On the Mitakihara front, nearly everything goes the same over the next few days. This time, I watch Madoka's meeting with Mami right to the end, though I don't learn anything new from it. Thanks to my warning, the quartet flees from Itzli and avoids any casualties, and presumably Inui, Yu, and Nagisa all meet the same fate, but I can't bring myself to watch it again. Instead, I monitor Mami after school, watching as Kyuubey informs her of Inui's demise and the presence of a witch at the hospital. As before, she fights Charlotte and is taken off guard by her second form, then saved by Madoka's timely arrival.

Since the Pleiades Saints seem to have a habit of skipping school, the events in Asunaro aren't going to be as conveniently placed as they were here in Mitakihara. It's not until after supper on the day of Inui's demise that things start to happen.

March eighteenth, after supper. Daylight is just beginning to fade, and Misaki Umika and Maki Kaoru are together, soul gems out as if they were hunting a witch. They look around wildly each time they reach an intersection, carefully choosing their route. Finally, they step into a small park across the street from a shopping mall. Looking around again, Umika points towards a park bench.

"There… by that man!" she says.

The man in question is in the middle of removing a trunk from behind the bench and replacing it with a different, identical trunk. Returning her soul gem to ring form, Umika hurries forward to accost him.

"Excuse me!" she says, her voice carrying clearly on the night air. "Could we take a look at those trunks, please?"

The man looks at them in surprise.

"Huh? Who the hell are you?" he asks.

"Just middle school girls who happened to be passing by," Umika says, deadpan.

"Umika and Kaoru!" Kaoru pipes up. "Nice to meet you! Okay, now that we've introduced ourselves…"

She leaps forward and seizes the trunk the man was replacing. As he tries to stop her, the trunk comes open and a spherical object pops out. The man makes a grab for the object, but in doing so, he hits a button on the side.

"Huh? What's this?" Kaoru asks.

"Oh shit!" the man exclaims.

"Wha– omigod!?" Kaoru gasps.

She's noticed the countdown appearing on a display within the trunk.

"Huh? This is…" Umika gasps.

"It's a time bomb," a new female voice cuts in. "This is the police. Don't move."

Three police officers have arrived on the scene, and they're armed with guns. The man holds his hands up in defense.

"Um, pardon–" Umika begins.

"Get back!" the previous speaker says, shoving Umika aside and knocking her to the ground. "Tachibana Souichirou, right? I'm Detective Ishijima, and I know all about your plans to blow up this shopping mall. I'll shoot at the slightest sign of resistance!"

"Ow," Umika says, picking herself up.

Then the second trunk suddenly bursts open, and out jumps a girl with ridiculously long black hair wearing ill-fitting men's clothing.

"Hold it! He's not a bad guy!" she shouts.

"H-huh!?" Detective Ishijima gasps. "Mr Tachibana even resorted to kidnapping!?"

"No!" the girl says. "He just helped me out cause I lost my memories!"

"B-but that's a separate issue," Detective Ishijima says. "Mr Tachibana was tricked into selling his bistro, so he has a motive for the bombing!"

"That doesn't matter!" the girl shouts, glaring at the detective. "I might not remember much, but I remember this much! He treasures his food, so he can't be a bad guy! You can't shoot him! It's not too late to check if the bomb is real before shooting, right?"

"There's no time left!" the officer shouts.

"Kazumi-chan, just run away!" Souichirou shouts.

"I refuse!" Kazumi states. "Just turn it off, mister!"

"B-but… I don't know how!" Souichirou protests.

Suddenly, Kazumi's bell earring jingles, and there's an unexpected blast of wind, startling the police officers. Umika almost immediately takes advantage of the distraction to leap forward and seize the bomb from Souichirou, throwing it towards Kaoru.

"Nice pass, Umika!" Kaoru says.

With a single powerful kick, Kaoru sends the bomb speeding high up into the air, and moments later, it explodes. However, it doesn't produce a blast wave or anything. Instead, it just lets out a loud bang and releases a shower of heart and star shaped confetti.

"Eh!?" Kazumi gasps.

"N-no way, I was certain it was a real bomb," the detective mutters.

