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The End of the Circus: A Tale of the Yizibajohei
Girls of the Crystal: The Pleiades Saints
by Regina Magia

C&C by Fred Herriot and Rose Ash

A side story to The End of the Circle: A Tale of the Yizibajohei, by Fred Herriot

Including characters and situations from Mahō Sensei Negima, created by Akamatsu Ken; Kantai Collection, created by Kadokawa Games; Sister Princess, created by Kimino Sakurako and Tenhiro Naoto; Harry Potter, created by Joanna K. Rowling; Urusei Yatsura and Ranma 1/2, created by Takahashi Rumiko; Mahō Shōjo Madoka Magika, created by Urobuchi Gen, Shaft and Aniplex; normalman, created by Jim Valentino; and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon.

Asunaro (near Takayama in Gifu Prefecture), a Monday near the start of fall, after school...

Six girls sat on the roof of a shopping mall, looking out over the skyline of Asunaro and its neighbouring municipality far to the south. All of them were currently in civilian clothing, but they weren't anywhere close to being normal people. As a group, these Terrans-turned-Yizibajohei metahumans called themselves the Rohaso-r'buomem (the "Pleiades Saints"); such was a battle team that had been gathered together over the last year or so by a native of Asunaro born as Kazusa Michiru, known to all her friends as "Kazumi". Said leader wasn't with them now as she had been forced to cover for a friend in after-school clean up duties. The others didn't mind the idea of her being late even when a fight scene was underway. Even if they were grateful to Michiru for helping them be Gifted before someone like one of those umale Incubators could come to ruin their lives, their past-selves had often worked alone; the several times school issues had kept their leader away from the fun, the Saints had been more than able to take down whatever eldritch witch had reared her ugly head to cause trouble.

Scanning her PAA, Misaki Umika could only shake her head as updates on events near Fukushima was relayed over the network. "Damn!" the raven-haired beauty who was now the current incarnation of the Angel of Inspiration, Lototuo ("Muse"), muttered as the words flashed in front of her blue eyes — such protected by glasses that could morph into goggles when she got into her fighting uniform — at a considerable clip; given she was an aspiring author, the native of Ōgaki had long taught herself how to speed read long before she acquired the ability to organize her thoughts that came part and parcel with her telepathy when she was Gifted. "I just can't believe how many Puella Magi there are in Japan...!"

"What are the numbers?" the slender and athletic Maki Kaoru asked.

Umika tilted her machine over to allow the current incarnation of the Moving Mountain, Latoluo ("Brickhouse"), to see what was there. Gaping at all the names listed, the mid-level FISS-type from Gifu city then shook her head. "Damn...!" the amateur soccer player hissed. "How the HELL did those umale Incubators talk people into turning into THAT, for Buddha's sake...?!"

The others of the Saints had by then shifted themselves to see what was now being projected by Umika's PAA. After a moment as they took that in, Wakaba Mirai huffed. "That proves one thing!" the childish rose-haired girl snidely announced, crossing her arms in a huff.

Her friends gazed at her. "What's that, Mirai-chan?" Umika wondered.

"Desperation makes people fall into all sorts of trap scenes," Mirai answered, a tsunami of bitterness then flooding her voice. Noting that, the other Saints could only nod in understanding. Being the victim of many bullies before her Gifting as the Fierce Protector of the North, R'betadi ("Ursa"), she once saw her handmade teddy bears as her only true friends. Mirai could write a LONG essay concerning how sorrow and depression affects a child...especially given the danger the Incubators brought to the situation. Fortunately, after her Gifting, she had become a ki mistress with the standard "finger claw" capabilities, plus all the heightened senses and low-level FISS abilities without flight; thus whenever any creatures pretending to be the bullies that had come after her in her youth attacked her, they were sliced and diced into ribbons. "After all, you didn't take it well when you found out about how that girl who put you in crutches tried to kill herself, Kaoru-chan. Saki-chan lost her sister in that car crash. Satomi-chan lost her cat in that fire. Don't forget what happened to me and Umika-chan." The native of Ichinomiya pointed to herself, then to the current incarnation of the Angel of Inspiration. "She poured her heart into that story that baka editor stole from her to publish under his name! Look how close the bullies pushed me! If one of those umale were there and Kazumi-chan wasn't...!"

The others grimaced at being reminded yet again about what could have befallen people that earned the attention of the Incubators: Either they would become so depressed that they would take their own lives...or make a contract with whatever Incubator was in the area! "From what our friends in Mitakihara passed on through Chisame-san to us, the Incubators have been here for a very long time," Asami Saki then noted. The current tactical field leader of the Saints whenever they got into fight scenes, she had become the Heart of Legions, Krosatone ("Regiment"). Such had made her a high-level FISS-type who was spiritually descent from the commander of a similar-sized unit for one of the more dictatorial regimes on Yiziba's western equatorial continent before the Dawn of Power; the ability to make snap decisions in a fight scene was one of the bespectacled woman's other abilities. "Even though their claims concerning being responsible for humanity's advancements are an endless replay of obvious fake news, they've had some influence on people's lives. All of it negative!" she scornfully added. "At least they haven't done something loud enough to raise serious concern among the magically-gifted, to say anything of the likes of the Undying Lord or his adopted children."

"Not to mention the Great Old Ones," Kaoru dryly noted.

The others shivered on hearing the amateur soccer player mention the term for those ancient nature spirits who were the true first sentient lifeforms to rise on Earth. Then again, it was understandable. One had to be a reality warper like Tariko Katabarbe or one of those recently reborn warship spirits like Fukushima Fujiko to NOT be scared of the likes of the beings who had beaten down the Old Ones at the side of the Undying Lord of Rügen before the Great Banishment twenty-five millennia ago. "Speaking of which, do you know what I just heard from Chikage-san?" Usagi Satomi then prodded.

