I arrive at the police station with Remi and Hijiri, and we ask the woman at the reception for Detective Ishijima's office. She checks that she's in and not busy, then escorts us inside. I am a little surprised it's this easy to get in though, but I'm glad I don't have to try and explain myself. Once the receptionist has left us outside the door, we indicate to Remi that she should be the one to go first. She knocks, and upon hearing the voice from inside inviting her in, her eyes widen and she thrusts the door open. The two of them stare at each other for several seconds before Misako jumps to her feet.
"N-no… it… it can't be… Remi-chan!? Is… is that you?"
"Oh gosh, it really is you, Misako-chan!"
Remi steps into the room, and Misako steps around the desk, and they hug each other for a minute or so. Hijiri and I slip in quietly and close the door behind us.
Finally, the two of them split apart, and Misako looks Remi over.
"But… this can't be," she says. "You look exactly the same as when I last saw you, like you're still fourteen… how is that possible?"
"Well, it's kind of a long story," Remi says. "Um… I'm not even sure where to start…"
"Could it be… does it have anything to do with your little sister's strange story?" Misako asks.
"Uhh… what strange story?" Remi asks. "Did Moe-chan say something weird…?"
"After you went missing, she told me that you had become a magical girl of justice who fights witches."
"Y-yeah, I guess I did spill the beans after she caught me transforming that one time," Remi says. "I'd almost forgotten about that, actually…"
Misako narrows her eyes a little.
"Are you saying it's true?" she asks.
Remi nods. "I see no reason to hide it from you, Misako-chan. I really am a magical girl… Moe-chan recently became one too. Actually, I'm pretty sure that's how I came back to life."
"I don't follow," Misako says. "How are the two things related?"
"Before that," I speak up. "It's not exactly comfortable to discuss things while standing…"
Misako looks at me, startled.
"Oh… I'm sorry," she says. "You came in with Remi-chan, I assume?"
She looks around.
"I'm sorry, I only have the two chairs," she says. "Maybe one of you could sit on the arm…?"
"No worries," Hijiri says. "I can make my own chair."
"What are you talking about?" Misako asks. "You can't just make a chair all of a sudden with no materials or tools…"
"But there's lots of materials here," Hijiri says.
"Well… anyway, sit down, and let's discuss this all in detail," Misako says. "I'd like to hear everything. Perhaps it can even help with some of my cases…"
Remi and I sit in the existing chairs, and Hijiri morphs a chunk of the floor into a third chair for herself, eliciting a gasp from Misako.
"W-what… what just… happened…?"
"Just alchemy," Hijiri says with a smile. "It's Nico's magic power, which I've borrowed."
"Let's not get distracted by that," I say.
"Right," Misako says. "Where were we… oh, right. How is Moe-chan becoming a magical girl related to Remi-chan coming back to life?"
The three of us exchange glances.
"Should I do the explanations, or do one of you want to handle it?" Remi asks.
"We're okay with explaining," I say.
"Sure then, go ahead, Ashley-chan," Hijiri says.
"Oh right, before that, we should introduce ourselves," Misako says. "I'm Ishijima Misako, and I already know Shiina Remi, but who are you two?"
"Right… We're Ashley Taylor, a magical girl from California."
"And I'm Hijiri Kanna, also a magical girl."
"So all three of you are… anyway, back to the question."
"Right," I say. "Remi-chan, just a heads-up, but we might say a few things you weren't aware of."
"Okay," Remi says.
"First of all, let me explain how a magical girl is created," I say. "There is a being that exists in this world, which you can think of as sort of like a fairy… it is called the incubator, although most in Japan know it as Kyuubey, which is just an abbreviation of the other name, but makes it sound more cute. Some people can see it, and some people can't. Whenever it finds a young girl with high magical potential, it makes her an offer – in exchange for any one wish of her choosing, she will become a magical girl who must fight witches to survive."
Misako blinks. "I have quite a few questions just from that," she says. "This wish thing smacks of a deal with the devil… and what do you mean she has to fight to survive? Can the wish really be anything at all?"
"Oh? You're a smart one, Miss Ishijima," I say. "It's quite accurate to compare it to a deal with the devil."
Remi blinks at me in surprise. I don't think this is something she didn't know so much as an angle she hadn't considered, but whatever… I forge on with my explanation.
"A magical girl must fight witches to survive for a very simple reason."
I transform my soul into gem form and lean forward to place it on the table.
"When an incubator creates a magical girl, it draws her soul out of her body and compresses it into this crystallized form, called a soul gem," I explain. "By separating our consciousness from our body, we can continue to fight even after suffering grievous wounds – even wounds that would be fatal to a normal person. The separation also makes it possible for us to use magic… or it may be more accurate to say it makes it easy for us to use magic. As we use magic, the soul gem grows darker and darker, but when we kill a witch, it drops something that we call a grief seed."
I take out one of the grief seeds I have with me.
"This is a grief seed. If you look closely at our soul gem, you might see there's just a little bit of darkness in it. However, if the two are brought near each other…"
I press the grief seed up to my soul gem, and it draws out what little grief is in there.
"… as you can see, the soul gem is restored to its original shine."
"You said easy, rather than possible… are you saying there could be people who use magic but are not magical girls? And what about magical boys?"
"We're not sure," I say. "Someone we know who studies magical girls has said it should be possible, but even she hasn't met such a person. As for magical boys, they're technically possible, but you'll probably never meet one. Boys just have far lower average magical potential for unknown reasons, so Kyuubey doesn't seek out boys at all."
"So from what you've said so far," Misako says. "I surmise that you die if it darkens completely?"
I put the grief seed away again.
"You're on the right track," I nod. "It is indeed a form of death, but perhaps worse than what you're thinking of. When the soul gem darkens completely, it cracks open and transforms into a grief seed, resulting in the birth of a new witch."
Misako gasps. "W-wait, that doesn't make any sense though," she says. "You said magical girls are supposed to fight witches, so why would they turn into them?"
"The creation of witches is actually the ultimate goal of the incubator," I say.
That elicits a gasp not only from Misako but also from Remi.
"When a soul gem hatches into a grief seed, it releases a massive amount of energy which the incubator can harvest and put to use. To be blunt, you could say that the Earth is essentially a gigantic power plant for the incubator's civilization, and witches are the means to that end. The pitch of being recruited to fight witches is just a cover story, and that's why we praised your devil analogy earlier."
"That's… that's awful," Misako says. "I thought magical girls were supposed to be forces for justice, not… not this…" She falls silent for a bit, then continues. "I still have more questions. Are there limits to what a magical girl can wish for? Isn't it inconvenient for your soul to be a physical object that you could lose? Is there a way to put the soul back in your body? Or turn a grief seed back into a soul gem?"
"There's no known reliable way to turn a grief seed into a soul gem or put a soul back into a girl's body," I say. "Both can happen as the result of an incubator fulfilling a girl's wish, though. For example, you remember Remi-chan disappearing without trace many years ago, right? That's because she had turned into a witch. The reason she's with us now is because her little sister wished for her to come back to life. We also know a girl who has the power to turn a grief seed back into a soul gem, but the cost is that she would become a witch in that girl's place, so most likely she'll never actually use that power. We've never heard of anyone putting a girl's soul back in her body, but we assume it's also possible with a wish. As for limits on what you can wish for… in principal, we don't know of any limits whatsoever, but it also depends on the girl herself. Each girl has a certain potential, and if she wishes for something that exceeds that potential, it'll usually be fulfilled in an incomplete or undesirable manner."
"So kind of like a literal wish genie?" Misako asks.
"Hmm… we're honestly not sure," I say. "But the impression I have of the incubator is that they're the exact opposite of a literal wish genie. That is… I don't think it matters how you phrase your wish, as long as you know what you want and your magical potential is sufficient to fulfill it."
