A/N: Thanks for the reviews!
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ZEHN
[THE SET OF ALL TIMELINES FROM (X) TO (X+N+54)] - [14 MONTHS]
"Couldn't the class trip be to somewhere more exciting?" asked Karin. "I mean, come on. We're leaving elementary school. Reward us for not demolishing the building or something." She sighed, one cheek puckered as she sucked on the straw of her juice box, and looked out at the sprawl of the Koishikawa Botanical Gardens. Trees were budding, bright new leaves unfurling and spreading out under the mild sunshine of an unusually early spring. Most of the trees in the arboretum were still in winter drab when seen from a distance, the swath of eerie gray-brown dotted with evergreens here and there.
"But it's interesting here! And so pretty!" gushed Yuzu. She pried apart the segments of her orange, the last item in her bento. Most of the girls' classmates were finished and wandering around now that the tour portion of the day was over.
"Hmph. I guess," Karin conceded. "It'd be better if the cherry trees were blooming."
Yuzu's face brightened as she swallowed a segment of her orange. "Oh! Maybe we can bring Onii-chan here for cherry blossom viewing before next school year starts! Maybe— maybe it could cheer him up? A bit?"
Yuzu looked down sadly. Karin gnawed on her straw thoughtfully. Their brother hadn't been the same since he lost his powers over a year ago. She and Yuzu had managed to coerce the stubborn boy to explain the basics of what had happened during the entire shinigami debacle, so she understood why he could no longer see or hear ghosts— no, Pluses— and Hollows. Karin understood it, but couldn't help feeling bitter that the burden to win a metaphysical war fell on her brother's shoulders when there was an entire otherworldly military that was supposed to handle that kind of thing. Her friend Tōshirō had since explained some of the failures, but even he quietly admitted it was shameful. So her brother had thrown away a core pillar of his very being for the sake of something bigger than himself. That was his choice, yes, but it was painful watching him slowly list off center for lack of anything to replace that missing pillar.
On some level, Karin and Yuzu both knew they couldn't fix their brother. The problem wasn't something they could change. It didn't stop the girls from trying their best to get their brother to live rather than just exist.
Ichigo was very, very good at faking contentment with his life without his powers. Perhaps good enough to fool himself. For now.
Karin and Yuzu, however, were very, very good at reading their brother.
The girls were certain he wasn't as well-adjusted as he tried to force himself to be. His brittleness was showing more with every passing month. But there was nothing to be done. The Thirteen Divisions had mostly withdrawn from Karakura, leaving the humans to help their savior pick up the pieces of his life. Mostly. Karin found herself bitter rather than furious only because she sometimes spotted different shinigami silently perched on light poles or rooftops looking just as helpless, frustrated, and unhappy as she felt as they watched her brother walk by without noticing them. If beings such as they looked so defeated when seeing her brother...
Well. Let them. Karin and Yuzu would never admit defeat.
Karin rolled the straw from one corner of her mouth to the other. "Yeah. And if he says no, we'll tell him we'll ask Dad and he'll drag Ichi-nii along by the collar if he has to, so he should come with just us to avoid that. I don't think it'll come to that, though. Ichi-nii's still a total sucker for us."
Yuzu hummed in agreement around the last of her orange. The girls stood in peaceful companionship for several minutes, quietly appreciating a nearby carefully-plotted field of early-blooming crocuses, multicolored hyacinths, and snowdrops. Then Yuzu's eyes wandered toward the treeline of the arboretum.
"Hey, Karin. Isn't that Kazuya? What is he doing?"
Karin glanced over. Sure enough, her soccer teammate's back was turned to them as he took halting steps toward the trees. He stopped at the treeline and cocked his head as though listening to something. After a few moments, he walked into the trees with an oddly swaying gait.
Karin frowned in confusion. "What is he doing?" She glanced around. Finding few people, she sighed and threw her empty juice box in the trash. "Come on, Yuzu. Let's fetch the idiot before he manages to get lost."
They put their empty bento in the stack of all the other empty ones and set out for the trees, Karin marching grumpily and Yuzu smilingly looking at the flowers. They followed the path into the wood.
