Nova Prospekt pt. 20
You give Sayaka a slow, judicious nod. A sign of something. Personal visit, as opposed to an official visit, huh? It's an obvious enough guess that an official visit would probably be logged with the Council - and that might cause everyone problems, considering how much care is apparently being put into dancing around the matter.
"... would a personal visit cause... issues with an eventual official visit?" you ask carefully. You need to sound out the political situation for now, and since Sayaka brought up Madoka and Hitomi? You probably want to ask them too, though you'll also want to balance Homura wanting to keep Madoka out of it.
Sayaka frowns, and then flashes you a thumbsup.
"It would not," Kurenai says.
"Then yes, I would like to make a personal visit, if that's OK with you?" You nod slowly, half to yourself and half to Sayaka as you think. You could, perhaps, probe a little. "I can't be making an official visit in my own capacity, anyway, since I'm not the leader of the Mitakihara group."
"Ah?" Kurenai says. She sounds surprised.
"Yeah, that would be Mami," you say, smiling. "It's her city. I just live there."
"Ah, yes," Kurenai says. "Then we'll speak more when you arrive. Much of this is too lengthy to explain over telepathy."
"Great! See you in about twenty minutes, then," you say. "Well, a bit less now."
"We'll meet you at the Soyokaze Cafe on campus at Rissho University, unless you have any objections," Kurenai says. "You are... flying in, correct? Are you familiar with the area?"
"Nope, no objections, yes, I'm flying in, and no, I'm not familiar with the area," you answer.
"Then... Soyokaze is near the top of the East tower," Kurenai says. "You can't miss it, if you're arriving from the roof."
"Alright, gotcha," you say. "Thanks!"
"We'll be waiting," Kurenai says, and ends the call.
"Hah. Personal or official," Sayaka says with a roll of her eyes.
"Mm?" you quirk an eyebrow at her. Sayaka certainly seems to think it was important.
"Nah, you got it, I think," Sayaka says. "Bet you that if you'd said official you'd arrive to meet, like, all of them. And then it'd be time to argue."
"Yeaaah, I thought as much," you say, frowning thoughtfully, and watching the terrain blurring past through the windscreen. You're high enough that you can see the horizon curve away, the mountains little rocky ridges below you. It's peaceful up here.
"Ugh, politics," Sayaka mutters, kicking her legs idly in the air.
"Yeah... same," you say, pointing vaguely in her general direction with an upraised finger. "Ugh, politics. I mean... they probably have all that for a reason. Tokyo's what, the densest city in Japan? With that many people and that many magical girls and no Mami, those politics and rules exist in lieu of them fighting a war every week or so."
"'Without Mami'?" Sayaka asks, quirking an eyebrow.
"I mean, yeah, I'm biased in favour of Mami's awesomeness, but the fact is that Mami made Mitakihara hers, and there's no one who did that for Tokyo," you say with a shrug. "Maybe no-one can, since Tokyo's so big. But my point is they have all the politics to keep the peace among... I don't even know how many groups."
"I mean, yeah, that's what politics are for," Sayaka says. "Doesn't mean it isn't still ugh."
"Yeah, I can see that," you mutter. You let yourself flop forward, resting your chin on your folded arms so you can keep an eye on the skies ahead.
"Japan's really pretty from up here," Sayaka muses. "I really gotta work on flying more."
"Flying is fantastic, yeah," you agree.
The rest of the trip you spend chatting lightly. You wind up having to dissuade Sayaka from hopping right out of the flight capsule there and then for a flight - even on the descent arc, the air outside would be bitingly cold and thin, magical girl toughness notwithstanding.
Tokyo is huge. It's bigger than Mitakihara, even, a massive, coastal sprawl and mishmash of buildings old and new. Skyscrapers soar upwards, many dwarfing the distinctive bulbous silver spire of the Tokyo Skytree. Green and blue streaks are splashed through the city, rolling swathes of parks and rivers squeezed in amongst the densely packed buildings.
And Rissho University is...
Look, you joke that Mitakihara has a cathedral built on top of it for some reason. Rissho University is a castle.
Rissho University is a castle.
A huge, fantasy castle in generic Western fairytale style. It's right out of a storybook, all swooping towers and pointy roofs and flying buttresses in cheerful pastel colour painted concrete and glittering glass.
