The most startling and mysterious event in the history of the town is undoubtedly the sudden downfall of the Mikoshiba clan. Though there was little to no unrest during their reign as feudal lords in the middle Edo period, at least one person must have had a grudge against the family, for one morning every single one of them were found dead, even the branch families.

That left the region without a feudal lord at all, right up until the Meiji Restoration, when the Emperor granted formal lord status to the Matsuyama clan who had already been serving as the local government for many years.

Many have speculated on why the Mikoshiba clan could have suffered such a sudden downfall. They were on good terms with most of the other noble clans on the island, so it didn't seem likely that it had been a political assassination. The people of Matsumiya and the surrounding region also had no complaints about them. Suggestions of a foreign power getting involved were quickly ruled out – why would they choose the Mikoshiba of all people? With no logical explanation available, even more outlandish theories were proposed, such as the existence of a shadow organization guiding Japan from the shadows. But to this day, no-one knows the truth.

~Excerpt from "History of Matsumiya: The Town of Foxes amidst Pines"~
~by Hiroe Chinatsu~

Matsumiya looks pretty much like any other town or city. It's on the smaller side – from our vantage point at the top of the historic lighthouse, we can see the entire city laid out before us to the south. There are mountains beyond the city limits, but they're not as close as the mountains in Yukuni, which encroach right onto the edge of the town. As in Yukuni, there also aren't any skyscrapers here – the tallest building is probably four or five storeys high, and those are all clustered around the town centre. As Hoshiko said in the previous timeline, the dock area appears to be dedicated mostly to container shipping – I see at least three container ships being loaded or unloaded. There does seem to be a smaller dock to the west used by smaller ships, like fishing ships, but nothing that looks like a ferry, even passengers only.

"The view's really nice up here," Inui says. "The sea is so pretty!"

"You're right about that," I agree. "Though I'm more interested in the view of the city and surrounding area."

"Let's go to Matsumiya Shrine next," Inui says. "Maybe they have something about the Tokime there."

She points at the rather large shrine at the north edge of the town. Sure, it doesn't come close to the big shrines of mainland Japan, such as the famous Inari shrine in Fushimi, but it's bigger than any other shrine I've seen on this island, except for Mizuna. Admittedly, I haven't gone out of my way to search out shrines, but I've seen Mitakihara, Asunaro, and Kamihama from above, so if there was another large, prominent shrine like Mizuna or Matsumiya Shrine, I think I would've seen it. It's definitely larger than Hikarizuki Shrine.

"I don't think there's likely to be something at such a prominent shrine," I say.

"But you never know!" Inui says.

"It's also not what we came here for," I point out.

"Fine," Inui says. "But I still wanna go if we have time tomorrow."

Wondering if there's a chance of running into Chiharu today, I scry on her briefly. However, she's already in the Tokime village, so I guess we won't be seeing her. We descend the lighthouse and head back into town, heading for a traditional-style inn we'd found online that mentioned it had vacancies. It takes only a few minutes to check in, and we flop down on the futons with a sigh.

"Is she still okay?" Inui asks.

"Yeah," I say. "She was on patrol with her friends today, but they didn't find any witches."

"So it should be easy to find her tomorrow, right?" Inui says.

"I think so."

"Are they really the only magical girls in this town?" Inui asks. "It seems a bit big for just three…"

"All I know is they've never run into any other magical girls," I say. "At least not recently."

"Speaking of witches, I also haven't sensed anything since we arrived here," Inui says. "What are the chances there actually aren't any around?"

"Well, it's not like we've been all over the city," I say. "So I guess I'd say there's a… medium chance?"

"Hmm, okay," Inui says. "So we'll find those girls first thing tomorrow?"

"I think that should work," I say.

So after dinner and a bath, we climb under the futon and go to sleep.

We leave our rooms early for breakfast, which is served by the inn's owner. After checking out and paying the bill, a sum that makes Inui shriek in shock, I pause to briefly locate each of the three girls I'm looking for, and blink.

"Hey, Inui," I say. "You said you wanted to see the shrine, right?"

"Huh? Yeah," Inui says.

"Shall we go right now?"

"Sure but… weren't we going to find those three girls?" she asks.

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

"Oh," Inui say. "I get it. You used your magic, didn't you? So at least one of them must be at the shrine now."

"Though I have no idea how long she'll be there," I say.

"So let's hurry," Inui says.

We make our way across town to Matsumiya Shrine. It's set on a hill right at the edge of the built-up area, with dense forest filling in the space behind it. We climb up the stairs and step through the gate, looking around. Inui beckons me over to the basin, where we wash up before making for the main shrine. There's no sign of the Tokime emblem anywhere, but the usual lion dog statues guarding the shrine are replaced with fox statues. Inui claps her hands together to pray, flicking a ten yen coin in and ringing the bell, but I instead look around. There's a shrine maiden sweeping the yard with a straw broom. Another shrine maiden sits behind a kiosk that sells charms, yawning. Besides us, the two of them are the only ones around. Both of them have plain black hair.

«One of them is a magical girl,» Inui notes. «The one sweeping, right?»

«Yeah, seems like it,» I say.

However, I approach the kiosk instead.

"Ah, good morning," the girl says. "How may I help you?"

"I was just wondering if you have anything like a pamphlet or something on the history of this shrine," I say.

"And I'd like a charm for love!" Inui adds.

"Right away!" the girl says.

She picks out the indicated charm, and Inui hands her a coin in exchange. Then the girl reaches for a stack of pamphlets beside her, offering one of them to me.

"Regarding the pamphlet, we do have a basic overview right here," the girl continues. "If you're really interested though, you should check the local library. I especially recommend History of Matsumiya: The Town of Foxes amidst Pines, by Hiroe Chinatsu."

Huh… a relative of Chiharu, I assume? I wonder what the relationship is there. I don't even know the publishing date, so she could be a great-grandmother for all I know.

"Thank you very much," I say.

At that moment, the other shrine maiden runs over.

"Onee-chan, I'm finished!" she says. "Got anything else for me?"

"Not at the moment," the older girl says. "Your friends should be here pretty soon, right? Why don't you go and get changed?"

"Alright!"

"The two of you are sisters?" I say.

It's the younger one who responds.

"Yes, our father is the head priest here," she says. "I'm Tsukimachi Kotone. It's nice to meet you!"

Then she adds a telepathic follow-up.

«It's the first time I've met a magical girl other than Hoshi-chan and Mayu-chan,» she says. «Um… just checking but… you're not here to, you know…? Kyuubey says magical girls like to get into fights a lot…»

"Itsumi Inui, nice to meet you too!" Inui says.

"I'm Ashley Taylor."

I also add a telepathic response.

«Don't worry, we're really just visiting,» I say. «But I'm a little surprised you identified us so easily.»

«Well, I could sense your magic,» she says. «Isn't that normal?»

«When we're not even transformed? It's a little unusual.»

«Huh…»

I open up the pamphlet the elder sister handed me and scan through it, but there doesn't seem to be any mention of the Tokime clan. There is however a mention of Kuzunoha – in fact, apparently the shrine is specifically dedicated to her and to Abe no Seimei. Essentially, what that means is that Kuzunoha and Seimei are the gods revered at this shrine. A Shinto shrine can be dedicated to pretty much anything, often a god, sometimes a historical figure, so that in itself is not especially surprising, but…

"So this shrine was built for Kuzunoha," I say. "If you think about it, that seems really out-of-place on the surface, doesn't it?"

"You mean because this place was only founded many centuries after Abe no Seimei, right?" the elder sister says. "But I'm sure our ancestors must've been revering those two long before they migrated here…"

"I suppose that could be the case, but… why is there no mention of the Tokime clan in here?"

The two sisters exchanged glances.

"Why would you expect such a thing?" the elder sister asks.

"Because there's a connection between the Tokime and Kuzunoha, isn't there?"

"W-where did you hear that!?" Kotone gasps.

"Well, I happened to meet a girl who said she's distantly related to the Tokime clan," I say. "She heard about it from her grandfather."

The elder sister sighs. "I see, so you heard it from a branch family… you're right, there is a connection, but it's not widely known."

"From the way you say that, it almost sounds like you're a branch family too," I say.

"Well, more or less," the elder sister says. "That's why the first kanji in our surname is 'woman', as a reference to the Tokime."

"Ehh? I actually didn't know that was the reason," Kotone says. "That's kinda cool. Like we're the Tokime of the pine forests…"

"Kotone-chan!"

Apparently we'd been talking long enough for Kotone's friends to arrive. Hoshiko is easily recognizable with her sky blue hair. The other girl has flaming red hair.

"Oh gosh, I forgot to get changed!" Kotone gasps. "Just a minute you two! I'll be right back!"

She runs off somewhere while the other two girls step up to greet the elder sister.

"Good morning, Miss Shion," the red-haired girl says.

"Good morning, Mayumi-chan, Hoshiko-chan," Shion replies. "Sorry for the wait, we got talking with these two."

"No, that's quite alright," Mayumi says. "It's not like we're in a hurry."

I use my clairvoyance to get a close look at Mayumi's soul gem. It's probably about sixty percent corrupted, maybe even more. Hoshiko's soul gem is at least forty percent, and Kotone's is about as bad as Hoshiko's. In other words, it seems like the three of them aren't doing all too well at all when it comes to grief seeds.

"I'd definitely like to go to the library and find that book," Inui says. "I don't know much about the history of this area after all… but since the Tokime village was supposed to be in the mountains near here, I bet there's a lot of interesting history."

"Tokime village?" Hoshiko says. "Is that really true? I've never heard that before."

"Ah, it's probably not widely known," Inui admits. "I mean, it's not that close, but I think Matsumiya's the nearest large town… or it might be a bit closer to Yukuni, I'm not sure. It was actually found from satellite footage originally… the ruins of an old village."

"Oh… it's just the ruins," Hoshiko says.

"Even if it's just ruins, it's kinda cool," Mayumi says. "By the way, I'm Matsuyama Mayumi, nice to meet you!"

"Itsumi Inui, nice to meet you!"

"I'm Ashley Taylor."

"Oh right, I'm… Kobayashi Hoshiko. Please just call me Hoshiko."

Kotone returns at that moment, now in casual clothes.

"Alright, I'm ready!" she says. "Where shall we go first?"

"Why don't we show Miss Itsumi and Miss Taylor the way to the library?" Mayumi suggests.

"Oh, that's a good idea," Kotone says. "They were looking for a book on the history of this shrine…"

"Are you sure it's okay showing us around?" I ask.

"Yeah, it's fine!" Kotone says.

"The library just happens to be on the way," Mayumi says.

It's also helpful in that I'll be nearby if Mayumi's soul gem suddenly gets worse.

"Then we'd be grateful for the assistance," I say.

So the five of us descend the steps from the shrine and head towards the city centre.

"By the way," Kotone says. "Did the two of you notice? Miss Itsumi and Miss Taylor are both magical girls too."

"Really!?" Mayumi says. "I didn't notice at all…"

"I was wondering if they were," Hoshiko says.

"It's not like we were trying to hide it," Inui says.

"Does Miss Shion know you're a magical girl?" I ask.

"No, not yet," Kotone says. "Honestly, I don't really want onee-chan to know, but I'll have to tell her soon… after all, I made my wish for her sake."

"Huh?" Mayumi says. "Didn't you wish to support us?"

"Yes, but the reason I made a wish at all was to support onee-chan," Kotone says. "Just by becoming a magical girl, I can free onee-chan from the ties that bind her… so it's kinda like I cheated and got two wishes out of it, isn't it?"

"Well, I don't think there's anything wrong with that," I say.

"Does that mean those ties will bind you instead, though?" Inui asks.

Kotone blinks. "Huh? How did you guess? But I don't mind if they do… I really, really love the shrine."

"Are you saying you'll be able to inherit the shrine instead of Miss Shion, just because you're a magical girl?" Hoshiko asks.

"That's what Dad said," Kotone says.

"Wait, your father knows about magical girls?" Mayumi says.

"No… not exactly," Kotone says. "It's more like old myths and legends about magical girls. He said the only thing that could convince him not to hand the shrine to onee-chan would be the appearance of a diviner… and according to Kyuubey, that's just an old term for a magical girl. I don't think he knows anything about what it actually means to be a magical girl."

"Hey, do you sense that?" Mayumi says suddenly.

"Yeah, I was about to mention it too," Kotone says.

"Oh… the first witch I've sensed since we came here," Inui says. "So there are a few left still…"

"Huh?" I say. "This witch… it sort of feels familiar…"

"Do you mind if we take a little detour…?" Kotone asks.

"Of course not," Inui says. "Let's go!"

We start chasing the witch through the city. It's constantly on the move and keeps running away, but we gain on it bit by bit. We see several people who have been kissed by the witch as we track it. The emblem looks like a flaming girl standing beneath a shrine gate. I haven't seen that emblem anywhere before though, so I'm not sure how the witch's magic could feel familiar.

Finally, after almost forty minutes of tracking, we find the witch's labyrinth, marked by that same emblem. The Matsumiya trio all transform immediately, Hoshiko donning the familiar armour we saw in the previous timeline.

Kotone's outfit is something akin to a medieval European nobleman, with loose black breeches, a green tail coat with blue collar and yellow trim worn over a mostly-hidden white shirt, and a matching tricorn cap. On her feet are white stockings and black high-heeled men's dress shoes. Her soul gem is a purple diamond serving as a brooch at her chest, set on what looks something like a pale green tie. Her hair is tied into a ponytail with a yellow ribbon, and she grips an actual lute in her hands.

Mayumi's outfit makes her look like a demon lord, with a basic black shirt baring her midriff and a short black wrap skirt as the basic underlying outfit. There's a red flame mark on her skin on her navel's left. Over her shirt she wears a red shawl or something, which covers only her right breast, and over that she wears some ornate golden jewellery. Over the skirt she wears something like a cape that flows out from her waist down to mid-thigh. From the back it's a deep red, but when she turns to face me I can see the orange and yellow patterning which, combined with the cape's shape, makes it look like an actual fire. She also has a loose belt composed from gold segments, golden wing-like ornaments fixed just below her shoulder, and golden bracers. Two horns appear on her head, reminding me of a ram's horns but in a different orientation, with a golden ring affixed to the right horn. A golden diadem set between the horns bears her soul gem, a red teardrop, and her feet are clothed in black boots with a gold rim atop black thigh-high stockings with golden hem. The only thing not demon-lord-like about her is her weapon, which is a recurve bow of dark wood, with white cloth wrapping at the grip point bordered by gold rings. A single bell is attached to the base of the bow staff, of the same style as those found in a Shinto shrine. The top is carved into the shape of a crow's head.

As they hop into the barrier, Inui and I transform and follow them. Mayumi groans.

"As I thought, it's this witch again," she says. "We've been fighting nothing but this witch for the past week… what the heck is going on!?"

Even though the witch's magic feels familiar, I don't recognize the labyrinth. It's a maze of shrine gates winding through an endless darkness. Beyond the edge of the gates is a steep cliff with magma at the bottom, so even though we could technically leave the path, it would be dangerous to attempt it.

However, the familiars I have seen before. Broadly speaking, they look like kagura dancers, complete with bell wands, only rather than holding the wand in their hand, it is the hand. They also lack a head entirely and instead possess a pair of eyes on their chests. These are the familiars that attacked us when we visited the Tokime village, which means that this witch must be… what was her name again…? I remember it was German, and had the same meaning as the Mikoshiba name… oh right! This witch must be Heilig Brennmägdchen.

I guess Matsumiya is somewhat close to the Tokime village, so it could make sense for offshoot witches to reach here, but I also thought the Tokime witch was more or less dormant, so I'm surprised there are offshoot witches at all… unless they're here because of the turmoil in the Tokime village? But I'm pretty sure it's too early for that…

Mayumi fires a volley of flaming arrows, destroying one familiar with each shot. Kotone and Hoshiko stay back, with Kotone using ice spears to destroy any familiar that gets past me, Inui, and Mayumi. When one familiar manages to evade the ice spear, Hoshiko's drone fires some sort of beam at it, which causes it to screech and flail. Though the beam doesn't seem to do much damage, it gives a good opening for Kotone to finish it off.

Once the first wave of familiars is defeated, we pause for breath, and Inui starts questioning them.

"How often have you encountered this witch?" Inui asks.

"This is the fourth time, I think," Mayumi says.

"I'd say you're lucky you're finding any witches at all," I say. "I bet this witch has some reason to ignore the enticing scent to the south and come here instead… perhaps it's attracted to Matsumiya Shrine."

"Hmm? Why would you say that?" Mayumi asks.

"Well, this is the witch of the Mikoshiba," I say. "It's hundreds of years old."

Kotone gasps. "Y-you don't mean…! The Tokime clan!?"

"Yes, the original witch is controlled by the Tokime clan," I say. "I guess some of the familiars got away and matured… and perhaps they have a strong reason to come here instead of Kamihama."

"Wait… how would you even know any of this?" Kotone asks.

"Well… it's a long story, so I don't think I have time to tell it all in the middle of a witch's labyrinth," I say. "Even if I wanted to…"

"Oh right, come to think of it, I should do my thing," Kotone says.

She grips her lute and strums a chord. Pink witch runes pop out of Hoshiko's body, listing what appear to be stats. Each stat is given by a two- or three-letter abbreviation – HP for health, MAG for magic, SPD for speed, STA for stamina, ATK for attack, DEF for defense. I'd expect HP and maybe MAG to have a current and max value, but they each only have one number displayed, so I'm not sure whether that's current or max. MAG also just might not be what I think it is, as if it were I would've expected it to be abbreviated as MP. Hoshiko's stats are HP 1000, MAG 6, SPD 2, STA 4, ATK 15, DEF 4. However, as I watch, Kotone prods the SPD number and it goes up to 4, turning gold at the same time. A moment later, the updated stats are sucked back into Hoshiko's body.

