Note: This chapter was supposed to be entitled "Averting Tragedy at the All-Star Festival", but that was too long for FanFiction's liking.

Legends of the Tokime clan supposedly date back to at least the Heian era, claiming that they have always protected Japan from the shadows. However, I am interested in facts, not legends. The fact is, there is no written record of the Tokime clan prior to their discovery of Shinriku Island in year 10 of the Tenshou era, or 1582 to use the Western designation. Until recently, all known artifacts related to the Tokime clan have been dated no earlier than that discovery.

~Excerpt from "Pursuing the Legends of the Tokime Clan"~
~by Professor Satomi Tasuke, Ph.D~

I'm at the table at the Hayashi house, in the middle of breakfast. Homura is already here too, seated across from me at the table.

"Um… so… how did the two of you meet?" Komachi asks.

"That is… a long story," Homura says. «It seems you were right after all,» she adds telepathically.

«Well, of course,» I reply, to her alone. «I'd already confirmed it myself by paying attention to the clock in previous timelines.»

"I suppose it's too long to tell before school, huh?" Komachi says.

"That's correct," I say. "And I have somewhere to be after school, so I'm not sure if I can find the time tonight. Now, if you'll excuse me… I've gotta gather my things for school… it might take a bit longer, so feel free to leave without me."

I add a quick private comment to Homura alone.

«Miss Homura, I don't mind if you wait for me or leave ahead of me, but I'd still like to meet at your place after school. I'm sure Madoka will be there too.»

«Fine,» she said.

I shovel down the last shreds of food on my plate, then hurry upstairs and sit down at my laptop, noting down everything I can remember from reviewing the document just before time was turned back. Once it feels like there's nothing more I can add, I read through the notes once more in case something triggers an extra detail… which does happen a couple of times. Then I save the document. I think there are still some details missing, but… hopefully they're relatively minor ones?

Satisfied, I close up my laptop and slip it into my bag, then gather up my school things and head back downstairs. I find that the sisters have chosen to wait for me after all, but Homura has disappeared.

"What happened to Miss Homura?" I ask.

"She said there wasn't any reason to stay around," Hiyori said. "She seems a bit… stand-offish…?"

"She's been through a lot," I say. "So please try to be nice to her even if she's rude to you in return."

"Well, if you say so, Ashley-chan," Hiyori says.

"Did you talk to her at all before she left?" I ask.

"No, she pretty much followed you out," Komachi says.

"Well, then I'll give you the basics," I say. "She just got discharged from the hospital and will be starting school tomorrow. Also, she's currently staying with Miss Tomoe."

"Huh? That's way out of left field," Hiyori says. "Are they related or something?"

"No, it's more of an arrangement of convenience," I say. "Apparently Miss Tomoe offered when she heard that Miss Homura would also be living alone. I think she's mostly grateful for the company."

"I see," Komachi says. "Sorta sounds… complicated…"

"Far more than you know," I say. "Like I said, this is just the basics… I don't have time to get into everything right now. There's a lot I want to tell all of you – things I've been holding back ever since we met, and stuff about Miss Homura, and more – but I've got so many things to do…"

"That's fine," Komachi says. "If it's that important to you, I'm sure you can find some time, right?"

"I'll do my best," I say. "Today is right out, Friday is right out… I may be able to find time tomorrow, but failing that it'll have to wait until the weekend. We'll see."

"I'm already starting to get curious," Hiyori. "What have you been holding back ever since we met… something personal?"

"No… it's not personal," I say. "It's something that affects all magical girls."

"O-oh my," Hiyori says. "Um… I can't even imagine… oh, I need to go this way. See you later!"

She splits off from us to head towards the middle school, and Komachi and I continue on our way.

"Something that affects all magical girls?" Komachi says. "You're seriously going to make me wait…?"

"I want to make sure there's time for everything I need to say," I say. "There really is a lot… and it would really suck to have to cut it in half because I ran out of time."

"I get you," Komachi says. "Okay, take your time. We'll wait."

Suddenly I blink. "Ah… I forgot to say something to Hiyori-chan! I'd better email her…"

I whip out my phone and compose an email.

[Sorry to bother you, Hiyori-chan, but I had a request for you. It's sorta related to what I need to tell you, and sorta not, but… could I ask you to try to befriend Kure Kirika? I want to make sure she doesn't become a magical girl before I've had a chance to meet her and have a little chat… which I probably won't have time for until the weekend.]

Just as I hit send, a message comes in from an unrecognized address. The first line easily identifies it as not spam, so I tap it to bring up the full message.

[Inui here! Heya, Ashley, how are things going? By the way, I thought you might find this useful. By the way, I sent a few of these to Matsuri-chan too, so you don't need to worry about her.]

After that are listed her phone number and the phone numbers and email addresses for several other people, including Iroha, Kuroe, Mifuyu, Matsuri, Chika, Homura, and Madoka. She included Yaeko Mana's number too, which will certainly be helpful if I ever find a way to save her little sister, Kuro. But the most surprising and welcome person on the list is Hozumi Shizuku. When did she find the chance to get Shizuku's info, I wonder? That means I may be able to ask for her services to get places more quickly. I quickly add them all to my contacts, complete with the sparkle emoji I always use to indicate a magical girl, then compose a quick email to Homura.

[Ashley here. Miss Homura, I would like to show the witch behind the public pool to some other people, so I'd be grateful if you didn't try to take it down alone. Thank you.]

Once I've sent that, I reply to Inui's message with a quick thank you, then address Komachi again. By this time we're almost at the school gate.

"There's one more thing I should tell you now instead of later," I say. "There's a very powerful witch behind the public pool. Please, don't attempt to face it alone. You can keep an eye on it, and it's fine to rescue anyone if they get sucked in, but it would be suicide to take it on without additional backup."

At that moment, a reply comes from Homura, a single word: [Whatever.]

"It has a labyrinth that looks like a theatre," I finish. "So it should be easy to identify if you enter it by accident."

"So, are you planning to take it down with us later, once you have more time?" Komachi asks.

"I plan to take it down eventually, yes," I say. "It's quite an unusual witch though… so I was thinking I'd like to show it to someone else I know."

"I see," Komachi says. "Well, I'll tell the others to be careful, then."

As we settle down in the classroom, I finally receive a reply from Hiyori as well.

[I don't know how much help I can be, but I'll try!]

Immediately after school, I go up to the school roof and hop onto Teddy Mk II, flying across the city at top speed towards eastern Kazamino. If I'm fast enough, I can prevent the birth of the witch Cecil. Even if I'm not quite fast enough, I should at least be able to procure her body, allowing me to save her later once the Magius have put up their barrier and created the automatic purification system.

I carefully bring out my soul gem in gem form, seeking magical reactions. There are quite a few that zoom by, of course, but I'm not yet at my target area. After a few minutes, I'm finally right around the school I was looking for – Kazamino Municipal Middle School. I can sense a familiar presence on the edge of my range – Kyouko. I can also sense another presence somewhat to the north. I turn and move towards the second presence, landing on a roof where I can overlook the street.

There's a short girl with a ponytail sitting on a bench down below. There's even a huge bow tied into her hair. I hop down into an alleyway and step out into the street, moving to take a seat on the same bench. After a minute or so, the girl turns to look at me, her grey eyes seeming like they intend to bore through me. Despite what Tamura said, I don't find her face to be all that scary. She's not smiling or anything – if anything, perhaps she's slightly frowning. But I don't think she gives off an impression of being angry, either.

"You are… also a magical girl, aren't you?" she says.

"Uhh… yes…"

"Do you… regret it?"

I blink. "Regret… what, exactly?"

"Do you regret becoming a magical girl?"

"Oh, um… not at all…"

She sighs. "Is that so… sorry for the strange question," she says. "My name is Kimiko Anzu."

"I'm Ashley Taylor, an exchange student from California."

She falls silent for a bit, perhaps lost in thought, but then turns to face me.

"You're different from Miss Sakura, aren't you?"

"I mean… I'm not her, so… yeah," I say. "But how exactly do you mean?"

"You seem like someone who thinks about others," Anzu says. "Miss Sakura seems like more of a self-centred, uhh…"

"Well, I'd say I'm pretty selfish myself," I say. "But I guess it's also true that I think about others…" I pause for a moment before returning to the earlier topic. "The fact that you asked if I regret it, must mean that you do, right?"

"Well… yeah," Anzu says. "I gained a lot, but I lost almost everything else."

"So you're also similar to Miss Sakura in some ways," I say.

"What do you mean?"

"Miss Sakura lost her whole family because of the wish she made," I say.

"Oh… I had no idea," Anzu says. "Is that why she's so…"

"Pretty much," I say. "Did you lose your family too?"

"Well… I lost my sister," she says. "And Mom and Dad are still alive, but they divorced. I also lost my home… it was taken as collateral for Dad's debt."

"You don't have a home?" I ask. "Do you sleep on the street or something?"

"No, Dad and I managed to find an abandoned building to sleep in," Anzu says.

"So you're living with your father," I say. "You lost a lot, but not everything… what happened to your mother?"

"Um… I think she went to live with her parents," Anzu says. "I haven't heard from her for… about a month now. And Dad's… so useless… he manages to somehow scrape by with his stupid ramen stall, but he refuses to raise prices by even ten yen, and he keeps giving meals away for free."

"Sounds like a nice guy to me," I say. "Wait, could it be that Miss Sakura is one of his non-paying customers?"

I wonder if that could be the same ramen stall that Kyouko mentioned in the last timeline. There can't be that many ramen stalls who'd readily let someone eat regardless of payment, right?

"I think so," Anzu says. "Sure, he's a nice enough guy, but he has no common sense whatsoever…"

"Do you still have your wish?" I ask.

"Well… no, not really," she says. "My wish was for Dad to have steady work, so he could support us properly. I guess, technically, you could say his ramen stall qualifies, but it's not at all what I meant when I made the wish."

"You could've wished for your sister back, right?" I point out.

"What? No, she was still around then," Anzu says. "We fought witches together for a little while…"

"Oh, so your sister was a magical girl too?"

"Yeah… for quite awhile, apparently…"

"So when you said you lost her… it was as a magical girl…?"

"Huh? I mean… yes, you could say that… that was probably the event that tore the family apart, actually," Anzu says. "I couldn't say anything… officially, she was just missing, right? But I knew she wouldn't come back. I was there. I saw it. Right in front of me, she… she…"

I can guess where this is going, but I'm not sure I should finish her sentence for her. Sure, it seems likely that she's talking about a witch transformation, but seeing her sister die right in front of her eyes to a witch's attack could also elicit a similar reaction.

"I thought… I thought it was all over," Anzu continues. "The witch was dead… and yet… onee-chan…"

She buries her face in her hands, and I notice that her soul gem is dangerously dark, so I whip out a grief seed and press it up against her ring, drawing out the impurities. She gasps and looks at me in surprise.

"H-huh!? W-what… what are you…?"

"Were you hoping I'd at least finish you off the moment you turned into a witch?" I ask. "But I'd prefer it doesn't happen in the first place."

"Huh? B-but… you'd get a grief seed! And… I don't have any reason left to live, anyway…"

"I'm not such a psycho that I'd let someone die when they're right in front of me," I say. "Though if you really want to die that badly, you can smash your own soul gem."

She blinks at me in confusion.

"Ah, I guess you didn't know about that, huh? But really, please don't… I'd like to chat a bit longer with you."

"I'm not sure what's left to talk about," Anzu mutters. "I already spilled my whole circumstances…"

"Do you still have your sister's grief seed?"

"Um… no…? It's not like I ever did…"

"Ah, you must've run when you first saw her turn, then…"

"Yeah… oh but, I did run into her not long ago… but she was too strong for me."

"So not only do you not have her grief seed, she's probably still out there," I say.

"Yeah… probably."

"Okay, then what happened to her body?"

"Huh? Well, I don't really know," Anzu says. "I guess it was swallowed up…?"

"Yeah, that's what normally happens," I say. "But it's possible to capture it before that happens… I see, so her body's gone. Do you still have anything of hers? Especially if it's something that you might be able to get a DNA sample from."

Anzu shakes her head. "No, weren't you listening? I lost almost everything… my only possessions are what I need for school and a couple of keepsakes… why are you asking all these questions, anyway?"

"Well, just trying to figure out if she could be revived," I muse.

"Huh? That's impossible, right?" Anzu says. "Kyuubey said so too…"

"Kyuubey may be smart, but it doesn't know everything," I say. "In fact, I don't think it understands magic very well at all… after all, it can't comprehend the very basis of it, our emotions."

"So… huh? W-wait a second, um… are you saying… resurrection is… actually possible!?"

"Well, I wouldn't go that far," I say. "Only for magical girls, if the correct conditions are met…"

"And… those conditions are…?"

"Well, the most important part is that you have the soul gem or grief seed," I say. "There's nothing that can be done without that. A shattered soul gem is no good either."

"But I guess there's more to it than just that," Anzu says.

"Yeah… the easiest way is if you have the soul gem and the body, both intact," I say. "Then all you need to do is bring them together. If you have a grief seed instead of a soul gem, you'd need to somehow convert it back into a soul gem. That's almost impossible to do, but I know one… possibly two magical girls who can do it."

"R-really!? That's incredible… do you think they'd be willing to help?"

"I might be able to convince them, but it's not something I can do right now," I say.

"Okay, so then… what if you don't have the body…?"

"Then you'd have to create a new body," I say. "That's the tricky part…"

"Do you know someone with that type of magic too?" Anzu asks.

"Well… I know someone who can grow a body as long as she has a DNA sample. If you don't even have a DNA sample, there might be a way to generate one from the soul gem alone, but that requires a more specialized kind of magic, I think."

"And I suppose you even know someone like that…"

"That… I'm not sure," I say. "There's someone I suspect may be capable of it in theory, but… I don't think she'd be able to handle the burden."

"Then a DNA sample is the only option, I guess," Anzu muses. "Maybe Mom still has something of onee-chan's… it might be worth asking."

"My last question is… what was your sister's witch like?"

"Oh," Anzu says. "Kinda like a weird sort of sea monster…?"

"Huh? Wait a sec, is her labyrinth a turbulent sea filled with whirlpools!?"

"Oh! You've seen her too, then!? Did you beat her!?"

So Cecil and Fliegende Krake are sisters. That's quite a surprise.

"No… not yet," I say. "But I should be able to…"

"Then I'll ask Mom if she has anything!" Anzu says excitedly. "Maybe we can actually do this!"

"You sure have cheered up a lot," I observe.

"Well, yeah… I'd lost all hope until just now," Anzu says. "Although, I've gotta say, I'm still a little depressed. Even if we can revive onee-chan, there's still the chance that she'll turn into a witch all over again… and it could happen to me as well…"

"Well, don't get your hopes up too much," I say. "But there is a theory on how to prevent the witch transformation, too… though it has yet to be put into practice."

"You've gotta be kidding me," Anzu says. "That's too good to be true, isn't it?"

"It could be," I say. "Like I said, at this point it's only a theory… no, a hypothesis. Only time will tell whether it's actually viable. But even so… it's something to hope for, right?"

"Yeah, I get you… thank you very much, Miss Taylor," Anzu says.

"Ah, please call me Ashley," I say.

"Then you should call me Anzu as well, Miss Ashley," she says. "After all, if you're gonna maybe meet my sister later, it'll be confusing to call us both by our surname, right?"

"You've got that right, Miss Anzu… huh!?"

I spot a familiar face exiting a nearby alleyway. After a second of staring, I wave and call out.

"Miss Sakura!"

She blinks at me and stomps over.

"The hell're you doing in my territory, Miss Taylor!?" she asks. "And you're with the idiot rookie, too…"

"What's the problem?" I retort. "I'm not on a hunt or anything, just, uhh… seeing the sights, meeting the locals… but that's beside the point. I could've just let you walk by, but I actually have a question for you."

"Yeah? Well, if it's something I can answer," Kyouko says.

"Have you met a magical girl with purple hair who fights with… I think you'd call them chakrams?"

"Eh? You've run into her too?" Kyouko says. "She's a real pain to deal with, ain't she?"

"Well, maybe a little," I say. "When did you meet her?"

"Just a couple days ago," Kyouko says. "Monday, maybe? I dunno. Something like that. Only saw her the one time though. Guess she figured it wasn't worth messing with me."

"Well, that's all I wanted to ask," I say. "Thank you for the helpful response, Miss Sakura. If you want, you can consider that the favour you owe me."

"You kidding me?" Kyouko says. "That little bit of info ain't worth squat!"

"Sure, that's fine," I say. "In that case, you still owe me."

"Yeah, and you better call it in soon!" Kyouko says. "And get outta my territory, you hear me?"

"Yes, I'll be heading home now," I say. "See you some other time, Miss Sakura."

Kyouko turns and stomps off, and Anzu turns to look at me.

"Wow, you're not even scared of her!?" she says. "I usually run away when I see her… I just can't deal with her…"

"She's a kind girl," I say. "She's just had a hard time, so she keeps people at bay. I don't think there's anything to be scared of as long as you don't actually get her angry."

"Even if you say that, I don't think I can tell whether she's angry or not," Anzu says. "Um, anyway, can we exchange contact info? I'll let you know if Mom has anything we might be able to use."

"Sure," I say. "Huh? Wait a sec, do you have a phone? I thought you said you lost everything except your school things."

Anzu shakes her head. "Of course not, but I at least have an email address," she says. "I check it regularly at the public library."

"Ah, I get it," I say. "So basically, I need to enter your email into my phone, and write mine on a slip of paper for you, right?"

"Yeah… I'll add it to my contacts next time I log into my email account," Anzu says.

I take out my phone and unlock it, creating a new contact entry for Anzu, spelling her full name out in Latin letters complete with the sparkle emoji. Then I tap the email field and hand her the phone.

"Huh? You're not gonna add the kanji?" she asks.

"I'm sorry… it's easier for me to recognize names in romaji," I say. "After all, I'm from America. I can read kanji, obviously, but if it's a name I'll probably be stumped if there are any unusual readings."

