My dearest reader, I beg you lay to rest all that you think you know about the universe. Do you pursue knowledge as I do? Then please look again at the world through a child's eyes. There are countless factors behind the progress of humanity, and learning, which is but one such factor, is the result of many others. Common sense is not applicable to progress. As such, what is required of us to move forward are countless perspectives and open minds.

If you are to read this text, which I have titled Magical Girls: Their Hope and Despair, you must possess the above qualities. This book is a record of the following realities:

Girls protect this world.

Our civilization exists thanks to them.

The culture that surrounds them persists to this day.

I assure you, I have not been driven mad by my research, nor is this a work of fiction. This book is the result of research, observation, and repeated fieldwork. And so, dear reader… judge this work only once you have peered across the contents of every page and observed their battles, their wishes, and the role they play fully for yourself.

Reclaim the innocent perspective of a child, just this once. I, myself, understand your cynicism as well as anyone, as one thrust into the world of folklore.

~Preface to "Magical Girls: Their Hope and Despair"~
~from the original draft left in the care of Dr Satomi Arata, MD~
~by Professor Satomi Tasuke, Ph.D~

We disembark in Asunaro and make our way to Pernelle's place, where we find the Souju twins lounging on the couches, now in separate bodies, and Hijiri working on her laptop in one of the armchairs. The twins appear to be playing some sort of game on handheld consoles, and completely ignore our arrival. Pernelle is also present, reading a book in the other armchair. She looks up as we enter.

"Oh, it's you," she says.

"Hey, Ashley-chan," Hijiri says. "Everything okay so far?"

"I think so," I say. "By the way, how'd things go with Miss Kazama?"

"Huh? Do you mean Wakana-chan?" Hijiri says. "When'd you even have a chance to meet…?"

"I guided her to Sakae General School to shelter from the typhoon," I say.

"Ah… she didn't mention that part," Hijiri says. "In any case, she said she'd keep my identity secret, but… she still thinks of magical girls as allies of justice. I'm not sure if I want to correct that impression…"

"I can sorta understand how you feel," I say. "But most importantly, it sounds like you're still getting along."

"Well… about the same as always," Hijiri says. "Oh, and I have the PMMM prototype almost ready for testing. The download method we discussed last time seems to work quite well… the only difficulty is to make sure there's always a source to download from, but there seems to be no issues if the primary source goes down and we put up a new one in a different location. Even with the primary source down, the file can still be downloaded from peers and caches, but it's slower."

I don't entirely understand what she's saying, but I figure the details don't matter that much as long as it works.

"Awesome!" I say. "I'll look forward to trying it out. Anyway… the real reason we came here was to ask Pernelle to analyze Homura's shield."

Homura nods. "It's… very inconvenient right now," she says. "With the most useful power sealed… my fighting strength has dropped dramatically."

Pernelle nods. "Understood," she says. "I shall do my best to identify the workings of your shield. Would you like to use a private room?"

Homura nods. "Madoka is fine, and… I guess I can't really stop Miss Taylor, but… I'd rather not have total strangers witnessing it."

She glances at the Souju twins, who are still engrossed in their game and don't seem to notice.

"Then come right this way," Pernelle says.

She gets to her feet, a new door appearing on a nearby wall. The four of us follow her through it, watching as she draws out a table and some sort of elaborate machinery from the wall before turning to face us.

"Now, simply place your shield on that table," Pernelle says. "And then you may all take a seat and wait, or you may leave and return later."

She turns and draws up two couches from the floor. Inui and I sit on one while Madoka sits on the other. Homura transforms, slipping the shield off her arm, and walks over to place it on the table. Then she joins Madoka on the couch, and I check up on the Tokime Clan again.

By this time, Chika and the others have almost made their way back to the village – they're on the narrow mountain path that connects it to the closest mountain road.

"Shizuka-chan, Sunao-chan, Chika-chan, the devil's reaction is getting stronger!" Chiharu exclaims.

"Perhaps Shizuka's theory is correct," Sunao says.

"I'm not sure if this is enough to conclude that," Chika says. "But I can't deny that there's a witch up ahead… and it doesn't seem like it's trying to suppress its presence anymore."

"Is everyone else alright…?" Sunao wonders.

"Like my mom," Chiharu says.

"And my mother," Shizuka says.

"And Mom and Dad," Chika says.

"Devils are beings that eat humans, by nature," Sunao says. "Now that we've betrayed its expectations…"

"We should go confirm the village's situation first," Shizuka says.

"True," Sunao says.

"I'll ask the cats if they'll help," Chika says. "Apparently, cats are sensitive to magic…"

"That would be very helpful," Shizuka says. "That will allow us to locate anyone who's in trouble…"

Everyone transforms, and they hurry forward until they emerge into the clearing where the village lies. Chika pauses to talk to a pair of cats that are lingering just at the edge of the clearing.

"Excuse me," she says. "Could I ask you to scout around the village and let me know if there's anyone in trouble? And could you ask all your friends to help, too?"

The cats respond with a variety of noises, and Chika nods.

"That's true, it could be dangerous," she says. "But wouldn't you also be troubled if this witch swallows up the village? Don't you rely on us as well?"

The two cats look at each other, then meow at her.

"Is that so?" Chika says. "Thank you very much!"

With that, the cats take off, heading around the edge of the village to the left.

"That's amazing," Chiharu says. "You really can talk to them…"

"Now, let's hurry!" Shizuka urges them.

They hurry into the village, looking around for any signs of life. There's no-one in sight, however – there isn't even any sign of life in the houses.

"No sign of any people," Shizuka says.

"Yeah," Chiharu says.

"Maybe it took care of everyone here," Shizuka says. "Before information about the village could leak to the outside…?"

"The devil's still here, though," Chiharu says. "So we can't say for sure whether it hurt anyone!"

"I agree," Sunao says. "This place would have been useless if it had already finished feeding. Let's stop thinking pessimistically."

"Also, do you think it might be waiting for us?" Chiharu wonders.

"Hmm," Sunao says. "Thinking about it from the devil's perspective… feeding off of the diviners by manipulating them would be more appealing to it, so it might be trying to do away with us here and reset the situation…"

"Yeah!" Chiharu says. "It already anticipated that we'd come back…!"

"If only a few of the people involved disappeared, it wouldn't pose any problem for the devil," Shizuka muses. "If so, it'd benefit from leaving everyone alive to maintain the village…"

"We're not gonna get any answers just by thinking about it, though," Chiharu says with a sigh.

"Unfortunately, the only facts that we know… are that the devil is still alive, and the villagers' situation remains unknown," Shizuka says.

Sunao sighs.

"What's wrong, Sunao?" Shizuka asks.

"Oh, it's just… I still feel like something's amiss, somehow," Sunao says.

"Something amiss," Chika muses. "Like how the cats of this village usually avoid dark places…"

Sunao gasps. "Oh no…! Our shadows!"

"Charu, behind you!" Shizuka exclaims.

Chiharu barely dodges as one of the dancer familiars emerges from her shadow and attacks her. She tries to strike back, but it dances out of the way.

"I missed," she says.

Sunao raises her crystal ball.

"This hit had better land!" she exclaims.

Lightning lances out from the ball and strikes the familiar. Then Chika leaps in and finishes it off with one of her hatchets.

"Sorry, Sunao," Chiharu says. "I didn't think I'd miss like that…"

"I didn't recall until just now either," Sunao says.

"Still, good job realizing that they'd come from our shadows," Shizuka says.

"I remembered something Mikoshiba said," Sunao explains. "She said the shadows would devour Charu…"

"Yeah, those were the same minions that I fought with Shizuka-chan…!" Chiharu says.

"They came out at night before," Shizuka says. "So they didn't have to bother with shadows… but if Mikoshiba knew about that…"

"She's the centre of the village," Sunao says. "So the devil's manipulation must run deep…"

"Though that's assuming the devil is the mastermind here," Chika says. "I've also heard of magical girls who can control witches…"

"A diviner controlling a devil…?" Sunao gasps. "Now that's a scary thought… but there aren't any other diviners around here besides us, are there?"

"Not that I know of," Chika agrees.

"More importantly, we've gotta do something before nightfall, right?" Chiharu says.

"Yeah, but we don't even know the devil's location at this point," Shizuka says.

"Well… we might not know for sure, but I do know the cats avoid the shrine," Chika says. "So that would be the first place I'd check…"

"Even so, let's go check if everyone is safe first," Shizuka says. "We might be able to sense the devil's power while we're moving around."

"Yeah, got it!" Chiharu says.

"I'll be going to Mikoshiba's house then," Sunao says.

"Won't that be dangerous…?" Chiharu asks.

"There might still be some information I can collect," Sunao says. "And since she's the centre of the village, the devil could very well be in her own home."

"Just make sure not to do anything reckless," Shizuka says.

"I won't," Sunao says.

"Then, Charu, Miss Chika, this may be dangerous for us too, but let's all go separately," Shizuka says. "We need every second we can get before sunset."

"Agreed!" Chiharu says.

"That's fine with me," Chika says.

"Then let me teach you how to use telepathy, Charu," Shizuka says. "That's the technique that we diviners can use to transmit what we think."

Chika blinks. "Huh? You didn't know how…?"

"Ah," Chiharu says. "Well, I'm new to this, after all…"

"Well then, I'll take the western reaches of the village," Chika says. "You two can divide the remainder between you."

With that, she leaps into the air and lands on a nearby roof, then hops from rooftop to rooftop while looking around for any signs of life. After a minute or so she arrives at her parents' house and checks inside, but since there's no-one there, she heads back outside, where she's greeted by a cat meowing at her. She blinks at it.

"Oh my… quick, show me!" she says.

The cat takes off to the left, and she follows it towards the river. Just before reaching the river, she sees several familiars surrounding and terrorizing a group of people, including her parents, two other men of the village, and four young children. She leaps in without hesitation, cutting the familiars down with her hatchets.

"W-whoa!?" one of the boys gasps, perhaps around fourteen or so. "A diviner!? But I don't think I've see you before…"

"So cool…!" a little girl exclaims, no older than eight years old. "I wonder if I could become a diviner too…"

"Diviners awesome!" a little boy exclaims, perhaps around four or five years old.

"Chika!" her mother gasps. "Where on earth did you go!? I was so worried when you didn't return…"

"Chika… thank goodness you're alright!" her father says.

"I'm sorry," Chika says. "I should've given you a heads-up, but… there probably wasn't time…"

"Damn, I thought we were done for!" one of the other men says. "But the diviner has taken care of the monsters, so we should be able to make it to the evacuation point now! Let's hurry!"

"Is there anyone else?" Chika asks.

"I don't think so," the last man says. "Most of the people went ahead… we fell behind because one of the children tripped. Then we were unable to catch up because the monsters appeared so suddenly…"

"It almost felt like they were targeting your mother and I," Mr Aoba muses. "But we barely managed to avoid them, somehow…"

"Okay, then I'll accompany you to the evacuation point," Chika says. "Where is it?"

"This way!" the first of the unknown men says. "Follow me!"

They soon reach the river and follow the wide path along the riverbank. Chika keeps an eye out for the familiars and cuts down any that pop up, mainly from her own shadow or those of her parents. After a few minutes, they encounter a large horde of them. At the centre of the horde are Chiharu, Ms Hiroe, and Mrs Tokime.

"Why do they keep tracking us like this?" Chiharu exclaims.

"Right… that," Mrs Tokime agrees.

As the two of them are speaking, Chika charges into the ranks of familiars, cutting them down two at a time with her twin hatchets. At the same time, Shizuka appears from the opposite direction, cutting them down with her sword. Sunao is also with her, using her lightning magic to finish off the ones that Shizuka misses.

"You'll be able to take it a little easier from now on, though!" Shizuka declares.

"Yes… we're here, too!" Sunao says.

"Shizuka…!" Mrs Tokime gasps.

"I'm back, Mother," Shizuka says. "We'll tell you the details in a moment."

"We were just talking about that!" Mrs Tokime says.

Chiharu joins in the fight, and before long, the four magical girls have wiped all the familiars out. With the threat neutralized for the time being, everyone hurries towards the evacuation point, a large unoccupied house on the east side of the village. There are lights on inside. Shizuka steps inside.

"I found them!" she announces.

A tall young man steps out into the corridor. "All of them?" he asks.

He's followed by an older woman, who looks over the group.

"Your mother, the Hiroe woman, and the Aoba family," she says. "Those brothers, and the missing children… yes, that ought to be everyone."

"Thank goodness!" a somewhat older man says, joining them. "We were starting to worry…"

Several other people pour into the hall to greet them. It doesn't take long to realize that essentially everyone in the village has gathered here. The children locate their parents, and the two men who came with them, as well as Chika's parents, greet friends and family in relief.

"But… huh…? The young Miss Aoba's outfit… did she become a diviner, too?" the older woman wonders. "When did that happen? I must have missed it…"

"The sun is starting to set," Mrs Tokime says. "Is there a room we could use for a private discussion?"

"We could clear out the back room," the young man suggests. "I think there are only a few people in there right now."

"Okay," Mrs Tokime says.

She heads to the indicated room, asking the people within to vacate it, and then ushers the diviners and their parents in. Once everyone is inside, Mr Aoba speaks up.

"Um… I'm sorry we didn't tell you about our daughter," he says. "I just thought it would be better if she wasn't dragged into all that…"

"Don't worry about it," Mrs Tokime says. "It's not like there's ever been a law that all diviners must report to the head family or the Mikoshiba. More importantly… we need to discuss where all these monsters are coming from."

"We've determined that the entire village is inside a devil's labyrinth," Shizuka says. "Those monsters must be the minions of that devil, which is lurking further in. In addition… I think the devil might have been manipulating Mikoshiba into killing diviners with the coming-of-age ceremony… and, she also told me that diviners are destined to someday become devils."

Ms Hiroe sighs.

"Ms Hiroe?" Mrs Tokime says.

"First the diviners and the Tokime clan, now this," she says. "My suspension of disbelief was already stretched pretty thin…"

"I understand how you feel," Mrs Tokime agrees. "It's hard for me to imagine that the whole village lies inside a labyrinth. Though the part about a diviner's destiny somehow doesn't surprise me that much… if I consider Mother's viewpoint on diviners, it sort of all fits together."

"Sorry for dumping this on you so suddenly," Chiharu says.

"Don't apologize, Chiharu," her mother says. "We're just a little surprised. I told you, I'd already prepared myself for whatever would happen when you became a diviner. I can bend my own common sense enough to accept this."

"Really, I'm sure it was far harder for you diviners to hear this," Mrs Tokime says.

"We're not certain the labyrinth is created by a devil, though," Chika says.

"Ah, right… I almost forgot," Shizuka says. "Miss Chika had another theory about the labyrinth's origin… in other words, we still have no idea how much of it is true. It's clear to us that I was almost killed by Mikoshiba, that Mikoshiba threatened Sunao into becoming an assassin, and that minions are suddenly emerging from nowhere in the village…"

"And the part about… how we diviners become devils…?" Sunao says.