"Huh, so you boosted her speed?" I say.

"What? How could you tell?" Kotone asks.

"I mean, you touched the 2 next to speed and it turned into a 4, so…"

"Y-you can read these symbols!?" Kotone gasps. "I only figured out what each one meant through trial and error… say, do you know what the second one is? I could never figure it out…"

"I don't know exactly what it is," I say. "But it's M, A, G, so probably something to do with magic. Why don't you try boosting that one for Miss Matsuyama?"

"Ah, well… sure, I guess," she says.

She steps over to Mayumi and strums the lute again. Mayumi's stats are HP 1000, MAG 2, SPD 7, STA 6, ATK 9, DEF 4.

"Speaking of which, do you know what the fourth one does?" I ask.

"It seems to hold back grief accumulation somehow," Kotone says. "Since Mayumi-chan uses a lot more magic than the two of us, I usually boost it for her."

"That sounds almost too good to be true," Inui says.

"I'll try the second one instead, this time," Kotone says. "Since it sounds like it's also related to magic…"

She taps the number, and the 2 changes to a 6 and turns gold. Then the updated stats are sucked back into Mayumi's body.

"Mind if I do you two as well?" Kotone asks.

"Go right ahead," I say.

She steps up to me and strums her lute once more, drawing out my stats. Apparently, my stats are HP 1000, MAG 12, SPD 2, STA 4, ATK 8, DEF 5. Ignoring HP, that seems to be exactly double the numbers that Noriko saw in my stats, so it seems like the last four correspond to the same stats that Noriko measures, but MAG seems to have a different meaning not reflected in her read-out. As for HP, I now wonder if it's actually a percentage rather than an absolute value… or I guess a per mille, since it's a thousand rather than a hundred. Kotone boosts my speed to 4 and stamina to 6, so I resolve to keep a close eye on my soul gem to see if it really does what she claims. My soul gem was about ten percent corrupted already, and it looks like perhaps that has been reduced to around five to eight percent with the boost, but I'm not sure if that's actually a good thing or not.

"I'm fine with it too," Inui says.

Kotone strums her lute again, drawing out Inui's stats: HP 1000, MAG 4, SPD 4, STA 6, ATK 7, DEF 2. She taps DEF and boosts it to 6, and also boosts MAG to 6. Then she strums one last time to draw out her own stats: HP 1000, MAG 14, SPD 3, STA 11, ATK 3, DEF 5. The speed and attack scores are already gold, which I'm guessing is an indication that they've already been boosted, but she taps them and doubles their value.

"Your speed and attack were already boosted?" I ask.

"Yeah, if I don't boost them then I'm completely useless in battle," Kotone says. "It lasts several hours, so I usually boost them first thing in the morning in case I have an unexpected encounter."

"What's the base value, then?" I ask.

"One and zero, respectively…"

"Um… if attack is zero, what do your ice spears do?" I ask.

"Not much," Kotone says. "I can't seem to form them into a sharp point if I don't boost my attack. I guess they'd hurt if you were hit by one, but at least on a witch or familiar they don't really have any effect at all."

A new wave of familiars appears at that moment, so we step forward to face them. In addition to my soul gem, I keep an eye on Mayumi's as we progress deeper and deeper into the labyrinth. The cliffs grow shorter as we go, bringing us ever closer to the glowing magma at the bottom. I leave my sword stored away, attacking mainly with the beam from my Teddy Drones, and an occasional Glittering Gunk. Whenever Mayumi or Inui get injured by a stray shot from the familiars, Kotone uses her stat editing magic to restore their HP to 1000, which seems like a confirmation of my theory that it's a percentage rather than an absolute value.

"You know, it feels like I'm not using as much magic as I should be," Mayumi says.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"Ah, that was a confusing way to say it," she says. "If I use a certain amount of magic, I get a certain amount of corruption in my soul gem, right? I've gotten a pretty good handle on how that works since I became a magical girl, even before I met Kotone-chan. When she boosts my stamina, it doesn't really change how much corruption I accumulate, but you said she experimented with boosting something else this time, right? It feels like I'm actually accumulating less corruption for the same amount of magic…"

"Hmm… maybe it's something like magical efficiency?" I suggest. "I'm just guessing here…"

"By the way, how long have you three been magical girls?" Inui asks.

"Mayumi-chan's been at this the longest," Kotone says. "How long has it been, again?"

"More than a year," Mayumi says. "I think I made my contract in… February of last year?"

"For me it's only been two months," Kotone says.

"Four months for me," Hoshiko says. "For awhile I just dragged Mayumi-chan down, but we managed to work out a combined fighting style eventually."

We continued descending into the depths of the labyrinth, destroying the familiars as we go, until the path becomes almost level with the magma. There's a final corridor of shrine gates leading to a large open area, but this last pathway is literally on fire.

"Ugh, this is the worst thing about this witch," Mayumi groans. "The flaming corridor right before we get to the actual witch…"

"I guess that fire really burns, right?" Inui says. "So we can't touch it or go near it…"

"Of course it does," Mayumi says.

"It's alright, I can protect us with a barrier," Kotone says.

She strums her lute, and ice spreads out from her feet, building up an archway that passes beneath the flaming shrine gates, forming a buffer between the flames and the walkway.

"Perfect!" Inui says. "Let's go!"

We hurry down the icy corridor. I can see the flames are already melting the ice, so if we were to take our time we'd be once more exposed to them. Finally we exit the corridor onto a wide, flat area leading up to a huge cliff. The cliff seems to be one of the early walkways, as I can just barely see shrine gates at the top. The witch herself is settled right at the base of the cliff, motionless, looking for all the world like an actual shrine altar.

"Hey… it looks like there's actually a shortcut to get to the witch," I say. "See? Up there is one of the pathways, maybe even one we passed through."

"But that's a huge drop," Kotone says doubtfully.

"We can't assume every instance of this witch has a shortcut like that, either," Mayumi points out.

"Ah, that's true," I admit. "Even if they're the same witch, the configuration of the labyrinth would be different… it's still something you could consider if you face this witch again, though. Even if it's a huge drop, I don't think it would be a problem for a magical girl."

"I suppose I could boost everyone's defense," Kotone says. "And heal any damage afterwards."

Then she strums her lute, drawing out the witch's stats: HP 1000, MAG 0, SPD 1, STA 0, ATK 8, DEF 9. The two zeroes are red instead of pink.

"Are those two stats normally zero?" I ask.

"For witches?" Kotone says. "I've only ever seen them to be zero, yes, and I can't edit them. I'm not sure why, though."

My soul gem seems to be fine, maybe around fifteen percent corrupted. It's about the amount I'd expect based on how much magic I've used – I used my beam attack quite a bit fighting the familiars, and that takes a lot of magic.

Kotone taps the witch's stats, reducing HP to 500, ATK to 4, and DEF to 5.

"Come to think of it, are there limits on how much you can change stats?" I ask.

"Yeah, the minimum is half the base value, rounded up, and I can't boost anything over ten," Kotone says. "Except for life which maxes out at a thousand."

"But ten isn't actually the maximum possible," I muse.

"Right, sometimes stats have a base value over ten," Kotone says. "When that happens I can't alter them at all, even to reduce them. So far I've only seen that on magical girls though – just myself and Hoshiko-chan, before today."

"Huh…"

Suddenly the witch heaves, then upends herself and unfolds, towering over us. Mayumi steps forward, and Inui and I join her. The witch spews out a torrent of water, but Kotone raises a barrier of ice to deflect it. The water lands on the surrounding magma and is instantly converted to slightly yellowish steam which starts to waft towards us.

"Uhh… that doesn't seem good," I say. "It's bad enough that the water attack is acidic, but turning that into acidic steam… isn't that even worse?"

"Don't worry!" Hoshiko says. "If I deploy a nullification zone, it'll dissipate."

"That sounds like something that would interfere with us as well," I point out.

"It does, but just stay away from the edges and you should be fine," Hoshiko says.

She directs her drone to make a circuit of the area, depositing something along the edge. Sure enough, as she claimed, the yellowish steam seems to fade out after it enters the border region. While Mayumi and Kotone pelt the witch with flaming arrows and ice spears respectively, and Inui unleashes torrents of pink flame, I decide to summon Teddy Mk II to charge an ultimate attack. For some reason or other, Kotone's stats display for the witch is still visible, and the HP value seems to go down very slowly. Even after surviving a rain of arrows, it's still at 492. I guess that means this witch is on the stronger side. It also implies that Kotone's magic is actually quite powerful, to be able to reduce it to half in a single move. The witch is also surprisingly agile, so only about half of the missiles actually strike her, which certainly doesn't help.

Once I'm satisfied with the amount of magic charged up, I unleash my attack.

"Ultimate Teddy Glittering Gunk!"

The charm magic makes the witch stop in its tracks. The timing was particularly good, as she was about to fire off a second jet of water, but as my magic hits her, she stops and twists and turns a bit, as if looking around in confusion. Thanks to that, nearly every attack from the others finds its mark. Meanwhile, I start summoning teddy drones for another attack, sending them zooming around to surround the witch in three dimensions, spaced out on the surface of a sphere, like the corners of the pattern on a soccer ball. Just as the witch recovers from the charm magic, I unleash the second attack.

"Great Teddy's Ionic Bombardment!"

All the drones open fire at the same time, and the witch starts flailing at them, trying to swat them away like flies. This means there's still a great opening for Inui and the others to land further hits. The HP number floating next to her now reads 406.

"Are you ready yet, Hoshiko-chan!?" Kotone shouts.

Like me, Hoshiko has been charging up an attack of her own. Come to think of it, ever since she deployed that nullification zone, I haven't seen her drone anywhere… did it actually disappear? Or… did it blast off into orbit?

"At least… two more minutes, I think!" Hoshiko says. "But more is better, if possible…"

I decide to leap directly into the fray, using Teddy Mk II as a platform to leap off and flip over the witch, attacking from behind with my sword. Now facing enemies from both directions, the witch seems momentarily confused at how to react, but soon she decides to focus on me first. I dodge the acid jet, though a few drops land on my costume, eating tiny holes through the fabric. Then I charge in low and attack her legs, causing her to topple over and preventing her from dodging the other girls' missiles as effectively. The HP number still floating beside her now reads 378, so between my attacks and those she couldn't dodge because of me, I guess this has had a quite significant effect.

"We're doing better than usual!" Kotone says. "Probably because of the extra people… maybe you can attack a bit earlier, Hoshiko-chan!"

"A-alright," Hoshiko says. "But even then, I need at least twenty more seconds…"

I hop back and summon several teddy drones. The witch seems to recognize them and tries to swat them down, but I have them dodge and fire their beams, then jump in to attack the swatting limb with my sword. A moment later, Hoshiko screams out her attack.

"Star Power Ultimate Strike!"

As I'd suspected, it's a lot like Kazusa Michiru's ultimate attack. A blinding white beam descends down from the heavens, popping the labyrinth open and precisely striking the witch. I see the HP number fall from 356 to 23 in one fell swoop, and the magma, cliffs, and shrine gates all around us vanish completely as the labyrinth collapses, depositing us back into the alleyway where we found it. We're now in a very unusual situation, facing a witch while in the real world. Other than Walpurgisnacht, I think this is the first time I've seen it. Alexandra was finished off by Kazumi's beam attack, after all.

"O-oh no, I should've charge more after all!" Hoshiko moans.

"N-no worries, we just have to finish it off!" Kotone says. "We're almost there!"

"Look at me!" Inui shouts.

The witch, who had looked like she was about to fire another water jet, stops her attack. Kotone strums her lute to draw out her and Mayumi's stats, boosting both their attack scores to 10.

"Let's finish it in one shot, Mayumi-chan!" she says.

Forming a spear out of ice, Kotone jumps in close to stab the witch. At the same time, Mayumi nocks a flaming arrow and draws the bow, letting it fly just after Kotone's attack lands. It strikes the witch squarely in the centre, the flames spreading across her body. The witch's HP counter is now at 1, so I swing down my sword and finish her off.

"Is there a reason you didn't max out attack from the start?" I ask.

"Yes," Kotone says, bending down to retrieve the grief seed. "The duration and the amount boosted are inversely proportional."

"So if you boost it more, it doesn't last as long?"

Kotone nods. "Boosting myself to 10 would only last about five minutes," she says. "For Mayumi-chan it'll last all day, but the difference between 9 and 10 isn't huge so I usually don't bother."

"What about the boosts you did on Inui and me?" I ask.

"I think they should wear off around lunchtime," Kotone says.

She turns to offer Mayumi the grief seed. The other girl takes it gratefully and uses it to purify her soul gem. The other two then proceed to purify theirs as well. So I guess that means the tragedy here has been averted, at least for now. We all power down and resume our course to the library. After helping Inui and I find the book in question, the others leave to patrol for witches, promising they'll be back later to pick us up for lunch.

The book doesn't mention anything about the Tokime, but it's interesting nonetheless. Apparently Matsumiya was the third area of the island to be settled, after Mitakihara and Souma, where Kamihama now stands. It had once been the hub of activity between the mainland and Shinriku, but when Asunaro was built during the Meiji Restoration, it mostly took over that role, so Matsumiya stopped growing and never reached the size of the other cities. The shrine was founded before the city though, and was probably the reason this location was originally chosen as a port of call. During the Edo period it had been ruled by the Mikoshiba clan, but at some point, the entire family was apparently killed in their sleep by unknown assailants, leaving no known descendants. I know that Hiroe Chiharu is a descendant, though, so I guess there were some unknown ones. I suppose that also must've happened after the downfall of the Tokime clan. Maybe it was even engineered by one of the Tokime clan as revenge? I'm not sure if that can even fit…

Just to be on the safe side, I check my soul gem every so often, but it doesn't budge from the roughly thirty percent the fight against Heilig Brennmägdchen left me at. Time flies, and before I realize it the trio have come back to see how we're doing.

"How'd it go?" Kotone asks.

"Ah, it's very interesting!" Inui says eagerly. "I never knew this area had such a history…"

"Would you like to join us for lunch?" Kotone asks.

"Sure, I think we're basically done here."

They take us to a local family restaurant. It's nothing special, but the food is good enough. Halfway through the meal I suddenly notice that, for no apparent reason, my soul gem is now about thirty-five corrupted.

"Miss Tsukimachi… has your magic worn off of me yet?" I ask.

"Oh, I think it should've worn off a few minutes ago," Kotone says. "It's not active right now… I can tell."

"It looks like my soul gem got noticeably darker when it wore off," I say.

"Huh? That's never happened to me though," Kotone says. "Or any of the others… right?"

"No, I never saw that happen," Hoshiko says.

"I think I might've noticed it once or twice," Mayumi says.

"Hmm… have you ever boosted Miss Hoshiko's stamina?" I ask.

"Ah, no, because she doesn't use a lot of magic when we fight," Kotone says. "It's just an occasional nullification, and then her final strike."

"I'm thinking maybe you should stop boosting it," I say. "Even though it looks like it got darker, I don't really feel any different, but… what if my soul gem had been almost completely blackened?"

"Ohh, I think I get it," Inui says. "Is stamina something like… the size of your grief container? So if you make it bigger, you can fit more grief in… but then when the boost wears off… if the container's already almost full…" She gasps. "Ah! It would overflow and you'd witch out…!"

Yeah, I think Inui might be on the right track. I bet that's why Mayumi turned into a witch in the last timeline. It wasn't just pure chance – it was an accident caused by Kotone's unusual magic.

"You'd what?" Hoshiko says.

Inui blinks, suddenly realizing what she'd said.

"Ah! F-forget I said anything…"

"No, I want to know what you meant…?" Hoshiko says. "What does a witch have to do with this?"

Inui and I exchange glances.

«Should we tell them?» Inui wonders.

«It's really hard to say,» I reply. «Miss Hoshiko can probably handle it, as she survived last time after finding out. Miss Tsukimachi might be okay too, as she only died trying to defeat the witch, and it sounded like she was at least somewhat clear-headed… but I have no idea how Miss Matsuyama would take it…»

«Well, I think it'd be tough to hide it now that I let it slip,» Inui says. «Let's give it a shot… if it goes bad we can save the bodies and grief seeds, right?»

«That's true,» I say. «At the very least, it doesn't seem like they'd be the types to go crazy like Miss Tomoe.»

«Ah, right, I forgot that was one of the options,» Inui says. «The information from the last timeline doesn't give any clues towards that, either… but okay, let's try it.»

"Well, it's about what happens when the soul gem darkens," Inui explains. "If it fills up, it turns into a grief seed, and a new witch is born."

"You're kidding," Mayumi says flatly.

"I've seen it happen myself," Inui says. "You can also ask Kyuubey if you don't believe me."

"You're saying even Sir Kyuubey knows about this?" Kotone asks.

"Yes, he does," Inui says. "In fact, it's actually intentional on his part."

"You're saying that Kyuubey tricked us?" Mayumi says.

"That's about it, yes," Inui says.

"Well, I guess we should be a bit more careful in the future," Kotone muses. "If I turned into a witch, I wouldn't be able to free onee-chan…"

"You really believe this, Kotone-chan?" Mayumi gasps.

