It is my firm belief that a clue to her disappearance can be found hidden in her videos, and I believe this video to be the most likely candidate amongst her covers. There's no need to ask why – those in the know will instantly recognize the reason. But even then, even after watching every single one of her streams, I sense some crucial details are still hidden – why, and when?

There are over 7 years between the date of this video and her disappearance, which is an incredible amount of time if you stop to think about it… and it's *twice* as long if measuring to the channel's launch. At that point, there's little reason to drop off the map, right?

If anyone knows anything, please email me.

~Youtube comment on AmaLee's English cover of Kalafina's "Magia"~
~MagicSquirrelDetective~

On Monday after school, I watch once again as Iroha tracks down the Friendship Ending Staircase and defeats it with the help of Yachiyo and Momoko. While I'm not confident enough to say the sequence of events is identical to the previous timeline, I don't spot any significant differences. Even the incidental presence of Yukika at the game centre is the same.

Then on Tuesday after school, I get the expected call from Homura just as I'm arriving back at the Hayashi house.

"She went and did it again!" Homura complains. "You didn't go and encourage her behind my back, did you!?

"I've barely even spoken to Madoka since that last meeting," I say. "I certainly haven't said anything about wishes."

"Ugh," Homura says.

"Knowing you, you probably already knew she was making a wish around now and tried to stop her, right? How'd that go?"

"Why are you asking a dumb question?" Homura retorts.

At that point, Madoka's voice comes through, giggling a bit.

"I sorta had a feeling she'd try to stop me, so I made sure no-one was around first," Madoka explains. "I'm sorry, Homura-chan… but this really is what I want."

"Alright, then let's go," I say.

"Huh?" Madoka says. "Go where?"

"Your power as a magical girl is unprecedented," I say. "So I'd like to take you to someone who knows a lot about magical girls… something like a magical girl doctor, I suppose you could say."

"Um… how long will it take?" Madoka asks.

"I expect it to take all evening," I reply. "You might get home kinda late, so you should let your parents know you'll be missing dinner."

"Can't it wait until the weekend?" Madoka asks.

"I don't want to put it off any longer than we have to," I say. "Right now, if you fought a witch, I'd be worried that you'd accidentally use too much magic and turn into one yourself, and that's the one outcome we can't have, as your witch would quickly swallow up the entire planet. This visit should make that outcome at least a little less likely."

"She's right," Homura says reluctantly. "Now that you've become a magical girl, we have to do everything we can to make sure you don't turn into a witch, even if you have to stay overnight or miss school… it would be worth it."

Madoka sighs. "Alright, I'll go," she says. "Where will we be going?"

"First stop is Asunaro," I say. "Then we'll teleport over to Tokyo."

"Teleport!?" Madoka gasps. "You can do that!?"

"The first person we're going to meet can, yes," I say. "I'll also be inviting a couple of extra people along, just a heads-up. Inui, Kimiko Anzu, and I guess Masuyo Mari and Naomi Noriko."

"Alright, see you soon," Madoka says.

I hang up the call and send the same emails as last time, to Naomi Noriko, to Yuuri, and to Inui. I don't send an email to Hijiri, since the evil nut experiment never happened… though I guess I should still mention it to her at some point…

With all my emails sent, I let Mrs Hayashi know I'll be home late and miss dinner, then grab the two soul gems from my room and head to the station. Inui, Madoka, and Homura are already waiting.

"Alright, we should be expecting a couple more people," I say.

I check my phone to confirm. Just as I thought, Noriko has said she's coming. There's also a confirmation message from Inui, and even one from Anzu from a couple days ago.

"I don't like having all the extra people around," Homura mutters.

"So basically, you're going to introduce me to some more magical girls?" Madoka says.

"Yes," I say. "One of them is someone you've already met as a witch – the one who lured Miss Shizuki in."

"Oh… that makes me feel a little nervous," Madoka says. "Um… is she also a student at Mitakihara Middle School?"

"No, I think she's eighteen or nineteen," I say. "So, she already graduated from high school. I don't think she's attending college either."

"Ohh, an adult magical girl," Madoka says. "That's cool!"

"Then there's the girl I saved just before that meeting," I say. "The girl who turns into Cecil. She's from Kazamino. And you'll meet more magical girls in Asunaro as well."

Madoka nods. "Okay, I'm looking forward to it."

"I wish we could just stay focused on the task at hand," Homura mutters.

"But isn't it exciting to meet magical girls from another city?" Madoka asks.

"Not really," Homura says.

"Come on, Homura-chan, you must be a little bit excited, at least?" Madoka says.

"No… not really," Homura repeats.

She glances towards the north.

"She's coming… again…"

Barely a minute later, I catch sight of the blur of Mari's passage, hopping from one rooftop to another and ending up in an alleyway just across the street. I hurry across the street and enter the alleyway to find Noriko riding piggyback on a samurai again. They spin to face me, and the samurai waves.

"Heya," she says. "So you're Ashley Taylor, right?"

Noriko climbs off the other girl's back, and they both power down. Of course, it's Masuyo Mari, with two magical girl rings now.

"So I guess that was Laplace's Demon," I say.

Mari blinks at me.

"W-whoa, you really do know me!? But I'm sure we've never met…"

"No, I only heard about you," I reply.

"Mari-chan, Nano-chan, hello!" Inui calls, catching up to me.

Madoka and Homura also follow us into the alleyway.

Mari blinks. "And there's another one… two… three…"

"So there are two of Mari-chan now, right?" Inui says.

"For now," Mari says. "Thanks to Miss Ashley here."

"Um… what did you do to split her in two, Ashley-chan?" Madoka asks nervously.

"That's not it," I say. "They're actually twins, but one of them turned into a witch. A few days ago, I had Elise-chan restore her… but her body's long gone, so they're sharing. It seems to be something that's possible only for identical twins."

"Ohh, I see," Madoka says. "Um, so… my name is Kaname Madoka… it's nice to meet you!"

"Oh, I'm Masuyo Mari. This is Naomi Noriko."

Noriko nods in confirmation, and Madoka tilts her head.

"Ashley-chan said you're actually twins?" she says. "So one of you is Mari-chan and the other is…?"

"Ah," Mari says. "Um, you can just think of us as Mari-chan and Mari-kun, I guess…"

"Okay…?"

"Alright, let's get back," I say. "We're still waiting for one more…"

But it turns out I'm wrong. When we step out of the alleyway, we find that Kimiko Anzu has shown up while we were talking with Mari. She waves to me and glances nervously at the others. Once we're on the train, I do introductions.

"Alright… the big red-haired girl is Naomi Noriko, and the girl with purple hair is Masuyo Mari. The two of them are veterans from North Mitakihara. And this girl here is Kimiko Anzu, from Kazamino. I think you could call her an acquaintance of Miss Sakura."

"Ah, um, I'm not sure I'd go that far," Anzu protests. "It's not like we ever talk to one another or anything…"

"The blue-haired girl is Itsumi Inui, the pink-haired girl is Kaname Madoka, and the silent one is Akemi Homura," I continue. "And I guess you all know me already… I'm Ashley Taylor."

"Um, what do you mean by veterans?" Madoka asks.

"They've been around at least as long as Miss Tomoe," I say.

"Ohh, Miss Tomoe's still around?" Mari gasps. "Amazing… I figured she would've gone the same way I did by now…"

"Oh, right, there are two of Mari, by the way," I say. "See, there are two rings? It's a long story."

Anzu blinks. "W-what… does that mean…?"

"It means there are two people sharing one body," I say.

"So, this person we're going to see," Madoka says. "What's she like?"

"Well… she's a scientist, I guess," I say. "With a focus on studying magic. Oh, and she's an alchemist."

Madoka tilts her head. "Huh? Isn't science like… the opposite of magic?"

"Well… you can ask her about that when you meet her," I say.

«She's also pretty famous,» Noriko adds. «You haven't heard of her?»

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Madoka asks.

"Ah, sorry, Miss Naomi," I say. "I hadn't gotten around to telling them her name yet. We're going to see Pernelle Flamel. Have you heard of her?"

Madoka shakes her head. "No… I haven't heard of her," she says. "Although I think I heard Sayaka-chan mention the name Flamel once or twice… but it was a man…"

«Nicholas Flamel?» Noriko asks.

"Yeah! That's right!" Madoka nods.

"They're a married couple," I say. "I met Nicholas back in Paris, too. It's only Pernelle who came to Japan, though."

Madoka blinks. "Huh? Wait… that's not just a made-up videogame character?"

I shake my head. "Nope. I'm sure a lot of videogames, movies, anime, novels, manga, and so forth use Nick or his wife as a character, but they are very real people. You can find the basics on Wikipedia. Though officially, they're dead."

"Huh… Sayaka-chan's gonna be shocked when I tell her," Madoka says.

"I can imagine…"

When we reach Asunaro, we head to Pernelle's place, and I knock on the door. It's answered by an unexpected face, the Souju twins. They glare at us.

"The hell d'you want?"

I try to guess which of the twins is speaking. If I recall correctly, Ayase is usually cheerful and acts innocent, which means…

"Is that any way to greet your guests, Miss Luca?" I retort.

She tilts her head. "How do you know my name?" she asks.

I suppose that means I guessed right? Or she's just playing dumb.

"I heard from Kanna-chi, obviously."

"Is that so," she says. "Whatever."

She turns and stalks inside, stepping into Pernelle's labyrinth. Anzu gasps.

"W-whoa, is there a witch in this house!? It doesn't feel like a witch though…"

"It's not," I say. "Pernelle can make a labyrinth, similar to what a witch does. Let's go inside."

We follow the Souju twins into the labyrinth. It seems that they're actually the only ones there right now – even Pernelle is nowhere in sight.

"You're not to bug us," Luca says. "As long as you leave us alone, I won't set Ayase on you."

"Sure, whatever," I say. "But before that, where's Pernelle?"

"Beats me what that old hag is up to," Luca shrugs. "Well, I think she just stepped out for a minute, so I guess she should be back soon."

"Guess we can just sit on a couch and wait," I say.

Inui and I do just that. Madoka claims the armchair that Hilda occupied the last time I was here. Anzu and Homura both seem to prefer standing. Noriko hesitates for almost a minute before finally sitting down on a couch, after which Mari joins her. It's around then that Hijiri steps in.

"Hello!" she says. "I heard you'd be coming, so I thought I'd fetch the girl you left here before."

"Wait, how'd you know which one she was?" I ask.

Hijiri extracts the body of the girl who resembles Yuzuki Hotori from her bell jar and lays her out on the one remaining free couch, then pulls out the girl's school uniform from somewhere and dresses her. She answers my question while doing this.

"It was obvious – there was only one new girl," Hijiri says. "That said, I do have a bit of a bone to pick with you, Ashley-chan!"

"Huh?"

"I was not expecting a visit from Nico so suddenly," Hijiri says. "I wish you'd warned me ahead of time!"

"Ah… sorry about that," I say. "I was careless…"

"Alright, so you do have this girl's soul gem, right?" Hijiri asks.

"Yeah, I do," I say.

"Um, so… what about onee-san?" Anzu says.

"You said you have a lock of her hair, right?" I say.

"Y-yeah," Anzu says.

"That's perfect," Hijiri says. "We can do the same thing for her that we're doing for Miss Souju. However, I'll need to take a sample of that hair. Is that alright?"

"Are you gonna be the one doing it?" I ask.

"Well, Pernelle certainly won't, unless you have something interesting to offer her in return," Hijiri says.

"U-um… I have… nothing at all," Anzu murmurs. "S-sorry…"

"About how long will it take?" I ask.

"A few weeks, I guess," Hijiri says.

She then adds a telepathic addendum. «Probably just in time for Walpurgisnacht, assuming the same timing as last time.»

«I'm expecting it a day or two earlier this time, though,» I say.

«Well… hmm, yeah, I think that should still work out,» Hijiri says.

"U-um… I'll give you my email!" Anzu says. "S-so… if anything goes wrong…!"

Hijiri nods. "Sure."

She takes out and unlocks her phone and passes it to Anzu to input her email.

"I'll need to hold onto her soul gem too, so I'll email you once she gains consciousness."

"O-okay," Anzu says.

Hijiri takes a locket from Anzu, then stops by to collect the soul gem from me before disappearing into the next room.

"I guess we might as well give the other girl her soul gem back now, too," I say.

I stand up and walk over to her, taking her soul gem and tucking it between her hands, then return to my seat. While we're waiting for her to wake up, Pernelle finally returns. Yuuri and Airi are with her, carrying bags of Chinese takeout, which they immediately set out on a table.

"There's plenty of food here for everyone!" Yuuri announces.

Anzu is the first to take her up on the offer, but Noriko and Inui are close behind her. Meanwhile, Pernelle turns to face me.

"What has brought you to my abode on this occasion?" she asks.

"This time I'm here on Madoka's behalf," I say, gesturing towards her. "I have two requests. Firstly, I'd like to ask you to craft her a weapon that can help her keep her magic under control."

Madoka blinks. "Eh? But I already have a bow…"

Pernelle peers at Madoka.

"Her power outstrips even Tart… Jeanne d'Arc," she says. "I shudder to contemplate what manner of catastrophe could result if—"

"I won't turn into a witch!" Madoka says firmly.

"Well, ye sound quite confident," Pernelle says. "Can ye support that claim?"

Madoka blinks. "Ah, well, um… according to Ashley-chan, it's safe in Kamihama…"

"Magical girls don't turn into witches in Kamihama," I explain. "I saw it myself just a couple of days ago.

"Magical girls do not become witches?" Pernelle says. "How can that be?"

"I don't really understand the details," I say. "But just for the record, if you want to go there to study it, I'd like to ask you to be discreet about it so as to avoid messing up my predictions too much."

"I see," Pernelle says. "Even so… abide ye in Kamihama, Miss Madoka?"

"No… I don't," she says.

"Then a weapon that enhances your magical efficiency would certainly be useful. Tell me, Miss Madoka… what did you wish for?"

"Um… it's a little embarrassing," Madoka says.

"I will tell no-one," Pernelle says. "Shall I ask the others to vacate the room?"

"N-no… it's fine," Madoka says. "Um… I wished for the power to bring hope to magical girls everywhere."

Pernelle blinks.

"Interesting," she says. "That is incredibly similar to Tart's wish, to bring light to all of France. May I see your magical girl form?"

"S-sure!" Madoka says.

She stands up and transforms. Like last time, her costume is much closer to her goddess form than the costume she had in all prior timelines where she contracted. I think it's identical to last time, at least – there's nothing to suggest that she's any closer to full goddess form than she was in the previous timeline.

"W-wings!?" Anzu gasps. "C-can you actually fly?"

"Oh, um… yes, I can," Madoka says.

Pernelle nods. "Ye must have more powers than mere flight," she says. "Can ye apprise me of them?"

Madoka nods. "Yes… I can fly, I can heal almost anything… cure almost any ailment… disease, poison, you name it. I can manipulate light into weapons – the arrows I fire from my bow are made of light. I can summon force barriers to block attacks or contain things. And then there's my aura. While I'm transformed, all magical girls within a one hundred metre radius accumulate grief half as quickly as normal."

"Oh, that is quite impressive… like the exact opposite of Corbeau's power," Pernelle says.

"What about the feathers?" I ask.

"The feathers…?" Madoka says. "Oh… that one I don't really understand, so I was just going to leave it out… I'm not sure if I can even explain it well…"

"I request that ye make the attempt," Pernelle says.

"Fine," Madoka says with a sigh. "So um… it's like an add-on to my aura. As magical girls under the effect of the aura use their magic, I slowly accumulate… something… which I can then release all at once. But I'm not quite sure what it even does…"

"I think it gives a boost to the magic of anyone within range," I say. "Though I'm not quite sure that's an accurate description… but it's something like that."

"Maybe," Madoka says. "Like I said, I don't really understand it…"

"As stated, it appears to fly in the face of common sense," Pernelle muses. "To accumulate this unknown quantity by sending magic to your allies, then expend it by again sending magic to your allies… that is how it sounds, yet it is a clear contradiction."

"I don't think the aura sends magic to my allies, technically," Madoka says. "I don't think it'll make my soul gem cloud any faster…"

"No matter, even discounting the power ye understand not, still ye possess quite a lengthy list of starting powers there, which is somewhat unusual," Pernelle says. "Many magical girls start with but a single starting power, and often not a very useful one for combat."

Come to think of it, given that Pernelle mentioned the same thing last time, perhaps it's strange that I didn't make a connection with the fact that I, too, possess several starting powers. I started out with telekinesis, clairvoyance, and charm. Since then I've also added on flight and some sort of particle beam… though Madoka still has more starting powers than me, so I still don't see how my karmic destiny could be higher than hers.

Pernelle strokes her chin for a moment, then nods.

"Very well, Miss Madoka," she says. "Ye remind me of Tart… of Jeanne d'Arc, so… I shall craft you a bow to improve your magical efficiency."

"But I already have a bow," Madoka says.

"Use mine instead until ye become accustomed to controlling your power," Pernelle says. "That said… may I see yours? I shall endeavour to effect something to make mine unique, so ye have reason to use both as the situation calls for."

Madoka nods and summons her rose bow, handing it over. Pernelle accepts it and examines it closely.

"May I scan it?" Pernelle asks.

"S-sure…"

Pernelle takes the bow to the back of the room, where she draws some sort of apparatus right out from the wall and shoves the bow inside. After a minute or so, she nods and turns around to return it.

"Thank you," she says. "I have settled on a concept for your weapon. It will be ready two weeks from now. If ye give me your address, I shall personally deliver it to you."

Madoka nods. "Okay, sure, but… I live with my Mom and Dad and a little brother, so I don't know if it's a good idea to just show up with a bow… especially if it's a fancy-looking one…"

"Worry not," Pernelle says. "I will not carry it openly."

"Okay…"

Madoka powers down and takes out her phone, opening the notes app and typing out her address. She shows it to Pernelle, who nods and copies it down onto a scrap of paper. Once that's done, Madoka puts her phone away.

"By the way, I was wondering something," Madoka says. "Ashley-chan said you're a scientist who studies magic, but aren't those incompatible?"

