April third. Oriko is attending a joint funeral for Komaki and Akira. She quietly walks up behind Nagatsuki Miyuki, the sole surviving member of Komaki's friend group, and just looks at the two caskets sitting there, with a white cloth placed over each of them. Miyuki glances at her briefly, blinking in surprise. Some other people behind them are talking in hushed voices.
"Their bodies are in no condition to be seen."
"That's why it's a closed-casket funeral, right?"
"Stop that!"
"Yeah, wouldn't want to upset the 'decent families' with such talk."
"But even so, that's no reason to badmouth some dead girls!"
"You're right… I'm sorry."
"I really hope they catch the murderer soon."
"If only that were possible," Oriko mutters.
Miyuki shoots her a look again, but Oriko turns to leave immediately after saying that.
"U-um…" Miyuki ventures.
But Oriko moves quickly. Before Miyuki even has a chance to follow up with her name, Oriko has disappeared amongst the other attendees, heading for the exit. She leaves the venue and heads into the street, where she's greeted by a strangely enthusiastic Kirika running up from behind her.
"Oriko, welcome back!" Kirika calls.
As Oriko turns to face her, Kirika glomps her, and, startled, Oriko ends up spinning her around from the momentum. Then Kirika holds up a paper bag that she's carrying.
"Here! I got one for you, too!" she says.
"Th-thanks," Oriko says.
Oriko accepts the bag and heads for a nearby park, where she takes a seat on a bench and looks inside, finding a large sandwich. She munches on it daintily in silence, perhaps pondering the events that led to Komaki's death. Once she's finished eating, she wipes her fingers on a napkin, tosses the bag and wrapper into a nearby trash can, and turns to Kirika.
"Let's go home," she says.
"Yes!" Kirika says.
They start to head home through the park, and Kirika does her best to fill the silence with small talk, or rather, mostly talking exuberantly about Oriko and her house, such as the roses that fill her garden. However, when Oriko fails to respond at all to any of her chatter, Kirika slowly grows remorseful. Eventually, she offers up an apology.
"What's done is done," Oriko replies, her voice utterly devoid of emotion. "Instead of beating ourselves up for our mistakes, I'd rather we concentrate on the future. I'm not here to judge you right now."
"I guess so," Kirika says. Then she cheers up with jarring suddenness. "Then next time, I'll make sure I kill only magical girls!" she cheerfully exclaims. "Oriko! I can't help but feel like I've been reborn! Or maybe… it's that I only just now realized that this was the wish I forgot! And that's why I'm so filled with happiness! It's really big and heavy but also light and bright! And it's filling my heart right up to the brim! I could greet just about anyone with a smile right now! I could cut down anyone you wanted right now! As long as it's for you, Oriko!"
Oriko looks at her strange display of exuberance, a little startled, and when Kirika hugs her again, she lets out an involuntary squeal.
"Just give me an order, Oriko! I'm way too overjoyed!" Kirika says. "I feel like kicking up my back feet right now!"
It seems like Kirika's display has managed to cheer Oriko up a little, for she chuckles.
"Back feet…? You aren't a kitten, you know… for today, why don't we just go home?"
Kirika seems disappointed by the suggestion, deflating so fast it's almost frightening. One moment she's overjoyed to the extreme, the next she's looking all depressed like a scolded puppy.
"Ehhh? But I'm ready to go on the move! Give me a direction to go!"
"Then how about my house?" Oriko suggests again. "If you'd like, I'll hit you with some fresh homemade pancakes."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" Kirika says happily, recovering her spirits almost instantly.
But a moment later, Oriko's eyes glaze over for a bit, possibly a sign that she's having a vision. Once that's over, she turns to Kirika, suddenly sombre once more.
"Kirika, I'm afraid the pancakes will have to wait for another time," she says.
Kirika blinks, once again flipping from happy to sad on a dime.
"W-what!? Did I do something wrong!? Now you're making me sad!"
"But in exchange," Oriko says. "Well, it's not really an exchange, but… I have orders for you."
Kirika suddenly grins.
"I'll do anything!" she says.
"Follow me," Oriko says.
She leads Kirika away from her house, towards the border with Kazamino, taking out her soul gem to track a witch. After a few minutes, she finds the portal in an alleyway. It's flickering, meaning that someone is fighting within.
"Kirika, you're going to go into this labyrinth and kill the girl with black hair," Oriko says. "However, you are not to harm a hair on the other girl's head, is that clear?"
"Crystal!" Kirika says.
The two of them transform, and Kirika hops into the labyrinth. Oriko follows, letting Kirika pull ahead of her. The labyrinth is filled with chains of all shapes and sizes, hanging from the ceiling, strewn across the floor, and stretched tight across various corridors as if attempting to forbid entry. There don't seem to be any familiars, so Kirika slashes through the chain barriers until they reach the witch's chamber, where Yuuki Sasa is riding atop the witch itself, facing down Ayumi Mio. In fact, it looks like Mio is winning the fight. She's just about to land what seems like it would be a killing blow on the witch when Kirika jumps in, slashing her to shreds with her claw weapons.
"H-huh!?" Sasa gasps.
Kirika looks between Sasa, riding atop the witch, and Mio, laying on the ground, her soul gem shattered and her transformation cancelled.
"Hey," Kirika says.
"Y-yes!?" Sasa gasps.
"Who is she?"
Sasa blinks several times, staring incredulously at Kirika. Over the course of a few seconds, her shocked expression fades into horror as she fully registers what just happened. Then she pastes a fake smile to her face and half turns as if to leave, keeping her head towards Kirika as she explains herself.
"I was in a really bad way just then!" Sasa says quickly. "I really must thank you for all your help, and I'd love to do something to show my appreciation, but—"
Suddenly, Kirika is in her face, moving faster than the eye can process. Sasa lets out a frightened squeal.
"I asked you who she was," Kirika says.
Sasa stares at her for a few more seconds, then seems to come to a resolution. A second later, she blinks again, startled.
"I-it… didn't work!?"
Then Oriko hops up behind her and lays a hand on her shoulder, prompting another frightened yell.
"There's no need to be so afraid," Oriko says. "Shouldn't we magical girls help each other? Might I trouble you to hear me out?"
"W-w-what do you want?" Sasa asks.
"I would like to make use of your unique power," Oriko says. "In return, I will help you to finish off your enemies."
Sasa blinks. "O-okay, I'm listening," she says. "What do you have in mind?"
"How about we retreat to a better location first?" Oriko says. "This is hardly a good place for a friendly chat. I spotted a nice little café nearby, so how about we have a little chat there?"
Sasa nods. "A-alright… let'a go."
The three of them hop off of the witch's head, who shrinks down to a size that can fit in the palm, riding on Sasa's head. Then the labyrinth collapses, even though the witch is still alive. They head to the café together, order their drinks – green tea for Oriko, a strawberry milkshake for Kirika, and a mocha latte for Sasa – and gather around a table.
