I find a response from Hijiri awaiting me in the morning.

"I'd be happy to stay over, if the family you're with is okay with it. However, if I'm going to do that, then I'll need to talk to Moe-chan before I leave Hohzuki. Could we meet around noon at the Hohzuki station? You can tell me all about that other girl then."

I send a quick response.

"Sure thing! I'll be there!"

Then I check with Mrs Hayashi to see if she'll mind me inviting Hijiri over. She seems pretty okay with it, so I spend an hour or two puttering around on my computer. Then I head out, with Inui coming along for the ride as usual. We take the train to Hohzuki and meet up with Hijiri at the station. Then we locate Kagari and restrain her just like last time. Inui doesn't really have anything to do, so she just watches. However, once Kagari is neutralized and her body is stuffed into Hijiri's bell jar, I have different plans.

«She's stowed away, so I'll wait for you at the station,» Hijiri says.

«Actually, I wouldn't mind if you'd like to come along this time,» I say. «You could leave the bell jar there for a little while, right?»

«Sure, if that's what you want,» Hijiri says. «I'll need to charge it for a minute to make sure it lasts until we get back, so hold on…»

"Why'd you stop all of a sudden, Ashley-chan?"

For some reason I'd sent that telepathy on a private channel, so Inui wasn't included.

"Oh, sorry, Inui-chan," I say. "I'm just waiting for Kanna-chi, and then we'll go meet up with someone else."

"Is this someone else a friend, or is she someone you remember from another timeline?"

"Well… you'll see," I say.

Hijiri shows up at that moment.

"So… what's the plan?" she asks.

Last time I accosted them outside their school, but there's no school on Saturdays, so I'll need to find them some other way.

"Right… if I recall correctly, you were able to find Hinata Matsuri last time," I say. "Does that mean you know where she lives?"

"Well… no, I'm afraid not," Hijiri says. "I chanced upon her while she was out and about."

"Hmm… but you do know where Chisato Shion lives, at least… right?"

"Yes… that's true," Hijiri says.

I ponder the options. I'd prefer to initiate contact with Matsuri, as she's more trusting than the others, but can I find her house? Wait… I did watch her head home from school at least once, so perhaps…

"Okay, for starters, let's head for Akanegasaki Middle School," I say.

Inui whips her phone out to get directions and leads the way there. I decide not to mention that it wasn't really necessary, since I'd already gone that way before… although I can't say with confidence that I'd remember exactly.

"Now… let me think a second," I say.

"Why'd you come here?" Inui asks. "It doesn't look like anyone's there… I thought maybe this was one of those rare schools that still has classes on Saturdays, but it doesn't look like it."

"It's because I might be able to remember the route she took home," I say. "But in order to make use of that information, I need to start from the same point."

I look around, searching for any recognizable landmarks. Finally I spot something and head in a direction. Hesitantly, groping through my memories, I work my way further and further away from the school until I find myself in a somewhat high-class neighbourhood, filled with two-storey Western-style houses with walled yards. They're no mansions or anything, and in fact they're not appreciably larger than the Hayashi house, but there's more open space around them, which is a clear sign of luxury. There's just one problem.

"So close," I groan. "I've found her neighbourhood, but how am I supposed to tell which house is hers!? They all look the same to me!"

"Her surname is Hinata," Hijiri says.

I look around, trying to find a clue, any clue, that sets her house apart from the others. While I do that, Inui and Hijiri step forward and just walk down the street. Inui scans the houses on the right, while Hijiri scans the ones on the left.

"There!" Inui says suddenly. "Hinata! This is the one!"

"Huh?"

I hurry forward to join her and look where she's pointing. Sure enough, there's a plaque bearing a pair of kanji on the indicated house.

"Ah… I'm not used to houses being labelled like this," I say. "It's very rare in America to put your name out in front of your house. Thank you, Inui-chan."

"Glad I could be helpful!" Inui says cheerfully. "So… now what?"

"Well… first I should check if she's even home…"

I scry on her, but it seems luck's not in my favour today. She's in a grocery store, so probably running some errands for her father or something? Next I try scrying on her house, hoping I might spot her father, but he doesn't appear to be around either.

"Hmm… she's buying groceries, so I guess that implies she should be back soon," I say. "We could either wait, or try to head her off… but I have no idea where she'd be… I mean, there's probably multiple places to get groceries around here, right?"

"I think it's easier to just wait," Hijiri says.

"Yeah, I agree," Inui nods.

So we find a place to sit in a nearby park and wait for about half an hour while Matsuri finishes her shopping and heads back home. We connect with her just outside her house, startling her.

"Eh!?" Matsuri gasps. "Oh! You're… Ashley Taylor, aren't you?"

"That's right," I say. "We're flattered you remember us. Considering we just showed up out of the blue to spout about a powerful witch…"

"W-well, I don't know about the others, but you made an impression on me," Matsuri says. "Um… so, what brings you here now? Is it about Walpurgisnacht again? But you should probably talk to Haruka about that…"

"Well, we'd certainly be open to discussing that," I say. "But our main goal today is something more personal regarding you specifically."

Matsuri blinks. "Eh? Something… personal? Umm… well, in that case, I'd better invite you in… I'll make you some tea, and you can introduce your friends there."

I nod. "Sounds good to me," I say.

She unlocks the door and leads the way inside, where we shed our shoes and follow her directions to the living room. The three of us find cushions on the floor to sit on while Matsuri heads for the kitchen to put away her groceries and prepare the tea. A few minutes later, she enters the living room with a tray bearing four cups of tea and sets it on the table. We each grab a cup and take a sip.

"So these are my friends, Hijiri Kanna and Itsumi Inui," I say. "Inui-chan, Kanna-chi… this is Hinata Matsuri."

Matsuri nods. "It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Matsu-chi!" Inui says.

Matsuri brushes off the weird nickname and turns to me.

"So, you said it was something personal," she says. "Whatever could that be?"

"Well… we have reason to believe that your memories have been altered, Miss Hinata," I say. "You've forgotten something very important."

"W-what!?"

I nod. "I understand this is hard to believe… you barely know us, and you certainly have no reason to trust us."

"W-well… you're not wrong about that," Matsuri says. "Still… I don't want to think you're lying… and I assume you have proof, right?"

"Unfortunately, we don't have anything that could be called solid proof," I say. "Weak evidence, at best. Still, you don't actually need my proof, really. It's a magical effect, so it can be neutralized by magic."

Matsuri strikes a fist against her palm.

"Ah! Chisato! You're saying Chisato could remove the spell, right?"

"Pretty much," I say. "Actually, I suggest you call her over."

Matsuri nods. "Okay, I'll do that."

She whips out her phone to compose a text message, but pauses halfway through to blink at me.

"But wait, how did you know about Chisato's power?" Matsuri asks. "Last time we met, none of us explained our powers to you…"

"Well, let's call that a trade secret for now," I say.

"That's… not very reassuring…"

But Matsuri finishes sending her message, then sets the phone aside.

"Still, who would want to alter my memories and why?" she wonders. "It's not like I've made any enemies or anything…"

"Well, it all revolves around a magical girl you once knew," I say.

Matsuri blinks. "Eh? Other than Arisa, Chisato, and Haruka… oh, and you… I don't know any magical girls."

"Her surname was… Mikoto, I think it was?" I say.

"Wait… that's Tsubaki's surname," Matsuri says. "Did she have a daughter?"

"Not that we're aware of," I say. "She was a magical girl herself… we never met her obviously, but we've heard her name from Kyuubey, so there's no doubt."

"Oh wow… to think I was that close to the magical world even before I made my wish," Matsuri says. "That's amazing. I had no idea. But um… what does that have to do with missing memories?"

"I think you'll understand once we lay out all the details," I say. "But I'd prefer to do that after you get your memories back, as it should be easier to understand that way. Although we can start explaining now if you really want."

"Hmm… well, I suppose you have a point," Matsuri admits. "I expect Chisato should be here in a few minutes… I'll go make an extra cup of tea while we wait for her."

She jumps up and runs out of the room.

"So… you're going to explain everything before you hand over the soul gem?" Hijiri asks.

I nod. "Yeah… last time I handed over the soul gem first, and the outcome was… not terrible, but… I think it's better if she fully understands the situation first. I'd rather not alienate her friends the way I did last time."

"So um… that girl was her twin sister, right?" Inui asks. "They do look identical…"

"Yeah… and from what I understand, it's possible for twins to share the same body," I say. "So, it's sort of a punishment. There's not really any point in explaining everything to you now since I'm going to explain it to her in a few minutes anyway."

The doorbell rings in the middle of my sentence, but I ignore it and finish speaking. Matsuri runs past the room and opens the door.

"Come in, Chisato!" she says. "Thank you for coming over! I realize it was a sudden request."

"No, it's fine," Chisato replies. "I wasn't really doing anything, anyway, so… what's going on?"

"Well, Ashley Taylor came over," Matsuri begins.

"W-wait, what!?" Chisato gasps. "Are you serious? I don't know if we can trust her…"

"I think we can," Matsuri says. "But she's been saying some strange things…"

"Didn't you just contradict yourself?" Chisato says. "If you're calling them strange, it means you don't believe them, right?"

"That's not it," Matsuri says. "From how she speaks, it doesn't seem like she's lying. That's why I need your power to prove one way or another."

"Huh? But my power has nothing to do with truth or lies," Chisato says. "You know what my power is…"

"I know," Matsuri says. "And that's why I'm sure you're the right person for the job. Come, let's go into the living room… I've made you some tea as well."

"Alright…"

The two of them appear in the doorway once more, and Chisato shoots me a suspicious look before blinking at the sight of the two extras.

"And… who are these?" she asks.

"Friends of mine," I say. "Itsumi Inui and Hijiri Kanna… meet Shion Chisato."

Chisato blinks. "R-right…"

She takes a seat that distances her from the three of us while Matsuri runs to the kitchen to fetch her tea. Once she has returned and handed over the tea cup, she sits down and announces the situation.

"So, Chisato, I want you to use your power on me," Matsuri says.

"I can do that, but… could you at least explain why?" Chisato says.

"Because what Miss Taylor claimed is that someone used magic on me to alter my memories," Matsuri explains. "So your ability to undo magic is the perfect way to verify if that's true."

Chisato nods. "Okay… I get it," she says.

