Chewing on Diamonds

by Don'tKillKenny

Six years after the Mitakihara disaster, Sayaka has become an undercover cop at Kazamino's upscale strip club. What she doesn't know is that the girl training her is not only superhuman, but may be one of the criminals she's there to take down. Continuation of Oriko Magica timeline. KyoSaya, drugs, gore, crime, yuri, dubcon, hinted abuse, PTSD, other warnings inside. Chp 1 edited.

9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Kyoko frantically shuffled through all of the bags strewn across the ground in front of her. Her mind was racing at a mile per minute.

WhatdoIdoWhatdoIdoWhatdoIdoWhatdoIdoWhatdoIdo?

She pulled her hands through her hair in stress as she flopped down on the ground. She was taking slow, deep breaths.

"This can work. I can make this work." She muttered to herself. How though?

Kurosawa…would Kurosawa pay her for this? There must have been tens, maybe even hundreds of billions of yen worth of diamonds in here. He had given up on searching for them years ago. This would essentially be the biggest unexpected cash inflow of all times for him.

The corner of her mouth curled in disgust. She knew what would happen.

He would never believe that she was handing everything over. He would either demand to see and own this place, or kill her for it.

Or Yuma…

No. Kurosawa could not find out about this.

Kyoko pulled out her last Tomi phone. It was almost dead. She really had no reason to use it, since both of them became Kurosawa's bitches. Really, it was odd that she had not simply turned it into an expensive paper weight that happened to have a wealth of incriminating evidence stored in it.

There was only one contact that would be helpful to her.

The phone rang, despite the mobile's protests of its low battery.

"I can't say I was expecting a call from you today, Koko." Kyoko could hear the American expatriate's annoyance through the phone. It pissed her off; she already felt like her stomach was going jump out of her throat, so his attitude was not what she needed right now.

"Talk to me like that one more time, and I'm going to rethink offering you this." She growled back.

"Offering me what? A one-way ticket to hell like you gave Miyamoto? No thanks."

Kyoko cringed internally. This was going to be harder than she thought. She took a deep breath and counted to ten.

"Just be sure to be at the club tonight. I'll give you a sample."

"I don't trust you for shit. What kind of dumbass do you take me for?"

Oh for fuck's sakes.

"Are you going to be in town much longer?"

He hung up.

"FUCK!" She screeched, throwing the phone against the wall. It shattered. She paced the destroyed basement anxiously, nearly tripping over a bag of overpriced rocks that could solve every single one of her fucking problems if she had a good place to actually sell them.

She wasn't stupid. She knew what Watanabe was planning, and it was the most sensible thing for him to do. Hell, he would have been even more sensible to have skipped town months ago instead of letting it get this far.

These stupid fucking rocks had better be worth it.

He wouldn't trust her. She needed to find a way to make him trust her within the next few hours. The only ways she knew of to gain someone's trust that fast was to either give them one of your darkest secrets or give them sex.

She stopped pacing. She pulled out her personal phone. She searched her contacts.

The phone rang. She picked up.

"Kyoko? Hi, you don't usually call…" Lady sounded hesitantly friendly.

"No, I don't. Remember that time I got your big, violent ex-client-turned-boyfriend to stop going to the club without Tomi knowing anything about your…'indiscretions' at work?"

"Shit, fine, what do you want?" She hissed, venom lacing her voice.

"Meet me by the abandoned train station in the old industrial district in two hours."

"You are so fucking sketchy."

---

Sayaka exhaustedly shuffled through all of the papers strewn across her desk in front of her. It was a mess of information on Megumi, her findings from the club, and autopsy results.

Ryo was putting her on the Megumi case with Ayumi for now. She was ordered to call Sango and ask for some extra shifts at the club to try to get more information.

Sayaka was surprised that Ryo hadn't ordered her to make a 'personal call' to Fusao. She appreciated not having to though. In fact, it almost felt like Ryo was starting to lay off of her a bit.

She wondered if his private conversations with Akemi had anything to do with that.

She decided to stop thinking about it and replayed the security footage of Megumi hanging himself.

It was a murder. She had decided that. But she had absolutely no way of proving it.

Kyubey lounged lazily on her desk, stretching its deceptively cute feline body. Sayaka wanted to strangle the little bastard, but she was in a public place and her mental health was under too much scrutiny as it was.

"Have you found the missing piece yet, Detective Miki?" She could swear that thing was mocking her.

"Fuck off." She muttered under her breath.

Megumi kicked the chair out from underneath himself and convulsed for a moment before falling still, swinging gently back and forth in the dirty jail cell.

"Wait a minute."

She paused the footage. Something was off. She had always known something was off, but she felt like she was closer to finding out what it was.

"Something's not right." She repeated to herself. Kyubey swished its tail and rolled over closer to her so it could peer at the screen too.

"Indeed. What do you see?"

"I don't know. I see something not right but I can't see what." She clasped her hands in front of her face and leaned in to look closer at the screen. "What is it?"

"You're in the zone, eh Miki?" Eito playfully slapped her back. She jerked up and squeaked.

"Yeah I was in the zone, jerk, don't scare me like that!" She swatted at him with a beet red face. She wasn't sure if she hoped people thought she was talking to herself or not. He laughed.

"Sorry, sorry." He did not sound apologetic at all. "I'm going to get some takeout for dinner at the Thai place across the street. You want anything?"

"Is it already dinner time?" She glanced at the clock in the corner of her screen. It was past five. She would have to run home to get ready for the club within an hour. "Yeah, an order of Pad Thai would be great, thanks." She passed him a handful of notes.

Eito counted them and laughed hesitantly. "I think this might be a bit more than I need."

She glanced over and noticed that she had given him almost 50,000 yen.

"Shit, sorry! Those are the smallest bills I have now. Could you just give me the change?" She took back four of them. She noticed Kyubey looking at her. It was a despicable bastard, but she did promise to repay it for its help at the jail. "Oh, and could you get me some cake too?"

Eito nodded and left. She sighed as she looked back at her screen.

"It appears that you perform better and accumulate more wealth as an erotic entertainer than a detective. Perhaps it would be in your best interest to change careers permanently? That way you could focus more on being a-" Sayaka slammed her fist on his head, trying to make it look like she was just frustrated with the footage in front of her.

She hunched over, combing her fingers through her hair in agitation again. She replayed the footage.

"What's wrong with this?"

Kyubey stood up, shaking back and forth as a wet dog would. "Violence was not necessary. You could simply communicate that you disagree with me."

"You're lucky I don't try to do worse, you fucking prick." She thought murderously.

"Are you still upset about the relation between witches and magical girls?" It tilted its head to the side.

"Of course I'm still upset asshole! But this isn't the time or place to talk about that. I have work. Fuck off." She dismissed him, fighting the urge to do some kind of rude hand gesture to emphasize her point. She settled for clicking her ballpoint pen rapidly instead.

"I suppose I can leave if you would like. I know when I am not welcome. I would have thought you would appreciate my help in this though."

She stopped clicking her pen.

"If you see what's wrong with this, just fucking say it." She growled mentally…and a bit verbally too.

"This was overall very well done. I could see most humans dismissing this as a suicide. You are indeed very perceptive to see that it is not. It is all in the minute details."

Sayaka crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair. She pursed her lips. The details, huh?

Kyubey pushed one of the photos from the autopsy forward. It was Megumi's corpse, lying on his front the examiner's table. Sayaka could have gone her whole life without seeing his small, pale ass and have been perfectly content.

"Do you see it yet?"

She snarled a bit. "Don't toy with me."

Kyubey was tactful enough to not sigh mentally this time. It pushed another photo towards her. This one was a close up of the back of Megumi's neck. Compared to the pale alabaster skin of the rest of his body, the neck looked horrifically discoloured. It was almost black where the rope had been. The only things blacker on him were his hair and the snake-like tattoo that slithered up through bruises towards the base of his skull where it flared out.

She paused. Kyubey swished his tail.

She looked more closely at the tattoo. She looked back at the video footage and rewound it to when Megumi was getting up on the chair.

"Holy shit."

From the back, the man in the footage could have been Megumi's doppelganger. They looked virtually the same. They were the same height, build, and had the same haircut and colour.

The only obvious difference was that there was no tattoo coming out from the collar of the jail uniform shirt, and the top parts of the flare should have been clearly visible.

Sayaka grinned before she started laughing. This was it! This was proof. She yanked Kyubey to her chest and hugged it tightly. Its facial expression did not change.

"Congratulations on seeing it! It is better to see it later rather than never."

Sayaka decided to ignore the second part. She was about to get up to go into Ryo's office and explain that that footage wasn't of Megumi. This was clear proof that he was murdered! It just meant that the-

Sayaka paused, as a feeling of dread spread throughout her body.

The footage was tampered with. How could the footage have been tampered with?

She knew how. She didn't want to admit it, but she knew how.

This really was an inside job.

---

"Isn't there something, no, anything else I can do? I promised him I wouldn't bring anyone to his place!" Lady complained from the driver's seat of her black Lexus. She had to turn around to face Kyoko, who was sitting in the back seat with six large full duffel bags. She had gotten some weird looks at the luggage store when she bought them with a handful of large notes. She lied easily said she was going to New York with some friends.

They were parked in a dense forest area outside of town on the side of a highway. It didn't look like there was an actual house anywhere nearby.

"Then I won't go inside. Just give him this and I'll wait here." Kyoko passed her a heavy wrapped black package. She put about ten pounds in there. She figured that wouldn't be enough to be upset about losing it if he ran off with it, but it would make him suspect that she had more.

If he did try to run with it and take it to Kurosawa…

She knew what she would do. She knew what she would have to do.

Fuck, I'm turning into one of them already and I haven't had this shit for a day.

She shook her head of the thought. She wasn't doing this because she wanted to. She had to do it. It was the only way to save her father's church.

It was the only way to save the only thing her father had ever truly loved.

Lady disappeared into the woods as Kyoko looked over to the luggage she had brought. She wondered what it would be like if she actually had bought the bags to bring to New York. She smiled sadly. That would have been a happy moment.

Instead, it was being used to make one of the most damning contracts of her entire life.

The only contract worse that she had ever made was to become a magical girl. She paid the price for that every day.

She doubted this would be as bad. She was already a criminal and going to hell, if hell would even let her in. She would probably become a witch someday, and Kyoko spent too many nights wandering the church, wondering if those magical girls' souls were ever saved.

She doubted that too.

There were three firm knocks on the window next to her head. She snapped her head up to look.

James smiled pleasantly and waved at her.

She moved over and opened the door. He sat next to her and closed it. Lady looked at them from outside; the sunset illuminated her new blonde highlights nicely and softened her concerned features. She was looking more and more like a natural-born woman every day. James waved to her reassuringly. She nodded and walked into the woods to give them some privacy.

"I have to say, this was a very, very unexpected and pleasant surprise. What name would you prefer I call you by?"

"Now you ask?" She sneered. She hated fake people.

"Now you have something I want." His smile didn't falter.

"Kyoko's fine."

"Fantastic! So Kyoko. I'll cut to the chase, we're both busy people. Who gave you this? I'm just curious."

He was testing her. She didn't like it. She narrowed her eyes. She couldn't read him. What was the right answer?

"Does it really matter? All I'm here for is to see if you're interested in buying." She decided to be vague. No one could say she was going behind Kurosawa's back with an answer like that.

"Who does the money go to? I want to know who I'm working with. That's only good business practices, as I'm sure you know." His expression never changed. He reminded her so much of Kyubey she wanted to punch him.

"All I'm here for is to see if you're interested in buying." She spoke through clenched teeth. She stood her ground.

His smile looked strained. He reminded her less of Kyubey. He was human. She liked that.

It probably wasn't a good business practice to feel relieved that she was pissing off potential clients.

"Open the bags." He nodded towards the giant pile of heavy baggage behind her. Her frown deepened, but she obeyed.

She opened the first one to show all of the large Ziploc bags with stones inside. She saw him swallow in anticipation.

"Pass me one."

She obliged. He opened it and stuck his hand inside, moving it quickly as if searching for something. She squawked indignantly. He pulled his hand out quickly.

"Pass me the next one."

The spent the next twenty minutes like this. After he checked all of the bags in a duffel, he would search every pocket of the empty suitcase. His searches were quick but thorough.

He pulled open the door and stepped out. He motioned her to follow. She did.

"Spread your legs and hold out your arms."

"Excuse me?" She said calmly but dangerously, raising an eyebrow.

"Last check. I promise."

Her lip curled in disgust, but again she obeyed. She quickly patted her down, using the backs of his hands. He made her take her shoes off too. She had seen this kind of thing happen in airports in movies. She had never actually been in an airport, so she was never subjected to this herself. She didn't like it.

After he finished, he straightened his back. Even at full height, he only came up to Kyoko's nose. He carried himself like a much taller man though.

