Have you heard? Has anyone told you?
The Rumour of the Crossing Path.
This girl met another girl on a long one-way road that went on forever!
They said 'Hello!' once their eyes met, and 'Goodbye!' right after!
From then on, it's like she is her and her is she!
Fakes become real once their paths cross.
Kamihama girls can't stop talking about it!
It's elusive and can't be found on a map!
The eight points of a compass are meaningless,
for it appears on the ninth!
The mind of anyone caught within
gets scattered in the eight directions!
How scary!
So… which one are you?
Are you real… or are you fake?

Just like every other timeline, Hijiri had been tailing Kaoru, Umika, and Kazumi as they chased after a witch. As usual, the three of them chanced upon the witch's labyrinth by sheer luck. They transformed and hopped inside, and Hijiri waited outside the labyrinth to see how things went.

They'd only been inside the labyrinth for a few minutes when the rest of the Pleiades Saints showed up, but before they too could enter the labyrinth, a distraught Kazumi was ejected from it, and it disappeared as the witch fled.

"O-oh no… w-what do I do now!?" Kazumi gasped. "I… I have to save them… somehow… b-but can I do it by myself…?"

Saki was the first to announce her presence, as usual.

"You're not alone! You've got us too, Kazumi," Saki said.

"Eh? D-do I know you, too?" Kazumi asked.

"That's right," Satomi said. "Umika did say you'd lost your memories… so why don't we reintroduce ourselves?"

Nico and Mirai nodded assent, so Saki led the charge.

"I'm Saki, the leader of the Pleiades Saints."

"I'm Satomi, your resident kitty lover."

"I'm Mirai, and you'd better stop wallowing in self-pity, stupid!"

"Nico here. So what exactly happened, anyway? Where'd Umika and Kaoru go?"

"W-well, they–"

Kazumi was about to explain the situation when her phone rang. She pulled it out, gasped, and quickly answered.

"Umika, are you okay!?" she asked. "… … Well… I'm okay, I guess. Everyone's here. … Yeah. … Sure…"

Kazumi put her phone on speaker mode and held it out towards Saki.

"Umika, how's the barrier holding up?" Saki asked.

"By my estimates, it should last about five hours," Umika said.

"That's not very long," Saki mused.

"Kazumi, those four girls are your friends… our friends," Umika added. "You can trust them. Chase after the witch with them, okay?"

"Okay…" Kazumi said.

"But there's no need to rush!" Kaoru added. "We're snug as a bunny in here, so just take your time! We have faith in you, Kazumi, and everyone else! We'll be waiting!"

"Wait!" Kazumi said.

But they'd already hung up.

"I said, enough with the wallowing!" Mirai snapped, walloping her over the head. "It's not gonna help us find them, idiot!"

"A-are you always this mean?" Kazumi whined.

"Get a grip!" Mirai said. "We're the only ones who can save them, so we've gotta do all we can!"

"R-right… but how do we track a witch? Umika always figured out where they were by logic…"

"That's easy," Saki said, taking out her soul gem. "We use these. They'll resonate with the witch, allowing us to track it."

"Ohh, I see!" Kazumi said. "That's pretty convenient!"

"Umika's method of tracking witches is… a bit unusual, to say the least," Satomi said. "The rest of us can only follow its magic trace."

They tried to follow the trail for a few minutes, but it was a fairly weak witch and did not have a strong trail, so unsurprisingly they lost it quickly. Satomi spotted a cat and stopped for a chat.

"W-what's her deal?" Kazumi asked. "Has she gone mad?"

"Satomi can talk to animals," Saki explained. "It can come in pretty handy sometimes… especially cats, because they seem to see things that humans don't."

"Like witches?" Kazumi asked

"Yeah, like witches," Saki nodded.

"We're in luck!" Satomi announced. "He saw that mark not far from here."

The cat led them to a parking lot, where they found the witch's curse mark, and Nico used her smartphone to scan its signature and project it into everyone's soul gems.

"This should make the witch easier to track," Saki explained. "I don't know how she did it, but Nico created a smartphone app that can scan magic signatures and beam them into our soul gems. It's pretty handy. Alright, we're short on time and have a large area to cover, so… let's split into two teams. Nico, you go west with Satomi. Kazumi, Mirai, you're with me. We're heading east."

Thanks to going back in time hundreds of times, Hijiri had seen both sides of the split many times over. Sometimes, she'd follow Nico, other times, Saki. Sometimes she hadn't bothered to follow them at all. This time, she felt like interfering a little, so she chose to chase after Saki. They spent at least an hour following the magic trail, spotting several more marks on the ground, all of them in parking lots or similar locations with lots of empty space where a vehicle could be parked.

"They seem to be getting stronger," Saki mused. "Perhaps we're getting closer."

"Alright!" Mirai said. "Let's go destroy that witch and rescue Umika and Kaoru!"

"I'm not sure how much help I'll be though," Kazumi said glumly. "It's my fault they're in that predicament in the first place…"

"Kazumi, you idiot!" Mirai shouted, clonking her over the head again. "What did I tell you about self-pity!? You've gotta stop blaming yourself and–"

Saki silenced her by slapping a hand over her mouth.

"Don't worry, Kazumi," Saki said. "You're just fine as you are. We'll be relying on you when the time comes."

"But what if I can't do it?" Kazumi asked. "Or if I don't even know what it is that I need to do?"

"Well, that's what we're here for," Saki shrugged. "It's our job to help each other out with that sort of thing."

That was her cue, so Hijiri hopped down from her vantage point and ran out to join them. It was the same thing she'd done way back in the first timeline she could remember, although her intent back then was different – she'd simply intended to split them up to give Moe a chance to strike. Saki turned to look at her.

"What's up, Nico?" she asked. "Did you find a lead?"

"Not exactly," Hijiri said. "However… after tracking it for awhile, I noticed the trail seemed to be curving around. If you look at the map…"

She unfolded a map of Asunaro, tracing out where they'd already searched and indicating a particular location on it.

"See? If you consider the area we've tracked it across so far, it looks like the two trails would meet right here."

Saki nodded. "Do you think that's where it's hiding, then?" she asked.

"Well… that was one possibility, but… I also had another thought," Hijiri said. "Maybe it has a lair in the centre of its path… which is to say, around here."

Saki nodded. "That also makes sense… what do you think, Mirai, Kazumi?"

"I think point A sounds more likely," Mirai said.

"That was my thought, too," Saki said.

"I'm not really sure which is more likely," Kazumi said. "But I think we can't afford to ignore point B!"

"Yeah, you're right," Hijiri said. "Why don't you check out point B with me then, Kazumi?"

"Sure!" Kazumi said.

"Alright, that sounds good," Saki said. "We'll check out point A, and you two can go to point B. What about Satomi, by the way?"

"I left her on the trail, so she should reach point A before you do," Hijiri said.

She watched the two of them head off until they'd turned a corner, then turned to Kazumi.

"Well… let's go, Nico-chan!" Kazumi said.

"Not so fast," Hijiri said. "Actually, I'm not Nico. I just wanted to get you alone for a little chat."

Kazumi blinked. "Eh? You're… exactly like Nico-chan, though… how can you be exactly like Nico-chan, yet not Nico-chan? You're even wearing the same outfit… and you walk the same way… talk the same way… it's not like twins that look the same but are subtly different…"

"Yeah, well, it's complicated," Hijiri said. "Actually, in some ways, you and me are alike."

"How so?" Kazumi asked.

"Well, neither of us were born the usual way," Hijiri said.

"I don't understand…"

"You'll understand soon enough. Anyway… what do you think of the Pleiades Saints, Kazumi-chan?"

"Hmm… well… other than Kaoru-chan and Umika-chan, I only just met them," Kazumi said. "Saki-chan seems cool and reliable… Nico-chan is kinda mysterious… Mirai-chan is a bit mean, and Satomi-chan seems kinda spacey…"

Hijiri chuckled.

"Yeah… okay," she said. "So, do you trust them?"

"Umika-chan and Kaoru-chan trust them, so I trust them too," Kazumi said.

"I see… you never change, Kazumi-chan," Hijiri said. "It's somewhat comforting."

"So um… about the witch," Kazumi said. "We need to investigate that location in the centre!"

"Ahh… actually, I already know the witch isn't there," Hijiri said. "And it's not at the other location now either, though it definitely passed through there at some point."

"Then… why'd you send Saki-chan and Mirai-chan there!?" Kazumi gasped.

"So they could meet up with Nico and Satomi to discuss the situation," Hijiri said. "You should go home and wait for them… although, if you really want to see for yourself that the witch isn't at point B, I'm happy to escort you there."

"Hmm… well… you seem like a nice person, and you look like Nico-chan, and I trust Nico-chan," Kazumi said. "So… I'll trust you, too. By the way… if you're not Nico-chan, then what's your name?"

"I think I'll leave that mysterious for the time being," Hijiri said.

"Okay… see you later, then," Kazumi said.

"You too."

Hijiri hopped back up onto the roof and tailed Kazumi back to Umika's house, where she started cooking. By the time the food was ready, the four Pleiades Saints who had been out hunting had come back, looking worried.

"Huh? Kazumi!?" Saki gasped. "What are you doing back here? We were really worried…"

"Oh, um… Nico-chan suggested I should come back here," Kazumi explained. "And I had nothing better to do, so I thought I'd cook for everyone."

"I never said anything like that, though," Nico said.

"I know!" Kazumi said. "But that's why I'm here!"

"What is going on…?" Saki asked. "There was a fake Nico… that's why we were worried… but you were fine the whole time!?"

"Oh… I suppose I should've called," Kazumi said. "I'm sorry… I didn't know your numbers."

"Right… we should go ahead and exchange numbers right now, then," Saki said.

Everyone whipped their phones out and tapped them to Kazumi's to exchange numbers.

"Anyway, let's all eat and get back to the hunt!" Kazumi said eagerly.

"Yeah… let's," Saki said.

Hijiri settled down to have a snack of her own while they ate and discussed the issue. After almost an hour, they left the house once more and headed out, moving with purpose. They located the witch quickly this time.

"Bingo!" Nico said.

"Alright, Kazumi," Saki said. "You wait outside for our signal."

"Huh? Don't you trust me?" Kazumi asked.

"It's a strategy," Saki explained. "A witch is very powerful inside its labyrinth, but if the six of us can suppress it, it'll be open to an attack from outside. Your Limiti Esterni can pierce right through the witch's labyrinth and kill it."

"Oh! So I get the leading role, then!"

Nico gave her a short-range communicator, and Saki left a final word of reassurance.

"Kazumi, we believe in you, just like you believe in us."

"Right!"

Then the four of them headed inside. Kazumi jumped up onto a roof and watched the labyrinth from above, waiting for the signal, but it never came. However, after awhile she heard a distinct high-pitched sound, like a whistle, emanating from the labyrinth.

"That's it!" she said. "I'll follow the sound! Limiti Esterni!"

The witch was soundly defeated, and the six Pleiades Saints emerged from the labyrinth and claimed the grief seed. At that point, Hijiri decided to head home.

"Okay… this is all very interesting," I say. "But it's not exactly useful? I assumed you had something more, uhh… earth-shattering to tell me."

"I just wanted to lead with that," Hijiri explains. "Because I haven't sensed your presence much, if at all, since I agreed to join you. So… I wanted you to know just how different things have become."

"Well, without you and Moe-chan interfering, that hunt seems quite routine to me," I say.

Hijiri nods. "Exactly. Anyway… that was just a warm-up. It wasn't the main thing I wanted to tell you about."

"So now we're getting to the good stuff, got it," I nod.

"Yeah… things started to go strange the very next day…"

Hijiri was doing her daily check-up on what the Pleiades Saints were up to. It was a weekend, so she stopped by Umika's house first, and found them discussing something unusual along with Kazumi.

"You're sure about that!?" Saki gasped.

"I've been all around town," Nico said. "I only sensed magic a few times, and most of those were other magical girls… there were at least three distinct witches though, including that really strong one we've been avoiding… you know, the one with the brainy signpost familiars?"

Saki nods. "I'm still not confident challenging that witch though…"

"So… has our work paid off?" Kazumi asked eagerly. "We've finally been able to eliminate all the witches? Or, well… almost all."

"But… only three witches in the entire city?" Saki asked. "That's… an unprecedented low. Three specifically in our territory would be less of a surprise, but across the whole city…?"

"Um… how many magical girls are there in this city?" Kazumi asked. "Does each group have their own territory?"

"That's right," Kaoru explained. "We cover most of the northwest. There's also a duo who cover the east, a duo in the waterfront area to the north, and a solo girl to the south. There may be one or two others that I'm unaware of, as well… we don't necessarily keep track of everyone outside our territory."

"I see… but Nico-chan, why do you sound so disturbed about the lack of witches?" Kazumi asked.

"Mostly because it's so sudden," Nico said. "Just last week there were three, four times as many, at least. It's not that we've defeated them all… they've just disappeared. It could be that another magical girl defeated them, but we haven't noticed anyone else in our territory…"

"So, what do you think is happening?" Saki asked.

"Well… it's hard to be sure," Nico said. "But I suspect they're actually migrating…"

Saki blinked. "Eh? Do witches even do that?"

"Well, I think it's not unheard of," Nico said. "I guess it depends on the witch… I mean, that strong one is originally from outside the city, right?"

"Hmm," Umika said. "So you think they're migrating… but what could cause them to migrate?"

Nico shrugged. "I don't know… all I can really suggest is that we head south and see if we can find out where they're going."

"South," Saki nodded. "So then, we'd start in Mitakihara…? There aren't really any big interior cities between here and there, although we could make a small detour to Hohzuki if you think it's worth it. We could also check out the smaller towns along the way."

"Mitakihara was my thought. I don't think we should all go, though," Nico said. "We don't want to cause a territorial dispute with magical girls in another city, right?"

Saki nodded. "You're right. Hmm… Umika, your scanning ability would likely be invaluable."

"In that case, I'll go too," Kaoru said.

"Can I come too?" Kazumi asked.

Saki nodded. "Sounds like it's settled. The three of you can head to Mitakihara to figure out what's going on."

"Understood," Umika said. "We may as well get going right now, then."

She, Kaoru, and Kazumi gathered everything they'd need and headed out, making their way to the train station. Hijiri followed them and joined them at the station.

"Huh?" Umika said. "I thought you were staying in town to work on things."

"I was going to," Hijiri said. "But then I realized I didn't really have anything to work on, so… do you mind if I tag along?"

"Well… I guess not," Umika said. "If Saki's fine with it, then so am I."

The four of them caught a train to Mitakihara and disembarked at the main central station, looking around for a bit.

"Hmm," Umika said. "Well… there's no immediate signs of witches here, but… that might be normal."

"To really be sure we'd have to go all over town," Hijiri said. "Either that, or ask the local magical girls."

Umika nodded. "Yeah, asking the locals seems like the best bet… in that case, why don't we split up? We'll divide the city into four quadrants and each cover one. Look for both magical girls and witches… if you find any magical girls, ask them about the witch situation."

"I'm not confident I could avoid getting lost," Kazumi said. "I wonder… could we maybe split into two or three teams instead?"

"Hmm… there's a good point, none of us have been to this city before," Kaoru said.

"Actually, I've come here once or twice," Hijiri said. "Sorry for not telling you."

"Then, you know your way around?" Umika asked.

"Somewhat," Hijiri said.

"Then how about you go with Kazumi?" Umika suggested. "You can cover the west half, and Kaoru and I will cover the east. How does that sound?"

"I'm fine with that," Hijiri said. "By the way… will we be covering just Mitakihara, or Kazamino as well?"

"Well… let's check out Mitakihara first," Umika said. "Kazamino is contiguous to the south, right? So, if we find nothing in Mitakihara that could be causing a migration, we'll work our way into Kazamino. We'll call each other if we find something or if we need to work out a meeting place."

