.

It was then that I thought of a way to fire off some shots. "Well, then again, he is pretty much a businessman, and I'm sure that you've all heard how 'time is money' and all that." I made a show of considering something. "But wait… lawyers are usually the kind of people who do contracts, right? And they're almost universally hated because exploiting anything and everything is practically part of their job description…" I leaned in slightly, giving the white devil a plastered-on evil eye. "Could there possibly be something you're not telling us, Coobs…?"

At the same time, I shot it a private message. 'Don't answer that. They don't need to know… yet.' Likely unneeded since revealing that would most definitely jeopardize Madoka's chances of contracting, and that was the last thing it wanted, but it never hurt to be careful.

Nevertheless, it followed my advice. "I object to that statement on the grounds that I'm not officially sanctioned by any of this world's governments as a proper contractor or lawyer."

The response left me (and the other three, I'm sure) more than a little nonplussed. "Did… did you just crack a joke?"

"No," he denied. "I only state facts."

I probably would have laughed, were I not glancing at the sky to check if the apocalypse had come, or hell had frozen over, or if the world was ending in general. "...okay, then."

I broke out of my reverie when I felt my Soul Gem pick up the trail of a witch. It was faint - searching for it could take a while. But I did have time.

Oh, jeez, what to do now… on one hand, it's a good practice opportunity, not to mention it'll be a good confidence booster if I pull it off, and I'll get a seed out of it. But on the other hand… do I really want to risk possibly killing myself for something I can just wait for a safer opportunity on? I have to keep the fact that I'm still a rookie in mind...

Brain courtroom no. 4 took charge of the issue. One trial later, a verdict was reached, and I began following the magic traces.

I need to be sure. If I can kill it all on my own… that'll be a very good sign. Alright, let's do this!

My predictions were correct - it took a sizable amount of time to track down the witch. And with my travel speed, that meant a lot of ground covered. So much ground, in fact, that I found myself exiting the city entirely well before even getting close. When I did finally find the entrance to the labyrinth, the sun had made sizable progress in its routine westward descent. Checking my phone revealed that it was already 1:30 PM.

Ah, damn it. There go my plans to get Homu's number - there's no way I'll be making it back before nightfall now. Oh, well. I can always try to find her later. For now…

I approached the gate, suiting up and drawing my weapon.

Lock and load.

Preparations complete, I stepped through.

Like all locations of its kind, the labyrinth was an exceptionally odd-looking place. In this specific one, it was as if nothing inside had any real depth or volume. Shadows of any kind were completely nonexistent, making everything look flat and two-dimensional, causing no small amount of disorientation. The sky was a bright, solid lime green, which while definitely loud, wasn't quite that hard on the eyes. It was made easier by the various poorly-drawn objects populating it, taking the form of simple stars, clouds, planets, and other things and shapes that wouldn't seem out of place in a young child's sketchbook. They all looked to be done in crayon, further selling the 'kid's art project' aesthetic.

There were a few additions to the backdrop, too. What looked like buildings of deep blue and bright red dotted the landscape, significantly scaled down to give an amateur impression of distance. Against the green sky, I got the distinct feeling that they were low-quality paper cutouts.

Finally, I could already see a few familiars flying around. They too were in crayon, aimlessly twisting and looping their way through the not-quite-neon sky. They took the appearance of a smiling head with braided hair attached to a body that regularly cycled between a car, a boat, and an airplane.

When I finished the survey of my surroundings, I sighed.

Can't these things ever make sense for once?

The answer to that came in the form of a hastily-organized attack squadron heading towards my position.

Right, stupid question. Forget I asked.

If anything, the little buggers were fast. Blade beams were easily dodged, at least the first few times, before they got too close to react. Even then, it took a few shots to take one down, and after the first few kills, I decided to simply stick with the dormant blade to save MP. It slowed down the process, sure, but I'd trade time for survivability any day of the week.

Progress from there followed the same trend - slow, but steady. The flat perspective of everything led to a lot of confusion over where I could or couldn't go, but a little scrutiny was a great asset when telling walls from hallways. Most of the time.

It took hours to make it to the center, but I made it nonetheless. Like all the other labyrinths, the final arena was in the shape of a giant circle, with the door leading to it slamming shut behind me and locking everything inside once I entered.

