"Y-your soul gem! It's completely…"
Komachi rushes forward to press one of Itzli's grief seeds against Elise's soul gem, but it's too late – her soul gem cracks open and warps into a grief seed, which almost immediately hatches with a bright flash of light.
Elise's witch takes on a form resembling a Chinese dragon, but somewhat anthropomorphized with feminine features, though the face is decidedly inhuman with white discs for eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth. A new barrier forms around us, resembling a traditional Japanese street festival at night with all manner of stalls, only the stalls are staffed by monsters and also look twisted in subtle ways. Actually, currently the monsters seem to be in the middle of setting up the stalls.
I beat myself up over allowing this to happen when I had plenty of spare grief seeds, runic letters float across my field of vision, spelling out her witch name – Doki Yatsura. It's kind of a strange name, though… I wonder if it means anything? The first segment reminds me of the onomatopoeia for a heartbeat, but I'm not sure about the second half… I telekinetically grab the fallen grief seed that Elise ignored, stowing it away again.
"W-why… why did a witch come out of Elise's soul gem?" Komachi asks, voice wavering. "Why did her soul gem turn into a grief seed?" She looks at me and Kyuubey desperately in turn. "What the hell is going on here!? Kyuubey, you didn't tell us about this?"
Right… Doki Yatsura isn't the only thing I have to worry about here. If I'm not careful, Komachi could end up turning into a witch too. I need to make sure that doesn't happen. It's bad enough that Claire died and Elise became a witch. I can't let that happen to anyone else!
"You never asked," Kyuubey replied.
"What the hell do you mean, we never asked!?" Komachi screeches. "That's something you should say without being asked!"
"I really do not understand you humans," Kyuubey says. "You had your wish granted, after all. Why is it that you become angry when you come to regret your decision?"
"You're not helping, you white devil!" I snap at it.
Though, it's possible that that's even its intent, a way to encourage Komachi to give into despair and become a witch.
"Komachi-chan… please calm down," I say desperately. "I've already lost two friends in this battle! I don't want to lose another!"
"But Elise… Elise was fine just a moment ago! She was fine, and now… now… you're saying we're all just going to turn into that!? It's not fair!"
"Come on, Komachi-chan! Think about Claire! I know it's not fair, but you have to keep fighting for her sake, remember?"
"Keep fighting!?" Komachi shouts. "What's the point in fighting, anyway? We're killing other magical girls, aren't we!? We've been killing our own comrades this whole time! Who would want to keep fighting, knowing that!?"
"No! It's not like that!" I shout back. "Yes, it's true that magical girls can turn into witches, but…" I sigh, trying to decide how to explain this. "It's not the same as just killing magical girls, okay?"
"And what's so different about it?"
"A witch is no longer human! She's like a mindless beast! There's nothing left of her personality or her memories as a magical girl! Or if there is anything, it's just a few scattered fragments!"
"And how is that supposed to make me feel better about this!?" Komachi asks.
I decide to give her my personal feelings on the matter.
"Look, if I became a witch, I'd want someone to kill me before I can spread curses and eat people," I say. "I think a lot of magical girls would feel the same. I'm sure Elise doesn't want to spread curses either. If she knew what she has now become, I bet she'd be asking you to kill her so she doesn't spread any curses. Killing witches is a form of mercy!"
My tirade seems to make Komachi stop and think a little, so I decide to press my advantage.
"And how do you think Hiyori-chan would feel if she woke up to find not only that her friends are dead, but her older sister as well?"
"W-well, th-that's… I guess she'd be…" Komachi trails off. "I… I hate to imagine it…"
"Then, please calm down and buck up, for her sake and Claire's," I say, glancing up at the dragon circling above. "I hate to say it, but Elise is as good as dead. You can ask Kyuubey about the details yourself later – but short of a new girl's wish, there's no way to turn a witch back into a magical girl."
Komachi frowns at me.
"There's just one other thing that's bugging me," she says. "How are you so calm about this? Why do you talk as though you already knew all of this!?"
