Interlude Part Two


Chiyo

It was barely after 12:00, but Chiyo was already spent. Every muscle, bone, and tendon in her body pulsed with pain that bordered on anguish, but that physical pain was nothing compared to the emotional pain that wracked her with every wavering step she took back to her room.

Right this very minute, Teruhashi Kokomi, the prettiest, nicest, most perfect girl in (probably) the entire world was skipping her way back to her room after a hard morning consisting of training to fuse her archery and kendo skills with spirit energy. She'd run herself ragged but still came out the other side looking sweaty but gorgeous as she smiled and laughed about all the progress she had made.

Chiyo was happy for her friend—truly. But there was a part of her that couldn't help being resentful as well. And not just of Kokomi, either.

Mera Chisato was just as well-suited to this strange new life as Kokomi. From what Yamato and Natsuko had said, whatever Chisato ate was converted into life energy, and whatever life energy Chisato didn't need to survive day-to-day was converted into spirit energy, and the amount of spirit energy Chisato could harness had more than tripled since everyone had first arrived at the Sanctuary almost two weeks ago. She had moved on from learning to mold and manipulate her spirit energy to turning it, and her whole body, into a weapon. Chiyo didn't often get to see Chisato practicing because what she was learning was so dangerous, but her teacher, a tall, mohawk-sporting demon named Chuu, was quite boisterous in his praise of just how far she'd come as a spirit brawler.

Whatever that meant.

And then there was Mikoto, who had been a part of this crazy psychic business since the moment she had transferred into PK Academy. Mikoto wasn't a fighter any more than Chiyo was—less of one, even, as she hadn't even volunteered to learn with Keiko and Kota the way Chiyo had—but she could see the future, and no matter how quickly Chiyo could learn the proper way to throw a punch (which, all told, wasn't very quick at all), Mikoto's clairvoyance and foresight were still infinitely more useful than Chiyo could ever hope to be.

Stumbling into her assigned room, Chiyo nearly fell over the dirty miko uniform she'd left sprawled across her floor on her way to bed the night before. She didn't bother to pick it up now, either. In fact, the red hakama and white yukata she currently wore quickly joined their sisters on the floor as casualties of exhaustion. She listed first left then right and barely managed to reach her futon before collapsing. She sighed into her pillow, tempted to smother herself into unconsciousness and beyond; it wasn't like anyone would miss her.

"Stop it, Chiyo," she scolded herself. "If you have the energy to throw a pity-party, then put that brainpower to work figuring out how to be useful."

That was, of course, far easier said than done…

"If you want to be useful, I would be more than happy to help," said a cheery, almost feminine, and wholly unfamiliar voice. Chiyo sat up with a gasp.

"Who's there?" she demanded, twisting around. "Who are you? How did you get in here?"

"Don't be afraid; I am not your enemy."

Chiyo searched the room from corner to corner until the origin of the voice appeared right in front of her, sitting at the head of her pillow. It looked like the mix between a cat, a fox, and a ferret with silky white fur from tip to tail except for the pink dyed ends of two long locks of fur that hung below its ears. Its eyes were wide, and a brilliant shade of scarlet red that reminded her instantly of Kaidoh. The creature smiled, and that same cheery voice sounded inside Chiyo's head.

"Hello, Yumehara Chiyo, I'm so pleased to meet you! My name is Kyubei, and I would like to make a contract with you."

"A…a…contract?"

"Yes," said Kyubei. "A contract for you to become a magical girl!"

Chiyo's heart gave a strong, resounding thump in her chest. Her skin turned clammy, and her mouth went dry. She'd heard some about the magical girls from the Other Earth, of how powerful they were, and how they were all eventually Reborn on this Earth. Natsuko said all those Reborn were male by the grace of some unknown god so they would be spared the horror of being made a magical girl a second time. And that, even still, this Earth was created to be a mirror of the Other Earth to protect not only the Reborn, but every person born here so that no one would have to suffer the way those magical girls on the Other Earth were made to suffer.

And yet, despite all that, there was a creature here offering Chiyo the chance to become a magical girl?

"H-how did you get here?" Chiyo demanded. "I thought your kind were banned from this Earth?"

"What are you talking about, Chiyo?" The creature giggled. "We were never banned from your world; we just never had a reason to come here before."

