HALF A MONTH LATER: LOOP 17

Rachel sat in her bed, transformed into her Magical Girl form, watching a broadcast on her phone.

It had been a full month and a lot of loops since she became a Magical Girl, and during that time there had been… Well, it sucked that she was in a time loop, but Rachel was able to consistently save people around her now.

Her power and memories carried her from encounter to encounter. Witches were a cakewalk, even if killing them made her feel uneasy, like she was killing another Magical Girl.

She'd manage to avoid that entirely, luckily.

But it didn't remove the memories of doing it in other loops.

She didn't even have to go to school. She could show up for the weekly tests and ace them. Her parents complained about her absences but… what could they do? It's not like they could ground a Magical Girl, and it wouldn't even last the month anyway.

Would she even go to high school?

If she made it past the month, would she make it to high school?

She'd met a few older Magical Girls, they didn't stay alive by advertising their existence, that's for sure. Even one that was college aged.

She had blank eyes and an emotionless stare, like she'd been through hell and back.

She even won a duel against Rachel, with Rachel fully abusing her ability to rewind time. Such a veteran would be admired, if her existence wasn't extremely concerning. She was living life on autopilot, probably too traumatized to further comprehend the world around her. The amount of death she had seen, the amount of destruction, dead friends…

Would Rachel become that someday?

To take her mind off those thoughts, she focused intently on the broadcast. What was titled as a livestream of an active hurricane destroying some Japanese city was anything but. She learned quickly that humans couldn't really comprehend Magical Girls and Witches. Their minds replaced them with the next most logical thing.

… Like for example, replacing a city-destroying Witch with a hurricane.

There were Magical Girls fighting it. Their weapons made trails while they soared through the air. Trails of yellow… red-

That was weird.

This time, all Rachel could see was a black trail. The red trail, the yellow trail, the blue trail, the pink trail… none of them were there.

She noticed them disappearing intermittently throughout our loops. This broadcast was the only thing that was different throughout each one that wasn't directly affected by her. Every loop had different sets of the same Magical Girls fighting this giant Witch.

This time there was only the black trail.

Only the black trail…

Only the black…

"Wait…"

She intently focused on the video.

"Why is she… where did the others go? Where did-"

NEGATIVE ONE MONTH LATER: LOOP 18

Rachel woke up.

"Damn it! Fucking goddammit! I need to confirm…" She looked to her right, and Kyubey was there, just as she expected. "Hey! Kyubey?"

"What can I do for you, Rachel Somers?"

"You said memories are stored in the Soul Gem right? Along with my soul?"

"That is correct, why?"

"So if I disconnected my body from the Soul Gem, it wouldn't be lethal to my soul? Even if done for an extended period of time?"

"I…" This wasn't the first time Rachel made Kyubey stutter. If anyone was the most confused about this time loop, it was him. "I don't remember telling you about that, but yes, your soul would be theoretically unharmed."

Rachel smiled. "Fantastic." She reached for her cell phone sitting on the nightstand, dialing a number and bringing it to her ear. "Hey, you don't know me but I know you. I'm cashing in a favor, and it's a bit of an extreme one. If you follow through with it, I'll give you a cache of fifteen Grief Seeds. As a token of trust, I'll also give you five of them up front. Now, listen carefully:"

ONE DAY LATER: LOOP 18

"This is really weird." said Julie.

"I know! But you have to trust me, you have everything I gave you: the five grief seeds in advance plus the ten I'll give you when I wake up. Those five belonged to powerful witches, they'll last you through the next month if you use your power sparingly. You'll get the rest, the same power, when you wake me up!"

Julie held onto Rachel's Soul Gem, holding it like she was holding the detached body part of another person. "... how do you know me? We've never met…"

Rachel took off her shirt and shorts, revealing a set of swimwear she took from her school. She dove into the empty pool in front of her, coming back to the surface and laying on her back. "Look, I gave you what you needed, don't trouble yourself with questions." She started swimming back, but stopped. "Wait! One more thing before you disconnect me!"

