I take a bus to the area where I know Yuuri patrols, based on the occasional emails we've exchanged since we met, and start looking for signs of magic. I'm not looking for witches, but for Yuuri herself.

After walking around for a few minutes though, I do sense a witch, and I decide to check it out. There's always a possibility that Yuuri is fighting it, after all. I head into an alleyway and find the witch's portal. As I suspected, it's flickering, indicating that someone is already fighting inside, so I step in.

This barrier seems strangely small. Usually, there's a labyrinth that you need to traverse to get to the witch's chamber, but this one is just an arena with the witch in the centre, surrounded by a veritable army of familiars. There are more familiars of a different type in the audience, which are currently booing loudly, and there's an intense downward pressure here, as if the gravity were doubled.

The booing familiars are composed of a blank white head with a red headband tied around their forehead, a triangular or conical red body, and sticks for arms and legs. The familiars in the arena look suits of Japanese samurai armour, with either dual katanas or a shield and a katana. And the witch herself resembles a massive jorougumo, a spider monster from Japanese mythology that sports a mostly-human body with spider legs growing from its back. She wears a horned helmet that seems to be fused to her head, and a few scattered pieces of armour that look like they're intended to evoke a Japanese-themed version of a chainmail bikini, though on the gangly spidery witch form, it doesn't really work well. Actually, in some ways this witch reminds me of the big bad in the anime Yasuke from a few years back… relative to Chelsea's memories, that is.

Yuuri is in a desperate battle against the witch, and it's clear they're a poor match for each other. The witch fights by shooting out webs, which Yuuri seems to have difficulty dodging, probably in part because of the increased gravity; but her syringe gun is able to severe the webbing in a single shot, so the bindings can't hold her for long. On the other hand, the witch seems unfazed whenever Yuuri lands a shot on her body. In short, neither of them seem able to make any headway. If it were just the witch and Yuuri without any familiars, this battle could easily go on for hours with no progress, not unlike my first battle against the witch Stacy.

But those familiars are also a serious threat. Yuuri seems to be able to use her syringe as a shield to block their attacks, and unlike the witch, they usually fall when she shoots one. However, there are a lot of them. This probably contributes a lot to the difficulty she's facing. If not for the familiars, it's likely she'd be able to focus on the witch and fight much more effectively.

"Y-you can do it, Yuuri-chan!"

And there's Anri Airi, collapsed on the ground from the increased gravity, yet still managing to push herself up enough to give her friend some encouragement. It's almost a miracle that none of the familiars have reached her… I suppose it's a testament to Yuuri's strength. But she's not a magical girl, so… what is she even doing here? I step forward and kneel beside her.

"Good morning, Miss Airi," I say.

Airi looks at me in surprise. "O-oh… Miss Ashley… what are you doing in a place like this!?"

"Well… that's what I was going to ask you," I reply.

"W-well… I somehow stumbled in here… and then I thought I was going to die… but then Yuuri-chan showed up…"

"So… you had no idea she could fight like that before today?" I ask.

Airi shakes her head. "Yeah… that's right. How long has she been doing this, I wonder… without me even knowing… I wonder why she didn't tell me?"

"Well, it kinda looks like she's in a bad position, too," I say. "At this rate, you'll both die…"

"N-no way… I'm sure Yuuri-chan can do it! She's amazing!"

"You might be right, but…" I stand up and transform. "If I help her out, her chances will be much better."

Airi blinks. "Miss Ashley… you're also…?"

"Let's talk about it after this monster is defeated," I say.

I summon Teddy Mk II and hold him up high, starting to charge my ultimate attack. The samurai familiars still haven't noticed me, so I'm able to just stand there charging without worry. Of course, that doesn't last long. Soon, several of them catch sight of me and start to approach… but my attack is almost charged by then. I wait for them to come almost within range of their weapons.

"Ultimate Teddy Glittering Gunk!"