The witch was already up and moving by the time I arrived, kneeling over the floor and scribbling away. It looked disturbingly similar to a stylistically terrible depiction of a young girl. Or, not terrible per se, just… exceedingly disturbing. Frizzy blonde hair tied up in poofy twintails sat atop its head, while the body was covered with red overall shorts over a green short-sleeved shirt. Everything below the waist was mismatched - one leg was completely covered in a blue stocking adorned with green stars, while the other leg was left half-bare, with only a black-and-varying-shades-of-red striped sock to its name. The witch had no shoes that I could see.

A box of crayons spilled out on the floor next to it, and the thing was currently holding one itself. Funnily enough, it didn't even seem to register that I'd just come in. It just kept scribbling away, in complete ignorance of the world around it.

That ignorance lasted all the way up to the point where I casually strolled over and sliced its dominant arm off in a flash of silver.

In retrospect, I really should've anticipated the thing's reaction to that and immediately backed off after doing the deed. Regrettably, I didn't think that far ahead, and soon found myself flung into the nearest wall.

...owwww…

I couldn't decide which had higher priority on my feelings list - the sheer stupidity of what I'd just done, or the pain. So instead, I said 'neither' and pulled myself up for round two.

Surprisingly (or perhaps unsurprisingly), the battle didn't follow the turtle-like trend of the labyrinth proper. It was quick, fast-paced, and a whole load of unpredictable. All of the witch's attacks took the form of drawings and drawing utensils, and it would occasionally whip up another set of familiars for me to deal with while it tried to snipe me from afar. Future sight was invaluable here, turning what would otherwise be a slog of a Flunky Boss into quite the exciting match.

The fact that I had the witch on the ropes before the ten minute mark was one of the best omens I'd had in a while. So you can probably guess that how pissed off I became when my fun was ruined by an unwelcome new arrival.

Right when I was preparing to finish the thing off, a large, pointed projectile slammed into its chest and tore straight through, brutally eviscerating it when the chain the object was attached to was stretched taut and ripped it back out.

Noticing the spearhead appearance of the intrusive projectile and the chain it was stuck on, my mind instantly came to a conclusion.

Oh, you've gotta be shitting me… you couldn't just leave me to my business, could you?

"Heh. Not too bad, I'll admit." A cocky, self-confident voice rang out, before a figure draped in red dropped in, landing next to the witch with their back facing me. "Fer a rookie, that is." The newcomer held out their hand, allowing the Grief Seed that they'd ripped out of the witch to fall right into their grasp.

In my nettled state, a little snark was a given. "Nobody likes a kill-stealer, y'know."

"Pay more attention, then." She turned towards me, revealing competitive red eyes and a taunting smirk as the labyrinth faded. "I was tailin' ya fer a good hour or so, and ya didn't even bat an eye."

I shot her a flat, unamused glare. "Wow. A kill-stealer and a camper? You must be fun at LAN parties."

She just rolled her eyes. "Yeah, like those totally didn't go outta style forty years ago."

Shaking my head, I decided to hit the skip button. "So, how 'bout we cut to the part where you tell me what exactly you want with me and maybe why you're here in the first place?" I gestured to our surroundings. "We're kinda in the middle of nowhere after all."

"Weeeell…" The redhead stabbed her spear into the ground, casually leaning on it while tossing the seed up and down. "I was mindin' my own business over in Kazamino, doin' what I usually do, when Kyubey happened to show up. Said that old Mami'd gone and gotten herself knocked outta commission fer a while." She tried something different with the seed, spinning it on her finger not unlike one would do with a basketball. "So, I figured this'd be as good a chance as any to move in myself."

She let the seed fall back into her hand so she could point at me. "'Course, he also told me about you, but I can't really be assed to give two shits about some newbie yank on an international joyride."

A disbelieving snort left my mouth. "Uhhh, bullshit? Why'd you go and ninja-loot my drops, then?"

"Eh, I was bored." A not-at-all apologetic shrug accompanied the statement. "Ya took yer sweet time gettin' here, and watchin' ya run into walls headfirst stopped bein' funny after the first few times." She pulled her weapon out of the ground, hefting it up to her shoulder. "What I want right now is some real excitement, and that little pissin' match ya just had with that thing ain't enough fer me. So, here's what's gonna happen."