"Hey! Kazuya! Where are you?" Karin shouted when they were several yards in. They heard a rustle off to their right and saw the boy far off the path, shuffling through the carpet of dead leaves. "Kazuya! You idiot! Stay on the path!" Karin growled in frustration and charged off into the trees after him. Yuzu looked up and down the empty path, made an unhappy sound, and hurried after her.
Karin caught up with her friend and grabbed his shoulder to turn him around. "Didn't you hear me? Come ba—!" She was cut off mid-word by the boy elbowing her in the chest and knocking the air out of her. Yuzu shouted her name as Kazuya shrugged her hand off his shoulder.
"Stop that," he said with the thick voice of the half-asleep. He started to wander away again.
Yuzu hovered over Karin as she panted for a moment. Furious, Karin stood up and shouted, "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
Kazuya came to a wobbly stop. He glanced over his shoulder at them. Distractedly, he said, "I need to go to her. She's lonely." Deeming that all the explanation needed, he turned and resumed his walk. Karin made to stomp after him, but Yuzu held her back.
"Karin," Yuzu whispered urgently. "What was that thing on his neck?"
Karin blinked and looked at her sister in confusion. "Thing on his neck?"
"Didn't you see it? It was like a tattoo... or maybe a really big spider."
Karin made an incredulous sound. "What are you saying?"
Yuzu let go of Karin and wrung her hands. "I-I don't know. But Kazuya isn't acting right. And he's not talking right. I think something is wrong. Something feels weird."
Karin squinted after her friend, who was still swaying his way through the trees in the distance. "You're right. That wuss wouldn't dare hit me." She scowled and started following him more carefully. "Come on."
The girls jogged after the boy and carefully approached him as he stopped in a clearing. The place didn't seem to be anything special— three big, rotted tree stumps were piled to one side. The earth was overturned over a wide area from gardeners digging up roots. Three new trees in burlap sacks were nearby, their bases supporting an assortment of shovels, hoes, and rakes. Kazuya turned to his left to dazedly stare at... nothing, it seemed. It gave the girls a chance to see the side of his neck, though.
There was a purple mark about five centimeters in diameter stamped on his neck like a tattoo. As the girls drew closer, they saw that the main part was a solid but warped and wavy five-pointed star with a small blank normal star cut out of the center. Thin lines connected each twisted arm of the big star at their middles, implying a pentagon shape behind the star. Attached to the bottommost side of the pentagon was a small bell-like shape.
"What is that?" Karin said in an undertone. Slowly, she reached toward her dazed friend and poked the mark with one finger. She barely had time to shudder before Kazuya backhanded her in the face.
"Stop that," he said drowsily. "It's my invitation."
Usually, Karin would roar at the boy and charge. Instead, she held her cheek and stared at her friend in horror.
Yuzu anxiously asked, "Karin, what is it?"
"That mark. It feels like— like a Hollow. But not really. Kinda? It's weird. It feels like— It feels like—" Karin cast her mind back, trying to remember what it reminded her of. Something Tōshirō had taught her? Wait. Not quite. She landed on it: It reminded her of what she felt one wet day when Tōshirō had gotten frustrated with her practicing soccer in a thunderstorm and had finally resorted to snaring her with a binding kidō so he could haul her to shelter "for her own good." This mark felt Hollow-like and restrictive. Even barely touching it, she could feel it try to snag her, too. Some Hollow-thing had bound Kazuya.
Karin didn't waste time explaining to Yuzu. Face determined, she slapped her hand on Kazuya's neck and did the only thing she knew could break a binding like that: She flared her reiatsu until its power exceeded that in the binding and shattered it. Kazuya's eyes rolled up into his head and he slumped to the ground, unconscious. Karin stood panting over his body, hand still outstretched.
"Karin! What happened?!"
Karin looked at Yuzu. "Something like a Hollow had him in some kind of binding spell. I broke it like I broke Tōshirō's this one time. We need to get out—"
That wasn't very nice, a girlish voice echoed in their heads.
The sisters froze and stared at one another, eyes wide.