Hijiri blinked. "Ah! I just realized… I forgot my phone! Sorry about that…"

"Well, we can use mine," Kazumi said.

She fished in her bag for it, then gasped.

"Eh!? I think… it looks like I've forgotten mine too!"

"Well, why don't you just borrow mine for today?" Kaoru suggested.

"Sure… if that's alright with you," Hijiri said.

Kaoru fished out her phone and passed it to Hijiri, who slipped it into a pocket.

"Well, in that case… shall we get going?"

Umika nodded. "I'll wish you luck."

"You too, Umika-chan!" Kazumi said.

They split up, with Umika and Kaoru heading east as planned while Hijiri headed west. She moved with purpose, having a specific destination in mind. Why wander at random when she could just ask the magical girls she knew in town? Kazumi followed half a step behind.

"Hey, um… aren't we supposed to be searching for witches?" she asked.

"Or magical girls," Hijiri countered.

"Oh… are you looking for magical girls?"

"Basically, yes."

They headed northwest, crossing through Mami's territory without running into her or any of her teammates, and made for Mari's apartment complex.

"Is there a magical girl living here?" Kazumi asked.

"There should be," Hijiri said. "Though, I'm not sure if she's home…"

"Hey, um, Nico-chan… have you really only been here once or twice?" Kazumi asked. "You really seem to know your way around…"

Hijiri shrugged. "Maybe."

"Huh? Is that… Kanna-chi?"

Hijiri spun to face the speaker, Masuyo Mari, who had just emerged from the apartment complex.

"That's right," she said. "I'm surprised you remembered my name, though."

"Well… I just have a good memory for names," Mari shrugged. "Did you want something?"

"I was just wondering about something," Hijiri said. "Have you noticed a sharp decline in the number of witches around here?"

Mari blinked, then nodded. "It's not that sharp a decline, but… I've definitely seen fewer in the past week than usual. Why?"

"Oh… there's almost none left back home in Asunaro, almost as if they're… migrating," Hijiri said.

Mari nodded. "Yeah… I haven't noticed anything like that," she said. "But I'll keep an eye out… and I'll contact you if I learn anything."

"Eh!?" Kazumi said. "This magical girl even has your number!?"

"Well, we just exchanged numbers on a whim, really," Mari said. "But yeah… I'm Masuyo Mari. Nice to meet you…?"

"Oh, um… Kazumi. Just Kazumi. Nice to meet you, um… Miss Masuyo?"

Mari nodded. "That's fine," she said.

"Well anyway, thanks for the info," Hijiri said.

"No problem," Mari said.

The two of them then headed south, and Hijiri took out her soul gem to better sense witches.

"Um… say, Nico-chan… how long have you known Miss Masuyo?" Kazumi asked.

"Not that long," Hijiri said. "About… a week, maybe?"

"Oh… is that so…"

Suddenly a ringtone sounded from in Hijiri's pocket. She reached in and extracted Kaoru's phone, making a face at the call display. It was from Nico, the one person she wouldn't be able to fool.

"Say, Kazumi-chan, could you maybe do me a favour?" Hijiri said.

"Um, sure? Aren't you going to answer it?"

"Could you answer the phone and pretend I'm not here?"

"I guess…?"

Hijiri passed her the phone, and Kazumi blinked at the call display for a moment, glancing at Hijiri before answering it.

"Hello… it's Kazumi," she said.

"Huh? I called Kaoru," Nico said from the other end.

"U-um… I forgot my phone, so… when we split up to cover more ground, I borrowed Kaoru-chan's phone," Kazumi explained. "Um… so… what did you want, Nico-chan? I can pass the message on to Kaoru-chan when we meet up again."

"It's nothing important," Nico said. "I can just call Umika instead."

"Um… m-maybe it's better to wait until we get back if it's nothing important," Kazumi suggested. "They might be in the middle of talking to someone, too…"

"Hmm… I suppose it can't hurt," Nico said. "In that case, just let them know that I'd like to see them as soon as they get back."

"Got it," Kazumi said. "By the way, Nico-chan… could I ask you something? It might be kind of a weird question…"

"Sure," Nico said. "If it's something I can answer."

"Um, well… are there two of you?"

"Huh!? W-what do you mean?"

"W-well… like… last night, right?"

"Oh… Saki did mention there was someone who looked like me last night," Nico said. "But she thought it was just someone using transformation magic…"

"That's not possible!" Kazumi said. "She was too perfect for transformation magic! I mean… I know I've only known you a short time, but as far as I could tell, she had all your exact mannerisms and everything! Her speech pattern… the way she walked… everything was the same! And… even Saki-chan and Mirai-chan didn't realize until you said it wasn't you, right?"

There's a silence from the other end.

"You… have a good point," Nico said finally. "But she definitely talked about magical girl stuff, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Then it can't be… who I'm thinking of… because she's not a magical girl…"

"Yeah, there's no doubt that the girl from last night was a magical girl," Kazumi said. "But… is it possible the girl you're thinking of became a magical girl without you realizing?"

"I don't think so," Nico said. "But… I can't rule out the possibility… I suppose it can't hurt to check out her house and see if she's home, maybe ask her a few things."

"Um… right," Kazumi said. "Then you'll let me know what you learn, right?"

"Only if I think it's necessary to share," Nico said.

"Aww…"

"Goodbye, Kazumi," Nico said. "Get back to your search, let Kaoru and Umika know that I'd like to see them, and I'll see you when you get back too."

"Okay, goodbye, Nico-chan."

With that, Kazumi hung up and looked at Hijiri, who sighed.

"Well, I don't know whether to be mad or thankful, Kazumi-chan," Hijiri said. "You've gone and sent her to my house… not that she'll find anything there, since I'm right here with you. But you also didn't let on that I was here with you, and managed to hide the fact from Umika and Kaoru that I'm not who I seem…"

"Eh? Oh, um… I'm sorry," Kazumi said. "It was just bugging me… I should've just asked you instead…"

"Well, it's not like I would've told you anything either," Hijiri shrugged. "Anyway, let's get going. We've got at least two more people to question."

"Huh? You know exactly who you're going to talk to?" Kazumi said.

"That's right," Hijiri said.

"You know… I said your mannerisms and speech patterns are identical," Kazumi said. "But that's actually wrong…"

"Huh?" Hijiri said. "What do you mean?"

"There's one thing that's different between the two of you," Kazumi said. "The real Nico-chan doesn't call me Kazumi-chan!"

Hijiri blinked. "Ah… now that you mention it, I guess you're right," she said.

"Anyway, let's get going, Kanna-chi!"

"Huh? You're going to call me that now?" Hijiri said.

"I don't know anything else to call you," Kazumi said. "And you're not Nico-chan, so I shouldn't call you that."

"Well… if you insist," Hijiri shrugged. "At least when we're alone."

The two of them made their way south through the quartet's territory without running into anything, and eventually arrived at Oriko's house. Without hesitation, Hijiri stepped through the gate and rang the doorbell. There was a sound of scrambling from within, and then Kirika jerked the door open.

"Oh? Oh? Oh!?" Kirika gasped. "Oriko, you have guests! Should I invite them in?"

Oriko herself appeared in the corridor to see the guests.

"Oh my… I seem to be getting a lot of people I don't know stopping by these days," she said. "How may I help you?"

"I won't take up much of your time, Miss Mikuni," Hijiri said.

"My, my… you even know my name?"

"Yes… but that's not the issue here," Hijiri said. "I just had one question for you."

Oriko nodded. "Yes, I understand," she said. "The recent decline in witches, right?"

Hijiri blinked. "As expected of you… you even knew why I came."

"Kirika, could you describe the situation for me?" Oriko asked.

"Eh?" Kirika said. "The situation? What situation?"

"Think about how many witches you defeated each day since you became a magical girl," Oriko said.

Kirika started counting off the days on her fingers.

"Hmm… there was one the first day… then three… three more… then only two yesterday… and I couldn't find even one this morning… but I'm sure I'll find one in the afternoon!"

Oriko nodded.

"So it's small, but barely noticeable at this point," she said. "Still… I expect it to drop off further in the coming week. There may be no witches left before long."

Hijiri nodded. "I see… thank you for your help."

"It was my pleasure," Oriko said. "May we meet again."

"Same to you."

The door closed, and Kazumi spoke up.

"This one didn't know you… but you knew her?"

"I'd heard of her from someone else," Hijiri said. "She's an oracle, so that's how she knew what I wanted, I guess."

"Oh, wow… so, you said there was one more stop, right?"

"Yeah… now we head into Kazamino," Hijiri said. "I'm not as familiar with Kazamino, so it could take a little while to find them."

They turned to head south.

"I kinda feel like a waste of space here though," Kazumi said. "I mean, you're doing everything yourself, Kanna-chi…"

"Don't worry," Hijiri said. "After Kazamino, I have a feeling we'll need to continue south to Takarazaki, at minimum. I'm sure you'll be able to be of some help once we're in a town I'm not familiar with."

"Okay," Kazumi said. "In that case… I'll let you do all the work for now."

They crossed the border into Kazamino, continuing until they reached the waterfront. Then they wandered around a little until they happened across Hitomi Lina, who gasped at the sight of Hijiri.

"Y-you!?" she said. "Is… is this about Yuuki Sasa again?"

Hijiri shook her head. "No, nothing like that," she said. "I was just wondering if you'd noticed a decline in the numbers of witches around here recently."

Lina blinked. "Eh? That's the only reason you're here?"

"That's right."

"Hmm… no, I can't say I've noticed any difference," Lina said. "But it's not like my team fights lots of witches every day…"

"I see…" Hijiri said. "What about familiars?"

"Hmm… we haven't run into any lone familiars in the past few days," Lina said. "So I guess there are fewer than usual, yes."

"Thanks for the info."

They returned to the waterfront, then began to make their way east along the coast.

"That girl seemed to know you," Kazumi said.

"We had a very brief encounter," Hijiri said. "It's nothing worth explaining right now."

"So… Nico-chan actually doesn't know this town at all, does she?" Kazumi asked. "The only one of you two who knows the area is you."

"Well… I can't say that for certain," Hijiri said. "But it's likely that she doesn't."

After following the shoreline for about half an hour, Kaoru's phone rang again. This time it was Umika, so Hijiri answered.

"Hello, did you learn anything?" Umika asked.

"Not a lot," Hijiri said. "The three magical girls I ran into… one of them hadn't noticed any difference, but the other two had noticed a decline in the number of witches… but not as sharply as in Asunaro. And even the one who didn't notice a difference in the witch population did say there'd been fewer familiars."

"I see," Umika said. "We ran into an actual witch ourselves, and spoke with two magical girls who'd both noticed there are fewer witches around… and also fewer familiars. Okay… let's expand our search further, then. Where are you right now, Nico?"

"I'm at the waterfront in Kazamino," Hijiri said. "Around, um…"

She looked around for a bit.

"Oh, I think I can see a glimpse of the river," she said.

"That's perfect," Umika said. "The map shows a train station near the river mouth, so shall we meet up there?"

"Sounds good," Hijiri said.

Without further ado, she hung up, and at the same moment, another ringtone was heard from within her pocket. Hijiri extracted her own phone, blinking at the call display.

"Sorry, Kazumi-chan, I should probably answer this," she said. "It won't be a minute."

"So you actually didn't forget your phone…"

Hijiri answered the phone.

"What is it, Wakana-chan?"

"Oh come on, Kanna-chan! You don't have to be so rude about it!" Wakana protested. "I came all the way to your house, but you wouldn't even talk to me!"

"What are you talking about?" Hijiri asked. "I'm not even in Asunaro right now."

"Huh? But I talked to you literally five minutes ago," Wakana said.

"That must've been my doppelganger," Hijiri retorted.

"Oh, very funny, Kanna-chan!" Wakana grumbled.

"No, seriously! Why else would she snub you or whatever? I'd never do that, Wakana-chan…"

"So you're just going to deny it instead of saying sorry!?"

Hijiri sighed. "Oh, for heaven's sake! Sure, alright. I'm sorry you got confused over a look-a-like."

The girl on the other end fell silent. After nearly a minute, Hijiri prompted her.

"Um… Wakana-chan… you still there?"

"You're really serious about that?" Wakana asked. "That it wasn't you I spoke to earlier?"

"I'm serious," Hijiri said. "There really is a doppelganger of me walking around town. I've seen her myself, several times… I'm sorry I never mentioned it to you."

"Okay," Wakana said. "Then, you can explain things to me in more detail next time we see each other, okay? Promise?"

"I don't know if I can promise that…"

"You've been kinda strange recently, so I just want to be there for you if I can, Kanna-chan!"

"Well… ask me again when we see each other," Hijiri said.

"Fine… alright. See you later."

"You too."

Hijiri hung up and looked at Kazumi.

"You really aren't Nico-chan, huh?" Kazumi said. "You even have your own friends and everything…"

"That's not true at all," Hijiri said. "Nico knows Wakana-chan just as well as I do… even though she didn't know there's two of us. But enough about that… let's meet up with the others."

She returned both phones to her pocket, and the two of them continued heading east until they came to a bridge over the river delta. Instead of crossing, however, Hijiri led Kazumi into a pedestrian underpass which took them across the street and came out right inside the train station. They found Umika and Kaoru already waiting for them there, and headed to the platform to catch a train around the bay into Takarazaki. They got off several stops before the end of the line, which would have taken them all the way out onto the peninsula, and looked around a bit.

"Hmm… this isn't quite such a large city," Umika said. "So perhaps we'll just stick together this time."

"Before we start searching, though," Kazumi said. "Could we get something to eat?"

"That's a great idea," Kaoru said. "Let me search for a good place quickly… is there anything in particular you'd like, Kazumi? Or anyone else, for that matter."

She whipped out her phone and opened up the maps app, then looked expectantly at Kazumi.

"Hmm… maybe… noodles?" Kazumi suggested.

"A great big bowl of ramen would be nice right around now," Hijiri agreed.

"Sure, that's fine with me," Umika said.

Kaoru tapped away at her phone for a bit, then pointed the way.

"There's apparently an awesome ramen place about ten minutes that way," she said. "And it says the lines usually aren't too long, either."

They followed the directions on her phone and before long were standing right across the street from the ramen place. Before they could cross, however, Umika suddenly grabbed Kaoru's arm.

"Huh? What's up, Umika?" Kaoru asked.

"Over there," Umika said. "That tall girl… I think she's a magical girl."

She pointed to a tall girl with long, ash-blonde hair, wearing a floor-length blue skirt, a sky blue blouse, and a blue jacket matching the skirt. She was just approaching from the side and hadn't really noticed the four of them yet. Umika released Kaoru and stepped forward to intercept her.

"Excuse me!" she said.

The girl in question glanced at her but continued walking.

"Excuse me!" Umika said.

The girl paused and looked at her.

"Um… me?" the girl said.

"Yes… could we talk to you for a minute?" Umika asked.

The girl spotted Umika's ring and blinked, then nodded.

"Well… I supposed I could spare a few minutes," the girl said. "Shall we start with introductions? I am Satomi Nayuta."

For some reason she immediately introduced herself, which was a little unusual, given how magical girls tended to be more… territorial.

"Oh… I'm Misaki Umika," Umika said. "My friends are Maki Kaoru, Kanna Nico, and Kazumi."

"It is a pleasure to meet you all," Nayuta said. "How may I help you?"

"Um… you're a magical girl, right?" Umika said.

Nayuta nodded. "Yes… I see that three of you are too…"

"Huh? Which one of us isn't?" Kazumi asked, startled.

"You're not wearing a ring… Miss Kazumi, was it?" Nayuta said.

"A ring… oh… I keep mine in the form of an earring, see?"

Kazumi grabbed her soul gem from her left ear and transformed it to gem form for a moment. Nayuta blinked.