She held out the seed, dangling it in front of her. "If ya want this Grief Seed, yer gonna hafta prove to me that yer worthy of it. Yer gonna do that by tryin' to take it from me by force."

My next question was a pointless one, but let it never be said that all my options weren't on the table. "And if I don't want to?"

The answer in turn was simple. "Ya go home without a paycheck after puttin' in all that hard work, and I don't get my daily dose 'a dope. Sounds like a pretty crappy deal to me." She made a dismissive motion with her hand. "But then again, I also make bank without any muss or fuss, so what do I care? I still win."

I sighed in acceptance. "Oh, fine. I'll play your game." I lowered myself into a combat stance, bringing my blade up. "But don't get pissy if I give you more than you bargained for."

She belted out an arrogant laugh, then pointed her spear at me. "Why dontcha come over here and try it, then?"

From this point on, words were unneeded. Of course, that wouldn't stop either of us from speaking, but our weapons would be doing the majority of the negotiating for the time being.

Neither one of us moved for the opening moments. After a bit, I made an expectant gesture. "Aren't you gonna make the first move?"

"Why should I?" She jabbed at the air in my direction a few times. "Yer the one who's got the most on the line here."

She was correct, and I knew that, but I didn't have to like it. Nevertheless, I began slowly approaching my opponent with overly cautious steps. The girl faked a yawn in response. "Ya gonna get on with it, or can I go take a nap?"

Seems infuriation tactics don't work at the moment… all right, then.

I quickened my pace to a brisk walk, but stopped a step short of entering my weapon's effective range.

The lancer raised an eyebrow. "What? Havin' second tho-"

She didn't get a chance to finish her line as she was suddenly occupied with blocking a sequence of slashes from my oversized weapon. The cocky expression never left her face however, betraying the amount of effort she was putting in. A few more clashes, and she'd had enough, going on the offensive and launching me backward with one powerful blocked thrust of her own.

"If that's all ya have, I might as well take that nap now!" It was easy to tell that she was enjoying this. "Step it up! It's no fun if I can do it in my sleep!"

I rolled my neck and shoulders, and brought my weapon up again. "Okay, but remember, you brought this on yourself!" The edges split, the energy blade emerging from the center, and I charged. Another set of clashes occurred, and I found that with the added length, my weapon actually outranged hers. Once I realized that, I began exploiting it every chance I got, spacing myself away a good distance to make sure I stayed outside of her effective range while still swinging away.

However, that didn't exactly matter to my foe. In turn, she exploited her greater strength and experience, anticipating the direction of my strikes and batting each and every one away. I found myself unable to land any good hits on her, and was constantly forced into a defensive position as she continued to dominate the pace of the fight.

Soon, she once again sent me flying back to square one with another oppressive swipe. A flash of future sight enabled me to block it, as it would have come out too fast for me to react to on my own.

"Better," she conceded. "But not good enough!"

She outclasses me in direct combat… time for a different approach.

It was time for a bit of sniping. I sent out a stream of energy arcs at the redhead, and followed up with a few spikes. Even still, their effectiveness was minimal, as most were dodged, and the ones that did hit were guarded against. The last one I sent off kicked up a cloud of debris upon impact, obscuring my target from view.

Seconds later, the haze was blown away when she broke out the whip function of her weapon, swinging the business end towards me. A vision of the future allowed me to roll under the first swipe, and hop over the second, but the third forced me to hold up my blade to soften the blow. Unfortunately, it was still strong enough to rip the sword right out of my hands, sending it spinning away to clatter to the floor.

The lancer collapsed her weapon back into its compact form with a mocking laugh. "Sorry, but it's game over fer ya!"

Silver flashed in front of my eyes once more, and I foresaw the finishing blow. When the vision ended, my opponent once again extended her weapon, and sent it straight towards me.

And once again, I decided to do something stupid. Twisting out of the way of the initial spearhead, I turned back towards the weapon and snatched one of the shaft segments out of the air, then bolted for where my blade had landed. The instant I felt the slightest hint of resistance on the chain, I gripped it with both hands and yanked.

"GET OVER HERE!"

She clearly hadn't been expecting such an outrageous move, and was therefore helpless against it, allowing herself to get dragged along for the ride while her weapon attempted to pull itself together. While she was in transit, I snatched my sword up and brought it to bear.