Pernelle shakes her head. "Of course not. Science is but a method of thinking about the world. It means I will believe anything I see and add it to a cumulative model of the world. If I happen to see magic? Well… into the model it goes."

"But… science has to have rules, right?" Madoka says. "What if magic turns out not to have rules?"

"Everything has rules," Pernelle says. "Mayhaps the rules of magic will prove to be very strange and unintuitive. In fact, I would suggest it is even probable. But… considering a worst-case scenario… even if there were, for example, a rule that magic abhors rules, we would still think of a way to codify that into a repeatable rule… although I am happy to say that there does not appear to be such a rule, from what I have seen of magic. And besides that, there are rules that are very strange and unintuitive even in the study of fundamental physics. Even now, I doubt ye can find someone who truly understands quantum mechanics at an intuitive level."

«Clarke's third law,» Noriko pipes up. «Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.»

"That is indeed one method of approaching the matter," Pernelle says. "But ultimately the point is that magic and science are not opposites. They are complementary. Magic is not a concept that even possesses an opposite… while I suppose the opposite of science would be faith, in the sense of religious faith… although faith is not necessarily religious in nature. For example, I require no evidence to believe in God – I simply acknowledge His existence as fact and continue from there."

"I see… I never thought of it that way," Madoka says. "So… you're a scientist who believes in a god? That seems weird…"

"It is actually quite common," Pernelle says. "Anyway… Miss Ashley, I believe ye mentioned that ye had an additional request?"

"Before we get to that," I say. "Naomi Noriko was very interested in meeting you. She also has quite the interesting power. Miss Naomi, would you like to try scanning Madoka?"

"S-sure!" Noriko gasps.

She shoots to her feet and transforms, turning to look at Madoka.

«Kaname Madoka. Speed, seven and a half stars. Stamina, one star. Offense, nine and a half stars. Defense, thirteen stars. Learned powers, zero stars. Health, ten out of ten hearts. Magia, one-half out of two clovers. Element, light. Accelerant, four stars. Blast power, four stars. Charge potential, three stars.»

«Her offense and defense went up by half a star each compared to last time,» Inui notes. «Pretty sure everything else is the same though.»

"Miss Naomi, is that the first time you've seen someone where accelerant, blast, and charge don't add up to eight?" I ask.

Noriko blinks. «Now that you mention it… I think you might be right,» she says. «Although I never really noticed that… but I've also never seen more than five stars on any stat…»

"By the way, Madoka, how's your soul gem?" I ask.

Of course, like Noriko's reading indicated, it's about twenty-five percent corrupted. Madoka gasps as she notices this.

"W-what!? I haven't even used any magic and it's already like this!?"

"I believe merely maintaining your magical form contributed most of it," Pernelle says. "And maintaining your body also contributed a little. The wings in particular may be magically expensive – ye would do well to suppress them when they are not required."

"I didn't quite get why Ashley-chan was so worried and wanted to do this right now," Madoka says. "But after seeing this… I think I understand. If it can get like this just from existing…"

"I shall grant you a grief seed for free this time," Pernelle says. "Just a moment."

She heads into the next room, returning a minute later with not one but two grief seeds.

"There you go," Pernelle says. "One for now and one for later."

"W-whoa, that's so generous of you!" Madoka gasps.

"No, it truly is not," Pernelle says. "If I were feeling generous, I would have given you at least ten."

"Y-you have that many!?" Madoka gasps.

"I have lost count of how many I have," Pernelle says.

"Anyway, to get back on topic," I say. "Before I move onto my second request, I have a couple of questions. First of all, have you ever heard of a magical girl called Discordia?"

Pernelle raises eyebrows at that.

"I believe I told you last time that I had never heard that name applied to a magical girl," she says.

"Huh? I don't remember that," I say.

"Ah, could it be that you are not aware?" Pernelle says.

"Aware of what?"

"Discordia is the Roman goddess of strife and discord," Pernelle says. "Her Greek counterpart is called Eris. So it is normal to assume that Eris and Discordia are one and the same."

"Ah," I say. "I really didn't know that. While we're on the topic, I don't suppose the name Wilussa sounds at all familiar to you…?"

"Wilussa… it sounds close to the original Hittite name for the city of Troy," Pernelle says.

"Then this magical girl really must be someone associated with the Trojan War…?" I say. "If she named the place she now lives after Troy…"

"It would be a logical assumption," Pernelle agrees.

"My other question…"

I look around at the people present and decide I don't want them hearing this.

"Actually, could we discuss it by telepathy? I'll include Inui, but I'd rather the others didn't hear this. It's a bit… personal."

Pernelle nods. "Proceed."

«I've run into two cases now where people had what I consider suspicious reactions to things I've said,» I explain. «It made me wonder, is there a chance that I'm subconsciously using my charm magic?»

«I will require further information about the events and your magic to deduce a hypothesis,» Pernelle replies.

«My charm magic normally activates as part of my ultimate attack, a sort of beam weapon,» I explain. «It seems to last only a few seconds, though… as for what I witnessed, it was sort of like people trusting my words more than I thought they should. The second time it happened, Inui thought she sensed magic activating. The first time, it seemed to remain in effect over weeks, though I'm not sure if that means anything…»

«Use it on me.»

«Huh?»

«Your charm magic. Use it on me.»

«O-okay…»

As I summon Teddy Mk II and start to charge the attack, Pernelle pulls some sort of equipment out from the wall and sits on it. After charging for about a minute, I unleash it without shouting the attack, and several small lights on Pernelle's equipment flicker while she examine some sort of readout. Finally she looks up at me.

«This charm magic of yours is but a low-level confusion effect that makes the target mistake you for an ally,» she says. «It certainly lacks the efficacy to increase the weight of your words. However… it is sufficiently similar to your description for me to envision it readily evolving into a more potent magic.»

«So you're saying there's a real possibility that my charm magic has evolved into something more potent?» I ask.

«There is a possibility. However… for a consciously-activated magic to evolve into one activated subconsciously is extremely peculiar. Without seeing the second magic in action, I believe I cannot draw a conclusion.»

«Alright… thanks for trying,» I say.

"A-ashley-chan, what was that about just now?" Madoka asks. "Did you just… attack her…?"

"Don't worry," I say. "She asked me to do that so she could analyze my magic."

"O-oh, I see," Madoka says. "It really surprised me though… I wish you'd warned me first."

"Sorry about that…" I say. "Now, my second request is for a trip to Tokyo to visit the Coordinator there. It's mainly for Madoka's sake, but I'd also like to get a tune-up myself."

"Oh, if that's the case, I'd like to accompany you too," Yuuri speaks up.

"Of course, me too!" Airi adds.

"U-um… what is this… Coordinator?" Anzu asks.

"Something sorta like a magical girl doctor," I say. "She can even make you stronger. It'd be particularly useful if you end up forming a duo with your sister."

"Ah… t-then… if it's okay, I'd like to come too," Anzu says.

"I do not mind taking everyone," Pernelle says. "But if ye desire the Coordinator's services, I expect you to provide your own grief seed."

Anzu blinks. "A-ah… I don't have one… s-so I guess I can't…"

"You can borrow one of mine," I say.

"Ehh… but I'm not sure I could even pay you back!" Anzu says.

"Well… even if you can't, I think I should be able to manage," I say. "But I'd definitely appreciate it if you can. I'm paying for Madoka too, after all. And Inui…?"

"I'll pay for my own," Inui says.

"Same here," Yuuri says. "We have three grief seeds between the two of us, so that still leaves one left over. It should be plenty."

"I don't think we need something like that," Mari says. "So we'll wait here… what about you, Nano-chan?"

Noriko nods. "I'll… wait…"

"Miss Souju?" Pernelle prompts.

"Ayase doesn't even know what you're talking about, and doesn't care either," the girl in question says, beaming at Pernelle. "So you do whatever you want to do, but leave Ayase out of it."

So it seems that the people going will be me, Inui, Madoka, Homura, Yuuri, Airi, and Anzu.

"Gather round, ye who are coming," Pernelle says.

We all crowd around her, and then with a flash of light, we find ourselves in an alleyway. Without a word, Pernelle leads us into a tiny courtyard, where we enter the building at the far side. It's clearly a waiting room, and there are three other magical girls waiting there. What surprises me the most is how formalized it is – whereas the one in Paris is just the back of a café, and in Kamihama they haphazardly repurposed an abandoned building, here it actually looks similar to the waiting area for a general practitioner. It's sparkling and orderly, with a stack of magazines for people to read while waiting, a kiosk with a fourth magical girl sitting behind it, posters on the walls, even a couple of potted plants…

Pernelle steps up to the kiosk, and the girl there sits up with a start. It seems she was starting to doze off.

"Ah… wait, you're really a magical girl?" she says. "We don't get many your age…"

"I am merely transportation," Pernelle says. "I bring six girls in need of your services… possibly seven."

The girl's eyes widen for a moment but she recovers almost immediately.

"Okay," she says. "You have six or seven grief seeds on you? I'll take them for you now. The wait could be over an hour though."

Pernelle steps aside, and I step up to hand over all three of my grief seeds – one for me, one for Madoka, and one for Anzu. I still have some cubes, so I'll be fine without the seeds for a few days, and I should be able to easily get more in Kamihama soon anyway. Then Yuuri steps up to offer two more grief seeds, and Inui provides the last one.

"Thank you very much," the girl says.

While Madoka and most of the others go to take a seat, I decide to chat a bit with her.

"Are you also a Coordinator?" I ask.

"Sorta," she says. "I'm like an apprentice, but Miss Charmchi won't let me do Coordinations yet. I've only been here for about three and a half months… I actually became a magical girl on Christmas Eve. My name is Toyoda Tomiko."

"I'm Ashley Taylor. It's nice to meet you."

"Ah, yeah, nice to meet you too."

"This place looks pretty elaborate," I say. "Compared to the other two I've seen, it looks really… professional, I guess? How did that come about?"

"Well, Miss Charmchi has a day job," Tomiko says. "We also have a sponsor, of sorts."

"Who's the sponsor?" I ask. "Though I doubt they'd be anyone I know…"

"Um… I believe it was a woman named Akemi," Tomiko says.

Huh? Well that's an oddly familiar name… is it just a coincidence? I don't know if that's a common name or not…

"Does she ever come by here?" I ask. "Any chance she'd stop by today?"

"Once in awhile," Tomiko says. "I wouldn't expect to see her today. The only time I actually saw her was… right, it was at New Year's. She dropped off some foreign snacks as a gift. I heard she actually works overseas and only stops by occasionally."

"I see…"

I glance at Homura, debating whether to bring this up with her, but I decide to leave it for now. Instead I ask about someone else. At this point, the first local magical girl in line is called in, presumably by the voice of the Coordinator herself. Another girl comes out and leaves at around the same time.

"Have you met Livia Medeiros before?" I ask.

Tomiko shakes her head. "No… Miss Charmchi has mentioned her though," she says. "She's the head of Puella Care and the one who's taught the most Coordinators, right?"

"So I've heard, yeah," I say. "I heard a rumour she's in Sapporo right now."

Tomiko shrugs. "Could be, I haven't heard anything myself though."

I've run out of things to talk about, so I consider joining the others on the couches, but before I move, she comes out with a question for me.

"Speaking of… that woman's a magical girl too, isn't she? There aren't a lot of adult magical girls around, are there? Other than Miss Charmchi and Miss Medeiros… ah, and also Miss Kagenui… I don't think I've heard of many…"

That name isn't at all familiar. I'm pretty sure she's not a character from the Madoka franchise… though obviously this Coordinator isn't either, so it's not like that's a surprise.

"Yeah, I think that's true," I say. "But Pernelle isn't just an adult magical girl… she's hundreds of years old. So she's even more unusual than people like Miss Medeiros…"

"Ah… now that you mention it, I think Miss Charmchi has mentioned that before too," Tomiko says. "Something about 'ancient magical girls'… I think she met one called… Mary, I believe her name was?"

"Yes… I've met her too… I've also met two other ancient magical girls, and heard of at least twice as many…"

"Wow," Tomiko says. "I'd like to hear more about them…"

"I'm not sure if we have the time… but I can tell you a little bit…"

So while we wait for our turn to come, I tell Tomiko most of what I've heard about ancient magical girls, at least the bits that aren't completely speculative on my part. For example, I don't mention that I believe Kuzunoha to still be alive. I'm only interrupted once, briefly, when the last of the magical girls ahead of us are finished and there's a minor debate on which of our party goes first. I tell Madoka to go in first, then go back to my conversation.

After Madoka, Inui goes in, followed by Yuuri, then Airi, and finally Anzu. That leaves me to go in last. When my turn finally comes, I head into the next room and see the Coordinator of Tokyo for the first time. She's slightly taller than me, with dark hair and skin, similar to Scheherazade. As with Mitama, it seems she stays transformed while on duty – she wears an outfit that seems to evoke a Roman or perhaps Greek style, with a purple toga-like garment over a white tunic or blouse. A veil or hood is fixed at her crown and hangs down to around waist level. Her soul gem, a crimson oval, is hooked onto the veil and rests on her forehead. She smiles and gestures to what looks like an actual reclining chair like you'd see at a dentist.

"Welcome," she says. "I haven't seen you here before either… seems like I'm getting a lot of new faces today. My name is Shirin Charmchi, your local Coordinator. How may I help you? Are you here for a standard tune-up, or do you have a specific request?"

"I'm Ashley Taylor," I say. "Just a normal tune-up… by the way, you gave Madoka special treatment, right? She has really poor magical stamina…"

"Yes, she asked for something like that, though of course I cannot go into the details due to doctor-patient confidence," Shirin says with a smile. "Now please take a seat and hand over your soul gem."

I do as she says, and she reclines the chair for me before taking my soul gem and starting to poke at it. As usual, the process brings out old memories…

"Know your place!"

A haughty voice wafts down at me, but I can't see the speaker. I'm on the ground on all fours, the sparse grass wet from a recent rainfall, the surrounding soil turned to mud. As a result, my knees and hands are covered in mud. Inwardly, I let out a groan. Of all the memories that the Coordination could have brought up, why did it have to be this one?

Even though I can't see the speaker, I know exactly who it is. Only one girl from my past had such a haughty tone of voice, like she owns the world – the granddaughter of some big businessman in the area, a girl named Ellonwy Morgridge. I don't know who her grandfather is or what he does, solely because my brain always refused to remember as an act of rebellion. I mean that literally – she would go on and on about how great her father is and what he does that makes him great, and I would tune the whole thing out like it never happened. So all I know is that she makes every spoiled little brat I ever read about seem like an angel in comparison.

The girl kicks me in the side, but I don't even look at her. I don't feel any pain. Is that because it's just a memory?

"Stop ignoring me!" she shouts. "I told you to call me 'princess'! And apologize for bumping into me!"

I'm pretty sure she had been the one to bump into me, though this was in elementary school, so my memories are a little fuzzy. I think I was ten… maybe nine years old? Despite the class composition changing every two years, I had the bad luck to share her class all through elementary school, after which I think she went to a different high school than me. However, she didn't start targeting me until late in second grade, and she wasn't this violent at the beginning, so nine years old seems about right.

She kicks me again.

"Hey, listen! Chelsea, Chelsea! Are you even listening to me!?"

Suddenly I look up at her, putting on what I must have thought to be my best impassive gaze, but somehow she seems to interpret it differently. She takes a step back and raises an arm as if in defense. She's wearing a frilly white jumper over a white long-sleeved blouse. With her are two other girls, both wearing a sweater and knee-length pleated skirt in pale colours.

"W-what the heck!?" she gasps. "Why are you glaring at me!? You're the one who bumped into me!"

One of the girls with her leans up and whispers in her ear. Ellonwy tilts her head and glares at me.

"Well, you'd better apologize later!" she says. "I'm an understanding girl, so I'll wait!"

At that moment, the younger me has the truly brilliant idea of shaking my head slowly from side to side. Yeah. Ellonwy gasps in shock.

"Y-you…! T-then in that case!"

She stomps forward and seizes me by the hair, smashing my face into the mud and then pressing her foot down onto my head.

"T-that'll teach you a lesson!" Ellonwy crows. "I sure showed her, didn't I!?"

"You sure did!" one of her cronies says, fawningly.

"You're so cool, Ellonwy!" another one says.

"I'm sure Chelsea will thank you later!" the first one says.

"Hm-hmm!" Ellonwy says, stomping her foot on the ground. "See that you don't do it again!"

As she turns to walk away, I lift my face out of the ground, watching Ellonwy stalk away with the other two in her wake. That's when the scene fades out and into something completely different. Now I'm in a classroom, but it's an unfamiliar classroom. I don't think I've ever seen this room before, though even though it's unfamiliar it somehow doesn't feel foreign. The students all around me are chattering. I think my age is pretty close to what it was in the previous vision, perhaps a year or two older. Now and then I speak up, attempting to insert myself into the conversation, but every time, they ignore me. The teacher enters together with a red-haired girl who I also don't recognize, making no attempt to silence the class. She seems to be talking about something with the girl, who also takes a bit of time to survey the class.

After my fifth or sixth attempt to strike up conversation, I finally give up and fall silent. A minute or two later, the teacher finally speaks up.

"Excuse me!" she says. "Can I have your attention please!"

About half the class stops talking and turns to face the front. She clears her throat.

"Attention, please!"

Almost everyone else reacts this time, except for one boy who's excitedly talking about something he saw on television the night before.

"Geoffrey Studge!" the teacher snaps.

The boy in question gasps at the sound of what must be his name and turns to face her. Now that I think of it, there's something vaguely familiar about him. Huh? Wait… he's clearly a lot younger, but isn't this the very same guy who somehow got it into his head that he and Ashley Taylor were dating?

"Ah, w-what is it, miss?"

"I'm trying to talk here, so I need you to be quiet, thank you very much," the teacher says.

"Y-yes miss!"

"Now, I'll take roll call in a moment, but before that, let me introduce the new member of your class," the teacher says. "This is Chevonne O'Keefe. She just moved in down the street, so she'll be in this class from now on. Say hello to Chevonne!"

There's a mixed bag of responses – some enthusiastic greetings, some half-hearted, and a few questions about where she came from.