He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "No tricks. None at all. Again, I'm very pleasantly surprised." He smirked. His current demeanor reminded her much more of the impression she'd always had of him: amicable but kind of sleazy. "I only have one question. Is Kurosawa involved in this at all?"

"No." She answered firmly. For a split second, she worried that was the wrong thing to say.

The way his smirk turned into a smile quickly dispelled that thought.

"Getting out from under his thumb, I see. Good, good. So tell me; how much do you want for your…product?"

Kyoko stood tall, but inside she was feeling nervous. She honestly had no idea how much drugs were worth. She had briefly contemplated asking Sayaka, but decided as soon as the thought came into her head that that would be a very bad idea.

"300,000,000 yen for the six bags…and the sample I gave you."

"Done." He replied instantly, grabbing her hand and shaking it. "What's your banking info?"

Fuck, I must have undercharged.

"I need you to transfer it to a contractor. Here's his information." She pulled up Kermit the Builder's company's information. James started entering in information on his phone, before he squinted looking at her screen.

"Kyoko, I have to ask…is this a legitimate company?" He look at her dubiously.

"Yeah, of course it is!" She was defensive. What kind of shit did he think she was trying to pull?

"Is this guy your boyfriend or your husband or something?"

"What the fuck? Of course not!" She screamed in disbelief. Sure, Watanabe had never actually met Bob the Frog, so he could not picture how disgusting of an image that was.

His expression matched hers.

"Why the fuck are you using a legitimate company?! Oh fuck, Kurosawa really isn't involved with this at all. You have no idea what you're doing." He rubbed his face in vexation. Kyoko bristled.

"It's fine, I owe this guy money. And Hideki, so transfer 60,000,000 of that to him." She added as an afterthought. James looked at her in horror. She was pretty sure he felt as though he had just made a very big mistake making a deal with her.

It only lasted for a second though.

"Alright, alright. We can work with this. It's fine. I have a very good friend who I suggest you hire as your advisor. He's a real class act, alright? He'll help you manage your money and figure out the laundering. I don't want to get involved with anyone at risk of getting caught. It's always a disaster when someone gets arrested and I don't want that happening here. It's already bad enough with the Miyamotos."

Kyoko glanced to the side nervously. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.

"I'll take the bags-"

"The hell you will!" She felt her magic activating on instinct. Her lance was about to materialize in her hand.

"Woah, woah, woah! Hang on, let me finish! I'll take the bags because it's better for you to avoid going back and forth with this much, alright? I have a good place to hide them. I was just going to show you this, okay? I've transferred all of the money to Hideki and put in the memo that this money was in trust to you. He's a real bastard if you owe him money, but he's great if you have a credit in your account. He won't take any more than whatever it is you owe him. For future reference though…never borrow money from the guy. I mean it, he's a real bastard. He might be nice to you the first time, but he gets you more and more afterwards."

Kyoko nodded. She didn't like knowing that much money that was technically hers was being held by someone like him. She felt one of her phones buzz, which she assumed was a message from him.

"Do you mind if I pass on your info to this advisor? He's great at what he does. You have my personal guarantee."

She discretely swallowed anxiously but nodded. She wished she knew somebody, anybody else who could have helped her here.

She actually wished the cunt Suki was here. Kyoko had to admit, she had started to trust her.

James tapped away on his cellphone before looking up and smiling at her in his trademark overly friendly way.

"I'll take the product. Naomi will drive you to the club. Just act natural."

Kyoko almost asked who the fuck Naomi was before remembering that was Lady's legal name. Kyoko nodded.

"Want help carrying them?" She asked, easily picking up four duffel bags, holding two on each shoulder. She would have taken all six, but they were too big to hold comfortably. They were packed so full the straps would tear off if they were held that well.

"Er, yeah sure." James said as he went to pick one up. He tried to swing it on to his shoulder as Kyoko had easily done, but comically knocked himself over on the ground instead. Kyoko would have laughed had she not just made a massive drug deal with him. "Holy fuck, you're strong…" He muttered in embarrassment before putting the bag on his shoulder much more carefully.

Lady took the other bag, carefully picking it up as Watanabe had.

"I'm not sure if this will make you feel better about anything Kyoko, but you don't have to worry about me giving you any bad advice. I say this with all of the kindness and admiration in my heart, but you fucking terrify me."

Kyoko let out a bark of laughter as they continued walking through the forest to wherever his base was.

---

"Isn't there something, no, anything else it could be?" Ayumi asked, hunching over Sayaka's chair to look at the video. It was undeniable though. That wasn't Megumi and someone had to have tampered with the evidence to switch it.

"What else could it be? Someone had to have messed with it! And this had to have been carefully planned too; the footage fit together seamlessly." After Sayaka watched the video a few more times, she noticed other little things that were wrong too.

The floor in the video had looked dull and almost dirty or sticky. The floor in the actual cell was meticulous and shining.

The socks worn by the man in the video had a dark grey stripe on them. Megumi's were a solid black.

There was no doubt about it. This wasn't the video of Megumi's death.

Kyubey purred in content under Sayaka's desk. She had given him the cake and some of the Pad Thai. Sayaka wondered if she would have figured it out on her own. She liked to think that she would have.

She decided not to mull on the topic any further when she looked at the time on her phone.

"Shit, I need to get ready to go to the club." She was exhausted. She'd had an average of three hours of sleep a night over the last week. She had essentially been at work without breaks since eight a.m. and was going to be going straight through until three a.m. At least the overtime is great. "Could you write up a report on this and hand it in to Ryo before morning?"

"Don't you want to do it, Detective Miki?" She said spitefully. Sayaka turned to her in shock.

"Woah, woah, woah! Where's that coming from?" It hadn't been Ayumi's words that got to her; her tone was a whole other matter.

"I just would have thought a report on something like this would be a detective's job, not an officer's. Just saying. If you get the title, you should do the work."

"Are you seriously implying that I don't work hard enough? Do you have any idea how much overtime I've been building up at that fucking club?" Sayaka was incredulous. She had been working her ass off, both at work and as a magical girl. She didn't have any fucking time to herself anymore. Any reasonable person would say that not only was she good, but she was amazing at her job. At least in terms of the results she got; her methods were far from orthodox, but they worked.

"Never mind. Forget I said anything. I'll do the report tonight."

"No, I take that back. You're right, I should be the one doing it. I'm the one that caught it, so I should do the work for it." Sayaka realized immediately that her last sentence wasn't necessary, but said nothing to take it back. Ayumi looked irked, but nodded.

"Good night, Sayaka. The Captain's counting on you for more information on Megumi and Miyamoto. Don't freak out on us this time." Ayumi walked away as she was talking. Sayaka wouldn't have been able to hear the last part if she didn't have her magically enhanced hearing.

Well, that went well. Ah, fuck! Now I have to do a report after the club!

She rubbed her temples in frustration as she walked out of the station, taking the roundabout way home. She quickly got ready.

Rin looked like hell tonight.

Sayaka sighed and ran out. She would have to run; she might miss the train and be late. As it was, she was barely going to make it and wouldn't be able to do much to get ready. Hopefully, no one would be an asshole about it.

She dozed very lightly on the train. Her eyes snapped awake at her stop. She sprinted off and ran into the shady side door of the club that led to the changing room. It was bustling and all of the good outfits had been taken. She cringed as she picked up the last two outfits in her size: a translucent lavender gown that fit her persona, but really made it look like she was ready to go to bed and sleep, or a scant black faux leather…thing? Sayaka wasn't even sure how to put it on. It just looked like a bunch of leather straps that were somehow held together.

But she could wear darker makeup with it, which could help disguise the fact that she was so tired. After a few moments of fumbling, she somewhat figured out what she was supposed to do. Her nipples were dangerously close to hanging out, and she probably only had about five or ten percent of her actual body covered….if that.

She sighed and put on a very dark smoky eye. It officially looked like she was going for a sex slave look.

She was the last one in the change room by the time she was done. She sped out, which was not easy to do in six inch heels. She didn't even check where she was booked; she just hoped she was supposed to be in Room B.

All of the usuals were there, including Hideki and Geisha, who shot her a look Sayaka couldn't decipher.

Kyoko wasn't though.

"Where's Koko? Wasn't she supposed to be on tonight?" She asked as innocently as she could. It did not fit with her outfit at all.

"She's sick. She might come in later but I doubt it. She was in pretty rough shape. Too bad for her though! You look hot!" Lady winked.

Sayaka was skeptical. Do magical girls even get sick?

She tried her best not to let it show and smiled. She cuddled next to Fusao. She closed her eyes for a second, trying to enjoy a moment of serenity next to his body heat before she would have to face where she was.

She felt a stern jab to her side.

"What the fuck!" She squealed. She looked incredulously at the perpetrator: Akemi.

"You feel asleep. You were drooling." She pointed to where there was, in fact, a little pool of drool on Fusao's shoulder. He smiled kindly and didn't seem to mind.

"Shit, I am so sorry!" She hurriedly tried to wipe it away. James laughed.

"Precious! Such language!"

Sayaka blushed and looked away, both out of embarrassment and trying to regain her stage composure. She ignored the look Geisha shot her way.

The rest of the night passed uneventfully. She got groped more than she should have been. Kyoko never showed up. Sayaka even asked Kyubey at one point if Kyoko was around, but he only gave some vague bullshit answer that Sayaka couldn't figure out.

Nobody said a word about Megumi or Miyamoto, and there was no way Sayaka was going to be the one to breach the topic.

Three a.m. finally came and she wanted to collapse in bed. She got changed into her street clothes and went outside to begin what she imagined would feel like a long trek home then back to the office.

At least that had been her plan before she felt an electric shock pulse through her, sending adrenaline pumping through her veins at the increasingly familiar, telltale sign of an impending battle.

Fuck, a witch!

---

Kyoko entered Tomi's office hesitantly, keenly aware of her pounding heart. She had been in the process of doing her hair in the dressing room when Sango told her Tomi wanted to see her.

She was also keenly aware of the fact that Tomi and Kurosawa were cousins, and she was going behind Kurosawa's back on a very significant deal. Did he find out? Is he going to try to turn me in?

She felt her magic emanating from her ring. She had that. She always had that, and that would keep her and Yuma safe and alive. Right?

"Close the door please." Tomi smiled genially. She did as ordered. She didn't like this at all.

"Would you care for a drink? I know you're not a fan of alcohol, but I would be happy to get you a virgin of some sort."

"Nah, I'm good thanks. What's up?" She crossed her arms and legs, trying to look cool and casual.

"I've heard from a good mutual friend of ours that you are looking at entering the industry on your own."

Her heart skipped a beat. Fuck!

"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. What's it to ya?" She pulled some pocky out of her pocket and started gnawing on it. She needed something to channel her emotions. It didn't really feel like it was working.

"I was wondering if you needed an advisor is all. I am one of the best in all of Japan. I know how to make things look legal." He smiled again. "And I'd way rather have you as a client than my cousin. You're usually reasonable."

She stopped gnawing on the pocky, letting it hang out of her mouth dumbly.

"You gotta realize I'm not crazy about working with you, after that whole 60-40 thing." She looked thoroughly unimpressed. Tomi laughed.

"That's just how the business works! It's nothing personal. This would be a completely different arrangement anyways. You wouldn't be a staff. You'd be a client."

"So what do you get out of this, exactly?" She didn't trust him for a second. She barely trusted him as her employer, even though they had had a generally good relationship for the past five years before recent revelations came to light.

"I get a cut, of course. And I'll give you a deal, because we would have a very low-risk way of doing things that would actually be equally beneficial for me. Give me ten percent of all of the sales you make. I'll handle your money laundering and legal matters. You do the rest. Sounds simple, right?"

She raised an eyebrow skeptically. She had learned not to trust anyone in this "industry" a long time ago.

Tomi sighed.

"I have a strategy in mind, but I want to check something with you first. I heard you borrowed money from Hideki. Is that true?"

She kept a stone façade and said nothing. She started chewing on the pocky again.

"So you did. Hideki told me it was for some sort of building thing. Can you tell me more about that? I need to know what this major project you have going on is."

Kyoko chewed the sweet in her mouth obnoxiously loud before she tossed another one in her. She didn't want to tell him, but who was she kidding? If this was going to look even semi-legal, he would have to know.

"The City threatened to tear my father's church down. I need a lot of money to repair the place. That's what I'm doing this for."

"Your father's – wait, you mean the cult church in the Old Industrial District?" He looked at her in disbelief. He buried his head in his hands. "You've got to be fucking kidding me, Ophelia." He mumbled.

"That's what I'm doing, and if you don't want to be a part of that then I'll just find someone else. I bet there's a lot of smart guys out there who would want that ten percent." She challenged, frustrated and embarrassed.

"No, no, it's fine. I think there are…better investments to make with that money, but if that's what you want, we can make it work. For something like that, we can set it up as a non-profit and register it as a cultural heritage site. I have a tourism company, so I'll transfer the money through there and set the payments up as donations. That sound good?"