"... what is it about schools?" you mutter, blinking.
"Huh?" Sayaka asks, peering down at the University building. "That's just how they are, isn't it? And universities have a lot more budget."
"... I guess," you say sourly, folding your arms as you direct your little flight capsule down to the east-most tower of the main building. Hopefully there won't be anyone on the roof. Kurenai did imply it would be safe, after all.
The roof seems clear, so you go in for a landing - except it isn't. A young man, muscular and tall with a close-cropped head of plum hair, pulls the roof access door just as you start to dissolve the flight platform. He's handsome, you suppose, dressed smartly in a button-up shirt and long pants, but you're rather panicking just a little bit right now-
"Uh... Miss Vee?" he asks. "And Miss Miki?
You blink.
"Oh you're the boyfri-" Sayaka claps her hands over her mouth, eyes widening.
"God damn it, everyone calls me that," he says, pressing his palm to his forehead. "Yes, I am. Yuri thought it might be better to have someone wait for you, just in case, and yes, I'm perfectly aware of the irony in her name. I've heard every iteration of that joke there possibly is."
Sayaka makes a strangled noise.
"Pleased to meet you," you say, stepping forward and offering your hand. He's taller than you. Huh. "I've met your sister, I think? Umeko Yuko?"
Up closer and less panicky, you'd guess he's perhaps... eighteen? Nineteen?
"That's my little sister. I'm Umeko Haruki," he affirms with a smile, and shakes your hand firmly. "And I'm pleased to meet you too, Miss Vee. She's told me about you - you helped her and her team out of a bit of a sticky situation, right? Thank you."
"I did," you say, returning the smile. "I'm glad I could help."
"We shouldn't keep Miss Nakahara waiting," he says. "This way!"
"C'mon, Sayaka, don't die of asphyxiation," you say, tugging her along. "That would be embarrassing." Sayaka stumbles along after you, still trying to swallow her mortified giggles, and you turn your attention to Haruki. "You seem very aware of magical girl life, Mr Yuko."
"My sister and my girlfriend are magical girls," he says. He shrugs as he paces down the stairs. "I should hope so."
"Ah, yeah," you say, and nod. "That makes sense."
The inside of Risshou University is considerably more modern than its exterior might suggest. Polished tile underfoot, high, airy ceilings lit by brilliant fluorescent bulbs, comfortable benches and tables line the corridor. Some are occupied by university students, all deep in their own studies and conversation.
You can already smell the rich aroma of coffee permeating the air, and as Kurenai promised - you really can't miss the cafe. It's right by the stairwell, two floors down, and Haruki leads you to the outdoor seating area. Which happens to be on a balcony, commanding a rather impressive view of the university campus.
"Haruki!" a young woman calls, looking up from a table occupied by two other girls. They all stand, but the speaker hurries over, deep blonde hair bouncing as she gives Haruki a kiss. "You found them!"
All three of them are magical girls, of course, their Soul Gems bright and clear in your Grief sense.
"I'm grateful for the guide," you say, smiling politely at her. "I'm Sabrina Vee -Vee Sabrina, I suppose- and this is my friend, Miki Sayaka. Ah... I'm here to meet Nakahara Kurenai?"
"That would be me," the second occupant of Yuri's table says as she approaches. She's shorter than you, intelligent, obsidian-black eyes giving you and Sayaka a quick onceover and offering her hand to shake.
You shake firmly, warm smile on your face.
You're not sure why, but you instinctively peg her as someone who's seen quite a lot of combat - though she doesn't actually look that old. Younger than Yuri, perhaps about sixteen at a guess. Old enough to not cause much comment in a university, but young enough to be young in a university, and dressed in a loose, long-sleeved shirt and pleated skirt that make her look older than she actually is. Something about her twigs at the back of your mind.
And yet, you're happy to meet her, and you let that show on your face. That she's made the time to set up this visit with you, to listen to what you have to say. Listening is the first step to understanding, you hope.
Kurenai smiles in return, brushing flame-red hair worn long back over her shoulder and offering her hand to Sayaka in turn. "It's a pleasure to meet you in person, Miss Vee, Miss Miki. I'm Nakahara Kurenai, and this is Ito Yuri. You've already met Umeko Haruki."