"Hey, hey, I can't answer all yer questions at once!" Chevonne says.

I'm startled to find that she has quite a noticeable accent. I'm not an expert in accents or anything, but I think it's probably Scottish or maybe Irish. She doesn't have an accent now, so I guess it sort of mellowed out over time. Her protests cause the chatter to die down enough.

"So yer asking where I'm from, that right?" she says. "Well, it's a place called Paisley. Don't s'pose any of you've hearda it?"

Dead silence follows, with a few headshakes, and for some reason Chevonne bursts out laughing. Once she's recovered, she grins at the class.

"Well, course ya haven't!" she says. "S'okay, s'okay. No worries!"

"Say, are you Irish?" Geoffrey asks. "Mom says names beginning with O are Irish."

Chevonne laughs again. "Dunno, dunno! Well, I reckon my family mighta come from Ireland at some point, but who knows! Well, aside of that, let's be friends!"

"Okay, Chevonne, you can take the free seat on Ashley's left," the teacher says. "You may continue to talk quietly while I take roll call."

"Gotcha!" Chevonne says.

She walks down the aisle and plops herself into the window seat on my left, turning to grin at me.

"Ya okay?" she asks. "Ashley, was it? Ya seemed a bit down."

I blink at her.

"Ah, well, you could say that," I say.

The girl in the seat behind her leans forward to whisper in her ear, and the smile fades from Chevonne's face.

"I gotcha," she says. "I see how it is. Well then!"

I let out a small sigh. While I'm not privy to Ashley's thoughts from this time, I suppose it seemed as though Chevonne was about to go along with what appears to be a class shunning.

"So, were ya born round here?" Chevonne asks me.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I was," I say. "Um… you're okay talking with me…?"

"Why not?" Chevonne says. "As me mam says, there're some pretty fine people in Coventry, after all. So what're your parents do?"

I don't understand the reference to Coventry, but that aside, my eyes seem to light up at the question.

"She's a really popular actress! She was in…"

Chevonne lets me ramble on for a minute or two about the movies Ashley's mother had acted in around that time period, just nodding as she listens. Finally she interrupts me, cutting me off as I pause for breath.

"So how's bout yer dad?"

"Ohhh, Dad's a film director!" Ashley exclaims. "I dunno so much bout his stuff, cept that Mom acted in lotsa his films. They actually met on the set though! It's suuuch a romantic story!"

Chevonne chuckles. "That does sound pretty sick! Yer a pretty interesting gal, Ashley!"

"Eh… y-you really think so?" I ask.

"Totally!"

It's around then that the teacher finishes roll call and calls for silence, and the scene starts to fade out once again. This time I'm left suspended in… a sort of reddish darkness. It feels like I'm falling, but after what seems like an eternity I eventually land on something giving the impression of a soft carpet. There's a light coming from somewhere nearby, so I head in that direction. The target approaches faster than I possibly could've walked, and I quickly see what I'm heading towards. There appears to be a flatscreen television set up there, with a beanbag on the floor before it. Ashley is curled up on the beanbag, watching. There's something vaguely familiar about the sounds of the television, and as I step around it and view the screen, I realize it's showing the Magia Record anime – more specifically, it's the battle between Iroha and the fake Mifuyu in the Séance Shrine.

"Oh, you're here," Ashley says.

She reaches for the remote, just out of reach on the floor, and it flies into her hand. She points at the screen and hits pause.

"So, what's up?" she asks.

I'm honestly not sure what to say, so I just say the first thing that comes to mind.

"You've been awfully quiet lately," I say.

"You think so?" Ashley says. "Well, I've been pretty busy, after all. There's a lot to go through, you know?"

I glance at the screen.

"Um… you're not actually watching Magia Record, right?" I ask. "That has to just be some kind of… representation… or my own memory…"

Ashley giggles. "What're you talking about, stupid Chelsea?" she asks. "We're inside you, aren't we? Of course it's your memory. Sure, I guess it's a representation to make it easier for me to process, but it's all in here. Madoka Magica, Oriko Magica, Kazumi Magica, Suzune Magica, Magia Record, even Null Magical Girl. Well, I assume that last one's around here somewhere, haven't actually found it yet. Heck, I even took some time to watch Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. To be honest, it's sorta my kinda thing – I wish it had existed in this world too. Well… I say that, but honestly it wasn't until StrikerS that I really started to love it. ViVid's my favourite so far. She's just so cute!"

Huh? Wait, did I even watch a show called Vivid? What's she talking about now? I know what StrikerS is, for sure – the third season of the Nanoha franchise – but Vivid is…?

"Sorry, um… what on earth is Vivid?" I ask.

"Huh, so your memory's not so good after all?" Ashley says. "It's a manga spin-off of the Nanoha series. You read the entire thing from start to finish. It was a year or two after Nanoha appeared in Magia Record. You seriously don't remember? You devoured all twenty volumes within like three days. Maybe it was four days. There was even an anime adaptation, and an anime spin-off, both of which you watched."

I shake my head.

"I seriously don't remember that," I say. "Really, really. Honestly my favourite of Nanoha was season two… but it was interesting enough that I think I kept up with it hoping it might become better… I vaguely remember wishing Force hadn't been cancelled…"

Ashley shrugs. "Well, whatever. I know you've been thinking of what you'd do if Magia Clash happens in this world, though. You figured it out yet?"

I shake my head. "I've been thinking about it, you're right, but I don't want to pin anything down until there's clear evidence suggesting a reasonable chance."

"Have it your way," Ashley shrugs.

An awkward silence fills the air. I cast around, trying to think of something else to talk about.

"So um… it seems I witnessed how you met Chevonne during today's Coordination."

"Oh, is that so?" Ashley says. "She really saved me that day, to be honest. I was getting really depressed… everyone said I was too snooty and decided not to talk to me… it was really awful. But Chevonne's not that sort of person. We were like, instant besties. Then it was a couple years later that I met Janice, as she'd attended a different elementary school…"

She trails off wistfully. I have a feeling I chose a bad topic, not because it's something she doesn't want to think about, but because it's more of a distraction than a topic.

"So, you've really been holed up in here just watching anime and reading manga from my world?" I say.

"Not to mention playing Magia Record," Ashley says. "Though I actually hate it as a game. The story's awesome, and the characters are brilliant, but I think it might be the worst game I've ever played. I don't consider myself to be a gamer, so take that with a grain of salt, but I've still played a fair number of games in my lifetime, and this is the only one that hasn't been the least bit fun. Well… maybe I shouldn't be quite so harsh on it. It was a little bit fun for about the first five minutes, before the novelty of the odd combat system wore off."

"To be honest, I'm not sure if I really found it fun either," I admit. "I left the auto-battle on pretty much always, and never attempted the extra challenge quests in events. Besides the stories, what really kept bringing me back to it was the illusion that the characters cared about me. You know, how they greet you every morning and all that?"

"Huh," Ashley says. "You really found it that moving?"

"It might be different for you, since you had actual friends in school," I retort. "I didn't have any friends. I didn't talk much to anyone, but I think I was at least a little bit lonely."

"Yeah, when you put it that way, it makes a lot of sense you'd be drawn in," Ashley says. "But for me it's not really a draw, though it is interesting to listen to everyone's lines. And as for the gacha system, I can only say that I'm relieved to have infinite magia stones, because otherwise I would've flushed the phone down the toilet by now out of rage."

"You have infinite magia stones…? How…?"

"Dunno, guess it's because it's just a representation, like you said," Ashley says. "It's not just magia stones, either. All the resource items are infinite. And some things like the stats are blurred out, so I guess that means you haven't memorized every last detail. Anyway, I'm not doing it for fun, in any case. I'm doing it for research."

"Speaking of research, what about To the Stars?" I ask.

Ashley tilts her head. "What? Do you really think that's relevant?"

It seems she does know what I'm talking about and has decided it's not important enough to check out.

"It's hard to say," I say. "There's Clarisse, and also some of the things Coeurl said, like the Unification Wars, Governance… those are the only two that stuck out to me but maybe there's more."

"Hmm," Ashley says. "Well, I'll consider tackling it once I get through the rest of Magia Record. Even if there's a link based on those three things you mentioned, neither of them seem like they're worth worrying about until after the automatic purification system is solidified."

She does have a point there. Clarisse is little more than a curiosity, and everything Coeurl mentioned is related to a future that probably won't even happen.

"By the way, I was wondering… do you think I might've accidentally charmed Shiori and Hitomi? Or did you do it?"

Ashley shrugs. "Beats me. It wasn't me, though, I can tell you that much."

At that point, I sense some sort of faint tugging.

"Ah… I think the Coordination's just about over," I say. "Guess I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah," Ashley says. "Seeya."

She unpauses the anime onscreen, and I feel myself being pulled out. The screen, beanbag, and Ashley all fade away as I regain consciousness.

I wake up, and Shirin adjusts the chair back into a sitting position, passing my soul gem back to me.

"By the way, do you mind if I ask you a few questions?" I ask.

"If it's really only a few," Shirin says. "Otherwise I might have to charge you extra."

I consider what are the most important things I want to ask her. The mysterious sponsor, perhaps? Or questions about ancient magical girls? Is it worth probing about that Miss Kagenui the assistant mentioned?

"Given the turmoil inside you, I suppose that is a hard decision," Shirin notes with a smile. "So I will give you a freebie. Those mysterious beings that you remember, that you believe brought you into this world… I have heard one other person mention them, or at least they sound to be the same beings. She is not a magical girl, but she appears to have some magical powers despite that."

I blink at her in surprise, for asking about the mysterious beings hadn't even been on my list of possibilities.

"Do you know this girl's name?" I ask. "When did you meet her?"

"She never introduced herself," Shirin says. "I met her about five years ago in Spain, when I was travelling around as Miss Medeiros's apprentice. Though we had never met previous to that occasion, she appeared to recognize me somehow, and she knew my name. She seemed surprised that I was not in Japan. It was as if she knew the future somehow. If I were to hazard a guess… she may be similar to you, Miss Taylor. She mentioned the aliens when I questioned how she knew me. At the time I thought it to be just an excuse to dodge the question, but her description is so similar to your memory that I now feel she was likely being truthful."

I wonder just how much Shirin learned from poking at my soul gem? And what does she mean by similar to me? In any case, I have no idea what to make of any of this, so I decide to forge on with an actual question.

"I heard from your assistant that you have a sponsor," I say. "How did that happen? I guess she's also a magical girl, right?"

Shirin shakes her head. "Our sponsor is a former magical girl," she says. "She has not shared with me any details of how she lost her powers, but it would seem she wishes to help magical girls even now that she no longer is one. That is why she funds me. I have heard that there are other Coordinators who also receive funding from her, though not all of them do."

"Do you know anything about any ancient magical girls?" I ask.

"I am afraid I know little on that topic," Shirin says. "I did once meet Mary of Magdala. She is a mess… incredibly traumatized, and barely functional as a person. Miss Medeiros described her as a 'monster', and I believe it is true that she has transcended what it means to be a human being… and not, I might add, in a good way. However, although I have heard rumours here and there, I have not encountered any other magical girls comparable to her in age."

"If it interests you, there's one here at your place right now," I say. "Pernelle Flamel."

Shirin shrugs. "If she wishes for a tune-up, I will oblige, but beyond that I have little interest. Though that is assuming she is not the same form of monstrosity as Mary."

"Pretty sure Mary's unique," I say.

"Well then, I believe you have received more than enough information in exchange for a single grief seed," Shirin says. "But if you wish to talk further, then I will oblige you for an additional seed."

"Unfortunately, I'm all out," I say. "Although… I actually do have one more question. This one's about myself, so I thought you, who just finished a Coordination, might have a little insight. If it'll cost an extra seed though, I'll have to pass."

Shirin sighs.

"Very well," she says. "I'll see if I can give any insight, but I can't make any promises."

"Do you think there's a chance that I've been unconsciously activating my charm magic?"

Shirin looks thoughtful for a moment.

"Hmm… I did notice you have charm magic," she says. "But it didn't seem like the sort of magic that would activate unconsciously. I can't say with certainty that you don't have any magic that would activate unconsciously… but if you do, I don't think it's your charm magic."

"Hmm… alright, thanks for the info," I say. "Well, calling it info might be a little generous, but… it's helpful, nevertheless."

"Then I look forward to meeting you again."

"You too."

I head back out into the lobby, and everyone stands up to leave, except for the unfamiliar magical girl who must have come in while I was with Shirin. Once we're outside, Pernelle teleports us back to her barrier in Asunaro. There we find that the girl we saved has now awakened. Hijiri is there as well, but Souju has disappeared. Naturally, Mari and Noriko are also still there.

"Oh, you're awake," I say.

She turns to me and blinks, startled for a moment, but seems to recover quickly from her surprise and nods.

"Y-yes, you must be Ashley Taylor, right?"

"That's me," I say.

"I'm Yuzuki Miu," she says. "Nice to meet you…"

"Looks like the food's getting cold, lemme reheat it," Airi notes.

She seems to use her magic to do that. I take some of the food for myself before continuing the conversation with Miu. Those who didn't eat before leaving also follow my example. Miu has clearly already had some, to judge from the empty plate next to her.

"Yuzuki…?" I say. "That's interesting… I know of twins who have the same surname… Hotori and Rion…"

Miu blinks. "Ah… you know them?" she says. "It's a complicated situation, but they're actually my little sisters… though I haven't seen them for quite some time… are they doing well?"

"I haven't seen them recently either," I say. "But I think they're fine…"

"Have they ever mentioned me?"

I glance at Inui, who shakes her head.

"I spoke with Hoto-chin several times," she says. "She never mentioned having an older sister. Not that that means much, given the circumstances…"

Miu nods. "Y-yeah, it stands to reason they wouldn't want to think about me very often," she says. "Who would want to think of your failure of an older sister? They're probably just embarrassed to be related to me…"

«That… that wasn't what I meant,» Inui tells me.

I decide I have to ask Hotori herself about this situation. I hope Miu is just overthinking things, and if so, I can use the response to reassure her next time we talk. For now though… we should move on to the main topic.

"Kanna-chi, how much have you told her already?" I ask.

"Not much," Hijiri says. "I prompted her to recall her last memories before waking up here, and she managed to deduce the truth. That's about it."

"To think that magical girls actually turn into witches," Miu says. "It's a hard pill to swallow… but I suppose it's too late to turn back now, isn't it?"

"We don't know of any reliable way to turn a magical girl back into an ordinary human," I say. "It's definitely possible through a magical girl's wish, but I don't count that as a reliable method."

"But you do have a reliable method to turn a witch back into a magical girl?" Miu says.

"I don't think we can consider that method reliable either," I say. "It's dependent on a specific magical girl and her unique power, so as long as she doesn't turn into a witch or die, yes, we have a way… but if we were to lose her, it would no longer be possible. Well… there might be one other magical girl who also has the ability, but that doesn't really change the basic situation."

"I see," Miu says.

"When you return to Mitakihara, you may find there's a shortage of witches," I say. "If that happens you can hunt witches in Kamihama, which has a surplus right now. There shouldn't be too much worry about clashing with the local magical girls."

"I've only hunted two or three witches since becoming a magical girl, and you're saying they're already declining!?" Miu gasps.

"I'm sorry to say that they're not declining because of anything you did," I say. "Kamihama just looks unusually attractive to witches right now, so a lot of them are migrating there."

"Oh, so that's how it is," Miu says. "Well, okay, I'll keep that in mind, though I'd prefer to avoid Kamihama, for obvious reasons…"

"I imagine you're fairly unlikely to run into your sister if you go after witches in Daito or Minaminagi Wards, right?"

"Hmm… I suppose you have a point," Miu admits. "Thank you for the help, and… thank you for saving my life."

"Okay… the next thing on my list is… what was it now…"

I look around the room and spot Mari and Noriko looking curiously at me.

"Oh right, it was about Masuyo Mari," I say.

Mari blinks. "M-me!?"

Then in a slightly more girly voice she adds, "W-what about me!?"

Pernelle turns to look at Mari with a nod.

"Indeed… I noticed earlier, but like the Soujus, ye appear to be two in one," she says. "Are ye twins too?"

"Oh, um… yes, you could say that," Mari says.

"Interesting," Pernelle says. "Perhaps sharing a body is possible for any pair of identical twins… anyway, did ye want something from me?"

"Well… I didn't have anything particular in mind," Mari says. "But… could it be similar to what Miss Kimiko came here for? Though I didn't quite catch what that was…"

I nod. "Pernelle is capable of growing an extra body for you," I explain. "Basically a clone, so that the two of you can each have your own body and you don't need to share."

Mari blinks. "R-really!? Huh… well, that does sound somewhat enticing…"

"However, it comes with a price," Pernelle says. "If ye desire me to grow you a body, ye must pay the same price the Soujus did."

"Which is… what, exactly?" Mari asks.

"Allow me to study the phenomenon of two souls in one body," Pernelle says.

"You're asking us to be guinea pigs in exchange for a new body!?" Mari asks.

"It honestly doesn't sound all that bad though, onee-san," Mari says.

"I dunno," Mari says. "Can we actually trust her?"

"Well, Miss Ashley seems to trust her," Mari says.

"Hmm… well… could we think it over for awhile?" Mari asks.

Pernelle nods. "Take all the time ye need," she says. "I shall remain here for awhile – at least until the Pleiades Saints have learned their lesson. Although… if your friend is willing to offer herself as a guinea pig in your place, I am also quite interested in her scanning magic."

Noriko blinks. "Y-y-you mean m-me!?"

Pernelle nods, and Mari and Noriko exchange glances for a moment. The rapid expressions crossing both their faces makes me suspect a private telepathic conversation. Then Mari turns to face Pernelle.

"Okay," she says. "Then we'll get back to you some other time if we decide to take up the offer."

"Okay… I still have a few more things to do here," I say. "But Miss Kimiko, Miss Yuzuki, Misses Masuyo, Miss Naomi… if you want, you're welcome to return ahead of me. Although I would like to get Miss Yuzuki's contact info first."

Anzu nods. "Ah, yes, I think that would be good," she says. "Dad's likely worrying about me… um… but the locket…?"