Anzu takes the phone and types out her email in practiced strokes. It's clear she used to have a smartphone, at least. Then she hands it back to me.

"There you go," she says. "Now, can I have yours?"

I save the contact, then bring up my personal contact card just to make sure I don't mess up. I dig out a notebook from my bag and copy the email down onto a blank page, then tear it out and hand it to her. She folds it carefully and slips it into her schoolbag.

"Alright… I'll see you later, Miss Ashley," Anzu says.

"Yeah… you too," I say.

When I arrive at Homura's place, there's a slight surprise waiting for me. The door is answered not by Homura but by Inui.

"Welcome, Ashley!" she exclaims. "Come in, come in!"

"Huh? What are you doing here?" I ask.

"I had Mado-tan show me the way so we could discuss stuff," Inui says. "Well, I say that, but it was mostly an excuse. You know I already know my way here, right?"

"Well, yes, I'd expect you to," I say. "So Madoka's already here too…?"

I step inside and find Homura and Madoka sitting together on one of those couches, leaning on one another. The atmosphere seems really heavy.

"Uhh… has Miss Homura been crying…?"

"Yeah, well, she was so elated to see Mado-tan again that she kinda broke down, I guess," Inui says.

"Miss Ashley!" Madoka calls. "Come in! We were waiting for you… what took you so long? Inui-chan said something about a witch?"

"Yeah," I say. "I'll get into the details in a little bit… first, let me try to remember what we talked about last time…"

"So what Inui-chan said is true?" Madoka says. "I died last time, and you had to come back without me? But I still remember coming back…"

"Right, but you only remember the time when I shouted at you," I say. "You don't remember anything about the last time, right?'

Madoka nods. "Yeah, I think I get it," I say. "The time window was pushed forward a little, right? So I can still remember that timeline when everyone else returns. Just like you said… okay, so what do we need to talk about? Inui-chan already gave me contact info for the three of you, and she said she gave you mine as well, so we're all set on that front."

"Oh yeah, that was an unexpected bonus, Inui," I say. "Thanks for that… I didn't expect you to remember so many phone numbers. It should be especially useful when I need to get to Yukuni on Friday."

Madoka blinks. "Huh? Why are you going there…?"

Hmm… should I tell them the full story, that there might be some unknown hostile force working in Yukuni? No… it's probably better not to scare them, so I'll just give them the basic situation.

"Well, something terrible's gonna happen at the festival," I say. "And it involves magical girls, so I want to do what I can."

"I see," Madoka says. "Alright, then what about here in Mitakihara?"

"Okay, let me think," I say. "Kyuubey already contacted you, right?"

"Yeah, this morning," Madoka says. "I guess I told you that last time… I told him I needed to think about it."

"Madoka, whatever you do, don't become a magical girl!" Homura says desperately.

"I'm not going to make a wish for at least a few days," Madoka says. "I need to think over what Ashley-chan said and come up with a better one… and if I can't come up with one, maybe I'll decide not to become a magical girl."

"Then I'll also say you should at least wait until after you've met Oriko," I say. "She'll make her wish on Sunday, so let me know when's a good time to pay her a visit. I don't want to get in the way of your time with Miss Tomoe and Miss Miki, though."

"Oriko?" Madoka says. "The one who was commanding that huge team of magical girls?"

"Oh right, she was doing that, yeah," I say. "She's an oracle, so I wanna see what future she sees before you contract. Last time, she saw you make the wish I interrupted, but she couldn't see anything beyond it."

"Eh? Why would that be? There's no way that kind of wish could destroy the world…"

"I'm guessing there's a limit to her prediction," I say. "A total rewrite of history just overwhelms it so she's unable to see past the point where it was initiated."

"Oh… so it wasn't like the future didn't exist," Madoka says.

"Yeah, there certainly was a future," I say. "A future where magical girls didn't have to fight witches, but you and Miss Homura were doomed to become eternal foes."

"I don't want a future like that!" Madoka says. "I don't think I could handle being Homura-chan's enemy…"

"Anyway, Oriko's actually a good person, mostly," I say. "You even made friends with her in one timeline."

Madoka blinks. "Really? Then maybe we can become friends again!"

"Yeah, I hope so," I say. "Okay, next up is… tomorrow's the day you'll meet Miss Tomoe, right?"

"Oh, is it?" Madoka says.

"Yeah, but I'm not sure if Kyuubey will draw you into the labyrinth," I say. "You might need to wander in on your own – that's what happened the very first time you met her, before Miss Homura made her wish."

Madoka nods. "Okay, so I'll make sure to accompany Miss Mami a few times before I decide on a wish," she says.

"What!? No, you can't!" Homura protests. "Stop talking like it's inevitable, Madoka!"

"But I think I want to," Madoka says "Homura-chan… if you like me as much as you said back then, the last time we met in this place… would you deny me the chance to do something that I really want?"

"Ugh," Homura mutters. "When you put it that way… I'm not sure what to think…"

"Well, I think this Madoka is pretty cool," I say. "That previous timeline may have been a painful experience for her, but she's really grown and gained confidence from it."

Madoka turns a little red and looks away from me.

"P-please stop that," she says. "I'm not all that special… I just finally figured out… what it is I want to do with my life."

"And that's a good thing," I say. "I think it's better to know the full truth beforehand and confidently make a difficult decision to become a magical girl, rather than making a wish on a whim in ignorance and slowly gaining confidence as a result of your new powers. Of course, Miss Homura is more familiar with the latter version of you…"

"Yes but… I don't know," Homura says. "Madoka is… Madoka…"

"Stop it!" Madoka complains. "Y-you're embarrassing me…" She pauses, then looks at me. "By the way… what was my original wish?"

"You saw a black cat get hit by a car at a street crossing," I say. "You wished to save its life."

"Oh wow… you weren't joking when you said it was on a whim," Madoka says. "It does sound like something I might've done back around the time I first met Homura-chan. But… what happened to that cat when I didn't make that wish?"

"I'm afraid I have no idea," I say. "I know it happened after school on Friday, at a crosswalk on your way home. Possibly even the first one. Last time you asked me the same question, and actually ended up adopting it."

"Oh, I'd like that!" Madoka says. "Okay, so um… you said we can save at least two of the witches we encountered before they become witches, right? Is there any chance we could save some of the others, too?"

"Thanks to your research in the previous timeline, there's actually quite a few chances," I say. "Let me start by listing all the witches I know of in this area…"

I pull out my laptop and open up the document, scrolling to the list of witches.

"The witches I've seen around this area are Gertrud, the rose witch; Suleika, the dark witch; Charlotte, the sweets witch; Elly, the box witch; Albertine, the scribbling witch; Gisela, the silver witch; Elsa Maria, the shadow witch; Uhrmann, the dog witch; Izabel, the artist witch; Patricia, the chair witch; and Roberta, the cage witch."

"Uhrmann is me!" Inui says. "So you don't need to worry about that one! I'm not gonna turn into a witch this time!"

"Right," I say. "If I expand the search field to the south, including Kazamino, there's Rosasharn, Cecil, Virginia, and Stacy. Other witches that have appeared in Mitakihara to the east or west include Matasaburo, Nikola, Fliegende Krake, Quitterie, and Itzli."

"Okay, that's a lot," Madoka says. "So, how many of them can we save?"

"I think it's around half," I say. "Let me go over them one at a time. I'll start with the ones that I think are beyond saving. You're going to encounter Gertrud tomorrow, so I doubt there's a chance to save her. I've run into multiple copies of Suleika and Albertine, so I'm pretty sure they've been witches for awhile now. Plus, I also ran into them before time started looping, so there's definitely no chance to prevent them from turning into a witch. And Gisela is a witch that Miss Tomoe first encountered over a year ago, so there's no chance of saving her either."

"That's too bad," Madoka says. "But keep going."

"I have good reason to believe that Roberta cannot be saved either," I say. "I'm pretty sure she was already an adult before she became a witch, and Kyuubey confirmed that there haven't been any adult magical girls in the area since the last one turned into a witch around a year ago."

"But doesn't that mean she could be Roberta?" Madoka asks. "Although it doesn't really help us if she is…"

"She's not Roberta," I say. "Which implies Roberta turned even before that. Unless of course my assumption of Roberta being an adult is wrong. Even if that assumption is wrong though, I don't have any leads for Roberta's identity."

"I see what you mean," Madoka says. "What else?"

"I don't know anything about Quitterie, Itzli, or Nikola," I say. "I encountered Quitterie before time started looping though. Nikola… I can't say for certain that there's no chance to save her. I think I ran into her on April the first? But I have no leads on her identity. And Itzli… I'm pretty sure is a really old witch, so saving her is probably out of the question. In any case, I discovered her before time started looping."

Madoka nods. "Okay… then, what about the ones who can be saved?"

"Charlotte and Elly were probably the two you remember me mentioning," I say. "Charlotte is Momoe Nagisa – we're going to save her on Friday. Elly is Naomi Noriko, who lives in the northeast region of the city. I'm going to warn her friend, Masuyo Mari, on the day she's due to turn into a witch, so she'll be able to prevent it. Elsa Maria is Ayano Hikari, a student of Sakuragasaki Middle School. We don't have to worry about her, because the events I'm planning to set in motion will save her anyway. Matasaburo is Yoshida Tamura, a friend of Miss Ayano, so she'll be fine for the same reason. Uhrmann is Inui, as previously mentioned. Obviously, with Inui having memories of the previous timeline, there shouldn't be any reason to worry that she'll turn into a witch. Cecil is Kimiko Anzu, a student of Kazamino Municipal Middle School, and the reason I was late today – I've already saved her. And finally, Virginia is Chihiro Karen, the current student council president of Shirome Middle School. She's about to graduate and will be attending St. Lilliana's next month."

Madoka blinks. "You mean the really posh school for girls in Kamihama?"

"Yeah, that's the one," I say.

"And you know when you need to save those girls, right?" Madoka says.

"Yup, I know the date and rough time for each of them," I say. "Except for Miss Ayano, but like I said, other events should conspire to save her. She never turned in the last timeline, and that was without me doing anything in particular."

"There are still some you haven't covered, though," Madoka says. "Um, let me think… Izabel, Patricia, Rosasharn… Stacy… and Fliegende Krake?"

"Yeah, I have some potential information about them, but nothing definite," I say. "Regarding Patricia, I believe she's likely the class rep of a friend's class at my school. Stacy is probably another student of Sakuragasaki Middle School, and I know roughly when she must've turned into a witch, but I don't know enough about her to be sure I can save her. Then that leaves Izabel and Rosasharn… I have a couple of leads that might be them, but I can't be sure, and my only chance to find and save them is basically tomorrow. I think the chance is pretty slim, frankly, but it's not zero. Oh, and as for Fliegende Krake, apparently that's Kimiko Anzu's elder sister… but there's no way to prevent her from turning into a witch, unfortunately. Still, I did use the prospect of reviving her to give Miss Anzu some renewed hope, so I guess I've gotta at least try."

"I see," Madoka says. "So there's quite a few we can save… that's great."

"And that's just in Mitakihara and Kazamino," I say. "I also have information about someone I can save in Takarazaki, and two more in Matsumiya… not to mention everyone I'm hoping to save in Yukuni on Friday."

"Can you handle all of that on your own?" Madoka asks.

"That's a really good question," I say. "I'm probably gonna ask for help from Inui if nothing else. If it looks like there's too much for the two of us, I might ask you for help too, Madoka. Although, I'm more likely to ask the quartet first, since I'm living with them."

"I'll be happy to help however I can!" Madoka says. "By the way, you mentioned reviving them… can you revive a magical girl from a grief seed?"

"It's theoretically possible," I say. "But there are some insurmountable issues if you don't have even a trace of the girl's original body. If you do have a trace, or even better, the entire body, then it's possible. Otherwise, I think the amount of magic it would take is tremendous… probably even more than you could produce, Madoka."

"Aww… that's too bad," Madoka says. "If you could turn all the witches back into magical girls, that would be the best outcome, right?"

"Well… I'm not sure about that," I say. "Especially since witches reproduce as well… but in any case, we still need grief seeds to survive, so getting rid of all witches isn't something we can work towards quite yet."

"But the way you say that, I suppose it's a goal we can one day work towards," Madoka says.

I nod. "Okay, so, tomorrow you'll be saved by Miss Tomoe and Miss Homura," I say. "But would you like me to give you a magic item just in case they're late? Last time it looked like it was a close one."

"Well, um…"

"We won't be late," Homura says firmly. "I won't allow it. Even if it makes Mami suspicious."

"Oh, I could send you a message just before I go in," Madoka says. "That would work, right?"

"Oh… I guess so," Homura agrees.

"My focus tomorrow will be on the girls who I suspect might turn into Rosasharn or Izabel," I say. "Inui will be helping me. I'm not that hopeful, but I just think it can't hurt to give it a shot."

"Got it," Inui says. "Just tell me what I gotta do and I'll do it!"

"Just checking, but… what're you gonna do about Sho?" I ask.

"My memory is fuzzy, but… I'm pretty sure I didn't see him today or tomorrow in the last timeline," Inui says. "And as for Friday… I was gonna officially dump him and let Yu have him."

"Um… who is Sho?" Madoka asks.

"He's technically my boyfriend right now," Inui says. "But ever since meeting Ashley, I started to realize he's not who I thought he was… I don't love him anymore. The one I love now is Ashley."

"Ooh, are you two dating?" Madoka asks.

"We're not," I say. "At this moment I only see her as a friend. Anyway… Sho is a really nasty piece of work. I believe he's the reason Miss Miki turned into a witch, at least in some of the timelines… the ones where he managed to not die."

"Huh? How so?" Homura asks.

"When she overheard a certain conversation on the train, she started to think the town didn't even deserve to have her protecting it," I say. "I'm not certain it was Sho, though. It might've been some other similar guy."

"Enough about that guy," Inui says. "What about Nagisa-chan?"

"Right," I say. "So, on Friday, we need to kill Yu and rescue Nagisa."

"Eh!?" Madoka gasps. "We can't just go and kill someone!"

"I don't much like it either," I say. "But she is a serial murderer. Even though the people she's killed are all bad people, that doesn't really justify her actions. Even bad people deserve to live and have a chance to repent."

"Well… I still think we shouldn't," Madoka says. "I won't help you with that… but I won't try to physically stop you."

"So, I'll be unavailable on Friday," I say. "That means Inui and Miss Homura will have to handle things here. Inui, if you're planning to dump Sho, then I suppose the same situation would arise next to the hospital, right? That is, Yu shows up to kill him while you're talking with him."

"Right," Inui says. "But this time I won't defend him. At most I'll ask Yu to wait a moment. Then I'll go into the hospital to find Nagisa-chan."

"Good," I say. "Please try to let Nagisa-chan assert her independence… for example, if she wants to pay you back, let her. Assuming Yu is dead, what'll happen is that Nagisa gets into a big argument with her mother, then leaves the hospital room. That's when she'll need a grief seed."

"Got it," Inui says.

"As for Miss Homura, you should do more or less what you did last time," I say. "It would be best if you're at the hospital in time to see Inui, Sho, and Yu meeting."

"Sure," Homura says. "This is ultimately to prevent the witch that kills Mami from being born, so I will do what is required."

But this point, Ashley suddenly bursts forth from within me. It startles me, since I haven't heard from her for quite some time now.

"However!" she announces. "I'd like to make one more change to the plan for Friday!"

"Ohhh!" Inui gasps. "The other Ashley came out finally! It's been so long!""

"Huh?" I say. "I already accounted for the festival in Yukuni… what more is there for me to do?"

"Well," Ashley says, winking and making a peace sign over our open eye. "I think I've figured out a way to save Yu… the Sleepwalking Spectre."

"W-what!?" Inui gasps. "B-but even if you saved her life… she'd just keep doing what she's doing! Nothing you can say will sway her!"

"That's true," Ashley says. "Nothing I can say will sway her. But what about her beloved childhood friend, Kei?"

Inui blinks. "Well… I suppose… that sounds like it just might work…"

"There's just one problem with that," I say. "Kei is dead."

"Oh… that seems like a pretty big problem," Inui says. "Just how do you plan to get around that?"

"The ribbon at the brink where the waves break," Ashley says.

Huh? Wait… isn't that the actual title of an event from the game? How does Ashley even know that?

"I don't follow," Inui says.

"Kei is lingering as a spirit in a certain seaside village," Ashley says. "I'm sure she'd be interested in making a wish to return Yu to how she should be."

I take control to voice a counterargument.

"But Kyuubey explicitly said spirits can't make a contract normally," I say. "The case of Akatsuki Youha was an exception…"

"Sure," Ashley says. "But didn't you think about why that was an exception? That tomb was specifically set there to allow Akatsuki Youha to contract after she died. Doesn't that suggest they've come up with some way to manipulate a person's magical potential? That is to say… Akatsuki Youha herself could be the solution here."

"Even if that's the case," I say. "There's no way to know how that method works… maybe it can only be done while the person is still alive."

"I admit, there's a possibility that my idea won't work," Ashley says. "But I think there's a pretty decent chance, so we can't just go killing Yu off before we've at least tried it. And there's also the possibility that Kei will be an exception for some other reason."

Madoka giggles. "It's funny to see you arguing with yourself, Ashley-chan…"

"Ah, did I not mention it last time?" I say. "I sort of have two personalities inside me…"

"Hmm… so… from our perspective," Inui says, "all it means is that Miss Homura would steal her soul gem instead of breaking it, right?"

"Yes, pretty much," Ashley says. "I guess we could send her to Asunaro until we can figure out the rest of how this is going to go…"

"Why Asunaro?" Madoka speaks up.

"Oh, the Pleiades Saints in Asunaro have a facility that can store a magical girl in a state of suspended animation indefinitely," I explain.

"Why do they have something like that?" Madoka wonders.