"Why don't you start by telling me about your enemies?" Oriko suggests.
Sasa launches into a rather ridiculous-sounding sob story about Lina's team.
"And you see, they'll just never quit!" Sasa finishes. "They make all these crazy accusations, and when I try to stand up for myself even a little, they chase me all the way to the next town over! All I ever did was my duty as a magical girl!"
Kirika suddenly plonks her milkshake onto the table, glaring at Sasa.
"And? What about it?" she asks.
"Calm down, Kirika," Oriko says. "Regardless of whether her story is entirely true, we're here to request her help, so it won't do to be giving her that kind of look."
"Still, I'm only gonna do what I've been told to do," Kirika says. "And that's killing witches, and killing magical girls too. So!"
She slams her milkshake on the table again.
"Are you just dragging out your sob story to chip away at my precious time with Oriko!?"
As she leans forward, thrusting her face into Sasa's, Oriko takes a sip of her tea and turns to Sasa.
"Hitomi Lina, Akane Mai, Saki Miyako," Oriko says. "Would you like us to assist you in eliminating those three?"
Kirika blinks and backs off from Sasa to give Oriko a startled look.
"I should have known you'd catch on fast!" Sasa says eagerly.
"W-w-w-w-why!?" Kirika asks.
"We magical girls must help one another, right?" Oriko says with a smile.
"Hm… if it's an order from Oriko, I'll obey it," Kirika says. "But this girl's problems are hardly worth our time…"
Sasa giggles. "That'd be such a big help!" she says. "You see, I can't go back to my home in Kazamino because of them, and that's where I left all my witches!"
Kirika looks startled, but Oriko nods.
"Ahh, so that's why," she says. "So you must have a stash of… grief seeds, is that correct?"
Sasa nods. "Well yes, I can't very well store them any other way," she says.
"Could you perhaps share the location of your stash?" Oriko asks. "Of course, if all goes well, you can retrieve them yourself, but in the unlikely event that you perish, it is not good to leave a stash of grief seeds laying around, do you not agree?"
Sasa blinks. "I'll think about it, okay?"
Oriko nods. "That will be good enough for now," she says. "I would at least like to have two or three grief seeds from your stash after all this is over, though."
"Like I said, I'll think about it," Sasa repeats. "So how do you propose to eliminate them, eh?"
Oriko takes another sip of her tea before continuing.
"I have a plan," Oriko says. "If we follow Kyuubey, there is a good chance he will lead us directly to your enemies' hideout. We can stake it out tomorrow afternoon and press the attack before they know what's hit them."
Sasa nods. "That… that sounds good… but what's in it for you? I can't believe you're doing this all out of the goodness of your heart…"
"There's a certain person I want you to… invite… to our little party," Oriko says.
Sasa blinks. "H-huh? What do you mean?"
Oriko reels off an unfamiliar address.
"I want you to go to that address and find the girl with pink hair who lives there," Oriko says. "Make her believe you two are friends, and invite her to the place your enemies are hiding, once we've identified it. Once she arrives, you can use your witch to draw her and the others into a labyrinth, and we can finish them all off at the same time."
Sasa nods. "Alright, fine. I'll do it."
Oriko turns to Kirika. "Kirika, your task is to find Kyuubey, but don't let yourself be seen. Just follow him and see if he leads you to the hideout."
"I'm on it!" Kirika says.
Kirika gulps down the remainder of her milkshake, then leaps up and runs off. Sasa and Oriko stare at each other for a few moments longer, but then Oriko gets to her feet and leaves as well, leaving only Sasa there to brood on her own.
Ugh… it's as I feared. Oriko must be aiming for Madoka's life this time. Hoping against hope that I'm wrong and her target is someone else, I head for the address she cited, Inui following me.
"Hey, what's going on, Ashley-nee?" she asks.
"Bad news," I say. "Miss Mikuni seems to be our enemy this time… we're just double-checking that we haven't misinterpreted, but it's almost certain."
"Oh, I see…"
We travel in silence and soon come to quite a decent-sized Western-style house, with tomato vines in the yard. I gaze up at the house. It certainly does feel somewhat familiar…
"U-um… can I help the two of you?"
I turn to see Kaname Madoka herself, who has just emerged from the house and is staring at us.
"Um…" I tilt my head slightly. "Do you know Akemi Homura?"
Madoka blinks. "Are you… are you a friend of Homura-chan?" she asks. "She hasn't talked about her past much…"
"It's no wonder," I say. "We wouldn't say we're friends, exactly…"
"So um… what are you doing in front of… in front of my house?" Madoka asks.
I ponder what I can do here. There's honestly not a lot I can do without revealing myself to Homura, but… hmm… should I reveal myself? Maybe it's time for that… but then again, even if I do reveal myself, it's not like it'll help Madoka resist Sasa's brainwashing. Finally, I come to a decision. Reaching into my pocket, I focus my power and summon a single Teddy Drone, taking it out and handing it to her.
"W-what's this?" Madoka asks. "It's kinda cute, if a touch… uhh… how do I put it…"
"Grotesque?" Inui supplies helpfully.
"Well…" Madoka demurs, probably not wanting to offend me.
"Think of it as… a good luck charm," I say. "Because of something we can't mention – which has to do with Miss Akemi's past – your life could be in danger. Keep that with you at all times, okay? If you find yourself in a situation that seems to defy reason, take it out and…"
I reach into my pocket again and summon another, pulling it out and examining it briefly. There's a button on the back, which I press after making sure to aim it away from them. The drone emits a beam from its eyes, striking the sidewalk and leaving a tiny scorched crater.
"You see? It'll let you defend yourself, even just a little."
Madoka nods, fiddling with the one I gave her and emitting another beam to produce a second crater.
"Th-that seems kinda dangerous though…"
"It certainly is," I nod. "But dangerous situations call for dangerous countermeasures, don't they?"
"I… I guess you're right…?" Madoka says. "Um… I'm Kaname Madoka… could you tell me your name?"
I nod. "I'm Ashley Taylor. By the way, please don't breathe a word of this to Miss Akemi. We'll tell her about it ourself when we think the time is right."
Madoka nods. "G-got it. Thank you very much, Miss Taylor." Then she looks at my companion. "And um… your friend… huh? Miss Itsumi?"
Inui blinks. "Eh? Do I know you? I guess you seem a bit familiar, but…"
"Don't you remember that one time we ate lunch together?" Madoka asks.
Inui blinks. "Ehhh!? Did… did something like that happen? I don't remember it at all…"
"Well, it was almost a year ago, so I guess it's not strange if you've forgotten," Madoka says. "But if you're Miss Taylor's friend… it makes me feel better."
"Yeah, you can definitely trust Ashley-nee!" Inui says, nodding vigorously. "I vouch for her one hundred percent!"
"Thanks, Miss Itsumi," Madoka says with a smile. "And thanks again, Miss Taylor. I hope we can meet again!"
With that, the girl turns and runs off.
