It is now well into February, and Valentine's Day is fast approaching. I know this not because I care about Valentine's Day, but because everyone at school just can't stop talking about it. All my female classmates seem to care about is whether I have someone I like, so I spend most of my free time just saying there isn't anyone. Well… I may say all, but there's always a few who hold back and don't participate, right? Thankfully, at least Elise and Komachi are among those. Claire on the other hand… let's just say this is the first time I've been thankful we're in different classes, since she's a year younger.

"So, who are you going to give handmade chocolate to?" Komachi asks me.

I blink at her. She's going to ask these questions after all? What a pain… at least she waited until we were alone though, rather than bringing it up in class.

"Um. I wasn't planning to."

"I get that you don't have a love interest or anything, but… there's no-one you even want to thank or anything?" she asks.

"Well, I suppose I could think of a few people, but…"

"Have you ever given chocolate on Valentine's Day, Ashley-chan?" Hiyori chimes in.

"No, I haven't," I reply. "It's just not something we do in America."

"Oh, is that so," Elise says.

The five of us are just lounging around in the park under the Japanese cherry trees. They're already starting to bud a little, but it'll clearly be awhile longer before they're in full bloom, so other than the occasional passer-by, we're the only ones here.

"Well then, you should try it," Komachi says. "It'll be fun!"

"If I was going to give out chocolates, I'd rather go out and buy some high-quality chocolate," I reply. "Anything I make myself would be super-basic and not all that interesting. I'm not skilled enough to make truffles and the like myself."

"Well, that's a valid option too," Komachi admits. "Though it's less fun… but I won't stop you if that's what you want. Still… who would you give it to?"

"Maybe all the local magical girls?" I say. "I don't really know anyone else. I mean, sure, I chat to my classmates quite a bit, but I'm not close to any of them."

"Huh… all the local magical girls?" Claire asks.

"Well, all the ones I've met," I amend. "Oh… I wouldn't give the Sleepwalking Spectre anything though."

"Ugh, don't bring her up," Komachi grumps. "I want to forget she even exists."

The Sleepwalking Spectre continues to pop up at the most inopportune moments, usually when the others are hunting a witch. The news continues to cover the mysterious disappearances, which I'm pretty sure are her doing, and I've been summoned a number of times just to spar with Yu while the others defeat a witch. Thanks to repeated fights with her, I've started to get a better understanding of her powers – she can dodge almost anything, seemingly without any effort, but even on the rare occasion I do land a hit, it seems like it doesn't hurt her much at all.

"Well, in any case, how about we have a chocolate-making party at my place?" Claire suggests. "My kitchen is plenty big enough for all of us, and Dad won't be back until the sixteenth. We could even do a sleepover."

Since meeting her, I've learned that Claire is an only child, but her family is incredibly wealthy and hires a live-in housekeeper to look after her when her parents are away on business. She never said exactly what they do, though. Her wish was apparently for them to pay attention to her. From the sounds of it, the effect of this is that they come home more often and, when that's not possible due to work, they at least call.

"Sure, that seems good to me," Elise says.

"I'm sure Mom will be okay with that," Komachi says.

"This is exciting!" Hiyori says.

"What about your mother?" I ask. "Will she be there?"

"Um… I think so?" Claire says. "But she might not be if something comes up last-minute."

"Hmm… well… I guess maybe I'll go," I say. "At least I'll think about it. But even if I do make some chocolate, I'll probably just eat it myself."

"Well, I guess if you made it, you can do what you want with it," Elise shrugs. "Okay… so Valentine's Day is on a Monday this year, right? Should we make it a weekend sleepover?"

"And we even get the Friday off, so it could be a three-day sleepover," Komachi says eagerly.

"That sounds great!" Hiyori says eagerly. "I can't wait!"

The long weekend comes a couple of days later, but instead of joining the others at their sleepover, I choose to head out into town to see if I can find some nice chocolate as a gift. Along the way, I end up running into a rather distracted Inui.

"Oh… it's Ashley-chan," she says when she spots me. "Um… hi."

"What's up?" I ask. "I haven't seen you for weeks."

In fact, I haven't seen her since that fight against Albertine where Tomoe Mami showed up to finish off the witch. I've been unable to think of a reason for her absence. Was she avoiding me? Did she go out of town? I even worried she might have turned into a witch already, though the fact that I never encountered Uhrmann helped to alleviate that concern.

