[X] Write-In Votes are a Crime against Magic Girls
"Well, it's gotten rather late, hasn't it?" Tomoe-san asks; a rhetorical question, immediately followed up with "And I'm doubtful we'll learn anything new just going over information we already know. How about we call it a night and meet up after Kaname-san's birthday party to see if we can't figure anything new out?"
You aren't particularly tired, and the commute from Tomoe-san's apartment back to your own isn't more than twenty minutes; but you aren't the only one you have to think about. Oriko and Kirika live up north in neighboring Shirome, and for them the commute from here to Oriko's mansion where the two of them live is over an hour. But getting some rest would be nice, you admit; and you wouldn't want to be too tired to enjoy Madoka's special day tomorrow; er, today.
Compared to the length of time you spent repeating the same stretch of time, a mere year and a half is no time at all; but it's incredible all the same, to think that just a year and a half ago you had no reason to ever expect to see one of Madoka's birthdays. By the time the sun sets later today, you'll have seen two. The next time you see Madoka, she'll be sixteen. Your own birthday - 12 March - isn't too far away, either. You'll be turning sixteen just in time for graduation.
You're so caught up in your musing that you barely notice the walk from Tomoe-san's apartment to the nearest train station, and it isn't even until Kirika asks you "Hey, you still with us?" that you realise you'd been lost in thought. "What'cha thinking about, sis?"
Oh, yes, that's something else that has changed in the past year and a half. Kirika is, by way of the relationship between your father and her mother, your new step-sister. She's a troublemaker, to be sure, but a better sister you couldn't have asked for. "Just the miracle of life," you reply. "I was trapped looping the same forty-six days for so long, I guess I'm still a little in awe of the fact that time can pass for me now." You smile, as the image of Madoka's vibrant pink smile fills your mind. "I never thought I'd live to see Madoka turning sixteen." You never thought Madoka would live to turn sixteen, either.
"So come on, tell me-" Kirika leans over, wrapping an arm around your shoulder as she grins. Beside her, Oriko does her best not to get between the two of you. "-You two... You got any special plans for Pinkie's big day, huh?" You aren't sure whether it's the train car that's jostling you, or Kirika. "Come on, you can tell me."
"Something tells me I'm better off not," you reply. "I've got no plans with Madoka that are of any interest to you."
Kirika pouts, retreating her arm from your shoulder as she says "Fine, be that way. But don't expect to get any relationship advice out of me in the future."
"I'm much more interested in getting advice for school than I am for dating," you reply. Your musings about the passage of time have reminded you that you won't be in junior high forever - much as you once believed otherwise - and that you should give thinking about high school a head start. "You've been in high school for half a year now; what's it like?"
"Ugh, it's brutal." Kirika speaks the word the way one might speak of lung cancer. "And I thought the workload in junior high was too much."
"That bad, huh?"
"It's bad. Between work and school, there's days where I feel like I don't even have time for Oriko anymore."
"What made you decide to take a part-time job in the first place, then?" you ask, hoping to get some answers about the mystery after-school job Kirika rarely speaks about. "If schoolwork takes up so much of your time, why'd you decide to take up an after-school job as well?"
"Because..." Kirika shifts her eyes back and forth, as though on the lookout for prying ears. There's no one else in the train car besides the three of you, and Oriko is busy silently checking something on her phone. With the coast clear, Kirika leans in, whispering in your ear "Because I wanted to buy Oriko something nice for Christmas. She's always buying me stuff, so I thought I should return the favour."
You nod, making an "Mhm" sound at Kirika's answer. "Well, high school can't be all bad, can it?" you ask. "There's got to be at least one course you enjoy."
"I guess chemistry, actually," Kirika says. That's an unexpected answer coming from her, when you remember how much trouble she had with biology last year. "It's crazy hard sometimes, but it's also kind of fun, learning how molecules and stuff fit together. Makes me appreciate what our magic can do just a little bit more."
