Magia: A New Hope

by Pentalithia

A Madoka / Magia Record fan suddenly wakes up in the world of magical girls, as a side character. Features Ashley Taylor. Note: In case it's not obvious, you should expect massive spoilers here for nearly everything in the franchise.

98. Advent of the Phoenix

When I was growing up, a girl just a few years younger than me made a splash at the environmental summits that were being held back then. Her name was Greta, and she made headlines for a few years, scolding everyone who wasn't doing enough to protect the environment, but it had no effect on any of the people with actual power to change national policies.

Then she disappeared from public view without any notice or warning, just a few weeks after what came to be known as the Month of Fire, when seven volcanos worldwide erupted within the space of just a few days. When I found out about magical girls, that was the first thing I thought of. I have no proof, but I think she must have been a magical girl. After all, those volcanoes were the lucky break that gave us terminally stupid humans the time to finally start to get our acts together on the environment.

~Excerpt from "Magical Girls: Their Hope and Despair"~
~by Professor Satomi Tasuke, Ph.D~

---

"I realize most of you have fought several back-to-back battles, but as the one who orchestrated much of this, I'd like to hear the details of what happened out of my sight as soon as possible," I say. "It could take a few hours, but do you mind?"

Most of the girls from the big battle have already dispersed. The last ones to leave before I said that were Mari, Noriko, and a group of seven black feathers including Hagumu and Shigure. The white feather who had been commanding them, a girl named Nene, is still present. In addition, Shizuku has just returned from ferrying Mitama to the Coordinator's along with a few injured girls and those worried for them.

Besides those two, all six members of the Crescent Moon Villa team are still present, as well as Kanagi, Rena, Kaede, Karin and Riko. Mami, Sayaka, Hitomi, Kyouko, Yuma, and Nagisa are still here, and Hijiri, Yuuri, and Airi have also stuck around. Nanaka's team and the Azalea sisters are also here, as well as Asuka, Sasara, and the Amane twins. Yukika is still here too, the only one besides Nene to still be wearing feather robes. Maria and Coeurl have stuck around as well. Lastly, Mayoi and Chiyoko are still here, together with the friends they invited from out of town. Oh, and there's one extra person present that should probably surprise no-one.

"I don't think I'll be of any help to you on that," Scheherazade says. "But I was planning to investigate the automatic purification system, so I'll be around for most of the day, probably. You said earlier you'd like to talk with me in private, right, Ashley? I'll lower my guard temporarily so you can find me with your clairvoyance, as long as it's today."

"Yes, I definitely would like that chat a bit later," I say. "Thank you for the information. I'll see you in a bit, then."

Scheherazade heads south along the lake shore, towards Minaminagi Ward.

"This… isn't really a good place to have a chat, is it?" Yachiyo says.

"Especially with that sinister prison in the background," Iroha says.

We're all in front of the old prison on the lake in Daito Ward, where Eve was eventually pinned down and defeated.

"Don't worry," Kanagi says. "The old prison has been unused for many years now."

"B-but it still feels haunted or something!" Iroha says.

"We could find a new location," I say. "But personally, I'm fine with staying here. The weather's nice, after all."

"You do have a point," Iroha admits. "But still… the scenery's not so nice…"

"Does anyone have a better location in mind?" I ask.

"The dojo?" Asuka suggests.

"Any objections to that?" I ask.

There are none, so I turn to Shizuku and Mayoi.

"Can you get us there?" I ask.

"That… might be a bit much," Shizuku says. "That last portal to the Coordinator's took up almost everything I had left…"

"I think… I can maaaybe manage one more," Mayoi says.

"What if you pooled your magic?" I suggest.

Shizuku nods. "I have a little bit left, so if I lend it to Miss Maimai…"

Mayoi nods. "Let's do it!"

Shizuku presses her hand to Mayoi's, and there's the flash of a connect skill. Then Mayoi punches a portal and everyone heads through. The portal opens straight into the interior of the dojo, which keeps things nice and simple. As everyone collapses on the floor, some more gracefully than others, Asuka runs off somewhere, returning a minute later with a tray of full teacups, enough for everyone to have one.

Looking around, I notice that Kyouko and Yuma seem to have disappeared. I guess Kyouko decided to ditch us, and Yuma just followed her. Well, it's okay… I don't desperately need her input today. I actually only need to hear from a few people, so I could let at least half of these people go, but… there's always the chance that someone unexpected has a useful nugget for me, so I decide not to say anything.

While everyone is getting ready, with Asuka preparing the tea and the others all getting comfortable on their cushions, I recall the opening of yesterday's event.

---

Thankfully, Walpurgisnacht didn't arrive a day earlier like Oriko had intimated it might.

So, I headed for Kamihama right after school on Thursday. Liliane and the others joined me as well, as Hiyori had said she'd stick with the Holy Brigade on the way there. But then we ended up running into them at the station anyway, which meant that the entire Holy Brigade – even Kyouko, for the first time – was riding the train along with Liliane and co. I think it was probably fortunate that none of the other girls from Mitakihara ended up on the same train, because the sixteen of us were already enough to draw other people's attention a little. It wasn't on the level of the mass migration that smashed open the masquerade in a certain Madoka fanfic, but it was definitely enough for people to wonder what we were up to.

Liliane's group got off the train first, transferring to head towards Suitoku Station. The Holy Brigade transferred at Chuo Station to head towards Mizuna, and I stayed on almost to the end of the line, getting off at Minaminagi Seaside Park.

When I arrived at Fendt Hope, it turned out I was a bit early for the big assembly, which was a good thing because there were a couple of things I still needed to do. The first was to eliminate some of the toughest opponents from the brainwashed group – namely, Yukika and the Amane twins. The second was to have a meeting with just the dissidents. And the third was to capture Shizuku before she ran into Ryo and Ikumi and was injured by the brainwashed feathers.

"You made it!" Inui said. "I wasn't sure you'd get here with enough time to spare."

Apparently she'd been waiting for me in the ground floor lobby. She was the only one there. The Soldier Bear had already been moved into place to guard the path to the underground chapel. It looked like the path was still open, however – there was just a huge bear almost blocking the way.

"How much time do we have before the assembly?" I asked.

"About half an hour, I think," Inui said.

"Can we get everything done in half an hour?" I mused. "Well… there's no time to wonder."

I opened a few visions on key people that I needed to keep track of – the Magius, Yukika, the Amane twins, and Sorashi. It turned out that Yukika and Tsukuyo were together, perhaps because they attend the same school, and they seemed to still be on their way to Fendt Hope. Tsukasa was alone, just leaving Kosho Academy when I checked on her. Sorashi was on the seventh floor with San and Miyuri, guarding the door where Mifuyu's body was being kept. Nemu was resting in her room, and Alina was already in the assembly hall, watching as girls were starting to trickle in. Touka was in her office, apparently doing some last-minute calculations.

I shoved my bag filled with communicators under the couch and settled down in the lounge to wait for Yukika and the Amane twins.

"Is everyone else here?" I asked.

"Not yet," Inui said. "Momoko, Rena, Maria, Maya, and Tori were going to school like normal. Maria arrived a little while ago and the rest of them should be here soon. Maimai disappeared to pick up her friends – the fire sisters – but I expect her back any minute now. Chiyoko headed to the train station to meet her friend as well. I think everyone else is here though – Sue and Coeurl are waiting in the third floor lounge, and Tomomi and Manatsu should be with them by now, as well as Maria. And of course, Kuroe is at the True-Dragon Dojo with everyone else."

"So everyone's at least accounted for, and those who aren't here should be here soon," I said.

We fell silent for a bit as several feathers entered, some heading towards the assembly hall while others made for the stairs, presumably heading for their rooms to fetch things or drop things off before the assembly. That meant there were a few feathers trickling down from upstairs as well. A moment later, a portal popped open and Mayoi hopped out, already in her robes.

"Ohh, Lita's here already!" she said. "Are we still waiting for anyone else?"

"Five more people, right?" I said.

"That's right," Inui said.

"Where are those friends of yours?" I asked. "The fire sisters, I think you called them?"

"Oh, I dropped Karen-chan and Tsukihi-chan off near the dojo," Mayoi said.

So their names were Karen and Tsukihi? None of my meta knowledge pointed to friends of Mayoi who had those names, though. They were likely from the source material that I hadn't read or watched, the Monogatari anime and light novel series.

"I thought I said Suitoku Temple though?" I pointed out.

"Ah, well, the reason I was asking them to help was because of the Magius," Mayoi said. "So when they said they wanted to pound the Magius's faces in, I decided to take them to the dojo instead."

"Well, I guess one or two girls switching between the groups makes little difference, so fine," I said.

Little did I know that it would actually make a huge difference…

"So I guess I just wait in the third floor lounge until the others arrive, right?" Mayoi said.

"Yeah, that's right," I said. "But before that, could you open a portal to that room on the seventh floor?"

"Sure thing!" Mayoi said.

She punched open a portal, and I stepped through, glancing at Mifuyu's body laid out on a couch before making for the door. I checked the vision that I had left open to monitor Sorashi, watching for her reaction as I placed my ear against the lock and deployed an intricate bit of telekinesis. There was a slight click as the lock was released. Fortunately, it seemed that neither San nor Sorashi had heard it, so I hurried back through the portal.

After closing the portal, Mayoi headed off, and we continued to wait around as girls trickled in a few at a time, some from outside, others from upstairs. It was probably about ten minutes before Yukika and the Amane twins finally arrived. It seemed Tsukasa had joined up with them at some point. I jumped to my feet and stepped towards them.

Before addressing them, I tuned in on the visions I'd left open tracking Touka and Sorashi. Apparently they were together now, so I shut off the extra vision. Touka seemed to be telling them that it wouldn't hurt to leave the door unguarded for a little while, since pretty much everyone was heading to the assembly by now, and the door was locked in any case. She apparently had a task for them related to the plan to seal off the chapel later. At least that simplified things – I'd been a little worried that I'd have to deal with the Instructor myself before I'd be able to put this plan into action.

"Did you three hear from Miss Mifuyu?" I asked.

The twins blinked at me.

"Huh? I have heard nothing from Miss Mifuyu for about two days," Tsukuyo said. "Have you spoken to her?"

"She was here a little while ago," I said. "She said to send you three to her if we saw you."

"Where exactly is she?" Tsukuyo asked.

"She's on the seventh floor," I said. "Ah, I forgot the exact room though… but I think it was on that side of the main stairs?"

I pointed towards the east wing of the building, and Tsukuyo nodded.

"There are not that many rooms she could be in," she said. "I am sure we can find her."

As the three of them headed for the stairs, Momoko and Rena entered, along with Hotori. I gave them a wave, but waited a bit for the twins and Yukika to be out of earshot before addressing them.

"Miss Momoko… how's Kaede-chan?"

"Still brainwashed," Rena grumbled.

"Those two girls did their best, and it almost seemed like they were starting to make some progress, but I guess they just didn't have enough time," Momoko said.

"I'm really sorry we couldn't break the brainwashing," Hotori said. "I tried really hard…"

"Don't worry about it, Tori," I said. "We'll just have to find another way."

I briefly checked on Kaede's location – she was still in her room at Fendt Hope, so she must've been skipping school.

"Well, she's still in her room if you want to give it another try before the meetings," I said. "But there's not that much time left."

"I'll do that," Rena said. "And I'll tear that stupid pendant off of her if I have to."

"I think I'd just get in the way in that small room, so I'll wait with the rest on the third floor," Momoko said.

They headed for the stairs, and Inui and I continued to wait. Chiyoko arrived several minutes later.

"Oh, you're here already, Lita!" she gasped. "Am I late…?"

"We're still waiting for Maya," I said. "You met your friend, right? Where is she now?"

"Oh, um, she really wanted to see this Hotel Fendt Hope for herself, so I gave her directions to the dojo instead of the temple," Chiyoko said. "Um… is that okay?"

"It's fine," I said. "Sorta funny that both you and Maimai did the same thing though."

At that moment, Maya showed up as well, so I got to my feet, grabbed the communicators from under the couch, and joined the two of them to head up to the third floor lounge. Naturally, Inui also came with us. On the way up, I quickly composed emails to Hijiri and Kuroe to let them know of the change of plans, as I'd already sent both of them a list they could use for roll call.

Once we reached the third floor lounge, I did a quick check that everyone was present, and no extras were here. First I did a head count. There were four white feathers comprising myself, Sue, Coeurl, and Momoko. The nine black feathers were Inui, Rena, Maria, Maya, Hotori, Mayoi, Chiyoko, Tomomi, and Manatsu.

"Alright," I said. "I'm going to keep this brief. Maimai will help me capture Shizuku as she's escaping, and we'll send her up to that room on the seventh floor while we all attend the special base defenders meeting. After the meeting, we'll contact Kuroe and get her to lead everyone here. As soon as she says they're at the entrance, Coeurl will find the Instructor and knock her out. If Sorashi's not with the Instructor, then Inui will take her down, and everyone else will capture the other magical girls who aren't with us. Remember, the plan is that we don't drop our robes until the Instructor and Sorashi are out of commission, at minimum. Once the girls of Kamihama arrive to fight the rumour, I'm going to join the Crescent Moon Villa team to assault the chapel, so at that point you can listen to whoever's in charge during the rumour fight."

Several of the girls present nodded or made noises of assent, and I settled down to wait until the assembly actually began. Finally the time arrived, so I opened a vision to watch the assembly, focusing on Shizuku in particular. As the assembly came to an end, I took Inui and Mayoi and headed back to the ground floor. There was absolutely no-one around. After quickly checking on Ryo and Ikumi, who like I expected proved to be waiting outside by the fountain to ambush Shizuku, I waited for Shizuku to exit the assembly hall. I could see she was going through the exact same thing as last time, realizing that Fendt Hope was not a place where she could belong after all – the key to cracking her brainwashing. It all went more or less as I expected – she ended up tearing the pendant off and smashing it, only to have a target painted on her back, so to speak.

It wasn't long before she showed up in the lobby, pursued by several black feathers who had lost their minds because of the rumour. I nodded to Mayoi, who punched a portal open, and then I stepped forward to grab Shizuku by the arm, contacting her telepathically to deter retaliation.

«This way,» I said. «Don't worry, you'll be safe here, at least for now.»

Shizuku blinked at me. It wasn't clear if she recognized me, but she came along without resistance, and the four of us hurried through Mayoi's portal, closing it up behind us and startling the four girls on the other side, who looked like they had been about to leave the room.

---

As told by Nanase Yukika… several minutes before Shizuku escaped the hall…

Yukika followed the Amane twins as they ascended the stairs to the second floor. On the way up, they ran into Touka, Sorashi, Miyuri, and the Instructor.

"You know the assembly's about to begin, right?" Touka said. "Don't be late!"

"Y-yes, of course!" Tsukuyo said. "We will be there shortly."

Fortunately, Touka didn't ask any further questions, simply continuing on her way, and the twins also resumed climbing the stairs. At the seventh floor, they turned right, exiting the stairwell. It took them a few minutes of checking various potential rooms to find the correct one, where they discovered Mifuyu laying on a couch.

"Huh?" Tsukasa said. "Is she sleeping? That can't be right."

The three of them headed over to check on her and gasped when they found she wasn't breathing.

"Oh my goodness, is she dead!?" Tsukuyo gasped. "W-who on earth would do this…?"

"No, look at her hand," Yukika said. "Her soul gem ring is missing!"

The hand in question was clenched into a fist, and just as Yukika said, there was no ring on the middle finger. There was also a hint of a scrap of paper clasped within that fist.

"T-then she's not dead," Tsukasa said, letting out a sigh of relief. "She's just been separated from her soul gem…"

"That is a huge relief," Tsukuyo said. "But even so… who on earth would do this to Miss Mifuyu? I cannot think of anyone who would bear ill will towards her…"

"Isn't she gripping something in her hand?" Tsukasa pointed out.

Yukika reached out to gently unclench Mifuyu's hand, carefully extracting the scrap of paper and smoothing it out. It was a very simple, badly-drawn plan of one of Fendt Hope's floors. Written on it were the kanji for 'soul', the initials F.H., and a single digit 5. A particular location in the west wing was circled on the map, the aforementioned kanji positioned right next to the circle.

"What does it mean?" Tsukuyo wondered.

"Fendt Hope, floor 5," Yukika mused. "That fits, doesn't it? And this says 'soul'…"

"Soul… soul… c-could it be the location of her soul gem!?" Tsukasa gasped.

"It does appear to match the floor plan of Fendt Hope," Tsukuyo said. "But it does not add up. If her soul gem was taken from her, how would she know where it was to be taken?"

"It can't hurt to at least check!" Tsukasa said.

"I'll check," Yukika said. "Tsukuyo-sempai, Miss Tsukasa, please wait right here. I'll be back soon."

She left the room and returned to the main stairwell, descending two floors and taking a left to exit the stairwell, entering the west wing this time. Again, it didn't take long for her to locate the room where Mifuyu's soul gem was being kept. She tried the door and found it to be unlocked. Mifuyu's soul gem was there, resting on a shelf, and Yukika grabbed it and ran back to the others. She burst back into the room on the seventh floor and raised it triumphantly.

"Oh!" Tsukasa said. "You really found it!?"

"The marked room wasn't even locked for some reason," Yukika said.

"Is this not suspiciously too easy?" Tsukuyo said. "Could it be that someone has laid a trap…?"

"Maybe we can ask Miss Mifuyu once she wakes up," Tsukasa suggested.

They placed Mifuyu's soul gem on her chest and waited. It was only about a minute before her eyes fluttered open, and she sat up with a gasp, clutching at her soul gem.

"Huh?" she said. "Miss Tsukuyo? Miss Tsukasa? Miss Yukika? What's going on?"

"We were just about to ask you the same thing," Tsukuyo said. "Miss Taylor said you called for us, but when we came in here we found you lying there without your soul gem…"

"However, this scrap of paper clasped in your hand led us to your soul gem, so we woke you up," Yukika said, showing her the paper.

Mifuyu blinked. "What? I haven't even spoken to Miss Taylor for several days… and I've never seen that sheet of paper before… it's certainly not my handwriting…"

"Then, could you share with us what happened to you?" Tsukuyo asked.

Mifuyu nodded. "Yes… the last thing I remember was… that's right. When I heard the Magius planned to use a rumour to brainwash all the feathers, I thought it was high time I finally stood up to them…" Suddenly her eyes widened. "W-wait, what day is it? And what time!?"

"Ah, it is the twenty-eighth of April," Tsukuyo said, fishing her phone out to add the current time.

"Then… before we talk any further… all three of you have to remove your Magius pendants!" Mifuyu said.

The three of them blinked at her in confusion.

"Like I said… Nemu crafted a new rumour that would allow them to brainwash all the feathers," Mifuyu said. "They couldn't possibly do something like that without a focus… which is the pendant. Anyone wearing the pendant will be forced to obey their orders."

"T-that's awful!" Tsukasa gasped.

The three of them obligingly removed their pendants and set them aside.

"But there's still something that doesn't add up," Yukika said. "Why did Miss Taylor say you'd called for us… and where did this map come from…?"

"I'm really not sure," Mifuyu said. "Miss Taylor does appear to know a lot of things that she shouldn't really be able to… I don't know how she found out, though."

"Maybe… if she happened to see it when you were captured, and made the map herself…" Yukika mused.

"That still doesn't explain why she didn't just free you herself, though," Tsukasa pointed out.

"Miss Mifuyu… what do you think we should do now?" Tsukuyo asked. "We were about to attend the big assembly, but…"

Mifuyu shook her head. "There's no reason to attend the assembly," she said. "I think at this point our best course of action is to wait until the assembly is well underway, and then work our way out… and after that… I honestly have no idea… but… while that's probably the best course of action for us, all those poor girls will still end up brainwashed…"

"Well… if you cannot think of anything else, then I suppose we will wait here with you," Tsukuyo said.

"Yes indeed… if we must make a choice between you and the Magius, there's no contest," Yukika said.

"Thank you very much, you three," Mifuyu said.

The three of them took a seat with her to wait for the assembly to start, checking the time frequently. About five minutes after the assembly was due to start, Mifuyu got to her feet.

"I think this should be long enough," she said. "Shall we go?"

They got to their feet and headed for the door, but before they had a chance to open it, a portal opened in middle of the room, and four girls stepped through – Ashley, Inui, Shizuku, and Maimai.

---

"Please don't leave," I said.

"W-what!?" Mifuyu gasped. "You guys…?"

"I'm sorry for lying to you, Miss Tsukuyo, Miss Tsukasa, Miss Nanase," I said. "It was just a ruse to lure you up here and hopefully get you on my side. I'm sorry for taking advantage of the fact that they separated you from your soul gem, Miss Mifuyu – I just wasn't quite sure if I could trust the twins not to let anything slip, since they're closer to the Magius than most of the other feathers, and they don't seem to be all that skilled at keeping secrets."

"Then, that map was drawn by you after all, Miss Taylor?" Yukika said.

"Huh? Miss Nanase, have you met Miss Taylor before?" Tsukuyo asked.

"Yes, I ran into her at Walnut's one day," Yukika said. "Though I did not know at the time that she was a white feather."

"Oh, I see," Tsukuyo said.

"Yes, I drew that map and snuck it in here so you'd find it," I said. "I figured you wouldn't be able to just let it go. All three of you have more respect for Miss Mifuyu than the Magius, right?"

"Well, she is our sempai, so of course," Tsukuyo said.

"I don't know her quite as well, but Tsukuyo-chan trusts her, so I trust her too," Tsukasa said.

"Then, the reason it was so suspiciously easy is…?" Yukika said.

"Yesterday, when I stopped by for the interview, I unlocked the place they were storing Mifuyu's soul gem," I explained. "It was a slight gamble, as there was always a chance someone would notice and relock it, but I figured the chance of them checking on her before the assembly was pretty low, and it looks like I was right. And today I unlocked this room as well."

"If you could do that much, why not set Miss Mifuyu free yourself?" Yukika said.

"Like I said, I took advantage of her situation to get the three of you on my side," I said. "I'm sure actually seeing what was done to her has a greater impact than just hearing it from her."

"You're admitting you used Miss Mifuyu's misfortune to recruit us…?" Tsukasa said. "Even if that's true, why tell us? Don't you think that would undermine your plan to, um… recruit us?"

"I didn't think you'd be likely to turn me down even knowing the truth, because like I said, you respect Miss Mifuyu a lot, and she was the one who suffered… even if I didn't exactly take the steps to free her myself, I did take the steps to allow you to free her."

"Sorry to interrupt your discussion, but do we really have time to chat?" Mifuyu asked. "If Miss Shizuku is here… that probably means the assembly is over, right? So, we should get out of here as soon as possible. I wanted to leave before the assembly was over, but I guess it was shorter than I'd anticipated. If we're careful, maybe we can avoid encountering any of the feathers that were left behind…"

I shook my head.

"No, we're not going anywhere," I said. "The only ones who'll be going somewhere are Kagura San and Sorashi."

Mifuyu gasped. "Y-you… are you planning an actual uprising!?"

"I guess you could call it that," I said. "Here… let me introduce you."

I took out my communicator and pressed the speak button.

"Lita here. Is everything ready?"

I released the speak button, and a moment later, Kuroe's voice came out.

"Everyone's here… should we move? Um, out."

"Um… may I speak for a moment?" Mifuyu asked.

"Sure," I said.

I pressed the speak button and held it out to her.

"Um… I'm just checking here, but… who is everyone?" Mifuyu asked.

I released the speak button, and this time it was Mami's voice that came through.

"I'm happy to hear that you're okay, Miss Mifuyu," she said.

Then Hinano's voice emerged.

"It's good to hear your voice, Miss Mifuyu," she said. "Nearly all the magical girls of Kamihama are gathered here at the True-Dragon Dojo."

Then Yachiyo's voice emerged.

"Is everything okay, Mifuyu…? Why are you with Miss Taylor?"

I noticed Mifuyu opening her mouth and quickly pressed the speak button.

"Ya-chan…!" she gasped. "The Magius took my soul gem away, but Miss Taylor and the twins brought it back for me. Is it really true that everyone's there…? What on earth…? Miss Tomoe is there… even Miss Miyako…?"

"It's true!" Iroha replied. "We're all here!"

Then I pressed the speak button and gave the command. "Kuroe, please wait for ten more minutes, then get everyone moving," I said. "The entrance in Minaminagi Seaside Park would probably be closed by the time you get there, so I recommend entering through the Rumour of the Eternal Sakura. You know where that is now, right? I'll monitor it and let you know if the Magius appear."

I released the button, and Kuroe responded.

"Roger… we'll be there as soon as possible," she said.

I also opened a vision on Touka. It looked like the three of them were already at the observatory, so there was a pretty high chance that I'd need to tell the attack group to delay their entry to avoid running into the Magius as they returned. That said, I thought the artificial ten minute delay might be enough to correct for that.

"They're coming here!?" Mifuyu gasped. "All the magical girls of Kamihama!?"

"Pretty much all of them," I said. "Miss Misono is doing something else that she's uniquely suited for, and Miss Yura is probably taking a nap somewhere, and Miss Yakumo is probably just sitting in her office, and I have no idea what Miss Kirino is up to, but… almost everyone's coming here. We're going to destroy Fendt Hope."

"Do you really understand what you're saying!?" Mifuyu gasped. "Fendt Hope doesn't even compare to any of the rumours that the feathers were defending. Nemu has poured tons and tons of her magic into this rumour… it's far more powerful than any of the others!"

"Which is why everyone is coming," I said. "All I need the four of you to do is join the battle once they arrive."

"They'll have to get through several layers of defences even before they can get to the rumour," Mifuyu said. "Alina has laid a trap with some of her pet witches… and there's so many feathers… we have nearly two hundred now, I believe."

"I've already accounted for that," I said. "That's why everyone is coming. In addition to the girls from Kamihama, Miss Kaname and Subaru Kazumi will be here. Just from being in their presence, everyone's magic will be greatly boosted. You probably won't even need to use your trump card, Miss Mifuyu. As for the feathers, they're almost all brainwashed and running around town, remember? They won't be giving us any trouble. That's why I chose this moment to attack. That's why I didn't try to stop the brainwashing. The only ones we have to worry about are Kagura San, Sorashi, and maaaybe Midori Ryo. All the other feathers left on the base are either weak or on my side. Well… some are both, but still. I guess we should be wary of doppels, too."

"Um… so, just to be clear… I'm not actually needed here… right?" Shizuku said. "I can't imagine you'd need two people who can create portals…"

"You're not needed here, Miss Hozumi, but I do have something for you to do, if you don't mind," I said.

I took out a second communicator, turned the dial to channel twenty-four, and flicked on the switch. Karin's voice immediately came out, starting in mid-sentence.

"—in Minaminagi Ward," she said. "I repeat, there's a really strong one in Minaminagi Ward! Minaminagi Seaside Park! This one's really strong! Even if I dragged in Yura-chan I think it'd be tough for me!"

"That's… Miss Misono…!" Tsukasa gasped.

I pressed the speak button.

"Karin-chan, please keep an eye on the witch. Someone should be there in a minute or two."

"Roger!" Karin replied.

"And that's where you come in, Miss Hozumi," I said.

"You're asking me to go to Minaminagi Ward and fight that witch?" Shizuku asked.

"No, I'd like to ask you to go to Suitoku Temple and ferry people around the city based on what Karin-chan says," I replied. "You probably won't recognize many of the magical girls there, but I can vouch for every single one of them. You can take this communicator with you too – I don't need quite as many over here."

"So… you're asking me to… facilitate a city-wide witch hunt?" Shizuku said.

"Not exactly – we're only focusing on the really strong ones," I said. "Because those are most likely the ones Alina gave to the brainwashed feathers to release in town. We might accidentally defeat a couple extra, but the main goal is to make sure the witch situation here in Kamihama doesn't become any worse than it was yesterday. And once the familiars show up we'll be focusing on them instead."

"Familiars?" Shizuku said.

"Yes… the familiars of Walpurgisnacht and Eve. Eve's familiars are the ones that look like penguins – you must've seen them all over the city recently. Walpurgisnacht's familiars are unmistakeable – they look like a circus festival. Anyway, the ones in charge at Suitoku Temple are Mikuni Oriko and Hijiri Kanna, so please listen to what they ask of you."

"I think I more or less understand," Shizuku said. "Alright… I'll do it."

She took the communicator from me and opened a portal, stepping through.

"Just how many people have you dragged into this, Miss Taylor?" Mifuyu asked.

"Enough that we probably would've been able to face the Wings of the Magius head-on and still win if not for the terrain advantage of Fendt Hope," I said. "If you include both the girls of Kamihama and the girls gathered from across the island, there's probably around a hundred people on my side, maybe a bit more… so we're technically outnumbered a bit, but the Wings of the Magius has most of the weakest girls. That was one of the reasons I wanted Miss Nanase on our side, as she's probably one of the strongest among the black feathers."

"I… don't think I'm all that strong?" Yukika said. "I mean, that's at least a part of why I'm a black feather instead of a white feather…"

"Sure, you might seem weaker at first glance, but don't you get stronger when you're hurt?" I said.

