A/N: Happy(?) Fourth Birthday, Infinity!
I feel like I should start a college fund for this child lol I write slow OTL Why did I make this plot so complex OTL
§ x § x §
§ x § x §
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SECHSUNDSIEBZIG
TIMELINE X + N + 1
A paper slipped out of a charred journal. The girl holding the journal picked it up and read it.
—The battles we fought together and the tears you shed belong to you. Your life also belongs to you. So run away. You don't have to believe me, but even if I have to kill the others, I'll protect you. This is my answer to the questions you asked with tears running down your cheeks on that day.
Sincerely,
Kaoru Maki
The reader stared at it for a long time.
She couldn't allow that to happen. She wouldn't allow anyone else to die. Not for her.
In a moment of clarity, she realized what she had to do. A plan came together all at once. After thinking through as many details as she could, she headed for the kitchen.
She knew exactly what she wanted for her last meal.
§ x § x §
Junko, Tomohisa, and Kisuke climbed into the shop's van with Tessai after a planning session, leaving Tatsuya with the visitors and especially Kyōko, who seemed reluctantly drawn to him. She barely knew the girl, but Junko's instinct was fairly certain the redhead would protect him ferociously if anything happened. The others, too, of course, but Junko thought perhaps Kyōko most needed an innocent to protect.
They drove to an alley on the edge of Asunaro and disembarked. Kisuke walked forward, tilted his head as though listening, then took another step forward and drew a line across the pavement with chalk. "This is about one meter from the barrier," he announced. Kisuke and Tessai spent ten minutes setting up various recording equipment and gave them small smartphone-like devices to hold. "Ready when you are."
Junko looked at her husband. They both took deep breaths, held hands, and stepped over the barrier. They walked a good ten meters in before turning back to face Kisuke.
"Do you feel any different?" Kisuke called out to them.
Junko and Tomohisa shook their heads.
"Tell me... what is an incubator?"
Junko and Tomohisa met eyes with skeptical brows. Junko replied, "A machine that keeps eggs or babies warm, of course."
Kisuke looked thoughtful. "Tomohisa, do you know of any other usage for the word incubator?"
Her husband frowned. "It's... used figuratively to imply the same thing. As a metaphor."
"Nothing else?"
"No?"
Kisuke frowned and nodded slowly. Junko felt uneasy, like that was the wrong answer somehow.
After a deep breath, Kisuke glanced at his notepad and asked, "Do you believe in magical girls?"
"Of course," Junko replied. "We've both seen them."
"How do magical girls become magical girls?" Kisuke asked, eyes and face intense.
"A contract," Junko answered.
Tomohisa nodded. "The girls make wishes and the fairy grants them in exchange for fighting Witches and collecting Grief Seeds."
"Then the fairy eats the Grief Seeds," Junko continued, "which are actually magical girl souls. It's horrifying."
Kisuke stared at them, blank-faced. "What fairy?"
"Jyubey," Junko replied, thoroughly confused. "We've been plotting for days about how to stop him."
"Him?" Kisuke asked.
"Yeahhh," Junko said slowly. The uneasy feeling was getting stronger.
"What does Jyubey look like?"
Tomohisa frowned in thought. "Madoka said it was a black cat with a white scarf."
Kisuke's lips pressed into a grim line. "When did she tell you that?"
"The morning it got in her room and Homura's cat fought it off."
Kisuke chewed on his cheek, then prompted, "You said the fairy eats the Grief Seeds. Are they used for anything else?"
"No," Junko and Tomohisa said.
"Just to clarify," Kisuke said slowly, "Magical girls have no other use for Grief Seeds? Besides compensation to the fairy, I mean."
"No?" Tomohisa replied hesitantly.
Junko tried to read the scientist's face, then blurted, "Everything we're saying is wrong, isn't it?"
"Much of it," Kisuke replied curtly.
Well, that was terrifying. Junko swallowed hard and asked, "How could this happen?"
"Why did I send you two down an alley to ask you these questions?" Kisuke countered.
Momentarily stumped, Junko turned to look at her husband. Tomohisa was giving her an equally troubled look. Junko racked her brain. It seemed ridiculous, but there must be a reason. She remembered the planning after the kids went to school, but a lot of the things said were... vague in her memory. Which was very unusual.
They went back and forth in that vein for a good ten minutes as Kisuke tried to tease information out of them and they became increasingly worried by their own answers.
Kisuke drew a deep breath and said, "You are standing ten meters within a barrier around Asunaro that we have suspected of causing some form of memory loss. It is now apparent it is a form of memory manipulation."
"A barrier?" Junko asked.
"What barrier?" Tomohisa added.
They all stared at each other for a moment.
Kisuke slowly said, "The one we've talked about. That affects memory."
"What affects memory?" Tomohisa asked.
"The barrier," Kisuke replied.
"What barrier?" asked Junko.
Kisuke looked profoundly disturbed. After another long pause, he asked, "Why did I send you two down an alley to ask you questions?"
Momentarily stumped, Junko turned to look at her husband. Tomohisa was giving her an equally troubled look. Junko racked her brain. It seemed ridiculous, but there must be a reason. She remembered the planning after the kids went to school, but a lot of the things said were... vague in her memory. Which was very unusual.
