It's been almost a week since I arrived in Japan, and I've started to settle in at the school I'm attending. Everyone is so kind to me, though it's hard to answer every question they have when they're talking all at once. I was a little worried at how I'd get along with the local magical girl team, but it seems that my declaration that I'd go to the hospital district when I need grief seeds has set their minds at ease, and they're just treating me like a normal girl. We haven't talked about magical girl things even once since that day.
It's now Friday, and I plan to go to a neighbouring town tomorrow, so I leave the house by myself and head into the hospital district. By chance, the magical girl there, Itsumi Inui, spots me and waves. She's a somewhat plain-looking girl who has dyed her hair teal, perhaps in a bid to stand out more. Inui is cheerful enough when not on the topic of her boyfriend, but her obsession with him really gets old, so I just wave back and hurry on my way. I haven't run into her in a labyrinth even once. Does she ever fight witches at all? Surely she must… if she didn't have grief seeds, she probably would've become a witch herself by now.
I sense some traces of magic and begin to track them heading south. However, the trail suddenly goes cold right outside an arcade. I frown slightly, looking around for anything unusual, but I can't sense any more magic, and I don't see any kiss marks on nearby people. I decide to peek inside the arcade for a minute, but there's still nothing out of the ordinary.
Then, by a stroke of luck, I spot a witch's kiss just as I come out of the arcade, on the neck of a middle-aged man in a suit. Encouraged by the find, I tail him, becoming a touch apprehensive as he continues to head south. By now, I'm well outside the hospital district. If I'm not careful, I could run into another magical girl, and not necessarily a friendly one.
Finally the man comes to a stop in front of what looks like an old run-down bar. Judging by the state of the building, it hasn't been in business for at least a year. I can sense the witch's presence again, and as the man steps into thin air and vanishes, the portal becomes visible. It's unusually simple for a witch's portal, just a series of concentric circles with random lines drawn between the layers. At the centre is some sort of figure that's hard to identify… it could be a human, or possibly a star-topped magic wand, or maybe a paintbrush smearing paint on a page. With a shrug, I transform and step inside.
It's like I've stepped onto a sheet of coloured paper covered in scribbled drawings of every description. What's more, the drawings are alive, and they move to attack me. Between my fists and Teddy Mk II, however, I make short work of them. It seems this witch is weaker than average… or is it just a familiar? But no, I'm being swarmed. In a familiar's barrier, there would usually be fewer enemies. It could be a familiar that recently evolved into a witch, though. I grab the man who just entered and drag him outside before diving back into the barrier.
In addition to the scribblings all over the walls, there are piles of other toys as well – toy blocks with the various witch runes inscribed on them, sand toys, a broken dollhouse, a rocking horse, toy trains and airplanes. I smash my way through it in short order however, finally reaching the doorway. It looks like a child's drawing of a door, with the witch's name spelled out by toy blocks suspended above it. I blink, for this witch's name is actually familiar.
"Albertine!? Huh… I think one of her familiars even showed up in the original series…"
That doesn't matter though… I smash through the door and enter the witch's chamber. This witch looks surprisingly human, like a giant toddler in a pink pinafore dress. Her hair is somehow coiled into two massive buns, each as large as her head, and her eyes are pure black.
Immediately upon spotting me, she bursts into tears, and I feel a pressure trying to push me back. I brace myself against the wall while I get a better look around the room. It's basically a playroom in terms of the stuff here, but when I look up at the ceiling, it reminds me of a planetarium. However, instead of stars, the ceiling is studded with eyes in all shapes and sizes.
Suddenly, the witch stops bawling, and that pressure relaxes. She seizes a massive marker from somewhere and starts scrawling on the ground, her images coming to life as more familiars. After summoning about six of them, she dives into the nearest building block and vanishes from sight.
I deal with the familiars in no time, then smash the building block she dived into, hoping it would make her reappear. However, it doesn't seem to work, so I just start smashing everything in sight. After destroying a good third of the toys in the room, she suddenly pops out of a different building block and attacks me with her fists. I spin and smack her in the stomach, then direct Teddy Mk II to stomp on her from above. She immediately starts bawling again, renewing that pressure, but I summon Teddy Mk II to me to start charging my ultimate.