"Mikoshiba might have been lying in order to kill me in a more horrible way," Shizuka muses. "That possibility's still open, so I'm not taking it as fact just yet."

"Well… I can't vouch for its truth from personal experience," Chika says. "But I've heard the same thing from an independent party – a diviner friend of mine from the big city told me about it. So, while I may not trust Mikoshiba's words, I believe I can trust my friend's."

"Ah… is that so…?" Shizuka says.

She sighs, and her mother gives her a concerned look.

"What's wrong, Shizuka…?" she asks.

"A little while ago, I had a thought that scared me," Shizuka says. "If, hypothetically, the village really is a devil's labyrinth… then all the scenery and people I've seen might be no more than illusions, too…"

"My mom came with me from outside, so I can guarantee that she's real!" Chiharu says.

"I lived outside with my parents for many years," Chika says. "So I'm sure they're real too."

"And Shizuka-chan's mother was attacked by minions too," Chiharu says. "So she can't be fake either!"

"Charu…" Shizuka says. "Miss Chika…"

"Who do you think gave birth to you, anyway?" Mrs Tokime retorts.

"That's…"

"Try not to overthink it all like that," Sunao says. "Let's just focus on the here and now."

"Yeah, sorry," Shizuka says.

"At any rate," Chiharu says. "We're a hundred percent sure that there's a devil here."

"That's right," Chika says. "Even if the devil didn't create this labyrinth… we can see its familiars, so it must be lurking somewhere nearby."

"So let's beat the stuffing out of it and find Granny!" Chiharu declares. "We can't interrogate her without finding her, after all."

"Though, if the devil's been manipulating her, she might not have any memory of it," Shizuka points out.

"Ah… that's…" Sunao says, blinking.

"I think the four of you should hurry things up," Mrs Tokime says.

"Right… it's evening already…!" Chiharu gasps. "If we don't defeat it before sunset, it'll be just like that night last time!'

"Right," Shizuka says. "When darkness falls, the devil will have free reign…"

"What's gonna happen to our moms if we leave, though!?" Charu asks. "Will they be okay!?"

"Don't worry," Mrs Tokime says. "I can take out a few minions myself."

"Even though your sword broke!?" Chiharu gasps.

Mrs Tokime gets to her feet. "So I want you to do me a quick favour before leaving," she continues.

"What…?" Chiharu says.

Mrs Tokime heads over to a door on the far side of the room and slams it open, revealing a huge stash of mostly Japanese swords. Chiharu gasps.

"A ton of swords… in the wardrobe!?"

"Can you infuse these swords with your diviner powers?" Mrs Tokime asks.

"You're asking us… to enchant them…?" Chika says. "I have no experience with enchanting, though…"

"Yes, but just a basic enchantment is enough," Mrs Tokime says. "You don't really need experience for that, according to the records."

"I see," Shizuka muses.

"See what?" Chiharu asks.

"A diviner can apply her power to various objects," Shizuka says.

She grabs one of the swords and channels magic into it, causing it to glow lightly.

"And if you infuse your power into weapons like these," she continues. "Then they become weapons that can be used to fight devils."

"Amaaaaazing!" Chiharu gasps.

"So, sorry to ask this of you," Mrs Tokime says. "But come over and infuse these before you go. Us old folks may have technique, but not your power."

"Gotcha!" Chiharu exclaims. "We'll top these things right off!"

"Sunao, you come help too!" Shizuka says as she enchants her fourth sword.

"O-okay!" Sunao says.

With that, all four of them grab the swords and start to infuse magic into them.

"What were those records you mentioned, by the way?" Chika asks.

"Ah, as the head family, we keep all the old records," Mrs Tokime says. "It's mostly historical data, but there are also some observations on common properties of a diviner's power, such as enchantment. Some of the oldest records are in pretty bad shape, mind you…"

"Does the Mikoshiba know you have so many records?" Chika asks.

Mrs Tokime shrugs. "It's hard to believe she'd be unaware," she says. "But it's pretty much our role to be the archivists, much like it's her role to be the priestess."

It takes about ten minutes, but eventually all the swords are successfully enchanted.

"Now, the only question left is where to find the devil," Shizuka says.

"Um, wait," Sunao says. "There's still one sword left…"

She points at what looks like the oldest sword of the lot, a double-edged tsurugi sword.

"That's our ace in the hole," Mrs Tokime says. "So could you leave that one alone?"

"They say that the Tokime diviners have each been adding their power to that one for generations," Shizuka explains.

"That's something precious indeed," Sunao says. "Understood."

"About that sword though, Shizuka," Mrs Tokime says. "I might have to tell you the rest of the story about it when you come back."

"Awww… what's with that half-finished feeling…?" Shizuka complains.

"Just keep it in mind," Mrs Tokime says.

"Okay, I understand," Shizuka says. "Alright, let's get going!"

As the four magical girls head outside, they hear Shizuka's mother starting to gather some of the men and women of the village to contribute to the defence. Once outside, they come to a stop for a moment.

"So, got any idea after you've patrolled around the village…?" Shizuka asks.

"Nothing at all here," Chiharu says. "The shrine still smells as weird as ever, but that's about it."

"I went to Mikoshiba's house, but didn't find anything amiss," Sunao says.

"Same here, actually," Shizuka says. "I patrolled over there while double-checking that everyone was safe, but found nothing worth mentioning…"

"I haven't heard anything from the cats," Chika says. "It seems that they've covered everywhere except the shrine. They seem to be afraid of the shrine, but I haven't actually sensed anything from over there myself…"

"Did we all really not feel anything…?" Shizuka wonders.

"I can sense a devil's presence," Sunao says. "But, how should I say this… it feels flat, even… there's slight changes every so often, but the intensity of the reaction remains the same…"

"I think I'm feeling the same thing?" Chiharu says. "I was just searching around for everybody, thinking 'wow, it sure hasn't changed much'. What about Shizuka-chan and Chika-chan?"

"The same as you two, unfortunately," Shizuka says. "Even an idea about whether it's approaching or leaving would be good…"

"Yeah, I haven't noticed any variation in the presence either," Chika says.

"Maybe it's constantly moving and keeping a set distance from us?" Chiharu suggests.

"Wouldn't it be impossible to keep the same distance from all three of us…?" Sunao points out.

"Hmm, right," Chiharu says.

"Perhaps the response is changing slightly because it's hiding somewhere…?" Sunao suggests.

"Hiding something, being hidden," Chiharu muses. "Hmm, you might be onto something…"

Sunao tilts her head quizzically.

"At times like these, I ask Todoroki Kouichi!" Chiharu exclaims.

"Who?" Shizuka says.

"Ah, the character from that drama?" Sunao says.

"I haven't heard of that one," Chika says. "What's it like…?"

"You know him, Sunao-chan!?" Chiharu gasps.

"Just the name, not much else," Sunao says. "It's called, umm… Nomadic Detective Todoroki Kouichi, right?"

"So it's a detective drama," Chika says.

"I see," Chiharu says. "Yes, it's a detective show."

"So, what can this Mr Todoroki do?" Shizuka asks.

"I put myself in the shoes of Mr Todoroki as he's solving a case, and ask him!" Chiharu says.

She closes her eyes, hemming and hawing a bit.

"Mr Todoroki, the reaction remains the same no matter how far we move," she says. "What should we do at a time like this!?"

Then she adopts an artificially deep voice, mimicking the character.

"If you're absolutely sure that the culprit is lurking nearby, try taking a moment to remove the map from your mind," she says. "Think carefully, with that in mind. In today's world, that little thing called 'truth' may be lying somewhere much closer than you expect."

Chiharu clears her throat and opens her eyes, letting out a little sigh.

"That's what Mr Todoroki told me," she says.

"'Told'…?" Shizuka says. "You were just talking to yourself in a funny voice…"

"Playing the part makes me feel like I've gotten smarter…!" Chiharu exclaims.

"I agree that it's a perspective we've largely ignored so far, though," Sunao muses. "Considering the differences between two and three dimensions…"

"Got any idea…?" Shizuka asks.

"Yes…" Sunao says.

"I think so…" Chika says at the same time.

"To make matters quick, I think it's underground," Sunao says.

"It has to be below us!" Chika agrees.

"Underground…?" Shizuka says.

"If you think about it from a two-dimensional perspective, the distance from us to the devil should have been shrinking, eventually approaching zero," Sunao says. "But if it were two hundred metres below ground, the difference in the reaction as we moved, if any, wouldn't feel very significant."

"The sky looks pretty empty to me," Chiharu says. "So if it's anywhere, I bet it'd be underground!"

"But is there anywhere to hide beneath the village…?" Shizuka wonders.

Suddenly she gasps.

"Do you know a place…?" Sunao asks.

"Yeah… just one…!" Shizuka says. "The Grand Shrine…!"

"Where's that?" Chiharu asks.

"It's behind the kagura stage that Charu went past," Shizuka says. "In the same place as that old shrine building…"

"The awful-smelling place…!" Charu gasps.

"Which is also avoided by the village cats," Chika adds.

"Charu and the cats might have been sensing it from the very beginning," Shizuka says. "That little thing called 'truth' might be lying somewhere much closer than we expect…"

"Exactly!" Chiharu exclaims. "Though I'm not sure how I feel about being grouped with some cats…"

"Then, let's go," Sunao says.

"Yeah," Shizuka says. "We're almost out of time, after all – let's hurry to the Grand Shrine."

Everyone hurries towards the bridge, crossing it to reach the kagura stage.

"The smell definitely feels stronger than before," Chiharu says.

"I assume that by 'smell', you mean a sort of incident-related feeling?" Shizuka says. "Like the power you feel from devils, for example. Is it unconnected to that?"

"Yeah… it's not like power, exactly," Chiharu says. "It's this feeling that something bad's about to happen. Like I've got this awful, queasy feeling in my chest."

"And you've been feeling it from here the whole time," Shizuka says.

"We can't know what it really is until we go inside," Sunao says.

"Yeah," Chiharu says. "By the way, what's the Grand Shrine that Shizuka-chan mentioned…?"

"The Grand Shrine is where our gods are venerated," Shizuka says. "Like Lord Kyuubey, who grants our wishes, and all the diviners who fought for Nippon before us."

"Have you ever gone inside?" Sunao asks.

"Nope," Shizuka says. "Trainee dancers have been summoned in, but I don't think most people have been there. Though it was designated as an emergency shelter, we've never had an emergency until today… at least, I don't know of another one."

"I see," Sunao says.

They continue on past the kagura stage, approaching the old shrine building.

"We've arrived," Shizuka says. "Once you enter the shrine building, there should be a path down."

But Chiharu suddenly stumbles. Fortunately, Shizuka manages to catch her before she falls.

"Charu?" Shizuka says.

"Ugh… it's so gross," Chiharu complains.

"Wait, are you alright!?" Sunao asks.

"Sorry," Chiharu says. "But I think I'll be able to get used to it in a minute… I don't understand… what is this…? It's… malice, probably…"

"Malice?" Sunao says.

"You get this gross feeling when you see a person doing something bad, right?" Chiharu says. "It sorta feels like that…"

"If it's not reacting to the devil, perhaps there's someone that you need to arrest…?" Shizuka muses.

"We might find Mikoshiba down there too, not just the devil," Sunao says.

Chiharu takes a deep breath, straightening up.

"Alright," she says. "I'm okay now."

"Then, let's start descending…?" Sunao says.

"Okay," Chiharu says.

They head into the shrine building, and Shizuka finds the spiral stairway heading down in one corner, but then gasps.

"You felt that reaction right as we arrived at the stairway," she says.

"We found it," Chiharu says. "This is the right place…"

"It would seem so," Chika says. "It's a pretty strong witch, too… I wouldn't want to face this one on my own."

They descend the stairs in relative silence, heading down into the depths of the earth. The stairs eventually exit into a winding corridor.

"How far down should we go…?" Sunao wonders.

"I don't know," Shizuka says. "This is my first time in here too, after all…"

"So there's a lot of things that even the head Tokime family doesn't know," Sunao says.

"Really, the only one who knows everything is Mikoshiba," Shizuka says. "Although Granny might also know a few things that even Mikoshiba doesn't know…"

"By Granny you mean… your mother's mother…?" Chiharu asks.

"Yeah, that's right," Shizuka says.

"Our enemy might be manipulating Granny, too," Chiharu says. "So I bet it's real tough."

"True, we must be prepared," Sunao agrees.

"If we die, everything will be buried in darkness," Shizuka muses. "It's our duty to go back and expose everything under the sun's rays."

"But there's a chance that Mikoshiba herself is also an enemy," Chika says.

"But Granny was so kind to me," Chiharu says. "I don't want to think of her as an enemy…"

"Still… the chance exists," Chika says. "So if we run into her, we must be careful."

"Ah, I can see a light!" Chiharu says. "And… I sense strong malice…"

"And a devil's strong power," Shizuka says.

They emerge into the grand cavern containing the main shrine, and look around in surprise. Mikoshiba is there as well, standing in front of the shrine.

"What is this place…?" Chiharu wonders.

"It's huge," Chika whispers.

"Such a magnificent place," Shizuka says. "To be built without anyone knowing… Mikoshiba…"

Mikoshiba turns to face them.

"Little girls… you did well, figuring out I was here," she says.

"Charu seems to have felt the smell for a long time, though," Shizuka says.

"My, how pesky," Mikoshiba says. "It was a blunder on my part not to kill you earlier."

"Don't you dare talk so casually about killing her," Shizuka says.

"Hmm…?" Mikoshiba says. "There seems to be an extra… is that the young Aoba girl?"

"In the flesh," Chika says.

"When did you become a diviner?"

"About a year ago," Chika says.

"Unbelievable," Mikoshiba says. "To think I missed such a thing…"

"Mikoshiba… what is this place even for?" Shizuka asks

"Hmph," Mikoshiba says. "That's none of your business."

"You're going to tell us everything that's happened until now!" Shizuka exclaims. "Not a single omission!"

"You needn't order me," Mikoshiba says with a smile. "I shall tell you as a last parting gift. Come, now. Why not come and play with the devil to liven up the conversation?"

"The devil!" Sunao gasps. "Shizuka, Charu, Chika… it's behind Mikoshiba!"

"I already noticed," Chika says. "Also… the old woman seems far too lucid to be under a devil's control…"

"Bury them for me, O devil!" the Mikoshiba says.

The witch unfolds itself and stands up, towering over them.

"And then it will be their parents' turn!" the Mikoshiba declares.

"Granny's controlling the devil…!?" Chiharu gasps.

"It may look that way, but there's no way she could pull off a feat like that," Sunao says.

"Not with her own power, at least," Chika says. "As I mentioned before, controlling a witch is possible for a m— a diviner, if she has the right kind of magic, but… that old lady is just an ordinary human…"

"This is the head Tokime priestess we're talking about," Shizuka says. "It hardly seems strange when diviners already exist."

"But… it's still possible that it's the one manipulating her," Chiharu says.

"I don't think that's likely though," Chika says. "Can you see a brand on her neck?"

"I can't tell from here," Chiharu says.

