[7] Advise Hitomi she gets to write her own future
You take a deep breath. You can do this. You're the closest thing to the MHD that exists in this universe right now. It's one of your many duties. If anything, that's one of the parts of your life that you're
less conflicted about.
"The first thing," you tell Hitomi, "is that you should make your own future. Do not for a moment think that you're fated to do the things that our future history says you did. This history was different before we got here. For your question to even make sense, Kaname Madoka needs to be a person who exists and goes to middle school, and in another world she wasn't. Okay?"
A pained expression briefly crosses her face, but it passes, and she nods.
[7] Advise Hitomi to simply tell Madoka her feelings
[6] Warn Hitomi about Homura's affections for Madoka
"But the second thing," you say, "is that you're not the only person who likes Madoka."
"… Akemi-san," says Hitomi. "Of course, she… she made a wish to save Madoka, right?"
You nod. "It's always a delicate situation," you tell her, "when something like this happens. Do you think that Homura's wish entitles her to Madoka's love?"
"… well…" begins Hitomi, tentatively, "I think … I don't think so, no. That's the sort of thing that Madoka should decide, isn't it."
"Of course," you say. "Madoka doesn't belong to anyone. And you need to remember as well. But… it's a very bad position that Homura's put herself in. She made a wish for her, and she's forging her identity around her, knowingly or unknowingly. If Madoka rejects her, it could break her heart, and destroy her identity. And… here's the terrible thing, a magical girls's greatest weakness is despair. So if she truly loses hope, then her magic will fail her, her soul gem will become corrupted, and she will die."
Hitomi's eyes go wide.
"Now, if that happens," you continue, "that's not Madoka's fault, and it's not your fault. Remember what we just said. Nobody owns Madoka, and Homura's put herself in this position by making the wish. But — be careful. She's Madoka's friend now too; don't treat her poorly, and don't do anything you'll regret, because you'll regret it for the rest of your life."
Hitomi is dead silent for the next ten seconds.
"What should I do, then?" she finally asks.
"I can't tell you what the right thing is," you say. "I can tell you that communication usually helps — just, try not to scare her. She's not too certain of herself. If you just took her aside and stared her down and told her, 'We need to talk,' it would be pretty ominous, right?"
"Right," says Hitomi. "It's pretty ominous from over here, too."
"It is," you affirm. "You seem to be quite graceful under pressure, as long as you don't let the pressure build up too much. So don't bottle it up, talk about it, and you'll be okay."
Hitomi frowns. "I usually talk about things like this with Madoka," she says.
"It won't work out too well if you make a relationship the occasion to stop talking," you point out.
She nods.
"And —" you hesitate, then continue, in a quieter tone. "…and remember, even if she's the most important thing in the world to you, and it all goes horribly wrong, remember, you can still go on, okay? Don't throw your life away by making a wish for it with Kyuubey, just … tell him to go away."
Hitomi looks at you, concerned. "… Clarisse?"
"Yes?"
"Well…" She hesitates. "I don't mean to pry, but I'm worried. You've been here
one day, and your'e talking about someone being the most important thing in the world."
Oh goddess, how do you even begin to explain to Hitomi…
"It's not like that," says Ryouko. "It's the two of us, our relationship."
Hitomi's eyes go very wide, with shock. Goddess, Ryouko, it's a delicate —
"We'd just decided to be, um, sisters, when you came back in," Ryouko continues.
... okay, that's
fine.
Hitomi relaxes visibly. "Oh," she says, then looks back and forth between the two of you. "But… isn't that obvious?"
"I'm a cloned artificial intelligence with many of the parts of me that
think still installed on her spine," you say. "Nothing is obvious."
"… Oh," says Hitomi. "… Okay, well, that's… really weird, but it makes my problems seem a little more manageable."
You nod. "Yours is just a perfectly normal relationship."
"Normal," says Hitomi, flatly. "… Even if …" she trails off, and looks around nervously.
"Even if what?" asks Ryouko.
Hitomi blushes, then, gathering up courage, leans over and whispers a small forbidden fantasy in your ear.
"Oh… oh, Hitomi, even
Ryouko does that," you reassure her. "Unprompted."
Her eyes go wide. "Really??" Her face is a deep, deep red.
"I do what?" asks Ryouko.
"Never you mind," you say to Ryouko, and return to Hitomi — "that's hardly even anything. Actually… okay, one more thing. If you're thinking about doing this, you should be prepared for the realities of a physical relationship with a girl. It wouldn't do to have you realize you're repulsed by it. Let me send you something."