"Um… I don't want to paint them as noble or anything, because they're confused and misguided, but… the primary purpose from their perspective was to prevent magical girls from turning into witches. That is, by separating the body from the soul gem and storing them separately, they can prevent the accumulation of any more grief and thus prevent the witch transformation. Nominally the idea was to let them out once their soul gems could be purified, but that's where things get messy, because the Pleiades Saints kind of forgot how to purify soul gems…"

Madoka blinks. "That seems like a pretty important thing to remember…"

"Well, they came up with a different method, though it's less effective… anyway, back on topic," I say. "Let's give Ashley's plan a try. If it doesn't work out, we can always smash her soul gem later on."

"That is kind of a pain," Homura says. "Why should I go to the extra effort?"

"An excellent question!" Ashley speaks up. "My answer is: because Madoka wouldn't like to see you kill a person!"

"Yeah, I really wouldn't," Madoka agrees. "It's wrong to kill people, Homura-chan! I'm really glad the other Ashley-chan thought up an alternate solution."

Homura blinks.

"That's… a slightly convincing argument," she admits. "Okay… I'll try to steal her soul gem… but if that doesn't work I'm still going to destroy it."

"I'll try to help you if I get a chance, Homu-chan," Inui says. "So please give me a little time to catch up with you before you give up and destroy it."

"Eh… whatever," Homura mutters.

"Okay… then on Saturday, I don't think there's anything vital we need to deal with," I say. "But I'd like to at least meet with Kirika, if possible. I don't mind if any of you want to meet her with me."

"Of course I will!" Inui says. "I expect Hii-tan will join us too."

"Um… I'm not sure," Madoka says. "It all depends on whether I make plans with Miss Mami…"

"I don't think there's any point in me meeting her," Homura says.

"There are some other things to do on Saturday which could be put off if necessary," I say. "There's the chat with my friends from America, and also introducing myself to Masuyo Mari, which would probably segue into fighting Fliegende Krake. This time I'll try to convince them to let me have the grief seed by offering a different one in exchange."

"I wonder if they'll be willing," Inui says. "You don't want to explain the whole thing to them on the spot, right?"

"Yeah, that would be a bit of a pain," I say.

"So, if you have that grief seed, you might be able to save Kimiko Anzu's sister," Madoka says. "I hope that works out!"

"By the way… whether it's Inui or Madoka, if a good chance arises, I'd like you to ask Nagisa-chan if there are any girls in her class who like drawing," I say. "I heard one of her classmates went missing, a few days from now, so I was considering whether she might have been Izabel. But I'd need the answer by… probably tomorrow? So if you don't find a chance before then, don't bother."

"I'm not sure if I can ask her right after giving her a grief seed," Inui says. "I guess I'll decide once the time comes…"

"I'll ask her if I get a chance," Madoka says. "I guess you're expecting me to meet her at some point, right?"

"Yeah, if things go the way they did in the last timeline, she'll end up staying with Miss Tomoe," I say. "She's about ten years old with silver hair and dual-coloured eyes."

"You mean each eye is a different colour?" Madoka says.

"No, both eyes are dual-coloured," I say.

"I'm surprised Kyuubey would make a contract with someone so young," Madoka says.

"I don't think it's a really common occurrence," I say. "That said, I could probably name close to ten magical girls of similar age…"

"I'm sure that's just because you know a lot of magical girls," Madoka says.

"Well… it could be," I say. "After all, there were around two hundred magical girls in the battle against Walpurgisnacht in the last timeline, and I could probably name more than half of them if I set my mind to it."

"Wow," Madoka says. "Are those girls all from around here, then?"

"No," I say. "There were a few from overseas and quite a few from the other islands of Japan. I think at least half were from Shinriku Prefecture though."

"So I can look forward to meeting lots and lots of people, then," Madoka says.

"Also, I think Nagisa-chan might be the youngest of all of the ones I was thinking of," I say. "Isn't she even younger than Yuma-chan?"

"I… think so?" Homura says uncertainly.

"Though unlike Yuma-chan, she doesn't really act her age…"

"…she's certainly an annoying little brat," Homura says.

"Okay, then on Sunday we should find a good time to meet with Oriko," I say. "Let me know when you want to do it."

Madoka nods. "I'll let you know once my plans with Miss Mami are settled," she says.

"And before that, also on Sunday, I'd like Miss Homura to suppress the rogue magical girl with me in Kazamino, same as last time. We're not going to kill her; I intend to spend some time to talk things through with her eventually, but I just don't have time right now, so I'll ship her off to Asunaro for awhile."

"I can get a lot of grief seeds, so I'll come," Homura says.

"Okay… don't take things overboard," Madoka says.

"There's also one other issue we need to discuss," I say. "We need to be careful. Saving magical girls before they turn into witches might sound like a noble goal, but that's not the full picture. By saving one girl, we might cause another girl to turn into a witch because she can't find enough grief seeds."

"I get what you mean," Madoka says. "Do you have any ideas for what we can do about that?"

"Well… I can't say I have any really good ideas," I say. "But I do have a few thoughts. My personal preferred option would be to place a barrier around the city to prevent witches from entering, then hand out grief seeds to all the magical girls here… but I can't be sure they'd accept such a favour. Plus, while I do have a source for all those grief seeds, I'm not sure who could place such a barrier."

Madoka nods. "Okay, I get the part about handing out grief seeds," she says. "But why the barrier?"

"If we just hand out grief seeds, they'll someday run out," I say. "Pernelle probably wouldn't be willing to part with her entire stash, either. But if we can keep witches out entirely, then Mitakihara will eventually start generating grief seeds."

"Huh?" Madoka says. "I don't understand… unless the magical girls here turn into witches, how could it generate grief seeds?"

"Witches and their familiars don't just grow stronger by eating people," I say. "They also soak up excess negative emotions from the air, or something. In theory, I believe a familiar could become a full-fledged witch just from that, without consuming any humans."

"Okay, but what has that got to do with generating grief seeds when there are no witches?" Madoka asks.

"Magic comes from emotion, right? The build-up of negative emotions in an area eventually reaches a critical mass and spawns a completely different type of monster."

"Huh… right, you mentioned something about this before," Madoka says. "I was so excited to see Homura-chan that I sorta forgot… but you mentioned what the world would have been like if I made that wish, and these monsters came up…"

"That's right."

"But is there some benefit to forcing them to show up in this world?" Madoka asks. "They're still a danger to humans, right?"

"I'm not quite sure about that," I say. "I think they are a danger, but I'm not sure of the degree. They might be less dangerous than a witch, as long as they're not allowed to spawn out of control. On the other hand, they're definitely capable of killing humans – they're responsible for the legend of the hill behind Mitakihara. But the most important aspect of their existence is what you get from killing them. It's something like a grief seed, but shaped like a cube, so I call them grief cubes. Miss Homura has already seen them before, in the last timeline."

Madoka looks at Homura, who nods.

"It's true that I saw a strange type of monster that drops a strange type of grief seed," Homura says.

"The key point is that these wraiths, as I call them, drop more grief seeds than witches do," I say. "So that's the benefit to forcing them to spawn in Mitakihara. It's a way to increase the supply of grief seeds."

"I see," Madoka says. "So, the only problem is that you don't know anyone who can keep the witches out…"

Ashley bubbles up again with a suggestion. "What about Akatsuki Youha?" she suggests. "Isn't she the one who placed the barrier around her grave?"

"That's a good question," I say. "It might have been her, but it could've been another contemporary magical girl. I think she lived around the time of Tokime Hatsu, right? Oh, and the girl who wrote the inscription on the tomb was Tokime Oyura…"

"Akatsuki Youha… Tokime Hatsu," Inui muses. "I'm not quite sure, but Tokime Hatsu might have been the last recorded survivor of the clan? If that's the case, then yeah, they would've lived around the same time. But Tokime Oyura… that's a name I haven't heard before."

"Right, so there's no guarantee that Akatsuki Youha made the barrier," I say. "Come to think of it, there might even be a chance that it's a relic of the founder…"

Besides Youha, Hatsu, and Oyura, there's at least one other magical girl of that period – Suwe, the one who unwittingly enabled the Mikoshiba takeover of the clan. And, one of them probably eventually became the Wandering Deity circling the Tokime village… but more importantly, it means there's at least four possible magical girls who could have created the barrier.

"I have an alternate idea," Ashley pipes up. "Kanna-chi can copy other peoples' magic, right? Maybe she could copy the barrier from Alina."

"Oh, that's a good idea," I say. "But I wonder if she needs to see it cast in order to copy it… or can she copy a barrier just by seeing it active… oh, by the way, Inui, do you know the legend of Mizuna shrine?" I ask.

"Mizuna shrine… oh, that big shrine in Kamihama, right?" Inui says. "Yeah, a story of star-crossed lovers, right? I've heard of it… I think it's based on a historical event, too."

"Do you know when that event occurred?" I ask.

"Hmm… it's really hard to say," Inui says. "I think it was after the Tokime clan disappeared… but I'm not sure how long after. You know, the Mizuna clan is actually a branch of the Akatsuki clan, right? Which means they claim descent from the Minamoto clan, via the Asano branch."

"Huh? Really? I had no idea about that," I say. "Wait a second… Tokime is also linked with that lineage, right?"

"Well, the Tokime claimed descent from the Taira clan, although there's no proof of that," Inui says. "Bu they would've intermarried with the Akatsuki clan to some degree, so you could say there's a link."

"Um, what was the Taira clan, again?"

Inui tilts her head at me. "Don't tell me you haven't heard of the Genpei War?"

"The what now?"

"Or what about Tale of the Heike?"

"That one I do know of…"

"That's a dramatization of the Genpei War, a feud between the Minamoto and Taira clans," Inui says. "The 'gen' refers to the Minamoto clan, and the 'pei' or 'hei' refers to the Taira clan, from an alternate reading of their names. The war ended when the Taira clan was exterminated."

"Wait, but if they were exterminated, the Tokime couldn't be descended from them, right?"

"You'd certainly think so," Inui says. "But there's always a chance that someone survived. Oda Nobunaga also claimed descent from the Taira clan, so who knows. There are no confirmed survivors of the Taira clan in any case, and I don't think anyone knows the true origin of the Tokime clan either."

"Well, Pernelle knows the true origin, since she personally knew the founder," I say. "But sure, she might be the only one. Anyway, I wonder if that's how they support their claim to date back to the Heian era even though the Tokime name isn't that old. If they have links to either the Minamoto or Taira clans, they could claim they were working in the shadows as members of those clans before the Tokime name was coined. But anyway… I was hoping I could let the Tokime clan deal with their troubles on their own, but perhaps I should interfere there again so we can revive Akatsuki Youha sooner… I could even ask Miss Chika to join me this time…"

Inui nods. "Right, Miss Chika was the girl with silver hair who already knew you even though you didn't remember meeting her… so she'd probably make a great ally."

"Huh? How is that possible?" Madoka asks.

"I'm really not sure," I say. "I'm guessing time travel is involved somehow, but it can't be Miss Homura's time travel, so I'm not really sure. I mean… I have a hypothesis, but…"

"Okay, so you said on Sunday we'll be meeting Oriko," Inui says. "Then that's when we'll discuss how to proceed next, right? Homu-chan and Mado-tan will both be at that meeting, right?"

Madoka and Homura both nod.

"Yeah, that sounds good," I say. "There was one last thing I was pondering… it's extremely low priority, but according to Scheherazade, there's a magical girl with phoenix associations, and one of the nine girls who died in the last timeline knows her."

"Huh!?" Madoka gasps. "Scheherazade!? That name sounds somehow familiar…"

"Well, the name does appear in the framing tale of the Arabian Nights, which is a collection of Middle-Eastern fairy tales," I say.

"I don't think I've ever read something like that," Madoka says. "But I suppose I might've encountered something that was based on it…"

"Anyway, I don't suppose anyone has any suggestion which of the nine girls is the most likely candidate?" I say. "As I said, it's low priority, so if you don't know, just think on it in your spare time. In fact, it's fine even if you ponder it all the way to the battle with Walpurgisnacht."

"Um, I'd like to help too," Madoka says. "But… who were the nine magical girls who died?"

"Well, one of them was you," I say. "But I assume you're not the one."

"Y-yeah, unless I meet her at some point during this timeline," Madoka says.

"Then there's Subaru Kazumi, but she's only a month old, so she's pretty unlikely."

Madoka blinks. "Huh? How's that possible?"

"She's a clone with accelerated growth," I say. "She looks about thirteen. Anyway… the rest are…"

Inui interrupts with the list. "Irina Kusch, Kuroe Asaka, Yuzuki Hotori, Hachikuji Mayoi, the leader of the Pleiades Saints, Amano Suzune, and Kure Kirika."

"That sounds about right," I say. "For the record, the leader of the Pleiades Saints is Asami Saki."

"I don't know any of those people," Madoka says. "But if I meet any of them and learn any clues towards this phoenix girl, I'll let you know."

"Same here," Inui says. "Several of those are girls who I'll be able to meet in the Wings of the Magius, and a couple more I'll probably meet as part of working with Ashley."

"Thanks," I say. "Then, shall we split up for now? I'd like to get started on the investigation regarding Izabel and Rosasharn – the sooner the better, really."

"Okay," Madoka says. "But I'm going to stay to keep Homura-chan company for a bit longer. See you later!"

Inui and I leave the place, and I pause to take out my phone. After staring at my contacts for several seconds, I decide to solicit Inui's opinion.

"Do you think Miss Hozumi would respond if I emailed her out of the blue?"

"Miss Hozumi?" Inui says. "Hmm… I wonder… certainly it can't hurt to try, but it might be better to go see her in person…"

"Which would mean I need to go to Kamihama today or tomorrow, thus interfering with the Izabel and Rosasharn investigation," I say. "Hmm… well, I guess I'll try the email first."

So I compose a quick email to Shizuku.

[Hello. Sorry to bother you. I heard you can do space fusion. Would you mind helping me out a bit? I can pay you, of course.]

I also notice that there was an email from Hijiri. I must've missed when it came in. I open it up to read it.

[Hello, Ashley-chan. Yuuri-chan and Airi-chan told me about the basics of what happened last time, and Miss Remi talked about it a little too. I was quite surprised that I'd actually missed a timeline, though. Then I also got an email from Miss Matsuri and have been discussing the Hohzuki situation with her. Do you mind if we take a drastically different approach from previous times? Miss Matsuri would prefer not to force her sister to share her body, but has some other interesting ideas that I think might work.]

I think about it for a bit, then hit the reply button to compose a response.

[I don't think it's strictly necessary for them to share a body – it was just the only way I could think of to keep Kagari's rampage in check. If you can avoid that in another way, then I'm all for it, as long as the Hohzuki girls still get involved in the two rumours in Kamihama like in the last timeline. It'd be great if they can still meet Kasumi Ichika too, but we could always push that event a bit later, after Walpurgisnacht. The most important part is that they get involved in those two rumours, especially the Ripper Girl rumour.]

Before hitting send, I ponder things a bit more. I need to catch her up on the things she's now missed due to allowing Matsuri to return in her place…

"Can you think of anything we need to remind Kanna-chi of, Inui?" I ask.

"Well, the communicators, I suppose," Inui says.

"Ah, that's true, anything else?"

"I guess you'll need something to transport Yu to Asunaro," Inui says.

"Oh, right, that's true," I say. "And Yuuki Sasa as well. And it would also be good to have some evil nuts, in case I need to force a familiar to mature quickly for some reason…"

"Why would you want to do that?" Inui asks. "Oh wait, you mean what you did to Miss Matsuri last time?"

"Right, that's it exactly," I say.

I start a new paragraph in my email.

[By the way, could you possibly send me one of the bell jars by Friday? I'd also like some evil nuts, though there's no real time limit on those. And by Thursday, April 28, I need around 30 easy-to-use radio communicators to coordinate the battle against Walpurgisnacht, since the cellular networks are going to be down. If you can get a few more, it probably can't hurt.]

"Hmm," I say. "I feel like there's something else… oh, maybe I should at least tell her about that…"

I start another new paragraph.

[If things go like they did last time, which I hope they do, at some point Kazumi-chan, Miss Umika, and Miss Kaoru will leave Asunaro to investigate the shortage of witches. If you go with them, I'd like to hear a quick summary of what happened.]

I briefly consider adding the information that Satomi Tasuke is in Yukuni, but ultimately decide against it. However, that's when I remember the last thing I wanted to tell her, so I start yet another paragraph.

[The last thing I want to say is, I'd like to create a social network website specifically for magical girls, and was hoping I could rely on your technical expertise on this matter. It would be a website where magical girls around the world can virtually meet, chat with each other, request help with difficult problems, read news relevant to magical girls, and other stuff like that. I realize there are some problems with how to keep out people who think it's a roleplay site, as well as how to spread the word, but I think we can solve those problems after we have a working prototype of the site.]

I reread the entire email, make a few minor working adjustments, and then hit the send button.

"Alright, now it's time to have a chat with Asako Komaki," I say.

I head south with Inui, aiming for Shirome Middle School. Once there, I start searching for signs of Komaki's magic. Unfortunately, she doesn't seem to be in range, so I scry on her to figure out where she is. Fortunately, she's not in a witch's labyrinth, and I'm able to get a general idea of her location, so I head towards her.

By the time her magic signature enters the range of my detection, it looks like there's also a witch nearby, and sure enough, we soon come upon a portal which is flickering, indicating someone's fighting inside. Surprisingly, it appears to be an instance of Lucy, which would mark the first time I've actually seen her in Mitakihara.

As we wait, my phone pings, and I fish it out. To my surprise, it's a response from Shizuku.

[How did you know?]

I send a quick reply. [Well, there was a magical girl with red hair and a spear who mentioned you – Sakura Kyouko.]

Her response comes almost immediately. [Then are you a magical girl too?]

I compose a quick reply. [Of course.]

[I understand. Which places would you like to connect?]

[Broadly speaking, Mitakihara and Yukuni, this Friday just after school. I can give more precise location information if you need it.]