"Go, crush them!" the Mikoshiba declares.

The witch raises what passes for an arm, bringing it down upon the quartet, but they easily hop aside to avoid it.

Shizuka groans. "It's certainly powerful enough to envelop a whole village," she says. "However!"

She brandishes her sword and leaps forward to attack the witch, which seems unable to dodge. However, it seems to take a little damage from the attack.

"I hit it," she says. "But not fatally…"

Mikoshiba chuckles. "We've been raising this devil for centuries!" she says. "You're just inexperienced young girls! You're generations behind. Go and melt them all together…!"

The witch spews out a torrent of water. Although everyone dodges the main flow, the splash and spray reaches them, corroding their outfits.

"What's with that water…!?" Sunao says.

"Sunao, step back!" Shizuka says.

The witch shuffles forward, swinging the huge chunks of masonry that pass for its arms and forcing everyone to stay on their toes to avoid them. It also keeps spewing out that corrosive water.

"It keeps closing in on us!" Chiharu exclaims. "If we could just get up higher…!"

"There's the wooden structures built along the walls," Chika points out. "We could stand on the roofs."

"Yes, I was thinking the same thing," Shizuka says. "But how do we get up there…?"

"I could pull you up," Chiharu suggests. "But wouldn't it be tough to attack the witch from there…?"

"Not really," Sunao says. "Kick off the wall, and leap all the way to the devil."

"If we do that, we'll hit the water the moment we fall!" Shizuka protests.

"Ahh, how pleasant it is to hear the cries of you annoying little girls!" Mikoshiba says.

At that moment, the witch raises both arms, preparing to bring them down upon the quartet.

"I'll use my power to stop it now," Shizuka says. "Ceasefire!"

The witch freezes in place and stops spewing out acid.

"The water flow stopped…!" Sunao gasps.

"Sunao!" Shizuka says. "Escape up above while you still can!"

"But Shizuka, you can't move, can you!?" Sunao says.

"Get up while I'm holding it back!" Shizuka shouts.

While Sunao and Shizuka are arguing, Chiharu flings a rope up, looping it around the peak of a decorative gable, and pulls herself and Chika up together. Then she lowers the rope down again to coil around Shizuka's waist.

"Shizuka-chan! Sunao-chan!" she calls.

"Huh…?" Shizuka says. "There's a rope wrapped around me…"

"With a jitte on the end," Sunao says.

"I'm gonna pull you up…!" Chiharu says.

With a grunt of exertion, Chiharu drags the two of them up to the roof.

"W-whoa!" Shizuka gasps.

"Eek!" Sunao says.

"Success!" Chiharu says.

"Thanks, you saved us," Shizuka says.

"I hardly expected something that quick-witted," Sunao says.

Chiharu giggles. They hop off the gable to the more stable and less sloped main roof, which runs along the entire side wall of the cave.

"Petty tricks," Mikoshiba mutters.

"The stage where we'll fight is up here!" Chiharu declares. "If we occupy the top of the shrine, incoming water is nothing to fear!"

"Right," Sunao says. "Let's attack from here!"

"We just narrowly escaped from death," Shizuka says.

"Though we can probably still be targeted from up here," Chika points out. "At least it'll be harder for it to reach us, though…"

"It's useless to scurry around like that," Mikoshiba says. "O devil! Worry not about destroying the shrine! Eliminate them at any cost!'

But as the witch turns towards them, Chiharu extends a finger, pointing at her.

"Suffer thyself to be bound!" she declares.

A tangle of ropes slides out from the shadows of her clothes, wrapping themselves around the witch and restricting her movement.

"She's succeeded in binding it," Shizuka says. "Thanks, Charu!"

Shizuka leaps into the air towards the witch, brandishing her sword. Chika simultaneously aims and throws her hatchets on either side.

"Tear into this devil, O sevenfold swords!" Shizuka shouts.

The hatchets swing by her and strike the witch, and then the branches of her sword extend, each branch separately impaling the witch. This leaves Shizuka hanging in midair as she grips the hilt of the sword that now resembles more of a jungle gym than anything else.

"Finish it off, Sunao, Miss Chika!" Shizuka shouts.

"Let's combine our power, Miss Toki!" Chika says.

Chika connects with Sunao as she charges magic into her crystal ball. The witch struggles to get free from the combined restraints of Chiharu's ropes and Shizuka's sword, but the effort is in vain. It does also release another torrent of acid, but thanks to the restraints, it's way off the mark and doesn't come anywhere near them… although the structure they're standing on shifts a little.

"If you want to melt us, we will in turn purify you!" Sunao declares. "With this purifying light!"

Once Sunao's crystal ball is charged, crackling with power, Sunao flings it at the witch, and Shizuka hops back to rejoin them on the roof. The orb grows larger as it flies, crackling even more and glowing with a faint green light. Then it just explodes right in the witch's face, spreading arcs of lightning across the entire room and leaving scorch marks on the walls. The wooden structures even catch fire from the electrical explosion.

As for Mikoshiba, she apparently dodges the lightning by… sinking into shadows? Since when could she do that? Shadows were the power of the witch though, so maybe she commanded the witch to move her to safety? In any case, once the lightning passes, she reappears next to the witch with a groan, placing a hand on it. It seems like I'm the only one who noticed the shadow movement.

"What, can't you move?" she says. "Are you no more of a devil than that!? Can you not show me your true power?"

"You're going to pop a blood vessel in your head, getting that angry," Chiharu says.

"You loathsome little Hiroe girl," Mikoshiba says. "I should have disposed of you right away…"

Shizuka sighs. "Granny… wake up," she says. "You might not be controlling that devil. It might really be controlling you! If that's the case, you've been ending lives for no reason…"

"Stop talking nonsense, Tokime girl," Mikoshiba retorts. "As if I could ever be manipulated. Everything I've done is in accordance with our traditions of divine offspring. All of it is true. My control over this devil, the fact that you wretches shall become devils… furthermore, the acts of discarding those who leave, and killing those who come from outside… they are committed out of necessity for this village. Nothing more and nothing less."

"I suppose my parents were lucky," Chika mutters. "The fact that they could return after leaving the village…"

"All this is necessary for this place to continue serving as Nippon's shadow," Mikoshiba continues.

"So that whole story is true…?" Shizuka says. "The part about how we're just used-up dregs after our wishes were granted… and so we're killed to get rid of us? Is that the village's tradition?"

"Precisely," Mikoshiba says.

"I wonder about that," Chika says. "It doesn't quite line up with some of the things I've heard about the Tokime…"

"For that reason, you should be buried," Mikoshiba says. "To ensure that the existence of Tokime is never exposed under broad daylight!"

At this point, the witch begins to move again, turning to face the quartet. The ropes that used to bind it seem to have been damaged in the electrical explosion and now are mostly just decoration.

"There's no getting through to her right now," Chiharu says.

"Yeah… but I still have hope," Shizuka says.

Chika sighs, but says nothing.

"She'll return to normal after we slay the devil," Shizuka continues. "Though Mikoshiba might be an awful old granny, there were times when she was kind…"

"But that could be an act," Chika says.

"Shizuka, stop," Sunao says, talking over Chika. "Don't hold out that kind of hope for her."

"Don't worry," Shizuka says. "It really is just a faint hope."

"This is your last chance, devil!" Mikoshiba declares. "Don't you dare fail this time…"

The witch raises both arms and brings them down upon the wooden structures along the side of the cave. The quartet avoid the attack by heading further towards the back of the cave. Another blow like that would threaten their footing, however.

"Alright! Let's make this next one the finishing blow!" Shizuka says.

"Let's all use our most powerful attack!" Chika says.

"Got it!" Chiharu says.

"Understood!" Sunao says.

Sunao raises her crystal ball, charging it up once more with crackling electricity. Shizuka raises her branched sword high, charging it until it glows brightly. Chiharu similarly charges magic into her weapon until it glows green, crackling lightly with electricity, and summons a horde of what look like paper lanterns. Chika holds up her hatchets in a way that sort of evokes the symbol of yin and yang, and green energy flows from the axe heads to form a circle.

"Magical Detective Cabal!" Chiharu shouts.

"Heaven's Ray!" Shizuka shouts.

"Tomorrow's Commandment!" Sunao shouts.

"Nature's Regression!" Chika shouts.

Each of Chiharu's lanterns bursts into a ball of green lightning, flinging itself at the witch, and Shizuka's magic calls down a rain of lasers from above. Sunao's orb explodes, sending crackling lightning everywhere, and Chika fires a hollow green beam that, upon striking the witch, seems to turn to goo and cling to it. For a few seconds, the battlefield is utter chaos, a jumble of green and white lightning, yellowish orbital lasers, and green goo. When the chaos clears, what little remains of the witch crumbles to dust, leaving only a grief seed behind.

"W-we beat it," Chiharu gasps. "Victoryyy…"

"We consumed quite a lot of energy," Sunao says. "But it dropped its soul, so I believe we'll be fine…"

They all hop down from the roof, heading over to retrieve the grief seed.

"What about Mikoshiba?" Shizuka wonders, looking around.

"She's over there," Chika says, gesturing.

Mikoshiba tries to pick herself up from the ground with a groan, but collapses and pitches forward, her head striking the ground.

"Don't tell me…?" Shizuka says.

"Is Granny okay…?" Chiharu wonders.

"We can't have her dying on us down here," Shizuka says.

"Yes," Sunao says. "It'd leave mountains of questions unanswered…"

Shizuka kneels beside her and checks her pulse.

"Seems she's just passed out," she says.

Sunao hefts the Mikoshiba over her shoulder, and they all head back up to the surface. They're almost at the top when Chika's phone suddenly pings.

"Huh?" Chiharu says. "Was that… a phone? But I thought there was no signal in the village…"

"Maybe… could it be that it was the witch blocking the signal?" Sunao suggests.

"Maybe," Chika says. "It might not be important, but… do you mind if I check?"

"Go ahead," Shizuka says.

Chika takes out her phone and unlocks it to find the email I sent her earlier.

"It's from my friend I mentioned earlier," Chika says. "The one who told me about how we turn into witches… I mean devils…"

"Oh?" Chiharu says. "What did she say?"

"She said she'd like to meet you," Chika says. "And there's somewhere she'd like to show us…"

"Huh… did you tell her about us…?" Shizuka asks.

"No… since I didn't know myself until I came back yesterday," Chika says.

"Then… how does she know…?" Sunao wonders.

"Well… I have an idea, but I think it's not okay for me to say it," Chika says. "Sorry…"

"I suppose we can ask her ourselves if we meet her," Chiharu muses. "Oh… did she say where and when?"

"Yes," Chika says. "She'd like to see us in Mitakihara on Monday morning."

"That's quite a distance away," Sunao muses. "It would take most of a day just to get there…"

"Then, we can think about it after we've finished dealing with all of this," Shizuka says. "For now, let's focus on getting back to the others!"

They head outside and make their way back to the evacuation point, where they find Shizuka's mother and a few others standing around with swords. Ms Hiroe and Chika's mother are also there, unarmed.

"Mother!" Shizuka calls.

"Mom!" Chika and Chiharu say at the same time.

"Chiharu!" Ms Hiroe calls. "Shizuka-chan! Sunao-chan!"

"Chika!" Mrs Aoba calls.

"You defeated the devil, yes?" Mrs Tokime says. "I assumed as much, given how the minions suddenly vanished."

"It was super tough, but we all worked hard and managed to beat it!" Chiharu says.

"It was nice teamwork," Sunao says.

"Yeah," Shizuka says. "What about you…?"

"We're exhausted, as you can see," Mrs Tokime says. "We only had a couple of swords left. Another few seconds, and everything would have been over…"

"Thank goodness we made it in time," Shizuka says.

"Now, about Lady Mikoshiba," Mrs Tokime says. "Was she with the devil…?"

"She was manipulating the devil," Sunao says.

"In other words, she was in league with it…?" Mrs Tokime says.

"We're still not sure," Chiharu says.

"But it does seem that way," Chika says.

"It looked that way," Chiharu agrees. "But it's possible that she was actually being manipulated…"

"Chiharu, let's talk about that later," Shizuka says. "We just have to ask Mikoshiba after she wakes up."

"Yeah," Chiharu says.

"Then, let's go back to our house for now," Ms Hiroe suggests.

"May we also stay at the house you're renting, Ms Hiroe?" Mrs Tokime asks.

"Yes," Ms Hiroe says. "Yours is in shambles now, after all…"

"Huh…!?" Shizuka gasps.

"Well… your mother made a bit of a mess when the monsters first appeared," Ms Hiroe says. "I'm sure it can be fixed, but… it's not good to stay there for now…"

As they head to the house where Chiharu and her mother had been staying, Chika speaks up.

"Um, so… this might just be me being paranoid," she says. "But… we want to question Mikoshiba, right?"

"Of course!" Chiharu says.

"Is there any way to make sure that she doesn't… commit suicide?" Chika asks. "Like… biting her tongue or… or taking poison that was prepared beforehand in case something like this happens…"

"Well… it's not easy to stop her from biting her tongue," Ms Hiroe muses. "But if it's poison… there should be a way to remove it before she wakes up, I suppose? Though I don't really have any experience in this…"

"Hmm, I've heard of hiding poison in a false tooth in dramas," Chiharu muses. "I don't know if that would happen in real life though… but that aside, why on earth would Granny want to do that in the first place?"

"Well… I just think we should take the precaution," Chika says. "Because if she did that, we wouldn't be able to question her, right?"

"I agree," Mrs Tokime says.

"M-mother!?" Shizuka gasps.

"You said there is a possibility that Lady Mikoshiba was manipulating the devil," Mrs Tokime says. "So we can't assume that we know how she stands on this matter. It definitely can't hurt to search her. If Ms Hiroe doesn't want to do the job, then I'll do it myself."

"Thank you for taking me seriously," Chika says. "Um, if you don't mind, I'll head home now? We can meet up again in the morning…"

"That's fine," Mrs Tokime says.

"Your father already headed back," Mrs Aoba says. "But I wanted to wait until you returned… I'm glad you're safe, Chika."

So the two of them split off from the group, making their way through the darkened village.

"Alright, I've finished the analysis," Pernelle announces.

"Finally!" Madoka says. "I was starting to wonder if it would take all night…"

"So… what have you learned?" Homura asks.

"To begin with, the sand-like substance inside your shield is not true sand," Pernelle says. "It is something that is difficult to describe in words… I will call it 'crystallized time'."

"Crystallized time!?" Inui gasps. "T-that sounds really amazing…"

"And… what does that mean?" Homura asks.

"Ye can think of it in this manner," Pernelle says. "Each grain of sand represents an instant of time… perhaps a second, or a fraction of a second. As the grains flow from the upper chamber into the lower chamber, time continues to flow as normal. When you rotate the shield a quarter turn in the appropriate direction, the grains cease flowing, and as such, time itself also ceases to flow. If you instead rotate the shield a half turn in the opposite direction, it is like reversing the flow of time – the grains begin to flow back into what was formerly the upper chamber. However, there is a valve that permits stopping time only when both chambers contain grains, while permitting time travel only when the top chamber is empty."

