"So, you're saying I could turn into a witch too if I'm not careful?"

"Yes," Cube says.

After the incubator's introduction, I plied it with all sorts of questions and got it to reveal all the secrets in what I thought was a natural way… well, all the secrets I knew of, at least. Perhaps there was still more it was hiding, details that were never even revealed in the spin-offs… but it would do no good to dwell on that possibility.

"Have you decided yet, Ashley Taylor?" Cube asks.

"Well… I just need to decide what my wish should be," I reply. "I need some time."

I tilt my head, thinking a bit. Perhaps it would be possible to get even more information out of the incubator, not about the magical girl system specifically, but about the world in general. I consider my options for a few moments. Walpurgisnacht was the obvious choice, but there's also one other thing I'm interested in – one of the spin-offs introduced a centenarian magical girl, Pernelle Flamel, and I always wondered how common her situation was. Bringing up those names out of the blue might be a bit too suspicious though…

"So you said most witches can be beaten by a single magical girl, but that implies there are exceptions, right?"

"Of course," Cube replies immediately. "Some exceptionally powerful witches such as Walpurgisnacht do not even bother to hide in a barrier."

Well, that was easy. I didn't expect it to actually give an example. I wonder why it chose to do that… is there some ulterior motive? Well… whatever.

"Walpurgisnacht, huh? Do you know more about it? Are there a lot of witches that strong?"

"I only know that wherever it goes, it leaves natural disasters in its wake," Cube says. "Few witches survive long enough to gain that level of strength."

"Huh… it must've been a magical girl once, right? I wonder what she was like," I muse.

"No," Cube says. "Walpurgisnacht was not born by the reaction of a soul gem hatching into a grief seed. It is an amalgamation of multiple witches which has gained its power slowly by consuming weaker witches."

"Ohh wow! So that sort of thing can happen too!" I exclaim.

I ponder a little on how I can possibly induce him to bring up Pernelle on his own. It doesn't take long to settle on an approach.

"Say, how long do magical girls usually survive after making their contract?"

"Based on past data, the average is a little more than three years," Cube states. "It is rare for a magical girl to reach the age that you humans consider to be adulthood."

"But there must've been a few now and then, right?" I prod. "In fact, if their body is just a shell and they can recover from anything given time… would they ever die of natural causes? Maybe there's even some ancient ones around, like that mythical alchemist, Pernelle Flamel…"

Wait, I was supposed make it bring her up on its own… oh well! What's done is done.

"They exist, but are very rare," Cube says. "It is curious that you mention Pernelle Flamel in particular, because she is one of those rare examples. She made a contract in fourteenth century Paris and became a magical girl, and nearly a century later she cooperated with me to defeat a particularly troublesome witch. I do not know whether she still lives, however."

Startled, I sit up and stare at it. "You don't know? But… surely you like… monitor all the magical girls or something? You should know if they turned into a witch, right?"

"Of course," Cube replies. "But if the soul gem shatters, it is possible I may not become aware of it."

"So… you're saying that Pernelle didn't turn into a witch and you haven't confirmed her death, is that right?" I say.

That's even better than I could've imagined. I'd thought maybe I could track down something she'd created, such as the sword used by Joan of Arc, but the prospect of maybe being able to meet her in person is even better. That said… she'd have to be several centuries old by now. Is it really possible she's still alive? But heck, it can't hurt to hope, right?

"That is correct," Cube says. "Statistically however, it is exceptionally unlikely that she could have survived for seven centuries. But why are you so interested in a historical character? I do not understand. It has nothing to do with your wish, does it?"

It bugs me a little that Cube states my doubt out loud, but there's no point in dwelling on it.

"No… you're right, it doesn't," I say. "I just get distracted easily. Hmm… what should I wish for…"

"It seems that you will be taking some time to decide," Cube says. "I will return later. If you have further questions, do not hesitate to call for me."