"Hmm… well, Miss Taylor knew a lot about my family's secret history, so I think I can trust her and Miss Itsumi on this matter," Kotone says.

I don't quite get how those two things are related, but if it helps her to trust me, then I guess it's a good thing.

"Huh? Secret history?" Hoshiko speaks up. "Is this something you haven't even told us?"

"Well, I didn't really see a need to?" Kotone says. "It's nothing much, really… just that our family is descended from the Tokime clan…"

"That's pretty big though!" Hoshiko says.

"It might be big in a certain sense, but I don't think it has much effect on the present day," Kotone says.

"Actually, it could make quite a big difference soon," I say. "I bet Miss Hiroe will come to recruit you when she returns."

"Huh?" Kotone says. "How do you know Miss Hiroe?"

"Oh, so you know her too?" I say. "Hiroe Chiharu?"

Kotone nods. "We were classmates last year," she says. "We're in different classes now, but we still attend the same school. I did hear she'd been absent but I never really thought anything of it…"

"She's absent because she was summoned to the hidden Tokime village," I say.

"Huh… I never realized it was still active," Kotone says. "Wait, wasn't it supposed to be in ruins?"

"That's sort of like an illusion to throw people off in case they accidentally stumble in," I say.

"Oh, that makes sense," Kotone says.

"Just a minute here!" Mayumi says angrily, banging her fists on the table. "How can you just push aside the witch issue so easily!?"

"Well, to be honest, I'm not all that surprised," Kotone says. "It probably comes with being a descendant of the Tokime… all sorts of legends of the Tokime diviners have been passed down within my family. They never stated anything about turning into a witch, but they did hint at a bad end for diviners… it was so similar to something I read from Nietzsche that I sorta figured it might mean magical girls can turn into witches. I just didn't know what the trigger would be…"

"…you actually spent time reading Nietzsche?" I say.

"I read basically anything I can find," Kotone says. "I just love reading. I think I've already read every single book in the public library."

I guess that explains how she was able to help us find the book on Matsumiya's history so quickly.

"What is this quote we're referring to?" Inui asks. "I have no idea who this Nietzsche even is."

"I don't know the exact quote either," I say. "I just know he's a German philosopher…"

"He who fights with monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster," Kotone quotes. "And if you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."

"So just because you read some foreign philosopher and some old legends, you already suspected it?" Mayumi says. "And you never thought to mention it to me!?"

"What would I have said?" Kotone says. "I did consider asking Kyuubey, but I assumed it was an unintentional effect of the contract so Kyuubey might not know about it…"

"It's not unintentional," I say. "It's the entire point of the contract. Kyuubey's goal is specifically to create witches. That said, even if it was unintentional, Kyuubey's been making magical girls for thousands of years. There's no way it wouldn't know about any side-effects."

"And how can you all be so calm about this!?" Mayumi says. "Hoshiko-chan, why don't you say something?"

"Eh? Me?" Hoshiko says. "It doesn't make any difference to me. My life is much better since I became a magical girl. If that means I'll become a witch someday, at least I'll have lived to the fullest before that day comes… which I wouldn't've been able to do if I hadn't become a magical girl."

"Come to think of it, you never did tell us what you wished for," Mayumi says. "Why is that?"

"That's… I just don't want to tell you," Hoshiko says.

"I think our wishes are a very private thing," I say. "It's not something you should be forced to tell someone else. Especially when you're of the null element like Miss Hoshiko."

"So you're really okay with the witch thing?" Mayumi says.

"Not really," Hoshiko says. "But it can't be helped. I'm already a magical girl."

"Besides, even if I become a witch one day, all the good I've done will never be erased," Kotone says.

"W-whoa, what's with the Tokime and that attitude?" I wonder. "I've heard that exact line from another descendant of the Tokime… and I heard it was a common sentiment among the Tokime diviners…"

"Ah… is that so?" Kotone says. "Well, I'm sure there's a good reason for it, though. Isn't it a nice thought? Even if one day I become a horrible monster, and you have to kill me to stop me from wreaking havoc on the town, that doesn't undo any of the good I did up until then. My mark is already left on the world, however small a mark it is."

"That… I guess you have a point," Mayumi admits. "Maybe it's not such a big deal after all… come to think of it, I guess it means we just need to make sure we have enough grief seeds?"

"Right, so getting back to the original topic," I say. "I think it might be dangerous to boost the stamina level, but from what I saw today, doesn't boosting magic have a pretty similar effect? Why not try boosting that instead?"

Kotone nods. "I see what you mean," she says. "I'll try that strategy in our future battles."

"And as for right now, I wanna have a chat with Kyuubey," Mayumi mutters.

"You called, Matsuyama Mayumi?"

Kyuubey hops up onto the table and turns to face her. Mayumi glares at it.

"You little rat…! Is it true that we turn into witches?"

"Did you hear that from Itsumi Inui or Ashley Taylor?" Kyuubey says. "I am not sure what exactly they told you, but it is true that magical girls turn into witches."

"How dare you trick us!?" Mayumi says.

"I did not trick you," Kyuubey says.

"You didn't tell us about that part!" Mayumi says.

"You did not ask," Kyuubey says. "Why is it that, when humans make an error of judgement, they attempt to lay the blame on the other party?"

"Urgh…!" Mayumi says.

Then Kyuubey turns to face me.

"Ashley Taylor," it says. "I believe you were asking about a particular magical girl."

I blink at it. Oh, is this about Eris or something?

"After searching the central database, a reference to a magical girl identified as Eris was uncovered," Kyuubey says. "However, the record is incomplete."

"Huh? Why would it be incomplete?" I ask.

"That is unknown," Kyuubey says. "However, I have a hypothesis. The magical girl identified as Eris may have a way to interfere even in our systems."

Wait, so Eris can actually hack the Incubator databases!? Even Touka wasn't quite able to do that… hold on, if that's true, then…

"If that's true, then can the information you have on her even be trusted?" I ask.

"It is naturally suspect," Kyuubey says. "Since the integrity of the data could not be proven, the record has been erased. However, should you wish, I am willing to share it with you."

"Why would you do something like that?" I ask. "Is the information in your database something you'd just tell anyone?"

"Normally we would not," Kyuubey says. "However, in this case, due to the unidentified interference, we are assuming the information to be mostly false."

"Alright, I'm listening," I say.

"The magical girl identified as Eris is identified as making a contract in the time period that humans identify as the twelfth century BCE," Kyuubey says. "The nature of her magic is not noted. It is stated that she destroyed a city called Troy by manipulating humans to go to war. After that, she allegedly turned into a witch, and the energy of that transformation was gathered."

"Was energy actually gathered?" I ask.

"The account does not coincide with any known energy transfer on record," Kyuubey says. "As a result, there are only two possible conclusions. Either Eris never existed, or she never turned into a witch."

"Supposing she actually existed, what would you rate as the chances of her being alive still?" I ask.

"It is unlikely," Kyuubey says. "However, since this incident goes beyond our understanding, we cannot rule out the possibility. Our preliminary estimates, adjusted to account for presupposing her existence, give a chance of thirty-two point seven percent."

"That's actually pretty high," I muse. "And have you considered the possibility that she might've somehow migrated to another planet?"

Kyuubey tilts its head slightly.

"That is quite an odd idea," it says. "Humans do not have any technology capable of interstellar travel, and none of the other planets in this star system are capable of supporting human physiology. How would she migrate to another planet?"

"Well, maybe she could teleport there," I say. "Or maybe she can just fly through space like a spaceship. I don't really know, but have you considered the possibility? After all, I have heard information from two disparate sources that suggests it to be true."

"There are few planets in this region of space capable of supporting human physiology," Kyuubey says. "It would be a simple matter to check all of them to ascertain if the magical girl in question is present. However, since this is a potential threat to our security, we will proceed with caution."

"Will you keep me updated?" I ask.

"If it does not compromise security," Kyuubey says. "Moving on, the matter about this so-called doppel phenomenon. I have spoken with a wide variety of magical girls who either live in Kamihama or recently visited. Several recognized the term 'doppel', but most of them refused to share any additional information, and those who did share did not know much. Even Tomoe Mami said that she witnessed one, but she did not understand what she had seen. Have you learned anything new on this topic?"

"No, not really," I say.

"I see, then we will continue our investigation," Kyuubey says.

"One last question before you go," I say. "Do you know of any magical girl who calls herself Akemi, other than Akemi Homura?"

"There have been several over the past few hundred years."

"Ah, good point," I say. "Are there any who are still alive? When was the last one?"

"None still alive. The last one was thirty-six years ago."

"Okay… that's not as helpful as I hoped, but thanks anyway."

With that, Kyuubey hops off the table and disappears.

"Uhh… what's this about a magical girl on another planet?" Hoshiko asks.

"I'm not sure yet," I say. "All I can say is that it seems one magical girl somehow managed to find a way to travel to another planet and took a lot of people along with her. I've been told she's extremely dangerous however, so I want to be prepared in case something happens… so could I ask you not to breathe a word of this to anyone? Don't tell the Tokime clan or your families, don't let Miss Yakumo or Miss Medeiros or her two students treat you, and if you're around Miss Izumi while she's transformed, keep your distance so she doesn't read your mind."

"T-that's a whole lot of names we've never heard of," Kotone protests. "What makes you think we'll ever meet those people?"

"The simple fact that you're associated with the Tokime clan is bound to be enough to bring you together eventually," I say. "If you do end up letting something slip, at least let me know so I can do damage control. That is, assuming I still exist."

"Well… okay," Kotone says. "I can't speak for my friends, but you've got my promise."

"Ugh… fine," Mayumi says. "I guess it's not like there'd be any reason to tell anyone anyway…"

"I'll keep my mouth shut," Hoshiko says. "But I do have one question… what is this treatment you're talking about?"

"It's a sort of magical treatment that can do all sorts of things," I say. "Usually used to treat magic-related ailments or to boost your strength."

"So it's like my magic, then?" Kotone says.

"No, it's not a temporary thing like yours is," I say.

"It's permanent!?" Kotone gasps. "T-that's really, really huge though! You're saying we have to do without that…?"

"No," I say. "The people I listed aren't the only ones capable of giving that treatment. In fact… Miss Hoshiko very likely has the same ability."

"T-that…!" Hoshiko gasps, "…m-might actually… be true…!"

"Are you serious!?" Kotone gasps.

"W-well… it's not like I'm certain," Hoshiko says. "But, um… if you remember what happened to Miss Hidaka…?"

"Do you mean Hidaka Mei?" Kotone says. "She was in my class, but she went missing about three months ago…"

"Yeah," Hoshiko nods. "I think… I think it's my fault. She was a magical girl… she attacked me, and… I used my magic to… to interfere with her soul gem. It seemed like it sort of… weakened her. If it's possible to weaken someone, surely it's possible to strengthen them too…"

"Y-you're saying Miss Hidaka was a magical girl, and you killed her!?" Kotone gasps.

"That's the first I've heard of it too," Mayumi says. "I do remember she was a pain in the butt, always swinging that damn hammer of hers at us if we dared to put even one foot across the border she defined, but… I never heard about her attacking you when you were alone. Were you in her territory?"

Hoshiko nods. "I had to enter it for reasons related to school," she says. "I tried to explain that, but she wouldn't listen… so I… let her get close, and… used my magic, and then… she ran off. That was… about a week before she went missing. I'm sure she must've disappeared because she couldn't fight witches anymore because of what I'd done… come to think of it, maybe she even turned into one herself…"

"Then, you're saying you could use that same power on the two of us to make us stronger," Kotone says.

Hoshiko shakes her head. "I think I could, theoretically," she says. "But I'd be too scared to try… what if I mess up, and end up killing you too? I couldn't bear it if that happened… I'd probably turn into a witch right away."

"Then you should get some training," I suggest. "Make a trip to Tokyo and speak to a woman called Shirin Charmchi. She can be found in… what was it… Chiyoda Ward, I think it was? I'm sure any magical girl you run across would be able to show you to her place. I can't guarantee she'd be willing to take you as an apprentice, though… and even if she was, you'd probably have to live in Tokyo for awhile."

"Hmm," Hoshiko says. "I'll give that some thought… thanks for the tip."

"So, this woman has the same ability as those others you named?" Kotone says.

"Yes," I say. "Miss Yakumo, Miss Medeiros, and Miss Charmchi are all what we refer to as Coordinators. Treating magical girls is essentially their profession, and their means of survival as magical girls. They have an organization spanning the globe… it's not huge, exactly, but there are quite a few of them. There are still a lot of areas that don't have access to one, though. I think it's been less than fifty years since Puella Care was founded."

"Then, are you saying you wouldn't mind if we went to Miss Charmchi for the service?" Kotone asks. "At least for our first time, before Hoshiko-chan has been trained."

"I wouldn't mind," I say. "It'll require a grief seed as payment, one per person."

"It'd be expensive to go all the way to Tokyo," Kotone muses. "But none of our families are especially poor, right? We can probably get the money."

"Um, well, I probably can't," Hoshiko says. "Since I'm practically an outcast from my family…"

"Even if at least two of us can get it, that should be enough," Kotone says. "Alright… I think I'll go talk to Dad. Could I ask all of you to accompany me?"

"You don't mean to include Inui and I, do you?" I say.

"No, I do mean all four of you," Kotone say. "You were the one who raised this possibility, Miss Taylor, so I believe you should be present too."

"Well… I need to get back to Kamihama this afternoon, but I should be able to spare a bit more time," I say.

So after paying for our meal, we pile out of the restaurant and head towards the shrine. Instead of climbing the steps to the shrine, however, Kotone leads us down a narrow side path to her house. As we enter the house, we can hear the sounds of two people talking, a man and a woman arguing in the next room. To normal people it probably would've been just noise, but my acute magical girl hearing can pick out several phrases and even identify Shion's voice.

Kotone kicks off her shoes and barges into the living room.

"Dad, stop this!" she shouts.

The rest of us, stuck in the hallway, can only listen in… except for me, who has clairvoyance. Mr Tsukimachi turns angrily to face his younger daughter.

"Kotone-chan, this has nothing to do with you!" he says. "This is the question of who will inherit the shrine! You know how it is – the eldest must take over, with preference to a daughter if possible. I only got my position because my sister passed on before me, but I can't just go breaking tradition!"

"Dad, remember what you said to me before?" Kotone says.

"I've said a lot of things," Mr Tsukimachi says. "Specifically, what are you referring to?"

"You said there was one thing that would convince you not to hand the shrine to onee-chan," Kotone says. "Do you remember?"

"Ah… yes, the diviners," Mr Tsukimachi says. "Still, that's only an old legend. It's not as if they actually… exist…?"

As he reaches the end of his sentence, he trails off in shock, for Kotone has just transformed in front of him.

"They exist!" Kotone shouts. "Dad, they really exist!"

"H-how did you…?" he gasps. "No… did you become a diviner somehow…?"

"That's right!" Kotone says. "So you don't need to give onee-chan the shrine!"

"Kotone…" Shion says. "Did you do this for me…? You shouldn't have…"

"I didn't just do it for you," Kotone says. "I also did it because I wanted to protect my friends. They became diviners before me, so I couldn't just stand by, you know? But yes, I did it for you, onee-chan."

"I… I can't believe it," Shion says. "Then you must have seen Sir Kyuubey too…?"

"Huh!?" Kotone gasps. "You saw him as well, onee-chan?"

Shion nods. "I told him to leave," she says. "I knew that if I became a diviner, I'd be tied to this shrine forever. Paradoxically, there was no way for him to grant my wish."

"Shion… Kotone-chan," Mr Tsukimachi says. "I never even realized there was any truth to the legends…"

"It's not like I'm the only one," Shion says. "I was only three years old when she died, but Aunt Shion also spoke to me of diviners… she was one too, you know. I think a great many of the women of our family have become diviners without ever saying a word."

"Even my little sister…?" Mr Tsukimachi says. "She should've been the one to take over the shrine, and yet…"

Kotone steps further into the room and gestures for us to follow. I let Hoshiko and Mayumi take the lead.

"Don't worry, Dad," Kotone says. "My friends and I won't let you down! Give the shrine to me instead!"

Mr Tsukimachi sighs. "Well, I did say that a diviner would be the only way to convince me, but… this is a little too sudden," he says. "I'd like to think it over for a bit first."

"Oh… is that so," Kotone says. "Alright, but before that, I have one other thing to ask of you."

"What is it?" Mr Tsukimachi says.

"Well, you see, there's a reason why diviners don't tend to survive for very long," Kotone says. "But I can't just give into fate… if I do that, who knows what would happen to onee-chan? So you see… well, to start with, let me introduce these two. Ashley Taylor, and Itsumi Inui."

Shion blinks. "Huh? The two of you were also diviners…?"

"That's not the word we use to describe ourselves," I say. "But close enough. Miss Kotone and I immediately recognized that we were both… as you call it, diviners. We even teamed up to defeat a devil."

«The heck is a devil…?» Hoshiko says. «You must know, right Kotone-chan?»

«Eh? I've never heard that before though?» Kotone says.

«It's another word for a witch,» I explain. «The same people who call magical girls diviners also call witches devils, so since were were talking about diviners I just sorta automatically switched to that terminology.»

«Oh, so that's how it is,» Kotone says.

"You're saying that stuff about devils is true too…?" Mr Tsukimachi says. "Is everything in the old legends true?"

"Well, I don't know if it's all true," Kotone says. "But at least some parts are true."

"But what's your reason for introducing these two?" Mr Tsukimachi says. "When it comes to Hoshiko-chan and Mayumi-chan, I understand that you're close and they're from this town, so it's only natural for you to work together… but these two are from out of town, right? In fact, isn't Miss Taylor a foreigner?"