"I already knew that much," Homura says. "Is that all?"

"No," Pernelle says. "There is another switch on the back which appears like it would have the effect of draining the grains of time from the lower chamber into a separate holding container. Ye can then transfer the grains back into the upper chamber. In this way, ye can reset the timer without turning back time. In addition… the flow of grains out of the holding container is restricted by a dial. I believe that ye can use that dial to adjust the amount that ye wish to turn back time by."

"So… for example, I could decide that I want to turn back time at the end of next week," Homura muses. "I could put one week's worth of sand in the upper timer, and it would reset so I can stop time again… and when next week comes, I can either reset it again, or turn back time…"

"There is a measure of guesswork in the analysis," Pernelle says. "However, I am reasonably confident in my conclusion."

"Hmm… if I were you, I think I'd recommend setting it to two weeks," I muse. "I think I could bear redoing two-week spans a few times… any more than that and it would really become tedious. But I guess I wouldn't mind if you prefer to set it to one week, either…"

"If I turned back time," Homura says. "Could I reset the shield at that time? Can that holding container drain the sand from both the top and the bottom and reset it? For example… if I set it for a week, then a week later I turn back time… can I then set it for two weeks and turn back time two weeks later?"

"I am unsure," Pernelle says. "Obviously the holding container is connected to both chambers, but there appear to be valves that restrict the grains from flowing downwards through it."

"I see," Homura says. "In that case… maybe I'll set it to one day and try it out…"

She takes the shield back from Pernelle and examines the back, finding the switch and dial that Pernelle mentioned. She turns the dial, then flicks the switch, turning to watch as sand drains from the lower chamber. Flicking the switch back, she sees a smaller amount of sand somehow flow back into the upper chamber before starting to fall back down to the lower chamber. Then she slips it onto her arm and powers down.

"Thanks for this, Pernelle," I say. "It's really helpful to know that she can reset it, right, Homura?"

"Well… yes," Homura admits. "It's also a relief that I can stop time once more…"

"Alright, let's hurry home!" Madoka says. "I already contacted Mom, but I'm sure she's getting worried by now…"

"You go ahead," I say. "I had one other thing I wanted to ask Pernelle."

"Oh, will it take long?" Madoka asks.

"Maybe, maybe not," I say.

"Well, if it won't be long, we might as well wait," Madoka says.

I shrug. "As you wish."

"What is the question?" Pernelle asks.

"I was wondering if you'd be able to analyze the range of the new magic I developed," I say.

Pernelle blinks. "A new magic…? Have ye perchance already learned to teleport?"

I blink at her. "Huh? From the way you say that, it sounds like you were expecting it…?"

"Indeed," Pernelle says. "Yet it came sooner than I anticipated… although… just how many timelines have ye experienced?"

"This would be the ninth one from my perspective," I say.

"That is a little over a year in subjective time," Pernelle muses. "It is still somewhat sooner than I would have anticipated, but… perhaps there were extenuating circumstances."

"I'm a little curious… would you mind explaining why you assumed I'd eventually learn to teleport?" I ask.

"There are two reasons," Pernelle says. "The first is that the development of new magic comes in response to a specific, recurring need. Of course, in principle, that means that ye could develop nearly any magic ye wish for, provided that ye can consistently create situations where ye feel that ye truly need that magic… though conversely, it also means that it would be difficult to develop a magic if ye cannot consistently create a situation where ye feel a need for that magic. In your case, I have noticed that ye have been spending much time roving between multiple towns. In such a circumstance, feeling a need for teleportation magic is almost a given."

I nod. "Okay… that kinda makes sense," I say. "What's the second reason?"

"The second reason is that not all magic is equal," Pernelle says. "I have noticed empirically that there exist a number of broad sets of related magics, such that a girl who begins with one magic out of a set shall find it simpler to learn another magic from the same set than a magic not from that set. In your case, the set is that which I usually refer to as the 'psychic cluster', and ye started with not one but three powers from that set. So, it is only natural that ye would find it easier to learn other psychic powers."

"Three psychic powers?" I say. "Clairvoyance, telekinesis… what's the third?"

"Your charm power is also classified into the psychic cluster," Pernelle says.

I suppose that makes sense, as charm is sort of a minor form of mind control.

"So, does that mean I could even learn foresight, like Oriko?" I ask. "I don't remember if you know who she is… she's an oracle, so she can get visions of the future."

"Hypothetically speaking, yes, it would be no surprise for you to learn some form of foresight," Pernelle says. "However, it may be too much to expect your hypothetical foresight to compare with that of a born oracle. As Hilda once described it, there is a vast gulf between briefly peering a few seconds into the future and seeing full visions of events even days away. As she herself is someone who was born with clairvoyance and managed to develop foresight, I believe her statement to be reliable."

"I see," I say. "So someone like Hinata Kaede, who already started with five or six pyschic abilities, might have more potential than me for developing them?"

"That is hard to say without meeting the girl in question," Pernelle says. "If she already possesses some form of every psychic power, it may in fact be more difficult for her to develop additional variations on those powers. It depends on the details of her powers, however."

"And… do you think the fact that I observed other girls using teleportation had any impact on this?" I ask.

"It is unlikely," Pernelle says. "Copying magic by observation is not such an easy task, certainly not something you could do by simply seeing it in use a few times. Of course, there is an exception for girls like Hijiri Kanna who specialize in copying."

"Anyway, to get back to my original question," I say. "Would you be able to determine the range of my magic by analyzing it?"

"I do not believe there is anything I could do that would be an improvement over simply experimenting with it yourself," Pernelle says. "I would need you to teleport multiple times in succession as part of the analysis in any case, and by the time ye have done that, ye would have no doubt already worked out a general idea of your range."

"I see," I say. "Alright… I was planning to experiment later anyway, so I guess I'll leave it at that. See you later, Pernelle."

So the four of us head out into the other room. The Souju twins seem to be sleeping now, and Hijiri is no longer there, so we just head outside and make our way to the train station to catch the train back to Mitakihara.

Inui and I get back to the Hayashi place just in time for dinner, after which I go straight to bed. I want to check up on the Tokime again tomorrow morning, after all.

Mikoshiba comes to with a groan. They've bound her hand and foot, but she hasn't been gagged. The old woman sits up and looks around, taking in her surroundings. Shizuka sits before her, Sunao and Chiharu supporting her by her side. Chika sits over by the wall to Mikoshiba's left, surrounded by the village cats. Her parents are there too, looking worried. Mrs Tokime and Hs Hiroe sit together to Mikoshiba's right, on opposite sides of the low table that occupies the centre of the room.

"So you're finally awake," Shizuka says.

"Granny, are you okay…?" Chiharu asks.

Mikoshiba gazes unwaveringly at Chiharu, keeping her head high.

"You're… the new diviner girl," she says.

"As far as I can tell, you're uninjured," Ms Hiroe says. "But do you feel unwell at all?"

"Ms Hiroe, you don't have to worry about her that much," Mrs Tokime says.

"Besides, she's clearly fine," Chika adds.

"The Tokime and Hiroe mothers," Mikoshiba says. "And the Aoba couple… ah, is that it? Did I get hurt somewhere, and pass out? But why have my movements been restricted?"

"Don't you remember anything?" Chiharu asks.

"Sorry, dear," Mikoshiba says. "Everything lately seems to be a bit of a blur…"

"Huh…?" Chiharu says. "Is this for real…?"

"People who receive a devil's brand do tend to forget what happened," Shizuka says.

"I received one?" Mikoshiba asks innocently. "From a devil…?"

"I… didn't see one," Chika mutters.

"But if anything, it looked like you were manipulating said devil," Sunao says.

"I'm so sorry," Mikoshiba says. "I can't remember a thing… but it's true that you saved me, right? I must express my gratitude to you, the three diviners of the village."

Chika blinks in surprise, but doesn't say anything. Certainly, if Mikoshiba wasn't under the effect of a witch, she should have remembered that Chika is also a magical girl… but she probably knows that and is playing dumb.

"Still," Shizuka says. "We have things that we want to ask you…"

"About what?" Mikoshiba asks.

"It's fine if your memory's hazy," Shizuka says. "We still want to hear what you have to say… about us diviners…"

She recounts what the Mikoshiba told her during the ceremony, about the final fate of magical girls. The old woman listens in silence and apparent curiosity, merely nodding along, until Shizuka has finished speaking.

"And I really did say all of that, correct…?" Mikoshiba says.

"Yeah, you did," Shizuka says. "That's what you said at the coming-of-age ceremony. You also said that diviners can never be allowed outside, so the village can continue being Nippon's shadow…"

"I've never heard of any of that," Mikoshiba says. "But I hardly think that you'd be a dishonest girl… so please, allow me to at least make an apology."

Shizuka smiles. "Well, alright…"

"By the way, Lady Mikoshiba," Chika speaks up. "That stuff about diviners turning into devils… is it actually true?"

"My word, of course not!" Mikoshiba says.

"I thought so," Chika says.

"Granny, you're lying," Chiharu says.

"As it happens, I already know it's true," Chika says. "If you're trying to convince us it's not, then it's clear you're hiding something from us."

"Ah, that's a shame," Mikoshiba says with a sigh. "Considering what I did, it's only natural for you to say so…"

Chika shakes her head with a sigh. "I suppose you're going to claim you didn't know I was a diviner?"

"My word! I had no idea," Mikoshiba says.

"It still smells…!" Chiharu exclaims.

Sunao sighs. "Enough!" she says. "I can't take this anymore…"

"The Toki girl…?" Mikoshiba says, startled.

"I thought things might be alright if you'd just admit to all of it," Sunao says. "But I've heard enough… I didn't want to say this, because I knew Shizuka and Charu would be hurt by it… I thought that if Mikoshiba were punished, I should take this to the grave. But… but I can't anymore!"

"W-what are you talking about…?" Mikoshiba asks.

"Yeah, what is it?" Shizuka asks. "What's so bad we can't hear it?"

"Could it be… you found something in her house…?" Chika gasps.

Sunao blinks, then nods. "As Miss Chika says, I went to Mikoshiba's house," she says. "You remember, right? Of course, I couldn't find her there at the time."

"Oh, that's right," Mikoshiba says. "Where was I…?"

"At the Grand Shrine," Sunao says.

"There, of all places…!?" Mikoshiba gasps. "Unbelievable! I was at a devil's side in such a holy place!?"

"She's a good actor, I'll give her that much," Chika mutters.

"Don't change the subject!" Sunao shouts. "I take it you don't remember threatening to kill my parents if I didn't do what you say?"

"I'm afraid not," Mikoshiba says.

"Then, you shouldn't remember threatening me and my daughter into coming here either," Ms Hiroe says.

"That's… true," Mikoshiba admits. "I have a vague recollection of a phone call, but I could not repeat the words that were exchanged…"

"How far back did this go…?" Sunao asks. "When did your memories become blurred?"

Mikoshiba looks thoughtful, seemingly pondering the question.

"It was… yes, I believe it was since Sunao's case," she says. "One year… perhaps even two, at most…?"

"Then you were at least in your right mind during that case," Sunao says.

"That… case…?" Mikoshiba says.

"Sunao-chan… what are you talking about…?" Chiharu asks.

"I went to Mikoshiba's house, and I found something," Sunao says. "A laptop computer, which shouldn't be here in this village… I entered the same number as your safe combination, and logged in to it. Then, I found some audio files…"

"So what?" Mikoshiba says.

"Some of the files were over two years old," Sunao says. "Most of them, even."

"And you listened to them?" Mikoshiba says.

"Yes," Sunao says. "Clearly, with my own ears…"

"I see," Mikoshiba says. "I see… so you heard them…"

"What was that…!?" Sunao shouts. "Tell me…!"

"You're better off not knowing," Mikoshiba retorts. "Ignorance is bliss."

"This is not something you can just get away with!" Sunao shouts.

"Yes, I should never have allowed people in from the outside," Mikoshiba says with a sigh. "I'll tell you this. There's no written documentation. Leaving any would risk other villagers reading about it."

"Mikoshiba…!" Sunao exclaims.

At that point, Mikoshiba suddenly clenches her teeth, but then she looks surprised.

"Oh, are you surprised?" Chika says. "We already found the poison hidden in your teeth. You're the only one who knows the whole truth, after all… how could we let you just commit suicide?"

"You…!" Mikoshiba exclaims. "No matter… I won't talk, whatever you do. It's useless to keep me alive."

"Hmm," Chika says. "Did you really think having you talk is the only way to get information out of you?"

"Huh!?" Sunao says. "How else would you…?"

"I have a friend who knows a lot of magical girls," Chika says. "I'm sure there must be one among them who could help us out."

"If I'd known you became a diviner, I would not have allowed your family to come back, either," Mikoshiba mutters.

"I think we've heard enough for now," Mrs Tokime speaks up. "I'll confine her in the guest bedroom for now, but… what about the kagura dancers? They may not know the whole truth, but I'm sure they must know more than the average villager… after all, the next Mikoshiba is always picked from amongst the dancers."

"Then we should capture the dancers too!" Sunao exclaims. "How many of them are there?"

"I believe there are… eight of them currently," Mrs Tokime says.

"So, after we capture the dancers, you'll tell us everything, right, Miss Toki?" Chika says.

"Yes… I suppose I will," Sunao says with a sigh. "For now, let's go…"

Chika gently lifts the cats out of her way and gets to her feet, then looks down to address them.

"You lot, could you help us locate the dancers?" she asks.

The cats all meow at her at the same time, and she blinks.

"Huh?" she says. "What do you mean?"

She listens to the cats a bit more, then nods.

"Interesting…"

"What did they say?" Shizuka asks.

"It seems the dancers aren't ordinary humans," Chika says. "However, they're not magical girls, either… sorry, I mean diviners."

"Huh?" Shizuka says. "Then… what other possibilities are there…?"

"I'm not sure," Chika says. "I didn't entirely understand what the cats were saying either, only that it's something… dark… something that scares them. They compared it to how a mouse must feel when confronted by a cat. They get the same feeling from the Mikoshiba herself, too."

"I see," Sunao says. "But did they say they'd help?"

"Ah… yes," Chika says. "They don't mind as long as we accompany them – all four of us, they said."

"I guess that means we're all going together," Chiharu says. "Alright… let's go!"

The cats lead them to a house next to the Mikoshiba's house, where they find all eight of the dancers apparently in the middle of practice. One of them turns to face them indignantly as the four of them burst in.

"What are you doing!?" she asks. "If Lady Mikoshiba hears of this…!"

"That doesn't matter!" Sunao says. "We already know everything!"

"Huh?" the dancer says. "What are you saying?"

"You must know about it too, don't you?" Sunao says. "The secret of this village… how we're supposed to be Nippon's shadow…!"

"I don't quite understand, but you're all under arrest under suspicion of, um… something!" Chiharu proclaims. "Will you come quietly?"

The dancers look at each other. Then the same one who confronted them responds.

"Where is Lady Mikoshiba?" she asks. "Are you keeping her somewhere?"