"Ultimate Teddy Glittering Gunk!"
Just as I start speaking, she suddenly stops bawling and seizes a pencil. However, then the glittering beam hits her, and she stumbles and falls over, looking around in confusion. I take advantage of the confusion to get in close, targeting her neck, with Teddy Mk II and the Teddy Drones following me for backup. It doesn't take long before her head rolls off and falls to the ground. Moments later, her body explodes into confetti and I grab the grief seed. I'm a little relieved there is one – she was so weak that I suspected she might not drop one. I power down and turn around as the barrier collapses.
Suddenly, I come face-to-face with a red-haired girl in fur-lined blue hot pants and a green light jacket, with a black shirt just visible underneath it. Unlike most of the other girls I've seen around who aren't wearing pants, her legs are actually bare – she's not wearing tights to ward off the late winter chill. Her messy hair is tied into a ponytail with a wide black ribbon, and she's casually chomping on a stick of chocolate pocky. There's no doubt about it. This must be Sakura Kyouko.
"Hunting in someone else's territory, are ya?" Kyouko says. "You've got guts, newbie. Or should I say, exchange student?"
I don't bother to ask how she knows. Maybe she heard it from another magical girl, or maybe she got it out of Kyuubey, but it doesn't really matter.
"I tracked it all the way here from up by the hospital," I say. "I didn't notice I had entered your territory."
"Then ya gotta pay more attention, ain't that right?" Kyouko retorts. "Come on now, hand it over."
Even though she kind of has a point, and even though I already have a few spare grief seeds, I don't want to give in that easily. To be honest, I briefly considered offering it to her, but the moment she demands it, I feel like digging my heels in.
"Hey, I won this fair and square," I protest. "Why should I have to give it to you? I don't even know you!"
"Tell ya what, then," Kyouko says. "Fight me, fair and square. You lose, you hand it over."
"And if I win?"
"Well, ya get to keep it, obviously. That ain't enough for you?"
"I also get to keep it if I just walk away," I retort. "Why should I fight you for it?"
"Dangit, you're a stubborn one, aintcha," Kyouko says. "Fine, if you win, I owe ya a favour. Long's it ain't something ridiculous, of course."
I let out a sigh.
"Alright, fine," I say. "If you want a fight that badly, I guess I'll humour you… but first, let's do the introductions. I'm Ashley Taylor."
"The names's Sakura Kyouko," Kyouko replies. "Now let's get to it! C'mere, there's a good spot over this way."
She leads me to a nearby abandoned lot, and we both transform and face each other.
"Prepare yerself!" Kyouko shouts.
She summons her spear and charges, but I interpose Teddy Mk II as a shield. Glancing around, I note that Kyouko has unwittingly granted me a field advantage – there are some piles of huge concrete bricks laying around from a half-finished building project. I use my telekinesis to seize a couple of them and fling them at Kyouko.
"Woah there!" she gasps, but despite her apparent surprise, she dodges easily. "Well, ain't ya the crafty one!"
She thrusts with her spear, and it breaks up into segments, reaching out to try and encircle me. However, I dodge by leaping into the air, somersaulting over Kyouko's head while directing the Teddy Drones to zoom in at her face. As before, Kyouko dodges them with ease, but they do manage to distract her from my landing just behind her. I close in for a punch, but at the last second, she throws herself to the side. It's not a perfect dodge – my fist still grazes her side. However, it doesn't look like she's taken any serious damage.
"Gotcha!" she crows.
Huh? Don't tell me… I push off the ground once more, and just in the nick of time as a forest of spears stab up from below me. Even with her forewarning, I'm not fast enough to avoid injury. My left foot is pierced by one of the spears, and only the intervention of Teddy Mk II and the Teddy Drones prevents it from dragging me back down to the ground. The Teddy Drones smash the spear's haft, freeing me from its grasp, and then I use Teddy Mk II as a foothold to leap off with my uninjured foot and land outside the spear forest.
