"Yeah, I..." you close your eyes, rubbing at your face with the free hand not claimed by Mami. You're buying time to think, really. OK, OK, OK... you kind of want to obfuscate what you know, but really, you haven't done anything to conceal that. Anyone with half a mind could make some very good guesses at this point.
You kind of want to obfuscate your knowledge through Oriko, but that isn't helpful right now. Besides, you doubt she'd appreciate that.
You can't... not tell them, either. They need to know.
You can't dodge this.
Which means the only way is through.
"One sec," you say, raising a finger.
"Niko?" you project telepathically. And you don't know if telepathy works that way, but you do it without looking at her, focusing on the memory of the Niko you'd given the Clear Seed to. "Do you mind if we talk about Hijiri?"
You're not looking at her, but you don't need to. You can feel the shock in the way she stiffens, eyes snapping toward you. "How do you know about her?"
"I know things," you say. "But... I'm asking permission. If you don't want me to talk about her, then I won't. But I have reason to believe she could be one of the enemies we're facing."
"What? No!" Niko says. "That- that's not possible!"
"Niko? Are you alright?" Kazumi asks, concern in her voice.
Mirai makes an inarticulate noise and all but launches herself across the circle to smother Niko under voluminously floofy lavender hair. "Nikoooo," she wails. "Please tell me you're alright! Did they do anything to you? Anything lingering?"
Niko pats Mirai on the back, giggling a little. "It's fine," she says.
"I- my friends know about her anyway," Niko says grudgingly. "But- she can't be. She can't be the enemy."
"Right." You close your eyes for a second, and hold up a hand. "Guys, do you mind if I magic up a thing? It'll give us privacy, and make sure nobody's eavesdropping on us, but fair warning, it'll feel a bit Witchy."
"Ah, that's you," Saki says, looking around. "Something's been feeling odd since you got here. That's your magic?"
"Yeah," you say. "Grief is Grief is Grief, in this case. Give me a moment to put a privacy device up."
Mami squeezes your hand, nestling against you as you coalesce Grief out of the fog saturating the air. Privacy. You've used it enough that it's familiar to you, your mind already tracing out that twist of will and fiat. Of course, you haven't always been the greatest at keeping operational security against Kyuubey. But you'll set that aside for now.
By your will be done.
The world hazes around you, a shimmering boundary blossoming to encompass the twelve of you. Mami sighs quietly, and leans against you.
"Oooh," Kazumi says, staring out at the blurry world beyond the confines of the bubble.
"What does this do?" Niko asks, voice still somewhat muffled by Mirai's hair. Mirai shows no signs of getting off Niko, either, Saki offering the blonde girl a consolatory pat on the shoulder.
"Cuts off all eavesdropping," you say, setting the green circlet with its mounting pedestal down in front of you. "Nothing, and I do mean nothing, gets out of here."
"Interesting," Niko says.
"So why do we need such tight security?" Saki asks, pushing her half-glasses-monocle up. And no wonder. It probably keeps slipping, with only half of it.
"I know things," you say, leaning forward with your elbow supporting your weight against your knee. "Some of it thanks to Oriko." You gesture to the seer, who nods regally, and you continue. "The rest of it I know by... other means. I... the rest of the how isn't really something I can answer, but the point is this: I know who we're potentially up against."
"Tell us, then," Kazumi says. Without even moving, she seems more focused, attention sharpening to a razor-sharp scalpel.
"One is a girl named Anri Airi. To explain her, I have to ask: Kazumi, did you ever meet a girl called Asaka Yuuri? Orangey-blonde, hair probably in two big twin-tails? You might have met her by saving her from being killed by a Witch, and she would have asked you to cure her friend."
"Ah, I know her!" Kazumi says, and frowns. "Well, I knew her. I met her for about ten minutes, encouraged her to become a magical girl, but she ran off, and that was it. I don't know if she did. That was a few months ago? Is she one of our opponents?"
"No. Mm, well. Keep in mind, my knowledge isn't absolutely reliable, only in broad strokes," you say. "If she becomes a magical girl... well, you haven't heard of her. She isn't terribly strong, and she loses to a Witch at some point."