"Oh yeah," Hijiri says, taking it out. "I have it here. I only took a small amount of the hair inside, just enough to get a viable DNA sample."

Anzu nods and takes it from her. "T-thank you very much!" she says.

Miu takes out her phone and taps it to mine, and Inui also joins in with her phone, producing two beeps to indicate a successful data transfer.

"I don't have anyone waiting for me," Miu says. "But it's Tuesday according to my phone, so I should get to bed early so I can make it to school on time. I'll see you later."

"I think we're also done here for now, yeah," Mari says. "Though I'm sure Nano-chan will want to come by to meet Pernelle again sometime… is that okay?"

Pernelle nods. "I cannot promise a warm welcome, depending on the timing, but I shall not turn her away."

"T-that… would be… n-n-nice," Noriko says.

"Alright then, see you later, Miss Taylor," Mari says.

The four of them leave the barrier, and I turn to look at Hijiri. At this point, everyone present except Pernelle is someone who came back in time with me at least once.

"I'd like to talk about a couple of experiments I did last time," I say.

"Oh?" Pernelle says. "This should be interesting. What manner of experiments did ye perform?"

"The first was an experiment to determine whether Elise-chan's power really could be used without her turning into a witch," I say. "As you can see, that one passed with flying colours. The next thing I tested was whether I could use an evil nut to force myself to unleash my doppel. This did not work out, however."

"U-um, what on earth is an evil nut?" Madoka asks. "J-just from the name, it sounds really ominous…"

"It's sort of like a fake grief seed," I say. "It can't be used to purify a soul gem, however. When used on a magical girl, it forces them to transform into a witch. Kanna-chi invented them by copying Misaki Umika's analysis magic and using it to analyze grief seeds."

"W-why would you make something like that!?" Madoka gasps.

"It's a long story," Hijiri says. "But they also bring out a witch-like being if used on a regular human – a pseudo-witch, I call it. That transformation is temporary and causes no permanent damage to the human."

"That still sounds horrible…" Madoka says.

"Don't worry about it," Hijiri says. "I was really angry back then, for no really good reason. That's all there is to it."

"Anyway, I thought perhaps they simply injected grief into the soul gem, like an inverse grief seed," I say. "If that were the case, I could have used one on myself to unleash the doppel…"

"But when she used it, she turned into a witch instead," Inui speaks up. "Elly-tan had to use her power to restore her."

"Right," I say. "So one of the things I hoped to use evil nuts for just doesn't work… I can still use them if I need to feed a familiar, though. Which leads into the second experiment. By feeding a familiar with evil nuts until it matures into a witch, and then defeating both the new witch and the original witch, I obtained two identical grief seeds. I then got Elise-chan to use her power to turn them back into soul gems, resulting in two identical soul gems. Lastly, Pernelle got Livia Medeiros to confirm that they were truly duplicates rather than merely parts of the whole. I even revived the magical girl, and with a little adjustment she quickly got used to being duplicated."

"H-how could you even think of doing such a thing!?" Madoka protests. "Feeding familiars!? People could've gotten hurt!"

"Well, I took precautions," I say. "I did it within a special barrier, so there were no people around. But yeah, you're right that it's a dangerous way to split someone in two."

"These are interesting results," Pernelle notes. "I have long wondered whether a witch who reproduces is cloning herself, or fracturing her existence. Your experiment handily answers the question… though I would yet desire to witness it myself. Experiments need to be reproducible, after all."

"Maybe I can modify the evil nuts slightly so they can be used as you hoped for," Hijiri says. "Or, maybe I can come up with something new that has that effect… directly injecting grief into the soul gem, right?"

I nod. "Yeah, that could be useful to have in a pinch… although a doppel should still be a last-resort attack to be avoided if possible. But if I ever have to face one of the monsters born out of Eve's ashes, then it could definitely be useful to have that option."

As with rumours, the monsters I'm referring to don't have a proper name of their own. They are just referred to as feelings, without qualification, which I find to be rather confusing. In the case of rumours I can be explicit and call them a 'rumour witch', but that approach doesn't fit in this case… 'feelings witch' just doesn't sound right. Well, it's not so bad in Japanese though, so I might just go with that once they enter the picture.

"I'll do a few tests," Hijiri says. "In Kamihama, of course. And I'll be really careful with unleashing my doppel. I may ask Elise to help out as well."

"There was one last related experiment that I did in this timeline related to Elise-chan's power," I say. "It turns out that if two or three grief seeds are in contact with her soul gem when she uses her power, then the grief is channelled into them and she won't turn into a witch or even unleash her doppel."

"Oh, that's actually great news," Hijiri says. "It means we don't need to depend on the automatic purification system to use her power… although the grief seed requirement is pretty high."

"Okay, the last thing on my list is… what was it… oh yes, Miss Homura!"

Homura blinks at me. "W-what!?"

"Have you thought about whether you'd like to have your shield examined?" I ask.

"Not now," Homura says quickly. "Maybe later…"

"Right… so that's all the business I had here," I say. "Shall we head home? However, I do have a detour to make on the way back."

"…same as last time?" Homura says.

"Pretty much," I say.

But at that point, Remi suddenly enters together with her little sister. She looks startled by the number of people present.

"W-whoa!" she gasps. "Did I miss a party or something?"

Then she spots Homura.

"Ah! It's you, Akemi Homura!"

Homura tenses, but Remi smiles.

"Don't worry, I won't make the same mistake twice," she says. "You're on our side now, right?"

"Not really," Homura retorts. "I'm just… temporarily collaborating."

"Close enough," Remi says.

"What brings you here tonight?" Pernelle asks.

"Ah, right," Remi says. "Moe-chan had a question… or more precisely, a request."

"Um, so… it's about Fumiko-chan," Moe says. "At first I didn't tell her the truth about witches, but I couldn't bear to keep quiet about it… and when I did tell her, she didn't take it well."

Pernelle raises eyebrows.

"I fail to see how I can help your circumstances," she says. "I am not a counsellor. What expect ye of me?"

"Ah, um," Moe says. "T-to be honest, I was hoping there was a way to make her forget what I told her…"

"Actually, I should be able to do that," Hijiri says. "Is it urgent, or can it wait until tomorrow?"

"I'm not really sure," Moe says. "I think it's probably better done sooner rather than later…"

"I wouldn't say I need you for what I'll be doing next, Kanna-chi," I say. "Just Madoka and Miss Homura should be sufficient. I want to take them to Kamihama to fight a witch, and potentially show off the automatic purification system."

"Actually, do you mind if we come along for that too?" Yuuri asks. "I'm a little interested in this automatic purification system… and we never got the chance to test it out last time."

Airi nods. "Yeah, I'd kind of like to give it a try too," she says.

I take a peek at their soul gems, which are both around sixty percent corrupted.

"Is that why your soul gems are so darkened even though you definitely have a grief seed?" I ask.

"Well, yeah," Yuuri says. "Since I already knew we'd be having this meeting today… of course, if something had changed, we had the grief seed just in case. It did worry Miss Charmchi a little when she saw it, especially since we figured we shouldn't tell her about the automatic purification system…"

"Oh, you should assume she already knows about that," I say. "After all, she just tuned four people who know about it, so there's a pretty good chance she knows too. She very likely knows about the time travel, too."

"Ah, is that how this works…?" Yuuri says. "I guess we were worried for nothing, then."

"Well anyway, I'm okay with you coming," I say. "Is it okay with you, Madoka?"

Madoka nods. "Yes, of course, the more the merrier!" she says.

"Then I'll help the Shiina sisters while you go to Kamihama," Hijiri says.

"So I guess it's decided what each of us will be doing," I say. "Alright, if everyone's finished eating, shall we get going?"

There's a round of nods, and we say goodbye to Pernelle before heading out of the barrier and exiting the house she's occupying. At that point, Hijiri and the Shiina sisters split off, while the rest of us head for the station. We catch a train south, riding it all the way down into Minaminagi Ward, Kamihama. I check up on Iroha while we're on the train. As expected, she's in the Mirror Witch's labyrinth, so things are still progressing the same on her side. That's somewhat comforting. Just like last time, I pick up the trace of a witch and track it to an unused dock. It's even the same witch – an instance of Durbar.

"Okay… are you ready, Madoka?" I ask.

"Um… I'm not," Madoka says. "But I don't think I'll ever be ready, so… let's just do this!"

She transforms and steps inside, and the rest of us follow her example. The familiars appear almost immediately, crawling out from behind the basins and lashing out with their roots.

"Madoka… try using your arrows!" I say.

"R-right!"

Much like last time, each arrow sears a familiar to death and sometimes kills neighbouring familiars as well. Madoka brings down an entire wave with just five arrows.

"U-um… that was… suspiciously easy," Madoka says.

"You think so?" I say. "Want us to deal with the next wave or two?"

"Um… sure," Madoka says.

Yuuri and Airi jump in to fend off the new wave, and Inui and I join as well. Homura just watches for now. Though Yuuri and Airi both use ranged weapons, they seem to do okay even at close quarters.

"By the way Madoka… how's your soul gem?" I ask.

"It's…" Madoka gasps. "W-whoa… almost half full…"

"Then you need to try to use less magic next time," I say.

We deal with wave after wave of familiars, and I choose not to use my clairvoyance to find the path, as we came to demonstrate the doppel effect. None of us are able to consistently one-shot the familiars the way Madoka does, though Airi manages to do so occasionally. I think I'm also pretty close to one-shotting them – most of the ones I target go down in two hits, whereas Inui and Yuuri typically take three or four hits and occasionally even more.

"Um… you seem to be having more trouble than I did," Madoka says eventually.

"Your magical potential is incredible, so I'm not surprised," I say. "We'll keep heading further in… Madoka, try to use about one arrow per wave, and do your best to not kill the familiar you hit. That's how much you should be holding back."

"Um… I'm not sure if I can," Madoka says. "But I guess I'll try…"

So we wander aimlessly through the labyrinth, killing familiars everywhere we go. While everyone else tackles the bulk of the familiars, Madoka sears the rear ranks to death with her arrows. After a few minutes, it seems like Yuuri and Airi have run out of magic.

"W-wow, these familiars are surprisingly tough!" Yuuri gasps. "I think… I'm pretty much out of magic now…"

"M-me too," Airi says.

"So… just a little more, and we'll use a doppel, right?" Yuuri says.

She steps forward as a fresh wave of familiars appears, then fires her syringe gun into the heart of the wave. That appears to be the last straw for her soul gem, and a massive pastry bag extrudes out from her body, with the nozzle at the top resembling both a needle and a crown. The words 'Arzt Kochen' hang in witch runes just below the crown for a few moments, then dissipate. As Yuuri falls face-down on the ground, her doppel moves with snake-like grace, stabbing one familiar after another and stopping their movement. Then it pulls out an array of knives and chops them up before retracting back into Yuuri's body.

Airi kneels down to help Yuuri to her feet.

"You okay, Yuuri-chan?" she asks.

"I… think so," Yuuri says. "I blanked out for a few moments… what happened? The familiars are all gone…"

"Your doppel sliced and diced them like a pro chef," Airi says.

"Ah…"

A new wave appears, and this time Airi steps forward.

"This time… it's my turn," she says.

She raises her hands into the air and brings them down, and an explosion in the middle of the horde of familiars sends about half of them flying. The use of magic is just enough to push her over the edge, and she falls to her knees with a gasp as her doppel emerges from her body. It's a massive heart that manages to resemble an anatomical heart while still being roughly in the shape of a geometric heart. Defibrillator pads are placed on each of the lobes, with leads snaking back and merging into her hair. The words 'Nie Blühen Herzen' hang in the air for a moment in witch runes, and then the heart leaps forward into the crowd of familiars and releases a blast of electricity that fries them. A second wave shows up and receives a similar treatment before the heart disintegrates and is absorbed back into Airi's body. Yuuri takes out a couple of familiars that managed to survive the second shock blast.

"Elec…tricity…?" Airi says. "That… doesn't that mean… I could produce that myself? I've never done it before…"

"Probably," I say.

"I'll try it next time," Airi says. "It seems I learned something new about my powers…"

"Anyway, let's keep going," I say.

We continue wandering a little longer, until Madoka unleashes her doppel. As before, I direct everyone to get out of range as her doppel is unleashed, using Homura's time stop. Even after unleashing their own doppels, Yuuri and Airi are startled by the power of Kriemhild Gretchen. After a brief discussion where I warn Madoka to avoid the Wings of the Magius if she sees them while hunting here, we continue trudging through the labyrinth. Inui also unleashes her doppel once. Eventually I use my clairvoyance to find the path, and we end up at the witch's chamber, where Madoka takes down the witch with just two arrows – half as many as she needed last time.

"W-whoa!" Inui gasps. "Only two shots!? Last time it took you four shots to defeat this witch…"

"I-is that bad?" Madoka asks.

"I'm not entirely sure," I say. "But… you do seem to accumulate more power every time we turn back time, so I guess it could be a little bad. That said, I get the impression that you're already starting to improve a little in your magic usage. So all things considered, I think you should be fine. Still… until Pernelle finishes your weapon, you should avoid fighting outside Kamihama except when you're really needed."

Madoka nods. "Okay… I'll keep that in mind," she says. "Thanks for everything, Ashley-chan…"

"Okay… let's go home now," I say. "I bet your mother's starting to worry by now…"

"Well… yeah, you're probably right," Madoka says. "Let's hurry!"

We return to the train station to catch a train back to Mitakihara. Once on the train, I check up on Iroha once more. I see her party moving through the Mirror Witch's labyrinth for a minute or two before exiting into the Mirror Mansion, so I guess that expedition went well again this time.

Since I'm already acquainted with Madoka's family in this timeline, I accompany her all the way to her house and briefly say hi to her parents. After that, Homura goes off on her own, and Inui and I return to the Hayashi house.

The next day is when Iroha first starts to investigate the Séance Shrine, so on the day after, I accompany Komachi when she goes to pick up Hiyori. Just like last time, the entire Holy Quintet is standing outside the school, talking. Huh? Wait, I guess I can't really call them the Holy Quintet now, because with the addition of Hitomi, there are now six of them… and if Yuma and Kyouko were counted, there'd be eight. I guess I'll start calling them… hmm… I guess Holy Brigade sounds good.

Just like last time, Hiyori is also waiting outside the gate, though she's not with the Holy Brigade. She spots us and waves.

"Ashley-chan, onee-san!" she calls. "Is something up? I wasn't expecting to see you together…"

Hiyori's call catches Madoka's attention, and she too turns to wave.

"Ashley-chan! Over here!"

The rest of the Holy Brigade turn to see me. Sayaka glares at me, Hitomi frowns a little, Homura and Nagisa stare impassively, and Mami looks surprised. Despite Sayaka's apparent hostility, I move over to join them, and the Hayashi sisters follow as well.

"Ah… Miss Ashley Taylor," Mami says. "This is a pleasant surprise."

Maybe Sayaka's hostility is a bit lower than last time, for she doesn't complain about Mami's use of the word 'pleasant' this time.

"We were just discussing the decline in the local witch population," Mami continues. "Have you noticed it as well, Miss Taylor?"

"Please, call me by my given name," I say. "It's what I'm used to… calling me by my surname makes me feel like a granny."

"Ah, my apologies, Miss Ashley," Mami says.

"But to answer your question, I haven't really noticed. I had enough grief seeds that I didn't have to fight very many witches, so I left most of them to the other girls in my area. So basically, I simply haven't fought enough witches to say if the population is declining… though others have also mentioned it to me."

"I see," Mami says. "The truth is, I haven't encountered a witch for several days now… and this isn't limited to Mitakihara, either. I've gone as far afield as Asunaro and Hohzuki in search of witches – both cities have suffered a similar decline."

I nod. "Yeah, a friend in Asunaro mentioned they ran into you," I say.

Actually, Yuuri didn't mention it this time, come to think of it. I wonder if it's just because she already knows I know about it?

"Ah, that's right," Mami says. "Your name did come up in my travels. Not only in Asunaro, but also in Hohzuki… you've certainly been around quite a lot, Miss Ashley…"

I just shrug this time. "So, did you learn anything?"

Mami nods. "Yes… from what I heard, there is one city where the witch population has not declined. It appears that the witches may be migrating to that city for some unknown reason. Kyuubey has been unable to offer any reason why witches would do such a thing though, and furthermore, apparently he cannot enter the city in question."

I nod. "I heard something similar from a friend in Asunaro who was investigating it," I say. "You're referring to Kamihama, correct?"

Mami nods. "Which is why we were discussing who would accompany me to investigate Kamihama today," she concludes.

"Honestly, I'd rather keep watch here in Mitakihara," Sayaka says. "I mean, you never know when a witch'll pop up, right? And if one does appear, we gotta make sure we get to it before Kyouko does!"

"As I was about to say before Ashley-chan showed up," Madoka says. "I'll stay with Sayaka-chan, to keep her company."

"I will stay as well," Hitomi says. "If it's the three of us, no witch will stand a chance."

"In that case… will you accompany me, Homura-chan?"

Homura shrugs. "I suppose I could… but, Madoka, are you sure you'll be okay?"

"It's alright," Madoka says. "I still have a grief seed. I'll just make sure not to use any magic unless we're really in trouble. Of course… that's only if we find a witch in the first place, though… and Nagisa-chan, will you come with us too?"

Nagisa hems and haws, apparently thinking really hard about whether to accompany Mami or Sayaka. Finally, she points at Sayaka.

"I've decided," she says. "I'm going to protect the sword sister and the piano sister today!"

"Nagisa… would it hurt for you to use my name just once?" Sayaka asks.

"I don't feel like it," Nagisa retorts. "Maybe I'll feel like it tomorrow."

"That's what you always say," Sayaka says. "Geez… you could be a little less difficult…"

Hitomi giggles. "I see where you're coming from, but I think her nicknames are kind of cute," she says.

Since Nagisa borrowed a grief seed from Inui instead of me in this timeline, the whole exchange where she returns it obviously doesn't happen. I expect she's already given Inui a grief seed by now.

"By the way, will this be the first time you've been to Kamihama, Miss Tomoe?" I ask.

