Puella Magi Imperatrix Mundi, or: Wherein Half Of Japan Tries To Kill You

It's the little things that get to you, over time.

"Oh, you're so talented," well-meaning adults gush. "You're just good at everything, aren't you?" Sure. Of course you are.

Always good, never good enough.

You see, talented is something you are, not something you do. Sometimes you almost think you'd rather be a total failure--at least then you'd know your place. Instead, it seems like you're always, always, always left out, left behind. If all the souls in the world queued up to enter a door called "Success", you were at the head of the line when the door slammed shut. A front-row seat to watch the things you'll never have. Never be allowed to even try for.

You'd let your frustrations slip, once. You were told that lots of girls would love to be as pretty and talented as you and that you were just being ungrateful and petty. You probably were.

And so, you try your best.

But the little things still get to you.

You're helping your mother make dinner, chopping vegetables dutifully. Your mother flits through the kitchen as if it were a choreographed dance, keeping everything running smoothly and doing what's surely the work of two people, at least.

She appears over your shoulder. "Oh, Yui," she says. "Can you cut those a little thinner? Here, let me show you." She takes the knife from your hands and demonstrates.

You try. The cut angles wrong, and the slice is thicker on one end.

"Ah, no," your mother says, "You need to--actually, don't even worry about it, dear," she says. "I'll take care of it." She's finished flawlessly in half the time you'd spent to do a quarter of it the wrong way.

You want to cry.

"Yui? Is something wrong?" Your mother looks at you in concern.

"N-no," you lie. "I'm fine."

"Well... why don't you go play until dinner?" she says. "I know how much you've been looking forward to seeing your brother again, and I don't want you to tire yourself out before he arrives! I do love having your help, dear, but I can handle it on my own."

"I know," you say. "I know you can, mother. Thank you."

---

Dinner is an elaborate and somewhat formal affair, as it usually is on the rare occasions that the whole family is present. Your mother has outdone herself, and your father has made time to be at home for once. The conversation centers on your brother, and how proud they are of him and his accomplishments, the latest award he's won, how he's the youngest person in Japan to do such-and-such, and you know the president of the company father works for has a daughter the right age, and--

Your brother just nods along blandly, shooting worried glances at you.

---

It's a cold winter day and the mall is crowded and bustling.

"You know," he says, and gestures grandly, "Mother is still wondering why you haven't found a boyfriend. She seems almost offended, like any daughter of hers should have suitors lining up around the block!"

You laugh, leaning back in your chair. "I wish! Though I imagine she wouldn't be thrilled by--ooh, look! Over there, by the electronics store."

Your brother groans. "We're not doing this, Yui."

"C'mon! See? The cute one in the blue hoodie, with the pixie cut hair and glasses."

He glances over involuntarily, then buries his face in his hands when he realizes what he did. "Yui!"

You giggle madly. "Well...?"

"Yes," he mumbles.

"I knew it! Excellent taste, brother dearest. Excellent taste, indeed."

"We need to find you a girlfriend," he mutters. "So you'll have better things to do than meddle with my lack of a love life."

"You mean I'd--"

"Yui, no."

"I'd ha--"

"Yui!"

You pout. Fine, no inappropriate jokes in public. Your brother can be so uptight sometimes.

You both sit silently, munching on the snacks you bought.

"You doing okay?" he finally asks a few minutes later.

"Yeah," you reply. "I guess."

"Wanna talk about it?"

You shrug. "I'm just... tired of feeling irrelevant, of always falling short, of never getting a chance," you say. "I mean, I don't even care about... glory, or whatever. Y'know, like all the attention you get." You wink at him and he grumbles. "I... want to be part of something bigger, I guess. Something meaningful," you continue, waving your hands around for emphasis. "I've got all the opportunities and advantages in the world, really, but never the chance to use them." You sigh. "It's like nobody sees me as a person who can do things, just that pretty and oh-so-talented girl with the genius for a brother. Like a doll to be admired. So I... sit here. Just a big pile of wasted potential."

