Meguca Micro Empire Quest (PMMM)

[Kinematics]

No Time for Hot Springs!

or​

You're in Hot Water Now!

---

Yuma rushed along, trying to keep up with the other girls running beside her. Yuma wasn't completely sure about what was going on, but Big sis Mami said that there was a scary demon on the loose, and they had to help another group of girls fight it.

Yuma was a big girl, and they needed her help! Of course Yuma would help! They needed her to stay outside and help anyone who got hurt. Yuma gave her nod of understanding. Her healing magic had helped lots of people. She was glad she had that kind of magic.

She smiled as she saw twin flashes of red in the train of runners ahead. Big sis Kyouko was strong. Any demon better start running if Kyouko went after it!

Everyone always thought that big sis Kyouko was scary, but Yuma knew better. Kyouko always gave her candy and ruffled her hair with a grin. For some reason, no one else was ever around to see it, but Yuma knew the truth!

So when those girls from that other group started saying mean things about Kyouko, Yuma had to defend her big sister!

"Big sis Kyouko isn't mean! Big sis is a good person!" She stomped and pouted. How could they say such things?

The girls didn't look like they believed Yuma, though. No one ever seemed to believe Yuma. It made Yuma sad. But big sis Mami would give her some cake, and big sis Kyouko would rub her head and tell her to cheer up, and that always helped Yuma feel better.

The girls seemed to be ready to yell back at her, but stopped and looked around a bit nervously. Yuma looked too. After all, the other girls in the Serrra— Sirena— Mami's Super Club would help her out, right?

Strangely, none of them seemed to be looking at Yuma. Everyone was looking at the city around them. Did something happen? Yuma looked around quickly, to make sure she hadn't missed anything, but everything looked the same.

Still, it was important that those girls know that they couldn't say such things about Kyouko. Yuma's glare forced them to look away, so Yuma knew they understood.

--

Ah! Something fell to the ground in the middle of their gathering, and Yuma turned to see it was the tall girl from that other group, the one who seemed to be in charge. But she was missing a leg! Oh no! Yuma immediately tried to start healing the leg, but Sayaka pushed her aside (gently), pointing at some of the nasty cuts down the girl's arm, and the gash in her side.

Yuma nodded, letting big sis Sayaka work on the leg. Sayaka was really good at healing, so Yuma let her work on that until she needed Yuma's help. Meanwhile, Yuma would work on fixing the other injuries. It was important to get it done fast, so all the healers were helping out.

Yuma finished up her part easily enough, but Sayaka wasn't quite done yet. Yuma was about to ask if she needed to help when suddenly everyone was shouting about something. Oh! Big sis Mami and big sis Kyouko were back! They beat the demon!

Yuma immediately jumped up and rushed at the weary-looking fighters who were just exiting the demon's space, launching herself at a familiar red cassock-dress. "Big sis Kyouko! You're all right!"

"Hmph," Kyouko snorted. "Whaddya take me for?" She patted the smaller form on the back as a smirk crawled across her face.

Yuma suddenly jumped back, pointing at a couple of the foreign meguca. "They said you were being mean, big sis! You wouldn't do that, right? Tell them to quit saying bad things!"

Kyouko's face suddenly froze, glancing at where the younger girl was pointing. The growing smirk turned into a grimace of recognition, before she looked away uncomfortably. "Ahh..." she tried to form a reply, glancing around until finally locking on Mami's face, giving a silent plea for help.

"You killed the demon and saved everyone!" Yuma continued, oblivious to the awkwardness of the situation.

"I, uh, didn't do it all by myself," Kyouko protested, trying to deflect the now unwanted attention while giving quick glares at Mami, who continued to watch with an amused expression on her face.

"But you still helped save everyone! So you're a good person, and you wouldn't do those mean things!"

"I.. maybe.. kind of might have done some things that weren't quite so nice," Kyouko ground out, trying to avoid looking at anyone's face around her, as all of the crowd had gotten much quieter to watch the spectacle.

"Whaaa—?" Yuma's massive, wobbly, tear-filled eyes stared up at Kyouko in shock and disbelief, lips trembling as the image of her hero was on the verge of shattering.

"Not— Not anymore!" Kyouko's focus rushed back to Yuma, ignoring those around her. "I don't— I won't— " Kyouko stumbled over her words as she tried to figure out what she even wanted to say. "Look," she said, dropping down to look Yuma in the eyes. "I'm here to kill the demons; make sure they don't hurt anyone. Right? I'm not going to do anything mean to anyone. I'm not—" she glanced past Yuma briefly, before returning her gaze to the small girl. "I'm just gonna keep everyone safe," she finally stated.

After several seconds of uncertain terror, Kyouko finally saw Yuma's face transform into one with happy tears rather than betrayed ones, before the green-haired girl launched a tackle at her hero. "I knew it! Kyouko is a good person!" Kyouko awkwardly pat her head, trying desperately not to look like a gullible sap as the crowd around her gradually turned away and returned to their own discussions, though she could swear she heard a few snickers getting through.

Wait a minute...

"What are you laughing at?" Kyouko growled out at her clone, who had been standing to the side with her hands clasped behind her head, acting as if none of this had anything to do with her. The clone just shrugged and smirked.


--

Title is a play on Yuma's name


Since final results are still not in, a little something to help stave off the Kyouko-anger in Seto's group.

 

[Kinematics]

Rules

---

Mami set down another paper, leaning back in the chair and rubbing the bridge of her nose.

This was the first time they'd ever merged with another established group of puella. Always before, it had been one or two girls on their own, or a small handful that knew each other. This time, despite there being only one such person, there was actual leadership to contend with — requests, demands, concessions, and general arguing about how the new girls were going to get treated after the merger.

Mami understood; Seto cared a great deal about the girls she led, and wanted to be sure they got as good a deal as possible, without leaving anything to chance. No "forgotten" deals based on idle conversations, or assumptions on one side or the other to be complained about later.

Still, it was painful to have to actually put in writing that she was guaranteeing their grief cube allotment per month. That such a thing could ever be needed left a foul taste in her mouth.

What she'd signed off on so far:

• Guarantee of providing a grief cube to each girl each month (with allowances for increases to match the rest of the organization, if some project called for it)
• Guarantee of a monthly stipend to match that provided to all other puella in the organization of equal rank
• Housing rental fees to be covered by the organization for residences of at least equal quality to those provided for the rest of the membership
• Assurance of the safety of the greens, that they would not be assigned tasks with a greater than nominal risk of death
• Assurance that adequate measures would be taken in the event of a girl at risk of vanishing/suffering from a grief spiral, to a degree commensurate with any existing members
• Governance for issues of harassment, particularly those who might have past grievances against them. ( ::sigh::.. Kyouko)
• To not be excluded from any communal efforts of the organization
• To not be excluded from any discoveries or advancements in magical research
• That Seto herself would be granted a position and title of authority appropriate to her rank (was Mami going to have to start making these up?)
• That Seto's counsel be given due consideration in matters of governance
• That Seto be apprised of all significant governmental decisions in a timely manner

Each one with arguing about verbiage that left Mami's smile in a rather brittle state. Mami just wanted to make things better for all the puella magi that she could, without considerations for rank and formality. She would never shut anyone out, or shun them, or allow bullying or anything like that. She just wanted her girls, her friends, her family, to be happy. Was that so hard to believe?

Yet as she looked at the pile of papers in front of her, a small clump of dread knotted up in her heart. The Serenissima had grown to a fairly decent size, but were certainly not the only group in existence. Eventually they'd meet others who worked on an equal, or larger, scale. Would they be able to work together? To trust each other? And if they were brought into the Serene's embrace, would those other girls feel they could believe the promises given? If they remained separate, would a verbal agreement truly suffice?