I gingerly test my injured foot. It hurts, but I can walk on it. Then Kyouko is in my face, but this time, I step back and meet her charge with my fist. She still manages to just barely dodge, but I'm not finished. I follow up the punch with a kick, finally landing a clean hit to her gut and sending her flying up into the air.
She uses her chain sword as a sort of anchor to reverse her trajectory, bringing herself crashing back to the ground. I roll out of her way and face her, fists raised defensively, and she brandishes her spear at me.
"Gotta say, you're stronger than I thought," Kyouko says. "I'm starting to have fun here. But, I don't think ya can beat me."
She has a point. Her skills and experience far exceed mine, and it's all I can do to just keep up with her moves. However, despite that, I believe that there's a way I can win. If I can just buy enough time to charge my ultimate attack, I should be able to stop her in her tracks long enough to disable her.
As she charges once more, I again seize some concrete bricks, interposing them between the two of us as a sort of makeshift shield. She smashes through the first one with her spear, and I back off a little, bringing in a substitute. At the same time, I summon Teddy Mk II and grip him with both hands as the Teddy Drones zoom in to start the charging.
"Think I'd let ya charge an attack!" Kyouko shouts. "Think again!"
I don't think I need to charge it fully… even a partially charged Glittering Gunk should be sufficient, right? Kyouko smashes two more bricks to smithereens and smacks a third to the side, creating a crater in the ground where it lands. Then she's practically right on top of me.
"Ultimate Teddy Glittering Gunk!"
As I shout the attack, Kyouko's spear pierces right through Teddy Mk II and penetrates my gut. I wince at the pain, but thanks to my enhanced body, I manage to stay standing. Kyouko on the other hand is thrown back by the glittering beam, bouncing a few times like a rag doll.
I act fast, grabbing another couple of bricks with my power and throwing them at her, planting them squarely on her legs. Whether because she's lost consciousness or because of my charm effect, she makes no move to dodge them. With this, her legs shouldn't be usable anymore. Then I walk over to get a closer look. She lies sprawled on the ground, her legs smashed beneath the two bricks, not moving. For a moment I worry that I might've gone too far, but then she twitches and opens her eyes.
"Geez, ya don't pull any punches, do ya?" Kyouko groans. "Dangit, that's gonna hurt for a couple of days… and the hell was that magic at the end? For a few moments there, I couldn't move at all!"
"That's my charm magic," I reply. "It's really handy against witches, let me tell you."
I shift the bricks aside with telekinesis and offer her a hand. She accepts it and gets to her feet, wincing. I'm sure her legs must be broken, but it seems that she has the sheer force of will to walk on them despite that. She stumbles a little however, and takes a seat on one of the bricks that crushed her legs moments before.
"Besides, I could say the same to you," I add, moving my hand to show the gut wound that is still bleeding profusely.
"I was this close," Kyouko says. "Ya got lucky this time, Ashley-kun. I ain't gonna make the same mistake twice. Next time, I'll win!"
"That's only if I haven't become stronger by then," I retort.
"Hey, you ain't the only one who can become stronger," Kyouko shoots back.
"That's true," I agree. "But I definitely don't plan to become weaker."
That seems to strike a bit of a nerve with her, and she falls silent instead of making a counter-jibe. Oh, right… I just remembered, but Kyouko actually went through that herself once. She lost the powers she originally gained from her wish; all the powers she now uses were learned since then. No wonder she doesn't respond well to my comment.
When the silence begins to stretch to uncomfortable lengths, she breaks it again.
"Well, alright, I'll let it go this time," Kyouko says. "But dontcha let me catch ya hunting around here again, ya hear? Next time, I ain't gonna hold back."
"Alright," I nod. "But also, don't forget you owe me one."
"Yeah, yeah, just gimme a call if you need anything," Kyouko says. "Ya can find me at Sakura Church if ya need me. Course, I won't be there all the time, but just wait awhile and I'll show. Best time to find me's on a Sunday."