"If it's the incubator granting the wish, why is the girl's magic potential relevant?" Misako asks.
"Because… I think the incubator doesn't have any magic itself," I say. "From what I understand, it's not even capable of granting wishes with its own power. Magic seems to be based on emotions, but the incubator lacks any emotions. It merely draws out the girl's innate power in a form capable of granting the wish. In that sense, you could say that technically, each magical girl grants her own wish – the incubator is merely a guide. That's why I believe it's the opposite of a literal wish genie – the girl's the one making the wish come true, so of course she'd make it happen the way she wants, or at least the way she thinks she wants in that moment… the only exception is if she doesn't actually have enough potential to do so, in which case it won't go so well."
"That makes a lot of sense," Misako says.
"You were also asking about the soul being a physical object," I say. "You're right that it's pretty inconvenient in some cases. For example… this soul gem is us, while the body talking to you now is little more than a puppet controlled by our magic. If you were to smash the soul gem, we would instantly drop dead. Furthermore, we can't control our body at a distance of more than one hundred metres. If you were to steal our soul gem and cart it off, we would also appear to drop dead, although in that case we would come back to life if the soul gem was returned."
"That raises even more questions," Misako says. "What happens if the soul gem isn't returned?"
"Well, the girl's magic lingers in the body for about two days, keeping her fresh as if she'd just dropped dead. After that, the body would start to decay as normal."
Misako gasps. "W-wait, that drastically affects our estimate of time of death! There've been several cases of girls who died of unexplained causes… if a stolen or destroyed soul gem was the cause, then the time of death from the autopsy would be off by two whole days, right? Or forty-eight hours, I assume?"
"We're not sure if it's precisely forty-eight hours," I say. "We only know it's approximately two days. But yes, the rest of what you said is true. And if it was a destroyed soul gem, the shards should've been found along with the girl, or at least nearby."
"What if the soul gem were returned after two days?"
"I believe she'd still come back to life," I say. "However, it doesn't instantaneously reverse any decay… I think it would slowly heal over time but I'm not sure."
"Would it be possible for a magical girl to take control of a different body in place of their original one?" Misako asks. "Especially if their original body was cremated…"
"It's possible," I say. "However, there's body-soul compatibility to consider. Generally, you have the highest compatibility with your original body or the body of someone who shares the same DNA, such as an identical twin or a clone. We're not sure how fast compatibility drops off after that, but I've heard that low compatibility can cause a lot of problems. I don't have any details on that, however. Also, you can only take control of one body at a time. Also, I'm pretty sure…"
I show off the mark on my fingernail.
"See this mark? I believe that's the sign that we're linked to this body. If we were to transfer my soul to a different body, this mark would disappear and show up on the other body's finger. Also, it's possible for two souls to link with the same body. If that happens, they get a mark on the middle finger of both hands."
"That's likely only possible with identical twins though," Hijiri adds.
"So basically, this mark on the fingernail is a sign that someone is a magical girl," Misako says.
"Yes, along with the soul gem, which is normally turned into a ring and worn on the same finger."
I transform mine into ring form and slip it on to show what I mean.
"Although, it's possible for both signs to be hidden. The soul gem could be stowed away in a purse or pocket, and the fingernail mark can be covered up with nail polish."
"What if the soul gem has been separated from the body for more than two days?" Misako asks. "Will the fingernail mark still be visible?"
"I'm not quite sure," I say. "My suspicion is that either it wouldn't be… or if it is, it would be faint. But we haven't actually seen someone in that situation, so I can't be certain."
"And I can't help but notice you're using a plural pronoun even when you're clearly referring to yourself alone," Misako says.
"Ah, that has nothing to do with magical girls," I say. "We just have two personalities within us…"
Both Remi and Misako seem surprised by this.
"Ah, that's… worrying," Misako says. "Maybe you should get your mental health checked out just in case there's a problem? I realize some people can live normal lives even with that condition, but… it can't hurt to be safe."
Huh. That's the first time I've had what I'd consider an almost normal reaction to my split personality situation. Is it just the increased tolerance brought by the passage of a quarter century? That would certainly explain why the one person who reacted that way is also the oldest person I've told… ah, except Pernelle, but I think she'd just take pretty much anything in stride, so she doesn't count.
"Don't worry, Miss Ishijima," Hijiri says. "Ashley-chan is fine. The alternate personality is just another normal girl, though in some ways opposite."
"Well, in any case, all this information is really useful," Misako says. "Perhaps if I go back and apply it to some of the unexplained deaths, I can get a better picture of what happened… and if we're lucky, perhaps we can even recover some soul gems and bring those girls back to life, at least the ones that haven't been cremated."
"Just for the record, some of them could also be a girl who turned into a witch," I say. "Usually the witch swallows up her original body immediately, but there are exceptions, especially if there was someone else there to witness the transformation."
"Ah, I thought the body itself actually transformed into the witch, but you're saying that's not the case?" Misako says.
"Yeah… the soul gem transforms, and the witch emerges from the grief seed," I say. "The body is unaffected by the transformation, other than losing its link to the soul."
"Come to think of it… what about witches themselves? I guess they're dangerous or something… is there anything I could know to identify when a witch is involved in a case?"
"I doubt there's any surefire way when you're not a magical girl," I say. "Most of the time, people killed by a witch simply vanish without trace. Witches usually take control of humans and lure them in, and often that will lead to unexplained suicides or sometimes even murders, but… I don't think there's a way for an ordinary human to verify that a witch was actually involved."
"Huh, so unexplained disappearances or suicides may be the work of witches, but there's no way to be sure," Misako nods. "That's… not very helpful, I guess."
"You really know a lot about this stuff, Miss Taylor," Remi says. "You were right… some of that I'd never heard before, like the hundred metre limit, or Kyuubey's true goal, or the fact that smashing your gem is instant death… not that I ever would've contemplated smashing it anyway, but still, now I have another reason not to. And the idea of transferring to a different body… it suggests you could swap bodies with another magical girl."
I nod. "Yes, that's certainly possible."
"I've actually seen that happen a couple of times," Hijiri says. "It was pretty hilarious, to tell the truth."
"Was it Yuuri-chan and Airi-chan?" I ask.
"Y-yeah… how'd you know?"
"Airi-chan seemed interested when Pernelle mentioned it was possible, so I figured it was a good guess."
"So those three are also magical girls, I assume?" Misako says.
"Yes, Pernelle's the one I mentioned earlier who studies magical girls," I say. "Besides them, I think the only other active magical girls in Asunaro at the moment are Akane Sumire and the group calling themselves the Pleiades Saints."
"So I guess that's a group of seven, right?" Misako says. "Since there are seven stars in the Pleiades."
"Six," I say. "There used to be seven, but one of them turned into a witch, so there's only six now. They just haven't changed their name."
"Speaking of Miss Sumire," Hijiri says. "I fought alongside her a couple of times… she may be a newbie but she's not bad at the job."
"Alright… so now that we've finished talking about what a magical girl is," Misako says. "Is that the only reason you came?"
"Mostly we came so you and Remi-chan could meet," I say. "The whole magical girl discussion was just extra, to be honest…"
"Yeah, and while we're on that topic," Hijiri says. "We actually know of someone who goes around stealing soul gems, so if you do manage to find some unexplained deaths where the body is still intact, let me know and we could try reviving them. Also, if it's about mysteriously missing girls, you'll most likely find a lot of them suddenly show up again pretty soon."
"Well, I think I'm going to be pretty busy thanks to all this new information," Misako says. "But Remi-chan, perhaps I'll stop by your place later to catch up… do you still live in the same place?"
