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.

113. Ribbons by the Seaside

Have you heard? Has anyone told you?
The rumour of the Floral Memory Wonderland!
If you have fond memories of bygone days,
then this is the place for you to be.
Just lay back and inhale the overwhelming scent of flowers,
and you'll be taken back to that fond time!
Loop and loop that happy memory over and over again, for all eternity.
O sweet memory, dance and play and frolic in the moment!
And that's why you'll never be sad again.
Oh my! How heartwarming!

---

"So hot…!" Sayaka exclaims. "It's like it's summer already… is this the effect of that global warming stuff!?"

"Oh yeah… probably," I say.

We're all standing just in front of the sole train station in Namida village, at the tip of the west cape – opposite from Takarazaki's Cape Ward, which lies directly across the mouth of the bay.

"It probably feels more intense because we just got off an air-conditioned train," Mami points out.

Kyouko, who has already crossed the road together with Yuma, turns around and notices that no-one else has moved.

"Hey, you damn slowpokes!" Kyouko shouts. "Hurry up! If you pick up the pace and stash your stuff away, you can cool down in the ocean!"

"Bleh," Sayaka groans. "Wish the inn could just sprout legs and walk to us instead…"

"Too bad I haven't been there before, or I could take you through the shadows," I say.

"Oh, you can only go places you've been?" Inui says. "Somehow, I didn't realize…"

"I mean, I'm not really surprised?" I say. "Since my clairvoyance also works like that."

"Sword sister is silly!" Nagisa proclaims.

"Hey!" Sayaka protests.

Nagisa sticks her tongue out and darts across the road. Sayaka takes off after her.

"W-well, we might as well get going," Madoka says. "Come on, Homura-chan!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Homura grumbles.

The two of them begin to cross the road as well.

"Everyone is so lively as usual," Hitomi says with a giggle. "It's… pretty refreshing, somehow. Mami-sempai, Aki-sempai… shall we?"

"Yes, of course," Mami says.

"Yeah," Mabayu says. "Let's catch up with the others."

They head after Madoka and Hitomi, and Inui turns to look at me.

"You waiting for something, Ashley?"

"Ah… no, not really," I say. "It's just… I suddenly remembered that this event originally took place in August, so I'm not sure how similar things will go…"

"Ah, you mean… I see," Inui says. "But that's only a few months' difference, right? I'm sure it could still work out…"

"The other thing I remembered was that Miss Isuzu would be really useful to have along," I say. "And I forgot to invite her…"

"Ah," Inui says. "Hmm… but still, there's always the chance that she comes here often, in which case you could still run into her, right?"

That would be pretty convenient, but honestly, what are the chances? I really don't know.

"That's… true, yes," I admit. "Well… I'll just have to play it by ear. In the worst case, we can come again with her in August. Anyway, let's go!"

I dash across the road and catch up with the others, Inui trailing a few steps behind me. We follow the road away from the village centre, passing by several buildings that look like regular Japanese-style houses. Then we arrive at a large bluish-white building with large windows, a tower at one corner, and a balcony on the roof. There aren't any more large buildings past it – the road continues into the largely untamed fields beyond.

"Hey, Sayaka!" Kyouko calls, still a few metres ahead of everyone else. "Is that the place we're staying at?"

"Whaddaya want…?" Sayaka grumbles. "Ah… yeah… that's my aunt's inn, alright… I haven't been here in forever. It sure is far away from any convenience stores…"

She leads us inside and introduces us to her aunt, who introduces herself as Yamazaki Ayako. After she shows us to our rooms on the ground floor and explains the inn's facilities, I pose a question to her.

"Mrs Yamazaki… is there a couple in town by the name of Chitose?"

Yuma blinks at the mention of that name.

"Chitose, you say?" she says. "Yes, there is, actually… quite an elderly couple, though last year they suddenly adopted a young daughter…"

Huh…? That's weird… why would they have adopted someone? Yuma is right here with me, after all…

"Could you tell me how to get to their place?" I ask.

"Of course," Mrs Yamazaki says. "It's close to the town centre…"

I listen as she gives me directions to get there. It's a fairly small town, so they're pretty simple directions. Once she's finished, I nod.

"Got it," I say. "Thank you very much."

"If it's not too much to ask, may I inquire why you wanted to know?" Mrs Yamazaki asks.

"Well, the thing is… this girl's name is Chitose Yuma," I say. "I think she's their granddaughter…"

"Oh my!" Mrs Yamazaki says. "I don't see the resemblance… but come to think of it, they did have a grown-up son, so it's believable… but why would she be with you?"

"Ah… she ran away from home, apparently," I say. "She didn't want to go back, but… I figured it'd be best for her to be with some kind of family."

"I see," Mrs Yamazaki says.

She leans down to smile at Yuma, patting her lightly on the head.

"You must have had a hard time, right, Yuma-chan?" she says. "The Chitose couple are very kind, so I'm sure you'll feel right at home with them…"

"Yuma is really looking forward to it!" Yuma exclaims. "Yuma wanted to call Grandpa before she left, but Yuma missed her chance…"

"I… I see," Mrs Yamazaki says.

Straightening up, she smiles at the others.

"Well then," she says. "You girls go ahead and relax, okay? Laze around, have fun, do whatever you feel like! It's a holiday, after all."

"Thank you, we will!" Madoka says.

"Thanks, auntie!" Sayaka says.

"Thank you very much for your hospitality," Hitomi says.

"I'd also like to thank you for letting us stay at such a reduced rate," Mami says.

"It's no problem," Mrs Yamazaki says. "The people who cancelled have already paid for it after all."

"Yo, ma'am!" Kyouko says. "Can you get to the ocean by going down that hill over there?"

"Oh, you certainly can!" Mrs Yamazaki says. "Just go straight down, through the pine grove, and the swimming area is right there. I serve dinner around eight in the evening, so could you be back by then?"

"Sure," Kyouko says.

"Oh, and one last thing," Mrs Yamazaki says. "Make sure you don't go wandering around in the forest, okay? It's hard to find things in a place like this, so if something happened…"

"…Did something happen?" Sayaka asks.

"Well, now… I'm not saying something did, but… you girls are old enough to understand, aren't you?" Mrs Yamazaki says. "You need to keep an eye out for strange characters out there."

"Okay, okay, got it," Sayaka grumbles.

With that, we sort of disperse, some heading outside, others opening up their luggage to dig out their swimsuits. I'm one of the ones who goes outside, together with Inui, Madoka, and Homura.

"Isn't this amazing, Homura-chan?" Madoka exclaims. "The sea's only a stone's throw away! I've never stayed anywhere like this before. I'm sooooo excited! And I get to be with my friends, too!"

"Yes, well… I suppose," Homura says.

At that point, two young girls pop up from somewhere. They're so tiny, they must be around five or six years old. They're dressed in shorts and T-shirts and are covered in sand. They must be identical twins, as the only difference I can see between them is their hairstyles – they both have messy side tails, but tied on opposite sides of the head.

"Hello!" the left tail girl says.

"Hi!" the right tail girl says.

"What!?" Madoka gasps. "Oh, you caught me by surprise! Hello there! Do you live at the inn?"

"Yup!" the right tail girl says.

"Sure do!" the left tail girl says.

"You know Sayaka-chan, then?" Madoka says. "We're her friends! We're gonna be staying here for a little bit. Just till the day after tomorrow! It's nice to meet you both!"

"Nice to meet you!" Inui pipes up. "You can call me Inui-neesan. What are your names?"

"I'm Kyouka!" the left tail girl says.

"I'm Mizuki!" the right tail girl says.

"Nee-san!" Kyouka says.

"Nee-san!" Mizuki says.

"It's okay to call you Inui, right?" they say in unison, giggling.

Inui blinks. "Huh, these brats are quite brazen!" she says. "Alright, but only if you let me call you Kyo-tan and Mi-tan."

"Hey!" Kyouka says suddenly. "Have you guys met Kei?"

"Kei!?" Inui gasps.

"Kei…?" Madoka says. "I'm sure I haven't heard that name before, but… it seems oddly familiar…"

«Well… the you of last timeline heard it, but… I don't know if that has anything to do with your feeling of familiarity,» I transmit.

"We haven't seen her," I say.

"We only just got here, you see," Madoka adds. "Is Kei another little girl from the inn?"

"No!" Mizuki says. "Kei's looking for Yu. That's what she said!"

"Are you Yu?" Kyouka asks.

"Yu?" Madoka says. "As in… Yumeno Yusa…?"

Huh… I didn't think Madoka knew that name in this timeline. But maybe she heard it from Homura…

"Ah, at least, there's no-one named Yu in our group," Madoka says.

"But we've met someone called Yu before," I say.

"Oh," Kyouka says. "But still, you shouldn't talk to her."

"Kei might come into your room," Mizuki says. "If she does, just hold still. She'll go away if you do that. Don't talk to her."

"Yeah, don't talk to her," Kyouka repeats.

With that, the two of them turn and run inside. I can just hear their mother exclaiming at them for their dirty state.

"Ah, they left," Madoka says. "I wonder what she meant by 'come into your room'? Ashley-chan, do you know anything about this Kei…?"

"Kei should be a ghost," I say. "But the twins shouldn't be able to see ghosts… so it could also be a witch or familiar posing as Kei… it's kinda hard to say without seeing it yourself, I think."

"If that's true, I guess it's a good reason not to talk to her," Madoka muses.

A moment later, Kyouko steps out, followed by Yuma, both in swimsuits. Yuma is wearing a green one-piece with a frilly micro-skirt, while Kyouko is wearing a black bikini with a pattern that sort of looks like scales.

"What gives, you guys?" Kyouko says. "Been wondering where the heck ya were, and you're just hanging out here? I'm off to the beach."

"Not going to see the Chitose couple?" I ask.

"It's not like I have a reason to see them," Kyouko retorts. "And there's no hurry, right?"

"I guess, but you shouldn't leave it till tomorrow," I say.

"Whatever!" Kyouko says. "C'mon, Yuma!"

With that, she takes off towards the beach. Yuma glances at the others.

"Um… Yuma wants to see them, but… Yuma would like to have some fun first!"

With a slight bow, she turns and takes off after Kyouko.

"Kyouko-chan already got changed," Madoka observes. "That's a little unexpected… we'd better get a move on!"

"Well… if Miss Sakura's gonna put it off, and Yuma-chan wants to have some fun first too, then I guess we might as well get changed and join them… what do you think, Inui?"

"Let's go!" Inui says.

So we head back inside to get our swimsuits. On the way in, we pass the others. Sayaka's swimsuit combines denim hot pants with an orange and yellow bikini top. Mami's bikini has the appearance of being formed of a single strip of cloth wrapped around each of the chest and hips, in contrasting white and orange shades. She has her hair tied into a side tail with a red scrunchy. Nagisa wears a one-piece with a sailor-style collar and a frilly two-layered skirt, the upper layer's purple fading into the main suit's blue with polka dots, while the lower layer matches the collar. Her hair is tied into two loose buns on the sides, making her vaguely resemble the first form of Charlotte. Hitomi wears an orange bikini that's tied at the front. Mabayu wears a green one-piece matching the colour of her hair, with a leaf-shaped cleavage window and the back mostly exposed but for the crisscrossing laces.

"Oh dear, everyone else is already changed too!" Madoka gasps. "We'd better hurry, Homura-chan!"

"It's not that big of a deal…" Homura says. "There's plenty of time…"

With the way we've worked out the room assignments, Madoka and Homura are in a different room than Inui and I – we'll be sharing with Kyouko, Mami, and Nagisa. My swimsuit is the same one Ashley wears in the game – a black polka-dotted two-piece peppered with brightly-coloured stars, and a teddy bear head on the chest. Rather than a bikini, it's a tube top with a strap hooking around the neck. It also has some frills to it. Inui's swimsuit on the other hand is a bright pink bikini with a pattern of cherry blossoms. She ties her hair back into a ponytail, then fiddles with my hair for a bit before settling on a dumpling twintail hairstyle, also known as the Sailor Moon style.

Somehow, despite Inui fiddling with my hair, we emerge at almost the same time as Madoka and Homura. Homura has a simple black bikini, while Madoka has an extremely frilly white one with pink accents and even a bow on the chest. I think that makes the two of them the only ones not wearing the same swimsuits that they wore in the game during the Beachside Bonds event. Though, obviously that's only out of the characters who actually appeared in said event.

"Oh!" Madoka exclaims. "Both of you look so cute in your swimsuits!"

I'm not used to being called cute, but I'm pretty sure she means it as a compliment, so I hold back any kind of sharp retort that might have come out under other circumstances.

"T-thanks…?" I say.

"Come on, let's go show them to everyone else!" Madoka says.

She grabs my hand and Homura's and takes off, forcing us to follow her. Inui keeps pace with us as we head through the pine grove down to the beach. There aren't that many people around, other than us – even though it's quite hot, it's still technically spring, so I suppose that simple fact has deterred a lot of people from visiting the beach.

As Inui and I wade into the ocean, the others start to play volleyball. I'm not sure where they got the ball from, but as for the net, there are a few just set up along the beach. It seems to be Madoka, Homura, and Kyouko versus Mami, Sayaka, and Mabayu. I can't hear what they're saying, but the ball flies back and forth with such speed that it's practically a blur. Homura and Mami in particular seem to be putting all their strength into the serves.

Since the water isn't as cold as I'd expected, and the sun really is quite hot, I decide to dive under the water and test something I've wondered about for awhile. I swim a bit further out and then settle down on the bottom, assuming a meditative pose. The theory is that, as a magical girl, I should be able to stay underwater indefinitely, as long as I don't let my body overwhelm my mind. It should be similar to the technique of blocking out pain, which I'm already quite familiar with.

It feels like I've barely been submerged for even a minute when Inui contacts me.

«Ashley…? Are you okay down there…?"

«Huh? I'm fine, I think…?»

«Really!? You've been down there almost five minutes!»

I guess that means my test was a success…?

«Ah… has it really been that long already!?»

«How can you lose track of time under the water…?»

I kick off and surface, then head back to shore. The volleyball game is still going, but as I get closer, the ball flies astray, going straight for me. I stop it with telekinesis and catch it, wading out to return it.

"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry!" Mami says, the main culprit. "Are you okay, Miss Ashley?"

"I'm fine," I say. "I used my magic to slow it down before I caught it."

"Ah, that's a relief," Mami says.

"So, who's winning?" I ask.

"Obviously it's me," Homura says smugly.

"You're only one point ahead!" Mami protests. "That hardly counts as winning!"

There aren't that many other people on the beach, but most of those there seem to be transfixed by the volleyball match.

"So you're evenly matched…" I say. "But you should probably hold back a little, you know? You're getting awed looks right now."

I toss her the ball, and she catches it deftly.

"Awed…?" Mami says.

"Like I've been saying!" Madoka says. "What kind of person can send the ball flying that fast!?"

"This game was probably more intense than professional volleyball," Mabayu says. "The ball's almost too fast to see, you know? And that's with my improved dynamic vision as a magical girl! Did you forget how strong you are as a magical girl?"

"I'm sorry," Mami says. "It's the first time I've done something like this with friends, so I might have gotten a little carried away…"

"Ya call that a little…?" Kyouko mutters.

"W-well, do you want to keep going?" Madoka asks.

"We still haven't decided a winner!" Sayaka exclaims. "We just need two points in a row…"

"Is that how scoring works in volleyball…?" I wonder. "I know tennis works like that…"

"Fine then, bring it on!" Kyouko declares.