Kyoko blinked dumbly again. "Uh, yeah. Can you do the paperwork?" She hated to admit it, she doubted she would even understand any of the forms. She didn't want to blame her low level of education, but it probably wouldn't help her much on that front.

"Of course. That's part of the ten percent. I have to ask: how much more do you have? How much did you already sell to James?"

"Not a lot. There's plenty more."

"Great. Hide it. That's what you're best at. Also, for the record you could have charged almost double what you did. This is a premium product that everyone thinks has disappeared. What we're going to do is we're only going to release a little bit at a time, alright? We want everyone to keep thinking it's elusive. We can all charge more that way. Make sense?"

Kyoko nodded. She understood that.

"Good. If you have as much as there's rumoured to be, you're going to have a lot left over even after your Church is rebuilt. Here's where things are going to get fun. We need to launder the money to you in a way that won't raise suspicion. The best way to do that is by having your own legitimate business, especially if it makes sense for you to own it." He passed her a massive black binder full of documents. The first page looked like the beginning of a contract between Tomi and herself.

She raised an eyebrow and looked at him. He smiled.

"I've wanted to get rid of this fucking place for a long time now. Just initial every page and sign on the twentieth one. Then I'll officially congratulate you on becoming the new owner of Tomi's…or if you would prefer, Kyo's Gentlemen's Club."

---

Sayaka entered the witch's labyrinth hesitantly, keenly aware of her pounding heart. She held her shield close to her. It felt weird wearing her wig with her magical girl armour, but she had nowhere to put it. She had such a bad feeling about this.

She'd been afraid of clowns for years. It looked like she was in a school that was dark and outrageously over decorated as a circus, with dull coloured bouncy castles that were collapsing on themselves, tight ropes, stalls, multicolored flashing lights and everything. The familiars were miniature anthropomorphic animals like elephants, tigers, lions, and seals dressed in ridiculous clown costumes. They performed a variety of acts around her like juggling, cartwheels, and firing themselves out of cannons. Speaking of which…

"Shit!" She screamed as she jumped out of the way to avoid a pink rhinoceros.

The familiars sounded like a bunch of kids laughing at the victim of a prank they had played. They ignored her for the most part in favour of performing their various spectacles to the rhythm of low, distorted circus music.

She ran through them, her senses in overdrive. The labyrinth smelled sickly sweet; like cotton candy mixed with rotten fruits. The music was disturbing, to say the least. There were way too many things going on around her, distracting her at every second.

She almost missed it when the ground started caving beneath her feet.

"FUCK!" She screamed, morphing her sword to help her grab on to a tight rope above her. She swung herself up on to it.

The entire ground had collapsed beneath her. The familiars kept laughing as some fell down while others ran up the walls.

She swallowed nervously as she ran along the tightrope. She was surprisingly well-balanced. It must have been an effect of her magic.

She jumped along tightropes and cannons, doing her best to avoid the familiars. She had to bounce a flying seal off of her shield, which was a big mistake. The familiars must have thought it looked like fun, because they were all targeting her shield now, squealing in laughter.

This is such a dumb waste of magic…I wonder if I should call Yuma?

She dismissed the thought and kept running towards the middle of the labyrinth. She figured she should wait at least three days before trying to make contact after their last encounter. Kyoko was probably watching her like a hawk. Maybe that was why she was 'sick'?

She heard a very human scream from up ahead. Her stomach dropped.

She didn't have any time to call Yuma.

Sayaka sprinted, slashing her way through familiars to get to the middle. She vaguely noticed the posters on the wall, advertising the main act. She couldn't read the runes it was written in though, but she recognized a bunch of broken hearts and what looked like emoticons that were laughing so hard, they were crying. The emoticons were literally shaking on the poster.

She burst through the door to find the center of the labyrinth. It looked like a traditional circus staging area, but there were student's desks instead of audience chairs surrounding the middle. They were all empty.

In the middle, the only places to stand were on large, brightly coloured target boards spinning rapidly on long, thin rulers that stuck out of an abyss. There were monkey familiars were disproportionately large puckered red lips swinging around on trapezes.

Sayaka could recognize the witch right away. It was a monkey as well, but larger than the others and ridiculously made up. It looked like it had badly smudged mascara and bright blue eyeshadow which clashed horribly with its fluorescent pink cheeks. It was wearing a very gaudy frilly pink princess dress and was dancing much more quickly and less gracefully than its familiars. She looked like she was trying too hard to impress somebody.

Sayaka noticed two spinning boards in particular, each on opposite sides of the pit. They both had humans strapped onto them.

One of them was a middle-aged man with thick-rimmed glasses and a checkered sweater vest. He looked like he could have worked in IT or a library or something. Sayaka imagined that if he had been conscious and not stuck on a spinning plate, he would have had a kind face. It was amazing he hadn't been thrown off of it.

The other had a burly young man in a leather jacket and adorned with tattoos. His head was shaved on one side and had bright pink hair on the other. He looked like the kind of guy she would have loved to party with a few years ago. He was conscious and screaming for help.

She herself was using her magic to hover in the air, standing on a cerulean platform of light. She had two options. She could try to kill the witch as quickly as possible or get the humans out first.

The man with the tattoos puked. Sayaka cringed. The librarian's target board seemed to lose momentum temporarily, leading it to tilt precariously to one side.

She wouldn't be able to kill the witch fast enough and she would have to use too much magic to place and protect the men in hovering barriers. She had trouble keeping those up for extended periods and was already drained coming in.

She rushed down to unstrap the unconscious man. She was ready to jump over to the increasingly disoriented man across the way.

The witch started making sounds. She danced harder, flailing her arms completely out of sync with the familiars and music. She sounded like she was trying badly to pretend that she was laughing when she was really crying.

"What did the world do to you?" Sayaka asked quietly with pity. She imagined a lonely young gawky girl being made a fool of. She probably just wanted friends…

Two laughing monkeys on trapezes swung in from either side of the tattooed man. One grabbed his arms while the other grabbed his legs. The target board disintegrated beneath him, leaving him to only being held up by the apes.

The trapezes swung in opposite directions. The man tried to scream but didn't have the chance.

"NO!" Sayaka cried out just as the man was ripped apart in two.

She breathed heavily, about to vomit as she saw the pieces of his guts and body be dropped into the void beneath them. The familiars laughed. The witch cried and danced more wildly. Sayaka felt tears stinging her eyes and clouding her vision.

She fucked up.

---

Kyoko walked onto the street at around four a.m. She had been looking forward to sleep, but sensed a witch nearby. She had noticed it earlier, but couldn't leave easily in the middle of the meeting. It took forever for her to fully understand everything in the damn binder.

She was surprised to find out that Tomi's club didn't make money. Hell, it lost it; and a lot of it. The only reason it was staying afloat was because of all of the money Tomi laundered through it.

Part of Kyoko was excited to try to change that. She'd had ideas about things they could do better for ages.

The witch was still alive. She walked over to it leisurely. She wasn't in much of a rush. Most of the younger magical girls would have phoned it in by now. It was a school night, after all.

She was unimpressed when the saw that the entrance to the labyrinth was moving. The witch wasn't alone. Kyoko remembered that there was another magical girl in this area that would probably still be awake right now.

"Fucking bitch." Kyoko sneered, transforming and ready to kick the cop's ass. This should have been her witch.

The entrance to the labyrinth broke. Sayaka must have killed it.

"Fuck!" Kyoko cursed loudly. She wondered if she could beat Sayaka up and steal the grief seed without Yuma finding out. She was pretty sure that wouldn't go over well if she found out. Kyoko growled with anger and started to walk away. "You're fucking lucky Yuma likes you, rookie."

Kyoko paused when she heard Sayaka emerge, bawling behind her. Kyoko turned around with a raised eyebrow.

Wow, she looks like shit.

Sayaka's wig was skewed and her attire was covered in vomit; whether it was hers or from the man she was carrying, she didn't know nor cared. Sayaka collapsed to the ground, the man being dropped harshly and unceremoniously beside her. Kyoko doubted Sayaka even noticed her.

Kyoko saw the grief seed clutched tightly in her hand.

"Why…" Sayaka muttered pathetically. Kyoko tilted her head to the side to try to listen more closely.

"Why didn't you help?!" Sayaka whipped her head up, officially knocking the wig off. She shot a vicious, accusatory glare at Kyoko that was accentuated by the fake green lenses she wore. "WHY DIDN'T YOU HELP? WHY DIDN'T YOU HELP? WHY DIDN'T YOU FUCKING HELP ME?!" She screamed manically.

Kyoko pulled back in shock. Sayaka held her glare, eyes read and tears streaming down her face. Her expression melted into despair. Sayaka keeled over again, mewling like a dying cat.

"We could have saved them both. We could have saved him too...I could have saved him too. It's my fault. I hesitated. It's all my fault." Sayaka sobbed into the ground.

Kyoko exhaled, releasing the tense posture she didn't even know she had been holding. She looked down at her mess of a nemesis. Kyoko vividly remembered the first civilian she couldn't save; it was a little boy who was killed by a steel motorcycle witch. She still had nightmares about it, and they were more vivid than any of the dreams she had about any others she failed. She reached out to her, about to offer her hand. Kyoko blinked and pulled it back.

"Hurry up and use your grief seed before I steal it." She said without malice in her voice. She walked away, going to look for another witch.

---

Sayaka was about to walk onto the street at around seven a.m. She called an ambulance for the man and stumbled home. She basically threw the wig on the ground and took her contacts out. She stumbled to the station to finish the damn report.

Why does that report even matter? That's nothing compared to witches. The witches are way worse. They kill way more people.

She was about to submit the report to Ryo's mailbox when she noticed another one, titled "Megumi File Progress" already in there. Sayaka pulled it out and looked at it. It was from Ayumi.

Sayaka rolled her eyes. She had just wasted two hours of time that she could have been using to find more witches, and maybe even familiars.

If I hunt too many familiars though…we'll become witches too. We'll kill people too.

She looked at the ground hopelessly, cursing herself for her stupidity. She was about to put the memo back when she noticed something.

'I noticed the details in the footage of Megumi's supposed suicide did not match the footage from when he was alive.'

She read through the page.

Ayumi hadn't mentioned Sayaka's name anywhere.

Ayumi was taking all of the credit.

Sayaka looked at the single page in her hands with boredom. It was poorly done. What a dumb bitch.

This really didn't matter. This was nothing compared to how many innocent people, like that man in the leather jacket were murdered daily by witches. This was nothing compared to how many young girls were tricked into contracting and turned into said witches.

This was nothing.

Sayaka sighed, but she couldn't put it back.

The gross reality was that Sayaka's report was better. Sayaka had listed ten changed details and put freeze frames of them side by side. Ayumi only mentioned the tattoo and didn't put images in. It was as if she was in a rush to get somewhere. Hell, Ayumi's report was one page while Sayaka's was almost fifteen.

"What the hell were you thinking, Ayumi?" Sayaka muttered.

Sayaka put hers in and took Ayumi's out. It would have just been an embarrassment to Ayumi if hers was in there next to Sayaka's. Sayaka's report mentioned both of their names anyways. She shredded Ayumi's report and walked out of the station, shaking her head in exhaustion at the meaningless bullshit office drama.

She felt like a zombie walking home. She collapsed in her bed but she couldn't sleep.

She wondered who that man was. What kind of person was he? Did he have a family? What did he do for a living?

She wasn't sure if she would rather he be a hopeless addict like she had been or not. If a witch had gotten her when she was young, the world wouldn't have missed her.

I should want a hit right now. Or a drink. Or something.

She cried again. Something felt wrong. She almost felt numb, or empty. It was great that she wasn't tempted to take anything, but it made no sense to her. She felt like she should want something. Almost in the way if you go three days with a flu and without eating but still don't feel hungry, you should still eat something.

I'm such a sick freak.

She cried herself to sleep and slept right through her work phone's frantic ringing from eight am to ten.

---

"Where were you, Kyoko? This is late, even for you." Yuma muttered sleepily as Kyoko settled into the bed. Kyoko wasn't sure what to say. She just lay on her back, staring upwards.

"Sorry. I was having a conversation with Sayaka that went late." Kind of true.

Yuma blinked and woke up more, turning to face her.

"What did you do?" She asked warningly, already unimpressed. Kyoko sighed. She didn't blame Yuma for assuming their conversation must have gone bad. Or for assuming that it would have been Kyoko's fault.

"She lost her first civilian today. I was busy at work when she was fighting a witch and I guess she couldn't save him on her own." Kyoko kept her eyes fixed on the ceiling.

"Oh." Yuma said quietly, going back under the covers. Kyoko knew that Yuma still dreamed of her first; a young pink-haired girl named Madoka, singled out and targeted by the bitch Oriko a week after Yuma contracted. Technically, there had been dozens, maybe even hundreds of students and teachers killed that day, but she was the first one Yuma actually saw.

Kyoko's brows furrowed as she remembered something.