"Ah, well… I cannot deny that…" Yukika muttered.

"Ashley-chan, your time's almost up," Inui said suddenly.

"Okay, I need to go to the base defender meeting now," I said. "The four of you, please lay low here for the time being. If things go as I expect, Sorashi should show up soon to guard the door, so you'll coordinate with Inui to pull off a pincer attack on her. Just one of you should be enough for that."

"Okay," Mifuyu said. "If everyone is coming, then waiting here makes a lot more sense than trying to escape. We'll follow your plan for now, Miss Taylor."

Mayoi punched a new hole for me, and the three of us returned to the third floor lounge. Then everyone got up, and we headed for the meeting place.

I entered the room designated for the meeting and looked around as everyone filed in. It seemed there were roughly equal parts dissidents and loyalists on the base right now, though the loyalists had more white feathers while the dissidents had more black feathers. I counted nine white feathers including myself, Coeurl, Sue, Momoko, San, Sorashi, Konoha, Fuu, and Ryo. There were a total of seventeen black feathers, eight of whom were loyalists – Yumi, Ikumi, Miyuri, Amu, Mana, Nami, Aoi, and Sal. Though Rena was here, the wildcard, Kaede, didn't seem to be present, so I resolved to ask about her after the meeting. All told, the loyalists seemed to be the exact same people as last time, with the exception of Mayoi being on my side this time.

"We are on the final stage of the plan for liberation," San announced once everyone had settled down. "Soon… by the end of the day, we shall be free of our curse. At present our part is to guard the base in case hostile intruders somehow make it here. However, we also have the role of unleashing Embryo Eve upon the city. Since we are a relatively small team, I believe it would be beneficial to be able to refer to each other by name… of course, I don't mean your real names. You all know me as the Instructor already, so that will suffice for my part. Could I ask each of you to present an alias? The white feathers can go first."

"Well, I think most of you know me," Sue said. "I'm Sue. Yes, it's an alias."

"Hmm… you can call me Fuu."

"Just call me Sorashi."

"Um… hmm… Konoha will do."

"You can just call me the Reporter."

"I'm Coeurl."

"Call me Lita."

"I'm… Momo."

The black feathers spoke up next, each giving their name in turn, just stating it without any elaboration. The only interesting bit was when it came to Manatsu's turn.

"Ah, um… I guess Mana is already taken, so you can call me… hmm… Mana… Mana two… Mana two. Yes, call me Mana-ni."

"Alright," San said. "Spread out through the base and await orders from myself or the Magius. If there is an alert, check it out. Even though this is a veritable fortress, there could still be unwelcome invaders at this stage. Sorashi, Miyu, you're with me for now. Everyone else, dismissed!"

«Where's Kaede-chan?» I asked as the meeting was breaking up.

«When I left her, she was crying on the bed because I took away her emblem and broke it!» Rena complained. «It's just a stupid piece of gold, what's the big deal? Geez!»

«Rena, I keep telling you to be a bit more gentle with her,» Momoko protested.

«Being gentle didn't help!» Rena replied.

«Okay, I think there should be a bit more time, so how about we go check on her again?» I suggested. «Inui, Chiyoko – could I ask you to take care of Sorashi? That's assuming she's left as a guard on the seventh floor while the Instructor goes somewhere else. As I mentioned earlier, you can coordinate with Miss Mifuyu and the others inside the room. Coeurl, do you think you can take down the Instructor?»

«I don't think Sorashi will be a problem,» Inui said.

«Yeah, especially if we take her by surprise,» Chiyoko said.

«I should be able to take on the Instructor easily,» Coeurl said. «My reflect magic won't work very well on her mass propulsion weapon, but it's actually not that dangerous as long as I protect my soul gem.»

I doubt many people would call a gatling gun 'not that dangerous'… but if she thought it wasn't, presumably it meant she had some way of dealing with it.

«Just for the record… I think Inui already knows, but Sorashi apparently has gravity magic,» I said. «She might use it if the situation becomes desperate.»

«Yeah, I knew about that,» Inui said. «Something like that won't be enough to stop us.»

«Maria, Sue, could I ask you to stay in the first floor lounge and keep a lookout for the others?»

«Sure,» Maria said.

«Maya, Tori, Tomomi, Mana… once you receive the signal from Coeurl that the Instructor is down, start attacking everyone else. Maimai, come with Momoko, Rena, and me.»

So we split into the five groups I'd indicated and each went in the appropriate direction. Momoko led us to the room that Kaede and Rena had been sharing, but I stopped her as she was about to open the door, because I sensed something witch-like from within. Momoko gasped, apparently noticing the same thing.

"Her doppel…!" she said.

"Not again!" Rena gasped. "I just can't convince her not to use it no matter how hard I try… it's like she's not even listening to anything I say when we talk about doppels…"

Momoko yanked the door open and stepped back. I fully expected moss to come pouring out, but apparently she hadn't actually unleashed her doppel yet – she was right on the edge of doing so, though.

As Kaede sat up and turned towards us, still sobbing, I pulled out a grief cube and flung it in her direction, using my telekinesis to guide it towards her soul gem. But I was too late – it was only halfway there when the doppel came out, covering the entire floor and walls of the room with moss. The main antlered body of the doppel hovered in the middle of the room above a tall growth of moss that almost looked like a mountain in miniature, and Kaede stood atop that disembodied antlered head, gripping the shrine gate and trembling. She wore the white mask over her face that indicated when the doppel was in control, though it was a bit different from Iroha's, being composed of white leaves instead of strips of cloth. Several worker bear rumours popped out from somewhere and began scrubbing away the moss that was creeping out of the room, keeping it in check and away from us.

I could see her soul gem, already almost back to eighty percent corrupted, which was pretty insane when you considered that the doppel release had only just purified it. I tried again to get my grief cube in contact with it, but before it could get close, the main body of the doppel started to disintegrate, Kaede falling right through it as if into a pond; but instead of fully disintegrating, the substance of the doppel cloaked her like a garment. It was eerily similar to watching one of Hijiri's evil nuts turn an ordinary human into a pseudo-witch. I'd only seen that happen once or twice, through clairvoyance, but it was pretty similar to what I was seeing now, right in front of my eyes. I reclaimed my grief cube and stowed it away again.

"Her doppel's out of control…" Momoko said.

"She used her doppel too much," Rena said. "I told her to stop over and over again, but she kept on using it and using it… Kaede, you idiot!"

I took out my communicator and switched the channel to twenty-four.

"—our way," Matsuri's voice said.

Giving it a second to make sure no-one else was trying to talk, I pressed the speak button.

"Ashley here… is Kanna-chi at the temple right now?"

I released the button. Hijiri's response came almost immediately.

"Yes, is there a problem?"

"Maimai, please open a portal to Suitoku Temple and a portal to the Coordinator's," I said.

"Got it!" Mayoi said.

While she punched her portals, I pressed the speak button again.

"Something came up, so I need you here, Kanna-chi… there should be a new portal that just opened."

"Got it," Hijiri responded.

A few moments later, she emerged from the portal and blinked at Kaede. I switched my communicator back to channel twenty-five and stowed it away again.

"That's… an astonishingly familiar sight," Hijiri said.

"I thought you might say that," I said.

"Huh?" Momoko said. "Have you seen doppels go out of control like this before?"

"No, I haven't," Hijiri said. "But I've seen something very similar happen to ordinary humans… like I suspected, it seems the phenomenon of a doppel and the phenomenon of a pseudo-witch are actually closely related."

"So, Miss… Kanna, was it? Do you know how to fix this?" Momoko asked.

"I don't," Hijiri said. "But I might be able to figure something out."

She pulled out a bell jar from somewhere, and I blinked at her in surprise.

"Huh? Where'd that come from?" I asked.

"I copied Miss Akemi's dimensional storage magic at some point," Hijiri said.

"Ah… why didn't you say something before?" I asked.

"No particular reason," she said. "I guess it just never came up. I can't store as much as she can though – this bell jar alone is almost the limit of its capacity. Anyway, I see you have two portals here… you wanted me to leave via the other one, right?"

"That's right," I said. "Maimai, you can close the one she came through."

As Mayoi did that, Hijiri summoned her graph whip and lashed out at Kaede. It stuck on as if it were adhesive, and then she pulled, like she'd caught a fish, dragging Kaede and her doppel together right into the bell jar.

"You two can go with her," I said. "You have a communicator, so you can let me know if she improves. I think there's a good chance that Kanna-chi and Miss Yakumo can work out a solution between the two of them. In case they can't, I'll send Miss Mifuyu over later – I bet she can cure them."

"Thank you, Miss Taylor," Momoko said. "I know it's not a good time to be ditching the battlefield, but…"

"It's fine," I said. "One or two fewer fighters probably won't make that much of a difference here. And if you can get her treated, then perhaps she can even join the fight too. Maybe you can even convince Miss Yakumo to drop her false pretence of neutrality."

The three of them headed through Mayoi's second portal, and I watched for several seconds as the worker bears continued to clean up the moss that Kaede's doppel had left behind.

"We've got Sorashi!"

Inui's voice suddenly crackled out from my communicator, jolting me out of my thoughts.

"Kika-chi was a great help in surprising her from within the room," she continued. "Chiyo-tan has her all tied up now, and Miyu as well. The only problem is… we can't just throw them out on the lawn this time, can we?"

"Put them in the room Miss Mifuyu was in for now," I said. "We'll transfer them onto the lawn once everyone else gets here."

I checked on the progress of the attack group and the Magius. The latter were just leaving the observatory, while the attack squad was still in the city, so it looked like they wouldn't meet up.

"Coeurl, what's your status?" I asked through the communicator.

There was a short delay before an answer came.

"I've engaged her, but she called in reinforcements," Coeurl replied. "There are three black feathers who keep getting in the way. It's not a real problem, more of a minor nuisance, but if I could get a little backup that would speed things up."

"Inui, Chiyoko, can you go help Coeurl?" I asked.

"Alright, we're on our way!" Inui said.

I watched for a bit as the Magius made their way through the forest and entered the Rumour of the Eternal Sakura, and continued to watch as they headed into the building and walked past the soldier bear to descend towards the chapel. The bear shifted after they passed through, now completely blocking off the path, and a sheet of glass formed to completely seal it off. Maria and Sue watched the whole thing in some surprise.

«Lita, the Magius just returned,» Sue said.

«And they've sealed off the chapel just like you predicted,» Maria added.

«Yes, I saw, thanks,» I said, expanding the message to cover the rest of the dissident team. «Can you still hear me?»

«Yes, loud and clear,» Sue replied.

«That means we're not considered hostile by the security system yet,» I said. «Inui, Chiyoko, and Coeurl probably are, however. But it also looks like the others are almost here, so we should hurry up and capture everyone on the base. The Instructor's not taken care of yet, but let's make our move now to disable the rest of them. From here on out we should assume the base considers us hostile and communicate only through the communicators.»

A few seconds later, Manatsu's voice issued from my communicator.

"Alright, I was waiting for that signal!" she said. "Tomomi and I have captured the other Mana, and also Yu-yu! Should we take them to the ground floor, or the seventh floor?"

Yu-yu… that was the nickname Yumi had given at the meeting earlier.

"Let's say, whichever's closest," I said. "Coeurl, Inui, who are the three black feathers you're facing?"

"They're Amu, Nami, and Aoi," Inui said. "Nami's down already. The other two won't last long."

"Um… I've got Fuu and Konoha!" Maya announced.

"Then the only ones left are… Ryo, Ikumi, and Sal… did I get that right?" I said.

"The Reporter, Kumi, and Sal, yes," Inui said. "That sounds about right."

So I contacted the four who were still holed up on the seventh floor.

«Miss Mifuyu, you and the others may as well come out now,» I said. «My team has basically taken over the base.»

«I see,» Mifuyu replied. «Then I'll come downstairs.»

I headed downstairs too, joining Maria and Sue in the lounge. Before long, everyone had gathered on the ground floor, and all the loyal feathers were tied up. We carried them out into the garden, and Mifuyu let out a sigh.

"It doesn't sit right with me to be doing things like this," she said. "We should be able to solve things by talking it out…"

"You're in a lucky position where that actually works, Miss Mifuyu," I said. "Most of the feathers respect you. I think there are a few exceptions, like San and Sorashi, but other than that, they'll listen to you. But they don't respect me to that degree. They won't give my words the weight that they'd give yours. You're the only one who held the Wings of the Magius together, you know."

"Y-you're exaggerating…"

"Not even a little," I said. "But still, the time for you to speak to them hasn't yet come. After all, the Rumour of the Flower Speaker is still alive and well. We'll have to destroy that before you can get your words across. But before that… we'll destroy Fendt Hope. The others should be here any minute now."

"Alright," Mifuyu said. "And… what do you think will happen to the Magius's liberation?"

"I think it'll live on," I said. "The Magius built the automatic purification system, and perhaps it would be tough for anyone else to fix it if it broke, but as long as it remains functional, you can probably still lean on your doppel as long as you're careful not to let it take over."

"But you mentioned you intend to destroy Eve as well," Mifuyu said. "Eve is the core of the automatic purification system. How could the system function without its core?"

"No, you're mistaken," I said. "Eve is not the core. She's at the centre of the automatic purification system, but she's not the core component. She's more like… scaffolding. Tear away the scaffolding, and the important structure still remains. It may be a little unstable, but there's a solution for that, as well. It may take some time and effort, but even if the Magius are gone, and even if Fendt Hope is destroyed, the dream of liberation can still be realized. That said… it would be better for everyone if the Magius were still around. The greatest mistake was letting the Magius run the operations. They should have put you in charge, Miss Mifuyu, and taken their orders from you. Or if the Tamaki sisters had taken the position of leader… but that was probably never possible in the first place. If Ui hadn't been erased from this world, the automatic purification system never would've gotten off the ground."

"H-how could you suggest Miss Tamaki could've ever been our leader!?" Ikumi exclaimed. "She was the one fighting us!"

"You're the ones in the wrong here, Miss Makino," I retorted. "You're hurting people and brainwashing people and summoning Walpurgisnacht. Of course she'd be fighting you. She's exactly the same sort of naïve, self-deprecating, altruistic fool as Madoka, which makes her almost the perfect person for a leader. She'd put every one of you before herself. How could you complain about that? Well… you should, though. It's a different sort of foolish from the Magius. But even so, it's an improvement over their rule, don't you think?"

"I… I don't know," Ikumi said. "I don't know what to think anymore…"

"When you talk to her yourself, I think you'll see what I mean," I said. "Look, here she comes now."

---

As told by Tatsuki Asuka… about an hour before the pre-battle meeting time…

Asuka hurried home after school to open up the dojo and make sure it was ready to receive a large number of guests. There wasn't much to do, just move a couple of things that someone had left there and sweep the place clean.

The first to arrive was Kazumi, who poked her head inside while Asuka was still sweeping.

"Um… is this the right place?" she asked. "The big magical girl meeting?"

"Yes, yes, come in, Miss Kazumi!" Asuka said eagerly. "You're a little early, but the others should be coming in soon enough."

"Ah, it's Asuka-chan, good to see you again! I would've been here even sooner, but it took me almost an hour to find the place," Kazumi said.

"Huh… what about school?" Asuka asked.

"I'm starting school after Golden Week," Kazumi explained. "Umika-chan said there was no point starting school a few days before the holiday."

"You weren't in school before?" Asuka said.

"Um… well… my situation is complicated," Kazumi said. "I'm not sure if I should bore you with the details…"

"Well, it's up to you if you'd prefer to keep it private, but we have plenty of time," Asuka said. "And I'm sure it wouldn't be boring."

"Alright… then I'll give you the brief version," Kazumi said.

She proceeded to explain about the Pleiades Saints, the death of Kazusa Michiru, and the cloning project that had created her, Michika, and eleven other clones.

"Oh, wow," Asuka said. "So they tried to resurrect Miss Kazusa by making a clone, but it didn't work out and they got you instead."

"That's about it," Kazumi said. "So I'm really only a few months old, which is why I haven't been enrolled in school yet."

"I see, I see… oh, it sounds like someone's here. Come in! The door's unlocked!"

The door opened to admit five girls wearing the same uniform as Asuka.

"Hello! The great Ami Ria is here!" Ria announced.

"You don't need to announce your entry like that," Manaka retorted.

"It's funny to watch though," Tsumugi said with a giggle.

"It is embarrassing, so I really wish she would stop," Mayu muttered.

Sayuki giggled. "Rima-chan's pretty funny, you never know what she'll do next."

"It's Ria, Ami Ria!" Ria protested. "You've gone and mashed both my names together!"

"Ah, s-sorry, Ria-chan…?" Sayuki gasped.

"Good gracious, you should respect your elders more," Ria grumbled.

"But I'm the older one actually?" Sayuki pointed out. "I'm about to turn eighteen and just entered my last year of high school. Aren't you in your second year, Ria-chan?"

"She's got you there, Ria-sempai," Manaka said. "Just because you're taller, it doesn't mean you're older."

"Welcome!" Asuka said. "Just pull up a cushion and sit anywhere, or stay standing if you prefer. The cushions are over in that closet."

She pointed at a door on the side of the dojo, and Mayu made for it to pull out several cushions. The five of them then took a seat in the middle of the floor.

"Manaka-chan!" Kazumi said. "I didn't know you were going to be here… actually, I didn't even know you were a magical girl!"

"Ohh, it's you," Manaka said. "The girl who dined and… didn't have any money. I didn't realize you were a magical girl, either. Um… I'm sorry, but I don't remember your name?"

"It's Kazumi… Subaru Kazumi. I actually wasn't a magical girl yet, back then…"

"Ohh, so you're pretty new to this, are you?" Manaka said.

"Yeah, you could say that," Kazumi said. "Um, so, I'd like to pay you back for that time…"

"Sure," Manaka said. "But I don't think now's a good time… why not just stop by Walnut's later and we can deal with it then?"

"Sure!" Kazumi said. "Maybe I'll bring my friends, too!"

"I'd sure like to get more customers, so please do!" Manaka said.

Asuka finished her sweeping, dumped the dust in the trash, and put the broom away just in time for the next batch of people to arrive. This time it was five girls wearing the uniform of Sankyoin Academy – the Azalea sisters, Nanaka, and Akira.

"Imma smash that Magius whatever!" Ayame declared. "Teach them a lesson!"

"Calm down, Ayame," Hazuki said. "We're not quite there yet…"

"It looks like we have arrived early," Nanaka said. "The only ones here are the Mizuna girls… and one other…"

Her eyes landed on Kazumi, who blinked.

"Ah, I'm Subaru Kazumi," she said. "I'm from Asunaro, but Miss Taylor asked me to join this because of my unique magic…"

"What sort of magic might that be?" Nanaka asked.

"Um… I have an aura that powers up everyone in the vicinity," Kazumi said.

"I see," Nanaka said. "Miss Yuki and the others had been emphasizing that the rumour we will face is very strong, so I suppose your magic will be indispensable."

"I still don't quite understand what this 'rumour' thing is," Konoha said. "It's like a witch, but not like a witch?"

"Um, well, that's about the best way to describe it though," Kazumi said. "You'll understand when we get there, I should think."

"Yeah, it's really hard to put into words," Akira said. "You have to experience it directly…"

Then Ayaka popped in, followed by Mitsune, who looked around nervously before shuffling into a corner and sitting down, hugging her knees. Ayaka wore the uniform of Chuo Academy, but Mitsune just wore a grey hoody and purple tights. Maybe there were shorts underneath the hoody too, but it was impossible to tell since the hoody itself, probably a size too large for her, fell halfway to her knees. The sleeves were too long as well, completely covering her hands, and she had the hood up, covering her eyes.

"Heya everyone!" Ayaka shouted. "Are we ready to get this party started!?"

"Party is not the term I would use," Nanaka said. "And no, we are not ready to get started. We are still waiting for quite a number of people, as well as a signal from Miss Taylor."

"Oh, so that's how it is, huh?" Ayaka said. "Guess I'll just plop down and wait with everyone else."

A few minutes later, three more girls in the Chuo uniform entered, along with one in the Sankyoin uniform – Kokoro, Masara, Aimi, and Natsuki.

"Whoa, there are quite a few people here already," Natsuki said. "But I can still see several people missing, at least… guess we'll have to wait a bit."

"I hope this goes well," Aimi said. "I had to cancel other plans to come here… but if that witch is as strong as I've been told, it has to take priority. My friends… and Isesaki-kun… they could be hurt if that witch comes here…"

"Yes, we have to prioritize protecting the city from witches," Kokoro agreed. "By the way, do we know how many more people are coming?"

"Um… I'm not sure," Natsuki said. "Ah, Miss Tokiwa! Do you know how many people we're expecting?"

"I do not have the exact number," Nanaka replied. "However, I believe it was around forty to fifty girls."

"Oh my goodness, that's a lot of magical girls!" Kokoro gasped. "Were there that many in Kamihama?"

"Ah, there's several of us coming from outside Kamihama too, including me," Kazumi spoke up. "The others aren't here yet, though. I think eight or nine in total."

"Considering the magical girls I have met," Masara mused. "I believe it comes close to forty… and I'm sure there are several I haven't met. Of course, that's excluding the girls from Hohzuki."

"Oh, the girls from Hohzuki are coming too, apparently," Kazumi said. "But they're with Kanna-chi, keeping watch for the witch at Suitoku Temple."

"Ah, so we'll see them later?" Kokoro said. "I'll look forward to that, then…"

The next to enter were the Daito Apartments Complex trio, all of them wearing the uniform of the Kamihama University-Affiliated School. They looked around for a moment, then took a seat near the Azalea sisters.

"This looks like it's turning into a really big event, doesn't it?" Mito said.

"It really is," Hazuki said. "I didn't realize there were quite this many magical girls in Kamihama."

"I'm sure we'll find a few unfamiliar faces here!" Leila said. "Like… that girl!"

She indicated Kazumi, who turned to look at her.

"Oh, um… I'm not from Kamihama though," she said.

"Oh, so you're not from Kamihama," Leila said. "Wait, then why are you here!?"

"Miss Taylor asked me to come," Kazumi said.

"Oh, the girl who helped us defeat the offshoot Mirror Witch?" Leila asked.

"Didn't you mention her before that too?" Mito said. "During that whole thing with Miss Sarasa…"

"Yes… she was involved in that," Nanaka said. "She's the one who orchestrated this event… from what I understand, she infiltrated the Wings of the Magius for this purpose."

"Huh, is that so…" Mito said.

"Yoohoo everyone, Emily's here!"

Emily burst into the room, followed by two other girls in the same Kamihama University-Affiliated uniform and one in the Chuo Academy uniform. Rika and Ren were holding hands, and Sasara took up the rear.

"Sasara, you're here!" Asuka said.

"I'm here," Sasara confirmed.

"Asukyan, your dojo's huge!" Emily exclaimed. "I've never been here before! It's freaking huge! I'm telling you, it's the hugest thing!"

"Um… it's not that big," Asuka said. "Remember, a dojo is a bit like a gym, so it has to be large… this is a pretty normal size… I've seen much bigger ones."

"Is Miko-sempai not here yet?" Rika asked.

"Nope, don't see Myako-sempai anywhere," Emily said. "She's late!"

Emily giggled, then took another look around.

"Chunchun's missing too," she said. "Oh, but Kazumin's here! What a surprise! And there's Princess Ria!"

"Yes! I'm here!" Ria exclaimed. "You're the only one who gets my name right, Emily!"

"Really?" Emily said. "That's so strange, because Princess Ria is Princess Ria after all… heya, Akira-chi!"

Akira returned Emily's wave.

"Hello, Emily," she said.

Emily continued to go around, greeting everyone by nickname, and Rika and Ren found a place to sit.

"There really are a lot of people here," Rika said.

"Y-yeah… t-there really are," Ren said. "I… didn't know… there were so many of us… magical girls… in Kamihama."

Konomi and Kako stepped in at that moment, the former giving a general wave. They too wore the uniform of Kamihama University-Affiliated School.

"My goodness, there are a lot of people here!" Konomi said. "Is this everyone? No, I don't see Miss Nanami anywhere… so I guess we're still expecting a few more."

"Um… hello, Miss Nanaka, Akira," Kako said.

"Oh, you're here, Kako-chan," Akira said. "We're still waiting for Meiyui, too."

"Oh! Where's Himika-min and Kano-chin!?" Emily suddenly exclaimed. "Not here yet, I guess?"

"That seems to be the case," Nanaka said. "Good afternoon, Kako."

Then the Crescent Moon Villa team finally arrived, accompanied by Kuroe. Tsuruno and Iroha wore the same uniform as Konomi and the others, while Felicia wore the uniform of Chuo Academy and Sana wore the uniform of Mizuna Girls' School. Yachiyo, who attended Kamihama University, was wearing the black one-piece dress with white polka dots that she was often seen in, while Kuroe had apparently decided to wear her school uniform. Asuka thought the uniform looked vaguely familiar… wasn't it that private religious school in Takarazaki?

"Looks like nearly everyone is here," Iroha said. "But I don't see Miss Tomoe anywhere."

"Who cares, let's just smash the Magius already!" Felicia exclaimed.

"Felicia!" Ayame exclaimed, jumping to her feet. "You're here! Let's smash them together!"

"Ayame!" Felicia gasped. "And Kako too! Yeah, let's go!"

"Not so fast," Yachiyo said. "Like Iroha said, we're still waiting for a few people… and even when they arrive, we need to wait for the signal. Otherwise we're going to get into a fight with the feathers and wear ourselves out before the main battle."

"Fine, fine," Felicia grumbled. "Whatever."

"Have you fully recovered, Miss Yui?" Nanaka asked. "I heard you were injured…"

"I'm right as rain and ready to rumble!" Tsuruno exclaimed. "The mightiest magical girl has never been mightier!"

"Um, it was all thanks to Miss Iroha's magic," Sana said.

"Oh, welcome, Sana-chan," Manaka said.

"Ah! U-um… Miss Manaka, it's been awhile, hasn't it…?"

"Did you lose your taste for my special lunchboxes?" Manaka asked.

"N-no, it's not that," Sana said. "I've just been taking lunchboxes made by Miss Iroha lately… but I do miss your special lunchbox too…"

"Is it really that good?" Iroha asked. "Is it that much better than mine?"

"N-no, no, um… it's not better or worse!" Sana protested. "It's just… different… it's really good!"

"U-um, so… c-could I maybe… take roll call…?" Kuroe asked hesitantly.

When no-one quieted down, Yachiyo raised her voice.

"Could we get some quiet for a moment?" she asked. "Miss Kuroe would like to take a roll call to see who's still missing."

That did the trick, and Kuroe then pulled up the list of names that Maria sent her. It had apparently been sorted by surname according to the Japanese gojuuon ordering.

"Aino Mito!" "Oh, that's me!"

"Aoba Chika! Akemi Homura!" No responses.

"Ami Ria!" "Yes, the great Ami Ria is here!"

"Ayano Rika!" "Right here!"

"Awane Kokoro!" "Right here!"

"Isuzu Ren!" "Um… I'm… here, yes!"

"Izumi Kanagi!" No response.

"Ibuki Leila!" "Right over here!"

"Utsuho Natsuki!" "I'm right over here!"

"Eri Aimi!" "That's me!"

"Kagami Masara!" "I am here."

"Kaname Madoka!" No response.

"Kisaki Emiri!" "Oh, that's me, Emily!"

"Irina Kusch!" No response.

"Kumi Seika!" "T-t-that's… m-m-me…!"

"Kurumi Manaka!" "Over here!"

"Kuroe Asaka… oh, that's me. Kozue Mayu!" "Ah, I'm right here!"

"Sakura Kyouko! Shizuki Hitomi!" No responses.

"Shizumi Konoha!" "Right here."

"Shinobu Akira!" "Right here!"

"Subaru Kazumi!" "I'm over here!"

"Tatsuki Asuka!" "Oh, that's me!"

"Tamaki Iroha!" "You know I'm here, Miss Kuroe!"

"Chiaki Riko! Chitose Yuma! Chiharu Karen! Chun Meiyui!" No responses.

"Tokiwa Nanaka!" "Present."

"Tomoe Mami!" No response.

"Natsume Kako!" "Ah, um, over here!"

"Nanami Yachiyo!" "Yes."

"Haruna Konomi!" "I'm here!"

"Hibiki Meguru!" No response.

"Futaba Sana!" "Y-yes!"

"Fumino Sayuki!" "Y-yes, that's me!"

"Mao Himika!" No response.

"Mariko Ayaka!" "Hey, hey, isn't that me!?"

"Miki Sayaka!" No response.

"Mikuri Ayame!" "That's me, that's me!"

"Mizuki Rui!" No response.

"Mitsuki Felicia!" "I'm literally right in front of you!"

"Minagi Sasara!" "Here!"

"Miyako Hinano!" No response.

"Miwa Mitsune!"

Mitsune shot to her feet with her hand in the air, then turned red and sat back down again. It was enough for Kuroe to spot her, however.

