It turned out that flying bears were a highly effective combat tool.

Emma ducked into cover as Mikoto's armored bear roared through the air to slam into a demon, flattening it into the ground before it exploded into grief cubes.

"Ach, bugger off, ye overgrown sausage!" shouted a passing ram as it headbutted another demon. "Git ye'self away!"

Emma rolled her eyes and pressed a grief cube against her soul gem. Mikoto and her roommate, Lily, were doing well for their first time working together as a team. Mikoto benefitted from her experiences on Samsara, and Lily had been on a few hunts back in San Francisco. Tabitha flitted around in the background, providing support in a surprising number of roles. A colossal cockroach trundled by, two civilians lashed to the top with rope while a magical girl with a bow rode on top. As Emma finished with her grief cube, the magical girl sent off a volley of arrows to bombard a cluster of demons, then exited the miasma.

"New target, Emma," said Shoshana, her magic shimmering over Emma's vision and marking another group of demons. "Two civilians, four demons."

"Copy that," said Emma, charging up her magic. "Age?"

"One adult, one child."

"Understood."

Emma's wind howled as she crossed the miasma in a second. The swirling tendrils cut open the first demon Emma hit, then knocked the other four back. Emma skidded to a stop in front of the park bench the parent and child were slumped on, eyes glazed over.

"Fire support!" Emma called out over telepathy. "HE rounds, Vivianne!"

"Rounds inbound!"

Emma picked up the two civilians, one over each shoulder, as Vivianne's grenades began to land around her. The explosions thundered in Emma's ears as she jumped, wobbled briefly, then pushed downwards with her magic. Her air jet carried her the rest of the way to a balcony outside of the miasma, where she paused to look back.

One hundred magical girls was a lot of firepower. It spoke to the sheer size of the miasma that they were taking longer than five minutes to clear it. From Emma's vantage point, she could see the ranged girls from their positions, firing on targets that melee girls, like Emma, called in. The patrol had broken the miasma into sectors, the older and younger girls divvying up roles as needed and systematically breaking through the demon forces.

It was a straightforward mission so far, with Team Three as one of several advance teams that were assigned with recon and first contact. After an initial assault that disrupted the demons and split their attentions, the main patrol hit in force to shell the demons into oblivion. Most of the melee fighters weren't seeing too much action, which was a good thing. It meant that they hadn't needed to actually engage anything, because none of the ranged girls were getting flanked. The patrol had clear numerical and fire superiority, and it was only a matter of time until the demons were reduced.

This particular miasma had a larger-than-average number of civilians caught inside, but coverage was complete enough that part of the patrol had been split off to ferry civilians out of the miasma while everyone else continued fighting. They could afford the drop in firepower, but it did slow things down a little. On the other hand, Mikoto and Company were getting a lot of good experience working in a large team, which was always valuable.

"Mrrmn?" mumbled one of the civilians still slung over Emma's shoulder. Quickly, Emma set them down, making sure to be gentle.

"Hey, you're okay," said Emma, putting on her best Magical Girl Smile as the child began to come around. He was between five and six years old, not quite old enough to start primary school, and well within the age band of children who adored magical girls. The boy blinked as Emma smoothed back his hair and looked at his eyes. The pupils were a little dilated, but he was focusing properly on her. "Hey there. My name's Emma, you're okay now."

The boy nodded sleepily, still not quite aware of what's going on. His mother was still unconscious, but that was to be expected. Children recovered from miasmic effects faster than adults.

"What's your name?" Emma asked,

"Ken, um… Ken Saotome," said the boy, blinking more quickly. "What happened?" He paused, before panicking. "Where's Mom?!"

"Ssh, ssh, she's okay," said Emma, hugging Ken for a moment. She let go and showed him where his mother lay quietly. "She's sleeping still. You got caught in a demon miasma, but we saved you."

"O-oh," said Ken. The full situation seemed to be hitting him now, and he looked up at Emma with starry eyes. "Oh, you're a magical girl!"

"Yeah, I am," said Emma, keeping her Smile up and patting Ken on the head. "I have to get going now, but stay here okay? Someone will come pick you guys up soon."