[11] (+13 -2) Send Hitomi a copy of Kyouko's book
[3] Obscure the author
You select an older edition of the text from its file. It's not as well edited as the later editions but it doesn't have its author's name on it or in it, and it also might speak to Hitomi better, and leaves out many of the references to the goddess — well, the pink one, anyway…
Chapter One: Girls, Girls, Girls
You're probably reading this because you are a girl, and you're in a relationship with a girl.
(Congrats, by the way.) I know you probably want to skip this part and go straight to the spicy stuff. Don't.
Relationships are tough. This book tries to make them a little easier, mostly by helping with the physical parts. It doesn't have a lot on the other parts, but they're important, and you're not going to have fun times together otherwise. So try to understand your partner as a person, work to understand yourself, and work to understand your relationship. Girls are all different. Also, there's two of you, so your relationship is twice as different. What you find boring, someone else will find exciting, and a third, degrading. There are very few universal constants.
One piece of advice is universal, though. Believe in yourself. If this is your first time in love with someone (or even just your first time in love with a girl) then this is going to be the hardest part. You may even be ashamed, especially about physically intimacy. It's okay! Your feelings are as normal as it gets. Love is ancient, celebrated from time immemorial; even in the most traditional cultures, the beauty of the female is the root of joy to the female as well as to the male — and it is no accident that the goddess of love is older than the god.
The veneration of beauty, of course, is the most obvious psychological channel for eroticism, and also the one we'll talk about most. But it's not everything. The second channel is asymmetry of power, vulnerability and surrender; the third is ritual violation of the taboo. We'll discuss each of these abstractly, so you actually know what you're doing and why.
…
"Uhm," begins Hitomi, uncertainly… then she relaxes. "Oh, okay. This isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be."
"Really?" asks Ryouko. "Try skipping ahead."
Hitomi looks puzzled for a moment. "Wait, why would you have marshmallows …" Her eyes go wide. "Oh, oh my, never mind then."
"… Maybe stick to the beginning parts," you suggest, "it's a rather broad work."
"No, it's okay," says Hitomi, "no, this … makes a surprising amount of sense, actually."
"Really?" asks Ryouko. "I never actually understood that one."
"It's just because Madoka," says Hitomi, earnestly. "She's basically a marshmallow already."
You give Hitomi a slightly worried look.
[5] Send other balanced relationship advice material
"I'll send you some things on understanding relationships too, okay? A balanced perspective."
"Okay," she says, accepting the files distractedly.
"… Hitomi?" asks Ryouko.
She doesn't say anything.
Ryouko waves at her to see if she can get the girl's attention. "Uhh… Hitomi?"
[13] Send Hitomi a copy of the on-board encyclopedia's movie clip for the Zero-Gravity Tea Ceremony
"… here, Hitomi!" you say, in an exaggerated cheery voice. "You'll be interested in this too!!!"
"Huh? Oh!" she exclaims. "Oh, how very interesting."
"I thought you'd like it," you say. "Also, um, you were kind of spacing out there. Watch out for that?"
"Okay," she agrees, then smiles. "Thank you, Clarisse, Ryouko."
You clean yourself up, and at the other two's insistence—
hmm, that's not quite right.
At your
sisters' insistence, you spend the early hours of the morning trying to remain relaxed, though they can't stop you from checking in on the rest of the crew. Well, most of the crew, anyway; Kaname Madoka has apparently decided to go to sleep at the usual bedtime and is on track to manage a full eight hours. Sayaka supplies you with her reasoning:
<
Madoka> well, if we never went to sleep, then we'd never get to dream
<
Madoka> and that would be really sad
<
Madoka> so I want to start this out on the right foot!
<
Madoka> I'll stay up with you guys tomorrow, though!
The other girls are laying low, testing out the translation implants by sampling foreign cinema, Wakaba supplying an American shojou drama which seems to be well regarded but has mostly been ignored by the award bodies. You watch along a little; the young protagonist and her untraditional family situation hits a little bit closer to home than you had expected, and you almost start to identify with her, except her lack of impulse control begins to bother you after a short while. She strikes you as the sort of girl who's likely to make a short-sighted contract that will come back to bite her, and you feel like you dodged a bullet earlier in the night. And, it's good that your presumptive future classmates aren't going to be quite as obnoxious as Tristan and Paris, though you're trying to ignore the weird feelings associated with having future classmates to begin with.
Papa's lawyer, Mr. Shindou, is younger than you'd expect, and projects an enigmatic expression. It must be a lawyer thing, you decide after a few moments. Papa begins to introduce him, but he interrupts.