As I unleash the glittering beam, I turn, sweeping it across the entire battlefield. Somehow, Yuuri has the good sense to leap into the air to avoid it, so I'm able to catch nearly all the samurai familiars in one blast. It doesn't reach the witch, however – the sheer quantity of samurai familiars just absorbs it before it can get that far.

"Miss Ashley!" Yuuri calls, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Now's not a time for explanations!" I shout back.

I send Teddy Mk II and the Teddy Drones over to the far side to wreak havoc on the familiars there, then ready my sword and carve a swathe through the ones on my side. They're somewhat tough, but when they're not even attacking it makes it a lot easier to destroy them. Following my example, Yuuri starts to focus on shooting all the familiars in the centre. We still have to dodge or destroy the witch's webs though, so it's not like we're just cutting them down with no resistance at all. Still, clearing the floor of familiars should greatly improve Yuuri's chances.

With the samurai familiars now decimated, Yuuri resumes her focus on attacking the witch, firing off one needle after another, aiming for what passes as the witch's throat. Meanwhile, I decide we need to deal with the other familiars. Crouching down, I summon up all my strength and jump high into the air, clearing the border of the arena even despite the increased gravity. Landing in the stands, I set about decimating the booing spectators. They fight back by flinging large oval Koban coins, which seem to have sharp edges despite appearing gold, making them functionally like a thrown ninja star or chakram. However, I'm able to dodge most of them, although I still take quite a few grazes as I work my way through the stands, and my magical girl clothes end up kinda torn and raggedy.

Finally, as I reach the far side of the stands, the booing dies down, and suddenly it's easier to move. There are still a few familiars here and there throughout the stands, but for whatever reason, they're no longer booing. Perhaps they need a certain mass for that ability to work? I look down upon the arena and see that Airi has stood up and, to my surprise, seems to be talking with Kyuubey. So does that mean she has potential now? I decide to eavesdrop with my clairvoyance. As for Yuuri, she and the witch are pretty much locked in stalemate at the moment, so she should be fine for now.

"Eh? Magical girls?" Airi says.

"Yes. Asuka Yuuri and Ashley Taylor are magical girls. They fight witches in exchange for the wish they made."

"So that's a witch…" Airi says. "I felt so helpless… to think that Yuuri-chan has been fighting alone all this time… it's so sad…"

"You can help her," Kyuubey says. "Make a contract with me and become a magical girl, and you can fight at her side."

"I don't know… it's still scary," Airi says. "But then, as long as Yuuri-chan's with me…" She trails off. "Yes… I think I could do it if Yuuri-chan is with me. What do I have to do, Kyuubey?"

"All you have to do is tell me your wish," Kyuubey says.

"Right…" Airi says. "My wish… what do I wish for…"

She seems to ponder it, scrunching up her whole face in thought and absently twirling a lock of hair. Suddenly, her eyes light up like she had a revelation.

"I think I've got it! Yuuri-chan's power… she seems to be better at defending than attacking, right?"

"That may be true," Kyuubey says. "And she also has the power to heal people."

"Then I want to be Yuuri-chan's strength," Airi says. "I want to be someone who can cover for her in battle." She blinks. "No wait… is that too vague?"

"You can be as vague or as detailed as you wish," Kyuubey says. "I will grant it to the best of my ability."

Airi looks a little concerned. "But if it's vague, it might not turn out as I want it, right? I mean, genies in the stories usually twist wishes, right?"

"In a technical sense, I do not grant your wish," Kyuubey says. "You are the one who grants your wish. I merely draw out the power within you to do so."

"Oh… then I guess that should be fine," Airi says. "So um… what was it again? Right… I want to be someone who can cover for Yuuri-chan, someone who'll complement her abilities, someone who can fight alongside her."

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

"Ah, hold on a sec," Airi frets. "I think I phrased that in a confusing way…"

I take this opportunity to jump down into the arena, landing beside Airi and Kyuubey.

"It's probably none of my business, but you might want to rethink your wish," I suggest. "Think of what you want, not how you want to get it."