"Almost," Mami says. "I was there briefly, last Friday, when I was investigating the decline of witches. I didn't stay long – I just saved a local magical girl from a strong witch, questioned her a little, and came back. It's after I returned that I heard from Kyuubey how he can't enter the city. But today I wanted to do a more thorough investigation. Would you like to accompany me too, Miss Ashley?"

Last time, I turned down this offer. Was that the right choice? It had been tempting, to be sure, but last time I was trying to be as hands-off as possible so as to verify the uninterrupted flow of events. I hadn't actually thought that I would be able to succeed on the first try… I was certainly hoping I would, but I wasn't expecting it. Ultimately, the question comes down to… is there anything I want to change about the flow of events at this point? Is this a turning point where things started to go wrong? Hmm… no, I don't think there's any reason to interfere yet. Things are still going well. The most likely place for things to start going wrong would be when Iroha visits the Memory Museum, so I'll likely start to interfere a bit more at that point, although I also intend to intervene in the Endless Solitude case.

"Sorry," I say. "I already made plans for tonight. I'd be really interested in hearing what you find, though… perhaps we could meet up at some point? Though my weekend is packed too… from tomorrow afternoon right through Sunday evening…

"Surely you are not occupied for the entire evening?" Mami says. "Although I am not sure how long the investigation will take, I expect to be back before the end of the day, so if we meet at my place… maybe around nine o'clock at the earliest?"

"That works," I say.

"Do you know where my place is?" she asks.

"Um… I might've heard it from someone, but how about you tell me, just to make sure?" I suggest.

So Mami gives directions to her apartment, and I nod. This is basically just a show, anyway, since I already know where she lives.

"In that case, I will see you tonight," Mami says.

"Good luck in your investigation," I say.

Mami and Homura head off together, and the rest of their group turn to leave as well, in a different direction. I turn to the Hayashi sisters.

"You can both go on ahead," I say. "I'm going to wait for Inui."

Hiyori nods. "Okay… I'll see you later, then."

"Yeah, later," Komachi says.

The sisters head back towards their home, and I settle down to wait, thinking over what my next moves will be. In addition to Inui, I'm expecting to encounter Yuma again as well… and sure enough, before long she steps up and tugs at my sleeve.

"Hey, onee-chan!" Yuma says. "Does your head hurt? Are you alright? Do you want Yuma to ask a grown-up for some medicine?"

I guess I must've been frowning a little or something, because unlike last time I didn't actually say anything to suggest I was in pain.

"Um, no, I'm fine, Yuma-chan," I say. "I've just got so much to think about that I'm just, well… overwhelmed."

"Oh… so it doesn't hurt?"

"No, it doesn't… but are you alone, Yuma-chan?"

"No, Yuma was with… huh?" Yuma looks around, startled. "Where…? Kyouko, where did you go!?"

Of course, there's no sign of Kyouko. Inui shows up at that exact moment. I'm pretty sure she's a bit faster than last time.

"Ashley, you came!" she says. "Oh, and Yuma-chan too! Did you get lost?"

"Huh? Does Yuma know you, onee-chan?" Yuma asks.

"Well, I'm not sure if we've met before, but I heard about you from… someone," Inui says. "I'm Itsumi Inui."

"Um… hello…" Yuma says.

"So, how about we help you find the person you're looking for?" I suggest. "She's a magical girl, right?"

"Huh? How did you know that, onee-chan?" Yuma asks.

"I recognized the name, Kyouko," I say. "And I'm a magical girl too."

"Oh…"

"Yuma-chan, would you like a piggy-back ride?" I ask.

"Yes! Yuma would like that!" Yuma says. "But where to?"

"To Sakura Kyouko," I say. "That's who you're looking for, right?"

"R-right! Yuma lost Kyouko!" the girl says.

I bend down and let her climb on my back, with a little help from Inui, and then I take off at a run, heading to the east. Inui follows me too, of course. I also take out my soul gem to better track Kyouko's position. She's just on the edge of my range, but I'm already gaining on her. She seems to be moving around at random, likely searching for Yuma.

Finally, I catch sight of her ahead, and send her a telepathic ping.

«Miss Sakura! Turn around!»

She spins to face me and stares as I run up to her.

"Ah! Yuma!" she says. "Where the hell'd you get to!? I've been looking all over for you!"

Yuma jumps down from my back and runs over to her.

"Kyouko! I got lost, but this onee-san showed me the way!"

Kyouko looks at me.

"Look, don't expect a second favour from me for this," she says. "It's not like I care that much about Yuma… she's just been following me around of late."

"Don't worry," I say. "I won't ask you for another favour…"

"Alright, Yuma… let's go get some chow," Kyouko says. "You wanna come too? Though I ain't paying for your food."

"No, not today," I say. "I've got things to do. Perhaps another time."

"Well, have it your way," Kyouko shrugs. "See you whenever."

She takes Yuma's hand, and they walk off together. Once they're out of sight, I turn to Inui.

"By the way, I'll be meeting Miss Tomoe again tonight, just like last time," I say. "Would you like to come with me this time?"

"Um… hmm… actually, why not," Inui says. "I'm still a bit… wary of her, but… I think I need to… get used to her."

"Alright… then for now, let's go back to the Hayashi house. We'll have dinner there, then head over around ten o'clock. She said nine o'clock, but she's definitely going to take longer than that. I think she didn't get back until past eleven last time…"

"Okay," Inui says.

I only check in on Iroha a couple of times, briefly, to make sure she really is on the same track. Other than that, contrary to what I said to Mami, I'm pretty much lazing around on my bed or browsing the Internet. Apparently Sayuki has yet another music video of her off-tune signature song, so of course I have to watch it. Then, since I'm on Youtube anyway, I check Amanda Lee's channel and listen to the Madoka theme song covers. But I wonder what happened to her twenty-five years ago? The only thing I'd been able to find out from googling was that she'd mysteriously disappeared and was presumed dead. There seemed to be no leads as to where she'd gone or what happened to her. It does perfectly match the profile of a magical girl who turned into a witch, though. But is that what happened, or is it something else?

I suppose I'll never know… although I notice that one of the commenters on her Magia cover also appears to suspect something. Reading between the lines, I surmise that the commenter is a magical girl and likely knows the dark truth, and suspects that Amanda may have been a magical girl too. They have a good point that seven years is a long time to survive as a magical girl. Sure, Yachiyo managed it, but that was probably due in large part to the hopes entrusted to her by first Kanae and later Mel. Mifuyu's survival over the same time period is likely at least partly attributable to her teaming up with Yachiyo.

But there's another point worked in there, which is that if a magical girl manages to survive for seven whole years, they should easily be able to survive for seven more, or longer. If she was a magical girl for anywhere between seven and fourteen years, wouldn't the chances of her turning into a witch after all that time be really low? And yet, she still disappeared for some reason. Of course, there's always the possibility that she never was a magical girl and the circumstance only coincidentally looks similar…

Anyway, although the comment has nearly a thousand upvotes, it has no replies at all, and I have no way of knowing if anyone has contacted them by email. So I can't do more than wild speculation after all.

This all reminds me that Ashley had a v-log, so I check out her channel. Her follower count is actually pretty high, which surprises me a bit. I click on the latest video, which is from early October, since she'd been sick from mid-October right up until the point I took over her body. But instead of watching the video I scroll through the comments a bit. There are quite a few people asking where she is and when her next video will be posted. I also read a number of contents stating that they found the video interesting, most of them pinpointing one or more specific aspects of it that leapt out at them. It seems Ashley not only has a pretty wide audience but also a reasonably dedicated one.

I should really stop neglecting this. If I can keep the v-log going and maybe build up the audience even more, at some point it might be a good place to start exposing the idea of magical girls to the general public. I haven't really had time lately, but surely by the time Golden Week finally manages to arrive there should be enough free time to allow Ashley to come out and make a new video to upload.

I make a note of this in my notes document, just to make sure I don't forget.

As ten o'clock draws near, Inui and I change into our pyjamas and grab a clean uniform, then transform before heading out to Mami's place. I'd already explained that I was planning to do it this way, so she decides to copy me.

We arrive at Mami's place around ten o'clock, but as before, I don't knock so as to avoid waking Nagisa. I sit down on the floor and lean against the door, and Inui somehow manages to slip in between my legs and lean back against me.

"Inui… you're a bit heavy," I protest.

"It's fine," Inui says. "I'm sure it won't be that long, right?"

"Well, I'm not really sure," I say. "Could be awhile… in fact, I've probably arrived earlier than last time. After all, I was actually watching the whole thing then, but I didn't watch it this time…"

"Ah, is that so," Inui says. "Well, whatever."

So I end up dozing off again. The next thing I know, Mami is there, nudging me and Inui aside so she can get in.

"Oh… good evening, Miss Tomoe," I say, rubbing at my eyes.

"Ah… Miss Tomoe," Inui says. "You're finally here…"

"Ah… you're awake after all," Mami says. "I never expected you to wait this long for me. My apologies. You had things to do, after all."

"No, that's okay," I say. "I'm free from tonight until the end of school tomorrow."

Glancing around, I spot Homura looming behind her, sort of staring at us. I contact her telepathically.

«Before we start… how'd it compare to last time, Miss Homura? I wasn't watching this time.»

«About the same,» Homura replies.

"Well, come in," Mami says. "I'll make you some tea, but we have to take care not to wake Nagisa-chan."

She unlocks the door, and the three of us head inside. Nagisa is fast asleep on one of the couches, just like last time. Mami sighs.

"I keep telling her to sleep in the bed," she mutters. "Just… just give me a moment…"

She disappears into one of the other rooms and returns with a blanket, which she carefully places over Nagisa. Then she heads for the kitchen to make that tea, while Homura and I take seats on the floor. Inui then plops down next to me, and Homura shoots her a look.

«Why is she here?» she asks.

«Is that even a serious question?» I ask. «Inui is my faithful friend and partner in this. Why shouldn't I bring her along? Especially now that she's come back in time too.»

«Couldn't her presence change Mami's actions?»

«You're not wrong, but I think you're overthinking things. From what I've experienced so far in these time loops, the flow of events won't usually be disrupted by small and insignificant changes… the butterfly effect doesn't seem to apply.»

It's mostly true, at least. I've been pretty surprised at how the basic flow of the plot can stay on track despite quite significant changes. Even Madoka noticed it – despite differing starting circumstances, in particular Sayaka not knowing the truth of soul gems, the flow of events after Hitomi's ultimatum almost carried her through to the same conclusion. The source of Sayaka's depression was different, but the net result was basically the same.

«Even if you say that, I have seen tiny changes that make a huge difference,» Homura replies.

She does have a point. I've also seen some quite significant differences that could be traced back to a small change. For example, one of the questions I'd been mulling over in my spare time was, why did Karin get so much more involved in events in the last timeline compared to the game? Though it's pure speculation, I think it might actually be my fault – apparently, in the last timeline, and also the timeline before that, she immediately recognized that Alina had become a magical girl based on her ring. In the game, as I recall, she never realized Alina was a magical girl until after the Magius were already defeated. But I'm the one who let her know that magical girls can be recognized by their rings, by mentioning it back when we first met. So is that why she got more involved? I can't be sure, but it certainly fits.

«I suppose it depends on the type of change,» I say. «Or maybe it seemed like a tiny change to you but was actually bigger than you imagined.»

She frowns slightly, but seems to have nothing further to say. Finally Mami returns with four cups of tea, setting them down on the table.

"Since Nagisa-chan is fast asleep, mind if we discuss matters telepathically?" she asks, keeping her voice low.

"Fine with me," I say.

«Very well, then,» Mami says. «Where should I begin… perhaps I should start at the beginning…»

«Well… whatever you think is best,» I say.

While she's giving the same basic rundown of the situation as last time, a sudden thought occurs to me. I had been assuming that the witches in Kamihama were stronger because of the Wings of the Magius and their witch breeding program, but… I wonder if that's only half of it? After all, Kamihama is also the home of the Mirror Witch, which became insanely strong in a short period of time due to Hanna's work, so she too has to share some of the responsibility for the stronger witches. On top of that, the Witch of Symbols also makes its home somewhere in Kamihama, an ancient and powerful witch nurturing resentment between the east and west. Certainly it's not as ancient and powerful as Walpurgisnacht, unless it's a passive type like the Mirror Witch, but could its mere presence also serve to empower the other witches in the area? Though I guess even if that's so, the Wings of the Magius are still the primary factor…

«Anyway, that's the reason I asked Homura-chan to accompany me today,» Mami says, concluding the introductory explanation. «The witches are so strong there that I couldn't be confident I would be able to beat one alone.»

«I'm a bit curious why you waited a whole week to check it out,» I say.

«I was a bit reluctant to go back,» Mami admits. «And I had all the grief seeds I gathered on Friday, which even sharing with the others were enough to last that long.»

«So you shared them with… Nagisa-chan, Miss Homura, Miss Miki, Miss Shizuki, and Madoka?»

«I already had grief seeds of my own,» Homura says.

«Then… the other four… so you managed to get enough grief seeds to last five people a whole week. That is quite something…»

«Yes,» Mami says. «Anyway… now, let me explain what happened today. I'm still not sure what to make of it…»

She continues with an account of her meeting with first Kanoko and then Kaede, leading into the information she eventually got out of the latter girl. This time, instead of mostly remaining silent, Homura makes a number of interjections to note the names of the people they encountered or correct her terminology.

"You aren't from Kamihama, are you?" Kaede asked.

"No, I'm not," Mami said. "I was actually looking for people who are familiar with this city… I had a few questions to ask."

"Um, I don't know all that much," Kaede said. "But I'll answer anything I can…"

"I wonder, has anything… extraordinary happened here lately?" Mami asked.

"Extraordinary? Hmm," Kaede said.

"Please, anything at all that you can tell me would be helpful," Mami said.

"Uhhh… hmmm," Kaede says. "Oh right! The rumour! About the Rule of Ending Friendships!"

"Rumour? The Rule of Ending Friendships?"

"Yes! Um, well… if you and your friends say, 'We're not friends anymore!', and then later you regret it and want to be friends again and apologize, then a scary monster is supposed to come and take you away."

"And that's the rumour?" Mami asked. "It just sounds like… a tall tale to scare children. Is it popular with the school kids?"

"Oh, um… it is but… it's not just an ordinary rumour!" Kaede said. "It… it came true!"

Mami blinked. "Huh? So you're telling me… the rumour is now real!?"

"Yes! Yes, exactly! I actually had an argument with my teammate, and we both said 'We're not friends anymore'! But, I really wanted to be friends again… so when I apologized to Rena-chan, I… got taken away to a strange place. And when Rena-chan came to rescue me, we were both brainwashed… it was… a huge mess… my other teammate and a couple of other magical girls rescued us in the end though. But I never thought a rumour could come true like that!"

"I see," Mami said. "What a shocking story… so after you had a fight, you were both attacked by a witch…? Is that what happened? Thank you for filling me in, and sorry for taking up so much of your time."

"Oh um… not at all," Kaede said. "But um… it's not… like you said…"

"Huh?" Mami said.

"It… it wasn't… it wasn't a witch," Kaede said.

Suddenly Mami gasped.

"I can feel some magic!? And it doesn't feel like a witch… is this what I felt last time…?"

"That's right!" Kaede said. "I know what this is! It's a rumour!"

"What? A rumour?"

"Yes!" Kaede said. "It's magic from a rumour – the same kind of creature that abducted Rena-chan and me!"

"Magic from a rumour?" Mami said. "What does that…"

"Yeah, I can feel it too," Kaede said. "It's definitely the same magic."

"It feels more like a magical girl than a witch," Homura mused. "Although… it seems a little different from a magical girl, too…"

"R-right!" Kaede said. "It's definitely magic, but… it's nothing like what comes from a witch, or a magical girl either! This is the magic of a creature that shows up when a rumour isn't followed! Since we don't have a better name for them… we just call them rumours. So… this is a rumour's magic!"

"So, it's called a rumour… and it's a monster?" Mami asked.

"Yes, exactly!" Kaede said. "It's not a witch or a familiar!"

"I have to go!" Mami said, jumping to her feet. "Homura-chan! Let's check it out!"

"Oh, I um…" Kaede said. "Let me… I mean… I want to pay you back for earlier, but… you see, I want to help you, I really do, it's just… if I wind up just causing you trouble like before, then I…"

"It's alright," Mami said. "It's enough for me that you feel that way. I don't want what happened to you and your team to happen to someone again! I will not allow it."

"Um…"

"Don't worry, okay?" Mami said. "I'm going to personally dispose of whatever the source of that magic is! It's very dangerous to be by yourself, so make sure you get along with your team!"

"Um… okay…"

"We have to hurry!" Mami said. "Take care!"

"Oh! You too!"

Mami and Homura ran off, tracking the strange magic together. Soon they arrived at Mizuna Shrine. There was a pink portal there, bearing the emblem of a shrine gate.

"Here it is!" Mami said. "So this… this must be a rumour's labyrinth."

"I suppose so," Homura said. "The portal… looks strange…"

The two of them transformed and stepped inside, and Mami gasped at the strange surroundings.

"It really isn't a witch or a familiar!? Even the labyrinth is so different…"

There was a roar from further in, closely followed by some indistinct yells, and Mami gasped again.

"Someone's already fighting it!" Mami said. "We have to hurry!"

They hurried forward, hopping up onto one of the many shrine gates to get a good vantage point over the battlefield. Nanami Yachiyo and Yui Tsuruno were just barely holding off the monster that looked like it was half horse and half frog, while Tamaki Iroha lay unconscious on the ground. However… even as Mami watched, Iroha's doppel came out and attacked the frog monster, trussing it up and tearing it to shreds.

"Th-that's… a witch!?" Mami gasped. "W-where did it come from?"

As soon as the rumour was destroyed, the doppel turned on the other two magical girls, trussing them up too. They shouted and protested, though Mami couldn't make out their words from this distance.

"I have to save them!" Mami said grimly. "Take this! Tiro Finale!"

A single shot took out the doppel, and it crumbled to dust as the three magical girls fell to the ground with a soft thud.

"That witch… did it come out of her body?" Mami mused. "This city… it's absolutely insane!?"

"Miss Mami… hold on…" Homura said.

