As N Approaches Infinity

by Corisanna

Despairing as yet another timeline goes horribly wrong, Homura wanders into Karakura. There she discovers that while the spiritually-aware people of Karakura were distracted by Ichigo Kurosaki and Xcution, Kyubey contracted the Kurosaki sisters as magical girls. Drawing the attention of the shinigami could be just the advantage Homura needs.

61. SECHZIG

A/N: lol That feeling when you go back dozens of chapters to change a single word no one cared about to maintain plot consistency lol

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SECHZIG

TIMELINE X + N + 1

Tōshirō crashed in the room next to the one all the girls were sleeping in. It was his assignment while Urahara and Tsukabishi worked on projects through the night. He observed and memorized each reiatsu signature that was less guarded in sleep, paying particular attention to Tomoe and Momoe for any worrying fluctuation toward darkness that might call for interference. Both felt dimmer than they had, but not dangerously so and they seemed to have stabilized while deeply asleep. He spent several hours texting back and forth with Ichigo and his former captain about Akemi and was glad for Yamamoto's ban on communication with anyone in Seireitei via phone. Matsumoto was probably squirming over not being able to bombard him with requests for gossip and agonizing over having to do her mission report on paper. In duplicate, one for him and one for Yamamoto. The thought made him smirk.

He allowed himself to doze off in the wee hours of the morning and trusted Hyōrinmaru to alert him to any sudden danger, as the dragon spirit did when they had to camp out on long patrols in the Rukon districts. It wasn't a particularly restful night's sleep, but it was enough to not be muddled in the morning. Hyōrinmaru nudged him awake a bit after dawn to alert him that the girls seemed to be awake. He lay and sleepily paid attention to their reiatsu, careful to not intrude with his own— more like eavesdropping on someone behind you in a restaurant than peeking in a window. Tomoe's reiatsu was turbulent and dimming, but stabilized as Kaname's gently rose.

He really needed to talk to Urahara about that girl's reiatsu. Miki's, too. Both were using their reiatsu in ways they seemed to be completely unaware of. Kaname seemed to project hers as a strong empathic tool for comforting people and Akemi mentioned her instinctively using it to repel attackers in the carousel labyrinth. Tōshirō had sensed Miki's weak use of reiatsu when he had carried her on his back after the carousel debacle. He had told her nothing vital seemed to have been hit, but Urahara later corrected him— a bullet had grazed and compromised an artery, but the life-giving fluid within seemed to have remained in its correct path regardless with very little spillage— hemorrhage. She should have bled internally far more than she had. All they had had time to talk about was that seemingly unconscious mitigation of bleeding having added to the girl's exhausted shock. Now that the Sōju crisis was over, they really needed to talk about this.

Tsukabishi's reiatsu approached; Tōshirō heard him knock on the girls' door and them have a conversation. Tsukabishi then fetched Tōshirō. They all trooped into the normal living quarters portion of the shop compound and helped Tsukabishi make breakfast while Yoruichi— back in cat form— darted around their feet making a nuisance of herself. The big man disappeared as they were sitting down to eat and reappeared five minutes later with Urahara, who looked more rumpled and scruffy than usual. His eyes had the restrained manic look of someone who had been downing unholy amounts of caffeine or God-only-knows-what to pull an all-nighter. Or third or fourth all-nighter, as it were.

When they started to eat, Kaname looked around and timidly asked, "Where's Homura? Did you find her?"

"I talked her into coming back last night," Tōshirō said, then looked to Urahara to explain her absence and give him a cue for what story to play along with.

"She needs a break to pull herself together a bit. We smuggled her out of town in a way the Incubator shouldn't notice to a place we hid from it with magic," Urahara half-fibbed.

Miki perked up. "Oh! The same way you brought in Miss In— oh— uuu-oops." She nervously looked at Tomoe and Momoe, obviously realizing she had just blurted out something she was supposed to keep her mouth shut about. Tōshirō brought a hand up to his face and massaged the space above his eyes.