"Yui..." he says, and you feel a pang of regret at the look on his face.

You wave your hand dismissively. "But seriously, don't worry about it! You've got your own problems," you say. If there's one thing you refuse to be, it's an emotional burden to others, so... time to change the subject! You grin impishly at him--and he's already starting to groan because he knows what you're about to say--"Such as your love life," you continue. Ah, sibling bonding at its finest.

"Can't very well have problems with something that doesn't exist," he says, trying very hard to look as grumpy as possible.

"Seriously, bro. When was the last time you even tried to get a girl?"

"Well... there was this one girl in high school," he says. "Tall, kinda scrawny, thick glasses. Usually top of the class."

"Perfect! How'd it go?"

"I. Um, well," he mumbles. "I never actually talked to her. Kept thinking that, uh... if I could beat her test scores she might notice me."

You bust out laughing until you nearly fall out of your chair.

"It's not that funny!" he protests.

At this point you've both finished eating, and you stand up. "Anyway, let's go!" you announce. "I wanna look for a new swimsuit and if you're standing around being grumpy it keeps the creeps away."

"It would be my pleasure," he says drily, as you grab his arm and drag him away.

---

Your brother's visit only lasts a couple days, and then he and his Midas touch are back off to his fancy university. You almost feel you should resent him, but... he's the only one who treats you as an equal, who never dismisses your accomplishments or your failings, never treats you as anything other than you. You miss him terribly.

Why won't anyone take you seriously when you try to help? Why is it so hard to make people realize you're not just a piece of scenery?

You flop back on your bed, staring up at the ceiling. Ugh!

Really, you just wish you could do something.

"That is a very ambiguous wish, Yui Aikawa," a light, childlike voice says. "I would recommend something more specific, for best results."

You startle into sitting position and look around. Standing in your window is a small white creature with strange ears. It hops onto your bed and sits in front of you. What in the world is--

"You desire to help others, do you not?" it asks. Its mouth doesn't move, as if it's speaking directly into your head. "A very dangerous situation has developed in this region, and if it is allowed to continue as things stand, many hundreds--if not thousands--of people will likely be injured or killed in the coming months."

"Wh-what?" you manage to say. "How-- I don't--"

"The protector of this city has fallen," the creature says. "And it will soon be overrun by creatures that feed on human despair, and become a battleground for people who seek only their own benefit." It stares at you intently. "Yui Aikawa, it is within your power to fight for your city and prevent this. Will you do it?"


[x] This is what you've always wanted, isn't it? Jump at the call, worry about the consequences later. Now is the time for action!
[x] Ask how it thinks you're going to help--unless it's some sort of henshin hero transformation trinket door-to-door salesman, this sounds way out of your league.
[x] Ask what it means about the protector of the town and monsters and all that. You want deets, yo.
[x] Okay, give in to temptation already. Grab those weird rings on its ear and tug to see if they're attached somehow! This is really bothering you, okay???
[x] Okay, no, you are obviously dreaming. Tell the white thing that this dream is too confusing and you're going to change the channel to something else. Preferably involving tropical beaches and cute girls.

---

Yes, yes, I know. Another PMMM quest. Sorry 'bout that. Hopefully there'll be enough differences to set this apart from other PMMM quests centered almost entirely on OCs. Two of which I actively follow at the moment. So... yeah.

I had a bunch of stuff I was going to put here about what to expect from the quest but I deleted almost everything because I realized half of it was obvious from the intro post and the other half was stuff I can bring up when it's actually relevant. Here's a summary of the immediately relevant bits:

You are receiving one (1) Magical Girl Protagonist whose basic character and personality is already set, somewhere in the neighborhood of "Madoka with actual confidence and self-esteem, a bit of Nanoha tossed in, plus some stuff that's inevitable with SV at the wheel anyhow", but details are up to the whims of voting. You'll get to choose her wish under some restrictions, you'll need allies to survive, and you'll have a very limited amount of time to prepare before everything starts blowing up in your face. (Better start working on those Social Links!)