"Come on, Homura-chan," Mami said. "We have to defeat the enemy before us."

Before Homura could stop her, Mami had hopped down and was striding towards the trio. Homura shrugged and followed her.

"A-anyway," Yachiyo was saying. "We should still go see the Coordinator…"

Mami stepped up and pointed one of her muskets straight at Iroha's head.

"Sorry, but I can't just let you leave," she said.

"Um… who are you?" Iroha asked.

"My name is Tomoe Mami. I'm a magical girl from Mitakihara, and this is my partner, Akemi Homura. I'm surprised you guys are so calm with a witch next to you. I find an unusual labyrinth and go in, and what do I find but an unexpected bounty!"

"You're awfully hostile for someone with such a big smile on her face," Yachiyo retorted.

"I suppose you're right," Mami said. "But my hostility is aimed only at this witch in your midst!"

"W-what!? Me!?" Iroha gasped.

"You're not a good liar," Mami said. "I never thought I would see a witch disguised as a human…"

"You have it all wrong," Yachiyo said. "Everyone here is a magical girl just like you."

"No, not her," Mami said. "I saw it with my own eyes! Her true form!"

"What!? How dare you!" Tsuruno protested. "Iroha-chan hasn't done anything wrong! You've made Yui Tsuruno, the Mightiest – and Nicest – Magical Girl, very… angry! Ugh… but I've used up a lot of my magic…"

Yachiyo sighed. "Out of the frying pan and into the fire… we don't want to waste any more magic on a fellow magical girl…"

"Homura-chan, aren't you going to back me up here?" Mami asked, glancing back.

Homura blinked uncertainly. "Well, um…"

"Miss Yachiyo, I'll fight if necessary!" Iroha said.

"No, Miss Tamaki," Yachiyo said. "No ordinary person would be so calm when faced with three magical girls. Plus she has another ally of unknown strength."

"But I'm the only one she's after… and besides, I have more magic left than you two."

"Oh my, you even say such considerate things!" Mami said. "I'll give you credit for keeping others out of this, but it's too late for regret now!"

The two of them circled each other, firing at each other as fast as they could and doing their best to dodge the other's projectiles, but there was no real progress made. After a minute or so, Mami grew fed up.

"How long are you going to keep up this charade!?" she shouted. "Reveal yourself so we can get this over with!"

But then Togame Momoko leapt into the middle of the firefight with a yell, deflecting the projectiles from both sides until Mami and Iroha ceased firing, before turning on the other two. Mami took a leap back, watching warily, then glanced back as Homura grabbed her arm.

"Two of the most powerful magical girls I know are just sitting there watching this!?" Momoko shouted. "It's so sad it almost makes me wanna cry!"

"Momoko-chan!?" Iroha gasped.

"Hey, Iroha-chan!" Momoko said.

"Why are you here?" Iroha asked.

"I just came by to help you guys out. Mitama said something about looking for Mifuyu? But then I find you guys like this! This is the most astounding development of the week! What're you two doing just watching!?" Then she noticed the state of their soul gems. "Wait… hold on. What the heck happened to you guys!?"

"I've been fighting… a lot," Yachiyo said.

"Same here," Tsuruno said. "My magic tank is on empty…"

Momoko rounded on Mami and glared at her.

"Hey you! Yes, you! You did this!?"

"Huh!?" Mami gasped. "No, wait! You have it all wrong!"

"No need to explain. I see exactly what's going on here. Like they say, seeing is believing."

"It's not like that!" Mami said. "I saw that girl's true identity… as a witch!"

Momoko blinked and glanced back at the accused.

"Huh? Are you crazy? Anyone can see Iroha-chan's no witch," she retorted.

"B-but… I saw it!" Mami said. "Homura-chan… would you please back me up here!?"

"It's half true," Homura said calmly.

"Th-thank you, Homura-chan!" Mami said. "Huh? Wait… only half…?"

"The truth is that Miss Mami and I just witnessed a strange phenomenon here, as I am sure your… friends… will attest to," Homura said flatly, "and it seems to have caused her to lose her cool a little. We have no intention to challenge your territory, so we will now withdraw."

"Eh? Wait, Homura-chan, just a moment!?" Mami gasped.

Suddenly the world around them went grey.

"Huh? Why'd you suddenly stop time, Homura-chan…? Oh! It's to defeat the—"

Homura withdrew a pistol from her shield… she didn't point it at Mami, just spun it on her finger, but Mami could feel a sense of menace in that gesture.

"No," Homura said. "I don't wish to debate this with you. We may as well just end our partnership here."

"Huh!?" Mami gasped. "Why? What's this, all of a sudden?"

"By your definition, that girl, Tamaki Iroha, is a witch," Homura said. "If that is the case, then it follows that Madoka is also a witch. How could I partner with you knowing that you could turn on her at any moment?"

Mami blinked in confusion. "H-huh? W-why are bringing up Miss Kaname all of a sudden? What does she have to do with this?"

"Do I have to spell it out for you?" Homura said.

Mami gasps. "No way… y-you don't mean… what I saw today also happened to Miss Kaname!?"

"You catch on fast after all…"

"Y-you've got to be kidding me… when did that happen!?"

"The very same day she became a magical girl," Homura said.

"I… I see," Mami said. "She hasn't seemed strange since then. M-maybe… maybe I'm jumping to conclusions after all… Homura-chan, please don't say you'll end our partnership!"

"As long as you understand," Homura said, relaxing a little.

She also stowed her pistol back into her shield, allowing Mami to relax as well.

"Still… even if it did happen to Miss Madoka too," Mami said. "It's still… very strange… why have we never seen it before?"

"Who knows," Homura retorted.

"Well… I can work that out if I come back here again to investigate," Mami said. "Let's go home for now, Homura-chan. I did promise to fill Miss Taylor in on our findings too, though I'm sure she'll have given up by now and gone to bed…"

"Fine," Homura said. "Let's go."

They headed out of the shrine, and then Homura ended the time stop and powered down. They were able to catch the penultimate train of the night back to Mitakihara.

After getting off the train, they ran into Sakura Kyouko.

"Ah! Kyouko!" Mami called.

Kyouko turned to face them.

"Oh, it's Mami, and the mystery girl," she said. "Man, ya look spooked… what happened?"

"Ah… I'm still… not sure," Mami said. "Have you… visited Kamihama yet?"

"Huh? Kamihama? I was gonna go soon, but the little squirt's hogging all my time… so no, I haven't dropped by yet. Man, she's such a handful…"

"I see… thank goodness," Mami said.

"Thank goodness?" Kyouko said. "What's that supposed to mean? Calm down and explain it to me."

"Well… I really don't know how to explain it…"

"Then, mystery girl, why dontcha give it a shot?" Kyouko suggested. "I assume you were with her… what's got her so shaken up?"

"We witnessed a strange phenomenon in Kamihama," Homura said.

"Kyouko," Mami said. "Have you ever… come across a witch that could pass as a human?" Mami asked.

"Pass as… a human?" Kyouko asked, blinking. "Ya lost me… what're you getting at here?"

"Today… I thought I saw one," Mami said. "Have you ever seen anything like that? A witch disguised as a human?"

"The hell?" Kyouko said. "Dontcha mean some wild magical girl?"

"No… it wasn't quite like that," Mami said. "It's really not that simple… there was someone who I thought was human, but then it looked like they turned into a witch? Just for a short time… then they went back to being human, indistinguishable from any other magical girl… I wondered if it was controlling the minds of the other magical girls, deceiving them… but…"

"No kidding," Kyouko said. "I ain't never seen nothing like that… a witch cunning enough to pass as a human? Still… it was only for a moment, right? Couldn't it have been illusion magic? You of all people should know that magic can create illusions."

Mami nodded. "Of course, since I know you… but yes, the thought did cross my mind. There's just one problem… that witch monster attacked and destroyed another monster… can an illusion really do that? Kyouko… you should understand illusion magic better than me… is something like that possible?"

"Hmm," Kyouko said. "I guess what you're asking is… can an illusion have some solidity, ain't that right?"

"Yeah, I suppose so," Mami said.

"Then yeah, it's totally possible," Kyouko said. "Didn't you ever notice how I'd attack from all sides and it totally hurt the witch? Just like ninja shadow clones."

"Now that you mention it… I may have seen that," Mami said. "I see… so perhaps it could have been illusion magic… but even so, there's still something strange about it… that girl's soul gem was completely pure…"

"Don't that just mean she used a grief seed?" Kyouko said.

"But her friends were so dark… that doesn't add up," Mami said.

"I suppose you're right," Kyouko said.

"The bottom line is… Kamihama is an anomaly," Mami said. "I think… I think it may even be dangerous. So… even if you can get a whole lot of grief seeds… Kyouko, please don't go there."

"Gotcha," Kyouko said. "So lemme get this straight… the whole point of that rambling lecture was to persuade me not to go to Kamihama?"

"Yes," Mami said.

"Okay," Kyouko said. "So let's say I don't go to Kamihama. The other cities and towns around Kamihama – and all across the island, according to Kyuubey – don't exactly have many witches. So just what're ya suggesting I do!? I ain't some rich girl who can afford a flight or a ferry to the mainland, ya know!"

"Well, I would say you should take care of what witches you can, however few they are," Mami said. "And if you can't get enough grief seeds, I can share some of the ones I collect in Kamihama."

"That still kinda sounds like you're giving me a job that doesn't need doing," Kyouko retorted. "Just be a good girl, stay safe, and watch from the sidelines, ain't that right? Back when we worked together, I never did anything like that. So you're just gonna be my captain and steer me in the right direction?"

"That's right," Mami said. "Just this once… let me breath some wind into your sails… that's just how bizarre Kamihama is…"

"Well, I'm afraid I can't do that," Kyouko said. "I'm not the type to be a good girl who just sits back and watches ya deal with the issue all by yourself."

"Please!" Mami pleaded. "That's all I ask! Just humour me this once!"

"I ain't gonna change my mind," Kyouko said. "But I'll throw ya a bone. The grief seed I got now should last a few more days, so I'll stay away from Kamihama until the end of the week. How's that?"

"W-well… it's not what I was asking, but… I suppose… fine," Mami grumbled. "Maybe things will get better in the next three days, anyway…"

"Well, if that's all ya wanted with me, I got things to be doing," Kyouko said. "Seeya."

And with that, she turned and ran off.

«So, that's what happened,» Mami finishes. «It was very strange, and I'm still not entirely convinced, so… I'll be investigating in Kamihama again. You're welcome to join me, next time.»

«I'll think about it,» I say. «Thanks for telling me all of that.»

«Now, it's really late,» Mami says. «So you'll be staying the night, right?»

«Well… sure, I can do that,» I say. «Actually, we're technically still in our pyjamas… though we did each bring a change of clothes in case you made the offer.»

«Perfect!» Mami says. «Then I'll just lay out a futon for you! Or would you like two futons?»

«One should be plenty,» Inui says. «We already share a bed, anyway.»

We power down, and a few minutes later, we've curled up under the futon on the floor and fallen fast asleep. As before, we're woken the next morning by Nagisa, who's threatening to eat our pancakes. The conversation is broadly similar as well, though obviously with Inui present it's not quite the same… but I don't think there's anything of significance.

After school on Friday, I help Inui get all her stuff packed up, and we head to Fendt Hope, just like last time. After dropping her stuff off in the room assigned to us, we once again run into Mifuyu and follow her to the assembly hall for the big meeting. The hall seems to be about as packed as last time, though I'm not actually confident that the hall itself is the same size, so I can't really take that as proof that they have about the same number of members at this point in time.

Eventually, the Magius walk out onto the stage with Mifuyu and San in tow. As earlier, Mifuyu isn't even wearing her feather robe, and like the Magius is in her magical girl form. San however is wearing her robe.

"Attention please!" Mifuyu calls. "The Magius are going to speak!"

With some effort she gets everyone to quiet down, and then Touka steps forward.

"All of you magical girls gathered here!" Touka says. "Magical girls, who once embraced hope, but fell into despair along the way. Tell me, when you became a magical girl, what did you wish for?"

Touka pauses, perhaps for dramatic effect, and I can hear a few whispers spreading through the audience.

"Some made a wish for themselves. Some made a wish for others. Some made a wish for their dreams. There's a wide variety. Humans can dream of a better future and wish for something. That's an incredible thing, isn't it?"

Again, Touka pauses, perhaps just for breath this time. I'm sure I hear a couple of girls whispering that their wishes were just like that, though.

"Over the span of thirteen million years, the human race has created civilization, improved society, and made scientific achievements. The power to wish has advanced humanity all these years. That's the potential of human wishes, something Kyuubey doesn't have. So we could say magical girls, who make miracles with wishing power, are even more human than normal humans."

A deafening silence falls at this pronouncement. Even the few girls who had been whispering seemed startled by this claim. Magical girls are more human? Who wouldn't be surprised? I'm surprised too, though for a different reason. This isn't the same speech Touka gave last time, and she appears to be leaning more into magical girl supremacy than before.

"But what's the reality? No-one ever considers our feelings. We become injured, get defeated, and then die. Until now, magical girls could only lament at their fate and spread their curse. On top of that, what if our hope and despair were being consumed like convenient resources? What if these emotions were being trampled on and exploited for someone else's sake? Is that acceptable?"

She stops, looking around at the audience. I also look around, and it's clear that a lot of the girls here agree with at least that – it's not acceptable for Kyuubey to be trampling on and exploiting our emotions. Even I agree with that much.

"No!" Touka exclaims. "It's completely unacceptable! We're not merchandise meant for someone else! We're not livestock to be raised and slaughtered!"

She pauses again, then continues in a calmer yet still strident voice.

"Fellow magical girls! I have faith that our emotions are the power to make wishes that can even change our fate! I bet Kyuubey doesn't even imagine it, that we magical girls can make miracles happen. I won't let anyone use our hope!"

There are a few scattered cheers throughout the audience. Touka waits for them to die off before continuing.

"The Magius will give everyone a future. With the doppel system that we created, soul gems will no longer become muddied, and you'll never become a witch. The Magius wants to save as many magical girls as possible. You will all help us, won't you? You will become the Magius's wings… no, you will become the wings of all magical girls who are alive right now. And if anyone stands in our way, we will come together to annihilate them. The Magius are the sole guide, the faint hope that leads to a future for magical girls. I swear that we will liberate magical girls. That's right! The Magius will save all magical girls!"

Several more girls cheer at this declaration, more than the first time. Again, Touka waits for the cheers to die down before she continues.

"For our liberation to succeed, we need energy!" Touka declares. "For that, we need rumours and witches! You might wonder, why would we use dangerous witches as an energy source? It's really quite simple: nothing else can produce such prodigious amounts of energy in a reasonable amount of time. Naturally, we will take every precaution to keep our caged witches confined. Unfortunately, there are some magical girls who refuse to believe in us! This is one of the reasons why we wear robes to keep ourselves anonymous! This is also why we have appointed this white feather to be the official instructor for all feathers!"

San steps forward and raises a hand. Unlike last time, however, she also raises her voice.

"I shall teach you all techniques to fight without using your unique magic and weapons, which could give you away!" San says. "I will hold training every evening, plus mornings and afternoons on the weekend, so make sure you attend whenever you can if you're worried about your anonymity! The training ground is located behind the building, and a schedule will be posted beside the back door in case I need to make adjustments now and then."

That's pretty much the same thing Touka said last time, just with a touch more detail. Why did San speak for herself this time? Is there some reason for it? In any case, she steps back after saying her piece, and Touka speaks up again.

"Now… we've already lost several rumours to the veterans of Kamihama. Nemu… tell them."

She steps back, and Nemu steps forward. Her voice doesn't carry as well as Touka's, but fortunately everyone here is a magical girl, so it doesn't need to carry.

"Of the five major veterans of Kamihama, one has joined us, two have aligned themselves against us, and the other two seem to be remaining neutral so far. The most experienced of all, Nanami Yachiyo, has already destroyed four rumours. Izumi Kanagi has also destroyed two rumours, and Miyako Hinano has also destroyed one rumour, although we believe that might have been an accident."

As before, she appears to have the same narrow concept of what makes a magical girl a veteran, which limits her list to Yachiyo, Mifuyu. Kanagi, Hinano, and Irina. I do wonder how she knows about Irina. Is it just because Touka attends the same school? But that by itself doesn't seem like it would be enough…

I can hear some girls whispering about Nemu's declaration, wondering why Kanagi and Yachiyo are against them. Of course – there are a fair number of girls here who are from Kamihama themselves. Although I think most of them are from the east side, Yachiyo should be somewhat well-known even there, due to the Breakpoint incident about a year ago.

"The Rumour of the Crossing Path… the Rumour of the Infinite Hospital Bed… the Rumour of the Friendship Ending Staircase… the Rumour of the Séance Shrine… the Rumour of the Little Old Cocoa Shop… the Rumour of the Ghost in the Cell… and the Rumour of the Sobbing Shrooms."

I actually wonder who defeated each of those rumours. Well… I know the Crossing Path was defeated by Yachiyo, Umika, Kaoru, Kazumi, and a few others. I don't know whether Hijiri participated this time, but I'd be a little surprised if she didn't – since she didn't come back in time with us last time, it would still be a novel experience for her. The Infinite Hospital Bed is probably at Satomi Medical Centre, so it was most likely defeated by Yachiyo too. And I know for a fact that she defeated the Friendship Ending Staircase and the Séance Shrine. That makes four in total, just like Nemu said.

So what about the other three? Apparently, one of them had been defeated by Hinano, possibly by accident. The Sobbing Shrooms reminds me of something that Kanoko mentioned to Hijiri last time, so I guess it was probably Kanagi who defeated that one. The Ghost in the Cell sounds like it would be at the old prison, which would also suggest Kanagi, but I can't be certain – perhaps there's another location that could be described as a cell. It's a rumour that I don't recall ever seeing in the game, so that makes it difficult to guess.

And the Little Old Cocoa Shop… from what I recall, it was supposed to be defeated by Yachiyo and Iroha, but that was also around Valentine's Day, so it doesn't fit into the timeline at all. Still… based on that, it seems to me that it's the most likely one for Hinano to defeat, rather than Kanagi, as Hinano lives in Chuo Ward if I recall correctly. But that's only speculation, especially since Chuo Ward is sort of neutral territory and Kanagi also defeated the Stardust Time Viewer there… or will defeat it there, rather.