She responds with a brief comment and a quote on how much it'll cost. [That's up to you.]

[That sounds good. In Mitakihara, I think the haunted house would be good… in Yukuni, I'm not sure, probably somewhere out of the way, but I only need it to work one way – I can return by train.]

I attach the coordinates of the haunted house where I've fought Nikola and Elly in past timelines, then send it. After a few moments, Shizuku's response comes.

[I will see you at this 'haunted house' on Friday, right after school.]

I send her one last reply. [Thank you. I'll be there.]

A minute or two later, the barrier collapses and Komaki emerges, blinking at me in surprise.

"The hell're ya doing in this part of town?" Komaki asks. "Trying to steal my witch again?"

"Nothing like that," I say. "I just wanted to talk to you a little. Would you mind answering a couple of questions?"

"Depends on the question," Komaki says.

"Do you know if there are any other magical girls who go to your school?" I ask.

Komaki shrugs. "Beats me," she says. "I ain't seen any, but I ain't been looking either."

"The calligraphy club," Inui speaks up.

"Come again?" Komaki says.

"Do you know it?" Inui asks. "Or anyone who's in it?"

"Nope," Komaki says. "Not a clue. That all ya wanted to ask?"

"Yes… I think so," I say.

"Then I gotta go," Komaki says.

She turns and runs off, with the two of us watching her go.

"Well, that was less helpful than I'd hoped," I say. "Though it's nice that she was so cooperative.

"Yeah, seems like she doesn't know anything," Inui says. "Do you think we can save them at all…?"

"Well, unlike the others, we don't know their actual identity," I say. "So I guess there's a good chance we can't save them… in fact, we can't even be sure that they didn't already turn into a witch before today. I do want to at least follow the lead I have as best I can… but it feels like I've hit a dead end now. I don't even have any clues as to what the two missing people look like…"

"Yeah, I get what you mean," Inui says. "So, what'll you do? Just watch tomorrow and hope you spot something?"

"I guess that's all I can do," I say. "Alright then… I guess I'll stop by her school for a minute or—"

"Round and round turn the wheels of time, and yet, even now, I cannot find them."

Inui and I spin to face the speaker. Of course… it's Mary again. She's speaking English as usual.

"Where should I look… just where could they be? North America? No… I sense another me already scoured the entire place. Africa? Asia? South America? Australia? Is there anywhere the other me did not look? Even the moon seems to have been searched…"

Inui blinks. "The moon? Huh? What on earth are you talking about?"

"This is Mary of Magdala," I say. "She's searching for two even older magical girls she used to know… who are also friends of Scheherazade."

"Chelsea Flanders," Mary says. "So it's true, we've met before…"

"I notice you didn't mention Europe," I say.

"Oh, of course I would have searched Europe," Mary says. "If there's one place I didn't look… yes, it's possible I didn't look there…"

"Where is that?" I ask.

"The Vatican City."

"Why wouldn't you look there?" I ask. "Though, I gotta say it seems really unlikely that they'd be there… but don't they revere you as a saint there? It should be easy to check it out, right?"

"The Vatican is closed to me," Mary says. "I know not why. That fool Flavia must have done something… even they dare not venture there."

"Huh? Wait, what?" I say.

"Who is 'they'?" Inui asks.

"They are the devil themself," Mary says.

This is actually a little strange, though. Even if Kyuubey certainly fits the role of the devil in Christianity, I don't see why it would be reluctant to enter Christianity's stronghold – it cares nothing for such things, right? Admittedly, there probably aren't very many young girls for it to tempt within the Vatican, but surely there are a few, at least sometimes…? And Mary can't enter either, for some reason? Also, who is this Flavia? Now that I think of it, didn't Mary mention her once before…?

"So… you haven't been able to find them even on the moon," I say. "I guess at this point the only thing you can do is ask Scheherazade, right?"

But Mary seems to have already lost track of the conversation. She looks around absently, fidgeting a little and stroking her chin as if pondering something.

"Something is changing," she mutters. "Something is happening. Feels like… a new era is at hand… could it be, my days of wandering the earth are finally at an end? If this is not enough to summon that person… then she must have died somewhere, all alone… but that's not possible, right? She can't die, right? She's just like me…"

I don't really understand who she's talking about. Could it be Scheherazade? Or possibly Flavia? But I'm not sure if either of those precisely fit her ramblings… still, I guess I'll assume Scheherazade.

"I think she's a bit different from you," I say.

Mary just ignores me. "Yes… just like me," she says. "Death will never come for us… it's so unfair… so, so, so unfair that I can never be reunited with my beloved…"

"Um… is it just me, or does this woman have a few screws loose?" Inui says. "You said she's a saint, but she sounds more like a madwoman…"

"Well, I think she's both," I say. "I mean, if she's to be believed, she's the actual Mary of Magdala, right?"

"Um… wait, is she some famous person?" Inui says. "I don't recognize the name…"

"Well, it's the origin of Christmas, right?" I say.

"W-whaaat!? She's the origin of Christmas!?"

"Part of it, yes… I mean, that's an extreme simplification to the point of being decidedly inaccurate, but… there's a connection there, for sure."

Suddenly Mary looks at Inui, startling her with a fierce stare. Inui takes a step back.

"W-what do you want?" she asks.

Without a word, Mary grabs Inui's hands and pulls her close, leaning forward to examine her soul gem ring.

"U-um… hello…?" Inui says nervously.

"Weak," Mary says. "You're so weak. It's strange. If you're this weak, why did they choose you?"

"Uhh… what?" Inui says. "I don't get it…"

"Come to think of it, you mentioned that in another timeline," I say. "You said you were rescued from a labyrinth, but Kyuubey didn't offer you a contract. You had to beg him for it."

"That's true, he didn't really have high hopes for me," Inui says. "But am I really that weak…?"

"From my perspective, you don't seem all that weak," I say. "There are definitely lots of people who are stronger, though…"

"Foolish girl," Mary mutters. "But still, it's strange… no matter how much you beg, they would never give in if there was no benefit for them? They must have seen something." She steps back and points at Inui, snapping at her while still maintaining her grip with her other hand. "You. Show me your fire."

"H-how'd you know I use fire?" Inui asks.

"Because my power is knowing," Mary says. "So naturally, I know your element."

"Huh? All of a sudden she sounds a bit less crazy," Inui says.

"That's how she is," I say. "Sometimes she's almost sane. I don't know what to make of her…"

"Well, whatever," Inui says.

She creates an arc of pink flames, and Mary suddenly releases her and jumps back.

"Pink…? Pink flames…? Why are they pink? Flames shouldn't be pink… what is this…?"

"I thought your power is knowing," I say. "Shouldn't you be the one to tell us?"

"Pink flames," Mary mutters. "And so weak… it doesn't add up… I'm missing something… what am I missing…"

"Just checking, Inui, but I don't suppose there's some facet of your magic that you've kept secret?" I ask.

"No… there's nothing like that," she says. "At least, not that I'm aware of."

"I didn't think so…"

"Starlight," Mary mutters. "Starlight… yes… it might be…"

Suddenly she lets out a little shriek.

"Nooo!? Could there be a force even greater than them… a glimpse of… something beyond time, beyond perception…"

She turns to look at me.

"Chelsea Flanders… Ashley Taylor… and…"

She looks back at Inui.

"Inui Itsumi, is it?"

So she flipped Inui's name around…

"U-uhh… close enough…?" Inui says.

"I have a feeling… I feel that you can defeat the chaos," Mary says. "That creature that's even worse than a witch. But that's only if she shows herself… thus, I wish you luck. With her gone, perhaps—"

And yet again she vanishes in mid-sentence, fading out as if someone had been erasing her from existence.

"W-what was that all about?" Inui asks.

"I honestly have no idea," I say. "But, if I were to hazard a wild guess… perhaps there's some unusual facet to your magic that even you don't know?"

"Even if you tell me that, it's not like knowing will do anything," Inui retorts. "I'm more inclined to file it away as the ravings of a madwoman…"

"Yeah, it could be that too," I say. "It's kinda hard to tell with Mary…"

"So I guess you've seen her more than once, huh?"

"Yeah, she's appeared several times, and seems to have some vague awareness of the other timelines," I say. "It's like she knows we've met but doesn't recall the details of the meeting… and she's never appeared twice at the same time and place."

"Normally things would play out identically from one timeline to the next, other than things you intentionally change," Inui muses. "But she's different, huh? She's really a strange woman… oh and by the way… Chelsea Flanders?"

"Huh? That's my name," I say. "Oh right, did I never tell you?"

"Well, that's not quite it," Inui says. "Your other personality did refer to you as Chelsea, but… Flanders…? That was your surname, huh? You never mentioned that part…"

"I didn't think it was important," I say. "Besides, I've abandoned that name. The only one who ever calls me Flanders is Mary, anyway."

"Hmm… but it really makes me wanna know more about your past, Ashley," Inui says. "And Chelsea too. I really want to know…"

"Now really isn't the best time for that," I say. "At the very least we should talk about it somewhere the incubators can't be listening in."

"Hmm, well, I guess I can wait awhile longer," Inui says. "But you know, I don't think I can wait forever…"

"I don't want to wait forever, either," I say. "I want to tell the full truth to the people I can trust. But I don't want to give the incubators free information… I have no way of predicting how they might use it. They could even tame a goddess if they put their minds to it, after all."

Inui tilts her head. "Tame… a goddess… what are you talking about, Ashley?"

"Sorry… I've probably said too much already," I say. "But I'll explain someday, I promise."

"I'll hold you to that."

After school on Thursday, I find a nice roof near Shirome Middle School and observe the students as they leave the school. Although Inui is with me when I arrive, after about half an hour she says she has something else she wants to check out, so she goes off on her own.

I've probably been watching for more than an hour when I receive an unexpected visit. Hijiri hops up onto the roof beside me.

"Hi," she says.

"Ohh, Kanna-chi," I say. "What brings you to Mitakihara?"

"Weren't you the one who gave me a whole list of things?" she retorts. "I can't get you the communicators so quickly, but I came to bring you the bell jar and the evil nuts. I'll get you the communicators in late April though."

"Ah, thank you very much, Kanna-chi," I say.

She hands me a handful of evil nuts, which I stow away somewhere for now. Then she sets down the bell jar, which is roughly half my height.

"Just for the record, don't put evil nuts in here," she says. "The fluid within it interferes with the connection between a magical girl and her soul gem, but it's not perfect, so you shouldn't leave it unattended for too long with someone inside, and you should get it to the Freezer as soon as possible."

"And… it automatically shrinks them down, right?"

"Of course," Hijiri says. "Just insert them from the top."

"Okay… I'll likely stop by Asunaro on… Monday? Which is even a holiday, so that's convenient. I'll let you know by then if I'll have to delay it longer."

"Sure," Hijiri says. "I'll let Yuuri-chan and Airi-chan know. About your other idea, I think it's a great idea, so I'm going to experiment with some things and work out how it's done."

"You mean the website?"

"Yeah. I don't want to get started in earnest if there's a chance I'll be going back in time again, but learning how things are done is still useful."

"And, is Matsuri-chan doing okay?"

"We've only talked so far via email, but I'll be meeting up with her tomorrow. Do you want to hear the plan?"

"Um… sure, why not," I say.

"She's going to release someone from the Freezer who she claims has an ability that will be able to interfere with Kagari's ability."

"Huh? How does she know the ability of someone from the Freezer?"

"Apparently she released them last time, when she returned there to retrieve Kagari's body."

"Huh? But why would she release a random person other than the one she was there for?" I ask. "I could maybe understand her releasing everyone, but…"

"Sounds like she's a relative," Hijiri says. "So I suppose that's why."

"Huh… to think there was a relative of Matsuri-chan in the Freezer… I never knew," I say. "Huh? Wait a second… are you gonna be okay with the Pleiades Saints' barrier now that you've left Asunaro?"

"No, but that's why I asked Miss Remi to accompany us when we visit the Freezer," Hijiri says. "It'll only matter if the Pleiades Saints show up unexpectedly, but if that does happen, Miss Matsuri and I won't be able to remember the true purpose of grief seeds, but Miss Remi will… and Miss Matsuri will have one with her, so it should all work out. Still, it's just a safeguard. We're planning to visit the Freezer while they're out."

"Come to think of it… were you even immune to the barrier?" I ask.

"Yeah, I took advantage of it in some timelines," Hijiri says. "Of course, it only lasts until I leave Asunaro though."

"Alright, thanks for the jar and evil nuts," I say. "Actually, now that you're here, there was something I wanted to ask about your power."

"About my magic?"

"Yeah… you can copy magic from other magical girls, right? Do you need to see the magic being cast? Or could you copy something that's already cast, like Umika's barrier in Asunaro?"

"My ability requires me to see the magic being activated," Hijiri says. "That said, if I were to copy Umika's analysis magic, I might be able to replicate a spell that's already cast… was there something specific you had in mind?"

"There's a barrier behind Mitakihara Middle School that keeps witches out," I explain. "I'd like to expand it bit by bit to eventually cover the whole city."

"Ah, I see," Hijiri says. "Want me to take a look right now? It might even be possible to pull off something similar to what Pernelle did in Asunaro. Expanding the barrier that already exists might be easier than casting a new identical one."

"Do you think you can do something like that?"

"To tell the truth, I've never tried," Hijiri says. "So I'm not confident that I can do it. That said, Pernelle intends to take me on as an apprentice, right? Maybe I can learn something new once that happens."

"Oh, I'd totally forgotten about that," I say. "She wanted to take on both you and your original, right?"

"Yeah, it's because Nico's power is the same as hers," Hijiri says. "And as Nico's duplicate, I can copy her power probably more easily than anyone else's."

"Well, if you want to go take a look at it now, then I'd like to hear how it goes," I say. "Unless there's a risk of destroying the barrier… we're definitely going to need those grief cubes after all."

"In that case, maybe I'll hold off and check things out a bit later," Hijiri says. "I'll find some time possibly next week to try it."

"Okay… I should've gathered the first wave of cubes by then," I say. "The second wave is somewhat needed too, but if I know well ahead of time that it won't come, I can probably somehow figure something out…"

"Well then, I'll see you later, Ashley-chan."

"Yeah… you too."

I get back to watching for signs of witchification in the vicinity, but unfortunately, I neither see nor sense anything out of the ordinary. Finally, as the sun is just starting to sink beneath the horizon, I decide to give up and find Homura. I discover her at her house. She answers almost immediately when I knock.

"…what do you want?" she asks.

"I just came to drop something off," I say.

I unsling the bell jar from my back and set it on the floor just inside.

"Once you've defeated Yu, you can store her in here," I say. "We'll add Yuuki Sasa too once we've captured her. It'll make it easy to transport them to Asunaro."

"I see," Homura says. "Fine, whatever."

"I'm surprised to see you here, though," I say. "Weren't you staying with Miss Tomoe?"

"Yes," Homura says. "I was just leaving. I wanted to gather a few things."

"Alright," I say. "Well, anyway… I'll see you later."

"Whatever."

Immediately after school on Friday, I head for the haunted house. As I jump over the gate, Shizuku steps out from inside the house, all powered up.

"So… you're the one… who wanted to use my power," she says. "Do you have the money?"

"Of course," I say.

I take out the requested cash and hand it over. She counts it, then stows it away and turns to re-enter the haunted house. I follow her into the room I hid in at the beginning of that one timeline, and she opens the portal for me.

"Thank you very much," I say.

"There's nothing to… thank me for," Shizuku says. "After all, you've already paid me."

"Even so, I still want to thank you. May I call on your services again in the future?"

"As long as you pay me."

I step through the portal, and she closes it behind me as I take a look around. I seem to be on the outskirts of a small town. Yukuni is probably the smallest town I've visited here on the island, so that seems to fit. I think it might even be smaller than Hohzuki. I check my phone to determine my exact location, which confirms my guess – I'm at the east edge of the town. The festival should be happening closer to the town centre, but thanks to Shizuku, I should be very early. If I'd taken a train, I probably would have been cutting it very close at best. This way means I have to wait awhile, but at least I won't be late. I decide to find a place to sit so I can see how Inui and the others do with their side of things. After wandering around for a few minutes, I find a small park with a bench, so I take a seat there.

March eighteenth. Inui is with Sho, chatting and clinging to him like they're on a date. From my perspective, it's obvious that Inui isn't all that into him anymore, but Sho doesn't seem to pick up on it. They enter the alleyway beside the hospital because Sho wants to take a shortcut, but as expected, they end up running into Yu, who blocks the way and draws a knife without even bothering to transform.

"What the hell is your problem!?" Sho asks, startled.

"Problem? I don't have any problems," Yu says. "I'm just here to kill you."

"What!? You won't get away with this!" Sho says. "My friends will hunt you to the ends of the earth if you lay a finger on me!"

"Ah, don't worry about that," Yu says. "They're probably on my list anyway, so I'll just kill them too. Problem solved."

"What list? What are you talking about?"

Yu pulls out a sheet of paper from somewhere and scans it, reciting a name from it that causes Sho to twitch. It's probably his real name.

"W-where did you learn that name!?"

"As I thought, there's no mistake," Yu says. "You're clearly here on this list, so that makes you a bad person. Therefore, I'm going to kill you."

"Hold it," Inui says. "I can't let you just kill him."

"Right, what nonsense are you spouting?" Sho says.

"Huh?" Yu says. "But there's no doubt about it. His name is clearly right here on my list. Or are you planning to get in my way?"

"I have something important I need to talk to Sho-kun about," Inui says.

"Oh, well, I guess there's no hurry," Yu says, shrugging. "I can wait until you're done."

"Huh? What are you talking about…?" Sho asks.

Inui turns to face him with a smile.

"Say, Sho-kun… I'm your girlfriend, right?" Inui says.

"Yes, of course you are," Sho says. "Why are you bringing that up now?"

"It just came to me that you never call my by name," Inui says. "You do know what my name is, right?"

"Of course," Sho says. "You're…"

Her smile fades, and her face turns cold.