Teenagers.

"Miss who?" Tomoe asked.

Urahara waved his fan in a motion that implied unimportant. "Oh, I smuggled in the best healer we know on the night you were taken," he explained. "Miss Akemi's magic was so depleted from keeping her body alive that she was at her limit and unable to do anything else for herself by the time we got her here. We stabilized her and probably could have healed her ourselves, but it is difficult for most uncontracted people to heal magical girls so it may have taken weeks for it to have a meaningful effect on her. We used up the Grief Seed from that battle on her in one hit and she was still near death and unable to heal herself. And we have no way of finding labyrinths to get Grief Seeds without her." He paused, then continued, "Well, that was true at the time. We have Miss Momoe now. And you."

Tsukabishi bent to top off everyone's cups with tea and added, "We had hoped to never need to bring that healer here and risk exposing her to the Incubator in the unlikely event the wards should fail. The Incubator doesn't know she is allied with us and we want it to remain that way. However..."

"Desperate times, desperate measures," Tōshirō commented quietly. "Making sure Akemi didn't die took priority."

Tomoe's grip on her teacup tightened and she looked miserable, lips pursed as she looked down. After a long silence, she said, "I was unreasonable with Miss Akemi last night. She was only trying to help."

"No. Your being upset was both understandable and expected. Akemi was out of line," Tōshirō said. Tomoe looked at him with surprise; he met her eyes seriously, then glanced at Momoe, too. "Especially when your actions were discussed, Momoe," he said in an aside. Looking back to Tomoe, he sighed, "Hopefully, the way Miki handled giving information and calling her out will be a good influence on her."

Miki's mouth dropped open and her eyes widened. She pointed at herself. "Me? A good influence?"

If only she knew how bizarre that idea truly was when considering tales of other timelines. From Akemi's perspective, anyway.

"Your bluntness was both honest and sympathetic," Urahara praised her with a small smile. "Miss Akemi shies away from sympathy as a hazard. It's understandable to a degree as a defense mechanism to not add others' pain to her own, but in your words: unhealthy."

"It's not fair." Kaname's lip quivered and her eyes shone with unshed tears. "She tries to help us so much and tries to keep from— keep us from getting hurt, and it keeps hurting her. W-what— how can we help her?" she asked plaintively.

Urahara tilted his head and gave a fond smile. "Be her friend. Stay safe— keeping you two uncontracted and as safe as possible is extremely important to her. She's out of touch with interacting with people her own age because she has been forced to take on responsibilities that would crush many adults, so try to coax her into doing normal teenage things while not treating her oddly when she reacts to them with confusion or awkwardness." He turned to Tomoe and Momoe and softly said, "That goes for you, too. Especially you, Miss Tomoe. Do not let yourself become too solitary or let your duties consume your very being. You see where that path has led Miss Akemi."

Tomoe looked away from them all, guilty.

Miki eventually couldn't take the reflective silence anymore, fidgeted, and asked, "So how do we help Homura now? When she's not here? I know you— you probably don't want to tell us where she is, but... will she be okay there?"

Urahara smiled encouragingly. "She is with friends who form another cell of resistance against the Incubator. Including the only two magical girls she's ever found who managed to both cope with the truth and not get killed afterward. Yet. That pair's family knows everything and includes military veterans, so Miss Akemi doesn't have to be careful about concealing anything while they help her sort herself out."

That was more information than Tōshirō would have given them, so Urahara was probably making some kind of strategic move. Ugh. "That family has been highly effective at calming and helping her get her head straight in the past," he added for the hell of it. "I trust them with her."

"Just please don't tell the Incubator that Miss Akemi isn't here in the shop," Urahara ordered the girls, looking each of them in the eye with particular attention to Momoe and Tomoe. "I've warded the hell out of this place so they shouldn't be able to identify any personal magic from outside the property, so if they don't see someone leave they have no way of knowing that person isn't here. And I am under no illusion that the Incubators have this property under constant surveillance. Our wards are an anomaly in this area."