Ito Yuri is an athletic looking young woman, showing off some impressive muscle tone in a sleeveless, pastel green dress that matches her eyes. She's perhaps eighteen, with highlight-streaked dark blonde hair. Unfortunately, for all that, you'll probably always remember as 'that magical girl with a boyfriend'. She gives you a pleasant smile.
"I've heard about you, Miss Vee," she says, nodding.
Kurenai gestures at the girl to her left. "And last but certainly not least, this is Konno Terumi," she says. "Our last member, Chiaki Haruna, is in class right now, unfortunately, and couldn't make it."
Terumi is young. She looks like she could be twelve, slender and almost frail, dressed in clothes a little too big for her. She gives you a tiny wave and a hesitant smile all but hidden behind her silver, hime-cut hair.
... you want to hug her.
Maybe later.
"It's very good to meet all of you," you say, beaming around.
"Yeah!" Sayaka agrees, grinning and bouncing on her toes.
"Please, take a seat," Kurenai says. Yuri blinks, and hurries back to the table to clear away what seems to be an economics textbook.
"Would you like anything to drink?" Kurenai asks as you take one of the sun-warmed seats. "I wouldn't recommend the tea here -they just do teabags- but the coffee's not bad."
"... eh, sure, just a coffee then, with sugar and cream?" you say, shrugging.
"Do they have milkshakes?" Sayaka asks, craning her head to try and see the menu through the glass door into the building.
Damn, you should have gotten a milkshake. Ah well, too late.
"Yup!" Yuri says cheerfully. "The banana milkshake is great."
"I'll have that, then," Sayaka says.
"Coolio. I'll go grab the drinks, then?" Yuri says, looking around the table. Kurenai nods at her, while Terumi just fidgets a bit.
"I'll come with," Haruki decides, pushing his chair back with a scrape. Yuri grins at him, and twiddle her fingers in a little wave as she heads back into the building proper.
"Would you like to open the discussions, Miss Vee?" Kurenai asks you.
"Well, I have a fair number of questions, but they mostly pertain to how the Tokyo Council works," you admit. "I'm inclined to try and work with the existing system, since I'd rather not have to go against the entire Council. I want to help. But... first, I suppose I should establish my bona fides."
You smile at Kurenai, and Terumi. "Would you like me to cleanse your Soul Gems? No strings attached, just to show that I can."
Terumi wordlessly offers up her Soul Gem, giving you another shy smile. You beam at her, and give Kurenai a questioning look.
She hesitates for a long moment, before shaking her head.
"It would be best not to," Kurenai says. Terumi's smile dims a little, and she puts her Soul Gem away. But neither of them are...
Both of their Soul Gems are a little more filled than you'd like. Nowhere near any kind of danger zone, or anywhere near average usage, but they're fuller than the absolute cleanliness you can manage for your friends in Mitakihara.
"Thank you, nevertheless," Kurenai murmurs, before quirking a smile. "Yuri would never forgive me if she'd missed that, anyway."
"I could have cleansed her too, when she gets back," you say with a shrug.
"It's not like your powers'll run out," Sayaka says, grinning.
"It's a momentous thing that you can do," Kurenai says. "But for now, it would just make life difficult."
"So I've been told," you say. "But that's the thing. I don't want to just keep this to myself. I want to help everyone I can."
"Which brings us to here," Kurenai says with a sharp nod. She taps her chin thoughtfully. "Why don't I... hm. I have a pamphlet, or would you rather hear it from me?"
"... You have a pamphlet?" you ask.
"University printing services," Kurenai says with a shrug. "Yuri's doing, actually. I understand the Tokyo University group does the same."
"I'm..." You trail off. You know what, it makes a weird kind of sense. "Sure, let me see?"
Kurenai smiles, and produces a pair of bright, glossy little booklets. You and Sayaka take one each, your friend raising an eyebrow at the bold lettering across the top.
So you've become a magical girl! the title declares.
"Not our design," Kurenai notes. "But it does seem to have worked out well enough. The few people who aren't magical girls but happened to see these seem to think it's a cosplay club."
"Well, if it works, it works, I guess," you concede, and start skimming the brochure.
It's a recruitment ad. It seems that every new magical girl is encouraged to join the Council, which is broken up into administrative groups. You'd join the one local to your area, and reading between the lines, each group is simply the local team of magical girls.