Kazumi gasps, eyes going wide.
"Hey!" Kaoru snaps, bristling. "Are you blaming Kazumi for that?"
"No," you say. You're not lying, not technically. She does lose to a Witch: her own. But the deception burns in your throat, stinging. You swallow, forcing yourself to look around the circle. "But someone else does, or could. The friend that Asaka wanted healed. Her name is Anri Airi, and she Wishes to become Asaka Yuuri, and swears vengeance against you."
"That..." Saki says, shifting and pushing her monocle thing up. "I don't know. Surely we'd have noticed that kind of thing?"
"Yeah," you say. "Again, my information should only be trusted in broad strokes. Oriko, do you remember anything that might be useful?"
"First, her name is Asuka Yuuri, not Asaka," Oriko says, folding her arms. Kirika giggles, leaning happily against Oriko's shoulder.
"... did I say Asaka?" you muse, frowning.
"Yes, you did," Mami says, patting your shoulder gently.
"Second...?" Saki prompts, annoyance creeping into her tone.
"My visions are... uncertain now," Oriko says, frowning. "But Asuka Yuuri's death has already come to pass."
"Oh," Kazumi says, wilting.
"So we gotta watch out for her," Sayaka says. "What's her power?"
"I'm not sure," you admit. "I believe Asuka had some kind of healing related power, because she Wished to heal Airi. Airi Wished to become Asuka, but I'm not sure she inherited the same powers."
"She can summon a bull," Oriko adds. "And to... disguise herself as others?"
"What kind of power set is that even supposed to be?" Saki mutters, sounding disgusted. "Anything else?"
You glance at Oriko, who shrugs. "I guess not," you conclude. "The second... well, I asked Niko. She says you know about Hijiri Kanna?"
The Pleiades go stock still, six pairs of eyes snapping to you.
"Yeah," Kazumi answers after a moment. "How do you know about her?"
"She 'knows things'," Niko says, sighing.
"I can confirm that Sabrina has... magical knowledge of many things," Mami says, tightening her arm around your waist. "If she says something is so, then I trust her."
Kazumi nods, visibly softening. "It wasn't an accusation," she says. "I just- we're a bit stressed right now, and Kanna is Niko's secret to keep."
"I understand that," you say, sighing. "But... OK. I'm not making any accusations, but from what I know, Hijiri finding out that her entire existence is a fabrication dreamed up by Niko could send her over the edge. She goes mad, and tries to take revenge for that."
"That doesn't sound like me," Niko says, frowning. "I wouldn't do that."
"But she's not you?" you say.
"Yes, she is," Niko says, expression slipping for a second. "Minus a few things."
You press your lips together, looking away.
"Continue, Miss Sabrina?" Saki asks. "Niko, I'm sorry, but if she's telling us the truth, then... I suppose we need to know."
"I don't know if it's the truth," you say. "My knowledge has been unreliable here."
"Nevertheless," Saki says. "Go on?"
"She Wishes to 'connect' to all of you," you say, gesturing around the circle at the Pleiades. "So she winds up with the ability to merge all your powers together."
"Still say that sounds dumb," Kirika notes, grinning at you.
"I agree with Kirika-san," Niko says. "That sounds far dumber than anything I'd do."
"I... as I said, I could be wrong!" you say, waving your hands. "I could be very wrong, but this is what my knowledge says, and hopefully it's some useful approximation of the truth."
"Argh, fine," Saki says, kneading her forehead. "This is all very nice, but it's all... speculative. We don't know how useful any of this is, right?"
"No, it's useful," Kazumi says, scowling. "We know something we can look for."
"They stole my prototype," Niko says, scowl echoed on her face. She shifts, finally nudging Mirai off her. "I'd say that means they want to hide, whether it's this Airi or... Hijiri."
"What's the range on your memory field?" you say. "Would it react to antimagic?"
"It should, yes," Niko says. "I haven't had the opportunity to test that, however."
"Fortunately, we have Kirika along..." you say, and frown. "Niko, I don't suppose you have any way to speed up enchantment?"
"Nope," Niko says. "Well, yes, but it only works for me. Enchantment is too personal to be able to create any kind of one-size-fits-all solution."