It's strange. I seem to be finding myself more concerned with Inui's well-being than when I first arrived here. Initially I wrote her off as a minor character who didn't really matter, a weak magical girl destined to fall, but after fighting alongside her, I realize that's not really the case. Sure, she has a terrible personality, and her obsession with that man is unhealthy, and maybe she doesn't like fighting witches, but she's not weak at all, and I've sort of grown used to her idiosyncrasies. I think I'd be sad if she died or turned into Uhrmann.

I haven't seen Mami since that day either, but that's less of a surprise. She doesn't normally patrol the hospital district, so that witch was probably just close to the border between her territory and Inui's.

"Oh, well… I was… busy," Inui says. "See… it's the first time I've had someone to give Valentine's chocolate to, so I was practicing."

I blink. Honestly, I should've thought of that. Given her obsession with her awful boyfriend, I really should've guessed she'd be into this Valentine's chocolate thing.

"Uhh… are you okay on grief seeds?" I ask.

"Well… I did defeat a couple of witches, so I'm fine," she says.

I guess we just missed each other mostly by coincidence… though not that much of a coincidence if she only fought two witches in as many weeks.

"How'd it go?" I ask.

"I think I finally got the hang of it!" Inui says happily. "I'm sure Sho-kun will love it!"

I actually meant to ask about the witches, not the chocolate, but… well, whatever.

"Uh-huh… so while we're on the topic of chocolate, do you have any recommended shops? I don't want to go through the trouble of making it myself, but I don't want to buy cheap convenience store chocolate either…"

"Oh! There's a great place just down the street from the hospital!" Inui says eagerly. "It's got all sorts of sweets, even some cake and cookies, but chocolate is really their main thing. It's really good! Your lucky boy will just love it!"

I choose not to correct her notion that I'm giving chocolates to the person I like, as she is. After listening to her directions, I say goodbye and head towards the shop in question. It does look like a good choice, so I step inside and look around. I'd like to give one to everyone, if possible, so that means… … the quartet, Mami, and Inui… Kyouko… Yuuri and Airi… Riko and Karin… and lastly Honoka. That's not all the magical girls I've met, of course, but the rest are not exactly on friendly terms with me, so it feels weird to give a gift. That means there are twelve magical girls I want to give chocolate to. Okay, Airi's not a magical girl, but I kinda think of her as a future magical girl, and it'd be weird to give some to Yuuri but not to Airi, so that's why I'm including her.

As I'm considering what to choose, the bell on the doorway jingles as another customer enters.

"I still think you're lying to me," a girl's voice says.

"I do not lie," comes the reply.

That causes me to jerk my head around to see, because that voice is familiar. It's the voice of Kyuubey.

"I have told you only the truth," Kyuubey continues. "I can really grant any wish."

"Then can you prove it?"

The speaker is a young girl of perhaps ten or eleven, with a mass of platinum blonde hair falling down her back. She's wearing a jumper over a long-sleeved shirt, as well as tights to ward off the early spring chill, and a solemn expression on her face unbefitting a child of her age. Could that be… Momoe Nagisa?

"If you make a wish and it comes true, that would be proof, would it not?" Kyuubey says.

"But then I'd have to fight witches even if my wish didn't come true, right?" the girl says. "I'd have to be stupid to do that!"

"Then, why not ask another magical girl?" Kyuubey suggests. "In fact… it appears that we have just run into one by coincidence. Hello, Ashley Taylor."

I glance around the store, but there aren't currently any other customers to give me weird looks for talking to myself. Even the staff are currently in the back room.

"I'm not interested in being dragged into your recruitment pitches, Kyuubey," I say. "Please find someone else."

"Surely you could at least attempt to alleviate this child's concerns," Kyuubey says.

"No means no," I say stubbornly.

There are actually multiple reasons for my refusal. Of course, the stated and most obvious one is that I just don't like Kyuubey and the way it ropes girls in by omitting key information, so any attempt I made to alleviate her concerns would just mean lying to her. I also don't want to interfere too much with Nagisa's path, because I'm not sure how much that would influence the events that lead up to Akemi Homura making her contract to begin the time loop.