"Huh… I've never heard of a magical girl who didn't use the ring form," she said. "My apologies."

"To get back on topic," Umika said. "We've come because our hometown is experiencing a shortage of witches, and we wanted to know if you've seen something similar around here."

Nayuta nodded. "Hmm… I haven't really noticed a difference in the number of witches in my area… but I have come into conflict with Miss Kagura more frequently of late, so that could plausibly be due to a decline in her area."

"This… Miss Kagura," Umika said. "Would you happen to know how to contact her?"

"I am afraid not," Nayuta said. "She and I have never gotten along from the day we first met. All I can say for certain is that her territory is Hikarizuka Ward."

Kaoru checked the map.

"Hikarizuka Ward… that would be west of here," she said. "West, and a little south."

"Hmm," Umika said. "So… if this Miss Kagura has noticed a decline, but you haven't, Miss Satomi… then I suppose it would make sense to conclude that the witches are migrating east en masse…"

Nayuta blinked. "Witches, migrating?" she said. "That shouldn't happen… a single witch may move around, but mass migrations are entirely unheard of… or at least, that's my understanding…"

"Yeah, well… that's what seems to be happening in Asunaro right now," Umika said. "Well… thank you for the information, Miss Satomi. I suppose we'll continue investigating to the east."

"I am happy that I could have been of help," Nayuta said. "By the way… since I answered your question, perhaps you could do me the favour of answering mine in return?"

"Um… if we're able," Umika said.

"Have you ever met… or even heard of… a man named Satomi Tasuke?" she asked. "Or… he may have introduced himself as Professor Satomi."

"Satomi… huh? That's your surname," Kazumi said. "Is he your father or something?"

Nayuta nodded. "Yes… he has been missing for over two months now," she said. "I'm starting to worry…"

"Hmm," Umika said. "No… I'm afraid the name doesn't ring a bell. Sorry. Do you know anything, Kaoru? Or Nico? Kazumi… I guess you wouldn't know anything."

"No, nothing," Kaoru said.

"I've heard of him," Hijiri said. "But I've never met him, nor heard anything about where he is right now."

"Out of curiosity, may I ask you what you know of him?" Nayuta asked. "In case there is a clue in there that you cannot see."

Hijiri nodded. "It's not much, honestly. All I know is… he published a book on the Tokime Clan and their hidden village… and his brother manages a hospital in Kamihama… that's about it."

"Ah… that's more basic than I expected," Nayuta said. "Alright then… thank you very much."

"That said… have you thought to ask your uncle yet?" Hijiri said. "I mean… Kamihama's right next door…"

Nayuta wrinkled her nose a little.

"My uncle and I… and my cousin… do not get along very well," she said. "Still… I have been considering asking him if he knows anything."

"Anyway, we'll be going now," Umika said. "Thanks again for the help."

Then they turned and crossed the street to enter the ramen place, where each of them ordered a large bowl of ramen. Once everyone had eaten their fill, the four of them left the ramen place and headed east. It wasn't long before Umika picked up the trace of a witch, and they started tracking it through the streets. It seemed to be taking a long, somewhat meandering path, but steadily continuing further and further east.

Eventually, they came to a hospital, and Umika looked up at it, blinking.

"Huh? Satomi Medical Center? Wait… this is Kamihama, isn't it!?"

"So… we're not in Takarazaki anymore?" Kazumi asked.

"Wow," Kaoru said. "It was a pretty intense chase, but I didn't expect the witch would lead us all the way to Kamihama… I mean… the place we started out wasn't even near the border, right?"

"Hmm," Umika said. "Well… I think the witch is close."

"Should we keep chasing it?" Kaoru asked. "Or should we leave it up to a local magical girl?"

"We have to keep pursuing it!" Kazumi said. "There's no guarantee a local magical girl would find it in time, right? Witches bring misery to people… you're the one who explained that to me, Kaoru-chan! If we give up now, someone could get hurt! If we find the witch and someone's already fighting it… then we could let them have it, but… we have to at least keep going until we find it!"

"Yeah… I think Kazumi is right," Umika said.

"Okay, let's keep at it then," Kaoru said.

"There's something bugging me though," Hijiri said. "There seem to be quite a few witches around, but… in addition to that, I'm sensing some strange magic from the hospital. It doesn't seem like a witch, so I'd like to check it out."

Umika nodded. "Okay then, we can split up again," she said. "You've still got Kaoru's phone, so we'll contact you if we need anything."

"Understood."

So Hijiri headed towards the hospital while the others continued tracking the witch towards the river. Although it had been more of an excuse to split up than anything, she had sensed something, so she entered a building across the street from the hospital, headed up to the roof, then leapt across the gap to land on the hospital roof, looking around for those magical traces. However, even though the traces of magic were quite persistent, she was unable to locate anything concrete that might be causing them no matter how hard she looked.

She'd been puzzling over it for more than an hour, trying to apply Umika's analysis magic in creative ways to figure out what the heck that magic trace meant. when she received a call from Umika.

"Nico! Have you seen Kazumi? We got separated!"

"Huh? How'd you manage that?" Hijiri asked.

"I'm not sure," Umika said. "When we stepped into the labyrinth, suddenly everything went dark, and something was muffling sound, too… we couldn't find each other at all. Kaoru and I managed to coordinate over telepathy and get out of there, but Kazumi wasn't there when we emerged. And we didn't even emerge in the same place, so I also need to find Kaoru!"

"Okay… I'll keep an eye out for her," Hijiri said. "I'll let you know if I find anything."

Hijiri transformed, donning the magical girl outfit she'd been trying to hide from the others, and hopped up onto the highest point on the hospital roof. She'd gathered several useful powers over the past many iterations, most of them from magical girls who had been stored in the Freezer, and the one she called upon now was a sort of zoom vision. It was similar to binoculars but even better, allowing her to see very clearly for quite a good distance further than even a normal magical girl's enhanced eyes would be able to, without reducing the total field of view. Thanks to that, she was able to spot Umika at a small riverside park nestled in the fork of the river, where they must've encountered the witch, while Kaoru was a good distance upstream on the near fork, on the shores of the lake. She didn't see Kazumi anywhere nearby, however.

Hijiri paused the magic to send an email to Umika, letting her know where Kaoru is, before resuming her scan. After almost ten minutes, she finally spotted Kazumi quite a ways further downstream, on the other side of the river just beside a large cross-shaped bridge, an intersection of two roads right over the water. Though Kazumi seemed to be out cold, she was laid out neatly on a bench, and there appeared to be someone else with her. It looked like the other person had just been passing by and noticed her… but possibly they were the one who laid her out neatly like that.

Hijiri opted not to call Umika back immediately. Instead, she leapt high into the air, borrowing Remi's power to slow her time and travel at extreme speeds. Borrowing Kaoru's power as well to reinforce her body, she kicked off the top of a train as it sped by on the tracks, the impact altering her trajectory slightly as she flew into a second jump, heading straight for the middle of the river. Then she used her own graph-like wires to latch onto the bridge above and swing herself over to the riverbank. Despite her gravity-defying feats, it didn't seem as though anyone had noticed her. She quickly powered down and headed up to check on Kazumi… just in time to see her wake with a yell.

"Let me out!" Kazumi shouted, sitting bolt upright.

"W-whoa!" the girl with her gasped. "You scared me!"

The girl wore a white apron over her casual clothes, with some sort of logo on the chest – a green ring of scrollwork around a pig – and she had a motor scooter with a black box bearing the same logo attached to the back.

"Y-you!" Kazumi gasped. "So you're the one planning to set a bomb, are you!?"

"A bomb!?" the other girl gasped.

"You're the one who kidnapped me, right!?"

"W-wait! Where's there a kidnapper?"

"Right here!" Kazumi insisted, pointing at the girl.

"Hmmm… let's see… you're pointing…" She gasped. "…at me!?"

"You locked me in here and kidnapped me!" Kazumi accused her.

"Huh? In where?" the girl asked. "No, you weren't locked in anywhere… you were just snoozing on this bench. You were super deep asleep, too…"

"I know how this goes!" Kazumi exclaimed. "Wait! Oh no! My tummy's rumbling…"

"I see, I see!" the girl said. "You're still half asleep. Must've had a crazy nightmare… I'm not a bomber or a kidnapper or anything. I'm Yui Tsuruno, of Chinese Restaurant Banbanzai! I'm the—"

"Ah!" Kazumi gasped. "I smell something good!"

"Hey, wait!" Tsuruno complained. "I wasn't even finished introducing myself yet!"

Kazumi looked at the box on her scooter.

"That takeout box," Kazumi said. "It doesn't have a bomb inside it… does it?"

She swiped the box and peeked inside.

"Ohhh! It's triple sweet and sour pineapple pork!?"

"How did you know that?" Tsuruno gasped.

"Thanks for the food!" Kazumi said.

"Whoa!" Tsuruno said. "Hang on a sec! That's not even mine!"

She snatched the box back and returned it to its place on the motor scooter, glaring at Kazumi.

"What are you, a takeout thief!?" Tsuruno asked. "I've never seen someone swipe food like that before! If that's how you're gonna behave, I'll have to stop going easy on you!"

"B-b-but…"

"Hmm? What is it?" Tsuruno asked.

"I'm staaaaarving!" Kazumi wailed.

"W-whoa… she's really bawling," Tsuruno gasped. "Um… will you wake up already? Who are you and where are you from?"

Kazumi blinked. "Me? I'm… Kazumi… that's my name!"

"So, Kazumi… what exactly happened? You were hungry and fell asleep? And dreamed of a bomb and a kidnapper?"

"Oh, yeah… no, that actually happened… I think… or did it…? Hmm… I think… I might be looking for someone?"

Kazumi frowned.

"Waaagh… my memory's all fuzzy…"

"Huh, so you've lost your memories… huh!? Wait, whaaaaat!?"

"Oh no," Kazumi said. "What am I gonna dooo!? I mean… I'm so hungry!"

"Alright!" Tsuruno said. "If you can wait until I deliver this, I'll server you some nice piping hot food of your own! Hop on!"

"O-okay!" Kazumi said.

Tsuruno grabbed the handles as Kazumi jumped on the back, without squashing the takeout box, and held on tight.

"Grab even tighter!" Tsuruno said.

"Got it!"

Then the two of them headed off. Hijiri tailed them to a house, where Tsuruno delivered the food and received payment, and then to a Chinese restaurant. After the two of them entered the restaurant, Hijiri waited a couple of minutes before following them inside. Tsuruno and Kazumi were the only ones there.

"Welcome!" Tsuruno shouted. "What can I get you?"

"Um… hmm… I'll have whatever she's having," she replied.

"You got it!" Tsuruno said.

Tsuruno got to work cooking the food. The way she cooked was incredibly dynamic, like she was dancing, with tons of wasted movement and unnecessary flourishes, but despite that, it seemed she had some pretty decent skill – she never once dropped anything on the floor, for starters. Even when she grabbed the wok and yanked it upwards as an overly-dramatic method of stirring, not a single grain of rice escaped that Hijiri could see. Finally the food was done, and Tsuruno slammed two plates of fried rice down in front of the pair, heaped to bursting point. A moment later, she added two plates of sweet and sour pineapple pork.

Noticing that Tsuruno wore a magical girl ring, Hijiri flashed hers, eliciting a blink from Tsuruno, who then leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"And just for you, the magical girl discount! Half price!"

That hadn't been her intention when flashing her ring – she'd merely wanted to alert Tsuruno that she was a magical girl so they could discuss some things – but it was certainly a nice bonus.

"Oh, thank you very much," Hijiri murmured. "With the serving size, I was a little worried for my wallet there…"

She glanced at Kazumi who was already eating, then began to dig in herself.

"So?" Tsuruno said. "How is it?"

"How should I put it," Hijiri said. "It's good, but not… outstanding?"

"It's delicious!" Kazumi said happily.

"Whoa! Delicious is nice to hear for a change!" Tsuruno exclaimed.

"Huh? Why's that?" Kazumi asked.

"Most people give our fried food a C grade, just like this lady here," Tsuruno explained, indicating Hijiri.

"Really?" Kazumi asked.

"Yeah… not great, not terrible," Tsuruno said. "Just average. It tasted amazing when Grandpa cooked it back in the day… but still! Some of our customers really like our C grade food! So it's like… should we even try and improve it? Or should we just keep it the same? It's a toughie, I'm telling you!"

"No way!" Kazumi protested. "It's really tasty! I'd have to give it an A grade! It's kinda calming… or comforting…"

"Oh, stop!" Tsuruno protested, blushing a bit. "You're just saying that because you were so hungry!"

"That's not true!" Kazumi protested. "I totally understand people loving it!"

She shovelled the last of the rice down her throat along with the final piece of pork, then let out a satisfied sigh.

"Thanks! That really hit the spot!"

"And thank you for cleaning your plate!" Tsuruno said.

"By the way," Kazumi said. "Sorry about interrupting you during your work…"

"Aww, don't worry about it!" Tsuruno said. "I was able to finish the delivery, so it's no biggie! I'm more concerned about you… do you really have amnesia? Have you remembered anything now that you've had something to eat?"

"Oh yeah! That's right!" Kazumi gasped. "Hmm… I still only remember my name, though…"

"You don't seem too concerned about it…"

"Maybe because I'm full!" Kazumi said. "I may only know my name, but… if I get hungry, it means I'm okay!"

"I don't get it?"

"If you feel hungry, it means your body has the will to live, right?" Kazumi said. "At least, that's what I think…"

Hijiri chuckled. "That's certainly one way of looking at it…"

"Yeah, that's right," Tsuruno said. "Your body has the will to live! I totally get what you mean!"

Suddenly, Kazumi's cowlick twitched, and she sat bolt upright.

"Ahh!"

"What's wrong?" Tsuruno asked.

"My hair's getting kinda tingly," Kazumi explained. "I'm sorry! I gotta go! Thanks so much for the food, Tsuruno-chan! I'll make it up to you sometime! I'm looking forward to having your fried rice next time we meet!"

With that, she jumped up and ran outside.

"W-wait!" Tsuruno gasped.

"So… how much?" Hijiri asked.

"Oh, um…"

Tsuruno cited a price, and Hijiri forked over some cash.

"Huh? I said it was half price, didn't I?"

"I thought I'd pay for her portion too," Hijiri said. "She is sort of a friend of mine, after all… even if she seems to have forgotten me…"

"Oh wow!" Tsuruno said. "You should've said something earlier! What a strange coincidence that you'd walk in here at the same time though… wait! Is your magic luck magic!?"

"No…"

Hijiri turned to face the door.

"But speaking of magic… did you notice?" she asked.

"Notice what?"

"Hmm… it just seemed like Kazumi-chan had been affected by some strange magic," Hijiri mused. "That might be why she lost her memories…"

"Hmm… I didn't notice anything," Tsuruno said.

"I see… well… I should probably go after her," Hijiri said. "See you later, Miss Yui."

"Huh!? How'd you know my name!?"

"That's not important. But… if you happen to see Umika and Kaoru, tell them Miss Kanna is already on Kazumi's trail."

With that, Hijiri left the restaurant and looked around for a moment. Although Kazumi was capable of concealing her magical signature, she hadn't yet figured out how to do that, so for Hijiri, who was intimately familiar with it, it wasn't difficult to track her. She followed the trail east across the city for quite some distance. Kazumi had a significant head start, so although she was confident she wouldn't lose the trail, Hijiri started to lose hope of catching up.

After almost an hour or two, the trail took her to a river – a different river from the previous one. There were four major rivers running through the city, and this was the one that marked part of the border between Chuo and Kosho Wards, though the border diverged from the river further south. Then the trail bent south, following the river for a bit before crossing a bridge and continuing along the main street into Daito Ward. It was at the bridge just beyond the Daito border that she finally caught up to Kazumi. She was now with two other magical girls, one with a floor-length pigtail wearing shorts and a T-shirt and the other with short, slightly messy brown hair tied up with a mushroom-themed scrunchy, wearing shorts and an untucked button shirt with a mushroom pattern along the bottom.

