To make people actually remember, here's it once for posterity: Minako is nonbinary and uses they/them. This message will be pinned so you people stop getting it wrong and pissing me off. If you get it wrong in the future I'm going to be much less nice, considering you have to scroll past it just to read the quest.
I'm horrified that Saka and Koko apparently didn't tell anything about magic to Minako.
It's like they want Minako to make a contract on the basis of incomplete and faulty information provided by Kyubey or someone else, like this oh so friendly meguca.
As Homura can attest, you can't protect Kyubey's target from magic by keeping them unaware of magic.
Maximum paranoia hypothesis: Hiruma is a member of Kasamino's gang. She came in Mitakihara specifically to get close to Minako and use them against their parents.
Minimum paranoia hypothesis: Hiruma is a good girl and has no ulterior motive. Still, she'll accidentally reveal magic to Minako, making huge amount of problems for their parents.
[X] The Park? There's a park just a kilometer away, really close to your parents' apartment.
[x] The Park? There's a park just a kilometer away, really close to your parents' apartment. [x] Be suspicious, just not too suspicious. Things are too easy, and moving very fast.
Bad things happen on trains, it is known.
Being close to the moms is probably going to save our life.
[X] A walk by the Mitakihara waterfront? It's a twenty-minute-train ride from the school but it's still pleasant, and you love that sea breeze.
School passes, and you keep on thinking of the waterfront. You let Takane know that it's where you wanna go. Judging by her extremely enthusiastic reply, you know it was the right call. You can hardly contain your excitement, and it takes all of your willpower not to just leap out of your chair and run over now.
Two hours pass in a flash. The train ride is similarly painless, and she sits right next to you throughout. You're still nervous, extremely so, but midway through the ride, she breaks the ice.
"So, Minako..."
First name! "Hm?" You try to play it off, but with your nature it comes across as a squeak.
She smiles at you. "Well, I kind of wanted to know you. Since I guess we are dating and that's what you do on those." She scratches her cheek. "To be honest this is kind of my first time, too."
You relax a little. That's kind of what you wanted to hear. "I mean, I live with my parents downtown just outside the Crater, and it's like a ten-minute walk to the school. Pretty sure they picked it for the location. My mom works in the police department and mama is..." You pause, then you wave your hand around. "...well, she used to stay home, but she got bored after I started primary school. This year she's training for the fire department."
Takane whistles at you. "Sounds dangerous."
"They don't seem worried about it." You lean back in the chair. "I mean, like, I've never seen them scared. And it makes me kinda like..." You pause. You wonder if you're saying too much to someone you pretty much only met today. You look at her, then fidget with your hands.
"Kind of like...?" She leans towards you. "Kind of like what?"
"Well, I mean, I don't know. Them, I mean. I don't know them as well as I'd like." You look up at the roof of the train. The handles swing around as it passes over the rails and the shadows of wires dance across the floor. "I know my mom is a powerful person. She's strong-willed, stubborn, and willing to kick ass when she wants to."
You purse your lips. "She also still thinks I shouldn't say the 'fuck' word."
Takane giggles. "My dad is kinda like that, yeah."
"Mama is way more liberal with her language. But sometimes it feels...i'unno, like she's being dismissive? I don't know how to describe it. She's the one my friends call a 'cool mom.'"
"Huh." She crosses her arms. "Like dismissive how?"
You shrug. "I don't knooooow. It's just like I kinda feel like I don't wanna talk to her about how I feel about things. Do you know how hard it was to admit that I might be nb? It was weirdly difficult. It just felt like I was gonna put up a barrier n' stuff."
Takane doesn't say anything. "Maybe I shouldn't have asked. This is...kinda personal."
"I'm sorry." You wave your hand. "I'm sorry; I usually do that to Reika."
"Does she listen?"
"Yeah." You smile. "She'll listen and she doesn't judge."
"Good." Takane gives you a smile. "I used to have a friend like that, too."