Yet how could a paper contract ever be enforced? There was no higher court in the world of magical girls unless you counted Kyuubey, and his race maintained a strictly hand-off approach for anything they considered an internal matter. Even these promises she'd written for Seto — what worth was there if Mami herself did not intend to abide by them?

Threats of simply leaving an organization were, unfortunately, rather hollow in the world of puella. Without territory to fall back on, leaving just meant a slow suicide, or driving other girls out of their territory, starting a domino effect. And sanctuary from outside groups was always limited by said group's own territory capacity.

There was no higher authority to which you could appeal, no one to turn to when you were wronged. Only those strong enough to enforce their own rules. Or, only those strong enough to be sure the rules were enforced....

Mami tapped the pen thoughtfully against the desk as she stared, unseeing, at the paperwork in front of her.


----

A little snippet that came to mind, given the somewhat more formal nature of this (potential) agreement compared to past absorption of territories. Seto is clearly very attached to the girls in her group, yet knows little to nothing about the Serenissima. Despite the great favor given to them, there's always that seed of doubt and uncertainty.

And from there, the idea that, should they join, that's a full commitment of trust; there's no backing out afterwards, since they'll no longer have a territory to return to and claim as their own. She wants assurances, promises, formal contracts.

But what good is even a written promise in the world of magical girls? Something for Mami to think about...

 

[TheEyes]

Don't think this is worth omake credit, but @Kinematics's omake put a bug in my brain:

Rules, Pt. 2

Seto gently sipped her tea, and barely held back a blissfull sigh. Tomoe--Mami--made an excellent cup of tea, but Seto didn't want to show any possible weakness at this delicate stage of negotiations. "A referendum?" she checked.

Mami sipped her own cup of tea, not hiding her own sigh of contentment, and nodded. "A lot of what you're asking for is, well, entirely reasonable, but it all starts to codify things that, well frankly we've never codified before because I would consider it monstrous to even contemplate. Withholding grief cubes? Giving girls different allowances or not covering rental fees with common funds? Withholding information, or pulling rank on someone outside of a battlefield situation? I'm more dismayed that such things are even a concern than I am worried about guaranteeing fair and equitable treatment of our girls."

Mami sighed and shook her head. "We don't even have titles in our organization, though I suppose I'll have to make those up, along with an org chart, before I can even give you a 'position and title of authority' like we have laid out in Clause 9. As far as I'm concerned, we are all magical girls, with the exception of Ayase, and she gets included in all our votes anyway given everything she has done and continues to do for us."

Mami sipped her tea and continued. "When you look at all this agreement in total, what it really amounts to is that you're concerned about regretting your decision in a few months and not being able to go back. I think our best way forward is to just admit that outright, and just put everything to a vote in, say, two or three months. If for some reason things don't work out, then we all shake hands, admit that things didn't work out, and go our separate ways."

Seto rocked back in place, stunned. "Wait. We- you would allow that? How would that even work, anyway? Even if we were dissatisfied, your group is so much larger; wouldn't they just overrule us anyway?"

Mami waved a hand. "We wouldn't even be part of the vote--I was thinking that would be just you and your girls. Oh, I suppose the rest of us could have our own separate pro forma vote as well, if for nothing other than appearance's sake, but frankly I haven't seen any of the girls anything less than enthusiastic about your group joining ours, even Kyouko, and she usually prides herself on being 'the voice of reason' around here. My goodness, the quant team sent me a detailed proposal for expanding our courier business northward practically before I had finished telling them you were considering a merger."

Seto couldn't help chuckling; she remembered the deer-in-headlights looks that most of her girls had when they got a tour of the Serene's operations center, and its dizzying array of charts, paperwork, and computer models. Some of those girls didn't just have nerdity; they had full frontal nerdity! "I... yes. I remember seeing them divide up our territory for that 'rotation' system that you use. It was... quite intense."

Mami kept her smile serene, but the twinkle in her eyes betrayed her own mirth. "Yes, I admit to sometimes being intimidated myself. I mean, I've had calculus and statistics and discrete probability theory like every other high schooler, but some of those girls are very enthusiastic."

 

[inverted_helix]

Event Wrapup (Turn to follow momentarily)​

Your post battle talks with Seto start off with offering her half of the gross grief cubes you received from destroying the Class 3 demon after Kyuubey appears to pay the bounty on its destruction. She's a bit hesitant to take any charity but accepts that they are worth little compared to the information that she paid for in lives.

She brushes off your concern over a lost leg, it's hardly the first time and it won't be the last she's lost a limb. She's a bit out of sorts to have her action called a distraction; she didn't intend to be a distraction she was just so caught up in her emotions that her fighting was impaired. She's more impressed you and the Sakura twins were able to put it down without her or any other casualties, though no one has ever claimed that they weren't powerful fighters.

On that note trying to sway Seto to join your group doesn't initially go well, as many of the girls she's dealt with in the past were put under more severe conditions if not outright displaced by the very greedy territory holding of the Sakura twins, but with a little help from Yuma you manage to bring her around. Her group has lost a third of its manpower and the danger of further wanderers from Tokyo is something she has to bear in mind. She does have some conditions, but nothing too onerous to you as they're largely things you would have done anyways.

Final accounting of the incident shows that Kyoclone's leathers have been reduced to tatters, while the Kevlar outfit lent to Seto is also damaged. Four names join the others on your shrine to the fallen.

--------------------------

Kinematics has basically flooded the system with omake and turned it to a success.

+1 Elite, +5 vets, +3 Greens, +6 grief cubes (not entire stockpile, she isn't that trusting), +7 grief cubes you were going to give her, +territory

 

[Kinematics]

Kittens

----


The door opened with a whisper, followed slowly by a patch of blonde hair carefully peeking into the room. The lack of response seemed to give her courage, as she gently edged further into the room, her short pigtails whipping back and forth as she looked around nervously.

The hum of fans and electronics was broken by a loud snort that caused the intruder to jump a foot into the air. She stared in terror at a cubicle wall festooned with tacked-up pictures and random, unidentifiable items, only relaxing as a steady snore filled the air.

Hurried footsteps brought her to a slightly-tilting desk. The sheaf of papers she was clutching tightly to her chest were brought forth, but held uncertain while trying to find an actual empty spot on the desk to place them. A thump from behind the cubicle caused her to jolt, and finally she just placed her bequest at the top of the center-most pile of paperwork, while trying to peek around the stacks of paper, machinery, and pure mess that made up the room.

--

Dashing around the corner of a hallway, the blonde almost ran into a cluster of girls — fellow young recruits to the Serenissima — huddled together, waiting on her return.

"So?"

"Yeah, come on, Miaka. Was it true?"

The named blonde shook her head. "I didn't hear any. I.. I looked around a bit, but I didn't see anything."

"Are you sure?"

Miaka just nodded.

"Do think they were lying to us?"

"I dunno. You've seen her when she's up and in one of her moods. I wouldn't put it past her."

"Yeah, but that could just be... y'know.."

"Well, if Miaka didn't see any, I'm gonna bet on it being a prank."

Hesitant nods all around as the girls reaffirmed each others' convictions.

*mew*

"Did you—"

"Nothing."

"But—?"

"We didn't hear anything. Right? It's just a prank they're playing on us."

"R-right. Let's get going. We shouldn't hang around here too long."

Quick agreement and scampering feet soon left the hallway empty.

At least for a few moments, until a smirking redhead seemed to fade out of one of the walls, clutching a small kitten in one hand and scratching its ears. Cooing gently at it, she paused, and then with a snap of her fingers created a small ribbon around its neck to match the one in her hair, before finally making her way down the other hallway and past the doorway where the snoring still echoed.


