Check in with Kazuko
Yuki mulls over her options as she walks. All things being equal, she agrees, Kazuko is the first person she should speak with. The other woman opened her home for Yuki and has been as caring a host as she can be.
Decision made, she teleports right into Kazuko's living room.
Of course, it is well after midnight; Kazuko is asleep, meaning that Yuki has to wait for her to get up.
But as she settles down in her usual spot, the faint glow of her magic reflects off something metallic in front of her. Yuki creates a mage light to see better, only to be caught off-guard by what she sees.
On the table stands a bowl of leftovers, carefully sealed. Inside is white rice in the shape of a bowl, surrounding fried chicken and a side of vegetables. Cutlery sits neatly right next to it, knife, fork, and a pair of chopsticks. There is even a glass of water, perfectly still and waiting.
Yuki can only stare down at the meal for a time. Then she slowly wipes a tear from the corner of her eye, gently strips the wrapping off, and begins to eat.
Somehow, she has never had anything better.
A paper thin arm snakes from her shadow to sneak a piece of chicken. Yuki throws it a look, but decides against pushing it. She has an inkling just who hides in there, and she does not want to risk making a fight of it.
There are few things she respects like she does the Jester of Nihil.
After polishing off everything to the last grain, Yuki floats into the kitchen to do the dishes. A little jinx swallows the noise, ensuring Kazuko gets the sleep she needs for the day to come.
At the same time, thinking of sleep makes Yuki aware of how heavy her eyelids feel. Even though she spent hours upon hours doing nothing, that is not the same as resting. Now that her mind thawed but lacks anything to focus on, her body's needs catch up with her.
After putting everything away neat and tidy, Yuki traipses into the bedroom and climbs under the futon Kazuko laid out for her. The heavy blanket feels nice and warm.
The moment she lies comfortably, curled up on her side, Yuki is out like a light. She dreams of the void and electric sheep, surrounded by black and white butterflies.
"Yuki!"
Only to be woken up by Kazuko's shout. Before she even comprehends that morning arrived, Yuki is caught in a bearhug. Kazuko makes happy noises as she rocks back and forth, showing a deceptive amount of strength to hold Yuki up like this.
"I'm back," she says belatedly, then reaches out and awkwardly hugs Kazuko back.
"And I'm sorry for staying away so long."
"It's fine," Kazuko assures her, even as she hugs her tighter. "I'm just glad you're alright. Everyone was so worried, you know?"
"I doubt you actually mean 'everyone'," Yuki mutters, aware that neither Mami nor Sayaka care. "But I appreciate the sentiment. I had some thinking to do."
The other woman hums in understanding and finally lets go. Her expression becomes one of wonder as she looks Yuki over, stopping at her uncovered eyes.
"Where's your blindfold?"
Yuki shrugs. She could regrow it, even after Ai tossed the scraps away, but Yuki wants to keep her eyes uncovered for now. Her gaze is softer than it used to be, the crimson glow within her eyes no longer present.
"I took it off," she answers with the faintest hint of a smile.
Then she glances at Kazuko's alarm clock.
"Shouldn't you get ready for school?"
"Ah, you're right!"
Kazuko quickly leaps up and begins shucking off her pyjamas, dayclothes already laid out. Yuki leaves her be and starts on breakfast to help her save some time, so that they can eat together.
Despite everything that happened, Kazuko acts no differently than before. She beams and chatters throughout their meal, filling the silence for both of them. She asks no questions beyond how Yuki feels now, though she relays a message from Junko about wanting to talk to her.
Yuki can only grimace at that, though she acknowledges that this has to happen sooner or later. In this case later, seeing that Junko is busy at work this week.
After the pair cleaned up together, Kazuko grabs her car keys and quickly rushes out the door to get to work.
Looking after her, Yuki briefly wonders if being a teacher is this much fun. Maybe it is for Kazuko.
Shaking the thought out of her head, Yuki picks her next destination quickly. It is almost like an itch to see Oriko by now.
