Chapter 16: Trampled Innocence

I do not own PMMM or Magia Record. PMMM is own by AniplexNA. Magia Record is owned by f4Samurai


If ever asked, every magical girl in Kamihama had the location of the coordinator's shop memorized. Nestled in the back pocket of Minagi ward, Mitama's shop took the form of an abandoned warehouse converted into an expansive magical girl holdout. Mitama had fully remodeled the warehouse to include a large and comfortable waiting room, several treatment rooms, overnight living quarters, and even an recreation room. This made the shop a popular hangout spot for many a magical girl, especially those who lived further south.

That being said, it was on this rainy afternoon that Mitama decided to close up shop early. The silver haired coordinator pulled the warehouse doors shut and fished her keys from her purse.

Locking the padlock, Mitama returned the keys to her purse and traded them for a small extendable umbrella. With a quick press of a button, the umbrella formed its shell over her head.

Satisfied, Mitama looked both ways before running out into the rain, hoping to make the next bus towards Daito.


Unbeknownst to the coordinator, another watched her form retreating into the darkness. Satisfied with her absence, the figure dropped from her lofty stoop and landed quietly on the ground.

Rain pounded her tall witch's hat, speaking the girl to the bone. But she didn't care as she slowly made her way towards the now vacant warehouse.

"That's far enough." A calm but firm voice called out in the rain.

The figure paused, her shoulders slumping. Slowly turning around, Karin Misono came face to face with Yachiyo Nanami.

"Yachiyo, please don't stop me."

"Karin," another voice emerged from the darkness. Mifuyu Azusa came out, holding a grey umbrella. "It's not too late. Let's just go home, ok?"

Karin frowned, "You don't understand. I-I need to do this."

"You don't."

She didn't need to turn around to know the black haired enforcer was blocking her way to the shop. "You're all so strong, so powerful. You've never had to struggle in the way we have."

"And that justifies thievery and stealing?"

Karin chuckled, "Once a thief, always a thief I guess."

"That's a very unmighty way of thinking."

The last figure hopped down from the rafters. Karin felt her heart melt. Of course Tsuruno Yui had to join the intervention.

"Karin, this isn't the way to achieve our goals." Tsuruno objected. "I want to help others just as much as you do, but what you're doing is wrong. This isn't right. This is not how the mightiest magical girl should act."

Karin grimaced, "Well I'm not the mightiest. In fact, I'm far from it. And when you're not the mightiest, you can't afford to choose right and wrong."

She turned to the group, "Please, I need to do this."

Yachiyo's eyes narrowed, "Karin, I cannot let you do this, both as the boss of the West, and as a friend."

So that was it then. There was no turning back.

"If you won't help me," Karin summoned her scythe, "Then I'll have to force my way."

Homura sighed before transforming. "This is a pointless endeavor. You're outnumbered and outpowered. Just give it up."

"We can go home and have a nice chat over tea." Mifuyu offered, "I'll even make you your favorite!"

A tear rolled down Karin's cheek as she smiled bitterly, "I'm sorry Mifuyu. I think we're way past that point."

She sighed as she took in the positions of the other girls. "You know what the problem is when you've spent the last year training me?"

Yachiyo frowned, transforming and summoning her spear. "What?"

Karin smirked. "I know all your weaknesses."

She stretched out her hand towards Homura, "Steal!"

In an instant, she felt the weight of a magical buckler on her left arm. Without hesitating, she reached into the shield and pulled out a pair of guns.

Homura dived to the side as a stream of bullets tore through the warehouse door.


Homura cursed her lack of foresight as she dived out of harms way. Of course Karin's ability could steal her shield. And would give her access to her arsenal; her full, freshly restocked, arsenal.

Yachiyo and Tsuruno recovered from their surprise and rushed forward. Yachiyo shot a pair of spears towards Karin's stolen shield, but Karin ducked and sent a burst of bullets in her direction. She just barely had enough warning to back step as Tsuruno's fireballs flew past where she just stood.

Homura grimaced. Karin was right. She hadn't been personally mentored by them for nothing. She knew their tactics, their fighting styles, and their combat order.

The raven haired girl glanced around, looking for a weapon. That's when she saw the impossible. Leaning against a shipping container, was a golf club. How that was even possible, she didn't know, but Homura was not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Grabbing the golf club, she poured magic into the iron driver, transforming it into a magical weapon.