And besides, although I know what would likely convince Nagisa to contract, I don't think it would be as convincing coming from me. Lastly, it's far too early for her to make a wish. If I were to convince her to contract now, there's a chance she can't be saved. If I wait for Kyuubey and Yu to finally convince her, on the other hand, I'm pretty sure I should be able to save her on a later loop once Homura's contract is sealed.

"Hey, onee-san, are you a magical girl?" the girl asks.

"I suppose you could say that."

"Did your wish come true? What did you wish for?"

"I'd rather not talk about it," I reply.

"You see?" the girl says, addressing Kyuubey. "If she's a magical girl, why doesn't she want to talk about it? Maybe you are lying to me."

"I repeat, I do not lie."

Just then, someone arrives from the back room, asking if they can help us, and the girl asks for two mini chocolate cheesecakes. After paying for them, she leaves without saying anything to me, still arguing with Kyuubey. That girl sure is a strange one… even the shopkeeper gave her a weird look, no doubt because she seemed to be talking to herself about something incomprehensible.

"And what can I help you with, miss?" the shopkeeper asks. "Have you decided what you want yet?"

"Almost," I say. "I'd like a total of thirty-six chocolates… I intend to wrap them in bundles of three."

"I can wrap them up for you then," the shopkeeper says. "As it happens, since it's almost Valentine's Day, we have a special three-piece box just for the occasion."

She takes one of the boxes in question from the shelf behind her. It's shaped like a heart, and when she opens it up to show me, there's a plastic scaffolding inside with three slots.

"That sounds perfect," I say. "Provided I have enough money on me…"

She cites the price, and I fish out my wallet to see if I have enough. I do, so now it's time to select the chocolates. There's a vast selection of flavours and shapes to choose from, so it takes me a few minutes, but eventually I have all my selections bundled up and hand over the cash.

"Thank you very much for your business!" the shopkeeper says. "Please come again!"

As I exit the shop, I spot a woman bearing a witch's kiss and start tailing her. Only a few minutes later, she turns down an alleyway and enters a portal. There's something different about this barrier though… it's so weak that I was almost on top of it before I sensed anything. Hopping inside, I find myself immediately face-to-face with a single familiar. The labyrinth is a black expanse with white rocks or clouds scattered through it, and the familiar is a dog-shaped blob of darkness with a weirdly bright outline. I remember this familiar – it made a brief appearance in the anime, but the witch it belongs to was never revealed.

I spot the woman who had just entered the labyrinth, along with two other women. Dodging the familiar's attacks, I dart in to drag the three of them out of the labyrinth, propping them up against a wall. Then I turn back, intending to dive back in to face the familiar, but it's already fled. I pull out my soul gem, seeking the resonance and tailing it. Even though it's weak, it leaves a barely-detectible trail as it travels. If I'm lucky, perhaps it'll even lead me to its parent witch.

The trail leads me into an area of the city that I'm not very familiar with, and I glance around cautiously. It's likely that another magical girl has laid claim to this area as her territory, and I'd prefer to avoid a confrontation if possible.

It must be about half an hour, maybe a little more, before I finally discover another barrier. This one seems stronger, so I think it's probably a proper witch. I transform and hop inside. The landscape is the same as the previous barrier, but this time there are several of those dog-things. They attack with dark bolts that, like themselves, have a weirdly bright outline, but I dodge most of them. The few that hit don't hurt all that much. It's like someone just jabbed me with their fingers.

When I swing my sword at them, it seems like it doesn't do much damage, like I'm hitting something soft and squishy. Then I try stomping on them with Teddy Mk II, which seems quite a bit more effective. Between the two forms of attack, I squash and slice up the familiars before heading deeper into the labyrinth.

After five to ten minutes of dealing with familiars, I reach a vertical white ring of stones… or are they clouds? Even up close, I can't really tell. When I prod one, it doesn't really fit either definition. There are runes inscribed into the biggest one, spelling out the witch's name – Suleika.

I step through the ring and enter the witch's chamber, which looks exactly the same inside as it did outside, except for the addition of some structure that looks like a jungle gym. The witch itself is a giant blob of darkness with multiple arms reaching out in every direction. She lurks inside the jungle gym, making it tricky to target her.