She wouldn't go down that easy, though. She hefted her now-collapsed lance and thrust it out towards me, planning to let her momentum do the work.

Unfortunately for her, I had already seen her do that, and was ready for it. At the very last moment, I stepped to the side, out of the path of the attack, and swung the flat of my blade out.

The result was a very meaty sound as sword and opponent collided. She was lucky enough to keep her grip on the spear as she flew back the way she came. The Grief Seed, on the other hand, was torn out of her grasp and sent spinning through the air to stab itself into the ground next to my feet.

I heard the sound of my foe bouncing off the dirt while I bent down to grab my spoils. A few moments later, I turned to see her peeling herself off the floor.

"Heh… heh ha ha… ah, man…" She stood back up to her full height, wiping some sweat off her brow. "I knew you rednecks were nuts, but I didn't think ya were that crazy!" Despite the large hit she'd taken, she didn't seem to be very injured.

I chuckled in return, still riding the adrenaline high. "Well, I like to believe I'm certifiably insane, so as far as I'm concerned, that's just my thing. Not all of us cowboys belong in an asylum."

She only shrugged. "If ya say so. Either way, ya passed the test. The seed's all yers."

"Thank you." I flashed back to my casual wear, and pocketed the seed. While I was at it though, I decided proper procedure was in order. With that in mind, I walked up to my former enemy, who had reverted to her base form herself, and extended my hand. "Audrey Erryn. I wouldn't say it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, but I figured I should introduce myself anyway, as this probably won't be the last time we'll see each other."

I got a bemused stare from my troubles, and that let me realize that I towered over her like I did with everyone else. "Christ, ya really are insane…" However, the smile quickly found its way back to her face. "Heh. I think I'm startin' to like ya." She took the offered hand and shook it. "Kyoko Sakura. Not nice to meetcha too."

We broke the handshake and stepped away. I turned to glance towards the direction I'd come from, then back to the redhead. "So, how exactly is this whole thing gonna go down?"

She fished her trademark box of pocky out from one of her pockets and stuck a stick in her mouth. The way she went about it reminded me of a chainsmoker. "I was thinkin' I'd just set up shop and take over. If Mami decides she doesn't like that at some point, I'll beat her idealist ass back into the ground, but I'd rather not deal with her 'till then." She put a hand up to her chin after sticking the box back in its place. "As for you 'n me… how 'bout we just agree not to screw with each other and leave it at that? Yer not gonna be here forever, and I don't see no reason to pick a fight with ya outside 'a havin' some fun."

I considered it for a bit, and concluded that this was probably the best I was going to get out of her. "Sounds okay to me."

Silence settled in for a few seconds, before another thought came to me. "Wanna head to the city together? I doubt getting the chance to talk about witches and stuff with someone who isn't trying to kill you is a common thing."

Surprisingly, she didn't outright refuse my request. In fact, she did the opposite. "...y'know what, why not? It's been a hot minute since I last had someone to bounce offa." She took the box of snacks back out, offering it to me. "Want some?"

My traitorous stomach chose that exact moment to make its displeasure with my choices today known. Kyoko started cackling as I pulled out my phone, and discovered that it was now 4:30 PM. The labyrinth had taken three hours. Which meant that it had officially been way too long since I last had something to eat. With that in mind, I held my hand out for a stick, the other rising to my head while I let out a "please."

Two hours later, and we found ourselves at the edge of Mitakihara.

I heard my travel partner scoff. "Seems this dump didn't change one bit while I was gone."

"You've been here before?" I continued to act ignorant.

"Yep," she confirmed. "Used to be my stompin' grounds. But that was a long time ago. Wonder if the old arcade's still there…"

"Arcade? Wait a minute…" I made a show of having a revelation. "Kyoko Sakura… KyoSaku… are you telling me that the name on the top of every leaderboard in the DDR machine is yours?!"

"Hell yeah it is!" She brought up her fists, pumping herself up. "Man, I haven't crushed fresh meat at that thing in ages! I can't wait to get back to it!"

"We might have to schedule some game days," I remarked. "Of course, there's really only one machine that I actually know how to play in that entire building, but I'll kick your ass on it any day."

She smirked. "That sounds like a challenge. Call me whenever ya feel like gettin' owned, and I'll hit ya up if I got time."

"You better, ya little shit." I made a shooing motion. "Now get lost. I need to go stuff my face with some steak or a burger or something."

