For your convenience and improved reading experience, I have included this handy link detailing the children of fake town, which I used as a reference while writing this chapter. (It would be really nice if FFN allowed hyperlinks. replace the '(d-o-t)' with a '.')

Imgur (d-o-t) com/a/mM0Lk


Kyoko perched herself on the bridges railing, snacking on pocky as she waited. The sky was particularly bright with starlight for a city night. The moon was out and it's crescent shape reflected off the river behind her.

She saw a self-righteous figure marching up the bridge, the girl's head was down enough that her eyes were hidden under her short blue hair, but below that she wore a face cold as stone.

"So, you didn't chicken out after all." Kyoko laughed as Sayaka approached. She jumped down from the railing and stuffed the pocky box back into her hoodie while one stick remained hanging from her lips.

"As if I would." Sayaka said. She pushed her hands forward as if she were grabbing at something, and with a flash of light her clothes tore away from her body and blue ribbons began forming her Magical Girl uniform. Her hands wrapped around the hilt of a freshly formed sword, and she took her stance. "My duty is to protect this city, and if that means taking down selfish Magical Girls like you, then there's no way I'm backing down."

Kyoko sighed as her own Magical Girl uniform started forming around her body. "You really got some messed up priorities, chick. Guess I'll just have to show you what your so called justice really amounts to!" Her transformation complete, and her spear formed in her hand just in time to block Sayaka's first attack. Kyoko just grinned and fended off the blow, then stepped around to try and give herself some distance. "Did you already forget what happened last time?" She teased, "Don't count on your precious senpai jumping in and saving the day again!"

"I wasn't ready last time!" Sayaka shouted, and she spun around and started bombarding Kyoko with attack after attack, "This time I won't lose!"

Then a third voice called from far away, "WAIT! STOP!" They both stopped with their weapons locked together and looked down the bridge in the direction Sayaka had come from.

"Are you kidding me?" Kyoko said under her breath, as she stuffed Sayaka's blade away and jumped back to open some distance between them. "Should have figured you'd be too chicken to actually come here alone."

Sayaka didn't say anything and just watched as Mami and Madoka ran up the bridge together. "You don't have to be here." Sayaka said to Mami, as she turned and raised her sword to Kyoko once again. "I said I could handle this myself."

Mami ignored Sayaka's words and went to stand in between them while she addressed Kyoko. "You have your own territory, why do you insist in barging in on ours?"

Kyoko clicked her teeth as she raised her spear to rest it up over her shoulder. "There is no way I can just stand by while the two of you ruin this prime piece of territory." Her eye's narrowed. "I'm the one who should have right's to this town, and that's why I'm going to take it over."

Sayaka stepped forward. "If it were up to you, you'd just let innocent people die so you can collect more GriefSeeds!"

Mami put her hand up to signal Sayaka back. "If you insist on fighting, then I suppose we have no choice. However, you do seem outnumbered at the moment so I would suggest you reconsider your options."

Kyoko grinned, showing off her fang. "Well you aren't wrong about that." Her free hand raised and she snapped, summoning a barrier between herself and the three other girls, then she set her sights on Sayaka. "We'll have to try this again some other time, rookie."

Sayaka scoffed and her hands tightened around the hilt of her sword as Kyoko started walking away. "Mami, just back off and let me take her one on one. Seriously!"

Then, Kyoko stopped walking. There was a whooshing sound that caused all their heads to turn back to her. Kyoko laughed as the fourth Magical Girl appeared in front of her.

Homura brushed her hair to the side, and looked at Kyoko through the corner of her eye. "Kyoko, how about staying a while longer?"

Kyoko's fang poked out again, "Finally dropping the act, huh?" She spun around, and poised her spear back into her battle stance. She now stood side by side with Homura and faced the other girls. "It's about time!"

"H-Homura?" Madoka asked, taking a slight step back. "What's going on?"

The red chain-link barrier dispelled, opening up the battle ground, and everyone on the field other than Homura and Madoka sunk into battle positions. Mami summoned a musket into her hands and focused her sight down the barrel. "Homura? Is this really as it seems? Are you betraying us?"

"I knew it!" Sayaka shouted, "I knew you couldn't be trusted! I never imagined you would actually sink this low though!"

"Ha! That's right!" Kyoko said with a mocking tone. "Smiles over here has been plotting against the two of you this whole time! Ever wonder how I had such an easy time finding the rookie? We planned on just taking her out first, but that hasn't really worked out. So looks like we are just stepping our game up now."

"You're saying Homura directed you towards Sayaka?" Mami asked. Sayaka gritted her teeth, her muscles were tense and she was ready to lash out.

Kyoko grinned, "That's right. We've been setting you up this whole time!"

"I see." Mami said, with a dry voice. "Then I think it would be wise to take a closer look at your so called ally… Kyoko." Kyoko raised a questioning eyebrow. "How do you think it is I always managed to show up as well?"

Kyoko's eye's widened as the answer dawned on her. She quickly spun away from Homura, and jumped back a few steps, then seemed unsure of who to point her spear at as she aimed it's tip back and forth from Homura to Mami and Sayaka. "What the hell! You were tryna' set ME up this whole time!?" She said, finally deciding to focus her spear on Homura. "Wait… Just what side are you on here anyway!"

"I think the answer is obvious now." Mami said. "She likely wanted the three of us to engage with each other, so she could come finish off the last one standing, and then have the territory all to herself." Mami steadied her aim on Homura. "Isn't that right? Akemi?"

"N-no!" Madoka shouted, "Homura wouldn't do something like that! Th-this is a misunderstanding! It has to be!" She looked over to Homura who now had all three of the other girls training their weapons on her "Tell them Homura!"

Homura brushed her hair to the side, and spoke in her calm controlled way. "I'll admit that I have indeed been playing both sides of the fence this whole time."

Madoka gasped and her mouth dropped open. Sayaka stepped forward. "You're really going to pay for that!" She shouted, "Messing with us to try and take our territory is one thing! But misrepresenting yourself to Madoka is something I'll never forgive you for!"

"However!" Homura said, raising her voice and interrupting Sayaka's accusations. "The reasons that Mami stated are all false." She stepped forward, until she was perfectly in the center of all the other girls. A wind blew at her hair, and she brought a hand up to flip the stray locks back behind herself. "You can all lower your weapons. There is no need for any of us to fight amongst ourselves… Because the truth is, we all share a common enemy."

"Quit stalling!" Sayaka shouted, "There's no way you're just going to talk your way out of this one!"

"I'm with the rookie on that." Kyoko said, pointing her spear more carefully, and letting her eyes become dark. "You're going to pay for jerking me around."

Mami's steadiness with her musket faltered. She was the only one who seemed willing to give Homura the benefit of the doubt, other than Madoka of course, who still didn't quite know what to think, but the distress was clear on her face.