The other two police officers start to mutter about her. They seem to be blaming her for things that are clearly not her fault… but Souichirou seems just as surprised as everyone else that the bomb is fake. There also seems to be another girl watching from a safe distance, hidden behind some bushes. She seems to be quite short, and although her face is hidden by her wide-brimmed hat, a lock of blue hair is just visible. Like the rest of the onlookers, she too seems surprised by the bomb's "detonation". Clearly the detective isn't the only one who thought the bomb was real.

Detective Ishijima looks at Kazumi. "You… you placed the bomb and set him up… just who are you?"

"I'm Kazumi!" she says. "The amnesiac Kazumi!"

Detective Ishijima blinks. "If you can't remember anything, maybe you should go to the hospital…"

Then Kaoru hugs Kazumi from behind while Umika whips out a photo.

"Heya, Kazumi-chan!" Kaoru says.

"Huh? Who're you?" Then she spots the photo. "Ehhh!? That's… that's me?"

"Yup!" Kaoru says.

"Then, we know each other?" Kazumi asks.

"Totally!" Kaoru says.

They're about to make themselves scarce when the detective stops them.

"Hey, you three, hold on for a sec," Detective Ishijima says. "Miss Kazumi, you said you were kidnapped, right?"

"Yeah, I think so," Kazumi says. "I woke up buck naked in a trunk, but I dunno how I got there… then I broke out and there was Mr Tachibana, but he was as shocked as I was! My only clue was the trunk I was swapped with!"

"So your only clue is this trunk with the prank bomb in it?" the officer confirms.

"That's what I said!" Kazumi replies.

"I see… do you mind if I come over to your place tomorrow for more questioning?" the woman asks. "I'd like to get to the bottom of this…"

"That's fine with me," Kazumi says.

"She'll be with us," Umika says, citing an address.

"Got it," Detective Ishijima says.

When I'm observing the following day around suppertime, the detective shows up to question her, but instead it turns into a confrontation, and the detective transforms into a praying-mantis pseudo-witch. Then Kazumi transforms as well, to her apparent surprise, and defeats the pseudo-witch, releasing the detective from its spell.

After that, I check in on Kazumi once per day and find her fighting one pseudo-witch after another. Although the next one she faces is the same as in the manga, she doesn't catch a glimpse of the apparent mastermind, and continues to encounter more of them in the following days. None of these pseudo-witches ever appeared in the manga, so it's kinda new to me. This seems to be the result of me saving Yuuri – another magical girl has been chosen to become the mastermind behind the pseudo-witches, and she seems to be more careful than Airi was in the manga. It's not until Tuesday that Kazumi and her friends finally catch sight of the blue-haired girl, who seems to be quite young, probably around Riko's age. In other words, she's at least four or five years younger than Yuuri and Airi.

Her magical girl outfit is… if I were to sum it up in one word, that would be 'valkyrie'. She wears silver knee-high boots, a sky blue halter-top dress that reaches to mid-thigh, and above all, the winged helmet that does the most to cement the valkyrie impression. There's a blue gem on her helmet, most likely her soul gem, and her dress has gold accents, in particular a golden zig-zag hem with innumerable diamond-shaped spangles hanging off it. There's a massive blue bow tied around her torso, the ends long enough to reach the ground, and the halter top has a plunging V-neck. She has a blue kite-shaped shield strapped to her back and leans on a spear that's taller than she is.

And more importantly, she doesn't resemble anyone I've ever seen in the franchise. Who the heck is she? Where did she come from? What would her fate have been if I hadn't saved Yuuri? I can't help asking myself fruitless questions like this.

I let out a sigh as I open my eyes after finally getting a glimpse of Kazumi's first opponent. Today I am at the observation tower instead of sitting in the park, since it's raining and I didn't feel like getting wet. As I come out of my vision and look around, however, I realize I'm not alone. There's a woman standing about ten feet to my right, staring wistfully out at the rain, her red skirt and black shirt instantly recognizable. I get up and head over to her.

"Excuse me," I say in English.

She turns to face me, showing no surprise on her face.