Kisuke and Tessai looked at each other for a moment that stretched into eternity before Kisuke beckoned them to return to the van.
"Do you feel any different?" Kisuke asked them.
Junko and Tomohisa shook their heads.
"Tell me... what is an Incubator?"
Junko and Tomohisa met eyes with skeptical brows. Junko replied, "The creepy little spirit-thing tricking girls into selling their souls to become magical girls."
"What is Jyubey?"
Junko looked at her husband, confused. Tomohisa turned to Kisuke and said, "Do you mean Kyubey?"
"No. Jyubey," Kisuke said, face a blend of fascinated and disturbed. "The fairy."
"Fairy?" Junko asked with a frown.
Kisuke didn't elaborate. "Tomohisa, how did Madoka describe the entity that Miss Akemi's cat fought off?"
Baffled, Tomohisa replied, "White cat, but you showed me pictures of it that showed it as a... cat-rabbit thing. The Incubator. We just talked about it." Obviously.
"Boss, I have an idea," Tessai said.
Kisuke lifted his chin in assent. Tessai climbed in the van, rifled around, and came out with a tablet. He brought up a scan of one of the drawings of the Incubator and handed it to Tomohisa.
"Take this back to where you were standing," Tessai ordered.
Curious, Tomohisa took the tablet and walked away from them. Once in place, he looked at them expectantly.
"What is the name of the entity depicted on the screen?" Tessai asked.
Tomohisa glanced down then blinked up at them, still curious. "Jyubey, of course."
"Describe the image on the screen," Tessai said.
Tomohisa looked down at the tablet. "A black cat. White face and scarf. Pink-red eyes. Red... teardrop-oval on its forehead."
Junko's blood ran cold.
Note to self: Madoka is banned from Asunaro.
"Get paper and something to write with," Kisuke muttered. "I want him to draw it."
So Tomohisa became an impromptu sketch artist. When he was done, Kisuke called him to return. When he did, Tomohisa looked at the notebook in his hand and stared in surprise. They all looked at the drawing. The creature Tomohisa had drawn was like a palette swap of the Incubator with its longer, rabbit-like ears removed from its head and wrapped around its neck as a scarf.
"This is bad, isn't it?" Junko asked the world in general.
Kisuke didn't speak, but his face said yes, this is bad anyway.
The first part of their mission complete, Kisuke huddled in the passenger seat of the van and feverishly tapped around his smartphone updating their instructions for the second part. The changed text they got on their phones had a new header:
YOUR MEMORY AND PERCEPTION OF THE CONTRACTING ENTITY IS COMPROMISED WITHIN ASUNARO CITY LIMITS
AVOID SPEAKING IN DETAIL ABOUT CONTRACT STRUCTURE AND CONTRACTING ENTITY
Junko glanced at Kisuke in the rear-view mirror as they drove east, turning the new outline over in her head. "You don't even want us to ask about the Jyubey-thing?"
"Not for now," he replied. "Save that for the next meeting. Spend this one probing for what data she has about the missing girls. Pursue the human interest angle to hook her. If she's as insightful and observant as her chats make her seem, she could be a very useful resource for intel."
"Mm." Sound strategy.
Half an hour later, Junko and Tomohisa strolled into a little cafe on the edge of Asunaro— where Kisuke and Tessai each had a line of sight on them from different rooftops outside city limits.
YOUR MEMORY AND PERCEPTION OF THE CONTRACTING ENTITY IS COMPROMISED WITHIN ASUNARO CITY LIMITS, Junko chanted in her head.
"Outdoor table for three, please— we're waiting for a friend," Tomohisa told the hostess with a smile. Junko put her specially-purchased gaudy bright red clutch purse with a big bow on the table as their agreed-upon signal.
Time dragged. The meeting time came and went. They were getting worried when a young woman in business dress breathlessly rushed up to them. Her pale blond hair was falling out of a bun in wisps and she looked from the purse to them searchingly.
"Excuse me, are you waiting for someone named Misako?"
"Yes," Junko said carefully.
The woman's tense shoulders relaxed and she breathed out. She pasted an awkward smile on her face, bowed slightly, and said, "That's me. Misako Ishijima. May I sit?"
"Of course, of course!" Junko said with a grin.
The detective ordered a coffee and said, "Sorry I'm a bit late. My superior sent me on a wild goose chase before lunch. He's irritated with me again."
"Ah, that's the way of the world," Junko said with a wistful smile. "Pass him up and send him on a fool's errand or ten someday."
Misako stared at Junko, surprised. She opened her mouth as though to say something, but held back and looked thoughtful. "Maybe. It was a struggle just to make it to detective, though."