----


"MAAAAAAMIIIIII!!!!!" A bellow echoed through the house, shoving girls aside in its wake as a small ball of fury bounded up the stairs and into Mami's office, startling both Mami and her visitor.

"Keiko? What—"

"WHAT? THE? HELL? IS? THIS??" the diminutive mad scientist yelled, slamming a pile of papers on the table in front of the Serenissima's leader.

Mami smiled apologetically at the girl across from her as she spread the papers for a better look. If she could calm Keiko down, it would be much easier to end this quickly. She frowned, though, as she saw what the papers contained.

"These.. are the papers that were sent to you this morning, about the Class 3 demon that appeared today. It showed up in Miss Seto's territory, northeast of here—"

Keiko slammed her hand down on the table, cutting her off. "That's not what I'm asking!"

Mami frowned. Perhaps hoping to merely calm her down was not sufficient. "Then perhaps you could clarify?" Mami asked, adding a stern tone of displeasure to her voice.

"Why," Keiko demanded, practically seething, "didn't anybody Wake. Me. Up!?"

There was a long, silent pause in the room.

"A class 3 demon!" Keiko continued on her rant. "I mean, I'd pondered the idea before, wondering what would happen as demons continue to grow in strength while fighting magical girls, but a real live sample! Dropped right in our laps! And I didn't even get to look at it!"

Mami let out a familiarly resigned sigh, tidying up the papers in front of her as Keiko's rant continued. "Keiko," she finally interrupted. "This isn't the time."

Keiko finally stilled her diatribe as she noticed the serious look on the older blonde's face. Finally, raking her hands through her hair, she seemed to deflate, turning to sit down on one of the chairs near the table with a small grumble. As Mami turned back towards her visitor, Keiko piped up once more. "I'm all out of kittens again, too. Don't blame me for any bad luck."

Mami stiffened at that, though refrained from turning back towards the younger girl.

She really, really hoped that Keiko was just playing along with that stupid rumor. But it wasn't something to question right now; things were sensitive enough as it was.

"I was just having a.. private.. discussion with Miss Seto, here, about concerns she had regarding the idea of joining our organization."

"Ah, OK," Keiko responded with half her attention, the other half already back to looking through the stack of papers she'd brought in with her, having reacquired them at some point. She didn't seem inclined to move from her chair. Seto herself was glancing back and forth between the two, a slightly annoyed frown crossing her face.

Mami finally seemed to collect herself, looking up towards the ceiling and speaking as if musing to herself. "You know, if they did agree to join — and weren't scared off by being bothered in the middle of negotiations — the extra territory would likely give us a sufficiently large grief cube surplus that we could afford to engage in several new research projects. But I'd have to be sure that the person in charge of them was suitably responsible, and unlikely to damage the reputation of our organization through incautious interruptions."

A click as the feet of the chair returned to the floor. Seto found that when she glanced once more towards the sound, she was facing the wide-eyed wonder of a girl who'd just been told she'd be getting a real, live pony for Christmas. She pulled back as she suddenly found Keiko grasping her hands, practically worshiping her.

"You.. you'd do that? You'd do that for me— us?" Keiko gulped, then stood up straight. "You are a most wondrous person, and I thank you for the bottom of my heart. Please find it in your heart to forgive my rudeness!" She finished this somehow trying to salute, bow, and shake hands all at the same time.

After finally shooing Keiko out of the office, Mami turned back towards Seto once again, ready to try to salvage what she could of the encounter.



----

You know, if helix keeps delaying, I'm going to have to keep writing these weird, random omakes..

Wait a minute..

... Oh! Update! Yay Kittens!

 

[inverted_helix]

Turn 26
​

Hunting goes smoothly with no real danger, at this point the Serene are a well oiled machine with regular demons reduced to much the same status as cows it's starting to feel like. Though the battle against the Class 3 demon in the middle of the month proves that they've become a bit complacent.

Manual creation
You have a revised manual made with the broad strokes of what you learned from the development of the Serene, priorities about training when you can afford it, the pros and cons of switches between hunting methods, how to balance your manpower between hunting, working, and training as you get more people.

It ends up little more than a glorified pamphlet. And it's largely distinct from last month's edition, more focused on the role of the leader than the individual girl. You've essentially ended up with two separate pamphlets, one for any meguca, and one for leaders. You also have the original one edited for grammar and to replace phone numbers with a free email account you setup.

Business
You arrange with Kyuubey to get a PO box to have deliveries made to and purchase some extra Kevlar in disguise. The identity won't hold up to any real scrutiny, but it can't be traced back to you.

You had to pull a couple workers off of normal jobs this month, but your remaining worker and Hainako pull in their typical incomes. The courier business picks up a bit this month as some more of the old residents of Mitakihara trickle in and the economy in general improves. Profit picks up a little bit but you couldn't take all the jobs available with your current manpower. ($8,000 monthly income from Mitakihara courier unit)

Your restaurant setup goes off beautifully. Months of paperwork and years of speaking to people let you skillfully convince Mr. Ogawa to help with the loan and get a good rate and even a bit extra. Though it's a bit daunting to realize you're now in debt for more money than the Serenes have earned in their existence.

You find just the right location for a great price due to the lingering local recession and Kyuubey handles securing the proper permits and identities as agreed in a far shorter time than any normal method would. Inspectors arrive right as needed rather than weeks later, paperwork isn't lost or delayed, and everything is right on time.

You let Kit and Akane handle equipping the place for the most part due to your limited time, but they seem to handle it admirably well. It's nothing fancy but it's clean and efficient looking in the kitchen while rather homey in the front.

You have the other greens assigned distribute flyers about the opening and even take out an ad in the newspaper.

The restaurant opening goes surprisingly well and you're swamped at the opening. Great food at a good price goes a long way. It's practically the stereotype image of a family diner right now, and you end up catering more to students than you expected, though you conclude your girls probably distributed flyers at their schools.

Akane is a veritable dervish in the kitchen during the rush times and you're glad they opted for a more concealed kitchen than usual. You greet and seat customers with a hard earned skill at organization and politeness. (Good roll, reduced startup time 1 month, +$4500 this month)


Research
Having developed the methodology to test the rate of decay of enchantments last month Keiko moved on to testing more varieties and combinations of material this month.

Over a year ago she'd observed anecdotally that wrapping shields in a layer of leather had made the enchantment last a little bit longer before dissipating, but that had been rendered irrelevant by the hand off technique she later developed. With as much time as has passed since then she's developed a bit of a theory she's been itching to test.

She purchases a series of copper wire of the same type of several thicknesses as well as various other materials including leather, felt, plastic wrap, aluminum foil, some Styrofoam which she melted down with acetone to form into polystyrene plastic, and some cheap two component rubber from a hobby supply.

She then tested wire with no coating, ones covered in each of these materials in various combinations, and of course extra thick wire with no coating to match the overall size of the coated dowels. It rapidly confirmed her previous theory. All of the coated dowels outperformed the uncoated dowels, however the aluminum foil coated one only barely did so. The plastic wrap, rubber, and the leather coated ones were in the middle with substantial increases in duration. While the ones covered by felt and especially polystyrene lasted significantly longer, hours even.

She reported to you at the end of the month that she believed that magic behaved similar in this way to heat, with much of it leaking away the moment it was no longer controlled actively by a meguca. The tendency to start with high conductivity metals due to the usefulness of their strength likely only made the appearance of quick decay worse.