"Oh… it's Chelsea Flanders," she muses.

"H-huh? How do you know that name?" I ask.

I did tell her my name, but that was on the previous time loop, so she shouldn't be able to remember it.

"Hmm… I suppose you told me yourself," the woman says. "But when was that, I wonder…"

"May I ask your name?"

She looks sharply at me.

"You know, names have power," she says. "Did you expect me to give you that power so easily?"

I blink. "H-huh? I'd just like something to call you by, to be honest… and besides, you know my name, so fair's fair, right?"

"Well, I've never been called anything other than Mary," the woman says. "So I guess you should do the same."

"Well then, it's nice to meet you, Mary," I say.

"You say that now, but you'll be taking back those words soon enough," she says.

Huh? Is she implying I'm going to regret meeting her? Why would she say something like that?

"So um… are you a magical girl, Mary?"

She looks at me intensely, as if scrutinizing me.

"A magical girl, you say… but I'm clearly not a girl… still, I suppose the descriptor could fit."

Suddenly she giggles.

"But a magical girl, you say! What a joke! A magical girl is a saviour of hopes and dreams. What hopes do I have left? What dreams have I achieved?"

I take a step back, frowning, as she keeps giggling as if she'd said something hilarious. Is she sane?

"Um… if you are a magical girl, won't that kind of talk taint your soul gem? You should probably be careful…"

Mary giggles again. "My soul gem, she says! Ahhhh… it was so beautiful, the colour of hope…"

That giggling fades away, and her tone turns wistful, but I'm totally confused by the content. If I take her words literally, it almost sounds like she used to have a soul gem but no longer does? Or am I reading too much into her words? That should be impossible, anyway. Well, with the obvious exception of another girl's wish, but that obviously doesn't apply when she's centuries old.

"What colour is hope, anyway…?" I wonder.

"Hopes and dreams of love, shattered by a single spear," Mary sighs, apparently not even hearing my question, or maybe deeming it not worth an answer.

"So why are you even here?" I ask. "Last time you said something about–"

This time she doesn't even let me finish my sentence.

"I can feel it," Mary murmurs. "Something is changing. Something is happening. But I can't quite grasp it… if only that fool Flavia were here, would she be able to see the truth hidden at the heart of deceit?"

Now she's completely lost me. I'm thinking about how I can extricate myself from this conversation without seeming rude when she suddenly turns and looks at me. It might be my imagination, but it seems like her eyes are suddenly more focused, more lucid, like she just woke up from a hallucination or something and now this is the real her speaking.

"Chelsea Flanders," she says ominously.

"Y-yes?"

"They will do everything in their power to maintain the status quo," she says. "Do you think you can possibly defeat them? Did you think you're the first to rebel against them? You should just give up now. They have been on this planet since the dawn of time. They are undoubtedly the serpent who tempted Eve in the Garden. No-one has ever turned against them and succeeded."

I don't get why she doesn't want to mention their name, but there's basically no doubt that she's talking about the incubators, right? As I struggle to figure out how to respond, she suddenly grabs me by the shoulders.

"Do you get it, Chelsea Flanders?" Mary says. "They are Satan incarnate! They have technology that you cannot even imagine!"

Suddenly she releases me and takes a step back, looking wistfully out the window.

"On the other hand… if the Holy Trinity were to come together… but no, that'll never happen. Of course it won't. Are they even still alive…?"

"What's this Holy Trinity?" I ask. "I can't imagine it's the same as in Christianity…"

"Ohhh, you mean the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost," Mary says dismissively. "That was just made up by some crazy old men arguing about things they didn't understand. It's utterly ridiculous. There's only one God in Heaven, so how could He be a trinity?"

"Um… I'd like it if you actually answered the question," I say.

"Hmm? Did you ask a question?" Mary says.

"You said something about a holy trinity of magical girls or something…"

"Forget it," Mary says. "The old ghost of the sands is one thing, but the other two haven't been heard from in over five centuries. They've probably moved on to a better place by now."

"Maybe you could at least… name them?"

"Oh, what were their names…?" Mary muses. "That crazy poet should know, right?"