Junko's smile turned a touch bitter. "Good ol' uphill battle through the glass ceiling, huh?" When Misako nodded and looked discouraged, Junko leaned forward and firmly said, "Stick with it. Have more staying power than them. Collect dirt on them— passively. Make connections in every department, no matter how lowly-ranked the employee is. The higher-ups often see the entry-level employees as scenery and aren't as careful with their words. Even mail-sorters and toilet-cleaners can overhear or see fascinating things. Do small, ethical favors for people, no matter how low. Especially recent hires and interns. Even something as small as bringing a couple pizzas to their miserable break rooms during a hard week can pay off. Show interest and respect for their tasks— learning basics of how to do their tasks and remarking on how much you appreciate their skill is always good. Especially if you can use that basic knowledge to maneuver stuff higher up to make life easier for them. Something as simple as noticing the entire department complains about how terrible the pens the company buys are and negotiating with Purchasing to change their orders can have a small but lasting effect. Defend them from bullies if possible. Some of those people won't be low forever or may know someone who isn't low. A handful of them could look back on you in a positive light if you were the one to help them get ahead and teach them better than your superiors. Build a reputation. An authentic one that won't fall apart when your enemies poke at it. One so strong that you don't even have to defend yourself because you've cultivated enough people to do the defending for you while you stay above the mess."
Misako stared more. Tomohisa laughed brightly and admiringly said, "Ah, Junko, when you become Empress of the World, would you do me the honor of allowing me to be your Consort?"
Junko snorted her coffee everywhere at their old joke.
"Well, the problem is... I may have already ruined my reputation," Misako said. "I got... too excited that I made detective and brought my evidence and guesswork to my colleagues. Even though I held back on actually mentioning... that, they laughed me out of the room. I did manage to get one guy to look at it as potential human trafficking, but... nothing. I've had to keep my research on the missing girls secret since then even though it's getting worse."
"More girls are going missing?" Junko asked, not touching on whether Misako suspected magic yet.
"Yes. The average over the last two decades or so has been roughly fifteen per year." Misako's face went cold and angry. "But more than twenty girls have disappeared from Asunaro and the surrounding areas in the last three months."
"Twenty?!" Tomohisa gasped. Junko felt as shocked as he looked.
"Twenty-three reported since the first of the year, to be precise; there's no telling if there are unreported cases," Misako said. She dug in her messenger bag and pulled out two binders, then opened the one labeled for Missing Girls in the current year. The detective flipped through pages and pages of photos and information about missing girls. "These girls had neither behavioral problems nor reasons to run away from home," Misako said lowly. She opened to a page near the beginning and tapped it. "This and the next one are particularly sad. Their disappearances seem to begin the sharp increase. Best friends. Went missing the same day from the same place. And so soon after Airi's terminal illness was miraculously cured. Her poor parents are beside themselves with grief."
Junko took the binder when offered to her and looked at the pages. "Yūri Asuka and Airi Anri," she breathed. "A medical miracle... huh." A glance out of the corner of her eye found her husband heartbroken and furious. Tomohisa met her eyes grimly; neither wanted to jump to conclusions, but that sounded an awful lot like the fallout from a wish gone wrong. Damn that Jyub—
YOUR MEMORY AND PERCEPTION OF THE CONTRACTING ENTITY IS COMPROMISED WITHIN ASUNARO CITY LIMITS
"Detective, were the... circumstances of their disappearances... odd?" Tomohisa asked.
Misako eyed them both carefully, weighing them.
"We won't laugh," Junko said firmly. "We have our own improbable and... ostensibly fanciful suspicions. We won't laugh at you if you don't laugh at us."
The detective sighed and ran her hands over the second binder. "I... still don't know for sure, but my gut tells me that these aren't usual. Not even as compared to the previous strange disappearances," she said slowly. Misako paused to stare at the binder before looking up at them and solemnly saying, "I think something is out there hunting girls these last three months. Mostly middle school girls."
"Hunting?" Junko asked with her brows raised.
"Maybe luring would be a better term," Misako said.
"Luring how?" asked Tomohisa.
"Texting and messaging." Misako stood the second binder upright, flipped it so they could see the cover, and tapped it. The title was Mysterious Hyades Message Logs.
Tomohisa frowned. "Hyades?"
Misako nodded. "Odd, huh? It's the name of a group of nymph sisters from Greek mythology."
Like the Pleiades, Junko thought. A glance at her husband found he had made the same connection.
Misako noticed, but bit her tongue and just watched them a moment before continuing. "I did research hoping to find significance. Myths get weird about how who's related to who; they were either sisters or daughters of a guy named Hyas. He was an archer who got killed by the creature he was hunting; there are a lot of different versions of that part, too. However it happened, the sisters grieved and cried so much that they... became rain nymphs or died and were set in the stars as the head of the Taurus constellation." Misako frowned at the binder. "I can't figure out how that is relevant, but a few of the missing girls left behind their cell phones. Their texting logs included messages sent from someone who signs off as Hyades."
"Did the culprit send them?" Junko asked sharply.
Misako sighed. "I don't know. The messages were corrupted and the carriers had no records of an account. The number or IP is spoofed every time and the department designated these cases as lower priority for the Computer Forensics lab so digging deeper has been delayed. Have you ever heard of a chain mail from a name like Hyades?"
Junko wanted those phones. If she could get them to Kisuke...
Tomohisa shook his head; Junko thought quickly. She decided to gamble. "What about Pleiades?"
The detective blinked in surprise. "What?"
"Have you heard or seen anything referring to Pleiades?"
"No," the woman said slowly. "But I recognize the word from Hyades research. They were... something like half-sisters to the Hyades. Something about Atlas." Misako narrowed her eyes. "Why do you ask?"