"Wait, Incubators... plural?" Tomoe asked with a frown.

Tōshirō narrowed his eyes at Urahara, certain he'd "slipped" on purpose. The man ignored him.

"Yes, plural," Urahara answered. "We are unsure of to what degree they have individual or collective consciousness, but they have multiple identical bodies for contracting and monitoring magical girls."

Seeing Tomoe's skeptical confusion, Tōshirō said, "You know there are magical girls all over the place, right? Spread out such that you have to be careful about intruding in another magical girl's territory when you travel?"

"Yes," Tomoe said slowly.

Tōshirō looked down and gathered more food in his chopsticks, considering his words, then quietly said, "Would it make sense for a single body to interact with that many girls at the same time over such a great distance?"

He didn't look, but he could feel Tomoe's stare as he chewed. After a long pause, she softly said, "No. It would not."

And so her perception of the "magical" world took another blow. Tōshirō hoped Urahara knew what he was doing.

"All right. So. Setting that aside—" Urahara made a hand motion of pushing something to his left— "we have things to handle on our end." He pointed at Miki and Kaname with his fan. "You and you, you're going home and staying there. You're going to school tomorrow and straight home after. You've been away from home for too many nights recently and we don't need your parents suspecting you're up to mischief. Don't hole yourselves up in your rooms, either. Actually interact with your families. It should be safer to walk the streets now that Sōju is dead, but Tōshirō will escort you." He raised his brows in question and both girls nodded firmly.

"You," Urahara said with a jab toward Tomoe, "You have a choice. I would prefer for you to stay at the shop for a few days so you are not alone while you sort through your feelings on everything, but if you wish to be in your own home I can send Miss Akemi's cat to stay with you to alert you to the Incubator if it should try to observe you." And strip its flesh from its bones without mercy went unstated but understood. "Or my nephew could stay with you," he said casually as Tōshirō choked, "but having a boy move in with you without adult supervision so close to your school may cause some rumors."

Tomoe squeaked and held her hands to her burning cheeks. Miki crooned and leered in a way that made Tōshirō think of an unholy combination of Karin and Rangiku. He knew exactly what she was going to say before she even finished drawing breath to speak.

"Mayyybe you can pretend to be dating," Miki drawled gleefully.

"NO," Tōshirō blurted at the same time as Tomoe.

Miki giggled at them with a wide grin, still looking like a combination of the two women who most enjoyed teasing him until he snapped. "Maybe you could actually date!"

Time to shut this down. Tōshirō glared at her straight in the eye and ominously said, "Maybe I really do need to have a talk with that Kamijō guy."

"No!" Miki squealed as glee fled her face.

"Who's Kamijō?" Momoe asked innocently as she slipped scraps to Yoruichi.

Tōshirō allowed himself a wide smirk as Miki squirmed. "Miki's boyfriend."

"Ooooooooooh," Momoe cooed as she looked at Miki with interest.

"Is not!" Miki squawked.

Kaname glanced at her friend sideways with a sly smile. "This is why you don't tease people, Sayaka. They can tease you right back."

Clap, clap! "Children!"

Tōshirō glared hard at Urahara. It didn't help that Hyōrinmaru was chuckling lowly in the back of his mind.

"Miss Tomoe, I apologize for asking you to make a fairly large decision with very little time to consider your options, but I really need to know your choice so I can shift my plans accordingly."

The blonde bit her lip and fidgeted uncertainly, then looked up at Urahara. "I think... I would like to stay here. Think things through. And learn things. But I need to go home and pick up some stuff. If that's all right with you."

Urahara beamed. "It is. I'll have Tessai put a guest room together for you. Would you mind going with Tōshirō to escort Miss Miki and Miss Kaname home before you both head to your home? I'd like their parents to see that the 'other friend' we used in last night's excuse for them to stay the night actually exists."

Tomoe smiled weakly. "That's fine."