Ghost of the sands? Crazy poet? Are those the same person? Could she mean Scheherazade? At least one of her nicknames was ghostly, after all, and another of her nicknames was something minstrel.

"They cannot see me, you know," she suddenly confides. "But I can see them. I leave them alone though. There's no telling what their technology can do. If they knew I was here, they might start looking for me, and then they might find me."

Honestly, although I think she's talking about the incubators, I can't be totally sure, because it also sounds an awful lot like the mad ravings of a lunatic. Was anything she said today real? At some points she seemed pretty lucid, at other times quite distracted. It's hard to say whether I can trust her words.

"Ahhh, if only I could die and be reunited with my beloved," Mary moans. "Such a cruel world this is…" Once again, she presses her hands together in prayer. "O almighty God in Heaven, why dost Thou refuse me entry unto the brilliant gates of Heaven!? Have I not done enough to spread the word of the Lord? Is two millennia not enough to atone for my sins? Must I walk this earth until the day of judgement?"

Presumably she continues her lament, but whatever else she says, I don't hear it, because she started vanishing at the same time she began her prayer, and by the time the word "judgement" has escaped her lips, there's not a trace of her remaining. I stare at the space she occupied for a minute or two, turning the conversation over in my head and trying to make some sense out of it.

"Oh, there you are, Ashley-chan!" Komachi calls.

I turn and see the four of them emerging from the elevator, with Komachi in the lead waving. Kyuubey is with them too, riding on top of Hiyori's head.

"Oh, hi," I say. "What's up?"

"I have been looking for you, but something was interfering with my senses," Kyuubey says. "Fortunately, whatever it was has cleared up. I have information that may interest you, Ashley Taylor."

"It's bad news," Komachi says ominously. "Just brace yourself and listen."

"Okay, I'm listening," I say. "What is it?"

"There is evidence that Walpurgisnacht will come to this city," it says.

"I see… how do you know this?" I ask.

I know the answer, but I've got to keep up appearances so it doesn't get suspicious of me… at least, any more than it already is.

"I am still unsure about the reliability of the source, but the information seems plausible," Kyuubey says.

"I'd like to judge that for myself," I reply.

"Understood. Recently, I made a contract with a magical girl named Mikuni Oriko. She claims to have received the power of foresight, and told me that she saw Walpurgisnacht in a vision. According to Oriko, it will arrive in Mitakihara approximately six weeks from now. She was unable to give an exact date."

"Six weeks… that's not a lot of time to prepare," I groan. "Are you giving others this information?"

"One way or another, I intend to relay the information to every magical girl in Mitakihara."

"I guess everyone here has already been told," I say. "What about Kazamino? It's pretty close by, so if the storm hits Mitakihara, I'm sure Kazamino will suffer too."

"You make a good point," Kyuubey agrees. "I will be sure to tell Sakura Kyouko and the others about it as well."

"Speaking of the others… Lina-kun's team, that is… how are they doing lately?" I ask.

"They are engaged in a conflict with a magical girl named Yuuki Sasa," Kyuubey says. "As of yet it is unclear what the outcome will be."

"I see… that's too bad," I sigh. "I hope they pull through. Alright, thanks for the info,"

"There's another thing too," Komachi says. "We were actually about to look for you ourselves when Kyuubey showed up. It's about that strong witch you mentioned."

"We found it lurking behind the public pool!" Elise says.

"Komachi-chan says it was too strong for you, Ashley-chan, but perhaps the five of us together can win," Claire says.

"We may be weaker than you, Ashley-chan, but we're not that weak!" Hiyori says.

"Ohh, you found her," I say. "Well… hmm… I didn't really want to have to fight that witch, but… I don't have anything better to do right now."

I briefly ponder how it went last time… she was actually defeated by just me and Komachi, with a little backup from Elise to distract her.

"It's definitely possible to beat it with the five of us," I say. "I think I might be able to beat it with just Komachi-chan, but it'd be a tough fight… it's probably best to have the extra backup."

"Well, duh," Elise retorts. "Especially when it's a really strong one, you wanna have all the help you can get."