"R-right…" Airi says. "What I want… what I want is… I want… Yuuri-chan…" She gasps, covering her mouth for a second. "N-no, I mean, um…" She trails off again. "This… why is it so hard…"

I chuckle. "You really like Miss Yuuri, don't you?"

"Well yes, she's my friend," Airi says.

"Is that all she is?" I ask. "You seem like you'd go to great lengths for her, do almost anything… I wonder if it could be more than just friendship…"

Surprisingly, Airi shoots me a glare.

"Stop teasing me, Miss Ashley! We're just really close friends!"

"Well, if you say so," I shrug.

"Besides… shouldn't you be helping her instead of chatting with me?" Airi adds.

"Ahh… well, you've got me there," I admit. "Still… she's doing much better now than when I first arrived…"

"Kyuubey!" Airi exclaims. "I've decided! My wish is that Yuuri-chan and I will never be separated, no matter what!"

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

She lets out a startled yelp as his ear appendages reach out to draw out her soul, but then she marvels at the glowing orange gem for a moment before seizing it in her hand and transforming. Her magical girl outfit is very similar to Yuuri's, but in an orange colour scheme, and showing a lot more skin. The neckline plunges almost to her navel, her shoulders are left bare, and there are windows on her sides leaving her hips partially exposed. The skirt is also shorter, only reaching to mid-thigh and exposing the striped tights beneath. Her soul gem rests on her torso, right at the base of that plunging neckline. In fact, other than the colour scheme, her outfit is pretty much the same as it is in the manga… but she still has her real body, instead of taking on Yuuri's appearance. Even her hair has a similar style, tied up in two bunches, though since her hair is much shorter it gives off a different impression.

"W-whoa! My body feels so much lighter now!"

After marvelling for a moment at her newly-enhanced body, Airi raises her hand into the air and shouts.

"Come, Cole!"

Yuuri hears the shout and glances over in surprise. "A-airi-chan? D-did you…?"

She trails off as a huge bull appears out of nowhere, charging the witch with his head down. He has a heart-shaped nose ring, and his horns look a bit like miniature wings. He charges right through the few familiars that had respawned while Airi was deciding on her wish and rams into the witch, pushing her back a good four or five feet, after which he vanishes again. Then Airi draws a pair of modern pistols and opens fire on the witch, shooting them alternately like some sort of duellist in a cowboy show. And when the witch recovers from the surprise and turns to fire thick strands of webbing at her, she blocks it with a barrier that wavers and flickers like flames. Perhaps sensing the web attack isn't effective, the witch moves over to attack Airi directly with her spidery legs.

Now that the witch is focused on Airi, who's also taking care of any new familiars that spawn near her, Yuuri is free to attack without worrying about defense. I run over to help her out as well, cutting down any familiars that spawn behind her and attacking the witch's spidery legs. So now the witch is almost surrounded, with me attacking from behind, Airi from the front, and Yuuri from the witch's right.

It's almost too easy. The witch doesn't even react as I hack one of her legs off with my sword, instead focusing all of her efforts solely on trying in vain to get through Airi's barrier. And that barrier must not be just a passive shield, for every time the witch strikes it, she recoils in pain with a high-pitched streak, and her webbing smokes when it strikes it. It doesn't make any sense… the witch should be focusing on either Yuuri, who has difficulty dealing with her attacks, or me, who has no real defense and can only dodge or throw Teddy Mk II in the way.

But then it hits me. Airi's magic must be forcing the witch to attack her. To put it in game terms, she has the taunt ability. That would explain this situation quite nicely… and like anyone with a taunt ability, she appears to be a capable tank as well, absorbing the witch's attacks without being too badly hurt herself. It also makes her quite a good complement to Yuuri, who seems like a bit of a glass cannon.

For all her efforts, the witch is unable to penetrate Airi's barrier, so it seems she decides to pull out all the stops. The witch rears up tall and opens her mouth far wider than a human should be capable of, expelling a stream of rainbow-coloured energy. This manages to finally break through Airi's barrier, briefly inundating her with the stuff. When the blast clears, she's on one knee, grimacing a little, her clothes in tatters. But she recovers quickly, raising her pistols to continue firing.

