Sitting on one of the couches in her living room, Oriko stared at her Soul Gem, more than slightly concerned. It was about half black, blotting out a good part of the gem's shining light. When had she used that much magic anywhere? A few visions had struck her during her conversation with Kirika, but she didn't think that it would have used up as much magic as this.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a little white creature enter the room. "Was there something you wanted, Kyubey?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I simply wanted to check on how Mitakihara's newest magical girl is doing." Kyubey said. "Is this not allowed?"

"No, that's fine…" Oriko said absently. "But as long as you're here, I do have a question for you. Could you explain to me why my Soul Gem has turned so black? I don't recall using this much magic since I last checked it."

Kyubey tilted its head. "I thought that you were already aware of the nature of Soul Gems?" It paused. "Ah, I recall now. You only got one half of the explanation."

"So? What is it?" Oriko asked, a trifle impatiently. It was always one thing or another with Kyubey. It seemed to delight in withholding important bits of information, only to reveal them at the most inopportune of times.

"Yesterday, you correctly ascertained that the level of corruption in a Soul Gem causes certain emotional reactions in magical girls." It said. "The second part of this is that this process works the other way around as well- because the Soul Gem is the soul of the magical girl who bears it, feelings of despair and sadness that are not caused by magic manifests itself in the Soul Gem as corruption."

"I… I see." Oriko said slowly. "So it's essentially a positive feedback loop, in that case."

The little creature said nothing, staring up at Oriko while its tail swished from side to side. Oriko looked back, eyebrows furrowed, only to release her gaze and sigh.

"I suppose that the nature of the Soul Gem is not particularly important at the moment." She abruptly stood up. "What is important is that I have to get another Grief Seed before my Soul Gem fills up. Would you care to join me, Kyubey? There were a few other questions I wanted to ask you."

"Certainly!" It said, leaping up onto Oriko's shoulder. "Assisting and instructing magical girls in defeating Witches is an important duty that I fulfill."

Oriko side-eyed Kyubey, but decided not to comment on that. She opened the door, and walked out until the street. "So, what I was intending to ask was- how do normal magical girls find Witches?" She said. "Last time, I was simply using the information I gained in my vision to find my way to the Witch, but surely magical girls without my powers also have a way to find Witches."

"You are correct, Oriko." Kyubey replied. She didn't look, but she could feel his light hold on her shoulder as she walked down the street, going nowhere in particular. "By looking at your Soul Gem and measuring the amount of corruption in the surrounding area, it is possible to tell how far you are from a Witch."

It took a bit of trial and error, but after a few adjustments, Oriko felt that she could use the method described. Her magic was a big boon, but she didn't want to rely on it. And even more importantly, if she used it too much, she would turn into a Witch. Conserving her magic would be of paramount importance. Ten minutes later, she was on her way towards a Witch that she had found. Or at least, she thought she had found one. She really hoped that it actually was one, it would be a big waste of her time if it turned out that she had made a mistake in tracking it.

After another fifteen minutes of playing hot and cold with her Soul Gem, Oriko arrived at a Witch's barrier, located on a small side street. Looking at it, it seemed to be about the same as the last barrier she had encountered, except with a different symbol over it. "Is there anything you could tell me about this Witch before I go in, Kyubey?" She asked. She had had a fairly easy time with the last Witch, but she knew that that Witch had been relatively weak. It would be quite embarrassing to take precautions against turning into a Witch, but then dying anyway because she had been careless while fighting.

"There's nothing very interesting about this Witch." The creature spoke after a moment of silence. "It seems like it moves about a bit more than most Witches, but it's nothing that should affect your experience within the barrier. A perfectly good Witch to test yourself in combat against."

"I see. Thank you again, Kyubey." She took a deep breath, and made the motion to enter the barrier. What would it be this time? The only barrier she had seen in real life had been fairly tame, but she knew that they could get a lot weirder than the one she saw, considering the variety that she had observed in her visions. Oriko walked in, only to see… a bewildering variety of roads. They ran every which way, right, left, forward, even up, jutting out at impossible angles. Down the street sauntered a number of weirdly blank-faced humanoid creatures, nearly mannequin-like in appearance except for the many tentacles that replaced the area where their arms should've been. Should she attack them? The-

—

Oriko walked down one of the many roads, searching for the way to the Witch. She passed by one of the familiars, looking at it warily as she walked. It didn't seem hostile, but she knew that that was no guarantee. When nothing happened she breathed a sigh of relief and walked on.

Unfortunately, that didn't help her avoid the tentacle that suddenly extended from the familiar. It slammed into her back, sending her flying. An eerie cackle echoed from all sides…

—

Oriko shuddered as the vision passed. She still was having trouble getting used to entering and exiting the visions. It was deeply unpleasant, looking into a universe of what could have been and then having to shift back and refocus on the universe of reality, as if she had to dunk her head into a bucket of cold water and then quickly pull it out.

In any case, it was clear that she would have to deal with the familiars. She started walking down one of the strange roads, same as in the vision, but this time, she summoned her crystal balls with a wave of her hand. Instead of shooting beams from them, she instead had them slam hard into the familiar, one after another. The familiar she struck immediately got agitated, of course, but she was ready for it, gracefully dodging the tentacles it swung her way. As her crystal balls hit the creature, it began to slow down, and finally collapsed, leaving Oriko free to move on. She briefly smiled- it was good to have another way to fight without using huge amounts of magic.