"Alright then… let's go," I say.

"This witch is quite unusual," Kyuubey remarks as we head towards the public pool. "I have never seen a witch quite like this before."

Komachi looks at it in surprise.

"Really? You've been around for thousands of years and never seen a witch like this? What are the odds?"

"The odds are so slim as to be essentially impossible," Kyuubey replies. "It could be a composite witch, similar to Walpurgisnacht, but it is weaker than I would expect of such a being. Its magic also has a strange composition… there is a possibility that it may be of extraterrestrial origin."

Oh, of course it would leave out the issue of who contracted Itzli when in the presence of girls who don't know they can turn into witches.

"E-extraterrestrial!?" Hiyori gasps. "L-like… an alien?"

"You could say that," Kyuubey replies.

"S-so then, there are witches on other planets, too?" Claire asks.

"I am not sure," Kyuubey says. "It is merely a hypothesis. I have no concrete knowledge on that matter. However, witches evolved from human emotions on this planet, so it is reasonable to hypothesize that they could also evolve from the emotions of an alien species on another planet."

We arrive behind the pool and transform as we step into the barrier. It's the same familiar theatre scene as before, with an audience filled with cardboard cutouts of various magical girls.

"Huh? The audience is full now," Elise says. "Just a little while ago it was almost empty… just Tomoe Mami, Kyouko Sakura, Asako Komaki, and Lina-kun's team…"

I shrug. "It probably reads our minds and reproduces people we know… such as those ones over there, who fought with me back in California."

I point to facsimiles of Sarra and Alice.

"So what that means is, you know a lot of magical girls, right Ashley-chan?"

I nod. "Well, I suppose you could say that…"

The swarm of butterfly familiars swoops down upon us, but Claire immediately steps up, raising her mace and frying them with a bolt of lightning. Komachi and I cut down a few that survive the initial onslaught, and then we start making our way towards the back. With Claire here to deal with the familiars, we reach the back in record time.

"Those familiars sure were weak," Elise says. "Hiyori and I didn't even need to do anything. Are you sure the witch is strong?"

"Yeah," I nod. "The witch is much, much stronger than these familiars. She can read our minds, as you can tell from the audience members here, and she'll try to attack us with people we know. For example, you might encounter a familiar that looks like the Sleepwalking Spectre, but don't panic – it's just a pale copy, and you should be able to defeat it easily.

I briefly consider strategy. Fighting a witch that can read your mind certainly isn't going to be easy… we need to come up with something that can't be avoided even if you know it's coming.

"Since she can read our minds, we need to find an attack that can't be avoided," I say. "Trying to make decisions at the last second may also help. If we can just hit her once with my charm magic, though, the battle is pretty much won. Once she's charmed, we just need to restrain her and attack until she's dead. Of course, if the charm wears off and she summons more familiars, we'll also need to deal with them."

"I can handle restraining her," Hiyori pipes up.

"Perfect," I say. "And I'll connect with all of you right now… that maximizes the chance that we can land a charm on her."

I hold up both my hands with the palms facing them.

"I got it," Komachi. "Let's go!"

She and Hiyori step forward to slap my hands, producing that familiar flash of light. Then Komachi kicks the door down and the two of them charge inside. Next, Claire and Elise slap my hands too for another pair of flashes and hurry inside as well. Finally, I summon Teddy Mk II as I turn and follow them in.

We've entered the witch's chamber, but Itzli herself is nowhere to be seen. There's nothing here but piles of film reels, a bunch of old furniture, and that gaping hole at the far side.

"W-where's the witch?" Hiyori asks.

"She'll probably come out of that hole," I say. "Be on guard!"

The seconds seem to stretch out, but finally my words come true. Itzli emerges from the hole with incredible speed, flipping into the air and landing in the centre of the room. Elise waves her staff and summons her army of monsters, about twenty or so, and I send Teddy Mk II to bolster their numbers. Komachi and Claire join the monsters as well, and Hiyori strikes up a tune. The witch fights back by flailing her roots like tentacles, smashing the monsters in just one or two hits, and Elise quickly summons more to take the place of the fallen.