The shopkeeper nodded decisively and turned to Momoe. "I think I'll send Yoruichi home with you. She will protect you if the Incubator comes and tries to talk to you. It can say some tricky things."

Momoe's eyes widened as she pulled Yoruichi up into her lap. "But isn't Yo-yo Miss Homura's kitty?"

Urahara's eyes gleamed wickedly as he glanced at the cat and Tōshirō knew Yoruichi had acquired a new nickname to be teased with. "She is. But Miss Akemi regularly lets her stay with other girls because Yo-yo hates the Incubator and will fight it off tooth and claw."

Yoruichi let herself go boneless and stretch out in that way particular to cats as Momoe lifted her under the armpits to cuddle against her. The little girl shyly said, "Okay. But what if Daddy says no?"

Urahara waved his fan at her and said, "Let me worry about your daddy. You just act like Yoruichi makes you very happy and less lonely and I'll convince him having Yoruichi around will be good for you. If he argues, you just start crying, okay?" Meaning Urahara had meticulously planned out how to tug every single one of Mr. Momoe's heartstrings dedicated to making his grieving daughter happy.

"Okay!" Momoe chirped. She sat up straighter. "What do we tell Daddy about yesterday?"

That was how Tōshirō ended up quietly leaning against a wall in the room they had stashed Mr. Momoe in as Urahara nudged the man awake and gave him water.

"Where am I?" Mr. Momoe asked.

"A shop in northern Mitakihara, near Asunaro," Urahara answered. "Your daughter brought you here."

Mr. Momoe snapped into alertness and searched the room. "Where's Nagisa?!"

Urahara made a soothing gesture. "A couple rooms away, in the dining room with her friends."

"Friends?"

"The girls who came to your wife's funeral. And another friend of theirs."

"Oh." Mr. Momoe scrutinized them cautiously, eyes distant as he thought. "How... did I get here?" he asked. "The last thing I remember is getting on the train to come home from Shinchi with Sacchan."

"I believe you experienced a mild fugue state," Urahara answered.

"A what?"

"A brief episode of dissociative fugue," Urahara said. "As I understand it, you just experienced the traumatic shock of your wife's death and becoming a single parent, yes?"

"Yes," Mr. Momoe said warily.

"Sometimes, when faced with such stress, the mind just... checks out," Urahara explained. "Detaches from the stressful things by forgetting about them for a bit. I'm glad it seems to have passed. You were very disoriented last night. Confused and detached and just... wandering."

Mr. Momoe looked distressed. "What happened? What did I do? Why— why am I here instead of a hospital?!"

"You just wandered aimlessly. Nagisa couldn't get you to remember how to get home and became alarmed when you crossed a street without paying attention to cars," Urahara said as Momoe's father looked like he had been punched in the gut. "She didn't know what to do, so she called her new friends. The girls were visiting my nephew here—" he gestured toward Tōshirō, who nodded silently— "so we all went and brought you here together." He tilted his head and looked sympathetic. "A friend of mine had a similar reaction in the weeks after his wife died and left him with three young children, so I thought I'd bring you here to see if it would pass. Had you still been disoriented upon waking, I would have called authorities. But I thought you might prefer for it to remain a private matter if it was a brief episode."

Mr. Momoe looked down, pale and ill, and croaked, "Thank you. Yes. I can't... I can't afford to be hospitalized or— or committed, or whatever. Sacchan needs me."

"There is no shame in grief, or how your grief manifested. The mind protects itself the best way it knows how," Urahara said quietly. "But I would recommend you seek professional grief counseling. You need to take care of yourself if you want to take care of her."

Mr. Momoe scrubbed his face with his hands. "Yeah. Yeah. I'll do that. God, she must have been terrified."

"She was frightened, yes," Urahara said with a gentle smile. "But the older girls turned the whole thing into a slumber party and got her cheered up. She's also become attached to our cat."