"Momoe Nagisa! Yayoi Kanoko!" No responses.

"Yui Tsuruno!" "The mightiest magical girl is here!"

"Yusa Hazuki!" "I'm here!"

"Wakana Tsumugi!" "Right over here!"

"A-alright, it looks like more than half of us are here already," Kuroe said.

"More like two-thirds!" Tsuruno said.

"Then, I guess we just need to wait for the rest," Iroha said.

At that moment, Hinano walked in, followed by Meiyui and Meguru. Hinano and Meguru wore the uniform of Minaminagi Liberty Academy, while Meiyui wore the uniform of Chuo Academy.

"Oh, lots of people are here already," Hinano said. "We're not late, are we?"

"And lo, Meguru and her comrades, having been delayed by an errant teacher, finally reach their destination!" Meguru declared. "Though fashionably late, at last we have arrived! Let us now serve justice to those fiends who dare call themselves Magius!"

"No, no, you're not late!" Iroha said. "We're still waiting for quite a few people."

"I do not see Miss Izumi among us, to name but one notable face," Meiyui observed.

"Yes, it seems she's running a bit behind too," Iroha said.

"Maybe she was held up by Mikage-chan again," Konomi suggested.

"I am sorry for my lateness, but I had to check in with Master before stopping by," Meiyui explained. "I ran into Miss Miyako on the way back."

Hinano looked around, spotting Mitsune in the corner, and went over to greet her.

"Good afternoon, Miss Miwa," she said. "I see you decided to come after all."

"Ah! U-um, w-w-well… I thought… I'd like to m-m-maybe… g-get out of the h-house once in awhile," Mitsune stammered.

"Well, we're happy to have you," Hinano said.

Mitsune nodded, and Hinano headed over to the main group around Iroha.

"Hey, you're Miss Kazumi who I met at Walnut's that one time, right?" she said.

Kazumi looked up at her, blinking.

"Oh! You're the one who was looking for inspiration!" she said. "Um… was it… Myako or something like that?"

"Miyako Hinano, yes. Thank you again for that time. It shouldn't have worked, but somehow it did, so I'm grateful to you."

"I'm glad Umika-chan's inspirational cooking was helpful to you," Kazumi said.

With that greeting taken care of, Hinano took a seat near Rika, Ren, and Emily, greeting them as well. Then Kanoko stepped in, leading Riko and Rui. Kanoko wore the Mizuna uniform, while Riko and Rui wore the uniform of Kosho Academy.

"You see?" Kanoko said. "I told you it's easy to find."

"Wow!" Riko said. "I didn't know there was a dojo here… and look at all the magical girls! There are so many! I don't see Karin-chan though…"

Rui just looked around in silence, eventually taking a seat near the edge of the room. A minute or so later, three girls wearing the uniform of St Lilliana's Academy entered the room – Chika, Karen, and Irina, the latter just barely awake. It was probably more accurate to call her mostly asleep, with her legs working almost by instinct. Chika and Karen were each gently gripping one of her arms to guide her.

"Ohh, the refined ladies are here!" Manaka exclaimed. "It's St Lilliana's!"

"Good afternoon," Chika said. "This is where Miss Ashley told us to meet, right?"

"Yes, this is the place," Iroha said. "Welcome! And thanks for coming!"

"Is Miss Taylor not coming?" Karen asked.

"Um, w-we'll probably meet up with her later," Kuroe said. "She won't be coming here…"

"Um… is your friend okay?" Iroha asked. "She looks really tired…"

"She's fine," Chika said. "But it seems she's a little eccentric… she can't stand the sunlight, and it's almost impossible to wake her up during the day."

"Is she a vampire!?" Felicia gasped.

"Miss Kusch should be more or less alert by the time we need to fight," Chika said. "Or at least, that's what she assured me when last we spoke."

Then Kanagi stepped in, followed by Himika, both wearing the Daito Academy uniform.

"There's so many magical girls here!" Himika gasped. "I didn't know there were this many in Kamihama…"

"Good day, Nanami," Kanagi said.

"Same to you, Kanagi," Yachiyo said.

"I think that's almost everyone now," Kuroe said. "There's still Miss Tomoe and her friends, but… I think everyone else is here?"

"We still haven't heard from Miss Taylor yet though," Iroha said. "I hope everything's going okay on her side…"

They had been waiting a few more minutes when two more girls entered the room, wearing an unfamiliar school uniform. It consisted of a grey skirt and a pink shirt with red collar and hems. The taller girl wore a grey tie with a single red chevron near the tip, while the shorter girl wore a narrow grey ribbon instead, tied into a bow. Notwithstanding their differing heights of nearly a whole head, they looked like they could be close in age, and had a clear family resemblance as well, implying them to be sisters. Both had black hair, the taller one wearing it long in a ponytail while the shorter girl had hers cut short. They also wore matching hair ornaments which looked like an egg fried sunny side up where the yolk had broken out on one side. They looked around curiously, as if seeking something in particular.

"Double dumplings, black, double dumplings, black," the tall one mused. "Ah! There she is!"

The two of them made their way over to Kuroe, who blinked at them in surprise.

"A-ah, um… c-can I help you with something?" she asked.

"Are you Kuroe-chan?" the tall one asked.

"A-ah, yes," Kuroe said. "T-that's me…"

"So um, you're planning some sorta attack on some Faint Hope place, right?" the tall girl said. "We were asked to come and help, for justice! I'm Araragi Karen and this is my little sister, Tsukihi-chan."

Tsukihi curtseyed.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Kuroe," she said. "I am Araragi Tsukihi."

"Ah, um… well… I wasn't expecting you," Kuroe said. "Who told you to come…?"

"It was Mayoi-chan!" Karen said. "Ah, right, she said you'd know her by a nickname… Maimai, I think it was?"

"Ah… alright," Kuroe said. "T-that's fine then… I think… it's not quite what we planned, but… um, s-so, t-thank you for coming."

"No problem," Karen said. "We'll go anywhere if it's in the name of justice!"

"So, what was this all about, again?" Tsukihi asked. "Mayoi-chan's explanation was excessively light on detail, as is her wont. Karen-chan might not care as long as it's in the name of justice, and I've already committed to it for her sake, but I'd like to at least know what I've gotten myself into."

"Ah, well, um… I'm not sure if I'm the best one to explain it, b-but I'll try my best," Kuroe said. "Um… the Wings of the Magius… want to save magical girls from their fate… I won't go into detail about what that means, but basically it's a good thing. However… the methods they use are… um, recently they started brainwashing people in order to force them to join, and, um… t-they're also summoning Walpurgisnacht… ah, d-do you know what that is…?"

"Oh yeah, I've heard of it from the Coordinator," Karen said. "A really terrible witch, right?"

"H-huh!?" Kuroe gasped. "Y-you've already met the Coordinator!?"

"Yeah, Miss Medeiros is a bit eccentric but she's mostly a nice person," Karen said. "Have you met her too?"

"Huh? Miss… Medeiros?" Kuroe said. "Not Miss Yakumo…?"

"Ah, do you have another Coordinator here in… Kamihama, was it?" Karen asked.

"Ah… yeah… I didn't know there were more than one," Kuroe said. "So you have one in your hometown too?"

"Ah, she's not there anymore," Karen said. "She stayed in town for about a year, and then moved on… it's been close to two years since I saw her last. Come to think of it, she said she was thinking of checking out Kamihama… but you haven't met her? Though recently I heard a rumour she'd been seen in Sapporo."

"Ah… I see," Kuroe said. "I'm not actually from Kamihama… I live in the neighbouring city of Takarazaki, so… I wouldn't know if she'd been here before…"

"Well, she might've changed her mind," Karen said, shrugging. "Who knows!"

At that moment, Kuroe's phone pinged, and she checked it.

"Ah, so um… it looks like your participation has been approved," Kuroe said. "As well as… one other…"

She turned towards the door, as if expecting the other magical girl to walk in, but nothing happened. Kuroe let out a sigh… and then the door opened and another girl walked in, wearing yet another unfamiliar school uniform. This one consisted of a dark grey skirt with two white stripes near the hem, a white shirt, a blue vest with a light grey collar, and a wide white ribbon tied into a bow. She spotted Kuroe almost immediately and headed over to her.

"Yo!" she said. "This's the place, right? Something about an evil Magius or something…"

"Um… I wouldn't call them evil exactly," Kuroe said. "B-but um… if you're Miss Suzuka Sakuya…?"

"That's me!" Sakuya said.

"T-then yes, this is the right place," Kuroe said.

"So Chiyoko told you to expect me, perfect," Sakuya said. "Did you know, I've been looking for that girl for weeks now? She was chasing after a witch to see where they were disappearing to, and she just never got back to me… and then I suddenly get an email from her out of the blue. Gave me a bit of a shock!"

"Ah, well… I think I can understand why, sort of," Kuroe said.

While the two of them were talking, the Araragi sisters moved off to mingle. Karen seemed to be intent on introducing the two of them to everyone, while Tsukihi mostly remained silent, looking around and taking everything in.

"I mean, there are a boatload of witches here," Sakuya continued. "I can't believe it… everywhere else I went was scrubbed clean of witches. Only Kamihama is overflowing with them… as if all the witches from everywhere else just came here instead…"

"Um… well… I'm really sorry about that," Kuroe said. "Apparently the Magius did something to attract witches… or so I heard…"

"Huh… so it's not just a coincidence," Sakuya said. "Eh… that's honestly pretty bad, y'know? I bet Yuna-sempai's gonna be beside herself when she finds out… ah, but I'm sure that has nothing to do with you, so please don't worry about it."

"Um… o-okay then…?" Kuroe said. "Um… h-how have you managed without witches in your hometown? D-did a lot of girls, um… y-you know…"

Sakuya blinked. "Ah, you know about that too? Does everyone here know?"

Kuroe shook her head. "Um… I think most of the girls here don't know, actually," she said. "There are several who do, though… and everyone in the Wings of the Magius knows."

"Huh… well, yeah, there were a few, but we were really lucky," Sakuya said. "There just happened to be a random foreign woman visiting town who happened to have a huge stash of grief seeds, and she shared a few with us, so there weren't too many casualties… I mean, it could have been a lot worse. If Miss Hilda hadn't shown up, we probably would've ended up preying on each other until no-one was left…"

"Ah… I see," Kuroe said. "Again, um… I'm really sorry… I didn't even know the Magius did that until much later, so…"

"No, I couldn't possibly blame you for something you didn't even know about," Sakuya said. "Besides, isn't the whole point of this attack that you're angry at those Magius and want to get back at them?"

"Ah… well, I suppose you could put it that way," Kuroe said.

At that point, several more people entered the room, a total of eight girls led by Mami, and Kuroe gasped.

"Ah! They're here!"

"Who?" Sakuya said.

"Ah, um, that group over by the entrance… they're the last people we were waiting for," Kuroe said. "Now we just need to wait for the signal… then I'll lead the way to their base… and the attack can get started."

"Got it," Sakuya said. "Just let me know if you need anything from me!"

"Y-yeah," Kuroe said.

"Everyone, please gather around!" Mami said, raising her voice. "We have radio communicators to distribute! There are only nine, so please discuss who should hold on to one!"

The sound apparently managed to rouse Irina, who sat up and rubbed at her eyes.

"Ugh… it's too early for this," she muttered.

"What's with that?" Araragi Karen spoke up. "Can't we just use our cell phones?"

"I understand how you feel," Mami said. "However, it won't be much longer before our cell phones become unusable. I don't understand all the details, but apparently the Magius can hack into the cell phone towers all across the city and disable them."

"Ah… that's… actually pretty bad," Karen said. "Okay, well, I guess it makes sense to have a backup, then…"

"Um, I'll take one," Iroha said. "Kazumi-chan, do you want one?"

Kazumi, who just happened to be sitting next to her, shook her head.

"I'm gonna be with either you guys or the Pleiades Saints the whole time," she said. "They have one, and you have one, so I'm good."

"I will take one as well," Nanaka said.

"Me too," Hinano said.

"I will hold onto one," Masara said.

"I'll take one too," Konoha said.

"Um… I'd like to have one," Seika said.

"I think… it might be… a good idea… to have one," Irina said, looking like she was on the verge of dozing off again.

"Do you mind if I lay claim to one?" Tsukihi asked.

"I think I'll take one too," Manaka said.

Mami waited a little to see if anyone else asked, then nodded.

"Well, that's convenient," she said. "Exactly nine people requested one, and there are exactly nine, so that makes things simple. Feel free to take one. They're all the same, and they're all tuned to the same channel. I also have one already. Apparently, there's a switch that needs to be turned on to receive anything, and once it's on you'll hear anything anyone says into any device tuned to the same channel. There's also a button you press if you want to speak. Don't try to speak while someone else is, because apparently it'll just turn into static. Oh, and don't talk about any deep secrets, as everyone will be able to hear you – potentially even some stranger who happens to tune to the same channel."

"It's pretty simple and straightforward," Hinano said, claiming one for herself. "The range of a radio like this is pretty wide too. I don't know exactly what frequency it's using, but I bet it covers the entire city from here. Unlike cell phones, these sorts of radios usually use much lower frequencies with much greater range."

The others who'd requested one also stepped forward to take one from the box, until there was only one left. It seemed Irina had actually dozed off again, so Chika stepped up to claim the last one on her behalf.

"S-so, um… everyone!" Kuroe called. "W-we're now just waiting for the signal to move out! Um… it'll come through the communicator, so… please make sure it's switched on! A-and also… I'm going to take roll call!"

She waited a bit for the chatter to die down before getting started.

"Aoba Chika!" "Yes, I am present."

"Akemi Homura!" "Yes."

"Araragi Karen!" "Right here!"

"Araragi Tsukihi!" "Yes, that's me!"

"Izumi Kanagi!" "I am here."

"Kaname Madoka!" "Yes, I'm here!"

"Irina Kusch!"

"Hmm…?" Irina said, rousing for a moment with a start. "What is it…?"

"Sakura Kyouko!" "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"Shizuki Hitomi!" "Yes, I am here!"

"Suzuka Sakuya!" "Yes, that's me."

"Chiaki Riko!" "Um, I'm right here!"

"Chitose Yuma!" "Yuma is right here!"

"Chiharu Karen!" "I'm over here."

"Chun Meiyui!" "Yes, I am here."

"Tomoe Mami!" "Present."

"Hibiki Meguru!" "Meguru is all present and accounted for!"

"Mao Himika!" "That's me!"

"Miki Sayaka!" "You bet I'm here!"

"Mizuki Rui!" "Oh, um… that's me!"

"Miyako Hinano!" "Yes, I'm right over here!"

"Momoe Nagisa!" "Yes, yes, I'm over here."

"Yayoi Kanoko!" "Ah, that's me."

"Fifty-four," Tsukihi said. "The first time I've ever seen more than about six magical girls in the same place, and the record is completely blown out of the water…"

"Did you forget to count yourself?" Nanaka asked. "My count is fifty-five."

"Oh, I skipped myself on purpose, but sure," Tsukihi said. "I don't know whether or not I can be called a magical girl."

"That is quite an odd thing to say," Nanaka said.

"Maybe," Tsukihi shrugged. "But I'm sure you'll understand before the day's out why I would say that."

More time passed, filled with idle chatter, but eventually Ashley Taylor's voice emanated simultaneously from all ten of the communicators in the room.

"Lita here. Is everything ready?"

"Ah! S-she's here… it's Ashley Taylor," Kuroe said. "Um… may I…?"

Iroha pressed the speak button on her communicator and held it out to Kuroe.

"Everyone's here… should we move?" Kuroe said. "Um, out."

The response was not Ashley's voice but Mifuyu's.

"Um… I'm just checking here, but… who is everyone?"

"Mifuyu!?" Yachiyo gasped.

"That's the lady in white!" Felicia exclaimed.

Mami pressed the speak button on her communicator and responded.

"I'm happy to hear that you're okay, Miss Mifuyu," she said.

Then Hinano pressed her speak button and actually answered the question.

"It's good to hear your voice, Mifuyu," she said. "Nearly all the magical girls of Kamihama are gathered here at the True-Dragon Dojo."

"Can I say something?" Yachiyo asked.

"Of course," Iroha said.

She pressed her speak button and held it out for Yachiyo.

"Is everything okay, Mifuyu…?" Yachiyo asked. "Why are you with Miss Taylor?"

Mifuyu's voice came out from the communicators again.

"Ya-chan…!" she gasped. "The Magius took my soul gem away, but Miss Taylor and the twins brought it back for me. Is it really true that everyone's there…? What on earth…? Miss Tomoe is there… even Miss Miyako…?"

Iroha pressed the speak button to respond.

"It's true!" she replied. "We're all here!"

Then Ashley's voice came out again.

"Kuroe, please wait for ten more minutes, then get everyone moving," she said. "The entrance in Minaminagi Seaside Park would probably be closed by the time you get there, so I recommend entering through the Rumour of the Eternal Sakura. You know where that is now, right? I'll monitor it and let you know if the Magius appear."

Iroha pressed the button and extended her communicator to Kuroe again.

"Roger… we'll be there as soon as possible," Kuroe said.

Kuroe took out her phone and set a timer, and although some of the chatter came back, it was more scattered now, tension filling the room. Eventually the alarm went off, rousing Irina from her slumber again.

"W-what's going on…?" she asked.

"We're about to head out," Chika said. "So it's about time for you to wake up."

"It's still a bit early," Irina muttered. "I probably won't… be much help for… a few more hours…"

"Well… they did say we would probably be fighting all night," Chiharu Karen said. "So even if you're not much help in the first stage, I'm sure you'll have your time to shine, Miss Kusch."

Everyone piled out of the dojo, with Kuroe, Kanagi, the Crescent Moon Villa team, and Mami's team leading the way, while Asuka, Sasara, Mitsune, and the St Lilliana's girls brought up the rear. After doing a quick check that no-one had been left inside the dojo, Asuka locked up and followed the others.

They encountered several girls in black or white feather robes along the way, growling and attacking thoughtlessly, but they easily outnumbered them and knocked them to the ground. Eventually, they arrived at the Kamihama Observatory, at which point Yachiyo and Kuroe guided them west into the forest. Finally, they found a witch-like portal and stepped inside, finding themselves on a grassy knoll with a single gigantic cherry tree at the top. Iroha transformed, and one by one all the other girls followed suit, even Irina despite being barely awake. There was some confusion about their costumes being different, but Kazumi quickly explained that it was because of her magic.

Once the transformations and uproar died down, Iroha looked up at the huge tree.

"So, the Rumour of the Eternal Sakura," she said. "Um… so where do we go from here?"

"I'm not actually sure," Kuroe said. "Miss Taylor said there's supposed to be a connection to Fendt Hope somewhere…"

"Should we ask her?" Iroha asked.

"Maybe the rumour knows," Yachiyo said. "Look, she's watching us."

Sure enough, the Eternal Sakura had slid out from behind the tree and was gazing at them in silence.

"Um… excuse me… do you know the way to Fendt Hope?" Kuroe asked.

The Eternal Sakura wordlessly lifted an arm, pointing to her left.

"It's that way…?" Iroha said. "But I don't see anything…"

"Well, we might as well try it!" Tsuruno said.

Following the Eternal Sakura's directions, they discovered the twist in space that only became visible when you were right on top of it, heading through a few at a time.

They emerged onto the grounds of Fendt Hope, a large garden with hedgerows and a fountain in the centre. Several black and white feathers were bound in silk webbing by the fountain, and a number of magical girls were standing near them, including Ashley, Mifuyu, and the Amane twins. Most of the free girls were no longer wearing robes, but Yukika had only pushed her hood back instead.

"Look, here she comes now," Ashley was saying.

---

Everyone stepped in through the twist connecting Fendt Hope to the Eternal Sakura. Kuroe and Iroha were in the lead, followed by Yachiyo, Kanagi, Tsuruno, Felicia, and Sana, followed by the Holy Brigade, with everyone else falling in behind them. The last to enter were Chika, Chiharu Karen, Irina, Asuka, Sasara, and Mitsune.

Mayoi and the Araragi sisters immediately ran up to greet each other.

"Mayoi-chan!" Tsukihi exclaimed. "You're really okay! I was a bit worried about you, knowing how useless you are in a fight!"

"Hey, that's mean!" Mayoi protested, pouting a little. "Take that back, Tsukihi-chan! I can fight witches just fine, thank you very much! The fact that it takes about an hour to beat one on my own is just a minor detail! Not even worth mentioning!"

The elder sister burst out laughing. "You did yourself in this time, Mayoi-chan!" Karen said.

"As always," Tsukihi giggled.

"Well, I wasn't fighting, anyway," Mayoi said. "I'm the transportation."

"As it should be," Karen said with a nod.

"Everything went well, Chiyoko?" Sakuya asked.

"Yes," Chiyoko said. "Thank you for coming, Sakuya."

"Ashley-nee, you're okay!" Riko exclaimed. "I was a little worried… Rui-nee was worried too…"

"I-I was not…!" Rui protested. "There was… no need to worry! Also… I told you not to call me Rui-nee!"

Riko giggled. "But you're just like an onee-san…"

"That… is so not true…" Rui grumbled.

"Well, I'm glad to see the two of you are getting along," I said.

"What part of this looks like we're getting along…?" Rui complained.

I scanned the group for a moment, noticing that several people had completely different outfits due to Kazumi's boost, while others only had small yet significant changes to their outfits. There wasn't really time to take them in though, so I focused in particular on the new people – the Araragi sisters, Miwa Mitsune, and Suzuka Sakuya.

Tsukihi's outfit was a dress that seemed to be woven entirely out of orange and yellow feathers. It had a diagonal hem, reaching mid-thigh on her right leg but just past the knee on her left leg, and the sleeves were long and wide, hanging loosely around her wrists. The dress also showed a measure of cleavage, and there was a bouquet of feathers tucked behind her left ear. There was no sign of a soul gem anywhere on the outfit, a feature she shared with Pernelle. She didn't have a weapon, technically, instead carrying a pair of clappers – each a square board with a handle, with a loose piece attached to both sides that would clack against the main piece when shaken.

Karen wore a vest similar to the bright orange one that traffic control staff always wore, but instead of orange it was vertically, thickly striped in black and yellow. It looked like there was nothing else underneath the vest, but she did wear a translucent orange shawl over it that covered her shoulders. She also wore black hot pants and shoes with thigh-high stockings that were horizontally striped in black and yellow. Her soul gem was a yellow oval clasped onto her upper left arm, and her hair was tied in twintails with a yellow scrunchy on her left and a black scrunchy on her right. Her weapon appeared to be the same as Yuna's, the typical spiked club of an oni.

Mitsune wore a high-collared cape with a pattern of zeroes and ones on the inside in orange and yellow, and white with golden circuit designs on the outside. Underneath the cape, she wore a white crop top and short skirt, with an orange checkerboard pattern along the skirt's hem. Her arms and legs were striped in white and orange. All things considered, the only notable difference from her usual, unboosted outfit was that all the black had been inverted into white.

Sakuya wore a red sleeveless hoody that was left open in the front and fell to the knees like a tailcoat. Underneath the jacket was a sports bra divided diagonally into a red and white half, a pair of red hot pants hemmed in white, and a frilly two-layer skirt in red and orange. The skirt seemed to be held in place by a black leather belt. Her thigh-high stockings and elbow-length gloves were orange as well. Her soul gem was a green orb strapped to her left thigh.

Iroha and Kanagi began chatting with the still-restrained black and white feathers, including Mana, Ikumi, and Ryo, so I listened in a little. They seemed to cover most of the same points of the conversations from the previous timeline – Ryo's bitterness about the East-West divide, Mana's sister who turned into a witch, Ikumi's desperation to be saved. They weren't the only ones chatting, either – Mifuyu was catching up with a few people she hadn't seen for awhile, Chiyoko was telling Sakuya all about the Wings of the Magius again in hushed tones, Chika and Chiharu Karen were doing their best to rouse Irina, the Araragi sisters were still teasing Mayoi, and Coeurl was being as tactless as usual, confuddling her listeners with mild future-bombs.

After a few minutes, I decided it was about time to get started.

"Alright… Miss Tamaki wanted to go to the underground chapel, right?" I said.

"Ah, yes!" Iroha said. "Because that's where Ui is, right?"

"That's right," I said. "Is anyone else going to go with her?"

"Of course, we're all going together, right?" Felicia said.

"You got it!" Tsuruno said.

"Y-yes!" Sana said.

"Naturally," Yachiyo said.

"I will accompany you too," Kanagi said.

"Alright… and I'm going too," I said with a nod. "Miss Tomoe… since you were stuck in Miss Tamaki's doppel, I'm guessing you had nothing to do with the setup for this plan?"

"What do you mean?" Mami asked.

"Like helping the Magius seal off the entrance to the chapel," I said.

"No… I didn't do anything like that," Mami said. "They were discussing it as a possibility, from what I recall, but it never happened."

"Okay, that's about what I expected," I said. "Miss Kagura… I heard you were put in charge of some sort of substitute plan to make up for Miss Tomoe's disappearance. Did you have a chance to put that into action?"

"Why on earth would you expect me to answer your question?" San retorted. "You've betrayed the Magius and liberation, so I have no reason to help you."

"Even though Walpurgisnacht is probably going to hit Takarazaki too?" I said.

"That has nothing to do with this," San said.

"U-um, I'm pretty sure it wasn't finished," Nami spoke up. "When that other white feather attacked her and she called for backup, she wanted us to act as a shield so she could finish what she was doing, but we weren't able to do that…"

"I thought that was the case," I said. "But if I was wrong, there'd be no point in breaking the first seal only to be stymied by the second one. Alright, let me think. Kuroe… Coeurl… Sue… Maimai. I'd like the four of you to help us break open the path to the chapel. Once that's opened up, you'll come back out here to join the main fight. Everyone else, take down any witches that might appear, and when these four return and all the witches are defeated, you can lure the rumour out. I think Miss Mifuyu should know how to do that."

"Ah… yes, I have a pretty good idea," Mifuyu said.

"Then let's go!" I said.

Kanagi, the Crescent Moon Villa team, and the four former feathers I'd named followed me back into the base.

"Oh my, this place is huge!" Iroha gasped. "How many people live here…?"

"I think it's close to two hundred now," I said. "Though there are a few magical girls in the Wings of the Magius who live in town rather than on the base."

"It really is amazing that they could hide away such a huge building," Sana said.

"So… where is this… chapel?" Iroha asked.

I pointed to the soldier bear in the corner.

"The path is behind that bear," I said. "But that bear is one of the two sub-rumours that support the main Fendt Hope rumour… something like a familiar. So we'll have to fight it to get past. Kuroe, could you build a wall behind us? Something we can lean on."

"R-right… okay," Kuroe said.

She turned and began building a wall out of puzzle pieces. Unlike her usual walls, made out of flat jigsaw pieces as a quick barrier, usually to block an attack, this time they were jigsawed in three dimensions, fitting together into a rampart about four feet high.

Then we attacked, smashing the glass shell around the soldier bear and triggering it to unleash its opening wind attack.

Thanks to Kuroe's rampart, we all managed to avoid being blown away. The soldier bear presented a slightly tougher fight this time, as Kyouko and Momoko weren't here to back us up. That said, Coeurl somewhat made up for their absence, so it still wasn't that difficult. Once the bear was defeated, we found that the front door heading out into the courtyard had been removed, so Mayoi punched a portal to take herself, Kuroe, Coeurl, and Sue back outside.

The rest of us headed deeper into the base, fighting off worker bears as well as the clones of the Magius. That went pretty much the same as last time. Finally we reached the place where the painting had been in the previous timeline. This time, however, there was no painting, just a stairway heading down. We descended towards the chapel, the others commenting on the growing impurities.

"We don't know what awaits us down there," Yachiyo eventually said. "Mifuyu and the others are preparing to destroy this entire building. We must withstand this until then."

Suddenly Sana's voice was heard.

"They're here… they're here…"

"Who's here, Sana?" Tsuruno asked.

"Huh? I didn't say anything," Sana said.

"Huh?" Tsuruno said. "I thought that was your voice. Am I hearing things?"

The next voice issuing from the darkness was Felicia's.

"What weak little losers, whining about feeling bad in such a small amount of impurities!"

"Hey!" the real Felicia protested. "Who just made fun of me!?"

"That was your own voice, mad dog," Kanagi said.

"Why the hell would I make fun of myself?" Felicia retorted.

"Don't ask me," Kanagi said.

"It looks like we're not alone in here," Yachiyo said.

Then Tsuruno's voice issued from the darkness, giggling.

"Everyone's so confused! Aren't they pathetic, shishou?"

It was followed by Yachiyo's voice.

"Yes, I'm ashamed just thinking they are our allies. Right, Iroha?"

Iroha's voice also responded.

"Yes, we're better than that. Everyone's forgotten who they really are."

"There's no doubt, Miss Yachiyo," the real Iroha said.

"They really have no shame," the real Yachiyo said.