"It's precisely because they're from out of town that they were able to give us some interesting information," Kotone says. "Apparently, there's a woman in Tokyo who can make diviners stronger. If we go see her, I'm sure it'll help me avoid an early death. Therefore… I wanted to ask you to fund my trip…"

Her father turns to look at me.

"This woman… you've met her?" he asks.

"I have."

"And… what Kotone-chan describes… is it really true?"

"It's true," I say. "I've made use of her services myself."

"Do you trust this woman?" he asks.

"That's a difficult question," I say. "But of all the people in Japan who can do what she does, I have the least reason not to trust her. Is that good enough? Or rather, I should say she's the only one I have no reason to distrust."

"I see," Mr Tsukimachi says. "Then I will arrange for a trip during Golden Week. If it'll help my daughter avoid the same fate as my sister, then it'll be worth any expense."

Kotone powers down and glomps him.

"Dad! Thank you very much!" she says.

"Well then… if you don't mind, I've got things to do," I say.

"Then we'll see you later, Ashley-chan, Inui-chan!" Kotone says.

"See you later!" Inui says.

We leave the house and head for the train station. Although there might've been a transfer to take me to Mitakihara, I accompany Inui to Kamihama instead, as it's simpler to just reverse the path taken to get to Matsumiya. Since I'm there anyway, and since it's still well before sunset, I head towards Fendt Hope with Inui… but on the way there, I somehow stumble into the barrier of the Tangled Shrine rumour, again. When I find my way back out with the signature ribbon accessory in hand, Inui is looking around in confusion.

"Ah! There you are, Ashley!" she says. "Where did you go all of a sudden?"

"Stumbled into a rumour's barrier," I say, showing the accessory.

"Huh… the Tangled Shrine…? So that's where those came from…"

As we turn to continue towards Fendt Hope, I nearly run into Mrs Awane again.

"Oh! Pardon me!" I gasp.

"No, I'm very sorry," Mrs Awane says. "I should have been paying attention too."

"Ah… um… don't mention it…"

As she turns to walk off, I see the hair accessory that she dropped, and glance at Inui, who nods and darts forward to pick it up.

"Excuse me! I think you dropped this!" Inui says.

Mrs Awane turns to look and blinks.

"Oh my, thank you so much!" she says, accepting it. "Thank goodness… I'm really glad I didn't lose this…"

"It's pretty cute," I say. "Is it important to you?"

"It's something my daughter made for me," Mrs Awane says.

"Then that makes it really important!" Inui gasps. "I'm glad we spotted it!"

"Yes, it's very precious to me," Mrs Awane says. "Thank you so much."

"Don't mention it!" Inui says.

As Mrs Awane turns and walks off, I watch her go for a minute, until I hear her mutter about storing it away for safe-keeping. Then we continue on to Fendt Hope.

"By the way," I say. "When it comes to offering Mao Himika a way to take her siblings to a movie, I might be another option. I was thinking of applying to Kamihama City University, so if accepted I'd get a place here, and I'd probably have a home cinema."

"Hmm, but compared to Sei-nyan's movie that's a bit more distant, and less certain," Inui says. "Still, I'll keep it in mind. And you can always invite them regardless of what I say in the rumour, anyway."

"Yeah… it was the solution from, um… my memories," I say. "Where Ashley was the one finding solutions with Riko-chan, instead of you. But it doesn't fit quite as well in reality, since this me chose a home stay instead of apartment life for the exchange."

There's no-one in the lounge when we enter this time, so we head for the cafeteria to have dinner. There are several other people there, but no-one who seems interested in talking to us, so we simply eat and head for our room.

After school the next day, I check on Iroha to make sure she's still on track. Once she gets to the point of going around town to check out the various Hiiragi residences, I switch my vision over to Kyouko instead, watching her head to Kamihama with Yuma in tow. As before, they run into Oriko near the train station. The only difference from last time is that Kirika is with her, hiding shyly behind her back.

"Oh my," Oriko says. "If it isn't Yuma-chan… and who might this be?"

"Ah!" Yuma gasps. "Oriko!"

She runs forward and hugs Oriko, who pats her head and ruffles her hair a little. Kirika gasps and steps back, startled.

"Ah! S-sorry," she says. "You just startled me…"

"That uniform," Kyouko says. "Ain't it from that snooty all-girls school? How the heck d'you know this person, Yuma?"

"Um… Yuma met her the day before you um… you know," Yuma says. "Yuma had tea and cookies with her and gazed at the moon! It was sort of fun, a little bit…"

"Well, it is pretty much what she said," Oriko says. "And you are correct, I attend Shirome Middle School. My name is Mikuni Oriko…"

"Eh? You're the one that mystery girl mentioned…?"

"And you… could you be the rumoured Sakura Kyouko?"

Kyouko blinks. "You know about me!?"

"Indeed," Oriko says. "I have heard of you from the other magical girls in the area."

"Oh! You're a magical girl too, huh…?" Kyouko says. "Both of ya, I guess? Could that be… why you're here?"

"You are smarter than you look, Miss Sakura," Oriko says. "Indeed… I intend to visit Kamihama to obtain a few grief seeds. This will be my second time there, in fact."

"Is that so…" Kyouko says. "Well, don't expect me to get all buddy-buddy with ya just cause you also know Yuma."

"Of course," Oriko says.

The four of them continue on to the station together, Kyouko again using the Jedi mind trick to get past the ticket barrier, and they all board a train to Kamihama, though again they stand at opposite ends of the train car. Kyuubey pops in to speak with Kyouko.

"You're hunting witches outside of your usual spots too, Sakura Kyouko?"

"Ah! Kyuubey!" Yuma says happily.

She grabs it and hugs it, nuzzling her head against it a little. Kyuubey completely ignores this, simply staring at Kyouko while it awaits a response. Kyouko blinks, turning to look at it.

"Huh? Oh… it's just you. Yeah, sure. Even you must know by now… Mitakihara and Kazamino are both dried up. The pickings are slimmer than slim there."

"So I hear from other magical girls," Kyuubey says. "The witch populations are decreasing in all cities across the island, except one… there is even a noticeable decrease on mainland Japan, although it is far less pronounced there. I have noticed a slight yet noticeable decrease in several big cities in China and the Philippines as well, though not enough to conclude that it is related."

"Oh, look at you," Kyouko says. "Seems like you're in the know. You can guess my next move then, huh? There's one city that's the perfect hunting ground for witches."

"So I see, you're going to Kamihama," Kyuubey says.

"Duh! If you've figured that out, then why are you still bugging me?"

"I spoke with Tomoe Mami recently," Kyuubey says. "She believes Kamihama to be dangerous. She told me of the strange phenomenon she witnessed there, and said she advised you against going. Has she changed her mind?"

"Right… Mami… no, she told me already, or more like lectured me, but so what? I fly solo, anyway. I don't take orders from her. I get that Kamihama is supposedly pretty messed up, but… I'm the one who gets to decide whether I go or not."

"That is true," Kyuubey says. "Tomoe Mami does not have the authority to dictate where you go."

"Right? It's weird she even tried to talk me out of it in the first place. I bet she was just trying to keep all the action for herself…"

"I doubt Tomoe Mami has the goal of collecting as many grief seeds as she can," Kyuubey says. "It does not fit with how she has behaved in the past."

"I don't need you to tell me that…" Kyouko mutters.

"Chitose Yuma, could I ask you to put me down?" Kyuubey says.

"Ah! Um… sure…?"

As Yuma sets it down, Kyuubey turns to face her.

"Have you thought about it?" it asks. "Will you become a magical girl for me?"

"Oy! I told you to drop it!" Kyouko says.

"Hmm… Yuma still isn't quite sure," Yuma says.

"I see… in that case… I will talk to you again later."

Kyuubey then turns to trot down to the opposite end of the car, where Oriko and Kirika are.

"Oh my, it has been quite some time," Oriko says. "It used to be that I saw you almost every day…"

"You finally started fighting witches on a regular basis," Kyuubey says. "So I spent the time approaching other girls instead, as well as investigating the strange phenomenon around Kamihama."

"Yes, it is strange, indeed," Oriko says. "Why would all the witches be going to Kamihama? Do you have any theories, Kyuubey?"

"I lack sufficient information to formulate a hypothesis," Kyuubey says. "But… one possibility is that someone is intentionally drawing witches to Kamihama. To what end… I do not know. Since I am unable to enter Kamihama, my ability to gather information is more limited than usual."

"I see… do you know why you cannot enter Kamihama?" Oriko says.

"I am unsure," Kyuubey says. "All I know is that if I try to step across the boundary, the connection is terminated and the terminal falls prone and cannot function."

"Interesting," Oriko says. "But I cannot say I have any idea why that would be the case."

"I see… well, it would appear that the border is imminent, so I will leave you now."

"Yes, take care, Kyuubey."

And with that, Kyuubey simply vanishes.

When they disembark, Oriko and Kirika head off on their own, while Kyouko and Yuma track a witch to a small park with a playground.

"Alright Yuma, wait here," Kyouko says. "You can go play over there if you want.'

"Okay!"

Kyouko steps into the labyrinth, and Yuma runs over to get on one of the swings. A couple of minutes later, Shizuku comes by, also tracking the witch. Yuma hops off the swing and runs over to her.

"Hi there!"

"W-whoa…?"

The girl turns to face her, startled at being addressed all of a sudden.

"Ah… hello… what are you doing here?"

"Yuma is waiting for Kyouko!"

"Huh?"

"She went in there a little while ago…"

Yuma points at the witch's labyrinth, and the girl turns to look.

"Oh… so you can see it? But you're not…"

Yuma's face falls, and she fidgets a bit.

"Yeah… Kyouko keeps saying Yuma shouldn't become a magical girl… she probably thinks Yuma is useless… even though Yuma wants to help her…"

"Um… this Kyouko you keep referring to," the girl says. "Could it possibly be… Sakura Kyouko?"

"Ah! Do you know Kyouko!?"

"W-well, I wouldn't say I know her, exactly… but we've met… by the way, I'm Hozumi Shizuku."

"Shizuku-nee!"

"Uh, sure… um… so, this witch is really strong, and… I think even Miss Kyouko could have trouble with it, so… I'm just… going to go check on her," Shizuku says. "Can you wait here, Yuma-chan?"

"Yes… Yuma will wait…"

With that, Shizuku transforms and steps into the labyrinth, while Yuma goes back to the swings. She waits anxiously there for nearly five minutes, kicking off from the ground to get a little motion, sighing the whole time. Then Shizuku and Kyouko pop back into existence in mid-argument.

"—help, dammit!" Kyouko complains. "I was doing just fine!"

"It… didn't look that way to me," Shizuku says.

"Kyouko!"

Yuma jumps off and runs over.

"Yuma…"

"Did you get a grief seed, Kyouko?"

"Sure did! And I ain't giving it up to you, Shizuku!"

"That's fine… I have a couple already," Shizuku says.

"Then why'd you go after the same one as me!?"

"Just… the witches are much stronger here lately… I wasn't sure if… if you could handle it," Shizuku says.

"Who do ya think you're talking to?" Kyouko retorts. "After I beat ya to a pulp when you tried to invade my territory last month!"

"Like I said then… I wasn't invading," Shizuku mutters. "I was just… exploring… and besides… you're exaggerating… you only barely beat me…"

"Well, your power's kinda cheating," Kyouko mutters.

"Kyouko, I think Shizuku-nee is a good person!" Yuma says. "She wouldn't do something like that!"

"You're gonna say that after just meeting her once!? Yuma, that's too naïve!"

"But, but! Yuma really thinks it's really true!" Yuma insists.

"Since when did you… start baby-sitting?" Shizuku asks.

"Since just after I met ya, strangely enough," Kyouko says. "It was just a few days later that I ran across Yuma in a labyrinth…"

At that moment, both Shizuku and Kyouko blink and turn about ninety degrees to their left. Yuma turns to see what they're looking at and spots another portal over on the other side of the playground.

"Great!" Kyouko says. "Another witch! Perfect! But I don't need your help this time, ya hear?"

"N-no!" Shizuku gasps. "That one… you can't fight that one!"

"Why the hell not?" Kyouko retorts.

"That one's… even stronger than the one you just fought!" Shizuku says. "You only barely beat the last one… this one'll definitely be too much for you!"

"I'll be the judge of that," Kyouko retorts. "If it gets hairy, I can always retreat."

And without further ado, she runs across the playground and leaps into the labyrinth.

"Ugh…" Shizuku mutters. "W-what should I do… should I… call Ayaka? But… she's not all that much stronger than I am… still… her unique magic… might be helpful…?"

"U-um, Shizuku-nee… is Kyouko gonna be okay?" Yuma asks.

"I don't know," Shizuku says. "I really don't know. Maybe she'll be fine… or maybe not… in the worst case, she could die…"

"N-no!" Yuma gasps. "Kyouko can't die… Yuma needs her!"

Shizuku suddenly spins one-eighty degrees, and Yuma follows her gaze. A second portal is approaching, and beyond it Oriko and Kirika are chasing it. As Yuma and Shizuku watch, the portal slides across the playground and merges with the one that Kyouko just entered, forming a new melded portal that now shows the emblems of both witches.

"My, my," Oriko says. "I had a feeling this might happen… perhaps I should have tried to warn Miss Sakura… though I doubt she would have listened…"

"Um… will Kyouko be okay, Oriko?" Yuma asks anxiously.

"Not likely," Oriko says. "As things currently stand, she'll probably last about ten minutes in there… at best…"

"N-no way!?" Yuma exclaims. "No… no! Y-you've gotta help her! Oriko, Shizuku-nee… you've gotta do something!"

"There's not a lot I can do," Oriko says. "Even if I stepped in there right now, it wouldn't increase her chances very much… the same goes for this… Miss Shizuku, is it? Although, Kirika… Kirika might be able to make a difference…"

She trails off for a moment, apparently thinking.

"Um, want me to go inside?" Kirika asks.

Oriko nods slowly. "Yes… you're stronger than either of us in close quarters… if you head in there, it should at least buy us some time. Try to engage the second witch, the one we've been chasing, so that Miss Sakura only needs to deal with one witch. I'll join you soon."

"Alright!" Kirika says. "I'll… get going then!"

And with that, she transforms and leaps into the labyrinth.

"Now then," Oriko muses. "Is there anyone I can call who could get here in time…? It is indeed unfortunate that I have so few acquaintances here in Kamihama… Miss Itsumi is a possibility, but she probably cannot make it here in time from Kosho Ward…"

"If you know someone, I can… portal them in… from almost anywhere in the city," Shizuku says.

"Then I suppose it cannot hurt to try," Oriko says. "I will ask her."

She whips out her phone to compose a message.

[Excuse me, Miss Itsumi. Would you have time to fight a witch right at this moment? If yes, please tell me roughly where you are… a description would be preferable to GPS coordinates. My companion can connect a portal to your location.]

The response comes in quite fast, even faster than last time. I swear she must've had it already composed and just hit send the moment she got Oriko's message.

[I was expecting your message! I'm already ready and waiting for Shizu-tan at the old railway yard!]

"Can you connect to this… old railway yard, Miss Shizuku?"

Shizuku blinks. "Ah… yes… actually, I've gotten quite a few requests to connect portals between there and various cities lately… Tokyo, Osaka, Singapore, Shanghai… to name just a few… so I know it quite well."

"Even so, Miss Itsumi's power will help, but it will not be enough to guarantee Miss Sakura survives," Oriko muses.

"Kyuubey!" Yuma says. "If only Kyuubey were here…"

"Oh, um… Kyuubey doesn't come… to Kamihama anymore," Shizuku says.

She focuses a little, opening a portal right in front of her.

"W-what!? Th-then… h-how is Yuma supposed to save Kyouko!?" Yuma gasps.

"Yuma-chan… I really think that is not the best option," Oriko says. "Although, I have to admit, you would be strong enough as a magical girl to beat these witches with the help of Kirika, Miss Itsumi, Miss Sakura, and myself… but I cannot ask someone so young to enter this way of life."

"Yuma just wants to be useful to Kyouko!" Yuma protests. "Kyouko thinks Yuma is useless, so Yuma wants to prove her wrong! Yuma wants this, so why can't Yuma do what she wants?"

"I do not believe that Miss Sakura considers you useless," Oriko says. "I believe she is simply worried for your safety. If you were to become a magical girl, you would be putting your life on the line every day."

"B-but then, Yuma can be more useful to Kyouko!" Yuma says. "Yuma can get stronger and protect Kyouko!"

At that moment Inui appears through the portal, already transformed, grinning at Yuma. Shizuku relaxes, allowing the portal to vanish.

"Ohh, hey, it's Yuma-chan! What're you doing in Kamihama?"

"Yuma came with Kyouko… but now Kyouko's in trouble!" Yuma says. "Please help me!"

Inui nods. "Sure, maybe I can even get her to owe me a favour. Wouldn't that be ironic? The strongest magical girl owes a favour to the weakest?"

"…are you not exaggerating a little?" Oriko notes.

"Well, yeah, I guess," Inui admits. "But I really do think I'm one of the weakest magical girls around… although, I'll admit I've gotten stronger recently, so maybe it's no longer true…"

"Um… just to get this straight, Yuma," Shizuku says. "Yuma-chan… are you… dead set on becoming a magical girl?"

"Y-yes!"

"Are you really serious?" Inui asks. "There's more to being a magical girl than you've heard from Kyuubey and others. I don't think it's a good idea to become one."