"Weird question: was Sayaka a middle schooler at Mitakihara when-"

"Yeah, she was. What made you think of that?"

"I was just remembering the pink haired girl, your first one. She had a blue-haired friend who was crying when she was killed. I just realized that was-"

"That was Sayaka." Yuma said with wide eyes, joining Kyoko in staring at the ceiling. "Wow, I never made that connection. I really should have before. She even said Madoka's name…" She mumbled, trailing off in thought.

Kyoko crossed her arms in front of her chest. The fucking cop, who was literally a knight in shining armour lost her first civilian today. Kyoko wondered how much the Middle School attack had fucked her up too. A lot of things made a lot more sense to her. Maybe that's why Kyubey contracted her, even though she's so old? She'd had experience with witches before…

"You should call her tomorrow." Kyoko stated. "It's a school day though, so you should get some more rest. Good-"

Kyoko was cut off, convulsing. She couldn't breathe. She felt a strike of cold piercing her and spreading through her veins. She knew what this was. She pulled out her soul gem. It was going dark, fast.

She was having another magic attack.

"Kyoko!" Yuma panicked, grabbing the stack of grief seeds they'd been accumulating for Yuma's trip. Yuma shoved three of them at her soul gem. Thankfully, it only needed two.

Both were panting, breathing heavily.

"Son of a bitch, I'd hoped those things had gone away." Kyoko cursed laboriously, clutching her soul gem to her chest. Yuma started to cry.

"I'm supposed to go next week and you're still having them Kyo. How can I leave you alone? You can't make me go. Please don't make me go. I want to stay with you. I want to be here for you." She pleaded. Kyoko sneered, mostly at herself.

"You're going, and I'll be waiting right here for you when you get back, okay? And I can't wait to hear all of your crazy stories. Hey, hey, hey, come on now." She struggled and got up. She wiped away Yuma's tears. Yuma buried herself into Kyoko's chest, shaking. Kyoko lay them back down on the bed, soothingly combing her fingers through Yuma's hairs until her sobs subsided and she fell into an uneasy slumber. Kyoko kept staring at the ceiling. She didn't sleep that night. She couldn't figure out what was wrong with her.

She would never know that in all of the drama, Yuma completely forgot about calling Sayaka.

---

"Where the fuck were you, Miki? I've been trying to get a hold of you since eight! We were supposed to have a meeting this morning!" Ryo furiously slammed some files on his desk. Sayaka looked at the ground despondently.

If she thought she looked like shit yesterday, today she looked shit that had been eaten by a dog and then shit out again.

"Sorry Captain. This won't happen again." She sat down in a chair next to Ayumi's. Ayumi didn't say anything and refused to look at Sayaka.

Sayaka wished her life could be that simple too; so simple that something like who got the credit for a report was a big fucking deal.

She envied her.

"I want to give you a break on this, because I know we've been working you into the ground Miki, but I want to figure out what the fuck is going on. I got two reports about the Megumi case and I need you two to get your shit together! Come on! We can't make any mistakes right now, especially if you're accusing someone inside of tampering with evidence like this!" He yelled, a sort of growl sneaking into his voice at the end. Sayaka and Ayumi glanced at each other confused.

"I'm sorry, but what?" Sayaka asked. She had shredded Ayumi's. Only hers was in there.

"I got two reports. One of them was an email of a one-page piece of shit with only one bit of real information on it. The other was actually good and in my mailbox, but not fucking emailed to me. It really needs to be edited to make it more 'politically correct' because you can't just call shit out in things like this. Either way, I want you to figure it out. Which report is it?"

"The good report sir. The one in the mailbox. I apologize for the confusion." Sayaka said on auto-pilot. Through heavy eyes, she looked over at Ayumi who looked ghostly pale. She was fidgeting. Sayaka knew that kind of look all too well.

Sayaka sighed. She might as well be nice.

"I made a one-page report and sent it to Ayu- err, Officer Himura to get started. It was never supposed to be the one sent to you. I had to run out to go to the club. She did the fifteen page report with more details and analysis. She must have accidentally emailed you the wrong one. We apologize for the confusion." Sayaka bowed.

Everyone was quiet for a few moments. Ayumi gaped like a fish, opening and closing her mouth a few times but said nothing. Ryo just narrowed his eyes at Sayaka, inspecting her closely. He sighed and relented.

"Himura, email me the right report right now. Good work you two. Miki, I wanted to talk to you about Miyamoto but you look like death. Take the rest of the morning off and be in at one on the dot."

"Yes Captain." She bowed as she got up.

"Miki, don't get up. I'm not done with you. Himura, email me the report immediately. It is way too accusatory so I need to edit it. I don't like it either, but political correctness is a fucker we need to play nice with."

Ayumi nodded and dismissed herself, closing the door behind her. Ryo sighed and turned to face Sayaka.

"Next time, you don't need to cover for her. I've seen reports from both of you. She doesn't think shit out and you don't know how to tone yourself down and play nice. It's easy to tell which of you is which. And for fuck's sakes, she was the only one with her name on the piece of shit. I'm not an idiot. Don't lie to me again. Now you can go." With a wave of his arm, he dismissed her. She got up and left. Ayumi was standing awkwardly to the side, the blush on her face clashing terribly with her magenta hair.

"Uh...hi."

Sayaka glanced at her, not sure how to play this. With a deep exhale, she decided to keep going to casual route.

"I'll email you the report right now."

"Yeah…thanks." She nodded awkwardly. Sayaka turned on her computer and frowned at the mass amount of emails she had. I need to go through these sometime… She thought with no real intention of doing anything about it. She sent the file off and put the computer on standby.

Sayaka was ready to crash at her place. She felt her personal phone buzz.

"I'm sorry." From Ayumi. Sayaka ignored it.

Then her work phone rang.

Akemi.

"Fuck." She muttered. "Hello?"

"Are you working right now, Miki?"

"No, I was given the morning off to sleep…" She trailed off, hoping that would be enough.

"Oh. I see. I apologize for disturbing you. Will you be working this afternoon?"

"Yes." She mumbled. She wanted the whole day off, but knew she couldn't get that.

"Excellent. I will meet you at your office. Enjoy your nap." She hung up. Sayaka threw the phone across the bed and fell asleep.

---

It was amazing what a few well-placed bribes could get you, as Kyoko quickly learned. The city was going to put a rush on making the Church a cultural heritage tourist site thingy or whatever. She didn't completely understand what that meant. All she knew was that it would be way harder for the city to ever try to tear it down.

The money was all sent over to some non-profit account, which then paid the contractor. Kyoko was amazed by how easy it all was. It had seemed like an impossible task before, but she was making it work!

Which led to her new problem…she was making it work.

Which meant the hiding place for the diamonds wasn't going to be very hidden for very long.

"Son of a bitch, son of a bitch, son of a fucking bitch!" She grumbled to herself as she paced the church. She needed to think of somewhere else to put it, and fast.

She had to get it out of the church, but she couldn't take them too far. She risked somebody noticing her. She also couldn't keep them in the damn church, because the contractor was going to start tearing shit up really soon.

She walked up and down the aisles. Her father used to do this when he was thinking. He walked a lot more slowly, whereas she was speed walking and nearly destroying the things that were in her wake; hence the destruction in the church that had gotten her into this mess.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck…"

She stopped and took a deep breathe in. She held it. Then she exhaled. She needed a sign or something.

There's got to be something.

After years of abuse, the door leading to the back grounds outside finally fell off its hinges, landing with a great echoing thud. She turned around and looked at the spring light that was cascading inside.

She looked at the cemetery just outside.

That could work.

---

It was amazing what a few well-placed hours of sleep could do for a person, Sayaka quickly learned. She felt fresh as a daisy when she woke up at half past noon.

She quickly had a shower and got dressed. She threw on her boots and coat, ready to go to meetings.

She was about to grab a scarf…the same scarf Ayumi had given her a few days ago to cover her neck. I should give that back to her.

She noticed the scarf was the same colour as the man's hair.

The man she let die.

Her level of energy plummeted as she held the scarf in her fingers. She felt like she had almost forgotten that it had happened. The same thing happened after the attack on Mitakihara Middle School; the next day, she had gotten ready for school as usual before seeing the blood on her uniform and remembering there was nothing to go back to. She felt her shoulders start to shake as her throat tightened. Fuck, don't do this now!

She rubbed at her eyes and shoved the scarf in her pocket, out of sight. She didn't want to look at it and she didn't want to keep it in her apartment.

She rushed outside and made it to work a minute before one.

"Please, you have to help us. This isn't normal for him." Sayaka heard as she walked past the front desk. There was a young man with dyed platinum blonde hair and more piercings than she had ever seen on a human standing in front of a stoic receptionist, who had heard the same plea for help time and time before.

"I'm sorry sir, but you will have to wait until an officer is available to take your partner's details." The receptionist sounded like she had been trying to explain this to the man for a very long time. The man turned around exasperated and set his eyes on Sayaka.

"Excuse me! Ma'am! Do you work here?" He asked her, eyes full of hope. Sayaka glanced at him with dull eyes. She didn't have a lot of time before her meeting and didn't feel like being there anyways.

"Yes sir, I'm a detective. I'm very sorry, but I have to-"

"That's great, you're exactly who I need to talk to! Please, I just need a minute. My life partner has gone missing. His name is Kita Haru. He's twenty-eight years old. He runs a youth centre for troubled teens in the Old Industrial District. He's an amazing artist and volunteers at the half-way house, teaching recently released inmates how to manage their finances and work on their resumes. He was out yesterday buying art supplies for the centre but he never came home. He never does this. Please, you have to help me find him." The man desperately held up a photograph of a young man.

He held up the photograph of the young man.

Her throat felt constricted again.

"Uh, I-"

"Detective Miki, the Captain needs to see you immediately." Eito said from the door that led to the staff area. Sayaka looked over to him, nodding mutely.

"Uh, Ei-Officer Gora, could you take this gentleman's questions? It's an urgent matter." She tried to swallow the lump in her throat but couldn't. Eito looked uncertain, but nodded.

"Thank you, thank you so much!" The man bowed gratefully to her, relieved that someone was taking him seriously now. Sayaka nodded mutely and walked away. If only he knew that this was a lost cause.

I am so, so sorry…

She rushed to Ryo's office and closed the door. Ryo did not look pleased.

"You're late, Miki."

She looked at the clock on the wall. It was three minutes past one.

"I apologize sir. I got stopped by a distressed man whose partner has gone missing."

Ryo sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"You're a good person Miki, but you can't save the whole world. One thing at a time. Right now, we're focusing on Megumi. You're completely right about the tampered evidence, and we brought it to the Chief. There's going to be a real shit storm with this because now the c-word is being mentioned."

"The c-word?" What does this have to do with cancer?

"Corruption."

"Oh. That c-word."

Ryo raised an eyebrow at her. "Now Miki, I have our…good friends with the feds bugging me to let you work with them on the Miyamoto case. I don't want to let you go to that one just yet. They want to interview Miyamoto or Sueda or whoever the fuck she is in prison. She was already sentenced, but we're hoping she'll decide to try to be acquitted in exchange for a testimony against Kurosawa once she finds out her brother…guy thing is dead. She might be more willing to talk then."

Sayaka nodded. It made sense. "Are you sure I should have anything to do with that? What if she makes the connection between me and Precious?"

"You and who?"

Sayaka winced. He didn't know about the stage name. "Yamasaki."

"Ah…well see, that's the thing. We think she might have asked to speak to you a few times. We're not sure though."

"How can you not be sure?"

"She asked to speak to 'Sapphire'."

Sayaka cringed again. "Yeah…she wanted to talk to me."

Ryo nodded. "You're going to go in three days. Sound good? If I'm right, you're not scheduled at the club for the next few nights."

Sayaka nodded in affirmation. Thank God.

"Good. The robot and the geezer came in earlier, but I told them to get lost. I'll tell them you're good to go then. Take the next few days off and get rested. I want you on your A-game when you're back. I can't imagine anything with Sueda is going to go well."

Sayaka raised her eyebrows and nodded again. Probably not.

"I need you to gather together everything you have on the Megumi case right now. You're going to do a presentation in the boardroom in half an hour. We have the Chiefs from Mitakihara and Kazamino there. Both forces man and use that jail…so the evidence manipulation could have come from either one."

Sayaka swallowed and nodded. She was pretty sure it was going to be a gong show. She wasn't the best public speaker and she had a whopping thirty minutes to put something of a very sensitive nature together. She hated dealing with shades of grey. She liked things that were black and white, good or evil, better.

Things got complicated when there were shades of grey. She had never once hesitated to kill witches before when they were just monsters hell bent on cursing the world.

Now those witches were distressed little girls who made a big mistake in contracting with Kyubey. Now every witch was a grotesque reminder of the horrific fate of girls, just like her, or Yuma, or even Kyoko.

She started seeing the grey, and she fucked up and let someone get killed. And that someone had a life partner and sounded like an amazing person. He was really doing some good in the world. He was exactly what the world needed.