As the game starts up again, I look around to see what the others are doing. Nagisa and Yuma seem to be working hard on building a rather elaborate sand castle, and Hitomi is relaxing on a deck chair. I go over to her, and she raises a hand in greeting.

"It looks like they're having a lot of fun," Hitomi observes.

"You're not going to join them?" I ask.

Hitomi shrugs. "I thought it would be more fair to keep the sides equal," she says. "It's not as though I don't want to play…"

"Can't you just ask to switch with one of them?"

"I was thinking about it," Hitomi says. "But now that you're here, we could just chat a little."

"If you have a topic…?"

"But I think there's an obvious topic," Hitomi says. "The time travel."

"What about it…?"

"Well, how should I put it…?" Hitomi muses. "I suppose it just makes me question anything you do… so I'd like to hear a bit about what happened. I spoke to Miss Aki about it earlier as well."

"Did she tell you about the timelines that even Homura doesn't remember?" I ask.

"Not really," Hitomi says. "She references them now and then, but she's never gone into any detail… she did mention that Nagisa-chan appeared in one of those timelines, and she met Miss Tamaki in one or two timelines, and Miss Yuuri in another…"

"I guess it ultimately doesn't matter too much," I say. "I'm definitely surprised that Nagisa would manage to survive without interference, but… anyway, you wanted to hear about the timelines I lived through, right?"

"If you wouldn't mind," Hitomi says.

We spend ten or twenty minutes talking about the eight prior timelines I experienced. I don't go into that much detail though, and I mostly only talk about the Holy Quintet, without touching on events that occurred in other cities. I've just gotten to the first appearance of Scheherazade when someone suddenly puts her hands over my eyes from behind.

"Guess who!" a familiar voice says.

Besides the voice, I also recognize the magical signature.

"Please stop, Emily," I say.

The culprit removes her hands and darts in front. She wears a swimsuit consisting of a frilly red tube top and a black bikini bottom edged with red frills.

"Wow!" she exclaims. "How'd ya know? Was it that obvious!?"

"Well, I recognized your voice," I say. "But this close, I can also sense your magic even when you're not transformed…"

"Ohh, that's totes awesome!" Emiri says. "Guess I better work on my magic detection… but whatcha doing all the way out here, Lita?"

"Do I need to have a reason to take a break?" I say.

Emiri giggles. "Lita, taking a break?" she says. "Somehow, I just can't picture it!"

"Come to think of it, if you're here… did Miss Isuzu come with you?" I ask.

"Huh, how'd ya guess?" Emiri asks.

"It was more of a hope than a guess…"

"It's just me, Renki, Rikki, and Myako-sempai," Emiri says. "But Myako-sempai got lost again, dunno where she got to. Rikki and Renki're prolly still at the inn."

"I'm sure they're happy to have some time alone together," I say.

"Lita, ya really get it!" Emiri exclaims. "Those two're mega cute together, ya know!"

At that point, Madoka comes over, gasping for breath.

"Hitomi-chan… I think I've had enough volleyball for one day… wanna switch?" she asks. "Sayaka-chan and Miss Mami still seem to be full of energy… not to mention Kyouko-chan…"

"Ah… I was hoping for a turn, yes," Hitomi says.

"Ohh, you're playing volleyball!" Emiri exclaims. "Got room for me?"

"Um… I could probably convince Homura-chan to switch with you Miss, um… Kisaki, was it…?" Madoka says.

"Just call me Emily!" Emiri says.

"In that case, please excuse me," Hitomi says.

She gets to her feet and heads over to the others along with Madoka and Emiri. A minute or so later, Madoka returns with Homura.

"Say, Ashley-chan, want to join us?" she asks. "I thought we'd rest a little in the shade of the pines."

"Sounds good to me," I say. "You coming too, Inui?"

"Of course!" Inui says.

Homura sighs. "I'd rather be alone," she mutters.

"Maybe I'll let you be alone with Madoka some other time," I say.

As we head over to the pine grove, Madoka strikes up random conversation.

"You know, I used to collect pine cones when I was a kid."

"Really!?" Inui gasps. "That's funny… so did I! Dad scolded me so much for that!"

"And look at that!" Madoka says. "The ground's all covered in pine cones!"

"There are so many!" Inui gasps.

Homura actually chuckles. "Guess you can pick whichever you like," she says.

As Madoka and Inui kneel down to pick up a couple of cones, a black cat suddenly darts out from a clump of tall grass nearby, meowing at us.

"Oh!" Madoka gasps. "There's a cat here! I guess it lives around here?"

"That would be a normal assumption," Homura says drily.

The cat turns to look at them, meowing again.

"It's looking at us…?" Inui says.

"It doesn't seem to be angry," Homura muses.

"I wonder if this cat knows anything about Kei," I muse. "If only Miss Chika were here, we could talk to it…"

Almost as if reacting to the name, the cat backed off a few steps, then tilted its head. When we didn't respond, it untilted its head and stepped forward, then repeated the process. Then it darted forward, circled around us with a series of meows, before darting away, but then pausing to look back, meowing.

"Does it… want us to follow it…?" Madoka wonders.

"It does look that way," Inui says.

I take a few steps towards the cat, and it arches its back, raising its tail high.

"I think that's a yes," Madoka says. "What do you think…? Shall we follow it?"

"It could be a witch, right?" Inui says. "You said that cats can sense witches or something, didn't you, Ashley?"

"Did I say that?" I say. "I did have the impression that they can… but I don't remember saying it out loud…"

Come to think of it, if cats can detect witches, can they also tell that we're magical girls? Is that why the cat chose to approach us and guide us?

"If it might be a witch, we should definitely check it out!" Madoka says. "Come on, Homura-chan, let's go!"

Homura sighs. "Alright… I'll come," she says.

So we follow the cat into the depths of the pine grove. It walks ahead of us, head and tail held high, occasionally glancing back with a meow to make sure we're still following. As we walk, the sand beneath our feet gives way to a slightly crunchy layer of fallen needles which makes me grateful that I remembered to put my flip-flops back on before entering.

Finally, we reach a tiny clearing wherein stands a tiny shrine. The cat walks up to the shrine and places one paw up against it, meowing at us.

"Whoa!" Inui gasps. "I never expected to find a shrine so deep inside the pine grove…"

"Do you think this is what the cat wanted to show us?" Madoka wonders. "But it doesn't seem like there's a witch here…"

As we step closer to the shrine, the cat begins to purr.

"I guess that means you were right, Madoka," I say.

"Maybe it lives under the shrine," Madoka suggests.

There is certainly a sufficient cavity beneath the shrine for a cat to slip into, so it's possible.

"There's no way we can fit under there," Homura says.

"I think we should at least look inside," Inui says. "I'm curious now."

Inui and Madoka step up to the shrine and kneel down to peer underneath it. I want to look too, but it's too small for three to peer under at the same time. Homura just watches from behind.

"Huh?" Inui says. "There's something under here… looks like… a book…?"

She reaches under to fish it out, then opens it up to flip through it.

"Looks like someone's diary," she muses. "But what on earth would it be doing in a place like this…?"

She continues flipping through it, frowning a little.

"Inui-chan…?" Madoka says. "Is something wrong?"

"No… I don't think so," Inui says. "I'm just wondering why it was here…"

"Could someone have dropped it…?" Madoka suggests.

"Who would randomly drop something in a place like this?" Homura retorts. "It's more likely it was hidden on purpose…"

"Or, maybe the cat brought it here?" Madoka suggests.

"Are you kidding?" Homura says. "Why would a cat do something like that? They're not like crows… and it's not shiny, anyway."

"It's not impossible though," Inui muses. "Still… isn't it more likely that the owner of the diary brought it here?"

"Then, who's the owner?" Madoka asks.

"It mentions someone named Kei, but I didn't see a name anywhere identifying the owner," Inui says.

"I can't be certain, but… it's probably Yumeno Yusa's diary," I say.

"The Sleepwalking Spectre!?" Homura gasps.

"I was wondering about that too," Inui admits. "I could look more closely to see if that name is written anywhere…"

"It's a diary though, right?" Madoka says. "She probably wouldn't like you to read it… shouldn't we just put it back?"

"Hey, she's the one who threw it away," Inui retorts. "She can't complain if someone else picks it up and reads it."

I look around and realize that the cat has disappeared.

"Well, it seems our guide has deserted us," I say. "Shall we get back to the beach?"

"Yes… let's go," Madoka agrees.

Upon leaving the cool shade of the pine grove, we find that the volleyball game has come to an end, and now everyone is splashing around in the water – Nagisa and Yuma included, their sand castle now standing tall and proud on the beach, almost as tall as they are. Madoka eagerly runs forward to join them, and as a result, Yuma spots us and comes splashing back to shore. After a brief delay, Kyouko follows her.

"Yuma, where're ya going?" Kyouko asks.

"Yuma wants to see Grandpa now!" Yuma exclaims. "Can I…?"

"Well… I think it's as good a time as any," I say. "Want to go like that, or shall we return to the inn to get changed?"

"Yuma wants to get changed," Yuma says. "Yuma needs to make a good impression on Grandpa."

Inui shakes her head and sighs.

"Come now, Yuma-chan, I'm sure your Grandpa wouldn't be put off by something like that!" she says.

"Still, if that's what you want, let's go get changed," I say. "You coming, Miss Sakura?"

"I was starting to get bored here, so I s'pose," Kyouko mutters.

Leaving Homura to sit and watch the others play, I head back to the inn with Inui, Kyouko, and Yuma. We stop by the room to change out of our swimsuits – actually, I just throw my clothes on over it, as it's already mostly dry – and then we head out, following the directions Mrs Yamazaki gave me. Before long, we arrive at a small house in the traditional Japanese style. I step up to the door and knock. It's answered about a minute later, but not by the person I expect. Rather than an elderly man or woman, the person behind the door is a young red-haired girl of similar age to Yuma.

"Hello?" she says. "Um… how can I help you…?"

Yuma pushes past me with a shout.

"Is this where Grandma and Grandpa live!?" she asks.

"Huh…?" the girl says. "Um… who are you…?"

"Yuma is Chitose Yuma!"

"Um…"

The girl turns away from the door to call someone.

"Granny…? There's a girl here calling you Grandma… she says her name is Yuma…?"

"Oh my!" another voice is heard from further in. "Has that son of mine finally come to visit…?"

A few moments later, the owner of the voice emerges into the hall. She's a short, hunched elderly lady with her hair done up in a bun. She beams at us.

"Is that you, Yuma-chan?" she asks. "My, you've grown, haven't you? But… where's your father…?"

Yuma glances uncertainly at me, so I step in to answer for her.

"Um… it seems she ran away from home," I say. "It sounded like she wasn't being treated well. She said something about grandparents, so I thought of looking for them for her…"

"My oh my," Mrs Chitose says with a sigh. "That no-good son of mine… well, no need to worry, Yuma-chan. You can stay with us for as long as you like, okay? Why don't you all come in, and I'll serve you some tea?"

"Sure… thank you very much," I say.

The red-haired girl steps aside so that Inui and I can enter the house and remove her shoes, but then her eyes widen as she gets a good look at the person behind us – Kyouko.

"H-huh!?" the girl gasps. "U-um… onee…san…? Is… is it you, onee-san?"

Wait… what!? Though I did think the girl looked slightly familiar, I never expected that. Glancing back, I see Kyouko blink and stare at her.

"Impossible… M-momo…!?"

The girl bursts into tears and throws herself at Kyouko, hugging her.

"Onee-san…! It really is you! I thought… I thought… I'd never see you again…!"

Mrs Chitose chuckles, while I stare at the scene in surprise.

"My, my, it seems we have more than one unexpected family reunion today," she says.

"Did… did you know this would happen, Ashley?" Inui asks.

"No… I'm as shocked as you are," I say. "I knew Momo-chan was probably alive somewhere, but… I never expected her to be here of all places…"

Mrs Chitose gestures to the room she just came out of.

"Feel free to settle down anywhere you like," she says. "I'll prepare the tea in a jiffy."

With that, she heads off to a different room. Yuma peeks into the room she indicated, then charges in with a shout.

"Grandpa!" she exclaims.

"Good to see you, Yuma," a man's voice replies. "Want to sit in my lap?"

"Yuma wants to!"

"So, um… let's give the Sakura sisters a little privacy," I say. "Come on, Inui."

"R-right," Inui says.

Inui and I enter the living room, where Yuma's already sitting in her grandfather's lap in an armchair. We take seats on a couch.

"You there, with the blonde hair," Mr Chitose says. "What's your name?"

"Ah… I'm Ashley Taylor," I say. "And this is Itsumi Inui."

"I couldn't help but overhear what you said a little while ago," he says. "She ran away from home, was it? Is that really true? What exactly happened?"

"Ah… I'm sorry, I don't really know all the details," I say. "I think I heard that her mother was beating her, and her father didn't come home very often…? To tell the truth, I'm not even the one who's been taking care of her since she ran away. That honour goes to the other girl out in the hall, Sakura Kyouko."

"Sakura Kyouko… so she's the big sister that Momo always talks about, I take it?" Mr Chitose says.

"Well… yes, it seems like it," I say. "I think Miss Sakura was drawn to Yuma because she resembles Momo a bit…"

Mr Chitose ruffles Yuma's hair.

"That's true," he says. "Just a little."

"Anyway, my role was just in figuring out where you two live," I say. "You have Miss Sakura to thank for looking after her."

"I see," Mr Chitose says. "I'll keep that in mind."

Inui and I fall silent, but Yuma chatters on about all sorts of things to her grandfather. She doesn't mention being a magical girl, however. I'm not sure if she's been told that it should be kept secret, or if she just naturally figured that out by herself. A few minutes later, Mrs Chitose enters with a pot of tea and a plate of cookies, followed by the Sakura siblings. She sets it down and takes the glass of juice from the tray, passing it to Yuma. Momo already has a glass of what looks like the same thing, which she gulps down as she sits next to Kyouko on the other couch.

"Here you go, Yuma-chan," Mrs Chitose says. "Would you like some peach juice?"

"Yuma wants it!" Yuma exclaims. "And some tea, too!"

"Oh, aren't you mature," Mrs Chitose says with a smile. "You're already drinking tea at your age?"

"Yuma takes it with three lumps of sugar!" Yuma says proudly. "And milk!"

"Oh," Mrs Chitose. "Well, it's alright. You don't need to be in a hurry to grow up, you know."

While Mrs Chitose proceeds to serve the tea, Yuma takes a gulp of the juice and gasps.

"It's so yummy…!" she exclaims. "Yuma has never had juice like this before…"

Inui and I accept our cups of tea and take a few cookies as Mrs Chitose passes around the plate. As we eat our cookies and sip at the tea, I decide to have a little private chat with Kyouko… though I patch Inui in as well.

«Forgive me for asking, but… what did you talk about with Momo?» I ask.

«How's that any of your damn business?» Kyouko retorts.

At the same time, she scoffs down three cookies at once, the sight of which makes me shudder slightly. At least they're all the same kind of cookie, I suppose.

«I realize it might not seem like any of my business,» I say. «But can you really say that with certainty?»

«Whaddaya mean?» Kyouko asks.

«Have you heard about how Miss Homura has gone back in time over and over?» I ask.

«Of course,» Kyouko says. «And you with her, apparently.»

«That's correct,» I say. «But I'm sure you haven't heard that I was spotted in Kamihama about a year ago, have you?»