He was going to be my friend, the voice lamented.
"What— what's that?" Yuzu whimpered.
It's so lonely here.
"I— I dunno." Karin felt hunted.
You should come instead. It will be fun.
Karin glanced around. "Grab a shovel, Yuzu."
I'm so lonely.
"But—"
Won't you come meet me?
Karin's skin crawled with a sense of incoming attack. "Grab a shovel, Yuzu!"
We can be together forever!
Reality warped around them. They each managed to grab a shovel before the dead leaves beneath their feet sprouted vividly purple grass and the air was filled with the tinkling of many small bells. Several boxwood plants burst out of the earth between the girls and Kazuya, quickly thickening into an impassable hedge as tall as a ten-story building. The girls stared at it until startled by the sound of bells suddenly growing louder. Both turned and found that the arboretum had been replaced by a bizarre garden of gigantic flowers. Stems of lily of the valley formed an arched pathway, their dangling blossoms the size of lampshades ringing like wedding bells. Stalks of foxglove three stories tall jingled like sleigh bells in the breeze. Green fairies the size of cats cavorted through the air, jousting with over-sized slotted spoons of varying shapes. Chiming laughter bubbled out of their bright blue frog heads. Normal-sized calla lilies formed a green and white carpet beneath the tree-size stalks of many differently colored daffodils, irises, and poppies. In the distance, there appeared to be a forest of towering delphiniums in vivid blues and purples. Flaming clusters of sugar cubes drifted across the pale green sky like clouds. No trace of the drab woods could be found in the riot of color.
The girls gaped and instinctively huddled together, holding the shovels defensively.
"What's happening?!" shrilled Yuzu.
"I don't know! I don't know!" Karin was entirely out of her depth. She wondered if this was what hallucinations felt like.
"How do we get out?!"
Karin cast about desperately. She turned back to the boxwood and started madly hacking at it with her shovel. Yuzu got the idea and they quickly fell into rhythm, one striking while the other drew back. The hedge grew thicker and pushed back at them. The twins recoiled.
You can't leave, the girlish voice said sternly.
"Why the hell not?!" shrieked Karin.
I'm lonely.
"Too bad!"
Come meet me.
Karin's anger overtook her fear. "Oh, I'll come meet you, all right," she said darkly. She brandished her shovel and turned to stalk down the surreal path. "Come on, Yuzu. I think we gotta get out through her." Yuzu didn't argue. She fell into step behind her sister, carrying her shovel defensively and nervously searching the jungle of flowers for threats.
They traveled through the lily tunnel safely and emerged into a wide field of many-colored hyacinths. These, at least, were of average size. Their perfume was overwhelming. The hyacinths were corralled into oddly-shaped flower beds by knee-high boxwoods trimmed into neat hedges around gravel paths. The girls froze again, spotting movement.
In plain sight, spread out among the hyacinths, were odd antique telescopes mounted on tripods. All were facing away from the girls, toward a massive oleander thicket. Dangling beneath the telescopes, in the middle of the tripod legs, were several glass phials filled with multicolored liquids. They glittered and tinkled like wind chimes. The girls first thought the movement they had seen was due to these shiny mobiles. They were proven wrong when all of the telescopes began walking on their tripod legs. Each telescope wobbled its way to a new position, all steadfastly aimed at the oleander thicket.
"What kind of place is this?" whispered Karin, eyes wide. Yuzu was too afraid to speak.
The girls observed everything for several minutes. All the tangled, zigzagging paths seemed to ultimately lead to the oleander thicket. There was a stone arch around a shadowed area, implying an entry. There were some other kind of unnaturally large flowers to either side of the door, their bright colors sprawled out over perhaps six meters on each side.
Karin weighed the risks. "I think we don't really have any choice but to go to the door-thing."
Yuzu chewed her lip. "What if the... the... things attack us?"
Karin mustered all the courage and bravado she could. "Then we beat them to pieces with shovels, of course. Come on." Looking far more confident than she felt, Karin aggressively marched down the nearest path. Yuzu swallowed hard and followed her sister with a determined face, holding her shovel with a white-knuckled grip.