"Right…"

I watch as the creature slips behind my curtains and vanishes. I head over to open the curtains a crack, wondering if the window had been left open, but it's shut tight, and there's no sign of the incubator. Are they able to walk through walls or something?

Shrugging about Cube's strange disappearance, I settle down at my desk and turn on the computer. If I'm going to become a magical girl and work to change the system, I want to make sure to note down everything I can remember about the franchise before my memories are potentially lost forever. I open a blank document and begin jotting down notes somewhat at random, roughly sorted by series. For Magia Record, I split it into separate sections for the main story and all the event side stories. I disregard the crossover events with other franchises, reasoning that the chance of them actually being relevant will be slim to nonexistent. I keep working on the project until I feel like I can no longer keep my eyes open, at which point I flop onto my bed without even bothering to get undressed, and fall asleep in an instant.

I'm woken sometime the following day by a pair of girls I've never seen before, but they seem to know Ashley, so I suppose they must be her friends or something. I try to make conversation, but I'm so distracted pondering what to do with my wish that they eventually seem to get the hint and take their leave. As far as I know, the real Ashley would've wished for her father to let her go on the exchange trip, but I have a chance to make a better wish, right? That's assuming I can even come up with one, mind you… it's surprisingly hard to decide! It's no wonder Madoka took almost two whole months to figure out what she wanted to wish for.

One possibility would be to decide what kind of powers I want and think of a wish that might produce those powers, or heck, even just wish for those powers directly. The two big things that I imagine would be helpful are a way to observe people without being seen, and a way to piggyback on Akemi Homura's time-travel… assuming of course that her wish did go as it had in the original anime timeline. That's not very specific, though. The first could be satisfied by some kind of stealth, or maybe a sort of clairvoyance. As for the second… Homura's time-travel took along anyone in contact with her, so I think the key would be a way to create that contact without being noticed.

Come to think of it, I'm not sure what Ashley's power would have been had I not suddenly invaded her body. The game was pretty vague about it, although given how she plays in battle, it's likely it's telekinesis or at least something similar. That would be pretty handy to have, and could satisfy my second desire…

Aside from making a wish with an eye to particular powers, is there anything else I might want? The obvious answer would be to return to my original world, but to be honest, I'm not really feeling that right now. It's not like my life in that world was especially glamorous or anything. I can only remember fragments, but I think it was pretty generic… go to work, do stuff, go home, bury myself in my hobbies. That last part can be done anywhere, so I'm not especially in a hurry to get back to my original life. At most, I suppose I may regret not being able to say goodbye to my original Mom and Dad, but it's something I can live with.

Alright. It's not as though I can compromise on going to Japan. If my new Dad here refuses to let me go, I'll have to use my wish to convince him somehow, even if it's not quite the same as what Ashley would've wished for. However, it can't hurt to at least try and talk it out with him first, so with my resolve set, I head for his study.

After twenty minutes of arguing heatedly with my stubborn father, I find myself running out of the house in anger. Without even looking where I'm going, I just run out into the street and out into the night. Well, more like dusk, as the sun hasn't fully set yet. I race through three or four blocks before suddenly slamming into someone else and landing squarely on my butt on the hard sidewalk.

"Are you alright?"

I look up at the speaker, a girl in jeans and a hoody who seems to be a similar age as Ashley, or perhaps a little younger, with short blonde hair and blue eyes. She holds out her hand, and as I grasp it, I notice a symbol on the nail of her middle finger – a deep green compass rose. She pulls me to my feet easily, and I comment on it.

"You… are you a magical girl?" I ask.

The girl blinks at me in surprise.

"W-what are you talking about?"

I suppose she thinks I'm just crazy. I probably would too, in her shoes. After all, regular people aren't supposed to know about magical girls. And if I were already a magical girl too, she'd be able to tell once I drew her attention to it.