Yuki arrives in the garden, but there is nobody here. The sliding door in the back is firmly shut, and another layer of graffiti soils the front-facing wall. Some people threw stuff at the house, too. One window is broken, at least until Yuki repairs it with a word and a clap of her hands.
The front door opens with a soft creak before she can knock or ring the doorbell. Kirika stands inside, looking a little tired and morose.
"Come in," she mutters despondently as she steps aside. "She's in our room."
"...was I interrupting something?"
"Nah. Just... ugh."
Kirika makes a tired noise, though it transitions into a growl. Halfway up the stairs, she whirls around and slams Yuki into the wall. It does not hurt much, but the action startles Yuki.
"It's your fault she's like this," Kirika hisses, glowering at the shorter woman. "And for some reason I don't understand, she keeps saying it's fine!"
Yuki stares back blankly. She can guess what Kirika talks about, but it still confuses her.
"How do you mean? There should be no adverse effects until I snap?"
Kirika stares back, now just as befuddled.
"Until you what? No, whatever," she denies with a shake of the head. "Of course there's stuff happening. Oriko's miserable!"
"I see. I'm sorry."
"I don't care about sorry! Make it stop!"
"...I can't."
"Then how about I-" "Kirika."
Oriko's voice is soft, but it shuts Kirika up in a heartbeat. She drops Yuki and whirls around to look up the stairs, where her girlfriend stands.
Although her folded hands and pursed lips convey disappointment, Yuki can see what Kirika meant in an instant; Oriko's eyes lost some of their vibrant glow, her hair most of its luster, and her skin seems a shade darker than it should be.
Seeing her friend like this hurts. It hurts more than Yuki imagined it would.
Kirika seems startled by the sight of her, quickly raising both her hands.
"Oriko, I-" "Hush."
The stern mask falls away into an understanding smile. Despite her state, Oriko glides down the stairs with grace until she can take Kirika's hands into her own. She leans down to peck her girlfriend on the lips.
"I understand, and I appreciate your care. It's okay. But please have a little more faith in me."
Kirika twitches, all the fight in her vanishing as if it was never there. She nods back, a faint, toothy grin now in place. Her expression dims somewhat when their physical contact ends, but she remains in that state.
Meanwhile, Oriko takes Yuki's hands with a smile almost as tender. Even just recognising that she seemingly cares more for her girlfriend makes the Abnormality twitch, but she keeps her cool. That much makes sense, she reminds herself.
"And welcome back, Yuki. I hear you left several people with quite the conundrum on their hands. Nagisa told me what happened some days ago. She brought little Yuma as well, and I got to make miss Kyoko Sakura's acquaintance. Not that I'm displeased by that, but I did worry about you. Where have you been?"
Yuki's gaze slowly lowers. The hands holding hers are warm and gentle, but they feel frail as well. She does not dare squeeze them.
"I needed time to think," she murmurs eventually. "Calm down and think. I was so angry, I would've hurt someone if I stayed."
"So it was like I thought. I advised miss Sakura to give you time to find your center, and that you would return eventually."
Those words have Yuki's gaze snap back up. Suspicions begin to form in the darkest recesses of her mind. She never quite thought about it, but Oriko is a seer. And now that her own nature begins to press her, makes her second-guess her friend's every word and action, she can not hold back from asking.
"Did you know? That all this would happen? That I would be here today? What I'm struggling with? What's going to come?"
"I knew some," Oriko admits readily, her smile unwavering. "Would you mind waiting until we can sit down? I suffer from frequent migraines and other health issues of late."
She wants to demand more details immediately, but Yuki holds her tongue. Concern outweighs paranoia for the moment. She nods mutely, then follows in Oriko's wake to the master bedroom. Kirika keeps pace with them, hovering closer to Oriko with a worried frown.
Yuki gives the room a quick once-over, but finds nothing worth of note. A dresser, a vanity, a bookshelf, Oriko's laptop on the small desk in the corner, together with a bunch of paper.