Your eyes flicker over to Kurenai and Terumi for a second before returning to reading. That would explain the rather varied group, then - they simply started in the same area and were recruited into the same group. There's no mention of independents, or indications that they exist, though there are provisions to transfer to other teams. The Council itself...
It's almost a republic, ad-hoc and haphazard. Each group sends a representative to debate in times of import, presided over by the Chiyoda group.
"The Chiyoda group is where the Imperial Palace is, isn't it?" you ask. Sayaka looks up quizzically.
"Correct," Kurenai says. "Toshimichi Akane claims descent from Emperor Shōwa, but in truth that matters less than the fact that she's charismatic and powerful. She's frequently the only thing stopping Tokyo from turning into all out war."
You wince.
"Yeah, that makes sense," you say.
"Says here that you discuss things of lesser importance through other channels?" Sayaka says.
"... we have a whatsapp group," Kurenai admits. "Uh... that's a messaging app. We have a group chat for all the representatives."
"Huh. How many teams are there in Tokyo, anyway?" you ask.
"Twenty seven," Kurenai says.
Sayaka whistles. "Twenty seven?"
"Tokyo is much larger than Mitakihara," Kurenai says. "And not every city has a Tomoe Mami. That said, I'm not sure even she could have done anything about this city. There's simply too many people here."
"Right," you say. You kind of want to argue the point -Mami's more awesome than she can possibly imagine and how dare she impugn Mami's awesomeness- but that wouldn't be diplomatic. "That makes sense."
You return to reading. It seems like they make decisions by majority vote. Chiyoda doesn't vote, but in turn has a veto, and apparently groups exchange individual magical girls on a rotating basis with Chiyoda for hunting.
Witch hunting is delineated strictly by territory held between groups, which... seem to be static. There's even a map printed in the brochure, and no provision for changing the borders.
"What's Witch hunting like here?" Sayaka asks. "Apparently the borders were fixed long ago?"
"Ah. Yes," Kurenai says, considering. "It's... not bad, I suppose? I don't really have a strong basis of comparison, but we get by, with enough Grief Seeds. Oh, if you look further down, there's a note that groups can be balanced by switching magical girls across teams."
"I guess that makes sense," Sayaka says, and switches to telepathy to speak to you alone. "I bet they make it so that adjacent teams tend to be somewhat friendlier to each other."
You nod, as in agreement to Sayaka's first statement. It does make sense. Which makes you wonder...
"So why the current gridlock?" you ask slowly. "You seem to have a perfectly workable system in place. And I mean... haven't you ever heard of taking turns?"
"Who's to be first?" Kurenai asks. "Whoever is first would have an immeasurable advantage."
You shrug. It just doesn't seem like a problem to you.
"So send me a representative from every single group with your Grief Seeds," you say. "That way no one group has an advantage over the others. Or I could start with the Chiyoda group, since they seem to be the leaders? Or... I mean, things seem stable enough?"
"Propaganda," Kurenai says, tapping the pamphlet with a finger.
"What is?" Yuri asks, returning with a tray full of drinks. She peeks over your shoulder before starting to hand out drinks "Oh, those. Expresso for you, Kurenai, milkshake for you, Miss Miki, hot chocolate for Terumi, coffee for Miss Vee."
A sundae for herself and Haruki, apparently, the couple pulling up chairs to share the ice cream.
"So what are we talking about? The Council, I assume," Yuri asks.
"Correct," Kurenai says. You vaguely wonder that Kurenai seems to be the leader, for all that she's younger than Yuri. Then again, they're not that far apart in age, you guess. "The Council is less peaceable than it seems, Miss Vee."
You take the moment to stir cream and sugar into your coffee, waiting for Kurenai to sort through her thoughts.
She takes a sip of her expresso, eyes distant. "In truth, many would bring Miss Toshimichi down if given the chance. It's an uneasy peace, and hunting is good enough, but there's always an air of..."
"Uneasiness," Haruki offers quietly.
"Some groups are bloodthirstier than the others, but we keep them in check by weight of threatened collective action," Kurenai says. "But there's... a kind of desperation to some of them. As far as we know, they aren't low on Grief Seeds or anything, but they're always hungry for more."
She shakes her head.
"Not as peaceful as it seems," she says, shrugging again.