"As I thought, you don't actually know," Inui says.

"Of course I know," Sho says. "You're Itsuki Iina, right? I wouldn't forget your name."

Inui blinks several times, startled. Then she beams at him.

"Huh, you were sooooo close," she says. "I'm surprised! Don't you have like, ten different girlfriends besides me? It's impressive that you can almost keep them all straight."

"What are you talking about?" Sho asks. "Obviously you're the only one for me."

Inui sighs and shakes her head, her smile fading again.

"Don't play dumb with me," she says. "I saw you with two different girls yesterday."

"Were you following me!? B-but, the only girls I met with yesterday were my little sisters," Sho responded.

"Your little sisters who have no family resemblance, is that it?" Inui says.

"Well, they're adopted," Sho says.

Inui smiles again. "Well, that's about the response I expected, Sho-kun."

"If you knew, then why bring it up?" Sho says.

"I spoke to those two girls, you know," Inui says, still smiling. "Your lit-tle sis-ters. Can you guess what they said?"

"Y-you…!"

"Both of them told me you were their boyfriend, you know," Inui says. "Why would your little sisters refer to you as a boyfriend? That doesn't make any sense."

"Dammit, you bitch!" Sho exclaims. "The hell's come over you all of a sudden!? Until just now you were such a sweet, kind girl!"

"Oh, that part hasn't changed," Inui says. "But now you're showing your true colours. Damn, what did I ever see in you…"

"Ugh, we're gonna be late at this rate," Sho says. "Come on… shall I treat you to something afterwards?"

He grabs her hand and starts to walk off.

"I'm sure you'll cheer up when—"

But his move is brought up short when he reaches the limit of their combined arm length. Inui isn't budging.

"Huh? What are you doing?" he asks. "I said I'd treat you, didn't I? And we don't wanna be late."

"There's no need for that," Inui says. "Because I'm through with you."

"Don't be hasty," he says. "Come on… wait, how are you this strong?"

"I'm not stupid," Inui says. "Even when you say you'll treat me, I usually end up paying, don't I? It's almost like I'm your wallet, rather than your girlfriend."

"Enough of your tantrum," Sho says. "Come on, let's get going."

"Why are you so insistent, anyway?" Inui quips. "Gonna lose money if I'm not there? Or is it social cred, for not having a girl hanging on your arm? I'm sure all your acquaintances already know you're a piece of crap with balls for brains, so stop fooling yourself that you have any standing with them."

"Oh, now that's crossing the line!" Sho says angrily. "I'll make you eat those—"

He turns back and raises his free hand to slap her, but she blocks and catches him by the wrist.

"W-what!?" Sho gasps.

"Sho-kun, look at me!"

His eyes go wide. Based on what happens next, she must have used her charm magic – she releases his arms and slips her hands into his pockets, withdrawing his phone, wallet, and a few random miscellany. Then she smiles at him.

"It's your turn to be my wallet today," she says. "Now tell me your passcode."

Sho recites a four-digit number, then suddenly gasps. "W-what just happened…? Give those back! There's important things in there!"

She dodges as he makes a grab for the wallet and phone.

"Important for me, yes… don't worry, it's not like you'll be needing these anymore, right?" Inui says. "After all, Yu-chan's planning to murder you after this, so I'll just hang onto them for you. At least I can put them to better use than a corpse."

"Y-you… h-how dare you!?" Sho gasps. "As if I'd let some crazy bitch murder me!"

"Yu-chan, I don't want to see this man die," Inui says. "Do you understand what I mean?"

"Yes, I understand," Yu says. "I'll make sure to wait until after you've left to kill him."

"You can't do this to me!" Sho shouts. "You'll be sorry, both of you!"

As Inui turns to move out from the alleyway, Sho makes a move to follow her, but Yu grabs him by the hand and pulls him close, pressing her knife up against his throat.

"Didn't I say I was here to kill you?" Yu says. "What makes you think you can run away?"

"N-no, please, I beg you! Spare me!" Sho gasps.

At that point, Inui rounds the corner and heads inside the hospital, tucking Sho's things into her purse. She looks around and spots Nagisa waiting for the elevator, so she goes to wait next to her. Nagisa doesn't say anything. Of course, she wouldn't recognize Inui at this point, though an Inui who hadn't gone back in time would've still remembered Nagisa, if only vaguely. They take the elevator up in silence and both get off at the same floor, but Inui doesn't follow Nagisa until she's out of sight. A minute or so later, Inui locates the correct door, presumably based on Nagisa's magical presence, and stands there waiting for her to emerge. The argument within soon becomes loud enough to hear from the hall.

Suddenly Nagisa emerges from the room and slams it behind her, and without hesitation, Inui hugs her. Nagisa gasps, startled at the sudden gesture, but then bursts into tears.

"That sounded rough," Inui says. "I'm sorry you had to go through that…"

"I hate her!" Nagisa complains. "She doesn't care about me at all!"

"Don't worry," Inui says. "I'm certain you can find someone who cares about you."

"I wanted her to care," Nagisa sobs. "I wanted her to live… I wanted her to pay attention to me… why won't she? She's my mother… it's supposed to be her job… right?"

"I feel your pain… my dad's a lot like that too…"

"But I don't care anymore," Nagisa says, pushing Inui away and wiping at her tears. "I'm not going home anymore. I'm going to do whatever I want from now on."

"So… what do you want to do?" Inui asks.

"Come to think of it, who are you anyway?" Nagisa asks. "I don't think I know you…"

"I'm actually the one who was supposed to meet you a few days ago," Inui says. "But I wasn't expecting Kyuubey to bring someone else, so I decided to just leave… sorry about that…"

"Oh, no, that's all Kyuubey's fault," Nagisa says. "He should've told you he was bringing me… hmm… what I want to do is… save someone. After all, I became a magical girl, so I should try it at least once."

"Do you already know how to hunt witches?" Inui asks.

"No… I don't know," Nagisa says.

"Well, it's not that hard," Inui says. "First you take out your soul gem and hold it in your palm, like this." She demonstrates. "Then you watch it until you find a reaction… see, how there's a sort of faint greenish spot of light floating in my soul gem? That's you… so, you can sense magical girls as well as witches. For a witch you'll want to look for a reddish light."

"Huh," Nagisa says. "That's easier than I expected…"

"Well, that's the easy part," Inui says. "Once you've found the witch, you have to find its central chamber and kill it… that's the hard part. By the way, do you know how to purify your soul gem?"

"Kyuubey mentioned it," Nagisa says.

"Well… it looks like you really need it right now," Inui says.

"But I don't have a grief seed," Nagisa says.

"Why don't I just give you one?" Inui asks. "I have a spare on me right now…"

"I don't want to accept charity," Nagisa says.

"Oh… is that the only issue?" Inui says. "Then that's easy… just give me the first grief seed you find and we'll be even, right? That makes it a loan, rather than a gift."

"Hmm… okay, sure," Nagisa says.

Inui takes out a grief seed and hands it to her, and she turns her soul into gem form to use it.

"Wow… it's really sucking it all out!" Nagisa marvels. "Amazing!"

"So… what will you do now?" Inui asks.

"I'll go hunt down a witch and pay you back!"

"I'm looking forward to it! By the way, my name is Itsumi Inui."

"Oh! I'm Momoe Nagisa… I'll see you later, Inui-neechan!"

Inui watches until she's disappeared from sight, then sighs.

"Well… I hope I did it as well as Ashley," she mutters. "Now I've gotta go help Homu-chan…"

Satisfied that Nagisa has been properly saved, I cut off my vision and start to explore the town a little. There are clear signs of preparation for the festival, people rushing around to help set up stalls and decorations. I can sense other magical girls here and there, including even the familiar signature of Amano Suzune at one point, but no magical girls approach me. I also sense several witches, more than I'd expect in such a small town. I guess most of the magical girls are busy fighting them right now.

After wandering for awhile, and picking up a couple of snacks from street-side stalls that had already finished setting up, I come across a temporary exhibition about the history of Yukuni, which apparently has a reputation for its hot springs. That's where I spot an interesting article in the corner, about a monument to the Tokime that was recently discovered in the mountains nearby. It doesn't say much about it, but it does speculate that it could be a missing link for the origin of the clan, mentioning that they are rumoured to descend from the Heike.

As I'm reading the article, several other girls come along to look at the exhibit. I recognize two of them – Miura Asahi and Himuro Lavi. The third is a silver-haired girl wearing the same uniform as Lavi. I step aside and back off a bit to let them take a better look at it, while listening in on their conversation.

"The hot spring inns of Yukuni," the silver-haired girl says. "This is all very interesting. I had no idea our town has such a colourful history."

"Then there's the people of the surrounding villages," Asahi says. "You know, most of the families specialize in either hunting or forestry, but there are some families who do both, like mine."

The silver-haired girl then indicates the article I was just reading.

"And what's this?" she says. "The Tokime clan… it died out over a hundred years ago, right? But there are so many legends about them… could they really be descended from the Heike?"

"Ohh, you're interested in that monument, Miss Shirogane?" Asahi says. "Actually, I was the one who discovered it… I have no idea whether any of the legends about the Tokime clan are real, but that monument certainly is."

"Further research is required to determine the authenticity of the ruins," Shirogane murmurs, reading out a passage from the article. "It is a proof of existence…" She frowns a little. "It is as though the Tokime clan is unseen, just like magical girls, right?"

Asahi blinks. "Huh? Magical girls?"

"Oh," Lavi speaks up, her voice soft and monotonous. "Shirogane is the one I revealed my identity to, so she knows about magical girls."

"Yes, I know about the three of you," Shirogane says. "I would like to help you in any way I can. I may be lacking in friends, but I have no boundaries to hold me back. You may ask me for anything."

"Um, may I ask you, why you chose to believe Miss Himuro?" Asahi asks.

"Empty beings like ourselves, who live without recognition, preserve ourselves by being seen by many," Shirogane says with a smile.

Asahi looks at her in confusion.

"Himuro-sempai told me that," Shirogane says. "She is the one who proves my existence, so I cannot deny her."

"Does this mean that you trust Miss Himuro no matter what?" Asahi asks.

"Yes, even knowing what she may one day become," Shirogane says.

"But we shouldn't use Shirogane to prove our existence to the world," Lavi says. "She has an undying friendship that would skew public perception."

"Yeah… we should just stick to our current plan," Asahi agrees.

"Um, excuse me," I say.

The three of them turn in surprise. It seems like they hadn't realized I was still there.

"Did… did you hear…?" Asahi asks.

"I only wanted to ask you something, as the one who discovered the monument," I say.

"Oh? Well… okay, I'll answer if I can," Asahi says.

"There was writing on it, right?"

"Well, obviously," Asahi says.

"Was it just Japanese writing, or were there also magic runes?"

Asahi blinks. "Magic… runes…?"

"Yes, like the ones on our rings," I say.

I remove my own ring and show her what I mean. Asahi blinks and checks her own ring, then nods.

"Ah… so you're a magical girl too," she says. "These runes… yes, I did see similar runes on the monument. Do you know how to read them?"

"I can read these ones on the rings, but I wouldn't be surprised if that monument uses… shall I say, a different dialect?" I say. "It's presumably quite old, after all. But I also know someone else who should still be able to read it."

"I haven't seen you around here before," Lavi notes. "Did you just move here?"

"No," I say. "I merely stopped by to see the festival. I won't be staying."

"Well, we should get going," Asahi says. "It's almost time for the choir performance… our friend has a solo, so we don't want to miss it."

"If you don't mind, I'll come with you," I say. "We're going the same way anyway."

"Well, we can't stop you," Asahi says.

I follow the three of them to the town square, where a stage has been set up. Ulala and Kurara are the hosts. I join the audience along with the three of them and wait for the choir to assemble, sing, and disperse. Alexandra's solo is quite good, though. Asahi and Lavi leave to meet her as she gets off the stage, leaving me alone with Shirogane. I decide to speak with her a little. True, we're still in the middle of a crowd, but there's a little space around us as a buffer, plus it's noisy so I'm sure no-one would be able to hear unless they were really straining to eavesdrop intentionally.

"So, you support the idea of magical girls revealing their existence to the public, right, Miss Shirogane?"

She blinks at me in surprise. "Yes, why not? Their tremendous contribution to the safety of the town should be acknowledged, should it not?"

"You're not wrong," I say. "I just have… let's call it a bad feeling. I think there might be someone in this town who would prefer magical girls to remain the the shadows… for what reason, I don't know…"

"And why are you telling me this?" Shirogane asks.

"I'm saying you should be cautious," I say. "If you openly express support for magical girls, your life may be in danger."

"And who would this someone be?" Shirogane asks.

"If I knew that, I wouldn't be giving you such a vague warning," I say.

At that moment, the man currently onstage announces a special guest. The one to step up next is none other than Satomi Tasuke.

"Oh… isn't that Professor Satomi?" I say.

Even if I hadn't recognized him, Ulala announces his name just after I say that, removing all shadow of doubt as to his identity.

"Do you know him?"

"Not personally," I say. "But I've read his book on the Tokime clan. I heard he's researching magical girls, too…"

"Ah… so that is why you were interested in the monument," Shirogane says.

Around now is when the disaster should strike, so I transform my soul to gem form and close my eyes, seeking out traces of magic in the vicinity. I can sense the location of Lavi, Asahi, and Alexandra, as well as Suzune and at least two other magical girls. Ulala of course is not a magical girl yet, so she doesn't appear on my radar. There are also two rather strong witches near the edge of my detection range. I can't sense anything suspicious, then.

I'm just about to stop scanning when something happens. A new magical signature appears near the two witches, just for a moment. If I hadn't been paying attention at the right moment, I would've missed it entirely. Rather than a magical girl, I think I've sensed someone using magic. I'd guess either a normal person has used some sort of magic, presumably through an enchanted artifact, or it's a magical girl who can hide her power like Sana but not well enough to suppress the specific magic she just used. And almost immediately after that, the two witches start to move closer. I can't believe that's a coincidence… did that person intentionally sic the witches on us?

I monitor the witches' approach for several seconds, at which point Lavi's trio also begins to move – they must have sensed them as well. Then I open my eyes to see Shirogane looking at me curiously.

"Is something up?" she asks. "I did not expect you to expose your soul gem in the middle of a huge crowd."

"Yes, there are two witches approaching," I say.

"Should you not go fight them, then?" she asks.

"No," I say. "That would be overkill… I think the magical girls of this city should be able to handle them. Your friends are already heading over."

"That is quite a selfish attitude," Shirogane says.

"Call it what you want," I say. "But I also have a reason not to leave this place…"

I return my soul to ring form and start scanning the surroundings with my clairvoyance, ignoring Tasuke's speech from the stage. I'm not quite sure when, but there should be a truck rushing through here soon… so just to be on the safe side, I take out a grief seed and use it to purify my soul gem. Shirogane looks surprised, but I ignore her.

I'm not sure exactly how long it takes, but it must be at least five or ten minutes later when I finally see the truck approaching along the main road. It's driving at top speed and is on a course to crash right through the middle of the crowd from the side. By some stroke of luck, I happen to be close to where it'll contact. With this luck, I should be able to save everyone.

I break into a run, pushing through the crowd. For some reason, Shirogane decides to follow me. Normally, she would have no chance of keeping up with a magical girl, but I can't go at full speed in the middle of a crowd. Some people complain and shout at me for barging through, but I ignore them. It's a very short run, probably less than a minute. By the time I come to a stop, the people near the edge have already realized the danger and started to scatter, but they don't have enough time to get out of the way of the truck.

So, I transform and jump right in front of the truck, flinging it up into the air with my telekinesis. Unfortunately, it seems like I've bitten off a little more than I can chew. The effort of keeping the truck airborne hits me all at once, and I suddenly find myself stuck, unable to move it any further. The grief seed I was still holding onto falls to the ground. I can't even spare any magic to move my body or check the status of my soul gem – it takes all my effort just to keep the truck aloft.

Will this be the end? If I were to turn into a witch now…

I can hear the people behind me moving out of the way, mixed with a buzz of awestruck voices, but I can't confirm that they're in a position where it would be safe for me to release my hold on the truck. Even if I did release it, it would probably explode on impact – saving the driver, at least, may be beyond me.

"I apologize for my earlier comment," Shirogane says softly from behind me. "A selfish person would not throw themselves in danger like you just have. You have even risked becoming a witch in order to save people. That is an admirable attitude."

She's right about one thing – I'm starting to feel that sensation that comes when the soul gem is more than eighty percent corrupted. I really have been pouring a ton of magic into this flashy manoeuvre. This was a grave mistake…

It takes all of my concentration just to keep the truck airborne, so I still can't respond to her, but I can see her crouch down next to me. She picks up the fallen grief seed and presses it up to the soul gem at my throat, and I find myself hoping that it doesn't hatch as a result. I doubt she fully understands the intricacies of the magical girl system, as she's just an outsider.

"W-what's happening here!?"

A new voice joins us. It's Asahi.

"My oh my, that truck is actually floating."

That's clearly Alexandra's voice.

"You look like you need help there," a soft, monotonous voice adds.

Lavi steps up to me and presses a hand against my back, and I sense the activation of her magic. Suddenly, it feels as though a great weight has been taken off my shoulders. I'm now able to shift the truck's position in the air. I can even use my clairvoyance a little now. After confirming that there's an open area behind me where I can set the truck down, I do so, manoeuvring it into position. But there's still more surprises awaiting me. As it touches the ground, it suddenly catches fire.

"Oh no!" I say. "The driver! At this rate, it's going to explode!"

I telekinetically yank the door open and drag the driver out, just in time. As predicted, there's an explosion. I focus on the flying shrapnel, trying to keep it away from the crowd, and I think I'm successful. In fact, it feels strangely easy to use my powers right now, thanks to the help of Lavi's magic. Finally, I let out a sigh of relief, and check my soul gem. It's probably about eighty percent corrupted again, which means Shirogane really saved me by using that grief seed.