"That old woman committed suicide," Chika says.

Shizuka looks at her in surprise, but the dancer simply scoffs at her.

"Don't try to fool us," she says. "It's obvious she's still alive."

Chika tilts her head. "Really? What, exactly, makes it so obvious?"

The dancer blinks. "B-because… you would never…"

"Didn't I say she committed suicide?" Chika says. "So it's not something we did…"

"Ah," the dancer says.

"So… what makes you think she's alive?" Chika asks. "I'm sure you knew she hid poison in her tooth, which means it shouldn't come as a surprise to you that she would commit suicide."

"No… it really is a surprise to hear that she had poison in her tooth," the dancer says. "I'm seriously shocked to hear that…"

Her voice is actually shaking a little, so that might actually be the truth.

"Enough of this," Sunao says. "Are you coming, or do we have to make you come?"

The dancer sighs. "Fine. There's no way we could overpower three diviners… no, is it four diviners? We'll come quietly."

Chiharu produces some ropes, which they use to bind the dancers' hands. With that taken care of, they escort the dancers back to the house currently being shared by the Hiroe and Tokime families. Mrs Tokime greets them at the door.

"That went faster than I thought it would," she says. "Yeah, I think that's all of them. Did they not even put up a fight?"

"They complained a little, but once they realized we'd already taken care of Mikoshiba, they came without any resistance," Shizuka says.

"So, whatever's different about them, it's nothing like a magical girl's enhanced strength," Chika says. "If they were as strong as us, we would've had a hard time… but there's one strange thing. I think they can somehow tell that Mikoshiba is alive…"

"Curious," Mrs Tokime says. "Well, let's find a place to keep them, and then we can have a talk about what Sunao-chan found on the laptop."

A couple of the dancers gasp at that.

"As I thought, you guys do know something," Sunao says. "But we'll question you later… so, you can look forward to it."

After stashing the dancers in the kitchen and binding their feet as well, everyone gathers back in the living room. Ms Hiroe is already there, sitting in a corner with a pencil and paper. It looks like she or Mrs Tokime found Mikoshiba's notebook while the girls were out, for she appears to be in the middle of deciphering it.

"So, Granny tried to kill herself," Chiharu sighs. "She didn't have to do that…"

"Charu," Ms Hiroe says sternly.

"But that means she admitted them," Sunao says. "Her wrongdoings…"

"Though without remorse," Chika says. "She's admitting she did it, what ever it is, but taking pride in it…"

"But… but… he said that any bad guy can have another chance…!" Chiharu protests. "Mr Todoroki said so…"

"It's quite possible there's some people who can't," Shizuka suggests.

"You've got it wrong, both of you," Chika says. "You already gave her another chance, didn't you? And she just refused it."

"I can't forgive her," Sunao says. "Doing as many awful things as she likes, and then trying to die to cover them all up…! I'm sorry… maybe I shouldn't have brought it up… if she didn't know what we know, maybe we could've gotten more out of her… I could've waited…!"

"Sunao-chan, calm down," Mrs Tokime says.

"I'd probably have doubled down on her even if you didn't, Sunao," Shizuka says. "Because I saw more bodies in the waterfall basin than could've accumulated within a couple of years. The devil had nothing to do with it. She'd been killing diviners of her own accord… the entire time…"

"And even if Miss Shizuka hadn't said something, I would have definitely grilled her," Chika says. "I already had an inkling of what was happening in this village… I had a conversation about it a few days ago. That person only dropped a few hints, but I think she probably knew the whole story already…"

"So, Sunao," Shizuka says. "What did you hear from the computer…?"

"I don't even want to talk about it," Sunao mutters.

"It's something to do with me and Charu, right…?" Shizuka says. "Let us hear about it…"

"You're guaranteed to regret it!" Sunao protests.

"But it's about us, right?" Shizuka says. "It's not fair of you to take it to your grave."

"Yeah, Sunao-chan!" Chiharu says. "We want to know about ourselves. So let us carry it, too."

Sunao sighs. "What I heard… what I heard was… the prices of diviners' lives…"

"Prices of lives…?" Chiharu says.

"Which means, the price for my and Chiharu's lives…?" Shizuka says.

"Yes," Sunao says. "There was a recording of a conversation with an unknown man… though it was hard to understand at first, I gradually realized that they were talking about a wish made upon becoming a diviner…"

"Who was on the other side…?" Chiharu asks.

"At least for the file I listened to, I only heard his voice," Sunao says. "No name or anything… but I'm sure he was someone very high-ranking… she was talking to him about the price of the wish… and the time frame for it…"

"In short, our wishes… our lives were sold," Shizuka muses with a sigh. "Sorry for asking about it like that… you were holding on harder than I thought…"

Chiharu lets out a long sigh, and Sunao starts to cry a little.

"So we didn't wish for the sake of Nippon…?" Chiharu asks.

"That fact… doesn't change," Sunao says.

"But, Granny made us make our wishes so she'd get money for it," Chiharu says. "I… I didn't sacrifice my life to a god… my life was just sold to some faceless man… what was my wish, in the end…?"

She starts to cry too.

"Yes, it might've been sold," Shizuka says. "Even so… even so, Charu… your wish did come true, and foiled the evil nesting within justice…"

"Shizuka-chan…" Chiharu sobs.

"So, it did come true!" Shizuka says. "It did, Charu…!"

"Y-yeah," Chiharu says.

"I also heard about it on the news," Chika says. "The Ministry of Defense scandal that was being covered up… bringing that to light was definitely a good thing."

"How do you know what I wished for?" Chiharu asks.

"Ah, Mom and Dad were at the ceremony, so they told me about it," Chika says. "Of course, I'd already seen it on the news before that, but I put two and two together when they told me."

"T-thank you," Chiharu says. "By the way, Sunao-chan… how much was I worth…?"

"Charu, stop," Ms Hiroe says. "You don't need to hear about that…"

"Yeah," Sunao says. "You're priceless."

"Liar," Chiharu mutters.

"I'd never put a price on friends," Sunao insists. "This doesn't change anything about either of you. You're the greatest people I know. Who cares… about some price…?"

That statement brings tears to Shizuka's eyes as well.

"Sunao-chaaan…" Chiharu says.

"Thank you," Shizuka says. "I'm sorry for making you bear that… you're the greatest person I know, too…"

"Even though I tried to kill you…?" Sunao says.

"Of course!" Shizuka says.

Chika watches in silence as the three of them cry for awhile. She seems to have a tear in her eye too, but appears reluctant to get between the three of them. Eventually, they calm down, and Shizuka hems and haws a little.

"So in the end, Mikoshiba knew everything, and was even controlling the devil," she muses. "And this village has been selling people's lives since ancient times…"

"Shizuka, that's not true," Mrs Tokime speaks up. "This village belongs to us Tokime. We don't know what it was like before Mikoshiba's clan came though… but I know that our family has always taken pride in the number of diviners it produced."

"I see," Chiharu says.

"Excuse me," Chika says. "But what should I tell my friend? Would you be able to meet her tomorrow morning? I should let her know, one way or the other…"

"I am a little curious as to what she wants to show us," Shizuka muses. "Did she give any hints…?"

"She didn't say it in so many words," Chika says. "But given that she wants to show you in particular, as a member of the Tokime head family… that leads me to believe it must be something she discovered about the history of the Tokime clan."

"What's that…?" Shizuka says, confused. "You said she wanted us to go to a place called Mitakihara, right? And it's really far away? What could a place like that have to do with our clan's history…?"

"Did you say Mitakihara?" Mrs Tokime says. "I've seen that name in the old Tokime records. I think the head family lived there at some time in the past, but I'm not sure of the details. A lot of the old records aren't in good condition…"

"So, that means it's completely plausible that this friend of Chika's has uncovered something about our history in Mitakihara," Sunao muses.

"Hmm… is it okay if we leave the village for a little while, Mother?" Shizuka asks.

"Well… if you'll help me to explain the situation to the villagers first, I think I can take care of most of the rest," Mrs Tokime says. "My brief explanation from last night was just barely enough to tide them over."

"So that means… we can go?" Shizuka says.

Mrs Tokime nods. "If it's just for a day or so… I think that should be fine."

"In that case, we should probably leave before midday, right?" Shizuka says. "Then we can stay overnight in the city, meet your friend, and come straight back."

"That should be fine," Chika says. "In fact, if you'd like, you can stay at my place in Kamihama. Ah, it may be technically in Kamihama, but it's on the outskirts, up on the mountain, so you should fit right in."

"Huh? But I thought you said we were going to Mitakihara," Shizuka says.

"It's only an hour or two from Kamihama to Mitakihara by train," Chika says.

"Ah, I see," Shizuka says. "In that case, we'll be in your care, Chika-chan!"

"Come to think of it," Chiharu says. "Mom, what have you been doing this whole time?

"Ah, this?" Ms Hiroe says. "While you were rounding up the dancers, Mrs Tokime thought we should search Mikoshiba… and as a result, we found this notebook."

"It's written in code," Mrs Tokime says. "But Ms Hiroe says she can decipher it."

Chiharu gasps. "That little thing called 'truth' always lies much closer than you expect!" she exclaims. "If she left that data in the computer Sunao-chan found, then she must have carried the really important things with her… like that notebook!"

"Yes," Ms Hiroe says. "Mrs Tokime and I agree, which is why I've started decoding it. I haven't gotten very far yet, but it seems to be setting itself up as a historical account… or something like a diary?"

The girls step up to peer over her shoulder at the notebook.

"Huh…?" Shizuka says. "What's this weird script…?"

"I'm not sure, but… I feel like I've seen it somewhere before," Sunao says.

"I've seen it before too," Chika says. "Aren't those witch runes?"

"Huh… can you read it?" Shizuka asks.

"I haven't learned it, no," Chika says. "But I've often seen that script in witch's labyrinths… and I believe my friend can read it."

"Ah… that's why it seemed familiar," Sunao says. "Now that you mention it, I've seen it too sometimes… I never realized it could actually be read."

"Huh…?" Chiharu says. "This is…! The Hiroe family tradition!?"

"Huh!?" Shizuka gasps. "No way…!"

"It's always been our family rule that we have to learn this script," Chiharu says.

"But I never expected to see it here, of all places," Ms Hiroe says. "I also had no idea that it was a script used by witches, or devils, or whatever you're calling them now…"

"So… you can… definitely decipher it, right?" Shizuka says.

"I bet we can…!" Chiharu says. "But wait… how can Chika-chan's friend read it, then…?"

Ms Hiroe nods. "I haven't run into any difficulties yet," she says. "It's just time-consuming to translate it one character at a time, and even then, all I have is the hiragana, so to make it easy to read I need to work out the kanji by guesswork."

"Alright, since you need to be somewhere by tomorrow, let's get this announcement over with," Mrs Tokime says. "Could I ask all four of you to accompany me? Although, I can make do with just Shizuka if the rest of you prefer not to be in the limelight."

"I think I'll stay here," Chika says. "Sorry… as Mrs Tokime says, I'd prefer not to be the centre of attention."

"Then I'll come to support you, Shizuka-chan," Sunao declares.

"Me too!" Chiharu says.

"Let's go!" Shizuka says.

"Great," Mrs Tokime says. "Then I'll just need to work out the logistics of confining everyone… I suppose we could use Mikoshiba's house as a temporary prison…?"

While musing on that, she follows the other three diviners outside, leaving Chika alone with the village cats.

At that moment, I'm interrupted by a ping from my phone. It's Sara, asking where and when we should meet. I sit up with a gasp, closing off the vision.

"That's right! I almost forgot!"

"Huh!?" Inui says, startled. "What's gotten into you all of a sudden?"

"I promised Sara and the others that we'd meet up today," I say.

"Ah… in that case, I'll come with you," Inui says.

"In addition, I wanted to experiment with my new power a little and figure out its limits," I say. "For example, can I safely teleport from Mitakihara to Kamihama? From Asunaro to Kamihama? From Tokyo to Kamihama? Basically, what's my range?"

Inui nods. "That… does seem like something that would be important to know," she agrees.

"If I have enough range to cross the ocean, even in multiple leaps, my plan for using the Mirror Witch as transit probably isn't needed," I muse. "I can't rely on Shizuku, because she's liable to lose her power at some point, and I don't know if I can count on Maimai… which is why I figured the Mirror Witch was my best bet. But now I can teleport myself, so there might be another option…"

"Why do you think Shizu-tan would lose her powers?" Inui asks.

"Because that happens in the second arc after she decides to join the Union," I say. "Well… it's not like she loses them altogether, but… her range is dramatically reduced, to the point that she wouldn't even be able to teleport as far as, say, Futatsugi. So I can't rely on her if I want to regularly cross the Pacific Ocean… of course, there's no guarantee the same thing will happen, but there's also no guarantee it won't happen."

"I see," Inui says. "Well, what's the furthest you've teleported so far?"

"Hmm," I say. "I think it was from Minaminagi Seaside Park to the antique shop where we met Mel and Liz…?"

"That's already pretty far," Inui says. "How much magic did that use up?"

"Come to think of it… I think I forgot to check," I say. "Oops?"

But then, an answer rises up from an unexpected source.

"Huh? Oh… apparently Ashley was paying more attention than I was," I say. "About twenty-five percent, is her estimate."

"Hmm," Inui says. "That would imply you can manage about four times as much, right?"

"Yeah, though that might be pushing it a little," I say.

"In that case… I think you might be able to do it from here," Inui says. "Although… to be on the safe side, you should try a shorter distance first… how about… hmm… Sakura Church to, um… Satomi Medical Centre? I think that's roughly three times the distance…"

I nod. "Yeah… that sounds like a good test," I agree.

I compose a quick reply to Sara.

[Where are you right now? I'll come meet up with you within the next few minutes.]

After sending the message, I clean myself up a bit and put on proper clothes, as I was still in my pyjamas. Inui had already gotten dressed, so she mostly just watches me, except for insisting on doing my hair for some reason. By the time I'm ready, I have a message waiting. I take a look and find not one but two replies. The first is from Chika.

[We'll see you tomorrow morning at the central train station in Mitakihara.]

The second is of course from Sara.

[We are on our way to Meiyui's restaurant. Why not meet us there?]

"Alright," I say. "Let's go!"

I head for the door, and Inui follows me. We head downstairs, say goodbye to Mrs Hayashi, and head out into town. To save time, I summon Teddy Mk II to fly all the way to Sakura Church. As we land in front of the church, however, we're greeted by an unexpected sight. Kyouko bursts out with a yell.

"You!" she exclaims. "What the hell are you doing here!?"

"Huh?" I say. "Is there something wrong?"

"What!?" Kyouko complains. "You really don't know!?"

I try to remember if I'd done anything to her, but I really can't remember anything. I haven't even redeemed my favour yet in this timeline.

"Um… I'm sorry, I really don't know," I say. "So you'll have to explain to me…"

"What!" Kyouko says. "Don't you think it's good manners to ask someone before agreeing to a trip!? Dammit!"

Ah, now I understand. She must be talking about the seaside trip to take Yuma to meet her grandparents.