Junko drummed her fingers on the table and considered her options. Her husband looked at her mildly and sat back with his coffee, his signal that he'd follow her lead. Potential responses and possible reactions chained through her mind like branching lightning. She needed to consider that she was working from an incomplete picture of circumstances.
YOUR MEMORY AND PERCEPTION OF THE CONTRACTING ENTITY IS COMPROMISED WITHIN ASUNARO CITY LIMITS
Nothing had been said about the girls themselves, though.
"We have some clues about a group of... girls... who call themselves the Pleiades Saints," Junko said cautiously.
Misako slammed a steno pad open and started scribbling. "What do you know about them?"
Junko considered the information Kisuke had given them and decided to hold back on names. "There are supposedly six or seven of them. We don't know of any particular goal, but they've had... relations with similar girls in neighboring territories."
"Territories? Like a gang?" Misako asked sharply.
"Perhaps," Junko said; that gave her an idea. Dug up some old memories from her teens. She looked down at the binder of message logs and mused, "I wonder if they're allies or rivals somehow...? Hyades and Pleiades, I mean. Since their names are so related."
Misako froze, stared at her, and her eyes went unfocused as she also thought hard.
Tomohisa eventually cleared his throat to summon them back from outer space. "So. We were saying: Other girls. Pleiades... and others elsewhere."
Junko shook the cobwebs out of her head. "Right, right." She rapped her knuckles on the table and leaned forward, sliding into business mode. "So. We have information you want. You have information we want. We suggest a trade." Junko inclined her chin slightly and arched a brow. "You skirted around directly saying it in the chats, but I want a straightforward, forthcoming relationship. We need to settle one issue first: Do you believe in magic?"
Misako gaped.
Tomohisa was not particularly good at keeping surprise off his face. She'd gone off the rails a bit— that was supposed to be a question for the second meeting. Kisuke could kiss her ass. Junko was going with her instinct.
The detective pondered her coffee and shifted around self-consciously for a moment before hedging, "I've found many things that can only be explained by magic in my investigations. My bosses laughed at me, but there are pieces of evidence that cannot be explained by modern science. And..."
Junko examined Misako's face. There was pain there. Junko softly prompted, "And?"
Misako heaved a sigh and pulled a photo out of her messenger bag, then handed it to Junko. It was of two schoolgirls, one of whom was obviously a much younger Misako. The other girl had green hair in twin braids and looked like a cheerful sweetheart.
"This is... why I started investigating this stuff. When I was a teenager," the detective explained. "She was my best friend from middle school. Remi Shīna. In our third year, she suddenly disappeared. I've never found out what happened to her. The police couldn't find any leads. But Remi's sister— she was only three then— Remi's sister said—" Misako looked up at them defiantly and slowly said, "that Remi became a magical girl and fought witches that bring disaster upon this world. Which was... very specific language for a three-year-old."
Junko met her husband's eyes and had a silent debate with him about how far off-script they should go.
Misako watched them closely. "You ask if I believe in magic," she said. "Yes. I would counter... do you believe in magical girls?"
After one last glance at each other, Junko and Tomohisa frankly said, "Yes."
"We know they exist," Tomohisa said.
"We are actually acquainted with several," Junko added, gambling on the information's value to the detective.
Misako's eyes went comically wide, completely taken by surprise. "You d— you do?! You are?!" Her frankly adorable shock faded into a determined hunger Junko was intimately familiar with. She leaned forward to fiercely demand, "Tell me everything!"
"Ah, there's your fire," Junko said lightly. She let her lips curve into a predatory business smile. "We need help from people like you to stop this. These girls who are tricked into contracting to become magical girls go through hell."
"They suffer more than any child should ever suffer," Tomohisa said gravely.
The detective's face hardened in anger. "Tricked? Contract? Suffering?"
"They all die young," Junko said. "Often horribly. At the cost of their souls. All in exchange for a wish. And those wishes often end... poorly."
Misako's face twisted into a degree of fury that implied violence.
And just like that, Junko knew they had closed the deal before the terms were even proposed.
"So. We would appreciate your help," Junko said.
"Anything," Misako hissed.
Junko tapped the photo of Misako and her long-dead friend. "As glad as we would be for your help, I suggest you learn from your friend's example and hear out terms before agreeing. We do not want to emulate the entity who tempts these girls into cooperation with its plot by appearing benign." Moral bait tossed.
Misako recoiled as though slapped. "Of— of course, ma'am."
That was a slip. Misako didn't seem to notice it. Junko wondered if the detective was not theirs but hers.
All the better, really. Also: moral bait taken.
"How much time do you have in your lunch?" Junko asked.
"I managed to finagle the rest of the day off, actually," the detective said with a wry grin. "It's why my supervisor was annoyed. I figured if your information and cooperation seemed attractive, perhaps I could take you to my apartment to see more of my research." Misako pointed at the binders. "Those are copies. I'll let you keep them. I have much more at home, covering a much longer period of time."
It may not have been wise for her to admit she kept a cache of priceless information in her home, but Junko would keep her mouth shut about that for now. "Oh? How far is your place?"
"Northeast, near the waterfront," Misako replied. "Maybe a fifteen minute drive with traffic like it is now."
Junko hummed in thought and pulled out her phone. "This wasn't planned. Let me check in with someone we're working with."