"As expected, there are more mirror copies," I said. "Looks like there's no copy of me, though. That's a bit of a relief."

"Can I suggest something to you guys, as your leader?" the fake Iroha said.

"Yes, we will follow your orders, Tamaki-kun," the fake Kanagi replied.

"Let's teach them who they really are," the fake Iroha said.

"What about us, leader?" the real Yachiyo said.

Mokyu piped up with one of its cute noises, and the real Iroha nodded.

"Just like Mokyu said, we don't need to listen to these copies," she said. "Nothing they say can change our minds."

"You're right," Yachiyo said. "This cheap trick won't work on us. My resolve was set before I even came here."

"Me too," Iroha said. "So let's eliminate these corrupt copies."

The copies finally emerged from the murk below.

"I do think it's better not to each face your own copies," I said. "Facing your doubts isn't a bad thing, but these guys are here to stall for time. Therefore, I'd recommend choosing matchups that give an advantage to our side."

"Right, that's a good idea," Iroha said. "But even though I more or less understand everyone's powers… I've never thought about fighting each other, so I'm not quite sure which matchups would be best…"

"I guess elemental rock-paper-scissors would be your best bet," I said. "Crescent Moon Villa represents all of the elements except null. Water is strong against fire, so Miss Nanami should take on the fake Tsuruno. Fire is strong against forest, so Miss Yui should take on the fake Sana. And forest is strong against water, so Miss Futaba should take on the fake Yachiyo. Lastly, light and dark are strong against each other, so you and Felicia could swap opponents… though you two need to be more careful, since that means your magic is strong against your opponent's, but theirs is also strong against yours. Lastly, I think Miss Izumi can deal with her copy on her own, though I'll back her up if she wants the help."

Iroha nodded. "Okay, I think I understand," she said. "Though I have no idea what this elements stuff is you're talking about, but you can explain all of that later. Let's follow Miss Taylor's plan!"

As everyone squared off against their designated opponents, the copies began addressing their originals. As for Kanagi and her copy, they stepped off to the side to have a little chat of their own.

"Hey," the fake Sana said. "Do I really deserve happiness, when I'm so useless and untalented? Miss Iroha will eventually get sick of me causing problems all the time."

"I won't fret about things like that in Crescent Moon Villa anymore," Sana said. "It's the best place I've ever been in my life! I feel truly safe there."

"Anyway, there's no such thing as someone who doesn't deserve happiness, as long as that happiness doesn't come from hurting other people," I said.

"Y-yeah!" Sana agreed.

"You forgot about avenging your parents," the fake Felicia taunted. "With the Magius, there will be no more witches! Plus Yachiyo won't be able to boss you around. This side is waaay better!"

"But Iroha's not on that side, so it sucks!" the real Felicia retorted.

"But, I'm right here?" the fake Iroha said.

"No, you're a fake!" Felicia said. "So that doesn't count!"

"There's nothing to avenge, anyway," I said. "Your parents weren't killed by a witch. Besides, getting rid of witches, at least in a small area, isn't that difficult in the grand scheme of things – almost anyone could do it if they set their minds to it and worked at it for long enough."

"So I'll get rid of witches in my own way!" Felicia said. "W-wait, what do you mean my parents weren't killed by a witch!? What the hell would you even know!?"

"I'm not going to explain myself in detail," I said. "If you want to know, talk to Miss Natsume."

"What does Kako have to do with this?" Felicia asked.

"Nothing really, except she happens to be the only other person in the world besides me and Kyuubey who know what I'm talking about," I said.

"Eh, whatever," Felicia said. "One way or another, I'll get rid of witches!"

"I'm the mightiest, so I know the truth!" the fake Tsuruno said. "Those Crescent Moon Villa girls don't really get me at all."

"Ah…" the real Tsuruno said. "D-don't say that… I'm the mightiest, after all, so I… I…"

"Huh? Is something wrong, Tsuruno-chan?" the real Iroha asked.

"I'm the mightiest, so I'll… smack you in the face, you fake!" the real Tsuruno finished.

"Ah… I guess this is my fault, somewhat," I muttered.

After all, my rough handling of her while she was fused with the rumour meant that her teammates hadn't seen through to her true feelings.

"It's hard being the mightiest, isn't it?" the fake Tsuruno said. "No-one understands me. No-one knows what I go through. Everyone takes me for granted. I'm the mightiest, so of course I can do it!"

"T-that… that's not…!" the real Tsuruno gasped.

"Yes, you get it!" the fake Tsuruno said gleefully. "The mightiest has to be mightier than anyone, after all! I can't rely on anyone, because that would show I'm not so mighty after all!"

"N-nooo!" the real Tsuruno said, covering her ears and closing her eyes. "No, stop it! Shut up, shut up!"

The fake Tsuruno giggled. "You're just trying to hide from the truth. I know, because I'm you. So don't worry! I'll prove you're not so mighty, by defeating you right here! Or I would, but we seem to have been shuffled around, so I'll let Sana-chan do it for me."

"Yaaah!" the fake Sana grunted.

She planted her shield on the ground and opened it up, extending her chains to bind Tsuruno in place.

"Tsuruno-chan!?" the real Iroha gasped.

"Focus on your own battles!" I said. "I'll protect Miss Yui!"

I stepped up, summoning a Teddy Drone and firing it at the fake Sana. She interposed her shield, but at least that meant she was no longer focusing on strangling Tsuruno, so I kept firing to hold her at bay.

"You're just going to end up getting your friends killed again," the fake Yachiyo said. "I can just imagine your tough façade twisting into something else…"

"I'm willing to take that risk," the real Yachiyo replied. "I just can't imagine life without them. That's how much Iroha and the others mean to me."

"Since when did we get so opinionated?" the fake Iroha wondered.

"Isn't it a good thing to be opinionated?" I said. "It's much better than being wishy-washy and always just going with the flow, I think."

"Tamaki Iroha isn't that strong of a person," the fake Iroha continued, ignoring the interruption.

"That's not true," the real Iroha replied. "Miss Taylor is right. What you see before me is the true me. I'm the new Tamaki Iroha."

"You just floated along through school, never developing any real relationships," the fake said. "You were afraid of saying something off, so you kept quiet. You were always worried about what people thought of you, so you just followed along."

"That's why I never had anyone I could call a friend back then," the real one agreed. "I was just the cheerful, agreeable classmate that nobody could read."

"But thanks to that, you had a peaceful school life," the fake said.

"I couldn't tell Ui the truth, though," Iroha said. "I kept lying to her about school. She was looking forward to going so much. I acted like I was having a great time there, but it was all just a façade. I will never go back to who I used to be. When Ui disappeared and I started spending time with Miss Yachiyo… I started having to stand my ground. And everything around me kept changing. I met so many other magical girls, and formed irreplaceable friendships. We shared our worries and pain with one another. That's why I'm saying goodbye to the wishy-washy person I used to be. Because now, I can finally hold my head up high. I now have best friends that I want to introduce to Ui when I see her again."

"Ultimately, it's still your little sister that you're clinging too," the fake said. "It's Ui. What are you going to do if she never existed?"

"If Ui didn't exist?" the real Iroha said.

"Before you have to deal with the shock of learning that… you should stop what you're doing, like Touka-chan and Nemu-chan said," the fake said. "What you're doing is pointless. Those two won't remember you, and Ui doesn't even exist. Are you going to keep being selfish? Will you keep causing all this pain? Will you continue to trample everyone's desires?"

"What you're saying isn't wrong," the real Iroha said. "Some feathers are grieving for their sisters, who turned into witches. And some feathers want to live peacefully in their own hometowns. Each feather, each magical girl, has their own feelings about this. Everyone in this war has their own opinions and desires. But I believe in my memory, and I believe in the photo Sana-chan took, and I believe in the words of the Eternal Sakura and Ai-chan. I refuse to believe that Ui doesn't exist! I believe that Touka-chan and Nemu-chan will remember her! And this isn't just about Ui, either! This is about Kamihama. The Kamihama we love, the Kamihama that changed me. It's in danger, so I will stop what's threatening it!"

"Even if it means trampling other magical girls' wishes?" the fake asked.

"For every wish I trample, I will be that much more determined," the real Iroha said. "I won't give up until I've seen my stubborn wishes through to the end."

Once the two Irohas had finished talking, all the other copies attacked at once, and the fake Sana dialled up her moves by attempting to ensnare me as well. Thanks mostly to my suggestions, the battle was short and sweet – Felicia had difficulty defeating the fake Iroha, and Sana had a bit of trouble against the fake Yachiyo, but they both managed to do it on their own. Yachiyo easily took down the fake Tsuruno, and Iroha easily destroyed the fake Felicia. And once I really got serious about it, I had no trouble destroying the fake Sana. As for Kanagi's copy, it had apparently run away after concluding their discussion, which meant that five mirror coins clattered down the steps. As I leaned down to gather them up, everyone else gathered around Tsuruno, the only one who'd failed to contribute to the fight. She had broken down in tears.

"I'm sorry, everyone," Tsuruno sobbed. "I'm sorry I'm so useless when it matters most…"

"Don't say that, Tsuruno-chan!" Iroha said. "I would never think you're useless! Not for a second!"

"It seems the fake Yui-kun's words hit her hard," Kanagi said.

"What's with that?" Yachiyo said. "Don't tell me it was true…?"

"N-no! It's not like that!" Tsuruno said. "I'm the mightiest, so… I gotta be strong…"

"You dummy!" Felicia shouted. "Even if you're strong, that doesn't mean you can't rely on others! Dummy, dummy, dummy!"

"Hey, that's mean!" Tsuruno protested. "Why are you calling me a dummy, you dummy!?"

"Because you're a dumb dummy!" Felicia shouted. "We're your friends, so you gotta rely on us!"

"B-but I'm the mightiest magical girl…!" Tsuruno said.

"I'm sorry, Tsuruno," Yachiyo said.

"Huh?" Tsuruno said. "Why're you apologizing all of a sudden…?"

"It's true… I've taken you for granted all this time," Yachiyo said. "I didn't realize how you must have been feeling… ever since Mel died…"

"Oh, that's right," Iroha gasped. "Mel died the day you couldn't make it…"

"I'm sure she's been blaming herself for that all this time," I said.

"I also defeated her later on," Tsuruno sobbed. "Mel's witch… though I had no idea it was her until I went to the Memory Museum…"

"Ah… at least she didn't have to curse too many people, then…" Iroha said.

"Although, some thief stole the grief seed," Tsuruno added.

"Sorry," I said.

"Why're you apologizing?" Tsuruno said.

"No reason in particular," I said. "But given that I was in Kamihama around that time, there's a pretty high chance I was the one who stole it… it seems like the kind of thing I would do…"

"What do you mean, a high chance?" Iroha said. "If you did it, you should remember what you did, right?"

"Let me rephrase that," I said. "There's a high chance I will be the one to steal it…"

"Oh…" Iroha said.

"Huh? What's that?" Tsuruno said. "I don't get it…"

"Taylor-kun does not remember meeting me back then," Kanagi said. "Therefore, it is likely that at some point in the future she will travel back in time to last year."

"She already travelled back in time to last month or something, apparently," Iroha said. "So I guess if she can do it once then she can do it again…?"

"That's not entirely true," I said. "The method I've used to time-travel so far is limited to going back only a month and a half, so I'd have to find a different method to return to last year… but I do think such a method exists, right here in Kamihama. Anyway, now's not the time for that… Miss Yui, are you okay to continue now?"

"I… I think so," Tsuruno said. "I'm really sorry, everyone… I caused you some trouble…"

"No, it's fine," Yachiyo said. "We finally learned how you were really feeling."

"But I even got myself brainwashed, and ditched the team!" Tsuruno protested. "I've been feeling bad about that… it must've been a huge pain in the butt. I was even about to murder a whole bunch of people… if Miss Taylor hadn't put a stop to it…"

"But, for better or worse, we ended up learning about your real feelings, Tsuruno," Yachiyo said. "I think that was a good thing. And I also got the chance to re-evaluate myself."

"It was a strange way to go about it, but I'm glad I got to know you better, Tsuruno-chan," Iroha said. "Besides, it's all the Magius's fault that things took this turn."

"Ah… you have a point," Tsuruno said.

"The five of us are going to keep supporting each other as we move forward," Iroha said. "I also want us to think about the fate we're tied to as magical girls… becoming witches. And I want us to come up with a way to do something about it, as a team. We'll think of a better answer than the one the Wings of the Magius found…"

"Yes," Yachiyo said.

"You betcha," Tsuruno said.

"Alright, now let's do that thing!" Felicia said.

"What thing?" Sana asked.

"That thing where we stack our hands up!" Felicia said. "Like before a big sports game, ya know!?"

"Ohh, that'd really get me fired up!" Tsuruno exclaimed.

"Right!?" Felicia said.

"Alright, everyone!" Tsuruno said. "Hands in!"

The five of them huddled together, and then Iroha turned to Kanagi and I.

"What are you waiting for?" Iroha asked. "Both of you join in too!"

"Me!?" Kanagi said.

"Of course," Iroha said.

"We're not part of the Crescent Moon Villa team, you know," I pointed out.

"But you're here with us now, as an ally," Iroha said. "So what does that matter?"

"Well… if you insist," Kanagi said.

I shrugged and followed her, both of us extending our hands and joining the huddle.

"Iroha-chan, you start us off!" Tsuruno saod.

"Me!?" Iroha gasped.

"You're the leader, right?" Tsuruno said.

"W-well I am but…"

"Yep, yep!" Tsuruno said.

"O-okay then!" Iroha said. "Team Crescent Moon Villa! And, um… to the future, to uhhh… Kamihama Magia Union! L-let's, uhhh… let's do thiiiiiis!"

"Woohoooooooo!" Tsuruno shoute

The others all joined in, even Kanagi to some degree.

"May I ask, what do you mean by a union?" Kanagi asked.

"Ah, that," Iroha said. "Sorry, it just came to me a few minutes ago, but… everyone here in Kamihama has been working together to take down the Magius, so I thought maybe we could work together to achieve liberation properly, even once the Magius's plans are stopped. I still need to think it over a bit more, so please don't tell anyone else yet, okay?"

"It sounds like an awesome idea!" Felicia said.

"Just for the record, I won't be joining your union," I said.

"Huh? Why not?" Iroha said.

"Well, you just said it yourself," I said. "It's the Kamihama Magia Union. I'm not from Kamihama, so it wouldn't feel right for me to join. Plus, I'd prefer to stay neutral for as long as possible if it comes to war."

"War!?" Iroha gasps. "W-what on earth are you talking about!?"

"The Magius have summoned all the witches of the island here to Kamihama," I said. "What do you think will happen when magical girls in other towns find out about that? Don't you think there'd have to be at least some who'd be angry about it?"

"Didn't you gather all those magical girls to Kamihama already?" Iroha asked.

"Not all of them," I said. "I didn't gather anyone from Futatsugi or Kanitomi, nor from any of the small villages scattered across the island. There's bound to be quite a few that I missed, and some of those are bound to be angry if they find out. And there's no reason to expect they'll never find out – Kyuubey might even be the one to tell them."

"B-but even then, we could sit down and talk things over!" Iroha said. "There's no need for war…"

"You're too naïve," I retorted. "If that was something that would work, wars wouldn't exist. You can't reach common ground with another person through words alone… not unless you already started out with a shared perspective in the first place."

"I don't think that's true," Iroha said. "But either way… right now we need to confront the Magius. We can talk about your idea of a future war some other time. Let's go!"

"Yeah!" Felicia said. "I wanna get this over with and go eat!"

"Yeah," Sana said. "I want to go home with everyone as soon as possible, too."

"Hm? What's this all of a sudden?" Yachiyo asked.

"They're saying they're happy to be on Team Crescent Moon Villa," Iroha said. "Am I right?"

"Yeah!" Felicia said.

"Yes!" Sana said.

Yachiyo giggled. "I'm glad to be on the same team as everyone, too."

"We might not be able to go home right away," Iroha said. "But let's promise to go home together, after we successfully complete this mission! We'll go back to Crescent Moon Villa, together!"

"Yes," Yachiyo said. "I should think about what to cook for dinner. We'll have to make a seat at the table for Mifuyu, too."

"Are you all finished?" Kanagi asked.

"Come to think of it, was everything alright with your copy, Kanagi?" Yachiyo said.

"Yes, I wasn't much different from myself," Kanagi said.

"That certainly sounds like you," Yachiyo said.

"Let's get going to where the Magius await," Iroha said.

"We're almost there," I said.

We continued descending the stairs. Finally, we arrived at the chapel, and the others paused to gaze up at Eve's gargantuan form.

"That's a witch," Tsuruno declared. "That's definitely a witch."

"I think it's actually a bit different from a witch," I said.

"You said you think that's Miss Ui's doppel, right?" Sana said.

"I think that's a bit off the mark too, but closer," I said. "Mind you, a doppel is technically a sort of witch too, according to Miss Yakumo…"

"Ehh? Miss Mitama said that?" Iroha said.

"Ah, yes, that's what she told me," Yachiyo said.

"So… Ui is really inside that thing?" Iroha said.

"Yes… she's in the large red crystal at the centre," Sana said.

"So, what do you want to do?" I asked. "Go greet the Magius? They should be just ahead. Or do you have something else in mind?"

"Hmm," Iroha said. "It doesn't seem like it'd be easy to break Ui out of there, does it…?"

"Well, you've got that right," I said.

"We came here to defeat the boss of the operation, did we not?" Kanagi pointed out. "So, we should get to it."

"Ah… I guess you're right," Iroha said.

We stepped into the garden, where as expected we were greeted by Alina's giggle. As before, the three of them were relaxing and drinking tea. Nemu even had a book out, reading calmly.

"So you made it," Alina said.

"Huh… you arrived earlier than we expected," Nemu said.

"Welcome to our chapel!" Touka said. "Why don't we all enjoy some tea while gazing upon Eve? We have one more guest than expected, but there should still be enough to go around!"

"Greetings to you, Tamaki Iroha," Nemu said. "My name is Hiiragi Nemu. You've been pursuing me for some time now, I hear. I'm sorry we haven't had a chance to meet before now. I essentially have to use some of my life force in order to create a rumour, so… it exerts stress upon my body, such that I can hardly move. Thus I'm unable to go out much."

"O-oh no, are you okay, Nemu-chan!?" Iroha gasped.

Nemu blinked at her. "Right now I am feeling fine," she said. "The Rumour of the Flower Speaker did not take too much out of me, so I have already recovered from manifesting it."

"Oh… that's a relief," Iroha said. "I'm glad you're fine…"

"This is just unbelievable," Tsuruno interrupted with a sigh. "They're calmly having a tea party and chatting amiably with us in front of such a terrible… whatever that thing is."

"Come to think of it, these impurities in the air don't seem to faze them at all," Felicia said.

Alina giggled. "What do you think of our best artwork? Doesn't Embryo Eve give you goosebumps just from looking at it?"

"No, I don't feel that way at all," Iroha said. "I can't see that creature as a work of art. All I can see is… a prison… and a monster…"

"Huh…? Why a prison?" Nemu asked. "No, never mind… leaving that aside for now… Tamaki Iroha, I believe you have destroyed countless worlds that I granted physical form. Words cannot describe the fury and regret that lie festering within my breast."

"So, like the Eternal Sakura said, you wrote the rumours," Yachiyo said.

"Did the Eternal Sakura say that to you?" Nemu said. "It's true, yes."

"I actually know all about the rumours you created, Nemu-chan," Iroha said.

"And what do you mean by that?" Nemu asked. "Did you read it in the veteran's files?"

"No, I didn't," Iroha said. "You thought up the rumours in the hospital, didn't you? It was you, Touka-chan, and Ui too."

"Yeah, there's something wrong with you, Tamaki Iroha," Touka said.

"There really is," Nemu said. "I'm afraid your memories are incorrect. Or rather, I should say they're made up. The rumours are my own personal works. There exists no evidence to disprove that fact."

Iroha shook her head. "There is evidence," she said. "I have evidence that Ui exists, and I have evidence that she helped to create the rumours. Miss Yachiyo?"

Yachiyo nodded. "Yes, the Eternal Sakura said the rumours were written by Nemu and illustrated by Ui," she said.

"Ai-chan knows about Miss Ui too!" Sana exclaimed. "She's mentioned her a couple of times… she thinks very highly of Miss Ui."

"So you see, the rumours know about Ui," I said. "I think that's already proof that Miss Tamaki's memories are more correct than your own. Try asking some of them yourself if you don't believe me. I think the granny of the chocolate shop is also capable of human speech, isn't she?"

"Granny… chocolate shop…?" Iroha said.

"Oh, there actually was a rumour like that," Yachiyo said. "The Little Olde Cocoa Shop, which steals and sells the future potential of girls."

"Even if you say that, I only have your word that the rumours said anything," Nemu said.

"But, we also have a photo of her," Iroha said. "Sana-chan!

"Y-yes!"

Sana whipped out her phone and pulled up the photo, holding it out so that Touka and Nemu could see. They don't look too closely, however.

"What of it?" Touka said. "There's no proof that girl even is your little sister."

"She is!" Iroha said. "I'd know her anywhere! And this photo was taken inside your base!"

Touka blinked. "Impossible," she said. "We don't have anyone like that in the Wings of the Magius."

"What are you saying, Touka?" I said. "Look at the photo more closely. Does that thing the girl is encased in not look even slightly familiar?"

Touka blinked. "Huh? What are you getting at?"

I pointed up at Eve.

"Um, the photo was taken right here in this room," Sana said. "F-from the air…"

"You're saying that Ui… your little sister is the magical girl from whom Eve sprang?" Touka said. "How could that be? Like I said, we've never even met you or your sister before…"

"I can admit that, if your sister was indeed in the hospital, it is not impossible," Nemu said. "But the sheer coincidence of that… it boggles the mind…"

"It's not coincidence," I said.

"Well, we can get to that later," Touka said dismissively. "The real reason you're here is to hear all about the liberation we've created, right?"

"Well… that's not quite it, but… if you have something to say, then say it," Yachiyo said.

"I heard everything from Tsuruno-chan," Iroha said. "You tried to make her kill lots and lots of people! If Miss Taylor hadn't defeated the rumour, she would've done all sorts of terrible things!"

Nemu blinked. "Ah, so it was Miss Taylor who defeated the Chelation Land rumour?" she said. "I was told it was defeated by Miss Izumi."

Kanagi shook her head. "I never heard of a rumour by the name of Chelation Land, much less fought one," she said.

"How could you try to make her do such a thing, Touka-chan!?" Iroha asked.

"The plan was to have everyone have lots of fun at the amusement park," Touka said. "So much fun that they'd never want to go home. However, since so many people wanted to enter, they'd be forced to leave… by leaving this world! Surely you can agree, it would've caused everyone's emotions to just explode, right? Don't you think we could've gotten sooo much energy from it?"

She giggled, then sighed, shooting me a glare.

"But someone just had to ruin it," Touka said. "Are you the one who let the invisible girl go as well?"

"No, that was Miss Mifuyu," I said. "Crossing her was your biggest mistake."

"Touka-chan, you were seriously going to kill all those people!?" Iroha asked.

"We had to do something," Touka said. "We didn't have enough energy. We still don't, in fact."

"Energy for what, exactly?" Iroha asked. "It's not right, dragging people into your schemes… brainwashing them, threatening them… fusing them with a rumour… people like you could never make magical girls… make everyone happy!"

"Then, could you make everyone happy, Tamaki Iroha?" Touka retorted.

"I don't have an answer to that right now," Iroha said. "I just know that what you've been doing is wrong."

"Yes, yes, we get it," Alina said testily. "You will never agree with us. Enough already. Can we move on?"

"No, we can't just let you get away with this!" Iroha said. "Touka-chan! You want to save all the magical girls, right!? Then you shouldn't be doing things like brainwashing people and fusing them with rumours!"

"Look, this plan to free magical girls… it can only be accomplished right now, while us three Magius members are together," Touka said irritably. "The lives of all magical girls… the amount of time we have left… this universe we live in… those are all important, right? And for a happy future, those things become even more important, right? We're trying to save all of those important things. If you weigh all that against a few thousand lives, the scale doesn't even budge. See, it's simple. Get it!?"

"No!" Iroha said.

"Argh, you're such a dummy!" Touka shouted.

"If the black feathers knew exactly what you've been doing… do you really think they'd be okay with it!?" Iroha asked.

"They're toootally okay with it," Touka retorted. "Just ask any of the feathers in town."

"Are you out of your mind?" I asked. "Those feathers can't even speak anymore. They're like zombies."

"Yeah!" Iroha said. "How could you!? You even brainwashed your own followers, the people who believed in you and trusted you!"

"Ah, well, I guess these things happen," Touka shrugged. "Although, if a certain someone hadn't gone and blown up Chelation Land, we would've had no need to take such extreme measures. So maybe you should take out your anger on Miss Taylor over there."

I considered defending myself, but I did almost kill Tsuruno, so I decided to stay silent.

"Don't say that, Touka-chan!" Iroha protested. "You're passing the blame for your wrongdoings on the one who tried to set you straight!"

"Come to think of it," Nemu said. "Miss Taylor, if you are the one who defeated Chelation Land… did you also have a hand in the erasure of the Anonymous AI?"

"Oh, yes, I suppose you could say that," I say.

"May I ask how you did it?" Nemu asked.

"Well, your guess was pretty much spot-on," I said. "It was the wish of a magical girl. I just dragged the rumour outside Kamihama and showed her to Kyuubey. She didn't even hesitate and made a wish right away. I think being erased from your book was a side-effect of that wish, as it was a chain that constrained her."

Nemu blinked. "Huh? A rumour has no soul. It should not be possible for it to make a wish and become a magical girl."

"Well, I think you're slightly off base there," I said. "It might be true that a rumour is created without a soul. It's your power, so I assume you'd instinctively know that much. But Ai clearly had a soul, since she was able to become a magical girl. So, what does that say about a rumour's potential, hmm?"

"That a rumour… can develop a soul?" Nemu said.

"Incredible," Touka said. "That possibility never even crossed my mind… but the implications are mind-boggling… I wonder if we could have used rumours as a source of energy, rather than just a tool to gather energy…"

"There's no reason to assume it's easy for them to develop a soul, though," I said. "This is just my theory, and I have no evidence to back it up, but I think Miss Ai was able to do it through her interactions and eventual friendship with Miss Futaba."

"M-me!?" Sana gasped. "A-are you saying, she became a magical girl because of me!?"

"I wouldn't put it that way," I said. "I would say she obtained the potential to become a magical girl because of you. I'm sure she had her own reasons for making her wish… though you definitely factored into that. And she already knew what was in store for her, so you shouldn't feel bad about it."

"R-right, I see…"

"Let us set that aside for the moment and discuss something more productive," Nemu said.

"Are you planning to compromise?" Alina asked.

"No, I don't want to compromise with them," Nemu said. "I want us to understand one another. If we can achieve that much, we should be able to avoid unnecessary fighting. We can at least share our knowledge about freedom and the method we chose to obtain it. It shouldn't hurt to share that much with them."

"Well, alright," Touka said. "In fact, we're almost at the finish line, so we might as well tell them everything. That's what they're here for, right? I'll tell you how we, the Magius, plan to achieve our goals. Then perhaps you'll approve of what we've been doing up until now."

"You and Miss Tamaki both have an outsized idea of the power of words," I said. "You can't convince people with just words alone. Still, I say it can't hurt to listen."

"I don't think it's likely that you'll be able to change our minds, but we'll hear what you have to say," Yachiyo said.

"Our goal is to liberate all magical girls," Touka said. "To free them from the curse of becoming witches. But then, you already knew that, didn't you?"

"Yes, we were aware of that," Yachiyo said.

"The foundation for this freedom has already been laid here in Kamihama," Touka said. "There's no sign of that little pest Kyuubey, and no-one turns into witches, right? That's already a dream come true, don't you think? Now, as long as your soul gem stays intact, you have nothing to worry about. So what I want to do is share this gift with the rest of the world."

"So you want to make it so no-one in the world turns into witches?" Yachiyo asked. "Just like in Kamihama?"

"That's correct!" Touka said.

"I understand your goal," Yachiyo said. "But that doesn't explain anything."

"Yeah!" Tsuruno said. "Where's the part where you explain why you gotta use witches and rumours? Especially a terrible witch like Walpurgisnacht!"

"Don't rush me!" Touka said. "Now, where was I… ah, yes. The reason we use the witches and rumours is because we need energy. The people of Kamihama feel joy and sorrow from the effects of the rumours. That in turn produces energy. It is also produced whenever witches grow in strength, and when magical girls become witches. We use that energy to help us liberate everyone."

"Understand?" Alina chimed in, gesturing towards Eve. "We use the energy we collect to stimulate our masterpiece, Embryo Eve, to hatch."

"Then, if all three of the Magius are present at the moment Embryo Eve hatches, we can spark a miracle originating here in Kamihama that will eventually span the world," Nemu said. "This miracle would bring an end to the old era and earn us our independence."