"What, you don't want Yuma to see her grandparents?" I ask.

"It ain't like I need to be there for that," Kyouko retorts.

"But I'm sure Yuma wants you to meet them," I counter. "Shouldn't you consider her feelings too?"

"Damn you!" Kyouko mutters. "Whatever, just leave me alone…"

With that, she turns and storms back inside.

"That's… even I don't quite get it," Inui says. "I mean, I sort of get it, but…"

"She's tsundere," I say with a shrug. "Anyway, let's find the shadows and keep going."

We go around to the shady side of the church, and I pause to check the state of my soul gem. Then I take Inui's hand, and we sink into the shadows together. Scanning the many windows dotting that dark space, I reach out for one that shows a familiar building near Satomi Medical Centre, and we emerge into an alleyway next to the building in question. The transit seems to take more than a quarter of my magic, but less than half. Perhaps around a third, or three-fifths. If that distance really is around three times the distance from Minaminagi Seaside Park to the antique shop, the power-distant relationship must not be linear…

"Looks like I should be good to go the rest of the way," I muse.

"Hmm?" Inui says. "The rest of the way where…?"

"Oh, sorry," I say. "I forgot to mention… we're meeting at Miss Chun's place."

"Ah, Mei-kun's place," Inui says. "Sounds good!"

Still holding her hand, we sink back into the shadows. This time I find a window displaying Minaminagi Liberty Academy, and we emerge into an alleyway across from the school. Checking my soul gem, I find it to be in pretty bad shape after two consecutive jumps. The first jump was surely longer, mind you… but I'd say it's about three-quarters full now. Maybe a little less than that… seventy percent? I'm also not sure how much taking a passenger along affects it – I'll have to try without Inui later.

"Well… it seems my range is roughly Mitakihara to Kamihama," I say. "Which means a trans-Pacific jump is probably beyond me… at least, under normal conditions."

Inui blinks. "Huh? I'm not sure if I like the sound of that…? What kind of abnormal conditions do you have in mind?"

"Think about it," I say. "Don't you remember how Elise-chan managed to restore a soul gem without unleashing her doppel?"

Inui gasps. "Y-you mean… you can use grief seeds sort of like a battery for powerful spells!?"

"Yeah, pretty much," I say. "I'm sure there are limits on that, but… as long as the grief seeds can purify faster than you consume magic, you should be fine."

"But what if teleportation just consumes magic too quickly?" Inui asks.

"Don't worry," I say. "I'm not going to try a trans-Pacific jump all in one go. I'm not that stupid. I'll try some shorter jumps with grief seeds first. However… that means we're going to need a lot of grief seeds, so we should go hunting later."

"Got it!" Inui says.

"Anyway… even if the worst happens, can't you just take my grief seed to Elise-chan?" I point out.

"That… that's true, but… I don't want to have to do that," Inui says. "Plus, if I'm stuck thousands of kilometres away from home, I might turn into a witch myself before making it back."

"Well, I don't really want to go through that either," I agree. "But it's still a possibility."

"Yeah… I guess," Inui reluctantly agrees. "Anyway… shouldn't we get going?"

"Ah, right."

We head for Meiyui's Chinese restaurant, where we find Sara and the others already waiting. They wave and greet us in English.

"You came sooner than we expected!" Sara calls.

"We said we were waiting for two more friends," Janice says. "I figured Inui would be coming too. You're so close, after all!"

"Heya Ashley, Inui, how are you?" Chevonne says.

"Welcome," Adèle says. "Have you rested well?"

"Not as well as I could have," I admit. "I have so many things to do over the holiday… but I did get some rest, at least."

We end up reprising some of the conversation from the previous timeline, the parts that hadn't already been covered when I picked them up from the airport in this timeline. After the meal, we do some more sightseeing, checking out Mizuna Shrine and a few other tourist hotspots. We also end up fighting several witches, somehow without running into any local magical girls.

Eventually, Inui and I say goodbye and catch a train back to Mitakihara. By the time we return from the beach trip, they'll have returned to America, so I won't see them again until the fall.

The following morning, Inui and I wake up relatively early. I grab a tracksuit for Youha to borrow, stuffing it into my purse. After eating breakfast with the Hayashi family, Inui and I head for Mitakihara Central Station. It turns out we're a little early, though, for we end up waiting about half an hour before Chika and the others disembark from one of the trains. Chika spots us almost immediately, waving.

"Good morning," Shizuka says. "You must be the friend that Miss Chika has been telling us so much about. I am Tokime Shizuka. It's nice to meet you."

"I'm Toki Sunao… nice to meet you."

"And I'm Hiroe Chiharu! A pleasure!"

"Nice to meet you all," I say. "I'm Ashley Taylor. This is another close friend of mine, Itsumi Inui."

"I heard that there was something you wanted to show us, something related to the history of our clan," Shizuka says.

"Indeed," I say. "Follow me."

"What could it be…?" Chiharu wonders.

"Well, there's an old tomb on a hill near here," I say. "You'll understand better when you see it… especially Miss Hiroe."

"Huh? Why me specifically?" Chiharu wonders.

I ignore the question, leading the four of them to the hill behind Mitakihara Middle School. Before long, we're ascending the narrow path to the top.

"It's hard to believe there's a place like this right in the middle of the city," Shizuka muses. "I almost can't tell we're still in the city… if it wasn't for the distant background noise, I would think this was a remote mountain…"

"It's a place people don't come to often," I say. "It has a reputation for being haunted… or rather, it actually is haunted."

"Huh!?" Shizuka gasps. "There are ghosts…?"

"One ghost, at least," I say. "She's someone who was close to the Tokime clan."

"Huh… is that what you wanted to show us?" Shizuka asks.

"Partly," I say. "But the tomb itself should also interest you."

A couple of minutes later, we arrive at the tomb, and Chiharu blinks in surprise.

"Huh!" she says. "It's that script again!"

"Can you read it, Charu?" Shizuka asks.

"Um… this one's quite short, so I should be able to," Chiharu says. "Let me see… 'Here lies… Youha of Kazura, who… who lived as… as a magical girl… yet died… as a human.' Huh? Does that mean she lost her powers and wasn't a magical girl anymore? Is that even possible…?"

"I guess it must be," I say. "It must be very rare though… I don't think I've heard of any other magical girl who became a normal human again."

At least, I don't know of any in the anime, the spin-off manga, or the game, and I haven't met any others here in reality either.

"Um… why does it use the term 'magical girl' instead of 'diviner'?" Sunao wonders.

"I haven't the slightest idea," I say. "I don't know where the term 'diviner' came from in the first place. However… I think both terms were in use back then. Take a look."

I shove the tomb aside enough to reveal the stone tablets stored inside. There don't seem to be any grief cubes in there at the moment – Elise and the others presumably haven't finished using the last batch they harvested just before Walpurgisnacht. Shizuka gasps.

"I-is this okay!?" she says. "Are you sure you won't be cursed…?"

"I think I'll be fine," I say.

"Ashley's speaking from experience," Inui says smugly.

"Is that… really something to be proud about…?" Shizuka asks.

I kneel down to pick up the tablets, passing them to Chiharu.

"I believe you should find the term 'diviner' used in this one," I say.

"More of that script," Chiharu says. "This one… might take me some time though… the inscription on the tombstone was pretty simple, but this one looks complicated."

"That's fine," I say. "Feel free to take it home and decipher it whenever you have time."

I shove the tomb closed again.

"Ah, by the way, Chika-chan said you can read this, right?" Chiharu says. "How is it possible that you can read the Hiroe family's tradition…?"

"That's not entirely accurate," I say. "That script is equivalent to the Roman alphabet. I can easily convert that tablet into Roman letters, but in this case, that's not enough to read what they actually say, as they're written using a very old Romanization of Japanese that I'm not familiar with. Plus, there's no kanji, like your mother said, so I think it really needs someone who's a native Japanese speaker to translate it."

"I see," Chiharu says. "So what you're saying is… these symbols have different uses besides our Hiroe family tradition…?"

"Pretty much," I say. "The reason I and others call them witch runes is because you can find them in any witch's labyrinth. They're also inscribed onto your soul gem ring."

Chiharu examines her ring and blinks.

"Huh…! You're right!" she says. "Is that supposed to be my name…? Though one of the characters is different…"

"This is just a guess, but maybe it's an H where you'd expect an F?" I suggest.

"Um… sorry, I'm not really sure what the romaji equivalents are," Chiharu says.

I shrug and turn back to face the tomb.

"Alright… now there's one more thing," I say.

"There's still more!?" Chiharu gasps.

"I already mentioned it earlier, and it's also what that tablet in your hands is about," I say. "This place is haunted, remember? There's a ghost here."

"Ah… you said it was someone close to the Tokime, as I recall," Shizuka says.

"Ghosts… they really, truly exist?" Chiharu says, shuddering a bit. "I'm already scared just imagining it…"

"I don't really like ghosts either," Inui says. "But when you meet a real one you realize they're not all that spooky… besides, there's a specific reason to meet this ghost, apparently. I'm interested in seeing that happen with my own eyes…"

For a moment, I'm confused, thinking Inui should've already seen Youha revive… but then I remember that she died before the final battle in the fourth timeline, and I haven't attempted to revive Youha since, beyond dropping hints with various Tokime descendants outside the village.

"Seeing what happen…?" Chiharu says. "D-don't tell me… a possession…!?"

"No… I don't think that's it," Inui says.

I look around for the ghost. It takes a minute or two, but I eventually spot the barely-visible outline of a young girl, hovering near the tomb. I gesture towards her, and the Tokime girls gasp.

"There really was a ghost!?" Chiharu says.

"So ghosts really do exist," Sunao says.

"Miss ghost, may I ask… who are you?" Shizuka asks.

The barely-audible voice of the ghost floats back to us. It's a single word.

"…here…"

"Then… are you… Kazura no Youha…?" Shizuka asks.

"Yes… you…?" the ghost responds.

"Ah… my name is Tokime Shizuka…"

"Tokime…!" the ghost says.

"Well, there's not much point in talking to her now though," I say. "Just be patient for a moment."

I raise my voice and call out.

"Kyuubey!"

Kyuubey steps out from behind the tomb and looks up at me.

"How can I help you, Ashley Taylor?" it asks.

"Lord Kyuubey…!?" Shizuka gasps. "Miss Taylor… how did you summon him so easily…?"

"What are you talking about?" I say. "Kyuubey usually appears if you call for it. Well… only if you're a magical girl, or have the potential to become one, I guess… but still. I guess sometimes it doesn't feel like showing itself, but that doesn't seem to happen very often. You didn't know that?"

"I… I never even considered… such a thing…" Shizuka says. "To summon Lord Kyuubey like that… it seems… b-blasphemous…"

"Well, whatever," I say. "Kyuubey… what do you make of this ghost?"

Kyuubey turns to gaze at the ghost hovering above the tomb.

"Interesting," it says. "We have encountered these entities you refer to as ghosts every now and then, but this is the first time I have seen one with significant magical potential. As they are essentially disembodied coherent souls, it is normal for them to have a small degree of magical potential, though generally too low to be of any use. However, this level is abnormal."

"I don't quite understand," Shizuka says. "What does magical potential mean…?"

"It means someone who has the potential to become a magical girl," I say. "Kyuubey can't grant wishes to just anyone… only those who already have magical potential can create a miracle."

"I… I see," Shizuka says. "But if you say it like that… it's almost as though the miracle comes from us, not Lord Kyuubey… that can't be right…?"

"Why not?" I say. "I think that's pretty accurate… Kyuubey is certainly powerful, but it is not a god. It can only bring out humanity's potential where it already exists."

"I… I see…?" Shizuka says. "Is that… really true…?"

"Then, why don't you make a wish and become a magical girl?" Kyuubey suggests, addressing the ghost.

"Here it comes…!" Inui murmurs.

"R-really… I… I can?" the ghost responds.

"Yes," Kyuubey says. "Of course, if you make a wish, then you will have to fight witches. What do you say?"

"Th-then… I want to… open the Tokime time capsule."

"Is that the wish that will light up your soul gem?" Kyuubey asks.

"Y-yes… p-please…"

And with that, Kyuubey's ear appendages gather up that barely-visible form, compressing it down into a soul gem. Once the soul gem is formed, the body follows, and for the second time in my life, Akatsuki Youha lands daintily on the ground and impales Kyuubey with her spear in one swift movement.

"Y-y-you just killed Lord Kyuubey!?" Shizuka gasps. "H-how could you!?"

Youha straightens up with a smile.

"Never fear," she says. "It would take a lot more than that to kill the incubator. I'm not even sure if he can be killed, to tell the truth. My name is Akatsuki no Youha. Who do I have the pleasure of addressing?"

"I'm Ashley Taylor," I say. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"I'm Itsumi Inui!" Inui says. "And I endorse all violence towards Kyuubey!"

"W-what!?" Shizuka gasps. "It seems like you really hate him…?"

"Um… I'm Hiroe Chiharu," Chiharu says. "I really think you shouldn't've done that though…"

"It was a bit cruel," Sunao says. "Ah, I'm Toki Sunao."

"I'm Aoba Chika," Chika says. "It's nice to meet you… I think…?"

Shizuka clears her throat. "R-right… as I said before, I'm Tokime Shizuka," she says. "You mentioned earlier… something about a Tokime time capsule? But your surname is Akatsuki, not Tokime…? Is that a branch family…?"

"No," Youha says. "The Akatsuki and Tokime were originally equals – Akatsuki is a branch of the famed Matsumoto clan, and they intermingled with the Tokime clan. Originally they were allies, but after Lady Aiko died, our relations started to break down, and some of the Akatsuki ended up betraying the Tokime… though I wasn't personally part of that. The mastermind was my greedy older brother… but it's not like it was entirely the Akatsuki's fault, either. The Tokime were dealing with some internal strife at the time as well…"

"So… just what is this time capsule?" Shizuka asks.

Youha's smile rapidly fades.

"Are you sure you wish to learn the deep truths of this world?" she asks. "Now that the time capsule has been opened, it is my duty to see it will never again be shut, so if needs be, you can wait until you are ready to face it."

"How do you plan to ensure that?" I ask, repeating my words from last time. "Didn't Kyuubey go to great lengths to bury whatever's in there?"

Youha smiles again.

"Yes, I can understand your concern," she says. "But never fear… I already have a contingency plan in place. If the incubator tries its little tricks again, then I will have quite the surprise in store for it."

"Is this time capsule a physical object?" Shizuka asks.

Youha tilts her head, considering the answer.

"Not exactly," she says. "There is a physical portion, which should have been buried and sealed in the Tokime village after my death. It contains a few artifacts of our ancestors, as well as written records containing the most basic information. However, the true nature of the time capsule is the records engraved into my memories. It is not a regular human memory – that would be too unreliable. No, it is something more precise, a record that will not be changed by time and emotions. As the keeper of the record, my task is to share it with all who wish to know."

"Hmm… regardless of whether we choose to learn this information now, what do you plan to do from now on?" Sunao asks.