She gulps down half her tea in one go, then transforms and points at Matsuri.

"Cancel!"

Matsuri suddenly clutches at her head and hunches over for a moment.

"Oww…"

Chisato gasps. "W-what's wrong?"

"No… I'm fine," Matsuri says, straightening. "There was just a bit of pain as the magic was torn away, or something…"

"So you're saying… it's true?" Chisato asks.

"Yes… it seems to be," Matsuri says. "I don't understand why, but… it seems onee-chan erased my memories of her…"

Chisato blinks. "Wait… you had an older sister!?"

"A twin, yes," Matsuri says. "She must've become a magical girl too… but I have no idea where she is now, or why she altered my memories…" Then she turns to look at me. "But… I have a feeling you do know that, Miss Taylor. Is that why you're here?"

I nod. "Yes, I can't say I know everything, but I know the most important details," I say.

"So, Miss Taylor… you already knew that Matsuri had an older twin sister?" Chisato asks.

"Yes, I knew. But, Miss Hinata… there should be someone else you forgot besides your sister, right?"

Matsuri nods. "Yes… Suzune-chan," she says. "Another magical girl who has vanished without a trace…"

"So… your sister erased your memories both of herself and this… Suzune?" Chisato asks. "Why would she do such a thing?"

"Well… it's not a fun story," I say. "So brace yourself, both of you."

Matsuri nods. "I'm ready to hear it."

"I already mentioned Mikoto Tsubaki earlier, right?"

"Y-yeah… she used to be my nanny, but she suddenly left, and just a couple of weeks later she was reported missing."

"Right, so it all boils down to the reason she left," I explain. "I'm assuming you know that Amano Suzune is an orphan, right?"

"Y-yeah, I was aware," Matsuri says.

"It seems that after Miss Mikoto saved her from a witch, she became a magical girl, and Miss Mikoto decided to adopt her and look after her," I explain. "That's around the same time she left her job as your nanny, I believe."

Matsuri blinks. "Ah… I think I have some idea of where this is going now… onee-chan was livid that Tsubaki was gone…"

"Right… I don't know how she found out, maybe Kyuubey told her, but when she learned that Miss Mikoto had left because of Miss Amano, she started to blame that girl for it," I explain. "And of course, that was after Miss Mikoto… went missing, so she blamed the girl for that as well."

"Do you happen to know why she went missing?" Matsuri asks.

"I do know, but…" I glance at Chisato. "I think Miss Shion would prefer not to hear it."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Chisato asks.

"Miss Mikoto is dead," I say bluntly. "The only reason the news didn't state that was because her body couldn't be found, and will never be found. Your sister was aware of that and blames Miss Amano for her death… and while I won't get into the details, she's not entirely wrong to do so."

"Suzune-chan would never kill anyone, especially Tsubaki!" Matsuri protests.

"I understand what you mean," I say. "For now, just think of it as a tragic accident, okay?"

"R-right…"

"But that said, Miss Amano has killed many people," I say. "Ever since she disappeared from your life, she's made it her mission to hunt down magical girls and kill them."

Matsuri blinks. "I don't believe it… she's such a kind girl! She'd never do that!"

"Yeah… under normal circumstances you'd be right," I say. "But that's where your sister fits in. You see, as I mentioned, she bears a grudge against Miss Amano, and she made use of her wish to carry out her own personal vendetta. To sum it up… your sister has the power to alter memories. It's not just about making people forget things – she can fabricate new memories too. She's the real reason Miss Amano is killing magical girls."

"W-why would she do that!?" Matsuri gasps. "I… I really don't get it… this doesn't make any sense…"

"I have to agree with you there," I say. "Her revenge plan really doesn't make any sense to me… but I think the end goal is to make Miss Amano suddenly realize what she's been doing against her will and be filled with guilt before killing her… or maybe even inducing her to commit suicide…"

Matsuri falls silent for a little while, pondering. Then she lets out a sigh.

"Well… for the most part, all the pieces of your story seem to fit together," she says. "I never would've thought onee-chan would stoop to murder, but I have to admit that she does have a vindictive personality… so it's barely within the realm of possibility. The parts you're not telling me though… about how Tsubaki died… it seems like that has to be important?"

"Well… there's a reason why I'm not explaining that," I say. "It's the sort of knowledge that can drive people mad just from knowing it… I think you'd be able to handle it, Miss Hinata, but I'm less sure about Miss Shion and the rest of your team."

"Well, let's set that aside for now," Matsuri says. "I more or less understand everything you've said, so let's move onto the next issue… why have you told me all of this? I mean… I have no idea where onee-chan or Suzune-chan are, so it's not like I can do anything about it? Although, I admit that I'm a little happy just to remember that they exist."

"As a matter of fact, I know where both of them are," I say. "In the case of Miss Amano, I don't know her exact location at this moment, but I do know two things. First, I believe she intends to visit Kamihama tomorrow."

Chisato gasps. "Eh? That's a strange coincidence…"

"What do you mean?" Matsuri asks.

"Well, Arisa invited me on a trip to Kamihama tomorrow," Chisato says. "She thought we should try to find one of my father's books… but if this girl is that dangerous, maybe we shouldn't?"

"You should be fine," I say. "Kamihama is a big place, so the chance of you accidentally crossing paths there is pretty low, as long as you don't go after any witches."

Chisato nods. "Okay… we weren't planning to do that anyway… no need to get in a turf war in someone else's city."

"The other thing I know about Miss Amano is that she'll be entering Akanegasaki Middle School next month."

"Same as me," Matsuri says. "So we might even end up in the same class… okay, so Suzune-chan is easy to find, I just need to wait for her. What about onee-chan?"

I take out Kagari's soul gem and show it to her. Matsuri blinks at me in confusion.

"Huh? Why are you showing me your soul gem?" she asks.

"This isn't my soul gem," I say. "See? I still have the soul gem ring on my finger."

"Th-then… whose soul gem is… w-wait a second… is that onee-chan's soul gem!?"

"Oh… you guessed it, huh? Yeah, you're exactly right," I say. "This is Hinata Kagari's soul gem."

"W-where is onee-chan, then?" Matsuri asks urgently. "What have you done to her?"

"What do you mean?" I ask. "She's right here. Take her."

I hold out the soul gem, and she takes it from me gingerly.

"W-what are you saying…?" Matsuri asks. "You're telling me… the soul gem is…"

"Yes, the soul gem holds your consciousness," I reply. "It's even possible to swap bodies with another magical girl by swapping soul gems. And if you turn it to ring form and put it on your finger… you should be able to share your body with her."

"Why are you doing this to onee-chan!?" Matsuri asks.

"Um… I just finished explaining that," I say.

"Ah… right…"

"I've asked Kanna-chi to take care of Miss Kagari's original body for awhile," I say. "I'll leave it up to you whether to share your body with her, or just keep her soul gem safe."

Matsuri falls silent for several seconds, then sighs.

"Yeah… I think I get your intention here," Matsuri says. "Onee-chan did something terrible, so she needs to face some sort of consequences, right? Okay… I'll take care of her. When I think she's ready to make amends, I'll contact you. Until then… I'll share with onee-chan."

She turns Kagari's soul gem into ring form and slips it onto the middle finger that doesn't already have a ring.

"So um… how do I even do this?" she asks.

"I'm not quite sure whether you even can," I say. "It might be up to Miss Kagari to connect herself to your body… but just try communicating with her. It could help."

Matsuri closes her eyes and seems to focus a bit. After a minute or two, I see the butterfly mark appear on her fingernail like before. Then her eyes snap open, and she spots me immediately, shooting me a glare as she jumps to her feet at once and transforms. I do the same, seizing her by the hand and holding tight, while Chisato lets out a gasp of shock at Kagari's purple outfit.

"Alright, I'm gonna give it to you!" Kagari shouts. "How dare you kidnap me and stuff me in a jar like that!"

When she summons her sword to stab me, I step aside so the attack misses, while also summoning my own sword to smack it away from me.

"W-what's going on?" Chisato asks. "Matsuri… why did your outfit change…?"

Kagari blinks, half turning towards her.

"H-huh? Did… did you just call me Matsuri?" she asks. "Why…?" She blinks, looking around at the room. "Wait… I'm… I'm at home!?"

"Eh? Th-then it's really true?" Chisato gasps.

Kagari turns back to me with a glare.

"What the hell have you done to me!?" she shouts. "Spill it, now!"

"I don't think it's all that complicated," I retort. "Your punishment for your crimes is forcing you to live with your younger sister. I think it's pretty fitting."

"I'll never forgive you for this!" Kagari screams.

She raises her sword for a downwards swing, but then her arm freezes, probably a result of Matsuri struggling for control of the body. A moment later, Matsuri transforms, producing the blended outfit, and throws the sword away.

"E-eh!?" Kagari gasps.

Then her face abruptly changes, her expression becoming softer and even friendly.

"Chisato, please use your magic again," Matsuri says.

"Okay," Chisato says. "Cancel!"

Her magic forcibly cancels all three transformations – mine, Matsuri's and Kagari's. Matsuri sits down and looks at me.

"Miss Taylor, it may take a strange form, but thank you for reuniting me with onee-chan," Matsuri says. "I'll be forever grateful to you for doing this… and also, thank you for explaining everything to me first. Well… almost everything."

She examines her hands and blinks as she spots the new fingernail mark.

"Ah… this butterfly mark… it must be the sign that onee-chan is with me, right?"

"As far as I know, that's correct," I say.

Matsuri turns to face her friend. "Chisato… can I trust you to hold me back if I… or rather, if onee-chan is doing something bad? I'll ask the same of Haruka and Arisa later, too."

"You can count on me," Chisato says.

Matsuri nods and bows. "Then… just give me one second…"

As before, she redoes her hair in Kagari's favoured style, then 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… this is Chisato. Come on, say hi to my friend."

"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 Chisato.

"Don't think that just because you're Matsuri's friend that I gotta be all buddy-buddy with you too," she snaps. "I'd rather not see your face, to be honest."

"You're surprisingly quite rude," Chisato observes. "I have a feeling Arisa's going to blow her top when she meets you…"

"Oh? Well, maybe I should meet her, then," Kagari says. "It might be fun toying with her a little."

"Yeah, um… good luck with that," Chisato says. "Because Arisa does not take kindly to being toyed with. You could end up with a black eye."