«I haven't heard that, but… whaddaya mean, you were spotted?» Kyouko asks. «You'd damn well know if you were there, right?»

«That's just the thing,» I say. «I don't remember coming to Kamihama last year, but Miss Izumi clearly remembers meeting me. Knowing what you know with Miss Homura, what does that tell you…?»

«More damn time travel…?» Kyouko says.

«Yes, but more importantly, given that I don't remember it myself, clearly the starting point of that travel is still in the future,» I say. «And just when did your church burn down?»

«Well… guess it was about a year ago…»

Kyouko suddenly gasps, drawing a startled look from Momo.

"Huh… is something wrong, onee-san?" she asks.

"No, um… Momo, how did you end up here?" Kyouko asks.

"Oh," Momo says. "Well… you know about the fire… right?"

"Of course," Kyouko says.

"I thought I was going to die," Momo says. "Then I passed out… and when I woke up, I was here."

"That's it…?" Kyouko says. "So… you don't remember how you got here…"

"That's right," Momo says.

"We just found her on our doorstep, unconscious," Mrs Chitose explains. "We called the doctor at once, and he treated her for smoke in her lungs and mild burns. I don't know who left her there, though. There wasn't even a letter."

«Are you saying… you think it might have been future you?» Kyouko asks.

«I don't know,» I say. «But it seems the possibility exists.»

Kyouko falls silent, gulping down her entire cup of tea in a single gulp. I let her ponder the idea, and after a bit, she contacts me again.

«We didn't talk about anything significant though,» she says. «Nothing that'd help ya stitch the past together when ya go back.»

Momo glances at me, then at Kyouko, tilting her head. Could it be that she noticed the subtle sign of our conversation…?

"Granny, I'm gonna go talk to onee-san a bit!" Momo says.

"Oh? Have fun, dear," Mrs Chitose says.

Momo jumps to her feet, grabbing Kyouko's hand. The older girl allows her to be pulled along without resistance. Then, to my surprise, Momo beams at me and grabs my hand too.

"You can come too, right?" she says.

"Ah… sure," I say. "Inui, you're fine with waiting here for a minute, right?"

"Sure thing!" Inui says.

Kyouko and I follow Momo into a different room, presumably the bedroom assigned to her. She sits on her bed and turns to face us.

"Say, onee-san… back then, I overheard you talking to Father that time," she says.

"Huh?" Kyouko says.

"I always hoped you'd come back for me, onee-san," Momo continues. "Because you said it yourself, right? You're a magical girl of justice, aren't you?"

"S-since when…!?" Kyouko gasps.

"Don't you remember?" Momo says. "That time you told Father?"

"Ah… y-you heard that too…?" Kyouko says.

"Well… the truth is, I had doubts," Momo admits. "It wasn't the same as Father… but… after the fire, I wondered if being a magical girl really was all you made it out to be…"

"Wait," Kyouko says. "Why'd you ask Miss Taylor to come too?"

"Hmm?" Momo says. "Isn't she a magical girl too? It looked like you where having a secret conversation earlier…"

"H-how could you tell…?" Kyouko gasps.

"I mean… if you look closely, a person's expression usually changes rapidly when they're chatting telepathically," Momo says. "Haven't you noticed…?"

"Even if that's true… how could you possibly know that…?" Kyouko asks.

"Well… it was a coincidence, really," Momo says. "I just happened to be looking into a mirror one time…"

"Let me guess," I say. "You were talking to Kyuubey?"

"You've seen Kyuubey!?" Kyouko gasps.

"Yeah, but don't worry, I turned him down," Momo says with a smile. "I told him there was nothing I could wish for. There were only two wishes I could think of, anyway, but I told him that there was no point in wishing to have my family back. If I did that and Father found out, he'd come to hate me just like he came to hate onee-san. And I didn't have any right to wish to see you again, onee-san, so I told him he should just give up on me. Though I'm happy I got to see you again anyway… but that just shows there was no need to wish for it, right?"

But if she'd been a magical girl candidate, I guess that's a pretty good explanation for how she's able to recognize a telepathic conversation.

"By the way… how old are you, Momo-chan?" I ask.

"Oh, I'm turning twelve this year," Momo says.

"Which makes you… a sixth-grader…?"

"You got it!" Momo says.

"So you're a year older than Yuma-chan…"

"Ah, is that so?" Momo says. "Huh… I wonder if she'll start calling me onee-san… that would feel really weird…"

"Just out of curiosity… did Kyuubey say anything strange to you?" I ask.

"Um… I can't think of anything strange," Momo says. "Just the stuff about what being a magical girl is supposedly about… though, I'm not sure if I can really trust him…"

"At least you have a good head on your shoulders," Kyouko mutters. "If only I'd been as smart as you back when I met him, perhaps we'd still all be together…"

"Don't blame yourself, onee-san!" Momo protests. "It wasn't your fault that Father couldn't take the truth…"

"But it was!" Kyouko protests. "Maybe it would've been okay if my wish was different, but…"

"To tell the truth, I think your father's reaction might be fairly typical for a devout Christian," I say. "I've recently learned that the Vatican condemns magical girls as witches."

"Just like Father said…?" Momo says.

"Because, if you think about it, it's pretty similar to the folklore about witches, right?" I say. "A witch is said to make a deal with the devil in exchange for power. If Kyuubey is the devil, that fits us quite well, doesn't it?"

"I see what you mean," Momo says. "But I don't think that's right. Onee-san only wanted to help Father. She wasn't seeking power or anything. She's not a witch, she's a magical girl!"

"I never said I agreed with that viewpoint, after all," I say. "So, now that you've been reunited, are you still not going to become a magical girl?"

"Do I have any reason to…?" Momo asks.

"No!" Kyouko says. "You really shouldn't do it! It's not what Kyuubey made it out to be…"

"Well… I'd say you have at least one reason to," I say. "But I don't know if it outweighs the reasons not to. Only you can decide that, Momo-chan."

"What's your reason for me to become a magical girl?" Momo asks.

"The reason is… to avoid making Miss Kyouko sad," I say. "Someday, you'll grow old and die, right? And when that day comes, I'm sure Miss Kyouko will be sad."

Momo blinks. "T-that's… true, but… isn't it a little too long-term?" she says. "Besides, onee-san would probably die before me…"

"It's certainly possible," I say. "But she's a magical girl."

"Um… isn't that why she'd likely die before me…?" Momo asks. "It's dangerous being a magical girl, isn't it?"

"It certainly is," I say. "But things are changing. Within a few years, being a magical girl might just become a lot less dangerous. And if she doesn't die in battle… I doubt there's much else that could kill her."

"Ah," Momo says. "I think I get it. You're saying that if I become a magical girl, I can be with onee-san forever and ever."

"Well… potentially," I say. "It's never guaranteed."

"That doesn't seem like a very good reason though," Momo says. "I mean… it's not a bad reason, but…"

I shrug. "If you don't like it as a reason, that's perfectly fine. I just thought you should know."

"Miss Taylor… stop this!" Kyouko says. "Stop putting ideas in Momo's head!"

"Sorry, sorry," I say. "I won't mention it again… probably."

"I did think of wishing for Father and Mother to come back," Momo says. "But I thought that wouldn't work… because Father rejected onee-san's power, so I thought surely he'd reject mine as well."

"That does seem likely," I say. "Well… you probably have about ten years to decide if you want to become a magical girl, so I'd suggest you don't worry about it right now."

"You're right!" Momo says. "I won't worry about it for now."

"Well, I say there's time, but… I don't know if that's entirely true," I admit. "There might be some event that nukes your magical potential. I don't really understand how that works, after all… but assuming you retain your magical potential, there's about that long to decide."

Kyouko glares at me, and I raise my hands defensively.

"I'm not trying to say she should do it, alright?" I say. "There are good and bad things about being a magical girl. If after you tell her about the bad things, she still wants to do it, isn't that her choice? I mean all the things that Kyuubey usually doesn't tell you. After all… Madoka made a wish even knowing all that, and so did I. Anyway… let's set this topic aside, alright? Momo-chan, was there something you wanted me for?"

"Are you and onee-san close?" Momo asks.

"I wouldn't say we're that close," I say. "Excluding Yuma-chan, I guess Miss Tomoe is the one she's closest too… and after that, Miss Miki…"

"W-what!?" Kyouko gasps. "What makes you think I'm close to Sayaka!?"

"Oh, she's still working with Mami-neesan?" Momo says.

"Ah… you actually met her before?" I say.

"Yes! She came over for dinner one time!" Momo says. "She seemed really nice."

"Well… they split up after the fire, but recently they've started working together again," I say. "Though only occasionally, I think?"

"And who is… Miss Miki?" Momo asks. "Miki Sayaka, I suppose?"

"She's the one who clashes with Miss Kyouko the most," I say. "They get into arguments all the time. They got into an epic fight the first time they met. But I don't think they hate each other."

"How do you even know about that…?" Kyouko says. "You weren't there…"

"I'm surprised you're even asking that at this point," I retort.

"…right, that was a stupid question," Kyouko says.

"They're staying at Yamazaki Inn right now," I say. "I'm sure they wouldn't mind if you come over later. Madoka would probably be happy to meet you."

"I don't know who that is, but if she's onee-san's friend, then I'd be happy to meet her too," Momo says.

"I believe they were talking about setting off fireworks on the beach after dinner," I say. "So, around nine o'clock… or is that too late for you?"

"It should be fine," Momo says. "I usually go to bed around then, but I can make an exception. Granny's pretty lenient about that, as long as there's a good reason."

"Then, if it's alright with you, I'll leave the two of you alone," I say.

"If you're going, then go," Kyouko says.

"I'm going, I'm going," I say.

I slip out of the room and return to the living room. Inui jumps up when she spots me.

"Excuse me, Mrs Chitose?" I say. "Thank you for the tea. We'll be going now. I'm sure you'd prefer to catch up with Yuma without us extras hanging around."

"No, that's quite alright!" Mrs Chitose protests.

"Even so, our friends are probably wondering what's taking us so long by now," I say.

"Well, if you insist," Mrs Chitose says.

"You don't have to show us to the door," Inui says.

"Please, come again anytime," Mrs Chitose says.

We head out and close the door behind us, then return to the beach. Most of them are still playing in the water, except for Mami and Mabayu who are relaxing in deck chairs. I elect to join them, while Inui heads into the water. Emiri is still with them as well, but I don't see any sign of Ren, Rika, or Hinano.

"Did you find Yuma-chan's grandparents?" Mami asks.

"Yes, they seem like very nice people," I say.

"That's good," Mami says. "Though I'll miss her if she decides to stay with them, I think it's probably better for her…"

"Well, she might decide not to stay with them too," I say. "You never know… but I'm glad she got to meet them either way."

"Yeah," Mami says. "I heard this from Kyouko, but apparently she had burn marks on her forehead when they first met. Isn't that just awful?"

"Yeah…"

"You know, there was something I'd been wondering," Mabayu says. "Miss Taylor… how is it that I never met you before the previous timeline? Even though I was working with the central Mitakihara girls for several loops…"

"I wasn't really working with them at all, especially in earlier loops," I say. "I was focusing more on things in other cities at first… so maybe that's how we managed not to run into each other. And I never went to Takarazaki, either…"

"Well, I wasn't even in Takarazaki in the early loops," Mabayu said. "I transferred into Miss Mami's class quite a few times…"

"That makes it even stranger that we didn't meet then," I say. "I even watched Homura walk into that class one time…"

"But even then, are you saying you never even fought Walpurgisnacht?" Mabayu asks.

"No, I definitely fought her in the first few timelines," I say. "I think the first three…? At least, they were the first three from my perspective. In those timelines, I joined a team with Oriko to fight the witch in southern Mitakihara, before Homura and the others encountered it. I even brought extra help from out of town at least once…"

"Oh… do you mean Miss Asuka and Miss Anri?" Mabayu asks. "I actually ran into them exactly once, and wondered why it was only that one time…"

"Yes… it was them," I say. "I never realized you'd met them… of course, they wouldn't've remembered, so I guess there wasn't a way for me to find out anyway…"

"I also never saw a timeline where Miss Shizuki contracted," Mabayu says. "It was quite a surprise when I saw her fighting on the battlefield… but I did see a timeline where the Wings of the Magius formed, without your interference."

"Oh…? How'd that go?" I ask.

"I didn't participate in the battle myself," Mabayu says. "But from what I saw, it went pretty similar to this time… or, possibly, the one two loops ago? Though there wasn't anyone from out of town other than Miss Madoka and her friends. Miss Madoka didn't survive the battle, so of course Homura turned back time again. I don't think there were any other casualties besides her."

"That's interesting," I say. "Almost as if my interference the first time around had no effect at all…?"

"Well, I wouldn't say it had no effect," Mabayu says. "More like, no major effects. Ah, Yuma-chan and Nagisa-chan never appeared in that timeline, though. Actually, Nagisa-chan only appeared once before you saved her – there was one timeline where Miss Madoka wished her back to life…"

"Well… I admittedly wasn't interfering that much two loops ago anyway, so maybe I shouldn't be surprised," I say.

"Walpurgisnacht also wasn't as powerful as she was two timelines ago," Mabayu muses. "I'd say she seemed to get slightly stronger with each timeline… nowhere near as fast as Miss Madoka gained strength from timeline to timeline though."

While I've been chatting with Mabayu, apparently Kyouko returned, though it looks like neither Yuma nor Momo came with her. Several of the girls are just tossing a ball around in the water, and it looks like Kyouko and Sayaka have started bickering over something as usual. Then suddenly Kyouko tosses something at Sayaka – I can't quite tell from this distance, but I think it's a starfish – and Sayaka lets out a squeal. Soon after, she runs off in a huff, heading into deeper waters.

"Did you sense that…?" Mami says suddenly.

Even as she mentions it, the sensation reaches me as well, faint but definitely noticeable – the feeling of a witch's presence.

"Yes, I can feel it," I say.

Mami gets to her feet.

"Excuse me," she says. "I can't just stay here and relax while there's a witch around. Will you come help out too?"

"It doesn't seem like you'll need my help," I point out. "There are enough girls here that some of us can just sit this one out, I think."

Mami frowns slightly. "Well, if that's how you feel, I won't press the matter," she says. "How about you, Miss Aki?"

"Sorry, I'd prefer to sit it out too," Mabayu says. "It would be a different story if it were right on top of us, but… isn't it out to sea? I'm afraid I never quite got the knack of swimming…"

"I see," Mami says. "That's understandable."

With that, she turns and heads towards the water. I watch as she rounds up most of the girls playing there and heads further out with them. Those remaining behind are just Nagisa, Emily, and Homura. The girls chasing the witch are almost up to their necks before they suddenly vanish from sight into the barrier.

"By the way… how many timelines did you actually, um, what was the word…?"

"Sever?" Mabayu says. "I don't remember, to be honest. At least a dozen… but there've been nearly a hundred since then, after all, so it's a bit of a distant memory by now."

"Were there any girls who became a magical girl that you haven't met in this timeline?" I ask.

"Hmm," Mabayu says. "Let me think… yes, I think the only one would be Hayasaka Yukimi. I don't remember exactly which timeline that was, but it must've been one of the earlier ones based on the powers I remember using."

"Huh… I actually noticed in the last timeline that Miss Hayasaka seemed to have potential," I say. "But I've never actually seen her make a contract."

"Huh… I didn't expect you to know of Miss Hayasaka," Mabayu says.

"Well, she happens to be Madoka's classmate, so…"

"Oh, I didn't know that," Mabayu says. "I guess even after living through so many loops, there are still plenty of things I don't know even about the people I met."