"Right," you say. You frown, and take a thoughtful sip of your coffee as you think.
[] What else do you want to ask?
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)
So, I believe that's not all of the questions, but it's a lot of them.
"... would a personal visit cause... issues with an eventual official visit?" you ask carefully. You need to sound out the political situation for now, and since Sayaka brought up Madoka and Hitomi? You probably want to ask them too, though you'll also want to balance Homura wanting to keep Madoka out of it.
Sayaka frowns, and then flashes you a thumbsup.
"It would not," Kurenai says.
"Then yes, I would like to make a personal visit, if that's OK with you?" You nod slowly, half to yourself and half to Sayaka as you think. You could, perhaps, probe a little. "I can't be making an official visit in my own capacity, anyway, since I'm not the leader of the Mitakihara group."
"Ah?" Kurenai says. She sounds surprised.
"Yeah, that would be Mami," you say, smiling. "It's her city. I just live there."
"Ah, yes," Kurenai says. "Then we'll speak more when you arrive. Much of this is too lengthy to explain over telepathy."
"Great! See you in about twenty minutes, then," you say. "Well, a bit less now."
"We'll meet you at the Soyokaze Cafe on campus at Rissho University, unless you have any objections," Kurenai says. "You are... flying in, correct? Are you familiar with the area?"
"Nope, no objections, yes, I'm flying in, and no, I'm not familiar with the area," you answer.
"Then... Soyokaze is near the top of the East tower," Kurenai says. "You can't miss it, if you're arriving from the roof."
"Alright, gotcha," you say. "Thanks!"
"We'll be waiting," Kurenai says, and ends the call.
"Hah. Personal or official," Sayaka says with a roll of her eyes.
"Mm?" you quirk an eyebrow at her. Sayaka certainly seems to think it was important.
"Nah, you got it, I think," Sayaka says. "Bet you that if you'd said official you'd arrive to meet, like, all of them. And then it'd be time to argue."
"Yeaaah, I thought as much," you say, frowning thoughtfully, and watching the terrain blurring past through the windscreen. You're high enough that you can see the horizon curve away, the mountains little rocky ridges below you. It's peaceful up here.
"Ugh, politics," Sayaka mutters, kicking her legs idly in the air.
"Yeah... same," you say, pointing vaguely in her general direction with an upraised finger. "Ugh, politics. I mean... they probably have all that for a reason. Tokyo's what, the densest city in Japan? With that many people and that many magical girls and no Mami, those politics and rules exist in lieu of them fighting a war every week or so."
"'Without Mami'?" Sayaka asks, quirking an eyebrow.
"I mean, yeah, I'm biased in favour of Mami's awesomeness, but the fact is that Mami made Mitakihara hers, and there's no one who did that for Tokyo," you say with a shrug. "Maybe no-one can, since Tokyo's so big. But my point is they have all the politics to keep the peace among... I don't even know how many groups."
"I mean, yeah, that's what politics are for," Sayaka says. "Doesn't mean it isn't still ugh."
"Yeah, I can see that," you mutter. You let yourself flop forward, resting your chin on your folded arms so you can keep an eye on the skies ahead.
"Japan's really pretty from up here," Sayaka muses. "I really gotta work on flying more."
"Flying is fantastic, yeah," you agree.
The rest of the trip you spend chatting lightly. You wind up having to dissuade Sayaka from hopping right out of the flight capsule there and then for a flight - even on the descent arc, the air outside would be bitingly cold and thin, magical girl toughness notwithstanding.
Tokyo is huge. It's bigger than Mitakihara, even, a massive, coastal sprawl and mishmash of buildings old and new. Skyscrapers soar upwards, many dwarfing the distinctive bulbous silver spire of the Tokyo Skytree. Green and blue streaks are splashed through the city, rolling swathes of parks and rivers squeezed in amongst the densely packed buildings.
And Rissho University is...
Look, you joke that Mitakihara has a cathedral built on top of it for some reason. Rissho University is a castle.
Rissho University is a castle.
A huge, fantasy castle in generic Western fairytale style. It's right out of a storybook, all swooping towers and pointy roofs and flying buttresses in cheerful pastel colour painted concrete and glittering glass.
"... what is it about schools?" you mutter, blinking.
"Huh?" Sayaka asks, peering down at the University building. "That's just how they are, isn't it? And universities have a lot more budget."