"Okay!" said Ken brightly.

Emma patted him on the head again, turned, and jumped away. There were still more people to save from the miasma.

"Recovery teams, I have a pair of civvies at map marker tango-niner," Emma called out over the local tactical network. "Request pickup ASAP."

"Roger that, Team alfa-six is en route."

Emma leaped back towards the miasma on a gust of wind.

"Shoshana, I'm back on station," said Emma as she passed back into the miasma. "What do you have for me?"

"Group of four civilians, a dozen demons," said Shoshana. "I'm arranging extra support."

Emma paused on top of a roof as the group of demons flashed red onto her vision from Shoshana's telepathic overlay. Emma nodded to herself. Nothing too difficult, so long as she kept moving. She took a deep breath in, preparing to leap. Magic flickered around her in a blue corona as she crouched down.

"Understood, heading in now."

The patrol was over by roughly 9:30 AM. Since such a large proportion of the patrol had class almost immediately afterwards, the debriefing was delayed until three in the afternoon. Instead, the participants were allowed to leave immediately.

"It was good working with you today," Shoshana said to Emma as the teams dispersed. They had all detransformed already, leaving them in their street clothes. "You fight well!"

"Thanks," said Emma, smiling self-deprecatingly. "I'm not that great, but I try my best."

"Well what's important is teamwork, right?" Vivianne asked rhetorically. "We've got a good thing going, I think. How's your schedule looking? We can run some drills if you want."

"I'm just getting some last minute paperwork sorted for classes," said Emma with a shrug. "Most of it is time-dilated sim time, but I've also got some personal stuff."

"Personal stuff huh," said Vivianne, grinning and giving Shoshana a knowing smirk. "Yeah, we'll not infringe on that too much then."

"But, ahem, I guess we can do some drills just before the debrief today," said Shoshana, stifling a giggle as Emma flushed. "Does that work for you?"

"Yeah, it should be fine," said Emma with an awkward cough. "We're not scheduled to patrol every day, but I think we should drill every day, if you're okay with that?"

Shoshana and Vivianne glanced at each other before nodding. "We would have suggested that if you didn't," said Shoshana. "There's no point if we don't practice every day."

Emma nodded. "Alright then. Where're you guys headed now?"

"Dorms," said Shoshana with a shrug. "We're not signed up for classes while we're here, so we'll probably head out to party or something later. Do you want us to send you a message to see if you're available?"

Emma shrugged. "Sure."

"Alright, well, then unless you're coming our way we'll see you later," said Shoshana. She and Vivianne went off towards the elevators.

Going back to her room had a certain dark appeal, if Emma was honest, but all she was going to do there was drink and mope. That was clearly a recipe for gem criticality. Instead, Emma began wandering slowly towards the Church's activities office. The MHD had encouraged her to try and find some activities to do when she wasn't in class, after all, and Emma didn't fancy letting her gem spiral into darkness when there were many other things still left to do.

The Church was interesting. While designed in a style that recalled the ancient cathedrals of old, there were still plenty of modernities carefully worked into the structure. The hallway Emma found herself wandering down was wide and airy, a light breeze wafting in from the gardens outside that carried the scent of roses with it. The walls looked like roughhewn limestone, though Emma's implants assured her they were an artificial polymer capable of withstanding many times more stress than the stone it resembled.

It was a good place to study, Emma decided as she walked. The walls reflected plenty of light, and the breeze was just enough to be pleasant without being distracting. Indeed, there were several rooms branching off the hallway that were under use, either for lecture or private study.

The hallway ended in a small cupola, with a staircase off to Emma's right. She paused, leaning against the wall to look out at the gardens. She was still at ground level, so it wasn't really the most impressive sight. Still, it wasn't unpleasant, and this time of year the gardens even supported a small insect population. All was quiet, except for the buzzing of insects and the sound of the wind passing.

Emma closed her eyes and savored the silence. Somehow, she felt at peace.

Somewhere a bell rang. A small chorus of voices rose behind it, singing something that Emma couldn't quite make out through the distortion of the Church's acoustics. She raised an eyebrow, then looked up the staircase. It sounded like it was coming from upstairs somewhere.