"Oh." Misako looked a bit surprised. "Someone else?"
Choices. Choices. Junko gambled again. "We actually have allies watching us right now in case this was a trap," she said quietly.
Misako's mouth dropped open briefly and her eyes went wide. Then her face firmed into cold assessment. "You take this very seriously."
"Yes," Junko and Tomohisa said lightly.
The detective's eyes narrowed. "You know who's behind this."
YOUR MEMORY AND PERCEPTION OF THE CONTRACTING ENTITY IS COMPROMISED WITHIN ASUNARO CITY LIMITS
AVOID SPEAKING IN DETAIL ABOUT CONTRACT STRUCTURE AND CONTRACTING ENTITY
Junko rolled her shoulders and swayed her head as indication of uncertainty. "To a degree." She started tapping out a message to Urahara. "My husband and I are new to this. But our daughter was targeted; so was her friend. They were lucky to have met a magical girl who had become aware of the depth of the deception and warned them about the entire mess before they could be entrapped."
"We owe that girl and her allies," Tomohisa added fiercely. "We're going to take down this monster if it's the last thing we do."
Misako inclined her chin and looked at them with heavy-lidded eyes. "Count me in."
"Terms, darling," Junko reminded lightly.
The detective blinked at her and looked chastened before drawing herself up and saying, "Right. Terms."
"I'll be brief," Junko said with a faint grin.
§ x § x §
The Incubator was highly displeased that Homura Akemi's allies knew to approach Misako Ishijima.
It had observed the woman's investigations for years. She was no direct threat, powerless and ignorant as she was, but she was one of the more tenacious and creative investigators it had encountered across millennia and provided valuable data for its efforts to stymie any potential investigation on the part of the shinigami. The Thirteen Court Guard Divisions had plainly advanced technologically and tactically, as evidenced by the Incubator's observations of the occasional patrols that wandered into magical girl territory despite its efforts to buffer them. Ishijima had attempted to notify superiors of her suspicions, but had been dismissed with aspersions cast upon her sanity. The woman had learned to remain silent until she had sufficient proof— and with human skepticism and law enforcement social structure, she would likely never have "sufficient" proof. The most logical potential venue for her to have caught the attention of Akemi and her allies was via the human "Internet," the vast intricacy of which the Incubator considered a lesser form of its own consciousness— lesser because the individuality and emotional handicaps of each contributor made it far less efficient than the Incubator's united single consciousness. This "Internet" had evolved to a point where it could pose a threat to Incubator operations beyond the girls who managed to correspond with each other in small local groups that were easily convinced to stay secret— was perhaps on the cusp of some manner of warning system to prevent candidates from contracting. The prospect was unlikely but unsettling.
Unacceptable.
It decided in that instant to allocate a terminal to observe Ishijima constantly instead of cataloging her progress with monthly visits to the home study she had devoted to her research, finally finding the expenditure justified. It needed to observe her use of the "Internet" more closely— especially how she trafficked her data. Perhaps she had outlived her usefulness.
Ishijima's data could be dangerous in the possession of Akemi's allies. The Incubator remained uncertain how many allies the mysterious magical girl might have. It regretted that the residents of their base of operations had been skilled enough to suppress their reiatsu and avoid detection until their wards were deployed. The number of reiatsu signatures embedded in the wards and their possessors' capability to obscure such extensive work was alarming, especially as compared to the obvious warding process on the Kaname property. Deploying wards should have defeated any reiatsu suppression and served as a beacon for an extended period of time. However, the shop's wards had appeared intact with a single instantaneous power spike. The implications were dire; by the Incubator's observation and inference, Akemi's allies were likely part of a network with at least five other members, at least one of which was beyond safe reach in Tokyo— an area so spiritually dense that it was crawling with shinigami. If the white-haired youth had been truthful, they may have left cells of potential resistance in multiple locations.
Unacceptable.
Furthermore, if these humans or their unknown allies continued to work such feats of reiatsu construction, they could alert the shinigami to their presence and thus reveal the Incubator's existence to the spirit army. Provided the shinigami refrained from summary execution, that was. The testimony provided by its assets in the Jūreichi made the possibility of "fair" consideration more likely, though. If Akemi's visible allies passed Ishijima's research to her wider network of allies, it was possible that data could reach the shinigami due to cooperation or human error.
Unacceptable.
There was also the memory manipulation alleged by the Hitsugaya boy to consider. Such direct interference should only be possible if instigated by the Incubator's master, but it would be folly to completely dismiss the possibility that it had been compromised. Even one-billionth-of-one-percent probability of the claim being true was an unacceptable risk.
Everything about Akemi and her allies was unacceptable. The Incubator had lost all but the thinnest sliver of a chance of contracting Madoka Kaname, whose absurdly powerful soul was capable of surpassing the Incubator's quota in a single stroke. Acquiring Homura Akemi herself could accomplish the same goal, but her solid base of allies and use of mundane weaponry allowed her to conserve her reiatsu expenditure and significantly thwart any descent toward becoming a Witch. Had she and her allies not shown themselves so capable, patience could have won her Grief Seed as a prize; allowing her to continue to exist long enough to fail would be a pointless waste of resources if she continued to expand her network of allies as she so clearly demonstrated herself capable of doing in Mitakihara. Which increased risk of exposure to the shinigami.