"... I guess," you say sourly, folding your arms as you direct your little flight capsule down to the east-most tower of the main building. Hopefully there won't be anyone on the roof. Kurenai did imply it would be safe, after all.
The roof seems clear, so you go in for a landing - except it isn't. A young man, muscular and tall with a close-cropped head of plum hair, pulls the roof access door just as you start to dissolve the flight platform. He's handsome, you suppose, dressed smartly in a button-up shirt and long pants, but you're rather panicking just a little bit right now-
"Uh... Miss Vee?" he asks. "And Miss Miki?
You blink.
"Oh you're the boyfri-" Sayaka claps her hands over her mouth, eyes widening.
"God damn it, everyone calls me that," he says, pressing his palm to his forehead. "Yes, I am. Yuri thought it might be better to have someone wait for you, just in case, and yes, I'm perfectly aware of the irony in her name. I've heard every iteration of that joke there possibly is."
Sayaka makes a strangled noise.
"Pleased to meet you," you say, stepping forward and offering your hand. He's taller than you. Huh. "I've met your sister, I think? Umeko Yuko?"
Up closer and less panicky, you'd guess he's perhaps... eighteen? Nineteen?
"That's my little sister. I'm Umeko Haruki," he affirms with a smile, and shakes your hand firmly. "And I'm pleased to meet you too, Miss Vee. She's told me about you - you helped her and her team out of a bit of a sticky situation, right? Thank you."
"I did," you say, returning the smile. "I'm glad I could help."
"We shouldn't keep Miss Nakahara waiting," he says. "This way!"
"C'mon, Sayaka, don't die of asphyxiation," you say, tugging her along. "That would be embarrassing." Sayaka stumbles along after you, still trying to swallow her mortified giggles, and you turn your attention to Haruki. "You seem very aware of magical girl life, Mr Yuko."
"My sister and my girlfriend are magical girls," he says. He shrugs as he paces down the stairs. "I should hope so."
"Ah, yeah," you say, and nod. "That makes sense."
The inside of Risshou University is considerably more modern than its exterior might suggest. Polished tile underfoot, high, airy ceilings lit by brilliant fluorescent bulbs, comfortable benches and tables line the corridor. Some are occupied by university students, all deep in their own studies and conversation.
You can already smell the rich aroma of coffee permeating the air, and as Kurenai promised - you really can't miss the cafe. It's right by the stairwell, two floors down, and Haruki leads you to the outdoor seating area. Which happens to be on a balcony, commanding a rather impressive view of the university campus.
"Haruki!" a young woman calls, looking up from a table occupied by two other girls. They all stand, but the speaker hurries over, deep blonde hair bouncing as she gives Haruki a kiss. "You found them!"
All three of them are magical girls, of course, their Soul Gems bright and clear in your Grief sense.
"I'm grateful for the guide," you say, smiling politely at her. "I'm Sabrina Vee -Vee Sabrina, I suppose- and this is my friend, Miki Sayaka. Ah... I'm here to meet Nakahara Kurenai?"
"That would be me," the second occupant of Yuri's table says as she approaches. She's shorter than you, intelligent, obsidian-black eyes giving you and Sayaka a quick onceover and offering her hand to shake.
You shake firmly, warm smile on your face.
You're not sure why, but you instinctively peg her as someone who's seen quite a lot of combat - though she doesn't actually look that old. Younger than Yuri, perhaps about sixteen at a guess. Old enough to not cause much comment in a university, but young enough to be young in a university, and dressed in a loose, long-sleeved shirt and pleated skirt that make her look older than she actually is. Something about her twigs at the back of your mind.
And yet, you're happy to meet her, and you let that show on your face. That she's made the time to set up this visit with you, to listen to what you have to say. Listening is the first step to understanding, you hope.
Kurenai smiles in return, brushing flame-red hair worn long back over her shoulder and offering her hand to Sayaka in turn. "It's a pleasure to meet you in person, Miss Vee, Miss Miki. I'm Nakahara Kurenai, and this is Ito Yuri. You've already met Umeko Haruki."
Ito Yuri is an athletic looking young woman, showing off some impressive muscle tone in a sleeveless, pastel green dress that matches her eyes. She's perhaps eighteen, with highlight-streaked dark blonde hair. Unfortunately, for all that, you'll probably always remember as 'that magical girl with a boyfriend'. She gives you a pleasant smile.