"How did Miss Hayasaka's wish go, then?" I ask.

"It was awful," Mabayu says. "She got mad at Miss Mami about convincing her to contract and went missing. She probably turned into a witch…"

"Huh… what exactly happened…?"

"Apparently, she wished to become rich," Mabayu says. "But her family just started doing whatever they wanted, and then her parents got divorced and started fighting over the alimony."

"This might sound silly, but I'm slightly surprised to hear she has parents," I muse. "For some reason I'd thought of her as a homeless girl… though I can't really say where I got that impression from…"

"I don't know that much about her situation," Mabayu says. "I don't know if she has any siblings or anything, either. All I know is what she ranted about to Miss Mami. I actually erased my memories of that time, but… they came back much later, when I changed my wish."

"You can erase memories?" I say.

Mabayu shakes her head. "Not anymore. In early timelines my powers were a bit different – I could erase memories and see the future. There are some powers that have always been with me though, like the immunity to time manipulation… which was a real pain at times, because time would stop for me whenever Miss Homura used her powers, no matter how far away she was."

"That's weird… wait, what about when Shiina Remi stops time?" I say.

"I noticed her do it a few times in the battle," Mabayu says. "And of course last time, as you know. But up until that moment I had no idea that anyone other than Miss Homura could stop time. I would guess that her time stop only has effect in a limited range… or maybe both time stops do, but her range is much smaller than Miss Homura's? This is just speculation, of course."

"What's the first timeline you remember?" I ask. "Do you remember when Homura wore pigtails?"

"No… I've never seen her like that," Mabayu says. "In the first timeline I remember, I transferred into Miss Mami's class at the beginning of the new term. I didn't see any other magical girls, other than Miss Hayashi of course since she's also in the same class. Miss Mami was working with Miss Kaname when I first arrived, and I never managed to work up the courage to talk to them. Probably Miss Homura was around too and I just never saw her – we never encountered each other even once in that timeline. Oh, and I think that was actually the timeline I met Miss Asuka and Miss Anri in. I also contracted quite late in that timeline…"

She sighs.

"Actually, I'd prefer not to talk about it in too much depth," she says. "I made a lot of mistakes and did some terrible things, and I don't like to recall it in detail. Can we drop the topic for today? Though ultimately, none of it ends up mattering anyway, since I severed the timelines."

"Ah… sure," I say.

But it sounds like her first timeline was probably my third timeline. I do wonder how true it is that none of it ends up mattering – is it possible for subtle influence from those severed timelines to have affected Homura's actions? But there's probably no way to know for sure, anyway.

As I'm mulling over all the new things I've learned, the girls who'd gone to fight a witch reappear out to sea, falling straight in with a splash, and head back to shore. Inui runs over to us, beaming for some reason.

"Ashley!" she says. "And Mabba-kun too, of course. The others were saying it's about time for some lunch."

"Alright," I say, getting to my feet. "By the way, how was the witch?"

"She wasn't very strong," Inui says. "It was a bit hard to move at first, since the labyrinth was entirely water, but once we encountered some familiars it was easy."

"I guess the familiars were swimming rings, right?"

Inui blinks. "Huh… do you know about this witch, Ashley?"

"If my guess is right, it's probably Paola," I say. "My understanding is that it's an old witch which is widespread at beaches in this area."

Inui nods. "Yup, the runes said said something similar to Paola," she says. "So your guess is probably right. Anyway… let's go. Are you coming, Mabba-kun?"

"Ah… yes, I might as well," Mabayu says.

She gets to her feet as well, and then we all head up towards the inn together.

---

"Guess what!" Sayaka exclaims. "The guy in the beach house over there told me something…"

They've been playing pretty much all afternoon by this time, and the sun has already vanished beneath the horizon, turning it a brilliant orange. Emiri has disappeared off somewhere, as have Kyouko and Mabayu. Sayaka is talking with Madoka and Homura. Hitomi and Mami are talking about something a bit further away.

"See that cliff over there?" Sayaka continues. "A few years ago, there was this girl who fell off it and died! But for some reason, people have started to see it this year…"

"Um… what do you mean by 'it'?" Madoka asks nervously.

"You know what 'it' is," Sayaka retorts. "Her ghost! Her spirit, back from the grave!"

Homura just glares at her, probably intended as a form of defense on Madoka's behalf, but apparently that's not enough to deter her.

"She comes back, out of the ocean. She wanders the living world, hoping to find and strike down whoever pushed her off," Sayaka says. "He said the locals have been talking about it a lot. She's supposed to show up between two and three in the morning, rising up from the ocean. She's soaked from head to toe, and her hair is all tangled with seaweed. Crabs ate her eyes, leaving blank sockets. But even though her eyes are hollow… if she catches you, she stares intensely, like her eyes are taking in your whole face."

Sayaka adopts a different, spooky voice for the next line, as if quoting the so-called ghost's words.

"Who did it… who dropped me into the sea… the one who dropped me… it was… yooooou!"

Mami, who had just finished her conversation with Hitomi and walked over at that moment, squeals in surprise. Madoka also squeals, though presumably for a different reason.

"M-miss Mami, when'd you get here!?" Sayaka gasps.

Mami clears her throat. "I came to call you for dinner," she says. "It's nearly time. You scared me when you yelled like that, that's all."

"Don't tell me you hate scary stories, Miss Mami!" Sayaka says.

"I don't think it's all that common to like them, myself!" Mami protests.

"Whatever," Homura says. "I've already seen a ghost, so you can't scare me that easily."

"W-whaaat!?" Sayaka gasps. "When and where? Gimme the details!"

I get up to join them at that point.

"She's probably talking about the ghost on the hill behind Mitakihara Middle School," I say. "Though that ghost is gone now."

"Awww… that's too bad," Sayaka says.

"But you know… it's funny how the stories have mutated, isn't it?" I say. "That girl who died… it was actually supposed to be a double suicide, but only one of them died…"

"Huh… really?" Sayaka says. "Where'd you hear that?"

"We found the diary of the one who survived," I say.

"How do you know it's talking about the same girl?" Sayaka asks.

"That's… totally a reasonable question," I admit. "I'm pretty sure it is, but I can't really explain why I think so… anyway, we should head back to the inn, right?"

"Ah, right," Sayaka says.

We head back up to the inn, where we find that Kyouko and Yuma have returned. Moreover, Momo is also with them.

"Mami-neesan!" Momo calls.

Mami blinks in surprise, her eyes going wide.

"Huh?" she says. "Oh my gosh… is that… Momo-chan!? I thought you died…"

"As you can see, I'm okay!" Momo says. "Somehow!"

"You've gotten taller, I think!" Mami says. "I almost didn't recognize you."

"Miss Mami, who is that?" Madoka asks.

"Momo-chan is Kyouko's little sister," Mami says. "Come to think of it, that's strange… how did she end up in this village…?"

"Ohh, I didn't even know Kyouko-chan had a sister," Madoka says.

"More importantly, what was all the commotion earlier?" Kyouko asks. "I heard someone screaming…"

"Oh, I was telling Madoka and Homura a scary story," Sayaka explains. "Then suddenly Miss Mami came up behind me and shrieked! Scared the lights outta me!"

Kyouko bursts out laughing. "So you were the one shrieking like a banshee, Mami!?"

"That's enough laughing, Kyouko," Mami protests.

"Gotta say though, now I'm kinda interested in that ghost story," Kyouko says.

"Seriously!?" Mami gasps.

"Oh?" Sayaka says. "Well, guess I gotta tell it again then!"

"If you're that interested, the two of you can just talk about it out here by yourselves!" Mami says.

"I don't think I ever want to see a ghost," Madoka says.

"They aren't that scary really," I say. "At least, the one I've seen wasn't…"

Kyouko chuckles. "That's the thing with ghosts," she says. "If you've never met one, of course you don't know what to expect from them. But doncha think that's how ordinary folks see witches? They're just like ghosts, ain't they? And hey, if I saw some ghost wandering around here… I'd say I'd feel pretty relieved it was one of those and not a witch!"

Mami sighs. "I suppose that's one way to put it," she admits. "Huh…? Is it okay to talk about witches in front of Momo-chan…?"

"It's fine!" Momo says. "I already heard all of that stuff from Kyuubey anyway."

"Huh? Kyuubey?" Madoka says. "But… you don't seem like a magical girl…?"

"Because I turned him down," Momo says.

"I see," Mami says. "So you already know at least the basics… but probably not the dark truths?"

"I don't know what you mean by that," Momo says. "Sorry…"

"Oh right! Sayaka?" Madoka says. "I met the twins who live here earlier this afternoon. Do you know anyone around here called Kei?"

"Kei…?" Sayaka says. "It doesn't ring a bell… but it's not like I know everyone around here. I don't come over very often."

"I see," Madoka says. "I wonder what they were talking about…"

"Those two… y'know what… I bet they're hiding some weird creepy crawly and keeping it as a pet!" Sayaka exclaims. "I'll ask them about it later."

---

After a dinner, we head down to the beach with a bucket of sparklers and other basic fireworks from the convenience store. Mrs Yamazaki had mentioned earlier that we were allowed to light them on the beach, so even though it's not quite summer yet, everyoe else decided they might as well do it. Madoka even invites the Yamazaki twins to join us, but they're apparently not interested. However, Momo does join us, as do Emiri, Hinano, Rika, and Ren – apparently Emiri managed to find Hinano at some point. Everyone has already changed out of their swimsuit by now, since it's cool in the evening.

"By the way, Miss Miyako, I'm a bit curious about something," I say.

"Oh! Then ask away!" Hinano says.

"Do you come to this town often?" I ask.

"Oh, is that all?" Hinano says. "I guess I come a few times a year."

"I'm curious about the circumstances that led to such regular visits to a place so far from Kamihama," I say.

"It's not that far," Hinano says. "But even so, I suppose you have a point… it's because my grandmother used to live here in this town, so I loved coming here when I was younger. She's no longer in this world, but I still come here regularly."

"I see… and I guess you decided to bring your friends along this time," I say. "It's a strange coincidence though, since I was just thinking about Miss Isuzu a little while ago and wishing I'd invited her…"

"Is this more of your time travel mumbo jumbo…?" Hinano asks.

"Hmm? Who'd you hear that from?" I ask.

"Who was it again…?" Hinano muses. "It might have been… Felicia…? I don't quite remember."

"Well… whatever," I say. "You're staying at Yamazaki Inn too, right?"

"Not much of a choice," Hinano says. "It's the only inn in town, you know."

"I actually didn't… I haven't seen the whole town yet," I say. "By the way, since Miss Isuzu is here…" I raise my voice a little. "I don't suppose anyone has any grief seeds that are ready to be disposed of?"

"Ah!" Ren gasps. "U-um… yes… t-that's true, I could… dispose of them for you, if you want…"

"Oh, I got one," Kyouko says. "Barely has one use left in it, but maybe tomorrow…"

"Grief seeds," Momo muses. "Those are the things that restore your magic… right?"

"That's accurate," I agree.

"I was thinking this when Kyuubey explained it all, but… isn't it tough to gather enough of them?" Momo asks.

"Certainly under normal circumstances, yes," I agree.

"So, what happens when you run out?" Momo asks.

"Who the heck is this kid…?" Hinano asks. "She's asking all the right questions, that's for sure…"

"Oh, um… I'm Chi… Sa… um… I'm Momo," Momo says.

"What a weird name," Hinano says. "Nice to meet you, Chi-sa-um-momo."

Momo shakes her head. "No, no, I'm Momo."

"She's Miss Kyouko's lost little sister," I say.

"I suppose it stands to reason that the sister of a magical girl also has potential," Hinano says. "But you shouldn't take it lightly, Momo."

"I already turned him down," Momo says. "So please don't worry…"

"Oh, that's unusual!" Hinano says. "I haven't met many people who turned that bastard down, that's for sure… and you're definitely the youngest of those I have met. Good for you, Momo."

"T-thank you…?" Momo says. "So… what happens when you run out of grief seeds?"

"You really want to know…?" Hinano says.

"Suddenly I'm not sure…" Momo says.

Hinano chuckles. "It's not pretty," she says. "But if you really want to know, I'll tell you."

"M-maybe another time," Momo says.

After everyone has had their fill of the fireworks, we head back up to the inn, where we find the twins arranging lots of small stones in front of the main entrance. Everyone else just heads inside, but Sayaka hangs back to scold them, and I hang back just inside the entrance to watch her do it.

"Heeey!" she exclaims. "What are you kids still doing up this late!? I'll tell your mom!"

"Ugh… Sayaka," Kyouka says.

"It's Sayaka," Mizuki says.

"That's Miss Sayaka to you!" Sayaka protests.

"We're busy right now," Mizuki says. "We'll sleep later."

Even as they respond to Sayaka, they keep right on placing down the stones, one by one, forming a line across the walk.

"Oh yeah, who's that Key you told the others about earlier?" Sayaka asks. "Are you taking your dinner scraps to feed some weird thing again? It's already dark out, so you'll have to do it tomorrow!"

"No," Kyouka says. "We're lining up stones to protect the place so Kei can't come in."

"Don't get in the way," Mizuki says.

"Huh?" Sayaka says. "So Kei… can't come in? So you aren't keeping it as a pet? Hey, Kei isn't some dangerous wild animal, is it?"

"Did you meet Kei?" Mizuki asks.

"No, I don't even know what Kei is," Sayaka says.

"I bet she'd hate you cause you're so nosey," Mizuki says.

"Yeah, she'd hate you, Sayaka," Kyouka says.

"What the… man, now you guys are just being mean and hurting my feelings," Sayaka complains. "Anyway, I—"

"We're done laying out the stones, so whatever," Kyouka says. "Bye, Sayaka."

"Good night, Sayaka," Mizuki says.

With that, they get up and run inside, brushing past me and vanishing further into the building.

"I told you! It's Miss Sayaka!" Sayaka calls after them.

---

Next morning at breakfast, Homura is even more taciturn than usual. I wonder if she dreamed of Yumeno Yusa, like she did in the game? But it seems kind of awkward to ask. That said… Inui and I both dreamed of her, so I have a feeling that Homura and Madoka likely did too, though Madoka doesn't show any signs of it.

As Mrs Yamazaki comes to clear away the plates from breakfast, I decide to question her about the rumours.

"Say, Mrs Yamazaki, have you heard that ghost story about the girl who fell off the cliff?" I ask.

"Ah, that old story," Mrs Yamazaki says. "It's strange that it's come up now, when she's already been dead for a few years, isn't it?"

"I kind of agree," I say. "Do you remember her name?"

"Hmm… I don't quite remember," Mrs Yamazaki says. "I think it began with ka or ke? Actually… there were two girls who fell off the cliff at the same time, but the other one survived… it was the girl of the Yumeno family, if memory serves."

"The Yumeno family!?" Inui gasps. "Does her family still live here?"

"No, they moved away last year," Mrs Yamazaki says.

"What about the family of the girl who died?" I ask.

"I think they lived in the next village over," Mrs Yamazaki says. "I heard the two girls were classmates in high school, but I don't recall ever meeting that girl."

"So, what happened to that Yumeno girl?" Sayaka asks. "She must've been devastated that her friend didn't make it…"

"She went missing not long after, I heard," Mrs Yamazaki says. "I don't know any more than that."

"I see, thank you for the info," I say.

As she leaves the room, Hitomi pipes up with her own observation.

"Come to think of it, something strange happened last night," she says. "What was that…?"