"What about you?" you ask, leaning over Kirika to speak to Oriko. "How are you finding high school so far?"
Your question causes Oriko to put her phone away, returning the device to her coat pocket as she addresses your question. "It's fine," Oriko replies. "True, the workload is more intense than it was in junior high; and true, I do feel like Kirika and I have less time for each other than we did before we graduated, but all things considered it could be a lot worse." A smile finds its way to Oriko's face, and she adds "I recently made a bid for a position on the student council during the September elections, actually. I didn't win anything, but the fact I even got votes at all made me happy." There's a glint in Oriko's eyes, and before you have the chance to ask, she adds "And since I know you're going to ask me, my favourite class is the same as it was in junior high; my Italian language elective."
The train comes to a stop at the station nearest your apartment. "Guess that's my stop," you say. "I'll see you both later today."
"Tell mom I said hi."
"Right, I'll let her know," you say to Kirika as you stand. You give her Oriko each a hug on your way out, and you wave goodbye to them as the car doors close and the train heads north to Shirome.
The walk back to your apartment gives you plenty of time to think about things besides the academic track of your step-sister and her lover; namely, the nagging puzzle of the lumpy Grief Seeds you keep finding. The spawning location of the new witches, combined with the fact that they don't require labyrinths to appear, would make Walpurgisnacht as their origin a likely possibility; except for one slight hiccup. Familiars spawned from witches can become witch themselves, given time and prey enough to grow; but even a matured familiar will still drop a regular Grief Seed upon demise. But these new witches don't drop regular Grief Seeds... To you, that says there might be some origin other than Walpurgisnacht's Grief Seed that's spawning these new witches. You'll have to ask dad if he's got any ideas the next time you see him.
Your apartment comes into view after a short walk from the train station. It's a two-storey, western-style building, with each floor housing a single residence. Your personal residence is on the bottom floor, but the entire property is owned by you outright, leaving the upper apartment to serve as a nice guest residence, in lieu of your own apartment's lack of a guest bedroom. You take your shoes off at the door and hang up your jacket as you enter, and there's a light on in the kitchen waiting for you.
"Waiting for me to come home?"
"What sort of father would I be if I wasn't fraught with worry at the thought of my daughter coming home late after a fight with the supernatural?"
You smile, and though you reject the cup of tea your father offers you, you do still give him a hug. "Don't lie; you're just jealous we didn't need you tonight."
Your father is an interesting man, all things considered. For one, he isn't exactly human, in a manner of speaking. He's a servant, occupying the class of Archer, and though he's told you the story of his given name - Emiya Shirou - to you Archer is the name by which you know him best. Your first meeting with him was not entirely an event you could have expected - he came crashing through the ceiling of your living room, unannounced, breaking your couch on his way down - and it took awhile for you and he to fully trust one another. But in time, you've come to trust and rely on one another, to the point where you feel entirely comfortable calling him father and accepting him as a substitute for your deceased birth father.
"We found another one of these tonight," you say, placing the lumpy Grief Seed down on the table as you and Archer break your hug. "Do you think you could do some structural analysis on it, maybe figure out what it is? Because we're about at our wit's end not knowing what these things are."
"Yeah, I can take a look at it while you're sleeping" Archer says. "You want me to also give Rin a call if I get stumped?"
"Yes. Another mind would be appreciated."
"Alright." Archer takes the lump Grief Seed from you, pocketing it as he points in the direction of your bedroom. "Now, you've got an important day ahead of you, young lady, so be sure to get plenty of sleep. I don't want to check in on you only to find you practicing when you should be resting up for Madoka's big day tomorrow."
"Don't worry," you say, shrugging off Archer's concerns. "I'll be sure to get plenty of sleep." You and Archer have one more brief hug, and then it's off to bed for you. 'Well,' you think, closing the door to your darkened bedroom, 'Maybe just an hour or so won't be too bad...'
The night passes you by, but you've got other things besides sleep to occupy your thoughts tonight.