And she let him get torn in two by fucking demon monkeys.

She plugged away at her computer, barely recognizing what she was typing or putting in the presentation. She was just a machine, plugging in data and information wherever it needed to go.

She was hollow and inhuman.

Before she knew it, her thirty minutes were up. She seemed to have pieced together a presentation and saved it onto a pink USB with a panda keychain attached. It was the only USB she ever used.

It had been a gift from Madoka.

She got up to walk towards the board room when there was a commotion in the jail area. The station had one that could be used for temporarily holding people under arrest when the actual jail was full. Sayaka looked over and her eyes widened in recognition.

Oh no, oh please no.

The man with the thick glasses and checkered sweater vest was drunkenly slurring curse words at some officers while stumbling over his own two feet.

"You dun' know me. You dun' know my business. She fuckin' deserved it!" He yelled before falling flat on his face in the cell. An officer she had met a few times but never really spoke to slammed the cell door behind the man with a restrained expression on his face. They had been in different classes, but were at the police academy at the same time.

Sayaka stuttered, looking at the man she had saved less than twelve hours ago.

"I've been called to his house for domestic disputes almost every week for the past six months. The bastard beat his wife all the time." Sayaka noticed that the officer was shaking like she had so many times before, trying to hold himself together. He was talking to his partner a few feet away from her. "She never wanted to press charges. I never pushed her about it. I should have. I should have pushed her after the second call but I didn't because it was her business." His voice cracked. "She's in the hospital. They don't know if she'll wake up. I should have done something. I should have said something. I should have-"

Sayaka stood motionlessly in the middle of the pandemonium around her.

She looked behind her, to see the man she thought would have had a kind face struggling to hold himself up. His face wasn't kind at all. It was twisted; cruel and ugly.

She thought of the photo of the man she let die. He looked so happy. He really did have a kind face. She had only seen it terrified in person. He was so wonderful.

She wondered how she made the decision of who she would save. Was she really being strategic? The good man was further away, but conscious; she could have reached him and he might have been able to run. The bad man was closer…but she thought he might have had a kind face or worked in a library.

She had looked at them and judged who should live and who should die.

And she had judged wrong.

She was underwater, sinking, collapsing. She couldn't hear what was happening around her. She only heard her own thoughts, pulling her under. The world was starting to screech around her, like tires squealing against the brakes or fingernails on a chalkboard.

Something was shaking her. No, someone was shaking her.

"Saaaayyyyyaaaakkkkaaa" The voice seemed to say in slow motion. She couldn't recognize it. She didn't want to.

She collapsed to the floor in an inelegant heap, eyes open but unseeing.

She could suddenly hear, but couldn't bring herself to do anything.

"Sayaka?! Sayaka!" Ayumi was screaming, shaking her.

"Someone call an ambulance!"

"Is that…Captain, is that the star detective you were telling me so much about? The one who found this evidence of corruption?"

The voices drowned out again. She didn't need to hear them.

She didn't need to hear anything.

---

Everything was passing in a blur around her. Within a week, the church was approved as a non-profit and given the status of a cultural tourist attraction…or some shit like that. She had spent the last week burying premium quality drugs in a cemetery. She had paid off half of the costs of the church. She was now an owner of a business.

She had gone from being a pawn to being a somebody that everyone wanted to have as an ally.

She felt like her entire life had just been flipped upside down. Well, the normal part of her life had.

Well, the non-magical semi-normal part of her life had.

Running a business was going to be a lot more work than she thought Tomi ever did. In the week since she started running the place, she'd already had to take disciplinary action against one staff for trying to steal from the bar, work out a new contract with a supplier for the purchase of mozzarella sticks of all things, and call a plumber to fix a toilet that was broken by a drunk patron who decided to punch it.

She was also preparing to take disciplinary action against a certain staff named "Yamasaki Rin", who had missed her last two shifts without giving proper notice or finding a replacement. Her partner insisted she had a bad case of the stomach flu, and no one liked Geisha enough to do her a favour and take the shift, even if it was for 'Precious' who everybody else liked. Kyoko didn't believe Sayaka was sick with the flu for a second. She had gotten stabbed through the chest recently and lost her first human; she probably just needed a break.

Yeah, she just needs a break is all.

She sat underneath the Sakura tree basking in the warm breeze, pocky in mouth and shovel in dirt covered hands. Aside from the not-so-legal implications of what she was doing…it felt like everything was going to work out.

So what was making her feel so uneasy?

It was odd. She had plenty of reasons to feel uneasy. She knew that. But she could tell that this twisting feeling in her gut had nothing to do with diamonds, ethics, money, or the church.

Something was wrong, and she didn't know what. It was driving her crazy.

She called Yuma, just to be safe.

No answer.

Kyoko growled, calling the school next and asking to speak to Yuma. She was on hold for a few minutes while they tried to find her; a few minutes longer than Kyoko would have liked.

"Hello?" Yuma sounded confused.

"Yuma! Took you long enough! Where were you?" Kyoko snapped. She was agitated as fuck.

"I was in class. It's a school day. What's wrong with you? I can…feel something's off with you." It sounded like Yuma was trying to word things in a way that was inconspicuous when she was in public. Kyoko sighed.

"Yeah, I feel like something's off too. I don't know what. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Are you okay?" She relented. There was no point getting upset with Yuma. It sounded like she was okay, and that brought more relief to Kyoko than she could have imagined.

"I'm fine. Are you?"

"I'll be fine when I figure out what it is that's bugging me. I'm just glad it's not you." Kyoko answered truthfully. As long as Yuma's okay.

"Okay…take it easy. I'll see you at dinner time."

"Dinner? You're not coming home right after school? I didn't know you had art club today."

"I don't. I haven't talked to Sayaka recently. I kept on forgetting. I just want to make sure she's okay."

"Oh. Right. Just watch yourself with her, alright?" Kyoko started to get an even worse feeling that she knew what was wrong.

"I will. See you tonight!" Yuma hung up. Kyoko pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at the screen. The photo on the home screen was one of her and Yuma making silly faces. She couldn't bring herself to smile at it, even though that usually did the trick.

"Rat bastard, are you here?" She called out. Surely enough, Kyubey emerged from the shadows of the tree she had been sitting under seconds later.

"What can I do for you, Kyoko?"

She glared distrustfully at the shady creature that had ruined countless lives.

"How's Sayaka?"

Kyubey's expression kept the same vacant smile. Its tail swished back and forth as it tilted its head to the side.

"That's an interesting question. Why are you asking it?"

"I don't need to explain myself to you. Just tell me how she's doing!" She barked, holding Kyubey up by the scruff of its neck. It blinked at her.

"She has had an 'epidsode' of sorts. She is not a witch yet, but I suspect she will become one within the next twenty-four hours at this rate. She was taken to the Kazamino Health Sciences Centre."

"The Kaza- they brought her to a hospital?! It's that bad?! Ah shit." Kyoko threw Kyubey to the side and quickly brushed the dirt off her hands and onto her jean shorts. Kyubey shook off the blow and followed her.

"Where are you going?"

"To stop that dumbass from turning into a witch in a fucking hospital." Hospital witches were always the worse; they got strong, fast because they had a lot of weak humans to feast on. Sayaka wouldn't want that.

"I was under the impression that you would want to see her become a witch. You seem to strongly dislike her and have shown her nothing but ill will since she became a magical girl. Besides, don't you need more grief seeds?" Kyoko didn't like the way it said the word 'strongly', as if it were deliberately being ironic. She stopped to turn around and kick it.

"Fuck off! I just know that Yuma likes her and I don't want Yuma to be upset."

She ran in the direction of the Health Centre, ignoring the fact that something annoying in the back of her mind was reminding her that she had two extra grief seeds in her pocket.

---

Everything was passing in a blur around her, but she couldn't find the energy to care. She couldn't find the energy to respond. She couldn't find the energy to actually do anything. The weight of gravity was holding her down.

Why…why was I chosen to do this? I can't even protect myself; how can I protect others too?

Why would Kyubey choose me when it's so obvious that I would just become a witch?

It was a strange feeling. Sayaka had had it sometimes before; the feeling that you weren't supposed to be somewhere; the feeling that you weren't supposed to be alive.

Sayaka didn't know why, but sometimes she just felt like she was supposed to have died a very, very long time ago.

I've escaped death too many times. It's not fair. There are so many people out there who deserve to live so much more than I do.

Why would the world let me live while Madoka and Kita died?

She could vaguely recognize someone screaming near her. She had heard that voice before.

Sayaka's mother was screaming about something, but she couldn't even hear the words.

Was she screaming now? Or had she been screaming before? When did that even happen? Sayaka just noticed that the lights had gone out and it was dark outside. Wasn't it just daytime?

She thought she might have felt someone touching her. Maybe that was her mother?

Is someone talking to me right now?

Sayaka was feeling cold. Ice was spreading through her veins, freezing them. Her heart was about to be frozen too.

Maybe the world wants to make the good people die, so it's just the bad ones like me left to destroy it. What a stupid world. It's like it wants to be destroyed.

Is that why I've lived this long? So I can curse it to oblivion too?

She closed her eyes to let herself sleep. She didn't think she was going to wake back up again. She didn't think she would mind that.

Maybe that's been my purpose in life all along.

Until the fog that she hadn't realized had surrounded her was suddenly lifted.

---

Kyoko didn't know how to process the sight in front of her. Sayaka was ghostly pale, staring up at the ceiling and barely blinking. She had an IV connected to her arm and was wearing a hospital gown that made her look even more whitewashed.

Kyoko had to enchant a few people to get in after visiting hours were over and she wasn't family. It wasn't hard to do. The staff were all so tired that it was easy to convince them that they didn't care and should just let her go through. One of them even gave her Sayaka's file.

According to this, Sayaka had been diagnosed with a retarded-stuporous variety of catatonia five days ago.

That explains why she's missed work.

"Oi! Snap out of it!" Kyoko flicked her forehead. There was no response. Kyoko slapped her. Nothing. Kyoko shook her. Nothing.

She sighed in aggravation.

"Really, of all times to throw some kind of pity party. A person died! That sucks! We've all lost people. The more time you spend moping around, feeling sorry for yourself, the more humans are gonna die, right? You need to pull yourself together! Come on, get up!" Kyoko shouted, pulling her up.

She let go and Sayaka collapsed in what looked like a very, very uncomfortable position. But she did nothing.

"URG!" Kyoko snarled. "Come on! You're not supposed to be like this! You're a fucking cop, and literally a fucking knight in shining armour. Act like it!"

Still nothing. She was going to have to re-evaluate her strategy. She ran out in to the hallways and looked for Sayaka's clothes behind the unmanned front desk of the psychiatric ward. Kyoko did a quick survey of her surroundings and noticed that there was a group of staff in a coffee room. Taking a break…good timing.

She quickly and quietly rustled through cabinets, trying to find Sayaka's clothes. She found files, office supplies, cables, and even a box of stale donuts. Kyoko stole one with crusty pink frosting before continuing her search.

She finally found it: a bag labelled "Miki, Sayaka".

She snatched it and ran back to the room. It reminded her of her street rat days.

She really didn't miss those days at all.

"Hey, hey Sayaka, check it out!" Kyoko sing-songed as she closed the door behind her. "Look what I have!" She ripped open the bag, pulling out her clothes. Sayaka's badge immediately dropped onto the floor with a resounding thud.

"Ooo, think of all the things I could do with my very own KPD badge! I'm going to taaaaaake it." She waved it in front of Sayaka's face. Still no response. Kyoko huffed and made a point of sticking it in her back pocket. "Let's see what else you got."

She pulled out her wallet. Kyoko immediately burst out laughing at Sayaka's photo on her driver's license.

"Were you goth or something? Oh my god, that's hilarious! You look like an angry racoon getting a mugshot!" Sayaka didn't respond, but Kyoko didn't care. She just enjoyed the photo.

She found a wad of large bills; clearly tips from the club. Kyoko whistled in appreciation.

"I'm taking your mooooney. Are you going to stop me? If you don't, I'm assuming you're okay with it." Sayaka didn't respond. "Well thank you for your generosity." She pocketed the money.

"I bet you have all kinds of fun treasures in-" Her taunting smile immediately changed into a frown when she felt three sharp objects, like needles.

"You'd better be fucking kidding me." She said lowly, voice promising pain if she was right about what she felt.

She pulled out three unused grief seeds. Kyoko squeezed them so hard, she wouldn't have been surprised if she could have broken them.

"You fucking idiot! Haven't you been cleaning your soul gem?!" Kyoko pulled the ring off of Sayaka's finger and watched it transform into a very, very murky dark blue soul gem.

She really was on the brink of transforming.

Kyoko shoved the three grief seeds at it. It made a big difference, turning it from nearly opaque black to a dull blue. She growled a bit before pulling out her own grief seed, turning the gem into the bright aqua colour she liked.

Kyoko decided to ignore her last sentiment.