Assuming you survive the immediate crisis and are reasonably effective recruiting allies, your group can potentially be absurdly powerful--not enough to "break the system" since this isn't PMAS, but possibly subvert the system enough to ruin Kyubey's day. And that's always fun, right?

The title is just gratuitous Latin. Well, gratuitous-ish. Depends on what choices you make, ironically.

Oh, and you are not in Mitakihara. You are in an equally fictional city named Nagamioka, which is an hour or two away from Mitakihara by train.

The time/day labels are there because there will probably be small timeskips once things settle a bit and I want to be consistent. If you're getting a Persona 3/4 vibe... that's not unintentional. (This isn't a crossover or anything, though. I'm just borrowing some gameplay-ish ideas.)

...man, I'm gonna screw this up somehow, I just know it.

The first law of this quest: I AM THE LAW.

...by which I mean that gameplay mechanics exist to smooth things out and let you know what to expect. I will disregard them if necessary for the sake of common sense or a better narrative, but most of the rules will be loose enough in the first place that it probably won't be an issue. I may also ignore crunchy gameplay stuff entirely for scenes where I'm pretty sure the outcome would be the same regardless.

OOC: This... ended up waaaaaay longer than I intended. Whoops. I even ended up tossing in both "joke" votes. There wasn't really a sensible break in the flow of the conversation, so this takes you all the way to the obvious decision point. Good luck!

---

You stare at the strange white creature, perplexed.

It stares back, patiently.

You squint at it.

It tilts its head at you.

You lean forward and squint harder.

It stands up and takes a step forward. "If you wish to help, all you need t--"

You reach out, grab the rings that are apparently floating around its... ear tentacles? ...and, very deliberately, yank. Hard.

Apparently they are attached. Somehow. As you pull further in opposite directions the ear-things stretch like taffy and... wow, the creature's whole head even stretched out slightly.

It blinks at you. "Have you satisfied your curiosity, Yui Aikawa?" it asks.

You let go.

The ear-things flop limp and its head remains stretched sideways, until the creature shakes itself like a wet dog and snaps back into shape, with a very faint boing sound.

...this totally is a dream, isn't it?

"I'm afraid it is all quite real," the creature says. Because apparently it can hear your thoughts and that's not creepy or anything at all.

Come to think of it, if you know you're dreaming, shouldn't you be able to... control it, or something? Hmm. Okay, this white thing is creepy, so time to change the channel! You concentrate really hard and sure enough... moments later... you haaaaaaave--!

--completely failed to change anything. No sign of tropical beaches or cute girls. Drat.

You pout.

You're also beginning to realize that this might not, in fact, be a dream at all.

"My name is Kyubey, by the way," the white thing offers helpfully. "And if you are now convinced of the reality of the situation, are you willing to fight for your town?"

You blink slowly, your brain gradually shifting gears into serious mode. Serious-ish. What passes for it in your brain, anyway.

Kyubey sits there, watching you curiously. "If you desire more time to consider it, I can return la--"

"No!" Your brain finally clicks into gear and you grab Kyubey, who stops talking. "Sign me up! I'll do it!" you say, attempting to both shout and whisper at the same time, succeeding at neither. Fortunately your parents' bedroom is on the other side of your (rather large) house.

It cocks its head at you curiously. "You realize I haven't yet explained the nature of the--"

"Don't. Care."

"Very well," it says, tail swishing in amusement.

You pause. "So, uh. What do I do?"

"Make a contract with me," Kyubey says brightly. "And become a magical girl!"

Oh, okay th--What.

"Okay." You shake your head. "How about we maybe back up after all? What? A magical girl? And what was that about the protector of the town, anyway? And monsters? Am I an anime character now or something? My hair isn't gonna turn pink or something, right? I mean, I like pink but that's..." You trail off, still holding the lock of dark reddish-purple hair that you were all but shoving in Kyubey's face a moment ago. ...this question business might work better if you gave the strange little creature a chance to respond, you decide.

