"Thanks for flying with Mitakihara Airlines, please fly with us again!"
"Of course I will," giggled Mami, taking Sabrina's offered arm and stepping onto firm ground.
Her giggles turned into laughter as the taller girl pulled her into an embrace and spun her around. "... I wonder what Oriko wanted, that was so urgent," she mused after the Mobile Oppression Fortress vanished through the fourth dimensional axis.
Mami shrugged, one of her ringlets tickling Sabrina's cheek. "One way to find out?"
"Let's."
A quick telepathy call and the glass door slid open, courtesy of none other than the most infamous, intense, and well regarded consultant on all matters regarding love that side of Japan.
"Buddy!" cheered Sabrina, drawing Kirika into a hug, which the love obsessed berserker reciprocated with almost as much enthusiasm.
A less enthusiastic greeting was shared between the golden and black magical girls as the last one ushered them in, to come face to face with the owner of the mansion, seated comfortably at one of her luxurious sofas.
"Good afternoon, Sabrina, Tomoe," Oriko nodded politely as she stood up, to better regard her guests. "Thank you for coming in such short notice."
"Nevermind that," the Grief controller shook her head, separating from Mami once more to extend her arms towards her host, "first things first."
A sigh was her prompt answer. "I know you get enough hugs from Tomoe."
"But not enough from you," countered Sabrina.
Oriko evidently recognized the superior logic in Sabrina's argument, for the white haired girls shared a quick hug, before sitting down, Kirika and Mami at their sides.
"Hi Sabrina."
Sabrina startled, finding Sayaka sitting at her other side. "Hi...?"
The 'what are you doing here, out of your own volition?' was implicit in her tone.
Sayaka just shrugged, looking at Sabrina seriously, as if saying 'I know, but this is important, you know? Well, of course you don't know yet, we haven't told you what this is about, but still...'
The white haired girl quickly pulled the bleunette close and gave her a squeeze around the shoulders, showing support for whatever her cause was. They both knew Sayaka didn't like Oriko.
Sayaka snorted, patting Sabrina's shoulder to emphasize that was putting it lightly, yet...
"OK, you're having way too much fun with your communication powers," Sabrina rubbed at her head. "Can we talk normally?"
Sayaka nodded, then nodded her head to the side, bringing Sabrina's and Mami's attention to...
"Now what are you doing here?" asked a perplexed Sabrina, standing so she could walk closer to Homura, who shrugged in her seat, her tired eyes locking on Sabrina's blue ones.
A quick contest of stares ensued, in which wills pushed against each other, emotional negotiations happened, and finally Homu sighed, Sabrina smiled, and quickly hugged the thinner girl.
"Still weird," whispered Sayaka, drawing a glare from Homura. "Just say- ow!"
Mami giggled after pinching Sayaka's cheek reproachingly. "Don't be rude..."
Sabrina instantly turned, leaning together with Mami over the suddenly resigned Sayaka.
"... our cute little kouhai!" they finished together, to which the blue haired girl waved them off.
"I see your kouhai keeping skills haven't raised any," drawled a new voice.
"Kyouko?" Mami and Sabrina blinked, staring at the newcomer... enough to make her shift in place and shove her hands into her pockets.
"What of it?" she snapped, pointing her head at Oriko, who had gotten up at some point, "this one asked me to come over, so I figured why not... there'll be snacks, right?"
"Of course," nodded the ex-Seer as she showed even more guests inside.
"Hiya!" Sabrina blinked and caught a charging Yuma into a hug. "I had to badger Big Sis to come! ... But the offer of food always prevails!" declared the little girl, as if sharing a big secret.
"Good job!" congratulated Sabrina, letting go so she could greet the slightly growling Kyouko, which she did by way of a quick side hug around the shoulders. The redhead merely rolled her eyes a the gesture, but Sabrina let herself feel proud: She had long since discovered the thresholds of Kyouko's patience, and knew how to best act to share hugs with the girl with minimum fuss.
"Ciaooooo!" suddenly a Kazumi crashed into Mami and Sabrina, grabbing them both into a group hug.
"Wha-" The Grief controller, while not failing to return the greeting, felt momentarily overwhelmed, as she spotted also Kaoru and Umika over Kazumi's shoulder. Not only that, but as she moved to quickly hug and greet each girl, leaving Mam to catch up with her cheerful kouhai, she also spotted Masami and Hiroko, who she quickly drew into a short embrace...
... Akemi and Noriko (fused version), who she quickly squeezed together...
... Even Riona, who answered Sabrina's hug by mechanically drawing her arms around the taller girl.
"Needs more work," chided Sabrina to the reticent girl, who just shrugged.
"Attention!" called Oriko, causing everyone -and the room was quite crowded at that point- to turn to her. "If we could all take seat, please..."
Sabrina, definitely curious, went back to Mami and sat back down, holding her close at her side.
"Wait, why are we sitting in a circle?" she asked, just then realizing the fact.
Everyone looked at each other, then at her.
"Sabrina..." Yuma cleared her throat. "I'm afraid to inform you, this is an intervention."
"What?" asked Sabrina, perplexed, staring around and taking comfort from the warmth of the girl at her side. "Why? What's wrong?"
Kazumi's red eyes glinted ominously. "I thought it was an exaggeration at first, but after seeing this? It's clear as day..."
"You, Sabrina..." Umika adjusted her glasses.
"Are addicted to hugs," finished Kaoru.