"Well… I suppose that went well," I say. "I just hope the Teddy Drone can actually help her…"
I look around, checking for signs of magical signatures, in case Homura had been watching. I can't sense anything, however. Hopefully she wasn't… and if she was, hopefully she understands I was trying to help Madoka, not harm her. I head back home with Inui.
There is one weird thing about their plan, though – the fact that they're relying on Kyuubey to lead them to the other group. Although I know it's going to work, I don't understand why it would work. After all, doesn't Kyuubey usually teleport to where it needs to be? Is it possible that it's actually intentionally giving away the Kazamino trio's location for some reason? But why would it do that…?
April fourth. Sasa and Kirika are standing together on a roof, looking down at a nearby… I guess hotel room is the right word? It's a small hotel, though. Well, more accurately, Sasa is standing with her miniaturized witch on her head, gazing through a pair of binoculars, while Kirika is just sitting and lounging against the railing.
"Hey you!" she says. "Sasa-sasa-sa!"
When Sasa doesn't respond, she tries again.
"I said, hey! Sasa-sasa-sa! Sasa-sasa-sa!"
Sasa turns irritably towards her.
"It's Sasa," she says. "Only two sa's put together. I've told you this like a thousand times!"
"Haven't you found that Hitomi Lina and her friends yet?" Kirika asks.
"I'm still in the process of looking!" Sasa says.
She turns back to look through the binoculars again.
"That's why you lose your fights!" Kirika says. "You're dumb!"
Sasa looks at her again, startled.
"Well, I'm bored without Oriko here," Kirika continues. "But I guess we can't be wasting her precious time on a boring job like this. I don't wanna see even one hair on her head frayed from stress!"
Sasa looks annoyed. "Huh!?"
But Kirika doesn't even give her a chance to retort… either that, or she holds back her retort out of fear.
"If Oriko says it's what has to be done, then it has to be done," Kirika says. "As for me… I've been reborn, just for her."
Sasa blinks. "What are you talking about?" she asks. "Miss Kirika, you have to help out too! You can't just sit there watching the jumbotron!"
She's probably referring to a video screen on the building behind them, which is currently showing a news story about Komaki's murder. Sasa blinks again, noticing the topic now that she'd called attention to it.
"Oh, I heard about that!" she says. "Aren't you the magical girl killer, Miss Kirika? Think back and remember all the magical girls you've bagged, how it makes you feel… do you ever brag about how many people you've killed?"
Suddenly Kirika stands up, and for some reason, Sasa looks positively terrified… perhaps it's something in her tone of voice.
"You know, this news report reminds me of the depths of Oriko's love," Kirika says. "I killed a friend of hers, and she still says she's willing to forgive me. When she told me that, I knew that if I wanted to reach the full depths within her, I'd have to pour in more and more and more. I'm going to have to change. I want to be worthy of that love."
As she continues rambling on, it becomes quite clear that Sasa's terror is justified. Kirika sounds positively deranged by the end. But then the terror makes way for anger as Sasa glares fiercely at Kirika. Suddenly she notices, snapping out of her strange mood and looking at Sasa.
"What is it?" Kirika asks.
Sasa quickly looks away and peers through the binoculars again.
"Nothing," she says. "Nothing at all…"
Suddenly the miniaturized witch on her head makes a weird noise, startling her. Sasa reaches up to grab the witch, looking at her in confusion.
"What's wrong with you?" she complains. "Don't just climb on my head and shout!"
But the witch persists in making that weird noise. Sasa lets the witch hop back on her head as she peers at the street below.
"What? Did you see something?" Then she blinks, spotting it as well. "Ah!"
She has spotted Hitomi Lina herself, heading into the building they're scoping out. The other two aren't with her, but perhaps they're already inside. While she's watching Lina go inside, Kirika pulls out her phone and makes a call.
Sasa giggles. "We got lucky!" she says. "Since you found Kyuubey yesterday, we were able to find Lina's group without any problem."
"Yeah, I guess, it really was a lucky break," Kirika says.
"Miss Kirika?" Sasa says. "Who are you talking to?"
"Yeah, that's true, but…" Kirika says, ignoring her.
Sasa pouts for all of a second, then snatches the phone from Kirika.
"Miss Oriko! This is Sasa!" she says.
"H-hey!" Kirika protests.
"We've found out where they are, so let's get to killing them, okay?" Sasa says. "With all three of our powers combined, we can do it easily!"
As Sasa listens to whatever Oriko is saying on the end, the enthusiasm slowly drains from her face. Meanwhile, Kirika is continually bugging her to give the phone back.
"Miss Oriko…" Sasa says, probably an indication that Oriko's lecture is finished. "Okay, I understand." With that, she hangs up the phone and hands it back to Kirika. "Well, things are about to get busy, Miss Kirika!"
Kirika doesn't respond, prompting Sasa to look at her in surprise. She's staring at her phone, pouting.
"Um… Miss Kirika?"
"Who said you could hang up!?" Kirika asks.
"Eh?"
"Why did you take my phone call with Oriko and hang up!?" Kirika shouts.
"What's the difference?" Sasa asks. "You're always talking to her in person anyway."
"You don't get it, Sasa-sasa!" Kirika complains. "I'll only experience that particular phone call just once in my life!"
"Oh, come on! Nobody can like Oriko that much!" Sasa protests.
Kirika backs off a little, planting her hands on her hips.
"Then you really don't get it," she says. "It isn't right to describe my feelings for Oriko with the word 'like'. From the start, when I met Oriko…"
Sasa's face looks like someone dreading a long, boring lecture, but at that moment, Kirika cuts off all of a sudden. Sasa takes advantage of the break to turn away and peer down at the street below. It seems she's spotted Oriko, and surprisingly she's not alone – another girl is with her, Nagatsuki Miyuki.
"Huh? Wait, that isn't right," Kirika says. "How weird… huh?"
Looking confused, Sasa turns back and cuts her off.
"Yeah, yeah," she says. "Quit playing around. We have to get ready." She giggles. "We're gonna to kill them all!"
"What's this weird feeling?" Kirika wonders. "Is it true that when me and Oriko met… was it really that time?"
Kirika snaps out of her trance when Oriko joins them on the roof, her conversation with Miyuki finished. Miyuki herself has already run off somewhere.
"Kirika, you're up," she says. "Go give it to them."
"On it!" Kirika says.
She transforms and hops off the roof, landing on the roof of the hotel across the street, then uses her claw weapons to rappel down the side and smash her way through one particular window, startling Saki Miyako who had been standing right next to the window.
"W-what!?" Lina gasps.
"W-where'd she come from?" Mai asks. "You little…"
But she recovers quickly, transforming and readying her sword. Lina however seems to have other ideas.
"Mai, we can't stay here!" Lina says. "We need to move!"