"Miss Ashley! Look out!" Yuuri calls.

I glance to the side and see that she has summoned some sort of elaborate contraption out of multiple syringes, a pattern that reminds me of the feed belt of a machine gun. I throw myself to the ground as the first one fires, and sure enough, my analogy was right on the mark – each syringe fires in turn, then rotates out while it generates a new needle, producing a constant stream of sharp needles flying towards the witch. While a single needle did barely any damage, a constant barrage of them is another story altogether, especially when taken in combination with Airi's slow but steady stream of bullets.

The witch recoils in pain and seems to finally break free of Airi's taunt, turning towards Yuuri and raising all her arms in what probably would have been a massive blow, except… before she can bring them down, she explodes into a cloud of silk thread that falls to the ground and flows away like water. Since I'm the closest, I grab the grief seed while Anri runs over. The two of them cheer and exchange a double high-five, and then they turn to me and bow. They're so in sync I have to struggle to hold in a giggle.

"Thank you for your help, Miss Ashley," Yuuri says. "That heaviness made it very hard to fight, so I was very grateful when you destroyed the booing familiars."

"Ah, that was nothing," I say. "Those ones were weak, honestly. The other familiars seemed much stronger."

"Regardless, you have been of great help to me," Yuuri says.

"And you don't need to be so formal with me," I add. "You can drop the 'Miss' too."

"Then, I'll call you Ashley-chan… is that okay?" Yuuri says. "You can call me Yuuri-chan if you want."

"Me too! Ashley-chan, you're awesome!" Airi says. "And call me Airi-chan!"

"Yeah… that'll do," I agree.

"So, Airi-chan… you became a magical girl too?" Yuuri says. "Why would you do that? I wanted to protect you from this world… that's why I never told you…"

Airi blinks. "Huh? Because… because I wanted to fight at your side… it's so cruel that you hid it from me, Yuuri-chan!"

"Well… i-if that's really how you feel… it's not that I mind," Yuuri says. "Um… so tell me… what can you do as a magical girl? All I can really do is heal people… and shoot them with needles from this syringe…"

"Um… I can make barriers… force the enemy to attack only me… and blow stuff up," Airi says. "I think that's about it? Oh, and I have Cole and my pistols."

"I'm a little jealous," Yuuri says. "It seems like you've gotten cooler powers than me… though I'm definitely happy to be able to heal people. In fact… you look like you need healing yourself."

Indeed, Airi looks a little battered from that rainbow blast.

"This is nothing," Airi says bravely. "B-but if you want to heal me, then that's fine."

Yuuri places her hand on Airi's shoulder, and her wounds fade away.

"Okay, here's your grief seed," I say, offering it to them.

"Well, I already have one," Yuuri says.

She takes it out and uses it to purify her soul gem, which has darkened quite a bit, probably somewhere around eighty percent. But it doesn't fully purify it – even after using the grief seed, it's still maybe ten percent corrupted. Then Kyuubey walks up to us.

"That grief seed cannot be used anymore," it says. "If nothing is done, it will soon hatch into a new witch, identical to the one that dropped it."

Yuuri blinks at the little white devil. "S-seriously!? Um… w-what should I do?"

"Give it to me," Kyuubey says. "I can safely dispose of it."

"Oh… okay," Yuuri says.

She gives Kyuubey the grief seed, and it flips it into the opening on its back, vanishing from sight. The opening then closes up again.

"By the way… you… you're the one who made my contract, right? I haven't seen you for almost a year… but there was another similar creature who would sometimes purify my soul gem for me…"

"Circumstances prevented me from coming to Asunaro," Kyuubey says.

"You've been fighting alone for almost a year…" Airi laments. "I wish I'd noticed sooner…"

"So, what was that about already having a grief seed?" I say with a smile. "Here, take it. The two of you definitely earned this… I may have wiped out the familiars, but I didn't really do anything much against the witch herself."