With a little application of her unique magic, and a touch of Umika's magic for good measure, she integrated herself into the group as though she'd always been there, learning that the two girls were named Mao Himika and Yayoi Kanoko respectively. Each was carrying a basket of mushrooms, and apparently they were headed to Himika's house for a hot pot. It was just a little further, apparently.

They finally arrived at Himika's house. It turned out she was the oldest of seven, a positively massive family in this day and age where most people have only one or two children, if any. The oldest brother, who seemed to be pretty close to Himika's age, helped to set up the hot pot and throw in a great many of the mushrooms that they'd brought, along with a few other ingredients. It wasn't exactly a conventional hot pot. Some of the ingredients looked almost like weeds that grew along the roads.

"Hey everyone!" Himika finally announced. "The mushroom hot pot's ready!"

Her siblings began clamouring for the food.

"Woohoo!" Himiji said.

"Let's eat, let's eat!" Himeka said.

"Yeah! I'll plate it out now!" Himika said.

"Mushroom hot pot!" Kanoko exclaimed. "That was such a fantastic idea!"

"It smells so good!" Kazumi exclaimed.

Once everyone was settled down and eating, the magical girls sat together off to the side to discuss things.

"So, about that reaction in our soul gems earlier," Himika said. "We couldn't find out what was causing it in the end, huh?"

Hijiri blinked. "Hmm? What reaction?"

"Weren't you there too?" Kanoko asked.

"Sorry, I must've been spacing out when it happened," Hijiri said.

"Well, it was right around when Kazumi-chan showed up," Himika said. "She totally startled us."

"Right! I sensed something and came running!" Kazumi explained. "I was sure it was right around where Himika-chan and Kanoko-chan were picking mushrooms!"

"Right, and then when she noticed us, we asked who she was," Himika said. "And after the introductions and explanations, suddenly we picked up the trace of a witch nearby."

"There was a labyrinth right there!" Kanoko said. "It was like it had somehow snuck up on us! And somehow Kazumi-chan could see it too, even though she's not a magical girl!"

Hijiri blinked. "Really?"

"But then… by the time we had transformed and explained magic to her, the witch was just… gone," Himika said. "It was really weird."

"Huh… by the way, Kazumi-chan, your earring is really pretty," Hijiri said. "Could I get a closer look at it for a moment?"

"Eh? This bell earring?"

"You're not wearing any other earrings, are you?"

"Good point. Sure!"

Kazumi took out the earring that contained her soul gem and passed it over. As Hijiri examined it closely, the others continued their discussion. While they talked, Hijiri turned away a bit to hide what she was doing from the others and forced it into gem form to check on the level of impurities within it. It looked like it was completely filled. If Kazumi were a real magical girl, she'd be turning into a witch at this point… but she wasn't a real magical girl. Hijiri wondered if the grief seed within was attempting to hatch somehow. Was that the labyrinth they'd sensed? Supposedly Nico had set some sort of measure to prevent that, but Hijiri didn't know how it worked so she couldn't verify it was functioning. In any case… Hijiri pulled out a grief seed to purify Kazumi's soul gem. If someone else saw it later, it wouldn't do for them to see it so darkened.

"So yeah, all of a sudden… it was just gone," Kanoko echoed.

"My hair went back to normal too," Kazumi said.

"Still though… I think the magic we felt must've been related to whatever Kazumi-chan's hair reacted to," Himika said. "She felt it, and so did our soul gems."

"But somehow Kazumi-chan didn't know anything about magical girls," Kanoko said.

"Yeah…" Kazumi nodded.

"Hmm… that's probably because of the amnesia," Himika said. "She knows but just forgot? I bet she's actually a magical girl too!"

Suddenly Himoto popped up between them, clamouring for seconds, and Himari quickly seconded him, so Himika took his plate and went over to the pot to serve them and all her other siblings… other than Himio, the next eldest, who had already served himself seconds.

"Your family is so huge!" Kazumi said.

"Yeah! We're pretty much a full house!" Himika said. "Hey, Himiji, no eating with your fingers!"

"Blast, I was caught!" Himiji gasped.

"This is how it always is at mealtimes," Himika said. "Every single meal is noisy!"

"Really?" Kazumi said. "I think it's fun that it's so crazy here!"

Himika giggled. "You might be right! It does kinda feel like something's missing when I eat on my own… Himio refuses to eat with me at school so I often end up having lunch alone."

"Sorry to interrupt," Hijiri said. "But… you're quite certain there was no-one else around when you sensed that witch, right?"

"That's right," Kanoko said. "It was just the four of us."

"Yeah, we didn't sense any other magic besides the witch," Himika said.

"I see… here, Kazumi-chan, you can have your earring back."

She passed back the earring and Kazumi put it back on. A moment later, Kazumi blinked suddenly.

"Ah… I think… I just remembered something."

"What is it!?" Kanoko asked. "What did you remember?"

"Hmm… I'm not sure," Kazumi said.

"I see," Himika said. "But hey, don't stress yourself out! Eat up! Here, I'll get you seconds too since I'm already up!"

"Yeah, thanks!" Kazumi said. "After all, people who waste food are evil, right?"

"Huh? What'd you just say?" Kanoko asked.

"Uhh… people who waste food are evil," Kazumi repeated.

"Why is that so familiar…?" Kanoko wondered. "Oh! I read it in a novel! It was by… umm… right, Misaki Umika!"

"Misaki… Umika…?" Kazumi said.

"Oh, well, Misaki Umika is a best-selling novelist," Kanoko explained. "And – you'll never believe this – I heard she's about the same age as us!"

"Huh… that's amazing!" Himika gasped.

"I feel like I've heard that name somewhere," Kazumi said. "I wonder where…? Could she be the person I was looking for…?"

"Hmm… well, why don't we stop by Emily's Counselling Office?" Kanoko suggested. "Maybe she can help you figure things out!"

"Oh… that's not a bad idea," Himika said. "Alright… let's go as soon as we've cleaned out the pot!"

Once all the mushrooms were gone and the pot and plates had all been washed up, Himika and Kanoko left the house with Hijiri and Kazumi. Hijiri paused to look back in the doorway, momentarily debating whether to make the siblings forget she had been there, but she decided it wasn't worth it. The only people she really needed to hide her identity from right now were Umika and Kaoru, after all, and even if Himika's siblings somehow managed to meet up with them, there was no reason for them to connect their description of her to Nico.

Kanoko led the way, heading to a nearby train station to catch a train heading almost all the way back across the city. After disembarking, they approached a small kiosk in a busy shopping mall, just a large tent set up off in a corner, big enough to fit several people inside. It was like one of those fortune-teller tents that you saw around now and then, only in pink and yellow. There was a blonde girl with twintails sitting outside, twiddling her hair and just watching the people go by.

"Howdy!" Kazumi said.

"Hey there!" the twintailed girl said. "Oh? It's Kano-chin and Himika-min! And who's this? Come right on in!"

She jumped up and grinned at the trio, making a peace sign over her right eye while holding the flap of the tent open with her foot.

"W-whoa!" Kazumi gasped. "Um… we're looking for… Emily… right?"

"Emily!?" the twin-tailed girl gasped, holding her head. "Hmm… let's see… Emily… Emily…"

Kanoko snorted.

"Wait!" the twin-tailed girl gasped. "That's like, me! You're looking at her!"

"Oh! Y-you're Emily!?" Kazumi gasped.

"Yes! The one and only!" Emily said.

"She's the one and only Emily!" Kanoko said.

Kanoko's voice overlapped just right so that the catch-phrase came out in unison, which apparently amused her greatly, because she let out another snort of mirth. Then all of us piled inside, and Emily turned to face Kazumi with a smile.

"So, what's your name?" she asked.

"I'm Kazumi! Kazumi the amnesiac!"

"Kazumi the amnesiac!" Emily said, nodding. "Okay, hmm, let's see… Kazumi… Kazumi… Kazumi… simple is best, am I right? So let's go with Kazumin!"

This time Hijiri snorted, amused by the idea of Emily making a nickname from a name that was already a nickname… not that any of those present besides her knew about that. Also, now that they were in a private space, Hijiri decided to call upon Umika's magic once more, this time removing Himika and Kanoko's memories of her from earlier and making them believe they'd just run into her here at the counselling tent.

"Eh? Do you mean… me?" Kazumi asked.

"Absolutely!" Emily said. "It's totally great to meetcha, Kazumin!"

"Ah, um… I'm happy to meet you too," Kazumi said.

"So!" Emily said. "What's up?"

"Um, well… I don't remember anything!" Kazumi said.

"Oh yeah, you mentioned that," Emily said. "Sorry, my bad! But wait, seriously? Nothing at all? That's crazy! I've never heard of something like that! Like, real amnesia? Wow!"

"She just showed up all of a sudden," Himika explained. "And then she said she only remembered her name."

"So, what do you think I should do?" Kazumi asked. "I really can't remember anything except, well… just my name. Oh, and I think I'm looking for… someone…"

Emily giggled. "Oooh, I know just what to do about something like this! First we gotta search through your things! I saw it on TV!"

"Ohhh! I forgot to check my stuff!" Kazumi gasped. "Maybe there's some useful clue in there!"

She started to dig through her bag, looking for any clues to her identity. There wasn't much there, unfortunately, but she did find a flier for Café Lepa Macha. It was also around this point that Hijiri figured it was about time she let Kaoru and Umika know that she'd found Kazumi. However, Umika didn't pick up when she called, so she sent an email instead.

"Found something!" Kazumi said. "It's a flier! I wonder where I got this?"

"Lemme see, lemme see!" Emily said eagerly. "Hmm… Café Lepa Macha, under new management… come see our new menu! Where is this place…? Oh! There's an address in the corner! It says Asunaro, right there!"

"Asunaro?" Kazumi said. "Is that far from here?"

"Hmm, I dunno," Emily said. "I think you could probably take a day trip there from here?"

"It's pretty far, way up on the north coast," Hijiri said. "But she's right, by train it'd only be a couple of hours."

"Oooh, so this has gotta mean you're an Asunaro girl, huh?" Emily said. "Café Lepa Macha in Asunaro… oho! This means we've got some clues to work with! Oooh, this is amazing! I feel like we're in a TV show or something! Right, I'm gonna ask all my friends! Great idea, right?"

"Wha!? Really? Thank you so much!" Kazumi said.

Emily giggled. "So, let's start with Kano-chan and Himika-min! Do you guys know anything?"

"Well… not really," Himika said. "That's why we brought her here in the first place."

"But Asunaro, you say?" Kanoko said. "I heard a rumour that Misaki Umika lives there… so maybe—"

Suddenly, a girl with long black hair showed up, thrusting the curtain aside without ceremony.

"Emily!" she said urgently.

"W-whoa, Sasaran!?" Emily gasped. "You read my mind! Perfect timing!"

"Not now!" Sasaran said. "Emily, I need your help!"

"Say what!?" Emily gasped.

"It's Asuka! She's—"

"What happened to Asukyan!?" Emily gasped.

"A witch, it—"

"A witch!?" Kazumi gasped.

"Um… who's this?" Sasaran asked, noticing her for the first time.

"Oh! That's right!" Emily gasped. "Um, Kazumin, by witch, we mean, uh… ah, whatever, this is a major emergency here! Hurry, Sasaran, tell me everything!"

"Okay!" Sasaran said. "So, I was pursuing a witch with Asuka. We entered its labyrinth, but suddenly everything went dark. And then, Asuka was nowhere to be found!"

"Ah!" Hijiri gasped. "That sounds like the same witch I was pursuing!"

"So she just went poof!?" Emily asked. "Asukyan vanished!?"

"I don't know what happened," Sasaran said. "Nothing like that has ever happened to me before."

"W-we should go look for her!" Emily said urgently. "Ah, but Kazumin…"

"Does she need help too?" Sasaran asked.

"Yeah, but like… urgh… this is like a two for one sale on bad news!" Emily groaned, holding her head.

"I'll come with you!" Kazumi said. "I already know about witches!"

"What!?" Emily gasped. "Seriously!? How come?"

"Well, um… Kanoko-chan told me about them," Kazumi said.

"Oooh, you did, Kano-chin!?"

"Yeah," Kanoko said.

"Still though… um… mind waiting here while we do this?" Emily asked. "Asukyan's case is a bit more urgent, sooo…"

"I want to go too!" Kazumi protested. "It's really serious, right?"

"That's totally sweet of you, but…"

"Sorry," Sasaran said. "If you've heard about witches, then you've also heard about magical girls, right? We're the only ones who can fight witches."

"Huh? But…" Kazumi blinked suddenly. "Eh? I… I gotta go!"

"N-no, that wouldn't be wise!" Sasaran protested. "You're not a magical girl!"

"Well, why not let her?" Hijiri suggested. "Something interesting might happen."

"You're serious!?" Sasaran gasped.

"But… I really, really have to go!" Kazumi said. "I get the feeling something really, really bad is gonna happen if I don't! Please! Take me with you! I think… I think I'm a magical girl too!"

She grabbed the earring and transformed it to gem form as proof. It had already gathered an impressive amount of impurities just since Hijiri had checked it last, although it still wasn't quite that bad now. The others look startled at the sight of an actual soul gem. Sasaran quickly recovers, however.

"I'm sorry, we just can't…" Sasaran said. "Even if you're a magical girl… you're almost out of magic there! You'll need a grief seed before you can fight!"

"Um… Sasaran, look at Kazumin's eyes," Emily said, unusually serious for once.

"Huh? Her eyes?" Sasaran said.

"You can tell she's crazy determined!" Emily said. "Even if we stopped her she'd still bust through! Besides, check out that hair sprout thingy of hers! It's literally sticking straight up!"

Sasaran blinked, looking at Kazumi's cowlick. "Ehhh!? W-what the heck…!?"

"That's the hair of a girl who will not be stopped!" Emily said. "Okay?"

"You've lost me," Sasaran said.

"It's pretty simple," Hijiri said. "Let's just bring Kazumi-chan with us."

"Well… if you insist…" Sasaran said, hesitantly.

"Anyway, Kazumin," Emily said. "This is like, really serious, okay?"

"Yeah!" Kazumi said.

Sasaran sighed. "I supposed it's okay if you wait outside the labyrinth…"

"That should be cool, right?" Emily said. "That work for you, Kazumin?"

"Um… yeah, I think… that should work," Kazumi said.

"You can count on me and Kanoko to look after the place while you're gone," Himika said. "So get going and save her!"

"Alright!" Emily said.

Sasaran led the way, with Emily, Kazumi, and Hijiri following.

"So, whereabouts did you and Asukyan get separated?" Emily asked.

"Well… the labyrinth was… somewhere over in this direction," Sasaran said. "That's where we first ran across it…"

She trailed off for about a minute as they hurried through the streets, then came to a stop.

"Right around here."

Hijiri took out her soul gem and looked around a bit, sensing the magic.

"Yeah… there's no doubt about it," she said. "This is the same witch I was tracking. I lost track of it over by Satomi Medical Centre… that was just a couple of hours ago, I think. Hmm? The trace is strong… it might still be nearby…"

"W-whoa!" Emily gasped. "That's one active witch! So where'd it go from here, Sasaran?"

"No tingles…" Kazumi murmured.

"Tingles?" Sasaran said.

"My hair tingles whenever there's something bad in the air," Kazumi explained.

"W-whoa!?" Emily gasped. "Don't tell me that sprouty thing's some kinda radar or something!? Are you an alien from outer space?"

"I'm pretty sure I'm not!" Kazumi said.

"So… it's almost like… a soul gem?" Sasaran said.