Their trek was uneventful. The strange telescope creatures seemed content to stare at the oleanders and made no move to stop them. As they approached the oleander thicket, they recognized the flowers to either side of the stone arch as spires of snapdragons of various colors. Each vivid blossom was about the size of a baseball.
As they neared the stone arch, Yuzu said with forced cheer, "W-well, it's really weird in here, but it's pretty, too. Don't... don't you think? Maybe... maybe we're overreacting and we just need to talk to a lonely ghost."
The snapdragons exploded.
The girls screamed and ducked. Then they looked up at the sound of ominous waves of buzzing moving around them.
Snapdragons were still bursting from their stalks like a wave of startled crows. Each flower seemed to be the head of a hummingbird the size of a crow. Countless wingbeats hummed and buzzed as the snapdragons swarmed around the girls.
"K-kariiin," Yuzu whispered fearfully. "What— what do we do?"
Karin shifted her grip on her shovel and eyed the birds— flowers? One flower opened and released a screech. The other flower-birds took up the screeching. Then they started diving at the girls from all directions, snapdragons opening as if pinched to allow the creatures to release tongues of flame.
"Hit them! HIT THEM! HIT THEM!" The hysterical edge made Karin's voice almost unrecognizable.
The next several minutes were a blur to Karin when she looked back on the fight later. There had been a lot of screaming and dragon-like screeches and swinging around of yard tools and the feel of feathers brushing against their faces. Karin fell back on anger to escape the fear and roared as she flared her reiatsu the best she could. She succeeded in knocking back a wave of snapdragons. From then on, she focused her reiatsu into the shovel the way she usually did with her soccer ball when she fought Hollows. Yuzu fared worse, but when Karin rallied, she did as well. Unfortunately, she wore out quickly. Yuzu fell to her knees and shielded her head with her arms, screaming. Karin staggered over to her and tried to defend both of them, but was overwhelmed by the multitude. Her swings became sloppy. Finally, there was an unlucky moment in which she completely missed her mark and left her face wide open to a screeching snapdragon. She stared with wide eyes and actually saw a flame sparking between the petals when a spiked metal ball rocketed into it from the side, trailing a chain behind it as it scattered feathers and petals. The chain went taut and snapped the metal ball back the way it had come. Karin gawked and followed its course to its origin.
An older teenage girl with long dark hair had waded into the fray, wielding a meteor hammer with deadly accuracy. Her movements as she manipulated the weapon were sharply graceful. The snapdragons abandoned Karin and Yuzu and honed in on the new threat. The girl grinned eagerly, something unhinged in her eyes. Karin wobbled down to her knees next to her sister and watched. Yuzu hesitantly sat up and joined her.
The teenager made brutally short work of the creatures. The twins had never seen such a weapon in real life. The way the girl manipulated the swift, chained weapon by looping it around her extremities and kicking strained the mind. In her hands, the projectile was like a close-quarters cannon. Within minutes, all that remained were scattered piles of smoldering feathers.
The stranger stomped on one snapdragon that was still writhing and breathing smoke. She twisted her heel as though snuffing out a discarded cigarette and turned to face the twins. The older girl wore a white sleeveless kimono top with pale silvery blue trim. Her white skirt was more Western, short and slightly flared with a lacy silver-blue petticoat peeking below the hemline. There was a minimal obi around her waist, white with accents in gray and silvery blue. It was decorated with a glittery snowflake clip. She wore white platform boots, laced in silver-blue up to just below her knees. Her ensemble was topped off by a choker and hair band in the same silvery blue, with what looked like a large snowflake-cut aquamarine nestled in a white bow on the left side of her head. It was a very cute outfit. It was a jarring contrast to the hard, predatory face of the girl who wore it.
In lieu of a greeting, the girl grudgingly said, "Well, you've stayed alive and sane this far in. And you were smart enough to arm yourselves and fight. I guess that counts for something."
The twins just stared blankly.
I have rarely seen anyone I have not contracted perform as well as they did, Yuki, a cheerfully androgynous voice echoed in their heads. The twins twitched in surprise. A white cat... rabbit... thing with red eyes and markings and a fluffy tail stepped out from behind the teenager. You two would make magnificent magical girls!