The threat they posed needed to be negated, but the Incubator needed to remain cautious in doing so. It had evaded shinigami notice for millennia when it managed risks every solar cycle; it could do so again. If the cell of resistance in Mitakihara was in immediate danger of extermination, remote cells might reveal themselves in an attempt to salvage the situation. One moment of panic could scatter their caution to the wind and expose the entire network. If they could be lured to one point, it would be simpler to eliminate a larger swath of the resistance. Even if their combined force could overcome the Incubator's attempt, they would have exposed themselves to subsequent smaller assassination attempts.
Risk management via Walpurgisnacht had been scheduled for the Mitakihara metropolitan area for some time now. Carefully escalating the impact would be an acceptably risky investment to avoid detection by the shinigami.
So the Incubator terminal observing the Kaname adults sat between coffee cups on their table and listened to their conversation with one shard of consciousness as its larger consciousness considered its options.
§ x § x §
Kisuke read Junko's message as he half-listened to the trio's conversation continue with his earpiece, then glanced down the block to Tessai's figure atop an apartment building. He looked down at the humans at the cafe and thought— recalculated plans accounting for Junko's foray into premature but fruitful improvisation— then blindly speed-dialed Tessai.
"Would you feel comfortable taking the risk to tail them?" he asked quietly.
"Yes," Tessai replied. "I haven't seen any Incubator terminals. Even if one follows us, the memory manipulation will still allow me to spot the black creature that serves as stand-in."
"And Junko brought up the Pleiades Saints, so the manipulation doesn't affect memories of their existence," Kisuke mused. He drew a deep breath and said, "Go for it. Be careful," then texted Junko with the plan.
§ x § x §
An Incubator terminal observed Nagisa Momoe's apartment from a nearby billboard. The pink-haired magical girl at its side shifted restlessly and irritably grumbled, "Doesn't this brat go to school?"
She has not attended classes in several days, the terminal replied. It had answered variations of this question eleven times in the last four hours; it remained patient, as magical girls near the end phase frequently experienced cognitive difficulties. You will likely need to wait until she emerges to dispose of refuse. Remember—
"Take the cat out first so it can't distract me, yeah, yeah." She glanced at the terminal skeptically. "You sure the little twit has two Grief Seeds?"
Absolutely.
"Where's Tomoe?"
School. She will not interfere if you are stealthy and act quickly, the terminal replied.
The magical girl heaved an impatient sigh, crossed her arms, and kept watching the apartment building.
§ x § x §
An Incubator terminal observed Mitakihara Middle School from a distance, obscured by trees.
An Incubator terminal lightly jumped into Ishijima's car with the humans and settled in the unoccupied back seat next to the Kaname patriarch.
An Incubator terminal perched on a rooftop air conditioner condenser several buildings into the barrier from Kisuke Urahara. Watching.
An Incubator terminal waited for Kisuke Urahara's large male ally to enter the barrier, then trailed behind him across the city.
An Incubator terminal trailed behind the Pleiades Saints' experiment, into Mirai Wakaba's museum, and settled just outside the inner wards as the experiment entered it looking determined. It wondered what she was going to do.
§ x § x §
"Everyone, can you hear me? I'm not going to run away anymore. Let's settle this. Come to the Freezer immediately. Everyone must come. Otherwise, I'll break the seal on the Soul Gems here and turn every single magical girl into Witches all at once."
§ x § x §
Incubator terminals around the city cocked their heads in interest simultaneously.
An opportunity presented itself. The wildcard would be useful after all. The rolling Pleiades disaster was finally poised at the top of the slope. There was nowhere for it to go but down.
Plans were quickly revised with the computations of thousands of individual terminals' brains. Within minutes, all but six terminals abandoned their posts and initiated retreat from Asunaro and the greater Mitakihara area.
Minimization of loss of resources was a high priority, after all.
§ x § x §
Six magical girls were scattered around a dim hall. One was screaming in agony as her magic went haywire. One fretted over the first. Two desperately tried to figure out what the hell was going on. The fifth was held hostage by the sixth, who said, "I started hating you selfish girls."
"Did you control any of us?!"
Light girlish laughter. "No way! It's fun to watch you destroy yourselves! I just prepared events to make it even more fun!"
§ x § x §
"Nagisa, would you please take out the trash?" Daddy asked as he finished cleaning the kitchen.
Nagisa bit her lip and chewed her cheek. That hadn't gone well last time. "...Do I have to?"
Daddy blinked at her and looked surprised. She was always a very good girl about chores. "What?"
Squirming uncomfortably, Nagisa squeaked, "Do I have to do it now? Can it— can it wait?" Maybe she could get Miss Mami or Miss Homura or Mister Hitsugaya to come watch her. Yoruichi had been acting funny since the night before, prowling around almost constantly, and it had Nagisa's nerves on edge.
Daddy frowned in that way he did when something confused him and he didn't like it. "Is something wrong, Sacchan?"
"I— I don't— I don't want to go outside," Nagisa said, looking anywhere but Daddy's face.
"But why?"