"Do I look calm to you!?" I protest. "Who could possibly be calm about the death of a friend! But you're right about one thing – I did already know that magical girls could turn into witches."
"Then why didn't you tell us!?" she shouts.
"I didn't think you would believe me," I say.
"But we've already known you for more than a month!" Komachi shouts. "You're strong, and you've helped us out so many times! You should understand by now that we trust you! We wouldn't dismiss what you say that easily!"
"Yes… yeah… perhaps you're right," I say. "When we first met was one thing, but… maybe there was a chance to bring it up before now. I'm sorry."
"So… how did you even find out?" Komachi asks. "Have you seen this happen before?"
"No, it's my first time seeing it," I reply. "I learned about it from Kyuubey before I became a magical girl. If you ask the right questions, it'll tell you everything."
Komachi gapes at me. "You… you knew you might become a witch… and yet, you made a contract anyway!? How stupid can you get!?"
"I had a wish I wanted granted, and I felt it was a risk worth taking," I reply. "Believe me, I don't intend to become a witch. If I ever think it's going to come to that, I'll crush my soul gem first. But also, as long as there's hope, I'm confident I won't become a witch."
Yes… just like Umika and Kaoru, I think I could hold out even when my soul gem is almost at its limit, as long as I don't use any magic. But now's not the time to think about that, is it? I glance up at Doki Yatsura above us. Fortunately, neither her nor her familiars have started to target us yet. The familiars are still busy setting up their street stalls. I'm not sure how long that'll last, though.
"But now's not the time to argue!" I say urgently. "We need to do something about this witch!"
"But that witch is Elise!" Komachi shouts. "How could I destroy my own friend!?"
"We just covered this! That's not your friend!" I shout back. "I hate to be so blunt about it, but Elise is dead. That's just the shadow she left behind in this world. She wouldn't want to harm innocent humans as a witch, would she? Like I said before, the best thing we can do for her is to end her existence before she kills anyone. I don't like it any more than you do, but now that the worst has happened, all we can do is make the best of it!"
Komachi falls silent for a minute, and I surreptitiously check the status of her soul gem. Surprisingly, it's not as bad as I feared – it's barely halfway corrupted. Still, I think most of that corruption stems from her emotional state, so I'm glad I managed to get through to her. If I hadn't been here, I'm almost certain she would've given into despair as well and become a witch too. Maybe they would've even merged into one super-witch.
"A-alright, I'll do it," Komachi says finally. "But look… let's keep this truth from my sister for awhile, okay? I don't think she's ready to handle it… especially not when two of her friends have just died."
I nod. "Alright, whatever you say."
"And, um… I hate to ask this, but… what are we going to do with their bodies?" Komachi asks. "If we leave them here, they'll be swallowed up by the labyrinth when it collapses, right? And then they'll be reported missing… but that seems awfully cruel. Their families will continue to hope for the impossible… hoping they might be found…"
"Well… we can carry the bodies out of the labyrinth if you want," I say. "What did you have in mind?
I glance up again, but the dragon still isn't attacking. In one sense it's a relief, but I'm a little worried she might be planning something big…
"Well… I thought we could deliver the bodies to their families," Komachi muses.
"It's a good thought, but everyone would think we killed them," I reply. "Even if there's no proof… or maybe even because there's no proof. People are funny like that. Can you live with that?"
"Th-then… leave them somewhere they'll be found?" Komachi suggests. "Although I hate just abandoning them somewhere… it feels so… so…"
She can't seem to find a word to vocalize her feeling, but I think I understand what she means.
"Yeah, I get you," I say. "Kyuubey, do you have any suggestions?"
"You wish to place the bodies somewhere they can be found but without drawing suspicion to yourselves, correct?" Kyuubey says.
"I… I guess so… yeah," Komachi says.
"Then I would recommend you travel by air at night to an appropriate location," Kyuubey says. "Most humans do not look up while walking, especially at night. Your chances of being spotted are lowest that way."