"The grief seed… is it okay?" I ask, turning to Shirogane.

She hands it back to me. It doesn't look like it can be used again, but it also doesn't look like it'll hatch anytime soon. I stow it away, taking out another grief seed to purify my soul gem. The second one can still be used again, probably at least twice more.

"Thank you very much," I say. "I really bit off more than I could chew there… that could've been really bad…"

"So, what on earth happened here?" Asahi asks. "The truck came from the direction of that witch… was he kissed by the witch?"

As Ulala runs up, asking what's going on, I examine the driver, but strangely I don't find a witch's kiss on him. However… there is a faint trace of that unknown magic I sensed earlier.

"It doesn't look like this man was under the influence of a witch," I say. "Though it's a little hard to say since the witch in question might be dead already, but… I think someone wanted to make it look like he was kissed by a witch… if he'd blown up with the truck, no-one would've ever known the difference…"

"Why would anyone want to do that?" Asahi asks.

"I really have no idea," I say. "Were you able to defeat the witches, by the way?"

"No… mine got away," Asahi says. "What about yours, Lexy?"

"The other magical girls and I got the captured civilians to safety," Alexandra says. "Miss Himuro defeated it."

"No, someone else did," Lavi corrects her. "Another magical girl attacked me, and after I retreated, she destroyed the witch by herself."

That must have been Suzune.

"There's one thing I'm certain of, though," Asahi says. "Those witches were the two who saved Miss Ulala some time ago."

"So the witch didn't cause the explosion?" Ulala says. "And they're the ones who saved me? I don't get it…"

A boy and girl in the same uniform as Asahi run up at that moment.

"Asahi! Are you okay?" the girl asks. "What just happened? There was an out-of-control truck…"

"Haitani, Kuroda-kun… I'm not sure myself," Asahi says. "But this girl here saved everyone…"

"Is anyone hurt?" I ask.

"No… I don't think so," the girl says. "At least, no-one that I saw… it must be thanks to you, onee-san."

That's the girl who originally died from the explosion, which means that my job here has been a great success. She seems to be addressing me.

"I don't think I did anything all that special… anyone would've done the same if they could," I say.

"Yeah, but most people can't move objects with their minds," the girl says with a giggle. "Magical girls really are amazing…"

"However, it seems like some people are badmouthing us," Lavi notes.

I start to pay more attention to the buzz of the crowd, and it seems that she's right. Although many people sound thankful that I saved them, there seem to be a vocal minority who are convinced it's a stunt designed to manufacture sympathy. One man in particular stands out.

"How do we know they didn't cause this disaster in the first place!?" he shouts. "And even if they didn't, with powers like that, they're clearly dangerous!"

"Do any of you know that man?" I ask.

Everyone shakes their heads.

"And… where did Professor Satomi go…?"

"He's probably still backstage," Ulala says. "Did you need him for something?"

"No… I was just wondering, because he'd disappeared…"

"Come on, you three!" Ulala says. "Now that this has happened, we can't hold back on the segment!"

"Right," Alexandra speaks up. "We have to say something now that we've exposed ourselves in public like this. We can't just leave it like this with people spreading unfounded rumours."

"Will you join us?" Lavi asks me.

"No… I'll stay here," I say.

As Ulala, Alexandra, Lavi, and Asahi make for the stage, I power down and move towards those people who seem to be determined to paint magical girls in a poor light. Does their argument truly make sense? I'm not quite sure. It certainly has a convincing ring to it, and is not a totally implausible idea. Certainly magical girls can be dangerous, so it does make sense to point that out. But there is something about that man's arguments that seems a little off to me. I can't quite put my finger on it. He's mainly arguing with people who seem more sympathetic to magical girls, and it even looks like he's managed to convince a few of them. Some of the sympathizers also seem to have pretty convincing arguments, but he continually insists that his view is right. Is that how someone who has just now found out about magical girls would act? I can't say it's not, but it doesn't feel quite right, either. Then again, maybe I just have a too optimistic view of human nature. Maybe it is normal to react how he has, some sort of primal fear of the unknown…?

Up on the stage, Asahi and Alexandra start talking about what it means to be a magical girl and how they work to save people from witches. This one man still seems unconvinced, however. I try to slip through the crowd to get even closer to him.

"You seem to have a thing against magical girls," I say once I think I'm in earshot.

"Well obviously!" he says, turning to face me. "They're dange—"

He gasps as he realizes who he's talking to and spins to face me while taking a step back.

"Y-you're… the one who lifted that truck!" he gasps. "P-p-p-please don't kill me!"

I tilt my head a little. I don't think he's acting. It seems like he's truly terrified of me. Is that the reaction you should have to someone who just saved countless lives?

"Why would I want to kill you?" I ask.

"W-well, t-that's… fine then, w-what do you want with me!?"

"Nothing much, really," I say. "I'm just wondering what you have against people like me."

He glances around wildly.

"I… I gotta go!" he says.

He turns and bolts, pushing his way through the crowd and aiming for a nearby alleyway. Clearly, he's genuinely scared of me, but why? Sure, he saw me lift a truck into the air… but he also saw me gently set it down on the ground, and even rescue the driver. I open a vision on him and make my way in the same general direction, though taking a slight detour to make it not look like I'm obviously following him. That is, I work my way through the crowd at a different angle but still enter the same alleyway he does, just as he rounds a corner.

"Ugh," he mutters. "That woman never said anything about having to face such a monster directly… I can't do that much… she said I'd be fine, they wouldn't approach, but she was wrong…"

Then my vision cuts out, just like it did in the last timeline. I break into a run and round the corner, but I'm already too late. Whoever interrupted my vision is nowhere to seen, and the man is laying on the street in a pool of blood, his head separated from his body.

Some people might have noticed me follow him, because I can hear them entering the alleyway… though it could just be a coincidence that they chose the same alley. Huh? Wait a second, could that be this mysterious actor's plan? To frame me as the murderer and turn sympathies away from magical girls again? Still… if so, they've underestimated me. It might not be possible to completely allay suspicion, but I can at least avoid an awkward false proof scenario from being discovered at the scene of the crime.

I summon Teddy Mk II and shoot up into the air, hopping onto the roof of the nearest building and crouching down to make sure I won't be seen from below – the buildings here are only about two storeys high, after all. I watch as several people discover the corpse and call the police. It seems like opinions are mixed – someone must have noticed me leaving and suspects I did it, but others aren't even sure that this was the same alleyway I headed down. It's still not exactly a good look for the magical girls of Yukuni though, for their chief detractor to suddenly be murdered, but at least there's nothing to definitively point to a magical girl as the culprit.

At least he did confirm that the mastermind is a woman before the vision cut out, though I'm not sure if that's even helpful. Still, it's usually better to know more rather than less. And yet, I still know almost nothing. Is she a magical girl? Why is she doing this? What reason could she have to sway sentiments against magical girls? I don't understand the motive here. Why can't I sense her presence? And what was the relationship between her and that man? Given how she seemingly silenced him, it doesn't seem like they could be a team. Did she literally just hire someone as an influencer? Is he the only one? Maybe there were others in the crowd who were under her thumb.

I don't see much point in watching any further, so after confirming the other side of the building is clear, I hop back down onto the street and return to the main square, where I find a bit of a commotion has arisen. It looks like the truck is already being dealt with, and the fire has been put out, but people in the crowd seem to be arguing about something. From what I can tell, it does indeed have to do with the man who was murdered – the news has already spread back to the square. As expected, some people appear to suspect me, while others are arguing for my innocence since there's no evidence. As I'm debating what to do, two girls at the edge of the crowd spot me and come over. Huh? It's Tomomi… of course, she's just an ordinary girl at this point, not a magical girl. I don't recognize the girl she's with, a tall girl with curly brown hair in a ponytail. She's not a magical girl either.

"Hey, um, it's not true, right?" Tomomi asks.

"What's not true?" I ask.

"They're saying someone died," Tomomi says.

I decide to feign ignorance.

"Wait, really!? Did I miss a piece of shrapnel from the explosion…?"

"Huh? N-no, it was after that," Tomomi says. "I guess you really didn't do it, then… I'm glad! I didn't think someone who'd jump in front of a truck like that could also kill someone…"

"Kill someone… as in… murder…?"

"Oh… yeah… one of the guys from the crowd was found in a side street," Tomomi says. "And the thing is, it's the guy who was saying magical girls are dangerous earlier, so some people are saying this is proof he was right…"

"It must have been just a moment ago," the brown-haired girl says. "He left in a hurry, and some of his friends followed him and found him dead."

"Almost sounds like whoever killed him wanted people to think magical girls are dangerous," I say.

"Huh… you think so?" Tomomi says, glancing at her friend. "What do you think, Mana-chan?"

"Eh? Isn't that a bit of a stretch?" the brown-haired girl asks. "Why would they kill the person who was spreading the message they want to spread?"

"Well, I really can't be sure," I say. "It's just a strange circumstance. I know I didn't kill him, and I doubt any of the magical girls of this town are the type to murder civilians… not even Suzune-chan would do that, I think."

"Um… who…?" the brown-haired girl asks.

"A magical girl with silver hair who fights with a sword and fire magic," I say.

"Ohhh, so you really do mean her… I saw her earlier," Tomomi says. "Actually, she saved me from the witch… though she also got into a fight with one of those girls on the stage… in fact, she's even in my class, so I was pretty surprised, both seeing her in the labyrinth and hearing her name from you."

"Anyway, killing the very person who was saying magical girls are dangerous makes it look like someone didn't want him to say that, right?" I say. "Which suggests he was killed by a magical girl. But it's also possible that someone killed him because that's what it would look like. They want to make it look like he was killed by a magical girl. This is all just speculation, mind you…"

"It does sort of make sense," the brown-haired girl says. "Ah, by the way, we kinda skipped introductions, didn't we? I'm Yumemi Manatsu."

"Oh right, I'm Tomomi Thrussel. My surname is Thrussel."

"Ashley Taylor… nice to meet you, Miss Yumemi, Miss Thrussel," I say.

I notice the magical girl trio approaching me through the crowd, though they're being forced to field questions as they go, so it's slow progress.

"Hmm… but magical girls sure seem to be pretty cool," Tomomi muses. "I wonder if I could become one…"

Since I recall her mentioning that a friend of hers had turned into a witch – perhaps even the very friend in front of me – I decide to give her an ambiguous warning.

"It's nowhere near as cool as it looks," I say. "It's actually very dangerous. Magical girls may be stronger than other people, but they're also weaker. We might not die from injuries or sickness, but we can die from mere sadness and grief, or from overusing our magic."

"Well yeah, I guess you have a point," she says. "But as an ordinary girl, I would've died if Suzune-chan hadn't shown up, wouldn't I?"

"Pretty likely," I say.

Alexandra, Asahi, and Lavi finally manage to escape the crowd and join me.

"We need to have a little chat," Lavi says.

"Yes, I agree," I say. "But maybe away from the crowd would be better."

"Yes," Lavi says. "I know a good place. Follow me."

She leads the way away from the town square, heading through streets that are now almost deserted, since everyone's at the festival. After a few minutes, we arrive at a three-storey school building – the sign identifies it as Yukuni Municipal Iwakiriyama High School, which I believe is Lavi's school. Lavi leads us into the school grounds, at which point we leap up onto the roof.

"You saved the people," Lavi says. "Thank you for that. However… they say a man died… and he was the most vocal anti-magical-girl voice. Some are saying he was killed by a magical girl. Since you are the only other magical girl they have identified… and you were last seen talking to the man in question…"

"Yeah, if you sat down and thought about it, that is the first conclusion you'd come to, isn't it?" I say. "As you say, I talked to the guy briefly, but he was oddly scared of me. It made me wonder if he'd heard about magical girls somewhere before this happened. He ran off right away, and I tried to surreptitiously follow him, but… when I caught up to him, he was dead."

"I don't get it," Asahi says. "Did he… kill himself…?"

"No, I think he was killed by magic," I say. "Whoever they are was able to interfere with my magic. If they hadn't, I would've seen the culprit."

"So it really was a magical girl," Lavi says.

"Well… I'm not quite ready to conclude that," I say. "Although I'd assume a magical girl must be involved to some degree, it's possible that the person who killed him wasn't one."

"What do you mean?" Alexandra asks.

"They could've used a magical item," I say.

"That's true, I suppose," Lavi says.

"But even then, I don't understand," Asahi says. "Why would someone kill him…?"

Since Asahi seems to have momentarily forgotten about her own abilities, I decide to subtly prompt her.

"Hmm… if only we could ask him ourselves," I say.

"Ah!" Asahi gasps. "I should have thought of that… I can ask him!"

"You can?" I say.

"Yes, I can summon spirits of the dead," Asahi says. "Please give me a moment…"

She transforms and presses her hands together, as if she were praying, a pose that doesn't really suit her hunter-style outfit.

"Spirits of the deceased, heed my call," Asahi intones.

A white mist rises from the ground around her, swirling into indistinct forms.

"You, the one who fears me," Asahi continues. "If you can hear my voice, then show yourself."

After a bit, one of those forms finally separates out and becomes more distinct, taking the shape of the man who died.

"W-where am I!?" he gasps. "Eh? What happened!? You're… one of those magical girls… did you kill me!?"

"No, of course not," Asahi says.

"Then was it you?" the man asks. "Or you? Or maybe you?"

He points at Lavi, then Alexandra, and finally me.

"If I were to guess, I'd say it was probably that woman," I say.

"No," he says. "I won't be tricked so easily. That woman is like a saint! She would never kill someone!"

"A saint?" Lavi says. "Who is this woman?"

"The likes of you have no need to know," the man retorts. "You're just monsters in human form, witches who've sold your soul to the devil… how dare you pretend to be heroes!?"

"Is that woman the one who told you about magical girls?" I ask.

"Who else?" the man says. "She needed help to spread the truth about you monsters. I was only too happy to help her, for a token reward, once I heard about your existence."

"You're awfully convinced that magical girls are monsters," I say. "I wonder where that conviction comes from…"

"That's none of your business," the man says.

"It seems like he is unwilling to talk," Lavi says.

"Yeah," Asahi says. "I'll end this."

She powers down, and the form of the man's spirit dissipates.

"We didn't learn much, but we did learn that someone has an agenda," Lavi says.

"I'm still confused about the motive, though," I say. "I think her intention was to frame me for his death, but why is she so against magical girls in the first place…? Isn't she one herself?"

"We can only speculate," Alexandra says. "Maybe she had a bad experience with one… or maybe she knows the truth about witches… that man called us witches as well…"

"But if her goal is to kill magical girls, manipulating things so that they turn into witches seems counterproductive," I say.

"Eh… so you already know about that, huh?" Asahi says.

"Though… did any of you sense that faint magic during the festival?" I muse.

"What magic?" Lavi asks.

"Those witches you went after were initially lurking near the festival but at a safe distance, right?"

"Yes, I sensed them at the edge of my awareness," Lavi says.

"Just before they started moving towards the town centre, I picked up a different magic reaction near them," I say. "It was faint, and only lasted for a moment. I thought, maybe someone had manipulated the witches into approaching…"

"I don't get it," Asahi says. "Why would someone want to do that?"

"I don't get it either," I say. "I'm only speculating based on the little information I have. The driver of that truck, too… I couldn't find a witch's kiss on him, but I thought I sensed a trace of that same magic, though it's possible he was kissed, by the witch you defeated, and it had already dissipated by the time I got to him. I also sensed that magic for a moment a bit later, around when that man died."

"How do we know you're not making this up?" Alexandra asks.

"I'm pretty sure I sensed something, but if you didn't sense it, then I don't think there's anything else I can say to convince you," I say. "But I will say that I don't think it's only magical girls who are in danger. I wouldn't be surprised if your friends are targeted too."

"Why would you say that?" Asahi asks.

I can't really find a good way to say how I saw the bus go off the cliff in the previous timeline, so I need to keep things vague… no idea if my words will have any effect on their actions in the future, but it can't hurt to try.

"This is still mostly speculation," I say. "But if that woman is willing to kill someone who's nominally her ally, then I can't imagine she'd be less willing to kill anyone associated with her enemy."

"I see your point," Lavi says. "But this is all assuming your speculation is correct."

"Yes… that's true," I admit. "I have no proof for any of this… I'm just trying to make sense of some strange things I noticed during this incident."

Even though I know a little more than I'm letting on due to the time travel, this theory still is almost completely speculation. I have no idea who that woman is or what her goal or motive could be. None of my knowledge from the game is useful here – the game simply posited that Tasuke's crazy theory of a will to the universe was true, as far as I know. All I know for sure is what that woman seemingly did, and the effect it had. In the last timeline, it wouldn't be a stretch to think that she caused the anti-magical-girl faction to arise, and from what I saw this time, it seems like that was likely intentional. And also in the last timeline, she caused the deaths of the entire pro-magical-girl faction. On the other hand, it's not clear that that was her goal. Could it have been just a side-effect of her goal? I have no way to know.

"So yeah, I'm speculating on what may be a worst-case scenario," I say. "I don't think it's impossible though. Just be careful."

"As for you, you should not return to this town," Lavi says. "The crowds consider you the prime suspect, after all. They're even suggesting you manipulated the driver in order to create a spectacle. Since magic is involved, it would be really hard to convince them that you couldn't have done it."

"Well, I don't have any plans to return anytime soon, but do you think my immediate disappearance could lend credence to that theory?" I ask.

"You are right, but at this point it is the lesser of two evils," Lavi says. "In any case, if asked, we will simply say you were a guest who came to enjoy the festival. You have a legitimate reason to go straight back home, so it shouldn't fan the flames too much, I hope."

"Then I'll at least give things some time to calm down before I consider visiting again," I say. "Goodbye."

"I'll escort you to the station," Asahi says.

"Thank you, that's very helpful," I say.

The two of us hop down to the ground and power down, and Asahi leads me towards the station. Once I've caught a train, I call Kyuubey to dispose of my used grief seed. I consider questioning him about the mysterious woman, but ultimately decide not to.