Remi nods. "Yeah, we haven't moved or anything. In that case, I'll see you later, Misako-chan. Ah, but I'm going to eat out with these two today, so you should stop by another day."
Misako nods. "That's fine, I wasn't planning to stop by today anyway. See you later, Remi-chan."
Hijiri morphs her chair back into the floor, and we get up to leave the room.
We head out from the police station, and after a call to her little sister to get the address, Remi heads for the apartment where her father and brother live.
"We'll just wait in the hall," I say. "You won't be long, right?"
"Yeah, I'm just gonna say hi and tease him a little," Remi says.
She knocks on the door, and after a minute it's opened by a boy around my age. Remi immediately glomps him before he can stop her.
"Onii-chan!" she says. "It's so nice to see you again!"
"W-w-what!?" he gasps. "W-who the heck are you? I only have one little sister and you're not her!"
Remi pulls back and pouts a little.
"Don't be so mean, onii-chan," she says. "You don't even recognize your little sister? That's so awful!"
"Don't try to be smart with me," he snaps. "I don't even know you."
He tries to shut the door, but she plants her foot in the way.
"Onii-chan is so mean!" she complains. "I remember you perfectly clearly, Osamu-kun, so why can't you remember me? Come on, think harder!"
He blinks. "H-how do you know my name?"
"Well duh, I'm your little sister," Remi retorts. "Of course I'd know onii-chan's name."
"It's not true!" Osamu says. "I know exactly what Moe-chan looks like and you're clearly not her!"
"Think harder," Remi says. "I'm sure onii-chan should be able to remember me if you try."
"Well, there does seem to be something vaguely familiar about you," Osamu admits. "But one thing's certain… you're definitely not my little sister."
"Try to remember," Remi says. "Your cute little sister is rooting for you, onii-chan!"
"Stop it!" Osamu protests.
"But you know… I didn't expect you to be so tall, onii-chan," Remi says. "The Osamu-kun who used to be so tiny and cute is now so tall and cool."
"H-how dare you call me cute!?" Osamu says.
"I didn't say you're cute now," Remi retorts. "But it was pretty cute how flustered you got whenever I used to surprise-cuddle you, onii-chan."
Osamu blinks. "W-what? That's… not possible… R-r-remi-onee-chan!?"
"You got it!" Remi says. "I knew you could remember, onii-chan!"
"B-but… you disappeared… you should be older than me… w-what is this even, I don't…"
"Well, I'm sure lots of stuff happened," Remi says. "But for me, those eight years never existed. I know it's hard to believe, but from my perspective it's only been around a month since I last saw you, onii-chan."
"W-would you stop calling me onii-chan?" Osamu protests. "Even if you look like this, you're still my onee-chan…"
"Aww, but I like seeing you all flustered when I call you onii-chan," Remi says. "Besides, I'm not older than you anymore. I'm still fourteen years old… you must be nearly eighteen, right? Or wait, your birthday was in October, so I guess you're already eighteen."
"Well, that doesn't really matter," Osamu mutters. "You'll always be my onee-chan…"
"So you're happy to see me," Remi says with a smile. "That makes me feel happy. How's Dad? Is he home?"
"No, he's at work," Osamu says. "I'm not sure if he'd be happy to see you or not… I'm not even sure if he'd believe it's you… I can barely believe it myself… but do you want to come in and wait for him to get back?"
"Hmm… maybe I'll drop by another time to see him," Remi says. "I already made plans to eat out with some friends. So… I'll see you later, onii-chan."
"Yeah… see you, onee-chan…"
Hijiri leads the way to Yuuri's restaurant, since I've never been there before. We step inside and wait a minute or two for a waitress to show up and guide us to a table. The place is quite busy, and nearly all the tables are full. We settle in and take our time selecting from the menu before placing our order. I allow Ashley to take over the duties of chatting while I ponder everything I've learned since the beginning of this timeline.
So, it seems Homura finally thought to try bringing Madoka back in time with her, but Kyuubey caught onto her and also hitched a ride. Furthermore, for whatever reason, Hijiri missed the opportunity to go back that time… why would that be? Was Homura just more alert than usual, or did she just take longer to find Homura out of pure bad luck?
And it seems Homura has been doing something to me ever since she found out about me, most likely showing up at my house on day one to kill me or otherwise force me out of the picture. Because of that, I've already leapt straight to the end game, it would seem… if it wasn't for Homura's last-minute idea of bringing Madoka back, I would have lost. That seems to be what saved me as well, as Homura had to check up on Madoka before coming to deal with me, so I had the chance to flee before she arrived…
"Come to think of it," I say out loud, startling Hijiri and Remi. "I suppose we should apologize to Kanna-chi for putting you through all those years of reruns…"
Hijiri blinks at me.
"O-oh, Chelsea's back… um, you don't need to worry about that," she says. "I can't speak for how things went for Miss Akemi – I only showed up at the end each time but it didn't seem good – but here in Asunaro, it hasn't been all that bad. Most of the time, I didn't even have a reason to want to turn back time… I only continued to hitch a ride to make sure I could keep some record. I guess the one dark spot in each rerun, besides your disappearance, was having to apologize to Miss Moe over and over again… and the fact that Yuuri-chan and Airi-chan didn't remember me… but it wasn't hard to make friends with them just by bringing up your name, Ashley-chan."
"I see… you seem to have given that a lot of thought," I say. "Well… if we disappear again, maybe you could use that as leverage against Miss Akemi, since Miss Kaname would never approve if she found out…"
"I'll keep that in mind," Hijiri says. "Though I assume you'd still prefer if Miss Akemi doesn't find out about me."
"Yeah, given the way she's been acting, I think that's for the best," I say.
I sink back into my thoughts, pondering Remi's new-found abilities and the sudden appearance of this Hilda person… although, despite that it seems sudden to me, it's possible she's been showing up for several timelines already. I wait for another gap in the conversation before coming out with my question.
"Say, Kanna-chi, did you ever meet a woman named Hilda?" I ask. "Someone who was visiting Pernelle."
"As a matter of fact, I did," Hijiri says. "We didn't speak, but she was there a few times when I visited Pernelle… I think the first time I saw her was about… fifteen or twenty timelines ago? Why do you ask?"
"Ah, mostly just curious, because apparently she wants to meet me," I say.
"Huh… I didn't know that," Hijiri says. "I wonder why…"
"Also, she's a magical girl, one of the Ancients," I say.
"…Ancients?" Remi asks.
"Yeah… there are a handful of magical girls around the world that are hundreds of years old," I say. "So far I've only heard of… six, I think? Maybe there are more…"
"So, Pernelle and Hilda are two of them," Remi says. "What about the others?"
"Scheherazade, Mary, Nanabuluku, and… Chalciuhtlicue," I say, carefully enunciating the last one. "Those are all the ones we've heard of. From what we can tell, the latter two are the fuel of myth and were worshipped as gods in some parts of the world, but they might not actually be alive anymore… Mary we've met, though. She's no longer a magical girl."
"What do you mean, no longer?" Remi asks. "Her soul was put back into her body?"
"No… it changed form," I say. "Like, when you become a witch, it turns into a grief seed, right? But hers turned into something else that we don't know anything about… except that apparently it has something to do with lust?"
"And Scheherazade?" Hijiri says.
I shrug. "No clue. Supposedly she's impossible to find but pops up for important historical events or something. And she may or may not have some connection to the Arabian Nights collection of folk tales."
"I don't know what that is," Remi says.
"Ah, I've heard of it," Hijiri says. "Now that you mention it… yeah, I thought the name sounded familiar. It's the princess who's telling all those tales, right?"
I nod. "Yeah, but it could just be a coincidence that they have the same name."