Diplomacy
Your attempt to recruit in area 10 doesn't succeed. You learn there are 3 girls there working together, all green in this case, and the demon strength is around +8, but they aren't too interested in joining your group. Demon strength there is on the downswing as it's a 4 cube territory and they feel like things are getting better on their own.

Given how it went last time you sent a girl to area 1 last time this time you're more circumspect and try to signal from the edge of the territory rather than diving in and being too aggressive seeming. While the previous girls might have been replaced by now, you're not willing to bet on it. The girl you send for this plan basically sits on a rooftop on the border and plays on her phone for days on end. But one day a card with an email address is on her rooftop when she arrives.

Miscellaneous
The huge force you used in response to the Class 3 demon really soaked up a lot of your planned time this month and you didn't end up with the time available for the sports day.

Predictably there are a couple spirals amongst the girls that were in Seto's group even with the victory over the demon in the end. It end up taking 4 cubes just to save Tsutsumi the barrier specialist, who predictably blames herself for failing to protect the other girls as she's supposed to. The fact that none of your girls could have shielded against it by herself is only cold comfort. The other vet there had nightmares as well, though they weren't as bad. (-5 cubes)

Three of your greens make veteran this month.


________________________________________________________________________________________

Resources

• 5 Elite Meguca: Mami (+20% persuasive), Kyouko (can act as if two Elites), Taya (Scouting Bonus), Seto (Elite teleporter)
• 44 Veteran Meguca, 8 Green Meguca, 1 Associate
  • Upkeep: 19.5 Veteran, 8 Green, 1 Associate
    • 2.5 vet + 0.5 green demon finding training (+20% grief cubes)
    • 2.5 vet + 0.5 green on pack tactics (-4% pack hunting, -2% pair hunting)
    • 1 Vet, 2 Green working jobs
    • 1 veteran (Hainako) Translation service
    • 5 veteran + 3 green working courier business (Minimum 3 vets)
    • 2 vets on dispatch service (+30% grief cubes additive with demon finding, -1% casualties)
    • 1.5 vet on telepathic communication (-2% pair hunting, -1% pack hunting)
    • 1 Veteran, Paperpushing
    • 3 Vets (Akane, Kit), 2 Green, 1 Associate
• Grief Cubes 62.1
• Money: $42,290
  • Upkeep $16,820
    • $1120 upkeep on cellphones (-2% solo hunting, -1% pair hunting)
    • $500 upkeep on cable (increased due to new housing)
    • $5500 upkeep on apartments
    • $4000 upkeep on house
    • $5700 upkeep on stipend
  • Income $27,400
    • Normal Jobs: +$3000 per turn
    • Translator: +$3000 per turn
    • Courier Business, Mitakihara: +$8000 per turn
    • Courier Business, Kasamino: +$4400 next turn
    • Restaurant +$9000 next turn
• Morale: [3 of 10] Morale falls quite a bit this month. Partly due to the realization that there are monsters out there far beyond the demons in your area that pose no real danger anymore, but more impactful is the poor morale of the girls from Seto's group that join yours, the deaths hit them hard and the overall impact on morale is significant.
• Assets
  • Tiny household shrine: Somewhat reduces losses to morale from deaths. (Bonus Increased by omake)
  • Shields: -3% Casualties
  • Basic General Combat Training: -2% Casualties (May decay with losses or recruitment).
  • Basic Solo Combat Training: -.5% Pack Hunting, -1% pair hunting, -1.5% Solo Hunting (Decayed).
  • Defending Others Training: -1% Pair Hunting, -.5% Pack Hunting (Decayed).
  • 29 Bicycles (Mobility Bonus)
  • 16 Bulletproof vest (-2% casualty)
  • 15.8? Sets of Kevlar Clothing (-4% casualty)
  • 3 Sets of Leather (-2% casualty)
  • 9 sets hardened leather (-3% casualty)
    
  • Housing (56/71)
    • Apartments (43 capacity)
    • House (25 capacity)
    • Mami's Apartment (HQ of sorts) (Can be traded for $1200 per turn)
• Territory
  • Urban
    • North
      • Demon Status: Strong 11.3
      • Sustainable Harvest: 28
    • South
      • Demon Status: Average -0.1
      • Sustainable Harvest: 27
  • Rural
    • Demon Status: Average +0
    • Sustainable Harvest: 3
  • Seto's territory 5.3 DS
    • 8 Urban
    • 4 Rural
    • + some Nomadic harvesting

________________________________________________________________________________________

Seto's territory not yet included since that can be a hassle. As an elite teleporter she can make nomadic harvesting pretty effective (her solo can basically do nomadic at the rate of urban, but keep in mind that you'll have little control of demon strength in nomadic areas). Also her territory is significantly larger than your initial indications. Something to keep in mind is that besides your own territory, all territory markers are basically speculation, and don't expect other groups to necessarily give you accurate data.

Upkeep costs reassessed.

Let me know if this ended up missing anything. This update ended up really scatterbrained in my writing with around 60% of it written before the event and the remainder written up now. Starting to consider organization of update.

Also some of the comments from players made me take another look at where I had Seto's territory. It's a lot further from Tokyo proper than some of you think, I think. There's still a good deal of decent territory in between there and Tokyo deathscape (hence this being the first time a high danger demon wandered over).

 

[Elder Haman]

Omake: Kaoru Training: Resonance Frequency

Kaoru was tired. On her way to another training day with Mami, Kaoru was excited, but also very tired. That's what happens when you stay up all night watching youtube clips of resonance frequency in different materials. On top of the exhausting training regime, Mami had added several textbooks on the physics of sound. While Kaoru had understood the mathematical equations, and had found the chapters on resonance frequency particularly helpful in giving her a hint, how to translate that into actually causing metal to shatter was something that had eluded her.

Five days of very frustrating training had followed. Kaoru was now a natural at summoning musical platforms, shields, barriers, and the clearing move with her foot stomp explosion. Well, at least she thought she was a natural, Mami seemed to think she was merely adequate, demanding ever faster reaction times, with shorter and shorter pauses in between actions. Still, Mami had thought her adequate, which was much better than the frustration on Mami's face at her inability to shatter anything other then glass.

Today was going to be different though. Kaoru could just feel it. She had understood the theory of resonance frequency, but she hadn't been able to visualize it, which she was rapidly learning was essential to doing something with her magic that wasn't instinctual. Then Hainako had suggested she check out some videos on it in action. Kaoru had been fascinated. Unfortunately Hainako had demanded her laptop back, and Kaoru was only able to get access by... borrowing it after Hainako had gone to bed. It was totally for a good cause, and she did watch several videos about resonance frequency in metals... that half of the videos had been more focused on all the cool things you could do to water with resonance frequency wasn't important.

Mami was waiting in the junkyard for Kaoru. She was a bit worried about the bags she saw under Kaoru's eyes, but decided it was also a hopeful sign that Kaoru was taking this more seriously and putting in the effort required. Mami first had Kaoru spend two hours running through her exercises on musical platforms, barriers, shields, and the clearing move. Then Mami had Kaoru move on to the vibration attack.

Kaoru was excited. Instead of her previous attempts to to modulate her voice and watch the effect on the various metals, Kaoru instead approached a junked car and banged on the door and then listened to the vibrations. Striking it a second time Kaoru again listened until she felt she knew the right frequency. Striking it a third blow, Kaoru this time attempted to visualize the vibrations moving through the metal. A fourth blow and Kaoru believed she had it, she could see the vibrations. Hopefully an effect of her magic rather than wishful thinking.

Finally feeling confident, Kaoru stepped back several paces and then turned and released a high pitched note targeted at the side door, amplified by her magic. The metal vibrated. Encouraged Kaoru increased the volume until Mami put her hands over her ears. Suddenly, the metal released a screech in tune with Kaoru's voice as the metal twisted and tore. No longer in tune with the vibration, the metal looked more like a fist had punched through it rather then shattering.