"That's... silly?" Sabrina smiled somewhat nervously.
"You've hugged literally everyone in this room already," pointed out Oriko.
"Nothing wrong with that," the accused defended herself, "I was just saying hi to everyone."
"You're hugging someone right now," pointed out Kirika. "Besides Mami, I mean."
At her words, Sabrina took notice of a weight she was holding in her non-hugging-Mami arm, not that she hadn't quite noticed it, but only just then paying attention to it. "Uh, hi," said Sayaka, looking up from the vice grip that was Sabrina's arm.
"Sayaka? But you're-" a quick look aside and the other Sayaka waved at her.
"Clone," shrugged the bleunette.
"Uh," Sabrina blinked, letting go of her captive, who took the opportunity to poof out of existence. "But still," continued Sabrina, pulling Mami into her lap, the blonde cuddling onto her fondly, "I don't think this is exactly a problem, I mean... I always got Mami, right?" she squeezed said girl as if to prove her point.
That caused everyone to look to each other, again.
"Mami?" said Kyouko. Once she had her ex-senpai's eyes on her, she continued: "... This is an intervention."
"Why..." breathed Mami, shifting in Sabrina's lap to better look around at all the seated girls, "an intervention about what?"
Homura sighed that time. "You're addicted to Sabrina's hugs," she explained without preamble.
The golden magical girl opened her mouth, looked around at all the gathered magical girls...
"Yes," she agreed, turning so she could better cuddle Sabrina, causing an instinctive reaction in the white haired girl, who wrapped her arms tightly around the blonde's waist.
Half the gathered girls gasped.
"You're feeding Sabrina's addiction!" yelled Sayaka, causing Sabrina and Mami to glare and lean away. They were seated right besides the bleunette.
"Your grades will suffer," added Homura, causing even more gasps amongst the circle.
"You're missing classes to spend more time with Sabrina?!" half-asked, half-yelled Kazumi.
Kirika perked up.
"Nice!" they cheered together.
"Not nice," chided Oriko, frowning down at Kirika, who suddenly turned remorseful and buried her head on her Ojou's shoulder. Umika likewise attempted to reprimand Kazumi, but a nonchalant attitude from Kaoru allowed the red eyed girl to fend off the nun themed magical girl's criticism.
"It's not a big deal," chimed in Riona, drawing some looks. She herself was staring closely at the white and golden cuddling pair, as if dissecting them with her eyes. "This sort of thing happens, two magical girls get close and their souls resonate-" the surrounding stares turned curious "-and usually when one of them dies, the other one follows shortly after," she finished, uninterested. "This is a waste of time, I was told there would be food, at least?"
"Yeah," support came from Kyouko's corner, both her and Yuma looking at Oriko with hunger in their eyes.
The host let her eyes roam around the room:
The targets of the meeting were happily cuddling and feeding into each other's addiction. In fact, as she watched, Sayaka was pulled once more by Sabrina's gravitational hugging pull, and even worse, Mami, a curious look in her eye, seemed to mimic her girlfriend's actions, a ribbon snapping out and catching a startled Kazumi, quickly pulling her into grabbing range.
As the red eyed girl was caught in a quickly growing hug pile, her two companions didn't bat an eye, simply following her and re-arraging themselves to stay in contact with their... leader.
Rather than making progress, it seemed the meeting had managed to encourage Sabrina's and Mami's compulsive needs further.
Oh, dear. Oriko sighed, taking comfort in Kirika's warmth, her girl already rubbing at her shoulders, drawing a moan of pleasure from the ex-Seer.
Meanwhile, Gaikotsu and Wakahisa seemed to have completely lost interest, caught in a completely unrelated discussion.
Akemi Homura seemed to have disappeared.
Watanabe and Saito-
Oh, dear. The three of them were engaging with Sabrina and Mami's growing cuddle pile, seemingly wanting to join, and- yes, indeed, the local hug enthusiasts were quick to accept the new additions to the group, offering their expertise, but not without the new additions offering their own.
Did they remember they had come together that day to help Sabrina learn to control her compulsive need better, before it got out of control, and she tried to do something silly, like try to hug the entire world?
Kirika rubbed at Oriko's eyes.
Once she opened them again, it was to behold Sakura's, Chitose's and Mag Aiod's hungry gazes, demanding the foodstuffs they had been promised. Mind, the Soul manipulator seemed more bored than hungry, as if the promised food would simply justify her presence there, but the other two's gazes were more than enough to make Oriko worry about the future of her pantry.
"Let's bring out the refreshments, dear," said Oriko softly, only for Kirika to hear.
... But Kirika didn't move.
"Kirika?" asked the ex-Seer, looking down at the top of her girl's head.
"Oriko..." Kirika's voice sounded oddly flat as she slowly looked up. "I think... I've been infected," she whispered, horror seeping into her voice.
"You want to join the cuddle pile," sighed Oriko.
"Yup."
"After we bring out the tea and snacks."
"OK!"
And thus, Oriko surrendered herself to her fate.
It was a warm and cuddy afternoon, that sunday. Somehow, it served to ease her urges to betray everyone, start a murder spree, and go out in a blaze of glory to save her world.
Just a little, she mused maybe an hour later, pushing Kazumi's leg off her face while drawing Kirika closer to herself, and shifting to better use Sabrina's stomach as a pillow.
"Everything went according to plan," murmured Sabrina drowsily.
"Plan means keikaku," Oriko felt compelled to say for some reason, before dozing off.