The seer sits on the edge of her king-sized bed, paying no mind to the ruffled quilt and sheets; Yuki settles on the floor while Kirika places a tray with teapot and cups next to them. The dark-haired girl pours for them, handing the first cup to her girlfriend and the second to their guest.
Looking back up into Oriko's eyes, Yuki's demand for information dies in her throat. She really does look awful.
"Tell me only the important bits," she says instead. "Then rest up."
"We both know that won't help," Oriko retorts softly. She ignores how Yuki stiffens, rather taking Kirika's hand and squeezing tightly. "Things will get worse before they get better. I can fight it for now, but you're already past the breaking point. Since the day I took your hand, our fates were tied. I will follow before long."
"I haven't broken yet. Not for good."
Her rebuttal causes a faint nod. Then Oriko squints, head tilting ever so faintly.
"Then what caused the strengthening of your aura? We can roughly feel the power of a Witch from closeby; the sense I get about you has gotten notably more intense since the last time we met."
Kirika shifts and nods along. She was too distraught to notice before now.
Meanwhile, Yuki glances downward. Her shadow flickers ever so faintly, but nobody would notice if they did not know. By way of explanation, she places her teacup on it.
Both of her hosts twitch in surprise when a pitch black hand with fingers like claws emerges out of nothing. It grasps the cup, then tilts it until the tea pours onto Yuki's leg and into her shadow. The heat feels like someone pinches her skin, and not a drop reaches the plush carpet.
Once the cup is empty, she receives it back from the hand, which elongates until it can pat her head before withdrawing.
"That's why," she explains to the befuddled girls on the bed. "I don't know what they told you happened that day, but those events called the Jester of Nihil here. It's far more powerful than I could ever be, and it's my and my senior's fated foe. Or... was. We already defeated it, so I don't know if we must fight it again or something else will happen. For now, it hides in there."
Her shadow elongates, but does not otherwise respond. A foreign feeling layers upon the entire room, pressing down on Yuki's shoulders. A sensation as much as an understanding.
The Jester was their beginning, and it will be their end.
Oriko shudders faintly, shaking her head to rid herself off the sensation. "Be that as it may," she changes the subject, "this is an issue for later. I promised you answers, and I will give them."
Yuki leans forward expectantly. Oriko, well aware of that, takes her time to refill her cup. The drama queen.
"First of all, I didn't know you would be here today. I have used my magic less and less over the last week or so, and not at all since you vanished. As much as I benefit from scouting the future, I already knew what was coming."
Rather than elaborate, she slowly strips that black ring off her middle finger. Or rather, the formerly-black ring. Veins of emerald are clearly visible across its form. And when Oriko has it change shape into her Soul Gem, Yuki takes a sharp breath.
What was once a silver gem is now more than halfway filled with viridian growths, like a cancer slowly expanding beneath the surface. Not a speck of black taint can be seen within.
"I'm doing what I can to slow it down," Oriko explains into the heavy silence. "But it still grows by the day. The time we have to prepare is quickly running out."
When she sees Yuki's gaze lowering into her lap again, she reaches out to cup both her cheeks. Pulling Yuki's face up, she gives her a gentle smile.
"I don't regret becoming your friend," she says, and the words shave a colossal weight off Yuki's back.
She nods, though the reality of the situation soon lowers her spirits again.
"You will betray me."
"Not by my own will, but yes."
Yuki twitches. Bile begins to bubble in her gut, a familiar anger finally reigniting. But it remains a torchlight rather than an inferno, at least for now.
"Then the Servant of Wrath will be unleashed," Oriko continues. "I knew about her quite some time before we became friends. And I knew, had I told you then, that you would have shut yourself away in a futile attempt to avoid her emergence."
"Truthfully, I meant for you to meet Nagisa and befriend her. Or, more likely, be befriended by her. You trampled over my carefully laid plans in that regard. But I still don't regret that things turned out like this."