"Those are the rumours we have lost so far," Nemu finishes. "If the destruction of rumours continues at the present rate, Touka tells me we won't be able to collect enough energy for liberation, and I am almost at my limit for the number of rumours I can manifest."

Nemu then steps back, allowing Touka to take over again.

"You might be thinking that these girls are veterans, and therefore really strong, so you'd stand no chance against them," she says. "But don't worry! They are each just a single person! We vastly outnumber them, so there's nothing to fear. We can't just let them walk over our liberation, now can we?"

Several girls start clapping, and the applause spreads until nearly everyone has joined in. Those who were cheering before seem to be doing so again, too. Touka waits for the applause and cheers to die down before continuing.

"Therefore! We'll assign you in groups to guard the most important rumours! Mifuyu will handle the details of who guards which rumour! There's also tons of other things that need doing, such as herding the witches we're raising, or administrative work here at Fendt Hope, so some of you will be assigned those tasks instead of guarding. We've designated Mifuyu as the person in charge of personnel, so I'll let her explain anything else that needs explaining!"

Nemu speaks up again without stepping forward. "The veterans are a few lone individuals," she says. "But we are legion. Ten thousand ants can even topple a titan… if everyone attacks them at once, even a veteran will have little chance to win. Therefore… please, don't let them destroy any more of my creations."

Touka steps back, and this time Mifuyu steps forward.

"Thank you, Touka, Nemu," she says. "We've compiled a list of rumours that we believe are the most likely to be targeted, and we will assign a group to guard each. Every group will have at least one white feather, so what I'm going to do is that I'll ask all the white feathers to see me in my office, and I will assign each a task. As for deciding which black feathers will aid you in your task, we can discuss that when I assign the task. I am open to allowing you to choose your own teams, within reason, but I can also assign members myself if you prefer. Keep in mind that there may on occasion be circumstances where you must reveal your identity to members of your team, so if you are uncomfortable with any member, please let me know and I will reassign you."

Mifuyu steps back, and then Alina steps forward.

"If you're chosen to run the witch farms, then you'll be reporting directly to me!" she says tersely. "I expect to see you tomorrow morning in the underground chapel. Dismissed!"

And thus the crowd begins to disperse. As before, I intercept Mifuyu by the stairs, where she's talking with the Amane twins, with Ryo and another white feather waiting in line. Even after the last timeline, I still don't recognize this white feather. The only thing I can be sure of is that she's the same one I encountered here in the last timeline. Once she's finished, I step forward.

"Oh, Miss Ashley," Mifuyu says. "You had to leave right away, didn't you? I'm sorry, I should've taken care of you first… um… let's see…"

She scans a clipboard she's holding, then nods.

"Yes… I'll put you in charge of guarding the Rumour of the Stardust Time Viewer," she says. "Do you have any requests for team-mates?"

"Well, it'd be nice if I could work with Inui," I say. "Beyond that… whoever you think would be good, I guess?"

Mifuyu nods. "You should probably have a few more… okay, I'll pick someone out for you. Here's all the info on the rumour."

She extracts a sheet of paper from her clipboard and hands it to me.

"Good luck," she says.

"Thank you."

We leave Fendt Hope and make straight for Chiaki's. As expected, Riko is behind the counter this time. We deal with Inui's transfer papers and briefly encounter Rui at the abandoned shrine. As before, Ashley comes out while we continue on Inui's errands, getting her school supplies. Then we pick up Karin and Hotaru and stop by Walnut's for dinner. We even encounter Yukika there, just like last time. So all things considered, there's basically nothing new here. Finally, we drop Riko off at home on our way back to Fendt Hope, where once again we find Mifuyu waiting with our new team members. We approach her when she beckons to us.

"Welcome back," she says. "I've selected the rest of your team members."

It looks like the line-up is almost completely identical to the last time. Tamura is there with Chihana and Hikari, and Chiyoko is there too. Tomomi is there, standing together with a girl I don't remember but who seems vaguely familiar somehow. I was actually expecting to see Coeurl here too, but she's not… though now that I think of it, she was made a white feather, so I suppose I shouldn't really be surprised.

"Okay, cool," I say.

Tamura gasps upon seeing me.

"Ehhh!? I-is t-t-that…!?"

"Oh, it's Tamu-chan," Inui says, echoing her words from the previous timeline. "I never thought we'd see you here…"

"Ah, so you already knew each other," Mifuyu says. "I thought that might be a possibility, since you both came from Mitakihara… but that helps. She just joined a couple of days ago with two friends, who I'm also assigning to your team."

"A-actually," Tomomi says. "We've met her before too… she's the one I told you about before… you know, about the truck."

"Oh?" Mifuyu says, looking at me in surprise. "If the girl Tomomi-chan described to me was you, then I'm really glad to have you with us. I doubt many girls could have saved all those people."

Ah, now I remember. When I met Tomomi at the festival before, she was with a friend. I guess that friend became a magical girl too this time… huh? Wait, no… if I recall from last time, Tomomi originally showed up here hoping to save her friend who'd become a witch, so this girl must've become a magical girl last time too, but somehow this time she managed not to become a witch. What led Tomomi to come here if not that, though? And I guess the two of them told Mifuyu how I stopped that truck from crashing into the crowd, too… that's a little bit embarrassing…

"Besides the three from Mitakihara and these two, I've added one other girl to your team, for a total of eight," Mifuyu says. "I'll leave it up to each individual girl whether they want to introduce themselves."

"So, uhh… I guess I'm the leader?" I say. "Um… so, do you want to do introductions? Or would you prefer to remain anonymous? If that's the case, we could come up with nicknames instead…?"

"I don't really mind," Tomomi speaks up. "I mean, you at least already know who I am… but for everyone else, I'm Tomomi Thrussel… you can all call me Tomomi-chan if you want. I came here all the way from Yukuni."

"My name is Yumemi Manatsu," her friend says. "I too came from Yukuni."

"I'm Itsumi Inui, but feel free to call me whatever you want," Inui says. "I'm from Mitakihara."

"Um, well… my name is… Hifumi Chiyoko… I'm from Futatsugi… I just joined today…"

"M-m-m-my n-name is… Y-yoshida… T-t-tamura…"

"Um… Ayano Hikari…"

"Masumi Chihana… the three of us are from Mitakihara."

"Alright," I say. "As for me, you can call me Lita. So, um… about how much time would you say we need to spend guarding the rumour, Miss Mifuyu?"

"That's a difficult question," Mifuyu says. "Obviously we can't expect you to watch it at all times… I would say, just do what you can. In fact, you don't all have to watch it at all times. You could take shifts, and call in the others if something happens."

I nod. "Okay… that makes sense," I say. "In that case… how about we assign two-person shifts throughout the week?"

"I have other things to do," Mifuyu says. "So I'll leave you to discuss this amongst yourselves, but… two other things. Miss Kagura's combat training should still last another hour, so I recommend you all attend at least a little to get an idea of what's required."

I nod. "Got it… I'll make this quick."

"And lastly, while you're not required to fight witches, if you do get any grief seeds, it would be great if you would donate them to the Magius," Mifuyu says. "Of course, if you need one because you're leaving town for a bit, that's a different story, but other than that, we need all the grief seeds we can get for liberation."

"I'll keep that in mind," I say.

Mifuyu gets up and leaves the lobby, and we work out the shifts. I use the same schedule as last time, just substituting Manatsu for Kirika. Chiyoko even asks all the same questions as last time.

After that, we head to the training grounds to introduce them to San's techniques. Of course, Inui and I have already mastered them, but as before, Chiyoko also picks them up pretty quickly. Manatsu doesn't do any better than the others. And even though she's a black feather, Inui starts to learn the more advanced white feather techniques.

After the training ends, I decide to see if I can find Coeurl. After a little searching, we finally come across her in the dining hall, where she appears to be going through a veritable mountain of food. We take a seat at her table, and she looks at us in surprise.

"Oh, it's you," she says. "The food here is really great, you should try it!"

"Not today," I say. "We already had dinner. But we'll definitely try it at some point."

"Well, you're missing out, then," Coeurl says. "At least for today. Whatever. I suppose you want something from me, right?"

"Not exactly," I say. "Just wondering what you think of the place after being here a whole week."

"Great food aside, my thoughts haven't really changed," Coeurl says. "It's too early to determine if this doppel thing could prevent the Magi Wars, or if it's indirectly the cause of them."

"Did you get duties assigned to you today?" I ask.

"I'm on grief seed gathering duty," Coeurl says. "I'm part of a large group led by someone who calls herself Konoha. I haven't fought many witches before, so I thought it would be interesting. Including me, there're three white feathers and twelve black feathers in my group, which means I have four direct subordinates. We split up into three teams to search, but usually come together to fight, unless it's a weak witch."

"Wait, you didn't fight witches in that future of yours?" I ask.

"No, because there weren't very many magical girls left," Coeurl says. "Plus, we had the grief extractor, so magical girls rarely turned into witches in the first place."

"What about wraiths? Did you fight wraiths?" Inui asks.

"Do you mean the big white chunky giants?" Coeurl says.

"Yeah, those."

"Only occasionally, when the grief dispersal systems broke down," Coeurl says.

"Okay… then what about on that other planet?" I ask.

"I fought wraiths occasionally there, too," Coeurl says. "I think the population wasn't dense enough for them to spawn in most places, though. One time I fought a different sort of wraith that sort of floated and swung around some sort of flaming staff weapon. I never encountered a witch on Wilussa."

I think that sounds like the second-level wraith, which I remember a guide once referred to as Shugen. Above those there are a third and fourth level referred to as Satori and Moksha, respectively. I think the names are completely whimsical, however.

"So you never fought even stronger wraiths?" I ask. "Apparently there are strong wraiths whose miasma is corrosive…"

Coeurl shakes her head. "I did hear some talk about stronger wraiths," she says. "Like one that causes everything around it to freeze… but I never faced any of those myself."

A freezing aura is the fourth-level wraith… so that suggests the people of Wilussa don't really have good management of the wraiths. If I understand correctly, higher-level wraiths should never spawn if the lower-level ones are consistently wiped out.

"…wait, are you saying they have people who aren't magical girls fighting wraiths…?"

"Oh, yeah," Coeurl says. "They have all sorts of magical items and devices. There are even some people who can use magic without being a magical girl…"

Though, it seems that's not something unique to Wilussa.

"What are your subordinates like?" I ask. "Do you know their names or anything?"

"I have names for them," Coeurl says. "No idea if it's their real names. Mana, Sal, Tori, and Sumi."

"Oh, I think I know all of those," I say. "Though I can't be sure without seeing them, but the names at least sound familiar."

Mana is likely Yaeko Mana, Tori is probably Yuzuki Hotori, and Sumi is likely Akane Sumire. I don't know Sal, though I do know she was one of those who remained in Fendt Hope at the end, last time.

"Oh, really?" Coeurl says. "None of them have really gotten the hang of the chain techniques yet. I'm not sure why… they're not all that difficult to figure out… it's just on-the-fly enchantment, right? That's not such an advanced technique…"

"Really?" Inui says. "I don't think I've seen many girls who do that though…"

"Karin-chan is the only one I can think of," I say.

"Huh? Does she?" Inui says.

"Her Candy Death Squall is basically just a bunch of enchanted rocks," I say. "Or other debris."

"Oh… that makes sense, actually," Inui says.

"Huh… I thought magical knowledge wouldn't be that far behind compared to technology, especially after seeing Wilussa," Coeurl says. "But I guess I was wrong… then again, Wilussa was further behind than Earth in technology…"

"Miss Tomoe can do enchantments too," I say. "But it's not something she does very often, I think. Miss Homura has also been practicing enchantments recently… I guess Pernelle can do enchantments… ah, come to think of it, do you know anything about what happened to the ancient magical girls in your future, Coeurl?"

"Um, what do you mean by ancient, exactly?" Coeurl says. "I knew some that were as old as… twelve thousand years, I think…?"

"I bet that still puts them way into our future though, doesn't it?"

"Oh, yeah, definitely," Coeurl says. "Old Earth was destroyed, oh, two or three hundred thousand years before that future… so I certainly didn't know anyone who personally remembered it. There were a few who had heard bits and pieces about it from their ancestors, though."

"So there's absolutely no chance that any of the magical girls from the present day survived to see that future?" I ask.

"Maybe the opening years of the wars, but not the final days where I came from," Coeurl says.

"I guess that means Mary finally found a way to die," I muse. "So, if they died hundreds of thousands of years ago relative to your future, I suppose there's no way you'd have heard of any of them, right?"

Coeurl shrugs. "Who knows? I might've. But you're right that it's not very likely… never heard of a magical girl named Mary, for starters."

"Eh, don't worry about it," I say. "It's not like it has any impact on the here and now, right?"

"I was just thinking the same thing," Inui says. "It's very interesting, though… I bet you could write a book about your life and sell it."

"I wouldn't even know how to start," Coeurl says.

Inui shrugs. "Well, it was just an idea."

"Anyway, we should probably get some sleep," I say. "Got a lot of things to do tomorrow."

"Oh, then see you later," Coeurl says.

The next day, I return with Inui to the abandoned building of Mizuna Hotel, building three. We enter via the loading bay at the back, where someone had once destroyed the lock for some reason, and climb the twenty flights of stairs to the top. However, when we get there, we find the door securely locked.

"Huh? It's locked this time?" Inui says. "Last time it was open…"

"From my perspective it was last time that was odd," I say. "I'm not sure why Miss Tamaki actually came here… I was expecting her to forget about it, which I guess she did this time. Let's find a window and use Teddy Mk II."

We look around the top floor for a couple of minutes until we find a room with windows that can be opened. In fact, one of them is already opened, so I summon Teddy Mk II outside the window, and we hop on and rise up to the roof.

Natsu Ryoko is already there, transformed and praying. Either she's running earlier than last time, or we're running later. I'm not sure which, as I didn't note down the time before.

As we land on the roof and step over, she finishes what she's doing and looks up.

"Huh? There's other people here!?"

"Is that a problem?" I ask.

"Well, it's technically trespassing, but I won't tell if you don't, since I'm as guilty as you on that count," Ryoko says. "So, what brings you to an old, abandoned place like this?"

"I came to see for myself after glimpsing it from the train and getting intrigued by the idea of a shrine on top of a building," I say.

"That's all?" Ryoko shrugs. "Well, curiosity is a good enough reason, I suppose. By the way… you're both magical girls, right? I'm Natsu Ryoko, nice to meet you."

"I'm Itsumi Inui! It's really nice to meet you!"

"And I'm Ashley Taylor," I say. "How often do you come here, Miss Natsu?"

Ryoko shrugs.

"Not often. I've come here just a few times since I became a magical girl. Given the means of entry, obviously I never came here before that."

"So what brings you to an old, abandoned place like this?" I ask.

She chuckles. "I suppose it's fair that I answer the same question as you," she says. "This place has a connection with my family history, you see."

"So that means you're descended from the Tokime Clan?" Inui says.

Ryoko blinks. "Huh? How'd you guess?"

"Well, I recognized their crest," Inui says, pointing at it.

"Ah, interesting," Ryoko says. "These days I don't think there are a lot of people who'd recognize it, outside of academics… but yes, the Natsu family is apparently descended from a branch of the Tokime Clan… although, I only learned of this fairly recently. A couple of weeks ago, at most."

"So how'd you find out?" I ask.

"Well… Gramps got a strange phone call," Ryoko says. "They claimed to be from the Tokime head family… which he apparently thought was extinct. From what I can tell based on the little he told me about it, they demanded he hand me over to them, but… he denied my existence, apparently. They didn't explicitly name me, just asked for his granddaughter or something like that."

"And you were already a magical girl at that point?"

"Yes, I've been a magical girl for several months," Ryoko says.

"Well, I guess they were just looking for someone to make a contract," I say. "Since they couldn't get you, they dragged in Miss Hiroe instead… even if they'd found out about you, they wouldn't be able to use you since you're already a magical girl, though I guess it's still better for the Mikoshiba not to know about you."

Ryoko blinks. "Huh? You seem like you know quite a lot about the Tokime Clan…?"

"Yeah, I've met several descendants now," I say. "And I read Professor Satomi's book as well."

"Huh, there's a book about the Tokime…?" Ryoko says. "I've never heard of it…"

"I think it didn't sell too well," I say. "But Professor Satomi might be the first outsider to actually make it to their village for hundreds of years…"

"Huh, maybe I'll see if I can find that book in the library," Ryoko muses. "It sounds interesting."

"So, mind explaining this shrine to us?" I ask. "If I'm not mistaken, doesn't that inscription mention Kuzunoha?"

Ryoko nods. "Yes, that's right," she says. "But it's not like I know that much about it. All I can really tell you is the story I heard from Gramps. Is that okay?"

I nod. "Well, I guess that's fine."

She repeats the story exactly the same as last time, pretty much word for word.

"So long story short, that means Kuzunoha is still alive, right?" I say.

"According to the legend, yes," Ryoko says.

"Although I wonder how they got the idea that the alchemist died," I say.

"What do you mean?" Ryoko says. "I mean, she was human, right? Of course she'd die…"

"Well, that's the thing," I say. "The alchemist in question is Pernelle Flamel, who is very much alive. I've spoken to her."

Ryoko blinks. "Huh!? Are you serious? She'd have to be hundreds of years old!"

"Around seven hundred, I think," I nod. "Yeah. She's that old. And she's a magical girl. She's the one who told me the story of this island's creation, because she was there when Tokime Sakuya dredged it up from the sea floor."

Ryoko blinks. "W-wait, you're saying… this island was actually created by magic!?"

"That's what she said," I say.

"Well… Gramps never said anything about that," she says. "He just said the Tokime discovered it, not created it out of nothing…"

"Well, apparently that's what happened," I say.

"Say, um… this Pernelle, is she living somewhere close by?" Ryoko asks. "Because, I'll admit, I've been a little curious about the Tokime ever since Gramps told me about them, so…"

"She's currently staying in Asunaro," I say. "That said, she hasn't been involved with the Tokime for centuries, so she won't be able to share anything up-to-date about them."