By air… is it referring to my discovery in the last battle that I can use Teddy Mk II like a vehicle?
"Ugh," Komachi mutters. "Is that really the best option… but I guess the problem here is that all the options are bad…"
"Speaking of night… is it dark out yet?" I wonder.
But my purse has been subsumed by my transformation, so I can't check right now, and Kyuubey, the only one among us who might know, does not respond to my query.
"Uuuugh…"
A moan from Hiyori draws our attention, and we both look at her just as she sits up, rubbing her eyes.
"What… what happened?" Hiyori asks. She looks around, startled by the altered surroundings. "Huh? This isn't the witch we were fighting…?"
"Well…" Komachi trails off. "Hiyori… please brace yourself, because I have really, really bad news for you. A-are you ready?"
Hiyori blinks several times, then nods firmly.
"I… I'm ready, onee-san!"
"Well… we defeated that other witch with the help of Ashley-chan, but… it k-k-killed Claire and Elise," Komachi says bluntly.
She can't help tearing up a little as she breaks the news. Even I feel a tear come to my eye, and I already knew.
"T-then this new witch showed up all of a sudden… it hasn't attacked us yet for some reason, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time. We've got to defeat it."
Hiyori blinks, and I can see the tears leaking out already.
"H-huh? Elise and Claire… they're… you're saying… no, it can't be…"
Suddenly she spots Claire's and Elise's bodies and rushes over them.
"Noooo! Claire, Elise… wake up! Please, wake up! Don't leave us!"
She breaks down sobbing on the corpses, and I monitor her soul gem. It's slowly becoming more corrupted, but it's not at a dangerous level yet. Komachi kneels down to console her, though she ends up breaking down in tears too. I consider joining her, but I figure the older sister is the better choice for this.
But it's the witch herself who cements that decision. Suddenly, the monster familiars finish setting up their stalls and begin to launch their attack, and I'm forced to turn to fight them off. They're not all that strong, each one falling to two or three hits from my sword. However, their numbers make up for their lack of individual strength. There's too many of them for me to handle with just my sword, so I direct Teddy Mk II to attack as well, supported by the Teddy Drones. Even then, it's all I can do to prevent them from breaking through and reaching Komachi and Hiyori.
I'm really lucky to have Teddy Mk II as support – I can function as two entire fighters in a pinch, which most magical girls can't do. But the witch herself still isn't attacking, which bugs me. I'm sure there's gotta be a catch to her docility. Is she planning something, or charging an attack? I don't feel a build-up of magic though…
After maybe five or ten minutes, the familiars finally stop attacking, and I realize that there's just none left. Startled by the sudden circle of calm around me, I look around suspiciously. Komachi is still consoling Hiyori over the death of their friends, but I can't see any more familiars, not even signs of them hiding amongst the twisted festival stalls. I look up and see Doki Yatsura's empty eyes staring directly at me.
Then she opens her mouth wide, and a sense of dread fills me. There's no way that can be anything good!
"We've got to move!" I shout. "Right now! The witch is about to attack!"
My shout startles both girls, who look up in sync. Hiyori gasps in fear, freezing up, but Komachi grabs her with one hand and Elise's body with the other, pulling both of them away towards the edge of the chamber. I follow her example, rushing over to grab Claire's body before leaping after them.
I make it just in time. A torrent of flame spews down from the sky, landing in the middle of the festival where I'd been standing just moments before, setting all the carts on fire and rapidly spreading across the entire chamber. Fortunately, it doesn't quite reach our corner, but that's not much consolation. With all that fire, our hopes of even attacking the witch just dropped dramatically.
I set down Claire's body and stride over to Hiyori, grabbing her shoulder with one hand and slapping her across the face.
"Now's not the time to grieve!" I shout. "While you've been crying your eyes out, I've been fighting to keep you safe! If you truly want to live, we have to beat this thing and get out of here! You can grieve all you want afterwards!"