Emma eventually found the source of the singing. It was a group of girls chanting something in Latin in one of the church's chapels. As Emma stepped onto a viewing balcony, her implants flashed a warning asking her to be quiet and respectful of the way other people wished to express their faith.

It was unusual. At this distance, it became clear that the group was singing both vocally and telepathically. Emma hadn't even known it was possible to sing over telepathy, though she reflected in hindsight that it was somewhat obvious.

"Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiæ," sang the choir, the notes stepping upwards and downwards in a gentle cadence. "vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve."

"Ad te clamamus exsules filii Hevæ," sang a voice to Emma's left. She jumped, turning swiftly and clamping down hard on the instinct to transform.

It was Kyouko Sakura, dressed in her by-now-iconic aquamarine hoodie and jean shorts.

"Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes," the Ancient continued, before stopping and turning to Emma. "It's an old Catholic hymn, from the Marians. Originally, it was a hymn to the Virgin Mary, and used in a lot of different contexts. The Catholic Church still sings it, of course, and it's still the final prayer of the Rosary. Listen carefully though, right here."

"Et Dea, benedictum fructum ventris tui," sang the choir, "nobis post hoc exsilium ostende. O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Sancta Nobili Dea."

"Notice how we've changed the lyrics a little?" said Kyouko, smiling as if she'd been caught with a hand in the cookie jar but was entirely unrepentant. "We've… repurposed the hymn, so that it venerates the Goddess, not the Virgin. I like it, don't you?"

"It's very soothing," said Emma with a small gulp as the choir began another song.

"It is, isn't it?" asked Kyouko rhetorically. She rustled around in her hoodie pocket and pulled out a box of pocky. She shook it, sliding a few sticks out the open end. "Want one?"

Emma took a piece of pocky and bit into the chocolatey end. "I uh, didn't expect to see you here, Kyouko-san."

"Eh, I wander," said Kyouko with a shrug. She bit into her own piece of pocky. "I'm trying to avoid real work, yanno?"

"Heh, I know that feeling," said Emma with a small smile.

"Normally I'm not really a fan of this sort of thing, if I'm honest," Kyouko said, gesturing vaguely at the choir below. "But well, the re-write of Salve Regina is an exception. The Catholic Church has been a thorn in my side for ages, of course, but it's a legitly well written song."

"How do you know it?"

"Well, that's a long story," said Kyouko, rolling her eyes. "If you were older and more my type I might tell you some day, but as it stands that's not gonna happen."

Emma paused, then frowned.

"Did you just—"

"No, I did the opposite," said Kyouko, scowling a little. "Come on, my reputation's not that shit is it?"

"Well…"

Kyouko rolled her eyes again.

"Come on, you look like someone who's got nothing to do at the moment," she said, gesturing with the remains of her pocky. She shoved the last bit of stick into her mouth, chewed, and swallowed. "Walk with me."

"O-okay?" Emma said, following the Ancient as she led Emma back out into the hallway.

"How're things?" Kyouko asked as they walked. "I hear you've moved in downstairs?"

"Yes, an efficiency-style," said Emma. "It was available, and I didn't need much."

"Makes sense," said Kyouko, nodding. "You're mentoring a kouhai too, right? How's that going for you?"

"Well enough," said Emma, shrugging. "I can't supervise her constantly, obviously, and that'd be detrimental anyway. Mikoto needs her own space to grow."

Kyouko nodded again. "Stifling senpais are always a problem."

"But she's in classes now, for new contractees below the service age, so that takes a lot off of me," Emma continued. "Though if she were older, she'd be in training, so either way it's easier now that we're on Earth."

"She's a summoner, right? She just did her first big group patrol today. How'd things go?"

"She works well in her team," said Emma with a shrug. "Everyone always braces for the worst, but I think we got lucky."

"That's good," said Kyouko. She turned a corner and began wandering down another hallway. A set of lift doors was halfway down, and Kyouko began to steer towards them. "How about the family? They're taking things well?"