She talks so clinically about her plans, yet Yuki believes that her friend has no regrets. Even now, wracked by illness and a deterioriating body, Oriko maintains poise and grace. And that soft, understanding smile.
"So you didn't plan this? Any of this?"
Oriko takes a steadying sip of tea, then offers a dainty shrug with her smile half hidden by the mug.
"I engineered quite a bit. But where it concerns you and I, no. I told you before that trying to foresee your actions is futile. So once we got entangled, the most I could do was gather information to use."
She lies. Yuki is almost sure of it. Oriko lies as easily as she breathes. And yet Yuki believes her, because that is much nicer than second-guessing her friend's word. She never could have guessed the emergence of the light.
Just then, Oriko grimaces and begins to rub her temple. Kirika responds immediately by taking her tea away. Then she ushers her girlfriend into bed, tucks her in, and kisses her forehead.
Kirika then proceeds to carry Yuki out of the room. She does not ask permission or forgiveness. Yuki does not protest.
They stand in the entrance hall before long, neither quite knowing what to say to the other.
Yuki is the first to break the silence.
"I'm sorry."
Kirika looks down at her while she stares at the ground, hands clasped in a white-knuckled grip.
"You really are, aren't you?"
Looking back up, Yuki finds a faint smile on Kirika's face. Tentative, brittle, but there nonetheless. A moment later, the younger girl drops bodily and hugs Yuki, more for her own comfort than anything else. Yuki holds her anyway.
No words are needed to explain. Kirika is Oriko's rock in the storm. She makes herself as dependable and unflappable as she can for her love. But she, too, begins to crumble as pressure mounts.
"I just want her to be happy," Kirika whispers, almost too quiet for Yuki to hear.
She nods back, gently stroking Kirika's back. And if there are tears dripping onto her back, she does not mention them.
"We aren't so different, are we? Oriko offered her hand to both of us, and changed us in the process."
"No way," Kirika denies breathlessly. "We're loads different. Or did you change your mind about the romance? I'm not sharing."
"I didn't. And you're only not sharing until Oriko asks you to. Pushover."
Her dry quip coaxes a bark of laughter out of Kirika. She squeezes tighter for a moment, then pulls back and rubs her face. Allowing herself that moment of weakness seems to have helped, seeing how she begins to smirk.
"You're cool, Yuki. I just wish we could become friends without all this shit hanging over our heads."
Yuki huffs in response, barely audible. Then she offers her hand.
"How about we start as acquaintances? We can talk about friendship once I figured out how that even works for me."
Kirika takes it without hesitation, and the two shake. The irony is lost on both, for a being of no change and a being of total change to find an accord.
"Alright then, 'acquaintance'. Oriko won't leave bed for a few hours. You wanna hang out a bit? I gotta buy groceries and stuff later, but I've got some games we can play for now."
"I can mind Oriko while you're out," Yuki offers. "That way she's never alone."
Kirika's smirk grows a fraction. She shows a thumbs up, then grabs Yuki's hands and pulls her into the living room for an introduction to video games.
The next three hours pass in the most enjoyable blur of Yuki's life. No expectations, no heavy conversations. Just two people whiling away the day with something fun. Despite how competetive she appears, Kirika only owns games that are played cooperatively. She enjoys teaching Yuki how to play, cheering every time her new buddy figures out something new.
And she appreciates the notice-me-not charm Yuki casts on her for her grocery run, after noting how dodging the truancy officers is a pain.
While Kirika is out, Yuki quietly checks on Oriko, who remains asleep. Or at least she feigns being asleep, Yuki can not tell.
Then the magical girl sits down in the living room, all alone.
She has no idea where Kyoko and Yuma are now. Nagisa is at school, so are the other girls and Kazuko. Junko is at work.
So she might as well.
"Kyubey."
"You called?"
The bunnycat hops onto the backrest behind her, peering down at Yuki from above.