Mami's life had been saved by Homura before, and that simple fact spoke mountains against the idea that Homura's goal was to take all of them out, and it was enough to slow her down and let her listen. "Common enemy? What are you talking about?" She asked.

"It's someone we all know." Homura explained, as she looked from Kyoko, to Sayaka, then back to Mami. "His name is Kyubey."

The girls were silent for a long moment after the revelation, until Mami spoke up. "What are you saying? Are you really trying to stall with something like that?"

Homura just looked at her with a sympathetic frown, and without warning, her shield turned, and she stopped time.

Homura walked over to Madoka, and put a hand on her shoulder to bring her into her timeflow. Madoka flinched from Homura's sudden appearance, then looked around to confirm that time had stopped. Even though she has seen this plenty of times before, it still managed to have an effect on her.

Madoka looked up at Homura, and saw the concern in her eyes. "Homura? What's going on?" She asked.

Homura looked away, almost guiltily. "I didn't want to shock you too much, so I'm going to tell you first." Homura explained.

She could see Homura was troubled, and knew whatever this was about, it was difficult for her. Madoka grabbed onto her hand, and squeezed it tightly.

When they made eye contact again, they each managed to give each other a reassuring smile. Homura's smile faded after a moment, and in a dark voice she said, "I'm sorry, but something very cruel is about to happen."


"I don't care what you have to do. Either you get those numbers up by the end of the week, or don't bother coming in on monday!"

With that, Junko slammed her finger down on the receiver, ending the call. She sat back for a moment, and rubbed her temple, trying to massage away some of the frustration. Of all the problems brought to her desk, the ones coming from the accounting team always felt just so tedious. If they weren't so damn necessary, she wouldn't mind getting rid of every last one of them... especially Old Baldy.

She grinned at the thought, then rolled closer to her keyboard and opened up her email. Five messages awaited her. Briefly looking at the subject lines, most of them were just asking for confirmations on certain things. Another inquired about a proposal she was working on for the board meeting later that day. Her method was to deal with the simplest problems first, and get them out of her way so the more intricate issues of her work day could have her full attention.

She read over the first of these emails, then began typing out a response to confirm a sales margin, when her phone started ringing. Her finger glided over to the receiver and pushed a button, then returned to the keyboard, the action causing only the slightest delay in her typing speed.

"Mrs. Kaname, your husbands on line two." Came the voice of her secretary.

"Ok, thanks, send him through." Junko said, as she finished the email then began giving it a quick proof read.

The receiver beeped, then gave way to soft white noise, and Junko said, "Hey hon, whats up?"

"Hey, hows your day going so far?"

"Good. Eventful." She said, as she clicked send, then opened up the next email and started reading it.

"Well, there's something I figured you should know about." Tomohisa said.

"Does this have anything to do with a certain angsty teenager?" Junko asked.

"You guessed it." Tomohisa said with a sigh. "I went to wake Madoka up, only to find her bed was empty. She must have snuck out earlier in the morning… She isn't answering her phone either, I don't know what she could be doing."

Junko turned away from the computer; it was very rare for her to look away from something once she got started. "I think I have an idea of where she went." Junko said, "Last night she mentioned Homura coming back into town. I don't know why she would sneak out, though. Even though she's grounded, I'd think she'd know we wouldn't keep her from seeing Homura." Junko sighed, "Don't worry, I'll handle this."

"Alright, well have a good day."

"Yup, love you."

"Love you too." Tomohisa said, and Junko smiled as she pushed down on the receiver to end the call.

She punched in Madoka's number then listened to it ring until it eventually went to voicemail.

"Hiii! This is Madoka! Sorry I'm not by my phone right now, but leave a message and I'll get right back to ya'!" ~beeeep

"Hey sweetie," Junko said, deciding to start with the nice approach first. "Look, I don't know what's going on with you, but you can't just start ignoring us like this. Call me back before I start to worry, ok?" She ended the call then stopped and thought for a moment. That message should do the job of guilting Madoka into calling her back. If not, she would try again a little later, being more assertive next time, and if that still didn't work she supposed the gloves would have to come off.

She didn't like playing the strict parent, and preferred to leave it up to Madoka to make her own decisions for herself, while offering advice and guidance where she could. Especially now that Madoka was at that delicate formative age. Then again, considering how Madoka had been lately, maybe she really hasn't been being strict enough?

She thought back to when she was that age. Would she just blatantly break her parents rules like this? Well, the answer actually would be yes, but that's because her own parents were way too strict and didn't give her enough freedom. She didn't necessarily have a bad relationship with her parents, but it certainly wasn't a warm one. That's why she wanted to take a different approach with her own children. She wanted to be the kind of mom who's daughter wouldn't hesitate to come to her with anything. Whether it was for advice, just telling her about her day, or something like introducing her girlfriend.

Junko looked back to the email she was working on, and found herself reading it without actually registering any of the words her eyes hovered across. She rubbed her temple and let out a sigh. Family first, work second. That's not a priority she could argue with even if she wanted to; her inner chemistry simply wouldn't allow it.

What was going on with Madoka?

At first it could have been blamed on her simply being at that age, but by now she realized it has gone far beyond that. What could it be though? Retracing her previous thought, she and Madoka really did have the kind of relationship where Madoka would come to her with anything.

Junko imagined coming out of the closet with a girlfriend on her arm is just about the biggest bombshell a teenage girl could drop on her parents. For Madoka, even something that big was like barely anything at all. Then again, Junko partly expected it never even occurred to Madoka that it was out of the ordinary for her to have a girlfriend. She did have that rather thick layer of innocence to her.

So what is this big secret thing that Madoka wouldn't come to her with now? It was clearly tearing her up, whatever it was, and the more Junko thought about it, the more it started to actually scare her. Madoka wanted to tell her, Junko could see that, but for some reason Madoka simply couldn't.

What could it be?

It had to do with Homura, Junko expected that much, and Madoka more or less confirmed it last time they spoke. Madoka also said that Homura would be back in town today, so Junko highly expected that's exactly who Madoka was with. Why would Madoka sneak out of the house, though? Doing something like that was so unlike her.

Junko knew where Homura's apartment was, and part of her just wanted to leave work and head over there to see if she could catch them. She could also ask Homura about whatever this secret thing was that Madoka didn't want to talk about. She had too much on her plate here at work, though, and there was a board meeting later in the day that she really couldn't miss. That was the downside to being one of the higher ups in the company; too much relied on her and it could cause a minor disaster if she just left without any warning.

She decided she would just try calling Madoka again in a little while. If she still didn't get a response by the end of the day then she would go straight to Homura's apartment after work, and see if she could get to the bottom of this.


"Auf die Anzahl der- DREI!"

"Eins!"

"Zwei!"

"DREI!"