"Yeah," said Emma. "I mean, I don't know if it's typical, but my parents and sister seem to have taken things in stride."

"Ah yeah? That's good."

"They've even got me looking for business opportunities in the MSY," said Emma with a small laugh. "I mean, HSIS is important to them, but I didn't really expect that my contract would turn into a business opportunity."

"Ah, well, that's to be expected," said Kyouko. She stopped in front of the lifts and gestured for Emma to go in first. "Most of the Shizuki girls are badgered to do the same. Maybe it'd be helpful for you to talk to them?"

"Maybe," said Emma with a shrug as she leaned against the far wall. "But uh, where are you taking me, Kyouko-san?"

"Ah, I was bored and decided I wanted a spar," said Kyouko. She grinned toothily at Emma. "You're up for a fight, right Emma?"

Emma, with a small sinking feeling, nodded.

The sparring ring was square, quite large, and walled off with forcefields. Emma and Kyouko had placed their soul gems into the nearby armored box after transforming.

"So, to be clear, I'm going to be holding back," said Kyouko as she tapped the end of her spear against the ground. "I don't want to offend you, but, well, four-hundred-something versus fourteen."

"Y-yeah, thanks," said Emma, holding her halberd in a nervous ready position. "I uh, well, I'd prefer to not get my ass totally kicked."

"Nah, you'll be fine," said Kyouko, whirling her spear around into ready position as well. She grinned at Emma. "No holds barred for you, 'kay? Now en garde!"

Kyouko's movement was explosive. She crossed the sparring ring in a flash of red magic, spear extended in a powerful thrust that would have bisected Emma and left her body strewn in a bloody smear across the floor.

Fortunately, Emma was better than that, at least. She side-stepped Kyouko neatly, bringing her halberd point to bear in a counter thrust. The Ancient spun gracefully, still closing, and slammed her elbow into Emma's chest. The metal dented under the powerful blow, but Emma stood her ground, gritting her teeth and launching a blast of air under Kyouko's arm and into her torso. The Ancient allowed herself to be tossed backwards, flipping once in midair just in time to catch Emma's aggressive dash forwards.

"Very nice!" Kyouko complimented as she blocked Emma's hammerstrike and kicked the younger girl back down into the mat. "You certainly know your basics!"

Emma grit her teeth as she got back up. Kyouko attacked again, wielding her spear like an axe this time. The block was easy, sending Kyouko's weapon skittering off to the side. Emma returned fire with a blow from the haft of her halberd, which Kyouko accepted with a wince, before grabbing the weapon and tugging Emma towards her.

Instinct saved Emma, and she dropped her halberd immediately before summoning another in a whirling overhead smash that Kyouko was forced to backpedal away from. Another blow, then once more, and then Kyouko was up against the forcefield. Emma closed into fistfighting range, a blast of wind charging in her open hand, and—

—flew backwards, jaw stinging from Kyouko's kick. She rolled to her feet, deflecting another thrust from Kyouko, and launching a blast of wind at the Ancient. Kyouko dodged to the side and retaliated with another spear strike, this time sweeping towards Emma's legs.

Emma jumped, a gust of wind carrying her high over Kyouko's head. There was a fraction of second where they made eye contact, Kyouko's spear still out of position while Emma pivoted in midair.

Then Emma powered herself downwards in a maelstrom of wind, halberd point first, to crater the floor beneath her.

"Shit, that was close," muttered Kyouko from where she'd leaped away. "Tougher than you look, Emma."

"Thanks," said Emma as she brought her halberd back to ready. "I guess I might actually give you something to think about?"

"Maybe," said Kyouko, grinning toothily again. "I used to fight like you, yanno. Lots of straight lines and big slashing moves. It works well, don't it?"

Emma jumped again as Kyouko's spear segmented, whirling in a long arc at lightning speed before it slammed into Emma's block.

Damn.

Emma pushed off the attack, using its momentum to carry her higher towards the upper forcefield. More blows chased her upwards, granting Emma the opportunity to brace against the forcefield and launch herself downwards again. Her magic whipped around her as she dived down onto Kyouko with blistering speed. Just before impact, Emma extended her halberd to—

—slam into the ground again, skidding across to impact the far forcefield.