"Yuma doesn't care!" Yuma insists. "Yuma wants to protect Kyouko!"

"Well, if you're that adamant about it, I'm not gonna try to stop you," Inui shrugs.

"Then… I can actually help you with that," Shizuku says. "Kyuubey won't come here, but… I can send you somewhere where you can call for him."

"Ohh! Please send Yuma there right away, Shizuku-nee!" Yuma says.

"I still don't think—" Oriko begins.

"Regardless of what you think, Miss… Oriko, was it? This is the decision that Yuma-chan has come to, isn't it?"

"Even if I disagree with the decision, Shizu-tan has a point," Inui says. "It's her decision to make."

Oriko sighs. "Well… I suppose you both have a point," she says. "Fine… if Yuma-chan is so adamant about it, I will cease my attempts to dissuade her."

Shizuku focuses a little, forming a new portal right in front of her.

"If you step through this portal," Shizuku says, "you'll be in one of my secret places. Kyuubey should appear if you call for him. Once you're finished, you can step back through from the other side."

"Alright!" Yuma says. "Yuma will be right back!"

She steps through and finds herself in a dark forest, with just a few rays of the sinking sun lighting up the small shrine before her. A fox suddenly appears out of the woods and trots over to Yuma, wagging its tail.

"Oh! Foxy foxy!" Yuma exclaims.

She kneels down to hug the fox and pat its head for a moment. Then she suddenly gasps and shoots to her feet.

"Ah! Yuma doesn't have time for this! Yuma needs to find Kyuubey!"

Apparently startled by her sudden movement, the fox bolts back into the depths of the forest.

"Kyuubey! Are you there!?"

The incubator trots out from the shadow of the shrine.

"I must say, it is quite a surprise to see you all the way out here, Yuma," Kyuubey says. "Ah… I see, you have borrowed the power of Hozumi Shizuku? Well, in any case… are you ready to make a wish?"

"Y-yes!" Yuma says. "B-before Kyouko dies… Yuma wants to put her back together!"

"Understood," Kyuubey says. "Your wish… has surpassed entropy. Your power… it is even greater than I anticipated…"

"Yay!" Yuma says, immediately transforming. "Now, Yuma can save Kyouko!"

She turns to plunge back through Shizuku's portal and finds Oriko gone and Shizuku on the phone. Inui is still there though, waiting.

"Ohhhh! Your magical girl suit is really cute, Yuma-chan! It's like a kitty costume!"

"Y-yes… it's a strong one," Shizuku says. "You're where? … Um… right, okay… just… give me a second…"

Shizuku hangs up and then grabs Yuma's hand before she can plunge into the labyrinth.

"Yuma-chan, wait a moment longer…"

She turns to her portal, and it vanishes. Then, with a moment of concentration, a new one forms. Almost immediately, Ayaka plunges through it, swinging her toy hammer.

"Where's the witch!?" she shouts. "Where… ah? Hey, hey, who're you? You're cute! Like a kitty!"

She pauses to pat Yuma on the head, giggling.

"Ayaka, right here," Shizuku says, indicating the witch's portal. "Let's go."

"Oho!" Ayaka says. "What's this? Is it a mixture of two witches? Did those witches get together and make a baby!?"

She giggles.

"Where's Oriko?" Yuma asks.

"She went in already…" Shizuku says. "And no, Ayaka, there are actually two witches in there."

"So your friends are already inside?" Ayaka asks. "But man, this witch… is super-strong! Oh! You said there were two, my bad! But they both seem super-strong!"

"By the way, I'm Itsumi Inui, and this is Yuma-chan," Inui says.

"Oh, Mariko Ayaka, that's me! Yup!"

The four of them enter the labyrinth and are almost immediately surrounded by familiars, both the shepherd familiars of the Sheep Witch and the green pointing hands of the Rooftop Witch. They manage to take out the first wave of familiars with only a little difficulty.

"You're right, Shizuku!" Ayaka shouts at the top of her voice. "Man, these things are strong! What a joke!"

They head deeper into the labyrinth at a run until they reach the point where the greatest battle between the two groups of familiars is occurring.

"Yuma-chan… let me tell you what Miss Oriko said," Shizuku says. "You should try to determine where those tall familiars are coming from and follow them to the source. It will take you to Kyouko. Ayaka and I… we will follow the pointing hand familiars, and meet up with Miss Oriko."

"And I'll come with you, Yuma-chan," Inui says.

"Okay!" Yuma says. "Yuma will save Kyouko for sure!"

So as before they split up and go their separate ways. Yuma and Inui soon manage to reach Rebecca's witch chamber, where Yuma charges inside with a yell.

"Kyouko!? Are you okay!?"

Kyouko is clearly struggling, but not to the point that she seems to be in danger.

"Yuma!? What the hell're ya doing here!?"

"Yuma came to save you!"

"Well… I'm fine," Kyouko said. "It got a bit hairy for a sec earlier but I'm fine now!"

Yuma jumps into the air and swings her hammer down at the ground, just as Inui steps in and casts her charm magic.

"Lyyyynx Impact!"

"Look at me! I'm over here!"

"Huh!?" Kyouko gasps. "I… can move easier now!? I thought something was weird! You damn witch, how dare you slow me down! Kuuugatachi!"

She rides a gigantic spear straight into the centre of the spherical witch, and though it doesn't seem to be enough to kill her, the witch lets out a keening wail, suggesting it to be effective. Yuma leaps up and slams her hammer down on the witch, and Kyouko pulls a new spear and stabs Rebecca once in each of her four eyes. Only then does she finally crumble into dust. As Kyouko seizes the grief seed, the labyrinth changes, the rolling hills of the Sheep Witch being taken over by the urban setting of the Rooftop Witch.

Kyouko gasps. "Huh!? The labyrinth's… changing!?"

"There's another witch!" Yuma says. "Oriko is fighting it right now!"

"Oriko!?" Kyouko gasps. "She's here too!?"

"And Shizuku-nee as well!"

"Hmm… well… guess I can leave the second witch to them," Kyouko says. "Come on, Yuma… let's go."

"Don't I even get a thank you!?" Inui protests. "I guided Yuma-chan here and everything! Sure I might not have fought the witch but I killed a whole lot of familiars!"

"No, I didn't need your help!" Kyouko retorts.

"But you can't deny you really were struggling!" Inui says.

"I was not! I had it under control!" Kyouko says.

Inui sighs. "Well, if you say so…"

Before they have a chance to start searching for the exit, the labyrinth collapses, depositing all seven magical girls back into the real world. Kyouko spins to face Oriko and the others.

"I didn't need your help!" she says. "I was doing just fine on my own!"

Ayaka giggles. "Ya sure were! Beat that witch almost all by yourself! Incredible!"

"My, my," Oriko says. "Who helped you, exactly? I was merely chasing a witch of my own who happened to fuse its labyrinth with yours. It is pure coincidence."

"Right!" Kyouko says. "It was just coincidence."

Then she rounds on Yuma.

"And Yuma! Why the hell'd you make a contract!? I told you not to become a magical girl!"

"B-b-but, Yuma wants to be useful to you!" Yuma protests.

"Dammit, that's not the point here!" Kyouko shouts. "I'm not the kinda tool who'd abandon you even if you're useless, you damned idiot! Geez… you're such freaking handful!" She sighs. "Well, whatever, what's done is done. I ain't gonna sweat the small stuff." She glances at Oriko as she powers down. "Seeya around, maybe."

With that, Kyouko stalks off, and Yuma quickly powers down to follow her. Shizuku and Ayaka head off together as well, in a different direction. Inui sighs and turns to Oriko.

"Well, that went almost exactly like last time," she says. "It's kinda impressive how similar it was."

"Is that so?" Oriko says. "What will you be doing now?"

"Well, I'm already out here, and I'm sure you wanna get more grief seeds," Inui says. "So why don't we go hunting together for a bit?"

Oriko shrugs. "I am okay with that. Kirika?"

"Ah! Yes," Kirika says, startled. "Um… sorry, what was the question?"

"Mind if I come along with you on your witch hunt for a bit?" Inui asks.

"Oh… well, sure," Kirika says. "I don't see why not."

They all power down, and start wandering through town until Kirika picks up the signature of a witch. Several minutes later, they transform and enter the labyrinth of Gertrud. It doesn't seem like the same instance of Gertrud that the Crescent Moon Villa girls encountered in the previous timeline, though I can't be certain.

"Let me take care of the familiars!" Inui says.

She does just that, frying most of them with waves of pink fire and snapping her flame whip at the remaining ones to slice them into pieces. However, seeing that seems to make Kirika get competitive, so in the next wave she jumps in before Inui gets a chance and destroys the familiars. Between the two of them, they work their way through hordes of familiars with a little guidance from Oriko whenever they reach a fork. Apparently Oriko's foresight has a similar use in labyrinths as my clairvoyance. Finally they make it to the central chamber.

"I won't let you outdo me on this one!" Kirika announces.

She smashes the door down and leaps at the witch without missing a beat, severing one of Gertrud's wings in the first strike. The witch strikes back, and for several seconds they exchange blows. Then Kirika throws herself back into a bridge pose with a yell, and her doppel comes out – a tower of extra torsos, each with a shirt in a different clashing colour, topped by a spherical head wearing a faded blue hat with a blood-red ribbon. The runes floating in the air read 'Latria'. Each of the spare torsos has a pair of arms that are literally blades, and, still in her bridge position, she scuttles sideways like a spider so that the centipede-like doppel can lash out and shred Gertrud with its blade-arms.

"Look at me!" Inui shouts.

This is enough to cause the witch to stop attacking back, leaving her at Latria's mercy. Inui then starts to charge her ultimate attack, watching the battle closely. When the doppel finally disintegrates and fades back into Kirika's body, Inui deals the finishing blow.

"Heart-throbbing Passionate Inferno!"

The tower of flame burns Gertrud to a crisp before she can even make any further move to defend herself. Kirika picks herself up and grabs the grief seed just as the labyrinth collapses.

"See, see?" Kirika says. "I was awesome, right!?"

"Kirika… I've told you that you shouldn't use your doppel so much," Oriko says. "If you keep doing this, someday you could hurt yourself."

"I'll be fine!" Kirika says. "Don't worry!"

"Please, at least limit it to at most once per day," Oriko says.

"Eh… fine," Kirika grumbles.

I decide to stop watching there, though it looks like the three of them plan to continue their hunt together for a bit longer… but there's not much point in watching just a regular witch hunt. Instead, I start to prepare for the next event, by sending an email to Noriko.

[Hello! I'm sorry if this is short notice, but could I have a bit of your time on Friday right after school? There's somewhere I'd like to go and something I'd like to try, but your magic is integral to the plan.]

While I'm at it, I also compose an email to the François sisters to tell them about the situation with Walpurgisnacht. Just to make sure, I also send a similar email to Chevonne, Janice, Sarra, and Alice. I already talked to Chevonne and Janice about it at the beginning of the timeline and asked them to pass it along to Sarra and Alice, but it can't hurt to double-check things.

By the time I wake up the following day, I have a response from Noriko.

[You're in luck. My next shoot is scheduled for Thursday, so as long as it goes well I should be free Friday. However, before I agree I'd like to know what you're planning.]

I send a reply.

[There are unique magical entities in Kamihama known as 'rumours'. I want to show one to Kyuubey to see what it thinks of them. In order to do that, I have to… 'kidnap' the rumour. Though perhaps I should instead say 'rescue'? It's complicated.]

By the time I've left for school, I have a promise from her that she'll be available on Friday. After school, I watch the main event of the Misery Water rumour. I can't say my memory is perfect, but it seems almost everything goes exactly the same as last time, up to and including Kyouko regaining her illusion powers and Iroha unleashing her doppel upon the Misery Rhyton. The only notable difference I see is that after unleashing their doppels, the Amane twins also release a horde of familiars of the Witch of Symbols upon the party, like they did in the anime. However, there are about a third as many as in the anime, and Kyouko and Yachiyo cut them down much faster, allowing the event to continue progressing mostly the same as in the previous timeline.

Since I have nothing better to do, I continue watching the walk home after defeating the rumour, and even there I don't see anything that seems different. They talk about Felicia and about Tsuruno's sisters, and have a brief run-in with Konomi. Then Yachiyo accompanies Iroha back to Takarazaki to speak with her parents.

I don't bother watching to see if Kyouko speaks to Mami and Oriko just like before. I'm pretty tired, so I just drift off to sleep instead… and then I have a dream.

I'm back in my room in Vancouver, British Columbia, laying face down on my bed. My phone is just within arm's reach, but I simply don't feel like reaching for it. Ultimately, I don't feel like moving at all, or doing anything, and yet, I'm bored. It's strange to be bored in a dream, but that's the only way to describe it. I'm bored, but there's nothing I want to do. That's when a familiar voice penetrates my consciousness.

"Huh? It's… not Ashley-nee…!? And it's not Miss Kokoro either…"

It's the voice of Chiaki Riko. Those words were spoken by Inui in the last timeline, but I guess they went to Riko this time, since Inui would've already expected this. Suddenly, Riko gasps.

"T-that's Tsukasa-chan!? And I guess her twin sister…?"

"You're right," Inui says. "It's a cartoony version of them, but totally recognizable. Lemme see if I can recognize any of the others… this one shows Miss Tomoe, Mado-tan, Miss Sakura, Homu-chan, and Saya-Saya, though Homu-chan has braids and glasses. Over here is Nemu-chi, Touka-chan, and Ui-chan."

"That one's Miss Kokoro!" Riko says. "I don't recognize that white-haired girl with her, though…"

"I think that's Koko-wan's best friend and teammate," Inui says. "I think her name was… Kagami… Masara? Oh, over here is Oriko-chan with Yuma-chan and Kiika-tan. This one is Mifuyumin and Nanami Yachiyo when they were younger… here's another one of Mifuyumin with Alina Gray, Touka-chan, and Nemu-chi…"

"Ah, there's Miss Mitama!" Riko says. "And I think that's Miss Izumi with her?"

"Yeah, that's definitely her," Inui says. "And this big poster has Nanami Yachiyo, Yui Tsuruno, Iro-iro, Feli-tan, and Sana-chan."

"Ohhh, so that's Miss Nanami?" Riko says. "I've heard of her, but never met her…"

At that point I roll over with a sigh and sit up, rubbing at my eyes. Riko blinks back at me, and Inui just grins at me.

"Hello… Riko-chan, Inui," I say.

"Huh? How do you know us!?" Riko gasps.

"Why wouldn't I know you?"

"Um… I'm pretty sure I've never seen you before, miss… uhh…?"

"Ashley Taylor," I say. "Though I suppose you could also call me Chelsea Flanders… take your pick."

"W-what!?" Riko gasps. "But you look like… a university student! I thought you were in high school…"

"Well, y'see, Chelsea's a bit older than Ashley," I say. "So that's how it is."

"I thought you were just an alternate personality," Riko says.

"That's more or less true," I say. "But we used to be separate people before we were fused together."

"Ohh… so you were separate people sharing the same body," Riko says.

"I'm not sure if that's accurate now, but close enough," I say.

"So um… where are we?" Riko asks, looking around again.

"This looks like my apartment back in Vancouver…"

"Um… is Vancouver where you lived in California?" Riko asks.

"No, it's a big city in Canada," I say. "Ashley was the one who lived in America. I originally lived in Canada."

"Why do you have all those posters?" Riko says. "Tsukasa-chan, Miss Mitama, and all the others…"

"I'd really rather not talk about that," I say. "Why don't we get started? You're here because the Tangled Shrine sent you to solve my problem, after all."

"So what's been bugging you, Ashley?" Inui asks. "Think we can use the same problem as last time?"

"I doubt that'll fly," I say. "I mean, it was already solved last time, right? Hmm… do I have other family-related problems…? But I don't think the rumour would've chosen me if I didn't have a problem to solve… and if my problem didn't fit your theme, I imagine I'd've been shoved into someone else's dream instead…"

"Um, how about you tell us about your family first?" Riko suggests. "Maybe we can think of something."

"Sure," I say. "Ashley's mother is a well-known actress, and her father is an acclaimed director. He's dying… has an incurable disease. I'm not sure how much longer he has left, but he hasn't died yet – I talked to him the day before yesterday. I've already worked out a plan to save him using magic, so that can't be the problem we need to solve here. He was opposed to Ashley coming to Japan because he wanted to spend as much of his remaining time with her as possible… but I managed to talk him out of it… that's why I've been calling him twice a week ever since I came to Japan. It was his condition for allowing us to come."

"What about your other parents?" Riko asks.

"Well, even if I had a problem with them, they're beyond my reach," I say. "So I don't think there's any point in even considering that angle."

"Hmm… if we solved a problem involving your father last time… maybe there's a problem with your mother?" Inui suggests.

"That… could be," I agree. "But I can't think of anything…"

Suddenly the recent Coordinator-induced vision comes back to me, the event where Ashley and Chevonne first met. Ashley was being shunned by the class, but why was that? Even back then, Ashley was talkative and sociable, unlike me at that age. What could have caused the entire class to start shunning her? The stated reason from the memory was that Ashley was snooty, but I don't think that's actually the full truth behind it. In fact, when Ashley had started gushing about her parents, something had changed. I didn't notice it when I first saw the vision, but in retrospect it's clear that the class had reacted to that topic. Had they been shunning her because they were sick of hearing about her parents? It's a memory from a long time ago, so I'd think any problem stemming from it was long since solved, but it does give me a clue as to what we might be searching for.