"Only if she dares to hurt her precious little Matsuri," Kagari sneers.

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…"

"Come to think of it," Chisato muses. "If the soul gem holds the consciousness… then what about this body? Is it… is it just an empty shell?"

"Yes, genius, it's an empty shell," Kagari retorts. "It's nothing but 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.

"Seeing the two of you having a conversation is kinda surreal when you're both in the same body," Chisato says. "But anyway, you're right… I guess it could be worse… I mean, it's not like we even noticed the difference…"

"Exactly," I say. "It's better if you know, because you can take extra precautions against separating from your soul gem, but it doesn't hurt you too much if you don't know."

"So um… what about the Walpurgisnacht business?" Matsuri asks. "We have talked about it once or twice, after all, so should we find the others and decide now?"

"Well… I have quite a few things to do," I say. "So unless they're close…"

"Pretty sure Haruka said she was going hunting alone," Chisato says. "Arisa… she's probably at the arcade."

"Well… at the very least, I could pass on any new information you have to Haruka," Matsuri suggests. "For example, do you know when and where it will appear yet?"

"I'm afraid not," I say. "I can give at best about twenty-four hours notice before it appears. It should be around the end of April, but I'm not sure of the exact date. As for where… it'll hit the southern shore of this island, but I don't know exactly where."

"Southern shore… so Kamihama, probably?" Matsuri says. "Either that, or it comes in through the bay to hit Takarazaki, Kazamino, and Mitakihara?"

I nod. "Yeah, that's pretty much the two options."

"I want no part in this," Kagari grumbles. "Don't you dare force me into some stupid epic battle!"

"You don't really have a say in this, onee-chan," Matsuri retorts. "Maybe you should've thought about that before jumping on a stupid revenge train." She sighs. "Anyway, I'll pass that on to Haruka… unless you want to take care of it, Chisato? After all that's happened, I'd actually like to have a long chat with onee-chan…"

Chisato nods. "Sure, I guess I can pass on that info," she says. "End of April, either Kamihama or Mitakihara, and twenty-four hours advance notice… seems pretty simple."

"If you're having a chat, you might need some extra grief seeds," I suggest.

"I have a fresh one right now, so I should be fine," Matsuri says.

"Well, I'll stop by later to check, just in case," Chisato says. "And… I'll leave you alone… with your sister."

I stand up, and Inui and Hijiri follow suit.

"We'll also get going," I say. "For the same reasons."

"See you later, Chisato," Matsuri says. "And… perhaps the rest of you, too."

The four of us head out, and before Chisato heads her own way, I have one last thing to say to her.

"By the way, Miss Shion… you probably already got the gist of it, but since Miss Kagari can manipulate other people's memories, I recommend being cautious around her if she transforms. That goes doubly for the others – while you may be able to cancel out her magic easily, Miss Kanade and Miss Narumi probably wouldn't be so lucky."

Chisato nods. "I understand. I'll warn the others before they meet Miss Kagari, and make sure I'm there when they do. And… look for a message from us within, oh, about two or three weeks. I can't promise it'll come, but if we do decide to join you against Walpurgisnacht… obviously we need to let you know at some point."

"Got it," I say.

I turn to my companions.

"Well, let's go, Inui-chan, Kanna-chi."

"Will we be stopping by Honoka-chan's house?" Hijiri asks.

"Well… I suppose she'd get mad at me if I didn't even stop by, huh?" I say. "I'll send her a message, just a sec."

I fish out my phone and compose a message to her.

"Hey, just letting you know I happen to be in town, in case you wanted to meet up. I've got two friends with me."

Then we make our way towards the station. The reply comes when we're about halfway there.

"Of course I want to! You have to come by for lunch, at least!"

So we stop by at Honoka's place for lunch, and I broach the subject of Walpurgisnacht while I'm there. She agrees to make sure she keeps the last week of April free so she can join the battle. Once we've finished eating and spent an hour or two playing cards with her, we retrieve the bell jar and then take a train back to Mitakihara, where I introduce Hijiri to the Hayashi family.

"So… what's your deal here?" Hijiri asks once it's just the three of us in the guest room. "You had a reason for asking me to stay over, after all."

"Yes… there's another girl in the neighbouring town who's not interested in playing nice," I say. "I think I can bring her around, but I'd like to first give her a taste of oblivion, if you get my meaning."

Hijiri nods.

"I think I understand," she says. "So this girl… can I get more details before we chase her down?"

"Sure," I say. "She actually has similar powers to Kagari, although I think she requires physical contact to use them, so she's not as strong. Her name is Yuuki Sasa, and she mainly uses her power to control witches. Tomorrow she's going to ambush the magical girl team in eastern Kazamino. I'm going to ask Miss Homura to join me to destroy the ambush and take her down, then pass her body off to you."

"You're still keeping me secret from Miss Homura, right?" Hijiri says. "Do you want me to stay out of the battle?"

"What I'm keeping secret is the fact that you're sneaking a ride every time she goes back in time," I say. "Her knowing that you exist shouldn't affect your ability to do that, right?"

"Yeah… that's correct," Hijiri says. "In fact… now that I think of it, she already saw me last time, so I guess she already knows I exist. So basically… I should pretend like I don't remember her, right?"

"I guess, yeah," I say. "There's actually something else I've been wanting to discuss with you, too."

Hijiri tilts her head. "What's that?"

"Well… I know Nico has a lot of skill with technology… for example, she programmed a smartphone app that can scan and broadcast magical signatures. Do you share that skill?"

"Well… probably not to the same degree," Hijiri says. "I mean, she's likely studied a lot since our memories diverged. But… the answer is yes. I have some skill with technology."

"What about… web design?" I ask.

Hijiri blinks. "Um… I do know a little about the technical side, although I'd probably need some help making it look good. What are you getting at here?"

"I want to create a social network website specifically for magical girls," I explain. "A site where magical girls from around the world can virtually meet and chat with each other… request help with difficult problems… read news about magical girl stuff… that sort of thing."

"Oh! That's an awesome idea!" Inui gasps. "I love it!"

"Yeah… because one of the reasons we're still under Kyuubey's thumb is that there's not even the slightest semblance of unity," I say. "In fact, Kyuubey actively discourages it, right? It knows that, as long as magical girls constantly fight amongst themselves, it can continue doing as it pleases with us."

"I get the idea," Hijiri says. "There's one problem though… how do we spread the word? And normal people who see the site would probably think of it as some sort of roleplay forum, so how do we keep those people out?"

"That's a good point," I say. "Unless there's a way to remotely identify them by their magic, we'd probably need to run it on the dark web and spread by word of mouth."

"But spreading by word of mouth… doesn't seem like it would be very effective with magical girls," Hijiri says. "Remember, they tend to isolate themselves within a limited area. Even if it spreads within one city, it's unlikely to reach the next city."

"Yeah… there are some problems," I agree. "But getting the website up and working is a first step. There are various ways we could spread the word. Perhaps Puella Care would be willing to help, although I think they wouldn't be on board with a rebellion… but as long as they don't realize that's what we're planning…"

"A rebellion against Kyuubey, huh?" Inui muses. "I can't even imagine it…"

"Of course, we must not let Kyuubey catch on," I add. "The fact that I'm planning a rebellion has to stay secret for now. Just building a place to network is a first step."

Hijiri nods. "I understand. It's a big task, but I'll play around with some things in my spare time. I don't expect it'll be finished by the time the loop reverts, so I won't commit on anything, just experiment. It would be devastating to actually finish and then have all my work erased."

"Yeah, I get what you mean," I say. "That's fine. If we could go live in, oh, July or August? That would be great."

"I'll keep that in mind," Hijiri says. "But I can't promise anything, because the scale of this is way above anything I've tried before."

"You could always ask Nico for help, too," I point out.

"That's true," she says. "I'll consider that if I get stuck."

"Ah!" I blink, suddenly remembering something. "I just remembered! Today was supposed to be the day I meet Masuyo Mari!"

Inui blinks. "Oh! I'll come with you!"

I check the time. I don't remember the exact time we set out to meet her on previous loops, but I think that time has already passed… however, it might not be by much.

"Yeah, if it's okay with you, Kanna-chi, I think I'll be heading out for some witch hunting," I say. "Want to come?"

Hijiri shrugs. "I've got nothing better to do," she says. "I'll leave the bell jar in your closet, though."

We leave the house and head north to the apartment complex where Mari lives, locating a witch's portal in the playground behind it. I remember this witch – it's the one Mari beat on her own just before talking with us and taking us to meet Noriko. However, whereas the first time I came north the witch was untouched, this time the portal is flickering, so Mari must already be inside, fighting.

"Do we jump in and help?" Inui asks.

"No, let's wait for her to beat it," I say.

It doesn't take long. We've only been standing around a minute or two when Mari steps out of the collapsing barrier in her Tuxedo Mask outfit, blinking at us in surprise.

"Huh? The heck are you doing here?" she asks. "Don't tell me you were planning to steal my kill…"

I shake my head. "No, I just wanted to meet the magical girls of north Mitakihara," I say. "My name is Ashley Taylor. I'm an exchange student at Mitakihara High School."

"Huh, a social call? You serious? That's not a very magical girl thing to do," Mari says. "Well, I guess you're a rare type like Miss Tomoe… not that that's a problem or anything. So yeah, you've met one of us. I'm Masuyo Mari… and who are your friends?"

"I'm Itsumi Inui!" Inui says. "Nice to meet you!"

"My name is Hijiri Kanna… I'm visiting from out of town."

"I'd also like to meet Naomi Noriko," I add.

"Well, that shut-in only goes hunting about twice a week," Mari says with a shrug. "You're not likely to run into her by accident."

"Could you take us to her house, then?" I ask.

"Sure, why not," Mari says. "Follow me."

She powers down and leads the way east through the city, skirting the industrial district to reach the affluent suburb where Noriko lives. As always, Inui lets out a gasp as Mari walks into her house without even knocking.

"W-what are you doing?" she hisses. "It's polite to knock!"

"It wouldn't do any good," Mari says. "She lives alone here, and I can't expect her to answer the door if she's in the middle of a game."

Hijiri gazes up at the house for a moment before following us in.

"This is an awfully large house for one person," she says.

Mari shrugs. "Ask her if you're interested in the details," she says.