"These monsters are known as Witches," Kyubey begins. "You could say they are born from curses, or from the darkness in the human heart. They lurk, invisible to normal humans, spreading destruction and despair and feeding off the negative emotions they create. Inexplicable murders and suicides, people vanishing without a trace, reckless behavior causing pain and injury--Witches cause all of these. Rarely, they have even caused what normal humans perceive as major natural disasters."

You listen, eyes wide. It sounds so fantastic and implausible, and yet--

--you remember your last year of elementary school. There was a boy in your class, he'd always been a bit quiet and you didn't know him well, but he loved nature and you remember the way his face lit up when he talked about something he'd discovered in some park he'd visited. His family was planning a vacation to some national forest or another and he'd been looking forward to it for months and--

And one day he'd just... walked out into traffic. Supposedly witnesses said he'd looked straight at the oncoming traffic before he did. There was no reason, no sense to it, and at the school assembly the principal had said how sometimes these things just happened, that it couldn't be helped, that there was nothing anyone could...--

You clench your fingers tightly in the fabric of your bedsheets.

Kyubey watches you patiently. "Are you are recalling such an incident?" it asks.

You nod silently.

"I see," Kyubey says, bowing its head. "You could say that magical girls also exist because of Witches. They are powerful warriors, and they alone are able to fight and defeat Witches; many magical girls regard it as a duty, or a calling." Kyubey looks intently at you. "And that is the contract I am offering you, Yui Aikawa: It is dangerous, and you will never again live as a normal girl. But you will have the power to fight Witches, to protect people, and to prevent incidents like the one you were recalling."

You--well, you already agreed, technically, but... after that, how could you possibly refuse?

"What about the... protector you mentioned?" you ask. "Another magical girl?"

"Yes," Kyubey says. "One of the greatest, according to many who knew her." Kyubey's tail droops sadly. "She fell in battle yesterday, killed by a Witch. She had many proteges over the years, but most have moved on to other towns, and when those who remained attempted to aid their mentor, they too were killed." Kyubey looks intently at you. "At this moment there are, to the best of my knowledge, no magical girls actively patroling Nagamioka, leaving any and all Witches here unchecked, free to run rampant."

Your blood chills at the implication of that. You think again about--drat, this would be so much more dramatic if you could remember that poor boy's name, but... it doesn't matter. You can't help him anyway, and the very thought makes your heart ache, but if there are who knows how many potential victims like him that you can save...

You look at Kyubey, steeling your resolve. You can help people. You can do something. And while you may be stepping in to take the place of someone much greater than you... well, you're used to being overshadowed, and if they earned their reputation then... you honestly don't mind. You'll do your best no matter what.

"What do I have to do?" you ask.

Kyubey perks up, tail swishing happily. "Ah, that is the other half of the contract!"

...other half?

"It would hardly be fair to ask so much for no reward," Kyubey continues. "So to form the contract, you will have the opportunity to make one wish."

"A wish?" you say, incredulously. "Like... for anything?"

"Yes and no," Kyubey says. "The wish is formed by your own heart, so it must be something you truly and deeply desire. The power of the wish comes from your own innate karmic potential, so while you may wish for anything you like, it will be granted only to the greatest extent your potential allows." Kyubey tilts its head. "Yui Aikawa, your potential is very high indeed. Not exceptionally so, as with those whose destiny will shape nations, but very likely the highest of any girl in all of Nagamioka. Almost any desire you may have can be fulfilled beyond anything you could dream of."

Your mind briefly flashes with thoughts of all the big, obvious things you could wish for--riches far beyond even your family's considerable wealth, fame and glory of all varieties, great accomplishments to your name, a harem of--ahem. But... what's the point of any of that, when you're about to step into the life of a warrior? Just moments ago you were all fired up, but it suddenly hits you that it's entirely possible you will--

"Kyubey," you say. "What if I... don't really want anything? If I just want to be someone with the power to help people? Can I... wish to be better at that?"