"It reminded me of Mami when she was fused with a rumour," Homura says.

"Huh… a rumour all the way out here?" I muse. "I guess it's possible though… maybe a rumour so far from Kamihama would've escaped Nemu's purge… so, what happened exactly?"

"Um… I suddenly woke up, but I couldn't move," Hitomi says. "There was a strong smell of the sea in the room…"

Homura nods. "Yes… it was overpowering," she says.

"So, both of you saw it?" Madoka says. "I can't believe I slept through that… but I think I'm glad I did…"

"I wish I'd seen it too," Sayaka groans.

"What about you, Miss Aki?" I ask.

"I saw it," Mabayu says. "But whatever was paralyzing the other two didn't affect me… probably due to my powers. That said, I wasn't sure at first if I should act, so… I waited to see what would happen."

"I wanted to turn off the air conditioning," Homura says. "But I couldn't…"

"The smell just continued to grow stronger and stronger," Hitomi says. "I wondered if we'd left the window open, but I was facing away from it, so I couldn't see."

"It wasn't open," Homura says. "I could see it from where I was."

"The night sounds were oddly distant, as well," Hitomi says. "And then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a dark shadow, sort of shaped like a human."

"As mentioned before, I could sense some kind of magic," Mabayu says. "It did remind me of how a rumour feels. But it also felt a bit like a witch as well."

"When did you get a chance to see what a rumour feels like, by the way?" I ask.

"Miss Tamaki introduced me to Sakurako after the battle," Mabayu says.

"Ah… I see," I say.

"I couldn't sense any magic from it at first," Homura says. "But right as it disappeared, I caught a glimpse of its magic. It was like a witch, but not quite."

"And it was like Holy Mami," I muse. "Like a rumour. Interesting…"

"At some point, the shadow started muttering," Hitomi continues. "It was saying something like… 'Wrong, wrong, all wrong'. Just the same words over and over again. It knelt down to examine Miss Sayaka very, very closely. Then it moved on to examine Madoka in the same way. After that, it was my turn, and it must've realized that my eyes were open, because it suddenly said, 'You can see me?'."

"That's when Miss Hitomi suddenly screamed," Mabayu says. "And I leapt up to switch the light on. The moment the light went on, it was gone."

"That almost gave me a heart attack!" Sayaka says. "It did smell pretty weird in the room, too…"

"Oh, that's right, Hitomi-chan was shaking, so I went to get her some water," Madoka says. "And then I turned down the air conditioning and opened the window… but I had no idea that they'd seen a… whatever that was…"

"Unbelievable…" Mami says. "I think I'm glad I missed it… you're sure you weren't just seeing things, right?"

"I suppose it could've been a nightmare," Sayaka muses. "I was talking about ghost stories earlier that night…"

"Given that three of us saw it… not likely," Mabayu says.

"Anyway, after that we just left the lights on and went back to sleep," Sayaka says.

"Come to think of it," Homura muses. "I had a weird conversation with the twins this morning…"

"Oh, I overheard that too," Hitomi says. "That really was weird…"

"What did they say?" I ask.

---

Homura stepped out into the early morning air, still a bit chilly, and stretched. Then she spotted the twins, who seemed to be examining the stones they'd lined up the night before. They were all messed up now.

"Good morning, ribbon girl!" Kyouka said.

"Morning, miss grumpy!" Mizuki says.

Homura blinked at them, sighing a bit.

"Good morning," she said. "You're up pretty early."

"Yup," Kyouka said. "Cause she came again yesterday."

"Yeah," Mizuki said. "Didja see her? Didja see Kei?"

"What is Kei…?" Homura asked. "Is she some kind of animal?"

"Kei's not an animal," Mizuki said. "She can talk. She's taller than you are, probably."

"Is she… a friend of yours?" Homura asked.

"No, not a friend," Mizuki said.

"Wouldn't even say we know her," Kyouka said.

"Kei looks like a human," Mizuki said.

"But she's shadowy and doesn't have eyes, a nose, or a mouth, so we don't know her face," Kyouka said. "Kei comes out of the ocean, so when she shows up, it stinks like the sea."

"If you're sleeping, she looks at your face," Mizuki said. "She says she's looking for Yu."

"She goes 'wrong, all wrong' while she looks," Kyouka said. "But if you don't do anything, then she'll just leave when she feels like it."

"Hey, onee-san," Mizuki said. "Even if you see Kei, you can't talk to her, okay?"

"Our protection stones got all scattered," Kyouka said. "We gotta lay them out again."

---

"As you can tell, it's exactly the same as what we saw," Hitomi concludes.

"So Kyouka and Mizuki have probably seen this spectre more than once," I say.

"It's kind of impressive that they thought of laying out stones to keep it out," Inui says. "I wonder if it's actually effective?"

"Since they got scattered, it must've had some effect, right?" I say.

"Maybe," Inui says. "It could just be a coincidence that they were scattered – maybe that cat was running around out front last night. More importantly, doesn't this support the idea that the diary belongs to Yu? Since the spectre is identified as Kei, and she's looking for Yu, and the diary talks about Kei a lot…"

"Yeah," I say. "It's most likely Yu's diary… unless the two of them had a third friend, but that doesn't seem likely."

"What's this about a diary?" Sayaka asks.

"Ah, we found a tiny shrine in the middle of the pine grove yesterday," Madoka explains. "The diary was hidden underneath it… Miss Inui brought it back with her."

"Are you sure that's okay!?" Sayaka gasps. "What if you get cursed?"

"I'll figure something out after it happens," Inui replies. "Want to take a look at the diary, Sayakyan?"

"…Are you copying Emily?" Sayaka asks.

"It seemed like a good name, so why not?" Inui shrugs.

Sayaka sighs. "Fine, whatever. Yeah, I'd like to see it."

"I left it in the room," Inui says. "I'll just go fetch it real quick."

She heads back to the room, returning a minute later with the diary, and Sayaka spends several minutes flipping through it. Finally, she snaps it shut.

"Huh," she says. "This lines up with what Auntie was saying, doesn't it? Two girls fell off the cliff, one of them named Kei… so it seems the ghost story is mostly real!"

"But it seems there's more to it than just a ghost," I muse. "There might be a rumour involved as well, or even a witch…"

"And there was one entry where the writer named herself," Sayaka adds. "Her name was Yu."

"As I thought," I say. "She's the one who became the Sleepwalking Spectre…"

"Alright, I think we've discussed this enough," Mami suddenly announces. "What should we do today? Should we play on the beach again? Or, I heard there was a small aquarium in the next town, want to check it out? It's known for having a large variety of jellyfish. It's close enough that we could walk there along the beach – it would only take a few hours."

"Huh? An aquarium?" Kyouko says. "Just looking at stuff is so boring. We're out here by the sea, might as well go fishing!"

"Is fishing really that interesting?" Hitomi asks. "You spend most of your time just waiting around, don't you?"

"Huh? If that's how ya feel about it, ya don't gotta do it," Kyouko retorts.

"We don't all have to go together, you realize," I point out. "The people who want to go fishing can go fishing and the people who want to see the aquarium can go see it."

"But we came all the way out here, so isn't it better to make some memories together?" Madoka says.

"Ugh, whatever," Kyouko grumbles. "It ain't like I wanted to go fishing that badly, either…"

"If we're going to walk there, we should set out right away!" Sayaka exclaims. "Can we take the train back? Or at least a bus?"

"Yes, I think there should be one," Mami says. "Either a train or a bus."

With that decided, we pile out of the inn and find the twins playing with Momo and Yuma.

"Kyouko!" Yuma exclaims, jumping up. "Yuma was waiting for you!"

"G-good morning, onee-san," Momo says.

"Ohh, you're getting along quite well with those two," Kyouko says.

"Good morning, Yuma-chan," I say. "Good morning, Momo-chan, Kyouka-chan, Mizuki-chan."

"Good morning, onee-san!" Kyouka says.

"Morning, nee-san!" Mizuki says.

"Say, where'd you get the idea of laying out stones to keep Kei out?" I ask.

"That's usually how you keep monsters out, isn't it?" Kyouka says.

"It's normal monster protection practice!" Mizuki exclaims.

"So you don't really have a good reason, huh…"

"Sayaka, come play with us!" Kyouka exclaims.

"Come play with us, Sayaka!" Mizuki exclaims.

"What, now you suddenly want to play with me?" Sayaka says. "No can do, we're going to the aquarium right now."

"Oh, the aquarium," Kyouka says.

"The jellyfish are pretty," Mizuki says.

"But it's boring," Kyouka says.

"Yeah, it's boring," Mizuki says.

"Fine, we'll play by ourselves," Kyouka says.

"By ourselves!" Mizuki exclaims.

"What about you two?" Kyouko asks.

"Yuma is coming!" Yuma exclaims.

"Um… I told Granny I'd be with you guys all day, so… I should live up to that promise," Momo says. "So I'll come too."

"However, personally, I'm not really interested in the aquarium," I say. "Do you mind if I stay here?"

"I really think it would be more fun if we all go," Madoka says. "But if you really don't want to, then there's not much I can say…"

"Then I'll stay with Ashley too," Inui says.

"Is everyone else coming to the aquarium?" Mami asks. "Miss Aki, Miss Hitomi? Nagisa-chan?"

"Yeah, I'd like to check it out," Mabayu says.

"Of course I'm coming!" Hitomi says.

"I'm staying with Mami-nee!" Nagisa states.

With that decided, everyone heads down to the beach and, with the exception of the four of us, they make their way northward along the shore. That leaves me, Inui, and the twins together. Due to their nagging, we end up playing with the twins for an hour or two, after which we head into town to take a look around. Inui chats cheerfully with all the townsfolk, and we ask about Kei and Yu whenever we get a chance, but we don't learn any significant new information.

After picking up fried squid and octopus balls for lunch from a small local eatery, we run into Rika and Ren. They're in their swimsuits, suggesting that they've spent the morning at the beach and are heading into town for lunch. Ren wears a frilly white one-piece and Rika wears a red and white checkered bikini. Rika greets us with a wave.

"Heya, you're that girl, right?" Rika says. "The one who organized that whole thing… Lita-chan, was it?"

"That is a nickname I've used," I say. "My full name is Ashley Taylor."

"I see you two are out on a date just like us!" Rika exclaims.

"W-what!?" Ren gasps.

"Huh…?" I say.

"And both of us with a clueless partner, apparently," Inui chimes in.

I consider defending myself, but the truth is that it really hadn't occurred to me that this could be considered as a date, so I end up choosing to remain silent.

"Well, I'll take what I can get!" Rika says. "I won't get in your way… oh, but if you happen to run into Miko-sempai, please remind her that we agreed to meet up at five."

It sounds like Hinano has gotten lost for the second day in a row…

"I'll let Miss Miyako know if I see her," I say.

With that, the two of them head off, making for the same eatery we just exited. Once we're finished eating, Inui drags me into a small accessory store, and while we're browsing the offerings there, I hear a ping on my phone. Fishing it out, I find a message from Hijiri.

[Hey, Ashley, what do you think about presenting the app at the meeting tomorrow? It's a rare opportunity when nearly all the magical girls across the island, and many NOT from the island, will all be together in one place, so I thought it would be a good place to promote it. I think it's ready for testing in the wild, too.]

I compose a quick response.

[Yes, if you think it's ready, I think that's a great idea! I'll look forward to seeing everyone's reactions.]

As I hit send, Inui holds up some earrings that she'd been staring at for the past three minutes. They're made in the shape of the suits of cards, with the club and spade in silver while the heart and diamond are in gold, or at least something that looks roughly like it.

"Hey, what do you think of these?" she asks.

"Eh? Well… they're fine," I say.

"I thought we could wear them together sometime," Inui says. "Since there's four of them…"

Come to think of it, I'm not even sure if my ears are pierced…? They weren't as Chelsea, but… fingering my earlobes, it seems Ashley does have piercings.

"Well… I'm not sure," I say. "I guess I'm not heavily opposed to it… and they do look nice enough…?"

"Great!" Inui says. "Then let's get them!"

"Fine."

I check the price. They're cheaper than I expected – probably not real silver or gold. I pull out some cash, but Inui insists on paying half. It seems she has just barely enough, meaning that she spends a minute counting it out to the last yen. Finally, we have the earrings wrapped up in a tiny plastic bag, and Inui hums happily as we leave the shop with them.

We spend another hour or so wandering around town and asking about Yu and Kei, until Inui receives an email from Madoka.

---

"Ashley-chan, how was your date?" Madoka asks.

The others have just gotten off the bus, where Inui and I were waiting for them after receiving the email. I let out a sigh.

"It wasn't exactly a date," I say.

"Eh?" Hitomi says. "What's this…? Miss Taylor and Miss Itsumi are like that…?"

"Duh!" Nagisa says. "Though it's one-sided…"

"Can we stop talking about that…?" I say. "How was the aquarium?"

"The jellyfish sure were sparkly," Kyouko says. "They look so different when you cook them up in Chinese food."

"Well yeah, obviously," Sayaka retorts. "But hey, you had fun too, admit it."

"Nah, I was just eying them up because they looked so tasty," Kyouko says.

"Sure, whatever you say," Sayaka says.

"We also met the local magical girl," Madoka says. "She's been at it about as long as Miss Mami, apparently."

"It is fortunate that we didn't get into a fight," Mami adds.

"She comes over to this town about once a week to sweep out any witches, since there's no other magical girls around here," Madoka says. "I thought she seemed really nice. Oh, and she asked me to give you her regards, Ashley-chan."

"Huh…?" I say. "What was this girl's name?"

"Ah!" Madoka gasps. "I forgot to ask… but don't you know her already…? She knew Momo-chan too…"

"Sorry… I'm not sure," I say.

"Oh hey, why don't we check out the bluff?" Sayaka exclaims. "The one we saw from the bus! I bet the sunset looks amazing from there!"

"What a lovely idea!" Mami says. "We're quite close, so why don't we all go?"

"Isn't that the bluff where that girl fell off?" Inui points out.

"Sure, but we just need to be careful," Sayaka says.

Despite slight misgivings regarding the ghost, it seems everyone is in favour, so we head out onto the bluff in question. Soon we reach the peak, a cliff overlooking the sea.

"And here we are!" Sayaka exclaims. "The perfect spot to watch the sunset on the cliff! Looks like we made it just in time."

"It certainly was quite the climb up here," Mami says.

"Whoa, look how pretty it is, Homura-chan!" Madoka says. "I didn't realize the sunset would look so huge!"

"Careful!" Sayaka says. "Anything could pull you over if you go that close to the edge!"

"Quit trying to scare me!" Madoka retorts.

"I'm not!" Sayaka says. "I was just warning you this time, seriously!"

"Geez!" Madoka says. "Have you forgotten that I can fly, Sayaka-chan?"

"Ah," Sayaka gasps. "Y-you're right!"

"But this really is the cliff that Kei fell off, huh?" Inui muses.

"Yeah, people say you gotta be careful here cause of that," Sayaka says.

"Please!" Madoka complains. "You were obviously just trying to freak me out again! Right, Homura-chan?"

"How on earth am I supposed to know," Homura mutters.

"Excuse me, but… can anyone else smell… flowers?" Hitomi asks.

"There are some planted over there," Mami says. "Are they the ones you're smelling?"

"Ahh!" Hitomi gasps. "Aren't those night-blooming jasmine…!?"

"Ah, yes, there's a placard here that says so," Mami says.