"Of course she has," Mr. Momoe said with a wry grin. He straightened and firmed his face, then bowed. Upon rising again, he looked Urahara in the eye and said, "Thank you for all you've done for my family. I am indebted to you. How can I repay you?"

Urahara laughed lightly and waved his hands. "You are quite welcome, but I require no payment. I would hope someone else would do the same for me, is all." He cocked his head to one side and looked thoughtful. "Maybe you should take a few weeks off from work. Stay home with your daughter and heal together."

Tōshirō had to admire the deft way Urahara was angling to have the youngest magical girl be less able to get away from her father and get herself killed in a labyrinth. Manipulative as hell, but necessary to limit the number of balls they had to juggle.

"Ah, I can't," Mr. Momoe said with regret. "I used up my five days' paid bereavement leave. I could get unpaid leave, but what money I have saved would go to the rent and utilities so I need to work to have money for food."

"Oh. I see. That's too bad," Urahara said softly. But there was a calculating gleam in his eye.

Tōshirō would bet his haori Mr. Momoe would soon discover that all his outstanding balances had been mysteriously paid off.

Urahara slapped his hands on his knees and stood. "So! How about we get you some breakfast? Then my assistant can drive you and your daughter home in the shop's van."

Mr. Momoe rubbed his eyes and said, "I would appreciate that, actually."

Urahara glanced at Tōshirō. "Please let Tessai know to set another place at the table, Tōshirō."

Tōshirō nodded and left. Back in the dining room, he found Miki telling some kind of melodramatic story that involved a lot of exaggerated faces and expansive arm gestures. Tomoe was holding a hand to her face to stifle giggles while Momoe leaned forward in her seat with wide eyes. He ignored them and found Urahara's assistant. "Tsukabishi. Another place at the table, please."

Tsukabishi nodded genially and moved to the kitchen as Urahara led Mr. Momoe into the room. His daughter noticed immediately. Her face lit up and she squealed, "Daddy! You're awake!"

Mr. Momoe smiled wanly. "Yep. I feel much better now, too."

"Yay!" Momoe ran to her father and threw her arms around his middle. He hugged her back until she pulled away and tugged on his hand. "Daddy, look! I helped cook!"

"You did? Wow! What did you make?"

Tōshirō couldn't resist the slight smile that stole across his lips as the little girl bodily dragged her father to the table, chattering a mile a minute.

"—And I helped Miss Mami with the strawberries and- Oh! Daddy, this is Miss Mami! She's very nice!"

Tomoe smiled over her tea and waved.

"We had a slumber party last night and it was nice and— Oh! Lookit the bracelet I got, Daddy! It matches Miss Sayaka's and Miss Madoka's!"

Said girls held their wrists up to show off their bracelets, obviously amused by the little girl. Tōshirō glanced at Tsukabishi as he set a place at the table. The man nodded at him. He must have given her the one they made overnight while Urahara and Tōshirō were in the other room

"Wow, it's so pretty!" Mr. Momoe said. "Did you say thank you?"

"Yeah!" Momoe smiled brightly and tugged him down. "Sit, sit! Have breakfast!"

Mr. Momoe sat, looking deeply relieved. Probably glad his daughter didn't seem frightened or traumatized by whatever had happened the night before. And possibly that she was capable of cheer a mere week after her mother's death.

Miki resumed telling her stories. Whenever she paused for breath, Mr. Momoe would make a point of exclaiming how good the food was, which would make his daughter puff up with pride. Then Yoruichi sidled up from under the table and started meowing at the man's heels.

Momoe hopped off her chair and picked up the cat. "Yo-yo, no begging!"

Her father's lips quirked. "Is that the shop cat?"

"Yo-yo is Miss Homura's kitty," Momoe explained. "Mr. Urahara is babysitting her because Miss Homura had to leave for a few days."

"Yoruichi may as well be half ours," Urahara chuckled. "She tends to follow Miss Akemi a lot and since she spent a lot of time at our old shop in Tokyo... well, Miss Kitty thinks she can boss us all around. Once she decides she likes you, you're pretty much her property ahahahahaha."