"I've heard about you, Miss Vee," she says, nodding.
Kurenai gestures at the girl to her left. "And last but certainly not least, this is Konno Terumi," she says. "Our last member, Chiaki Haruna, is in class right now, unfortunately, and couldn't make it."
Terumi is young. She looks like she could be twelve, slender and almost frail, dressed in clothes a little too big for her. She gives you a tiny wave and a hesitant smile all but hidden behind her silver, hime-cut hair.
... you want to hug her.
Maybe later.
"It's very good to meet all of you," you say, beaming around.
"Yeah!" Sayaka agrees, grinning and bouncing on her toes.
"Please, take a seat," Kurenai says. Yuri blinks, and hurries back to the table to clear away what seems to be an economics textbook.
"Would you like anything to drink?" Kurenai asks as you take one of the sun-warmed seats. "I wouldn't recommend the tea here -they just do teabags- but the coffee's not bad."
"... eh, sure, just a coffee then, with sugar and cream?" you say, shrugging.
"Do they have milkshakes?" Sayaka asks, craning her head to try and see the menu through the glass door into the building.
Damn, you should have gotten a milkshake. Ah well, too late.
"Yup!" Yuri says cheerfully. "The banana milkshake is great."
"I'll have that, then," Sayaka says.
"Coolio. I'll go grab the drinks, then?" Yuri says, looking around the table. Kurenai nods at her, while Terumi just fidgets a bit.
"I'll come with," Haruki decides, pushing his chair back with a scrape. Yuri grins at him, and twiddle her fingers in a little wave as she heads back into the building proper.
"Would you like to open the discussions, Miss Vee?" Kurenai asks you.
"Well, I have a fair number of questions, but they mostly pertain to how the Tokyo Council works," you admit. "I'm inclined to try and work with the existing system, since I'd rather not have to go against the entire Council. I want to help. But... first, I suppose I should establish my bona fides."
You smile at Kurenai, and Terumi. "Would you like me to cleanse your Soul Gems? No strings attached, just to show that I can."
Terumi wordlessly offers up her Soul Gem, giving you another shy smile. You beam at her, and give Kurenai a questioning look.
She hesitates for a long moment, before shaking her head.
"It would be best not to," Kurenai says. Terumi's smile dims a little, and she puts her Soul Gem away. But neither of them are...
Both of their Soul Gems are a little more filled than you'd like. Nowhere near any kind of danger zone, or anywhere near average usage, but they're fuller than the absolute cleanliness you can manage for your friends in Mitakihara.
"Thank you, nevertheless," Kurenai murmurs, before quirking a smile. "Yuri would never forgive me if she'd missed that, anyway."
"I could have cleansed her too, when she gets back," you say with a shrug.
"It's not like your powers'll run out," Sayaka says, grinning.
"It's a momentous thing that you can do," Kurenai says. "But for now, it would just make life difficult."
"So I've been told," you say. "But that's the thing. I don't want to just keep this to myself. I want to help everyone I can."
"Which brings us to here," Kurenai says with a sharp nod. She taps her chin thoughtfully. "Why don't I... hm. I have a pamphlet, or would you rather hear it from me?"
"... You have a pamphlet?" you ask.
"University printing services," Kurenai says with a shrug. "Yuri's doing, actually. I understand the Tokyo University group does the same."
"I'm..." You trail off. You know what, it makes a weird kind of sense. "Sure, let me see?"
Kurenai smiles, and produces a pair of bright, glossy little booklets. You and Sayaka take one each, your friend raising an eyebrow at the bold lettering across the top.
So you've become a magical girl! the title declares.
"Not our design," Kurenai notes. "But it does seem to have worked out well enough. The few people who aren't magical girls but happened to see these seem to think it's a cosplay club."
"Well, if it works, it works, I guess," you concede, and start skimming the brochure.
It's a recruitment ad. It seems that every new magical girl is encouraged to join the Council, which is broken up into administrative groups. You'd join the one local to your area, and reading between the lines, each group is simply the local team of magical girls.
Your eyes flicker over to Kurenai and Terumi for a second before returning to reading. That would explain the rather varied group, then - they simply started in the same area and were recruited into the same group. There's no mention of independents, or indications that they exist, though there are provisions to transfer to other teams. The Council itself...