"And the place is spotless… for a shut-in, she's surprisingly clean," Hijiri adds.

"There's a cleaner who comes in periodically," Mari says.

"Mind if we just wait down here?" I ask.

"Sure, the living room's through there," Mari says. "Make yourself comfortable."

She heads upstairs, and the three of us enter the living room and take a seat on the couches.

"So, why'd you want to meet her, anyway?" Inui asks.

"She turned into a witch the last few times," I say. "I'm planning to save her this time, but it's easier if we've already met. Also, she has some pretty interesting powers."

"Like what?" Hijiri asks.

"Well… it's probably better to ask the girl herself," I say.

"Oh yeah, that's a good point," Hijiri says.

We fall silent as we wait for Mari and Noriko to come down. Although it's only a couple of minutes, it feels like forever. Finally we hear protests wafting down the stairs. As usual, it sounds like Mari is practically dragging Noriko out of her room. A few seconds later, the two of them enter the sitting room, Noriko trying in vain to hide herself behind the smaller Mari.

"See, they're just girls, it doesn't matter if you're properly dressed," Mari says.

"Th-that's not…"

"Anyway, let me handle the introductions," Mari says. "Ashley Taylor, Itsumi Inui, Hijiri Kanna, this shrinking violet is Naomi Noriko."

"H-how m-m-mean!" Noriko protests. "I-I'm n-not a— gyack!"

Mari darts aside, abandoning her post as Noriko's shield to give her a little shove into the sitting room. She lets out a startled cry and stumbles forward a few steps, her eyes flicking wildly back and forth.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Naomi," I say. "I'm Ashley Taylor."

"Itsumi Inui, at your service!" Inui says cheerfully.

"You can call me Kanna-chi if you want," Hijiri says.

"U-um… uhh… n-n-nice to… m-m-meet… y-you…" Noriko stammers.

"Come on, straighten up a bit," Mari says. "I know you can do it. Pretend it's a work day."

She lightly slaps Noriko on the back, and the bigger girl abruptly straightens up like a rod. As Mari and Noriko move to take a seat on one of the couches opposite us, I address her.

"Please, don't feel the need to speak out loud if it's easier to use telepathy," I say. "As long as we can communicate, it doesn't really matter how."

«Oh… that really helps,» Noriko says. «Thanks…»

"So, you have a job?" Inui asks.

«Yes, I do part-time modelling,» Noriko replies.

"Whoa, that's a shocker," Inui says. "I mean I guess you'd look great if you got all cleaned up, but you seem so shy… I can't even imagine you walking into a studio…"

«Actually, they come here…»

"There's a studio in the other room," Mari adds. "It's pretty awesome, you should see it later."

"That's surprising," Hijiri says. "They must really be desperate if they're so accommodating to come all the way out to your house for shoots."

"Well, she models… can I tell them?" Mari glances at Noriko, who nods. "She models lingerie, mostly. Apparently it's hard to find models with a build like hers, so… yeah… I guess they're willing to jump through a few hoops."

"That's true," Inui admits. "Most models are super-slim, and not quite so tall… but wait, if it's lingerie, isn't that even more embarrassing for you!?"

Noriko shakes her head. «I don't really go out, so it doesn't affect me much. Plus they let me keep some of them, so it's convenient… and the photographer's a woman…»

I repeat one of the questions I asked the last few times I was here.

"So how is it that you live alone in this big house?"

«After contracting, I won the lottery,» Noriko explains. «So I bought the place myself… and hired a cleaner once a month…»

"So you won the lottery," Hijiri says.

"Twice," Mari adds. "She was even in the news last year because of that… the first time was nearly three years ago, so it wasn't twice in one year or anything, but still."

«My magic is about luck,» Noriko explains. «Although I didn't mean to use it like that…»

"Don't feel bad," Inui says cheerfully. "I'd rather see someone like you win the lottery than some shitty old man who pervs on middle-schoolers."

Mari snorts at that descriptor, and Noriko seems to find it amusing as well. Surprisingly, Hijiri also nods and chuckles. Perhaps she also heard about that case on the news.

"So you can manipulate chance, is that it?" Hijiri asks. "Anything else?"

«Yes… I can also construct a labyrinth, and I have a heads-up display that shows me the stats of enemies and allies as well as other useful information on the battlefield.»

Hijiri blinks. "Really… you've got me curious now. Can you read our stats?"

Noriko nods and transforms, looking at her.

«Hijiri Kanna. Speed, one and a half stars. Stamina, two and a half stars. Offense, two and a half stars. Defense, two and a half stars. Learned powers, four stars. Health, five out of five hearts. Magia, zero out of five clovers. Element, void. Accelerant, three stars. Blast power, one star. Charge potential, four stars.»

Wait, what? If those last three stats truly correspond to the disc pool in Magia Record, that would mean she has no blast discs, a completely unheard of situation. Although, obviously the world isn't a game, so maybe it's a meaningless comparison. Also… her element is null? It's the rarest element, so I kinda didn't expect that… although Pernelle did mention that copy abilities are usually associated with the null element.

«Void… I have never seen that element before,» Noriko adds. «I have seen light, darkness, fire, wood, and water, but this one is new…»

I'm a little curious about who she's seen with each element. I know she's fire and Mari is forest, but who has she seen with water, light, or darkness? Perhaps they're magical girls who are no longer around… or come to think of it, she said she can see witch's stats too, so maybe she's only seen those elements on witches.

"From what I've heard, it's the rarest element," I say. "So I'm not surprised this is the first time you've seen it."

Noriko turns to Inui next.

«Itsumi Inui. Speed, two stars. Stamina, three stars. Offense, three and a half stars. Defense, one star. Learned powers, one star. Health, five out of five hearts. Magia, zero out of six clovers. Element, fire. Accelerant, two stars. Blast power, three stars. Charge potential, three stars.»

Finally she turns to look at me.

«Ashley Taylor. Speed, one star. Stamina, two stars. Offense, four stars. Defense, two and a half stars. Learned powers, two and a half stars. Health, nine out of nine hearts. Magia, zero out of four clovers. Element, darkness. Accelerant, two stars. Blast power, five stars. Charge potential, one star.»

"Interesting," Hijiri says. "I assume all those numbers correspond to some measurement, but they're kinda ambiguous-sounding… still, it might be useful to spend some time and figure out what everything means. Unless you already know exactly what each stat means?"

Noriko powers down and shakes her head.

«Some of them are fairly obvious… magia seems to measure the grief level in the soul gem… and the last three… no idea… not enough data. Witches don't even have those last three. But offense and defense seem… pretty obvious.»

"They do sound obvious," Hijiri says. "But those aren't simple things you can just measure… your magic must be aggregating a number of different things to come up with those numbers…"

"So anyway," Mari says. "Now that I've dragged you out of your room, why don't we go hunt a witch and have some sushi or something?"

«Well, I could use another grief seed, but… why sushi?»

Mari shrugs. "Why not? You love sushi, right?"

Inui giggles. "You two sure are close…"

The two of them blink at her, then exchange glances, and then Noriko waves both her hands in front of her while Mari attempts to rebut Inui's comment.

"No, no, we're not all that close," Mari says. "We just meet up now and then…"

"You know an awful lot about her for someone who claims not to be close," Inui retorts.

«It's just because… we've been at it for a long time,» Noriko says.

Inui tilts her head. "Um… is that supposed to be a rebuttal?" she asks. "Because to me it just sounds like more evidence that you're close…"

"I can't say I've ever seen a double tsundere act like this one," I add, nodding. "Definitely close friends."

Noriko turns beet red and tries her best to hide behind Mari, which of course doesn't work very well – at most she can hide her face somewhat. An awkward silence falls for a few seconds.

"So about the sushi?" Mari finally says.

«My treat?» Noriko suggests.

"If that's what you want," Mari says.

«Then give me ten… no… twelve minutes.»

"Sure, go make yourself presentable," Mari nods.

Noriko lurches to her feet and bolts from the room like a frightened rabbit, and Inui bursts out laughing a few seconds later. I shoot her a weird look.

"Ah… sorry, sorry, Ashley-nee, Miss Masuyo," Inui says once she's calmed down. "It was just so sudden and rabbit-like that I couldn't help myself. I didn't mean to make fun of her…"

"I-it's fine," Mari says. "Don't worry about it. She probably didn't hear you, either…"

"Okay, so… while she's gone, there's something I wanted to ask," I say. "I realize that you'd rather not talk about this, but… you aren't the real Masuyo Mari, right?"

Inui gasps, and Mari's eyes widen as well. This time however I don't rush forward with my thoughts, letting Mari stew over it for a bit. Finally, she responds.

"What makes you say that?" she asks.

"Well, there are several little things, but I think the chief clue is that you're not the samurai girl Miss Tomoe told me about."

"And?" Mari says. "Why are you bringing it up at all when you're already sure I'd rather not talk about it?"

"Well, the thing is, I want to try an experiment later," I say. "There's a way to bring back the real Masuyo Mari if I just have the grief seed."

Mari blinks at me. "Wait… wait what? How…?"

Inui also looks surprised. "Hold on, are you saying she…?"

"I get it," Hijiri says, nodding, but she doesn't explain.

Mari frowns. "Deducing I'm a different person… that I can understand, because there's cracks in my façade everywhere. That's why I've been avoiding Miss Tomoe, because she knew Mari-chan and would instantly realize something was strange about me. But how could you possibly deduce that Mari-chan turned into a witch!?"

"I didn't deduce it," I say. "You told me about it yourself, but time was reset so you wouldn't remember."

Mari stares at me. "You're not seriously expecting me to believe that…"

"No, I suppose not," I say, shrugging. "But it's the truth. Anyway, please think it over. I don't need her grief seed for the experiment – any grief seed would do – but I figured she was a good choice, because your body is the same as hers. That means that you could probably share your body with her if you just had her soul gem. Anyway, I'll ask you about it again in a week or so. Actually… could we also exchange contact info?"

Mari nods. "Let's wait until Nano-chan returns for that," she says.

"S-so um… sushi, right?" Inui says, awkwardly changing the topic. "You know a good place, right, Mari-chan?"

Mari blinks at her, startled at the suddenly familiar form of address, but then nods.

"Of course, there's one not far from here," she says. "To be honest, I wouldn't have chosen it myself, but Nano-chan loves it, so…"

"Huh? Is it not actually that good?" Inui asks.