"A good idea, but well, experience wins," said Kyouko, shrugging as she came back to ready position.

It took Emma a moment to process what had happened. Kyouko had, in the microsecond before Emma had impacted, managed to use the contact between spear and halberd to lever Emma over and completely alter her trajectory. The result had been a hard smack into the ground and, judging from the way Emma couldn't feel her legs, a broken spine.

"I give," Emma sighed, laying back on the ground. "I can't feel my legs, so I'm going to just call this one."

"Well shit," said Kyouko. She deactivated the forcefield as she jogged over to help Emma up. "Here, you've already numbed the area right?"

"Yeah," said Emma. She grunted as Kyouko lifted her, trying to ignore the way her shattered vertebrae ground against each other in her back. From the feel of it, Emma might have broken a few ribs too.

"Well I apologize for hurting you that badly," said Kyouko as she led Emma back towards the soul gem box. "This was supposed to just be a bit of fun."

"It's fine," Emma said with a small sigh. She picked up her soul gem and tucked it into her chestplate again. "I just have a long way to go is all."

"So I'll admit," Kyouko said later as Emma lay in bed in the infirmary. "I did actually have an ulterior motive for finding you."

"Uh huh," said Emma, giving Kyouko a jaundiced look. "Somehow this doesn't surprise me."

"Have you thought about your vision at all?" asked Kyouko. "I know it's only been a few days, but it's best to follow up on this sort of thing quickly."

Emma grimaced. She had been trying to avoid it if she was honest. "I haven't, no. Been a bit busy, getting settled."

"I see," said Kyouko placidly. "Have you told anyone about it?"

"No."

"You should," said Kyouko. "Sharing about your vision tends to help, especially with the more confusing ones like yours. Do you have anyone you can reach out to about this?"

"No," began Emma. "Well, I mean, technically I could try talking to Ayane or Ryouta? But Ayane isn't religious, and I don't know what Ryouta's affiliations are."

"Not your family?"

"I mean, Anna would be interested, I guess, but my parents probably wouldn't have anything meaningful to say," said Emma, shrugging. "They're pretty typical Earthers on that front, you know?"

"Well, Ryouta's a Shizuki, so he might know more than you think," said Kyouko. "He looks like an interesting guy, judging from his artist portfolio, so maybe he'll surprise you."

"I guess," said Emma. She glanced over at Kyouko's half-unfocused expression and surmised the Ancient must be looking up all the names Emma had mentioned. "I dunno. I feel… unconfident, I guess."

"Well, speaking as your elder, I think you're not giving your family and friends enough credit," said Kyouko. She crossed her arms and gave Emma an inscrutable look. "Even if they only have a small opinion, getting more perspectives is important."

"That's true, I guess."

"You're taking polearm coursework, right?"

Emma raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"I'll cut you a deal," said Kyouko. "You promise to talk to your friends and family about your vision and bring me back discussion points they brought up, and I'll give you private tutoring on melee combat."

Emma blinked, her eyebrows shooting upwards in surprise. "Wait, seriously?"

"Absolutely," said Kyouko with a stern expression. "I take Cult business very seriously, and it doesn't sit right in my conscience to let a vision like this go un-dealt with. Even if it's not necessarily incredibly important from a theological point of view, I feel a responsibility."

Emma cracked a grin. "You, feeling responsibility?"

Kyouko grinned back. "Yeah, I know right? I must be getting old. So we have a deal?"

Kyouko extended a hand to shake. Emma looked at it, thinking things over. It was a glorious opportunity that Kyouko was giving her, but the talks Kyouko was demanding out of her were going to be… difficult, to say the least.

But…

"Alright," said Emma, reaching out to shake Kyouko's hand. "Deal."

Emma was discharged from the infirmary with her back stitched together but not fully healed. It was better, the attending nurse had said, for Emma's body to heal itself. Something about how biological processes did things better in some arcane way that Emma didn't really follow.