"And if you all want anti-magic enchantments, we're gonna be here for a while," Kirika says. "'course, Oriko already has one."
"Yes, we can all see the ring," you say, grinning at her. You admire the shade of tomato red Kirika turns for a second before turning back to Kazumi. "Do you have anything you can use?"
"Hmm," Kazumi says, and blinks, perking up and looking at Niko.
"Yep," Niko says, flashing a thumbs-up.
You almost miss the lightning-fast interplay of looks between Kazumi, Niko, and Umika before Kazumi turns to you, grinning confidently. "We got it," she declares. "Umika can protect you too, Sabrina, Mami. Ah... I suppose you don't need protection, Kirika-san, Oriko-san. Miki-san, do you need it too?"
"Uh," Sayaka says, blinking. "I can copy... no. I mean yes, it'd be good to have it, Miss Kazusa."
"Call me Kazumi," Kazumi says. "OK, we'll cover that before we split up. Niko, can you do anything to track her?"
"I could have tried tracking her aura, but too many people went through here," Niko says, shaking her head.
And the same would go for any physical tracking you might have done - you could trace footprints and the traces a human body leaves, but with twelve people here, anything you might find would be hopelessly muddled.
"We'll split up in groups of two or three," Kazumi decides. "Ah... what do you think, Mami-sempai?"
"Two or three is good," Mami agrees, straightening up and nodding. "It means there's always someone to check on the other. We should try and split up so that we have groups with good search powers, too."
"I'll... I'll check on Kanna," Niko says. "I know where to find her."
"I'll go with you!" Mirai volunteers.
"I'd rather go alone, Mirai," Niko says with a soft smile for her.
Kazumi frowns, tugging gently on her earring in thought. "You shouldn't go alone."
"Yeah, being alone is-" Sayaka's interrupted by a jaw-cracking yawn. "-what got us here in the first place, right?"
"It's just a quick check," Niko demurs, expression twisting into something pleading. She glances at Kazumi, jaw working silently before confusion flickers across her face.
You raise a finger. "Uh, if you're trying telepathy, sorry, it doesn't work in here," you say. "The privacy bubble blocks Kyuubey out, too."
"Ugh, I see," Niko says, making a face, but only for a second as she looks at Kazumi.
The black haired girl shakes her head. "Mirai, stay with Niko," she says gently. "Give her privacy if she needs it, but don't get separated. Satomi, you'll go with Umika, Kaoru, you'll go with Saki. Ah..."
"I'll stick with you?" Sayaka asks, glancing at you.
"Uhhh," you say. "Actually. OK, so, after we finish this meeting, I'll go outside and make my flying platform, and you can both copy that?"
"Ah, hm, mobility..." Kazumi says. "Saki, Miss Miki, do you think you two could work together?"
"That's fine," Saki says, nodding sharply.
"Then that's settled," Sayaka says. "I look forward to working with you!"
"Then we have Oriko and Kirika, of course, and Mami and myself," you conclude. "Everyone needs to have mind-protection... Umika, can you cover something more general than just countering Niko's memory field?"
"I can," Umika says, frowning. "That will be expensive."
"Which won't be an issue," Mami says. "Right, Sabrina?"
"Yep," you confirm, grinning.
"OK, then search areas... Niko, you'll be covering the area where Hijiri stays, of course," Kazumi says, frowning. "I think... ah, mm, search areas. Uh, port district, industrial areas, eastern or western parts of the city... central business district, but I don't think anyone could really hide there."
"If I were going to hide, I'd hide in the port district!" Mirai volunteers. "All the warehouses."
"Which makes it too obvious a place to hide," Niko points out. "I'd try going to ground somewhere far from the city-centre, somewhere quiet."
"Err, do we know whoever it is is hiding?" Kirika asks. "I dunno, she attacked first, which means she's not afraid, right?"
"She waited until half of us were out of the city," Saki says, pushing her monocle thing up again. "It suggests that our mysterious attacker knows she can't take on all of us at once."
"Or she was just taking advantage of a weakness," Kaoru argues.