She looked over to the bed and noticed Sayaka's first signs of responsiveness. She was blinking rapidly.

"Where…where am I?" She murmured.

Kyoko hit her over the head hard with a Bible that had been sitting next to her bed.

"OW! Oh shit, why are you here?!" She clutched her head, trying to scoot away from Kyoko and her new weapon.

"I'm here because you're an idiot! Why didn't you clean your soul gem? Are you trying to turn yourself into a witch?!" Kyoko shouted.

Sayaka spluttered in response.

"No, of course not! It's just…they….they're from magical girls. They were like us! I just can't-"

"You just can't accept it, huh? Yeah, we're not all we're cracked up to be. We're one mental breakdown away from becoming raging monsters that literally eat people; that's hard to accept, I get it. So you know what you do? You stop yourself from becoming one. You keep fighting. You keep getting grief seeds. You get up and you fight. You don't become fucking…hang on, what was it" Kyoko muttered as she opened up the file. "You don't become a retard-stuporous catatonia!"

"Cata-oh my god, how long have I been here? And why do you have my file?"

"Five days, asshole. By the way, you missed work too. Baby Kurosawa's been on my ass asking when you're coming back. They're blaming me for scaring you out of working there, so thanks for that!" Kyoko ignored the second question.

"Ah...uh…sorry for that. I was kind of catatonic…I guess…" Sayaka rubbed her head and looked at the ground sheepishly. That really pissed Kyoko off.

"Oh, fuck you. Seriously, fuck you! How selfish can you be? Did you plan this? Were you hoping that if they took you to a hospital, you could witch out here and then-" Kyoko smacked her lips. "Yum, yum! Lots of sick, weak humans, ready to eat! You might as well have a whole damn buffet!"

"No! No! That's not…that's never what I…I just can't do this. I'm not strong enough to do this. I'm not good enough at anything to do this." Sayaka started off angry, but crumbled and fell forward, sobbing violently.

"Yeah, because you're an idiot! Believe me, the less you clean your soul gem, the worse everything gets. Everything seems like a bigger deal than it is. Everything seems darker. And I've actually gone through real dark stuff, not just losing a human I didn't know. I've lost special people, and I kept going. I can do it, so can you. Just stop being a fucking idiot!" Kyoko looked away, crossing her arms.

Sayaka looked up behind her, sniffling. She had her full attention on Kyoko.

Kyoko sighed.

"The first one…the first innocent person you lose to a witch is always the hardest. The first one I lost was a ten year old boy. I still have nightmares about him screaming for his mother as a motorcycle thing ripped him to shreds. I was twelve when it happened."

Sayaka looked at her empathetically. Kyoko hated it.

"Yuma's first one was your friend, Madoka. She still dreams about her. Hell, she even drew a portrait of her a few years ago. We have it somewhere, I think."

Sayaka looked shocked. Kyoko preferred that.

"I remembered you, after Yuma and I talked about it. You were crying out her name, right? That was how we knew the girl's name was Madoka. If we'd been more careful, and didn't assume we'd already beat them, we could have stopped her from getting killed."

Sayaka laughed humourlessly.

"No; it was completely my fault. Madoka was in a safe part of the labyrinth. My friend and I found her there after getting away from the monsters…I guess they were familiars. But we found her, and Madoka said she was going to go up to check on our friend Homura, who went up to fight. I guess Homura was a magical girl too, huh? I didn't really think about it. I had stopped her…Madoka, at first. I told her she was too weak, and there was nothing she could do." Sayaka laughed again, this time starting to cry. "I said I would go in as backup because I'd picked up some piece of the labyrinth and was using it as a bat. Because that would be enough to beat a witch. I could have stopped her, but I didn't because I assumed I was good enough to protect her. So no, it wasn't your fault at all. It was completely mine. Feel free to tell Yuma that."

Kyoko watched Sayaka as she flopped backwards on the bed, silently shivering as she cried.

"So I was right. The Mitakihara School thing did fuck you up."

"Well obviously it fucked me up! It fucked up everybody I know who was there! One of my friends is still an addict. The other can't even leave her damn apartment without breaking down. And then there's me…who didn't think there would be any catches at all to a mutated ferret thing offering to turn me into a magical girl in the middle of demented cuckoo clock Legoland."

Kyoko let out a bark of laughter. Sayaka glared at her, but it didn't seem to have as much emotion behind it as her glares for Kyoko usually did. Kyoko shut her mouth.

"Okay, okay, it's not funny. It was just the way you described it."

Sayaka looked at her before letting out a weak chuckle. "I've been told that I have a way with words."

Kyoko returned Sayaka's weak smile.

"It's so easy to think about the people you couldn't save. Just…just try to think about the ones you do, you know? Think about the people you helped escape from the labyrinths. Think about the people who never have to get trapped in them at all because you killed the witch before they could get them. You've already killed a few witches who could have screwed people up as much as you."

Sayaka smiled again before frowning. She pulled her knees into her chest.

"There were two men in the last labyrinth. One was conscious and had tattoos and crazy hair. He looked like a party animal, you know? The other was an unconscious man in a sweater vest and looked like he was a librarian or something. I saved the librarian and let the party animal die. The partner of the party animal came into the station to file a missing person's report. He told me about him. His name was Kita Haru. He ran a youth centre and volunteered at a halfway house. I saw the librarian get taken into the station. He was an alcoholic who beat his wife up so badly, she had to be taken to the hospital and might never wake up.

"I just keep on thinking: why do I get to decide who lives and who dies? I'm not a God and I'm barely a human. I saved the wrong one."

Sayaka buried her head into her knees and cried softly. Kyoko looked away awkwardly. She wasn't really sure what was appropriate here.

"It makes it a lot worse, knowing the names of the people you've lost. It makes them more real, you know? I'm glad I never learned that little boy's name. I think it haunts Yuma, knowing Madoka's name."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make things harder for you. I wasn't even thinking when I was screaming for-" Her words were muffled by her legs.

"Oh for fuck's sakes, don't blame yourself for that. That's the last thing you should blame yourself for right." Kyoko chided gently and rolled her eyes. "Blame yourself for being a dummy who didn't clean her soul gem. Blame yourself for selling your soul to a deformed ferret in a cuckoo clock or wherever. Blame yourself for things that are actually your fault. I used to like blaming everything on myself…it made the world seem fairer, you know? And it's nice to think that the world is a good place, because then there's hope that everything will work out for you if you play by the rules. But it's not. Accept that. You didn't mess up the world; it was already messed up. You're just another tiny gear in the machine, or whatever." Kyoko finished with an awkward waving hand gesture.

Sayaka peered up at her with big tear-stained eyes. Kyoko sighed in frustration.

"Come here." She groaned, giving Sayaka a tight, rough hug. Sayaka wouldn't have been able to return it, even if she wanted to. Kyoko liked that; she didn't want to think about how she would have felt if Sayaka hadn't hugged her back.

There were some sounds coming from the hall. It sounded like hospital staff that were energetic and in a good mood.

"Fuck, it's probably the next shift. I need to go. Stop being stupid." She pointed a scolding finger at Sayaka before peeking outside and sneaking out. Kyoko would have preferred to use a window, but the one in there was way too small to fit out of. It was the psyche ward after all; they were probably afraid of suicidal patients jumping.

She enchanted the elevator to make it bypass the staff identification requirement. She hid behind a plant so no one could see her quite as easily. Just as the elevator beeped and the doors open, there was a frustrated scream down the hall.

"KYOKO, GIVE ME BACK MY FUCKING MONEY AND MY DAMN BADGE!"

Kyoko had to hold her hand in front of her mouth to stifle her laughter. She threw the badge on the ground of the hallway just as the elevator doors were closing.

She kept the money though.

---

Sayaka didn't know how to process the sight in front of her. She'd been on anti-depressants before. She'd been on anxiety medications before. She'd been on a whole bunch of shit she should have never been on before.

But even to her, this looked like a lot of pills.

"Listen, I'm not so sure this is a good idea…" She said uncomfortably to the Force psychiatrist in front of her. He was a middle-aged, studious-looking man with a broad frame. Sayaka imagined that he would have been very attractive in his youth, but now with a receding hairline and protruding stomach would have better luck with his wife than young women at a bar. "Just based on my history, you know?"

"No, no! You don't need to worry about that at all. Based on my evaluation, I think you are at full mental capacity and can go back to work immediately."

"I just got out of the hospital last night…"

"Yes, you had five unplanned days off. From what I see here, three of them were scheduled days off, so you only missed two days of work. I think we can declare those simple sick days and there is no concern. You're fit for duty."

She looked at the shrink incredulously. She didn't mind going back on the field, but this seemed ridiculous, even to her.

"Ryo bribed you, didn't he?"

The psychiatrist looked baffled.

"Of course not! How could you suggest something like that? I understand that you were in the process of investigating a potential act of corruption before you took some leave, so it is natural to be concerned." He turned off the tape recorder. "Are you trying to get yourself kicked off the Force? Come on, work with me here." He turned it back on. "Do you disagree with my diagnosis? Would you rather have disability leave? I would only feel it right, professionally, to give you an additional three days leave."

Sayaka raised an eyebrow at him with crossed arms and legs. She looked down and sighed.

"No sir, your diagnosis seems very fair. Thank you for your time."

She bowed and got up, taking the paper bag full of pills with her. She planned on throwing them out later.

Kyoko was right. She felt way better with a clear soul gem. She would have to go hunt a witch.

It still seemed so…cannibalistic.

She sighed and let it go. It was the new reality of her world. Just because she had to live it, didn't mean she had to like it.

"Detective Miki. Are you ready?" A familiar monotonous voice called from behind her. Sayaka whipped around, coming face to face with Akemi. She tried not to laugh at the thought of Akemi in a magical girl outfit.

"You know it!" Sayaka grinned insincerely and gave an obnoxious thumbs up. "Ready for what?"

Akemi raised an eyebrow. "To speak to Sueda Marilyn. We were supposed to go a few days ago, but I heard you had a bad case of the stomach flu. Are you feeling better now?"

"Oh, aha, yeah! That flu was a bad one…" She chuckled lamely as she rubbed the back of her head. "Let's go!" She said with way too much enthusiasm. Akemi looked hesitant, but nodded and followed.

Fuck, I didn't know we were going to go right now.

It was an awkwardly silent car ride out to the prison. At least it was awkward to her; Akemi and her boss might have enjoyed the silence so they could listen to the dreadfully boring radio talk show.

The prison was on the outskirts of town and took in the worst female offenders from around Japan. Sayaka had never actually been inside before. It looked like a massive, ugly, foreboding place surrounded by twenty foot tall electric fences. An imposing male guard at the front opened the gate to let them in.

The parking lot was lined with beautiful petunias and marigolds that did not fit with the ugly white rectangular building or dangerous fences surrounding the perimeter. The visitors' area was very bright welcoming, similarly not matching the place it was in.

Sayaka was led into a staff area that needed a key card to enter.

The atmosphere of the building became much more fitting.

The grey speckled floors shone, recently cleaned, and were well lit by fluorescent lights. There was absolutely no colour in the hallways except for Sayaka's hair and the golden crests that adorned the guards' chests. Their uniforms were grey and black.

The hallway was narrow, with rooms that could pass for interrogation rooms on each side.

"These are multi-purpose rooms. They can be used for psychiatric appointments, meetings with lawyers, supervised meetings with families, and sometimes even temporary isolation rooms." Akemi recited as if she was stating an interesting fact on a tour. Sayaka nodded awkwardly.

"Are you ready? Do you know what you're going to say?" Akemi prodded. Sayaka nodded.

"I'm here to ask you some questions regarding the murder of Miyamoto Tsubasa. I understand that he was your physician. And then we'll see where things go from there." Sayaka felt guilty. They were definitely wasting time, because he was obviously killed by a witch. That being said, this could get them some good information, so why not try.

Akemi nodded in response, before looking forward. They continued down the narrow hallway.

"Did you read the autopsy results?" She asked.

Sayaka shook her head. She assumed it was pretty obvious that he died because he was decapitated.

"He had stage four terminal brain cancer. He didn't have much time left anyways."

Sayaka blinked in surprise. "I didn't know that. Wow." They kept walking in silence after that.

"In here. Good luck. She's a rough one." The guard that was escorting them showed them to the room at the end of the hallway.

Miyamoto Suki was sitting inside in a bright orange jumpsuit, hands clasped in front of her on the steel table. Her posture was rigid and straight, just as it had been in her first interview recording. Sayaka had never realized just how much makeup she must have been wearing before. Her skin looked pale and she had massive bags under her eyes, enunciating her sharp features and making them look more sunken. Her hair, which used to be a chique styled bob now looked overgrown and dull.

If she felt like she looked ugly, she certainly didn't show it.

There was nothing on the table. The room just had to chairs, the table, and Suki. It looked painfully bare.

Sayaka gulped nervously and went in with her notebook, recorder, and pen in hand.