Hijiri is explaining the Arabian Nights to Remi when the food finally arrives, so I dig in. I have no idea if Yuuri cooked any of this, but it's certainly delicious. Once again, I let Ashley bubble out for chatting while I ponder all the new information. Once the main meal is finished, we also order dessert, which is also delicious. I'm halfway through my slice of cake when someone familiar enters the restaurant – Anri Airi.
By this time, over half the tables have emptied and there's only one waitress, who greets Airi at the door.
"Good evening, Miss Anri!" she says. "You're a little early today, aren't you?"
"Well… I was told to leave early because I seemed tired," Airi admits. "To tell the truth, it was kinda embarrassing…"
"Well, you can just wait at any table you want," the waitress says. "It shouldn't become busy again for at least half an hour."
"Thanks."
I hail her telepathically.
«Airi-chan, over here! To your right!»
Airi blinks and turns towards us, scanning the tables for a second.
"Ah!"
She spots us and hurries over to our table.
"What are you doing here, Ashley-chan?" she asks. "This is a pleasant surprise!"
"That was sort of the point," I say. "We were in town suddenly due to unforeseen events, so I figured we should at least check in with you two."
Airi nods. "But how'd you know Yuuri-chan had a shift today?"
"Well… we'd rather not say it twice, so can you wait a bit for the answer?"
"Sure, of course."
She takes a seat at the empty chair at our table.
"So… who are your friends?" she asks. "Ah, I'm Anri Airi, a friend of Ashley-chan."
"I'm Shiina Remi… we actually just met today, but I guess it's fine to think of her as a friend…"
"I'm Hijiri Kanna, also a friend of Ashley-chan… if you don't mind, I'd like you to call me Kanna-chi. The two of us also live here in Asunaro as magical girls."
"I see… but you go to different schools, right?" Airi says. "So that explains why we've never met, I guess."
Hijiri nods. "Yeah, the three of us all go to different schools."
"So I guess those unforeseen events are also something you'd rather not say twice, Ashley-chan?" Airi asks.
"Yeah, probably easier that way," I agree. "So for now we'd like to focus on this delicious cake while we wait for Yuuri-chan to come out."
"Should only be about ten more minutes," Airi says.
Her estimate turned out to be almost exactly on the mark, for Yuuri does indeed emerge from the back room about ten minutes later, carrying a bag which I presume contains her and Airi's dinner. She looks around for a moment, spots Airi, and comes over. She doesn't look all that surprised to see me. I guess Airi must've already notified her by telepathy.
"Good evening, Airi-chan, Ashley-chan," Yuuri says.
Then she blinks as she notices Hijiri with us.
"Wait… aren't you Kanna Nico of the Pleiades Saints?"
"I'm not," Hijiri says. "But it's no coincidence that I look exactly like her. My name is Hijiri Kanna."
"Your given name is her surname… that's odd," Yuuri says. "Well… my name is Asuka Yuuri."
"And I'm Shiina Remi."
"So, why'd you suddenly decide to stop by mid-week?" Yuuri asks. "I thought you were big on getting to school on time."
"Well… it's a long story," I say. "We should probably talk about it in a more private place…"
"How about my place?" Yuuri suggests. "We could all go."
"Um, actually," Remi speaks up. "I really should be getting home, if that's alright with you… I'm only fourteen and Mom is probably starting to get worried, even though she knows I'm with friends."
I nod. "Well, that's fine with us," I say.
"Then, just the four of us to your place," Hijiri says.
"Alright, let's get going," Yuuri says. "If you want, you can also share our dinner… though I guess you already ate."
"Speaking of which, shouldn't we ask for the bill?" I point out.
"Oh, I already took care of that," Hijiri says. "You didn't notice?"
"No… I must've been spaced out," I say. "But weren't we going to split the bill three ways?"
"Sure," Hijiri says with a wink. "If you'd like to pay me back, I'm not gonna turn that down."
"Mom decided to give me eight years' worth of allowance money all at once, so I'm sure I should have enough," Remi says.
I blink. "That's… surprising," I say. "Since you didn't even exist for those eight years…"
Remi shrugs. "Don't ask me. She decided it on her own. Anyway… how much do I owe?"
"Are we doing equal split or each pays for her own?" Hijiri asks.
"Equal sounds easier," Remi muses. "But… nah, let's just go equal."
"Sounds good to me," I agree.
So Hijiri cites a surprisingly high number, and Remi and I both fork over some cash.
"So um… what was that about not existing?" Airi asks.
"Um… can we add that to the list of things that we'll explain once we get to your place?" I ask. "Unless you want to explain it yourself, Miss Remi?"
"Sure…" Airi says.
"Hmm… you seem to be good at explaining things, so I'll leave it to you, Miss Taylor," Remi says.
We leave the restaurant and accompany Remi to a bus stop, where she gets on the first bus that comes. We then wait for a different bus and hop on, reaching Yuuri's apartment within the space of about half an hour. Once we've all settled down in the living room, with the food all laid out and Yuuri and Airi starting to dig in, I start my explanations.
First, I reveal the dual personality within me, letting Ashley out a bit to chat with them. Then I cover the time travel, as well as the truth of the soul gem and witches and the existence of wraiths. I also touch on my clairvoyance and how I've used it.
"This is all pretty incredible-sounding," Airi says when I'm done. "But I suppose that Miss Pernelle can back you up to a degree, huh?"
I nod. "Probably… and you'll meet her too, most likely on the twenty-seventh when she discovers she's no match for a particular witch and needs to recruit additional aid."
"Come to think of it… this time travel… is that how you knew Yuuri-chan had a shift today?" Airi asks.
"Yes… Kanna-chi was the one who told us, but she knew because she also came back with us."
Hijiri nods. "Yeah, it's not the first time I visited that restaurant hoping to meet you again," she says. "I've been redoing the same month and a half over and over for a cumulative subjective time of around twelve years."
"W-wow, that's a long time," Yuuri says. "How many iterations is that?"
"I lost track of the exact count, but… approximately a hundred," Hijiri says.
"So Ashley-chan too?" Airi asks. "You've redone the coming month and a half a hundred or more times?"
"No, we've redone it only four times," I say.
Hijiri nods. "Yeah… ever since the second time I went back, someone or something caused Ashley-chan to suddenly disappear today without trace. I don't know if she was killed or kidnapped or what… I was never able to find any clues."
"But this time we avoided that fate," I say. "And while we still don't know what happened exactly, we at least know who did it… although we could've guessed that anyway, but whatever. Anyway… that's the unforeseen circumstances that brought us here. We wanted to stay out of the way for a bit to make sure the culprit would give up, so we arrived in town this morning and have been staying at Kanna-chi's since around lunchtime."
"I can't believe it," Yuuri says. "To think someone'd actually want to eliminate you, Ashley-chan… although, given how you've been using your clairvoyance, I suppose it shouldn't surprise me that you've made a couple of enemies…"
"Ouch…" I say.
"I know you have your heart in the right place," Yuuri says. "But someone else wouldn't. They'd just rightfully call you a creep."
"Ouch…"
"Oh yeah, what was that about Miss Shiina not existing for eight years?" Airi asks.
"Ah, right," I nod. "About eight years ago, Miss Remi turned into a witch… then a couple months ago, her little sister wished her back to life."
"Oh… that's amazing!" Airi says. "How'd her family react to that?"
"Apparently her mother just took it all in stride," I say. "Her father hasn't found out yet – they're separated."
"So how long will you be in town?" Yuuri asks. "Will you be here for the weekend?"
"We need to be back by the end of school on Friday to save a certain someone from witchdom," I say. "So no, we won't be."