"Okay… thanks, Ashley-chan."

She accepts it and uses it on her soul gem, then offers it to Airi.

"So… I just… press it against here?" she says.

"Correct," Kyuubey says. "If you touch a grief seed to your soul gem, it will draw out the impurities and restore your soul gem's shine."

Airi does as it instructs, and the small amount of corruption in her soul gem is cleared up.

"Looks like the barrier has already collapsed," I say.

I power down, and the others follow my example. I must say, I never expected to witness Airi becoming a magical girl. I did think it would likely happen at some point… I just didn't think that point would be right when I was there with her.

"So anyway… why were you even there, Ashley-chan?" Yuuri asks. "You're living in Mitakihara, right?"

"Well, actually… I came by to find the two of you," I explain. "I know it's a little early, but I wanted to give you each a Valentine's Day gift. Think of them as a token of friendship."

I dig out the correct chocolate bundles and hold them out.

"Oh my!" Yuuri says. "That's… you didn't have to do that! Is… is it handmade?"

I shake my head. "I'm sorry, it's not hand-made," I say. "But it's not cheap convenience store chocolate, either."

"Well… either way… I appreciate the gesture," Yuuri says.

"Thank you so much!" Airi says. "I thought you were a little weird when we first met, Ashley-chan, but now I realize you're really kind, like Yuuri-chan!"

"I think that weirdness you sensed might have been because I was a magical girl," I suggest.

"Yeah… that could be true," Airi shrugs.

"Well… I'll see you some other time," I say.

Yuuri and Airi nod in unison.

"I'll always welcome you," Yuuri says.

"And me too," Airi adds. "I think it's thanks to you that I realized what I really wanted to wish for."

"Oh?" Yuuri says. "Come to think of it… what did you wish for?"

Airi smiles at her. "That's a se-cret!"

Yuuri blinks and huffs a little. "F-fine, but in that case, I'm not telling you my wish, either!"

Airi suddenly hugs her. "That's fine. I don't need to know a little thing like that. All that matters is that we're here, together."

"Right…" Yuuri says.

"See you later," I say.

With the last of the chocolates now distributed, I take a train back to Mitakihara. All that's left now is to pass them out in Mitakihara itself, but that can wait until the actual day.

On Sunday, I decide to join the others in their sleepover at Claire's place. They've clearly been putting some incredible effort into this whole chocolate-making process, so I try my hand at it a little too, but my chocolates come out horribly misshapen. I don't think I'm quite cut out for this kind of cooking. They're still tasty, however.

On Monday as I'm leaving school, I quickly check on Inui and Mami. To my surprise, I discover Inui is wearing the same school uniform, meaning she too attends Mitakihara Middle School. Somehow, she was always in casual clothes when I met her before. I guess she's the type to change into casual clothes as soon as possible after school? Anyway, I just stick to Elise and Komachi as they head over to pick up Hiyori. Claire also joins us today – apparently her usual club activities were cancelled.

I asked Hiyori the day before to try and prevent Mami from leaving early, and as I requested, she calls out to the drill-haired girl as she's about to leave the school gates. I can see the events clearly in my clairvoyant vision.

"Oh?" Mami says. "You… you're the girl I gave a grief seed to last year?"

Hiyori nods. "Y-yes… um… you're Miss Tomoe, right? You've been doing this a long time…"

"Well… yes, it has been a year or two, I think," Mami says. "Um… did you need something, Miss Hayashi?"

I note that she remembered Hiyori's surname, which seems to indicate she has a good memory for names.

"Well… you see… I just wanted to thank you for that," Hiyori says. "And um… it's the fourteenth of February, right? Um… you know… V-valentine's Day… s-so I… I tried making you something. W-will you accept it?"

"Oh my," Mami says, her face lighting up like a beacon. "I would love to try your homemade chocolate."

Hiyori starts rummaging through her bag.

