A/N: As always, thank you for the reviews. They are so encouraging and thought-provoking. I like when you make me look at the story from a different angle. :)
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ELF
[THE SET OF ALL TIMELINES FROM (X) TO (X+N+54)] - [14 MONTHS]
The next hours passed in a blur of desperately concocting consistent lies for the adults supervising their trip. Karin wondered if her brother and his friends had become good at lying to their teachers when Hollows interrupted their school days. If she and Yuzu became magical girls, would lying become easier with experience?
The girls didn't speak a word about what had actually happened until late that night as they lay in their beds in their shared room. Both lay on their backs, staring at the moonlight and shadows on the ceiling. Karin's hands clenched her sheets as she stared up grimly. Yuzu wrung her hands uncertainly.
Long after the house had fallen silent, Yuzu finally asked, "What are we going to do?"
Karin twisted the sheets in her fingers. "I think..." She bit her lip and shifted. "I think we need to ask questions first. I don't want to jump in head-first like Ichi-nii did with the shinigami stuff."
"Ah." Yuzu fidgeted. "We can— we can make a list. Of questions, I mean. And pros and cons. Then we can figure out if it's, uh— worth? Worth doing."
"Good idea. I think question one needs to be about that thing on Kazuya's neck. And we need to ask about wishes. That just sounded weird."
They fell silent for another few minutes.
"Karin?"
"Mm?"
"Do you think— Do you think I could really fight as a magical girl?"
"What? Sure."
"I don't really know how to fight."
"You can learn. I don't think you realize what you're capable of when you get angry and protective. You just need to be more... assertive? I think that's the word."
"You really think so?"
"Psh. I know so."
Course of action decided, the girls settled down to sleep.
The twins spent the next week tweaking a list of questions and thinking of an excuse to disappear for a day. They eventually settled on a one-day soccer clinic a professional player was holding five train stops out of Karakura. Yuzu's excuse to go with would be to cheer on Karin and go shopping at a fancy foreign food market in the same ward. The plan was to actually do what they said and stop at Kyubey's designated station on the way home. They deliberately waited until the last minute to ask so that their father wouldn't have any time to rearrange his schedule and come with them.
When they proposed their day out over dinner, Isshin scratched his chin.
"Hmm. I dunno. Can you chaperon the girls, Ichigo?"
Ichigo swallowed his rice and cleared his throat. "As much as I'd like to watch Karin terrorize a bunch of cocky twerps, I'm supposed to help put up a block wall for work tomorrow. The client is paying big money, so I can't skip out or Ms. Ikumi will murder me." He took a swig of water, glanced at the girls, and looked back to their father. "They're thirteen. They know how to use trains— how far away is this thing?"
The girls perked up with hope. Was their brother going to bat for them?
"Five stops east of our station," Yuzu said eagerly.
"The field is a block away from the station," Karin added.
"And the market is two blocks in the other direction. And I'll stay with Karin at the soccer clinic and she'll come with me to the market so we won't be alone. Pleeeease?" Yuzu almost vibrated with excitement.
Ichigo shrugged. "That's not too far. It's not like they're going somewhere crowded like Harajuku or something. And they both have cell phones to call for help if they get in trouble. I think they can handle it."
Isshin frowned. "I don't know. That's a lot of responsibility..."
"Tch." Ichigo rolled his eyes and snarked, "They're more responsible than you are, Old Man."
The girls glanced at each other. Best big brother ever.
"Waaah, what do you mean, Ichigooo?"
"I meant exactly what I said."
Isshin bolted from his chair and hurled himself at the poster of his late wife. "MASAKIIIIII!" he sobbed, "OUR SON THINKS I'M A BAD FATHER!"
"That's not what I said."
"You may as well haaaave!"
"I meant the girls don't go bawling around like idiots all the time and keep a level head, unlike some people."
"Like who?!"
"Like you."
"What?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!"
"Do you ever listen to yourself?"
"BWAAA! YOU'RE SO CRUEL, ICHIGOOOOO!"
Ichigo finally lost his patience. "GOD, WILL YOU SHUT UP WITH THE DRAMA AND DECIDE WHETHER THE GIRLS CAN GO DO SOMETHING WORTHWHILE TOMORROW INSTEAD OF SITTING AROUND THE CLINIC WITH YOU?"
"YOU SAY THAT LIKE BEING IN THE CLINIC WITH ME IS BORING!"
