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The End of the Circus: A Tale of the Yizibajohei
Girls of the Crystal: Record of the Crystal Interlude or Team Camellia
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

Based on characters and situations from Kantai Collection, created by Kadokawa Games; Urusei Yatsura, created by Takahashi Rumiko; Sister Princess, created by Tenhiro Naoto and Kimino Sakurako; Mahō Shōjo Madoka Magika, created by Urobuchi Gen, Shaft and Aniplex; and normalman, created by Jim Valentino.

Natsume Books in Kamihama, the third Monday of November in 2012, two hours before supper...

Seated in a private booth away from prying eyes, four girls were relaxing enjoying afternoon tea after a busy day studying at school. And while normal girls their age would be looking forward to after-school studies at private cram schools to eventually prepare them for the Centre Test, this particular quartet had come together for something more...esoteric.

"So what do you think?" Tokiwa Nanaka wondered as she raised a cup of mixed cherry tea to her lips and sipped. The current heiress of the Kashin School of flower arranging — a school that had taught officers of the Tokugawa Shōgun over the centuries — had been introduced to this remarkable concoction by a certain chartikinetic half-sister of the man-turned-woman who had unleashed Earth's second Metahuman Age over a decade before. Placing the cup down on the table, the lavender-haired beauty gazed on her fellow would-be puella magi. "Is there anyone in the area who might be amicable for recruitment?"

Gazing on the pictures spread out before the Duel Mistress, Rotonugu ("Kickback"), her fellow would-be magical girls-turned-metahuman warriors hummed. Shinobu Akira then hummed before she indicated three people. "Sasara-san, Asuka-san and Emily-san are already pre-Gifted," the silver-haired tomboy who was Gifted as the Runaway Missile, Kronarone ("Top Speed"), reported, then the mid-range FISS/speed mistress indicated the other two pictures her team leader produced. "Manaka-san and Rika-san were both Gifted not too long ago. I'm not too sure exactly what they became, though."

Humming, the leader of the Krohate-tone ("Team Camellia") pulled out her PAA to tap into the data networks all those who participated in the Great Show of Life could access. "Ah, here they are," the teenage kadō-ka from Kamihama trilled. "Manaka-san became Leduto; she goes by Inferno here on Earth," she then announced as pictures and information in the Mongol-like script used by the Children of the Forge appeared on a holoscreen over the multi-use device the size of a paperback novel. "The Supreme Chef of the Lower Pits; pyrokinetic and trofikinetic, low on the latter scale compared to Tariko-san's sister Shirayuki-san, but high on the former." The images changed. "And Rika-san is Atase Myu'uo; she'd be Light Queen here. The Lustrous Dazzler; flight powers and mid-high level photokinesis. Another good combination." Sitting back in her chair, she reached for her tea to take a calming sip. "Another pair saved from the Incubators' evil. With three more to come. Kako? Měiyǔ?"

Chún Měiyǔ hummed before sipping her tea to collect her thoughts. "I learned that Mami-shīfù came to Kamikama," the raven-haired Hong Kong native who was now the Conjurer of the Middle Empire, Telem ("Guìrén"), mused. "No doubt, she's gone there to investigate all the weird happenings in town. Especially with these 'rumour' things running around these days."

"Chances are, we'll meet up," Natsume Kako added. As the others perked on that observation, the Scroll Twister, Baseunu ("Paperback"), calmly added. Natsume Books was the turquoise-haired bookworm's family-owned business, so it had been natural for her to become a chartikinetic as much as another sister of the Trickster of the Show, Susumu Marie, had become. "Which will be really nice!" she added, holding up a finger. "Atop Sempai, we could get together with Iroha-san, too!"

The other girls laughed in response. Like many of Kamihama's resident Terrans-turned-Yizibajohei, the leader of Team Camellia had been a target for "recruitment" by the Incubators. Fortunately for Nanaka, Iroha Tamaki chanced upon her and persuaded the young kadō-ka to become Gifted instead; with the public appearance of shipgirls thanks to Luisa von Bismarck's public salvaging/Gifting in late August — never mind the number of "capes" that had appeared around the world over the past decade and more — it had been an easy sell, especially when the Mobile Healer had clued in the future Duel Mistress on the truth behind puella magi, what happened to innocent girls who allowed despair to overcome them and who exactly benefited from such suffering in the long term. Once she had become an effective "trump" (borrowing the American parahuman term) who could develop the necessary powers to counter each opponent she faced — though she was limited to dealing with only one set of powers at any one time — Nanaka went on her own casting drive, bringing in Akira, Kako and Měiyǔ under her wing soon enough. Of course, choosing the team name had been a no-brainer given Nanaka's family background; doing that had actually inspired other groups of would-be puella magi saved from the Incubators to use flower themes in their team names.