"Where do Witches come from?" she asks calmly, head leaned back to meet their inscrutable gaze. "What are they made of?"
Their head tilts to the side, one ear flopping forward. It hangs down, almost touching Yuki's forehead.
"Just like magical girls are born from wishes, Witches are born from curses. As far as we can tell, they consist entirely of those curses and continuously propagate them."
Yuki has some experience with lies by omission. Or rather, in this case, giving non-answers in a way that sounds like actual answers. 'It's magic' can work for something so inexplicable. But she knows what she saw.
"Back with Kirsten, the TV Witch, I saw her turn into a human girl before she vanished. I think you're withholding the actual truth from me, Kyubey."
Their gazes never waver. Kyubey's unblinking, pink eyes meet Yuki's crimson ones. Their gaze reminds Yuki of Binah, as Kyubey seems to gauge the very depths of her mind and soul with those eyes.
Yet somehow, Binah scares her more than Kyubey ever has.
In the end, Kyubey hops down to sit next to Yuki, one paw on her thigh.
"I observed no such event, nor did any of the other girls mention it," they begin.
"But the veracity of your observation has no influence on the fact you conclude correctly."
"It only makes sense for the entities that are grown into Witches, to be called magical girls."
Yuki does not react beyond a faint twitch of her brow.
"I have told you about the karmic weight of a person before. But another phenomenon we observed is what we termed 'karmic balancing'. When a magical girl realises her potential through our system, then she spreads a posititve force of change. Once she becomes a Witch, she will spread an equally strong negative force. Both balance out to zero, maintaining the status quo."
"Have you engineered it this way?"
"No. We still don't understand why this is the case, nor the exact causes of the transformation. Any attempt to examine the taint within their Soul Gems was met with failure. As I mentioned some time ago, our observations indicate that it is a byproduct of the process by which magic is cast. Once the concentration of that taint grows past a certain threshold, the transformation occurs."
Yuki glances down at Kyubey, one hand snaking over to start petting them. The soft fuzz under her skin helps Yuki center her thoughts; this revelation is not unexpected by now, but it still annoys her.
"Why do you make magical girls in the first place? This is a 'chicken and egg' situation, you created a circle of life, where new girls are recruited to take down the remains of those who came before. What's the point?"
"Are you familiar with the concept of entropy, Yuki?"
"Vaguely. It's about loss of energy during conversion, right?"
"In a sense," Kyubey agrees.
"Human natural sciences have developed quite far, but not nearly far enough to grasp the true scale of the issue. They understand that each time one form of energy is converted into another, some of that energy is lost. Most often, this is caused by the energy being turned into heat. But as this process continually happens across the entirety of the universe, more and more energy is lost. Until eventually, there will be no energy left in a useable state, leading to what we termed the heat death of the universe."
Something clicks. The similarities between Witches and Abnormalities, the deaths, and now this. Yuki's hand stills for the moment.
"So Magical Girls and Witches are how you produce energy to counteract the problem? Even though energy can't be created, nor destroyed?"
"An exception to this law was found," Kyubey answers. There is no change in inflection, yet their words make the hair's on Yuki's back stay on end.
"The refinement of emotions and self into a Soul Gem creates energy. The Soul Gem's transformation into a Grief Seed creates even more so. And each existing Witch continues to emit new energy, for as long as she remains in contact with her original species."
Yuki's hand closes, mulching Kyubey's head like a tomato. The body drops dead, only for another to climb up her leg and eat the old one.
"And yet, not a single Witch in existence has been known to emit as much energy as you do, Yuki. Do you know why that is?"
Yuki lets them lick the gore off her palm and fingers, barely refraining from rubbing her face.
"Yes. It's because you're stupid."
Kyubey perks up, curious. The chunks of other-Kyubey on their tongue make the whole thing far less cute than they probably intend it to look.
Yuki sighs so heavily that she can feel it pull at her bones.