"EXACTLY!"
"MASAKIIIIIIIIIII!"
Eventually, the girls were allowed to go.
Ichigo walked them to the train station the next morning on his way to work. Before they parted ways, he set his hands on his hips and stared at the twins. After a few moments, he drily said, "I probably don't have to tell you this, but don't go off and do something stupid that will make us all look like idiots for thinking you can handle going places on your own, yeah?"
The girls nodded enthusiastically. Yuzu flung herself at her big brother and hugged his middle. "Thank you so much for helping us, Onii-chan!"
Karin stepped forward and didn't quite hug him, but grabbed his shirt and leaned into him shyly. "Thanks, Ichi-nii."
Ichigo smiled softly and tousled their hair. "Yeah, yeah. You have fun today, okay?" When both girls backed off and cheered, he looked seriously at his more athletic sister. "Hey, Karin."
"Uh, yeah, Ichi-nii?"
Ichigo grinned wolfishly. "I want to hear all about how much ass you kick at dinner tonight. Got it?" He held out a fist.
Karin laughed brightly, matched his grin with a fierce smirk of her own, and bumped her fist against his. "Mission accepted, Ichi-nii!"
"Take some video with your phone, yeah, Yuzu?"
Yuzu saluted and looked cutely serious. "Yes, sir!"
Ichigo fished out his wallet and took out a small wad of yen notes. "Buy yourself something nice at the market, okay? No point just looking and buying stuff to feed us."
"Thank you, Onii-chan!" Yuzu squealed.
Ichigo parted ways with them. He lazily waved goodbye to them just before he turned a corner. The girls waved back at him and looked at each other.
Seriously. Best. Big brother. Ever.
Their day passed in a blur. The train ride was uneventful. Karin got bumped up to play with the high school age bracket at the clinic and preened about the professional player's praise and critiques all through the trip to the foreign food market, where Yuzu was equally in heaven. Their excitement lasted until they got on the return train and soberly counted stations.
They disembarked at the designated station and looked around. It wasn't particularly crowded, the lunch rush over and rush hour still two hours away. The girls wandered around the platform, unsure what they should do.
Karin! Yuzu!
The girls startled and looked around.
Up here!
Kyubey blinked down at them from its perch on a high beam, partially obscured in shadow. The creature stood and stretched like a cat. I am glad you came! It jumped from the beam and landed lightly a few yards away from the girls. A female commuter holding the hand of a five-year-old walked right past the creature without seeing it.
Follow me! I will lead you to a more private place to talk. Kyubey trotted away, leaving the girls no real choice but to follow it.
They ended up in a large park. Circling around the playground full of mothers supervising their bundled-up little ones, Kyubey led them to a duck pond behind a stand of trees. The fluffy white creature perched on a rock in front of a bench as though holding court over the flock of bored ducks. Karin and Yuzu took the hint and sat on the bench. Ducks swarmed around their feet to beg, but lost interest when the girls didn't feed them.
Kyubey didn't waste any time. Have you decided on a wish?
"Hooold up," Karin said drily. "We haven't even decided if we're going to do this whole magical girl thing at all yet. We need more information."
"We want to know what we would be getting into," Yuzu said softly.
Kyubey blinked up at them owlishly. Ah. You are more cautious and mature than most girls I approach. That bodes well for your performance as magical girls. The creature settled more comfortably on the rock. I can answer your questions.
Yuzu dug in her purse and pulled out a folded piece of notebook paper. She smoothed it out on her lap and cleared her throat. "We want to start with what happened at the gardens. Kazuya acted like the... Witch? Like the Witch was calling him. And he had a tattoo-thingy on his neck that he called an invitation. What was that?"
Oh! That was a Witch's Kiss. Remember how I said Witches hide in pocket dimensions and only let out some of their reiatsu as a lure? The girls nodded. Each Witch has a unique symbol. A personal seal, if you will. A Witch may lure a human closer to its labyrinth without applying this seal to the human, but the appearance of the Witch's Kiss signifies that the victim has been completely ensnared by the Witch. They can not be reasoned with. They will use force if you interfere with the orders the Witch has given them. You could say it is a form of brainwashing. Kyubey rolled its head thoughtfully. I have told you that magical girls are born of wishes, yes? In contrast, Witches are born of curses. Not only do they feed on humans, they also curse humans into harming themselves or others. They can be more insidious than Hollows. They do lure humans into their labyrinths to eat them whole, but they often eat souls after they use their seals to command humans to commit suicide.