"Yes!" Touka said. "Humanity could cut its umbilical cord to Kyuubey, and prove itself to the universe. And if we succeed, I could learn all the galaxy's secrets. Secrets which might have taken eons upon eons to learn otherwise."

"And I need not be satisfied with just Kamihama," Nemu said. "I can use the world as my parchment and make all manner of stories come to life."

"I, Alina, will have my artwork live on as an eternal testament to life itself," Alina said. "Then, I'll abandon my very soul to the pursuit of art on a universal scale!"

"Of course, all the magical girls will be happier than happy to be saved, as well," Touka said.

Yachiyo sighed. "I have all sorts of questions, but I'll only ask the one that matters," she said.

"Which is?" Touka said.

"Why did you use humans to achieve these noble goals of yours?"

"Oh, did I not mention that part?" Touka asked. "We should use people who matter less than magical girls first, right? There's always a degree of risk involved in these matters, so you do what you can."

"I should have asked you that from the start," Yachiyo said.

"Even if I ignore all my memories of you," Iroha said. "Even if you were the same Touka-chan and Nemu-chan whom I loved so much… I can't agree with what you're doing. Even if you thought this through carefully… even if you really want to save everyone… there are some things you just shouldn't do. Would you be just as fine with killing all these people if they were your own family?"

"You see, Miss Satomi?" I said. "Your words can't overcome your deeds."

"Mmmm… hmph!" Touka grumbled. "This is such a waste of time… but we've nothing better to do while we wait, so if you have other questions, go ahead and ask."

"Well… there's an obvious question in my mind," Iroha said. "What does it mean for Eve to hatch?"

"Even if you say Eve is not a witch, I genuinely can't tell the difference," Kanagi said. "If she was released, and a normal person came into contact with her aura…"

"Yes… she has very sinister energy," Sana said. "I can't believe you've been raising something like this…"

"You see, as you've gathered, Eve is not a witch," Nemu explained. "It's an incomplete specimen, neither magical girl nor witch. It's a half-witch, an in-between."

"That's it," Alina said. "That's why we worked together to raise Eve. We wanted to push its limit and make it a complete witch."

Iroha gasped. "That's what you mean by hatching it?" she said. "You're planning to turn Ui into a witch!?"

"That's right!" Touka said. "A half witch will hatch into a full witch! When magical girls become witches, they release phase transition energy. That is what we wanted. If we had that energy, we could expand our Kamihama miracle to the rest of the world!"

"And magical girls everywhere will be saved from their fates," Iroha said.

"Well aren't you quick on the uptake!" Touka said.

"Except for your dearest friend," Iroha said. "You'd turn your best friend into a witch, just to save magical girls!? No, even if she wasn't your friend, isn't that an obvious contradiction? How can you save magical girls from turning into witches by turning a magical girl into a witch?"

"We can't do this without a few sacrifices," Touka retorted.

"Isn't it ironic?" I said. "They saved Ui's life with a rumour, only to end up almost killing her anyway."

"Then why did you summon Walpurgisnacht?" Iroha asked. "You of all people should know, Touka-chan… if you summon such an awful witch, people in the city will get hurt!"

"All the more emotional energy for us!" Touka said. "Just imagine it."

"I'm starting to think these girls are the most evil witch here," Yachiyo said. "Anyway, the issue at hand here is about more than just this moment. Witch or not, it's insane to use a mass of impurities like this."

"I agree," Kanagi said. "So what's your plan? Now's the time to act."

"I'd rather chat a bit more," I said. "I have some things to say to the Magius."

"Well then, go ahead," Touka said. "What's on your mind, Miss Taylor?"

"You explained all that stuff about the half witch," I said. "But really, it doesn't make any sense. Don't you think of yourself as a scientist?"

"Well, yes," Touka said. "What part didn't make sense to you? I can explain more."

"It's just full of holes," I said. "You've somehow come across a being that's not exactly a magical girl but not quite a witch either. You believe that feeding it with impurities will eventually make it hatch into a full witch and produce energy. That about sums it up, right?"

"Yes, very good," Touka said.

"So why would such a being as a half witch exist in the first place?" I asked. "I've never heard such a thing before. When a magical girl turns into a witch, is there even an intermediate state? I've seen it happen in person, and I don't think I could point to even a brief transitory state. So how is it that you came across something that has never happened before?"

"That is still a mystery to us," Nemu said. "We simply found it by chance, at the hospital."

"Yes, we haven't figured that part out yet," Touka said. "I'm sorry, but science is a process, so we won't always have all the answers!"

"My other question is… what evidence do you have that feeding it would ever lead it to hatch?" I asked.

"I don't understand what you mean," Touka said. "How could it not hatch? A soul gem will always hatch into a witch eventually, if it's filled with impurities."

I shook my head. "Aren't you making an assumption here? You said yourself that this isn't a magical girl, and isn't a witch either. Is the soul gem even being filled with impurities? Have you actually checked?"

"The soul gem was clearly gathering impurities in our early experiments," Touka said. "But only very slowly… slowly enough that I couldn't accurately measure the rate. Once it's filled up, it's obvious that it would hatch. By now, the soul gem must be almost completely clouded. Unfortunately, we're no longer able to observe the soul gem, as it is now buried too deep within the structure."

I turned to Sana. "Miss Futaba, can you see Ui's soul gem in that picture?" I asked. "It should be a red rectangle at her throat."

"Ah, um… y-yes, I think so?" Sana said.

"Does that look like a heavily clouded soul gem to you?" I asked.

"Um… it's really hard to say," Sana said. "The crystal encasing her kind of washes everything out… but… it doesn't look particularly clouded. I guess it's a bit brighter than the surrounding area?"

"That's not hard proof that your theory is broken," I said. "But doesn't it at least suggest you might be wrong? For my part, I believe Eve is more like a doppel."

"We considered that theory," Touka said. "But Eve behaves differently from doppels."

"Think about it," I said. "First of all, the automatic purification system exists, and you've seen it in action. Why would this one soul gem be exempt from that system? Secondly, if it's in a transitory state, doesn't that imply that some force, whether it's the automatic purification system or something else, is preventing it from turning into a witch? Why would you think just feeding more and more impurities would overwhelm whatever's holding back the transformation?"

"Well, if you're so smart, then why don't you explain your alternate theory in detail?" Touka snapped.

"I'd be happy to," I said. "Ui's power is to collect impurities, but she didn't have the karmic destiny to shoulder that ability. She couldn't control it from the beginning. Turning into a witch immediately after contracting would have been completely unsurprising. And yet… she didn't. Why is that? Well… consider a more fundamental question. Why exactly do soul gems turn into grief seeds in the first place?"

"Obviously that's because they've gathered a lot of impurities," Touka said.

"And what are those impurities made of?"

"Fear, rage, hate, despair, sorrow… what some people refer to as 'negative' emotions," Touka said.

"Right, so it's because of emotions," I said. "So what happens if you take out the emotions? A soul gem without the capacity to experience fear, joy, sorrow, or any other emotion."

"If it can't feel those emotions at all… then I suppose it would never gather any impurities," Touka said. "But there's no such thing as a human who doesn't experience emotions. The degree may vary, and the level of understanding, but all humans experience emotions."

"Right, normally a soul gem without emotions would be impossible," I said. "But the power of manifestation is almost unlimited, isn't it? The wish of a magical girl can do so many things. It can revive the dead, turn a witch back into a magical girl, even locally rewrite reality. Nemu used the power of manifestation to create the automatic purification system. If she can do that, it should be a cinch to prevent one measly little soul gem from hatching into a grief seed by separating out its emotions. So in conclusion… if Eve is something like the first doppel, prevented from transforming because her emotions have been removed, then it doesn't matter how much you feed her. She's never going to hatch into a witch, because she lacks the emotions to do so."

"It's a very interesting theory," Touka said. "But it doesn't fit all the facts. For example, why would we be preventing Eve from transforming while at the same time working to make her transform? That obviously doesn't make any sense."

"I think we've already established that your memories have been altered," I said. "Remember what I said a moment ago? Locally rewriting reality is quite within the realm of possibility with the power of manifestation. That's exactly what happened. Ui was erased from the world, and you forgot who she was. Your brains filled in the blanks in your memories with rationalization… and Ui was right there, unleashing her doppel or whatever. So, you discovered your so-called half-witch, forgot that you were attempting to save her, and the rest is history."

"You're trying to convince us that Tamaki Iroha's nonsensical memories are real, are you?" Touka said.

"Allow me to put it into the simplest possible terms," I said. "You had a plan to save Miss Tamaki and everyone else, and you failed. Miserably. Okay, sure, you somewhat managed to salvage it with this Wings of the Magius nonsense, but… still, you failed. Touka and Nemu, you became magical girls to save Tamaki Iroha from her fate, and now you're trying to kill her. Your contracts couldn't have gone more wrong than that. Ui must be furious at you right now."

Mokyu, riding on Iroha's shoulder, suddenly made one of its cute noises, and Iroha blinked in surprise.

"She agrees with Miss Taylor…" she said. "She said she's furious too…"

"Enough!" Touka shouted. "I have heard quite enough about this Ui nonsense!"

"Well, that's certainly not a scientific reaction," I retorted.

"I don't want to hear another word about Tamaki Iroha's imaginary little sister!" Touka said.

"Then it seems that we're done talking," Nemu said.

"Yes, we came here for a reason," Iroha said. "And it wasn't to talk to you, Nemu-chan… and Touka-chan. Our target is… Eve."

"Hmm. It might be because it's not a witch, but it seems Eve is unable to move," Kanagi said.

"I think that's actually because she's restrained," I said. "And there isn't much room down here for her to move when she's that big."

"That's true," Iroha said. "Then… we have to cut Ui free, and then destroy Eve. That way, we can cut down the Magius's plans at the root."

"You won't be smug for much longer," Yachiyo said.

"Yeah!" Felicia said. "There are seven of us!"

"Including me, the mightiest magical girl!" Tsuruno said. "But I've got a feeling they have something up their sleeve."

"Well yeah, the one thing you can be sure about with the Magius is that they have a plan for every possible scenario they can imagine," I retorted.

Touka giggled. "I wonder, what could our plan be? You really are smart, aren't you, miss mighty? Well, no matter how hard you try, you have no chance of winning. Your magic reserves, your stamina, and even the environment is not in your favour."

"That's right," Nemu said.

"You're correct on only one out of three," I said. "Though that's bad enough as it is…"

"Maybe so," Nemu said. "However, to sit this out would be truly irritating, so I shall face you as well. Touka could likely protect Eve on her own, but I will join the battlefield this time."

"Are you feeling all better?" Touka asked.

"I'll be fine as long as I don't make any rumours," Nemu said.

"Well, this has all been very amusing," Alina said. "Very well. I'll take blondie and the invisible girl."

She got to her feet and approached them, summoning a green cube in her hand. Nemu closed her book, and she and Touka also stood up and approached them.

"Grr, the crazy lady's coming!" Felicia gasped. "Bring it on! I'm not afraid of you anymore!"

"I remember now," Sana said. "My promise to Ai-chan… my promise to Miss Iroha… I will stop the Wings of the Magius!"

"Hmm," Alina said. "Well, the only thing I, Alina, care about is acquiring all of your hair."

"What the hell is she saying?" Felicia asked.

"Even when we're nothing but bone, our hair remains," Alina said. "It's a symbol of eternity. It's proof of our existence. I suppose you could say it's like a human's soul. So I want to shear it all off and burn it."

"Huh!?" Felicia gasped.

"I'm saying that I would like to delete you from the face of the world, forever," Alina said, laughing.

"S-sana!" Felicia gasped. "I'm still scared of her!'

"Y-you're not alone!" Sana said. "I'm scared too!"

Felicia backed off nervously as Alina stepped forward.

"Why aren't you your usual wild self?" Alina taunted. "Are you getting cold feet? What kind of mercenary are you?"

"S-shut up!" Felicia said.

"Hmm," Alina said.

She gripped that cube floating in her hand and fired a beam at Felicia, eliciting a squeal from her. However, I summoned Teddy Mk II as a shield to block it. She fired one at Sana too, but she blocked it too, with her shield.

"Are you okay!?" Sana asked.

"S-sorry," Felicia said.

"Hang in there, Miss Felicia!" Sana said.

"I guess we don't have much choice but to let the two of you fight Alina," I said. "Miss Futaba, Felicia, can you do that? Or is she too scary?"

"I'll be fine!" Felicia declared.

She got to her feet, brandishing her hammer.

"I don't care if it's impurities or whatever, this hammer's gonna clobber all of it!" Felicia said.

"Such confidence is seriously irritating," Alina said.

"Then, for the other two… Touka is fire element, and Nemu is forest," I said. "Therefore, Miss Yui should face Nemu, as forest is weak against fire. Similarly, since fire is weak against water, Miss Nanami should face Touka. Does that sound good?"

"Well, your advice worked against the mirror clones, so the mightiest magical girl will take it!" Tsuruno said, completely eliding the fact that she broke down back there. "I'll take you on!"

"That's a little amusing coming from you, but I like your spirit," I said. "That leaves Miss Tamaki and Miss Izumi, who are both light element. Ui is dark element like me, though I'm not sure to what extent Eve inherits that, but assuming she does, that actually works out well – if the two of you would like to target Eve together, I can support the others as needed."

"That sounds good!" Iroha said. "Let's do that!"

"Are you sure it's alright to share your strategy so blatantly?" Touka retorted. "If you're trying to force us into match-ups that are disadvantageous for us, then all we need to do is switch places and you'll be in deep trouble."

"That's true, you should definitely try to do that if you intend to win," I agreed. "The only problem is, we outnumber you, so if you sic Nemu on Miss Nanami and the elemental weakness proves to be an issue for us, we can just sub out someone else who doesn't have an elemental weakness. After all, we have at least one of every element, while your side only has two elements."

"However, we have all the energy that Eve has gathered," Touka said. "And we're used to this environment, whereas most of you aren't."

"That's true," I said. "I guess we'll just have to see how it goes."

While Yachiyo, Tsuruno, and I stepped forward to face off against Nemu and Touka, and Felicia and Sana did their best to hold back Alina, Kanagi and Iroha connected, building up an attack aiming at Eve herself. It seemed at first that everything would go well, much better than in the previous timeline. Despite the thick impurities, the Crescent Moon Villa team was fighting much better than they did in the previous timeline. Presumably, missing the battle on the helipad was largely responsible for the difference.

Once Iroha had finished building up an arbalest bolt with Kanagi, she released it, and it soared high up into the air, striking the crystal containing Ui right at the lower edge. But a few moments later, Iroha suddenly lost strength in her legs and collapsed with a gasp. The others were also starting to show signs of flagging by this time.

"Huh?" Yachiyo said. "Something's wrong with my body…"

"Me too," Iroha said. "It gets difficult to breathe whenever I move."

"Soon, you won't be able to move at all," Nemu said.

Kanagi seemed to be in better shape than Iroha, enough to build up her own ultimate attack and fire it off at Nemu. However, Nemu opened her book and let loose a flurry of pages, attenuating the light-based attack and fluttering towards me, Tsuruno, and Yachiyo. I resummoned Teddy Mk II in the way to defend Yachiyo, then slashed at the papers approaching me. Each page contained one of her rumours, which would briefly snipe out from within the page as it came within range. However, any page that came into contact with Kensei's blade was instantly obliterated, so only a few made it through to me. Tsuruno managed to defend herself with her flames, to similar effect. If she had been in peak condition she probably would have taken no damage at all, but as it was she only managed to incinerate about two-thirds of them before the rest reached her.

"Urgh! How is she not weakened?" Kanagi said.

"S-something's wrong, Kanagi!" Tsuruno said.

"Are you alright, Yui-kun?" Kanagi asked.

"No, not at all," Tsuruno said. "I have no strength."

"I see," Kanagi said. "My body feels exceptionally heavy, but it seems they're not feeling the same thing… and nor is Miss Taylor."

"Well, I'm feeling the weight a bit," I admitted. "But I can still fight."

Nemu giggled. "Aren't you exhausted from fighting outside? Your resolve and willpower have limits, you know."

"There hasn't been any fighting outside, though?" I said. "The only fighting these guys have done was on the way down here, against the Soldier Bear and the mirror clones."

"That can't be," Touka said. "We sent the feathers out into the city with instructions to attack all magical girls on sight…"

"We did run into a few of them," Iroha admitted. "But once we entered the mountains, we didn't run into anyone else."

"Hmm," Touka said. "According to my predictions, you should have fought a huge battle on the helipad against Kagura San and the brainwashed feathers… so that didn't happen? I guess that does somewhat explain how you got here so soon…"

"No… who is Kagura San?" Iroha asked.

"Miss Tomoe's substitute, I guess," I said. "The other feathers call her the Instructor – she's the next in command after Miss Mifuyu."

"That doesn't matter right now," Touka said. "I see… so Tamaki Iroha must have brought you to the back entrance, bypassing all of the brainwashed feathers… but it won't make any difference in the end. You're still unused to the impurities here. See? You're already starting to feel the fatigue."

"Urgh," Felicia grumbled. "My body's not moving right… and I'm starting to feel sick again. This has never happened before…"

"No!" Sana gasped. "I can't stay standing!"

True to her words, she collapsed to her knees, and Alina giggled, making a grab for Felicia.

"Hey!" Felicia protested. "Get your hands off me!"

"I can finally delete the blondie who's been annoying me, Alina, for forever," Alina said. "I've wanted your hair, but you have a lovely complexion, too."

"What the hell?" Felicia said. "Quit it."

"Alina, stop acting like a creep," I said. "Think of what Karin-chan would say if she heard you."

"That idiot has nothing to do with this!" Alina shouted.

"You're the idiot here," I said. "Karin-chan was telling everyone she could that there was no way Alina could do something so terrible as summoning a witch like Walpurgisnacht. She's the only one who actually believes in you, Alina. She's going to be so disappointed when she finds out that you really did do it. And I think she's more important to you than you can admit."

"Enough about the idiot!" Alina screamed.

"I'd say that reaction just proves I'm right," I retorted.

Ignoring me, Alina turned in a huff to Sana, who was still sitting on the ground nearby.

"And you!" she said.

Sana squeaked as Alina leaned down to examine her, giggling.

"Aw, what a cute reaction! What, are you trembling?"

While Alina was tormenting Sana and Felicia, Touka kept on firing off beam after beam after beam. It was all I could do to keep up with her, unsummoning and and resummoning Teddy Mk II over and over again as a shield. Even when connecting with Yachiyo, who still had some fight in her, I just barely had enough time to fire back with beams of my own. Iroha had managed to get back to her feet to hold Nemu back with help from Kanagi, but her transient summoned rumours just absorbed all attacks, even the connect-boosted ones.

Touka giggled. "You see? I knew this would happen. I told you! You don't have the stamina, magic, or proper environment to fight us. All those ideas about fighting and friendships may sound cool, but sometimes those just aren't enough, you know? You should use your brain and think more carefully."

"Miss Yachiyo," Iroha said, panting a little, though she was still standing.

"My legs have never felt this heavy before," Yachiyo said. "Something's wrong."

"We have plenty of magic," Iroha said. "We've barely fought at all today, so… why do we feel this way already?"

Touka giggled. "Correct, again! We're used to the air being thick with impurities, but you aren't, Tamaki Iroha. You haven't built up the immunity to shrug it off. That's why you keep feeling worse the more you fight. Haven't you noticed?"

"Touka-chan…" Iroha said.

"Contrary to what Miss Taylor said earlier, I don't plan on killing you," Touka said. "But looking at your face really does annoy me. You've gotten in our way so many times. So, let me take out my anger on you, just this once."

"What are you saying?" Iroha asked.

Touka giggled. "Oh, Tamaki Iroha… just wait and see! Time to be quiet, now!"

With that declaration, first Touka and then Nemu unleashed their doppels. As Touka rained down lasers upon the entire forward section of the garden, I positioned Teddy Mk II as a makeshift shield and leapt off of it, doing a flip towards Touka. Summoning my sword in mid-air, I lopped off one of the wings of Pennen Nolde before she could react, using the sword's ability to extend to my advantage. Touka fell to the ground, the remnants of the doppel being absorbed back into her body.

"Sorry! I'm denying doppel use right now!" I said.

Then I twisted in mid-air, throwing my sword at Pennen Nenemu and summoning a swarm of Teddy Drones to bombard it until retreated back into Nemu's body.

"Great Teddy's Ionic Bombardment!"

"Don't interfere, Miss Taylor!" Touka complained. "You're technically still a member, aren't you? You should obey your Magius!"

"Who would obey a spoiled little brat who's throwing a tantrum?" I retorted. "Besides, I only joined your cult because it made it easier for me to confront and destroy Walpurgisnacht. I may have agreed with your overall goals of liberation, but I never agreed to your way of doing things."

"Ugh," Iroha said. "T-thank you, Miss Taylor…"

"Sorry that Teddy Mk II isn't a very good shield," I said.

"Should've had better screening, obviously," Touka grumbled. "Okay, everyone, gather round!"

She flicked her finger and blasted Iroha with a mini-laser, eliciting a squeal.

"Iroha, are you okay!?" Yachiyo asked.

"Y-yes," Iroha said.

"You couldn't even get close to Eve, could you?" Touka taunted.

"You're like a new feather recruit, so naïve," Nemu said.

"Have you forgotten she has a bow?" I pointed out. "She doesn't need to get close… and she did get one shot in."

"Only one!" Touka said. "That was her lucky shot! There won't be another! One shot won't even scratch Eve, anyway."

Sana gasped as she tried to shift her position. "I'm out of breath just from moving a little…"

"We gotta fight back!" Felicia shouted. "Ugh, why can't I even stand!"

"We can't let these impurities beat us," Tsuruno said. "We're so close to stopping the Magius. Even Miss Taylor can fight… so we've gotta back her up!"

"An environment that's advantageous for the enemy," Kanagi said. "This was to be expected… are you going to kill us?"

"Like I said, I have no intention to delete you," Alina said. "Well, I guess I wouldn't mind, though… but it's almost time for Eve to hatch. Let's share this special moment together. I'll do you a favour and just watch you gasping in pain."

"That's right, we've come this far!" Touka said. "Eve has grown, and Walpurgisnacht will soon arrive. Let's enjoy some tea until Eve hatches, shall we?"

"Don't be stupid," Yachiyo said. "I have nothing to say to you."

"Well, I definitely prefer not having to fight," I said. "But I'm afraid your plan just isn't going to work. The original plan you came up with before you contracted… that was a good plan. The success of the automatic purification system proves that much. But your plan to expand it is an utter failure on all counts. Eve is never going to hatch. You almost killed the person you were originally trying to save. You lost sight of your true goals. It's only thanks to Miss Tamaki that you didn't cross the line and become a metaphorical demon lord."

"Aw, don't be like that," Touka said. "It'll still take some time before Mifuyu destroys Fendt Hope, after all."

"What?" Iroha said. "You mean, you don't care if your headquarters are destroyed?"

"To execute our plans, we have to get Eve out of the building," Nemu said.

"T-then… we were just playing right into their hands!?" Iroha gasped. "Miss Taylor's plan was mistaken from the start?"

I shook my head.

"No, getting Eve out of the building was one of my goals too," I said. "As you've seen, we can't fight properly down here. That basically leaves two options – barricade the entrance so we have all the time in the world, or take Eve outside where we can fight properly. It's trading one disadvantage for another, and there are risks to this approach, but I judged it to be necessary. If I had more people who could fight in this environment, maybe it would've been different… but most of the feathers on my team aren't that acclimated to it, apparently. Oh, of course I would've needed a reliable way to keep the Magius out of this room, too, which is a lot to ask for when you consider that it's part of the rumour. Nemu could just make a new entrance if she wanted to."

"But what if Eve reaches the city?" Iroha asked.

"I don't think we'd be able to fight her if she didn't," I said. "It's so huge that a city environment is needed to fight effectively, unless you can actually fly, which most magical girls can't. If we fought it out here in the woods, we'd have about three people buzzing around the head like flies while the rest try and fail to land their attacks because there's no way to hold it in place."

"So you're saying your plan is also sacrificing the city and all those people!?" Iroha exclaimed.

"That's where Walpurgisnacht comes in," I said. "She brings a typhoon with her. All across the city, people will be evacuating to specific locations. As long as Eve doesn't go near the evacuation centres, what's the issue? A few buildings can just be rebuilt. In that sense, bringing Eve and Walpurgisnacht to the city at the same time is actually helpful… though it also has terrible downsides so it's a bit of a trade-off there as well."

"Ah," Iroha said. "I do get what you mean, but… I can't believe you'd go that far. Many of those buildings hold precious memories for people, after all. Still… I guess it still makes you better than the Magius… I'm sorry for assuming you were planning to sacrifice people. You've actually thought this through in quite some detail… but what are the terrible downsides you mentioned?"

"Walpurgisnacht gets stronger by feeding on Eve's familiars," I said. "And Eve grows stronger by feeding on Walpurgisnacht's familiars. So bringing them both here at the same time makes it harder to beat both, but also makes it possible to fight Eve effectively in the first place. Anyway, I've already ruined the Magius's plan to wear everyone out so they'd have no energy left to fight Eve and Walpurgisnacht. I suppose it remains to be seen how well their plans go from here on out. I'm sure they still have more contingency plans already in place."

"You bet we do!" Touka said.

"I would say we had you in checkmate once we summoned Walpurgisnacht," Nemu said.

"That's right!" Touka crowed. "We win! So let's kill some time, shall we?"

"Well, we'll see about that," I said. "But anyway, I do agree there's no point in fighting right now. We'd just be needlessly wasting magic."

"Well then, I'll tell you anything you want to know," Touka said. "As a reward for getting this far, I'll tell you things even Mifuyu doesn't know."

She giggled.

"Things that even Mifuyu doesn't know?" Yachiyo said.

"Yeah, like Kyuubey's real goal, and our real intentions," Touka said. "You want to know, don't you?"

"I doubt there's anything you could say that I don't already know," I said. "But I think some of it would be new to the others. Perhaps even Miss Nanami and Miss Izumi don't know all the details. Of course… that goes for you too, Touka. Don't feel too smug thinking you got Kyuubey to spill everything, because there's still more it's keeping from you."

"Well then!" Touka said. "How should I start… yes, I'd say it all started quite some time ago! I was temporarily released from the hospital, and I found an unpublished book manuscript in my uncle's apartment. The book's title was Magical Girls: Their Hope and Despair. It discussed things learned from interviewing magical girls, and chronicled their lives."

"I believe Miss Nanami should know what you're talking about," I said.

"Oh, I don't know," Touka said. "It's possible, I suppose. She's been a magical girl for suuuch a long time, after all."

"Now that you mention it, I do remember someone interviewing me about what it's like to be a magical girl," Yachiyo said. "It was a bit of a surprise, because he was just an ordinary human, yet he knew about magical girls…"

"Stop interrupting me!" Touka protested. "Anyway… it appeared to be a work of fiction, but it sounded so real to me. That's why I sought out Kyuubey, who wasn't written about in much detail. Then, one night, Kyuubey appeared on my windowsill, and I asked him lots of questions. He told me so many interesting things that magical girls still don't know.

"First, I learned more about Kyuubey himself. Kyuubey is a device made by a race that built a civilization in outer space using technology humans can't even dream of. Plus, he had a mission. It wasn't to grant wishes to girls, nor was it to create magical girls who would hunt witches. Those were just incidental measures. His real mission was to save the universe. Want to know why?

"All phenomena in the universe cause a perpetual energy loss for the rest of the universe due to the second law of thermodynamics. As Kyuubey put it, the amount of heat a bonfire gives off is not equal to the energy it took to grow the wood."

"I still don't like that explanation," I said. "It's not energy that's being lost, but useful energy. Some fraction of the energy is always wasted, but it's not lost. just dispersed."

"I'm the one telling this story!" Touka protested. "And I'm trying to keep things simple for the middle school students! The point is to get the idea across in terms they'll understand, not write a scientific paper!"

"That sure is ironic coming from an elementary school student, but whatever," I said. "Feel free to continue…"

"Anyway!" Touka said. "As I was saying, this difference in energy gets lost. The universe continues to produce this loss, which will ultimately lead to its death."

"I just want to note that the heat death of the universe is a few quadrillion years in the future," I said. "It's impossibly distant even from Coeurl's starting point. Even the Edalon are unlikely to survive that long, much less us. The sun will burn out long before that."

"Would you kindly just shut up!?" Touka shouted. "Let me finish! Right, where was I… oh, yes. So, in human terms, maybe it's similar to cell division failure, which we know as aging. Kyuubey is working hard to suppress this aging of the universe."

"So, we weren't created to hunt witches?" Yachiyo asked.

"It's exciting stuff, isn't it?" Touka said. "Don't you want to know more?"

Touka giggled.

"Why am I the only one getting scolded for interrupting?" I asked.

"She had a question," Touka said. "Questions are allowed. Comments from the peanut gallery however are forbidden."

"I suppose I do want to know," Yachiyo said. "We're meant to hunt witches, but transform into witches ourselves. It seemed contradictory, but now I know why."