"Hmm… okay, then why don't we do something tomorrow night, after my shift?" Yuuri suggests.
"Sure, that sounds good," I say.
"And you're welcome to come too, Kanna-chi," Yuuri adds. "You did say we were friends before, so I'll believe in the other me."
"Thank you," Hijiri says. "Well… I should probably get back home too… and you'll be staying with me tonight, right, Ashley-chan?"
"Sure… we hadn't really thought about where we were going to stay, but that works."
"Okay, then see you tomorrow," Yuuri says.
"Yeah, seeya!" Airi says.
We leave their apartment and head back to Hijiri's house. Her mother greets us warmly and asks if I need anything. Since I packed up so fast that I didn't even have a change of clothes, and Hijiri's size turns out to be just a little too small for me, I end up borrowing some pyjamas from Mrs Hijiri. She even offers to wash the clothes I was wearing. Then Hijiri drags me into the videogame for a bit before we go to bed.
I open my eyes and stare up at the unfamiliar ceiling, for a moment confused at what I'm seeing. Then I remember where I am, and I roll over to look at the other occupant of the bed. Hijiri's eyes are also open, and she seems to just stare at me for a few seconds.
"Ah," she finally says. "You're awake, Ashley-chan."
I sit up and stretch a little.
"You planning to go to school today, Kanna-chi?" I ask.
"Hmm… since you're here… probably not?" she says. "Anyway, at this point I may as well time my return with the beginning of a week, right? Heck, maybe I should just wait for the new term."
"That's another two whole weeks, right?" I say. "Is that a good idea?"
"Yeah… you're probably right," Hijiri admits. "But an extra day or two won't make a difference, at least."
"You know, I was wondering… when you were Pernelle's disciple, did you learn anything about how to attain a stable state with two souls in one body?" I ask.
"Well… not really," Hijiri says. "I've actually become her disciple a couple of times, and not all of those coincided with her studying the Souju twins. All I can say for sure is that she had a hypothesis that they managed to pull it off solely because they were identical twins and thus shared the same DNA."
"I see… right, like you said when we were talking to Miss Ishijima. Then my idea might actually work… so could we ask you to accompany me to Hohzuki?"
Hijiri blinks. "Whatever for?"
"Well, there's something I want to try there," I say. "Um… hmm… I guess I should just explain the whole story. Or no, maybe that would just confuse you even more… uhh… Ashley, help me out here…"
I feel Ashley's will bubble to the surface.
"Why should I?" she retorts. "How is your plan any better than what those Souju twins or the Pleiades Saints do?"
"Um… if you don't mind, other Ashley, could you please explain what's going on here?" Hijiri says.
Ashley sighs. "Good grief, Chelsea's such a handful sometimes. It's quite simple really. There was an older magical girl named Tsubaki in Hohzuki who turned into a witch about a year ago, in front of her adopted daughter Suzune who was also a magical girl. She was also a nanny to two twins, Matsuri and Kagari, who became magical girls after she left the job to take care of Suzune. Kagari blew the whole thing out of proportion and decided to get revenge on Suzune for stealing Tsubaki away and killing her. So Chelsea's bright idea was to steal Kagari's soul gem and force her to share a body with Matsuri. Oh, about the nature of the revenge… Kagari has mind control powers, so she used them to force Suzune to kill lots of magical girls with the intention of guilt-tripping her later… also, Matsuri was friends with Suzune for a short time."
Hijiri blinks. "You call that simple?" she asks. "I see now why she wasn't sure how to explain it clearly – I'm still a little confused from your explanation – but getting to the crux of the matter and your original question, I don't think her plan is the same as what the Pleiades Saints or the Souju twins do. The Souju twins gather soul gems just out of greed, and the Pleiades Saints are doing it to keep them alive. I suppose it's a little bit cruel, but… Kagari is responsible for the death of who knows how many magical girls, so you can't expect a punishment to be light…"
"We don't really have the right to punish her," Ashley says. "We're not her parents or anything. We're not the police, either. Why not just tell Miss Ishijima about the case and let her handle it?"
"Well, Misako-chan is one thing since she seems like a good person, but I don't think it's a good idea to rely on the police," Hijiri says. "Corruption is rife in police forces around the world… in many countries, even so-called enlightened ones like the United States of America, they barely represent justice at all. If it's clear-cut, and there's something we can do, I think it's better to take it upon ourselves… and doubly so if it's related to magical girls, since no ordinary human would be able to deal with one of us."
"Wow, you sure don't have much faith in authority figures, do you?" Ashley says. "Is that because of Nico-chan's past?"
"Maybe," Hijiri says. "It's true that we had a bad experience with the police after that incident, but I'm not sure if that's why I dislike them. It might also be because of my past, when I swore revenge on the Pleiades Saints… although that feels like ancient history now."
Ashley hugs her.
"Well, I don't agree with the solution, but I won't try to stop you, at least this time," she says.
Then she sinks back inside me, and I retake control.
"So yeah," I say. "She basically covered my entire plan, what a surprise… I knew she wouldn't like it, so I'm not sure why she spilled it…"
"Well, I'll help with your plan," Hijiri says. "But what exactly do you need me for, anyway?"
"I need one of the bell jars that the Pleiades Saints use," I reply. "My thought was to bring Kagari's body back here to keep it fresh in the Freezer. We can let those twins know that they can come here to get it back later."
Hijiri nods. "Okay, sounds good… then when should we get going?"
I grab my phone to check the time. Surprisingly, it's actually quite late, almost ten in the morning. It's been awhile since I've slept in to that extent.
"Well, I guess the ideal situation would be to capture Kagari before school's out and then confront Matsuri after school," I say. "One of her friends, Chisato, also has antimagic powers, so that should be helpful against the mind control."
"So… it's almost ten o'clock, and it probably only takes an hour or two to get there by train, right? No point leaving before lunch, at the very least. What should we do until then? Finish the game?"
"Well… sure, why not," I agree.
So we pull out the game we'd been playing the day before, and keep at it until the final boss. Then we head downstairs to join her family for lunch, where her mother makes a big deal of her finally joining them for a meal. Her little sisters are also there, as noisy as ever. After the meal, the two of us set out for the train station, stopping off at Angelica Bears along the way to steal a magical bell jar.
As soon as we arrive in Hohzuki, I scry on Kagari and find her loafing around on a balcony outside the apartment she's been occupying. I lead the way to the address I knew she'd been occupying at one point, hoping it's the same one, and it turns out it is – I look up and see her there on the balcony.
«Okay, that's her,» I say, switching to telepathy to make sure she can't hear me.
«Right, so… we want to capture her without her noticing, right?» Hijiri says.
«Pretty much… especially since her power is to alter memories, so it could be a disaster if she were to catch on.»
«Hmm… she's not transformed, so Tocco del Mare may not work,» Hijiri says.
«We'd feel bad making you do all the work anyway…» I say.
«You have a point there,» Hijiri says. «But do you have a better idea?»
«When you connect to her, you can erase your presence from her awareness… can you erase ours as well?»
«I've never tried,» Hijiri says. «It's a risk… want to try it?»
«Sure.»
Hijiri grabs my hand and pulls me into the alleyway to transform. I also transform, and then she darts out to lash out with her whip at Kagari, who doesn't seem to notice at all.
«Alright, go ahead,» she says.
I leap up onto the balcony and land softly behind her. Kagari suddenly sits up, looking around in surprise, as if she'd heard something, but before she can react any further, I grab her from behind, putting a hand over her mouth so she doesn't scream and grabbing her ring hand. Before she even realizes what's happening, I have the ring off her finger. Then Hijiri joins me on the balcony, and we drag her into the apartment, where Hijiri uses her whip to bind her hands and feet.