Karin's face twisted in suspicious incredulity. "Magical girls?"
"I don't have time for this," the girl snapped. "Explain while I fight the Witch if you're so keen on them, Kyubey."
All right! The creature smoothly walked over to the twins, regarded them for a moment, then climbed into Yuzu's lap. Make a barrier for us, though, Yuki?
"Hmph. Fine. Let's move. I have things to do." The girl breezed past them and into the stone arch, idly swinging the dangling mace at her side.
Karin stared after her and flatly said,"What is going on here."
I can explain that! the creature... said? Thought? I am called Kyubey. That was one of my magical girl contractees, Yuki Yubari. Let us go watch Yuki fight the Witch. I will explain more there.
Yuzu looked up at Karin uncertainly. Karin shrugged and stood. Kyubey scampered up to Yuzu's shoulders as she rose. They cautiously entered the stone arch and found themselves in a long, dim tunnel formed of dense walls of oleander. When they reached the end, they found Yuki standing tensely with her hands on her hips, slowly looking the place over. The twins stood awkwardly for a moment.
"Um... w-what are you doing?" Yuzu eventually asked.
Yuki didn't even turn around. "Only an idiot would run in without assessing their opponent and surroundings," she said snidely. "That stupid idiot soon becomes a dead idiot."
"O-oh." Yuzu looked down at her feet.
Karin scowled. "You don't have to be so rude."
Yuki glanced over her shoulder coldly. "You're the ones rudely interrupting my mission."
The girls flinched.
Yuki..., Kyubey sighed. In their heads. Somehow.
Yuki huffed. "Fine." She clasped her hands in front of her, then flung them out and behind her. Translucent chains of ice materialized from her palms and spread to form a faintly glowing chain link fence. "There. Your barrier." Yuki turned to smile sweetly at the twins and cooed, "If you get out from behind this and get in my way, I'll kill you." She turned and sauntered into the clearing, casually swinging her meteor hammer again.
The twins got their first proper view of the clearing. It was a wide, bowl-shaped garden with many terraces neatly planted with an assortment of flowers, ferns, and vines. The edges of the bowl disappeared into the massive oleander hedges surrounding the clearing. Above the oleander walls was a fancy greenhouse-like roof of many panes of glass decorated by swirls of wrought iron. The pale green sky and burning sugar cube clouds were visible through the exquisite ceiling. At the center of the bowl was an improbably large datura tree in full bloom. It was contorted oddly, ropes of poison ivy seeming to strangle it. Yuki stalked down a set of shallow stairs toward the datura.
Are you here to play with me? the girlish voice the twins had heard earlier asked hopefully.
Yuki laughed mockingly and leaped forward, meteor hammer spinning madly. When she landed on the grass, she lashed out with a foot and launched the hammer straight at the tree trunk. It landed with an ear-splitting crack of splintering wood. The tree writhed, trumpet-shaped flowers ringing like cow bells.
Mean! That hurt! I hate you! screamed the voice... the tree?
Yuki only laughed and retrieved her hammer to attack again.
The massive tree's branches shivered out of their stillness and into unnatural movement, limbs striking at Yuki like flails. Yuki stayed just within range and used her meteor hammer to strike every which way. Every few strikes, she would dart in closer and strike at the trunk again. The tree soon bent its lowest branches down like a cage. The poison ivy grew rapidly and helped shield the trunk. Yuki backed off and resumed picking off branches while looking for a weak point.
As I was saying, the small white creature said as if a tree trying to murder a girl was an everyday occurrence, Yuki is a magical girl. This place is a labyrinth. Labyrinths are made by Witches. Witches are cursed and twisted spirits who lure humans to their labyrinths to prey on them. Their presence spreads despair throughout human society. I offer a contract to girls with magical potential so that they can become magical girls and fight Witches.
"Spirits?" Karin hummed thoughtfully. "So, Witches are kind of like Hollows? And these, uh, magical girls— they fight Witches like shinigami fight the Hollows?"