"I love Yo-yo," Momoe announced brightly as she hugged the cat. Yoruichi purred loudly and nuzzled the girl's face, causing her to giggle. "I want to take her home!"

"You know," Urahara said speculatively, "I spoke with Miss Akemi about how much you like her cat. She said that if Yoruichi makes you happy and you promise to take good care of her, you can watch her until she comes back. I actually gave Yoruichi to her as a kitten after... well, after her own parents died," he added softly. Ignoring the surprised sadness on the faces of Akemi's friends, he concluded, "So she's fine with lending her to you."

Momoe was either genuinely excited or a damn good actress because she immediately turned wide, sparkly eyes on her father. "Daddy, can I babysit Yo-yo until Miss Homura comes home?!"

Mr. Momoe's face faltered. "Ah... well... uh..."

"I promise I'll take really good care of her!"

"We don't have a litter box or anything."

Momoe turned to Urahara with a pout. The shopkeeper said, "Ah, she actually goes outside. Miss Akemi lets her roam around outdoors while she's at school. As long as you give her food and pet her on demand, she's pretty low-maintenance. I can give you her food."

The girl whirled back to her father with a hopeful face. The man dithered. "I dunno, Sacchan..."

Momoe's lip quivered and her eyes filled with tears, much to her father's alarm. It reminded Tōshirō of Matsumoto's last resort tactic when trying to squirm out of paperwork or slip out to go shopping. It was more potent on the face of an actual child.

"O— okay," her father stammered. "Just... just a few days, right?"

Momoe's face immediately cleared. "Yay! Thank you, Daddy!"

§ x § x §

Tōshirō and Tomoe walked Miki and Kaname home at a lazy, meandering pace. Miki's parents did seem fairly annoyed with her, but Tomoe proved to be a master of politely smoothing ruffled feathers. She doled out relieved smiles and thanks for sympathy and help with her "emergency" to the parents as much as their daughter, praising all for saving a lonely orphan's schooling until it would be rude for them to get irritated. Miki was obviously in awe as she disappeared behind her apartment's door.

Kaname's house was far less tense. Her father was away for the day— "sanity-preserving baby break," Mrs. Kaname had declared as her toddler trotted in circles screaming at nothing— but her mother more than made up for his absence with her own concerned hovering. Tomoe skilfully avoided getting roped into staying awhile, slipping out with promises to seek the help of the Kaname adults if she ever needed anything.

The walk to Tomoe's apartment was mostly quiet, though Tōshirō did notice she kept looking at him searchingly. She finally spoke when they were halfway to their destination.

"You... skipped school to look for m-Sōju?"

Tōshirō looked at her out of the corner of his eyes and kept himself casual. "Yeah."

"You're... not even a magical girl, tho— ah! I mean, well, obviously, since you're a boy, but— aaahhhhh—" she wrung her hands and looked mortified— "I mean, I didn't expect anyone but a magical girl to care about magical girl business."

Lips twitching with amusement, Tōshirō said, "Even if I didn't have friends who had been wronged by the system, I wouldn't stand idly by if someone's life and soul were in danger. Not if there was something I could do to help." He cast his eyes down at the ground and considered whether or not to continue, weighing the pros and cons. Opening up to Akemi seemed to have a positive affect, so perhaps... He hesitated until he got the impression of a mental shove from Hyōrinmaru. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Slowly, he added, "That's why shattering those Gems—even by accident— I'm... horrified, I suppose. I wanted to save them."

Tomoe's face softened in sympathy. "I... would feel the same way. I would probably be a crying mess," she said ruefully. "Have been, when I fai— I f-failed to save—." She cut herself off and went silent for awhile, watching her feet and obviously wrestling with old pain. Then she looked back up at him. "But you did manage to save almost four dozen of them. Including me. Miss Akemi isn't here to thank, but I want to thank you. You barely met me, and yet..." Tomoe trailed off and looked away.