Julie looked sharp, as if she was listening to the last request of someone on death row.

"When my parents come forward, don't say anything! They'll…"

Rachel looked away, unable to look at Julie as she told a bold faced lie.

"They'll understand."

"I…" Julie stuttered. "I guess I'll see you in a month? Good luck on the other side… 'Rachel…'"

HALF A MONTH LATER: LOOP 18

Investigators are still unable to ascertain the cause of death of local fourteen-year-old girl Rachel Somers. Her parents are continuing to search, not believing drowning to be the cause. Although unfortunately for them, it's quickly becoming a cold case. There's no reason to suspect murder, although the circumstances around her death are a bit… shocking. Leaked information from the mortician concluded that all functions in her body simultaneously stopped working. Total organ failure. But no cause could be found, no disease, no condition-

HALF A MONTH LATER: LOOP 18

Rachel woke up. She threw her arm forward and through the wooden coffin, clawing her way up as she desperately gasped for breath. She ripped apart the coffin and threw away the dirt above her as hard as she could, digging herself out.

She finally felt the air.

Her head emerged from the ground, alongside her arm, her other arm, her body…

Rachel stepped out of the grave, and threw up a stream of dark, slightly pinkish liquid. She couldn't even get a breath in, the liquid kept coming out.

A full ten seconds later, there was no more liquid.

She could barely feel it, and didn't want to acknowledge it, but the liquid was falling out of more than just her mouth.

Rachel was wearing a tattered dress, probably the clothes she was buried in. She was a pale, recently reanimated corpse of a fourteen year old girl.

Julie had her mouth wide open, holding Rachel's Soul Gem in her hands.

Rachel gasped for breath. She looked up at Julie, still panting. "Oh my god… what the… what the hell was that inside me?"

"Embalming fluid? I think?" said Julie. She took a deep breath to regain her composure.

Rachel dry heaved, throwing up more of the liquid. "There's still more… How much… did they put in me…"

"It was an open casket funeral…" Julie handed the Soul Gem to Rachel, and she promptly used it to transform.

Her Magical Girl form was, luckily, completely normal.

"That was seriously the most awful thing I've ever tasted…" she looked up at Julie. "Did we do it on time? Pull out your phone and turn it to international news! There should be a broadcast from Japan right now!"

Julie nodded, and pulled out her phone. She tabbed over to the same broadcast Rachel had been watching the loops prior.

"Only the black trail again…"

"So about those grief seeds?" asked Julie.

"Oh yeah, I lied about those." Rachel smiled.

Julie looked furious.

"Don't worry," said Rachel. "It won't matter in three… two… one-"

0 MONTHS LATER: LOOP 19

Rachel coughed up more fluid. "The… the trail?"

Julie nodded. "I can only see a black one."

0 MONTHS LATER: LOOP 20

"Just the black one."

0 MONTHS LATER: LOOP 23

"Black."

0 MONTHS LATER: LOOP 33

"Black."

0 MONTHS LATER: LOOP 46

"Black."

NEGATIVE ONE MONTH LATER: LOOP 47

Rachel woke up.

She sighed.

She knew there was only one course of action left. There was only one Magical Girl in this world who was stuck with her in this loop. One Magical Girl who fought a different way every time against that Witch in Japan. One Magical Girl who Rachel had no way of personally affecting, who even when she chose to die to "skip" the week, continued to make different decisions.

One Magical Girl who once fought alongside allies, but had long since started fighting alone. Rachel hadn't seen the yellow, red, blue, or pink trails since the first few loops.

Er… well…

She had seen the pink one, but never as a Magical Girl, only as a normal human. Very rarely, when the camera angles agreed and the correct buildings were destroyed.

She had very, very bright pink hair.

But back to the plan: Rachel knew there was one option she hadn't tried, a nuclear option.

One that would take a tremendous amount of effort.

"... I'm gonna have to learn Japanese, aren't I?"