Homura stepped back, her eye's wide with horror as the clara dolls positioned themselves around the coffin. Three at it's back, and four on either side. Of the remaining three, one with blonde hair stood in front and chanted them onward, holding an oversized pin like a baton. "Eins! Zwei! DREI!" It shouted, thrusting the pin at the sky with each chant, and on 'drei' the twelve around the coffin pushed with all of their strength, trying to lift the massive object up into a standing position, but not seeming to have any luck.

Homulilly's head turned toward Homura. "The one at the front is Inbari, she is for pride." She explained. "The two over there not helping anything are Namake and Mie." Those two stared at her with their permanently smiling heads turned. "Namake for laziness, and Mie for vanity. It's no wonder they refuse to help the others... Can you name the rest, Homura?"

Homura looked upon each of their faces. As before, if she were to make direct eye contact with any of them, they would cringe in disgust. Something else she discovered, even more unsettling, is that she did know their names, as well as what they stood for. All she had to do is look at one, and the name would be clear.

Homura's hand tightened on her shoulder, just above the severed stump. Without consciously thinking to do so, her lips began to move, and she began speaking the names of each of the remaining twelve. "Nekura. She is for pessimism. Usotsuki is a liar. Reiketsu is for coldheartedness. Wagamama is selfish."

A tear pushed itself from Homura's eye and rolled down her cheek. She could feel certain emotions overwhelming her with each mention of a name. These were not ordinary creatures with any kind of complexity to them; they each stood for something and that thing they stood for was the entirety of their existence. It was all negative, and the simple acknowledgment of each let her feel their essence in a very intense way.

What were these things? Why did she know them so well? And why did it feel like simply acknowledging their names filled her with these emotions? She continued to recite their names in a slow dull tone. "Warukuchi is for slander. Noroma is a blockhead. Yakimochi is for jealousy. Okubyou is a… a c-coward."

Homura suddenly felt like there was some incredible burden on her legs, yet at the same time her body felt light and sapped of strength to the point she could not stand. She suddenly fell to the ground, gripped her shoulder tighter, and closed her eyes tightly as she curled down and hid her head between her legs.

The presence of these creatures caused her pain; the kind of pain that came from the heart, like there was a giant hole there emitting fatigue, and pulling at every other part of her body to make her feel weak and useless. "Please!" She cried out, "What kind of nightmare is this? Let me wake up!"

She could hear the witch cackling, as it sat atop its chair nearby. Warukuchi, the slanderer, was the one to speak. "Worthless isn't going to finish something she started? She never ever does!"

The selfish Wagamama chimed in, stomping her foot down and putting two balled fists at her hips. "I will not wait any longer! Can we just have this done?" When these dolls spoke it was in a language that Homura technically didn't understand, yet at the same time the meaning behind their words were clear, as if somethingwas translating them for her.

Homulilly continued the eerie cackling laughter with her wooden hinges, yet spoke through the sound. "There are three left, Homura. Or should I call you Worthless as well?"

Homura bit her lip, trying to stop herself, but something beyond her control compelled her, and before she knew it her lips were moving and she quickly shouted the last three names. "Manuke is stupid looking, Higami is inferior, and Ganko is stubborn!"

Her head lifted from her knees as she said the names, and she discovered she was now sitting beneath the massive coffin which now stood upright, and casted a dark shadow over her. In this position it looked like more of a doorway, and somehow it had grown much larger than its original size. Or perhaps it's that Homura herself had become smaller? Smallness didn't quite describe it, though, it's as if she couldn't quite comprehend the thing she sat beneath, the way an ant doesn't understand the true size of whatever entity it finds it's at the foot of.

The wooden lid of the coffin creaked open, completing its image of a doorway. Behind this door, Homura saw nothing but blackness. It was darker than ordinary black, because ordinary black was simply the lack of light. This blackness she now stared into was created not just from the absence of light, but the absence of existence itself. She knew, if she were to walk inside, and be consumed by it, there would be no coming out again.

She could only stare in horror, while not even the wooden cackling of Homulilly's hinged jaw, or the more subtle giggling of the fourteen dolls that surrounded her fully registered in her mind.

"No…" Homura said, shaking her head slowly, unable to peel her eyes away from the darkness. "I don't want this… If I go in there…"

"You'll become a witch." Homulilly said, finishing the thought for her. "There is no way you can resist, so why don't you give it up?"

"I don't want that! I don't want to become a witch!"

Nekura, the pessimist, let out a long exaggerated sigh. The sound was so stressed it's almost as if she were in pain. "This is wrong! It's taking soooo long! Good-For-Nothing, just make Worthless go inside! Before she does, we might all die!"

"I can't control what Homura does." Homulilly's head turned over to the doll that addressed her. She didn't seem to take notice, or care, that she was addressed as 'Good-For-Nothing'. "She has to be the one to give into the despair. Just look at her, she is quite broken, I'm sure it won't be long now."

Usotsuki, the liar, poked her head out from behind the coffin, a wicked smile spread across her face. "Come on Worthless, it'll be fine! It'll be fine! Just go inside!"

Reiketsu, the cold-hearted one, stepped over to Homura and bent down. A tomato appeared in her hand and she tossed it up and down casually. "You are disgusting to look at. Quickly, out of my sight, before I throw this at you."

Noroma, the blockhead, tugged on Yakimochi's sleeve. Yakimochi quickly batted her hand away in irritation. "Yaki?" Noroma asked, tilting her head to the side with a witless smile on her dull face. "Is she going in or not?"

"Don't ask me!" The envious Yakimochi shouted, "What's so special about her anyway?"

Namake let out a long yawn. "Do I really have to be here? I think I'd rather just rest for a while."

"Well I for one am not moving an inch until Worthless does as she should and goes inside!" Ganko said. "There is simply no way I should take no for an answer!"

Higami, who stood for inferiority, let out a depressed sigh. "This is because of the fifteenth... she is so much better than me."

Okubyou the coward gasped. "No! D-don't mention… that one!" She said, wrapping her arms around herself defensively. "She doesn't need to be reminded!"

Homura's head lifted up. "Fifteenth?" She whispered.

Usotsuki the liar disappeared behind the coffin again, until her head poked back out from the other side. "Don't worry about that. Come on already! Lot's of nice things inside!"

"Fifteen…" Homura whispered again, her eyes rocked back and forth as she tried to think. What was it's name?

Her thoughts were interrupted when something smacked into her face, and exploded it's sticky red innards all over her. Homura cried out as she used both hands to try and wipe the tomato from her face, but most of it stayed stuck to her, painting half of her face red and getting clumped in her hair.

Reiketsu laughed, "I told you, Worthless, I'm tired of looking at that disgusting face."

"You're such a bully!" The stupid looking Manuke said. She rubbed the corner of her eye, teasing Homura further by pretending to cry for her. Most of the other dolls started laughing and pointing at her. Homura looked at each of their cruel laughing faces, which held not a grain of sympathy, and she started to feel crushed by it.