Up ahead, Karin was holding her own against Yachiyo and Tsuruno, as she slowly inched her way towards the warehouse door.

Homura rushed forward before she too was forced to take cover. It looked like Karin found the bombs.

She definitely needed to find a better way to protect her shield.


Karin was beginning to run out of ideas. Sure she was keeping both Yachiyo and Tsuruno back, but they were getting closer and Homura had just rejoined the fight as well.

She needed a plan, something to get them off her back. She jammed her hand into the shield and found a pair of homemade bombs. She reached for the detonation switch when she realized there were more Yachiyo's than just one.

Four pairs of Yachiyo and Tsuruno were attacking her from different sides. Karin's eyes widened as she realized who was behind the attacks. Mifuyu's illusions would harass her while the others would attack from her blind spot. She needed to act quickly. Swapping out her bombs with another device, Karin threw it onto the ground near her feet.

The smoke bomb exploded, sending smoke in every direction. Karin worked quickly, summoning her scythe and taking to the skies. If she couldn't get close to the coordinator's, then she would lose them in the city.


Homura waited for the smoke to dissipate before looking to the sky. "She went up."

Yachiyo nodded, summoning several spears in the form of a stairwell. "Let's go."

Together, the three of them began their leap upwards. Yachiyo looked down to see Mifuyu hadn't moved at all. "Mifuyu?"

The white haired girl smiled. "You girls go on ahead. I'll catch up."

Yachiyo frowned but resumed the chase.


Mifuyu watched the trio rush upwards until they had completely vanished. "Now then," she sighed as she picked up her umbrella, "She's heading north west so I probably could intercept her in Sankyou ward."

Opening her purse, she pulled out a bus pass. "Now where was that bus station?"


Homura grimaced as she squinted through the rain. Up ahead, she could barely make out the flying troublemaker ahead of them. Personally, she was still fuming from the betrayal. Karin should have known better than to try to break into Mitama's shop and steal grief seeds. Didn't she understand the consequences of such an action?

It was like she had sworn to take on an impossible task with no hope of succeeding and still wanted to try. Wait…that sounded familiar.

Ok so Homura did understand a bit from where Karin was coming from. But she still didn't agree with her belief in that stealing grief seeds would save magical girls.

Homura continued hoping from spear to spear as she felt as though they were making progress. That's when she felt a sudden burst of magic up ahead. She turned to Yachiyo who nodded.

"Karin's trying to lose us in a witch's labyrinth."

Tsuruno frowned, "Then we'll just have to beat it faster than she can run!"

Yachiyo sighed but smiled, "Then let's bring this little troublemaker home."

The trio followed the purple haired girl into the labyrinth, immediately overcome by a large spherical labyrinth. Inside was a lizard like labyrinth crawling across the walls.

Realizing she was cornered, Karin pulled a long tube out from the shield. Homura's eyes widened. "RPG!" She yelled as she dove for the bottom of the labyrinth.

The rocket fired from the tube with explosive speed. The explosive round flew towards Yachiyo, who braced herself with a spear made shield. Only for the rocket to be knocked off course by an orange fan.

Homura watched in sheer amazement as the rocket flew downwards, hitting a chair like familiar before continuing its flight past the labyrinth. She looked over at the 'mightiest'. "How? You just swatted an RPG! How?"

Tsuruno shrugged, "I don't know. I just thought, wouldn't it be rather mighty of me to knock missiles off course? With a bit of trajectory calculations, it was easy to aim the missiles into the familiars!"

She saw Karin load a second rocket and smirked. "Watch!"

Homura and Yachiyo watched flabbergasted as the brunette knocked not one, but 2 more rockets out of the labyrinth. Tsuruno grinned, "Karin! You'll need something better to stop the mightiest magical girl!"

Karin frowned before diving downward.

"Watch it, she's trying to escape!" Yachiyo observed.

Homura looked around before pointing at the witch near the bottom of the labyrinth. "Aim for the witch."

Yachiyo nodded, creating a spear stairway.

Meiyui and Homura leaped into action, hopping down the stairway. Up above, Tsuruno peppered Karin with bursts of flame.

Karin expertly weaved through the fireballs but failed to notice the two melee fighters.