"No, quite the opposite," Mari says. "It's really good… but it's also really expensive. I don't have the money to burn on expensive sushi."

"Ohhh, I get it," Inui nods. "Yeah, of course, I almost forgot how expensive sushi can get… I only ever get the cheap convenience store kind…"

An awkward silence falls as I run out of things to talk about. Inui tries several times to fill the silence with fluff, but Mari mostly doesn't hold up her end, so the conversations keep petering out after a few sentences. Finally, I hear footsteps on the stairs as Noriko returns. As always, when cleaned up and groomed she almost looks like a completely different person. Inui gasps and jumps to her feet.

"Oh my god you're so freaking cute, Nano-chan!" she exclaims. "That's incredible! You're so pretty! I can totally get why you're a model now!"

Noriko's eyes dart back and forth in panic, and I stand up and grab Inui's hand.

"Don't put her on the spot like that, Inui-chan," I say.

"B-but she's just so cute I couldn't help it," Inui says. "I really mean it!"

"Okay, before we go, let's exchange contact info," I say.

Everyone, even Hijiri, takes out their phones and taps them together in a series of beeps, indicating the transfer succeeded.

"Let's get going," Mari says. "We've gotta hunt a witch before the sushi place closes, after all."

"R-right," Noriko mutters.

We all head outside, and I hear the click as the door automatically locks itself behind us. Although I already understand how that works, apparently it catches Hijiri's interest too.

"Huh… there's an automatic lock?" she asks. "I thought I heard a similar click when we arrived… was that the door unlocking?"

"There's a fingerprint scanner, yeah," Mari says. "It only recognizes my prints and Nano-chan's prints."

As in previous timelines, we wander around for a bit until we spot a curse placed on the side of the road, after which we begin tracking the witch east towards the river. After awhile we reach the rundown dockside warehouse. The portal shows itself just in front of the warehouse.

"Now, just let me make this clear," Mari says. "The grief seed is Nano-chan's… is that okay with everyone?"

I nod. "Fine with me."

Inui nods too. "If Ashley-nee is okay with it, then so am I!"

"I'm fine with it," Hijiri says.

The four of us transform, and Noriko notices Hijiri eyeing her weapon.

«I call it… kenjuubou,» she notes.

Hijiri blinks. "That's… more descriptive than helpful…"

We step into Fliegende Krake's labyrinth, and although I've already seen it several times, the others take their time to look around the violent sea without a sky.

"Guess we have a choice of boating or swimming," Mari says. "Gotta say, I don't fancy swimming in that… I reckon we can all fit in one boat, so should we go with that?"

"I think that's what the witch expects," Hijiri notes. "But it doesn't seem like we have another option…"

"I agree, we should just use the boat," Inui says.

«I concur,» Noriko adds.

"Looks like you're outvoted, Miss Taylor," Mari says with a grin as she hops in.

"Why are you assuming I was about to vote against it?" I ask.

I hop in the boat last of all, which places me right by the engine. I slice open the tentacle-rope holding the boat in place, then yank the starter cable. The engine roars to life, sending us zooming across the violent waters, and for now I steer to avoid the whirlpools. Although I know we need to go down one of them, my experience from my second time facing this witch proves they're not all the correct path. I use my clairvoyance to check out each of the whirlpools as they pass by.

"They're pretty tough familiars," Mari remarks. "We're in a boat, so they can't get at us easily, but I don't think we've defeated any, just driven them back…"

"No sign of where we'd go to find the witch, either," Inui muses.

Hijiri doesn't seem to be participating in the effort to fend off the familiars. She's just crouched in the centre of the boat, watching.

"Aren't you going to help, Kanna-chi?" Inui asks.

"I think I'd just get in the way," she says. "And all of you have better attack magic than me anyway."

But just then she whips out some of her graph-like tendrils to wrap around a familiar that was leaping at me, trussing it up and tightening until the creature burst.

"Okay, I've got it!" I say. "I found the path to the witch's chamber!"

"What have you got?" Mari asks.

"We've gotta go right into one of the whirlpools," I say. "So everyone… hold on tight!"

"Y-you can't be serious!?" Inui gasps.

"I've seen the path to take with my power," I say. "The witch is down there. It's either into the whirlpool or out of the labyrinth."

"Well, it can't hurt to give it a shot," Mari shrugs.

I steer the boat towards the correct whirlpool. After the familiars stop attacking, everyone crouches down and grabs onto the side of the boat, and moments later we lurch forward towards the centre of the whirlpool, spinning around like a centrifuge. Soon we reach the stable state where the boat refuses to descend any further.

"We've gotta jump out!" I shout over the roar of the water.

"N-no way!" Inui shouts back.

«Impossible,» Noriko says.

"I can see the witch down there! How else are we gonna get to her?"

"Looks like the boat doesn't go any further!" Mari adds. "I hate to say it, but Miss Taylor might be right!"

Noriko simply seizes both of Mari's hands, and she drags the bigger girl off the boat, leaping into the eye of the whirlpool and vanishing from sight.

"A-ashley-nee… will you… hold my hands too?"

I can barely hear her over the roar, but this is exactly what happened before so I know what she's saying. The puppy-dog eyes she's giving me certainly help, too. I nod, and she immediately grabs both my hands and closes her eyes. We jump down after the others, falling through the strange mist and finally emerging into the bone cave where we find Noriko and Mari collapsed on all fours. As I fall to one knee, Inui leaning on me for support, I hear a crunch behind me and glance back to see Hijiri landing, wobbling, and falling over.

I look back at the witch, once again reading the witch runes that give her name. It seems like everyone is staring at her, in fact. However, it's only a second or two before Mari breaks the silence.

"W-well, seems like it's time to do your thing, Nano-chan," she says.

Noriko nods twice, and then everything changes. We're now on a sandy beach below a high bluff, the sea behind us unnaturally calm without even a single wave.

"Amazing!" Inui gasps. "You really can create a labyrinth of your own… isn't it amazing, Ashley-nee? Or I guess you've seen it before, right?"

I nod. "Yeah…"

Mari looks at me in surprise. "You know another magical girl who can create labyrinths?"

I imagine Inui was referring to Noriko in previous timelines, but I just nod and respond like I did the first time.

"Her name is Pernelle, and she's centuries old. She actually lives in a labyrinth."

Inui looks surprised, so my guess at her thought process was likely correct. Noriko also spins to face me, forgetting to use telepathy in her excitement.

"P-p-p-p-p-pern-n-n-nelle F-f-f-flam-mel!?"

I nod. "Yeah, that's her."

«Introduce me!» she demands.

"Sure… I'll let you know next time I'm heading over to see her," I say. "Though I can't promise it'll be a good time for you…"

"So um, what's so special about this woman?" Inui asks.

Noriko instantly blasts us with a telepathic rant until Mari smacks her to shut her up, at which point she gasps, hunches over a little, and covers her mouth… even though she hadn't used her mouth at all. Inui blinks at her, thoroughly taken aback by the barrage.

"U-um, w-well… I don't think she's that well known," Inui says. "At least among the general public… since you're a gamer I guess it's different…"

"I don't think that's it," I say. "It would depend on what games you're into, so even among gamers I suspect it would be hit and miss. She's somewhat well-known, but probably not as famous as some other legendary magical girls, like Queen Himiko for example."

Mari blinks. "That's a kinda random example," she says. "Why Queen Himiko?"

"I just picked someone I thought you might be familiar with from my list of historical or mythical people who I'm fairly sure were magical girls," I say.

"Are you sure Queen Himiko was one?" Inui asks.

"Well… pretty sure, yeah," I say.

«Sorry,» Noriko says. «I sort of… lost control…»

"Oh, it's perfectly fine," Inui says. "Don't worry about it, Nano-chan… you just startled me, that's all! Honestly, if we weren't in the middle of a labyrinth, I would've loved to hear everything you have to say about her."

"Right, and speaking of that, we'd better start hitting her before Nano-chan's magic wear off," Mari says. "A chance is still just a chance, and once it's noticed us, she can't undo its attention."

«Yes… there should have been about a one-in-a-million chance it won't notice us if we do not approach or attack,» Noriko explains. «But I inverted that chance, so now there is a one-in-a-million chance that it will notice us.»

"If it's not even gonna attack, then this should be really easy!" Inui exclaims.

She summons her flame whip and lashes out at the witch. From there, the battle goes roughly just how I remember it, including my explanation of the charm magic that Inui and I share, and my suggestion that Inui connect with Noriko. After the witch is beaten and the labyrinth collapses, we even run into Kohaku Koharu just as we did the last few times. In other words, there is nothing of note to differentiate it from previous runs, despite Hijiri's additional presence.

I call Homura after breakfast the next morning.

"…what do you want now?" she asks.

"That's kinda rude," I retort.

I hear Mami's voice in the background, but I can't make out the words.

"It's nothing important!" Homura says.

Her voice is now diminished by distance from the receiver, so she's probably responding to whatever Mami asked.

"Sorry about that," she mutters, her voice louder once more.

"There's a way we can get a whole lot of grief seeds today, so I'd like your help with that."

"What? A whole lot all at once?" she asks. "There's no way…"

"Yes there is," I say. "Do I need to explain all the details over the phone?"

There's a long silence before Homura finally responds.

"I'll be at your house in five minutes."

Then she hangs up before I can say anything else. That wasn't really what I was hoping for… but it's also not the worst response I could've anticipated. I settle down to wait for her. Before long, there's a knock on the door. She must've used her time stop to get here so fast. Komachi answers the door.

"Oh… Miss Homura," she says. "Did you come to see Ashley-chan?"

"…yes," Homura says.

Komachi shows her into the living room where I'm waiting, and Homura looks at me coldly.

"Explain yourself, Miss Ashley," she says. "Otherwise I will not cooperate."

"Fine, have a seat," I say.

Homura sits down opposite me, and I begin the explanation.

"You must remember how Oriko lured Madoka into a labyrinth, right?" I say.

"You mean, the attack on the school?" Homura asks.

"No, before that… when you first found out about the Teddy Drone."

Homura nods. "Yes… I remember…"

"Then do you remember who else was present when you rescued Madoka?"