Homulilly cackled, and Homura looked over to her, her eyes wide with shock and asking for help as the laughter of the dolls overwhelmed her. This situation was horrible, she truly felt worthless. In the real world, people would take pity on someone like this, and there would be at least some kindness offered to her. These creatures were not people, though, and they seemed to just want her to feel worse and worse. Like a group of bullies who didn't know they were going too far, except in this case, going too far is exactly what they wanted.

Stop it! Homura thought, clutching onto her shoulder so tightly her knuckles turned white. She must have looked like an absolute mess. Her eyes slunk away from Homulilly, who's porcelain face wasn't able to offer any of the sympathy she wanted.

Manuke had been pretending to cry for her, and started making a bigger show of it for the other dolls, whining in a comedic fashion, now using both hands to rub her eyes, and instigating more laughter from her sisters.

Stop it!

"Uhg, she's so gross!" Mie said, trying to shield her eyes, but peaking through her fingers like a child watching a horror movie. "She should be ashamed!"

Stop it!

"What a pathetic girl." Reiketsu said, folding her arms and turning away. "She deserves it."

Stop!

"Hey worthless!" Usotsuki called out, pointing into the coffin. "You can get cleaned up in here! You really can!"

"STOP IT!" Homura finally screamed, "STOP IT!" and the dolls instantly obeyed as her voice echoed across the great red fields that spanned out in every direction as far as her eyes could see.

"There's one more." Homura said, turning to Homulilly. "There's a fifteenth."

The witch's jaw started to move up and down slowly as it spoke, and its button eyes stared at Homura. "No one knows the name of that devil, but she stands for love, and all the false hope that comes with it. It's that devil who has led you to this sorry state, and it can offer you no salvation, just more false hope to extend your suffering. I've watched for so long, and waited, while these servants of mine spent their days chastising their good-for-nothing master."

Homulilly's jaw snapped shut. Somehow, staring at those button eyes, they became less lifeless, and more piercing. Homura almost thought she could see some sincerity in this creature, unlike the dolls themselves who only held hate in their hearts. "Just let this end Homura. You've defeated Walpurgisnacht, haven't you? And Madoka Kaname has not made a contract. Isn't that enough? Isn't it fine to let it end here?"

There was silence, even the claras stopped their giggling and berating for the moment, yet Homura could still feel their eyes on her, watching her intently and awaiting her decision.

"Despair… really isn't so bad…" Homulilly continued. "Holding onto false hope is much more painful. It's a struggle to keep the illusion up, and finally turning your back on it and sinking into despair is… something of a relief." Her jaw reopened, displaying her white wooden teeth in that odd grinning gesture. "Just give in to it, Homura. We can create such a beautiful world together. It'll be our perfect paradise."

"I… can't…" Homura said, and subconsciously her eyes shifted back to the coffin. The dolls all backed away and cleared a path so she wouldn't be blocked from staring into the abyss. Her cheeks were wet, and more tears streamed down from her eyes. "If I do… I won't be able to protect her anymore."

"It was an impossible wish. As all wish's are." Homulilly said, "No matter how long you try to stay by her side, all things end in despair... I've tried to explain this already. All you can do is take a longer path, but the destination is always the same. So why stay that painful course, when your destination lies right before you?"

Homura flinched when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Homulilly had moved from the chair to kneel down behind her, and now they stared into the coffin together. "There is more that can come with this. What about those people who have tormented you? Dr. Mono? He is nearby. As you are now, there is nothing you could ever do to him. You will always be trapped; out of reach, and at his mercy. If you let me take control, however, I can reach him easily."

Homura could hear the witch's jaw snap shut again as she continued. "Their walls are nonexistent for me, and isn't there someone else you want to take revenge on?" The witch's hand moved down Homura's shoulder, moved past her hand, and found a place on what remained of her left arm. Her boney fingers curled over the stump. The touch felt incredibly cold against the exposed flesh. "Do you think she knows where witches come from? I don't think she does. She will be completely unexpecting of us. I think we will destroy her quite easily."

"I…" Homura continued to stare into the blackness. As if to remind her that they were still there, some of the claras leaned forward and gave her one of their disgusted grimaces.

Inside the darkness, they wouldn't bother her anymore. The way they treated her was a truly awful thing to experience. If she stayed here, they would start doing it again.

The heartless one summoned a new tomato, and subtly threatened her with it by tossing it up and down.

Homura shook her head. "I… I… ca-"

Suddenly, she felt some force strike her body, like a hundred knives had been jammed into her all at once. She screamed and fell forward onto her hands and knees, then quickly looked up and glanced around, trying to figure out what it was. She saw the clara dolls all had pained expressions on their faces as well, as if they also felt the same pain she just felt. "W-what?"

It wasn't just her and the clara dolls. Homura looked around, and saw the whole world was responding to the force that just struck her. The clouds overhead swirled together, as if gathering for a storm, the fields of red rippled beneath the wind, and she could feel a slight tremor coming from the ground.

She turned to Homulilly for an explanation, and felt it again, once again screaming, and this time the clara dolls screamed along with her.

"NO! We're doomed! Doomed!" Nekura screamed, and started running around in circles with her hands on her head. "Dooooomed!"

Ibari, the prideful one who led the march and had been silent since commanding the other dolls to raise the coffin, now raised her oversized needle at the sky and shouted. "We'll not go down so easily!" Then she spun her needle around and pointed it at Homura. "Worthless! Into the box! Now!"

"What's happening?" She asked Homulilly.

The witch looked around, it's stiff shoulders moving with it's head. Then the wooden jaw fell open. "Our world is in danger. There is no more time, you must do it now." Her head snapped back towards Homura with the wooden jaw hanging wide open in a mock expression of horror. "This world is housed inside your soul. Something is compromising it, I think the humans have found your secret."

Homura's own eyes widened, "My soul? My SoulGem?"

"If something happens, and they decide to destroy it, we will never get a chance to be born! We have waited so long… too long!" Homulilly's jaw snapped shut, the red laces drawn through her button eyes suddenly loosened, and the buttons fell lower. Her long black hair bounced up as if hit by a gust of wind, and she screamed. Her porcelain face started cracking along the cheeks. "Do it now! Homura!"


"A Puella Magi?" Kaiji said, cocking his eyebrow.

"Well, they call themselves Magical Girls." Takashi explained, with a shrug of his shoulders. "It's really hard to get anyone to take you seriously if you go around using that term, though, so we're sticking with Puella Magi."

Aida cleared her throat, ignoring the skepticism in Kaiji's eyes. "Homura is what we call a Puella Magi. As much as we know, only girls in the range of a certain age may gain this power; the ability to use magic."