"Maybe… the problem to be solved is not mine… not Chelsea's," I suggest. "Maybe it's Ashley's problem."

"Did you think of something, Ashley-nee?" Riko asks.

"Nothing concrete," I say. "But Ashley was bullied in elementary school because of her parents, so I just wondered if there might be a hint there…"

"What do you mean, because of her parents?" Inui asks.

"Um… because they were famous, or maybe because she talked about them too much?" I say. "The details are pretty fuzzy…"

With a sigh, I get off the bed and make for the door.

"Huh? Where are you going?" Inui asks.

"Since there's no answers in this room, I thought we could look elsewhere," I say.

When I open the door to my apartment, the hallway outside is not that of the apartment building I lived in, but that of the upper floor of Ashley's house in California. I lead the two of them out and downstairs into the living room, where we find Ashley sitting on a couch, crying.

"Wow, what a fancy house!" Riko gasps.

"Looks like you were right," Inui says. "I'm assuming this isn't your apartment in Canada anymore…"

"No… this is Ashley's house," I say.

"Huh…?" Riko says.

"I'm saying, this is where Ashley lived," I repeat. "Why else would she be sitting over there?"

"Where you lived?" Riko says. "Huh!? Does that mean we're in America!?"

"I mean, it's a dream, so not really," I say. "It's not like we've actually been transported to America. After all, this house is in California, but that room upstairs is in an apartment building in Vancouver. They must be about a thousand miles apart in reality, but we stepped from one right into the other, just like that."

"I see," Riko says.

She heads over to the crying Ashley and puts a hand on her shoulder.

"Ashley-nee… are you Ashley-nee? What's wrong?"

"Riko-chan…?" Ashley says. "You're finally here… Riko-chan…"

Without warning, Ashley hugs Riko, who gasps in surprise but hugs back.

"W-what is it, Ashley-nee?" Riko asks. "Can I help somehow?"

"I don't know," Ashley says. "For some reason, I just suddenly felt really sad, and I'm not sure why. Though just seeing you… makes me feel a little better…"

At that moment, Ashley's father enters the room. Her mother follows him in.

"Ashley," he says in English.

"Dad," Ashley replies in the same language. "What are you doing here?"

"T-they're speaking in English," Riko says. "I don't know what they're talking about… it's too fast for me to understand…"

"I'll translate for you in telepathy," Inui says.

"Ohh, thank you very much, Inui-nee," Riko says.

"You look well, Ashley," Mr Taylor says.

"I can't forget that this is a dream," Ashley mutters in Japanese.

"Ashley?" Mr Taylor says. "What's the matter?"

"Is something wrong, Ashley?" Mrs Taylor asks.

"Could that really be my regret?" Ashley muses in Japanese. "It's how the game went, but… my… our wish was different in this reality."

"Huh? Game?" Riko says, blinking.

"Ah, um, please pretend you didn't hear that part, Riko-chan," Inui says.

If Inui didn't want Riko to hear that part, I'd assume she hadn't translated it, but… the word for 'game' in Japanese happens to be a loanword from English. I mean, I think there's another word for 'game' that's native, but my point is that it wouldn't be strange for Riko to recognize that one word.

«Did you translate that part, Inui?»

«I skipped translating 'it's how the game went', but I guess she recognized the word.»

«Right, as I thought… so she doesn't even know what Ashley was saying about a game, then.»

«Yeah, presumably.»

"Ah… okay," Riko says.

"I didn't change Dad's mind with my wish," Ashley continues. "Rather… Chelsea spied on him with her magic and convinced him through… logic… oh, but wait…"

She suddenly gasps.

"Was he really convinced through logic? Or was it subconsciously-activated magic…?"

"Oh right!" I gasp. "The same magic I might have used on Hitomi and Shiori… if that magic really exists and I'm not imagining it, maybe it could've convinced him…"

"Even if that magic exists, we don't even know what kind of magic it is," Inui says. "It's not necessarily magic that controls other people's thoughts or anything like that, right?"

"True," I say. "But it remains a fact that both suspected instances of it involve someone being easily convinced of something."

"Well, I really wanted to study in Japan, the country of my dreams," Ashley says.

That's the exact line from the game, though in the game she was expressing her internal thoughts rather than speaking out loud.

"Um… are you quoting from… you know?" I ask.

"Is there a problem?" Ashley says. "It perfectly describes how I feel, after all."

"Sure…"

"But Dad didn't approve," Ashley continues. "He was against me studying abroad, and that me changed his mind with a wish. In reality… you changed his mind with… mostly logic… you knew I would regret changing his mind with a wish, so you chose a different path, right?"

"That… is at least partially true," I agree.

"But what hasn't changed is that I wasn't able to tell Dad about the wish or magic," Ashley continues. "Though I know you plan to tell him eventually, the fact remains that it hasn't happened yet."

"Yeah, that's true too," I agree.

"Eh, you're going to tell your parents that you're a magical girl?" Riko asks. "I wonder if I should tell mine too…"

"I think you should tell them someday, Riko-chan," I say. "But now is probably not a good time. If my plans come to fruition, in a year or two everyone will be talking about magical girls all across the world, and I don't know yet if they'll be saying good things, so it's probably best not to reveal yourself right away. Obviously I hope they'll be saying good things about us, but I can't really control what other people say…"

"Oh," Riko says. "That's amazing, Ashley-nee! I never even thought that would be possible…"

"I mean, I can't do it myself though," I say. "It'll take a lot of effort…"

"Chelsea, now is not the time for that!" Ashley snaps at me. "We're trying to solve a serious problem here, okay?"

"A-ah, sorry," I say. "I get distracted easily, it seems…"

"Well, in any case, you should just say what you need to say, Ashley-nee!" Riko says. "It might be hard, but it would help to get it off your mind…"

"Yeah, you're right, Riko-chan!" Ashley says.

"Ashley, please tell me," Mr Taylor says.

"I want to hear it too," Mrs Taylor says.

"I won't understand until you put it into words," Mr Taylor says.

Ashley takes a deep breath and switches back to English to respond.

"I'm sorry," she says. "I acted like a child. I didn't understand why you were so opposed to me studying abroad. I didn't even try to understand. I was only thinking of myself. I died before I could change your mind with a wish, but… if not for that covid and Chelsea's arrival, I probably would have. I'm really sorry. I'm not apologizing for what I didn't do, but for the mistakes I made that almost led to me doing it. I'm really sorry. Despite that… even if it turns out Chelsea used magic to change your mind… I still…"

"It's okay," Mr Taylor says. "It's okay, Ashley."

"To think you were worrying over something as trivial as that," Mrs Taylor says.

"I love you no matter what, Ashley," Mr Taylor says.

"Dad!?" Ashley gasps. "T-that's a little embarrassing…"

"But isn't that natural?" Mr Taylor says. "You're my adorable dau— oh, whoops! My kawaii daughter!"

Ashley giggles. "Yeah, you're right!" she says. "Hey, Dad, I'd like a favour from you. Mom too. Could you give me headpats?"

"…Headpats?" Mr Taylor says.

"Ah, it's a sign of affection in Japan, isn't it?" Mrs Taylor says.

"Oh, so that's the reason?" Mr Taylor says.

He steps over to pat Ashley on the head.

"Um, was I supposed to say… 'good girl'…?" he says. "Is that right…?"

"Y-yeah," Ashley says, giggling. "Thanks, Dad. You cleared up that regret. I promise to do lots of things I love and enjoy every second of my long life. Maybe someday I'll even make a video on Mars. Wouldn't that be cool?"

Then he steps back and Mrs Taylor pats her on the head too.

"Thanks, Mom," Ashley says. "Don't worry, I'm going to save Dad. I want to see the two of you grow old together."

"You shouldn't be worrying about such things, dear," Mrs Taylor says. "But still, I'm grateful for the sentiment."

Riko is already crying from the scene. I have sort of mixed feelings. Perhaps it's because I've been fused with Ashley, but I do genuinely feel like it's a touching scene… yet at the same time, being patted on the head feels artificial, condescending, even just a touch revolting. It's an area where my values clash with Ashley's, I think. I imagine Ashley too is feeling what I'm feeling but doing her best to suppress my side of it.

"It sounds like it went well," Riko says, sniffling.

She manages a bit of a giggle, then sniffles a bit more.

"Just look at that smile on her face," Riko adds. "Oh, but… did she really say Mars…?"

As we talk, the scissors that Inui was holding onto swing over to snip Ashley's ribbon to shreds.

"That took me by surprise too," I admit. "I guess it's because magical girls are pretty close to immortal, as long as we don't die fighting witches… so she's preparing for a potentially very long life…?"

"Huh? Is that really true?" Riko asks.

"I mean, you won't die of disease, injury, or old age," I say. "Well… most injuries, at least. It's not quite immortality, because there are some ways to die, but it's close… ah, one more thing, Riko-chan… could you promise not to share what happened here with anyone else? That also means you can't get a tune-up from the Coordinator anymore, because she can see your memories."

"Eh? No tune-ups?" Riko says. "B-but what if I really need one?"

"If you come to me, I can take you to someone else who can give you a tune-up," I say. "Though if I've gone back in time again, then you don't need to worry anymore and can just go to Mitama."

"Oh, I see," Riko says. "And if you went back in time, it would be the end of the month… so I should be okay until then, at least… alright! My lips are sealed, and I'll stay away from Miss Mitama for the rest of the month!"

As she's saying that, the dream fades away, replaced with something else. I don't remember what it is, however.

The next morning, I go on ahead of Komachi and Hiyori to have the usual chat with Sachie. I don't mention anything related to things that haven't happened in this timeline, of course. I don't watch this time as she talks to Claire and Kyuubey, but it seems the outcome is the same – she becomes a magical girl by wishing for Liliane's revival.

After school, I head for Kamihama, keeping an eye on the hunt for Mitama with my clairvoyance. When I arrive at Fendt Hope, I find a handful of black feathers in the lobby, including Inui, Hotori, Megumi, and one other I don't recognize.

"Good afternoon!" Inui calls, waving.

"Hello," I say. "Anything going on right now?"

"No, not really," Inui says.

"Mind if I join you for a little bit?"

"It's fine with me…?" Inui says.

She looks at the other black feathers, who all nod, so I take a seat near Inui.

«Have you talked with Hotori, Inui?» I ask.

«No more than a few words,» Inui replies. «Nothing about her older sister, if that's what you mean.»

«By the way, about the Tangled Shrine, there was also one other difference from last time,» Inui says. «Your problem and Koko-wan's problem were swapped around.»

«Ah, well that doesn't really surprise me," I say. "That's the order it was supposed to be in…»

Suddenly Megumi jumps up.

"A-ah! I j-just remembered… something I need to do…"

The unknown black feather also jumps up.

"M-me too!"

The two of them head off together.

"…isn't that too convenient?" I say. "Um… you're Yuzuki Hotori, right?"

"W-what!?" Hotori gasps. "H-how…?"

"Please, calm down," I say. "I just had a quick question for you… I won't tell anyone else in the Wings of the Magius. Do you have any siblings?"

"U-um… yes," Hotori says. "M-my twin sister, Rion… I became a magical girl because I… wanted the strength to… protect her."

"So just the one?" I say.

"Ah! Um, no, I also have an older sister," Hotori says. "But I haven't see Miu-nee for quite awhile… she ran away from home. I hope she's okay."

"So just to clarify, you would like to see her again," I say.

"Y-yeah…"

"And do you think Miss Rion would like to see her?"

Hotori tilts her head. "I… I'm not sure… p-probably…? W-well, m-maybe not…"

"What about your parents?"

Hotori doesn't respond at first. She frowns a little, tilting her head and twisting her mouth in contemplation. Then she shakes her head.

"I… think they'd be angry," she says. "T-though… they are looking for her… or so they say… b-but… it might be better if… if they d-don't find her…"

"I see," I say. "I'll be sure to tell her that the next time I see her."

"Y-you've met Miu-nee!?" Hotori gasps. "S-she's fine?"

"She's fine," I say. "Though she turned into a witch for a little while."

"Huh? D-do you mean she unleashed her doppel?" Hotori says.

"Uhh… whatever, close enough," I say.

"Um… t-thank you for… telling me," Hotori says. "I'm happy to hear she's doing well… t-though I'm surprised to hear that she… became a magical girl…"

"No problem," I say.

Silence falls, and I continue to track the progress of the hunt for Mitama. After a few minutes, Coeurl stops by with three other black feathers and drags Hotori outside. Presumably they're going witch hunting. The other three black feathers do appear to be Mana, Sal, and Akane Sumire, just as I'd surmised. Coeurl doesn't spare a word for me – perhaps she can tell I'm using my magic and don't want to be disturbed.

About ten minutes after that, Mifuyu comes in from outside, accompanied by Hachikuji Mayoi in her school uniform. Now that I think about it, there actually is something familiar about that uniform. Mayoi herself looks different from her appearance in the game, appearing older and with a less childish hairstyle, and without the massive backpack, which probably helps explain why I didn't immediately recognize her last time. She never wore this uniform in the game, but the uniform looks the same as the one Sengoku Nadeko wore in the game. This is all based on screenshots I saw from people who had each of them set on their home screen, since I had never obtained either character myself.

Mifuyu blinks in surprise. It seems our presence in the lounge is unexpected.

"Ah, good afternoon," she says. "I was just about to introduce a potential new recruit."

"That's alright," I say. "Don't mind us."

"Wooow, this is crazy awesome!" Mayoi says. "I didn't know magic could do something like this! The entire place is really built out of magic?"

"Yes, from my understanding," Mifuyu says.

"Though that's chump change compared to this… what did you call it…?"

"You mean the doppel?"

"Yeah, I still can't believe it's really possible," Mayoi says. "The blood-sucking brat and the phoenix chick are one thing, but to think there's a way to prevent any magical from turning into a witch!"

Huh? Wait! Scheherazade said that the magical girl with ties to phoenix myths was friends with someone who died in the previous timeline, and Mayoi perfectly fits that description. It could be a coincidence, but… is she the one who knows about the phoenix girl?

«Did she mention that last time?» I ask Inui.

«She never mentioned a 'phoenix chick' to me last time,» Inui replies. «Maybe she mentioned it to Mifuyumin like just now, though.»

"I wish I could just see for myself, but I guess it'll be a day or two before the grief builds up," Mayoi muses.

"Don't forget, it currently only works in Kamihama," Mifuyu says.

"Plus, it's a new and experimental thing, so it may not be safe to use repeatedly," I add.

"Ah yes, that is true," Mifuyu admits. "Touka has mentioned that we need to do more research to determine how safe it is. However, it certainly will not harm you to unleash it once or twice."

"Well, it's new, so that's to be expected!" Mayoi says.

"So you mentioned you came from pretty far away, right?" Mifuyu says. "Where was it again…?"

"Jouetsu, Niigata," Mayoi says.

"How'd you even find out about us?" Mifuyu asks. "I can't imagine the news would spread that fast…"

"Oh, well, there was a dream about a girl," Mayoi says. "She said to come to Kamihama to save magical girls, so I punched straight through and there I was! Then I wandered around town for awhile until I ran into Miss Mifuyu."

"How exactly did you find out that magical girls turn into witches?" I ask.

"Oh," Mayoi says. "Well, that was… you see, I live with my sempai, so we talked a bit after the dream, and she told me about it… I still can't believe that was the secret she was keeping from me! She said she never told me earlier because my magic still hadn't stabilized and there was a chance I'd go full witch just from hearing about it, but apparently it finally stabilized recently? I'm not sure what that actually means though…"

"Stabilized…?" I say. "The only thing I can think of is that, according to someone I know, your magic starts to weaken as you get older, but stabilizes again once you reach the age of twenty-five."

Mifuyu looks surprised. "Huh… where did you hear that from?" she asks. "I've never heard of such a thing…"

"From an older magical girl," I say. "Still, you don't look any older than… oh, fifteen?"

"Hmm," Mayoi says. "I suppose it could be that. I'm not really sure how old I am, to tell the truth. Like, officially I'm fourteen, right? But I've actually lived longer than that…"

"Um… how do you look fourteen if you've lived longer…?" Mifuyu asks.

"Um… I was so lost that I forgot to age?" Mayoi says with a giggle.

"I'm pretty sure it doesn't work like that!" Mifuyu gasps.

"Well, I dunno then," Mayoi says with a shrug. "I only know what happened. For awhile I just didn't get older at all. No idea why."

«Come to think of it,» I muse to Inui alone. «Is hearing about witches from her sempai actually a difference between this timeline and the last…?»

«I didn't experience this meeting last time,» Inui points out. «That was the time you left me out, remember?»

«Ohhh right, so you didn't,» I say. «Still, I think the way they talked last time strongly implied that she heard the truth from Mifuyu, not her sempai…»

"Did you already have your suspicions on the whole witch business?" I ask.

"Well, I did think something didn't quite add up," Mayoi says. "Like, there was this whole mystery of where witches come from in the first place? No-one could explain it. Maybe Kyuubey could, but he wouldn't. Well, I didn't prod him that much about it though."

"It would've probably told you if you were insistent enough," I say. "I managed to get it to tell me the truth pretty easily. So you're saying your sempai also knew the truth? Is she the only one?"

"Beats me!" Mayoi shrugs. "I don't talk to the others as much… maybe some of them knew. Like the blood-sucking brat – I'm sure she must've known. But anyway, I totally don't like it! Miss Mifuyu told me Kyuubey is making us turn into witches on purpose, so I really think we need to do something about that! That's why, I've decided to join you guys!"