"They're quite the romantic flower," Hitomi says. "When night falls, they blossom into flowers with a deep fragrance. Though it's still not quite nightfall, it seems they're already starting to open up."

"Night-blooming jasmine, huh?" Inui muses. "I never knew there were flowers like that…"

"Nor did I," Homura says.

"That scent brings to mind the dream from last night, doesn't it?" I point out.

"Y-yeah," Inui says.

"I suppose," Homura mutters.

I think that confirms that Homura also experienced the dream.

"Huh? What's this about a dream?" Sayaka asks.

"Did you guys have a weird dream last night?" Madoka asks.

And… I guess that confirms that Madoka didn't experience the dream… I thought she might've since she also visited the shrine.

"Let's not talk about it right now," Inui says. "It's better to just enjoy the sunset, isn't it? No need to spoil it with talk of creepy dreams."

"I guess you're right," Madoka says.

"It's so beautiful," Momo murmurs. "I can't believe I get to see the sunset with onee-san…"

We watch as the sinking sun slowly dyes the sea gold. Eventually, the sun disappears entirely beneath the waves, leaving only the nearly-full moon to illuminate the bluff. That smell of jasmine continues to remind me of the dream, but I do my best to ignore it.

"Kyouko…?" Mami says suddenly. "Are you okay? You look a little down… do you dislike sunsets?"

"Nah, that ain't it," Kyouko says. "It just feels kinda lonely up here, so I got caught up in the mood."

"What do you mean by lonely…?" Mami asks.

"Well… cliffs, especially this one, feel kinda like a forced stop," Kyouko says. "Y'know? Don't matter how pretty the sunset is. There's nowhere to go from here. The view might be nice, but the road just cuts clean off. It's one of those sad things about life. Just something that struck me is all. I know it's not like me."

Momo giggles. "What are you saying, onee-san?" she says. "That's just like you… like the old you, at least."

Mami chuckles. "Momo-chan might be right… well, even if I had nowhere else to go from here… the important thing to me is that I got to talk with you again, right here and now. Both of you – Kyouko, and Momo-chan too."

"Ugh, quit it with the sappy talk," Kyouko grumbles. "Listen, we should be talking about dinner!"

This seems like a good time to try another experiment with my magic.

"In that case…" I take out a grief seed. "Could I ask everyone to join hands in a circle?"

"Huh? What for?" Sayaka asks.

"Let's just do it," Madoka says, seizing Homura's and Sayaka's hands. "I'm sure Ashley-chan has something in mind."

So everyone joins hands, and then I take out my soul gem and press a grief seed against it as I activate my magic, causing all twelve of us to sink into the shadows.

"W-whoa!?" Momo gasps. "W-what the heck is this…?"

"This is my magic," I explain. "Can you move, Momo? If you let go, can you reach out and touch…"

I look around for a bit until I spot a window opening in front of her house.

"…that window there?"

"Um… I'll try," Momo says.

She lets go of Kyouko's hand and reaches out, but then quickly draws back.

"W-whoa… it felt like I was going to be sucked in…!?" Momo gasps.

"Yeah… that's the point," I say. "That should take you just outside the Chitose house."

"Ah… in that case, I should say good night to everyone," Momo says. "Good night, onee-san… I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

"Eh, prolly," Kyouko says.

"Yuma too!" Yuma exclaims. "Good night, Kyouko!"

With that, Momo and Yuma both reach out for the window. They're sucked in and vanish from sight, and then I reach for the window in front of the inn. Everyone else emerges from the shadows in front of the inn, startling the twins who are out lining up those stones again.

"Whoa!" Kyouka exclaims.

"Where'd you come from!?" Mizuki exclaims.

"Be careful!" Kyouka says. "Don't disturb the stones!"

"Yeah, don't disturb them, or Kei will come again!" Mizuki says.

"I hate to say it, but Kei will probably come anyway," I say. "After all, we've disturbed her quite a bit since we arrived, so I'm sure she can't contain her curiosity…"

"Now, now, it can't hurt to try," Mami says. "Do you two know if dinner is almost ready?"

"Dunno," Kyouka says.

"Guess it must be." Mizuki says.

"But I already had dinner," Kyouka says.

"Yeah, it was yummy!" Mizuki says.

"Sayaka, good night!" Kyouka says.

"Nighty-night, Sayaka!" Mizuki says.

"How many times do I have to tell you!" Sayaka groans. "It's Miss Sayaka to you!"

---

I'm woken around dawn for some reason. Laying there next to Inui, I suddenly realize that a witch's magic can be sensed nearby, so I sit up. By some fluke, Inui sits up at the same time, and we look at each other.

"Is that… a witch…?" Inui asks.

"Seems like it…?" I agree.

I scry on the next room and find that Homura and Sayaka have woken up as well. A few moments later, Madoka twitches and mutters in her sleep. Homura looks at her in surprise.

"Is Madoka awake too…?" Sayaka whispers.

Suddenly, Madoka's eyes snap open, and she speaks in an oddly deep voice.

"I'm here… I got in!" she says.

«Looks like Kei has possessed Madoka, just like I predicted,» I say. «Miss Isuzu! Are you awake?»

«Huh!?» Ren's voice responds almost immediately. «H-how did you…?»

«Your magic deals with souls, doesn't it? I bet you sensed whatever's happening here and woke up,» I reply.

«W-well… actually, I just couldn't sleep,» Ren says. «Though I did sense something weird… you said that Miss Kaname's been possessed, right?»

«Yeah…»

"I got in!" Madoka repeats. "I got in!"

"What!?" Homura gasps.

"W-what's going on?" Sayaka wonders.

"Yu," Madoka says. "Oh, Yu… the promised day is here. Hurry, let's go. I wore my favourite outfit to see you. Where are you? Don't leave me!"

Having rambled on by herself while the others just stare in shock, Madoka leaps up and catapults herself out through the window.

"What!? Madoka!?" Sayaka gasps.

"Wait!" Homura says.

She leaps through the window after Madoka, with Sayaka following close behind.

«Inui, Miss Isuzu, let's follow them,» I say. «We're heading for the cliff!»

«O-okay!» Ren says. «I can bring Rika-chan, right? She woke up too…»

«Bring whoever you want,» I say.

From what I can tell, the others haven't been woken by the commotion. In Madoka's room, both Hitomi and Mabayu are still sleeping, and in our room, Mami and Kyouko haven't stirred either. Nagisa also seems to be fast asleep. I broadcast one last message to anyone listening.

«We'll be at the cliff if you want to follow.»

With that, I grab Inui's hand and leap out the window, adjusting my clairvoyance to target Madoka. She's running up the hill at an impressive pace, followed by Sayaka. I don't see Homura however. She probably used time stop to get ahead of Madoka. Inui and I also head up the hill, soon spotting Sayaka ahead. The scent of the jasmine wafts down to us, oddly strong for the number of flowers up there. As Madoka approaches the edge, she finds Homura already there, waiting for her. Unable to change course now, she ends up slamming straight into Homura's waiting arms, almost causing the other girl to lose her balance.

"Madoka! What are you doing!?" Homura shouts.

And then my clairvoyance suddenly fizzles out, interrupted by something. Whatever's up on the cliff has the ability to interfere with my power. By the time Sayaka, Inui, and I have reached the cliff edge, neither Madoka nor Homura are anywhere to be seen. I try to scry on them again but to no avail.

"Where'd they go!?" Sayaka gasps. "D-don't tell me… did they jump…?"

"If they'd jumped, we'd see them," I say. "Remember, both of them can fly… even if Madoka is possessed, Homura would definitely catch her, and we'd see them hovering over the ocean right now. I think what happened is… they were sucked into some kind of barrier… and it's an odd sort of barrier. It even blocks my power. I can't confirm their condition."

"Miss Taylor…" Sayaka says. "So… there's a witch around…?"

"I'm not sure whether it's a witch or a rumour," I say. "But there's definitely something…"

"What'll we do…?" Sayaka asks. "I don't sense a witch… if it's a rumour, how can we get in…?"

"For now, let's just wait," I say. "I called for someone else who can probably help… she should be here any minute now."

"Are you sure…?" Sayaka says.

"I'm mostly sure," I reply.

We wait a minute or so in silence before the sound of heavy breathing can be heard. Soon after, Ren and Rika emerge from the trees, approaching us.

"What're you guys doing up here in the middle of the night…?" Rika asks. "Ren-chan didn't explain properly…"

"Our friend was captured by a witch or something!" Sayaka says. "But I can't even sense it…"

"Oh geez, that's terrible!" Rika says. "Ren-chan, you should've said that from the start! But… I don't sense a witch around here…?"

"Can you sense anything, Miss Isuzu?" I ask.

"Um… there is… something strange… yes," Ren says, gasping for breath. "A barrier… sort of…? It's… different from a witch's barrier… it's probably… a rumour…"

"Can you get us into it?" I ask. "Or at least get in yourself? I'd really like to converse with the rumour though, so if you can find a way to get me in as well, that would be appreciated…"

"I… I'll try," Ren says.

She closes her eyes and focuses.

"But why can only Ren-chan sense it?" Rika asks. "I can't feel a thing…"

"Its magic is probably similar to hers," I say. "I imagine Miss Mitama would be able to sense it too…"

"Eh? Are you saying Ren-chan's magic is similar to Miss Mitama's?" Rika says.

"In some sense," I say. "I don't know if Miss Isuzu has what it takes to be a Coordinator, but I think her magic does have something in common… anyway, that's beside the point. I'm relying on you, Miss Isuzu."

"Y-yes…!" Ren says. "Um, yes… perhaps we should, um… hold hands… yeah."

Rika seizes one of her hands, and Inui seizes the other, as well as one of mine. I let Sayaka grab my free hand. Ren mutters to herself, something that sounds vaguely like a mantra of some kind, and then everything suddenly goes black around us. I can't see myself, let alone any of the others.

"It… it worked!" Ren gasps. "Ah… Rika-chan didn't make it… I hope she's okay… is everyone else here…?"

"I'm here," Sayaka says.

"I'm here too," I say. "And I'm sure Miss Ayano will be fine. If anything, it's the ones who got in who are in the most danger."

"I'm also here, but I guess you knew that," Inui says.

"Yes, yes, your hand," Ren says.

The fact that only Rika didn't make it in is a bit strange. I wonder if Ren subconsciously excluded her, on the premise of keeping her safe. In the actual event in the game, only Ren was able to make it in, so I'm a bit surprised I even managed to accompany her… though I'm glad it worked out that way. Then again… perhaps there's another reason we all got in… is there anything we all have in common…?

Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice addresses us from somewhere ahead.

"Fù qīn chuán…?" it asks.

It's a girl's voice, and it sounds like she's speaking Chinese. Unfortunately, Chinese isn't one of the languages Ashley knows, even if we can recognize it. The voice is also accompanied by a strong scent of the sea.

"Does anyone… know what she said…?" I ask.

"Um… I'm not quite sure, but… something about her father's… legacy… maybe…?" Ren says hesitantly. "I don't really know Chinese that well…"

"Wǒ zhèng zài xún zhǎo fù qīn," the spectre continues.

"Ah, I think… she's probably looking for her father," Ren says.

"Is she a ghost too, I wonder?" I say. "I imagine her father is probably long dead…"

The spectre gasps, then starts muttering to itself. The muttering recedes, so it must be moving away.

"Seems like you scared it off," Sayaka says. "But was it really okay to tell her that her father's dead?"

"I have no idea," I say. "This is the first time I've encountered anything like this… I did meet a ghost once before, but she probably wasn't a typical example of a ghost."

"I guess you mean Akatsuki Youha, right?" Inui says.

"Of course, who else would I be talking about?" I say.

"Um… we should… see if we can contact them… yes," Ren says.

Without further ado, she takes a deep breath and calls out, a little timidly.

"Someone, anyone! Is anyone there?"

A few moments, we hear Homura's voice in response.

"Who's there!?"

"Um… it's Isuzu Ren, yes! Are you… in here…?"

"Homura!" Sayaka exclaims. "Are you okay?"

"Miss Miki…? I'm fine, for now…" Homura responds.

"I'm so glad…!" Ren exclaims.

"I'm here too," I say.

"Ugh… Miss Taylor…!" Homura exclaims.

"You don't have to sound so annoyed!" I protest. "I'm trying to help here!"

"Say, Homura… where's Madoka?" Sayaka asks.

"She was here just now," Homura says. "But it wasn't really her…"

"What do you mean, it wasn't really her…?" Sayaka asks.

"It was like there was someone else in her body," Homura says.

She proceeds to explain what happened in the short time since we were separated.

---

Just as Homura questioned Madoka's actions, suddenly everything went dark around them. Madoka squirmed free of her grip and darted away, and Homura tried to follow her but quickly lost her. She tried to brighten the area up with her magic, but it didn't do anything to disperse the darkness. She could barely even make out her own hands and feet.

"Fù qīn chuán…?" an unknown voice suddenly asked.

Homura gasped and spun to face it, but there was nothing to see.

"Is that… a girl's voice?" she wondered. "Hello?"

"Wǒ zhèng zài xún zhǎo… fù qīn," the spectre continued.

"What was that…?" Homura asked.

But no response came this time.

"Wait!" Homura exclaimed.

She was about to start chasing it when something suddenly seized one of her hands. Homura spun to face the culprit, but she still couldn't see anything.

"That girl got washed up here from far, far away, I think," Madoka said. "She said she's looking for the ship her father was on."

"Madoka!?" Homura gasped. "I can't see you… are you really there? Is that your hand? Are you alright!? We have to get out of this labyrinth! We should chase after that girl…"

"It sounds like she wants to head out to sea so she can look for his ship," Madoka said. "Anyway, if we leave now, you'll kill me."

"What!? I'd never!" Homura protested. "Why would you ever think I'd do that to you!?"

"You will kill me," Madoka insisted. "You won't be able to live with yourself if you don't. Scallacachacapoco, chacapocochacapoco."

Suddenly she burst out laughing, an unhinged laugh that didn't suit Madoka's voice. Homura transformed and tried to spin her shield, but it wouldn't budge. Madoka kept laughing as Homura tried to force the shield to move, to no avail.

"Oh yeah!" Madoka exclaimed. "You can stop time, can't you? Sorry, but time doesn't pass here, so your powers won't work. Here, it has simply never moved for anyone. It's always looping over the same moment on repeat."

It was then that Homura had heard Ren's voice and moved towards her.

---

"I see," Sayaka says. "So Madoka's being controlled by someone…"

"And you managed to get in somehow," Homura says.

"Um, I was able to… somehow, yeah," Ren says. "But… Rika-chan didn't make it inside…"

"So, we weren't able to get in just because it was Miss Isuzu who brought us," I muse. "But there's one thing everyone here, other than Miss Isuzu, has in common… we either read the diary or visited that shrine. I guess that's not quite something everyone has in common, since it's two things that not all of us did both of… but you get the idea…? My point being that we've all been in contact with relics related to… to whatever this is."

"Is someone here?" Madoka's voice asks suddenly. "Is someone here?"

Suddenly she bursts out laughing again.

"Huh…?" Ren says. "Was that… Miss Kaname…?"

"She's definitely being controlled," Sayaka says.

"And I still can't use my magic," Homura says.

"This is just a guess," Ren says. "But, um, maybe… the thing controlling Miss Madoka… it might be something, uh, other than a witch… I think… I think it's… kind of similar to the magic I can use… Miss Taylor suggested it, and once I got here, I realized… she's right… s-sorry, it's a bit, um, hard to explain…"

"Hey you!" Homura shouts angrily. "What do you want with her!? Let her go!"