"Oh my god!" Emily said. "That's amazing! How'd you get it to do that!?"

"How…? Um… I'm not sure," Kazumi said. "Was it since I got my hair cut…?"

"Ah… did someone cut it for you?" Emily asked. "Wait! Did you remember something!?"

"Yeah… I remember two friends cutting my hair for me," Kazumi said

"Cutting your hair for you," Sasaran said. "So that means you must've been really close, right!?"

"Ain't that great, Kazumin!?" Emily said. "They were like, your best friends, huh? Which means they're out looking for you for sure!"

"Yes!" Kazumi said. "I think you must be right!"

"I'm sorry," Sasaran said. "I dragged you into this when you've already got so much on your plate…"

"What are you talking about!?" Kazumi protested. "I'm the one who wanted to go! And I don't need memories to know how important friends are!"

"Thank you," Sasaran said.

Suddenly, Kazumi's cowlick picked up a reaction, and Hijiri turned to face the direction it was pointing, holding up her soul gem. The witch's labyrinth was there, just across the street, but that wasn't what she'd noticed. The magic she was sensing… huh? Like a witch, but not quite… a pseudo-witch? It sort of made sense – Kazumi's cowlick normally only detected pseudo-witches, not real witches. But surely there was no-else who figured out how to make evil nuts… Hijiri decided to abandon the others and head into the labyrinth alone.

"Ah, I'm tingling!" Kazumi gasped.

"My soul gem's going off too!" Emily said. "Which means… it must be the witch! Yep, the labyrinth's… right over there, across the street!"

"That's the same as the witch from before!" Sasaran said. "Asuka must be in here too! She's stuck inside that labyrinth!"

"Sorry, but you've gotta wait for us here, Kazumin," Emily said. "We'll be right back!"

"Thank you," Sasaran said. "Coming all this way is more than enough!"

"You sure there isn't anything I can do to help?" Kazumi asked.

"Nah, like seriously, we're happy you came this far!" Emily said.

That was the last thing Hijiri heard before she plunged into the labyrinth and transformed. Although everything was dark, she still had that magical signal to hone in on. Perhaps Emily and Sasaran had only sensed the witch itself, but Hijiri was more interested in the strange signal, like a pseudo-witch. The darkness pressed in around her, but she forged forward. Familiars swarmed her, the only bright thing in this space. They were little more than white orbs, with a pair of pointed ears and a single bushy tail, but they were fast, buzzing around like flies.

However, Hijiri wasn't interested in fighting them, so she used Satomi's magic on them to spark a rebellion, allowing her to continue onward while the familiars were fighting amongst themselves. She could faintly sense the movement of Sasaran and Emily's magical signatures behind her as well – it seemed as though they had also entered the labyrinth, although whether they were able to make any progress through the darkness was quite another matter.

After barely more than a minute, Hjiri burst free from the darkness into a small, spherical chamber. There, at the far end, was the witch, a glowing white eldritch monstrosity of a Kyuubi – a nine-tailed fox. But as she'd suspected, the witch wasn't the source of that strange signal. No… it came from the girl facing the witch. At a glance, it appeared that the girl was in the process of witching out, her body hanging face down and suspended by red ribbons. The monstrosity floating above her and dangling those ribbons was something like a drum, with a single arm emerging from the bottom and gripping a massive black sword. The drum head bore a pair of facing magatamas inside a sunburst – not the yin-yang symbol with a white and black magatama fitted together, but two black ones spaced out a bit, in the right orientation to fit together yet instead leaving an S-shaped gap in the middle. And hovering above the drum were a pair of drinking horns in the shape of mermaid's tails, which appeared to be filled with teeth. The only thing keeping the three pieces together were several tangled lengths of red ribbon, similar to those gripping the girl's body.

Hijiri spotted the witch runes floating in the air nearby and read them out loud.

"Tamamo… and Henrietta… and pretty obvious which is which, too…"

The two witches appeared to be fighting each other, but they seemed evenly matched. Tamamo bombarded her enemy with glowing white balls of lightning, but Henrietta swatted them away like flies with her sword before smacking her own body, producing a deep boom, and slashing indiscriminately at Tamamo.

Before Hijiri could do anything else, though, she heard the sound of a bell – Kazumi's bell – and suddenly, a massive bright white beam cut into the space, smashing the labyrinth wide open and cutting down both witches in a single shot. Hijiri quickly powered down, just in case of the remote chance that Umika and Kaoru were watching. But wait… huh? Tamamo, the fox witch, had clearly dropped a grief seed, which Hijiri bent down to retrieve, but the other one… the girl collapsed to the ground, now powered down, and when Hijiri quickly stepped forward to check on her… she still had her soul gem ring on her finger, and furthermore, it was completely free of impurities.

"Emily-chan! Sasaran-chan!" Kazumi said happily. "I… I think I can use magic too!"

Hijiri glanced up at her. Of course… she was wearing Michiru's magical girl outfit… she'd have to be, to pull out such a powerful Limiti Esterni. The statement was a strange one though, given that she'd earlier told them she was a magical girl. Still, Emily and Sasaran were suitably shocked as well. After all, she'd defeated the witch in one shot without even entering the labyrinth. Hijiri figured it must've been the same signal she'd sensed that allowed Kazumi to correctly aim, which means that this girl on the ground was the only reason she'd managed to pull the move off this time.

As Kazumi powered down once again, the girl in question opened her eyes and sat up, looking around in confusion. Emily and Sasaran also powered down.

"Amazing!" Emily gasped. "Awesome surprise, Kazumin!"

Kazumi giggled.

"It sure was!" Sasaran said. "Looks like Asuka's safe and sound too."

"But wow, you defeated that witch without even entering the labyrinth!" Emily said.

"Yeah… I had no idea that was even possible!" Sasaran said.

Asuka picked herself off and brushed herself off.

"You over there, um… thank you for your assistance," she said. "And you too," she added, looking at Hijiri.

"Of course!" Kazumi said.

"Now then," Asuka said grimly, clenching her fist. "I… I'm just gonna go kill myself now!"

"W-whoa now!" Sasaran gasped. "Why would you go and do that!?"

"I was the reason that witch caused you so much trouble!" Asuka said. "You put yourselves on the line, fighting for my sake… therefore, I must demonstrate exactly how grateful I am!"

"What kind of logic is that!?" Sasaran asked angrily.

"Well, I… even though I was separated from you, Miss Sasara… I figured I could go back in and beat it myself," Asuka said.

Ah, so Sasaran was just a nickname and her actual name was Sasara…

"I'll let you have the grief seed too," Hijiri said.

She passed it to Asuka, who accepted it and went to purify her soul gem, only to discover it wasn't necessary.

"Huh? I thought I used more magic than that…" Asuka said.

"By the way, I remembered something else!" Kazumi said suddenly.

"Oh, you did?" Emily said. "So you're saying… your memories came back!?"

"Nope! Still have amnesia!" Kazumi said.

"Huh? So nothing?"

"But! I remembered that I have amnesia!" Kazumi said.

"You lost me…" Sasara said.

"Um, is this some kind of riddle?" Asuka asked.

"No, I remembered that… I already had amnesia!" Kazumi said.

"In other words… you lost your memories twice?" Sasara said.

"Yup! And I was living with two magical girls in Asunaro… we have a team of seven! But it was just the three of us chasing this witch today when we fell into its trap and were separated…"

"Seven!? That's quite a big team…" Sasara said.

"Oh! So that's what happened!" Emily said. "That's great!"

"What do you mean, three?" Hijiri said. "Did you forget that I was with you too?"

"No, of course not, Kanna-chi!" Kazumi said. "But you were checking out something else, remember?"

"Huh?" Emily said. "Come to think of it… who are you, again? You were there the whole time but I only just noticed you…"

"I'm also from Asunaro," Hijiri said. "My name is Hijiri Kanna."

"Oh! So that's why it's Kanna-chi!" Kazumi gasped. "I thought it just meant you were Nico-chan's twin or something, because it's the same surname, but it turns out it was actually your given name…"

"You're also from Asunaro," Sasara said. "But… the two of you don't know each other? Yet you were tracking the witch together?"

"We'd only just met today," Hijiri said. "But apparently I look exactly like one of her teammates."

"Wow, that's one crazy coincidence!" Emily gasped.

"Wait a second, Asunaro is really far away, right?" Sasara said. "Are you telling me you tracked that witch all the way here?"

"No," Hijiri said. "We were investigating something in Takarazaki when we ran across its trail."

"Ah, that makes a lot more sense," Sasara said.

"So this was… that thing, right?" Emily said.

"What thing?" Kazumi asked.

"Argh, what's it called again?" Emily groaned. "When, like… poof! Everything's all done! Like… you get two things in one go!"

"Two birds with one stone?" Asuka offered.

"Yeah, that!" Emily said. "You got two birds with one stone here!"

"But, wait a minute," Sasara said. "You said it was the same witch… and there was a trap…"

"Did the three of you get split up like we did!?" Asuka gasped.

"What happened to your friends!?" Sasara asked. "Oh wait… I suppose you wouldn't know, not having your memories…" She looked at Hijiri. "Maybe you know?"

"They were searching separately from me," Hijiri said. "I haven't heard from them since I let them know I found her, though… maybe they ran into some trouble…"

"I'm sure Umika and Kaoru are fine!" Kazumi said. "They're really strong!"

Hijiri raised an eyebrow but decided not to disabuse her of that notion. The strength of the Pleiades Saints was their strategy and strong teamwork, not their individual power, but she'd figure that out eventually anyway. There was no need to call her on it in front of total strangers.

"Now that's an awesome friendship you've got there!" Emily said. "You got some real faith in them, Kazumin!"

"Still… I know they're looking for me, so… Kanna-chi, we've got to look for them too! Where should we start!?"

"Hmm, that's a toughie," Emily said.

"Yeah, we don't have any leads," Sasara said.

"Ah!" Asuka gasped. "In that case, I have an idea! Consider this my way of showing my gratitude!"

"Really!?" Kazumi gasped. "P-please tell us!"

"Why not try speaking to Nanami Yachiyo?" Asuka suggested.

"Oh! I know her!" Emily exclaimed.

"Huh? Who's that?" Kazumi asked.

"The most experienced magical girl in all Kamihama," Sasara said.

"Said to be the strongest as well!" Asuka said. "I've only met her a few times myself… but with all that experience, she's bound to know a few ways to search for magical girls!"

"Yeah!" Emily said. "She might know a super-cool way to track them down!"

"Unfortunately, I don't know her number," Asuka said. "Nor her email…"

"Then why don't you start by visiting the Coordinator?" Sasara suggested.

"Ooh! Great idea!" Asuka said.

"The what?" Kazumi asked.

"It's like, this place where someone named Mitama-cho tickles you," Emily said.

"Huh!? I dunno, I'm too ticklish, I think…" Kazumi said.

"Emily! There's a whole lot more to it than that!" Sasara said.

"You could maybe call her… a chiropractor for magical girls," Asuka said. "Anyway, you should go there. With a little luck, you might even run into Miss Nanami! And even if you don't, Miss Mitama should know how to contact her!"

"Yeah, okay!" Kazumi said.

"We can split up and search for your friends while you're doing that," Sasara suggested.

"Yup!" Emily said. "I need to get back to the Counselling Centre, anyway."

"So, what should we do if we find someone matching their description?" Asuka asked.

"Kazumin, got a phone on you?"

Kazumi shook her head.

"No, I forgot mine at home… but Kanna-chi has one," she said.

"Okay then! But, just in case you get separated from her too, I'll lend you one!" Emily said.

"Huh?" Kazumi said. "You have two phones?"

"Sure do!" Emily said. "Because, I keep losing them! So Fafa said I should have a spare just in case!"

"…Fafa!?"

"Her father," Asuka said.

"Okay, so we can reach you with Emily's number, then," Sasara said.

"Thank you!" Kazumi said. "Well then… we'll head off!"

"Hold it just one minute," Hijiri said. "You've skipped right over all the most important details."

"Huh? Like what?" Kazumi asked.

"I mean… does anyone here know what Umika and Kaoru look like?" Hijiri pointed out. "And you don't even know how to get to Miss Yakumo's place, right?"

Emily blinked. "Huh? Wait… who mentioned Mitama-cho's surname?"

"Not me," Sasara said.

"I didn't even know her surname," Asuka said.

"Really!?" Sasara gasped. "You've been a magical girl at least as long as she has, right? How could you not know?"

"Have you been to the Coordinator's before, Kanna-chi?" Emily asked.

"Just once… I wouldn't be able to find my way there again, though," Hijiri said. "Someone else took me there, and they have teleportation magic, so I don't even know where it is in the city."

"Oh wow, teleportation!" Emily gasped. "That's a pretty awesome power!"

"So… I'd be grateful if you gave directions," Hijiri finished.

"Okay, so Umika-chan has blue hair and Kaoru-chan has orange hair," Kazumi said. "And um…"

She described them as best she could, with Hijiri adding a few details as well. Then Sasara gave directions to the Coordinator's office, and the two of them set off. They were almost there when Hijiri sensed some strange magic again, just a faint trace this time. It was different from the pseudo-witch earlier, though.

"Okay, so… straight down this road, turn right at this corner," Kazumi muttered.

Then she gasped.

"Huh? Isn't this the road we were just on…?"

"Yes… it does look that way," Hijiri said. "This strange magic… sorry, Kazumi-chan, but I'm going to have to leave you alone for just a minute. Maybe we can lure out whatever's doing this."

"O-okay…"

Hijiri drew back, erasing her presence as best she could with the powers she possessed. She still had no direct stealth magic such as invisibility, but some of her powers were nevertheless useful to maintain a stealthy presence.

"Straight down this road, turn right at this corner," Kazumi muttered. "And again… and again… what the heck!? It's like… it goes on forever… a-and now… my hair's tingling…? W-wait… this tingling… I remember it, around when we first got separated…"

Suddenly something appeared before her. It looked like a compass with eight legs, spaced equally around its circumference, and it walked like a spider. Standing atop the compass needle was a shadowy doppelganger of Kazumi herself, powered up in Michiru's magical girl form.

"Huh?" Kazumi said. "What's… that…? Ahhh… so… sleeeeeeeepy…"

And just like that, she suddenly collapsed right in the middle of the street. The compass creature walked up to her, tapped her twice on the head with one of its legs, then turned and walked off. As soon as it had disappeared around a corner, the liminal space they'd entered without even realizing it collapsed, dumping both of them out onto the real street. It had been some sort of labyrinth, but so subtle that Hijiri wasn't even sure when she'd stepped inside.

And there was someone else there, too, another magical girl. She wore a blue outfit with a beaded headdress and had mid-length blue hair. She looked at Hijiri and levelled her spear at her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked. "This is Kamihama West territory… you're not from around here, are you?"

"No, I'm not," Hijiri said. "We had no intention of barging in on your territory, but we had something we needed to investigate."

"Hmm," the other girl said, powering down. "You and her, I assume?"

Hijiri nodded. "There were four of us, actually… we got separated in a witch's labyrinth. Um… do you know what just happened? Why did she just… faint?"

"I have a pretty good idea," the other girl said. "But first, let's go find somewhere safer. Follow me."

"We were on our way to the Coordinator's place," Hijiri said. "Another magical girl told us the way."

"Oh, then that's perfect," the other girl said. "Since that's where I was planning to take her anyway. It's right this way… you were almost there when you ran into that rumour."

"…rumour?"

"I'll explain in detail once we're there."

The other girl powered down and bent down to pick Kazumi up in a princess carry, grabbing the phone that had fallen next to her at the same time, then led the way to the Coordinator's office. Just like Kazumi had been muttering, they went down a street, took a right, and then stepped into an abandoned building.