"There was a witch… and a magical girl in a jester costume… but it wasn't Elise, I don't think…"

"Right… it wasn't Elise," I say. "That was Yuuki Sasa. She has the power of mind control, and she uses it to control witches. Because of that… if we defeat her and her witches, we can seize all of those grief seeds for ourselves."

"Even if what you say is true… what if she uses that power on us?" Homura asks.

"That's a good question," I say. "I haven't seen her use her power like that, though. I'm pretty sure she needs physical contact to control someone."

"And why should I help with this?" she asks. "Surely you could do it by yourself."

"Well, if you don't help, I'll ask Miss Sakura instead," I say. "She'll probably end up claiming at least two-thirds of the grief seeds, and the rest would be split about evenly between me and Hitomi Lina's team. In other words… even if I decide to share with you, there'll be fewer grief seeds to share if you don't help."

"…who?"

"I'm not surprised you don't know her, since Yuuki Sasa has been killing her and her team off as best she could every single time," I say. "Plus they're in Kazamino, so even more out of your way than usual… anyway, my point is, if you force me to bring in Miss Sakura as backup instead, then you might get one or two grief seeds at best. If you join me, I won't have to call in Miss Sakura, and you could probably get five or six grief seeds."

Homura blinks. "That's a lot… this sounds too good to be true."

"If I remember correctly from the last time I fought against Yuuki Sasa, there were at least ten witches under her control," I say. "So too good or not… it's true. But if you don't want to believe me… I'll ask Miss Sakura instead. She owes me a favour so I'm confident she'll agree if I ask."

"And how long do you expect this to take?" Homura asks.

"Well, Yuuki Sasa plans to attack them this morning… around ten o'clock, I believe."

"Then, it can be done before noon?"

"I believe so," I say. "I'd also like to stop by Oriko's place on the way back, but… it could wait for later if that's inconvenient. Did you have plans with Miss Tomoe?"

Homura shrugs. "Miss Tomoe is training Miss Momoe this morning. I believe Madoka and Miss Miki went along to watch. She did not mention her plans for the afternoon, but I expect she will wish to go witch hunting."

Inui and Hijiri enter the room at that moment, having just come downstairs.

"We're ready, Ashley-nee!" Inui says. "Oh, are you coming too, Homu-chan?"

Homura turns to look, staring at Hijiri.

"Y-you!?"

Hijiri just tilts her head and feigns confusion.

"Is there something on my face?" she asks.

"You're the friend of that girl… Remi…"

"That's true, but why on earth are you bringing her up now?" Hijiri asks. "Have we met somewhere before?"

"Um, let me introduce the two of you first," Inui pipes up. "Akemi Homura, this is Hijiri Kanna, a friend of Ashley from Asunaro."

"Nice to meet you, Miss Akemi," Hijiri says.

Homura doesn't respond in kind, however.

"So, are you coming or not, Miss Homura?" I ask.

"Is this person coming with us?" Homura asks.

I turn to Hijiri.

"It's actually the shadow of a good question, Kanna-chi," I say. "Do you want to fight those witches with us? I need you to take charge of Miss Yuuki afterwards, but I won't force you to fight her."

Hijiri shrugs. "It seems Miss Akemi doesn't like me that much, so if she's coming, perhaps I'll hold back until it's over."

I turn back to Homura.

"So… are you coming?"

Homura falls silent for a minute, then nods.

"If we can really get as many grief seeds as you say, then it should be worth it," she says.

So the four of us leave the house together, and we head for Kazamino. We walk in mostly awkward silence with the tension between Homura and Hijiri, and Inui's attempts to make conversation fizzle out until she gives up on even trying.

Finally we arrive at the meeting place. It seems my timing was about right, for just like last time, Saki Miyako is already there, waiting. I nod to Hijiri, and she disappears around a corner. Then I step forward to address Miyako, who's facing the other way and hasn't noticed us yet.

"Good morning, Miss Saki."

Miyako spins to face us.

"Huh? You're… Ashley Taylor!? What are you doing here?"

"Hunting, in a manner of speaking," I say.

"But this is our territory," Miyako says. "Lina will be mad at you…"

"Don't worry," I say. "We're chasing a magical girl who can control witches, so there should be plenty of grief seeds to go around."

"Is that even possible!?" Miyako gasps.

"Well, you'll see for yourself soon enough," I say. "I'm going to go ahead and meet up with Miss Ayumi and Miss Youko. Could you join up with us once Miss Hitomi and Miss Akane arrive?"

"Uhh… sure…?" Miyako says.

As I head in the direction of the school that the pair attend, Homura and Inui following me, I take out my soul gem to track magical signatures. It's not long before I can sense them – a pair moving towards me, and another lone signature. This time it seems like my timing brings me in early, for instead of a witch's portal, I spot Futaba and Mio, who are both startled to see me.

"Huh? What are you doing here, Miss Taylor?" Mio asks.

"Well…"

I don't have a chance to explain before Yuuki Sasa enters the scene from a different direction. She's already transformed.

"You'd better make yourself scarce!" Sasa says. "Because this territory now belongs to me, Yuuki Sasa!"

She directs the comment both at us and at the local pair. Mio looks at her incredulously.

"What the hell are you talking about!?" she asks. "You can't just waltz into someone else's territory and say it's yours now! It doesn't work like that!"

"Oh, but it does!" Sasa says. "So you're not leaving, huh? Well then, I'll just have to dispose of you."

She giggles and pulls out three spent grief seeds from somewhere, pressing them to her soul gem and triggering them to hatch. As the labyrinth forms, I glimpse her repeating the process with three more grief seeds. Futaba gasps and looks around wildly as we're sucked into the labyrinth and surrounded by not three, not six, but at least ten different witches. We all transform as the battle begins.

"As I was about to say," I say, dodging a witch's attack. "We came here chasing that girl, so…"

"R-right…" Mio says. "What was that? Where'd all these witches come from!?"

"Maybe we should defeat them first," I suggest. "For now… let's take one or two out and flee through the opening."

Inui takes a deep breath and shouts.

"Look at me!"

Two of the witches stop attacking, and I make a beeline for one of them, shredding it with my sword. Just as I'm finished, the second one explodes, no doubt from one of Homura's bombs. That leaves an opening we can escape through, so we claim the grief seeds and flee the ring of witches. Of course, they all turn to chase us, but not being surrounded is still helpful.

"That's three down!" Inui says cheerfully.

Oh? I guess the three of them managed to take out a third witch while Homura and I were shredding those two. That's helpful.

"Futaba-chan, we've gotta hurry and warn the others," Mio says. "You saw it too, right? We're not just dealing with witches here… it's her… that has to be it. Somehow, she can control witches!"

Inui and Homura slow down the pursuing witches a little with several blasts of fire and bullets, respectively, and after a minute or so I spot three more magical girls approaching through the labyrinth – Hitomi Lina, Akane Mai, and Saki Miyako. They've already transformed, too.

"What's going on?" Lina says. "We suddenly felt a strong witch's presence, but… is it my imagination, or is there more than one in here?"

"Miss Hitomi, could you perhaps put up a barrier?" I suggest. "Otherwise we'll have to fight them all at once."

"Ah! That's a good idea!"

She surrounds us with a crackling electrical barrier, then blinks at me.

"Huh? Wait… what are you three even doing here?" she asks. "Miss Taylor… have you decided to invade our territory?"

"No!" Futaba says. "They helped us!"

Lina glances at her.

"Even if that's true, the fact that they're here is suspicious," she says.

"I don't know what their motivations are," Mio says. "But they haven't said anything about invading… however, there's another magical girl somewhere nearby who did."

"Right! She said her name was… what was it again?" Futaba says.

"Yuuki Sasa, I think it was," Mio says. "She just walked up to us and declared this territory is hers now… and then those witches popped up out of nowhere. I think she must be able to control them somehow…"

"A magical girl controlling witches?" Lina says. "That's crazy…"

"And Miss Taylor says she was only chasing that other magical girl," Futaba adds. "So I'm sure she's on our side!"

"Miss Hitomi, you really don't have the time to dismiss a possibility just because it seems crazy to you," I say. "More importantly, if we don't defeat these witches now, some of us will die."

I summon Teddy Mk II and a swarm of drones, reserving three drones to charge my ultimate attack while the others spread out to sow havoc amongst the witches.

"Right! We can deal with formalities later!" Lina says. "Our priority right now should be defeating all these witches! We'll focus on them one at a time and take them down!"

From there on the fight goes very similarly to the last time. Sure, Kyouko has been swapped out for Homura, who has a very different fighting style, but that makes surprisingly little difference to the actual battle. There is one other difference though… I swear there are more witches than there were last time. In fact, I think there were more even right at the beginning. I suppose it makes sense, in a way. Sasa may have shouted at Mio and Futaba specifically, but there's no way she could've missed the three of us standing right there… so she likely brought out more witches because there were more enemies.

Finally the last of the witches bursts and the labyrinth collapses, depositing us right in front of a startled Sasa.

"W-what!? How… how could you…?"

She takes a step back.

"Ah… and I'm all out of witches…!"

Then she turns to run, but she stumbles and falls as Homura shoots her in the leg. I step forward and sever the tip of her hat, grabbing her soul gem.

"Yuuki Sasa, I'm going to confiscate this," I say.

Sasa rolls over and gasps.

"N-no! Y-you can't!"

"I totally can," I say. "I'm also going to put you in a dark place for a few weeks. Or rather… this girl will put you in a dark place."

Hijiri steps forward from somewhere, startling everyone. She's transformed now and was likely using her magic to interfere with their perception of her. She sets the bell jar on the ground and seizes Sasa by the arm, stuffing her inside.

"Alright," Hijiri says. "I'll head home now, if that's alright, Ashley-chan. Should I take her soul gem as well?"

I nod. "That's fine," I say. "It's about what I expected. And no, I'll hang onto the soul gem for now. By the way… did you get the other thing I asked for?"

I'd asked her for a few evil nuts so I can test whether they can be used to draw out a doppel. Hijiri nods.

"I left three of them in your desk drawer."

"Perfect, thanks," I say.

She turns and runs off, leaving me to explain the situation to Lina and the others.

"So… what exactly was all that about, Miss Taylor?" Lina asks.

"I came here specifically to capture that girl," I say. "I don't intend to hunt in your territory, although I'd be grateful if you allowed me to keep the grief seeds I got in that fight just now."