Ryoko nods. "Yeah… that's fine," she says. "Thanks."

"By the way, Miss Natsu, I was wondering if I could ask you for some help with a couple of things," I say.

"Um… that depends on what it is," Ryoko says.

"Well, the big one is that I'm expecting Walpurgisnacht to ravage Kamihama around the end of the month," I say.

"I have no idea what that means," Ryoko says. "But it sounds bad."

"Walpurgisnacht is an extremely powerful witch," I say. "She's so powerful that she doesn't hide away inside a labyrinth when she's on the attack. Ordinary humans see her as a sort of typhoon or something, and she spreads destruction wherever she goes."

"O-ohh, wow," Ryoko says. "Well, if it's ravaging Kamihama, then that would be a threat to Suitoku Temple too, right? So yeah, I'll be sure to drop by… although, how do you even know about this?"

"I happened to meet a magical girl who can see the future," I say. "She told me about it."

"Do you know when it'll come?" Ryoko asks.

"I can't be completely sure, but I'm predicting the twenty-eighth," I say. "It could be a day or two later or earlier though."

"Then I guess we should share contact info, just to make sure," Ryoko says. "Gimme a sec."

She powers down and whips out her phone, and the three of us tap them together. There is a familiar beep to indicate a successful transfer.

"Now, you said that was the big one," Ryoko says. "So that implies you also have a small request as well?"

I nod. "Well, I'd like to find out if that legend you told me about is true," I say. "Specifically, the part about Kuzunoha still being alive."

Ryoko tilts her head. "That's supposed to be a small request?"

"Well, I actually have a place in mind where I think she might be found," I say. "And I even have a nice, convenient means of transportation to that place. So, I could totally check the place out by myself. I guess it's a stretch to call this a request… it's more of an offer?"

"Ah, I get it," Ryoko says. "I'll think about it… did you have a time frame?"

"Probably during Golden Week," I say.

"So, after Walpurgisnacht," Ryoko says, nodding. "Well… I've done what I came here for, so… if that's all, I'll be on my way. Seeya."

As soon as I nod, she heads for the edge where we came up and hops down, swinging herself back in through the window.

"By the way, why do you suddenly sound unsure about the date of Walpurgisnacht?" Inui says.

"Ah, it's not exactly that I'm unsure," I say. "I'm just being cautious, I guess?"

"Hmm… okay," Inui says. "Well, let's go… I'm sure Rii-chan and Karin-chi are waiting for us by now."

I nod. "Yeah… let's go."

Later that day, I'm on shift for the rumour watch at Kamihama Planetarium when Kanagi makes her appearance. Just like last time, Tamura and Chihana are with me as well. I notify them as I did before.

«Tamura, Chihana… do you see the girl with short, silver hair?»

«Yes, I see her,» Tamura says.

«Wait, is she an enemy!?» Chihana asks.

«She's the one who Nemu named as having defeated two rumours,» I say. «I don't know if we can beat her, but could you call the others over?»

«I'll do it!» Chihana says.

As before, after looking around the place for a minute or so, Kanagi spots me and approaches me.

«Huh? Why's she approaching you?» Chihana asks.

«We're slightly acquainted,» I say. «So I guess she recognized me.»

«Isn't that… bad?» Chihana says.

«I don't think it'll be an issue,» I say. «We'll just have a little chat. It'll give everyone else time to arrive, too.»

«Alright…»

"Good evening," Kanagi says. "It has been quite some time, Miss Ashley Taylor."

"You're… Miss Izumi, if I'm not mistaken?" I say.

"Don't tell me you forgot my face, Taylor-kun," Kanagi says. "I heard you were in town… you helped bring Sarasa-kun under control, did you not?"

"That's… slightly true," I say. "Miss Tokiwa did most of the work, but I did help dispose of the body."

"And yet I have not heard anything in the news," Kanagi says. "If you had simply left the body somewhere to be found, there should have been headlines, especially since she was a student of Mizuna. So how did you dispose of her?"

I consider how to answer that question. Should I make something up? Or should I just come clean with the truth?

"Well, would you believe she's still alive?" I say.

Kanagi blinks. "According to Tokiwa-kun, was her soul gem not shattered?"

"Sure, what of it?" I say.

"Are you implying that you have a means of restoring a shattered soul gem?" Kanagi asks.

"Not me personally," I say.

"Then, one of the companions who was with you that time."

"As long as she acts fast."

Kanagi falls silent for a minute or so, thinking. I'm actually a little surprised she's as ready to believe me as this… sure, she seems skeptical, but she also seems to be genuinely considering that what I say might be true.

"Supposing you are telling the truth," she says finally. "Why would you save someone like her who has spread so much chaos? Will you take responsibility if she continues?"

"I have my reasons," I say. "I believe I have a way to convince her not to continue, but if that doesn't work, I'll take responsibility and deal with her. Right now, she's not conscious, so it'll be awhile before then."

"So you have separated her from her soul gem," Kanagi says. "You are waiting for something else before you attempt to convince her?"

Kanagi's actually pretty smart, come to think of it. I'd been a little wary of her due to her actions in the game's second arc, but if I could prevent that from happening, I wonder how things would turn out?

"Oh, that's a good guess," I say.

"Do you believe she will be convinced?" Kanagi asks.

"Frankly, I have no idea," I reply. "She doesn't seem like she would be, but I have a card to play that I suspect might be able to change her mind… but there's no guarantee."

"You seem different from the last time we met, Taylor-kun," Kanagi says. "Am I speaking with the other personality, the one referred to as Chelsea?"

"Yeah, but I don't want to be called Chelsea," I say.

"It's good that you recovered, however," Kanagi says.

"No, that's not the case," I say.

"Yet you're speaking to me now…?"

"Well… it's complicated," I say. "I actually don't remember that meeting. Would you believe me if I mentioned time travel? I think that event hasn't happened yet from my perspective."

Kanagi frowns slightly. "It's somewhat far-fetched," she says. "Besides, you recognized me just now, didn't you?"

"Well… time travel again," I say. "I had this exact conversation with you once before. I was actually hoping you could tell me a bit more about what happened back then…"

"There is not much to tell," Kanagi says. "I ran across you in Endless Mirrors. As I recall, you were running from something. You were rambling about things I did not understand, and then suddenly said you had been attacked by aliens. You were worried about your other personality because she wasn't responding, so you asked me to check with my magic. Ah…"

She gasps suddenly.

"Come to think of it, I never mentioned my magic to you," she says. "But if that wasn't your first time meeting me, then it makes sense… at any rate, after confirming you were okay and fielding some complaints from Mel-kun who had suddenly appeared, I re-entered the Mirror Mansion alone."

Huh? She didn't mention that part last time. So Anna Mel was actually there too?

"Okay, so that's what happened," I muse. "Or will happen, I suppose… I guess you have no idea what happened between me and… Mel-kun… after that…"

Kanagi shakes her head. "She never mentioned you to me, not even once. I think that was just a few days before she… left this world."

"I see."

"Since you are here… would you like to assist me in my investigation?"

"Well, that would depend on the investigation."

"Lately, there have been strange rumours in town," Kanagi says. "I am tracking one in particular, and it led me to this planetarium."

"Well, I don't think I'd be much help with that, for a number of reasons," I say. "Sorry."

"I see… no matter," Kanagi says. "I can handle it on my own, anyway. That aside, it was a pleasant surprise running into you here. May we meet again."

"See you later."

After that, she moves away and activates the rumour just as she had last time. I transform and summon my feather robes as she steps up to face the rumour. Around that time, I also receive a telepathic missive from Tomomi.

«Lita! We're almost there!»

«We're inside the rumour's barrier already,» I respond.

Chihana and Tamura appear at about the same moment, interposing themselves between Kanagi and the rumour.

"Oh… so you must be the Wings of the Magius. Are you here to protect the rumour?" she asks. "Already getting tired of having them destroyed right under your noses, is that it?"

"In a nutshell!" Chihana declares. "We won't just let you do as you please!"

Right on cue, the rest of the team pops into the barrier – Tomomi, Manatsu, Chiyoko, Inui, and Hikari. Kanagi blinks in surprise at the seven black feathers facing her.

"Well… it appears you are smart enough to face me as a group," she says. "However, I will not be holding back, so if you find this hurts a little, you have only yourself to blame!"

The fight goes about the same as last time – none of them have even come close to mastering the chain techniques, with the exception of Inui, who is the last one standing as a result. Although, somehow they seem to hold out a little bit longer than before. I think one of them might have used their unique magic for some kind of buff.

Once it looks like Inui won't be able to continue much longer, I step forward.

"I think that'll do," I say.

"Oh? There were more of you?" Kanagi says. "Huh? Wait…"

"To be honest, I'm a little curious how well I could do against Miss Izumi," I admit. "But right now I'd rather not waste the magic. Let's stand down."

"Got it!" Inui says.

All the black feathers step aside and watch as Kanagi brings down the rumour. Once it's defeated, she turns to face us, staring for a few minutes before she finally speaks.

"So," she says. "You are with the Wings of the Magius, is that correct?"

"That would be correct," I say.

She narrows her eyes as she contacts me telepathically.

«I never thought we would become enemies the next time we met,» she says.

«To tell the truth, I also would've preferred not to face you,» I say.

«So… you've aligned yourself with that suspicious organization?»

«That depends on how you look at it,» I say. «At the very least, I agree with their goals.»

«Their goals certainly sound noble,» Kanagi says. «But I can't trust someone who won't share their methods.»

«Your concerns are probably warranted,» I reply. «It's not like I'm following them blindly… I'll wait and see what happens.»

I think I feel a strange sensation, like something trickling into my head. Is this what it feels like to be scanned by Kanagi's power? I'm not really sure… I might just be imagining it. I never got such a feeling when I was with Nisha Patel… though that might actually mean she never read my mind.

«I see, so you're investigating them in your own way,» Kanagi says. «Understood. Shall we exchange contact info? Perhaps we could swap information.»

I shoot Inui a quick question. «Do you know her contact info already?»

«Nagi-tan? No, I never got hers.»

Then I respond to Kanagi. «That's fine with me,» I say. «But how shall we exchange it? It doesn't seem good to do it in front of all these black feathers.»

«After I leave here, I could wait for you in the park across the street,» Kanagi says. «Will that be acceptable?»

«I think that works,» I agree.

"Well," she says out loud. "I'll let you go, this time."

And with that, she powers down and leaves. The rest of us also power down and desummon our robes, though Chiyoko and the Mitakihara trio hesitate for a moment before doing so.

"S-so um… now what?" Chiyoko asks nervously. "A-are we going to… to get in trouble?"

"I honestly have no idea," I say. "But really… there wasn't a whole lot we could've done against Miss Izumi…"

"Well but… w-why… didn't you help us?" Manatsu asks.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that," I say. "Actually, I thought it would be good for you to experience fighting another magical girl… though I also had things on my mind. I had an interesting conversation with her earlier."

"Oh… is that how it was?" Chihana says. "What did you talk about? I couldn't hear it from my hiding place."

"Well, long story short… we met once before, awhile ago," I say. "So we were talking about that. Alright… could I have a volunteer to report this to Miss Mifuyu?"

"Huh?" Chiyoko says. "Shouldn't you be the one to report it?"

"Normally I would, but… I just remembered something else I need to deal with," I say. "I could report it when I get back, but I figure it's better if she knows right away."

"Then it should probably be me who reports it!" Chihana says. "Because she'll probably give us a new rumour to guard, right? So then we'll have to go guard it right away, until the next shift."

"That's fine," I say. "Once Miss Mifuyu gives you the new rumour, be sure to pass the details on to the rest of us."

"Of course!" Chihana says.

"In that case, you're all dismissed."

I wait with Inui as the rest of them file out, one at a time so as to avoid drawing too much attention. Once they're all gone, Inui and I exit as well, and I almost immediately spot the park Kanagi mentioned. Heading over to it, I see her sitting on a bench. She looks up as I approach.

"I thought you said you didn't want your subordinates to know of this," she says, looking at Inui.

"Inui's an exception," I say.

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

"Izumi Kanagi. A pleasure."

"So wait, why are we meeting Nagi-tan when we just fought her?" Inui asks.

"Well, she offered her contact info," I say.

"Indeed, we could swap information," Kanagi says. "You are investigating the Wings of the Magius in your own way, aren't you?"

"Ah… I guess that's true," Inui says.

So we whip out our phones and tap them together. Then Kanagi gets to her feet.

"My shift starts soon, so I'll take my leave," she says.

"See you later!" Inui says.

And then she goes off. Once she's out of sight, Inui turns to me.

"So… what was the thing you suddenly remembered?" she asks.

"We're going to Matsumiya," I say.

"Ah… right," Inui says. "Okay, let's hope this works! I guess we stay the night there?"

I nod. "I think we'll probably have to."

"Then we should probably get going as soon as possible," Inui says. "Ah, and I should probably cancel our plans with Karin-chi and Rii-chan tomorrow…"

"Ah, right, we won't be around in the morning, for sure," I say. "And I'm not sure when we'll get back. Well, I'm sure they'll understand."

We head for the train station to catch a train to Matsumiya. As with Yukuni, there's no direct train, so we'll have to transfer at least once. Once we're on the train, Inui sends an email to Riko and Karin, then starts chattering to keep the conversation going. Since I'm lost in thought, apparently Ashley decides to surface to carry the conversation, though I don't think anything important comes up.

So the Friendship Ending Staircase and the Séance Shrine have already been defeated, as well as the Stardust Time Viewer. Madoka became a magical girl just the same as before, but this time I met the Coordinator of Tokyo myself. Since she has no relation to the events of the game, I think I can trust her quite a bit more than Mitama or Livia. Touka made her speech, and I had interesting chats with several people – Coeurl, Ryoko, and Kanagi… not to mention Pernelle and Shirin. There aren't any issues so far. Events aren't significantly deviating from the previous timeline, and there's nothing yet to suggest that Tamura's vision from the previous timeline will come true.

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.

Shirin Charmchi
شیرین چرمچی

Age: 21
Eye Colour: Grey
Hair Colour: Purple
Origins: Yazd, Iran
Symbol: Red hammer and sickle
Soul Gem: Red oval gemstone on her forehead
Element: Null
Weapon: Bowl and scalpel
Powers: Redirection, soul gem adjustment
Wish: "Everyone who watched and did nothing… make them feel the pain that me and my parents felt!"
Affiliation: Puella Care

Speed: 4
Magical Stamina: 6
Offensive Power: 0
Defensive Power: 4
Initial Power Usability: 2
Learned Powers: 2

Toyoda Tomiko
豊田富子

Age: 15
Eye Colour: Blue
Hair Colour: Green
Origins: Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, Japan
Symbol: Black quartered heart
Soul Gem: Deep green circular gemstone just above her navel
Element: Null
Weapon: Black-tipped arrows (no bow)
Powers: Nullification of emotions, soul gem adjustment
Wish: "Ugh, I just wanna be the anti-Cupid… gimme the power to end any relationship!"
Affiliation: Puella Care

Speed: 2
Magical Stamina: 5
Offensive Power: 1
Defensive Power: 2
Initial Power Usability: 0
Learned Powers: 2

Yuzuki Miu
柚希美羽

Age: 17
Eye Colour: Blue
Hair Colour: Blonde
Origins: Hokuyo Ward, Kamihama, Shinriku Prefecture, Japan
Symbol: Yellow cat head
Soul Gem: Circular yellow gemstone on her hat's tassel
Element: Fire
Weapon: Cat o' nine tails
Powers: Damage reflect
Wish: "I want my tormentors to feel for themselves all of the pain they've inflicted on me."

Speed: 5
Magical Stamina: 5
Offensive Power: 2
Defensive Power: 4
Initial Power Usability: 3
Learned Powers: 0 (unknown)

Yumemi Manatsu
夢海茉夏

Age: 13
Eye Colour: Brown
Hair Colour: Brown
Origins: Yukuni, Shinriku Prefecture, Japan
Symbol: Yellow eye
Soul Gem: Yellow horizontal oval gemstone on her belt
Element: Light
Weapon: War hammer
Powers: Strength boost, inspire aura
Wish: "I wish I could be a true hero someday."
Affiliation: Wings of the Magius (rank: Black Feather)

Speed: 6
Magical Stamina: 3
Offensive Power: 10
Defensive Power: 1
Initial Power Usability: 7
Learned Powers: 0 (unknown)

Doppel Corner

Whenever a new magical girl unleashes her doppel, I'll include a doppel description here. Note that most of these are direct quotes from the Magia Record game rather than being written by me; they are simply reproduced here for interest. I'll mark any original doppels with a dagger symbol (†).

Arzt Kochen (Asuka Yuuri)

The Doppel of devotion. Its form is a pastry bag. This Doppel forces anesthesia into anyone within range, then cuts out their injured parts and cooks them. Few things can endure this surgery, and as a result, she is incapable of saving anything, and despite her devotion, she is needed by no-one.

Nie Blühen Herzen (Anri Airi)

The Doppel of self-rejection. Its form is a defibrillator. The wounded heart of this Doppel wants to be healed, but no matter what she does, she only seems to accumulate more and more wounds. She flails around fruitlessly, shocking herself and everyone around her over and over again, yet still will not heal.

For no particular reason, I want to emphasize in this chapter that any particular resemblance to real people, whether living or dead, but especially living, should be thought of as a complete coincidence.

I also want to note that I'm terrible at accents and am not attempting to reproduce any actual real accent. I'm just fudging things so they sound a bit off, so it seems like some kind of accent without really being anything in particular. It's pretty similar to how I write Kyoko's dialogue for example, but at least there translation convention is in effect so you're probably (hopefully?) not expecting any chance of it representing a real accent. This is a bit different, but still not real. So yeah, don't expect that people from Paisley talk like that at all.

I also cut the section in the last chapter where Ashley asks Kyuubey about magical girls named Akemi. That was intended to be a response to hearing about Shirin's sponsor (which was initially going to be in chapter 90 before it expanded) but it accidentally ended up out-of-order. I'll probably include it in the next conversation Ashley has with Kyuubey.