Nagisa fretted and tugged at her hair and dress. Think think think think think! She couldn't think of anything and lying to Daddy was hard anyway. She tried really hard not to cry, but couldn't stop it. So she covered her face with her hands and whimpered in shame.
Something clinked in the sink and Daddy's footsteps rushed toward her. He wrapped her in his arms and said soothing things. "It's okay. It can wait. Shhh shh shhhhh, it's okay. I'm here." He kissed her hair. "We'll get through this. We will."
Daddy thought she was crying because of Mommy. But she wasn't crying for Mommy. She hadn't even been thinking about Mommy.
Nagisa sobbed. What a terrible daughter she was.
§ x § x §
Dawning horror. "You made them— the Evil Nuts!"
"I connected your Ex File and Niko's cloning magic. It was easy. Then, I just used Yūri as a mini-boss to spread pseudo Witches. To dirty your Soul Gems by making you use a lot of magic."
§ x § x §
Tomohisa had to admit he was impressed by the detective's building. He idly wondered if she really lived there on a detective's salary or if something else was going on.
"Welcome to my home," Misako distractedly said to them as they crossed the threshold.
Tomohisa smiled. "Thank you for having us."
"My information is in the study," the detective said, stepping into the condo with a beckoning wave to follow her. The no-nonsense drive to her goal of exchanging information with sparing niceties reminded Tomohisa of Junko back when she was seeking her first promotion.
Misako flipped the lights on in what had probably been built to be a bedroom. Instead, there was a desk, a laptop, three book cases filled with binders, a bulletin board with some photos of recently missing girls on one wall, and a large map of Asunaro on another wall. There were multicolored and multi-shaped push-pins stuck in it. Tomohisa and Junko both approached it with interest.
"What does this document?" Junko asked.
Misako approached as well and tapped a small key off to one side. "The usual shape of pin is homes of missing girls. The spherical ones are last known sightings. Colors for both are time bands by year of disappearance. T-pins are body disposal sites. Flat tacks are schools— gold for high, silver for middle, white for elementary."
"Oooooh, excellent," Junko cooed.
Tomohisa glanced her way. "This is exactly the kind of thing he said he wanted to make, isn't it?"
"Yep!" Junko chirped with a little clap of glee. "He'd prefer it on a computer, but anything works."
Misako looked between the two of them, cautious about their mention of an unnamed ally. "I have several versions of this on my computer. This is just so I can visualize it quickly."
Tomohisa's wife chattered with the detective. He should really be listening, but something felt... odd. Uncertain, he stepped to the large window and peered out at the sea to the east. Not there; behind him. West. Tomohisa frowned and looked around the room as if he could accomplish anything by staring at walls.
Junko's face went hard and wary. "What is it? A spirit?"
"Spirit?" Misako said with a slow blink of confusion.
"Tomohisa has some modest magical or spiritual sensitivity," Junko said with a dismissive wave, still staring at him. "Honey?"
"I'm not... sure," Tomohisa admitted with a frown. He rolled his shoulders awkwardly. "It's... uncomfortable. Tense."
"This whole situation is tense," his wife hedged. Leading.
"No. No. Not emotionally," Tomohisa muttered. "Like— the atmosphere. Spiritually. It's— hard to describe. My skin is crawling."
"Do we need to leave?" Junko asked sharply.
Tomohisa let his eyes flutter closed, extended his limited senses the best he could, breathed, breathed— a spiritual quivering, like water not quite boiling, not far. "Yes."
Junko reacted immediately. "Grab as much as you can carry," she ordered. "Misako, get the most important binders. The ones you have no backups for on the laptop," she said as she marched to the desk, grabbed said laptop, and started rummaging through drawers and fishing out any storage media she found.
"What are you doing?!" Misako shrilled.
"Tomohisa's instinct doesn't lie," Junko declared with no room for argument. "If something's telling him it's not safe, it's not safe. We have enemies. Grab the most important stuff and get down to the car now. We need to get back to base."
"Base?!" Misako sputtered.
Junko whipped around and glared at Misako with fiery command in her eyes. "If you really want to take down this predator, you're going to have to trust us. If you refuse to go to our safehouse now, we will not be held responsible for anything that happens to you."
"Did you plan this?! To get my information and blackmail me into—?!"
Edginess ramping up, Tomohisa loudly blurted, "We need to get out." He reached up and self-consciously touched his glasses— which were not truly his glasses; they contained a camera and microphone. "Tessai?" he said anxiously.
"You're wearing a wire?!" Misako shrilled.
"Actually, Misako, if you don't come willingly I will knock you the hell out and drag you with us for your own good," Junko threatened casually. "Whatever's going on—"
Click.
Tomohisa turned to the noise to see what made his wife stop. The detective had a handgun and looked furiously paranoid.
"Misako," Junko said carefully.
"Don't Misako me," she sneered.
"Aren't you supposed to leave that at the station?" Junko asked mildly.
"Yes. This is a special occasion." Misako's eyes darted between the two of them. "I was stupid to trust someone again. Even if you do believe me. I won't let you take my life's work."
§ x § x §
Tessai also felt the spiritual tension. He had accessed the condo's balcony via shunpo and was about to enter when he heard the abrupt stop to conversation and Kisuke's voice breathed a description of the live video feed through his earpiece. "Handgun. Not currently aimed at someone, but nearly. Careful."