Kyouko had made sure to emphasize that tutoring and mentoring were different things before she left. Emma wasn't officially Kyouko's mentee; that was still Sarah Johansen's responsibility. It was only as if Emma was taking a polearms class, and Kyouko happened to be the instructor. Everything Cult-related was to be as a religious leader to a member of the flock and, again, was not to be construed as if Emma was Kyouko's official mentee.

"Being a mentor's important," Kyouko had said before she'd left. "I'm not going to step on Sarah's toes. Speaking of which, talk to her about your vision too. I know you two aren't as close as you could be, but, well, think of it as a bonding experience."

It all left Emma with a feeling of foreboding. She wasn't entirely sure she was on board with things anymore, but at this point she couldn't really pull out of the deal. Goddess knew that Kyouko would probably just track her down again.

Emma sighed as she sat down on her bed in her room and lay back, staring up at the ceiling. Her life was getting complicated.

She checked her chronometer. She still had plenty of time before debriefing. According to the network, Ayane was available for chatting. Ryouta, it seemed, was currently asleep. Emma flicked open Ryouta's profile page, and smiled to herself as she scanned his most recent posts. They all seemed to be excited updates on how his art show was going, and how he'd received opportunities for career advancement that were extremely rare for someone his age.

"Hey Ryouta," Emma said as a small recording box appeared on her interface. "Just checking in to say hi. You seem to be doing well, so I wanted to congratulate you. I guess you're all tuckered out from the work you're doing, because it says right now you're asleep, so I'll leave you to it. Message me back when you get the chance, okay? Bye!"

She sent the recording as a private message and turned her attention to Ayane. The little portrait blinked twice before Ayane picked up.

"Hi Emma!" Ayane said. "How're things? I noticed earlier you were in the infirmary, did you hurt yourself demon hunting?"

"Nah, sparring accident," said Emma. "Nothing major, I got patched up quickly. What are you up to right now?"

"Just laying around," said Ayane. "My train's in a few hours but I got the day off from my research advisor."

"I'm picking you up at about four, right?" asked Emma.

"Yeah. Did you remember to tell your family?"

Emma paused, then quickly sent a notification to her family's group chat. "Yes."

Ayane giggled. "Liar, you completely forgot until just now when I reminded you!"

"No no, I totally told them earlier today."

"Uh huh."

"Anyway, do you want to video-chat?" Emma asked as her family sent acknowledging, vaguely-annoyed-but-ultimately-not-terribly-bothered replies her way. "I've got some time to laze around as well."

"Sure," said Ayane. A moment later her portrait beeped open into a shot of her head and shoulders. She appeared to be lying on her bed in her underwear, judging from the straps of her camisole that were just visible in the view of the camera. "So how did your hunt go?"

"Eh, nothing terribly interesting," said Emma with a shrug. "We didn't encounter any particularly oversized miasmas, so the patrol just sort of plowed through everything."

"Ah, that's good, if a little boring," said Ayane. "All's well that ends well I guess. What other news on your end?"

"Well, I moved into the Cult's apartments," said Emma. "Or dormitories, I guess. I have an efficiency-style apartment to myself now."

"Aw jeez, your parents let you do that" said Ayane with a pout. "I'm really jealous!"

"What, won't your parents let you?"

"No, they're all clingy and stuff," said Ayane with a sigh. "They keep trying to pamper me. I guess it's true what they say about parents."

"Well, you know, I guess I'm just lucky," said Emma, flushing a little in embarrassment. "But uh, what sort of plans did you have for when you get here?"

"Not much, honestly," said Ayane. She shifted restlessly, turning to prop her legs up against the nearby wall and hanging her head over the side of her bed. "I mean, you remember when I visited for newbie orientation, right? Tours of cities aren't really that fun."

"Well, I mean, we're going to dinner first," said Emma. "Since that's happening, we could try to just wander the city for a while and talk? There's a lot of really nice rooftops we can hang out on."

Ayane smiled and nodded. "That sounds like a wonderful evening, Emma."

"What about later?" Emma asked. "You're staying for a while, so you'll have to entertain yourself a lot, but I'd like to be with you whenever I can."