"Surprising, isn't it?" Touka said.

"I'm not sure I believe it quite yet," Yachiyo said. "You could be making this all up."

"I'm afraid she's not making it up at all," I said. "I've heard the same thing straight from Kyuubey."

"Still, I'd like to know," Sana said. "Does it have something to do with the Magius's true intentions?"

"Yes, it does indeed," Touka said. "I'm glad you've been paying attention."

"Say what you're saying is true," Tsuruno said. "So that means we're just being used for the sake of the universe? Magical girls are tangled up in something to do with the entire universe…? Energy is being lost?"

"It's so simple, isn't it?" Touka said. "We magical girls exist to solve that problem. You see, the problem is that energy in the universe is slowly being lost through all sorts of processes, like the births and deaths of planets and stars. If that loss of energy continues to creep throughout the universe, it will become a chaotic mess of nothingness."

"Like I said earlier, the heat death of the universe," I said.

"Right, there is a name for it," Touka agreed. "It would essentially be the death of everything! It's a matter of critical importance. But Kyuubey discovered a form of energy here on Earth that isn't bound by the laws of thermodynamics. That energy is… human emotions. Joy, sadness, surprise… the amount of energy produced by human emotion is greater than the amount a human consumes between birth and death. And the ones who produce the most energy happen to be young girls. They experience the greatest fluctuations in emotions during the stage between childhood and adulthood. Changes in awareness of the opposite sex, rebelliousness caused by personal growth, balancing of physical and mental changes… this stage is ripe for emotional fluctuation."

"I want to emphasize that apparently all humans have this potential to some small degree," I said. "It just happens to be more pronounced in young girls for some reason, so Kyuubey rarely offers a contract to anyone else."

"I said, no peanuts from the comment gallery!" Touka shouted.

"Calm down, Touka," Nemu said. "You're even getting the saying mixed up now."

"Anyway!" Touka said. "That's why Kyuubey wishes to create magical girls who will fight witches. With the energy he reaps from magical girls, he can fix the universe's energy deficit."

"What's there to gain by creating magical girls?" Tsuruno asked. "Our wishes were granted for some purpose, weren't they? He wants emotional energy. Granting wishes means he'll get…" Suddenly she gasped. "It can't be. This system is to create witches…!"

"W-what's going on!?" Felicia asked.

"I'm not following, either," Sana said.

"He created a cycle that deliberately induces our emotions," Tsuruno said.

"Very good, miss mighty!" Touka said. "By granting wishes, he gives girls hope, but they'll eventually feel despair. It could be a consequence of their wish, or learning that they're fated to become witches… maybe losing their friends, whatever. What's important is that magical girls, symbols of hope, eventually feel despair and create powerful phase transition energy. Hope and despair… a cycle was established for clear-cut results by creating magical girls who feel hope from their wishes being granted, and then despair when they become witches."

"I don't really get it, but basically, you're telling us that we were being used?" Felicia said.

"Is that so unforgivable?" Touka asked.

"Duh, obviously!" Felicia shouted.

"Our emotions… our determination to stand by our decision was manipulated," Yachiyo said. "It would be strange if we weren't resentful."

"That's the typical response," Touka said. "To feel hate. To want to eliminate, to destroy Kyuubey. But I don't think that would solve anything."

"That doesn't change the fact that Kyuubey is an evil creature," Yachiyo said.

"Even if he's trying to protect the universe in which we all live?" Touka said. "You'd still call him evil when his goal is that noble?"

"Well," Yachiyo said.

"Yeah, I don't think I can see Kyuubey as evil," I said. "It probably doesn't even understand the concepts of good and evil. It operates on pure logic… it's an amoral being. But that said, I also don't believe the end justifies the means. A noble cause doesn't justify atrocities in its name. That's why I destroyed Chelation Land."

"I know the scale of all this is so big you might have trouble picturing it," Touka said. "But you should be proud of yourselves for having that sort of power. You're magical girls who can save the whole universe!"

"Sorry, but I don't think I can be proud of a power that requires me to die to use it," I said.

"So, are you saying we should just become witches, then?" Yachiyo asked.

"No," Touka said. "We have Eve, who creates doppels for us and stops witch transformations. After all, we Magius are going to take over for Kyuubey."

"Take over for Kyuubey?" Yachiyo said. "You mean you're trying to rob him of his duties, and create a world where no witch transformations happen? Unleashing doppels will create energy to maintain the universe, so we won't have to become witches?"

"And once all witches eventually disappear, we can live out our lives in peace," Nemu said.

"It's too bad you're wrong about that," I said. "I agree that getting rid of witches is a good goal – my experiment in Mitakihara does just that on a local scale, taking advantage of the beacon you set up here in Kamihama – but it's not enough to avoid fighting altogether."

To my surprise, instead of getting angry at me, my words seemed to intrigue Touka.

"And what kind of experiment were you doing in Mitakihara, Ashley Taylor?" she asked.

"That's right," Alina said. "Some black feathers from Mitakihara mentioned that to me. They were supposed to make sure the pink girl and her friends stayed in Mitakihara, but Ashley Taylor got in the way… in the end I was forced to step in and do it myself."

I nodded. "I erected a barrier to keep witches out," I said. "Before long Mitakihara will become a prime source of grief seeds."

"W-what!?" Iroha gasped. "Are you saying you're forcing Madoka-chan and the others to turn into witches!?"

"Huh?" I said. "Oh… I guess my words could be interpreted in that way… sorry for the confusion. No, Madoka and the others are in on the plan as well. Come to think of it… it'd be a bit of a waste, but given the nature of this place, maybe I can actually show it off right here."

I carefully extracted a single grief cube and showed it off. Everyone stared at it in confusion.

"Huh? What is that?" Iroha asked.

"It's a grief seed," I said.

"I've never seen a grief seed like that in seven years," Yachiyo said.

"Well, now you have," I said.

"I too have never seen such a thing," Kanagi said.

It seemed like it had piqued Touka's interest, at least.

"The shape… it's a cube?" she said. "Is it really a grief seed?"

I demonstrated by using it to purify my soul gem.

"See? It totally works like a normal grief seed," I said. "It can't purify quite as much, admittedly."

"It has a different feel from a normal grief seed," Touka said.

"Somehow it's not quite as sinister as a witch," Iroha said. "Where did you get that, Miss Taylor?"

"Well… if Eve doesn't gobble it up too quickly, you should be able to see it any moment now," I said.

It seemed like grief cubes weren't as adept as regular grief seeds at soaking up impurities in this environment, but there was no doubt that it was filling up. Before long, it looked about to overflow. I tossed it off to the side, away from any of the watchers, and suddenly it hatched, spawning a single wraith gazing down at us. The miasma that formed around it was weak, barely distinguishable from the impurities swirling about down here.

"W-what kind of monster is that!?" Iroha gasped. "It's nothing like a witch… nothing like a rumour… nothing like a magical girl… it's something completely different!?"

"W-what on earth is that…?" Yachiyo wondered.

"Even the mightiest magical girl has never seen anything like it!?" Tsuruno gasped.

"Ooh, this is very interesting!" Touka exclaimed. "Well, it won't change our plan for today at all, but perhaps it might influence our future activities… I'd like to study this creature!"

"Um, guys, shouldn't we maybe be fighting this thing?" Tsuruno suggested.

"Well… while I'd like to get my seed back, I'm not sure if—"

Even as I spoke, I pulled out my sword and extended the blade, but I cut the sentence short as a mouth filled with human-like teeth opened up on Eve's stomach, sucking in. The resulting winds had no effect on those of us who were flesh and blood, but the wraith was plucked up from the ground like a weed from a garden and sucked straight into that mouth, which closed down on it immediately. The wind cut off, and all evidence that there had ever been a mouth there disappeared.

"Like I was about to say, I thought Eve might beat us to it," I said. "Witches consider these guys to be tasty snacks. That's why I erected a barrier to keep witches out in Mitakihara."

"Oh, that actually makes sense," Iroha said.

"Although, technically I wasn't the one to erect the barrier," I added. "It was generated by an artifact left there long ago by an affiliate of the Tokime Clan. All I and my friends did was expand the area covered by it."

"Do you think this Tokime Clan knew about those monsters too?" Iroha asked.

"They definitely did," I said. "At least back then."

"So, they left it there so that someone could one day do what you did?" Iroha said.

"The Tokime Clan… aren't they the ones who discovered this island?" Yachiyo said. "So that actually makes sense, in a way… if those things spawn where there are no witches, and witches only go where people are, then the early days on this island probably had tons of them…"

"That's correct," I said. "Although, wraiths also only spawn where there are people, too. After all, they're formed from the same substance as witches, more or less. I believe they're actually less dangerous than witches – from what I understand, their victims can survive the encounter even without the intervention of a magical girl, at least sometimes."

"This does answer one very important question that has been bugging me for quite awhile," Touka said. "Which came first… witches, or magical girls? I've been pondering that for ages, wondering how this system came to be in the first place… but these wraiths, as you call them, neatly provide the bridge to explain it."

"Ah, I understand!" Sana exclaimed. "Back then, magical girls must have fought these wraiths, instead of witches… until they started turning into witches and spreading all over…"

"So witches are formed from impurities… and wraiths are also formed from impurities…" Iroha mused.

"No, no, no, Tamaki Iroha," Touka said. "You've got that all wrong. Whereas witches are formed just from impurities, or to put it another way, from only negative emotions, especially despair… I believe wraiths are formed from all emotions, both negative and positive. That would explain why they have such a different presence. As you yourself said, they feel less sinister. Could that not be because the positive emotions dilute the negative ones in their composition?"

"Ah… I suppose," Iroha said.

"So you're saying these wraiths are fuelled by joy and sorrow alike," Yachiyo mused.

"I'm impressed you got that much out of just seeing one once," I said. "Even if it's mostly speculation."

Touka giggled. "Well! I am a scientist, after all!"

"More like aspiring to be a scientist," I muttered. "Not that there's anything wrong with that…"

"Wraiths, the Tokime, none of that matters right now," Nemu said. "The long and short of it is that we must transform Eve into a witch. We'll use that phase transition energy to expand Kamihama's forcefield, secure Eve the witch to the new field, and form a gate to return energy to the universe. Then all that's left is to have Eve, who has the power to collect energy and return it to the universe, do that for us automatically. Kyuubey will have no reason to interfere if the universe continues to exist. Even if he wanted to, we'd have our forcefield. We'll have made our own paradise, where magical girls and witches won't be created."

"Hm… Kyuubey has disappeared from this city," Kanagi said. "I guess that means the Magius were behind that as well."

"Our forcefield that keeps Kyuubey out is our insurance," Nemu said.

"I imagine it's searching for a way around that field right now," I said.

"Perhaps, but we can deal with that if and when it happens," Nemu said. "Touka simplified when she said Kyuubey showed up one day. She actually meddled in his race's network. She tried to steal as much information from them as she could, so they're wary of her. But, Kyuubey himself turned us into magical girls. We figured even if he knew half of our plan, if each unit is essentially the same, they might be concerned about what's going on in Kamihama, but they wouldn't interfere. That said, negative emotional energy occurs when doppels are released, and many people also get caught up in a rumour, releasing more emotional energy. We didn't want a Kyuubey to collect all that energy for themselves. His job is almost over, anyway. Walpurgisnacht will be here soon."

"Yes, and she'll die to all the allies I've summoned to fight her," I said.

"You're both underestimating Walpurgisnacht," Yachiyo said. "You may have been successful with your plans so far, but just wait until you see that witch. In the end, your plan might be completely ruined."

"Have you seen her before, Miss Nanami?" I asked.

"No, but I have heard from magical girls who faced her," Yachiyo said.

"Well, I have fought her," I said. "She may be strong, I'll grant you that. But with enough firepower, she can be defeated."

"If Miss Nanami is right, we just need to release Eve," Alina said. "We never said we could delete Walpurgisnacht. That was never part of the plan."

"What are you talking about?" Yachiyo asked.

"If anything, we're welcoming Walpurgisnacht with open arms," Touka said.

"The more the city is devastated, the more emotional energy will flow out of it," Nemu said.

"Eve will absorb that energy and get stronger and stronger!" Touka said.

"And when Mifuyu and the others delete the rumour and Eve is released, Eve will devour Walpurgisnacht, and it will be destroyed," Alina said.

"Unbelievable!" Yachiyo gasped. "Even if that happens, you'll just have another terrible witch on your hands! It won't help anything!"

"But it'll be a witch that allows us to unleash our doppels," Nemu said.

"You're pretty naïve if you think that Eve as a witch would be so forgiving," I said. "A witch twists everything into ruin. The Witch of Salvation would have saved all of humanity… by absorbing them into her barrier and trapping them in blissful fantasies until they starved to death. If even a witch representing the concept of heaven can be twisted into something bad, then there's no way a witch representing happiness would be any better. Shitori Egumo… Eve won't save you if she fully matures. She'll consume you, and the entire world along with you."

"How can you be so sure?" Touka asked. "It hasn't happened yet."

"She's a witch," I retorted. "That should be enough reason not to trust her."

"Obviously we're not just going to let her run free and consume the planet," Touka replied. "We'll confine her, just like right now. She won't eat more than a few people."

"Okay, we understand what you're trying to do, Touka-chan," Iroha said with a sigh. "And we get what you're trying to accomplish by doing it. But that you'd go this far… I really can't believe it."

"You still have the energy to whine?" Alina said. "You losers should just keep silent and listen."

"No," Iroha said. "I will fight to the very end. I don't want this city to fall victim to this. I don't want to leave our future in your hands. And more than anything, Touka-chan and Nemu-chan… I don't want to see you do this. That's why, when Miss Mifuyu gets rid of Fendt Hope, I'll immediately go and free Ui, and then I'll destroy Eve. And after that, we will all destroy Walpurgisnacht together!"

"Yes," Yachiyo said. "If your plans succeed, I do think liberation might happen for magical girls. Just as you've said all along, you might be able to save future magical girls. But however logical it might sound, you will still be hurting others. Over one million people live in Kamihama, and they all have precious memories here. I won't let you destroy those memories for your own personal ambitions."

"Yeah," Tsuruno said. "You're only thinking of magical girls in this plan of yours. I have Banbanzai to worry about. We have a shopping centre that our community built together. We have our schools. I can't destroy all of that just so I can be saved…"

"Yeah!" Felicia said. "Kako's bookstore and Ayame's Azalea House might get destroyed if you get your way! Plus, there's Yachiyo's house!"

"Yes, I may have a lot of bad memories about myself and my family in Kamihama," Sana said. "But I don't think you have the right to take away everyone's memories. I've made friends, despite being the way I am. I don't want them to be sad."

"Indeed, if we were to agree to their plan, the city might get destroyed," Kanagi said. "But first and foremost, this isn't a game. If Eve can't be controlled after it consumes Walpurgisnacht… just like Taylor-kun said, that would be the end for all of us. The world might be destroyed before humanity ever reaches an understanding. Even just the chance of that happening should be enough to give you pause."

"So, you deny us, even after all you've just heard?" Touka said.

"Yes, this is beyond shocking," Nemu said.

"What's beyond shocking is that you thought the full truth would win anyone over," I retorted. "You can't win an emotional argument with logic any more than you can win a logical argument with emotions. And you're doing something here that's very morally questionable. You're acting just like Kyuubey, in fact. Why would we want to replace one Kyuubey with a different Kyuubey? That doesn't make any sense."

"Whatever!" Touka said. "Even if you somehow managed to destroy Eve, you won't be able to stop Walpurgisnacht."

"Aren't you confident," I said. "You think Walpurgisnacht can just steamroll close to three hundred magical girls? Oh, of course, that's including the Wings of the Magius as well as the ones I summoned here myself."

But Touka just giggled. Perhaps she was already aware of how many magical girls were fighting out in the city. Maybe she had even predicted that the Flower Speaker might be defeated, and the Wings of the Magius might turn on her.

"You basically have two selections," Alina said. "One – you ruin our plans, bringing back witch transformations to this city, and Walpurgisnacht descends upon Kamihama. Or two – you let us go through with our plans to make a world without witches, but Walpurgisnacht still descends upon Kamihama. Either way, the city's devastation can't be avoided."

"Walpurgisnacht is already near," Nemu said. "Nobody can stop it. There will be sacrifices either way, so it should be obvious which choice to make."

"Yeah!" Touka said. "If we let you girls have your way, everyone will die a needless death. Are you sure you want that?"

"It won't come to that," I said. "I can't be certain there'll be no deaths at all, but… there won't be many, and I'm going to do my best to reduce that number to zero. I don't care if a few buildings get knocked down, but I don't want anyone to die."

"Even if what you say is true, Alina… I've made up my mind!" Iroha said. "You may claim you're saving the magical girls of the future… but I'm going to save everyone's futures! I won't let Eve… I won't let Ui become a witch by devouring Walpurgisnacht!"

Suddenly the earth began to shake.

"It looks like Mifuyu destroyed it," Touka said.

"Mifuyu may have destroyed herself as well," Nemu said.

"She threw away that beautiful body of hers?" Alina said. "What a loss for humanity. But, thanks to her, we're now on our last spurt."

"Don't worry, Alina, I'm sure Miss Mifuyu is just fine," I said.

"Is the labyrinth breaking!?" Tsuruno gasped.

"Everyone hold on to each other!" Yachiyo said.

"Okay!" Iroha said.

As before, I avoided the tremors by taking to the air, while Kanagi braced herself and the others held onto each other. For a minute or so, the tremors filled the room, and then Fendt Hope's barrier finally collapsed, dumping us all out into the forest. There was a light rain, and the sun hadn't yet set, so it seemed we were still ahead of schedule.

I sent out instructions immediately, before the Magius could react to the others present.

«Maimai, please send Madoka and her friends over to Suitoku Temple,» I said, transmitting only to her and the Holy Brigade. «They can get Miss Hozumi to ferry them from there to Walpurgisnacht.»

«Alright,» Mayoi said.

«Then we'll be off!» Madoka said.

Mayoi punched a portal, and the Holy Brigade hopped through it. Around the same time, the Magius seemed to notice the scope of their audience.

"Oh my, there are so many magical girls here!" Touka said. "You've come to witness the completion of the automatic purification system, have you?"

"No!" Iroha said. "Everyone came to stop you!"

Touka giggled. "It's far too late for that," she said. "It won't be long before Walpurgisnacht arrives, and Eve will swallow her up."

"Actually, Touka, it appears that Walpurgisnacht is off course," Nemu spoke up. "She's heading towards Mitakihara, cutting across Shinsei Ward and Takarazaki."

"What!?" Touka gasped. "Then we'd better hurry! If we move Eve now, perhaps we can still catch her! Why's she going off course? Was my radio signal not powerful enough?"

"If not that, then there must be something in Mitakihara that's almost as enticing as my paradise," Nemu said.

"But how?" Touka said. "The witches should all be here in Kamihama…"

"This is just speculation, but perhaps that is the reason in and of itself," Nemu said. "Here in Kamihama, it's swimming with witches, who gobble up the impurities, but in Mitakihara, there are no witches, and nothing to consume stray impurities."

Wait a second… could it be that it was the fault of the anti-witch barrier? Was that the reason Walpurgisnacht was off course? But surely that couldn't have had such a great effect as to override Nemu's fake paradise… or was Touka's guess more correct? Had the brainwashed feathers been less successful at hijacking the cellular network in Kamihama?

"The two of you are chatting like you are not completely outnumbered," Nanaka said. "You may be strong, but most of us are strong too. As a group, we easily outmatch you."

Touka giggled. "That's assuming you can catch us, right?" she said. "Alina, I'll leave these small fry to you."

"Small fry, huh?" Hinano said. "I'll have you eat those words soon enough."

But just then, Eve suddenly broke free of her restraints, shaking her body and somehow shedding a good amount of excess bulk. She slammed down to the ground, and Touka and Nemu leapt up onto her head. Then, as all the watching magical girls with ranged attacks opened fire, she flapped her wings once, twice, three times… and leapt high into the air.

"Well… that definitely could have gone better," I said.

"Guess I get the boring work," Alina sighed. "Well, I'll make this quick. I'll turn everyone here into nice, tepid paints for my artwork."

With that, she let out an eerie cackle, and moments later she unleashed her doppel.

"W-what on earth!?" Kokoro gasped. "Is… is that a witch?"

"No," Masara said. "Well… maybe, but… it seems a bit different…?"

"If it's a witch, it seems to be under that other girl's control," Aimi observed. "Is that even possible…?"

"It looks so weird!" Mito gasped. "What the heck? It's so weird!"

"I… I don't like it," Seika muttered. "It's dangerous… I'm sure…"

"W-well, we don't have much of a choice," Leila said. "We've got to fight it!"

The six of them were the first to step forward to defend against the attacks from Alina and her doppel. Coeurl also chose to leap into the fray. A moment later, Irina suddenly jolted awake, letting out a wordless yell and startling everyone. Then she looked around in confusion, blinking.

"Huh?" she said. "That… what… no, I won't believe it! It's not true!"

With that incoherent declaration, she firmly turned her back on Alina.

"Well, if nothing else, at least you're finally wide awake, Miss Kusch," Chika said.

"No, I'm probably… still dreaming," Irina muttered. "This is probably a dream…"

Chiharu Karen giggled. "You really think this could be a dream?" she said. "Does it normally rain in your dreams, Miss Kusch?"

"Ah… that's a good point!" Irina gasped. "But I'm still kinda sleepy…"

"U-um!" Kuroe spoke up. "Let me hold her off! Everyone else… chase after the others!"

At the same time, she stepped forward to build up a wall separating Alina from the rest of the watching magical girls, defending the ones who had already started fighting. The garish paint from Alina's doppel slapped against the wall with an unpleasant squelching sound.

"No, you can't, Kuroe!" Iroha protested.

"I'll be fine," Kuroe said. "I'll use my doppel too if I have to. If it's doppel against doppel, I should be okay."

"No, you can't use your doppel!" Iroha said. "Remember what happened to me! You can't!"

"I've used it several times already," Kuroe said. "One more time should be fine! And it's only a last resort, anyway!"

"Well, although Miss Tamaki is correct that using a doppel is too dangerous, Miss Kuroe does have a point that we can't waste our time here," I said. "We need to defeat Eve before it can rendezvous with Walpurgisnacht. We also have a rumour to hunt down. So, let's split into three groups. Crescent Moon Villa, Miss Izumi, Kazumi-chan, Miss Tokiwa's team, and the St Lilliana girls… I'd like you to follow Touka and Nemu. Maimai, do you know where Natsume Books is? Please punch a hole near there. I think Eve should land not far from there pretty soon."

"Oh no!" Kako gasped. "Will my shop be okay!?"

"I think your shop will be spared," I said. "Probably. But we're off script now, so I can't be certain. I wasn't expecting that the Magius could take control of Eve like that… if it was just Eve alone we were dealing with, things would be easier."

"Got it," Mayoi said. "I'll open the way for you guys!"

As she was punching a hole, and the people I'd named were heading through it, I continued naming a second group.

"Miss Mifuyu and the girls of Mizuna Girls' School, except for Miss Yayoi… also, Miss Minagi as well. Please head towards the helipad tower in Chuo Ward. If you meet any rabid feathers, smash their pendants. At some point that should draw out the Rumour of the Flower Speaker, which you'll be able to defeat. Once it's defeated, the Amane twins can broadcast Mifuyu's message to all the feathers. I'll probably send a few more magical girls your way in a minute, too."

"I understand," Mifuyu said. "Once they've been set free, I'll tell them everything."

"Um, why not me?" Kanoko asked. "Not that I mind…"

"Your stitching power will be more useful elsewhere, Miss Yayoi," I explained.

Mayoi punched a second portal, and Sasara and the Mizuna girls started to head through it.

"By the way," Mifuyu said. "What happened to Miss Momoko? I thought she would be here."

"Kaede-chan is suffering from doppel syndrome," I said.

"Oh no!" Mifuyu gasped.

"So you know of it?" I said. "Momoko took her to the Coordinator's. Miss Yakumo and Kanna-chi are trying to find a solution together."

"I see," Mifuyu said. "I know the place… I've visited there a couple of times, wishing I could help those girls… perhaps I'll head there once the rumour is defeated."

I nodded, and she turned to head through the portal to Chuo Ward.

"Okay, so who does that leave…?" I mused.

"Um, are you counting me among the St Lilliana girls?" Hotori spoke up.

"I was, but would you rather not?" I asked.

"Ah, no, I suppose it's fine," Hotori said.

"By the way, I think your older sister is already over on the other side of town, fighting Walpurgisnacht," I added.

"Ehh… onee-san is!?" Hotori gasped.

Without another word, she hurried through the portal to northern Shinsei Ward, and I took a look around the girls who were either engaged in battle with Alina or standing around waiting for me. It seemed like I'd only sent out about half the people here.

"Maimai, if you can open a third portal to Suitoku Temple?" I said.

"Sure," Mayoi said. "But I think three's my limit."

"Alright," I said. "Let me think… Miss Miyako, I think your experience would be good to have at the Walpurgisnacht front. Could you pick out a few people and head to Suitoku Temple? I think Hozumi Shizuku should still be there, so she can send you the rest of the way."

Hinano nodded. "Got it," she said. "Rika, Ren, Emiri, Meguru, and Miss Miwa. Hmm… Miss Haruna as well. Let's get going!"

"Miss Aino, could you three go with them as well?"

Mito was still engaging with Alina, but she turned to me in surprise.

"Eh, me?" Mito said.

"Yes, with so many magical girls there, at some point your ability to connect hearts will become indispensable," I said.

"Alright, let's go then!" Leila said.

So those three, Hinano, and the ones she named all headed through the Suitoku portal. I took a moment to check up on who was actually facing Alina right now. Kuroe was maintaining the wall to hold her back, Aimi was firing her guns at the doppel, Kokoro and Masara were charging in whenever they spotted an opening, and Natsuki was cheering them all on. Coeurl seemed to be doing her normal teleportation clones thing, making it seem like she was almost in six places at once, teleporting so fast it was almost like she was flying.

"There are still quite a few of us here," I said. "But before that…"

I turned to all the feathers who had declared their loyalty to liberation, the ones currently tied up with Chiyoko's webbing.

"You lot… are there any among you who won't help us defeat Walpurgisnacht?"

Last time, there were two black feathers who refused, but one of those had returned from the city after being released from the brainwashing, so I expected only three people would turn me down.

"Not on your life," Sorashi said.

"I do not feel an obligation to sacrifice myself for this town," San said.

"Even though the witch may also hit Takarazaki?" I pointed out.

"If it does come to that, if it threatens the Hikarizuka Shrine, I may join the fight at that point," San said. "But as long as the witch is only in Kamihama, I refuse to lift a finger."

"Yeah, yeah!" Miyuri piped up. "I'm not gonna help you guys either!"

So, three refusals, like I'd expected. When no-one else spoke up, I continued addressing them.

"Then I suppose the rest of you are up for helping us out?" I said.

"I guess so," Ryo said.

"Yeah… there were so many things we didn't even know about," the white feather known as Konoha said. "We'll fight Walpurgisnacht with you."

"Okay then," I said. "Chiyoko, untie them. Sorashi, Miyu, and the Instructor… once those three portals are closed, I'll ask Maimai to send you to a place of your choice. Miss Mariko, Maya, Maria, Tomomi, Manatsu, and everyone who's about to be released, please head to Suitoku Temple. Riko-chan, Rui-chan, and the Azalea sisters, please head to Chuo Ward to help Miss Mifuyu. Fire sisters, Chiyoko, Miss Suzuka, Miss Yayoi, Miss Mao, please head to Natsume Books to fight Eve."

Everyone I'd named hurried into the portals I indicated. Now the only people left with me were Sue, Coeurl, Inui, Mayoi, Kuroe, Kokoro, Masara, Aimi, and Natsuki, plus San, Sorashi, and Miyuri. I considered joining the battle, but even with Masara and Kokoro barely getting involved, Alina was doing astonishingly poorly here.

Just as I was weighing whether it would be worthwhile to step in and finish things off more quickly, Kuroe suddenly unleashed her doppel. Wings of black mud sprouted from her back and attacked Alina and Old Dorothy, flinging globs of mud at them. It was hard to read the witch runes in this light, but presumably they spelled out the name Ichizo. It didn't look like she was in control, either – there was a white mask pasted over her face, which looked like it was composed of jigsaw pieces.

"Maimai, close the portals as soon as everyone's through," I said. "Then open a new one to the Coordinator's place. Also, open portals to take Miss Kagura and Sorashi wherever they'd like to be taken."

"Okay!" Mayoi said.

I took out my communicator and switched it to channel twenty-four, pressing the speak button.

"Kanna-chi, just a heads-up, but we might have another doppel syndrome here pretty soon," I said. "I left a portal in the Coordinator's place, if you have a moment."

Her voice issued from the communicator a few moments later.

"Miss Yakumo is on her way. I'm a bit busy so I can't move right now."