Lina nods. "We've already got at least one each, so go right ahead," she says.

So Lina's team got five or six, then. I've gained five grief seeds myself, and I think Inui got one as well. I'm not sure how many Homura got.

"And you're planning to… imprison that girl?" Lina asks.

"I mean, she did just try to kill you all," I point out.

"Right… yeah, you're right," Lina says.

"I kind of feel sorry for her a bit, though," Futaba admits. "I wonder why she attacked us in the first place…"

"Maybe she's lonely," I suggest.

"Then she should've just asked to be friends," Futaba says.

"I think she's the type of person who can't ask that question," I say.

"Still… if we could just be friends," Futaba says. "I think it would be nice to have another magical girl friend."

"Then perhaps I'll let you, Miss Youko, be in charge of her," I say. "Once I've decided she can be released, probably a few weeks from now, I'll let you know where she can be found. In the meantime, would you like to watch over her soul gem?"

Futaba nods. "I'd be happy to help. Um… will I need to use grief seeds on it though?"

I shake my head as I hand over the soul gem.

"I don't think it'll gather grief when separated from her body," I say.

Futaba takes it with a nod. "Alright. I'll keep it in a safe place until then."

"Alright, well, let's disperse and see if we can find any more witches," Lina says. "You three, I expect you to leave town as soon as possible."

"That was my plan anyway," I say.

Lina's team powers down and heads in all different directions, and the rest of us also power down.

"By the way, how many grief seeds did you get, Miss Homura?" I ask.

"I obtained three," she says.

"I got five, so I'll let you have an extra if you want."

Homura nods, so I hand over one of the grief seeds. Then we start to make our way back to Mitakihara.

With Lina's team safe and Sasa neutralized for now, I send an email to Madoka asking her to meet us outside Oriko's house, supplying the address so she can find her way there. When Inui, Homura, and I arrive at said house, Madoka is already there waiting.

"Good afternoon, Ashley-chan!" Madoka calls. "Why'd you call me here? It sure is a big house…"

I blink. "Ah, sorry, I thought I'd mentioned it but… this is Oriko's house. I wanted to pay her a visit."

Homura gazes impassively up at the house.

"I am not so sure that it's a good idea," she says. "Oriko was always after Madoka's life…"

"That's not true," I say. "She wasn't after Madoka's life the last two times, right? Nor the first three times."

"Hmm… well, if she makes one hostile move…"

"Homura-chan, don't be too hasty!" Madoka says. "I'm sure Miss Oriko is also a good person! She was commanding all those magical girls before, right?"

"That's true," Homura admits. "She was a bit different from how I remember her then… and the previous time too, it seemed like you'd somehow made friends with her…"

"So I think we should just say hi," Madoka says. "You'll probably find she's not as bad as you thought!"

"Fine," Homura says reluctantly. "If that's what you want, Madoka… but I won't hold back if she turns on us."

"You really care a lot for Madoka, don't you, Homu-chan?" Inui says.

Homura ignores her and walks up to the door to knock. After a few minutes, Oriko opens the door.

"Yes? How may I… huh?"

Her eyes widen as she spots first Homura, then Madoka.

"I never predicted you would come to me," Oriko says. "I saw you both, at the end of the world… you'd better come inside for now."

She ushers the four of us into the room she uses as a living room.

"Please have a seat," she says. "I will prepare some tea."

Oriko steps out of the room, and Madoka watches her go.

"She seems pretty ladylike to me," Madoka says. "Not really the sort of person who'd stoop to murder…"

"Looks can be deceiving," I say. "But I don't think she intends to try anything today, although I'd prefer if you didn't drink the tea, just to be safe, Madoka."

"But that would be pretty rude," Madoka says.

"Well… if you want to drink it, I won't stop you," I say. "I don't think she's likely to try poisoning you… I may be a little paranoid…"

"In the worst case, we can get Koma-chin to cure her, right?" Inui says.

"Yeah, that is a possibility," I agree. "Miss Homura and I could probably just ignore any poison, too, if we set our minds to it… maybe you could too, Inui-chan."

"That doesn't sound pleasant though, even if it's possible," Inui says.

At that moment, we hear footsteps in the hall and fall silent. Oriko appears soon after with a tray bearing five cups of tea and a plate of daifuku.

"Please, help yourself," Oriko says.

Madoka and Inui both decide to start off with a snack, snagging a daifuku each as Oriko moves on to introductions.

"I am Mikuni Oriko. It is a pleasure to meet you."

"I'm Kaname Madoka!"

"Itsumi Inui, at your service!"

"I'm Ashley Taylor."

Oriko looks at Homura, but she shakes her head slightly. Oriko raises eyebrows but doesn't press the matter.

"There is clearly something I have failed to understand," Oriko says. "You… I saw you at the end of the world, but why are you here now?"

"That's none of your business," Homura mutters.

"Please tell us more about this… end of the world," I say. "Don't worry about discussing magical girl stuff – all of us already know pretty much everything, even Madoka."

"I see," Oriko says. "So I surmise that not only did you know I was a magical girl, but also what power I possess. Very well… I will set aside for now the question of how you know, and simply tell you. What I saw in the future was those two girls – Miss Kaname, and the girl beside her."

She nods to Homura.

"You died, killed by a terrible witch that had come to the city," she says. "But then, Miss Kaname made a wish to save her life, and finished off the witch in a single blow. Almost immediately afterwards, she turned into a witch herself, one even worse than that which she had just destroyed."

"And what did you plan to do about it?" I ask.

"My first thought was to make sure that Kyuubey never finds out about Miss Kaname," Oriko says. "However, I soon realized I was too late for that… so I was considering strategies to draw his attention away from her. For example, I tried identifying other girls in the area with a level of magical potential that, taken together, may come close to that of Miss Kaname… but at least none of them would individually become such a terrible witch. However, even considering Chitose Yuma, who I feel is too young, I could not find enough to add up to a force capable of beating that witch."

"So you found several potentials… may I ask who they are?" I ask.

"Most of them I do not know by name," Oriko says. "Besides Yuma-chan, there is the little sister of an acquaintance, who enters my school in April, and a stammering girl who closely resembles your companion. Those three have the highest potential that I could find. There was also a girl with a gun, a girl with claws, a girl with fans, a girl with tonfas, a girl with a sword and musical notation, a girl with a triangular sounding staff, a girl with a really long ruler, a girl in full plate armour, a girl with a whip, and a girl with a megaphone. My search was by no means exhaustive, mind you… I gave up after turning up so few promising candidates."

"Several of those sound familiar," I say.

"The gun, claws, and sword," Homura agrees. "Although my encounters with the girl with the gun were always very brief, as she mistook me for the magical girl killer."

"I've also met the girl with the sounding staff," I add. "As well as Miss Asako and the stammering girl."

"The sword is obviously Sayaka-chan, but that's the only one that's familiar to me," Madoka says.

"And I note you missed Liliane Pierrot…" I muse.

"Isn't she dead?" Homura points out.

"Yeah, she is, but you should know as well as I do that death is reversible under certain circumstances," I say. "Hmm, the one with the fans… could you maybe describe her in more detail?"

Oriko shakes her head.

"There is not much I can say," she says. "My visions consume quite a lot of magic, so to expand the scope to find as many girls as possible, I had to limit the information I learned on each girl."

I nod. "I understand, but… do you have anything more on that girl?"

"Very little," Oriko says. "She has green hair, and a Mitakihara Middle School uniform… I do not have any more information than that."

"Hitomi-chan has green hair," Madoka says. "But she can't see Kyuubey, so I guess it can't be her… since anyone with the potential can see him, right?"

"For the record, Madoka, I'm not confident on the idea that seeing Kyuubey equates to having magical potential," I say. "It's more likely that it chooses who can see it, and it only chooses people with magical potential. So, if you can see it, you have magical potential, but being unable to see it might not mean you don't. We can't say for certain that Shizuki Hitomi doesn't have magical potential."

Inui nods. "I'm with Ashley-chan there… I've been thinking the same thing for awhile now."

"Actually, you were the one who gave me the idea, Inui-chan," I say.

"Oh, cool! So it was actually my idea then…"

"Some of those may be contingent on specific events," Oriko adds. "I have not attempted to probe further, but it is possible that Miss Shizuki currently has negligible magical potential but would receive a sudden boost under the right circumstances. That is to say, I cannot rule out that she is the girl I saw."

Tamura's vision of the girl apparently cooperating with someone that sounded suspiciously like Sayaka also lends credence to the theory.

"Oh, I see," Madoka says. "Huh… it'd be nice if all three of us became magical girls though… have you ever seen that happen, Homura-chan?"

Homura shakes her head. "I never once saw Miss Shizuki become a magical girl," she says. "The possibility never even crossed my mind, and regardless, I do not think it would be a good idea."

"So, yeah… you've seen at least four girls that I had no inkling of," I say. "There is one girl I never saw and only heard a name for, so I assume she's one of the five that I don't recognize."

"I have never even heard of most of them," Homura says. "I saw Chitose Yuma several times, and of course I know of Shizukai Hitomi, if she is indeed one of them, but that's it."

"From the way you are speaking… you are the same you I saw at the end of the world, aren't you?" Oriko asks. "Have you… travelled back in time or something?"

"That's… none of your business," Homura mutters.

"Anyway, Miss… Mikuni," I say, catching myself before addressing her by her given name. "I'm sure the thought must've crossed your mind… if Madoka were dead, the problem would be gone. She can't turn into a witch if she's dead, after all."

"I will admit that the thought did indeed cross my mind," Oriko says. "I have been wracking my brain ever since I made my wish to try and find alternative ideas…"

"Huh?" Homura says. "Are you saying that would have been your last resort option?"

"Of course," Oriko says. "It is not easy to take a human life, you know. Even if it seems like she is destined to destroy the world."

"I would never do that, though," Madoka says. "Even if I become a magical girl, I won't let myself become a witch."

"It would be a bittersweet victory," I say, "but I bet the Ancients could defeat Kriemhild Gretchen – Madoka's witch – if they all gathered here… not that that matters. We're not going to let her become a witch, after all."

"Ancients?" Madoka asks. "What do you mean by that?"

"Magical girls who have lived for more than a hundred years," I say. "I've met one around seven hundred years, another close to a thousand, and a third around two thousand. And there's at least three more who are even older than that, though I've yet to meet them. Although they may not be as strong – I suspect magical strength fades with age – they can likely make up for that with skill, care, and sheer volume of grief seeds."