Ayane shrugged again. "I'm up for more wandering, honestly. If that's okay with you?"

"Well, lemme see," said Emma. She pulled open her schedule. "For classwork, all the stuff I have is in time-dilated sim, so I have a lot of free time in that respect. I have some appointments with family stuff, but we should be able to plan around that. It looks like I'm pretty free."

"That sounds perfect," said Ayane, breaking out into a grin. "We can go have some time together then."

"Ah, right, also," said Emma as she scrolled down further, "Ryouta will be showing up later in the week for his art show, so we'll have to plan with that in mind too."

Ayane made a displeased face. "Oh. Right."

"Sorry," said Emma, glancing back up and wincing. "Uh, I guess that's a bit of an awkward topic."

"No, well, yes, but whatever," said Ayane with a sigh. She paused briefly, before giving Emma a mischievous smile. "I'll just have to make the best out of the time we have alone, right?"

"I, uh, w-well," stammered Emma as she froze and flushed bright red.

"Heh, sorry," giggled Ayane, blushing a little as well. "You're fun to tease is all. I don't really mean it."

"Bah," huffed Emma. She grimaced and rubbed her nose awkwardly. "But well, you know, it's probably something we should talk about anyway."

"What?" asked Ayane, recoiling. "That— I-I mean, that was a joke. I wasn't actually going to try and do… do that to you before we'd even officially started dating."

"I know, but, well, we're redeploying soon," said Emma, "and, like, the life expectancy isn't exactly high for us, you know? I just figure, if you're not totally opposed—"

"Oh Goddess," groaned Ayane, covering her face in horror. "Oh Goddess, Emma, why would you—"

"It's a reasonable thought!"

"But—!"

"Look, you know as well as I do that half the girls in training were totally doing it."

"I-I guess," said Ayane, peeking out at Emma between her fingers. "But why are you bringing this up now? We don't redeploy for like, weeks."

Emma shrugged uncomfortably. "Well… I went to the Cult of Hope a few days ago, to visit the Ribbon. You know what I'm talking about?"

"Yeah," Ayane said, raising a curious eyebrow. "The one that they say was given to Homura by the Goddess, right?"

"Yeah. Well, I had a vision at the Ribbon earlier this week."

Ayane's eyebrows shot up. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"Holy— wow."

"Yeah, well I don't remember the entire thing," said Emma, speaking quickly before Ayane could bombard her with questions, "but what I do remember is about how I die."

Ayane blanched. "What, really? Oh Goddess, that's horrible."

"It's— well, I mean, I been trying not to think about it too much, you know?" said Emma, looking away and rubbing her nose awkwardly again. "But, well, it's a weird way to get to the topic, but since it's come up, I guess I just… I'm not sure how long I'll be alive, right, and… and uh…"

"You want to try and, er, live life to its fullest?" asked Ayane.

Emma flushed more. "S-something like that."

"I m-mean," said Ayane, also looking away awkwardly. "I— I guess, we can um, we can see how it goes? I'd rather not um, you know, decide too early, if you get what I mean?"

"Yeah I do!" said Emma quickly. "Yeah that's fine, I guess I just wanted to float the idea was all."

"So… we're good on that front?"

"Yeah. I guess so."

"Good," said Ayane with obvious relief. "So, um, can you tell me more about your vision?"

"I… would rather tell you in person, instead of over vid-call," said Emma. She fiddled with the cords of her hoodie. "Sorry."

"It's fine, don't worry. Can I ask why, though?"

"Oh, it's just that, like, it's a bit of a topic," said Emma. "It feels weird telling you over vid-call. Feels… wrong, somehow."

"I get that," said Ayane, nodding understandingly. "Kind of, um, irreverent?"

"A little."

"Well, tell me when I get here?" asked Ayane.

"Yeah, after dinner, for sure," said Emma. She glanced at her chronometer. "It looks like I need to go though. My patrol's debriefing is at three, since we have a lot of young girls who have to get to class in the mornings."

"Oh, right, you should get going then," said Ayane. She gave Emma a smile. "See you soon! Bye!"

Emma smiled back.

"Bye!"