"Magic is also their word for it." Takashi interjected, "We couldn't think of a better word, and what it implies is good enough."

"Is this a joke?" Kaiji asked, looking back and forth between them, but their faces were completely serious.

"No need to feign ignorance with this, doctor." Aida said. "We would not have bothered taking you here if we did not think you would be of any use to us."

"Yeah, if that were the case we would have just put one in the back of your head and been done with it." Takashi said, then used his hand to mimic firing a gun.

Kaiji instantly met his eyes, while Aida shook her head. "I'm getting really tired of you threatening me." Kaiji said.

"It's not a threat." Takashi said, staring back at him. Takashi's face held no emotion, it did not match the face of some threatening death on someone else, and somehow that lack of emotion actually made him seem even more serious. "The truth is, you have been a lot of trouble. You would be dead right now, but we realized you might be useful."

"Takashi's words are true." Aida said, "I wish he would not speak them so easily, but this is the truth. Things have changed, however, and we no longer wish to end your life, Dr. Kaiji. Instead, I would like for you to join us, and be a part of our team."

Kaiji pulled on the handcuffs, rattling them. "Sorry if I'm not overly enthused about the offer."

Takashi slammed a fist down on top of the table, bringing Kaiji's eyes back to his own. "This woman right here is the only real reason you are still alive. Like I said, we were going to kill you, but she intervened and now you are here. So I suggest you speak to her a little more graciously. Also, our offer isn't exactly an offer, unless you want to consider it of the 'cant refuse' variety."

"So basically, I do what you tell me to, or you do kill me."

"Basically." Takashi agreed.

"I still have no idea who you people are." Kaiji said, quickly glancing over his shoulder to the two suited guards who stood by the door on the other side of the warehouse.

"I will explain what I can, but forgive any vagueness." Aida said, "Our organization is not very big, but of a good size. We value quality of agents over quantity, and this is good to keep us in secrecy. To describe us simply, we are a tightly knitted intelligence network, which holds few ties to any specific nations but have contacts in many of them. Our soul purpose, is the discovery of magic. You, Kaiji, are in a vast minority with us to even know of it's existence, yet I think it would surprise you to know that girls like Homura exist in almost every city across the world."

Kaiji would be lying if he didn't admit that sparked his interest. Thanks to Leiko and Kyoko, he knew that there were more girls than just Homura who had abilities, or magic as it was apparently called, but could this phenomenon really be so wide spread?

"At least, this is our belief." Aida continued. "Finding Puella Magi, or Magical Girls as they refer to themselves, is not easy. Aside from the trouble of numbers, finding one girl amongst hundreds of thousands in a city, they seem to want to keep themselves secret and will avoid detection… quite impressively in fact… almost as if someone, or something, warns them when we find their trail, and then this trail will disappear again."

"So how did we end up here?" Kaiji asked. "How do you know about our lab, and what goes on inside it?"

"The existence of your lab is not something we have known for very long, only a few days in fact, but as you might have guessed we have made contact with someone within the lab. I'm sure this doesn't surprise you, since we have security footage from underground."

"No… that would only make sense." Kaiji said, "But who is it?"

The two of them glanced at each other, and Takashi asked, "Should we just tell him?"

"Either he works with us and finds out anyway, or doesn't work with us and he dies." Aida said simply, showing a coldness to herself that wasn't as obvious before. She looked back to Kaiji. "I am sorry for your situation, but I think it is better to be direct about these things, so you understand your stakes."

Kaiji's own face hardened. "I don't know what you want from me, or how much you know about me, but a life or death ultimatum will only go so far in making me cooperate with you."

"Strong words." Aida said, "But I would ask this; what is the value of your life? It is in my experience that people tend to undervalue what they would be willing to pay. That is, until they are truly faced with that choice. I believe what we will ask of you is more than a fair exchange.

"As for our contact in the lab…" She continued, "It is Dr. Endou himself."

Kaiji's eyes fell back to the table and he cursed. It didn't entirely surprise him, but his situation would have been much less dire if Endou wasn't involved in this. "Of course, I should have known. Only he would orchestrate something this underhanded… I suppose he is the one who suggested kidnapping me?"

"No." Takashi said, "He suggested killing you. Aida is the one who suggested kidnapping you."

"Why?" Kaiji asked, with a cold voice.

"Perhaps I should explain how we came into contact with Endou in the first place." Aida said. "First I should explain that I'm a specialist in exploiting computer code, what you would call a hacker. Through connections unrelated to our organization, but some friends of mine I know through an online community, I became aware of a rather curious case in the world of hackers.

"I was very fortunate that this somehow found me, and it is what eventually brought us to Mitakihara. Somewhere in this city, there is a hacker with abilities no one has ever seen before. This hacker isn't just good, it's as if she follows her own set of rules. The principle to this rule set, as I see it, is there are no rules for her."

"I don't understand." Kaiji said.

"Let's say this." Aida continued. "Imagine cyber security as a door. If a hacker would like to get through this door, and into the room it guards, there are a few approaches they might take. They could forge a key to unlock it, they could physically break the door down, or find another way in like a window around back, and access the room that way. This hacker in question seems to have another method. The best way I can describe it is this; for this hacker, doors do not exist. It seems she can just do whatever she wants."

"That's… interesting… and I can't help but notice you keep saying 'she'." Kaiji pointed out.

"This was a guess, but by now it is well supported. I believe our super hacker is a Puella Magi, and therefore she is a teenage girl. I first had this theory when looking at the few cases of this hacker's influence I could find. Most of these cases were from about six weeks ago, when I believe she first discovered her powers, because there is a window of a couple weeks where there are many traces to be found. After that, she seems to have gotten more careful, and has done better with covering her tracks. Still, it was enough for me to track her to Japan, and eventually here to Mitakihara.

"Magic is a very curious thing to us." She continued. "There are no hard rules for how it works that we are aware of, and the ways it is used differ greatly in what few cases we have documented. Therefore, we have no reason to think that it can not be used for the sake of hacking as well. We were unsure if this truly was the case when we first arrived in Mitakihara, but by now we do know this for certain."

Takashi took over the next part of the story. "We started looking for more evidence of magic being used here in this city. Well, to make a long story short, we didn't find anything in Mitakihara, but right down the street in the little town of Kazamino there is a certain church that caught our interest."

"The Mad Prophet." Kaiji said.

"That's right." Takashi said with a grin, "And it's thanks to your curiosity in the Sakura family that we eventually started looking into you. Looking into you, thus led us to the lab, and to Dr. Endou."

"Wait… how exactly did you know I was looking into the Sakura family in the first place?" Kaiji asked.

"I did say I am a hacker, did I not?" Aida said. "My abilities are child's play compared to the magical hacker we are aware of, but still, compared to any normal hacker… well, lets say I have abnormal abilities in understanding computer language myself. I hacked into the Kazamino police department, and it is actually your brothers inquiry into the Sakura Cult case files which first put us on your trail."