And a file with a photo of the head of Miyamoto Tsubasa; the last piece of him there was.

"Sueda Marilyn." Sayaka greeted with a nod as she entered the room.

"Sapphire." She responded with a mocking smile. Sayaka paused as she closed the door, but otherwise did not show that it fazed her at all.

Sayaka set up the equipment on the table.

"The current date is May 28, time 10:15 am. This is Detective Miki interviewing Sueda Marilyn at the New Mitakihara-Kazamino Women's Correctional Institute. Please state your name ma'am."

"Sueda Marilyn. You got it right." She smiled, sickeningly and insincerely sweet. "Thank you for coming to meet with me. I'm surprised you came. I have no information I can give you beyond what I already have though." She opened her arms and shrugged, making it very evident that she did know more than she had told them.

"Detective Miki, huh? Look at you. You've come so far for yourself!" She tauntingly congratulated her. "What a success story. Your family must be so proud."

"They are." She was curt. No need to fuel the fire. "Sueda-san, I am here to ask you some questions regarding-"

"Oh, hush hush. I didn't want you here to ask me questions. I wanted to ask you questions. I've already been sentenced for life with no chance of parole, so be nice and give me a bone, hmm? Tell me your story. When did you break out of it? It looked like you were on death's door when you had fallen off our radar for two years. Tell me about your brave tale of redemption. Have you seriously never slipped up since then? Taken a hit? Just one hit? Nothing at all?"

Sayaka clenched her fists and her jaw, but stayed composed. "I am here to ask you some questions –"

"But I told you, I've answered all of the questions already! You silly people just don't listen. I want to hear all about you. Out of all of my girls, you officially became my favourite after you literally laid down in my mother's brains for five minutes and didn't say anything. I mean, wow. If you can handle lying down in that, I bet there's all kinds of ridiculously sick things we'll be able to make you do."

"Uh, wait, what?" Sayaka was confused.

"You know. When you relapse. They'll get you then." Suki smiled predatorily at her. "Oh, we'll get such a high price for you. You know, you've pissed off some pretty powerful, pretty rich people who I bet would pay a pretty penny to get a piece of you. I won't be there to see it, but" She shrugged smugly and shot her a lustful expression, licking her lips "I'll have a lot of fun imagining it. Not that I ever had anything to do with things like trafficking, of course. I only murdered my mother." She shrugged as she finished, as if killing her mother was a similar offense to stealing a cookie from the cookie jar.

"Oh you fucking-"

"Detective Miki, please come outside for a moment." Sayaka heard Ryo's voice over the intercom in the room. Sayaka exhaled deeply, keeping her head down and avoided looking at Suki. Suki had a shit-eating grin on her face that reminded her way too much of Kyoko. Sayaka left the room and shut the door. She leaned back against it.

"I didn't know you were coming, Captain." She said, looking over at him without turning her head in his direction. He nodded.

"Yeah. Got here a bit later than you. Have to say…that wasn't your best in there at the end."

Sayaka sighed, lowering her head. "I know."

"She's trying to get to you. Just keep yourself together, alright? You were doing great. The more you hold up, the more she lets slip. This is the first time anyone got her to say anything about trafficking. Just stand your ground, and we can get more out of her, okay? Be professional." His words were reassuring. She nodded.

"You attract more flies with honey. Try to be more genial with her." Akemi suggested as well. Sayaka took a deep breath and nodded. She had actually never interrogated anybody before; it was a lot harder than it looked.

"I can do this. Thanks." She went back in. Suki was lounging back in her chair with crossed legs. She would have looked more fitting sitting on a throne than the foldout steel chair.

"I'm sorry Detective. Did my words bother you? I apologize, I can be very crude sometimes."

Sayaka smiled pleasantly at her, taking Akemi's advice. "It's quite alright Sueda-san. It's nice to know this place hasn't taken away your sense of humour."

Sayaka's breath caught in her throat. Oh shit. That was way too much like-

"Wait…Precious?" Suki's jaw dropped as she leaned forward to inspect her more closely. "Oh my god…Oh my god!"

Sayaka's heart skipped a beat. She looked like a deer in the headlights. She wasn't sure what to expect. She was about to run when-

"Oh my god, Precious!" Suki burst out laughing. "I was excited to finally meet Sapphire when she was sober, but I already had! You're Precious! Oh my god. Well done! Well done!" She applauded slowly, continuing to laugh for a minute that felt like an eternity. She had tears gathering in the corner of her eyes from laughing so hard.

"Hey, do you guys know who she is?" Suki yelled to the mirror at the back of the room. It was so obvious that it was a screen with people looking in. Everyone had seen the cop shows. "She's Precious! One of the best strippers in Kazamino! She puts on one hell of a show! Oh man, wait. Do you know what kind of shows she puts on? Oh, they're something, I can tell you that. I wonder if they're even legal!"

"Sueda-san." Sayaka cut her off. She would have been much more intimidating if her face wasn't as red as a tomato. "I have come to ask you some questions regarding the-"

"No, no, no, no, no, no!" She was still grinning. "I have way more questions I want to ask you now. Tell me: what was it like fucking Kyoko? To be honest, I usually prefer men but her; I'd make an exception for any day." Suki licked her lips. She seemed less predatory when she spoke about Kyoko. "You're one lucky bitch."

"Sueda-san. If you wouldn't mind. How about I ask you one question, and then you can ask me one?" Sayaka tried to bargain with her. As long as she could get her to just shut up and listen to one question…the game would completely change.

Suki settled down, leaning an arm casually on the table. "Fine, fine. Go ahead. One question."

Just one, huh?

Sayaka glanced at the folder on the table. This wasn't going to be a sensitive way of telling her…but she figured Suki clearly wasn't the sensitive type.

"Could you identify this man for us?" Sayaka asked calmly, pulling the photographs of Miyamoto Tsubasa's head out of the file. It was manipulative, pretending a witch's kill was a murder, but it might get them some more arrests. That had never been Sayaka's intention in bringing the head out though. She just didn't think anyone should disappear without a trace in there. No one deserved that.

Suki's smug expression quickly dissolved.

"Where…where's the rest of him?" She asked quietly.

Sayaka looked down. She wished she had a nicer way of saying this.

"That's all we've been able to find so far."

Suki's breath hitched.

"Could I have a moment alone please?" She muttered quietly. Sayaka furrowed her brows but nodded, picking up her tape recorder and left the room.

As soon as the door closed behind her, all hell broke loose.

Suki screamed, throwing the table in the air. She picked up her chair and smashed it against the table, creating a very noticeable dent in it. She threw the chair across the room and kicked the poor, abused table. This went on for five long, agonizing minutes.

She was panting heavily by the end of it. It was astonishing to Sayaka how chaotic Suki could make the room look, even though there were really only two pieces of furniture in there. Everyone outside the room was still and silent. No one looked at her or each other.

Suki hobbled over to the window, eyes fixed on the ground and shaggy hair covering her face. She knocked lightly on the mirror.

Everyone outside looked at Sayaka. She was uncomfortable, asking them silently what she was supposed to do. Akemi stepped back and guided her over to the intercom. Akemi pushed the button to turn it on.

"Yes, Sueda-san?" Sayaka asked uncertainly. She looked over at Akemi and Ryo for approval. Neither made any movement.

"Don't call me that. My name is Miyamoto Suki. I want my lawyer and I want to make a deal. I'll talk."

---

Kyoko opened the door of the club in exasperation. She thought she had spent way too much time there before, but now it felt like she spent most of everyday between the club and the church. Hell, she'd fallen asleep on some of the questionable couches a few times instead of making her way back to the apartment. Between arranging business deals, making the club moderately functional, and hunting witches she had no time to herself anymore.

She almost forgot to give Yuma her tablet back. At least it had the desired effect and smoothing over some of the rougher parts in their relationship.

Kyoko smiled to herself; it would have been alright anyways. She and Yuma were a team, and they always would be. They could work anything out because they both genuinely wanted to stay together, and not just for the sake of strategy. They were family.

She wasn't sure if anyone else would have ever said that about her. Mami might have.

Her Dad sure as hell didn't want them to stay together.

She wondered what Sayaka thought of her.

Kyoko didn't even know what she thought of Sayaka.

Kyoko shook her head, trying to physically shake the thought away. She couldn't understand how Sayaka could always creep into her head, even when she had way more important things to think about.

Like right now; why the hell was baby Kurosawa waiting outside her office door when the club wasn't even open yet?

"Hello Sakura-san." He smiled and bowed politely to her.

"Hey. Just call me Kyoko. Can I ask what you're doing here?"

"I suppose this is a bit odd, isn't it? Tomi let me in. I was hoping we could…talk."

Kyoko fixed a glare on him, which she supposed looked very intimidating based on how he looked away from her. She was rightfully suspicious.

"That depends on what it's about, Kurosawa."

"Hey. Just call me Fusao." He said with an uneasy smile. "I have a proposition for you that I think you might like."

Kyoko's expression didn't soften, but she unlocked her office and left the door open for him. He followed her and closed it behind him.

The office still looked ridiculously unfurnished. After the church was paid for, she planned on actually getting some damn filing cabinets. She suspected that part of the reason the club was as much of a mess as it was was that Tomi didn't keep any fucking files about the club operations in here.

"Tomi told me about the diamonds."

"I thought his job was to keep secrets." Kyoko sneered. Fucking asshole!

"No, his job for you now is to be your advisor. He wants to see you do well. He's my advisor too."

"Not your father's?" Kyoko asked, falsely casually with a raised eyebrow.

"No. Not since he started trying to take over everything. My father made Tomi his bitch too, not just you. Family doesn't matter in this industry. Respect does though, and he's forgotten that. I haven't, and I won't."

Kyoko relaxed her posture a bit, looking at him inquisitively.

"We wrote the diamonds off a long time ago. I respect that you found them and agree that you have the right to keep them. If you were anybody else…maybe not. But I respect your skills. I want to form a partnership with you, Kyoko."

"What kind of partnership?"

"You have white diamonds, some of the best methamphetamine to ever be produced from Japan but they're a fixed amount. I have regular methamphetamine, but we're still producing. Let's combine them."

Kyoko looked at him skeptically.

"Look, you could sell a gram of straight diamonds, right? Or, you sell two thirds of a gram of diamonds, one third of a gram of regular street meth that's the same colour. No one would be able to tell the difference. You get the same price but keep your supply going for longer."

Kyoko leaned back in her chair.

It was a good idea.

"What do you want from this?"

"I'm putting in a third of the product. I want a third of the cut. The diamonds are going to go for four times as much as regular street meth, so it's worth it for me. I can also help you with better distribution. Tomi told me how much you sold your first set to Watanabe for, and fuck you got ripped off. It was actually painful to hear how little you sold that for. You could have gone for more than double that if you went through my channels. I'll get you in there. You just keep them hidden like you're doing and let them out a bit at a time."

The corner of Kyoko's mouth turned down in displeasure. She could recognize that she'd made a big mistake letting the first set go for way too low. She looked dumb and was vulnerable now. But I need these people…

"Tell me what's going to happen with your old man."

"I'll take care of that. Don't worry. There are more than a few people who think it's…time for him to retire." He finished cryptically.

Kyoko didn't care to know what that meant. Doing the math, between Fusao and Tomi, she was still keeping more than half and she was going to get a lot more for it than if she were on her own.

Besides…this was to make sure the church could be saved. That was it.

Right?

"Fine. You've got yourself a deal."

---

Sayaka opened the door to the café in exasperation. Yuma had tried to get a hold of her yesterday but things were a gong show at the hospital. She and Yuma were going to catch up a bit over some cakes and go out hunting for a witch.

Sayaka wondered if it was a bad idea to eat and then hunt, like how you shouldn't swim for thirty minutes after eating, but decided to think nothing of it. I have magic, I can make a stitch go away.

She saw Yuma sitting in the corner and waved with a big, apologetic smile on her face. The poor girl had probably been waiting there for twenty minutes. Yuma shot her a friendly smile back.

"I am so sorry for being late. Things were crazy at work."

Yuma smiled understandingly. "It's okay, I get it. You let me know, that's what counts. Let's eat!"

They happily enjoyed their cakes. They chatted about school and tv shows they liked to watch. It was pretty light-hearted. It was pretty insincere.

When the table next to them was cleared of its patrons, they got more serious.

"I wanted to say sorry about what Kyoko did…she's really, really territorial about some things." Yuma looked down, awkwardly. "I swear, she's usually a really nice…a pretty nice person."

Sayaka laughed.

"I've done a lot to piss her off. I was in a really, really bad place the last few days. It was actually Kyoko who came by and cheered me up. I don't know." Sayaka shrugged and took a sip of her smoothie. "I think we might be able to be friends. Or at least civil with each other. I really appreciate what she did for me yesterday. I think she actually gave me one of her grief seeds."

Yuma looked at her incredulously.