Kyubey went very still on Yuzu's shoulder. After a moment its tail resumed its slow swishing. You know about Hollows and shinigami? it asked with mild surprise.
"Yeah."
"Uh-huh," said Yuzu as she craned her head to try to see the creature's face.
How interesting! Not many people do. You must have extraordinary magical girl potential!
"You— you think we could be magical girls?" Yuzu gasped. "Like— like her?" She looked down at Yuki's ongoing battle. The girl had begun to trigger an explosion of ice with every impact of her hammer, leaving stubborn icicles on the murderous limbs. "She's so strong."
You could easily surpass her. Your latent power is unusually high. The creature cocked its head, beady red eyes staring at Karin. It is not surprising, given you can see Hollows and shinigami. It paused again, then cocked its head the other direction. How do you know what they are? I was under the impression the shinigami developed a method to erase humans' memories of them.
"We're from Karakura," Karin answered flatly. "They try memory-wiping people, but there's no point even trying on a lot of us who can actually see them. It may work for a few days but the modifier wears off fast."
Kyubey sat up straight. Ah. That explains much. I avoid Karakura. It has been a dangerous place for over a century now.
"Because of the jūreichi?" Yuzu asked curiously.
Kyubey went still again. You really do know a lot! It said cheerfully. Yes. Too many Hollows and shinigami collect in one place. Thankfully, most Witches avoid Karakura, too. People there are generally more difficult to lure into a labyrinth. Not impossible, but more difficult. I do not have any contractees in Karakura, though, so I do not know how many Witches do take the chance.
"Wait, these Witch things could be in Karakura?!" Karin asked urgently. "How could we not know about them?!"
They hide themselves in their labyrinths. You would not feel them like you can sense a Hollow because they create a pocket dimension. Most of their reiatsu is contained within these dimensions. They only expose small amounts to act as lures. The creature shifted and settled more comfortably around Yuzu's neck. The humans in the jūreichi generally have at least slightly elevated reiatsu, so Witches would have to expose more of themselves to successfully lure someone. That would put them at risk.
"O... kay...," Karin said. "And what do they do to the people they lure in?"
Why, they kill them and eat them, of course. Kyubey said while calmly grooming a paw. That is their greatest similarity to Hollows, really. Witches sometimes eat the physical bodies too, though.
The girls stared at the creature in horror.
The splintering of wood, clanging of bells, and a chilling roar snapped their attention back to the battle. The fragments of ice Yuki had been leaving on branches all around the tree burst and shot chains of ice in every direction, binding the tree's limbs. The tree thrashed and screamed. The garden echoed with the cracking and booming of the tree ripping its roots up out of the ground to fight with.
The twins gasped as Yuki dodged and wove and repeatedly nailed the roots with her meteor hammer, leaving ice behind once again.
Kyubey just continued placidly swishing its tail. Do not worry. Yuki is a veteran. She is not particularly powerful, but she is wonderfully clever in battle. As I was saying, I do not have any contractees specifically defending Karakura. You both have great potential. If you want to defend your town, please consider making a wish and contracting with me to become magical girls!
Both girls stared at Kyubey incredulously, torn between its absurd conversation and Yuki's bizarre battle.
"Make a wish?!"
"Really become a magical girl?!"
Of course! I can not expect you to risk your lives without compensation. I have been told humans consider that the height of rudeness.
The Witch-tree shrieked in frustration. Poison ivy vines whipped out from the tree's center, seeking Yuki. The magical girl grinned fiercely and allowed the vines to ensnare her. She laughed as she was engulfed in vines and hauled toward the hidden tree trunk.
"Oh, no!"
"What is she doing?!" Karin looked at Kyubey and pointed to the battle. "Aren't you worried about her?!"
Kyubey somehow used telepathy to express the sound of clicking one's tongue. Of course not. As I said, Yuki is brilliant in battle. She takes more risks than most girls I have contracted, but the responsibility for how she uses the powers she purchased belongs to her. Even if I had no confidence in her skills, I can not do anything if she decides to throw her life away for joy of the battle.