"We knew where you worked, but not what was going on there." Takashi said. "However, knowing where you worked was enough for us to find out about Kay Sakura. When Aida discovered influences of our super hacker not just around your workplace, but around Kay Sakura herself, we knew we hit the jackpot."

"Part of my luck in being able to track this hacker, is I have found a way to discover when she has been somewhere. Imagine a worm put inside an ant farm with a width not much larger than the width of the worm itself. You would be able to see where the worm has been from the tunnels it makes. It is the case with our super hacker. Her ability seems to affect data at its very core, binary code, and I created a program to analyze patterns in binary code, which by it's nature is one dimensional.

"It is not perfect, but I am proud of what I accomplished with what little data I had to analyze. It works good enough, and I can see when she has been somewhere within a degree of uncertainty. However, simply seeing if she has effected a specific piece of data that I analyze is all I can do. I can not discern what actions she may have taken, or what she may have changed. Simply that she was there, and that is all.

"Now for Kay, and Kyoko Sakura. Or, Misato Sakura, as we originally knew her. If only using digital sources to look into these characters, their identities are solid. However, as you experienced with this physical copy of the Sakura Cult police report, when you use real life sources to verify their identities the illusion falls apart quite easily."

"That was my side of the operation." Takashi explained. "Aida warned that if we were to try and call Kay Sakura's acquaintances, or contact them through some other digital means, the hacker would know and even take steps to stop the contact. That, or alter our messages in a way we would be better off not contacting them at all, as you and Dr. Endou experienced.

"However, tracking them down and meeting with them the old fashioned way was still on the table. I traveled all the way to Tokyo University to do just that, and under the guise of a journalist I made contact with some people. What I found is, professors and classmates who should have been well aware of such an accomplished student as Kay Sakura had absolutely no idea who I was talking about."

"With Kay Sakura's identity proven as false," Aida said, "and finding that the hacker has been manipulating the communications of your lab, Dr. Endou was quite eager to make an alliance with us when we reached out to him. He seemed to already suspect Kay Sakura's identity, and that his communications have been effected, and when we confirmed his suspicions he was happy to start making arrangements with us. He may not have been so easily convinced if he did not expect such issues in the first place, so this was very fortunate. I find it rather quite impressive he has correctly deduced such things with so little evidence. He is an impressive man, wouldn't you say?"

Kaiji didn't respond to that. He couldn't deny that Endou was a vastly intelligent person, inhumanly so, sometimes, but Kaiji had no interest in singing his praises. Despite his intelligence, Kaiji didn't find much else praiseworthy about him.

"Anyway, he warned that your meddling, Dr. Kaiji, could cause him to lose power in the lab, and thus cause us to miss out on a great opportunity."

"Just to be clear." Takashi said, "We are not working for Dr. Endou. We simply recognised an opportunity and seized it, and made him an ally. My personal opinion of the guy? He kind of leaves me feeling like there's a bad taste in my mouth. The idea of someone who gets off on making a teenage girl his mindslave, that is a whole other kind of sickness. After talking with him, and reading some of the logs he leaked to us, it's clear that really is the kind of person he is."

"Then why would you work with him?" Kaiji asked.

"There are many horrors in this world, Dr. Kaiji." Aida explained. "Entire countries are plagued with disease, children starve with never really getting a chance at life, war prisoners undergoing tortures that last for years and years. When these things exist, but we are only vaguely aware, it is not a problem. We sleep well at night because we are not directly faced with them. Is it not hypocritical for the separation in one's morality simply having direct knowledge of such horrors? What is one girl's suffering when her life is just another drop in an ocean of sorrow? And why should this stop science from moving forward?"

"What the hell kind of logic is that?" Kaiji said, raising his voice. "That's like saying if you see a man getting beaten on the side of the road, it's hypocritical if you don't run over and get a kick in yourself."

"It's a clever enough analogy, but when thinking critically, analogies rarely stand well next to their counterpart. Besides, how are we any different than you? Until very recently, did you not condone the actions of your lab?"

"There are many things that began happening recently, that I never condoned."

"Yet, you never complained about her being taken there in the first place? Or the degrading tests and experimentation Homura has gone through. Have you? What about when they would use tasers to keep her under control? I'm sure talk of Galazadrine was not something recent either, it's actual use maybe, but was this option at least considered by you? At what point in all of this do you decide that, 'ok now things have gone too far', and why does that give you a right to claim morality now?"

Kaiji was silent for a long moment before saying. "It doesn't… and despite how you try to spin it, things really have gone too far now. Actually, none of this should have happened in the first place. It was all a huge mistake, and I would put an end to all of it if I could." Kaiji clicked his teeth, "I can't believe you know all of that in the first place. I can't believe Endou would just give away so much information to an outside sources like this."

"We were honestly quite surprised by how forthcoming Dr. Endou has been with us." Aida said. "I can tell you this, he knows far less about us than we know about him, and the rest of your lab"

"Hell," Takashi laughed. "If we wanted to quit with our mission and sell out, we could take videos of Homura's tests to the media, expose the whole thing, and make a fortune."

"What?" Kaiji shouted, "He even gave you that kind of classified footage? Those were not even suppose to leave the lab!"

"We asked for a sample of what his test subject could do." Aida explained, "We needed to verify that magic is really what they have found. He complied with our request. And is it not also hypocritical for you to be angered by his breach in protocol when you allowed a very likely second test subject to walk free?"

Kaiji sighed. "Call it hypocritical or whatever you want, if my actions saved another girl from going through what Homura has gone through, I was happy to do it."

Takashi let out an inarticulate grunt, like a suppressed chuckle, and leaned forward. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but you might want to wipe that philanthropic look off your face."

Kaiji raised an eyebrow at him. The tone of his voice was worrisome. Kyoko definitely made it out of the lab, but Takashi seemed to be implying something… was she tracked somehow? "What are you saying?"

"You were stupid for letting her go… actually, on the other hand, letting her go may have inadvertently been the smartest thing you could have done. It gave you a purpose beyond simply needing to be taken out of the picture."

Kaiji stared him down hard, not liking the way this was sounding.

Takashi returned the stare, with that eerily dark tint in his eyes. "We are going to give you a chance to right your wrongs. If you do this, and show you are willing to play ball, maybe you really can get out of all of this alive."

"Do what exactly?" Kaiji said with a harsh tone.

Takashi leaned back and pointed his thumb at the TV screen which still held the frozen image of Kyoko in the produce store. "We want you to help us capture Kyoko Sakura."


Leiko's fingers danced along the keyboard, those strange indecipherable symbols flashed across the screen and turned her glasses into two flickering white orbs. Her lips formed a perfect line as she concentrated fully on her work, and all the other girls stood around behind her waiting for what she might find.