"Mmm." You have a hunch that said friendship dissolved. You don't wanna press it. "Oh, it looks like we're almost there."
Takane glances out the back window. Sure enough, right there in the evening sun is the waterfront. The water by Mitakihara is crystal-clear, a perfect reflection of the city behind it. The shops and restaurants are just behind it, and every few minutes, a swimming robot sweeps through the water to eliminate trash. A number of different boats, all sleek and glimmering white, float to the side just far enough away so as to not ruin the view.
The brick path is usually white, but as the sun sets it's turning a gorgeous shade of purple. Even with autumn looming just around the corner, the waterfront still stuns.
You and Takane leave the train to reach the waterfront. She hangs back just a few feet behind you, her bag slung over her shoulder as she stares out across the water. On the other side is Kasamino, Mitakihara's sister city. Steam spews from the top of several buildings on the other side, but even there, just out of reach of the industrial heart of the city, the water is still glimmering and pristine.
"It's been a while since I've been here." You smile. "Most of the time I just stay by the Crater district. All my friends live there and my moms are usually pretty okay with me staying close by."
Takane nods as she walks behind you. "But are you okay with that?"
"Kinda?" You shrug. "It gets samey but I am kinda okay with it."
She smiles. "I mean given what you were saying with your moms..."
"I still love them," you say back.
"I never wanted to imply you didn't." She presses her hand to her chest. "I mean, god, my dads mothered the heck out of me when I lived in Kasamino. A bit further inland." She points to the radio tower. "Close to the base of KT-T."
You follow her finger out west. The tower itself looms over most of Kasamino, a skyscraping beacon of the city's industrial might. It's almost as tall as the Mitakihara Regional Center. "That's tall."
"Well, the buildings around it aren't nearly as big." She lowers her hand. "Papa worked for the radio station before they offered him a job here. And then we moved." She grins. "But honestly I've been excited to move to Mitakihara for a while now."
You shrug. "I mean, it's a city."
"Yes, but it's not just any city." She walks ahead of you with a spring in her step before she stops and leans towards you. "I loved Kasamino but I think I'll like this town more!"
You don't really get why she's excited about this city in particular. But her enthusiasm is kind of infectious, and you can't help but give her a smile right back.
You both keep walking a bit further down the waterfront before you finally decide to press yourself against the railing. You're a bit short (you still have some growing to do), so you have to lean your entire body against the railing and it goes all the way up to your neck. You make a strangled, frustrated noise as Takane rests beside you. She's noticeably taller than you; a full head taller.
You still have no idea why she said yes to...wait, no. Even more confusing, she asked you out. You don't know what she saw in you, you grievous gay disaster goblin.
She watches the sunlight dance across the water as a trashbot picks up a stray Starbucks cup.
"So like...why did you ask me out?" you ask.
"Because you're cute," she says back.
"That can't be it." You frown. "I mean...I dunno. I don't know anything. I'm kinda just me."
"Well, let's put it this way." She adjusts her glasses so that the sun isn't glaring at you. Just enough that you can see her eyes staring into yours. "I think you're cute. And I meant what I said on the roof. I want to try something out. And if it doesn't work out, we can just move on. Though I think it's going pretty okay so far."
You suspect she's hiding something. But you're not going to pry. And honestly, it's probably not that big a deal.
She's your age. She's not going to have that much to hide.
You smile...then you lean a little bit to the side. Your head hits her shoulder with a light *pap* and she giggles again.
Yeah, you think you'd be okay with going on another date.
[=]
Your name is Sayaka, and you just left this prefecture's police department. With Kasamino and Mitakihara so close together, it only makes sense for them to share a single massive Department, especially given the relatively low crime rates of both cities.
Even for all of Japan's ongoing societal problems, both cities are still notoriously dull among police officers, yourself included. Most of your day was spent sorting through paperwork. You're mostly thankful that Akane and Kyouko can usually take care of the bigger threats.