Unfortunately, nobody is able to get in a hit with their melee weapon – the monsters are all destroyed before they have a chance, and both Claire and Komachi get sent flying before they can even touch the witch. Hiyori's sonic blasts don't come close, either – the witch dodges with surprising agility for such a bulky creature. Even Teddy Mk II and the Teddy Drones seem to be unable to touch her.

Then the familiars appear – facsimiles of the Sleepwalking Spectre and Walpurgisnacht join the battlefield, and everyone is forced to stop targeting the witch herself in order to deal with these familiars. Unlike the witch, they don't seem to have any ability to read minds. Each of us takes on one familiar. Hiyori blasts it with sound waves until it gets close, then swings her harp at it like a bludgeoning weapon, finishing it off in one hit. Elise surrounds it with her monsters, which tear and claw at it until it's defeated. And everyone else just pummels it with a melee weapon until it dies.

"More!" Elise groans. "I need to summon more!"

Startled, I look at her as I deal the finishing blow to the fake Walpurgisnacht. She's overexerting herself, summoning wave after wave of monsters to take on the witch, and if she keeps this up, she could be in danger of running out of magic…

I grab a grief seed and head over to her, but I'm too late. However, I was worrying about the wrong thing – her soul gem is only around three-quarters corrupted. Instead of turning into a witch, Elise manages to burst her soul gem, the shards flying in all directions at incredible speeds. I narrowly dodge a shard or two myself, and it looks like two or three of them manage to actually strike Itzli.

Damn… to think Elise would get so riled up as to destroy her own soul gem… I should've paid more attention, so I could stop her! There's still a silver lining, I guess, because my charm magic has finally taken effect on the witch, allowing both Claire and Komachi to get close to her and attack. Of course, believing she no longer has any opponents to worry about, Itzli starts shuffling back towards that hole.

"Hiyori, could you restrain her now?" I ask. "If she retreats into that hole, all this effort will have been for nothing."

"R-right!" Hiyori says.

She lifts her harp and rips the strings out, sending them out to wrap around Itzli and hold her in place. It's at least as effective as my film reel solution from last time… actually, I think it's even more effective, because the harp strings don't stretch the way film reels do. The witch struggles to escape, but is unable to move at all.

"Komachi, could you drain her?" I call. "Claire, please use your lightning."

"Got it!" Komachi says.

"Okay, but… is Elise okay?" Claire asks. "The monsters all disappeared a minute ago…"

"We can check on her as soon as we beat this witch!" I reply.

I don't like to keep it from her, honestly, but if she breaks down crying, I'm not confident in our ability to win. While Komachi and Claire focus on weakening her, I hop onto Teddy Mk II's head and fly up to attack Itzli's brain casing.

"Ugh, so disgusting," I hear Komachi grumbling from down below. "Wait a sec… how'd Ashley-chan even know I can do this…? Did I tell her? I don't remember…"

Before long, Itzli stops struggling entirely.

"Okay, that's good enough!" I call. "Komachi, can you come help me up here? I could use another edged weapon…"

"R-right!"

Komachi hops up onto Teddy with me and joins me in carving a gash through the thick skin of the brain casing. It doesn't take much longer before the fluid leaks out, and then we hop inside, shred the brain, and jump back out, just as before.

Then my heart sinks at the sight before me. Even as Itzli shoots up into the air like a rocket, I see Claire's soul gem crack open and transform into a grief seed, with Hiyori looking on in horror. Glancing at Komachi, I see her going for the grief seeds, so it seems she hasn't noticed. I hurry over to Hiyori, eyeing the new witch that has emerged. She resembles a candelabrum with about thirteen branches, each candle a bright lime green with an eerie purple flame. She doesn't seem to be attacking yet, but I know it's only a matter of time. The witch runes floating in the air nearby give her name as Hannah.

"I'm sorry… did you not have a grief seed?" I ask.

"I… I already used mine up," Hiyori explains, her voice wavering. "S-so I was about to see if Elise still had one, since she d-doesn't need them anymore, but then… then…" She looks at me, eyes glistening with tears. "It's too awful… it's bad enough that Elise is… is… but now even Claire has… has…" She wipes her eyes before finishing. "Ashley-chan… will… will I turn into a witch too? A-and… and onee-san?"