"Why?" Madoka asks. "Why? Why? I can smell it on all of you. The curses. The blood. I know girls like you would eagerly kill Yu."

"Well, you're not wrong about that," I admit. "I came very close to killing her. No… I even did kill her a couple of times…"

"She's adrift right now, lost," Madoka continues. "This time, I have to go and see her for a change. To be honest, I would've been happy to use you, the transfer student… but something stopped me from getting inside. So I'll use this girl's body instead. I'll go to Yu and kill her with these hands."

"What are you talking about!?" Homura gasps. "Kill her!? With Madoka's hands!? I can't allow that!"

"I'm only a memory staining these rocks," Madoka says. "A faint echo, clinging to the cliffside. And the only one in the world who knows the real me… is Yu. If my real self is here as a spirit… that means Yu must still be alive. And if she's still alive, I need to go to her. That's who I really am. I remember it perfectly. That's who I am, without lies or façades."

Madoka falls silent for a bit, and the others don't seem to have anything to interject. After a bit, she continues speaking.

"You know, until very, very recently… my thoughts were only basic ones, indistinct and fuzzy. But then, that girl you were speaking to got washed up beneath the cliff. Talking to her every day sharpened up all the parts that were unclear. All the finer details, all the emotions, came flooding back. Yu… how did you go faint in my mind? How did I let you fade away? I want to see you… Yu… I held Yu so tight, our arms and legs bound together, so we wouldn't drift apart. We plunged in, hoping to sink to the floor of the sea and melt together into clear stones. Her hands were still clutching my throat. We did everything so perfectly… so why…" She sighs. "She even gave herself over to the currents alongside my corpse. But it was no use. The waves got in the way… it didn't work." She sighs again. "I want Yu all to myself forever. I'll kill her, and then I want her to kill me again. Over and over again!"

"I don't care!" Homura shouts. "I won't let you dirty Madoka's hands by killing someone in her body!"

"Oh, Homura… you could stay here too, you know?" Madoka says. "Nothing changes in this place. So you don't need to change anything either, see? We could just stay here, all of us, forever. You want to stay here with me too, don't you?"

"T-that's…!" Homura gasps. "No… not like this…! Madoka would never want to stay somewhere like this! It's… it's not even real…"

"How can you know that?" Madoka asks. "What even counts as real? Are you sure you don't want to stay here with me? I want to stay. Even if it all is a lie, and even if it makes some people worry."

"Madoka would never wish for something like that!" Homura shouts. "She'd never say such a thing! And she'd never need a place like this!"

"Homura's right!" Sayaka exclaims. "You're not Madoka! You have no right to keep her here!"

"Madoka would stay with me!" Homura says. "No matter how tough it gets… Madoka is always willing to keep going by my side!"

"Don't forget me as well!" Sayaka retorts. "She'd stay with me too!"

"So then…?" Madoka says. "You really think you understand people other than yourself that well? You make me sick. You really make me sick! You make me sick!"

"Watch out!" I exclaim. "She's about to start attacking…"

Indeed, Madoka bursts out laughing and starts flinging arrows of light every which way. Fortunately, we can somehow see the arrows, so it's not too hard to dodge them, though it means we're forced to let go of each other and end up being split up.

"Kei!" I shout. "Wouldn't you prefer to kill Yu with your own hands?"

Madoka giggles. "Of course! But that's not possible! I don't even have a body anymore!"

"What would you say if I told you there might be a way to get your original body back?" I ask.

Madoka giggles, flinging a few more arrows at random as she runs around, so the arrows keep coming in from different directions.

"As if that's possible!" she says. "I'm dead, you know? The dead don't come back to life. Unless miracles exist, there's no other way."

"They do," I say, quoting Sayaka. "Magic and miracles do exist."

Madoka giggles. "Even if they do exist, who's going to bring about a miracle for little old me?" she asks.

"You can bring about your own miracle," I say. "It might take some time, but as a ghost, you have that in spades. You can make a wish and become a magical girl. And if you become a magical girl, you'll gain a new body."

"I-is that… really possible?" Ren asks. "She's a ghost… after all…"

"It's possible," I say. "But it's not easy… it relies on some conditions that are difficult to achieve. I know it's definitely possible, however. I recently saw it happen with my own eyes – a ghost who made a wish and became a magical girl."

Madoka giggles. "Lies, lies, lies, all lies!" she exclaims. "A magical girl? Don't make me laugh! As if someone like me could ever be a magical girl of justice!"

"No-one ever mentioned justice," Inui points out.

"Liiies!" Madoka exclaims. "You can't fool me!"

She fires off a bunch more arrows, keeping us on our toes.

"U-um… Miss Taylor… I-I can't be certain… this will work," Ren speaks up. "But um… my magic… it might… be able to draw out… w-whatever's possessing Miss Kaname!"

Suddenly an arrow streaks right for her, and she dodges with a little squeak.

"Take… this!" Ren exclaims.

Madoka giggles, apparently dodging with ease.

"I… I can't hit her!" Ren gasps.

"Miss Isuzu!" I call. "Focus on the smell!"

"Huh!?" Ren says.

Madoka has a scent of jasmine about her, but there's nothing else in this place that has a strong scent. No… that's not quite true. That other girl trapped in here also had a strong scent… though if I recall correctly, that girl is a witch, rather than a ghost. If my memory of the event is correct, she should be the witch Paola – the same witch the others fought yesterday.

"Ah, I get it!" Inui exclaims. "It's those flowers blooming on the cliff… Mado-tan's drenched in that scent, but… everything else around here doesn't have much of a scent at all…"

"And… if the one possessing her is Kei," Sayaka says.

She pauses to take a deep breath.

"Oy, Kei, I'm over here!" she shouts. "What was it… um, right! 'In every life, we end whenever we meet!'"

Madoka gasps. "Yu!? Is it really you!?" she exclaims. "Are you over there? Where are you? I can't see you! It's too dark! I can't see anything! I can't feel anything! Answer me! I'm right here!"

"H-here I come!" Ren shouts. "Soul Salvation!"

"H-hold on a sec!" I protest. "I don't want to destroy this spirit…!"

I worried for nothing, however, for it seems the attack never lands. I can't see, so I'm not quite sure how that happens, but at that point another voice pipes up, and the scent of jasmine mingles with the salt smell of the sea. It's that mysterious Chinese girl from earlier – or the witch, Paola, if my memory is correct. That said, her behaviour thus far hasn't been very witch-like…

"Qǐng yuán liàng wǒ," she says.

"D-did something… deflect my magic?" Ren wonders. "Is someone… s-shielding Miss Kaname…?"

"Qǐng yuán liàng wǒ," the girl repeats. "Qǐng yuán liàng wǒ."

"Is that person also stuck in the labyrinth?" Sayaka wonders. "Hey… wouldn't you like to get out of here together with us? Um… do you even speak Japanese…?"

"No," I say. "I think you're on the wrong track, Miss Miki…"

"Qǐng yuán liàng wǒ," the girl repeats.

"I don't think she understands, in any case," Homura says.

"A-actually, um…!" Ren gasps. "She's… she isn't human!"

"I thought so too," I say.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Sayaka asks.

"I think… she's the root of this curse," Ren says.

"Huh…? What do you mean?" Homura asks.

"I don't get it," Sayaka says.

"Curse… are you saying she's a witch…?" Inui asks. "But I've never heard of a witch talking to people like that…"

Suddenly Inui and Sayaka both let out a little squeal, but it cuts off midway.

"Huh…?" Ren says.

"Did something happen…?" Homura asks.

"Inui…? You there?" I ask.

"Ah, um… I think…!" Ren says.

At that point she switches to telepathy.

«Miss Itsumi, Miss Miki, can you hear me…?» she asks. «It feels like you… got pulled into a labyrinth? But I was left… out here… with the others… yeah… so um… are you alright?»

«A damn witch pulled us in!» Sayaka replies.

«It's the same witch from yesterday, on the beach!» Inui says.

«Don't worry about us!» Sayaka says. «It doesn't look like a very strong witch… we'll defeat it in no time! Just focus on helping Madoka!»

«You don't have to tell me,» Homura replies.

«Y-yes!» Ren says.

"But is Madoka still here with us…?" I ask. "I can't smell those flowers anymore…"

"N-now that you… mention it," Ren says. "I can't… either… I think it sent us off… somewhere else… yeah…"

"They probably would've noticed immediately if Madoka was with them in the labyrinth," I say.

I try to scry on the two of them, but my vision is still being blocked. That's when I realize that there's been a subtle change to the quality of the darkness encasing us. I can faintly make out the shapes of floating kanji… a rumour's barrier?

"Where is she…?" Homura says.

"I have a feeling we'll need to beat this thing to find her," I say.

"Y-yes, um… maybe," Ren says. "Can you… sense it too…?"

"Is that… a rumour…?" Homura asks

"It does feel like one," I say. "But I still can't really see anything…"

"L-let me… try something," Ren says.

I hear the thunk of her staff being planted firmly in the ground, and she starts muttering under her breath. After a few moments, the unnatural darkness sort of seems to bleed away from the surroundings, and I can finally make out the outlines of Homura and Ren. It's still dark, but it's closer to the darkness of night than the pitch darkness of earlier. I can see a void where the tip of Ren's staff should be, though – as if that darkness was being compressed and focused into one spot.

And beyond Ren, there's the outline of something else looming. I squint, trying to make it out. It looks like… a grandfather clock, I think, with the pendulum chamber wide open and filled with night jasmine, preventing the pendulum from swinging.

"This… definitely must be the rumour… right?" I say. "This strange situation came about from the unprecedented combination of a ghost, a witch, and a rumour… so if Miss Miki defeats the witch, and we defeat the rumour, then… all that's left is the ghost… and I bet that's comparatively easy to deal with."

"Y-yes… um," Ren says. "It takes… all I've got… to… keep this up, so… you two… are on your own… yeah…"

"Got it," I say. "Homura, are you still unable to stop time?"

Homura reaches for her shield, but it seems it still won't turn. Then she withdraws a pistol.

"I can't stop time, but I can still access the space inside my shield," she says. "If we take this thing down, Madoka will be freed, right? So what are you waiting for?"

She leaps forward, firing the pistol at the rumour. Meanwhile, I start to summon as many Teddy Drones as I can, positioning them around the rumour.

"Great Teddy's Ionic Bombardment!" I shout.

"Give Madoka back to us!" Homura shouts.

Dodging my bombardment by spreading her wings and leaping into the air, she focuses magic into her pistol and fires until the magazine is empty, each magic-charged bullet striking true. As the smoke from my bombardment dies down, I summon Kensei and leap forward, plunging the sword inside the flower-filled interior and dragging it up through the clock face with a yell of exertion.

It looks like that's enough for it to crumble. The grandfather clock shatters into a hundred pieces which then crumble into dust.

"Miss Isuzu, are you okay?" I ask. "You can stop now!"

"Y-yes…!" Ren gasps. "I'm still… fine… my soul gem isn't… full yet… yeah…"

As I turn to face her, she collapses to her knees and releases the void gathered on her staff. It expands once more, plunging us back into pitch darkness. At the same time, I can hear the voice of a rumour spreader nearby.

"Have you heard? Has anyone told you?" it asks, cackling. "The rumour of the Floral Memory Wonderland!"

I wait for it to finish out of pure curiosity, but once it loops back around to "Have you heard?", I lunge towards its voice with my sword, and suddenly the voice is cut off in mid-word.

"I can hear her," Homura says. "She's close by…"

Sure enough… the moment the rumour spreader's voice is cut off, we're able to hear the sound of Madoka's voice in the distance. However, somehow it's hard to determine a direction, maybe due to a property of this darkness.

"Let's head towards her," I say. "Miss Isuzu, can you tell which direction she's in?"

"Yes, um… maybe," Ren says. "I think… she's probably… over this way…?"

"Then lead the way, Isuzu Ren," Homura says.

"R-right…!" Ren says. "T-this way…!"

She starts humming, and I follow the sound of her voice. Presumably, Homura does the same, though it's still so dark in here that we can't see anything. After a minute or so, we hear Madoka's voice up ahead.

"So you did do it, after all," Madoka says, giggling. "See? You killed her, didn't you?"

"The heck're you saying?" Sayaka replies. "That was just a witch…"

I hear the sound of rapid footsteps, followed by Homura's voice up ahead.

"Give it up already!" she shouts. "I don't care what the two of you do with your own lives. Do whatever you want. But don't you dare steal mine or Madoka's lives away! I won't let you!"

"Relax," Madoka says. "If she's not with me, then I'll quickly fade away as well. Memories fade almost immediately. But once I'm gone, will you kill Yu in my place? I want to see her so badly. Please kill her for me. Before her soul breaks… before she ends up like that girl who gave me the power of her curse. Before it's too late… please, kill Yu for me, while she's still the Yu I know. We made a promise. Every time our fates cross paths… that's when the two of us must die."

"What are you saying…?" Sayaka says. "We can't do that."

"I can pass on your message to Yu if I see her," Inui says. "But I can't promise I'll kill her… though, I'm not saying I definitely wouldn't. She did hurt me pretty badly as well…"

"I'm asking you here, on this shore, on this night… kill Yu for me," Madoka says. "Just like you killed that girl. Here, on this beach, flowing with the sands of our long-dead ancestors. I asked you to kill her. The waves, here, the ocean wind… they will nooot for-for-forget my words. No matter where you ru-ru-ru-run to, orrr how many worlds you span. I-I still ask-asked you to do it. At the eeeeeeend of everythi-thi-thing, my-my-my li-life is, is, is meant to b-b-be ended by Yu. Yu."

Her voice is starting to sound like a broken record – not a stutter, but a recording that keeps skipping back a beat.

"Why should I be your errand girl?" Homura retorts coldly. "What's in it for me if I kill Yu? You're just a ghost. There's nothing you can even give me."

"Besides, you can't just expect us to do that!" Sayaka exclaims. "I absolutely won't agree to that sort of thing! No way in hell! I could never, ever kill someone, got it!?"

Madoka starts chanting the name over and over, like a record that has gotten stuck.

"Yu yu yu yu yu, yu yu yu yu…"

Suddenly Madoka lets out a groan, and we sense the magic of her transformation unravelling. That's around the same time that Ren and I catch up with Homura and the others. Also at the same time, the darkness seems to start fading. I can start to see vague outlines of the others now.

"I'm sorry…!" Ren exclaims. "Did we take too long…? A-are you okay? Is anyone hurt?"

"Oh, Ren!" Sayaka says. "We're fine. Inui and I managed to beat the witch, and Madoka didn't get hurt either."

Now the darkness is back to the normal darkness of night-time on the bluff. Looking around, I can see that we're in fact back where we started. It looks like Homura caught Madoka when she collapsed. A worried Rika leaps forward, glomping Ren, and Madoka groans again. This time she opens her eyes.

"H-huh? Homura?" Madoka says.

"Do you feel okay?" Homura asks. "Nothing feels weird, does it?"

"Uh, I don't think so?" Madoka says. "What the… why am I outside!? Did I actually toss and turn this far out of bed!?"

"No… something happened," Homura says.

While the others explain the situation to Madoka, I step up towards the edge of the cliff, seeking the telltale faint signs of a ghost… and after a few moments, I spot a faint outline hovering in the air just ahead of me.

"Hey… you're Kei, right?"

The softest whisper of a reply comes.

"Kei… yes…"

"Would you like to meet Yu again?" I ask.