The girls stared at Kyubey, white-faced.
"W-why?!" squeaked Yuzu.
Kyubey shrugged as best a cat-thing could. It is in their nature to propagate despair. It paused. Just as it is in a Hollow's nature to consume human souls.
Yuzu worried at her lip and Karin chewed on one cheek.
Kyubey blinked innocently. Do you have other questions?
"U-um, yeah," Yuzu stammered. She shifted the paper around in her fingers. "You said Witches are spirits. Can shinigami fight them?"
Kyubey went still. Shinigami might be able to fight Witches, but I do not know of it ever happening, it said coldly. They cannot detect labyrinths. I suppose a strong Witch could Kiss a weak shinigami. If it has ever happened, I do not know of it.
Karin eyed Kyubey. "What's with the harsh tone?"
Kyubey's tail lashed agitatedly. Shinigami would rather hunt magical girls than ask their help to find Witches. No. They would rather hunt magical girls than deign to consider that they may be ignorant of a spiritual threat.
The girls were startled. Karin gaped. "Hunt magical girls?!"
Yes. I have taken pains to avoid contracting girls in places with high concentrations of shinigami activity. You see, magical girls are able to perform some of the same tasks as shinigami. The shinigami have never been fond of the living sharing their powers. Humans who have stumbled into possessing shinigami powers have been executed by them. Long ago, some of my contractees were discovered and executed without an opportunity to explain their primary duties. Still later, I contracted with girls of the Quincy line of Hollow-exterminators. Kyubey cocked its head. Do you know what became of the Quincy?
"Yes," both girls whispered.
I see. Kyubey watched its own tail waving, mental voice clinical. I understand the shinigami's reasoning for the genocide. Practically speaking, at that point it was the most efficient move they could make as negotiations would have prolonged the imbalance. But the conflict with the Quincy was sparked by the shinigami's own failures and inefficiencies. Had they applied the same effort toward bettering their own organization from the time they noticed the problem, negotiation with and extermination of the Quincy would have been unnecessary as the Quincy would have had fewer Hollows to eliminate themselves. In fact, the shinigami should have considered the possibility that their own failures created the conditions in which Quincy could evolve in the first place. If there is one thing my people have learned about human souls, it is that they are very adaptable. Given a lack of protection from a spiritual predator, it makes sense that living humans would evolve the ability to defend themselves from spiritual predators. Kyubey slid its eyes back to look at the girls sideways. My people are pragmatists. We can see that the shinigami's operations are still insufficient. Had they embraced the practical strategy of using Quincy and other living humans with spiritual powers as first responders who could protect the vulnerable and summon shinigami to finish off attacking Hollows, the entire spiritual system would be more perfectly balanced than it is today. Kyubey sat up and turned its nose skyward. The shinigami are too arrogant to consider such an idea. They prefer to fool themselves into thinking they are the apex of the spiritual hierarchy. It is shamefully illogical. They are human souls, though, so I suppose it is only to be expected.
The girls looked deeply uncomfortable. Karin ground her teeth for a moment. "So, approaching the shinigami would be a bad idea?"
If you do not want to be killed, then yes, it would be a bad idea, Kyubey said mildly.
"But!" Yuzu bit her lip. Karin guessed she was reconsidering her phrasing in light of Kyubey's attitude. How would it react if it knew they were so closely tied to the shinigami? "We— we— um, heard...? Heard that the shinigami had a big war not too long ago and the old government was all assassinated. A-and humans with powers helped them win their war. Shinigami are allowed to talk to humans in Karakura who have powers now. And they even work with a Quincy boy. S-so maybe things are different now?"
Kyubey was silent for a long while. Forgive me, but I do not wish to discard centuries of necessary caution.
Before she could stop herself, Karin blurted out, "Wouldn't that make you like the shinigami dismissing a partnership with the Quincy?"
Kyubey bristled like a cat but settled down for another long period of silent thought. You are interesting. It paused again. The silence stretched. Practically speaking, you have a valid point. It stared piercingly into each of the girls' eyes in turn. When you say you have heard about a shinigami war and that shinigami speak with humans in the jūreichi, do you mean to imply that you have spoken with shinigami yourselves?