Karin looked disturbed. "That's— that's really cold."
Is it? Kyubey piped up curiously. Humans are so contradictory. I thought free will and sacrifice were all but sacred to your people. Warriors past and present are lauded for similar decisions. What makes Yuki so different?
Said magical girl could be heard laughing eerily from deep in the crashing foliage.
Yuzu looked dismayed. "But— but she's not a soldier!"
Kyubey blinked up at them. Is she not? She learned of a threat and chose to fight it despite risk to her life. Does that not make her a warrior?
"But— but—" Yuzu floundered.
"But she's so young," Karin finished.
"And we're even younger," Yuzu said uncertainly.
So? Human children have ascended the thrones of their countries and aided in battle and labor since ancient times. The sheltered view your people have of children in this era is still new. I do not understand the change. Kyubey sighed. I thought willingness to fight for a cause was something respected across age barriers. Even the Japanese are familiar with Jeanne d'Arc. She contracted with me when she was just thirteen years old. Three years later, she led armies in support of her king. Westerners now exalt her as a minor deity and respect her faith in her cause. Why is any adolescent who risks their life for a cause held to a different standard? Are their sacrifices less worthy because of their age?What of those who stand and fight when their elders fail their duties? Do their choices become laudable only if they are the last line of defense and thus arguably have no choice?
Karin and Yuzu thought of their brother, who had been a sixteen-year-old boy when he had gone to war with a man who aspired to godhood. They had no answer.
This "childhood" concept of yours is nebulous and subjective at best. My people have observed that "childhood" is a sliding scale throughout time and generally ends when a young human can no longer be sheltered from the realities of life. Technological advancement has allowed wealthier civilizations to shelter their young longer, yes, but that is an artificial buffer which will inevitably be broken.
Discomfited, the girls were glad to be distracted by the battle once again. A brilliant flash of blue-white light flickered from deep within the foliage. Karin recognized the sensation of mounting reiatsu.
Oh, Yuki is going to do something interesting, Kyubey said with all the concern of someone commenting on a sale in a grocery store ad.
Thin ice chains blasted out of many gaps in the foliage. Each rapidly extended outward while developing a sea urchin-like mass of ice spikes at their ends. For one moment, the icy flails drew taut and held still. In the next instant, dozens of gigantic meteor hammers made of ice rocketed back at the central tree. To say that the tree promptly exploded would be an understatement.
The twins flinched and shielded their heads with their arms but soon found it unnecessary— any debris that managed to reach them immediately froze and shattered against the barrier Yuki had erected in front of them. The girls lowered their arms and watched as the wreckage of the garden warped and faded from view, leaving them where they had started in the clearing in the arboretum. Karin whipped her head around and saw Kazuya still unconscious in a pile of dead leaves. She faced forward again, watching as Yuki caught a silver and black pendulum that was floating down from the sky.
Yuki smirked and haughtily tossed her hair over her shoulder. Her body glowed pale blue for a moment before the light burst from her in fragments, leaving her clothed in a high school uniform. She held the black pendulum by its spindle in her right hand and held out her left hand. A pale blue egg-shaped gem set in gold coalesced in her palm. She brought the different gems together. The twins watched as murky darkness seeped from the blue gem to the black gem as though attracted by a magnet. When the blue gem shone more brightly than before, Yuki spread her left hand and let the egg disappear. She tossed the black gem and caught it, then brandished it.
"This thing drew me too far into Tokyo," Yuki grumbled sullenly. "I need to get back. Do you want the Grief Seed now or later, Kyubey?"
Now, please! Kyubey said cheerfully.
The white creature jumped from Yuzu's shoulder as Yuki lobbed the black gem toward it. It flipped and a portion of its back opened and neatly caught the gem. Its back had closed again by the time it landed, both Kyubey and Yuki acting like a living creature having a trap door in its back was normal.
Yuki turned her attention to the twins, eyes narrowing as she leaned one hand on her hip. "As you can see, being a magical girl isn't for the faint of heart. You have guts, though, so you can probably pull it off." Her voice was more stern than encouraging.
"Can— can we really become magical girls?" asked Yuzu.