"This marking," I say eagerly. "That's what it means, right? That you made a contract with Cube to become a magical girl?" I tilt my head as more of Ashley's memories surface. "Come to think of it, I think I've seen you around at my school now and then…"

"You…" The girl starts to speak, then hesitates. "A-alright… fine. You must have spoken to Cube too, right? Which would mean, you must be the girl with potential he's been talking about for the past month or so…"

"Yeah, I guess so," I nod. "We talked a lot about all sorts of things… but I haven't decided on my wish yet."

"Well, if you're planning to contract, I suppose we should at least know each others' names," the girl says. "I'm Alice Chandler. Don't expect me to get all friendly with you, though. Grief seeds are a limited resource."

"Sure," I reply.

I hesitate for a moment, as I have almost no real confirmation that my surname is actually Taylor, but then I remember how Cube originally addressed me when we first met.

"I'm Ashley Taylor. Even if you don't feel like being friendly with me, I'll be ready to save you if you're in trouble."

Alice groans. "Great, another of the heroic types. Good luck surviving your first battle. I've already seen three who just couldn't handle it and died in their first fight."

"I would never die so easily like that!" I protest.

"Well, I've gotta get to patrolling. Don't even think about following me," Alice says.

"Yeah… I'm not so stupid as to throw myself in harm's way when I have no powers to speak of," I retort.

"Hmm… you do have some sense then," Alice says. "Maybe you're not quite as bad as I first thought. Seeya later."

And just like that, she turns and runs off. The encounter leaves me significantly cooled off from my fight with Dad, which is a bit of a relief. Frankly, my anger shocked even me. I almost wonder if my younger body is affecting my emotional processes somehow. In any case, it seems like reasoning with him is off the table. I'll ask Mom first, just in case I'm missing something, but… it looks like I'll have to use my wish the same way Ashley would've.

Well, it's not like I've come up with anything better, though. The only other wish I've thought of would be the power to defeat Walpurgisnacht, but that seems like a pretty dangerous wish. What if I turned into a witch myself right after defeating her, like Madoka did in one of the anime timelines? No, it's probably better to play it safe.

Come to think of it, magical girls can also learn powers that they didn't originally get from their wish, right? Of course, many fanworks have their own speculation on this, but there are some cases even in canon, such as Tomoe Mami's muskets, so the mere fact that it's possible can be relied upon. Even if the power I gain from a variant of Ashley's wish isn't what I need, perhaps I can learn something new that'll help. I have until March, most likely. That's about three months. Since the timeline is vague, I may even have an extra month.

I look around to get my bearings, dredging up Ashley's memories to figure out where the hell I even am in this town. It takes awhile, but eventually I find my way back to my house. With a sigh, I push the door open and am immediately accosted by Mom.

"Welcome back, dear," she says. "I heard what happened… are you feeling better?"

"Not really," I mutter. "Maybe a little. Say, Mom… why do you think Dad's so against me going away this time?"

"To be honest, I'm not too sure myself," Mom replies. "But I'm sure he's only thinking of you, dear. Please try to understand."

"Why should I? It's not like he's trying to understand me," I grumble.

"W-well… give him a little time," Mom suggests. "You never know, maybe he'll relent once he realizes how passionate you are about it."

"Do you think it's likely though?" I ask.

"Ashley… I really don't know what to say…"

"Right…"

I head for the stairs, but she stops me.

"Ashley, dinner's nearly ready, why don't you come into the kitchen?"

"I'm not hungry," I reply.

With that, I head upstairs and bury myself in Phantom Thief Magical Kirin.

"Ashley Taylor, have you decided on a wish?"

Cube makes his appearance without fanfare, just as I finish the eighth volume. It's almost as though he intentionally timed it that way.

"Almost," I say. "Um… I was wondering. What if I make a wish and end up with really crappy powers?"

"All you can do is make the best of what you have," Cube replies.

"Could I maybe study really hard and learn some completely new power?"

"I cannot say," Cube says. "Some magical girls appear to have the potential to expand their range of abilities with time and experience, but I am not certain whether that ability is specific to those girls or universal to all magical girls."