Suleika bombards me with dark bolts similar to the ones used by her familiars, although these ones explode on impact. I dodge most of them, using Teddy Mk II as a shield to increase my chances. It seems Teddy is immune to explosions. No… make that resistant. I can see some signs of fraying if I look closely at him. However, the constant bombardment makes it difficult to get in close, so I decide to charge my ultimate attack. As always, the Teddy Drones spin in place as I dodge back and forth, and then I let loose the glittering beam, causing the witch to stop moving.

But before I have a chance to take advantage of the opening, a new magical girl charges straight into the witch's chamber with a blood-curdling yell, swinging a massive battleaxe and splitting the jungle gym in half, with Suleika still inside. The girl in question is dressed in an outfit that evokes the idea of a knight, though without any armour. Her long hair is left in its natural black hue, although somehow I get the impression of a bluish sheen on it. The weapon she wields is a battleaxe, but bears a shield of sorts attached to the reverse side, which could probably also function as a bludgeoning weapon.

"Hah! This one's a piece of cake!" she shouts. "It didn't even have many familiars! Didn't even bother to fight back! What a joke!"

"Um, excuse me," I speak up. "Did you consider that there might be a reason for both of those things?"

The girl looks at me in surprise.

"Huh? Who the hell're you?"

"I'm the magical girl who was fighting this witch until you swooped in to steal the kill," I retort. "Although I had only just gotten started. My name is Ashley Taylor."

"Hey, hey, you're the one in the wrong, aintcha?" she snaps back. "This here's my territory! I'm Asako Komaki! You'd better remember that!"

"Ah, is that so?" I say. "I got a bit lost while chasing a familiar here, so I wasn't quite sure where I was. My apologies. Still… the lack of familiars is probably because I killed most of them on the way here, and it's my magic that prevented it from fighting back, so I think you also owe me a thank you."

"Eh? Why do I have to thank you?" she shouts. "I could've taken it by myself!" After a pause, she seems to reverse course. "But I guess you did help a bit, so thanks, I guess…"

Since the barrier has now collapsed, I power down and hold my hand out. She blinks at me for a second, then powers down as well and seizes my hand.

"It's nice to meet you, Miss Asako," I say.

"Ugh, enough with the Miss Asako nonsense!" Komaki groans. "Everyone else calls me Miss Komaki or just Komaki. I'd prefer if you do the same."

I tilt my head a little. "Do you dislike your surname, Komaki?"

"Eh, I don't dislike it," she shrugs. "Just, it's my stepfather's name. Doesn't feel right to use it myself."

Huh? That's interesting… the manga never said much about her family other than that they recently became wealthy, so I wouldn't've guessed her mother had remarried.

"Well, it is your territory, so I won't try to dispute the grief seed," I say. "I'm more interested in defeating witches than gathering grief seeds… though obviously I need grief seeds to survive, but I've had a surplus for awhile now, so I'm not worried."

"Oh? Are you actually really strong?" Komaki asks.

"I don't think I'm all that strong," I reply. "I think I owe my surplus to the various magical girls who've fought alongside me since I made my contract."

"Well, at least you bother to talk things out," Komaki grumbles. "Some of the girls around here attack first and ask questions later. But f'reals, you shouldn't be hunting in my territory!"

I kinda wonder which girls she's talking about… I doubt she could've encountered Kure Kirika yet. Maybe she's had a run-in with Kyouko?

"Again, I'm sorry about that," I say. "I didn't realize it was your territory. I'll be more careful in the future."

"Well… if you say so," Komaki says. "Seeya."

And just like that, she abruptly turns and leaves before I have a chance to say anything else… not that I had anything else to say.

I decide to dedicate Saturday to handing out chocolates to my new friends in the neighbouring cities. Unfortunately, Kamihama and Asunaro are on opposite sides of Mitakihara, so it'll be a bit of a circuit. I wake up early and take the train to Kamihama, heading for Chiaki's, where I find Riko helping her father manage the shop. I fish out her box of chocolates and hand it over.

"Ohhh! Is this for me!?" Riko exclaims.

"Yeah… it's a little early, but it's not like I can teleport or anything, you know? This is for Valentine's Day. Think of it as a token of thanks."

"Thank you so much, Ashley-chan! I'll make sure to return the favour!"

"Has everything been going well since last time?" I ask.