"Who the hell are you two!?" Kagari shouts. "What the hell do you want with me!? You're magical girls, right? Give my ring back!"
"If you want it back, you've gotta promise us to give those two their memories back," I say.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Kagari says.
"Don't play dumb," I say. "We know exactly what you've done to Matsuri and Suzune. We're giving you a choice here. If you want your soul gem back, you've gotta promise to give them their memories back."
Kagari stares at me for a few seconds.
"Well? What'll it be? Will you undo what you did to them?"
"Don't be absurd," Kagari retorts. "You can't make me. Even if you kill me here, that girl will keep on killing."
"So you won't back down, correct?" I say.
"Of course not!"
"Then we'll take your soul gem with us," I say. "And we'll let our friend take care of your body."
"W-wait, no!" Kagari gasps. "That's no different from killing me!"
"It's not so bad," I say. "Perhaps you can share her body. See you later, Kagari."
I hop out the window and duck into the alleyway to power down before making my way towards Matsuri's school. Hijiri contacts me as I head away.
«I've got her in the bell jar,» she says. «I'll wait for you outside the train station.»
«Alright, thanks for the help.»
I arrive a little early to Akanegasaki Middle School, so I decide to walk around a bit instead of loitering outside the gate. I stop for some snacks at a pastry shop, then return to the school as students start to trickle out. It's several minutes before I see Arisa, Chisato, and Haruka leaving the school together. But Matsuri is not with them… for a few moments I'm confused, but then I realize she hasn't even entered this school yet. The school year in Japan begins in April, after all, and when all the Suzune events went down, Matsuri was a first year student… so at this point she's still in grade six at some elementary school.
However… the four of them were definitely together earlier in the year, so they must have met outside of school. Figuring that the three of them will meet up with her, I decide to follow them, and my decision is rewarded when they spot her waiting outside the gate of her elementary school. She waves and crosses the street to meet them.
"What took you so long?" Matsuri asks. "It feels like I've been waiting for ages…"
"Haruka had a bit of trouble to deal with," Chisato says.
"Seriously, what a pain that was," Arisa grumbles.
"Nevertheless, are you ready to hunt witches?" Haruka asks.
"Never readier!" Matsuri says.
That's when I step up to them and accost them.
"Excuse me, but could we talk with you for a minute?" I ask.
The trio spins to face me in surprise; Matsuri was already facing in my general direction, so she just turns to look at me.
"Oh… it's you again," Haruka says. "Ashley Taylor, I think you said your name was?"
"We're happy that you remember us," I say.
"Well… what do you want now?" Haruka asks suspiciously.
"We actually wanted to speak to Hinata Matsuri specifically this time." I say.
"M-me!?" Matsuri gasps. "W-what for?"
"Why should we trust you?" Arisa snaps.
"No, hold on, I want to at least hear her out!" Matsuri says. "If she wants to talk to me, there must be a reason… it's not right to just shut her down!"
"Well, we have something that we'd like to entrust to your care," I say.
"O-okay… but why me?" she asks.
"We just think you're the most suited to the role," I say.
"Haruka… let's find a more private place to chat and hear her out," Matsuri says.
"Just for the record, we don't really mind if the three of you listen in, but perhaps Miss Matsuri will disagree," I say.
"There's no way!" Matsuri says. "These are my friends… I have no secrets from them!"
I nod. "Alright, if that's how you feel, then that's fine with us."
"Okay… if you're sure, Matsuri, then we'll listen to what she has to say," Haruka says. "But if this is something dangerous… then you'll be sorry. Let me see… yes, that should be a good place to chat."
Haruka leads the way away from the school, and while I follow them, I decide to check in on Madoka.
Madoka bursts into the under construction wing of the mall and sees Kyuubey just sitting there looking at her.
"Ah, long time no see, Kaname Madoka," it says. "And Akemi Homura."
Homura steps out of the shadows, already transformed.
"Homura-chan!" Madoka gasps. Then she turns to Kyuubey. "Why… why do you remember what happened last time?"
"Amazing, isn't it?" Kyuubey says. "But it's quite simple. When Akemi Homura activated her ability, I was also in contact… with your foot, Madoka. So that's how I returned along with you."
Homura steps in front of Madoka as if to shield her from Kyuubey.
"So?" she says. "So what? No matter what happens, I will not allow Madoka to contract."
"I hope you won't misunderstand," Kyuubey says. "You plan to copy your actions from last time in order to predict the future, right? I would like to cooperate with your act."
"W-what?" Madoka asks.
Glancing at her, she says, "There's no benefit for him to, but we need his cooperation to realize our goal."
"You get it now, Homura."
"Alright, then first thing first," Homura says.
She steps forward to grab Kyuubey by the ear appendage and slam it to the ground.
"Just like last time, here was where I beat you into a pulp!"
She finishes off by pulling out a shotgun and firing, although the shot just misses Kyuubey. Madoka watches the whole thing anxiously, looking like she wants to stop it but isn't sure how.
"…did I miss?"
"Yikes!"
Sayaka appears from somewhere with a shout – probably the same door Madoka came in through a minute ago.
"Madoka, watch out!"
She grabs a nearby fire extinguisher and blasts it off at Homura, forcing her back.
"Madoka, over here!" Sayaka calls.
"Sayaka-chan!"
Madoka hesitates for a moment before grabbing the injured Kyuubey from the ground… or actually, it doesn't even look injured at all, but it seems to be playing dead. Because she's confused and in a hurry, she grabs it by the ear appendage, but she quickly transfers it to a more sensible carrying posture, apologizing under her breath.
"What even was that!?" Sayaka asks. "A terrorist cosplay?"
But that's when Gertrud's labyrinth forms around them. Sayaka spots a fake emergency exit sign nearby, but it doesn't seem to point to anything useful.
"Huh? Emergency exit?" Sayaka asks, confused. "Seriously, what the heck is going on!? This has to be some kind of joke… am I having a nightmare?"
As they're surrounded by Gertrud's familiars, Madoka doesn't show any fear at all, instead just watching in mild interest.
"They're actually… kind of cute," she murmurs.
"The heck're you talking about, these things are scary!" Sayaka shouts. "Stop daydreaming, Madoka!"
"Ah! What!? Sayaka-chan?" Madoka gasps, startled.
"What do you think?" Sayaka asks. "This is obviously not good!"
"Uh… yeah." Madoka says. "We should… run? Ah, but we're surrounded…"
"…why the heck do you look so excited?" Sayaka says. "This isn't something to be happy about…"
Then, just at the last second, as it seems like the two of them are about to be killed, Mami finally shows up.
"That was close, right?" Mami says. "But it's alright now."
"Thank goodness!" Madoka says.
"Thank you for saving Kyuubey," Mami says. "He is a dear friend of mine. Judging by your uniforms, you are also students of Mitakihara Middle School… first-years?"
"W-who are you?" Sayaka asks.
"How rude of me," Mami says. "I haven't introduced myself yet… but before that, allow me to take care of something first."
But as she turns and transforms, Madoka can no longer contain her excitement and glomps her.
"Miss Mami! I can't believe I get to see you again!"
"M-madoka!?" Sayaka gasps.
"Ah… um… what?" Mami looks confused.
The familiars close in on them again, and she points a musket at the nearest.
"Whatever it is, let me take care of these things first!"
She pulls free of Madoka and destroys all the familiars, and the barrier collapses soon afterwards.
"Ah! Everything is back to normal!" Sayaka says.
"I'm sorry, Miss Mami," Madoka says.
Then Homura makes an appearance, and Mami looks at her.
"What are you doing?" she asks.
"Eh… is everything alright?" Homura asks.
"W-what?" Mami gasps.