The other two transform, and they all run out of the room into the hall, running down the hall and looking back in panic as Kirika gives chase. Miyako, taking up the rear, looks the most terrified of all of them. They smash through a window at the end of the hall and leap out into the alleyway, not even noticing Sasa and Oriko watching from the roof to their left. And then Sasa gets her witch to deploy a barrier, sucking in the three combatants on both sides, along with an innocent pink-haired girl who, seemingly by pure chance, just happened to walk by at that very moment.
Madoka snaps out of the trance she'd been in until that moment and looks around. It wasn't the trance of a witch's kiss, though – it must have been Sasa's brainwashing powers.
"Huh? How'd I end up in a place like this?" Madoka wonders. "W-where am I?"
A few familiars pop up and waddle towards her, snapping threateningly, and she blinks, remembering something.
"A-ah… Miss Taylor's… good luck charm!"
She reaches into the pocket of the skirt and pulls out the Teddy Drone, carefully aiming it at the nearest familiar and pressing the button. The familiar is blasted away in a single shot, and she blinks, startled, before repeating on the other two familiars.
"W-whoa… that was… way more effective than I expected?" she mutters. "B-but what is this place… what are these monsters…?"
Looking around, she picks a random direction to head in, moving past strange landscapes that look like they've been sewn together at random, like a patchwork quilt. There are also broken pillars littering the landscape. After a minute or two, she rounds a corner and sees the battle in progress, with Lina facing down Sasa and her witch while Mai and Kirika duel it out. As for Miyako, she stands transfixed by the scene, literally right in front of Madoka.
"U-um… excuse me," Madoka says. "Um… can you tell me… how to get out of this place?"
Startled, Miyako whirls and stares at her.
"Y-you… you're not… one of us, a-are you…?"
Madoka tilts her head. "I'm… not sure what you mean?" she says.
At that moment, a few more familiars pop up, and Miyako gasps.
"L-look out!" she says.
Miyako points behind her, summoning a doll to destroy the familiar that was about to attack Madoka from behind. Madoka spins and uses the Teddy Drone to take out one of the remaining familiars, while Miyako's doll finishes off the other one. Miyako turns to her and stares.
"Um… you're not a magical girl, but… that thing you're using… it's magic, isn't it?" she says.
"Um… I'm not sure," Madoka says. "What's a magical girl? This was given to me by, um… something like a friend of a friend…?"
"Now, now," a new voice joined in.
The two of them turn to see Oriko.
"Miss Kaname should not be in a dangerous place like this," Oriko says with a smile. "But I am curious about one thing… did you get that little trinket from the girl with black hair?"
Madoka shakes her head.
"N-no… it wasn't Homura-chan," she says. "It was a girl with blonde hair… she looked like an American or something… but it sounded like she knows Homura-chan from before."
"Interesting," Oriko muses. "Is there another one, then…? Well… no matter. It's not safe here, Miss Kaname, so I suggest you run along and find a place to hide until this is all over."
"R-right…" Madoka says.
With that, she turns away from the battle and runs off. Oriko turns to Miyako.
"Now, Miss Saki Miyako, I wonder what kind of magical girl you are?" she asks.
Miyako shivers in fear, barely managing to take a single step back.
"You needn't be so afraid," Oriko says. "Fighting is hardly my specialty. What I'd rather do is talk to you."
Miyako blinks at her. "E-eh?"
"You see, this battle we're engaged in now is not absolutely necessary," Oriko explains. "We might avoid it altogether if we could have a meeting of the minds…"
"W-why are you saying this to me?" Miyako asks. "Lina-chan is the leader, you know."
"Because you are the only one," Oriko says. "You are the only one who has realized that this battle is meaningless. Isn't it true that the ones we should fight are not magical girls at all?" Oriko smiles at her. "Of course, it is only natural that you should not trust me. After all, we are the ones attacking. But even so, I wish you would understand. I have a wish I will see fulfilled, even if it requires severe tactics."
"A wish?" Miyako says. "What wish?"
"A wish to save the world," Oriko says.
"You want to save the world…" Miyako gasps. "That's amazing…"
"That's right," Oriko says with a smile.
"Yeah… you're right," Miyako says. "I made a wish because I wanted to keep the world safe from witches, but this… this isn't what I wanted. It's… it's all… it's all Lina-chan's fault! She won't listen… she just does what she wants…"
"Much as I'd like to discuss this with you," Oriko says. "It looks like things are coming to an end over there. Perhaps we should step in."
"Y-yeah," Miyako nods. "We've gotta put a stop to this…"
The two of them turn and head into the combat zone together. Kirika lays on the ground, her body in two pieces from a clean cut through the waist, and it looks like Lina has defeated Sasa's witches. The labyrinth isn't coming down yet, though… did she make one of her witches flee, or is there something else keeping the labyrinth intact? Maybe a familiar? Familiars usually die when their parent witch expires, though. Regardless, Sasa is sitting on the ground with a bruise on her face, glaring up at Lina, and Mai stands next to Kirika's corpse, watching.
"A magical girl has great power," Lina says solemnly. "For that reason, she must do what is right. Yet you have rejected this, and so you must be stopped."
Sasa rubs at the wound on her face, pouting.
"You know, you do some really awful things too, Miss Lina," she says. "You always try to act like the good girl, but really, you've got nothing inside. It's like you've made it your 'goal of the month' to make friends with everyone."
Lina glares at Sasa, pointing her stun baton at her.
"Get to the point," she says coldly.
"I wonder, do you really feel that way?" Sasa asks.
Lina blinks, and Mai seems to decide it's time for her to act. She steps forward to stand at Lina's side.
"She's fine, even if she does awful things," Mai says coldly. "We have nothing to discuss with you anymore."
Lina glances at her. "Are you alright, Mai?"
"I'm fine," Mai says. "Step back and let me take over, Lina. Your soul gem is almost full of impurities. Leave this to me. I can get it done in one slice."
She raises her sword, and Sasa tries to scramble back on the ground.
"W-w-wait just a second!" she protests. "W-weren't you saying not long ago that you didn't want to kill me!? You're supposed to be heroes, and heroes don't kill! You idiots!"
"I'm afraid you've done too much," Lina says.
Sasa suddenly goes into a kowtow, grovelling at Mai and Lina's feet.
"I'm so sorry!" she says. "Please forgive me! I can change! I'll fetch food or do whatever you want! Please, Miss Lina… I mean, Lady Lina!"
"Then do it in the next life," Mai says, raising her sword.
"Stop right there," Oriko says.
Sasa lifts her head and turns toward her.
"M-miss Oriko!"
However, her enthusiasm rapidly drains when she notices that Oriko is together with Miyako. Lina and Mai also turn towards her.
"Miyako, who is this magical girl?" Lina asks. "From Miss Yuuki's reaction, I don't think she's on our side."
"Oh yeah!" Sasa says. "She's in league with that magical girl in black! In other words, she's the one who killed Miss Mio!"
"W-what?" Mai gasps.
"What's this, Miss Sasa?" Oriko says. "That's an awfully harsh thing to say. After all, that was just a regretful accident."