"As long as you keep your soul gem purified, you're safe," I reply.

"I… I see," Hiyori muses. "That's not so bad then… but even so… Elise… Claire…"

"I've got the witch's grief seeds!" Komachi says, coming over. "There were two of them, aren't we lucky?"

Hiyori shoots her sister a glare.

"Onee-san, you need to learn to read the room," she says.

«Ashley-chan… let's keep this secret from onee-san for now, okay?»

«If that's what you want, I guess,» I agree.

Komachi blinks at Hiyori's glare, then spots her friends lying motionless on the ground.

"E-eh!?" she gasps. "Y-you don't mean…!?"

She quickly kneels next to them and attempts to use her healing magic, but of course it doesn't work.

"Oh no…" Komachi groans. "This… this is…"

I leave the two sisters to console each other as I turn to face the witch. Although she hasn't attacked yet, it may be easier to defeat if I attack first. In the case of Doki Yatsura, she was hard to reach, but Hannah walks on the floor, so there's no such issue.

I call Teddy Mk II over and direct him to attack while I charge in with my sword. The witch reacts to my attack, dodging with amazing speed. I suppose I should have expected that Claire's witch would be fast… I decide to back off and charge my ultimate instead. The witch has noticed me now, though, and doesn't seem to be willing to just let me stand there. She's in my face in an instant, but I manage to avoid the candle to the face and even counterattack with my sword, sending her skidding back the way she came. Although my ultimate isn't fully charged, I think it's enough to stop her, so I let loose while she's still skidding.

"Ultimate Teddy Glittering Gunk!"

It's enough to stop her from attacking, though I get the impression it didn't hurt even a little. Still, as long as she's not attacking, I can easily dart in close and smack her with my sword. To my surprise, Komachi joins me, hacking off the witch's arms with her naginata, and by the time my charm wears off, she's reduced to just four branches.

"Get behind me!" Hiyori suddenly shouts.

Komachi instantly jumps back, and I decide to follow her example. I'm not sure what Hiyori is up to, but presumably it's something that could hit us too if we don't move. As I pass her, I sense that she is in fact building up quite a bit of power, and her harp strings are thrumming with that energy. She's not the only one charging an attack, either – Hannah appears to be building up electricity for one big attack, but it looks like she's just a bit too slow. Once both Komachi and I are behind her, Hiyori unleashes her ultimate attack.

"Cacophonic Typhoon!" Hiyori screams.

At almost the same moment as she shouts, Hannah also unleashes her own attack, blasting the three of us with a spray of lightning, but it's not enough to do any lasting damage, and we stand our ground while Hiyori's magic pummels her in return.

The Cacophonic Typhoon isn't as strong of an attack as I expected, but it's a perfect counter for Hannah's speed. Speed is good for dodging focused attacks, but when the attack strikes everywhere without prejudice, it suddenly becomes almost useless. Hannah races around, trying to escape the blast radius, but the only way out is past the three of us, and we're not about to let her sneak by. When she tries, both Komachi and I get a couple of strikes in.

Then she decides to flee in the opposite direction, but it's too little too late. Even though the storm is already subsiding, she's still taking damage, and before she can reach the edge of the barrier, her flames go out one by one and she pops, leaving behind a grief seed.

«Are you alright, Hiyori?» I ask. «I mean, that used to be Claire…»

Hiyori nods. «That used to be Claire, right? It's not Claire anymore. If Claire could still speak to me, I think she would've asked me to finish her off like this.»

«I see… yes, I agree,» I reply.

"I guess we should grab them before the barrier falls," Komachi says, glancing at the bodies of Elise and Claire.

And so, the outcome is more or less the same as last time. The only difference is that it's Hiyori, not Komachi, who discovered the truth about magical girls… and she seems to have taken it a lot better than Komachi did. After that, disposing of the bodies and the return home goes pretty much the same as it did in the previous timeline. I mean, yeah, there are differences, but nothing significant.