Kazumi shakes her head. "Ugh, no point speculating. We're wasting time; we can discuss while searching, right?" she smiles around at her friends. "Sabrina, Mami, Oriko, Kirika, where would you like to search?"
Voting opens
[] Choose a location
[] Any final suggestions?
[] Contact Homura and ask her if she'd be willing to do periodic check-ins on our team leaders/us. To prevent forget-me cloaks from working properly.
[X] Let Kazumi and Sayaka copy your flying fortress
[X] Have Umika do her mental protection
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)
There's something really seriously fucky going on with Sabrina forgetting something that big.
I'm still saying she's in this privacy sphere with us, I think. Lock it down right now, before she decides that the game is afoot and runs away, and then tell Kirika to blast the area? No, Oriko's got the antimagic ring on, right, so we'd have already seen her? @Firnagzen, is that antimagic ring active right now, or does it need to be powered up?
The lead vote (as far as I can tell, correct me if I'm wrong), in this case, did not include talking about the Soujos. Not necessarily anything nefarious.
@Vebyast
It's active, yes, and the vote didn't mention the Soujos. I presumed they were left out because they're low priority.
[X] Get a telepathic okay from Niko to talk about Hijiri. Try to think exclusively about the one we gave the seed to, rather than the one sitting in front of us, in case we have an evil clone situation.
[X] Privacy Sphere
[X] Information
-[X] How far is the range on that memory device?
-[X] It runs on magic, right? So it should react to Antimagic?
-[X] Any other unusual occurences?
[X] Rogue's gallery dump
-[X] Asaka Yuuri and Anri Airi
-[X] If we got the okay, Hijiri dump with help from Niko
[X] Plans for finding the Villain
-[X] Most likely positions at this time if we know them. Hijiri might be at Niko's old home, ect.
-[X] Preventing Mind-shenanigans is a must
-[X] Probable combat.
-[X] Teams? One, two, or three?
[X] Enact Operation Sherlock
-[X] Contact Homura and ask her if she'd be willing to do periodic check-ins on our team leaders/us. To prevent forget-me cloaks from working properly.
"No," you say. You're not lying, not technically. She does lose to a Witch: her own. But the deception burns in your throat, stinging. You swallow, forcing yourself to look around the circle. "But someone else does, or could. The friend that Asuka wanted healed. Her name is Anri Airi, and she Wishes to become Asuka Yuuri, and swears vengeance against you."
"That..." Saki says, shifting and pushing her monocle thing up. "I don't know. Surely we'd have noticed that kind of thing?"
"Yeah," you say. "Again, my information should only be trusted in broad strokes. Oriko, do you remember anything that might be useful?"
"First, her name is Asuka Yuuri, not Asaka," Oriko says, folding her arms. Kirika giggles, leaning happily against Oriko's shoulder.
Oops. I think I copied that part from someone else, but I rewrote it enough times I should've caught that.
Sorry guys. Although maybe just as a security precaution we should anti-magic the whole sphere anyway - with infinite magic, there's no such thing as too paranoid, especially against mind magic.
Also, Asaka best grill?
Also also, Kazumi confirmed for best leader, she delegated quite well. I think she should definitely be present when/if we write the Hotel Constitution; She's a natural leader.
....please tell me Sayaka has copied Kirika's power by now?
[] Have Kirika blast the immediate area with antimagic, avoiding Sabrina. Just in case the suspect is right there.
[] Tell Sayaka to copy Kirika's power. She'll need it.
"She waited until half of us were out of the city," Saki says, pushing her monocle thing up again. "It suggests that our mysterious attacker knows she can't take on all of us at once."
She hasn't and going by this, she doesn't really want to. Most likely because she's still a bit miffed by silly little things like her house getting burned down.
You almost miss the lightning-fast interplay of looks between Kazumi, Niko, and Umika before Kazumi turns to you, grinning confidently. "We got it," she declares. "Umika can protect you too, Sabrina, Mami. Ah... I suppose you don't need protection, Kirika-san, Oriko-san. Miki-san, do you need it too?"
"Uh," Sayaka says, blinking. "I can copy... no. I mean yes, it'd be good to have it, Miss Kazusa."