I almost immediately regret my words and actions, which feel like they were too extreme and cruel, but at least they do seem to get through to Hiyori. She stares at me wide-eyed for several seconds, but then her face gains resolve and focus, and she nods resolutely.
"R-right! I… I'll do my best!" she says. "F-first of all… we need to clear away the flames, right?"
"Yes, do you have something that'll work?" I ask.
"W-well… there's something I can try," Hiyori replies.
She seizes her harp and strums it, striking up a mournful funeral dirge, but then she starts randomly adding dissonant tones into it. The magic converts those tones into sonic blasts that scream across the room… and sound is basically the movement of air, so naturally it affects the roaring flames, slowly tearing them off of the nearest carts and marshalling them all towards the far corner of the room.
"Nice one!" I say. "Keep that up as long as you have magic, Hiyori-chan! If you manage to put them out entirely, try using it on the witch too!"
Hiyori nods, and I grab Komachi's hand and hop on top of the nearest stall, and from there onto Teddy Mk II who then carries us up into the air towards the witch.
"This power of yours is quite unusual," Kyuubey remarks.
Huh? I'd totally forgotten it was here. I shoot it a glare.
"Not now, you little white devil!"
"I keep telling you, my name is Kyuubey," it responds. "But as I was saying, magical girls capable of self-powered flight are extremely rare."
"I said, not now!" I snap.
With a flick of my sword, I bisect the incubator, flinging its body into the slowly retreating flames below and eliciting a gasp from Komachi.
"Y-you didn't have to kill him!" she protests. "Although I suppose he does deserve it a little…"
"Oh, don't worry about that," I reply. "It's not dead. That body is just a terminal that it uses to communicate with us. It has plenty of them in reserve."
Komachi gives me a strange look. "W-well… if you say so… so what do we do about this witch?"
"Let's see if we can do a combined attack," I say. "It's similar to connect, I think, but it's also a bit different… I'm not sure if I'll be able to pull it off. Can you try to think of sharing my power or something?"
Komachi nods. "I guess. What'll we be doing?"
"Well, I thought we could combine my Glittering Gunk with your energy drain, but I'm not really sure," I say. "Just… let's try it and see what happens. I think it should be something good."
"If you say so…"
We reach out and clasp hands, and I try pushing in power as if I were connecting to her, while also drawing in her power as if she were connecting to me. I can thank the François sisters for the idea – I'm planning to try and emulate what they did for their joint ultimate attack. For several seconds I think it's not going to work, but then, suddenly, something resonates inside of me, and I realize intuitively that we are of the same element. Obviously that's not required for this sort of thing – the François sisters can't possibly be of the same element – but I'm sure it'll make it a lot easier for my first try.
"Komachi… your magic… it's darkness!" I exclaim. "That means we're super-compatible!"
Some sort of dark aura has expanded from us and is now enveloping us. I can somehow sense my magic resonating with hers, and it feels like we're building up power for some sort of attack.
"Huh? There's no way," Komachi protests. "My magic is healing… how could that be darkness!?"
"It's more like energy transfer than healing, right?" I point out. "After all… you can both heal and unheal, right? That seems dark enough to me."
"I-if you say so…"
As the power builds up within us, my instinct tells me to release Komachi's hand, so I do so. Now that power is spilling out of our palms, forming a dark sphere between us that keeps us connected. As it grows in size, I start to see things floating inside it, white glittery things similar to what I see in my beam attack, but also tiny star-shaped motes that I imagine must be a result of Komachi's magic.
Then the sphere extends, becoming a cylinder, and a tendril reaches out towards the ground, swallowing up several of the festival stalls like some sort of vacuum cleaner. Now I recognize the shape… it's a cannon!
"Okay, let's adjust the aim," I say. "Are you ready, Komachi-chan?"
"As ready as I'll ever be!" she replies grimly.
The dragon witch looks at the two of us and opens her mouth, probably planning to release a second deluge of flame, but then she's suddenly struck by a sonic blast from below and turns to look at the source instead.