Meiyui came hurtling at the purple haired girl in full force. Without hesitation, she slammed into the girl, knocking her off her ride. Before Karin could react, Homura leaped behind her and smashed her magically enhanced golf club onto the girl's back.

"Ahhh!" Karin cried out as the force sent her flying through the labyrinth walls…and falling towards the city below.


As she fell, Karin noticed the semi busy streets of Sankyou Ward and winced. There were way too many witnesses in Sankyou this early in the evening. She needed to find a place to land without attracting attention.

Glancing around, she noticed a back alley that looked deserted. Yes, that would work. Focusing her magic, Karin summoned her trusty scythe and flew towards the alleyway.

With a quick hop, Karin jumped off her scythe and planted her feet on the ground. She winced as pain roared up her spine. Homura's attack had clearly broken something. "That's the last time…I underestimate Homura with a golf club." She muttered, trying to ignore the pain. The lone purplette limped her way through the alleyway, hoping to find her destination.

When she finally found it, she knew they had caught up.

Yachiyo, Meiyui, Tsuruno, and Homura stood a couple meters behind her. Karin grimaced. She needed to bait em properly for this plan to work.

"So, you caught up with me?" She sighed, "Like, haven't you beaten me up enough yet?"

"Speak for yourself," Meiyui shot back, "I for one have several bullet wounds that would have killed me if we weren't magical girls."

Karin couldn't make out their faces, but she was sure she felt the raven haired enforcer bow, "Sorry about that. I'll see what I can do about procuring non lethal rounds."

"Karin," Tsuruno's voice pleaded, "Please. Let's just go home. It's not too late to laugh and pretend this never happened."

Karin was sure the brunette received several glares. "Ok, so maybe we can't pretend this never happened, but I'm sure we can work something out."

Karin chuckled, an action which sent pain up her spine. "I'm sorry Tsuruno. I think we're way past that point. I'm not giving up. Magical girls need to be saved. And I am not accepting some half assed measure that pretends to make us all happy."

"Even if it destroys everything we've fought to protect?" Yachiyo countered, "Karin it's over. Please, give up."

Karin smirked as she reached into the shield, "Hey Homura, why do you keep a truck inside your shield?"


"Why do you keep a truck inside your shield?"

Homura's eyes widened.

"Get down!" She called as she tackled Meiyui to the side. Tsuruno and Yachiyo leaped back just in time for a full sized silver truck to blaze through the alleyway.

Homura sighed a breath of relief before a voice interrupted her. "Umm…you can get off of me now."

That's when she realized that she was still straddling the Chinese blunette. "Oh, sorry," she muttered, standing up and offering a hand.

Meiyui took it gratefully. "Thanks. And…since when did you keep trucks in your shield?"

Homura felt her cheeks redden. Why was she suddenly embarrassed about this? "It…comes in handy."

"Flirt later, chase now!" Yachiyo's voice interrupted the two.


"Ahh!"

"Sorry!"

Karin didn't know how to drive. The movies made it look so simple. So naturally she had no idea what she was doing, much less with a multiton truck.

She glanced back to see that the quartet of pursuers were catching up. She couldn't let that happen, so she slammed her foot onto the petal.

Karin returned her focus to the front and freaked out. She was about to exit the alleyway and someone was in the middle of the narrow exit.

Karin screamed as she tried to slam on the breaks. Her right foot grasped around as she tried to find the breaks. But it was too late. Karin could only helpless watch as the civilian was knocked back by the front of the truck and smashed into the wall.

"I'm sorry!" She called out, trying to ignore what had just happened.

And with that, the truck tore out of the alleyway and onto the street, scattering civilians and debris alike. Karin winced as she tried steering the wheel to avoid hitting pedestrians when she noticed a lone pedestrian with her back turned to the truck.

Karin honked the horn as hard as she could, desperately trying to get the person to move. The person turned around and Karin panicked when said person…pulled out a giant chakram and hurled it at the oncoming truck. Karin's eyes widened as the giant spinning blade split the vehicle cleanly in two, just barely missing her body in the strike. Having lost its balance, the dismembered truck spun in opposite directions before collapsing into debris. Karin stumbled out of the cab, wincing as she felt her magical healing slowly pushing pieces of metal out of her shoulder. Crawling away from the wreckage, Karin found herself face to face with a spear, a mere inches away from her face.