"What?!" Mirai asked.

"After the Pseudo War was finished and Tariko-san's sisters got Ataru-kun away from Tomobiki, Chikage-san sensed a few girls from BOTH Tomobiki AND Nerima who became Puella Magi!" the current incarnation of the Mistress of the Wild Menagerie, Lonukroum ("Serraglio"), announced, her brown eyes sparkling with mirth. As her friends gasped, she added, "Chikage-san thinks a couple of them might be people who gave Tariko-san and Kanami-san a tonne of trouble before they decided they'd had enough of the constant repeat scenes and gave everyone the middle finger. Quietly in Tariko-san's case, of course!" As the other Saints snickered at that, the omnilingualist who could also telepathically command animals to do her bidding added, "Given what's gone down since the Week of Hell in Nerima, the 'status quo' in both towns got so upset that the local Puella Magi became Eldritch!"

Eyes rolled as some of the girls snorted. "No doubt, your networks of critters kept you up to date!" Kanna Niko dryly declared. And while she admired the animal lover from Sado-ga-shima off the coast of Niigata prefecture for creating such "rat lines" — no pun intended — to get all sorts of juicy gossip from all across Japan, the current incarnation of the Flaming Spark, Likror'bemtum ("Hotwire"), preferred her own spy network to be based on inventions she had morphed with her own technopathic/technokinetic powers, all based on designs she herself had composed thanks to also being a hyper-genius polymath on the same scale as Isaac Thomas or Tsuruya Rumiko.

"Ciao, girls!"

Satomi's reply was cut off on hearing the voice of the woman who had welcomed them to a much more forgiving world than what becoming a Puella Magi or an Eldritch Witch would have led them. Cheerful and caring to a fault, Kazusa Michiru was now the current incarnation of the Wandering Alchemist, Musekromi ("Paradigm"). Despite her past-selves having been part of the Cosmic Mage Guild, the raven-haired teen with the chestnut brown eyes hadn't presented herself to Rose Potter or any of her friends since her Gifting a year before to reaffirm her oaths to the Guild; such a trip to England was still in the works, but given how busy the native of Kōfu had been dealing with issues in Chūbu...!

"Ah! Kazumi!" Umika called out, sliding over on the blanket the girls had brought with them to protect their uniforms from the dirt and other contaminants that dotted the place where they normally gathered to plot the script about future fight scenes or other business. "How're the girls you found?"

"Airi-san and Yuuri-san, you mean?" Michiru mused as she dropped down seiza beside her friends before taking a deep breath. "Well, Yuuri-san's pretty shaken. She was JUST on the verge of contracting with an Incubator before I got to her." As the other Saints all tensed on hearing that, their recruiter smirked. "They're both okay. You'd swear they were pillow scene partners; that's how close they are! I can't think of what Airi-san would have done if Yuuri-san was taken from her."

"Pre-Gifted, I hope!" Mirai said.

"Hai, hai, Mirai-chan!" the other woman asserted with a nod. "I dare say my strawberry risotto is the match of Tariko-chan's black forest cake! It even got two thumbs up from her sister Shirayuki-chan!"

Jaws dropped as that statement sank into the other girls' minds. To earn the respect of the likes of Osamu Shirayuki, the current incarnation of the Great Chef of the West, Syuosekuo ("Küchenchefin") — who had been revealed to be one of twelve half-sisters to the Trickster of the Show herself in recent weeks — spoke VERY highly of one's skills in the kitchen! "Well, that's good!" Umika breathed out, nodding in satisfaction. "That's two more girls out of the reach of those umale! I'll ask Ishijima-junsa if she could introduce them to our other recruits. Once they're all Gifted, we can head out."

"Yoshi!" Kaoru snapped as she leapt to her feet, pointing off to the west. "Next stop: Kazamino!"

The other Saints all whooped on hearing that...

Fin...For Now!

WRITER'S NOTES

Time-wise, this gaiden occurs a couple weeks after the events depicted in the fourth Urusei Yatsura movie, Lum The Forever; the "Pseudo War" is the nickname Fred gave the battle that takes up the last part of the plot of that movie. In terms of The End of the Circus, this omake occurs over three months before the start of the main story, around the same time as the last chapter.

As with Mitakihara, the city of Asunaro — which serves as the setting for the first spin-off of the Mahō Shōjo Madoka Magika series, the Mahō Shōjo Kazumi Magika: The Innocent Malice manga (first serialized in 2011-14) — is fictitious. The choice of location putting it close to the city of Takayama was Fred's choice; he discovered that a ryokan (traditional inn) by that name is located in Takayama.

The "Chisame" spoken of here is Hasegawa Chisame of Mahō Sensei Negima. She became the Mistress of Knowledge, Nexus; she has been spoken of several times in the main story.

The "Chikage" spoken of here is Chikage of Sister Princess; Fred gave her the full name Hirosaki Chikage in his various works. As established in the main story, she is the Dark Heart of Pure Chaos, Dragonheart; she was formally introduced in the main story. Of course, all the sisters from Sister Princess are involved in the main story, including Shirayuki (AKA Osamu Shirayuki).

And the "Kanami" spoken of here is Hayashi Kanami, the renamed and permanently transformed Saotome Ranma from Ranma 1/2. She became the Untameable One, Mustang; what happened to her and how that affected Nerima directly is noted on in the main story.