"Yeah… I discovered that one of our regular customers is a magical girl too!" she says eagerly. "Her name is Amane Tsukasa, and she's really nice!"

"Is that so?" I say. "Well, I'm glad you've made friends with another magical girl… some disagree, but I think we need to stick together."

"But I haven't seen Karin since then," she adds, deflating slightly. "I wonder what she's doing…"

"You have her email, right? Just ask her yourself. Although, I'm going to meet her soon, so I could also pass on a message for you."

"No… that's okay," Riko says. "I'll send it myself. Thanks again for the chocolate!"

"F-f-f-for me!?"

Karin shrieks at the top of her voice, drawing a few stares from random passersby.

"I… I've never… not even once… gotten Valentine's chocolate! This is so exciting!"

"Isn't that because normally the girls are the ones giving the chocolate?" I ask.

"Well, no, there are a lot of girls who get chocolate at my school," Karin says. "Occasionally I even see a boy giving someone chocolate…"

"Oh huh…"

Maybe the tradition has evolved a little from what I remember in all the anime and manga from my previous life. Or maybe Karin's school is just a little unusual. Who knows…

"Well, thanks a lot!" she says. "I'll treasure this forever!"

"Um… no, please just eat it," I say. "Don't waste food."

She pouts a little. "Fi-ine, I'll eat it. I was going to do that anyway. I meant I would treasure the cute little box forever!"

"Oh… is that what you meant… well, if you really want to. It's your box now, after all."

"Come back on Halloween and I'll have an awesome treat for you!" Karin says. "Or maybe it'll be a trick!"

Do they even do trick or treat in Japan? Well, I guess it doesn't matter…

"Well… I'll try to remember that, but I'm not sure I'll still be in Japan by then… we'll see," I say. "See you later!"

And with that, I head back towards the city centre to catch a bus to Hohzuki.

"Oh gosh, you didn't have to!" Honoka exclaims. "Is… is it hand-made?"

"No, I bought it from a proper candy shop," I reply. "You can think of it as thanks for the meal."

"Thank you so much!" Honoka says. "Ahh… I'd better eat them right away, or my brothers might end up stealing them. That's fine, right?"

"Sure," I nod.

She opens the box and picks one at random, tossing it into her mouth and chewing.

"So delicious!" she says. "How did you know I love pistachio!?"

"W-well… to be honest, I picked it out because of its shape," I say. "So… it really is just a lucky guess."

"Oh, well, luck is still a skill, right?" she says. "Hmm… this one shall be next!"

She pops it in and chews.

"Marzipan, huh… I'm not a fan, but I've had worse, so thanks!"

"Ah… sorry about that," I say.

"No, no, it's not like I hate it or anything!" she says quickly. "So is the third one also a nut flavour?"

"As a matter of fact, yes it is," I say. "After selecting pistachio based on the shape, I couldn't decide on the others, so I eventually settled on a nut theme."

She pops it into her mouth.

"Oooh, is this… walnuts? I haven't had walnuts in ages… yummy! Thanks so much for the gift! I'll be sure to pay you back sometime!"

"You don't really need to do that," I say. "But the sentiment is appreciated."

"Hey, I made a whole lot of dumplings earlier," she says. "Would you like some?"

I blink. "Uhh… sure, why not…? Are these the type you put in soup?"

"Is there another type?" she asks.

"Well yes… the type filled with sweet red bean paste…"

"Oh… no, these are soup dumplings," she says.

She hurries into the kitchen and returns a minute later with a bag, which she hands over.

"Please enjoy them with your host family!"

And after thanking her again and saying my goodbyes, I head back out to catch a bus to Asunaro.

To my surprise, when I disembark from the bus, Pernelle is waiting for me, disguised in the same way as our previous meeting.

"Bonjour, Mlle Taylor," she says in French.

"Huh? What are you doing here?" I ask in the same language. "Surely you weren't waiting for me."

"Not exactly," Pernelle says. "I was in the area anyway, and then I sensed your magic approaching."

"You can sense my magic when I'm not transformed?"

"It's fainter, but yes."

"I see…"

"Mlle Taylor, you don't seem very happy to see me," Pernelle says.

"Well… I wouldn't say I'm unhappy," I reply. "What have you been up to since we last spoke, anyway?"