Of course! Kyubey said happily. As soon as you make a wish, I can make you become a magical girl right away!
Yuki looked at Kyubey from the corners of her eyes, the opposite of enthusiastic. She looked back up at the twins. "Two things, if you want to become magical girls."
Karin raised her brows and Yuzu looked eager for advice.
"One: Choose your wish carefully. Don't wish for something stupid you could get yourself."
"Tch. Duh," Karin scoffed.
Yuki glared at her. "You'd be surprised how many idiots wish for things like cakes and puppies. Girls who make such childish, naïve wishes usually end up dead pretty quickly."
Yuzu swallowed hard. Karin rolled her eyes but felt uncomfortable. "Fine. What's the other thing?"
Yuki moved so quickly they barely saw her. One blink they were facing the older girl a few yards away, the next blink they were both pinned to a large tree, Yuki holding them up by their collars with a bloodthirsty expression on her face.
"If you ever trespass on my territory, I'll come after you. If you ever poach my kills, I will kill you. Painfully." Yuki slammed them against the tree trunk and intensified her glare. "Do you understand?"
Kyubey sat in the clearing and watched calmly, swishing its tail.
The twins squawked out their understanding. Yuki dropped them. "Good," she sniffed. She wandered over to Kazuya's senseless form and peered at him from a couple different angles, then callously flipped him onto his back using one foot. "Looks like Little Mister Witch Lunch will be okay. Ah. Learn how to come up with cover stories for things like people being found unconscious, too. Forgot that." Yuki straightened and watched the girls gasping on the ground against the tree where she had dropped them. "Here's a generous bonus lesson in Cover Stories 101 from me to you: The boy was acting weird and you followed him until he fought you and passed out. Say you thought you saw the little idiot eat some berries off a plant earlier but you don't know which one. His memories of the last hour or so should be screwy enough that he won't be able to say any different. It should get the adults focused on freaking out about the plants and him instead of you. Got it?"
The twins hurriedly nodded.
Voices calling the sixth-graders' names started lilting through the trees.
"That's my cue to go," said Yuki. She looked down at Kyubey. "If you want to recruit them, fine. But I'm not training up some babies. Explain things yourself and keep them away from me." She didn't wait for a response before she turned on her heel and leapt away through the trees as Karin had seen shinigami do.
Kyubey looked up at the girls. Other people should not be able to see me, but I have to go anyway. Are there train lines through Karakura?
"J-just the one," Karin answered haltingly. "It runs from there to here."
Good! chirped Kyubey. I can not enter Karakura, but I can wait outside of town. Perhaps two stations out of town? Whenever you can get there, I can explain more.
"Don't you have to help Yuki?" asked Yuzu.
Do not worry, there are many of us helping magical girls. Someone else will be assigned to Yuki. So, will I see you soon?
The voices came closer. The girls looked toward them.
"Um, maybe?" Karin answered distractedly.
I will see you soon! the creature called cheerfully as it daintily hopped into the trees and disappeared the way Yuki had gone.
The twins stared after Kyubey as a teacher's voice drew near, then looked at each other in disbelief.
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WITCH DATA
BEATRIX
The Greenhouse Witch with a toxic nature. Nurtured in isolation to be the loveliest of flowers, she craves the attention of others. She desperately lures companions to her garden. As each companion withers when exposed to her poisonous affection, she only becomes more anxious to find another.
Minion: Chloris, whose duty is to make merry in her mistress' isolated garden. The Witch can't bear the loneliness of silence, so they are constantly laughing and making noise.
Minion: Giovanni, whose duty is to admire his mistress. Even though he is dedicated to her, he saddens the Witch by doing so from afar and carrying antidotes with him everywhere.
Minion: Giacomo, whose duty is to attack those intruders unworthy of being a companion to his mistress. Despite the Witch's intent for him, he just attacks everyone who enters. No one is worthy in his eyes.
The Witch Kiss is intended to look like a partially-opened datura blossom.
This chapter was replaced with an edited version on November 1, 2019. Reviews with timestamps before that date refer to a slightly different version of the chapter.