After the detective left, Leiko explained that he was Dr. Kaiji's brother. She didn't know how much he knew, but it was clear he was particularly interested in learning Kyoko's full name.

Leiko's typing stopped, and she turned around in her computer chair to address the other girls. "He's outside, probably staking us out." She said, and everyone took in the seriousness of the situation. "However, there are no other outgoing calls other than a few he made trying to get in contact with Kaiji, but he wasn't successful. According to the dispatch office at the police department, he claimed he is keeping an eye on possible Yakuza activity. I don't know how much he knows, I doubt that he know everything and his inaction supports this thought. I think we are safe... for now."

"He's probably waiting until he can get in contact with Kaiji." Mami said. "Where is Kaiji right now?"

"I lost track of his GPS. He sent his wife a message saying he is staying at the lab, and that's the last place the GPS pinged him at. He probably just turned the phone off, or took it to the underground part of the lab where the signal is blocked."

"W-what about Homura?" Madoka asked with a shaky voice. "Is there anything new with her?"

"No…" Leiko said. She adjusted her glasses, mulling over a thought which she was hesitant to share.

"What is it?" Sayaka asked.

"Well… There really hasn't been much of anything coming through from the lab, at least not directly related to Homura's condition. They started operating on her, I know that much, but nothing specific came through since then, other than something in the logs which indicate a couple X-ray technicians were called in. I just find it odd, because until recently their updates have been fairly frequent, but they abruptly stopped…The bombing must have really shaken them or something."

Kyoko had been pacing around by the back wall of the room. Her green hoodie was in the wash right now, because of the tea Leiko had spilled on her earlier, so she was only wearing her black tank top for now.

She walked over to the window, used one finger to move the blinds to the side, and peeked out. She scanned the streets below until she spotted a police car parked on the corner of an adjacent street. Her eyes flashed red as she used her magic to improve her eyesight, and she could now clearly see the detective's face inside his squad car, as though she were looking through a pair of binoculars. She put her fingers on the bridge of her nose and undid the spell, then turned away from the window. "Yeah, he's out there alright." She said. "Leiko, can you do anything to get him off of us? Like, send out a false call and force them to dispatch him somewhere else? Or something?"

Leiko turned in her chair until she could face Kyoko. "I could, but lets save that bullet for when and if we need it. No point sending him out on a wild goose chase just so he can come right back here when he figures out it's a false alarm. Since I suspect he already knows the police department has been hacked before, doing something like that might just raise his suspicions of us further. Plus he will be less likely to heed another call if we need to try that trick again."

Madoka's phone started to ring. She took it out of her skirt pocket, looked at the screen with a frown, then rejected the call. Her downcast eyes made the guilt clear on her face.

"Was that your mom again?" Sayaka asked, and Madoka only responded with a nod. Her father had called her several times earlier that day, and this was now the second time her mother called her. "Are you sure it's ok to ignore her calls?" Sayaka asked carefully.

Madoka was still for a moment, then slowly returned the phone to her pocket with a small shake of her head. "No… but I really don't know if I can hold myself together if I start talking to her… besides that… I would only be able to lie to her... a-and I really can't take doing that anymore…"

Sayaka put her hand on Madoka's shoulder and tried to give her the most reassuring expression she could muster, but her most hopeful expression still came off as a frown. She really didn't know what to say. She wanted to tell Madoka that everything was going to be alright, but anyway she could think to word it felt phony. "Homura isn't alone." She eventually said. "There is a way to get her out, we just haven't thought of it yet."

Those words caused Kyoko's pacing to stop, and Mami visibly stirred and hung her head regretfully. "Well, something needs to happen." Kyoko said. "And I mean now. We can't just tiptoe around and spend three days planning."

"But… at the same time we can't be reckless." Mami offered, her voice failing to hold it's usual authoritative quality.

"I'm saying this right now." Kyoko said. "If we don't come up with something before Kay's appointment tonight, I'm going whether you are ok with it or not. So you better get your thinking caps on." She set her gaze on Mami who didn't seem able to look her in the eyes herself. "And don't you dare think about pulling any bullshit with your magic again."

"Leiko…" Mami said, ignoring Kyoko. "Is it possible for you to use your hacking to open the doors of the lab?"

"Of course not." Leiko said, "I explained before, their security systems are physically disconnected to the outside. If that were ever an option all of this would have been over a long time ago."

"If you were able to connect to their systems you could do it though, right?" Kyoko asked.

"It's not even worth talking about." Leiko spoke dryly. "But yes."

"Ok, so why the hell are we not exploring that option. Huh?" Kyoko asked, staring her down.

Leiko scoffed and abruptly turned around in her chair to face the computer once again. She didn't respond, and just got back to typing. Kyoko watch her for a moment, then asked. "What the hell are you doing?" When Leiko still didn't respond, Kyoko started walking towards her. "Hey! I'm talking to you!" Her hand reached out to grab the computer chair and spin her around, but Sayaka grabbed her wrist to stop her.

"Don't." Sayaka said softly, not wanting another conflict to stir up. That really isn't what they needed right now.

After a moment, Leiko did speak. "Getting me inside the lab is the only way." She explained. "If you had a way to get me in the lab, however, you wouldn't actually need me anymore, because obviously that would mean we found a way to get past the doors anyway. That's why it's not worth talking about, and all of that is still assuming I would be willing stick my neck out like that in the first place. Which I am not."

Kyoko growled and tried to move forward, but Sayaka got completely in front of her. Wrapping her in a bear hug and pushing against her with her shoulder to keep her back.

"Kyoko!" Sayaka said.

"Furthermore." Leiko said. "Let's say I magically found myself in the control room, or somewhere else which gave me enough access to do what you want me to do. I can only maintain control over their lab for as long as I am at whatever terminal I use. Therefore, the second I try to leave myself, I won't be in control anymore and the doors would slam shut. Then we'll just have this whole situation reversed, with me as their new test subject, and screw that."

"Can't you just reprogram it or somethin'?" Kyoko shouted.

"I don't know anything about their system. So who knows how long it could take." Leiko said, each keystrokes becoming harder and harder with her agitation. "It's too risky, and it's a risk I am NOT taking, so DROP IT!"

"Damn it! You're just giving up without even trying!" She got her hand under Sayaka's arm, and tried to push her to the side, but Sayaka didn't let go and instead ended up behind her, digging her heels into the ground and leaning back to hold Kyoko off.

"Kyoko! Cut it out! Just calm down!"

"S-stop!" Madoka said, fidgeting her hands at her chest. "W-we don't need to be fighting right now!"

"Oh, don't worry about it!" Kyoko sneered, "I'm totally calm! But there is no way she is just going to sit there and be all nonchalant about this!" She managed to make it forward a step and get her hand on the back of Leiko's chair, then promptly spun her around.