Tessai ran a hand over his face and took a deep breath. Right. Probably best to throw a barrier or binding kidō at the woman in the middle of entry. He muttered, "Do you feel that from your vantage point, Boss?"
"Yes," Kisuke replied. "Faintly. Monitors are picking something up with the barrier—"
"Barrier?" Tessai asked, brows knit.
"Later. I concur with Mr. Kaname. I don't like this."
§ x § x §
"I want to be real. If humans are real and we're fake, then I'll destroy humanity and turn us into the new humans. I can make all of the weapons I want by turning magical girls into Witches! I'll call the new humans the 'Hyades'! It's perfect because we're half-sisters of the Pleiades!"
§ x § x §
A multicolored circular sigil appeared in the sky over Asunaro, visible to all with eyes to see it. It shivered with strain for a moment, then shattered violently.
§ x § x §
"KYUUUBEEEEEYYYYYYYY!" two girls screamed in synchronized outrage.
It is a pleasure to speak with you again, Pleiades, the Incubator said with satisfaction. Finally, access to the Freezer.
Now, to maximize leverage.
§ x § x §
Tomohisa staggered under the weight of wild magic and managed to stabilize by taking a knee. Junko and Misako outright fell flat on the floor. The rush of magic ebbed and allowed Tomohisa to blink away his daze as the women struggled to recover. Tomohisa managed to rise to his feet and look around the room. He noted the gun had been dropped. "Is everyone o—"
A white cat-rabbit thing was sitting on a bookshelf just beyond arm's reach, staring at him with beady red eyes.
His mind reeled and he suddenly remembered what it was. Rage flooded his entire being.
Tomohisa moved without conscious thought. He lunged for the creature; it gathered itself for a leap but he managed to grab the end of its fluffy tail as it blurred away. Something in it made a popping sound as it rebounded.
"Where did that come from?!" Misako shrilled, scrabbling away— toward the gun.
"KILL IT!" Junko screamed, clawing at the floor for traction in attempt to rise and do the deed herself.
She needn't have bothered. He was already hauling his arm back and flaring what he could of his modest power the way Grandpa taught him to. Tomohisa swung the thing by its tail and slammed it onto the surface of the desk. The Incubator terminal flailed and tried to escape, so Tomohisa wound up again, roared his hate, and slammed it on the desktop with more force. This time, the head connected with the edge; there was a loud double crack of skull and neck and the body went limp.
Junko let out a sound somewhere between a screech and diabolical laughter, then lunged for the laptop.
Tomohisa's vision whited out for a moment. He felt dizzy. That had... taken a lot out of him. But now he had a Kyubey corpse. He didn't know what he would do with it, but he felt it was importa—
Snap! Tessai appeared in the doorway, carrying a mangled Kyubey corpse in one fist. Misako screamed and swiveled to shoot him, but he was ready and threw a binding spell at her with barely a glance. "We need to get out now," he said.
That was when the ebbing magic surged again— this time dark, overwhelming, cursed— and the first of the explosions rocked the building and blew the windows out. Junko had been gathering the items she had dropped when the wave hit; she passed out and fell on top of Misako, who also passed out. Tessai caught Tomohisa by the elbow before he hit the floor. Tomohisa's vision whited out again; he retained consciousness somehow, focusing every ounce of his being on not losing his grip on the Kyubey corpse. There were more explosions— closer— and the entire building jolted, dropped with a feeling like an elevator, jolted to a stop.
"BOSS, I NEED HELP GETTING THEM OUT!" Tessai shouted. "I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH HANDS TO CARRY THEM AND FIGHT!" Tomohisa hoped their mics were still hot.
Another massive explosion shook the building; the sense of cursed magic emanated from a higher elevation. They were on the twelfth story of a building and the magic felt higher up. And big.
"What— is— that?" Tomohisa gasped. His eyes stayed focused on Junko's senseless body. He knew he wouldn't be able to make it to her.
"Don't kn—OH."
Silence. Everything went utterly still; Tomohisa blinked hard to fix his vision, certain the world's colors hadn't really dimmed and gone bluish. But he didn't remember hitting his head or anything...?
"I was wondering if you'd come," Tessai said with relief.
"Of course I would," Homura said solemnly. "We are allies, are we not?"
Tomohisa looked up. Homura stood in the doorway in her magical girl costume. She was tied to Tōshirō with one kind of glowing yellow ribbon— rope?— and to Mami with another kind of glowing yellow ribbon. Tōshirō looked grave and Mami— also costumed— looked like she didn't know what the hell was happening but was determined to be there regardless. A second glowing ribbon extended from her closed fist to wrap around Tessai's ankle; a third extended behind her.
Tessai nudged his glasses back up his face with the back of the hand that held the Kyubey corpse. "I didn't think you would reveal the timestop."
Tomohisa blinked woozily and wondered if he had heard right.
"I would have preferred not to, but some things are more important." Homura turned her eyes to meet Tomohisa's, then briefly closed them and looked back to Tessai. "Desperate times call for desperate measures. Now. We have work to do."
§ x § x §
§ x § x §
§ x § x §
A/N: Fasten your seatbelts, my good buddies.
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.