"You're welcome," Tōshirō said after a long pause.

The rest of their stroll was completed in silence. At Tomoe's door, the girl invited and then cajoled him into waiting comfortably in her apartment while she gathered her things, turning that weaponized politeness on him until he reluctantly agreed. As soon as they had taken their shoes off and passed from the foyer into the apartment proper, Tōshirō was fiercely glad he had accepted the invitation.

There on the coffee table sat the Incubator, tail snaking behind it as it stared at them. It looked almost exactly like the sketches he'd seen. Except the sketches hadn't conveyed how creepy the beady pink-red eyes truly were.

Welcome home, Mami Tomoe, it chirped.

Tomoe's arms locked at her sides, her fists clenching so hard they shook as her face darkened and her reiatsu vibrated with hurt-rage-betrayal in a way Tōshirō had become very familiar with during the Winter War. "Get out," Tomoe snapped.

The creature tilted its head. But I wish to speak with you.

"I don't want to hear a word," Tomoe said.

Why not? it asked as it blinked innocently.

"Because I don't trust a single word you say to me anymore," Tomoe declared with the beginnings of tears in her eyes. "They told me all about what you did to my soul, you liar—!"

I do not speak lies, it interrupted her.

"Lies of omission are still lies," Tōshirō drawled.

The Incubator stared directly at him for the first time. Though its face was expressionless, Tōshirō felt it was performing some manner of threat assessment of him. Good. Now was probably a good time to initiate the plan Karin had gleefully termed Operation: Incu-Baiting.

"Don't even bother philosophically arguing that point," Tōshirō interrupted its attempt to reply. "We've gone round in circles about it every time we met and, frankly, it's gotten boring."

The creature's tail stilled. We have never met before.

Tōshirō allowed himself a grim smile. "If that's truly what you think, then our methods are more effective than we thought."

"What... methods?" Tomoe asked as she glanced between the two of them.

"Ever since the debacle with Akemi's original team, we've been helping her try to save other girls," Tōshirō explained without breaking eye contact with the Incubator's rabbit-like eyes scrutinizing him. "Every time we come close, the Incubator either sweet-talks the girls we're protecting or aims other magical girls at Akemi. Moving on to another group when we failed with one became a non-starter because it would poison the minds of other girls before we could reach them." He smirked at the Incubator. "So we cast an exhausting spell to interfere with memories of us whenever we move on."

The Incubator seemed speechless for a moment, then said, Impossible.

"Is it really?" Tōshirō said airily.

You are bluffing.

"Am I?" Tōshirō crossed his arms and looked at it flatly in the way he reserved for new recruits skeptical of his apparent youth. "I notice you didn't argue that you don't sweet-talk or pit magical girls against each other when it suits your needs."

White fur bristled, but it seemed to be considering its reply. Best to interrupt that. Don't let it regain its balance.

"Sōju first showed up specifically looking for Akemi. By name and on sight. She wasn't local. I wonder why she came to Mitakihara and specifically sought Akemi. Considering our past encounters... I suspect you were directly involved."

Ayase and Luca Sōju were magical girl hunters, the Incubator argued. They traveled widely in search of prey. It is not unreasonable that they would visit Mitakihara.

"Oh? So you knew about them? Well, you know most magical girls, so that isn't surprising." Tōshirō was sorely pressed not to laugh as he faked piqued interest. "You know, you didn't deny influencing Sōju's choice to come here. And also..." He craned his head around to look at Tomoe with heavy eyelids. "Tomoe, did this thing warn you about the Sōju coming to town?"

Tomoe was quivering with emotion, glaring at the creature with furious accusation. "No. It did not. Not even when Miss Akemi warned me. It avoided me after I confronted—" her eyes widened and her reiatsu flared in outrage. "You really did try to play me against Homura, didn't you?!" she gasped. Angry tears finally spilled down her cheeks. "And when I made peace instead of fighting— I became— I became useless to you, didn't I?"