I nod. "Alright. I'll keep that in mind."
With that, we power down and shake hands. My gut wound seems to have already healed on the surface, although it still hurts like hell. I slowly make my way back to the Hayashi house. I need to get to bed early so I can prepare for tomorrow's trip…
I'm at a live cooking competition hosted in the nearby city of Asunaro by the chef celebrity, Slice Akiyama. The reason I've come is because my knowledge of the plot tells me there should be a certain magical girl competing. I've yet to see her come on stage however, and there are only three contestants left to make an appearance for the first round.
"Would you look at that?" Slice Akiyama announces from the stage. "This young man completed the task in record time! Will he have what it takes to make it to the finals?"
Since he'd said something in that vein about nearly every contestant, it doesn't particularly excite me.
"And now, let me welcome our next contestant, high school girl Asuka Yuuri!"
I suddenly sit up in my seat, for that's the name I was looking for. I close my eyes and activate my clairvoyance to get a closer look at her. She has long blonde hair in twintails and wears a striped sweater and pleated skirt, with tights underneath for warmth. There are black scrunchies in her hair, and she's tall. Probably not quite as tall as Sarra, but she definitely has several inches on me. She also looks very nervous at being up on stage in front of an audience.
Just then, a girl sitting several seats over from me stands up and shouts.
"You can do it, Yuuri-chan!"
She's a short girl with silver hair cut to about ear length, and for some reason is in her school uniform even though it's a weekend – a pink sailor suit with a yellow straight tie. She must be the friend that Yuuri made her wish to save. Her shout seems to bolster Yuuri's confidence, and the show continues.
The contest is structured a little like a single elimination tournament, with the top third of contestants advancing to the next round, so after Yuuri's success in the initial round, she comes back on stage several more times. It's at the semi-finals stage when I suddenly sense the presence of a witch nearby. Yuuri already had her turn, so she's not on stage right now, and the finals will be coming up next, where the top semi-finalist competes against Slice Akiyama himself. But, I'm sure Yuuri has sensed this witch too. If she goes to fight it and uses too much magic, she's going to turn into a witch herself. That's the reason I came here. Since Yuuri was just on stage a few seconds ago, I'm pretty confident she's not the witch I'm sensing.
I quietly excuse myself and head out, tracking the witch's magic. It's pretty close by. I wouldn't be surprised if it's the contest itself that caused it to appear here. It takes me only a couple of minutes to locate the entrance to its labyrinth, and I plunge through the portal without pausing to marvel at its intricate design, transforming at the same time.
Another magical girl is already here, fighting the witch's familiars. She wears a long dress with a flared skirt and low back, and her blonde twintails and height are enough for me to identify her as Yuuri. She fights by hefting a gigantic syringe and firing needles from it like a gun, but she seems to be struggling – her rate of fire is slow, and the familiars are quick. In fact, I suspect the familiars are able to teleport. They pop out of nowhere, throw things, and disappear, like a chaotic game of whack-a-mole. That's more than just an analogy, too – they actually resemble moles such as you might see in a real whack-a-mole game in an arcade. They're not the only thing here that gives off a game-like vibe, either. With the exception of Yuuri, me, and Teddy Mk II, everything in here has a retro pixellated aesthetic, from the drawings of weapons and torches pasted on the walls, to the stone tiles on the floor, and even the whack-a-moles themselves.
I suspect there's also another reason for her to be struggling, besides their bad match-up of speeds. If this really is the day that she turns into a witch in the timeline of the Kazumi Magica manga, then that must mean she's getting low on magic. I send Teddy Mk II in to cover for us and stop to check on the state of her soul gem.
"Are you okay?" I ask.
Yuuri gasps, startled at the sudden intervention.
"Y-yes, I'm okay!" she says quickly. "Um… who are you?"
Her soul gem is definitely not in good shape. It's more than half darkened. I would guess she has just barely enough magic left to finish off this witch.
"I just happened to be nearby and came to check out the witch…" I say. "Hey, your soul gem's in bad shape, shouldn't you do something about it?"