Karin crossed her arms. "Yeah. Their whole stupid war was over some crazy shinigami traitor who wanted to conquer the jūreichi for himself, so a bunch of shinigami were stationed in the city to protect it. Even now that most of them are gone, we still talk to the guy who's technically assigned to patrol Karakura. He gets bored because so many people in Karakura have Hollow-fighting powers that half the time Hollows are busted before he can get to them. Some of the ones who were stationed there for the war visit every once in awhile."
Kyubey tilted its head to one side. Why would a shinigami want to conquer a human city?
Karin shrugged. "Some creepy plan to sacrifice all our souls to make some thingamabob that would let him go kill God and take over, or something. I dunno how that was supposed to work. A shinigami I talked to said it could have been some bullshit fairytale the traitor decided to use as a ruse. Anyway, I've heard their government's politics about humans with powers have changed drastically in the last couple years."
Kyubey cocked its head in the other direction. How interesting. It looked down in thought, then back up at the girls. As I told you, I am a pragmatist. Should you contract with me, you would be in a unique position to carefully question shinigami for the official policies regarding living humans with spiritual powers. Should you gather enough evidence of safety, my people may consider altering our own official policy of avoidance. The burden of proof would be quite substantial, though. Realistically, that standard may not be met during your lifetimes. You must recognize, historically speaking, that sudden political change is not always complete or permanent change.
Karin made a considering face. Yuzu frowned. "Are you asking us to spy on the shinigami?"
Spy? Hmmmmm. That depends on what connotation you attribute to the act of trying to discern whether peace and cooperation are possible between magical girls and shinigami. Kyubey swished its tail and gravely said, You do understand that contracting you would be a significant risk on my part, do you not? And that you would take on a substantially larger risk to yourselves than any of my other contractees? The girls nodded. Good. Next question?
Karin narrowed her eyes. "What are you that you can grant wishes and dish out powers like a shinigami's?"
Hmmmmmmmmm. Kyubey stretched and looked skyward. Do you know about other spiritual dimensions?
"You mean Soul Society and Hueco Mundo?" asked Karin. "And that creepy one you have to run through... I forget."
Yes. There are many dimensions. My people are spiritual beings from one of those dimensions. We are essentially uniform as a race. You may think of us as spiritual catalysts, if you will. We are part of a cycle similar to the human-Hollow-shinigami cycle. As you have seen, my people consume the Grief Seeds left behind when a Witch is defeated. You could say we convert the cursed energy into neutral energy, which we then use to grant wishes and awaken the positive powers of magical girls to fight the Witches. This cycle efficiently strikes a balance of positive and negative energy in the World of the Living.
"Oh," said Yuzu.
"That makes sense, I guess," said Karin. "How do you give girls magical powers, anyway?"
We technically do not "give" girls power so much as we use one kind of energy to unlock the energy already present within a girl's soul. You could say that we purchase a girl's services by granting a wish and unlocking her soul's power so that she may fulfill her side of our contract by repaying us with Grief Seeds won using that power. The degree of magnitude of a girl's wish can affect how much of a girl's power is unlocked— in essence, when a girl chooses a wish, she is declaring her value or purchasing power— how much she thinks she can "afford" to pay back with her performance. That declaration becomes an obligation once the transaction is complete. If you recall, Yuki told you that girls who make wishes for simple material items tend to fail rather quickly. This is partly due to naïveté making them unsuitable for battle, but also due to the self-limiting nature of their wishes. My most effective contractees are usually those who made the most ambitious wishes.
Now, the mechanism by which we awaken a girl's power. As I said, magical girls are able to perform some of the same tasks as shinigami. This is because they wield the power of their souls just as the shinigami do. Shinigami channel their power through their blades— their zanpakutō. The more experience and training they accumulate, the stronger their zanpakutō becomes. There is a particular power threshold at which shinigami are able to more sharply focus their power. This is called shikai. It allows the shinigami to mold their blade into a more specialized weapon. Kyubey paused and curiously tilted its head. Have you ever seen something like that in the jūreichi?
"Yeah," said Karin. "I've seen a guy make his sword suddenly have a crescent blade on a chain attached to the hilt."
Good! You should understand, then, Kyubey said cheerfully. Now, as living humans in material bodies, potential magical girls do not have zanpakutō into which they may channel their power. What my people do with the energy converted from the remains of Witches is catalyze a girl's soul to crystallize its power as a self-contained focus. Each girl manifests a unique weapon that approximates the zanpakutō she would have if she became a shinigami and achieved shikai. I say "approximates" because, technically speaking, the blank blades shinigami use to channel their powers are superb foci my people can closely mimic but not completely replicate. As such, magical girl weapons are capable of purifying Hollows and sending souls to Soul Society. However, they fall short of the ability to completely purify a Witch. If magical girls were natural phenomena, this would be a fatal flaw. However, it suits our purposes in the cycle nicely.