"Oh, Yachiyo!" Mitama said, looking up. "Oh? You're with some people I haven't met…"

"I found her collapsed on the ground just down the street," Yachiyo said. "Can you check her soul gem for me?"

"Huh?" Mitama said. "I don't see a ring… where is it?"

"Her earring," Hijiri said.

"Ahh… that's unusual," Mitama said. "Okay, let me see…"

She carefully removed the earring and forced it into gem form, then prodded at it.

"…huh? That's strange," Mitama said. "It doesn't react like other soul gems… I'm sorry, Yachiyo, but I don't think I can do my thing on her."

"Really?" Yachiyo said. "You're quite sure?"

Mitama nodded. "Yes… normally I should be able to access it with just a bit of magic, but… it seems to rebuff my magic."

"Try doing the opposite," Hijiri suggested.

"The opposite?" Mitama asked.

"I mean… whatever you normally do to a soul gem, try reversing it," Hijiri said.

"But that… that could hurt her," Mitama said.

"Just try it," Hijiri said. "A little bit should be fine, right?"

"Well… if you insist," Mitama said.

She prodded Kazumi's soul gem a bit more and blinked.

"Huh? It feels… huh? Wait… I don't understand… why did that… work?"

"Kazumi-chan's soul gem is a bit unique," Hijiri said. "But please don't let her or anyone else know about that, okay? I don't think she's ready to learn that truth yet."

"Okay," Mitama said. "So her soul gem is just… contrary, is what you're saying. Got it… if that's how it is, then I should be able to tune her a bit. That said… that vision I saw… how is she even alive?"

"It's complicated," Hijiri said. "I don't think we have time for me to explain it all. Sorry… maybe if we meet up again some other time."

"I shouldn't ask this, because I know it's private, but… what did you see, Mitama?" Yachiyo asked.

Mitama glanced at Hijiri.

"If you saw what I think you saw, I think it's fine to say it," Hijiri said.

"Hmm… well, to me it looked like she was turning into a witch," Mitama said. "But… maybe it was actually someone else…?"

"Huh… yeah, it must have been someone else," Yachiyo said. "After all, there's no way to reverse a witch transformation… or at least, that's what Kyuubey said…"

"That's for sure," Hijiri said. "You're right… it was someone else who just happened to look exactly like her. That happened… oh, at least a year ago now? At least, that's what I heard… I myself have only been a magical girl for a couple of months."

"Anyway, that's not the important thing here," Mitama said. "It's good that I can access her soul gem, but we still need to figure out what to do… well, since we're at a loss just now, let's start off with introductions!"

She beamed at the two of them, eliciting a groan from Yachiyo.

"So, I'm the Coordinator, Yakumo Mitama, and this young lady is the most experienced magical girl in all Kamihama, Nanami Yachiyo," Mitama said.

"I'm Hijiri Kanna from Asunaro," Hijiri said. "But for today, you can call me Nico."

"A nickname?" Yachiyo said.

"Something like that," Hijiri said.

"Does it mean 'smile'?" Mitama asked. "That's quite a nice nickname…"

"No, it means 'second child' actually," Hijiri said. "It makes sense if you know the full story, but there's probably no time for that, either."

Suddenly, Tsuruno burst into the room.

"Mitama!" she shouted. "There's trouble!"

She piled into the room along with Emily, Umika, Kaoru, and a pretty girl with blonde hair.

"Oh my," Mitama said. "I seem to have quite a few guests today."

"Finally!" Tsuruno gasped.

Emily just heaved a great big sigh of relief, while the other blonde girl was too out of breath to talk. Once Umika had taken a few moments to catch her breath, she spoke up.

"So… w-who are you?" she asked.

"Me? I'm the Coordinator," Mitama said.

"Y-you are!?" Kaoru gasped.

"W-where's Nanami Yachiyo!?" the unknown blonde girl wheezed. "Where on earth is she!?"

"Is everyone alright?" Yachiyo asked.

"There she is!" Tsuruno said.

"Hey! Nanami Yachiyo!" that blonde girl said.

Yachiyo tilted her head slightly. "You're…" After pondering a few moments, she gave up. "I'm so glad you're safe!"

"Mind telling me what that pause was!?" the blonde girl protested. "My name is Ria! Ami Ria! No, actually, that can wait! Why did you tell us to come here!?"

"I'd like to know too!" Tsuruno said.

Yachiyo turned to Umika and Kaoru.

"The two of you… you're magical girls from Asunaro, right?" Yachiyo said.

"Yes, that's right!" Umika said.

"Did you want something from us?" Kaoru asked.

"First I have one other question for you," Yachiyo said. "You said the one chasing you was a friend of yours?"

"Not… exactly," Umika said.

"What's your friend's name?"

"It's… Kazumi," Kaoru said.

"I see," Yachiyo said. "In that case, would you lend us a hand?"

"You need our help?" Umika asked.

"All of us are going to work together to take Kazumi down!" Yachiyo said.

"What!?" Umika gasped.

"Take Kazumi down!?"

"Threatening Kazumi!?" Umika protested. "You'd better choose your next words wisely…"

"Or we'll be taking you down," Kaoru added menacingly.

"Don't be so rash," Yachiyo retorted.

"What?" Umika said.

Hijiri chose that moment to step forward.

"If you're looking for the real Kazumi, she's right over there," she said.

"Eh!? Nico?" Umika said. "I didn't even see you there!"

"Huh? There's someone on the couch?" Kaoru said.

"Oh… finally!" Umika said.

"It's Kazumi!" Kaoru said.

"Whoa! It really is her!" Tsuruno said.

"That's a surprise," Ria said. "She really does look exactly like that other one…"

"Double Kazumins!?" Emily exclaimed.

"So you've already met her too, Emily-sensei!" Tsuruno said.

"Yep, just recently, in fact!" Emily said.

"Nico, why didn't you call me!?" Umika asked.

"I did, but you didn't answer," Hijiri retorted. "I sent a mail too… I even asked Miss Yui to pass on a message if she saw you."

"Ahh! I totally forgot about that!" Tsuruno gasped. "Sorry, sorry! There wasn't much time to think while that fake Kazumi kept attacking us!"

Umika pulled out her phone to check.

"Oh, yeah, so you did… sorry, like she said, I guess we were too busy running from the fake to notice…"

"Oh!" Emily said. "Let me try something!"

She whipped out her phone and dialled someone.

"Huh? Who're you calling?" Tsuruno asked.

"Oh… you're calling this phone?" Yachiyo said, picking up Emily's spare which had been set down on the couch next to Kazumi.

"Yup, that's mine!" Emily said. "Kazumin was hanging onto it!"

"It fell out when she collapsed, so I picked it up," Yachiyo said.

"That proves it!" Emily said. "She's the Kazumin from before!"

"Where… where was she this whole time!?" Umika asked.

"I was on her trail almost from the start," Hijiri said. "She stopped by Banbanzai with Miss Yui for some fried rice and sweet and sour pork, then wandered all the way across the city and joined some local magical girls for a mushroom hot pot."

Umika chuckled. "Chasing the food… that sure sounds like our Kazumi!"

"Yeah, it totally fits her," Kaoru said.

"Alright," Yachiyo said. "So, let me try to explain what's been happening… it's all very recent, so I don't know much, but lately there's some strange things happening in Kamihama."

"What sort of strange things?" Kaoru asked.

"Well… a number of particularly sketchy rumours have started circulating just in the last few days," Yachiyo explained. "And it seems they're connected to some strange incidents occurring here. They seem a bit like witches, but the things that happen are different from anything witches can do. That's why I've started to suspect something is up. All the incidents I investigated thinking it was a witch just didn't add up… call it a feeling, or instinct, but something's different. So, I decided to track down one of the rumours and see for myself… and I ran into a strange familiar-like creature spreading it, just repeating the rumour over and over to different people. No-one seemed to realize it wasn't human."

"Huh… so what was the rumour, exactly?" Umika asked.

Yachiyo took out a book that looked like a diary, opened it to a bookmarked page, and recited the entire text of the Rumour of the Crossing Path.

"The heck is that…?" Tsuruno asked.

"Some kind of… poetry?" Umika wondered.

"And then, just a little while ago, I encountered that rumour itself," Yachiyo continued.

"You did!?" Ria gasped.

Yachiyo nodded. "I was in a space where, no matter which way I went, I always found myself back on the same road," she said. "I didn't even notice when I'd entered it. So once I'd concluded it was the rumour… I just turned around and ran without looking back… and somehow I managed to get off the road."

"I knew you'd pull through!" Tsuruno said.

"No, it was too close for comfort," Yachiyo said. "Perhaps, if I had waited a moment longer… just before I escaped, someone grabbed me. It was probably her – Kazumi, or the fake Kazumi. Then I found her – the real one – lying on the ground, with Miss Nico standing there looking worried."

"E-even unconsciously… Kazumi must've been trying to come back home," Umika said.

"S-so, you're saying she got mixed up in that rumour somehow?" Kaoru said.

"I have no doubt that she got dragged into it," Yachiyo said. "Anyway, I couldn't just leave her there, so I brought her with me."

"Thank you!" Umika said. "By the way… how did you avoid the rumour, Nico?"

"Me?" Hijiri said. "I just threw a pile of clones at it to confuse it."

"Oh… is that how you avoided it?" Yachiyo said. "But—"

«Please don't press the matter,» Hijiri said, transmitting to Yachiyo alone.

«That's a pretty suspicious request,» Yachiyo said.

«I don't mean any harm, honest,» Hijiri replied. «I just wish to keep certain things hidden from certain people for the time being.»

«Well… okay,» Yachiyo said. «We have more important matters at the moment, so I'll let it pass… for the time being.»

She then picked up the conversation out loud.

"Since Tsuruno had mentioned a couple of magical girls from Asunaro were in town, and I'd never seen her before, I thought just maybe… and then when Miss Nico introduced herself after I brought them here, it confirmed my intuition."

"So back to the beginning," Kaoru said. "What was that about taking her down?"

"Yes, I'm getting to that," Yachiyo said. "Right now, there are two versions of Kazumi in Kamihama. One of them is here, the real Kazumi. The other is a fake created by the rumour."

"Just what is that fake one, anyway?" Tsuruno wondered.

"I think it's the source of the rumour," Yachiyo said. "Or… its origin? No… it's entirely possible the rumour just created it… whatever the case, it's a mysterious phenomenon."

"So you're basically saying you have no idea what it is!" Ria said.

"Yes, so I'm just calling it a rumour," Yachiyo said. "I don't have a better word for it."

"So… based on the rumour you mentioned earlier… the fake is trying to switch out with the real one," Kaoru said. "And we need to take down the fake… is that the gist of it?"

"In short, yes," Yachiyo said.

"That's easier said than done!" Ria said. "It may be a fake, but it's insanely powerful!"

"You ain't kidding!" Tsuruno grumbled.

"Well… Kazumi is pretty powerful in the first place," Hijiri said. "So if it can copy her perfectly… yeah… I wouldn't fancy facing it in battle. Even if it's an imperfect copy, it could be a challenge."

"Wouldn't a big whack from all of us at once do the trick?" Emily suggested.

"Before we get to that," Yachiyo said. "There's something else I want to try…"

"What is it?" Umika asked.

"When I was carrying Kazumi earlier, I noticed that her magical pattern was irregular."

Hijiri blinked. "Irregular how, exactly?"

She looked at Kazumi lying on the couch, but she couldn't sense anything off about her that couldn't be attributed to the whole 'grief seed masquerading as a soul gem' scenario. There had been that feeling of strange magic she'd felt on her at Banbanzai, but she no longer sensed it now…

"I noticed it myself just now," Umika said. "But what could it mean?"

"It's not something that's easily noticeable, especially with everyone's magic being unique," Yachiyo said. "But considering the part about the compass in the rumour…"

"Ahh, I think I know what you're alluding to," Umika nodded.

"Eh!?" Kaoru gasped. "Umika, you understood that!?"

Umika nodded. "This is just a hypothesis, but… Kazumi's psyche was scattered in eight directions when the fake got ahold of her. That's why her magical pattern is so irregular. So… we have to do the opposite to get the real Kazumi back… which means… we must gather all the pieces in one place?"

Given that explanation, Hijiri tried to sound out Kazumi's signature again and discovered that Yachiyo was right after all. Besides the undercurrent of grief, there was also a very slight irregularity underneath it, so faint that you could easily miss it. It felt similar to the strange magic she'd sensed before – they were probably linked.

"Impressive," Yachiyo said. "Spoken like a true novelist."

"You recognized me!?" Umika gasped.

"I'd wondered when I heard your name from Tsuruno," Yachiyo said. "But I connected the dots just now."

"It seems the influence of my craft is more evident than I thought…" Umika took a deep breath and continued. "But how exactly are we going to assemble Kazumi's broken psyche and wake her?" Suddenly she gasped. "It can't be!?"

"Umika!" Kaoru said.

"I know!" Umika said.

They seemed to be reacting to an approaching magical signature from outside.

"Are you sensing something?" Yachiyo asked, but then she gasped too. "Ah! Is it the fake? This magical signature matches that of the rumour…"

"Maybe it's coming because the real Kazumi is here," Umika said.

"It's outside!" Kaoru said urgently.

Everyone except Hijiri and Mitama transformed – Mitama was already transformed, while Hijiri would give herself away if she transformed in front of Umika and Kaoru – and they all piled outside to find the fake Kazumi just standing there, staring at them. It was the same shadowy Kazumi that Hijiri had seen earlier, riding on the compass spider.

"Whoa!" Tsuruno gasped. "It's really here!"

"My goodness," Mitama said. "It's like seeing two peas in a pod!"

"Argh!" Emily said, waving her devilish tail frantically. "Guess we didn't give her the slip…"

"I wonder," Yachiyo said. "Can it sense that Miss Kazumi is close by?"

"If so, we can't let it get any closer!" Umika said urgently.

"Let's go!" Kaoru said.

"No, wait!" Yachiyo said.

Umika transformed her book into a double-headed battle axe, the covers serving as blades, and swung at the fake.

"Take this!"

However, the fake blocked the swing with her cross staff.

"Umika! Get back!" Kaoru said.

"Alright!"

She reverted her book to its normal form and jumped back while Kaoru leapt forward, drop-kicking the fake with a yell.

"Take this! Palla di Cannone!"

Then the fake struck back with her cross staff, knocking Kaoru aside and sending her flying into a nearby wall.

"Kaoru!?" Umika gasped.

Yachiyo stepped forward to stab the fake with her spear.

"Both of you, fall back!" she said. "Tsuruno!"

"Leave it to me!" Tsuruno said.

She charged flames into her fans and danced forward, forcing the fake to take several steps back, while Kaoru picked herself up with a groan.

"Kaoru, are you okay!?" Umika asked.

"Yeah!" Kaoru said. "I'm ready for round two!"

"You two stay back!" Yachiyo said.

"But—" Umika began.

"You've got another job to do!" Yachiyo said.

"Another job?" Kaoru said.

"May I ask for your help here, Mitama?" Yachiyo asked.

"Hm? Me?" Mitama said.

"Yes… and you," Yachiyo said, nodding to Emily.

"Huh? You talking to me?" Emily asked, blinking.

"There's something I want to know," Yachiyo said. "Also… Tsuruno! You pull back too!"

But Tsuruno is occupied, just barely managing to keep the fake back.

"I don't think this is gonna let me just up and go!" Tsuruno protested. "W-whoa!"

"Then I'm going in!" Yachiyo said. "That'll give you the chance!"

"Don't be so hasty!" Mitama said. "We can't keep this up without you here! You're the one with the plan!"

"There's no-one else to hold this spot in check," Yachiyo said. "If only there was someone…"

"Stop right there!" Ria shouted. "Have you forgotten about me!?"

"Ah, it's you," Yachiyo said. "Umm…"

"Ria! Ami Ria!" Ria shouted. "Leave this to me!"