"Dammit!" Alina complained. "Why does everyone's doppel always seem to overwhelm mine!? Whatever, I'm bored of this. See you later!"

Taking advantage of the fact that Kuroe's doppel had disrupted everyone else's attack patterns, she leapt into the air, summoned the portal to her personal barrier, and vanished inside.

"Everyone, don't let Miss Kuroe escape!" I shouted.

"What on earth is this, anyway?" Kokoro asked. "It's almost like a witch… is it controlling her? On the other hand, that other girl seemed to be controlling a witch…?"

"They're doppels," I said. "Sort of similar to a witch, but sort of different."

At that moment, Kuroe suddenly screamed.

"Noooooo! Make it stop! Make it stop!"

And then, she leapt into the air, her doppel forming a pillar of mud that carried her up.

"Oh no! This is really bad!" I gasped. "If she gets outside the barrier…!"

"Ah, you're right!" Inui gasped. "But the only one here who can fly is you… can you save her by yourself?"

"I'm not sure," I said. "I can probably take three more people with me though… maybe even four?"

"We'll help you save her!" Kokoro said. "I don't completely understand the situation, but she's in danger, right? We can't just let that pass!"

"Yes, we'll help you!" Natsuki said.

"Alright, then hop on," I said.

I summoned Teddy Mk II and waited for the four of them to climb on. Then I grabbed onto the leg, and up we went, leaving Sue, Coeurl, Mayoi, Inui, San, Sorashi, and Miyuri down on the ground.

"Miss Kuroe!" I called. "Stop! Don't go any further!"

We managed to catch up to Kuroe, but unfortunately she was still rising. Aimi and Kokoro tried to attack the mud to free Kuroe from it, but they didn't make much progress. Any damage done to the mud was just filled in again a moment later. Even trying to severe the pillar was useless – at best it just checked her ascent for a couple of seconds.

"I don't care anymore… I think… I gave up a long time ago," Kuroe muttered. "On that day… just like her, I threw myself away… I gave up…"

"W-what on earth is she saying!?" Aimi gasped.

"I think she's in a grief spiral," I said. "This isn't looking good…"

"A what now…?" Aimi said.

"A grief spiral. It's a state of mind that can arise when your soul gem is heavily tainted, which makes you feel depressed, which taints your soul gem even more, making you even more depressed, and so on," I said. "For a magical girl, it's usually fatal…"

"O-oh no… is there nothing we can do…?" Kokoro asked.

"If we can't stop her from flying upwards, none of the methods I can think of to get through to her are likely to work before it's too late," I said.

"A magical girl's fate was too heavy of a burden for me after all," Kuroe muttered. "I was weak… but she was far weaker… but I lied… I could have saved her… shared my grief seed with her… but I said I didn't have any…"

"That… I don't think you can blame yourself for that!" Kokoro said. "Sure, maybe it wasn't very nice, but… normally, everyone needs to get their own grief seeds, right?"

"You had no obligation to share," Masara said. "Sharing grief seeds is one thing, but if it's at your own expense… if you can't afford to lose that seed… then you should put yourself first, don't you think?"

"I never got her name," Kuroe muttered. "Nor her contact info… I never saw her again. I'm sure… she definitely didn't make it… she was scared too… I wonder what you would have done, Miss Taylor…?"

"Well… if I only had one grief seed, and my soul gem was in a bad state too, I'd use it for myself, no questions asked," I said. "Like Miss Kagami says – if you have to choose between yourself and someone else, you can't be blamed for putting yourself first. It may or may not be the right decision, but it's the normal decision. Almost anyone would do the same thing."

"I don't really agree with that," Natsuki said. "I don't think it's the right thing to do. Still… I don't think I'd blame someone if they did that, either."

"Well, that's more or less what I'm saying," I said. "I'm not sure whether I would consider it the right decision."

"I'm not like Miss Tamaki," Kuroe said. "I'm not like Miss Tamaki at all… I just can't do it…"

"No, no, no, Miss Tamaki is an exception," I said. "She's the kind of self-sacrificing fool that would help anyone, no matter the cost to herself. It's an endearing trait, perhaps, and it certainly makes people like her, but it's not that admirable really. You're not like Miss Tamaki, and that's okay. Few people can manage to be like her."

"B-but… that girl… I chose not to choose!" Kuroe screamed. "I chose to abandon her! So how can I even dream of following Miss Tamaki!? I can't even bear the responsibility of being a magical girl! I can barely keep myself alive! How can I possibly save others!? I didn't fit in with the Magius… I didn't fit in at Crescent Moon Villa… I didn't fit in at school… I don't fit in anywhere! I couldn't be anything!"

"Maybe we can stop her if we can use connect with her," I mused. "It might work… it's worth a try, at least."

"I'll give it a try!" Natsuki said.

"Then use my weapon as a foothold!" Kokoro suggested.

Kokoro extended one of her massive steampunk tonfas out towards the doppel, and Natsuki leapt onto it, tapping Kuroe on the face. The telltale flash of a connect skill did activate, and the mask on Kuroe's face cracked, half of it peeling away. Her ascent even slowed, but it did not stop.

"It worked!" Natsuki gasped. "Maybe?"

She hopped back onto Teddy, as her perch on the tonfa wasn't very stable, and I tried to address Kuroe again.

"Miss Kuroe, everyone would be sad to see you throw yourself away," I said. "Not just me, but also Miss Tamaki, and Miss Mifuyu… I don't want to have to report to them that you suicided by doppel."

"M-miss Taylor… b-but… I just… I can't…!" Kuroe gasped, starting to cry. "It's… it's just too much… I'm sorry, I've been trying to hold it in, but I just can't… I can't bear it any longer!"

"I somewhat understand how you feel," I said. "But that's no reason to throw your life away. Come on – if we work together, we can cut the doppel away from you, and purify your soul gem, and we then we can go destroy Walpurgisnacht together."

"I can't even move," Kuroe said. "There's nothing I can do."

"I bet you could blast yourself out of there," I suggested.

"I… m-maybe," Kuroe admitted.

"And couldn't you build a wall above your head?" I added.

"I… I don't know," Kuroe said.

"You can do it!" Natsuki exclaimed. "Put your mind to it! You can do this, Miss Kuroe! Go! Fight! Win!"

"I… I'll try…?" Kuroe said.

She peered upwards, and a wall of puzzle pieces came into being. The doppel's ascent was arrested by the wall… but only for a few seconds. It broke through without much difficulty, continuing the ascent.

"T-then maybe…?" Kuroe muttered.

She summoned a pair of gymastics clubs, then forced them to explode, letting out a scream of pain. It did appear to loosen her doppel's hold on her, though.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Kuroe groaned. "No way, I can't do this! It hurts! I can't do it! I'm sorry, Miss Taylor… Miss Tamaki… everyone!"

"Come on!" Natsuki said. "You can do it! Let's do our best together!"

"No!" I gasped. "Those words are the worst thing for her right now!"

Sure enough, the moment Kuroe heard those words, the mask over her face reformed, and her ascent accelerated once more.

"W-why are you being so nice!?" Kuroe screamed. "You're doing so much for me, so why do I feel so pathetic!? It was a mistake for me to try and save anyone in the first place! I never should have wished for it! I should've just stayed ignorant!"

"W-what's wrong?" Natsuki asked. "I was just trying to help…"

"It's just, those words bring up a bad memory for her," I said. "I think… we might be out of time…"

"Miss Kuroe! T-think of your wish!" Natsuki said. "Will you just throw it away!?"

"That won't help either," I said. "She already lost her wish."

"I'll try connecting again!" Natsuki said.

Kokoro extended her tonfa again, and Natsuki leapt onto it, but before she got a chance to reach out, I sensed the proximity of Alina's barrier.

"How long do I have to continue being a magical girl!?" Kuroe screamed. "This justice I admired didn't like me at all! But I thought if I did this, I could stop hating myself…"

And then we punched right through Alina's barrier, with a sound of breaking glass. For the first time ever, the barrier actually became visible, a lime green dome of hexes covering the entire city and some adjacent areas to the north, stretching as far as the inside of the bay and covering at least one coastal village. Strands of impurities being drawn out of Kuroe's soul gem were just barely visible in the light of the setting sun, streaming down through a new hole in the barrier, which was slowly repairing itself. Contrary to what I'd expected, being outside the barrier apparently didn't place her out of reach of the automatic purification system. There had been a few more seconds than I'd thought. With that in mind, I tossed Natsuki a grief seed, and she caught it, reaching out towards the soul gem on Kuroe's right leg.

But the impurities were being drawn out more slowly than before, or so it seemed. Natsuki was a fraction of a second too late – at the exact same moment as my grief seed made contact with Kuroe's soul gem, it cracked in half, shattering the external layer and transforming into a grief seed. The witch form of Ichizo emerged, a massive bird of prey rising up from the remnants of the black mud. Though it was apparently supposed to be a nighthawk, to my mind it more closely resembled the legendary thunderbird from Native American mythologies. Its wings, still made of mud, had numerous vaguely human arms extending out from them, but without hands at the ends, just tapering to a point. Closer to the main body were two arms that looked much more human, but again missing the hands, just ending in stumps. Kuroe's body lost the transformation, putting her back into her school uniform, and I zoomed Teddy in close beneath the beak, using my sword to cut the body free before the witch had a chance to tear it apart.

"W-what!?" Natsuki gasped. "H-her soul gem… it just… turned into a grief seed!?"

"W-what in the world?" Kokoro said. "That… that's what you meant when you said she was in danger…? That she would turn into a witch? I can't believe it…"

"It… it's not… she's a special case… right?" Aimi said. "Please, tell me it's a side-effect of this doppel thing…!"

"It didn't seem like it was caused by the doppel to me," Masara said.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I wasn't expecting it to come to this, but… it's not a special case. If anything, you could say the doppel has been protecting her from that up until this moment."

As I spoke, Ichizo sucked us into a barrier, an infinite sky filled with dim, distant stars and a single bright one. Aimi and Kokoro were understandably not taking the revelation well, both breaking down in tears, and Natsuki and Masara were doing their best to console the two of them. Aimi seemed to take it worse than Kokoro.

"Did… did I make a mistake in becoming a magical girl?" Kokoro wondered.

"You're wrong," Masara said. "Your wish made things better, did it not? Things are as good as they can be… you made the right choice in deciding to become a magical girl. This… changes nothing."

"How… how am I supposed to face Isesaki-kun after today!" Aimi wailed. "Even if I do end up telling him how I feel and we start dating, I might kill him if I become a witch and all. I should've just left this all in my imagination in the first place."

"No, Aimi, that's not true," Kokoro said.

"How can you say that, Kokoro?" Aimi sobbed.

"It's like Masara said," Kokoro said. "Things are as good as they can be."

"What's good about this?" Aimi sobbed. "We're going to be suffering like this forever!"

I kept an eye on their soul gems, charging up my ultimate attack while keeping my distance from the witch to avoid her attacks. They weren't doing well, but at least they weren't in a grief spiral. Once my attack was ready, I fired it at Ichizo, diverting her attention from us for at least a short time.

"But… if we hadn't made our wishes, something even worse could've happened," Kokoro said. "Like, in my case, for example… if I hadn't made my wish… I could've been killed by a witch while I still felt so miserable about my family. So it was for the best. And now we're going to keep finding what's for the best from here on. For me, for Masara, and for you, Aimi. Natsuki too, I'm sure. Aimi, I think it's fine if you tell him how you feel and start dating. It's not like we're doomed to a life of despair just because we have this hanging over us. It's okay for us to be happy."

"Happiness, you say," Aimi said. "I don't know how happy I can be now that I know this… but… I suppose I can try."

"Yes, that's the most you can do!" Natsuki said. "Try your best! Go! Fight! Win! You can overcome this!"

Kokoro wiped her eyes and turned to face the witch.

"Come to think of it… we're in a pretty bad situation here, aren't we?" she said. "We've gotta bring down this witch…"

"Ah… y-you're right," Aimi said, also wiping her eyes. "M-maybe there's a way to reverse it…?"

"I did manage to save the body," I said. "If we can just get her grief seed…"

"Then it's really reversible!?" Natsuki gasped.

"I wouldn't get your hopes up too much," I said. "For most intents and purposes, it's not reversible. That was the whole reason to create the doppel system. That said… a magical girl's wish is capable of pretty much anything, and that means that occasionally a magical girl is born who can do the impossible, such as turning a witch back into a magical girl. And by pure chance, I happen to know such a girl."

"Then let's defeat this witch!" Kokoro said. "Aimi, Masara, Miss Natsuki… and Miss Taylor, let's all work together and defeat her!"

"Before that, use that grief seed," I said. "Both of you look like you really need it."

Natsuki nodded. "Your soul gems got pretty muddy just now," she said. "Here…"

She reached out to purify Kokoro's and Aimi's soul gems, then tossed the grief seed back to me. It did look like it had another use left in it, so I stowed it away again.

"What about you two?" Kokoro asked.

"We're fine for now," Natsuki said. "Only slightly muddy, see?"

Indeed, Natsuki's soul gem was only about twenty percent corrupted, and Masara's was closer to ten percent.

"Alright, let's do this!" Natsuki exclaimed. "You can do this! Go! Fight! Win!"

With Natsuki cheering them on, the other three leapt off of Teddy and landed on the barrier's floor. It seemed that, similar to Suleika's barrier and Nokijuu's barrier, there were invisible footholds here. Aimi held back to provide covering fire, and Masara disappeared from sight. Kokoro leapt in to attack the witch up close, and when Ichizo attempted to attack Aimi, she leapt in front, taking the blow for her friend. Resilience was her magic, after all, so it made sense.

Then, with Kokoro and Aimi keeping it distracted, Masara managed to work her way up to the witch's head, stabbing it repeatedly. Apparently, the witch wasn't very strong, and it crumbled from that one attack. But there was still one more cruel surprise in store for us.

The grief seed didn't materialize.

Even as the barrier collapsed, depositing us back out into the air above Kamihama, there was no sign of a grief seed anywhere.

"W-what!?" Aimi gasped. "No way… at a time like this, there's no grief seed!? How can that be!?"

"Sometimes, witches don't drop a grief seed," Masara said. "Even Kyuubey doesn't seem to understand why…"

"Dammit!" I groaned. "I bet that was something like her final act of rebellion… even if she didn't anticipate me trying to revive her…"

"H-have you seen a newborn witch not drop a grief seed before?" Kokoro asked. "Even if they don't always drop one, I would've thought that was only for witches that had matured from a familiar…"

"Actually, I have, but only once," I said. "Well… I say once, but there were several witches all together, and I think more than one of them failed to drop grief seeds… but I always assumed that was only because of the strange extenuating circumstances… those girls were forced to become witches. They didn't transform in the normal way."

"W-what on earth…?" Kokoro said.

"S-someone forced them to…?" Aimi said.

"Well, it's a long story, and it doesn't matter anymore, because it didn't happen in this timeline," I said. "It seems Ichizo… I mean, Kuroe's witch… didn't drop a grief seed. So, that means there's no way to revive her, other than someone wishing for it and becoming a magical girl in exchange. I tried my best to save her… but she refused to be saved right until the end. I'm sorry the four of you had to see that…"

"More importantly," Aimi said. "We're falling right now! We just defeated that witch, and now we're gonna go splat on the ground!?"

"Ah, right," I said. "We should just grab onto Teddy."

I resummoned Teddy next to us and everyone grabbed on, allowing it to serve like a parachute to slow our descent. When we reached the ground, Mitama was waiting for us. Sorashi, San, and Miyuri were no longer there either. I laid Kuroe's body down on the ground.

"Sorry to waste your time, Miss Yakumo," I said. "The doppel ran away… and emerged outside the barrier. I'm afraid she turned into a witch… I managed to extract her body, but there's really nothing we can do with it now… she didn't even drop a grief seed."

"I see," Mitama said. "Well, what's done is done, I suppose."

"Are you close to finding a way to cure the doppel syndrome?" I asked.

"I'm not sure," Mitama said. "Kanna-chi believes it's the grief spiral that's fuelling it, so if we could find a way to cut off the flow of grief, the doppel would disintegrate and the girl would be released. The only problem is… all of our attempts to communicate with them have failed. We can't think of a way to stem the flow of grief."

"I see," I said. "Hmm… perhaps illusion magic?"

"Illusion magic?" Mitama said. "Ah… could you possibly mean… Miss Mifuyu?"

"Yes, for example," I said. "Or Miss Sakura. Or anyone else who can do complex illusions. If I recall correctly, possibly Miss Ami or Miss Shizumi? I want to say Emily too but I'm not sure on that one…"

"Hmm… I'll suggest it," Mitama said. "It sounds like it's worth a try. Thank you for the tip, Miss Taylor."

"You four… would you like to accompany her?" I asked. "Or would you prefer to stay with me?"

"Um… where will you be going now?" Kokoro asked.

"To fight Eve," I said.

I checked on its progress. Despite Touka and Nemu assuming direct control of Eve, it looked like events were somehow moving in the same direction as the last timeline – after landing near Natsume books, it had turned east instead of continuing west. Presumably the reason for that was the same – Felicia's memory manipulation magic. Perhaps Meiyui's magic may have been a factor as well. That said, Touka and Nemu appeared to be fighting this time, instead of just watching. So it was probably a good thing I'd sent extra people to support the Crescent Moon Villa team.

"It seems Felicia managed to redirect it to Chuo Ward," I said. "I guess Touka and Nemu's control over it is not absolute."

"Then we should come with you," Kokoro said. "We can't just sit around at the Coordinator's while the Magius are wrecking our city! We live in Chuo Ward, after all!"

"Well, I live in Sankyo Ward though," Natsuki pointed out.

"Still, three of us live in Chuo Ward," Kokoro amended.

"Alright," I said. "Maimai, can you sense where Eve is and get us there?"

"Um… not from this distance," Mayoi said.

"How about you take us to the helipad first?" I suggested. "I think you should be able to sense Eve from there."

"Alright," Mayoi said.

She punched a hole, and everyone piled on through. We emerged onto the helipad, which was filled with exhausted feathers. It looked like the Rumour of the Flower Speaker had already been defeated. I spotted Yukika and waved her over. She still had her black feather robe on, the hood still thrust back.

"Everything going okay over here?" I asked.

"Ah, um, yes," Yukika said. "Miss Mifuyu's about to give a speech… and then she was going to go check on the girls at the Coordinator's."

"I see, and what about everyone else?" I asked.

"Well… we'll go help fight Eve, since she's nearby," Yukika said. "At least, that's what Tsukuyo-sempai was saying…"

"Well, I think it might be better to take a few minutes to rest, then head to join the Walpurgisnacht battle," I said. "There are already quite a few people fighting Eve, and we're on our way there too, so I think everything should be okay on that side."

"Sure," Yukika said. "I'll pass on your suggestion to Tsukuyo-sempai."

"Don't forget that you can contact us on channel twenty-five when you're ready," I said. "Maybe we'll even have Eve defeated by then. Inui, you still have a communicator, right?"

"Yes, of course," Inui said.

"Maimai, can you open a tunnel to where Eve is now?" I asked.

"Sure thing!" Mayoi said.

She punched open a new portal, and those of us who'd just returned from the former location of Fendt Hope all piled through, emerging onto a rooftop near Eve.

It looked like Sana, Kanoko, and Chiyoko had worked together to tie Eve in place – I could see Sana's chains forming the main bindings, reinforced by webbing and threads. Rather than being strung up between two skyscrapers like last time, the bindings were chaining her to a single one, using adjacent buildings as an anchor to prevent her from even struggling.

Down on the ground, most of the girls had divided themselves into two groups, each targeting one of the gemstones on Eve's body. Iroha, Yachiyo, Tsuruno, Felicia, Sana, and Kanagi were focusing on one gemstone on Eve's right side. Chika, Irina, Hotori, Chiyoko, Sakuya, Kanoko, Himika, and both Karens were focusing on a different gemstone on Eve's left side. Kazumi was also down at street level, but not joining in on the attacks.

Up in the air, Tsukihi, who had sprouted wings made of fire, appeared to be facing off against Touka all by herself. At the same time, Nanaka, Kako, Meiyui, and Akira were holding Nemu off from another rooftop. Both Touka and Nemu were perched atop Eve's head as they fought back.

I'd only just had enough time to take in the scene before me when Touka blasted Tsukihi with a massive energy beam, destroying her entire upper body. And yet, she regenerated with seconds, both flesh and clothing reforming as good as new. It was faster even than Sayaka's regeneration, which was saying something – until today, Sayaka's healing was the fastest I'd seen. Did that mean her soul gem was on her lower body, then? At first I thought that must be the case, but then the thought occurred to me that she might have taken it off for safekeeping, meaning it could be laying around somewhere nearby, or perhaps in her sister's care.

On the ground, Sakuya moved like a blur, striking with immense force and backing off before Eve could react. Irina leapt in behind her, striking out with her dual elements – flames from one sword, ice from the other. Himika was using her coin gun, Kanoko was using her needles as missiles, Hotori was repeatedly firing her laser, and Araragi Karen threw fireball after fireball at the target. Chiyoko, Chika, and Chiharu Karen appeared to be playing more of a support role, mostly by connecting with the others.

Just after Tsukihi's regeneration completed, Eve fired off a volley of beams at the attackers on the ground, and Kazumi demonstrated why she was standing ready instead of attacking. A barrier appeared covering both teams, and the beams struck the barrier and stopped. But apparently even Kazumi's barriers had a limit. After a couple of seconds and ten or more different beams, a few managed to penetrate the barrier. At that point, Sana jumped in and raised her shield to take the blast, shielding her allies. Chiharu Karen jumped in front of a beam too, defending her team with her full plate armour. So clearly the strategy was that Kazumi was on primary defence, deploying her barrier whenever Eve fired beams, while Sana and Chiharu Karen were playing the role of secondary defence for their respective groups, jumping in front whenever Kazumi was too slow or her barrier did not hold up. The third beam was fortunately off target, so there was no need for anyone to defend – it struck the ground about midway between the two teams, not even coming close to Kazumi.

"Oh, come on!" Touka complained. "How is your regeneration so perfect!? How are you not exhausted after using so much magic? What on earth are you? Are you even a magical girl?"

"I don't know if I'm a magical girl or not!" Tsukihi shouted. "But I'm here to serve justice to you!"

Tsukihi unleashed a torrent of flames at least as large as Touka's earlier energy blast, and Touka raised her parasol, opening it up to serve as a shield. It was actually quite incredible – I'd thought that Touka would've easily been the most powerful magical girl here, thanks to her ability to convert energy, coupled with the fact that she was literally sitting on a gigantic pile of condensed energy. Yet Tsukihi was going toe-to-toe with her without any apparent issues. It even looked to me like they were about evenly matched. But even more amazing was that it implied Tsukihi had incredible stamina – Touka was barely using her magic at all, only expending a tiny bit to convert Eve's energy, while Tsukihi was clearly putting everything she had into the fight, but it didn't look like she was flagging yet.

"Maybe… we're not even needed here?" I mused. "But even so… if Eve breaks free, there could still be trouble… Maimai, just in case, connect us to Suitoku Temple."

"Okay!" Mayoi said.

She closed her portal and punched a new one, and I checked that my communicator was still set to channel twenty-four before pressing the speak button.

"How are things going over there?" I asked

The one to reply was Shizuku.

"Um, well, it seems that the witch just showed up," she said. "Miss Oriko and Miss Madoka went out to meet it with their teams. Miss Sakura, Miss Natsu, and Miss Satomi also went with them. I was just about to call everyone else back. Everyone, please let me know where you are so I can send you there!"

So it sounded like Oriko's vision was almost coming to pass, but Ryoko and Nayuta had been thrown into the mix as extras. It also sounded like her vision only represented the beginning of the battle, not the full course of it.

From what I could tell, it seemed that the battles against Eve and Walpurgisnacht were both in our favour at the moment. However… the fact that Alina was unaccounted for was quite ominous. Whether it was the Rumour of the Fur God or something else, she was bound to do something absolutely insane before the night was out. So, I knew I had to prepare for that eventuality.

"Could I ask the Shiina sisters to come here instead?" I asked. "If you return to Suitoku Temple, there's a portal connecting to here."

"Okay," Remi's voice came through. "We're with Yuuri-chan and Airi-chan, should they come too? And Fumiko-chan is here too."

"I guess it'd be best if the three of them went to Walpurgisnacht instead," I said. "I just want your abilities in case something goes wrong here."

"Got it," Remi said. "We'll be there soon."

"And Karin-chan, if your spotting work is done, please head to Walpurgisnacht as well."

"Will do!" Karin's voice came through. "I'm just gonna drag out Yura-chan first and then I'll be there!"

After that, the people scattered across the city began to let Shizuku know where they were, starting with Yuuri and Liliane. After that, I switched my communicator off to avoid the distraction.

"So, um… what do you think we should do?" Kokoro asked. "It does look like they have things almost under control here… do you think we're not even needed? Should we go fight Walpurgisnacht instead?"

"But I think I'd like to contribute at least a little to the defence of Chuo Ward," Aimi said.

"Well, I was going to attack the central red gem," I said. "Anyone who wants to join in on that is welcome to. But I think Miss Awane is right – it might be best for you to help out against Walpurgisnacht instead."

"Where should we aim?" Inui asked.

"At Ui," I said. "The largest red gem in the centre."

"Will Ui-chan be okay?" she asked.

"That gem is super-tough," I said. "She's not even conscious, so she won't feel a thing. Anything less doesn't stand a chance of cracking it open."

"Then, let's fire off one attack here and then go help out over there," Natsuki said. "You can do it! Go! Fight! Win!"

I summoned a bevy of Teddy Drones, and Inui began to charge her ultimate attack. Kokoro and Masara connected and began to build up a joint attack.

"Miss Eri, you and Inui have the same element too," I said. "So if you wanted to boost the power, you could connect. Coeurl, Sue… I don't suppose you know what your elements are?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Sue said. "What's an element?"

"If I recall correctly, when my magic was appraised it was found to be light element," Coeurl said.

That was a bit unexpected – I hadn't expected either of them to know. Thus far, only Pernelle and Noriko knew what elements were. I suppose it would make sense that the people of the distant future had a better understanding of magic, though, especially when the survival of humanity would be riding on it.

"So the same as Miss Awane and Miss Kagami, then," I said. "Okay, so… Maimai and Miss Utsuho are both water, if you wanted to connect… though you're also both support types so I'm not sure how much that'll help. Actually, can you connect in the first place, Maimai?"

"Huh? Of course I can, ever since the cat sempai worked on me," Mayoi said.

"Now that I think of it, isn't your connect skill some kind of defence-piercing buff?"

"Um… you're right, but… how did you know?" Mayoi asked.

I ignored the question – how would I even answer it? – and continued onward with the thought that had entered my mind.

"In that case, rather than connecting with Miss Utsuho, you should probably connect with everyone who's actually attacking," I said.

"Um… I don't think I can manage that many people," Mayoi said. "I can probably only do two…?"

"Even that much would be great," I said. "Thanks."

Mayoi nodded. "Okay. Since you mentioned Eve is probably weak to light, I'll connect with those guys."

"I've been wondering, Lita, but do you have the ability to sense someone's element?" Coeurl asked. "But wait, why would you ask us then…"

"I don't have the ability to sense it," I said. "It's more like I have a list of people and what element they are. If you're not on that list, then I don't know."

"Huh? Wait, why would we be on that list?" Kokoro said. "We'd never met you before today…"

"I don't think I have time for explanations," I said. "It's about time to unleash this attack."

Aimi and Inui took my suggestion to connect, and Mayoi stepped between Coeurl and Kokoro to connect with both of them at the same time. That meant we had a total of six people building up power, and two of them were doing a fully joint attack rather than merely a quick connect. Coeurl was building up magic in her swords until they glowed brightly, Kokoro and Masara were forming a ring of massive blades floating around them, I had my Teddy Drones charging up, Inui had flames swirling around her hands, and Aimi's guns had pink flames spurting out of the muzzles.

"Alright, remember, our target is the largest red gemstone," I said. "Try to aim right for the centre. On the count of five. One… two… three… four… five!"

My particle beam merged with Inui's column of fire to strike right at the centre of the gemstone. Coeurl crossed her swords, emitting a bright laser beam that slightly overtook our attack, and Aimi fired both her revolvers at the same time, emptying the barrels – twelve bullets speeding through the air, each wreathed in pink flames. As for Kokoro and Masara, those blades, crackling with energy, faded from sight completely. A split second after Inui and I landed our attack, they reappeared at the target, striking right for the centre of the gemstone. It looked like all these combined attacks were enough to cause a tiny crack to form. It wasn't much, but it seemed like a good sign to me.

"Alright, you six can go on and join the Walpurgisnacht battle now," I said. "I'll need Maimai to stay with me, though."

"Got it!" Sue said.

"I'll admit I'm interested in this witch that terrifies everyone just from hearing its name," Coeurl says. "I'll do my best to defeat it!"

So Kokoro, Masara, Aimi, Natsuki, Coeurl, and Sue headed through the portal leading to Suitoku Temple, leaving only me, Inui, and Mayoi watching from the rooftop. At that moment, Iroha contacted us via telepathy.