"Hmm," Lina says. Then she turns to point her baton at Oriko. "In that case, we cannot let you go."
Sasa nods. "She's the one in charge!" she says eagerly. "This attack was all her idea!"
But before anyone else can move, Miyako steps in front of Oriko, glaring at them and extending her arms.
"Stop it!" she shouts. "Don't you dare say bad things about Miss Oriko!"
"Miyako?" Lina blinks. "What are you talking about, Miyako? This is our opportunity to avenge Mio."
"Why do you always have to be like this, Lina-chan?" Miyako asks. "This is just like back in Kazamino. From the beginning, I said there were bad magical girls out there, but you insisted on forming a group, Lina-chan! And before we knew it, we were in a war with Sasa-chan! You said it was for Kazamino! We had to maintain order as magical girls! And now we're in Mitakihara, chasing down Sasa-chan! How do you explain that!? This place has nothing to do with us! We're Kazamino magical girls! And I've had enough of it!"
"Miyako, please calm down!" Mai says.
"I've had it up to here with murders!" Miyako retorts, raising a hand horizontally over her head.
"We can't simply allow Miss Yuuki to run free," Lina says. "For the sake of our departed friends, we must—"
"That's the reason Mio-chan died though, isn't it?" Miyako says.
Lina blinks, staring incredulously at her, and she continues.
"Lina-chan, I hear what you're saying. You always sound so righteous! So just! But, the things you say cause the people around you to be hurt or killed! Didn't you just try to make Mai-chan kill Sasa-chan!? You're always like that! You just stand there giving orders and talking about 'justice'! But Oriko's not like that! She admits her faults! Despite that, she does what she has to do! And… she really understands me! I… I've been nothing more than a tool to be used by Lina-chan!"
"Miyako, that isn't true!" Lina protests. "I intended none of that when I gathered us together!"
"Mio-chan, and Futaba-chan too!" Miyako shouts. "You're the reason they died!"
That seems to be the final nail in the coffin. Of course, Lina's soul gem has been growing more and more tainted as Miyako goes on her rant, and now, suddenly, it cracks open, hatching into a grief seed. For a briefest moment, Oriko seems to smirk, as if she'd been specifically aiming for that from the beginning.
"Th-this… can't be happening," Mai gasps. "W-what? What is that!?"
Miyako just screams wordlessly.
"I don't get this at all!" Sasa shouts. "Dammit!"
"Hitomi Lina!" Mai says, looking from her collapsed body up at the newborn witch now towering above them. "What the hell have you turned into!?"
"Everyone, get down!" Oriko shouts.
Sasa is already on the ground, and Oriko and Mai duck, but Miyako doesn't move. As a result, the witch's attack beheads her in a single stroke. Even as her head topples off her body and falls to the ground, she somehow manages to get a few words out.
"I… I just… wanted to be a heroine," Miyako gasps. "I didn't… want… this…"
"Miyako…" Mai says, then spins to face Sasa. "Miss Yuuki, you murdered her!"
"I don't know anything about that, you idiot!" Sasa protests. "Why do you always blame everything on me!?"
"Stop this!" Oriko says, grabbing Sasa by the arm. "Will you lose everything in some pointless grudge match?"
"Ugh!" Mai says. "This must be a bad dream! If this turns out to be real, I'm gonna grill Kyuubey until he talks!"
Sasa pulls out the witch that had been sitting on her head earlier, and it expands to its full size. So she did keep one witch in reserve to hold the barrier intact.
"That bit of furball trash!" she says.
After pausing for a menacing giggle, she continues.
"I'm gonna ram him through with my soul gem, skin him, and grind him into dog food!"
The three of them – Oriko, Mai, and Sasa's witch – take on Lina's witch together. Though their teamwork is terrible, they seem to fight decently well despite that. Within a minute or so, the witch is on the verge of defeat.
"Go rot, Lina!" Sasa shouts.
"I'm sorry, Lina!" Mai shouts at the same time.
Lina's witch crumples up from the finishing blow, dropping a grief seed.
"No way!" Sasa grumbles. "You furry creep! You think I'm gonna fight for you as a magical girl ever again!? I'm gonna go kick the crap outta Kyuubey right now!"
"Yes, let's go do that," Oriko says.
Turning to Mai, Sasa poses a question.
"What're you gonna do now, Miss Mai?" she asks.
"Leave me alone," Mai mutters darkly.
"Is that so?" Sasa says, turning her back. "Well, I guess we both had bad luck today."
"Got that right," Mai says.
She looks at the bodies of her fallen friends as Sasa and Oriko walk off, Sasa in the lead.
"Why'd this have to happen?" she murmurs. "Lina… Miyako… Mio… Futaba… you were all my precious friends, and now you're all dead… and magical girls turn into witches? Now that I know… can I forget it and just go hunting witches like always? What… am I supposed to… do now…"
As she's muttering to herself, Kirika suddenly stabs her in the back with her claws – she'd only been playing dead this entire time, and Mai had unwittingly stepped into her reach.
"You're the one who said it's dumb to look away, right?" Kirika says.
Mai looks at her in surprise.
"What… but you're…"
"'What am I supposed to do now?'… you really don't wanna know the answer to that."
Mai blinks.
"Y-yeah… you're right…"
As Kirika is finishing off Mai, Sasa is running off ahead, and Oriko is trying to keep up.
"Wait, wait, Miss Sasa!" she says.
"Miss Oriko, it's all that frilly clothing you're wearing that slows you down, you know," Sasa retorts, glancing back at her.
"This has nothing to do with that!" Oriko says. "No matter how much we walk, we won't get out. No-one can leave until the witch's barrier comes down, right?"
Sasa blinks, then cutely conks her head with a giggle. "I completely forgot!"
"Please remember next time," Oriko says.
"A thousand pardons," Sasa says. "But I thought inside the wards would be the best place to hide your corpse, Miss Oriko."
"Eh?" Oriko says, clearly feigning surprise.
Sasa's witch comes up behind Oriko and stabs her, while Sasa crosses her arms and glares at her.
"C'mon, Oriko! Did you think I wouldn't notice? That smug smile you had back then? When the magical girl became a witch?"
As Oriko falls to the ground, twitching a little, Sasa stamps angrily upon her body, causing minor convulsions.
"You knew it would happen! You set it up, you creep! I knew you weren't being completely up-front! I can't trust anybody! Everybody is just out to irritate me! You're all rotten, selfish trash!"
Suddenly there's a scream from behind her, and Sasa turns to see the source. It's Madoka, who through chance has happened on this scene.
"What are you doing here?" Sasa asks. "You're just a normal girl, right?" She blinks. "Ohh, right, you're one of Oriko's 'friends', huh?"
But Madoka doesn't seem to be paying attention to what Sasa is saying. She stares transfixed at the fallen Oriko. Finally, she shakes herself free of that trance.