"I will meditate in preparation for my evolution," Youha says. "And then, once that is complete, I will embark on a journey around the world to share the truth with magical girls everywhere."

"I do have a couple of questions for you before you leave," I say.

"You may ask," Youha says. "I will judge whether I can answer."

"The first one… I was wondering where the terms 'devil' and 'diviner' originally come from," I say. "Do you know anything about that?"

"Hmm… both sets of terms were in use in my era, but the Tokime clan usually used the terms 'witch' and 'magical girl'," Youha says. "I'm not completely sure, but I suspect 'devil' and 'diviner' may have originated from the Cult of the Sacred Tree. They were a small family-based cult in Mizuna who claimed to be descended from Queen Himiko – in fact, that woman who held the village hostage, Mikoshiba Kiku, was originally a member of that cult, though I don't know what her role in the cult was."

"Don't tell me they were actually descended from Himiko…?" I say.

"As for that, I couldn't say," Youha says.

"So to sum things up… the terms 'diviner' and 'devil' were probably brought along with the Mikoshiba," I muse.

"I think that's pretty likely, yes." Youha says.

"As for the second question… is it true that Kuzunoha was associated with the Tokime clan? What happened to her?"

"That old fox disappeared into the mountains after the founder died," Youha says. "But I heard Lady Aiko stayed in contact with her right up until her death. I and my friend, Tokime Oyura, also met that fox a couple of times… at the end, I even left her body in Kuzunoha's care."

"Huh? W-wait a second," I say. "Does that mean… is there any chance that the body has been preserved? If Miss Oyura's soul gem were recovered…"

Youha blinks in surprise, then nods. "Indeed… there is a chance," she says. "It all depends on how that old fox treated her, and whether she's still alive. But… Oyura turned into a witch. How can you possibly recover her soul gem?"

"I have a way to reverse that transformation," I say.

"Really," Youha says.

"Yes, really," I say.

"Interesting," Youha says. "Well, I won't hold out hope, but I would certainly be happy if I could see her again. Still… her witch must have absorbed many others, so even if you truly have a way to restore a soul gem, I can't just assume it would still work on her."

She sighs, a look if intense sadness briefly flitting across her face, but then she wipes her expression clean and looks at me.

"Was there anything else you wanted to ask?"

"There was one other thing," I say. "Kyuubey said that your magical potential as a ghost was abnormal. That makes me think you did something to manipulate it. How easy is it to reproduce whatever that is?"

"It's probably impossible for anyone else," Youha says. "But I suppose I could outline the method, if you wish."

"Why do you say it's impossible?" I ask.

"There are two reasons," Youha says. "The first is that it won't work on a soul that's properly anchored. To put it another way, it'll only work on a ghost. Although, we also conjectured that if an astral projection were to be achieved, the method might work on that partially anchored soul as well."

If I recall correctly, astral projection refers to a method of sending your spirit somewhere else while your body is asleep or something, so I guess it would make sense to conjecture that the projected spirit shares some properties with ghosts.

"Ah… with how rare ghosts apparently are, I guess that does throw quite the wrench in the works," I say.

However, it's perfect for my intention of using it on Kei, whose ghost is haunting the cape where she died.

Youha nods. "The second reason is that it draws on some of the properties of spectres," she says. "So it would need to be done in a place where spectres can spawn."

Oh, that's interesting… I recall that spectre is her term for wraiths. No wonder she was entombed on a hill where witches couldn't approach – it was all part of the plan to boost her magical potential so she could one day contract. Though I do have to wonder how they were so sure she would become a ghost in the first place…

"And there's another major wrench in the works," I muse. "Still… neither of them are entirely untenable. Could I get the details?"

Youha nods. "Because a ghost is not as stable as an anchored soul, it can absorb fragments of emotion emitted by the spectres," she explains. "Assuming your ghost is bound in an area where spectres can spawn, all you need to do is leave some spectre cubes out in the area. They will eventually spawn spectres, of course. If the spectres feed on human emotions, the ghost will be able to absorb the residual energy from the feeding. That will increase the ghost's magical potential. The other way would be to take advantage of witches. When a witch feeds on a spectre, it leaves behind some traces that it can't digest. The ghost will be able to absorb those traces and gain magical potential. So basically… once you've set things up, all you need do is wait."

"I see… that's very interesting," I say. "Thanks for the information. I have one last question about it, though… supposing I were to take advantage of a witch, about how many spectres would it need to consume in order for the ghost to absorb enough energy for Kyuubey to offer a contract?"

"I'm not entirely sure about that," Youha says. "But if you were thinking that perhaps you could simply spawn some spectres and be done with it, stop. A mere handful of spectres will not be enough. If it were a place where spectres can naturally spawn on a regular basis, I would anticipate at least a year before the spirit is considered viable as a contractee by Kyuubey."

That cape certainly isn't such a place, so I guess the plan to revive Kei will have to be much more long-term…

"That's too bad," I say. "Oh well…"

"I also have one question," Shizuka speaks up.

"Ask away," Youha says.

"You mentioned… evolution earlier," Shizuka says. "Doesn't that mean some sort of transformation…? Could it be a way to avoid turning into a devil?"

"To my knowledge, the evolutions are mutually exclusive," Youha says. "We've theorized there are nine possible evolutions in total, though we've only directly witnessed two – one is the path of grief, or what you know as the devil transformation, and the other is the path of lust, which was achieved by a woman named Miryam around two thousand years ago."

Oh…? So the Tokime met Mary? If they studied her, then perhaps it makes sense that they came up with this sort of theory… although… if that's the case, why didn't Pernelle come up with something similar as well…?

"But while we believe them to be mutually exclusive," Youha continues, "we aren't certain of it, so if you wish simply to avoid the path of grief, I would recommend other measures rather than pursuing an alternate evolution."

"What would you recommend, then?" Shizuka asks.

"One measure is to simply assure an abundant supply of grief seeds," Youha says. "You could breed witches, for example."

Seeing the Tokime trio's faces at the idea, she smiles and shakes her head.

"Oh, fear not, you need not sacrifice humans in order to breed witches," she says. "It takes longer, but familiars can absorb emotional energy without killing, and they will still eventually mature into a witch. All you would need is some means of containing them."

"Even so, I don't think I like the idea," Sunao says, shuddering a little. "They were once human, after all… treating them like livestock feels… wrong…"

"Then, you could breed spectres instead," Youha says. "If you can completely eradicate witches in a populated area, eventually spectres will spawn in groups and drop grief seeds in abundance when slain. Spectres are less dangerous to humans than witches – as long as you regularly keep them in check, they're unlikely to kill anyone. This strategy will only work in a large town, however. The stray emotions of a small village will not build up fast enough for spectres to spawn."

"But all that does is make it less likely," Shizuka says. "Even if we have hundreds of grief seeds, there's still a chance to turn into a witch, right?"

"Yes, of course," Youha says. "Certainly there are additional measures that could be taken, but they are still entirely theoretical and have never been tested. For example, we have theorized that the very process of evolution itself may be interfered with, in effect cancelling an attempted evolution and releasing the grief energy as a burst."

Inui gasps. "Y-you already thought of the doppel system in your time!? That's… that's amazing… even if you didn't create it, it's amazing enough that you thought of it…"

"Well, the means of interference was never fully settled on," Youha finishes. "So more work would be needed to even attempt to put it into practice."

"So basically what you're saying is, there's probably a way, but more research is needed, is that accurate?" Shizuka asks.

"Yes, and I would be happy to share what I know to further that research," Youha says.

Shizuka nods. "Perhaps I will take you up on that later."

"Anyway, I'm sure you must have many questions of your own, Miss Akatsuki," I say. "After all, you're about three hundred years out of date, I think?"

"Indeed," Youha says.

She powers down, all her clothes disappearing entirely.

"Perhaps we could start with some clothing from your modern era," she suggests.

"I predicted you'd say that," I say. "I brought some of my clothes that you can wear for now."

I pull out the tracksuit and hand it over. She examines it with some interest.

"These are quite different from what all of you are wearing," she says. "Are they really clothes of this era…?"

"Ah, those are clothes that we use for exercising in!" Chiharu says. "You won't look that odd going around in those, don't worry!"

"I see," Youha says. "So it would be akin to wearing a hakama instead of a kimono in my original era… which would probably not even be odd enough to draw eyes. Then, thank you very much."

It takes her a minute to figure out how to wear pants, but soon she's properly dressed. We then head to the mall to buy some better-fitting clothing, including underwear. I let Ashley bubble out, startling the Tokime trio a little, and by the time noon has come and gone, Youha is equipped with a stylish wardrobe of five complete outfits. She is wearing one and has the rest stuffed into shopping bags. While we're at it, I also get Inui a swimsuit, since she apparently doesn't have one other than the school swimsuit. I on the other hand have the one I packed from home, and it still fits just fine, and there aren't any that catch Ashley's eye anyway, so I don't get a new one for myself.

Just like last time, we grab some burgers for lunch, and Youha marvels at the unusual flavours of modern cuisine. We spend an hour or two just talking about how times have changed since the Edo period, and then she bids us farewell, bowing before heading off into the city.

"That was… very interesting," Shizuka says. "I never thought I'd meet someone from back then…"

"However, we should get back," Sunao says. "Since we'd like to arrive back before dark, if possible… there's not much time left, right?"

"There's one last thing that I have for you, though," I say. "Well… that's not quite accurate, I guess. We're talking about a person, and I didn't ask her beforehand… but would you like me to introduce you? She's a magical girl who can read minds."

"H-how did you know we needed something like that!?" Sunao gasps.

Chika chuckles, a bit nervously.

"Ahh… please forgive Miss Ashley's, uhh, poor manners," she says. "She must've been watching the whole thing that happened in the village with her magic… so that's how she knows."

"Huh…?" Chiharu says. "You can watch us… with your magic…? Waaaaait… is that how you knew about us when you told Chika-chan you'd like to meet us…?"

"Something like that," I say. "Although it only works on people or places I already know. Anyway… would you like me to introduce you?"

"If it won't take long, then I suppose there's nothing to lose in meeting this person," Shizuka says. "Alright. I'll accept your offer."

I briefly scry on Koito and find her to be at Oriko's place along with her sister and Kirika. That's quite convenient. I turn and lead the way to the Mikuni residence, where I knock on the door. Oriko opens it almost immediately.

"Good afternoon, Miss Taylor," she says. "I thought I might see you today, along with Miss Aoba and the others."

"Huh…?" Chiharu says. "By 'the others', do you mean…?"

"Of course, the three of you," Oriko says. "Please, come in, and I'll serve you some tea and cookies."

"Thank you for the offer, but we do need to catch a train soon," Shizuka says. "How long do you intend to take…?"

"Don't worry," Oriko says. "I'll keep things as brief as I can. As for the tea, it's already prepared."

"Let's go in," I say. "It seems she might have something to say that even I wasn't anticipating."

As we follow Oriko inside, Sunao ventures a question.

"Is she the girl who can read minds…?"

"No, but she's a close friend of that girl," I say.

Oriko ushers us into the living room, where Kirika and the Asako sisters look up. Oriko starts serving tea for the six of us. It seems she'd already brewed it in anticipation of our arrival.

"Oh, good afternoon, Miss Taylor!" Koito says. "What brings you here so suddenly?"

"Knowing her, it can't be anything good," Komaki mutters.

"I feel a little hurt by that," I protest. "Since when have I ever been up to no good?"

"Like, always?" Komaki says.

Koito giggles. "I hate to say it, but onee-san's estimation is pretty accurate on this one," she says.

"Well, whatever," I say. "Let me introduce you. I think you already know Aoba Chika, probably?"

"Well, only barely," Koito says. "Mostly just the memory of Miss Aino's connect skill… I know her name and her power, but not much else. Although that's a really cool power, being able to talk to animals… I'm a little jealous…"

"These three are friends of Miss Chika," I say.

"I can introduce myself," Shizuka interrupts. "I am Tokime Shizuka. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Toki Sunao."

"And I'm Hiroe Chiharu!"

"I'm Asako Koito… this grumpy one is my older sister, Komaki," Koito says. "The overly energetic one is Kure Kirika, and…"

"I too can introduce myself," Oriko interrupts. "Mikuni Oriko, at your service. Since I'm sure you must have been wondering, I am an oracle. My power is to see the future."

"So… you saw a future where we all turned up on your doorstep…?" Sunao says.

"That is correct," Oriko says, setting down the teapot. "But I also had another vision involving the four of you. Would you like to hear it?"

"I don't believe there is any reason to decline," Shizuka says. "If you can give us any kind of knowledge of the future… surely there can be no downsides?"

"That's not entirely true," Oriko says. "Sometimes, knowledge of the future can cloud your vision to the point that your attempts to avoid the future instead carry you straight towards it. That said… the future I saw in this case may not be one to be avoided."

"Even so… I'm still interested," Shizuka says.

"Very well," Oriko says. "I saw the four of you fighting a witch… I believe it was the one that Miss Taylor refers to as Lucy."

"I have no idea what that means…?" Shizuka says.

"I believe you know it as the Wavering Deity," I say.

"The Wavering Deity!?" Shizuka gasps. "You saw us fighting that witch…?"

"After defeating the witch, it dropped two grief seeds instead of one," Oriko says.

"Um… what was a grief seed, again…?" Shizuka asks.

"That's what you call a devil's soul in the village," Sunao says.

"Oh, two souls… huh? How can one witch have two souls…?"

"I'm afraid I don't know how it's possible," Oriko says. "I can only relate what I saw."

"Though it wouldn't be the first time we've seen such a thing," I say. "Itzli also dropped two grief seeds, and Walpurgisnacht dropped three. It seems that it can happen with unusually powerful witches."

Oriko nods, then continues. "After that…"

She suddenly falls silent, frowning a little.

"No… perhaps I should stop there," she says. "I'm not quite sure how best to explain what I saw. However… I would like to suggest that you treat those two grief seeds differently from other grief seeds."

"Huh…? You mean… don't use them to purify our jewels?" Shizuka asks.

"Not quite," Oriko says. "Set one of them aside and don't use it at all. The other one, you should use until it's no longer usable, but don't feed it to Kyuubey."

"Why not…? What will happen if we don't feed a used-up soul to Lord Kyuubey?" Shizuka asks.

"Normally, it would spawn a new copy of the witch who dropped it," I say. "But I don't think Miss Oriko would suggest it with that in mind… if it's alright with you, could you arrange for that to happen when I'm present? I'm getting curious now."

"Ah… isn't it bad if it spawns a new witch?" Chiharu says. "We'll need to defeat it again…"

"Of course, you would need to defeat it again," I agree. "But if you defeat it immediately, it's not like it'll cause any problems… just don't let it happen when your soul gems are badly tainted and you should be fine. If the new witch drops a grief seed again – which sometimes it doesn't – then you've also essentially gained a new grief seed that you can continue using. So it could be thought of as a way to reuse grief seeds, though not exactly a safe way…"

"Hmm… alright," Shizuka says. "I shall keep your words in mind, Miss Mikuni."