"U-um… it's in here somewhere… I'll find it, just a minute…"

I think she knows exactly where it is and is just buying time. It works quite nicely, too. Once I can see the school, I let her know she can stop.

«We're almost there, Hiyori!» I transmit. «Thanks for the help!»

"Ah! Here it is!" Hiyori says.

She pulls out a small box and holds it out to Mami.

"Do you mind if I try one right now?" Mami asks, taking the box.

"Um… sure! I'd love that!" Hiyori says.

As I walk up, I can see the scene with my eyes now. Mami opens the box and selects one of the four chocolates within, while Hiyori looks on anxiously.

"Is… is it good?" she asks.

"Delicious!" Mami says. "Thank you very much, Miss Hayashi."

Then Hiyori catches sight of us and waves.

"Onee-san! She said it was delicious!"

"Good for you, Hiyori-chan," Komachi says.

"Hello, Miss Tomoe," I say.

Mami turns to see who's addressing her.

"Ah… you're… the exchange student," she says with a smile. "Miss Taylor, right?"

I nod. "Yes… and I wanted to thank you for your help the other day, so I got this for you."

I fish out the box I picked out for Mami and hand it over.

"Oh my! Thank you very much!" Mami says happily. "May I try one right now?"

I nod. "It's not handmade or anything, but I made sure to get something decent."

She opens my box and selects the rose-flavoured one.

"Delicious! Thank you very much, both of you…" She looks at the others with me. "Miss Taylor, I did not know you were acquainted with Miss Hayashi and her friends."

"Well… actually, I'm staying at her house," I say. "So yeah…"

"I see," Mami says. "Well, I need to go on patrol, so please excuse me."

"No problem," I say.

I check on Inui with my clairvoyance. She seems to be changing shoes at her locker, which would mean she'll be out any minute now, so I just wait for her.

"Um, we'll be going out on patrol too," Elise says. "See you later."

"Yeah, no problem," I say. "But before that, I have one for each of you, too."

I fish out the four boxes I picked for them and pass them out.

"Thanks so much, Ashley-chan!" Komachi says.

"Yeah… I uhh… thanks," Elise says.

"I appreciate the gesture," Claire says with a smile.

"I can't wait to eat it!" Hiyori says happily.

"Alright, see you later!" I say.

The four of them head off, and a couple of minutes later, Inui leaves the building at a run.

"Hold it for a sec, Miss Inui!"

She skids to a stop, blinking at me in surprise.

"H-huh? Oh, Ashley-chan! Sorry, I don't have time to patrol today! I've gotta find Sho-kun!"

I grab her arm as she's about to run off again.

"That's fine, I just wanted a moment of your time."

Inui spins to face me, tilting her head at me.

"Um… what for?"

I fish out the chocolates I picked out for her.

"I just wanted to give you something to show my appreciation," I say.

"O-oh… um… thanks," Inui says, dumping it in her schoolbag. "Yeah! I'll eat them later! Um… was that all?"

"Yeah, that's all," I say. "That's all I wanted to say."

"Okay! See you later, Ashley-chan!"

And then she bolts like a frightened rabbit, disappearing from sight in a metaphorical cloud of dust. Actually, I'm pretty sure she's setting a track and field record right now… but that doesn't matter. I have one more to hand out.

When I arrive at the run-down Sakura Church, I find Kyouko already there, lounging on the roof. She spots me and sits up as I approach.

"Oh, it's you again," she grumbles. "Don't tell me you're here for that damn favour… I ain't in a mood for anything right now."

"No, that's not what I'm here for," I say. "It's Valentine's Day, so I got you some chocolate. You can think of it as a sort of apology for stealing your grief seed, if you want."

"Eh? That's the only reason you came?" Kyouko blinks.

"That's it," I confirm. "Do you want it or not?"

She hops down from the roof and holds out her hand.

"Course I want it! Long's it's not poisoned or nothing."

I blink. "Why the hell would I poison it?"

I fish it out and place it in her hand.