"There's no time!" Yuuri says. "I need to finish this quickly and get back to the contest! Even if I don't win, I want to at least watch the finals! Besides, I don't know where Juubey is right now."
Ah, so she doesn't even know she can use a grief seed to clean it. I was afraid of that. She's had her memories altered to forget about the significance of grief seeds. Actually, I was afraid the same might happen to me once I came here, so I'm pretty relieved that I can still remember.
"Don't worry, there's another way to purify your soul gem," I reassure her.
I fish out a grief seed and press it against her soul gem, drawing the corruption out and restoring its original shine, a beautiful olive green. She blinks at me in confusion.
"H-huh!? You shouldn't use something so valuable on a stranger, you know!"
"It's okay," I say. "I have spares. In fact, why don't you hold onto this one? It probably has one or two uses left in it. In return, just leave the witch to me and get back to the contest. It's a fair exchange, right? You get my grief seed, and I get the grief seed from this witch."
"Yes… yes, you're right," Yuuri says. "But before I go… can you tell me your name? If you were watching the contest, you probably already know I'm Asuka Yuuri, but I have no idea who you are. I'd like to know the name of the person who helped me."
"That's fair," I say. "I'm Ashley Taylor, an exchange student from California. By the way… You have a close friend in the audience, right? She was cheering for you every time you came on. Don't you think you should be a bit more careful, for her sake? Don't you think she'd be sad if you use up your magic and disappear?"
Yuuri blinks at me. "Um… will I disappear if I use up my magic?"
"Something like that," I nod. "So don't use so much magic, okay? Don't make your friend sad."
"Yeah… maybe you're right," Yuuri says. "I'll give your words some thought… and thank you for the grief seed! I hope we can meet again, Miss Taylor!"
And with that, she dives out of the barrier and leaves me alone in the labyrinth. I turn back to where Teddy Mk II is doing its best to stomp the whack-a-moles with the help of the Teddy Drones. One of them suddenly pops up right in front of me, and I smack it with my fist. But, despite what I told Yuuri, I don't plan to actually fight this witch, so I just smack down the whack-a-moles that get close while biding my time.
After a minute or two, I use my clairvoyance to watch the contest. As I expected, Yuuri is chosen to enter the final round against Slice Akiyama, and I keep an eye on the proceedings while holding off the familiars. For now, it seems like it's going well for her.
But then, someone else enters the barrier. I turn to regard the newcomer, or newcomers. There are five in total, an unusually large group of magical girls. The Pleiades Saints. I was sort of hoping I would meet them, but at the same time, I'm apprehensive about it.
But wait… there should be six of them. Where's Nico? I briefly panic, adjusting my ongoing vision to scan the crowd. Yes… she's there, towards the back, but she seems to be just watching for now, so I return my attention to the girls in front of me.
It's time to test them out. Will they be friendly, or hostile?
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.
Sakura Kyouko
佐倉杏子
Age: 15
Eye Colour: Red
Hair Colour: Red
Origins: Kazamino, Shinriku Prefecture, Japan
Symbol: Red eye
Soul Gem: Red oval gem on her chest
Element: Fire
Weapon: Chain spear
Powers: Illusions, hypnosis, barriers, fire
Wish: "I wish that everyone would listen to what Father has to say."
Speed: 7
Magical Stamina: 7
Offensive Power: 6
Defensive Power: 6
Initial Power Usability: 1
Learned Powers: 7
Asuka Yuuri
飛鳥ユウリ
Age: 16
Eye Colour: Yellow
Hair Colour: Blonde
Origins: Asunaro, Shinriku Prefecture, Japan
Symbol: Syringe
Soul Gem: Olive oval gem on her left upper arm
Element: Fire
Weapon: Syringe gun
Powers: Healing
Wish: "I wish Anri Airi would be cured of her disease."
Speed: 1
Magical Stamina: 3
Offensive Power: 5
Defensive Power: 7
Initial Power Usability: 5
Learned Powers: 1