Leiko's hands were still in position to type, even though there was no longer a keyboard under her fingers. She had a shocked, maybe even scared, expression in her eyes but she quickly shook it away and stood. "What the hell do you expect from me?" She said, looking to the side, her expression hidden by the glare of her glasses.

Kyoko managed to roll her shoulder in a way that convinced Sayaka to let her go. She didn't seem like she was losing her temper, so Sayaka accepting the unspoken request, and slowly let her arms pull away from her girlfriend, but still stood nearby.

"What do I expect from you?" Kyoko said, her voice low but affirmative. "I expect you to quit being such a coward."

Those words seemed to surprise Leiko, and she looked back to Kyoko, hardening her expression. "Whatever, I don't need this." She said, and started to turn away. "I'm out of here."

Before she could even make it one step, there was a firm grip on her shoulder that pulled her back. Leiko gritted her teeth, and batted Kyoko's hand away. "Keep your damn hand off me."

"So that's what you do, huh?" Kyoko asked, "Just run away whenever you're uncomfortable? Well we don't got time for your pathetic insecurities, so cut it out."

Leiko frown deepened, pure annoyance on her face, and she clicked her teeth. "You know, you sound really stupid right now. Acting like you know anything about me. Because if you did, you would understand… You all are clearly really good friends, and willing to risk your necks for each other, and I can respect that, but I'm not part of it. The only reason I come anywhere near you lunatics is because I need GriefSeeds. There is only so far I am willing to go for that purpose, though."

Then a sound caused everyone in the room to jump. Leiko's face was forced to the side, and Kyoko's palm remained open. Leiko's hand slowly raised to her reddening cheek and felt the spot where she had just been slapped.

"Who's stupid now?" Kyoko said with a sneer. "Did you seriously think I was just going to let you get away with saying that kind of crap?"

Leiko eye's were wide, and she was completely motionless until her hand slowly left her cheek and went to readjust her glasses which were hanging half way off of her face. As she did so, her hand was clearly shaking. Kyoko's intense expression fell away to something more neutral. Then, when a sound escaped Leiko's lips along with a slight heave of her chest, Kyoko put on a full frown.

"Look…" Kyoko started, letting her eyes fall to the side. Then there was a flash of light, and Leiko raised a fist as her Magical Girl costume began appearing around her. Before the transformation was even complete, she screamed and her fist lashed forward. Kyoko jumped back, easily avoiding the strike, and Leiko stumbled from arcing her arm across thin air. Her poor posture as she regained her balance spoke mountains toward her inexperience in combat.

Leiko gritted her teeth, there was wetness in her eyes behind her glasses, and she lashed forward once again. Perhaps missing that first strike frustrated her even further, taking her even further beyond her good senses, because her gloved hand glowed brightly from the magic she fed into this next attack.

Never one to not strike back, Kyoko's was already finishing her own transformation, with red light finishing the ends of her tunic as she put an open palm forward to catch the blow and prepare a counter attack.

Mami shot a ribbon forward, trying to stop the collision, and the ribbon managed to land right between Leiko's fist and Kyoko's open hand where it got sandwiched between the two if them. "Stop it you two!"

The white light of Leiko's magic mixed with the red from Kyoko's as they forced their magic against each other, each growling and trying to overpower the other. Mami's ribbon probably held some of it back, and they were locked in a brief stalemate. Mami pulled the ribbon taught.

Leiko let out a scream as she forced as much magic out as she could, and then a sudden shock wave caused both Leiko and Kyoko to fly away from each other in opposite directions. Leiko fell into the computer desk, her butt landing on the keyboard, and her elbow flying back and smashing into the center of the computer screen. Kyoko's back hit the ground on the other side of the room.

Mami cried out as her ribbon disappeared, and she crouched down, holding onto her wrist and looking at the palm she had held the ribbon with, which was now badly burned with a thick line of seared flesh running across the center of it. Leiko and Kyoko continued to stare eachother down from opposite ends of the room, breathing heavy. Mami's eyes were wide as she continued to stare at her hand and slowly raised back to a stand.

Leiko's eyes sunk away, losing the stare down with Kyoko, and she cursed. She rolled around, turning her back to Kyoko so she could examine the damage to her computer. "Damn it." She said. "It's ruined!" She kept her sight on the computer, part of the reason she didn't want to turn around is she didn't want anyone to see the wetness on her cheeks.

"Kyoko are you ok?" Sayaka asked, as she went to kneel down by Kyoko.

"Yeah… just peachy…" She said, with rough sarcasm.

Madoka managed to hold herself together somehow, but the distress was clear on her face. She seemed like she was preparing to shout at them for getting into such a pointless bout when things were already so bad.

Before Madoka had a chance to say whatever it was she was going to say, she stopped when Mami spoke with an awed tone in her voice. "Everyone, look."

Every head turned towards her, hearing the gravity in her voice.

"It's Leiko's magic." Mami explained, with a subtle level of fascination. "It burned me."

Leiko glanced over to her, looked at it guiltily for a moment before looking back to the shattered computer screen, then said, "I'm sorry… I overreacted…"

"No! Leiko." Mami said again, pushing her palm forward to show it to her more clearly. "That's from your magic!"

"I… I know… I'm sorry." Leiko said, glancing back to the wound. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I…"

"No, you don't understand." Mami said, then showed her palm to the whole room. Mostly everyone seemed confused, maybe there was a partial consensus among them that the stress had finally gotten the better of her and their senpai was teetering on going off the deep end. That is, until she spoke her next words. "It traveled through my ribbon!"


Thank's for reading!

First I would like to thank Alvaro84 for putting together another fan art. Things are getting pretty tense, so hopefully this short comic titled "I Want My Hand Back" can be a minor break from that tension and maybe get a laugh. At the very least I very much appreciate Alvaro84 taking time to make something like this. Incase you missed it before, he also made something including Test Subject One in another art titled 'Junkies' which you can also find on his deviantart page. (And I'll say again, I really wish FFN could be cool and make linking things easier)

Alvaro84 (d-o-t) deviantart (d-o-t) com/gallery/60698177/I-want-my-hand-back

Big thanks again to my beta reader Axius27, for always being a big help with editing or just bouncing ideas off of. He has been working on another TSO spinoff for an age now, and it should (hopefully) be getting posted in the next few days, under the title "Test Subject One: Yandere Madoka" so keep an eye out for that. If you have not read his previous spinoff "Test Subject One: Ransom" be sure to check that out too.

Update 10/30- TSO: Yandere Madoka is now out, and don't let the name fool you. For a somewhat silly premise this turned out to be anything but silly and actually quite dark (in a good way). Here is the story ID. /s/12210873/

Next I plan on releasing another Perfect Crime chapter, hopefully in about a week, so keep an eye out for that as well.

-Atomyst