"Alright," Mifuyu says. "I'll get you a feather robe and assign you a room and a task. Hmm… Lita, do you think you have enough feathers to guard your rumour?"

Huh? Wait, I didn't tell her my nickname like last time…? Oh wait, she was there when I told the rest of my team, wasn't she…

"I wouldn't mind having an extra member," I say. "That said, I don't think it would make much of a difference. There's basically two possibilities if someone attacks the rumour we're guarding, right? Either it's Miss Nanami or Miss Izumi, which means one extra member probably won't be enough to make a difference, or it's one of the less powerful magical girls around town, in which case my current team should be more than enough. I mean, I guess there are some in-between cases there too… if it was Miss Tokiwa's team we could be in trouble, perhaps…"

Mifuyu blinks at me. "I was not aware you were acquainted with Miss Tokiwa… but anyway… she at least is not actively hunting rumours." She turns back to Mayoi. "If Lita doesn't need another member, how would you feel about helping out with the witch farms?"

"Witch… farms?" Mayoi asks.

Mifuyu nods. "We carefully raise witches up from familiars. Among other things, it's intended as a safer source of grief seeds, and it also helps us to gather the energy we need for liberation."

"Huh… that sounds really weird!" Mayoi says. "I'd be interested in giving it a try though!"

"By the way, what brings you here today, Lita?" Mifuyu asks. "I wasn't expecting to see you today… you said you only planned to come in on weekends, right?"

"Well, I heard a rumour about the hunt for Miss Yakumo," I say. "Apparently she went missing?"

"Ah… now that you mention it, I think I did hear something about that," Mifuyu says.

"But by the time I got here it seemed like it was already all under control, so I was thinking I'd just hunt a few witches and go home," I say.

"Ohhh, if you're gonna do that, maybe I can join you, just this once!" Mayoi exclaims. "Then maybe I could see a doppel in action, right?"

"Well… yes, there's a good chance," I agree. "If you want to join me, I'm okay with it."

"Then wait here while I get the robe thingy!" Mayoi says.

With that, she and Mifuyu head upstairs. I try contacting Tamura, just like I did last time.

«Hey, Tamura!»

«Eh!? Is that Miss Ashley? I didn't expect you to stop by today…»

«Could I ask you three to come meet me in the lobby?» I ask. «Maybe Miss Hifumi or Miss Yumemi too if they're around.»

«Sure… can I ask what's up?»

«I'll explain once we're together.»

I suddenly blink at Inui. "Come to think of it, the reason I left you out last time was because you were supposed to be on rumour watch duty… what happened to that?"

"I asked Mana-chan to switch with me this week," Inui says. "I took her place last night."

For a moment I get confused about who Inui is referring to, as Mana could refer to either Yaeko Mana or Yumemi Manatsu… all these names are starting to become difficult to keep straight in my head. I'm pretty sure there are other duplicate names besides that one, too – I seem to recall a second Konoha in the last timeline, for example.

"Oh… so I guess she won't be joining me, then…"

Sure enough, only three black feathers join us in the lobby a few minutes later – the Mitakihara trio. Like last time, they were unable to find Chiyoko.

"So what's up, Lita?" Chihana asks.

"I was thinking of going witch hunting," I say. "Thought you might want to come along. You can practice the chain techniques and get some grief seeds, so there's no downsides, right?"

Chihana giggles. "You got that right! Wow, I didn't expect it to be so boring around here! So glad I brought my game console along with me!"

"Um, but… what do we need grief seeds for?" Hikari asks. "I mean… we're in Kamihama… so there's the doppel field, right?"

"Didn't they explain this before?" I ask. "Was I the only one who heard it? The Magius need to gather grief seeds for their witch farms. Furthermore, if you want to go home for awhile, it'd be good to take at least one grief seed with you, right? And on my end, I'd like to gather some grief seeds to share with some of the other magical girls in Mitakihara. My area of town now has eight magical girls including me, so we need quite a few seeds…"

Tamura blinks. "E-eight!? W-weren't there… just four besides you…?"

I nod. "Yeah, three new ones contracted in the last week or so," I say. "So I thought we could take down a whole bunch of witches and then split the spoils fifty-fifty – half to me and half to everyone else. Would that be fine?"

"You mean… half to your friends back home, and half to the Magius?" Chihana asks.

"Precisely," I say.

"Well, I don't have a problem with that," Chihana says. "Yeah… sure."

"Sounds good to me," Hikari says.

At that moment, Mayoi rejoins us, now in a black feather robe.

"Sorry to keep you waiting!" she says cheerfully. "I'm all ready and raring to go! W-whoa, who are all these girls!?"

"These are part of my team," I say. "There's two more currently on guard duty as well, plus one other who's not here."

"Um, and… who are you?" Hikari asks.

"Oh… I'm the newest recruit," Mayoi says. "Um… hey, you can call me Maimai, I guess! Miss Mifuyu said a lot of you wanna stay confidential, so I thought I might as well use a nickname too."

"Nice to meet you, Maimai!" Inui exclaims.

"Yeah, welcome to the Wings of the Magius," Chihana says.

"Thanks! Miss Lita offered to take me along while witch hunting so I could see a doppel in action. Are you guys all coming too?"

"Yeah," Hikari says. "But isn't this an awful lot of people just to hunt some witches…?"

"It's fine," I say. "It's a lot, sure, but it just means we should be able to finish them all off quickly."

I briefly check on the status of the hunt for Mitama. I think it's at roughly the same stage it was last time I set out from Fendt Hope, so that means I don't have a lot of time.

"Well, let's get going," I say.

I jump up and make for the door, and all the black feathers follow me. Just like before, we stumble into the labyrinth of the Witch of Symbols on our way to the old prison and find ourselves surrounded by the familiars inhabiting it.

"W-what the!?" Chihana gasps. "Why're there so many of them!?"

"W-whoa!" Mayoi says. "What's with these familiars? They seem… different from most familiars… not to mention stronger…"

"This is a witch native to Kamihama, known as the Witch of Symbols," I say. "But the witch herself is hidden away somewhere – she hasn't been seen for many generations, I believe. However, her familiars can apparently duplicate themselves, so they're spreading all over the place."

Actually, not all the familiars surrounding us belong to the Witch of Symbols. There are several Oscars mixed into the crowd too – the familiars of Shitori Egumo, or Eve.

"So basically, this is just a familiar's barrier?" Chihana asks as she whips her chains around, smashing as many as possible. "Seems like quite the dangerous witch!"

"Y-yeah," Hikari says. "Even more so when you realize what would normally happen when your soul gem is filled up…"

Five of us face outwards, most of us attacking with the chain weapons and swinging them at the mass of familiars, which throw themselves at us like they have a death wish. However, Mayoi doesn't use the chains, presumably because she literally just joined and hasn't been taught. Instead, she swings her drill around like a club, knocking familiars over and smashing their shells open, then using it to punch a hole through space and pop out in a new location. As a result, she probably ends up taking out more familiars than anyone else.

After a minute or so, Mayoi suddenly gasps and comes to a halt.

"W-whoa, I d-don't feel… so good…!" she gasps.

As if that was her cue, her doppel explodes out of her, the name 'Tsumuri' floating in the air before her in witch runes. It looks like a winged snail, the shell fixed tightly to her back to the point that it looks like she can barely move her legs. The wings are tiny and don't look like they're capable of actual flight. The snail's neck extends just above her head, and its face resembles a tapestry hanging down to block out Mayoi's vision. It has antennae of sorts as well, which curl inward to grip a horizontal cord, with several strings connecting that cord to its head, almost like a lyre.

"Ah… ah… ah…!" Hikari gasps. "T-t-t-that's a… a… a d-d-d-doppel!?"

"That's right," I say.

"W-wow," Chihana says.

"It's p-p-pretty s-scary…" Hikari says.

"Y-yeah…" Tamura says.

Although Mayoi's legs might not be able to move, the snail has two legs of its own that are coloured in the same red and yellow spiral pattern as the shell, and using those legs, it leaps around the arena smashing familiars until there are none left. As soon as the doppel disintegrates and is absorbed back into Mayoi's body, she falls forward with a groan.

"Are you okay, Maimai!?" I ask.

"F-fine," Mayoi says. "Don't worry about me… I just need a little rest… you guys… keep going…"

"You're sure you're okay?" I ask.

"Yes, I'm just a bit tired out," Mayoi says. "I didn't realize this doppel thing would be so… tiring… I'm really fine, alright? You go on ahead without me."

"Well, witnessing the doppel for yourself was why you wanted to come, so I guess," I say.

However, I don't like the idea of leaving her lying on the ground in the middle of the street, even if it's just a back alley, so I carry her to a nearby bench and lay her down there. Then the rest of us continue towards the old prison. As before, we run into an instance of Zenobia, but this time it's Tamura who defeats it by unleashing her doppel. We quickly move on after that, finally arriving at the abandoned factory that Mitama had been holding vigil in. When I go in, there's nothing there but the Mirror Witch's labyrinth.

"Alright, could I ask the three of you to wait here a bit?" I ask.

"Huh? Why?" Chihana asks.

"Because there are other magical girls inside," I say. "Plus, two of you are almost ready to unleash your doppels. I'd rather not have other people witness that."

"Uhh… alright, I guess so," Chihana says.

I banish my robes, and Inui immediately follows my example. We're both already transformed underneath our robes, so we then step into the labyrinth. All the same people are present as last time – the Azalea sisters, Nanaka and Meiyui, the Daito trio, Yachiyo, Himika, and Mitama.

"…if we factor in that it's a freshly-matured witch… we might have at least some chance," Mitama says.

Seems like we're slightly later than last time?

"Could I ask you to reconsider?" I say.

"Huh? Who're you?" Himika asks, startled. "I've never seen you around here before…"

"You're just going to hop into a conversation without even knowing what we're discussing?" Yachiyo asks.

"Why would you assume I don't know?" I retort.

Yachiyo blinks, presumably remembering the last time we met.

"Ah… right, you have that kind of magic…"

"Oh hey, if it isn't Miss Inui," Meiyui says.

"Ah, it's Mei-kun!" Inui gasps.

Nanaka glances at Meiyui in surprise. "Mei-kun…?"

"Is nothing," Meiyui says. "No different from Miss Emiri, yes?"

"Ah, I get the picture," Nanaka says. "Since you appear to know her, would you like to introduce us?"

"Yes!" Meiyui says. "This is Itsumi Inui. She and another friend swiped all the weapons from a local gang awhile ago, so I treated them to mapo tofu in thanks. I do not know the other girl…"

"Ah, there is no need," Nanaka says. "I have already met Ashley Taylor, though I certainly did not expect to encounter her here and now."

"To tell the truth, I'm surprised to see you again at all," Konoha says.

"Eh? You've met this girl, Konoha?" Hazuki says.

"Yes, she was there when Sarasa Hanna…" Konoha says. "You know."

"Ah, I see," Hazuki says.

"Huh, so she's the one who…" Mito says. "Um, d-dealt with… Miss Sarasa's…?"

Yachiyo nods. "I could come up with a number of questions for you regarding the last time we met, but… now is not the time for that. Why would you be watching us this time?"

"Well, would you believe me if I said I was monitoring this offshoot Mirror Witch?" I ask. "I really want to get the grief seed, but I think the plan you've come up with will obliterate the seed completely, so I'd like to ask you to reconsider."

"That's your only motivation?" Yachiyo asks. "Well… can you offer us any alternative, though?"

"As a matter of fact, I can," I say. "Miss Tokiwa was noting the difficulty of even locating the witch, but with my power, that should be no trouble at all. I can lead you straight to her."

"Is that really possible…?" Ayame wonders. "Why should we trust you? You could also just lead us the wrong way on purpose and then ditch us…"

"Hmm, I don't get the sense that you're an enemy," Nanaka muses.

"Thank you for that vote of confidence, Miss Tokiwa," I say. "Miss Mikuri, I could certainly do what you say. I cannot deny that it would be possible. The best I can do is to promise not to abandon anyone."

"But you just came out of nowhere!" Ayame insists. "And you were clearly spying on us!"

"I am inclined to trust her," Meiyui says. "As she is a friend of Miss Inui, I do not believe she would be a bad person."

"I'm really only after the witch," I say. "I just want its grief seed."

"There's one thing I don't understand," Yachiyo says. "There are tons of witches in Kamihama, even just around here… why don't you just take one of those instead? One grief seed is just as good as any other, isn't it?"

"Sorry, Miss Nanami, but I specifically need this grief seed," I say. "Or at least, a grief seed from a Mirror Witch. If there were another offshoot, I could take that one instead, but I haven't found any others."

"Hey," Himika speaks up. "Maybe we'd be a little more willing to trust you if you'd tell us a bit about yourself… you seem to know all of us, but we have no idea who you are, beyond your name."

"Oh, that's fine with me," I say. "I'm seventeen years old, a magical girl from California, currently on a student exchange program in Mitakihara."

"Oh… if you're from Mitakihara, do you know Miss Tomoe?" Yachiyo asks.

"Yes, she's quite well-known among the magical girls there," I say.

"If you're living in Mitakihara, then what brings you to Kamihama?" Yachiyo asks.

"So you Kamihama natives still aren't aware of the witch crisis, huh?" I say. "Kamihama is now the only place on the island where we can find witches, for the most part. So, my only choice is to come here, or take a flight to the mainland."

Yachiyo blinks. "Seriously…? I had no idea something like that was happening… if I'd known, I wouldn't have tried to drive people away quite so hard…"

"It's really hard to believe," Hazuki says. "Why would they be gathering in Kamihama of all places?"

I shrug. "Well, apparently there's some shady group doing things here in Kamihama, so that might be related."

Yachiyo and Mitama blink at me, clearly catching my reference. Actually, it looks like Himika may have realized who I meant as well.

"But the important thing right now is that I need a grief seed from the Mirror Witch," I say. "Diving into Endless Mirrors is out of the question – it's far too deep, and even if I made it to the bottom, the witch itself is probably too powerful even for me to defeat. But this freshly-matured offshoot is just perfect for me."

"And what do you need the grief seed for?" Yachiyo asks.

"I was going to ask that too," Mitama says. "What on earth could you need a specific grief seed for?"

"Hmm… well, it's not something I'm comfortable sharing," I say. "I don't intend to hurt anyone though, if you were worried about that."

"Well… although Miss Taylor's motivations may be potentially questionable," Nanaka speaks up. "The fact remains that she has offered us an alternative means to bring down the witch, which does align with our goal here. So… shall we try Miss Taylor's method? Or shall we overload the mirror coins to blow it up?"

"Well… to tell the truth, I was a little disappointed by the mirror coin plan," Mito admits. "I mean, I was all excited that I'd finally get to see the mirror witch, but then we're just going to blow it up instead? It's a bit of a let-down…"

"I kinda feel the same way," Leila says.

"I… I'm not sure," Seika says. "So since I'm not sure… I'll support Leila and Mito since they're my friends."

"I'd rather take the surefire method," Konoha says. "I vote we blow it up."

"Honestly, that idea worried me a little," Hazuki says. "Are we quite sure the explosion won't escape into the real world? I think… I think I'd prefer the slower but safer method…"

"I'm in favour of blowing it up," Mitama says.

"Me too!" Ayame says. "After all, explosions are awesome!"

"Hmm," Himika says. "I guess I'm pretty curious what the Mirror Witch looks like, so I vote for Miss Taylor's method."

"As for me," Yachiyo says. "I feel that Mitama's idea is safer and more efficient."

"Hmm," Nanaka says. "I believe I will have to side with Miss Yusa, and for the same reasons… I must say, I was not expecting it to be so close…"

"Then my vote makes no difference," Meiyui says. "I will abstain."

"Then I'll lead the way," I say. "You don't have to follow me if you don't want to. I'll leave that up to you."

We head deeper into the labyrinth, fighting off mostly easel familiars only. As before, I use my clairvoyance to find the way, though somehow I manage to take a wrong turn again, despite my best efforts. It's not even the same wrong turn as last time. Maybe that's just how confusing the Mirror Witch is? I dunno.

"Seems I made a wrong turn," I say. "We'll have to backtrack just a bit."

I lead the way back to the previous fork and head down the correct path.

"You're really sure this is the right way?" Yachiyo asks. "Is this always how you fight witches? Selecting the route without hesitation?"

"Most of the time, of course," I say. "Why wouldn't I use the magic I was given?"

"Clairvoyance," Nanaka muses. "Indeed, it seems like quite the underrated power… if someone had simply mentioned it to me, I may have considered it a weak power, but seeing it in action is another matter entirely… you can very likely take down a witch in half the time of most other magical girls."

We soon arrive at the central chamber with the name Sarah Mirabilis W emblazoned above the door in runes.

"This is it," I say.

"Quite impressive," Mitama says. "I never thought there'd be a chance of locating the witch so quickly."

The Daito trio hand Mitama their bags of mirror coins, and Yachiyo kicks the door down. Everyone piles into the central chamber and looks around with interest.

"So this is the true form of the Mirror Witch?" Mito says. "I've never seen a witch quite like it…"

The twelve of us attack the witch together. With so many magical girls flinging magic at her, she doesn't last long. I land the final blow and seize the grief seed, and moments later we're dumped back out into the factory.

"U-um… uhh… w-who are all these people, Miss Taylor?" Tamura asks, startled.

Yachiyo looks at me in surprise.

"You know these three…? Wait, then you too are…?"

"Forgive me for not mentioning it," I say. "Since I was acting on my own initiative rather than at the behest of the Magius, it didn't seem worth mentioning. I personally wanted this grief seed. Even if the Magius would like to get their hands on it, which I admit is pretty likely, I have no intention of giving it to them."