"That reminds me," the leader of Team Camellia then hummed before sipping her tea. "According to a telepath of my acquaintance — she wants to remain anonymous at this time — most of the puella magi in town have signed on with a group who call themselves the 'Wings of Magius'." As the others gave her intensive looks, the kadō-ka smirked as she gave them a knowing look. "They seem to have something to do with the claims running around about being able to 'save' puella magi."

Akira, Kako and Měiyǔ exchanged looks before the Runaway Missile snorted. "Cult."

"Pathetically easy to conclude," the Conjurer snorted. "What an easy plot script to read."

Snickers escaped the others. "Hai, Měiyǔ, that was too easy to figure out," the Scroll Twister breathed out. "Even if this group's intentions are righteous, attempts at beating what the Incubators unleashed tend to go awry..."

"Unless someone steps in to spoil the script," Měiyǔ finished for her friend.

"I'll try to get names," Nanaka declared. As the others nodded — no doubt, the Duel Mistress' telepathic source was one of the Avalonians who lived in this town; the rise of puella magi did attract interest from the natives of Phentax Two, seeing an observation post located in Kamihama shortly afterwards — she added, "Let's see if we can persuade them to be Gifted. We probably won't be able to convince ALL of them..." Here, she grimaced. "But the more we can save, the better."

"And if an eldritch witch or one of these rumour things show up..." Akira added as she gently cracked her knuckles. "Well, a fight scene an episode does keep the healers and mind-healers from getting extra business."

Laughter escaped the others before Akira, Kako and Měiyǔ pulled out their own PAAs to do some more research. Anyone who would take the chance to look upon this quartet of teenage magical girls-turned-metahuman warriors would have their breath taken away by how intent they were in pushing forward on their mission despite their being young women in their hearts and souls. That didn't come only from the massive download of memories spanning two millennia and an average of over two dozen lifetimes acquired on the World of the Forge which the whole Gifting process unleashed on those who became of the Named. The horror that befell any puella magi lost to despair, the Incubators' greed and their customers' lust for consuming negative emotions would drive ANY sensible person into doing anything within reason to save such unfortunates from that hideous fate.

And when all those touched by Kyūbē and Kyūiin and the others were Gifted...

...then the Incubators and the Sidines would face what so many others did when the combined wrath of Yiziba was woken.

Oh, won't THAT be one MOAFS to remember, Nanaka mused, she trying not to lick her lips in anticipation...

To Be Continued...

EDITOR'S NOTES

This interlude is set near the end of Part 15 of the first book of the main story. As with the other Record of the Crystal shorts, this story presents more characters from Magia Record.

While the Kashin-koryū (literally "Traditional School of Kashin") of ikebana ("arranging flowers") is clearly fictional, the school might have been inspired by the Koshin-ryū; this school existed in the early period of the Tokugawa Bakufu and one of its teachers was an instructor to the second shōgun, Tokugawa Hidetada (1581-1632).

Translation list: Kadō-ka — Literally "person who does the path of flowers", the formal title for a practitioner of ikebana (Japanese); Guìrén — Term for a person of importance or a royal consort (Mandarin).

Chún Měiyǔ is the proper Hànyǔ Pīnyīn Romanization of the characters 純 美雨, written as "Chun Meiyui" in the game.

And some Yizibajohei social idioms:

Easy plot script to read — Something that wasn't difficult to determine.

Spoil(ing) the script — Doing something that ruins another person's plot.

A fight scene an episode keeps the healers/mind-healers from getting extra business — Equivalent concept to the Terran "An apple a day keeps the doctor away", emphasizing how one must stay physically/mentally healthy.

MOAFS — Short for "mother of all fight scenes", pronounced /moʊfs/ in English (rhyming with "loafs").