"Really? Wow…that's…not normal for her. I guess she really wanted to make things right. I was pretty mad at her about this." Yuma grinned sheepishly. "At least she knows who's boss!"

They both laughed.

"She actually is a great person. I owe her my life. When she decides she cares about you…she really cares about you. I think the three of us could work really well together. I hope you guys can work through everything. You actually make me able to fight instead of just being back up." Yuma smiled softly. Sayaka smiled brightly.

"I don't think we'll ever completely agree on everything, but yeah. I think it would be great if we could all work together!" Sayaka nodded enthusiastically. Yuma returned it.

"There's actually another reason I wanted to talk to you, Sayaka." Her smile faded a bit. Sayaka was worried.

"Sure, anything. What is it?" Sayaka tried to sound as supportive as possible, which did not work out quite as well as it could have if she had not taken too large a bit of cake right before.

"It's about Kyoko. A lot of things are about Kyoko." Yuma chuckled a bit to herself. "I'm sure she hasn't told you this, but she's been having these weird things we're calling magic attacks. Neither of knows what it is. Even Kyubey's not sure. But sometimes, out of nowhere…her magic just gets depleted."

"Huh?" Sayaka asked, her mouth full of food.

"I know. It makes no sense. She's nearly turned into a witch a few times without actually using any magic. The first time, she was cooking dinner. Just a few days ago, she was going to bed when it hit. I don't know what's going on, but it's scary. I've had to wrestle her soul gem away a few times to be able to get grief seeds to it on time. I mean…she's almost died so many times and we can't figure out what's wrong with her and she's being so freaking stubborn about me going to New York in a few days." Yuma was starting to shake a bit.

Sayaka had no idea anything like that could happen. Was it possible to have a sick soul gem? There were so many things Kyubey didn't tell them, she could believe it.

This is happening to her, and she still gave me one of her grief seeds…

"I'll help her when you're gone. I'll keep an eye on her, don't worry. I'll always have some grief seeds on hand for her too. I promise. She's right, you should go. Sayaka-chan will be here to bug her and keep her safe!" Sayaka smiled and saluted her enthusiastically. Yuma laughed.

"Lucky Kyoko." She said, borderline sarcastically.

"Damn…dang right lucky Kyoko!" She remembered the age of her companion. "Anyways, we're going to need grief seeds to keep her safe, right? Let's go save some witches from themselves!"

---

Kyoko had to do this as secretly as possible. If anyone, especially a junkie in the area saw her doing this…her entire ticket to saving the church would be gone.

She had an idea on how to get the diamonds out, but it was risky and used a lot of magic. She hoped she could figure out a better idea later.

She had buried all of the diamonds in the cemetery gardens, three full garbage bags per hole. There were almost thirty holes in all. Tomi, Fusao and she agreed that they should release one garbage bag a week to keep supply low and the prices up.

She put up a barrier around the entire graveyard every time she went out to dig for it. Everyone would just see a regular graveyard, and wouldn't hear anything. She could dig out the bags, which she buried four feet underground. Her arms were still sore from that, which was saying a lot since she had magic and all that.

She bought a shit ton of potted plants from a nearby nursery to put in the hole after she dug them up. At least that way, it just looked like she was a really, really avid gardener or landscaping enthusiast.

It wasn't the best plan…but it was something.

She couldn't very well hide drugs in a witch's barrier.

She sighed. She signed herself up for way more work than she had meant to.

You gotta do what you gotta do.

---

Sayaka had to do this as secretly as possible. Miyamoto's trial had gotten a lot of press coverage. Everyone had been fascinated by this human trafficker that preyed on addicts and no one seemed to know about.

It wasn't completely clear how the press had found out about the human trafficking part, since she had only been brought in on murder charges.

But the point was that it got out. There had been protests on the street. Internet commenters were crying out for the death penalty. Even the support group she was in wanted to stage a protest or make some kind of petition to get her the longest sentence possible. Miyamoto ended up getting that anyways.

If anyone found out she could be acquitted, there would be riots.

Today, Sayaka had to take Miyamoto to the courts to reopen her case. This normally would have taken months, but they made an exception. The faster they could get evidence on the Kurosawas and Watanabe, the more likely it would be they could get an arrest.

There was no problem getting her out of the prison. They were going to take her to the back door of the courts.

And that's where everything went to hell.

"What the fuck is going on out there?!" Ayumi shouted, right next to Suki's ear. She cringed. She looked a lot better today. She had been allowed to put on makeup and was wearing a neutral suit that was much more flattering on her than the bright orange jumpsuit was. Miyamoto had been a talkative smartass yesterday, but she hadn't said a word since she agreed to talk.

There were protestors surrounding the court building on all sides.

Signs reading "Justice for our Stolen Sisters!", "Addicts are Humans too!", "No Freedom for Miyamoto!" were everywhere.

"How the fuck did they find out?! This was kept strictly between the judge and our police departments!" Ayumi shouted again to no one in particular. The detectives from Mitakihara looked just as nervous.

"This isn't going to be easy." One of them muttered.

They were in a simple black car that could have had anyone inside. But they were going to have to get Suki in.

A group of officers tried clearing a path for the car. They tried pulling in. The protestors immediately closed in on them.

"You're a murderer! You're worse than a murderer!" Someone shouted as they tried to beat the car with a sign.

"This is why we should have the death penalty!"

"You people are cops! Cops! You're supposed to defend the innocent, not the guilty!"

"There's not justice in the justice system!"

They finally got close enough to the steps going in that they took their chances and opened the car doors. If they drove any closer, they would literally be driving up the stairs.

The officers had riot shields and were struggling to hold the crowd back. Sayaka and the other detectives formed a tight circle around Miyamoto and they made a break for it.

The flashing cameras and angry shouts from all directions were disorienting. There were going to be some very unflattering pictures of Sayaka strewn across the front page of numerous newspapers tomorrow, she could guarantee it.

"Miyamoto! Why are you seeking to be acquitted? What makes you think you can be?"

"Miyamoto! Where do you think the allegations that you're a human trafficker have come from?"

"Miyamoto! What will you do if you are released from prison?"

Reporters and protestors threatened to trample them. People were pulling at the detectives, trying to get them away from Miyamoto so they could see her more carefully. Even Sayaka stumbled forward at the force. She caught her magic threatening to emerge to launch people away with her shield. It was pure pandemonium.

"Miyamoto!" A desperate woman's voice called out. Sayaka recognized her.

"Karana-san?" Sayaka asked far too quietly for anyone to hear. She was a few feet in front of Miyamoto, trying to get her to the building. Karana was behind them.

"You took my daughter. You stole my daughter!" Karana screamed, but it was drowned out by the angry cries around her. She used her small stature to sneak through a gap between two officers' riot shields to be in clear view of Miyamoto.

Karana raised her gun and fired.

By the time Sayaka saw it, it was too late.

"NO!" She rushed back and tried to pull Miyamoto out of the way.

Miyamoto's head exploded.

Everyone around her was covered in blood and brain. The screams turned from anger to terror.

Miyamoto collapsed to the ground, her head as broken as her mother's had been.

---

Kyoko rushed to get the club ready. It was amazing how much preparation every night actually took. She used to think Sango was an idiot, but now she truly appreciated all of the work she actually did.

"How are we on ice? Do we have enough ice now?" They had run out before.

"Got that." Sango responded.

"Did we get those fucking mozzarella sticks in?" Kyoko asked with exasperation.

"Not yet. The supplier still can't find the shipment.'

"You have got to be fucking kidding me. OI! No mozzarella sticks tonight!" She yelled to the change room. Everyone nodded, getting the message.

"Is everyone here?" Kyoko asked.

"Uh…not quite." Sango looked away.

"What? Who the fuck isn't here? Next shift starts in five minutes!" Everyone should have been here twenty minutes ago!

"Yamasaki's not here yet."

"Is she sick?! No one called in for her!" Kyoko threw her arms into the air. The clients in room B were going to be such a royal pain in the ass…again!

She had a whole new level of empathy for Tomi.

God dammit Sayaka, get your shit together!

Kyoko stopped. Holy fuck, I'm an idiot.

Sayaka is a fucking undercover cop. In her club. Where she's working drug deals now.

No. No, this was good at all.

"I think Yamasaki has been going through a rough time recently. She gets along very well with everyone else, and some of our most…profitable but high maintenance clients. Maybe we should give her a break on this." Sango tried to suggest.

Kyoko smirked.

No, I'm not going to go easy on her at all.

---

Sayaka rushed to the club to get ready.

The whole day had been a disaster.

After the gunshot, Miyamoto was fucking dead. Their key to bust the Kurosawas was dead.

The protestors ran away in fright, naturally. Twenty people got trampled and had to be taken to the hospital. Three of them were in critical condition.

It took everyone on site to manage damage control, and it barely did shit all.

She felt like a total tool running out early to get to the club…but she had to have a shower to wash off the blood and was late as it was. She had already missed two days of work.

She got in twenty minutes late, and still had to do her makeup. She rushed through it and threw some gawdy black and yellow bumblebee outfit on that clashed terribly with her wig. At least it was something.

She didn't even bother checking the schedule. She assumed she was booked for room B.

She got in forty minutes late.

Whatever was happening in the room, she interrupted it by nearly tripping over her feet trying to get in.

"Hello!" She sounded way too loud and excited. Everyone turned around. She winced, realizing she should have tried to come in more discretely.

"Precious! You're back!" James smiled brightly. She returned the smile.

"Hey!" Fusao smiled brightly and opened his arms. She basically collapsed into them, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"I missed you, Fusao-san". She cuddled into him. People in the room, aside from Geisha and Kurosawa cooed at the ridiculously childish display of affection.

"I missed you too, Bumblebee." He whispered into her ear. He ran his hands down her back and up her dress a bit. She ignored her urge to scoot away from him.

She shouldn't have.

"Forty. Minutes. Late. After missing two shifts in a row." Kyoko stood at the door, wearing a fitted suit that flattered her lean body nicely.

It confused the hell out of Sayaka though.

"Koko! You look…very well dressed tonight. I missed you too!" She tried to shoot her a cute, babyish smile.

Kyoko looked angry and thoroughly unimpressed.

"In my office. Now. Geisha too."

"What office?" She was really confused.

"If you'd been here the last two shifts or given your sick notice yourself and on time, you would have known. Now come on."

What the fuck is going on?

She glanced over to Akemi uneasily, but got up and followed.

Kyoko walked in to Tomi's office.

"Close the door behind you." She ordered harshly.

"Isn't this Tomi's-"

"Like I said. If you had called or come in, you'd have known we have a new change in management. I bought the club from Tomi. I'm the new owner and new manager." Kyoko crossed her arms. Sango glanced between the two of them uneasily.

"Uh, I'm really sorry, I was sick…"

"If you're sick, you find a replacement or give us enough notice so we can. You didn't do that. We were short-staffed two nights in a row. And now, you're almost a whole hour late."

"I'm…I'm really sorry Kyoko. I'll pay the penalties."

"Right now? You could give me money for the penalties right now?"

"Yeah! Of course it's in my-"

Wallet. The wallet Kyoko robbed clean two days ago, and I haven't worked since then.

"I can make it back within the night."

"You're right. You probably could. You know, there are a lot of great staff here who would kill to be in your position. And they probably respect the rules a lot more than you do too. We're a strip club, not a brothel, and I saw the way you let that client's hand go up your skirt. I can't even imagine what else you've done for tips."

Sayaka spluttered over her words. She had nothing to say.

"And Geisha, none of the staff like you. Since I took over less than a week ago, I've had almost twenty staff complaints about you getting extra shifts. The only reason you got them was because of Precious's popularity, but Precious has been slacking and others have noticed.

"Kyoko, what are you-" Sayaka began trying to put a coherent sentence together.

"You're both fired."

---

AN: After a long wait, we finally have another chapter! So much for my month and a half goal; things have been crazy with school and work in particular, so I definitely put this on the back burner. I felt so much better after writing though, so I'm going to try to make a bigger effort to update faster next time. The worst part about this time is that I actually finished this chapter a long time ago and just didn't update it.

And at long last, both Miyamotos are dead. They were supposed to have died many, many chapters ago. I find it absolutely hilarious and wonderful how many people have told me that they actually liked the human traffickers and felt bad for them!

This surprisingly ended up being a shorter chapter (47 pages instead of 60+), and yet I feel like more has happened. I hope my pacing was still alright. I didn't want to write too long of a perspective on Sayaka's catatonic episode, both because I think it would have gotten boring and I know absolutely nothing about what it's like to be catatonic. I had trouble finding any good research on the perspective of the catatonic persons too.

I have decided to split this story in to two parts. It makes more sense, because there's going to be a significant time skip anyways. So next chapter is going to be the last chapter of Chewing on Diamonds! Ahhh! But I don't think the next installment of the story is going to be nearly as long. I'm super excited to write it though, because it's going to be a way more fun aspect of KyoSaya.

Constructive criticism and reviews are always greatly appreciated! They motivate me to write faster!