The girls thought about that for a moment.
"Would a zanpakutō be able to completely purify a Witch?" Yuzu wondered.
My people have hypothesized that it may be possible, but due to security concerns we have not performed any tests.
Both girls hummed thoughtfully.
"Um, you said wishes can affect power. Can you give us some advice about wishes?" asked Yuzu.
Ah. I can not recommend specific wishes. It would interfere with your self-valuation more directly than my people have determined reasonable. However... Kyubey looked skyward and swished its tail for a few moments. Those contractees who make wishes for the benefit of someone other than themselves tend to be the most powerful. We do not fully understand the mechanics of that, as it would seem to be a devaluation of the self as compared to a third party and thus self-limiting. However, several magical girls I have spoken with have suggested that rather than a devaluation of the self, it is an exaltation of the value of a third party and that the degree to which a human is willing to commit sacrifices for the third party's benefit is what determines the degree of power unlocked. Our observations tend to support that hypothesis, but there are enough exceptions that we can not designate it a scientific theory.
"So the best course of action is to make a wish to help someone else?" asked Karin.
That depends upon your goals, answered Kyubey. An ambitious wish for your own benefit could work as well. Making a wish for a third party's benefit carries the risk of wishing for something they would not necessarily ask for themselves. Such wishes can be like curses in nature. In that respect, self-indulgent wishes are the safer route.
"Hmmmmmm. What kind of wishes can you grant?" asked Karin.
Almost anything save for raising the dead, answered Kyubey. Once a soul has moved on in the cycle, we can not retrieve it if we have not previously encountered it to be able to trace its energy signature. Technically, we may be able to revive someone dead only moments as the traces of their reiatsu would not have completely disappeared from their bodies or their souls may actually still be present. The occurrence of situations in which we are coincidentally present when a potential magical girl witnesses someone die and immediately contracts to wish them back to life are fairly rare, though.
"That makes sense," said Yuzu.
Next?
"You mentioned something called a Grief Seed. What's that?" asked Karin.
Oh! Do you remember the black jewel Yuki got when she defeated the Witch? Both girls nodded. That was a Grief Seed. Magical girl weapons can not completely purify Witches, but they can forcibly concentrate their power into a crystalline structure akin to the structure my people create for the power of magical girls. We call that item a Soul Gem. You saw Yuki's— the blue egg-shaped jewel.
"Oh. What was it that she did with the Soul Gem and Grief Seed?" asked Yuzu.
When a magical girl uses her magic to fight Witches and their Familiars, she exposes her power to the taint of the labyrinths. Grief Seeds are concentrated curses. Like attracts like, so magical girls use Grief Seeds to draw off the residual curses and purify the taint to their Soul Gems so they do not become cursed themselves. Then they give the Grief Seeds to me to dispose of safely and the cycle continues.
"Ah. I get it," said Karin.
So! Any more questions?
The girls looked at each other, then the list, then each other.
"Um. Yeah. One last question. It's kind of stupid...," said Karin.
What is it?
"Are you a boy or a girl?" asked Yuzu.
Kyubey's eyes twinkled in apparent amusement. Most humans refer to me using masculine pronouns. I do not have a preference. Gender is irrelevant to my kind. Kyubey looked hopeful. Have you made a decision?
"Uh, we need to think about it. This is too important to just rush into, you know?" said Karin.
I understand, said Kyubey. I suppose living in the jūreichi would instill caution in any human. If you ever decide to contract with me, come to the train station. I will be waiting.
The girls bid the creature goodbye and made their way back to the station.
Karin glanced back just before they turned a corner. Kyubey sat on the rock and idly swished its tail as it stared silently after them, eyes glimmering red in the shadows of early twilight.
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A/N: Kyubey is difficult to write. It's a character with a mind for technicalities akin to the slipperiest lawyers and politicians. It claims to be emotionless in the anime, yet clearly displays some "emotions" like eagerness, surprise, interest, condescension, and curiosity. So I'm writing it as lacking empathy instead of completely without emotion. It's a fine line to walk. I hope I pulled it off.
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.