"I just thought you seemed more tired than normal…"
"No!" Mami says. "It… it was a piece of cake! The witch got away, but if you hurry, you can still catch it! I'll let you have this one."
"That's not it… you don't seem to understand me," Homura says.
"I'm saying I'll let you go this once," Mami says coldly.
Homura hesitates for a bit, glancing at Madoka, who makes a sign crossing her index fingers. Homura seems to take the hint and turns to run off. Mami turns to face the other two.
"I am Tomoe Mami, a second-year student at your school and a magical girl who formed a contract with Kyuubey."
"Here should be a good place," Haruka says.
I'm startled out of my vision by her words, but it doesn't matter – I've seen enough to recognize the scenario that I'm currently in. Fortunately for me, it's not an entirely novel scenario. It's the plot of one of the spin-off mangas, called Homura's Revenge. While I'm not as familiar with that one, I do still have some idea of how things will play out differently from the main anime. Whether I actually make use of that knowledge though will be another story… even if I managed to trigger the formation of the Magius in this timeline, it would be no good with Kyuubey fully aware of Homura's powers. Keeping Kyuubey in the dark is an important part of the plan. So… I may just let it play out to the end without interfering. Of course, that only goes for the holy quintet. I'll interfere to my heart's content elsewhere… there are a few things I haven't been able to work out in the past four timelines that I experienced, so this is a good chance to finally nail them.
"Hello?" Arisa says. "Are you spacing out, Miss Taylor? What was it that you wanted to talk about already?"
"Ah! Sorry, yeah, we were spacing out a little," I say.
I look around for a moment. Haruka has led us to a wide bridge over a river, and we hop off the road to duck underneath it. There's a soft grassy bank here, and Matsuri takes a seat at once. The others follow suit, keeping a little more distance between me and them, and then I sit near Matsuri, facing her.
"So, what did you want with me, Miss Taylor?" Matsuri asks.
I take out Kagari's soul gem and show it to her. She looks confused.
"Huh… that's just… your soul gem, right?"
"No… this is our soul gem."
I hold up my hand to show off the ring.
"Huh? But… then… whose is that?" Matsuri asks. "Where is she? W-what have you done to this girl!?"
I answer only the first question and ignore the others.
"She's someone very close to you," I say. "That's why I wanted to place her in your care."
Matsuri gingerly takes the soul gem, looking at it with a slight frown.
"I don't know any other magical girls besides Chisato, Arisa, and Haruka, though," Matsuri says. "Oh, and you, I guess…"
"Perhaps you've simply forgotten," I say.
"So um… what am I even supposed to do with this?" she asks.
"Well, if you put it on your other hand as a ring, wouldn't that be a good way to keep it safe?"
"Um… yeah, I suppose it would," Matsuri says.
She forces the soul into ring form and slips it on her other hand. Then she looks at both her hands, frowning a little. On one hand is a ring, with a green eye mark on her fingernail. On the other hand, another ring, but no fingernail mark.
"But… is it really okay?" Matsuri wonders. "Whoever this belongs to must be lost without her magic…"
"You don't need to worry about that," I say. "That's simply not how soul gems work, and besides, that girl did some very bad things. Why don't you try communicating with her?"
"S-sure…"
Matsuri closes her eyes, seeming to focus a bit. I watch her closely, but at first I can't really tell if she's actually successful in contacting Kagari. However… after a minute or two, I see a brand-new fingernail mark fade in on the finger bearing Kagari's ring – a purple butterfly.
The girl's eyes snap open, and she spots me immediately, shooting me a glare. She jumps to her feet at once and transforms, and I do the same, seizing her by the hand and holding tight, before she has a chance to use her mind control to alter my sense of where she is… although I'm not even certain that physical contact is protection against that. The three behind her let out a gasp of shock, which is no surprise, because this is not the green outfit of Matsuri but rather the purple of Kagari, although she retains Matsuri's pigtails.
"Alright, I'm gonna give it to you!" she shouts. "How dare you kidnap me and stuff me in a jar like that!"
She summons her sword and stabs me, but somehow I manage to sidestep a little so it only pierces my shoulder instead of my heart.
"W-what's going on?" Chisato asks. "Matsuri… why did your outfit change…?"
Kagari blinks, half turning towards them.
"H-huh? Did… did you just call me Matsuri?" she asks. "Why…?"
"Well yes… because you're Matsuri." Haruka says.
She turns back to me with a glare.
"What the hell have you done to me!?" she shouts. "Spill it, now!"
"What? We thought it was obvious, Hinata Kagari," I say.
"Hinata… Kagari?" Chisato says. "What are you talking about… that's Matsuri… not… whoever Kagari is…"
"Obvious my ass!" Kagari shouts. "Why the hell would you do this to me!?"
"I thought maybe you'd learn to get along better if you had to share a body," I say. "Miss Matsuri… we know you're still in there… are you mad at us too?"
The girl's face abruptly changes, her expression becoming softer, though not entirely free of anger.
"Um… I'm not sure, exactly," Matsuri says. "I think… I never would've asked for this situation, but… everything's starting to come back to me."
Then she too transforms, producing a union of their two magical girl outfits. The detector orbs appear on their head, as well as Matsuri's green soul gem. The chest part of the costume is drawn from Kagari, with her soul gem nestled in that butterfly, but below that it follows Matsuri's design but in purple instead of green, with the white circle over her navel instead of leaving it exposed, and the yellow bars on her sides. The skirt is almost entirely based on Matsuri's green outfit, but with the addition of a black petticoat like Kagari's has. Her legs are left bare, and she wears Kagari's boots but in green instead of purple. Her left arm is encased in one of Matsuri's gauntlets, in purple instead of green, but her right arm bears only Kagari's opera glove. The yellow bow on the back from Kagari's uniform is also retained.
"The things I'd forgotten… the precious memories… if I'm mad at someone, it's the one who stole them from me… onee-chan…"
Chisato blinks. "W-what…?"
"Matsuri… you had a sister?"
"I thought you were an only child," Haruka says.
"Don't come near me, you three!" Matsuri suddenly shouts. "If you do… I really don't know what'll happen!"
Then her face contorts with rage, and I involuntarily take a couple of steps back, releasing her arm.
"What the hell are you saying, you idiot!?" Kagari shouts. "You can't stop me from using my power!"
Her face relaxes, showing determination.
"Yes I can!" Matsuri shouts. "Chisato, use your unique magic on me!"
"Eh? Are… you serious?" Chisato asks.
"Do it now!" Matsuri shouts. "Before onee-chan tries something!"
"R-right!"
Chisato transforms just as the girl's face contorts with rage again.
"I won't let you!" she screams. "All I need to do is alter—"
"Cancel!" Chisato shouts.
With a strange sound like shattering glass, the double transformation is cancelled. My own transformation is also forcibly cancelled, and Matsuri, or Kagari, whichever one she is right now, falls to her knees.
"W-what the hell!?" Kagari shouts. "How… how did you… overpower me so easily!?"
"My power is to cancel out magic," Chisato says. "So… I don't quite understand who you are or what you've done to Matsuri, but I won't let you do whatever you were planning."
The girl's face relaxes, and once again she examines her hands, blinking in surprise as she spots the new fingernail mark.
"This mark… the butterfly," she muses. "Why is that here? Is that… the sign that onee-chan is with me?"
I nod. "Yes, I believe it is," I say.
"I see," Matsuri says. "Um… Miss Taylor… to be honest, I'm not sure if I can handle this. All that anger… I don't understand what onee-chan is so mad about, and I'm not sure if I can hold her in check. But… the fact that I was able to be reunited with her at all… the fact that I even remembered she exists… that's thanks to you, so… thank you very much, Miss Taylor."