It's almost a republic, ad-hoc and haphazard. Each group sends a representative to debate in times of import, presided over by the Chiyoda group.
"The Chiyoda group is where the Imperial Palace is, isn't it?" you ask. Sayaka looks up quizzically.
"Correct," Kurenai says. "Toshimichi Akane claims descent from Emperor Shōwa, but in truth that matters less than the fact that she's charismatic and powerful. She's frequently the only thing stopping Tokyo from turning into all out war."
You wince.
"Yeah, that makes sense," you say.
"Says here that you discuss things of lesser importance through other channels?" Sayaka says.
"... we have a whatsapp group," Kurenai admits. "Uh... that's a messaging app. We have a group chat for all the representatives."
"Huh. How many teams are there in Tokyo, anyway?" you ask.
"Twenty seven," Kurenai says.
Sayaka whistles. "Twenty seven?"
"Tokyo is much larger than Mitakihara," Kurenai says. "And not every city has a Tomoe Mami. That said, I'm not sure even she could have done anything about this city. There's simply too many people here."
"Right," you say. You kind of want to argue the point -Mami's more awesome than she can possibly imagine and how dare she impugn Mami's awesomeness- but that wouldn't be diplomatic. "That makes sense."
You return to reading. It seems like they make decisions by majority vote. Chiyoda doesn't vote, but in turn has a veto, and apparently groups exchange individual magical girls on a rotating basis with Chiyoda for hunting.
Witch hunting is delineated strictly by territory held between groups, which... seem to be static. There's even a map printed in the brochure, and no provision for changing the borders.
"What's Witch hunting like here?" Sayaka asks. "Apparently the borders were fixed long ago?"
"Ah. Yes," Kurenai says, considering. "It's... not bad, I suppose? I don't really have a strong basis of comparison, but we get by, with enough Grief Seeds. Oh, if you look further down, there's a note that groups can be balanced by switching magical girls across teams."
"I guess that makes sense," Sayaka says, and switches to telepathy to speak to you alone. "I bet they make it so that adjacent teams tend to be somewhat friendlier to each other."
You nod, as in agreement to Sayaka's first statement. It does make sense. Which makes you wonder...
"So why the current gridlock?" you ask slowly. "You seem to have a perfectly workable system in place. And I mean... haven't you ever heard of taking turns?"
"Who's to be first?" Kurenai asks. "Whoever is first would have an immeasurable advantage."
You shrug. It just doesn't seem like a problem to you.
"So send me a representative from every single group with your Grief Seeds," you say. "That way no one group has an advantage over the others. Or I could start with the Chiyoda group, since they seem to be the leaders? Or... I mean, things seem stable enough?"
"Propaganda," Kurenai says, tapping the pamphlet with a finger.
"What is?" Yuri asks, returning with a tray full of drinks. She peeks over your shoulder before starting to hand out drinks "Oh, those. Expresso for you, Kurenai, milkshake for you, Miss Miki, hot chocolate for Terumi, coffee for Miss Vee."
A sundae for herself and Haruki, apparently, the couple pulling up chairs to share the ice cream.
"So what are we talking about? The Council, I assume," Yuri asks.
"Correct," Kurenai says. You vaguely wonder that Kurenai seems to be the leader, for all that she's younger than Yuri. Then again, they're not that far apart in age, you guess. "The Council is less peaceable than it seems, Miss Vee."
You take the moment to stir cream and sugar into your coffee, waiting for Kurenai to sort through her thoughts.
She takes a sip of her expresso, eyes distant. "In truth, many would bring Miss Toshimichi down if given the chance. It's an uneasy peace, and hunting is good enough, but there's always an air of..."
"Uneasiness," Haruki offers quietly.
"Some groups are bloodthirstier than the others, but we keep them in check by weight of threatened collective action," Kurenai says. "But there's... a kind of desperation to some of them. As far as we know, they aren't low on Grief Seeds or anything, but they're always hungry for more."
She shakes her head.
"Not as peaceful as it seems," she says, shrugging again.
"Right," you say. You frown, and take a thoughtful sip of your coffee as you think.
[] What else do you want to ask?
[] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)
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So, I believe that's not all of the questions, but it's a lot of them.
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