At that point, a sudden thought occurs to me… or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that Ashley bubbles up to pass the thought along. So, I contact Oriko telepathically, keeping the channel private.

«By the way… would you be willing to pass on one of my predictions to Miss Tokime as if it were your own?»

«That depends on the prediction,» Oriko says.

«I wanted to warn them to be careful when going through the Mikoshiba's stuff,» I reply. «If I'm not mistaken, there's an item in there that they need to hold onto, but it looks rather unassuming so it could easily be thrown out or sold by mistake. It's a golden rising sun emblem that was broken off the hilt of a sword.»

«I see,» Oriko says. «However, my predictions are usually more concrete than that, so it would not be in character for me to pass along that information as is. But I will mention it to them if I myself see a vision involving the emblem you describe.»

Well, it's not like it's urgent… they have until New Year's, which may even mean early January rather than the end of December.

«I guess that'll do,» I say. «And I can always mention it later if you don't get a chance.»

With that settled, I finally explain the reason we came all this way.

"The actual reason I came was to ask if Miss Koito is willing to offer them a hand," I say. "There is a… let's say, a criminal in her village who refuses to talk. I thought you could help out with your magic."

"Ah… because I can read minds, you mean?" Koito says. "I think you'd have better luck with Miss Izumi though, wouldn't you? After all, she's far more experienced…"

"That… might be true, I suppose," I admit. "But you were closer, and even if she has more experience, well… you can do it, right?"

"Well… yes, you're right," Koito admits. "I'm pretty sure I can do it. If you're willing to have me, Miss Tokime, I wouldn't mind assisting…"

"However!" Komaki declares. "I ain't letting my precious little sister go to an unknown place by herself, so if you accept her, you gotta accept me too!"

"Ah… thank you very much, onee-san!" Koito says.

"I understand," Shizuka says. "I'm willing to accept your help – I would even be fine if you brought Miss Mikuni and Miss Kure along. However… I'm sure you're not able to leave right this minute, correct?"

"Ah… yeah, that's asking a bit much," Koito says. "I'd need to pack some clothes, if nothing else…"

"I don't think you'd be able to get into the village if you showed up alone," Shizuka says. "And we really need to make sure we catch that train. What should we do…"

"I have an idea," Sunao says. "I'll give her the address of my parents' house, and my phone number. She can give me a call when they arrive, and we can meet them at the bottom of the mountain and escort them up."

"That sounds like a good idea," Shizuka says. "Is that acceptable, Miss Koito?"

"Yes, that'll work," she says. "How long does it take to get there?"

"It took us about half a day to get here," Shizuka says.

"Then I can probably be there by tomorrow," Koito says.

"Thank you in advance," Shizuka says.

"Ah, it's not a problem," Koito says. "See you later."

With that, we get up, say our goodbyes, and head outside. Inui and I accompany them back to the station, and they catch a train towards the village.

Once they're gone, I turn to leave and find Hijiri standing in my way. I blink at her in surprise.

"How long have you…?"

"About ten minutes," Hijiri says. "I got off the train, then happened to sense you were nearby, so I thought I'd wait until you were finished with what you were doing."

"So… what brings you here?" I ask.

Hijiri pulls out her phone and brings up the photo app, displaying not a conventional photo but rather a large monochrome QR code.

"Try scanning this with your phone," she says.

"Oh… is it ready?" I ask.

I pull my phone out regardless.

"Almost," Hijiri says. "I'd like you to give your thoughts on its current state."

"Sure, but maybe we should do this at home…?" I suggest.

"Fine with me," Hijiri says.

I bring up the camera app on my phone and scan the QR code from Hijiri's phone. It takes me to the browser, where a popup appears telling me that the website I've visited wants to install software on my device. It also notes that the certificate is valid, signed by 'Hyades', and vouched for by a certificate authority. I'm not entirely sure what all of that means, but it sounds like a good thing. I tap 'yes', and the app begins to download.

While it's doing that, we head back to the Hayashi house. The sisters are still out, so we just greet Mrs Hayashi briefly and head upstairs to my room. Then I pull out my phone to take a look at the new app that has been installed. It seems the model for the app's icon is Juubey, the Pleiades Saints' modified incubator terminal. The caption underneath it says PMMM, probably because the full name wouldn't have fit.

"Come to think of it… what happened to Juubey?" I ask.

"I think Nico's servicing him," Hijiri says. "Though the purification function was a failure, his ability to dispose of grief seeds is real, so Nico was thinking of using him for that purpose. Apparently he can even extract a small amount of energy from them."

"You should mention that the grief seeds might be reusable after energy is extracted," I say. "I don't remember if you've met Coeurl, who came from a distant future, but she said they had a way to extract the grief so the seed can be reused… though not indefinitely."

"Oh, interesting," Hijiri says. "I'll definitely pass that on next time I see Nico. Anyway… back on topic…?"

"Ah, right," I say. "I got distracted because Juubey was on the icon… which, by the way, I'm not too happy with. I think I'd prefer it to be something more iconic that magical girls would recognize… maybe a soul gem or a magic wand or something?"

Hijiri nods. "That can be arranged, but… it's probably better to commission the art in that case. This Juubey is literally a photo I found laying around. So… do you know anyone who could do it?"

"Hmm," I muse.

"Karin-chi," Inui says. "Why not ask her? She's already a friend of ours, and she's definitely pretty good at drawing, right?"

I think back to her personal memoria card from the game, which shows her depictions of several of the key figures of Kamihama, including Nanaka and Yachiyo. They're a little cartoony and sketchy, and in a much more angular style than the game's own art style, but… I can't deny they're pretty decent.

"It's definitely worth asking her," I agree. "But we should come up with more than one option… there's no guarantee she'd agree. Hmm… Alina's out of the question, and Kozue Mayu I don't think I know well enough, though I guess she could be an option… Yayoi Kanoko's also out of the question, her design sense is too skewed… I think Yura Hotaru is pretty good at drawing but I bet she'd be even less willing than Karin-chan… and that's all I can think of."

"There's also Lily-tan," Inui suggests.

"Liliane, you mean?" I say. "I've never even seen her drawings… are they good?"

"Well… probably about as good as Karin-chi's, but they're a very different style," Inui says. "Maya-tan was also interested in art, but from what I saw, she's just a beginner…"

"Ah, come to think of it, there's also Tamaki Ui," I muse. "Though she's probably not a good choice for this…"

"Well, I'll note all of those down," Hijiri says. "Can you spell them for me? Misono Karin, Yura Hotaru, Kozue Mayu, and Liliane Pierrot, right?"

"That's right," I say.

I explain how to spell each of their names, and we provide contact information for Karin and Liliane. Once that's done, I finally tap on the app icon to open it up, and a welcoming screen pops up.

[Welcome to Puellæ Magiæ Mundo Magico, a social media site just for magical girls. To get started, please sign in or sign up.]

"Yeah… it would definitely be nice to make it more sparkly, but… functionality comes first," I muse.

I tap the sign up button, and it requests a nickname, so I input 'Lita' in katakana, adding a handakuten to the ri syllable to turn it into li – not exactly a standard kana usage, but not unheard of either. Then I tap the 'Next' button, and it asks me to point my camera at my soul gem.

"Is this going to scan my magic or something…?" I ask.

"It doesn't do a deep scan or anything," Hijiri says. "The CPU of a typical phone wouldn't even be able to handle that – you'd probably need at least a sixteen-core machine. It's only identifying your magical signature."

"Okay," I say. "There should probably be a link explaining why we do this and exactly what it does, because I imagine some people would be a bit put off by it…"

"I'll add that, then," Hijiri says. "Maybe I'll ask if Umika-chan's willing to help with the wording."

I turn my soul into gem form and adjust the phone so that I can see it onscreen, then tap the 'Next' button. There's a loading throbber for about three seconds, and then the screen displays [Welcome, Lita! You have been logged in!]. I tap again, and it takes me to what looks to be the main news page. There are icons along the bottom of the screen to switch to different modes. I tap each of them in turn, but most of them just say [Coming soon!]. The sections are news, with a page icon; discussion forum, with a speech bubble icon; help board, with an exclamation mark icon; wiki, with a book icon; profile, with a person icon; and settings, with a gear icon.

"The icons also need work," I muse. "Speech bubbles make me think more of instant messaging rather than a discussion forum…"

"Right, and I was going to add an instant messaging feature later, so I guess I should think of something else for the discussion board," Hijiri says.

I tap back to the news feed and click on the single article in the feed, which is just a short entry by 'Hyades' saying that the site is up and running. Then I return to the profile pane, where I'm given options to set a profile image, a profile description, external contact info, magic specialties, and other details. Interestingly, it already lists my element as darkness, so I suppose that can be determined from the magical signature. There's a button to set whether the element should be displayed publicly, so I tap to turn that on. There's even an option to change my display name.

"I guess names need to be unique, right?" I say.

"Technically, it's not strictly required," Hijiri says. "But I'm currently enforcing it because it makes some things easier. For example, if names aren't unique, then it becomes a pain to migrate your profile to a new device. You'd need to generate a unique code on the old device, and input the code into the new device… which would mean a lot of people just end up losing access to their account and creating a new one. Or use some sort of security question mechanism… suffice to say it didn't seem worth it, especially not in the prototype stage."

I nod. "Yeah… getting it working is more important," I say. "And it's not like we absolutely need to allow for duplicate names… though I'd think that the fact you're scanning my magic signature would mean you don't need all that code or security question stuff?"

"You'd be correct, if the magic signature were transmitted to the server and stored there," Hijiri says. "But that's both a security hazard and a financial nightmare. The magical signature is several hundred gigabytes of random-looking data, which means it doesn't compress well. If I were to store every member's magical signature on the server, not only would it be a risk if the server were hacked, it would also fill the server up in no time.

"So, instead, I store the signature only on the devices itself. The app scans your soul gem, compares it to the stored signature, and if it matches within an acceptable error limit, it sends a hash of the signature to the server to authenticate you. It's still quite large for a hash – the digest is eight bytes – but it's still a tiny fraction of the size of the full signature, and it's expected that there will be multiple signatures that produce the same hash.

"I'm not entirely sure how likely duplicates would be, but the chance is probably higher than for a typical data set, due to the random-looking nature of the signature. However, because I don't know, I'm also sending additional data gleaned from your device, including a device ID, so that I can still tell the difference when a duplicate does occur."

"Got it," I say. "I don't understand all of what you said, but I understand the key point about magical signatures being large and space being short. I guess that's even taking into account a really large drive…?"

"Of course, if I paid for a multi-exabyte drive, I might be able to store them all," Hijiri says. "But that's pretty expensive, and it doesn't solve the security problem."

"Alright, that's fine," I say.

I tap on the settings panel, but like most of the others, it just says [Coming Soon!].

"Wasn't there supposed to be a way to send an invite link…?" I ask.

"Ah, that's in the profile section," Hijiri says. "Scroll to the bottom and you'll see it."

I do as she says, and there it is. I tap the [Invite] button, and it prompts me to enter in an email address.

"If I send it to my laptop, can I install it from there?" I ask.

"That's the plan," Hijiri says. "I'm not quite there yet, however. I've only built Android and iPhone versions of the app so far. It's not a huge amount of work to build desktop versions, but I just haven't gotten to it. It's basically just a website – if I installed it on a server and you knew the IP address, you could connect to it directly from your browser. So I just need to bundle it up with a tiny web browser for each supported platform."

"How long will that take?" I ask.

"Once I get to it, probably only a couple of days," Hijiri says. "But I thought you'd prefer me to work on the key functionality first, starting with the discussion forum."

"Of course," I say. "How long will that take?"

"I think I can have it done by the meeting on Wednesday," Hijiri says. "I might have a bit more than that done by then too, if things go well… we'll see. Now that you have it installed, it'll auto-update each time you launch it, so you can monitor the changes as I push them live. Settings to control how often it checks for updates, or whether it checks at all, will be added later. I intend to code it so that people could choose never to update and still use the program, though they might not have access to some newer features in that case."

"Okay," I say. "Thank you very much for doing this, Kanna-chi… you've done such an awesome job, I feel like I should compensate you somehow."

"I wouldn't turn down a reasonable wage," Hijiri says. "But I've been doing it because it sounded interesting, so…"

"I'll come up with something, then," I say. "This is pretty incredible. Thank you so much. Would you like to stay for dinner, by the way?"

"Ah, sure, if that's alright with Mrs Hayashi," Hijiri says.

"I'll ask her, but I'm sure she won't mind."

Here we have both Ashley and Homura learning more about the intricacies of their magic, but like last time, the chapter ended up being primarily about the Tokime.

There still wasn't enough space to finish Green Jasper Diviners in this chapter, but unfortunately it will have to be put on pause while the cast spends chapter 113 at the beach. The conclusion of Green Jasper Diviners will probably return as a flashback in chapter 114, though there's a small chance it could be pushed back a bit. Naturally, given Oriko and Koito's addition to the cast, not to mention Chika, Kirika, and Komaki, things can be expected to go very differently from in the game.

I made some revisions to earlier chapters, most of them things related to the Tokime.

In chapter 48, I fixed an issue where Komachi greets Ashley after defeating the Mikoshiba's witch, despite having been involved in that battle herself – the greeting was just transferred to Inui instead. Also in chapter 48, I adjusted the places where people were saying "hundreds" and/or "thousands" of years.

In chapter 54, I adjusted a reference to the fictional Magia Record event that Chelsea was playing just before she reincarnated. When I wrote that chapter, I wasn't sure of the exact date when Chelsea went to sleep before waking up as Ashley. Now that the real world has caught up to that point, I have pinpointed it as the date of the game's anniversary, meaning that the reference to the fictional event needed to be changed from "halloween" to "summer".

In chapter 51, I adjusted Akatsuki Youha's profile to show her age when she lost her powers, instead of her age at death. It previously said she died at age 21, despite chapter 109 showing her to still be alive not only at age 24 but even ~30 years later. In the same chapter, I updated Youha's description of the state of relations between the Tokime and Akatsuki clans in her time period. She had previously acknowledged them to be bad; now she says something more consistent with chapter 109.

Lastly, I noticed that I was being a bit inconsistent with my choice of not using honorifics. It's likely that this isn't even the only instance of it, but I had the Tokime using -sama on Pernelle and Kyuubey, whereas most of the time I render that honorific as Lord or Lady. I updated all cases of -sama to use Lord or Lady, with the exception of onee-sama since that's already an honorific anyway. Affected chapters are 47, 48, and 51; nearly all cases were the Tokime speaking, but there was also one instance of Lina-sama that I changed to Lady Lina.

When it comes to the excerpt from this chapter, you may notice that "Preface to Magical Girls: Their Hope and Despair" already appeared in chapter 93. It's not impossible to assume that this excerpt and that one combine to form the full preface, but there are a few inconsistencies if you take that view, so I called this one a previous draft. This is the preface as quoted in chapter 10 of the game. Of course, the book is as yet unpublished in the plot, so there's also no guarantee that the version in chapter 93 (or indeed any other excerpts from the work that appear) are in fact in their final published form.