"You're not mad at us at all?"
Matsuri shakes her head. "I can't say I'm not mad at you," she says. "I am a little angry… you did this without properly explaining things to me first, after all. But still, I'm also grateful."
Matsuri turns to face her friends. "Chisato, Arisa, Haruka… can I trust you to hold me back if I… or rather, if onee-chan is doing something bad?"
"Of course!" Arisa says.
"You can count on us," Chisato says.
"We're friends," Haruka says. "I won't let you stray off the path, Matsuri."
Matsuri nods and bows. "Then… just give me one second…"
She quickly undoes her braids and reties her hair in Kagari's favoured hair-loops style. I'm a little surprised at how skilled she is at it when she's not the one who does it… although I suppose it's possible she's allowing Kagari to guide her or something. Then she bows.
"Allow me to introduce my older sister, Kagari," Matsuri says. "She's my twin sister, so if I change up my hair like this… well, that's almost exactly what she'd look like if you met her in a more normal manner. Onee-chan… these are Arisa, Chisato, and Haruka. Come on, say hi to my friends."
"W-why do I have to do that?" Kagari snaps. "I never asked to be trapped in your dumb body!"
"Even if you say that, aren't you the one who reconnected your soul to Matsuri's body?" I point out.
"Th-that was… I thought it was my own body!" Kagari protests. "How was I supposed to know you'd— oh!" She blinks. "Y-you literally said it, didn't you… that I could share her body…"
She then glares at Matsuri's friends.
"Don't think that just because you're Matsuri's friends that I gotta be all buddy-buddy with you too," she snaps. "I'd rather not see your faces, to be honest."
"You got a problem with my face!?" Arisa shouts.
As Arisa jumps up and literally pushes her face into Kagari's, the girl backpedals slightly, startled by Arisa's intensity… but then she recovers.
"Yes, I've got a problem with your ugly mug!" she shouts back. "If you've got a problem with that, then why don't you do something about it!?"
Arisa draws back her fist for a right hook, but then hesitates for a moment before dropping it.
"Idiot," she snaps. "As if I could hurt Matsuri just to get back at you."
"Hah, you coward," Kagari retorts. "Guess that means I can say whatever I want, right?"
Arisa backs off and turns her back on the girl with a sound of disgust.
"This is boring, anyway. I'm done with her."
Then the girl's face relaxes again.
"So um… yeah, that's onee-chan for you," she says. "Although I don't remember her being quite that angry and foul-mouthed… I guess people change in a year…"
"So um… there's one thing I just don't get," Haruka says. "I understand that Matsuri apparently has an older sister, but… how did they end up in the same body?"
"It's the soul gem," I say. "We took Kagari's soul gem and gave it to Matsuri, and Kagari synchronized her soul with Matsuri's body or something."
"But that doesn't make sense," Haruka says. "Unless… unless the soul gem is the true body… if it holds your consciousness, then…"
Chisato blinks. "Wait… do you think that could be true?"
"There's no way…" Arisa says.
"No, I don't think there's any other explanation," Matsuri says. "Onee-chan's real body must still exist somewhere, soulless…"
"Idiots," Kagari retorts. "Trying to hide from the truth, is that it? Of course it's your true body. It's right there in the name, isn't it? It's your soul gem… your soul."
That's a little less obvious in Japanese than it is in English, since the term "soul gem" is an English loan, but she's using a Japanese word for "soul". Still, English is widely-taught in Japan, so it wouldn't be strange for someone to make the connection anyway.
"But… but then… what's this body?" Arisa asks. "If the soul gem is our true form… then what the heck is this body? Is it… is it just an empty shell?"
"Huh… you're smarter than I thought, Arisa-chan," Kagari says. "I thought you were just a brute, but I guess you have a few functioning brain cells."
"You say that again and I'll punch you in the face!" Arisa shouts.
"Kagari, stop being mean to Arisa!" Matsuri protests.
"Whatever," Kagari retorts. "Yes, genius, it's an empty shell… a puppet. Why are you so surprised? You signed up to be a magical girl… so shouldn't you be grateful for that body that can take a terrible beating and still get up to keep on fighting? Ugh! What the hell am I even saying… now it sounds like I'm trying to encourage you! Dammit…"
"But onee-chan, how did you even know that?" Matsuri asks.
"Because unlike you, I grilled Kyuubey before making a wish!" Kagari shouts. "What kind of idiot are you anyway, making a wish the instant he shows up!?"
"Well, because it was the one thing I really wanted that I knew I couldn't get otherwise," Matsuri replies. "I've never regretted it for a second, and I doubt I ever will. Come to think of it… what did you end up wishing for, onee-chan?"
"That's none of your business," Kagari retorts.
"This… this is a little surreal, seeing the two of you having a conversation when you're both in the same body," Haruka says.
"I can't get over the fact that I'm just a puppet," Arisa mutters. "Next time I see Kyuubey, I'm gonna crush him…"
"I can't say I'm happy about that either," Chisato says. "But I guess it could be worse… I mean, it's not like we even noticed the difference…"
"That's true," Haruka says.
"Um… so, everyone," Matsuri says. "I'd like to go home and have a long talk with onee-chan, so could I skip the witch hunting today?"
"Sure, no problem," Haruka says. "I'll stop by later to check if you need a grief seed."
"Thanks," Matsuri says. "Then, I'll be going!"
With that, she turns and runs off. Then the three remaining behind turn to glare at me.
"Listen, Ashley Taylor," Haruka says. "Even if Matsuri has forgiven you, that doesn't mean we will. You've done something here that could easily throw Matsuri's whole life into disarray… and I can't say this sister of hers is a very pleasant character, either. Since she's forgiven you, I'm willing to let you go just this once, but if I see your face again, there will be hell to pay… do you understand what I mean?"
I sigh. "Ah… well… thanks for the consideration," I say. "I doubt you'll ever see us again in this time flow, anyway."
That said… from my perspective, this went even better than I'd anticipated. I wasn't even sure the second soul would be able to connect and had prepared myself to explain whose soul gem it is myself. Although… given Matsuri's reaction, that may have been a better plan to begin with. Maybe I'll do it that way next time.
"Just… let us leave you with a warning. Kagari's power is the ability to manipulate other people's memories, so… we recommend being cautious around her if she transforms. Miss Shion may be able to cancel it out easily, but Miss Narumi and Miss Kanade probably wouldn't be so lucky."
With that, I turn and head back to the train station, where I find an unexpected sight – Hijiri chatting with Honoka, who looks up after a moment and spots me.
"Ashley-chan! I didn't know you were in town!" she says.
"Honoka-chan… sorry, it was kinda sudden so we didn't tell you," I say. "Plus it's a weekday, so I figured you'd be busy…"
"Why would I be busy?" Honoka says. "I just need to hunt witches and cook dinner… the rest is free time. Well, sometimes there's homework, too, but that doesn't take up much time."
"Do you really do all the cooking yourself?" I ask.
"Well, no… Dad handles it about twice a week," Honoka says. "But I do most of it."
"So um… how is it that the two of you are together?" I ask.
"Miss Honoka apparently spotted my ring," Hijiri says. "So she just came up to me and asked if I was a magical girl. That's pretty much it… but I was surprised when she mentioned your name. She ended up telling me how she met you."
Honoka nods. "Yeah, since she's the first magical girl I've met besides you, Ashley-chan… I didn't expect you'd know each other though."
"Is that so… well, okay," I say.
"So, why don't you two drop by my place for dinner?" Honoka says.
"Um… well, why not," I say. "Hijiri, you'll have to let your parents know you won't need dinner, right?"
Hijiri nods. "That's no problem, I'll give them a call once we get to Honoka's house."