«I'll keep it busy!» Hiyori transmits. «Hurry up and shoot it!»
"Alright…" I take a deep breath, then shout at the top of my voice. "Glittering Star Cannon, FIRE!"
With a deafening boom, the canon expels a ball that seems to be composed of scrunched-up parts from the stalls, speeding towards the dragon at breakneck speed. It strikes its target right around the forelegs, or arms, whatever you'd call those. And then I understand intuitively that there's still more shots in it.
"Fire! Fire! Fire!"
Three more shots follow upon the first, each one striking the dragon somewhere on its long body. Thanks to Hiyori's constant sonic blasts, it seems to be having trouble moving fast enough to dodge our cannon. Perhaps my charm magic also plays some role in this, though I'm not sure it ever actually took effect. Komachi starts shouting alongside me.
"Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!"
I lose count of the shots, but I think it's been around fifteen or twenty by the time the cannon suddenly goes pop, vanishing into a shower of dark motes. The two of us exchange glances, then nod. The dragon is in bad shape from all those hits. We simultaneously leap into the air, brandishing our weapons, and aim for the most injured areas. Once again, Teddy Mk II provides a speeding mobile foothold for us as we repeatedly target those areas. Fortunately, this witch is not as tough as Itzli was.
Down below, a few new familiars have spawned to attack Hiyori, forcing her to stop attacking the witch and defend herself. She seems to be struggling against them, but her sonic blasts are effective, so she should be able to keep them at bay for a short time. Perhaps that's a last-ditch attempt by the witch to fight back against us, but it's too late and aimed at the wrong target. It only takes five or six hits each before we're both able to cleave right through her body, separating it into three segments.
That's when Doki Yatsura pops like a balloon, showering black candy down upon the ruined festival stalls, and then I land next to Hiyori and spontaneously hug her. Komachi lands moments later and also joins in on the hug. After a few moments though, she suddenly turns serious and backs off.
"Alright… we'd better grab the bodies and the grief seed before the labyrinth collapses," Komachi says. "If we're not holding onto them, they might disappear, right?"
I nod. "From what I understand… yes, that would be the case. Although the grief seed shouldn't disappear… if we left it, it would eventually respawn."
"You get the grief seed. I'll take Elise. Hiyori, please carry Claire."
"R-right…"
I run over towards the centre of the chamber, looking for the grief seed. At first, I fear there isn't one, as newly-spawned witches are known to sometimes not drop one. But then I spot it slowly floating down from above. I snatch it down with my telekinesis, then use it to purify my soul gem before returning to the others.
"How's your soul gems?" I ask. "Do you need a grief seed?"
"I have the two from the other witch," Komachi says. "Don't worry about us, we'll be fine."
That seems to be true. Hiyori seems to be close to her limit, about where Yuuri was when I discovered her back then, but that also means she should be safe for a few minutes as long as she doesn't use any magic or give into despair. Komachi on the other hand is just a bit more than half-darkened, so I'm not worried about her.
"What about the grief seed I gave you earlier?" I ask.
"Oh, that one was used up," Komachi says. "So I fed it to Kyuubey."
I'd hoped there might still be a use left in it, oh well. Once the barrier has collapsed around us, Kyuubey walks up to us like nothing happened. I can also see that night has fallen since I entered Itzli's barrier.
"I really wish you had not done that, Ashley Taylor," it says. "Now I cannot even recycle the destroyed terminal. It is such a waste."
"It's probably for the better," I retort. "It'd creep these two out big-time."
Kyuubey tilts its head. "That is an interesting observation from one who has never seen it," the little white devil notes. "I wonder, how did you gain that knowledge, Ashley Taylor?"
While Kyuubey is talking to me, I see Komachi use a grief seed on Hiyori's soul gem, so I decide to get down to business.
"That's none of your business, you white devil," I retort. "Okay, look, you two… no, first of all, Hiyori-chan, I owe you an apology. I'm sorry for hitting you and saying those harsh words earlier… even if it worked, I think I went to far."