"Well done!" Mami congratulated Kaoru. Kaoru's face beamed with pleasure. Mami inspected the side door, before turning to Kaoru. "This ability isn't as adaptable as I was hoping, and probably won't be useful against demons, but maybe it could be used against other magical girls to escape traps." Kaoru's face fell, if this skill wasn't that useful, then why had she been spending so much effort on it?

"Let's have you try it against my ribbons next," Mami suggested. Kaoru went from depressed to anxious. She wasn't sure she was really ready for a direct face off with Mami. "Or would you prefer to practice some more on cars?" asked Mami.

Kaoru grimaced, if she was going to develop this skill she'd rather have it be in a way that was useful. "Let's try the ribbons."

"Good," Mami answered. She was happy Kaoru seemed to be getting into it. That grimace of determination took Mami back. Kaoru was looking more like Kyouko now, back when Kyouko was the one training under Mami. She quickly formed a ribbon wall between her and Kaoru.

Kaoru first tried the note she had sung at the car door, but it had no effect, so Kaoru didn't bother increasing her volume. She tried some different notes, while carefully watching the ribbon wall. No effect, but somehow Kaoru just knew what the right notes were. Her voice lowered into a registry far below that of a normal girl's. The ribbon wall did not react. Then, impossibly, Kaoru's voice split into nine simultaneous notes. Kaoru could feel the ribbon wall begin to vibrate, and so she increased her volume until it seemed like the earth itself was shaking. However, she could feel the magic dissipate as it struck the ribbon, almost as if a counter magic was canceling her's out.

Mami's perception was a bit different. First it struck her how odd it was for Kaoru to be able to hit such a low note. Must be a side effect of her wish, Mami thought. Then she felt wonder as Kaoru's voice began sounding multiple notes at the same time. A wonder that was interrupted when Kaoru increased her volume. As Mami covered her ears, she could also feel magic flowing from her instinctively to reinforce her ribbon wall.

Blocked at success, Kaoru stopped singing. The sudden quiet was a bit unnerving, and Kaoru struggled to put aside her disappointment. Mami was stepping past her ribbon wall to discuss the outcome with Kaoru, when the two of them heard a male voice: "I think it was this way." Rapidly, Mami dismissed her ribbons, and the two of them grabbed their items and ran, taking a roundabout way out of the junkyard.

After they were several blocks away, they slowed and Mami clicked her teeth. "I should have thought about that. We'll have to find a new place to practice for a few days. Oh well, let's take this moment to review and plan the future lessons." Mami turned and paused after taking in Kaoru's downcast expression. "Let's do it over ice cream, I know a place that has a good parfait."

Mami took Kaoru to a family restaurant she knew, that she had used to use to bribe Kyouko into training. After a brief discussion of Mami's observations, and a plan to look more closely at Kaoru's emotional effects next Kaoru was begining to cheer up. Mainly due to the ice cream. She and Mami ate in silence for a few minutes before Kaoru decided to make some conversation. "So which one is your favorite?"

Mami looked up in confusion, "Which ice cream?"

"No, which Sailor Senshi of course." Kaoru looked at Mami intently, "don't deny you have one, I know you do."

Mami blushed slightly, but decided there really was no harm in discussing it. She had asked Kaoru to treat her as more of a friend and less as a sempai when they weren't training. "Well... I guess Jupiter."

"Really," Kaoru blinked in surprise, "I thought it'd be Venus."

Mami smiled wistfully, "I guess she was, back when I was younger. Her and Moon."

Kaoru swallowed a bite of ice cream. "So why'd you switch to Jupiter? Because of the cooking?"

Mami's face fell as she looked down at her empty ice cream dish. "No." She looked back up, "because Makoto lost her parents. But she kept on living."

"Oh," Kaoru fell silent for a moment, then slowly nodded. "I see, that's why I like Ami so much." She frowned a bit, "I guess that's why I like Mars more than I used to too." Kaoru glanced over at Mami, "You know, since I met my father." Taking the last bite of her ice cream, Kaoru got up. "Thanks for the ice cream Mami, I needed that."

When they got outside, Kaoru said she had something she wanted to try herself and headed off towards the river. Mami decided she was feeling wistful and went for a walk in a park her mother and father had used to take her too. Afterwards she went home and went to bed, feeling sad, but also glad she had been able to talk about her parents. They deserved to be remembered.

That night, the Mitakihara river caught on fire. Okay, so that is an exaggeration, but it's the way most people ended up remembering it. In reality it was more like a fireball, and it was limited to a very small area near a bridge. No one was even hurt. Still, it caused a bit of a panic for a day with people wondering if the water supply had become contaminated again.

Fortunately an anonymous phone call claimed that a pair of boys had poured gasoline on the river and lit it on fire. Though there was still some continuing suspicion until another phone call added that the boys had thrown chunks of potassium in the river as well. This alleviated the concerns of the citizens of Mitakihara, but did result in a few side effects.

The first was a review of all the chemistry classes in the area, and renewed emphasis on safety. Which led to the punishment of several boys doing stupid (and fun) things. The second was due to the phone calls having been made by two young women, whom the media immediately theorized were the girlfriends of the two delinquents. There was even a poorly made for TV movie about it, called River on Fire, that depicted two sisters in love with boys belonging to different gangs with a reconciliation triggered by a tragic accident when the river caught on fire. Third, encouraged by the movie, residents living near the river greatly exaggerated the actual events to better match the dramatization.

Thus it was ever known as the night the Mitakihara river caught on fire. Other less well known effects was that Mami gave Kaoru a very suspicious stare for a full week, and that Kaoru (and Taura) always left the room whenever there was any discussion among the other girls about this mysterious occurrence.
----------------------------------------------------------------

Whew, finally finished. Not my best work, but good enough. Hopefully I will be able to push the other ones out much more quickly.

 

[inverted_helix]

Turn 27​

You hold a meeting to make the various announcements for the month, starting with the positive ones: raising the girls allowance, transferring many from apartments to a new house towards Kasamino, and purchasing new bicycles. You then move on to the more mixed things, like the need for refresher courses in training to help integrate Seto's group into your own.

You also encourage your girls to consider writing letters in case of their own deaths. It's not something you wish to happen to anyone, but they need to consider the possibility. You do let everyone know that you're giving them a bit of extra grief cubes to have some fun this month though to make up for the somber tone of last month.

With time for the losses to really sink in on her Seto's not in the cleanest of mental states and accepts the slide in grief cube stockpiles without complaint.


Kyouko's Church

Kyouko admits that her family's church has fallen into a developer's hands due to her inability to pay for taxes on it. She's kept anyone from actually doing anything with it though. She's a bit torn about it though. It was her family's home, and she has good memories, but there are also the terrible ones. It's hard to let go of it, but equally hard to stay there. She's not opposed to the idea of repurposing it though.

Kyuubey admits that he maintains a bit of observation on that situation due to there being a high possibility of masquerade damage from Kyouko's efforts there, although to this point it is believed to be haunted by Kyouko's dead family. Development efforts have largely been written off at this point.

It could likely be purchased at a fraction of its true value, but it is still a rather large piece of real estate on the western edge of Kasamino. Purchasing the land will likely cost only around $500,000. Even with the rising cost of real estate in this region. Refurbishing it could have significant costs though. The basic structure of the building was made in the style of old churches and quite durable, but it will need interior repairs, on top of whatever modifications you would make to render it more suitable for housing.