"I see, so that means it might be possible, at least," I say. "So, about my wish… I've almost got it figured out, so can you wait a minute while I get my thoughts together?"

"Take as much time as you need," Cube replies.

I consider the situation. One way or another, I need to get to Japan in order to make use of all my knowledge of the franchise. Wishing for Dad to support my choice is certainly one option. I need parental approval for the exchange program, and Mom probably wouldn't go behind his back on that, so without his approval, I can't study in Japan. That means running away is not an option either. But can I also turn the wish to my own advantage at the same time? Ashley's original wish was very straightforward. All she wanted was his permission. But there has to be a wish that could gain that in a more roundabout way?

"I've got it," I finally say. "I wish I could understand my father's position so I can convince him to let me go to Japan."

"Understood," Cube says. "Your wish has surpassed entropy."

And then, those ear appendages reach out to me and dive straight into my heart. Nothing could have prepared me for the pain of the procedure, brief though it was. It was a deep, almost phantom pain, like having your soul torn out of your body. No, wait… it literally was tearing out my soul, so I guess that makes sense that it feels that way! As my newly-formed soul gem spins in front of me, I feel the power flowing into me, and then I transform.

"Huh, I really do feel a lot stronger," I muse.

Looking down at my new magical girl costume, I see it's pretty much the same as Ashley's, a sort of lolita-style dress in a mostly black and red colour scheme. There are some notable differences, though. The first difference I spot is the stockings – unlike the real Ashley, I've ended up with two striped stockings instead of mismatched stockings. When I look in the mirror, I see the bow in my hair is black instead of red. My soul gem is hanging off the choker around my neck, the same as Ashley's, but it has the shape of a five-pointed star instead of a diamond. And finally, I seem to have a sort of pink cape made from sheer, translucent material. Examining my hand, I see that the magical girl symbol on my left middle fingernail is a pink teddy bear.

Once I've finished taking in the new costume, I realize something else has changed. I seem to have an instinctual understanding of my powers. Just as an experiment, I focus on a specific plush toy on my dresser, and lo and behold, it floats into the air, does a twirl, and sits back down. Next, I close my eyes and think of Dad, and suddenly I can see him, busily working on something in his study. It's almost as if I were right there in his study, peering over his shoulder. I can shift the field of view as well, for example to examine the wall behind him, where he has a calendar posted. The upcoming Monday has a small red plus mark on it for some reason.

"There is a witch nearby," Cube observes after watching me for a few minutes.

"Any magical girls?" I ask. "I know there's at least one in the neighbourhood…"

"Perhaps," Cube says ambiguously.

"Well, I suppose it can't hurt to give my newfound powers a try," I decide.

I go over to my window and open it, carefully climbing onto the windowsill before hopping up onto the roof as if it were the most natural thing. I take out my soul gem and look at it, noting how it resonates with the signature of the witch. After turning in place for a minute or so, I head in the direction that seems to make it resonate the strongest. It's time to take down my first witch!

Magical Girl Corner

Whenever a new magical girl is introduced, I'll include a brief profile of her here. Some details may be redacted, or contain minor spoilers. You have been warned! The numeric ranking values are on a scale of 1 to 10.

Ashley Taylor

Age: 17
Eye Colour: Amber
Hair Colour: Blonde with pink and cyan highlights
Origins: Santa Cruz, California, USA
Symbol: Pink teddy bear
Soul Gem: Red gem on her choker, shaped like a 5-pointed star
Element: Darkness
Weapon: Teddy Mk II – an automated floating teddy bear mecha with three floating satellite teddy heads
Powers: Telekinesis, clairvoyance, charm (the power to make someone behave like you're a friend)
Wish: "I wish to understand my father's position so I can convince him to let me go to Japan."

Speed: 2
Magical Stamina: 4
Offensive power: 8
Defensive power: 5
Initial Power Usability: 7
Learned Powers: 0 (unknown)