"N-no, that's perfectly alright!" Hiyori protests. "It was just what I needed to snap out of it… and onee-san never would've thought of it… she's just too kind. I should be thanking you!"
"If you say so," I say doubtfully. "Well anyway, on to the next issue… I'm pretty sure Kyuubey's suggestion was specifically referring to Teddy Mk II, so shall I take on the burden of disposing of the bodies? I can bring you along if you want though… assuming Teddy can carry that much weight."
Hiyori blinks. "D-dispose of…? B-but… we can't! That's too cruel! What about their families?"
"We can either destroy them and leave their families with false hope, or we can drop the bodies somewhere they'll be found without implicating us," Komachi says morosely. "Which is more cruel?"
"And the thing is… you've gotta remember that no-one else knows about what we do," I add. "No-one knows we're risking our lives every day to keep them safe from witches. If they saw these bodies in association with us in any way… if we carried them back ourselves, or even if we left them here where we might've been seen, or anything like that… then people are sure to misunderstand."
"Y-yeah," Komachi nods. "All Kyuubey suggested was that we leave them somewhere that they'll be discovered quickly, but not associated with us. So… please don't worry about their families."
"I-if… if you say so, onee-san," Hiyori says reluctantly. "I s-still don't like it, b-but… I… I can understand your thinking… and also um…"
"I don't like it either," Komachi mutters, inadvertently interrupting Hiyori. "But what can we do? I can't think of any good option…"
"Yeah, same here," I sigh.
"I don't like it, but… I… I'd like to… come with you… Ashley-chan…" Hiyori says.
Komachi nods. "Y-yeah… I've gotta at least see it through…"
"Well, in that case, hop on," I say.
Teddy Mk II lands on the ground beside me, and the two girls each grab a dead friend and climb on, clinging tightly. Then I hop on his head and zoom up into the air, with Komachi giving directions on where to go. It turns out Teddy is more than capable of carrying all five of us.
Now that the crisis is over and I can start to properly process what has happened, I find the tears flowing freely down my face. I try to wipe them away, but they just won't stop. And as Teddy glides down towards the location Komachi is directing us to, a light rain springs up, rendering my attempts even more useless. We set the corpses down next to a large dumpster, and the sisters kneel before them for a moment.
"Elise… you w-were a great leader," Komachi says. "And for all your claims of being weak, you were probably the strongest of us all… we'll really miss you. Claire… even though I grumbled, I didn't hate it when you wanted to talk about love and stuff, and I'll really miss you at the Valentine's parties… and your cooking, too."
"You loved each other so much, didn't you?" Hiyori murmured. "You died before you could find happiness together in this world, so I hope you can find it in the next world."
"Eh?" Komachi blinks. "Wait, what?"
Hiyori looks at her in surprise. "What? You didn't know, onee-san? But I noticed at the Valentine's party… not just this year, but last year too, and the year before… the biggest chocolates they made were the ones for each other, right?"
"They were bigger than the ones for us?" Komachi asks.
"Hmm… about twice as big, I think?" Hiyori says. "And with heart motifs."
"Huh…"
I see. It makes sense now why Elaine was so distraught over Claire's death, to the point of turning into a witch. Seeing a friend die is heartbreaking enough, but if it's a lover or even just a love interest, surely that must be even worse… although I've never been in love, so I don't say that from personal experience, only from my extensive consumption of fiction.
The three of us stand around in silence for what seems like an eternity, though in actuality it's probably no more than five minutes. At some point, I finally break the silence.
"Come on, let's go," I say. "The longer we stay here, the greater the chance of someone randomly coming by and spotting us. It's unlikely at this time of day, sure, but it's not impossible. And your mother will be worried, too."
"A-alright," Hiyori says.
"I… I got it," Komachi says.
The three of us hop back on Teddy Mk II and soar back up into the air before heading for a nearby park. There, we all power down and begin the trek home.