"Well, that's really the only reason I came," I say. "See you later."

"Seeya," she replies. "I'll still be around if ya need that favour some other time."

With Valentine's Day out of the way, and all my basic prep work done in the other cities, I fall into a routine – hunt at least one witch every day, either by myself or with Inui, and then sometimes defend the quartet against the Sleepwalking Spectre. Eventually those encounters become less frequent though as Yu moves into the northern reaches of the city, which is something of a relief.

I also make liberal use of my clairvoyance to keep an eye on how my contacts in other cities are doing. There's not much to see, however. The Pleiades Saints are hard at work creating a new clone, the Akanegasaki quartet are just going about their everyday life without incident, and Honoka is managing to scrape by as a magical girl. As expected, Yuuri and Airi make for an incredibly strong team, often defeating two or three witches in a single day. Riko seems to have become fast friends with Tsukasa, and they even occasionally go hunting together. Karin seems to spend most of her time either going to the 'sacred spot' as inspiration or bugging the art club member, Alina Grey, who still isn't a magical girl.

I'm relieved that I can in fact peer across the distance dividing the cities. It seems like my clairvoyance can reach anywhere I've been, as well as anyone I know. That said, when watching another city… it may just be my imagination, but it feels like the vision is just a little blurry. So I bet there is a limit… I just haven't hit it yet. I haven't even attempted to spy on Sarra or the François sisters.

That said, I'm not neglecting them, either. I've exchanged a number of text messages with not only them but also Alice. The François sisters have taken the step of getting themselves passports, so I imagine that means they intend to fly out for Walpurgisnacht. They've also spoken to a number of other Parisian magical girls, and some of them are interested as well. It's encouraging to know that I can expect at least a little help from outside of Shinriku Prefecture.

Speaking of… Shinriku Prefecture is a mystery in and of itself. After staring at the map of Japan for hours and hours, I finally realized why it looks odd. There's a whole new island east of Shikoku that shouldn't be there, and I haven't been able to find anything online that considers its presence to be out of the ordinary. The island itself bears the same name as the prefecture, which is suspicious in and of itself. The kanji in Shinriku mean 'new' and 'land'. Why would it be called that if it had always been there? Calling the Americas a new land is one thing – it's across a vast ocean from Europe. But Shinriku is practically a stone's throw from Kushimoto!

But the mysteries of the prefecture aren't my priority right now. Back in Santa Cruz, apparently there are now two new magical girls to help Sarra and Alice keep the witch population under control. This makes me feel a lot better about their well-being, particularly considering how I once found Alice struggling against a witch. They forgot to name the new girls though, and I forgot to ask in my reply, and now it feels awkward to send a follow-up asking their names, so I just don't. I'm sure it'll come up naturally soon enough.

And then of course there's my parents. I've been contacting them twice a week as promised, and though my father looks like he's not in the best of health, they seem to be in good spirits. I've told them a lot about my life here and the new friends I've made, though obviously I don't mention anything related to magical girls and witches.

So all things considered, I think things are still going quite well. Of course, after my partial failure in Asunaro, I realize I can't get complacent, but at the very least, it doesn't seem like anything bad will happen before the time loop begins. Other than that, everything has been going really well so far.

Will those thoughts jinx it? Well… I'll find out soon enough.

PROLOGUE: END

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.

Anri Airi
杏里あいり

Age: 16
Eye Colour: Brown
Hair Colour: Silver
Origins: Asunaro, Shinriku Prefecture, Japan
Symbol: A pair of intertwined 'female' symbols – one pink, one orange
Soul Gem: Oval orange gem just above her navel
Element: Fire
Weapon: Dual pistols, Cole the bull
Powers: Explosions, barriers, taunt
Wish: "My wish is that Yuuri-chan and I will never be separated, no matter what!"

Speed: 7
Magical Stamina: 4
Offensive Power: 7
Defensive Power: 6
Initial Power Usability: 6
Learned Powers: 0 (unknown)