Homura blinks. "Huh? You must be kidding. There's no way that's possible. A human can't live that long…"

"Aren't you the one that says magical girls are no longer human?" I retort. "Although I would personally disagree, but whatever."

"Actually, you mentioned this before, didn't you, Ashley-chan?" Madoka says. "Something about how Homura-chan and I could be together forever if I became a magical girl…"

"I think I remember mentioning that, yeah," I say. "But we're getting a little off-topic here…"

Oriko sets her tea down and looks around the table at us.

"I presume you would not come here for no reason," she says. "Could it be that you have a proposal? A way I have not seen, that will ensure that Miss Kaname never becomes a witch?"

I nod. "There are measures that could be taken to reduce the chance, but… there's one measure in particular that could actually eliminate it entirely, if we can pull it off. Well… that's assuming Madoka remains on Earth, but I think that's probably a reasonable assumption, right?"

"Uhh… yeah, where else would I even go?" Madoka asks, giggling a bit.

"I mean… if you lived long enough, it might become an issue," I say. "Maybe humans will be colonizing other planets someday. But that's not something to think about right now."

"Measures to reduce the chance sound helpful, at least," Oriko says. "But tell me of the guarantee. How can you guarantee that Miss Kaname will never become a witch?"

"We can change the system," I say. "The pieces are all in place… all they have to do is make the right move. The key to everything is three friends currently hospitalized in the Satomi Medical Centre in Kamihama, and they would need to become magical girls before one of them is discharged, which should be happening soon since she was recently cured by her sister's wish."

"Are you saying that those three have the ability to change the very magical girl system itself?" Oriko asks.

"If they make the right wish, then yes," I say. "And I think that is inevitable provided that they find out the truth while together. Furthermore, one of those girls is very smart and not easily fooled… she'll definitely get the truth out of Kyuubey. In fact, it may be sufficient to let Kyuubey know of her alone, as she would discuss the situation with the others… but personally, I'd prefer it to know of all three, just in case."

"Do you happen to know the names of these girls?" Oriko asks.

"Of course," I say. "Tamaki Ui, Satomi Touka, and Hiiragi Nemu."

Inui blinks. "Eh? Is she related to Professor Satomi? Oh, come to think of it, the hospital also has the same name…"

"Yes, she's his niece," I say. "And the hospital is run by her father. I believe she even has access to some of Professor Satomi's unpublished research… so that gives her a head start in figuring out Kyuubey's true motive."

"Who's this Professor Satomi?" Madoka asks. "I've never heard of him…"

"He's the one who wrote the book on Tokime village!" Inui says eagerly. "The Tokime clan was long thought to be extinct, right? But it turns out that some of them actually escaped to live out their lives in a remote village… they survived far longer than anyone else suspected!"

"Huh," Madoka says.

"More relevant to the current discussion is that Professor Satomi knows of the existence of magical girls," I say.

"You seem oddly well-informed, Miss Taylor," Oriko says. "May I ask how you came by all this information? It could not have been exclusively from time travel, right? Do you have a power similar to mine?"

"I'm sorry, but I wish to keep the source of my knowledge secret for the time being," I say. "It's not from my magic power, though. It's more like… I was given this information by a third party? Something like that."

"Hmm," Oriko says. "Okay… supposing those three become magical girls. What sort of systemic change do you predict as a result that will solve the problem of Miss Kaname becoming a witch?"

"This will likely be very hard to believe, because there's no precedent for it," I say. "However… we can create a world where no-one has to become a witch, with an automatic purification system that clears your soul gem before you reach the point of no return. That grief can even be weaponized, drawing on the power of the witch you would have become to perform an incredibly strong attack. The three of them are able to create that system at least on a small scale."

"I don't believe it," Homura says flatly.

"That's okay," I say. "I didn't expect to be believed so easily. However, consider this… that knowledge is what allowed me to predict that you would become a magical girl, Miss Homura, as well as the nature of your power."

"I too find this explanation hard to believe," Oriko says. "If such a thing was possible, why has no-one done it before?"

"It requires an incredibly rare combination of unusual magic powers," I say. "People have tried changing the system before, of course… they've just never succeeded, as far as I know. I'd be inclined to say that it's just bad luck that the right power set was never able to come together before, but… it's likely Kyuubey also manipulated things to avoid combinations of powers that seemed like they could cause problems. I'm not sure if that answers your question?"

"It sounds like you don't really know and are just speculating," Oriko says.

"Yes, that's correct," I reply.

"But if you're saying Kyuubey will interfere, then why would you expect this to work out?" Oriko asks. "If he does not allow combinations of powers that threaten to upend the magical girl system, would be not refuse to grant those girls' wishes?"

"This is just further speculation," I say. "But I think Kyuubey would recognize that there is an extremely high possibility of Tamaki Ui becoming a witch before the three of them can put their plan into action."

"But if she does become a witch, the whole plan is ruined, correct?" Oriko says. "Do we need to take measures to save her?"

"I believe Kyuubey will overestimate the chance," I say. "Tamaki Ui definitely can't handle the power she'll wish for… perhaps her karmic destiny isn't sufficient, or something. Left alone, she would turn into a witch almost immediately after contracting. But… that's assuming she is left alone."

"But if the three of them make their wishes all at the same time, surely Kyuubey would factor in the other two girls in determining the chances."

I nod. "Yes… while Hiiragi Nemu has the power to prevent Tamaki Ui from becoming a wish, she likely can't devise her plan and put it into action fast enough. If it were just the three of them, Tamaki Ui would probably still become a witch. However… I am predicting that a fourth magical girl will be nearby at the time, and she will step in to help them, buying Hiiragi Nemu the time needed to enact her plan to save Tamaki Ui. Kyuubey is probably unable to predict that girl's actions even if it's aware that she's nearby."

Oriko nods slowly.

"So, in fact, your plan relies on this fourth girl," she says. "It sounds like a pretty elaborate series of coincidences though… how can you be certain it will work out?"

"I can't be," I say. "I'm hoping it will work out like that without any further interference, but there is a chance that it won't, in which case we'll need to fall back to the secondary strategies to minimize Madoka's chance of turning into a witch. Although, if that does happen, I'll probably wish to return to the past and redo it."

"So… to sum things up… the best way to avoid the world's end would be for Miss Kaname to never become a magical girl," Oriko says. "However… can you make that promise, Miss Kaname?"

Madoka shakes her head.

"I can't promise that… even knowing everything, being a magical girl is still something that I can do. Honestly… even when I saw all my friends die before we came back in time, I still wanted to be a magical girl. I thought, maybe if I'd made a contract earlier, I could've saved them…"

"Then let us take Miss Taylor's gamble," Oriko says. "I surmise that you told me of those three because you wish for me to draw Kyuubey's attention to them, right?"

I nod. "Right, because it makes sense coming from you, given your power, but if I were the one to tell it, then it'd become suspicious. We'll be rebelling against it, and its technology is far more advanced than ours, so it's important to keep it in the dark for as long as possible. Obscurity may be one of the weakest forms of security, but that doesn't mean it's ineffective."

"Don't expect help from me, though," Homura says.

I don't bother to try and contradict her, but I'm pretty sure she's going to end up helping regardless of what she says. Admittedly, this isn't going to play out quite the same as in the Magia Record game, as there are a few major differences. Homura has already shed the braids and glasses, for one thing. The time frame is also different, and Nagisa is alive.

"Is there some way to tell if the plan worked?" Oriko asks.

"You'll know," I say. "There'll be a telepathic broadcast summoning magical girls to Kamihama."

"Understood. Do you wish to exchange contact info?" Oriko asks. "If we will be working together, it would be more convenient."

"Sure, I'm up for it," I say.

"Yes, please!" Madoka says.

"…I'll pass," Homura mutters.

"I'm in!" Inui says.

So everyone except Homura pulls out their phones and taps them together. A series of beeps indicates the successful transfer.

"Can I call you Miss Oriko?" Madoka asks. "After all, we are friends and comrades now, so we should be more familiar with each other."

Oriko smiles. "Yes, that would be nice, Miss Madoka."

"You can call me Ashley as well," I add.

"Very well, Miss Ashley," Oriko says.

As we leave Oriko's house, I pose a question to Madoka and Homura.

"So if I'm not mistaken, you've both met Momoe Nagisa now, right? What do you think of her?"

"She's so adorable!" Madoka says. "I can hardly believe she's the witch that killed Miss Mami last time… they get on so well! Her magic power is pretty amazing too…"

"Is she really that witch, though?" Homura asks. "We only have Miss Ashley's word for it…"

"Maybe next week… or a bit later… we could go to Kamihama and prove it," I suggest. "I doubt you'd be able to deny it if you saw her unleash her doppel right in front of your eyes." I blink. "Ah, but that could cause problems with Miss Tomoe, so maybe it's better not to…"

"What are you talking about?" Madoka asks. "What's a doppel? Why would it cause problems with Miss Mami?"

"Well, you didn't see it in the last timeline, but Miss Tomoe usually has a mental breakdown if she finds out about witches… I thought I mentioned that before? Maybe I forgot…"

"And what's a doppel?"

"It's what I was talking about a few minutes ago – letting out the witch within you without succumbing to it… without the soul gem transforming into a grief seed. Something like that. As Miss Satomi would probably say, it's a whole new power for magical girls… one that uses grief as its fuel instead of magic."

Madoka nods. "So if you're running out of magic, you just have to use your doppel, and then your supply of magic is replenished, is that right?"

"Pretty much," I say. "It's almost too good to be true, but it is true."

Homura makes a sound of disbelief but says nothing.

"Well, seeing is believing, right? So just be patient," I say.

With how well things are going so far in this run, I really hope I can defeat Walpurgisnacht this time. Having to redo the past few days yet again is not a pleasant prospect. And yet… is it even possible? I have only my knowledge of the game to rely on, and I doubt that's going to be enough to get a happy ending in one try. But I can always hope.

I just want to note that it's pure coincidence this was posted so soon after someone posted a review asking when this would be posted. Anyway, as often happens, this chapter got so long that I ended up splitting it in two. It means it'll be longer before we finally get to Iroha, but hopefully it'll be worth the wait.