Arranging for it to be in Kyouko's name would be substantially more effort than for your current budding company to buy it however, as Kyouko does not possess the visible income source to pay for it and its maintenance, a substantial shuffling of assets into her name would be required.


Hunting
You spend the first few days of the month doing refresher training courses to help bring all of Seto's girls up to your current standards, while also helping to integrate them more with your own girls.

Hunting this month has a few complications. One day you end up with one of the pairs of vets hunting the Iwata area calling for help after encountering a dramatically stronger than it should be cluster of demons. Only a minor injury for a magical girl resulted from their retreat. The Elites of the Serene were in the area already and swiftly grouped up and pacified the area, compared to the lizard from last month they were nothing. The result was what bothered you though, a handful of already used up grief cubes. You know such a thing can result from improper storage of grief cubes such that they restore the demons they originally came from, but it's not something you made a mistake with yourself more than once, and all of the Serene should know better.

Kyouko managed to make up the lost time with both her incarnations though and keep the harvest on schedule.

The second issue is when you have Seto go hunting in the nomadic regions beyond your territory she runs into a group of magical girls, though she has little information on them as she was attacked immediately and forced to flee with significant injuries, she's rather depressed at how poorly she's done lately. She ran into them to the north of her own primary territory. Further attempts at hunting went better though she ran into them a couple more times. Based off their spread she doesn't think it possible they're harvesting enough to really be breaking even, though she can't be certain without more information. She still manages to get together a single GCU to contribute to the harvest, she's used to gaining more but there's too much competition now and she wasn't interested in fighting over them.

(71.3 GCU base -.5 GCU injuries + 1 GCU from nomadic region)

Taura and your dispatch team bring up that population in your regions of control seems to be increasing further. Your sustainable harvest has increased by 1 each in your northern and southern hunting zones.


Diplomacy
The girls in area 10 are very grateful or the pamphlet and find it quite helpful to them. The information about the Class 3 demon is worrying, but they had heard rumors passed along from further east and so the information isn't as shocking as it might have been.

You'd half expected that the girls from area 1 wouldn't believe you about it, but they accept your information with a simple acknowledgement and thanks that you dealt with it.


Mundane Economy
Your business operations go rather well this month and you manage to grow your courier business a bit with the added girlpower, you pretty much control the entire market in your region of control now. Your restaurant is fully operational as well this month.

You also arrange to get another house in the eastern end of your territory given how much you've expanded that direction and how many operations you're running there these days it will really simplify things. You give notice about leaving a few of your current apartments, and save on the month's rent since it's already paid and you didn't have any contract.


Morale
You have a big group get together and cycle out to the outskirts of town so you can have a day of team sports and bonding. It goes alright, though at your current size you end up with a lot of different sports going on at the same time. Being able to go out towards the edges of town lets you get bigger more interesting things going on at least. You try to rein in the more visible bits of magic but let them have a bit of fun with it.

You manage to get the rent of the house hammered out just in time to squeeze a proper moving in party at the end of the month and welcome Seto's group at the same time. You spend extra on food and drinks and generally try to have a good time of it, for all that the recent days have been gloomy for them you're trying to give them a new start.



Information Gathering
Picking through the literally millions of hits when you search through the internet for magical girl information is worse than a needle in a haystack. Even basic exclusions of Sailor Moon and Nanoha doesn't really help, you still end up with tens of millions of results. Even going through pages at one a minute for hours doesn't get you through even a fraction of the results and nothing really stands out.

You ask Kyuubey about it, but he's evasive and unhelpful.


General
You aren't too surprised at a large number of grief spirals this month given the drop in morale last month. You weren't pretty much expecting Seto's spiral this month and were well prepared for comforting her one leader to another, her failures in the past two months weighing heavily upon her shoulders for someone used to being the provider and protector. (2 cubes)

One of the original, if unremarkable, veterans you built your group around also spiraled this month, Sakamae has been a magical girl 3 years now, and it seems she had become complacent, used to the life and felt she was okay with it, the shock of last month unsettled her foundation. The second healer from Seto's group Fukuda was in emotional turmoil from the recent deaths of her friends. It took two Cubes to keep her from spiraling.

Nagata Tsuya was too late to a scene to save a civilian from a demon, as a teleporter this hit her especially hard and her life was saved by a hair's breath by Aiko and four units of cubes. Shinobu also spiraled this month, possibly since she's close to Nagata, but she kept her true reasons to herself.

Two of your greens made veteran status this month at least though.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Resources

• 4 (5) Elite Meguca: Mami (+20% persuasive), Kyouko (can act as if two Elites), Taya (Scouting Bonus), Seto (Elite teleporter)
• 46 Veteran Meguca, 6 Green Meguca, 1 Associate
  • Upkeep: 21.5 Veteran, 6 Green, 1 Associate
    • Support/Training (9.5 Vet, 1 Green)
      • 2.5 vet + 0.5 green demon finding training (+20% grief cubes)
      • 2.5 vet + 0.5 green on pack tactics (-4% pack hunting, -2% pair hunting)
      • 2 vets on dispatch service (+30% grief cubes additive with demon finding, -1% casualties)
      • 1.5 vet on telepathic communication (-2% pair hunting, -1% pack hunting)
      • 1 Veteran, Paperpushing
    • Jobs (12 Vet, 5 Green, 1 Associate)
      • 1 veteran (Hainako) Translation service
      • 2 Green working jobs
      • 7 veteran + 2 green working courier business (Minimum 3 vets)
      • 4 Vets (Akane, Kit), 1 Green, 1 Associate Restaurant
• Grief Cubes 47.3
• Money: $35,570
  • Upkeep $23,520
    • $1120 upkeep on cellphones (-2% solo hunting, -1% pair hunting)
    • $500 upkeep on cable (increased due to new housing)
    • $2500 upkeep on apartments
    • $8000 upkeep on house
    • $11400 upkeep on stipend
  • Income $28,000
    • Normal Jobs: +$2000 per turn
    • Translator: +$3000 per turn
    • Courier Business, Mitakihara: +$9500 per turn
    • Courier Business, Kasamino: +$4500 next turn
    • Restaurant +$9000 next turn
• Morale: [3 of 10] Morale went up a little this month with all the resources you threw at it, but your group still didn't really shake off the malaise with so many spirals. Writing death notes didn't help either.
• Assets
  • Tiny household shrine: Somewhat reduces losses to morale from deaths. (Bonus Increased by omake)
  • Shields: -3% Casualties
  • Basic General Combat Training: -2% Casualties (May decay with losses or recruitment).
  • Basic Solo Combat Training: -1% Pack Hunting, -2% pair hunting, -3% Solo Hunting
    
  • Defending Others Training: -2% Pair Hunting, -1% Pack Hunting
    
  • 57 Bicycles (Mobility Bonus)
  • 16 Bulletproof vest (-2% casualty)
  • 15.8? Sets of Kevlar Clothing (-4% casualty)
  • 3 Sets of Leather (-2% casualty)
  • 9 sets hardened leather (-3% casualty)
  • Housing (56/73)
    • Apartments (20 capacity)
    • House (50 capacity)
    • Mami's Apartment (HQ of sorts) (Can be traded for $1200 per turn)
• Territory
  • Urban
    • North
      • Demon Status: Average 0.0
      • Sustainable Harvest: 29
    • South
      • Demon Status: Strong 9.9
      • Sustainable Harvest: 28
  • Rural
    • Demon Status: Average +0
    • Sustainable Harvest: 3
  • Seto's territory
    • 8 Urban (0 DS)
    • 4 Rural (0.3 DS)

________________________________________________________________________________________
Okay I think I got the numbers on everything right now. I think this was your last month of payment for masquerade damage to Kyuubey though I'm not too sure.