What seems to almost be a secondary job to you is keeping track of the number of magical girls in town, and you keep that number written down in a notepad in your back pocket, and you keep that notepad on you at all times. There is no way you're going to lose track of it.
You walk down the street, when suddenly you sense something. A hint of magic; there's a magical girl nearby. You tend to keep track of those around you, so you pull out your notepad.
There are currently fifty-five active magical girls in this part of Mitakihara, and you've crossed out five of the names on the list. You know that there are only two in the district where you live. So there's one that you haven't accounted for.
You grimace. You're not looking forward to keeping track of this one.
[] Go after her. Make sure she's keeping safe.
[] Go home. You can deal with it later.
Adhoc vote count started by TheOneMoiderah on May 8, 2019 at 4:54 PM, finished with 21 posts and 13 votes.
[X] Go after her. Make sure she's keeping safe. [x] Text kid to see if they're okay. Just because we're cagey doesn't mean that we don't know that Minako's a target for Meguca nonsense.
It seems way too obvious that Takane is somehow connected to meguca (knows one, is one, etc). Therefore, I find myself doubting that it's actually true. Except that it seems so obvious. So I don't know what to think.
Btw, @TheOneMoiderah, why haven't Sayaka and Kyouko told Minako anything about Meguca and Kyuubey? I get not going into horrific grisly details, but why not a simple 'magic is real, here's proof, don't trust the bunnycat because he's an evil lying liar'?
It seems way too obvious that Takane is somehow connected to meguca (knows one, is one, etc). Therefore, I find myself doubting that it's actually true. Except that it seems so obvious. So I don't know what to think.
Btw, @TheOneMoiderah, why haven't Sayaka and Kyouko told Minako anything about Meguca and Kyuubey? I get not going into horrific grisly details, but why not a simple 'magic is real, here's proof, don't trust the bunnycat because he's an evil lying liar'?
Thing is, with Moid I'm pretty sure that's actually possible. I remember a set of votes in Asuka Quest where we screwed ourselves over by paying attention to invisitext we could have safely ignored...
Makes sense. Not the smartest thing to do, but humans aren't exactly 100% rational creatures at the best of times- even more so when their family (and specifically their children) are involved.
I'm going to go for the double bluff. It's too obvious and Moid knows it's too obvious so it's obviously not a trap. Therefor it is a trap and we shouldn't touch it.
Btw, @TheOneMoiderah, why haven't Sayaka and Kyouko told Minako anything about Meguca and Kyuubey? I get not going into horrific grisly details, but why not a simple 'magic is real, here's proof, don't trust the bunnycat because he's an evil lying liar'?
I would assume it's because Parenting Is Hard and also no one wants to tell the rebellious teenager "Hey, that weirdo over there? He wants to give you magical superpowers like us, like we keep not telling you about. Definitely don't let him give you cool magical superpowers." From another teen? Maybe. From your mother? Psht, you're gonna go talk to that little shit.
I see someone missed Moid's breakdown of just how completely hax that thing is. I'm pretty sure that it's physically impossible to beat, it would absorb as many meguca as it took to bring it down, plus some.
Bets on former friend being a Meguca who died/witched?
Thing is, with Moid I'm pretty sure that's actually possible. I remember a set of votes in Asuka Quest where we screwed ourselves over by paying attention to invisitext we could have safely ignored...
I would assume it's because Parenting Is Hard and also no one wants to tell the rebellious teenager "Hey, that weirdo over there? He wants to give you magical superpowers like us, like we keep not telling you about. Definitely don't let him give you cool magical superpowers." From another teen? Maybe. From your mother? Psht, you're gonna go talk to that little shit.
Well it's obvious what we have to do, cut off our arms.
Like we should have done with that one Duckling that was crushing on Akane.
[X] Go after her. Make sure she's keeping safe.
[x] Text kid to see if they're okay. Just because we're cagey doesn't mean that we don't know that Minako's a target for Meguca nonsense.