"I do believe we've met before," he says, shaking your hand anyway. "You came into our offices for your immigration paperwork for the study-abroad programme. I think Miss Chouno handled most of it, though. Speaking of which," he notes, turning to Papa, "did you hear that she's getting married to Mr. Kase?"
We did what, where?! you ask Ryouko, rhetorically.
"No, I hadn't," says Papa, unfazed. "My congratulations. Will she stay with the firm?"
"She's planning to," he acknowledges. "But I'm not here for office gossip, of course, and I'm sorry to hear about this unfortunate business overshadowing your girls' start. I've looked into the investigation, of course, but it's fairly opaque, and while I'll never begrudge a client representation while dealing with the police, I was wondering if there was anything in particular that I should be aware of."
You make a suggestion to Hitomi.
Why me? she asks.
You know the other girls better, you point out.
Besides, you're supposedly the eldest.
… okay, she acknowledges.
"They've been asking everyone questions," says Hitomi. "Akemi-san talked to them yesterday. Sayaka-chan talked to someone at the hospital. We're the first that they wanted to come in for an hours-long interview."
Papa nods. "Hopefully it's nothing, but I'm a little concerned."
"I see," says Mr. Shindou. "And, just to be abundantly clear, none of you have anything at all to do with any explosions, bombs, or anything like that?"
"Of course not," says Hitomi.
"And you're also quite confident that all your friends are safe and sound?" he asks.
"… yes?" she asks. "Why?"
"The address that your father gave me is a multi-purpose public safety facility," says Mr. Shindou. "Among other things, it serves as the morgue."
"Oh," says Hitomi. "Well, we were worried about Sayaka, but she's okay…"
Didn't you say Machina had said Mami woke up in the morgue? asks Ryouko, worrying.
Is this really a good idea?
You're worried, too. You should have thought about it last night, there was just so much going on.
"Clarisse," says Papa suddenly, "may I have a quick word with you?"
"Huh? Oh, of course, Papa," you say, quickly following him through the door into his office.
"About what Mr. Shindou just said," he remarks, closing the door. "Apparently there are some records which have been altered."
"We've found some of those already," you note. "The memory alterations worry me more."
"As well they should," he says. "Our past is now subtly different from other peoples' past. The problem is, you don't quite fit in this new universe. So you have to choose: hold firmly who you were in the past, and never quite fit, or squish yourself into the hole that's been left for you."
"You've seen this happen before," you say, still processing what he's said.
He nods. "I should have recognized it last night, but I was tired, and it's always so easy to play along. If you don't fight the universe a little in every step, it will win by default." He pauses. "Myself, I've already lost the battle."
"Why do you say that?" you ask, alarmed.
"Because it's too easy," he says. "Because you're my dearest darling baby girl, and you call me 'Papa' so easily, and I'm afraid I'm quite in love and don't have it in me to resist."
Oh, goddess. This man is … ever so modestly impossible, isn't he?
"Why are you telling me all this," you ask, "and not Ryouko?"
"Because if either of you has a chance to stop it, it's you," he says. "Ryouko has a willing heart, I think, and I will hazard that when she's truly passionate, she shines like the stars… but my sense of her is that she lacks direction, and lets other people steer her life just a little too much. Am I wrong?"
You frown. "If you are, not badly so," you admit. "But… okay, so, how bad could it be if she stays here?"
"It's a good question," he says. "In truth, you both might be happier. But I'd hope that my girls would be able to live up to their full potential, whatever you do, and I'm not sure she'll find that here. And if you two just play along, then perhaps one day you might just look at your face in the mirror, and you won't recognize the person you are, and that is not a fate I would wish on any of my girls."
You flinch. That hit way too close to home.
"But… we can't just hold on to an unchanging past, either," you say.
"Of course not," he begins —
Mr. Shindou knocks on the door, interrupting.
"Mr. Shizuki?" he calls. "We should try to get going pretty soon if we want to be on time."
> process life advice about being true to who you are
[] Proceed to interview at station as previously planned
-[] Look for local copies of the documents in Papa's office
-[] Warn Mr. Shindou he should be prepared to answer any questions of educational history
-[] Don't worry about it until you're asked
-[] Stick to your original plan to make up a story
-[] Spill all the beans to someone else
[] Call this visit off, for fear of what you'll find in morgue
[] (write in any other deal-with-police directives)
[] Ask papa (write in question) quickly, before you go
[] Resolve to help Ryouko resist this universe's pull
[] Resolve to help Ryouko be happy here
[] Resolve this later
[] Resolve something else (write in)
some monday hangover cure, even if the day is almost over