When I return to the Hayashi house, I find Inui already there. She greets me enthusiastically.

"Ashley! How'd it go?"

"Um… all things considered, I'd say it went well," I say. "Have they already agreed to let you stay with us for now…?"

"Yeah," Inui says. "And I managed to avoid running into Dad for now."

"Is that really okay?" I ask.

"It's better to avoid him when he's drunk," Inui says. "I'll pay him a visit at some point, in the morning when he's sober."

"Oh, I guess that does make sense."

We head upstairs, and I open up the document on my laptop to record what I learned today in Yukuni.

"So, how'd things go on your end, Inui?" I ask. "I watched part of it, but…"

"How far did you watch?" Inui asks.

"I saw you meet with… that guy, and give Nagisa-chan a grief seed," I say.

"So you didn't see when we confronted Yu-chan and the others," Inui says.

"Huh? What do you mean by the others?" I ask.

"Well… I'll just tell you everything, Ashley," Inui says. "It'll be easier that way, right?"

"Sure…"

Once Nagisa had disappeared from sight, Inui headed up to the roof of the hospital and tried to contact Homura through telepathy.

«What do you want?» Homura responded tersely.

«I'll help, Homu-chan. I told you, didn't I?»

«I don't need any help.»

«That's fine. I'll help anyway. I'm coming to where you are, so please don't kill her before I get there.»

«Hmph…»

Inui could sense Homura's presence around the edge of her range, so she headed in that direction, hopping from roof to roof until she spotted Homura on the next roof, facing off against Yumeno Yusa. She leapt the final alleyway with a yell.

"Yu-chan!"

The other two girls turned to look at her, startled.

"Oh, it's you again," Yu said amiably. "Maybe you can help me out a little this time. I helped you out when that guy was giving you trouble, right? Well, this girl keeps attacking me and won't listen to anything I say."

"What a funny story," Inui said, beaming. "Aren't you the one who doesn't listen to anything other people say, Yu-chan?"

"No, I listen to every word," Yu replied. "Then I do whatever I think is best."

"That's the same as not listening at all," Inui said. "Well, it's fine though. All I need from you is your soul gem, so can you please hand it over?"

"Why would I do something like that?" Yu asked. "Surely you understand what a soul gem is for a magical girl."

"That's exactly why I need yours," Inui said, beaming. "Ah, don't worry, I'm not going to break it or anything."

"You know and you're still asking?" Yu said. "You shouldn't make such a bad joke."

"Well… alright, if you insist," Inui said. "Then I'll let you fight with Homu-chan for awhile longer."

"Do you know this girl?" Yu asked. "Maybe she would listen to you if you asked her to stop attacking me."

"Hmm… I'm not sure if she would," Inui said. "But I don't want to, so go ahead and have fun."

"This is such a pain…" Yu grumbled.

«I'll give you an opening,» Inui said, addressing Homura. «Please don't get too far away.»

Homura didn't respond, but she pulled a gun and fired upon Yu, who somehow dodged every bullet with ease. Inui pressed her hands together, building up magic between her palms as she watched Homura teleport back and forth across the roof, attacking from every angle imaginable, often all at the same time. Even Yu was unable to dodge every single bullet, but the few bullets that struck her didn't seem to faze her at all.

As Inui built up her magic power, she brought her hands apart to form a heart with her thumbs and forefingers. The magical energy swirled within her fingers like a flaming pink vortex, but she fixed her eyes on the sight of Yu and Homura fighting until it felt like the magic was trying to burst free from her grasp.

"Yu-chan!" she called. "I'll give you a taste of my Heart-throbbing Passionate Rose-filled Elegy of Love!"

As Yu turned to look at her, Inui released the magic in a wide beam, a torrent of pink flames speeding towards Yu almost too fast to see. Even so, Yu somehow managed to move herself out of the apparent path… but Inui had imbued homing qualities into the magic this time, so it did her no good. As Yu took the full blast of the magic, Inui leapt in to take immediate advantage, knowing that Yu was resistant.

"You're so cool, Yu-chan!" Inui said, beaming. "Let me see your soul gem for a moment! Pretty please?"

To her delight, Yu reached up without question to remove the soul gem from her forehead, but then stopped short of handing it over. She blinked in confusion.

"Huh? Wait… what am I…?"

However, that moment of vulnerability was enough for Homura to get in close. A few carefully-placed bullets separated the hand holding her soul gem from the rest of her body, and mere seconds later, the body itself vanished from sight as Homura presumably dragged it into time stop and moved it into Hijiri's bell jar, which had been hidden within her dimensional storage.

"You see, Homu-chan?" Inui said. "I can be helpful, too."

"I suppose," Homura said begrudgingly.

"Actually, now that I've helped you out a bit, I'd like to ask you for a little favour too," Inui said.

"Why should I?" Homura retorted. "Besides, I didn't really need your help… I had things under control before you showed up."

"Even if that's true, you can't deny that I helped speed things up," Inui said. "Besides, you might actually get some benefit from this favour too."

"How's that?" Homura asked.

"Well, you need weapons, right? I have a feeling we might be able to find some where I'm planning to go."

"I already obtained weapons two days ago," Homura said coldly. "And I know where I can find more once I need them."

"Hmm, but it's not like you know everything, right Homu-chan?" Inui said.

"Ugh…" Homura said. "Well… I suppose it can't hurt if you tell me what kind of favour you have in mind… if it benefits Madoka, then maybe…"

Inui smiled. "Ah, I wanted to tie up a few loose ends with Sho-kun," she said. "I'm going to attend the meeting he was going to, and also raid his workplace. I think we should be able to find some illegal weapons there."

"And how do I fit into that plan?" Homura asked.

"I need to borrow a gun, and I may want to use time stop to get away," Inui said.

"Do you even know how to shoot a gun?" Homura asked.

"Nope! But it's only for intimidation, so I just have to hold it, right?" Inui said. "Okay… I need to get changed, so just give me a minute…"

"Hold on," Homura said. "I haven't agreed to it yet…"

Inui powered down and pulled out a change of clothes from her schoolbag, a pink skirt and blouse. She changed into them, stuffing her uniform and soul gem ring into her bag, and quickly tied her hair into twintails.

"Alright, close enough," she said cheerfully. "Let's go!"

"Where…?" Homura said.

"Right!" Inui said. "I don't know the location yet…"

She fished out Sho's phone and unlocked it, checking his emails for one mentioning the meeting. Sure enough, it was there.

"As I thought," she said. "It's the little bar near the old dock. Do you know it?"

"Why would I know a place like that?" Homura retorted.

"If they're meeting at that bar, then there's an abandoned warehouse quite close," Inui said. "I betcha we'll find it's not so abandoned after all!"

She fished out several festival masks from her bag. There's a fox, a tengu, and an oni.

"We should probably keep our faces hidden," she said. "Just to be on the safe side. Which one would you prefer?"

Homura's eyes darted between them for several seconds before she finally settled on the oni. Inui giggled as she put it on.

"It really suits you, Homu-chan!"

Inui herself donned the fox mask and stowed the spare mask and her soul gem ring in her bag, then leapt across the gulf to an adjacent roof and turned to face Homura.

"Come on, Homu-chan!" she called.

Homura sighed and followed her as she lead the way east towards the river. There were quite a few abandoned docks and warehouses along the river, as the traffic heading upstream had greatly declined in recent years. She seemed to have a specific one in mind. When they arrived, they found two men standing outside.

"Homu-chan, a gun, please," Inui said. "You should probably hang onto one too. I'm not gonna shoot it, so leave the safety on or whatever."

Homura sighed, but complied with the request, taking two hand guns out from her shield and passing one of them to Inui. Then the two of them descended to the ground and approached the guards. Inui hid the gun behind her back, and Homura copied her example.

"Halt!" one of the men shouted. "Huh? What the hell are two middle school girls doing around here? You should go home before something bad happens!"

"Something bad?" Inui said. "Who's going to do something bad, exactly?"

"W-well, that's beside the point," the man said. "It's not safe here, so you should leave."

"But I'm exactly where I need to be," Inui said. "What exactly are you guarding here, anyway?"

"It's none of your business!" the man said. "Now scram! This is your last warning! Don't blame me for what happens if you ignore me!"

"I'm not going anywhere," Inui said stubbornly.

"Well then, you leave us no choice," the man said.

He and his companion both drew guns and pointed them at her.

"You wanted to see inside, well, you'll get your wish," the spokesman said. "Just not quite in the way you imagined. Put your hands on your head and do as we say."

"I don't want to," Inui said. "How about you do what I say instead?"

"Do you understand the situation you're in, girl?" the spokesman said. "One shot and you'll be screaming in pain. Without treatment you might even die. Is that really what you want, throwing your life away so pointlessly?"

"Hmm… well, you're the one who doesn't realize who you're dealing with, mister," Inui said. "If you want, you can go ahead and empty that gun into me. It won't make any difference whatsoever though, so I suggest you do as I say instead."

She revealed her gun, pointing it at him.

"After all, unlike me, you will die if you're shot," she said. "Right?"

"Y-you little…!" the man gasped. "I can't believe your arrogance. Of course you'd die if you're shot through the heart!"

"Do you want me to demonstrate?" Inui asked. "I can, if you really want."

The man laughed. "Yeah right, as if," he said. "You're clearly bluffing. Go on then."

Inui looked at Homura. "Do it," she said.

"…are you sure?" Homura said. "Have you done this before?"

"I figured out the knack for it in the last battle," Inui said.

"Okay," Homura said.

She pointed her gun at Inui and shot her in the head without hesitation. Inui let out a little gasp, startled by the suddenness of it, but then quickly recovered. She felt a little fuzzy in the head, but she didn't feel any pain, and she was still able to stand straight and even speak.

"Y-you… m-monster!" the spokesman gasped.

"Now then," she said, pointing her gun at them again. "How about you do as I say? Put your guns down and turn around."

"R-right…"

The two men both set their guns down on the ground and turned to face the wall. While they did that, Homura stepped close and reached up to touch the wound on Inui's head, channeling some magic in. Startled at the contact, she turned to face Homura.

"Huh? What're you doing?"

"…nothing," Homura said. "Never mind…"

Inui felt the wound herself and found that it had closed up.

"Huh?" she said. "Homu-chan, since when could you use healing magic?"

"…since about the… sixtieth attempt, give or take a few," Homura muttered. "Ugh… I shouldn't've bothered…"

"Well, thank you very much!" Inui said. "I do have other things to do after this, so it'd be bad if I had to walk around looking like a zombie. I'll probably still need to wash away the blood, but this really helps."

Then she stepped towards the men, addressing them again.

"Is there anyone else inside the warehouse?" she asked.

"N-not right now," the spokesman said. "They'll be back soon though…"

"Fine," Inui said. "Then open the door and head inside. I'll be right behind you. Don't try to lock me out or anything. I'll just break the door down if you do that."

"O-okay!"

The two men unbarred the warehouse door and opened it enough for the four of them to step inside. It was dark inside, but Inui raised her left hand and fired an arc of pink flame into the air, bringing the interior into sharp relief for several seconds. It was plenty long enough to recognize that there were piles and piles of boxes there.

"So, what exactly is in all those boxes?" Inui asked.

"Mostly drugs," the spokesman said. "There's also some weapons, some forged artwork, and… that's all I know about. There might be other things too."

"Show me where the weapons are," Inui said.

"R-right this way…"

They headed to an area of the warehouse where the boxes were stacked not quite as high.

"I think… these boxes should have weapons in them," the spokesman said.

"Mind checking for me, Homu-chan?" Inui said.

Homura nodded and stepped forward to tear open one of the boxes. As expected, it contained weapons, so she immediately began stowing them all in her shield. While she did that, Inui extracted a length of rope from her bag and tied the two men up, as well as gagging them with some scraps of cloth. Once that was done, she busied herself checking Sho's phone in more detail, even transferring some data to her own phone through the standard file-sharing feature.

Once Homura had finished emptying the crates of weapons, Inui dialled the emergency number using Sho's phone and left it on an upturned box, then headed outside with Homura.

"Thanks for the help, Homu-chan," Inui said. "We should get away from here quickly, though…"

After washing up at the river and drying herself off with some application of her pink flames, Inui headed back into town.

"Um… what are you doing now?" Homura asked after a minute or two.

"That wasn't my only loose end with Sho-kun," Inui said. "The rest should be easier though… I hope. Ah, this is the place… you can wait outside for this one if you want."

They had arrived at a small bar, the one Inui had mentioned earlier. She popped inside and spotted a man at a corner table looking impatient.

"Yoohoo!" she said. "You're waiting for Sho-kun, right?"

"Huh…?" the man said. "Who the hell're you?"

"No-one important," Inui said. "I just wanted to let you know he won't be coming. That's all!"

Ignoring the man's protests, she turned and left the place.

"One more stop, then we're done with my stuff," Inui said to Homura. "Although after that I do have one more thing to suggest."

Stowing her mask away, Inui led Homura into a maze of twisty back alleys behind the bar, eventually emerging in front of a host club squirrelled away in a quiet side street. Homura blinked up at it.

"What on earth would you want to come here for?" Homura asked.

"Actually, this was Sho-kun's workplace," Inui said.

"He worked here…? As… a host?"

"That's right," Inui said. "And not just that… recently, I was working here a couple days a week as well. Let's go inside."

"Would they even let a student like me in?" Homura asked.

"Don't worry," Inui said. "They're not picky about that sort of thing. Besides, you're still in your magical girl uniform with that mask I lent you."

"Whatever," Homura muttered.

Inui pushed the door open and led the way inside. It wasn't very busy at all, with just one female customer sitting in the corner chatting with two guys dressed like butlers.

«Isn't business rather slow?» Homura asked.

«Peak hours are around eleven at night,» Inui replied. «They pretty much just opened. It'll start to pick up in an hour or two.»

A middle-aged man, also dressed like a butler, stepped forward to greet them.

"Good afternoon," he said. "How may I help you? Ah… is that you, Saiko-chan? I'm grateful to see that you are back in good health."

«…Saiko…?»

«It's a bit embarrassing, but it comes from Sho-kun always comparing me to a shiba-inu,» Inui said. «Because 'sai' is an alternate reading of the 'shiba' of shiba-inu.»

«You put up with him even though he compared you to a dog…?» Homura said.

«Give me a break… he said it in a way that made it sound cute, okay? I was… blinded by love…»

"Yes," Inui said, smiling. "It's true, I was feeling quite under the weather the past two days, but I'm fully recovered now."

"Did you come all the way here just to tell me that?" the man asked.

"No, I wanted to pick up my paycheck," Inui said.

The man raised his eyebrows.

"If that is your intention, we should discuss this in the back," he said. "Come this way."

He turned and led the two of them to the back of the main room and through a door marked 'Employees Only', opening into a corridor. Taking the first door on the right, he ushered the two of them into what seemed to be his office, taking a seat at the desk and giving Inui a stern look, glancing only briefly at Homura's glaring face.

"You know as well as I do that payday is next Friday," he said.

"I do understand that," Inui said. "But I'm afraid I won't be able to make it here next Friday, so I need you to pay me a little early."

"Could you not just come a few days later?" the man asked.

"Nope, I won't be able to make it here then, either," Inui said. "I'm moving out of town, you see."

"Is that so…" the man said. "Still, even if your circumstances are unique, there's not a lot I can do. You know we're barely able to break even here, don't you?"

"Yeah, I did hear that rumour," Inui said. "I also heard some other, much less savoury rumours…"

"Surely you're not the type of person to believe everything you hear, Saiko-chan," the man said, smiling winningly.

"That's right," Inui said, smiling. "So naturally, I don't believe the rumour that you're broke, either."

"Regardless of whether you believe it, the truth is that I simply cannot pay you before next Friday," the man said.

"What if I told you I had a friend from the Soukai clan?" Inui asked. "Would that make any difference?"

That name caused the man to lose his composure for a moment, but then he chuckled.

"Even supposing you're not bluffing about knowing someone from the Soukai clan," he said. "They're based primarily in Kamihama, right? Why would they come all the way out here just to help you out?"

"You don't seem to understand the meaning of friendship," Inui said. "Friends help each other out, even if sometimes they might be at a disadvantage. But it's not like I planned to rely on my friend in the first place. I just hoped her name might make you come to your senses."

Inui pulled out the gun, which she'd hidden under her shirt since the warehouse.

"I'm not here to negotiate," Inui said. "I just want the money you owe me. No more, no less."

"N-now, now," the man said. "There's no need to resort to violence, Saiko-chan. Where did a pretty flower like yourself get something like that, anyway? Just give it to me and we'll forget this ever happened. You can pick up your paycheck next Friday as usual."

"Homu-chan, I changed my mind," Inui said. "How do I shoot this thing?"

"Like this," Homura said.

She produced her own identical gun from the shield, flicked the safety off, and fired at the floor, causing the man to jump. Inui copied her actions, also firing a shot. She was completely flabbergasted for a second by the recoil, minimal though it was, but once she recovered, she flicked the safety back on and pointed the gun at the man once more.

"Well, now that I've proven I'm not just a pretty flower, how about you open the safe?" Inui said. "Or should I shoot again?"

The man sighed, extracting a key from his pocket and placing it on the desk.

"Fine… you win," he said. "This is the key to the safe. It's hidden on the wall to my right."

"I'm glad you're a reasonable person, mister!" Inui said, beaming. "Homu-chan, please make sure he doesn't do anything, okay?"

"Right…" Homura said.

She pointed her gun at the man. Unlike Inui, she'd left the safety off. While Homura was threatening him, Inui took the key and investigated the cabinets on the indicated wall, eventually locating a hidden keyhole. The key he'd handed over opened a hidden safe of sorts which contained a large amount of money.

"Remind me, how much did you owe me?" Inui said.

The man cited an amount that would be equivalent to about two shifts working in a convenience store, and Inui frowned.