"There's so much blood!" she says. "Sasa-chan, we've got to help that girl! She's the one who told me to run, so…"
Sasa looks at Oriko again.
"What? You mean this? Sorry, it's waaay too late for that. She's toast, no matter how you look at it. Your biggest problem now is that there's no-one here to save you! Okay, bye-bye!"
But as Sasa's witch looms over Madoka, several holes suddenly appear in the witch's body, and she collapses, dropping a grief seed. Sasa blinks.
"H-huh!? W-what hap—"
Suddenly she notices several lit sticks of dynamite next to her, and furthermore, Madoka has vanished. Before Sasa can react, the explosion swallows her up. By the time the dust has cleared, the labyrinth is gone, and all that's left is Oriko and Kirika lying on the ground. After a minute or two, they both sit up with a groan – even Kirika's bisected body appears to be fixed up.
"In the end, they all wound up dead," Oriko says.
"Well, we did predict this too," Kirika points out.
"I cannot claim to know everything," Oriko says. "But the result is exactly as I foresaw…"
"Even if I didn't die, I don't ever wanna be sliced in two again!" Kirika says.
"That's true," Oriko agrees. "I'd like to keep the times I'm eviscerated like that to just this once."
"I mean, really!" Kirika complains. "You don't have to go to the front lines, Oriko!"
"Never mind that," Oriko says. "What I want to know is… did you see her?"
"Nope, didn't see a thing!" Kirika says. "When I came to, there was a bomb."
"There was time-slowing magic around that girl," Oriko muses. "No matter how fast this guardian is… I should've at least been able to see her for a moment."
"So can she teleport?" Kirika suggests. "Or become invisible?"
"Neither of those things," Oriko says.
Kirika blinks. "Eh? You mean all these things I worked so hard on were for nothing?"
But Oriko shakes her head.
"Why no, quite the opposite," she says. "I was able to confirm how it happened."
"Really? Then we can go onto the next step!" Kirika says eagerly. "I'll work really hard!"
"Yes please," Oriko nods.
After that, I scry on Homura and find her heading for Madoka's home, carrying the pink-haired girl in a princess carry. For some reason, Madoka seems to be unconscious. I have a suspicion that Homura caused that herself so as not to reveal the secret of her time stop even to Madoka… though I'm not sure how she would've knocked Madoka out.
I watch as Homura gently sets Madoka down on the ground and props her up against her own front gate, then kneels by her and waits a bit. That's when she notices something rolling out of Madoka's pocket. Somehow or other, the Teddy Drone has fallen out onto the ground. Homura picks it up and blinks at it, looking quite startled.
"This… this is… magic?" she mutters. "But how…?"
"Homura…chan…"
Homura looks at Madoka, who has just opened her eyes.
"Homura-chan… is that you?" Madoka asks.
"Yes, it's me," Homura says.
Madoka blinks suddenly. "O-oh yeah! There was a girl in white… she was badly hurt… what happened to her?"
"I'm not sure," Homura lies. "I never saw her… I'm sorry. By the time I got there, you were the only one I could see."
"Huh… I hope she's okay…"
"Um… Madoka-chan… can you tell me what this is?"
Madoka looks at the Teddy Drone in her hand, and her eyes dart back and forth.
"O-oh, that's… sort of a good luck charm," she says.
Homura frowns. "A good luck charm, you say?"
"Y-yeah! It really helped me out, too…"
Homura blinks. "Huh? But I thought it seemed… dangerous…"
"It's not dangerous," Madoka says. "Or at least… it is, but not if you're careful… look, I'll show you."
She takes the Teddy Drone from Homura's hand and aims it, pressing the button on the back and producing a beam that once again leaves a tiny smoking crater on the pavement. Homura kind of gapes at it.
"So it's… some kind of weapon…" she says. "Um… where'd you even get this from?"
"Um… I promised not to tell," Madoka says. "Sorry, Homura-chan… but I'm sure she didn't mean any harm! Like I said… it helped me out earlier…"
"Um, Madoka-chan… would you mind if I borrow that for a bit?" Homura asks. "I just want to check to make sure it's really safe…"
"Um… sure, I guess," Madoka says. "You'll give it back… right?"
"Of course," Homura nods.
So Madoka hands her the Teddy Drone, and then they say goodbye. Madoka heads inside, and Homura heads off on her own. Since this is a good opportunity, I keep my vision open until she reaches her home, and take note of the address.
Since Homura seems to be on the verge of discovering my existence, I decide to be extra cautious the next day, opening a vision to keep an eye on her and just letting it play out in a corner of my awareness. There's nothing interesting happening before school or in the morning classes, so I just let it buzz away in a corner of my awareness, but when lunch break rolls around, something catches my attention – Homura is hailed by Mami, of all people.
"Miss Akemi!"
Homura is currently alone, not with Madoka's friend group, and she turns to face Mami.
"Perfect!" Mami says, beaming. "I was hoping we could chat!"
"What do you want?" Homura asks coolly.
"Well, there's a rumour going around recently," Mami says. "Apparently, there's a magical girl in black who's going around and murdering other magical girls…"
Homura blinks.
"I've never encountered such a magical girl in any time flow so far…" she muses.
"Pardon me?" Mami says.
"I don't know anything about this magical girl in black," Homura says. "But since you're here, Miss Tomoe…"
Homura takes out my Teddy Drone from her pocket and presents it to Mami.
"Do you have any idea what this is? It seems to be magical…"
Mami blinks at it. "A… teddy bear… head?" She looks at it for a bit, frowning slightly. "Ah yes… I do believe there was a magical girl who has a teddy bear… Ashley Taylor was her name, I believe? Hmm… although I've only met her twice, briefly, I think that matches her magical signature. Where did you get it from?"
Homura blinks at her. "That's none of your business," she says curtly.
"Well, pardon me then," Mami says, a little huffily.
"Where does this Ashley Taylor live?" Homura asks.
"I have no idea," Mami says. "However, I could introduce you to someone who does know."
Homura nods mutely, and Mami leads the way through the halls until she arrives at one of the third-year classrooms. Knocking on the door, she peers inside and calls out in a clear voice.
"Is Miss Hayashi here?"
Hiyori is indeed sitting in the classroom, eating her lunch, and she looks up upon hearing her name.
"M-miss Tomoe!?" she gasps, jumping to her feet and hurrying over. "W-what brings you… here…"
She starts to trail off when she spots Homura lurking behind Mami, and clasps her hands behind her back, perhaps in a bid to hide her magical girl ring.
"Miss Akemi here would like to meet Miss Ashley Taylor," Mami says. "If I recall correctly, she is presently staying with your family, is that not correct?"
"U-um…" Hiyori glances nervously at Homura. "W-what do you… want with her, Miss Akemi?"
"Nothing dramatic," Homura says. "I just thought I should return this to her."
She shows Hiyori the Teddy Drone, and Hiyori blinks.
"H-how did you get that…?"
"I found it on the ground," Homura blithely lies.