"So you're with the Wings of the Magius," Yachiyo says coldly. "Perhaps I should have you hand over that grief seed right now…"

"You're saying that even though she called the organization shady earlier?" Inui points out.

Yachiyo blinks at her and looks like she's about to say something in response, but then she closes her mouth.

"I'll hand over any other grief seed I have on me," I say. "I just got one from the Sand Witch a little while ago, for example. But I won't hand over this one. I'm not going to back down on this… even if it comes to a fight."

"Alright, alright!" Mitama speaks up. "We defeated the witch, so let's not get into a silly little squabble right afterwards!"

"I must concur with Miss Mitama," Nanaka says. "Although I do not understand who these… Magius are… or why Miss Nanami would be so hostile towards them… the fact remains that Miss Taylor did not display any hostility."

"You're right," Yachiyo admits. "Very well… I'll let you go, this time… but next time we meet, it'll most likely be as enemies."

"I think you might be surprised at what happens," I say. "But nevertheless, thank you for your understanding, Miss Nanami."

I hand over Zenobia's grief seed, and Yachiyo accepts it.

"This is the Sand Witch's grief seed," I say. "You can decide amongst yourselves who gets it. Think of it as compensation for my unreasonable demands."

With that, I lead the black feathers outside and don my white feather robes again. Inui also puts her robes back on, and we head off to find more witches to defeat. I keep an eye on their discussion, which appears to more or less match the previous timeline. There are some differences, but nothing that stands out to me as significant. They agree to let Himika have Zenobia's grief seed, then split up. This time, I don't follow Yachiyo and Mitama as they return to the Coordinator's office.

We manage to collect several more grief seeds on the way back to Fendt Hope, and Chihana and Hikari both unleash their doppel once. We actually manage to collect more grief seeds than we did last time, probably because we have an extra person along with us.

Just before we re-enter the main building of Fendt Hope, I pause to check up on Iroha, confirming her initial meeting with Satori Kagome in the labyrinth of a Mirrors familiar. Then I step inside to find Tomomi, Manatsu, and Mayoi sitting in the lounge area. I'm happy to see that Mayoi seems to have recovered from the backlash to her doppel usage.

"Alright," I say. "I'll give you guys one grief seed each from the ones we gathered today. You can turn them into the Magius."

Chihana nods. "But… why give us one each instead of just turning them all in at once?"

"It's not a strong reason, but it gives each of you the opportunity to decide whether you want to turn it in at all," I say. "For example, if you want to make a visit to your hometown, you might need a grief seed, right? But do please make sure to turn some of them in, at least."

I distribute one grief seed each to Tamura, Chihana, Hikari, Tomomi, and Manatsu.

"Um… do you mind not having one, Maimai?" I ask.

"Huh? Why would I get one?" Mayoi asks. "I didn't help you guys get any of those, right? I passed out in a mere familiar's labyrinth, after all. So really, it's all fine! I'll just get one later if I feel like going home!"

So I give one to Inui as well.

"Huh? I don't really need one," Inui says.

"Then you could give it to Chiyoko," I suggest.

"Ah, that's a good idea," she says.

"Alright, then I'm going to head back to Mitakihara," I say.

"Are you going to stop by the party?" Inui asks.

I check the time. It's surprisingly not as late as I expected, not even nine o'clock yet.

"Hmm… maybe I will," I say.

"H-huh?" Tamura says. "W-what's this about a party…?"

"Oh, a friend's sister just got discharged from the hospital, so they decided to have a party," Inui says. "I said I couldn't go but Lita might show up a bit later."

«Though of course I didn't use the name Lita,» she adds.

"Oh," Tamura says. "So it's nothing to do with me, then…"

"See you later, Inui, everyone," I say.

With that, I leave the base, dropping my robes and making my way to a train station.

When I knock on the door, I can hear a muted scramble from within. The one who ends up answering is Komachi.

"Oh! It's Ashley-chan!" she exclaims. "So you made it after all… come in!"

I follow her into the living room, where all the others are assembled – Elise and Liliane, Sachie, Claire, Hiyori, and even Shiori.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Ashley!" Liliane exclaims. "I've heard quite a bit about you – they said you might be coming over."

"I'm pretty busy with… very serious matters," I say. "But I managed to find some time to stop by. I've also brought grief seeds."

"Ah, speaking of grief seeds, did Kanna-chi or Miss Mikuni tell you yet?" Claire asks.

"Huh? Tell me what?" I say.

"About the barrier," Claire said. "It's been expanded to cover most of southern Mitakihara."

"Oh, that's great news," I say. "I don't suppose it's generated any wraiths yet…?"

"No, not yet," Claire says. "It's only been a few days, though. Um… I think it was on Saturday when we expanded it."

"So Kanna-chi found a way to do it?" I ask.

"Actually, it turned out the barrier was generated by an artifact buried near the tomb," Claire says. "Once she'd dug that up, it wasn't hard to figure out how to expand it. We all helped out by monitoring the perimeter as it expanded, to make sure we didn't actually let a witch in."

So it was an artifact… did whoever put it there predict that someone in the future might want to expand it? It wouldn't really surprise me at all…

I nod. "So what area is covered, exactly?"

"About half of Miss Tomoe's territory, and almost all of Miss Mikuni's territory," Claire says. "A small portion of our territory is included too, but the presence of the witch behind the swimming pool blocked us from expanding it further."

"Oh right, I guess I should defeat her," I say. "The only reason I was leaving her alone was so I'd have a chance to show Pernelle, but I completely forgot to mention it to her… guess I should send her an email now before I forget."

I whip out my phone and compose a short email to Pernelle.

[Hello, I forgot to mention this before, but there's a strange witch near my place that I wanted to show you. Let me know if you're interested.]

"Now that that's over," Liliane says. "Perhaps someone could explain what it was all about? And what's a wraith?"

"The barrier we're talking about is one that keeps witches out," I say. "And a wraith is a monster that spawns from stray human emotions."

"Now I feel like I understand even less than before," Liliane says. "Why are you trying to keep witches out of southern Mitakihara?"

"Because if we keep witches out, wraiths can spawn there," I say. "And if wraiths spawn, we can get tons of grief seeds."

Liliane blinks at me. "Huh? You must be kidding me… that sounds too good to be true."

"Well, just wait and see," I say. "By the way, Claire-chan, where is this artifact now?"

"Miss Mikuni has taken charge of it," Claire says.

"Okay, that seems like it should be safe enough then," I say. "If the artifact is moved, does the barrier move too?"

"It doesn't seem to," Claire says. "But Kanna-chi said we probably shouldn't take it outside the barrier."

"Damn, that means someone will have to stay home instead of fighting Walpurgisnacht," I say. "Unless we can protect it with a secondary barrier that keeps Kyuubey out… or hide it somewhere it can't be found."

"Huh? Walpurgisnacht?" Liliane says. "Wait, are you telling me it's coming here!?"

"To this island, at least," I say. "It's possible it could hit Mitakihara, but I'm expecting it'll hit Kamihama instead."

"So anyway, you mentioned grief seeds?" Elise says.

"Ah, right," I say.

I take out three grief seeds and set them on the table in the centre of the room.

"I figured I'd give you these three, to share between the seven of you," I say.

"Oh wow, that's really generous of you," Liliane says. "How did you even manage to get so many!?"

"I gathered quite a few last night," I say. "I was working in a group of magical girls, but even so – between us we got… I think it was about twelve grief seeds."

Everyone gasps at my count.

"Twelve grief seeds!?" Liliane says.

I nod. "Kamihama's pretty much swarming with witches. I gave half to the girls who helped me, and I'm giving some to you guys, plus one of them is reserved for something special, but that still leaves two left over for me."

"Well… if you're sure, then we'll gladly accept them," Liliane says. "Um… who should take charge of them…?"

"For us, it's usually Elise-chan or I who hold onto the grief seeds," Komachi says. "So would that do?"

"I'll let onee-san have one," Elise says. "And it's silly for both me and onee-san to have one, so you take another, Komachi-chan."

"Alright," Komachi says.

"And Shiori-chan, you can have the last one," Elise says.

"Ah! T-thank you very much!" Shiori says.

I pass them to Liliane, Komachi, and Shiori, who tuck them away. Then I move on to the next topic.

"So, have you already had the discussion about Miss Liliane's so-called miraculous recovery?" I ask.

Liliane nods. "Right, according to Mom, my condition suddenly improved around lunchtime yesterday, so the hospital said I could go home immediately… though I don't remember any of that…"

"Yeah, our memories don't match Mom and Dad's memories," Elise says. "Wait… did you already know this would happen?"

"Yeah, I knew," I say.

"I see," Elise says. "We did talk about it a little earlier."

"It really did surprise me that everyone became a magical girl," Liliane says.

"And you talked about the witch shortage?" I ask. "And about what happened to Miss Liliane?"

Liliane nods. "I turned into a witch… and must've been defeated by another magical girl…"

"I um… was really s-shocked to learn that," Shiori says. "But… it also m-made me realize t-that… you t-truly saved my life, Ashley-chan. S-so… I wanted to… thank you again…"

"To be honest, the one you should thank is Madoka," I say. "She was the one who gave me the idea that led to saving you and several others. If it hadn't been for her, you'd definitely be a witch right now."

"E-even so… y-you're the one who… who actually saved me," Shiori says. "S-so… t-thank you."

"Who is this… Miss Madoka?" Liliane asks.

"Ah, she's one of the magical girls on Miss Tomoe's team," Hiyori says.

"Huh?" Liliane says. "Miss Tomoe has a team now?"

"Yeah, it's a pretty big one too!" Hiyori says. "There are six of them now. Almost as many as us!"

"W-wow, the magical girl population has really exploded while I was gone," Liliane says. "What about the rest of town?"

"Well, there's Yuma-chan and Miss Sakura to the east," Hiyori says. "I'm not sure who covers the industrial district…"

"That would be mainly Kohaku Koharu," I say. "But also in that area are Yuzuki Miu, Yoshida Tamura, Masumi Chihana, and Ayano Hikari. Though, I think the latter three are away right now, so I guess Miss Yuzuki is handling the southeast by herself for now."

"Then in the south is the quartet of Miss Mikuni, Kirika-chan, and the Asako sisters," Hiyori continues. "And to the north was Masuyo Mari, right?"

"Yeah, and Naomi Noriko," I say. "And don't forget that Masuyo Mari is technically two people."

"I think that's everyone in Mitakihara," Hiyori says.

"So many," Liliane says. "It's like ten times as many compared to when I was fighting all by myself…"

I'm leaving the house the following morning with Elise and Komachi when an unexpected visitor comes calling.

"I finally figured it out."

She's just standing there, facing out at the street, leaning on a street light.

"I've looked in every place I can think of, save one," she continues.

She spins to face us, startling Elise and Komachi who take a step back. I however am somewhat used to this woman's eccentricities by now, so I don't move an inch.

"Good morning to you too, Mary," I say. "Are we talking about Nanabuluku and Chalciuhtlicue again?"

"Oh, so you know of them," Mary says. "Yes, I can think of only one answer. They must be entombed in Flavia's embrace."

I tilt my head. "You've mentioned this Flavia a few times, but… who on earth is she?"

"She's a damned fool, that's what she is!" Mary shouted. "I told her that crazy pope couldn't be trusted! I told her he'd just use her, that he didn't even consider her to be a person, but did she listen? No! She walked right into the lion's mouth of her own accord!"

That… doesn't really tell me much at all, though. At most I can guess that Flavia was Christian?

"So back on topic, you were saying you think you know where Nanabuluku and Chalciuhtlicue are, right? Or their bodies, at least."

"Yes!" Mary says. "The only place I dare not enter is the Vatican City, but that ghost of a woman… she has no fear. Perhaps she has the nerve to go where I do not. Therefore! Chelsea Flanders, you shall help me!"

"How am I supposed to help you?" I ask.

"You've already made contact, haven't you?"

"Um… with who, exactly?"

"Don't play dumb!" Mary shouts. "Obviously, I'm talking about the Vatican!"

"No, um… I definitely haven't made contact with anything like that," I say. "I've never even been to Rome… the closest I ever got was… probably Florence?"

Mary seems to calm down, frowning at me a little.

"Hmm… your words ring true," she says. "Perhaps you are… as yet unaware of the connection… then I will return later."

And with that, she scrubs herself out of reality just like usual. Elise and Komachi question me as we continue heading towards school.

"Um… what on earth was that all about?" Elise asks.

"Good question," I say. "She's being cryptic again and I don't really know what she's talking about."

"Who even was she?" Komachi asks.

"A famous person," I say. "Mary of Magdala."

"I've never heard of her though…?" Komachi says.

"Ah, I have, actually," Elise says. "It's something to do with the origins of Christmas, isn't it?"

"Huh?" Komachi says. "But wasn't that a guy named, uhh… what was it, something like Yesu or something?"

"It's not considered canon or historical fact, but there are some who believe she was his wife," I say.

"H-he was married!?" Komachi gasps.

"Well, no-one knows for sure," I say. "He might not have been. I'm just saying there are some people who believe it."

"Okay, but either way, I guess that means they knew each other," Komachi says. "Huh? Wait, doesn't that make her thousands of years old!?"

"A bit more than two thousand, yes," I say. "Even older than Pernelle and Hilda, though not as old as Scheherazade."

"How old is Scheherazade?" Elise asks.

"I haven't the slightest idea," I say. "Other than that she's older than Mary."

"And what about those two unpronounceable names?" Komachi asks.

"You mean Nanabuluku and Chalciuhtlicue?"

"Yeah, them," Komachi says.

"I don't know much about them, but they seem to be friends of Scheherazade," I say.

"And what about Flavia?" Komachi asks.

"I pretty much know nothing at all about her," I say.

"Have you looked up the name?" Elise asks. "She might be famous too, right?"

"You have a good point," I say. "But I guess I just haven't had time? Or when I did have time it slipped my mind. It's certainly not at the top of my priorities."

"Fair enough," Elise says. "If I get curious and look her up though, I'll let you know what I find."

"Sounds good."

This should be the day that Sana is freed from Endless Solitude, which is why I've scheduled a meeting with Noriko after school. I have some plans to interfere with that event… so I'll see how that goes. After that will be the Memory Museum, and also the landslide in Yukuni. If this timeline starts to veer off the path, that's the point where it's most likely to do so. I'm hoping it won't, but… only time will tell, I suppose.

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.

Matsuyama Mayumi
松山真弓

Age: 15
Eye Colour: Green
Hair Colour: Red
Origins: Matsumiya, Shinriku Prefecture, Japan
Symbol: Red horned goat head
Soul Gem: Red teardrop-shaped gemstone on her forehead
Element: Fire
Weapon: Bow
Powers: Fire and magma manipulation, damage reflection, regeneration
Wish: "I want them to feel what I felt."
Affiliation: Tokime Clan

Speed: 7
Magical Stamina: 6
Offensive Power: 9
Defensive Power: 4
Initial Power Usability: 10
Learned Powers: 2

Tsukimachi Kotone
女松琴音

Age: 15
Eye Colour: Green
Hair Colour: Black
Origins: Matsumiya, Shinriku Prefecture, Japan
Symbol: Green four-petalled florette
Soul Gem: Purple diamond-shaped gemstone on her chest
Element: Water
Weapon: Lute
Powers: Ice manipulation, stat editing
Wish: "I want the power to support my friends in battle."
Affiliation: Tokime Clan

Speed: 1
Magical Stamina: 11
Offensive Power: 0
Defensive Power: 5
Initial Power Usability: 7
Learned Powers: 5

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 (†).

Latria (Kure Kirika)

The Doppel of manipulation. Its form is needles. The master of this emotion has vowed absolute loyalty to her savior. It penetrates enemy and master alike with sharp needles, sewing the fate of all things tight. This act represents its extreme devotion, such that it offers up everything, including its life to its benefactor, while symbolizing the perilousness of its dependence upon the other, which it cannot maintain its identity without. The sharper the needles are, the more stitches there are, and the harder it becomes to extricate oneself from it. However, this merely serves as an expression of the master's desire.

Tsumuri (Hachikuji Mayoi)

The Doppel of wandering astray. Its form is a lost snail. The master of this emotion wishes only to return to her mother's house. This Doppel, on the other hand, believes itself to be its master's true mother, and in order to protect its master from the cruel fate that awaits her, it creates many spatial vortexes in front of her to prevent her from returning home. Those unlucky enough to be caught in the vortexes will be trampled and killed by the Doppel, and will be destined to wander eternally between the realms of life and death.

I noticed that Inui had come up with the exact same nickname for Kokoro and Koharu so I decided to change her nickname for Kokoro, which appeared in chapter 73. I'm not quite sure if I like this one though, so I might change it again if I think of something better.

I'm not sure how clear it is from the description, but both Kotone's and Mayumi's outfits are based directly on another character. It's not the only time I've done this – apart from these two and the obvious case of Tamura, there's also Liliane and the "new" Masuyo Mari (as opposed to the "old" Masuyo Mari who's just described as a samurai in armour). I wonder if anyone noticed who I'd based any of those on? (Though in the case of Mari I actually stated it outright.) There might be more I've forgotten about too.

I've actually built up a bit of a buffer this time – the next chapter is completely drafted out with no missing pieces (unless I decide to add an entirely new segment to it, which I've been considering) and I've gotten started on the following chapter as well. So I imagine it won't be as long a wait as the last few chapters.