"I have been studying the barrier erected by the Pleiades Saints," Pernelle says. "I do not believe my skills are sufficient to dispel it. This Misaki Umika is quite a skilled young lady. However, I have just completed the setup for a counterspell."

"And what will that do? You said you can't dispel it…"

"It should partially cancel out the effects," Pernelle explains. "There are only a few magical girls in this city besides the Pleiades Saints, but they should at least remember the proper use of grief seeds. It may allow Cube to create more contracts, as well."

"You're letting Cube create more contracts? I thought you hated it."

"I don't like him or his methods, but witches are a threat, and magical girls are the most effective counter," Pernelle says. "There are so many witches here that I've gone into combat myself for the first time in over ten years, and I've fought several strong witches too, witches that would easily wipe out a new magical girl. The Pleiades Saints may be quite efficient when hunting, but they're not especially strong, and they have their other pursuits as well… so they definitely can't cover the whole city."

"There's also Asuka Yuuri and Hijiri Kanna," I point out. "And there must be a few others, too."

"Hijiri Kanna rarely fights witches, so she's of little help," Pernelle says. "Asuka Yuuri is strong but lacking in stamina, so she can't cover a large area. There are also two other magical girls in the city, but both of them are on the weaker side."

So that's a total of ten magical girls here in Asunaro. I try to compare that to the number of magical girls in Mitakihara. There are four in the western district, of course, and Mami and Inui in the city centre, plus Komaki in the south. Besides that, there are three more I haven't yet met, so that comes to ten in total. But Kyuubey did say an entire area is up for grabs as well, and it has its eyes on several more, so that probably means ten is on the low side for Mitakihara too. And then there's Kamihama… I think there's close to fifty magical girls there, which is a huge jump compared to Mitakihara. My understanding is that that's unusually high for a city of its size, which is bigger than Mitakihara or Asunaro, but it still helps me to contextualize the situation.

"Do you want to be present as I activate my counterspell?" Pernelle asks.

"Uh… if it won't take long, sure," I agree. "I have a bit of a tight schedule today."

I follow her a short distance to a mark in an alleyway that looks the same as the entrance to her Maison Paradis. She lays her hand on it and concentrates for a moment, and I see some sort of flash shoot up into the sky. For a moment, a vast magical diagram appears there, and the flash seems to be absorbed into it, mutating it.

"So you are the one who gave Ashley Taylor her new weapon."

It's Kyuubey, who appears to have just entered the alleyway. It's speaking French, probably because it knows Pernelle is French. The very fact that we can see it though must mean her counterspell worked. Wait a second… we also brought it up in our conversation too, and it wasn't replaced by Juubey… how did that work? Did Pernelle have some sort of local counterspell around her or something?

"Yes, I am," Pernelle replies. "What of it?"

"You have done an impressive job of avoiding me even with this barrier in place," Kyuubey says. "But I have still managed to observe you a little, and I believe I have uncovered your identity. It has been a long time since we worked together, Pernelle Flamel."

"How did you figure it out?" Pernelle says noncommittally.

"There were several clues," Kyuubey says. "Ashley Taylor said she met you in Paris. She had also expressed interest in you from the beginning, when she made her contract. You made her a sword, which I know to be one of your skills, and I witnessed some of your abilities when fighting witches here in Asunaro, such as your barriers. Taken together, there was only one logical conclusion."

"Well, don't thank me, because I didn't do this for you," Pernelle says. "Don't you have potential magical girls to bully or something?"

"Yes, there are several I have had my eye on recently," Kyuubey says. "I will speak to you later."

"I wouldn't count on it," Pernelle replies.

Then it runs out of the alleyway and disappears.

"I have taken enough of your time, haven't I?" Pernelle says. "You said you do not have much time, so do not linger on my account."

I nod. "Thanks… I'll talk to you again sometime."

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.

Asako Komaki
浅古小巻

Age: 15
Eye Colour: Blue
Hair Colour: Black
Origins: Mitakihara, Shinriku Prefecture, Japan
Symbol: Blue cross
Soul Gem: Circular blue gem on her chest
Element: Fire
Weapon: Battle axe
Powers: Barriers
Wish: "Please save us!"

Speed: 7
Magical Stamina: 7
Offensive Power: 8
Defensive Power: 8
Initial Power Usability: 8
Learned Powers: 1