"That… that shouldn't be possible," Hiyori mutters. Then she speaks up. "U-um… I can… ask her if she'll meet with you, is that… is that good enough, Miss Akemi?"
"I suppose that will have to do," Homura says.
With that, Homura spins on her heel and heads off.
"Thank you for your help, Miss Hayashi," Mami says.
"N-no problem, Miss Tomoe…" Hiyori says. "But just how did Miss Akemi get her hands on one of Ashley-chan's Teddy Drones…?"
Mami shakes her head. "It seems like she does not wish to share that information," she says. "That Miss Akemi sure is a strange one…"
"Um, so, see you later, Miss Tomoe," Hiyori says.
At that point, Homura turns the corner, and the two of them are no longer in range of sight. Whether Homura heard that last exchange is unclear – she doesn't show any signs of hearing it, though.
"I probably shouldn't get involved with the hunter," Homura mutters. "If she's only hunting magical girls, then Madoka should be safe… yes, it's nothing to be concerned about. This time flow may have a few irregularities, but it's going well so far this time. Yes… I'll just… keep doing what I've been doing… and even if Madoka got this from that Ashley Taylor… she seems convinced she's a good person, so I'll trust in her… but I should locate her residence too, just in case I'm wrong."
Returning to her classroom, she leans down next to Madoka and presses the Teddy Drone into the other girl's hand.
"It seems like… it's probably safe after all," Homura murmurs.
"O-oh… thank you," Madoka murmurs back.
Then she takes her seat and begins eating her lunch. At that point, a ping on my phone distracts me from the vision. Of course, it's Hiyori asking what the hell she should do about this development.
"Ashley-chan, what should I do? Miss Akemi came to my classroom to ask about you, and she somehow had one of your Teddy Drones! She's the time traveller, right? You said we shouldn't approach her, so I've been keeping my distance, but you never said she might approach me! She just said she wanted to return the Teddy Drone, so maybe it's fine to meet up? What should I do?"
I take a minute or two to compose my response.
"It's probably too late to completely avoid her now, even if we wanted to. We saw the whole encounter, and Miss Tomoe accidentally let the cat out of the bag on her own… even if we were to tell her we don't want to meet, she could follow you home. Returning the Teddy Drone was just an excuse, she has no intention of doing so… it's our fault for giving one to one of her friends who was in danger. We didn't expect Miss Akemi to notice it.
"Now to answer your actual question… I think there's a possibility that Miss Akemi did not realize that you're a magical girl, so we should act on the assumption that this is indeed the case. Furthermore, she certainly doesn't know about Inui-chan either. Therefore, my suggestion is… if Miss Akemi asks you to show her your house, then simply do so. If she doesn't ask, just go home in the usual way like nothing's wrong, but we'll assume she's following you. Either way, she'll find that we're not home, because we'll be out hunting witches with Inui-chan. You won't tell her that, though, since you're trying not to let on that you're magical girls. You should put your ring in your pocket to help with that image, and try not to let her see your fingernail mark. Does all of that make sense?"
I finally hit send and wait for the response.
"You're more paranoid than I thought, Ashley-chan, but I'll do it. Thanks for the advice. But what if I show her my house and she decides to wait for you?"
I compose a quick response.
"If she's openly waiting to meet us, then I think that shows she's willing to talk, so in that case we'll meet her when we get back."
I telepathically contact Komachi to explain the situation to her, including both what happened and what my suggested course of action was.
«I don't quite get why you're so paranoid about Miss Akemi,» Komachi replies. «Isn't she supposed to be your ally?»
«The thing is, we never asked before hitching a ride in her time travel,» I explain. «So we're just paranoid about how she might react to finding out she had a passenger all this time… and we're not ready to explain everything to her yet. We still need to gather more data.»
«Well, it's fine, we can do as you say,» Komachi says.
Finally, I compose a message to Inui, asking her to meet me for a witch hunt in northern Mitakihara. Since both Mari and Noriko have perished, I've taken the whole north as my territory lately. Her affirmative response comes back almost immediately.
After school is out, I head north, meeting up with Inui at the scheduled place. In my vision, I can see that Homura has opted for the antisocial method – she's stalking the Hayashi sisters and following them home. The two of them seem to be doing a good job of acting normal, so there's that. They've also both taken their rings off, like I requested.
I'm forced to stop paying attention as Inui and I locate a witch and work together to take it down. Once we've defeated it, I take a look again. Homura is gazing at the Hayashi house from afar, but even as I watch, she turns and leaves, heading back towards central Mitakihara. So I guess it's like she was muttering to herself earlier… she's going to mark where I live in case I prove to be dangerous, but she won't make a move against me yet.
I just hope she doesn't decide I'm dangerous.
Two days later, an unexpected visitor arrives at the Hayashi house. She comes while we're in the middle of dinner, and it's Mrs Hayashi who answers the door.
"Excuse me," a familiar voice says. "I'm sorry for disturbing you at this hour… may I speak with Ashley Taylor?"
"Oh!" Mrs Hayashi says. "So you're a friend of Ashley, are you? Why don't you come in? We're having dinner right now, so you can join us."
"Um… thank you, I suppose I shall take you up on that offer," the guest says.
Mrs Hayashi ushers the guest into the dining room and locates a spare chair for her.
"Koko-chan!" Inui says, recognizing her. "You've come a long way from home…"
"Oh, is that so?" Mrs Hayashi says. "Where are you from, erm… Koko, was it?"
"My name is Kohaku Koharu," she replies. "I live on the other side of town, so it's not that far."
"Ah, in the former industrial sector?" Mrs Hayashi says.
"That's correct," Koharu nods.
"Not exactly a good area of town… but you do seem like a good girl. Please, feel free to dig in."
"Thank you for the meal," Koharu says.
«Um, who is she, again?» Hiyori asks.
«The magical girl veteran who hunts in the former industrial sector,» I respond.
«So she's a veteran… but why would she come here?» Komachi asks.
«Most likely… because she's also Yoshida Tamura's mentor,» I say.
«Oh right, come to think of it, I think her name did come up when Tamura-chan dropped by,» Hiyori says. «But why would she come alone?»
«Judging from the last timeline… I think it's likely that Tamura-chan died, and Miss Kohaku has come to pass on a vision that she wished us to know,» I say. «But let's wait and see after the meal is done, shall we?»
After dinner is over, Mr Hayashi retreats to his study while his wife heads to the kitchen to clean up, leaving us magical girls free to gather in the living room.
"So… what's up, Miss Kohaku?" I ask. "It's unusual for you to make social calls, right?"
Koharu nods. "Yes… regretfully, I come regarding Yoshida Tamura. Earlier today, she was killed by a magical girl in black, along with a newly-contracted girl… Hikari Ayano, her name was."
I nod slowly. The name is vaguely familiar… I think she may have been one of the characters that appeared in one panel and was named once or twice.