"Yes! Princess Ria! You can do it!" Emily cheered.

"It seems as though you have a plan up your sleeve," Ria said. "Get to it, then! I'll handle things here! Behold the combat style of Kamihama's most magnificent magical girl… Ami Ria!"

She nocked an arrow and fired, narrowly missing Tsuruno's head but smacking the fake squarely in… the shoulder.

"W-whoa!?" Tsuruno gasped. "Watch where you're shooting!"

"N-no worries!" Ria said. "I aimed that exactly where I wanted it to go! I knew it would miss you!"

She followed up with another arrow, this time arching over Tsuruno's head to strike the fake's chest. Apparently that didn't count as a vital spot for the fake, though.

"So cute and cool!" Emily said. "I'm totally loving what you're doing, Princess Ria!"

Ria giggled, firing a spread of three arrows as Tsuruno fell back.

"That's a big help! Thanks!" Yachiyo said. "Everyone else into the Coordinator's, now!"

"Let's go!" Umika said.

"Right!" Kaoru said.

"Um, hello?" Mitama said. "What is it that I'm supposed to do…?"

"Princess Ria, let her have it!" Emily said. "Serious respect for ya!"

"It's all up to you now!" Tsuruno said.

"Yes, of course…" Ria said. "Prepare to behold! I'll admit, even I got a little overwhelmed back there… but I'm a whole other level of amazing when everyone's counting on me! Prepare to be charmed by my dazzling magic! Beeella Spiiina!"

The arrow she nocked and fired this time gathered dark motes to it, shrouding it in shadow, and grew to nearly three times its normal size, then exploded on impact. As she prepared her next attack, everyone else headed back inside and powered down, except Mitama remained in her magical uniform.

"Let me explain the plan," Yachiyo said. "First of all… Tsuruno, please bring some of whatever Kazumi ate at your place… fried rice with sweet and sour pork, I believe Miss Nico said? I'll pay for it, so just go fetch it as fast as you can."

"You got it!" Tsuruno said. "I'll be back in a jiffy!"

She pulled her phone out as she ran out at top speed.

"And you…" Yachiyo nodded to Emily. "Emily… was it? Is there any chance you could obtain some of that mushroom hot pot and bring it back here?"

"Mushrooms…? I'll send Kano-chin a message and ask her!" Emily said. "Just give me five minutes!"

She whipped out her phone to compose an email.

"Now that I've got the time-sensitive parts out of the way… Mitama, I want you to use your magic to connect the soul gems of the Asunaro girls. They're the closest to Kazumi, so they're the best choice for this."

"As long as you compensate me, I'll do it," Mitama said.

"I can offer my entire stock of mirror coins," Yachiyo said. "I believe I have close to a hundred. And I can also offer a few grief seeds."

"Okay… we can negotiate the exact price afterwards," Mitama said. "Let me get started."

"But Kanna-chi only just met Kazumi, right?" Emily pointed out. "Will that be close enough to help?"

"…you're calling her Kanna-chi?" Kaoru asked.

While Hijiri was trying to think of a way to explain that name to the two of them, Yachiyo beat her to the punch.

"Don't think about it too hard," Yachiyo said. "She gives everyone a weird nickname."

"But that's a good point," Umika said. "Kaoru and I've been living with her for a couple of weeks since she first lost her memories, but she only just reunited with Nico yesterday. Perhaps it's best to limit it to just the two of us."

"I agree," Hijiri said. "I imagine the familiarity would need to go both ways, so I'll stand back for this."

"That does make things slightly easier, so I'll take anything I can get," Mitama said.

Yachiyo nodded. "Whatever you think is best. We're going to use your friendship and Kazumi's love for food to try and drag her back."

"Okay, you two, hand over your soul gems," Mitama said. "And I'll need Kazumi-chan's soul gem too. Also, you might want to sit down for this."

Umika headed over to remove Kazumi's earring and force it into gem form, then removed her ring and did the same before handing both over to Mitama. Kaoru handed hers over as well, and the two of them took a seat on one of the couches. Mitama set the three gems down on the table so she could touch all three of them with a finger from her right hand at the same time. Umika and Kaoru let out a little gasp at the contact, but then they closed their eyes.

"I can… see something," Umika said. "Is that… Kazumi?"

"Kazumi! Wake up!" Kaoru said.

They kept calling out to her, but it was impossible for Hijiri to determine whether it was having any effect. After a few minutes, Tsuruno showed up with a takeout box, opening it up to reveal a serving of fried rice and one of sweet and sour pork. She set them down near Kazumi and joined the chorus of voices urging her to wake up. That must have continued for at least five or ten minutes before Himika showed up, carrying a basket of mushrooms and greens and a small ceramic pot.

"Hiya! What's going on?" she said. "That fight outside is pretty epic, is that a mirror copy of Kazumi-chan or something?"

"No, it's not a mirror copy," Yachiyo said.

"Oh! Himika-min! I was expecting Kano-chin…" Emily said.

"Yeah, Kanoko let me know what was going on," Himika said. "Can I use your kitchen for a minute, Mitama?"

"Whatever…" Mitama said, too concentrated on her work to answer properly.

Himika hurried into the next room.

"What's a mirror copy?" Hijiri asked.

"There's a witch in Daito Ward that spawns copies of other magical girls," Yachiyo explained. "They don't usually leave the witch's labyrinth, though… at least, I've never heard of them leaving."

After about five or ten minutes, Himika emerged with a steaming pot filled with what amounted to boiled mushrooms, together with some wild greens and a couple of other ingredients. She set it down next to Tsuruno's fried food and joined the chorus of people urging her to wake up.

"Kazumi, keep going!" Kaoru shouted.

"Follow the path, Kazumi!" Umika shouted.

"Kazumi! You've gotta remember!" Kaoru shouted.

"Kazumi! Don't stop!" Umika shouted. "Keep going!"

"Come here, Kazumi!" Kaoru shouted. "I'm over here!"

"Kazumi… you can hear me, right? Kazumi!"

"Come this way!"

"Come here, Kazumi!"

Suddenly Kazumi herself spoke.

"…finally… found you…" she muttered.

"No you didn't!" Umika said. "Kazumi…"

"…what…?"

"We're… not really with you," Kaoru said. "We're not there!"

"…what… d'you mean… where… am I…"

"Come back to us, Kazumi!" Umika said.

"Over here!" Kaoru said.

"…dunno… where that… is…"

"It's dinnertime!" Umika and Kaoru said in perfect unison.

"…dinner…? …smells… so good… from… over there…? …right… here!"

Suddenly her eyes snapped open and she sat up with a gasp.

"K-kazumi!" Umika said.

"Kazumi! You woke up!" Kaoru said.

"Umika-chan? Kaoru-chan? Umikaaa-chaaan! Kaaaoru-chaaan!"

She leapt up and ran over to hug them both. Tsuruno dragged the food out of the way just in time to save it from being scattered all over the floor.

"Kazumi!" Kaoru said.

"I knew it!" Kazumi said. "I knew I'd find you again! I never doubted that you'd come for me!"

"Kazumi…" Umika said. "You know what! You attacked us over and over!"

"Huh!?" Kazumi gasped. "I attacked you!?"

"Honestly!" Umika grumbled. "Still… I'm so relieved!"

"Well, at least that's taken care of," Yachiyo said.

Mitama let out a long sigh. "Is this going to continue for awhile?" she asked. "This isn't easy, you know…"

"Alright, Kazumi! You woke up!" Tsuruno said.

"Ohh, Tsuruno-chan!" Kazumi said. "And… fried rice with sweet and sour pork!?"

"I rushed to make you some!" Tsuruno said.

"There's this too!" Himika said, indicating her pot.

"Himika-chan! And you brought… mushroom hot pot!"

"Kanoko asked me to bring it for you!" Himika explained.

"Um… what's going on?" Kazumi wondered. "Ah! We've got to eat it before it gets cold! Umika-chan, Kaoru-chan, you've got to try some too!"

So the three of them settled down to feast on the hot pot and Chinese food while the discussion continued.

"So you're finally awake, Kazumi," Yachiyo said. "I'm Nanami Yachiyo… I'm glad you're alright. We don't have much time, so I'll explain as briefly as I can."

"Explain what?" Kazumi asked.

"You were knocked out cold by a rumour," Yachiyo explained.

"Huh? I was… unconscious?"

"You were taken over by a doppelganger…"

"A doppelganger!?"

"So we borrowed some magic from Mitama here."

"Hello!" Mitama interjected.

"She helped Miss Umika and Miss Kaoru call out to you," Yachiyo said. "So they could draw you back into the waking world."

"We kept talking and talking!" Umika said. "We just wouldn't stop!"

"My voice has gotten a little hoarse from all that talking!" Kaoru said.

"You two…" Kazumi looked at Hijiri. "And what about…?"

"I thought it best to leave that up to the two of them," Hijiri said. "After all… you haven't known me as long as them, right?"

"Right…"

"Oh, and when I heard how much you love to eat," Yachiyo continued.

"Yup, that's what my fried rice was for!" Tsuruno interrupted.

"I contacted Kano-chin right away, and she sent Himika-min over to help!" Emily said.

"Kanoko explained what was going on, so I brought you some mushroom hot pot," Himika said.

"The smell… or perhaps your memories of meeting everyone lit the way back home," Yachiyo said.

"So that's how I…"

"Yes!" Umika said.

"That's how you woke up," Kaoru said.

"So that's what happened… th-thanks, everyone! Even Emily's here… I don't know how I can ever repay you!"

"Unfortunately, it's still not over yet," Yachiyo said.

"What do you mean?" Kazumi asked.

"You're still… not completely awake," Yachiyo said.

"But I feel fine…"

"You've only opened your eyes a little," Umika explained. "If the rumour increases its influence…"

"Then you'd lose yourself just like before, Kazumi!" Kaoru finished.

"N-no way!" Kazumi gasped. "Then what do we do!?"

"The three of us are going to help your mind recover, Kazumi!" Umika said.

"My… mind?"

"We're gonna do it as a team and win just like we always do!" Kaoru said.

"Yeah, okay, we'll do it together!" Kazumi agreed.

"Mitama, can you keep going a little longer?" Yachiyo asked.

"Hey, don't order your Coordinator around!" Mitama protested. "I'd better get a hefty wage for this one!"

"What does she mean?" Kazumi asked.

"Mitama can use her magic to access other girls' soul gems," Umika explained. "That was how she synched our minds so that we could call to you."

"So this time, we'll link up again and find all the pieces of your mind," Kaoru said.

"There's a chance that the rumour has laid a trap expecting that," Yachiyo said. "I think it's very likely that it would keep track of the scattered parts of her psyche, like an alarm system. But when her mind is all gathered together and restored, it should affect the rumour. That'll be our chance to destroy it!"

"It sounds like something from a story," Umika said.

"Well, you are a popular author," Yachiyo said. "If you approve of the plan, that's comforting."

"I approve," Umika said. "Of course I do! We'll make sure this novel becomes a reality… we have to!"

Suddenly Ria burst in from outside.

"Wait, wait, wait a sec!" she shouted. "Oh look! She woke up!"

"Who's this?" Kazumi asked.

Ria cleared her throat. "I'm Ami Ria! Nice to meet you! …wait! We can introduce ourselves later!"

"Huh!? What happened outside!?" Tsuruno asked.

"Uh, yeah, that's proving kinda tough," Ria said. "So could someone maybe lend me a teensy bit of help? I managed to stop its movement, but it won't last long…"

"Alright," Yachiyo said. "Everyone except Mitama, Miss Kazumi, Miss Umika, and Miss Kaoru… we'll head outside to hold back the fake. The four of you, carry out the plan just like I outlined. Good luck!"

"Thanks!" Umika said.

"You ready, Kazumi?" Kaoru asked.

"I… I think so!" Kazumi said. "But all of you… will you be okay?"

"Don't worry about that," Yachiyo said. "This is part of our duty as Kamihama magical girls."

"Yup, yup, it sure is!" Tsuruno said. "Off we go!"

"I'll pitch in too!" Himika said.

"I'll give Asukyan and Sasaran a buzz and have them lend a hand!" Emily said. "And Kano-chin too! Princess Ria! I've totally got your back, so we got this!"

"W-what!?" Ria said. "O-ohhhh! I'm counting on you!"

Emily nodded. "So relax and take a breather!"

"N-no, no, I couldn't back down now!" Ria protested.

"Kazumi… try to remember the paths you walked to get to where you are now," Yachiyo said.

"We'll get back your psyche and restore your recent memories, and triumph over that rumour," Umika declared.

"Got it," Kazumi said. "So I just have to put my scattered memories in order…"

"That's basically it!" Umika said. "That's our goal! Let's do this!"

Everyone except Emily, Mitama, and the Asunaro trio headed outside and transformed, including Hijiri this time. Yachiyo and Tsuruno forced the fake back, while Himika fired at it with her coin gun and Hijiri snapped her graph whip at it. That left Ria to serve as support with her arrows. The fake was stupidly powerful, however, and came close pushing them back more than once.

When Emily came out and joined them after a minute or two, already transformed, she leapt in close to attack it with her demonic tail. However, whenever the fake attempted to counterattack, it met only air, slicing through an illusionary copy of Emily while she herself was already well out of range, mocking it.

After about ten or fifteen minutes, Asuka, Sasara, and Kanoko showed up to join in the battle. With the addition of Asuka's naginata, Sasara's rapier, and Kanoko's estoc, their frontline power was almost doubled, and they finally began to overwhelm the fake. Kanoko's binding magic and Asuka's obedience magic also proved quite helpful, and Sasara was able to use her mental magic to force it to attack only her, allowing the others to whale on the fake with abandon. Since there was no longer room for her on the front line, Hijiri fell back and called upon Satomi's energy blast magic to support the team from the back line.

When the fake finally began to show signs of flagging, the Kamihama magical girls connected in pairs – Yachiyo with Tsuruno, Himika with Kanoko, and Asuka with Sasara – and unleashed a maelstrom of boosted ultimate attacks upon the fake. When the light show cleared, there was no trace of the fake remaining… but before anyone could cheer, a labyrinth suddenly sucked the entire team into itself, and within moments they were surrounded by several of the compass spider things that Hijiri had seen earlier.

"I'm not sure, but… I think this must be a good sign," Yachiyo said. "It's noticed that we managed to defeat the fake, so the real rumour has shown itself. As long as we defeat this… we can save Kazumi!"

"Yeah!" Tsuruno cheered. "Let's do this!"

Hijiri looked around, taking in the labyrinth. It wasn't the typically surreal setting of a witch's labyrinth, nor the clean and realistic setting of a magical girl's labyrinth. It was sort of somewhat in between. They seemed to be on a long street at dusk, which as far as she could tell just went on forever in both directions… but overlaid on the street was some sort of sepia filter, with various kanji floating around. Hijiri couldn't make any sense of the kanji – as far as she could tell, they were just random. Many of them weren't even common kanji – perhaps very rare ones, or even fake or made-up ones. Some of them also seemed like they were half faded out, making it impossible to actually identify them.

The battle resumed against the new enemy. Since there were multiple enemies now, Hijiri switched back to her graph whip, and Himika began whacking them with her fist-shaped pole mace rather than using her coin gun. For familiars, they were shockingly resilient, but their attack power was low, so one by one the group managed to defeat them. Then, suddenly, the labyrinth shook, and a much larger creature emerged.

The boss was a gigantic signpost with eight directional boards pointing in all directions, and mirrors affixed to the column on four sides.

"This must be the boss of the rumour," Yachiyo said. "We're almost done! Let's defeat it and get Kazumi back."

Whenever a mirror reflected one of the magical girls, a shadowy fake emerged from it to attack them. Fortunately, these fakes were very weak and could be taken down in a single shot, but if they had a chance to land their attack, it seemed like it hurt – several girls took a hit from their fake and let out a squeal of pain.