"Of course," Kyubey says. "In a way, the magical girl who protected this town for so many years made such a wish herself."

You look deep inside yourself and think. You're... creating a new life for yourself here, in many ways. What kind of life do you want it to be?


[x] Wish for great power. You're signing up to be a magical warrior of love and justice, what more could you ever want? Sure, from what Kyubey says it won't be as easy as it looks in anime, but that just means you need to be stronger... right? Then again, this is still the real world, and power isn't everything.

[x] Wish to protect those who rely on you. Defeating the bad guys is meaningless if innocent people get hurt anyway. Even if it means you might still be stuck in a passive role... so be it. You don't want to see anyone hurt if you can prevent it. Besides, this is flawless anime logic and therefore should work perfectly for a magical girl, right?

[x] Wish to have friends who will fight alongside you. If there's one thing you've learned from watching anime it's that the bonds of friendship are more powerful than anything else!

[x] Wish to understand the needs and feelings of others. There's... an idea that's stuck with you, from a show you watched once, that you shouldn't impose your will on people you "help" and that, really, heroism is often deeply selfish. You want to be a hero who helps and supports those in need on their terms, not your own. On the other hand, you'd be wishing for something to limit your power as a hero... is that really such a good idea?

[x] Wish to understand others, period. It's not that you're bad at reading people, because you're actually quite good at it. But you're never certain, and you hate that nagging fear that maybe you said the wrong thing, maybe you hurt someone, maybe someone is hurting and you didn't even notice... you don't know what kind of situations you'll face, but better understanding never hurts, right?

[x] Wish to bring comfort and happiness to those around you. You can't bear to see other people suffer, so if you can be strong for them and do something to ease their pain, well... that'd be all you really need. On the other hand, is it really your place to force happiness on people?

[x] Write-in

---

Okay, so here's the deal with wishing and how it will work in this quest.

Wording doesn't matter, except insofar as it expresses intent.

The intent behind the wish, what the girl really wants and is trying to express, determines the outcome of the wish, and unless the wish vastly overreaches the girl's potential or is based on a flawed understanding of the situation, the intent will be granted in letter and spirit.

The motivation behind the wish is what actually powers it, and thus what determines both the manner in which the wish is implemented and the nature of the wish magic. It is also what usually makes wishes "go wrong", especially selfless ones. Basically, if you want the right thing for the wrong reasons, or even merely short-sighted reasons, no amount of rationalizing will prevent the wish from taking the path of least resistance through your deepest urges and, perhaps, taking a form that reveals something ugly about yourself.

As such, be very clear about the intent and motivation if you create a write-in!

None of the suggested wishes will screw you over--e.g., Yui isn't so naive or simplistic in her motivations that that the "Bring comfort and happiness" wish would turn her into a walking Lotus Eater Mindfuck Machine, though that would be an entirely possible result if the wrong person made that wish--but think carefully about it, because some of those wishes will push closer to the edges of "this isn't what I wanted" than others.

Furthermore, I will be introducing a mechanic soon for handling corruption caused by negative emotions, and it will be based heavily on what the core of the magical girl's mindset is. For the purposes of this mechanic, Yui is driven primarily by deep empathy, giving her a desire to help others and a fear of being an emotional burden to others. Beware any wish that might go against that core, otherwise you risk being driven into a grief spiral by using your own wish magic.

As a final note, my general policy for far-reaching, open-ended powers is that they should be balanced by a limitation that stops a bit shy of crippling the power entirely. (Of course, in many cases that limitation is the personality and values of the person wielding the power...) As such, be wary of wishes that don't seem to have an obvious downside, because that means I may have to get creative. On the other hand, wishes that are inherently self-limiting or have only indirect effects will generally be safe and work as advertised, or even come with extra benefits.

So. What wish will make Yui's soul shine? Think carefully.