"Yu… yes…"

"What would you do if I told you she doesn't want to see you again?" I ask. "That she doesn't even remember you?"

"Im… possible…"

"But I can help you make her remember," I say. "Is that okay?"

"Re… member… yes… Yu…"

"In that case, please wait for me here," I say. "Can you do that?"

"Wait… forever… yes…"

"I'll be back as soon as I find what I need to help you," I say. "It may take awhile even after it's all set up, but if you have patience, courage, and a little luck, you can see Yu again."

"Yes… Yu…"

"Well then, let's all get back to bed!" Sayaka suddenly shouts.

"Yeah, that's a good idea," I agree. "Let's go."

So we turn around and head back downhill to the inn, each of us returning to our respective rooms. The others – Hinano, Emiri, Mami, Kyouko, Mabayu, Hitomi, and Nagisa – haven't even been woken by the ruckus.

---

When we wake up again a few hours later, Madoka and Sayaka tell the others all about what had happened the night before. Hinano stays to listen, but Emiri, Ren, and Rika leave for the beach halfway through the explanation.

"Daaamn," Kyouko says. "Can't believe it was this close and none of us sensed a thing… I must be getting rusty."

"To think that a witch that washed up had gotten entangled with a rumour," Mami says. "I admit I was caught off guard. I'll have to reflect on what happened, but… I'm relieved that no-one got hurt as a result, at least."

"I echo that sentiment," Hinano says. "I can't believe Ren got pulled into that without me even noticing… I heard her soul gem was pretty badly tainted, too. It's a good thing Rika had a grief seed on her."

"Well, it all worked out in the end!" Sayaka says. "Sure, that witch popped up and tried to ruin our fun, not once but twice… but we dealt with it in a flash both times!"

"Yes," Hitomi says. "I too am glad it all worked out. But, I think we have exhausted the topic; I was looking forward to meeting Yuma-chan's grandparents. Shall we head over there now?"

"As for me, I'll be staying here until around midday," Hinano says. "Of course, we'll be back in Kamihama in time for the meeting though. So, I'll see you later."

"See you later, Miss Hinano!" Madoka says. "Give my regards to your friends as well."

"I'll do that," Hinano says.

After visiting Yuma's grandparents, both Yuma and Momo join us on the trip back to Mitakihara, with the understanding that they'll return together after Golden Week is over. The train has just re-entered the Mitakihara precincts when Madoka receives a notification on her phone and whips it out to check.

"Oh!" she says. "Hiyori-chan's invited us to karaoke after the Magius meeting! Who wants to go?"

"Oh, it's been awhile since we went to karaoke," Sayaka says.

"I'd like to go too," Hitomi says.

"Karaoke sounds like fun," Mami says. "I haven't had a lot of chance to have fun since I became a magical girl… but I used to really love singing."

"Then we've gotta go!" Madoka exclaims. "Kyouko-chan, you can come too, right?"

"Eh!?" Kyouko says. "Um… well…"

"Onee-san, I want to hear you sing!" Momo pipes up.

"Fine, whatever," Kyouko grumbles. "I'm not sure if I'll actually sing, though, but as long as there's food…"

"What about you, Ashley-chan?" Madoka asks. "Will you and Inui-chan join us too?"

"After the Magius meeting… I have other things to do, so I think I'll pass this time," I say. "Sorry… I would like to join you for karaoke sometime, though. I just don't have the time today."

"Aww, I would've loved to join you guys," Inui says.

"You can still join even if I don't, Inui," I point out.

"Sure, but I think it'll be more interesting to be with you, Ashley," Inui says. "I like having a front-row seat to the craziness."

"…are you calling me crazy?" I ask.

"No, that's not it," Inui says. "It's just that interesting things usually happen around you. That's all."

"And how about Mabayu-chan?" Madoka asks.

"Let me ask my aunt if it's okay," Mabayu says, taking her phone out to compose an email.

"Huh? Don't you live alone, Miss Aki?" I say.

"Normally yes, but I'm staying with my aunt over Golden Week," Mabayu says. "She runs a place called Café Récompense near Mitakihara Central station, have you heard of it?"

"Oh, I've been there before," Inui says. "I see, so your aunt runs that place… cool…"

"I don't think I've been there," I say.

"Actually, I'm a regular there," Mami says. "I didn't know she was Miss Aki's aunt until recently, thought."

"Mabayu-chan took us there the other day," Madoka says. "It's a pretty nice place… they even do cool art on your coffee!"

"You actually drink coffee…?" I say.

"Not usually, but… now and then," Madoka shrugs.

Mabayu's phone chimes, and she checks it.

"Oh, that was fast," she says. "My aunt says it's okay, so I'll come with you too."

"Alright!" Madoka says. "Then I'll tell her there are twelve of us! We can also pitch in part of the cost, since it's such a large group."

Since the Holy Brigade want to drop off their luggage at home before heading to Kamihama, and there's still plenty of time in any case, we get off the train at Mitakihara. Homura's place is closest, so we go there first, but there's another surprise in store for us. When she tries to unlock the door, the key turns more easily than expected.

"Huh…?" Homura says. "It's… not locked? I'm sure I locked it after packing for the trip…"

"Does someone else live here with you, Homura-chan?" Madoka asks.

"No, it's just me," Homura says. "Unless…" Suddenly she blinks, and takes a step back. "M-maybe… it would be better if we go to Miss Mami's place first," she says. "I can come back later by myself…"

"Huh…?" Mami says. "Why's that?"

"W-well… it's just…!" Homura begins.

But then the door opens and a woman peers out.

"I thought I heard voices," she says. "Welcome back, Homura-chan… I was worried when I found you weren't home, but I guess you were just out with your friends?"

"M-mother…!" Homura gasps. "I was right… w-what on earth are you doing here…?"

"Homura-chan… this woman is your mother…?" Mami asks.

"Ah… um… yes, I suppose she is," Homura mutters. "I don't know why she bothered to come back, though… I was doing just fine without her."

"Come now, Homura, what's with that attitude?" Mrs Akemi says. "We haven't seen each other in years and that's how you greet me?"

"You'll have to give her a bit of slack, Mrs Akemi," I pipe up. "She's a little, umm… traumatized…"

"I see," Mrs Akemi says. "I suppose I should be happy that she's still alive though. When I heard she paid a visit to Miss Charmchi, I was so shocked I spilled my coffee…"

Madoka looks at her surprise. "Huh…? You know Miss Charmchi…?"

"Yes, I'm her sponsor," Mrs Akemi says.

Madoka blinks. "Oh… come to think of it, I think maybe your name did come up when we were there…"

"Anyway, Homura-chan," Mrs Akemi says. "Just come in and introduce me to your friends."

Before Homura can stop her, Madoka steps up and enters, slipping off her shoes. Mrs Akemi steps aside to let her pass, of course.

"Sorry to intrude," Madoka says.

Then Sayaka and Hitomi follow suit, followed by the youngsters – Momo, Yuma, and Nagisa. Homura looks pleadingly at Mami, who shrugs.

"Well, we might as well chat for a bit, right?" Mami says. "Besides… at least you have a mother to welcome you back, even if she's been a bit… absent."

With a groan, Homura heads inside, followed by Mami. Kyouko shrugs and follows Mami, and then Inui and I follow suit, leaving Mabayu to take up the rear. Everyone finds a seat on the weird couches in the living room. Mrs Akemi looks at Mabayu curiously.

"Oh…?" Mrs Akemi says. "Could you possibly be… Miss Aki?"

"Huh…!?" Mabayu gasps. "Have… we met somewhere, um… Mrs Akemi?"

"No, I doubt it," Mrs Akemi says. "But you look a lot like your mother at that age."

"You knew m-mother!?" Mabayu gasps.

"Yes, a long time ago," Mrs Akemi says. "It was before Homura-chan was born… come to think of it, I last saw her about a year before I found out I was pregnant…"

"Um, before we start chatting, let's all introduce ourselves," Madoka pipes up. "I'm Kaname Madoka!"

"I'm Miki Sayaka!"

"My name is Shizuki Hitomi."

"I am Tomoe Mami."

"I'm Momoe Nagisa…"

"Yuma is Chitose Yuma!"

"Sakura Kyouko's the name."

"I'm her little sister, Momo."

"I'm Aki Mabayu."

"Itsumi Inui at your service!"

"My name is Ashley Taylor."

"Well, I'm Homura-chan's mother, Akemi Kosane," Mrs Akemi says. "You can call me either Mrs Akemi or Miss Kosane."

As before when Inui mentioned that name at Shirin Charmchi's place, something tugs at my memory. I'm pretty sure I've heard that name somewhere before, but I still can't quite place it.

"So um… Mother lived in Mitakihara back then?" Mabayu asks.

"That's right," Kosane says. "At that time, your mother was the only magical girl here in central Mitakihara… there were five or six others around the outskirts as well though. Of course, I knew them all."

"Is there some reason that you'd know all the magical girls in town, Mrs Akemi?" I ask.

"Naturally," Kosane says. "I was running a counselling centre for magical girls. Although, I saw plenty of regular people as well, but my specialty was magical girls, so I would always invite them if I ran across one."

"Huh… I never knew you did something like that," Homura says.

"Did Mother come see you a lot?" Mabayu asks. "What sorts of things did you talk about?"

"Hmm… Hanae was mostly worried about her visions," Kosane says. "After finding out about the dark truth behind magical girls, she would often ask me if it was okay for someone like her to have a child. Apparently she saw a vision of you saving the world from the 'fingers of dawn', Mabayu."

Mabayu blinks. "Huh? Are you saying… she didn't really want me? She only had me because she saw that vision…?"

"What? No, of course not," Kosane says. "This was while she was still in high school, you know – several years before she had you. I'm sure she wouldn't have gone ahead with it if she didn't actually want you. But come to think of it… have you met your father, Mabayu?"

"Huh? No… I never met him," Mabayu says. "Mother brought me up all by herself… do you know him, Mrs Akemi?"

"Well… I'm not certain," Kosane says. "I do know a guy who might be your father… but it's probably better if you ask Sakie about that. She probably knows more than me, anyway."

"Ah, that's true," Mabayu says. "Mother and Aunt Sakie used to be pretty close before we moved to Takarazaki, apparently."

"So… if I understand correctly… did Miss Aki's mother have the power to see the future?" I ask.

"Seems like it," Kosane says. "None of her visions seemed to match up with my experiences though…"

"Do you know what those 'fingers of dawn' are?" I ask.

Kosane shakes her head. "Nothing definite," she says. "Hanae referred to them in many different ways, but 'fingers of dawn' seemed to be her favourite. She also called them the 'eldritch cuteness', the 'malevolent purity', and 'humanity's greatest mistake'. I'm sure there were a few others as well…"

It's at that moment that the significance of her name finally clicks.

"Those descriptions," I say. "It's extremely vague, but… couldn't these 'fingers of dawn' actually be Homo magica?"

Kosane blinks at me in surprise. "That was my thought as well, but… how do you know about that…?"

"That means… I was right?" I say. "You're actually Kiriha Kosane?"

"Yes, that's my maiden name," Kosane says. "How did you know? Don't tell me you've actually read my research papers… oh, I did write a book on the topic though, maybe you've read that…? But that wouldn't explain how you know about Homo magica… unless you read my autobiography, but officially that's a work of fiction…"

"Ah, well… I haven't read your books or your papers," I say. "But a girl named Coeurl mentioned your name… and she was also the one who told me about Homo magica."

"Huh? Coeurl?" Kosane says. "That's odd… I heard she died, so how could she possibly be in this time period…?"

"I don't think it's so strange," I say. "The report of her death could've actually been when she was thrown into the past, right?"

"Ah… you're right," Kosane says. "Hmm, then why don't you invite her over sometime? I'd like to see her again."

"I'll probably see her later today, so I'll invite her then," I say. "I can't promise she'll accept, though."

"I'll look forward to it," Kosane says.

At that point, Mami clears her throat.

"If you'll excuse me," she says. "We have an appointment in a few hours in another city, and we'd like to drop off our luggage first."

"I see," Kosane says. "Will you be staying overnight?"

"No, we'll be back by dinnertime," Mami says.

"In that case, why not have dinner here with me?" Kosane suggests.

"M-mother, no…!" Homura gasps. "Why would you do that…?"

"I'd like to get to know your friends a bit better," Kosane says. "Especially since they're all magical girls. Well… all but one."

"Ah, I did get offered a wish by Kyuubey though," Momo pipes up. "But so far there isn't anything I want to wish for, so…"

Kosane nods. "Just keep in mind that there are some things Kyuubey doesn't tell you," she says. "If you decide you might want to make a wish, I recommend grilling him carefully before you make your final decision."

"Oy, not you too!" Kyouko protests. "Stop putting strange ideas in Momo's head, for God's sake!"

Momo giggles. "Don't worry, nee-san," she says. "I don't plan to become a magical girl anytime soon, at least, and I'll definitely put a lot of thought into it if I ever change my mind."

"Well, I'd be happy to take you up on that offer, Mrs Akemi," Mami says. "We did schedule a karaoke session this evening, but I'm sure there'll be time for dinner after that."

"In that case, I could even pick you up at the karaoke place and drive you over here," Kosane offers.

"Ah, that would be a great help," Mami says. "Thank you very much."

"Alright, then it's settled," Kosane says. "I'll make sure to have enough food for at least twelve guests."

"Then, if you'll excuse us," Mami says. "We'll head out now. Homura-chan… there's another hour or so before we have to catch the train, so you can stay here and catch up with your mother, if you'd like."

"Why would I want to do that!?" Homura protests. "I never wanted to see her to begin with… it's been almost fifteen years since we last spoke. How am I supposed to face her!?"

"Fifteen years!?" Kosane gasps. "That can't be right… I mean, you're only fourteen, Homura-chan!"

"Oh… I'm assuming that's counting the time loops," I say. "Which I guess would mean it's been… about three years from your perspective?"

Kosane blinks. "Ah… just from that, I suddenly start to understand what you said earlier, Miss Ashley," she says. "About Homura-chan being traumatized…"

"It's impressive that your mother believes in the time travel immediately," Madoka says. "And it seems like she even knows a lot about magical girls. You should stay and talk with her for a bit, Homura-chan."

"Ugh!" Homura says. "Fine… but no more than an hour, okay?"

"Sounds good to me," Kosane says.

So everyone except Homura and Kosane head outside, and from there we all split up to go our own ways. Of course, Inui stays with me as I make my way to the Hayashi house.

We meet back up an hour later at the station, to catch a train to Kamihama. Our destination: Fendt Hope.

---

Well, that took quite a bit longer than I anticipated. In fact, this chapter was already almost done when I posted the previous one, but it took quite awhile for me to fill in all the missing pieces, flesh it out, and proof-read it.

This chapter resolves at least two mysteries that have been ongoing for awhile now – the fate of Momo, and the identity of Homura's mother. Yuma finally manages to meet her grandparents, and Ashley has a chat with the ghost of Kei as planned. There's a few more pieces of Scene 0 material, and I even pull a bit from the drama CD for this chapter.

The next chapter is also almost done, though I can't promise it won't share the same fate as this chapter and be delayed for a few more weeks. Still, you can look forward to the conclusion of the Green Jasper Diviners scenario and some revelations about the Tokime clan. The chapter after that is only barely started, so I can't provide an estimate of when it'll be ready. That chapter is the point at which I need to run through my checklist of "things that need to happen during Golden Week", so I'm not even entirely sure yet what material goes in there.