Will you really allow these strangers to come between us, Mami Tomoe? the Incubator wondered sadly.

Tōshirō's brows rose at the obvious avoidance of an actual reply. He had expected the thing to split hairs with the definition of "useless" or something. At least Tomoe noticed the dodge and got even angrier.

"You tried to make sure I'd never listen to Homura," Tomoe snapped. "You wanted me against her from the start."

I attempted to protect you from her, it said as though hurt.

"Protect a strategic asset from outside influence to question your methods and goals, you mean," Tōshirō interrupted.

It turned beady eyes on him as its mark's rage was stoked ever hotter, the slight shifting of its fur indicating tense twitching of muscles. It was frustrated. Excellent.

I think it is unused to someone who looks so young being an equal match in a verbal spar, Hyōrinmaru commented with grim smugness.

Bless the tactical advantage of a youthful face, Tōshirō wryly thought to his dragon. Though it of all beings should know to never trust appearances. The answering rumble of distant thunder from within his Inner World was like a dark laugh. Tomoe's starting to hold her own now that the blindfold's been torn off, though.

True, Hyōrinmaru admitted.

Tomoe marched to the sliding glass door to her balcony and slammed it open. "Get out."

But Mami—

"Shut up."

If you do not hear my side, you will have an unbalanced view of events.

"I had an unbalanced view by listening only to you. Leave."

The Incubator sighed and daintily dropped to the floor. As it took its time approaching the door, it mournfully said, This is not like you. What did they tell you to affect you so?"

"They told me the truth about Soul Gems," Tomoe hissed as Tōshirō moved to follow the Incubator. "I never want to speak to you again, Incubator!"

The Incubator stopped just shy of the door and looked up at Tomoe. I see. Well, the last two years together have been fun—

"The last two years have been a lie," Tomoe snarled. "Don't act like you were my friend when you were using me. Leave!"

I never spoke an untruthful word to y—urk!

And that was when Tōshirō had enough of word games, flooded his right leg with his reiatsu to coat his sock-clad foot in ice, and literally kicked the Incubator out. His foot connected with the little monster as though it was a soccer ball. It rocketed out the open door and over the edge of the balcony at high speed, trailing ice crystals like a comet. Tōshirō hoped its landing was painful.

So satisfying.

Tomoe was frozen in shock, wide-eyed and incredulous. Tōshirō met her eyes as he dissolved his ice, lowered his leg, and tucked his hands back in his pockets. "What a pain," he said boredly. "Demon never knows when to shut up."

The girl's mouth opened and closed speechlessly. She kept looking from him to the open air outside her balcony. Finally, she sputtered, "De-demon?"

Tōshirō blinked in surprise. That wasn't what he thought she'd latch onto. "Ah. I meant it in the pejorative sense, but that option isn't off the table. We're still not sure exactly what it is."

Tomoe just squawked and looked around like she didn't recognize anything or had been stunned into forgetting where she was. Her world had been shaken again. "Demon?" she repeated quietly.

Tōshirō let her fret for a minute then gently prodded, "We came here to get your things."

"Right. Right," Tomoe said. She looked unfocused for another moment then snapped back to reality and declared, "I'll make you some tea to drink while I pack. If— if you want, I mean."

Tōshirō didn't particularly care, but he was strongly reminded of how Karin's sister used routine domestic tasks to calm herself. "All right."

As he savored his tea and waited for Tomoe, Tōshirō mentally combed through the interaction with the Incubator to firm it all in his memory. Hopefully, their plan to prod the Incubator into looking at itself for nonexistent outside interference with its memories would distract it. Tomoe seemed to be solidly on their side. And he had gotten to kick the Incubator out a high-rise window. Karin would be jealous.

So satisfying.

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A/N:

Kyubey: ／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼ I technically never said anything untruthf—

Tōshirō: #( ᄑ ︿ᄑ ) *boot*

Mami: ∑(O_O; ✿)Ƨƨ

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.