Karin slowly gazed up to see the darkened face of Yachiyo Nanami.

"H-hi Yachiyo. So umm…no hard feelings?"

She felt a pair of arms grab both of her own and heft her to her feet.

Another pair picked up her stolen shield. "I'll be taking this back." Homura's calm voice cut through the still pouring rain.

"Quite a bit of trouble you've caused here." Mifuyu's silky but deadly serious voice began. So that was who cut the truck in half.

"Well…I thought it would work." Karin tried to explain but she was cut off.

"Do you have any idea what you've just done?"

Karin winced at Yachiyo's words. "Well…I…"

"Your little stunt nearly restarted a war." Homura observed.

Karin's eyes widened, "Wh-what?"

"I'm not sure if you thought of this, but technically Mitama is from Daito ward. Sure she's the coordinator, but I'm not sure Kanagi would see it like that." Mifuyu added. "So please listen when I say that by trying to steal Mitama's grief seeds, you nearly restarted a conflict that just last night Kanagi and Yachiyo agreed to end."

"Wh-wait, I was just…I just wanted to help!"

Homura frowned, "And not just that, but you also flew around the city, using my weapons and munitions irresponsibly."

"Well…" Karin's thoughts returned to the man who she had hit. "I…I didn't mean to."

"Look around you Misono!" Homura gestured to the streets of Sankyou, The ruins of the truck. Sankyou's normally vibrant shopping district was filled with the wailing of sirens as emergency vehicles rushed towards the destroyed storefronts. Overhead, Karin thought she could see smoke and flames rising up from around the ward.

"I-I did all this?" Karin managed. It…she was just trying to help. Magical girls needed saving. "But…magical girls…"

"If we can't protect this city's inhabitants, then our fight, our strife to be mighty is meaningless." Tsuruno interjected, her grip on Karin's arm ever tight.

On her left, Meiyui growled, "In Hong Kong, if you pulled a stunt like this, the casualties would have been in the thousands."

"But I-"

"That's enough." Yachiyo's voice interrupted.

Karin clamped her mouth shut.

"I wanted to avoid conflict. I wanted to show you we could find a new future together." Yachiyo spoke softly, "But you've given me no choice."

Yachiyo took a deep breathe as Karin saw the older girl's face harden.

"Karin Misono of Sakae Ward. You have been found guilty on charges destruction, arson, and robbery. As punishment for your actions, you are to be exiled from Kamihama."

Karin gasped as her eyes widened. Exiled?

"You are hereby forbidden from hunting or transforming in Kamihama. You will have to hunt outside of Kamihama."

"Y-Yachiyo…"

"Any violation of this decree will result in complete expulsion from Kamihama."

"Bu-but…"Karin stuttered.

Yachiyo finally met her eyes. Karin could see the hardness, the anger, the pain. "Do you really want me to follow through with that?"

Karin's heart sank. Yachiyo was serious. There was no going back from this.

And then, something snapped.

"So-so that's how it's going to be." Karin muttered, a touch of bitterness in her voice. "I try to help and this now I'm exiled."

Shakily, the purple haired girl shook off her captors. "Forget me being exiled. I'll just leave. You'll never hear from me again. I'll be out of your hair."

Karin looked westward and started to trudge forward.

"Hey wait."

Karin paused to see Homura watching her, those raven eyes cold, but sympathetic. "Catch."

Karin caught a small cylindrical object. She opened her hands to see a sole grief seed.

"You'll need it."

Karin shot Homura a look. "Thanks." She scowled.

With that, the exile summoned her scythe and flew due west, heading towards the boundaries of the city.


Tsuruno could not believe what she had just seen.

"Did, that really happen?"

Meiyui sighed deeply. "It is a sad but dark reality. You made the right choice."

Mifuyu sighed, "Tsuruno, Meiyui, let's go. We got a lot of work ahead of us."

As the three left, Homura looked up to the older blunette. Yachiyo stood proud, resolute, and tall. Only that wasn't true. Homura could make out the tears pouring down her cheeks, the pain in her eyes, and hurt in her smile.

"Did I do ok Homura?"

Homura frowned. "Only time will tell."

ARC 1: TRAMPLED INNOCENCE END.

TIME: 1 YEAR BEFORE MAIN STORY