"So Tamura-chan was murdered by Kirika," I mutter. "Dammit, we should've warned you about that… but at least you survived, Miss Kohaku."
Koharu nods. "Yes… sadly, I only showed up after the fact," she says. "The only witness was Miss Hikari's close friend, Masumi Chihana. I'm not sure why the magical girl in black didn't kill her as well."
"If we're not mistaken, that means she's killed four magical girls now," I muse. "Asako Komaki and one other who we don't know… maybe we should talk to Miss Tomoe about that, actually…"
"Anyway, in addition to reporting her death, Tamura-chan asked me to pass on one of her visions," Koharu says.
I nod. "Alright, we're listening," I say. "To be honest, most of her visions don't seem that useful so far, but… they haven't been entirely useless, either."
Koharu nods. "Alright… this time, the vision involves you, Miss Taylor," Koharu says. "Unfortunately, there's not a lot of detail to it… Tamura-chan just said she saw you in a dark place, bound to a chair. Then two more magical girls showed up, clearly intending to free you – she couldn't make them out very well, but apparently they both had twintails, and you called them Kanna-chi and Remi-chan – but before they could do anything, their soul gems suddenly shattered and they dropped dead."
"Ah, Kanna-chi and Remi-chan… those girls from Asunaro," Inui nods.
"Hmm… this seems to be one of the less useful visions of hers, then," I muse. "That's too bad… without any indication of how or why we may have gotten there, there's not much we can do… that said, if we do find ourself in that situation later, perhaps we can at least warn Kanna-chi and Remi-chan…"
"Why would their soul gems suddenly shatter, though?" Komachi asks.
"That's a good question," I say. "I'm not sure, but… someone must've attacked…"
"There's one other thing," Koharu says. "Perhaps you've already heard, but it seems Masuyo Mari and Naomi Noriko have perished, so because of that I have extended my territory northwards."
I nod. "That makes sense," I say. "I already knew about their deaths… so I've more or less taken over Mari-chan's territory. Was that everything you had for me?"
Koharu nods. "Yes, that is everything."
"Well… even if it wasn't much, thanks for the information," I say. "We'll try to put it to good use."
"In that case, I'll be heading home," Koharu says.
Once she's gone, I head up to my room to expand my document with everything new I've learned recently. Then I flop onto my bed to ponder the current situation. I've continued to keep an eye on Homura since then, though not constantly watching her like the day after she discovered the Teddy Drone, and it doesn't seem like she's been watching the Hayashi house much, if at all. Still… there were a couple of things I wanted to look into outside of the city, so maybe I should consider getting one or more of those done over the weekend, as an excuse to get out of her sight for a bit longer. In fact, there was something in the news just yesterday that reminded me of a particular event from the Magia Record game – an anonymous whistleblower who just released a trove of emails proving that the Metropolitan Police Department are hiding evidence of corruption within the Ministry of Defense.
As Inui sits on my bed with a sigh, having followed me up, I sit up and address her.
"Have you heard of Tokime village, Inui-chan?"
Inui blinks at me. "Uhh, yes? It's kinda an important historical location, after all… that's supposedly where the Tokime clan was banished when the Akatsuki clan took over. I actually have Professor Satomi's book on the topic too, although I'm not sure how historical that is – some of what he says is kinda strange. Why do you ask?"
Oh? So Touka's uncle has already published his book on Tokime village… then I should probably read it.
"It could be important," I say. "Do you know where it is?"
"I think it was on almost the exact opposite side of the island," she says.
"So basically… beyond Hohzuki, right?"
Inui nods. "Yeah, near the coast. Did you want to go see it? It's not much of a tourist attraction from what I hear, though… just some mouldy old ruins…"
"So the actual Tokime village is in ruins, huh…"
I'm not sure how that reconciles with the fact that people still live there, at least if what I know from the game can be relied on, but probably I need to actually visit to figure it out.
"Do you know anything about Yukuni or Futatsugi?" I ask.
"Not really," Inui says. "Although I guess I've heard the yakuza are pretty bad in Futatsugi… but that shouldn't be a problem for a magical girl, right?"
"Unless the yakuza are also magical girls," I say.
"Th-there's no way… is there?"
"Hmm… I'm considering going to Tokime this weekend," I muse. "Perhaps if we show them the tablet… they might understand it better than a random professor…"
"Tablet?" Inui asks.
"Yeah… a message from the past," I say.
"Oh… that sounds interesting," she says, nodding.
"The only problem is, it's written in witch runes, and we have no reason to expect they'd know how to read them," I say. "Dammit, maybe we should've gotten it translated again this time around too…"
Next week is also the time to start paying attention in Hohzuki, based on the previous timeline. I was watching Oriko, so I didn't see Suzune attack Honoka this time, but for whatever reason she decided to message me about it this time, so I know it occurred much like in the previous timeline.
"Well, whatever you decide, I'll come with you," Inui says. "It's not like I've got anything better to do with my life, right? Besides, it's kinda fun being with you."
"Yeah, maybe we could invite the quartet too," I say.
"Sure… sounds like fun!"
It may be my imagination, but it seems like the cheery Inui who has been beside me since the beginning of the timeline is slowly becoming ever so slightly more sombre. I can't figure out whether this is something to worry about, though, and I've got more important things on my mind, so I don't dwell on it.
It's not like she's acting all depressed or anything… so what's the worst that could happen?
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.
Hitomi Lina
人見リナ
Age: 18
Eye Colour: Purple
Hair Colour: Blonde
Origins: Kazamino, Shinriku Prefecture, Japan
Symbol: Turquoise eye
Soul Gem: A pair of green rectangular gems on her collar
Element: Water
Weapon: Stun baton
Powers: Electricity, barriers
Wish: "I wish the memory of my late older sister was wiped from my mother's mind."
Speed: 4
Magical Stamina: 5
Offensive Power: 7
Defensive Power: 2
Initial Power Usability: 5
Learned Powers: 3
Akane Mai
朱音麻衣
Age: 16
Eye Colour: Red
Hair Colour: Purple
Origins: Kazamino, Shinriku Prefecture, Japan
Symbol: Three purple concentric squares, the innermost one solid
Soul Gem: Purple circular gem at her waist
Element: Water
Weapon: Katana
Powers: Acceleration
Wish: "I just need a little more time."
Speed: 10
Magical Stamina: 8
Offensive Power: 7
Defensive Power: 2
Initial Power Usability: 7
Learned Powers: 1
Saki Miyako
佐木京
Age: 14
Eye Colour: Orange
Hair Colour: Brown
Origins: Kazamino, Shinriku Prefecture, Japan
Symbol: Red apple
Soul Gem: Red apple-shaped gem on her hood
Element: Forest
Weapon: Dolls
Powers: Puppetmaster
Wish: "I want to be a heroine like the ones in fairy tales."
Speed: 1
Magical Stamina: 7
Offensive Power: 3
Defensive Power: 3
Initial Power Usability: 3
Learned Powers: 3