"What? I'm pretty sure it should be at least three… no, four times that?" She shrugged. "Well, I'll just take four times that amount. Think of the extra as an apology for making me shoot the gun. That was… not the most pleasant experience."

She took out a wad of ten thousand yen bills and extracted about a third of the bundle, then put the rest back and locked the safe up, placing the key back on his desk.

"Okay Homu-chan, we're done here," she said. "Let's go."

Inui gave Homura her gun, and the two of them headed outside, Homura stowing them away before passing through the shop proper. Once they were outside, Inui turned to Homura.

"So, you got another stop for obtaining weapons, Homu-chan?"

"…why should I tell you?" Homura retorted.

"Well, I have nothing better to do right now, so isn't it fine?" Inui said. "You never know, maybe I can find something useful there too."

"Ugh… you're so annoying," Homura muttered. "Anyway, I already raided all the yakuza around here two days ago."

"Hmm… then shall we go to the military base?" Inui suggested. "Though I don't know where it is…"

"It's not like I need surface-to-air missiles this early on," Homura retorted. "The only thing I can use them on is Walpurgisnacht."

"Sure, but it can't hurt to get them early, right?"

"Unlike the yakuza, I think the Self-Defence Forces would raise a huge ruckus about missing weaponry," Homura said.

"Yeah, they would, wouldn't they?" Inui mused. "But it's not like they'd be able to track you down or anything, right? And I'm sure you're not gonna just take everything like you did with the yakuza."

"Even so… I think it's a waste of time right now. I'll wait until the second or third week of April."

"Hmm… then how about we raid some yakuza in Kamihama?" Inui suggested. "Maybe we'd even run into Mei-kun."

"…who?"

"Don't tell me you don't remember her," Inui said. "She was at the meeting just before we came back, remember? The girl in blue with dumpling pigtails, Chun Meiyui. Since I've already bragged about knowing someone from the Soukai clan, I'm sure it can't hurt to make that a reality. Of course, there's no guarantee we'd run into her though…"

Homura sighed.

"Fiiine… it can't hurt to have extra guns and ammunition," she said. "I have more hand guns than I know what to do with, but I could use a bit more variety in heavier weaponry. I'll go. However, if you fall behind, I won't wait for you."

"As long as you don't run away on purpose with time stop, that's fine with me," Inui said. "Oh, and I'll take the oni mask back now."

So Homura handed over the mask and stalked off towards the nearest station. They caught a train to Kamihama, and Inui did her best to keep a conversation going.

"So, do you actually know where to go?" Inui asked.

"Yes," Homura said. "I did a little investigation last time, in case I needed more weapons. Actually… the Soukai clan you mentioned is one of the candidates."

"They have illegal weapons?" Inui asked.

"Not that many in proportion to their membership, but yes…"

"But they seem to be mostly good people," Inui said. "We shouldn't bother them, I think."

"Whatever," Homura said. "There are other places to try first, anyway, and they should have better yield."

An awkward silence fell for a bit, after which Inui attempted to make small talk with little success. Finally, they disembarked at a station in Minaminagi Ward. Homura pulled out her phone and checked the map app for a minute before heading confidently in a direction, and Inui plodded on after her, looking around curiously.

"So um, what sort of people are we visiting?" Inui asked.

"They're a group strong enough to compete with the Soukai clan here in Kamihama," Homura said. "There are rumours that they've even infiltrated the police force. Given that, they'll almost certainly have a stock of illegal firearms."

"Huh… but weren't those the guys who got exposed around the beginning of April?" Inui said.

"Huh? Ohh… I think those were different people," Homura said. "Wasn't that something about the Ministry of Defence? Not that I paid it much attention…"

"Oh right, yeah," Inui said. "Someone in the Ministry committed a crime and the police were covering it up… but that's the national police, so I guess it really is different people. That's too bad…"

After several minutes, the two of them arrived at a very dreary-looking office building. Homura gazed up at it for a moment.

"So this is the place?" Inui said.

"Yes… it's more rundown than I expected…"

"Well, these types of people usually try to keep out of the public eye, don't they?"

"No, not always," Homura said. "Some of them live in very flashy places. They often have completely up-front, legitimate businesses as a cover."

"Oh, is that so…"

As Homura transformed and reached for her shield, Inui seized her hand so that she too would be pulled into the time stop. Though Homura looked visibly annoyed, she didn't say anything in protest as she led the way into the building and up the stairs. They located weapons lockers, and Homura extracted all the weapons and stored them into her dimensional storage. Then, at Inui's insistence, they entered an office that was currently unoccupied, looking like the owner had just stepped out for a moment. She rummaged through the desk and cabinets, but didn't find anything particularly interesting. Then her eyes were drawn to a box sitting on the desk. Opening it, she found it to be filled with precious gemstones, so she transferred them all to her schoolbag.

"Why on earth would you want something like that…" Homura muttered.

"You can never have too much money," Inui said. "And they're probably just gonna do bad things with it, so these guys are better off with me, don't you think? Plus, they're pretty."

"I think it's pointless, but whatever," Homura said.

"Do you come from a rich family or something?" Inui said. "Come to think of it, you haven't really spoken about your family much…"

"There's no reason to," Homura retorted. "Especially since I live alone."

"You mean, you live with Mami-chi," Inui said.

"Ah… right…"

"Anyway, I guess this is enough," Inui said. "Let's go… unless you think there are more weapons?"

"I'll do one more sweep," Homura said. "There could be some laying out in the open."

The two of them explored every unlocked room in the complex and snagged three more hand guns, then headed outside. Homura returned to roughly the same location where she'd paused to gaze up at the place, and released her time stop. The two of them then continued down the street, Homura walking at an even faster clip than usual. They crossed through two intersections before she finally came to a stop and sighed.

"I guess that's far enough?" Inui said.

"Yeah… the weapons I've stockpiled should last quite awhile now," Homura said. "With these, surely I'll be able to keep Madoka safe…"

Before Inui had a chance to respond, a different voice piped up, one that Inui recognized. It was the voice of Chun Meiyui, who had just emerged from an adjacent alleyway. She hadn't had high hopes that they would run into each other, but it seemed they had actually managed to! Although Inui hadn't been paying close attention, she thought she'd sensed a witch there just a moment ago, so Meiyui must have just defeated it.

"Weapons…? Stockpiled…? What are you talking about?" Meiyui asked.

Homura spun to glare at her, and Meiyui blinked in surprise, but quickly regained her composure.

"You know, just a little while ago, I heard a violent group had all their weapons stolen and are seriously flipping out," she said. "Could it be that you two are the culprits?"

"What's it to you?" Homura asked coldly.

"I am Chun Meiyui, a magical girl like you," Meiyui said. "When people hear my name, they often run. Do you not think it is a useful name?"

Homura frowned. "Are you threatening me?"

"Not at all," Meiyui said. "I am part of the Soukai clan, but you need not fear me. The Soukai clan is a friend to all. In recent years we have become good, upstanding members of society."

"And what has that got to do with me?" Homura asked. "All I did was grab a few guns here and there."

"I am not blaming you," Meiyui said. "Rather, I am congratulating you. You have done a truly fantastic job! That group has been troubling the Soukai clan for quite some time. If you were to ask me, I would say that they deserved it."

"So that means you're letting us off the hook, right, Mei-kun?" Inui piped up.

Meiyui blinked. "Mei…kun…?" Then she cleared her throat. "No. There is nothing to let you off the hook for. The two of you have done a good thing. That said… you use real guns? That is quite unusual, for a magical girl…"

"I don't have any offensive magic," Homura said. "Recently, I've started enchanting the guns…"

"So you used your magic to steal the guns?" Meiyui said.

"…yes," Homura said. "I can… work without being noticed."

"Useful… very impressive!" Meiyui said.

"That's…"

"I'd like to talk even more," Meiyui said. "Allow me to invite you for mapo tofu!"

Homura stared at her.

"I don't think—"

But Inui interrupted her before she could finish her rejection.

"That's a great idea! Let's go!"

"But—" Homura started to protest.

"You should take more time to meet people, Homu-chan," Inui said. "You can't protect Mado-tan all by yourself, right?"

"W-well…"

But regardless of any misgivings Homura had, she didn't seem to mind enough to put her foot down.

"Then follow me!" Meiyui said.

The two of them followed her through the streets until they arrived at a Chinese restaurant. It wasn't Banbanzai, however. Meiyui ushered them inside and settled them at a table, then headed into the back. Several minutes later, she emerged with a large bowl of mapo tofu and three smaller bowls, setting them out on the table with some spoons.

"Mapo tofu!" she said enthusiastically. "Sorry for the wait!"

"Thank you very much!" Inui said.

"Of course, the meal is on the house," Meiyui said. "Eat as much as you like!"

"I'll do just that!" Inui said. "It smells great! Thanks for the food!"

"Yes, please enjoy!" Meiyui said.

Inui scooped a quantity into her bowl and took a spoonful, then gasped for breath.

"Gyaah! It's so spicy!"

Homura did the same, though she appeared to be unperturbed by the spiciness.

"We use a super spicy sauce here," Meiyui said happily. "That's why it's so good."

"It's good, but… it's so spicy!" Inui gasped, taking another spoonful. "I can hardly speak… but… it's so tasty…"

"Yeah!" Meiyui said. "Very spicy, but delicious! That's the charm of our mapo tofu! One bite and you're addicted!"

Having finished serving herself, she took a bite and gasped.

"Ahhh… so spicy… yet, delicious…!"

"It's so good I… can't stop eating," Inui said. "Even though… it's so spicy…"

"Indeed! Me too!" Meiyui said, beaming.

"What is with you two…?" Homura muttered. "Sure, it's spicy, and… and delicious, but you don't have to make such a huge scene about it…"

After that, they ate and ate until there was nothing left, and then Inui let out a satisfied sigh.

"Thank you for the mapo tofu!" she said. "It was amazing!"

Meiyui giggled. "It's my pleasure. You were such hard workers that I wanted to treat you."

"Well, Homu-chan did most of the work, though," Inui said.

"Even so, you accompanied her," Meiyui said.

"…you're calling me… a hard worker?" Homura said.

"Yes, I am cheering you on," Meiyui said.

"Whatever," Homura muttered.

"That said, I do wish to ask why?" Meiyui said.

"Huh?" Homura said.

"From what you said earlier, you stole all those guns because you cannot fight without them, yes?" Meiyui said. "But what is so important that you must go to such lengths? Is it to collect grief seeds, or protect people from witches?"

"Well, that's really none of your business," Homura said. "But you did give me a delicious meal, so I guess I can say one thing… I must protect Madoka no matter what. That's all."

"And Madoka is…?" Meiyui said, looking at Inui.

"Ah, not me," Inui said. "Sorry, I completely forgot to introduce myself… I'm Itsumi Inui, nice to meet you! And this strong and silent girl is Akemi Homura. Anyway, um… Madoka is… well… something like an angel, you could say?"

"W-what…!?" Homura gasped. "W-well… I suppose…"

"Or rather, she's just a really kind, pure girl," Inui said. "Maybe I'll introduce you to her another time."

"I would like that," Meiyui said.

"Anyway, um… we should start heading home," Homura said.

"Oh yeah, I suppose we should," Inui said.

The two of them got up and made for the door, and Meiyui followed them.

"I will walk you to the station," she said.

They stepped out into the cool night air and made their way towards the nearest station.

"Thanks again for the mapo tofu," Inui said.

Meiyui giggled. "I should be the one thanking you," she said. "Keep up the good work."

"Huh…?" Homura said. "Oh… um… sure…"

"You became a magical girl to protect someone, right?" Meiyui said.

"W-what? W-well…"

"That means you are the same as me," Meiyui continued.

"Huh!?"

"Yes," Meiyui said. "I had people precious to me. They were in trouble, so I wished. I wished to help them. So, you and I are alike. Well, at least in our reasons for becoming magical girls."

"I… I suppose so…"

"And yet… I sense that your burden is heavier than mine," Meiyui said. "Well, it is just a hunch… but you should let that tension go once in awhile, no? When it gets too hard, please come to my place and eat some mapo tofu. The spice can blast away all your worries."

"If… if you say so," Homura muttered. "Well… if I feel like it… maybe I'll come again."

"I'll definitely come again," Inui said. "I'll bring Ashley next time. Maybe Mado-tan too."

"That's the spirit," Meiyui said. "You and all your friends will be welcome at any time."

"We seem to be at the station," Homura said.

"Well, I'll see you around, Mei-kun," Inui said.

"Goodbye, and take care," Meiyui said.

"Right…" Homura muttered.

"Oh, before we go, could I have your contact info, Mei-kun?" Inui asked, whipping out her phone.

"Certainly," Meiyui said, taking hers out as well.

They tapped them together, producing the well-known beep that indicated a successful transfer. Then Inui and Homura turned and headed into the train station.

"Whoa, you accomplished a bunch of unexpected things," I say. "You even managed to get Miss Chun to treat Miss Homura to mapo tofu… I thought there was no way that would happen now that she let her hair down."

Inui blinks at me. "Huh? So you've seen that happen before, have you? Was she alone when you saw it?"

"Something like that," I say. "I want to ask why you went so far as to steal so much money, but I have a feeling I don't need to know the answer…"

"Well, that's because I don't want to lose to you, Ashley," Inui said. "With this I can treat you sometimes, instead of the other way around!"

"Uhh… sure?" I say. "Well, whatever… I'm assuming you snuck into your house after you returned to Kamihama?"

"Right, Dad was passed out already so I didn't have to deal with him," Inui said. "And then I got here just a few minutes before you did. I haven't unpacked yet… although since I'll be moving to Kamihama later, maybe it's better not to…"

"Ah, speaking of Kamihama," I say. "I was thinking about renting a place there for the summer… and then I could let you use it for the next year."

"Eh? Why would you do that?" Inui said. "I don't think I need you to provide for me like that… especially after what I did today. I bet that could last me for a couple of years even if I don't work…"

"Well, it's just a vague plan at the moment," I say. "But I was thinking of applying to Kamihama City University. If I'm accepted, then I'd need a place to stay again next year, and it's just easier to keep a place for the whole year than find another one. But doing that while leaving the place vacant doesn't feel right, so that's why I thought you could use it…"

"I see," Inui said. "Well, if that's your reasoning, I don't mind. Let me know when you've decided."

"I'm not going to finalize anything until after we're through with Walpurgisnacht," I say. "So it could be awhile."

"That's fine," Inui said. "There's plenty of time till the summer holidays, after all."

"Yes, you're right," I say. "That said, with the way things are going, the summer holidays seem incredibly distant… even Golden Week will never arrive at this rate…"

"I'm sure this time will be the time we make it work," Inui said. "I can feel it!"

"Yeah… I hope you're right," I say. "But I can't help remembering Tamura-chan's vision from just before we came back… that's almost the worst possible ending, failing Miss Homura's requirements and probably also destroying the automatic purification system entirely…"

"Still, we know that it could happen, so we should be able to avoid it, right?" Inui said.

"Hopefully," I say. "I'm just not quite sure what sorts of changes would trigger that outcome… I guess I do have one thought on the matter, so hopefully it'll be enough. There's also the chance that Tamura-chan's vision never comes to fruition. After all, the vision of Ulala attacking and killing me never happened, at least not in a timeline that I remember."

"I'm sure we'll be fine," Inui says. "I believe in you, Ashley."

"Thank you…"

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.

Kimiko Anzu
君弧杏珠

Age: 15
Eye Colour: Grey
Hair Colour: Black
Origins: Kazamino, Shinriku Prefecture, Japan
Symbol: Green hexagon with vertical vesica piscis hollow
Soul Gem: Green circular gemstone on her right hip
Element: Water
Weapon: Whip
Powers: Enhanced smell and taste, sound manipulation
Wish: "I want Dad to get a steady job."

Speed: 7
Magical Stamina: 4
Offensive Power: 5
Defensive Power: 4
Initial Power Usability: 3
Learned Powers: 0 (unknown)

According to the summary I found of Ash Grey Revolution, the monolith Asahi discovered referenced the Heike, rather than the Tokime. Perhaps the writers of Magia Record intended to paint the Tokime as secret survivors of the Taira clan. However, I ended up linking them to the Minamoto clan instead, and also saying they descend from a commoner. Therefore, I altered Asahi's monolith to reference the Tokime instead.

Due to certain details I added in the last several chapters, I've revised Kuroe's magical girl status, adjusting her age to the recently-revealed canon age (same age as Iroha and Mami) and giving her quite a bit more experience as a magical girl (about 3 times as much; previously I'd established she contracted in February or so, but now it's shifted back to the preceding summer). In addition to her profile in chapter 23, this necessitated a small change to her dialogue in chapter 66, where she had indicated how long she'd been a magical girl. I changed it from "a couple months" to "several months".

From here on, I'll be presenting excerpts from the works of Satomi Tasuke, Satori Kagome, and perhaps a few others at the top of each chapter. The only exception is if a new rumour shows up that wasn't featured in timeline 7, such as the Cemetary Banquet Feast or the Little Old Cocoa Shop, that will substitute for the excerpt. I'll keep this up as long as I can think of excerpts to present.

I'm now completely out of buffer for future chapters. Although I have the next chapter vaguely sketched out and a rough plan for timeline 8, I haven't actually started writing anything beyond chapter 88. Therefore, there will be an unknown period of time before I post again. That said, I do have a couple of other things that I may choose to polish up and post. Since they are only very tangentially related to this plot and don't feature Ashley, the Holy Quintet, or the Crescent Moon Quintet, I would create a separate story here on FanFiction to house them if I choose to post them. I'm not sure if I'll post them now; I may wait until much later, since they could also contain some spoilers (mostly minor) to the plot of this fic. It all depends on what I feel like doing more over the next few weeks.

It's already crazy long at 88 chapters, and each of the chapters themselves is quite long, but we're not even half-way through it yet. We're only about halfway through act 2, and the rough outline I've sketched out contains 5 acts. So, there's still a long way to go. Still, I have hope I'll make it to the finish line eventually, even if I have to take some breaks here and there.