A derisive snort left her mouth. "Figures you'd want that crap." She then pointed towards a side street. "I remember there bein' a Burger King about a block thataway. That work for ya, ya damn yankee?"

I was already moving. "That'll do. Be seeing you, camper."

"Back atcha, newbie!"

Kyoko was correct - there was a Burger King down the road. Hungry as I was, I decided to keep it simple and ordered two burgers with a root beer on the side, which I quickly went to town on when they arrived.

I was just finishing my meal when my phone happened to ring. I checked the caller ID, and found that it was Madoka again.

Huh… awful nice of this to happen after I'm done eating. I guess it's the little things that Murphy cares about.

Propping my head on the table, I hit the accept button. "Would it be too much to hope that nothing bad's happening right now?"

The response was hesitant. "Um… yes?"

I sighed. "Thought so. What is it this time?"

"It's Hitomi," she answered. "She has a witch's kiss, and there's a bunch of other people with them, too. We're in the abandoned section of the city, and I think we're heading towards one of the warehouses. I don't know what's going on, but I'm sure that it's nothing good!"

I left my seat, and the building soon after. "Well, shoot. If you're in the abandoned section, you might be screwed. I'm kinda-sorta pretty far away right now."

"You are?!" She obviously wasn't pleased with that. "Oh, no…!"

"I can try to pull out all the stops and go full speed, but even then, it'll be a while before I get to you." At least twenty minutes, if not a half hour or more, and that was at a dead sprint. "I dunno, just… hold on, or something. I'm coming."

"Thank you. Please, go as fast as you can!" The call ended, and I started running.

Fortunately, however, the haste was unnecessary. By the time I arrived, everything had been wrapped up, and Madoka and Sayaka were walking out.

"What took you so long?" The new blood lifted a hand to her hip. "If I hadn't been here, Madoka wouldn't have made it! What gives, Audrey?"

"Nice to see you both in one piece," I huffed. "And you try sprinting a whole load of miles in under thirty minutes."

This left the pinker as the voice of reason, like always. "Come on, you two, don't do this. It's been a hard few days for all of us. We don't need to add more things to worry about to the pile."

In a strange twist of fate, Sayaka backed down, and her face fell. "...yeah, Madoka. You're right. Sorry, Audrey."

I waved it off. "No big deal. But I think what we all need right now is some rest. I know we said we'd talk about things today, but we can do that tomorrow. I dunno about you, but I'm already feeling like I'm about to crash, and it's not even my bedtime yet."

"I hear that," she agreed. "Adrenaline's nice and all, but I feel like a slug now that it's gone. What about you, Madoka?"

The girl smiled. "I won't say no. All in favor of going home and talking tomorrow?"

We all raised our hands. "Great. Let's go, then."

A/N: I was going to have this one focus on Sayaka, but then I had an idea on how to introduce the new arrival, and… well, this happened. I won't say I'm not proud of it, though.

This chapter's witch goes by the name of Albertine. If the description of her minions sounded familiar to you, it's probably because one of them appears in episode 5, acting as the catalyst for the back alley brawl between Sayaka and Kyoko. (Speaking of minions, one made a return in the flashback. Three guesses as to what caused that dent in its chest.)

Speaking of Kyoko, I had a whole load of fun writing her. Most of it stems from how much I played around with her word choice, particularly the various contractions and abbreviations. She's feisty, she knows it, and she'll be damned if she doesn't let everyone else know it too. She's also got the bite to back up her bark, as shown in her little bout today. But I doubt she's ever had to deal with a Scorpion-brand Uno Reverse card before. Audrey does have a bit of a reputation for being unpredictable, if nothing else.

But with the conflict over and done with, they now have a nonaggression agreement going on between them. I doubt Sayaka will take that very well if she finds out, but her view of Kyoko is heavily based on their first encounter, so if she introduces herself in a more positive light, she might give off a better impression of herself…

Ah, who am I kidding? Nothing's gonna stop her from unapologetically beating the naïveté out of Saya.

...which you might actually get to see in the next chapter. Or you might not, considering this is told entirely from the MC's point of view, and there's a chance she won't find the spot before everything's over and done with. Like what just happened. But just because we don't see it doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

But that'll be next week. Which is when I'll be seeing you all next. Hopefully. Probably.

Ciao.