Grief Cubes 62.1+71.8 hunting -56 upkeep -1 kyoclone -1 demon forecast -11 kyuubey payment -5.6 fun with magic = 59.3 pre spirals -12 spirals = 47.3

Section divisions were pretty much arbitrary wherever I felt like, but seemed I need some level of organization to make sense of it all.

Frankly, I think we might need to switch to multiple maps (put them all in a spoiler, and then each individual map in a spoiler).

Eventually we will need too anyway to handle Tokyo and other major metropolis.

Click to shrink...

This would probably be ideal, but it takes me a lot of effort to do the maps, more than you'd think since my photo editing skills are pathetic, lol.

Going to update main page list of wish magics momentarily.

Map update still delayed for renewed thought.

 

[Kinematics]

Secret Agent Man!

Akeno walked down the steps of the house, heading for the kitchen, soaking in the faint rays of the pre-dawn light that streamed through the front windows. Very few girls in this house were morning people, and even fewer would be awake at this time of the day. It was wonderfully relaxing, allowing a moment of peaceful solitude.

She was surprised, then, when looking over towards the living room she noticed a couple of heads leaning against each other, huddled together on the couch. The TV was on, but only showing a menu screen for the DVD in the player — easily recognizable as James Bond.

Curious, Akeno drifted over, quickly noticing that the two girls on the sofa were asleep, though cutely nestled together. More amusing, though, was the stack of 007 movies, partially knocked over, that were clearly the source of an all-night movie marathon.

She leaned over and scruffed their heads to wake them up. "Come on, you two. Movie's over. Get to bed."

Grumbled murmurings followed, then a slow, yawning crawl back up the stairs, leaning on each other for support. Cute. Those two seemed to have settled in quite well in the half year they'd been with the Serenes, and had lost a lot of their early skittishness.

As Akeno resumed her trek to the fridge for some orange juice, she started humming a familiar theme song, wondering what it would be like to be a spy in Her Majesty's service. Well, she was already in Her Majesty's (Mami's) service; just needed to find a tux and a smart watch. And an Aston Martin of her own. Mmmmmm...

~~~~~

"... totally cool! I mean, lasers!"

"... just hit a button on his watch and the car just drives right up to him! ..."

"Rockets!"

"... so dreamy...."

"I was looking up some others..."

"... seen The Prisoner? Supposed to be..."

"My brother got hooked on this show called Burn Notice..."

"... Americans just want to blow things up ..."

"I wouldn't call A Taxing Woman a spy movie..."

"What about that one, with that guy? ..."

"... Grand Budapest..."



Taura pinched the bridge of her nose as she made her way through the humming discussions around the house. Such things were a periodic nuisance, as some meme caught people's attention for a few days, and absolutely everyone was talking about it. The bubbling energy of their thoughts made it difficult to keep her own mind undisturbed. Well, at the very least she didn't have to worry about Mami getting caught up in this. She longed for the 'boring' paperwork of the day.

~~~

"So, Taura, what do you think about putting together a group of girls to handle... 'spy' work?"

Taura blinked twice at the innocently curious look on the blonde's face. Surely not, Mami? Weren't you supposed to be my refuge from the chaos of the household? Still, Taura's thoughts didn't show on her face.

"What.." Taura cleared her throat as her voice caught. "What brings this up?"

Mami frowned, letting out a slight sigh, and glanced sidelong at a stack of familiar papers. Mami's own face was as equally trained in maintaining a pleasant, unreadable mask, but she deliberately tried to let it slip around those she was close to. Even without Taura's mind-reading abilities, it would be obvious what her leader's concerns were.

Taura allowed herself to glance at the same pile of papers before leaning back in consideration. Certainly it was a legitimate concern. Too many things had been happening near and in the Serene's territory lately, surprises that they were poorly prepared for. Too little knowledge about what was going on in the world around them, whether nearby territories or the hints of the movements of larger monsters on the horizon.

They needed knowledge — intelligence — on the goings on around them. They couldn't blindly stumble around in the dark, else eventually some unseen assassin would slit their throat without anyone the wiser.

"You know my thoughts on such activities," Taura stated. Despite them both knowing where she stood, and despite Taura knowing that Mami wasn't asking it of her, it still needed to be stated.

"Oh, I'm not asking you to do this yourself!" Mami rushed to assure her. And Taura knew it was true, and Mami knew that Taura knew. But it was comforting to hear, just the same. "But... We need to do something. I'm just trying to come up with ideas of how it could work; what we could do."

Taura nodded back to acknowledge that need. However mere need did not provide; one also needed effort, and the right person for the job. "I don't know who could possibly fit that role, though," Taura said, shaking her head. "There's been plenty of talk lately — and I'm sure you were not listening in on that, and getting ideas because of that — but actual skill and aptitude is something else altogether."

Mami blushed, though an impish grin crossed her face for just a brief moment. Taura just rolled her eyes.

"Well, I'm sure plenty will be interested in the idea. Maybe find out who started the current talk? At least they would have been interested in the topic for its own sake, rather than the latest rumor craze."

Mami nodded at that. "A reasonable approach. Maybe start with Akeno? She seemed quite excited about it earlier this morning."

Taura narrowed her eyes at that, then shook her head as a soft smile played across her own lips. She should know better than to be surprised by Mami's astute observations, or that she had already thought her way to the conclusion before the discussion even started, and did so without alerting the mind reader that she already knew the answer. Well, there was a reason she was considered a great leader.