The roads continued to twist and turn, but Oriko kept on moving, defeating the familiars as she encountered them. After a half hour of searching, she was almost ready to give up looking for the Witch, but just as she was about to leave, she heard a loud honk. She turned around, only to see a massive car driving down the road. It looked like a normal minicar, except sized up, casting a shadow upon Oriko. She could sense it- this had to be the Witch! Quickly, she leaped out of the car's way, and began to blast it with her orbs. The beams of light hit once, twice, three times, and each time, the Witch let out a sound almost (but not quite) like shattering glass. It reared back, and-

—

The Witch reared back, and swept forward so fast that it slammed right into Oriko, who had assumed herself to be far enough away. She went flying, landing hard on her back.

—

She gasped, and immediately leapt straight up, Kyubey still in her arms. "Stupid," She berated herself as she jumped. "Didn't you just tell yourself that you were going to try to be careful?" The jump had come just in time, missing the top of the Witch, by mere inches. She took the opportunity to blast the Witch some more as she fell towards the ground, but it suddenly whirled around, a loud screech sounding out as its wheels turned. There was no way she would be able to get out of the way this time. Oriko prepared her crystal orbs to intercept it, bracing herself for the hit, but all of a sudden, a tangle of yellow ribbons snapped out to grab her. They pulled her back, depositing her way back on the road behind her, where she landed on her feet. Oriko looked all around her. Who could've done that? It obviously wasn't intended to harm her, but… Oriko watched as a figure in yellow darted down the road, pulling the same ribbons around her.

"Tiro…" The girl pulled her ribbons together, turning into a massive… gun? "Finale!" Oriko blinked. A ray of heat blasted from the gun, utterly obliterating the Witch, and soon enough, Oriko felt the strange sensation of moving from the barrier back into the world of reality. She glanced at the girl, who bowed to her with a serene expression on her face, as if there hadn't been a fight at all.

"Please, take this." She said, picking up the Grief Seed and motioning towards Oriko. "I apologize for intruding in your fight, but I happened to be passing by when I noticed that another magical girl was in the barrier, and I didn't realize that there were any new magical girls in Mitakihara." The girl had a slightly wary expression on her face, but aside from that, she was the very portrait of decorum.

Meanwhile, Oriko was quite confused. How had she not gotten a vision of such a crucial factor in the fight with the Witch? And she had nearly been hurt by the Witch itself! The discrepancy in when the visions decided to start up was somewhat disturbing. But for now, she had to see who this new girl was. "Thank you very much." Oriko said, bowing back and taking the Grief Seed from the girl's hand. "Your help in that battle was much appreciated. My name is Oriko Mikuni." She slightly raised an eyebrow. "And what is your name?"

"It's very nice to meet you, Mikuni-san." The girl said, becoming a bit more relaxed. "My name is Mami Tomoe, the magical girl protecting this city."

"It's nice to meet you as well, Tomoe-san." Oriko replied, a slight smile on her face. "I haven't met many other magical girls so far, so it's nice to meet another. I've been able to learn quite a lot through our presumably mutual acquaintance-" She held Kyubey up with both hands, it for some reason deciding to do its best impression of a plush animal- "But being able to actually talk with another actual magical girl is quite pleasant."

Mami's face lit up with a smile, her drill curls wobbling slightly as she nodded. "I'm glad to hear that he's been able to help you. Kyubey's been quite helpful to me as well!" He, Oriko noted, and not it. Just how much did Mami know about magical girls, anyways? "But you're quite right." Mami continued on. "There are things that can only be learnt from someone who is personally experienced as a magical girl."

"Oh? How long have you been a magical girl then, Tomoe-san?" Oriko asked idly, twirling a lock of her hair. "You certainly seem rather experienced."

"Yes, I've been a magical girl for about three years at this point." Mami said, her smile growing a bit wider, but then her lips turned downwards. "It is… Certainly a worthwhile job, I would say, but as you can see, it is quite dangerous."

Oriko's lips twitched. The situation was almost funny in a macabre sort of way- from the manner in which she referred to Kyubey, it was almost certain she didn't understand the true significance of what it meant to be a magical girl. Was this how Kyubey acted with all the girls he contracted before they found out the truth? If Mami knew what happened to magical girls after they ran out of magic, she doubted that she would be as calm towards Kyubey as she was now.

Fortunately, Mami seemed confused by her gesture rather than offended, making a worried frown. "Please, Mikuni-san, don't take this lightly. That Witch we just fought was rather strong, and from what I saw of the fight, not well-suited to your style, but over the course of your career as a magical girl, you will run into many, many powerful and dangerous witches. It is extremely important that you take this seriously."

"I… I understand, Tomoe-san." Oriko said, hiding her discomfort. How much did this girl really know about what was going on? How would she react to learning the truth of Witches? The truth was like a ticking time bomb hanging over her. "I assure you, I am doing my utmost to learn as much as possible about how to fight Witches. I have only been fighting them for a few days, however, but believe me, I know very well to take them seriously." She continued, swallowing. "And even besides the dangers to us as magical girls, I have already encountered a civilian inside the barrier of a Witch, and I have no reason to believe that this isn't a common occurrence. It is crucial that we take Witches seriously. They are a blight upon the world."

Mami gave her an approving smile. "I'm glad to hear that you're taking this seriously, Mikuni-san. Everything you said is true." She paused, and then gave Oriko a look, ever so slightly pleading. "...Perhaps I could offer you lessons in being a magical girl, then? If you're new, there are likely several things I could teach you about fighting."

…A ticking time bomb, likely, but perhaps someone that she could learn from. "Certainly, Tomoe-san." Oriko said, smiling. "Not tonight, I am rather tired, but perhaps another day…?" At Mami's happy nod, they exchanged phone numbers, and bid each other goodbye, leaving Oriko alone. She sighed. Hopefully it would work out well.