"Abnormalities can produce negative or positive Enkephalin. The negative one is just about useless, a byproduct of failed work processes. Positive Enkephalin is what Lobotomy Corporation liquefied to sell as clean, limitless energy. You obtain it by identifying the given entity's preferences and adhering to them."
Kyubey stares up at her, still as a statue. Yuki looks back down expectantly until, after several seconds, they continue licking her hand clean.
"I'm still checking against the records, but previous observations appear to lend credence to your hypothesis. Witches who can be interacted with peacefully are outliers; magical girls who would be peaceful with them are even more rare. But throughout human history, we observed a number of Witches emanate unexpectedly large quantities of energy. The circumstances were never decisively proven, though. Attempts to recreate them failed. Although, with the benefit of hindsight, I presume they failed because we believed that the same result would arise for any Witch under the same circumstances. This is a dangerous bias, which needs to be eliminated post-haste."
Yuki tunes out most of their words; she gets the gist of them either way. Her mind turns to other questions instead.
"I get that you wouldn't advertise this during the recruitment. But why do you even give them the choice, rather than forcing the contract? You clearly don't care what they feel about it."
She thinks of Madoka primarily. If Kyubey can read that much out of her question, they do not say.
"We can't care in such a manner, as we have no emotions. Nonetheless, logically speaking, offering a bargain is the most beneficial approach in the long-term. We grant any one wish of the contractee's desire, giving them something they can obtain in no other way, even if they spent their entire life in its pursuit. Asking for a price to equal this is only fair."
"In addition, choice and free will impact the karmic weight of all contractees. If we force the contract, their potential lowers drastically and the turnout shrinks in accordance with that."
They fall silent and let off Yuki's hand to lick the sofa instead. Yuki studies her pristine skin, not even marred by saliva.
"But you could force a contract?"
"We could. But we never have, and never will. An agreement is reached when both sides agree."
"I see."
Yuki does understand, to an extent. Kyubey's rhetoric makes sense to her; they offer actual miracles, and so request a payment of similar or equal value. She knows for a fact that people in the City would jump at what they offer. The only thing that irks her is them not mentioning the consequences up-front.
After some thought, Yuki picks up Kyubey and puts them into her lap to pet.
"Why do you make a secret of the transformation? Just because it will drive down the number of recruits?"
"That is a relevant consideration, but not the only one," Kyubey answers without hesitation. Their tail settles around them as they look up at Yuki.
"For example, we often end up contracting girls in moments of mortal peril. There is no time to walk them through everything. Doing so afterward would cause them unnecessary stress, potentially to the point of suicide; this is a waste for both sides, offering no benefit whatsoever. Most magical girls never learn that they are to become Witches; according to our data, this is a net positive on their mood and sustainability."
"I give you the lack of time," Yuki murmurs, still conflicted. "But I disagree with lying to the rest, or not providing full disclosure later."
"We can't lie, Yuki. Across the millennia we spent side by side with humanity, time and again people have wished for us to be unable to do so. All we can do is omit details. If the question is asked, we must answer. But few ever think to ask, be it before or after they form the contract."
"Don't you select them that way?"
"Yes."
They stare at each other. Both are alien beings in truth, yet one is of humanity and the other is not. One cares, the other does not.
Yuki heaves another sigh and sweeps Kyubey off her lap. The Incubator lands deftly on all fours, head tilted in question.
"What will you do with this knowledge? Once revealed to one, it will propagate between all your acquaintances. Mami has a ninety-nine percent probability of committing suicide over learning the truth."
Yuki nods slowly. This is a prudent consideration. She honestly has no idea yet.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K18v7pjnk7A[/URL]
[] Keep it to yourself for now
weight: x1.5
[] Tell someone
-[] write-in who
weight: x1
[] Tell everyone
weight: x0.75
-Magical Girls trait revealed:
Constantly draws Cogito from her connection to the collective human conciousness.
Note: Yuki does not know that Abnormalities are made from humans, or with Cogito; but she can tell that the process of creating Abnormalities must be similar to the formation of Witches.