"Of course, Hime-sama," Taura replied with a deferential bow, using the nickname Mami had picked up during the Iwata incident, amused at Mami's sputtered denials. Even if it was a cheap shot, the balance of teasing had to be maintained.

~~~~~

Mariko squirmed on her seat, glancing to her right where Ayako looked just as uncomfortable. On her left, Akeno just looked confused.

In front of them, Taura leaned against the edge of the desk that Mami usually occupied when she came to the house to supervise the many projects the organization was running. Mami herself, however, was not present. It all felt very suspicious.

Despite their many worries when first forcibly recruited, Mariko and Ayako had gradually come to appreciate the world that they had been brought into. Not the mafia family that they first feared, but something closer to a true family — kind and caring and welcoming. However there was always little worries in the back of their heads that never quite went away.

Of the girls that had been absorbed into the organization, virtually all of them had been voluntary. Ayako and Mariko — veterans even at the time they'd been brought in — understood the ruthlessly pragmatic nature of the world of magical girls.

Was the convenient vacancy opening up at the house where they could live, rather than being pushed into one of the apartment blocks, really a coincidence, or just a way to keep a closer eye on them? Team-ups with older members of the organization — ensuring they weren't trying to steal from the organization, or carrying out the the subversive acts that Naru had suggested?

And now, just when they were thinking they could leave that old world behind forever and fully embrace this new one that Mami promised, they were brought in for a 'special discussion' with Taura, one of the scariest girls in the Serenes, probably only matched by Kyouko in the wary respect the rest of the girls afforded her.

In truth, they weren't quite sure how to view the fact that the two scariest girls of the organization were also the two people closest to Mami herself. There was the obvious closeness of old friends between Mami and Kyouko, and Taura was completely trusted as Mami's close personal assistant. How could you keep such dangers so close to yourself, yet still seem to feel completely safe? Was Mami's motherly kindness just a facade, or was she really able to see past the fronts that those other girls put up?

A cleared throat snapped her attention back to the present.

"So," Taura began, a stern look pinning each of them to their seats. "I understand you were up all last night watching James Bond movies."

Mariko's mouth opened, and failed to close. Of all the fears she had about what they'd been called here for, a movie marathon night was not one of them. "Ummm.." she started, glancing uncertainly at Ayako.

"Nah, that was just them two," Akeno answered, thumbing to the side at the other girls, and apparently unphased by the whole situation. "I just found them asleep on the couch this morning."

"But you were the one to start the latest gossip mill over spy movies, were you not?" Taura inquired, focusing on the speed freak.

Akeno laughed a little embarrassedly, scratching her head. "Eh, maybe? Was just remembering watching one of those movies before, and imagining what it would be like. I guess it just kinda got out of hand?"

Ayako finally spoke up, hesitance and apology easily audible in her voice. "Sorry. We didn't know that there would be a problem with that. We were just watching some movies, and lost track of time."

Taura let out a soft sigh, before finally moving to take a seat of her own. "I didn't ask you here because you were watching movies. I asked you here because of the movies you were watching."

The three girls exchanged glances at that, confused rather than enlightened.

"I've been reviewing your records," Taura continued, not elaborating further on the movie issue. "Your skills and talents and affinities, and experiences you've carried with you from the past, from the stories you've shared." She glanced up suddenly, then shook her head. "No, we don't keep your shared stories and such on record; that's just from what I remember of the stories that have been passed around since you first got here. The records are only of the various training we have everyone do, hunting evaluations, and so forth."

Both Mariko and Ayako seemed to relax at that, even though they knew it provided no protection against the sight of a mind-reader.

Akeno, however, seemed to be trying to put the pieces of a puzzle together. "What," she began slowly, "would a review of our skills and talents have to do with watching James Bond movies? Spy movies?"

Mariko's eyes suddenly widened at that, thoughts of her past careening through her mind. Breaking into businesses to steal kitchen equipment for Akane. Sneaking into houses to listen to a mother's scared whispers of Mami. On the run and forgotten. Ayako tracking people down. Living on the streets, or the elaborate fashion and make-up she learned during her period of attention.

Taura just nodded at her. "I see you're starting to get the picture," she said. A sigh, with just a hint of exhaustion showing? Mariko wasn't sure.

While Ayako had enough shared experiences with Mariko that she easily caught the same hint, Akeno still seemed a bit lost. "I don't understand. Why would you think that we—" she gestured at herself and the other two girls, "would be... well, spies? That's what you're asking, right? Are we supposed to be like secret police, watching everyone?"

"No!" The vehement response caught everyone off guard, and even Taura seemed a bit surprised at herself. "No," she continued more calmly. "The Serenissima are family. We do not spy on each other. We extend our trust to everyone, unconditionally." She may have glanced briefly at Ayako and Mariko as she said that.

"But at the same time, for as much as the organization has grown, we're still a bit blind to the world around us. That world is not as kind to magical girls. There are... pragmatic difficulties in developing as we have." Out of the corner of her eye, Akeno caught Mariko and Ayako nodding slightly at that.

"While everyone is aware of the recent incidents, we — Mami and I — are concerned that this is becoming a growing problem, of not knowing enough about what's going on around us. And we're afraid that one of those times, we won't be so lucky. Someone could die because we weren't paying attention to the right things at the right time."

"Still," Ayako said, frowning. "That doesn't explain why watching some James Bond movies would make you think we'd be the right people for this." Mariko nodded in agreement.

Taura huffed in slight amusement. "Nobody is the right person for this. That's the problem. We have a handful of girls just entering high school, and most are younger than that. We've been forced to learn how to fight for our lives, but the skills of a secret agent weren't passed out with the magical girl pamphlet. But then," she tilted her head with a half smirk, "neither were the skills of running a restaurant, or maintaining a house, or scientific research.

"We have lots of talent; we just have to find ways for that talent to be used. And if it's something they enjoy — like Akane with her cooking — then we would be remiss to not allow that talent to flourish."

Mariko wondered how deliberate the reference to Akane was, but decided it didn't matter. "So you're saying that we're supposed to be talented at being secret agents?" Her voice clearly indicated her skepticism.

Taura shrugged. "Maybe not talented, but at least interested. And possessing skills that fit well with what's needed. Clairvoyance and stealth should be obvious. Akeno," she added, nodding at the third girl, "covers more of the physical side of things. It's difficult to put into words, but Mami felt that there was a natural fit between Akeno's drive, and what would be asked of her."

"Why isn't Mami here, by the way?" Mariko asked, as her natural, skeptical view of the world reasserted itself against her fear and paranoia.

Taura just shook her head. "She didn't want to convince you that way. She said that if she had asked, you'd have agreed simply because it was her doing the asking." She smirked, and finished with, "She said that if you agreed even if it was me doing the asking, that that was proof that you were truly willing to take on this dangerous task."

There were a few shared looks between the girls, before Ayako finally spoke up again. "What would we have to do if we agreed to this?"

Taura turned, allowing the movement to cover the smile that played across her lips. "Well, we certainly have no experience in training secret agents, so we're kind of making it up as we go along." She pulled a folder off of a shelf, flipping it open on the table in front of the other girls. "We did a search for as many different spy-related shows as we could think of, particularly those reviewed as being 'realistic'. You can start by watching all of them, and writing up reports on what you think is important to learn from each one. I'll review your reports, and pick out an exercise to help train you in each skill.

"Also, Mami said that she was sure Kyouko would be more than willing to help train you all on the more physical side of things — tracking and escaping and such."

Mariko swallowed the lump in her throat at the final comment. Surely fate would not be so cruel as to force her to deal with both of the scariest girls of the Serenissima?

None seemed to notice that Taura had never actually asked them if they'd agree.

 

[inverted_helix]

Mini-Event (to be named)​

You take a bite of a dango as your legs swing off the side of some random three story office in Iwata, lightly hidden from human sight. One benefit of being a magical girl you're not afraid to abuse is you don't need to worry about eating right. You still regret the wish you made, perhaps if you'd not been so quick to make it… but it had made sense at the time, more time to think wouldn't have changed it.

You like being a magical girl at any rate, and in your time alone after you had… split from Mami you'd come to greater terms with your power despite what it had caused. The spear is no more evil than a car. Your abilities are only a tool, one you needed to survive, to live.

Your other half is idly killing demons dozens of kilometers away in another city. You couldn't really explain it to Mami, the feeling of being two places at once and able to do two things at once. The two of you together couldn't outsmart one of Mami probably, yet you could still do two completely different things at once without too much trouble.

You swallow the last of your snack and toss the stick downwards, piercing some rich guy's coffee cup. You pull a tiny grief cube from your pocket and hold it close to your gem, draining away a tiny amount of darkness.

The magical equivalent of a heat wave appears to your north, time to get back to work.



You make it to the miasma without incident, but you can already tell someone's been screwing with your territory again.

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Spoiler: Entirely too long author notes

Trying a bit of perspective shift since it's appropriate since Kyouko is your only Elite in the targeted area and people seem to want less monotony. Tried to shift the word choice as well to highlight it.

Kyouko has very limited perspective on what's going on. This is in a sense a puzzle where you have very little information to go on for what's happening, try to keep that in mind. You'll gain more information as you go depending on your choices. This sort of style is going out on a limb for me so will probably be awful, but at least it's different. Instead of giving you a command center view, an individual view as Haman has suggested in the past.

This is really short for how long it took to write, it took me quite a while to determine how an enemy with their degree of intelligence on you would strike, and how that would look from the perspective of individuals on your side.

Kyouko is currently in your southern Iwata territory, Kyoclone is currently in the northern territory. Kyouko can handle a second body with minimal issues because magical degree of multitasking (superhuman, but still finite) she's kind of being introspective here and not paying attention to her other half which is just doing routine demon hunting. (And somehow character development is leading towards minor literal Multiple [near identical] Person Disorder).