Hijiri decided to back off and call on Nico's transmutation magic, using her signature finger guns move to pelt the boss with bullets. Himika also stood back, switching back to her coin gun, and Ria unleashed her ultimate Bella Spina before settling back down into a routine of shooting arrow after arrow after arrow.

Besides the constant mirror doubles, the thing's only other method of attack seemed to be an energy beam fired from the sign boards. However, it was well-telegraphed and thus easily-dodged, so it didn't manage to land a hit more than once. It didn't take all that long for the combined powers of all the magical girls present to overwhelm it. Finally, Yachiyo landed one final shot of her ultimate attack, and the creature collapsed, the labyrinth falling along with it.

Hijiri was the first to power down, since she couldn't risk being seen by Umika or Kaoru in that state – they'd instantly realize she's not who she's pretending to be. The others all quickly followed suit before piling into the Coordinator's office, where Umika, Kaoru, and Kazumi were sitting together on a couch. They had their soul gems back where they belonged now. As for Mitama, she was exactly where they'd left her, looking utterly exhausted.

"It seems you were successful!" Yachiyo said.

"Just barely," Mitama said. "Were you all okay while we were connected to the soul gems?"

"It got pretty dangerous for awhile there," Tsuruno said. "I think I only just made it back… I really need a grief seed right about now…"

"I'm totally beat," Himika said.

"Yeah, like… this time I'm gonna be the one who passes out, y'know," Emily said.

"I need some mushrooms to perk me up," Kanoko muttered.

"I'm… not going to kill myself," Asuka said. "At least… not until… I get some rest…"

"The fake was ridiculously strong," Sasara said. "But we just barely managed to overpower it at the end. It was a close one though… if there were even just one less person, I don't know if we could've pulled that off…"

"I… I could still fight!" Ria wheezed, wobbling a little. "Obviously!"

"Your knees are shaking right now, Princess Rye," Tsuruno pointed out.

"It's Ria!" she protested. "I am not… made of… grains…"

She sank into one of the armchairs with a sigh, and Emily flopped down on one of the unoccupied couches with a bit of a groan.

"I think… I gotta take a little nap…"

"I'm pretty exhausted too," Kanoko groaned.

"Emily!" Kazumi said. "Oh, and Asuka! Sasara! Even Kanoko!? Are they all gonna… um…?"

"Don't worry," Yachiyo said. "It wasn't your fault. And they'll be fine."

"Still…"

"We all just got mixed up in a rumour," Yachiyo said.

"Yes, she's right," Umika said.

"Anyway, you're safe, Kazumi!" Kaoru said. "That's the most important thing!"

"Thank you," Kazumi said. "Sorry I put you through all this…"

"Noooo!" Emily said, suddenly sitting up again and startling everyone. "Don't even apologize! Everything wound up totally fine!"

"It really did!" Sasara said.

"Yeah!" Asuka said. "We must help each other in times of need!"

"Well, I suppose we can say everything worked out, right?" Mitama said.

"Well, it definitely did for you!" Tsuruno said. "You made a killing off of us!"

"H-hey now, Tsuruno!" Mitama protested. "You don't need to be so blunt!"

"And you can pay me back whenever!" Ria said primly. "No, just kidding! I'm not stingy like Miss Mitama!"

"Hey!" Mitama protested. "That's mean!"

"Thank you, um… Ria-chan!" Kazumi said.

"What!?" Ria gasped. "O-ohhh, I… um, you're welcome…!"

"Really, everyone… thank you so, so much!" Kazumi said.

"Thank you very much for your help," Umika said.

"Yeah, you really helped us out!" Kaoru said. "Thanks!"

"Can I ask you one last thing, Miss Kazumi?" Yachiyo asked.

"Sure!" Kazumi said.

"What did your friends sound like when you heard their voices?"

"Hmm… well… it was like, I couldn't really hear them clearly… but… I don't know, it felt like… they were always… really close to me… strong, but kind… a tender, caring feeling… that's why, even in my dream I could keep going strong! It told me I have a place in this world, that my friends were waiting for me! And… that's why I could trust them!"

After a little more discussion about what had happened that day, the four Asunaro girls finally said goodbye to their new friends in Kamihama and headed out, making their way towards a nearby train station.

"Alright!" Kaoru said. "Time to go home! There's no place like it!"

"It's a shame though," Umika mused. "That mushroom hot pot really was delicious…"

"I thought of a name for it!" Kazumi said. "It's Kamihama Shroom Soup! I'll try making some for you soon!"

"The fried rice," Kaoru mused, "…was just ordinary!"

"That's the way it should be!" Kazumi said.

And once she was on a train heading back to Asunaro and had returned Kaoru's phone, Hijiri called up Umika's magic to subtly erase her role in the whole thing from Umika's and Kaoru's minds… but she left Kazumi's memories untouched.

«Just a heads-up, Kazumi-chan,» she said. «I've made Umika and Kaoru forget I was here, so I'm going to head to the next car to preserve the illusion. I'll see you again some other time, but… don't forget to let them know about Nico's call earlier!»

«Oh… why did you have to do that!?» Kazumi gasped. «But… fine… whatever. Let's meet again, Kanna-chi!»

"Huh," I say. "So… I was actually expecting Kazumi to go to Kamihama with Misaki Umika and Maki Kaoru, but… I never expected you to accompany them, Kanna-chi. I also had no idea when they would go, so if you noticed a distinct lack of my magic spying on you, that would be why. Actually, if anything, I thought they would've gone before fighting Alexandra…"

Hijiri nods. "You expected it, huh? You've got a lot of weird predictions, it seems… but if you're wondering why I went with them, it's simply because it was something new. I mean… I've been going through mostly the same events over and over and over and over with just minor variations, so when I heard they were heading to another city, I just had to go along and see what's up. And of course… posing as Nico was just the easiest way to do that."

I nod. "Yeah, that makes total sense, though I never realized you were quite that good at, well… stealth?"

"I wouldn't exactly call it stealth," Hijiri said. "I mean… I was mainly using Umika's memory control magic, right?"

"Right… hmm… so, thinking back over everything you described…"

I ponder the story for a few moments.

"That witch that just appeared for a moment and then vanished again… you thought it might be Carola, right?"

"If that's the name of Michiru's witch, then yes, I considered that possibility," Hijiri says. "I don't have any evidence to support the hypothesis though, other than the fact that her fake soul gem was completely corrupted."

"Right… I can't rule it out either," I say. "But… from the description… a witch just appears, and then vanishes again… it made me think of Alina Gray's power to capture and release witches. I wonder if she just happened to be doing an experiment nearby…?"

Hijiri shrugs. "Well, I don't have any evidence to support that hypothesis either."

"And… it sounds like Tatsuki Asuka unleashed her doppel right in front of you, but never realized, right?"

"Ahh, is that what that was?" Hijiri says. "I was surprised to see a phenomenon so similar to the pseudo-witch that emerges when an evil nut is used on an ordinary person… except, this happened with a magical girl, so obviously it's a bit different. I did use Umika's analysis magic on it, since it was such a surprise… perhaps with what I learned there, I may be able to modify the evil nuts so that they'll be able to let you unleash your doppel instead of witching out."

I nod. "It'd be great if you could," I say. "I don't want to rely on my doppel more than I have to – there may be some side-effects from repeated usage – but it would be nice to have the option at hand on a moment's notice, which isn't possible when it requires me to cloud my soul gem first."

Hijiri nods. "Anything else that struck you from my story?"

"Hmm… I got the impression that Kazumi can sense doppel releases, which could explain why she kept running off after some signal," I say.

"That's possible," Hijiri says. "But then, who would've released a doppel near the river? Or near Banbanzai for that matter? I can't believe she'd sense a doppel over at the river from so far away…"

I shrug. "Maybe Alina Gray? That's for the river… I have no idea who she might've sensed near Banbanzai."

"I mean, we have no evidence, so it could be anyone really," Hijiri says.

"Also, I was surprised to hear you ran into Satomi Nayuta," I say. "I wonder what would've happened if you'd told her that Professor Satomi is rumoured to be on his way to Yukuni…"

Hijiri blinks. "Oh? Is that actually true?"

"I'm reasonably certain it is," I say. "I haven't personally verified it, though. Anyway… that's all I had to say."

Hijiri nods.

"Okay… so besides the whole Kamihama trip, there was one other major event that went differently," Hijiri said. "That's the part where the Souju twins attack."

"Oh? What changed there?" I ask.

"Well… everything, really," Hijiri says. "I'll try to summarize… so, you see, normally what happens is that I have a little chat with the Souju twins, which leads them to stalk the Pleiades Saints and spot them taking Akane Sumire's soul gem, which then triggers their interest and leads to an attack the following day."

"Yeah, okay… I was mostly aware of that," I say.

"However, for some reason, the Pleiades Saints didn't encounter Miss Sumire this time," Hijiri says. "I think it may have been because they weren't out hunting quite so late, thanks to the Kamihama trip coupled with the lack of any attack from Moe-chan… but by chance, they actually ran into Moe-chan herself while out hunting and tried to take her soul gem instead."

"Oh? Wait… come to think of it, you did mention Miss Sumire earlier, and the way you said it suggested she's still active… so that's how that happened? But is Moe-chan okay?"

Hijiri nods. "Yeah, she wasn't alone," she said. "She had just run ahead because she caught a glimpse of them and wanted to confront them… so, although they defeated her easily, Miss Remi jumped in before they could steal her soul gem and got her out of there with time stop."

I nod. "Okay, so that actually means they haven't added any new magical girls to the Freezer since Kazumi was awakened, right?"

Hijiri nods. "Yeah, that's right… although, they tried to capture the Souju twins right in front of her before Pernelle showed up to claim them for her experiments, so Kazumi-chan still found out about the Freezer. She even had a long chat with all the previous clones… I'm not sure exactly how that worked out, though."

"That's not the first time she's talked to her clones, right?"

Hijiri nods. "Yeah, it's actually a pretty common event, although there were quite a few timelines where it never happened."

"Alright," I say. "And it sounded like that was the first time Yachiyo had directly encountered a rumour…"

"Yeah, I did get that impression," Hijiri says.

"Okay… thanks for all the information," I say. "By the way… did you have a chat with Kanna Nico after Kazumi-chan nearly exposed you?"

"Well, obviously I wasn't home when she went to question me," Hijiri says. "So… no, not really. Or rather, things went sort of similarly to how you might remember, the time you were there with me when the Souju twins attacked, so I guess I had my chat with her then? That did come up, briefly."

"I see…"

I pat Inui's head, which has been in my lap since about halfway through the story, and she stirs and mumbles.

"Just… five… more minutes…"

I sigh. "Can you help me get her under the covers?"

"Sure," Hjiri says.

With her help, we get Inui settled in and then climb inside on either side of her. I stay awake awhile longer, pondering everything Hijiri has told me. There's quite a lot to process, but I can't really tell how much of it is important… still… I'll note down as much as I can in the morning.

"Oh, and Kanna-chi…"

"What is it?"

"I'd like a few more evil nuts for the twinning experiment we discussed at Pernelle's place… I still have two from before but I have no way of knowing how many are needed, so just to be on the safe side."

"Okay… I'll make a few more for you in the morning. Good night."

"Good night."

Magical Girl Corner

Whenever a new magical girl is introduced, I'll include a brief profile of her here. Some details may be redacted, or contain minor spoilers. You have been warned! The numeric ranking values are on a scale of 1 to 10.

Satomi Nayuta
里見那由他

Age: 15
Eye Colour: Grey
Hair Colour: Ashen blonde
Origins: Takarazaki, Shinriku Prefecture, Japan
Symbol: Pink lotus flower
Soul Gem: Circular pink gem at her throat
Element: Darkness
Weapon: Palm-leaf fan
Powers: Healing, magic seal
Wish: "I want Mom to be as gentle as Dad is."

Speed: 4
Magical Stamina: 8
Offensive Power: 3
Defensive Power: 9
Initial Power Usability: 4
Learned Powers: 0 (unknown)

Mao Himika
眞尾ひみか

Age: 13
Eye Colour: Red
Hair Colour: Brown
Origins: Daito Ward, Kamihama, Shinriku Prefecture, Japan
Symbol: Red five-pointed star with a yen-shaped hollow
Soul Gem: Red circular gemstone on her belt
Element: Fire
Weapon: Pole mace (fist-shaped), coin gun (shoots 1¥ coins)
Powers: Draw attention, regeneration
Wish: "I want Dad to be cured!"

Speed: 6
Magical Stamina: 6
Offensive Power: 4
Defensive Power: 6
Initial Power Usability: 6
Learned Powers: 0 (unknown)

Yayoi Kanoko
矢宵かのこ

Age: 16
Eye Colour: Green
Hair Colour: Brown
Origins: Kosho Ward, Kamihama, Shinriku Prefecture, Japan
Symbol: Purple pentagon
Soul Gem: Green oblong gemstone on her choker
Element: Darkness
Weapon: Estoc
Powers: Binding
Wish: "I want my parents to be able to work for 30 more years."

Speed: 6
Magical Stamina: 6
Offensive Power: 4
Defensive Power: 7
Initial Power Usability: 6
Learned Powers: 0 (unknown)

Tatsuki Asuka
竜城明日香

Age: 16
Eye Colour: Purple
Hair Colour: Blue
Origins: Mizuna Ward, Kamihama, Shinriku Prefecture, Japan
Symbol: Blue magatama
Soul Gem: Blue magatama-shaped gemstone on her obi
Element: Water
Weapon: Naginata
Powers: Forced obedience, healing
Wish: "Please let my cousin become a police officer."

Speed: 4
Magical Stamina: 6
Offensive Power: 4
Defensive Power: 6
Initial Power Usability: 6
Learned Powers: 2

Minagi Sasara
美凪ささら

Age: 15
Eye Colour: Red
Hair Colour: Black
Origins: Shinsei Ward, Kamihama, Shinriku Prefecture, Japan
Symbol: Red butterfly
Soul Gem: Red butterfly-shaped gemstone on her hair ornament
Element: Light
Weapon: Rapier
Powers: Provocation, regeneration
Wish: "I want to become a knight who protects people."

Speed: 8
Magical Stamina: 6
Offensive Power: 6
Defensive Power: 8
Initial Power Usability: 8
Learned Powers: 0 (unknown)

Doppel Corner

Whenever a new magical girl unleashes her doppel, I'll include a doppel description here. Note that most of these are direct quotes from the Magia Record game rather than being written by me; they are simply reproduced here for interest. I'll mark any original doppels with a dagger symbol (†).

Henrietta (Tatsuki Asuka)

The Doppel of assault. Its form is a war drum. The master of this emotion is eager to become stronger through her Doppel's power. It energizes itself with the beat of its drum and sends out orders to turn its allies into valiant warriors. However, it also shares its master's hastiness, so once the order is given, its allies are forced to perform an act of utter disgrace against their will. Its reputation with its allies is terrible as a result of this unreasonableness. It is difficult to handle as, like its master, it attempts to kill itself after committing a blunder.

It's been awhile, but now we get to see the Asunaro crew again in some detail. This timeline is jam-packed with events, so Ashley can't keep track of them all on her own; therefore, there are a few like this that are narrated to her after the fact. This is probably the first time we've really seen Hijiri in action since her Heel-Face Turn, as she's so far been mostly relegated to a supporting role. Also… it's the second time I've featured Tsuruno in a chapter without posting her profile, but don't worry – that won't happen again.

I've also made another revision to chapter 67. I discovered the map I was using had mislabelled Chuo and Sankyoin Academies, so I updated Ashley's comment to reference the latter instead of the former. While I was at it, I also updated the way Iroha refers to Touka and Nemu.

Expect the next chapter one week from now… but I may still post it earlier if it's ready. We'll see.