«Miss Taylor!» Iroha said. «How did things go with Miss Alina?»

«She ran off,» I replied. «And I'm sorry, I couldn't save Miss Kuroe.»

«Huh? What do you mean by that?» Iroha asked.

«I'll explain later. Are you holding back because you're worried for Ui?»

«Well, I don't want to hurt her,» Iroha said.

«Then you're underestimating Eve,» I said. «Everything you can throw at her would just be little more than a scratch. Look, even just now, it barely even made a crack.»

«I see,» Iroha said. «Then I suppose we should all switch targets…»

"Everyone, dodge!" Kanagi suddenly shouted.

Kazumi's barrier was down, and she didn't even have a chance to raise it before a barrage of green cubes rained down from above. Kanagi, Sakuya, Chika, Irina, Iroha, and Tsuruno managed to dodge. Sana managed to defend Yachiyo with her shield, and Chiharu Karen managed to cover for the other Karen. The rest were struck and pummelled by the cubes, losing their balance and falling to the ground.

I turned to face the source of the cubes, which was of course none other than Alina. She seemed to have her doppel deployed again, and it had now taken a winged form which she was riding upon. This was the scenario I'd been dreading. Now that it was playing out before my eyes, I had to make sure to at least avoid the worst outcome… but Remi and Moe weren't here yet, so for now the best I could do was to stall for time.

"Hi there, good girls!" Alina said cheerfully. "How are you doing?"

"Alina Gray!" Yachiyo gasped.

"Don't let her get close to Eve!" I shouted. "She's absolutely insane!"

Alina giggled. "Don't worry, Touka, Nemu. I'll master your pure revolution! I've got the greatest respect for you two, and I've finally figured out the kind of emotional art I want to create. Yes! I'll turn all of humanity into magical girls!"

I facepalmed.

"Wow, she really is absolutely insane," Inui said.

"All of humanity!?" Yachiyo gasped.

"I'll just fuse my doppel into Embryo Eve, steal Walpurgisnacht's power, and force these impurities upon every living human!" Alina crowed. "Everyone will have magic, but no grief seeds!"

"You're misunderstanding something, Alina!" I shouted. "You won't create any witches like that! You have no way of actually drawing out a soul gem. You'll only get pseudo-witches."

Remi and Moe stepped through the portal from Suitoku at that moment, stopping to gape at the scene before them. They'd shown up just in time. For some reason, Aki Mabayu also followed them through. Their outfits upgraded moments after they stepped through. Remi's maid outfit was simplified, losing the iconic headband and most of the frills, and her sleeves were shortened to just before the elbow, ultimately making her look more like a waitress than a maid. Moe's outfit gained a golden breastplate, with all the silver parts like her helmet and boots also turning gold. As for Mabayu, her stockings and the central white part of her outfit had become a glossy black, while her scissors were now silver instead of gold.

"Too bad!" Alina crowed. "I don't care about all those little details! I just want to make my best artwork!"

"What on earth are you talking about!?" Touka shouted. "We're supposed to liberate magical girls! Why would you want to make more of them!?"

"That won't save anyone," Nemu said. "Have you forgotten our agreement, Alina?"

Alina laughed. "Yes, isn't it great? I'm going to show the whole world that magical girls are real, and that they're angry! I'll make a much, much, much more exciting show than the liberation of magical girls!"

"Our plan isn't a show!" Touka shouted.

Alina giggled again. "The story of Alina Gray will burst and burn out, just for this moment!" she said. "I, Alina, will make everything into art! So you'd better thank me!"

At that moment, Alina and her doppel were bombarded with a shower of what appeared to be debris from the damaged city. I turned to see that Karin had arrived, which was totally unexpected. She even had Hotaru and Akari with her. Well… she did say she'd be dragging them out, so that part made sense. But why was she here instead of on her way to Walpurgisnacht?

"Alina, you idiot!" Karin shouted. "What's come over you!? Stop doing all these horrible things and go back to your true self!"

Alina turned to gaze at her for a moment, her face now half covered with the mask of a doppel.

"You don't understand," she said menacingly. "You can't understand. You're just a magical girl, Misono Karin. Don't try to stop me from creating my best artwork! Bye-bye, good girls! Bye-bye, Magius! Bye-bye, Alina Gray!"

For the second time today, I heard the sound of shattering glass as the barrier over Kamihama broke open, but this time it seemed like it had been intentional. Alina burst out laughing. It seemed the automatic purification system was still working even without the barrier, but… much like when Kuroe had ascended above the barrier, it looked like the rate of purification was slowing. It was becoming more and more clear that the barrier's role was to limit the scope of the impurities that could be drawn in, so they didn't overload the system. Perhaps even now impurities were already being drawn from outside Kamihama, perhaps even from all across the world.

"No!" Karin shouted. "I won't let you! I won't let you kill yourself!"

She raised her scythe and dived for the doppel Alina was running on, but Alina dodged her easily, giggling maniacally. This repeated several times before Alina found an opening to dart past her. As Karin looked on in shock, and before anyone else had time to react, Alina's doppel flapped her wings and propelled her forward, straight at Eve's belly.

«I need a time stop, right now!»

The next thing I knew, time was stopped, and Remi was holding onto my hand. Both our outfits had shifted, losing the benefit of Kazumi's boost.

"We have about five minutes," she said. "But I'm not sure what could possibly be salvaged from this situation…"

Indeed – the event had progressed more quickly than I could've imagined, and Old Dorothy and Shitori Egumo had already made contact. There was no remaining chance to prevent the merger of the two doppels. It also looked like Touka and Nemu had already been half eaten by Old Dorothy – they must have been caught unawares by Alina's sudden charge. The viral goop already extended past their knees.

"Well, if you ask me, five minutes should be plenty," someone said.

Huh? Time was supposed to be stopped. It should've been just me and Remi here in this frozen world. I glanced at her face, but she seemed just as surprised as me, and then we turned to see the speaker – Aki Mabayu. She too was back to her regular outfit.

"How… how can you move when time is stopped?" Remi asked.

"Oh, so it is a time stop," Mabayu said. "Impressive. That's really amazing, you know. But for me, who views life like a film, pausing the action is just a natural thing to do. Why would it pause the watcher too? That's not how a film works. That said, I'm not able to pull off a pause myself… at least, not yet. I think it's theoretically within my grasp."

"So you're saying you can just ignore that time is stopped!?" Remi gasped. "Isn't that even more amazing?"

"Well, I think it's kinda hard to say which one is more amazing," Mabayu said.

"So… you said five minutes is plenty," I said. "What do you have in mind?"

"Well… that depends on what you want to do," Mabayu said. "I can make any possibility into reality."

"Is it possible to save all four of them?" I asked. "Touka, Nemu, Alina, and Ui? Pull them out of that mess all in one piece?"

"They're already not in one piece," Mabayu said. "Sorry, but I can't make the impossible come true. I can't undo what has been done."

"Then… could we extract at least their soul gems?" I asked. "The soul gems of the Magius, and Ui's body and soul gem. Is that possible? Oh, and maybe get a lock of hair from each of the Magius while you're at it."

"There seems to be a problem with that, too," Mabayu said. "The green one with the long hair? Can you see the state of her soul gem? It might be beyond saving."

I checked with a vision, and found she was right. Alina's soul gem was about forty percent corrupted, but that wasn't the problem. It was also riddled with cracks and looked like it would shatter on the slightest touch. Maybe it had even been just about to shatter when time was stopped.

"Don't worry about that," I said. "That's why Moe-chan is here. She can heal a cracked soul gem."

"Hmm, if that's the case, then I believe I can see a path to the outcome you desire," Mabayu said. "We'll need the help of a few others. Her… her… and also her."

She pointed at Iroha, Kazumi, and Tsukihi.

"So, how does this work?" I asked.

"You get the attack started," Mabayu said. "I splice in the best possible outcome."

She had mentioned her splice magic when we first met, but now, with this new context, I thought I understood what she meant by it. That must have been how Inui and I had defeated that witch so easily back then. We had unleashed our attacks, and Mabayu had somehow ensured that they would hit in just the right way to maximize damage.

"So all three of them have to attack together?" I asked.

"No," Mabayu said. "Two to attack, one to boost."

I nodded. "Alright, and what are we attacking? The red gemstone?"

"Correct," Mabayu said. "Retrieving the three soul gems will be child's play – I can take care of that myself, and leave the damaged one in Moe's possession. Remi will need to pull those three in to get the attack started, but it'll never reach the target while time is stopped. Therefore, Remi must be ready to stop time again the moment the gem cracks open, and pull the girl out before she's eaten by the witch."

"It might be easier if I slowed time down instead of completely stopping it, to make sure I get exactly the right moment," Remi mused. "But yes, I think I should be able to do that."

"Then let's do it!" I said. "Remi-chan, you can pull them in, right?"

"The flying one might be a bit difficult," Remi said.

"We can hop on Teddy Mk II," I said.

I summoned him, and the two of us hopped on, flying over so that Remi could touch Tsukihi. She blinked at us in surprise, looking at us, but strangely her outfit didn't change like everyone else's had. I wanted to ask her about it, but we were on a time limit.

"Huh? What's going on?" Tsukihi asked. "Everything's frozen?"

"I've stopped time," Remi said. "We need your help."

"Do you see that huge red gemstone?" I asked.

"Oh yeah, the one the girls with you attacked a minute ago," Tsukihi said, nodding. "It's clear as crystal!"

While we talked, I made Teddy descend slowly, dragging Tsukihi down with us.

"We need you and Miss Tamaki to throw all of your magic at it together," I said. "Enough to break it open in one blow."

"Oh, is that all?" Tsukihi said. "I've barely used half of my magic, so I'm good for whatever attack you need!"

Only half…? She must've really had a lot of magic.

"By the way, what's with your eyes?" Remi asked.

Tsukihi tilted her head. "What about them? I know grey's a boring colour, but I can't help it. It's in my genes, after all!"

But they weren't grey. There was some grey in her irises, to be sure, but they were filled with tiny scraps of colour – I could see at least green, red, purple, and orange. Parts of her irises were even pure black, making it difficult to tell where the iris ended and the pupil began. But I resisted the urge to try and explain it to her.

"We don't have time for that right now," I said.

We got off of Teddy Mk II and hurried over to pull Iroha in. As with Remi and I, her outfit instantly reverted to her normal one. Mokyu, perched as usual on Iroha's shoulder, made one of its cute noises.

"Huh? W-what's going on?" Iroha gasped. "Everything's frozen…?"

Then we pulled in Kazumi, and all four of us including Mabayu switched back to our boosted outfits. Tsukihi's outfit again remained unchanged.

"Oh, you stopped time, Remi-chan?" Kazumi said. "Need me for something?"

"Here's the plan," I said. "Miss Tamaki and Miss Araragi will connect and shoot an arrow at the huge red gemstone to crack it open. Kazumi-chan, you're here so that they get the effect of your boost magic."

"B-but that's where Ui is!" Iroha gasped. "I don't want to hurt her!"

"You have a choice between possibly hurting her, or letting her die," I said. "If we wait even a second longer, it'll be too late to save her. Surely you can see that for yourself."

"Y-yeah, I guess I do see what you mean," Iroha admitted.

"Besides, she's not conscious right now," I said. "I don't think she'll feel a thing. Give Mokyu to me. I'll hold onto it for the time being."

"Alright," Iroha said. "Miss… Araragi, was it?"

Tsukihi nodded. "However, it'll be confusing to call me that, since there are two of us here called Araragi. Just call me Tsukihi."

Iroha nodded. "Tsukihi-chan, then. Let's do this… to save Ui!"

Once I'd deployed my ribbon to keep us all connected, Iroha passed Mokyu to me, and then she and Tsukihi pressed their hands together. Within seconds, the two of them were wreathed in flames, and Iroha's crossbow grew in size, becoming an arbalest also wreathed in flames, towering over both their heads. It might've even been larger than the one that took down Walpurgisnacht in the previous timeline.

"T-this power is overwhelming!" Iroha gasped. "How are you this strong, Tsukihi-chan!? This is at least as strong as Madoka-chan's connect… maybe even stronger!"

"I don't know," Tsukihi said. "I don't know how or when I got these powers. I don't know if I'm really even a magical girl. All I know is… I fight for Karen-chan's justice!"

While they built up the attack, I looked around and noticed Mabayu moving through the frozen landscape to abscond with the Magius's soul gems and cut a lock of their hair with her scissors. Once she had them all, she dropped Alina's gem off with the still-frozen Moe, then came back to join us. Eventually, Remi spoke up.

"About twenty seconds left of time stop!" she shouted. "Fire right now!"

"Strada Futuro!"

"Justice Phoenix!"

As the massive bolt was fired, it grew wings of fire and sped towards its target. Then it stopped, joining the rest of the frozen world… but only for the few seconds until time resumed, when it curved towards the target, using those wings to steer so that the point connected precisely in the middle of the tiny crack left by our earlier attack on it. The crack spread out almost instantaneously, shattering the face of the jewel into a hundred pieces, and I caught a glimpse of Ui within before she disappeared, reappearing next to me in Remi's arms. Mokyu struggled to get free from my grasp, but I held onto it.

"Stay back, Mokyu," I said. "The barrier that keeps external impurities out is down. If you rejoin your master now, don't you think there's a chance that she'll just turn into a witch?"

Mokyu made one of its cute noises, and I had no idea what it meant, but I guess it understood what I'd said, since it stopped struggling.

"Ui!" Iroha said. "Are you okay!? Wake up, Ui!"

While she checked on Ui, the two doppels above us were merging together into a single being, consuming the bodies of the Magius in the process. Most of the magical girls around us were preparing to attack again. Tsukuhi however collapsed to the ground with a groan.

"Noooo!" Karin gasped. "Alina, noooo!"

She zoomed towards the creature for a moment, but seemed to quickly realize that it was too late to do anything, staring for several seconds before she finally came down to land next to me, dropping off Hotaru and Akari as well, who let out a sigh of relief.

"F-finally back on solid ground," Hotaru gasped, collapsing to her knees.

"I don't wanna go flying again for awhile," Akari said.

"Hello, Miss Yura," I said.

"Oh, it's Miss Taylor," she said.

Surprisingly, Hotaru didn't look sleepy like she usually did. She was in serious mode, for once.

"But I don't think this is the time for greetings," she continued. "Karin-chan… she just lost someone…"

Karin was crying, as was to be expected at seeing her beloved senior kill herself right in front of her. As the girls around me attacked, Mabayu stepped up to me and handed me the soul gems of Touka and Nemu. It took a moment to figure out which was which, as they were both almost the same colour, but then I saw the book emblem at the base of the more orange-tinted one and realized that it had to be Nemu's.

"Well, I have good news and bad news for you, Karin-chan," I said.

"Huh!? How can there be any good news at a time like this!?" Karin wailed. "Alina-sempai is dead, can't you see that!?"

"Well, that's just the thing," I said. "Moe-chan, come here please!"

Moe hopped down from the roof and over to join us, clutching a green soul gem in her hands.

"Um… I don't know how it appeared in my hands, but I healed this soul gem," she said.

I took Alina's soul gem from her and passed it to Karin, who took it, staring at it for a moment before turning to me, blinking in confusion.

"Huh? Whose soul gem is this?"

"Alina lost her body, but she's technically not dead," I said. "Look after Alina for me, Karin-chan. Maybe someday Miss Tamaki will find a way to restore her body. Maybe you can find another way, perhaps with Pernelle's help. I can't promise anything, but… there's still a chance that you can meet Alina again."

"This… you're saying… this is Alina-sempai!?" Karin gasped. "This little rock… hey… is that true for me, too? For all magical girls?"

"Oh… yes, it is," I said.

"I… I see," Karin said. "So this is Alina-sempai… she's not quite dead after all…"

She wiped her eyes and held the soul gem close, protectively. After a few moments she managed to force it into ring form and slip it onto the middle finger of her ringless right hand.

"Miss Aki, you got a lock of her hair too, right?" I said. "Give that to Karin-chan. It might be helpful in finding a way to revive her someday. Give me the other two locks for now… I'll pass them on to Miss Tamaki in a minute."

Mabayu nodded, passing the lock of Alina's hair to Karin, who pulled out her wallet and carefully tucked it away inside. She then passed me the two locks of brown hair in different shades, from Touka and Nemu.

"Ugh…" Tsukihi groaned. "Wow… I've never… used this much… magic before…"

Her sister ran up and knelt beside her.

"Tsukihi-chan, are you o— huh!? Your eyes!" Karen gasped.

"Huh? My eyes again?" Tsukihi said. "What about them…?"

"T-they're all weird!" Karen said. "I've never see this before…"

"W-weird how!?" Tsukihi gasped.

"I… I don't know how to describe it," Karen said. "Ah, if only I had a mirror…"

"Why am I… so weak…?" Tsukihi wondered.

"Here, you can borrow mine," Hotaru said.

She dug out a hand mirror from somewhere and passed it to Karen, who used it to show Tsukihi her own eyes.

"Huh? T-they're… not grey anymore…?" Tsukihi said. "They've gone mostly black… with random dots of weird colours…"

It was just like I saw earlier while time was stopped, only all the remnants of grey were now gone, and there was only the darkness with scraps of colour.

"The weakness, couldn't it be because you used so much magic?" I pointed out. "If someone's soul gem is almost completely filled up, it does become difficult to move… where's your soul gem? You should check it."

"I don't have one," Tsukihi said.

"You… you don't have one? Really?"

"As far as I know… I've never seen it before," Tsukihi said.

"Come to think of it," Karen said. "That discolouration in your eyes… doesn't it look a lot like the impurities in a soul gem? And they do say that the eyes are windows into the soul… hey! D-does anyone have a grief seed!?"

"Here," I said.

I tossed her the grief seed that I'd shared with Kokoro and Aimi earlier, and Karen caught it, holding it up towards her sister's eyes, hesitatingly. And then… a whole load of impurities flew out of Tsukihi's eyes and into the grief seed. Hotaru took back her mirror from Karen and stowed it away.

"Oh my," Tsukihi said. "I can move just fine now… so that's what it feels like to use a grief seed."

"Huh… you've never used one before?" I asked.

"Not that I can remember, at least," Tsukihi said. "As far as I know, this is the first time… I've never even used as much magic before as I used today."

If Tsukihi really was the person that Scheherazade mentioned in the last timeline, it made perfect sense that she'd single her out. Tsukihi appeared to be a magical girl, but she wasn't quite a magical girl as we knew them. That prodigious magical capacity was unheard of, for starters. On top of that, she didn't have a soul gem at first glance, but her eyes seemed to serve in that role. Like Karen had said, it reminded me of a saying that the eyes are the window to the soul… only taken literally. And yet… her head had definitely been obliterated in one of Touka's attacks, and she had regenerated completely. So it wasn't like her eyes were her soul gem, even if they reflected its state. In other words… like Mary, she was a complete anomaly in the world of magical girls. Had she evolved too, like Mary had? Or was this something completely different?

"Your eyes still look weird, Tsukihi-chan," Karen said. "We'll probably need another grief seed… but you should be fine for now, at least."

"I hate to interrupt all of this," Yachiyo said. "But we have a witch to take down right now…"

"But Ui won't wake up!" Iroha said. "What's wrong with her?"

"Please don't worry about her, Miss Tamaki," I said. "She's still fine. She's just not complete yet."

"W-what do you mean she's not complete?" Iroha asked.

"Part of her soul is missing," I said. "Remember what I said about separating out her emotions? She should wake up when it's returned to her. For now, we just need to focus on this witch, or doppel, or whatever it is now."

"Um… okay…?" Iroha said.

"There's something else I need to tell you," I said.

I paired Nemu's hair and soul gem and held them out to Iroha, who blinked at them in confusion.

"Huh? Whose soul gem is that?" she asked. "Wait… is that Nemu-chan's hair? Oh… is that Nemu-chan's soul gem too!? Y-you somehow saved her!"

I nodded. "Yes… and I have Touka's here too, see?"

I showed her Touka's hair and soul gem in my other hand.

"Ah… incredible," Iroha said. "But their bodies were both obliterated by that witch… so how am I supposed to revive them…?"

"Well, that's why I asked Miss Aki to get a lock of their hair," I said. "If you have a DNA sample, maybe there's a way to create a new body that perfectly suits them. So for now, just store them someplace safe."

Iroha nodded, taking both the locks and gems from me and stowing them away somewhere.

"Alright… I'll hold onto them for now," she said.

The fusion of Shitori Egumo and Old Dorothy was essentially complete by now, with witch runes hanging in the air that spelled out the new name, 'Neo Dorothy Motherfucker'. She tore free of her restraints and spread her wings. She looked a little different from how she was in the anime, though – there was no remnant of Alina's face and hair in the final combined form.

"No!" Kanagi shouted. "Don't let it take flight!"

But she was too late. Alina Eve leapt into the air once again, turning to head west. I pressed the speak button on my communicator.

"Miss Hozumi, do you know where we are right now?"

"Um… not precisely enough to make a portal!" Shizuku replied. "I'm sorry!"

"Well then, it's fortunate that I am here."

Pernelle stepped out from a nearby alleyway.

"All I need is for you to gather in close," she said.

"Everyone, gather around!" I shouted.

Everyone gathered together, including Mayoi, Inui, and Nanaka's team, who had been left up on the roof during the time stop but had descended to the ground at some point when I wasn't watching. Iroha gathered Ui's body in her arms in a princess carry and joined the huddle.

"Hmm… at the present rate of travel, it should land right near Satomi Medical centre," Pernelle said. "If you can hold it there, you probably have at best half an hour before it connects with Walpurgis. Miss Ashley, Miss Tamaki, I wish you luck."

And just like that, there was a display of magical diagrams, and we were suddenly in the park near Satomi Medical Centre where Iroha and Rena first met. Pernelle apparently didn't teleport herself along with us, but everyone else was still here.

"W-who on earth was that…?" Iroha wondered. "And how did she know my name…?"

"That was Pernelle," Kazumi said. "She's the one who gave us a large number of grief seeds for the fight against Walpurgisnacht… maybe there'll still be a few left by the time we meet up with the others. But I don't know how she knew your name, unless Ashley-chan told her."

"I don't think I told her?" I said.

"I see," Iroha said.

I turned to face back towards Chuo Ward, trying to spot the flying witch. Would we be able to defeat it in time, though? Though I'd saved the souls of the Magius, and rescued Ui, in some ways this was looking even worse than the events of the anime, where Alina Eve hadn't managed to run off and meet up with Walpurgisnacht. If the two of them fused… would Kamihama even survive?

I wasn't the type of person to pray, but despite that, I found myself praying that wouldn't happen.

---

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.

Araragi Karen
阿良々木火憐

Age: 18
Eye Colour: Grey
Hair Colour: Black
Origins: Jouetsu, Niigata Prefecture, Japan
Symbol: Yellow and black bee
Soul Gem: Yellow oval gemstone on her left arm
Element: Fire
Weapon: Ogre club
Powers: Fire manipulation, intimidation
Wish: "I don't want to lose when I'm right."

Speed: 5
Magical Stamina: 4
Offensive Power: 8
Defensive Power: 3
Initial Power Usability: 7
Learned Powers: 2

Araragi Tsukihi
阿良々木月火

Age: 17 (seemingly)
Eye Colour: Grey
Hair Colour: Black
Origins: Jouetsu, Niigata Prefecture, Japan
Symbol: Red bird with wings spread
Soul Gem: Unknown
Element: Fire
Weapon: Pair of naruko
Powers: Regeneration, fire manipulation, flight
Wish: Unknown

Speed: 2
Magical Stamina: 20
Offensive Power: 10
Defensive Power: 18
Initial Power Usability: 1
Learned Powers: 2

Kimiko Chinatsu
君弧千夏

Age: 17
Eye Colour: Grey
Hair Colour: Black
Origins: Kazamino, Shinriku Prefecture, Japan
Symbol: Blue 4-armed octopus
Soul Gem: Peach lozenge-shaped stone attached to a tassel on her cap
Element: Water
Weapon: Harpoon and rope
Powers: Ink spray
Wish: "Right now… I'm starving… I could really use a double order of takoyaki…"

Speed: 3
Magical Stamina: 4
Offensive Power: 4
Defensive Power: 5
Initial Power Usability: 3
Learned Powers: 1

Miwa Mitsune
三輪みつね

Age: 17
Eye Colour: Amber
Hair Colour: Ash blonde
Origins: Chuo Ward, Kamihama, Shinriku Prefecture, Japan
Symbol: Blue hollow hexagon
Soul Gem: Rectangular blue gemstone on her cloak clasp
Element: Light
Weapon: Taser gun
Powers: Memory manipulation
Wish: "So, my wish is… to be able to stay a shut-in… for the rest of my life!"

Speed: 2
Magical Stamina: 3
Offensive Power: 6
Defensive Power: 8
Initial Power Usability: 8
Learned Powers: 0 (unknown)

Suzuka Sakuya
鈴鹿さくや

Age: 17
Eye Colour: Teal
Hair Colour: Brown
Origins: Futatsugi, Shinriku Prefecture, Japan
Symbol: Blue rabbit head
Soul Gem: Circular teal gemstone on her left thigh
Element: Forest
Weapon: Dagger
Powers: Speed
Wish: "Please forgive my teammate's error!"

Speed: 12
Magical Stamina: 6
Offensive Power: 2
Defensive Power: 3
Initial Power Usability: 6
Learned Powers: 0 (unknown)

---

Doppel Corner

Whenever a new magical girl unleashes her doppel, I'll include a doppel description here. Note that most of these are direct quotes from the Magia Record game rather than being written by me; they are simply reproduced here for interest. I'll mark any original doppels with a dagger symbol (†).

Ichizo (Kuroe Asaka)

The Doppel of escape. Its form is a nighthawk. Though the master of this emotion lamented her past and stopped in place once already, she has now found a light to follow, and doesn't stop trying to spread her wings and fly. As her Doppel continually sheds tears, it attempts to put its master at ease by limiting her movements with wings of heavy mud. It denies her attempts to both seek and soar in the sky, while constantly emphasizing the exact opposite path to her. Though it utilizes its wings to attack those who oppose its master, each and every swing is meant to indicate to its master that she can never reach the light, no matter what she does. After being completely eaten away by this Doppel, the only choice one has is to become a black star that stands motionless on the Earth's surface.

---

Well, this chapter has been a long time coming. I ran into a section where I wasn't sure how I wanted it to go, and then I took a break, and then I decided to hammer out the next four chapters (at least mostly) before posting this one. This chapter also grew so long that I decided to split it in two, but they are still sort of a unit, so I'm going to post the second half tomorrow. (It's actually more like the final third.)

This is now the longest chapter yet, even excluding author's notes – only chapter 87 comes close, and about a third of that is responding to comments. That's even after splitting it into two pieces. There wasn't a good place to split it in half, so I the second part is quite a bit shorter. So the current expected update schedule is as follows: chapter 99 tomorrow, chapter 100 next Saturday, and chapter 101 the Saturday after that. I've also gotten started on chapter 102, but I'm not sure how far along it'll be two weeks from now.

It might be obvious, but I've skipped over some details of Ashley's planning process and some communication between her and all her allies in order to get right to the action – they're going to carry out the plan anyway so there's no real need to waste words explaining it before it's put into action, right? (I probably should follow this advice more often, but that's a separate issue.) We finally get to see the so-called "fire sisters", plus a second girl from Futatsugi who should be familiar to some. I'm sure at least one person already guessed who the "fire sisters" are, though. I based Karen's outfit on an iconic anime character, but then realize she was boosted by Kazumi, so I rewrote her outfit and somehow her original outfit never got mentioned. It should appear in the next chapter however.

In this chapter's chapel conversation, I've awkwardly mashed together two completely separate conversations – the original chapel conversation, and the original post-Chelation conversation – and thrown some extra bits in to boot. I'm not entirely satisfied with it, and I think it could have used another rewrite from scratch… but I decided it would be better to put it out there for now and move on. I may or may not come back to it sometime in the future.

Yes, we now have a confusing situation with two Karens in the same room. That's my mistake – I think I created Chiharu Karen before I even realized that Araragi Karen existed. It's a bit late to fix it now, so I won't bother. I'll just make the best of it. I mean, it's bound to happen eventually if you gather enough people, anyway.

I've adjusted several profiles in previous chapters in light of new information. I changed the powers listed on Yuki Maria's profile in chapter 74 and also on Megumi Moka's profile in chapter 76. I also updated Moka's wish. Although I'd already shown both of them in action in chapter 86, in Maria's case I believe the new power still fits with what she did in that chapter, and in Moka's case I merely added something extra based on her magia attack animation. Finally, I updated the age on the profiles of the Matsumiya girls in chapters 48, 73, and 92 – since their school is a middle school, they can't be any older than 15. I also updated the reference in chapter 73 that wrongly said 16 in this context, and Kotone's reference in chapter 92 to being "classmates in middle school" when she's still in middle school.