"Then…if not before, why are you here now?" Chiyo edged away from the creature, feeling unaccountably terrified considering how cute and apparently harmless the thing was.

"Because I was brought here, silly."

"Brought here?"

"That's right!" Kyubei bounded forward to press its paws against Chiyo's arm, raising goosebumps over her skin in ripples. "You brought me here with your wish."

"What wish? I haven't made a wish." Chiyo shook the creature off and shuffled back more. Why was she so afraid of it? Because of what Natsuko had said about magical girls being so miserable? And if this creature really could make Chiyo into a magical girl, then that meant it also had the power to make her miserable.

"Your wish hasn't been spoken yet," said Kyubei, "but I can tell that it's very strong. If you tell me what it is, you can become a magical girl capable of protecting anyone and everyone you love. Isn't that what you want?"

Chiyo hesitated. "I could be…powerful?"

"Of course!" Kyubei grinned. "You would be a magical girl."

"I…"

Chiyo knew she should say no. She knew she should send the creature away. Magical girls had nothing but a miserable existence. An existence so miserable that they needed a whole different world and a completely different life to escape from it.

It was no secret that Chiyo knew very little about what it meant to be truly miserable. She had a family who loved her, friends she cherished, a comfortable school life, and a boy she would give up everything for. Everything she had was as perfect as it could be.

And yet…

That was all before. Before the Sanctuary. Before Dark Reunion. Before Kusuo confessed. The happy, carefree life she had led may have been comfortable and stable, but her lack of conflict and strife had done nothing to prepare her for the monumental shift she now found herself facing. She was worthless here; she had nothing at all to offer to the people she cared about most except as a complete liability. She couldn't fight, couldn't research, couldn't even cook, so why was she even here?

"…I want to help."

"You can help, Chiyo. Make a contract with me, and you will be of more help to your friends than you could ever have dreamed possible."

What should she do? What would Kokomi do? What would Kaidoh do?

Except, wasn't Kaidoh one of the Reborn? That meant that he had, once upon a time and in a whole other world, been offered this same choice. And once upon a time in that other world, he had taken the offer; he had made a contract.

And it made him miserable. That's why he's here.

"You don't have to make the decision now," Kyubei said. "Take your time thinking about it. I promise, I'll be here when you're ready, and no matter what you decide—"

Outside Chiyo's open window, something exploded. It shook the whole temple and threw Chiyo to the ground. She shrieked in both fear and pain as the hard floor struck her shoulder with enough force to burn down to her fingers. Chiyo curled in on herself, cradling her arm, and a desperate sob choked her.

"Oh dear," said Kyubei. "It seems the temple is under attack."

Shouts went up through the compound as people were called to battle, but Chiyo didn't move. What would be the point? She had nothing to offer, and the last thing she wanted was to get in the way and somehow make things worse.

"This is quite the predicament." Kyubei's fluffy white tail flickered in the periphery of Chiyo's teary vision. "You had best stay here. It's dangerous out there. You don't want to get hurt."

Kyubei padded toward the window, and Chiyo's heart swelled painfully with every step it took. She didn't want to get hurt. But she also couldn't stay here, alone, hiding in her room. She had to do something. She needed to do something.

"…wait."

Kyubei stopped mid-step. It stood still for a long moment before lowering its extended forepaw back to the ground and taking a seat right where it stood. Its head turned almost completely around, and its round red eyes glittered like crystalized blood as it stared at her unblinkingly.

"Yes?"

"This contract…" Chiyo swallowed hard as she pushed to her knees, still clutching her throbbing shoulder. "How does it work?"

"You just need to make a wish," Kyubei said. "And I will do the rest."

"A wish?"

"Yes," said Kyubei. "Any wish you want."

"A wish…"

More explosions rocked the compound. Had a full-scale war erupted outside?

"My wish…"

"That's right," said Kyubei.

Could she do it?

"I…"

Did she dare?

"I wish…"

Kyubei smiled.


Kaliea: I'm super excited about this twist! I've been holding it close to the vest for a while, and now that I get to play with it, I'm letting loose! Also, while I do have an explanation for why Kyubei is on New Earth, I'm not sure if I'll be able to supply that explanation in-story. I'm thinking about doing an afterward that answers some of the questions I raised in the story that I wasn't able to fulfill because of the way the narrative flowed (like why the people on the train weren't all lovey-dovey over Kokomi). We'll see ;)